“Okay, I just have to know. Where did you find that?” Danny asked.
“Oh, you know. I have my ways.” Mar shrugged.
“How do we know it doesn’t have heroin needles, or cockroaches?” Danny stared aghast at the brand new couch in the middle of my lab. It still had the price tag on it.
“How did you even get it in here?” Emily joined in.
“How’d you get past the traps while carrying a couch? How did you even carry a couch?” I chimed in. Mar only laughed. She was wearing all black. Black shorts, black Modern Baseball t-shirt. She was wearing a black choker around her neck. “Are you going to tell us?” I asked.
“The suspense is killing me.” Danny added.
I walked backwards away from the couch. Absolutely no way I’d risk that. Mar playfully walked over to the couch and sat down in the center of it. The couch looked nice. Mar had placed it against the wall across from one of my worktables, the table that had some of my computers and my little ‘white blood cell’ robots I’d been designing.
Mar smiled real big and patted her hands against the seats to her sides. Danny looked over at me trying to gauge how I was feeling about the situation. I just shrugged my shoulders. Emily walked over and sat to Mar’s left.
“See? Perfectly safe.” Mar said, with a wink.
I shook my head and walked to one of my worktables. Each table was divided for different projects. I was using one to develop my hook staff project. I was using one for my computer network and to create some basic A.I.s and to try and create my ‘white blood cells’. I was using one table for traps I was planning on creating.
The final table in the room was dedicated to my suit. Of course since my friends were here the table only showed the polymer I was using for fur, and the bits and pieces of the exoskeleton that hadn’t quite worked out. Danny followed behind me.
“What are you working on?” Danny asked with genuine curiosity.
Usually people only ask that kind of stuff to fill the void, and when I try to explain the science behind it they zone out and ignore me until I’m finished. Danny really wanted to help me though. For some reason.
“See this?” I held up the hand portion of the exoskeleton. “It registers your nerve impulses by sticking a bunch of little needles into your hand and deciphering the signals from inside your hand. It then hijacks the signal and makes it so instead of moving your hand you move the glove.” I explained to Danny. He stared at the glove and paid very careful attention. “Well, obviously that hurts and burns like a thousand hells. So what I need to work on is a way to make it so this thing can read signals to my muscles without sticking needles under my skin.” I finished. He nodded his head as if he completely understood everything.
“Have you tried some sort of computer program that could decipher it from above the skin layers?” Danny asked.
“It’d take too much time to get right. Any wrong moves and this stuff could crush every bone in your hand, so I can’t really afford to have a program that isn’t at least close to being completely accurate.” I explained. He nodded his head again.
“Painkillers? Doesn’t help with the damage done to the hand but it does keep the pain down so it’s usable.” He asked.
“Already part of the system. They don’t kill the pain as much as I’d hoped.” I responded. His eyebrows raised a fraction at that.
“You’ve put this stuff on you?” He asked, clearly shocked. He goes so far as to take a step forward to me and yank the glove out of my hand.
“Yep. Hurts like Satan’s sweet supple nipples, but it works fine for the most part.” I said with a goofy smile. He placed the glove down on the table.
“Please don’t do stuff like that anymore. You didn’t know that you wouldn’t bleed to death, you ape.” He said, then his frown turned into a smile.
Except I’ve made double double sure of everything. Bleeding, shock, blindness, extensive nerve damage. The only problem so far is that it hurts so bad my throat goes raw from screaming. He doesn’t need to hear that bit though.
“Ooga Booga.” I grunted. Such a stupid, simple thing, in reference to his ape comment. I pushed my lips out, scrunched my forehead, and raised my chin up to make a stupid face as I say it.
“Hey, what was that stuff with Amelia this morning?” Danny asked while giving the sensors and bits and pieces of the exoskeleton a once-over. I could tell he was just making conversation while plotting designs out in his head.
“You mean Amy Bates?” I said, while pulling out detailed notebooks filled with information on the exoskeleton out of drawers for him to read about. They didn’t have any info about the actual suit though. I didn’t want anything leading back to me in case this place was police raided.
“Come on, Jacob. You know that’s not her name.” Danny said while he flipped through the notebooks.
“But she does live in a creepy hotel, her mom is missing, and that one old lady ended up dead in the shower there.” I continued trying to avoid the subject.
“Her family owns a hotel, her mom was a hippie who ran off to Amsterdam, and that old lady had a heart attack.” Danny continued to be led astray from the subject.
“Needle of oxygen to the heart looks like a heart attack. Police wouldn’t look for an injection point if they’re old enough.” I explained.
“First off, it gives me the creeps that you know that. Second of all, I know you’re trying to avoid the subject, so spill.” Danny said.
“Uh, she was asking me on a date. I told her no. Then she asked me if you had a girlfriend, which I found odd. That was about it. Why do you ask?” I replied. He stopped looking through the journal mid page turn. He put it down, then looked up at me.
“Wait… She asked you on a date?” Danny asked. I nodded my head. “Hold on. I gotta go make a phone call real quick. There’s no secret traps near the door, right?” He asked.
I took a second to think. “By that painted rock there’s a tripwire. If you step on it some manganese will blow up in your face. Basically like a flashbang. Don’t step on it, it’s really hard to reset.” I answered. He nodded his head and marched out the door. I continued fiddling with my exoskeleton parts. Re-reading my own notes and checking for any tiny problems with the machinery.
Mar sneaked up behind me and tapped her finger on my shoulder. “
What was that about?” She asked. Emily was right beside her. I shrugged.
“He had to go make a phone call.” Mar looked at me with a glare of suspicion.
“What are you working on?” Emily asked.
…
“Shouldn’t you guys leave before dark?” I asked my little audience.
None of them heard me. Danny was sitting in my chair reviewing my notes. He had one of my pens, and was continuously clicking it as he read. Mar was setting up a speaker and an electric guitar, off in her own world. Emily was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed drawing something.
I was just watching my crowd, while practically shaking to get started on my nightly stroll. Danny periodically stopped reading to mess with the glove. I told him he could modify it any way he wanted. He had grabbed an empty journal and started scribbling his own notes down on it. I walked over and sat down next to Emily as Mar rattled my skull with some exceptionally loud guitar playing.
“What are you drawing?” I asked. Emily instinctively shrank back.
I looked over at her lap to see it. A picture of a baby bird mid flight. Underneath it was a ruined barren landscape devoid completely of life.
“I love it.” I mumbled. That earned me a very pleased smile from Emily.
“I think about you a lot, you know. It… It hurts… Sometimes… I’m sorry for springing that stuff on you earlier today. I know about your rule, you’ve told me before. I had no right to do that. I know… How you feel about that stuff.” She apologized. Her shoulders were so tense it looked painful.
“It’s alright. Don’t sweat it.” I replied with a smile.
I hate you sometimes. Why can’t you make just one exception, huh? You… You monster! Do we really deserve this? We’re going to die so we never get to live? To love? Does she deserve this?
What do you think I’m doing with the suit? I’m getting my kicks in while I can.
Just kiss the girl on the cheek! We need to live, Jacob.
I…. I can’t live if it means hurting others after I’m gone.
Oh yeah, you’re such a good guy aren’t you? Trying to act all valiant, trying to act like a hero. You don’t care about any of those people you want to save! You’re just playing hero! Like it’s a game! Don’t you see…. Everyone leaves their loved ones heartbroken after they’re gone!
Doesn’t mean I have t-
Emily grabbed me by the shoulders. Before I could pull away or even move at all she planted a quick peck on my lips. She immediately pulled away. She looked away scared, ashamed. I could tell her face was bright red.
Need to hit something.
I grabbed my bag as I ran out the door. I could hear my friends calling my name from the lab. They didn’t follow because I was running and they didn’t know the layout of the traps enough to avoid accidentally hitting one in the dark trying to catch up to me. I could hear Mar start to run but Danny grabbed her right as she hit the Manganese. I saw the flash behind me.
Need to hit something.
I found my way to a bridge near the railroad tracks somewhere. I crawled under it and clutched my bag against my chest while I thought about what just happened. The seconds rewind over and over again in my head. My heart was screaming in my chest. I heard a train go by somewhere in the distance. The noise cut through the pitch black darkness of the night.
I just realized something… I’m gonna make it to sixteen.
I pulled the suit out of my bag. I fumbled for the battery chip in one of the little pockets of my bag. I accidentally dropped it right after getting it out. I had to fumble my hands around the broken glass underneath the bridge. I pulled the suit right over my body. I clicked the battery into place and the mechanism started. No painkillers this time around. I almost welcomed the pain.
But no one could feel pain like that without screaming. I screamed so loud I thought I could feel blood in the back of my throat. I completely lost my voice halfway through, but still I screamed. I had been thinking that the painkillers weren’t working. That I was feeling the full extent of the pain. The pain of a million tiny needles injecting themselves underneath my skin at once. The pain of them setting barbs in so they could properly read my body.
But the painkillers were working overtime. Nothing could ever compare to the pain I was feeling. It felt as though I was being eaten alive from the inside. Tiny little knives stretching and flexing within. Little metal worms carving slices into my flesh. I wanted to die. I prayed for death in my head more than I ever had before in my life. Tears drenched my face, and my throat was as raw as it could possibly be.
I laid on my back spasming from the pain. Even after the suit had been properly connected. I kicked my legs out and twitched. I could feel my body aching in a way I never thought it could. Never again. Next time I was adding enough painkillers to kill me. I didn’t care if I hadn’t built up enough tolerance, I could never do this again.
This is the path you’ve chosen. The road most painful.
My fingers twitched as I felt for the mask. I held it in my arms for a long time, shaking and shivering. My voice was lost, I wouldn’t be able to talk tomorrow. I wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow.
I put the mask in place faster than my body could reject the motion. The click made me cringe. The needles stabbed directly into the skin of my face first. I could feel them inching into my throat. Not big enough to even leave a hole, but they made up for that in pure quantity. Next they crawled underneath my eyeballs all at once. Next into my ears.
As I could feel the burning pain sinking into my sensitive eyes that I could no longer close, I fumbled for the shard of glass in the dark. With all of the strength I could muster I stuck the glass into my side and stabbed with all my might. They didn’t even cut past the fur. I slammed my head against the stone wall as hard as I could, but it had no effect. I flailed about and tried to scream once again, but the needles rammed themselves into the tissues of my throat.
…
Emily was frozen. Jacob had sat down next to her. His leg touching hers, his arm brushing against hers. She was drawing. She apologized to him. Laid her feelings bare. She tried to make things right. She’d screwed everything up, made everything awkward. Like she screwed everything up.
Even her own parents thought so. The only time they weren’t fighting with each other is when they were telling her how disappointed in her they were. But Jacob smiled at her, and he reassured her. No one ever smiled at her. Her parents didn’t even smile at her. But Jacob did. He’d sat down next to her and talked to her the day she moved schools. He introduced her to his friends and they became her friends too. He reassured her. Just like he was doing now.
No one had ever been as nice to Emily as Jacob had been. No one would ever be, she thought, once he was gone. Which is why it killed her inside that she couldn’t tell him how she felt without hurting him. Her feelings ached inside her as Jacob zoned out again. He stared at her.
Lost in his thoughts. She thought about waving her hand in front of his face. She tried to say something, to catch his attention. But that warmness in her face continued to burn hot. Her head continued to buzz. She tried to force herself to say something, but instead she grabbed him.
Like her body had a mind all its own, like her feelings were locked in war, she did something she never would’ve done before. Before his diagnosis, before meeting him, before he sat down next to her. She kissed him on the lips. She immediately pulled away.
He snapped out of his daze and his eyes widened. His face shifted and Emily saw all of his emotions clear as day.
Disgust, hatred, pity. She saw it written all over Jacob’s face.
She’d let her feelings show, and he had rejected them. He stood up and ran out the door. Danny and Mar followed quickly behind him. Emily curled up into a ball on the couch and began to cry. A bright flash of white and scream occurred outside the door.
Oh God. What have I done? Emily thought.
…
I stood up after a minute of lying limp on the ground. I could see in the dark with my enhanced eyes, so navigating wasn’t an issue. I leapt up to the top of the bridge and listened for any possible targets. People chewed dinner loudly in their homes. Infants cried in their cribs. Cats screamed in alleyways. My friends navigated through traps in a field as raindrops started descending over them. Luckily, my suit was hydrophobic.
A scream alerted me. The need to do something burns within me so strongly I rushed towards it, without a second thought. The house I ended up finding was a nice one. I heard a woman on the phone, but I was too focused on what I was doing to listen to what she was saying. I peeked in the windows to see the source of the trouble. I expected to see a home invasion of some sort. Instead I saw an elderly couple. The man was completely bald and pale faced as he lay on the ground. The man was clearly suffering from a heart attack. His wife had a head of snow white hair. She was talking at a thousand miles an hour on a phone. I listened in, and I could hear a police dispatcher on the other end.
If the police even show up, they’ll never get here in time to save him.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I thought about this elderly couple. This was what I could’ve had someday, in a perfect world. I could’ve been happy, even had children. I could’ve lived. I stilled my thoughts and composed myself. I forced myself to focus on the problem directly in front of me.
I walked up to the front door, and thought about what a cool superhero might do. Then I decided I should just knock. The woman stopped talking dead in her tracks. She looked over at the glass window of her door to see who was on the other side. I leaned in to get a better look at her, and she jumped like she saw a ghost. I heard the phone drop hard against the floor. I didn’t know what to do so I just knocked again. The woman looked stunned as she walked over to the door in her nightgown. She opened the door, but not the screen.
“Wh… What are you?” She asked. She stared forward with no real expression on her face, as if in a trance.
“Your husband is in bad shape, right? I’m a superhero, ma’am. I can get him to the hospital in about two minutes.” I used my voice modifier to make myself sound like my usual voice. It’s hard regulating it between extremes, but I tried really hard to keep it normal for her sake. She peered through at me like I was crazy.
“There’s no such thing as superheroes.” She said, calmly. I shrugged. She remained standing there looking at me through a screen door. “Are you one of those freaks that keep showing up on the news? Are you going to hurt us?” She sounded like she was beginning to panic.
“Isn’t your husband dying on your living room floor right now?” I asked as she was about to slam the door in my face.
“Oh my God!” She seemed to snap out of her shock. She quickly opened the screen door.
I grabbed the grown man off the ground and laid him over my shoulder. I had to be extra careful not to injure him as I ran fast through the raining streets. If a car came speeding towards me I’d leap over the top of it. If it was headed towards the direction of the hospital I’d stay on top for a few miles. In all honesty I was probably doing a lot of harm to the man. But being seriously injured is better than being dead, and I know for a fact that no cop car or ambulance had ever driven out near that part of town. They’ve given up on it, like an infection they just blocked it off and they expected it to die out on its own.
When I finally arrived at the hospital I stopped the nearest nurse I could find. Everyone looked confused and alarmed at my outfit. A doctor rushed over to where I was standing. He looked angry, with flared nostrils and wide eyes. “You idiot! You could’ve killed him! Nurse! Nurse!” The doctor screamed at me. He was a middle aged man with greying hair. Visible crows feet marked his eyes, and stress marks flared on his forehead as he scolded me.
Just trying to do the right thing.
As the nurses came by with a gurney the man continued scolding me.
“Wanna play superhero? Next time just call the cops!.” He yelled.
I opened my mouth to respond when a boom shook the building. I could see a glow of bright orange from the glass window. The doctor’s jaw dropped for a second. Then he and the rest of the staff began running away from the direction of the explosion. The explosion shook my ears, I could barely hear, and I was so, so very tired.
Time to go play superhero.
