Chapter 7

"We've been assigned our first mission."

We are all sitting in a room in the Hall of Heroes.  I have to say it beats going to class.  It's the first time I'm seeing White Frost since what happened earlier in the week with my father.  He hasn't called me, text me or even come by the house to see me.  It's clear he's avoiding me and I hate the feeling.  Even now when he comes in the room where we are all sitting he doesn't even look at me.

I just have a feeling my father ruined anything that could have been with Frost.

"It's about time," Ultrasound says getting up and stretching, "I'm tired of the old superheroes getting all the action.  It's time for them to step aside and let some young guys bash a couple heads."

The others all nod in agreement.  I even smile a little bit.  Training was intense but I was looking forward to getting out there and wearing this new uniform that Frost gave me.  I can tell that everyone else just wanted to really use the powers that they have.

"It's not that kind of party," Frost states, "It's a reconnaissance mission."

Ultrasound immediately sits back down, "Sounds like a kiddy mission."

"The superheroes want to test us."

"I thought we were the superheroes."

Motions laughs at the thought, "He means the real superheroes.  The superhero team."

They were talking about Sunbeam and his team of superheroes.  The older team.  The team we were supposed to replace.  I can see Power Up's pride steaming up and Ultrasound is no where near better.

"What do they need us to find?"

Frost looks concerned, "My uncle has gone missing."

"Scanman?" Motions asks clearly recognizing who that person is.

Frost nods.  It's clear Motions knows more about Frost that I don't know.  It sucks too.  They have a bond and a history that I don't have with Frost.  The others seem to know who Scanman is too.  Everyone seems to look a little bothered for Frost and the situation.  The more I think about it, the more I realize I need to start asking questions instead of embarrassing myself by saying something off like I did last time.

"Your uncle is a superhero too?" I ask.

"Yeah," Frost answers, "Scanman has a unique superpower.  He can look at you and tell things about you.  How old are you.  Where you are from.  If you have any talents.  He went into retirement.  Said the superhero thing wasn't really for him.  He just wanted to live...a normal life."

I didn't know how that was possible but then again, I didn't know how any of these superpowers were possible.

"How could he go missing?"

Frost seems to know something we do not.  He seems to know something the older superhero team is sharing with him.  I can tell he isn't trying to make us worried but sure enough he says something that gets us all worried.

"Someone is hunting superheroes."

~

We arrive at Frost's apartment.  Ultrasound, Motions and Power UP don't fly so they end up taking one of Power Up's military inspired jeep.  It's needless to say that White Frost and I arrive at the apartment first.  The apartment is at the edge of Metropolis.   When we arrive we see an old lady who is his neighbor.  She is walking her hound and stops being nosy at the idea of two masked figures walking up to the apartment.

"It's OK mam, we're here on official business," Frost states.

It doesn't seem to make her feel any more comfortable.  She literally stands still and watches us as we go to the door.  She doesn't trust anything.

"His neighbors seem to be really involved," I state, "They probably would have noticed something weird if he was attacked."

Frost nods, "You have a point."

He doesn't look at me when he says that.

"Everything OK?" I ask Frost.

I notice how weird he is acting.  The others have not arrived and there has been tension between the two of us.  It's better to talk now and get it out of the way before it became a real issue.

"Everything's great," is his response.

I know he's not telling me the whole truth.  I want to talk more about it but before I can he knocks on the door a couple of times.  It seems hopeful as though he is hoping his uncle will just show up here or something like that.  I don't think that is going to be the case.

Frost pulls out a key at that point and opens the door, "Uncle Boe!  Uncle Boe it's Aaron.  You in here?"

I follow Frost into the apartment.  You would think superheroes would be rich and live this lavish life.  Something like Power Up's life.  Walking into this apartment it is clear that isn't the case.  The apartment seems broken down and kind of small. There is a cat smell that seems to be coming straight out of the walls.  The weird thing is I don't see a cat in here.  Frost seems to be more comfortable walking straight into the bedroom as I look around the living room.  I go to the living room and see a photo hanging up on the wall.

It's someone who has the same skintone as Aaron.  I'm assuming that's his father.  He is standing with someone else who I don't know.

Another guy.

"No signs of break in," Frost states after a few minutes, "See anything out of place?"

"Whose this guy?" I ask looking at the picture.

"That?  That's Materias.  Him, my dad and my uncle were all really close friends even before they got their gifts."

Materias.   The name keeps popping up.  I find it a little weird.  Finding out my father had a gay lover was odd enough, but finding out that he was a superhero was even weirder.

"Did you know him?" I ask.

Aaron gets weird.  He's not the only one who gets weird when Materias is brought up.  I remember how my dad reacted.

"He was taken from me...before I get the chance.  Killed by Vicious Vigor."

"Taken from you?"

The way he phrases it is weird.  I'm a little confused.  Of course Vicious Vigor killing Materias wasn't news to me.  I had heard my father admit that himself.  It still shook my soul that my father could be so mad that he would kill his old lover.  What other reason could my father have done that besides complete jealousy. But the way Aaron talks about Materias I know there is more to the story.  More to this that I don't know.

"Remember when I told you my father and his lover got a surrogate?" Aaron asks, "Well Materias was my father's lover."

"Shit."

I swallow my spit at that moment.  I remember how my father looked at Aaron in the house.  He had a distaste for him.  It was deep and personal.  I had seen my father not like people before but I had never seen my father just boil over with hatred like he did when he caught Aaron and I.  Usually he would just shrug and close the door back up again.  I had seen it a million times with Dez.  He could care less about me having sexual relationships as long as I did it on my spare time.  He always trusted me.  However I remember how he threatened Aaron.

It was clear now.

Aaron was a reminder to my father that Materias has left him to be with Sunbeam.  And from the moment I met Aaron he wanted me to beat Aaron and be better than him.  It was all personal.

"Materias had the power to change things.  Towards the end of his life he had become so powerful that he found a way to meld both my father and his essence together.  In other words I have half of both their genetics."

"That's why you look nothing like Fem Fatale."

He nods, "Exactly.  The worst part bout it is my dad hardly mentions Materias.  He won't let anyone say much about him."

"Love is a hard emotion.  It's more powerful than any super power," I state crossing my arms, "Imagine how you would feel if you lost your superpowers today?"

"It would tear me apart," Aaron states.

"Yeah.  Not something you would want to talk about," I respond, "I can understand your father."

Aaron looks at me.  He looks at me real strong.  I don't know why I say the things I say.  I just want to make him feel better.  His mood is changing, probably because he sees his father on a wall.  He sees a father that he never got the chance to know.  I think it works because he smiles at that moment.

"You sound like an old man."

"Uh...thanks."

"No I mean in a good way.  All this wisdom.  You're special, you know that?" he asks.

It may be because I didn't have the regular childhood most kids had.  My father was always preparing me.  Instead of playing I was training.  I was training to be the best, not knowing why until it was too late.

I feign ignorance at that moment hoping not to seem to trained.

"You think so?" I ask.

He turns to me.  It's the first time I've felt that spark between us that I saw before, "I know so.  Man.  It's like I want to kiss you."

He grabs my hand.  Even with our masks on I can look right into his soul.  I can feel his body closing up on mind.  I see him staring down at my lips with this desire.  It's this desire I've had for him for so long.  No matter how cold his super power is I know that deep inside he has a fire to him.  Deep inside he has a warmth.

"Why don't you?" I ask, "It's what happened with my father isn't it?"

"He was a bit intimidating."

He had no idea.

"He's always been tough.  I want to apologize."

"Is he a metahuman?"

I pause.  I'm not expecting that question.  I know why White Frost is asking it.  It's clear.  Most of the 2nd generation metahumans have parents who are metahumans.  It should be an absolute normal question for him to ask.  The size of my father didn't make it any better either.  For a man his age, my father has the body of a professional athlete. Any man would be intimidated if threatened by my father in the way that Frost was.

"No," I lie.

I regret telling the lie as soon as it comes out of my mouth.  What's even worse is how easily Frost believes me.  He trusts me.  It makes me feel like shit.

"Even if he was," Frost states, "I don't' think any superpower in the world could keep me away from you for too long."

That's when he leans in and kisses me.  His tongue goes deep into my throat.  It goes so deep that I immediately get hard.  I feel him pushing me into the wall, ramming his tongue deep into me at that moment more and more.  He presses his hands up against my body.  It feels so good and so scary at the same time.  If he knew who my father really was, would he be kissing me like this?  Would he be so into me?

"Wait," I stop him.

"What is it?" he asks, "I thought you wanted this."

I pause, "I do...it's just..."

I wish the words would just come out.  I wish I could just admit that my father is Vicious Vigor.  I wish I could just spit all of that out.  That's not the case though.  The words are stuck.  They just sit there lazily on my tongue, unable to move.

"You can talk to me about anything..." White Frost tells me, "You know that, right?"

The tone in his voice is full of emotion.  Frost was perfect.  He always has been.  He's this kind, comforting soul.  A presence of a sweet and yet strong man that I never got from my father.  It makes me feel like he's right.  Maybe I can tell him anything...including who my father was.

But then I remember.

My father killed his father.

This wasn't someone who was going to easily forgive me.  Not in the way that I thought.

"Just kiss me," I instruct Frost.

I don't know how we end up on the couch at that moment.  My legs are separated and Frost is between them.  He is stretching the fabric is his superhero costume to it's max when his dick hardens in the tight spandex.  I can feel everything as he dry humps me.  His lips press up against my neck and he's beginning to slowly suck on me.  He makes his way to my ears, licking my ears and making them real wet.

Slowly I can see him reaching over ready to pull down his uniform and make love to me right here on his Uncle's couch when we are interrupted.

"Well, this explains a lot," Power Up states walking into the room.

Frost jumps off me. This is the 2nd time we were caught and it's just as clear what was going on when my father caught us.  Frost is standing off to the side.  He has a hardon.  Power Up, Ultrasound and Motions look at me then look at Frost's raging hard dick.  Anyone can tell what was happening.  I feel bad.  He knew the others were coming in the same way that I knew my father was coming home.  That's the thing between us.  We can't stop ourselves when we are around each other.  It's the best feeling but it causes awkward situations like this to occur.

Ultrasound looks annoyed but that isn't the reaction that surprises me.  What surprises me is when Motions shakes his head.

"Really?" he asks.

With that Motions seems to get disappointed and storms off.  I'm shocked by it.  I mean he hasn't really had proof that me and Frost had something going on.  None of them seemed to know for sure, but I find it weird that no one suspected.  Frost and I have this chemistry that you just think is completely obvious to everyone involved.  I have to keep getting reminded that this clearly was not the case.

And it becomes clear whatever Motions and Frost had going on at one point still had some left over residuals.

Frost halfway chases Motions out of the room calling for him but then he stops and looks back at me.  I think he feels like I would be upset if he chased Motions.  That's not the case, but I respect that he stops in steps from chasing after Motions and instead just hits the wall so hard he leaves a dent.

"You can go after him, if you need to," I tell Frost.

He shakes his head, "We came here to find my uncle..."

Power Up raises an eyebrow, "Were you looking for your Uncle down Cam's throat?"

"You guys going to tell my dad?" Frost asks.

"Maybe we should," Ultrasound replies, "How can we do a successful mission if you are only thinking about your dick."

"I can still lead this team," Frost states, "Even if I have deep feelings for Cam."

I feel embarrassed for Frost at this moment.  Hearing him admit that he has deep feelings for me feels like something that would have sounded so much better in a different setting.  It's worse because he's the leader of this team and he clearly was trying to stop Power Up and Ultrasound for his own selfish reasons.  I wonder if the team would be able to bounce back from the revelation that something was going on between me and Frost.

I switch the subject before this gets any more awkward.

"Guys we can't get distracted but we can still find Scanman," I state, "I have an idea..."

~

It's hard to convince them to refocus especially after what they saw with me and White Frost.  Motions has completely abandoned ship and left.  Ultrasound has an attitude and Power Up just seems to be amused at the entire situation.  I can tell they are doubting if Frost can really lead this team . I had to show them that we could still work together even with this budding situation that we had going on.

And that's why I go to the hound outside with the old lady and imprint.

"Have you ever done this before?" Frost asks me, "Imprinted on a dog?"

"It should work the same.  Bring me something of your Uncles."

I'm hoping it should work the same.  How hard could it be to use a hound's sense of smell to help locate his Uncle.  After imprinting and sniffing Scanman's clothes the first thing I do is look at Frost.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know..."

"Shouldn't you start?" Power Up asks.

"It's just..."

I don't know what goes over me at that moment but before I know it I'm running up to Frost.  It's like my body takes over and all I want to do is fuck.  I jump on the guy and start feeling on him.  It's like the animal inside of me is focuses on one thing and one thing only.  I can see Frost looking at me with this sense of shock as the others look on.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," Power Up states.

"I'm getting the fuck out of here," Ultrasound responds clearly annoyed as I'm literally ready to hump Frost with no shame.

"Me too."

The rest of the team leaves at that moment and I feel stupid.  I'm unable to stop myself until Frost literally reaches over and slaps the hell out of me to get me off of him.

"I'm sorry," He states.

"No...no I needed that," I respond, "I'm so sorry..."

Our relationship had literally managed to scare off all the members of the team at this point.  I just feel so stupid.  I look over at Frost and can see how embarrassed he is.  I wonder if he's rethinking his feelings for me at this point.

"It's not your fault.  Your animal took over.  I heard it use to happen to Animous all the time.  It got worse with him.  Maybe we shouldn't test your power anymore.  We just weren't ready to go out in the field yet.  We should head back and I'll just tell my father."

He seems a little worried at that moment.  I can hear it in his voice.   He doesn't want to disappoint his father.  I knew the feeling.  I lived my life terrified that I was going to disappoint my father.  Right now this was his main concern.

"No.  We can still do this."

"Cam..."

"Follow me."

"Cam wait!  WAIT!"

Before I know it I'm running out the door.  I can smell Scanman.  I can sniff him out.  I'm running as fast as I can running through cars to try to find him.  My focus is so intense and the dog must have granted me some of it's speed as well because I'm moving faster than I usually do.   I get a few blocks down and sniff the air intently hoping to find Scanman.

My legs are going fast.  Before I know it I'm at this place that looks like some sort of church or something of the sort.  The smell isn't coming from the church though.  It's coming from an abandoned building close to the church.

I get to the door and try to open it.

"Stand back," a voice states.

I look back and notice that White Frost has followed me.  He hasn't abandoned me like the others.  I do as he says standing back and watch as he freezes the lock on the door and pops it off relatively easily.

We walk into the building.  There are echoes of our footsteps when we walk in there.

"He's definitely here," I state, "I can see him."

The building has a real industrial feel for it.  It looks like some sort of historic old mill.  There are hardwood floors, exposed brick, and tower windows to greet us as we walk in.  The whole building has this beautiful charcoal color that transports you back in time.  In the middle of the room I can see a computer set up.  There are clothes.  No. Not clothes.  Costumes.

"It's his secret hideout," Frost states.

Just as he says that I realize we aren't alone.  I can see the figure in the distance come out.

"What are you doing here!"  the voice states.

We turn and see this man.  It's the same man from the picture.  It's Scan man.   I look at him and he seems as though he's in complete shock.

"Uncle Boe,  why the hell are you hiding out here?"  he states, "My dad has been trying to get in contact with you forever.  We thought you were missing.  We thought---"

"You brought it with you."

"What?"

"Who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion, in her hinder part, a dragon; and in the middle,  a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire..."

White Frost and I look at one another.

"Uncle Boe..."

"The Chimera!"  he states pointing directly at me as he says it and taking steps backward, "I can read it.  You can't hide from me.  I can see who everyone is."

He looks horrified.  I'm not sure why.  His uncle makes no sense at all.  It's almost like he's lost his mind or something like that.  He's sweating and he smells like he hasn't taken a shower in days.  I can see that Frost is just as confused.

White Frost looks over at me, "I've never seen him like this.  I don't know what's going on."

"We should take him back to the Hall, have your father take a look at him."

"Good idea."

Just at that moment something happens.  The window crashes out and a bullet goes right through the glass.  I'm shocked when it pierces Scan man's body.  Within a matter of seconds Scanman hits the ground and seems to fall over.

Someone shot him!

Frost grabs me and pulls me down.  The person was aiming at Scanman though and got him with one shot.

"GO!" I tell Frost.

That's all he needs to hear.  I can see a flash of frost form over the window and White Frost zooms through the air on his frost particles breaking the glass!  He flies out of the window going after whoever just shot his uncle.

As he does that I run over to his uncle.  I run over to see if he's OK.  I check his pulse.

Fuck.

There is none!

Someone actually killed Scanman.

I have no choice but to remember my imprint on the bird and fly out of the broken window after White Frost.   The bird that I imprinted on was a hawk.  I fly through the window as if I am that hawk and my eyes focus through the clear skies until I am able to locate where White Frost is.  He's standing on the roof of the nearby church.  He's fighting someone.

"FROST!"  I scream out.

"Don't!" I hear him scream back.

It's too late though.  I'm flying down to assist him.  I realize the person he's fighting is dressed in all black.  Frost is attempting to freeze the person but the person is so fast.  SO fucking fast. The body moves like lightning evading his cold blasts.  The person flips, tumbles and ducks until it's right underneath Frost where it delivers a blow to Frost.  The blow is so hard that Frost is knocked backwards and about to fall off the roof of the church.

I catch Frost right before he does that and quickly manage to get him back onto his feet.   As soon as I do that I turn and see a foot collide into my face.

The foot pushes me down at that moment and I fall.

"I told you not to come down here," Frost states running over to me to help me up.

"We're a team," I tell him.

There was no way in hell I was leaving him to fight this assassin himself.  Frost seems to realize that when he helps me up and we stand shoulder to shoulder as the assassin looks over at us.  Whoever this assassin was definitely was well trained.  The assassin definitely is making it clear that it's not going to give up easily.

"You take the left.  I take the right," Frost instructs me.

At that moment, he isn't my lover.  He is my leader.  I listen to what he says and watch as Frost freezes the panels on the roof, skating through them like an ice skater as he attacks from the right.  I remember my imprint of the dog finding this aggression deep inside of me as I attack from the left.

I get to the assassin first attempting to pounce on him.  I'm too slow though.  It blocks my attack and levels me to the ground.  Frost comes from the other end and throws heavy snowballs at the assassin.  The assassin is so fast it dodges all the snow balls.

We're losing and we're losing bad.

That's when I remember a skill.  I remember imprinting on the grasshopper and somehow deep inside me I know there is another skill the grasshopper left with me.

Back when I was in charge of handling the team mascot I got spit on.  The coach says it was tobacco juice.  He said grasshoppers sometimes spit the brown substance as a self-defense technique.  I can feel an ability to do that at that moment.

So I open my mouth.

And I spit.

And sure enough the brown juice comes out of my mouth blinding the assassin long enough for White Frost to tackle the person to the ground and pin them.

I run over at that moment to assist Frost.

"The mask! Take the mask off," Frost tells me.

I do what he says removing the person's mask.  The person who I see underneath shocks the hell out of me.

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