Chapter 3 – A Superpowered Alien
Armie, Rat and Brandon walked all the way back to the Breyer farm during the night, where Brandon explained his story to the duo.
"When I was a baby," Brandon began, "I was brought here from my world in a spaceship. My mom and dad, or the people who raised me like any parent would, found me in the woods. I was all alone and they took me in. It was difficult for me lately, around my twelfth birthday. Recently, the kids in my school had all treated me differently, like I didn't belong, and started calling me weird and things like that. And things took a turn for the worse when I demonstrated my newfound powers to a kid, and I got suspended for it."
"So, you're sayin'," Armie replied, "that you're pretty much like Superman?"
"Who?" Brandon asked.
"Superman, a humanoid alien superhero from the planet Krypton," Rat explained. "He started out like you—he crashlanded on Earth, not knowin' what he was doin', but he only uses his powers fer good, never fer evil."
"Good? Evil?" Brandon repeated. "But all those people lately…"
"Don't listen to 'em, Brandon," Armie replied. "People just don't realize how special you are."
"You're right, Armie," Brandon agreed. "No one knows how special I am."
"But someday," Rat began, "the whole world will."
"Yeah," Armie agreed. "I mean, look at ya'. You're a superpowered alien in human form." Armie didn't realize it, but he was suddenly glowing, startling both Rat and Brandon. "You can use your powers for good, just like Superman." The glowing then subsided—Rat and Brandon were still startled. Pause. "Why are the both of you lookin' at me so peculiar?"
"Uh, Armie?" Rat responded. "You just turned human yourself."
"I what?"
Armie looked at his reflection in a lake. He was now a human, about college-aged, with pink hair with a green streak in the middle, wore a pink short-sleeved T-shirt and a red sleeveless vest with yellow buttons, red jeans wrapped around a green belt, and red tennis shoes with yellow laces. He was surprised at his appearance.
"Oh, my gosh," Armie said. "I think I have a special power, too. I must be a changeling. But how in the heck did that happen?"
"I think when you said 'superpowered alien in human form'," Rat explained, "you musta turned into a human."
"But I don't wanna be a human forever," Armie shrugged. "I wanna turn back into my regular old monster form." Again, Armie glowed, and he shrank back down, turning back into his monster meerkat form when the glowing subsided. "It happened again," he said, noticing.
"Huh," Rat examined. "Maybe 'form' must be yer keyword."
"Yeah," Armie agreed. "Maybe it is." Turning to Brandon, he continued, "and I hope you understand what I said about usin' your powers for good like Superman."
"Gee, I don't know," Brandon replied, unsure.
"Aww, come on," Rat assured. "It's easy. Maybe you can give it some time, and the world'll probably praise ya'."
And with that, the trio continued their walk.
When the three returned to the Breyer farmhouse grounds, Armie looked at the exterior of the barn.
"You did say that your parents hid away that spaceship you were brought to Earth on in that barn, right?" he said. "Maybe Rat and I should go and check it out."
"Yeah," Rat agreed with the suggestion. "Maybe we should."
As the duo were about to go to the barn, Brandon stopped them.
"NO!" he shouted.
They turned to him.
"No?" Armie repeated.
"Why not?" Rat asked.
"It's, uh, probably not a good idea," Brandon chuckled nervously. "Maybe we should head back inside the house. And since Mom and Dad are gone, you can sleep in their bedroom."
"Sounds like a good idea," Armie agreed.
Armie and Rat walked to the front door, but noticed Brandon wasn't with them.
"Hey, Brandon," Armie called, "you comin'?"
"Uh, yeah," Brandon said, looking at the barn. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."
The two shrugged and made their way back into the house. Brandon, however, looked at the barn with a serious look on his face, his eyes glowing an angry red.
"Someday, Armie and Rat," he said, quietly, "the whole world will burn."
Ascend to the sky. A plane flew by. Inside, many passengers and the pilot wore sad looks on their faces—the copilot and other passengers all part of the unfortunate half.
Author's Note: Brandon's last line in the chapter, along with another one of his lines and one of Rat's, is based on a line said in one of the TV spots for Brightburn. Also, the last-minute addition of the plane indicates that because of the Snap, in this universe, Brandon didn't destroy it to make it look like it crashed into his house to cover up the murders of his parents, Sheriff Deever and Deputy Reyes.
