Liam sighed when his alarm clock went off that morning. He rolled over to shut it off and flopped back onto his back with his arms over his eyes. He really didn't want to get up, but he was still stressed from last night and knew a good work out would help get his mind off things.
Liam sighed again and got out of bed, changing into his work out clothes. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get that image of Niall out of his head. He'd seen it coming, too. He saw the light from the fire in the back of Zayn's throat as he laughed. He saw the fire ball rocket from his mouth. He could have saved his friend. But he didn't. He was worried about Harry getting hit at first. After all, Harry was the one in the way of Niall.
He'd felt it, too. He felt Niall's pain. Not to the same extent that Niall felt, but he knew. The muscles between his shoulder's ached at the thought. At first, Niall had been confused, then Liam felt his shock and finally, his fear. God, he hated fear. That was always the worst to feel from someone else. All he ever wanted to do was reach out and hold those kinds of people. He passed them on the street everyday. He felt their joy, their sadness, their anger, their fear. As cheesy as it sounded, all he ever wanted now was to have the rest of the world feel joy.
That's when Louis started calling him Daddy Direction. Liam was always so concerned with how the other boys felt, he couldn't help but just try and make them happy all the time. That and the fact that he did have an authority over the rest of them made him like the “father figure” in their life. He didn't mind it. He liked taking care of the boys.
Liam finished changing and went to the elevator. He started his descent to the main floor, trying, in vain, to get the thought of Niall, burnt and bleeding, out of his head.
The elevator dinged and opened up to the lobby. Behind the desk was Louis' girlfriend on the phone. “Ok,” She said into the receiver. “I have your meeting booked for next week, Tuesday, at four thirty. Mr. Cowell is looking forward to seeing you... Thank you, sir. Have a nice day,” She hung up the phone and Liam let her mark down the meeting before saying anything. She looked up at him when she was done and gave him her sweet smile. “Hello, Liam,” She said.
“Hello, Eleanor.” Liam greeted. “Louis isn't up yet?”
Eleanor shook her head, her smile pulling down at the corners a bit. “No, he stayed up all night with Niall.”
“Oh, right,” Liam said, remembering being shooed away by nervous Louis after placing Niall in bed the night before.
“Do you know how he's doing?” El asked.
“I have no idea,” Liam could feel her concern as he said it. “But since it's Louis, I'm sure he's fine now,”
Eleanor nodded. “So are you off to the gym?” She asked, taking in his apparel.
“Yeah,” Liam said.
Eleanor fished under the desk and pulled out the key. “Here you go,” She said, giving him that smile as she placed the key in his hand. “Have fun,”
“Thanks,” Liam said, turning back around and heading for the elevator.
Liam placed his thumb over floor -3 and let it scan his finger print. “Welcome- Liam Payne,” Said the robotic voice over the speakers before the elevator descended into the otherwise non existent floor.
After a moment, the doors opened to the lage, spacious floor of the training room he had been in last night and headed for the boxing equipment.
Simon had to special order all of Liam's things because of his super strength. The boy could easily knock a hole through any normal punching bag without breaking a sweat.
Liam remembered his first couple of weeks with his powers. It was so strange and so clumsy! He had to try and find his balance again with all the new muscle he had packed on from his trip into the pod. He walked around like a drunken sailor or something.
Liam started to throw jabs at his special made punching bag. To others, it was like punching a brick wall. It probably felt as heavy too, but to Liam, it felt like punching his old punching bags from back in the day.
He thought back again to his powers. He wasn't just clumsy, he was almost reckless. Everything he touched broke or crumbled under his finger tips. He'd break forks in half, door knobs would crumple like paper, glasses would shatter when ever he tried to take a drink and he was way too scared to touch someone because he thought they would snap in half from the lightest touch.
Except when he had gotten mad at Louis that one day. He remembered when he had lost his temper and thrown him against the wall. He was so scared that he would hurt him. He didn't want to hurt people. He never did. Boxing was for self defense. Those bullies, they had hurt him first!
No, he didn't want to hurt people. He wanted to save them. That's all he ever wanted to do, save people.
He remembered when he was first approached by Simon and Xavier in his home town. It was right after a boxing match (which he had won) when he first saw them.
* * *
“Liam Payne, is it?” The older looking one said.
“Yeah,” Liam said, wiping sweat off his face and packing up his gym bag.
The older man stuck out his hand “Simon Cowell. And this is my colleague, Xavier Murphy,”
Liam shook their hands. “Nice to meet you,” He said, getting back to his gym bag.
“You've got some nice moves out there, Liam,” Simon said, crossing his arms over his chest and casually leaning against the fighting ring.
“Thanks,” Liam said, giving them a sincere smile.
“We've heard you're going to go pro pretty soon. And that you've been invited to run in the 2012 Olympics.” Said Xavier.
“Yeah I am. It's pretty exciting,” Liam wasn't exactly able to hide his grin any more.
“Professional boxer, Olympics competitor, smart, strong, you're quite an impressive person,” Simon said. “And you're only what... 16?”
“I will be in August,” Liam said, zipping up his bag. “Is there anything you two wanted in particular?” Liam asked. “I don't mean to sound rude, but I really do have to get going,”
“Actually, yes, there is,” Xavier said.
Liam gave them a puzzled look, but set down his gym bag and sat on the bench. “Alright, let's hear it,”
Xavier looked at Simon and Simon turned to Liam and spoke. “Liam,” He started. “We have an offer to make you. It's an offer that would require you to drop everything you have going on in your entire life. Your boxing career, the Olympics, everything.” Liam raised an eyebrow at the man's forwardness. Why would he start out a speech like that?
“I'm sorry,” Liam stood, “But I don't think I can do that,”
Simon shook his head and something about the look on the man's face made him sink back down onto the bench. “What I'm offering you, Liam Payne, is the opportunity to become something far greater than and Olympic gold medalist or a boxing world champion. I-” He looked at Xavier, correcting himself. “We are offering to make you a hero,”
Liam's eyebrow raised even further. “A hero,” He said skeptically. “What, like, Iron Man or something?”
Simon shook his head again, a bit of a smile on his face. “Not quite. Iron Man is someone in a suit that is equipped to give him power.”
“We can give you real powers!” Xavier interjected.
Liam looked back and fourth from the men before promptly bursting out laughing. “Ok, guys, that's funny,” He chuckled, standing up from his spot.
“I can see why you wouldn't believe us,” Simon said. “After all, super powers are just a thing of comic books. But Xavier and I are scientists. We've discovered how to give a human being powers and we'd like you to be the first superhuman,”
“Right,” Liam scoffed, picking up his gym bad and brushing past the two psychos. “I'll be superhuman when pigs fly,” He called over his shoulder before leaving the men alone in the empty gym.
* * *
Liam still chuckled to himself the next day, thinking about the two men who claimed to be scientists, as he headed back to the gym for a midday training session. His coach had called and canceled the plans, but Liam figured he should work out, anyway.
Liam unlocked the gym with the spare key his coached had given him and set down his things to stretch out. He brushed his straightened hair out of his eyes and sat down before reaching for his toes.
After a few minutes, Liam heard the door to the gym open. “I thought you said you had other plans,” Liam said, not turning around from his stretching. But instead of his coaches voice, he heard a strange squealing sound above him. Liam looked up to see what it was and jumped to his feet only t nearly fall over at the sight of it. “What the fu-” But he was cut off after he tripped over his gym bag and landed on his ass, not able to take his eyes off the thing floating around the ceiling.
Well, it wasn't a thing, really, it was a... pig. It was a pig and it was flying around the gym! No! There was no way this was actually happening! But there it was! Liam couldn't believe his eyes. He must be dreaming.
“Like him?” The voice behind Liam made him jump and tear his gaze away from the sight above him. Simon and Xavier stood behind the boy, both their eyes were trained on the monstrosity that was lazily drifting around the room, a look of wonder on their faces. And a bit of smugness. There was definitely smug looks on both their expressions.
“His name is Chub Chub,” Xavier said.
“One of the world's first flying pigs!” Simon added. He looked down at Liam, a smirk on his features. “That's what you said yesterday, right? You'd join us if pigs flew? Well,” He looked back up. “That's a pig... And... he's flying...” Liam could hear the cockiness dripping from the older man's voice.
“I... WHAT?!” Liam exclaimed, looking from the two men to the pig and back again. “This has to be some kind of trick!”
“Oh, no, it's not a trick,” Xavier said, grinning at the boy. “It was actually quite easy to get a pig to fly.”
Simon sat down next to Liam with a sigh and Xavier sat on the other side. All three of them watched the horrendous air show. “We've experimented on many animals before. Gerbils, mice, rats, monkeys,” Simon explained. “We've given them all abilities like Chub Chub has.” He looked at Liam. “And we can do the same for you, Liam,” His voice dropped low, all smug taunting gone and he was left with a completely serious tone.
“But...” Liam tore his gaze from the pig and looked at Simon. “But, why me? There are so many other people you could chose. Why me?”
Simon shrugged. “You're strong. And we could use that; we could amplify that.”
“Couldn't you just get a body builder instead then?”
“Liam,” Simon sighed. “Xavier and I have looked all over the world for someone like you. You're young, you're smart, you're brave, you're a good fighter. We have found plenty of people like that, but you have something else in you that just seems right. And I don't think I'll ever place my finger what it is, but you have something I really like. And that's why I want you to do this. Xavier and I have been watching you for quite some time and we both agree that you would be perfect for this.”
Liam thought for a moment. “Will there be others like me?”
“Eventually.” Xavier said. “But you would be the first,”
“We're expecting to have five total and I'm hoping it'll take three years, max, to have all of the fully trained and equipped for the job. More will follow soon, like my godson, Louis,”
“Uh, Simon,” Xavier interjected. “We haven't exactly agreed that Louis would be a good asset to-”
“We're not going to discuss this now, Xavier,” Simon said in a threatening tone. He looked back at Liam. “So what do you say?”
Liam looked back up at Chub Chub and a hint of a smile appeared. “I think I'll do it,”
“There will be sacrifices,” Simon warned.
“Like what?”
“You can't see your friends or family anymore,” Xavier said.
“Why not?” Liam asked, stunned.
“Well, someone could threaten your family. It's a weakness anybody can bring out and it can be used against you.”
“Oh,” Liam said, looking down at the ground, deep in thought.
“You don't have to make your decision right now,” Xavier told him. “But we would like an answer by next week.” Both the men stood after that. Xavier whistled at the pig which flew down to them and was placed in a cage. They started to walk out.
“Meet us here this time next week if you're interested,” Simon said just before walking out the door. “We are looking forward to seeing you again,”
Liam still sat on the floor. How could I leave my friends and family for this? He wondered. How could I just throw all of this away and follow two men I've hardly ever talked to? His mind drifted back to the flying pig. He could actually have powers, though! He could save so many people with it! He could be a hero. And Simon had said that they had searched everywhere and he was the only one who had stuck out to them...
Liam jumped to his feet and ran out. He looked around the streets when he was outside until the saw the retreating figures of the scientist. “Wait!” He called, sprinting after them. “Wait!” The two men paused and turned around to see him chasing after them. Liam caught up to them fairly quickly. “Ok,” He said between gasps for air when he reached them. “I'll do it,”
~omg I'm soooo looking forward to you guys reading the next chapter!!! It's gonna be super intense and I really hope you like it!! Can I get at least three votes, too, please? And tell me what you think is gonna happen next in the comments! I am really on the edge of me seat for this next chapter, though. Until then ;)~