Superhero, Superqueer

Tough Love

"It's... small."

I felt Gloria's glare burn into the back of my head. "It's the Midwest research facility. As in there are more than one," she explained. "Our organization is much more than some cabin in the woods."

"About that. What is this all about? I mean, I understand that I'm like a scientific miracle here, but I don't want to be a lab rat or anything," I said. "Crew too. I doubt he's into being poked around at."

"Crew grew up in the facility," Gloria said.

"Hey, I'm right here. I can tell my own story," Crew pouted to Gloria. He faced me. "Yes, I grew up here. I wasn't poked around at, as you put it. If anything, I was just given tasks to accomplish, and they would study the way I do things. Then, they would find ways to strengthen my powers. When my powers were first triggered, I could barely hear a thought from three feet away. Now, I can command someone to do something from a mile away."

I wasn't sure what to say. I suppose that should be an accomplishment, right?

"What about your parents?"

Gloria gave Crew a stern look as he opened his mouth. He quickly shut it, the excited spark slowly diminishing to something else. I couldn't make out what, but I'm sure it wasn't something good.

"Let's get you settled in," Gloria said. "I want to make sure you are comfortable before we begin anymore explanations."

That was probably the most caring thing Gloria had ever said to me. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to make of it.

Crew led me back out of the room, into the large sitting room we were in before. A flight of stairs had been hiding in the corner, something I didn't notice before. Of course we had to lug my stuff up them, at least two flights. I didn't get the chance to see what was on the second floor.

Finally on the third floor, Crew and I set my stuff down on the floor. In front of us was a fully furnished kitchen in the back, a real living room with televisions and such closer to the stairs, as well as four doors on each wall to the left and right of us.

"Welcome to the cool kids' floor. You'll be staying up here with me," Crew smiled. "Let me show you to your room."

To the left side, Crew took me to the third door. Inside a typical room set up was made. A wooden bed with a black comforter and plenty of pillows was the biggest thing in the room, seeing as it was a king sized bed. "They don't have a small budget here, do they?"

Crew shrugged. "It's been funded by the government for decades. I think that up until us super freaks started showing up, they didn't need to fund as many projects."

I nodded. A medium sized closet was placed on the same wall as the door leading back to the open area. I started putting my clothes in the closet, trying to wrap my mind around everything going on right now. I still couldn't get over the fact that Crew is different, like me.

"We aren't the only ones, you know," Crew said simply, helping me unpack. I jumped, forgetting that he was different with mind reading powers, despite that I had just been thinking about it. "There are other people living here with super powers. Right now they're running errands, but within the next few days you'll meet everyone."

"Can't wait," I said sarcastically.

Crew smiled. "Don't worry, everyone will love you. As long as you don't say most the stuff you think."

I glared at him. "So you've been reading my mind all day, have you?"

"Not necessarily," Crew stopped. "It's more like thoughts have voices of their own. Some are louder than others, some are really quiet. It depends on the person, really. And you... have loud thoughts, to say the least."