My Love is Like to Ice, and I to Fire: Prologue
Prologue
Richmond, VA ~ May 2009
Jensen was focused. Jensen was always focused. It was more of a necessity than anything, since a lack of focus was pretty dangerous in his line of work as a...well, as a superhero. He still had a hard time calling himself that without feeling like the biggest douchebag on the Eastern seaboard, but apparently, that was his job title. According to the headline writers at the Washington Post, anyway (‘Superhero Rescues Woman from Potomac River’).
At the moment, he was focused on the criminal he’d just frozen to a wall.
“Ice! Four o’clock!” Beamer yelled into his ear - well, into his brain, more accurately - and Jensen snapped his head around to see the fourth member of the crew who thought it was a good idea to hit an armored truck on Team Alpha’s watch. He snapped his arm out straight in the fleeing man’s direction and heard the telltale crackle of ice forming from the moisture in the air, and he visualized a solid wall of ice right as it sprung up in front of the criminal. The resounding crack as he ran directly into it made Jensen smirk with satisfaction. Before the guy could recover, he whipped his hand in a spiral and his target was quickly cocooned in ice, and frozen (literally) to the spot.
“Nicely done, Ice. Trying to steal my gig?” Bondage strolled up, her two captives floating behind her, neatly tied up in intricately knotted ropes of energy. When one of them attempted to call her a rude name that started with b, she snapped her fingers and a wide swath of glowing blue whipped around his face, effectively gagging him. “Mouthy jerks. You’d think a bunch of Regs would know better than to try this shit in our neck of the woods.”
Jensen shrugged. Regulars seemed to think they could slip under their radar, but Beamer missed very little, and the team had intercepted this crew before they could hurt anyone or get any of the money in the truck. He opened his mouth to reply when he felt it. A rippling blast of heat against his back that made him instantly dizzy, vision gone blurry.
He had only seconds to think, a roaring heat filling his senses. Right as Jensen considered what kind of trap they’d fallen into his powers shut down and everything went black.
Jensen? Jensen, you okay? The voice in his mind was gentler than usual, and Jensen squinted his eyes, refusing to open them just yet. He moaned a little. Come on, that’s it. Listen, you’re back at base, you’re good.
Jensen blinked his eyes open, narrowing them at the sudden influx of light. He was lying in the infirmary. Unfortunately, he knew the ceiling of this room well enough to recognize it in a matter of seconds. Being a superhero was dangerous work.
Danneel and Katie were standing next to his bed, and Aldis sprawled on a chair near the foot of it. Jim stood at the end of his bed, arms crossed. His face was grim, but Jensen had already heard his leader’s concern through the voice in his head. He nodded at Jim, assuring him as best he could. Jim nodded back, and turned to leave. “You’re okay now. Powers will come back full force once you’re recovered.” He paused, and Jensen could see in his eyes that this had been more serious than he’d realized. He reached for his powers right then and came back with a sudden, blinding migraine and very little juice.
“You take care, son. And you all, five minutes. Needs his rest.” He was a man of few words, but they were heartfelt. He had never had a family of his own, and treated all of them like his kids. The rest of the team said goodbye to their leader and then turned all their attention back to Jensen.
“You okay? Feeling any aftereffects?” Danneel looked concerned, and Jensen tried to clear the fog in his mind to remember what happened.
“It was - I was really hot?”
“Dude, could we focus on the mission instead of your ego? We all know you’re a very attractive man.” Aldis rolled his hand in a hurry up gesture, mouth jerked up to the side in a half-grin.
“Ah, fuck you. I meant, there was a lot of heat, and I just - I guess I passed out. Right?”
“Fainted like a little girl, yep. Swooned, had an attack of the vapors, etcetera.” Aldis grinned full out now, and Jensen had his wits about him enough to throw him a middle finger. And make his metal chair remarkably cold. Aldis jumped to his feet with a yelp. “Mothertrucker, that was not cool.” He pointed. “Don’t you pun. No punning. That was - damn, I think I got frostbite on my ass. Katie, check it out for me?”
She rolled her eyes, not even glancing his way. “I am not checking out your ass. Glad your powers are coming back online, Jensen.” Katie snapped her cool blue gaze back to Jensen. “It was Phoenix. Guess he showed up to ‘help’.” She threw up sarcastic air quotes around the last word as she rolled her eyes.
Jensen’s migraine got worse, and he regretted the exertion it had taken to chill Aldis’ ass. He felt nauseous and dizzy, but the anger rose to the surface anyway. “Oh, for - y’know, the last thing we need is some amateur who can’t control his powers to come flying in. Especially when we already had it under control!”
Danneel nodded, her hand falling lightly on his shoulder. "Yeah, he came flying in on this wave of fire and it just about flattened you. Melted your ice restraints and everything. Fourth guy got away."
"Goddammit!" Jensen hit his fist against the bed, and tried to sit up. Unfortunately, that was apparently a really piss poor idea, and caused the whole world to tilt wildly.
Danneel’s grip got a little tighter, pushing him down. "I tried to get him, too, but I was a little preoccupied with you hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes, y'know?" Danneel scowled at him, and he recognized it for what it was. She had been freaked out. He and Danneel had known each other since middle school, and she had revealed her powers to him when it was still a terrifying secret for her. He had told her about his, and sharing his most closely guarded secret was all it took to form a bond between them. He trusted her more than anyone he knew - and the idea of her dropping like he must have sent a charge of fear through him.
"Sorry, sorry. I know." He patted her hand briefly. "I'm good, though. Just not a hundred percent. How long - how long was I out?”
Danneel didn’t answer, looking carefully at the beeping monitors next to his bed. He knew a dodge when he saw it.
Katie was the one who finally answered. “It’s Thursday, Jensen.”
“Thursday? Thursday?” They’d gone to Richmond on Sunday. He looked around at them, but no one denied at it. Now that he was a little more with it, he could see the strain around the eyes of his teammates. There had apparently been little sleeping in the last few days. Jensen swallowed, nodded. “Well, shit. Uh, what about Phoenix?"
Aldis chuckled from his spot near the door, and that sound was welcome in the tense room. "That dude got reamed by these two ladies. I was gonna have Jim give him a migraine for fucking up the mission, but when they finished yelling at him, he was already feeling about two inches tall, so I let it go." He shrugged. "Kid felt real bad about it, though. Said to apologize to you when we wouldn't let him come back to Central."
Jensen rolled his eyes. Phoenix was this kid. Okay, not a kid, exactly. He was about four years younger than Jensen, and what they liked to call a late boomer in the hero circles. A Regular most of his life, and then boom, his powers appeared about a year ago. Which meant he had all kinds of abilities, and no actual control. And since Jensen’s powers were all about cold and ice and frost, when some newbie full of firepower - literally - came on the scene, it was bound to fuck him up. Jensen had only really seen the kid in video until now, since being in the same space with him seemed like a recipe for disaster, and now that was confirmed.
Jensen had never had a reaction like this to another superhero’s powers. Nowhere near it. Blacking out, staying unconscious for days, apparently losing most of his powers for awhile. This was pretty major. Phoenix was either being extra careless, was extra excited, or his powers were growing exponentially. Maybe all three. Which was a scary proposition. From what he could tell, and what he saw in reports of the kid’s exploits, he was really enthusiastic, and the collateral damage from his rescues was kind of epic.
"What's Jim think?" Jensen looked around at the three of them, who instantly looked a little uncomfortable. Jensen narrowed his eyes, turned his gaze on Danneel. "What?"
Jim was the head honcho, and Jensen respected him immensely, but Danneel’s and everyone else’s reaction made him nervous.
"He suggested we should maybe bring the guy in."
"In where?"
Nobody answered. He saw goosebumps rise on Katie's arms, and knew it was his doing, but he didn't want to let up the chill until he got answers.
He looked around in disbelief as the implication hit him. "Here? With us?"
"Just an idea, Jensen. The kid needs control." Danni was using her soothing voice. He wasn’t feeling soothed - or interested in being soothed - at the moment.
"The kid needs to stop throwing thousand degree waves of superheated air at my fucking back when he swoops in. What about The Academy?"
The Academy was the school those with 'unusual abilities' attended. Even as the general populace knew and needed the superheroes, they still were a little wary of them. The Academy was in a remote part of Missouri, and had courses specializing in power control and mental training. Jensen had attended The Academy, and so had everyone else in the room.
"Working on it. He's older than most there, almost 21. Plus, he's kind of freakishly powerful. Jim's worried they can't handle it." Danneel shrugged a little, clearly unhappy.
"Fuck that. If they can't, what makes him think we can?"
Aldis tilted his head to the side, which meant Jim was probably having one of those inner mind convos with him.. "Boss man wants to see us. He says the Academy is Plan A, alright? Don't get your frosty pants in a bunch." He winked. "That last bit's just from me, he'd like me to clarify."
"Ha ha. Shocking. Now go, before I freeze your dick to your zipper." Jensen scowled, and laughed a little when Aldis grabbed his crotch before heading for the door.
"Watch it, Ackles. I can hear you thinking. I know your plans before you do." Aldis pointed at him, winking.
"Out! Of here and here." Jensen pointed at his head, slamming his mental steel door shut. Aldis had latent mind-reading abilities, but they weren’t nearly as strong as his other skills, so Jensen knew how to push him out. It did make Aldis a great conduit for Jim, more receptive to visitors in his mind than most.
"Love you, too." Aldis scooted out the door, blowing him a kiss, and was followed by Katie, who jerked her chin at him in farewell. It left him with Danneel.
"I know what this is, you know." She patted his forearm.
"What what is?" Jensen scowled, pulling his arm away. It was easier to be angry than scared, so he embraced it wholeheartedly.
"Makes you mad that his powers affected you like that. You like being in control, Jensen."
He snorted. "I can be pissed that the kid could kill me, right? That seems legit."
She nodded. "Of course. I'm pissed, too. He's reckless, but Jensen, he means well. Jim tapped in his head. Kid wants to be one of us, wants to be a good guy. We should at least be happy he's not been recruited into the Axis, or one of the other teams of baddies."
Sighing, Jensen nodded. "I guess. But yeah, Danni. No one's ever been able to fuck me up like that. Without even trying." He stopped short of admitting it scared him, but he didn't have to. Danneel knew he was a combination of pissed off and scared, and she chose to ignore the fear, because she was a good friend.
"I know, I know. We'll figure something out. Get him into the Academy, see if Ms. Ferris can put a lid on that powderkeg."
Jensen flexed his hand, and felt nothing. His powers were officially offline for the moment, probably due to him playing around with them a few minutes ago before he was recovered. The idea of being without his powers scared him more than the part where he apparently nearly died. A lot more.
Continue to Part One
Return to Master Post