Private Finished A new life needs new friends

"Hell yeah I was a superhero. They called me Knight Errant and I was on a team called the Defiant. We kinda kicked ass."

Broen laughed, relaxing in his seat and leaning forward with his elbows on the table so that he didn't have to speak quite so loudly to talk to Marissa. He thought about her question, trying to think of what would be the most interesting story to tell.

"Okay, yeah. So we were doing patrol. Usual shit after school. Meet up, do our thing. So imagine our fuckin surprise when this dragon shows up downtown. Like full on Smaug-lookin' ass perched up on a building. Then there were like orcs and other fantasy bullshit nonsense. Turns out, it was some forty-something year old guy who got his hands on a summoning book and decided to be a super villain by summoning stuff from D&D. Called himself the Dungeon Master."

Broen laughed and took a sip of his drink. "Once we took away the book, he was basically powerless. I let Janelle finish him off. Add insult to injury - grown-ass man getting his ass beat by a teenage girl in bright pastels and glitter."

"I feel ya," Broen said in between bites as he ate. "The hero gig was really satisfying. Honestly the branding and the merch was the hard part. Fuckin' money-grubbing assholes selling shit with your face on it cause you go out and risk your ass."

"So no," he continued, opening up his burger to put a little of the hot sauce that was at the table on the bun. "It ain't that weird to say you would have preferred that kind of life. It was a shit ton of fun. But it does wear down on ya sometimes. Like, I was lucky to have my friends and my mom to support me. But I saw plenty of people crack under the pressure when they didn't get the help they needed."

Hell, he'd nearly cracked himself. And if what Angelo had told him was anything to go by, it would have been a bad time all around. He wanted to shift topics, get things on a different track rather than just keep on a path that could put him in a very dark place. "You wanna see my costume? I got a sword and everything. It's back at the apartment. Power armor's not easy to hide under street clothes."

"My family's powers all kinda run around this theme of evening the odds. My old man could shut off other people's powers, putting them at human level so he could beat their ass. Before him, my grandfather could match anyone's strength and durability. As for me, I split the difference between me and another person. So if you can shoot lightning, now we both can shoot lightning at half the voltage."

"I can show you, if you want," Broen said, holding out his hand to her. He didn't need permission or to even make contact, but he found that letting people think that he did put them more at ease with his powers. He cracked a grin and, assuming that she let him do his thing, started to turn silver just like her. More importantly, once the two of them were metal, she'd be able to tell that she had what basically amounted to a GPS locator in her head that told her that Broen was right in front of her.

Broen flexed his own metallic fingers, testing out the mobility in his hands. She wasn't kidding - he could feel how durable he was even like this... and this was half strength. "No fuckin kidding. But ah, don't sweat it. I've heard worse. Seen worse too. Won't ruin my appetite."

As if to prove his point Broen bit into his burger, flashing her a closed-mouth smirk as he chewed. This was nice. He ordered himself a beer, asking if she wanted one as well - on him of course.

"Oh yeah, that. It's a quirk of my powers. When I tag somebody and take half their powers, we can each track one another. Real useful for chasing down some jackass who tries to get away after a fight. Or for keeping track of an ally when we go on patrol. Used to tag team with my mom - she can make copies of herself. So we'd set up pincer maneuvers since we knew where the other one's clones were at all times."

"Oh I think I can. Back home, my boy Kaiju was basically our tank. Motherfucker could take hits that vaporized cars, then spit all that hurt back out. So we'd wail on him on purpose in the middle of a fight so he could be our finisher."

"Back home though, all powers were basically the result of some outside bullshit. Just matters how far back you want to go. Pretty sure my however-many-great-grandfather was blessed by the Lady of the Lake or something. Let him even the odds against a stronger opponent. And from there on, that's what my family does. Even the odds."

It felt good talking about home, even if it did come with a twinge of pain that he probably would never see it again. If there was one other world like his - where the other Jude came from, then it stood to reason that there were probably countless others. Even if he started tonight, he'd probably never find his Halcyon City.

Looking over their food, Broen wiped his mouth with a napkin and returned the borrowed powers back to Marissa. "Wanna ditch this place? I'm more or less full for the time being. And I still owe you a demo of my armor."