The Weird Girl and the Superheroes

Jocelyn was studying in the floor’s common room when the weird girl, whose name she could never remember, came in. The girl didn’t usually spend much time in the common areas; she was always out until odd hours and would return still wearing a white lab coat.

No one on the floor liked her. Some of them would make fun of her behind her back; Jocelyn’s roommate Rose was particularly cruel. Jocelyn didn’t take part in it but didn’t discourage it, either. When she and the weird girl ran into each other in the bathroom or on the stairs Jocelyn would smile politely, which she always feared the other girl would misinterpret as genuine friendliness.

“What’s up,” said Jocelyn flatly.

“Not much.” The weird girl sat on the couch across from Jocelyn. “What’cha working on?”

“Physics.”

The weird girl nodded. “How’s that going?”

“Okay,” Jocelyn said, “but I study better when I’m alone.” She hated to be rude, but this girl was not getting the hint.

“Well, I won’t bother you,” the weird girl said, “but I wanted to let you know about a club I’m starting.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “For superheroes.”

“What?” Jocelyn was sure she had misheard.

“Superheroes,” the girl loudly whispered. “People with superpowers.” Jocelyn stared blankly at her. “Don’t worry, no one has a superpower yet. I’ll be assigning them at the second or third meeting.”

“Oh, it’s a role-playing game? I’m not into those.”

“No!” the weird girl said, looking slightly offended. “Superheroes. Just come to the meeting. Tomorrow night, midnight, in the first group study room in the student centre. Keep it quiet, though. I don’t want everyone in this school trying to be a superhero.”

“I’ll pencil it into my calendar.” Jocelyn meant to sound sarcastic, but to her surprise she didn’t.

*

There were four people Jocelyn didn’t know at the meeting the next night, spread out around a large table. Like Jocelyn, they looked slightly nervous and fidgety. They stole looks at each other out of the corners of their eyes, but no one spoke.

Jocelyn had come out of a kind of perverse curiosity: she wanted to know if the weird girl was trying to orchestrate some kind of game, was actually insane, or if it was something else entirely. She hadn’t told anyone about it; her floor would have had a field day with it and she had decided she didn’t actively dislike the weird girl.

And on the chance, the miniscule, negligible chance that Braewyn was for real, Jocelyn wanted to be a part of whatever she was doing.

At twelve precisely, the weird girl stood up and called for silence. “My name is Braewyn” – no wonder Jocelyn could never remember such a ridiculous name – “and this is the first meeting of the superhero club.” She smiled as she looked at each person in turn. “Marco, Duncan, Prewitt, Letisha, Jocelyn. Thank you so much for coming.”

“I’ll be telling you all more about the club in a moment, but as you can understand, this is sensitive information. If you have any doubt that you want to be part of the club, you should leave now. If you stay, you’re in.”

“Tell us more first,” Jocelyn said. Relief showed on the other students’ faces; she wasn’t the only one to be doubtful.

“I understand why you want to know more,” Braewyn said, “but I really can’t reveal anything more without a commitment.” She gave Jocelyn a look that Jocelyn recognized; she had seen it on many teachers’ faces. Is this one going to be a troublemaker, that look said. She didn’t want to be a troublemaker.

Jocelyn looked around; it seemed that everyone was waiting for her move. She almost thought twice, but stopped herself. “I’m in.”

“Yeah, I’m in.”

“Count me in, too.”

Everyone agreed, although their wariness was apparent.

“We’ll do the slideshow now, then. Someone hit the lights.” Braewyn turned on a projector.

The first slide showed what Jocelyn recognized from high school biology classes as a DNA molecule. “For the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with genetic modifications.” Braewyn paused; the room was dead silent. “I’ve synthesized genes for powers that would previously have been thought impossible.”

The next slide showed white mice in a variety of strange, unnatural stances. “I’ve experimented on mice. I’ve given them immunity to diseases. Expanded mental capacity. Unnatural abilities. But the most interesting experiments, of course, can’t be done on mice.”

Braewyn clicked. The screen showed a bullet bouncing off Superman’s chest. Click. Spiderman climbing a vertical wall. Click. Wonder Woman hoisting a car off the ground.

“There are rules, of course,” Braewyn continued. “No more than one power per person. You take the power that you are assigned. Be aware that the only human I’ve experimented on so far is myself; I can’t guarantee anyone’s safety.”

She shut her laptop. “You were selected for two reasons,” she continued. “The first, I’ll explain later. The second is that I have information on each of you – information that you would prefer to remain private. Think of it as collateral. It’s my assurance that you won’t back out.” She smiled. “You can schedule your appointments for modifications over e-mail. The next meeting is next week. Same time, same place.”

Braewyn hadn’t asked for questions or feedback, Jocelyn noticed; in any case, she had so many questions she wouldn’t have known where to start. The five would-be superheroes filed silently out of the room.

*

For the week between the first and second meetings, Jocelyn thought of little besides superpowers. One minute she would be convinced that Braewyn was insane, and that it would be lunacy to subject herself to whatever “experiments” the other girl had cooked up. The next minute she would remember that she was one of five people in the world who had the chance to have a superpower, and tell herself that it would be more idiotic to pass up on the opportunity.

The other issue was Braewyn’s “collateral.” Jocelyn had a good idea of what it might be. There were a number of things in her past that she wasn’t overly proud of, but one stood out. She had never told anyone about it, and she never would. If Braewyn knew about it, she would do anything the other girl said in order to keep it a secret.

Jocelyn did her schoolwork dutifully, but without effort. She spent her free time rereading her old comic books or looking up journal articles about genetic engineering at the library. She hardly spoke to Rose, her roommate; usually they hung out all the time. “What’s with you?” Rose asked.

“Huh? Nothing.”

She was desperate to hear more from Braewyn. She thought of knocking on her door, which was always closed, but guessed she would just turn her away. She only saw Braewyn in the halls once, when she was coming in and Braewyn was leaving. Before, she would have averted her eyes, or mumbled a hello if she was feeling generous. Now she stopped and changed direction to try to walk along with Braewyn. “I’m busy, Jocelyn.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She turned and went to her room, feeling rebuked.

*

On the day of her modification appointment, Jocelyn met Braewyn in an empty biology lab on campus.

“Are you ready?”

Against her better judgment, Jocelyn didn’t ask any questions. “Yes.”

Braewyn directed her to sit down. “Your arm, please.”

Jocelyn rolled up her sleeve and looked away. In a second, she felt a prick, then a dull ache that spread from the site of the injection. “Did it work?” Jocelyn asked. “What’s my power?”

The ache continued to spread and intensify. When it reached Jocelyn’s head, it pounded in her temples, something like how she imagined a migraine might feel.

“What am I thinking?” Braewyn asked.

Jocelyn stared at herself through the other girl’s eyes. Braewyn’s voice was clear, even though her lips didn’t move. “If you can hear this, your power is working.”

Jocelyn’s jaw nearly dropped. “I can read minds!”

Braewyn nodded.

“But – this shouldn’t even be possible! How did you do this?” Braewyn didn’t answer, and Jocelyn let it go. “Thank you!” She almost wanted to hug the other girl, but Braewyn wasn’t really the huggable type. “Thank you so much! I’ve always wanted - ”

“You can only use this power for the mission,” Braewyn said firmly, cutting Jocelyn off. “Don’t use it until I tell you to.”

Jocelyn’s ebullience was quieted. “Oh.”

“Now go. I have another appointment in a few minutes.”

Jocelyn left, not thinking about Braewyn’s strange choice of words until she was gone. What mission?

*

The atmosphere at the second meeting was charged; the other students seemed excited and less standoffish than before. Braewyn called the meeting to order. “Tonight, we are truly a club of superheroes,” she said. “Each one of you has a power, a superhuman or supernatural ability.

“Marco, superstrength. Duncan, superspeed. Prewitt, superhuman vision. Letisha, superhuman hearing. Jocelyn, telepathy.”

Jocelyn smiled. Her power was totally the coolest. Following Braewyn’s instructions, she hadn’t experimented with it; she half-thought that Braewyn would have some way to find out if she used it against her wishes. Still, she was psyched to try whenever the other girl did allow her to.

“These powers are not ours to have fun with,” Braewyn said. “We have a mission.” The others leaned in, anxious for the information. “At this school, there are certain people, both students and staff, who are working for evil purposes. They are part of an organization that intends to destroy the fabric of our society. We are going to take them down, one by one. We are going to spy on them and find information about them that will ruin their lives - forever. And if that isn’t enough,” Braewyn said, “we are going to hurt them.

“Some of these people are people that you know. You may care about, even love them. Some of you were chosen to be here because of your relationships with these people; your proximity to them will help us to take them down. Believe me when I tell you that what they are doing is so reprehensible that the worst we could do to them, the worst you could imagine, would never be bad enough.”

Jocelyn interrupted. “What organization - ”

“Did I call on you to speak?” Braewyn snapped.

Jocelyn had to know more. She couldn’t go forward, blindly accepting a mission to take down people, some of whom she might care about, on Braewyn’s word. Just for a second, she pushed her way into Braewyn’s mind.

She expected to see some kind of immoral society, something like the Mafia or a child pornography ring. Instead, she saw Rose, sitting in the caf laughing with some of her and Jocelyn’s floormates. Braewyn was remembering watching her with superhuman vision, listening to her with superhuman hearing. Rose was talking about Braewyn.

“Stay out of my mind!” Braewyn shouted. Her anger was palpable. Jocelyn trembled.

Braewyn took a deep breath, still glaring at Jocelyn. “This is our mission. You’ve already accepted it.”