I bet you didn't expect Flare's metaphorical ending sentence would mean a prologue would literally follow the epilogue. I know, I know. It's weird. It's my idea. My secret identity wouldn't be so secret if everyone knows from the beginning. That'd ruin all the fun.
- Cryonics ;)
- - - -
Prologue
Ever stared at the sky on cloudy day and match the formation of the clouds with things like a bird or a glazed doughnut? My best friend, Jamie Devlin, has never failed to come up with weird comparisons. I mean my other friends would say they see a rabbit or a snowman. But for Jamie, her whole sky is probably turned into a Halloween Festival by her imaginations.
Jack O' Lantern. Killer clown with a machete. Grim Reaper.
And she's only nine. I wonder what would she come up with when she's older.
A mutilated snowman perhaps?
The only thing I would imagine about when I see bunch of fluffy cloud littering the sky is snow. It's as if North Pole has moved above us. Tall Cumulus are like glazier and Stratus are uneven texture of thick permafrost. Cirrus are similar to ice frost my dad would leave on dinner table sometimes since he's the Coldfront.
Dig up my old crayon drawings from kindergarten folder and you'll find out that my ideal destination was North Pole. I guess Jamie, 's obsession in Winnie The Pooh And Friends was rubbing off on me.
North Pole. Discovered by Pooh. Pooh found it.
The ink illustration of Christopher Robin kid and the bear putting on boots, carrying a flag pole, marching off to North Pole still appears in my head whenever someone says expedition AKA the word me and Jamie deem to be almost as glamorous as the word glamorous itself.
(But I'd never tell anyone about that. I'm already ten years old. Only toddlers read Winnie The Pooh.)
Taking my gaze off the moving cloud, I lean closer toward the window until my cool breath is creating droplets of water on the glass surface. No. Ice. I pull the blind shut when our swimming teacher approaches. If someone enters the locker room, I'll just pretend I'm a big heap of dirty towels on the drenched bench made of swollen faux wood.
I haven't told my parents yet that finally, my power is fully showing. I knew I was going to be a super like my dad since my doctor always have a long talk with my parents whenever he takes my temperature at school's Health Checkup Day.
I have always dreaded for the transformation phase.
It's the time when your body tries to adjust with your new ability.
Unless you are a big bellied penguin which spent years in less than zero degree environment, you wouldn't find the phase pleasant.
In my case, the result is extreme hypothermia at the school swimming pool.
That's why I'm wrapped inside a ball of towels in a swimming trunk, shivering even though the temperature outside is, according to everyone, high enough to melt North Pole. I'm still soaked in chlorine reeking pool water and that doesn't help with the hypothermia at all. Ice frost is collecting on the window pane and the door. Whenever I sneeze, there's a new ice statue on the slippery tiles. The boy locker room has become the epitome of Winter Wonderland.
Human average body temperature, according to my science teachers, is 37 degree Celsius.
My body temperature at the moment is around 10 degree Celsius. If the doctor takes my temperature, they will know that I should be put in a casket, not on a hospital bunk.
I've officially become a human popsicle.
At this rate, my parents would have to defrost me in our microwave which cannot even fit a malnourished turkey. I don't think I'm microwavable though.
Speaking of mom and dad who are not able to come pick me up at the moment, I heard them shouting this morning. Gale disappeared again. The last time that happened, she was found at our favorite ice-cream place, slurping banoffee ice-cream milkshake the Keynes offered her as they called us up.
My little sister's super power shown quite early at the age of only two.
Teleportation.
(She cannot control it yet so my plan of avoiding traffic and waking up early by teleporting to school is still not possible.)
You could say the Logan household is quite hectic today. Which is totally normal. The day that the situations in our house is at peace would be the day that my dad doesn't have to put on his super suit and go fight crimes for Brackenbridge.
Bottom line; that day would never come.
I lean my back against the locker, sighing with relief when no one comes barging in. I highly doubt they put cameras in locker room. Just when I was mentally patting myself in the back for finding such a perfect hiding spot, someone knocks on the door.
"I know you're in there, Les!" Jamie speaks up. "And don't even think about keeping quiet because I'm not stupid."
I tighten the towel around myself in an attempt to boost up my unnaturally low body temperature. My lips are shivering and my brain just gone dead temporarily from the extreme temperature so I couldn't form a sarcastic respond like I would have done.
"Your class's over, in case you're wondering." She says. "I'll kick down the door if you won't come out."
Panic seizes me. She cannot know I have turned this place into a perfect replica of Antartica or my superhero career will be over before it can even start. I dash toward the entrance and slip on the ice, ungracefully crashing into the door then land on the floor outside in heap of towels at my best friend's feet.
Her dark brown eyes narrow at the sight of me bundled up in damp towel, sprawling on the ground. "What exactly were you doing? Skipping PE isn't so you." She rolls her eyes, helping me up. I take that opportunity to kick the door shut. I internally groan at such embarrassing moment of mine.
"I'm just tired, Jay." I mutter, pushing the wet hair from my eyes.
"So you went to cover yourself in used towels of other people? Lots of germs like places with high humidity, you know?" She scrunches her nose, pushing me toward the door again. "And go put a shirt on unless you want to catch cold."
A little bit too late for that.
"It's not used towels, germaphobe." I drawl, refusing to open the door to locker room. "Ever considered it's boys' locker room, Jay? Go back to your class. I'll see you at lunch."
"Ever considered that tripping over on concrete results in fresh cut?" She raises her brow, flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder, making me think of Hermione Granger. "You're bleeding, Les. And if the cut's left untreated, it may result in--"
"Infection. I know, doc." I interrupt, wiping some blood dripping down my leg causing Jay to swat my hand away. Sometimes I wish this girl would faint at the sight of blood instead of forcing me non stoppingly to got to the infirmary when the injuries are minor.
After working as my dad's sidekick out of necessity once, any injuries on daily basis are considered minor to me. If you almost bled to death on cold pavement in a deserted gas station because your dad has a secret identity to protect, you wouldn't whine about some scrapes.
And that chatty guy in my class whose dad is a zookeeper keeps repeating how terrifying it was to stand a centimetre away from albino Siberian Tiger. Pfft. That one centimetre being the thickness of the glass.
I have seen that particular tiger once on our field trip day. Courtesy of his dad. The thing should be called white Siberian kitten, seriously. What kind of tiger purrs and stands on its hind legs while chasing a red ball around like a yarn ball?
Even Jamie's cat, Mohi, is fiercer than that bashful thing. I strongly believe that cat has a descriptive plan to murder me when Jay's not around.
I have had four guns pointed at me and my dad had to disown me for five minutes so those criminals wouldn't kidnap me for negotiation. I hated him for five days for that. How could he forget he brought his son over to his workplace that day?
This is why I always find an excuse to not bring my dad over to school for those inspirational talk.
"Wait here. I'll go get your bag and we'll head to the infirmary." Jamie sighs as if I was her little brother that needs supervision at least 24 hours a day.
Which I'm not.
I'm like her older brother. I'm supposed to the the mature one!
"It'll be fine, Jay. Look at me...I'm fine!" I fake a laugh, grabbing her shoulders and push her toward the exit of the pool because 3 the second graders decided it's a great idea to play freeze tag around the swimming pool and I don't like being watched. "I'll go to the infirmary later, if that'd make you feel better, alright?"
"Dean told me you fainted." She says, side stepping so I stumble forward, almost getting to wash my face in a puddle of water on the concrete floor. "Why are you so pale? And your eyes--" She tip toes, brushing wet hair from my eyes, frowning slightly. "They look different."
Right. She means bluer.
I saw my reflection earlier and discovered an amazing mechanism of disguise that comes with super power.
I couldn't really tell the difference since, according to my eyes, my art teacher's daffodil and saffron are both just yellow.
But I know girls are observant! Mom figured out dad's identity herself because his eye colors changed. And my dad already has blue eyes when he's not using his power.
I won't be surprised if my mom turns out to be a super with X-ray vision. Seriously.
She can always tell if I'm plying video games or doing my homework without having to enter my room at all.
(But maybe that's because I have never done my homework at home. Just in the morning at school with Jay lecturing me about responsibility.)
I take a step back as Jay narrows her eyes. "What happened, Les?"
Yikes. Here comes the famous question a super can't answer unless he wants his identity discovered.
I want to tell Jay. I know I can trust her. That'd make me look cooler too. Hiding a secret this big from her will definitely corrupt our friendship. I have seen it all in superhero movies and I don't want that to happen.
I have known her since we were just around four.
I was saved by a scream. We turn around sharply only to see one of the kids playing freeze tag earlier making a big splash as he hit the water surface. And judging by the look of it, he couldn't swim.
There isn't anyone else except for me, Jay, and another 2 boys shouting on the side. My instincts kick in as I watch the kid thrashing in the water. "Go get a teacher, Jay." I stuff the towel bundle in her arms and rush toward the pool.
Without thinking, I dive in. (Maybe I was thinking but my judgement was poor.) The water immediately becomes ice cold. Every inch of my skin feel so numb as if I just dove into an ice bucket. Lesson learned, never swim when you're having an extreme hypothermia.
I swim toward the kid with difficulty, grabbing his flailing limbs that at one point, smack me in the face. Ouch. I slowly push the kid up to the water surface until I realize the water is freezing up. And I'm stuck neck deep in pure ice.
I cannot even blame anyone but myself.
"Get him to the infirmary." I pant. "Quick!" The kids quickly oblige, dragging their spluttering friend toward the exit without asking another word.
I try lifting myself up but it seems as if the ice are clinging on to me, pulling me back down. When the coldness becomes unbearable, I just sink.
My screams come out in a form of bubbles as I thrash my numbing arms and legs to push myself up the water that is solidifying, weighing me down. Bubbles tickle me and I really have to suppress my laugh because I don't want to drink chlorinated water. The harder I bang my fist on the ice, the thicker it becomes (and the more it hurt my freaking knuckles). Everything seems to happen painfully slow. My motions included.
The pool can now serve the purpose of an ice rink AKA the place where I can move around even more gracefully than I do on ground.
But I'm on the wrong side of the ice this time.
With vocabulary limit of a ten years old, I cannot possibly explain my feelings so detailed to the point that you would actually feel suffocated and cold while reading.
But, hey, here's a poor attempt to make this a little more graphic.
It's cold. And I feel suffocated. And horrible.
After what seems like a decade, Jamie's fear stricken face appears above me, on another side of the ice sheet. She shouts something inaudible and I reply with something I know would be inaudible for her also.
She disappears from my sight for a few seconds and when she comes back again, she is holding a large metal handled mop. As she draws it back to swing a hit at the ice surface. Knowing she has terrible aim, I almost shout at her to stop for I don't want my head bashed.
First crash. Nothing happens. Just the wave of sound rushing past me, giving me goosebumps.
Second crash. Still nothing. My oxygen supply is running low and I signal her to hurry.
Third crash. A tiny crack spreads over the transparent ice.
Jamie throws the mop away and stomps down on the now frail ice. Her left leg penetrates the ice and she lets out a yelp in shock. Probably because the water is freezing cold. I feel as if my brain is slowly turning into a frozen protein chunk.
My vision is quite blurry but I'm quite sure I see her fists illuminating mild light as she punches at the fractured ice non stopping. With the strength of a nine years old girl, it's almost impossible to shatter ice that thick in such little time but she manages it. It seems as if the ice melts when her fists make contact with it. When she falls into the water, I can definitely feel the difference in temperature. It's not as cold as earlier.
Water around her is actually sizzling.
I burst up to the surface, trying to breath in as much air as possible. Jay climbs up the edge of the pool and extends the mop handle to me. I grab onto it and hurl myself up to the ground. Jay supports my trembling frame as I double over to cough and spit out water. "Are you alright? Your lips are blue!" She pants, patting my back. Her wet dark hair plastered to her pale face messily, reminding me of the mermaid in Pirates Of The Caribbean we watched.
(Just because I'm ten, that doesn't mean the only mermaid reference I will ever use is Ariel.)
(Vicious mermaids from Pirates Of The Caribbean title suits Jay's personality more than a positive Disney girl anyway.)
"I think so—thanks, Jay--" I nods as we lie down on our back, catching our breath. "Where are the teachers?" I ask her, coughing violently a few times and checks with my trembling hands if my entrails are still under my skin after the forceful coughs.
They still are kept from the outside world. Fortunately.
"When they saw those second graders, they just panicked and followed them as if they couldn't see me!" She says, clearly pissed. "I think I should grow taller so they wouldn't see past my head again."
"Agreed--you're very short."
"Meanie."
We fall silence for a moment so the only thing I hear is the swishing water of the pool, levelling its surface.
Then, Jay laughs a real laugh. As if we didn't just survived a near death experience.
"Why are you laughing? That was not fun." I ask but her laugh is contagious.
"You failing at being a superhero." She laughs, clutching her ribs.
"I saved the kid!"
"But can't save yourself!" She splashed water at me.
"It's the saving people part that counts." I stop her by grabbing her hand which is, unexpectedly, feverishly hot. I can see stream rising from her knuckles but I decide it's because of the cold environment I accidentally created.
"Where did the ice come from though?" Jay questions, sitting up wearily, hugging at her knees.
Now, here comes the moment that is far more scary than drowning. I'm currently experiencing brain freeze as I rack my brain for believable and logical respond to her question. Jay isn't stupid. She's the opposite of that, being the kid teachers only have to write A plus for every subject on her report card.
"Uh—you see—I--" I stammer as Jay continues to stare at me expectantly. I know she loves weird phenomenon. If there's anything she loves more than witnessing peculiar phenomenon would be finding out reasons behind them and probably food.
Definitely food.
"I was trying to save the drowning kid by freezing the water so he could stand on it and jump up." Familiar voice says. "But this brave young gentleman beat me to it and you, young lady, you did exceptionally well also."
Coldfront.
I mean dad.
"Les! It's Coldfront! It's the Coldfront!" Jamie whisper-hisses at me, blushing deep crimson. "You know? The superhero with ice power!"
"I know." I mutter, giving my dad a tight lipped smile.
He is in his dark blue super suit with the white emblem on his chest and black mask disguising his identity. What would Jay do if I told her she Coldfront just taught her how to skate yesterday evening?
Probably freak out.
Definitely will freak out.
"Thank you, Coldfront." She replies with her voice an octave higher. "Can I ask a question?"
I quickly shoot my dad a look that say run-away-from-this-girl-right-now but he just chuckles and nods at her. Oh, he doesn't know what has he gotten himself into. Prepare to get bombarded by questions only people who works at SPD (Super power Research Department) would be able to answer.
If you could see Jay's face right now, you'd think Christmas has arrived early. 3 years in a row.
"How can you merge Hydrogen with Oxygen to create water that you freeze? Are you an element bender? Or you only decrease the temperature of things? How can--"
"Ow! My knee hurts!" I shout, getting her to stop with her questions so I could save the superhero from all the questions from my best friend. My dad gives me a grateful look as Jay quickly direct her attention to the bloody gash on my left knee.
The ice has numbed the pain but it'll be quite difficult to move around when your legs have no feelings at all.
"Can you walk to the infirmary?" She asks halfheartedly, glancing over at Coldfront and back at me causing my dad to suppress his laugh. Unbelievable. She is really considering ditching me for those answers.
"If you want to see blood dripping all the way there, yes, I can try." I whine, hoping she'd buy the act even though this is very out of character for me. I'm a horrible actor. No matter how bad Teacher Rhona wanted me to be her little Romeo in school play, I would be able to get way from that every time. Thanks to my acting skill.
My friends would nominate me for leading role of the school play every year just to laugh at me when I audition.
And I did give them something at laugh at apart from stuttering out my scripts on the stage like a dumbfounded robotic parrot.
Like thick ice clogging the toilet when they really need to use it. It drained my energy and I slept in classes the rest of that day but it was worth it.
"But you said you are alright." Jamie knits her brow, clearly starting to think I'm a bipolar.
"But now it hurts, Jay! Let's just go!" I wince before dropping down my last card, sighing. "Am I your best friend?"
She bites her lip but slings my arm over her shoulders, helping me up. "C'mon. Let's get you fixed up, Les." She grumbles as I hobble along with her.
I turn around a little to catch a glimpse of my dad giving me a thumb up. I give him a weak smile as he mouths; "I'm proud of you, hero."
"Stay safe, alright?" Coldfront says before gliding off with a swoosh of cold wind causing Jamie's smile to broaden as she nods vigorously to the superhero she admires.
"I should have brought a pen and a paper, not a best friend who just scraped his knee." Jamie sighs. "Coldfront is my favorite super, you know?"
"I will....make it up to you later?" I respond, taking a peek at my left knee which feels colder than usual. "You can have all of my Reese's pieces tomorrow."
Offering food is the highest form of an apology. Especially when it's anything related to peanut butter and chocolate.
I can't believe I'm replacing my dad with Reese's pieces.
Jamie purses her lips and falls silent for a moment before muttering; "Okay, deal."
"It must be so cool to be superhero, right?" She continues on, struggling to get me past the door to the infirmary filled with pungent smell of alcohol.
"You want to be one?" I ask, lowering myself onto an available bunk, holding my knee up so the bleeding would stop. I should probably brace myself for the antiseptic and alcohol that would pain me far worse than the concrete floor I scraped my knee on.
"Pfft." She puffs her cheeks, sitting down next to me. "The only super power I have is super clumsy power. And that's not even a real power."
"You just saved me." I examine the gash under caked blood only to find out it has somehow disappear. I knit my brows, poking at the pinkish skin that has just formed. It doesn't even sting. I'm already healed.
Even Coldfront can't heal this fast.
"Somehow, I did." She beams broadly. "It almost felt like I suddenly had this power, you know? When in need like earlier. I had to save you. Or maybe it's all just adrenaline-driven."
For a forth grader, she sure loves to use scientific words that we wouldn't encounter in class until middle school. Her aunt is graduating as a valedictorian of her year. She knows everything about super powers.
I observe her dark brown eyes that somehow has turned a shade lighter even in dimming light of the infirmary room. "It's either that or the mutation." I nod slowly. "But you're a hero all the same."
"I don't understand super villains, Les." She says with a slight frown as she hands me a wet cloth to clean up my blood with. "They hurt other people for no reasons."
"Mr. Rickard gave me a detention slip this morning for no reason." I shrug, dabbing the towel on my knee.
"Well, you hit him in the head with a paper air plane so, actually, he has his reasons" Jamie says in all seriousness, hopping up the bunk to sit next to me. I don't feel cold anymore.
"You didn't catch it that time." I laugh, nudging her arm. "We're not allowed to have phones until grade sixth so texting is out of the question."
"You could have said it to me." She snorts, nudging me back. Her skin gives an impression of heated kettle on my cold one. "Instead of keep hitting the back of my head with paper balls."
"Uh...it's a secret." I raise my brow, smirking. "You wouldn't want the entire class to know that I was scared of candles, would you?"
"Well, now they do." Jamie deadpans. "Mr. Rickard read it out loud to the entire class after he caught you."
"I'll just eat the paper next time." I say simply. "But I told him it was just me. Don't worry. Your flawless record is still squeaky clean, Miss Devlin."
Confessing your crime to our math teacher and leaving your partner in crime out of it is an heroic act.
"I'll walk you home." She says thoughtfully, handing me a blue band aid. "You can't run. What if you get mugged on the way?"
It's my turn to laugh at her statement. I maybe only ten but I'm a super with some experience. I'm sure I can escape from muggers unscathed.
"We have superheroes to make sure kids like us won't get mugged, Jay."
"They are still human, Les. They still need a break."She says, swinging her legs back and forth. "If you ever become a super, would you ever tell me it's you behind the mask?"
I paste a blue band aid on my knee, taking my time while thinking for an answer. I mean I can't even when I wanted to because my dad will never let me.
It's against the rule.
I know Lois Lane knows Superman is Clark Kent and Gwen Stacey is well aware of Peter Parker patrolling the city on web.
But they are not just best friends though.
And their lives are in dangers.
And they only exist in comic books.
"I wouldn't have to." I say slowly, my words quite monotonous. "We are best friends. You'd find out yourself."
"Can I be your navigator if you were a superhero?" She asks in all seriousness.
"Like--my human GPS?" I raise my brows.
"Those people speaking into your earpiece and making sure you won't get lost, you know?"
"Oh. So--like Siri?"
She rolls her eyes. "Kinda. We have a deal?"
"Um--sure. Why not?" I stutter, already figuring out a way to apologize to my dad about almost breaking the rules.
And recruiting a nine years old inexperienced navigator.
"Pinky promise?"
"Like Felicity Smoak?" I intertwine my finger with hers. The most formal way to promise something as a kid. "And I can be like--Arrow-?"
She thinks for a moment. "No." She says firmly with straight face while scooting away from me. "Arrow is her boyfriend. I don't want to be your girlfriend."
"And vice versa." I quickly say, backing from her a little. My cheeks feel warmer despite them being zero degree earlier.
That's grown ups' thing, isn't it?
"Like Caitlin to Barry." She finally says after an awkward silent. People joke around the topic of her being my girlfriend a lot since they always see us together.
But we're just ten! I told them that I like Jay because who would hate their best friend?
Can't see why people have to make such a big fuss out of it.
"Yeah, like that."
Jay nods, leaning her back on the white wall. "But you would never become a villain, would you?"
That question causes me to grin confidently. Why would I even consider harming other people and risking going to jail? Besides, my dad is a superhero. The strongest and bravest superhero around here. I'd never disappoint him by siding with baddies.
Also, I wouldn't fancy being sent to prison by my own dad.
"I wouldn't even think about being one." I say sharply. "And if I were a superhero, I'd protect you from the villains too."
- - - -
A/N Bonus chapter. Throwback to when Cryonics discovered his power ;)
Total days spent writing: 90
Yes. This is it for Superhero Crash Course!!!
Thanks for sticking around for this long with an amateur like me! You guys are awesome!
Edited: If you have any questions about the characters or this book, ask away ;) You also can dm me on instagram about this book or about drawing or writing in general. (I'm taking a break from Wattpad for awhile) I'm not a professional but I have a little experience from writing this book XD. I'm still very active in Instagram because I post art there almost everyday.
The username is avocadrawz.
Cuz I love avocados.
Continue on to next chapters for art if you wanna what the characters look like ;)
Have a nice day!!
-Ida