Chapter VIII: When Push Comes To Shove
Date: January 17th, 2031
Time: 7:13 AM
"Are you sure about this Rachel?"
"Of course I'm sure. These guys are some of the best in the business, trust me," Rachel assured her friends. The trio was currently at the door to a run-down practical joke shop in the Bronx. It appeared to have been closed for years – a fact Rachel quickly confirmed to be true – but Rachel was adamant that this was the place to go for reinforcements. Gwen was skeptical, as she had voiced several times, but in the end they weren't in much of a position to be picky. In the end, it was best just to roll with it at this point. They'd spent a good deal of time getting out here without drawing attention to themselves as it was – Lantern and his posse could be anywhere after all. After another few seconds of silence, just to make sure there were no last minute objections, Rachel opened the door quietly and led the way inside.
The shop, which looked to be a hole from the outside, was somehow in even worse condition on the interior. The shelves, many of which were actually devoid of merchandise, were dusty and held several cobwebs each, clearly having been out of use for some time. The paint of the walls was scuffed and covered in dark splotches, desperately in need of a fresh coat (or twelve). No customers were present other than themselves, shockingly, but a boy of roughly their age stood behind the counter playing absently on his phone. He seemed not to notice them, even as they watched him, and it wasn't until Rachel gave a slight cough in his direction that he glanced up to see them, his face instantly widening into an imp-like grin. His teeth were so white they could probably have been modeled on a gum commercial or something of the sort, and his eyes glistened with a mischievous twinkle that instantly stirred simultaneous feelings of both distrust and appreciation for the boy. Gwen, who was well-accustomed to mischief, took an instant liking to him.
"We're here to pick up an order for a special celebration," Rachel addressed him nonchalantly. Gwen realized, of course, that she was talking in code, but it was still bewildering to watch. She was never the stealthy type, and even when she was it was more the classic "sneak through the air vents" type of stealth, not this 007 protocol. Frankly, she had such a hard time taking the boy seriously that she was a bit surprised he knew what Rachel was talking about. Maybe he didn't, for that matter. Given this impression, one could only guess how surprised she was when he instantly turned very serious and responded back in a code of his own.
"Oh yeah, I remember the order. Three boxes of Lincoln Logs, right?" he inquired, looking to Gwen and Michael curiously. "I forget some of the merchandise. The place isn't such great shape, you can see."
Rachel smiled slightly, nodding in agreement. "There are a few cobwebs, I guess. The heat's a bit over the top, though. Air conditioning is a useful invention Isaac."
The boy – Isaac, it would seem – shrugged at that, and then gestured towards a room in the back of the building. "I believe your order was in here. Feel free to come on in," he finished, and then turned to show them the backroom. Gwen and Michael both looked to each other unsurely, neither really certain whether they were supposed to follow or not, but the girl quickly beckoned them along and they followed obediently from behind. The back room, sadly, was not any better than the rest of the store, and at this point Gwen and Michael were very confused as to what exactly was going on. This confusion only escalated when Isaac and Rachel kept on walking straight through the drywall in front of them. They stared at the wall a moment, their eyes wide as dinner plates, when suddenly Rachel's hand reached through the wall and pulled them in one at a time, rolling her eyes at them jokingly upon arrival.
"Wait, wait, hold up," Michael stammered, glancing furiously between the room in front of them and the now clear portal behind them in astonishment. "When did this become Platform 9 and ¾, and where the heck are we?"
"This is the hot head, huh Rachel?" Isaac inquired happily from a few feet away, the impish grin now back on his face. "You said he'd probably be a bit hyper when he saw this the first time. You neglected to mention the Harry Potter references, though."
"He's pretty easily flustered," Rachel laughed, punching Michael's arm gently. "Michael, Gwen, this is Isaac Kamin. Isaac's my point guy when it comes to any and all things in the way of disguises."
"Kamin, huh?" Michael began slowly, trying – and failing – to strike up some small talk. "That's quite an oriental name for someone so… not."
"Oh my God, Michael, you can't just ask someone why they're white," Gwen chimed in from behind, instantly eliciting a burst of laughter from Rachel once she caught the reference. Michael glanced back at her with an expression that read something along the lines of "really? Is this the time?" Gwen only gave a slow but silent knuckle bump to Rachel in response, lowering her head sheepishly, unable to avoid grinning slightly.
"I can look like anything I want to," Isaac responded lightly, the trademark grin plastered once again onto his face. "For all you know I could be black, or Hispanic, or a democrat." He caught wind of the surprised look on Michael's face at the last comment, mainly because it wasn't a race, and quickly looked over at him curiously. "Don't get me wrong, I could be a republican too. I don't go out for politics much, it seems like quite a bore to me. Words only go so far you know? Besides, politicians don't know how to take a joke."
"What do you mean you can look like anything you want to?" Michael asked confusedly. "I'm looking right at you. Isaac stared at him a second more, smiled once more, and suddenly was replaced by a stunning blonde girl of about sixteen, attractive enough to be a model. Michael stammered once more, and the girl was once again replaced by Isaac, who began laughing his head off.
"Priceless! The look on your face is just priceless. Rachel, please tell me you're seeing this, because this is fantastic!" the boy exclaimed, tears brimming in his eyes while Gwen was rolling on the floor in the corner in fits of her own laughter. Rachel sighed and cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Isaac?" she began. "The agreement we discussed?"
"You just want to suck the joy out of everything," Gwen grumbled from behind her, earning a sharp look from both Rachel and Michael. She quickly raised her hands in surrender and sat silently to wait. She had accepted long ago that she had no clue what was going on, now was not the time to start pretending.
"I thought you said there were going to be two of them Rachel?" Michael inquired.
"There are big shot," a voice said from behind them, and they all whirled around to see a blue monkey sitting behind them in a red t-shirt and jeans. Well, it wasn't really a monkey, but the boy looked a decent amount like one, complete with a tail and pointed teeth to match.
"Mike, Gwen, this is Erik Wagner," Rachel explained, gesturing to the boy. "Erik, this is Mike and Gwen."
"A pleasure," the boy said, bowing slightly to Gwen before shaking hands with Michael. "Rachel said you needed help with something? She was surprisingly secretive over the phone."
"Some of the other heroes have gone a bit… off the edge," Rachel explained slowly. "We aren't sure what caused it, because for a lot of them this is a pretty severe shift, but regardless they've begun to take more drastic measures than we ever allowed. A lot of people are getting hurt because of it. When Gwen here called them out on it, they turned the whole city against her."
"So how did you get wrapped up in this?" Erik inquired, addressing Michael and Rachel.
"We saved her hide when she tried to face one of them down while she was still recovering," Michael responded, half-messing with Gwen and half-reminding her not to be so reckless in the future. "They didn't take that too well."
"And you want us to do what exactly?" Isaac asked, speaking up. "Hide you away? We can do that with no real issue, you know that Rachel."
"It's more pressing than that," Rachel assured him. "We can't just hide away, people will get hurt. But there are six of them and three of us, the odds aren't exactly in our favor. So, we thought we'd ask you to-"
"You thought you'd ask us to break our one rule," Isaac finished with a sigh. Rachel nodded slowly, but Michael and Gwen both looked to each other in confusion.
"Um… one rule?" Gwen asked, raising her hand sheepishly. Erik nodded grimly.
"We help people go undercover. We run covert ops. We even go in for an undercover gig occasionally, but we never go out for public vigilantism."
"But what if people need help?" Gwen inquired, looking at them in confusion. "You don't mean you just stand by and watch, do you?"
"It's not that simple, Gwen," Erik explained. "Look at me for crying out loud, I look like a monkey. I go out in public and people freak out before I can help. I cause more harm than good. Isaac here could disguise me, but what happens if he accidentally slips up and removes the illusion?"
"I can't keep something going forever," Isaac confirmed. "It takes too much brain power. And besides, what would I do in a fight? I lift things with my mind, I make illusions, I fool people, but other than the telekinesis – which I'll be honest and admit I haven't tested fully – none of that wins a fight on its own."
"We're not asking you to win a fight alone," Gwen pleaded. "But if you're working in tandem with other people then maybe you could-"
"We can't, and that's all there is to it," Isaac stated flatly, and Erik nodded sadly in agreement.
"But if you would just try-"
"The last time I tried, every citizen in the vicinity took up a weapon and tried to chase me down," Erik sighed. "The police went after me because of my appearance, the victims were more scared of me than of the criminals. I know you want help, but I promise I'm not the kind of help that you want."
"And what about you?" Gwen asked turning to Isaac. "I know you say your powers aren't helpful, but what's your reason for not trying?"
"That's my business," Isaac responded flatly.
"People are going to get hurt," Gwen pleaded desperately.
"And it'd only be worse if I was there!" Isaac grunted, turning away. "That's what happens when we use our powers, people get hurt. Tell me Gwen, if people like us never went out there, never showed ourselves, would this kind of thing happen?" Silence hung in the air for a moment. "No. It wouldn't. Because by us being there, it prompts villains to try harder, to dig deeper into themselves and it escalates to a point where now the police can't help, and the moment something goes wrong on our end the city is in the midst of a disaster." Isaac's shoulders slumped at his words, and Gwen couldn't help but notice a vague familiarity in the motions and the words. They reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite place who. "Look, I get what you guys are saying, and I get what you're trying to do, and I respect it. Honestly, I do. But, I'm not like you. I'm not a hero who dashes in to save the day; I can't use my powers to help people. Even if I wanted to…"
Gwen put a hand on his shoulder gently. "It can't possibly hurt to try… we need your help, and frankly I don't see how things could possibly get any worse. Things happen sometimes, things we don't expect or intend, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to shut ourselves out. People need us Isaac…"
She looked around at the others for assistance, but her eyes were quickly drawn to Erik, who was watching her with a curious expression. It wasn't his curiosity that drew her attention, however, but more the intensity of his eyes. She had never seen such a strange pool of emotion before, somehow hopeful and skeptical at the same time. It was clear that Erik had seen things that would haunt him for years to come, things she may or may not even be able to understand, but what was remarkable was that rather than tuning her out, as Isaac was currently attempting, Erik seemed to be soaking her in. He was examining, looking for sincerity and kindness and, possibly above all, a source of hope. Rachel and Sol were watching the scene quietly, watching as Erik and Gwen had what appeared to be a silent conversation with nothing but their eyes. They were kindred spirits, it seemed, and his expression (which initially held far more skepticism than hope) slowly morphed into one of understanding. He gave took one last look at Gwen's face, gauging it for something that possibly only he knew, and then turned to Rachel, giving her a slow nod before walking over to Isaac and placing a hand gently on his shoulder.
"Isaac," he started gently. "It's time. You know that as well as I do…"
"No," the boy responded quietly. "It can't be."
"People need us Isaac. They need help."
"I'm not a hero," Isaac stated flatly, refusing to look up.
"I'd say you shouldn't try to be. It's not who you are."
"Then what am I Erik?" Isaac asked quietly, unsure whether or not he really wanted to hear the answer.
"You're a disturbance," Erik admitted. "In the best sense of the word. You don't like to fix messes, because they just need to be fixed later. You toy with them until they work even if something goes wrong."
The room was quiet for a minute as everyone soaked that in. Isaac wasn't really sure how to respond at first, and it took him several seconds to speak again. "So why would you want me in a fight?"
"Because sometimes that's exactly what we need. A disturbance. Someone who can distract the guy in front of us, who can make a situation work, no matter how bad, until someone else can come along to fix it. We aren't saints, you and I. We don't fix everything in front of us. But we can fight until someone comes along who does. We may not be the final army, but we can be the first wave. A bluff. An attempt. And, when push comes to shove," he finished. "A disturbance. And you can be sure that it'll be the biggest disturbance possible."
Isaac looked up at Erik curiously, watching him with a newfound admiration. Gwen didn't know either of these boys. Neither did Michael. Neither did Rachel, if they were perfectly honest. Yet, Isaac knew this boy, and if there was one person that he would consider a friend, who he trusted without question, it was Erik. He bit his lip a second more, his eyes wrought with indecision, and then he took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and stood up, turning to look Gwen in the eye with a look of determination.
"We're in."
