King of Superheroes 3, page 19
“Wow, you waste no time getting to the hard questions.” She let out a low chuckle and then stared off into the distance as though she was running through a memory reel in her brain. “Despite the legacy he chose to leave behind, Gideon was not always the man we now remember him as.”
“Wait,” I said, and my eyebrows ticked upward in surprise. “Gideon?”
“Yes, that’s right.” She smiled. “That was what he was called, before he let the power get to his head. Perhaps ironically or not, it means ‘great destroyer.’”
“Subtle.” I exhaled through my nose. “Makes it seem like some weird self-fulfilling prophecy.”
I paused for a moment before continuing.
“It’s so weird to even put a name to him,” I said. “I kinda… I don’t know, it humanizes him in a way I haven’t experienced yet.”
“I often forget that he is nameless to most people,” Eve mused. “Of course, I knew him all those years ago… he was always Gideon to me.”
“When did you meet him?” I asked.
“We were young when we met,” she explained. “I was just a fledgling, and Gideon hadn’t activated yet. So to me, he was just an ordinary man. Well, as ordinary as an extraordinary man can be. Or, should I say, was.”
She smiled and paused again as she swirled the liquid in her champagne flute.
“He was extremely loving and caring, which is what initially drew me to him,” she went on. “He was full of life and had such an all-encompassing love for living, it was infectious. You couldn’t help but want to be around him.”
“How did you meet… Gideon?” I asked, and even saying his name felt so weird on my tongue.
“He worked in the Academy,” she said. “Of course, times were a lot different back then, and the Academy was nothing like what it is today.”
“He worked there?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, he manned the front desk, so I would see him every day.” She smiled at the memory. “We’d exchanged lingering looks with one another, and it was clear there was a spark between us. Of course, I was waiting for him to make the first move. Eventually, he started bringing me coffee every morning. It was all very… sweet.”
“I can’t imagine it,” I admitted and shook my head. “From what I know about him, it feels strange to even think of him as acting in any way that resembles a decent person, let alone a romantic.”
“Ah, yes,” she sighed. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to even comprehend that’s how it once was, too. But life comes at you fast, and as you look back, you’ll realize you’ve already been many different people in your lifetime, and it’s likely you’ll be many more. It is the same case for Gideon, but his story just has a much darker ending.”
“I just wouldn’t peg you for someone who’d go for someone like him,” I said. “Or, and please take no offense when I say this, you don’t seem like someone he’d go for, either. You’re… nice.”
She let out another low chuckle and sighed again.
“Don’t worry, no offense taken,” she said. “I never knew what drew him to me, really. When I think back on it now, I theorize that perhaps it’s because I never flaunted myself the way a lot of Supers do, especially back then. I never felt or acted as though I was mightier-than-thou. Of course, he interacted with hundreds of Supers every single day, so I imagine he came across a lot of… less-than-pleasant people.”
I nodded for her to continue.
“As for what drew me to him,” she said, “it’s exactly as I’ve already explained. The man I knew was a great one, and he wanted to give me the world. Now, how can you say no to that?”
“Sounds like he knows how to drive a hard bargain.” I laughed.
“Exactly,” she said with a slight smile. “And I always felt like a bit of an outcast and an anomaly when I compared myself to those with evidently practical powers. It was nice to be noticed.”
“You make it sound like a normal love story,” I mused. “It’s so strange…”
“Yes, well, in many ways it was,” she said. “I also spent longer in the Academy than most fledglings do. Due to the nature of immortality, as you can probably imagine, it is not an obviously applicable power to most industries, so it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”
It was especially strange to think of the last Omega as ever being just a normal guy at one point. But it was also strange to consider that Eve also had lived an ordinary life. Her immortality gave her the effect of being almost omniscient, so it was hard to imagine she ever felt as though she once had no clear direction.
“Given that the biggest caveat to my power is that I have and will live through a lot more life than others will,” she continued, “I decided my powers were probably going to be best put to use helping others understand life and all of its mysteries, especially those who particularly struggled to. From non-supers to supers, I liked helping people from all walks of life.”
“I think that’s really admirable,” I said.
“Yes, thank you.” She smiled. “My power became less about immortality and more about the wisdom it has given me. So, I saw no better way than to impart it to others, if they needed it. I was a third-year in the Academy at the time of us meeting, and I’d just picked up a role as an intern at a psychiatrist’s office. Then, eventually, I started my own practice.”
“Was he against it?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” she said with a wave of her hand. “He was on board and seemed more excited than I was. We’d always speak about how there was such a huge discrepancy between the treatment of supers and non-supers. I know it might be hard to believe, but he was a huge advocate for bridging that gap.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Well, then… he activated.” She nodded slowly. “At first, he didn’t change. He remained the same man I knew and loved, apart from a bit more of a skip in his step and a general overall sense of elevated happiness and confidence. Then he started to spend most of his time out in the mansion, I wouldn’t see him for weeks. And gradually, as he activated more and more powers, he grew sick with power.”
“I wonder what led him to let it take over…” I pondered listlessly.
“I think he spent so long feeling invisible that he was hellbent on being seen,” she suggested. “I’m sure with all of the fame and recognition that comes with the title, it got addictive.”
“I can see that,” I agreed. “But why did he turn on you?”
“I don’t know for sure, but in many ways, I believe he was jealous of my power,” she explained as her pale brow furrowed. “For all of the wrong reasons, of course. He wished to reign for eternity, but there has never been an Omega who was also immortal. I always wondered whether that was intentional so it meant there was a constant cycle of new rulers, and we weren’t left with any bad apples, but it may also just be a coincidence. Anyway, he tried his hardest to indoctrinate me so I would be able to carry on his legacy, but of course, I was not inclined to do so. That was the most blatant reason he turned on me.”
“That’s really sad,” I said with a sympathetic frown. “I’m sorry to hear it.”
“It’s okay, I’ve mourned the man I once knew,” she said. “As much as I knew and loved the man I met, in my eyes, he died when he activated. I called the relationship off after he had taken it too far. My last straw was when he threatened my life.”
She paused again, and her statement hung in the air.
“And so I went into hiding,” she said finally.
“Why did you hide?” I asked the immortal woman.
“I had to,” she explained. “He’d given me no other choice… He made sure I knew I was nothing without him, that he’d find me and make me pay for disobeying him. My immortality only protected me from the ravages of age, not from bodily harm. It was no longer safe for me to live as I had been. I shut down my practice and took refuge in my family home, which I’d luckily never given up the location of. Maybe, deep down, I always knew he was dangerous.”
“It’s lucky things ended when they did,” I said.
“Yes, I’m sure by now you know what he had planned for us all,” the immortal woman said, and her expression grew more troubled. “But near the end of his life, he began his final project.”
“What was it?” I asked apprehensively.
“Well, he’d started his plans to make a device…” she said. “A device that was capable of stripping supers of their powers.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Was the device made to aid in his ‘cleansing’?” I asked.
“The short answer is yes,” she said. “The device was also designed so the powers it stripped were then able to be transferred to someone else. You can see why such a device made me stay in hiding. Gideon was already powerful enough, but if he stole my ability…”
“That’s… unbelievable.” I felt a pain form in my temple as I processed what the immortal woman was telling me.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there,” she continued. “Once people had caught wind this is what he was doing, people were willing to give their powers to him. They shared his belief that he was the most worthy of power and sacrificed their gifts.”
“Why would anyone do that?” I shook my head in disbelief.
“Well, I think that having powers started to feel like a burden to most people, so they wanted to be off his radar,” she explained. “He hadn’t even finished producing his final product, but there they were, bowing down to him and ready to give him everything.”
“If he did finish making the device, I just hope it’s not still around,” I said as I furrowed my brow. “It could end up in the wrong hands, which would be dangerous for all of us.”
“There’s no way of knowing for sure,” Eve said. “Very few people know about it, at least those who are still alive, which now includes you. So I trust you’ll treat this information as sensitively as it is?”
“Of course,” I said with a nod. “I understand. I wouldn’t want this information getting out, either.”
“Good. Well, anyway, the location of the device seems to have died with him.” She sighed. “But it is probably best that way. As you said, there would be dire consequences if someone was to get a hold of it, and one person knowing its location is one too many...”
The idea that someone could find this device, or was already looking for it, immediately filled me with adrenaline. There was no way I was going to let it fall into the wrong hands, and if it had already, I was going to take it by force.
I just needed to find it myself first.
“Thank you for this, Eve,” I said as I met her gaze. “I really appreciate you taking the time, and you’ve been a big help.”
“Of course, Mark,” she replied. “I’m glad I could help, and just so you know, I can see you’re different from him, and you’ll be a fantastic ruler, just as he should’ve been. I know you’ll correct his mistakes for yourself and for those that follow you.”
“That’s kind.” I smiled at the immortal woman. “Thank you.”
After my conversation with Eve, I no longer felt suspicious of her. It was clear she’d just so happened to fall for the wrong man, and she wasn’t able to predict that he’d end up doing what he did.
Eve and I left the closet, and then I threaded through the crowd to find my team. My mind was racing, and I couldn’t get back to them quick enough.
“Where’d you sneak off to?” Hannah asked once I found them.
“I just had a really interesting conversation…” I said.
“With who?” Rhiannon asked and cocked her head.
“With Eve,” I said.
“The last Omega’s wife?” Frank interjected, and his eyes widened. “What did you talk about?”
“Let’s find Mori,” I said. “I want to tell you while we’re all together.”
We scouted the room until we spotted Mori engaged in a conversation with Amanda.
To no one’s surprise, the extravagance of Amanda’s evening hadn’t stopped at her decorations, and she looked just as excessive as the party she’d thrown. She was dressed in a bleached white formfitting dress, with white silk gloves to match. Her ashy blonde bob was overshadowed by a large white hat that swooped over half of her face, and her exposed eye was accentuated by a dramatic black cat wing that almost reached her hairline.
And somehow, she pulled it off.
“Hey,” I said to the fashion designer as we approached the pair.
“Well, hello!” Amanda made a dramatic display of looking at all of us. “Don’t you all look wonderful! And you dressed yourselves, well done!”
“Thank you, we learned from the best,” I chuckled before I turned to the Academy’s benefactor. “Mori, can we steal you?”
“Of course,” Mori said. “It was lovely to see you, Amanda. Thank you for arranging a wonderful evening.”
We said our goodbyes to Amanda and began making our way through the crowd of partygoers.
We’d nearly made our way to exit when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around and saw Liam’s friendly face.
Liam was a Conduit trainer at the Academy, and I’d had a session with him at the beginning of the year. He wore his black hair pulled back into a man bun, and it was weird to see him out of the obnoxiously red suits all the trainers were forced to wear. Instead, he wore a pale blue short-sleeve shirt tucked into a pair of gray suit trousers, and he’d upped the hipster element with a pair of brown leather braces that matched his equally hipster leather brogues.
“Good to see you, my man,” the trainer said as patted me on the shoulder. “How’s it been going?”
My mind was still racing from my conversation with Eve, and I had to manually slow its cogs so I could engage in small talk.
“Yeah, it’s been good, dude,” I said. “Thank you for asking. I’m just on my way out, though, so we’ll have to catch up properly another time. But it’s good to see you, too.”
As I was finishing my conversation with the trainer, I saw Pyro over his shoulder glaring at me, and I held his gaze as I shook Liam’s hand.
Then I said my final goodbye to the trainer and turned back to my group.
“Let’s go,” I told my team.
We continued out of the building and made our way to the valet, who brought around our borrowed Rolls-Royce. Then, after a short drive back to the Academy, we arrived and headed to the penthouse.
“What is it?” Mori asked once we’d gathered on his couches.
“As you know, I spoke with Eve tonight,” I explained. “And she told me some things about the last Omega and what he’d been planning before he was taken out.”
“Go on…” Mori prompted.
“She said he’d been making a device,” I continued. “One that was designed with the purpose of stripping supers of their powers and transferring them to someone else.”
My team shared concerned looks with each other at the news.
“That would explain a lot.” Mori nodded, and his eyes grew a little distant as he leaned back in his seat. “Even though it may not seem like it to you guys, the number of fledglings activating are few and far between these days. There used to be triple the amount that have enrolled this year.”
“You think this device is the reason for that?” Frank asked.
“It’s very possible, yes,” Mori said. “Some have argued it’s just a fluke of genetics, like the original appearance of powers. Nature gave us a gift and is now taking it away. But, if the last Omega was stripping powers from people, then there would be less abilities circulating in the collective gene pool. Especially if the device is still in circulation, someone may have gotten hold of it.”
“I feel like we would know if that was the case,” I said. “But Eve also said that people had even started to give up their powers to the last Omega, because they actually believed he was more worthy than they were. So I think it’s likely the gene pool is smaller as a domino effect from that.”
“I can’t wrap my mind around this.” Frank shook his head. “After seeing what an asshole he was, why would you give him more reason to be?”
“He was a very convincing guy, I guess.” I shrugged. “And to make it even weirder, I found out his name.”
“It’s strange to even think of him having a name,” Hannah said.
“You’re telling me,” I snorted.
“Don’t leave us hanging,” Frank prompted. “What is it?”
“Oh, yeah.” I laughed. “His name is Gideon.”
I watched as my team digested this new bit of information and decided on how they wanted to react.
“I was kinda hoping for something like Slayer,” Frank said finally and screwed up his face.
“I’ll be sure to give him your feedback if I ever run into him,” I snickered. “If it makes you feel any better, apparently Gideon means great destroyer.”
“Meh.” Frank shrugged. “Slayer’s cooler.”
I playfully shook my head at my Conduit friend before getting the conversation back on track.
“Anyway, there’s no point in us mulling over the details of his life any longer,” I said. “We need to find out if the device is still around, because if it is, we need to stop anyone else getting their hands on it.”
“If it is, then that could be what the Antis are after,” Danny suggested, and his expression was troubled.
But I didn’t blame him. The idea of the Antis being able to steal powers and give them to those they deemed “worthy” was a scary and sobering thought.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed with my healer friend. “They might be, but Eve seems to think that not a lot of people know about this device.”
“I have a feeling a lot more people know about it than she thinks,” Frank added with a scowl. “I think we’ve all learned there are a lot of shady-ass people around us.”
“I really hope you’re not right about that,” Mori said.
“Did Eve say what happened to the device?” Hannah asked as she turned to me.
