Origin Story: Part 2
"You don’t want to fight evil without pants."
Madeline stared up at the Protector’s headquarters, a beautiful tower of glass and steel in the heart of the city.
“Should we get a picture of you standing in front of it?” Madeline’s mother asked.
Madeline turned to see her father, mother, and sister all sitting in the silver Toyota Camry behind her. “Let’s see how this goes first,” Madeline said, smiling and trying to hide her nerves.
“I wish we could go with you,” Stacy said.
“This place is only for superheroes, I guess,” said her mom. “Like little Maddie.”
“Just make sure they give you a flak jacket until they figure out if you’re bulletproof,” her father stated.
“And pants,” her mom added. “I’ve seen some of the outfits the women superheroes wear, and they look like strippers.”
Her dad nodded. “Your mom’s right. You don’t want to fight evil without pants.”
“I have to get accepted into the superhero league; then I’ll make sure they give me pants,” Madeline said.
“Okay, well, good luck, honey,” her mom stated. “We’ll see you afterward and then head to your college campus. I know you’ll make a great superhero.”
“Thanks. And remember not to put any of this on Facebook,” Madeline said. “I’m trying to keep up my secret identity.”
Her mom nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Destroy evil, Madeline!” Stacy called to her. Madeline gave them one last nervous smile and headed into the building.
When Madeline first entered, she stood for a moment in awe of the spacious lobby, sunlight shining in from the wall of glass behind her that was more than forty feet high. Banners hung down the sides depicting the heroes of the Protectors, and in the center of the room was a large television showing videos of their exploits. On it currently was the powerful Fly-Over in his blue and orange suit flying up into the sky.
“NASA had learned that an asteroid was coming near Earth and would only miss impacting our planet by a few hundred thousand miles,” said the announcer. There was video of Fly-Over pushing the giant asteroid, barely straining as he did. “But thanks to the intervention of Fly-Over and his immense strength, the asteroid missed up by even more miles.”
“Can I help you?”
Madeline had been so focused on staring up at everything in the room that she missed a woman sitting behind a desk near the elevators. Madeline walked over to her. “Oh, Hi! I’m Madeline Larson. I had sent in a video of my superpowers and was told to come here for a tryout. Are you a superhero?”
“Yes, I’m Deskwoman,” the woman replied, laying on the sarcasm heavily. Madeline's father had warned her that in the big city, people loved sarcasm. “Head into the elevator,” she continued. “It will take you where you need to go, and someone will meet you there.”
“Thanks. You’ve saved the day, Deskwoman,” Madeline said with a smile, trying to play off the woman’s earlier joke. She didn’t even give the slightest smile back, though. Madeline’s father had also warned her that people in the big city could be mean.
Madeline entered the elevator, and it took her to floor seventeen. When the doors opened, in front of her stood two people: a middle-aged man in a suit and a younger woman also in a suit who was sophisticated in a way Madeline found immediately intimidating. “Hello, Madeline. I’m Ernest Drayton, and this is my colleague Vera Faulkner. Please follow us.”
Madeline nodded and followed Drayton and Faulkner through the hallway. This area looked like regular offices, and Madeline soon came to a conference room where half a dozen other men and women in suits waited. Drayton and Faulkner led her to the front of the room and then took seats with the others who were all now facing her.
“Thank you for coming here, Madeline,” Drayton said. “So it is our understanding you have forcefield powers.”
Madeline looked at all the people in suits cautiously. “Yes, I can make forcefield which I can use for both defense and offense,” Madeline told them. “I think it’s a very versatile power.”
“Can you make shapes with them?” asked Faulkner.
“Basic shapes like a sphere,” Madeline answered. She looked over the people in front of her again, all in suits. “So, are you government agents?”
“We make a lot of the decisions for the Protectors,” Drayton explained. “Do you think you could make more advanced shapes if you try?”
“Maybe, I haven’t really tried,” Madeline said. “I just do like flat surfaces and maybe a sphere for blocking things.” Madeline made a pink sphere that floated in front of her. “Occasionally, I do a longer shape like a stick for hitting.”
Most of the people there didn’t even seem to be paying attention to her but were chatting with each other. She was starting to get worried she was already failing the tryout though it felt like she had barely done anything.
“I mean, there is a lot I can do with these powers, like—”
“Do you want to try making a more advanced shape?” Faulkner interrupted her.
Madeline did her best confident smile. “Sure!”
“How about a heart.”
“Yeah, I think I can,” Madeline said, trying to hide her uncertainty.
Madeline started by making a sphere. She then used her will to make one part of the sphere longer while trying to fold in the opposite part to make it like the top of the heart. The result ended up looking more like a butt, though. “Yeah, I hadn’t really tried shapes a lot yet,” Madeline said and looked up to see that again, most of the people were scribbling notes and not even paying attention to her. “So, do you want me to share some battle strategies I’ve come up with to fight supervillains using my powers?”
A few of the people in suits snickered at that. “That won’t be necessary,” answered Drayton.
It almost felt like a gut blow. Madeline could tell she had lost them, and they weren’t taking her seriously. Her one chance, and it was already over. She could feel tears well, but she fought them back. She was a superhero! She kept her voice from cracking and said steadily, “I know I’m probably not the most imposing superhero -- and to be honest, this whole thing scares me a little — but I feel like since I was blessed with these powers, I need to use them to help people — whatever danger may come. I will do whatever it takes and undergo whatever training I need to so that—”
“That’s enough, Madeline,” Drayton interrupted. “We’ve seen what we needed to.”
The tears were coming again, and Madeline summoned even more will than she used to levitate to hold them back. “Just give me a chance, and—”
Faulkner plopped a stack of papers on the table in front of Madeline. Madeline looked at them with confusion. “What’s this?”
“These contain the details of your package compensation and your contractual obligations. There are also several waivers you’ll need to sign right away.”
It took a few seconds for Madeline to process this. “Wait... does this mean you’re making me one of the Protectors?”
Drayton smiled at her. “Yes, welcome aboard, Madeline.”
“I’m a superhero!” Madeline let out a cry of victory but quickly realized it was too much like a girlish squeal and tried to make it a bit heartier. “I have a few ideas for my superhero name, by the way. I was thinking like ‘The Sentinel’ or ‘The Guardian.’”
“Those names are already taken,” Drayton informed her, “but we’ll come up with a good one for you.”
“And I had some thoughts on my costume,” Madeline said. “Since my powers are pink, I’m a little afraid of coming off too girly and not intimidating enough to villains.”
“That’s definitely our department,” Faulkner said with a polite but fake smile.
Madeline nodded, realizing she still wasn’t exactly sure who these people were, but she would have plenty of time to learn everything now this place would be her superhero headquarters. The unbelievability of it all hit her again. Not only would she be meeting the other superheroes like Fly-Over, but she’d also be fighting alongside them. “Well, let’s get started.”
Faulkner handed Madeline a pen. “The forms.”
Madeline was back in the lobby of the Protectors headquarters, trying to keep it together. She thought about saying something to Deskwoman, but she wasn’t sure how much she knew about the inner working of the superheroes here, and now Madeline had an alter-ego to protect. So Madeline found an empty area in the lobby away from Deskwoman to call her family, dialing her dad as he was usually the first to pick up.
“I did it! I’m a superhero!” she squealed as soon as he answered the phone. She then looked at the forms. “What county was I born in?”
Forcefield butt, now THERE'S a superpower! You can sit on things without actually sitting on them!