Masquerade
A world where the chaos is planned...
Here’s the weekly refresher on our daring group of supers, last seen in Toys!
(Check out all the Stories here)
Conduit - established hero, energy absorption and reflection
Blink - trainee, teleporter
Awareness - trainee, telepath - able to sense and send images and feelings
Reset - trainee, able to send himself back in time and change his actions, healing ability
Conduit adjusted the domino mask on his face for what felt like the hundredth time. He had considered himself lucky that he’d never had to wear one during his super career, but the advanced optics built in were starting to sway him. Granted, it was still uncomfortable.
Of course, Reset looked perfectly comfortable in his mask. It looked identical to Conduit’s - black, covering the bridge of the nose and his eyebrows, white material obscuring the eyes, hiding the optics - but it seemed to rest effortlessly on Reset’s face. Granted, it’s likely that once the Agency made the decision the team would wear masks to try to blend in with the odd inhabitants of the new Portal, Reset started using his powers to get comfortable with his. Conduit smiled to himself as he imagined Reset trying on the variety of masks presented, finding one he liked, then resetting so he could just coolly pick up his favorite and slide it on.
Awareness was still wearing her hoodie. With the hood pulled up and the domino mask, her concealment was the most effective.
And then there was Blink… He had been so enamored with the costume his figurine had been wearing in Gronny’s playroom last week, he jumped at the chance to give the Agency’s fabrication team the design. A deep forest green, his mask had more in common with a luchador’s. Encircling his head, leaving his nose, mouth, and bald dome uncovered, Conduit thought it looked a little ridiculous. Especially since the team was still in their dark grey tactical outfits. But it made Blink happy.
It certainly wasn’t the most ostentatious mask the containment team had seen in observing the other side of the Portal. This Portal had manifested in a back alley in north western Calgary, between two garages. Remarkably, the other side of the Portal looked almost identical. If it weren’t for the scintillating golden light on the edges, one could almost miss the portal. The houses visible on the other side were almost identical, albeit looking a little more rundown, with unkempt yards. The houses were still inhabited, but the inhabitants were… odd.
Every single person the containment team had spotted were wearing masks. Like Hallowe’en, sans the costumes. The garbagemen still wore their usual coveralls, but with gaily painted Vegas style headdresses and masks. The homeowners varied from elaborate feline masks to simple goalie masks. Pete even reported seeing someone wearing a Starbuck’s barista apron and a Ghostface mask casually strolling by on their way to a bus stop.
In addition to the masks, every single person the team had spotted had a digital badge clearly displayed on their chests. Two numbers were visible, a seven digit static number, and what was obviously a countdown timer. The numerologist hadn’t been able to determine a pattern to the static numbers with such a small sample size, but the countdown was easy to recognize. A small digital clock someone had set up by the Portal showed less than four hours, and any person they saw on the other side was in synch.
Also of note was the complete lack of children on the opposite side. This side’s neighborhood was residential and even the heavy presence of the containment team could hardly dissuade the nearby kids from peering over fences, or cycling by as if it was their normal route to school. The other side of the Portal seemed to be solely occupied by adults. Of indeterminate age due to the masks, of course, but children had yet to be spotted.
The masked people on the other side seemed to be aware of the Portal and actively trying to ignore it. The containment team had moved to the sides of the Portal after one tech reported accidentally making eye contact with a masked inhabitant who actually screamed and ran. Now the inhabitants were doing their best to give the Portal a wide berth. Although, someone had set up a small webcam at their end of the alley. It seemed to still be functional, but no one had come to readjust it when a stray dog had knocked the tripod askew.
The Agency had decided that Conduit’s team would mask up. Nothing too elaborate as there didn’t seem to be a pattern there, either. And they decided to forego the digital badges without knowing the meaning of the static numbers or the countdown. Having Reset back on the team meant they could take some chances and hopefully rely on his power if things went sideways.
It was late afternoon on both sides of the Portal when Conduit and Reset stepped through. Conduit was thankful that the alley seemed deserted, most of the residents having left for work far earlier in the day. Any windows facing the Portal had had their curtains shut, as if to deny its presence. He was still wary of the camera, but knew that Reset’s power test would be functionally undetectable. In fact, the domino mask effectively hid his telltale wince after a completed reset, which was worth noting. Conduit turned away from the camera to test his power, flicking a lighter from one of his pouches and absorbing the flame. And he cautioned Blink to only test his power out of the camera’s view.
Taking the opportunity to look east, he saw that they were definitely in a version of Calgary. The Bow River valley was clearly visible, with downtown nestled comfortably within. He couldn’t say for sure at this distance, but it did seem like some of the skyline was missing. He was also struck again by how dilapidated the local area seemed to be, as it was a relatively affluent part of his Calgary. Not completely in shambles, but there was a noticeable lack of care on the nearby houses and yards.
Once Reset confirmed his power was working, Conduit gave the signal to Awareness. Her masked and hooded face betrayed nothing, but the sudden tightening of her body alerted him to something being unusual.
“It’s like a huge presence took note of me,” she began without him asking, because… well, she was aware of his question, “but as soon as I got concerned, it seemed satisfied.”
“So… umm… stay concerned?”
“That’s the plan.”
Given how weird the situation was, that probably wasn’t going to be too hard. Blink appeared to be on edge and Reset was… Reset, but apparently his mind was getting more difficult to read as his power grew.
The containment team’s consensus was that the first thing they should try would be to acknowledge and approach the camera. Conduit went so far as to prop it back up properly and give a friendly wave. The four then proceeded to gather their regular soil and plant samples well within view of the camera. The hope being that showing that they weren’t aggressive would be interpreted correctly by the viewer or viewers.
After half an hour, their efforts appeared to bear fruit as Awareness sensed someone approaching. She described the mind as “inquisitive, but cautious” which seemed to fit the profile of someone who would set up a camera to watch a mysterious portal. Conduit adjusted his positioning so that he’d be the first person seen, and prepared his “mildly surprised” face, which he wasn’t sure he could pull off in a mask. When he heard the gravel stop crunching just before the edge of the garage he decided it was worth the risk to call out.
“Oh, hello, is someone else there?”
He heard another quick crunch of gravel, as if the person was turning to flee, but after a pause, and an audible exhalation of breath, a man appeared. He was wearing black slacks, a light blue button down shirt with a smart tie - and a snarling wolf mask.
“Hello,” came the slightly muffled voice, “you’re from… there?”
“Yes, we’re here to investigate this side of the Portal, maybe get some answers.”
“Are… are you here to,” the man stepped forward again and lowered his voice, “…to save us?”
Conduit instinctively looked to Awareness and realized how much he had relied on her subtle facial expressions at times like this. Another note to make about his team wearing masks. She realized this as well and made a quick head shake and shrug.
“I’m afraid we’re just getting up to speed on this… place,” Conduit briefly stumbled as he almost said ‘world’ and realized that might cause more confusion.
He needn’t have worried as the man replied, “I suspected as much, are you from a different time, or reality?”
It was Conduit’s turn to pause then he replied, “We’re assuming the Portals connect different realities, although there has been some evidence of time manipulation as well, so I can’t really say.”
The man’s head lowered and he sighed. “I was kind of hoping someone with the Feds, or even a friendly city had figured out how to open a…” he paused and looked at Conduit, “Portal, did you call it? A Portal to somehow help, or at least get us out of Calgary.”
Conduit knew he was missing a lot of nonverbal queues due to the wolf mask, so he moved to remove his own domino mask as a show of trust.
The man fairly leapt forward and almost grabbed Conduit’s hand as he exclaimed, “No! Leave the mask on!! You have to leave the mask on!!”
The panic was evident in his voice and Conduit dropped his hand immediately. The rest of the team had stepped closer, but moved back as the man started to look around wildly.
“It’s OK,” Awareness said soothingly, “we didn’t know. We’ll leave our masks on.”
“Sorry,” he apologized, “sorry… if you take your mask off, someone might mistake you for a… for a Powered.”
The last word was barely audible. Conduit also glanced around and noticed that traffic noises were starting to pick up, likely near the end of the work day.
“Is there somewhere, uh, better, where we can talk?”
The man paused, then glanced down towards his own chest, “Yeah, we might as well go into the house, I have to get packed anyway.”
The house was a nice four bedroom bungalow with excellent views of downtown and Paskapoo. The yard was completely out of control, but the insides were orderly and clean. It looked like there had been a lot of pictures on the walls, but they were now carefully stacked, face down, in a corner of the living room.
Reset and Blink had taken up positions at the front and back doors as the man grabbed a large duffel bag and moved deeper in to the house.
“My name is Peter, by the way.” He said as he started shoving items into the bag.
Conduit weighed his response and replied, “Jeff, pleased to meet you.”
Not his real name, but he was guessing “Powered” in this world was likely an analog to “Super” in theirs, so using his codename would probably not be a good idea.
Awareness perked up, “Peter, the wolf?”
“Yeah, I know, a little on the nose… but what can you do?” Peter replied with a shrug.
The realization seemed to strike him as Conduit and Awareness paused.
“Right… you have no idea! Sorry.”
“That’s ok, is it something you can talk about?” Conduit asked.
“No harm, I guess.” Peter replied, “It’s pretty much common knowledge. The guy who runs Calgary, well, he’s more than a little insane. He’s a Powered - uh - he has superpowers, and he absolutely hated having to wear a mask.”
That confirmed Conduit’s suspicion, but he let Peter continue.
“When Powereds started showing up, about fifteen years ago, he was one of the… well, let’s say, more reasonable ones. But people say his power caused him to crack. He has some sort of mental power and they say he particularly liked discord and confusion.”
“Liked?”
“He apparently feeds off of it. Which wouldn’t be too bad, considering some of the other Powereds out there, but when he gets upset… he apparently can shred people’s minds. And not in a ‘oh they are going to need therapy’ type of way, more in the ‘that’s a lot of blood coming from your ears’ kind of way.” He paused as he sensed the discomfort.
“Sorry, I’ve been living like this for awhile… I imagine it can be a bit much.”
Conduit nodded and indicated for him to continue.
“Well, the other Powereds are honestly scared of him, but if he’s happy, he’s harmless. To them. So, they set him up in Calgary, and turned us all into his personal play things. They provide him with enforcers so we follow his insane rules, and he leaves the other cities alone.”
“The other cities?”
“We’ve essentially devolved into city-states over the last decade. The Powereds take what they want, and the strongest of them set up kingdoms or ‘ascendancies’ or whatever the hell they want to call them.”
“The governments of the world, are they doing anything?”
“Against people who kill with their minds and can transmute guns into rubber duckies? They tried. But now they focus on damage control. They actually negotiated getting the kids out of Calgary. It was a difficult decision, but even the parents that were forced to stay realized having kids near that insane man was too dangerous. I was actually part of a government agency that tried to work with the Powereds before things got out of hand.”
Awareness and Conduit glanced at each other… Peter? From an agency that worked with super powered beings?
“Um, Peter, what is it that you do?” Conduit asked hesitantly.
Peter laughed wryly, “Ohhh, well for the past week I’ve been an accountant! The week before that, I got to be homeless. I even got to be the CEO of a shell company a few months ago.” He chuckled and looked at the badge on his chest, “And in three hours and eight minutes… who knows? Maybe a construction worker?”
“What do you mean?” Awareness asked.
“He likes confusion and discord.” Peter said bitterly. “Some genius-level powered built him a toy that randomizes our life assignments every few days. Just to keep us on our toes. We’re all stuck moving into new houses, new lives, new careers. It’s… well, it’s insane. But he mostly leaves us, and the rest of the world, alone. So we endure.”
“I… I can’t even imagine.” Conduit said quietly.
“We’ve made adjustments, and we try to help each other out when possible. For example, the essential services usually have a skeleton staff of properly trained individuals. People who don’t have that type of training? Well, we get to be truly randomized.”
He paused and shook his head.
“I’m just a linguist who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I’m doing my best.”
Conduit wasn’t sure if the Agency on his world would be able to muster any help for the people in this one, the Portals just didn’t stay open long enough. He was already straining to think of aid they could provide, but if Peter was this reality’s version of the Pete on his team… Conduit was determined to do everything in his power.
They stayed with Peter and continued to learn about the world’s dynamics and history. When his timer reached zero Peter received a long text message. The team stood quietly as he read it and chuckled to himself.
“What is it?” Conduit finally asked.
“Well, Jeff, I am now apparently a college student who works at an arcade in the south. I live on campus, in the shared dorms. And… I’m studying botany.”
“That’s… well, that’s not horrible, I guess.” Conduit offered.
“Finals start on Monday.”
The whole team shuddered in sympathy.
This is my response to the Indie Ink Fund’s Week 10 Portal Prompt - The World of the Eternal Masquerade
A couple of years ago I read a cool series of books about super villains who had divided up the US into fiefdoms, can’t remember the title or author for the life of me, but wanted to acknowledge that it was a cool concept.
Also, in the Excalibur comics I referenced in an earlier note, the team frequently met analogs of themselves, or people they knew as they slipped through time and space, which was a cool way to explore some ‘what ifs’, so I wanted to work some of that in.
Hope you enjoyed!
Dave
(And “Masquerade” from The Phantom of the Opera has now replaced “The Hockey Song” as my earworm for the week…”)
Such a smart use of the prompt, Dave!!!!