Chapter Nine
Alan Tracy waited nervously for Gear to arrive in the main house from the secret complex hidden beneath the tropical paradise exterior of the island. While part of him was looking forward to actually meeting a childhood hero face to face – not many people ever got that chance – the rest of him was worried about what Gear was going to say, what he was going to find when he inevitably scanned him.
And then there was the constant fear that something else was going to happen to him. That he was going to change more, possibly into something completely inhuman. While he knew it wouldn't matter to his brothers or father what happened to him there was still this edge of doubt, this slim fear that if he did become something else that he would be rejected by his family, cast out on his own. It was an irrational fear but somehow he couldn't quiet get rid of it.
What didn't help either was he could somehow feel whatever powers there were inside of him still sort of fluctuating. Randomly surging coming close to bursting through the tentative barrier he had somehow erected around them. Lord only knew how he'd done that he just had presumably when he'd stopped the one power, which definitely had something to do with creating and possibly controlling water. So far the power surges hadn't penetrated the barrier but he was aware that every time a power surge occurred the barrier came closer and closer to failure. Trouble was he was afraid to try and shore it up as he didn't know how he'd created it in the first place and worried that even trying to could cause it to collapse.
In fact he was getting so nervous and inwardly agitated that he'd gotten off the couch where he had been sitting with Gordon to wander aimlessly around the room in an effort to sort of distract himself from the nervousness and the fear. Not that it was working.
Sitting in his favourite armchair Jeff watched his youngest son in carefully concealed but very real concern. But he knew he couldn't really do anything to help Alan except offer emotional support, to be a shoulder to cry on if Alan needed to. Though truth be told it was much more likely that Gordon would fill that role. He couldn't do anything else, couldn't offer advice or guidance on how to deal with what Alan had become. And it was frustrating very, very frustrating and somewhat painful. To see one of his beloved sons in such obvious emotional turmoil and not being able to do anything to help hurt Jeff more than anything, and a look at the other two sons in the room with him showed that they were feeling the same. Gordon and Virgil so wanted to do something to help their brother but they couldn't do anything.
Alan paused in his movements as he felt another surge of power come from somewhere deep inside. The barrier within fluctuated again and to his horror he somehow felt part of it break and power surged forth and his hands began tingling again. But this time there was something else besides the tingle what he didn't know but he felt it. He closed his eyes and concentrated trying to stop the flow of power and trying to remember what he did to create the barrier in the first place.
Jeff started to get up out of his chair when he abruptly saw Alan pause in his movements and stiffen. Was something else happening? Was he changing again? He didn't see any signs of pain on Alan's face though so it was unlikely. Abruptly Alan's hands began to glow again this time with the same silver aura that they had out on the sundeck. His eyes widened slightly when he saw a silver glow also come into Alan's eyes before Alan closed them a look of intense concentration appearing on his face.
The silver glow around Alan's hands continued to brighten until abruptly a beam of silver light flew from them one shooting off out the open patio doors the other streaking across the floor of the room. As it travelled it left a slick of ice along the floor in its wake.
Alan struggled to control the flow of power to somehow stop it but no matter what he tried he couldn't stop the power surging through him. Then it hit him that he might actually be trying too hard. He stopped the frantic struggle to stop the emission of power and tried to be a bit more methodical picturing instead of a barrier in his mind a tap or valve being turned off. It seemed to work he could feel the flow of power weaken and then stop completely. And somehow he also felt the barrier inside strengthen containing the powers inside more securely even though the power was still fluctuating in strength. Maybe that's the key, Alan thought in sudden realisation, don't just try containing the energy because it won't work. Instead manage it get it to do what I want it to do.
He opened his eyes and looked around to see if anything had happened during that episode if that particular power had done anything. And saw a slick of ice starting near the patio doors running right across the room to the far wall right to where the hidden doorway that was one of the access points to the underground complex was located.
"Did I do that," he asked though he already knew the answer. Unless someone else in the room was secretly a metahuman as well he was the only one who could have.
"You did," Gordon confirmed.
Jeff started to open his mouth to speak but before he could do so the hidden doorway opened. He turned to shout a warning about the ice but it was too late.
"Dad how is A….yahh," Scott said as he came through the door and immediately slipped on the ice. Scott surfed helplessly along the slick of ice yelling at the top of his lungs. He disappeared out the patio door still yelling and a moment later there came a very loud splash indicating that Scott had just ended up in the pool.
For a second there was silence in the room and then everyone including Alan burst into laughter.
"Sorry Scott," Alan called out the patio door fighting and failing to contain his laughter. He hoped his oldest brother didn't think he'd done that on purpose because he hadn't.
Still chuckling at what he had just seen happen Gear picked his way over the ice slick carefully to avoid the same fate. True all of his tech was waterproof but he didn't fancy walking around in a soaking wet uniform. He'd been in that position a few times over the years and it wasn't very nice.
He looked around impressed by how bright and spacious the room was. It was exactly the kind of thing you would expect to see at a billionaire's retreat, there was nothing here on the surface to indicate that this island was anything more than that. Certainly nothing to indicate that the island was the home base of the most technologically advanced rescue organisation in the world. The retro modern style of the décor was also very appealing.
Jeff got up completely from his chair to properly greet his special guest – a guest who had already helped to detect and eliminate a major breach of their security. He was careful to avoid the slick of ice that Alan had accidentally created – a slick that was already slowly starting to melt – as he had no desire to join Scott in the swimming pool.
Coughing and spluttering on water Scott Tracy hauled himself out of the swimming pool that he had landed in thanks to a slick of ice stretching right across the living room floor. A slick that he knew Alan would have created – since one of his powers definitely had something to do with ice – most likely by accident. He guessed it would have been an accident as Alan was new to the metahuman thing – having actually known he was one for a few hours – and he probably still had no real idea how to control his powers – powers he obviously didn't want – or even what he could and couldn't do altogether. So this time Scott would forgive him for sending him flying into the upper swimming or diving pool.
Of course though if he later found out that the squirt had created the ice slick on purpose he would ring his neck metahuman or no metahuman.
Getting to his feet dripping water from his now soaking wet clothes Scott sighed. As soon as he got back to the house he was going to have to go to his room to dry off and put on some dry clothes.
Out of the corner of his eye Scott caught sight of something glittering in the light cast by the light shinning up from the pools underwater lights. Turning so he could see better he was rewarded with the sight of a palm tree completely cocooned in ice. A tree directly in line with the patio doors. Looking at it Scott whistled slightly in appreciation how Alan could have done that from all the way inside the house a good three meters away he had no idea but it was very impressive. Water and ice they must be Alan's powers, Scott thought, he can certainly create both and possibly even control them. But what about when he turned transparent earlier. That has nothing to do with ice or water so it must be a third power. But what is it. Hopefully Gear will be able to tell us.
Scott sighed and shook his head. Even thinking about Alan having what were basically superpowers seemed unreal but it was real. And it was something that they were all going to have to come to terms with and live with – Alan especially.
Turning away he began walking back up the steps to the sundeck before heading into the house his wringing wet trainers making squishing noises with every step he took.
He reached the patio doors in moments and went inside to see that Gear had moved quiet close to Alan with dad nearby. Conversation cut off when he came in.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," Gordon commented. Scott threw a glare at Gordon who just laughed it off. Alan approached nervously.
"Are you alright Scott," he asked. "I didn't mean to ah send you flying into the pool." He thinks I'm going to be mad, Scott thought, ordinarily I would be but this is not an ordinary situation.
"I'm alright I know you didn't do it on purpose. Just a little soaked that's all," he replied and Alan looked relieved.
"Scott can you go and dry yourself off before you create another puddle on the floor," Jeff said looking at his soaking wet oldest son and suppressing the urge to laugh. It was so funny seeing Scott standing there his soaking wet clothes sticking tightly to the contours of his body and dripping water all over the place.
"I intend to," Scott replied. "Excuse me please."
Without further ado Scott walked across the living room the hallway and the stairs that led up to the first set of bedrooms on the second floor. As he walked he left soaking trainer prints all over the floor and he heard both Gordon and Virgil snicker. Pausing Scott turned and glared daggers at them before leaving the room and heading for his bedroom to dry off and get some dry clothes on.
As soon as Scott left to go put some dry clothes on Gear and Jeff returned their attention to the still nervous Alan.
"Alan you said you started really experiencing pain this afternoon think back was their anything before that. Something you might have dismissed at the time but which could have been a warning that you were starting to change," Gear said.
Alan did as he asked trying to think back over the events of the last week trying to remember if he'd experienced anything like Gear described. Try as he might he could not think of anything.
"I cannot remember anything," Alan replied surely that momentary headache when he and Fermat had learned about the oilrig disaster in the Bearing straight didn't count.
"Nothing at all? No strange cramps or muscle spasms? No headaches?"
"No nothing. Wait the first time I experienced any pain it took the form of a sudden viscous headache that lasted all of thirty seconds."
"Strange," Gear said frowning he would have expected there to have been some early warning signs that Alan was turning into a metahuman. The sudden headache could have been one but the change really occurred such a short time after it.
"How so," Jeff asked.
"I would have expected with a delayed reaction there to either be precursor signs or for changes to occur gradually over time as they did with me. It's unusual for a delayed reaction to happen all at once. The headache Alan just described could have been a precursor but the timings so close that it's more likely to be the point where DNA mutation started to take place or…" Gear blinked as an idea occurred to him that could explain some of this.
"Or what," Virgil prompted right before Jeff or Alan could ask the same question. Peter was standing nearby not saying anything just watching and offering silent support. Brains had left the room to go and find Fermat since his own son would probably be having his own problems coping with what had just happened to his best friend.
"Or it could be that the changes in your brothers DNA have been happening gradually over a long period of time but have been dormant until now. Like reaching a critical mass," Gear explained.
"So I could have been a metahuman all along and just not known it," Alan asked shivering as he said the word metahuman.
"Its possible," Gear replied.
"But Alan's DNA was checked just after the first big bang," Jeff broke in remembering what Margaret had told him Doctor Clark had done. "There were no changes present that they could find."
"That does not surprise me. If the changes were slow and gradual then it would be difficult for even the most modern DNA testing methods to detect them let alone the methods of ten years ago."
"What I really want to know is if I'm going to change more," Alan asked and it was obvious to everyone that the possibility frightened Alan. Possibly more than the initial change had. In truth part of Alan was hoping that he would wake up in the morning and find that this whole thing had been a very strange, very bad dream.
"To determine that I would have to run an in depth scan of you which you might find uncomfortable," Gear replied knowing that backpacks scanning beam could be uncomfortable for other metahumans for some strange reason, normal humans didn't experience any discomfort but most metahumans did. It was a problem he had never been able to correct despite his best efforts. It was only fair to give Alan a warning.
"Fine lets get it over with," Alan replied. He appreciated Gear's warning about potential discomfort but he wanted this discussion over with as it was really starting to get to him. And strangely he was beginning to feel inexplicably tired yet he normally didn't go to bed for another few hours. Yet here he was beginning to feel incredibly, incredibly tired.
"Very well," Gear answered before sending a silent command to backpack. Backpack immediately crawled off his back and down to the floor, before scuttling around the floor so he was in a position facing Alan but a few steps away. Gear sent more thought commands to backpack through the datastream between the robot and his helmet.
Backpacks main sensor panel changed colour from its normal red to blue and a narrow line across the centre of the panel glowed brighter than the rest of the panel. The glow continued to brighten until a blue scanning beam shot forth in a laser like fan of light. The scanning beam hit Alan and began slowly sweeping the length of his body starting with the roots of his hair.
Alan gasped softly and stiffened as the scanning beam slowly swept over him bringing with it a pleasant warmth and a not so pleasant tingling sensation that spread throughout his whole body. Almost immediately he felt a reaction from the power within him. The power surged straining against the barrier within. Alan closed his eyes concentrating on trying to keep the power inside him contained and not burst uncontrolled to the surface and possibly cause absolute havoc. It was a struggle that he could feel himself loosing. Waves of dizziness began to swirl through his head and he could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
The scanning beam shut off and Alan sighed in relief staggering back slightly even as he felt the power inside settle down and the barrier within stabilise again. He felt a hand touch his arm and he opened his eyes to find himself looking into his fathers concerned face.
"Are you alright Alan," Jeff asked seeing that Alan was a little wobbly from whatever effects the scan had had on him.
"I will be dad," Alan replied struggling to get his equilibrium back.
"Sit down a moment," Jeff instructed gently helping Alan over to the couch where Gordon was sitting. Alan gratefully sat down even as the residual disorientation began to fade away. Gordon put a hand on his brother's shoulder and Virgil leaned forward from where he was sitting and put a hand on Alan's leg.
Alan was grateful for the silent support offered by his brothers it meant a lot to him, that and the fact that they didn't seem to mind the fact that he was a metahuman, it was making it easier for him to accept the reality of what he was.
Jeff turned to look at Gear to see that the metahuman genius's eyes were closed behind his helmet visor and he seemed to be concentrating on something. He had been about to tell Gear that he was not to scan Alan again but those words died on his tongue as he watched Gear. It only took a second to realise that the other man was analysing the scan results as he was standing there. And Jeff realised that what he had heard about Gear was true, that the metahumans brain worked with more speed and efficiency than the best supercomputer.
He didn't notice that Peter had come up beside him until Peter spoke up.
"It's a little frightening isn't it," he said softly to Jeff. "The speed his brain can work at." Jeff nodded in silent agreement with his brother in law's words. It was a little frightening that anyone could be as smart and as fast as Gear, who could probably quiet easily match and surpass Brains in the ideas and inventions department.
At that point Gear opened his eyes.
"I've completed my analysis of the scan results," Gear said. Analysing the scan of Alan Tracy had been interesting and had yielded a number of things.
"And?" Alan prompted bracing himself for the worst.
"You are not in danger of changing anymore," Gear replied. "The changes to your DNA are complete. I was correct in the theory that your DNA has been gradually changing over time and the changes are now very deeply interwoven into your system. Why your powers never appeared before now I do not know and that may be a piece of this puzzle that we will never know. But I now know what they are."
"What are they," Alan asked.
"You already know two of them. Your primarily an elemental metahuman your abilities primarily being over water and ice. Including creation and manipulation. It's unusual for there to be more than one power in an elemental. Usually an elemental has one specific ability like Hotstreak for example he's an elemental his ability being fire."
"You said two of them I can do more," Alan asked. "Are there anymore."
"Yes one more. But its completely different and non-elemental which is even more unusual than two powers appearing in an elemental," Gear's tone turned ironic as he continued speaking, "that's the thing about the big bangs. Their effects can still surprise you even after all this time."
"That's for sure," Peter muttered thinking of some of the weird things that kept appearing and happening in Dakota City. Things that could be traced right back to either big bang one or the larger big bang two.
"What is this third ability," Alan asked struggling not to yawn. He was getting more and more tired by the minute. Why he didn't know but he was really getting tired.
"The third power you've got is you can phase," Gear replied.
"Phase," Alan repeated. "You mean I could walk through walls and stuff like that. Would it explain why I couldn't breath earlier when I ah…changed."
"To the first part you would be able to pass through normal matter," Gear replied. "And it could well explain why you couldn't breath since when phased you theoretically wouldn't be able to take in air from the non-phased environment around you. The air molecules would just pass right through you. If you were going to phase you would need to hold your breath."
"Makes sense I think," Alan answered and then unable to contain it any longer he yawned catching almost everyone by surprise especially Jeff and his brothers. Normally Alan seemed to have a boundless supply of energy rarely showing that he was tired even when he saw shattered. To see him yawn like that was surprising.
"Tired?" Jeff asked.
"Strangely yes. I suddenly feel really, really tired," Alan answered truthfully knowing it would be useless to deny it. And he didn't feel like hiding it either. Yet he was confused at to where the tiredness had suddenly come from.
"That is not surprising," Gear replied. "It's actually quiet normal for you to want to sleep considering your powers have only recently showed themselves and you've got jet lag to deal with as well considering the island is a few hours behind the US mainland in the time sense. You might also find that you might need to sleep after repeated major expenditures of power just like Static has to."
"Perhaps you should go to bed early," Jeff suggested to his son silently bracing himself for a sharp objection from Alan. Normally when he suggested Alan go to bed he would expect a blistering retort that he wasn't tired from Alan and would go to bed when he felt like it not before.
"I think your right dad," Alan admitted even as he yawned again. Jeff blinked startled. Alan was agreeing to go bed early? This was a first in his experience. He caught the surprised looks that Gordon and Virgil exchanged as well.
"Ah Alan are you sure you're alright," Gordon asked putting a hand dramatically to his kid brother's forehead as if to feel his temperature like when he was sick.
"Ha, ha very funny Gordo," Alan shot back before yawning again and shaking his head as a wave of exhaustion induced dizziness passed through him.
When he was sure the dizziness had passed he got to his feet.
"If no one minds I'll go to bed now. Before I fall over," he said.
"Go on then Alan we'll see you in the morning," Jeff replied.
"Good night everyone," Alan said before turning and leaving the room.
In a few moments he was upstairs heading for his bedroom.
"Are you alright Alan," he abruptly heard Scott's voice say from behind him. Alan turned around to see Scott had just emerged from his own bedroom dressed in dry clothes and with his hair shimmering slightly in the light clearly still slightly damp.
"I'm okay Scott," Alan replied. "Just I'm tired so I'm going to bed early."
"You must be tired to be going to bed this early," Scott commented teasingly. Alan rolled his eyes.
"According to Gear its quiet normal considering what has just happened to me," Alan answered. Another wave of tired dizziness rippled through his head and since he wasn't sitting down this time he staggered and would have fallen if Scott hadn't caught him.
"You really must be tired," Scott said as Alan stood back up with effort.
"Yeah I am," Alan replied realising himself just how tired he really was. Pulling away from Scott he went into his own bedroom. Footsteps behind him let him know that Scott was following.
As soon as he was in his room Alan turned to look at his oldest brother.
"I'll be alright now Scott I'll see you in morning."
"Are you sure Alan?"
"Yeah I'm sure."
Scott looked at Alan and for a few moments debated staying until he actually saw Alan get into bed but in the end he decided against it.
"Good night then."
"Good night." As Scott walked away Alan closed his bedroom door before getting undressed and turning off the lights before climbing into bed. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, descending into a deep dreamless sleep.