H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis

by Kevin Rau

Stephanie couldn't help but pick on Rael. She was happy he was all right, happy she was all right, etc. She'd come to, as Rael and Captain McCain walked down the hall, and cautiously acted unconscious to not let on that she'd been awake. Two floating images appeared in her visual space. Now that these floating images weren’t flickering into and out of existence, and there were only two, she realized that she saw through both Rael and Captain McCain’s eyes.

  She believed she'd woken when a hand slid along her leg. It didn't bother her, she was a terrible flirt, and knew it. She thought that she would have done the same thing to one of the guys had she the chance.

  But when he dug his nose into her neck when she didn't expect it, it tickled so much it ruined her secret. She giggled.

  Now she sat on his lap, wondering for a moment why he put her on his lap, and then quickly realized the reason why. It made her grin again. She noticed he didn't move his left hand, which went under the gown on her upper back, and went around her side. She could tell she wasn't wearing a brassiere.

  What happened to the mutant? Why isn't Rael acting injured now – was I out that long? So, I'm in a hospital gown, but this looks more like an interrogation room. There's no window in here, we can't be at the police station. After the food court problem someone got us here after all. Why am I in a hospital gown and Rael isn't? And where's Lance?

  Captain McCain removed a tiny portable computer from his pocket along with a stylus, clicked a few times, and looked at them.

  He stopped for a moment to watch Stephanie, who appeared to be touching different areas of her body as though to check for damage.

  Rael spoke up, “You were injured when they got you here. Broken shoulder, left upper arm, forehead. By the time I found you, you'd already healed up those injuries.”

  McCain waited for them to finish, and began, “Full name, Rael?”

  “Rael Stromm.”

  “Miss?”

  “Stephanie Quinn.”

  “I’m glad to see you awake, Miss Quinn. I apologize for striking you up there. Now, why were you at the scene, Rael?”

  “I went up there to find Stephanie. Just after we found her, the guy woke up and started attacking people. The guards opened up on him almost instantly. I went out to help, and got into melee with the mutant. We smashed back and forth a few times when he knocked me through the wall and we kind of got locked up. The guards kept opening up for quite a while on him, hitting me on occasion during the fight.”

  Stephanie saw a flashing of images through Rael's mind as he quickly reviewed the situation. Oh my god, I can hear and see everything as he's thinking it! She noted that he didn't mention that he was shot prior to the mutant breaking loose, nor his encounter with Kim. She stared at him, and raised an eyebrow.

  Stephanie's staring at me in a strange way. Hey, her eye color has changed; it's more of an amethyst color now. She almost has a backlit glow to her eyes, it's a beautiful effect. She's so close, and smells so good.

  She sat there and listened to him think about her, and smiled. She didn't move as he leaned his head close to her left cheek, and moved down to her neckline to inhale deeply. Well, it's one thing for someone to say you smell nice with some perfume on, but hearing them think about how enrapturing you smell and not be able to control themselves is pretty awesome.

  “Mr. Stromm, if you'd restrain your extracurricular activities to when you are at home.... At what point did Miss Quinn become involved?”

  It startled Rael. His nose was against her neck. He sat back up straight, and she chuckled. Wait, she hadn't pulled away or pushed my head back when I did that. She usually does that when we go too far with her. That, and her head shifted when I moved my head back, she'd actually tilted her head to give me better access. Oh, evil wench! His skin darkened as he turned red.

  “What? I'm sorry, what was the question again?” Rael shook his head a little to clear it.

  “I said, at what point did Miss Quinn become involved?”

  “Umm. I was still stuck in the wall and having trouble. The nurse, Kim, woke her up and got her involved. I remember seeing her awake, the mutant threw me through the other wall, and next thing I know she's standing in the hall, everyone's laying around, and you came up and knocked her out.”

  Stephanie said, “I remember getting stabbed with a needle and ... Kim was it? ... being over me. Her shaking me and releasing the restraints. Wait, why was I restrained?”

  Captain McCain said, “Everyone is tonight right after being found or rescued to keep the mutants, psychics and blasters from accidentally hurting others. Please continue. I'll go over the classification of supers at another time, but we don't have much time right now. Tonight too much is going on, and I have a reason for having you both here.”

  “Just after Rael was thrown across the hallway I went out into the hall, and tried to make the ... mutant ... give himself up. Soon everyone was trying to give up to each other or to me. That was strange. Then I just kind of shifted into making him afraid for some reason. It was really weird. I ... I was able to lock him down and make him very, very afraid. I must have some kind of fear aura or something. Then, I think I got hit.”

  Captain McCain studied her closely. “You aren't telling me everything.” McCain was mildly irritated. Like so many other supers, they kept some things close to the vest, and he bet it had to do with her powers. He would rather have that information on file.

  “Oh, before I could figure out how to stop him, he started killing the guards in the hallway. Punching them I think. That's all there is.”

  What she declined to mention is the power that was at work even now. She could hear their thoughts very clearly. Oh, yes, she liked this already.

  It was as if they just said and pictured everything they thought, and she had full access. Much like having several televisions hovering in the air around her. She discovered that Rael moved his hand position on her side because he wanted to stroke her back and side, but he wanted her to think he did it for comfort. The hand on her left thigh was placed as high as he felt safe doing without either her or the Captain reacting to it. He's a naughty thinker. I wonder if Lance thinks this way, I'm not sure if I hope he does or not. He's such a noble man.

  Captain McCain thought that she wasn't telling everything, but not outright lying to him. However, he was more interested in recruiting people for the H.E.R.O. program than in charging them with a crime that they didn't initiate, and in fact had helped on. Just what he needed, people who are willing heroes, willing to risk danger to help others. Those were too few and far between, even with the commissions.

  He thought that she looked at him with too humored of an expression. She knew something and wasn't bringing it up.

  “Something humorous, miss?”

  “Yep.” She couldn't wipe the big grin, but didn't elaborate further.

  He scowled, and narrowed his eyes, but he didn't sense that she was doing anything out of hostility or to cover up anything dangerous. His sense of that sort of thing was quite good. He had to be, considering the odd situations and people he worked with and on. Rael looked back and forth at them. He knew something was up, but couldn't put his fingertip on it.

  “I need to see some identification on each of you.”

  Rael shifted so he could pull his wallet out, using it as an excuse to accidentally shift his left hand some more. Stephanie thought that this would be an unbelievably fun new “toy” to hear what naughty thoughts people were thinking, especially her friends, if this is what Rael was always like.

  She decided to do a test. She purposefully adjusted her position on his lap, wiggling slightly too much to distract him. Rael's mind immediately jumped to the distraction, wondering if Stephanie had any clue about how enticing she was being. She noted that he didn't mind it in the least though.

  She grinned and watched Rael's expression. She moved on my lap on purpose. She's flirting again – and does
n't mind the contact! He stroked up and down her back and side as nonchalantly as he could.

  She thought, This could make for some interesting psychological tests on people. Do something to them, like the squirming, then watch their reaction, and see what their real thinking is behind it. Wow, I bet I could write an article on something like that for a psych magazine, even if I'm not in a psych class.

  Rael threw his license onto the table, and watched as Captain McCain wrote down the information off it.

  The Captains's phone buzzed, he glanced at it, and then did a double-take while reading a message that came across. “There's someone named Lance who was brought in at the same time as Stephanie. He's been asking for Stephanie. Does that sound like you?”

  Stephanie could see what Lance looked like from Captain McCain's mindview. He already knew what Lance looked like, but Lance was unconscious on a hospital bed when the Captain last saw him. “Yeah, that's our friend. Is he okay?”

  Rael added, “I've been looking for him as well.”

  Captain McCain asked, “Do you mind if he joins us here?”

  She said, “Not at all. We'd like that.”

  Stephanie pulled her purse off Rael's neck. “While we wait.... As cute as you look with a purse, I believe this particular one is mine.” She dug out her I.D. and handed it to the officer. He again copied down the information off it. While she leaned over her purse, her head and neck were directly in front of Rael's. He stopped thinking about anything and focused on resisting this irrational desire he had to hold her down and run his face and nose across her body.

  Her eyebrows went up as she heard his thought, and she quickly went back to leaning back slightly again, watching his expression. After a few moments he opened his eyes and blinked them several times.

  A few moments later the door opened, and an officer entered, escorting their huge friend. Lance walked in, although he looked somewhat peaked. Stephanie could swear that his arms were larger than before. He wore a hospital gown as well, but also wore a pair of sweat bottoms. The gown didn't go down very far on his tall torso.

  Two more floating images appeared in Stephanie’s vision. It seemed that the power connected with those near her and linked to their mind.

  Lance stopped abruptly, looking at Stephanie's hair. She saw through his eyes that she had a mix of golden hair and brown hair; it was in a disheveled state. The brown hair was loose and ... not attached.

  A horrified expression crossed her face, and she grabbed some of her hair and pulled it in front of her face. A handful of brown hair pulled out completely. The hair still attached to her head was solid gold in color, true gold. It was long and wavy, already to her shoulder blades in the back.

  Captain McCain, saw her consternation and stated “It's pretty common for people to have body parts change when they first 'activate' as a super. With hair, it's not unusual at all for the old hair to come out en masse as the new hair comes in. I don't often see that change, because I'm not with them when most people change, but it happens. Skin can look ... disconcerting if it changes.”

  She combed her fingers through her hair multiple times, pulling loose a large quantity of her former brown hair. She looked frantic for a minute until she was sure that the gold hair was securely attached to her head. “Whew, at least I have a strong heart....” Rael felt her heart racing under his hand, even with it on her side.

  Lance almost clapped Rael on the shoulder, and then caught himself, with his hand hovering above the shoulder. He slowly sank down in the metal chair to the right of Rael, looked at Stephanie, and stated, “You look great, a good shower and you'll be fine.” She could see in his mind's eye, he thought she looked better than great “even with” only the hospital gown on. In fact, he thought she was distractingly beautiful.

  To herself, she thought Wow, I better never get a big butt. I'll hear what they really think about it. Speaking of distracting, seeing a floating image for every person in the room is awfully busy. However, it should be really useful in class to get information directly from the professor's mind. Whoa! I can’t wait to get to the labs and sneak in some tests on myself!

  She looked at Lance and asked, “Are you alright? You look ... off.”

  “I'm fine now. I had a fight with this guy that changed into a bug man – a super with mandibles and large claws for hands. Similar to the movie The Fly. He bit me, and his fangs had poison in them.”

  Rael asked, “You regenerate?”

  “I heal fast it seems, but for the most part I just take a lot less damage than normal. My shoulder still has some damage from the bite. Poison still affects me; it knocked me out after being bitten. I woke up in a hospital bed upstairs a few minutes ago.”

  It struck Rael that he no longer hurt from any of the injuries he sustained upstairs.

  “I have the reverse. I get hurt, but I heal fast. And claws.” Lance glanced at Rael’s hands. Rael added, “No, they went away. I'll try to bring them out later on. I'd rather not stab Steph.”

  Captain McCain chimed in “I'm Captain McCain, Lance.” He held out his hand to Lance. Lance carefully shook it, the Captain wasn't so careful. He shook, and squeezed his hand, watching Lance’s expression. Lance's right eyebrow went up, but he squeezed back. For a minute they stood there just grasping hands and increasing the pressure on each other, staring each other in the eye.

  Stephanie watched the mindview, as she dubbed the mental images she was seeing of both of the men, and just sat there with her mouth open. She couldn't believe the machismo of men in something like a handshake.

  They seemed to reach an impasse for a moment, then Lance's eyes glowed yellow, and his body suddenly glowed from within. Yellow fumes of energy came out of his nose as he breathed. They heard cracking, and the Captain cried out in pain. His hand was practically crushed before Lance caught himself and let go.

  Captain McCain grimaced, “Wow! Ouch, you go beyond even a 'normal' brick's strength. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He rubbed the injured hand.

  Lance stared at Captain McCain for a moment. "Sorry about that. By the way, we've met, sir. It was probably about four years ago. My mom brought me through a tour of H.E.R.O. headquarters when we visited Metrocity."

  Captain McCain looked at him. "Is she quite tall?"

  "Yeah, she's about six foot tall, and well muscled. She's a brick."

  "That's quite a coincidence that you happen to have gone on a tour through H.E.R.O. HQ and then later turn into a super."

  Rael said, "I don't think it's chance. Steph's dad knew something would happen."

  Everyone stared at him.

  He continued, "He called me ahead of time to make sure we'd go to the mall today. He was strangely adamant about it. Why the mall? Plus, my dad's made a few remarks over the years that make me think that all of our parents knew this would happen. They may not all have known when, before today, but I think they knew."

  Captain McCain said, "Rael, you look familiar, but I don't believe we've met."

  "My dad was in the H.E.R.O. program years ago. He looks similar. Well, and he has much shorter hair."

  Captain McCain nodded, "That might be it. All right, let me get down to business. I'm short on time, so I want to get this done. I'm the government's head of the regional H.E.R.O. division. All of you were willing to act in the midst of danger to save lives. Are you looking to live a normal life, or are you willing to risk your necks on a regular basis to help people out every day or week? The H.E.R.O. program does reward heroes with a kind of commission by helping at incidents.”

  He continued, “I say incidents because they can encompass aiding people in danger, to stopping a crime or natural disaster. However, there are some classes you have to complete before you are allowed to enter the program officially.”

  Lanced looked excited, his hand closed slightly on the metal table, and the metal groaned as it bent to the shape of his fingers.
“Has the class list changed in the last year? If not, then we've all completed the required courses as shown on the H.E.R.O. website."

  “There are optional and required classes, but there is a hard set list of required classes. That hasn't changed in the last year. First aid is one of them. One reason is that either you, or someone you stop is likely to be hurt, the other is that we've found that supers in our program often encounter injured civilians, or even officers and such while in the line of duty.”

  Stephanie said, “We're all certified in CPR and first aid, and all of us are a black belt in at least one martial art. Rael is a black belt in three. What are you, a fifth or sixth Dan in one?”

  Rael nodded.

  “There is a required course in criminal law, and the procedures to use as they apply to apprehension of potential criminals, and arrest of such. If you choose to carry a firearm, you must be certified in the use of whichever type you carry. Some weapons that are illegal for civilians become available for H.E.R.O. members as well, due to the dangerous nature of super criminals. You are aware that some supers out there won't hold back against you, and may attempt to kill you while you attempt to stop them?”

  All of the friends nodded at that.

  Rael asked, “Wait a second, what does H.E.R.O. stand for?”

  Lance responded, “Homeland Extraordinary Response Organization. You should know that.”

  Rael said, "I never paid as much attention to the details as you did."

  Captain McCain continued, “While not required, I suggest going through additional classes at a college for law enforcement. You would end up working with a lot of police, federal agents, and even some military. The more you understand their procedures and requirements, and respect them, the better you'll get along. Rule benders are bad enough; rule breakers just tick people off.”

  He continued, “We've found people in official positions sometimes resent the ability for a person to 'magically' gain super powers, take a few classes, and in effect be given a badge to enter nearly any crime scene. It's important that you respect their authority and don't tread over people. Otherwise you'll make life difficult for yourself, others in the H.E.R.O. program, and me.”

  Lance said, “Sir, like we've said, all three of us had a parent who is a super. They all hoped we'd change one day, and pretty much pushed us into classes and training to prep us for that. Thus the martial arts training, first aid training, etc. We knew this might be coming, and were forced to prep for it. The only thing that has thrown me off so far is that when I try to jump or push too hard with my legs, I literally jump a hundred feet. Or in the case of the first jump it must have been half a mile. Sorry about that one, Steph.”

  “We jumped half a mile? When did that happen?”

  “I carried you out of the mall, we ended up jumping away from it, but we landed badly, and I woke up being manhandled here. It made for a tense introduction to the local police. By the way, how are your arm and shoulder?”

  “My shoulder feels fine now. Which arm? They both feel fine.” She ran through the process of feeling each arm from the wrist up to the shoulder, and then picked up on his thoughts that he'd crushed her upper left arm. She poked and prodded at it, but it felt fine.

  Lance thought, How'd she know where on the arm to focus on? Her head snapped up to look at him as she realized that she might have given herself away. Lance thought that she was reacting oddly.

  I'll have to watch my reactions. I don't want everyone knowing what I can do. For that matter, it might unnerve them knowing that I know what they know.

  Captain McCain said, “So you are all interested in joining the H.E.R.O. program then?”

  All three nodded.

  He scanned his H.E.R.O. phone, “I’ve got it on screen now. I see the courses you’ve taken. I'm going to make you temporary H.E.R.O. agents. If you are willing to get involved tonight, I'll give one of you a temporary cell phone so you can be notified of emergencies, and call my personnel when you've encountered a situation. If it is a crime or emergency in progress, you can call in afterward. Do not kill anyone, criminal or not. The cell phone is on loan, if you damage it, you pay for it, are you all right with that? Later on you'll have to buy one for yourselves once you are full, official participants.”

  Stephanie said, “I'll hold it. If a fight were to break out, these two are more likely to jump in and have it damaged during the action.”

  He took a cell phone out of his pocket. “The only thing I'm going to ask of you is to use this program on it to mark yourself as 'on duty' or 'off duty' when you want to change your status. We might send out an emergency call to you while 'off duty,' but generally will only send out a request for aid to those supers who choose to be active.”

  “If you get an emergency call it will come up on the screen and beep. You can push buttons for 'accept,' 'at scene,' or 'unable to assist.' There's also a button for 'resolved' if you resolved a situation. That makes it easy to let one of my agents get to the location of the cell phone to verify your involvement and do the questioning. Other buttons are to call in medical support, normal paddy wagon, or super paddy wagon.”

  He leaned over the table, and quickly pointed out the basic options to them. There were also options for easily reporting a crime that hadn't been broadcast, and to call the H.E.R.O. officers to the phone's location to clean up.

  “Most H.E.R.O. members use the phone as a way to assist in situations. We've found it works far better than older methods of contacting each other.”

  Rael said, “So you mean heroes don't just run around on building tops looking for crimes in progress?”

  “No. A few might try something crazy like that, but for most H.E.R.O.s, the cell phone will help far more. The rare exception is someone like Trouble Magnet, who has a power that appears to put him near a problem spot. He’s in New York, though.”

  Stephanie accepted the cell phone, and put it in her purse. McCain took out some cards and handed one to each of the friends. These are temporary H.E.R.O. cards. Showing them will help inform local law enforcement know that you are there to assist. Again, don't abuse the privilege. On Monday, call me and we'll meet again to go through the official paperwork for the program. For now I need to get back to the situation at hand.”

  “Try not to get hurt or cause any problems, please. You're all free to go, get cleaned up, change clothes, eat, etc. I'm sure it's been a traumatic evening for you all. Go ahead and mark 'on duty' if you are ready tonight. We have a lot of situations going on. Actually, since you’ve all just turned, I strongly suggest getting a large meal and eating. Your bodies need a few thousand calories right now, and it won’t matter what type.”

  Officer Thompson handed him a large envelope. Captain McCain pulled out three sets of paperwork and handed them to the friends. Fill these out to bring with you on Monday. It'll speed up the process.

  With that, the Captain briskly walked from the room to go about his business. He stopped for a moment to say to Rael and Stephanie, “By the way, thank you for helping with the situation upstairs. After I review the information from the guards and nurses, I'll let you know if you are eligible for a reward. Oh, and you for stopping the runaway car and mutant outside, Lance.” Then he headed off away from the room.

  Officer Thompson says, “Lance, you'll want to make sure you check out of the hospital before leaving, same with Miss Stephanie here if she was checked in. The main desk is on the lobby level.”

  He opened the door and followed after the Captain. Stephanie noted that the floating images disappeared when the person moved about fifteen feet from her. Lance stood up, followed by Rael after he slid his hand back under Stephanie's legs, hand resting on the upper thigh. Stephanie smiled at Rael. “So did you plan to carry me around everywhere?”

  “I can't say as I'm very motivated to put you down.” Hmm, is there any solid reason to keep her from walking? I could bring up the cold f
loors.... She laughed at 'hearing' him think this, and both men in the room gave her a quizzical look.

  She said, “You know, the floors might be cold and dirty to walk on....” Rael grinned, and Lance said, “We're in a hospital, the floors shouldn't be dirty.”

  She frowned at Lance and said, “They're cold.”

  He shrugged and grinned at Rael. “You're arms getting tired yet?” They all laughed, and headed out of the room.

  Chapter 13 – The Voices

  Third Person Perspective