DAMAGED GOODS

By Tobias Christopher

Australia

Tanami Desert

14 Years Earlier

The DEO Task Force responded to a crash in the desert where an enormous energy surge had been reported. They had arrived first, scouring the area to find whatever had crashed there before anyone else. They didn’t a foreign superpower getting a weapon to use against the United States.

“See anything?” the head agent asked as he saw what looked like an odd-looking plant in the dry area. Something that shouldn’t exist in the environment it was currently in. “I think I found something. It might be nothing, but box it up, I want to look at it anyway.”

“I think I find something, too,” a soldier asked. Everyone gathered around at what the soldier had found. He shined a flashlight down to reveal a newborn baby that just lay there, smiling at the adults around him. 

A baby that had no belly button.

10 Years Later

Atlanta

14-year-old Grant Emerson was on his knees in a smoking crater in the poorest neighborhood in town. His clothes were tattered as he just stared into nothingness in the middle of the night, knowing the horrible act he’d just committed in the name of protecting someone he loved. As he sat there in the hole whose damage was a hundred feet in diameter, having destroyed everything in its path. Luckily outside of the rundown shack Grant and his foster family lived in, there were only empty lots around.

Within minutes, the young man had been surrounded by a small army of armed men, all holding their weapons at Grant, waiting for him to try something. They were warned to take Grant alive but were prepared to blast him into the next life if he even lifted a muscle.

As Grant sat there, a single tear fell down his face, knowing that this is where his story would end. He’d be called a coward and a murderer and buried in a shallow grave. The only person in the world he cared for would soon forget about him and move on with his life, finding happiness with a new family. 

Shortly, Grant had been loaded into a truck, heavily chained as he just stared at the ground in shame. He didn’t know where he’d be going, but he knew it couldn’t be worse than where he came from.

“Find the other one,” the head guard said. “He has a kid brother, Romero’s going to want both of them just in case.”

Washington DC

Four Years Later

The group of senators and generals sat around a table as files were handed out before the head of the proposed project stood at the front of the table.

“Gentlemen, we are on on the brink of war,” Daniel Romero said, a middle-aged man that had a long history of military experience behind him before moving into working within the Department of Extranormal Operations. He clicked a video showing images of the League fighting Starro.

“Recently we had an invasion of a hostile alien force. Before that, we were introduced to Superman, a man who can punch planets; The Martian Manhunter, an alien who should be considered hostile simply because of the name; Green Lantern, who possesses a weapon powerful enough to destroy whole cities; Wonder Woman, who can take out a whole army on her own if she wished. There is now a whole team of superpowered threats, including a fish-man and a man who can kill you before you can blink. They claim to be protectors of human life, but what happens the day they go rogue and decide they want to rule over us?

More of these ‘metahumans’ are rising every day. We predict that within twenty years, they will outnumber non-powered humans 3-1. if they decide to take over, we stand zero chance of fighting back.”

“What do you propose?” a senator asked.

“That we build our own army to defend the human race,” Romero told him. “Four years ago we started ‘collecting’ certain individuals to prep for such an emergency. We have a boy who can go toe to toe with Superman when he reaches manhood. We have a girl with the power of changing the wills of people to command them. A young man with the ability to destroy entire blocks just by getting angry. We have 11 young men and women that, once they reach adulthood, will be the only chance the human race has to survive. The files in front of you are names of eleven super-powered individuals we now have in custody to fight this threat.”

“Wait a minute, this Wilson kid…I’ve heard the name before. Is that—?”

“We must be very careful in how we handle this one in particular,” Romero told them. “If his father found out we have him, every man and woman involved in this operation would be hunted down and slaughtered, which is why this information must not leave this room, for all of our sakes With his boy under our control, we’ll trap his father and put him to work as well when the time comes.”

“And how do we control them?” a senator asked. “What’s to keep them from betraying us?”

“An electronic collar placed around the individual’s neck. If the collar is removed, it will explode,” Romero said. “It can also be activated remotely for electric shocks.”

“And you are planning on doing this to… children,” the senator noted.

“Children with uncontrolled powers beyond anything the world has ever seen,” Romero told him. “Children who, in twenty years, will stand among the ruins of the human race when they realize what they are capable of. One young man in this group has already taken a life, do we really want to wait for him to take more? Standard weapons will not work. Nuclear missiles will not work. We will have to play dirty with the heaviest hitters we can muster, even if they aren’t ripe yet.”

“This is something we will need to discuss in-depth,” the senator told him with a heavy sigh as he closed the folder. “There is a question of morals of using children against something that hasn’t revealed itself to be a threat.”

Romero clicked a video of the Starro controlled Justice League fighting against Wonder Woman, keeping her pinned down and trying to claim her.

“If the Justice League falls, if the Justice League goes rogue, if something similar to this Starro situation arises again, there is zero defense for the human race,” Romero told him. “I am proposing we take these 11 young people and train them to be our best line of defense for the day we need them.”

“There will be conditions for this, and we will need to inspect the facilities they are being held in, but we will consider this for the moment,” the senator told him. “We will make sure these children are being treated respectfully, Mr. Romero, before we approve this madness. If this council discovers one thing wrong with the scenario, this operation will be shut down and scrubbed, along with your entire team as well as your career. Is that understood?”

“I assure you, these children are being treated with the utmost respect,” Romero told him.

A billy club hit the young man in the chest, knocking the wind out of him as the other guards continued to strike at him with their fists. The young metahuman fell to the ground, his face bloodied and bruised as the guards exited.

“Next time, watch your mouth, punk,” the guard said as the door slammed.

“Well, the food is more dried out than your mom’s vagina,” Cody Driscoll repeated as he lifted himself up to the sink in his cell. He looked in the mirror at his bruised face as he cleaned the blood off of his nose and lip.

Name: Cody Driscoll

Codename: Risk

Age: 19

Power: Superstrength, enhanced reflexes

As Cody pulled off his bloody shirt to change into an equally ragged shirt provided by the DEO, he heard whistling coming up the hall. Lunch was on its way, bring provided by

Name: Grant Emerson

Codename: Damage

Age: 18

Power: Ability to build enough energy to cause large explosions the angrier he becomes

Grant had been the first to be picked up by the DEO four years ago, having immediately been put into a training program to learn to use his powers to fight in exchange for certain privileges. If he remained a good boy, he’d get special perks like being allowed out of his cell to do odd jobs.

“Lunchtime, Driscoll,” Grant said as he opened the slot to slide the food in. He looked through the plastic window to see Cody’s face. Cody had shaggy dishwater blonde hair and stubble on his face.“You gotta stop mouthing off to these guys, bro.”

“If I didn’t have to wear this collar, it’d be another story,” Cody said as he looked at the gruel on his tray. “I’d wipe the floor with these guys if I had the chance.”

“Our day’s coming,” Grant promised. “I promise. Hang tight until then, we’ll get out someday.”

“You know, you’re the only guy here that’s ever decent to me,” Cody told him with slight happiness in his voice as he felt sick looking at the grey sludge before him, remembering back to when the prisoners were allowed to have physical contact with each other before that privilege was taken away. “Why is that?”

“Because I’m used to be treated like shit by guys like you,” Grant told him with a small smile as he pushed his tray forward to the next cell, where a young man with dark blonde hair sat in the corner, looking as if he was sweating to death.

Name: Walker Sullivan

Codename: Chill Out

Age: 16

Power: Capable of generating intense cold and ice

Grant slid the tray into the slot as he tapped on the glass. 

“They need to turn the air conditioning on,” Grant suggested as he saw the sweat dripping from the boy. Ever since birth, he required cold temperatures to survive.

“It’s on full blast,” Walker told him. “I’m dying here, Grant. I need cold.”

“I’ll talk to Director Black, maybe he’ll turn the collar off a few minutes a day for you.”

“He won’t because he’s a dick,” Walker said as Grant moved forward to the next cell.

Name: Miguel ‘Mikey’ Devante

Codename: Vulcan

Age: 15

Powers: Capable of producing intense heat and fire from his body

“Lookin’ hot, kid,” Grant joked to a Venezuelan boy with a white streak in his black hair.

“Funny,” Mikey told him as he took his food. “You know I’m going to burn this place to the ground when I get out of here. Then I’m going to get some food that doesn’t look like silly putty.”

The orphaned boy had been picked up on the street immediately after his powers had been revealed, putting him into their training program within days of his capture.

“Count me in for that,” Grant told him as he headed to the next cell to meet. “Keep your cool, Mikey. We’ll escape someday.”

Name: Grover Adams

Codename: Fast Track

Age: 17

Power: Superspeed

Grover was running back and forth in the small cell, trying to increase his speed as Grant slid the tray through. Grover had shaggy brown hair and an athletic runner’s build.

“Hydrate yourself, Grover, you’ll blow a gasket,” Grant told the 17-year-old.

“I’m well past that,” Grover told him, having been captured months earlier in the dead of the night. “I haven’t seen my family in six months. I miss my dad. I miss my girlfriend.”

“It’ll happen soon, I promise,” Grant promised as he moved on to the next cell to meet

Name: Joseph Wilson

Codename: Jericho

Age: 12

Power: Possession of anyone he makes eye contact with

“Time to eat, Joey,” Grant said as a small blonde boy came to the window. He looked severely depressed as Grant slid the tray in. The boy had a faded scar across his neck, a reminder of what had taken his voice away permanently when he was younger. “Come on, Joey, smile for me. We’ll get out of here someday.”

Joey walked back to his bed and sat down with his food, most likely only eating enough to keep from starving. He looked smaller than he should have been for a 12-year-old.

“We gotta that kid home,” Grant said as he moved on to a large water tank. “I gotta get all these kids out of here.”

Name: Seren

Codename: Fishstick

Age: ???

Powers: Ability to live and breathe underwater, enhanced strength

A red-headed merboy swam up to the window as Grant opened a slot and slid the good into the water.

“Hey, Fishstick,” Grant smiled, already knowing the merboy’s reaction.

“That’s not my name,” Seren said angrily as he ate the slop given to him. 

“I know, I just love seeing your face when I say it,” Grant told him. “We’ll get you home someday, buddy.”

“At least call me Merboy. And the ocean is my home,” Seren said angrily. “And it’s all the way on the the other side of the world.”

“Then we’ll travel across the world to get you there,” Grant told him. “Just don’t give up hope, okay?”

Grant moved on to a large enclosed cell that he no access to, which was right next to his own cell. He put a palm against the wall, hoping someday he’ll get to meet the boy inside that he’d befriended through a grate on the floor. Grant moved on to the next cell to greet

Name: Anita Fite

Codename: Empress

Age: 19

Power: Mind control and spell casting

“Hey, Anita,” Grant said as he slid the tray of food through the hole. “How are you holding up?”

A young black woman of 18-years-old was practicing martial arts as she turned to greet him with a Haitian Creole in her voice.

“Every day in this place angers me more than I can bear,” Anita told him. “The day I get my freedom, I will exact vengeance upon those who have imprisoned us. I think maybe I’ll turn them all into toads.”

“I want to be there when that happens,” Grant told her. “The only thing that keeps me calm around these bastards is—“

“Keep that calm center, Grant, you need it for the boy,” Anita reminded him. “I can sense his energy, he is scared, and only your calming influence keeps him sane.”

“How do you do that with the collar?” Grant asked, interested in what her powers truly were.

“This collar only restricts physical power, friend,” Anita told him. “My ability to sense others and use that energy to strengthen myself is a power no man can take away. Your strength powers all of us, Grant. While it’s not physical, it is keeping our spirits strong.”

“It doesn’t seem to be working for Cam,” Grant told her.

“Cam requires more than mental energy,” Anita admitted. “He needs more than freedom to survive. He needs love, physical contact from family and friends. I’m afraid if he doesn’t receive that soon, he will die before the DEO exposes us to whatever they’re planning. I sense his life force weakening by the day.”

Grant knocked on the door of the Director’s office. Zephyr Black was the newly appointed head of the project overseeing the young men and women in custody and decided immediately to make changes to get things running faster to meet a deadline he wasn’t sure was coming.

“I finished my work, sir,” Grant meekly told him as his hands fidgeted. He dreaded asking for his reward even though he’d looked forward to it all week. “And it’s Friday. Can I see him?”

Director Black looked up from the file with a smirk. He was a cruel man who didn’t care for children, but he was good at getting results, which got him his current job. “Mr. Emerson, you’ve been doing good work for us. You’ve earned quite a bit of trust with us, but I still feel like we haven’t earned your loyalty.”

“You have my loyalty,” Grant said in a whisper. “In exchange for getting to see my brother. It’s all I ask for.”

“Yes, the boy is the reason I’m worried about your loyalty,” Black told him. “I’m afraid that if weren’t for that young man, you’d have zero reasons to work with us. That’s why effective immediately, we’ll be limiting your time with him to 5 minutes every month.”

“You can’t do that!” Grant said as his anger started to grow. “He needs me!”

“You NEED to focus on your future with this group,” Black told him. “The boy is the least of your worries. The future of the people you’ll be protecting far outweighs the needs of a traumatized boy.”

“You bastard!” Grant said as ran forward to attack as Black pushed a button, causing Grant’s collar to shock him. He fell to the ground in pain as Black stood over him.

“I like you, Grant,” Black told him. “When the time comes, you will be the one we depend on to face Superman when he turns evil if the mimic fails. You are the one thing standing between him and the enslavement of Earth if all else fails. You get 5 minutes with the boy. Be grateful you’re getting that. There are going to many new changes going forward, Mr. Emerson. Many changes.”

Name: Trevor Emerson

Codename: Carnage

Age: 14

Power: Ability to cause destructive implosions just by touching something

The door to a cell on the other side of the compound opened as Grant was led in. Sitting at a table at the end of the room was a 14-year-old boy that was the spitting image of Grant with lighter-colored hair. He was reading a book, barely acknowledging the others in the room.

“Hey, little brother,” Grant said softly as he sat down in the chair opposite his brother. “I see you’re reading the book they let me get you for your birthday. I know I couldn’t get you much, but you always did love to read.”

Trevor remained silent as Grant ran a hand through his shaggy dark brown hair. He was trying not to break down as he kept his resolve to remain strong in front of the boy.

“It’s going to be a while before they let me see you again,” Grant said as a tear fell down his face. His voice had started to break as he talked. “Don’t think that I don’t love you, because you’re the most important person to me. I promise one day I’ll get you out of here and we’ll find a real home. You’re never alone, kid. Never. No matter where I am, I’m thinking about you.”

Grant stood up to hug him when guards cocked their guns.

“I’m hugging my kid brother, you dicks!” Grant shouted. “I’m the only human contact he gets these days! It’s all any of us gets!”

“Back away from the boy, Emerson,” the guard told him. “Unless you want to get Director Black involved.”

“I’m coming back for you two when this collar’s off,” Grant promised him. “When that happens you might want to be miles from this place.”

Grant stormed out as Trevor sniffled a little.

Later that night, Grant lay in his bed with the only light being the one coming from the hallway. Not being able to sleep, he got up and sat against the wall where a grate sat on the floor, feeling the cold metal wall against his back. His cell was smaller than the others with only a bunk, a sink, and a small shower stall. What few clothes he had were scattered on the floor until it was time to get dressed in the morning. Like the others, he only had ragged clothes to wear unless they were training, when they were given nice custom made outfits. Then after training, it was back to the rags so they wouldn’t get their school clothes dirty.

“Cam?” Grant asked quietly through the vent. Cameron was kept in a closed-off room to avoid any human contact. He was never told why, he just knew that he’d known Cameron for four years and had no idea what he looked like. “Are you awake?”

“I rarely sleep,” a voice told him. “Not unless they sedate me. Are you okay?”

“I hate it here,” Grant told him as he choked back tears. “I don’t fit in out there, I get treated like shit in this place. I don’t belong anywhere.”

“I don’t think any of us do,” Cam told him. “I’ve never been out of this place. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever even owned a pair of shoes, just these rags they make us wear when we don’t get to wear outfits for training. I’d give anything to see the sun just once. To walk in the grass. To hold hands with someone that loves me.”

“That’ll be the first thing we do when we escape,” Grant promised. “You, me, and Trevor will find the nearest park and we’ll play frisbee in the sun. We’ll start your new life having fun.”

“You’ll… take me with you?”

“You’ve been my best friend since I got here,” Grant told him as he leaned his head back. “I’ve listened to you cry yourself to sleep every night for four years. We’re family, Cam. We don’t leave family behind. You, me, Trevor, Cody, all of us will go home to our families.”

“I don’t have a family,” Cameron told him.

“You do now,” Grant promised. “Hang onto that though because I swear we’ll walk out of here someday.”

“They’re going to agree to the plan after an inspection of the place,” Romero told to the others under him as he stood in Black’s office. “So nothing can go wrong with this place before that. I’m told Emerson is having an attitude problem.”

“It just came from out of nowhere,” Director Black lied. “He started threatening the operation so I had to shock him with his collar. Even depowered he still knows how to throw a punch.”

“That kid is the one keeping this group together,” Romero told them. “They trust him, they’ll follow him to the death against the Justice League when the time comes. Without him, the others will rebel at his command. I don’t care what it takes, get him in line before this whole thing falls apart before the Washington boys decide to investigate our operation. I want to see smiling children willing to do their part for the human race.”

As Romero left, Black smiled at the team under him. 

“I have one last plan to get these kids under control,” Black said. “How many operating rooms are available?”

“One, sir,” the doctor said. “The rest still aren’t finished with the rewiring the place needs.”

“Get Emerson, DeVante, Wilson, and Weinberg ready for surgery,” Black told them. “If the procedure works on those four, we’ll use it on the rest of them next week once we see how the first four hold up. When we go to war, we’ll have 11 little soldiers stripped of their free will and ready to die for the human race.”

In the dead of the night, the four teenagers were dragged out of their beds and shoved to the other side of the compound and tossed been into a small room, and told to behave. The last one was Cameron as Grant saw his friend for the first time. He was tall, thin, had stringy blonde hair, and was very pale from a lifetime lack of sun. Like everyone else, he was dressed in rags just like the others as he saw Grant.

Name: Cameron Weinberg

Codename: Omni

Age: 14

Power: Able to mimic the power of any metahuman near him.

Grant pulled him into a hug and held him tight. The second he felt the warmth of Grant’s body, a smile crossed Cameron’s face as he felt his strength building up. “Good to see you, kid,” Grant told him as he looked Cam over. “We need to get a few burgers in you, you’re skin and bones.”

“I never had a burger,” Cameron asked. “What’s it like?”

“We need to get you to a McDonald’s,” Grant said as he turned his attention to Mikey.

“Clowns scare me,” Mikey told him with a small shudder.

“Take the boy first,” the guard said as he pointed to Joey. The scared boy held onto Grant as he shook with fear.

“Leave him alone!” Grant shouted as he got ready for a fight. “He’s just a kid!”

The collar went off, shocking Grant until he fell against the wall. The guard grabbed Joey, who started kicking as he tried to get free. The guard smirked at Grant while pointing at him.

“First him, then you,” the guard said. The door closed before Mikey got to it and started pounding as Cam helped Grant up.

“What do we do?” Cam asked. “What are they going to do with us?”

“Just a small lobotomization,” the doctor said as Joey was carried in, still fighting. “Then we’ll insert a small chip in his neck to administer an electric shock to ensure he’ll awaken immediately if rendered unconscious.”

Joey was put onto a table as the guards tried to hold him down. “Get his shirt off so we can make the incisions.”

“We can’t with the collar in the way. We have to remove it so we can do this,” the guard said. “Should we sedate him?”

“He’s a scrawny kid, what harm can he do?” the other guard asked. “Turn the collar off.”

“Fine, but make it quick,” the doctor said as he deactivated the collar with a remote. “Do it before the Black sees.”

The guard pulled the collar off and started pulling on Joey’s shirt as he lifted his head and made eye contact with the guard.

contact

Joey’s form disappeared as he jumped into the guard’s body, taking control of him instantly. He turned his head to the guard and smirked. Two minutes later, the guard walked out of the room as the doctor and the other guards were rendered unconscious and hidden in a closet. Joey held the remote in his hand as headed up the hall.

The door started to open as the guard walked in, holding the remote and smirking.

“Who’s ready to go?” the guard asked as Joey jumped out of his body in time for Grant to knock him out.

“Joey?” Grant asked as he hugged him. “I knew you had it in you, kid.”

Joey started unlocking Grant’s collar as the others looked outside.

“So what do we do now?” Mikey asked. “It’s us against their army. There are four of us and two billion of them. They have nuclear wrapons, strategic air command, and Liam Neeson. What do we have?”

Grant pulled the collar off as his hand started to glow with blue energy.

“They have a pissed off big brother to deal with,” Grant told them. “Let’s get our friends and burn this place to the ground.”

TO BE CONTINUED…