Super: Origins (17 page)

She stood in front of a waterfall, or at least that's what it seemed to be, but the surface looked completely smooth, like glass. Lex raised her hand to the water and found it much deeper than it appeared, at least by inches, and bone-chillingly cold. As she yanked her hand back, she realized that she could see something materializing on the other side of the cascade; as the image resolved, that something turned out to be someone. Lex tilted her head back and forth and squinted, trying to see if she could determine the person’s identity. It appeared to be someone who’d been locked in ice; the person looked very light skinned, with short white hair. Lex couldn't make out the figure's face, however; the volume of water between them obscured it, making the person look as if they could be just about anyone. The figure definitely wanted to communicate with her, however, and looked anxious to do so. Lex got as close to the edge of the water as she could without getting wet, watching the person as closely as possible. As she focused on the figure’s lips, she thought she could see them mouthing, “Watch out—”

Lex opened her eyes as she felt the shelf moving her back out of the machine. She yawned, trying not to be too conspicuous about it, and sat up as the movement stopped. She still felt about halfway in her dream world, her foggy brain working hard to figure out what it all meant. A young woman approached Lex then, dressed in a lab coat, her long dark hair done up with hair sticks into a loose bun. “How are you feeling?” she asked with a smile.

Lex stifled another yawn. “I'm fine, but I'm afraid I fell asleep in there. I hope it didn't mess up the tests.”

The woman laughed. “Don’t worry about it. We got the information we needed, and all of the images look like they came out well. For people who aren't bothered by the tight space, it's common to fall asleep.”

Lex laughed in reply. “Thanks. Is there anything else you need this morning?”

The woman looked back the man who’d spoken to Lex earlier. He’d been looking at a computer screen and glanced up to shake his head in response. “No,” the woman said to Lex, “you're good to go. Thanks!”

Lex nodded, sliding off the shelf to head for the changing room.

Once dressed, Lex looked at her schedule again and at the clock. It read just about ten, and she knew she had to be in the martial arts studio on the hour. Running the flights down, she got to the room a little out of breath. She went inside and saw an elderly man about her height near the back wall, looking at the room in the mirror. He wore loose-fitting black pants and jacket, the sort of thing worn in an old Hong Kong martial arts film. He held his body with the flexibility of a dancer and the strength of a weight lifter. Lex noted his iron grey hair and thought his face looked old without having lots of deep wrinkles. His expression seemed somehow disapproving and Lex could feel the power emanating from him. Having been in the martial arts world many years, she saw him as an opponent she would try never to fight seriously.

“No food or drinks are allowed in here.” His voice rang out like a whip crack as he turned and glared at the travel mug in Lex's hand.

“Sorry,” Lex replied, turning around so that she could put it on the floor just outside the door while taking a final sip of the astringent green tea she’d chosen that morning.

“Come inside and sit,” he continued, his voice harsh.

Lex entered the studio fully, sat cross-legged on the cool wooden floor, and waited. She had the feeling that she was already in trouble, but for some reason it didn't bother her that much. Then she realized it as a familiar feeling for her in a martial arts studio and ironically raised an eyebrow at herself in the mirror.

“My name is Fai Chen. Who are you?”

Lex looked at him with some puzzlement, wondering how he couldn't know her when the people here had almost every possible piece of information about her. “Lex McKilliam.”

His eyes narrowed when he looked at her again, as if he saw something dangerous, like a snake. “You studied under your father, Bill McKilliam?”

“Yes.” Lex nodded, more confused than ever.

“When you studied under him, did you answer to the name of Alex?”

She started to say yes, but the word got mangled as Lex’s heart squeezed and a vivid memory bubbled up.

She was ten again and heard the crowd at the judo competition mumbling and swelling as she faced her opponent: a girl her age but bigger, like all of her other peers seemed to be. Lex breathed in the familiar competition smells of sweat, fear, and blood as they circled one another, the other girl warily, Lex desperately. She knew she was lagging in this fight and needed to win it. If she did, she would only have a few more fights before she could go home and shut herself into the bathroom for a half hour or so, run the hot water and lay in the bathtub peacefully, no one interrupting. If she didn't win, she would be going back to the martial arts studio with her father after all of the other students had been dropped off, and things would happen there that she didn't like to think about.

She remembered what her father had taught her—cheating wasn't cheating if the officials didn't see it. Coming up with an idea, Lex circled for a moment more before coming in closer to try a throw over her hip that would involve her bringing the other girls body to the mat. As she did, Lex took one of her hands (meant to be gripping the other girl's lapels) and ground a knuckle into her ribs hard, feeling a stomach-turning give as she separated them and caused the girl to scream. Lex froze as the two of them came to the mat, knowing she had overdone it. Her heart beat furiously as the other girl rolled around, obviously in pain. Lex stood up and backed away a little, waiting. The officials conferred for a moment, then called the match forfeit, since the other girl couldn’t continue, and declared Lex the victor.

But then a man came to confront her father. He was the teacher of the girl Lex had hurt, and he accused Lex's father of teaching his students to cheat. The girl told her teacher what had happened, and he’d seen something that convinced him of the truth of her story. The two men argued, her father towering threateningly over the other, but nothing came of it, since the officials hadn't seen anything…

In the next breath, Lex’s mind came back to the present, her heart thumping in double time as she looked at the somewhat aged face of the man who’d argued with her father that day as he said, “I know your father.”

Before she could think about it, Lex blurted out, “I'm sorry.”

This startled Mr. Chen, and he paused for a moment as he looked at her more closely. Lex just breathed the suddenly stifling air for a moment, trying to get her thoughts together, and then continued. “I mean, I'm sorry about your student. I didn't mean to hurt her that day.”

“You cracked her rib,” he replied, his expression surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Lex to remember him.

“I'm sorry, really I am. I didn't mean to.”

He left that alone, continuing to study her. “When I was asked to come here today, I refused at first. But then they convinced me to come by sending me this footage,” he said, a remote suddenly in hand.

First the lights dimmed, and then Lex watched as one of the mirrors became a screen, showing her going through the form she had demonstrated for Casey. Lex stood in her surprise even as she spotted the small image of Casey watching in the background and knew it must have been from the previous evening.

“Where…where did you get this?” she asked, stupefied.

Mr. Chen looked at her through narrowed eyes again. “In case you didn't know, you are always watched in this place, which is another reason I'm not fond of coming here.”

Fuck
…Lex thought as she continued to watch. After a few moments, Lex began mentally critiquing herself and finally concluded that she didn’t seem to see it the way Casey did, because she could watch her own moves fine. But, she mentally conceded, it might be different if she watched another martial artist.

“Who taught you this?” Mr. Chen finally asked, his voice still cold and his eyes suspicious.

Lex turned to him, still confused. “No one. I made it up myself. I put together a form based on some moves I wanted to perfect, and once I mastered them, I changed it to suit myself.”

Mr. Chen looked at her closely, and Lex thought she saw a brief flash of curiosity in his eyes. “I found it interesting to see, knowing that McKilliam couldn't have taught you this form—”

“He hated it,” Lex mumbled, under her breath, she thought, but when she realized Mr. Chen had paused and glanced at her, it seemed he’d heard her.

“But,” he continued, “the reason that I really came here was to ask you what you focused on when you did this form. I can tell from the way you’re concentrating that you weren’t just practicing.”

Lex looked at him, floored again. It took a moment, and her voice was scratchy when she responded, but she said quietly, “My father.”

Mr. Chen looked straight at her then, obviously weighing the information he’d gotten in his mind. He stared into her eyes and she stared right back, wondering what he saw in there.

“Why did you have to win the fight so badly that you cracked my student's rib?”

Lex's eyes slid to the floor as the change of subject threw her. She didn't want to answer, but got herself up to it, clearing her throat. “My father did not want me to lose. It was a…
bad thing
for me to lose.” Lex sighed and rubbed her eyes, since they now burned. She hadn't talked about her experiences at home for years now, yet for the past couple of days it seemed like all she’d been asked to talk about, and the impersonal, patronizing manner of the doctor whom she’d had to tell yesterday had been the last straw for her. She felt dragged out and exhausted by the ordeal and couldn’t manage to tell the story one more time to someone else who didn’t give a damn.

“I'm sorry. I don't really like to talk about it much, but I did go into some detail yesterday with the doctor who did my initial physical when I got here. If you need my permission to go into my medical chart, you have it.” She glanced back up at Mr. Chen, a hangdog look in her eyes, not sure what to expect and assuming the worst.

He was now giving her a look of undisguised curiosity, an intense examination with piercing eyes. Lex felt like an orange under his gaze, her outer skin being stripped away so that he could examine her inner secrets. Her stomach flopped uncomfortably, and she looked away to the floor again.

“I see. Please have a break for the remainder of the morning, and I will meet you back here after lunch, at 1:30,” he said, his voice still steely.

“All right,” Lex responded dully, bowing to him. “I'll see you then.”

She did her best to not flee the room, but went far more quickly than she’d normally walk. Then she ran up the stairs, not stopping until she got to her room. Once there, she slumped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Lex hadn't thought about it for a long while, but she closed her eyes for a second and saw some of the angry faces from her past, some of her peers that she'd terrorized on the competition mats. None of the kids had been permanently injured that she knew of, but she couldn't help remembering the day she'd cracked the other girl's rib. Her stomach had fallen to her feet, and her heart had nearly stopped in her chest as she'd seen that look of pain on the girl's face. But even then, to her intense shame, she remembered feeling somewhat relieved that she would probably be awarded the match and avoid another beating.

However, that hadn't happened. Her father had been so angry that anyone had any potential evidence of her cheating that she'd been given hours of “extra training” that night after the matches so that she could master the cheat she'd been trying to do, he told her as he jammed his knuckle into her ribs. She couldn't decide even now which was worse: the pain or the experience of seeing her father's savage grin as he pushed her to the mats and ground the breath from her. For the next couple of weeks after that, Lex had felt her own cracked ribs every time she'd breathed, had known she deserved all the pain, and had felt so sorry for the other girl she'd wished she could cry.

After a while spent staring at the wall, Lex forced herself to shake it off enough to sit up and think about what to do with the extra time she'd been given. She had over an hour before Casey would probably be available for lunch, so she figured she might as well do some more work on assembling her room. She found the TV and DVD player first and hooked them up so that she could watch some of her favorite videos while she worked. Lex grinned as she set up the nice flat screen TV that had been delivered, then popped one of her favorites into the player and hit “Play” on the remote.

Even though her fiancé would laugh at her for it, she'd continued collecting anime series. One of her favorites, the one she now turned to, told the story of an orphan boy who began life as an outcast in his village. Instead of becoming angry, it inspired the boy to try harder, and he eventually won friends and became someone strong and powerful that other people depended on and looked up to. Lex really liked the series because of that, but her favorite character in the series wasn't the main one. The one she liked best came from another village. His family had turned against him and tried to kill him a few years after he'd been born. Since he was protected by a demon they'd been unsuccessful, but unfortunately they'd never stopped trying. As a result, he'd basically turned into a bitter serial killer, until he'd been defeated by the main character in the series, and as a result learning about the strength that comes from caring for others.

The first episode Lex chose to watch as she worked showed how the boy whose parents had once tried to kill him had become the village leader, coming to everyone's aid when powerful enemies attacked their homes. He'd been captured after successfully saving the village, and Lex skipped ahead to another episode where most of the people in the village showed up to get him back. By the time the second episode finished, Lex had unearthed and moved her couch in front of the TV, had unpacked and placed all of the couch pillows, and had set up her bedside table with a lamp and alarm clock.