Let me start by saying, I, Henry Rae Allen, do so solemnly…hate my job.
But I do what I must to take care of my daughter, Nia. She needs me to protect her from the world and the world…Is not ready for what someone like Nia can do.
There are two kinds of people in this world: People with power and people without. No, I don't mean power like wealth or prestige or authority. I'm talking about real power. The kind that can melt your mind just by looking at you. The power to make things go bump in the dark, to make skyscrapers fall with just a word.
Yeah you heard me,I mean superpowers. They're 100% real.
And its my job to hunt down people with powers, tag em' bag em' and bring em' back to SUIPP, the secret organization with such a powerful reach that even I can't connect the dots on how many pies they have their fingers in. A.K.A my employers.
I'm what they call a Retrieval Specialist. I get an alert on my watch, like right now, and I head to the location prepared for however many powered individuals show up. Usually it's just one. My watch showed six.
I had to reset the damn thing and turn it back on just to make sure I'm not the one glitching. No, it's really six in one location this time. How the hell that's happening I only have one guess: a catalyst bloomed without the organization keeping tabs on it.
Shit.
Catalysts are like magnet and bombs combined. Catalysts are powered people that can give other people, the ones with the right genetic markers, powers. We call those people Reagents. A catalyst attracts reagents whose powers haven't been awakened. It's like a can of catnip opening up in a crazy cat lady's house, they all come running. That's not the problem.
No, the problem is when a catalyst and a reagent, or in this case a group of reagents get together and the catalyst blooms. The blooming happens when a catalyst has such a strong emotional response to some stimuli, whether internal or external, they discharge a ridiculous amount of energy. Theoretically that energy could be used to power up a major city but more often than not it causes massive damage and makes regular humans stupider than normal.
Like with what I'm seeing right now. Three idiot children being hauled away by police as I walk by and listen in on what happened.
One of them says someone hit them with a modified BB gun but those injuries do not look like a BB gun did it, not unless those children are terribly frail.
The one that looks like the leader says someone pushed him into a wall with a car. Yeah, I'm on the right trail. I'm gonna need the suit for this one, great. I hate wearing the suit.
Pressing a button on my watch while walking released the inhibitor on my powers. I felt the inky blackness cover my body as I walked. Noone looking at me would be able to tell the difference but I would.
I hate what I do. Not because I feel bad bringing in these freaks but because I'm just another civil servant, I can only show up after somethings been done. If I could just get there sooner, before blooming happens, hell before a catalyst even shows up…maybe I could really save lives.
Human beings have so many different ways to kill each other. Powers don't need to be one of them, not anymore.
As I passed by a mirror and noticed my eyes, fierce, determined and yet cold, they reminded me of my mothers eyes. The day she nearly destroyed my family…who am I kidding, it was obliterated…