Corpies (Super Powereds Spinoff Book 1) (3 page)

“No, they were chosen for their abilities, appeal, marketability, and talents. There are four, aside from yourself: Galvanize, Hexcellent, Bubble Bubble, and Zone. Galvanize is their leader, since he has the most training and experience.” As he spoke, Mr. Greene stepped out of the elevator and began walking down the hall. “Don’t worry; the system recognizes biometrics, and anyone accompanied by me is considered friendly. We’ll get you programmed in when we do your keycard.”

Owen contemplated telling this man that he hadn’t hesitated out of worry for himself, he had been more afraid of breaking something if the system went after him. He decided to stay quiet, however. No need to rock the boat too much on the first day. Besides, there was zero doubt Mr. Greene was the kind of man who’d read up on Titan. He knew it would take more than standard safeguards to bring down this near-giant of a man.

“Anything else I should know before we go in?” Owen followed his escort off the elevator, noting that it closed swiftly as soon as he exited.

“Only this: even though you are not sponsored by any of our companies, by aligning with people who are, you become a de facto representative of us. We expect you to take that seriously and behave appropriately.”

“Me? I’m always appropriate,” Owen said, making an expression as innocent as he could behind the gray mask.

“Glad to hear it.”

“Glad to say it. Now let’s go on in, fuckwad.”

The look on Mr. Greene’s face was worth the earful Owen knew he’d be getting later. With a slight chuckle and a genuine smile, he took the last several steps and opened the door.

3.

Owen’s first headquarters hadn’t been much. Whether it was a Hero, a doctor, an MBA, or a bartender, a recent college grad is a recent college grad. True, Owen had made a little money during his internship under Citadel, his Hero mentor; however, he’d likely have made better cash waiting tables during that time. The end result was that when his first team formed, their financial resources were limited. Their headquarters/living area had been a near-condemned old mattress store that they’d erected half-assed partitions in. It had been derelict, dirty, and largely unsafe. Still, he carried fond memories of that time in his life, if only because both he and the people he worked with were still young and idealistic enough that the future looked like a bright and wonderful thing.

His first thought upon walking into this new team’s headquarters was that if his first team had been able to get a place like this, they would have taken a lot fewer calls in favor of staying home and being comfortable. The front doors opened in to an expansive living room. Next to it was a large kitchen, gleaming with stainless steel appliances. Windows lined the far wall, looking out toward the city and providing a breathtaking view. The floor was carpeted with lush, soft material. In the living room, a gigantic television stood in the center of an entertainment unit, surrounded by various videogame systems and flanked by a wraparound leather couch. A young woman with ink-black hair and makeup- pale skin mashed on a controller and a small male figure on said giant screen plummeted down a spiked pit to his doom.

“Fucking bullshit horsecock dickgarglers,” the woman swore, spitting it all out as nearly one word. She jammed a button on the controller and the screen reloaded, the digital man immediately resurrected.

“Keep it down,” said another woman, this one sitting on an end of the couch so far away it faced the door rather than the television. Her skin was pale too, though it was also dotted with freckles at irregular intervals. Her carefully-styled copper hair was swept to the side, purposely not obscuring her line of vision as she flipped the page on her magazine.

“Why don’t you go try to suck a gig out of a producer’s cock?” the other woman shot back.

“Why don’t both you notice we have a guest and show a little a class?” said a new voice, this one from a young man emerging out of the kitchen with peeled orange slices in hand. He turned to greet Owen and Mr. Greene with a wide, practiced, and dazzling smile. His wavy brown hair and boy-next-door features only completed the effect, making him appear affable, friendly, and immediately accessible. “I’m sorry about that. I’m Galvanize, the team leader.”

“Titan,” Owen replied, taking the young man’s hand in a firm shake. It had been a lot of work learning to shake hands without shattering bones, but he’d perfected it ages ago.

“The one playing video games is Hexcellent, and the woman reading is Bubble Bubble,” Galvanize said, pointing to each as he spoke.

Hexcellent paused the game to give Owen a half-hearted wave, turning in her seat rather than standing up. She was lean, slender all over, but with the type of tight muscle one saw in athletes and Heroes. Her face was probably pretty, but since it was obscured by several piercings, dark lipstick, and so much eye makeup that it even coated her cheekbones, it was hard to tell. She wore all black and had a tattoo of some bat-like creature on her left shoulder.

Bubble Bubble, on the other hand, was especially put together. She wore clothes that had the kind of simple elegance that looked ordinary but Owen knew actually cost a dump truck of money. She had a more classic beauty, the kind one might find in the Marilyn Monroe era. This one, at least, gave a smile and said “Hello” before turning back to the magazine in her lap.

“Where’s Zone?” Mr. Greene asked, interrupting the already awkward introductions.

“In the gym,” Galvanize replied. “His exercise quota is higher than ours, after all.”

“Of course. That is acceptable then, just be sure he is introduced to Titan when he finishes,” Mr. Greene instructed. He turned his attention to Titan. “I’ll send someone to help you get set up in an hour or two. In the meantime, settle in and meet your new team.”

With not so much a “good luck,” Mr. Greene turned around and walked through the doors, which closed with a whooshing sound afterward.

“Isn’t he just a ray of sunshine,” Owen muttered.

“You get used to him,” Galvanize said. “Why don’t you get comfortable, take off your mask and shoes? Can I get you something to drink?”

At the mention of his mask, Owen’s eyes immediately went to the glass, which was so clear it barely registered as present. Galvanize saw where he was looking.

“Don’t worry; it only looks that way from our side. It’s custom. Durable beyond durable and impossible to see through from the outside.”

Owen trusted Galvanize’s words; however, unmasking in an unfamiliar place was something every bit of his life’s experiences told him not to do. Besides, he was going to have to leave soon to go get his access card and whatnot. Better to be masked in case the person coming to get him had access.

“I’m fine for now. As for the drink, what kind of beers do you have?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, none of us are allowed to have alcohol,” Galvanize told him. “Part of our contracts and health requirements. I can offer you fresh squeezed guava juice, mango juice, specially made vitamin-infused water-”

“Water is fine,” Owen said, reeling at how kids this young could be okay with being banned from beer. Afterward, he chastised himself; these were accomplished professionals in their own right, he didn’t need to start thinking of them as kids just because he was old.

“Coming right up.” Galvanize walked to the kitchen and returned with a colorful bottle mere moments later. “So, since you’re new here, what would you like to know?”

“Let’s just start with the basics.” Owen grabbed a chair in a part of the living room not dominated by the giant couch where the two women were still largely ignoring him. “What are everyone’s powers?”

“A perfectly great place to start,” Galvanize agreed enthusiastically. “To go around the room, Hexcellent has the ability to summon creatures out of thin air.”

“Demons,” Hexcellent corrected, not looking away from her game.

“They are somewhat scary looking, and given the goth image her advertisers pay for, we would like it if you referred to them as demons,” said Galvanize, soothing his teammate while shooting Owen an apologetic look.

Summoners weren’t too common. Owen had only met a few in his Hero career. Of course, the term was a bit of a misnomer. What they actually did wasn’t summoning, it was creating an animate energy construct. It worked the same as people who could duplicate themselves, only instead of a personal copy, they formed something else. Most only had a few things they could create: the complexity to form one was so intense that having more than a couple of options made it too muddled to keep straight.

“How many can she summon?”

“I got three,” Hexcellent answered from the couch.

Three wasn’t bad. It was definitely HCP grade. Owen made a mental note to find out more about her power later, then motioned for Galvanize to continue.

“Bubble Bubble can create energy spheres that are pretty durable, and she can even move them with her mind. Not terribly fast, so we can’t use them for rapid transport, but they are quite helpful in getting people out of high places and the like.”

Evidently Bubble Bubble saw no need to correct Galvanize’s assessment, as she continued to read quietly.

“Zone is in the gym, but his ability is basically enhanced agility, strength, and reactions. He’s not at the level of really powerful Supers, but from the human perspective he’s the best athlete alive. That’s why he picked that name, because it’s like he’s always in the zone,” Galvanize said. “Which leaves me. Aside from a nearly negligible side-effect of minor enhanced durability and strength, my main power is to give people a little extra push. I can amp them up and bring them to their peak.”

“You’re an
enhancer
?” Owen’s eyes went wide. Enhancers were rare, damned near mythical Supers who could increase the strength of a person’s power.

“Not a true one, no. I just bring people to their own physical best, and I have absolutely no effect on people’s abilities. Again, it’s all physical. I can’t make them better than they normally would be, just take them to the maximum of their own level. It’s like if you were a car, and the absolute best you could get up to, with ideal handling, was one hundred and ninety miles per hour, I would jump you to that speed. A real enhancer would bump you to, like, three hundred.”

“I see. So when you use this ability of yours, anyone you target is suddenly going at maximum strength, speed, et cetera, within the limits of what their body can physically do?”

“You got it,” Galvanize said. “It doesn’t last long, but it’s made the difference a few times in helping get people to safety.”

“I want you to listen to me very, very carefully,” Owen said, leaning in slightly so that he was towering over Galvanize, even while they both sat. “Never use that power on me. Never. No matter what. Are we clear?”

“I. . . okay,” Galvanize mumbled, clearly taken aback. “There’s no shame in needing a push on occasion, though.”

“My worry is not that I will need a push. It is that I am incredibly strong and have worked for years to make sure I am in total control of that strength. If you suddenly jack me to maximum power then I don’t know how much destruction I’ll cause, but it will be a lot. Now, are we clear?” Owen repeated.

“We’re clear,” Galvanize replied.

4.

Owen surveyed his new room. It was large: not that he was surprised by this, but aside from the few boxes that had been shipped from Colorado, its size made the space seem surprisingly sparse. A bed in the corner, dresser by the far wall with a small television perched on top, and a desk across from the door dominated by a monitor and keyboard. Upon further inspection, it only seemed under-furnished compared to the opulence that had been present everywhere else.

After basic introductions, Galvanize had shown him around. The area set aside for their residence consisted of three floors. Below the elevator entrance was the gym, a sprawling, state-of-the-art facility with enough equipment to accommodate a team of Olympic hopefuls. Unfortunately, since none of his new team had supremely advanced strength, there were no ultra-dense weights that Owen could use. He didn’t mind that too much, though. Part of his ability kept his muscles from atrophying, so it wasn’t as though he’d get weaker without training. If the need arose, he could always have someone ship his old weight set from Colorado over. He’d just have to pick a company that didn’t charge by the pound.

The gym level also housed a large room outfitted with various sandbags, movable platforms, and mock-building fronts. Galvanize had explained to Owen that this was the room where they honed their rescue skills, doing drills through constantly-changing scenarios to make sure they were on top of their game. Here Owen had met Zone, a tan young man with frosted tips, a dazzling smile, and a body-fat percentage so low it had to be unhealthy. They’d exchanged pleasantries then Zone had hustled off to shower before an appearance promoting a skateboard company he represented. From the speed at which the younger Super moved, Owen suspected he was less than thrilled to have this new addition to their team. Owen didn’t really mind; he wasn’t exactly dancing at the idea of being here himself, after all.

The middle floor was the one where he’d entered. Aside from the living room and kitchen there was a large dining room, a conference room, and an office with several professional-grade computers, printers, and the like. Galvanize explained that this was so anyone who needed to print out headshots or other such paraphernalia before an appearance could do so in the comfort of their own home. Evidently they had formerly outsourced such tasks, but it had turned out that doing them in-house was far more cost and time efficient.