Sanders Supers [Sanders Sides AU]

Nine

Roman

Chicago Illinois 

"No worries, Mr. Sanders." Agent Torres-Rosario said. "It wasn't a problem."

He smiled and looked towards the superheroes.

"I hope the flight wasn't too rough. You may have a lot of questions now, but why don't we talk in one of the conference rooms?"

He led the heroes to the other side of the building. Roman was in awe of the headquarters but he would never admit that to his peers. They finally arrived inside the conference room. They went inside and each seat had a name plaque. Roman found his name and sat in the seat. The others also found their seat and sat in their seats. "So let me tell you why you are here." Mr. Sanders said. "My name is Thomas Sanders and I am the leader of S.T.A.R." He paused and took a breath. "S.T.A.R is a new agency that is dedicated to finding individuals with special abilities to capture those that are dangerous."

"How do you know that we aren't dangerous?" Virgil spoke up.

"We do extensive background checks." Thomas said. "Roman Valent, with the alias of 'Phoenix', and gave your name after you revealed who you were on live national television. But really, why did you think that was a good idea?" Thomas sighed and continued. "Son of Hestia and Flint Valent. You got your abilities when your mother was working on an experiment. Your powers activated when you were thirteen." Mr. Sanders handed Roman a file with his name on it. Roman opened the folder and started reading about himself, about everything the government knew about him. Thomas continued speaking to them. "Logan Discite. Also known as Algorithm. Son of Minevera and Alfred Discite. Got into a car accident in your senior year leaving your brain damaged. Made a prosthetic that helps you use your hands and gave you telekinesis. It also helps you to hack into technology." He handed Logan his file.

"Wow, you made a prosthetic that gives you powers? I'm impressed." Roman whispered to Logan. Logan just nodded.

"Patton Boneco. Known as Spectrum to the media. Son of Eunice Mirea and Clemens Boneco. You got your abilities from an explosion with an unknown cause, leaving you with the power to manipulate energy." Thomas had to reach over and hand Patton his file. "Last but not least, Virgil Sollictus. Superhero alias: Shockwave."

"Can we not talk about my whole story? It's none of your business." Virgil grumped.

"Oh, come on!" Roman whined. At least he knew his name now. Virgil. Roman decided that he would very much like to get a coffee with Virgil.

But it was still unfair that Virgil wouldn't tell what happened for him to get powers. Everyone else had their backstory told, so why should they not hear the cute emo nightmare's story?

"Well, that's the thing. We don't actually know what happened that caused Virgil to gain his powers. Care to share it with us? It's important information." Thomas stated.

"Er, sorry to tell you this, but... I don't actually remember everything. Anything at all, really." Virgil mumbled.

"Oh," Thomas sounded surprised. "Okay then." He scribbled a note in Virgil's file. "Well, Mr. Sollicitus, the only thing we know about you is that you have the ability to make things explode. We don't even know how your powers work. Do you?"

Virgil shook his head.

"Alright. Another thing we don't know." Thomas ran his hand through his hair again and handed the file to Virgil.

"Now that we discussed what our abilities are, let's talk about why we are here. You will all have level five clearance so you all will know what you need to know for this. There is a dangerous individual on the loose and we need to apprehend him before he does more damage." Thomas slides a yellow file in the middle of the table. "I think all of you know who he is." He opens the file to show a blurry picture taken from an odd angle of a well dressed man with scales on the side of his face.

"He goes by the alias 'Deceit'. We've been trying to find his whereabouts for a few months now. I know that you guys have encountered him at least once." Everyone except Roman nods. "Good. Then you know what his abilities are, correct?" Roman raised his hand. "Uh, actually, I don't really know much about him. I mean, I know who he is but I've never seen him in person." "Deceit can create illusions that seem real, but actually fake." Thomas said. "Well yeah, isn't that how illusions work?" Roman said, confused. "Yes, but these aren't ordinary illusions. You have to look past the illusions he creates, realize what is real and not created by him. In other words, he's incredibly dangerous. You know the news stories about collapsed buildings and they all say it's architectural failure?"

They nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. It seemed like everyday there was a new collapsed building or bridge.

"Well," Thomas continued. "They weren't architectural failures. They're being demolished on purpose by that man. We don't even know his real name, only that he goes by 'Deceit'. We don't even know the full extent of his powers. We interviewed witnesses, and they all said something completely different from each other. From this we gather that he may have some sort of illusion powers, being that some witnesses said they saw their grandma robbing a bank or their significant other eating a frog. Those were actual things witnesses say they saw."

"Mr. Sanders," Logan asked. "How do we know that it's all the same person doing this?"

"Call me Thomas," He replied, "But to answer your question, he left a 'calling card' you might call it, at each scene. He left a drawing of a snake at every scene. We have out best forensic teams working, but they don't have anything. No blood, no fingerprints, no hair. But strangely, there were very few casualties. Are there any ideas on how we could stop him?"

"Odd that he left no evidence behind. According to Locard's Exchange Principle, the perpetrator of the crime always leaves something behind and takes something from the scene." Logan added.

Roman had no idea what Logan was talking about, but it sounded very sciencey.

"Well, why don't we just use all your science radars and stuff to find where he is?" Roman suggested.

"That's- that's not how RADARs work. You don't type in a name to find them, you require extensive research to find him. Besides, the building collapses have been all over the country, so we have no basis as to where this 'Deceit' lives." Logan told Roman.

Roman noticed that Patton and Virgil had both been very quiet.

"What buildings has he brought down so far?" Virgil asked in a whisper.

"Mostly apartment buildings." Thomas said. "We need your help tracking him down and bring him to us." Everyone nodded, looking at each other with determination.

"Look, this is all peaches and cream, but how are you expecting us to find this guy that could LITERALLY be anywhere?! Not to mention he could possibly make fake versions of himself!" Roman said, as he raised his voice.

"I'm sure Mr. Sanders didn't call us over without doing his research." Logan calmly stated.

"Logan is correct. According to the data we've collected, Deceit likes to strike near the east coast. As you can see here," Thomas flips to another paper in the file, "in the last six months, he has struck along the east coast, mostly around New York and Washington D.C." Roman watched Virgil hang his head.

Roman had seen it. There were many buildings where he lived that were completely caved in. The pile of bricks and rubble that were once people's homes. He has always thought it was him that destroyed the buildings, but it didn't change the fact that hundreds of people lost their lives and homes. He had felt guilty ever since he saw the first building collapse; it had toppled on top of itself, caving in on top of the apartments. When the rubble cleared, he remembered he saw splintered beds, cracked bathtubs, and childrens' toys covered in rubble.

"So, what, are we gonna wait until he strikes again? Wait around like sitting ducks?" Virgil said, his voice taut.

"Well, I'm sure that Mr. Sanders knows what he's doing, Virgil." Patton said.

"I hope so too." Roman replied.