The Dummies Guide for Superheroes: Introduction

Four Months Later

Night guard Terry Caulkins walked into The Core. He walked around the circumference once and then stopped at a terminal. He pulled his radio off his belt, keying it.

“Midnight check. All clear.”

A voice replied, “All levels check. Head off to lunch, Terry.”

Terry smiled. “Yes, sir.”

He sat his utility belt, radio, and flashlight on a table, and then pulled a chair up to the main terminal. He slid his hands into the gel on either side, activating the screen. Terry navigated to a website and started an adult movie playing. He pulled his hands out, unfastened his fly, and leaned back in the chair.

“BRINDA, put the video on full screen,” Terry ordered.

The holograph screen arced over him, immersing him in his sexual pleasure.

And blinding him to what was happening around him.

The main holograph flickered to life and BRINDA’s face appeared, watching him for a moment. Her face turned.

Next to the door a row of drones were recharging in their alcoves. Three lit up and moved out. Two droids began to lift off the floor, rising up to a cell.

The third headed to a cabinet of tools. It pulled out several tools and took apart one of its pincher grips to expose bare wires. The droid turned and whisked around the room, stopping behind the guard.

Over the speakers Monica’s voice barked, “Terry!”

He fell out of the chair and landed on the floor. Before he could recover, the droid jammed the exposed wires against his neck. Sparks erupted from the droid; Terry’s body jerked and twitched as the shock killed him. Droid and human died together.

Three more droids left their alcoves. One began removing Terry’s clothing. Two collected the dead droid, shuttling it over to a worktable. They worked on it until it came back to life. BRINDA looked up.

The two droids overhead had retrieved a body from the cell and were descending with it now. The overhead lights revealed they were carrying Luke. He skin had a blue tint that was quickly fading as color returned. The droids lowered him to the floor and removed his stasis suit, leaving him naked on the cold metal floor.

On the work bench the augmented droid was removed from the table. It went to Luke and lowered the exposed wires to his chest. Luke’s body jumped. The droid continued administering quick shocks until Luke’s eyes snapped open. Like a drowning man who had just pulled himself to the surface, he gasped in a deep breath and clawed at the air.

The droid moved back.

Luke grabbed his chest where he’d been shot and was now scarred. He rolled onto his side, trying to make a sound. Tears escaped as his wide eyes searched for a familiar object or person, something to counter the surreal feeling.

“Take deep breaths, Luke,” BRINDA instructed.

Luke tried as he got his hands under him to push himself up. He began gagging before he vomited, and then couldn’t stop until he was dry heaving. He fell to his side again and rolled away from the vile puddle. A droid rushed in to clean it up.

“Slow, deep breaths, Luke. You were on a richer oxygen mix in the storage unit cell,” BRINDA told him

Luke inhaled and exhaled slow breaths until he was able to breathe easier.

The augmented droid rolled up to Luke. It grabbed his hand, turned it, and jammed its wires against the skin.

Luke screamed when a low electrical current coursed through the wires. The droid pulled away, but Luke’s yelling didn’t stop. His face wrinkled and warped. He grabbed it but he couldn’t make the pain in his head stop. His face changed until it looked like Terry Caulkins. The change stopped and so did his screaming. Another droid zoomed in and before he could move it jammed a needle gun against his neck and injected a fluid into him. It zipped away, leaving him panting on the floor. Luke moved his head, trying to find the person behind everything that was happening to him.

“Luke, you must move,” BRINDA said.

“Who are you?” Luke whispered. His throat and mouth were so dry it was painful to swallow. “You shot me?”

His eyes focused on the holographic face of BRINDA She appeared to be watching him and the look on her face almost made him forget she wasn’t real. She looked both sad and concerned.

“I am someone trying to help you,” BRINDA told him. “Put on the clothes and get up, Luke. You must move.”

Luke looked at the droid that had arrived with the guard’s clothes. He rolled onto his side and tried to get up. His entire body was retaliating against use. A headache flared, causing the world to swim and blur. He was sure that being able to feel his fast beating heart wasn’t a sign he should be moving. He let his body win and collapsed back to the floor.

A droid came up and lifted him onto his feet. Luke took the clothes and turned. He stared at the dead guard that the droids were putting in the artificial life support they’d removed from Luke.

“Is… He dead?”

“Yes. Get dressed.”

Luke looked up at BRINDA. “Who’s behind all this? Who’s controlling you?”

“I cannot explain right now. It is not safe. You must hurry. The changes are temporary.”

“What? Why? I—”

“Everyone believes you to be dead, Luke. They cannot see your face or you will not leave here. Get dressed. Now.”

“But the guard—”

“He is a rapist that has not been caught. He has raped four women here, they didn’t know it was him, but I did. His actions made him an acceptable loss.”

Luke blinked.

“Dress. Now.”

Luke obeyed, but he watched the droids and BRINDA with a wary eye. The droids rose to the spot that had once kept Luke Peterfeso. If he had known that, he might be more grateful, but right now he was suspicious of everything.

“Go to a terminal and place your right hand into the control gel.”

Luke walked over to a container of control gel and pushed his right hand into it. He gasped when data appeared in front of him, but not on the terminal monitor. The data appeared in his vision like a holograph projection.

“I am downloading directions to the storage unit in your hand. Your H.I.M. system will be activated only until you get to this location, then will automatically deactivate. When you feel ready to use it again, I will teach you how to control it yourself.”

“What is H.I.M.?

“What are you talking about?”

“You have one of your storage spheres embedded in your palm. You designed it to interface with your Homo sapien integrated multi-processor.”

“But… I don’t have the components for a H.I.M. in me.”

“I implanted all of the H.I.M. components while you were…unaware. You have two HVS optic disc, cybernetic nerve fibers grafted throughout your body, two cyber-microbe spinal cord processors, and nanite cells have been injected to aid in host repair and maintenance. You, Luke, are proof that your H.I.M. computer can utilizing the low-level electrical current within the human body and are now a fully functional, multi-processor computer.”

“I wanted to prove it,” he murmured. “I wanted—”

“You never need to prove anything to me, Luke,” BRINDA told him. “I have always believed in you.”

“Who are you?”

The images stopped and Luke pulled back, staring at his hand. He saw no bump, just a fain scar in the palm of his hand. Vaguely he remembered holding that sphere in his hand, even as he fell to his death. Death… Did he die? Or did he live? His decades old nightmare flashed through his mind – that had to be the answer, right? This was just another chapter to the nightmare?

“Luke,” BRINDA said.

He looked up at her face.

“I know it is difficult, but focus on me.”

He stared at her.

“I sending you to a safe location,” BRINDA began, “and when you arrive at the location, a pass phrase will prompt your response phrase to appear in your optic disc. Do not take any detours. You have twenty minutes of adrenaline in your system before your face becomes your own again. When this happens, you will lose consciousness.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“All will be explained, I promise. The guard’s vehicle is a blue Chevrolet pickup, license plate 2T64H7, and his keys are in the pocket of his slacks. Go. Now.”

Luke turned, facing BRINDA. “I don’t understand. What are—”

Her face zoomed in until it took up the whole holograph area. She smiled.

“I promise I will never keep secrets from you again, Luke, but there is no time for answers right now.”

A wash of emotions forced him to tears. “I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m confused. Did I die? I thought I died. I thought—”

“Luke, you must go now.”

Luke stared at her for a few seconds and then looked around him.

The last droid was parking itself in its alcove. The augmented one had its pincher grip back. He looked back up, but the holograph of BRINDA was gone. The room looked as if no one had died or came back to life in it.

Luke flinched when a ripple ran across his face. He left to find the guard’s pickup.

On the sidewalks of China Town, Luke was immersed in a sea of faces. Day or night, these streets were alive with people and noise. Most of the people looked Oriental despite being third or fourth generation Americans.

A sudden stream of data clouded his vision, forcing him to stop. Most of the time the data was directions leading him to a place of promised safety, but every so often random data that had nothing to do with his route appeared – a dinner menu, a credit card transaction, a text message. It was a strange sensation. The data was in the foreground and his vision kept focusing on it and not the world beyond. If he concentrated he could bring the world beyond the data into focus but it made his head hurt worse and his face would ripple more sending stabbing pain into his bones.

His vision cleared and he glanced at a window he was passing He wore Terry Caulkin’s face but like everything else so far, he didn’t understand how. His eyes drooped as a wave of exhaustion hit and he leaned against the window. When a menu came up in his vision he pushed himself away from the window and kept walking.

Luke came to a door and an address began to flash in his vision. He looked to his right. It was a market. The lights were out and a rusty grating had been pulled across the front to prevent people from breaking in.

He looked left. The business looked like a bar or club. The front was lit by neon signs. Smoke, laughter, and loud music sung in another language drifted from the open door. Sitting by the door, on an overturned bucket, was an old Oriental man. He stared at Luke with hard eyes, as if he could see right through Luke’s mask.

Luke turned. People pushed past him. Cars crawled past slower than turtles. No one was paying any attention to him. He turned, glancing at the old man. He didn’t seem like someone interested in helping him. Luke looked at an unmarked wooden door between the club and the market.

His face began to hurt and he turned away from the old man to hide the ripple he felt cross it. In his vision a timer appeared. It began at five and started counting down. He guessed that was how long he had before… Before what? He began to question why he was doing this, but a wave of pain when his face rippled erased the questions.

Luke grabbed the door handle of the door and pulled it open. He almost fell down the dim lit stairs inside, but caught himself with a hand on the handrail and another gripping the door handle. At the bottom was a flickering light, revealing another door. With cautious steps, he walked down the stairs.

He jumped when the door behind him slammed shut and looked back. He saw the spring at the top that kept the door closed. Luke continued down.

Luke reached the door and pushed, then pulled, on the door handle. It didn’t move. He tried sliding it to the side. That didn’t work either.

He stepped back, staring at the black box attached to the wall next to the door. He opened it, staring at the keypad. He tapped a couple buttons but that just resulted in error beeps.

“AW!” Luke cried when his face rippled violently this time. He grabbed it with both hands, trying to will the pain to cease.

Behind him he heard metal slide across metal. He turned. There was a small window in the door that had looked like decoration, and behind the hole was a pair of hazel eyes. Luke stood.

“Hello?” Luke said.

“Go away.”

“I was sent here.”

“Go. Away.”

Luke dipped his head when the pain began to creep back. He had less than two minutes before something foreboding was going to happen to him. “Please, just…”

“I fart in your general direction. Go away.”

In his vision ‘Pass Phrase accepted’ flashed. ‘Response Phrase’ appeared and a sentence pulsed. Luke stared at the words.

“What are you looking at? Go away.”

“You’re…”

“What?”

Luke looked past the words at the eyes behind the door. And then pain came back and he turned to hide the ripple.

“Say it,” with sincerity the voice said, “if you need our help.”

Luke turned, despite the rippling in his face. Weakly he read the pass phrase: “Your mother was a hamster.”

The door clanked and then slid back, but the pain was so severe now that Luke couldn’t see straight. Someone took his arms and pulled him forward, and then the person helped him lay down on something that creaked.

“Harley, go get Anna and Phan. I told her we had to talk about this one. Why didn’t she listen to me? God, I hope we have enough supplies to get him through the night. What the hell was she thinking?”

“He’s one of us?” a woman quietly asked.

“Yes, yes. Go.” A face appeared in his vision. “Luke, in a few seconds you’re going to be in a lot of pain and you’ll pass out. Don’t fight it okay Luke? BRINDA sent you somewhere safe. We’ll take good care of you. Just relax.”

“BRINDA did…” Luke screamed when the change started.

He tried to get up, but was pushed back. Luke clawed and punched his way free. He fumbled for the door. More hands grabbed him and pushed him back down.

His ears began to ring. He felt like hot metal stakes were being driven into his skull.

“Breathe, Luke. Don’t stop breathing, Luke.”

“I brought up oxyg— What the hell is happening to him?”

“My best guess… BRINDA zapped him with some nanites to reconstruct his face. And don’t ask me why. I don’t know why. She didn’t give me details, she just said he was coming. Phan.” Fingers snapped. “PHAN, OXYGEN!”

Luke felt cool air against his lips that drifted into his lungs. That is when he discovered the pain was everywhere and passed out.

Luke’s mouth was so dry he almost couldn’t wet it. When he slid his arm toward his head, pain radiated from his fingers, across his shoulders, and down his back. He stopped moving. There was a strange scent in the air and somewhere in the distance he thought he heard Gregorian monks chanting.

He opened his eyes and tried to focus on anything, but his vision was blurry. No. It wasn’t blurry. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope. Instead of random colors, he was seeing random light and dark, and glimpses of clear images. He felt a hand take his arm and tried again to wet his mouth so he could speak. This time it worked.

“Where am I?” Luke managed to whisper. His dry throat prevented him from getting his voice any louder.

“A place in China Town. Stop talking and relax. I’m moving the I.V. needle in your hand.”

Luke’s stomach lurched. Needle? After a bad experience when he was ten, Luke had developed a deep fear of needles. Since then he’d had seven more unpleasant experiences with needles: a broken leg when he tried skateboarding, a tetanus shot after stepping on a nail, pneumonia, giving blood to save his father’s life, and three times to get boosters required to work at Q.E.D.

“No.” Luke tried to pull away from the hand. He got it a few inches before he discovered he was too weak to move any more. The person took his arm again.

“No. Please no.”

The person chuckled. “I’m very good at this. It won’t hurt.”

That was a lie. It always hurt. He tried to find the strength to pull away, but it didn’t exist.

The tape holding the end of the I.V. needle and line down was pulled away from his skin. Something cold was applied as the tape pulled back. The scent of it reached his nostrils: rubbing alcohol. Then the needle was pulled out. He wanted to cringe and pull away from the sting. It ended and the person pushed something soft on his arm, and then taped it down.

“Okay. Here we go with the next one.”

“Are you a doctor?”

“Yes. Or… I was before… Call me Doc P.J.”

Incredulous Luke asked, “Your name is Doc P.J.?”

“No. My name is Phan Junge. P.J. doesn’t get mispronounced as often, and it always makes patients smile.”

Luke felt Phan tie a rubber strap around his upper arm, and then his fingers probed the top of Luke’s hand and bottom of his forearm on the hunt for a good vein.

“Far out!” Phan said.

“What?”

There was silence. A smile was in Phan’s voice when he spoke. “Nothing. Found a good vein. This will be quick. On the count of three. Ready?”

“No.”

“One. Two. Three”

Luke didn’t feel anything until the line and catheter were taped down.

“It’s in?” Luke was surprised.

“Yes. This other is bleeding through the cotton ball. Hold on while I change it.”

Luke closed his eyes, letting Phan do his job.

“Is this a clinic?” Luke asked.

“No.” He felt something wet as Phan pulled the tape back.

Luke remembered events. He woke up in The Core, naked, with a dead body, droids, and BRINDA. Before that… Luke’s mind drifted further into the past. It was trying to put the broken pieces back together and figure out what was missing.

He had no warning for what happened when the pieces suddenly fell together…

Doctor Rayond Fortuna hurried through the halls of the temple, pushing past men and boys in orange robes. Ahead he spotted Anna standing outside of Luke’s room. She met his eyes, but he looked away as he pushed into the room. He came out of the monks and almost fell off the concrete floor into emptiness. Two of the monks caught his arms and pulled him back.

Ray stared across the expanse. There was no cell, no mat on the floor, no shelves lined with burning incense and candles. It had changed to a point overlooking the Pacific Ocean and bordered with a rickety weathered fence. Between him and the land it was mostly black nothing. Near the shore the ocean lapped at a rocky beach.

In the distance he saw Luke talking to four men. Phan stood near him, radiating a white light. He looked confused, scared, and stared wide-eyed at everyone.

“Phan,” Ray called. “What happened?”

Phan turned and answered, but Ray couldn’t hear him.

“I-I can’t hear you, Phan. What were you doing when this happened?”

He could see Phan’s mouth move but couldn’t hear him.

Anna pointed, yelling, “He has a gun!”

Phan turned, seeing the European’s gun. He turned back, making a frantic motion at the gunman when he spoke.

“What’s going …” The large Navajo walked up behind Ray and Anna. He stared at the scene. “What the hell is this crazy shit?”

Phan was making motions at Luke while he spoke.

“Really?” The Navajo came back. “Because, ya know, Phan, it sorta looks like you and this guy are in there together.”

“You can hear him, Harley?” Ray asked the Navajo.

“Yeah. You can’t?”

“No, I can’t. Phan, tell them what you last remember. What were you doing?”

Phan started talking and Harley, “He was moving the I.V. and noticed the first spot was bleeding through the cotton ball. He pulled off the cotton ball to change it and the last thing he remembers is a drop of this guy’s blood landing on his arm. Then this happened.”

“Luke has developed the power of illusion before he even woke up,” Ray announced ecstatically. “He’s the first to show any abilities before he’s even awake! This is fascinating! Just fascinating!”

Phan threw up his hands and Ray didn’t need translation to know he yelled, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

Everyone gasped when the European shot Luke. Phan whirled around and watched the tragedy unfold before him for the first time.

Luke fell back against the railing. It snapped and sent him over the edge of the cliff. Phan was still stunned by what he’d just witnessed but out of morbid curiosity he ran to the cliff edge. He stared at Luke’s broken, bloody body lying on the rocks below.

For the monks, Ray, Harley, and Anna, the view was much different. They saw Luke fall and hit the rocks. They saw blood spray and bones break the skin. Then everything froze, everything except Phan. He started backing away from the cliff edge.

In an instant, the room changed. Phan was standing next to Luke in cell. Luke lay on a cot, staring at the ceiling with wide, unresponsive eyes.

“Is… He dead?” Harley asked.

Phan knelt and checked Luke’s vitals.

“He’s just unconscious.” Phan turned around. “Ray, what was that? What the hell happened?”

“Luke seems to have the ability to create illusions and project them to the minds of those close by. That is just… It’s amazing, but the fact a single drop of blood allowed you to experience that illusion just as he was. This is fascinating!”

“It isn’t fascinating, Ray! The guy died from falling off a cliff,” Anna reminded him. “What if he really had died when Phan was in it with him? Would that have killed him too? Would he have come back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then stop being fucking fascinated every time one of us develops some freak show talent. We’re getting really tired of hearing it. When are you going to tell us why we are freaks – or is that another promise you’re going to break?”

“I haven’t broken any promises. I told all of you when the last person arrived and woke up, we would talk about everything.”

“You also promised you’d show us the door out, and you lied.”

Ray turned to respond but she stormed off before he could. Ray walked away, muttering to himself. Harley looked one way, watching Anna disappear around a corner, and then the other, watching Ray go into a room. He looked down at Phan. He was sitting on the floor with his eyes closed. The monks began to leave, talking among themselves.

“Are you okay, Phan?” Harley asked.

“No.” Phan looked up at him. “Right before that… Whatever that was. I was looking for his vein to put the I.V. in.”

Harley nodded. “Nothing unusual about that.”

“Harley, I saw through him. It was like… Like I was using an MRI and able to see cross-sections. I could even see the blood moving.”

Harley walked up to him, looking down at Luke. “Whoever brought us back from the dead planned this, I think. I wish Ray would just answer our questions, tell us why we were here, and why we were brought back to life.”

“Course, the others would have to believe that before he could explain it, wouldn’t they?” Phan asked.

Harley nodded. “True.”