Chapter 4: Trust Issues
I knew that sooner or later the secret would get out. Either someone would discover my unique abilities or I would be forced to reveal them publicly. I knew that I had to find somebody who I can confide in and trust my secret with.
- Alyssa
For the next few days whenever I woke up, I'd ask myself if the past few days were just a vivid dream, and that I'd wake up to find myself average again. But I was still telekinetic (yes I did recently discover the word „Telekinesis" when I googled „moving objects with your mind"), shoot electric charges from my fingers and morph into liquid at will. No, it wasn't a dream. I wondered if I would ever get bored of these powers and lose the thrill, despite knowing that I must be the only one in the city if not in the world who had these abilities. It was as much a burden as a gift.
The next day I decided to return to the scene of the crime, the site where I fell into the chemical puddle that gave me my powers. At the time I was too shaken up to pay close attention, but maybe something there would help answer my questions. When I got to the point I looked over the rail, down to the scrub and bushes below. It was a sharp turn and a sudden drop, a dangerous hazard. Probably why they put in the railing to reduce accidents. The slope was too steep to climb down without a repeat of yesterday's fall. I'd need to find an easier way to climb down. I backtracked looking for a path.
There! That blotch of green on the roadside matched the chemical's color. This was probably where I'd climbed out after I got soaked in the chemical. I'd been too preoccupied to notice the exact exit spot at the time. Let's see if I can find the puddle again.
Huh. There were several wrecks of cars hidden in the bushes, lying shattered and rusting away. Probably debris from car accidents before they installed the guardrail. It had been too difficult to recover the damaged cars from down here so they just left them to rot away. An automobile graveyard.
I stumbled around but I couldn't locate the puddle or case. I was probably lost going in circles. I needed breadcrumbs or something as a marker. How to make some marks? I suppose I could create electrical burns but I didn't want to start a brushfire. Hmmm? I stared at a rusted auto wreck and smiled. The abandoned car had been exposed to the elements for years, useless and worthless for anyone. Maybe not so useless after all.
I focused on the car, visualizing it rising off the rotting tires. Ugh. I was getting a headache but the wreck smoothly lifted. Wow! That car has to weigh…two or three tons? How strong is my telekinesis? I could barely lift 100 lbs with my body, so it's at least 20 times stronger by mind than by body. This is great. How to test it?
I stared at the wreck. It was only worth scrap metal so let's help out with that. I wonder how small can I crush that? I frowned as I visualized walls around the wreck and then pushed them closer like a trash compacter. The car was crushed before my eyes, the glass windows exploding as the vehicle got smaller. Creaks and groans of metal sounded as the metal cube got smaller and smaller, ending in a rough metal cube the size of a small crate. Lifting it with my telekinesis I tell mentally that it was still just as heavy, but was now a lot smaller, an ideal trail marker.
I floated the heavy cube over to small rise so the cube could be seen easily and dropped it with a thud. I had a splitting headache, but was otherwise shipshape.
I resumed my search for the broken vial, now orienting myself on the cube and circling clockwise moving further and further away. This way I wouldn't miss anything. As I searched I reflected on about what I'd just done with the wreck. I'd just lifted a couple of tons easily. I think I was probably more powerful than Hermione Granger or Matilda! Of course they were just book characters but still!
I started to shake a little as I began to realize how powerful and how dangerous I'd become. People would be scared of me and scared people attack the things that they're scared of. That means that they'd target me to control me or kill me. I'm in danger! I needed to hide these abilities.
But I couldn't hide this alone. Sooner or later I'd slip up and get myself noticed. I needed help. I needed to find people I could confide in and trust; those who would help keep a secret. But if I did reveal my powers to them, would they help me or would they expose me to the government? Put me in a jail to contain me or in a laboratory to experiment on me?
What was the chemical that did this to me, and could it also work on other people? Was that why it was stolen? Somebody else wanted to control or use it? That same person would want to control or use me!
But how do I find help? What about the internet? There might be information that explains what caused my mutation. Maybe it also happened somewhere else? If so, there might be other people like me out there. How to contact them without saying too much? They're probably hiding their powers too.
There! I spotted the broken case so the puddle must be near here. It should be right about here? Nothing? The ground's probably absorbed all the liquid by now. I couldn't see any trace of the chemical puddle. Hmm. Maybe the broken case can help.
As I turned towards the case I suddenly heard the sound of twigs snapping, Someone or something was approaching. None of the nearby bushes were big enough to hide me. Shoot! Oh wait, I'm not just a person, am I? I blanked my mind and then melted into liquid, flowing under a bush to hide.
Two men appeared, obviously searching for something. Both were neatly dressed and were wearing shirts and ties. They were scouting the area and eventually found the former car that was crushed into a block, which caught their eye. They paused, trying to comprehend what could have done this, and why the odd sculpture was left here. I recognized the logo on their shirts. Norta Chemicals. They were both speaking English so they weren't recruited locally.
"Look at this thing! Why the hell would somebody leave this thing down here?"
The other one shrugged. "Maybe it was in the back of a pick-up truck and landed here when the vehicle got wrecked. Who cares? Keep looking, If we don't find that sample the boss will have our hides. She's a vindictive bitch."
"Yeah, You've got that right. Hey! Over there!" He pointed to the broken case.
"That's it! Come on." They pulled on rubber gloves and examined the case.
"Damn it! This case is designed to absorb shocks but it must have hit that rock just the wrong way, snapping the lock. Looks like the vial broke. I don't see any trace of the contents, It must have all evaporated in the heat. The boss is not going to be happy."
"Maybe not but at least nobody else got their hands on it. That was her biggest worry. Hello?"
"Hello?" The other repeated. "What?"
"Hello Kitty." The man held up a familiar object. My wristwatch! I'd lost it yesterday and didn't know what had happened to it. My aunt had given it to me on my 8th birthday.
'A 'Hello Kitty' wristwatch? Who'd wear something that stupid-looking?"
"No male would, but a little girl might. Someone has been here recently. Or maybe more than one person."
"It might have been there earlier, before the case fell here?"
"Inside the broken case? No, somebody's definitely been here. That means that they might have been exposed to the compound."
"The boss is definitely going to be unhappy. Bag it. Maybe we can get a DNA trace off it and identify the former owner. I'm sure that the director would like to return their lost watch to them."
Seeing the watch go into the little plastic bag, I started to panic. If I was human my heart would have begun racing but my body was calm. Oh, I don't exactly have a heartbeat like this, do I? If my DNA went on record it was only a matter of time before I'd be identified. Maybe not by these men now but sooner or later, it was inevitable. That's why I needed help.
One of the men stared at the bag in his hand, motionless.
"You got something?" The other asked.
"Just thinking. You know, this reminds me of something familiar. Do you recall the Paradise Valley plant?"
"In California? No, I was hired later. Wait, do you mean those stories of the mystery girl? I thought that was just talk, somebody to blame for the screw-ups."
"Not just talk. Somebody or something kept sabotaging the boss's plans, one setback after another. Atron was convinced that it deliberate sabotage by a young girl with weird powers. There'd been an accident and some unidentified kid had gotten soaked in 'GC-161', an earlier version of this compound. She got real paranoid about it, jumping at shadows, but the sabotage was real. I was there."
"They ever identify this kid?"
"No, but apparently the 'Mystery Girl' convinced George Mack, one of the plant's top chemists, to go to the FBI. They raided the factory and Atron had to flee the country."
"Mack have to serve time?"
"No, he was cleared and is now running the plant under new management. He and his daughter are now considered two of the top experts in 'GC-161'. Atron hates them for stealing her thunder."
"Daughter?"
"Yes, uh, Annie Mack. Another chemical genius."
"Could she have been this unidentified Mystery Girl?"
"No, we checked out that possibility very carefully. She definitely wasn't the saboteur. We were never able to identify the real Mystery Girl. If we did the Boss would have put out a hit on her immediately."
"Could this wristwatch belong to the same Mystery Girl?"
"I doubt it. The Mystery Girl was never heard from again, The Boss thinks she might be dead now from long-term exposure to GC-161. The mutation rate of the early compound is unstable. That's why she's working on this, trying to develop a more stable version."
"Well whoever this one is, the boss will want to have a private conversation with her. I'm just glad it's not my kid."
"Yeah, it'll be a short final conversation."
I listened to them talking. Now I had some leads. I waited till they finally left, taking the case, broken vial, and my watch with them, and then took my normal shape. I started the walk back to my flat, thinking about what I'd learned. A chemical plant in Paradise Valley, California, a chemist named George Mack, a daughter chemist Annie Mack, and their former boss, a woman named Atron or something like that. Their boss was a chemist who had created a chemical that could give superpowers, but it was unstable. That's why Atron probably hadn't cashed in on it until she developed a more stable version. Either Atron or somebody else was continuing her original work, the stuff I got exposed too.
At least I hoped that it was more stable.
And at least one other person had powers, the Mystery Girl. The same powers as me or something totally different? And was she the only one or were there others too? Other test subjects? Or does this boss kill her experiments after she's done with them, get rid of the evidence? Her compound must somehow rewrite the DNA of her test subjects.
And now they have my own DNA. Nuts! I hadn't been thinking straight. I could've just given them an electrical shock and gotten the watch back while they were unconscious. No, bad idea. I don't know enough to control my electroshocks. I might've killed them instead. I need to learn how to use these abilities.
The watch! I always wear that "Hello Kitty' watch and if they ask around they might be able to identify me. Hmm. I need to replace it right away so I'm still wearing one if they question me. I'll check Ebay immediately. But that won't help if they get hands on my DNA, will it? Rats!
By the time I got back to my flat I now had a few vague answers and a very long list of unanswered questions.
I sat at my laptop browsing the internet. I could type a lot faster now using my telekinesis. I needed to find out more about Paradise Valley and a chemist named George Mack. It didn't take long to find old news articles about an incident at a chemical plant. The FBI had shut down Atron Chemicals for conducting illegal human experiments. Huh, not just the FBI, it looked like a dozen different state and federal agencies got involved, all after the head of Dr. Danielle Atron, the founder and leader of the scheme. Dr. Atron was a chemical genius but had the ethics of a snake.
As a result of a massive investigation, the plant was shut down and Danielle Atron was arrested. Among those involved in the affair prominently was Dr. George Mack, a chemist who worked at the plant. He was the whistleblower who discovered the secret experiments and called the authorities. Atron then kidnapped Mack's family but the unidentified Mystery Girl somehow saved them. No mention of special powers involved. Either the press didn't know or there was a deliberate cover-up. I wonder who ordered that?
Hmm. Danielle Atron disappeared while on bail, present whereabout unknown. I had a suspicion of where I would find her, here at Norta Chemicals. Norta? That's Atron spelled backwards, isn't it? Dr. Atron might be a genius in chemistry but as a mastermind? No wonder the Mystery Girl had beaten her. Is she here legally? I'd better talk to a lawyer before making any public accusations.
Lets see. George Mack, chemist, married to Barbara, public relations. Two daughters, the elder Annie, having attended Stanford, and a younger Alexandra, a journalism student. Okay, lets check out the genius daughter. "Annie Mack" resulted in her profile on LinkedIn. Clicking on the website, I was directed to a profile matching the description of Annie Mack. Hmm. She's a graduate from Stanford. Interests in chemistry and genetics. Has already published several important papers on human engineering and is considered an upcoming Young Turk in the field. Has already presented groundbreaking papers at major science conferences. No mention of any superpowers or the Mystery Girl. Interesting.
I smiled. Annie Mack…both knowledgeable and discreet. Somebody I might be able to confide in about my new powers.
I texted her a message, careful to keep vague about details. I hoped it would be enough to attract her interest and that she'd respond soon. In the meantime I had other tasks to attend to. I needed to maintain my usual routine for the day to avoid any suspicious behavior. Now how do I do that while using my powers for both professional and recreational purposes? I had a hidden advantage now, it'd be a shame to not use it.
To be continued…
