As far as he remembered, he was profoundly anti-speedbump.
To be more precise, since the day he moved into town, Strieter detested the speedbumps that were haphazardly scattered around town, and to a slightly lesser degree, the bus. Its service almost seemed to thrive on speedbumps, and the driver always seemed to get thrills from the infinitisimal air time off each one. He had to admit though that the best facet of the system was its reliability and hospitality towards any poor soul that needed a lift, and that he'd have to live with it, like back in his school days.
But that was a long time ago.
Stri held his date's hand more tightly, his knuckles starting to whiten. Speedbumps were one of the most horrible things on the planet, but at least Shade was with him. That made things much more bearable.
Well, unless he counted the fact that Mango and Brandon were also on the bus at the same time, bringing up old school memories from the past and muttering about Stri's supposed lack of game, respectively. Because old mates randomly getting on the bus and finding out about your first girlfriend was always a good conversation to have in front of the girlfriend. He shfted in his seat uncomfortably, wanting to roll his eyes at the semi-embarassing introduction his friends offered:
"Oh hey - dammmmn Stri you got a real beauty. I'm Brandon, and I wanna know what drugs Stri gave you to stick with him."
"Don't mind him - he's probably wishing he had his high school game right now. Oh man, that brings memories. Call me Mango."
The local student and the foreign student started bickering amongst themselves, and Shade laughed at the sight.
"Well then, call me Shade. It's really nice to meet you guys. I mean, after Stri mentions he has friends, who wouldn't be surprised?"
At the laughter that all three bus riders shared, Stri wore an indifferent expression and shrugged in his defense. He had come out to have a good time and he was honestly feeling so attacked right then. Still, she was enjoying it all, so he didn't feel the need to interject in the continued self-sustainable comedy routine.
Brandon put his hand on his chin and gave Shade several mock questioning looks.
"Young lady, on the afternoon of today, just what exactly did Strieter tell you about us?"
"Brandon please, you're scaring the cute girl."
"Shut up Mango."
It was the perfect moment to interject, and as soon as Stri opened his mouth, he heard Shade's voice.
"So I'm having an issue where I can like, control lights around me, by just being there."
As Shade winced, Mango caught Brandon's eye and did the thing with his eyebrows.
"It just sounds really weird and Stri said that you guys went through something similar. Did you guys have a light problem too?"
In the unison that is rarely ever achieved except in unrealistic literature, both of the men spoke one single word.
"Magic."
There was no reaction from her, and Stri raised an eyebrow in reply. He had some idea of what the duo meant by that, but the last time he heard the joint explanation was perhaps, what was it, 3 years ago? He glanced at Shade and noted from her lack of reaction that she had no idea what they were talking about.
It really wouldn't be nice of him to let Shade feel a bit dumb for not knowing. As his arm snaked around her back, clutching her snugly, he put his other hand on his hip and spoke in a rather pronounced tone.
"Wasn't that a name of the group you guys were part of a long time ago?"
The resulting silence was wrought with a tension bearing eye-staring contest between the 3 men, and Shade could only alternate her gaze between her man and his friends. She couldn't help but notice the subtle fluctuations in their eye war - Brandon's eyebrows furrowing, Mango trying to hide his surprised reaction, Stri's atypical aggressiveness in the question's followup. It was only then that she realized that some of the other passengers were watching the Cold War-esque exchange, and she knew she had to do something.
She clapped twice, and all 3 males looked at her, their spell of unspoken defiance shattered.
"Speaking of magic, are you guys going to the magic show in an hour and a half?"
Brandon chuckled like a little girl.
"Pfft magic shows. Those are way too gay for me to handle."
Mango simply raised an eyebrow in response to Brandon, and Stri interjected successfully for once.
"Shade's uncle Cooper is running the show, and from what I hear, he's worth every penny of the admission price. Would you guys be free for the next, let's say, 2 hours?"
Brandon simply shrugged while Mango responded with a sorrowful smile.
"I'd love to go, but I'll be busy until about right after the show ends. Sorry."
Stri stared expectantly at Brandon. The other male whispered in his ear, and Brandon sighed. He got up from his seat, and hung onto the horizontal pole rung above Stri's seat, close enough to talk in an indoor voice.
"On account of the fact that I owe back from when you came to my parties, I'll come with, but I'll be going off when we get there. I'll meet up with you guys though when the show starts. Is that cool?"
As Stri nodded, the bus made a particularily sharp turn, and Brandon subsequently landed on Stri's lap. The bearded man was visibly despaired, and Brandon sighed.
"I take it back I'm probably gonna stay with you guys for a bit longer than I expected."
While Strieter was trying to come up with the right words to politely phrase a really offensive 4 word phrase, Brandon lightly punched Shade on the shoulder to get her attention.
"About earlier...it's actually an acronym, but I'll tell you about it later. Too many people here."
A minute of awkwardness passed rather slowly, and when Mango left for his stop, Brandon took his seat, sprawling over the length of it, and making Shade laugh at his nonconformity. It was rather suddenly that he leaned forward, and pitched a curveball that the couple hadn't anticipated.
"Stri, you remember Daisy?"
Stri merely blinked.
"Of course. Is she here?"
Brandon sighed like a man ready to accept his fate.
"Both sisters are here actually."
Stri also sighed, and Shade caught on to his apparent lack of enthusiasm. This was obviously a reaction based off a long history, and as she didn't know jack about their history, she did the simplest thing she could've done - ask.
"It sounds to me as if it's bad to have them around, or did you mean something else?"
Stri crossed his legs, and began by pointing at the teenager across the aisle.
"From what I remember, he tried to date Slim and things went really bad, and the twins were perpetually mad at him. Hopefully it died down by now-"
"Wait, they're twins?"
Brandon grinned. "Daisy's the older one. When we just did...stuff, she did some extreme martial arts training, like kung fu and all that. I'm pretty sure Daisy could KO any and all of us if she wanted to. She can be scary."
Stri crossed his arms, still passively glaring at Brandon, and continued where he left off.
"Slim is the younger twin, and she's generally a nice person to be around. If I remember, she's passionate about creaing crude portable devices that can manipulate electricity - or that's what I remember her doing back then. I think it started with a science fair project that she loved, and she's done all sorts of things since."
He sheepishly smiled.
"I'm certain she's still in the electrical field, but if it's otherwise, you better not be shocked."
Shade laughed in tune with Brandon's groan.
"Yo, Stri - Slim works part-time at the Shadow Arena, and Daisy's said she was gonna be there looking for someone."
Shade let her chin rest on her fist as she made another query.
"Is she mad at someone?"
Stri tilted his head in thought, and Brandon shook his head.
"Probably not, but you know she doesn't look for specific people unless she's mad at them, right?"
Both men nodded in tacit agreement, and the moment was interrupted by the bus coming to a stop. Stri looked past his shoulder and noticed that they'd arrived at the place.
They had finally reached the Shadow Arena.
The three passengers hopped off the bus, and observed the location. The Shadow Arena was originally built to be a large scale haunted house facility, but over time it somehow became an event hall that was home to many regional events, and Shade's uncle for the third time. Although the exterior carried an eerie ambience, courtesy of the building's original intent, the inside was spacious and inviting, just like an IKEA. Many people hung out in the Arena, and overall, it was a very popular place to be.
Shade grabbed Stri's arm and started to drag him along, and Brandon shoved his hands in his pocket. Welp, they were here. As soon as they entered the facility though , Brandon broke off, as promised, and left them to their own wandering.
In the meanwhile, the couple wandered about the Arena's promotional exhibit for Cooper the Great. Shade was quick to point out her uncle's feats and the inspirations and such behind them, and Stri took pictures with his camera because everything was just awesome. As the two meandered from the original exhibit and strayed onto other exhibit areas, they began doing goofy things not worth mentioning as they don't contribute to the plot, and other things a couple with a moderate level of PDA would do.
Shade caught up to Stri looking at a particular photo of the magician standing on a platform above a cheering crowd. The picture interested him a lot, as to how a magician could look so smug on stage, and to what extent he could make them cheer. Perhaps it was due to the success of the show, but the line "Cooper the Great can command his crowd to amazement with his magic" definitely stood out to him on the corresponding display tag.
The noisy environment seemed to blur its sounds together to an almost quiet standstill and other visitors disappeared from Stri's peripheral vision as he started mulling over the line. In his mind, it was just him and this picture which really bothered him, and something was telling him that there was a connection to something the magic he'd witnessed years back.
Years back, Brandon and Mango had exhibited strange talents similar to Shade's, and had become lifetime members of an organization called M.A.G.I.C by invitation. Of what the acronym stood for, he had no clue, but he felt that this sentence was important to what Shade's situation. It kept bothering him, but he had a very strong feeling that something in the sentence linked directly to what the acronym meant.
He took a step back and crossed his arms, mentally reviewing every word of the sentence, when he thought he had it figured out. M.A.G.I.C was a place where Brandon and Mango learned to control their abilities. This magician was essentially controlling the audience, as the poster claimed, 'with magic'; the parallel wasn't very solid, but it was very blatant, and Stri couldn't ignore it. Was it possible that Cooper was actually part of this group too...?
The thought was aborted as someone's hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Peripheral vision showed that Shade was on his left, and he looked to his right to see the trespasser face to muffled face. Of course, the muffler did its part to hide the lower half of his face, but this stranger's blue eyes hooked onto Stri's own and didn't look elsewhere.
"You asked about magic on the bus, right?"
Stri's mouth opened in surprise. First the park, then the bus. He instinctively reached out for Shade with his unoccupied hand and slightly squinted. This guy was a creep, but he certainly looked like he had answers.
"Yeah. Would you like to share your knowledge with me?"
The stranger stepped back and took a much more relaxed stance. He glanced around to gauge whether people were paying attention, and took off his jacket. He held it over what seemed like an invisible chair, and whipped it away to reveal the materialized stool underneath.
Stri was impressed, but tried not to show it as on the other hand, Shade started clapping. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets as the stranger took a seat.
"It's an acronym. M.A.G.I.C, as it's called, is more or less a supernatural ability that only handful of people are inherently born with. Their respective ability blooms between childhood and adulthood, and such people often learn to manipulate their abilities in a completely safe and disguisable manner. There have been some that try to abuse their power, and they will be-"
Shade thumbed herself.
"Do you have an ability, Mr...?"
Those surprised azure eyes lost all of their seriousness, and he laughed while gently tugging the edge of his muffler.
"Looker. That's my code name, of course. And yes, I do, much like your light problem."
Now Stri began to worry. Were they that loud on the bus? Either way, Shade was way too into the conversation to have second thoughts.
"My light problem- wait, you have the exact light ability?"
Looker shook his head, and gestured to her.
"That's an ability exclusive to you - you and only you will ever have that ability. Every user, every person with an ability, has their very own special power, like how every kid has their own teddy bear to sleep with."
Stri took a step forward, finally demonstrating his rarely seen accusing posture.
"And you're saying only the chosen few get these super powers?"
Looker glanced back to Stri, and kept staring at him as he took off one of his gloves.
"Well, yes. However, I came here for two reasons, the first was to transfer an ability to you, as you'll need it in the time to come."
Again, Looker extended his now bare hand towards Strieter. The bearded man frowned in response, and took a half-step back. In the time to come? That sounded awfully wrong, and somewhat dangerous, and for good reason, he didn't reach out for Looker's open offer. As Stri kept disapprovingly staring at it, the dark clad man laughed.
"Come on, an amazing ability you can call your own! I know it sounds weird, but I promise you, nothing bad's gonna happen. After all, this is for your own good."
Strieter's facial expression wavered as he started to mentally play devil's advocate on the situation at hand. A single sweat bead descended from his temple as he was stuck vacillating on the offer of power. And to be honest, he didn't know what to do. This was shady and all, but on the other hand, he would be able to get a power of his own, for free, as he understood it. But would there be responsibilities? Risks? There was just too much to worry about, and one mistake now could mean-
His attention turned to Shade, as she had just touched him. She bent him sideways a bit, and whispered in his ear.
"Go for it. I'll be with you all the way."
Stri begrudgingly extended his own and gave Looker a firm handshake. For a second, he felt nothing, and then he felt it - a sluggish warmth spreading from the contact, traveling up his arm and slowly spreading to the rest of his body. He was alarmed, but the other man didn't let go of his hand as the warmth continued its advance. And so, they stood still for about a minute, that is, until the warmth had fully encompassed him and suddenly faded away.
Looker released his hand, and Sti cautiously looked at his own. Nothing seemed to have changed, but for some reason, he felt empowered. Maybe it was a placebo effect of somesort? He incredulously returned his gaze back to the stranger, implicitly prompting him to speak.
The muffled man gestured towards his own stool.
"Try to materalize this stool in your imagination, let's say 5 feet in front of you. That should work."
Stri took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. It had to do with imagination, right? Well, it wasn't that hard, as he just imagined it, and as he was still shut-eyed, he heard Shade's gasp, and he consequently opened his own eyes to see a brand new stool sitting where he had just imagined it.
Stri admired his handiwork, and as Shade sat on it, Looker smiled under the scarf.
"Well, it appears that there is a balance between our powers now. That won't last for long though."
The couple stared at him, probably unsure of what he meant. Stri broke the momentarily silence with hesitant laughter.
"I think it's funny that that sounds like a statement that characters in novels say before things get serious."
Looker's face sans the lower half became serious, and Stri felt the change in pressure. Something was probably gonna happen because he decided to be a smartass and pretend to foreshadow. Or did he actually spell out the actions to come?
Stri squinted, and instinctively put an arm out to guard his partner, all the while staring down the other man. The staring contest was legitimate, and both men silently kept trying to kill each other with looks, until Looker scratched his head, and sighed.
"Your ability is called Resupply, where you can recreate any magic tool, prop or device you've ever seen and use them for your own sake, as I understand. I haven't explored its limits, but that's a fairly amazing power you should definitely explore."
Stri held out 2 fingers, and inquired rather forcefully, suddenly afraid of what his answer might be.
"You came here for two reasons. One was to give me this - this power. What else are you here for?"
Looker crossed his hands, and responded in a rather smug tone.
"I said I came here to see Cooper the Great, right?"
Shade's cheerful disposition gave way to silent apprehension as the muffled man continued to speak sinisterly.
"To be more precise, I've come here to see him dead."
After a moment to digest those words, Stri got angry and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth to hopefully shake some sense in the guy.
"Are you nuts? That's not gonna happen, and even if, somehow if, you're not gonna get away with everyone around here."
Shade's frown deepened, as she poked Looker in the chest.
"Who do you think you are, trying to kill my uncle? If he can survive 3 years on the road, he'll be fine against you, hallucinating all over the place."
His gloved hand gently her finger, and took it off his chest. Looker sighed and crossed his arms, still a bit disappointed in the reaction he recieved. He swiftly pointed towards the hall, and as the couple turned, they saw someone walk in...only that someone was literally identical to the Looker standing in front of them.
"Now, watch this."
The Looker that was just talking to them moments ago was suddenly stabbed by the newcomer, and both Stri and Shade fearfully took a couple steps newcomer laughed in the same tone as Looker and snapped with his fingers; the Looker underneath faded away, and after a moment, nothing remained to even show that he was there. The remaining Looker tightened his muffler, and rolled his eyes.
"Do I really have to explain it to you?"
Stri found himself responding affirmatively, and the dark clad man sighed.
"It's called Carbon Copy. I shouldn't have to explain it anymore. Use your imagination, sheesh."
He flipped his butterfly knife, and started to flip it around, and deftly lodged it back in his jacket. The man straightened his clothing, and pulled his muffler around once more, before glancing at the couple with those now sinister-themed blue eyes. The outline of his mouth was barely visible through the scarf, but Stri could now put almost a complete face to that voice, and he paled as he heard Looker speak once more.
"Your uncle should be in the backstage set, room 4, right? When I get back, I'll tell you your uncle's last words. Later Shade!"
And with that, the villain smiled and vanished into thin air.