"Well, here goes," I said, bracing my self. It was time for Alessandra to know the truth. All of the truth. "I have been working with the Council since I was a kid. My dad was a hero. He wanted me to be just like him. The powers he had were extremely dangerous." I hesitated. This was not a fun subject and I had to tread carefully when I told her, otherwise, she might not ever look at me the same. I lowered my voice and continued. "He had the power to control minds. Wipe them clean sometimes. He could control people and when he was finished using them they went insane. Only a few are able to recover from mind control and even then it leaves permeant damage."
"But your father was a hero, right?" Alessandra asked, intrigued.
I was getting more uncomfortable talking about all this. "He was," I said simply. "But one day. I don't know. After controlling and going through so many peoples minds, he snapped. And it wasn't pretty. The Council had to try and contain him but," I faltered. "There was a lot of destruction. I was eleven."
"Seth, I didn't know," she said softly. It wasn't most of the time that Alessandra was caring so this was uncharted territory.
"It's ok. It's in the past now and-"
"But how did you recover from something like that? I mean, were you and your dad close?" she asked. I guess she didn't realize she was slipping into detective questioning mode.
"We were very close but, oh well. Let's talk about something else ok? You know about my past with the Council and-"
"Okay," she said. "I have a question."
"Of course you do," I muttered. "Go ahead."
"How do you choose your powers?" she asked.
"You don't. They choose you."
She looked at me from across the table. "But that doesn't make sense. How can the powers choose you? and where do the powers come from?" she asked, shocked.
"Look I don't know where they come from. It's classified,"
"The interesting stuff normally is," she muttered under her breath. "How on earth do they transfer the powers from where ever their source is, to the person?"
"Think of it like this," I said, trying to come up with a way to explain and make sense. "The powers are like their own organisms, kind of, but they need a host body so they can thrive. The host body, well hosts them, and in return, the powers protect the host."
"By giving them powers." she guessed.
"Yes," I answered.
"But does it hurt? You said you have powers," she demanded.
"Well, it only hurts for a minute. Then we have to make sure that the host is strong enough to contain the energy that chose it." I said. I looked around to make sure that none of the other people were paying much attention to us.
"You didn't tell me how you got your powers," she remarked.
"Well before my dad went all, ya know, I did my noble deed and-"
"Which was . . . ?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"It's not important. After that, the Council gave me powers. What you do when you get the powers is they take you to this white room. All white. Walls, floor, ceiling, everything. No windows, but somehow it's bright in there. But anyway they take you in there and give you a solid black rock and you wait. You wait for power to claim you while holding the rock."
"So the rock has the powers?" Alessandra asked.
"I don't know. But it hurts at first when the powers come. Like a burning feeling in your body. Well, that might be just for me. My powers are," I learned in so no one would overhear. I didn't like sharing about my powers in public. "I can control fire."
"No way!" she said slapping my arm happily. "Why didn't you use it when that building was on fire?" she asked excitedly.
"You know why. You needed to save him not me. And besides, you're not allowed to use powers without permission. Council rules. Could risk exposure and we can't have rogue heroes." I said quickly. "That and the Council doesn't really trust me . . . ya know, because of my dad. That and having fire for powers," I looked down at the banged up wood table. It had some scratches carved into it. "Fire isn't the most reliable power to have and after my dad, when fire chose me, well they don't trust me. They don't want me to be a hero. The closest thing I can do to being a hero is bringing in newbies or," I looked up wistfully. "If you decide to be a hero, I could be your sidekick."
Her eyes widened. "I mean if you want!" I said quickly. "You don't have to! You probably don't even need a sidekick! It was just a thought . . ."
"No! That would be perfect," she said. And then I had a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Curse warm fuzzy feelings.