Chapter 3: The Becoming

Jack Foxx staggered to his feet, hand clutching at his head. Blood trickled down his forehead from where his head had slammed against a tree. Glass shards trickled off his shoulders, the result of his being smashed through a window by... what?

What happened? he silently asked, blinking his eyes as his vision slowly focused back to normal. Did that bitch girl do that? He had been blinded by a light, brighter than he had ever seen before. Then, before he knew it, some force had slammed into him, threw him through the window and out into the woods around the cabin.

He looked up at the cabin. Unless his vision was still not right, he was over a hundred feet away from the cabin. Whatever it was that had hit him was powerful.

He took a step forward, then yelled in agony. The pain, the pain from before. The pain from when the reporter's daughter had found something in the woods. It had erupted into a glow that had bathed around her and had done something to him too. At the time, it had felt like a red hot needle had been burrowing its way out of his head, but this time, it felt like his whole body was being burned. He fell to the ground, screaming.

"Jesus Christ! Ow! Fucking ow!"

*Get up.*

Jack opened his eyes. The pain was gone. But who had spoken?

*I did. Now rise to your feet.*

Jack slowly rose to his feet, looking around for the speaker. He saw no one else around.

*Nor will you. I am speaking to you from your mind.*

"My mind?" he still continued to look around for the person who was speaking to him.

*You must listen to me, fool. She will be coming for you within moments. The female, she has been altered. She is very powerful now. But so are you. The pain you have experienced is your body adjusting to the changes the orb made to your body. If you listen to my instructions, we can defeat her.*

Jack smiled. He already liked this guy, whoever he was.

Erin tugged her jeans on while Samantha crouched down, tending to her mom and watching for Foxx to return. Erin's eyes never left her best friend the whole time she had gotten dressed, and a million questions raced through her mind.

While she pulled on a t-shirt, she asked one of them.

"Blondie, what happened to you?"

Samantha didn't look at Erin, she was still looking at the nasty looking bump on her mom's head. "It must've been that metal thing I saw outside. It's given me super-powers or something."

Erin's mouth fell open. "So you're like a costumed hero now? Like Doctor December and Captain Pulsar?"

"I don't know," Samantha said in a hushed tone. Then, louder, "Look, my mom's knocked out. I need you to watch her while I go look for that psycho."

"I'll take care of her, don't worry."

Samantha looked back and smiled at her best friend. "I know you will. If she wakes up, don't tell her what happened or where I went. She'll just worry about me."

Erin nodded in understanding. Samantha stood up and moved for the front door. She was still glowing, but not as bright as she was when her aura first erupted out of her.

"Be careful, blondie," Erin called after her.

Samantha smiled reassuringly to her, and then she closed the door behind her.

Jack strode through the woods back to the cabin. The gash on his head was gone, already healed. All that remained was the blood that had run down the side of his face. The marks from where his fingernails had dug into his hands were likewise healed, just the blood remaining.

"So who are you?" Jack asked his unseen partner.

*You do not need to speak aloud for me to hear you. I can hear your every thought.*

So then who are you? Jack repeated the question, this time in his mind.

*The Inventor.*

Jack stopped in his tracks. The guy who's always fighting the Challengers?

*The same.*

Jack processed that information in his mind for a moment, then started walking towards the cabin again.

So how did that orb thing of yours end up here?

*The Challengers had discovered my most recent plot to gain world domination and had attacked me in my satellite lair. During the battle between them and my guardian robots, the hull of the satellite was breached and many items aboard were tossed out into space in the ensuing vacuum. The orb the female discovered was one of those items, fallen to earth from space. It was one of my experiments.*

What was it supposed to do? Jack asked. He got the feeling that there was more to this story than the Inventor was telling him.

There was a slight pause before the Inventor answered, as if he was thinking. *The orb had been designed to fuse superhuman powers onto an ordinary human being, such as yourself, and to allow telepathic communication between us. My desire had been to create a series of superhuman agents to act under my guidance in gaining dominance over the planet.*

"Ha!" Jack laughed aloud. Well, it sure worked. For both me and the bitch girl.

There was again a slight pause. *You do not understand. The device worked perfectly... for you. The orb altered you and gave you the powers I told you that you now possess. But what happened to the girl is... unexplained. The orb was specifically designed to only imbue those with criminal leanings in their mind with the powers. But the girl, she is pure. I watched her in the cabin, through your eyes, and I know that she is an innocent. The orb should not have altered her as it did. Nor can I telepathically communicate with the girl. What happened to her was not supposed to happen.*

Jack could hear the frustration in the Inventor's voice. He was clearly a man not used to his designs working incorrectly.

*There she is!*

Jack looked up and saw her. She was moving in his general direction. She was still glowing, but not as brightly as before. She was looking around, but she had not spotted him yet.

*Quickly! Make the first strike!*

Jack nodded and clenched his fists. It's going to be a pleasure, he told his ally.

He bent down and picked up a large rock. Though it weighed several hundred pounds, he hefted it over his head as though it's weight was nothing. His muscles didn't even strain against the weight.

"Hey! Honey tits!" he shouted just before he threw the rock with all his might at her.

Samantha whirled around to see the large rock hurtling through the air at her. She screamed and instinctively threw her arms up to shield her face. Suddenly, her aura flared up, and the rock smashed into her with explosive power. She was thrown back through the air...

... and didn't come down. Tentatively, she opened her eyes. She was hovering in mid-air. The aura of light around her had protected her from most of the force of impact, but she still hurt. Her whole body hurt pretty bad, but not bad enough that she was out of it quite yet. But what was even more amazing to her was this new revelation about her powers.

"I'm flying," she said in awe. "I'm actually flying."

*Get her!* the Inventor urged Foxx. *Get her now!*

"How?" Jack asked aloud, staring dumbly at the flying teenager. She was fifty feet off the ground and she was just hovering there, staring down at herself in amazement.

*She has clearly just discovered the power of flight. She cannot maneuver quickly enough if you leap after her! Your leg muscles are strong enough now to carry you that high! Go after her!*

Jack crouched down, then pushed away from the ground with all his strength. Sure enough, he leapt off of the ground and into the air. The direction of his leap would carry him right into her.