Jiro Sargeant had yet another terrible day at school.
You’d think that for all the anti-bullying rallies and the posters hung in each classroom and the letters sent home at the beginning of each semester that people at the school would actually care about bullying. But Jiro knew they didn’t. He knew why. He saw, clear as day, the words hovering about the head of the last anti-bullying speaker. “Another school, another paycheck.” They were in a soft dark grey cursive font. Boredom. A frequent liar. Jiro had almost talked to him, told him how inspiring he’d found his story before he saw that. But he didn’t know why he hadn’t realized it sooner. People were never sincere. When his math teacher had handed him back his test today and said “Great job, Jiro!” she’d been wondering why Jiro hadn’t done as well on this chapter, words written in electric blue disappointment.
The posters weren’t people, but they spoke too. “This is required by law.” “We have never followed these procedures.” “Does anyone actually read these?” Jiro had read them, dozens of times, because sometimes there was nothing else to read. It wasn’t in the hope that he’d report the bullies or anything- he’d learned in 5th grade that all that led to broken bones that vanished too quickly to be proof of anything.
Jiro knew he was a superhuman, that he had an amazing set of powers, but most of the time he wished he didn’t have them at all. Knowing how people were didn’t make talking to them any easier. Regeneration didn’t make pain not hurt. He often wished he could be a superhero like his idol, Rainbow Vision, but none of his powers made him particularly good for superheroing.
The power that caused the most pain of all was the dreams. He only had dreams of terrible things. And he could never prevent them. He’d dreamed of that horrible, horrible B+ last night. He’d even cringed when his teacher gave him back his test. But there it was, a B+. Nothing he could do to stop it.
Now he was walking home from school slowly, delaying the inevitable. But he was almost there, almost home, and his mother would be waiting for him. He tried to slow down the moments between arriving in the driveway and getting to the front door. But nobody had control over time, least of all him, and as he slowly reached for the door, his mother opened it.
She was a void. Always a void. Words censored. Never in Jiro’s dreams. The one person he wanted to understand, he couldn’t. “You’re home late, Jiro. You worried me.” Jiro entered the house and she sat down on the sofa. “What happened at school today?”
“Nothing.” Jiro lied. He knew if he could read his own words they’d be in a font curly enough to be absolutely unreadable. “Um, they gave us copies of the book of the anti-bullying speaker who came last week.” Jiro had thrown his own copy in the trash as soon as he’d gotten it. He wasn’t the only one- the trash bins of the school were now full of them.
“Did you get your math test back?” asked Mrs. Sargeant.
Jiro nodded hesitantly. “Yes, I did.”
“Let me see it.”
With a soft sigh Jiro produced the dreaded B+. His mother shook her head disgustedly. “I can’t believe you. What were you doing? Spending more time on the internet than studying again?!”
“I tried my best.” replied Jiro. “I just can’t really wrap my head around Partial Derivatives like I can other subjects.” He paused for a moment, fearful of the thing he was going to try to say. “You know… a B+ is still a good grade?”
“NO IT FUCKING ISN’T!” screamed Mrs. Sargeant, slamming the test into Jiro’s face. “A B+ is to admit failure! No child of mine is going to think a B+ is good enough!! What do you think is going to be good enough next!? An F! This is practically an F already! Less than perfect mastery of a concept is worse than not even knowing it at all! Go to your room! Go to your room and study! No computer for the next two weeks except for school stuff! AND I WILL BE MONITORING YOU!”
“I’m sorry!” cried Jiro, running to his room and closing the door. After a moment, he could hear his mother coming, locking it shut.
Jiro walked to the mirror. Already a bruise was forming on his cheek, but in another few minutes it would vanish. Jiro liked to think that his mother didn’t know how hard she was to him physically because there was no noticeable impact of her roughness. He did not like to consider the alternative.
After rubbing the bruise for a moment, Jiro looked into the drawer where he kept his poster of Rainbow Vision. He was dressed in his signature white bodysuit with the rainbow goggles, a third lens on his forehead representing his “third eye”. The most famous psychic superhero around, Jiro often dreamed of coming to him and offering to become his apprentice or sidekick. But there was no way someone like Rainbow Vision would want Jiro around.
He then went to his bed and pulled out his laptop. He really did need to study so he didn’t get another bad grade. Plus there was an essay due tomorrow he needed to edit, another set of physics problems to do on SchoolProblems, and he needed to work on his program, too. It would be a busy day.
You’d think that for all the anti-bullying rallies and the posters hung in each classroom and the letters sent home at the beginning of each semester that people at the school would actually care about bullying. But Jiro knew they didn’t. He knew why. He saw, clear as day, the words hovering about the head of the last anti-bullying speaker. “Another school, another paycheck.” They were in a soft dark grey cursive font. Boredom. A frequent liar. Jiro had almost talked to him, told him how inspiring he’d found his story before he saw that. But he didn’t know why he hadn’t realized it sooner. People were never sincere. When his math teacher had handed him back his test today and said “Great job, Jiro!” she’d been wondering why Jiro hadn’t done as well on this chapter, words written in electric blue disappointment.
The posters weren’t people, but they spoke too. “This is required by law.” “We have never followed these procedures.” “Does anyone actually read these?” Jiro had read them, dozens of times, because sometimes there was nothing else to read. It wasn’t in the hope that he’d report the bullies or anything- he’d learned in 5th grade that all that led to broken bones that vanished too quickly to be proof of anything.
Jiro knew he was a superhuman, that he had an amazing set of powers, but most of the time he wished he didn’t have them at all. Knowing how people were didn’t make talking to them any easier. Regeneration didn’t make pain not hurt. He often wished he could be a superhero like his idol, Rainbow Vision, but none of his powers made him particularly good for superheroing.
The power that caused the most pain of all was the dreams. He only had dreams of terrible things. And he could never prevent them. He’d dreamed of that horrible, horrible B+ last night. He’d even cringed when his teacher gave him back his test. But there it was, a B+. Nothing he could do to stop it.
Now he was walking home from school slowly, delaying the inevitable. But he was almost there, almost home, and his mother would be waiting for him. He tried to slow down the moments between arriving in the driveway and getting to the front door. But nobody had control over time, least of all him, and as he slowly reached for the door, his mother opened it.
She was a void. Always a void. Words censored. Never in Jiro’s dreams. The one person he wanted to understand, he couldn’t. “You’re home late, Jiro. You worried me.” Jiro entered the house and she sat down on the sofa. “What happened at school today?”
“Nothing.” Jiro lied. He knew if he could read his own words they’d be in a font curly enough to be absolutely unreadable. “Um, they gave us copies of the book of the anti-bullying speaker who came last week.” Jiro had thrown his own copy in the trash as soon as he’d gotten it. He wasn’t the only one- the trash bins of the school were now full of them.
“Did you get your math test back?” asked Mrs. Sargeant.
Jiro nodded hesitantly. “Yes, I did.”
“Let me see it.”
With a soft sigh Jiro produced the dreaded B+. His mother shook her head disgustedly. “I can’t believe you. What were you doing? Spending more time on the internet than studying again?!”
“I tried my best.” replied Jiro. “I just can’t really wrap my head around Partial Derivatives like I can other subjects.” He paused for a moment, fearful of the thing he was going to try to say. “You know… a B+ is still a good grade?”
“NO IT FUCKING ISN’T!” screamed Mrs. Sargeant, slamming the test into Jiro’s face. “A B+ is to admit failure! No child of mine is going to think a B+ is good enough!! What do you think is going to be good enough next!? An F! This is practically an F already! Less than perfect mastery of a concept is worse than not even knowing it at all! Go to your room! Go to your room and study! No computer for the next two weeks except for school stuff! AND I WILL BE MONITORING YOU!”
“I’m sorry!” cried Jiro, running to his room and closing the door. After a moment, he could hear his mother coming, locking it shut.
Jiro walked to the mirror. Already a bruise was forming on his cheek, but in another few minutes it would vanish. Jiro liked to think that his mother didn’t know how hard she was to him physically because there was no noticeable impact of her roughness. He did not like to consider the alternative.
After rubbing the bruise for a moment, Jiro looked into the drawer where he kept his poster of Rainbow Vision. He was dressed in his signature white bodysuit with the rainbow goggles, a third lens on his forehead representing his “third eye”. The most famous psychic superhero around, Jiro often dreamed of coming to him and offering to become his apprentice or sidekick. But there was no way someone like Rainbow Vision would want Jiro around.
He then went to his bed and pulled out his laptop. He really did need to study so he didn’t get another bad grade. Plus there was an essay due tomorrow he needed to edit, another set of physics problems to do on SchoolProblems, and he needed to work on his program, too. It would be a busy day.
Jiro was called down to dinner around six. His sisters, Tania and Anne were already sitting down, and his stepfather, Ross, was dishing out the mashed potatoes. His mother loomed there. “No food for Jiro today, Ross. He got a B+ on a test.”
“You always were the stupid one, Jiro.” commented Tania. “Where do you think you’re going to go in life with a grade like that?”
Jiro’s stomach rumbled. His mother had him on a 2-meal diet most days of the week, and he’d only gotten to have lunch today. “Well kid, I have to say, I’m disappointed in you once again.” said Ross. “And here I thought you were finally getting better…”
Like always, Jiro knew he would have to stay at the table and watch his siblings eat until they had all finished. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll go get it!” said Anne. Jiro stared at the nice roast chicken, the green beans, the squash, the potatoes. Did his mother make some of his favorite foods to taunt him?
“It’s a girl! She’s selling girl scout cookies!” said Anne. “Mom, do you want to buy any?!”
Girl Scout cookies? But it was the middle of October… had they changed the time of year when they were sold? “No!” said Jiro’s mother. “Jiro stole them last time and I don’t want him to get any ideas.”
Jiro had bought those cookies with his own money, the cash he was allowed to keep from his summer job. He didn’t think it was stealing to take something that he’d bought that had been forbidden to him.
Anne began coughing heavily, and before Jiro knew it, the girl scout was standing in the middle of the room. She was possibly ten or eleven, dressed in a girl scout uniform and carrying a bomb. The room was filling with smoke, and she looked at Jiro’s assembled family. “The next one isn’t a smoke bomb.” What was happening? Why couldn’t Jiro read her? Had the Girl Scouts switched to more intense cookie-selling tactics?
“What the hell do you want!?” said Ross.
The girl looked to Jiro. “I’m here for Jiro. He’s coming with me.”
“NEVER!” screamed Mrs. Sargeant. Pointing her fingers like a gun, she fired a beam from them at this girl. Extending her own arm, a giant floating shadow snake appeared in front of the girl, taking the hit and the dozens of others that came from Mrs. Sargeant’s fingers. Was his mother a superhuman? But that couldn’t be! She… Jiro had heard of people who developed powers suddenly when their loved ones were in danger. But Jiro had always thought that his mother didn’t love him… how could this be?
“Did you hear me, lady?!” asked the girl. “Keep firing at me and I’ll drop this bomb. You and your whole family will die!”
Mrs. Sargeant looked at Jiro. “It’s a sacrifice I’d make… I’d rather that boy be dead than with you.”
Of course his mother didn’t love him! Jiro felt so stupid for believing that even for a moment! He got out of his chair and ran towards the girl. His mother quickly shot him with the energy beam, and while Jiro screamed in agony, he kept running towards her as the snake thing moved to protect them both. The girl stretched out her hand, and Jiro grabbed it. Then they ran out the door.
“We have to move fast, Jiro.” said the girl. “She’ll report us before you know it, and then we’ll have the whole military after us. We need to get to the safehouse as soon as possible.”
“What’s going on!?” asked Jiro. “Who even are you?”
The girl smiled and suddenly her form changed. She became a tall teenager, with long black hair and dark grey eyes. She was still dressed in the girl scout uniform, though. “I’m your sister, Jiro. Your real sister. My name is Seva.”
“You always were the stupid one, Jiro.” commented Tania. “Where do you think you’re going to go in life with a grade like that?”
Jiro’s stomach rumbled. His mother had him on a 2-meal diet most days of the week, and he’d only gotten to have lunch today. “Well kid, I have to say, I’m disappointed in you once again.” said Ross. “And here I thought you were finally getting better…”
Like always, Jiro knew he would have to stay at the table and watch his siblings eat until they had all finished. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll go get it!” said Anne. Jiro stared at the nice roast chicken, the green beans, the squash, the potatoes. Did his mother make some of his favorite foods to taunt him?
“It’s a girl! She’s selling girl scout cookies!” said Anne. “Mom, do you want to buy any?!”
Girl Scout cookies? But it was the middle of October… had they changed the time of year when they were sold? “No!” said Jiro’s mother. “Jiro stole them last time and I don’t want him to get any ideas.”
Jiro had bought those cookies with his own money, the cash he was allowed to keep from his summer job. He didn’t think it was stealing to take something that he’d bought that had been forbidden to him.
Anne began coughing heavily, and before Jiro knew it, the girl scout was standing in the middle of the room. She was possibly ten or eleven, dressed in a girl scout uniform and carrying a bomb. The room was filling with smoke, and she looked at Jiro’s assembled family. “The next one isn’t a smoke bomb.” What was happening? Why couldn’t Jiro read her? Had the Girl Scouts switched to more intense cookie-selling tactics?
“What the hell do you want!?” said Ross.
The girl looked to Jiro. “I’m here for Jiro. He’s coming with me.”
“NEVER!” screamed Mrs. Sargeant. Pointing her fingers like a gun, she fired a beam from them at this girl. Extending her own arm, a giant floating shadow snake appeared in front of the girl, taking the hit and the dozens of others that came from Mrs. Sargeant’s fingers. Was his mother a superhuman? But that couldn’t be! She… Jiro had heard of people who developed powers suddenly when their loved ones were in danger. But Jiro had always thought that his mother didn’t love him… how could this be?
“Did you hear me, lady?!” asked the girl. “Keep firing at me and I’ll drop this bomb. You and your whole family will die!”
Mrs. Sargeant looked at Jiro. “It’s a sacrifice I’d make… I’d rather that boy be dead than with you.”
Of course his mother didn’t love him! Jiro felt so stupid for believing that even for a moment! He got out of his chair and ran towards the girl. His mother quickly shot him with the energy beam, and while Jiro screamed in agony, he kept running towards her as the snake thing moved to protect them both. The girl stretched out her hand, and Jiro grabbed it. Then they ran out the door.
“We have to move fast, Jiro.” said the girl. “She’ll report us before you know it, and then we’ll have the whole military after us. We need to get to the safehouse as soon as possible.”
“What’s going on!?” asked Jiro. “Who even are you?”
The girl smiled and suddenly her form changed. She became a tall teenager, with long black hair and dark grey eyes. She was still dressed in the girl scout uniform, though. “I’m your sister, Jiro. Your real sister. My name is Seva.”
“Can you drive?” said Jiro as Seva got behind the wheel of a car. He was sitting in the front seat next to her. “Like, are you old enough?”
“Oh gosh!” said Seva sarcastically. “I totally forgot that I’m not legally old enough to drive. Thank you for reminding me, Jiro. We will now have to evade the police on foot.” She put the key in the ignition and turned the car on. Jiro nervously looked around them and shrunk into the seat. Seva placed a hand on Jiro’s shoulder. “Look, little bro, traffic violations are the least of the crimes I’ve committed. And I’m a very safe driver. Don’t worry.”
The car swiftly accelerated to 80 miles an hour as Seva flew out of the cul-de-sac, the car weaving past others with ease. “Superhuman reflexes! Makes driving a car very easy.”
“You sure have a lot of powers.” commented Jiro.
“So do you, I’d bet.” said Seva. “It’s par for the course for us. Oh, and if you want to call me Sevvie, that’s cool. Sometimes people do.”
Jiro nodded. “So you’re my real sister.”
“Yup.” replied Sevvie. “Well, your biological sister, if you want to be precise. I’m older by three minutes. The government separated us at birth and had us raised by different families so we’d never meet. Our real grandad wanted to raise us, but he wasn’t allowed to.”
Jiro nodded again, this time slowly. Was this even true? Or was this girl just deluded? Without his powers to help him, Jiro was really bad with people… “Why wasn’t he allowed? And why weren’t our parents allowed to raise us?”
“Because they’re the two most notorious supervillains in the world.” said Sevvie. She paused for dramatic effect, or possibly because she was going down a very tricky hill. “Have you ever heard of Dark Vision and the Emperor?”
“Yes!” exclaimed Jiro, glad to know something for once. “Dark Vision was Rainbow Vision’s evil clone, and he and the Legion of-”
Jiro was interrupted by Sevvie slamming her fist on the dashboard. “Don’t call him an evil clone! Dark Vision is our dad!”
Jiro shrunk back. “Okay. So that means that Rainbow Vision is also like our dad? Or kind of like our uncle?”
“Yeah, he’s our uncle. We have lots of relatives, okay?”
Jiro nodded in reply to Sevvie. “So I know what Dark Vision’s powers were… he was exactly the same as Rainbow Vision. But what about Emperor? I only know about him from the fact that he was mentioned as one of Rainbow Vision’s major enemies. I’ve never seen his powers listed.”
“That’s because Emperor, our father, was the most powerful person to have ever lived.” replied Sevvie.
“Oh gosh!” said Seva sarcastically. “I totally forgot that I’m not legally old enough to drive. Thank you for reminding me, Jiro. We will now have to evade the police on foot.” She put the key in the ignition and turned the car on. Jiro nervously looked around them and shrunk into the seat. Seva placed a hand on Jiro’s shoulder. “Look, little bro, traffic violations are the least of the crimes I’ve committed. And I’m a very safe driver. Don’t worry.”
The car swiftly accelerated to 80 miles an hour as Seva flew out of the cul-de-sac, the car weaving past others with ease. “Superhuman reflexes! Makes driving a car very easy.”
“You sure have a lot of powers.” commented Jiro.
“So do you, I’d bet.” said Seva. “It’s par for the course for us. Oh, and if you want to call me Sevvie, that’s cool. Sometimes people do.”
Jiro nodded. “So you’re my real sister.”
“Yup.” replied Sevvie. “Well, your biological sister, if you want to be precise. I’m older by three minutes. The government separated us at birth and had us raised by different families so we’d never meet. Our real grandad wanted to raise us, but he wasn’t allowed to.”
Jiro nodded again, this time slowly. Was this even true? Or was this girl just deluded? Without his powers to help him, Jiro was really bad with people… “Why wasn’t he allowed? And why weren’t our parents allowed to raise us?”
“Because they’re the two most notorious supervillains in the world.” said Sevvie. She paused for dramatic effect, or possibly because she was going down a very tricky hill. “Have you ever heard of Dark Vision and the Emperor?”
“Yes!” exclaimed Jiro, glad to know something for once. “Dark Vision was Rainbow Vision’s evil clone, and he and the Legion of-”
Jiro was interrupted by Sevvie slamming her fist on the dashboard. “Don’t call him an evil clone! Dark Vision is our dad!”
Jiro shrunk back. “Okay. So that means that Rainbow Vision is also like our dad? Or kind of like our uncle?”
“Yeah, he’s our uncle. We have lots of relatives, okay?”
Jiro nodded in reply to Sevvie. “So I know what Dark Vision’s powers were… he was exactly the same as Rainbow Vision. But what about Emperor? I only know about him from the fact that he was mentioned as one of Rainbow Vision’s major enemies. I’ve never seen his powers listed.”
“That’s because Emperor, our father, was the most powerful person to have ever lived.” replied Sevvie.
Lorinda Sargeant had failed. After Thomas died, her entire life had one end, one goal. She would get the son of Emperor to kill himself. She would make Emperor lose a person he cared about, a person who he loved, but she would keep her hands clean. She would make Jiro willingly prefer death to life, she would break him.
But despite anything she did to that child, he did nothing! Sure, sometimes she’d hear him crying, and sometimes he’d say things that would indicate that he was going to kill himself- with those pleading grey-green eyes, looking up to her like she was his mother and was supposed to care about him- but he never did anything! It made no sense at all.
General Ta’vers of the United Planetary Military appeared on the screen. “Lorinda, don’t worry. This is not your fault.” said the X`lanthian, voice soothing in that strange alien way. “I’m sure we will capture Jiro and his sister. They’re just children, after all.”
“I shot him with my beam and he did nothing!” said Lorinda. “There were some minor signs of internal and external bleeding, but he didn’t collapse in pain or beg for mercy!”
The X`lanthian raised an eyebrow and looked distressed. All those X`lanthians were wimps, such pathetic pacifists. They would only hurt another person if they had been hurt first. Ta’vers had never known Emperor, never screamed as Emperor walked over to his husband, reached into his chest, and absorbed his heart. Never known the utter contempt of that soulless gaze. Never felt so powerless to stop such a creature….
“Mrs. Sargeant, your duty taking care of Emperor’s child all these years is commendable. Not many would volunteer to take care of the child of their husband’s murderer.” said Ta’vers. “But I think that Jiro, once retrieved, may be put in a different home.”
“When you retrieve that thing you should kill it.” said Lorinda. “He will grow up to become another Emperor.”
“He is an innocent.” said Ta’vers softly. “He could grow up to become like Glamour or Optimizer or The Occultist or even Rainbow Vision.”
Lorinda snorted. “I doubt it.”
But despite anything she did to that child, he did nothing! Sure, sometimes she’d hear him crying, and sometimes he’d say things that would indicate that he was going to kill himself- with those pleading grey-green eyes, looking up to her like she was his mother and was supposed to care about him- but he never did anything! It made no sense at all.
General Ta’vers of the United Planetary Military appeared on the screen. “Lorinda, don’t worry. This is not your fault.” said the X`lanthian, voice soothing in that strange alien way. “I’m sure we will capture Jiro and his sister. They’re just children, after all.”
“I shot him with my beam and he did nothing!” said Lorinda. “There were some minor signs of internal and external bleeding, but he didn’t collapse in pain or beg for mercy!”
The X`lanthian raised an eyebrow and looked distressed. All those X`lanthians were wimps, such pathetic pacifists. They would only hurt another person if they had been hurt first. Ta’vers had never known Emperor, never screamed as Emperor walked over to his husband, reached into his chest, and absorbed his heart. Never known the utter contempt of that soulless gaze. Never felt so powerless to stop such a creature….
“Mrs. Sargeant, your duty taking care of Emperor’s child all these years is commendable. Not many would volunteer to take care of the child of their husband’s murderer.” said Ta’vers. “But I think that Jiro, once retrieved, may be put in a different home.”
“When you retrieve that thing you should kill it.” said Lorinda. “He will grow up to become another Emperor.”
“He is an innocent.” said Ta’vers softly. “He could grow up to become like Glamour or Optimizer or The Occultist or even Rainbow Vision.”
Lorinda snorted. “I doubt it.”
“You need to tell me about your powers.” said Sevvie. They were on the freeway now, speeding faster than even before. “It could be useful in an emergency.”
“Well,” started Jiro. “First I have a few psychic powers. I can see sort of like a… sentence over people’s heads. It’s kind of like a thought, kind of like a summary of how they’re feeling. Don’t worry, I can’t see yours. Depending on the color and the letters, I can tell certain things about them. Like how they’re feeling, or whether they lie a lot, or if they’re a cold or emotional person. I can see that with books and posters and other written works, but the sort of words on there are all the same.”
Sevvie nodded. “That seems useful, I guess. Mind reading, only less horrifying. Go on.”
“I have dreams.” continued Jiro. “I only see bad things in them. And no matter how hard I try to prevent them, they always happen. And I can regenerate extremely quickly. I can recover from anything I’ve tried so far.”
Sevvie turned to look at Jiro. “...what have you tried?”
Jiro did not look at his sister, rather instead out at the road ahead. “My life hasn’t been the best. I don’t have any friends. My family doesn’t like me very much, though I’m quite a failure, so I suppose they don’t have any reason to. I get bullied a lot at school. Anyway, I can recover from multiple broken bones in less than thirty minutes. I can’t drown or suffocate. Whenever I cut or get hit, it heals up nearly instantly. Even bullets go right through me and the holes are repaired. Every single part of my body seems to be immune to lasting physical harm.”
The car was silent for a moment, before Sevvie said, “That must be why you were able to withstand Agony’s beam.”
“Is that a metaphor?” asked Jiro. “I would say that-”
“No, Agony was the woman who claimed to be your mother. Before she gave it up, she was a very powerful supervillain with her husband, Ecstasy. They each had the ability to create beams of the sensations they later named themselves after.”
After a moment, Jiro said, “Oh.”
“Anyway, we’ve got to get to the safehouse before it’s too late.”
“Well,” started Jiro. “First I have a few psychic powers. I can see sort of like a… sentence over people’s heads. It’s kind of like a thought, kind of like a summary of how they’re feeling. Don’t worry, I can’t see yours. Depending on the color and the letters, I can tell certain things about them. Like how they’re feeling, or whether they lie a lot, or if they’re a cold or emotional person. I can see that with books and posters and other written works, but the sort of words on there are all the same.”
Sevvie nodded. “That seems useful, I guess. Mind reading, only less horrifying. Go on.”
“I have dreams.” continued Jiro. “I only see bad things in them. And no matter how hard I try to prevent them, they always happen. And I can regenerate extremely quickly. I can recover from anything I’ve tried so far.”
Sevvie turned to look at Jiro. “...what have you tried?”
Jiro did not look at his sister, rather instead out at the road ahead. “My life hasn’t been the best. I don’t have any friends. My family doesn’t like me very much, though I’m quite a failure, so I suppose they don’t have any reason to. I get bullied a lot at school. Anyway, I can recover from multiple broken bones in less than thirty minutes. I can’t drown or suffocate. Whenever I cut or get hit, it heals up nearly instantly. Even bullets go right through me and the holes are repaired. Every single part of my body seems to be immune to lasting physical harm.”
The car was silent for a moment, before Sevvie said, “That must be why you were able to withstand Agony’s beam.”
“Is that a metaphor?” asked Jiro. “I would say that-”
“No, Agony was the woman who claimed to be your mother. Before she gave it up, she was a very powerful supervillain with her husband, Ecstasy. They each had the ability to create beams of the sensations they later named themselves after.”
After a moment, Jiro said, “Oh.”
“Anyway, we’ve got to get to the safehouse before it’s too late.”
Elian Ashbur hovered his hand over his computer keyboard, thinking. He’d been informed his niece and nephew had left their adopted families and asked to help retrieve them. But he wasn’t going to find them just to take them back to those families. They deserved to be with their real families, and this time he was going to fight for them.
But he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to contact his brother’s father-in-law. Sebastian had wanted to raise his beloved grandchildren as his own and had been so devastated when they were taken from him. If they were taken from him again… well, Sebastian wasn’t the most stable of people.
But it was the right thing to do. He pressed the button, initiating the call to Sebastian. He answered in a matter of moments. He was out in his garden, trimming some hedges. Elian could see his pet peacocks strutting across the lawn. “Oh, hello, Elian darling. How nice of you to call me! I’m just doing a little yard work before winter comes!”
Elian smiled at his friend. He could still pretend this was a social call… but it wasn’t. “Sebastian, I have some news for you. It’s really important. I’ve been told Sevvie left her adopted parents almost a month ago, and an hour ago she went to Jiro’s adoptive family’s house and left with him. They’re now both on the run.” He paused. “They’ve asked me to help retrieve them. But if you came with me… if you made contact with them too…”
Tears began to form in Sebastian’s eyes. “Well, they could let them live with me at last… or they could take them away from me again! Elian, I-”
“I know.” said Elian. “I… I don’t know if this is a good idea or not! But I’d be wrong not to tell you at all! Illiam is… well, he started as my clone, but I see him as my brother. I don’t think they way they’ve been containing Sevvie and Jiro has been good at all.”
“I’m coming with you.” said Sebastian. “I’ll be over in under half an hour.”
“We don’t have that much time.” said Elian. “They want me to get out there right now. I’ll ping you my location once I spot them.”
“Okay. I’m going to get Georg. See you soon.” Sebastian ended the call and Elian slammed the computer shut. Quickly crossing the room, he grabbed the headpiece of his bodysuit, pulling the tight fabric over his head. He adjusted it in the mirror before putting the rainbow goggles on, keeping them perfectly straight. It was time to fly.
But he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to contact his brother’s father-in-law. Sebastian had wanted to raise his beloved grandchildren as his own and had been so devastated when they were taken from him. If they were taken from him again… well, Sebastian wasn’t the most stable of people.
But it was the right thing to do. He pressed the button, initiating the call to Sebastian. He answered in a matter of moments. He was out in his garden, trimming some hedges. Elian could see his pet peacocks strutting across the lawn. “Oh, hello, Elian darling. How nice of you to call me! I’m just doing a little yard work before winter comes!”
Elian smiled at his friend. He could still pretend this was a social call… but it wasn’t. “Sebastian, I have some news for you. It’s really important. I’ve been told Sevvie left her adopted parents almost a month ago, and an hour ago she went to Jiro’s adoptive family’s house and left with him. They’re now both on the run.” He paused. “They’ve asked me to help retrieve them. But if you came with me… if you made contact with them too…”
Tears began to form in Sebastian’s eyes. “Well, they could let them live with me at last… or they could take them away from me again! Elian, I-”
“I know.” said Elian. “I… I don’t know if this is a good idea or not! But I’d be wrong not to tell you at all! Illiam is… well, he started as my clone, but I see him as my brother. I don’t think they way they’ve been containing Sevvie and Jiro has been good at all.”
“I’m coming with you.” said Sebastian. “I’ll be over in under half an hour.”
“We don’t have that much time.” said Elian. “They want me to get out there right now. I’ll ping you my location once I spot them.”
“Okay. I’m going to get Georg. See you soon.” Sebastian ended the call and Elian slammed the computer shut. Quickly crossing the room, he grabbed the headpiece of his bodysuit, pulling the tight fabric over his head. He adjusted it in the mirror before putting the rainbow goggles on, keeping them perfectly straight. It was time to fly.
The car was surrounded. Sevvie drove around in tight circles, looking for an exit as the police cars sat there, the police officers aiming their guns at Sevvie and Jiro inside the car. Jiro’s stomach twisted. If he was arrested, it would mean that everything his mother said about him was true. Okay, she wasn’t his biological mother, but she was at least a person who Jiro had regarded as his mother for most of his life, and no matter what Sevvie thought, she was his mother. Even if she didn’t love him. Even if she may have tried to kill him.
Suddenly, the police cars parted, and Sevvie rammed out of the opening. The police fired on the car, but Sevvie’s creature absorbed each bullet. But it was a trap. From the sky came a man riding on a festering rainbow. Jiro’s heart beat rapidly. It was Rainbow Vision! Rainbow Vision was here!
Rainbow Vision was going to fight him.
“Get out of the car, Jiro!” screamed Sevvie. “We have to ride on my Nightmare!”
Jiro jumped out of the car, and the moment he and Sevvie left it, it was flung up into the air. Jiro twisted around, looking for Computerman. He was nowhere to be seen, but Rainbow Vision didn’t have telekinetic powers so he had to be somewhere.
“Please, kids, stop!” said Rainbow Vision. Jiro looked at Rainbow Vision in awe before reading the words above his head: “Jiro, you and Sevvie need to pretend to fight me. Buy time until your grandfather comes.”
Not going to disobey a direct order from his idol, Jiro nodded slightly before frowning and pointing his finger at Rainbow Vision. “Um! No! Rainbow Vision, you’re our uncle or something, but you defeated our dads and that’s no good. We have to fight you to avenge our fathers!”
“Jiro, are you crazy?!” screamed Sevvie. “We couldn’t take down Rainbow Vision, even with our full powers!”
“We have to do it, Sevvie!” Rainbow Vision landed and dropped into a fighting position, and Jiro ran towards him. Rainbow Vision fired a beam of crystals from his hand, and Jiro caught some of them. They cut his hands, but they repaired in seconds and Jiro threw them weakly at Rainbow Vision. Rainbow Vision’s eyes widened. “Jiro, don’t hurt yourself!” read the words above his head. Jiro mouthed “I can’t.”
Sevvie looked from Rainbow Vision to Jiro and from Jiro to Rainbow Vision. Then she recalled her snake thing. “Yeah! We’re going to fight you, Rainbow Vision. I, Heiress, and whatever Jiro choses his name to be, will defeat you!”
“No!” screamed Rainbow Vision. “You’re just kids, but you’re too powerful… don’t fight me!”
Pulling a bomb from her vest pocket, she threw it at Rainbow Vision, who projected a sudden shield of rainbows that deflected. Jiro wasn’t sure how Sevvie was lighting or activating her bombs, really. She continued to throw a wide variety of bombs at Rainbow Vision while the snake-thing also attempted to attack him. Rainbow Vision, as an extremely experienced superhero, dodged them all. It looked like “Heiress” and Jiro were losing badly.
Suddenly, Sevvie gave up joining on whatever plan her brother and uncle were concocting. The snake twisted around Jiro, hurting it with its sharp spikes, and she jumped on top of a moving car while Jiro was deposited on top of the car as well. “What the hell was your plan there?!” screamed Sevvie.
“Rainbow Vision told us to delay! Wait for something.”
“And you trusted him!?” screamed Sevvie. “He helped defeat our fathers! It was obviously some sort of diabolical plan to-”
“Rainbow Vision is a good person!” yelled Jiro. “He doesn’t have diabolical plans!”
“Well, I’m not a good person!” replied Sevvie. “Neither were our parents! All good people do is pretend they’re so self-righteous and destroy anyone who uses their powers for their own benefit!”
Jiro shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
Their conversation was interupted by a flying ship firing upon the car they were riding on top of, knocking Sevvie and Jiro off. Sevvie landed perfectly, doing some sort of roll, and Jiro quickly picked himself up. Luckily he had own broken an arm, and could still run. Adrenaline flooding his system, Jiro felt the arm repairing far quicker than the last time he’d had it broken.
“What the hell are they doing?!” read the words above Rainbow Vision’s head. Bullets continued to rain down from the flying ship, and Sevvie protected herself with her snake thing while Jiro just covered his face with his arms. How much longer could they last? Sevvie’s snake thing was already fading…..
“STOP!” screamed Rainbow Vision, jumping in front of Sevvie and Jiro, projecting a giant rainbow shield. “They’re just children!”
“STEP DOWN, RAINBOW VISION.” came the voice from the ship. “THESE CHILDREN HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES DANGEROUS SUPERVILLAINS. WE HAVE LICENSE TO USE LETHAL FORCE.”
“NO YOU DON’T!” screamed Rainbow Vision before he fired beams of rainbow crystals into the barrels of the ship’s guns, clogging them up.
“RAINBOW VISION, IF YOU CONTINUE ON THIS LINE, YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A SUPERVILLAIN.”
Jiro shuddered in fear. He wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to his idol because of him. The words above Rainbow Vision’s head darkened, read: “I hope they’re bluffing… but if they aren’t, I don’t really care anymore.”
“Call me what you want. I’m not going to abandon my niece and nephew.”
In a moment, it happened. The central gun of the flying ship begun to charge. An energy gun. And, simultaneously, it appeared. A chariot in the sky pulled by peacocks came into vision, its driver a superhuman dressed in a fabulous glittering, sequined outfit. The peacocks squawked angrily as the driver pulled out a bow with two arms he had most definitely not had before. Riding shotgun was a man in chainmail and a sort of steampunk outfit. Jiro could not read the fabulous man. The other man’s words read: “Man, I missed doing stupid shit like this.”
Speaking in a loud, clear voice, the fabulous man said, “You will stop firing on my grandchildren and let them come home with me, or else.”
“GLAMOUR, WE TOLD YOU WHY THAT WAS NOT ALLOWED WHEN-”
“Seva, Jiro, you’re members of a species known as the Tef! Your father Xander was an alien and I’m an alien and all of my other children are aliens! You have lots of amazing powers and the Tef-”
“STOP!” screamed whoever was talking in the ship. “If you cease fighting, we can… discuss this.”
The peacock-driven chariot landed and the steampunk-looking man exited it, followed by the fabulous man. The moment his second foot left the chariot it vanished in a cloud of glitter. Now that he was out of the chariot, Jiro could see that he was wearing an enormous cape covered in peacock feathers. He ran towards Rainbow Vision. “RV! Thank you so much, darling. Seva, Jiro, I’m your grandfather, Glamour. And this is the Optimizer. Also your grandfather.”
“Yo.” said the Optimizer. Jiro had vaguely heard of them. They were supposed to be retired superheroes. Glamour seemed far more fabulous than he did in the pictures of him online.
Sevvie glared at them. “I hate you both! You betrayed dad and left him to be captured! What the hell do you think I’m going to do with you?”
Glamour sighed. “I know you must feel very upset about it, Seva. I don’t know if you’ll feel better if I tell you it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I loved your father very much. And I fought to be able to raise you both. And if it’s possible, that is still my life dream.”
“Absolutely not.” said a X`lanthian man, emerging from the ship. He was the one who had spoken before. “It is impossible for the reasons I stated originally.”
Glamour narrowed his eyes. “And the arguments I had then still apply. They’ve already learned of their heritage. They already know what their parents were like. And I raised three non-evil children and... Ehimay, thank you very much!” He let out a deep, dramatic sigh. “And Xander wasn’t even that bad until he absorbed his grandfather….”
“Absorbed him?” asked Jiro.
“Yes, Jiro.” replied Glamour. “We Tef have the ability to absorb the DNA of creatures we touch. Then we create a body for ourselves using those creatures’ traits. You have only absorbed the DNA of your fathers. Your father, like my father, had the very rare ability to completely absorb someone when he killed them. Then he would be able to gain their powers.”
Jiro shuddered. “That’s horrible!”
“I know.” said Glamour. “It is my hope that this terrible power has ended here.” He turned to the X`lanthian man. “Please, let me raise them. I’m the only one who understands what it’s like to be their species. I’ll teach them to use their powers responsibly. Just consider it!”
“Absolutely not!” replied the X`lanthian. “It’s out of the question.”
Jiro began to cry.
Suddenly, the police cars parted, and Sevvie rammed out of the opening. The police fired on the car, but Sevvie’s creature absorbed each bullet. But it was a trap. From the sky came a man riding on a festering rainbow. Jiro’s heart beat rapidly. It was Rainbow Vision! Rainbow Vision was here!
Rainbow Vision was going to fight him.
“Get out of the car, Jiro!” screamed Sevvie. “We have to ride on my Nightmare!”
Jiro jumped out of the car, and the moment he and Sevvie left it, it was flung up into the air. Jiro twisted around, looking for Computerman. He was nowhere to be seen, but Rainbow Vision didn’t have telekinetic powers so he had to be somewhere.
“Please, kids, stop!” said Rainbow Vision. Jiro looked at Rainbow Vision in awe before reading the words above his head: “Jiro, you and Sevvie need to pretend to fight me. Buy time until your grandfather comes.”
Not going to disobey a direct order from his idol, Jiro nodded slightly before frowning and pointing his finger at Rainbow Vision. “Um! No! Rainbow Vision, you’re our uncle or something, but you defeated our dads and that’s no good. We have to fight you to avenge our fathers!”
“Jiro, are you crazy?!” screamed Sevvie. “We couldn’t take down Rainbow Vision, even with our full powers!”
“We have to do it, Sevvie!” Rainbow Vision landed and dropped into a fighting position, and Jiro ran towards him. Rainbow Vision fired a beam of crystals from his hand, and Jiro caught some of them. They cut his hands, but they repaired in seconds and Jiro threw them weakly at Rainbow Vision. Rainbow Vision’s eyes widened. “Jiro, don’t hurt yourself!” read the words above his head. Jiro mouthed “I can’t.”
Sevvie looked from Rainbow Vision to Jiro and from Jiro to Rainbow Vision. Then she recalled her snake thing. “Yeah! We’re going to fight you, Rainbow Vision. I, Heiress, and whatever Jiro choses his name to be, will defeat you!”
“No!” screamed Rainbow Vision. “You’re just kids, but you’re too powerful… don’t fight me!”
Pulling a bomb from her vest pocket, she threw it at Rainbow Vision, who projected a sudden shield of rainbows that deflected. Jiro wasn’t sure how Sevvie was lighting or activating her bombs, really. She continued to throw a wide variety of bombs at Rainbow Vision while the snake-thing also attempted to attack him. Rainbow Vision, as an extremely experienced superhero, dodged them all. It looked like “Heiress” and Jiro were losing badly.
Suddenly, Sevvie gave up joining on whatever plan her brother and uncle were concocting. The snake twisted around Jiro, hurting it with its sharp spikes, and she jumped on top of a moving car while Jiro was deposited on top of the car as well. “What the hell was your plan there?!” screamed Sevvie.
“Rainbow Vision told us to delay! Wait for something.”
“And you trusted him!?” screamed Sevvie. “He helped defeat our fathers! It was obviously some sort of diabolical plan to-”
“Rainbow Vision is a good person!” yelled Jiro. “He doesn’t have diabolical plans!”
“Well, I’m not a good person!” replied Sevvie. “Neither were our parents! All good people do is pretend they’re so self-righteous and destroy anyone who uses their powers for their own benefit!”
Jiro shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
Their conversation was interupted by a flying ship firing upon the car they were riding on top of, knocking Sevvie and Jiro off. Sevvie landed perfectly, doing some sort of roll, and Jiro quickly picked himself up. Luckily he had own broken an arm, and could still run. Adrenaline flooding his system, Jiro felt the arm repairing far quicker than the last time he’d had it broken.
“What the hell are they doing?!” read the words above Rainbow Vision’s head. Bullets continued to rain down from the flying ship, and Sevvie protected herself with her snake thing while Jiro just covered his face with his arms. How much longer could they last? Sevvie’s snake thing was already fading…..
“STOP!” screamed Rainbow Vision, jumping in front of Sevvie and Jiro, projecting a giant rainbow shield. “They’re just children!”
“STEP DOWN, RAINBOW VISION.” came the voice from the ship. “THESE CHILDREN HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES DANGEROUS SUPERVILLAINS. WE HAVE LICENSE TO USE LETHAL FORCE.”
“NO YOU DON’T!” screamed Rainbow Vision before he fired beams of rainbow crystals into the barrels of the ship’s guns, clogging them up.
“RAINBOW VISION, IF YOU CONTINUE ON THIS LINE, YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A SUPERVILLAIN.”
Jiro shuddered in fear. He wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to his idol because of him. The words above Rainbow Vision’s head darkened, read: “I hope they’re bluffing… but if they aren’t, I don’t really care anymore.”
“Call me what you want. I’m not going to abandon my niece and nephew.”
In a moment, it happened. The central gun of the flying ship begun to charge. An energy gun. And, simultaneously, it appeared. A chariot in the sky pulled by peacocks came into vision, its driver a superhuman dressed in a fabulous glittering, sequined outfit. The peacocks squawked angrily as the driver pulled out a bow with two arms he had most definitely not had before. Riding shotgun was a man in chainmail and a sort of steampunk outfit. Jiro could not read the fabulous man. The other man’s words read: “Man, I missed doing stupid shit like this.”
Speaking in a loud, clear voice, the fabulous man said, “You will stop firing on my grandchildren and let them come home with me, or else.”
“GLAMOUR, WE TOLD YOU WHY THAT WAS NOT ALLOWED WHEN-”
“Seva, Jiro, you’re members of a species known as the Tef! Your father Xander was an alien and I’m an alien and all of my other children are aliens! You have lots of amazing powers and the Tef-”
“STOP!” screamed whoever was talking in the ship. “If you cease fighting, we can… discuss this.”
The peacock-driven chariot landed and the steampunk-looking man exited it, followed by the fabulous man. The moment his second foot left the chariot it vanished in a cloud of glitter. Now that he was out of the chariot, Jiro could see that he was wearing an enormous cape covered in peacock feathers. He ran towards Rainbow Vision. “RV! Thank you so much, darling. Seva, Jiro, I’m your grandfather, Glamour. And this is the Optimizer. Also your grandfather.”
“Yo.” said the Optimizer. Jiro had vaguely heard of them. They were supposed to be retired superheroes. Glamour seemed far more fabulous than he did in the pictures of him online.
Sevvie glared at them. “I hate you both! You betrayed dad and left him to be captured! What the hell do you think I’m going to do with you?”
Glamour sighed. “I know you must feel very upset about it, Seva. I don’t know if you’ll feel better if I tell you it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I loved your father very much. And I fought to be able to raise you both. And if it’s possible, that is still my life dream.”
“Absolutely not.” said a X`lanthian man, emerging from the ship. He was the one who had spoken before. “It is impossible for the reasons I stated originally.”
Glamour narrowed his eyes. “And the arguments I had then still apply. They’ve already learned of their heritage. They already know what their parents were like. And I raised three non-evil children and... Ehimay, thank you very much!” He let out a deep, dramatic sigh. “And Xander wasn’t even that bad until he absorbed his grandfather….”
“Absorbed him?” asked Jiro.
“Yes, Jiro.” replied Glamour. “We Tef have the ability to absorb the DNA of creatures we touch. Then we create a body for ourselves using those creatures’ traits. You have only absorbed the DNA of your fathers. Your father, like my father, had the very rare ability to completely absorb someone when he killed them. Then he would be able to gain their powers.”
Jiro shuddered. “That’s horrible!”
“I know.” said Glamour. “It is my hope that this terrible power has ended here.” He turned to the X`lanthian man. “Please, let me raise them. I’m the only one who understands what it’s like to be their species. I’ll teach them to use their powers responsibly. Just consider it!”
“Absolutely not!” replied the X`lanthian. “It’s out of the question.”
Jiro began to cry.
Jiro had never once been comforted in his tears before. They were met with scolding or screaming or disgust. But instinctively, Glamour reached forth and grabbed Jiro, hugging him tightly. “Oh, darling! Jiro, I….” Glamour himself began to tear up behind his elaborate bird mask.
“I can’t go back there!” sobbed Jiro. “I can’t go back to her house! I can’t go back knowing that she doesn’t even love me! I’ve tried so many times to escape that life. But every time I’ve come back without a scratch!”
Glamour hugged Jiro even more tightly. “Listen to that, Va`les! You’ve made my grandchild feel so awful that-”
“I heard.” said the X`lanthian. “But I… It’s a terrible thing we have to do, but we have to do it to make the world a peaceful place.”
“Oh yeah, and one of them is on the road to being a supervillain and the other one is being tormented. Because a horrible childhood has neeever driven anyone to supervilliany.” said the Optimizer.
Rainbow Vision tossed his head to the side. “He just had to say that in front of me.” read the blurry words over his head.
Jiro lifted up his head. “If they take me back there, I’ll never stop trying to go back to you. I’ll never give up. Even if they put me in jail, they can’t kill me. I’ll tear myself apart to be with someone who cares about me again.”
Glamour brushed Jiro’s head with a suddenly non-gloved hand. “Jiro, I am going to leave here with you, one way or another. The only difference is if they’ll be chasing me or not.”
The Optimizer looked to Va’les. “And, of course, if you don’t let us go, we could always reveal what really happened in…”
Va’les glared at them all. Then he stood up straighter, extending to full 7’6” height. “Alright. I will… discuss the things you’ve said with my supervisors. It may be… possible.”
“I can’t go back there!” sobbed Jiro. “I can’t go back to her house! I can’t go back knowing that she doesn’t even love me! I’ve tried so many times to escape that life. But every time I’ve come back without a scratch!”
Glamour hugged Jiro even more tightly. “Listen to that, Va`les! You’ve made my grandchild feel so awful that-”
“I heard.” said the X`lanthian. “But I… It’s a terrible thing we have to do, but we have to do it to make the world a peaceful place.”
“Oh yeah, and one of them is on the road to being a supervillain and the other one is being tormented. Because a horrible childhood has neeever driven anyone to supervilliany.” said the Optimizer.
Rainbow Vision tossed his head to the side. “He just had to say that in front of me.” read the blurry words over his head.
Jiro lifted up his head. “If they take me back there, I’ll never stop trying to go back to you. I’ll never give up. Even if they put me in jail, they can’t kill me. I’ll tear myself apart to be with someone who cares about me again.”
Glamour brushed Jiro’s head with a suddenly non-gloved hand. “Jiro, I am going to leave here with you, one way or another. The only difference is if they’ll be chasing me or not.”
The Optimizer looked to Va’les. “And, of course, if you don’t let us go, we could always reveal what really happened in…”
Va’les glared at them all. Then he stood up straighter, extending to full 7’6” height. “Alright. I will… discuss the things you’ve said with my supervisors. It may be… possible.”
Sevvie sat on top of a car, still upset. She’d wanted to find Jiro and have him be her sidekick as they sprung their dads from jail, but now it seemed like they’d be going home with their grandfathers. Just great.
Sevvie hadn’t hated her adoptive fathers. She just never really felt any connection with them. She knew, ever since she was young, that her real fathers were out there. They hadn’t shyed away from telling her that. But to find out they were powerful supervillians… and that one of them was an alien?
Well, that certainly felt like a betrayal.
She’d be fine living with her grandfathers, but she wasn’t going to give up her dream. She was going to rescue her fathers one day .But for now….
Sevvie hadn’t hated her adoptive fathers. She just never really felt any connection with them. She knew, ever since she was young, that her real fathers were out there. They hadn’t shyed away from telling her that. But to find out they were powerful supervillians… and that one of them was an alien?
Well, that certainly felt like a betrayal.
She’d be fine living with her grandfathers, but she wasn’t going to give up her dream. She was going to rescue her fathers one day .But for now….
Jiro smiled as Sevvie approached, looking a bit happier. “You know, grandpas, you’re right. My dads were really bad, and they did need to be arrested. I would like to live with you and Jiro.”
Glamour smiled widely. “That’s wonderful news. I know you’ll be very happy living with us.”
Va’les returned. “Alright, I have recieved an answer. You will be allowed to adopt Jiro and Seva, so long as you permit one of our agents to live with you.”
“Live with us?” questioned the Optimizer. “What the hell?”
“It’s not like we don’t have spare rooms.” replied Glamour.
Jiro’s heart lifted. He wanted to cry again, this time from happiness. Glamour waved his hand and his peacocked chariot appeared again, peacocks squacking loudly, slightly larger than before. “Alright, Jiro, Seva, Rainbow Vision in the back. Try to believe in the chariot as hard as you can, otherwise it might vanish.”
“What?” asked Seva worridly.
“I have personally modified my mind so I can ignore how many laws of aerodynamics this violates.” commented the Optimizer.
“I just tend to think of it as magic.” said Rainbow Vision, sitting behind the Optimizer. “Or just not think of it at all!”
Jiro stroked the side of the chariot. It was adorned in images of more peacocks and had comfortable seats. He sat next to Rainbow Vision and Sevvie took a seat behind Glamour. Pulling on the reins, the chariot took off.
Glamour smiled widely. “That’s wonderful news. I know you’ll be very happy living with us.”
Va’les returned. “Alright, I have recieved an answer. You will be allowed to adopt Jiro and Seva, so long as you permit one of our agents to live with you.”
“Live with us?” questioned the Optimizer. “What the hell?”
“It’s not like we don’t have spare rooms.” replied Glamour.
Jiro’s heart lifted. He wanted to cry again, this time from happiness. Glamour waved his hand and his peacocked chariot appeared again, peacocks squacking loudly, slightly larger than before. “Alright, Jiro, Seva, Rainbow Vision in the back. Try to believe in the chariot as hard as you can, otherwise it might vanish.”
“What?” asked Seva worridly.
“I have personally modified my mind so I can ignore how many laws of aerodynamics this violates.” commented the Optimizer.
“I just tend to think of it as magic.” said Rainbow Vision, sitting behind the Optimizer. “Or just not think of it at all!”
Jiro stroked the side of the chariot. It was adorned in images of more peacocks and had comfortable seats. He sat next to Rainbow Vision and Sevvie took a seat behind Glamour. Pulling on the reins, the chariot took off.
"Our species is known as the Tef." said Glamour. "Like I said before, we can absorb DNA from other creatures and we create a body from those strands of DNA. We come from a planet called Naven, though we had a very large empire across a portion of the galaxy. We were actually created as servants to another species, the Navenites, but we overthrew them shortly after our creation."
"I was a prince on Naven, though I despised my father and longed to leave the planet."
"That was when I showed up." said the Optimizer. "I used to be an astronaut."
"And we fell in love and left that horrid planet." said Glamour. "I enjoy earth far more than Naven, darlings, far more."
"A lot of stuff happened between when we met and when we fell in love and when we left." said the Optimizer. "Are you just going to skip over that all?"
"Yes." replied Glamour with a nod. He turned the peacock chariot slightly, avoiding a flock of geese that was going by. "We'll tell them the whole story when they're older. Anyway, Tef can reproduce with nearly any species, but the offspring will always be a Tef. That means that no matter who you love, darlings, you will always be able to have a child with them, and they will always have superpowers."
"I don't forsee that ever happening." replied Sevvie. "But continue. Describe the powers more."
"Well, as you've noticed, you have powers that are similar to those your ancestors had, just like humans. But you are also totally able to manipulate your current form based on your absorbed DNA samples. You could shapeshift into nearly any species based on what you absorbed. You could add any traits of any species you absorbed."
"Basically the Tef are OP, please nerf." said the Optimizer. Glamour stuck out his tongue at the Optimizer.
"Oh, like complete control of your own body is so weak, darling. Oh, look, there's the house. Peacocks, land!"
The chariot landed moments later on the lawn of an expansive house. Once everyone else was out, Glamour left, and snapped his fingers, revealing a handsome older man with slightly greying hair dressed in gardening clothes. “My real name, darlings, is Sebastian Nesline. You can call me anything you feel comfortable calling me- Grandfather, grandpa, poppop, Sebastian, whatever you like!”
“Your cousins call me poppop but my real name is von Wolff.” said the Optimizer, removing his goggles to reveal deep markings on a slightly worn face where the goggles had been.
“Your real name is Georg, darling.” said Sebastian.
Georg shrugged, “Yeah, I guess.”
Rainbow Vision had also taken off his hood and goggles. “And I’m your Uncle Elian. Gosh, I have to introduce you to your Uncle Ulmer and your cousin Desta soon.” He paused. “Um, Sebastian, I have to call Ulmer. He needs to come pick me up.”
“Stay for dinner!” said Sebastian. “Lukas is making chicken shawarma.” He smiled at Jiro and Sevvie. “Do you like chicken shawarma?”
Sevvie shrugged. “I’m mostly a vegetarian, but I sometimes eat chicken.”
“So is your aunt Cassandra!” said Sebastian. “You may know her as Druidess. If you’d prefer something without chicken, just let your uncle know.”
“I’ve never had chicken shawarma before.” said Jiro.
“Well then, you’ll get to try something new.”
“Well, I’ll call Ulmer and Desta and see if they can come, but you know about their allergies.” said Elian.
The group had been moving towards the front door of the house. “Oh, there’s so much to do!” said Sebastian opening it. “You’ll have to get enrolled in a new school, you’ll have to have all your things moved over, you’ll have to be trained in your powers…”
Jiro stood at the door for a moment, slightly frozen in front of it. After a moment, he went inside the house. This was the first day of a whole new life.
"I was a prince on Naven, though I despised my father and longed to leave the planet."
"That was when I showed up." said the Optimizer. "I used to be an astronaut."
"And we fell in love and left that horrid planet." said Glamour. "I enjoy earth far more than Naven, darlings, far more."
"A lot of stuff happened between when we met and when we fell in love and when we left." said the Optimizer. "Are you just going to skip over that all?"
"Yes." replied Glamour with a nod. He turned the peacock chariot slightly, avoiding a flock of geese that was going by. "We'll tell them the whole story when they're older. Anyway, Tef can reproduce with nearly any species, but the offspring will always be a Tef. That means that no matter who you love, darlings, you will always be able to have a child with them, and they will always have superpowers."
"I don't forsee that ever happening." replied Sevvie. "But continue. Describe the powers more."
"Well, as you've noticed, you have powers that are similar to those your ancestors had, just like humans. But you are also totally able to manipulate your current form based on your absorbed DNA samples. You could shapeshift into nearly any species based on what you absorbed. You could add any traits of any species you absorbed."
"Basically the Tef are OP, please nerf." said the Optimizer. Glamour stuck out his tongue at the Optimizer.
"Oh, like complete control of your own body is so weak, darling. Oh, look, there's the house. Peacocks, land!"
The chariot landed moments later on the lawn of an expansive house. Once everyone else was out, Glamour left, and snapped his fingers, revealing a handsome older man with slightly greying hair dressed in gardening clothes. “My real name, darlings, is Sebastian Nesline. You can call me anything you feel comfortable calling me- Grandfather, grandpa, poppop, Sebastian, whatever you like!”
“Your cousins call me poppop but my real name is von Wolff.” said the Optimizer, removing his goggles to reveal deep markings on a slightly worn face where the goggles had been.
“Your real name is Georg, darling.” said Sebastian.
Georg shrugged, “Yeah, I guess.”
Rainbow Vision had also taken off his hood and goggles. “And I’m your Uncle Elian. Gosh, I have to introduce you to your Uncle Ulmer and your cousin Desta soon.” He paused. “Um, Sebastian, I have to call Ulmer. He needs to come pick me up.”
“Stay for dinner!” said Sebastian. “Lukas is making chicken shawarma.” He smiled at Jiro and Sevvie. “Do you like chicken shawarma?”
Sevvie shrugged. “I’m mostly a vegetarian, but I sometimes eat chicken.”
“So is your aunt Cassandra!” said Sebastian. “You may know her as Druidess. If you’d prefer something without chicken, just let your uncle know.”
“I’ve never had chicken shawarma before.” said Jiro.
“Well then, you’ll get to try something new.”
“Well, I’ll call Ulmer and Desta and see if they can come, but you know about their allergies.” said Elian.
The group had been moving towards the front door of the house. “Oh, there’s so much to do!” said Sebastian opening it. “You’ll have to get enrolled in a new school, you’ll have to have all your things moved over, you’ll have to be trained in your powers…”
Jiro stood at the door for a moment, slightly frozen in front of it. After a moment, he went inside the house. This was the first day of a whole new life.
Author's Note: Stories about Jiro, I either enjoy writing and reading them, or I am slightly to majorly disappointed in them. Rereading this story, it's somewhat better than I remember. Not Report Card 2: Electric Boogaloo as I remember.
I wrote this story because I wrote a long summary of the Silver Fire AU but it was very boring. I then tried to write this story. I then tried to write it again. Then I tried to write it a third time and this was the result.
Word Count: 6294 Words
Date: November 9th, 2015
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