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Nerdi hesitantly peered out from behind the corner, letting out a sigh of relief when the hallway turned out to be empty. The white walls seemed to stretch on into infinity, occasionally broken up by metal doors, some of which required entering a code into a keypad next to it to access. The bright fluorescent lights, which seemed to be the standard in the facility, made everything look washed out. Nerdi speedwalked further into the corridor, scared that any second the silence would be broken by the wailing of sirens when someone noticed he wasn’t in his cell. Every door he tried refused to budge, and he felt himself getting frustrated. He needed a place to lay low and make a plan if he wanted to get out of here. He didn’t want to think about what they would do to him when they caught him. Finally, one of the doorknobs gave in and he listened in for a moment, trying to figure out if it was a trap. He still couldn’t get used to doing that, instead of simply using his Aura to find out if it was safe. Refusing to dwell on that thought, he went through the door and quietly closed it behind him.
The room he entered could be mistaken for an office in a regular company, save for the lack of windows. Aside from a desk, with many documents strewn across it, the shelving units which took up every wall were stacked with carton boxes, filled to the brim with documents. Nerdi let out a sigh of relief. The place looked abandoned for the night, which meant he could use it to gather his thoughts and figure out what to do next. He was also very interested what things he could discover by looking through all the files he stumbled upon. He’d always been called too curious for his own good.
Ever since he was a child, Nerdi remembered being fascinated by how many things could be achieved with technology. In his opinion it was one of the most overlooked areas in the hero industry, since the top heroes relied on their Aura for most of the actual fighting. Unlike other children, he never dreamed of becoming one himself, to his parents’ relief. When his own Aura finally manifested when he was thirteen, they didn’t have to deal with the inevitable disappointment, like so many others. Personally, Nerdi didn’t really mind that it wasn’t that flashy- the x-ray vision helped him see better when he was tinkering with his inventions, which was awesome. When he announced that he was going to become a gadget designer, no one who knew him was at all surprised. When it came time to pick a major, robotics seemed like a no-brainer. The top college in Ranked City even offered a ‘hero industry’ specialization, which would mean he could become a licensed designer as soon as he got his degree. He couldn’t wait for the academic year to start so he could find out what he was actually capable of.
Unfortunately, the longer he spent at college, the more annoyed he became with his fellow students. They had all these ethical concerns, and he got that, really! But it made finding someone to discuss his ideas with difficult. He thought he would be forever doomed to people staring at him weirdly when he started getting into the specifics of how someone’s Aura worked and how it could be enhanced with his gadgets. Okay, maybe some of his ideas were a little bit out there and could lead to ‘mass destruction’ if executed or whatever, but he wasn’t actually going to make them! At least until he met Feinberg.
Nerdi first noticed him during one of his lectures on Hero Law. He seemed to have a personal vendetta against the professor, always asking pointed questions, especially about topics concerning Auraless people. For a while Nerdi thought he was Auraless himself, since he seemed very bitter about the Aura requirements for working in the hero industry in any capacity. Personally, Nerdi thought they weren’t a bad idea. Nothing against the Auraless, but he really didn’t think any of them would be able to beat an actual hero, no matter how many gadgets they might have had. It would really suck to get seriously injured or worse because the person sent to help wasn’t capable enough. He chimed in a few times during these discussions to correct the professor when he downplayed the possible uses of gadgets in the field, professionally offended, but other than that he didn’t really think much of it. Feinberg seemed like a chill guy, even if the way he expressed his opinions was at times abrasive, and Nerdi admired his persistence. He also had a very good memory and took amazing notes, which he let him borrow when asked.
Aside from the Hero Law lecture, they didn’t share any classes. Feinberg was majoring in biology, so there weren’t many opportunities for overlap. Still, they made an effort to hang out at least a few times a week, even if it was just Feinberg ranting about the latest thing their professor said that pissed him off while Nerdi worked on his next project.
Over time, he noticed Feinberg must have picked up on his unconventional approach to gadget construction. He appeared perfectly neutral when Nerdi sheepishly explained all the ways his inventions could be used, even the less than legal ones, and never looked at him like he was two bad days away from attempting to blow up half of Ranked City. He also revealed some of his own interests in the field of biology, which seemed pretty out there even to Nerdi. Using your own Aura-enhanced blood to develop a drug was metal, even if he was convinced it would never work out. With their shared understanding, Feinberg felt more comfortable discussing his beliefs about Aura and its place in society. Nerdi thought he sounded a bit radical, but he could respect that his friend was willing to fight for what he believed in. And the way he talked about gadgets as a way to ‘level the playing field’ so to speak certainly sounded appealing. There was also the way he talked about Nerdi’s own inventions, which never failed to leave him flustered, while Feinberg simply continued talking with a knowing smirk.
With the final year of his degree coming to an end, it was time to begin preparing his final project, which was supposed to be showcased at the annual exhibition curated by the college. This year the theme was ‘containment’, which wouldn’t have been Nerdi’s personal choice, but he still gave it his all. His idea for home-in handcuffs had been approved by his supervisor, and he was ready to begin construction. In the weeks coming up to the showcase Nerdi slept an average of three hours a night. The only time he left his workspace was when he needed to get more coffee or he felt himself falling asleep while standing. This was the best opportunity for his work to get recognized, and he wanted to impress the government representatives which were to be in attendance. He appreciated that, despite his opinions, Feinberg did his best to support him and calm him down when he became frazzled enough to start making stupid mistakes.
On the day of the showcase he ingested more caffeine than was probably a good idea, but he needed to be awake. The whole event was a blur. He remembered the stress, the way Feinberg, who offered to come with him for moral support, had to steady him a few times so he wouldn’t bump into anyone, but not much else. When a few weeks later he received an official looking e-mail requesting to meet, he couldn’t believe his own eyes. He agreed to the meeting and ignored Feinberg telling him it was obvious he was going to get it, since he was clearly the best in his year.
The meeting itself was disappointing. Nerdi wasn’t sure what to expect, but the way the government representative described the process of gadget development in their department seemed supremely unappealing. The grants, the market research, the safety concerns- it all sounded so boring. Nerdi said he was going to consider the offer, but deep in his heart he knew he wasn’t going to accept. He just wasn’t ready to admit to himself that he had no idea what else to do.
His parents didn’t really understand why he turned down the opportunity to work for the government, but accepted his excuse that he wanted to explore his options in the private sector first easily enough. In reality, Nerdi felt like he was drifting through the final months of college, paralyzed by indecision. For the longest time he thought he knew what his life would look like after he got his degree, but now the future was looming-ever closer, full of uncertainty. When Feinberg told him that he made the baffling decision to open a café and offered to let him crash at his place in exchange for helping him get it off the ground, Nerdi gladly accepted, relieved that he didn’t have to make any big choices yet.
At the beginning, he chalked up all the weird things that were happening around the opening of ‘Local Bakery’ to Feinberg simply not knowing how running a business worked. Really, for someone so smart, he could be clueless about the most mundane things. But when Feinberg asked him to make a dart gun ‘for a prank’ and a week later a villain who called himself ‘The Equalizer’ made his debut appearance, holding Nerdi’s own invention, he couldn’t really ignore what was in front of his eyes anymore. He was surprised by how apathetic he felt about it all. He supposed most people would have been upset at having their trust violated like that, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the way everyone was speculating about where the villain got such a sophisticated gadget from. He would have never gotten such recognition if he decided to work for the government. He wouldn’t have been allowed to make it in the first place. When Feinberg came back, sheepishly holding out the dart gun in front of him like a peace offering, he found Nerdi in the middle of sketching out the schematic for another invention.
Over the years he made a name for himself in the underground scene. It was everything he’d dreamed of- people came to him with all manners of requests, and he could let his imagination run wild. It was awesome to watch all his inventions being used in so many creative ways by the people he designed them for. Blizzard, Rowl and Mongey in particular always managed to do something silly he hadn’t thought of. Pretty soon after the start of his career he had to go underground himself, when some of the components had been traced back to him. Feinberg still gave him shit about his café getting raided by the police searching for him.
The only downside to becoming a full time villain was having to give up contact with his family. He really missed them, even if they never understood him. Unfortunately it couldn’t be helped- they weren’t happy about the choice he’d made and there was nothing he could do about it. Despite this, Nerdi couldn’t imagine making any other choice. Having his craft recognized was worth it. The only person from previous life he still kept in contact was Feinberg, and he wasn’t sure that counted, since neither of them was a civilian anymore.
When Rekrap, one of his favorite clients-slash-henchmen, asked if he wanted to be his plus one for an Equalizer event, it was a no-brainer. The format had been designed specifically to favor his strengths, and he knew Feinberg would never betray any of his participants. Nerdi figured it would be fun to try fighting without Aura for once, since Feinberg remained steadfast in his belief that anyone could rival the strongest Aura-users, if given the necessary tools. He wasn’t sure if he believed him, but on the other hand, he’d never seen Rekrap use his Aura in a fight, so who was he to judge? He had to admit that during his time in the underground he’d seen many things he had considered impossible before.
When he felt Silver’s net wrap around him, it was too late for him to do anything. He heard Rekrap cry out in surprise before all sounds got drowned out by the air whooshing in his ears. He had the distant thought that whoever designed the weapon really knew what they were doing, before he was delivered straight into the hands of the many waiting policemen.
What followed was far from pleasant. They tore off his costume, and made sure to thoroughly search him for any hidden gadgets before putting him in handcuffs and pushing him into the back of a police car. Nerdi knew that most villains of his caliber got blindfolded during transport, but he supposed they decided it wouldn’t do anything, since he could just see through it using his Aura anyway. He did his best to memorize the route they were taking, growing increasingly worried when he noticed they weren’t heading to any of the facilities he knew were usually used to contain villains. Soon, they left Ranked City behind altogether and he began to feel the car shake while driving over uneven terrain. He tried to ignore his growing worry. Feinberg knew he’d been taken, and there was no way he would just let him stay imprisoned for long. Not only because it would forever tarnish the reputation of his events, but Nerdi felt confident in calling them friends. He knew that in Feinberg’s place he would already be planning the breakout attempt.
When the car stopped, he was confused when he couldn’t see anything but trees in all directions, despite using his Aura. He noticed another car pulling to a stop behind them and a person got out, holding the briefcase he recognized as Feinberg’s. It was one of his own designs, and he got the uncomfortable feeling that he knew where this was going. Unfortunately being aware of what was happening didn’t do anything when he was pulled out of the car and pushed onto the ground before he felt the needle going into his arm. He immediately felt his Aura become unreachable. It wasn’t a new feeling, he’d tested the serum himself a few times back when Feinberg had first developed it, but it still felt weird. The forest around him suddenly seemed mysterious and dark, with his vision being restricted to that of a regular person. Soon enough, he couldn’t see anything, since he got blindfolded before being guided back into the car. He did his best to remember any turns they took, but he suspected it wouldn’t help much. At the speed he estimated they were going, there was no way he would be able to get back into Ranked City on foot.
When the car stopped again and he was once again bracketed by two people, leading him somewhere, he tried to peek from under the blindfold. He could make out something that looked like gravel, and the crunching sounds it made when he walked over it seemed to support that conclusion. He figured they must have been in a parking lot, but soon enough he heard a door getting pulled open and closing behind him. He heard one of the people tell the other to give him his keycard before he felt the floor he was standing on lowering. It seemed it was impossible to start the elevator without one.
After another much more thorough and uncomfortable search, they finally pushed him down into a chair and took off his blindfold. Nerdi found himself sitting in front of a serious-looking guy wearing a lab coat. On the table between them was Feinberg’s suitcase. It was open, and Nerdi saw there were only two syringes remaining. He wondered what happened to the one that hadn’t been used on him.
‘Would you like to tell us about your connection to the villain known as the Equalizer?’ he looked meaningfully at the suitcase, and Nerdi cursed his insistence to put his signature symbol on absolutely all of his designs. For a while he stayed silent, unsure what to do. Finally, he decided telling the man anything wouldn’t help, and it was a better idea to play dumb.
‘You’ve got the wrong guy, I’m sorry. I gotta be honest, I’ve talked to him like three times max’ the man looked unimpressed, and for a while they just sat in silence staring at each other. Nerdi refused to break first. He knew the awkward silence was designed to make him talk, but he couldn’t imagine giving up any information that would put Feinberg in danger.
The scientist just sighed and looked at the two guards standing near the door.
‘Please take the subject to the containment chamber and begin the compliance procedure. Let me know when it decides to cooperate’ he stood up and left the room, leaving Nerdi to get dragged into a tiny room, with only a small cot and white lights. The ‘compliance procedure’ turned out to be simply turning the light off and leaving him unable to see even an inch in front of his face. It was a terrible way to find out he was scared of the dark.
It was difficult to gauge how much time had passed since he was imprisoned. The most reliable way was the daily injection of the serum, which left his Aura disabled. After the first two times he was left clawing at the walls in the dark after trying to refuse it, he complied with most of the things they demanded of him. The only thing he refused to budge on was his association with Equalizer. No matter how long he had to cower in the corner, afraid of the shapes his mind tried to convince him were moving in the darkness, he was determined not to put Feinberg in danger. When he fell asleep, his nightmares were full of running through the dark, trying to escape from danger he couldn’t see. He hoped he would get rescued soon.
After what he thought was a few weeks, instead of a routine injection he was dragged out of his cell and into an examination room. When he entered, he was met with a chair that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a horror movie. It had straps, which would completely immobilize the person unfortunate enough to be sat on it. Nerdi considered trying to fight the orderlies, but a warning look from the lead scientist made him reconsider. He really wanted to avoid another punishment. When he was strapped in, the man in the lab coat pulled up a rolling chair in front of him and sat down, in a sick parody of a visit to the doctor.
‘Thanks to your contributions-’ Nerdi snorted before he could stop himself. The man continued, like he wasn’t even there ‘-we have found a permanent solution to the issue of inappropriate Aura usage among villains’ behind the mask of professional indifference Nerdi could see malice. He felt himself break out in a cold sweat.
‘Woah, woah, woah, what do you mean a ‘permanent’ solution?’ he started struggling, but the straps tying him to the chair refused to budge. The scientist didn’t respond, and moved to disinfect his forearm. Nerdi watched the syringe laid out on the rolling table warily. It looked nothing like Feinberg’s serum-instead of the neon pink it was blood-red. The thought of being injected with an unknown substance which was supposed to make him Auraless forever filled him with terror. He couldn’t imagine what he would do without his vision.
‘Come on guys, we can talk about this!’ in that moment he was ready to do anything, even reveal Feinberg’s civilian identity, if it would make them stop. They weren’t interested, and he felt the familiar pain of an injection followed by a cold sensation moving up his arm. The scientist put the empty syringe away and took off his gloves.
‘Take the subject back to containment and monitor its symptoms’ Nerdi felt himself being unstrapped from the chair and dragged away, but made no move to struggle. The whole world felt very far away right now. When he heard the door to his cell slam behind him, he only had the energy to crawl onto his cot and turn away from the camera. He didn’t want them to see he was crying.
The first night after was the worst. Nerdi felt like his head was about to explode from pain. Every time he tried to use his Aura, the reality around him blurred, and he had to take deep breaths to stop himself from throwing up. Despite this, he couldn’t bring himself to stop trying, which ended up with him rolling onto his knees next to the bed and emptying his stomach. He spent the rest of the night staring listlessly at the wall, for once grateful for the lights which were left on. He couldn’t bear being plunged into darkness right now.
When he woke up after finally succumbing to exhaustion he felt fine, which was almost worse. It wasn’t like before, when his Aura felt frustratingly out of his reach every time he tried to use it. Instead, there was nothing. He imagined this was what Auraless people felt like all the time and it made him pity them more. His determination to escape the facility and find a way to fix this grew with each day he had to suffer getting his blood drawn or go through another bunch of tests, performed by the same scientists who refused to call him anything but ‘the subject’.
With their experiment being deemed a success, he saw the scientists’ interest in him wane. Now that they didn’t need to give him an injection every day to keep him Auraless, the only time he saw any of them was when they brought him food. He tried not to think of the possibility that they would decide to dispose of him, to get rid of the evidence. He spent his days daydreaming about Feinberg finding out where he was being kept and busting him out, but it’d been long enough that he was certain it wasn’t going to happen. If it was possible for his friend to rescue him, he would have. He refused to consider the possibility that Feinberg decided he wasn’t worth it. The people in the facility were doing enough to destroy any hope he might have had, he didn’t need to be doing their job for them.
His opportunity came about two weeks after he permanently lost access to his Aura. The guard who brought him his food seemed to be new, and he looked terrified to be in the vicinity of a villain, even if an Auraless one. Nerdi did his best to look intimidating, enjoying the way the guy launched into nervous diatribes when scared. When he let it slip that it was his first solo night shift, Nerdi saw an opportunity. The guy didn’t expect to get jumped and pushed into the wall opposite the door, and by the time he picked himself up it was too late. Nerdi already shut the door behind him and took off into the corridor, hoping no one was around to hear the banging coming from his cell. He needed to find a place to hide and maybe find a keycard, so he wouldn’t have to find a way to start the elevator without it.
With every carton box he searched through, he felt himself getting more annoyed. Most of the documents were so redacted as to become completely useless. Nerdi carelessly tossed them to the ground, taking grim satisfaction in the knowledge one of the assholes who imprisoned him here would be responsible for having to put them back in order. A folder with ‘TOP SECRET’ stramped on it caught his attention. He tore it open and spread the documents out on the desk. They seemed to contain information about ‘Project TAS’, and while skimming through it Nerdi was unpleasantly reminded of his own situation. A lot of the details were redacted, but he still got the gist. It seemed the government first tried to develop an Aura-enhancing drug for their own use, before they decided to pivot and find a way to take away Aura altogether. He took a double take when he noticed the codename of one of the subjects- Mongey.
The pink-haired villain burst onto the scene out of nowhere, along with Hax and Rowl. Nerdi found his Aura fascinating, but never had an opportunity to study it closer, even when he was commissioned to make gadgets for him. From what he managed to piece together through news reports and underground gossip, roughly once a day Monegy could summon a seemingly random object, the same color as his hair, which would always come in handy later. The implications of such an Aura were fascinating- Nerdi spent many hours discussing with Feinberg whether it proved that free will wasn’t real, since all the events must have been predetermined if the Aura ‘knew’ what would happen in the future. If Mongey escaped after being a subject in an Aura-enhancing experiment, it made sense that he wouldn’t want random people asking him invasive questions about it. Nerdi decided that when he managed to get out, he would try to contact the villain. He figured they would have a lot to talk about, and maybe Mongey knew something which could help him reverse what had been done to him.
Searching through the rest of the office turned up a floor plan of the facility, which Nerdi did his best to memorize, and a taser which was almost out of battery. He fiddled with it a bit and found the panel at the back, which gave him access to the inside. He managed to disable the voltage limit, and he hoped it would be enough to disarm anyone he would encounter on his way out. The silence of the office was abruptly broken by a blaring alarm, which made him jump and almost drop the floorplan he was looking at. His escape must have finally been discovered. He needed to get to an exit as soon as possible. Before he left, he grabbed the folder with the files concerning ‘Project TAS’, hoping he could study them more later. He looked at the floorplan for the last time, mapping out the way to the exit, before leaving.
Nerdi opened the door and ran out, only to immediately bump into someone. They both went down and he heard the other person let out a surprised shout. The files he was holding scattered all over the ground. There went his plan to take them with him. His grip on the modified taser tightened, but he hesitated when he saw the signature brown wings splayed out in a heap on the ground.
‘I’m so sorry, I’m actually chopped’ Couriway started gathering up the documents and for a moment Nerdi wondered whether he hit his head when he fell, before he realized what was happening. The hero must have mistaken him for one of the scientists who worked at the facility. It made sense, since he didn’t really show his face that much, despite his identity being public knowledge.
‘You gotta be careful man, it’s good that I wasn’t carrying anything fragile’ it seemed like a cruel joke that one of the heroes who was responsible for getting him arrested would be sent out to get him back. Aside from him, the corridor remained empty, and Nerdi hoped it would remain that way. He was lucky to bump into the only person in the building who hadn’t spent the last however manty weeks studying him. As soon as someone else saw him, he was cooked. When he leaned down to gather some of the files, intent on keeping up the façade of being an actual scientist, he noticed a plastic keycard peeking out of Couriway’s pocket. His eyes lit up. This was just what he needed to get out of here.
‘Listen man, could I borrow your keycard for a moment? They really need these documents upstairs to deal with the situation, but mine is somewhere back there, and I really can’t be fucked to look for it right now’ he hoped he sounded just like a guy who got woken up in the middle of the night to deal with an escaped subject and didn’t have time to drink a coffee yet.
‘Yeah, that’s chill’ Couriway took the keycard out of his pocket and held it out to him, before his gaze was drawn to the taser in his left hand. His eyes widened in recognition.
‘Wait, aren’t you-’ before he could finish, Nerdi turned the device on and jammed it straight into his gut.
Couriway’s wings spasmed and he let out a pained wheeze, before crumpling to the ground. The elevator keycard slipped out of his limp hand and Nerdi picked it up, letting out a curse when his shaking fingers couldn’t get a good grip on it the first few times. Before Couriway could get up, Nerdi lunged at him and ripped his earpiece off. He gave it a quick once over to make sure it had no tracking devices that he could see, before taking off running, leaving the incapacitated hero behind. He felt a bit bad about it, since the hero didn’t seem aware of what had been done to him, but a part of him felt a sick satisfaction. It was possible he had lost his Aura forever, Couriway could handle a little zap.
He put the earpiece in and got assaulted with a cacophony of sounds. A lot of voices were shouting over each other, and he forced himself to ignore the stab of panic that went through him when he recognized a few of them from his many sessions in the lab. He would have time to figure all that out later, for now he needed to get out of here.
The lobby with the elevators seemed to be empty, which instantly made Nerdi suspicious. Before he could deliberate further he heard footsteps approaching from another hallway and booked it towards the metal doors. He pushed a button and pressed the keycard down when the tinny voice indicated to do so, relieved when the door opened with a ding. He stepped in and was relieved to discover the elevator only had two options to choose from- up and down. He pressed the one marked with the up arrow and froze when he heard the footsteps coming closer. He turned towards the sound and gripped his taser in anticipation. The doors shut just in time for him to make eye contact with an armed guard standing on the other side of the lobby. He was carried up and away, the only indication he’d been discovered the explosion of chatter in his earpiece. He clawed at the ‘up’ button with his nails, letting out a triumphant shout when he managed to tear it out. They’d have to figure that out first before they could follow him up.
As soon as the doors opened he had to lunge to his right to dodge another security guard. Luckily, he wasn’t expecting him to have any weapons, so the taser came in handy once again, and he was left unconscious on the elevator floor. Nerdi desperately looked around, once again cursing his lack of Aura. He didn’t have any opportunities to study the layout of this floor, and every second he wasted on making a decision was an opportunity for the people chasing him to catch up. The lobby was almost the mirror image of the one he’d just left behind, which made him feel as if he hadn’t made any progress at all. Before he could work himself into a frenzy, he noticed a window behind the reception, which was missing on the lower floor. He ran towards it, ransacking a guard desk on the way for anything he could use to break it, settling on a hefty-looking paperweight. The sound of breaking glass was music to his ears, and he tumbled through, wincing when a few shards dug into his skin.
His landing was soft, and he allowed himself a second to take the first breath of fresh air in a long time. After that he picked himself up, dusted off his white uniform and looked around. The sky was morning-grey, he must have spent almost the whole night hidden away in that office. When he turned around, the facility he escaped from looked like a small unassuming building, only two stories high. He supposed it made sense, most of the important stuff was hidden underground anyway and it would be a terrible idea to bring attention to it. He grabbed a big shard of glass from the ground, figuring it could come in handy, and took off running along the wall in front of him. Pretty soon, he saw the parking lot he remembered being led through come into view. It was full of vehicles and he was delighted when he saw a motorcycle among them. It was the standard issue police model, which he knew from experience was very easy to hotwire. After using the paperweight again to get rid of the panel covering the wires, he used his shard of glass to strip off the insulation. He connected the necessary wires and pushed the ‘On’ button. The engine started with a promising roar and he quickly got on and took off into the forest, careful not to go too fast. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, and it would suck for his escape attempt to fail because he fell off and cracked his head open. He needed to get out of there and contact Feinberg. Whatever was done to him, he was one of the only people who could possibly help, since the substance they injected him with was made from his blood. He didn’t want to think about the possibility his Aura could be gone forever. He reasoned with himself that at least he got some good intel out of it, and he could hear Feinberg’s triumphant exclamations over one of his conspiracy theories being proven correct. And no matter what happened, he would have his revenge. They would find out that dealing with a pissed of Nerdi never ended well.