The Library of Powers

Interlude 1

Chase was sitting across from Samantha, in a corner booth at Floating Sparrow Cafe. The seats were brown and soft, the table brown and hard. Chase was sipping drip, while Samantha nursed a hot chocolate. Chase would often tease Sam about her aversion to caffeine, while she insisted that she would grow taller because of it. At four inches taller then him, Chase was inclined to agree.

A barista came over and handed Samantha a turkey sandwich, as she scrambled to make room for it on the cluttered table. All across the table were scattered papers, maps of Vera City and news articles printed off the web. It wasn't homework. They had said they were going to do homework when they met up, but it always devolved into this. Across the pages, headlines described stories such as "American Dream stops dastardly plot to destroy Market Island Footbridge" or "Phoebe Winter put behind bars by Phantasm... Again!"

"So," said Chase, pointing his half of their sandwich at the barista, turned around making another customer an expresso. "What do you think?"

Sam looked the barista over. She was average height with medium-length black hair, similar to herself. That's about where the similarities ended. She was drop-dead gorgeous, wearing an apron over a turtleneck mini skirt. Okay, maybe her fashion was a tad eclectic. Samantha, on the other hand, was anything but beautiful, but not in a "secretly was but nobody noticed" way. In the realistic way. On the other hand, at least Sam was consistent in her dress. She wore a grey Takeshi High sweatshirt and black leggings. Not well dressed, but consistent.

"Easy target. Screams daddy issues." Sam told Chase, turning back to her portion of the turkey club. Chase rubbed his hands together, then cracked his knuckles in an almost comically dramatic gesture.

"Time to go to work, then." He beamed, as he left the booth and waited by the counter. The coffee shop was a hole in the wall, there were only three other customers there and just the one barista. As Chase waited for the barista to "help" him, Samantha covertly watched from their corner, finally starting to drink her hot cocoa.

"Hey," he said as the barista approached, "Are you new?"

The barista gave Chase a once over, noticing his packed swimmer's frame, sandy blonde hair, and intoxicating amber eyes. She obviously found something he liked in him, because she leaned over onto the counter and asked him, "Yeah, you a regular?"

"Sort of. Just happy to see a new face. Name's Chase," he told her, matching her pose and holding out his hand. Samantha blushed even from across the room. Chase seemed to be really putting in a lot of juice into this one.

The barista smiled, fixed her hair, and shook Chase's hand. As she did, three things happened. Samantha finished her sandwich (It was small and she was hungry), both her and Chase's phones buzzed (Chase had left his on the table, precariously close to his coffee), and Chase kissed the barista (By pulling her towards him with their handshake). It was at first a quick peck, but then she kissed him back, this one lasting quite a bit longer.

It would be nonsense to say Chase's tactic didn't bother Samantha, but as far as he knew, she wasn't interested. Sam was the first person Chase had met who hadn't instantly fallen in love with him, as far as he knew. Neither of them had any idea why, because it wasn't just charm that caused women to find Chase irresistible. It was his power. Chase was some sort of Domain super, although he didn't really know where his domain was. Wherever it was, it caused intense affection from anyone of the opposite sex. That distinction seemed strange, but Chase chopped it up to him personally being straight. Or maybe his domain was in a strip club, as he often liked to joke.

Sam thought back too when Chase had first met her. She was working at a convenience store when Chase came in, took a gallon of milk, and tried to walk out without paying for it. Samantha blocked the door on his way out, and Chase tried to use his powers on her to let him past. Samantha, however, stood her ground. Once he realized his powers didn't work on her, he was so shocked he literally fell over, the milk jug cracking and milk soaking everywhere. Instead of running, Chase stayed and helped Sam clean up. By the end of that night, they were great friends. Chase assumed Samantha was gay from then on, but to be honest Chase's powers had always worked on her. She just pushed it very far down and tried to forget.

Samantha was very much affected by his charms right now and didn't have either the guts or the heart to tell him so. What he did probably bordered on sexual assault, but in their line of work, you need to blur those lines. And apparently, Samantha thought, mix your metaphors.

As she checked her phone, Chase walked over and sat back down, holding in a wadded fist assorted bills pilfered from the register. That was the real goal of his venture, cash for their enterprise. Her phone had a text from a mutual friend, Jeremey, who was asking if they were going to be at Selina's party tomorrow night. Sam wasn't one for parties, but Chase absolutely loved them, so she knew she would end up dragged along. Sam grabbed the cash from Chase and threw it in her purse, lying on the booth seat. Gathering their things, Sam and Chase were out of the building in less than a minute after Chase's kiss. The barista was making lovey eyes at Chase as they left, so he gave her a quick, "See you later sweetie!" She neglected to notice the blatant theft that had just occurred under her nose, due to both some decent slight of hand and being... preoccupied.

The sidewalk outside was swimming with absent-minded comings and goings, entrances and exits. Further into the thick brush of the skyline they went, headed towards Chase's apartment. When they had almost entered Uptown, she finally broached the question to him. "Are we going to the party?"

"I don't know, do you want to?" He responded, putting the decision on her shoulders.

They walked another half block before Sam answered. "Why not," she conceded, "It could be beneficial to our ultimate goal."

Chase did a fist pump in the air, resoundingly declaring "Alright! Today the Floating Sparrow, tomorrow Selina Demarcson's McMansion, at this rate we'll have taken over the world before we get our bachelors!"

"Baby steps," she reassured him. She absorbed some of his radiating enthusiasm and started smiling. Not too shabby for two up and coming supervillains, even if only one has powers. Not bad at all.