UnHeroes

The date went about as well as he could expect.

It was a blind date, set up by a couple friends of his. Ironically, his date was physically blind as well, which in his current state was far from a negative.

Her name was Jen.

They engaged in small talk, eventually coming around to the topic of how they both knew John and Amy, the friends that had set them up.

"So we've worked together for about three years," Jen was saying, "but really have gotten to know each other over the past two and a half months. They have us working together on this project, customizing a curriculum for, well, people like me." She turned red when she said that.

"You sound embarrassed," Ben replied, resting his chin in his hand sympathetically, and then pulling it away with a wince when the half-healed hole in his hand shot a sharp pain all the way down to his elbow.

"What's the matter?" Jen asked with audible concern.

"I, um, well it's a long story," he said, hoping beyond hope to avoid the details.

"It's okay," she said with a smile, "I'm a great listener. It's kinda my super power." Clearly she meant it as a joke, but Ben wasn't sure how to respond.

"Well alright," he said hesitantly, clearing his throat before continuing. "It's hard to know where to begin. So I know it's never a good idea to talk about exes, especially on a first date -"

"I went on a few dates with a male stripper," she interrupted.

"Wait, really?" he laughed.

"Yep. And now I broke the rule first, so you're all good."

Ben smiled. "You know, I think I kinda like you."

"Shut up and spill," she said sternly, but she couldn't hide the smile.

"So this girl, Lynn... Well we dated off and on for about seven years. And three months ago she tells me she has to confess something, that it's something she's hasn't told anyone before."

"Oooh, sounds juicy."

"Yeah, well, I figured maybe she had a kid or something, you know? Like maybe she hadn't said anything because she thought I wouldn't be able to handle it, that those monthly work trips she was taking were actually trips for her to go and see them." He paused, wondering how to tell the next part.

"And?"

"It did have to do with those weekend trips, but not with a kid."

The silence lingered, interrupted only by the waiter bringing them some bread, and taking their orders.

"So? Are you gonna finish or do I have to beat it out of you?" she asked, putting up her fists in a mock boxing posture.

Ben smiled and decided to lay it all out on the table. "She told me...well, she said..." Ben sighed. "She was a werewolf." Ben closed his eyes, grimaced, and waited for a derisive laugh, but one didn't come. "No joke?"

"Way I see it," and she paused, eyes open wide, aimed in his direction. "Get it?" She laughed again, a sweet, warm laugh. "But honestly, you've heard the saying that seeing is believing? Well when you can't see anything at all, you just have to learn to take people at their word."

"But people can be pretty cruel when they want," he offered. "You ever heard the saying, 'You can't believe everything you hear'?"

"But you're forgetting my super power. I have an ear for when someone's not shooting straight. You've got a trustworthy voice." She paused again, and gave a little smile. "And I think I kinda like you."

Ben smiled. "So that month, she let me see. And it was...terrifying, to put it mildly. Seeing someone you care about turn into something horrible right in front of your eyes -" His breath caught, worried that he'd offended her.

"Seriously dude, you're not gonna hurt my feelings because your eyes work and mine don't," she said reassuringly.

"Thanks Jen," he said, relieved. "Well take it from me, it's terrible. But she stayed pretty much herself other than appearance, nothing like on TV. She could still talk, just far more guttural, and did I mention terrifying?"

"Once or twice," she chuckled in response.

"Well I held in the scream, I didn't run away. I mean, last time she asked me if I liked the way she had her hair and I didn't, and I was honest? That scares me more than her as a werewolf."

Jen rolled her eyes playfully and said, "Men."

"Yeah, that's us," he joked back.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with you physically hurting, if she didn't tear you up as a werewolf?"

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. I guess patience isn't one of your super powers, huh?"

Picking up a fork, and pointing it far to the left of him, Jen replied lightheartedly, "Watch yourself, I know how to use this."

"Haha, take it easy, I surrender," Ben laughed. A real laugh. How long had it been? he wondered. "So she actually starts to get worried. Why didn't I scream? Why didn't I run away? A couple days after she changed back, she asks me, 'What's your big secret?' and she tries to play it off like she's joking, but she was never great at pretending.

"So a day later, it's garlic and mirrors. She even put up a cross on the front door."

"Vampire?"

"Yep. I mean, I'm not, but she was testing me on that. So no dice.

"A couple days later, she shows up with a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff. To see if I'm among some other undead.

"Then she throws a piece of fruit at me, seeing if it'll maybe go through me, I guess? Like maybe I'm a ghost? I'm actually not quite sure on that one, maybe I just said something really boneheaded."

She let out a big laugh, sounding like she'd been holding it in. "Alright, you have me beat. Way worse than the male stripper."

"Oh, but I didn't get to the best part," he said mischievously, looking at his hand, and then remembering that it hadn't been quite as fun as he was making it seem.

"By all means," she leaned forward, small laughs still finding their way out.

"This was the last time I saw her, actually," he said, eyes glued to his hand. "I went out to the car one morning to head to work. I sit down, turn the keys, foot on the break, put it in reverse...and I put my hand on the steering wheel."

"What did she do to it?" she asked.

"Stuck a two inch silver needle out of it." He saw her wince.

"Sounds pretty awful."

"And so I drove to work, called John and Amy who were both friends with her before we even knew each other, and they were able to convince her to move out."

The waiter got to the table with their food, put the plates down, and headed over to another table.

Jen closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought, then suddenly opened them and smiled at him. "That is one terrible ex story."

"That it is," Ben said.

"So one more question for you."

"Shoot."

"I told you my super power. I can tell you're keeping something back. So return the favor. What's your power?"

- - -

We are few, but unexpected. Scattered, but single-minded. Unpowered, but not powerless. Too long have we been beaten down, deemed unworthy of the air we breathe. Too long have we lived underground, afraid of the world that we once ruled. Too long have we, the healthy, been labeled the weak, the sick.

That ends now.

Unpowereds - They who sit on the fence fall hardest when it breaks. Fight, or be swept away. Powereds - Count your days, for they are numbered, and they are few.

Zoey stared down at the flyer, unsure of its purpose. The group known as Humanity had been around for twenty years. Though until now, they'd only been a whisper, one that most knew was there, but beyond that, nothing.

"Ben, what the hell is this?" she asked crumpling up the paper and throwing it at the man sitting a few feet from her. He looked up at her and smirked.

"A threat," he responded. "A calling." He looked back down and resumed cleaning his gun. "The start of an end."

“What end?” she asked. “To the Powereds?” she asked disbelievingly. "You really think you and a few others with guns are gonna even stand a chance?''

"Maybe not." He let out a deep breath, sounding tired and resolved. "But what other choice do we have?''

"The Underground- "

"I won't spend the rest of my life running and hiding," he interrupted, slamming the gun on the table. "Living in the dark, taking orders from some Powereds-turned-Protectors who won't even truly admit what they are."

Zoey had never seen her friend like this. She was scared, both for him, and of what he would do.

"What are they, Ben?"

"A sickness," Ben said, standing up and walking over to a table covered in a wide variety of weapons. Placing the gun down on one side, he picked up another from the opposite side, sat down, and started cleaning it. "They're a sickness, Amy."

"You sound just like HeroTech."

"Don't you ever compare me to them," he whispered in a way only absolute rage could produce.

"It's what they call us, isn’t it? "she pleaded with him, hoping he would hear himself. "A sickness. 'The last vestige of a weak humanity.'" She paused. "If they're a sickness, Ben, then what are we?"

As he looked up once more and stared at her, she knew she'd lost her friend. "The cure.''