Super: Origins

by Palladian

  She cleared her throat before addressing Casey a moment later. “The form I'm going to show you isn't an official one. I came up with it as a little girl while practicing some hard moves and trying to perfect them. So, I designed a form that strung them all together so I could practice those things in particular. My dad hated it of course, so I had to do it in secret. I eventually mastered all of the moves I'd been working on, so I changed the form to include some other bits I liked a lot, and eventually it took the shape it has now. Anyway, it's my favorite, probably because it includes some of each type of martial art I know, so it should give you an idea of the range I have. Ready?”

  Casey nodded from where she sat on the edge of the mats, watching intently. Lex turned to face the long mirror in the front of the room. As she stared at her reflection, her bare feet firmly anchored to the wooden boards, she could almost hear her father's words in her ears: See your enemy. Beginning her personal form, Lex clearly saw her father standing before her in her mind's eye. He wore the uniform everyone wore at the school he ran and he loomed over Lex, his hands in fists in front of him, giving her a derisive sneer.

  In the past, she’d seen her mother sometimes, heard her endless insults and wishes that Lex had never been born, but lately it had been solely Lex’s father. She saw his jaw rock as she punched him. Lex watched him try to dodge her kick but got him from behind with another blow. She punched him in the windpipe then and kicked him so hard she could hear his knee splinter. Lex moved, dodged, kicked, and punched, seeing her father before her the whole time. Finally, as she wound the form down, she saw him one last time, bleeding on the floor. And then she stood motionless on the wooden floor, sweating and breathing heavily, again seeing Casey by the mats, standing now. Lex felt tired from the workout, but her mind still buzzed uneasily, having thought too much of her past today, and she clenched her fists tightly before letting her hands fall open.

  Casey shook her head, her expression incredulous. “That was something. I've never seen anything like it.”

  Lex looked at Casey, puzzled, as she eased onto the mats to stretch out. “What do you mean?”

  Her friend laughed. “Well, I couldn't actually see a lot of it, which made it pretty unusual. Some of the things you did just looked like a blur of motion to me. I've never seen anyone move like that, not even Mr. Chen, and he's been practicing martial arts all his life. Sometimes he can move that fast, but I could barely see your arms and legs the whole time you were moving.”

  Lex considered that for a moment, feeling surprised since no one had ever told her that before. “Well, maybe that's why they asked me to join the team. I'll have to take your word for it, though, because I could see my reflection fine. Aside from the fact that you couldn't see some of it, what did you think?”

  “Very impressive. I wouldn't want to tangle with you,” Casey replied, shaking her head again.

  “What do you mean? You've got extra dense skin and all; what could I do to you?”

  Casey chuckled. “Just because I've got an advantage doesn't mean I'm invincible. If you throw sand in my eyes, for example, it's going to affect me the same way it would you. Poison still works, too. If you make me lose my balance, I’ll fall on my butt like anyone else. And, although my body is denser than most regular people’s, for others like me, each of us seems to have a different level of density. Given your response to Joan about improvising based on the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents, I wouldn't want to take my chances.”

  “You're just saying that,” Lex replied, trying to scoff but feeling secretly pleased. Then, she surprised herself with a yawn that she tried to hide behind her hand.

  Casey looked at her watch, her expression registering her surprise. “I hadn't realized how late it’s gotten. We should probably get some sleep now.”

  Lex tried to bite back another yawn, but failed. “I guess you're right,” she said with a grin. “Let's head up.”

  When they got upstairs, Casey paused a moment in front of Lex's room and pulled a sheet of paper out of a holder next to Lex's door. She handed it to Lex, commenting, “What do you know, they’ve posted your schedule already.”

  Lex looked it over and remarked with some chagrin, “It seems like I've got more tests tomorrow at nine.”

  “Well, I'm usually in the kitchen eating breakfast by 8:30 or so. See you then?”

  “Sounds good.”

  The two said goodnight then and Lex went inside. She dragged herself to her bags and pulled out a t-shirt to sleep in but felt barely able to reach the bed. Once dressed, she stumbled through her bedtime routine, her eyes closing as she did, and then she was finally able to try her new bed out. She didn't even remember later what it felt like because she fell asleep almost as she lay down.

  The only thing Lex remembered from that night was a short burst of a dream. She sat by the river on a huge rock at sunset. The colors seemed to stream out over the water, and as she turned to see the painted sky, she could see her uncle next to her and then Casey sitting beside him. She nodded to them, and the three watched the sky turn colors as the light dimmed.

  Chapter 7: Misunderstandings

  Lex groaned and put her arm across her eyes to ward off the morning sunlight coming through her windows. I’ve got to put up the drapes today, she thought, realizing the light had gotten her up so early that Casey wasn’t due downstairs for another hour and a half. She got out of bed and stretched, thinking that it was going to be another bright, hot day if the sparkling river outside her window was any indication, and was glad that at least the window faced roughly west.

  Deciding to make the best of waking early, Lex took a quick shower and then went to the kitchen to make some tea. As the water heated, she wandered over to the common room and looked out the picture windows along the back of the building. The water was so dazzling at close view that she barely noticed the ever-present trash gliding by, and Crystal City looked like a glittering kingdom in the distance.

  She spent the next hour unpacking, and by the time she went back downstairs, her stomach sounded as if it had begun to eat itself. When Casey arrived a bit later, Lex realized that her friend had as much trouble getting moving in the morning as she usually did, so Lex put the water on for tea for Casey. The two breakfasted in a companionable silence, Lex crunching on the sweetly tart cherry granola she’d found and Casey slowly sipping her English breakfast tea, until Lex had to leave for her scheduled tests.

  Lex ran down to the medical level and emerged in the hallway, unfolding the schedule from her pocket. Looking to the right, she saw a couple of people in the area behind the first door and the large window beside it. According to her schedule, this was her first stop for the day, so she reached for the doorknob and gently opened the door.

  “Excuse me,” she said as she stepped inside, wrinkling her nose slightly at the antiseptic smell. “My name is Lex McKilliam, and I was told to report here this morning.” Her voice sounded a little unsure, even to herself, but the people inside seemed to stand at attention now as if they’d been waiting for her.

  “Ah, Ms. McKilliam, please come this way,” a man in a lab coat responded.

  “Please, call me Lex.”

  “Lex, come through here and change into this. Make sure you remove any metal you might be wearing.”

  Lex rubbed the thin, wash-worn, hospital-style smock they wanted her to wear between her fingers. “Can I at least keep my socks on? It’s chilly down here.”

  The man looked at her oddly, as if he hadn’t expected her to speak in return. “Yes, I'm sure that would be fine.”

  After changing and returning to the previous room, Lex was brought to the CAT scanner. The man in the lab coat told her that she would be imaged and to try not to move during the procedure. Lex arranged herself on a tiny shelf which then moved back into the machine. For the first few minutes, she breathed the stuffy plastic smell and felt uncomfortable with the small, darkened space and the faraway sound of banging on pipes. Eventually thoug
h, while trying hard to not move, she realized she’d begun having trouble keeping awake. The dimness and the prone position finally got to Lex, and she fell asleep several minutes after the procedure began.

  She stood in front of a waterfall, or at least that's what it seemed to be, but the surface looked completely smooth, like glass. Lex raised her hand to the water and found it much deeper than it appeared, at least by inches, and bone-chillingly cold. As she yanked her hand back, she realized that she could see something materializing on the other side of the cascade; as the image resolved, that something turned out to be someone. Lex tilted her head back and forth and squinted, trying to see if she could determine the person’s identity. It appeared to be someone who’d been locked in ice; the person looked very light skinned, with short white hair. Lex couldn't make out the figure's face, however; the volume of water between them obscured it, making the person look as if they could be just about anyone. The figure definitely wanted to communicate with her, however, and looked anxious to do so. Lex got as close to the edge of the water as she could without getting wet, watching the person as closely as possible. As she focused on the figure’s lips, she thought she could see them mouthing, “Watch out—”

  Lex opened her eyes as she felt the shelf moving her back out of the machine. She yawned, trying not to be too conspicuous about it, and sat up as the movement stopped. She still felt about halfway in her dream world, her foggy brain working hard to figure out what it all meant. A young woman approached Lex then, dressed in a lab coat, her long dark hair done up with hair sticks into a loose bun. “How are you feeling?” she asked with a smile.

  Lex stifled another yawn. “I'm fine, but I'm afraid I fell asleep in there. I hope it didn't mess up the tests.”

  The woman laughed. “Don’t worry about it. We got the information we needed, and all of the images look like they came out well. For people who aren't bothered by the tight space, it's common to fall asleep.”

  Lex laughed in reply. “Thanks. Is there anything else you need this morning?”

  The woman looked back the man who’d spoken to Lex earlier. He’d been looking at a computer screen and glanced up to shake his head in response. “No,” the woman said to Lex, “you're good to go. Thanks!”

  Lex nodded, sliding off the shelf to head for the changing room.

  Once dressed, Lex looked at her schedule again and at the clock. It read just about ten, and she knew she had to be in the martial arts studio on the hour. Running the flights down, she got to the room a little out of breath. She went inside and saw an elderly man about her height near the back wall, looking at the room in the mirror. He wore loose-fitting black pants and jacket, the sort of thing worn in an old Hong Kong martial arts film. He held his body with the flexibility of a dancer and the strength of a weight lifter. Lex noted his iron grey hair and thought his face looked old without having lots of deep wrinkles. His expression seemed somehow disapproving and Lex could feel the power emanating from him. Having been in the martial arts world many years, she saw him as an opponent she would try never to fight seriously.

  “No food or drinks are allowed in here.” His voice rang out like a whip crack as he turned and glared at the travel mug in Lex's hand.

  “Sorry,” Lex replied, turning around so that she could put it on the floor just outside the door while taking a final sip of the astringent green tea she’d chosen that morning.

  “Come inside and sit,” he continued, his voice harsh.

  Lex entered the studio fully, sat cross-legged on the cool wooden floor, and waited. She had the feeling that she was already in trouble, but for some reason it didn't bother her that much. Then she realized it as a familiar feeling for her in a martial arts studio and ironically raised an eyebrow at herself in the mirror.

  “My name is Fai Chen. Who are you?”

  Lex looked at him with some puzzlement, wondering how he couldn't know her when the people here had almost every possible piece of information about her. “Lex McKilliam.”

  His eyes narrowed when he looked at her again, as if he saw something dangerous, like a snake. “You studied under your father, Bill McKilliam?”

  “Yes.” Lex nodded, more confused than ever.

  “When you studied under him, did you answer to the name of Alex?”

  She started to say yes, but the word got mangled as Lex’s heart squeezed and a vivid memory bubbled up.

  She was ten again and heard the crowd at the judo competition mumbling and swelling as she faced her opponent: a girl her age but bigger, like all of her other peers seemed to be. Lex breathed in the familiar competition smells of sweat, fear, and blood as they circled one another, the other girl warily, Lex desperately. She knew she was lagging in this fight and needed to win it. If she did, she would only have a few more fights before she could go home and shut herself into the bathroom for a half hour or so, run the hot water and lay in the bathtub peacefully, no one interrupting. If she didn't win, she would be going back to the martial arts studio with her father after all of the other students had been dropped off, and things would happen there that she didn't like to think about.

  She remembered what her father had taught her—cheating wasn't cheating if the officials didn't see it. Coming up with an idea, Lex circled for a moment more before coming in closer to try a throw over her hip that would involve her bringing the other girls body to the mat. As she did, Lex took one of her hands (meant to be gripping the other girl's lapels) and ground a knuckle into her ribs hard, feeling a stomach-turning give as she separated them and caused the girl to scream. Lex froze as the two of them came to the mat, knowing she had overdone it. Her heart beat furiously as the other girl rolled around, obviously in pain. Lex stood up and backed away a little, waiting. The officials conferred for a moment, then called the match forfeit, since the other girl couldn’t continue, and declared Lex the victor.

  But then a man came to confront her father. He was the teacher of the girl Lex had hurt, and he accused Lex's father of teaching his students to cheat. The girl told her teacher what had happened, and he’d seen something that convinced him of the truth of her story. The two men argued, her father towering threateningly over the other, but nothing came of it, since the officials hadn't seen anything…

  In the next breath, Lex’s mind came back to the present, her heart thumping in double time as she looked at the somewhat aged face of the man who’d argued with her father that day as he said, “I know your father.”

  Before she could think about it, Lex blurted out, “I'm sorry.”

  This startled Mr. Chen, and he paused for a moment as he looked at her more closely. Lex just breathed the suddenly stifling air for a moment, trying to get her thoughts together, and then continued. “I mean, I'm sorry about your student. I didn't mean to hurt her that day.”

  “You cracked her rib,” he replied, his expression surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Lex to remember him.

  “I'm sorry, really I am. I didn't mean to.”

  He left that alone, continuing to study her. “When I was asked to come here today, I refused at first. But then they convinced me to come by sending me this footage,” he said, a remote suddenly in hand.

  First the lights dimmed, and then Lex watched as one of the mirrors became a screen, showing her going through the form she had demonstrated for Casey. Lex stood in her surprise even as she spotted the small image of Casey watching in the background and knew it must have been from the previous evening.

  “Where…where did you get this?” she asked, stupefied.

  Mr. Chen looked at her through narrowed eyes again. “In case you didn't know, you are always watched in this place, which is another reason I'm not fond of coming here.”

  Fuck…Lex thought as she continued to watch. After a few moments, Lex began mentally critiquing herself and finally concluded that she didn’t seem to see it the way Casey did, because she could watch her own moves fine. But, she mentally conceded, it might be different if she watched ano
ther martial artist.

  “Who taught you this?” Mr. Chen finally asked, his voice still cold and his eyes suspicious.

  Lex turned to him, still confused. “No one. I made it up myself. I put together a form based on some moves I wanted to perfect, and once I mastered them, I changed it to suit myself.”

  Mr. Chen looked at her closely, and Lex thought she saw a brief flash of curiosity in his eyes. “I found it interesting to see, knowing that McKilliam couldn't have taught you this form—”

  “He hated it,” Lex mumbled, under her breath, she thought, but when she realized Mr. Chen had paused and glanced at her, it seemed he’d heard her.

  “But,” he continued, “the reason that I really came here was to ask you what you focused on when you did this form. I can tell from the way you’re concentrating that you weren’t just practicing.”

  Lex looked at him, floored again. It took a moment, and her voice was scratchy when she responded, but she said quietly, “My father.”

  Mr. Chen looked straight at her then, obviously weighing the information he’d gotten in his mind. He stared into her eyes and she stared right back, wondering what he saw in there.

  “Why did you have to win the fight so badly that you cracked my student's rib?”

  Lex's eyes slid to the floor as the change of subject threw her. She didn't want to answer, but got herself up to it, clearing her throat. “My father did not want me to lose. It was a…bad thing for me to lose.” Lex sighed and rubbed her eyes, since they now burned. She hadn't talked about her experiences at home for years now, yet for the past couple of days it seemed like all she’d been asked to talk about, and the impersonal, patronizing manner of the doctor whom she’d had to tell yesterday had been the last straw for her. She felt dragged out and exhausted by the ordeal and couldn’t manage to tell the story one more time to someone else who didn’t give a damn.