The Rookie
The rain came down in thick sheets, pounding against the pavement like the steady march of war drums. Lightning carved jagged scars across the storm-darkened sky, briefly illuminating the towering skyline of downtown Chicago. A landscape cluttered with the skyscrapers of competing corporations, billboards with the smiling faces of Heroes selling the average joe the next best thing to make their lives better. Dorian Vale hunched his shoulders, pulling his thin jacket tighter around himself as he strode toward NOVA Tower. His breath curled in the cold air, nerves twisting his gut into knots.
Interview: NOVA Dynamics Security Division
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: NOVA Tower, 84th Floor
He checked the email for the 100th time, then shoved his phone back into the safety of his pocket. This was it. His last shot. He had spent the past six months clawing at every possible opportunity, but the moment recruiters saw Mimicry listed under his abilities, their expressions soured.
“Unstable. Unpredictable. Lacks control.”
He passed a shop with televisions in the window, they were broadcasting multiple channels. All of them showcasing a different company’s group of heroes and the product they were selling. He watched as a dark-haired man raised his hands into the air, Titan, the face of NOVA Dynamics, was showing off a new security feature to lessen Super’s powers. It was meant for civilian homes, to prevent villains from being, well, villains. After a moment of watching Titan show off how the item worked, and a staged ‘fight’ with a ‘villain’, he turned and continued on his way. His mind falling back into thinking over his current life.
It didn’t matter that his power had potential. Companies didn’t want potential. They wanted precision. And in a world where supers were carefully curated for their corporate-friendly abilities, he was an anomaly they didn’t know how to market. They wanted faces and powers they could stage their fights with, promote their tech and products with. The last thing they needed was a newbie fresh out of college with a power he could barely handle.
He was still mulling over his bleak job prospects when the unmistakable sound of combat shattered his thoughts.
A scream cut through the storm.
Dorian’s head snapped toward the commotion just as a woman in a skintight black suit, slightly armored, was launched through the air. Her body crashed into the side of a parked car. The vehicle’s windows exploded in a shower of glass, its alarm roaring to life as she slumped forward onto the pavement, coughing, her body trembling from the impact.
A flicker of light flashed in Dorian’s vision as his internal HUD system kicked in. A power he chose to keep from everyone. The ability to copy a power was one thing, the ability to instantly identify and analyze his opponents would make him hated among his peers. No one wanted to feel vulnerable.
The HUD text trickled in on the right side of his world view.
Evelyn Raines
Alias: Sable
Sentinel Operative
Power Ranking: A-Class
Abilities: Shadow Marionette – Controls shadows into a physical form for ranged attacks, can also manipulate shadows for stealth
Precision: 87% | Control: 94% | Power Output: 82%
Dorian barely had time to process before the real problem made itself known. A man in black heavy tactical armor with red lightning across it, stalked toward her, his glowing crimson gauntlets humming with unstable energy. He wasn’t just some grunt—he was a combat-class super from a rival corp. Dorian’s HUD kicked in immediately upon seeing the new super.
Alias: Atlas
Affiliation: Vanguard Tech Security
Abilities: Kinetic Overload – Creates potentially fatal kinetic energy in the form of red beams or bursts
Power Ranking: A-Class
Analyzing...
Combat Style: Heavy Striker
Weakness: Energy Instability
Charge Level: 72% – Stabilization: Low
This wasn’t a public stunt. This wasn’t rehearsed. This was real. He didn’t know what had happened, but the normal choreographed fights to show off a new technology was not what this was. He watched as Atlas stalked towards Sable, a grin spread across his face. Sable was struggling to pull herself from the ground, from the looks of it they’d been fighting for some time.
Analyzing…
Sable - Bruised ribs, minor cuts
Condition: Unstable. Recommend rest and medical attention
Dorian’s breath hitched. He could walk away. It wasn’t his fight. No one expected him to intervene.
But then Atlas raised a gauntleted hand, the kinetic energy swirling violently around his fingers. He was charging up for another hit, the kind that didn’t leave second chances.
Dorian didn’t think. He moved.
Ability Copied: Shadow Marionette – Power Stability: 36%
Data Sync: Sable | Specialty: Precision Control
Ability Copied: Kinetic Overload – Power Stability: 22%
Data Sync: Atlas | Specialty: Heavy Striker
Risk Factor: High
His body screamed as two separate energies warred inside him, his vision flashing white-hot with the raw, unfamiliar power. Shadows slithered beneath his fingertips, weighty and alive, tendrils of pure darkness reaching out like an extension of himself. While his veins burned with the volatile kinetic charge surging through his arms. The red energy crackled along his veins until it met and twisted around the tendrils of shadow.
Atlas turned just in time to see Dorian sprinting forward. For a moment Atlas thought a civilian was jumping in, it had happened before, dumb as it was. Then he caught it, the odd tentacles laced in red flowing from the kids’ arms.
“What the fu-“
Dorian lashed out, shadow tendrils snapping toward Atlas like striking vipers.
Power Sync Calculations Adjusting...
Combat Efficiency: 42%
Recommended Course: Disrupt Charge Build-up
Dorian knew sniping a power from a distance weakened them, but it wasn’t like he’d had a chance to just shake their hands before hopping into the fight.
The tendrils coiled around Atlas’s arms, constricting like living chains in an attempt to disrupt the blast. The kinetic energy lashed out striking the specialized gauntlets. He snarled, twisting violently, his sheer strength forcing the shadows to stretch and fray as he fought against them.
Dorian reacted on instinct. The kinetic energy surged, building rapidly, his limbs vibrating with untapped potential. He released it all at once.
Kinetic Pulse Activated – Impact Strength: 78%
Analyzing...
Risk Factor: High – Unstable Energy Output Detected
Warning: Potential System Overload Imminent
The force sent Atlas flying, slamming him through the shattered remains of the car Sable had crashed into. The vehicle crumpled under his weight, groaning as metal twisted and warped. Atlas groaned, his gauntlets flickering erratically from the overload. Sable was quite a ways from the wreck now, on her feet, hands on her knees to steady herself.
Warning: Power Fatigue Imminent
Risk Level: Severe
Immediate Disengagement Recommended
Dorian’s HUD flashed with the alert, but he gritted his teeth and shoved the warning aside. He couldn’t show weakness – not now. His limbs trembled under the strain, his pulse hammering in his ears, but he forced himself to remain standing, ignoring the way his vision swam at the edges.
Atlas groaned and made a feeble attempt to push himself up, his gauntlets sparking with residual energy. He struggled, but his body refused to cooperate, and with a final, exhausted gasp, he crumpled back into the wreckage of the car, unconscious.
Realizing the fight was over, Dorian staggered back, gasping as his muscles trembled from the strain of wielding too much power at once. His body wasn’t meant to handle multiple abilities at the same time.
Warning: Rest Needed
Muscle strength at 67%
A soft curse pulled him from his daze, his knees buckled, and he put his hands on them to steady himself. Sable was up, walking towards him, her piercing blue eyes locking onto him.
“You—” she coughed, wincing as she straightened. “What the hell did you just do?”
Dorian exhaled; his breath ragged. “I…helped?”
She stared at him for a beat, then, despite the situation, let out a breathy, disbelieving laugh. “Yeah. You did.”
Atlas groaned in the wreckage behind them, but sirens in the distance signaled the arrival of NOVA reinforcements. Sable didn’t wait—she grabbed Dorian’s wrist, pulling him toward the nearest alley. Tucking them away from site as a NOVA task force pulled onto the scene, men and women in suits and tactical gear spilling into the street.
“Where were you headed?” she asked as they both caught their breath.
Dorian hesitated. Leaning against the brick wall behind him, he wondered how she’d react knowing he was heading for her place of work. Then felt his cheeks slightly flush as to the nature of his interview.
“NOVA Tower. Interview.”
She stopped short. Giving him a confused look. She hadn’t heard of anyone new coming in for the Sentinels, and with his power, it was hard to imagine what else he could have an interview for.
“For what?”
He ran a hand through his damp hair, only managing to tangle his fingers in the dark curls. The weight of embarrassment settled on his shoulders as his hands dropped and he shrugged. “Security gig.”
Sable exhaled sharply, shaking her head as if making a decision. For a moment she studied him, then put her hands on her hips, implying her decision was made. She wasn’t sure what to make of him yet, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one. And after what he had just done, she felt like she owed him.
“You saved my ass.” She nodded to herself. “Let me return the favor.”
The elevator ride to the 84th floor was suffocatingly silent. Dorian could still feel the lingering aftershocks of borrowed power pulsing under his skin. Everything in him wanted to collapse, but the adrenaline kept him standing nearly pin straight. This was insane.
His HUD continued flashing warnings in the corner of his vision—
Warning: Fuel Reserves Low
Recommend hydration, food, and rest
He ignored it, he couldn’t let a hero like Sable see weakness. He hoped she also couldn’t hear his stomach growl, a mix of nerves and hunger. There was no telling what she had planned and now in the belly of NOVA Tower, the best thing to do was ride the adrenaline high. His hands twitched involuntarily, the aftereffects of channeling too much energy at once. He’d pay for it all later when he finally crashed.
Sable leaned against the elevator wall, arms crossed, her gaze distant. Her fingers tapped an erratic rhythm against her forearm, her breathing steady but measured. She hadn’t said a word since they stepped inside, but her posture spoke volumes. She was thinking, calculating. Weighing something she wasn’t ready to say aloud.
His nerves nearly got the best of him when the doors slid open to reveal a sleek, ultra-modern lobby with massive windows showcasing the storm-soaked skyline. NOVA Dynamics was everything he’d imagined—cold, efficient, and impossibly powerful.
The receptionist barely glanced up before snapping to attention at the sight of Sable.
“Sable.” The woman’s voice held a note of surprise. “We weren’t expecting you.”
Sable slipped her arm around Dorian’s, smiling at the woman behind the large desk. Her grip on his arm tightened, she sounded both annoyed and afraid to be saying anything at all to this unseemly woman.
“Ran into a rogue Vanguard Tech enforcer causing trouble. Had to handle it.”
Dorian tensed as Sable’s fingers dug into his arm—not harshly, but firm enough that he felt the weight behind it. It wasn’t just frustration. There was something else there, something unspoken. A quiet resolve, maybe even guilt, layered beneath her otherwise composed exterior.
“Tell Drake I’ve got a new recruit for The Sentinels.”
Dorian’s stomach dropped. He felt a rush of fear and excitement swallow him whole. His voice came out trembling despite his attempts to look like he had his shit together.
“Wait—what?”
Sable turned, the flickering city lights and the arch of lightning casting sharp angles across her face. For the first time, he saw something beneath her hardened exterior—hesitation. Or maybe regret.
“You want to be more than a lowly security guard, right?”
The receptionist pressed a button on her desk, her voice crisp as she spoke into the intercom. “Mr. Drake, Sable is here with a new recruit for The Sentinels.”
Dorian swallowed hard, nodding.
Her lips quirked upward, but there was something hollow in it. Like she was setting a snare she had no choice but to spring.
The double doors to Drake’s office swung open with a quiet hiss, revealing the dimly lit expanse beyond. Callum Drake stepped forward with measured confidence, his tailored suit immaculate despite the late hour. His blonde hair was gelled into place, his steps purposeful. His gaze was sharp, predatory, scanning them as if he already knew every detail of their arrival. Lightning flashed behind him, momentarily casting his imposing silhouette against the glass walls before he took another step toward them.
Sable leaned in and whispered, “Welcome to the big leagues.”
