My Super-powered Diary Chapter 26 Facing the Reaper 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?

I was watching the man in black carefully now, he was too close to my sisters for my liking and he had already injured Lindsey. Hiro looked like he was having the same problem too, he was furious and he kept looking from our opponent to Lindsey with a worried look on his face. There was too much blood there and it worried me too. Also I didn’t like us being this exposed, we had put on the emergency masks that Mom had given us to put in our purses as soon as we entered the train station, but they wouldn’t do very much to protect our identities, though Mom claimed they would blur our features on any video surveillance. He was still smiling at me and we watched each other for several long seconds, each waiting for the other to make the first move. “Is he a teleporter? Or does he have some high level form of super speed?”

I was so caught up in watching him and my concern for Lindsey and what he might do next that I didn’t notice what Mei was doing until a blinding golden flash of light erupted around her as she screamed, “You hurt Lindsey!!!” Two dozen stone-skinned gargoyles appeared, one directly behind our adversary. It grabbed him and tossed him like a softball to its compatriots and then they were all on him. Mei wasn’t done yet though, that blinding glow remained as she knelt by Lindsey. “I… I think I can help her.”

Hiro didn’t hesitate. As soon as he was out of range to harm my sisters he was all over the man in black. Despite the beating that he and the Gargoyles were laying down on him the man was holding his own, his cuts on the gargoyles were shallow, but they and Hiro weren’t able to hurt him at all. “What is with this guy?” Hiro said in a frustrated tone. “It doesn’t even feel like I’m hitting a person!”

“Is he invulnerable too?” I wasted no time, charging my fist with as much energy as I could I flew at the pitched battle and hit him with everything I had. The explosion sent the gargoyles flying and when the smoke cleared he was gone and Hiro and I were both looking around cautiously. Something didn’t feel right about this whole encounter and I swung around to see him appearing behind Lindsey’s cousin, making a grab for the four armed girl again.

There was definitely something weird about this guy. I knew that my punch hit that time, I could feel the energy hit him and explode, but his clothes weren’t even damaged. I couldn’t sense any form of air displacement either. So it wasn’t teleportation or super speed, or at least I didn’t think so. “Why can’t I hurt him? How does he keep vanishing and reappearing like that?” I started forming a dagger construct in my hand and then it hit me. I threw my construct at it as hard as I could, and as it flew toward him I tried to push my energy into him instead of the dagger.

As I suspected, he promptly vanished before the dagger even made contact. He appeared again near the four armed girl and tried to grab her, but Hiro and the gargoyles were quickly on him again. I reached out across the mind-link that Tasha had established between us, my other sisters, and the Fairies. *Tasha, move the girl! That’s a bloody construct. Someone needs to be controlling it, and they probably need to have a good view of the area to be doing that. Is there anyone left in the station besides us? Mei did you manage to stop Lindsey from bleeding? Keep those gargoyles on it for now if you can. Everyone else scatter for now.*

Tasha’s response was to teleport in and grab the four-armed girl, quickly teleporting her out of the construct’s reach, everyone else scattered except for Mei who was still glowing and kneeling beside Lindsey.*I don’t detect anyone else, if it’s a construct it might be some sort of telekinetic one, which would explain why it’s solid and can physically hurt people. I’m picking up some kind of psychic static, but my sixth sense tells me that if there is someone watching us, they’re north of us on one of the second floor balconies,* Tasha sent as she teleported over and over in a game of keep-away as the construct had apparently decided to just grab the girl and get out of here while the getting was good. The game of keep away was made even worse for the construct with the battalion of gargoyles dogging it.

*That jerk cut Lindsey pretty deep, there’s a lot of damage, I can feel it Merida,* Mei sent. *She’s lost a lot of blood too, I get the feeling that if we try to move her that she’s going to die. I’m healing her, but it’s going to take a while. It’s a lot trickier repairing living matter than creating it from nothing, and I didn’t even know for sure that I could do this until now. I’m working mostly on instinct right now, and I need to do it slow to make sure I don’t make any mistakes. I kinda have a sense of her body and how it should work, but after this I’m going to get Mom to start teaching me about biology, anatomy, and stuff. The gargoyles should stick on him, but I created a lot of them and their time is going to run out soon.*

*Are you sure that you can heal her sis?* Shu asked uncertainly. *I know that you’re really smart and powerful, but that looked pretty bad.*

*If I can create living things from nothing, then I can do this. It’s the same thing just on a smaller scale and using her own body as a blueprint to fill in gaps and connect it all. I’ve already stopped the bleeding, I just need to follow my instincts and focus. I’ve got this, you guys kick his ass.* Mei snapped, as she apparently focused her attention on her work. As luck would have it that was when the gargoyles vanished.

*Be careful Mei,* I called out before deciding on a plan. *Okay Fairies, let’s take a look at those balconies. Tasha, you keep playing keep away. Vanessa you and Hiro should be safe with your invulnerability, so keep that construct occupied and make sure it doesn’t decide to go after Mei. Peri, dust Shu before you search, she’ll be with me and you fairies. Shu, get your guns out, we may need the extra firepower, and I want you to be ready to do your dimension shifting thing if whoever’s in control of that construct attacks you.* Then I turned to Hiro and spoke just loud enough for him to hear me, “It’s a construct, I need you an’ ‘Nessa tae keep it occupied an’ make it think we’re still fooled while I find the asshole controllin’ it an’ make ‘em pay.”

Hiro nodded as he leapt toward the construct, more than happy to let a little aggression out on the man in black. “I’m gonna kick your ass so hard, you’ll be tasting shit for the next year!”

Shu ran toward me and opened a portal, quickly removing first her gun belt to put on and then her aviator hat and goggles, handing me my hooded cloak as well. “It that’s a construct it means that he’s only gotten a look at us from a distance,” she explained. “If we’re going up close and personal, we should hide our features more Flare.”

“Good thinkin’ Packrat.” I smiled at her as I nodded and put on my cloak as the Fairies made their way to the northern second floor balconies to begin scouting. Vanessa was in mermaid form and blasted the construct with a high pressure water blast from her pool while the handsome half-Japanese Hyper was hitting it hard and fast. Tasha kept teleporting out of its reach, and Mei was completely focused on healing Lindsey.

*Any sign yet?* I asked as Shu and I both took to the air and got some altitude, nearly reaching the ceiling, to look over the balconies.

*I found him! He’s watching the fight from one of the balconies, he doesn’t even notice me,* Iridessa’s voice called out over the link. *Follow the rainbow.*

I looked around and suddenly a bright rainbow appeared over one of the balconies. *Great work ‘Dessa we’re on our way.* Whoever this person was they could only create one construct at a time and it could take physical damage, but my energy had dissipated them somehow. It wasn’t vanishing and reappearing, he had had to create a new construct each time I made them vanish. As Shu and I flew toward the rainbow I planned out an attack. *Peri freeze the ground around him so he can’t get away easily, Tink and Silvermist try to get his attention on you, and ‘Dessa we’ll need a flashbang. I don’t want to risk hurting him until we know he’s the one, he could just be a gawker. Once we do know I want you to hit him hard Fawn. I’ll be ready with a force field if he tries to escape and Shu will stun him when she has a clear shot.*

Tink and Silvermist swooped in and began pulling the hair of the person in question. He was a pale and skinny man in his mid-twenties with shoulder length black hair, and as they started yanking he yelped, got to his feet, started to swat at the Fairies, and turned his head right into Iridessa’s flashbang. The moment that he got up and took his eyes off the scene below Vanessa’s voice came across the mind-link. *The construct just vanished.* That was all we needed to know. As he stumbled back blinded he stepped right onto Periwinkle’s ice slick and had to fight to keep his balance. That was when Fawn flew in and socked him in the jaw, knocking him back several feet and right into the wall construct I had made to prevent him from getting away. As he scrambled on the ice-slick floor to try to get to his feet Shu blasted him and he fell back to the ground in a heap.

We had gotten our captive tied up, blindfolded, and gagged with strips of cloth from his own clothes, to ensure he wouldn’t be able to see to use his powers again. By the time we had finished that and joined the others, Mei had managed to heal Lindsey’s injuries, though Mei looked exhausted from the effort and wanted to take her to the school’s clinic to have Mom take a look at her to be sure everything was really okay. Lindsey was unconscious and had lost a lot of blood, but she was alive and seemingly out of danger. Hiro was worried, and insisted on carrying her to the school himself. The two of them seemed so close, so I tried not to get in the way and let him take charge of her while I delivered our captive to the police waiting outside.

While I prepared to drop off the trash and warn the police about his abilities so they could put an inhibitor collar on him, Shu had an idea for getting herself and the other’s to the school quickly. She created a pocket dimension large enough to fit everyone and once they were inside she closed the portal and opened a new one, concentrating on opening it outside the school gates so that they could leave the pocket dimension there. Once I got the confirmation from Tasha via the mind-link that it had worked, I dropped the prisoner outside with the cops, showed them my license and made a full report of what had happened. I also asked on the status of the injured people that Tasha had taken outside to safety. They were being taken to the hospital, some of them in serious condition, but it looked like they would all live, which was a huge relief to all of us.

With that done I flew off to join the others at the school and more specifically the medical center, where Mom was looking over Lindsey and running every medical scan on her that she could think of to make sure that she was alright. By the time I had gotten there she had already prepped a blood transfusion and Lindsey’s cousin Gordon, or Jordyn as it said on her new documentation, was in the bed beside hers providing that blood, since they had the same blood type. We were all worried, especially Hiro, but as much as Mom knew that, and that she was our friend, she asked us to wait in the waiting room until she called for us.

Soon Mom came out and gave us all a relieved smile. “She’s goin’ to be fine, she’ll need to rest today, but she should be fine by tomorrow. She lost a lot o’ blood, but whatever ya did Mei, ya did a good job o’ it. I couldn’t even find a sign that she had been injured, except for a very faint line of skin slightly lighter than the rest where ya said the wound was. She doesn’t even have a scar. We’ll need to talk about this aspect of yuir abilities an’ how ya can further develop it later, but ya can all go in and visit them for a few minutes.”

Lindsey was still sleeping, but Jordyn thanked us for the help and introduced herself. She asked us to call her Trance until she could figure out if a secret identity would even be possible for someone with bright pink hair, milky white eyes, and four arms. From what she was able to tell us the man we had fought was an assassin and bounty hunter for hire who called himself the Reaper. He had a reputation for getting the job done, causing chaos while doing it, and then just disappearing into thin air. He had been hired by a group calling themselves ‘The Hive’. Apparently they had been responsible for her Activation, against her will, and considered her their property now. Her mother had rescued her and when she found her Activated and looking like she was, she decided that Pacific Seaside Academy would be the best place for her once school started up.

Jordyn had been getting off the train when the Reaper started attacking people and went after her. The Hive had sent him it seemed, so we would have to let Dr. Edwards know that she was still potentially in danger. She didn’t have much for powers to protect herself yet either, as she was a Medium, but she had yet to make any spirit contracts, so all she could really do was sense spirit energy and talk to ghosts. Dr. Edwards would be waiting for the report, since she knew that Trance had arrived and had had to meet them at the gates with a temporary school ID bracelet for her so that she could get on the grounds when Trance had arrived with the others to take Lindsey to the clinic.

The pair would be staying in the clinic for the rest of the day, and possibly overnight, but Mom said that they should both be cleared to join us for our birthday celebration the next day. We stayed there for a while and then eventually made our way to the Grotto to have some lunch. None of us really felt like leaving the school and going on that tour of the city though, so we just killed time until we could visit Lindsey later in the afternoon.

In order to not overwhelm Lindsey, Mom thought it best if we just visited one at a time or maybe one of us with our Fairy once she woke up. We let Hiro be the first of course, since they were so close and he was obviously worried sick about her. Then I let my sisters and their Fairies go before me and Fawn. Once Mei and Tink emerged from the room it was my turn, Mei was a bit teary eyed as she came out, but beaming proudly. I wrapped her up in my arms and held her close for a moment. “Ya did a fine job there today Mei. Our friend is alive ‘cause o’ yuir efforts.”

She hugged me back tightly, near whispering into my shoulder, “I was afraid that we would lose her for a bit.”

“Aye, we all were Mei, bu’ ya didnae le’ tha’ ‘appen. Ya didnae give up on ‘er, an’ ya pushed yuirself tae the limit tae save ‘er. I couldnae be prouder tae be yuir sister right now.”

“Thanks Merida,” she replied, sniffling a bit.

“Nae Mei, thank you.” I let her go and kissed her softly on the forehead and then Fawn and I entered the room to see Lindsey.

It seemed that Jorydn was tired from all the excitement and the blood transfusion and was taking a nap, but Lindsey was indeed awake and smiled up at me when I entered. “I guess I have you to thank for saving my cousin Mer?”

I shook my head sadly. If I had been more on the ball she probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly killed in the first place. Not that I could have done much differently without proper Intel. “Nae Lindsey, ya dinnae ‘ave tae thank me fer anythin’. It was a group effort, an’ I feel bad tha’ ya go’ hurt. If it was no’ fer Mei…” I trailed off with a sigh.

“You did everything you could Merida, but we didn’t really know what we were facing,” Fawn said as she flitted back onto my shoulder to hug me by the neck.

Lindsey put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “She’s right, don’t beat yourself up Mer, we all know the risks when we fight people like that. Even if we were all in costume I would have gotten hurt bad from that. Besides, I’m glad it was me instead of one of you, the whole reason we were there was because I asked you to come with me to pick up my cousin. Your Mom said she’s going to make a new version of my costume from that material yours is made from, it should keep me safer until I can start learning magic. I am not going to let something like this stop me from helping people. I’m really glad that we met you and your sisters, you’re all good people and me, Michelle, Garret, and Hiro like you all a lot.”

“We like you too, it’s nice tae ‘ave friends we kin count on. Ya ken, poor ‘iro was really worried aboot ya, we all were.” I sat down on the edge of her bed and squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad tha’ yuir okay.”

“I owe Mei, and probably all of you, my life,” she said as she reached over to hug me. “Hiro worries about all of us like that, 4-Ward is a pretty tight-knit group and he’s the only invulnerable one, most of the time. We don’t really have a lot of close friends besides one another, well until you and your sisters and the Fairies came along.”

“Aye, we’re kinda the same way, cept’ wi’ sisters romance is kind out o’ the question,” I replied with a weak laugh. “I think tha’ you an’ ‘iro make a cute couple though.”

She stared at me for a moment before breaking down into a laughing fit. “Wait… you think that me and Hiro are…? That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard! We’re best buds, and we’ve been helping one another adjust to our new genders, but that’s all that there is. Hiro wouldn’t even try that with me, he knows that I’m still into girls, and I’m in a relationship with Michelle.”

“Bu’ the way the two o’ ya hang out t’gether all o’ the time, I thought tha’ ya…”

“Best buds,” she clarified cutting me off. “He’s a guy and I may be a girl, but I’m not that girly and I’m not into guys. Michelle’s the girly-girl in our group, not to mention she’s my girlfriend. I’m a tomboy at best so we all hang out a lot together except when Michelle and I are on dates. I hang out alone with Garret sometimes too to play videogames, but Hiro is just my best bud, we’ve formed a really tight friendship helping each other adjust to our new genders. Besides, there’s this new girl that he never shuts up about while we’ve been hanging out the last few days, so I think he’s interested in her. Maybe you know her; she has long red hair, a thick Scottish accent, and apparently she reminds him a lot of his mom.”

I could feel my jaw dropping as I stared at her. “I… wot… ‘ow…” I couldn’t seem to speak as I tried to wrap my head around what I thought that she was saying.

Lindsey just gave me a shark-like grin and winked. “Yup, he’s all yours it you want him.” My heart was pounding a mile a minute in my suddenly dry throat and I couldn’t seem to breathe. Then I felt her arms wrap around me again as Fawn hugged me around the neck. “Geeze sorry, I’ve seen the way you look at him so I thought that you were interested. I keep forgetting that you’re even newer to this girl thing than I am. Have you figured out the whole attraction thing yet?”

“Aye,” I said with a nod, glad that she was hugging me so she couldn’t see my bright red cheeks. “I ‘aven’t found girls attractive a’ all since ma change. I’ve seen some cute guys though, there was this one guy in L.A. who called ‘imself Conduit. I was kind o’ attracted tae ‘im bu’ he frustrated me more’n anythin’. He kissed me, an’ tha’s when I realized tha’ I like guys now.”

“Conduit?!” she sputtered, pulling away wide-eyed. “He’s a student here, small world huh? I guess he’s a nice enough guy, but he’s a bit of a Romeo with a white knight complex. I kinda figured you liked guys though from the looks you’ve been giving Hiro.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I thought of him attending the same school. “Aye, tha’s ‘im alright.” Then I frowned as I muttered, “Wot looks?”

Lindsey rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’ve been giving him the look like he’s dinner and you’re a hungry Energy Manipulator, don’t try to deny it Merida, it’s obvious to everyone whenever you’re in the same room together and he’s been giving you the same look. I think you’d make a cute couple, and it’s not like we’re really old enough to think about physical relationships yet, so you should just go on a few dates and get to know one another a bit to see if you really like each other as more than friends. Look, if it makes it easier, maybe we can start with a double date, you and Hiro with me and Michelle. We could talk about it with them tomorrow.”

“Aye, I’ll… ummm… think aboot it.” I looked away so she couldn’t see my blush and took deep breaths to try and slow my racing heart. “I should… ah let ya res’ a bi’ now. I’ll see ya tomorrow aye? Ya kin bring Jordyn along if’n ya like too.”

“We’ll be there with bells on,” she said with a grin, “And don’t forget, you promised to dress like your Fairies tomorrow, at least for part of the day.”

“We’ll need to get your dresses made tonight,” Fawn said, jumping eagerly on that topic as we waved goodbye and left the room. “We’ll do that as soon as we get home.”

I was quiet during the rest of the afternoon, something that didn’t go unnoticed by my sisters. They tried to get me to open up about it, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the possibility of a date with Hiro and I wasn’t really the type to discuss my feelings. On one hand the prospect excited me, because I really did like Hiro and found him attractive, but as long as I thought that he was with Lindsey I hadn’t had to make myself think too deeply about it. The prospect made me nervous and a bit terrified too, to the point where I was having trouble keeping my force field from appearing if I thought too hard on the subject. I was confused, and not sure what to do.

After we made our copies of the Fairies’ dresses for the next day we started preparing dinner for ourselves. Mom would be at the school most of the night keeping an eye on Lindsey and Jordyn and Andy had plans with Hiro’s dad Paul, so we were on our own for the night. I ate quietly and was well aware of my sisters watching me in concern, but I really didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t even sure I could talk to Fawn about my interest in Hiro, and she had been there for the whole conversation with Lindsey.

Thankfully my Fairy friend knew me well enough to realize that I needed time to think about all of this and she let me do that. After we finished eating dinner we headed up to our room and I flopped down on my princess bed to stare at the canopy, lost in my thoughts. It was the knocking that brought me out of it. Mei’s voice came through the partially opened door. “Merida, can I come in for a minute?”

I sighed, but she was my little sister and I wanted her to know that no matter how I was feeling, that I would always have time for her. “Aye, come on in Mei.” Mei entered, but I noticed that she didn’t have Tink with her for once. “Is Tink workin’ on a new doodad?”

“Yeah she is, Tinkers, what can you do?” She shrugged and came to sit on the bed. “You’ve been quiet, are you alright?”

“Aye, I’m fine, I jus’ ‘ave sumthin’ on ma mind,” I said, trying a smile for her. “Wot kin I dae fer ya Mei?

“Well it’s about tomorrow, we’re exchanging gifts then right?” At my nod she quickly continued as she took my hand nervously in hers. “Well, Mom helped Shu and I get something nice for each other, but we wanted to do something special for you, because you’re the best big sister ever and it’s because of you that we’re free and have a family now. So Shu is working on her idea now and I’ve had an idea for you for a while now…” I didn’t hear the rest of what she said though as everything went black.

‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Psychics. Psychic are one o’ the mos’ diverse categories o’ Hypers. It’s really far too broad a range o’ power sets tae really dae it all justice, bu’ I’ll try tae break it down intae three categories; Sensitives, Manipulators, an’ Communicators.

Sensitives are psychics who kin sense things tha’ other people kin no’. Tasha’s sixth sense is a fine example o’ this, an’ often mutant’s have l’il or no control o’er these abilities, relying instead on instinct an’ sharpened intuition. Types o’ powers from Sensitives kin include, precognition, sixth sense, danger sense, knowin’ aboot the history o’ objects, second sight, psychic tracking, an’ spacial awareness.

Manipulators are those who kin manipulate the world aroun’ them wi’ their powers. Telekinetics, pyrokinetics, hydrokinetics, psychokinetics, an’ anythin’ else tha’ kin effect the material world or anythin’ in it, through the use of only the mind, fall intae this category.

Communicators are those who kin use their mental abilities tae communicate wit’, learn aboot, or affect the minds o’ others through their powers. This kin include various types o’ telepathy, empathy, farseein’ an’ things like Tasha’s ability tae link minds wi people tha’ she’s familiar wit’.

Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Psychics today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Regens. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.