Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

Hero

        "Would you save my soul tonight? I can be your hero, baby, I can kiss away the pain, I will stand by you forever. You can take my breath away. Would you swear that you'll always be mine? Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind? I don't care, you're here tonight."
-Enrique Iglesias

*****

        The feeling that one receives when something is not quite right in the world can not be easily ignored. And that particularly ominous feeling was extremely present among members of the team during the earliest hours of that eerily silent Saturday morning. After Dylan had discovered both his mindsight and that the government officials at the facility were planning on dosing the team with Gamma 13 about an hour earlier, not a single member of the team had slept.
        Jack had told them all to go back to their rooms but remain alert while he was attempting to sort out the situation; the kids hadn't heard from him since. The fact that it was only four o'clock in the morning and yet the hallways of Area 52 were as busy as ever told Jack that something big was in fact planned for later that day. After instructing the children to wait in their rooms, he had been around most of the facility twice times over in search of any of three particular people.
        While in search of either Larraby, Dr. Grant, or Miss Holloway, Jack had attempted to pry information from other employees that he ran into, but nobody would give him the answers that he desired. But it was clear that they knew exactly what he was talking about, it was not that they did not know that answers but rather that they were not about to share them with him.
        Whatever was happening, it had something to do with Jack's brother; Dylan's mindsight had proved that. The images on the screen that Dylan had seen could almost lead one to believe that Connor was to return, though everyone had deemed that impossible some twenty-five years ago. The return of Concussion almost made perfect sense, after the Gamma thirteen's evil effects took over Connor's powers, his only goal was to kill the team. As long as Jack was still alive, Concussion's job wasn't done.
        While Jack felt many emotions as he stormed through the halls of the facility early that morning, they were each easily masked by an intense anger. The betrayal, the panic, the confusion, the worry, and everything else were all currently being overpowered by the fury he felt. He had been lied to right from the beginning, but that wasn't even the worst part.
        The worst part was that Jack saw it coming. He knew right from the minute that Marsha and Grant suddenly appeared in his shop on that fateful afternoon that Jack's presence at Area 52 would not be for the reasons that they told him it would be. Jack told himself that he wouldn't give in to the facilities wishes for that very reason, but he had inexplicably and regrettably let his carefully constructed guard down.
        Looking back on it now, he couldn't even figure out just how it had happened. How had he suddenly forgotten about the walls that he'd put up and what, or who, had been able to break right through them? And now he was about to suffer the consequences, and they were heavy. Because now it wasn't only his own wellbeing that was in jeopardy, it was that of four innocent children as well.
        At this point in time, Jack did not understand that the anger that he was feeling was directed at himself, so he looked for someone, anyone, to blame. So, whose fault was it? It would be easiest to place the blame on Larraby himself. After all, it was his plan all along. But Jack had never been one to take the easiest way out of something. He could blame Dr. Grant, but the man always seemed so utterly clueless that it wouldn't be quite satisfying enough.
        Who did that leave? Jack searched his brain for ideas on who the real culprit was. Finally, he was given an answer. The reason that any of this was even happening was because Jack had let his guard down, he'd already realized this. But the problem was that he had begun to trust. Trust was a concept that he had been unfamiliar with since his original team had been killed. And yet, he had somehow been able to rediscover it when he returned to Area 52, a place filled with people who in his mind were the least deserving of his trust in the world.
        So Jack's chaotic thoughts posed him a question. Who was the first person that he gave his trust to? Marsha Holloway. The woman in a green dress whom he'd met as he picked her up off the road. The woman who had singlehandedly managed to tear through his defenses and somehow succeeded in convincing Jack to allow himself to care for the team. As he reflected upon this now, either she really was as clueless as she made herself out of be, or she was a terrific liar. He settled on the latter.