Abnormals

This was too much.

Rex ran underneath a table. Why was he even at a political fundraiser? He’d told his mom before they got into the car that he didn’t even believe in politics, but she’d just laughed at him.

His dad had lectured him for hours about why he shouldn’t scream in the middle of big events, but he really needed to scream, but he couldn’t scream.

All he could do was breathe and he wasn’t even doing that well.

Someone else was screaming. Rex couldn’t tell where. He breathed harder. What was going on?

His mom shouted his full name.

Breathing harder, still hiding. Was he doing this?

“Hey,” A teenage boy said, ducking under the table with him, “Are you okay?”

Rex couldn’t respond.

“That’s a no. Okay. I’m Pete, and based on the fact your mom yelled your name, I’ll guess the elemental chaos is your doing.”

No no no no no. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“It’s not your fault, okay. Powers don’t usually manifest until you’re older, which makes you a prodigy for even having them.”

He was bad at this. He didn’t know what he was doing.

“I have powers too, and I nearly broke an entire studio when they manifested. You don’t seem to have sent anyone to the hospital yet.”

“You have powers?” Rex barely said.

“Yeah, Electrokinesis, well Electromagnetokinesis to be completely accurate, but that’s a little long to say. Not that you really know xenology jargon. I can manipulate metal, and mess with electricity too.”

Physically, Rex couldn’t respond, but he felt a little better.

“I can shut up now, but I’m going to stay here until you feel okay. I know big events can be overwhelming.”

Pete’s hand on Rex’s back helped as he gulped back to normalcy. Once he finally got control of himself again, he turned and hugged his savior.

“Okay, you’re welcome.” Pete awkwardly put his arms around Rex too, “Do you want to get out from under here?”

“No.” He still didn’t want to be around people. What if they made him panic again?

“I can probably help smooth things over with your parents, or I can grab my mom to help, people listen to her.”

“Who’s your mom?”

“Grace Gionelli, but she’s Senator Johnson’s daughter, so most people here think she’s great.”

“Is she?”

“She’s wonderful. C’mon, I’ll even help you undo some of what you did while we find her.”

Rex took Pete’s arm and let him pull both of them out from under the table.

Xer had been serious about talking with Tesla Coil, who seemed to be looking for an exit strategy right now.

“I have something to say,” Xer said before she could open her mouth or run off the roof, “It’s not your place to take a dead man’s legacy as your own.”

“You don’t even know how I knew him,” she countered, “But if you still want to give this lecture, let’s get to the location first.” She tossed him a set of arm and leg bracers.

“What are these for?”

“So you don’t fall off.”

“Fall off what?”

She swirled her finger, and from the back of her jacket came two discs just wide enough for a person to stand on.

“Are those safe?”

“If you have the bracers on.”

Xer kept looking at them.

“I think I could get us there faster.”

“You couldn’t. And these are stealthier.”

She had her hands perched under her chin as she just stared at him. She had a wry smile that made him want to smack her, but he relented, stepping onto the disc that floated in front of him.

“You settled?”

He tried to get his balance, eventually giving a less than confident thumbs up.

Everything went by so fast. Somehow he didn’t fall when it came to a sudden stop. He had to blink a few times before noticing they were outside the door of a different building.

“You can get off the hoverdisc now.”

“Hover feels a little minor for that thing.”

She offered a hand. He jumped down himself.

“If you’ll let me explain—” she began.

“There’s no possible way you can explain away what you’re doing. I understand that you seem to be very competent at this, which is all the more reason why you should be using your own symbol, if any.”

“Seem to be?”

“You’ve only been around a year. I think you’ve been lucky thus far.”

“The public has known of me around a year. Before—”

“Then why are you using someone else’s symbol?”

“Maybe if you—”

“How do you even know Electron?”

Xer noticed a crackling in Tesla Coil’s left palm.

“Is that why you feel comfortable using his symbol, you’re both electric?”

Coil face-palmed.

“We’re here,” Blaster said.

“Team Sword and Stick landed immediately,” Nightingale said, which seemed to make Tesla Coil giggle, “Thank you shadow teleporting.”

“Team Tree and Tech are at the location.” Coil gave Xer a thumbs-up. He rolled his eyes.

“Let’s go.”

There was a crash over their ear-pieces.

“What was that?” Tetra asked.

“We’re going!” Blaster said.

Xer kicked the door open to a dark room.

The shocks of light from Tesla Coil’s hands showed them moving closer and further apart until the lights turned on.

“All that effort for a light switch?”

“Without tripping any alarms.”

Xer shrugged. Was he supposed to be impressed or something?

The lights turned back off.

“Without tripping any alarms, you say?”

“Six o’clock.”

From his sleeve, Xer shot a vine, grabbing the assailant behind him.

“You have night-vision?”

Tesla Coil sent a shock through someone behind her.

“Can you get us a higher position?”

He pulled some seeds from his pocket and threw them down, breaking the floor and foundation as a giant flower lifted them above everyone else.

Coil snapped her fingers, and the light turned on again so Rex could spot the hoard underneath them before they turned off again.

“Are you going to powerhouse now?” Coil asked, “Because I distinctly remember you saying something about being a powerhouse.”

“There’s not a lot to work with here.”

“And just what are we standing on?”

“Do you want to fall off?”

“I can catch myself.”

Oh right, hoverdiscs.

Xer dug his feet into the stem, bending down to clutch with hands as well, as he swung their perch forward to push away half of their attackers; then he swung the other way.

A few swings, and Tesla Coil turning the lights on and off a few more times, and it seemed like they’d mostly handled it.

“Listen!” Xer began, until the flower beneath him started drooping without his permission. It didn’t swing when he tried to make it swing either.

“Power suppressant.”

Coil grabbed him before he collapsed with the flower.

“How come your discs still work?”

“Anxiety does wonders for preparedness, but I don’t have a disc for you at the moment.”

Xer debated if it was better to be in close quarters or to plummet to his death. Even with Tesla Coil, he’d take the close quarters.

“The good news is as long as we don’t have powers, none of them should either.”

“Should?”

“Xenology is a confusing subject.”

She was a Xenologist. Maybe that’s how she knew Pete.

The disc lurched.

“What’s that?” Xer asked.

“This wasn’t built to hold two people up for very long.”

The disc lurched further down.

“I want you to know I still don’t think very highly of you.”

“We’re in over our heads,” Coil said, ignoring him, “We could use backup.”

No response.

“They knew more than I expected.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means they knew about the communicators, because Nightingale would have responded if no one else.”

On the next lurch of the disc, Xer fell off.

Xer came to, tied up in a chair, with someone, probably Tesla Coil to his back.

“This doesn’t look good.”

“Oh great, you’re up,” Tesla Coil said from behind him, “Do you want to know what happened?”

“I got knocked out after I fell?”

“Yeah, I need to upgrade the bracers to work with more than one person on the same disc.”

“You mentioned that. Then they tied us up, right?”

“No I mentioned a weight problem, this is about the bracers.”

“When did they tie us up?”

“Well they finally grabbed me, then the great chosen stole our ear pieces—surprised you didn’t wake up for that—broke them, and then they tied us up.”

“Okay, and where are we?” Xer looked above them but only caught generic warehouse.

“Same place they caught us, though they teleported a few times before returning us here. I guess they didn’t plan for the hole.”

Rex looked over and saw the hole his plant had made.

“Why would they bring us back here?”

“This is where he saved my life.” Xer looked to the side to see someone in a slightly grander robe than anyone else.

“The great chosen, I assume.”

“It is good to finally speak with you, first chosen.”

“Yeah, I’d prefer if you could untie me for the meeting, then we could talk this through like adults.”

“How did he save your life?” Tesla Coil asked.

“I was working here, when he pulled me out of harm’s way from a forklift. Such a minor need, yet he was there.”

“That was a fight with a mercenary. The building was supposed to be empty,” Tesla Coil explained.

“And yet I was fated to be here.”

“Because Flame-kick or whatever his name was didn’t perform his due diligence. He’s out of the business because of it. Your boss sued.”

How did she know so much about an esoteric case of Electron’s? Xer didn’t even know about that one.

“And I must thank him, for after that day I was gifted with the great one’s lightning.” He held his arms up for dramatic effect.

“Was that supposed to be lightning?” Xer asked, “Because that’s not going to work with power suppression active in the room.”

“I also have electric powers, friend, they’re not particularly uncommon among empowereds,” Tesla Coil said.

“You who know him so well, yet nobody knows you. You must have been chosen too.”

“Probably more chosen than any of you.”

“Just as I thought. The first and most chosen, together!”

“What!?”

“Good job.” Xer worked on the rope between them, except it wasn’t rope. It was metal, because of course it was.

“I’ll probably break my arm, but I think I can break the cord.” Tesla Coil whispered.

“Don’t break your arm.”

“It’s better than doing nothing.”

“Once Tetra finds us she can cut through it.”

“What makes you so sure Tetra’s going to find us?”

“Oh great one!” They snapped their attention back to the great chosen. “We offer you those you cared most for in this life, so that you may come back, or gift us with a worthy champion.”

“Excuse you!” Tesla Coil said, “What makes you think Electron needs a champion? Or that nobody else will do? Xer’s been saving lives more years than Electron was, and I’ve done quite a bit in my first year! What’s this one for two special going on here?”

“They fear coming into your embrace once again, but please welcome them with open arms.”

If they could keep him from finishing his prayer, they could buy some time.

“I would like to die in the hole if possible,” Xer said. “My power is from the earth, and I would like to be as close to it as possible.”

“I don’t want to die in the hole,” Tesla Coil said, hopefully catching on, “And I’m the most chosen apparently. Shouldn’t that actually mean that I’m greater chosen than you?”

A few gasps in the crowd.

“More importantly, why on earth—or the next life—would Electron, a superhero, want sacrifices?” she continued, “Where did that logic enter your brain?”

“Or maybe you’re just looking for an excuse to get us out of the way when you know you didn’t really know the guy, and we clearly did,” Xer added.

Maybe they could get the cultists to turn on their leader.

“That’s why he’ll be more happy to see the two of you. If he chooses to come back, I’m sure he’ll bring the two of you with him.”

“What do you think he’s capable of?” Xer asked. “He was just a man, a good man, but definitely not a god.”

He held eyes with the great chosen. This man was afraid.

One of the nearby windows shattered, and Xer could hear a fight being lost on the part of the cultists.

“Where’s the power suppression?” Nightingale asked.

“Do you really have time for this?” Xer asked.

“Berserker’s handling the guys. I need to get you out.”

“Behind him, I think,” Tesla Coil said, “It’s where I felt my power failing from earlier, and his abilities are completely absent.”

“Wouldn’t that happen wherever it was placed?” Xer asked.

“It’s a heavy pollen, it doesn’t tend to go very high, especially with this ventilation.”

“Pollen?” Xer asked.

“Yes, pollen!” Tesla Coil sounded very angry about it.

Nightingale vaulted up to the little balcony, slamming several cultists, and eventually the device affecting their powers. Tetra and Blaster immediately appeared from the shadows in front of them.

“I knew you’d come.”

“Save your sentimentality,” Tetra ordered, “Try to give me space so I don’t cut off a finger.”

Rex pulled as far away from the chair as he could, feeling Coil do the same until the pressure relieved and he fell on his face.

“Thanks for the save, Vic.”

Tesla Coil stood up before Xer could, and offered her hand. It was freakishly warm beneath the glove.

“Thanks.”

Xer knew the roots of his flower likely hadn’t died just yet, feeling them beneath him and growing them right under the man who wanted to kill them. A vine pulled up from the ground on his cue, slamming the great chosen in front of them. Xer pulled him up by his collar.

“You threatened innocents and attempted to kill two people,” Xer’s fist lit on fire, “And you did it all in a good man’s name.”

“Please,” the great chosen clutched his arm, “Mercy.”

“You don’t deserve mercy, and you know it.”

Tetra grabbed his flaming hand, putting it out with her touch. Xer pulled away, reigniting it.

“You don’t want to kill someone, Rex!” Tetra said.

“The world would be better without him.”

Tesla Coil pulled the great chosen away, standing in front of him.

“He wouldn’t want this.”

“He isn’t here to care. You said so yourself. He’s dead.”

“We’re here to care.”

Xer kept focus on the man behind her. Tesla Coil looked at him, and shook her head.

“Kill him and he becomes a martyr for someone here to replace.”

She was right. He extinguished his hand.

“Thank you!” the great chosen threw himself around Tesla Coil’s knees.

“You’re still going to jail.”

Xer wasn’t sure what this follow-up was for, especially this early in the morning. At least there was coffee, coffee he almost immediately spit out, but coffee nonetheless. They were still giving Berserker a few more minutes, sure he would appear at an inconvenient time should they start without him.

“I’m calling it,” Nightingale said, “He’s not coming unless we—”

Berserker appeared, falling on his ass as he tried to sit down. He must not have realized the chairs had been moved.

“So here’s what we know,” Tesla Coil began, “James Vorken was saved by Electron when he was a warehouse worker. This finally activated his chrysalis gene, giving him electrokinetic abilities.”

“Which made him think Electron gave them to him,” Xer added. When were they getting somewhere important?

“Correct, which led him to start some major hero worship, which he doubled down on when Electron died, finding other people saved, or born because someone was saved, by Electron. His daughter was the speedster who had a change of heart.”

“Well now I just feel mean,” Blaster said.

“What did you say to her?”

“Nothing important.”

“This cult eventually got the idea that they could bring Electron back to the land of the living by sacrificing someone or someones important to him, eventually settling on the one he rescued the most, and the first person he rescued ever.”

“Who they initially thought was Grace Johnson before I so helpfully corrected them,” Xer noted, “But why did they choose you instead of Catherine Piec? She’s who I would choose for most rescued any day.”

“Maybe they think Tesla Coil is Catherine Piec.” Nightingale took a sip of the provided coffee before making a disgusted expression. Tesla Coil averted her gaze.

“Then the plan went into motion,” Coil continued, “Which we all saw. What they didn’t anticipate was the help we got, or at least not our competency. That alongside the blow Nightingale took to their fire mage, which has been resolved now, left them vulnerable enough for us to survive. Now comes the fun bit.”

“I don’t trust that word from your mouth,” Xer said.

“Too bad because it involves you. When speaking with Mr. Vorken, he revealed the epiphany we provided him with. You see, Electron apparently left the world with two champions: The left hand of vengeance,” she pointed to Xer, “and the right hand of mercy.” she pointed to herself.

“Is it because I almost killed him?”

“And I stopped you, yes. I’m actually left-handed, so I’m not exactly thrilled at the title.”

Now Tesla Coil was an Electron nut backed by a whole cult of Electron nuts.

“What else does that mean?” Tetra asked, “Titles aren’t often given just for show.”

“Welcome to Earth politics,” Berserker answered.

“Tetra’s right, actually. Those titles mean that any member of The Chosen is ready and willing to help us with whatever we may need.”

“I need good coffee,” Nightingale said.

“Not you: Xer and I. I’ve already used this perk to ask them all to turn themselves in, with a good word put in for Chelsea alerting you to her father’s plans. How many of them actually land in jail is probably a low number.”

“So things are going grand,” Xer said. Of course they were getting off scot-free

“Just swimmingly, which brings us to the real reason I asked all of you here.”

“Does it involve better food?” Berserker asked, gesturing to the cheap breakfast options, “I can probably ask Alyssa to send some of her baked goods over. She has the day off.”

None of them acknowledged him.

“We worked surprisingly well as a team, and saving the day is a hard task. I’m not asking to make teamwork a regular thing for all of us, but contact info would be good, especially when we’re dealing with someone else’s purview.”

Xer grabbed the paper and pen she offered before anyone else could. He wasn’t sure if he was going to burn it or not until he handed his information back to Tesla Coil.

“I don’t like you using the symbol, mind you, but you do good work. Let me know if you need help and I’ll do the same.”

Coil nodded, handing the sheet of paper around to everyone, with Nightingale returning it.

“I’ll start the very low-tech process of getting this info out to everyone. If you need to keep them somewhere, please don’t make it obvious.” She sounded weary at the prospect. Jet wasn’t wrong that she seemed to have more experience than she should.

“Should we need anything else, we can now call each other. Meeting dismissed I guess.”

“Do we have a name?” Jet asked.

“No,” Tesla Coil and Xer said. At least they were on the same page about the reality of this 'team'.

“How about the Electrons.”

Everyone gave Berserker an annoyed stare.

“Okay, maybe not that.”