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Chapter Text

Kyle Camden has superpowers!

One moment, he was minding his own business, setting up a prank near Bouring High School. (Kyle is famous for his pranks.) The next, he was tripping into a “meteor shower” (really a dense plasma curtain from outer space), showering him with supercharged plasma, and dropping Mighty Mike, an alien from outer space, into Kyle’s little town of Bouring.

Although Kyle was thankful for the superpowers (flight, super-strength, super-speed, and a super-intellect), he was not pleased about the intrusion of Mighty Mike, who had even greater superpowers than Kyle did (although thankfully not the super-intellect). The other boy was soon labelled a superhero, just because he revealed his powers to the world. 

Kyle wanted to expose Mighty Mike’s alien self to the world, so he emerged as the Azure Avenger (or, more popularly, the Blue Freak)! Unfortunately, publicly doing battle with a superhero gets you labelled a supervillain. Oops.

Kyle thought that teaming up with another supervillain, The Mad Mask, would help his cause. Unfortunately, the mask-wearing technopath stabbed him in the back, and attempted to use the giant robot– Ultitron– that they built together, to destroy the world. Although Kyle managed to stop him, Mighty Mike got all the credit, and Kyle was forced to erase his best friend Mairi’s memory after she realized that he was the Blue Freak.

Kyle tried to go back in time to prevent all of this from happening, but a freak accident stranded him in 1987. With the help of his teenage dad and a significantly-less-crazy adult Mad Mask, he was able to get back to the future in order to save Bouring from plasma-powered time zombies commanded by crazy time traveller Walter Lundergaard (you had to be there, I guess). Again, Kyle managed to save the day– at the cost of his superpowers, and his artificial intelligence Erasmus.

Kyle thought his life could finally go back to normal, but on his jaunt through time, he managed to get video of what happened the night of the plasma storm! Now he knows that that night, Mike approached him and said, “It worked, Master.” Kyle has no idea what that means, but he’s determined to find out… 

Chapter Text

“It worked, Master,” Kyle muttered to himself. He paced around his bedroom. “It worked, Master. It worked, Master. It worked, Master.”

It had been several weeks since Kyle had seen the video of that night in the plasma storm. Had seen Mighty Mike bend down over his unconscious body and say, “It worked, Master.” And it was eating him up inside.

Kyle knew he should be trying to get used to the way things were now. In a critical moment during the time zombie plague, he had chosen to sacrifice his own superpowers to save the town. This had saved Mighty Mike’s own powers. Now, instead of being the Azure Avenger (or Blue Freak), he was normal Kyle again.

And that was fine. Really, it was. He didn’t need the stress of being a supervillain anymore. Everyone had hated him, and the entire world was happy to see the Blue Freak gone. (Really. There had been a party, which Kyle had chosen not to attend.) He didn’t have Erasmus anymore, anyway. He’d be perfectly satisfied going to school, playing with Lefty, his fat rabbit, and hanging out with his best friend, Mairi– if it weren’t for that stupid video.

“It worked, Master,” Kyle muttered again. Lefty pawed at the bars of his cage. Kyle unlocked it and gathered the rabbit into his arms. “What could that possibly mean?”

Without his super-brain, he was stumped. What 12-year-old boy called someone else Master? Even though Mike was an alien from outer space, he was still a kid. And he had said it to Kyle with such familiarity, and then pretended like he didn’t know anything when he was found by authorities. Kyle knew Mike had been deceiving everyone– he just didn’t know that Mike’s deception tied back to him.

Erasmus would have had an answer. He missed Erasmus.

But it didn’t matter. Kyle was plain old powerless Kyle again. He was smarter than average, but not smart enough to build a biochemical forge out of a minifridge. Not anymore. And he was okay with that. He had grown. Walter Lundergaard and the Mad Mask and time travel would have to destroy the world without him. Mighty Mike could take his, “It worked, Master,” and shove it.

Still, this one loose end irked him.

Chapter Text

It was their first day back in school. It was the middle of November, but they had closed down school in late October, after the Mad Mask had unleashed Ultitron on Bouring. There had been talk of opening it again in the first week of November, but then the time zombies had attacked, and so reopening was pushed back again.

Kyle hadn’t missed school. None of the kids had, but school was particularly crushing for him. He had uninterested teachers, the Great Nemesis (his affectionate nickname for the school psychologist) breathing down his neck, and Mighty Mike in nearly every class. Back when he had his super-brain, the middle school curriculum was practically torture.

But he didn’t have his super-brain anymore. He was not supposed to miss it.

Even without his super-brain, Kyle was smart. He was able to sail through his classes without particularly paying attention, which only gave him more time to think about the loss of his powers. His parents were always saying his body was going to change at his age, but Kyle doubted that they knew how much his body had changed. It was weird to go from being able to fly, lift thousands of pounds, and out-think a supercomputer, to being able to do… nothing. Even putting aside his emotional attachment to his powers, being physically without them was strange. He often found himself picking things up gently, so as not to crush them, before remembering that he couldn’t do that anymore. It was like a phantom limb or something.

History class was the easiest to zone out in. It was Mighty Mike’s favorite class, so most of the period involved the teacher trying to answer his astonishingly stupid questions. While the teacher was preoccupied, Kyle was able to doodle in his notebook. Mairi wasn’t in the same period as him, so she couldn't chide him for it.

In the middle of a Mighty Mike-inspired lecture about why the Puritans travelled to America for religious freedom, yet hated the Native Americans for their religion, Kyle felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey Kyle!” Doug said excitedly. Kyle turned around. Doug Lewinsky had light brown hair that covered most of his face, and was the only boy in the grade that was shorter than Kyle. He was a major chatterbox, and a vector for rumors. If you wanted information, he was the guy to turn to. Of course, he was a Mighty Mike sycophant. But he had always been nice to Kyle, and kept him updated on what everyone at school was saying about the Blue Freak, back when that sort of thing mattered.

“Hey, Doug,” Kyle replied, careful not to speak too loudly. He didn’t need to be sent to the Great Nemesis.

“How was your break?” Doug asked.

“Fine,” Kyle said, like he hadn’t spent every day agonizing over the loss of his powers.

“I didn’t see you at the town restoration party.”

Town restoration party. What a joke. It was a The Blue Freak is Gone party. “I didn’t go.”

“Why?” Doug frowned for just a second, but his smile quickly recovered. “It was fun. There was a carnival.”

Kyle shrugged. “Kind of seemed pointless to me. Something else is gonna come along and wreck it again.”

“No way,” said Doug. “The Blue Freak is gone! We’re safe again!” Kyle tried to ignore the way his stomach twinged at that.

“The Mad Mask and Walter Lundergaard are still out there.”

“Mighty Mike can handle them. The Blue Freak was the only real threat to Mike, and he’s not coming back.”

That, too, caused his stomach to twinge. “No,” he forced himself to agree. “No, he’s not.”

Chapter Text

Seeing Mairi was the best part of his day. 

His best friend was the nicest person he knew. When he had been at his lowest, in the throes of supervillainy, she had tried to reach out to him again and again. She really cared about him, and he had repaid her kindness by erasing a part of her memory when she learned that he was the Blue Freak. 

Kyle doubted he would ever forgive himself for that. It was good that he lost his powers. 

They walked home from the bus stop together, talking about their first day back. “Did the Great Nemesis corner you today?” Mairi asked. 

“Not yet,” Kyle said. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I bet she’s just waiting to give me the Golden Rule talk again.”

“Oh god, that sounds horrible,” said Mairi.

“Don’t worry,” Kyle replied. “She has to catch me first. Which she won’t.”

Mairi smiled at him. “You haven’t pulled any pranks in a while. Are you planning something big?”

Kyle shook his head. Old, supervillain Kyle would have had big plans. But new powerless Kyle was trying to turn over a new leaf. So no more pranks to make people realize how foolish they were. 

“You haven’t talked about Mighty Mike in a while, either,” Mairi continued.

Mighty Mike had been his nemesis, when he was the Blue Freak. And then they saved the world a couple of times together, and Kyle had chosen to sacrifice his powers so that Mike could keep his. The superhero was still an annoying idiot with more muscles than sense, but Kyle had to admit that he helped people. Regardless of alien status. 

“He mentioned it to me, actually,” said Mairi. Mike was also friends with Mairi, who was as caring and kind to Mike as she was to Kyle. The alien foolishly believed that he was Mairi’s best friend, but Kyle knew better. “He said, ‘Kyle does not appear to deceive me anymore.’”

It took a moment to parse out the meaning. “Did he mean despise ?” he asked, as they turned onto Mairi’s street. There was a copse of trees that divided the edge of the neighborhood from the lighthouse and commercial district, and they walked along the tree line. 

“Yeah, I think,” said Mairi. “Did you guys talk it out or something?”

Whatever lie Kyle was going to say was interrupted by a rustling from the trees. They both stopped. Instinctively, Kyle put a hand out in front of Mairi.

“It’s probably a rabbit,” she said, after a moment, pushing his arm away.

“Right,” he agreed. “A rabbit.”

“What are you scared of? The Blue Freak, hiding in the bushes?” she teased. He had to laugh at that, although for a different reason than she intended– when he was the Blue Freak, he had done just that. He certainly didn’t miss changing into his costume while hiding amongst the trees. 

“No, you’re right,” he told her. He was paranoid. Just because he was powerless didn’t mean everything was out to get him. 

“Of course I am,” she said. “Come on, let’s–“ 

And then she froze. Kyle followed her gaze out into the distance…

...and saw an unforgettable green cloak, as its owner retreated out of sight. 

The Mad Mask was back, and he was watching them.

Chapter Text

Kyle made sure that Mairi was safe with her parents before heading home. She had already been kidnapped by the Mad Mask once, for her association with Kyle. That kidnapping had led to Kyle having to wipe Mairi’s brain. No way was he going through that again. 

Once he was home, he locked and dead-bolted the door. Then, hurrying past his parents without so much as a “hello,” he ran down to the basement and locked the glass door there, since the Mad Mask knew about that door too. He supposed that the Mad Mask could just shatter the glass, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. 

He surveyed the basement for a moment. It looked more like a normal basement now– no chemical forge, no chronovessel, and no brain wave manipulator. The only things that remained of his career as the Blue Freak were his tattered costume, slung over the back of his desk chair, and his trophy shelf, next to the stairs. Kyle paused before ascending the stairs again and ran his fingers over his three trophies: a sealed jar of radioactive dirt, the Mad Mask’s oblong wooden mask, and the burnt-out shell of what had once been Erasmus. 

He shook his head. He was leaving that in the past.

At the top of the stairs, he slung off his backpack and faced his parents. “You okay there, sport?” his dad asked. When Kyle had traveled back through time, he had met his dad as a kid. Danny Camden had been fun and helpful, and Kyle would never look at his dad the same way again. But Daniel Camden had changed somehow in those twenty-six years, turning him into the dad Kyle had always had. It was confusing. 

“Fine, Dad,” Kyle replied, rather than confront his feelings. 

“You sure, hon?” his mother asked. Kyle had not run into her on his trip through time– probably because his parents had met in college. He only saw her as his mom, not as his former friend. “Why were you running around locking stuff?”

“Uhhh…” Kyle did not have a super-brain anymore, so his lie was somewhat lacking. “Just wanted to make sure we’re… safe.”

“Safe from what?” his mom asked. “The Blue Freak is gone.”

Right. Of course his parents had bought into that narrative. “Just… safe.”

His parents exchanged eye contact, but thankfully did not push the subject. “Okay,” said his dad. “Just let us know if there’s anything you want to talk about.”

“Sure,” Kyle said, not meaning it. The day he confided in his parents would be the day he and Mighty Mike teamed up. 

He picked up his backpack with one hand and was about to go to his room, when his dad smacked his forehead. “Oh, right! Sport, we should talk.”

He turned around warily. “About what?”

“Well, your mom and I noticed that you don’t have your iPod anymore. What happened to it?”

“It… overheated,” Kyle lied. 

“Overheated,” Kyle’s mom echoed. 

“Yeah. And it broke.”

His parents exchanged eye contact again. Kyle fidgeted, wondering if he was about to be chewed out. “Well, we were talking,” his dad began. “And you should take better care of your electronics.”

“Right.” Kyle wondered if that was it. 

“But,” his mom added. 

“But?” Kyle repeated. 

“But,” said his mom. “We think you’re mature enough to take some responsibility now. And you disappear so much these days, so we decided to buy you something.”

Kyle’s dad produced a package, and handed it to him. Kyle gasped. “An iPhone?”

“So you can stay in contact,” his mom explained. “You can transfer your backup from your iPod, if you have one.”

“Thank you so mu–“ Kyle froze, realizing what this meant. He swallowed. “Thank you so much. I’m gonna go get some homework done.”

“Sure, sport. You go ahead,” said his dad. 

When Kyle was up the stairs, with the door locked behind him, he lay the iPhone down on the bed and paced. 

He could bring Erasmus back. He could bring Erasmus back. He had backups of Erasmus, from right before the time travel. He could load it up easily, and he’d have his AI back. 

But he wasn’t the Blue Freak anymore. He didn’t need an artificial intelligence based on himself as an assistant. Loading up Erasmus would mean falling back into supervillainy. Which was weak. 

Then again, the Mad Mask was back. For now, he was spying on him and Mairi, but who knew what he would do next? Kyle had used his brain wave manipulator to erase the truth of his secret identity from the Mad Mask’s mind, but memory erasing was an imperfect process. If the Mad Mask was watching him, that meant that he might still remember stuff about his powers, about Kyle’s identity, about Mairi. After all, his future self, who Kyle had rescued from Walter Lundergaard, had said that his fourteen-year-old self had done some nasty things to Kyle to get back at him for destroying Ultitron.

He plugged Erasmus into the computer, loaded up the backup… and then kept pacing. It felt like failure to bring Erasmus back. Wasn’t he supposed to be stronger than this? He was supposed to be happy being normal Kyle. Hadn’t he hated being a supervillain?

Well, yes. And no. Kyle had hated being hated. But the power he had felt, knowing that people were in awe of him, knowing that he was the only thing that Mighty Mike was scared of? That was irresistible. 

And besides, there was Mairi. The Mad Mask was stalking her too. Kyle couldn’t protect her on his own– he needed Erasmus’ super-intellect. 

That settled it. He clicked the sync button, and waited for Erasmus to start downloading.