Note:
I certainly was late with this chapter! Sorry guys, but summer school
(as well as a bit of independent art study) got in the way. I've
had a bit of writer's block, too. At least the "secret" is
revealed…I
know a lot of you are going to say "I knew it!" By then end of this
chapter, you're probably going to be thinking, "What kind of super
power is that?" or "What the hairballs?"
Chapter 3: Confession
Abby sat on her comfortable bed, hugging her knees close to her chest. Her brown eyes were pink and irritated, still sore from crying earlier in the day. She had kept her distance from her mother since breakfast, rarely, if ever, talking to her. How could she keep this secret away from her daughter for so many years? Why? Shouldn't Abigail have been allowed to know what had happened to her father?
Someone gently rapped at the door to the apartment. Abby looked at her own door, wondering who could be visiting at such a time. Through her door, she heard the muffled greeting that her mother gave the guest, soon followed by the guest's deeper voice -- a man's voice. She heard the door close, more muffled conversation, and then footsteps. The footsteps became louder, stopping just outside Abigail's door. A knock on the locked door, and her mother's voice…
"Abby, honey? Would you please come out of your room? We have a guest." Marie Paladino was gentle. She was fully aware that her daughter was still upset.
Abigail wiped her eyes, moving herself to the edge of her bed, "Why?"
"I'd like you to meet him. Now, please, come out of your room."
Her daughter was hesitant, slowly opening the door. She stepped out, not uttering a word, and followed her mother into the living room. An older man, who must have been somewhere around 60-years-old, sat on the couch. He sat in a casual position, hands between his knees, slightly hunched. Yet he almost looked authoritative, sitting calmly in his plain business suit and tie. Abby and her mother sat on the couch opposite him, separating themselves from him with a glass coffee table.
"Abby, I'd like you to meet Mr. Rick Dicker. Rick: Abby," Marie Paladino introduced them, gesturing towards the government man.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Abigail," His solemn, baritone voice greeted the teen as he held out his hand.
"Are you an old friend of my mother's?" Abby was just as confused as she had been the night before. She shook the man's hand.
He chuckled, "You could say that."
"The reason he's here has something to do with your father… and yourself, Abby," Her mother got right to the point, as if she was thinking, Let's get this over with, "Your father was Gazerbeam."
Abby's eyes grew wide; she turned to face her mother in disbelief, then back to Mr. Dicker. She was struck dumb, speechless.
"It's hard to believe, I know, but… uh… Rick?" Gazerbeam's widowed wife looked at the man across from herself for help. He was already opening his previously unnoticed briefcase. There was now a manila folder in his hands. It was labeled, "GAZERBEAM." Rick Dicker slid it across the coffee table to Abigail; he looked more professional than he had before.
"Abigail, I am not only a friend of your parents'. I am a government official of the NSA," Mr. Dicker was straightforward; Abby was still confused, "also called the National Supers Agency. We keep on file all information, both public and private, on every superhero that has serviced this country.
"Gazerbeam, Simon J. Paladino, you father, was just one of those supers. Not only did he aid the United States with his laser vision, but he was also one of the most prominent advocates for superhero rights after the Supers Relocation Act was installed."
Abigail opened the folder, spreading out all the official-looking documents on the table. She looked at each one carefully, glancing at what was written on each form. A profile on Gazerbeam, the superhero; a profile on the pro-bonds lawyer, Simon J. Paladino; a list of former addresses, relocation forms, lists of those who needed their memory erased; a newspaper clipping of fifteen years ago, stating the disappearance of Mr. Paladino, as well as a later obituary (which failed to mention how he actually died); and, finally, a document recording Abigail Paladino's first few years of life. She picked the last document up, scanning its contents. It made absolutely no sense to her. Suspected super? A request for permission to modify her memory at age five? Abby looked at her mother.
Marie Paladino looked apologetic, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Abby. I... just wanted you to grow up like a normal girl, without the knowledge that your father was a super."
Abigail looked down at the scattered documents on the coffee table, and then hugged her mother. It was not necessarily a hug to say thank you. No. The teen was yearning for her lost father once more. Rick Dicker interrupted them.
"Of course, there's still the matter of a new super--"
"What new super?" Abby's ears perked up as she looked up at Mr. Dicker.
"Rick, please..." Marie's eyes were fearful. She hadn't merely wanted Abby to grow up normally. She didn't want to lose her only daughter to super villainy like Simon J. Paladino had been lost.
"Marie, you know she needs to know," he said, taking a video tape labeled 'ABIGAIL PALADINO' out of his briefcase, "Would you set up your VCR, please?"
Abby's mother complied, getting up to turn on the television and the VCR. Rick Dicker handed the tape to her; she pushed it into the slot and pressed play. A second of static later, and the tape had started. Home video of what must have been a 6-month-old Abby. A "boring" voice was telling the infant to look at the camera; her father's voice was loving. The infant gave her dad a toothless smile in her highchair, baby food all over her face and hands. A beam of light passed the infant's head, and the cereal box behind her burst into flames. The camera was set down, and a bit of chaos ensued. Baby Abigail giggled, and the "boring" voice apologized as a fire extinguisher was brought in. Mr. Dicker pressed fast forward.
Sixteen-year-old Abby stared at the television, "What was th—"
"Shh. Just keep watching, sweetie."
Fast forward to a few months later. Simon J. Paladino held 9-month-old Abby up by her hands. The infant giggled, taking a few wobbly steps towards the camera. She fell on her bottom, looking surprised before she started crying. The camera took some footage of the ground, and then pointed at Abby from an ant's perspective. Her parents tried to calm their child down when something strange happened. Some kind of clear goop began to coat baby Abby's arms and hands. Marie and Simon gave her even more attention because of the goop; Abby calmed down and secreted even more of it from her minute hands.
The remainder of the video followed Abby through her early childhood. (Her father disappeared from the home movies shortly after her first birthday.) Each segment would show Abby at an older age, Abby with more control over her ability, Marie growing more worried. The tape stopped at the daughter's fifth birthday party. Mr. Rick Dicker turned off the TV and VCR as Abigail looked at her mother once more.
"I inherited… super powers?" Abby tested the words on her tongue. She didn't know what to think at this point. It was all moving so fast. Her mother solemnly nodded her head in defeat.