Chapter 10 (Patreon)

“I need your help,” I finally said, “and I brought baked goods as payment.”

“What?” she sputtered.

“Magic brownies,” I said unhelpfully. “Whipped up a whole batch of them this morning. They’re great for energy recovery, and they should help with healing.”

“That’s not how pastry works,” Eve frowned.

“For most people, it isn’t,” I said. “But for me, yeah. My cooking is literal magic. As are my punches and a bunch of other things.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

She started to walk away, and I kept pace.

“It’s my thing,” I said. “Magic. Not the other thing. You have your pink matter manipulation, and I have my magic.”

She narrowed her eyes as she turned toward the cafeteria.

“Magic doesn’t exist.”

“The citizens of Midnight City would disagree,” I countered.

“I’ve read all of the research papers available on the dome,” she said. “There’s no mention of magic.”

“What did the scientists call it then? Some kind of vague, unexplainable phenomenon that science has no explanation for yet.”

The look on her face told me I was right on the money.

“People thought the Earth was flat before Magellan circumnavigated the globe,” she said.

“And Isaac Newton discovered gravity, and so on,” I said, cutting off her speech before it could properly start. “But for everything we know, there are a thousand things we never will. Like, why do we have consciousness? And why can you watch Lord of the Rings five hundred times without getting sick of it? My magic is one of those things.”

She raised a brow.

“I highly doubt that.”

I sped up, blocking her path.

“Then how about a friendly bet? If I can convince you magic is real, you’ll try some of my brownies.”

I saw the interest in her eyes quickly turn to suspicion, and I put her at ease.

“I’ll, of course, eat some first if you have any reservations.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Curiosity, mostly,” I said honestly. “I know my cooking can heal me. I’m not quite sure about other people.”

“You can heal people!” Eve whisper-shouted, eyes wide.

“Probably,” I smirked.

It was a gamble trusting somebody I barely knew, even though I was familiar with her character from the comics and the show. People weren’t characters, and people could be unpredictable.

But I figured, at worst, she’d tell the Teen Team and Cecil, and they’d know about me a lot sooner than I wanted, but at best, I’d be gaining her trust and attention quickly.

And that was central to my plans.

“Alright,” she said, turning around.

I spun to follow.

“Show me your magic trick then.”

“Sure thing,” I said, “but first, we should get out of the middle of the hall, don’t you think?”

The cafeteria was only a few steps away, and there was an empty classroom to our left.

I entered it, and she reluctantly followed.

“How do you like your coffee?” I asked.

“Black?” she answered.

“Good thing I have some left in a thermos after this morning’s workout.”

I summoned a green thermos in one hand and a Tupperware container in the other. It was packed full of brownies.

“You can use it to wash them down, though I question the combination,” I mused.

Eve’s mouth was hanging open when I looked up at her.

My gamble had worked.

The thermos vanished again.

I popped open the container and tossed a piece into my mouth.

“Perfectly safe,” I said between chews. “Now, for your end of the bargain.”

Eve put up a fight, making one improbable guess after another as to how I’d achieved what I had. Her best theory was that I, some no-name nobody, had somehow perfected teleportation technology.

The increasingly amused looks I gave her only served to wear her down until she finally agreed to taste the brownie.

“Hmm!”

The reaction came as a surprise even to me.

“Really? That good? I thought it was a bit undercooked, if I’m being honest.”

Eve touched her stomach.

“The bruise from yesterday’s patrol.”

She blinked.

“It’s gone.”

Oh.

I guess I made her a believer.

That was a pleasant surprise.

—-

We were off to the Teen Team’s headquarters after the final school bell.

Eve led me behind the bleachers, where she waved her hand and transformed both of our clothes.

Suddenly, I found myself dressed in a pair of Air Force 1s, nice jeans, a bomber jacket, and a plain T-shirt to tie the whole outfit together.

It was miles better than anything I had on, but I couldn’t help but feel like she was making a dig at my choice of clothing.

“Hey, I really liked what I was wearing,” I said. “Especially the boots.”

They looked like something I would’ve bought in my old life.

“Sorry about that,” Eve said, waving her hand. “It’s kind of necessary. Teen Team has a lot of enemies... and fans.”

The air in front of me warped, and new-ish copies of my old clothes and boots came tumbling out. I caught them and stuffed them into my single inventory slot. Thanks to my level-up, it was a bit bigger than it used to be. It was still a squeeze, though, getting it in.

Eve watched me with strange fascination.

“I get it,” I said. “A little warning beforehand would’ve helped.”

“So, new clothes. What’s next?”

She held out an open palm.

A band of pink energy twisted out, coalescing into a blindfold.

“I take you in, and you meet the team. Robot will know how best to help you.”

I looked at it tentatively.

“Okay then.”

The blindfold went on, and I was in the air faster than I could blink.

My center of gravity disappeared.

I tipped this way and that as my stomach dropped, and I bit back a surprised scream while Chicago whipped past beneath me.

The pressure squeezing me eased as we slowed down, and Eve gently lowered me into some kind of lair.

The ground beneath us opened with a hydraulic hiss, and I felt the bubble around me disappear as my feet touched solid ground.

Air-conditioned air swept across my skin. I could smell cologne, hear the whine of machinery and the quick footsteps of multiple people. What the hell, Eve?”

A high-pitched voice demanded.

I snorted as I removed my blindfold without being told.

Rex Splode was standing in front of me, in a wife-beater, hands planted on his waist. And I had to admit, the asshole had an impressive physique. Why wouldn’t he, given his history?

He ignored me entirely, speaking to Eve instead.

“What’s a civilian doing in our secret base?”

“She lost a bet,” I said.

“What kind of bet?” Rex narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“The kind that required her to eat one of my killer magic brownies.”

"You talking about Weed or–”

I produced a brownie piece from my inventory, and Rex blinked, staring at my outstretched hand for a moment before breaking into a snort, then a full-throated laugh.

“Oh my God, you have food powers?”

I raised a brow at his taunt.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Rex continued laughing.

The commotion drew Kate’s attention. She had been watching from a sofa.

Robot looked up from his desk, where he was working on yet another version of himself.

His creation took up a large section of the base, which spanned the length of an entire warehouse. The room was filled with strange vehicles, high-tech weaponry, and dozens of drones hanging from some kind of deployment line.

There was an elevator leading to another level.

I assumed it contained the training area and the rest of their operation.

“This is a sick base,” I said honestly.

“Thank you,” Robot replied in a monotone voice. “It took a great deal of time and resources to put together.”

“It shows,” I hummed.

“What is he actually doing here, Eve?” Kate asked, pointing at me.

She was taller than I expected, with shoulder-length hair and short bangs that looked quite fetching on her. Idly, I wondered whether she’d settled on that hairstyle because of her profession or simply as a stylistic choice.

“Danny goes to my school, and he just got his powers,” Eve explained. “I wanted to help him figure them out before he gets his ass kicked a second time for trying to play hero.”

“I wouldn’t describe what happened at the parking lot as getting my ass kicked,” I said, offering the mildest of pushbacks before subsequently folding after Eve gave me a deadpan look. “...but yeah, I’m completely at your mercy.”

“Wait?” Rex blinked, looking me up and down. “That’s where I know you from. You’re Walmart guy. Oh man. You got your shit absolutely rocked by that gangster. I was so sure he was going to kill you right until you flipped it around. Good job, by the way.”

“Thanks?”

“I mean you can’t fight for shit…and you should definitely not try taking on somebody who has fifty pounds on you without more training, but yeah. You saved the girl.”

My smile nearly slipped after taking so many backhanded compliments, but I was determined to get my way.

“See, this is why I need your help,” I said. “For the next time.”

Rex exchanged a look with Eve and Robot.

“Magic food powers aren’t exactly great in fights,” he said.

“You’d be surprised,” I said with a mischievous tilt of my lips. "Also, I never said I was limited to food magic."