Chapter 3: Undercover
Three Days Later…
It was 10:30 p.m. as James walked into the Leland Commons building and presented his invitation. Some unfortunate sap was sleeping through the night not realizing his invitation was stolen, but he would've probably been hung over and lacking in memory of the previous night's events anyway.
"Good thing Solarium doesn't leave residue." James thought.
"Indeed, or we would be in quite a quandary." Alcor replied.
As he walked into the large apartments on the campus, he could see the party was already going strong. Students were all over the place talking, drinking and some dancing.
"What are we looking for?" Alcor asked.
"Someone who's garnering a lot of attention besides the host." James replied. "Or maybe it is the host."
He walked over to the cooler and grabbed a beer.
"Hey, my birthday's in a month." James thought. "Plus I've drank before."
"You have?" Alcor asked.
"In the Caribbean." He replied. "My family and I went on vacation to Punta Cana not too long ago. It was one of the few times we were together. Although…for some reason that memory's a little hazy."
"How hazy?"
"Well for some reason I have a lot of trouble remembering what we did then. Plus I seem to recall that there were four of us. But that's impossible because I'm an only child and we've never had any other family come with us. So who's that fourth person?"
Before Alcor could answer, they suddenly picked up sounds coming from one of the other rooms.
"What is that?" Alcor asked.
"Dunno, it's really loud in here so it's hard to listen." James said. "Let's see if we can find out…"
He looked around and saw the apartment had a rather large kitchen on the other side of the room. Also he could see two hallways; one on his left and right. Both hallways seem to lead to multiple rooms. By the looks of it, some of the doors were already open.
He went to the empty kitchen and closed his eyes. He used his Solarium to track the sounds through the walls. After a few misses, he suddenly heard the sounds again.
It was the sound of moaning.
"Ah shit…" James thought, annoyed. "I'm pretty sure I know what that is."
"As do I…" Alcor responded.
"Wait…maybe that's the party host? I saw on the invitation his name was Joe Daniels."
"We'll unfortunately have to find out."
Sighing, he left the kitchen and took a sip of his beer. He then went into the left hallway, but just then he noticed that a bathroom was across the room!
"Nice! We're in luck!" James exclaimed. "We'll hide in the bathroom and listen in from there."
"Good lord…" Alcor quipped.
James quickly walked into the bathroom, closed the door and locked it. He then touched the wall and his Solarium spread into the air vent on the ceiling and into the room across. He immediately started to hear two voices moaning.
"Ah…god!" A girl's voice cried out.
"Augh! Argh!" A boy's voice responded.
"Can we scan the boy's DNA?" James asked.
"Yes! We can." Alcor answered. "Scanning now."
A minute later, Alcor spoke again:
"The boy is indeed Joe Daniels, and the girl is Leslie Fredrickson. Joe is apparently clean, but Leslie is infected with HIV…"
"Good lord…" James thought, surprised. "That's horrible! So that means…wait…do you think he already knows?"
"I was just pondering that myself actually." Alcor agreed. "Maybe this is how he's been experimenting with STDs; catching it and trying to find a remedy. That's really risky. The thing I don't understand is that what drove him to do this? Scientists haven't really been able to find a stable cure for these diseases."
"That makes me think maybe he found something." James pondered. "Maybe he had these STDs and managed to actually flush them out? Perhaps with what happened to him he tried to actually cure it with everyone else?"
"If that is true, maybe we could help him." Alcor suggested. "If your Solarium was used to heal your wounds inside and out, maybe it could work."
Meanwhile…
Barbara Gordon typed in earnest at the Batcave, keeping up with the Dark Knight in Arkham. She could see that he was making progress in tracking down the Joker, but she was still worried for Bruce's welfare.
"Oh Bruce…be safe." She thought as she typed.
Just then the young girl received an email.
"Later…" Barbara thought as she minimized the window.
"Bruce!" She spoke. "I have triangulated the location of the Joker's lab! It's in the Botanical Gardens. It's underneath the main areas so you'll need to access the air vents."
"Understood. Thanks Barbara." Bruce's voice sounded through.
A few minutes later, James exited the bathroom and returned to the kitchen. He took out his Ari1 and pretended to be taking a phone call when the bedroom door opened up. He could see Joe and the girl Leslie talking for a few moments then they both set off for the main room.
Before James could follow, Alcor suddenly gasped.
"What is it Alcor?"
"James…" He responded. "I just found disturbing news. Leslie's father Eugene was found dead today in the Financial District of New Haven."
"WHAT!?" James exclaimed. "Who else knows about this!?"
"Everyone is about to find out." Alcor said grimly. "Leslie's father Eugene Fredrickson was Vice President of the World Soccer Federation. He was very wealthy and held a lot of power on the board of directors. This is about to become international news any moment."
"Shit." He cursed under his breath. "That means we'll have to work fast. If Joe and Leslie are in some form of intimate relationship, we'll lose any potential privacy with them due to the press. It's likely they're already searching for Leslie and she has no idea."
"Regardless," Alcor continued. "Let's question Joe right now while we still can."
Nodding, James exited the kitchen and started to search for Joe. He immediately spotted him laughing with a few boys on the couch.
"Hey Joe, can I talk to you for a second?" He walked up to them.
"Me? Sure." The young boy nodded. He stood up and followed James to the kitchen.
"Look Joe." James started. "I know what you've been doing."
The boy suddenly grew nervous. "Doing what?"
"Have you been experimenting with STDs?" He asked bluntly.
"W-what!?" Joe responded shakily. "Why would you think—?"
"It's okay." James assured him. "I'm not going to tell anybody. In fact, I want to help you."
Joe shook his head in confusion. "Wait what? You want to help me?"
James nodded. "Are you currently infected with anything right now?"
He looked down at his body. "I am about to. I just went and played house with my girlfriend Leslie. She has HIV, and I promised that I would cure it from her body."
"That's a pretty steep promise." James said sternly. "What makes you think you can cure it?"
"Well I actually did manage to cure cases of Chlamydia and Hepatitis last semester!" Joe insisted.
James's eyes widened. "You actually managed to cure them!?"
"Yeah!" He nodded. "I've been double majoring in Biochemistry plus Anatomy and Physiology. I've done a lot of research and I managed to cure a case of Chlamydia."
"Unbelievable." James said. "Who did you cure?"
"Myself." Joe responded.
He gasped. "Yourself? You managed to succeed where so many other scientists failed? That's incredible!"
"I don't believe him."
"Neither do I. I mean he probably did clean himself up, but I have a feeling he used 'otherworldly' means. Maybe he's a meta human?"
"Already looking into it." Alcor answered.
"It was uncanny really." Joe admitted. "While I was doing research the information seemed to be spinning in my head at an incredible rate. I was cycling through case studies, articles, journals, databases you name it. I guess I was so into my work I didn't realize how much I had done."
"Oh definitely meta-human." James thought.
"Indeed, and it seems to be abnormally high IQ." Alcor confirmed. "And it appears to be more than double the average!"
"Hmm…" James folded his arms and stared intently at Joe.
"What?" He asked.
"24 times 113." James asked.
"2712." Joe answered immediately.
"1556 divided by 144."
"10.8056."
"Convert that to a fraction."
"389/36."
"Explain String Theory."
"A model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects rather than the zero-dimensional points that are the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics."
James nodded in approval. "I'm impressed. That is definitely uncanny."
Joe chuckled. "Thanks I guess."
"Actually." He continued. "Perhaps it's a superpower."
"A superpower?"
"Well think about it." James suggested. We got Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and all these different types of heroes or villains. Maybe you're becoming one of them."
"Good lord I hope not." Joe shook his head. "While being a hero would be cool, I just wanna stick to my academics and hopefully make the world a better place through that sense."
"How noble of you." James said.
"Thanks!"
"So anyway." He said. "I said I'd help you, and I will. I've noticed that even though you've managed to cure your own STD, you've had trouble curing others."
Joe dropped his head. "I know, and some students actually got sicker from my "cures." I mean that's essentially what this party is for. I want to stop the spread of STDs that's been plaguing the school. I'm a junior now so I don't have too much time left before I graduate."
"Once again, how noble." James nodded. "But then again with a brain like yours you could graduate this year."
Joe chuckled again. "You flatter me, but this isn't about me. I noticed that there's been a lack of…moods on the campus lately if you know what I mean."
"You mean no one's been doing it with others as much anymore?" James wondered.
"Exactly." Joe nodded. "Stopping the spread of STDs was one part of my goal, but I also want to restore the hot atmosphere that used to be present here!"
James burst out laughing. "Now that makes more sense!"
Joe chuckled too. "Well yeah, I guess clearing the air is another goal of mine."
"Well then." James gave him a nod. "I could probably help you now."
"Now?" Joe scratched his head. "How?"
"To start off," James responded. "It just so happens that I've been doing some research of my own. I've been mixing some chemical compounds with the latest medications plus studying the chemical compositions of current diseases and after a few months I may have actually found a breakthrough."
"Really!?" Joe gasped. "That's unbelievable! So you've actually been doing the research too?"
"Indeed I have." He nodded. "And trust me I may have finally caught a break with what you've been doing."
"Awesome!" Joe finally smiled. "Can't wait to get started! Oh and I gotta tell you something."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I believe that some of these students around the campus may actually have superpowers too."
"No…" James wondered. "What makes you think that?"
"Well…" Joe started. "I've started to see some kids in the hallways exhibiting strange behaviors. One scrawny kid was cornered by a bunch of guys from a fraternity and the kid beat the hell out of them! And he moved so fast while doing it! There's also another girl who comes to school everyday with perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect skin, everything! And she insists that she doesn't use any supplements. Finally I saw a basketball match with our campus team and one short kid made a huge leap and dunked the ball right in! I mean it may just seem like they have great skills, but they look somewhat inhuman!"
"Huh…" James thought. "Maybe he's right. Perhaps some of these kids are meta-humans…"
"If that is true, then we may have a bigger problem on our hands." Alcor said worriedly.
"Why?"
"Because one of these kids is bound to be dangerous. Someone is definitely going to use their newfound powers for malicious purposes. Keep your guard up James, for it looks like the fighting isn't limited to the city streets anymore. Now it may be in your own classroom."
"Jeez…" James thought back. "This is going to be one hell of a semester."
