10:17 AM, 4th April 1989.
Location: Restaurant located in the nearest hotel.
Mmmm. Simple omelette and toast.
May is enjoying her serving of crepes opposite me. Not only did she refuse to sleep in a different bed, I had to help her comb her hair. At least she had a bath alone. Now she's feeling confident I'm not just going to vanish if I'm out of arm's reach.
As far as her parents go, she doesn't know her father at all… and her mother used many false names and travelled a lot. She has siblings, but her mother refused to give her details. The last time she saw her mother was five years ago. Since then she was in the foster system. When it became clear she had powers a set of parents were found. Far too quickly. They even had a daughter her age and with similar hair. These people apparently sold her into slavery, experimentation or worse.
I made sure to get that family's name and location to Fleur, for prosecution.
Ryan's eventual appearance at the table with a mountain of food was a good sign.
"The squirt looks better." He mumbled, through half chewed food.
"Yep! Victor even helped braid my hair!" She responded cheerfully before munching some fruit off her own plate.
"So how'd those bas… bad guys catch you?" I self censored, as May looked at me.
"I know the word bastard, it means..." She began.
Ryan thankfully cut her off. "Jumped me. When I went to a grocer's in Star City." He paused to shovel more food in. "Step inside a building and two guys grab me. One jams a needle in my neck, the other tries to hold me still. Before I know it I'm inside a van and they're talking about that cult of Dad's and how rich I'm going to make them." He looked my way. "Before you begin spouting your stance on fathers again, I don't actually hate mine… he's just made some mistakes."
"Any clue to the final destination of the cargo?" Looking at May I added. "You too, you were in the office most of the time."
"I'd assume the secret lab I came from, some island off the coast of South America. When I escaped, I didn't think to check the finer details like where I came from… and my education was shoddy. Had to go through a course for my GED when I finally made it to the US." He explained.
"Why the USA? You went through a handful of countries on the way there, I assume." My curiosity begged for an answer.
"Uh… TV made the place seem so good. Sitcoms always showed it as the place to be." He looked back. "C'mon man, I was younger than you. Fifteen or so. All hopeful and shit."
I cleared my throat. Younger… right.
"I didn't hear names, just numbers of people being sent and that I was a 'special' treasure." May added her share. "Also something about being 'pure'. It sounded gross."
Okay, she was bound for a far worse place than a laboratory, apparently.
"Did they say where?" I queried, so I know who to stomp on after Dad.
"Bialayla? Bialalalally? Someplace like that." Oh. Bialya. Only one person with a sick taste for metas, slaves and harems I know there. That Colonel Whotshisname. Dictator. I'll leave him to his other prize then. Queen Bee will have her revenge. It'll be worse than mine.
"Yeah, best not to jump into that hornet's nest..." Ryan remarked at me, to my confusion.
"What?" I asked confused.
"You were wanting to find the guy after the squirt and tear him a new hole to breathe from. Then gave up when you realised it was in that hole of a war-zone." He tapped the side of his head. "Can kinda tell what people are feelin'."
"Handy skill to have, at least you know when people are being straight with you." He nodded along.
"Uhuh. Also I heal fast and throw really well." He added proudly.
In answer to him I decided to show off by making the clean cutlery in the room float into the air and dance to the subdued music being piped into the room. The glittering of metal fills the room as I sip a cup of tea.
I speed the movements up, turning the slow dance into a wild ball. Twirling and spinning around the room as May gapes. With a smirk I make them stop and return to the tables and tray behind the counter.
"'kay, that was… Wow. Over a hundred objects at the same time without eye contact? Super fine control on the small scale, huh?" He gushed.
"Three hundred and fifty two." I smiled smugly. I know I'm strong, I practice every day for each extra kilogram of force and every centimetre of range. Just I'm not even near my goals.
His face goes hard. What did I do?
"What do you want from me? You're hungry for something." He announced.
"What do you want to do? Help people? Live a peaceful life?" I asked.
"Peace and quiet, that's what I want. Why?" He asked defensively.
"Because you aren't going to find it hiding. You'll just be found by more people trying to cash in on your bounty with the cult. Make France your home. Help people when you can. The government has adopted me as a sort of figurehead for people like us. They want for us to be law abiding and productive. I'm additionally the first defence against hostile metahumans. What I'm offering is an association with France and their goals for a better world for everyone, regardless of powers. I'll understand if you don't want to fight or be dragged into other people's messes. I just want your affiliation… even as just a regular citizen, with powers." I spell out.
"Why?" Ryan asked.
"To show that we want peace. To prove that your only choice as a meta isn't just to be either a criminal or a hero with no space between them. Powers are becoming more common. We need role models. Be a decent human being and France will ensure you are treated fairly and protected." I raised my spoon from the tea cup to float in the air. "Because I and those who seek to better the world in a more direct fashion will enforce that protection." The spoon was crushed under magnetic fields, folded over and over until the metal melted under the friction. "I just want your word that you'll abide by the laws and help out if we have a world ending disaster to avert."
"I don't get your attitude, but the rest of that stuff sounds good. Now you'll tell me what you're gonna use that spoon to prove." He responded.
"This? I was just going to reheat my tea, it's cold." Reforming the spoon I quenched the glowing metal in my cup. I removed it a few seconds later. Taking a sip… perfect.
May sat up straight. "Can I be like you?!"
Uh, I don't want to be like Batman, enabling kids to fight hardened criminals and hamstringing these children with stupid rules and ridiculous weapons…
"When you're older." I announced.
"I'm thirteen!" She declared.
Oh, this was going to be a headache...