So. As it turns out, the worlds best telepath can keep track of the memories and locations of all the heros under her leadership. Had to say; didn’t see it coming. Should’ve in hindsight but I didn’t. Am I brain dead? Probably. I’ve been hit hard enough to have been legally declared brain dead. By my own assumption anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah, Mama Glam. Worlds best telepath. And now I was sat in her office feeling like I’d just been sent to the principles office. Like a kid. But I sucked it up, since she can read my mind and all. Silently cursing someone don’t work in this instance. I felt unbelievably tense, and with good reason. I was trying not to let on that I was clearing my head but she spoke, breaking me out of my little trance “Jack Barrick. You know what would happen if your previous identity were to be discovered?”. What else could I say to that? Answer; nothing. I nodded in silence. I figured that this was it. I tried, but of course every mistake I made caught up with me. Its not like it wouldn’t. But a man can hope you know? She continued “young man, your performance out there was incompetent and astonishingly dangerous. You could’ve have been killed! Or worse, gotten one of your teammates killed as well!” Those exact words, made me flinch. Trust me sister, to this day you don’t have to remind me what getting someone killed feels like…
“But”. That word right there. Insignificant to some but coming from her? I’ve never felt such a rush of ‘wait what’ in my whole damn life. I tried to reply, but she said my own words back to me “but you didn’t. I know. That’s what were here to discuss”. It gotta say, I was certainly surprised also a little freaked out by the fact that oh you know SHE WAS IN MY BRAIN. MY ACTUAL BRAIN THAT MAKES ME LIVE AND DO THINGS. People don’t seem to realize how freaky that actually it but regardless, she had a few, albeit inspirational, choice words for me. If I recall, the conversation went like this:
“You’re strength is indeed remarkable but it may be so remarkable we can’t even test it properly”
“So I just broke a bunch of robo teachers for nothing?”
“Not necessarily. You see, the training bots are programmed to adapt to the changes of their opponents. If someone’s stressed, the bots go from level one to level 5. This increases their output of pressure and combat experience”
I nodded, actually interested in the things she was telling me. I’m not usually interested in machines or robotics, but when its a part of my dream job, well theres always room for learning.
“However, the RC-34E ‘Bulwark’ in which you utterly pulverized had a massive spike in power output. From level one, to level thirty. And I must say, many of the professionals were impressed by your strength”
I blushed a little. Hearing that from one of my heros was honestly one of the most heartwarming things I’ve heard in a while. Until of course she dropped the atomic bomb of sentences “But unfortunately for your past of villainy, it would be my duty as a protector of the public interest to have you sent to Iron Grid”
And there it was. Iron Grid is a massive, labyrinthine prison for super villains. The whole place is basically one big iron box full of guys that can level mountains and fuck up all kinds of stuff. And she was talking about sending me there. Now I know what you’re thinking. But if she wants to send you there, what kind of shit did you do before?!? Look, yeah I did a lot of bad stuff but I’ll get to that. Trust me. I will get to that. But for now, she was talking about sending me there. But once again, she curved the ball so hard I swear I got hit by an actual ball. “I knew your mother when she was your age. She was exactly the same. Twice as strong and with twice the spirit”. Now that caught my attention and she continued, noticing my new found interest “She said to me when she was pregnant with you that you would and I quote ‘rock this world. There won’t be anyone else like my kid’. And while my duty tells me to arrest you, I have seen you for what you are. You want to do good yes?” I nodded, getting real excited since I had a feeling of what she was gonna say and sure enough she did “Margo was one of my dearest friends. She wanted you to do good, as so I. Which is why, I am allowing you to be fully accepted into this association”. I couldn’t help but grin, ear to ear. I did it! I had actually done it! I was on my way to being the very best of the best! I left that office feeling some happiness I ain’t never felt in a long, long time. Feels good don’t it? You know what I mean right? That kind of feeling where you just feel damn amazing like you could take on Godzilla and beat his lizard ass back to the stone age where his dino….lizard…whatever he is ass belongs. I don’t feel like that often so whenever I do, I cherish it. It ain’t east without Alice and it’ll never be easy without her, but now she’s gone, and thanks to the wonderful, insane, caring bunch of nutcases who stood by me through everything, I learned to look at what I had. And I learned to cherish it.
But that’s now.
Back then, after I left that office, alarms we’re going crazy and a bunch of the toughest pros who ever lived came running past me, almost knocked me over. Hell even Tyler came running past.
“Ty what the hell is goin’ on?!”
“We got a situation down in the main atrium. A villain got in. A big one. He’s threatening some kids here on a trip”
“Any idea who it is?”
“Thrash”
Needles to say. I’d never been so excitedly pissed off in my whole life. I didn’t even have to go looking for the bastards. Looks like they’d come to me.
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