19
LUCY
Commuters packed the station, shoulder-to-shoulder, each one waiting for an early morning bus, all of which were over an hour late. People were complaining, but Lucy kept quiet. Everything was running late. The entire city was shutdown. She just felt lucky to be alive. Her building was still standing. Her parents were unharmed. If she needed to wait a little longer to return to the academy, that was a small price to pay. None of it would matter soon enough. Her trip to Power Tower was just around the corner. Her future was within reach.
She was sitting by herself, as usual, rereading the chapter her teacher had assigned for history class when the rest of the commuters started shouting. She glanced around and saw them pointing toward the public restroom door. The entrance was glowing, and when the door swung open, the Alliance of Heroes council member known as Stiletto stepped through the portal.
“I'm looking for Lucy Grae?” she shouted over the tops of all the people gathered around.
All the commuters glanced at each other, wanting to know which one of them was being sought out by a superhero. Lucy felt embarrassed to do it, but she raised her hand in the air.
“You're Lucy?” Stiletto said, her tall, metallic body striding past the crowd.
Lucy nodded, unable to hide the smile that stretched across her face. Her heart beat quicker and quicker. She felt like anything was possible, anything could happen next, and she was pretty sure she needed to get used to that feeling. That was what her life had become. Endless possibilities.
“I'm Stiletto. Mermaid's busy with all... this.” She waved her hand, motioning toward the wrecked city all around them. “But she wanted me to come get you before you returned to the academy. I'm here to take you to Power Tower so you can get situated as soon as possible.”
Stiletto turned around before Lucy could reply and walked back toward the glowing door.
Lucy snatched her bag off the ground and as she hurried after Stiletto, she managed to mumble, “All my stuff is still at school. I don't have any-”
“Don't worry about it.”
Stiletto's care-free attitude didn't comfort Lucy. She only had the clothes she was wearing. Her uniform and everything else was still at school. But she also wasn't going to argue with Stiletto. Everything she read about the woman scared her.
Stiletto shoved one of the commuters that was trying to peer through the portal and get a peek at the interior of Power Tower. When the metal woman stepped through the glowing doorway, Lucy hesitated, terrified of what teleporting would feel like. Some commuters yelled out goodbyes and good lucks from behind her. She didn't know any of them, but she offered a wave and a smile and yelled back, “Thank you!”
She decided she didn't want to look afraid on her first day as a superhero, so she sucked in a deep breath and held it as she stepped through the portal. She shut her eyes, but the light of the portal still blinded her. Thankfully, the bright light faded away as she took another step.
Everything changed, from the temperature, to the smell, to the pressure of the environment. She opened her eyes and found herself in a large room surrounded by different doors. A woman sat at a desk in the middle of the room, surrounded by maps and blueprints.
A small robot floated past Stiletto with arms extending out as it said, “Good morning, Ms. Hitchcock. It's lovely to see you again.”
“Can you take care of this?” Stiletto said to the robot, nodding her head toward Lucy.
Lucy waved at the robot, feeling like she was a nuisance, but when she looked around the room and saw two people in costumes step through another doorway, she was reminded of where she was. Any negative thoughts faded away.
“Of course!” the robot said in a chipper voice. It turned toward Lucy and sent out a cone of light that scanned her face. “Ah, yes! Ms. Grae. How wonderful for you to join us today. I can assist you with signing in to our security system and locating your personal quarters if that's alright with you.”
“Y-yes,” Lucy said, nodding her head and clutching her book bag to her chest. “Of course. Thanks.”
Stiletto waved her hand in the air as she walked away and mumbled, “Good luck, kid.”
“Right this way,” the robot said, buzzing through the air toward the entrance to the tower.
Lucy followed closely behind, trying not to let all the blinking lights and the tiny robots that flew past distract her. She stepped into a small room that covered her body in red light before blinking green. A door across from where she entered slid open and the computer announced her arrival.
“Lucy Grae, aka Retina.”
Lucy's head tilted to the side as she made sure she heard correctly. “Retina?”
“That is your code name,” the floating robot explained as it buzzed into the next room. “Everyone in the Alliance of Heroes has one.”
“Retina,” Lucy repeated, this time with more confidence and a smile that could have replaced the sun.
It was actually happening. She was a superhero. With a superhero name and a superhero team and a superhero headquarters.
When she stepped into the next room, the robot came to a halt as a young woman stretched across the room, her neck lengthening like elastic until her head was only a few feet away. Her body snapped into place while she talked.
“Hey! I'm Flex! You must be the new girl.”
“I-I am. And I know who you are. Of course I know who you are. You're like... famous.”
Flex waved the idea out of the air. “Barely. The council members get all the attention. I'm just a secondary member. But don't worry, it's still awesome!”
Flex looked Lucy up and down. There was a pause while she did it. Lucy just stood there, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Flex grinned and glanced at the robot.
“I can show the new girl to her quarters.”
“But Ms. Grae still needs to go through the orientation program and-”
“Don't worry about it. I'll make sure she gets settled in.”
The robot buzzed in the air for moment before saying, “As you wish, Ms. Keen,” and then flew away down one of the many hallways.
“Have they given you a code name yet?” Flex asked as she walked down the hallway, a bounce in each of her steps.
Lucy followed next to her, still clutching her book bag to her chest as she answered, “Retina.”
“Cool name! You're lucky. Some recruits get weird ones. Not flattering at all.”
Lucy peered out the glass walls that lined the hallway and looked down upon a large gymnasium. There was a multitude of people lifting weights and exercising like any normal gym, but others were training with their various powers on what appeared to be specific equipment tailored for them.
“That's our training facility,” Flex said when she noticed Lucy's interest.
“Looks fun.”
“It can be. But on your fourth required hour of the day, the fun can wear off.”
“Wow,” Lucy said, unhindered from her wide-eyed excitement, ready to try everything out for the first time.
When they reached the end of the hall, there were four glass tubes with door-sized openings in them.
Flex patted her hand on one of the tubes and said, “These are our transport tubes. Think of them like elevators. Climb in, tell it where you want to go, and WHISH!” She swept her hand through the air with a big smile. “Try it out!”
Lucy hesitantly stepped into the tube and when it lit up, she said, “Um. I like... don't know where I'm going.”
Flex chuckled. “Oh. Right. Just say your name and then say 'quarters.' Easy as that.”
Lucy cleared her throat. “Lucy Grae. Quarters.”
Flex laughed and shook her head. “No, no, no. Your code name, silly. Get used to it. That's what everyone is going to call you from now on.”
“Oh!” Lucy cleared her throat. “Retina, quarters.”
Her body suddenly dropped as if the floor had disappeared. It felt like she was plummeting to her death. She clutched her ba
g closer to her chest and screamed. But just as quickly, her descent slowed and she came to rest on a different floor, far below where she had been. The tube let out a DING and the light turned off. She stepped out as Flex appeared in the tube next to her.
“Neat, right?”
Lucy caught her breath, happy that Flex didn't seem to have heard her screams, or at least wasn't laughing at her for it. “Yeah. That was fun.”
“Come on,” Flex said, waving for her to follow as she skipped down the hall. “Your room is this way.”
Lucy immediately noticed a difference in the design of the living quarters' hallway. Instead of the futuristic looking curved plastic and glass walls of the entryway, this level had hard wood floors and scenic paintings on the walls. Chandeliers hung from the tall ceiling and there was soft music playing from hidden speakers. It felt cozy.
They walked past a lot of doors, each one with a logo etched into it, before Flex leaned against the wall and hooked her thumb toward a door with the symbol of an eye on it.
“This is you.”
Lucy smiled, still unable to accept that her room, with her superhero logo, was in Power Tower. It all felt so unreal.
“I can leave you alone to get settled.” Flex looked her up and down again. “Unless you want me to come in and hang out or whatever.”
Lucy shrugged her shoulders. “No, that's okay. I'm sure you have like... stuff you need to do.”
Flex shrugged her shoulders and said, “Suit yourself. There's a screen inside that you can use to get a hold of me if you have any questions. And there's an orientation video you're supposed to watch, I guess. It'll keep reminding you to watch it until you do, so might as well get it over with.”
Lucy was surprised at how excited she was to watch the video. Even the boring stuff was exciting in a place like Power Tower.
“Put your hand on the symbol and it'll unlock your door,” Flex said.
Lucy lifted her hand up to the door, but just before she actually touched the symbol, a door opened down the hall. A young man stepped out, his head covered in long dreadlocks that surrounded his face like a shield. He was wearing a blue jacket with fringes, and tight leather pants that hugged him like a second skin. He pulled his dreadlocks to the side to look down the hall at Lucy and Flex, and Lucy caught a quick glimpse of one of the cutest boys she had ever seen.
Flex stepped in front of her, blocking her view, and whispered, “Trust me, you don't wanna bark up that tree.”
“What? I wasn't... I don't...” She looked around Flex and saw the boy already walking down the hall the other way. “Who is he?”
“Rainfall. He's moody and depressed and absolutely no fun at all,” Flex said, rolling her eyes. “Trust me, you don't want to have to read poetry about the beauty of thunderstorms or whatever. Guy's a drag.”
“Oh. Well, thanks for your help.” Lucy was confused, but she gave Flex a smile as she placed her hand on the door and watched her superhero logo light up and the door slide to the side.
“My pleasure,” Flex said as she walked away.
Lucy stepped inside her personal quarters and the door slid shut behind her as she tried to soak in everything. A huge bed with the most fluffy pillows she had ever seen sat against one wall, with a massive screen on the opposite wall that was currently displaying all of her options for room calibration, like lighting, temperature, and music. A desk with a personal computer sat in the corner, and a walk-in closet was right next to it. Everything in the room looked like it came from the future, right down to the lights built into the ceiling.
She had never had anything so nice, so new before. Her parents weren't exactly poor, but they never had extra money to spend on anything frivolous. A computer that looked like it could operate a spaceship, a TV that was the size of her old kitchen table, a bed that could fit her and four other people, and it all belonged to her. Kind of. Basically.
She jumped up on the bed, unable to contain her excitement any longer, bouncing up and down and squealing with delight. But when a beep came from the large screen on the wall, she dropped down onto the bed with embarrassment, sure someone had caught her being a dork. The beep came again and she saw a small red box flashing in the corner. She got up and pressed her finger against the box and the screen flashed, displaying a spinning model of the tower's blueprints.
“Welcome to Power Tower! This video will get you acclimated to all the ins-and-outs of your new home. Whether it's the beauty of our hydroponic gardens or the advanced weaponry needed to keep our home safe, you'll learn every inch of this amazing facility and how it can work for you.”
Lucy folded her legs underneath her, grabbed one of the large pillows to place on her lap, and leaned forward toward the screen. The only thing missing was a big bowl of popcorn.
The video zoomed into the first floor and the voice asked, “Are you ready to begin your exciting new adventure into the basics of Power Tower?”
Lucy pounded her fists into the pillow sitting on her lap and called out, “I am like... sooo ready.”
20
HECTOR
When he entered their secret headquarters, he found Miguel sitting in front of the display case that housed his old costume. The boy sat on a folded chair spun around backward, with his chin resting on his arms. He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice his father enter the room.
“Miguel?”
His son jerked a bit at the sound of his name, and he jumped up from the chair, standing at attention.
“It's okay,” Hector said, sipping the morning tea Esmeralda had prepared for him. “At ease.”
Miguel glanced back at the costume. “I was doing my history report last night. I was reading about some of your early exploits.”
“Oh?” Hector sat down in front of the bank of computer screens and perused the flagged phone calls the system had collected for him. “And which of these feats inspired you to study my old costume?”
Miguel shrugged his shoulders and stared at the ground. Hector could tell he was holding something back. He was afraid to ask whatever it was that he wanted to know.
Hector sat his cup of tea down and spun around in his chair. “What is it? What do you want to know?”
Miguel became uncomfortable when he realized he was being so transparent. “I just-”
Hector cleared his throat, giving his son only one warning.
Miguel stood up straight and asked, “Did people think you were a supervillain?”
Hector's eyebrows tightened up and he grabbed his cup of tea again. “That's a strange question.”
“It's just that when I was reading through the old news articles, it wasn't clear. Sometimes they were talking about how grateful they were, and sometimes they were calling you a menace, or a terrorist, or worse.”
“Well, technically, I wasn't a superhero or supervillain, as I don't have the disease.”
“But you wore the costume. The media didn't know or care that you weren't born with the disease. And neither did the public.”
“Neither did the guys I punched.”
“You're not answering my question.”
Hector smiled. He knew his son wasn't going to back down. He was growing stronger. More sturdy. More defiant.
“I'm not answering your question because it's a complicated answer,” Hector said, sipping the last of his tea and setting the empty cup on the saucer. “For one thing, the media is a fickle creature. They can change their minds at the toss of a coin. One day they say you're a hero, and the next day you're a villain. And the public? They go along with whatever the media tells them. Like good little sheep.”
“But they never changed their minds about Mermaid. Or Everlast. Or Negaton. Or-”
Hector laughed so loudly it made his son stop.
“And why do you think that was? Do you think it was because they were perfect beings that never made mistakes? Do you think they are inherently good people without a selfish bone in their bodies?” His smile faded away and his hands clench
ed the arms of his chair as he leaned forward. “Or do you think they hired publicists and media consultants and market tested their costumes and did all the things that I refused to do because I was too damn busy waging a war!”
“I don't... I wasn't...”
Hector stood up from his chair and towered over his son. “You want to know what I think about heroes and villains? I don't think there is such a thing. I think there are those who are willing to do what is necessary. There are those that are willing to do what needs to be done to make everyone else safe. And then there are the others. The people who just want to keep themselves safe. To keep their money or their power or their floating castles in the sky safe from the rest of the world.”
Miguel was trying not to flinch. Hector was speaking to him inches from his face, yet he stood tall. Hector would have been proud of him if he wasn't so emotional. Talking about the past always felt like a waste of time. All it did was make him angry and regretful, two useless emotions he'd driven from his life a long time ago.
“But people called the Zharkovs superheroes,” Miguel said, like he was unsure he should speak the words.
“Why? Because Konstantin and his wife fought crime in Russia? Because they ended the Second World War? The whole family was considered heroic when they 'unified' Europe under a new flag. And do you know how many people they killed doing that? How many heroic murders they committed? Yet when I did the same thing, when I made a decision to take someone's life instead of leaving it up to a failed justice system, what did they call me?”
Miguel glanced back at the costume in the glass case. “Is that why you don't wear it anymore?”
Hector glanced at the mask. He remembered vividly what it smelled like inside that thing, especially after a night of fighting crime. He remembered which parts of the armor would pinch his skin if he bent them the wrong way. He remembered how good it felt every morning when he climbed out of the costume, the weight lifting from his shoulders.
The Super Power Saga (Book 1): Super Powers of Mass Destruction Page 17
