I decided to go- to the police station that is.
It seemed like the only rational place to 'express' my powers.
I didn't really know how to tell them that I was special, or had powers, whatever. It's not like I would just turn invisible- too many people would know my identity then.
I laughed at myself as I walked down the busy NYC streets. Why was I acting like I was important? They probably would take one look at me and decide I was too weak to make the Ten into the Eleven.
Or perhaps they'd see me as very powerful and it'd become Frank Iero and the Ten. Actually, they defeats the purpose of hidden identities. Maybe I'd get my own special superhero name, something stupid like 'The Shadow'.
I was just flattering myself with my own imagination now, and the police station was in sights. I quickly figured up a plan: go in, and ask to see someone important.
Looking back now, it seemed a little sketchy, but whatever.
I pushed open the glass door into the police station. I didn't really know what to expect, seeing as I'd never been inside the NYPD station before, but it was quite big. I looked around momentarily till someone resembling a secretary acknowledged my existence.
"Eh-hm, sir," she looked at me. She had chocolate colored skin and her hair was in two braids down her back. She was the perfect mix between superficial and casual. "Can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah actually," I strolled up to her desk, hands in my pockets. I read the name on her desk quickly. "Miss Frew, you can help me."
"Well, speak. I can't have my time wasted..." her words trailed off as I leaned down to talk quietly to her.
I had tried to dress nicely as to not give the wrong first impression, but I still think she was a little afraid of me. You had to be afraid of everyone when you lived in New York.
"Who do I talk to about..." my voice was low, almost at a whisper. "Super powers."
She laughed in my face. "Oh honey, you are not getting any information about the Ten from here. It's confidential, and don't think you're special because you're at least the third person in here asking about them today."
I shook my head, "No, I... I have super powers." It sounded like I was twelve and trying to convince my mom I went to bed on time last night.
She shook her head right back at me, "Sure, honey. I'm sure..."
She stopped talking as I willed myself to go invisible all over. Of course my clothes didn't go invisible as well, but whatever. "I didn't want to do it in public, but I guess if that's what it takes to make you believe me..."
"Sir, stop. We don't need to draw more attention," she stood up suddenly. "Tell Toro we have a Project G on our hands, Carol."
I turned solid again, following Diana Frew's orders. "Come with me," she said.
I nodded. Apparently this was somewhat of a big deal, as they had a project dedicated to it. I wondered what G stood for. I followed her up two flights of stairs and into an office that had several locks on the door. There were no windows in the room, maybe for safety. Hung on the walls and sat on the desk were pictures- all of them had one similarity in them. There was a reoccurring presence of a certain guy with a brown semi-afro.
As I was inspecting a photo of him with someone in a fan-made costume of One, someone walked in the door.
It was the man in the pictures, who I assumed was Toro. Toro was a weird name.
"Hello, Ray," Okay, Ray made a lot more sense as a name. "This is number eleven in Project G."
Ray shook his head. "That can't be right, there's only ten of them. There should only be ten."
Diana turned towards me. "He's definitely super though. Is invisibility your only thing?"
I shook my head instantly. "No, I can control time as well."
"And?" Ray questioned.
"And what? That's it," I shrugged and looked down.
"That can't be right. Powers come in odd numbers- one, three, or five," he shook his head. "Maybe you just haven't gotten your third one yet."
Diana shrugged. "There wasn't even supposed to be an eleventh though, maybe he's different."
Ray looked at her, "Can you call in One please. I need his opinion on this."
"In uniform or not?"
Ray waved his hand and shook his head, "No, it's no use."
My heart beat sped up- I was going to meet One? My personal favorite of the Ten was actually Four, but One was cool as well. After all, he was the first to be discovered.
The headlines said "Young Adult Found to Shape-Shift." The paper from a year ago had astounded me, and not much time after, more and more people were showing signs of super powers. I was 16 at the time the paper came out, and totally in awe of it all. The Ten started fighting crime about the time I was 18 and at 20, I had concluded I too had superpowers and I wasn't just crazy. I was 21 now, and the Ten still had their grasp on the public's eye.
After five minutes of questions about my powers, someone knocked on the door.
My head felt like it was going to explode and my stomach was doing flips. How did he get here so quickly? Do the Ten live here? What will he look like? Will he hate me? I didn't want to be hated by One.
Ray opened the door and my heart felt like it was stopping. A man in his mid-twenties stepped into the room. He had bed head, really bad, and he was wearing ripped jeans and an Iron Maiden shirt.
I suddenly got a painful head ache, I hunched over in my chair, head in hands. "Fuck, fuck," I muttered.
The head ache suddenly disappeared and I sat straight up and gasped for air.
"I just-" I looked straight at One.
One looked at Ray and raised his eyebrows.
"Are you okay?" Ray asked.
"I just," I shook my head and stood up. But something was off, I could feel it. "Something big just happened."
One, Ray, and Diana exchanged glances. "Do you need some water?"
I nodded slowly and she went to the corner of the room where a water tank stood and we all meandered in silence as the sound of water being poured filled the room.
She filled the cup up about half-way and started walking back toward me.
The next few events happened in slow motion- and not because of my ability to control time.
Diana tripped, the water falling from her hand. Before I knew what I was doing, I had ran- like One's speed- and caught Diana and my hand was outstretched slightly in the direction of the water, somehow having control over it, holding it just above the carpeted floor.
I was panting and I heard a whistle from One. "Well, well, well."
I could see Ray smiling from the corner of my eye, but I was still in an awkward position- holding Diana with my arm reaching for the hovering water.
"You can let go," Diana said. And I let go: of her and the water.
I collapsed to the ground. "What just happened."
"Well, Frank. You've just introduced us to a new power," Ray said and I furrowed my brow. These weren't new, these were One's powers.
"What is your name?" One asked me casually.
"Frank, Frank Iero," I replied cautiously.
"Well, Frank, I'm One, but you can call me Gerard. Welcome to the Ten, well Eleven now."
~
"Mimic?" I asked confusedly.
"Well to support my hypothesis, can you try to... Well try to shape-shift please," One, no Gerard, shrugged.
"How?" I looked down. "Sorry I'm kind of new. I'm still not very good at the whole invisibility and time thing- and now finding out I can mimic other's powers?" I shook my head.
"Well, just think of the object or creature or just human you want to change into," he said and suddenly his features were changing, shifting and molding till his face was an exact replica of mine.
"That," I said, "was creepy."
He shrugged and morphed back to his normal face. "Try something easy, like making yourself taller or into some kind of animal."
I envisioned a deer in my head and closed my eyes. I wondered how dumb I looked, eyes shut tight and fists clenching. But then they weren't fists anymore. They were deer hooves and I opened my eyes frantically. I couldn't speak anymore, because I was a deer.
This was so incredibly dumb I shifted back into my normal self earlier than I wanted to because I felt stupid.
Gerard shrugged, "Deer is a weird choice, but okay." He walked over to a house plant he had growing in the corner of his room. I was right, by the way, the Ten did live here. They disguised themselves as people who worked here, though so it didn't seem to conspicuous.
"Can you make this grow for me?" He asked and I shrugged and held a hand toward it, cupping one of the flowers which I'm turn bloomed. The leaves turned greener at my touch.
"Wow," I said and looked up at him with big eyes. "And you can do this all the time?"
He shrugged, "It's more of a hobby. It's not like it's useful in battle."
I laughed. "So am I going to get to meet the Ten? This is so cool."
"Well I'm probably going to bring in Mikey to see if you can mimic him at the same time as me. It'll be pretty cool to see how many powers you can do at once and if you can block out some powers or you automatically inherit them. You're going to be a very interesting addition to Project G."
I blushed, "It's probably not as cool as you're making it out to be. I mean, shouldn't Eleven be the least powerful? Like that's why you're One right? Because you're the best?"
He smirked, "I'm One because I was the first to receive my powers."
"Oh, ok," I said. "Who's Mikey?"
"Oh, shit," he laughed. "I forgot you only know us by number and color. He's Four, ya know the guy in purple. He's my brother."
My heart rate sped up. "I'm meeting Four? Oh my god, this is like my dream come true."
Gerard clacked his tongue at me, "Favoritism isn't nice, and don't tell Three he's not your favorite. He's keen on being the one that everyones' eyes are on."
"I can tell by the gold clothing," I laughed. "What's his name?"
"Brendon," Gerard said. "Frank, you understand you can't tell people these things, right?"
"Like I have anyone to tell. I peaked in high school, and even then I was pretty low," I said without thinking. Someone as cool and famous as One would not care about my sob story.
"Well, Frank. Let me tell you something. Your life is about to change, whether you like it or not, because the world is full of crime and we're expected to stop it."
I sighed and nodded. Hopefully I wasn't too terrible at this whole crime fighting thing.
"So what color are you, Eleven?" Gerard suddenly asked, giving me a devious smirk.
"I was thinking gray, like dark gray," I said and shrugged.
"Don't you think that's a bit close to black?" He raised his eyebrows jokingly.
I blushed, "I didn't mean it like that. I-I don't want to try to take away your glory, I-"
"I know," he laughed. "Just messing with you. Though I think pink would suit you nicely."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, where and when do I get this outfit made anyway? And by the way, my invisibility is kind of useless because my clothes don't go invisible with me..."
Gerard waved it off. "Ellen will take care of that. She can do anything when it comes to clothes."
I nodded excitedly.
"Lets go see Mikey now," One said and motioned for me to follow him out his door.