[Will Chase]

Will awoke with a start, sitting up even before his eyes had opened. He leaned forward, rubbing at his temples. It had happened again. Shit. It was only 3 in the morning, but he'd been woken up by something, another weird dream. He got out of bed, dressing quickly. He would've dismissed it and gone back to sleep as he normally did, but this hadn't been the typical stream of consciousness followed by a bizarre conviction, but rather a dream of violence and hate. Correctly dressed at last, he stepped outside the door and locked it behind him, walking down the stairs to the ground floor of his apartment block. He stepped out into the night - early morning, technically, but dawn wouldn't be for another few hours - and glanced around. Nothing. Maybe he had been imagining things, but he'd been so convinced that something terrible was going to happen soon. Maybe he was going mad. He smiled at his neighbour as she walked past him; she always worked the night shift, so it wasn't unusual for him to see her coming in whenever he was out this early for work. She smiled back and went up the stairs. Will remembered his first dream, that her husband had been cheating on her, and snorted softly. He had been imagining things then, and he probably was now as well. He waited a minute, thinking that whatever it was might've just not happened yet, before he turned to go back inside. Just then, just as he was about to give up, he felt something. A premonition, you could say. Something like pressure on the inside of his skull, accompanied by a certainty that there was a threat nearby. But it wasn't coming from outside, it was coming from above. He took the steps two at a time, wondering all the while if he'd finally cracked and was imagining things, and, after reaching what felt like the right floor and taking a moment to catch his bearings, darting through the open door of the flat at the end of the corridor. The pressure was stronger now, and it increased exponentially as he got closer until it felt more like pain. He found a situation that he'd seen more than a few times as a detective, though he'd always been too late before. He tackled the woman with the knife before she could stab the man in the bed, bringing her crashing down to the floor in a clatter and startling both the man and his bed partner awake. Will had the knife out of the assailant's hands in just a few moments and reached back for the cuffs he always kept on the..... back of his belt. His police uniform belt. That he didn't have anymore. His moment of surprise at the lack gave his opponent an opportunity, and she slammed her head backwards into his nose, dazing him. She was shrieking, at him, at her cheating husband, at the woman in the bed. She went for the knife, trying to snatch it off the floor where he'd dropped it when he went for the non-existent cuffs, but he got there first. They struggled for a few seconds, but Will had been trained and she hadn't, so the conclusion was foregone and the weapon went sailing across the room. She was strong, quick and angry. But she was also outmatched and outnumbered. After the police had come and taken her away and the whole thing had been dealt with, Will knew that he couldn't ignore it anymore. He was different, like Ash had insisted. Before, he wouldn't have been able to stop this, wouldn't have known until it was already too late. But he'd known there was danger, even without any sign. Dominic had phoned him up that morning, asking him to meet at the warehouse where the others had been practising with their powers. Will, still stunned from what had happened, hadn't argued, and now here he was, standing outside waiting for the younger man to show. Dominic hadn't been particularly forthcoming in the phone call about the subject of their meeting, so Will had little to do other than stick his hands in his pockets and try to process the previous events. This was... huge. Will had thought himself unchanged by the crash, like Alice. But now... What if she had a power as well, had discovered one in the time since he'd seen her? Were they all different now? What would that mean? Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Will Chase 752 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

It had been a strange few weeks; a catastrophic accident, a world changing revelation, and a dark and damp warehouse. One of those things was not like the others. Dominic smiled to himself as he parked his car. It was a few blocks down from the warehouse he'd leased. Some might call him paranoid, but he didn't see the harm in being cautious with what was rapidly becoming his investment. Dominic could certainly be classified as wealthy, and his workaholic nature meant that he rarely spent that money beyond paying his rent. That said, his resources were not endless, fortunately the man who had held the lease for the old and decrepit building had clearly not been using it for any legal purposes, so he'd picked it up for a comparative song. He whistled tunelessly as he rounded the corner into the narrow alley running alongside the warehouse, spotting the tall slim figure in the middle. He raised a hand in greeting as he drew closer, recognising Will. The PI looked different, something about the way he held himself, the look on his face. Will's job might be about discovering things people didn't want you to know. But Dom's life lived and died in reading the secrets in people's faces. His grin, never far away, reappeared. "You got one didn't you? A power." It was obvious, and his grin grew wider as he produced a set of keys from his pocket, letting the two of them in through the steel plate door, the most solid part of the entire building. Clearly the previous tenant hadn't liked the idea of being disturbed. "Come in come in, we can talk in here." He let them in, revealing the large open space, shallow puddles and collapsed storage units that made up what Alice and Mason were insistent on calling their 'Batcave'. He could see where they were coming from, although the building was lacking in two crucial details. "This is just somewhere that we can practice our powers, it's definitely come in useful for me. The cleaners were about to start asking awkward questions about the scorch marks. I'd just stay away from the puddles if I were you, I don't want to electrocute you by accident. He turned back to Will as the PI closed the door behind them, the handle clicking as it locked automatically. "So, what happened?

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[Will Chase]

Of course Dominic had noticed something was different about him. Will didn't know the man very well, but he knew enough to realize that he had a mind as sharp as a steel trap. The younger man opened the warehouse door to let them in, showing it off with the air of a trained showman. Saying so much, and yet so little. Will made sure to examine the location for himself; he'd met too many used car salesmen to ever truly trust the words of a talented wordsmith, no matter how genuine they seemed. But the question was a pertinent one, and Will dragged himself away from his contemplations to answer it, hoping that maybe Dominic would notice something he'd missed. "I stopped a murder this morning. A woman was about to kill her husband and his lover, and I stopped her." Will had been standing still, hands hanging at his sides, but as he spoke he began to pace back and forth; it was a bad habit, and one that frequently annoyed both his sister and mom, but it helped him think, so this was one area where he'd never folded. They just had to deal with it. "I had no way of knowing what would happen. There was no evidence, nothing. Nothing at all that I could have seen or heard. I just... I felt something. A pressure inside my skull. A certainty, that something dangerous was nearby, that something awful was likely to happen, and soon. I followed that feeling, and I saved a man." "And I have no idea how I knew that." Will despised his own lack of knowledge, ironic considering that he was, so far as he knew, the only one of their group to have actually had a conversation with people possessing abilities about said abilities. "I sometimes find myself thinking I just imagined it, that there's something I saw but can't remember. But I'm not so foolish as to attempt to deny that something has changed, even if I don't know what I can do. What was it like for you and the others?" Dominic had seemingly had no trouble using his own ability when they had met before, despite having no more training than Will did. But, while the other man seemed to have a fairly straight forward power, Will still had no idea what his own even was. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Will Chase 398 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

Will's response was met with a raised eyebrow. In fairness, Will hadn't made it sound as though it were simply an everyday occurrence for him, but it seemed as though Will had already begun on Dom's plan without even waiting to hear what it was. Certainly none of the others had started anything. At least as far as he knew, it wasn't as if he was having them followed. His power sounded… strange. Like some sort of precognition. No, not telling the future. It sounded more like Spiderman. He had those Spidey-senses, letting him know when someone was about to attack him. Maybe Will had the same thing, only it worked for other people as well. "Sounds like Spiderman. He can do that can't he? Feel things that are about to happen…" He walked deeper into the warehouse, then turned back to his older companion, not entirely surprised to see the man pacing. It was clear that Will's intellect didn't enjoy being confined; it needed room to spread its wings. He allowed the private investigator to work through his own thoughts for a moment, before he spoke again. Mine was easy. Electricity doesn't want to sit still, it wants to go somewhere. All I really have to do is open the gates and give the power its head." Mason's had been even easier, in some ways anyway. He had simply woken up invisible, although he seemed to have no control of it beyond that. Alice didn't seem to have any trouble accessing hers, though there was certainly no fine manipulation involved in it. "Alice discovered hers by accident. And to be honest we're not really sure how hers works either. It's already pretty obvious that science doesn't have a lot to do with these powers. Maybe explaining them is the wrong thing to do." He shrugged, "You just have to understand them… I know that sounds weird, but if these abilities are part of who we are now, then there's no way you'd ever be able to fully explain them. No human being is simple enough to be put down on paper. Maybe we should stop trying to do that and things will make more sense."

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[Will Chase]

Will wondered if he'd been wrong. If, perhaps, Dominic was not as talented a salesman as he'd appeared, because he'd definitely misread the PI. Will wasn't the kind of man that could just accept things as they were, could accept that there were things he would never be able to explain or to truly understand. Everything came from something, everything had a cause. If you could not find a reason, that didn't mean there wasn't one but merely that you lacked what was needed to discover it. Will could just stop trying to understand the abilities he and the others had gained, to do so would be totally against his character, in violation of who he was. There was always an explanation. Always. But Will was not so foolish as to think he could find an accurate explanation for the powers they had gained on his own, particularly not when he knew that there were people out there who would know more than him in that regard. The doctor, for instance, had given them these abilities in the first place; she had to understand them, at least in part. But she was not there, and Will was not so foolish as to think he could find her with any appreciable haste. She and her - their - kind had stayed hidden this long, and even from the short meeting he had had with her he had learned enough to be sure that she was the kind of person who would not be found unless they wished to be. No, much as he might wish it otherwise he had no choice but to accept the truth as Dominic had told it. There was no way, yet, for him to learn anything more. He gave a rueful chuckle. "I wish I could be so faithful, but I'm afraid that I am not so blessed. But anyway, you said Alice had found her ability; what is it? I doubt there's any connection to any of the others we have encountered, judging off the current pattern, but there's always a chance." "I don't suppose you've had any contact with the other powered people yet? I haven't seen anyone since that night, and it's starting to make me anxious." A suspicious mind is a healthy mind Will Chase 374 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

"It's difficult to explain if I'm honest." Alice had done her best to go through her own thoughts on her ability, and he supposed what she'd said made sense. It was similar to what they had thought when they'd first seen it demonstrated, but she'd had some time to experiment on her own. Added to that was the fact that this power was now part of her and he was inclined to trust her reasoning. "If she gets hit it doesn't do any damage to her, and she absorbs the energy from it. Then she can use that energy, kinetic energy on something else." He gestured towards the nearest pile of crumpled metal. It was piled up against the wall of the warehouse as though hurled there by some great force. "That was her. Who knew a girl that skinny could pack so much of a punch, be glad we're all too old for her, I would not want to be the guy that stood her up." It was amazing, Will was almost like a computer, taking all of that information and filing it away carefully for use later. Dominic wouldn't have been surprised if he was using all of it in some sort of elaborate corkboard construction like you saw detectives using in movies. Perhaps with a single word at the centre of it. 'Doctor'. "I'm still surprised that you're the only one that's been contacted. If they're willing to talk to us you'd think they'd try and find more of us, but I haven't seen any of them, and the others haven't mentioned anything." He sat down on a slightly more stable pile of wreckage, careful to avoid any sharp edges lest they fray his expensive suit. "I'm wondering whether we want them to find us though. It sounds like they're some kind of secret society hell-bent on keeping this secret from the rest of the world. I'm not ready to do that. People deserve to know, and Alice and Mason are eager to use their abilities to help people. It doesn't sound to me like this 'Doctor' is too eager to keep things secret either." He shrugged thoughtfully, "Maybe we should go looking for them? Then we get to decide what terms we meet on."

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[Will Chase]

No connection, again. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the abilities they had gained. No unifying thread which might explain why their powers had manifested in this manner. No indication that there was any link at all between them. From whatever Will himself could do, to Mason's invisibility, to Alice's apparent redirection of energy, or something. There had to be a link somewhere, but if there was then he had no idea what it was. Onto more pressing matters, however, Dominic had a point. The lack of further contact from anyone had left Will jumpy, forever expecting the Doctor, Harry or someone else like them to appear before him. He despised his own lack of knowledge, and hated his inability to learn more. He stopped pacing in front of the younger man and clasped his hands behind his back. "I've tried looking for them, that's what I've been doing the last few days. But I still know so little that it seems impossible. They could be anyone, and their abilities could be anything. The doctor healed us, and after meeting with me she vanished from a hospital simply by stepping into a closet." "Maybe she's more powerful than most, or perhaps she has allies, but I don't know. And that makes this whole thing all the more difficult. Hell, for all we know there are more like Mason, hidden from view. He could get into anywhere on the planet with relative ease, I'm sure there are plenty who can escape anywhere just as easily." Will sighed, slumping slightly and rubbing his brow with his right hand. "I'm not a man who gives up easily, or at all, but this is pushing me near to doing so. There's no way that I can think of to track down someone who knows anything about them, not unless they reveal themselves to us." "Perhaps your original idea was the better one." Will's tone was bitter as he admitted what he saw as his own failure, and it was that bitterness that drove his words. "It's not like they could avoid contacting us if we revealed our newfangled abilities to the world." For those who seek perfection, there can be no rest on this side of the grave. Will Chase 361 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

"You can say that again. Will, she brought us back from the dead. I have about enough juice to jump start a car. And I don't recharge that quick. The thought of her vanishing into a closet really doesn't surprise me, although I would have expected her to be a little classier." He smiled faintly. "This isn't something that we can forget, our world has changed forever, and these people that want us to pretend that it hasn't? They can go f**k themselves." It was rare that Dom swore but in this case it was warranted. These were people he had never met telling him how to live his life. The government might do the same thing but at least they had the common decency to stand up to be counted when asked why. Dom wasn't a particularly aggressive person, he didn't hold grudges. "What do you have? I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I do have friends in odd places. I might be able to help with something." Dom brushed over Will's bitterness. If his idea was to work, he need him. Will was probably the most important one after all. Alice might be bulletproof now, but none of them had any experience of what they wanted to do, and that meant that someone was bound to get hurt. Will was ex-police. He'd been good, Dominic had looked him up. He clearly had the right kind of drive. After he'd lost his job he'd made sure that the corrupt echelons of the SFPD paid the price. He didn't need payment for what he did. That and his power, danger sensing? If that couldn't keep them out of trouble Dominic didn't know what could. Dom might be more of a leader, but Will would be the one who made sure this whole thing would actually work. "We need someone like you. Someone who has actually seen that side of the city. Now I'm not saying we go on the news with our powers or something. If we get caught on camera using them though, well that's not something I would be opposed to."

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[Will Chase]

Dominic's vehemence surprised Will. The older man certainly wasn't happy with the current state of affairs, but Dominic seemed to have a real hatred of them that surprised him. He hadn't come across as a man who held grudges or got angry easily, but as level headed and genial. Perhaps it was something in particular about the situation, rather than what Dominic was like personally, that was making him aggressive. Will would be the first to admit that he was far from the best at dealing with people, but he could normally make a fairly accurate profile and Dominic's attitude was throwing him off. But that wasn't important, Will reprimanded himself. He was distracting himself, as he had done before, deliberately avoiding considering the issue which most needed his attention. "That's the problem here Dom, I don't have any more than I did the last time we met. Not a whisper from Harry, or any of his compatriots, and nothing more from or about the doctor. That's why I'm bitter, even the most difficult cases I've had before I've normally had some way to find out more, but right now I have nothing." Will winced slightly at Dom's pitch. It wasn't that he didn't see the logic in it, because he did. Dominic was intelligent, and he'd obviously put thought into what he was saying, but Will was still unconvinced, and he made sure to tell the younger man so. "And... I still don't think drawing attention to this is a good idea just yet. That was my bitterness talking. I mean, even ignoring the moral debate as to whether or not we have the right to reveal this, for as long as we keep the information hidden, we have leverage. As soon as we reveal it, that leverage vanishes, and we're no longer in a position of any strength. So far as I know, the only person that knows who all of us are is the doctor, and it's unlikely that she'd turn against us after the work she put into saving us. But someone else? Someone who sees an opportunity, or threat, in us? We might not be so lucky a second time." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not that I disagree with your desire to blow this whole thing wide open, I just... well, I'd just like to have a little more information first." There aren't any magical words, really. Words just hold the magic. Will Chase 397 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

Dominic shook his head. Will's depression was understandable, if a little unreasonable. He was a Private Investigator, before that he had been an SFPD detective. His life revolved around finding the answers. It was clear that he was a little obsessive about it, perhaps more so than was quite healthy. If Dominic had been a less observant man he might have commented on this, fortunately that wasn't quite how he had made his wealth, or his friends. "Look, if what they told you is true, then these people have been hiding for centuries. They're probably pretty damn good at it by now." He stood from his seated position, and glanced over towards the older man. "You're not just going to blow this open over-night. Now you said that every fairy story we heard, every conspiracy theory about aliens came from one of them. Maybe that's where you start. We ignore the people who talk about Area 51, who are convinced that the government is hiding aliens from us. I'm sure some of them are just crazy. But what about the ones who aren't? What about the ones who actually got caught up in all of this? Maybe a few of them, maybe just one of them is actually onto something." He smiled at Will, "You've only had a few weeks, they might have had years, decades to get all of it together, they're just waiting for that last bit of information to piece it all together. You might have that last clue. You gotta stop thinking you have got to have the answers. Maybe someone else does?" He shrugged, looking about the warehouse. It wasn't the most awe inspiring of super hero hangouts, but it was a start. He and Mason were finding things to add to it, materials, machines, even a few pots of paint. If it looked better it would feel better. "I know you don't approve of this super hero thing, but in truth, it might be out of my hands now. It was out of my hands from the moment this thing started. Alice and Mason aren't going to wait around for us to work out what's going on. We need you. If not to join us, then to at least prepare us." He looked directly at Will this time, he needed him to know how important this was. "We might have powers, but we aren't indestructible. Could you at least help us with training or something?"

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[Will Chase]

Will knew Dominic was right, he was expecting too much. His bitterness was illogical, he was self-aware enough to know that at least, but knowing that only made it easier for him to recognise that it was affecting him, not for him to get rid of it. Dominic's suggestion of trying to speak with people who might already know more was a good one, and one he would have to follow up when he got the chance. Will had never been quite as dismissive of conspiracy theorists as many of his contemporaries. As a man who sought the truth, no matter the cost, he could not help but respect the desire to reveal all, even if many of their ideas were, frankly, ludicrous. Someone would know something, he'd just have to find them. The suggestion was energizing; finally, he had a path he might be able to follow to the truth. "I'll look that up, see if I can find anything." Dominic's second idea was also a good one. While Will was hardly the most qualified person to train burgeoning vigilantes, he was certainly in a better position to make sure that they didn't end up dead or in prison than anyone else. He knew where to avoid, who to not piss off if you wanted to survive the week and how far you could go without breaking the law and going to jail. Though he doubted they'd really appreciate it, not many were aware of the real slog involved in police and PI work, he also knew how to listen in on conversations or tail people without being noticed. San Francisco was far from the worst city in the country, but it had its fair share of rough neighbourhoods, and even had its own crime lord, though Will hadn't managed to turn up much on the guy since leaving the SFPD. As nice as it was to no longer have to deal with quite so much red tape, there's something to be said about having a dozen guys with guns to back you up if you get into a dangerous situation, so he'd needed to be a lot more cautious. "I'll see what I can do, if you really want my help. If you do, it would be better if you could get everyone together here, so we can get it over with quicker." An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Will Chase 393 Words

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[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + Will Chase

It was an agreement at least. It might not be wholehearted, and it was only to one part of his plan, but it was an agreement. Maybe if things went a bit further he could convince Will himself to get involved. It was a relief. Dominic hadn't exactly grown up in a nice part of the city, but he'd be lying to himself if he pretended he knew how to survive on the streets. It had been years since he'd done anything even approximating that. It was pretty clear that Mason had never had to do anything of the sort and while Alice might have grown up without parents, he doubted she had that much experience of surviving on the streets. Dominic certainly didn't want them getting hurt on his conscience, and in truth he doubted he could convince them not to go through with it now. They were too excited, too inspired by the idea of saving lives. He couldn't blame them, the thought was intoxicating. He would have found it hard to resist the call himself. He knew that Will would likely be selling himself short as their potential teacher. It would be accurate of course, they'd be much better placed with a professional instructor. Will was the best they had though. There were no professional instructors in being a hero, and certainly none that would help the group of prospective vigilantes. He nodded, "I can do that. You'll just need to give me a day or two, I'm self-employed so it's easy enough for me to play hooky. Persephone and Alice have jobs though, so we'll need to give them a little more warning." He grinned now that his idea was coming together. Surely Will wouldn't be able to hold out against the combined enthusiasm of Alice and Mason for long. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it a lot more than you think."

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[Will Chase]

Will doubted Dom's words. He hadn't minded being a mentor to young officers in the force - so long as they were sensible - but there was a difference between trained police officers, even if they were inexperienced, and a few totally untrained civilians. Namely, the former could at least be expected to pay attention to the guy training them. Alice in particular, though well meaning for sure, seemed to be the kind of person that'd throw themselves into dangerous situations before taking the time to think it through. Will had seen it before, and it rarely ended well. Once again, he found himself missing the security that came with being a member of a large organization of men with guns. No one with any sense would dare attack a cop unprovoked, but a group of over-eager vigilantes? If they weren't careful, they wouldn't last a month before someone came down on them hard. San Francisco still had its own mob, and the Queen of Spades had a lot of power in the city and neither were appreciative of people who tried to upset the status quo. "Well, here's hoping you're right Dominic. Send me a message when you've arranged everything, I'll make sure to be there. Can't have you getting yourselves killed now, can we?" With that, they said their farewells and left the warehouse. Dominic had whatever it was that he needed to do and Will... well, Will had a mystery to solve. Better safe than exsanguinated. Will Chase 245 Words

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