He saw Imani walking down the main path from a distance, the jeans and collared shirt he had always seen him in was replaced with sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. They met up and headed off to a secluded section of the park, away from prying eyes.
“You know, I said you could use your powers to fight back against muggers, but that would normally mean you wouldn’t get stabbed. Not only that, but you got stabbed in such a weird place too.”
Sean burned with a hint of embarrassment.
“Look, it wasn’t my most proud moment, but I got my shit back and that’s all that matters.”
They went back and forth until he pulled the pant leg up and showed the wound.
“They got you good.” Imani took a swig from his flask and pricked his finger. A drop of blood fell onto the injury.
The wound cleared up in seconds as the fresh flesh filled the gap in.
“Aw. That itches. Oooh. Thank you. That shit sucked. I had to walk fifteen blocks to get here. Still really sore.”
Sean splashed some water on his leg and scrubbed the dried blood off.
“You’re welcome. Just know, I can’t do this for you again unless we are at work or it’s really bad. I learned a long time ago that helping people heal should always be about business. You got it?” He nodded along.
“Good. Stay safe out there. I don’t want another new coworker.” He slapped his shoulder and walked away.
“Damn.” Sean couldn’t help but sigh.
He left the gardens and headed to Parkland Landings. This section of the city was filled to the brim with weakly powered people trying to make a living through whatever means possible and nearly civil bosses keeping everything in check.
It was the location of the only remaining unaffiliated testers in the entire city that didn’t answer to any singular crime families, hero union, or a government agency.
There had been rumors about it for decades about how they were still around, but the reasoning mattered very little to him. He needed to get a better understanding of his abilities as soon as possible and they were the only way.
With all of his belongings on him, he made his way over.
The homogenous feeling most blocks had fell away as he made it deeper and deeper into the center of Parkland. Normal stores lined the streets while the alleys were filled with smaller vendors calling people inside. The sidewalks were packed as he forced himself through, clutching his bag closely to his chest.
His memories of pickpockets and theft sat at the back of his mind.
‘It’s just up ahead.’
He pushed past another group of gawking people and saw his goal. A solitary storefront stood tall along the old street. The Power Appraiser and Self Defense Hotspot. It was positively ancient from every angle that he looked at it from. The bricks were stamped from old factories dating back more than a hundred years ago and the mortar was blackened with age.
Despite the clear wear to everything, a bright neon sign advertised its expertise proud as day. Underneath the green glow, two men stood on watch. They had full body armor covering every inch of them as they scanned the crowd for any signs of danger.
Weeds and rubble had overtaken the places where thriving shops once sat on either side of the foundation. A result of the many attacks that took place over the years. He took a deep breath as he stepped forward.
The guard’s helmets swiveled in his direction as he walked up to the door before returning to the glare at the rest of the crowd. He pulled the intimidating wrought iron shutters open and watched as a set of automatic doors welcomed him inside.
A wave of oos and awes broke out behind him. The warm air conditioned room beckoned him deeper.
“Welcome to The Power Appraiser and Self Defense Hotspot. Would you like help with finding anything today?”
A young girl behind the closest counter spoke to him in a chipper voice.
“Yeah, I uh, I want to get an appraisal.” He stumbled over his words as she stared at him.
Her smile dropped from her features as she went to play on her phone at his inquiry.
“Back room, 2 hour wait.” She didn’t even look up as she answered.
“Thanks.” He walked past her and took in his surroundings. The white overhead lights brightened every inch of space he turned to.
Mirror polished guns and knives shimmered as he moved. Riot gear, gas masks, and an assortment of other equipment lined the shelves. Things ranging from Tannerite to depleted uranium rounds filled the locked cases behind the counter.
‘Only a hundred dollars for a grenade?’
He did a double take at the surprising figure.
‘Maybe later.’
He entered a curtained off section of the building and nearly bumped into a man’s large back. The room was much louder than the main showroom despite only being separated by a thin piece of fabric. People were yelling in various languages and were everything from pissed to giddy.
He bent to the side and saw a line of people leading to a steel door with the word 'appraiser' engraved along the edges.
‘Two hour wait makes more sense now.’
Time ticked by slower than he would have hoped with only a few distractions. The people were all cut from very similar cloth.
Large, brooding men with scars and anger problems dominated the space. He stuck out like a sore thumb as people packed in behind him, yet none of them said a word. The loud but private conversations let him get a bit of useful information on the landing's innerworkings before there was no one left to listen to.
Finally his turn came as he looked to the attendant.
“A one time payment of six hundred USD please!” She held both her hands out and smiled towards him. He fumbled with the rubberband, flipping out a few large bills before putting the rest away.
“Fantastic! Right this way.” She motioned to the door and opened it for him.
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He felt his heart rate pick up as he pushed through the privacy curtain.
‘This is it.’
Sean found himself in an all black room with two chairs facing each other in the very center. He gulped as sat down and looked around. A few drops of sweat formed at his brow. The clatter of heels startled him from his confusion.
Slowly a short woman walked to the opposite chair and patted her skirt down. She had long hair that went down to her hips, thick lipstick, and a frilly blouse. All of it was perfectly black.
He looked into her eyes and felt his heart still. In deep contrast to her pail skin, they were a deep dark pit of nothingness that went on forever. Her sclerae were devoid of the white that every normal person had. The inhuman quality drew him in.
He couldn’t pull his eyes from hers. They sucked his very soul in like a blackhole. The chair below him fell away. The black room disappeared.
Her lips split and a cavernous abyss pulled his corporeal form deep inside.
Sean was helpless against the draw. There was nothing he could do to fight it off.
The surroundings were missing wen he regained his bearings. Sean spun around himself, searching for anything to anchor to.
He couldn’t make sense of a single thing around him. There were no walls, floors, or ceilings. Every breath he tried to take became pointless as there was nothing to take in or let out..
He was truly lost for words. It was as close to nothingness as he thought possible.
A sudden ringing filled the abyss. In the far distance, a trace of something made itself known to him. A pinpoint of matter that called for his attention.
He flung his arms to the side and kicked his legs. Everything he tried was pointless. He was merely in for the ride.
Sean squinted into the distance, trying to discern what it could be when he realized it was growing in size.
‘It’s…getting closer?’
Soon, the high pitch noise started to fill the space in, growing in volume to nearly unbearable levels while the object approached him. He slammed his eyes shut and covered his ears in hopes of fighting the horrible noise off only for it to ring throughout his body.
Every particle of his corporeal form vibrated intensely for what felt like eons. Thoughts were a thing of the past as he tried to fight the discomfort off.
All of the stimuli suddenly ceased and he was left in silence. Slowly, his eyes opened and he moved his hands away from his ears.
The sight that welcomed him caused his mind to ache. Impossible colors and multiple layers of reality overlapped in the same space. Visions of violence, poverty, love, and care tangled together to form a mess of humanity.
They were existence as he knew it, distilled into its most basic parts.
“Hmmmm.” A booming tone erupted from behind him. Sean turned his head, but saw nothing but the abyss staring back.
“Who’s there?” A moment of silence passed as he waited for a response.
“Look towards the events.” The voice was feminine and commanding. It contained a hint of Hannah’s tone with an inorganic quality thrown in.
He looked back to ‘events’ and was slammed with a series of emotions. They raced up his spine, vying for control of the mind. Sean gasped as the wave of feelings pulled over him endlessly only to teeter out as the images slowed to a crawl before him.
“Weird power. Strangest one I’ve seen this week.” The voice spoke once more. “Absorption through organic contact? Maybe it’s a physical enhancement? Partially mental. Body doesn’t seem too used to it. Conditional.”
“What…What does all of that mean?”
Only silence answered him. The images changed swiftly from unfamiliar amalgamations to something he recognized. It was him breaking free and swimming through sewage. The thought of it caused his stomach to turn.
“Some kind of tie with mind hopping? A unique combination for sure. Could turn out pretty interesting.”
Another new image took over. His first death as he knew it.
Incinerated by drones sent to clean up messes of bodies.
“Some repressed memories as well. Very deeply hidden. Neural pathways that are long since dormant.”
The images turned cloudy before slowly increasing in clarity. They showed him days of his life. Days he couldn’t remember ever happening. Days that hurt to watch.
It was Sean living his life, begging on the street during the early freezing mornings.
It was a Sean he himself found alien. He was far younger than any of his oldest familiar memories. A mere child by all accounts. He was alone and terrified, covered in scraps of clothes like he so often had been in his recent past.
‘No, I had a family. We were happy and loved life. That can’t be me.’
He warred with the visions. They were simply impossible. Everything he saw clashed with his the foggy memories that played in his mind.
New images came pouring in, turning his stomach over as the sights entered him.
The younger version of himself had been run over one night, cold and alone on the streets. A dead child that no one looked towards. Just something to get tangled in the street sweepers for one of the poor mechanics to stumble upon.
“Stop it here, please.” His begging was quiet.
“It goes deeper. Much deeper. Sadder somehow.” The voice lost its clinical tone, vestiges of humanity creeping in.
The sights changed once more. It was the happy family he remembered. A small apartment with rent far too high, but it was his family’s place. An area of comfort and belonging.
“Too far back. Not traumatizing enough. Where was the first trigger?”
The voice was cold behind his back once again, analytical in its search.
“Ah. Here.”
It changed again. Sean frowned as tears began to immediately pour from him and his lip quivered. Childish leftovers that withstood the tests of time, only showing up when he was at his weakest.
The apartment had collapsed. His whole family was outside of the building, watching their whole life go up in flames as explosions rocked the city. A momentous battle occurred far in the distance. They had merely been unlucky. A stray blast had flown through the sky and leveled their home to the ground.
At Least they weren’t inside as it happened.
His dad grabbed his shoulder and said something to his distraught family. Sean strained his senses to listen to it but only saw his mom flash a light smile before leaning into her husband's chest. In her arms sat his little sister. An infant too young to understand the destruction.
The coming days were tough. The villain victim’s fund was stretched thin after the battle and the help they received was only a fraction of what they needed.
They quickly went from hotel rooms to motels as his mom lost her job and his dad was away for most of the day. School was an afterthought as they tried to make ends meet.
Sean watched the struggles they went through under a detached gaze. His young mind fought to understand the pain they experienced. He only thought of it as another day of spaghetti and hotdogs.
Suddenly, everything changed. His dad didn’t make it home one night. His mother cried for days while little Sean tried his best to comfort her. A hard knock on the door was the last thing he saw before the next violent scene.
His mother was sick in the dead of winter. She had her daughter held close to her chest as she shivered away while Sean begged on the sidewalk nearby.
Not a single person dropped a coin into his styrofoam cup for hours at a time.
After a long day of hoping for a stranger's kindness, he walked back to his remaining family.
The cup was as empty as their stomachs.
Sean sat on the cardboard flooring and leaned against his mother.
That night was exceptionally cold on the city’s streets. The flickering lights a constant reminder than there was always light where there darkness if his mother was to be believed.
He could feel his toes growing numb as he fought his hunger and chill to pass out.
By the time morning came, he stirred from his restless slumber and looked towards his mom. She had always gotten up first, scrapping together whatever she could for them to eat, but it wasn’t so this time.
The permanent frown she carried in recent days was gone. In its place was a smile. It reminded him of more peaceful and happy times. Small rivers of blood poured down from her nose and onto the rags wrapped around her daughter, his little sister.
Sean hugged her tight, pushing his face into her frigid neck. A small cry from between them broke him from his grief.
He took his sister from her cold hands and listened to her wails of hunger with tears falling down his face.
“Please, I don’t want to see this.” He cried.
“This is definitely it.” The calculating voice spoke once more.
An explosion of energy filled the abyssal plain he was held captive in.
It was tragic and sorrow filled. The greatest hopes of his childhood self given form.
“Found it. Wow. Beautiful. Full of emotion. One of the most powerful I’ve seen in a long time.” It held a change in its voice far different than before. The cold evaluation was completely gone, replaced with interest and wonder.
“Stop this. Please. I don’t want to see anymore. I get it already.” He pleaded with tears flowing from his eyes. The emotions were far too great for his weakened mind.
“Of course.” She spoke one final time before everything ceased to exist.
-
He awoke with a start. His heart was pounding and his face quickly soured into a depressed frown. The thing before him lost the horrible black pits he once thought of as eyes, replacing them with purple irises and a perfectly white sclera.
A hint of humanity crawled back into her unnatural form. A smile graced her lips as she watched him adjust to the tremendous epiphany that was forced onto his mind.
“This one took a while, but I think I figured it out to some degree.” She waited for him to say something as he wiped the continuous streams of tears from his face.
“Did I just pay six hundred bucks to become depressed?”