by Brett P. S.
Alter Ego
Brett P. S.
Copyright © 2015 Brett P. S.
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter I – Side Winder
Chapter II – Breaking News
Chapter III – League Business
Chapter IV - Unmasked
Chapter I
Side Winder
Walter Axel. Age 19. On certain errands, like this one, however, he went by another name. Side Winder, a resonator with the power to turn almost anything on its side. Not the most impressive of powers on display at the heart of the league, but he had his moments.
Walter flew across rooftops in the suburbs of Davenport by utilizing one of his signature skills. It was easy to travel at terminal velocity once he turned gravity on its side. Small, localized clusters though. He never changed too much, for fear some house might tip over. The pull of the earth gradually drew universal forces back into place. Physical objects, however, remained in their new placement.
Walter stopped at the roof of a two story flat apartment. His hair was laced with perspiration from the work he’d done earlier in the evening. He took a moment to button up his shirt and jacket over his costume. Side Winder wore green and yellow, with swirling designs, but Walter Axel was an ordinary young adult trying to make his way through life with an obnoxious roommate. Kevin was a nice guy, but he was lacking in a few concepts, cleanliness and boundaries being two of them.
He finished buttoning up the last bits and strode over to the edge of his apartment roof. The two of them lived on the second floor. Kevin’s room was on the east side, while Walter’s sat on the west. Walter made sure to leave his window open to make coming in easier. Carefully, he climbed down from the ledge and stuck his foot through … but the rubber from his shoes bounced off a glass surface.
The heck? Hanging onto the ledge was beginning to wear his arms down. Upon inspection though, Walter realized Kevin must have barged in and locked the window himself. He really needed to have a talk with the man. Fine. Walter used a bit of his powers to help him climb back over the edge of his roof. The front door was locked, and besides, Walter couldn’t afford for the whole block to see him creeping around the outside of his apartment on the night of the incident. This left him with one option, however risky it might be.
Walter walked over to the other side of his apartment and peered over the edge this time. As luck would have it, Kevin’s window had just a crack opened. That was enough. He climbed down and tipped a gravity well so he could stand on the wall. It was a different feeling, turning gravity on his side.
It always changed his perspective on what was up and what was down. When he flew at terminal velocity, even though he knew he was traveling horizontally, it felt as if he was falling. The same physics applied here. He looked down at the window, while the grass was like a wall to his left and the endless skies lurked to his right. It was a frightening feeling, if not at least disorienting.
He pried open the window and climbed inside as he felt the disorienting shift in gravity. Once he came to his senses, Walter tiptoed across a room littered with discarded clothing and old gaming magazines. Kevin’s gaming systems sat in the corner of the room, parallel to the window he entered. Kevin had a lot of free time on his hands. Whenever the subject of rent came up, Kevin usually came up a few dollars short.
Walter grabbed onto the doorknob and turned it slowly when his ears picked up the sound of footsteps and he froze. Oh, please don’t come in here, he thought. Walter snuck around on nights like these for a reason. His alter ego, Side Winder, was a modestly powerful resonator in the league, but all that meant nothing if somebody found him out. The league didn’t like having its members known publicly.
Granted, they’d do their best to relocate him, but doing so meant two things. First, he’d have to get a new costume and code name, and he grew attached to Side Winder. Second, and more importantly, it meant leaving his current life behind … and he liked his cat too much.
Think for a second. What’s in the apartment he could use? Walter lacked the ability to sense objects, so it was hit or miss, but he focused on where he thought his art piece was. A vase the price of one week’s salary. He pulled it down on its side and a mixture of joy and anguish filled his body at the resounding shattering sound.
“Bad, Tina!” Kevin shouted.
Kevin’s footsteps stopped and turned tail to head over to the noise. Walter swung open the door and shut it behind him while he darted off to the entrance to his apartment. Kevin checked his room enough to shut his window, so he probably believed he was out for a stroll. Walter opened the main door and shut it before running ahead. He raced over to the living room to see Kevin scraping up a few scraps of porcelain.
“What happened?” Walter said, leaning over Kevin’s shoulder.
“Take a look. It’s your flea bitten cat again.”
“Darn,” Walter said. “That was expensive.”
“Can’t you … train it or something?”
Walter smirked, though he made sure to hide it from Kevin. He probably could. Even cats could be trained to do things like sit or roll over. It took a little more persistence than with dogs. Boy did Walter hate dogs. Just being around them made him nauseous. However, he liked the fact that he could blame these things on Tina. He liked Tina more than he liked his roommate, actually.
“Sorry, man,” he said. “We’ll just have to keep clean counters.”
Walter glanced behind to spot Tina licking her orange paws. She played the part perfectly. Walter smiled.
Chapter II
Breaking News
Walter drudged over to his bowl in the living room of his apartment. Noises from the first floor flooded his senses. Apparently, the couple downstairs had the television cranked up to the max. They left it on more than twice a week, and it wouldn’t normally matter to him, except he had half a migraine from using his powers last night. From the noise, he pictured about where they set their television and without thinking, he slid it on its side. The crackling sound of glass and metal circuits breaking ensued, followed by silence. A great feeling.
After pouring a fresh stock of cereal and milk, he carried it over to the couch and took a seat next to Kevin, who was flipping through channels. Funny, Walter didn’t seem to mind the noise from his own television, even when he wasn’t in control of the content. Oh well. The downstairs couple could stand to afford a new box.
“What’s up today?” Walter asked, shoveling in flakes.
Kevin continued flipping through channels without an end in sight. In reality, he wasn’t exactly scanning the whole set, just flipping back and forth through a series of ten channels in attempt to catch them when they weren’t on commercials. He felt like a hunter, Walter assumed, scouring the wastes until a great show popped up. With as much as he paid for cable, something had better show. Much more of this and he was about to switch to internet television. The streaming kind.
“Not much,” Kevin said, taking a breather. He stopped on channel 6, the local news, right above the weather channel. “You should have seen it though.”
“Seen what?”
“Bloodhound did his thing again. He almost got away with it.”
“Did the league catch him?” Walter asked, knowing the answer.
“No, it was just Side Winder and he didn’t,” Kevin said. “That guy’s not good for anything.”
The heck? This coming from someone like him.
Walter resisted the urge to defend his alter ego for the longest time imaginable … about five and a half seconds.
“Well, he saved the day, didn’t he?”
“I guess. The supers in this city are clowns,” Kevin said. “It’s no wonder the league doesn’t send someone else.”
“Resonators. They’re called resonators,” Walter stammered.
“Nerd.”
The nerve! Walter had half a mind to flip his television on its side, except it was their television set and he paid for it in the first place. Another place and time, maybe. For now, Walter needed to suck it up and move on. He tried his best to disregard Kevin’s statement and continued shoveling spoonfuls of milky flakes into his mouth, taking care not to let any fall on the couch. Once he finished, he placed his bowl on the coffee table and sunk back into the couch cushions.
“Well, I’m going to do the dishes,” Walter said, standing up. “You done?”
He pointed at Kevin’s empty plate, on which some toast previously sat. Kevin didn’t give a response, so Walter decided to reach for it. However, he stopped when he saw the surprised look in the eyes of his roommate. Walter averted his gaze, becoming more aware of the voices coming out of his television.
“The Bloodhound strikes again,” one reporter said. “And this time, he’s taken over City Hall. He’s taken hostages, but so far hasn’t made any demands except for the presence of Side Winder.”
“That’s not good,” Walter said. “I need to make an errand.”
Kevin turned at looked at him, noticing his hand nearly hanging over the empty plate. Kevin frowned and picked it up to hand it over.
“Let me guess,” Kevin said. “I’m doing the dishes.”
“I’ll finish them when I get back. I have to make a quick run somewhere.”
Kevin crossed his arms.
“It’s always somewhere.”
“I promise it’ll be quick. Just half an hour.”
Without giving his roommate a chance to rebut, Walter grabbed his jacket and practically jumped out the front door as he hobbled down the steps. This time, he planned on catching the cretin for good.
Chapter III
League Business
The time was 11:30 in the morning, and Walter now resumed his title as Side Winder, complete with a green and yellow costume hugged against his skin. He leaped from rooftops at terminal velocity on his way to city hall.
The run normally took the average person a fifteen-minute car ride, but he could run the trip in less than 10 without breaking a sweat. The subtle use of his powers to trip gravity on its side was all he needed. As long as he could deal with the headache the next morning, he would be fine. A headache continued to plague him though, from the previous night of super heroics.
Walter landed with his feet planted at the base of Davenport City Hall, a prime center for commerce. The building stood three stories tall, a white piece of architecture with roman roots. He knew Iowa had a history, but he never researched it much. He was more concerned with fitting in than becoming attached after the last time he needed to move.
Walter’s memories of walking up the steps took a stark contrast to his current vision as he whizzed past officers on point. For the most part, the duties of the men in blue revolved around keeping pedestrians out of harm’s way. No need to allow the Bloodhound any more hostages. To be honest, most of them didn’t want to tangle with a resonator. He knew as much by the way the officers carried themselves. As much as Kevin might disagree, this was a job for Side Winder.
He barged through the doors and scanned his surroundings with keen eyes. The interior was mostly how he remembered it. First thing near the entrance was the check in station, where a residing officer would check for cell phones, weapons and wallets that couldn’t pass through the scanners. The Bloodhound sure as heck set those off when he came through, though it probably didn’t matter.
Moving forward, the bulk of city hall revolved around a massive center cavity with stairs leading up to circling floors running across the edges. Going up a staircase meant jogging the hard way. Vertical, he could do, but his powers hardly worked at a 45-degree angle. Turning something on its side meant all the way or none of the way and only objects with clear up or forward vectors. His powers were useless on balls unless they were moving fast in a single direction.
“I see you’ve decided to show yourself,” a voice came from one of the upper floors.
Walter couldn’t tell for certain, from where he stood, but it was probably the top level. He ran up the circling staircase at the top speed allotted someone of his physique, which left him winded by the time he found the second floor staircase. This was no good. He needed to be at his best.
“You can’t keep doing this, Bloodhound,” Walter said, trying to mask his wheezing. “Let these people go, and I might put in a good word for you.”
“You won’t be so lucky this time,” Bloodhound said. “I know much more about you now.”
“I doubt it,” Walter said, climbing to the third floor.
“I know the nature of your unique abilities. With a name like Side Winder, one could guess, but I decided to test my hypothesis by forcing you to ascend.”
Walter followed the sound to a room on the far end. He took a moment to catch his breath and used his powers to slide over instead.
“You’re a creep, you know that?” Walter said.
He placed his hand on the knob of a double door when he felt a strange sensation come over him. It was a sickening feeling he remembered from somewhere before. Was he afraid or was it something else? No time to ponder now.
“I also believe I found your weakness,” Bloodhound said from the other side.
Walter froze. His weakness? Even he didn’t know for sure. For as long as he’d been using his powers, he never once encountered a situation where they waned. If he did, he never noticed before. This was puzzling. Was Bloodhound bluffing to stall him for some other reason?
Walter swung open the door and walked in ready to turn Bloodhound on his side and flip bullets away before the cretin had a chance to react. However, when he held up his hands, nothing moved and an overwhelming feeling gripped his insides with a nauseous feeling that made him sink to his knees. Walter stared up at a plump man in a tweed business suit aiming a loaded revolver at his face. That was Bloodhound, a rogue resonator with the power to uncover things. It wasn’t a particularly useful power in direct combat, but it made him a brilliant mastermind.
Walter’s gaze flooded with light as his eyes adjusted around the silhouette. Sunlight beamed in through the person-sized windows in the back of the office, but it wasn’t long before he noticed a couple furry companions alongside his nemesis. Ordinary pugs. Nothing special. Not ravenous wolves, but oddly cute fuzz balls. Drat, Walter thought to himself. How could he not have known his weakness all this time?
“Don’t look so surprised,” Bloodhound said. “I’ve found the weakness of many resonators.”
Bloodhound calmly unbuttoned his coat and opened one flap to reveal a collection of masks adorning the inside. The materials lined up, stitched together in a pattern resembling a quilt. Colors from resonators he barely remembered hugged tightly against the lining of his jacket.
“Are you going to shoot me?” Walter asked.
“There’s a time and place for such things,” Bloodhound said. “First, I want the world to see your face … unmasked.”
Chapter IV
Unmasked
Bloodhound dragged Walter out onto the outer ledge near the roof of City Hall. He fired a few shots at one of the windows a few seconds ago, tearing open a hold large enough to push Walter through. Walter still felt weak from the presence of dogs in the room a few meters away.
As the distance increased, he found the feeling in his stomach stop churning, though his powers still ceased to function. He tried numerous times but to no effect. Walter thought he could tip
the gun and veer it out of Bloodhound’s hands. The weapon had a clear up vector, but he barely managed to budge it. Were the dogs too close? How much farther away did he have to go? He glanced up at Bloodhound, who smiled.
“I’m an excellent judge of distance,” he said. “This is as far as I’ll go with you.”
He grabbed hold of Walter’s mask and dug his fingers underneath the straps. Bloodhound pocketed his gun and grabbed a knife with his newly freed up hand before taking the blade and tearing through the mask on one side of Walter’s head. Before Walter took a chance to grab it back, Bloodhound kicked him away on the ledge.
Walter caught himself in time to keep from falling off and in a gut reaction, covered his face. He turned to face the outer wall of City Hall, hiding his image from the dozens of reporters snapping shots. Each one could do him in, and he had no idea if one stuck it close enough to call him out after the fact.
“You’re all the same,” Bloodhound said. “Afraid of others learning your identity. You bask in your alter ego as if it were something special, but underneath the mask, you are an ordinary man.”
“Is that why you did this to other resonators?” Walter asked. “You must think we’re pretty arrogant.”
“I only want the league to stop hiding, and this is where it starts,” Bloodhound said. “Once no resonator is safe, they’ll change their tune.”
A gun cocked. Walter shot a glance through the corner of his eyes to notice a revolver aimed at his head again. Not good. Not good at all. Walter checked his powers. He tried to wiggle some of the support beams below. He wasn’t completely sure, though he believed his powers were returning.
“You don’t want this,” Walter said.
“Get up.”
Walter stood up with his hands still covering his face. He looked at the plump old person and tried to understand where he was coming from. Sure, the league carried on with its weird ways, but it wasn’t evil. Walter didn’t think so at least, but he liked his current location, so he was hardly one to question them. Bloodhound was a man of conviction though. Walter saw it in his eyes.
“Turn around,” Bloodhound said. Walter complied. “Now lower your hands.”