King of Superheroes, page 2
“-- no excuse to use language like that, young lady.”
“Mom, I’m seventeen.” I could almost see my younger sister’s dramatic eye roll, and I held back a laugh. “It was warranted, though. Mark activated.”
“Oh, honey!” My mom’s voice was ecstatic, and she suddenly forgot all about Alice’s burst of profanity.
“Good job, son!” I heard my dad pipe up from somewhere far in the background. “What’d you get?”
“Fire,” I told them, since I was at least certain I possessed that ability. “I almost lit up poor Henry’s bookstore.”
“Took your damn time,” Alice said with a smirk in her voice. “I hope it doesn’t take me that long. But then, you were always a late bloomer, right, Mark?”
“Okay,” I laughed. “Tease me all you want.”
“Oh, I will,” my sister said. “And I bet I’ll activate an even cooler power than you.”
“Uhhh, Mom… Dad…” I bit my lip as I wondered whether I should tell them about my sudden strength, too.
“What is it, sweetheart?” my mom asked. “What’s wrong?”
My dad didn’t answer, and I figured he was tinkering with his models or some other silly little passion project he’d become obsessed with since the last time I’d seen my family.
But my mom could tell something was up, and I let out a breath of air that made my lips ripple.
“I, ahh…” I faltered again and then released the dam so my words came tumbling out of my mouth. “Is it normal to display more than one power, before you’ve been sorted? Like that makes sense, right? You need to wait to get officially sorted, and you take on, like, whatever power you’re best at?”
“Mark, slow down.” My mom’s voice was suddenly super loud, and I just knew she’d picked the phone up to hold it to her ear despite the fact I was still on speakerphone. “What do you mean, more than one power?”
“When I almost set the bookstore on fire, there was… A bookcase started to fall, and I don’t know, I guess I could hold it up like it weighed nothing.” I chewed on my bottom lip and paused briefly to let my words sink in, but then I immediately backtracked. “But I mean, that could just be… Adrenaline, right? It was only a bookshelf, in fairness, but then I almost took my front door off the hinges, too, and I don’t know whether--”
“Mark.” My mom’s voice crackled through the speaker, but her sudden calm silenced me. “Quit worrying. Your father and I are both Conduits, and maybe you just had residual… Excitement, after waiting so long to activate.”
“So I can’t have more than one power, right?” I asked with a heavy sigh.
“Talk about entitled…” Alice muttered in the background.
“No, sweetheart, you can’t have more than one power,” my mom answered me in a soft voice. “I’m sure you’re right, you’re a strong boy, and your adrenaline would’ve been in overdrive.”
“Yeah…” I mumbled and decided not to bring up how I thought I’d heard my boss talking inside of my head, too.
I didn’t want to worry them, and I was sure I’d be able to figure out what the hell was going on by the time I got to the Academy.
I promised my mom I’d keep in touch, and just as I was about to fling my cell phone onto the couch and turn the TV on, the email notification pinged.
I felt my heart suddenly skip in my chest, and I scrambled to pick the thing back up so I could open the message, and as I read the words on the screen, I couldn’t help but let out an elated laugh.
Dear Mr. Maddock,
The Federation received notification of a potential Conduit activation at the time of 11:42am this morning. The address given was 520 Sutton Avenue, Claremont, CA.
If this activation was yours, then please respond to this automated message within twenty-four hours. You will be expected to travel to the Training Academy of Potential Superheroes in Miami, FL once we receive confirmation from you.
Please find attached all relevant documentation regarding this matter. You will need to thoroughly review and digitally sign the Superhero Non-Disclosure Agreement before we can process your activation.
If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately so we may adjust our records.
Congratulations,
Janet Southall, Human Resources
“Holy shit!” I mirrored my little sister’s outburst, and I even punched the air as I reread the email from good ol’ Janet from HR.
I was officially a superhero in training.
Chapter Two
I had a painfully huge smile on my face as I heaved myself off my couch and eagerly began to uproot my life. Instead of being worried about losing my job, or trying to work out how I was going to pay my cable, I got to daydream about mojitos in Miami and being surrounded by arguably the coolest people in society, and my brain began to rapidly whir at the prospect of what my life could eventually end up like.
The Federation’s Academy was famous, and everyone knew about it. Every household name superhero had trained there, and it was where real, proper supers were molded and forged. My sudden Conduit ability had apparently deemed me worthy, despite nearly setting Henry’s bookstore on fire, and I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of learning how to hone and strengthen my natural ability.
I could still feel the steady crackle of power within me, like a rhythmic pulse that traveled through my bloodstream and into every single vein beneath my skin. It felt eager, and I could tell it desperately wanted to be used and practiced and perfected.
I couldn’t wait to start lighting things up, just to prove how powerful I was.
I yanked my barely-used suitcase out from where I’d let it gather dust, threw it open on top of my bed, and then started to drag almost the entire contents of my closet off the hangers. I chucked every item of clothing I owned in the general direction of my bed, but then I frowned at the chaos I’d made in such a short amount of time.
“I need a beer for this,” I muttered to myself, and I left the mountain of clothes on my bed and made a beeline for my refrigerator instead.
I also took the opportunity to email Henry with a very short, very apologetic letter of resignation, though I was mostly positive he’d have fired me anyway, fire being the best word for it. Once that was done, then I set to work.
I eventually managed to drag the straining zipper shut on my suitcase, and by that time I’d finished my beer and received another email from Janet in Human Resources, with my already bought and paid flight details.
Then, within a twenty-four-hour period of almost burning my boss’ bookstore down, I’d landed in Miami, Florida.
The humidity hit me the moment I stepped off the airplane, and I let out a slow breath as I shoved my sunglasses further up on my nose. I was used to a certain degree of warmth thanks to long summers spent in northern California with a perpetually broken air conditioning unit, but Miami was a whole other beast entirely.
I hustled my way through security as quickly as possible and finally stepped out onto Floridian soil, where the oppressive heat hit me in a heavy wave all over again. I could smell the asphalt in the air, which only added to the acrid heat from the sun, and the air was soupy and thick with a mixture of jet engine fuel, cheap cologne, and sweat.
I adjusted my sunglasses on my face again and instead of braving the line for the airport cabs, where I could see several tourists with plastic visors and flip-flops trying to barter with the drivers on a fixed price, I hailed an Uber using my cell phone.
I only had a ten-minute wait or so until my driver, a guy by the name of Enzo, arrived to pick me up in a sleek mint-green sedan. He was perhaps the fattest man I’d ever seen in my life, with rolls of pillowy skin that held a strong coffee-colored tan and a toothy grin that was so wide it looked like it was going to tear his face in half. Still, he somehow extracted himself out of the driver’s seat with surprising speed, and he hurried around to help me with my suitcase.
“Welcome to Miami, bro!” he said enthusiastically as we wrestled my luggage into the trunk.
“Thanks,” I said with a grin of my own.
“I guess this is your first time?” Enzo asked as he opened the passenger door for me with a flourish.
I was surprised he wanted me to sit shotgun with him, but Enzo seemed like a pretty chill guy, and as long as he didn’t make conversation too painful, I was willing to give him a good hefty tip just out of sheer excitement.
“Yep, the only place on the East Coast I’ve ever been to is New York.” I slid into the cream-colored leather seat and let out a grateful sigh as the air conditioning fanned across my face.
That was probably the reason why Enzo had wordlessly insisted I sit up front with him, and I decided I was definitely gonna tip him for that.
“Figures,” Enzo said with a scoff. “Miami is somethin’ else, though. I promise you’ll have a great trip.”
“Well, I’m staying here for the foreseeable future, actually.” I couldn’t help the smirk that made the corners of my lips twitch.
“Oh, that’s right, your destination said you’re headed to the Academy!” Enzo slapped his steering wheel excitedly. “What power do you got, friend?”
“Fire,” I said as I proudly lifted my chin.
At least I was certain I had that ability.
“Do me a favor and don’t set my ride up in flames, and I’ll give you five stars.” Enzo let out a loud laugh, and then he spent the rest of the journey explaining all the different superhero newbies he’d met during his Uber career doing airport runs.
I watched as the boring concrete of airport roads started to give way to tall palm trees that swayed lazily in the almost non-existent breeze and even taller buildings painted various shades of warm pink and terracotta. Eventually, we were driving through the heart of Little Havana, and I noticed how the majority of signs were written in both Spanish and English.
The sky was a deep blue covered by a light blanket of wispy clouds, but the sun’s rays beat down through the thin veil regardless. I could see the high-rises of downtown Miami growing closer, but Enzo kept us clear of the rush and headed toward the coast instead.
The ocean was still and blue, but the soft ripples on the surface of the water reflected the sunlight like a glitterball, and I started to realize why most people chose to retire in Florida.
It was like a constant vacation.
“I gotta give it to the supes, this academy is in a primo spot,” Enzo said casually as if he could read my mind, and he nodded at the gigantic building we were now approaching.
My driver was right, though, and I could feel my eyes widening behind my sunglasses as we came right up to the water’s edge. On the left was a wild beach with twists of gnarled driftwood half-buried in powdery white sand, and on the right was a small harbor full of yachts that were probably worth more money than I could ever comprehend, but Enzo pressed on and drove right over the long stretch of road that acted as a bridge to something far cooler.
The bridge curved right out above the ocean and then swung back toward the small island off the coast, and I watched in awe as a huge wrought-iron gate started to swing open as Enzo’s car approached.
“Fancy, right?” Enzo chuckled when he noticed my dumbfounded expression. “No wonder they designed the X-Men off you guys.”
“There’s no way that’s true,” I muttered, though my rebuttal lacked any conviction because I was far too preoccupied watching the grounds of the superhero academy, and my new home, appear around me.
The academy was housed on its own private island, and I could see a quiet beach covered in the same soft white sand and a well-kept park with trimmed hedges, neat palm trees, and lusciously green lawns. There was also a yacht even bigger than the ones I’d seen before anchored in a small harbor behind a side building.
Enzo pulled his car up to the main entrance, helped pull my luggage out of the trunk again, and then wished me luck as he sped away back toward the mainland. I quickly pulled my cell phone out so I could give him a decent tip and five stars, and then I looked up at the high-rise in mild disbelief as I stood outside, in the blistering Miami heat, with my one pathetic little suitcase by my side.
This was it. The true start of my superhero journey.
I headed toward the doors, and they both slid open with a soft whoosh as the sensor above me picked up my presence. My face was immediately hit with the cool breeze of air conditioning, and I let out another relieved sigh as I eagerly stepped into the chill of the foyer.
“Hi there!” A bright and cheery voice came from behind a huge marble counter, and I approached almost nervously.
The girl who manned the desk was slim and tanned with soft dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail on top of her head, and she smiled warmly up at me as I came to a stop in front of her.
“Hello,” I said and cleared my throat. “Uhh, my name’s Mark Maddock. I was told to come here by--”
“Mark Maddock, part of the newest cohort of fledglings?” The girl on the desk quickly brushed her fingers across the keys of her wireless keyboard and nodded up at me with encouragement as she reeled off my credentials.
“Um, yep, that’s me,” I said and shook my head in disbelief again. “Where do I go?”
“New fledglings are housed on the fifteenth floor,” the brunette receptionist explained in a quick voice. “You can leave your luggage here, and we’ll deliver it to you, but here’s a welcome pack, a map, and a short itinerary for you.”
She handed me a small pack of documentation with another toothy smile, and I just traded her my suitcase and slowly nodded.
“Fifteenth floor…” I muttered before I shot her a quick smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” The brunette smiled. “And good luck!”
“I’ll probably need it…” I said under my breath as I headed for the elevators and pulled out a bunch of the paperwork from the soft manila envelope that the receptionist had handed to me.
I wondered briefly whether she was a super, too, and if that’s how she found my details in the system so fast.
Either that, or she was just a real quick typist.
My mind wandered as I stepped into one of the many elevators on the right-hand side of the foyer, and I hit the number fifteen as the doors slid silently closed. I didn’t have long to mull anything over, though, because the elevator doors opened again only a moment later, and I stepped out into the main living quarters for my fellow superhero fledglings.
The row of elevators was off to the side, and as I rounded the corner, I found myself in a huge common room area flooded with sunlight. Mostly due to the fact that the whole south wall was made of floor-to-ceiling windows, and even from the elevators I could see the ocean outside and the small harbor with the academy’s yacht floating serenely at its anchorage. The wash of natural light threw sunbeams across a highly-polished marble floor, and the space felt bright and clean and welcoming.
The central part of the common area was full of couches, armchairs, beanbags, and various other types of comfortable seating all pointed inwardly at each other. The entire western side of the space was taken up by a kitchen area, with an eight burner stove and double oven, two ridiculously huge chrome refrigerators, and two long tables with chairs and placemats for at least thirty people.
Then the eastern side of the fifteenth floor was home to the dorms, and I could see several corridors that led to enough bedrooms to house us all.
There were at least twenty other fledglings in the common area when I arrived, though none of them were really speaking to each other, and not one of them afforded me more than a cursory glance as they heard the soft ‘ding’ from the elevator.
The silence didn’t surprise me. It was a sharp U-turn of change for almost everyone in this room, and we were all in the same boat, so a sense of nerves and almost distrust was to be expected.
It was like a social experiment. Except we all had some sort of potential superpower, and no one knew what the others had up their sleeve.
I ignored the central section of the common room, where several fledglings were already spread across the couches or engulfed in beanbags twice their size, in favor of the kitchen area, if only to just have an excuse to remain standing.
“Welcome to the Superhero Academy, fledglings.”
The sudden voice had us all spinning on our feet to find its source, and I spotted a petite woman who couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, even with the slight heels she wore. The scattered conversations quickly began to dissipate as my fellow fledglings noticed her standing by the elevators, but my classmates still looked as confused as I felt by the newcomer.
The woman had ethereally pale skin that looked thin as paper, and her short, almost white, hair was cut into a sharp bob that framed her pointed face. Her wide lips were tinted with a pale pink gloss, and her huge dark eyes were framed with thick lashes that wouldn’t have looked entirely out of place in a Japanese anime.
“My name is Somnia,” the petite blonde spoke again, and this time she had the attention of the entire common room. “I belong to the Dreamer pillar, almost literally. I control dreams.”
I heard a few almost nervous-sounding whispers, but I was more enthralled by this woman than intimidated. I’d heard of Somnia before, particularly how she’d donated her powers to Homeland Security and helped put away several domestic terrorists before they could even half-bake their nefarious plans.
“I’ll be here as an acting principal,” the ethereal Dreamer explained. “You’ll soon learn about the four different pillars, and I’m intrigued to see what you have to show us.”
Somnia spread her arms wide, and a warm smile pulled at her pale lips.
“This is a place of learning, and you’ll certainly be put through your paces as you train to protect our country… Though thanks to our hardworking current Supers, we haven’t had to deal with the Antis for many years.” Somnia clapped her hands together as she smiled down at us. “But tonight, we celebrate you. The Pillar Placing Ceremony will begin at eight o’clock sharp, in the main hall, and the dress code is black tie, so be sure to impress us.”
“Mom, I’m seventeen.” I could almost see my younger sister’s dramatic eye roll, and I held back a laugh. “It was warranted, though. Mark activated.”
“Oh, honey!” My mom’s voice was ecstatic, and she suddenly forgot all about Alice’s burst of profanity.
“Good job, son!” I heard my dad pipe up from somewhere far in the background. “What’d you get?”
“Fire,” I told them, since I was at least certain I possessed that ability. “I almost lit up poor Henry’s bookstore.”
“Took your damn time,” Alice said with a smirk in her voice. “I hope it doesn’t take me that long. But then, you were always a late bloomer, right, Mark?”
“Okay,” I laughed. “Tease me all you want.”
“Oh, I will,” my sister said. “And I bet I’ll activate an even cooler power than you.”
“Uhhh, Mom… Dad…” I bit my lip as I wondered whether I should tell them about my sudden strength, too.
“What is it, sweetheart?” my mom asked. “What’s wrong?”
My dad didn’t answer, and I figured he was tinkering with his models or some other silly little passion project he’d become obsessed with since the last time I’d seen my family.
But my mom could tell something was up, and I let out a breath of air that made my lips ripple.
“I, ahh…” I faltered again and then released the dam so my words came tumbling out of my mouth. “Is it normal to display more than one power, before you’ve been sorted? Like that makes sense, right? You need to wait to get officially sorted, and you take on, like, whatever power you’re best at?”
“Mark, slow down.” My mom’s voice was suddenly super loud, and I just knew she’d picked the phone up to hold it to her ear despite the fact I was still on speakerphone. “What do you mean, more than one power?”
“When I almost set the bookstore on fire, there was… A bookcase started to fall, and I don’t know, I guess I could hold it up like it weighed nothing.” I chewed on my bottom lip and paused briefly to let my words sink in, but then I immediately backtracked. “But I mean, that could just be… Adrenaline, right? It was only a bookshelf, in fairness, but then I almost took my front door off the hinges, too, and I don’t know whether--”
“Mark.” My mom’s voice crackled through the speaker, but her sudden calm silenced me. “Quit worrying. Your father and I are both Conduits, and maybe you just had residual… Excitement, after waiting so long to activate.”
“So I can’t have more than one power, right?” I asked with a heavy sigh.
“Talk about entitled…” Alice muttered in the background.
“No, sweetheart, you can’t have more than one power,” my mom answered me in a soft voice. “I’m sure you’re right, you’re a strong boy, and your adrenaline would’ve been in overdrive.”
“Yeah…” I mumbled and decided not to bring up how I thought I’d heard my boss talking inside of my head, too.
I didn’t want to worry them, and I was sure I’d be able to figure out what the hell was going on by the time I got to the Academy.
I promised my mom I’d keep in touch, and just as I was about to fling my cell phone onto the couch and turn the TV on, the email notification pinged.
I felt my heart suddenly skip in my chest, and I scrambled to pick the thing back up so I could open the message, and as I read the words on the screen, I couldn’t help but let out an elated laugh.
Dear Mr. Maddock,
The Federation received notification of a potential Conduit activation at the time of 11:42am this morning. The address given was 520 Sutton Avenue, Claremont, CA.
If this activation was yours, then please respond to this automated message within twenty-four hours. You will be expected to travel to the Training Academy of Potential Superheroes in Miami, FL once we receive confirmation from you.
Please find attached all relevant documentation regarding this matter. You will need to thoroughly review and digitally sign the Superhero Non-Disclosure Agreement before we can process your activation.
If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately so we may adjust our records.
Congratulations,
Janet Southall, Human Resources
“Holy shit!” I mirrored my little sister’s outburst, and I even punched the air as I reread the email from good ol’ Janet from HR.
I was officially a superhero in training.
Chapter Two
I had a painfully huge smile on my face as I heaved myself off my couch and eagerly began to uproot my life. Instead of being worried about losing my job, or trying to work out how I was going to pay my cable, I got to daydream about mojitos in Miami and being surrounded by arguably the coolest people in society, and my brain began to rapidly whir at the prospect of what my life could eventually end up like.
The Federation’s Academy was famous, and everyone knew about it. Every household name superhero had trained there, and it was where real, proper supers were molded and forged. My sudden Conduit ability had apparently deemed me worthy, despite nearly setting Henry’s bookstore on fire, and I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of learning how to hone and strengthen my natural ability.
I could still feel the steady crackle of power within me, like a rhythmic pulse that traveled through my bloodstream and into every single vein beneath my skin. It felt eager, and I could tell it desperately wanted to be used and practiced and perfected.
I couldn’t wait to start lighting things up, just to prove how powerful I was.
I yanked my barely-used suitcase out from where I’d let it gather dust, threw it open on top of my bed, and then started to drag almost the entire contents of my closet off the hangers. I chucked every item of clothing I owned in the general direction of my bed, but then I frowned at the chaos I’d made in such a short amount of time.
“I need a beer for this,” I muttered to myself, and I left the mountain of clothes on my bed and made a beeline for my refrigerator instead.
I also took the opportunity to email Henry with a very short, very apologetic letter of resignation, though I was mostly positive he’d have fired me anyway, fire being the best word for it. Once that was done, then I set to work.
I eventually managed to drag the straining zipper shut on my suitcase, and by that time I’d finished my beer and received another email from Janet in Human Resources, with my already bought and paid flight details.
Then, within a twenty-four-hour period of almost burning my boss’ bookstore down, I’d landed in Miami, Florida.
The humidity hit me the moment I stepped off the airplane, and I let out a slow breath as I shoved my sunglasses further up on my nose. I was used to a certain degree of warmth thanks to long summers spent in northern California with a perpetually broken air conditioning unit, but Miami was a whole other beast entirely.
I hustled my way through security as quickly as possible and finally stepped out onto Floridian soil, where the oppressive heat hit me in a heavy wave all over again. I could smell the asphalt in the air, which only added to the acrid heat from the sun, and the air was soupy and thick with a mixture of jet engine fuel, cheap cologne, and sweat.
I adjusted my sunglasses on my face again and instead of braving the line for the airport cabs, where I could see several tourists with plastic visors and flip-flops trying to barter with the drivers on a fixed price, I hailed an Uber using my cell phone.
I only had a ten-minute wait or so until my driver, a guy by the name of Enzo, arrived to pick me up in a sleek mint-green sedan. He was perhaps the fattest man I’d ever seen in my life, with rolls of pillowy skin that held a strong coffee-colored tan and a toothy grin that was so wide it looked like it was going to tear his face in half. Still, he somehow extracted himself out of the driver’s seat with surprising speed, and he hurried around to help me with my suitcase.
“Welcome to Miami, bro!” he said enthusiastically as we wrestled my luggage into the trunk.
“Thanks,” I said with a grin of my own.
“I guess this is your first time?” Enzo asked as he opened the passenger door for me with a flourish.
I was surprised he wanted me to sit shotgun with him, but Enzo seemed like a pretty chill guy, and as long as he didn’t make conversation too painful, I was willing to give him a good hefty tip just out of sheer excitement.
“Yep, the only place on the East Coast I’ve ever been to is New York.” I slid into the cream-colored leather seat and let out a grateful sigh as the air conditioning fanned across my face.
That was probably the reason why Enzo had wordlessly insisted I sit up front with him, and I decided I was definitely gonna tip him for that.
“Figures,” Enzo said with a scoff. “Miami is somethin’ else, though. I promise you’ll have a great trip.”
“Well, I’m staying here for the foreseeable future, actually.” I couldn’t help the smirk that made the corners of my lips twitch.
“Oh, that’s right, your destination said you’re headed to the Academy!” Enzo slapped his steering wheel excitedly. “What power do you got, friend?”
“Fire,” I said as I proudly lifted my chin.
At least I was certain I had that ability.
“Do me a favor and don’t set my ride up in flames, and I’ll give you five stars.” Enzo let out a loud laugh, and then he spent the rest of the journey explaining all the different superhero newbies he’d met during his Uber career doing airport runs.
I watched as the boring concrete of airport roads started to give way to tall palm trees that swayed lazily in the almost non-existent breeze and even taller buildings painted various shades of warm pink and terracotta. Eventually, we were driving through the heart of Little Havana, and I noticed how the majority of signs were written in both Spanish and English.
The sky was a deep blue covered by a light blanket of wispy clouds, but the sun’s rays beat down through the thin veil regardless. I could see the high-rises of downtown Miami growing closer, but Enzo kept us clear of the rush and headed toward the coast instead.
The ocean was still and blue, but the soft ripples on the surface of the water reflected the sunlight like a glitterball, and I started to realize why most people chose to retire in Florida.
It was like a constant vacation.
“I gotta give it to the supes, this academy is in a primo spot,” Enzo said casually as if he could read my mind, and he nodded at the gigantic building we were now approaching.
My driver was right, though, and I could feel my eyes widening behind my sunglasses as we came right up to the water’s edge. On the left was a wild beach with twists of gnarled driftwood half-buried in powdery white sand, and on the right was a small harbor full of yachts that were probably worth more money than I could ever comprehend, but Enzo pressed on and drove right over the long stretch of road that acted as a bridge to something far cooler.
The bridge curved right out above the ocean and then swung back toward the small island off the coast, and I watched in awe as a huge wrought-iron gate started to swing open as Enzo’s car approached.
“Fancy, right?” Enzo chuckled when he noticed my dumbfounded expression. “No wonder they designed the X-Men off you guys.”
“There’s no way that’s true,” I muttered, though my rebuttal lacked any conviction because I was far too preoccupied watching the grounds of the superhero academy, and my new home, appear around me.
The academy was housed on its own private island, and I could see a quiet beach covered in the same soft white sand and a well-kept park with trimmed hedges, neat palm trees, and lusciously green lawns. There was also a yacht even bigger than the ones I’d seen before anchored in a small harbor behind a side building.
Enzo pulled his car up to the main entrance, helped pull my luggage out of the trunk again, and then wished me luck as he sped away back toward the mainland. I quickly pulled my cell phone out so I could give him a decent tip and five stars, and then I looked up at the high-rise in mild disbelief as I stood outside, in the blistering Miami heat, with my one pathetic little suitcase by my side.
This was it. The true start of my superhero journey.
I headed toward the doors, and they both slid open with a soft whoosh as the sensor above me picked up my presence. My face was immediately hit with the cool breeze of air conditioning, and I let out another relieved sigh as I eagerly stepped into the chill of the foyer.
“Hi there!” A bright and cheery voice came from behind a huge marble counter, and I approached almost nervously.
The girl who manned the desk was slim and tanned with soft dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail on top of her head, and she smiled warmly up at me as I came to a stop in front of her.
“Hello,” I said and cleared my throat. “Uhh, my name’s Mark Maddock. I was told to come here by--”
“Mark Maddock, part of the newest cohort of fledglings?” The girl on the desk quickly brushed her fingers across the keys of her wireless keyboard and nodded up at me with encouragement as she reeled off my credentials.
“Um, yep, that’s me,” I said and shook my head in disbelief again. “Where do I go?”
“New fledglings are housed on the fifteenth floor,” the brunette receptionist explained in a quick voice. “You can leave your luggage here, and we’ll deliver it to you, but here’s a welcome pack, a map, and a short itinerary for you.”
She handed me a small pack of documentation with another toothy smile, and I just traded her my suitcase and slowly nodded.
“Fifteenth floor…” I muttered before I shot her a quick smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” The brunette smiled. “And good luck!”
“I’ll probably need it…” I said under my breath as I headed for the elevators and pulled out a bunch of the paperwork from the soft manila envelope that the receptionist had handed to me.
I wondered briefly whether she was a super, too, and if that’s how she found my details in the system so fast.
Either that, or she was just a real quick typist.
My mind wandered as I stepped into one of the many elevators on the right-hand side of the foyer, and I hit the number fifteen as the doors slid silently closed. I didn’t have long to mull anything over, though, because the elevator doors opened again only a moment later, and I stepped out into the main living quarters for my fellow superhero fledglings.
The row of elevators was off to the side, and as I rounded the corner, I found myself in a huge common room area flooded with sunlight. Mostly due to the fact that the whole south wall was made of floor-to-ceiling windows, and even from the elevators I could see the ocean outside and the small harbor with the academy’s yacht floating serenely at its anchorage. The wash of natural light threw sunbeams across a highly-polished marble floor, and the space felt bright and clean and welcoming.
The central part of the common area was full of couches, armchairs, beanbags, and various other types of comfortable seating all pointed inwardly at each other. The entire western side of the space was taken up by a kitchen area, with an eight burner stove and double oven, two ridiculously huge chrome refrigerators, and two long tables with chairs and placemats for at least thirty people.
Then the eastern side of the fifteenth floor was home to the dorms, and I could see several corridors that led to enough bedrooms to house us all.
There were at least twenty other fledglings in the common area when I arrived, though none of them were really speaking to each other, and not one of them afforded me more than a cursory glance as they heard the soft ‘ding’ from the elevator.
The silence didn’t surprise me. It was a sharp U-turn of change for almost everyone in this room, and we were all in the same boat, so a sense of nerves and almost distrust was to be expected.
It was like a social experiment. Except we all had some sort of potential superpower, and no one knew what the others had up their sleeve.
I ignored the central section of the common room, where several fledglings were already spread across the couches or engulfed in beanbags twice their size, in favor of the kitchen area, if only to just have an excuse to remain standing.
“Welcome to the Superhero Academy, fledglings.”
The sudden voice had us all spinning on our feet to find its source, and I spotted a petite woman who couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, even with the slight heels she wore. The scattered conversations quickly began to dissipate as my fellow fledglings noticed her standing by the elevators, but my classmates still looked as confused as I felt by the newcomer.
The woman had ethereally pale skin that looked thin as paper, and her short, almost white, hair was cut into a sharp bob that framed her pointed face. Her wide lips were tinted with a pale pink gloss, and her huge dark eyes were framed with thick lashes that wouldn’t have looked entirely out of place in a Japanese anime.
“My name is Somnia,” the petite blonde spoke again, and this time she had the attention of the entire common room. “I belong to the Dreamer pillar, almost literally. I control dreams.”
I heard a few almost nervous-sounding whispers, but I was more enthralled by this woman than intimidated. I’d heard of Somnia before, particularly how she’d donated her powers to Homeland Security and helped put away several domestic terrorists before they could even half-bake their nefarious plans.
“I’ll be here as an acting principal,” the ethereal Dreamer explained. “You’ll soon learn about the four different pillars, and I’m intrigued to see what you have to show us.”
Somnia spread her arms wide, and a warm smile pulled at her pale lips.
“This is a place of learning, and you’ll certainly be put through your paces as you train to protect our country… Though thanks to our hardworking current Supers, we haven’t had to deal with the Antis for many years.” Somnia clapped her hands together as she smiled down at us. “But tonight, we celebrate you. The Pillar Placing Ceremony will begin at eight o’clock sharp, in the main hall, and the dress code is black tie, so be sure to impress us.”
