Superhuman: Realizations

Chapter 6

(Nick)

"Hey, Casey... mind if I ask how you awakened?" I asked her, genuinely curious and also wanted to break the awkward silence.

Casey didn't say anything for a few more seconds, but then she glanced towards me while still holding her phone; her eyes having tiny glowing light-blue dots going upwards in lines, what I assume is binary code.

"I was working on my computer at home, and then suddenly I felt sick. After the headache I screamed in pain and everything seemed to glow. After that... I still can't really remember" Casey said, but when I looked in her eyes, I definitely knew she was leaving something out.

Something important.

"Are you su-" I said, but before I could finish my sentence every electronic in the room suddenly went on the fritz as I could see Casey giving me a death glare.

Drop it, Nikola, Casey told me telepathically. It shocked me, as it didn't sound like her... even now with her changed personality it didn't. Before I even finished my sentence, she already knew what I was going to say.

"... never mind" I said, still a bit shocked at her hiss of a response, "Have you met any new people here?"

Casey turned off her phone and nodded. "Quite a few, actually. Most are technopaths, but there are some others from distantly related sects such as weather manipulators, psychics, and prodigies. Oh! I can introduce you to one of them if you want!" Casey said, her expression changing in an instant when I changed the subject.

"Sure, I don't mind" I said to her, curious to get to know her new friends before I have to go back home in a few days.

Casey had a huge smile on her face as she texted someone, and then grabbed my hand and dragged me outside of the human dorms.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Hey! Juli, right here!" Casey said as she waved her hands to a female with dark short hair in the distance.

The female came over to us and waved back to Casey, dawning a red flannel, ripped blue jeans, and black boots. She also had dark lapis-colored eyes, slightly tanned skin, short dark brown hair, and a few freckles and an eye-catching white-blue galaxy marking like Casey.

"Juliana, this is Nikola, or Nick for short. Nick, this is Juliana, but you can call her Julie or Jill, she doesn't mind" Casey said, and Jill nodded at that.

"Nice to meet you, Nick" Jill said to me as we shook hands.

Casey, Jill, and I then walked around the campus park a little bit getting to know Jill. One of the things I learned was that Jill was a demiromantic lesbian, and she now has a girlfriend and has been with her for 6 months now.

"Oh yeah I know Rylee! Didn't ya'll hit it off on the first day in the Weather manipulation class?" Casey said, and Jill nodded; I could see a hint of a blush run across her face.

"Yeah, she was the class badass with her long curly auburn-red hair, hazel amber eyes, and tan skin. The rumors were true, Rylee sure is a badass" Jill said, "and a much stronger weather manipulator than I am..."

"Oh, come on, don't put yourself down like this! You're only 8 months into your transformation, your abilities are bound to keep growing!" Casey said.

"Yeah yeah I know... but so far the only thing I've managed to summon weather-wise is a small cloud of rain that barely goes farther than a block radius... that's my strongest level" Jill said, and I felt kind of bad for her.

"Don't worry, Jill. It'll get stronger, you just need to keep practicing that along with your other abilities and surely they all will be pretty strong"

Jill smiled and chuckled, and I looked at Casey with a smile. Now this was the Casey I knew, or the extroverted side of her anyway; a side that she only shows to her friends and no one else.

"Oh, Casey, how is Aadiya and Kyra doing?" Jill asked Casey, and Casey shrugged.

"As far as I know Kyra is fine, they have been working as per usual with Aadiya and I. They've been acting rather weirder lately though, more attached and wanting to hang out more with me. Aadiya has been working as well, but she is also practicing other things that relate to her other categories" Casey said, and then I piped up a bit.

"Wait, they?" I asked in curiosity, and Casey and Jill looked at me.

"Oh, Kyra is non-binary and doesn't conform to a gender. Ky's preferred pronouns are They/Them, but they are also fine with other neutral sets to" Casey said, and I understood.

I don't know many non-binary people, but it did seem quite interesting when I do meet or hear of someone who is non-binary.

"Oh, and Aadiya is Genderfluid. So, when you meet Aadiya you may want to ask for the preferred pronouns of the day. It typically changes from they/them to she/her and shift from day to day" Jill said as a warning, and I nodded.

"I shall keep that in mind" I said to them as we walked more.

I talked about myself a bit so Jill could get to know me better, and the two of them discussed other things with me such as how things went on around here and how it was nothing like their previous lives.

They said it was a paradise, a safe haven, you were understood much better here than you ever would be in the outside world; then you ever were in your life before you awakened. You were accepted here, flaws and all, and there were opportunities everywhere and for anything.

It was every average American-citizens dream, to escape the wastelands they were forced to call home. Trapped in a civil war that to this day is still oppressing this country more than it ever had before any of this happened, and none of them, none of us, asked to be born into a life of war, fear, and corruption.

This Superling facility was every average American-citizens dream because it had everything we once had, and now the very things we are denied to. A dream we wished could come true, but never will any time soon.

However, the more I looked around the place the more something seemed... a bit off... no... not a bit off... really off.

... something was... wrong.