Part One: Jay's Story- Chapter Four: Break In

The next two years pass in a flash. My days are full of training programs that all of the S.O.S. villains are required to take. On top of that, I have school - actual school - picking up right where I left off. What little free time I have on the weekends I use modifying my costume - sorry, uniform - in the labs. When Darkling has time, he helps me fine-tune the technological aspects. That’s how I learn that he’s a technopath, along with being an umbrakinetic and photokinetic like his older brother, a better known and much more powerful villain who goes by Darknight.

By the time I catch up with training, my uniform is no longer the home-made dress it had been before. The fabric is a photonium-aeronium weave that Darkling developed himself. Unlike normal photonium or aeronium, which has harmful effects on people who aren’t photo or aerokinetics, the material Darkling created is able to be used by anyone, because he weaved it with another metal. Like all metametals, photonium is more durable than, say, carbon fibers. Added to that, my flap-like wings have been replaced with titanium feathered wings laced with photonium and aeronium that are built to respond to subtle cues that the human eye can’t pick up and therefore let me actually fly. I’m also given regulation contact-like lenses that act as eye protection and also record information, similar to how cybernetic eyes work, but not as detailed.

With my new training and uniform, it’s only fitting that I also choose an alias, as I’m the only agent without one. Even after two years, though, I’m stuck. I need one if I’m going to participate in Morgan’s rescue.

Another surprise. When I told Darkling my main reason for joining, he agreed to help me rescue Morgan from S.W.O.R.D. As my training finalized, he started coming up with a plan. Now that I have my uniform and a new short sword that I can actually use, the only roadblock is what everyone’s supposed to call me. A new villain showing up at S.W.O.R.D could raise some questions, and no villain wants their name chosen by someone else.

Some villains have suggested ice and water-related names, based off of my recently discovered cryokinetic and aquakinetic abilities. I found out I have powers on one of the few weapon training sessions six or so months ago when Darkling was personally training me. He’d used a move we hadn’t worked on before, nearly cutting my arm off. However, right as his blade touched me, ice had frozen nearly all the way up his arm. After a bit of experimentation in explosion-proof power-training rooms, I figured out that I have the ability to create and manipulate water and ice, which might come in handy later.

After that, Darkling made me an official weapon, a short sword made of cryonium - the ice-infused metametal - that soon became my go-to for a fight. I also have my own office, on one of the lower floors of the headquarters. I don’t use it for much, but I do have a few files there that someone might want to steal. It’s also where I keep my extensive computer system. The computer is helpful when I have to type up reports because even villains need to file reports on our missions.

After returning from a short mission, I’m standing outside my office door, about to enter. From inside, I hear a thump, like a chair being overturned. Is someone in my office? I open the door and freeze. Two people are standing in the middle of the room, heading for the window.

“Hold it!” I snap. They turn to face me. One of them, a girl about my age with curly dark hair, looks very familiar... “Mandy?” What is she doing here? “What are you doing in my office?”

Mandy blinks. “Office?” She tilts her head. “Jules?” I take in her and her companions. They’re all wearing what looks like... S.W.O.R.D uniforms? They’re part of S.W.O.R.D! I clench my fists when I notice the files they’re holding. Stealing, from me! Not a chance.

“Don’t call me Jules,” I growl. Before I can register it, my sword is in my hand. “I am Jay.”

As Mandy stares, dumbfounded, I hear the door open. “Jay?” Darkling’s voice causes my heart to skip a beat. “What happened here?” He takes in the mess of my office. “Who are they?”

Suddenly, the whole situation strikes me as funny. Mandy, who’d been my best friend, teamed up with a person I didn’t know, breaking into my office to steal files of information I hadn’t thought S.W.O.R.D knew existed. I smirk. “Oh, just some mindwiped agents from S.W.O.R.D,” I reply. One of them snorts.

“S.W.O.R.D, is that right?” Darkling is obviously disgusted. “Always sending heroes to do their work for them,” he mutters. “I’ll take care of this.” He summons a shadow-sword and charges. Mandy brings up a strange saber-like weapon. They dance back and forth across the room, exchanging blows. Then Mandy knocks him off balance, sheathes her saber, and throws Darkling out the window.

“Darkling!” I shout, lunging forwards. Mandy turns to face me. I narrow my eyes. “You will pay for that.” I throw out a hand, using ice to shove her against the wall, making a cuff around her neck to pin her.

“What happened to you?” She gasps.

“What did they do to you?” I snarl in response.

She starts to choke, unable to reply, but pulls out a lighter, with an almost triumphant expression on her face.

I don’t remember quite what happened next. Mandy may have said something. I might have responded. The next thing I remember clearly is staggering to my feet and looking wildly around the destroyed office. Mandy had used some sort of explosive to create an escape route. She’d left, and taken her new friend with her. I immediately leaped out of what was left of the window to find Darkling.

That was probably the most exciting and frustrating moment for the next two weeks as we prepared to rescue Morgan.