Anna glanced worriedly over at Dr. Fawks.

He was slouching at her little two-person dining table, staring off into space. Once he’d removed his hood and gotten under better lighting, Anna had noticed just how exhausted he looked.

The Dr. Fawks she remembered from the hospital was a clean-shaven man, well-groomed with neatly combed hair.

She saw almost none of that now.

His once well-kept appearance was nowhere to be found. Neatly combed brown hair had turned messy and frayed. Frazzled scruff had overtaken his chin, and not in a good way; this was in a homeless-man-that-can’t-afford-to-pay-for-a-shaver kind of way.

Overall, he looked like shit.

He’d barely even responded to anything she’d said, simply nodding when she spoke. It had gone past the point of ‘awkward’ and was entering into ‘genuinely worrying’ territory.

‘What happened?’ she wondered. ‘He seemed fine not more than two weeks ago. What could’ve happened to put him in such a state? Did a family member or a close friend die? Maybe some sort of financial bind? Perhaps he’s having a mid-life crisis…’ she trailed off, studying his face, ‘... In his twenties? Probably not,’ she decided with a nod.

‘Well, I guess that doesn’t really matter in the end. The real question is… WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE!?’ she panicked inside her mind. ‘Why did he come to me!? I barely know him! What the fuck is happening in his life that he decided to visit a woman in the middle of the night with a black hoody that concealed his face?! Is that not a bad idea?! Did that just become socially acceptable?! Why didn’t he call beforehand and tell me he was coming?! The hospital has my number! Why…’

Anna continued to mentally torture herself without showing a single outward sign for several minutes, stirring the pot with a pleasant smile on her face. All while the holder of her answers sat not ten feet away from her.

Her frantic thoughts finally came to rest once the alarm from her stove started ringing, letting her know that the pot she was stirring needed to sit.

Taking the spoon out of the pot, Anna dried it and set it on the counter. Then she stood stock still as she realized that she had nothing else to do.

Anna had turned off the podcast once Dr.Fawks had entered but now she sorta wished that she’d kept it on. It would’ve given her an excuse to avoid starting a conversation with the man she totally did not have a crush on.

‘Though, to be fair, he’s not nearly as attractive as he was back in the hospital.’

Nevertheless, he was still attractive.

The ruggedness that had overtaken him didn’t detract much from his handsome features. Through the scruff on his face, Anna could still make out his chiseled jawline. His hair might’ve been a mess but it was still a wonderful shade of dark chocolate. And though he might have had an intimidating face otherwise, his kind and caring light brown eyes belied that, giving him a calming aura that made Anna just want to curl up with him under a blanket with some hot cocoa and forget about the world.

‘Fuck. I totally have a crush. Don’t I?’

Shaking off the magical effects of oxytocin, Anna tried to focus. ‘I guess I should go ask him why he’s here, Eh?’ She thought. ‘I really need to stop talking to myself. I don’t think it’s good for my mental health.’

Gathering up her courage, Anna walked across the kitchen and sat herself down in the seat opposite of her guest. “Um, Dr. Fawks?” She asked hesitantly, trying to get his attention.

“Urgh?” He… prompted, Still staring up at the ceiling.

“I, uh, I have a few questions I would like to ask? ... If that’s alright with you,” She added, her gathered courage fading like the wind in the face of his tired indifference.

Groaning, the doctor finally pulled himself up from his slouch and collected himself. “My apologies, Ms.Miller if I seem a bit… distracted,” He said with a yawn. “These past few days haven't been kind to me.”

“No, no, it's fine,” Anna assured. “But, well, Dr. Fawks-”

“Please call me Jamie, Ms.Miller. We're not in the hospital anymore.” Jamie interrupted with a smile.

“Oh! Uh, in that case, um, feel free to call me Anna then.” She stumbled over her words in surprise before getting back on track. “Anyways, well, Dr.F- Jamie… what are you doing here?” Anna eventually questioned, not finding a nicer way to put it.

To her relief, Jamie just laughed it off. “Yes, I imagine this must seem quite strange to you,” he said with a bit of joviality before sighing, getting serious. “Well, suffice it to say that this will require a bit of context. Is that alright?"

“Er, of course, take all the time you need.” Anna agreed, growing curious.

“Wonderful, well, it all started about a week ago after that brief pressure we all felt. I believe they’re calling it the Advent now. You know what I’m talking about right?” He asked as if it had just occurred to him.

Anna nodded hastily. “Yeah, it felt like something was weighing me down. Like I had a weight on my back or something, but only for a second.” Anna hadn’t actually felt anything, being the cause of the Advent, but Jamie didn’t know that.

“Quite, but I digress. Three days after that event I was working, as usual, making my rounds, checking on patients when I just suddenly... knew I had powers. It was like knowing that you have toes on your feet or-or that you have fingers on your hand.” He struggled to explain. “I could feel them, I knew their names, I knew how to use them!”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“What powers did you get?” Anna said, getting excited. This was a full-blown origin story event happening in front of her, how could she not!?

“[Greater Regeneration] and [Power Sharing],” he said breathlessly. “I can heal myself almost instantaneously from any damage I take and I can share that power with someone else if I can see them or if they’re in close proximity to me.”

“That’s amazing Doctor! With powers like those and your position, you could help so many people!” Anna said with glee, playing the part of the excited confidant. “Though… you’d have to be careful,” She advised, “if you do too much, in too short an amount of time, you’d end up like this Miracle Man in the news. Being hunted by everyone.

“What they should’ve done is only heal the worst patients in the hospital, and over an extended period of time at that. By doing it all at once, they’ve only painted a target on their back and diminished the number of patients they can serve. Meaning, in the long run, they’ll actually help less people than if they’d only taken their time.” Anna lectured, taking on a scholarly tone.

“Honestly, whoever this Miracle Man is, they’ve put themselves into a real bind. It’s like they’ve never read a comic book before!” Anna threw up her hands in exasperation. “Everyone knows that if you make big waves, the big fish are going to come investigating.”

Jamie’s expression turned sheepish. “Ah, yes,” he coughed, “about that…”

Focusing back on him, it took Anna a few moments to register what he said. “No…” Eyes widening, she studied him again, all the pieces fitting into place.

Scuffed up appearance, check.

Healing powers, check.

Incredibly kind person, check.

Almost no understanding of basic comic book tropes, double-check.

Putting her head in her hands, Anna groaned.

“You’re Miracle Man.” it wasn’t a question, merely a statement of fact.

Jamie nodded anyway. “I couldn’t help myself. They were suffering so much… there this one little girl that had a brain tumor that started to have a stroke. It was her third one that week, she wouldn’t have survived another one. It had been a miracle that she’d survived the first two, so I reached out and… she was fixed” He mimicked motion with a reverent look in his eyes.

“Just like that. All that pain, suffering, gone in an instant. How could I stop at just her?” He asked desperately. “I tried to be careful, I remembered the comics I’d read you. About how heroes protected their secret identities. I tried to avoid people, security, cameras, I thought I did pretty well, but… I guess not.” he finished lamely, falling back into his chair.

Anna sat for a second before she got up and started pacing. “What happened after? Why are you here?” She asked and repeated her questioned from earlier, her mind racing.

“After, well, I went back to work. I realized I made a mistake when the news started covering the story and the reporters showed up. They were looking for Miracle Man and they thought that he would be among the staff, or maybe the patients-"

"Which you were." Anna pointed out absentmindedly as she continued to walk back and forth.

"Which I was," Jamie agreed. "It was very chaotic. The reporters were relentless, questioning patients, doctors, security members, but, if I was spotted, no one wanted to spill the beans. Security finally managed to get them under control with the police's help. It was all looking good, like things might blow over, when... they started following."

Anna stopped and looked at Jamie sharply. “They?”

“I started getting the feeling I was being watched about three days ago,” Jamie explained quickly. “I swear I saw people following me yesterday. This morning I saw a black van parked out front of my house. I snuck out the back door and lost them.

“I tried to think of who could help me and my mind went to you. I have a few friends at the hospital but I'm afraid that they're being watched as well. In the end, you’re the only person I know that has any idea about this kind of stuff, plus you have no connection to me besides being one of my patients, so your probably not being watched. I thought about going to the police but, well, you know how they treat supers.” He said plaintively.

Anna did. All supers that were known as using their powers were being detained, Heroes, Villains, and vigilantes. It wasn’t out of any sort of malicious intent, not in most cases at least, the police were simply being cautious. When a man has the power to cause an earthquake with his mind, people are going to be nervous about him, even if he says he has no evil intent.

The police simply don’t want to take that risk.

Anna pinched the bridge of her nose. “It's probably best that you didn't go. For all, we know they're apart of this." She sighed. "And while I can see your reasoning, did you really have to- wait, did you say you were being followed.” She interrupted herself as she finally processed what Jamie had said.

“Yes, but I lost them.” He replied with certainty.

“Is this the same certainty that you had when you thought that you hadn’t been noticed back at the hospital?” She asked nonchalantly while walking over to the MAW-50-WSE. Picking up the gun, she checked to see if it was loaded. To her chagrin, it was not.

Wincing, Jamie nodded. “I see your point.”

Anna shook her head and headed to her bedroom. “Stay here, I’m going to get ammo,” she told him as she walked past. Walking in, she immediately allowed for her facade to collapse.

‘HOLY FUCK! WHAT IS HAPPENING!?’ she shouted in her mind, running around the room in a panic.

After a few seconds of wearing herself out, she started thinking. ‘Ok, this is fine, all I need to do is get him to Eve. Once I do that she should be able to take it from there. There's no doubt that she would want someone as valuable as him on the team. Now, how the fuck do I do that?’ She started pacing again before stopping once something occurred to her.

‘Shit. How would I even know about Eve? He came to Anna, not Witness. So how the fuck am I supposed to justify the fact that I have this unexplainable knowledge?’ Anna began her pacing once more. After a minute of this, she ruffled her head in agitation.

“Fuck it,” She whispered, “My goal right now should be getting us away from here as soon as possible to somewhere safe.” Nodding at having successfully delayed the important decision to another time Anna walked over to her closet and began searching for ammo.

She still needed that.

Riffling through her messy closet she muttered, “I really need to clean this.” Eventually finding the box of bullets stuffed in the back, under the nightstand that she’d pulled the MAW-50-WSE out of.

Hauling the box up, she picked out one of the 50 caliber rounds that were almost the length of her hand.

Flipping down the barrel of the MAW-50-WSE, she exposed the breach. The MAW-50-WSE was a break action and only loaded a single shot at a time. Even in Texas, they realized that something with this much power should only be able to fire once.

After sliding the round in Anna flipped up the gun, which made a satisfying click as the barrel settled into place.

Or it should’ve.

As Anna looked at the gun in confusion, she checked to make sure that the barrel was secure.

It was.

Anna then noticed something odd.

She didn’t hear anything.

Nothing.

Not a sound.

No hum of the air conditioner, no wishing of the cars outside, nothing.

Absolute silence.

And with no small amount of dread, Anna released why.

‘They’re here.’