Hard Light - A Teenage Superhero Story

23: Let's Go Viral

The views were going nuts. The next morning I'd posted another video and it had gotten more than double the views of the last one in half the time. Liam and Titi were both befuddled that their contacts hadn't contacted them, and that I was getting news coverage and views enough to have our news out in the next day. I'd reached two million followers overnight from various news channels covering my videos, and I wasn't mad. I was just giddily laughing at the fact that in true Gen Z fashion, technology and social media was the way we were going to break the news.

After lunch, I'd flown out to do another video, this one a little more personal. Titi and Liam had given me talking points for this one. This time, I had found an abandoned building in some town to film in.

I took a deep breath, and pressed the record button.

"Hey guys! I've been getting tons of questions since yesterday, so I figured I'd better start answering some questions for you. First one is 'am I really the hero from Sullerwood." I grinned and set the camera on a concrete ledge so I could use my hands to play with a few light constructs.

"Yes, it's really me. I go by Fractal, and I can create hard light constructs that are both tangible and intangible." I kept playing with my construct as I continued.

"The next one I kept getting was asking why I ran away. This one's a little tricky to answer without giving too many things away, but the one thing I can say is that there is something bigger than me happening. Bigger than Citadel or Black Phoenix or Starbird or the Allegiance. And I wanted to be safe so that I can make a difference." I tossed the small block of light into the air and caught it with my other hand.

"And another big one was asking when I plan on going live. And that's perfectly timed, since I plan on going live tomorrow morning, actually. I'll be going live at about 7 am central, and I'm planning to be on to answer some more questions and explain what all this is about. Hopefully I'll be able to get in contact with a few reporters and give a more in depth explanation. But until then," I grinned and tossed the block again. I let it shatter midair and reabsorbed it.

"Stay tuned." I reached forward and stopped filming. I didn't worry much about editing before I posted it. I just clipped a few bits out but left it mostly untouched, then posted it. It started getting views quickly, and I turned on the earpiece with Citadel and Black Phoenix.

"Well, now it's just a waiting game." My mom's necklace was in my hands and I was rubbing it absently.

"You're doing awesome, kid. You think it'll get the attention it needs?" I could hear the doubt in Titi's voice.

"Well, once we go live and explain what's going on, I'm expecting the internet to kinda blow up. Usually when something like this goes viral, the news will get a hold of it and by then, almost everyone will hear about it. It's just a giant game of telephone now."

"Sounds like a good plan, kid. Nice work. Maybe next time I'll just tweet about it- Ow!," Liam pouted. I heard Titi slap him in the shoulder with a chuckle.

"You guys want me to grab anything on my way back?"

"Actually, go ahead and just stay where you are, kid. The more we come and go from the safe house the more exposed we'll be. We're just about to move to a different safehouse ourselves, so find a place to hunker down and lay low until we go live tomorrow." Titi's voice was no-nonsense, and I tried not to let it hurt my feelings. I understood the magnitude of every move I was making, so this made sense. It still hurt. Kinda.

"Sure. We'll meet a few minutes before we go live, so let's meet at the rendezvous at six fifty. Sound good?"

"Sure kid. See you then. Maybe I'll have made a Chatpix account by then," Liam's voice was lighthearted, then the line went dead. I tapped the earpiece and decided to take off, tucking the necklace under my suit. I spent my day trying to streamline my method of flying. The platform was good, but not nearly as fast as I'd have liked.