Red Light Hero

by Kory Shen

  He was an alpha! He had tried to suppress his excitement but he couldn't. No matter how fucked up his situation was, he was an alpha now. Was it worth it? There was only one way to find out.

  He held up his right hand like Violet had done. He imagined a red cube. Even though he knew what to expect, he still flinched when the red cube appeared in his hand. It was smooth and translucent with a weak red glow. He focused on changing the cube into a sphere. The object in his hand responded. He sent the object away in his mind, and the object vanished.

  "Oh shit!" Alan yelled.

  He was an alpha. Fuck yeah, he was an alpha!

  He stood up. A red sword appeared in his outstretched hand. He swung it. The sword was light, as if made from foam. He focused on making the sword heavier, and it responded. He raised the sword high and brought it down on his bed. It cut cleanly through the wooden bedframe.

  "Sweet!" Alan reshaped the sword into a large hammer. He tried bashing it against the concrete walls. The hammer bounced off, leaving a small chipped section of the wall.

  So the hammer could damage concrete, but it wasn't some magical material. How far away could he make an object?

  Alan stood on one side of his cell, about fifteen feet away from the farthest wall. He visualized a red cube against the wall. It appeared in the middle of the air, floating for a millisecond, before it fell. Before it touched the ground, though, Alan caught it with his mind. He lifted the cube into the air and made it swoop around the room in a simple spiral.

  Alan whooped.

  Someone pounded on the steel door. It creaked open, and Violet stepped inside. Scottie looked into the room. Alan noticed that he carried a compact gun in his hand.

  "No, I'll be fine," Violet was saying to Scottie, pushing him out the door. "I have to do my business. You know." She jerked her thumb over at the bed before realizing it was broken. "We'll figure it out. Now give me some privacy."

  "Okay, Dr. Brady." Scottie left and closed the door.

  "Let me guess," Violet said, pointing at the split bed. "Testing your alpha powers?"

  "What did you do to me?" Alan said in an icy tone. "Did you infect me on purpose?"

  "You think — no! It's the other way around," Violet said. "You infected me."

  "Wait, what?" Curiosity overtook his anger. "Cover Girl said I was an alpha three. I can't infect others. Shit, what's going on?"

  Violet nodded. "That why I came here. To apologize and explain. You have the right to know what's going on."

  "Damn straight." Alan crossed his arms. "Let's hear it."

  "How much do you know already?" Violet asked. "And how much do you want to hear?"

  "None of it and all of it," Alan said. "How about you start with the whole alpha business? I've heard some from Cover Girl, but I still don't get it."

  "Okay. You may want to sit."

  Alan glanced at the broken bed. He sat on the toilet instead.

  "So what are alphas? Let's see. Do you know anything about genomics?" Violet asked.

  Alan gave her a blank stare.

  "Right," Violet said. "Humans have forty-six chromosomes filled with DNA. That's your genome."

  Alan nodded. "That much I know."

  "It turns out that humans use less than 1% of their genome. The other 99%? It's ancient viral DNA that became part of the human genome. Scientists didn't know what it did, so they called it junk DNA. Others call it genomic dark matter."

  "Our DNA's mostly made of viruses?" Alan asked. "That's…hard to believe."

  "It's true. Alphas unlock the potential of that 99%."

  "If everyone has the DNA, why don't we have more alphas?"

  "The viral DNA in your genome is dormant unless triggered by an active virus. But you can't get active virus if the genome is dormant. It's a chicken and egg problem. Only one human is known to have ever become spontaneously active."

  "Sire," Alan said.

  "Exactly. Sire was the first human to express an active form of the virus that we call the alphavirus. As you already know, the alphavirus spreads most efficiently through…" Violet coughed. "Through sexual contact."

  "So I've gathered," Alan said. "Is that why you're here?"

  Violet paused. "To be honest, I would like that."

  "Because you enjoy it or because you need it for your project?" Alan wasn't going to let her off so easily.

  She took a deep breath. "Both."

  Alan shrugged. "I'll think about it. What else about the alphavirus? Primes, betas, all that?"

  "Right, I'm getting there. When someone infects you with fresh alphavirus, she doesn't just trigger your dormant viral DNA. Her alphavirus combines with your DNA and changes it. Mutations. It leaves what we call an alpha mark in the genome."

  "In my case, Cover Girl's alpha mark?"

  Violet nodded. "If you pass on the infection, you'll leave your own variant. Your own alpha mark."

  It made sense, so far. There had to be more. "Cover Girl mentioned that you can't sleep with anyone. I'm guessing alpha marks interfere with each other?"

  "Right. It's like organ donors. You can share organs with your immediate family. Alpha marks are only compatible with your prime or your beta."

  "But why do we have the same power?" Alan formed a red cube the size of his fist in the air. It twirled around Violet several times before returning to his hand and blinking out of existence.

  "Nice." Violet formed a purple cube and repeated Alan's trick, sending the cube in circles around him before it disappeared. "You gave me this power. Each generation passes on a smaller subset of its powers. If Maiden is Cover Girl's alpha prime, Maiden must possess several powers, including invisibility. In fact, I believe Maiden has demonstrated teleportation, energy attacks, and mental persuasion skills."

  "Teleportation," Alan said. "That's Escort's power. So Maiden can teleport and turn invisible."

  "And likely with greater effectiveness," Violet added.

  "But that doesn't explain me. How did I give you my power? Where did I get my power? Cover Girl can't do this." Alan created a red sword. Violet took a step backwards. He held the sword high for a second before letting it disappear.

  Violet nodded excitedly. "That's what we're trying to figure out. You should be an alpha three, but your viral levels are the same as an alpha one's. Or even an alpha zero. Not that we have any measurements on Sire…" Violet sighed. "Godmother's not going to be happy I'm telling you all of this."

  Alan frowned. "Why? Because I won't be a good little stud anymore?"

  "I'm sorry. You have a right to know." She hesitated. "Remember I said 99% of your DNA is viral? It's not all the same. It's actually made up of different variants or mutants. Each one is responsible for a different power, and each variant can only trigger the most similar variant in other people. Sire spontaneously and permanently expresses many viral subtypes. Do you understand what that means?"

  "He must have a ton of alpha powers. He's like a god."

  "You could say that. Any alpha power in existence, he also possesses."

  Alan whistled. He couldn't even begin to imagine…Sire must have twenty, thirty powers. A hundred?

  Violet continued. "The alphavirus is also a poor infectious agent, and at each subsequent generation of infection, only a small fraction of viral mutants cross from the prime to the beta. That brings us to you. You have at least six different viral signatures at appreciable levels."

  "What's that mean?"

  "It means you should have at least six different alpha powers."

  Alan stared at Violet. "No shit. What powers do I have?"

  "We won't know in advance unless someone has used the power before. But if Cover Girl's your prime—"

  Alan understood at once. "She should have six powers or more."

  Violet nodded. "You're getting it. But as far as we know, she only has one. Not only that, but when you first arrived, we only detected two viral signatures."

  "Two powers?"

  "You shouldn't be gaining
new viral signatures. I'm not sure what's going on with you. We don't understand what we're seeing."

  Alan couldn't figure everything out, but he gathered that he was gaining more new powers. And that wasn't supposed to happen. He remembered something else Cover Girl had said.

  "Are my powers permanent? Like Sire?" he asked.

  "No. We're detecting that five of the signatures are decreasing." Violet said. "Without reinfection, you'll lose those powers."

  "What about my sixth power, the one that's steady? That's from you?"

  "Right. My specific alphavirus will only rejuvenate the viral load responsible for energy projection. The other viral loads will slowly decay to zero unless you find the correct beta or prime and recharge each other."

  Alan snorted. "Recharge. That sounds polite. We're basically passing diseases back and forth to reinfect each other. That's some fucked up fucking."

  "It's biology."

  The two stared at each other. Alan knew what she wanted, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to follow through. She was being open now, but wasn't that just a ploy to use his body again?

  "You need me to recharge your own viral load," Alan said. It wasn't a question.

  "Yes. Will you recharge me?" Violet asked, looking away from his gaze.

  Alan laughed. "That's the worst pick-up line I've ever heard."

  Cover Girl had said something else. That alpha powers were addictive. Alan had barely learned to use his alpha power, but it had been a rush as good as sex. Maybe better. If Violet had been using her powers for longer, she would have a stronger connection.

  "I think the answer is no, I won't." He watched Violet closely. There was something satisfying about the brief disappointment that crossed her features. It was a small measure of payback, of taking control of his body once again.

  "Okay. That's fair," Violet said. She squirmed, clearly unhappy, but Alan wouldn't budge.

  "I know what you want. What does Godmother want?"

  "At first, I think she wanted to do research on alphas. That's why she hired me. But the way things are turning out…I think she wants more now."

  "Her own alpha soldiers," Alan said. It made sense.

  Violet pressed her lips together without saying anything.

  "But why hasn't another alpha done that?" Alan asked. "Sell her services or work for Godmother?"

  "First, most alphas are terrified of Godmother. She nearly wiped them out when they first appeared. Second, that would bring serious pressure from the other alphas. Alphas are heroes. That's the mantra they need the public to believe to keep PIERCR at bay. The Strip isn't exactly the image they'd want to associate with alphas. Third is PIERCR itself. A renegade army of alphas? They wouldn't let that stand."

  "What about me? They know I'm here."

  "They think you're an alpha three, though. Neither the alphas nor PIERCR is going to risk angering Godmother over an alpha three. As far as they know, your powers will decay to nothing in a few weeks."

  "Who are my betas? Has anyone else shown alpha powers since I got here?" Alan asked.

  "We have some candidates with viral signatures, but we haven't been able to discover their powers. Some alpha powers are cosmetic or trivial. You run slightly faster. Your hair turns brown. We call these code blue powers. It's possible they have code blue or weak code green powers."

  "And you? Us? Are we considered dangerous?"

  Violet spoke in a soft voice. "Code orange, and yes, we're dangerous. Very dangerous."

  CHAPTER 14

  Ten men armed with rifles stood opposite Violet. They were in one of Godmother's empty warehouses, an underground steel cave. She was wearing a sports bra and compression shorts.

  Translucent purple armor flickered into existence around her lean frame from head to toe. It had taken her a day to figure out an armor design that would provide maximum mobility and protection. It had taken another day to practice forming the intricate design of fifty-seven pieces on demand, but she was satisfied with the result.

  As soon as Violet changed appearances, the men opened fire. Rubber bullets pinged off her armor. She stepped backwards to keep herself from falling over. Purple walls appeared in front of her. Their shading changed until they became opaque. Then, the walls rammed forward a short distance.

  The men scattered. The walls vanished, but Violet was right behind them. She shot forward and punched the first man in the chin with an uppercut. A single claw extended past her armored fist. Today, the claw was blunt, and the man merely screamed in agony from the vicious strike.

  Two other men fired at her from nearby. Purple clamps appeared on the barrels of each weapon and changed their aim so that they hit each other. Violet's projections couldn't overcome a determined adversary with brute strength, but the leverage from the long barrels and the surprise factor were enough. The men cried out in pain as the rubber bullets pummeled their torsos. Smaller purple clamps appeared around the triggers, forcing them to spend their bullets.

  Someone tackled her. Godmother had tried to teach her basic grappling techniques, but Violet had found that she wasn't suited to physical fighting methods. There was too much to learn in too little time. Mental fighting, on the other hand, was a different story.

  The man rolling on her back cried out in pain as sharp projections appeared on her armor. She had dulled these too, but they would be hard enough to hurt sensitive areas. The man fell away, and Violet turned around. The man was writhing in pain while holding his crotch. She punched him hard in the temple, and he went still.

  The other men were watching in fear. These were a fresh batch of Godmother's men. She hadn't fought the same men twice, and she wondered how she would fare against more experienced opponents like PIERCR.

  She ran towards the closest one. Her limit on projection was about ten feet. When she got closer, the man raised his weapon, but it was too late. She pulled back her hand to punch. At the same time, a purple band appeared around the man's arms and torso. He was defenseless as she struck.

  Violet made short work of the others, manifesting more shields as necessary to block incoming fire. Soon the men were all on the ground in pain or unconscious. Her armor flickered and vanished.

  Something flashed. A blade was at her neck. Violet slowly turned her head to find Godmother at her side, holding her sword to her throat.

  "Sloppy. Your armor's helmet cuts down sensitivity to sight and sound. You'll need to redesign it."

  The words stung. Violet took pride in her work. She knew she was brilliant. Someone like Alan could never design, let alone manifest, the complex pattern of interlocking pieces that formed her armor. But she also knew that Godmother was right.

  "I'll get on it."

  * * *

  Violet pulled up the schematics on her computer. She zoomed in on the helmet design, rotating the three-dimensional model first one way, then the other. If she widened the aural port there and compensated for the structural—

  Violet sighed and pushed herself away from the computer. She checked her temperature band. It read 98.9 degrees. Her viral load was getting low. There was no point to any of this if she couldn't convince Alan to cooperate.

  Losing her alpha powers would be terrifying. It was status. Alphas were gods and goddesses among men and women. It would open opportunities if she ever left Godmother. She paused on that uncomfortable thought. Would she leave? If Alan did…

  It wasn't just status. Alpha powers meant safety. It was comforting knowing that her powers were a thought away in case of danger. But more than that, alpha powers were liberation. Ever since she blossomed into a woman, she had to deal with the constant threat that all beautiful women knew too well. That others viewed her as desirable and vulnerable, a dangerous combination. Whether on a dark-lit street at night or in the office of a powerful professional figure, it was the same. The bullies, the predators — they always watched for weaknesses.

  She had stayed strong. She had overcome her fears, but that didn't mean they had gone away
. Even here, under Godmother's care, they still lurked in the back of her mind.

  Until now. Being an alpha changed everything. She was at the top of the pyramid, and everyone knew that. If they didn't, she could show them. A purple cube appeared in the air in front of her. The cube vanished and a floating sword appeared. The sword vanished. She didn't bother with unnecessary hand motions anymore, like Alan still did.

  She sighed. Alan. Her temperature band still read 98.9 degrees. She needed a reinfection cycle soon, or she would lose her alpha powers. Why on earth did alphas use an unreliable measure like body temperature? It was stupid. She needed a better alternative. Nanosensors? Sequencing or protein-based?

  Violet sighed again. She couldn't distract herself from the fact that she needed Alan. No, that was imprecise. She needed his alphavirus. If she could figure out how to expand it in cell culture…

  Violet stood up. She had to see Alan.

  * * *

  Alan was lounging on the broken bed making a red marble trace figure eights in the air. He'd told Scottie about the accident earlier in the day, but they still hadn't replaced it. Maybe this was their way of punishing him. That didn't matter. He was done working for Godmother like this. He had to find a way out.

  The door screeched open again. It was Violet.

  "Back again?" Alan asked.

  "I needed to see you," Violet said.

  "The answer's the same. Unless you can get me out of here." The red marble continued tracing figure eights.

  "If you don't reinfect, you'll lose your viral load, too."

  "That's better than staying here."

  Alan meant that. He was starting to understand the seductive draw of an alpha power. The chance to feel more special, more important. Women had always paid extra attention to him, but that wasn't enough. It was a superficial lust, a desire for handsome arm candy or validation of their fragile egos. Here was something with real meaning. Real power. The red marble hovered in front of Alan's eyes before blinking out of existence.

  "Is that what you want?" Violet asked. "Godmother's explained the situation. If you leave The Strip, they'll hunt you down."