The Adventures of Soap Boy

Part 4: Real Power

I woke up from the best sleep I'd had in a while, and quickly got dressed. I had been at the fort for over a week, and was getting quite used to the routine. Unlike what the General had said, there was no training.

After a few tests, my power was determined to be utterly useless in a combat role. Much to my dismay. Instead of fighting, I was placed on cleaning detail. Basically, I was a janitor. A slave janitor.

I wasn't receiving pay, nor was I allowed to sleep outside of the shared holding cell with the other super people. Overall, my situation was not very good. Even still, I would push on. Maybe with enough time I could rise through the ranks of the military. Once I did that, perhaps I could abolish the kidnapping of superhumans. For the moment, however, the only thing I would be abolishing would be the stench coming from the toilets.

I spent the morning cleaning various messes and refilling the soap dispensers. Then I made my way to lunch. There, I met with Gossip, who I had become quite close with. For some odd reason, she had lost all of her shyness a few days after we first met. She just walked right up to me and said "Be friends with me!" So we were.

"Hey Gossip!" I yelled out as I approached.

"Hey Soap Boy!" She replied. "I brought you some bread from the kitchen!"

She closed the distance to me, and handed over the roll to go along with the lunch I had grabbed in the line. I had no idea how, but she basically had full run of the base. If she wanted something, she usually got it. Maybe the reason was her massive contribution to the war effort. I had heard that she was considered the single most valuable asset in the entire region due to her ability to mess with enemy command. Rumor even had it that the entire reason this base was still being supplied was because of her. Still, the why didn't really matter to me, so long as I could enjoy extra helpings come mealtime.

We talked for a while as we ate lunch together. Talking with Gossip was fun. Her name wasn't just for show. She knew the rumor mill of this base seemingly better than anybody else. She knew everything from the intimate details of each soldier's private life all the way to the location of the general's secret stash of sweets, which she routinely raided.

Being Gossip's friend was a free ticket to effectively unlimited power over the way the people in the base saw me. She had even agreed to help me in my plan to rise up the ranks and make change. She had put in a good word for me, and apparently, if I just did a good enough job for a few more weeks, the general was considering actually enlisting me. Speaking of, I had to get back to work. So I said my goodbyes, and returned to latrine duty.

I used my power to get the job done far faster than expected, and used the free time to nab a few training manuals from the fort's library. So long as I returned them when asked, I was allowed to take as many of them as I wanted. I used that privilege to the fullest. Soon acquiring a full bag of books. I didn't really like reading, but it was the best way to learn new skills in my very limited free time. I forced myself to read for an hour or so before bed every night.

I had tried a number of times to get along with Aspis, but he just wasn't having it. Something about my presence seemed to trouble him, so I just gave up. Now our interactions amounted to him meeting with me once every few days to have his clothes cleaned.

That was my typical day. Though, things would become very atypical from that point on.

In the early afternoon, the alarms rang out. An announcement played over the speakers warning everyone in the base of an incoming force arriving to attack us. If the enemy was attacking this location, it basically meant that we were the last bastion of resistance. After all, our base was the one housing the super soldiers, and the opposing forces knew it.