Ever sihat day weirder and weirder people keep showing up around me. I ’t stand it, what did I do to deserve this? I ’t catch a break! What does this person want with me?
In front of him, one of the prettiest women he’d ever seen in his entire life was scarfing down a burger like she haden in ages. o her, aneous woman ig delicately at a basket of fries and staring at him as if he was shit on the heel of a shoe. He looked away as soon as he met her gaze.
What is this chick’s problem? They’re wearing really expensive clothes. Are they models? Did they see me get kicked out of that shop and want to bully me or something? I ’t take this.
The white-haired dy let out a tented sigh after sipping her soda for a moment and stretched out her legs beh the table.
“Hot damn, nothing’s better than a burger after some shopping,” She said, patting her belly tentedly. Behind her, a half dozen ers stared in disbelief at her. She pointedly ighe stares a her elbow oable, cupping her in her hand. “Hey.”
He jumped, looking up at her, “Uh… yes?”
“I bought you a meal, eat it,” She said firmly and he caught something behind those tinted sungsses of hers. Were her eyes glowing?
Is she another freak like Shark? Like me?
He shifted ba his seat a little, tensing up, “Why am I here? What do you want? Who are you people?” He asked, even as his trembling hands reached for the burger and snatched it up hastily. He took a bite. He wished he could enjoy it, it was really good.
“You're Amht?” The woman asked, “I hear you’re pretty good with hardware.”
He choked on the burger, coughing and reag hastily for his drink before slurping it down. He cleared his throat and stared at her, aghast, the bags under his eyes only deepening. “How do you know my name?” He asked, “Did Shark send you? I told him I’d pay!” He pleaded, l his head, “Please!”
“Excuse you? What are you implying?” The woman in the green dress growled, starting to sit up.
“Easy Marta,” The woman said with a wave of her hand, not moving from her casual pose. She reached up and tilted down her sungsses, revealing a pair of meical eyes that clicked and whirred inside her head. He froze, awestruck by the plexity of them even at this distahey were beautiful, “I have my ways, no idea who this Shark guy is, though.”
He hesitated, “I uh…”
“You like them?” She asked pyfully, “My eyes?”
“Um…” He grunted, feeli rise to his face.
The woman cracked a grin before sn out a ugh, “Sorry, sorry! I’m just having some fun, I thought I’d py the ysterious stranger!” She cackled, spping her knee. “Oh rex, I’m not here to hurt you or anything!”
He lowered the burger down, “Then what do you want?” He asked evenly, looking her dead in the eyes.
She opened her mouth to speak when a loud crash outside the restaurant shook the windows, he jumped, nearly knog over the table as he whipped his head around to see what the otion was. The following roar was enough to tell him exactly what had happened. He watched through the window in horror as a group of jackal-lookis the size of panthers leaped through the air and nded on a car. One of them raised a mighty pawed hand and brought it down on the windshield, crushing it.
“Marta?” The white-haired woman said, drawing his attention back to her. She hadn’t even blinked! She was still sitting there, pig at her fries like it was nothing. “Feel up to giving your powers a test run?”
The woman in the green dress, Marta, got to her feet and brushed off her hands. “Absolutely,” The woman said and strode towards the door.
Amos stared at Marta’s back, then at the woman who was still eating her meal. “Who are you people?”
The woman broke into a magnanimous smile, “Oh! Sorry about that! I’m Sonya!” She said, extending a hand, “o meet you Amos.”
–
Holy fug shit that scared me! Sonya screamed internally, a cold sweat going down her neck. I pletely fot how suddenly they would appear during the first year! God damn! So much for all that bat training, at least I kept my poker face. Sheesh!
She gnced up at Marta as she stepped outside, Still, I’m more shocked by how quickly Marta agreed. She really doesn’t know her strength yet, but if lifting a sofa with one hand is any indication I doubt she’ll have any real problems. I just heal her if the worst happens. Sonya kept the frown that formed off her face, You don’t o prove anything, Marta, just be safe.
One of the beasts turs head and spotted Marta stalking towards them, her sundress dang in the wind that was on in cities with tall buildings like New York. It snarled and lu her, both paws raised up and ready to strike. Marta seemed to hesitate for a moment, a very natural fear of daaking hold before instinct driven by her awakened powers took over. She reared bad delivered one hell of a haymaker, straight into the head of the oni. It unched off of her fist and careened into the car, smashing into it as the driver scrambled out the other side. The creature struggled once before falling limp.
Oh. Sonya blinked, She’ll be fine. Sonya thought and turned her attention baos who ositively trembling. He watched Marta take out the first of the monsters with a mixture of awe and horror on his face.
“Ain’t she the best?” Sonya chimed, drawing his attention back to her. His eyes were like saucers. “Hey, this is gonna keep happening, man, you gotta get used to it.”
I say that, but if I have my way, you won’t be seeing any a, ever.
She kept her hand held out aared at it, then at her, then back at it. Disfort was written all over his face as shouts and crashes echoed from outside. Sonya shrugged, she could be patient. She put her hand down and smiled at him. It’s hard to believe that this sniveling punk is the future charismatic head of the biggest hero gear glomerate in the world. What the hell kind of life was he living before his business kicked off? He said something about a shark?
“How are you so calm?” He demanded, “There are monsters out there right now! People are screaming!”
“What do you wao do about it?” Sonya asked with a shrug, “Marta’s got it handled, or would you rather me leave you here alone?”
He froze, “Um…”
Sonya sighed, “Look, why don’t you tell me about why you were kicked out of that store?” Sonya asked as a massive jackal flew past the window. Marta stormed past and stopped briefly to wave befetting back to work.
He watched Marta walk by with a pale look on his face before looking back at her, he looked down at his hands. “I guess it won’t hurt…” He said uneasily. “I’ve always been smart, I know it, but I could never afford to get into a good college after I washed out of the st one. Not that it would matter.” He said bitterly, “I learned everything on my own. I wao make some money fixing stuff so maybe I could get a degree ter,” He sighed, “But I messed up, repaired phones for the wrong people, and they held it over my head. Then there was that light and I’ve… I’ve had all these ideas!” He ched his fists, “Amazing ideas! But I ’t afford to make any of it happen! I ’t even afford to keep my shop open! The head of the group I’ve been w fot powers too, he’s terrifying! He keeps raising the rent, it’s like he’s bleeding me dry.”
“This shark, you mentioned?” Sonya asked, a frown f on her face. I had no idea his ins were so bleak. He worked hard but he’d bee just as corrupt as the rest of them. Which isn’t a bad thing for me, I suppose. It’s better I get him than him running amok on his own.
“Y-yeah, that’s what he calls himself, he turn into a shark… thing… its awful,” Amos said sullenly, “Rip a dht off its hinges, punch through a-” He gnced over and saw Marta holding one of the beasts by its throat, it colpsed as people stood around and took pictures of her. Police had already gathered nearby but they were refusing to approach just yet.
He looked at Sonya and caught her eyes, she smiled at him, “Let’s make a deal, Amos, it sounds to me like you're someone wetting to know.”
Outside, Marta brushed herself off and walked away from the bodies of the monsters. People were filmihe eime on their phohe police had rushed in as well, setting up barriers around the corpses while keeping a close eye on Marta. Sonya restrained a smile, they probably had orders to keep their distance for now. No one knew how to hahe awakened yet and she had acted in the defense of others. Even in such a short amount of time there were groups trying to figure out how to make use of these new powers, especially the gover. Even so, they weren’t stupid, they wouldn’t barge in and make demands.
This isn’t a ic book, she thought as she looked back at Amos. He swallowed, hard.
“What do you have in mind?” He asked.
“I take care of your problem and you work for me? I pay you and keep your projects funded, you’ll have to start small though, this isn’t a free ride,” Sonya said with a shrug.
He stared at her for several more moments befetting to his feet just as Marta walked by. In front of a crowded window filled with people filming, Sonya took his hand and shook it as Marta ined her head to Sonya and sat down to resume her meal. Sonya kept an easy smile even as her heart pounded in her chest, Now this is publicity, it’s a shame I don’t have anything to sell yet. She looked down at Amos’ hand and grinned.
Appraise!
Sonya froze, two products? He had two abilities? Her mind reeled, he’d never demonstrated that he had that kind of ability iure she remembered. She looked up at his name and it said clearly that he was awakened. She forced herself to calm down and shook his hand before sitting back down in her chair. Already the crowd was being dispersed by the police. Sonya gnced up at the growing presence of the authorities and looked to Amos, “We should get going.”
“R-right,” He said hastily.
“I just got back!” Marta groaned and snatched up her fries, “I’m eating on the go!”
–
Detective Martin Fuller frowned as the pale woman with white hair left the restaurant through the side entrahe woman in the green dress and what looked like a homeless person on her heels. He pulled his radio up to his lips, “Let them go, don’t bother them, but figure out where they’re going,” He said quietly and got a clipped aowledgement in response. He set the radio ba his shirt and scowled.
He hated being hamstrung like this, but orders were orders. The top brass were still arguing about how to hahe light touched, as some had started to call them. Politis were making discreet inquiries and it was getting harder and harder to keep a lid on things. More of these freaks were showing up every day. To make matters worse, the monster sightings were being more frequent and publicized.
“Let it go, Martin,” A voice said o him. He turo see a white haired man with a cut on his , the older man pat his shoulder, “ing involved uhey attack a human. If they deal with the mohat’s less work for us. uns don’t work on the damn things anyway.”
Martin sagged, his dark hair glinting a bit iernoon sun. “They’re basically vigintes, Carl!” He retorted, “This is wrong.”
“Yeah, but do you want to get into a fight with the woman in the green dress?” Carl asked, giving him a side eye.
Martiated and sighed, “No, not really. I’m more ied in the woman she seems to ao,” He said, crossing his arms.
“The pale one?” Carl asked, “Yeah I noticed that too. One of the witnesses said she even gave the order to attack the monsters. She isn’t even trying to be subtle about their power dynamic. She spent the eime talking casually with the homeless-looking guy. I think that was Amos from the east side,” he said thoughtfully, rubbing his .
“You think those freaks are getting anized?” Martin demanded, “It’s barely been a week!”
“People are proo gathering together when crazy things happen,” Carl warned, “Especially if one of them has charisma,” He squeezed Martin’s shoulder tightly, “Also we’re calling them light touched for now, ease up on the nguage.” Martin clicked his tongue and looked away, Carl chuckled, “Still you’re right to have put a tail on them. I’ve got a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of that woman.”