Pumpking

Issue 17

1 hour without incident

Daystar was one of the good guys. I guess that there are some people who genuinely care about others above their own life, but he was a living paragon of self-sacrifice and selfless mercy. I mean, I knew all this in the way that one knows a man devoted his entire life to charity is a good man, but seeing it first hand, was different. Philanthropic; a person who was generous and helped out his fellow man. It seemed made to define Daystar. Of course, I might have been biased because he bought me a coffee.

The late-night café owner looked like he was going to have a heart-attack when I walked in with Daystar's arm around my waist. I was still a little shaky from the explosion or I might have thought he was being overly touchy. Maybe he was just a touchy kind of guy? It wasn't the best coffee, but a hero had bought it for me, nay, THE hero had bought it for me. It could have tasted like fried horse shit and I would have drunk it gratefully. He also ordered a black tea for himself. Two packets of salt. I guess that's how you proved he was an alien; what sort of person had salt in tea?

Chou was going to pass out from all this gossip.

"You smiled just then, what is it?" He used one hand to hold the door open for me, easily balancing his tea.

"Oh, uhm. Just thinking one of the ladies I work with; she's a big fan of yours. Well I mean, not that anyone isn't—but what I mean is; she is going to freak when I tell her you just bought a coffee for me."

He smiled, I think, motioned to the top of one of the ten-storey buildings nearby, "How about we drink these off the street?"

I didn't have a chance to object as his arm was around my waist again and he lifted me up. I don't know how super-strength works, I always thought that it must be hard to balance something the size of a human; but I suppose with all the practice that he had, it felt totally natural. We landed before I had finished securing my coffee against my body and figured out if I wanted to panic. He set me down lightly next to the safety railing and I grabbed it quickly before he decided to move us again. He sat down on the edge of the building, long legs dangling over the side. And then, he pulled his mask off and sipped at his tea.

"Woah!" Holy crap. I think I stopped breathing for a moment. He was the French guy! Oh my god; he was the fucking VIP in the hotel. I stared at him dumbly, not moving.

The long hair that was always associated with Daystar, it was just a wig attached to the inside of his mask. His hair was short and gelled back underneath. Even without the mask; you wouldn't mistake him for anything other than a hero. No way.

"You're going to pass out if you don't start breathing again," He chuckled when he said it and patted the ledge next to him. Gone was every trace of the French accent, he... well... I mean...

I sat down, still dumbfounded.

"Before you ask, I'm not following you; I saw you on the street and thought something bad must have happened."

"You were French," I frowned at the stupid remark, "I mean, not French but your accent was..." I was sounding dumb, even to my own ears.

"Yes. I'm very good at that," He shrugged and sipped his tea, "I speak twenty-four languages, seven of them human."

"Is that one of your powers?" I don't know how polite it was to ask, but I was full of rude questions and it was probably not the worst of them.

"No, my people average on fifty-to-sixty languages. I'm a bit of a slow learner, actually," He smiled wistfully again and glanced at me, "You don't like the coffee?"

Oh god. I inhaled a gulp and started choking, "No it's fine."

He chuckled but didn't comment, "What about you, Dion? What are your powers? We don't orange card just everyone."

I exhaled and took a comforting sip of caffeine. Dangling my legs over the edge of a ten-storey building next to the world's most beloved super-hero. I guess this was what all the cape-chasers were so desperate to have. Obviously they just needed to get involved in a serial-killer case to end up in this situation. Maybe I could write some tips on it and get rich and famous. Yeah, right.

"My foster parent, well the last one I had; Cynthia Sherwin, she was an alien; from a planet that was blown up during the Mel-charn wars... I think that was before you were the new Pantheon leader. She came and settled on earth. She was also a historian of her people and had one of their bio-engineered weapons that they had tried to use against the Mel'charn ages ago at the onset of the war. The weapons were deemed too terrible to use but they were good in other areas. Her people were an agricultural race and the bio-kinetic stuff was very highly prized. Long story short; she left this to me in her will. The operation to remove it killed her, but she was dying anyway, so..." I lifted my shirt so he could see the angry black and orange symbiote on my stomach. It was a little thing, the symbiote covered my belly-button like a small orange plug. Black veins ran around it like small wings that had slithered under the surface of my skin.

"Oh, that's a Hem'skaar!" He leaned forward and ran a thumb over the top of the symbiote's head. I made a strangled noise; the symbiote really liked that touch, "I've heard of these in museums but never seen one."

"Uh- don't touch it like that, please," My toes curled in my shoe as he ignored my request and the symbiote gave me a mixed collection of feelings like I was playing with it.

"These are really rare, half the galaxy regards them as some sort of fertility gods," He paused as I grabbed his hand and pushed it away from my stomach, pulling my shirt back down.

"Yes, I know. It's a great honour. Please don't stroke it like that."

"Oh, sorry; did I rub it the wrong way?" He let his hand drop, "I've just never seen one in person. I was at an auction between two peace-making trade worlds where a Hem'Skaar went for about...three billion dollars."

Jeez, if I had of known it was worth so much, maybe I could use the funds to have it removed-

"Of course, its worthless while bonded to a host and normally for about fifty years after being removed," He added.

All my rage.