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The Young Legends Chapter 2
The morning shift was much quieter than the evening or nighttime. This also meant that it was much more boring, and Aidan hated waking up for it. He rarely slept in late, but a five AM start to his Saturday was a bit much even for him. As the rookie though, he often got saddled with the shifts that no one else wanted.
As Aidan repeatedly pulled himself up over the bar that he hung in his bathroom doorway, feeling the strain in his arms and back, he thought about the events of the night before. Prior to going to bed he had checked back on the website he had signed up for, "Watching the Watchers". To his surprise, there had been a message waiting for him. The user who posted the thread about Anubis killing her husband had reached out to him directly. She said that her name was Donna and that she would share more details and even proof with him, but that it wasn't safe to do so online.
At this, Aidan had rolled his eyes. The cloak and dagger of it all was starting to get a little ridiculous, but he reasoned that, if the woman had indeed lost her husband, a little paranoia was understandable. After a brief back-and-forth, he had agreed to meet her after his shift at a little café in a suburb north of the city. It was almost an hour drive, and it would probably be just a wild goose chase, but Aidan's curiosity had gotten the better of him. He wanted to know if there was anything to this.
He dropped down from the pullup bar, letting out a long breath. After a quick shower, Aidan fixed his usual `breakfast' of black coffee and a protein shake. His usual morning workout was more extensive, but when faced with time constraints he would get in what he could. Fitness had always been important to Aidan, so he always pushed himself to his limits. Despite his naturally lean appearance, Aidan was always able to outmatch his peers in the friendly competitions that the precinct put on from time to time. Most blamed this on the fact that he was the youngest. Aidan was not one to brag or gloat, but he knew, in truth, that it was a result of hard work and determination.
Getting dressed, Aidan combed his hair carefully. He wore it a little longer than many of his colleagues, hanging down to his ears, but kept it well-maintained and professional. His apartment was not far from the precinct so the drive never took him very long. He knew Stevens wasn't working that day, which meant that Aidan was on his own. Now that he was finished with his official training, it was becoming more and more common for him to work alone and relatively unsupervised. It didn't bother him though. Aidan was always able to get done what he needed to do, and he had twice been complemented on the timeliness of his paperwork.
That day, Aidan spent most of his shift on traffic duty. This was one of the dullest assignments, but he knew that eventually, once he put in his hours, he wouldn't have to take the shitty work anymore. Ideally, Aidan thought, someday he would be made a detective. Then he would be taking the real cases. That was a long way off though, he knew.
As he had expected, it was an uneventful and dull day. The hours seemed to drag even slower today because Aidan was thinking about the meeting he had planned for the afternoon. He had not told the woman, Donna, that he was a cop. If he had, he wasn't sure if she would have been willing to meet with him. She understandably had a pretty jaded view of the police, especially police from within the city, who she believed helped cover up her husband's murder. Aidan figured though that he did not need to disclose that part right away, at least not until he gained her trust.
This plan was foiled however when he was informed that he was needed for one extra hour after his shift was supposed to end. That meant that Aidan wouldn't have time to go home and change before going to meet with this woman. He would have to show up in his uniform. Aidan shrugged to himself. It couldn't be helped. If she wasn't willing to talk to him then it probably wasn't worth his time anyway.
Finally, after what felt like the slowest shift of his life, Aidan was able to clock out. He headed north out of the city and appreciated the view of the quaint suburbs. It would have been convenient for him to meet a little bit closer, but this also meant that he wouldn't be seen by anyone who recognized him. Aidan wasn't sure why, but he felt a little bit nervous about this interaction, as though he was doing something that he didn't want anyone else to know about.
The cafe was on the ground floor of a little building near the center of the small suburban city. It was surprisingly quiet on the street and Aidan smiled to himself. It was sleepy places like this that most cops transferred to once they put in their time in the trenches. At the moment, Aidan couldn't imagine himself sitting behind a desk all day in a town like this. He wondered if that would change as he got older.
In their brief online interaction, Donna had given Aidan a simple description of herself so that he would be able to recognize her when he arrived. It wasn't necessary though. There were not many people in the little coffee shop, and she was the only one seated by herself. When she saw him enter wearing his uniform, she immediately started in her seat and looked to the ground, trying to pretend that she didn't see him.
Aidan noticed the reaction and grimaced. Already off to a bad start. He approached casually and cleared his throat. "Are you Donna?" He asked, trying to sound friendly.
She barely glanced up at him. Donna appeared to be in her early thirties with bright red hair. She definitely resembled the woman from the video that Aidan had seen, even though it was only a brief and unfocused appearance. Her otherwise pretty face was worn with stress. "I have nothing to say to you." She muttered angrily. "Did you trick me down here? I want my lawyer."
"It's nothing like that." Aidan promised in a pleading tone. "I know I'm probably not what you expected. And you probably have good reason not to trust me. But I swear, I'm here on my own, not for the police department."
"Why should I believe that?" She snapped angrily, still keeping her voice low so as not to draw the attention of the other customers. "None of you ever believed a word I said. Why should I believe this isn't some kind of trick to get me to say something I'm not supposed to know?"
Aidan sighed and pushed a hand through his light-brown hair. "Well..." he thought for a moment. "If I was trying to trick you, would I have come wearing my uniform? I just finished my shift and rushed here to meet you in time. I'm off duty. This is just between you and me."
Giving it a moment's thought, Donna reluctantly nodded toward the chair across from her. "The police warned me, if I didn't let it go it would be bad for me."
As he pulled the chair out and sat down, Aidan gave a reassuring smile. "I'm not like them." He replied.
She looked at him closely for the first time. "You're a kid." She remarked with a dry chuckle. "Did you start yesterday?"
Aidan rolled his eyes but ignored this. "I assume you heard about the Freedom Fighter incident on Thursday?"
Understanding crossed Donna's face. "Ah, so that's what has you interested in all this. It's not the same though. I could be wrong, but FF seems like one of the good ones. Not all of them are though. Most of them think they're better than the rest of us. Above the law. And they are, apparently." Her tone turned bitter.
"They're not." Aidan answered firmly. "If Anubis murdered someone, I'm going to do my best to make sure he's held accountable."
Donna laughed again, humorlessly. "Maybe you'll have better luck than I did. And there is no `if'. He did." She pulled out a plain folder and slid it across the table toward him.
This, Aidan assumed, must be the proof that Donna had mentioned online. Picking up the folder, he opened it but then immediately shut it again and dropped it back onto the table. "Jesus..." He let out a little louder than he intended. Looking around the shop, he made sure no one was paying undue attention.
His reaction had no impression on Donna, she sat looking at him, stone faced. "His name was Paul." She told him stoically. "Paul Feldman. And I loved him." Her voice remained impressively even, with only a slight waver. Aidan suspected that she had experience pushing these emotions as far down as they would go. "I had to bribe the coroner." She admitted. "I wasn't supposed to be allowed to see him. I already saw when it happened, but I had no proof."
More prepared now for what he was about to see, Aidan picked up the folder and opened it once more. Inside were several pictures of a body lying on a metal table. Aidan had seen dead bodies before, but none quite like this. The dead man looked like a skeleton with sickly grey skin stretched tightly across the bones. It reminded Aidan of the embalmed or preserved bodies that were unearthed after hundreds or thousands of years of being buried, only this corpse was fresh. It was as if every drop of life and moisture had been drawn out of the body, leaving it a horrifying husk of what had once been human.
Suddenly, several things clicked in Aidan's mind. Anubis was the name of the god of the dead in ancient Egyptian myth. Anubis the superhero borrowed his name and much of his imagery from those myths, and exactly what powers he possessed were somewhat of a mystery. Looking at the face of the body in the pictures, which looked almost exactly like the face of an embalmed Egyptian mummy, Aidan thought he might have an idea what Anubis could do, and why it was kept a secret from the public. It all made sense, and Aidan felt a pit forming in his gut as his doubts about Donna's story began to fade.
"He did this?" Aidan asked quietly, to confirm what he already suspected.
Donna nodded stoically. She had obviously had much of her emotion drained from her by this experience in the same way that the life of the man on the table had been drained from him. "Grabbed him by the throat. Paul wasn't a small man but Anubis picked him up with one hand like he weighed nothing. It looked like his eyes went pitch black but it was too dark to see for sure. Then Paul just... collapsed in on himself..." Now the tears started to form in the corners of Donna's eyes. She gestured toward the folder. "You can see what happened. It was over in seconds, and I was too scared... too shocked to do anything but watch."
Aidan winced as he set the folder down again. "You wouldn't have been able to help." He tried to sound comforting, but Donna only scowled at him.
"Don't you think I know that?" She snapped, looking away quickly to hide her emotions. "The blame belongs on him. And on those pigs that covered it up. But I'll still feel that shame for the rest of my life, rational or not."
"I'm going to look into it." Aidan promised. "May I keep these?" He tapped a finger on the folder.
Donna nodded. "I have them on a flash drive. I don't dare store them anywhere else. Those are the only physical copies though."
"Any other ideas on where to start? The coroner, what was his name?"
Her mouth twisted in thought. "Harmon." She eventually said. "Fred Harmon. He works out of one of the Chicago districts, I can't remember which one."
The name didn't ring a bell for Aidan, but it was a big city and he had only been on the force a short time. "Contact me if you think of anything else." He told her. "Every little detail might help. If I can find solid proof of this, then I'm sure I can find someone that will listen."
Donna chuckled again and gave a quiet sniffle. "You'll forgive me if I don't get my hopes up." She paused. "But... thank you for hearing me out. Even some of my own family thinks I'm crazy these days."
Aidan had to admit that, when he first found Donna's story, he thought it more than likely she was just another insane person. After talking to her though, and seeing the grotesque pictures of her late husband, his suspicions about Anubis and superheroes in general were beginning to grow. If Anubis was a killer, Aidan found it hard to believe that other members of the Council of Heroes weren't aware of it.
"It's my job." Aidan told her, though it was only partially true. "People shouldn't have to be afraid of the ones that are supposed to be protecting them."
A hint of a genuine smile touched Donna's face for the first time. "You're naïve... But maybe that is what we need... Thank you..."
Aidan stood from the table. "I'll keep you updated if I learn anything. I'll keep this meeting quiet, you probably should do the same, for now at least."
Nodding her agreement, Donna leaned back in her chair. "Good luck. And don't get yourself killed on my behalf. I don't want your blood on my hands."
Promising he would be careful, Aidan bid her goodbye and left the little shop. His mind was racing. There was so much to be done. He would have to find out who this coroner was and have a talk with him. Who could he tell about his mission? Was there anyone he trusted enough? Possibly Stevens. His partner was a good cop, if a bit jaded. Aidan already knew he couldn't share any of it with his family. His father would throw a fit if he knew that Aidan was getting involved with potentially dangerous conspiracies, and his sister couldn't be trusted to not share the information with their dad.
As Aidan walked back to his police cruiser a sudden noise from behind him made him jump. It sounded like a soft yelp, followed by a very loud crack. Spinning around, Aidan saw a boy lying face-down on the sidewalk, slowly pushing himself up to his knees. Aidan hadn't noticed the boy before, but he had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to pay much attention to his surroundings.
The slender boy looked to be somewhere in his early teens and had light blonde hair a little bit longer than Aidan's own. He had on a pair of jeans but wasn't wearing a shirt, and the band of his Calvin Klein underwear stuck out at his waist. As the boy rocked backward on his knees, he looked at his hands and down at himself, as if he was surprised by what he was seeing. A smile crossed the boy's face, and to Aidan's surprise, he began to laugh.
Immediately, Aidan noticed that something was wrong. A small trail of blood ran down from the boy's nose, and he had a nasty red mark forming on his forehead. Obviously, the kid had tripped and hit his head. Possibly badly.
"Whoa!" Aidan stepped forward, concerned. "Are you alright?"
The boy looked up at him in confusion before staggering to his feet. He looked down at himself again and ran the back of his hand across his nose, wiping some of the blood away. "Um..." He glanced back up at Aidan past the hair that had fallen into his blue eyes. "I'm... fine?" He sounded more than a little surprised.
"You hit your head." Aidan pointed out the abrasion on the boy's forehead.
Lifting a hand to feel the mark, the boy frowned in disoriented confusion. "Oh." Was all he said.
Aidan pulled out his phone. He didn't like how spaced out this kid seemed to be. "I think I should call you an ambulance. You might have a concussion."
This snapped the boy out of some of his confusion. "No!" He answered quickly. "I'm ok... I just... I just tripped."
Aidan frowned, unconvinced. "Come sit down for a second at least." He pulled the passenger door of his squad car open. "Let me get a look at that bump."
The boy hesitated, but reluctantly complied, not wanting to disobey a police officer. He sat down on the edge of the seat with his legs hanging out of the vehicle.
Gingerly, Aidan brushed the boy's hair to one side to inspect the head injury. Close up, it did not look too bad. It was only the boy's strange behavior that gave Aidan pause.
"What's your name?" Aidan asked, deciding he should see just how out of it the kid was.
"Marco." The boy replied. "Marco Engel."
Aidan nodded. "I'm Officer Summers. Nice to meet you, Marco."
Looking up, Marco made eye contact with Aidan for the first time, then immediately his face flushed red and he looked away.
"What happened to your shirt?" Aidan took on a slightly teasing tone. It wasn't cold out, but it also wasn't the sort of weather that usually prompted people to walk around topless.
Marco wouldn't meet his eyes. "Uhh... I lost it." He answered quickly. "It got ripped and... I didn't want it anymore."
It was not hard to tell that Marco was lying to him about something, or at least not sharing the whole truth. Aidan wondered what he might be hiding, but even from their short interaction he had determined that the boy did not seem like a troublemaker. He had Marco do some simple coordination tests to make sure that he wasn't in need of immediate medical attention.
"Well, you seem like you're alright, but still that was a nasty hit you took." Aidan told him, remembering just how loud the smacking sound had been when Marco hit the ground. "You should get home and have someone keep an eye on you for a bit. Do you live close by?"
Awkwardly, Marco shook his head. "I took the bus. Maybe twenty minutes out."
Aidan frowned. "Alright. Well, you're not getting back on the bus. I've got a bit of a drive ahead of me anyway so I could drop you off at home. I'd feel better knowing you got back safely."
Marco shook his head again. "No, it's ok. I'll be fine."
Giving him an easygoing smile Aidan replied, "It's that or the ambulance. Head injuries are no joke. You shouldn't be wandering on your own."
For a moment, Marco gazed up toward the top of one of the buildings behind Aidan before reluctantly shrugging his shoulders. "Ok, fine." He agreed. "But I'm ok. Really."
"I've got a jacket in the trunk if you're cold." Aidan told the teen as he walked around to the driver's side.
"It's ok." Marco assured.
The drive was mostly quiet. Aidan tried to make small-talk and Marco always responded respectfully but did not add much to the conversation. It became obvious after only a few minutes of driving that the young teen was staring at him when he thought that Aidan wasn't paying attention. Aidan wondered if Marco was just nervous or if there was something else behind the looks. Whatever it was, Marco was always quick to redirect his eyes whenever Aidan glanced in his direction. His face seemed to have taken on a perpetual blush.
"You're with the Chicago police?" Marco asked curiously. It was the first direct question he had posed.
Aidan nodded. "Yup. Just had some business to take care of up here. Don't tell the local guys." He chuckled.
Marco smiled shyly. "Does that mean you've met Blue Hand, or Freedom Fighter?"
Again, Aidan gave a quiet laugh. "Not exactly. I've seen them both from a distance, and I've spent some time cleaning up after them. You're a fan of the superheroes?"
At this, Marco shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess so. A little."
Aidan gave an encouraging smile. "I was the same way. That's partly why I became a cop. I might not be super, but I do what I can."
Now, Marco eyed him curiously. "Do you think everyone should help out like that? If they can, I mean."
Not fully understanding the question, Aidan shrugged. "Well, obviously not everyone has superpowers, and I don't think everyone should try to be a cop unless they've got a calling for it. But yeah, everyone can help to advance justice in their own way, don't you think?"
"Yeah..." Marco nodded thoughtfully.
Aidan had to smile to himself this time. Definitely a bit of an odd kid, but endearing as well. As they pulled onto a little side street and Marco announced that his house was nearby on the left, Aidan almost found himself wanting to spend more time with the teen.
"Is your mom or dad home?" Aidan asked as they pulled up in front of the house.
Marco nodded. "My mom's here."
Aidan made a motion to unbuckle his seatbelt. "I should talk to her about that bump on your head."
"No!" Marco pleaded. "I can do it. If she sees a cop here, she'll freak out and think I did something."
Aidan laughed. Most of Marco's conversation up to now had been fairly formal and respectful, but now it seemed like something had changed. He was talking to Aidan as a person, not as a police officer for the first time.
With a sigh, Aidan removed his hand from his seatbelt. "You've got to tell her that you hit your head though. Ok?" He looked at Marco seriously. "I don't think you've got a concussion, but she needs to know just in case."
"I will." Marco promised.
"Alright, fine." Aidan relented. "It was nice to meet you, Marco. Maybe next time you go walking around downtown, remember to get dressed first."
Marco grinned and blushed, looking down at the ground as he got out of the car. "It was nice to meet you too... Officer Summers." The blush deepened as the boy shut the door and waved over his shoulder.
Shaking his head with a smile, Aidan watched Marco walk to his front door. It must have been a trick of the light, but as he looked, he thought he saw a very faint silvery shimmering line down the center of Marco's back. When he peered closer though, there was no sign of it. Disregarding it as his imagination, Aidan offered a quick wave of his own then pulled away to take the drive back to the city.
Setting his back against the door to his bedroom, Marco heaved a sigh. He had been able to sneak inside and upstairs without drawing his mom's attention. He did plan to keep his promise and tell her about hitting his head, but if she saw him sneaking in missing his shirt it would lead to a lot of extra questions.
Despite only being partially dressed, Marco's face felt warm. The crush that had ignited the moment he met the handsome young officer had bloomed in the course of the ride home into something of an infatuation. Marco was embarrassed with himself and he hoped that Officer Summers hadn't noticed his awkward interactions. He had almost been tempted to ask for the man's phone number but had been afraid of looking foolish.
Marco didn't even know his first name, only that it started with an `A' as seen on the badge he had been wearing. It came as a surprise to Marco that police officers could be that attractive. Media had always served him images of heavy-set middle-aged men with obnoxious moustaches and donut addictions. Officer Summers barely looked older than some of the seniors in Marco's school.
Trying to pacify the hormones running wild through him, Marco picked out a new shirt. It wasn't as though he was likely to ever see Officer Summers again. There were thousands of cops down in the city, and Marco rarely spent time there.
More importantly though, his attempt to fly had failed. He had fallen. And yet, a fall from three stories had resulted in nothing but a small bump on his head and a little nosebleed that had long since dried up. Marco might not have accomplished what he set out to do, but he had discovered something new. It seemed that his body had become more resilient in addition to being stronger. Marco could hardly believe his luck. Most often, supers would present with just one or maybe two powers or enhanced abilities. Right now, he was dealing with at least three confirmed, maybe more.
The wings had been there the night before, that he did not doubt. The broken lamp on his nightstand was evidence enough of that. And he could have sworn that he felt something just before he hit the ground. Maybe if he had been up higher he would have been able to make it work. It would require more testing. Now that he knew he couldn't be hurt as easily, he might be able to proceed faster.
Pulling his phone out for the first time since his jump, Marco was excited to see that he had a missed call from Colleen. Not wasting a moment, he called her right back. She must have already been on her phone because she answered after the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Colleen!" Marco tried to keep some of the frantic excitement from his voice. "I've got something... incredible to show you. You're not gonna believe this!"
"What are you talking about, Marco?" Colleen sounded confused but also a little annoyed. "You've barely talked to me at all this year. Are all your other friends busy?"
"What? No." Marco was hurt by her accusation, but he knew it was true. "I'm sorry. I know I've been kind of a dick, but you're still my friend. And I trust you more than them."
"Kind of?" Collen responded sarcastically, but then her tone softened. "What is it?"
"I can't tell you on the phone." Marco insisted. "I've got to show you. Can I come over tonight?"
Giving a long sigh, Colleen eventually agreed. "Yeah, ok. As long as you can get a ride."
"Thank you!" Marco responded sincerely. "I promise I'll make it up to you."
As Marco suspected, his mom had no problem with dropping him off at Colleen's house. She was just glad to see that the two of them were still hanging out. Colleen lived a little way out of town in a more rural setting. This was perfect because it meant that she didn't have neighbors close by and had a large yard. Marco could show off his new abilities without fear of being seen.
"So, what is it?" Colleen asked curiously as they wandered out to the backyard together. She remained a bit aloof, but Marco could tell that she was glad to see him, and he felt the same.
Marco looked around the yard until he found something suitable, a large boulder that had to weigh at least three hundred pounds. "You're not going to believe this. Watch."
Crouching down next to the boulder, Marco put both his hands underneath it. Colleen gave a short protest but stopped when Marco lifted the large rock with very little effort. He felt the weight of it in his hands and found a balance point before transferring the entire thing onto just one hand where he proceeded to lift it up and down several times, straining slightly. A grin spread across his face as he saw Colleen's jaw drop.
"Marco how are you doing that?" She asked scarcely above a whisper.
Letting go of the rock it crashed back to the earth with a loud thud, showing off just how heavy it was.
"Honestly?" Marco replied with a shrug. "I don't know. It started yesterday."
Colleen looked back and forth between Marco and the rock he had just dropped. "Marco... do you have... superpowers?"
Giving a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of his neck, Marco shrugged again. "Umm... I think so... yeah..."
"Oh my god..." Colleen clasped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god..." She repeated, stunned. "We always used to pretend..."
"I know." Marco replied, sobering for a moment. "I haven't told anyone yet. Just you."
"I... don't even know what to say... You've got super strength!" She giggled just at the sound of it.
"That's not all." Marco told her. "I can run. Like way faster than I ever could before. And I jumped off the roof of a building today and barely got a scrape."
Colleen gave him a horrified look. "Wait... You jumped off a building!? Why?"
"Oh." Marco realized that he probably should have led with his reasoning. "I was trying to see if I could fly." He went on to explain what had happened to him the night before, with the wings that suddenly sprouted from his back, and his inability to make it happen again.
"Wings..." Colleen murmured. "Super strength. Speed. Durability. And... wings too?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Marco this is crazy..." She sat down on the rock that Marco had just picked up.
"I know." Marco agreed. "But I wanted you to know. You're the only one I trust, and the only one that knows enough about this stuff."
Colleen nodded. "Good. Don't tell anyone. I was on one of the Superfans forums last week and there was a story about a kid who found out he had powers and he told all his friends, then two days later he disappeared. No one knows what happened to him."
Shaking his head and forcing a laugh, Marco leaned back against a tree. "Those forums have all kinds of crazy stories on them. Most of them are probably totally made up." Despite his confident words, Marco had read enough of those stories to be concerned as well.
"Maybe." Colleen didn't sound convinced. "But you should be careful anyway. There's gotta be a reason why there's almost never any superkids around."
It was true. Superpowered kids under a certain age were uncommon in the news. Even though almost every superhero reported developing their powers sometime in their teens, none of them seemed to make the headlines until they were well into their careers.
"I was wondering..." Marco changed the subject. "If you might have any ideas about how I can make the wings come out again. I thought that jumping off the roof would scare me enough to make it happen, and I think it almost did. But I hit the ground before anything happened."
Colleen frowned in thought. "So, when it happened the first time, you were dreaming about running off a cliff? There's no cliffs here but maybe we could try the trampoline?"
"It's worth a shot." Marco agreed. As Colleen led the way further into the backyard toward the trampoline, he pulled his shirt over his head once more.
"Uh... what are you doing?" Colleen laughed when she noticed.
Marco blushed. "Oh yeah... When it happened last night the wings ripped the shirt I was wearing, so... I don't wanna mess this one up." He thought about the nice t-shirt he had left sitting on top of the building downtown.
"Oh, makes sense." Colleen agreed. "That's inconvenient though. Maybe you need a superhero costume that will let them come out without ripping anything."
Marco hadn't thought of that. Of course, that felt like getting a few steps ahead. "Well, first I gotta be able to make it work."
The two of them had spent a great deal of time on Colleen's trampoline over the years and they knew all the tricks to get the most air. Marco bounced as high as he could go, and Colleen jumped nearby at exactly the right moment to launch Marco even higher into the air. It was great fun and reminded Marco of the good times they had shared together. But every time he was thrown into the air, he tried to locate that foreign feeling from the night before that had signaled the emergence of his wings. Every time though, he came hurtling back toward the springy surface of the trampoline with nothing to show for it.
After several dozen tries, Colleen called a halt to catch her breath. "Ok. That's not working." She voiced what they were both thinking as they sat on the edge of the trampoline. "What if you launch yourself off the trampoline? If you don't have it underneath you anymore, you might feel like there's more danger."
Marco nodded at this. "Maybe. But I fell a lot farther this afternoon and it didn't work."
With a shrug, Colleen stood up again. "Any better ideas?"
"Guess not." Marco admitted with a laugh. "I hope the other powers aren't as picky, otherwise I might end up with broken legs."
Colleen grimaced at this. "I don't do broken bones. You'll be on your own."
Laughing harder, Marco rolled his eyes. "Just bury me in the woods then." He got up and stretched his legs, preparing to jump again.
The two of them began their routine once more, with Marco soaring higher and higher. Once he reached what he deemed to be as high as he was going to get, he changed his trajectory, forcing himself forward into open air. His legs flailed as he looked down and saw the ground far below him. The arc of his jump ended, and he began to fall. He twisted his shoulders and back every way he could imagine but felt nothing. All to soon he was hurtling back toward the earth. Marco braced his legs and hit the ground hard, rolling in the dirt.
The impact had jarred him slightly, but the landing had not hurt. He quickly sprung to his feet again.
"Ok... so it didn't work." Colleen remarked. "But that was still really cool."
Marco grinned, but it faded away to frustration. "I don't get it. What am I doing wrong? I've tried every movement I can think of."
Colleen shook her head. "I dunno. Maybe it just needs time. Or maybe it's a mental thing. Some supers have to meditate first before their powers will work."
"I don't need to meditate." Marco complained, even though he couldn't say that with certainty. "Let's just try again."
The two of them repeated the test with the exact same result. Marco was able to land a little more gracefully this time, absorbing the impact with his knees and only stumbling a little. He growled in annoyance.
"Maybe you're thinking about it the wrong way?" Colleen suggested. "Maybe just... whatever you're doing, do the opposite?"
Marco rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. Just do the opposite? What was that supposed to mean? "Fine, whatever." He couldn't help some of his disappointment leaking through into his tone. "Maybe you're right though. Maybe it'll just happen when it happens."
"Come on." She encouraged. "Don't give up. It's gonna start getting dark soon anyway, we might as well try one or two more."
"Alright..." Marco relented, climbing back onto the trampoline.
Again they jumped in tandem and Marco was thrown out over the backyard. Yet again, he saw the ground far underneath him, taunting him with its inevitable gravitational pull. Then, within the space of a fraction of a second, Colleen's words returned to him. Do the opposite.
Marco pulled his eyes away from the earth that threatened to drag him back down again and raised them skyward, gazing up into the dusky heavens where the first of the stars were just beginning to poke through. The ground was where he came from. This was where he was going.
A strange but familiar tingling feeling shot through his spine and light seemed to explode all around him. The apex of his jump suddenly halted as the gentle breeze caught him. He heard Colleen's excited shriek from far below.
The feeling was impossibly awkward, like discovering a new muscle that he didn't quite know how to work. He tensed up and he both heard and felt the beat of enormous wings attached to him. Marco began to descend again, slower this time, gliding forward toward the tree line. Trying in vain to make the new appendages obey his commands, Marco could only watch as the trees loomed closer.
The inevitable crash sent him spiraling in a nosedive. He was only just able to get his hands and feet underneath him before he slammed into the ground once again, landing in a heap of feathery glowing light.
Dazed, Marco just lay on his back, staring up at the trees and the sky beyond. The sky which seemed so much farther away now. Colleen came running over.
"Oh my god! Marco!" She was practically jumping up and down, staring at him. "Look! Marco, you did it! They're... they're amazing!"
Marco groaned and sat up. The luminescent wings tucked in against his body but did not retract completely. He stood up and turned his head to examine them. Last night he had only gotten a brief look. Now, he gazed openly.
He could see the ground through them, though they were not completely transparent. It was a bit like looking through a pane of frosted glass. Frosted glass that also shimmered and gave off its own dazzling light. Marco stretched and the wings stretched with him, extending into a wide span of over seven feet which made Marco feel small by comparison. They were feathered, almost like an eagle's wings although the look of them was more akin to...
"Like an angel..." Colleen whispered, stepping in closer and peering at Marco's new addition. "Can I... touch it?" She asked awkwardly.
Marco shrugged. "Yeah... I guess."
When Colleen reached out her hand and placed it gently against the glowing wing, Marco was surprised to find that he could feel it. He flinched, but only the wing moved. They weren't just extensions of him, they were part of him, with feeling and independent motion. Marco felt them attached to his back, but at the same time it felt as though they had always been there. Flexing his newfound muscles experimentally, Marco shifted his wings one way, then the other. Colleen giggled reflexively as they shimmered and moved seemingly of their own accord.
"They feel... warm." She told him as she moved her hand against the velvety feathered surface. "But like... not just physically either. I don't know how to explain it."
She didn't have to. Marco understood. He had felt that same sense of inexplicable calm when he had put his hand on them last night. And he felt it now too, through his whole body, without even having to touch them. They were his. The feelings that they emitted belonged to him now too.
Drawing in a deep breath, Marco tensed and contorted his back muscles in a way that he was becoming familiar with. The wings folded and seemed to shrink in on themselves. The light dimmed and then disappeared as they retracted once more. Immediately, part of Marco felt bare. He already missed the feeling of having them out.
Colleen's mouth dropped open once more as she watched the wings slowly disappear. She walked around behind Marco to examine his back.
"You can sort of see it." She told him, then touched a finger to the top of his spine between his shoulders. "There's like... a mark or something but it's barely noticeable."
Marco shivered at the sudden loss of sensation. "Well... I think I know how to do it now." He said with a shaky laugh.
Reappearing in front of him, Colleen shook her head, wide-eyed. "Marco this is... I can't believe this is happening..."
"Tell me about it." Marco agreed, overwhelmed. "I... I've got wings..."
Slowly, Colleen's stunned face cracked into a smile. "You've got wings..." She repeated, starting to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
After a moment, Marco began laughing as well. "I've got fucking wings!" He exclaimed, doubling over.
"Marco!" Colleen grabbed his shoulders, suddenly serious again, she looked at him intensely. "You're gonna be a superhero!"