Lady Aegis
Origins of Supers: Book Two
Author: D. L. Harrison
Copyright 2021. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
Table of Contents
Prologue - Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Afterword:
About the Author
Other books by D. L. Harrison:
Book Description
Prologue - Introduction
My name is Wynn Carlson, and I am Lady Aegis.
That sounds so pretentious, but my mother told me to start my account of the last few weeks that way. The world had changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, since the actions of my mother and the rest of my family had shut down the SAB. Half the world’s population was still homo-sapiens, about five percent of the first generation of homo-potens had powers. The second generation, we all did by the end of puberty, so in the range of seventeen to about thirty almost ninety percent of us had powers. The other ten percent being late births of the first generation.
I was what you might call a late bloomer. I was seventeen, graduating a year early, and still didn’t have my powers. Though, that was about to change. I wasn’t the only one in the class yet to pop, there were a few others.
Just because everyone had powers didn’t mean the world had melted down, though there were problems, as there were in the old world. About twenty percent of supers had powers with no possible violent aspect, such as psychics, telepaths, healers, empaths, mad scientists although they could build violent stuff. Then there was another ten percent of fliers, teleporters, illusionists, which all had some potential for violence and mayhem but were relatively minor in threat.
Point being, there’d always be a need for superheroes, and those that would protect mostly helpless and vulnerable bystanders, even in sixty years or so when all that was left on the world were supers. After all, thirty percent of eight billion people were a whole lot of innocent bystanders, that number of course in my time, halfway to that, was much higher than thirty percent.
Regardless, just a few other factoids before I get started with my origin story. The world had changed in a major way the last fifteen years, after the SAB was shut down. With mad scientists entering the field of private technology firms, A.I.s, teleport stations, and many other scientific breakthroughs had swept across the planet. We no longer burned gasoline or used other dirty forms of energy. Artificial gravity was a thing too, but they mostly used that in space, because why fly anywhere when you could hop into the nearest teleport booth to jump cities, or across town, for a nominal fee of course.
Plus, a lot of people could fly now, all on their own.
The last fifteen years had been far from peaceful. The old humans, or at least some of them, were not quite so content to go quietly as the page was closing on homo-sapiens, but there were no more killings on mass. Supers had the same rights as everyone else, at least on paper, and they were jailed when they committed crimes, not before.
The power industries, health industries, transportation, and others were all either failed or were in the process of failing, or at least they’d undergone mass changes. That made a lot of people unhappy, as empires fell, fortunes were lost, and the job market took a long time to recover. The health industry for example, would continue to decline until there were no old humans left. Then it’d be baby delivery, autopsies, and death certificates. Well, psychiatry would still be a thing too, I supposed.
Things were powered now by something called dimensional fusion. Similar to the zero-point energy reactors of science fiction, but not really that at all except it was extracting energy from the multiverse itself. The power would run out, probably in a few trillion years when all the stars died and entropy killed our universe. I had no idea how it worked, but it ran on similar energy to what our mitochondria could harness, just not as powerful. From cell phones and watches, to cities and the large ships that were mining the asteroid field past Mars, everything used it nowadays. It made nuclear fusion look like a joke, but on the good side there were no dangerous side reactions or deadly waste radiation.
There had also been some strides in understanding the energy our mitochondria channeled and used. There were now suppression cuffs, and cells that could suppress a super’s power for the duration of their incarceration. Some of the mad scientists of the supervillain variety had tried to make implants capable of doing that, as well as controlling a super, but those didn’t ever work. At least, not for long. Our super immune systems took them out quickly, nothing unnatural in the body was tolerated.
Which meant suppression cuffs, and externally applied fields was all that worked. I supposed it also meant all of those cyborg dreams went by the wayside. A good thing as far as I was concerned, I mean… yuck.
They’d also figured out powers were partially hereditary. Many of the second generation for parents that had quickened, had the same or at least very similar powers. Usually more robust and powerful when there was a change, as if the first generation hadn’t quite quickened fully.
The most major thing was the laws really hadn’t changed, as usual congress was pathetically slow to change anything. Most supers with powers could merely defend themselves, just like an armed human could. Self-defense was the right of all, but always put under the microscope after the fact, as it should be. Superheroes, the ones that actively hunted out trouble and supervillains, were required to go through training and be accredited and licensed for it. Much like a police officer or fireman had their training to go through.
Some superheroes worked for the government, some teams were bankrolled by private organizations, like private investigator firms of the old world. Like my mother’s team for instance. Only they were allowed to wear super suits, masks, and act to protect others in a proactive fashion while hiding their identity to protect loved ones. There were a lot of supers that wanted to serve, but that still didn’t overly trust the government after what’d happened in the past. Of course, that kind of thing took money, so it wasn’t that common, even if such firms made some money through branding and even subsidies.
Regardless, I was about to get those powers I’d been waiting for, if not the ones I’d been expecting, and the world, or at least our corner of it, was about to change in a major way. Let’s get to it, this background stuff is boring, don’t you think?
Chapter One
The auditorium was packed that early afternoon, and there were several relaxed conversations all around me. Relaxed because we were almost done with our senior year of high school. It was a special assembly for the vote about to take place in congress. A reframing of the constitution, or at least a modification of several amendments.
Most of it was staying the same, three branches, balance of power between them and at the federal and state level, yada yada, but some things would be changing. For example, the right of being tried by a jury of your peers. Most of those rights when it came to the judicial branch and law and order was to ensure personal right
s, and to minimize sending innocents to jail and not letting the bad guys get away with it.
It’d occurred to more than one person that a jury of empaths and telepaths would be a lot more certain that way. Since they’d smell a lie a mile away, judgement was certain. The guilty would go to jail, the innocent would walk, period. There was no longer a need to put in a complicated framework to discern between lies and truth, which often failed as it was.
There were a lot of changes like that coming, if the vote passed. Including a reorganization of the military branches under the government’s executive branch. Nukes still beat supers, but not much else they had did. There was certainly no more need for expensive fighter jets, or rounds of ammunition, or even rifles. A division of supers could defend our borders, if it became necessary.
“Wynn! Did you hear what happened to Stacey?” Janna asked softly but excitedly as she sat down next to me.
Janna was my best friend. She was three inches taller than I was at five foot seven, and she was lithe brunette with brown eyes, naturally tanned skin, and a generous if sometimes clueless heart. She was upbeat most of the time, and I credited her with getting through high school without losing my mind.
As for me, I was my mother’s daughter, mostly. Our faces were similar, and I had the same straight golden blonde hair and blue eyes. It was just I was three inches taller, and I had her beat by a cup size. My body type was somewhere between athletic and curvy. I was just a little taller and curvier than my mother.
Do you want to know what the hardest thing was about being Death’s Mistress’s daughter? Not being able to tell anyone. Everyone knew me as the daughter of Belladonna Carlson, powerless first generation and administrative assistant. Technically, by the law, my mother was still a supervillain for some of the things she did. But, the official and accredited superheroes in Excelsior never went after her anymore, and even worked with her on the sly. They also never bugged her team, my aunts and uncle by choice, Germaine, Debra, Maria, or Sarah. Those four were accredited, and officially they weren’t my mother’s team, but it was a ridiculous pretense everyone saw through but didn’t dare challenge.
Well, not being able to tell anyone, and I always felt like I had a lot to live up to. My mother was a legend in the superhero world and feared as well. What made it worse is I couldn’t share those pressures or doubts with anyone, since no one could know who my mother really was.
The third downside was lying to my friends, or at least hiding the truth.
Regardless, I only mentioned all that because Stacey was a caricature of the typical high school mean girl, and the last year she’d been giving me and the few others who hadn’t yet gained their powers, shit. Worse, she was the entitled daughter of Solar Wind, one of the more famous superheroines in our city, who’d chosen to continue on after the SAB fell. To be fair, Solar Wind was an amazing heroine, and had no idea what the SAB had been up to until they were exposed and taken down.
Point being, every time Stacey put me down, talked shit about my powerless parentage, and bragged about her mother’s latest takedown, I itched to throw the truth in her face. Who my mother really was, that her mother was terrified of my mother, but of course I couldn’t. I’d had to eat her abuse and insinuations for the last four years, which had only grown worse over time.
It was probably just as well, I didn’t want to be petty and sink to her level anyway, or so I told myself.
“Nope, did she set fire to someone?” I asked in a bitter voice that almost made me wince in guilt. I never claimed to be perfect.
Like her mother, Stacey had flight, personal energy shields, and fire. Personal, meaning that she couldn’t shield anyone else, just herself. Expanding shields were rare, like my aunt Debra had, which could shield others but only if she moved to them, or if she expanded her shield out to them. It worked like an expanding bubble, with the hero always in the center of the shield. Projective shields were the rarest of all, meaning they could be put around a bystander and protect them, even if the supervillain was between the hero with the shielding power and the innocent bystander.
Janna snickered, and I blushed as a few nearby people glared our way. How that bitch was so popular was a mystery to me.
“No, her application to take the course was turned down, to become a superheroine.”
Oh, holy crap. That could only mean she’d failed her psych evaluation and profile. All supers that wanted to become a superhero or superheroine had to meet certain psychological standards of beliefs and behavior, to ensure the desire wasn’t out of some power trip or mere desire for power over others.
I smirked, and I felt really guilty for the glee I felt in that moment, but I didn’t say anything. My mother always told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say I shouldn’t say it at all. Advice I was getting better at following this last year. But some rather vindictive words may have entered my mind and been rejected by my brain to mouth filter.
Janna misinterpreted my silence as brooding, “I’m sure you’ll get your powers soon, and you’ll be amazing.”
We’d spoken about it before of course, she knew I wanted to be a superheroine. What else would I do with my mother’s example to follow. Her powers were badass too, so I was kind of looking forward to that. It’s probably a bit shallow, but I hated that I was still waiting. It should pop any moment I thought. I’d grown a cup size the last month but nothing the last couple of weeks. They didn’t even ache anymore, and my body was… fully mature.
I also knew Janna had gotten in on the class, and chances were even if I popped in the next five minutes that I wouldn’t be able to attend with her. It was a little late to get in an application for the course starting in three days, and only powered supers could apply.
Janna had superspeed, and toughness.
Of course, all supers got some training in controlling their powers, there was a class for it in high school. Otherwise they’d be making a mess. I’m talking about the training for rules and regulations in being a superhero, as well as tactics, rules of engagement, support technology, and all that. The class that came with the government’s seal of approval to join a super team.
I shrugged like I didn’t care, even as it tightened my stomach. I also felt defensive. That she assumed that was what was on my mind when it hadn’t been, but I let it go and tried for the old subject change to redirect the conversation away from that. She’d meant well after all, like I said earlier, Janna had a big heart, but she was kind of clumsy about it sometimes.
“Maybe she could try again, when she grows up a little. College first, or something.”
That was about the nicest thing I could say about Stacey. There was a chance she’d grow out of being an entitled and petty bitch, after all.
Janna smirked, “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was her, but maybe.”
The mic cut on and Principal Wilson got on the stage. He was in his fifties, and a stern man. I’d never seen him intimidated by one of us supers either. Not that I liked him or anything, he was the principal after all, the enemy, but I did respect him. He had gray hair, was thin and wiry, and he always spoke with a voice filled with deep authority.
“Quiet down everyone,” he paused as people did that, “Alright, now pay attention, this is a historic occasion and a major change to our country. If it passes it will transform the country, and you’ll remember this moment for the rest of your lives.”
There were more than a few dismissive smirks around me in the crowd, but no outright disrespect. It was still high school, after all. Even seniors were still a bit self-absorbed, and all four of the years were present in the auditorium that day.
He was also right, not everyone in the senate was onboard with the idea, and it’d taken almost twelve months of back and forth arguing before it had passed in the house by a thin margin. It’d been hotly contested on the news for almost a year before that. There were some congressmen… people? Congress-people that were supers, but most of the higher government offices were still
in the hands of the over fifty crowd and homo-sapiens who hadn’t been all that keen on change. If it didn’t pass, well us supers, our generation, could make what we wanted once we took over those halls of power.
Change took time, and we were still human. On the good side, if it did pass, the current president said he’d get behind it and start the reorganization efforts immediately. So really, the senate vote was the pivotal event Principal Wilson claimed it was. At the same time, it would realistically take years to get it all implemented, from jury selection modifications and trial procedures, to shutting down the old military and establishing a new one, and all the rest of it.
We were also watching C-Span, so even a historic occasion could be dreadfully boring on that channel. I’ll just go ahead and tell you all that the vote passed by a fifty three percent majority, with eleven abstentions. Mostly, because we never got to actually watch the vote.
Because that’s when the roof exploded, and the power went out blanketing us in darkness. On the good side, without a roof we could see again pretty quickly, as the dust settled onto two thousand high schoolers half of which were screaming, allowing a shaft of sunlight to fill the place with bright spots and black shadows. There were falling chunks of roof tar, metal, and all sorts of other painful things falling on our heads.
I either sat there bravely, or I screamed as I put my arm over my head and ducked down. Okay, I admit it, it was that second one, but I had no powers and I didn’t want to get brained by a cross support.
My heart thundered in my chest as I looked up, any of my peers with a shield had them on, but that was only about ten percent of them. Some few looked knocked out and were bleeding, others were tossing supports at the empty corner of the room.
Principal Wilson yelled above the din, “Everyone move out in an orderly fashion, do not panic!”
Then a supervillain dressed in a black suit with gray and yellow accents flew in surrounded by a glowing white aura, and the room froze as he grabbed the principal around the throat and turned to us. Based on that glow he probably had energy blasts of some sort, and flying, possibly a shield too.
Lady Aegis: Origins of Supers: Book Two Page 1
