No Capes: Chapter 3

Ryan dragged his ass out of bed. A groan escaped him as he stretched. He was used to the paper-thin sheet of foam that was the bed on his boat, not the ultra-soft one he had slept on in his new apartment last night. He left the bedroom and through the living room, the sight of Cape City from his window caught his attention. The massive skyscrapers showed the wealth of the capital city of the Godson Republic. Once, images of the skyline filled him with thoughts of striking it rich. Now he wasn’t so sure. 

On one hand, he was pissed about being blackmailed into joining the superhero program, but if he didn't concede to their demands, they would figure out fast that several cities had some very similar jewel heists. 

On the other hand, there was the excitement of having a family again with Hannah and Natasha. He had survived on the streets as a pickpocket as a child until he was old enough to run with gangs and work for established supervillains. Always watching his back, even with those he called his friends. Having a family was a distant dream to him back then.

He checked the time and saw that he had about an hour until he needed to leave for his meeting and tour at the CCSO. Plenty of time to have a quick breakfast and get ready. He held out his hand to use his Armory power to summon some clothing, only nothing happened.

He stared at his hands for a moment, wondering if his power had somehow vanished. Then he remembered the bike helmet in the other room. He used his power and the helmet appeared in his hands.

“My boat…” Ryan said with realization. “What did they do to my boat!”

He was pissed, but his temper had cooled some by the time he returned to the apartment from the convenience store across the street. He frowned at his reflection in the mirror after changing. The only clothing the convenience store had was targeted at tourists. The I Heart Cape City t-shirt and pocketless khaki shorts were not a good look, but still better than the wrinkled suit from last night.

It was a fifteen-minute drive from his apartment to the CCSO headquarters. Along the way, he took in the city. Not the sightseeing tourists do when they gawk at skyscrapers. He looked for the smaller things that told him about the health of the city, such as how the people carried themselves and how stores displayed their goods.

He saw people walking on the sidewalks, keeping their distance from one another and avoiding eye contact. They kept their hands in their pockets, hiding watches, and rings or keeping a hand on their wallets. The store displays were in the latest fashions, but the mannequins didn’t wear jewelry of any kind. All this told him that tensions were high in the city. He cursed himself silently for not looking more into what was going on before coming here.

He had planned for the jewelry heist to be a grab and dash, and as such, had neglected getting a read on the criminal underworld of the City.

The CCSO HQ came into view. High walls covered in ivy encircled a well-maintained lawn, buildings scattered about it, connected by pathways with sitting areas by fountains or flowerbeds. The place looked more like a college campus than somewhere for superheroes to work and train.

Ryan parked the bike and made his way to the security gate at the entrance of the HQ. He gave a friendly wave to the security grunts. They were probably just regular folks without powers working a nine-to-five.

“Morning. I was told to come here by Director Sara. I’m joining the superhero program,” Ryan said before he heard a loud swoosh followed by a thud. One of the guards let out a groan.

Ryan turned and saw a blond woman in an old aviator getup striking a pose, the sidewalk below her cracked from the impact of her landing. She turned and saluted him with a massive smile on her face.

“Never fear! Jet is here!”

Ryan looked at the smiling woman, then back at the security guards, who were already mixing a bag of cement into a wheelbarrow. He turned back and faced Jet, still saluting.

“Hi,” he said with a small wave.

Jet finally dropped her salute. He caught her eyes looking him up and down as she did.

“So, did I hear right? You're a new trainee superhero?”

“Yeah. Director Sara took me out for dinner last night and pitched the offer to me. I’m heading to her office to do the paperwork.”

“Director Sara should focus on men her own age,” Jet said with a scowl.

Ryan was starting to wonder if Director Sara had a reputation or something.

“Well, today is your lucky day, recruit. You get the world-famous Jet to show you around!”

Ryan had never heard of Jet before his stay in the hospital, and he made a note to learn of the top and up-and-coming superheroes given his profession. Well, his old profession.

“Great. You can show me to Director Sara’s office,” Ryan said.

Jet walked over to the gatehouse and leaned against the wall. The guards were already working to patch the section of the sidewalk she had damaged.

“I bet you’re surprised to see me greeting you here. I’m normally patrolling the city for crime, but even us A-Class superheroes still need to come into the office once in a while. Today was just your lucky day,” Jet said, pointing a finger at him. “So, feel free to ask me any questions you want to know about being a superhero.”

“Okay. Where is Director Sara’s office?” Ryan asked.

Jet scowled again and crossed her arms.

“Why do you want to talk to that dusty old cougar anyways?” she asked with a pout.

Ryan wanted to scream paperwork, but he wasn’t sure even then if Jet would hear him. Instead, he glared at the rather dense superhero before him.

“Oh, it’s you. Seeing you here, I take it that things went well with Director Sara?” A husky voice said.

Ryan turned and saw a woman in a black and blue super-suit and he recognized her as the other woman from the hospital.

“Dream Siren, right?” Ryan asked.

She nodded in return.

“Of course, he recognizes the C-Class hero with the double D size chest…” Jet grumbled.

Dream Siren turned and looked at Jet.

“You seriously don’t recognize him?” Dream Siren exclaimed.

Jet just turned and looked at Ryan, before turning back to Dream Siren and shaking her head. Dream Siren crossed her arms and gave Jet a deadpan stare.

“He was the guy we were guarding at the hospital the other night. The one you were hoping the nurses would give a sponge bath too.”

Jet’s head whipped towards Ryan. Her eyes widened as she turned a deep shade of red. Without another word, she shot up into the air and flew off. Ryan turned to Dream Siren.

“I don’t suppose you can show me where Director Sara’s office is?” he asked.

Dream Siren gave him a nod and a smile. Director Sara’s office was located within the first building past the gatehouse Dream Siren had him there within a three-minute walk, which just made him more irritated at Jet for wasting his time.

“Well, welcome to the CCSO,” Dream Siren said before she left him outside Director Sara’s door. Ryan gave her a nod of thanks for the help before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” Sara announced from the other side of the door.

Ryan opened the door and stepped inside. Sara’s office was bare bones, just a desk, a chair, and a couch. The only decorations were a framed poster of a superhero, named Bonespur, that looked like Sara, but with a mask over her eyes, and several small framed pictures. The smaller pictures were of Sara smiling as she stood beside a group of superheroes wearing the in-training super-suits.

“Good morning, Gem-Caller,” Sara greeted with a mischievous smile.

Ryan groaned at that stupid name.

“I thought you weren’t going to dig into me if I joined up?”

“I wouldn't call it digging. Once we put your powers into the system we had an alert pop up matching an unknown supervillain reported in Rapid City for theft. Which is odd since you lived in Cove City. I just thought I’d throw the name out there and see if it rang in bells. Ringa-ding-ding.”

Ryan sighed as he took a seat in the chair before Director Sara’s desk. He had slipped up during a heist some years back and was seen by the side-kick of the hero that had responded. The two of them had even gotten in a small scuffle before he had escaped. The side-kick made a big stink about it for months after. He had avoided Rapid City since.

“You don’t shit where you eat,” he said.

Sara tapped her chin in thought.

“I wonder what supervillain taught you that? Certainly wasn’t your father.”

“I’m going along with this blackmail, but let me make one thing clear. If you think I’m going to snitch, you’re wrong and can lock me up now.” Ryan gave her a hard glare.

Sara surprisingly just smirked at him.

“Fine by me. I’ll back you up if any other Directors try to push. I understand the world isn’t black and white.”

“So, where’s my boat? I tried to summon some clothes this morning, only to end up empty-handed. Even if it had sunk, I'd still be able to summon them, which means the boat is within a power-dampening field or something similar, which is tech only superhero organizations have.”

Sara froze for a second then frowned.

“Stuart,” she said with a growl. “That jackass probably had it impounded in case you tried to flee.”

“Well, then I’m unarmed since it’s where I keep all my weapons.” Ryan sighed.

“We’ll get you some non-lethal weapons. You’re going to be a hero now after all,” Sara said as she slid a stack of papers and a pen towards him.

“Just remember. No capes,” Ryan said as he clicked the pen.

Sara ignored him to play on her phone while he did paperwork. There was a knock on the door as he signed the last page.

“Come in,” Sara said.

The door opened and an auburn-haired woman with large canine ears walked in, followed by a large and fluffy tail. She was wearing a hero in-training super-suit and Ryan recognized her as the woman he had saved the other day. Seemed the hospital had been able to fully recover her injuries as well.

“You wanted to see me, Director S–” she froze as her eyes landed on him and Ryan smiled.

“Glad to see you’re alright,” Ryan said to her. The woman blushed and her tail swayed behind her. Once she realized what it was doing, she tried to stop the tail with her hand.

“Rachel, this is Ryan Burrow. He is joining the superhero training program,” Sara said with a coy smile on her face. “I thought you could help me show him around the facility, and give your fellow in-trainee advice.”

“Yes!” she said quickly. Her hand was on her tail, trying to keep it still.

Sara began leading them around the campus of the CCSO. Many of the rooms were designed for training scenarios such as rescues in urban and wilderness areas. As they moved around, Ryan noticed a clear lack of men. Not only was every person he had seen a woman, but they watched him with wide eyes as he passed, making him feel a little self-conscious.

“It's time for a history lesson. As I’m sure you know, the Godson Republic is known as the Nation of Superheroes since all superheroes originate from it, supervillains as well. Long ago, a meteor created the Godson inland sea, which the Republic encircles. Something within the meteor changed our ancestors that lived around the sea and gave them superpowers.”

Sara turned back and looked at Ryan to make sure he was paying attention. He was, since anywhere else he looked there was someone leering at him. Rachel kept switching what side of his she was walking on. It seemed like each time someone started to approach him, she would switch sides to put herself between them.

“Our ancestors didn’t always use their powers for good. Many tricked early civilizations into seeing them as Gods, demanding tributes and causing great destruction and harm to those civilizations. Some have pointed to this as the start of supervillains and those who ventured out to stop them as the start of superheroes. Regardless, the Godson Republic, through the CCSO and its sister organizations, provides the nations of the world with superheroes to combat threats to their safety, be it from man-made, natural disaster or supervillains.”

Sara led them to a set of double doors and stopped, turning and smiling at Ryan.

“This next area will be vital to your Armory power, Ryan,” Sara said before she pushed the doors open and walked through.

Ryan followed behind her into what looked like the laboratory of a mad scientist. After a moment, he realized that’s exactly what it was. Machinery was scattered about the blindingly white room in various states of being repaired or torn apart. What looked like a mech from some anime stood in the center of the room, and Ryan wondered how they would ever get it out of the room.

“Sam, are you here? I have someone I want you to meet,” Sara called out into the room.

A brunette woman with messy hair peeked out of the cockpit of the mech and looked over at them.

“Hello Director Sara,” Sam said as she began to climb out of the mech.

“Sam, I want you to meet– What the hell are you wearing!?” Sara exclaimed.

Two hands quickly covered Ryan’s eyes. Given that Rachel had been beside him, he figured they were hers. Still, it was too late and he had already seen everything. Sam was wearing a set of high-end lingerie under her lab coat.

“It’s a lab coat from a different brand than my old ones. I don’t like it as much since there are fewer pockets, still, it was quite cost-effective.”

“Not the lab coat! Why are you only wearing lingerie under it!” Sara said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I read an article in Pink! Magazine about how lingerie boosts confidence. I have not noticed a significant boost in my experiments, but the results are still early and there might be variables.”

“Sam, I brought Ryan here to meet you. He’s a man,” Sara with a huff.

“The magazine listed several benefits that lingerie held for the male sex, which included increased blood flow, increased–”

“Button it, Sam! In more ways than one.” Sara said.

A few seconds later, Rachel stopped covering his eyes. She gave him a meek smile and apologized. Sam stood beside Director Sara with a neutral expression on her face, her lab coat buttoned closed, while Sara rubbed her temples as if she had a migraine. 

“Sam, Ryan. Ryan, Sam. The apparent local exhibitionist.”

Sam stepped forward and held out her hand towards him. Ryan went to shake it, only for her to grab his wrist and slip a device onto his finger from the pocket of her lab coat. She took the device off his finger and walked over to a table, picking up a tablet and connecting the device to it.

“Ryan Burrow. Hero in-training. Powers: Armory and Extreme Durability. There is very little information about him in the database. Is this an error, Director Sara?”

Sara was rubbing her forehead with her hand.

“Hello. How are you? Nice to make your acquaintance. That’s how you greet people, Sam. Not by running their fingerprints through the CCSO database!” Sara exclaimed. “And no, it’s not an error. Ryan is a special case and I want you to help him with his Armory ability.”

Sam nodded and approached him with her tablet in hand.

“Your Armory ability. How do you bind with items and what are the limits of the power?” she asked as she typed something out on the tablet.

“I have to touch the item and assign a number to it. As long as it’s something I can lift and it’s inanimate I can summon it.”

Sam paused for a moment and looked at him as she cocked her head to the side, before resuming what she was doing on the tablet.

“That’s quite strong for an Armory ability. Most would have to spend hours binding the item, or use their blood for the binding agent,” Sam said as her fingers began to play with the buttons on her lab coat. “What are the upper limits for your Extreme durability?”

“About three floors,” Ryan jested. “I inherited it from my mom. She was a Speedster and was able to barrel through military tanks with it.”

Sara coughed and tilted her head towards Rachel. Ryan looked at her and saw her staring at him with wide eyes. Thankfully Sam shifted topics, though the conversation was with herself.

“Your defensive capabilities open up the possibility for melee weaponry,” Sam said as her fingers mindlessly played with the buttons on her lab coat, slowly undoing them. She had two buttons popped before Sara noticed.

“Alright. We’ll leave you to your thoughts, Sam!” Sara said as she ushered Ryan and Rachel out of the lab. She let out a heavy sigh once she closed the door. “I'll show you the cafeteria, where we can break for lunch. Hopefully, everyone will be clothed.”