Jesse's Story
I guess I've always kind of lived in my brother's shadow - he was always smarter, he's the more interesting one, he got all the girls - and he liked girls. I'm actually a little glad, to be honest, that I never had to tell Mom and Dad that I'm gay - though being out in the Police Force won't be much easier, once I'm done high school. Pretty much the only thing that I could beat Gary at was anything physical - the dude's a twig, and I'm a black belt. Kind of glad we always got along.
And we did - I adored my big bro, and I know he loved me back. So when he was released from the burn ward - I gotta admit, seeing what fire could do kind of fascinated me, though I was glad it was just superficial damage, of course - and he told me about his powers... well, okay, I didn't believe him immediately, but who would? But I was the only person he trusted enough to actually show off to, so I suggested that he train this ability, since obviously at the onset he was bad at controlling it, but beyond some simple meditation exercises, he seemed like he just wanted to ignore that it existed. I guess it kind of scared him.
Well, then the bus exploded, and I think I was the first person to know what happened - it was when I saw the news coverage, him being pulled from the carnage, unscathed but just seeming very confused... I'm amazed more people didn't understand that he had something to do with it, at least.
I couldn't help it; I was over at Lucas's place - he's my secret boyfriend, since we're both jocks and we'd both be laughed off the football team if they knew we'd rather be playing tonsil hockey - and I just let it pour out. I told him about the powers - and, of course, he didn't believe me until I showed him, a couple weeks later, the video.
Oh, right, I'm getting ahead of myself - after the bus thing, Gary started Training - when he said it, you could almost hear the capital T. Everything from shooting arcs of lightning to charging dead batteries to making nuts and bolts magnetized or red-hot... and then I told him that his form was all wrong when "arcing", as we called it. I made up some reason why a proper palm thrust would make the jolt more powerful, and taped his progress over the course of a couple days. I sent one of the videos to Lucas, trying to convince him that a] this was really happening, and b] something like the bus wouldn't be happening again. Well, not only did he end up posting it to Youtube for God-knows-what reason - he refused to tell me why, but he made it sound like nothing more than good CG. But then he talked to the police about it.
Word filtered up, and my story got to the Department of Defense. Next thing I know, two guys are knocking on our door, and Gary banishes me to my room, which of course means I hide behind the door, listening in. I can't hear everything - they're talking way too quietly for that - but I hear Gary doing his normal training routine, then voices raised in anger - something about a "super soldier", which I thought was pretty kick-ass, but, well, apparently Gary didn't; he fried one of the guys. The other guy said one thing quietly, as he passed by me, dead guy slumped over his shoulder and still smoking - still staring blankly - "Be careful." I wasn't sure at the time if he was speaking to himself, or to me.
The next day, he was back; he asked for Gary, who was scared out of his mind, though he'd never admit it. He talked briefly, saluted him - this time my vantage point was the bay window, so I could only see Army Dude looking stern, and couldn't hear a thing - and walked away.
The next week was hell, seemingly for the both of us. Gary knew something was coming soon, and he worked like never before - everything from his arcing to less showy powers to physical training - lemme tell you, I was as exhausted as he was.
But there was something taking a mental toll on us both - he'd started sending me out on 'errands' for the materials for a very jury-rigged bomb, minus the firing-pin; I wasn't as smart as he was, but I'm not an idiot; his plan was no surprise when he finally revealed it.
What was - a surprise, I mean - was Gen Reeves - the Army Dude Who Lived - stopping me on an errand and talking me into spying on Gary for the US Government. By that point, I could easily see both sides - I agreed that something was just wrong with their ultimatum (though it was the willingness to trade murder for murder that irked me) - but I knew that Gary's grasp on reality was slipping, and this plan to blow something up, whatever it was, couldn't be the best answer.
So I signed on with the government. I was promised a very ample payment for my betrayal - for serving my country, when the day came, and Gary told me of the ultimatum - or his take on it, slightly warped to make the government seem worse, of course - I passed it on, and was told that they'd expected it - and he handed me a rubber-handled hunting knife. He made sure I realized where, exactly, the heart was, seen from the back - I would only have the one chance, he guessed, and it needed to take Gary down as quickly as possible, for everyone's safety. And, to be honest, knowing that he would die quickly - and that I would be saving hundreds of mostly-innocents, along with preventing anarchy...
The day came, and Gary dyed his bushy head of blond hair a very nondescript brown, wore very crisp dress clothes, and I convinced him to take me along - with a similar "disguise", though my black hair was already fairly nondescript - for "security". The fact that he agreed to that was the cincher for my doubt - he didn't seem to care that I'd be there when he went off.
The actual "situation" happened much quicker than I'd expected - the first guard recognized him - or me, whichever - and tried to shoot Gary! He was expecting it, of course, and he'd gotten used to protecting himself against metal objects, so he wasn't in any real danger. He lifted his arm to send out another arc to take out the guard, just as we'd practiced so often - and I plunged the knife into his back, jamming it as hard as I could to get through the bones. I heard a crackle and smelled something like bacon; Gary gasped, went limp, and turned as he fell, an accusatory look in his eyes. I was crying silently as he fell' yeah, he'd become a "threat" to national security" and everything, but... that didn't change who he was.
Afterwards, in the mayhem surrounding the medical and media cover-up, Gen Reeves came over and offered me a job underneath him. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but I was too tired to care - it gave me something to do, what could I say but yes?
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