{"id":2585,"date":"2023-12-02T15:18:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T22:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2023-12-02T15:18:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T22:18:34","slug":"now-hiring-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/02\/now-hiring-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Hiring Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Start your story with someone looking out the window and seeing the first snowfall of the season.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge looked up from the envelope to watch the large, fat snow as it fell, sticking on the grass like a blanket but melting on contact with the asphalt. The first snow of the year was like so many others before. It wouldn\u2019t last past noon. With the temperature just above freezing and an expected high ten degrees warmer, it would rain all afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His one-cup coffee maker finished its cycle, and he took the cup to the small breakfast nook. On a normal day, he\u2019d get into uniform, pour his coffee into a travel mug and drink it on his way to the station. The days hadn\u2019t been normal in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After what he\u2019d done, he\u2019d had no luck finding a job with any police force in the region. As much as he hated the idea of leaving the Pacific Northwest, he began considering returning home to Puerto Rico to find work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The envelope in his hand pulled his attention. The logo of the International League of Heroes above the words, \u201cNow Hiring Heroes\u201d adorned the envelope, and he thought it might be asking for donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside, though, was a letter, and Jorge knew it wasn\u2019t boiler-plate, as there were too many details about his search for a department that would hire him. He read the whole thing, turned it over to see if there was something he was missing before he read it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only was the ILH offering him a job, but the letter also made it sound like they wanted a new super. He\u2019d read a conspiracy theory about a \u201csuper serum\u201d that was being used to create superheroes and supervillains but brushed it off as nonsense on the level of the faked moon landing theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter included strict language about non-disclosure, with the caveat that calling the number meant he agreed to those terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever<\/em>, he thought, I\u2019m not finding any other work, and the pay\u2019s good. I can at least see what the job is. Probably a desk assignment, but better than nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He dialed the number which was answered on the first ring\u2026by StarElla, one of the most powerful supers and current head of the ILH. He recognized her voice and slight Irish lilt from all the media she\u2019d been in. \u201cGood morning, Jorge,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m glad you decided to call. I\u2019m StarElla and I look forward to meeting you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I didn\u2019t expect to talk to you directly, but\u2026uh\u2026I was wondering what kind of job you could want me for? I mean, I\u2019m a cop, and that\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever done. I guess I could work a desk or do detective work\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She cut him off. \u201cWe want you to join the ILH as one of the supers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2026what? I\u2019m not\u2026I\u2019m just a guy. No supers in my family at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you would be the first in your family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\u2026supers are born<\/em>, not made. Unless you\u2019re saying\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

StarElla laughed. \u201cSome are born, but only if their parents are both supers, and even then, it\u2019s one-in-four odds. The rest are made, and you have the qualities we\u2019re looking for in a new member.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou mean the super serum is real?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot the way people seem to think.\u201d She took a deep breath on the other end. \u201cJorge, if you do this, your entire life will change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWill I have to move?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust a couple months for the procedure and training. We could use a super in your neck of the woods, as you Americans say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know why I can\u2019t find work as a cop anymore, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI<\/em> do. No one else in the League knows the details.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe I am<\/em> a traitor, though. I mean, I didn\u2019t even hesitate when Internal Affairs asked for my help. Yeah, I helped IA put away a dozen dirty cops, but now I\u2019m the bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly why I want you. Jorge, as privileged as the information I\u2019ve already given you is, I have something even more secret to share with you\u2026if you want to help the League, that is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge sighed. \u201cYou don\u2019t even have to say it. I know what you\u2019re hinting at, and if bad cops are dangerous, bad supers in the League are a thousand times worse. I\u2019ll help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lab hidden deep under the Alps near Airolo, Switzerland looked like something out of a movie\u2026except for all the medical equipment that would outfit an Intensive Care unit in any hospital in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

StarElla was there to walk him through the procedure. She explained it all to him as the doctor attached the EKG, pulse oximeter, and BP monitors to the machines that beeped and hummed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe doctor\u2019s already examined your DNA and determined the best changes to make. She\u2019ll inject the nano bots that will edit the DNA in all your cells, beginning in your bone marrow and working out from there. After that, it\u2019s a blast of EMP to shut down the bots, and a few weeks of training while your body clears them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, is this how supervillains are made, too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, most of them are made from black market bots that aren\u2019t tuned for an individual\u2019s DNA. There\u2019s an even chance of getting a superpower or ending up disabled, disfigured, or even dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFifty-fifty odds? Why take the chance?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDesperation, usually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happens if they don\u2019t have an EMP device to shut down the bots?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsually, they reach a point where the body begins to destroy them faster than they can replicate, but it can be months of illness before they\u2019re cleared. In more rare cases, they don\u2019t stop editing. Remember The Blob?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe guy that was a collection of limbs and mouths on a ten-foot ball of flesh? The one that ate his way through a jail wall, and ate four guards while he was at it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the one. She<\/em> kept mutating, growing, and the constant hunger and pain drove her mad\u2026that and the seven partial brains besides her original all getting and sending signals contradicting each other. The court found her unfit to stand trial, but sided with her sister when she requested euthanasia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The injection into the marrow of both femurs was excruciating, even with the anesthetics he\u2019d been shot up with. He sucked air through his teeth and did his best not to complain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d the doctor said as she forced the fluid into his bones, \u201cbut you have to be awake for this, and there\u2019s no way to give you a spinal since we need to move you around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get it, doc,\u201d he squeezed out through gritted teeth. \u201cI\u2019m Jorge, what\u2019s your name? Come here often?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She laughed. \u201cI\u2019m Doctor Singh, but you can call me Annie, it\u2019s short for Ankita.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNice to meet you, Annie. Is\u2026is my butt supposed to feel like it\u2019s burning?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReferred pain. You\u2019ll be getting plenty of that over the next few hours while the bots even out. We\u2019ll try to help out as much as we can.\u201d She removed the long needles from his thighs and rolled a cart with a screen over his legs and adjusted the bed to a seated position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow long does it usually take for the powers to show up?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnywhere from six to seventy-eight hours, so far. If you like, you can watch the spread of the bots on the monitor,\u201d she said, pointing at the screen she was watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge shook his head. Now that the injections were done, the pain had settled into something like a bad case of sciatica. \u201cI think I\u2019d rather focus on something other than my body right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pain began to ramp up. It felt like all his bones were on fire. When he could no longer speak from the pain, the doctor injected something into his IV. \u201cThis will take the edge off, and should put you right to sleep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He felt the cooled liquid from the injection enter his vein, but nothing happened to change how he felt. \u201cHow\u2014how long does it take?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt should be instant.\u201d She went back and forth between the monitor and his vitals, before injecting a second, and then third dose. When he continued to watch her, she said, \u201cYou should be comatose from that much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pain in my bones seems to be settling down,\u201d he said, glad of the reprieve. He felt as though all his muscles were on fire, and his joints felt as though they\u2019d been sprained. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m being run over by a truck now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankita nodded to someone he couldn\u2019t see, and they wheeled him into another room where she pulled off all the EKG leads and pads. \u201cLet me help you onto the table. We need to do an MRI right away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving was difficult, but he made it to the MRI and the bed he\u2019d been on was wheeled out. The machine was claustrophobic, with a steady thumping noise as the table moved him deeper and deeper within, capturing a full-body scan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thumping stopped and the table extended back out. Jorge struggled to sit up and look at himself. He hadn\u2019t been in bad<\/em> shape, but he\u2019d been in better shape when he was younger. Now, though, it seemed he had almost no body fat, instead boasting well-defined, whippy muscle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhoa, feeling dizzy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor helped him back to his bed, replaced the EKG pads and leads, and wheeled him back into the other room. \u201cWith all the work your body\u2019s doing, your blood sugar is probably low.\u201d She pricked his finger and squeezed. \u201cHuh.\u201d She did it again. Then a third time, before looking at her watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForty-three minutes. That\u2019s the new low time for powers to first appear. I thought so from the MRI, but this confirms it,\u201d she said, holding his finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t get a blood drop from you, because you heal too fast. Matches what I saw in the scan. Your bones look like they\u2019ve suffered a million hairline fractures and healed back. That means, of course, your bones are a great deal denser than they were. Seems like your body took the bots to be injuries, and with the edited DNA went to work repairing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, are they all gone, now?\u201d he asked. Aside from the dizzy spell, he was feeling fine, if a little weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems so, but we\u2019re still going to EMP you.\u201d She set a tray with orange juice and sandwiches in his lap. \u201cYou should eat this on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t need to be told twice. The EMP room contained a fine-mesh wire cage. His bed was rolled inside, and a single thump<\/em> sound echoed through the room. \u201cThat\u2019s the fastest we\u2019ve ever processed a super,\u201d Ankita said. \u201cStill hungry?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After another meal, this one far larger than any he\u2019d eaten before, Jorge felt fine and was released from the doctor\u2019s care. She told him how to get to StarElla\u2019s office and saw him out the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flight on the private jet home was mostly silent. Jorge had settled into a 30,000 calorie per day diet just to keep up. He\u2019d spent six weeks learning the ins and outs of the League, and of detective work. He\u2019d met a few of the \u201cbig names\u201d in the League, and many regional heroes he\u2019d never heard of. Like them, he would be stationed at his home, and available for calls in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

StarElla woke from her nap and stretched, hard enough for her bioluminescence from which she drew her name to shimmer through her clothes. She turned her seat around to face him. \u201cI know we haven\u2019t talked about it at all since that first call, but it\u2019s time to fill you in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m all ears, boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe League knows El Culebro<\/em>, the new regional super with enhanced strength, durability, and super-regeneration. They don\u2019t<\/em> know that Jorge Col\u00f3n, the man behind the mask, is the start of the League\u2019s own Internal Affairs department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want a full investigation of all the main members, and everyone that works at League headquarters, starting with me and Doctor Singh \u2014 the only other person besides you I know<\/em> isn\u2019t part of what\u2019s going on. I\u2019ll have plenty of assignments and trainings for you to attend that will cover your activities coming and going to HQ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat, exactly, am I looking for?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything that would compromise a member; make them prone to do something they wouldn\u2019t normally do for money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou still haven\u2019t told me what\u2019s really going on,\u201d Jorge said. \u201cIf you continue to not say, I might think you have something to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smile that crossed her face was sad. \u201cFour times out of the last nine that I was away from Airolo for more than a day there has been a theft of nanobots from the vault. The last time an EMP generator was stolen as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow much are we talking?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnough to build an army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge sighed. \u201cI guess it\u2019s too late to back out now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUntil your cover is blown,\u201d StarElla said, \u201cyou\u2019re the best bet I\u2019ve got. It helps that you blew through the process so fast \u2014 it has everyone convinced that\u2019s why I brought you in and that you\u2019re my new pet project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUntil my cover is blown, I\u2019ll be El Culebro, StarElla\u2019s pet project. After that, though, things might get rough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have your back when they do, Jorge. And when it\u2019s just us, call me Sinead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh. I\u2014I thought your name was Ella.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She smiled. \u201cSo does most everyone else, except the inner circle. Keep it under your hat, though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoody and felt something there. He pulled it out to see envelope that had set him on this journey. \u201cNow Hiring Heroes,\u201d it still said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He showed her the envelope and said, \u201cI\u2019m here. Now, I just need to live up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Start your story with someone looking out the window and seeing the first snowfall of the season. available at Reedsy Jorge looked up from the envelope to watch the large, fat snow as it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209,242],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story","tag-superhero"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-FH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2586,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions\/2586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}