Chapter 9

"Is this considered our first date?"  Aaron asks.

"A zoo?" I ask, "Seems more like work to me?"

"You can imprint on animals and I can spend some time with you," he responds, "It's a win-win situation."

I have to admit it's nice spending time with Aaron openly outside of our costumes.  Besides our sexual attraction I wanted to know more about the kind of person Aaron was and it was clear he was someone who was all about duty.  Even now, on our date, it was all about duty.  But I didn't mind it.  He was trying to make me stronger.  We walk from animal to animal and he lets me take a look at them and see if there anything we can use.

My powers had limitations.  I've been working on understanding what those were.  I could not transform into those animals.  The amount of time that I was able to mimic those animals changed.  At times I took on the weakness of those animals as well such as super sensitive hearing from the dog that that I imprinted on not too long ago.

It's nice to meet someone that wants to help me understand my powers.  Someone so singularly focused on training and getting stronger due to pressure from our fathers that we spent even our spare time trying to be stronger.  But every moment that we could slip in some intimacy we did it quickly and without hesitation.

"You should definitely imprint the cheetah."

He puts his arm around me.  I don't even notice.  We look at the cheetah's cage.  I've already imprinted a rhino for strength, the power to constrict like a snake or hide in plain sight like a reptile.

"It kind of scares me...you know, that maybe I'll imprint on too many people, end up like Animous," I state.

"Do you think the animals would hurt you?" he asks me.

I'd thought about it so much.  I'd thought about  how my power allows me to use and imitate all these animal traits and abilities.  I was in the Host of Heroes now.  I could use these for good.  And every time I imprinted I just felt more like myself.  I just felt closer to the world.  Where things had gone wrong with Animous is beyond me.

"I don't believe so," I state, "Maybe it was something else that made Animous lose his mind like that."

He nods, "I won't let that happen to you."

Sometimes people say things like that just to make someone feel better but when Aaron tells me that I think he really believes it.  I believe he has no plans of letting something like this happen to me.  It feels good to know that I have him on my side.  It feels good to know that he cares enough about me already to want to save me from suffering the same fate as them.

I lean over and kiss him.  That's something else that feels good too.  I've never been the one for public displays of affection but in our line of work you never knew when something would come up.  You had to take the time that you had.  He kisses me back and when he does all the animals in my soul are attracted to him.

It just feels so right.

"I know it's soon, but I'm really starting to catch feelings for you man," he states, "And my dad loves you."

"I wouldn't say all that."

"I would.  He says you can have the power to regenerate body parts like a starfish.  You could be immortal. He thinks you have the potential to be the most powerful metahuman since Materias."

Sunbeam had a lot of high hopes for me.  That was clear.  It was also clear that

"You ever wonder what happened with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Materias was with Vigor?  And then he wasn't.  Doesn't that concern you?"

He stands there for  awhile.   He moves away.  His huge muscular arms pressing up against the glass barricade that has two male cheetahs behind it.  After learning about how Aaron was raised to not talk about Materias I can see how that is weird for him.

"People change their mind about who they love," he tells me, "Maybe Materias realized Sunbeam was just a better fit for him."

"When it's love.  When you have that bond...you don't just change your mind."

"What you saying Materias and Sunbeam couldn't have had that connection?" he asks me.

"It's not that it's just..."

"You're talking about my family now man.  Why do you care so much?" Aaron asks.

I can see he's getting on edge.  It does seem like I'm going into his family.  What he doesn't understand is that Materias left my father to be with his.  And what for some reason I feel like that betrayal drove my father into darkness.  Sure it didn't make sense to him but I knew more.

"Listen I'm sorry.  You know I would never cross that line."

He puts his arm on my shoulder.  It's casual but has that same level of intimacy from before, "No.  I shouldn't have come at you like that.  Listen whatever happened in the past between them doesn't have an effect on us now.  The past was the past.  Right?"

"Right?"

"Hold on a sec...I got a call."

With that he digs in his pocket and walks away.  I take the time to imprint the cheetah.  The cheetah is all that exists in my mind.  It gives me it's speed.  It gives me it's agility.  It gives me its predatory physiology.   I'm going to need all of those things.

Because even before Aaron comes back I know that he's wrong.  Mary was proof that he was wrong. The sins of our fathers were going to come back to bite us.

When Aaron comes back he is quick to answer, "We're needed."

~

It's a cold Friday.  A group of armed robbers breaks into a bank on the lower side of the city  It's supposed to be a quick run in and out but they see this vault.  So they decide to stay.  They turn this into a hostage situation.  Unless someone agrees to open the vault every last employee of the bank was going to be killed.

"I'm going to blow this place up," the man is on the phone with the negotiator saying, "If you contact the Host of Heroes I will blow everyone up in this place.  You hear me?  Meet my demands and everyone goes home safe."

The man is sweating.  It's staining his shirt.  The bomb looks real.   It's strapped to his chest.  The other gunmen have semi-automatic weapons aimed at their hostages.  All of them are all the same.  All of them are willing to die just for that bit of money.  And the threat is heard.  They know that they won't contact the Host of Heroes.

They don't expect that a new team has been assembled.  They don't expect that a new team is already here waiting to address them.

"EVERYBODY STAY CALM!"

All of a sudden someone straight up to the front of the bank.  It's someone bold.  Someone handsome.  His white suit makes all the difference.  The robbers turn and see White Frost standing there with his hands up.   Even with a clear white mask covering his eyes he is the most attractive man in the world.  His strong built body is like a sculpture and there is a chill of ice that he brings along with him that makes the temperature of the whole bank drop a few degrees.

"Didn't I say no superheroes?" he screams, attempting to hide the fact that he is shivering.

It may be from fear.  It may be from the temperature drop, but he was shivering.  That much was clear.  But White Frost was unmoved.  There was no fear in his eyes.  He was cool as a winter's day.  Each strong step a long stride as though he is skating across the room.

There is nothing but bullets all around him.

"I'm here to give you the opportunity to give up and turn yourselves in," White Frost states.

"DON'T YOU SEE THIS BOMB?" the terrorist asks.

"No.  What bomb?"

The terrorist looks down.  The bomb is gone.  Outside about a block away the bomb has already been teleported to the safe hands of experts who are already safely working to disarm it.  There is panic in the guy's eyes.

"SHOOT THEM!"

Guns start disappearing on the others one at a time.  Not fast enough though.  The shots go straight at White Frost but they don't get past a shield of ice that he has created in front of him.  I watch as he uses that shield of ice to literally block off all the bullets coming at him.

White Frost is moving almost like some sort of walking God showing his strength in a way that is causing the people around us to look on in awe.

Then there's a scream.

It's a scream that causes all of the criminals to fall to their knees when the windows break all around us.  It acts as decoy.  It paralyzes them long enough that they don't realize me coming off of the walls.  I've been there the whole time.

That's when it's a full on attack.

"Power Up!  Chimera! GO!"

Sure enough, there's Ultrasound, dressed in his skintight outfit blasting down the windows.

Power Up literally smashes down a nearby wall ramming into the place.  The guns are targeted at him when he does.

I'm behind one of the gunmen.  He doesn't see me pressed up against the walls.  I've imprinted a chameleon.  I've perfectly modified the hues of my skin to change and merge into the walls.  He doesn't seem to even notice me when I sneak up behind him and grapple him into a headlock.  I use the strength of a baboon to toss his gun to the wall smashing it.

Power Up and I begin to fight the criminals.  I smash ones face with the agility of a cheetah as I make my way across the room disarming them in every way possible.  There are crackling sounds as their jaws shatter when I hit them.  Power Up and I ram the next man together into a wall so hard that he literally dents it.

Two more come at us.  Their guns have been frozen by White Frost they drop them and decide to fight instead with their fists.

Big mistake.

We take them all out one at a time until there's not a single one left.

And by the end of it I feel more powerful than ever.

"Is everyone safe?" White Frost asks.

The team gathers together in the middle of the bank floor.  Two of the villains are dead.  One of them frozen to death by White Frost.  The other one seeming to have been pummeled to death by Power Up.  The others criminals are either unconscious or have completely surrendered.

The response from the hostages is nothing but this overwhelming applause.  I see how they look at me.  I see how they seem in awe by how we worked together.  And it's almost at that moment seeing how these people felt like in one moment they could lose their life and they were saved that I just have this grasping acknowledgment of exactly who I am.

It wasn't who my father wanted me to be.

I was a hero.  And I loved every moment of it.

~

We get back to the Hall of Heroes.

"Did you see how I smashed that guys face in?"  Power Up asks me, "I think I left an indent of my fist.  I swear.  If he survives every time he thinks about robbing someone he'll see my fist."

The world we lived in was violent.  I had seen death today but I didn't feel bad.  Those people were bad.  There was something gratifying of knowing that these horrible people had been taken down.  Everyone is on a high.

"We all did good, especially Frost," I state.

"It was a group effort," White Frost states.

"It was your plan," I state.

"Listen to your boyfriend," a voice comes out of nowhere and says, "You did great."

We turn and see Sunbeam.  He's not alone.  Other superheroes are with him as well.  I can hear them all applauding.  They are acknowledging White Frost and the rest of us.  Feeling that acknowledgment yet again just makes me feel really good.  I just feel like I know what I'm doing.  I have a reason to do it.

"Boyfriend?" Power Up asks, "I didn't know you two crossed that line."

White Frost looks over at me.  It's awkward as hell, "I didn't know we crossed that line either.  But it's not something I mind."

I almost spill across my words to agree, "Me either."

I sound desperate.  And honestly, we are both drowned in positivity at that moment so it doesn't matter.  No one even notices Motions walking off with this pissed off look on his face but I notice.  Before I get the chance to even respond or maybe have a conversation with him I feel a hand over my shoulder.  I turn back and I'm surprised to see that it's Fem Fatale.

"You're a good influence on him," she states.

She whispers it to me as though this is some secret between us that the world would never know.  I knew her relationship with White Frost though.  Even though in public Sunbeam was holding White Frost as a trophy walking him around the Hall of Heroes now and having White Frost re-enact what happened step by step the whole time.  I knew that Fem Fatale was proud in some way of Frost as well.

"That means a lot coming from you," I acknowledge.

She smiles at me, "Do you have a moment?  To talk alone?"

It's weird she's asking me that.  The others are so hyped that they probably wouldn't mind me disappearing for a few minutes though.

"Sure..."

With that Fem Fatale takes me to the end of the hall.  She is a beautiful woman even at her age.  It's no wonder that the guys back on my track team used to consider her a MILF.  She had a firm body with perky breasts and a pretty face.  As she walks she almost has this sensuality to every movement that she makes.

"Aaron seems to like you a lot," she tells me, "He talks to me about you all the time.  He told me he shared our little secret with you."

The secret.  The fact that Materias and Sunbeam used her as a surrogate to have him.  I can tell that's what she is pointing at.  Of course there was more than just surrogacy though.  Aaron had the DNA of Materias running through him.

We are walking and before I know it we are in the room.  It's the room I had gone through.  The room with the realistic carvings on the walls.  These were carvings that were going across the room.  And among them I see one of Materias.  It's large.  It's lifelike.  It's beautiful.

"Your secret is safe with me," I state.

I think that is why she is having this conversation but she just gives me a side smile as though it was no concern to her at all.  There is something else on her mind.  Some other reason she decided to pull me aside.

"The news was able to capture you in action," she states, "It was amazing.  Sunbeam wants Frost to take over the team and I believe you'll be a great asset to him."

"We can never compare to what you guys did."

"Oh you can," she states smiling, "There is a time where superheroes and supervillains just want to be normal after a while.  I think that time is long overdue.  It's time a new team came in and took over."

It's a weird thing to include supervillains into that.

"We'll do good by the Host of Heroes," I assure her.

She smiles, "I'm sure you all will.  Especially you.  Man.  After seeing you in action it was amazing.  You can take on the abilities of multiple animals.  It's unique.  You know.  Almost like having multiple powers.  It reminds me so much of someone else.  Actually, it reminds me a little too much of someone else."

"Excuse me?"

"Who's your mother?" she asks me.

It's an odd question.  It's really odd.

"She died a long time ago," I state.

"Really?" She smiles, "You know superpowers are usually passed down from one of your parents.  Rumor has it she swallowed a magical stone that added multiple gifts to her.  Sunbeam mentioned that Scanman called you a Chimera."

"That's my new name."

"Someone else used to take that name," she states, "Her name was Lady Liberty at one point before she became the Chimera.  Back in the day she found a way to use a stone to use multiple superpowers.  Chimera was born.  We fought her so much.   See here.  That was when I tried to take her on alone.  This one I was with Materias.  This one we fought Lady Liberty with Vicious Vigor himself...back when he was good.  You do know he was good for a while, right?"

I don't know where she is going at but she is pointing at the battles on the walls slowly while eyeing me after each one as though attempting to get my reaction to things.

"I didn't know."

"Lady Liberty was one of the most powerful supervillains there was...and then one day...she just disappeared," she states, "Almost like she just didn't want to do it anymore.  Almost like she just wanted to be normal."

I don't understand why she's telling me all of this.

But then all of a sudden someone came to mind.

"What was her real name?"

"Mary."

I feel this heaviness at that moment.  It was impossible.  It couldn't have been the same Mary.  Could it?  Mary was younger.  She was around my age.  There was no way that it could be her.

"Oh..."

"You seem like you just saw a ghost, Chimera," she tells me, "Have you seen this woman before?"

She points at the small figure.  It's a woman brazen with structure.  Her face is solid and her eyes are strong.  It definitely wasn't Mary.  It couldn't have been.   She looked completely different.

"What kind of things could Lady Liberty...I mean, the Chimera do?"

"Matter Manipulation, like Materias.  Mind Control...the kind of thing that would destroy the minds of people who knew too much about her.   Kind of like what happened to her brother Animous."

I swallow my spit.

Holy shit.

"Animous was her brother."

"Yeah.  I remember him warning me about her.  I remember him warning people close to Materias that she was becoming increasingly obsessed with Vigor.  People like Scanman. He lost his mind too didn't he?  In the end..."

"I should head back," I state.

"Why?  Is my story not interesting?"

I was uncomfortable as hell at that moment.

"I should get back to Frost."

Before she lets me go she adds awkwardly out of nowhere, "Some say Vigor is dead.  I don't believe that.  He's much too tough.  I think Lady Liberty ran away with him."

"He loved Materias."
"Are you asking me or are you telling me.  Because you sounded like you knew for certain."

I'd heard my father.  I knew for certain.

I lie instead, "I'm asking.  But if she had mind control why not just make Vicious love her?"

"He's pretty stubborn.  Every power has it's limits.  There's no way she could control him.  Not for long at least.  I thought you said you had to leave."

"If someone is as powerful as you say?  And she was as evil as you say then why would she just stop?  Just like that."

"She fell in love," she states, "She fell in love with Vicious Vigor.  No matter how tough she was, he was tougher.  No matter what she threw at him, he overcame.  If it wasn't for Vigor she probably would have ruled the world.  She was a lover like me.  She was my archnemesis and yet I understood her the most.  Only love would make her stop.  Maybe she settled for someone else, but I know her.  She wouldn't.  She wouldn't just settle.  She was obsessed with Vicious Vigor before she stopped.  Nothing would have made her stop unless she got what she wanted. A life with him.  No matter what it took."

I pause.

My father never talked about my mother.

Mary had mentioned her.  Mary had mentioned my father treated my mother the same way she was treated.

What if...what if they were always one in the same?

"When you fought Lady Liberty, would she shapeshift?" I ask.

She nods at that moment, "She rarely did.  Only when she absolutely had to.  But yes she had that power."

Love.  She would do it for love.

"You think Vigor ended up with her?" I ask.

Fem Fatale nods, "Sunbeam claimed he killed Vigor.  I never saw a body.  No one has.   I know Vigor.  He's not the type to die.  The only person I know more than Vigor is Lady Liberty.  She wasn't the type to just...stop.  She got what she wanted.  Somehow.  It gets old you know?  Fighting all the time.  Sometimes you're willing to give up power for something normal."

"And if he was alive, if he did start a family with Lady Liberty...without knowing it's Lady Liberty, how would you react?"

Fem Fatale glares at me.

"I would feel sorry for whoever their son was..."

I remember when I looked up what Scanman said.  He was afraid.  He had saw something in me using his own powers.  He had saw my mother in me.  He had saw the Chimera: a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

I shake, "I think I'm that son."

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