Imagine being on vacation, except there’s nobody around, and you’re stuck in a single room. Such was life on the sofa, nursing the aftermath of the accident. There were only so many chat shows and soap operas I could endure before going insane, and after three days I was at my limit.
Tanya texted selfies between classes, which almost made me miss the halls of teenage purgatory. She pulled faces, cycled through the filters of every app we shared, and stole a butt cleavage shot of the shop teacher before going silent. They probably confiscated her phone, but with me cackling against the cushions her sacrifice was not in vain.
It was sometime around eleven when boredom set. There were still finals to take, so I could have used the time to study, but none of it would stick; my mind was outside, somewhere far, far away.
The phone rang, thank the gods. I hopped one-legged like a clown on a pogo-stick, and all but dived for the receiver. “Hello?”
My Dad chirped from the other end. “Hey, kid. Just wanted to see how you were holding up.” We might not have been close, but it was good to hear him all the same; heck, it was good to hear anybody who could talk back.
I hobbled to the sofa and tumbled over the back. “Yeah, fine,” I lied.
“You manage to get much work done?”
It was the usual smalltalk of school, friends, and what I wanted to eat; nothing real, like why I wanted to be a girl, or why a guy like Adrian would want me dead. I might have been insulted if it wasn’t so normal, and even a dull conversation was a life saver.
He was mid-way through an anecdote about one of the lab assistants when a thought crossed my mind. “Hey, um, Dad. Do you want to maybe get lunch together?”
I could hear the gears grind to a halt on the other end. “Er, sure. When?”
“Today.” Even the blandest lunch date was better than stewing in the same four walls.
He paused. “I’m not sure I have time to make it home and back…”
“Then I’ll come to you. I can take the bus.”
It was a long trip to the InfiniTech labs, especially for a kid without a car, but it was worth it for the freedom. Besides, the Lovin’ Spoonful was only a short distance away, and I was always welcome, even in boy mode.
Dad sighed. “I don’t know. The last time you were out by yourself-”
“It’s the middle of the day,” I said.
“You’re injured.”
I rolled my eyes. “These crutches aren’t for show.”
He sighed, and clicked his tongue. There was no stopping me, and he knew it. “Fine. Call me when you get here, and I’ll have security let you in the gate.”
I’d barely hung up before springing into action, throwing on whatever assortment of ‘boy’ clothes were within reach, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Crash victim or no, nothing was keeping me from the outside world.
* * * *
The hour was upon them, and Dr. Theodore Fellows was still with anticipation. His heart beat at a steady rhythm, wrangled by controlled breathing. Every step had played a thousand times across his imagination, so that his actions might be automatic. Soon he would not have to think; only do.
McVeigh and his people were ready to do their part. They had trucks, and they had guns, just as they promised; with any luck they would not require use. Should violence be necessary, however, lives were expendable in the name of progress.
He nursed a weapon in his hand, and made crude measurements of its weight. The simple six barrel pistol was by no means exotic, but even in the hands of one with no experience it was a threat. Theodore tucked it away along the inside pocket of his coveralls, and steeled himself.
“Ready when you are, doc.”
Three men other than himself climbed from the dock into the back of the truck. Two nursed automatic rifles, and the other a tool belt with specialized equipment. They sat rigid and alert, and barely acknowledged the doctor while McVeigh ushered him inside.
The heavy doors slammed shut, and Dr. Fellows drew a sharp breath. This was the last resort, from which there was no turning back.
* * * *
For whatever reason the sight of my crutches turned people kind; they offered to help me across the street, seats were cleared on the bus so I could sit, even drivers slowed down to offer me a ride. I didn’t take them up on it, but it was generous all the same.
The hum of public transport and my chillout playlist blended together to soothe any lingering anxiety. It was good to be out of the house where things were halfway back to normal. Too bad I was stuck in boy mode.
It took no time at all to reach the InfiniTech labs. The last stop sat at the edge of the university where the chain link fences began. Behind it were tiered white buildings with tinted windows, and a copper antenna pointing to heaven. It was almost like something out of an old pulp sci-fi, like my grandpa would have dreamed the present to look like.
I hobbled to the boom gate, though there was only a single guard. Weird, but whatever.
He looked me up and down with some concern. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Alan Cade, pharma division,” I said. “He’s my dad. We’re supposed to be meeting for lunch.”
“Your dad, huh.” He scanned the area, not even looking at the papers in front of him. There was something unwholesome about the guy, something I couldn’t put my finger on; or maybe he was just a jerk.
“Listen, you shouldn’t be here,” the guard said. “Why don’t you go back the way you came? There’s a lot of good places that do coffee on the campus, I bet.”
I sighed, and grit my teeth. “Or you could just let me in. Check the guest list or whatever it is you’re supposed to do.”
That was the last thing he did. Instead he scanned the area, sighed, and buzzed for the security gate to open. Something didn’t feel right, but I shrugged it off. It was something I could talk to my Dad about when I saw him.
* * * *
I was in middle school the last time I visited, for a field trip. My Dad had only just started working there, and helped guide the class through the facility. That was his way of reaching out, I guess; trying to connect with a son that didn’t exist. Not that I didn’t appreciate the effort.
The inside was just as large and as lively as it was in memory, with transparent levels circling up to the skylight. Lining the glass was silver and white, as though illuminated by collective genius. It was the kind of place that convinced you the future was a better place. in spite of the world around.
My father waved from across the foyer. He was someone who matched his job description; gangly, with glasses and thinning blond hair. The lab coat suited him more than any other attempts he made at fashion, but it didn’t seem to bother him too much. He was all smiles as he dashed across the floor.
“You really didn’t have to come all this way,” he said.
“Are you kidding? If I had to sit through another hour of infomercials I might have killed myself.”
His expression soured. “Please don’t say things like that.”
“Dad, it was a joke.”
“I know what you meant, son, but sometimes it’s not a joke,” he said. If there was one thing you could say about my Dad was that he was serious; maybe that’s why he and Mom got along so well. I guess that trait wasn’t hereditary.
Swaying on my crutches, I flew into my next steps. Could I really blame him for worrying? There was the accident, and he wasn’t exactly ignorant of what school was like. As things went he was bullied too, though for different reasons.
He forced a smile, and gestured me toward the hall. “Come on. Let’s eat. They bring in these cupcakes from a gluten free bakery. They’re so good I can’t even tell the difference.” With any luck the cupcakes would save us from more awkwardness.
* * * *
Their journey was a silent one, from the warehouse until their destination. Four men sat two by two, strapped facing each other along the walls of the truck. Of their number three had an understanding; Dr. Fellows, however, was an outsider. When his eyes met another man they would shy away or worse, glare at him, thickening the air around.
The Doctor leaned back, closed his eyes, and willed the passing of time. The men he’d hired were supposed to be professionals. For what he’d paid there would be no petty squabbles. In the end his only concern was completing the task.
Finally, they slowed. Muted conversation hummed through the walls. A hand smacked the outside panel twice, and the truck moved again.
“Get ready,” muttered one of the grunts.
The gears shifted as the vehicle roared with drive. Every ounce gathered momentum as they accelerated toward an unseen target. Dr. Theodore Fellows clutched his restraints, and counted the seconds toward the inevitable.
* * * *
The air split with the shattering of glass, as a metal beast roared across the foyer. My face hit the floor and rattled my senses, under the sounds of panic flying from every direction. Next I knew the air was thick and my eyes were burning, even with my father’s coat thrown over me. It was like the end of the world, and all I could do was crawl.
A hand scooped under my arm, and tugged toward the exit. “Stay with me,” my Dad choked. My chest wound until frozen, and I wasn’t about to argue. Debris crunched with every movement, and cut into my arms, though the pain was nothing compared to what waited for us.
Was I cursed? It was like some cruel god was set on making us suffer; not just me, but everyone around. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, fate stepped up to accept the challenge, and twisted the knife further.
What seemed like a hundred mile journey ended with the prodding of a boot. My father pleaded, but was silenced with barking. The coat flew from my head, and I was faced with a figure in black wearing a gas mask and brandishing a large firearm. His black goggles reflected back like a storybook monster that swallowed children whole.
He turned the barrel of the weapon against us, and roared. “Up against the wall!”
I could barely keep my eyes open through burning tears, but followed his directions as best I could manage. What was going on? It was like something from an action movie; you know, the kind of thing that doesn’t happen in real life.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the gunman said. “Heroes die in real life.”
Being a hero was the last thing on my mind. I curled under my father’s arm and nursed the pain. From where I sat I could barely make out the three shapes moving toward the elevator.
* * * *
It was not their violence, but their efficiency that Dr. Fellows admired. How could he ever say such brutes were below him after suppressing a room in so many seconds? They held the occupants at gunpoint, and with the pull of a trigger commanded life and death. Loathe as he was to admit, the doctor could not have advanced so far without them.
He followed McVeigh and the technician through the smoke and to the elevator. Former colleagues wailed, and they writhed, but still failed to garner his sympathy. Were he honest with himself he might have found their suffering to be just. However, as a man of intellect, he was positioned in such a way that he was above gloating; all that mattered was the work.
The elevator took them inside, and started the descent toward the third sub-basement. When the gas cleared the three removed their masks, and breathed the stale air of the underground.
“My equipment is in locker C-24, one hundred and ninety meters north-west of our access point,” the doctor said. It was hard-won information from an acquaintance of twenty years; one who tolerated Fellows, and whom he tolerated in turn.
McVeigh frowned. “And you’ve got ninety seconds to get it. Prepare to move.”
The moment the doors opened into a chiseled, subterranean chamber Dr. Fellows began to sprint, with the technician trailing close behind. They followed the numbers on corrugated doors, odd on the left and even on the right, until they came upon the promised locker.
Seconds fizzled while the technician set to work on the electronic lock, earning him the ire of the doctor. Should anything be left behind due to the constraints placed by time his fury would boil over, possibly at the cost of a man’s life.
Finally the door rolled open, revealing a horde of technological treasures the world might not have seen for decades to come. These were the children of Dr. Theodore Fellows, and while they might have been dangerous, untested, and most likely lethal in the wrong hands, they were set to reshape the course of human history.
“What do we need?” the technician asked.
The doctor snapped. “You. Do not! Touch! Anything!”
He practically dived into the locker, and snapped up pieces which were anything but random; leads, couplings, and other devices whose purpose could not be known from a cursory glance. The doctor took them upon himself until both arms were heavy, and when he was done started back without a word.
“Twenty seconds,” the technician muttered. “You sure you don’t need a hand with that?”
Dr. Fellows was resolute as he moved toward the exit. His mind was somewhere else; further than any of his cohorts might ever imagine.
* * * *
I lay there with my head down for longer than I could count. The men with guns circled like vultures and shouted over us; it was shock and awe, keeping the fear fresh so we wouldn’t try anything. Nobody would ever be that brave, or dense.
My Dad lay beside me, and whispered encouragement, I think. His words raced so fast I could barely follow. “We’re gonna be okay, we’re gonna be okay,” he said, over and over. He was probably trying trying to convince me as much as he was himself.
The elevator doors opened, and a pair of blurs raced out. Their armed friends practically skipped to the back of the truck. Finally, they were leaving! All they had to do was drive away, and freedom would be ours again.
One of the men bellowed through his mask. “Move! We don’t have time!”
BANG!
A single shot exploded overhead, and put one of the attackers down. I wouldn’t have dared to look, until an arm reached around my throat, and with a heavy pull drew me from my father’s arms and to my feet. My balance wavered, and still would have without the injuries. Fear froze in my veins, and I was a doe in the headlights.
Every weapon was raised in our direction, with me playing human shield. Was I meant to resist? My tendons pulled tight until I was a statue.
“What the hell are you doing, Fellows?” the nearest roared.
The barrel pressed into my temple, and I started to weep; not that it bothered my captor any. “I have unfinished business,” he said, making sure to enunciate through the mask. “Thank you for getting me this far.”
“You’re coming with us!” his ‘partner’ said.
I watched my father writhe on the ground as I was wrenched away. Each step back was like losing him forever; close or not, it was hard to imagine a world without him. If only I could have reached out, maybe there would still be hope.
My captor pressed a button inside the elevator. “Hardly.” The doors closed with a pleasant ding, followed soon after by the helpless sound of fists. I was suddenly certain then I wouldn’t last the hour.
He released me, and I fell to the floor. There were cables and devices, none of which I could recognize; probably custom, definitely intended for something less than wholesome. What did he need me for? I was just some kid.
Removing his gas mask revealed an aging man with sharp features, and a widow's peak the climbed the back of his scalp. Then there were his eyes; steely grey, and unblinking, as though he were some sort of machine. Never could I have imagined so cold a person, especially from a glance.
“Up.” The barrel of the gun nudged my shoulder, prompting me to climb the wall until upright. My captors jowls tightened. “What’s the matter with you?”
Words froze on my tongue, and broke as they fell out. “I… I-I was in an accident…”
His gaze narrowed on me like a vice. “Can you walk?”
I nodded, because there was little other choice. What might he have done with a crippled hostage? Despite the pain I could hold myself, barely, but survival was more important than recovery. I could still walk out if I just did as he said.
We came to an empty floor with rows of dark windows with blinking lights behind them. The hairs on my arms froze on end from the chill. The corridor was sealed, and maybe ran the length of a football field. Something told me that we were underground.
The old man instructed me at gunpoint to gather the pieces and carry them. I hobbled as best I could manage, and perpetually danced along the moments he could pull the trigger. I wasn’t strong, and I wasn’t brave; he could have ended me in a moment.
At the end of the path was a chamber, along which was a platform surrounding a large ring. It was huge, maybe the size of an aeroplane, and hummed monotonously with some strange property I wasn’t supposed to understand. Whatever the machine was it was big, important, and probably the reason InfiniTech had guards and chain fences.
My captor shuffled to a nearby console, and trained his weapon on me. “Put down the equipment.”
I did as I was told. Gods, the relief in my joints was incredible. My leg burned, free to hurt openly without the crushing force to fight against.
“Now, move to the far end, and sit. If you move, I will shoot you.”
Terror stilled my thoughts and quelled the instinct to run. Honestly, it probably saved my life. I held to the hope that as soon as he was done I would go home. So long as I had that I would follow every word.
The nameless gunman moved back and forth across the console, opening panels and making adjustments. He stashed the weapon in his side pocket, but I made sure to sit. New fittings shifted the tone of the machine, and resonated with bass that turned my stomach.
Thick, metal plates sat lumped together around his work area; plates that would have protected anyone not in a hurry. Wires and leads surged, tickling the air with electricity. The hairs on my arms sizzled against the cool condensation.
Finally, his work was done. The rogue villain fixed something to the machine; some kind of prism, and positioned it on a tripod.
He caught sight of me trembling, and roared. “Don’t you dare move!”
I hadn’t; I wouldn’t.
With the press of a button the machine whirred to life, as though some massive wheel started to spin inside it. The freezing air churned around us, soon with force enough to blow me across the floor. Lightning sparked, and curled toward this device the stranger had introduced, much to his apparent glee.
Whatever it was pulled the air from my lungs. Instinct that once said to sit screamed to move, and after a moment's hesitation I did. This place was beyond a weak high school kid like me.
A gunshot cracked over the din of the machine, and my captor held his weapon drawn. He paused, but only long enough to take aim.
I pounced for the hall, only just out of step with the whirring bullet that shattered glass. It pinged off the computer behind it, and sparked furiously. Suddenly, the console behind it began to smolder, and spread into the heart of the machine. Arc lightning continued to reach toward the prism, and projected upward into the ceiling.
An incredible light flooded the room, so bright that it shone through my flesh. I could barely make out the shape of the gunman, whose gaze was lost in the reaction, mesmerized, as though looking upon something divine. He didn’t see the console melt down, and couldn’t have been aware of the burning wave coming in his direction.
Next I knew I was on my feet, and dived into its path. I don’t know why I did it. Moments before he’d threatened to kill me, and yet…
My body grew warm. Atoms tickled between my fingers, then they started to jump. One by one and into the billions they lashed out, not exploding, but accelerating toward infinity; and there I was, thrown in every direction. At the end was a light so infinite that I could barely comprehend, and then nothing.
What happened to me?
* * * *
Do you ever wonder what it feels like to be dead? Not to die, but the things beyond it; when your body can no longer think or act, and what remains of you is wholly in abstract. How do you think it feels?
I thought back to a time before I was born, and drew the same blank; unawareness, coupled with indifference, peace without joy or sorrow. And yet there was memory and a whole life viewed from the outside. There were countless moments piecing it together, only for it to trail into nothingness.
The light was overwhelming, and drowned whatever remained. Was I really dead?
Suddenly I gasped, and drew breath like it was my first. Air filled my lungs like fire, and ran like a surge to the top of my head. I was dazed, numb, and cold, abandoned by whatever supernatural force cradled me in that lab; except I was no longer in the lab.
I was outside. It was night. A cool breeze washed over my face. I was sitting in long grass. How I’d come to be there, or how much time had passed were the last thoughts on my mind. Sensations were ramped to a thousand, and left me spinning. One moment I was nothing, and then everything.
Pain coursed through my side. Along with my body came the old injuries. I had to crawl toward the sound of traffic. Somewhere between the road and shock I started to cry.
“Please… help me… you’ve got to… help me…”
Last I saw was a set of headlights pulling off the curb. That’s when I lost consciousness. This time, however, I was actually asleep.
* * * *
He struck the water like a sledgehammer, and once he regained his senses fought his way back to the surface. Dr. Theodore Fellows, a man who’d fallen from heaven’s grace, clawed for the sky, and a way back to that divine light.
It took all of a minute for him to regain his senses, and to be aware of his predicament. He was cold, wet, and floating along the northern end of the river, under the lights of the Allison Frank Memorial Bridge. Equally concerning was the loss of time, as it was night.
After making a start for the shoreline he considered the consequences of his actions. Was the experiment a success, in spite of the strange result? He may have spared a thought for his criminal cohorts were they worthy of him. After the event it seemed doubtful their relationship could continue.
The doctor trudged through the muddy bank and to a gravel path. The things he had seen were burned into his memory, and as he settled they took shape. One thought compounded into another, until epiphany found him under the old steel bridge.
“I know how to do it,” he whispered. For the first time in a long time, Teddy Fellows smiled.
To be continued...
It was the best truck stop sandwich I’d ever eaten. The bread was stale, the lettuce wilted, and gods only knew the deal with the egg salad, but it was solid enough to keep me from shaking to pieces.
I sat in the corner of the Sheriff's office and pulled the blanket they’d given tight. The events leading up to that point circled in my head; one moment I was being held at gunpoint, and the next I was in a ditch, screaming my lungs out. Between them were several hours and twenty miles into the next county no-one could explain.
Tears prickled as I curled into my lap. Every part ached for the familiar; my own bed, and my family. Whatever that strange light it ripped them away, and cast me into the unknown. Something greater than myself looked past where I stood, and blew the world into frightening proportion.
The sheriff knocked on the glass and peered inside. He mercifully ignored my sobs, and cleared his throat. “Son, your parents are here.”
I peered through the blinds and toward the front desk where my parents stood wrapped together in grief. It took all my restraint not to run to them like a small child; by the time I landed in their arms I was a weeping mess. Nothing else mattered except we were together.
Once my nerves had settled I pulled back. There was a woman standing with us. She wore a pressed pants suit, her hair in a bob, and an understanding smile. On any other day she might have seemed pleasant enough.
“This is Dr. Fox,” Dad said. “She’s a... well, she’s a lot of things. She oversees health concerns at InfiniTech.”
“Please don’t be alarmed,” she said. Her voice was husky and melodic. “What you just experienced was traumatic, to say the least. I’m here to make sure that you’re taken care of. Whatever you need, just ask.”
My father tensed, but nodded that things were okay. Both my parents were tired, but Dad especially was haggard. That was only natural, I supposed; after watching his only child stolen away by a man with a gun, his day was almost as bad as mine.
I followed Dr. Fox to the kitchenette at the back of the station and sat opposite her. She opened her notebook and inhaled, no doubt sensing the way her questions were going to cut.
“Why don’t we start from the beginning?” she said.
I told her the story, including every detail I could recall. Throughout the session I stared at the countertop and gazed between the flecks on the pattern. As soon as she heard what she needed I could go home.
* * * *
The key to any craft is discipline, but when inspiration calls to lend its favor only a fool refuses to listen. Such was the mindset of Dr. Theodore Fellows, who in lieu of sleep made his way to an industrial storage locker some miles from the waterfront.
He limped through the concrete labyrinth, and bowed his head in front of the security cameras. It was only a matter of time before police placed him as one of the InfiniTech perpetrators, if they hadn’t already, and linked him with the pseudonym who rented the space. By that time, of course, they would be too late.
Pulling the roller door closed and flicking the light switch he set to work, rummaging through old boxes filled with metal pieces, some finer than others. Over the years he’d accrued all sorts of technology, some of which had ‘disappeared’ from his place of work without management’s attention. Most would have fallen into the scrap pile, though deserved a better home in the hands of genius.
Hours passed as he toiled away. The authorities and his former colleagues were an afterthought; there was only the device in front of him, and seeing it through to completion.
Were he to dwell on it Dr. Fellows might not have been sure of his invention or its purpose. All that existed in his mind was the vision, and an absolute drive to bring it from the light and into the world.
Time drew to a stand-still when all of a sudden the first piece was complete. It was small and constructed with delicate pieces, some of which had no place outside of an official site. There remained a unique programming interface to be written for something so specialized, though the mere physical realization was awe inspiring on its own.
Dr. Fellows reached to touch it, and circled his fingers through the vacant core. “Now it needs a power source,” he whispered.
As though smiling upon him from the ether fate answered the doctor with the sudden blink of electronic lights. The machine stirred to life and hummed, agitating the air within the space. Gravity shifted, teetering one way to the next, before sending the doctor stumbling back. Once his fingers fell from the core the scenery regained its composure, and the machine returned to rest.
A supernatural mystery had presented itself, and any trepidation Dr. Fellows might have experienced was superseded by incredible need. He found his feet again, and with all the caution of jungle prey reached to the core of the device once more.
Just as hypothesised the machine jumped back to life, causing the locker to twist and curl against the laws of physics. The doctor chuckled; to think he doubted such incredible destiny, and yet there he was, on the cusp of a new age.
Nobody could stand in his way.
* * * *
Four days passed.
At first I was relieved to get back to school. Recovery was a special kind of hell where all I could think about was that weird explosion. Tanya had also delivered the news that Adrian was on suspension. Things would be better without that jock thug kicking my ass; however, it still didn’t guarantee an easy ride.
Tanya guided me down the hall, and past the eyes of every gawker to stifle a gasp. It was a bizarre kind of celebrity where nobody dared to come close. First there was the car accident, then that weird explosion, which ultimately coalesced into school legend. What really happened? Only one person knew for sure.
“You’re as popular as ever,” Tanya said. She carried my backpack, and pushed others out of the way with sheer force of proximity. She caught their disgust in passing, and turned up her nose.
My weight was unbalanced without the crutches. Even after a lifetime practice, walking was suddenly alien. It took all my focus to remain upright.
“It was better when they didn’t know my name,” I said.
Second bell had rung by the time we reached my locker, and we had a chance to be alone. A tardy slip was worth it for the room to breathe, and hardly seemed to matter on the cusp of graduation.
I turned the combination, and opened up to a stack of mystery papers that had been stuffed through the slot. The first was an old yearbook photo blown up and marked with colored pens in feminine caricature. Next was a note; ‘Sorry I missed you at prom, princess. Signed, Beef Chaddington.’ The others followed a similar theme.
Tanya grit her teeth, and bashed a fist against the wall. She’d warned me about the speculation and the rumor mongering, but even she didn’t know how bad it was.
“At least they saved me the trouble of coming out,” I said with no assurance at all.
We slid to the linoleum, and groaned. The ‘no touching’ rule had also lost meaning as Tanya and I lounged on each other. No doubt a teacher would come to pry us apart and send us on our way, but we were going to steal every moment we could.
“Right now you’re either ‘princess’ or ‘the boy who lived’,” she groaned, “and I’m your boyfriend, but that’s nothing new.”
I sighed. “You’d make a pretty great boyfriend.”
“You wish.”
We marinated in silence, and breathed. Thoughts of ditching swirled between us, but even that was too much effort. So, we stayed, and we sat.
* * * *
The day crawled like a dying woman. There were looks, like always, though charged with new interest. ‘What’s the deal with Cade?’ lingered in the ether. They’d heard the stories; I’d gone from queer to super-queer, and was even ‘pretending’ a girl.
Tanya had offered to drive me home, but I opted to walk. I told her I needed to clear my head, and get some exercise because of doctor’s orders. She understood, but didn’t like the idea; guilt tightened the corners of her smirk, as though fate had called her role as protector into question.
I dawdled for the next two blocks, lost in my thoughts, not paying attention further than the sidewalk. The traffic was quiet enough that I didn’t bother to look before crossing. When I heard the roar of the engine it was too late.
In the final moments I caught his face; the specter of death, Adrian Dempsey. Something inside him had snapped. This wasn’t one of his scare games. Hate flavored spittle flew against the inside of the windscreen.
Fear surged through my veins. I closed my eyes and prepared for the inevitable. Adrian’s grill charged toward my legs, and then there was a flash. It was so bright that it shone through my flesh, and it was warm. Then, it was gone.
I heard the engine as it sputtered out, and turned to look. Inside Adrian bashed the wheel and guided the vehicle to the side of the road. The driver raged; his beast had been neutered. Something had happened in that split second that I couldn’t explain.
When I looked down I saw that my hands were glowing. Shimmering gold tickled my skin, and started to fade. Where did it come from? I looked back to the car, and struggled to connect the dots.
“What the hell did you do to my car?” Adrian bellowed, as though I was somehow responsible.
I limped like a wounded gazelle into the main street, and only stopped to make sure he wasn’t following. I was alone; he wasn’t going to leave his car, not even to chase me.
My hands continued to glow, though it was dwindling fast. What was happening to me?
* * * *
There’s a place on the edge of town where people go to be alone; mostly kids skipping school, or smoking, but you get all types. It’s not hard to find for those who know the way.
I snuck through the hole in the chain-link fence by the third post after the housing estate, then dropped onto the embankment, and followed it to the end. From there was a gravel path that lead under the bridge.
It was a good spot to avoid bother, especially at night. Maybe that’s why Tanya was so weirded out when I asked her to meet me there. It was at least an hour after sunset, and the place didn’t come with its own lights.
She pointed a flashlight into the darkness; it didn’t cover half the six lanes of road sitting above. “Hello?” she called, like she was calling to a pack of wolves.
“Hey, I’m in here!” I pointed my own flashlight back and waved her inside.
Tanya’s steps crunched as she wandered into the shadows. Her silhouette blurred against the beam pointed my way, but I could still make out the pissed off look she was wearing. “Okay, so where’s the body?”
I inhaled and took a few steps back. “You’re not going to believe me. Gods, I’m not even sure I believe me!”
“Cut the suspense and tell me,” she said.
“Just watch.”
It had taken the better part of the afternoon to master, even if I didn’t understand; I held my breath and focused on my center of gravity. Soon the divine warmth rushed under my skin, reaching into every corner of my body. Finally it poured out, and lit up my skin along with the underside of the bridge. Suddenly I was no longer a human being, but an angelic beacon shining in the night.
I held up my hand and stared. Not only had I changed, but so did the world. Even the sky looked different; not like a sheet of black speckled with stars, but a cosmic rainbow telling the story of the universe. Beneath it was the bridge, and then Tanya whose body was radiating with heat. She trembled, trying to decide which way to run.
“Don’t be scared,” I told her. “I’m not going to hurt you. Trust me, I know how weird this is, and maybe I should have given you a better warning, but I thought it’d be better if I just showed you.”
Tanya dropped her flashlight, and tensed on her haunches. “No, I don’t think you have any idea how weird this is.” She moved a step forward, and ran a hand down the length of my aura. “KC, what in the seven hells am I looking at here?”
The lights extinguished as soon as I relaxed. I grabbed my flashlight and stepped toward Tanya, slowly. “Remember that lab accident, and that guy who tried to kill me? I know it’s cliche, but I… I think something happened to me.”
She was still as I told her the story; about InfiniTech and lunch with my Dad, the thief and the machine, and about the light. Then I told her about the interrogation, and about Adrian trying to run me down with his car; and how I’d gone home, and swore never to use this power again, only to fiddle with it less an hour later.
After that she was quiet; more than I could stand. Did she hate me? Maybe, I wondered, this was what it took to finally convince her I was a freak.
Finally, she spoke.
“I’ve just got one question,” she said. “Well, two. Are you or are you not an alien posing as my best friend, and is it or is it not your intention to ingest your hybrid alien invasion babies inside me?”
“Uh, not that I know of.”
“Good enough.” She threw herself and wrapped her arms around mine, then lifted me from the ground. Bear hugs had to be a good sign.
“So you’re not upset?”
“Not upset,” she said, “but profoundly weirded out. I can’t promise to understand this, but you’re my bestie. I’d be the queen of all jerks if I ditched you because you glow in the dark.”
I smiled. Gods, I was even crying.
“You know, I don’t just glow in the dark,” I said. “The more I play around with this, the more I can do with it.”
Tanya lit up like a Christmas tree. “Show me!”
I’d learned a few tricks in the last several hours, like how to turn up the brightness; all I had to do was think about it. Then I turned it down, dimming the glow to as dull as I could manage. Once Tanya’s eyes adjusted she reached out, paused, and placed her hand on mine.
“You’re warm,” she said.
“It doesn’t hurt. Actually, I don’t feel much of anything. It’s just like when your foot falls asleep, but over my whole body.”
“So weird…”
I grinned at her. “Want to see what else I can do?”
I pointed a finger in the direction of a concrete slab. On it was a line of cans set in a row. Closing one eye I took aim and pushed the energy in my chest, forcing a burst to knock the first of the cans into the water. Each fell as I knocked them off their perch; my aim was getting better. Finally, one remained.
“You realize that with this power you could be a bona-fide superhero,” Tanya said.
I laughed. “Yeah, maybe if I wanted to rescue a rave party.”
“But-but you have super-powers!”
“Weak super-powers,” I said. “What am I going to do; chase bank robbers and go ‘pew pew’ at them?”
Tanya stopped for a moment. “Can those blasts come from anywhere, or do they just come from that one finger?”
“Uh, I guess I could do it from anywhere. I don’t know. I haven’t tried.”
“What if you tried blasting from five fingers at once? You know, like a kind of super-charge.”
“You’re going to keep saying ‘super-everything’ now, aren’t you?” I said, not that her idea wasn’t interesting.
I turned to the final can, and stared it down like a would-be arch-nemesis. My fingers pointed and focused the energy coursing through my arm. The beam exploded like a cannon with power enough to lift me from the ground. I flew back, and didn’t dare to open my eyes until regaining my balance. When I did, I was three feet off the ground.
Tanya grinned at the concrete slab, where a large corner had evaporated. “That was amazing! You just…!” She turned and gasped. “Oh my god. No way!”
Don’t ask me how I did it; my body stood suspended in the air. No matter how hard I kicked for for the ground it wasn’t getting any closer. With every passing moment the drop grew more ominous.
“A little help?”.
Tanya clasped my ankle and pulled me down. When I was close enough to earth I powered down and fought for breath.
“What just happened?”
“I think this is your origin story,” Tanya said. “Don’t you see what this means, KC? You were given a gift. Nothing will be the same after this.”
And the understatement of the millennium award goes to...
* * * *
It was late by the time I arrived home, and there was no porch light to greet me. I crept through the dark, pressed into the door, and stopped when I saw the kitchen illuminated from down the hall. Someone must have forgotten to flick the switch, but no; it was Dad, leaning against the bench and staring into the void.
I poked around the corner, and knocked on the counter so as not to startle him. “You okay?” I asked.
One looked answered that question. He inhaled, and shook himself back to reality. His eyes were so dark his bags had bags, yet there he was still dressed in his clothes from work, far from bed.
Dad looked up to me and forced a smirk. “I thought you were staying at Tanya’s tonight.”
“I was, but… I wanted some time to myself.”
He nodded and returned to idling. “Yeah. Yeah, I really get how that goes.”
In all my life I’d never seen him so weighed down; not by work, not when he and Mom fought, not even when confronted with a child whose gender he couldn’t make sense of. There was always a quiet resolve in him to take care of problems as they happened. Suddenly, there was another man standing in his place.
I shrugged my bag to the floor and pulled a stool from the bench. “Listen, Dad. I need to ask you about something…”
“Anything,” he said.
The words stuck in the back of my throat, but I had to know. “What actually happened out there? You know, at the lab.”
He paused for a moment, and sighed. He loaded a filter into the coffee maker and took a deep breath. “Seeing as it landed you in a hospital for the second time in as many days I think you have the right to know; but what you came into defies explanation. Even if I were to break it down, I’m not sure you’d believe me.”
“Aliens?”
Dad pursed his lips. “Bigger.”
My jaw tightened. “Godzilla?”
He arched upright against the counter. “The universe,” he said, “is infinite. Its range transcends physical measurement, and its age defies time as a concept. We can observe it, but only up to a point; and most things that exist beyond that are documented predominantly in the hypothetical. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
“That the universe is really big,” I said.
His tone was flat, of a man crushed by the scale of things. “Bigger than we can see,” he said. “It exists on planes that supersede the human scope. A good deal of what exists in the macroverse, or even possible multiverses, can only be observed through their effect. We see shadows of how the macroverse touches us, but not the macroverse itself.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “This is all too much. I don’t even know what a macroverse is, and what does this have to do with those guys who attacked us?”
Dad stepped around the counter and moved to my side. “Imagine - and bear with me a moment - imagine that something from outside of our universe, something primordial, made contact with our reality. As it happens these encounters are quite frequent. We just can’t see it.”
“Okay...”
“There was a... person,” he said; even that was too much. “He wasn’t satisfied with presenting a theoretical model; he was determined to prove this phenomenon as objective reality. Because of that people got hurt, including you.”
I stared at my sneakers, and tensed. Details of that day came flooding back as if they were still happening. “You mean the man who took me.”
“Don’t tell anyone I told you,” he said.
“I won’t. I promise.”
He shrugged and turned back to the coffee pot. “You’re under no obligation to believe me, of course. I know it’s too extraordinary to be believed.”
On any other day I might have laughed it off; it was like something out of bad science fiction. These things didn’t happen in the real world, and they didn’t happen to people like me, yet there I was, all too aware of the power that ran under my skin.
I grabbed his shoulder, and squeezed. “How can I not believe you? Even if I don’t understand it, I believe you.” I leaned against him and shared the exhaustion. “There are no words for what I saw. At this point I’d believe just about anything, really.”
Dad nodded, and blinked the sleep from his eyes. “Despite all the hurt he caused, not to mention the property damage, his theories are still considered hypothetical. That man gave us a light show, trauma, and not much else.”
If only he knew.
* * * *
It was the limitations of humanity that saw Dr. Fellows asleep at his station. Inspiration drove him in one direction and nature another, his say on the matter be damned. It was not restful by any stretch, merely inevitable.
Suddenly the locker door rolled open, prompting the doctor to attention. He landed in the gaze of a semi-automatic handgun, which came as some surprise; less so was the bitterness painted across McVeigh’s stare. Perhaps confrontation was a matter of time, and fate chose that moment to let it happen.
“You’ve got some kind of nerve,” the gunman seethed. “My team, my friends, half of ‘em are going to jail because of you! Worse, you made ‘em an accessory to kidnapping!”
The doctor exhaled, and arched upright. “Had you known what I was really planning you would have never gone along with it,” he said. There was no remorse in his tone; only the cold statement of fact. What would be the purpose of regret, even then as he stared vengeance in the eye?
“I guess we’ll never know, will we.” McVeigh cocked the hammer of his weapon, and scraped his lower lip with his teeth.
Dr. Fellows did not flinch. Instead he straightened the metal frame latched to his left arm. Even as he slept the device, though incomplete, remained attached. Quiet as a whisper the core hummed to life, and blinked sporadically in muted purple.
“Would you like to see what it was for?”
McVeigh tisked, and tightened his aim. With each consecutive pull of the trigger the suppressor dumbed the roar. High end rounds fired into the doctor’s chest; only the bullets never landed. At close range a hit was guaranteed, but Dr. Fellows remained on his seat, unimpressed as he was unscathed.
He fired again, and again, and again, until the clip was empty. Each time McVeigh failed to hit his target, or any target. The walls, benches, and surrounding equipment were also unharmed. It was if his bullets had vanished into thin air.
Slack-jawed and stupefied, he threw the gun to the ground. “What the hell did you just do?”
Dr. Fellows did not need to smile for his satisfaction to show. “Don’t look behind you.”
Suddenly the gunman’s back exploded. One shot after the other tore into his flesh and buried between his shoulders. The agony in his features flashed until the contents of a full clip were spent, and gravity pulled him to the concrete.
McVeigh gasped like a fish on a dock. Blood filled his lungs, just as it poured from his wounds. He twitched from head to toe, and fought for every moment of consciousness he had left.
“I should thank you,” the doctor said. The machine flexed around his palm, and whirred with pseudo-satisfaction. “Without you none of this would be possible. I know that even now, as you shuffle this mortal coil, you’ll fail to appreciate that fact, but far be it from me to not offer thanks when they are due.”
Somewhere before the shock McVeigh managed to choke out some choice words. Dr. Fellows knelt by his side, and lifted his head.
“You don’t understand,” he rasped. “This work is so much bigger than you and I. It had to be done. Any sacrifice, and every sacrifice, was worth it to achieve this final goal. After today, there is no longer such thing as ‘science fiction’.”
The last moments of McVeigh’s life were without joy or meaning. Not even his petty vengeance had been realized. Instead all he had left was a mess begging to be cleaned.
With the wave of a hand the body disappeared, leaving only trace amounts of the former gunman, but even that was merely an afterthought. Dr. Fellows crossed the floor, past the stains, and reached to pull the door closed. There was still much work to do, and he’d lost more than enough time to distraction.
To be continued...
I woke with my arms shackled over my head to a large steel conductor. The weight of my body wrenched them down, and ached with every movement. Whatever Dr. Vortex had planned was going to be worse than the BDSM nightmare I found myself.
Through the uneven panels of corrugated iron I could make the slivers of his coat as he moved between workstations. He moved in slow motion as though trudging through a swamp; or maybe it was the haze looming from above.
Get it together, I chided myself. As soon as I was free the fight would start again, and I would need every ounce of wit to survive.
Dr. Vortex rounded the wall and strolled in my direction. With little care he raised my chin and shone a penlight into each of my eyes. Resisting him earned a firmer grip in which he yanked my gaze toward his. Once his examination was over he left my face to drop.
“This next portion requires you to be conscious,” he said. “It will be very painful, but if it brings you any comfort try and remember that it’s for a good cause.”
I wheezed more than I spoke. “What’re you… going… to do?”
He circled the ring to inspect the couplings, and my shackles. Of course he anticipated an escape attempt. “More than your pedestrian mind could ever comprehend,” he mused, his attention on finer things.
The makeshift laboratory was a scene from DIY hell with sharp edges and bolts strewn across the dusty floor. Toward the centre was a gaping hole torn into the concrete from which cables thicker than my arm snaked into various panels, along with the stocks holding my limbs.
His grimace remained neutral as he turned to a panel while copying code from one screen to another. How long did it take for him to piece all this together? There was no mistaking his intellect; a shame he spent it in the service of ego.
My fists crunched the faux leather gloves. “All those people you hurt… you don’t… deserve… power…”
Dr. Vortex flinched, and allowed the insult to wash past him. “Human suffering is temporary,” he said. “Yours and mine included. Why concern myself with the pain of others? History certainly won’t remember.”
The words had come from his mouth, but were still hard to swallow. How could one person be so cold?
I shook the dizziness from behind my eyes. “Is that why you’re... doing this; for some kind of ‘greater good’?”
He said nothing at first, and doted on the numeric sequence that danced across the monitor. Once satisfied he turned away, and hummed as he moved to another station. “If I have an obligation to humanity as a whole it will be better served with the power you currently possess. In the meantime, my only interest lies in taking what’s mine.”
“Who do you... think you are? God?”
His chuckling echoed across the cavernous space. “Not a god; merely his protégé. If there is such thing as a celestial watchmaker then I am the repair man. I have seen his creation, and surely even you agree that it is in need of adjusting.”
“Your… head… needs adjusting,” I spat.
My torso contorted this way and that to pull free. My shoulders ached with proverbial knives driving into my spine. Worse, no matter how hard I tried there was no tapping my powers. Just when I’d gotten used to them, they were gone.
“You’ll find it no use to access your primatter abilities,” the doctor called.
“Wha…?”
He peered back to explain. “The extradimensional force that fuels your holographic form. It is powered by the building blocks of reality itself, and currently being syphoned for my own purposes. Without them you are helpless.” With that he turned back to his work, as though his statement was simple fact.
Suddenly the interconnected rings I was shackled to started to grind against each other in garish rhythm. A pale hue flickered from its heart, and pulled sparks from my skin. The machine was bleeding me; I could feel it, prickling through my veins, and not stopping until I was only a husk.
Not even my screams could blanket the pain. My eyes strained out of my head but I was blind to everything but the agony of having my powers ripped away. Every drop lost to him became a hollow corner of my spirit aching to be whole again.
Dr. Vortex stood before me and considered what he’d done. It was with the same indifference that I’d come to know him for.
“If it’s any consolation, you won’t have to live with the pain much longer,” he said.
My words were the kind you don’t make a habit of repeating, and they spilled from my mouth with delirium.
* * * *
Suddenly there was a snap across my face, and ringing in my ears. I was still in a haze, thicker than before, with a man’s voice roaring from the other side.
“Wake up!”
His hand flew across my other cheek and left a burning mark. I opened my eyes to the snarling teeth of Dr. Vortex as he grabbed my shoulder and held me in place. He slapped me again for good measure, and seethed in such a way his spittle landed on my chin.
“How dare you! Of all the unmitigated gall, to pass out in the middle of the process! I told you that you had to be conscious, and you, you pathetic… thing! You ridiculous little transvestite! You succumb to the pain like some fragile little lamb! Do you really expect me to work under these conditions?”
It was weird that I should be blamed for the consequences of his invention, and weirder still to watch him lose his cool. What happened to the distant, studious figure he prided himself on being? That man was gone, and in his place was someone made desperate. Maybe that was worse; or maybe it was a way out.
“Maybe… if… you used a surge regulator… or something,” I choked rather than giggled.
Dr. Vortex marched back to his station. “What would you know of it, child?”
“Only that… maybe… you shouldn’t be so… greedy! Ha!” The words were like sandpaper in my throat, but still I pushed.
Driven by rage the doctor flew back, and clasped at my throat. His other hand drew back, and paused. The boiling red of his brow eased some as reason pulled him back. His grip loosened.
“You will not goad me,” he said. “I need you awake and able to withstand the rest of the procedure.” Dr. Vortex marched back toward one of the consoles, unable to look back lest anger get the best of him.
The boards over the windows made it impossible to know for sure, but the room held the sense of night. Maybe it was the stale air that was uncooked by sun-beaten panels, or the rodents daring to move through the open. Who knows how long I’d been hanging there, stretched until my limbs froze in place.
It was minutes, maybe more when I heard sirens. Dr. Vortex turned to follow my ear, and caught them soon after. His response was immediate.
“You brought them here!”
“No,” I wheezed. “You said… no cops…”
Torn between his goal and the oncoming squad Dr. Vortex was forced to make a rash decision. He leaned close, grabbed a fistful of hair and twisted it until our eyes met. “Know that whatever happens is on your head!”
Maybe I should have been thankful, but wherever he blinked was destined for trouble. There were only a few minutes to make my escape from the iron clasped to my wrists, and the machine draining my power. Still, I had to try.
I pulled my arms until the joints were about to pop, and pulled some more. Come on, Glimmer Girl. This is your chance!
A metal clang echoed from the darkness, followed by the sound of grinding in the dirt. Something stirreds, though I couldn’t make out what. Was it the police? I pricked my ears to listen, but their sirens were still too far.
“Who’s there?” I coughed. “I’ve got... finger guns, and I’m not afraid to use them!”
The stranger poked her head into the light, and nursed a bright red fire axe she had no idea how to use. Of all the people willing to come to my rescue I should have known it would be Tanya Truman at the front of the line.
Scanning the laboratory she was cautious to get too close. “He’s gone, right?”
I shook my head to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Life had become a series of improbable events one after the other, but my best friend since grade school sneaking into a supervillain’s hideout took the cake.
She placed the weapon down, and combed over my wounds. The shackles were no less a mystery to her.
“Jeez, KC. What the hell did he do to you?”
It hurt to smile, but so did everything else. “Don’t… worry. I’m only… bleeding… on the inside…”
“Yeah, yeah. Great time for gallow’s humor,” she said. “We don’t have much time. How do I get you out of this thing?”
Before I could answer Tanya was scouring the benches and brushing tools aside in search of something, anything; a key, maybe? Not that there were any locks on Dr. Vortex’s machine. Letting me out alive was never on the cards for him.
“Can you use your powers?” she asked.
I shook my head. “The... machine-”
“Machine, right.” She followed the cable leading from the hole in the ground to the device I was shackled to, and back again. Her expression tightened as she claimed the axe. “Does this thing have an off switch?”
“I… don’t know…”
A mighty boom roared in the distance, and the siren sounds died like a bird of prey plucked from the top of the food chain. Neither of us had to be told to know what was happening.
Tanya stared at the thickest cable, and steeled her nerve. “I’m going to get you out of here,” she said.
“No, it’s… it’s live,” I gasped.
Her grip throttled the axe’s handle.
“Tanya, remember… who the superhero is… in this relationship!”
She bit her lip, and raised her weapon high. “I’ve been watching out for you since grade school, and I’m not about to stop now!”
With all of her strength multiplied by the heft of the blade she brought the axe down. It sliced through the cable like the body of a snake, and sent sparks flying into every corner. The rest was over in a split second, switching the circuit breakers and stripping the room of light.
I hung in the machine, still wrenching my arms with dead weight. Even with no power its hold was relentless. Then inside my chest there was stirring, and the power denied me was back in reach.
As a hologram it was a cinch to snap free, pulling semi-substantial hands from out of the shackles. My luminescence cast gold hues on the cluttered room, and to the corner where Tanya lay. In an instant I was by her side.
The weight in my chest sunk when I saw her arm bloody and burnt up to the shoulder. It was worse than the time Adrian suckerpunched her in sixth grade, and gave her a concussion. At best, there would be scars.
“That… hurt,” Tanya chuckled. She was shaking, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Damn right it hurt! How could you do something so stupid? Even for me! That was so beyond dangerous, I can’t even find the words!”
“We all know I’m the real superhero in this relationship,” she groaned, and she was right.
I tore the already shredded left leg of my costume and wrapped it around her arm. There were better bandages out there, but it managed to stop the bleeding. Hopefully it would last until she could get proper care.
By that time I was crying as well, but didn’t notice until Tanya wiped my cheek. “How did you even find me?”
She smiled a painful smile. “You know you’re internet famous, right? People have been posting sightings since you started. All it took was a search engine, registering accounts to some networking sites I’d usually never touch, and voila!”
I beamed at her from the corners of my mouth. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Stupider than swinging a fire axe at a live cable?”
“Heh, yeah.”
The room was silent enough to hear from miles away gunfire and heavy objects colliding with the earth. It was like sitting on the edge of a warzone, which it most certainly was, and traditional force didn’t stand a chance.
“I have to stop him.”
“You’re in no shape to fight,” Tanya said.
“He won’t stop until he has me, and until then everyone’s at risk. I don’t have a choice. I have to go to him.”
Sliding to the wall Tanya pulled herself upright, and beckoned me closer. “Just promise me something,” she said, and threw the full weight of her good arm around my neck. “Come back alive, okay? No matter what. You don’t let him win.” Her voice cracked with more emotion than even she was comfortable with.
I squeezed her back with all the strength that was left, and smirked. “You’re not going to try and make out with me now, are you?”
“Maybe,” she said, “if you weren’t like my freaking sister.”
Throwing myself back to the fight was crazy at best, but my conscience wouldn’t let me go any other way. In a burst of light I shattered the boards and flew into the sky, directly into Dr. Vortex’s sights.
* * * *
It was a scene of absolute mayhem. Cars and SWAT vans had been thrown from the asphalt strip and into the long grass.
Further down the road were plumes of smoke, thick enough for someone to get lost. There was yelling, but no gunshots; the police learned quickly that bullets wouldn’t help them.
I skirted along the ground and looped around before plunging into the cloud. My heart beat like a jackhammer; there was danger within, and all of it unseen. What kind of an idiot bet on those odds?
The smoke was dense as it was oppressive, and concealed everything more than two steps ahead. After a few feet I came across a pair of cruisers with windscreens cracked and chassis twisted. In the driver’s seat there was a bloody figure with a handkerchief pressed to his mouth. He didn’t look up as I glided past his door.
My only guide were the echoes flying across the ether. Their fear chilled the atmosphere. Who was in control? The only thing bringing us out was luck.
Dr. Vortex’s voice cut through the smoke, and my nerve, as articulately as ever. “Allow me to make this simple. You and your people double back and allow for me to conclude my work. In exchange you may collect your wounded, and continue your to live your lives ad nauseam.”
His ‘reason’ was anything but, and loomed like a dagger blaming its victim for where they stood. I followed the sound, making sure to keep my light down low. Just this once the element of surprise was on my side.
“You’ve seen what I can do,” he said. “It would be foolish to trust your eyes let alone the path of your bullets in the face of one such as myself; he who bends space, who with a single step may cross untold reaches! You, pitiful apes that you are in comparison, only have your loud, violent tools. Why resist a force that you cannot distinguish from sorcery?”
Suddenly there was a scream mingled with gunshots. Flashes through the smoke betrayed a man at his limit, whose only course of action was to unload a whole clip into nothingness. Just as quickly his primal cry was cut short by a gurgle, and a heavy thud on the asphalt.
It was the chance I’d been waiting for; that split second when Dr. Vortex looked the other way. Blazing at full speed my body shot toward a human shape, and tackled it from the side. I gripped the mad engineer with every ounce of fading strength, and pushed him through the cloud into the night air.
My shriek was dulled by the beating wind. “This ends now!”
Our bodies blinked together from one side of the globe to the other, and all points in between. The sun and the moon flashed before us, and under them were buildings, jungles, huts, glaciers and endless sand. Nature itself was turned on its head so that the force he manipulated would rend us apart.
For all my life I clung to him with my grip fast around my wrists. Not upturned gravity or the fists wailing at my shoulders would sway me as my holographic body burned its brightest. Photon heat shredded through his coat, and to the man beneath it.
“Let go of me!” he roared. Like hell I would.
In a final, desperate act he turned to the void. We fell together, directionless, silent and unprotected in the infinite. It was the scale of it that loosened my grip, and the fear I would never make it back to Earth. That was all Dr. Vortex needed to push away and float out of reach.
Still burning like a miniature star I latched his arm, and the device strapped to it. He couldn’t wrestle me away, at least before my aura fried his circuitry.
The last I saw of Dr. Vortex was in the look of surprise across his cracking skin. Was this the look of a man whose life flashed before his eyes? Did he have any regrets? I reached out to him, but by then it was too late.
A moment later the universe blinked and I was standing on the road. The smoke cleared to reveal the extent of Dr. Vortex’s carnage, while I grabbed at my limbs to make sure they were still there. Soon the adrenaline ran cold, and fear had a chance to catch up.
“Kid, you okay?”
I looked to the man in the tactical vest, but couldn’t find any words for him. In that moment I was convinced we’d seen the last of Dr. Vortex, and in spite of the exhaustion and trauma, nothing could be sweeter.
* * * *
Home just wasn’t the same after Dr. Vortex had been through it, which prompted designs to sell the house and relocate. Dad made a pet project of it; something to occupy his time while in recovery. After all that had happened he stopped trusting corners, and without powers to help him cope needed to find a new source of safety.
Before we knew it two weeks had past, and it was the day of graduation. There couldn’t have been a more perfect time to say goodbye to an old life, and start again.
Despite the rush I continued to dwell on my reflection, and somehow forgot to hate the person staring back. Between sandy hair sweeping over my brow, glossy lips that just seemed to pop, and the patterned green skater dress with the split sleeves the world just made more sense. Still, the butterflies in my stomach churched, almost making me wish for another supervillain.
It was 9:35 when the mini-van pulled to the curb, and Tanya exited the panel door with her arm in a sling. Even from upstairs I could hear her chirp like everything was still normal. Thank the gods for that.
“He’s just upstairs,” my mother said. The pronoun grated on my nerve the closer I came to the precipice.
Before she even passed the threshold I was in the hall and making my way down. A smile cut through every instinct to run and hide, or to explain it away as some kind of game. I descended into their line of sight, running my hand down the banister for support, and once I had their attention, stopped. I didn’t have to do much to earn it; only stand there.
Mom and Dad shuffled and turned to one another while their expressions did backflips. It might have been funny if there wasn’t so much riding on their reaction.
“Well,” I asked, “what do you think?”
Tanya nodded. “Suits you,” she said. Of course, this was old news to her.
We stood, frozen, the very picture of awkwardness. There was no kind of manual for this situation, at least that we’d ever read. Finally, my father shook his head and forced a chuckle. “What’s with the getup, kiddo? You’re either very early or very late for Halloween.”
Mom bit her lip. In her eyes she knew; she’d always known, but could never bring herself to face it. Now she would have to, whether she wanted to or not. She was about to say something, but I beat her to it.
“It’s because I’m a girl,” I told them; just like that, like it wasn’t a big deal, like it didn’t shatter the illusion they had since the day I was born.
Mom swallowed the lump in her chest. “You’re not a girl. I have the baby photos to prove it.”
“No, Mom, I’m a girl,” I said. “My name is Kaira, and this isn’t just dress up. I’m not gay. This is just… me. I’m trans. I don’t want to pretend to be a guy anymore. That’s not who I am. This is.”
The silenced balanced on a sharp point, ready to swing any which way. Tanya inched closer to take my hand, and was ready with the getaway van.
When my father spoke it was barely a mutter. “How long has this been going on?”
He didn’t need for me to answer, but I said so anyway. “Forever.”
Both parents gravitated toward each other in search of a solution. “And there’s no way we can talk you out of it?”
My heart wrenched to protect the girl inside, as though they could steal her away now she was revealed to them. I held to myself, determined to cast off any shame that was left. It didn’t belong to me anymore. Tears prickled my eyes. I smiled to keep from trembling.
“Why would you do that when I’m finally sort of happy?”
A million thoughts bounced across that tiny room with as many conversations spoken in a glance. This was the way of things from that moment forward.
Mom threw her arms around me, then my Dad. It was the only thing that made sense to any of us. We were connected in only a way that family could be, despite the confusion. To think I was scared of losing them over something that should have been so basic.
* * * *
It was a solemn graduation adorned with flowers for Adrian. Both principal and vice principal gave speeches in his honor, as well as the co-captain of the basketball team and one of the cheerleaders. He was remembered as a talented athlete, funny, and loyal to his friends. The way people spoke made me wish I knew that side of him; better that than the malignant bully that haunted my dreams.
Tanya clicked her tongue all through the ceremony. She leaned over to whisper in my ear. “You know the worst part? Now they get to canonise him, they can sweep all the horrible things he did under the rug. God, that pisses me off.”
She wasn’t wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to agree. Nobody deserved to die like that; not even Adrian. Maybe that’s why I held my tongue, and let the people who actually cared to have their moment.
Only a handful of people clapped when my name was called on stage; my Mom and Dad, Tanya’s folks, and a handful of teachers. Whatever. I was a high school curiosity, never popular, and showing up in a dress set that reputation in stone. The sooner it was done, the sooner I could leave this place behind.
Soon it was over, and Tanya and I sat under the bleachers by the track field. We lay on the grass, and carved a goodbye message into the aging wood supports - ‘KC + TT 4EVA’ inside of a star. It was the last time we would take refuge there, and good riddance to it.
Tanya kicked her feet back, and stared at the day slipping through the panels. “So, we’ve just finished high school. What do we do now?”
I stopped and thought about it. Once upon a time there was no future, and suddenly I was there, no longer hiding. I curled nearby with my knees pulled to my chest. “Go to college, get a job…”
“But first we have a kick-ass summer,” she grinned.
It was a nice idea, if we could pick up all the pieces before then.
Tanya groaned as she sat up, and positioned herself on her elbows. “What about… you know, her?”
The morning sun beamed down on top of us, washing the cosmos in its light, burning as if it would go on forever. That same force stirred in my chest. As long as it shone then so would I; whether as a Glimmer Girl, or an ordinary one.
The Beginning