2015 - Fiona

Fiona goes through the last of her checks before she goes stumbling out into public. While she might not be a shaken, traumatised girl who has suddenly returned home after being missing for the last two years, Fiona needs to play the part of one.

She doesn’t exactly needs to if you’re being precise, but if she wants to reintegrate into her family and society, Fiona will definitely have to.

Fiona checks the appearance of her eyes and hair. While they are now naturally blue and blonde respectively, Fiona was born with brown eyes and black hair. Without any good way to explain the sudden, supernatural change in colour, Fiona will just have to fake them.

Her short hair is also suitable messy as would be expected of her.  Her clothes are old, torn and dirty. Not pleasant to wear, but Fiona has been in much worse situations over the years and has done much more icky things.

At least I won’t to wear them for long. I’m sure my family would get me some nicer stuff once I returned. Perhaps Laura will lend me some of her old clothes.

It has been a week since Fiona returned to her home dimension with the aid of Sentinel and the League of Heroes.

Fiona has spent most of that week finding out the local situation, getting a good amount of recon done.

I hate going into an unknown situation without intel. And that’s not even mentioning that I wouldn’t be able to form any plans if I dived in headfirst.

As for her plans, Fiona has gotten herself a little hideout on the outskirts of town to store her stuff in and act as her secret base. It is there that Fiona has hidden away her costume, armour and gadgets.

Of course I still have my new powers, my training, my experience and the fact that I am a genetically enhanced cyborg supersoldier. Nice to know that I’m the most powerful and dangerous person on the planet.

Fiona sighs. She hates the idea of deceiving her family, but she needs to get this right.

I had to deal with so much worse during my travels. I can handle this.

She staggers out into public.

***

Fiona doesn’t bother holding back her tears as her mother hugs her, gushing with joy at the return of her eldest daughter.

Meanwhile her father is dealing with the two police officers that brought her here. Fiona doubts her sister even knows she is back as she is currently at school like she should be.

Perhaps they’ll let her leave early once she finds out about my return.

“I missed you so much,” wails her mother into her ears as she holds Fiona tight.

“I missed you too mother,” Fiona whispers back.

“Don’t ever leave us like that again,” gushes her mother through her tears.

“I won’t, I promise,” Fiona reassures her mother.

And that is a promise Fiona is certain she can keep. She is not the same person she was when she was taken away from her home against her will. Now Fiona is genetically enhanced cyborg spec-op supersoldier with actual superpowers. There isn’t anything on this world that can take her on and not that many in other worlds either.

They’re silent as Fiona’s father joins in on their hug.

After she was brought to the attention of the police, Fiona was brought to the local station where they checked her out. Whilst they were making sure she was okay, they were able to identify her as missing person who disappeared two years ago and called her family.

Since then the police have been trying to get information on what happened to her, but Fiona has been playing the part of traumatised victim who doesn’t want to share information on what happened to her. She has been avoiding, ignoring and redirecting all questions on what she has been doing while projecting image of someone trying to be cool, calm and confident whilst secretly messed up by what happened to her on the inside.

So far it has been working, but I doubt the FBI will be so soft on me. No matter as I’m actually looking forward to it. It seems like something interesting to do.

Fiona is both trained and experienced in resisting interrogation and keeping information secret. She won’t give up any information to them by accident unless it is by ‘accident’.

Still it might be annoying if it takes up too much time. I want to spend as much time with my family as I can at the moment. They might have lost me for two years, but it has been over six for me.

Not that I particularly regret anything other than being away from my family. I enjoyed my travels once I got used to things. I learnt a lot, made friends and seen so many wonderful places and helped more people than I can count

And that isn’t including my time serving the Warmind as one of his Drakesguard. I made friends with pretty much all them, got cool stories and experiences out of it and became better than I ever possibly could have been without it.

So no regrets other than not being with my family.

But I’m with them now. And I’m going to enjoy that no matter what my future has in store for me.

1.11 Outsider Part 12

“So you won’t need any help back in your home dimension?” asks Sam as we see Fiona off.

The portal she is using is already open in one of the lower levels of the base. It turns out the old League had a interdimensional portal device stored away.

I wish I had known about this sooner, I think, I could have used it to help Narszara get back home. Why didn’t think to look for it before now?

Fiona is in her costume with two containers of Sentinel Tech.

“Thanks for the help guys,” says Fiona with a wave goodbye to us before stepping through the portal of swirling multi-coloured energy.

I hesitate for a moment before deciding on a course of action.

“I need to ask Fiona something,” I tell the others before going through after her.

I look around as I arrive in another world, on top of a mountain. This is my first time in another dimension, I realise as I spot Fiona at the mountain edge. I follow her trail of sight, looking at the American town below that the mountain presides over.

She puts the containers down and sits down, her legs dangling over the edge.

“May I join you for a moment?” I ask Fiona as I walk up to her.

She turns her head and stares for a moment, before saying, “Sure.”

“Thanks,” I say and I sit down next to her.

“I assume there is a reason you followed me through?” says Fiona.

“Yeah,” I reply, “I wanted to ask you something, but it slipped my mind until the last moment.”

“What is it?”

“When you first arrived, you said you came to my universe because something unusually there stood out to you. I was wondering if you could explain what is was in greater detail?”

Fiona thinks for a moment before replying.

“There is a interdimensional phenomenon called Outsiders,”  Fiona answers, “It occurs when one isn’t connected to a universe and as result, become immune to effects that would change that reality at its core. Usually when someone ends up in a foreign universe or they end up travelling between dimensions. Because we’re from outside that reality, when it changes internally, we’re not affected because the local stuff doesn’t apply to us. So say someone travels to another dimension and settles there. They would be an Outsider. Then someone goes back in time and changes something. Everybody else would act if the change had always happened because for them, it had. But the Outsider would remember before the change and would be able to act on them, because as foreign element, the internal changes wouldn’t be part of them. This makes a settled Outsider a *&@#”£ to fight as they wouldn’t be affect by time travel, reality warping or other stuff like that. Plus the vast majority of Outsiders are tough and dangerous as they had to struggle to survive and end up very good at surviving and adapting to rapidly changing situations.”

“So a settled Outsider in my universe and that is what drew your attention?” I say.

“One that’s particularly unusually,” replies Fiona, “You should know something about Outsiders. When they’re in a universe, it can’t split into alternate realities that occur when different paths are taken. This is because you can’t get alternate version of an Outsider. While you can get alternates that both end up as Outsiders, an Outsider won’t form any more alternate of themselves. This means that any changes to that reality are permanent and proper. So time travel or reality warping would usually create an alternate version of a reality, but if it has Outsider it won’t happened because that would form alternate of that Outsider.”

“So what you’re saying is that my universe is particularly vulnerable to internal changes?” I say.

“That’s one aspect of it,” agrees Fiona, “But you should be aware that people can leave their reality and return as Outsider like I am. And not always after the same amount of time has passed. For example, it has only been two years for my reality since I left, but it’s been six years and a half from my perspective. Over three times longer for me.”

“Thanks for that information,” I reply, “It might come in handy someday. Call for advice if you need it. I’ll also send you some spare costumes once you inform me where you want them to appear in this dimension.”

“Goodbye Sentinel,” says Fiona as I get up.

“It’s just Daniel Griffin,” I reply, “I’m not in my armour. And goodbye Flashblast.”

I walk back through the portal where Narszara is waiting.

“Milord,” says Narszara as I deactivate the portal, “I wish to ask you something.”

“Ask away,” I reply with a wave of my hand.

“You have technology that can be used to communicate with those in other parts of the Multiverse?” inquires Narszara.

“Correct,” I tell her.

“Excellent,” says Narszara happily and begins to walk away.

Wait a moment…

“Narszara,” I say and the Norgardian comes to a halt, “Do you know what an Outsider is?”

“Aye Verigar,” replies Narszara.

“Are you an Outsider,” I ask her.

“Yes I am,” answers Narszara, “I do fit the criteria.”

“That is all,” I say and she leaves the room.

Narszara is an Outsider. If my suspicions are correct, it was her presence that got Fiona’s attention.

I’m also relieved at the idea of the League having an Outsider as a member, especially one as powerful as Narszara. Even if someone does alter reality, Narszara would still be around to stop them even if those changes got rid of the League.

1.11 Outsider Part 11

I trot through the sewers, doing my best to ignore the stench. I really ought to get used to it because having a tunnel system is really useful. Especially one with such easy access and an extensive network.

I got everything from both bags with me. Quite lucky, I think, as the gang could have easily have spread the contents across the house.

Now I have two options, either head to my family’s house or the base. If I head home, I’ll have to answer awkward questions from my family. If I go to the base, folks that will be understanding and Narszara can use her magic to heal any scrapes and bruises.

To the base it is.

The walk to the base from my location technically isn’t that long, but that is only because the base is massive. I would mainly just encounter the unused areas that are for emergencies. To actually reach the parts of the base that I use, it’ll be about an hour and a half walk in this dark and smelly sewer system.

I guess that is what I should have expected as part of being a vigilante when not acting as a superhero.

I check my League communicator. I got a signal despite the fact no phone would be able to get a signal here. Then again, my League communicator certainly doesn’t count as just a phone.

“Report Janelle,” I say.

“No cameras or other devices recorded you,” says the AI via the speakers on my communicator, “Despite attempts by neighbours to call the police once they heard the screams from the house, police only receive notification once you entered the sewers. The police have also a report from the Sentinel detailing almost all of the Shirley Marauders’ crimes. Nothing overly serious such as murder or anything like that, but enough to put them away for a good many years.”

“Good,” I say before walking the rest of the journey in silence, thinking about the fight.

It was the first time I was out in a fight when not acting as a superhero. I was also the first time I when I got into a serious fight without wearing one of the greatest suits of power armour in the world.

It should have been terrifying, but I too calm and focused to worry. And since it went darn near perfectly, I can’t really look back at it and be worried. Especially since between the lack of evidence and my connections, I don’t need to worry about the police.

Sky, Helen, James, Fiona, Alex and Narszara are all waiting for me at the table as I enter the main room. Fiona is still wearing the white cos-mat costume while Narszara is wearing a green one. I only recently have gotten her to wear something other than her armour willing.

“Do I have a black eye?” is my first question and receive variants of the word ‘yes’ in response.

I sigh before asking Narszara, “Can you heal it please? I would rather not explain to my family or the police if they come knocking.”

“Aye milord,” answers Narszara as she gets up and walks towards me as I reach the table.

I sit down and place the bags on the table as Narszara looks at me. I feel an itch around my eye that fades after moment as Narszara retakes her seat.

One thing about Narszara is that she rarely uses words when casting her magic. I been meaning to ask her about that, but now isn’t the time.

“Any questions?” I ask, “I assume you all know about Fiona and her situation by now.”

“Yeah,” says Sky, “The computer lady also says you went and beat up the guys who mugged your sister. I’m guessing from the bags that she is correct?”

“The computer lady is Janelle and she is both correct and the AI of the League’s starship,” I reply, “I took down six of them and last one give me the information I needed. Janelle made sure that wasn’t any evidence of what I did and that the police didn’t get informed before I got away. She also released enough information to police for them to arrest the gang.”

“So everything is going to work out just fine,” asks Helen.

“The police don’t have any solid evidence of what I did and no jury would convict me anyway,” I answer, “Lily will probably just be glad I got her stuff back. Mum will be fine as long as the police don’t get too involved. She knows about granddad and the League. Dad on the other hand will be angry. He doesn’t know about Sentinel and the League so he thinks I’ll have risked getting badly hurt and getting into trouble with the law.”

“But let’s not worry about that now,” I continue, “It’s my problem not yours. Let’s talk about Fiona aka Flashblast.”

“From what I heard, she arrived in our dimension this morning,” says James, “Then you brought her back here and used the Awakener on her. Now she going to back to her home dimension and become its first superhero. And you, we, are giving her equipment and advice to help her do so.”

“We’re helped Fiona picked out some gadgets while you were busy with your...thing,” says Sky, “She using some Sentinel Tech with the rest of her gear being provided by her old boss. You’re also getting her a costume and a League communicator so she can stay in contact with us. How does that last one work?”

I sigh before replying. Sometimes I wish the others would just read what their equipment can actually do instead of only finding out when I mention things.

“The communicators used by the League have setting that can be used to contact any other League communicators, even when they are in different dimensions,” I reply, “Granddad gave them the ability to do so after members of the old League got trapped in other dimensions a few times. In this case, the setting will allow Fiona to contact us and vice-versa. That way she can asks us for advice on being a good superhero and I will be able to resupply her. So when will you be leaving Fiona?”

“As soon as Lantern returns with my costume,” says Fiona, “I’m not going reveal myself to my family straight away once I get back. You see, I want to scout things out and come up with a plausible story before I rejoin my old life.”

“So that was what Sam was doing?” I say, “I saw him flying overhead earlier.”

“Yup,” says Sam from behind me as he enters the main room of the base.

He got a costume folded underneath his arm which Sam then tosses at Fiona. The Drakesguard catches it with ease.

“Can you put it on?” asks Sky, “I really want to see how you’ll look as a superhero.”

“Sure,” replies Fiona with a shrug.

“You know where the changing rooms are?” I ask.

“Alex showed me,” says Fiona as she walks off.

I speak with the others as Fiona gets changed, mostly asking them about what they and Fiona have done together. Turns out that they mainly discuss the differences between our world and Fiona’s, gave her advice and help her pick out items from masses of Sentinel Tech stored in the base.

Sky was particularly impressed by the amount of gadgets and has decided that she’s going to use more of them when she can.

I’m about to start explain what different gadgets my granddad had invented by Fiona returns.

“Take a look,” says Fiona before striking a heroic pose with her hands on her hips.

The costume is white with golden gloves and boots. The sides of her costume are also gold while on her face is a white domino mask with a gold border. The costume itself smugly fits her body, showing off her muscles and curves.

“You look great Flashblast,” says Alex.

1.11 Outsider Part 8

“Can we wrap this up?” I ask Fiona, “I got other things to get done today.”

“Sure,” answers Fiona, “I got the hang of my powers now anyway.”

“Then let’s discuss your costume, codename and good superhero behaviour,” I say.

“I’ll be up in just a-,” starts Fiona, before stopping with a grin on her face.

She runs towards the observatory and jumps, flash-stepping in the middle of the air. Fortunately Fiona dulled the light so Alex and I are not blinded and irritated respectively.

“I already know what I’m going to call myself,” says Fiona as she stands up straight.

I look at. Something off, but I can’t quite my finger on it.

No wait; it is just her blue eyes. Which were brown earlier.

I can’t believe I missed that until now.

“Hey Fiona,” I say, “What is the colour of your hair and eyes?”

Fiona gives me an odd look before answering, “Black and brown of course.”

Alex makes a quiet ‘ohh’ noise and Fiona turns to face her.

“What?” demands the Drakesguard.

“That may have been the case,” I say delicately, now sure how strongly Fiona will react on the matter, “If you look at yourself, you’ll see that you’re a blonde with blue eyes now.”

“Serious?” demands Fiona.

“I believe the Awakener must have changed the colours,” I reply, “I hope you don’t mind as I have no control over what happened.”

“It’s fine,” shrugs Fiona, “It’s not like I can’t disguise it or anything. Plus it’ll be useful for keeping my secret identity separate from my superhero identity.”

“Let’s talk about that in a moment,” I say, “But first I want to talk about your codename for your costumed identity.”

“I assume I should go for something related to my powers?” says Fiona.

“Or something heroic sounding or a mixture of both,” I reply.

“What about Flashbang?” suggests Alex.

“Nahh,” says Fiona dismissively, “Wait, I’ll go for Flashblast. You know, because I can flashstep and blast stuff with my hands.”

“Good name,” I reply, “Now let’s talk about your costume. I can get you a cos-mat one for you with spares available, but what colour scheme will you want? I have some recommendations if you want?”

“You’re the expert,” says Fiona, “What are your ideas?”

“I think the best choice for you would be white as the primary colour with gold as a secondary colour,” I tell her, “The white fits in with your flash-stepping and both colours work well with your new hair and eyes. All of those would make for a good iconic image of superhero. Which is what you’ll be if you’re the first superhero in your home universe.”

“That sounds like a good choice,” replies Fiona, “I’ll go with it.”

“Then let’s move on to my next point,” I say, “As I just mentioned, you’ll be an iconic superhero in your home universe due to being the first. That means that whatever you do will set the precedent and expectations of publics. While some might argue what should or is expected of you, the average person will have their expectations shaped by the first superheroes, which would be you. All of your actions as Flashblast, no matter big or small, will shape your world for the better or worse.”

“That sounds like a big responsibility,” replies Fiona.

“It is,” I agree before continuing, “Once the authorities find out what you are, they’ll want you to either work for them or to control you. Most likely they’ll try to do both. If you do decide to give in to them, it’ll become accepted that superheroes should work for the government. If you refuse and continue as a vigilante, it’ll become acceptable for superheroes to be independent. If you choose to work for a corporation, that’ll be seen as acceptable, but I would highly recommend against that. I feel strongly against the idea of people selling out their powers rather than using them out of a sense of duty or morals. While vigilantes and government agents with powers are still prone to corrupt, it is much more likely to happen to mercenaries and corporate employees.”

“I understand,” says Fiona, “I have encountered that sort of people a few times. It...rarely went well. For them at least.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, “Same with my granddad. But as I was staying, there is certain behaviour I expect from a good superhero. It is basically the League of Heroes unofficial rules and regulations that most teams around the world have.”

“Let’s hear them,” says Fiona with a casual demeanour.

I’m about to reply when Narszara and James enter the room and take seats next to Alex. I glance at them before turning my gaze back to Fiona.

“One of them is no swearing as you know,” I tell her, “It sets a bad example to kids and I don’t want young children to swear because they heard a superhero do and think it’s okay because of that. Another is to respect those that put their lives at risk such as the police or military. For example, while the League does help the local police with everyday crime, we still respect the officers and let them make the arrests even if we are the ones to catch the criminals. We also try to keep politics separate from what we do. While it can overlap if we do something with political implications, especially if a politician is trying to keep it done, we simply claim it was coincidence as it would be. If we do get involved with politics, usually endorsing an action or policy, it’s because we feel it’s the right thing to do or it helps people. While only Gateway is the only new member of the League old enough to vote, she and the old Leaguers also do their voting in secret unless we strongly support a candidate. We also expect good behaviour to set good examples to those who take inspiration from us, especially children.”

 

I quickly look at the time on my HUD. Almost eleven now.

“Now if you don’t mind,” I say, “I have business to take care of in my civilian identity.”

1.11 Outsider Part 7

“Done yet?” I ask Fiona as I keep my eyes away from the training room as she gets changed into the white cos-mat suit Alex brought her.

“Yeah,” answers Fiona and I finally look back at the training room.

Fiona has piled her armour at the side of the room and is looking up at the observatory from the middle of the training room.

I almost don’t recognise Fiona. Fiona in a white closefitting cos-mat suit looks very different to Corporal Morgan in her black concealing armour.

I look at Fiona for a moment, observing this new look to her. Fiona would make a great superhero iconic. Her figure is most definitely there and is both shown up off by her closefitting fabric and concealed by it being a full body suit with thick material. Her body is lean and muscular, making her look strong and powerful. Her hair is cut short just short of the top of her neck and is a startlingly blonde.

Overall, Fiona looks like an amazon without being over the top buff and large. Strong, confident and power projecting. She has the look of a grand superhero and the power and skill to back it up to become the real deal if she so wishes.

Fiona suddenly poses and says, “Looking at me Sentinel?”

I look away and blush slightly.

“Just the contrast behind you in a superhero costume versus your armour,” I reply truthfully, “You have the potential to be a great superhero icon if you do go home.”

“Thank you dear Sentinel,” says Fiona as she adopts another pose.

Rather than reply to Fiona’s playful flirting, I press a bunch and a trio of humanoid combat drones drop from the ceiling. I do have a girlfriend after all.

“Whoa,” mutters Fiona as she rolls away from the drones.

She starts to move to take something off her back, but halts when she realises she doesn’t have her armour and weapons with her.

“Damn,” curses Fiona.

“Good superheroes don’t curse or swear,” I tell Fiona, “It sets a bad role model. I only recently got Storm Knight to come off swearing. Now he only uses words like banana or sugar.”

“So none of the League of Heroes swears?” inquires Fiona as she backs away.

“Only the old Leaguers when it got really bad,” I reply, “Try and use darn instead.”

Fiona smiles and pretends to look for her weapons again before saying, “Darn.”

I let out a little chuckle as Alex re-enters the control room and observatory.

“Can I punch them?” asks Fiona, “No complaining about breaking your property?”

“Sure,” I answer, “We had people a lot stronger than you train down here. I expect the drones to end up broken.”

“Great,” says Fiona as the closest drone takes a swing at her.

Fiona sidesteps and casually grabs the drone’s arm at the elbow whilst readying her other arm for a strike. She punches the drone in its shoulder, her fist slamming into it and denting its armour. Then it explodes.

The drone’s shoulder has blown open internally where Fiona punched it. The arm has gone flying across the room and the head is limply hanging backwards. The drone was blown off its feet, only Fiona’s grip on its other arm keeping it in place.

That was not supposed to happen, I think blandly as I try to figure out what did happen.

“I’m freezing the drones,” I tell Fiona as I deactivate the training drones.

“What was that?” asks Fiona as she drops the drone in her grip, “I saw the explosion, but didn’t feel it at all.”

“I’m just going to check the footage,” I reply, “But on a limp, I say you caused the explosion when you punched it.”

“Another power?” says Fiona excitedly.

“Most likely,” I mutter as I pull up the footage in front of me and review it.

I zoom in where Fiona punched the drone and press play. While it dents under the impact of her strength, it does explode or show any signs of exploding. Then the shoulder joint of the drone suddenly blows up from the inside.

Powers are easier to understand when they obey the laws of physics.

I turn the footage off when I hear a boom in the training room.

“Hey Sentinel,” says Fiona, “I think I can send out explosive blasts.”

She waves her hand at one of the frozen training drone with a boom, shaking it. You can’t see the explosion, but the sensors picked it up.

An invisible explosive wave with no logical source other than Fiona. At least we got a basic idea of what happened now.

“Okay,” I say, “Now we know what your powers seem to be, let’s figure how they work and what their limits are.”

And that’s how we spent the next couple of hours, figuring out the details of Fiona’s powers. By the end, I could say for certain that Fiona had the two powers.

Fiona quickly dubbed her teleporting ‘Flash-Stepping’. It works by moving and then teleporting further while in the same motion. So if she jumps, she could teleport up further. If Fiona rolled, she would teleport further and then come out of the rolling motion. Plus she could do through solid objects. The limits on distance seem to be a maximum of a few metres with no limits on how little she could go, but with her enhanced senses, reflexes and reaction times, Fiona could flash-step several times a second in the same direction.

The blinding flash of light always happens when Fiona flash-steps. She can dim it so it isn’t as blinding, up to the point where it is just a dull flicker of light. Fiona was also able to weaponise the light her flash-step gives out by simply move about by a couple of millimetres, giving off the flash while not really moving.

As for her explosive waves or concessive blasts as Fiona prefers to call them, Fiona can direct them with her hands and scale their power up or down. She can also cause selected parts of whatever she has made contract with to explode. Such as at point in the training, she destroyed all the joints of one drone.

I look at the time. This is taking too long. I still need to deal with those punks who went after my sister before school starts back up tomorrow. 

1.11 Outsider Part 6

Fiona yelps as the Awakener pumps her full of the aqua lightning. It finishes after a moment and Fiona glares at me as I move to unplug her.

“That hurt,” complains the young woman.

“I did warn you several times it would,” I point out.

“I know, but I didn’t believe you,” protests Fiona, “My enhancements should have dealt with the pain.”

“At least it’s a good reminder that you can still be hurt even you’re prepared for it,” I say as I finish freeing her from the Awakener.

“How did it zap through my armour,” grumbles Fiona as she gets up.

“Don’t know,” I reply, “My granddad and I didn’t invent it, we just improved it.”

“Can I use my powers?” asks Fiona.

“Let’s try them out in the training room first in case they cause collateral damage,” I tell her, “By the way, your eyes haven’t changed colour as far as I can tell.”

“That’s good,” mutters Fiona absentmindedly, “I don’t feel different.”

“I doubt you do,” I reply, “Through people who went through the Awakener would mention they felt they were at their best afterwards.”

“I was already at my best,” shrugs Fiona

“Maybe,” I mutter too quietly for Fiona to hear even her enhanced hearing.

“So what powers do I have?” asks Fiona.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” I say.

“Do you two have any powers?” inquires Fiona.

“No,” I answer.

“I have an ability,” says Alex, “All my family does, but it doesn’t count as a power the same way being able to inherently master a skill doesn’t count. I’m considered to be gifted, not powered. ”

“I suppose that makes sense,” replies Fiona, “If that sort of stuff would be considered to be having powers back in my home dimension. Of course what’s normal is relative I guess.”

“That is certainly true,” I agree, “I consider the life of a superhero to be normal because that’s what I grew up with.”

“Just I consider what I am to be normal because I spent the few years living solely with people like me,” says Fiona, “How close are we to your training room?”

“You go in this door here,” I say as I stop, “It leads to the training room floor. Alex and I will go in that door further down the corridor. It’ll take us up to the control room and observatory.”

“Okey dokey,” says Fiona as she marches into the door.

She stumbles backwards, clutching her forehead.

“I expected it to open automatically,” complains the Drakesguard, “Or at least break open.”

“This base is one of the sturdiest and well-built structures on the planet,” I tell her, “It’s also one of the oldest buildings with electronics built into it. A couple years before automatic doors were even invented actually. And none were added in later years as they can be electronically hacked. Also the doors are strong enough to resist anything short of Class 6. Even then they can take a few blows usually.”

Fiona grunts and charges the door. She slams into before I can react and falls over backwards.

“Don’t damage my property!” I yell at Fiona, “Use the darn handle to get it open like a normal person!”

I check the door as Fiona back flips to her feet. No dents other than the ones already there.

“Fine,” grumbles Fiona as she finally uses the handle to open the door.

I watch her enter and wait for her to close the door behind her. I sigh before Alex and I head up to the control room.

Fiona is waiting in the middle of the training room.

“So now what?” asks Fiona out loud.

“Do something,” I reply over the training room speakers, “Try and use your new powers.”

“Okay,” says Fiona and stands there, concentrating.

“Maybe try moving?” I suggest after nothing happens.

Fiona steps forward and there’s a flash of blinding light. Well, not quite blinding for me as my armour filters most of the light away, but there’s still enough light for me to instinctively shield my eyes with my arm and look away. Alex, on the other hand, yelps in surprise.

“Whoo-hoo!” yells Fiona joyfully, “Did you see that?”

“We saw the light,” I answer as I look for Fiona.

I would say yes, but something might have happened that was concealed by the light.

“I teleported,” says Fiona happily, “By the Tragan, I teleported.”

“You did?” I reply as I replay the footage in the corner of my HUD, but the light fills the entire footage.

I flick through the different forms of viewing such as thermal, x-ray and ultraviolet, but all are also blocked.

A flash of light that can block viewing across the entire spectrum. Interesting. Of course it isn’t perfect, after all, my armour was able to filter it and someone who knew what they were dealing with could neutralise the effects.

Also it didn’t seem to work when Fiona wasn’t moving so that might be another limitation.

“What happened?” I ask Fiona, “The flash of light you gave off shielded you from being watched.”

“I step forward and suddenly I was a few meters forward,” explains Fiona, “I didn’t see any light.”

“So you weren’t affected by your own light,” I mutter before speaking up, “That’s useful. You could theoretically use your light to blind enemies or sensors while attacking or escaping. Especially if we figure how far you can move when teleporting.”

“Do you have any training drones I could fight?” asks Fiona, “To test out my new power in combat.”

“Sure,” I say and think for a moment before adding, “Without your armour.”

“Why?” protests Fiona.

“Because if you’re going to go home and be a superhero, you’ll be wearing a costume, not your armour,” I explain, “Therefore you should practice fighting without your armour.”

“So you want me to just take off my only clothing in a middle of a room while you watch me,” asks Fiona.

“I want you to change into a spare cos-mat suit,” I reply, “I’ll send Alex down with one and look away as you change. Any preference on colour?”

“White?” suggests Fiona, “I’ve had enough conflict with darkness and evil to enjoy the colour white and light it symbolises.”