by Stan Lee
She seemed almost amused. She reached over and adjusted the lamp, swiveling it back and forth. But somehow, when she was finished, it was still in his eyes.
“Th-thanks,” he stuttered.
Duane looked around, nervous. The room was small and dark. Two men in police uniforms stood behind the woman, both holding strange looking firearms. The guns were scary, but aside from that, the whole situation felt somewhat familiar. Duane’s classmates spent a lot of time shining bright lights at him. Not literally, of course—but that was what it felt like.
A very big man walked in the door and moved over to join the woman. The man wore a suit just like the woman’s, but much larger. “Sorry,” he said. “Had to drop a crazy big log back there.”
The woman rolled her eyes, just enough for Duane to see.
The man sat down next to the woman and made a show of opening a big, clunky laptop computer. Then he leaned forward and stared at Duane with cold, piercing eyes. “So, kid,” he said. “You’re in a whole pile of trouble.”
Duane looked away. “I didn’t mean to do anything,” he said.
“Didn’t mean to do anything,” the woman repeated. She shuffled some papers, then picked up the tablet again. “Let’s see. Your class was touring the provincial government building when your teacher noticed you were missing. At the same time, the computers registered a massive hacker attack.”
“It wasn’t an attack,” Duane said quietly.
“Soon after that,” the woman continued, ignoring him, “all the computers went haywire. They found you at a terminal in a secure section of the building, and when the guards tried to take you into custody, you panicked. And then all the power went out in the building.”
“You’re in a big steaming heap of trouble, son,” the big man said.
“You told him that already,” the woman said. She seemed a little testy.
“I was just curious,” Duane said. “I wanted to see the computers.”
The man leaned forward, placing his meaty hands on the table. “And what did you do when you saw ’em?”
Duane said nothing.
“Duane.” The woman lowered her tablet. “We’re here to help you. But we can’t do that if you won’t be straight with us.”
Duane frowned. “Wh-who are you again?”
“You can call him Alpha,” the woman said. “And I’m Beta.”
“Well…Ms. Betty—”
“Beta.”
“Ms. Beta! Sorry! The thing is…” Duane paused, trying to figure out how to explain. “I’ve always been good with computers. I can make them do things.” He cast a nervous glance back at the armed policemen. “Am I going to jail?”
The man and the woman—Alpha and Beta—exchanged a glance. Then the woman reached over to adjust the light again. This time, she turned it off.
Duane blinked in relief.
Alpha leaned forward. “Duane, we ain’t with the police. We’re with the Vanguard company.”
Beta slammed a palm into her forehead. “You’re not supposed to use the real name!” she said to her companion.
The big man shrugged. “Who cares? He’s never heard of it. Have you, kid?”
Duane shook his head.
“Kid. Duane.” Beta leaned forward again, with a look on her face that said: Time for me to fix this mess. “You’ve heard of big corporations that hire hackers, people who know how to do a lot of damage to their computers, in order to have the hackers working for them instead of against them?”
Duane nodded. “My friend Alec got a job like that. Well, he’s not really my friend. He’s kind of a jerk.”
“Yeah. Whatever,” Beta replied. “Well, this is kind of like that.”
Duane gestured at the policemen. “Why do people from a corporation have c-cops with them?”
“They’re here for your protection.”
“Th-the cops or the guns?”
Alpha shrugged.
Duane was used to things not making sense. But this really didn’t make sense.
“You’re not a prisoner,” Beta assured him. “You can leave anytime.”
Duane frowned again at the men with guns.
“Well,” Alpha said, smiling nastily. “Maybe not anytime.”
“You, you want to hire me?” Duane asked.
“Sort of.” The woman peered at him. “We know you’ve been in trouble before, Duane. You’ve been arrested for hacking more than once.”
Duane nodded sheepishly.
“But that’s not all,” Beta continued. “You haven’t told us everything, have you?”
He shrugged.
Beta consulted her tablet again. “A few days ago…were you struck by, let’s see, a bright light?”
Duane’s eyes widened with fright.
“Out of nowhere?” she continued. “A blinding flash, from the sky?”
Duane nodded, very fast.
“And now you can do things, can’t you? Strange things?”
The man, Alpha, snorted. “This is the part I don’t believe.”
“It doesn’t matter what you believe!” Beta snapped. “If you’re not going to be helpful, just sit there quietly.”
As she turned back toward Duane, Alpha made a face at her.
“Duane,” Beta continued. “What happened then? After the light hit you?”
“I could make computers do things.” Duane sighed loudly. “Things other people c-can’t do.”
“This is stupid.” Alpha lowered his laptop computer and fixed Duane with a challenging gaze. “You can, what, make computers sit up and dance? Prove it.”
Beta looked alarmed. “I don’t think that’s a good—”
“He says he can do things? Let’s see.” Alpha gestured at the door. “When she gets here, she’s gonna want proof.”
Duane looked up at the faces staring down at him. Alpha’s was hostile and challenging; Beta’s was cold and now a bit nervous. Behind them, the armed policemen seemed to have tightened their grips on their weapons.
Duane felt himself trembling. Nervously, he pulled his dreadlocks back. All his life, he’d tried to fit in, to hide how smart he was, so people wouldn’t make fun of him. Now, somehow, he’d been given something else besides his intelligence—and he really needed to hide that. If Duane had learned anything in his seventeen years, it was that people weren’t very kind to kids who could do exceptional things.
But the pressure was too much. He could feel it building inside him. And, he realized, if these weird people really did want to hire him—not hurt him—they wouldn’t let him go until they saw what he could do.
Duane reached out with both hands and let out a tiny bit of the power surging inside of him.
Beta’s tablet computer sparked and caught fire. She jumped, let out a little cry, and tossed the computer into the air. It clattered to the table, its screen cracking on impact.
Alpha’s laptop was flashing wildly. Smoke poured out of its top. The big man tried to slam it shut, but it popped back open with a loud electric crackling noise.
The two policemen’s guns let out a soft humming noise. They raised the guns and aimed them straight at Duane. Duane felt another stab of panic, and struggled to control his power.
Then he noticed something odd. Alpha and Beta had both risen to their feet, standing just in front of the policemen. Both of them now held small, high-tech hand weapons, too.
“Are…” Duane pointed at the handguns. “Are you really from this ‘Vanguard’ company?”
“Yeah, they are,” said a deep female voice. “But it’s not the kind of company you think.”
Duane looked over at the door and gasped. A muscular woman in combat gear strode into the room. A bright energy glow surrounded her, shimmering upward to form the shape of a fierce, whinnying horse.
That’s the same energy that struck me, Duane realized. The energy that appears whenever I do…the things I can do.
Alpha seemed stunned by the woman. “Whoa,” he said. He stepped back to let her come forward. Beta st
ared at the woman, too, but warily.
The newcomer ignored them both. She placed both powerful arms on the table and leaned forward, studying Duane closely. She seemed to only be concerned with him, not with anyone else in the room.
“Wh-wh-who—” Duane paused, hating his stutter more than ever. “Who are you?”
The woman’s face softened slightly.
“My name is Josie,” she said. “And my Zodiac sign is Horse. And you…”
She paused to press a few buttons on a small computer mounted on her wrist. Then she held up her arm, and as Duane watched in amazement, a three-dimensional image rose from the wrist-computer. It showed a savage, raging boar with two huge fangs, steam snorting out of its enormous nostrils.
“…you are Pig,” she said.
ROXANNE looked around at the pier on the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa. Yachts bobbed against the dock across from a large market and a field of food stands with white tents over them. It was late, but plenty of tourists were still milling around. A saxophonist, leading a small band, blared a mournful solo into the night.
Not bad, Roxanne thought, missing her band for not the first time since she’d left France.
Beside her, Carlos sat hunched over the picnic table, studying a handheld analyzing device. “I’m reading two Zodiac signatures inside,” he said. He gestured up at an ornate red building just off the pier, topped with an elaborate clock tower. “There should only be one. That worries me.”
Roxanne barely heard him, her eyes trained on the saxophonist.
“Maxwell must have sent one of his new Zodiac-powered operatives,” Carlos continued. “Horse again, or maybe one of the ones we haven’t met yet. I was hoping we’d get there before they did.”
Roxanne closed her eyes.
“Still, it looks like he only sent one agent. And there’s one of you, plus Duane if we can get him on our side right away.”
Carlos held up the analyzer. Roxanne glanced over at it and studied the image on its screen: a young man with dreadlocks and large headphones over his ears.
“This is him. Duane,” Carlos said. “His sign—the Pig—isn’t very physically oriented, so he shouldn’t be a threat. That’s why Jasmine sent you and me.” He grinned, a rare thing for Carlos. “The newbie and the brainiac.”
Roxanne stared at the image. Duane’s eyes looked scared, as if he wasn’t sure why people were taking his picture.
“He’s got no immediate family,” Carlos continued. “Lives with his uncle, but they don’t seem to be close. Anyway, he’s definitely inside the Clock Tower, and he’s definitely the Zodiac-powered kid we came to find. Right now he’s probably—”
“—terrified?” Roxanne said. “Filled with power he can’t understand, with no freaking clue how to use it?”
Carlos lowered the analyzer and looked at her for the first time.
“You keep thinking about it, don’t you?” he asked.
She grimaced.
“Jasmine does that too,” he said. “She keeps flashing back.”
She shrugged. “I signed on for this, man. But I don’t have to love it.”
Carlos frowned. “We’ll sneak in the side entrance,” he said. “No powers unless absolutely necessary, okay?”
“No problem. I’d be happy if I never had to use my power again.”
“I hope that’s an option, but I doubt it.” He motioned for her to follow him. “Come on.”
They left the picnic table, creeping up to the side of the building. A small door was inlaid in stone. Carlos tried the knob, but it wouldn’t turn. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small electronic lockpick.
Roxanne sighed. “Let’s rock.”
“There,” the woman called Josie said. “It’s just you and me now. Better?”
Duane looked up at her. Josie had sent the people in suits away, along with the policemen who, Duane thought, probably weren’t really policemen after all. She’d also gotten him a latte, which was normally his favorite drink.
But Duane still wasn’t sure about all this.
“Here’s the thing,” Josie continued. “We do want to recruit you. Just, maybe, not exactly the way you were led to believe.”
He sipped his latte, not looking at her.
“You’re an unusual kid, aren’t you, Duane?” Josie stood up and started to pace around the small room. “We’re putting together a whole group of exceptional kids. Young people who were hit by the Zodiac beams, charged up with this enormous power, before they were equipped to deal with it.”
“A g-group of kids,” Duane repeated. “You mean like a school?”
“Yeah.” She turned toward him, smiling. “A kind of school. A place where you can—”
Then she froze. Motioning Duane to silence, she crossed quickly to the door. Power rose around her: the aura Duane was starting to recognize as Zodiac energy. It formed itself vaguely into the Horse shape he’d seen before, but this time it was dimmer, less fully formed.
With a single quick motion, Josie punched her arms through the wall. She grabbed hold of two people and yanked them into the room, ignoring their startled cries as they tumbled to the floor.
Duane jumped to his feet, knocking over his latte. He looked down at the two figures lying on the floor: a man with glasses and a young woman with short hair wearing a hoodie.
“Carlos,” Josie said, glaring down at the man.
The man, Carlos, rubbed his neck. “Josie,” he said. “Getting used to your powers, I see.”
“No thanks to you.” Josie turned toward Duane. “Carlos, here, is the genius who tried to sabotage the Zodiac Convergence.”
“You mean I’m the genius who made it work,” Carlos corrected her. “You should be thanking me for that extra strength of yours.”
But Duane wasn’t listening. He was staring at the woman in the hoodie. She returned his gaze. Slowly, a faint energy halo rose up around each of them.
“You’re like me,” Duane said. It was almost a question.
“Name’s Roxanne. And yeah, I guess I am.” The woman smiled, climbing to her feet. “Better stylist, though.”
Duane wasn’t sure how to take that.
Carlos tried to rise, but Josie pointed sharply at him. “Stay down, Carlos. You know I could cripple you in a second.” Then Josie looked over at Roxanne, a smile creeping over her face. “You’re right—I should thank you. You’ve brought me the Rooster, haven’t you?”
“What’s going on in here?”
Beta, the business-suited woman, burst into the room, her gun drawn. Alpha followed behind along with the guards from before.
Alpha pushed forward and surveyed the scene quickly. Then he turned to the guards. “Cover all of ’em,” he said.
Josie moved toward him. “You can go,” she said. “All of you. I’ve got this situation contained.”
“That’s not your call, lady.” Alpha stared her down. “You might be one of Maxwell’s hotshot new Zodiac agents, but we were ordered to secure this freak.”
At the word freak, Duane jumped.
Alpha moved in closer, inches away from Josie’s face now. “And we don’t take orders from you.”
A look of rage crossed Josie’s face.
Duane flinched. He wasn’t good with rage. He’d never been good with crowds, either—let alone crowds of people with guns and superhuman powers.
Roxanne seemed alarmed. Her eyes darted from one corner of the room to another, the Zodiac energy flaring up around her and fading away again, over and over. Instinctively, Duane took a step toward her.
“I’m going to call Maxwell,” Josie hissed. “We’ll see what his orders are.”
“No,” Beta replied, “I’m going to call Maxwell.”
“If anybody moves,” Alpha said to the guards, “shoot ’em.”
It was all too much. Duane felt his blood pressure rising, the panic growing inside him like a living thing.
“G-g-g-g-GO AWAY!” he screamed.
Someone fired.
ROXANNE WAS NEVER sure where the first blast came from. She saw a bolt of energy slice through the air, and then everyone was moving and shouting at once. The Vanguard agents all seemed to be arguing with each other. Josie was shouting, “Down! Weapons down!”
Carlos scrabbled to his feet. He moved toward Roxanne, calling out something, but she couldn’t hear him over the crackle of weapons fire.
Then she realized he wasn’t talking to her. Roxanne turned to see Duane, the guy they’d come to recruit, standing behind her. His eyes were wild, panicked, and a bright Zodiac aura surrounded his body.
Duane grabbed her by the arm and screamed. Power flashed out of him in all directions, forming the shape of a giant wild Pig.
Roxanne cried out as a burning sensation erupted on her leg. She tried to pull away from Duane, but couldn’t break his grip. Wincing, she reached into her pocket with her other hand and pulled out the hot, sparking remains of her phone. She threw it on the floor.
Then she remembered. Carlos had explained that Duane’s power could read data directly from electronic devices. But along the way, his power often destroyed those devices.
Roxanne struggled to stay calm. Carlos warned me about this, she thought. He told me about Vanguard and this Maxwell, the guy who runs it. But it’s one thing to hear about it, and another thing to have them trying to cap me!
“Stop it!” Josie yelled. “Do you want to kill him?”
“Don’t tell us our jobs, you freak,” replied the big male agent in the suit.
“All of you!” the female agent said. “Stand down—”
“Duane,” Carlos said urgently. “Listen to me. You have to—”
But Duane’s eyes went wide. Energy flared out again, and two computers on the table sparked and caught fire. The Vanguard agents pointed and yelled.
Roxanne looked down at her arm, still held fast in Duane’s panicked grip. Keep it together, she told herself. It’s like being onstage. Just keep playing. Keep on—
With a loud clap, one of the guards’ energy weapons exploded.
Roxanne opened her mouth and screamed. A powerful sonic cry shot forth, knocking the two agents in suits off their feet. The energy slammed into the wall, blasting a hole straight through it to the hallway outside.