1 Discovering Weeds

Finally, finally! After all these years I had completed my first project. I stared at my name on the blueprint and held up the paper with a big grin. The last thing I need to do is transfer it all to the Board for approval of Mystical's new headquarters, her first one since she became a registered superhero three months ago.

I call it the Garden of Eden. This will be the first test of my career. I hope Mystical approves of it.

"Hey, Charlotte?" Looking over to the kitchen, I spotted Mom getting ready for her night shift at the hospital, having just woken up. "If you see your dad come by, tell him to take it easy, alright? He must be running late, I worry he might tear his stitches."

"Sure mom." I put down the paper for later and realized that I wasn't ready. "Crap!" I tore through the air and upstairs into my bedroom.

A cold, freezing wind blew gently down the streets of Denver, Colorado, bringing with it a light dusting of snow, a bit too early for Christmas. It was already dying out, just in time for the festival.

Lights shone and gently flowed in the trees, colorful, vibrant, and almost blinding in the darkness of night. It was almost as if Sky Maker had visited every town to make this Christmas a true White Christmas. I couldn't complain. If I had the power to change the weather, this was exactly what I would do.

I brushed my blonde hair back, pinning it with an emerald-gold clip Victor had bought for me for Christmas. Except it wasn't Christmas yet, it was still very early December.

Gray eyes. I always thought I was adopted, since my mom had brown eyes and Dad had green eyes, but my certificate of birth doesn't lie. I put on eyeliner and a dab of pink eyeshadow and got dressed for the festival.

Mystical had been the city's only competent superhero for three months. I can't imagine how hard it must be for her to keep up on the territorial dispute between her and Dystopia, trying to buy time for the Board to rush in and kick him out of Denver.

I'm especially worried since she's been my best friend for six whole years, and she has helped my family climb back from medical debt for a while now. At least now, I can build her the headquarters she deserves.

"Is Hailey here yet?" I yelled down the stairs.

It seems Mom had left in the time I took to get ready because Dad's voice yelled back. "Hailey's here, sweetheart. She's been here for five minutes."

"Take your time, Victor and Benjamin aren't here yet," Hailey yelled back.

I put the green scarf over my peacoat and rushed down to the living room. This is it, I can't let myself be sad today.

"Hailey!" I cheerily waved. "Oh my gosh, are you alright?"

"Mhm." She smiled, bundled in soft blues. Her makeup covered the bruise on her cheek pretty well despite being as pale as porcelain, and the burns in her sleek black hair had been cut off. The fight last week tore buildings apart, with tons of collateral damage leftover, I haven't seen her since.

"It's no big deal." She waved away the issue.

"No big deal?" I asked. "My mom found you in the rubble last week, do you know how worried I was? If you die, I'm going to murder you."

She grinned. "I'd like to see you try."

A car hummed outside, a couple of horn beeps, and we were off. I hugged Dad goodbye and scolded him for working those ten extra minutes.

I stepped out into the light snowfall, the ground crunching beneath me. It had been a while since I went out with my friends. Dystopia's reign on this city had caught immense structural damage, going anywhere downtown required hopping over rubble at least twice. Smoke rose in several pillars on the horizon-fires that hadn't been put out yet.

But no damage can stop us from celebrating our hearts out, because guess what? Mystical was just promoted to A-class, she was now in charge of all super-military operations within the city, something the city desperately needs. An unorganized special tasks force is sometimes worse than the villain themself.

No one knew she was a seventeen-year-old girl. But thankfully, her boyfriend Benjamin is pretty organized and has been helping out with the technical side of things. He was a pretty chill guy from the six years I've known him, and he had the neatest braided cornrows I've ever seen, all gathered in a high ponytail.

And Victor, well, he helped Hailey out with the financial side of things, though most things were paid by the Department of Superheroes, we still have to pay a supplemental amount to afford the construction of a new headquarters, and possibly government vehicles. Especially if they were going to approve my blueprint.

But even though he single-handedly helped all of our financial troubles in this blasted economy, he never dressed like the millionaire he inherited, brown hair, eyes, and fair skin. No one could pick him out in a crowd except me.

"No no, I'm telling you, toast would wear pants on the bottom half, when it's standing upright," Ben exclaimed.

"But what's wrong with the toast wearing it on one face?" Hailey gaped. "It doesn't have anatomy!"

"It does! It has the bulbous top where the bread rises, which is like its head." I yelled. "The bottom skinnier half is where it sits in the pan."

"The upper part can also be the butt if you think about it hard enough." Victor supplied. He turned the car around a bright orange traffic cone.

"But that's not how bread sits." Benjamin huffed. "You can't just stick a loaf of bread upside down into a pair of pants."

"Watch me do it anyway. I control the law now." Hailey grinned.

"No you don't, you just have the local superheroes and the mercenaries, which is like...five people," I grumbled. What were they thinking, handing citywide authority over to a bunch of seventeen-year-olds?

To be fair, the public doesn't know Hailey was still in high school.

Hailey prayed as we got closer to the amusement park. "Please Dystopia let me just have one good day. I'm not even showing up to patrol today."

"He might take advantage of that, to be totally honest." Victor looked out the window as the trees on the street blinked jovially in Christmas colors. "Mystical's gone? Oh sweet! Time to launch some attacks under her nose."

"Shh, don't jinx it." I hushed them both. "The last thing we need is an aerial attack and Hailey needing to redirect a missile."

"Or an underground attack." Benjamin shrugged.

"Nah, I've got all my men working hard on any disturbances underground." Hailey sipped some water. "The only attack Dystopia can pull off is anything I can see. He'll have to get past me first to conquer Denver."

"I've seen it, it's pretty impressive." Victor pulled into the parking lot.

"You do underground trading?" I asked, horrified.

"I paid someone to test it out. Geez." Victor turned off the engine. "The only advice I can give is maybe bolstering the number of weapons you have. My company worked with Storm, one of the Board members. I know what I'm doing."

Benjamin pointed. "Guys, he didn't deny it, we've got him."

"Oh no." I grinned.

"Well, in this economy, no company would ever survive without investing in the underground market," Victor argued. "It's a business plan."

"Oh god, he actually admitted it. Benjamin, cover her ears!" I exclaimed.

Benjamin clapped his hands over Hailey's ears, but she shrugged. "Well, I'd be hard-pressed to find a company that hasn't invested in the underground. It's fine, as long as you clear the records before the underground falls apart. I'll warn you."

"Oh god, we're partners in crime." I sighed in disappointment. Well, the world is already messed up anyway.

"It's a trade secret." Victor got out of the car. "Come on already."

The light snowfall stopped almost immediately as we stepped out of the car. Hailey's black eyes glowed white for a split second as the air began to get warmer. I took Victor's hand and watched as a dome of floating snow materialized over the festival.

Telekinesis, one of the most powerful abilities in the world, the ability to move anything within your peripheral. I did not doubt that she would be able to make it to S-class, and maybe a chance at becoming a member of the Board. I worry, and maybe it's selfish, I worry that if she gets into the top, I will scarcely see her again. I don't want to lose another friend, not when I had just come back from the depths myself.

Dancing lights glittered at the festival, little figurines are sold, masks hand-made by children, and puppet shows to entertain. Games of chance, skill, and everything else. The snow was walked until the green grass and concrete showed, people, milled from station to station, looking at all of the Mystical themed items.

I eyed the giant fluffy sheep hanging from the wall in a game of Milk Bottle. "Ben, I require your skills."

Benjamin wandered over to us, handing a large wad of cotton candy to me. He readied his baseball arm. "First two wins for both ladies, what do you guys want?"

"That unicorn!" Hailey pointed.

"I want the fluffy sheep."

Victor sidled up beside me, squeezing into the crowd. "Let me win a game. I'm pretty good at this too."

"Who is playing?" The booth manager came up to the four of us, and the boys raised their hands. "How many games? If you want the large prizes, you need at least thirty points, one point for every bottle you knock over. One dollar for every three balls."

Needless to say, Hailey and I sat there looking pretty through the next five throws, Victor clearly lagged in terms of points despite the bottles wobbling pretty hard. Benjamin scored a perfect six points for every throw.

"This is rigged," Victor grumbled, on his seventh throw. He threw the last ball and got the giant sheep.

"All of this is rigged; it's an amusement park, silly." I grinned. "You have two more balls, win a prize for yourself."

Ba-Bam! He scored another ten points and got himself a giraffe plush toy.

Hailey picked the next game, a ring toss game that is basically impossible, but not when she has telekinesis.

She throws the first nine plastic rings with a show of "Oh no! How could this happen!" then the last of the ten rings bounced back and forth, flipping them, landing on a bottle, and settling. "Yes!"

"Goddamn, you're a natural," Benjamin exclaimed.

Making all of those bounces look natural was a serious skill.

"We haven't even tried going on the rides yet." Hailey looked off as we finished our cotton candy.

"The cup spinny thing!" Victor pointed and dragged us across the fair, looking straight at a blue-yellow themed Alice in Wonderland ride. We paid the booth and all squeezed into a cup, grinning.

Then suddenly a wave of nausea hit me. I nearly buckled over in pain.

"Charlotte?" Victor patted my shoulder. "Charlie, you alright?"

I couldn't move. I was frozen still.

"Are you having one of your episodes?" Hailey asked me, tapping my other shoulder. "Let's get off the ride." She looked out. "Um!"

I might ruin this playdate if we go home early. I sat up abruptly, suddenly feeling like I was inconveniencing my friends. "Wait-wait. I'm fine, I think I ate something bad. It's fine."

"...You sure?" Ben asked.

"Yes, positive." The cups began moving. "Woah!"

"If you say so." Victor gripped the seat. "Ah!"

We spun faster, and faster, and faster. I felt like my entire body was going to rip apart. Screams erupted around us. I squeezed my eyes shut, hands clenched around the seatbelt. I'm pretty sure riding a carnival ride isn't supposed to be painful.

The cups eventually slowed to a stop after three agonizing minutes.

"Holy crap, Charlotte, you look even paler than me." Hailey got me off the ride. "You sure you're okay? Let's sit down for a while."

We found a bench to rest on. I shouldn't be feeling this way. That ride is barely cause for any nausea, and it's only the first ride. This...isn't normal nausea. "I...think I'm in pain?"

"Do we need to call Mrs. Siegfried?" Victor asked.

My hands were in pain. I took off my mittens, trying to see if I bruised my hands somehow.

I pulled one glove halfway up and saw the glowing skin. For a moment, all reality halted, as at stared down at the sight of my flesh literally melting and glowing with energy

"Uh," was the only syllable I was able to get out.

Hailey took my hand. "Holy shit." Victor and Benjamin looked at each other, eyes wide. "Wait, there's radiation nearby? You guys are immunized, right?" She glanced over to both of them. They nodded.

Hailey pulled the glove back up on my hand. "It's going to hurt for a solid hour. Try not to move too much. I can't believe you have...that."

"Right? I'm not sure if I should be excited or terrified." I wince and laid my head down to rest. "You guys go on ahead. I feel like my entire body is melting." The glowing skin almost burns. My feet ached terribly. It's like getting third-degree burns, but ice-cold.

This was supposed to hurt for an hour? I'd rather die.

"Nah, we'll just chill out for an hour," Benjamin said. "Besides, there's pizza and churros we haven't eaten yet and bracelet making. Oh! And mask decorating, we should pick one out for you."

"Unless you want to live anonymously," Victor suggested. "That's always an option if you don't feel like fighting crime."

"Guys, shh!" Hailey pulled up her hood and pulled down her hat, standing up. "If there's radiation around, that means someone's being a nosy dick. I'm gonna go find the source, it was definitely near the spinning teacup-"

BOOM!

There goes an explosion, and I'm supposed to be helpless for an hour, what the hell am I supposed to do? I can't move.

Screams, not of joy this time, but fear. Hailey ran off, shedding her coat at the table, and disappeared into the crowd

The ground around suddenly spit, and part of the amusement park began sinking into the river and we were in the middle of it. I forced myself to stand up, grimacing as needles stabbed into my legs. Victor took my arm as Benjamin forced people out of the way, balancing unsteadily on the crumbling sidewalk.

A voice echoes through the speakers in the fair, over all of the screams and scrambling to safety. "Mystical, if you're here, which I know you are, I suggest you come to me. Now."

That wasn't Dystopia's voice.