1.5 Rapids Part 6

“Nah,” I reply, “Not my thing. I’m not interested in making money. I’m going to fight the good fight because I feel it is the right thing to do. Not to mention I am not interested in working for the authorities even if I do want to cooperate with them as I don’t mind breaking the law if that is what it takes to get justice.”

“So you’re going to be Batman with power armour instead of a tragic backstory,” says Charlie, “You got your thirst for justice and the willingness to work in shadows and break the law to get it. You even got your secret lair for your Batcave and the mysterious Sentinel as your Alfred. By the way, you still haven’t introduced me to them yet.”

“Sentinel is complicated and is more a Robin that does Alfred’s job,” I disagree, “And I’ll get around to it soon. I just need to find the best way to do it. I’ll talk you tomorrow.”

“Later,” says Charlie and I end the call.

Charlie has a point. I do kinda fit the Batman archetype and the world currently lacks one. Atlas can be Superman and the Heroes Union can be the Justice League. I’ll be Batman and the team that Guardian and I are putting together can be our Batfamily. We need to come up with a name for our group. I can talk to Legacy about that tomorrow.

It is a good plan.

Better than just aimless building up your powerbase for some vague, unknown purpose.

Yeah, it is good to have an actually goal in sight. Now I just need to put together a team, make it good and prepare for any possible or impossible scenario. I don’t aim low it seems.

Don’t underestimate yourself. You already got your base and a pretty good team consisting of you, Jaylyn, Legacy and Sentinel. All you got to do it expand what you got and entrench yourself.

***

When I return to my base the next day, I carefully tidy up all of my documents and notes.

I got to avoid being distracted. I need to focus on building an arsenal and the second base to build, but I can probably delegate the latter to Jaylyn. She can focus on it 24-7 and she has access to all the equipment and designs that I used when creating this base.

“Jaylyn,” I call out.

“Yes Father?” replies the AI.

“I’m going to start working on another project,” I tell her, “Since I’ll be focusing on that, I have decided to put you in charge of building the second base for Legacy and I to share. I know I can trust you to get it done.”

“Don’t worry Father, you can count on me,” Jaylyn reassures him, “May I ask what your new project is?”

“I decided that with my power, I should prepare for as many different situations as I can think of,” I answer, “A mixture of coming up with plans and designs in addition to actually creating the devices and equipment.”

“Do you have name for your project Father?” inquires Jaylyn.

“I’m going to go with ‘Anything Can Happen’,” I say.

“Sounds cool,” agrees Jaylyn.

Now to get started. Any ideas on what to do?

I would recommend a clean slate for this project. Build yourself a new computer for this project would be useful.

Good idea. Get a nice quantum computer for the sole purpose of documenting my plans and ideas. Thanks Iron.

You’re welcome.

I have to get to work on building a quantum computer. Actually, laptop would be a good idea as I don’t want to have this project confined to a single location.

I ought to tell Legacy about this. We are partners now.

She could also be quite helpful with this as she might spot things that we have missed or be able to come up with things that we wouldn’t.

Good points. Tell you what, I’ll call her now.

Legacy, better known to the public as Chicagoan vigilante Guardian, has been my partner for about a couple of weeks now.

That girl is weird, plain and simple. I’ll admit that I don’t really have grounds to call someone weird anymore, but nothing about her is normal. And Legacy just takes it all in her stride and treats it as if it is normal.

Perhaps for her it is.

I wouldn’t disagree with that that.

Someday we will just have to figure her out. Even for all that has happened since the start of the year, Legacy is exceptionally odd.

Legacy does have more than her fair share of mystery to her. She seems to have just suddenly appeared out of nowhere with nothing and the majority of her memories missing. Neither Jaylyn nor I can find any trace of her old life.

Talking about her old life, that couldn’t have been normal as Legacy certain expectations and quirks that no normal person would have. Not to mention all those assumptions that she makes or what she instinctively considers normal or strange.

But I put those thoughts to one side as Legacy answers my call. After all, I have no grounds to call anyone else weird.

1.5 Rapids Part 5

All three of the doctors and Brooke look up at me.

I know all three of the doctors, two of them quite well, from my regular visits to Joan. The two men and the woman all look like your average doctor with none of them particularly standing out to me.

Who does stand out is the sitting upright in the hospital bed, Brooke Rodgers. Despite her young age, the girl is really good looking. Long luscious brown hair with sparkling eyes that are electric blue combined with a darn pleasant body even in spite of the fact she is still going through puberty. Not even the hospital gown can hide that.

“Hello Miss Rodgers,” I greet her as I walk up to the hospital bed.

Calm confident will keep be in control of this situation while hesitation will make me lose my momentum.

“I’m Leo,” I tell Brooke as I hold my hand out, “Pleased to meet you.”

“Hello Leo, I’m Brooke,” mumbles Brooke as she looks over at me.

I’m getting some odd looks from the doctors, but none of them are telling me

“Well Brooke,” I say as I reach her bedside, “I heard that you were responsible for the electromagnetic pulse that just occurred.”

“I didn’t mean to do it,” whispers Brooke, “I have no idea how I did that.”

It just occurred to me that if she been in a coma since she got her powers, Brooke won’t know about people suddenly gaining powers.

That’s right. We should probably explain what has happened at the first opportunity.

“Don’t worry about that,” I reassure her, “It’s quite obvious that you didn’t intend to cause trouble. If you were, then we would have our hands full right now. Anybody with half a brain could figure that out.”

“You think?” asks Brooke in that soft voice of hers.

“Sure,” I tell her, “If you were going to supervillain or something you would be blasting or zapping or whatevering people. You’re clearly just confused. Which makes sense as you just woke up from a coma and none of your friends or family are here for you. Even without discovering that you have powers. By the way, you’re not the only person who has developed powers as a few other people have. They actually just formed an official, government superhero team in which they allow secret identities. It was literally formed yesterday.”

“That sounds cool,” mutters Brooke, “Are you a doctor?”

“No,” I reply, “Just a visitor. My girlfriend is a long-term patient.”

“Oh,” says Brooke as she looks away, “Are you staying?”

“Would you like me too?” I inquire.

“I would,” replies Brooke as she looks me in the eye, “If you or your girlfriend don’t mind that is.”

“Joan will understand,” I tell Brooke, “She has had the misfortune to know what it is like not to have any friends or family there for you. Besides, I get to see her plenty anyway.”

And that’s the unfortunate truth. I’m pretty certain I know Joan better than her entire family put together.

Not entirely true. Joan still has us, now and forever.

Aye.

Hear, hear.

We shall never abandon her.

“Okay,” replies Brooke and I take a seat by her bed.

The girl chats away with me as the doctors tend to her. When the police show up, they attempted to send me out, but Brooke protested and since the doctors didn’t object, I was allowed to stay.

I don’t know why I’m doing this. Spending my time helpful a complete stranger who I most likely won’t ever see again. And if I do, she probably won’t even realise it’s me.

Because you are nice guy.

And you help others because it is the right thing to do, not because you benefit from it.

***

It is quite dark when I’m on my way home. I called my parents earlier and so I don’t need to worry about them. As I said before, I have never been that afraid of the local nightlife and especially not since I got my powers.

I’m going to call Charlie and update him on today’s events.

You sure he’ll be up this late?

If he isn’t, I can just catch up with him tomorrow and call Legacy instead. She is always available due to not having a life of outside of being Guardian. I still can’t tell if that is a good thing or bad one.

It is what it is and let us leave it at that.

Yeah.

“Hey Leo,” says Charlie as he answers his phone.

“Hi Charlie,” I reply, “Just wanted to tell you about today.”

“Okay,” says Charlie, “It is about that Brooke girl? I know you’re visiting Joan at that time and since you’re you-know-who...well...”

“I was definitely on top of that,” I confirm, “I was one of the first on the scene and I basically kept her company until I left. Nice girl. I sincerely hope things go well for Brooke.”

“Don’t you already have girlfriend?” asks Charlie jokingly.

I snort before replying, “I’m allowed to be nice to other girls.”

“But talking about super stuff, what sort of route are you going to take?” asks Charlie, “Atlas is basically non-alien Superman with Alexandria as Supergirl. Mentalist is a non-crippled version of Professor Xavier with hair. Crimson Crusader and Hard Shell are both trying to be Iron Man. So what about you? You could go down the Iron Man route as well.”

1.5 Rapids Part 4

What was that?

Unknown, but it seems that all of the electronics that weren’t created by us have failed.

Our devices don’t just fail.

Is Joan okay?!

She is fine, don’t make a fuss.

Looks like they’re coming back on.

Lion isn’t wrong as the screen comes back with Atlas in mid-speech, but I drown that out as I focus on what just happened. It could have just been a temporary power cut, but if it affected things that weren’t plugged in…

Do think it was a result of someone’s powers?

It is possible it was just an electromagnetic pulse. After all, we have built our equipment to be protected against such things while none of the electronics in the hospital have such defences.

But if that was the case then they wouldn’t have recovered. No, Leo is right. It has to been the work of someone using their powers.

“Leo?” inquires Joan.

“Just thinking,” I tell her, “Just discussing what happened with the voices in my head.”

Joan knows about those guys. I didn’t really seem to be able to hide it as it is a big part of my power. It took her a while to get her to believe me and even longer to reassure I wasn’t crazy, but now she is quite accepting of it.

We’re not that bad.

“So you know what it was?” asks Joan.

“Electromagnetic pulse without actually being an electromagnetic pulse,” I reply, “I have concluded that it is the result of somebody’s powers. Do you mind if I cut this visit short and investigate?”

“It is a bit annoying, but this is more important I suppose,” says Joan with a sigh, “You better get going then.”

“I will chat with you later online,” I promise her as I get up from my seat at the side of her bed.

“Bye Leo,” says Joan.

“Goodbye darling,” I reply as I exit her room.

Now to find the source of this problem.

They need to be dealt with for interrupting our time with Joan.

Don’t assume whoever it is will be one of the bad guys Heart. They could just have easily done it by accident.

Tea is correct. They might have only just gotten their powers. This could very easily be them using their power for the first time.

And we can’t exactly complain about that. Remember how Jaylyn started out.

I’m just glad that she doesn’t mind the fact that her creation was an accident and I wouldn’t have intentionally created her if I was given the chance at the time. Now I actually like having her around, but back then, no way I would have willing built something like her.

I come to a halt as I spot Doctor Henderson coming down the corridor. The grey haired man’s face is wrinkled in worry.

“Ah Leo,” says Henderson with some relief, “How is Joan? Is she okay?”

“She is fine,” I say, “I’m just curious about who did this.”

“Who did this?” repeats Henderson as he stops in front of me, “How did you know?”

Play it cool.

I know!

“It wasn’t a conventional electromagnetic pulse,” I explain, “They don’t work that way and the technology wouldn’t have back online after they were hit. So it had to be of unnatural origin and I assumed it was someone manifesting powers.”

“It was a thirteen year old girl,” Henderson tells me after a moment, “She went into a coma back in the start of the New Year and just woke up. That’s when the pulse happened. It doesn’t help that she was a tourist and none of her family lives in this state or nearby one. The only reason we didn’t move her was because we weren’t sure transporting her back to her home state would be safe for her in her unstable condition, especially since her appearance had physically changed when she fell into a coma. I need to get back to checking on our patients.”

“Okay Doc,” I reply, “I’ll be on my way then.”

The old man hurries off.

Perhaps we should pay this girl a visit if we can.

You think?

No need for the sarcasm Leo.

I pull out my modified smartphone and locate the girl as I hack the hospital records. The girl’s name is Brooke Rodgers and is a native of New York. No family and no friends in this state or any of the neighbouring ones.

Between the shock of developing superpowers and finding out that you spent the last month and a half in a coma, I bet this girl could really use a friend right about now.

Then let us go and give her one.

I tuck my phone away and make my way to Brooke’s room. I have no doubt that police or someone else official are on their way, but this only just happened and unlike them, I am already here. As a result, I have no need to worry about law enforcement getting in the way before I get to Brooke.

People are running back and forth, but nobody is going into Brooke’s room when I get there even if there are three doctors inside with the girl. She doesn’t seem to be exactly calm at the moment, but hasn’t started crying yet even she looks like she wants to do.

Everybody here is probably still trying to sort things out.

I quickly dart inside room and clear my throat.

1.5 Rapids Part 3

It is a press conference with the three members of this ‘Trinity’.

At the fore is the Texas-raised Chicagoan hero Atlas in his red jumpsuit, blue gloves and boots and golden cape. On the front of his chest, Atlas’ ‘A’ is displayed in white.

It looks more like an upside down ‘V’ than an ‘A’.

Agreed.

To the side of Atlas is Lightbringer, a superheroine from Boston and probably the most powerful and dangerous of the Trinity. That powerhouse is clad in a white and gold form fitting bodysuit that shows off her damn near prefect curves with a purple sixteen ray star on her chest.

Not that I care about her looks.

You better not.

At the rear is the Mentalist, who might be the weakest of the Trinity, but is definitely the most terrifying as telekinetic and, seemingly, an all purpose telepath. He wears a black costume that covers his entire body and has a solid, featureless metal mask on his face.

He couldn’t take us.

But I’ll like to see him try.

It would be interesting.

I do have to admit that I would like to see how he would deal with you guys if he entered my mind.

“Hello citizens of the United States of America,” says Atlas in Texan accent, “As you know, we are the unofficial leaders of the Heroes Union and have been dubbed the Trinity. This will be a question and answer session as we will explain our roles and plans to the public. Any questions?”

Several people start speaking out, but Atlas silences them as he points to the first to start speaking.

He should have opened by picking someone rather than leaving open.

Unless that was what he wanted.

“Why has the Department of Superhuman Affairs allowed members of the Heroes Union to conceal their identities from the American public!” demands the man, “What do they have to hide so that they refused to show their faces?”

I don’t like that guy.

None of us like guys like him.

Atlas sighs at this question before he responds, “As Secretary Scott has said, this will help recruit many of those that process powers to the Heroes Union if they don’t have to worry about those that would do them and those that they care about harm if they had open identities. As for whether that works, we have already seen the results as a third of our members joined once they knew that they could maintain their normal lives. As long as the authorities knew their identities and can hold them responsible, it has been decided that the trade-offs are worth it. Any more questions?”

He has a good point there. No need to antagonise more people than you have to.

Especially if those people are potential allies if you play your cards right.

“What about vigilantes such as Guardian, Gears or Lightning Man?” demands a stern looking woman, “Didn’t your sister Alexandria and the Chicago Police Department work with the vigilante Guardian just yesterday even though the DSA state their official policy wasn’t to tolerate vigilante actions?”

We just got mentioned on national TV. That should be good.

We should celebrate our newfound fame.          

Knock it off.

Don’t be a killjoy.

Yeah, no party pooping.

Oh, just be quiet you two.

“That was an exception of course,” answers Atlas, “Despite her power, Alexandria is still just a high school student and the local police department is not equipped to deal with supervillains. To help stop Aquiline and his lackeys before they could inflict more harm on the public, CPD decided to work with Guardian. This also brings us onto the DSA’s policy of prioritising threats. While we don’t support vigilantism, we are going to focus primarily on those that are posing an active threat to the public as the DSA doesn’t have unlimited funds available. So while we don’t approve of what folks like Guardian are doing, we’ll be leaving them alone and focus our efforts on nastier people like Blastout, Washdown, Aquiline and the Darkness.”

They got their priorities straight at the very least.

Don’t complain that they aren’t actively coming after us.

You should never look a gift horse in the mouth.

But only if you’re sure it truly is a gift horse and not a Trojan horse

“What exactly is the government doing with all these captured supervillains?” asks a younger looking man, “No one has seen hide nor hair of them ever since they were taken away by federal authorities.”

I have to admit, I have been wondering the same thing. It is quite worrying.

We could also hack the federal computer systems if we really wanted to find out. That’s what we did with Washdown and how we found out about the superspy lady.

We wouldn’t even need Legacy or Jaylyn as we could easily do it ourselves.

“I was wondering when that would come up,” says Atlas with a smile, “Don’t worry, we haven’t killed them, just imprisoned them somewhere they can’t escape even if they use their powers. We had the fortune to find a law-abiding citizen with ability to create stable pocket dimensions with their own internal laws of physics. We have been using those pocket dimensions to create prisons in which their captives’ powers are unable to function in. At the moment, it has been decided it is the best course of action to protect the public from these unnaturally dangerous people.”

So that is what they are doing with the captured the villains.

It is quite an effective solution.

Agreed. I would like to know more about how it works. Does each pocket dimension counter all of their powers or it is just set to counter their known powers? And in the case of latter, what if all of the prisoner’s powers aren’t known or if how their power works is misunderstood? Do they still work or does the pocket dimension counter that regardless?

No idea Iron.

Before Atlas can say anymore, the TV screen flickers and dies.

1.5 Rapids Part 2

I take my usual path through the hospital, having made the journey many times. In fact, I have made it almost daily for the last year and a bit.

None of the staff get in the way and a few even give me quick greetings due to knowing me after I have spent so much time at the hospital. I reach Joan’s room just as a nurse attending to her exits it.

Joan has a private room that her family has paid for, complete with en suite bathroom that Joan has been unable to use for a while. Not on her own at least.

I enter the room with a smile on my face and clear my throat. Joan looks up at me from her bed and her face instantly brightens.

Joan Elizabeth Fowler is neither beautiful or impressive. Not even pretty, but looks don’t matter to me. Even outside of people, I have always preferred function over form.

That said, Joan has lousy function.

Her mind is still strong and sharp and that is what counts.

Even that might slipping.

We have no proof of that yet.

Her hair is short, a faded, soft brownish red and a total mess while she also has complete heterochromia iridis with her right eye being green whilst the other is grey. Her skin is pale and dulled and, despite her best efforts, Joan’s body has been atrophying due to her inability to use it.

And on top of it all, she has to wear glasses due to poor eyesight that is also slowly getting worse.

Joan is also wearing a blue patient’s dress, her only choice of clothing for far too long.

“Hello dear,” I greet her as go to her bedside, “I have come as expected.”

“Any reason you wouldn’t have?” replies Joan jokingly.

I lean closer and whisper, “I did get a bit distracted working on a designing a space elevator. So that might have caused to be a bit later if Heart hadn’t reminded me.”

Too true.

Don’t forget to turn on the privacy field. We don’t want anybody over hearing us.

That is true I admit to myself as I follow Iron’s advice and turn on the small handheld gadget that stops people from hearing any sound within its range if they’re not within its range. It can also jam any electronic devices to various degrees, but beyond jamming any unregistered devices in room, I have left that function off as would attract undue attention.

“So how is that coming along?” inquires Joan in a quiet voice.

“Poorly,” I admit, also in a quiet voice, “It isn’t so much as actually designing the space elevator that is a problem as I can use kinetic energy projectors or magnetic rails, but rather it is finding the resources to make it work. And I don’t mean acquiring enough resources, but rather finding one that can do what it is needed to in the first place. But how is your work coming along?”

Despite being trapped in this room, Joan has enrolled at my school and is taking her course online. And despite us picking to do different subjects, I have been helping her with her learning due to Joan lacking a teacher to help her.

Even before my powers made me a full on genius, I was still pretty smart and one of the most intelligent people at school.

And since I got my powers, I have been helping her so much more in multiple ways. For starters, I’m much smarter so I can help better with her school work. Another is that I have added a piece of software to her laptop so that it will write down her words if she speaks them out loud, something that she has found particularly useful as it also proofreads her work for her.

Unbeknownst to Joan, I call that software Jaylyn. The AI was ecstatic at the opportunity to help her ‘mother’.

She is a helpful little darling.

I won’t disagree with that.

Not only that, but I have been slipping her some food, generally tasteless gruel or bland pills, that I have created to help her body recover by stimulating the sensors and muscles and manipulating her body into doing things that will help make itself better.

And it has being showing as time has progressed, much to the shock of those caring for her. I smile as I remember the look on Doctor Henderson’s face as realised that Joan’s condition had not only stopped deteriorating, but had made some meagre and subtle improvements.

Downright shocked would be an understatement.

“I’m doing great,” answers Joan, “But that isn’t what I want to do right now. I wanted you to watch Trinity’s session with me.”

“The Trinity,” I repeat blankly, “Who are the Trinity?”

“The leaders of the Heroes Union,” explains Joan, “Atlas, Lightbringer and the Mentalist. You know those guys.”

“I did do my research on them,” I admit since I did do my best to acquire any scrap of information on every known super, “But I thought the Department of Superhuman Affairs was in charge of the Heroes Union.”

“Technically, but the Trinity are heroes that are leading them,” says Joan, “It think it’s cool, especially since Secretary Scott decided to allow members of the Heroes Union to have secret identities.”

Sounds like a PR stunt given how it conflicts with my data.

And it seems to be working considering what Joan thinks is going on.

“It was the best option,” I say, “Even some people do make a fuss, the option of having a secret identity would be attractive to many supers who would otherwise wouldn’t join.”

“Shhh,” says Joan excitedly as she unmutes the TV in her room, “It’s starting.”