04x03 - Subtleties

A new member joins Team Alpha. Spike reveals to Landers a key truth about their employer.

SUBTLETIES

June 21 - 26, 2011

 

     Over the weekend, Austin was busy scouring the internet for some random stuff he could read while he was bored during school hours. He usually had good rapport with his teachers so in the down times, after seatworks or during dead air, he would grab a custom printed booklet-type short story and just read.

     One of these stories was I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison, which automatically gripped him.

     Another one was this internet article entitled “Worst Roommate Ever,” which detailed the misadventures of a poor soul enduring his roommate who defecated in their apartment at times outside the restroom, among other misdeeds. He lent this to an old friend of his from last year, Ibarra Libosada, after he was done with it. He had realized that he enjoyed disturbing people, especially if he knew they could take it.

     Other than that, it was a total b***h that day when Ivan Handog (alias by his friends: Hotdog) kept talking about Green Lantern, the new s****y-a*s movie having just come out.

     Austin lent Roey “And I Must Scream”, which both of them liked. This was during P.E. class.

     “Misandry!” Austin said to Lui.

     “Is that?”

     “Hatred of men.”

     “At least we can call it something now.”
     “Isn’t it more comfortable to call it a Janet-ism?” Adam asked.

     “No. That would give her name the honor of being recognized,” Austin replied.

 

The next day, Austin continued The Two Towers, having reached the part where Gollum was in the Forbidden Pool. Lui continued his questioning of why Ms. Kit was so special as to not pick the class up. Austin just saw it as five minutes extra boss-time.

     During Lunch, Austin was in the library reading Tolkien.

     “Psst.”

     Austin looked around and saw Marise there by the shelves.

     “Hey,” Austin smiled as he went to the shelves. “Studying?”

     “Nah. Just browsing.”

     “How’s life?”

     “Tell her. Ask her…”

     “Good. How’s the presidency?”

     “Oh, you know. Haha. Well, so far, it’s fine. There’s not really much going on yet.”

     “Yeah. Slow quarter, isn’t it?”

    “Pretty much.”

    “For the love of everything holy, just ask you dumb piece of sh-”

     “It’s almost time. I’m gonna go.”

     “I’m going too.”

     “One point! Keep going.”

     As they were walking out, someone yelled, “MARISE!”

     Austin and Marise looked to see who it was.

     “Oh hey!”Marise said, seeing her friends. “It was nice seeing you, Austin!”

     “Same here.”

     Marise went off. Austin created a shadow portal underneath him, went inside the shadow realm, created a hall of mirrors using his shadow energy and began shattering them one by one until he had to go pick up his class.

     During History Class, Ms. Emily tested their recognition of famous historical and cultural figures.

     “Who can tell me who this is?” Ms. Emily said, “Yes, Froilan?”

     “GANDALF!”

     The class erupted into laughter.

     “No! It’s Charles Darwin. How about this? Yes, Jack?”

     “GANDHI!”

     Once again, the class erupted into laughter.

     “No! Not even close! This is Osama Bin Laden. Last one, before we finally start the new lesson.”
    “PORNOGRAPHY!” Froilan yelled.

     The class hadn’t recovered from the last one yet when this s**t happened.

     Ms. Emily sighed. “No, Froilan… this is Michelangelo’s David. Forget it, let’s start the lesson.”

     As Austin was laughing at this, he just realized what kind of class he was handling, not that he was clueless before, but only now did the full truth hit him.

     Later that day, after Music class, Austin decided to build some rapport with Sir Miel.

     “Sir, do you know about Axis of Awesome?”

     “Not really. Why?”

     “Well, they made this great video on YouTube. You should check it out. It’s the Four Chord Song. It’s basically every pop song ever in one medley, because most pop songs use the same four chords.”

     “Interesting. I’ll check it out.”

     Later that night, Austin tried writing his own short story, only intentionally making it pretentious, just to screw around with Roey when he asks him to read it, but he was thinking, perhaps, this pretension was actually really in his style.

     He didn’t bother revising the first draft, when he printed it and finished off The Two Towers.

 

The next morning, he read The Return of the King before Roey arrived. When he finally did, he gave him the story. Roey said it was cryptic. Austin replied, “That’s the point. I’m just f*****g with ya.”

     During Filipino Class, Ms. Cha said prior to this period that a report should have a sort of appetizer before getting into the main course. As such, Bambam’s group decided to start their mock report on India like this:

     “What movie is India? Indiana Jones!”

     This was one of the least sinful ones; the other puns will have been lost in translation.

     During the break, Rudi-Anne, the class president of Lanao Del Sur, approached Austin.

     “Austin, come with me.”

     “Why?”

     “Our class advisor wants a word.”

     “With me?”

     “Well, at least you.”

     Austin followed her down to where the old ESS-INTELSS was, under the main stairwell next to the bridge entrance of the Mindanao Building. She shot an electric bolt into a circular receiver about two centimeters in diameter, causing it to light up. The other three walls of area suddenly collapsed into free space as everything became a frenzy of reds, whites, yellows, blues, and pinks. As the area began to reconstruct itself, Austin started to see familiar faces. When the room snapped shut, it was about fifteen by fifteen meters large and had a table in the middle. A man was writing on the board. Austin recognized him immediately.

     “Sir Geck?”

     “Hello, Austin. Welcome to the Council 15.”

     “Take a seat,” Rudi said.

     Austin took a seat and saw the other class presidents and vice presidents there, as well the student council representatives.

     “I believe you know Belle,” Rudi said.

     “Of course. Hey, VP.”

     Belle smiled.

     “Marella, King, Lance, Guen, Aaron, Pia, Ernst, Napa, Justin, Justine, and some people that aren’t here yet form this council…and yours truly, of course,” Rudi said.

     “What is this council for?”

     “For improving the batch. Any problems will be addressed here,” Sir Geck responded.

     “So what are we going to do right now?”

     “Nothing, yet. So far, we’ve just come up with a name.”

     “’Council 15’?”

     “Do you have a better one? I think it’s fine,” Lance said.

     “Yeah. Sure… Hey, Ernst.”

     “Oh, Austin! Hey! Didn’t notice you!” Ernst said.

     “How the hell do you not notice me?”

     “Notice is relative.”

     “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

     “In due time…”

     Austin just looked at Ernst.

     “I’m kidding. Jeez,” Ernst said.

 

After classes, Austin was drinking orange soda in the dining area of the hotel when Adam and Stacy came to tag along.

     “Hey, you guys.”

     “Austin, Stacy here was curious about your powers.”

     “Ugh… I’m feeling inhibited. You using your powers, little girl?” Austin said jokingly.

     “Cut it out. I’m still getting used to it. It’s really a problem of making them work than keeping them under control.”

     “Well, inhibiting had that nature of being intrinsic. Anyway, what about my powers?”

     “Just, what do they do?”

     “Okay… Umm… to put it simply… okay, let me try this. You see, all human beings, contrary to popular belief, do have a soul… well, sort of. I can’t say this with any empirical truth when it comes to a soul as referenced by any religious text, but there is a sort of ‘metamatter’ that comes into play with a human being. These comprise basically of their emotions. And that’s what I play around with.”

     “So you piss people off?!” Adam said excitedly.

     “No. As for controlling the spectrum, I can’t exactly do that. The spectrum is controlled by the mind, therefore, psychic’s domain. I simply control the emotions themselves, the metamatter if you will. You see, it’s not exactly matter. It has no mass and volume. Every human being has an infinite amount of this so-called metamatter.”

     “So what do you do?”

     “Well, one is using my own metamatter to go into my shadow realm, as I’d like to call it. This is the source of my metamatter basically. If anyone else gets trapped in my shadow realm, they are at the mercy of my emotions. Also, since these emotions can be brought about by any memories or whatever, I can also use this shadow realm as a gateway between places. Remember, passion is an emotion, so if I’m passionate enough about getting somewhere, lame as that sounds, I can get there.”

     “So that’s what you did to Marvin?”Adam asked.

     “Yeah.”

     “Anything else?” Stacy asked.

     “Well, I can also bring the shadow matter out of the realm and into the real world, form weapons with it. They may not have mass or volume but they are tangible.”

     “So they exist beyond the laws of physics?”

     “Pretty much. I can throw you around with shadow matter.”

     “How about damage?”

     “Well, like I said, throwing you around would hurt, but what? You mean like, if I were to impale you with a shadowblade?”

    “Something like that? Yes! What would happen?” Stacy asked.

     “Well… let’s just say you’ll feel a rupture in your metamatter reservoir. When this stuff leaks out, it’s in f****n’ bulk, Stacy. You’ll feel empty inside pretty quickly.”

     “Jeez,” Adam exclaimed.

     “I can also, like most other spokes, form the shadow matter into a ball shape and shoot it at people with the same effects.”

     “Any weaknesses?”

     “Well, even though all humans have an infinite amount of metamatter in them, the size of their reservoir is, for a lack of a better term, limited. You never run out, but it would take a while to refill. As for how limited it is, this depends on how much emotion you choose to show. If you’re an emotionless b*****d, it’s a small space, but if you are angry a lot or happy a lot or in love or some s**t, then it’s gonna be a large reservoir. The thing is, whatever your reservoir’s size is, that’s what you’re going to be used to, so if I happen to fight against someone who’s devoid of emotion, let me just say I can only hurt him by throwing him around.”

     “Cool,” Stacy said.

     “No. Not cool. That would be a b***h of a fight to have.”

    “Anyway, thanks. I’m trying to figure out everyone’s powers.”

     “For what?”

     “For combat purposes.”

     “Combat? What?!”

     “Kyle Gomez said that you needed an extra person on your strike team or whatever. You know, school life’s boring. I want in.”

     Austin didn’t know how to react.

     “I mean, Adam’s in the team, why can’t I be?”

     “Sure. Welcome to Team ALPHA. I’ll see you around.”

     Austin stood up and went to Kyle’s room.

     “Kyle!”

     Kyle opened the door.

     “Yeah?”

     “You told Stacy without my permission?”

     “Hey. If you’re willing to trust Adam, why not Stacy?”

     “It’s not Stacy, Kyle. It’s the surprises. At least go through me before doing this.”

     “Sure. Sorry.”

     “No, it’s fine. She’s in. Your division.”

     “I thought Ivan’s team was the one with lacking members.”

     “I’m moving Patrick to Ivan’s team. You recruited her. You should handle her.”

     “Oh, sure.”

     “Anyway, see ya.”

     As Austin was walking away, Kyle called him.

     “Hey, Austin.”

     “Yeah?”

     “Stacy knows, doesn’t she?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Do you trust her?”

     “She asked me about my powers.”

     “Do you trust her?”

     Austin turned to face Kyle.

     “No. I don’t.”

    “Why’d you put her in the team, then?”

     “Do you trust her?”

     “Yeah.”

     “You’d pin your life on her?”

    “Austin, we’ve become good friends, same with Adam. Stacy’s a good person.”

     “Do you trust her with your life?”

    “Yes.”

     “I don’t trust her. Not yet, but since you do, I’m going to take a chance.”

     Kyle smiled slightly.

     “Anything else?”

     “How’s Marise?”

     “None of your business.”

     “Come on!”

     “I’m working on it.”

     “Better work fast,” Kyle said, smiling.

     “What the hell does that mean?”

     “You’re not the only shark in the sea… with her as a fish… let’s just say, it’s not exclusive.”

     Austin turned to walk away.

     “There are bigger problems here, Kyle.”

     “Like what? The Mastermind’s gone!”

     “Yeah, but it’s been too quiet. I don’t trust the atmosphere.”

     Austin continued to his room.

 

“LET ME GO! PLEASE!”

     Landers stared down a man, while watching Titus’ men stick him with needles.

     “You’re not wincing?” Spike said.

     “I’ve spent a fair amount of time around you on missions. Needles don’t make me sick anymore.”’

     “Then why is this making me sick?”

     “Who the hell is this guy anyway?”

     “Some homeless guy we picked up on the street. Nobody’s going to miss him.”

     Landers continued to stare down. There was silence between them.

     “You want a cup of coffee? I can’t bear to watch this s**t.”

     “Sure.”

 

They drank their coffee on the viewing deck. It was a small room with three solid walls and a curved glass wall where they could view the outside. There were a few cushioned seats in the room, as well as a bar and a coffee maker.

     “How long have you been here, exactly?” Landers asked.

     “Since my dad died.”

     “So around a year?”

     “Yeah.”
     “How’d you find them?”

    “They didn’t. There’s something I didn’t tell you.”

     “What?”

     “Remember when Austin was out of his mind and told me to kill myself?”

     “Yes. That happy thought.”

     “I was dead, James. I saw absolute darkness.”

     “No heaven. Got it. You were comatose. We picked you up.”

     “No. I was dead. The next thing I remember, everything was white. Then s**t started to go to normal and there, he was, standing in front of me.”

     “Your dad?”

    “No.”

     “Titus?”

     “The man he works for.”

     “S**t. So you’ve seen the big man?”

     “Yeah.”

     “What does he look like?”

     “I don’t know how to describe it. He was a young man. Not any older than thirty.”

     “God. Titus is older than him.”

    “Exactly.”

    “Then what happened?”

     “He offered me my life if I were to help him.”

     “What did he tell you to do?”

     “He told me to go back to work and keep surveillance on Austin Fernandez.”

     “Is that it? That amounted to nothing….”

     “Then he told me to plant a chip in a certain set of combat gear that he predetermined.”

     “What combat gear?”

     “The Mastermind was developing this gear to suck out powers. He asked Scarlet’s brother to test it.”

     “Jesus. Isaac?”

     “He asked me to plant the chip. He said he needed to kill the kid.”

     “Why the hell?”

     “He wanted to make Derek angry.”

     “At Austin? What would that accomplish?”

     “No. Derek’s not a dumbass. He knows it was the Mastermind’s thing.”

     “Is that all?”

     “He told me to place another chip in the Mastermind’s power absorber machine.”

     “What?!”

     “It would place all the powers under his own spoke: psychic.”

     “How did he know Austin would break out?”

     Spike shrugged.
     “So hang on, you’re saying, whoever is the boss asked you to betray the Mastermind?”

     “Yeah.”

     “And you did?!”

     “Jesus, Landers. The man had me killing kids.”

     Landers stood up.

     “SO DID THIS ONE, SPIKE?!”

     “You don’t understand why this one was justified.”

     “Oh, really?! Well, tell me. Explain to me why this was justified.”

     “Are you sure you want to know?”

     “That’s why I asked. Now tell me before I cut off your traitor head.”

     “If you do this, they’ll kill you.”

     “I don’t give a s**t. He was our friend and you let him die.”

     “Hear me out.”

     “All right… try me.”

     Landers jaw dropped once the words had left Spike’s mouth. He dropped back to his seat as Spike finished his coffee in deafening silence.