Chapter III: Day of Evolution, Part 1

Is it possible to have a hangover from eating too much? I'm tellin' you, after stuffing that much food, I got the worst headache. You know that feeling when you're hungry, but not really? And you know you're full, but you still wanna stuff your face 'cause why the hell not? Also, you don't want the food to go bad because you're an elitist with a refined palate that doesn't stand food that can't stand the test of time?

Well, yeah. I kinda over-ate.

After Bridget dropped me off, I kinda got bored; which happens a lot if you've got a lot money from generational wealth built up by your asshole, neglectful nimrod of a dad. I had Chamberlain order some food and sparkling water. There's nothing better than having the calm, chill vibe of water completely changed and mixed up by some fizzy goodness. I just love it, y'know? Ain't nothin' better.

Now to be honest, I was still thinking about Lucille. At the time I hadn't texted her just yet since I heard it's a bad thing to do. Shows you're too desperate about it, acting like a bitch. I didn't want any of that; as far as Lucille Knight was concerned, I was the cool guy with a leather jacket and a shit ton of money to his dad's name.

That's one thing that's always messed with me; everybody sees me as a rich asshole. Not my fault my dad has more 0's in his bank balance than times he's told me he loved me. Every damn time something happens I get roped into the upper-class of white dudes who live in penthouses.

Being rich also meant I'd have to deal with the usual nudging from my dad. Once a week he always reminds me to take those extra business classes that would mostly cover things like 'Running a Business, For Dummies' or 'How To Invest and Get Big Money'. I never really gave a rat's ass about that, either, so I never read any of those books. Lotta talk about equity, turnover, return of investment and IRS stuff. All things that make me fall asleep faster than those Lord of the Rings movies.

I'm pretty sure dad just handed me those so I could stay busy; not complain and whine about missing mom. Asshole's always been good at avoiding confrontation to the point that he hires other assholes to do his parenting for him. Maids, butlers, valets, chauffeurs… it never stops with this fuckin' guy. Getting pissed off just thinking about it.

My mornings always suck. I'm not really a morning person, and I don't even know who would be a morning person. Seriously? Day in, day out, I see posts about people waking up looking 'perfect', with the caption reading 'I woke up feeling refreshed today!'. That stuff rubs me the wrong way. I've never met someone who 'woke up feeling refreshed', and I've never woken up feeling refreshed. So it's bullshit. By this logic, no one's a morning person.

I wanted to text Lucille. I knew it was only eight o'clock in the AM, but I just couldn't stop thinking about her. I needed a distraction. Would be primo-fucking weird to just get text-bombed by some weirdo that you just linked up with.

And I needed help with this. It's a Saturday, no school, no biz, no nothing. And I had to find a way into this girl's heart, some way, somehow I knew I'd slink my way in there. And to do that, I needed a woman's touch.

Bridget. It had to be her. And to be honest, any other friends I have are just rich assholes I met at a fucking golf club. And that ain't it, chief. No way, no how.

"Hey, Bee." I texted her, "I need your help with someone."

She didn't answer instantly. Which she usually does. She's the type of person with too much free time on their hands. She claims it's 'because she has a 'real tight schedule'. But I think it's because she has a really tight schedule.

"Just answer, I know you're up, right now." I added.

The laptop buzzed with the sound of her texting back, "shut up."

The message was followed by a video-call request from her. I accepted even though I was still in my strawberry-funk pajamas. They're in mint condition, and I don't shower on Saturdays. Saturdays are me time, and me time only.

It took a bit for her image to load but when it did, it was traumatizing. She looked dead, I mean. Eye bags and all. I think she was still in her hoodie from yesterday; hasn't changed yet, kinda weird. Farthermore, she had one hand deep in a bag of doritos and one hand waving at me.

I tried to hide how scared shitless I looked. "Hey, Bridget, what's up." I asked nervously.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. What's up?"

She definitely didn't get any sleep.

"Are you pulling an all-nighter?"

"Maybe." She lowered her hand and started to stare daggers through her laptop.

"That's the third all-nighter this week." I said, "are you outside of your mind, right now?"

She didn't take another second to answer. She frantically gestured at a thumb-drive that she was holding. It was pretty easy to see her crazy-ass since she was tented up under her covers, like some sort of asylum nut.

"If by outside of my mind, you mean thinking outside the box, then yes." She continued, "the shit that I found on this thumb-drive is enough to get us a clear and easy way into the VegaCorp labs. Right where we need to be."

Not this shit again.

"Is this the conspiracy stuff you kept talking about yesterday?"

"And are you still trying to gaslight me into thinking that I'm a schizo?!"

Then, outta nowhere, I heard Chamber knocking on the door. Chamber's our maid, she does all the stuff my mom would be doing if she wasn't on vacation. The cleaning, the cooking, the baby-sitting, the shopping. Everything.

I'm pretty sure she's done more to raise more than dad ever tried. It feels even weirder to say 'dad'. It feels more like something I have to do so I don't seem weird. It's nice being rich and all, but this is kinda the only life I've ever known. It's weird to hear about people who can't afford basic stuff like a car or first-class plane ticket.

"Monsieur, Walker," She said, "anything special for breakfast?"

"Just OJ and a slice of that fancy pink and blue cake we got from those fancy lawyers." I said, kinda remembering those fancy shmancy suit people that were in my room the other day, something that I'm NOT cool with.

"Very well, monsieur. Though I must inform you that I will be leaving for a three week break, I've some business to attend to in Jakarta." She said.

I chuckled and cocked my head in confusion, "what the hell is in Indonesia for you?"

"Business." She bowed and walked out of the room.

Somehow I'd already begun to miss her.

Bridget was quick to snatch my attention back, though. She started rambling off about something related to the 'bega corp' scandal or whatever. To be honest, when she starts talking, or anyone for that matter, I just dozed off. I mean seriously, how much talking do I have to sit through? It feels like forever before she gets to her point. I never knew it before, and I certainly don't know it now.

Reminds me of the blue bird from yesterday; I think it was a robin or something like that. I'm not sure if it's native to the U.S or anywhere near but it looked really light blue. Sort of like the blue you'd see if you looked up at the sky. A sky-blue, I guess? Or would that be bleu-ciel? 'Cause I know that's what you'd call it in French. Guess I remembered something from all of those classes with Ms. Fae. Something other than her-

"Are you listening?!" Bridget was almost going to crawl through the laptop screen.

"Yeah, yeah." I said, "of course."

"Look, I need your help with something." She said.

Bridget Harrison asking for help? I'd figured this was a prank; why not play along..

"Oh, really?" I said, leaning back in my bed. "Did you drop your massive pride on the way back home yesterday?" I chuckled at how funny that rhetorical question was.

She didn't.

"This is important, Wyatt." She said, leaning even closer and out from the screen. "You and me. Tonight. Out back by the VegaCorp building. Be there by 8 pm; preferably on the dot. And don't tell Beckett about this."

"Is this about that 'weird stuff' you keep mentioning?"

"What? The chemical leak?" She asked, getting more and more psychotic. Is she supposed to be on meds that she's missing out on?

"Oh, I thought it was about those Sophomores that went missing?"

I think I knew what she was talking about. She mentioned this kinda stuff back at the Highschool, and she always told me about this kinda stuff face to face. It was never a text or a phone call. Whenever that was gonna be the case, she'd just dance around that stuff. Being weird about it like my dad always did. Always answering, but not really.

Her eyes went wide, "tonight. 8 PM."

"Alright, Alright." I said, "Anything else you wanna add?"

Her eyes shot up as she adjusted her glasses. She looked to the bottom of her screen and then back at the webcam. "Oh, you have to see this – I'll share my screen." Her webcam feed switched to a live view of her desktop. It was an official Liberty City News. As the timer counted down to zero, the broadcast began, and it was none other than Jane Valderama manning the presentation.

"Good morning to the one and only American Jewel, Liberty. Home of the Great American Pride and many other Evolved. Today is the twenty-fifth of October. Any and all history buffs will remember that The Evolution happened exactly a year ago, today. When our world was changed in more than a thousand ways. When people began to fly and leap tall buildings in single bounds. And who could forget the first superhero – the man who first evolved, Anthem." The feed changed to a pretty nifty video showing Anthem and the Vanguard beat up a bunch of Bio-Terrorists. That's what they call the bad guys with super powers. Shortly after, it cut back to a camera feed tracking something flying in the sky. All we could see was a glint that kept getting closer and closer. With the only thing behind it being a fairly thin trail of smoke.

As a chorus of angelic music began to swell up, the glint turned out to be a person in some kind of power armor. She had four thrusters boosting up his backside and helping her hover down to the rooftop that Jane was on.

Before he even spoke, she was already blushing.

"And here I am with none other than Steel Prophet, the Metal Miracle." She said, just as the metal guy extended his metal-covered hand and shaped a metal rose out of tiny bits of metal. Jane reacted in a surprising way, to say the least.

Anybody could tell he was charming, even without seeing the face that was hidden under that smooth, chrome dome. "Oh, please. call me Prophet." Her voice was robotic – it sounded like auto-tune.

She stuttered, "y-yes, of course."

"So, I heard someone needed saving?" I could hear Bridget groan due to the levels of cheese and corniness. "And lucky me that it ended up being you."

She smiled, trying to hide her excitement. "We're just glad to have you here for the Day of Evolution celebrations; it's an honor to have one of the premier members of Vanguard. Could you tell us why the others couldn't make it?"

She chuckled, "Druid and Anthem are taking care of business on the other side of the world, but word on the street is that Diamondback and Flux are in town, so if I were planning on trouble tonight, I'd reconsider it.."

"And what do you have to say for those who are just discovering their powers – could you give us some insight about what it's like to be an Evolved?"

Steel Prophet took a moment of pause before she spoke. "Being an Evolved is all about responsibility." She continued, dramatically. "You're given a gift that regular folk can only dream of. At first, it'll feel like a curse. Life'll start being different. Everything starts to feel different, strange and far beyond the ordinary but bit by bit, you'll learn. And who knows, you might even become one of us.."