My Super-powered Diary Chapter 23 Need to Know By Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero?

Once my sisters, and their respective Fairy companions, had finished their turns with Kendra choosing classes and being updated on our new ‘origin story’ we headed to the Grotto to meet the members of 4-Ward. With just over a week until school was in session there weren’t many people there so as we all ate dinner together we got to know one another a bit better. We started out talking about our interests and it turned out that the four of them loved surfing as much as Vanessa did. “We’ve been surfing together all summer, and being out in that heat all the time seems to be helping Garret with staying in his human form longer. There’s some great beaches around here, but they’re part of the whole tourist scene that Costa Verde is getting popular for so they’re kinda crowded during the summer,” Michelle pointed out.

Garret gave a shrug and laughed. “Yeah you do not want to know what it’s like surfing in a fur coat, and wet fur really sucks, its good incentive to work on my shifting.”

“Cool, I was going to teach my sisters how to surf, maybe you can all help with that?” Vanessa asked the grinning foursome. “Merida and I have boards and such, but we’ll need to find some for Tasha and the twins.”

“Sure! It’ll go faster and you’ll all be out enjoying the waves sooner if we all kick in to teach them, and we can compare notes too,” Hiro replied with a grin. “Most of the beaches around here have decent rental shops, but if you’re looking to buy, the best place would be Surf n’ Turf at Greenhill Mall, That place is huge and they sell a variety of outdoor sports gear: Surfing, hiking, camping, running, and pretty much any other form of exercise or fun that can be had outside.”

Lindsey added her conspiratorial grin to those that the others from her team were wearing. “Once you all have boards, we can start the fun. Now as Michelle said, the beaches here can get pretty crowded with all the tourists, but we gotcha covered. The cove here on campus isn’t a bad place to chill out and catch some killer waves, and students can get access to the school facilities year round. Some of the best surf conditions around, and more private than anywhere else, unless you can somehow afford to live at one of the private beach villas with your own stretch of beach.”

“Actually…” I began a little self-consciously between taking huge chunks out of the mountain of food on my tray. “We jus’ moved intae one o’ those.”

All four of our new friends stared at us wide-eyed, but it was Hiro who finally spoke with a slightly confused expression. “Umm… forgive me if I sound rude, but you don’t seem the rich-kid types, though it may explain how girls with such varied ethnic backgrounds can be sisters. Usually the rich kids we get here at the academy are huge snobs, we have one in Starfish and even she was really standoffish, rude, and acting all superior to the rest of us for most of last year. Those in the other dorms are some of the worst bullies in the school. The five of you seem really down to earth though.”

“Mom does alright, she’s a doctor an’ a Tinker, an’ she was doin’ a lot o’ government tech contracts ‘til recently. We only moved intae one o’ those places ‘cause we needed the space wi so many o’ us. She doesnae like to show off ‘ow well off we are, an’ she’s tryin’ tae raise us tae be responsible an’ appreciate the value o’ money. I’m ‘er only biological kid though, she adopted the others after we all... Activated a few weeks ago, they were all orphans ‘til then,” I explained.

“I smell an origin story!” Lindsey said leaning forward eagerly.

That’s when we gave them our newly edited origin story. My sisters started with how they had all been kidnapped from their respective orphanages and then I contributed my fictional kidnapping before laying out the entire cover story about the Matriarch, the Fairies’ fictional origin, us getting Activated and Fawn and I getting quantum entangled through magical experimentation, and Mom coming to rescue me. We told them about our daring escape, though we were vague on the details of that, and then we finished up with the Matriarch’s capture and how Mom had adopted my new sisters to keep them safe.

They were all looking at us sympathetically. I hated to lie to them, but there was a lot of truth in it even if some of the players had changed and our real origin needed to remain classified. “Wow, you’ve all been through the wringer, but it’s nice that you all found a home and can stay together,” Michelle said after a moment, looking a bit misty-eyed.

“It’s been hardest on Merida, she has nightmares every night from what happened and Toxin says she’s got a condition that makes it hard to control her powers, so we’ve all been waking up to the sound of explosions lately,” Tasha pointed out with a sympathetic look.

“Some form of Transformative Stereotype Disorder?” Garret asked. “I have TSD, it affects me mostly during full moons. I can’t change back into my human form at all then, and have a hard time controlling my baser instincts.”

“Speaking of TSD, I really need to get wet again. It’s apparently a mermaid thing,” Vanessa interjected as she took her spray bottle out of her purse and began spritzing herself, though her eyes were on me. She was offering me an out if I wanted it, a distraction if I didn’t feel comfortable enough yet to reveal the nature of my condition.

“Aye, I ‘ave a type o’ TSD Garret,” I responded to the werewolf after a long moment. “Toxin called it PCEDS an’ said tha’ I dinnae ‘ave near as strong an emotional filter as other girls. I ge’ emotional very easily an’ they kin be really overwhelmin’, ‘specially negative emotions. An’ whene’er I ge’ emotional ma powers kick in an’ I ‘ave trouble controllin’ ‘em. An’ when ya combine tha’ wi’ PTSD, nightmares, an’ ma powers, it’s no wonder tha’ Dr. Edwards wanted me in Starfish. We’re all jus’ lucky tha’ Mom found a way tae contain ma explosions a’ night an’ tha’ Fawn shares ma powers.”

To my surprise Lindsey, Michelle, and Hiro all reached across the table to cover my right hand reassuringly with their own, though Hiro’s was the first to make contact. He was the first to speak as well. “If you need any of us, we’re there for you Merida. For any of you really, that’s what friends do and friends are important to have here. Now what are your powers? None of you ever really got to tell us earlier. I could guess, but we are trying to get to know each other better and we told you ours.” He was smiling at me and squeezed my hand in his own.

I was pretty sure that Hiro was trying to change the topic to make me feel less uncomfortable, something that I deeply appreciated, but at the same time my heart seemed to skip a beat and then it was racing as he squeezed my hand in his own. I looked up at him and smiled back uncertainly, suddenly very aware of just how attractive he was. He had such smooth and chiseled features, and I had seen him in spandex so I knew that that extended to the rest of his body as well, toned without being overly muscled. He had such nice deep brown eyes as well and that reassuring smile just made him even cuter.

I quickly tore my eyes away. “No Merida, you are not interested in Hiro. Besides, he and Lindsey seem really close, so they probably have a thing going and even if you were interested in him it would be wrong to try to get between him and Lindsey like that,” I mentally scolded myself. Instead of letting myself get all flustered I decided to answer his question. “I’m a Category five EM, I kin create constructs an’ I ‘ave a force field tha’ lets me fly an’ increases ma strength an’ speed. Ma constructs an’ force field are solid tae the touch, bu’ if’n I feed more energy intae them they kin become unstable an’ explode if they hit anythin’. If they dinnae explode afore tha’, an’ I keep puttin’ energy intae ma constructs or force field, they become a kind o’ superheated plasma. Oh, an’ I share Fawn’s powers like she shares ma force field.”

“Holy shit! You’re a Cat five?!” Garret barely managed not to scream it loud enough for the few others in the Grotto to hear.

Mei grinned as she said, “So am I. I guess I’m a Category five Wildcard. My power are kind of hard to explain though so Kendra said I should just tell people that I’m a cross between a Mystic and a Generator and that I’m really good at using magic energy to summon creatures.”

“You were drawing on a lot of magic energy last night whenever you summoned something,” Lindsey said with a nod. “Two Cat fives though? I think we had maybe three total at the school last year when I started attending, and one of those graduated. Try not to flaunt your power levels and, keep quiet on the money thing too, just keep being yourselves. If people find out about the two of you it’s going to be crazy.”

Michelle agreed with a disgusted look,” Yeah, you’ll suddenly have a lot of people wanting to be your friends or asking you to join their teams. Some may be genuine, but a lot will probably be trying to use you, and some may try to get some kind of leverage on you. I went through that last year. Power wise I’m ranked as high as a Cat four can be without being a Cat five, so when I was able to fight one of the lower ranked Cat fives, and win, people started suspecting I was lying about my power level and rumors started going around. Everyone suddenly wanted to be my friend and I got offers to join teams, but I quickly discovered that they were trying to use me. They would be all buddy-buddy while around me, but then when I wasn’t around they’d brag about how they were friends with the powerful ‘lizard-girl’. Lupin and Hiro helped me to figure out who my real friends were.”

“Merida wouldn’t let that happen, she’s not that type of person and we’re already making all kinds of animal friends here,” Fawn said confidently.

“Aye, we are Fawn,” I agreed as I finally set my plate aside. “An’ I ‘ave Fawn ‘ere fer a bes’ friend an’ ma sisters an’ the other fairies an’ now the four o’ you as well. I’m sure I’ll make other friends, bu’ I think tha’ I prefer quality o’er quantity, aye Mei?”

Mei frowned and crossed her arms as she nodded in agreement. “Well we have an awesome team already and I won’t leave my sisters for anyone. And I’ll have Shu, Tink, and Peri with me a lot of the time since we have most of the same classes. I’m not in a rush to make a bunch of friends, well not anymore anyway.”

Shu laughed at her twin’s joke, but then nodded grimly. “Anyone who wants to get to Mei, or Merida is going to have us watching them, right girls? If they want to be friends for reals that’s great, but if they try to pull anything I’ll send them to another dimension if I have to.” Tink and Peri both nodded eagerly from atop the twins’ shoulders.

“Mer and Mei both have good heads on their shoulders, even if Mer is emotional and Mei is a bit impulsive, so I don’t think they’ll have problems sorting out their real friends from the fake ones. We all should be careful about that though, I don’t want anyone using me to try to get at my sisters,” Tasha contributed.

With that concern discussed, and a decision made to be careful about who we let get close to us, my other sisters and the Fairies started telling our new friends about their powers. Afterwards Vanessa added, “So Mer and I are the only two on our team with any real offensive powers, except for Mom’s power armor. It’s why Mom said she’s making non-lethal weapons and other gear for some of us, like the blasters that Shu was using last night.”

“I know what it’s like not having reliable offensive powers,” Lindsey agreed. “Luckily I’m getting to learn magic this year.”

Michelle nodded at that. “I’m okay defensively, but my physical abilities usually depend on the form I take, and since I have no control over that, it’s not really consistent. We all took the weapons safety courses ad got our permits earlier this summer to have something as a backup, but none of us has bought any weapons yet. You should all take the course too, do you think your dad is available Garret? I know we were thinking of showing the girls around town, but that should wait until we have a whole day, and it’s already after dinner.”

“That’s not a bad idea, it’s a three hour course and I think Dad might be able to spare the time with it being summer and fairly quiet, or find one of the other members of the security team who can spare the time.” At our confused looks the werewolf quickly elaborated. “My Dad is the head of security here at PSA. They’re the ones who teach the course on weapons safety to interested students. Let me give him a call.”

While Garret was on the phone waiting for and then speaking to his father, the rest of us talked about the upcoming birthday party for me and the twins and asked if they all wanted to come to our place for a day of fun in the sun, cake, a barbeque, and whatever else Mom and Andy may have thought up. They all agreed eagerly, even Garret nodded as he was put on hold by the security office. Then Hiro asked if we might want to come to their family barbeque on Labor Day. This was met with laughter and I had to explain that we had met his father at the restaurant earlier, talked with him over breakfast, and then he had invited out family to attend. Hiro and the others seemed pretty pleased that we would all be joining them.

Garret and the others led us to the underground levels and then guided us through the tunnels to one of the three weapons ranges where a tall and somewhat imposing and serious-looking African-American man dressed in a black and gold security uniform awaited us. With him was a slightly short and skinny Caucasian woman with blonde hair and brown eyes who was wearing the same uniform. “Everyone, this is my Dad,” Garret began.

“Sam Jackson,” the man finished with a nod, “head of security for PSA. You must be out new Chief of Medicine’s kids. Alana warned me I might be seeing you soon. Keep your noses clean here and we won’t have any problems, but Garret and his friends seem to like you so you’re probably good eggs. They’re good kids and good judges of character. This is Tanya Keyes, though a lot of us call her Tiny.”

We made our introductions and I felt compelled to ask, “So, if’n ya dinnae mind me askin’, wot are yuir powers?” He looked tough enough and confident so I was pretty sure he could handle himself, and Tiny seemed to have a similar confidence about her. In a school filled with powerful mutants that was saying something, especially as small as Tiny was.

“My power?” he asked with a serious look. “My power is being a motherfuckin’ badass.” Then they both broke out in a fit of laughter and Garret’s dad had to calm down before speaking again. “Sorry kids, I can never stay serious for long when I do that. I get jokes about my name and appearance often enough that even I have to get some mileage out of it sometimes. To answer your question though, my power is to cancel out all mutant powers within a fifteen foot radius around me and when I use it my strength increases based on the number of mutants affected.”

My eyebrows rose at that, no wonder he was head of security. “Aye, so I guess yuir power really is bein’ a motherfuckin’ badass then,” I said with a grin.

To my surprise he laughed again. “I like this one Garret, she’s as spunky as Hiro.”

At that point ‘Tiny’ had finally stopped laughing and grinned at us. “Sam asked me to come help him with this because he thought my power might come in handy for your Fairy friends. You see, I can temporarily shrink things, even myself and other people if I’m so inclined.”

With that they gathered us around a table that had various weapons laid out on it. Some were Tinker built weapons and some, like the Glock, were familiar to me as regular firearms. He began by showing us all proper gun safety and maintenance with an hour long lecture on the finer points and how even non-lethal weapons could be dangerous and needed to be respected. After that he had us all, even the Fairies, take a test. Though Tiny shrank herself and the test papers and pencils to make it easier for the Fairies. Most of it was stuff from the lecture, or common sense when using a weapon, but a lot of it seemed to be about moral situations and such meant to test our personalities, values, and morals too.

Finally, after they finished looking over our tests, he had us choose weapons and Tiny shrank the weapons that the Fairies had chosen, so she could take the Fairies in hand. Then they had us show what we had learned so far as gun safety, and when they thought that we were ready they let us shoot at targets for the remainder of the course while they watched us, corrected us if we were doing anything wrong, and gave advice on how to improve.

I was the only one to take a non-tinker weapon, choosing the familiar Glock and Garret’s father watched me in interest. He was even more interested once I started consistently hitting the bullseye. “You obviously don’t need this course Merida. Your test score was perfect, you seem to handle your weapon safely without even thinking about it as if you’ve been doing it for years, and with the way you’re shooting that bullseye, I’m going to assume that you’ve taken a similar course before.”

“Nae, ma uncle Maddock was in the military, Spec Ops, an’ he taught me e’erythin’. I’m teachin’ ma sisters’ tae fight, bu’ I wanted tae wait on firearms trainin’ ‘til they go’ the basics o’ ‘and tae ‘and comba’ down,” I told him with a shrug.

“Well you’ve all done well enough, so I’ll issue your course certificates, but if you or your sisters plan on using weapons I’d like you to keep training them until weapons safety is as ingrained in them as it is in you. You can book time in one of the firing ranges through the security office whenever you feel the need,” he told me.

With our certificates issued we thanked Garret’s father and Tiny for taking the time out to give us the course. Then we exchanged cell numbers with our new friends, said our goodnights to one another and then headed home to our villa on the beach. Andy was home, but he told us that Mom might be out late while they finished working on the dimensional gate generators to send the monster’s corpse back to its own dimension. Since we had a busy day ahead the next day and we had had a busy day today as well, on next to no sleep, my sisters and I all headed to bed. It wasn’t long after Fawn and I had laid in my cozy new bed, and she had snuggled beside me on my pillow, that we both drifted into a deep sleep.

‘ello e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot the bes’ classification o’ Hyper, Energy Manipulators or EMs as people sometimes call us. There are three categories o’ Energy Manipulators: Passive Energizers, Direct Energizers, and Gate Energizers. Each o’ those ‘as two sub-types.

Passive Energizers come in Triggered or True Passive an’ both ‘ave bodies tha’ are hyper-optimized tae produce the amount o’ energy they need tae fuel their powers. Their digestive systems are almos’ too efficient, breakin’ down food intae energy almos’ as fas’ as they kin eat it, producin’ much less waste, and storin’ tha’ energy fer later use. As a result they ne’er really feel full fer long, an’ relyin’ solely on energy produced by their own bodies, they are seldom more powerful than Category two. Triggered Passive Energizers need a catalyst tae gen’rate energy, like adrenaline or a physical attack on them, while True Passive Energizers kin summon their energies a’ will.

Direct Energizers come in Sympathetic or Multi-source an’ both gen’rate energy tae fuel their powers by absorbin’ it from outside sources, an’ as a result they dinnae ‘ave the hyper metabolism or the appetite issues of Passive or Gate Energizers. Sympathetic Direct Energizers ge’ tha’ energy from sources sim’lar tae the energy tha’ they produce, fer example someone wi’ electric-based powers gatherin’ it by absorbin’ electricity. Multi-source Direct Energizers kin absorb various forms o’ energy tae fuel their powers, jus’ as the name implies.

Gate Energizers come in either Burst or Sustained an’ usually use energy types tha’ are no’ naturally found on Earth, instead gatherin’ it from an extradimensional source, an’ ‘ave similarly hyper-accelerated metabolisms an’ appetite issues as Passive Energizers because accessin’ the energy from another dimension takes physical energy. Burst Gate Energizers dae this in bursts, only accessin’ those energies when needed so actively usin’ their powers makes ‘em burn energy faster. Sustained Gate Energizers form a permanent link tae the dimension they access once their bodies ‘ave become used tae channelin’ tha’ power. They dinnae use as much energy keepin’ their gate open, bu’ they need tae eat constantly tae keep up wi’ the constant drain o’ their body’s energy reserves.

I’m a Sustained Gate Energizer, which is why I ge’ so ‘ungry all o’ the time. Ma body is always needin’ tae create energy tae channel ma energy source ‘an still give me the energy fer stayin’ active. Tha’s all fer today an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Generators. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.