Chapter 3 (1/2)
”Good news. You do not have super-cancer.” Doctor Mercury told Dan.
Dan fidgeted awkwardly in his chair, covered in bandages from head to toe. He had been insistent on a full battery of tests after learning about what Mercury had called 'a minor side effect'. The doctor had not been gentle in taking samples.
Doctor Mercury continued blandly, ”Nor do you have any other kind of cancer that I can see. Congratulations, you're about as healthy as you should be, given your age and circumstances.”
Dan slumped in relief, glad that he could check at least one thing off his mental to-do list. Mercury bustled past him, shoving a microscope away in a nearby cabinet. The pair were inside the space station's medical facility, an overly fancy description of what was essentially a small bedroom filled with needles and stethoscopes. The room stank of disinfectant, dust, and old person. Despite being a doctor, Mercury did not seem all that interested in the helpful side of medicine.
”I can also confirm that the radiation did its job. You've got superpowers. Bully for you.” Mercury flashed unenthusiastic jazz hands in Dan's general direction.
And then there was that. Dan really didn't know how to feel about it. He knew how he wanted to feel: thrilled, excited, ecstatic, superpowers fuck yeah! Unfortunately, that would require him acknowledging the rather grim process of how he'd obtained said powers, and he just wasn't ready to deal with that quite yet. That being said, Dan was perfectly capable of engaging with this situation as if it was entirely hypothetical. This was just a fun little thought experiment, that's all. Nothing horrifying to see here.
So, he shoved away his unwanted thoughts with familiar ease and asked the really important question. ”What kind of powers?”
Mercury shrugged. ”Who knows? Could be anything. Spackle doesn't follow any sort of conventional upgrade process like we do back on Earth.”
Dan stiffened, partly out of shock, partly out of hope. ”There are people with superpowers back on Earth?”
”Of course,” Mercury replied, gracing Dan with a look of absolute bewilderment. ”How did you think I knew how to test for them?”
”I just assumed that— Look, you're the one with the, the kidnapping space ship thing. How am I supposed to know this stuff!?” Dan demanded incredulously.
”By using your brain,” the doctor replied with a huff. ”Now I see that you are every bit as inexperienced at such a thing as the average human. I don't know why I keep raising my expectations. You'd think I'd know better, at my age.”
Dan once again found himself wanting to throttle the old man. With great restraint, he asked, ”Is there a way to find out what I can do?”
”Trial and error,” Mercury told him with a shrug. ”I could toss you out the airlock if you'd like. Powers usually manifest themselves during high-stress situations.”
Dan stared. Licking his lips he said, ”Doctor, back on my Earth, we used to have fictional stories about people with superpowers. Heroes and... other people, and their adventures.”
Mercury nodded, a tiny hint of a smile appearing on his face. ”Yes, we had them as well. Those kinds of stories fell out of popularity a bit, though, as time passed.”
”Right, I guess with real superpowered people running around, they wouldn't seem as interesting,” Dan admitted.
Mercury shrugged, making a get-on-with-it motion with his hand.
Dan swallowed, his throat oddly dry. ”Right, well the reason I mention this is— and please don't take this the wrong way but, Doctor Mercury are you a supervillain?”
The doctor raised a single bushy eyebrow.