Superhero Series

Superhero Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I get a text in the morning:  I'm outside.

Who is this?

Aaron.

It's a Saturday morning.  I just get out of the shower when I get the message.  I have no class.  Somehow he must know that.  He's at my house first thing in the morning and I'm a little bothered.

I rush to find something to wear.  I don't know exactly what to wear so I just throw on some sweats and a plain white tshirt with a green fist on the front.  It's my favorite shirt and I probably like it a little too much because the green fist has been faded from being washed too many times.  I've never dressed nice.  I've been an athlete all my life so fashion wasn't really in my wheelhouse.  A part of me wish I had something nice to wear.

I walk out into the living room and see Tristan watching cartoons.

"MORNING!" the brat yells, running up to me excited to hang out.

"Not now," my father warns Tristan.

I see my father standing by the window in the living room.  He's staring outside.  Tristan is used to the coldness that my father portrays because he quickly turns and goes back to the television without saying a word.  He looks disappointed.

"Mary not home."

"No.  I sent her away.  I am going to spend the day with Tristan," My father states.

I remember what Mary said about Tristan the night before.  Seeing him at home alone with my father scares the shit out of me.  My father didn't `spend quality time'.  He was nervous about me.  I can tell.  I can see it in his eyes.

Tristan was his back up plan.

"I want to see the lair," I tell my father.

He rarely shows interest in anything but this gets his attention.  He raises his eyebrow slightly towards me, "Is that right?"

I nod.  I had no choice.  Vicious Vigor was my father.  If Power Up was following his father's footsteps then it was up to me to follow my father's footsteps.  Even if that meant taking up his mantle.  Even if that meant being the next Vicious Vigor.

"Yes."

"The heroes are still pursuing you.  That Aaron boy has been outside for an hour," he states, "He is White Frost, isn't he?"

I didn't have to confirm.  My father knew who he was.  I look outside the window.  Sure enough Aaron is there.  He has a bookbag.  He has plain clothes on.  It makes me think that he didn't drive here.  He flew here.  He is just leaning up against my mailbox waiting for me.  He looks so fucking handsome out there.  He's perfect.

"I'll get rid of him," I state.

"No."

"No?"

"Go with him," he states, "Join their host."

"You want me to be on his team?" I ask.

My father nods, "They don't know who you are.  That means they won't see it coming when we destroy them all from the inside."

The question burns in me:  Why?  Why were we destroying them?  Why did my father have this glint of evil in his eyes that just wouldn't quit?  Did I have the same glare?  Were my eyes just as transfixed as his?  Have I adopted that evil or not?

Instead of challenging him or asking him any questions I just nod.

"Yes sir."

"Oh and Cam?" he asks.

"Yes sir?"

"I see how you look at him," he states, "Don't get too close.   Every superhuman has a limit to their power.  Love is a a limit that our kind cannot afford."

Our kind.  Was that what I was?  Was that who I was?

~

I walk outside and see White Frost.  He comes to life when he sees me.  I feel uncomfortable remembering the warning that my father told me to have.  It's hard looking at him and just not at least being attracted.  He was still White Frost after all.

He licks his lips as I approach and it drives me crazy when I get close enough to see his wet, moist lips.  Our eyes connect.  That tension that I felt from the first moment I met him is very much there.

"You look nice," I state.

I don't know what else to say but the truth.  The guy was fine...AS FUCK.  He smiles when I give him the compliment and looks away.

Without actually saying thank you he oddly changes the subject, "Perry and Jemarcus let me know you guys had a real heart to heart after I left..."

My heart drops.

"They didn't tell you..."

"Actually yeah, Power Up can't hold water worth shit," he responds.

My heart skips a beat.

"Listen I can explain."

I couldn't explain.  Truth was I was turned on by the two.  I was really turned on.  Sure I could have tried to stop Power Up even with his superhuman strength but I didn't.  I let them do what they did to me and I enjoyed every moment of it.  It wasn't until the end that I saw just how fuckin crazy the two of them got when it came to competing with one another.  So when they are here now I just feel...out of place to say the least.

"It's not my business," he states.

"It's not?"

"Of course not.  You're a grown ass man.  Whoever you want to be sexual with is your business," he responds, "Now when you are on my team things are different."

"How so?"

"I don't tolerate sex with members on my team or any other romantic relationships," he responds, "That may be why they got to you as quick as they did.  Hopefully this time you'll be strong enough to resist if it happens again."

The tone that he's using is weird.  It is objection but almost this sort of loss of respect that he's wearing out on his sleeves.  I wonder if he looking at me differently because of it.  I did have a sexual experience with two guys who were on his team.  Even if there was something between us, which I strongly doubt ever existed, it had to be gone by now.  Maybe this was for the better.  My father didn't want me to get close to him.

"So if I do join the team...it's just business right?" I ask.

"100 percent."

It's a bittersweet moment.  I notice how he's not in my face talking like he usually does.  I notice how he keeps his distance.  I notice how awkward I feel.

"OK."

"OK what?"

"OK, I'll join."

He doesn't seem excited like I think he would when I finally tell him that I'll join his team.  He just nods, almost nonchalantly.  This boy has been chasing me since I met him to be on his team and now it was just like I was agreeing to get pizza with him or something.

"Can you fly?"

"I don't think so."

"Well hold on tight to me..."

Moments after we clear the air and agree to be friends I literally have to hold on tight to his muscular back.  It's quite the body too.  I feel his chiseled muscles and all of a sudden I feel like a skinny ass kid.  I know I have a nice body.  Hell I've been running track since I was younger.  Still I was nothing compared to him.

And all of a sudden, I regret just agreeing to be friends.

~

The Hall of Heroes seems to have a lot going on when we show up.  I'm honestly a little bit confused.  We land on the strip and see a bunch of other heroes gathering around.  Someone is entertaining them.  As we approach I see this boy.  He's a tall boy with peachy, yellow and golden undertones in his skin and long jet black hair that falls all the way down to his butt.  He has on an all black skintight suit.  As I approach it almost seems like this guy is putting on a show or something.

"Mister Motions..."

"You know him?" I ask White Frost.

White Frost ignores me.  I watch how he looks over at this guy he calls Mister Motions.  The guy has a black mask on.  I watch as White Frost leaves me to stand next to Sunbeam who is watching Mister Motions like a hawk.  I'm so confused.

Was he putting on a type of show?

"Did I miss something?" I ask when I see Ultrasound standing there.

"Mister Motions is back..."

"Who?"

"He's an old friend of White Frost.  The original guy who was supposed to join the team."

"What's so special about him?"

"Watch."

We watch as Mister Motions starts to focuses on the fountain that is in the middle of the stretch of land.  With a wave of his hand the statue disappears and reappears somewhere completely different.  The host of superheroes break out into applause as if this was a circus or something.  I'm not even paying attention to that though.  I'm just paying attention to White Frost.  I'm just noticing how he just seems mesmerized by this new guy.

"Look at his ass in that suit," I hear Power Up whisper to Ultrasound.

Ultrasound laughs, "I'd fuck the shit out of him."

"I heard he was straight."

"Bullshit.  But he is off the market."

"Why's that?"

"Probably because Frost is in love with him."

I'm hearing this right.  I feel this jealousy deep in my bones when I hear the discussion.  They are talking so casually about it too.  I just find myself steaming.  Yes.  I was jealous.  They were literally telling me that White Frost was gay.  Not only were they confirming what I already suspected but they were also telling me that he was in love with this guy who was clearly some show pony.

I watch as the guy walks over to where Sunbeam and his son are.  I can't help but to join them.  I want to see this guy up and close.  I want to see who this fucking guy is.  So here I am, barging in like I know these people.  I'm being nosy as hell.

And when the boy removes his mask I could only feel worse.

The guy was...beautiful.  I'm talking pretty.  Obnoxiously pretty.  He was the kind of guy that I wasn't attracted to because he was just a little too pretty.  As though he curled his eyelashes every night before bed.  The kind of guy who has a facial moisturizing regime.  He's the kind of guy who you knew other people found attractive and it irritated the fuck out of you.

"Still as powerful as ever Mister Motions," Sunbeam states with a smile.

"Come on man.  I was like a son to you.  You can call me Malik."

That's when I see Sunbeam grab this guy and hug him.  There is this recognition that Sunbeam has. It's almost this happiness or something.  Sunbeam is just glad to see this person and I'm just irritated by it.  So what the guy can make things disappear and reappear somewhere else?  Why was everyone so excited about this guy being back.

"We missed you," White Frost tells him, "I missed you."

"I should have never left," this guy with his long hair states, "I came back to join your new team."

That's when they embrace.  It is a hug.  Not an excited hug like Sunbeam had given him but this hug is slower.  It's more emotional.  Maybe what Ultrasound and Power Up were talking about meant something.  Maybe there was something going on between the two of them.  This hug just felt different.  It felt...unique.  As though there was some real history there. And the hug seems to last forever.

I clear my throat at that moment.  I don't know what comes over me but I find myself throwing my arm over White Frost acting like I'm closer to him than I actually am.  I don't know why I do it.  After I do it I immediately feel like an idiot especially when White Frost looks at me with a side-eye because it's clear this isn't something that I've done it before.  But it's too late.  Here I am laughing as though White Frost said something funny and there was some joke between us that we shared.  I didn't know who I was fooling with this manufactured intimacy that didn't exist.  Not even an hour ago, Frost was having a conversation with me about how this was only business.

"Wait are they letting humans up here now?" Mister Motions asks.

Sunbeam laughs at that moment.  This is really happening.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

I'm offended.  No one seems to care though.  Sunbeam doesn't clear the amused look on his face.  Mister Motions doesn't stop glaring at me like I'm some fan that was let loose to be all over White Frost.  The weird thing about it is I don't let White Frost go either.  It's the most cringe-worthy moment of my life having all of these superheroes around me while I just cling onto White Frost.

"He's just joking," White Frost shakes his head, "That's the thing about Motions.  Miss that sense of humor.  Oh Motion, you haven't met the new recruit to the team I'm making up.  This is...well...damn...I actually don't know your name."

Mister Motions starts laughing, "Must not be a serious recruit."

My face flushes with embarrassment when Mister Motions says that.  I'm embarrassed.

White Frost tries to correct it but the damage has been done, "I meant his name is Camron, but I don't know his metahuman name."

"You don't have a metahuman name?" Mister Motions asks me.

He's standing there smiling at me.  He's smiling but the words coming out of his mouth are as sharp as a fuckin razor.  The guy was judging me.

"Does it fuckin' matter."

"Cam," Frost offers.

I guess I shouldn't have cursed.  White Frost didn't see it though.  This guy was a dickhead.  I can see it a mile away.  The way he hugged White Frost was...it wasn't right.  I didn't fucking like it.  The way he showed off like that was annoying too.

"I'm just giving him what he gives me," I state, "He was being a little rude..."

"Everything OK here?" Sunbeam asks.

I feel like an idiot.  I realize Sunbeam is trying to impress his father with his team.  He's expressed that before.  I was so bothered by this new guy that I forget Sunbeam's judgmental eyes staring at us.

Mister Motions smiles, "Let's just start over.  I know I can be intimidating to some people.  My name is Mister Motions.  My grandmother was Madame Motions.  She was a...a villain. She worked under the Boogie Man."

"Your grandmother worked for Vicious Vigor."

"Yep.  One of the last Super Villains.  My father was the first Mister Motions though.  He redeemed the family line.  My grandmother and my father were able to teleport themselves.  I am able to teleport inanimate objects," he explains, "What's your power?"

Everyone looks at me.  If it was just White Frost and Sunbeam it would be bad enough but it's not.  The other superheroes are around.  This Mister Motion was clearly a character and him coming back seemed to have been a big deal.  It seems like whatever bit of spark I had in the Hall of Heroes was gone with this new guy and now he was calling me out asking me what my power is.  The truth is I still wasn't completely sure what it was.

"Super jumping," I state.

"Super jumping?"

"That's what I said isn't it?" I ask.

Sunbeam smiles, "Well how about you guys both show us what you can do.  A demonstration.  I'm sure us older metahumans can learn a thing or two from the new class coming up."

I swallow my spit at that moment.

"Um..."

"Sure!" Mister Motions interrupts, "After you, Nameless Man."

Nameless Man.  I can feel this anger fill up my body.  He was STILL taking shots at me.  I wasn't imagining it.  This wasn't bullshit.  The others laugh thinking Mister Motions is just doing harmless fun but the fact is he didn't know me like that.  Maybe I am being too sensitive.  Maybe his relationship with White Frost has me feeling awkward but I don't like it.  I don't fucking like anything about it.

I was going to show this fucker.  I was going to show him how a real superhuman performed.

"Can I talk to Cam for a second?" White Frost states, "Alone..."

"Yeah sure give your new guy a pep talk.  He needs it," Mister Motions snaps causing Sunbeam and the older superheroes to start laughing again.

White Frost pulls me to the side.  I can feel him looking at me with a bit of worry in his eye.

"You don't have to do this," White Frost states, "You don't know how to control your powers yet.  I'm aware of that.  I'm here to help build that and bring it out of you."

Fuck all that.

"What is going on between the two of you?"

"Excuse me?"

It could be coming out of left field but right now that's all I care about.

"Are the two of you fucking?" I ask.

"You've got to be joking," he states rolling his eyes, "Who do you think you are questioning me about who I am or am not sleeping with."

"So you aren't answering the question?"

"Why do you care?"

Fuck.  That was the truth.  Why did I care?  I'm so emotional right now.  I'm acting stupid.  I'm not acting like myself.  I don't' know what I was expecting when I came back here.  I wasn't supposed to catch feelings and I didn't have feelings.  Right?  No.  This wasn't feelings.  This was just about the respect.  He told me that there would be no funny business in between members of his team.  How did that work if he had a romantic relationship with one of his members.

Even now I look over at Mister Motions.  He's saying something.  Probably something dumb but whatever it is, causes Sunbeam, Brynhildr and Peter Palsy to start laughing real hard.  Brynhildr is laughing so hard that the platform we are standing at is literally shaking.  They love this guy.  They absolutely fuckin' adore him.

And I feel vulnerable as fuck.

I've already embarrassed myself today.  I couldn't embarrass myself any further.

"What if I was attracted to you?"

"Were you attracted to me when you had Ultrasound's dick in your mouth?  Or was it when your ass was on Power Up's lips?" he asks me.

"Wow..."

"No wow.  That's the truth.  So grow the fuck up.  We said this was business and that's what it's going to be," He responds.

"Fine...business."

"Wait...Cam come here.  CAM!"

I ignore him and walk back up to Mister Motions, "I'm ready."

"You ready?" Motions asks me, "Newbies first..."

"Fine."

Everyone's watching me. Sunbeam, Brynhildr, Peter Palsy, Ultrasound, Power Up, Rubber Band Man, Captain Radiance, Red Viper, Miss Miracles and all these others superheroes from Metropolis and even further.  White Frost is among them shaking his head.

And I gather up like I would in track.  The same way that I did that day.  I need to believe in myself.

I had to.

I close my eyes.  I close them tighter than I've ever closed them before.  I clear my mind completely.  I focus.  I need to jump.  I need to jump so high.  And I start running in the same way that I did that day that I did my super jump.  I start running as fast as I can.  My heart is racing.  This excitement fills my body.  I have this feeling of greatness.

I was a metahuman.  I was a SUPER human.

I get ready to leap.  My heart racing as I do it.  My mind clearing up.  Everything was going to happen in this moment.  All the greatness that was owed to me, I was going to get in this moment.  I was going to show him and I know it.  I am sure of it when I take off!

I soar through the sky.  My eyes are still shut when I kick off the ground and I land in a thud falling to the ground hard as ever.

There is silence.  The same as that day.

I turn.  I look at the crowd of heroes.

Then I hear laughter.  It's Mister Motions.

"You're joking?"

"How far...how far..."

I look at where I began.  I saw where I ended.  I had to jump three feet at the most.  I am horrified.  This wasn't happening.  I'm kneeling down like some great superhero when I jumped a few fucking feet!  I could kill myself with embarrassment at that moment.  I could just KILL MYSELF!

Sunbeam looks over at his son, "This is your new team?"

White Frost's face goes completely cold.

"Dad...I..."
"There are superheroes missing.  You told me this boy was talented," Sunbeam starts screaming at White Frost in front of everyone, "Have you ever worked with him at all?  Look at him.  Phantom Phoenix is missing.  God knows if there is something maniacal going on and when I need my son to be responsible enough to form his own team this is what he brings me?"

I am embarrassed for me but then I see White Frost.  He is so red.  His father is screaming at him in front of all these heroes and I just feel so fucking bad for him.

"Don't worry Sun.  I got this.  I'll show this guy a real metahuman," Mister Motions states.

And that's when he aims his hand towards me.  I don't know what is happening.  I have no idea.  All of a sudden I'm hearing everyone start laughing even harder.  Ultrasound keeps shaking his head towards me and Power Up turns around with the most embarrassed look he's ever had.  I'm not sure why.  What has Mister Motions done that is causing this reaction?

That's when I realize it.

I'm naked.

I'm completely fucking naked.

Mister Motions has transported my clothes to a pile right in front of him and all the heroes are seeing my dick blow in the wind.

I thought that I couldn't embarrass myself anymore today, but I was wrong.  This was the most embarrassed I've ever been or ever be again.

~

I leave the Hall of Heroes a disgrace.  I don't want to ever show my face there again.  The worst thing is I don't even do anything to Mister Motions.  I can't.  He's too powerful to have avenged myself.  He's too powerful to even scream at.  This was a man who could make my clothes disappear.  Whose to say he wouldn't do it again?

I just want to go to my room and disappear.  I wish that was my superhero.  I literally wish I could just disappear completely as if I didn't exist.  I want no one to know who I was.  I want to be gone into thin air.

White Frost probably hated me.

Everyone else thought I was a joke.

He just took me home didn't say another word.  And I knew at that moment my invitation to the Host of Heroes had been taken back.  There was no need to have a metahuman who couldn't do anything amazing.

I walk in the house.  The depression hangs over me like a cloud.  Mary is sitting with Tristan.

"You OK?  You want something to eat?"

"No.  I'm fine."

"Well your dad's downstairs."

"Not tonight," I tell her.

"Tonight," she states in the same tone my dad would, "Now."

I know she's relaying my message because she literally sounds exactly like my father Edgar at that moment.  I sigh a little bit.  I wanted to be left alone.  I wanted to be left alone more than anything.  But I can't help it.

I have to go to his lair.

I go to the basement and head down into the darkness.  At least it matches my mood.  The light at the end of the tunnel is where I see his lair.  Lair is exactly the word for it.  God knows how far away from my actual house this is.  The huge lair is surrounded by dark rock.  There is a computer on a platform suspended from the ceiling with iron stairs that lead up to it.  This seems to be the control room area with additional built-in consoles.  I wonder what my father looks at in these consoles.  There are four free-standing computer terminals with two screens.  I see him standing there now, looking more like Edgar than Vicious Vigor at one of the terminals with his arms crossed.   To his right are the large railings that lead down to the floor.

I shiver when I see articulated missile launchers being constructed not too far from the entrance.  In the corner I see an open closet with trenchcoats lined up in them.  As I move to the middle of the room it looks more like a torture room.  It's something out of one of Tristan's cartoons.

I see a great number of traps, a vehicle hangar that has some strange looking mobile devices I had no idea my father could afford, emission equipment that I can't understand and a gym looking area that smells like sweat.  As I walk I hear echoes underneath my feet.  I look down and see fish.  They are all types of piranhas.  Vicious fish for a vicious individual.  God knows what he needed with them.

I feel so unsafe here and it was built to be unwelcoming.  That much is clear.

"Stand there," he states.

That is my father for you.  No how are you, or how was your day, or let's catch up.  No.  My father has never been that type.  I don't think he ever would be.  I don't argue.  I stand where he wants me to stand at that moment without saying another word.  That's what he expects and with all the shit I've been through today I don't argue.

He presses a button on his console.

I watch at that moment am being encapsulated with a wide tube that is ceiling length.  I press on the tube.  It's made of hard plastic.  I can't get out.

"What is this?" I ask.

I start panicking slightly.  I hated small spaces and I wondered if I could breathe in this for much longer.  Why was my father trapping me in this device.

"You're not going to embarrass me ever again," he tells me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your showing at the Hall of Heroes.  I know about it."

Fuck.

The worst thing to my father was failure and I had failed in a way that I had never failed before.

"How'd you know?"

Just at that moment I see someone enter the room.  My mouth drops when I see the person.  I look to the side and I see none other than Mister Motions walk in the room.  He walks in with a smile on his face.

Why was he here?  Why was he with my father.

I don't even have the chance to think about it because I hear something.  The sound of water.  I feel at first droplets over my head and then I look up at the ceiling and floodgates are opening.

"Dad!  DAD WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!"

I see Mister Motions smile.  I watch as my dad crosses his arms and just watches me.

"Figure out what your power is or die..." My father warns me.

"What? WHAT!"

I don't know what's happening.  I don't get it, but I know Edgar Bennett doesn't joke.  I'm slamming my hand on the glass hoping it could break.  I'm hoping something will fold.  I look down at my feet.  The water is at my knees by now.  I'm screaming louder and louder.  My heart is beating harder and harder.  I'm slamming.  I'm begging my father to let me out.  Tears are rolling down my face.

The water is at my neck before I know it.  I'm thrusting my hands up against the tube hoping to slide up, but I keep slipping.  No matter what I do I keep slipping and soon the water is at my fucking nose.  I'm gagging at that moment spitting the water out.

I can feel my heart racing.

I'm emerged and I start holding my breath.  The instinct not to breathe underwater is so strong that it overcomes the agony of running out of air.  I hold my breath until I am on the verge of losing consciousness.  My brain is screaming at me to open my mouth and breathe even though I know what is going to happen.

At that point my voluntary muscles give in to involuntary muscles!

The drowning begins.

A spasmodic breath drags water into my mouth and windpipe.  I touch my vocal cords triggering an immediate contraction in the muscles.

Thrashing doesn't help.  Disaster is written all over my body and I feel like a sinking boat.  I look over at my father and remember what Mary stated.  He doesn't love me.  He was incapable of love.

Vicious Vigor wasn't emotion.

Vicious Vigor was vicious.

It was in his name.

So when I knew that my father was who he was I knew he had no emotion whatsoever as he watches his son drown...

To read the next chapter go to www.crushedcrown.com