Chương 17: Chapter 17 A Useful Stalker?
After a successful evening of hero work, Brandon made a quick wardrobe change mid-flight and soared back home. As he approached his house, he thought back to the day. It definitely strayed from his usual hero work but somehow helping that girl Angela felt more fulfilling than most of the things he had done in the past month. 'Hopefully, I can help more people in meaningful ways like that soon'.
Landing softly on the grass, he walked up the path to the front porch. Just as he reached for the doorknob, a faint snapping sound caught his attention. His enhanced hearing picked up the noise clearly. Listening closely Brandon easily figured out who it was. How could he not when this person had been stalking him for the past couple of weeks? When it first started he thought it might have been the GDA but it wasn't them. No, it was someone much more unexpected.
Turning his head toward the source of the sound, Brandon narrowed his eyes and took off again, following the noise through the trees at the edge of his property. As he neared the source, he
Slowly lowered himself close to the floor and floated the rest of the way, careful not to make a sound.
Pushing through the last of the foliage, he found a familiar figure lying in between some bushes with a telescope. It was Caitlyn, the honor student he often saw at school, the same girl who the original Brightburn stalked. Which is kind of ironic since he's the one being stalked now.
"Where did he go? I blinked for a moment and he just disappeared!" Caitlyn exclaimed in a whisper. "But how?" Taking out a notepad she began writing some of the results of her observation.
Using his X-ray vision Brandon saw past her head and began reading some of her notes.
[Subject: Brandon Breyer Aka Ultra-man]
Abilities: Flight, Strength, Speed, Optic rays
New ability: Frost breath which he showed when he cooled down a case of Cokes for his family
New ability: Teleportation? Unconfirmed but at times Brandon disappears though this could just be extreme speed
New ability: Memory manipulation? Likely for some reason, no one at school has mentioned that Brandon looks exactly like Ultra-man meaning he may have erased some memories or manipulated them in some way.
When did Brandon get powers?: Not confirmed but he ditched school last month which went unnoticed by most. After this, he was pulled out and hasn't been seen since.
'She really has been stalking me and it looks like she put in a real effort for this… but why?' Seeing that he wasn't going to find the answers by just floating there he went directly for the source.
"You know watching people's homes from the forest with a telescope is really creepy, right?"
Hearing another person's voice, Caitlyn jumped off the ground in fright. Which only got worse when she saw the voice's owner.
"Brandon… it's not what you think! I was just writing a paper on local ecosystems for school. You probably don't know since you left but it's really important for this semester" Caitlyn replied lying out of her teeth. The crazy part was that if it was anyone else other than Brandon then they might have believed her because of how believable it sounded.
"Caitlyn I already read your notebook and what kind of environment project requires you to look at my house?"
Listening to this she knew she was definitely caught and if he really did read her notebook then there was no way out of this. "Wha-at are you going to do to me?" Caitlyn asked, slightly shaking.
In her mind, she had discovered his greatest secret and proceeded to get her information on him leaving Brandon with one option. 'Death'
Brandon watched this with some amusement. 'This girl really thinks too much. What does she think I'll kill her?' He thought jokingly but as the awkward silence grew he realized that this was exactly what she thought.
"Sigh… You can't possibly think I'll kill you right? You do know I'm not a super villain"
"Obviously not but if it's to protect your secret won't you try to keep me silent in some way?"
"I guess I can do that… promise to keep it a secret. There were good"
At the beginning of the sentence, she waited for him to use blackmail or manipulate her memory but a promise? Did he really not care?
"But why isn't your identity important?" Caitlyn asked not understanding why he treated it like nothing. Wasn't he worried that villains might try to kill him?
"I guess it is to some degree but not enough for me to worry all my life about. You must have seen the news. I didn't even wear a mask so that should answer it enough."
At this point, she didn't know what to say. Doesn't this mean that she could've just gone to his door and talked about it like a normal person? But instead, she just acted like a weirdo getting covered in dirt.
"Ugh if I'd known I wouldn't have even done this" Caitlyn complained while rubbing her temples.
"By the way, why did you even come? It can't just be because of curiosity can it?"
"Curiosity was one reason but you're right it isn't the only reason. You see, I've always been pretty good at making things. It's sort of my hobby but the other day when you came on the news I noticed how tough your suit was and it got me interested."
"I'm not the only one with a tough suit you know?" While Kryptonian fabric was impressive and possibly better than most super suits it didn't make it the only option.
"Yeah, but it's not like I can go ask the immortal for some samples. You are the only person I know who's a hero"
She was right on that part, it's not like their little backwoods town is going to be producing any more heroes. At least anytime soon and meeting heroes isn't something likely to happen around here.
However, sharing his suit material is also a bit of a no-go. That material was one of the things he planned to use to make money in the future. Not that he needed it but it would be good for his parents to enjoy the rest of their lives and take some vacations.
"And why should I share my suit's material with you?"
Hearing the blunt question Caitlyn realized that he had a point. You don't just go to someone's house and ask for something without expecting anything back. Especially when it's someone you didn't even know that well and were at most acquaintances.
Thinking hard she began trying to see if there was anything she had to offer but none of it sounded good enough until she got to what she valued most. 'Her skill'
"If you lend me a sample I promise to make something for you. When I said I was good at making stuff I wasn't joking, look check this out." Rummaging through her bag she began looking through some stuff and pulled out a small necklace that looked really simple with no design.
"A necklace… I don't really something from arts and crafts"
That comment irked her a bit but she was the one trying to make the trade, not the other way around so she pushed down her creator pride. "No it's not just a toy necklace here, put it on and press this side button."
Giving her a chance he took the necklace and followed her instructions. At first, it seemed like nothing changed but the moment he pressed the button he felt a slight tingling sensation just above his skin and hair.
"Here, look at this mirror!" Pulling a small mirror from her pocket she pointed it at Brandon as he saw his reflection.
He looked mostly the same except now his hair was brown instead of black and his skin took a shade or two darker really giving him that farmer look.
"It's a hologram right above the surface of my skin and hair. How did you make this?"
"I told you I'm good at making things. The one you're wearing right now was something I made when I got tired of dyeing my hair but that's beside the point. You must see its value right? You might not care all that much about your identity but with this, you won't even need to bother hiding it too much."
'She's right this thing is really convenient but I can probably make something similar. I haven't been learning from Zod for nothing after all but that still doesn't take away the fact that she's got talent.' While thinking this he suddenly recalled something. It wasn't a part of the film Beightburn but something the director mentioned in an interview. Apparently, in a deleted end-credit scene there was supposed to be a scene where she built a mechanical arm.
Now with this holo necklace? Her talent is basically confirmed. 'Maybe I can use this' So far he did everything on his own but having his own team might be helpful. Especially when it comes to time management.
Caitlyn could possibly become his girl in the chair similar to how the Flash had Cisco around to whip up high-tech gadgets on the fly. Though something like that would require some more trust since he wasn't willing to share the rest of his Kryptonian tech but the cloth would be a decent start to their relationship.
"You got yourself a deal" After this two talked some more as they worked out some more kinks in the deal before calling it a night.
.
.
.
Stepping into his house Brandon found his parents resting in the living room as usual watching TV. Hearing his arrival his mom quickly jumped off the couch and ran to give him a hug.
"Welcome home honey! You did great today" Tori said with a proud smile. How could she not? While other kids were barely figuring life out. Her son was out fighting villains, stopping robberies, and overall making a difference in the world.
"You did good Brandon, especially in the forest fire in California. I knew you could make our sodas fresh with that ice breath but making an entire forest look like winter was something else. You should have seen your mother's reaction she practically fell out of her seat"
Tori looked slightly embarrassed at her husband's teasing but she couldn't deny it because she really was surprised. Her son had changed so much.
Brandon smiled at seeing his parent's supper and walked back to rest on the couches with them.
"By the way I forgot to ask how your guy's day went, did anything interesting happen?"
"Eh George struck his hand with a hammer while repairing some of the equipment so I had to send him home but other than that things went well. Oh but there was also that thing that went down in DC I was surprised that you didn't show up guess you must've been busy" Kyle explained while popping open a can of Coke
"Oh yeah! You should have seen it. The Mauler twins apparently attacked the White House making it the 16th attack it's had in this year alone. Luckily the guardians showed up and handled it but they should really take that place down. Even if the president doesn't live there anymore it really isn't safe even as a museum." Tori added before both jumped into a new conversation while Brandon remained silent.
'Mauler twins and the White House… so it's time.'
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