[h3]Grey Minder [/h3]:
Name: Alex Ronald Moore
Alias: Grey Minder; Ironfist; and sometimes, to his chagrin - Punchy.
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 160 lbs. (more or less, the fact that he constantly manipulates gravity makes this a bit hard to determine)
Age: 32
Appearance:
[i]Civilian[/i]: Alex tends to dress very professionally, even when not working. He tends to wear khaki pants, a button up shirt and a vest. His hair is often unkempt and he often doesn't shave for several days at a time, often sporting a two day beard. His eyes are a light hazel.
[i]Superhero[/i]: Grey Minder is most often seen wearing an ornate grey robe and hood. Over this, he wears a chest harness that supports two over sized mechanical arms. (Think Vi from LoL, but with a Robe, I really hope the costume creator supports this)
Personality: Grey Minder has always had his own code when it comes to right and wrong. While there are things that are clearly defined as villainy, there are times when doing something evil in the pursuit of the greater good is needed. While he will never go so far as to kill someone, sometimes an opponent must be defeated in such a way that they will fear to ever try again. There are times, however, when he shows great patience with someone. He has a soft spot for children, and will often go out of his way to help them. Deemed "generally good" by the TCPD, he flirts a dangerous line at times.
Background: See Below (it is long)
Acquaintances:
[i]Meredyth[/i] "Tinker" [i]Spencer[/i] -- Childhood friend, A mechanical and electrical genius and part time superhero; she helped develop the "TESLA" (Tinker(c) Electric Super Laminate Armor) for Grey Minder. She has no sense of comedic timing, and is prone to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, but she tries her best at anything she does.
[i]Joel Caliburm[/i] -- An informant and street thug. He likes giving Grey Minder a bit of a hard time over his "fashion disaster of a costume", but can usually find out about anything that goes on in the Northeastern Research District.
[i]Emily[/i] "Emmy" [i]Hayden[/i] -- On again off again girlfriend to Alex. A bit paranoid about how often Alex is gone, she doesn't realize that he is a superhero.
Gear / Weapons:
"[i][b]TESLA[/b][/i]": Despite being called armor, this contraption more closely represents two over-sized arms and a chest harness. It has the ability to absorb electric damage that is directed at the user, and can be overcharged to allow Grey Minder to strike with a "shocking" result.
[i]Talisman[/i]: A talisman of unknown potential, it appears to be part of a set. It radiates magic.
Skills / Abilities / Talents:
[i]Gravity Manipulation[/i]: Grey Minder passively generates an area of increased gravity around himself. Under his direct control, he can cause this effect to crush nearby enemies. He can also alter the force and direction of gravity in a localized area.
[i]Increased Endurance and Durability[/i]: As a result of constantly being under the effects of heavy gravity, Grey Minder has developed a greater than normal endurance and durability.
[i]Close Combat Training[/i]: Grey Minder has spent over a decade learning how to combine boxing and his gravity manipulating abilities to form what he refers to as "Heavy Fist"
[i]Jury-rig[/i]: Grey Minder, after a long time working with Tinker, has picked up a moderate amount of knowledge concerning electrical and mechanical systems. Even if he doesn't know exactly how something is supposed to be assembled, he can usually find a way to put things together so that it works, at least temporarily.
Flaws / Weaknesses:
[i]Questionable Alignment[/i]: Given how frequently Grey Minder switches between "heroic" and "villainous" actions, he is viewed by most heroes as a wildcard that they don't completely trust. Likewise, the truly villainous elements of Titan City don't trust him, fearing that he may turn on them.
HOLY COW, How did this get this long!!!
I swear I wasn't intending to write a small book when I started this. If anyone can tell me how to collapse each section into blocks so this doesn't take up so much room, it would be much appreciated.
Still a Work in Progress
================================
[strong]Innocence and Youth[/strong]
================================
Alex, eleven, sat below the shade of a tree, ignoring the rest of the neighborhood kids as they played a game of kickball. He didn't like coming here, but he couldn't go home just yet. No one was there; his mother was at work and wouldn't be home until later. Normally, that wouldn't matter, but last week someone had called the TCPD to report it.
"Don't they have anything better to do" Alex muttered under his breath. "Stupid cops, I can take care of myself, no one needs to worry about it".
He couldn't go home though. His mom had a yelling match with the neighbor when she had found out they were the ones who had called the cops. He couldn't deal with that again, so he would stay here after school and wait for her to pick him up. Besides, he had found a new book in the library today and was anxious to read it, "Heroes Tales -- Symphony vs. Grimlock". Like every other book in the series, it told the tales of the battles of heroes and villains from right here in Titan City.
"So cool" he said as he as he turned each page, waiting to find out what happened next. He knew though, the hero always won, that was the way the world worked. Heroes win, villains go away, and the world goes on.
================================
[strong]Shattered Illusions[/strong]
================================
Three Years Later --
Alex looked around, he hadn't meant to be out this late, and his favorite show was going to be on in . . .
"Geez, fifteen minutes to get home."
BBBRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!!
"What?!?"
"Look at that" someone said behind him "a bank robbery!!"
They were right, the alarm was coming from the bank, located down the street half a block, but seriously, who robs a bank in Titan City? The place is crawling with super heroes.
As if on cue, a blinding flash of light erupted in front of the bank.
"Oh, it's Luminissa" the couple behind him said.
Alex had heard of her before. She was one of the super heroes that he had heard his mom talking about. Alex had heard about a lot of the heroes in the city, however, his mother didn't like him spending all of his time talking about them. She would always tell him that he should focus on his school work rather than worrying about what the heroes in the city were up to.
Luminissa took a quick look at the bank, ascended the steps, and entered the building.
Three loud shots fired out and everyone in the area ran for cover. Alex stood there, transfixed. He had actually SEEN a real life superhero. Luminissa would be fine, the people in the bank would be fine, the bad guys would go to jail, and everything would be fine, that's the way these things work.
A brief flash of light could be seen from inside the building, and then a crash was heard as a man in a ski mask flew through the banks glass door and down the concrete stairs. Something didn't look right in the way he landed.
"Why isn't he getting up?" Alex thought to himself. He could hear the man from down the street, and was he, crying?
Another man flew out the banks door, but this man quickly got back to his feet. He reached for something in his jacket and pulled out a large pistol. "That BITCH!!" Alex heard the man yelling. The second man, the one that was standing, began shooting wildly into the bank. A few screams could be heard from inside as the sound of sirens could be heard coming from the distance.
Luminissa slowly walked out of the bank, casually ignoring the shots that were being fired her way. As she walked down the stairs, she came to the first man, he was prone on the ground and crying, and she crushed his leg. The man screamed and then passed out.
"This isn't right, it's not supposed to go like that," Alex said to himself "she's supposed to . . . tie them up or something".
Luminissa advanced on the second man, quickly catching him despite his attempts to flee. She grabbed his left arm, made a quick motion, and suddenly the robbers arm began swinging wildly at his side. He screamed.
"NO, that's not right" Alex heard himself say aloud, as if to prove that this wasn't truly happening.
Luminissa leaned in and said something to the man, still holding him by his left arm. She touched the robbers' forehead with her left hand, and his entire body was suffused with a dull light. As she let go of his arm, the man fell to the ground.
A brief flash of light, and Luminissa was gone.
An ambulance rounded the corner. "An ambulance?" Alex thought to himself. He had thought it was the police, but why would they send an ambulance, unless they knew there was a superhero around and they didn't need the police, but why would they need an ambulance. Unless they knew what was going to happen. Unless they knew that this was going to be the outcome. That these men were going to need to go to the hospital, because . . . because . . . that's what superheroes did. They beat up bad guys so badly that they had to go to the hospital. They didn't capture them and put them in jail like all the stories say. They beat these people until they couldn't resist. These "Heroes" were the school bully, but there wasn't a teacher around to stop them. They did whatever they wanted.
Around him, people cheered.
================================
[strong]Rising Storms[/strong]
================================
Two Months Later --
Alex had turned on the news, hardly paying attention to it as his mom came in the door.
". . . of super hero crimes against the common man. They should be held accountable for . . ."
"Hi mom." Alex said.
"Hey hun, you get your school work done?"
"Yep. What's for dinner?"
"Let's see . . . We could go try out Infinity Pizza if you wanted."
Alex thought about it for a second, pizza did sound good but "No." Infinity Pizza was supposed to be pretty good from everything he had heard, but it was built in honor of some super hero and he couldn't help but think of what he had witnessed at the bank a few months ago when he thought about superheroes.
"Oh, come on, I know you like pizza, plus I don't have anything defrosted."
Alex just shook his head.
"Or, we could see if Mr. and Mrs. Spencer are doing, I know their daughter would be happy to see you."
"MMMOOOMMM."
"Pizza it is then."
-----
Infinity Pizza was a new restaurant, open less than a month, but there was a huge crowd outside. From the passenger seat of his moms' car, Alex could see a man standing on a podium. It looked like he was giving a speech. Several members of the crowd were holding signs, though he couldn't read them from the back.
"Damnit!" his mother exclaimed.
Alex looked at his mother, wanting to ask a question, but not daring to. His mother cursed so rarely, he knew that there must have been something wrong.
"Uhm, looks like we'll have to go somewhere else tonight."
The Next Day --
"You were there last night!?!" Meredyth practically sqealed.
"Well, we passed by it, anyway, what's the big deal?" Alex sharply replied. It wasn't that he didn't get along with her, she was just . . . weird. She was more interested in machines than people sometimes. Meredyth was always looking to figure out how something worked. Plus his mom was always teasing him that she was his girlfriend. He couldn't stand that.
"Oh," Meredyth said, looking at her feet "I just thought, well, you know."
"What?"
"That . . . well, did you see the news this morning? They say that the people outside the pizza place, uhm, Overwatch, I think they were called, said that "Infinity" is really some guy named Morgan something or other. That he works the mall around here and that they had proof that he is "Infinity".
"Really? And why would a superhero be working at a mall?" Alex asked, mind running with thoughts.
"Well, do you think they go out in costume all the time?"
"No, but . . " Alex thought about it. It was true. There were superheroes that EVERYBODY knew, but that was who they were in costume. No one knew who they were when they weren't.
"Such a kid" Meredyth said as she punched his shoulder.
"Am not!" Alex exclaimed, realizing in that instance how much he sounded like a six year old.
"But why would they do that? I mean, tell everyone who Infinity really was."
"I don't know. Maybe you could find someone and ask them, anyway, let's get back to class. Mr. Theason will be mad if we are late again."
-----
O - V - E - R - W - A - T - C - H
Enter.
"Lets see, uhm, age restricted internet content. No, next, security device and manufacturing, nope."
OVERWATCH + SUPERHERO
OverWatch - a group that seeks to reveal the secret identity of superheroes. That doesn't sound too bad Alex thought, but it didn't explain "why" they did what they did.
"Maybe if . . . " click click click, "here we are" click click click.
Do You Wish to Sign Up to Receive Our Newsletter?
"Yes, maybe I'll find something in there".
Alex scanned the contents of the newsletter, but all it seemed to contain were reports of sightings of superheroes and a request that anyone that had seen a superhero let them know.
"Well, that was useless." Alex muttered to himself.
================================
[strong]Truth and Consequences[/strong]
================================
One Week Later --
"That test was HAAAARRDD!" Alex exclaimed, "You'd have to be some kind us super genius to pass that thing."
"It wasn't so bad" Meredyth said, smiling. "I mean, you did study right?"
". . ."
"Thought so, anyway, come on. If we don't get there soon, all the seats will fill up."
Alex considered his situation for the third time that day. He wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but he had ended up agreeing to go with Meredyth to the science museum after school today. Some big exhibit was being shown on electricity and Meredyths mother wouldn't let her go alone. His mom had been more than happy to suggest that the two of them go together. "Just so that if something bad happens, both of us get hurt" Alex kept thinking.
"Besides, they say that 'Blue Dynamo' may show up."
Blue Dynamo was a new superhero in the city. He was supposed to be able to control electricity or something like that. Alex wasn't really overly impressed. And seriously, why would a superhero be giving a lecture at a science museum?
By the time they had arrived at the science museum, Meredyth had already finished him about everything that the exhibit was supposed to show.
"Then why go if you already know everything that's going to be there."
"I read about it, but I want to actually SEE it. Besides, what if the Blue Dynamo actually does show up. I mean, who wouldn't want to meet a real life super hero?"
Alex considered telling her that he didn't want to, but held his tongue.
The exhibit was everything that she said it would be, from the Van de Graaff generator to the display on electric eels. Neither of them completely understood everything that was said, but Meredyth was thoroughly engrossed.
No Blue Dynamo though.
As they left the museum, Alex and Meredyth heard a museum employing speaking with someone through a half opened door.
"Look, Mr Dynamo, the next tour group won't be through for another two hours. If you want to wait until then, we can get you in on the tour, but the last group has already left."
"I'll be back in an hour" the other voice said.
Meredyth grabbed Alex tightly by the arm, "Didn't that sound just like Mr. Theason?!?"
"I guess, you know, maybe if we can get him to say 'put down your pencils and pass your papers forward' we'd know for sure." Alex glibly remarked. He knew though, that voice, after listening to him drone on for an hour a day for the last three months, he knew that voice.
-----
"You have a new message" his e-mail chirped as he got on his computer.
"Hmm, oh, that OVERWATCH newsletter"
Alex browsed the title of each article, nothing drawing his interest until he came across one that read "Blue Dynamo to Appear at Science Museum".
"Almost" Alex thought to himself.
There were several theories as to who "Blue Dynamo" was, ranging from a power station worker to another hero that went by "Shock Cannon" that mysteriously disappeared several years ago. Alex dismissed a few of the theories, laughed at some, and thought that maybe a few of them may have had merit. But he knew the truth, and so, as his mother had always taught him, he told the truth.
-----
"Well, that's it then" Meredyth said, "Three days Mr. Theasons been gone this week. He must really be sick."
"Yeah, I guess" Alex replied. He had had a sick feeling in his stomach when Mr. Theason didn't show up yesterday. Today would mark the fifth day he'd been gone, counting the weekend. There had been a few replies to his post suggesting that his teacher was really a superhero, but then the thread was locked. He didn't want to let himself think that he might be partly responsible for Mr. Theasons dissapearance, but he couldn't shake that nagging feeling. He had asked his mother about OverWatch a couple of nights ago. She said that they were a radical group of individuals that wanted revenge on superheroes because they blamed them for some reason or another. When he pressed the issue, his mother told him just to stay away from them and that he shouldn't listen to what they were saying because all of it was lies.
He wanted to believe her, but, after what he had read, a lot of what is said was right. He had seen what had happened to the two men that tried to rob that bank. He knew how superheroes captured these criminals. OverWatch couldn't want revenge, could they? These were superheroes, what could they do to a superhero. He had contented himself with that thought for the last few days, but, he just wasn't sure.
Alex felt something in his hand and looked down. Meredyth was pressing her thumb between his fingers. "You awake there?" she asked.
"Yeah, just, stuff on my mind".
"Mmhhm. Well, when you get back down to earth, remember that YOU still have to study. I'm not letting you copy off of my test this time. You almost got me into trouble yesterday."
"Fine, fine."
-----
"I'd like to introduce you to your new teacher for the remainder of . . ."
Alex couldn't even pay attention. The only reason they would be given a new teacher was if Mr. Theason wasn't coming back. He hadn't even realized he had raised his hand.
"Yes, uhm, Alex?"
"What happened to Mr. Theason?"
Several other students in the room had obviously had the same question as a small murmur of similar questions came forth.
"Mr. Theason has decided to stop showing up, so we had to replace him."
It was a curt answer, but it said so much to Alex. Mr. Theason was dead.
Two days later, the body of Blue Dynamo was found.
================================
[strong]Emergence of Talent[/strong]
================================
Three Years Later --
". . . and then, the whole thing just sort of sank."
"I don't really get it" Meredyth said. "I mean, was it like a sinkhole or something"
"I guess so" Alex responded. "Scared the hell out of me. They're going to have to fill it in so we can use the field for the next game."
"But it'll be fixed by Friday?"
"Yeah, no worries. Anyway, how did your thing go?"
Meredyth put on her biggest smile as she searched through her purse, finally pulling out a name badge on a long lanyard and handing it to Alex. It had a poorly taken picture of her, and a small barcode below it. Running down the side the letters spelled out "R.E.E.D".
"I don't get it, I thought you were going to apply at TCU, what's 'REED'?"
"You don't ever pay attention when I'm talking do you?" She said. "REED. It's the Robotics Engineering and Electrical Division at EdgeTech. I got in because of the robot I built for the science fair last spring."
"I'm still not following."
"Well, I couldn't get early admission to TCU, but they said that if I was interested in robotics, that I should see about a summer internship with them."
"Nice, but what are you going to be doing there?"
"Not sure, but it's going to be AWESOME."
Three Days Later --
"The score is still seven to six with a little under a minute left in the game." the intercom blasted. It had been the closest game so far this year, but it was also going to be the last game of the year if Alex and his team didn't win.
The pass was perfect, the block was perfect, and Alex was somehow face down on the ground. No one had come to tackle him, but he felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped on him. The ball tumbled to the ground, five yards from anyone.
---
"I DON'T know, ok, it felt like I was trying to lift a house or something."
"Ok, but, well, what do you think may have happened?" Meredyth was always looking for the explanation.
"I. Don't. Know." Alex bit off every word.
"I know you're upset that you lost . . ."
"That's right! That I lost! It was MY pass. I should've caught it. It's MY fault that the season is over." He was pacing back and forth, fuming.
"Listen, Alex, it's not . . . it's just . . . well, no one knows what happened, it could've been anything."
"But it happened to ME!" He continued pacing, stopped, turned his back to her and slammed his fist down on the trunk of his car.
The shrieking sound of metal tore through the parking lot. Alex looked at his hand, then saw his car. The entire thing looked like it had been flattened and then driven two feet deep into the asphalt parking lot.
"Alex!! Stop!!" Meredyth screamed. He barely heard her, he didn't look, he simply ran. But there was no place he could run to.
---
"Hun, can I come in?"
His mother stepped through the door, not paying attention to the piles of clothing and books scattered around the room. Normally, she would have scolded him for this mess, but 'normal' didn't play any part in his life anymore. Alex kept his back to the door, not bothering to watch as she came in.
"I got a call from Meredyth, she's worried about you." She paused, waiting for any sort of response. "And from the school, it seems your car was totaled."
Alex couldn't help it, he laughed, and he cried, and then he started hiccupping, gasping for air.
His mother just held him.
"No school for you for the next week, I've already talked with them and its ok." She paused, thinking about something. "There's someone I want you to meet in the next few days."
He couldn't form any words; he just wept, and eventually, fitfully, fell asleep.
---
The next day ---
Alex still didn't really understand what was going on. He hadn't slept well last night, and refused to talk to anyone; he had pretty much locked himself in his room. His mother was adamant though, he was going to meet her friend and she wasn't going to let him get out of it.
"And who EXACTLY are we meeting?" He was being snarky, but he didn't care. His mother just looked at him, the same look she used to give him when he would try and talk back to her when he was younger. It still worked.
They had been driving through the southern portion of Charleston, almost on the Ironport border. It was an odd place to meet someone, especially considering the number of criminal gangs that supposedly worked in the area.
"An old acquaintance" she said, sneering at the word acquaintance.
"Yes, now listen; I'm going to be blunt about this. I didn't want to call her, but she's the only one I know that can deal with this sort of thing."
Alex didn't want to deal with 'this sort of thing' but since his incident at school, it had only gotten worse. Most of the items in his room were now broken, and every time he got angry about it, something else would break.
"She's a real piece of work, well, she's actually . . she's just a plain bitch." That caught his attention. "I never cared for her, and she knew it. Don't give her any lip; I'm not sure how she feels about you. We haven't really spoken since I got pregnant with you, and . . ."
"Will she hate me?" He wasn't sure why that mattered at the moment, but for some reason it did.
"I don't know."
"Why?"
"It's complicated. Anyway, that's all in the past. You've got a lot more to deal with right now." They had pulled up outside of an abandoned building. "She's said she'd meet you here. I'll be back to pick you up at six. Remember, don't give her any lip."
Alex stepped out of the car, looking both ways down the trash filled street. "But who AM I meeting?".
"Her name is . . . well, she goes by Luminissa."
================================
[strong]Old Friends, Old Enemies[/strong]
================================
"You're going to hear a lot of things, and most of them are true" she calmly stated.
"Monster, Freak, Abomination, Misfit, Anomaly, and a whole host of other words. You're a freak Alex. Accept that first, and then we can move on."
Alex clenched his fist. He hated her, he hadn't even talked to her for five minutes, but he hated her. She had crushed every dream he had had as a child. She was the reason he feared himself so much right now, she was everything he never wanted to be, and somehow, she was supposed to be his teacher. It was some sort of cruel joke.
She looked at him, at his clenched fists, and the vein standing out in his neck. "Good, now hit me".
At that moment, he deflated. He wasn't going to hit a woman.
"You think this is a joke?!? HIT ME."
Alex just stood there.
"Listen up Freak, you can hit me or you can leave. I don't care, either way."
He considered it. Could he leave? Could he walk away from this and figure it out himself. He didn't really have any clue how to, he wasn't even completely sure what his powers where. He needed a teacher, he knew it, but how was he supposed to find someone.
"I need a teacher" he heard himself say.
"You want to learn, then do what I say."
"I'm not going to hit you."
"Then you're going to fail."
"I'm not going to be like you."
"And what exactly do you know of ME? We just met kid; I've been doing this a helluva lot longer than you have."
"No, I know you. I saw you. You break people. You go around breaking peoples' arms, and legs, and then you walk away. You don't even care that you're hurting people, you just do it. I'm not going to be like you."
"Ah, so you want to be a real 'heroes' hero'." She smiled.
"No, I don't want to be a hero; I just don't want to hurt anyone."
"So much like your father."
"Huh?"
"All noble ideas and morals. He never saw the hard truths. He always let his own morals get in his way. He's dead because of that you know."
Alex couldn't believe it. His mother had never told him much about his father. He knew that his father was gone, but had never really looked into it. How did this woman know his father?
"Ah, didn't know that did you. Your father was a great man, and a great fool. He took responsibility for everything he ever did, no matter what it cost him, and kid, it cost him a lot."
He couldn't help but feel proud of his father. He had never met the man, but this woman was giving him something back that he had lost some time ago. There were true heroes.
"Kid, I can teach you, even if you're dumb as a brick, even if you hate me . . ."
"I don't hate you."
"You will, and you will probably never forgive me for what I'm going to show you, but you need to know this kid. I'm going to teach you to fight. I'm not going to show you how to fight for some arena where everyone is following the rules. I'm going to teach you to break every rule, and I'm going to teach you every dirty little trick, and I'm going to teach you how to win."
"I'm not looking to fight; I just want to learn to control this."
"No one wants to fight, but trust me, one day, you're going to do something that is going to get some ones attention, and you will have no choice but to fight."
"They won't."
"Yes, they will, listen kid -- here's some of that hard truth. You seen anyone pick up a car and just walk away without twenty people asking how they did it, or telling them about their damn cat that got stuck in a tree that they need YOUR help to get down. It doesn't happen. You use your ability ONCE and someone see's it, you're marked. I heard what happened to you. You think there's not a person at your school that isn't looking to be your new best friend or see how they can use you. They are. People scheme, they lie, and they will do whatever they can to make their lives easier, even if it's something as stupid as cheating off of someone's test."
Alex looked down at his shoes.
"See, even you do it. It's the same thing for people like us, but its a hundred times worse. You do good at a test, and people want to cheat off you. You run fast, and someone will try to trip you. We're freaks, we've got no right to be able to do what we do, and that scares people. Scared people are stupid, and a few of them are stupid enough to try and hurt you. You're going to have to learn to fight. Your going to have to learn to fight while controlling your powers, or the next time you crush something, it may not be a car, you may kill someone."
"And what about you," Alex replied. "You kill people."
"No, kid, I don't. Never have, never will. I'll hurt them. I'll make them regret ever doing the things that they do, but I don't kill people."
"I saw you."
"And what did you see. Did I rips someone head of or something? Did it to a few robots, but never a person."
"No, you did something, and then you put your hand on his head, and then, he just . . . died."
Luminissa laughed.
"Understand something kid, first, I didn't lie when I told you I don't kill people, and second . . ."
There was a blinding flash, and she appeared next to him, her hand already reaching for his forehead.
"Good Night." she whispered.
It was too late, he couldn't move back fast enough. Her forefinger touched his temple, and all he saw was white light.
---
Everything hurt. Alex tried wiggling his toes, and they hurt too. He had a pounding headache, and even with his eyes closed he felt like there was a light shining directly above him.
Dead then. She lied, she had killed him.
Heaven hurt. They got the bright tunnel of light right though.
The next thing Alex felt was like someone had kicked him in the ribs. There it was again. He didn't want to open his eyes, but the kicking was insistent.
"Rise and shine sleepyhead."
"Mrrghrmm."
Luminissa laughed. "You're father said the same thing the first time I did that to him too".
Alex cracked open his eyes. They were still in the abandoned building, but it had somehow gotten dark outside.
"You needed the rest kid, and I had to do some stuff."
"What the hell was that?!?" his voice barely a whisper, but it roared in his ears.
"It's one of the things I can do. In its simplest form, I overloaded your nervous system and you pass out. I had to go and take care of some stuff anyway."
"And what, you left me here?"
"I told you I had some stuff to take care of."
"But you left me here, passed out, on the floor, in the middle of an abandoned warehouse, with who the hell knows just passing by!!"
"Not really, listen, kid, there was never really any danger here. There are safeguards in place."
"Like what?!?"
"Those aren't my secrets to share, but I was able to get you a new lease on life."
"I don't get it."
"Tomorrow, when you go back to school . . ."
"I can't go back. You said it yourself, everyone knows what I did, what I am, that I'm not . . . normal."
"No, they don't."
"What?"
"I know a fixer, he takes care of this sort of stuff."
"What, like there's someone that can just make everyone forget what happened? I crushed a car, put the damn thing into a crater in the ground, and you're telling me no one is going to remember that."
"Yeah. Listen, it's not the first time something like this has happened, it's actually the second time this year at your school, we have people that deal with this sort of thing. It's never perfect mind you, but it's usually good enough that people don't ask questions."
Alex pulled himself up, wobbling slightly as he leaned on a nearby wall.
"Times up I'm afraid, your ride is going to be here in a minute, You've got a choice here. You can go back and pretend nothing happened. No one will be the wiser, but you are going to have to be careful. I'm not sure what all you can do, or what sets it off. That will take some time. Based on what I was told, you just have to keep calm, hopefully. If you want to learn, I can try and teach you, but I'm still not sure what you do. We can test all of that. If you want to learn, come back next week. And bring some boxing gloves. Just don't do anything stupid in the meantime."
"Oh, and if you start hearing peoples thoughts, go home sick or something and get in contact as soon as you can. Telepaths are kind of nasty business. I remember this one telepath, couldn't keep his thoughts in his own head. A teenage boy, and he kept broadcasting all his thoughts about the girls in his class to anyone within five feet of him. Funniest part was when he thought about . . . never mind. Anyway, yeah, it's time for you to go."
---
"So, how was it?"
"I can see why you called her a bitch. I don't get it. She seems so angry and mean, but she's . . . I don't know."
"She's honest" his mother supplied for him.
"Yeah. Did you know she knew dad?"
"Yeah. I did."
"And that's how you know her?"
"Yeah."
"But she seemed to really like dad, so why did you think she would hate me?"
"For that very reason."
"Oh."
reserved (3) - just in case.