Paragon

A Crack in the Sky

Adam woke to pain, and it was everywhere. His shoulders ached, his fingers prickled, and his back felt like it had been crushed beneath a building.

He lay still for a long moment, staring at the ceiling, waiting for it to pass. It only got worse. Orange light crept across the room, and he couldn't tell if the sun was rising or setting

He sat up slowly, throwing off the thin sheet. A sharp ache shot through his spine, and he clenched his teeth. "Fuck."

He rubbed the back of his neck and pulled the curtains open just enough to see outside. Across the street, a huge billboard showed a candid shot of him mid-flight. ATLAS, it said, in bold letters. He hadn't chosen the name. To them, Atlas was indestructible.

He grimaced and pulled the curtains shut. His room was not anything like an outside would expect it to be— it was plain. There was a small wardrobe to one side, a desk to another. His bed was pressed against the window, the faint light from through the curtains being what woke him up when the sun rose.

The unveiling was tomorrow, and he couldn't afford to flinch in front of a crowd that size. He pulled on his new suit, clipped the cape into place, strapped his boots, and stalked out to the terrace. He needed Helix. Helix would know how to fix this.

He took off into the sky, the wind sharp against his face, and made for Starcrest. Above the island he could see the mouth of the cave cut into its center. He landed and walked in, one hand pressed to his head. "Helix!" His voice echoed off the rock.

"Over here!"

The doors opened into the lab and it looked like it had just been tidied up, with the usual clatter of files and gadgets gone. It was like Helix's office by now, he even had a picture of him receiving a prize and a personalised calendar on his desk.

He found Helix exactly where he expected. He was bent over one of the tables, something small lit up beneath the lamp above it. On the table, between two metal instruments, lay a single black feather. It was larger than any bird's, with a strange metallic sheen along its edges.

Adam couldn't look away from it. "What are you doing?"

"Studying." Helix didn't look up.

"Why are you here?" He finally asked, pulling back from the microscope. His white hair was a mess, nothing like the version of him the public saw. He peeled off his goggles and squeezed his eyes shut, adjusting.

"I woke up like this." Adam gestured at himself. "Everything hurts. My back, my shoulders, my arms, my legs." He flexed his fingers. "Even my hands." He flexed his hands. There were no cuts or bruises, only a tingling ache.

"Take this off." Helix motioned to the top of the suit, already turning to grab something from the counter. "When's the last time you were in action?"

Adam pulled the suit down to his waist. "Yesterday. But it was an easy fight. I barely used my powers."

Helix began fixing small sensors on his arms.

"What are these?"

"Biometric sensors." He turned to the monitor as it began to beep, then beep again, faster. His expression changed. Numbers scrolled rapidly across the screen. Heart rate, blood oxygen, muscle activity, neural activity, regenerative activity. "That's strange."

Adam straightened. "What?"

"Your regenerative activity." Helix pulled a graph from a folder and held it beside the screen. "This is from three weeks ago." The peak on the monitor towered over the one on the page. "Your regeneration is working harder than it should be."