Chapter Text
EIGHT YEARS AGO.
Bdubs glanced up towards the towering mirror-like skyscraper. It was at least 40-45 floors in height, maybe more. Just trying to see where it ends in the sky gave Bdubs vertigo. The street buzzed around him.
Above the double doors was a purple illuminating symbol. It had two Ls with dots between them creating an almost box-like rectangle.
He might’ve exploded from excitement just there and then.
After years of wanting to become a hero, it was time.
Well. Not time, just yet. He needed to pass the trials or whatever- plus even if he does, he might be put into some other position for the government.
Bdubs shrugged. Better not dwell on it too much.
He pushed through the double doors and into the reception. The sudden quietness hit him fast. They must have some really good sound proofing, he thought, before his eye caught onto the massive chandelier in the middle. It was a deep aqua blue and glittered the pale ceiling with patterns.
Infront of him was.. 30 or so other candidates all in light chatter, around the same age as him, with only a few who were older than him. Each of them had something odd about them; wings, antlers, hooves, elven ears… he smiled. Hybrids.
Bdubs wasn’t a hybrid himself but he rather respected them, they had gone through such prejudice in recent years, after a speech was given by the now ex-mayor about how the hybrids were the reason there was no more jobs and how prices had rose in the past 7 years.
Even after it was proven fraudulent and very discriminatory, people still rioted ever so often, screaming how they should all be killed.
He sighed dimly, his eyes starting to dampen lightly and moved towards the desk.
There was a woman, of around 50 or so, with dark pink horns which contrasted beautifully with her stark white hair and pale skin. She was on her computer typing something.
“Hi! I’m-“ Bdubs started before getting cut off.
“Take a clipboard with the form attached, complete it and then wait until your number on the top left is called.” She said, sharply, without looking at him.
Bdubs thanked her then took a clipboard and went to go fill it out, and then probably socialize a bit.
He stood against one of the many beige walls and started to fill it out, he took out a pen out of his pocket and clicked it on and began it.
* FULL NAME:
________________________
Easy. He put Bdouble O’Hundred.
* PREFERRED PRONOUNS:
(tick at least one)
[?] she/her
[?] he/him
[?] they/them
[?] any/all
[?] no pronouns
[?] other :
_____/_____
He ticked he/him.
* DATE OF BIRTH
(D/M/Y)
__/__/____
5/7/2087
Simple enough so far, he thought to himself.
He quickly filled in the rest about where he lived, his parents/guardians information, etc etc, until.. at last, when he flipped the page, it was onto the actual hero part.
* DO YOU POSSESS ANY TYPE OF POWER AND/OR ABILITIES.
(please tick one or more)
[?] Yes I possess mental abilities/powers.
Please state here:
__________________________
[?] Yes I possess physical abilities/powers.
Please state here:
__________________________
He quickly ticked physical abilities and wrote out his power. He realised he had almost zoned out everything around him. Around half of the people had left, leaving only 16 or so left. He panicked for a moment checking the number on the sheet and trying to recall what number has been said last.
Luckily, on the top left was the No.34 and he knew for certain, they hadn’t even reached the 20s yet. Crisis averted.
He looked at the bottom of the sheet.
Continue when your interview has been completed.
* PLEASE SIGN HERE
_______________
* ASSESSOR SIGN HERE
______________
Bdubs sighed.
Okay, maybe it was a bad thing he was such a late number.
He glanced around again, properly this time.
A girl with moth-like wings sat cross-legged on one of the few chairs, gently fanning them open and shut. Each movement sent a soft shimmer of dust into the air, catching the chandelier light almost fairy like. Next to her, a tall boy with antlers was nervously fidgeting. Across the room, someone paced in tight circles, muttering under their breath.
Everyone looked… tense. Not excited like him.
That excitement in his chest dulled a little.
A sharp buzz echoed overhead.
“Number Seventeen.”
A boy near the door flinched. He stood up too fast, nearly dropping his clipboard, and hurried through the side doors marked ‘INTERVIEW ROOMS’.
The doors shut behind him with a heavy, final thunk.
Bdubs swallowed.
That didn’t sound like a normal interview.
“First time?”
Bdubs blinked and turned.
The nervous guy had moved closer without him noticing. Up close, Bdubs could see faint scars along his wrist-thin, pale lines like something had scratched him over and over again.
“Uh-yeah,” Bdubs said, straightening a bit. “Is it that obvious?”
The guy gave a small shrug. “You’re smiling.”
Bdubs hadn’t realised he still was.
“…Is that bad?” he asked.
A pause.
“Not yet,” the guy said.
Another buzz.
“Number Eighteen.”
Silence settled again after the next candidate left.
Bdubs shifted his weight. “So… what actually happens in there?” he asked, lowering his voice slightly. “It just says ‘interview,’ but-“
“It’s not just talking,” the guy interrupted.
Bdubs felt his stomach drop a little. “Right. Yeah. Of course not.”
The guy frowned slightly.
“I’m Martyn by the way, 5th time here.”
“I’m Bdubs.”
…
Time dragged.
Numbers were called. One after another. Each person walked through those doors, and none of them came back out the same way. Some returned quiet. Some looked relieved. One came out pale as paper and left the building immediately without speaking to anyone.
Bdubs tried not to stare.
He not to imagine what could frighten someone that badly.
Martyn at gone by now, number 27 or something..
“Number 30.”
His grip tightened slightly on the clipboard.
Okay.
Okay, this was fine.
This was what he wanted.
Right?
A sudden commotion near the reception desk broke his thoughts.
“…I told you, I have-“
“Then you can wait like everyone else,” the receptionist snapped, her voice cutting through the room like glass.
Heads turned.
A figure stood at the desk-taller than most, cloaked, their face partially obscured. For a moment, Bdubs thought he saw something shift behind them. Not wings. Not quite.
Something… wrong. He felt like he was getting watched.
The room had gone very, very quiet.
Even the chandelier seemed to stop shimmering.
A security guard came soon after.A gun in their hand and almost dragged the person out from the deserted room.
“Number 31.”
Okay this was getting too close for comfort.
…
At last, it was Bdubs go, it actually turns out he was the last go, even though there was at least 7 or so clipboards left, probably meaning less people showed up then supposed to.
When they finally called out his number he froze.
“Number 34.” The voice echoed.
Okay. Alright.
That was him.
Bdubs pushed himself off the wall, almost dropping his pen in the process, and made his way across towards the door.
Each step felt dragging, like the earth didn’t want him to go. Almost suffocating him.
He pushed opened the doors. And entered.
The room was bare. Bleak of any colour. On the furthest side to him was a mirror, with a small gap in it. He stared in it in confusion for a moment before another voice spoke again.
“Number 34, please pass the clipboard through the hole and answer the following questions.” They said, it was obvious they were using a voice changing, deepening their voice a little too much to make it realistic.
“Alright,” he walked the 8 or so feet to the hole and placed it into the hole. A scarred had took it.
Ah.
One way mirror.
The voice cleared their throat,”Hello there Bdouble O’Hundred!, you are the last person we are interviewing today so you are lucky enough to have all 6 interviewers to o-overview it.” Bdubs nodded gently at the mirror, staring at the reflection.
“Our first question is of your ability. It states here you have a ‘slowing-down’ ability, would you be able to expand on it and/or show it?”
“Uh yeah! So I can slow down a person or an area- an area uses much more power than a single person- to like.. I think it’s an eighth of their speed. I’m not really able to demonstrate it here-“
Another voice spoke up,”if you would like, and the others agree, I could be a ‘sacrifice’ as such?” This speaker had a slightly higher than the other, but an obvious Australian accent.
“I would appreciate it if you could,” he said shifting lightly.
There some type of muffled discussion for a few moments before a door opened behind him.
A woman of around mid to late 20s was there, hair tied up high, almost spiked, and she wore sparkling fairy wings. She wore a visor which hid her identity from him. She was easily 6’6, probably gaining at least an inch with her boots which she had on with mid length shorts and plain grey shirt and a blue undone short sleeved jacket.
Bdubs eyes widened, this was MoonDrifter. One of the 5 members of Boatem.
“Alright.” She said, her voice akin to that of her interviews,”I’m going to fly up and I want you to slow me from ascending, and don’t be a muppet and go weak on me.”
Bdubs nodded, slightly in shock to seeing one of his heroes, literally and figuratively, standing in-front of him, ALLOWING him to use his power on her. Gods he was actually quite excited.
“When I say go.” Said the voice from behind the mirror.,” one,two..,”they dragged it, for almost 3 seconds.
“Sc-Just say it,” said another voice, much more muffled and this time British. MoonDrifter snickered
“Phm.. I suppose nobody likes the dramatics anymore..” the voice said in mock disappointment,” one, two, three, go!”
MoonDrifter started to - well drift upwards, he focused his power on her, he no longer needed to use his hands to help control it, it was almost all mental now.
Soon her ascent which started almost rapid had slowed to an almost snail speed, her face slowing morphing into something of either horror or awe.
After a minute of this, and her only flying around a foot upwards, the voice asked him to stop and to continue the interview.
He simply let go of his power, basically dropping MoonDrifter, allowing her to come back to present speed.
“Oh blo- that was quite disorienting,” she said flying downwards gently, oddly enough her wings never seemed to move,”it felt like swimming in syrup, in a way,”
“Yeah it kinda does,” he said kinda offhandedly.
The voice behind the mirror spoke up,”So, can your ability also affect you? Are you able to control your speed?”
Bdubs nodded. MoonDrifter had now left the room leaving him ‘alone’.
“Alright next question,” said the British voice, listening fast, he thought of the other two members of Boatem who were British.. it was either… CuteGuy the avian or Torrent, the vampiric guy. At least it narrows it down a bit, “Are you affiliated with the Cult Group known as The Watchers? Or have been involved in anything with them?”
Bdubs thought for a moment, he never actually heard of them,”No I haven’t.”
“Alright, good!”
…
For the next 10 minutes or so they asked him array of questions, from asking about why he wanted to become a hero to what would his hero name be. Which both of them he answered as vague as possible.
After the interview had completed, he was given the sheet back to sign.
Continue when your interview has been completed.
* PLEASE SIGN HERE
Bdouble O’Hundred
* ASSESSOR SIGN HERE
Scar Goodtimes
He signed it quickly and handed it back, glancing at the name quickly. “Scar Goodtimes”. Good name.
“Bdouble please exit the room and enter the room to the left side.” Said the voice again.
“Alright!” He said. He knew he probably wasn’t going to make it to hero, he just knew it deep down. In the next room they’re probably going to assign him to some boring factory emergency stopper or whatever.
He pushed opened the door and went left and turned the door on that one.
This room was a nice beige with three leather seats against the wall.. one with Martyn on it, sitting there nervously.
Oh. He didn’t see him go out.
“Oh hi- Bdubs? Was it?” Martyn asked.
“Hello! Yeah it was- is, my name is Bdubs.” He replied, slightly twisting his words on accident.
Bdubs took a seat next to Martyn.
“Whatcha think we are going to be doing, I mean- everyone else got sent out or whatever?” Martyn asked, slightly smirking like he knew something like Bdubs didn’t.
“I dunno, probably some cheap labour ya know-,” he began before the opposite door opened.
Revealing CuteGuy, he dressed similarly as MoonDifter, but he had two sets of large wings akin to a ravens and instead of a blue jacket he wore a reddish, almost pink jacket which was the same shade as his visor. He held himself quite tall, almost excitedly. On his legs he wore tall thigh length boots and knee guards.
CuteGuy stood infront of them for a moment, face blank, before his face unexpectedly turned into a wild grin. Bdubs blinked in confusion.
“Congratulations you two! We have decided that… due to your amazing show of skills and great personality..” he nodded towards Bdubs.”and your… determination..” he nodded towards Martyn whom smiled almost confused.”We decided for you guys to….become heroes!”
Martyn and Bdubs glanced at eachother grinning ear to ear. At the same time they began speaking.
“ACTUALLY??””Mums!””ACTUALLYYYYY???”
For almost 20 seconds both of them were in awe, speaking with the same level as a 3 year old. Until CuteGuy spoke up once more.
CuteGuy laughed lightly.”Okay I know you guys are excited, but please remember you both need to go through at least 2 years of training, as well you might not be out in the field for up to 4 years.We need a team of four up and about, and so far with you two and Lizzie, who will be rooming with, that makes 3 so be patient!-Please.”
Both of them nodded.
“Alright! That’s all the information I share at this time, but… as soon as you move into the premises my and my teammates and the big ol’ boss will be answering any of your questions- oh yeah, you have until 7pm tonight to get here tonight, so you got 5 ish hours to back up and say your goodbyes.
No pets welcome unless for medical reasons, no nuts, um.. I feel like I’m forgetting something?- oh no mobile phones unless for medical reasons.”
“Um- how can I like you know - talk to my family?” Martyn asked shifting in his seat.
“Oh don’t worry, we have ways, remember you’re the 5th generation of heroes now, there’s always ones who came before. We will explain them to you tonight, but if you would like to, write down their numbers and such so you can call them using the landline in your common area.”
“…mkay.” Martyn replied, sounding mildly displeased.
…
Bdubs has finished packing, he didn’t own much. Just a few basics, like socks of course, and a couple of old books. He threw them in his old year 11 backpack and climbed out of his window.
He didn’t belong to this family, they allowed him to stay despite their obvious hatred to him… at least he won’t have to come back.
Both the parents and siblings were too loud and silent at the same time, never feeling welcoming enough in the short time in the foster home. He remembered one of the better homes he was put into. He must’ve been about 7 and he was placed into the care of a sapphic couple. Both of them were the most kindest people he ever met, they were planning to adopt him.. if not for the judge ruling against it as they didn’t seem fit to care after him.
He frowned. Looking back on that, he never realised how homophobic that guy was.
He never understood why people hated others for loving who they love.
He himself was pan, and had identified that way since he was 9, (after discovering a certain actor or few) and had a fair share of homophobic comments said to his face, but to think how even the justice system could do that is beyond crazy.
Gods. He keeps getting distracted.
He jumped down into the front garden and headed to the bus which just had came up to the station and hopped onto it.
On the bus was the average village idiots, a few chavs and some older fellows who smiled as he walked past them onto the back of the bus.
He must’ve just sat down when someone sat next to him- lightly jabbing a sharp object- a knife- into his thigh.
“Hey there, how about you give me your wallet and phone?” The man muttered, he face was covered with a surgical mask he saw photos of when he learnt about Covid 19 in primary.
“I-“ Bdubs stuttered. He didn’t have a wallet or a phone.”I don’t have anything-“
“Liar, cough it up,” the man said cutting him, digging the knife in deeper.
He would’ve begged, used his power maybe even screamed, if not this what happened next.
“What are you doing?” Said another guy, who could’ve been a college student, a few years older than Bdubs but taller and leaner, with long white hair tied back into a bun. He was standing- looming behind them both, he had his hand on the wrist of the attacker and had now taken the knife.
The man flinched backward and walked away almost embarrassed.
“You alright?” The man asked Bdubs, looming down at him.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just tried of people- I had a long day.” Bdubs replied almost in awe.
“Of course, year 6 SATS?”
“What.” Alright, no longer in awe.
The corner of the guys mouth slowly shifted into a wide smile.
“That was a short joke wasn’t it.” Bdubs groaned.
“Yep!” The guy said almost proud of himself,”you especially must love them.”
“Ha ha..”
“So where you of to?” The guy asked.
Bdubs paused for a moment. He could tell him that he is about to go move into this massive skyscraper to help protect the city or whatever. But the fact he had to be saved… wouldn’t be a good look, plus Bdubs was pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to share his actual identity, as nobody actually knew who even Boatem is.
Okay a lie then.
“Uh- im just visiting my friend, they live near Moulton.”
“Moulton? We’re only a few minutes off I think.- yeah it’s the next stop,” the guy said looking up the plank which listed the next stop.
“Oh- sh- damn I didn’t realise that-,” Bdubs said suddenly with greatful for the guy mentioning it.
Within a moment the bus doors opened and an automated voice shouted out Moulton.
“Oh woah- that was quick.” Bdubs muttered.
The guy laughed softly, his hair was slightly falling out the ponytail.
“Alright, bye, have a good one.” The guy said nodding his head.
Bdubs replied with some goodbyes and partially ran out the bus. The sun was midway down, making it 6pm at least, and with no watch or phone he had no ability to check the time..
Moulton is only around a 7 minute walk to the skyscraper, so it won’t be that fair.
…
As soon as Bdubs walked into the building, CuteGuy was waiting for him.
“Alright Bdouble, Martyn already joined us 15 minutes ago so he’s getting all unpacked-,” he paused for a moment looking him up and down,”is that all you’re bringing?” He asked gesturing towards the bag.
“Yeah? I don’t have much..” Bdubs said, slightly embarrassed.
“Mm.. that’s alright! Less time unpacking.” He said shrugging his shoulders,”alright please follow me!”
CuteGuy led him towards a lift he didn’t see earlier and walked into it with him.
“Your dorms are on level 34, so 5 off the top and one below my teams,” CuteGuy said gesturing towards the panel. The odd thing was that there was well over a hundred buttons, ranging from -64 to 39.
“Wait so it also goes underground?” Bdubs questioned him.
“Yeah, kinda but you don’t have permissions to go pass the ground floor and your dorms and the cafeteria and the sports - and well basic stuff, until your fully qualified.”
“Mmmm ‘kay.”
He pressed number 34 on the panel and the lift suddenly jerked upwards and within 12 seconds they were there.
The lift dinged. The doors opened.
The room was a large space, maybe around the same size as the ground floor, it had a large kitchen area to the right and 6 different doorways leading to who knows where.
To the left was a sitting room, with a large 5 seater sofa with Martyn and an unknown woman with pink hair sitting on it. Infront of them was 5 other people who Bdubs couldn’t see yet.
“Oh! Hi er-CuteGuy!”Said Martyn who must’ve heard them arrive.”oh and Bdubs!”
Bdubs smiled at him.
The two of them made their way to the sitting room.
The 5 unknown people were revealed to be the remaining 4 members of Boatem.. and a person with a large facial mask was entirely covered, no skin visible, he wasn’t sure who or what they were.
The 5 of them and the pink haired woman turned their head towards him.
“Oh, finally, we thought you might’ve not came!” Said HotGuy, a well tanned man clad in black leather with blue and orange accents,”B’Double your room is the… third? Yeah third one down so you go unpack and we can talk, alright?”
“Yep! Also just call me Bdubs!” Said Bdubs, almost nervously.
“Alrighty.”
Bdubs turned and went towards the third door and opened it.
The room was large, much larger than his bedrooms he had in the past, with a kings sized double bed in the corner and a conjoined bathroom and closet. It had dark grey walls but a soft blue carpet floor and large windows.
He placed down his bag on the bed, taking out the books, placing them on a random shelf, then almost throwing his bag into the closet. He will sort it out later, probably.
After a minute or so exploring, in which he found abundance of hygiene products, snacks and other things scattered around neatly in drawers, he finally opened the bedroom door and went back into the common room.
“Oh- that was fast.” Said Martyn, who was already looking at where he was.
Bdubs laughed for a moment,” I’m just fast,”
“Mhm..”CuteGuy hummed.,” Bdubs, come sit on the sofa, we need to start talking, do intros, and etc etc,”
He made his way over to the white sofa, sitting in between Martyn and the woman, who paid no attention to him, who was… in a staring contest with MoonDrifter ? He wasn’t quite sure.
All lined up again the wall, behind a large TV was the members of Boatem, from left to right was MoonDrifter, CuteGuy, HotGuy, Torrent, Lucifer and at the end was the unknown person, who stood hands behind their back.
CuteGuy cleared his throat.
His vision darted back to him.
“Alright introductions! We’re going left to right, starting with Martyn share your name, a fun fact, your age and your power!”
“Oh great, im first!” He chuckled,”Alright, I’m Martyn, I really like musicals, one of my favourite Ride The Cyclone, which I don’t care is like a hundred years old, it’s amazing!- I’m 21 and my power- or shall I say powers are, wood abilities, I can kinda like bend wood at my will, and I’m a really great listener, literally and figuratively, I can hear almost perfectly from like a mile away if I try hard enough, but, the downside is that I get overwhelmed kinda easily.
“Alright, thank you Martyn,” CuteGuy said, nodding,”Bdubs your next,”
Oh great.
“Okay so I’m Bdubs- like CuteGuy said- um. I like moss, like did you know they date back 450 million years? - I’m 16 ,oh, and my power is that I can slow down thing which is kinda boring but it’s kinda fun,”
Next was the woman’s turn.
“Hi, I’m Lizzie! My fun fact is that my hair,” she gestured to her bright pink hair,”is natural, I was born with it for some reason? Im 19 and my power is I can basically morph into the shadows and create partial blindness.”
Bdubs was shocked for a moment. She wore a very bright pink attire, but her power was almost completely opposite.
Next up was MoonDrifter- whose name turned out to be Pearl and turned out to be CuteGuys half sister and was 25. He already knew her power, it was flight.
After that was CuteGuy, his real name was Grian and was 24. His power was mimicry.
Then it was HotGuy, whose real name was Scar, which seemed comical as the guy was covered in scars, and he was 29. Bdubs knew one of his powers already, super punch, but he also revealed his other power to be sharpshooter.
Standing next to Scar was a man named Mumbo aka Torrent, who wore mostly black, but from a white under shirt and a red necklace. He was surprisingly, 33, which shocked Bdubs for a moment before he revealed to be a vampire. For moment it seemed like he was going to say his power before he muttered something about having super strength and super intelligence, which seemed super cool to Bdubs.
And the last of the Boatem crew was Lucifer, a demon hybrid clad in yellows and spikes, with dark brown horns on his head, that was Impulse, he was 27. His power was electrical, he was basically a power socket.
Lastly was the person of mystery.
“I’m Void, but call me Xisuma or X, I’m a member of The Correlation, the third generation of Heroes here in Yolla, which consisted of 3 other members, two of which are deceased or missing, I’m 41. My power is being able to view people’s memories and make them to forget or to remember things. Right now I am the head of this organisation.”
“Alright, alright, onto the questions!” Cute-Grian said, probably trying to lighten the mood. He glanced at his fellow heroes,”If you guys wanna, you can leave, I can handle this myself.”
Mumbo, Impulse, and Xisuma turned to leave, saying their goodbyes, those who were left was Grian, Pearl and Scar.
“Oh Lizzie, if you want to go as well, you can you already been through this before.”
“Mm, as interesting as this seem, ima go to my room,” she said, going along to her room which was the farthest to the right.
“Down to two! Alright,” Grian said rubbing his hands together,”let’s take it in turns answering questions?”
The other two agreed.
…
For the next 30 or so minutes they asked questions, some ranging from,”Do we get allowance?” to “are we allowed to have romantic relationships?” In which to both the answer was yes, they were given a £120 allowance every week and for relationships, Grian and Scar glanced at each other before admitting they had been dating for the past 2 years.
Soon it became 8pm and the 3 members of Boatem departed leaving Martyn and Bdubs alone.
“Can you cook?”Martyn asked him.
Both of them were starving after having no lunch or dinner.
“I- uh I don’t cause food poisoning I suppose?” Bdubs said, he wasn’t the best cook but he wasn’t the worst either.
“Oh thank goodness, last time I tried to cook I burnt down my shed.”
Bdubs laughed.
“Your shed? How?” He asked.
“So basically I was making some hot milk over the stove and - Gods knows how but I somehow set it on fire, so I threw it out of the window, which was literally right next to my shed.” Martyn said chuckling to himself.
Both of them laughed for a moment.
“Okay, I think there’s snacks in our bedrooms? When I checked there was.”
“Really? I didn’t get a good look, I was busy with unpacking,”
“Yeah there was some in my drawers,”
“Ohh.”
“Or we could ask Lizzie, she’s seems capable, but I don’t really wanna barge-“
“What about me?” Asked Lizzie who popped around from behind her door.
“Hey I’m supposed to be the one with good hearing,” snickered Martyn.
“What? I just heard my name?”
“Lizzie, what food is there?” Bdubs asked. He wasn’t sure if they had to buy their own food or it got supplied.
“In the kitchen theres… noodles? I never check I eat out literally every day,” Lizzie replied.’
They both started to make their way to the kitchen.
…
Bdubs got undressed, staying in a vest and a pair of loose shorts, he brushed his teeth and combed his knotty brown mullet, he really hated his hair, it was too basic… he thought back to the stranger on the bus. Even though he was a complete stranger, he still helped Bdubs. Hey, maybe he could also dye his hair white, he might be able to pull it off, probably.
He pushed over the blankets in his bed and crawled in.
After a feast of pot noodles and walker crisps, Bdubs laid in his bed, looking up at the ceiling.
This is where he lived now, home.
He was a super hero.
He still couldn’t believe that.
Still.
2 years in training.
At least he wasn’t alone. His eyelids started to shut. He could get used to this place.