Growing up in Rottenheim isn’t easy. Especially if you were born after it got the name Rottenheim, and if you happened to be born inherited with any superpowers. In that case, your career choices basically boiled down to supervillainy 90% of the time. But there were a few individuals who didn’t want to slide down that slope, even if the lawlessness of the city eventually led them with no other choice. One such individual was a little girl named Claire, who most would assume nothing of until she got distressed - something that happened quite often as a child. And also an adult. But we’re not there yet.
The young Claire had every right to feel nervous on this day, however, as it was her first day of elementary school. Her mother drove her, and was able to tell a lot of anxious thoughts were racing through her mind. It was a short ride, pulling up to the entrance of Sunnyside Elementary after about fifteen minutes. Claire looked out the window, seeing plenty of other children pulling up to the front door, which only caused her worry to grow.
“Alright, hon, here we are.” said her mother, Grace. “You remember what we’ve been practicing, right?”
“But mom, what if it doesn’t work?” Claire anxiously asked.
“Claire, I know you’re nervous, but you know this is something we gotta deal with sooner or later.” Grace replied. “No pesky powers are gonna get in the way of you living life as long as I’m around.”
“But what if I get all wigged out again? And I send my teacher to the moon?” Claire protested. “Or - or what if another kid gets hurt? Or a bus starts flying? Or-”
As she worked herself up, the young psychic’s powers kicked in, causing nearby items to float into the air. Noticing this, her mother put a firm yet comforting hand on her shoulder, making Claire snap back to reality and look back at her.
“You’ve gotten a lot better at controlling it. And I believe you got this, okay?” Grace told her. “Just remember your breathing if you get overwhelmed.”
“O-okay, mom…”
“Hope your first day’s good, baby!” she said as she planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you later.”
The young Claire put on her bravest face as she finally took her first step toward the school. On the inside, she was still nervous as ever, busy worrying about what might happen if she lost control of herself. But nevertheless, she found enough courage to walk up to the entrance, just like any other kid there.
As she made her way to her homeroom, Claire tried her best to keep attention off of her as much as possible, which a lot of people assumed to just be the result of first day jitters. This became difficult to do when she finally did get situated in the room of her new teacher, Ms. Tinashe, who eventually called her to her side for an introduction.
“Why don’t you come up and introduce yourself, sweetie?” Ms. Tinashe asked. “Come now, no need to be shy.”
Despite everything telling her that she did, Claire stood up from her spot and made her way to Ms. Tinashe’s side, slowly but surely.
“U-um… I’m… I’m Claire…” she stammered in front of her new class.
“Go on, tell us something about yourself.” the teacher kindly prodded, trying to help her break out of her shell.
“I… Well… I, uh… MY BRAIN CAN HURT PEOPLE!”
Claire immediately covered her mouth after blurting that out, followed by a loud THUD, making her realize she had inadvertently lifted the teacher’s desk into the air. Contrary to what she wanted, all eyes in the classroom were now on her, and silence filled the air. That is, until one other kid suddenly blurted out…
“THAT’S AWESOME!”
“R-really?”
While some kids and the teacher herself were hesitant, there were just as many students who seemed eager to learn more about their new fellow student’s abilities. This was a lot better than she was expecting, but seeing as how it still got her attention she didn’t really want, Claire could only see it as a double edged sword.
Throughout her first day of school, things went as well as she thought they could. There were kids who offered to play or sit with her for lunch, but she declined as politely as possible, not wanting to get too excited after the first impression she made. Still, she participated to the best of her abilities, and started to feel no different from any other child there. At least for a while, until the end of the school day, when Ms. Tinashe lined up her class to get ready for their rides home.
“All right, everyone, the buses will be here any minute now.” she said. “Let’s g-”
KER-SMASH!
Everyone’s attention turned to the ceiling, where a hole that wasn’t there before had suddenly appeared, complete with a man in a bright green wing suit swooping down through it.
“Oh no…” Ms. Tinashe complained.
“Behold, the agony of a broken heart, mixed the raging winds…” the man dramatically proclaimed. “BEHOLD THE PEREGRINE!”
“I’m sorry, kids… Josh, we’ve been over this a thousand times now.” the teacher said, unfazed. “This is why I broke up with you in the first place. And if you haven’t noticed, I have a class right now!”
“I too have a class, Michelle.” the Peregrine proclaimed. “And in it, I teach the lasting effects of a broken heart on a person!”
“You really don’t think you’re being overdramatic?” she asked.
“NO, Michelle, I’m being over… uh…” he attempted to retort before realizing he didn’t actually have a clever comeback. “That is to say… BE MINE AGAIN!”
The Peregrine began his assault by taking to the air and flapping his wings, creating a powerful burst of wind that knocked the teacher and her class over. As the children began clamoring, Claire looked back in fear, more so than the other kids around her. It didn’t take long for security to show up as Ms. Tinashe attempted to get her class out of the room to safety, but the avian heel didn’t let up. As Claire just stayed back and watched, she felt anxiety rising within her, with this scenario being far worse than what she had imagined earlier. Any attempts made to defuse the situation were in vain, as the Peregrine was relentless, but at the same time not getting anywhere himself.
Eventually, the Peregrine realized that his assault on his ex wasn’t getting him anywhere - or at least, wasn’t getting him any closer to regaining a relationship. His eyes darted around the classroom until they settled on the class Tinashe was still trying to keep safe. As a last resort, he grabbed one of the children to hold them hostage, and that child just so happened to be Claire.
“Last chance, Michelle!” Peregrine proclaimed. “Date me or the kid gets it!”
“Oh, wow, threatening a child, how romantic of you.”
At this point, Claire could no longer contain her fear, and curled herself into a ball as best she could with her hands over her head, unaware of the orange glow around them only getting brighter. A similarly bright aura engulfed one of the cabinets, causing them to fly toward the villain and smash into the villain, making him drop Claire as he was knocked out of the air.
“OW! What the-?!”
Even though Claire was safely on the ground, her fear hadn’t subsided as she just buckled down, unaware that her hands were still glowing. Soon everything within her vicinity started floating around in the air, from desks, to toys, to even some of the other kids. Seeing the situation getting worse, Tinashe moved her class toward the hallway as quickly as she could.
Suddenly, the Peregrine himself started flying around the room uncontrollably, himself being covered in the child’s psychic aura. Claire would occasionally look up, seeing all the damage being caused out of her control, making her only buckle down and panic more, especially when the criminal nearly missed her. He continued smashing through floating desks, nearby walls, and other flying debris, getting more battered and bruised with each one.
“OKAY I GIVE UP!” he pleaded. “PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN-!”
His wish was answered, though not in the way he wanted. The sight of the villain hurdling right toward her made Claire scream and bunker down in a panic, the motion of her hands causing him to swerve out of her way.
Outside the school, buses and cars had started pulling up, just as the catastrophe was starting to reach its pique. At the front of one of those cars was Grace, alongside her husband Mike, both of which instantly recognized what was going on. Without even taking a second to park, they got out of their car, just as it seemed things were settling down…
KRAK
SHOOM
…which they were not. Instead, the event resulted in an outburst of psychic energy, shattering many of the school’s walls and causing equipment and debris to fly everywhere. Within one of the holes, Grace and Mike’s eyes widened at who they saw standing up.
It was Claire. And there she stood, now with her head completely bare, stunned as she still processed what just happened. Her parents rushed in without any hesitation, Grace making a beeline for her daughter, while Mike got stopped by the security staff, leaving him to try and explain the situation.
“Claire?” Grace called out, finally coming up to her, touching her shoulders. “Claire, what happened?”
At first, she remained frozen, unable to find any words to say. Fearing the worst as always, as she looked back at her mother, all she could manage to do was frightfully whimper as tears began to form. She buried herself into her mother, gripping tightly to her shirt as she finally broke down before her.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” the young Claire stammered, with her tears practically forming a waterfall down her cheeks at this point.
“Sshhh…” Grace hushed as she held her close. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”
She returned her mother’s hug, helping to calm her nerves and eventually stop crying, though in the back of her mind she knew she was still in trouble, even if just with the administration.
Surely enough, the school had to undergo repairs, though since this was Rottenheim, where laws were basically meaningless, they decided to let the Goodriches off the hook on the condition that Claire would be homeschooled. While this gave her some normalcy to her life, her problems were far from over.
As she grew up, the issue of her precarious powers kept rearing its ugly head, finding herself unable to keep them in check as she wound bounce around from job to job. Each one she managed to get would end up being more stressful than the last, only adding to the issue.
At age 16, she was overwhelmed by a rude customer as she worked the register at a Piggsy’s Vegan Stop, resulting in said customer getting accidentally assaulted with soy nuggets.
At age 19, she was fired from Mango Republic after another supervillain run-in gave her a panic attack that resulted in the entire women’s section being flown through the roof. It turned out that was all the villain was looking for.
At age 22, she missed a spot while working as a cleaner for a very persnickety hotel. The fact that it didn’t have anything to do with her powers actually made it sting even more.
And so on. With so many jobs going awry, and years passing with her struggling to provide for herself, all it amounted to was Claire feeling like a burden to herself and her family. To her, her own powers were a curse that prevented her from living a normal life, and her parents were just as clueless as she was with how to help her.
Then, one day, when all hope seemed lost, Mike returned home with a flier he saw posted on his way back from his errands. While there weren’t many details disclosed, it said that they were looking for super powered individuals who were desperate for work, and that no interview was necessary, just needing to show up at a lair in the center of Rottenheim, which they would be allowed to stay at. While Mike had considered this a godsend, Claire and her mother weren’t as enthusiastic.
“Mike, this is super shady.” Grace pointed out. “What if this is for some black market freak show? Hell’s gonna freeze over before I let her stoop anywhere near that low.”
“Uh… Yeah, I don’t know about this…” the now adult Claire said uneasily, weighing all the options in her mind as she looked over it.
“Well, shady’s kind of on brand for this city, unfortunately.” Mike said. “Besides, we got nothing else to lose at this point.”
“Mike!” Grace scolded, only for her daughter to stop her.
“No, mom, he’s right.” Claire admitted. “This is probably as good as I’m gonna get.”
And so, the next day, Claire prepared herself as best she could for this mysterious new job. The flier instructed the recipients to come in costume if they could, and wanting to get as many points as possible, she stopped into a Costume City and just picked the first one in her size. By noon, she arrived at the undisclosed location at the center of the city - a large, dome-shaped building with a giant green M over the front door. At this point, she felt even more uncertain, but just like she did as a child, she pushed herself to walk up to the entrance and ring the doorbell. Shortly after, the doors opened, with no one she could see behind it…
“Hey! Down here, sister.”
Until she looked down, seeing a short, robotic maid before her.
“Guessing you’re with the circus with that getup?” she remarked. “Well I already told ya we’re not interested-”
“Oh, no, no, I’m… uh, Claire, and I’m here about the job.” she explained, holding up the flier. “Uh… Because I have powers and am… desperate for work. Y’know.”
“Ah. Was starting to think no one else would show up. Alright, I’ll take ya to meet the boss.” said the maid. “Oh, and watch your step. It’d be a bad look if you got impaled on your first day.”
“...What?!”
Despite the odd warning, Claire followed the robot down a series of elaborate hallways, each decorated with discarded costumes, most of which were tattered and torn, and had very foreign looking technology scattered around, making her only wonder further what she was getting herself into. Before she could come to any conclusions, they arrived at their destination. She was guided inside to a waiting room, where there were already two others present; A goth woman with shadows enveloping her arms who just scrolled through her phone, and a tall, well-built man with with fiery hair.
“Alright, you three get to know each other.” the robot said. “Probably gonna be here a while.”
As she rolled away, Claire sat down next to them and joined in the awkward silence, until the man decided to break it.
“This your first work too?” he asked, catching her attention.
“Oh, no, I’ve uh… bounced around a lot.” she said.
“Ah, cool. I’m Marcus. And that’s Ellen. She’s not a talker though.”
“No, I am.” Ellen suddenly spoke up. “Just not when I don’t care.”
“Uh… Okay. I’m Claire.” she introduced herself, holding out her hand to shake, which Marcus almost went for before reconsidering.
“Uh, sorry, bad idea. Don’t wanna melt your hand off.” he said with a nervous chuckle, which only got him a look of confusion. “I got lava powers. But, uh, never really got the hang of ‘em.”
“Oh… Yeah, I get you.” she said, putting her hand back down.
“What do you mean there’s only three?!” a raspy voice shouted from a separate room, loud enough to be overheard. “What kind of an army is made up of just three people?!”
“Look, boss, you might as well just go on with it. Two of ‘em have been waiting for six hours for Pete's sake!” the robot retorted. “This is probably as good as you’re gonna get.”
“Arrrgh… Fine, I can make it work. Now go get it ready!”
After another minute passed, a hatch in the ceiling opened up with a pole extending down from it, lowering a platform to their level.
“Behold, the first step of your new destiny!” the raspy voice announced as he made his grand entrance. “You’ve been nothing but petty crooks and washed up, woefully pathetic scoundrels. But now, you can be something greater, as the minions of… the MASTER… mind…?”
The top villain of Rottenheim finally revealed himself, only to lose his bravado upon looking at the trio. Marcus just stared back at him with a neutral expression, Claire looked petrified, recognizing him as a supervillain and expecting the worst, and Ellen… just kept her eyes on her phone. To say he was underwhelmed with this selection would be quite the understatement.
“...Okay, focus, Mlxr, you can work with this…” he said to psyche himself up before clearing his throat. “YES, you can finally put behind your days of small scale misdemeanors, for as my loyal lackeys, you’ll be able to embrace your inner evil! And use that as a key part in my conquest of THE WHOLE STINKIN’ PLANET! That’s right, and the benefits will be worth it, so I suggest you pay attention…”
Claire slowly got back into her seat as she processed what the villain was saying. It was here she finally realized what she had gotten herself into. It wasn’t some freak show like her mother had feared. In her mind, it was something even worse.
“Wait - Wait wait wait wait…” Claire suddenly interrupted, the realization setting in and throwing the Mastermind off his groove. “Are you saying we’re… working as… s-supervillains?!”
“...Claire, was it?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Well, no, you’re not.” the Mastermind answered.
“Oh! Good, I-”
“I’m the supervillain around here.” he continued. “You’re my minions. Which means it’s gonna be your job to do whatever I say, even the most insidious, spiteful, mean-spirited act! Got it?”
A look of dread fell over the psychic’s face as the Mastermind stared her down. She could feel her anxiety starting to kick in, but as it did, her mind began racing to try and think of a way out of this. But all she could think of were all the jobs he had failed to keep in the past. She thought of her parents, and the embarrassment of needing to rely on them into her late twenties. She thought of that incident at Sunnyside that was still so vivid in her memory. Weighing all of it in, she took a deep breath as she came to one conclusion.
She had no other choice.
“I got it…” she answered begrudgingly. “Whatever you say, sir…”
“Very good.” the Mastermind said before looking over toward the other two recruits. “And that goes for both of you too! Now, where was I?”
As the aspiring conqueror went back to his gloating, the other two recruited minions could easily sense her uneasiness. Despite being quiet the whole time, Ellen decided to lean in for some brief small talk.
“First time on the bad side?” she asked.
After taking a moment to think it over, she answered, “No, not really…”
And so Claire just stood there, once again frozen as the Mastermind barked out his speech. She began to wonder if anything had really changed since that first day at Sunnyside.
END.
Comentarios