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Just Super (Working Title), Stories

Just Super (Working Title) – Part 2

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When we arrived to the hotel, Technix frowned. “There’s definitely a generator set up here. Actually, I’m feeling three, and… I dunno, there’s some weird tech in there.”

“Three generators? It’s only a two story old hotel, why would they need three?” Jet Force asked, confused. “Everyone on guard, this might be more than we expected. Be ready to back out and call for backup, Technix. Ladies, ready?”

“Ready, Jet,” Hurricane nodded.

“Lead on, Captain,” I agreed. Jet nodded and walked for the door. Once we were all inside, the light in the lobby flickered on. “Orders?” I asked quietly, mildly unnerved by the automatic lights in a building that most definitely hadn’t had them when it closed.

“Hold for now,” Jet replied, signaling us all to stay by the door as he walked forward. “Hello? We’re with the Hero’s Association, we’re just checking in to make sure everything is alright here. Anyone willing to come chat with us?” We waited and there was no answer, before a section of a wall facing the door lowered and a screen was revealed. It showed static for a moment, then a young man’s face.

“Oh, wait- There we go! Hello, heroes! Nothing to worry about, I’ve bought the hotel and am in the process of renovating it,” he said cheerfully. “Automation, security cameras, and a few bits of amusement for those that find themselves visiting.”

“Sounds like a nice project for you,” Jet replied with an easy smile. “We were on our ways to another spot and thought we’d just check in, make sure everything was alright here.”

“Jet…” Technix said nervously.

“Just a sec, Tech- We’ll be heading out in a moment,” Jet promised.

“Oh? Going already? I would love a chance to meet some of my favorite heroes before you go, if I could?” The young man asked eagerly. “My study is just through the door on the right there, by the old elevator. I can meet you there in just a minute!”

“I don’t see why not,” Jet agreed. “We will meet you there, then.” The screen turned off and the wall closed back up. Technix looked both worried and annoyed.

“Jet, something isn’t right here. We need to leave now, not wait and meet this guy.”

“If you’re worried, then you can wait outside,” Jet pointed out, heading for the door that had been pointed out. “It never hurts to show good will toward citizens, y’know. We don’t want to be cold and aloof, and it’s not like we’re on an emergency.” Hurricane looked between the two, shrugged, and followed Jet. Technix scowled and looked at me.

“I’ll be outside. Here-” He handed me his spare comm. As the techie one, he usually handled communication. “If something happens, radio out.” With that, he stormed back outside.

I felt uneasy myself, but someone with a communicator needed to be on the inside, so I followed the cousins. Once we were all three in the study we’d been pointed to, Jet took a spot by a window and waited, looking outside. Hurricane moved to look at a bookshelf on the far wall, and I stayed close to the door. No one said anything and we just waited for our mysterious fan to show up.

“Guys, get out of there!” Came Technix’s voice over the comms after a moment. “It’s a trap, theres-” The signal cut out as we all heard a strange noise outside. Jet tried to punch out the window so we could leave easily, only to find it was strangely strong. As he looked at it, confused, a sheet of metal closed over it outside the room.

“What? How did… What?”

“Jet, focus!” Hurricane said, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the study door as I led the way back towards the front door. The windows in the lobby showed the same metal sheet outside as the study window had, and opening the front door showed the sheet had engulfed the building.

“Shit… We need to find a different way out,” I told the other two, turning to them.

“Move, let me try to break it,” Jet answered, moving forward. I stepped aside and let him punch the metal a few times with no dents. “What the hell is this? It looks like plain steel, but I can’t even dent it?”

“Clearly, we’re not dealing with a normal citizen. We’ve got a rogue.” Hurricane moved to another door in the lobby and opened it. “Which means we’ll need to find them or some other way out, like Flare said. Let’s start searching.”

“Agreed, I guess.” Jet nodded. “Let’s stick close. Flare, you’ve got a com? Any signal?”

I held it up and pushed some buttons where he could see. “None. I’d bet whatever this is around the building is blocking the signal.”

“You’d win money on that bet,” our captor’s voice said. I assumed there was an intercom somewhere in the building. “I never expected my trap to draw my exact target so soon. And two more strong steel tiers on top? It’s lovely when things go well.”

“So, which of us is your target, then?” I asked. “And why? Far as we know, none of us are that impressive for a rogue to take out.”

“I suppose you’ll just have to wait to find out, won’t you? Once you’ve found a few more of my… improvements to this building, you’ll likely find your answer. And if you don’t… Well, you’ll likely just be out of my hair, so who cares?” The voice chuckled. “I suppose it would be fair to at least tell you… By the ratings of your little League buddies, I’d be classed as gold. If the three of you can survive to reach me, you might just manage to defeat me. Then again… Maybe not. Maybe I’m not even in the hotel.”

“Yeah, we’ll believe you’d be gold when we see it.” Hurricane retorted.

“Come on, guys. Let’s look around and find a way out, or our friend here.” Jet said, walking. Hurricane and I followed, heading through a door with him.

“As an added bit of fun… I’m broadcasting your adventure. There are cameras nearly everywhere here. And there are plenty of challenges for you along your way.”

“At least if he’s broadcasting this, the Association knows exactly what’s going on,” Hurricane pointed out. “So, they’ll be working on getting us out from the outside.”

“And, the building’s two stories. Maybe with a basement. There’s not that much for us to look through.” Jet seemed not to be bothered at all by all of this. I got the feeling he thought our enemy wasn’t nearly as strong as he claimed.

“He claimed to have made changes to the building. So… We could have more to worry about than we think,” I pointed out. Jet snorted, before Hurricane grabbed his arm and pulled him back. I was confused, until I saw a tripwire right in front of Jet. “Well… There’s at least traps.”

“Okay… So we need to keep an eye out for-” Jet began, then the lights cut out. “Should’ve seen that coming. If he wants us to blunder into traps, why would he keep the lights on?”

“I mean, we’ve dealt with this kinda thing before,” I pointed out, raising a hand and producing just enough of a fireball for us to see by. I waited, looking around to see if a fire suppression system was going to kick in, then sighed. “No sprinklers, no fire alarms. Which could be a clue, or he could have just not cared to get them up and running yet.”

“A clue?” Jet asked. “What, to who he was looking to trap?”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “He said he was only after one of us. So, there could be a lot of traps aimed at only one of us, our specific powers. The lack of sprinklers could hint that I’m not the main target, or it could just mean he hadn’t bothered with them or he has traps that the water would ruin… It’s not definite, could still go a couple ways, but it could help us narrow it down with some other information.”

“We’ll see what else we can gather, might also help us decide what he’s prepared for,” Hurricane nodded. Jet sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Flare… Take point on this. My quick thinking is best in a fight, you’re intelligent overall. I think we’ll have a better chance of survival and success if you take the lead.” Hurricane and I just stared at him. “I know I can be an ass, and I have been lately. But you’re a good hero. And right now, we need you in charge. So take the lead, and let’s do our best to get out of here.”

“Well… if you think that’s best, Jet Force, I’ll take charge,” I agreed reluctantly. Jet never handed the reins over, even if it would be the smart choice. Then again, we’d never been trapped a man down in an unknown environment before, either. I slipped past them, careful of the tripwire, and made sure they could see it as we moved further down the hall, alert for other traps. “Alright… We need a gameplan. We saw no obvious changes to the outside of the building, so if any expansions happened, I’d bet they were to the basement. I would also bet that, if our rogue is in the building at all, he’s not going to be easy to get to.”

“So, what, not on the first or second floors?” Hurricane asked. I nodded.

“Except, we can’t be certain. If I’m right and he’s expanded, then he may think that we would think that way…” I trailed off, thinking it over. “We’re clearly dealing with an intelligent rogue. The problem is, what kind of intelligent? Is he only good with tech, but bad at predicting people? Hmm… No, he knew enough to know he could probably easily trap at least some of us. He also knows that the idea that we’re under constant watch and broadcast to the city means we’ll have to be careful what we say, or we give away secrets we don’t want to. That’s less of a problem for you two, your identities aren’t secret, but does put my identity in a bind.”

“She thinks she’s working me out, doesn’t she?” Came our enemy over the intercom system. “Cute, thinking you can out-think me. You’re just a pathetic little girl, you can’t even begin to get ahead of me.”

I stopped and looked around, contemplating. “Well… There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” I could tell he was trying to goad me into rashness. If my teammates hadn’t been trapped in here with me, it may have even worked, but I couldn’t put them at risk by rushing into things. “You’ve at least ruled out one solution for me.”

“Oh? Do tell, Flare, what have I ruled out?” The young man chuckled over the intercom.

“I can’t simply burn you out. Even if the metal you’ve put around the building has a low melting point and would fail to the heat, that would just kill my teammates.”

“And baby’s afraid of getting her first error?” The voice taunted.

“I’ll get an error at some point. I’m human, I’m far from perfect. But I’m not going to make choices that I know will cost lives.” He hadn’t said anything that would specifically tell me anything, but how he said that bothered me for some reason. I couldn’t place it, but it felt like his taunt about errors meant something. “Even if you were definitely locked in here with us and it would stop you, I can’t risk that.”

“Aww, you’re so kind,” He retorted. I heard a beeping down the hall and turned to look, as did the other two. A red light had appeared in the darkness. “I’m not, however. You know the best thing about a pyro? You’re so easy for a heat seeking computer to find.” There was a mechanical noise behind the beeping and the light started coming closer to us.

“Guys… There’s a side room to our left,” Hurricane whispered. “I don’t see a trap on the door.”

“Get in, and I’ll keep this heat seeker trained on me,” I told the two, watching the light. I heard a door to the left open and felt the two of them move away from me.

As the light approached, I grew my fire a little to give me a better view of what was approaching me. It was like a bare-bones version of a train engine with tank treads. The red light I had seen was on the front, right above a strange little tube sticking out of the robot. The robot stopped, and I heard a whirring noise that sounded like something spinning up.

That felt like my cue. I dropped the fireball and dodged into the door on my left just before bullets started flying from the machine. Hurricane closed the door behind me, and Jet Force shoved a dresser up against it. I stumbled away from the door before once more lighting a small fireball so we could see the room better.

It was a small hotel room, predictably. The window was covered by a sheet of metal, just like the other windows were. I moved closer to take a look. “Careful… I don’t know what the office window was made of, but it’s way stronger than glass. That metal sure ain’t steel, either,” Jet warned me quietly as he and Hurricane guarded the door.

“I figured. Do you think he’s replaced all the windows with whatever was in the office?” I asked, putting my free hand up to it. It didn’t feel like glass to me, but I wasn’t sure what it could be instead. “It doesn’t feel like glass… And it doesn’t feel like it would be easy to melt.”

“So, what do we do from here? None of us is bullet-proof, and we have no access to medical supplies or first aid while we’re trapped in here,” Hurricane sighed, shifting to lean against the wall.

“We also don’t have an easy way to distract the thing. I can’t risk leaving something burning while we make an escape,” I agreed, frowning. We heard a noise and turned to the wall opposite the door as a section of it slid down and a monitor, much like the one in the lobby, was revealed. A picture flickered into focus, but it wasn’t our enemy. It was the current top villain, Belladonna. My mother.

“Hero team- I think we’ve gotten a signal in. The Heroes and our League are working together to break into the building you’re trapped in. We know who your rogue is, and he is too much for a group of steel tier heroes to handle alone, especially with one of your team out of the situation. We are keeping an eye on the broadcast as well, and trying to sort what his goal is with this.”

“Well, this will be a tale for the grandkids one day, if we survive,” Jet sighed, rubbing his face. “Being rescued by villains…”

“If we don’t get ourselves out first,” I pointed out.

“We appreciate the news, Belladonna. Though this is going to make your case with the various rogues harder,” Hurricane pointed out.

“Right now, that’s not our main concern. If this psycho takes things too far, he’ll interfere in plans a few of us are working on, and we’re not going to let some little punk ruin all our hard work,” Belladonna retorted with a bit of a smirk. “Just do your best to survive, and we’ll do our best to keep getting into his network and learn what we can.” The monitor shut off and the wall closed back. Jet and Hurricane sighed, both sounding mildly relieved, but I couldn’t. I was tense, fists clenched, after the first time I had spoken to my mother since the day she’d abandoned me.

“Well, what are we thinking for an escape from the room here?” Jet asked, looking at Hurricane, then at me. He frowned, shifting a little. “Flare? You uh… You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I growled, moving closer to where the monitor had been. “Just peachy.”

“You clearly aren’t,” Hurricane retorted. “I get it, I’m not a fan of getting help from the League either, but…”

“I’m. Fine.” I wasn’t, she was right. I was trying to get my mind back where I needed it, but when I finally lost my temper, that could be hard. I was right on the edge of that at this point.

“It’s not the League. It’s Belladonna,” Jet observed. “I know she’s the biggest bad in the city, but-”

“She- I have a personal reason not to like her right now. Alright? But I can’t focus on that when I need to sort out how to get us moving on without getting us all shot.” I could feel their eyes on me. They wanted to know, I knew that, but it wasn’t the time for it. Besides, I couldn’t explain more than that when we knew the city was watching. Hell, the world could be watching for all we knew.

They talked more, but I ignored them, kneeling and examining the floor. It wasn’t very hard or sturdy, so we should be able to slip into the basement here. The problem was that we wouldn’t know what was below us until we were already in there. But we also couldn’t wait forever to do something, as I was certain the rogue had something else up his sleeve and was just waiting for us to drop our guard to use it.

“Jet. I think our best bet is if you break the floor and we drop through. It’s risky, but… We’ll have to take our chances.” The cousins stopped talking behind me and Jet walked over, kneeling to examine the floor himself.

“Should be doable. Stand back, I’ll break through and help you two down one at a time.” I moved back by Hurricane, and Jet punch a hole in the floor, then motioned us over to head down to the basement.

Just Super (Working Title), Stories, Uncategorized

Just Super (Working Title) – Part 1

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“Oh, no, I don’t talk about family in my interviews. I can’t risk them being tracked down, with more rogues popping up every month,” the brightly colored character on my screen laughed lightly. “While rogues are on the rise again, I think you’ll find a lot of newer powereds, heroes and villains alike, returning to the secret identity style. It’s just safer for those we care about that way.”

“But you aren’t that new. You’ve been at this for two years now, well before the rate of rogues increased. You’ve never once given a hint about who you are behind the mask, even when you were starting out as a new hero! The world would love to know more about you, Flare. Rumors abound that you have a powered parent, or even two!” An eager newsperson was clearly hoping to cut through the hero’s defenses.

“Rumors also abound that I’m dating Jet Force or Hurricane, but that doesn’t mean they’re true,” the hero replied with an easy, loveable smile. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t risk it. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Perhaps the charity event coming up next week? I’m sure your viewers would love some sneak peeks at what I’m planning to do to raise money for our kids in need.” The interviewer ate that up, launching straight into the new topic.

“Idiots, all of them. So easy to redirect,” I sighed, flipping off the television and standing, stretching.

“Now, that’s not fair to them, dear. You’re just good at reading them,” My grandmother said from across the room, where she sat at her desk working on a novel she swore she would publish one day. I didn’t think it was likely, as much as she kept re-writing it, but it was fun to read and made her happy to work on.

“I guess that’s true. What are we thinking for dinner tonight? I could cook when I get home from work.”

Grandma laughed. “Alix, you know you can’t guarantee you’ll be home in time for dinner. I’ll make pork chops, and I’ll make sure to save you one if Grandpa’s in a hungry mood when he gets off work.” She teased. “Go do your rounds, save the world.”

“Grandma, I’m just a steel tier. I don’t save the world, that’s the platinums,” I laughed, walking over to hug her.

“You’ll get there. You’ve only been at this two years, dearest. Your father needed three just to get to steel, so you’re already doing better than he did!”

“And mother needed only three months to go platinum. She’s the one I’m more concerned with catching up to,” I pointed out, making her frown.

“You don’t need to catch up to her, as I’ve told you a million times. Now, go on. Jet will be furious if you’re late again.” She kissed my cheek and sent me on my way.

She was right, and I knew it, but stubbornness was a trait I picked up from both of my parents. As I trudged out to my car and went for HQ, I thought on it.

My father had died when I was nine. He had been in a massive explosion, trying to keep civilians safe. Flash Fire was his hero name, and was written in large font on the three statues of him in town and on his gravestone. He’d never wanted that, but the city didn’t listen when we said he wasn’t interested in being immortalized. One of the lesser risks heroes take, I suppose.

My mother was also powered. While Dad had fire power and was a hero, Mom didn’t bother to use her powers for more than maintaining a nice garden as I grew up. She was so sweet and kind, helping our neighbors when they needed it and making sure I learned right from wrong. At least, until Dad died. The day after his funeral, she brought me to my grandparents, promised me that she would always love me but I was safer with them, then left. The next time I saw her was three months later, as the fastest growing villian in the League of Villains, ever.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were a family that supported and raised heroes, my mother had always said so. She threw it all away to be a villain, just because Dad died doing hero’s work.

But that wasn’t what spurred me to hero’s work myself. I had hope she would come to her senses and come home to me, one day. When I was 16, I gave up that notion and realized the only way she would stop would be if I came to stop her. So I started training to be a hero.

Now, I was Flare, one of the up-and-comers in the Hero’s Association. I was still pretty new, only a steel rank, but I was determined to work my way up through the ranks. I was expecting to move up to bronze in a few more weeks if I kept up my work, and if my team didn’t get into any trouble.

All heroes below silver worked in a set team, and most in gold rank did as well. Heroes in iron rank had a silver rank volunteer leading their team, since they were the bottom rung of the ladder and most of them brand new. They needed watching, and training in how to handle villains of different calibers.

The villains had the same ranks: iron, steel, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. The two HQs did work together enough to come up with the scales, so the heroes wouldn’t be throwing newbies at strong villains, and the veteran heroes could be sent for villains that would need someone stronger to take them down. The only time this system failed was when rogues, villains who refused to work with the League, popped up. Those were usually people that had mental health issues that triggered their villainy, or were simply deeply mistrusting of the League having any level of work with the heroes. Some people, after all, assumed that all the villainy from the League must be staged to keep heroes in business.

In reality, the villains of the League just knew that if they went as crazy as they wanted, all of them, they could probably wiped out the heroes. There would, however, likely not be any place to take over if they did that. What was the point of being villains if the only other people were villains and the only property belonged to other villains? Some villains would have to become heroes just to get things to a point where there was a point to being a villain again, and the cycle would repeat. They decided it wasn’t worth it and set up rules and limits so it wouldn’t screw all of them over if one or two went rogue. Made sense, and made our lives easier.

I was in a team of four, with Hurricane, Jet Force, and Technix. 

Technix was a techno-path, a powered that could control electronics with his mind. It could be pretty useful, but a lot of veterans were already sure he wasn’t going to get above bronze rank with a power like that. 

Hurricane could summon and control winds, and had prevented a number of disastrous tornadoes from harming anyone. She said she would never completely stop one, as the planet had its own needs and weather was one of them, but she could reroute it slightly to protect people.

Our team captain was Jet Force, a dualie who could fly and had super strength. It was a handy combo, easy enough to go silver with at the minimum, but he also had enough combat sense that people thought he might make platinum one day.

I went by Flare, and could control fire. It was a harder power to rank highly with, but I’d learned by watching my dad, another fire user. I also happened to have another power that I didn’t tell people about: Invisibility. I was a secret dualie, holding that extra power in reserve for dire circumstances. 

Sometimes, it felt like my teammates didn’t really trust me to stay a hero. Most fire users that tried to become heroes did end up as villains, usually after feeling like they hadn’t been given a fair shake. I knew that wouldn’t be the case if I didn’t make it far, since I saw my dad make it to the top with the same power.

When I parked in our lot and went to enter HQ, I saw that Jet waited for me, still in plain clothes and looking grouchy. “What this time, Trevor?” I sighed. “I’m not late, and I know I did my paperwork well because Thorn complimented it before I left after our last patrol.” Jet just scowled more.

“Your stupid interview. ‘Rumors abound that I’m dating Jet Force but they aren’t true,’ said with a laugh like it’s the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard.”

I couldn’t believe this. After a moment of stunned silence, I looked around the street and found it mercifully empty before I grabbed his arm and towed him inside. He looked confused for a moment, but at least hit the badge scanner for me so I wouldn’t have to fumble my badge out of my bag. Once we were behind doors the general public couldn’t hear us through, I let go, turned, and glared.

“My identity is a secret to the public. If you go talking about my interview while we’re in plain clothes on the street and someone hears that, you put my family in danger. You want that on your head? Do I need to take you back up to the ethics board about privacy concerns again?”

“Well, I’m not wrong!” He retorted, clearly not caring. “Your-”

“You’re wrong for saying it in the middle of the street, and you weren’t exactly quiet about it. As far as anyone on the street knows, I’m a young woman working here as an assistant. I have potential enemies remember? Not to mention the rising rogue threat! And no, I don’t see you as a datable option, because you may be great at being a hero and thinking quick in a fix, but you are an idiot when it comes to social situations, privacy of your coworkers, and your own emotional intelligence.” I did my best to keep my voice level and calm. One of the biggest downside to fire-type heroes was a perceived anger problem. It was a negative stereotype, and one I’d seen was pretty well not true, but I wasn’t intending to further it.

“You don’t have to yell at me-” He started, then paled a little when someone put a hand on his shoulder. A rather large hand, and I’m betting there was some force behind it. What Jet hadn’t realized was that one of the platinums, a hero by the name of Valiant, had been near the door when we entered and heard the whole exchange. The older man stood a good foot taller than my teammate, and was also known for his strength and rigid moral compass.

“She didn’t raise her voice once. But keep it up,” Valiant told him coolly, “and I will. You’re a team captain, Jet Force. You need to respect your team, even out of uniform. If the lady doesn’t want her identity to get out, you keep her identity. If you think this will be a problem, then I’m sure we can pick a different captain for the team. Maybe Flare here, she seems level headed.”

“She’s a pyro, she-”

“Is intelligent, calm, and hasn’t had any errors her entire career. You, as smart and quick thinking as you are, have still had 20 errors this year alone.” I winced at that. Calling a hero out on their errors, times when an action they took cost lives that would have otherwise been spared, was harsh. Admittedly, only a handful of heroes made it past the two year mark without any errors, and even less made it to three that way, but no one needed or wanted reminders of lives they themselves had cost.

“She’s… a good hero…” Jet said reluctantly. “I uh… I’m gonna go… suit up. Flare, see you in a few at the meetup.” With that, he quickly walked off, trying to look as refined and dignified as he usually did, but looking more like a snob with his nose in the air.

“Sorry, kid. You know how some people are,” Valiant sighed watching my “fearless leader” scurry off. “Just keep your chin up, you’ll get there one day.”

“If I can make it even a fraction of your career length without errors, I’ll feel like I’m getting there. 40 years, and not a single error. You’re what every hero should strive to be, sir,” I admitted. “Thank you for the help with my… Captain. He has his moments, but he’s not usually that bad.”

“You’re a good hero. Your powers don’t decide that, it’s how you use them. I know of another fire hero that went a good, long career without errors. I think you’ll be every bit as good as Flash Fire was.” Valiant smiled. He was one of the few heroes who actually knew Flash Fire was my dad. It wasn’t exactly hidden knowledge, but most heroes didn’t bother to look into who the newer heroes were or where they came from. Valiant had been the silver for my dad’s iron rank team, and ended up at the house a lot as I grew up. He was like an honorary uncle to me until I went to my grandparents. “Now, go get ready for patrol. I hear they got something interesting for your group to investigate today.”

“Yessir!” I grinned, saluting, before heading off to the locker rooms. They were broken up by tier and by gender identity, so they were never too crowded given the different shift times. I’m sure that isn’t the case in bigger cities, but we only had about 6,000 people so we didn’t need as many heroes as often.

Hurricane was waiting for me in the locker room, already in her costume but without her mask. “Jet stop you and cause trouble?” She asked, smiling.

“Of course he did. And got his ass chewed by Valiant,” I snorted, going to my locker and pulling out my own costume.

“No, no, don’t tell me, let me guess…. He started shit in plain clothes out on the street, where anyone could hear him.” Hurricane grew up with Jet Force, so she knew him pretty well. They were actually cousins, and raised as practically siblings once their powers developed.

So, naturally, she knew the exact level of dumb he could be. “Yeah, that exactly. And got defensive when I reminded him I have reasons for keeping my identity secret.” Hurricane nodded and slipped her mask on. “On the bright side, Valiant said he thinks they’ve got something interesting for our patrol today. Let’s go meet up with the guys and see what they’ve got for us.” I finished getting my costume on, masked up, and went out to find our team’s meeting room. Hurricane was right behind me.

“Alix, you know you don’t have to put up with him, right? You can request a transfer to another team,” She pointed out. “There are days I’m sorely tempted to myself…”

“With any luck, one of us gets promoted soon and we’ll be on different teams anyway. I’ll tough it out. Thanks though, Abby.” I got the door to our meeting room and we stepped in to see the other two waiting. “Alright- So, what’s on the agenda today, Captain?” Jet still looked mildly bothered, but like he didn’t want to talk about it.

“There’s been some strange noises out by the old warehouses. Higher-ups want us to go investigate the area today. We also need to check out old Martinville Hotel while we’re on that side of town. There’s apparently been some lights on in there.”

“I didn’t think electricity still ran to that place. Unless someone rigged up a generator…” Technix shrugged. “Well, let’s get on the road, then, unless there’s something else?”

“That’s all we’ve got today. Come on, let’s head out,” Jet shrugged, leading us out. None of us knew what we were about to experience, or that this would be the patrol that changed everything.

The Technician

The Technician – Part 1

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I go by many names. Tech Support, Help Desk, Geek Squad, Super Nerd… This was even before I started my job, and they weren’t all terms of endearment.

But there are those who depend on me, see me as a hero. There are others who fear me, because I am the essence of their nightmares, the one being who can end their existence.

To them, I’m The Technician.

It started in high school. I was, once again, the new kid. Dad was the stay-at-home sort, and Mom’s job moved us around a lot. I hadn’t had a stable friend group since the fifth grade, and had stopped even trying since the seventh. Here I was, a junior, and my only friends were some gamers I had met online. Of course, since this was high school, other kids were quick to notice I was always on a device and didn’t socialize unless I was forced to.

“Tech Support” first popped up in gym class, one of those forced socialization situations. We were picking teams for dodgeball, and the jocks chosen as captains were arguing over me.

This wasn’t because I was bad. I was usually picked quickly for gym class, because I was nimble and could catch well. Throwing wasn’t my strong suit, but I was good enough at catching and dodging to be a valuable player. I rarely got out in dodgeball unless I wasn’t paying attention.

“Come on, man, you got Tech Support last time! Take Cody instead.” That was Tyler, a varsity basketball player. He was, as expected, tall, with dark hair and tan skin. Apparently, his parents had saved up and taken the family for a trip to Hawaii over summer break, and he remained outside a lot after they got home as well.

“No way, bro. Cody’s good, but he’s never touched her. If you get her, I get Noah. He’s the only one that can get Tech Support out. You can’t have both,” August, a track superstar for the school, countered. He was also tall, and wiry, with pale skin and red hair. I assumed he wore some strong sunscreen when he competed.

Cody and Noah were both football players, and cousins. Cody played defense, and Noah was the quarterback. Honestly, looking at them, they could’ve been twins. Cody had bleached his hair, for some unknown reason. At least be told apart, for now. Otherwise, they had the same dark complexion and eyes.

“Ugh… Fine, but if you get Noah, we get Cody too,” Tyler sighed.

“Deal, we get Noah,” August agreed.

“Cool. Cody, Tech Support- uh, sorry, Andy. You guys are with me.”

That was when I clued in that I was “Tech Support.” There must’ve been a look on my face, because a couple girls started snickering.

“Wait, I’m ‘Tech Support’? What the hell kinda dumb nickname is that?”

“Come on, Andy, it’s all in good fun. Better than mine,” August assured me. “I’ve been ‘Crash’ since I was ten. It’s just because no one knows you well enough for something better.”

“… Yeah, sure,” I replied with a shrug, moving to join Tyler’s team. He had a point. I’d only been there a couple weeks and hadn’t gone out of my way to make friends.

From that day, I was ‘Tech Support’ to this group, and a few others. To their credit, these boys didn’t let people harass me over it. I found out after another couple weeks that Cody was actually into computers, and hoping to be a programmer after college. Noah wanted to go pro in football, but he planned on going through college first so he could be a teacher if his football career fell through. Tyler and August each had their own dreams as well. Slowly, these four and I grew to be friends, and any bullies had to find a new nickname for me.

It was actually Cody who got me my first job, when my mom confirmed we would be staying until after I graduated high school.

“Yo- Tech Support, you got plans for part-time work?” He asked one day as he joined our group for lunch. A couple other girls had joined our little group too, Bethany and Sabrina. “My old man’s looking for a part timer. He has a computer repair shop.”

“Isn’t that a little too on-brand?” August joked. “Tech Support working in tech support?”

“I could use some income…” I admitted thoughtfully. “You sure he’d want some kid with no work experience?”

“He actually asked if you’d want the job,” Noah admitted. “I was over when they were talking about it. Uncle’s heard us talk about how good you are with computers. He said, if you want to work in the field when you grow up, it could be good experience. Even if not, customer service is a good field to get experience in.”

“Oh… Well, sure. I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet, but computer repair is always a needed field. Could be a good fall-back if nothing else,” I answered. “I just gotta make sure my folks are cool with it. I’ll give you a call later?”

“Sounds good, I’ll let him know,” Cody grinned. “I help out at the shop too, so we’ll get to work together. Well, when I’m not at practice.”

“I’ll disown him if he skips practice,” Noah agreed solemnly. Tyler and August just chuckled.

“Hey, you start making some money, we could take you out to the best shops sometime,” Bethany offered.

“Yeah, the mall has some places I think you’ll love,” Sabrina agreed. “Could be a fun girl’s day.”

“Sure, sounds great,” I agreed.

It didn’t take much to convince my parents about getting a job. Dad thought it would teach me responsibility, and Mom said she’d help me start learning about finances when I started making money. She said school never really prepared anyone for that part of life and, admittedly, she was right.

When I called Cody later, he put his dad on the phone. “This is Joseph, how can I help you?”

“Hello, sir, this is Andrea Jones. Cody mentioned you might have a part-time job I could apply for?” I’m pretty sure I sounded nervous, because I was, but Joseph sounded really calm and cool.

“Oh, Andy! Yes, of course. You have your parent’s permission?”

“Yes sir, they think it’ll be good for me,” I assured him.

“Perfect. Now, I’ll have you on a couple nights a week and on Saturday’s. I’m closed on Sundays, so you’ll have that off. It’ll be hard work, make you think a lot, but I’ll pay $15 an hour starting out.”

“Wow, that’s more than I expected. Sounds perfect. I’m not afraid of a little hard work.”

“Then swing by my shop with your folks on Saturday and we’ll go over paperwork and everything. I want your parents there in case they have any questions for me, or concerns.”

“Yes sir, thank you! We’ll see you Saturday.” With that, I had a job lined up that, unbeknownst to me, was going to radically change several lives.

The job went well for a few weeks, until a lady brought in a machine on a Monday night that had a virus. Joseph called me over and smiled. “I’ve gotta step out for a few, but this looks like it should be pretty easy for you to handle. Just do like I’ve been showing you, shouldn’t take but an hour or two I think.”

“No problem, Joe. Shouldn’t be too bad,” I promised. He smiled and left, leaving me in charge for the first time. I took the machine to the back and set it up, getting to work on it. As it booted up the first time, though, something odd happened. I saw a little pink character peek out from the corner of the screen at me.

“That… has got to be the oddest thing I’ve ever seen on a computer,” I muttered to myself, leaning closer to the little figure to try to decide what it was. I slipped a little and caught myself by grabbing onto the old CRT monitor Joe had set up for testing purposes… And my hand went right through the screen.

Not in a “broken beyond reason” way, but in a “portal to another world” way. As I stared at my hand, or where my hand should be, the pink figure moved over to where my hand had gone through. I felt a tug, and suddenly I was being pulled into the computer screen. I was falling into a dark void with no idea what was happening. Pretty sure I screamed, but my ego says I didn’t. I landed pretty hard on my back on what looked like a grassy plain.

“Oooh, that didn’t look like it felt good,” Someone commented. I tilted my head up to look and see the pink character standing there. “Well, sucks for you. Guess you can’t get rid of me now, if you’re stuck in here with me.”

“Excuse me?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. This character looked like a woman’s bathroom symbol, but with a face. It wasn’t a super detailed face, but it was there. “What the hell kind of contact high did I get from that computer?”

“You didn’t. At least, I don’t think so. You’re a Linker. You can enter our world, and interact with it as if it was yours,” Bathroom Sign Lady smirked at me. “But since you’re just a little girl and you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re gonna be stuck here unless another Linker finds you and pulls you out. And now there’s nothing you can do to me.”

“Wait so… like… you’re real? I mean… you pulled me in here, so you and I can touch each other?” I asked, confused but plotting. I wasn’t exactly fighter material, but either I was high and about to shadow box myself, or this was real and I could punch the thing annoying me most right now without anyone getting mad at me.

“Uh, yeah. That’s how you got here, duh,” BSL retorted, clearly thinking I was dumb.

“Oh, good.” I stood, wincing a little. I didn’t feel anything broken, but I was definitely sore. “Then I can do this,” and I gave her my best right hook. At least I think it was a right hook. I’d never thrown a punch a day in my life.

She didn’t dodge it, though. I don’t think she thought I would be with it enough to do so. But my fist hit her face, and she shrieked. Then, she shattered into small pieces and disappeared.

“You did it! You stopped the virus!” A small voice cheered behind me. I turned and spotted a little cat that walked over, sitting at my feet and licking its paw to wash its face. “Not that she was a very strong virus, but she would’ve done a lot of damage to the local area.”

“Uh… Are you… a talking cat?” I asked, confused.

“Yes. I’m a program out in cyberspace. The owner of this system has me installed, so I have a home nearby that I visit when she needs me.” The cat stopped washing and looked up at me. “So, you’re a new linker just learning your powers. What are you called, Linker?”

“Uh… I uh… I’m not sure what a ‘linker’ is, I’m just a technician…”

“Technician! I like it, it has a nice ring to it. Alright, Technician… So I suppose you don’t know how to get out, do you?”

“Uh… No?” It felt odd, being judged by this cat. I mean, cats judge everyone all the time, but this was a talking, virtual cat apparently. So it felt a little more odd than usual.

“Well… I can see who I can talk to. Or you might get lucky and have a linker swing by,” The cat chuckled. “You might be stuck here a while while I look for someone who knows something, though. I could ask an old program, but… The only one I think would know is Staple Mable, and she’s kinda annoying, so… I’d rather ask anyone else first.”

“Staple Mable? Like… The old Macroverse assistant? The one that would pop up and talk to you when you opened one of their products?” I only barely even remembered the little stapler that would pop up in older versions of Macroverse products.

“That’d be the one. She’s older, but she’s been around long enough to know things. And you know some of it was picked up in the course of her duties. I’m Jabber John, by the way. A talking companion.”

“Oh… I’ve heard of Jabber John. Also popular for a while…” I blinked. “Uh… Sorry if that was… Insensitive…”

“Oh, no, not at all. Such is the life of a program,” John laughed. “Well, let me see-” He looked up. “Nevermind, looks like you won’t need my help after all.”

I looked up to see what he was talking about. A strange tool was above our heads and lowering towards me. “Wha-” Before I could react, the tool latched on to my arm and pulled. Now I was flying up toward where I’d fallen from, then out and into Joe’s arms.

“Easy there, kid- I’ve got ya,” Joe told me as he steadied me and made sure I got my feet under me. “Well, I had suspected you might be a linker, but… Wasn’t expecting to get back and find you in an old machine!” He chuckled.

“What?” I straightened quickly and met his eyes, baffled. “You can do that? Go into machines?”

“Computers, phones, video game consoles… Yep. Haven’t tried car systems yet, but… I’d imagine we could go in those too,” Joe answered, moving to grab one of our desk chairs and sit. “Take a seat, Andy, and let’s talk a minute. I already closed the shop for the night. We’ll need the quiet.” I obeyed, taking another chair and sitting. Well, at least I knew I wasn’t high.

“So… Linkers… Are a thing. And I just punched a real computer virus,” I stated, clarifying what had just happened and admittedly not fully believing it.

“Oh, you did take care of the virus? Perfect, that will make the night easier!” Joe said cheerfully. “Yes. I’m not sure where the term came from, but linkers have a… Superpower, I guess you could call it. We can enter technology, fight viruses from within and even travel that way if we know what we’re doing,” He explained. “We can even interact with regular people, if they’re at the computer. They’ll assume we’re a program, of course, but what can you do?” He smiled. “I’ll start teaching you how to use this power. After you’ve had time to process this, that is.”

Over the next couple years, I slowly grew into my abilities and learned all I could from Joe. When I went to college, Joe pointed me to another linker he knew in the local area and got me a job at her tech shop. College was where my adventures really began, and my life started to change.