Chapter 6

“How are you feeling?” Charity asked as both of her walked up to Darius who was lying down on a sheet, looking up at the stars.   Darius blinked and looked over at her. The faint and flickering light of the campfire a ways off gave her a slightly otherworldly beauty as it danced on her face.   “Hm? Uh, I feel fine.” He said to her and sat up.   “Mind if I sit?” She asked and before he could say anything, both of her sat to his left.   They forced him to move over and she let out a sigh. She leaned her head up and looked at the same stars that Darius was just moments before. Darius starred, not being able to help his noticeable attraction to her. Her dark hair was in a bob with the front bangs being slightly longer and hanging to the sides of her face. Her eyes had a slight slant to them, he thought perhaps hinted at some sort of Asian ancestry.   “You really think your get rich quick scheme will work?” She asked as they both looked over at him.   “W-What?” Darius asked a bit startled and looked up at the stars as soon as he saw her turning her head in his direction.   “Do you really think that you two can sell your water?” She asked.   “Well, sure! I mean, as soon as we figure a way to distribute it. We may be the only source of clean water for a while.” He said.   “How do you know that though? Your whole plan seems to hinge on there being a shortage of water. What if they turn it back on tomorrow?” She said leaning back on her hands and looking back up at the sky.   “I don’t think it will be turned on for at least a month.” Darius said to her.   “Why not?” She asked as one of her looked at him.   “Carver City gets its water from the Flatiron Dam. Water is pushed through by pressure alone. It doesn't need electricity to pump.” He said to her.   “I’m a bit weirded out that you know a fact like that but what does that have to do with anything?” She asked, both of her now looking at him.   “Well, it means that we should still have water right now. But we don’t, so that could mean a couple of things. One, Flatiron Dam was destroyed, but I'm pretty sure we can rule that out. Two, They turned the water off on purpose because there are too many leaks and the water that will flow through will be too contaminated to drink. Or three, it isn't turned off, but with so many broken pipes and water mains everywhere, the overall water pressure has dropped to zero. Although if that was the case they would have surly turned it off agt the source by now... Either way, It's going to take a month at least, probably longer.” He said looking upwards.   Charity stared at him with wide eyes. She slowly turned her head and looked forward. She thought about what he said for a few moments and then looked back at him again.   “How the hell?... “ She asked.   “Look, I’m a bit socially awkward. I admit that… But I’m not an idiot. I’ve been a bus driver for the city for the last 7 years. I know this city in and out. Hell, I’ve driven tour buses as well. That’s how I know about Flatiron Dam. Did you know that south of the shipping canal there are desalination plants? Whenever the dam is shut down for maintenance, they use them to supplement water for the city. But of course, they need electricity to run.” He said.   “That’s… Neat. Sorry, you not being a dummy is blowing my minds right now.” She said laughing.   “But, why don’t you think the dam hasn’t been destroyed?” She asked.   “Well, If it had been we would probably all have been killed, or at the very least a lot of people would have been killed.” He said.   “It would have really wiped out the city?” She asked.   “No, The streets may have become a bit flooded but that water would totally have flowed into a lot of underground bomb shelters.” He said.   Charity thought about that grimly. The image of thousands if not tens of thousands of people panicking as they desperately tried to keep their heads above water after being locked in a concrete coffin.   “That sounds horrible…” She said as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them with her arms.   “Yeah… Sorry, didn’t mean to bum you out or anything.” He said.   “No, it’s fine. So… I was talking to Mary, she said you saved Trevor’s life yesterday?” She asked.   “Uh, I- Not really.” He said scratching his head nervously.   “Don’t believe him.” They heard behind them as Trevor walked up with two plates.   “Some crackhead had a gun pointed at me, I could tell he was seconds away from shooting me. Than Darius started yelling and insulting him, totally got the guys attention off of me.” Trevor said as he handed both of them a plate with a slice of cooked spam, Charity had two slices.   “Sorry, no more bread.” He said to them.   “Thank you, So w-what happened?” She asked.   “Well, My power awakened and I accidentally shot my phone out of my hand and right into his face. Knocked him out cold.” Darius said.   “... Your power awakened right then?” She asked.   “Yup! Totally surprised me! I guess it was some sort of impending death thing that its condition.” He said.   “You didn’t go unconscious?” She asked.   “I don’t think he did, he got up pretty quickly after that.” Trevor said.   “Yeah, didn’t pass out or anything. Thought he had shot me at first though.” He said with a laugh.   “That doesn't sound right… The first time a conditional power is awakened the person experiences something that's a bit like a seizure.” She said.   Darius stared at her. A memory from earlier that day played in his mind.   “Wait… “ He said as he held up his hand   “I do remember something. I did pass out earlier that day!” He said.   “When?” Trevor asked.   “You remember how I told you about that guy I tried to help rescue?” Darius asked Trevor.   “Yeah.” He replied.   “I passed out right after I tried to pull him out of the rubble.” He told them.   “Okay? What else did you do that could have triggered it?” Charity asked.   “Uhh… I don’t know. “ He said as he ran his hand through his hair and stopped.   He lowered his hand and looked at it. Of course! Why didn’t he think of this sooner?   “I had a wound on my hand! Pretty bad, But it was healed when I had woke up. The guy I pulled from the building was that one hero… Uh…” Darius said snapping his fingers trying to remember.   “Cataract! I got my wound cover in his blood! Do you think mixing my blood with another Meta’s blood was my condition?” Darius asked.   “You guess is as good as mine.” Trevor said.   “Wait… Did you say Cataract?” Charity asked.   “Yeah, I remembered the guys uniform from the remembrance ceremony. Why?” Darius said.   Charity looked at them both like they were mentally deficient. She closed all four of her eyes and rubbed her temples.   “You do know what Cataract’s ability is right?” She asked.   “Make people blind?” Darius asked as he shruged his shoulders as he looked towards Trevor.   “No… He could create and control water.” She said as she opened her eyes and looked at the both of them.   “Really? Wow! That a weird coincidence… Wait… Hold on…” Darius said as he thought about it.   “Are you saying that Darius’ ability in not creating water?” Trevor asked.   “I don’t get it, Why did he call himself Cataract?” Darius asked.   “A cataract is like a huge waterfall or something.” Charity said.   “Oh! Cool… You learn something new every day! Wait… Are you saying I copied his power?” He asked, his eyes widening.   “It’s a strong possibility. I mean, otherwise, that would have been one hell of a coincidence!” She said.   “How do you know Cataract had water powers? He’s a Carver City hero, and you only just moved here.” Trevor asked.   “I… read about him.” She said hand waving his question away.   “You also knew a lot about ability types, and about that one airplane guy… Are you… Are you like, a Meta nerd?” Darius asked.   “What?! Aha.. No! What? You're a nerd!” She said as both of her began to eat their spam.   “You are! Wow!” Darius said.   “Shut up!” She snapped.   “No! I’m not making fun of you or anything. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I’m just a bit surprised.” He said.   “Whatever! We need to test you to make sure that you can actually copy powers or not.” She said.   “What do you mean test?” Darius asked.   "Like whether or not you can copy multiple powers at the same time or if your current power gets replaced or not. That sort of thing.” She said.   “Oh…Do I have to cut myself?” Darius asked.   “If that's the condition to make a copy, yeah.” She said.   “Who would agree to let me copy them though?” He asked.   “You can copy me!” Trevor said to him.   “You sure?” Darius asked.   “Why not? It would make the whole water plan easier to do.” He said.   “Alright… I guess so. Let's try it!” He said.   “Okay then! I’ll go find a clean knife.” Trevor said and walked off.   Several minutes later Darius was standing with Trevor as the looked at their hands. Trevor took a pocket knife and made a small incision, only large enough to draw blood. He handed the knife to Darius who hesitated but then did the same.   “Shit… That hurt. I guess it’s too late but. You don’t have any blood diseases right?” Darius asked.   “No, do you?” Trevor asked.   “No...Alright… Let's do this!” Darius said, and just as they were about to clasp hands Darius pulled back.   “Wait! How do we know I just copy powers? What if you lose yours completely? What if I lose my Water power?” He asked.   Trevor looked at him and then lowered his hand.   “Well damn… what now?” Trevor asked.   “You guys need to grow a pair and just try it.” Charity said.   “Why don’t you try it then?” Trevor said to her.   “Fine! I’ll try it! And no, I don’t have any illnesses.” She said holding out her hand for the knife.   She took the knife and cut her hand a little. She let out a small squeal of pain but managed to do it.   “You sure you want to do this?” Darius asked.   “Yeah! For science right?” She said.   “How would I know I even copied your ability? It's kinda specialized right?” Darius asked.   “I guess we’ll find out.” She said as she held out her hand.   Darius agitated his cut to get the blood flowing again and that took her hand. At first, nothing seemed to happen so Charity began to shift her hand around to make sure to wounds were touching.   “I don’t think th-” Darius said before both He and Charity began to shake and fell to the ground.   Darius opened his eyes and looked at the wall in front of him It had a new orb protruding from it. He looked down and saw the first orb that he had dropped last time he had been in the room sticking in the ground.   “What the fuck!?” He heard Charity say as she looked around.   Darius turned to see her in the room with him.   “What are you doing here?” Darius asked confused.   “What do you mean? Where is here?!” She asked.   “I don’t know, I seem to end up in here when I’m unconscious or something.” He said.   “Why didn’t you tell us that?” She asked.   “I… I don’t think I remember this room much when I wake up.” He told her.   She looked around the room and then inspected the orbs on the wall and floor.   “What are these?” She asked.   “I’m not super sure… I think it may have to do with my powers. The one on the floor is my water one. This one wasn’t here before, I think it's your power.” He said.   “Whoa… This is trippy.” She said.   “...ey….ear me? Dar… rity? Can you hear me?” They both heard the disembodied voice of Trevor echo through the room.   “What the? Trevor?” Darius called out.   “Good you can hear me! Charity! What’s going on?” He asked.   They both froze and looked at each other.   “Did he hear me? Trevor, can you hear me? It’s me, Darius.” Darius shouted.   “...What? Okay, this is weird! Darius, you passed out. So did one of your bodies Charity. But you're awake body is here and walking around acting like it's looking at things and is having a conversation with itself.” He said to them.   “What am I doing now?” Charity asked as she raised a hand.   “You just raised a hand.” They heard him say.   “Can you not see what your other body is seeing?” Darius asked Charity as he ran his hand through his hair.   “No… This is wei-” Charity said before Trevor interrupted.   “You just ran your hand through your hair.” He said.   “What?” Darius asked looking up as if that was where his voice was coming from.   “I said you just ran your hand through your hair, now your looking at the sky.” He replied.   “You're shitting me?” Charity asked.   “I shit you not! Are you guys going to wake up soon because this is weirding me out!” Trevor said.   Darius looked at the orb in the wall and plucked it out. He looked at it then handed it to Charity. She took it and looked at him.   “Can you hear me now?” He asked.   There was no response.   “Hello?” Charity asked.   “Yeah? You almost done with this experiment?” Trevor asked.   “Tell him to pour water on both of us.” Darius said.   “Uh… Pour water on both of us.” Charity repeated.   “Okay! Hold on.” They heard him say and a few moments later they felt a crisp coldness on there faces.   They both began to cough and sit up as they opened their eyes.   “What the hell?!” Charity said out confused.   “Uhh… What?” Darius said rubbing his head.   “What the hell was that? That room? The orbs? What the hell sort of power do you have?” Charity asked in a bit of a frazzled yell only to look down and realized that she was still holding Darius’ hand.   “What? What are you talking about?” Darius asked as Charity pulled her hand away.   “You don’t remember anything?” Trevor asked.   "No? What happened?” He asked.   After Trevor and Charity looked at each other good long while they turned to Darius and carefully explained all that had happened from the moment he lost consciousness. Darius listened with a tinge of horror in his eyes.   “Shit… I’m sorry. That must have scared you both... “ He said looking somewhat guilty.   “Yeah, when both of you passed out I started freaking out that something went wrong. I’m just glad you two are back to normal.” He said.   “At least we know you can copy multiple abilities at once though.” Charity said.   “How do you know that?” Darius asked.   “In your headspace, you had two orbs. One of them was your water power and the other was mine. That's the reason why you could talk through one of my bodies, we were kind of sharing consciousness or something.” She said.   “But… Why did one of your bodies pass out?” Darius asked.   “Uh… Well…” Charity mumbled as she thought.   “Because you steal abilities… not copy them.” Trevor said.   “What? What makes you figure that?” Darius asked a bit defensively.   “I bet you both of Charity’s bodies are linked by her ability. You took one side of those links so it cut off her consciousness to her one of her. And since you had the link you could talk through her body.” He told them.   “I mean, It’s just a guess though.” He added.   “That kind of makes sense. But then why couldn’t we see what my conscious body could see? And why didn’t my consciousness merge with Darius’ completely? We were still two individuals and that not how my power works.” Charity said.   “Maybe the power stealing process changes the ability in some ways? I don’t know.” Trevor said.   “Okay, let say that even if I really am stealing powers, and that’s a big if… Then why is Charity fine now?” Darius asked.   The three of them were silent for a moment. Darius started breathing a sigh of relief. He didn’t like the idea of himself being some sort of thief. He has never broken a law in his life and he didn’t want to start now.   “Ah! Y-You handed me my orb back before we woke up!” Charity shouted excitedly.   “I did?” He asked.   “Yeah, I think you were testing if you would still talk through me if I had my orb back. But then we woke up with it still with me.” She said.   “Oh… hmm.” Darius said thinking about that.   “Hmm? Is that all you have to say? Do you not realize the significance of what this could mean?” Charity asked as both of her looked at him with fire in her eyes.   “Uhh… That I can… give people their powers back?” He asked.   “Yes! And what if it doesn't end there?! What if you can take people’s abilities and give them to other people?” She asked.   “Oh shit!” Trevor said.   “You're saying that I’m like a damned link cable?” Darius asked.   “Yeah! So you know what we have to do now?” She asked.   "... You want to do more tests?” Darius asked a little weary.   “I want you to take Trevor’s ability and give it to me. Then you take it from me and give it back.” She said smiling with anticipation.   “Whoa whoa! Hold on now! I haven’t agreed to this!” Trevor said.   “I did it and I’m fine!” Charity said to him.   “You totally were not fine just a little while ago!” Trevor said.   “It should be fine. If I gave her power back I should be able to do it again.” Darius said.   “... If I lose my ability permanently I’m killing both of you!” He said and sighed.   Trevor reopened his cut and Darius had to recut himself as he had then realized that his hand had healed again. After a long pause, they clasped hands and Darius collapsed. Trevor blinked when nothing happened to him other than a strange cold chill running up his spine.   “Uh, was I not supposed to pass out?” Trevor asked.   “Maybe you were right. Maybe one of my bodies passed out because my power is intertwined with my consciousness.” Charity said to him.   Charity walked over to Darius and preceded to give him a firm slap on his cheek. Darius’ eyes shot open and he sat up yelling.   “Ow! What the hell!?” He asked looking at Charity as she grinned.   “Alright my turn!” She said.   “What? Oh! Uh, wait… I want to try something.” Darius said as he cupped his hands and willed water into them.   “How do you use your power?” He asked Trevor.   “How? I think of a flavor and imagine seasoning the food.” He said.   Darius looked at the water in his hands and imagined poring cherry kool-aid into it with sugar. He could feel the palm of his hands tingle slightly. He brought it up to his face and smelled it and began to smile widely and began to drink. Although the taste was a bit weaker than he thought it was going to be, It tasted just as he wanted it to. He pulled his hands away and grinned satisfied.   “This is fucking awesome!” He said laughing.   “Okay, my turn dammit!” Charity said.   “Wait, Pour some more water.” Trevor said.   “Why?” Darius asked.   “I want to see if I really don’t have my power.” Trevor replied.   Darius nodded and filled his hands with water again. Trevor waved his hand over Darius’ and gave a strange look on his face.   “What?” Darius asked.   “I don’t know… When I do my thing, I usually get this small tingly feeling in my hand but I got nothing this time.” He said to Darius.   Darius looked at the water and brought it up to his mouth and sipped it. He immediately spat it out and started coughing.   “Ulugh…” He said as he suppressed the feeling of vomiting.   “Yeah! No! You lost your power…” He said then spit again.   “Okay! My turn!” Charity said as she agitated her cut and got it bleeding again.   “Hold on… It’s kind nice my wound heals, but it sucks to have to cut myself every damn time…” Darius said as he cut his hand again and held it out to Charity.   "Before we do this. I want you to concentrate on just giving me Trevor’s orb and not on taking mine… Alright?” Charity asked.   “Uh… Sure?” Darius said as he pictured himself holding Trevor’s orb and as they clasped hands he imagined simply giving it to her.   After a few seconds Darius a tingle in his hand and pulled it away. He looked down at his hand and saw the cut had vanished. He looked up at Charity and saw that she seemed fine.   “Did it work? I didn’t pass out…” Darius said.   Charity looked down at her plate with a half-eaten slice of Spam and picked it up. She thought for a second and waved her hand over it. She held her breath as she felt the tingle that Trevor and told her about and then bit into the processed meat. She looked up and smiled.   “Iwt woged!” She said with her mouth full and chewed, and then swallowed.   “It worked! I made the spam taste like a chocolate bar! Although the taste wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be.” She said.   “Huh? My water didn’t taste as strong either, at least not as flavorful as when Trevor did it.” Darius said.   “Okay… Give me my power back!” Trevor said.   “Oh! Yeah.” Darius said as he grabbed the knife and cut his hand yet again.   “This really sucks.” He said as he held his hand out to Charity.   “Alright… Focus on only taking Trevor’s orb from me.” She said to him.   “That was my plan.” Darius said back and they clasped hands.   Darius felt the same tingle in his hand and let go of hers. Both Trevor and Darius watched her but she seemed fine. Satisfied that he didn’t steal her power he turned to Trevor who was already poking at his cut to get the blood flowing again. Darius bit his lip and cut his hand again. They clasped hands and Darius visualized giving him back his orb. The let go of each other's hand and without saying a word, Darius cupped his hands and began filling them with water. Trevor waved his hand over Darius’ and smiled at that tell-tale tingle. Darius raised his hands to his mouth and drank.   “Oh shit! Yoo-hoo?” Darius asked smiling.   “Welcome back!” Trevor said smiling and kissed his own hand.   “This is crazy!” Darius said.   “No, this is history!” Charity said to him.   “What?” Darius asked confused.   “There has never been a documented case of a Metahuman that could transfer powers between people. There have been a few that could mimic others abilities, even some that could turn off people powers but they could only do it temporarily. To outright steal and then be able to give it to someone else? Holy shit dude!” Charity said jumping up and down as she truly believed she may have just found the Metahuman discovery of the decade.   Darius smiled a little bit at her enthusiasm. She was being awfully adorable. But then he thought about what she was saying. The fact that someone like him could have such a clearly overpowered ability was hard to fathom. He was never really good at anything while growing up and he could honestly say that he was pretty average in almost every way.   “Man… What should I do know?” He asked.   “You should go back to the UHA and tell them what your power really is! They turned you down but this will totally peak their interests!” Charity said.   “No way!” Darius said flatly.   “W-What? Why not? This is seriously big news!” She said to him.   “Darius didn’t have a good experience with his interview.” Trevor told her.   “Huh? What happened?” She asked   “Perennial happened.” Darius said.   “You got to meet Perennial?! She's a personal hero of mine! What went wrong?” Charity asked.   “She was mean to him and made him cry.” Trevor said chuckling.   “I didn’t cry! I shot water in my eyes by accident! But yeah, She was stuck up and kept making fun of me for just answering her questions. She thought it was funny that I was homeless and out of a job! I mean... what the fuck?” He said.   “R-Really? Are you sure you didn’t mishear her or something?” Charity asked not liking what she was hearing about a person she looked up too.   “I wouldn’t make this up! I was super excited to meet her too! She was my first… ahem.” He said as he stopped himself.   “Your first?” Trevor asked.   “Nothing… First Hero I met…” He said correcting himself.   Three pairs of eyes narrowed at him and Darius turned around as his face began to redden.   “Oh my god! She was your first crush!” Charity shouted out.   “What! Don’t be stupid!” Darius said.   “Oh yeah? Why are you hiding your blushing face then, huh?” She asked teasing him.   “I was a little kid alright?!” Darius said turning around not wanting to give her this piece of ammunition.   “You still attracted to her?” She asked.   “What? No! I was just a bit starstruck is all… She looks like a little kid.” He said.   “You know she’s like 260 years old? If you scale it down to normal. You're like a 5-year-old to her or something.” Charity said.   “So what?” Darius asked, a tad bit annoyed.   “Nothing I guess. Just I don’t think you should base much off of looks, especially when you're talking about Metahumans.” She said.   “Whatever. She’s just a lonely little girl who makes others feel bad about themselves so she can feel superior.” Darius said.   “... Maybe.” Charity said back.   “Anyway… What are we going to do know?” Trevor said, breaking the awkward silence.   “What we’re going to do… Is start a damn business!” Darius said to him.