Fic: Lima City Heroes; Episode one: New Directions
Title: Lima City Heroes; Epsiode 1: New Directions
Fandom: Glee
Characters/Pairings: All the main cast; eventual Kurt/Mike, Brittany/Santana, among others.
Rating: R for the whole thing (might even reach NC-17), First chapter PG-13 for violence and language.
Summary: Glee AU, New Directions is a secret goverment project of teenage superheroes; hilarity, adventures (and romance) ensue.
Kurt Hummel had no idea what had happened that day, where he was or what had happened to bring him there.
Ok, that last part was a lie; he remembered the last few hours but still couldn’t believe what had happened. It seemed so much like an episode of The Twilight Zone, or Heroes; in fact, Heroes would be more likely…
He remembered going out to pick up some things his dad needed from the store. In spite of a huge headache that refused to go away, he had chosen to walk there, figuring no one would pay attention if he was just minding his own business in his brand-new skinny jeans and designer jacket. Apparently, he was wrong, since he caught the eye of two men who seemed very interested in his sweet, virgin blood, but not in any fun way…
Now, Kurt wasn’t an idiot (okay, maybe he was for going out after dark in very expensive clothing, but still, his head was hurting too much to think properly); once he realized someone was following him with very bad intentions, he started running and screaming, hoping someone would come and help. Of course, in true dramatic fashion, it wasn’t until he had stupidly run straight into a dead end and his assailants were slowly getting closer that someone did arrive.
Bless his luck, it wasn’t just anyone. Help came in the form of a boot to the face to one of the thieves; if that person wasn’t saving his life he’d totally give a half-hour rant on her outfit, a full-body white spandex suit with yellow boots (and was that a fluffy duck tail in her butt? He might have just run into fashion criminals), pale blond hair tied into a ponytail and a white half-mask.
“Mike!” the person had yelled. “Grab him and run, I’ll follow you.” Immediately after that, he felt someone pick him up. Said someone turned out to be a guy in a red spandex bodysuit (with Chinese dragons elegantly sewn into the arms in gold thread, just who were these guys?) and a red half-mask. Wait…that sounded familiar. Masked vigilantes, duck tail, Chinese dragon…
“Duckgirl, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Dragon Dancer in front of civilians?” Oh, god, it was true. Kurt was just being saved by two members of that superhero team he’d heard about on TV, he pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming (ouch. Ok, not dreaming). Duckgirl turned her attention to the criminal in front of her while Dragon Dancer ran to get Kurt out of the way.
It was at that point that his memories started getting fuzzy. He remembers Duckgirl standing on top of one of the thieves, paying no attention to the other one who was just getting up.
Then he remembers raising his hand and shouting something to warn her, feeling something very hot in said hand at the same time his headache was reaching a critical point; then he saw a fire bird (as in, a bird made out of fire, how that happened he wasn’t sure) shoot out of it and hit the bad guy square in the chest.
Then he blacked out.
***
Now he was in a room with about 10 other people (thankfully, none in spandex, he’s pretty sure he’s seen enough fashion crimes for one day…save for that short girl in the granny sweater and schoolgirl skirt), some of them talking about Kurt like he wasn’t even in the room; others, like an Asian boy not older than himself, kept themselves away from the larger discussion.
Said discussion seemed to be between the short girl in the sweater and a slightly taller blonde in a baby doll dress. Things were about to get ugly when another person (a man in his mid-thirties with odd hair) walked in.
“Whoa, kids,” he started, as if already used to these kinds of shout matches. “What’s going on here? Why are Quinn and Rachel fighting for?” He then glanced at Kurt, genuinely surprised. “And why is a civilian here?”
“Detective Schuester, with all due respect, he’s not a civilian,” the blonde girl was the first to answer. “Brittany and Mike saw him display some powers.”
“That could have been bad lighting or any number of things besides a ‘display of power.’” The shorter brunette countered, though Kurt now wondered if they were actually talking about someone else but him.
“Listen well, Berry,” replied a Latina girl in the most defiant way Kurt had heard outside reality TV. “Brit may be a bit dense, but I’m sure she can tell when a freaking fireball is heading her way.”
“Fire bird, it looked like a swan or maybe a sparrow.” Was the answer from the pale blonde he was now starting to remember as Duckgirl.
The detective walked towards Kurt, interest clearly in his eyes. “Mastery over fire,” he said, with something resembling awe in his voice. “Tell me, kid, have you ever done this before?”
“You’ll have to excuse me,” Kurt tried to display as much composure as the current situation allowed and haughtily got up from his seat. “But I have no idea what you’re talking about, I have almost no recollection of this day save for the fact that my father must be very worried about me, I almost got assaulted and I’ve had a headache all week that…”
He stopped himself when he realized it, and detective Schuester must have seen it, too because he immediately smirked and asked him. “It’s gone now, right?” Kurt’s look of utter surprise seemed to be enough of a confirmation. “Everyone, take five, I’ll take him to Dr. Pills.”
“Dr. Pills?” Kurt asked; his mind now more worried than ever. “That really doesn’t sound very comforting…” But the detective wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. He had grabbed Kurt’s wrist and led him out a hallway, taking out his cell phone and calling someone, he made out the words “auditorium,” “subject” and “fire-proof hazmat suit,” that wasn’t a good omen…
They arrived to a big room, with one wall filled with weapons, and several props in a corner. The detective left his side to talk to the only person there (who was, not surprisingly, wearing a hazmat suit). The person then walked towards Kurt and he could see she was a wide-eyed redhead who, aside from her outfit, looked like she came straight out of a 50s TV show.
“Wait behind the window, Will.” She said to the detective; who immediately went through a door to look at them from behind a huge window that occupied half the wall, apparently ready to take notes on something. Kurt was seriously wishing he’d stayed home today.
“Are you Dr. Pills?” Kurt asked, not sure what would be a better answer.
“Emma Pillsbury,” The woman smiled at him. “I’m the psychologist in charge of this mad house they call New Directions.”
She almost giggled at Kurt’s scared face and added. “Oh, don’t worry, they’re not really crazy,” she stopped for a second, “well, not all of them.”
Kurt regained enough posture to hold his hands out and calmly ask. “Why am I here? Since I woke up, you people have been dragging me around without explaining anything!”
“They didn’t tell you?” The doctor shot the detective an annoyed glance. “Short version, we’re a government project that works for the police; apparently, you have some manner of supernatural power and I’m here to help you find your trigger.”
“Wait, what?!” Kurt managed to muster, his tone a mix of anger and disbelief. “I don’t have powers! My dad’s a mechanic, for god’s sake!”
Dr. Pillsbury looked at him oddly for a second; she seemed to be studying him for a sign of…something.
“Well, anyway,” she said after a few seconds. “We can’t let you leave just like that; as clichéd as it sounds, you’ve seen too much.”
“What?!” Kurt yelled. “My dad must be worried sick! I’m not staying in this place one minute longer than I should, and I shouldn’t even be here!”
“Too bad,” she shrugged. “You may leave after we make sure you’re sworn to secrecy, though maybe I can get Wheels to make us a memory-altering machine, he’s our resident mad scientist.”
The way she’d talked so nonchalantly about it made Kurt truly furious, this was his life she was talking about. He felt something rise up inside of him while he screamed at the top of his lungs. “Just let me go home!”
And with that, a raging blast of air hit the doctor and pushed her back, throwing her to the ground. But Kurt didn’t black out this time; he somehow recognized the energy flowing through him and managed to hold onto it. He focused it inwards, managing to float a couple inches for a few second before dropping gracefully to the ground.
He then noticed that detective Schuester had rushed in from the next room and was already at the doctor’s side, yelling her name.
“I’m fine, Will.” She said, slowly getting up. “Anger releases most untapped powers, I did it on purpose.” She paused a minute, rubbing her shoulders. “I thought you said he had fire powers, not wind.”
“He had,” answered the detective. “Or, at least, that’s what Mike and Brittany saw.”
“Think he’s got the same abilities as Grand Davina?” The psychologist asked, suddenly more curious.
“Perhaps,” he stared at Kurt, deep in thought. “This could be interesting…”
She then turned to look at Kurt. “I’m truly sorry but you’ll have to stay here tonight while we do more research.” But Kurt was too stunned now to care, he just followed the doctor (who had removed the hazmat suit to reveal a “wholesome-50s girl” ensemble) back to the common room, barely even noticed when the detective called some of the others back in.
“What is your name, anyway?” She asked him, a friendly kind of sweetness in her voice, seemed like she was trying to make up for taunting him before. “Will didn’t mention it.”
“He never asked,” the younger boy said and the doctor threw another annoyed glance at the detective. “It’s Kurt Hummel.” He added after a pause, ignoring a strange look of recognition.
“Well, Kurt,” she started, compassion setting in her eyes. “You’ll have to stay with us tonight. No offense but you might be pretty unstable for a while; and don’t worry, I’ll tell your dad you’re here”
Kurt looked around the common room and found that some people were already there, the detective walked in front of him.
“I’ll do the introductions later but,” He started, sounding a little too theatrical. “Would you mind going with Artie to his lab?” he pointed to a glasses-wearing boy in a mechanized wheelchair, who waved at him. Kurt followed him absently but with a haughty pace, he still had his dignity to protect.
***
As Kurt followed the boy in the wheelchair (and trying to get his mind off things by analyzing his outfit), Artie was happily chatting about life in this place; from what he gathered, New Directions was a group of teenage vigilantes formed in response to detective Sylvester’s Cheerios, girls in pretty costumes to raise police PR; save a few Cheerios were now in ND, one has actual superpowers but the other two are just highly trained athletes (and then Artie started rambling about the costume of the Latina, which he designed and gave her spider-like climbing powers; Kurt could already tell Artie was a comic book fan).
“But anyway,” Artie carried on. “You’ll like this place soon enough, everyone is nice enough, just don’t get in Puck’s bad side…or Rachel’s…or Santana’s…” he seemed a little lost in though when they reached the lab; Kurt was about to take the opportunity to ask him a lot more questions about this place when he glanced at the inside of the lab and felt his breath suddenly leave him.
Several pieces of machinery were resting against the walls, he recognized a few but some looked much more advanced than he’d ever seen. A giant metal suit stood out among everything else.
“That’s Frankenteen’s suit,” Artie started after seeing Kurt’s awed face. “He’s grounded until I can find a more efficient power source.” He then pointed towards a desk at the back. “Come with me.”
Kurt let his eyes gaze over the different machines there until one in particular caught his eyes; Artie seemed to notice, too. “That’s the jewel of my collection,” he said, pride apparent in his voice. “It’s made from the original sketches left by The Mechanic…”
“A Hummel engine,” Kurt said, unaware of the curious stare the other boy was giving him; Artie then moved on to the nearby desk.
He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pair of manacles and signaled for Kurt. “These are psyche dampers,” He explained. “Normally, I’d be testing your powers in a variety of exercises until I found out exactly what I’m dealing with and start working on an outfit to,” he chuckled, “fit your needs.”
Kurt tilted his head, politely smiling in a way that said “nice, but what does this have to do with me?” Artie noticed his confusion and carried on. “Since it’s so late, you’ll just have to wear those tonight while we do all the legalities tomorrow morning.”
The boy then put the manacles in Kurt’s wrists and, for a second, he felt the color drain from the world; but it happened so fast he could barely be sure it happened.
“You’ll feel a little dizzy,” Artie didn’t even give him the chance to ask this time. “Lucky you, you’ll be sharing a room with Mike tonight; he’s nice, just doesn’t talk much.”
And with that, they left towards the dorm area, Kurt leaning against the wall for safety when they stumbled upon the Asian boy from before, who held the door for Kurt and guided him to one of the beds; next thing he knew, the wheelchair kid was gone and he was alone with the new guy.
“I take it you’re Mike,” Kurt said, hoping to get some normal conversation going; unfortunately, the taller boy just nodded and averted his gaze; lying down in his bed. As Kurt sat down in his, he started to guess that “doesn’t talk much” was a bit of an understatement…
In any other situation, Kurt would have been perfectly happy carrying on a conversation alone if needed but, right now, he needed to actually listen to someone else; it had been a very weird day and he needed to focus on something relatively normal. Not even five minutes into the awkward silence that had seemed to descend upon them; Kurt sighed and decided he had thrown normalcy out the window half an hour ago.
“So, what’s your superpower?” He finally asked, hoping that hadn’t sounded like a lame pick-up line.
Worked, too; Mike turned to face him and smiled for the first time. “I’m Dragon Dancer.” He said simply, and odd twinkle in his eyes.
“Wait,” Kurt recalled. “You’re the one who saved me tonight.” It was funny, really; when Mike had been in costume he looked dashing, sure of himself and as if he could take on the whole world; now he was just like a shy teenager.
“Umm,” the singer stumbled for a second, thinking what the hell would be appropriate. “Nice moves…” he blurted out, hoping that didn’t sound so stupid out loud as it did in his head.
The dancer just chuckled, “Yours too, that fire bird really caught us by surprise.” Then Kurt remembered, he threw a fireball at someone!
“Oh my god! Tell me I didn’t kill him!” Even if Kurt had been the victim there, killing someone was not something he’d want on his conscience.
“No, just stunned him; maybe burned his clothes a little.” Mike said, a glint of… something in his eyes, it was long gone before Kurt could really notice it. “Say, I could help you train; I mean, if you want me to. Wheels and Dr. Pills are good on the technical side but, you know, if you need some practical training, I could book the auditorium…”
The dancer seemed about to ramble for a while longer but Kurt interrupted him with a giggle. “I’d like that; at least once I know what I’m doing.”
Mike just smiled as he stretched his arm to turn off the lights, seemingly putting an end to the conversation. “Good night, Kurt.”
“Good night, Mike.”
***
By the next morning, Artie had already taken off the manacles and was about to give him a full physical check-up when detective Schuester walked through the door.
“Sorry to interrupt, Artie,” he started. “But I need to take Kurt to his father, you know…”
“Standard Procedure, I know,” Artie said, putting away his file on Kurt. “Just call before you get here, I’ll be working on Frankenteen’s power source.”
With an overly cheerful “great” from the detective, they left towards his car; Kurt wondering exactly what he was going to tell his dad, “Hi dad, I have superpowers!” didn’t quite cut it.
Still, he wondered, maybe his dad knew more than he let on. He had to get his powers from someone and maybe that was how he finished fixing cars so quickly; maybe he could also control lightning, or could turn water into oil…ok, scratch that last one, that was just plain ridiculous.
The ride was mostly silent and uneventful; detective Schuester unusually quiet, though for all he knew the man, maybe his upbeat persona was an act for the other kids; they all looked like teens, anyway. Still, as they finally reached his house, Kurt noticed the detective hanging around a few paces behind him; so, he decided to go on ahead and ring the doorbell.
His dad opened the door and immediately trapped his son in a bear hug while telling him how scared he was and never to do that again and to call him on his cell phone before noticing the detective behind him.
Kurt felt his dad tense for a second before he relaxed his hold on him, staring openly at the detective. “What the hell are you doing here?”
***
Just some heads up; this is a new series I'm trying my hand out so every comment or criticism is appreciated.
I'll get to update bios of all the cast (along with power list for the teen cast and position for the adult)
Episode 2: Grand Davina found here
Episode 3: And now for someone completely different found here
Episode 4: The Grand Diviner found here
Episode 5: Defying Gravity found here