Scene 23 - November 14th

Interior Television Studio, Evening

Quinn Kaufman

I watched from offstage as the show began - Jacob Ryder, the show’s host, greeted his audience in his usual bombastic fashion and gave a rundown of the major topics for the show. His last introduction would be for us - when he introduced me, Loki, and Canaveral, we were to walk onstage and take seats in the chairs and couch currently sitting next to his desk.

“...we'll be conducting a video interview with Secretary of Metahuman Affairs Susan Thornhill - her meteoric rise and new plan to keep the DMO well-funded,” the devil-looking man was saying. “But before all that, we have some special guests. Please give a warm welcome to our visitors from New Venice's MLED, the heroes Canaveral, Loki, and the newest member of their team, Newton!”

The audience applauded as we entered and sat. Canaveral took the chair, which left the couch for Loki and I. He sat first, one arm stretching across the back of the couch, dropping that hand down onto my shoulders as I sat next to him. I leaned into his body a little bit without really thinking about it - the contact felt nice.

“Thanks, Jake,” Canaveral said to the host. “It’s nice to be here again.”

Ryder smiled at him. “How long has it been since you were last on my show?” he asked.

“I think the last time was just after I moved to New Venice and was given command of the New Champions, about... what, four years ago now?”

“Sounds about right,” he agreed. “And Loki! Always a pleasure.”

“Thanks, Jake,” Loki said, a smile crinkling his eyes despite the mask covering his mouth. “I like being on too. You always make me feel very welcome.”

Ryder gave him a nod before continuing, “Now, you two are here to introduce the newest member of the Journeymen, yes?”

“That's right, Jake. This is our newest member - and a good friend of mine,” Loki added, squeezing my shoulder subtly, “Newton.”

“Hey!” I said, waving first at Ryder and then the audience. “It's great to be here,” I lied.

“Welcome to the Ryder Report, Newton - and to superheroism!” Ryder said with a huge grin, and the audience applauded. After a moment, he made a calming gesture and continued. “How long have you had your powers, if I might ask?”

"A month now,” I told him. “I took a while to decide what to do with them, and ended up skating just under the deadline for registration. I'll try to be more punctual next time!” I added, making a weak joke. He laughed and so did the audience, so I suppose I must have been doing alright.

“Only a month, and you're good friends with Loki already - you two look quite cozy there!” he observed. “Did you know each other before your powers manifested?”

Before I could answer, Loki cut in. “I'm afraid that's skating a bit too close to secret identity stuff, Jake,” he said apologetically. “We can't answer that.”

“Of course, my apologies,” Ryder said, sounding just as sorry. “I'm afraid that secret identity protocol sometimes slips my mind, as I've never had any reason to bother learning it for myself.” He spread his wings in demonstration of why - the man looked like a classic devil, with red skin, horns, and bat-like wings.

“Quite alright,” Loki assured him.

“But still, only one month and you're already diving headfirst into heroism!” Ryder said to me, sounding impressed.

“Well, it's not exactly headfirst - the MLED offers a lot of training and guidance,” I point out. “And I won't be a full hero until Loki and I graduate to the New Champions at the end of May.”

“Graduating together, huh?”

“My 21st birthday is in May, so I will - after seven years - finally become a full fledged hero,” Loki agreed.

“And I'm 21 already, so it'll just be six months of training before I graduate. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it?” I joked, glancing at Loki. He chuckled - his amusement much more restrained than Ryder or the audience.

Canaveral spoke for the first time in a while, noting, “The biggest distinction between experienced trainees like Loki and full heroes, to be honest, is what they're legally allowed to do, as minors. But the truth is, Loki is every bit as capable as I am.” I wondered if he wanted to reassure Loki that he was valued, or if he had another goal - he had told me before we came on that he intended to leave the interview mainly to me and Loki, and only speak up if Ryder addressed him directly or if there was something he really needed to bring up.

“I'm going to do my best,” I said, this time more out to the audience, “but it'll be a long time before I can match up to these two.” If he was trying to make the point that experience mattered, I was happy to help.

“Hey, don't sell yourself short,” Loki protested. “You're a fast learner and have a great powerset - you'll be playing with the big boys before long.” He squeezed my shoulder again encouragingly, letting me know I was doing well.

“Speaking of powerset, what can you do, Newton?” Ryder asked.

“I have what I've been calling an expanded presence,” I began, naming my abilities in public for the first time. “Basically, my sense of presence, my understanding of how and where I exist in the world, extends beyond my actual body. Just about everything in this entire studio is touched by my presence, and I know where and what they are without even needing to look. And...” I raised a hand, and RYDER'S coffee mug rose with it. “...I can move them, as well.”

“I see! A sort of telekinesis combined with extrasensory perception!” Ryder observed.

“That's a way of saying it, sure,” I said, a little sourly, and the audience laughed. “There is a little bit more to it than that, though - namely, that when I exert my presence, it affects me as well. If I were to try and pull at your desk, for example -”

“Please don't!” Ryder joked.

“Just an example!” I promised. “Your desk is pretty heavy - If I was to pull at it, I would probably get pulled out of my seat instead of moving it. That's why I chose the name Newton - because unlike most telekinetics, I have to obey his laws.”

“How did you learn that?”

“I snuck into an abandoned junkyard the night that I realized I had powers, to try them out. It was pretty clear once I started trying to lift heavier objects,” I explained.

“Newton, that... that junkyard wasn't abandoned,” Canaveral cut in.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean the reason I swung by and met you that night was that the guard at the junkyard was freaked out and called us about the unknown metahuman,” he told me.

My hands flew to cover my mouth. “You never told me that!” I cried, mortified. “Oh my god, I feel so bad now! God, I need to... I need to find them and apologize, or something!”

“It's fine, it's fine!” Canaveral assured me as the audience laughed. “I swung by and let him know what was up on my way back to the Compound at the end of my shift, and he actually wanted to apologize to you for assuming you were a villain!”

I hid my burning-red face in my hands entirely as the audience laughed even harder. Loki rubbed the small of my back comfortingly, but all I could think of was how this was going to be the first impression I had on people all over the world - easily embarrassed, unobservant - because I had missed the guard - and generally not someone to respect. How could this have gone worse?

“Hey, it's better than what happened the first night I had powers. My priest tried to exorcise me!” Ryder revealed, and the audience laughed even harder. “You laugh, but it wasn't funny as a 13 year old kid! I was just trying to prepare for confirmation, and suddenly Father Theodore comes rushing at me with a cross and a bible, going 'exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus'!”

I took a deep breath as I realized that the audience laughter was no longer at me, but at Ryder - he had seamlessly redirected their attention away from my embarrassment to himself. He really was a good host.

“Moving on to less heretical subjects,” Ryder continued as I straightened, “we have a topic that you requested to talk about, Newton?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling on firmer ground now that I was speaking about something I was much more confident in. “I understand that I'm far from the first trans superhero - that road was paved for us by Sister Mercy, and even in New Venice...” I glanced at Loki, suddenly realized that I didn’t know if he was out to he public. He gave me an encouraging nod. “...Loki is genderfluid,” I finished.

“Really?” Ryder asked, seeming surprised. I realized Loki must not have been publicly out until this moment - he seemed pretty unruffled on the outside, but I could feel that his arm was a little tense around my shoulders and my sense of presence told me that he was shaking, just a little.

“Yeah, I’m a girl when I'm out of costume,” he said, voice still smooth and confident.

“And a very pretty girl you are, too,” I told him, patting his leg in hopes of reassuring my friend. I hadn’t meant to out him if he wasn’t ready to come out, or just hadn’t been expecting it - I had told him that I wanted to talk about being nonbinary in the preshow chat, and he had agreed and said he would support me, but maybe he hadn’t been expecting to be cited as one of my inspirations for coming out as a hero?

“Thank you!” he said, seeming a little surprised and very grateful. He squeezed me shoulder a little, then relaxed - I could feel the tension draining out of him. I was glad that I had been able to help - to remind him that I was here for him as he had been for me. “It’s not quite as simple as guy in costume and girl out of it,” he said to Ryder, “but it’s simpler to explain it that way, at least.”

“Anyway, I'm far from the first hero not to match their birth gender,” I said to Ryder, getting back to the subject. “But I asked our strategic consultant, and apparently I am the first hero to use they/them pronouns.”

“Well, the first single hero, at any rate,” Canaveral noted. “Multiplex is a bit of a special case.”

“Multiplex is a special case,” I agreed - the duplicating hero was a hive-mind that included every insect that came too close to their central consciousness. They had once been a woman, but to my knowledge didn’t even identify as human at this point. “My point is that I thought it might be good to make myself and how I should be referred to clear to the public, since a lot of people probably aren't familiar with what it means to be nonbinary.”

“By all means,” Ryder invited me, giving an encouraging smile. “Please, educate us!”

With Loki beside me, I took a deep breath, then began to teach.