The Library of Powers

Chapter 12: redeye

It was the next school week, on Tuesday, when Ivory asked Jackson what he wanted his superhero name to be. They were sitting at Jackson's regular table, eating lunch. Ivory had also eaten lunch with Jackson on Monday. He had learned that Ivory regularly ate lunch in the parking lot, despite not owning a car. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why, but now they ate together.

She framed the question very carefully. "You know, since we can't go the route of no secret identity with you 'cause that would ruin the whole point of it all, you're gonna have to come up with a name sometime soon."

It was the first time they had talked about Jackson's decision since Dino & Sons. Jackson hadn't brought it up, on the slim chance that it would go away. "Mhm?" he muffled, in mid-bite of his sandwich. Taking a sip of water, he gave a full response. "Is it really that important? Why can't I be nondescript?"

Ivory scoffed, and then abruptly stopped, realizing how rude that was to a perfectly reasonable question. Ivory hadn't brought up Jackson's decision, on the slim chance he backed out because of her over-enthusiasm. "Well if it wasn't necessary, no one would willingly choose the name Star Storm, right? It sounds ridiculous!  But you-- superheroes, they have to establish a presence to really do good work. If everyone ran around in total anonymity, Superheroes would lose their luster, and it would be even easier for villains to disguise themselves as heroes."

"Luster?"

"You know, like the whole 'Superheroes dissuade criminal action by acting as a beacon of justice' thing. Having heroes be so public, even if they're behind a mask, is supposed to help society."

"I wouldn't call that a 'luster'" Jackson deflected.

Ivory rolled her eyes. "Whatever. It's a pretty big deal to the AHB, no matter what you call it," she put down her cafeteria pizza slice and leaned in a little closer, eyeing Lilian and Jennifer sitting two tables away. "Are you sure you want to do this? If the only reason you're doing this is 'cause you think I'm forcing you to, please let me know."

"I'm not sure I want to," he blurted out. Before continuing, Jackson thought about what he was saying. "Actually, I'm sure I don't want to do this. But I'm going to. Not because you're forcing me to, but because you convinced me to."

Jackson took another bite of his sandwich. Ivory took another bite of her pizza. They ate in silence until the bell rang, and started walking to class. "So what do you think my name should be? What kind of names work for Supers with powers like mine?" he asked her as they walked up the stairs.

Ivory didn't give the response Jackson was expecting. "I don't know everything Jackson. Hell, I'm younger than you. You're a smart guy, you can figure it out yourself," she stammered with an annoyed expression. She turned to leave him, towards her classroom. Looking back, she saw Jackson, arms crossed, head down. She could almost feel the betrayal in his eyes.

"Hey, Jackson. I get you're out of the loop on a lot of this stuff. But I'm not a life jacket. You're gonna have to learn how to swim."

And with that, she was gone.

***

It wasn't until Jackson had gotten home that what Ivory had said kicked in. Jackson had locked the door, put his backpack down, and was walking to the kitchen when he realized. He opened the fridge and just let the cold air waft over him, before closing it. Now was not the time for his routine.

He ran upstairs, into his room, grabbing his laptop and shoving it in his school bag. Back down the stairs, he ransacked his kitchen cabinets, looking for something he could have sworn he'd seen his dad with at one point. He found it under a pack of batteries. An old, black, plastic, digital stopwatch. He pressed it on, watching the display tick from zero to one second. He was putting himself on the clock. Five hours. He would have to have his superhero persona ready by nine o'clock that night. He didn't think about what would happen if he failed to do so, in fact, he didn't even consider the possibility.

Out the door, Jackson typed in the name of a store he had heard whispers about. Marc's Superhero Mart. His map told him it was quite a ways east, off of the peninsula in Old Vera. An hour by bus. Great, he thought, an hour to plan the costume.