The association was one of the more influential ones in the states and in being so, they had a lot of funds. The Wardens were rich as fuck and I could tell immediately. Even if Mom didn’t work for them, from the headquarters alone I could tell.
The circular building was towering into the sky, the design like a layered cake. The outside was made of glass with bright lights hanging from the walls that lit up the building like candles. I stared up at it as we got out of the car. The tower practically glowed against the gray sky.
I have seen the headquarters in pictures but I never actually been to it. This was wild.
“I can’t believe they work here,” I said. As I did I was surprised how free my face was.
I flexed my facial muscles trying to get used to not wearing a mask. It was so weird. It was as if I were inside rather than on a curb.
“We won’t stay for long,” Dad said, coming around the car to stand beside me. “If your Mom asks, tell her I said so.”
“You sound as if you don’t want me to be here.”
“I just don’t want to lose my superhero fanboy employee to the superhero association.”
“We don’t even know what power I have yet. It can be really lame.”
“You can never be too careful.”
“!”
Dad and I turned to Mom’s voice. She was coming from a pathway that stretched behind the building and to what seemed to be a garden and yard. A slight sprinkle of rain splashed against a magical glass umbrella that floated above her head. Another woman walked beside her with a (normal) umbrella of her own.
“Cain,” Mom greeted.
“Mother.”
“I’m glad you came. This is Manager Teresa Abbey. She’s in charge of The Ability Training Department.”
“Nice to meet you,” Teresa said, holding out a hand. Both Dad and I shook it. “I am in charge of helping new Eternals develop their abilities to their full potential. I worked with your brother.”
“Oh, that’s cool.”
Mom gestured for us to follow her. “I have a lot of people I want to introduce you to.” She headed toward the building and we fell behind her. “Teresa agreed that because we do not know what power you have, our association can help you along.”
My mouth fell open. “Like training?”
“Yes, like training.”
“We can’t tell you what your power is but we can help you find it through exercises. Don’t worry, it won’t be dangerous but it will test your limits,” Teresa said.
“I would love-”
I stopped, the situation catching up to me.
My dream employers just offered to train me. Or more accurately, find my powers. Powers that probably do not even exist. If they were to find that out they might also discover that I am not even human anymore and I’m actually a fanged vampire-wannabe.
“...I will have to think it over,” I corrected myself, my voice deflating.
Mom seemed surprised but all she did was look past her shoulder at me. Her eyes seemed to see right through me.
As we continued to walk toward the building she began explaining how the Wardens were created and why they were. I have heard it a hundred times so most of it entered one ear and flew out the other. Instead, my thoughts traveled in the same loop that they'd been circling in for the last two days.
Should I say anything? Would Mom know what’s going on with me? Would Dad understand? I don’t know Is something wrong with me?
Am I even the same as before?
Other than the new sharpened teeth, I’m also hungrier. I’ve been trying to hide it from Dad but he may have noticed. I have been asking for his leftovers when in the past, I could barely eat my food. I told him that the draining must have gotten to me and that's what I believed too. However, even after I eat, I'm still hungry.
When I get home I want to test out all of my changes and see if I missed any. I hoped I didn’t, that this was it. Though, even if it were, would I be able to hide it from my family? Dad is as perceptive as they come and Cory is nosy as fuck. Mom had the eyes of a hawk and could notice something suspicious from a mile away. Especially if I lived with her. I'm lucky she hadn’t already bombarded me with intrusive questions until I cracked.
Man, living with the two of them and the occasional Cory was going to be difficult. Maybe I should just tell them…
It would probably be fine. They probably would take it well.
The headquarters doors automatically slid open, revealing the spacious lobby inside. A very spacious and crowded lobby. Almost everyone was wearing Warden's colors, black and purple. Some, like Mom, were wearing formal uniforms that were suit-like. They must have been the managers. Others were wearing the Eternal uniforms that were used for fieldwork. Cory wore them a lot. There was one group though, in the back, who were following a manager, that were wearing purple and white uniforms. Those people stood out like a sore thumb.
“Who are they?” I asked.
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“They are similar to you,” Mom said. “People who recently became Eternals who have joined the Wardens. They have yet to join a unit.”
“And they are promising. Most of them purposefully exposed themselves to Entha to become Eternals,” Teresa said.
“Sounds like they’re stupid to me,” Dad said. “And naive.”
“Yes, I could see why you’d think that. But there are not many out there who are willing to risk their lives like they are.”
I scoff inside my head. Cory risked his life all the time to save people and he didn’t take off his mask. Those people over there were just glory-seekers. Not that am any different but Cory was far more promising than them or me.
I looked back at the group. Most of them were on the young side, around my age. Others were in their thirties. There was this one man who had one of the most chiseled jaws I’ve ever seen. He had to have been at least ten years older than I. The manager that they were following was a short person with short hair. I couldn’t see them much from where I was but they could have been a woman or a man.
“If I decided to train, would they be the ones I group with?”
“Only if you were to join the Wardens.”
I had a sneaking suspicion that my joining the Wardens was what Mom was actually trying to achieve. It was kind of frustrating that she wouldn’t just tell me that but at the same time, it warmed something in me. Whatever my Mom was planning, she wanted me around. A smile pushed itself onto my face. It fell away. It wasn’t like I could join the Wardens, even though I really wanted to, just as I couldn’t train with Teresa. My childhood dream was gone and my family would never respect me. Why did these things happen to me!?
I had the worst luck ever.
My stomach growled and I ignored the craving for fried chicken.
“We’ll head for the labs,” Mom said. “Teresa, can you go meet with that new shield wielder in the second training room? I believe she will be perfect for the unit tomorrow.”
“Rose Shopps? Yes. I can see that. What should she work on?”
“She gets overwhelmed easily. She needs to be able to undertake external pressure.”
“Understood.” Teresa nodded her head and turned the other way toward the elevator.
“The labs are this way. There is a professor who has researched Eternals for over fifteen years. He is better than a doctor when it comes to these kinds of situations. If anything is wrong with you, he will be able to figure it out.”
“Wait. Didn’t we agree that I was alright? Didn’t we?” I looked back at Dad who only watched silently and followed us.
“I agreed to no such thing. Abilities have existed for less than thirty years. It's completely possible that you're an outlier and you are in danger. For all we know you can be ill or dying. I shall not let that happen. So, before your father forces you to go home, as I know he will, you will be seeing a professional. Afterward, there's a friend who I’d like you to meet.”
I groaned internally.
The labs were on the first floor so the three of us walked down a curving hall that probably circled the entire level. We passed basketball-like courts and gyms packed with weight-training equipment. There was a glass room full of exercise bikes, treadmills, and stair climbers. In one room, I paused to watch swimmers race each other back and forth. Like a bullet, the three Eternals shot through the water; their speed inhuman. The entire pool rippled from their strokes with waves meant for an ocean, the water crashing against the walls. The thunder from that room echoed into the hall where I stood.
“Cain,” Mom ordered.
“Coming!”
I tore my eyes away from the swimmers and caught up with my parents.
“These are just a few rooms that you could use if you were to train with us,” Mom said. “And on the third floor is an obstacle course. We have rock walls, a track in the stadium that's just up the hill, and Giant simulations.”
“I doubt he wishes to participate in a Giant simulation,” Dad interrupted. He shot Mom a look. “Can I talk to you for a quick second? Cain, you stay here.”
Dad and Mom stepped into a gender-neutral bathroom and closed the heavy door behind them. I stood in the middle of the hall, alone.
What was that about? Did Dad not want Mom to try to convince me to train? Why? Was he actually worried that he’d lose an employee? No, that couldn’t be it.
After two minutes or so, the bathroom door opened and my parents stepped out. Dad's expression was dragged down with weariness. Mom was clenching her teeth, a stubborn tick in her jaw.
“Alright, let’s go to that lab,” Dad said.
I eyed the two of them.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” Dad said. “Come on.”
The lab we stopped at, which was one of many, was labeled the “Entha Affects Lab.” I would much rather go to the “Abilities Lab” down the hall but I was interested nonetheless.
Large counters were in the center of the room with devices I had never seen before. Another counter stretched along the back wall with sinks built into it. A dummy of a human was standing in the corner, and a real human was sitting on a chair as a scientist spoke to them. Another scientist was hunched over their notes after peeking into a microscope as one stood before a shelf with an array of tools. A tv was mounted to one wall and two people were watching it intensely. They would pause it suddenly, jot something down on a tablet, say something to the other, and then unpause it.
What really caught my eye was a poster on the wall. In high school, with labs like this one, there would be a positive message or an inspirational quote. This one just said, “Eternal vs. Demon transformation’.
Eternal:
- Body Becomes Warm
- Incandescence
- Pain Relief
- Body Fortification
- Gaining of Ability
- Incandescence
Demons:
- Body Becomes Cold
- Experiences Pain
- Loss of Reality/Self
- Possible Body Mutation
- Self-Harm
- Homicidal Frenzy
- Experiences Pain
I re-read the poster, something stirring in my chest. All doubt that still lingered in me vanished like smoke. It truly crashed into me then. Smacking me right in the face. And all I could think was,
I glance at my hands. They were still gloved. I had pulled them on because there was a chance any skin contact could be dangerous.
I had taken precautions so why was it just now dawning on me?
“Venice, this is my son, Cain,” Mom was saying.
My head snapped to the guy Mom was speaking to. The man was about my parents' age, maybe a bit younger, with red hair that had traces of white. He was grinning, his smile happy and his face lively. He reached out a hand with an enthusiasm I didn't expect. I shook it, trying to give a smile of my own, finding it difficult. My lips probably wobbled and was more of a grimace but Venice didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Nice to meet you,” he said. I could only hum, fearing that my voice would break. “If you are comfortable with it, I can give you an evaluation and see if everything is normal.”
“He is comfortable with it,” Mom said. “What I was worried about was that he was in pain after he transformed. Is that normal?”
“Depends.” Venice placed a hand on his chin. “Most transformations are relatively the same but some do have some differences. Though, I’ve never heard of a transformation that didn’t relieve the pain. Perhaps it was something after the transformation that could have caused it. Does anything stand out to you?”
Anxiety shot through me and I fumbled for an answer. “Oh, well, I tripped and fell… I think.” That part of my memory was fuzzy.
“If it hurt you in a significant way then that could have been the cause. Even with the pain relief that comes with Entha exposure,” Venice said.
“It probably did,” I said, ducking my head and smoothing down my hair.
“You didn’t say anything about it hurting you before,” Mom said. “Those doctors at the hospital didn’t notice anything either.” Mom was suddenly giving me look. “Are you hiding something?” That was her mom voice. The words got lodged in my throat.
“I- No! What can I have to hide-?”
“Cain,” Dad said, an edge to his tone. “Are you lying?”
I was starting to get overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and panicking.
“Lying!? No, no, no.” Both of them were watching me. I laughed but it was so ingenuine that it was more of a cough. “I… I…” I sighed, looking down to the ground. I struggled to speak for a moment. “I don’t know how to say it,” I finally said, tucking my hands in my pocket. “You see, I’m-”
The door slammed open.
“Is Manager Rogue here?” a person yelled. They were wearing a formal uniform and were considerably young. An assistant maybe?
“Jiro? What is it?” Mom asked, alert and demanding.
“We need a unit dispatched. Ethan detected a demon nearby!”