Supers Wear Spandex *third book to Heroes Wear Capes

Chapter 2 - Facing the truth

"Quentin, this is what happens when you don't take what we prescribe. You start to hallucinate again that you're a magician, that you have powers."

~ Dr. Jennifer London

Okay, so escaping from the institution was much easier than Xander thought it would be.

Like, even with the two guards it was too easy. Both were easily fooled by the distraction Xander had initiated in the main room. Telling Taylor that one of the nurses was a spy from the outside ready to take down the prophet she was protecting must've really caused a ruckus. The guards readily abandoned their posts to go see to the disturbance, leaving Xander to walk right out the front doors.

The only problem now was getting a change of clothes. White sweatpants and a white sweatshirt with white slippers was going to get him weird looks, especially if anyone nearby knew it was the uniform of the local mental patients.

It took a couple of turns down the street to realize Xander knew where he was. He must've come out of the Eaton Insane Asylum. When John and Xander were kids he could remember walking by the creepy old building and telling ghost stories. All of the kids in the neighborhood were scared of the spirits and ghouls that awaited them in the haunted building, as affirmed by the older kids who liked to spread the rumors. The place had been abandoned years ago, way before Xander was even a thought. It was rumored that gangs and druggies took residence over the place in recent years. Or, well, that's how Xander remembered the place. Whatever alternate universe he was in, the place was fully functional.

Thank god Xander remembered the way back from the asylum to his house after years of John and him daring each other to venture into the vined gates to catch a glimpse of a ghost.

Xander had no way of knowing if his home was still the small apartment on the edge of Oakland like he remembered it being. If people thought he was crazy and superheroes weren't real, then maybe his home wasn't in the place it used to be either.

But, as Xander approached the complex, he saw a familiar scratch in the entrance sign. Trevor and Xander had made that scratch on accident after Xander accidentally smashed Trevor's expensive racing bike into it. Trevor took the blame so that Xander wouldn't get in trouble.

That was, of course, long before Paul Rossi died and long before Trevor stopped looking at Xander like he was a friend.

Surely, if anything, the place was still his home, or used to be if the history was still there.

Nostalgia kept hitting Xander as he walked down the pathway. He remembered discovering his powers on this same driveway, trying to see if the impossible really had come true. He couldn't bear it if he was stuck in this place forever, where his superpowers were false and heroes were only legends.

All the life Xander had ever known was full of the impossible around him. Supers first made appearances in the 1970s, or at least officially. The Super Ordinance of 1978 was the first attempt by the government to acknowledge and reign in the suddenly powerful beings in their midst. The world was never the same after that.

In history books they learned about how the world was before supers. More wars and street violence, more conservatism in the media, less reality TV. Xander couldn't imagine how the world would've been different if the supers had never emerged. How would the world have turned out if people were just normal? All Xander had ever known was the world of the impossible.

His world was what Xander needed. This one would ruin him.

The key to his apartment was still kept under a false rock on the porch. Inside the furniture was all placed the same, a stick figure drawing of Xander's still proudly displayed on the fridge from years ago. His room also looked largely undisturbed. Even his Theory Wall was still up, though most of the pictures of heroes were replaced by crude drawings of super suits.