Chapter 7
“Well, well, well.” Jason’s voice came booming through their sleep, “Look what we have here!” Alex jerked awake, he shot up into a sitting position and instantly scanned his surroundings on instinct. Jason was leaning back against the loveseat, Harold sat next to him. “Would you like to explain to us why you’re sleeping with Sam?” Harold asked crossedly, “Because your mom’s freaking out and we still haven’t told her yet.”
“I…” Alex looked over at Sam, who was just sitting up and was now rubbing his eyes, “I had a nightmare.” He lied, “and Sam let me sleep with him.”
“That explains it.” Jason got up and went to the door, “Get up. Now. We have a big day ahead of us.”
Alex and Sam dressed themselves in their summer clothes and went to brush their teeth. As they were about to leave, Alex grabbed his phone.
The Venice grand canal was pleasant, to put it simply. They entered the canal on boat, an opening in a cluster of buildings on an otherwise small island. People leaned on the railings waving at someone else or sat on tables outside devouring tiramisu and pudding or some other delicious italian dessert. Children ran around ice cream carts, threw bed crumbs into the river, or occasionally a child would triumphantly hold up a cone of ice cream.
From there, they passed under a bridge, where couples held each other’s hands and stared out into the river, at the numerous boats that carried excited and happy tourists. The river narrowed beyond the bridge, before suddenly making a sharp turn and then continuing in a curving direction.
From there on, they passed two more bridges before the river widened and more boats entered their view. The boat rocked in the small waves. Sara loved it, Harold thought it was nauseating, Jason just shrugged. Sam and Alex all had their phone cameras out, it was a warm July afternoon and the sun made a pleasant glare amongst the ripples in the water. “I’m glad that this trip has made you guys cool off about me and Sam.” Alex said as he patted Sam’s shoulder, “Because-” three pairs of eyes swiveled east to glare at them, and Alex immediately stopped talking.
Boom! There was a distant sound of an explosion, and the ground rumbled. They felt the movement even on water, some smaller boats rocked slightly. All talking stopped, everyone stopped moving, the people on the other boats and bridges and leaning on the railings all stopped to stare in the direction of the noise.
A dark plume of smoke rose from the distance in the horizon. Some people gasped, a child screamed, others just stood and stared. The commotion was enough to jerk their parents into motion. “Let’s go.” Said Sara, and she requested the tour guide to take them back to shore.
The restaurants were empty, people were squeezed together at the railings, trying to see the smoke coming from downtown Venice. Helicopters flew overhead, sirens wailed in the distance, rushing towards whatever disaster that had occurred. The cab taking them to the hotel was met with ambulances, fire trucks, and cop cars rushing in the opposite direction. Dread and tension hung in the air, the aura making everyone feel uneasy. The cab driver stopped at their hotel, both Sam and Alex got off to run to the revolving door while the driver drove away with their parents.
“Wow,” Alex said as he watched through the window of Sam’s room. “That explosion really woke up the town.” Sam was sitting on the bed, he clicked the “On” button on the remote. “-Explosion that wiped out an entire deck, the death toll is unknown but officials speculate that it could reach up to a dozen. Reports coming in say that the many rescue boats sent to treat the wounded are already full and the local Red Cross is struggling to find any available vehicles to aid this disaster. Here’s Luca Giovanni reporting at the scene…” Alex listened to the news reporter talking about the explosion, then it hit him, and he whirled around. “Why are they speaking in english? We’re in Italy.” Alex asked incredulously.
“Huh? What do you mean? They’re talking in Italian and I don’t understand a single word.”
“They are? No they’re not! I can clearly hear english coming out of their mouths.”
“If they really are, then what are they saying?”
“Do you real- oh fine, I’ll… ‘The explosion was apparently heard from as far as the Grand Canal, the injuries are now already up to seventy and counting, the-’”
“That was my doing.” The TV screen suddenly cut to blue. Both Sam and Alex jumped back, “You again!?” They both cried simultaneously. “Yes, and I helped translate that for you, you’re welcome.”
“I-I thought that I needed to touch whatever device in order for you to talk!” Alex sputtered to the-the… Whatever that was. “You did,” The voice explained, “and I can’t keep going on for much longer, so-” The voice cut out again. “-Injuries span from severely damaged eardrums to limbs blown off, the latter being almost half of the total injuries, though this will likely change as they are now finding survivors with more and more severe wounds. Authorities are ruling this off as an electrical error.” Luca Giovanni was back on TV and reporting.
“Why was he translating?” Sam asked in exasperation,
“I don’t know.” Alex sighed as he picked up his phone.
“Now I can finally talk.” The phone said.
“Ugh, so what is your purpose? Why are you inside me? What- I don’t even know your name!”
“I don’t know either, maybe you can tell by my appearance?”
“Appearance!? All I know is that you're a silver pool of liquid metal who forced itself into me after a traumatizing plane crash!”
“Then Silver it is.”
“I never said-”
“Call me Silver.”
Sam facepalmed and sighed, “Alex, just give up.”
“Yes, Alex,” Silver said, “you’re not in charge of me.”
This thing was gonna kill him, Alex was sure. “Well, what’s your purpose? What ‘special abilities’ have you dis-”
“I can see your brain, I can hear your thoughts, I see traumas and I heal them, I can boost your movement speed, I can make you see time slowed down, I can see other people’s brains, I can make you smart, I can make you deadly, I can get more abilities, I can instantly wipe out any emotions like fear, anger, and guilt, I can also supercharge these emotions and-”
“STOP!” Alex yelled, and Silver went silent, “You can stop now.”
“You didn’t have to yell about it.” Silver grumbled.
“Can you at least show me what you have done to my body?”
“Sure, just take off your shirt.”
Alex obeyed, and he began to unbutton his shirt, “Now go to a mirror.”
Sam followed Alex as he stepped into the bathroom, “Now what?” Alex asked, Silver responded by transforming him into that metal cyborg again.
“See that green strip of light on your chest?” Alex nodded, “That light shows how much health I have.”
“Why would you need a health bar?”
“So I can protect you.”
“Why would you protect me?”
“I don’t know, I’m made out of metal, and from what I know, I have the ability to cloak you in a liquid metal that could turn solid at any moment to deflect anything that could hurt.”
“Well… Then what happens when your health goes to zero?”
“I’ll pass out and you won’t be protected anymore.”
“From what exactly? What do I need protection from?”
“From whoever blew up that building today, Alex, that was no electrical accident.”
“So… ?”
“You have to fight whoever caused that, or the world will be destroyed.”
Alex snorted and backed away from the mirror, hands up, “What a cliche fairy tale quote!” he laughed, “And you expect me to do that? A thirteen year old kid. You’ve gotta be joking.”
“I know it sounds-”
“You know? You know nothing.”
“But-”
“This feels like a video game! And you said that you could get more abilities? What a classic level up scenario!”
“At least you get to be an armored badass!”
“Nope, not happening.”
“Just-” Alex flung the phone onto the loveseat before thumping down on the bed, back against the headboard, legs in front of him. “Pathetic.” He muttered, Sam came to sit in front of him.
“Alex, what if the stuff Silver said were actually real?”
“You believe that crap?”
“Sort of…”
Alex sighed, “Sam, let me tell you a story.” He leaned back even further, “When I was in third grade, on the last day of school before spring break, a student told me that my teacher was having an affair with another teacher.” Sam’s posture straightened, “I believed him, and that day, during recess, I told the principal.” Alex rubbed his temples, “At the end of recess, the principal called both teachers into her office to talk, and both classes had subs for the rest of the day. When the last period ended, the principal and both teachers were waiting for me, and they told me that it wasn’t true. I tried to tell them that the other kid was the one who told me, but by then he had already left.” Sam looked conflicted, “I was expelled that day, Sam. Expelled.”
“Wow, Alex… I don’t know what to say.”
“I learned to never trust easily that day.”
“Now I see.” Sam was running a finger down Alex’s bare torso, it had gone back to normal. Alex scoffed, “I haven’t even told you half of it.”
Just then, the door opened and Jason stepped in, “Hey, Sammy.” He said, “I just got back from downtown and-… What are you doing?”
Alex could imagine why Jason would say that, Sam was sitting on the bed with Alex, who was shirtless, and Sam was touching him. “Uh…” Alex immediately sat up, “Hi, Mr. Miller.”
“Hi, Alex, why is my son groping you?”
“What?!” Sam’s arm shot away from Alex’s bare chest so fast Alex didn’t even see it, their faces were both crimson, “Are you crazy?!”
“Then why are you touching him?”
“Alex was telling me a really tragic story and I wanted to comfort him!”
To be honest, Sam sounded like a teenage girl when her parents caught her with a boy.
“And…?”
“And I was putting a hand on his shoulder-”
“And then that hand was on his chest when I came in.”
“NO!”
“Look, son. I’m not being homophobic, I’m just surprised.”
“WHAT!?” Alex and Sam both screamed simultaneously, horrified that Jason would make that kind of assumption. Jason’s facade broke, “Hehehehe,” he began to chuckle, “HahahaHAHAHA!” He began to laugh harder,
“Why are you laughing?” Sam demanded,
“BEST DAD JOKE EVER!” Jason managed to cry between heaving laughter.
Sam didn’t find that funny, he threw Alex a shirt and then was in front of Jason instantly. “What wasn’t a dad joke at all!” he shook Jason violently, “That wasn’t even a joke!”
Jason held up his hands in surrender, “Okay! Okay!” he laughed, “I’ll stop!”
“Never do that again!” Sam reprimanded,
“If your dad always acts like this, then I’m going to question your sanity.” Alex sighed,
“Your dad is even worse!” Sam then raised his voice in mock-imitation, “‘Oh, you have PTSD! Oh, you're emotionally fragile! Oh-’”
“Okay! Fine! I get it! You can stop now, you proved your point.”
Jason extracted himself from Sam’s arms and snatched his duffel bag from the loveseat, “So Sammy,” he asked, “Do you wanna come with me on a little tour?”
“Can Alex come?”
Jason didn’t seem surprised by Sam’s question, “Alex, do you wanna come and visit that famous church with Sam and me?”
“You?” Alex snorted, “You don’t seem like the church-going type.”
“I’m not, actually, but I’d be crazy to give up a chance to see a world-famous landmark.”
“That’s what you called Mount Hood when we visited Oregon, remember?”
“Uh- yeah. Anyway, let’s get going!”
Why are you so cheerful, Jason? Everyone is freaking out about that explosion and you wanna go to church? They walked past Harold and Sara’s room, where, through the ajar door, Alex saw that they were staring at the TV with concern. “So Alex, do you have any relatives who don’t live in Washington?” Jason asked Alex as they stepped through the revolving doors.
“Well… Let’s see… My aunt Sherie lives in Ontario and my uncle Harvey lives in England, but that’s it, I think.”
“Do they have any children?”
“Uncle Harv had twins, my cousins, they’re still in 4th grade.”
“That’s it?”
“Aunt Sherie married and divorced three times.”
“She reminds me of myself.”
“You married and divorced three times?”
“What? No!” Jason shook his head, they were waving down a cab, “I mean that I’m just not the marrying type.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“Anyways, so, uh, I have an older brother living in Nebraska, I already asked your parents about it, they agreed on it and now I only have to ask you.”
“And what is the mystery question?”
“Do you wanna come with us to Nebraska?”
Alex blinked, was he serious? “Really? Nice!”
“Well?”
“Hell yeah!”
Turns out that they had to make a pit stop before going to the church, the cab stopped at a fancy fashion store that stood out from all the other stores on the street. “I’m gonna treat you two with something really nice: New suits!” Jason said as he practically shoved them through the door. “Anyways, I’m gonna look at these watches, have fun choosing!”
Alex stared at Sam, “Why-?” he asked. Sam sighed, “It’s his way of bribing me.”
“Bribing? Why would he want to bribe you?”
“For all the trouble he caused us these past few days.”
“And you accept his bribes?”
“Yeah, why not?” Sam shrugged as they each grabbed a suit.
As Alex began to change into the suit, he noticed his phone buzzing. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller: SVR, who is this? He wondered as he answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Alex, this is Silver,”
Alex shuddered, “What do you want?”
“Please reconsider, Alex. Whatever caused that explosion could destroy the entirety of Venice if you don’t do anything!”
“And yet you couldn’t do it yourself? Just get out of my body and possess some other poor soul!”
“I can’t do that! It’s gonna hurt! A lot!”
Alex hit his fist against the wall of the dressing room, there was a resounding Thud! But he didn’t feel a thing. He inspected the spot he had just hit, it had been dented. Alex then looked at his own hand and caught a glimpse of shiny metal retreating back into his skin. “What was that?!” he cried,
“That was me, and it protected your knuckles and also dented the wall, see how powerful you are? You are the only thing that can destroy it!”
“Oh, so for me it's all just like, ‘Gotta go, duty calls!’?”
“This is more serious than James Bond, okay?”
“I didn’t mean it as a James Bond reference!”
“But please, I’m begging you!”
“Why? Why must I be the one and only!? WHY!?”
“Because I need you…” Silver said softly, “I can’t do this without you.”
Alex banged his forehead against the wall and sighed, “Fine, okay.” Maybe he could be the mystery superhero, then he’d be able to save the world, that was fine with him.
Unfortunately, reality had a way of intruding.
“Wow!” Jason exclaimed as Alex and Sam stepped out from their dressing rooms, “You two should be nicknamed the Corporate Kids!”
“And you should be nicknamed the Blondie Noir Guy.” Sam retorted.
Alex was wearing a grayish blue pinstripe suit over his dress shirt and a golden tie, Sam had a shiny red tie and a black suit. Both of them look really sharp. “Well, these aren’t that expensive, I can deal with this!” Jason took out his wallet and paid the cashier, who bagged their tuxedos.
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