Harry could hear the clinking of glasses and silverware and the low murmur of quiet conversations from where he stood behind the red velvet curtain. He stood almost at attention with the rest of the lads and they were all facing Simon and Paul.
“Now boys,” Simon told them for the millionth time that day. “Everyone here are very important people. If- when you impress them with your skills, they will pay to help study further in our field of science. They will fund for new equipment, scientists, everything!” He paced in front of the boys, his hands clasped behind his back, but Harry could see how tense the man's shoulders were. Harry could see the worry in his eyes and how small beads of sweat had been forming on their leader's forehead just along his hair line. Simon was extremely nervous about tonight.
They all were.
And who could blame them? Tonight was the night. The night all of them had been dreaming of. Tonight they were being debuted to the world as One Direction, the first ever superheroes. All of them were on pins and needles just thinking about not having to sneak around anymore.
As the Harry and the boys geared up, Harry's mind wandered to Tori. He wondered what she was going to think of him now that she would know he had powers. And he would explain to her that's why Simon had been so harsh. Simon would probably still not allow them to date, mind you, but at least she would know the truth of things. That is... If she ever returned his messages again. Tori hadn't called or texted him back since Simon had interrupted their date over a week ago.
Harry had tried to get Dani to talk to her, but it seemed Tori would have none of it. Dani was the one that had set them up in the first place. The two had been living together in Dani's beat up apartment until Tori had gotten an amazing job and moved out two months ago. The two girls were still best friends and talked to each other all the time!
The night after Simon had kicked Tori out of Head Quarters, Harry had received a very angry call from Danielle.
“What the hell did you do to her?!” The curly haired girl's voice demanded over the phone. “She's at my house right now, completely in tears, and all I can get from her is that something happened between the two of you!”
Harry made a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh and he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “It's... Complicated, Dani.” He lied. I'm really a superhero, and she can be used as my weakness by any enemies I encounter in the future.
“Like hell it is!” She spat. “What happened? Did you fight? Did you hurt her?” Her voice darkened on the last question. “I swear to you, Harry Styles, if you hurt her-”
“I didn't hurt her!” Harry said a little too loudly. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “I didn't hurt her.” He said quieter. “Look, Dani. It's something that's really hard to explain, ok? Just... Give me some time to explain myself to her, alright? I promise, I will tell her what had happened. Just give me time to let it blow over back at my place. Please.”
“Harry,” Dani said carefully. Her voice sounded almost sad. “I don't know what happened between the two of you. But if you don't get your shit together soon, I think it's going to be over. Tori's not the kind of girl that just sits around and waits for a guy to 'figure himself out' or whatever. If there's another girl or something, you need to get your act in place and man up.”
“There is not another girl!” He said through his teeth. “God, Dani, you don't know anything about what happened! Quit accusing me of shit I haven't done!”
“Then tell me what's happened!” The edge was back in her voice.
“I... Can't,” Harry said, running his hand through his hair again.
The conversation went down hill after that and finished fairly quickly. Harry hadn't heard from either of the girls since then.
“Heads up, Harry,” Louis' voice called from the other side of the stage they were hiding behind. Harry was torn from his thoughts and reflexively lifted his hand to catch the dark leather Louis had thrown at him. Harry held them in front of his face to examine them. They were like small leather sheaths made to hold Harry's knives in. Harry silently put the leather strap around his hips and slipped the knives into their places.
Next to him, Paul was helping Liam put on his sheaths. The straps crossed over the boy's chest like an x and there were two thin sheaths on either side of a thicker one. Once they were strapped on, Liam slid his katanas into the slimmer ones and then put his broadsword into the bigger one.
Zayn had about the same thing. A black leather strap crossed over his left shoulder and looped under his right. His sheath was curved across his back in the shape of the sickle. Zayn put the blade of his kusarigama into it's spot and wrapped the chain around his hip a few times before securing it.
Louis and Niall wore the leather straps around their waists like Harry, only Niall had his retracted form of his staff tucked neatly away.
Once they were all set, the boys stood at attention in front of Simon once more. Simon adjusted to bow tie on his suit. The banquet held for the boys was a black tie event, but One Direction themselves were dressed in their hero suits.
“Are you ready for this, boys?” Simon smiled nervously at them.
“As ready as we'll ever be,” Louis said, returning the same tight lipped smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Everyone knew Simon and Louis weren't related, but sometimes the resemblance between the two of them was uncanny.
Simon cleared his throat. “Right. I'll give the people in there about ten more minutes to eat, and then I'll make your announcement.”
“Yes, sir,” They boys said in unison. Simon only gave them one last smile, nodded, and swept past the curtain with Paul close at his heals.
“Oh my god,” Louis said in an excited voice. “This is it guys!” Everyone broke into beaming grins.
“I'm going to see what our crowd is like,” Harry said suddenly. The boys were on half of the stage that was set up on one of the top floors of the sky scraper. The only thing separating them from the rest of the room was the red curtain which would be lifted when it was their time.
Harry carefully pulled the curtain back and peeked his head around it. He could basically feel the boys breathing down his neck to get a look themselves.
Harry's eyes scanned the room. The entire thing had floor to ceiling windows that looked over the dark city. The lights of the other buildings glittered beautifully for a breath taking view.
There were circular glass tables placed around the room and groups of two or four people sat at each one. They were all eating the fancy food, drinking champagne, and talking amongst themselves. Every person there were dressed to the nines. The women in exquisite dresses, their hair artfully pinned up, and large amounts of jewelery dripped from their ears, necks, and wrists. The men were in expensive suits and they all oozed sophistication. Every last one of them were filthy rich and extremely important in the scientific community in some way or another.
Perrie walked past Harry's line of vision, carrying a tray of glasses full of champagne. She was dressed beautifully. Her hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail that sat high on her head. Her dress was long with a taffeta material at the bottom. The top was a nude color that had something black branching off from the center of her chest. It bloomed all the way to her shoulders and disappeared. She smiled a wide smile at a group of people at one of the tables and placed a glass of champagne in front of all of them.
Behind the bar in the corner, Eleanor laughed at a joke a young couple told her. Her hair was gently curled and she wore a long, elegant dress that dropped to her ankles. The material was sequence and a golden shade with a slit up the sides of her legs. She looked as stunning as ever.
Simon walked around the room, shaking hands with anyone he could and spoke a few words with them. Some made gestures to the curtain and the stage- Harry was hidden off to the side and nobody would see him- Simon would give them a proud smile and say something else. Then he would shake their hands again and move to the next guest.
Harry closed the curtain and turned to face the lads who were all looking at him anxiously. Harry grinned his lopsided grin. “We'd better make this a great show,” He said.
They let out a nervous laugh but didn't say much. They all fidgeted with their uniforms and adjusted their leather straps.
Suddenly, there was the sound of shoes on the stage and One Direction froze. They heard Simon clear his throat and the rest of the room's sound lulled into a hushed silence.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Simon spoke confidently and his voice carried itself all they way through the banquet without the need of a microphone. “For many years now, the world has been in peril. Whether it be from war, terrorist attacks, school shootings, or your everyday criminal activity, there is death in every country on a regular basis because of these problems. But I stand here before you today to give you hope that there will one day be peace brought to this world.
“I, and many other skilled scientists, have taken your everyday heroes and transformed them into something greater. We have genetically altered their DNA to give them superhuman abilities and have been training them for the past three years to protect this earth and everyone in it.” There was a murmur from the crowd.
“Yes, my fellow scientists,” Simon said. Harry could practically see the smug smile on the man's face. There were a few light steps from Simon that trembled through the stage as he pridefully walked across it, capturing their attention all over again. “You have heard me correctly. I have taken something from comic books and created it into something spectacular, I have turned fiction into reality, I have taken fantasy and brought it into the real world- ladies and gentlemen,” Simon paused from his pacing and his heals scraped the wood stage as he turned to face the audience. “I have created superheros.” The crowd chatted excitedly now, but Simon must have made a gesture to quiet them because they suddenly fell silent.
“These superhumans have been created for the soul purpose of keeping the world safe. They have been trained and have artfully mastered their skills in weapons, hand to hand combat, and most importantly: their super powers.
“I can stand here all night and pick apart every detail of these young men's abilities, but nothing compares to actually showing them to you.” The boys heard Simon walk to the side of the stage. “So without further adieu, I present to you One Direction!”
The curtains were hefted gracefully into the air. The room filled with appreciative applause as the boys were revealed. They had gotten into their places during Simon's speech. Liam stood on the right side of the stage, then Louis, Niall, Harry, and finally Zayn. They all beamed at the small crowd and nodded politely to the people whom they made eye contact with. Perrie and Eleanor stood next to the small bar, smiling proudly at them.
When the clapping died down, Paul stepped next to the stage, closest to Liam.
“This is Paul Higgins,” Simon told the banquet. “He has been my faithful assistant in training these young men and is here to help demonstrate their skills.” There was a brief applause for the huge man.
“We will start out with the first member of the group.” Simon said. Liam stepped forward and all eyes fell onto him. “Liam Payne was the first to join. He was chosen for his knowledge in boxing and was given powers to help bring out those skills. His powers are super strength and he has a strong empathy link with everyone around him, meaning he can literally sense every emotion someone is feeling. It is a skill needed in combat. He can feel out his opponents weaknesses- their fear, their anger, their joy,- and he can use it against them.”
Paul stepped up onto the stage and Liam grinned at him. Paul returned the smile and walked a little closer to the huge boy.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” Simon told the crowd before Liam could demonstrate his powers. “I would like to explain to you that I am an honest man. I have not brought you here to waste your time with ridiculous magic tricks and foolish games. Every last ability you see these boys perform is real. It has been programmed into their genetics and is not part of some elaborate smoke and mirrors show.” He looked over at Liam and nodded. “Continue,” He urged.
Liam nodded back and turned to Paul, grabbing the man and lifting him into the air. The motion was so fluid, it made Paul look as light as a feather. The audience gasped and the rest of the boys looked at each other, grinning at the reaction they were already getting.
Liam beamed at the crowd. His arms did not shake under Paul's weight and he didn't take a staggering step forward when he tried to give the audience a closer look. He simply strolled towards the edge of the stage and then removed one hand from the big man. His arm still did not shake as he proceeded to lift Paul up and down as if he were lifting weights. The crowd gasped a little louder this time. Some even covered their mouths in shock at the sight. Harry watched as a few of the younger women near the front eyed Liam's muscles as they flexed under the grey material of his uniform.
Paul burst out laughing at that and Liam's face took on a boyish grin. He giggled and gently sat Paul back on the ground. The two men shook hands and Paul clapped Liam on the back while the banquet was filled with applause again.
“Liam is also skilled in sword fighting,” Simon continued when Paul stepped off the stage again. “He fights mostly with his katanas and his broadsword.
Liam reached back and unsheathed his katanas. He twirled them around in his fingers before making more threatening moves with them. He sliced one up in the air while the other curved to the side in a great ark. Liam bent with the motion and then stood a little straighter to pinwheel both the blades at his side, the metal ringing through the air. He then jabbed both of them outwards and some of the people in the front row who had been leaning forward in anticipation jumped back with surprise. Even though Liam was too far away to get close enough to them with his swords, they still breathed out and laughed a little.
Liam put his katanas away before grabbing his broadsword and doing a few combinations with it. He never pressed the button that made the two blades fly out to the sides. And he never showed them that his katanas could be transformed into one. Simon had told the boys earlier that it was almost a little too threatening to show to the banquet. It might scare them at how dangerous they could really be. Simon instructed them to only show off a little, but not reveal all of their skills.
Liam finished his show and put his broadsword away, bowing, and stepped back into his place next to Louis.
“Louis Tomlinson,” Simon announced. “Has great skills in martial arts and his powers are invisibility, and healing anyone he touches.” Paul stepped back up onto the stage. His face was impassive, but Harry could see the tenseness between his shoulders. Louis had a small worried pucker between his eyebrows, but his face was almost as blank as Paul's.
Paul rolled up his sleeve and showed the underside of his arm to Louis. Louis, in turn, drew out one of his knives from his belt and set it on the skin of Paul's arm.
Simon faced the audience. “Those of you who do not like the sight of blood should look away now.” A few people instantly turned away or dropped their eyes to their laps, but most of them kept their focus fixed on Louis and Paul.
Louis took a deep breath and cut a fairly deep gash into Paul's arm. Paul winced a couple of times, but mostly kept his face straight as blood swelled and a few drops fell onto the stage floor. There were a few sounds of disgust and astonishment from the crowd, but they mostly stayed quiet.
Louis flipped the bloodied knife around so it wasn't aimed at Paul anymore and he gripped Paul's arm so it faced the banquet a little more. There was a sound of shock as everyone saw Louis glow blue. The light quickly spread over to Paul and there was another wave of gasps as they saw the gash close and heal over. Louis pulled away when it was done and grinned. Harry smiled at him. The older boy hadn't even broken a sweat from healing the big man and he looked quite proud of himself for it. Niall patted Louis on the shoulder and said something incoherent to his friend. Harry assumed it was something in congratulations.
Then Louis closed his eyes and flickered for just a moment before disappearing completely. Whispers of excitement and nervousness filled the room as they looked around for the invisible boy. They heard his feet tap lightly across the stage and then there was a dull thud as he jumped onto the ground. People whipped their head around, trying to see where Louis had gone and then there was a surprised squeal from the back of the room that made everyone turn around in time to see Eleanor jump into the air. Perrie had jumped back too, not expecting to hear Eleanor scream, and she was covering her mouth in shock.
Eleanor spun around and made a grasping motion at thin air near her lower back. It looked like she had caught something when the back of the room erupted with Louis' laughter. The boy turned visible again and Eleanor was holding his wrist, keeping him from grabbing her rear once more.
Perrie threw her head back and laughed and so did the rest of the audience when they realized what Louis had done. Eleanor let go of Louis only to swat him on the shoulder. Louis laughed and pulled her in for a quick kiss before strolling back up to the stage, a look of satisfaction on his face.
“Louis is also skilled with knives,” Simon tried to keep a straight face and give his godson a disapproving look at the same time. But the smile on the older man's face was making him fail miserably.
Louis pulled out two knives. At some point, he must have cleaned off the blade he had cut Paul with as it looked shiny and new again. Louis twirled one of the knives in his hand for a moment before swiping at the air with the other. He took the first knife and swung it again and there was a sharp ring of metal on metal that made everyone in the room jump.
Louis looked confused for a moment and then grinned at Niall who had deflected the blade with his staff. Both the boys took playful jabs at each other and lazily blocking the other's wimpy attacks.
“And this is Niall Horan.” Simon said, easily transitioning into the next introduction. “As you can see, it is trained in fighting with a staff. His abilities are speed and flight.”
Niall turned towards the audience just as Louis stepped back into place and slipped his knives back into his belt. Niall easily started spinning his staff and it let out a high pitched whistle as it blurred into near invisibility. Then Niall passed it over his head in a grand swinging motion and slammed one end onto the stage. He kept his head high and his chest puffed out and Harry had to admit: it was quite an impressive pose the blonde had struck.
Niall grabbed his staff and twisted it so it would retract into the small piece of metal before putting it back into his belt. Suddenly, he was a blur bolting across the room to the very back of it. Not towards Eleanor and Perrie like Louis had done, but he went straight across to the end where a table sat. A man and woman, presumably husband and wife, were seated there.
“Oh!” The woman jumped and put her hand over her heart when she saw Niall appear next to her.
“Hello!” Niall chuckled when she only stared at him in amazement. “Mind if I have that?” He pointed to a bread roll she had sitting next to her plate.
“...Sure...” She woman said. She sounded more confused than anything as she passed the bread over to Niall, not taking her eyes off of him.
“Thanks,” Niall said, snatching the bread out of her hand and taking a big bite out of it. “I'm really hungry,” He explained with a mouth full of food.
“O...k...?” She breathed, still trying to process how Niall had gotten next to her so quickly.
“Not much of a conversationalist, is she?” Niall joked to the woman's husband. But the man was just as mute as his wife. Niall shrugged and turned on his heels, taking one last bite of his bread. He took a couple steps and then the room gasped as Niall gently floated into the air and lazily flew back over to the stage. He landed softly in his place in line and Harry stepped forward. He couldn't hide the lopsided smile on his face as all eyes finally turned to him.
“Harry Styles has telekinetic powers and can read other people's minds. Both can stir up some mischief here, but we keep him around anyways.” The crowd laughed at Simon's joke.
Harry reached out as if to grab something even though there was nothing even close to his reach. The people sitting at the table directly in front of him jumped when a glass of champagne was lifted into the air and drifted over to Harry.
“I hope you don't mind,” Harry said in his deep, raspy voice. “I'm just a little thirsty.” The glass placed itself in his hand and Harry pressed it to his lips to take a drink. But before he was even able to take a sip, the glass was ripped from his hands by Simon.
“I don't think so,” Simon said in a scolding voice. “You aren't twenty one yet.” Harry pouted as Simon handed the champagne to Paul at the bottom of the stage. Paul gave it back to the people at the table and whispered a quick apology.
Harry only shrugged off the slight disapproving looks he'd gotten and stepped off the stage. The whole crowd watched his every move and he couldn't help but feel a little smug from the attention.
He nodded to a few people as he passed them. Harry approached a table with only one couple at it. They were middle aged and definitely well fed. Both were fairly plump and the wife paid next to no attention to Harry as she argued with her husband about how much he had eaten already. Even from that bit of the conversation, Harry could hear the couple's British accents.
“Excuse me,” Harry said, stooping down a little too closely to the woman.
“Oh!” She gasped at the sound of his voice and turned around to face him. Almost instantly, she placed her hand on her champagne glass as if Harry were going to try and take hers.
“Sorry to interrupt,” He told her, taking a small step back. “But I couldn't help but notice your husband has some loud thoughts going on in his head.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and what are they?” She said in an almost clipped tone.
“Well, it seems he's taken an interest in the waitress that has been serving you tonight. I just wanted to let you know that she's engaged to my friend over here.” Harry nodded to Perrie as he first spoke, but then jerked his head over to Zayn.
“What?” The woman demanded turning to face the man. Her husband flushed and started to stammer out something.
“Oh, really?” Harry heard a voice behind him. Everyone turned and saw Zayn had stepped off the stage and was standing just off to the side. His arms were crossed over his chest and he glared at the man. Zayn grinned wickedly at him and his crossed arms burst into flames, making more than one person sitting next to him jump half way out of their chairs in surprise.
“Zayn-” Simon started to scold.
“It's alright Zayn,” Perrie's voice said from the other side of the room. Everyone turned and looked at her as she carried a tray of champagne over to the portly couple's table. Everyone saw Zayn's face soften at the sight of the beautiful girl and the fire on his arms quickly extinguished themselves. Perrie set a glass in front of the man and patted his shoulder in a comforting manner. “It's not like I'm going to go running off with him. Besides,” She teased. “You're a little hotter than him,” She winked at her fiance and the banquet all chuckled at her cheesy pun.
“And lastly, we have Zayn Malik,” Simon told everyone.
Harry found his way back to the stage. He was a little disappointed about the fact that he didn't get the chance to show off his knife skills. He took his place in line next to Niall and Zayn walked back onto the center of the stage.
“As you all have seen, one of his powers is the ability to set himself on fire without any source of heat and not be burned. His other power is to control the weather.”
Before Simon could even finish his sentence, there was a loud clap of thunder and the city outside was lit up with the dazzling lighting bolts that streaked across the sky. Then rain poured down heavily and blurred out everything as it cascaded down the glass walls of the room.
The people of the banquet looked from the storm, back to Zayn, and back to the storm in astonishment. Zayn waved his hands and suddenly everything was quiet. The storm disappeared just as quickly as it came.
Zayn didn't even get the time to bring out his kusarigama. The audience jumped to their feet and applauded. Some whistled and cheered at Zayn, at the boys. They cheered and clapped and hollered at Simon things that made him beam.
Zayn took a few stumbling steps backwards into his spot in line. All the boys were gaping at the reaction they were getting. After a moment of stunned silence from the group, they all smiled proudly and waved at the crowd. They kept looking at each other with astonished faces and cheesy grins.
This was it. No more secrets, no more hiding. They were finally revealed to the whole world. They were One Direction. The first ever superheros. They were going to be heros to millions.
Suddenly, there was a blast that shook the whole floor. The glass walls exploded into the room and thick shards of it flew everywhere. People screamed and scrambled under the tables, trying to avoid being cut to ribbons. There were a few loud pops and flashes of light and then another blast erupted and left everyone's ears ringing.
Harry wishes he could say he had jumped into action. He wishes he could say he had been the hero he had been born to be. He wishes he could say he had used his telekinesis to stop the glass, to throw it back out of the room with his power. He wishes he could say he had instantly put his life on the line right there to save all the people in that room. But that would make him a liar.
Harry dropped to the ground, screaming, with the rest of the boys. They all curled up into a ball to try and protect themselves from the flying glass. And they all looked around helplessly at the room and the people in it. They looked at each other, silently asking what they should do, but they turned away and squeezed their eyes shut, ashamed of themselves. And they all covered their ears to try and block the sounds of the bombs going off.