Chapter Text
Tanner would’ve stayed at the hotel the next day, too, had Hatch not gotten involved.
Nichelle had been the one to wake him up. “Hey! Farm boy!” She yelled, barging right up to the bedroom doors and knocking loud enough to snap Tanner out of a half-asleep stupor. “The doctor wants to see you.”
Tanner let out half a groan, before biting down on the inside of his mouth. One day of freedom had really gotten to his head. “Got it. Lemme get changed first.”
Apparently he didn’t do it fast enough, because Nichelle kept banging her fist on the bedroom door. Tanner didn’t have enough time to change out of his tank top, so he zipped up his jacket on top of it, and hobbled out from the closet wearing the designer jeans the school had bought him. They looked too clean for him to wear.
As soon as he opened the door, Nichelle gave him one long look, then said, “Get your shoes,” before walking away.
As he put his shoes on, one terrifying thought kept running through Tanner’s head. Hatch must have heard about the incident in the park by now. And he wouldn’t let a public outburst go unpunished. He needed to think of an apology - a really good one. Something that would satisfy someone as self-absorbed and malicious as Hatch.
He hadn’t thought of one by the time he and Nichelle left the hotel, passing crowds, and into the esplanade between the two parks. There, Hatch stood, along with his guards, wearing his own pair of Mickey ears and a Star Wars shirt. He looked like if Elon Musk pretended to be a casual tourist.
“Tanner, my boy!” Hatch said with a toothy grin on his face. As soon as Tanner was within reach, he wrapped his arms around his shoulder. “Welcome back to the land of the living. How’s that leg treating you?”
Tanner stumbled over his words for more than a few seconds, until he finally managed to just say, “Good.”
“Excellent.” Hatch leaned over Tanner and motioned for Nichelle and a pair of guards to leave. “Go get you and Zeus something nice for breakfast.” He turned back to Tanner. “Sorry for waking you up, but I need you for a moment. Come, let’s take a walk.”
It felt twice as hard to move, now that he was beside Hatch. The cane shook as Tanner tried to put weight on it. “If this is about earlier, then I-”
“You think I’m going to punish you for that?” Hatch asked.
“No,” Tanner said, and that thick taste of bile was back again. “But what you said about Joey-”
Hatch laughed - a normal, almost insultingly casual laugh. “Come on, Tanner, be reasonable.”
Tanner stared at Dr. Hatch, who was still grinning ear to ear. As if that wasn’t any more worrying.
“Tanner,” Hatch said, “I would never punish you for that, because what you did was fascinating.”
They took a trip to the park across from Disneyland: California Adventure, which was confusingly named, and didn’t seem to have any consistent theme. One area was built to look like Hollywood, then right after that was a Marvel land. They had a forested area with waterfalls and a rock carving of a bear, and then there was Cars land. Maybe California Adventure’s theme was “shove all the shit we can’t put in Disneyland over in this one”. That would explain the long and highly-themed Pixar boardwalk Hatch was guiding them down.
It took far longer than Tanner liked for Hatch to offer him a seat on a nearby bench. “Here, we’ll stop for now.” He said, and Tanner sank into the wood slat seat like it was made of velvet. His muscles were killing him by now. He didn’t acknowledge Hatch sitting down next to him. In fact, he kept on not acknowledging him for several minutes, letting the sounds of the crowd fill his ears and rattle around his skull, until Hatch finally spoke.
“The parks don’t seem to be your thing.”
“Nope.” Tanner said, then, remembering, “Sir.”
Hatch drummed his fingers on the armrest. He made a small humming noise in his throat. “I suppose that’s understandable. Still, I’d prefer it if you joined the rest of us out here tomorrow.”
Tanner bit down on the inside of his cheek before speaking, teeth grinding. “Of course. Sir.”
“I know it’s not for everyone.” Hatch said. “Zeus seems to enjoy it about as much as you do. Nichelle’s got her work cut out for her trying to keep him from lashing out.” He turned to face Tanner. “But I need you out here for just one moment, alright?”
“What’s it for?” Tanner asked.
“Oh, just a small test of your powers.”
Tanner subconsciously clenched his fists. “I’ve been telling you. I don’t-”
“Enough of that.” Hatch bluntly interrupted him. “I’ll be the judge of your abilities. And from what I’ve seen, I’d say you’re quite exceptionally gifted.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. As he thumbed through apps, he said, “Like I said: what you did in the park the other day was fascinating.” He held up the phone showing off a TikTok from someone in Fantasyland, waiting in line for a ride. The caption read: FANTASYLAND SPEAKERS PLAYING COLBY CROSS??? The camera panned around the crowd, then up to the ride’s queue, where images of Peter Pan and Neverland were offset by bombastic pop music. Hatch scrolled through more and more. Instagram posts, Twitter conversations, even a few articles - all of them talking about the incident. An impossible malfunction, they were calling it.
Tanner stared at the screen, then looked back up at Hatch, who was still smirking at him. Since when did that happen? He remembered the screech of feedback, followed by music, but what did that have to do with him?
Hatch put his phone away. “I take it you don’t quite understand the magnitude of what you did, so I’ll spell it out. At 2:03 PM, every single speaker in the entirety of Disneyland and California Adventure stopped playing their usual recorded audio, and began playing music from a local radio station. The cast members were so frazzled they had to turn the speaker system off for thirty minutes before the problem fixed itself. …And, incidentally, it was at 2:03 PM when your bodyguards saw you on the ground.”
You can’t possibly be serious, was Tanner’s first thought, I was having a panic attack. How could I have done anything? “I don’t understand.”
“It’s simple.” Hatch said. “You accidentally interfered with the nearby radio waves, amplifying them to an extreme level.”
“That’s…” Tanner blinked. “What does that have to do with electricity?”
“Don’t you remember your sixth grade science class?” Hatch asked. “Radio waves are the very first part of the electromagnetic spectrum. You’ve got the power to manipulate them, and at such a great distance, too! 157 acres of land! That’s an impressive stretch for someone who claims to not have powers.”
Tanner couldn’t think. Did he have powers? No, no of course he didn’t. He’d never shown any sign of powers. Every time the radio got screwy at their home, it was because it was an older model. It never amplified like that. This had to be a coincidence.
“That’s why I’ve brought you out here today.” Hatch said. He lifted Tanner’s head, and pointed it just across the street. They were seated just across from a Toy Story ride. A big animatronic potato head was interacting with the line, telling jokes and pulling his ear out. “I want you to use your powers again. Try to focus on the ride in front of you.” A moment later, he added, “We’re starting now.”
Use his powers? Now? How was he supposed to do it? He didn’t know what triggered the incident before. And for all they knew, it might have had nothing to do with him. What was he supposed to do? Have another breakdown? Just think about it hard enough? He leaned upward, staring at the clear blue sky, as if it would clear his mind. A plane flew across, skywriting letters above them.
Tanner closed his eyes, and tried focusing on the environment instead. The music in the speakers, the nearby merry-go-round, the potato head still chatting with guests. His hands balled into fists and he tried to focus solely on the sound. If he supposedly had radio powers, he’d be impacting that. He breathed in deep, and kept his attention on the sound, meditating on it. C’mon… do something.
He waited one, two, five minutes. Nothing happened. The speakers kept running. The merry-go-round kept turning. The potato head made a stupid joke, everyone laughed. And nothing happened. Tanner looked over at Hatch, who hadn’t moved an inch. He glanced down at his watch and tsked, before going back to ignoring Tanner.
Tanner kept watching the sky, unable to focus on the crowds and chaos around him. The skywriter was halfway finished now. They were spelling out a phrase in blocky letters over the parks. “MEGAN WILL YOU-”, from the looks of it. Some stupid rich lover with access to a plane was up there.
How am I supposed to use powers I don’t have? He silently asked the sky, as if it was a prayer.
Maybe he needed to be doing something with his arms. Tanner lifted his right one up in the air, wiggling his fingers, before opening his palm. He did the same with his left. Maybe it’d look better this way. He closed his eyes, and tried to imagine interfering with the radio. It sounded simple, like twisting the antennas on the TV set. He tried to imagine the radio falling into white noise, until it faded to something completely new.
He held it there for minute after minute, begging for the music to stop. Just one thing needed to happen. Something small he could claim was the result of his powers. But the sound didn’t change. He could feel something rising in the back of his throat. Bile, or maybe just nerves. I need you to do something. I need something to happen to this stupid park. I need-
“I think that’s enough.” Hatch said, taking Tanner’s cane and handing it to him. “We’ll work on this later.” Before Tanner could even stand - or even process the situation - Hatch was already walking back up the boardwalk, and the pair of guards accompanying them were dragging Tanner to his feet. Tanner stumbled, hurrying after Hatch as fast as he could, already sweating. Hatch showed no signs of slowing. Did it really fail? Was that why he was so upset? If Tanner really had no powers, would Hatch just dump him and Joey on the street?
“I’m sorry.” Tanner said, panting.
Hatch didn’t answer.
“I’m really sorry, but please don’t hurt Joey over this. Please, he’s-”
“I’m not that cruel.” Hatch spat. Tanner went silent. Hatch glared him down on the boardwalk, unsuspecting families passing them by. A cold chill ran down Tanner’s spine, and flooded into his veins, almost enough to make him shiver.
He continued. “I don’t understand what you’re apologizing for in the first place. Your test proved rather successful to me.” He turned around and kept walking. “You may return to the hotel if you wish.”
Tanner’s fear and simmering anger turned to confusion. “…What? What did I do?”
Hatch smirked. “Yet another fascinating thing.”
And a moment later he was gone, the two guards staying behind to keep an eye on Tanner. No actual answer given. Tanner stared up the boardwalk, panting while resting on his cane. He couldn’t hear anything different, and no one was acting like anything was wrong. He looked up at the sky again. The message was lopsided for some reason. MEGAN WILL YOU MARRY ME, but the final three letters snaked around, struggling to be legible. It veered too far right at a point, leaving a broad streak of white across the blue sky.