Chapter 1

1

“Wyatt, what did you do?”

Arthur stood in the doorway, his arms folded. The boss’s tie didn’t have a pristine knot, and his dress shirt had creases. Should I offer fix his tie? Or was that overstepping boundaries? I shot him a quick smile, flashing teeth. Arthur raised a curious eyebrow. Too much smile? I pulled back, a simple upturned lip.

Ignoring Arthur’s question, I plopped down in my chair. I folded my hands on the table. The new-office smell reminded me of the interior of my spaceship. Clean. New. Futuristic. The way it made my nose tickle catapulted me four light-years away to my first home.

“Paldi Fruit. Yellow. Acidic. Sour.” I remembered that, but almost nothing else about my home world.

With another deep inhale, I closed my eyes. After ten years on Earth, the memory from my first home remained blurry and unrecognizable. However, in my Earth home; I could clearly make out the brown bowl Earth Mom had kept on the kitchen counter. Her rustic decor would look out of place in the modernized break room. Everything here had been colored shades of gray, and even the silver fridge made it cold. No worries, I made sure we kept a homey feeling.

“Wyatt…” Arthur has resorted to stroking his face down to his thick beard. In fact, all of him was thick… at least for a human. While his lips held a firm curl, it didn’t reach his eyes. When he tried being the stern boss, he remained a teddy bear. “Did you get rid of the new chairs?”

A quick nod. “Yes! They were… new, too new. They smelled funny.”

Orion entered, moving toward his usual seat. Unlike Arthur, Orion’s beard ended at his ears, and his bald head reflected the overhead light. I wondered if his chest and belly had hair the color of his beard or if it was smooth like his scalp?

Orion rolled his eyes as he sat. “They smelled clean.” For the longest time, I thought Orion’s superpower allowed his eyeballs to roll around in his head. Janet explained it’s a different type of superpower. Orion talked to machines, and he said they talked back to him. He and the refrigerator were always in a heated debate.

“I’m with Wyatt on this,” Drew said. I liked Drew. He gave my shoulders a squeeze as he moved to his usual wooden rocking chair with a missing spindle along the back. “I liked the old building better. Now it feels like we’re in a lab.”

“L-Word!” I tensed at its mention. I didn’t like that word. Every time somebody said it, I had flashbacks to my arrival on Earth and men in white coats doing experiments. Bad men. I shook my head, pushing away the memory of their masked faces.

“I’m so sorry.” Drew gave my forearm a squeeze. Unlike Orion, Drew had hair. Janet described him as scruffy and fluffy, which I learned was a loving way of calling him a chubby bear. His hair and beard were always chaotic as if he drove to work with his head out the window. “Can I do anything?—”

“I’m okay. Thank you, friend.”

Arthur plopped down in his office chair, covered in duct tape. Duct tape. For the longest time, I thought the silver material had been made from ducks. The first time a duck chased me in the park, I realized they weren’t sticky at all. Ducks were tiny feathered quackers.

“We should get this meeting started,” Arthur said. “Welcome to the new and improved Secret Identities Incorporated.” He never looked comfortable when wrangling us. I didn’t know if it was because he hated it when we called him boss or because he was the only one in the room without powers. With or without, Arthur would always be a hero in my book.

“The fridge is happy to join the team,” Orion said.

Arthur’s eyebrow crept up his forehead. “Thanks? Now, if the fax machine would stop being mean.”

“Sorry, she still hates you.”

Drew leaned across the table, hand stretched toward the boss. “It’s okay. We still respect you.” Drew tried hard to make sure everybody felt welcome. If I was having a bad day, he’d leave a Fudgy bar on my desk. Thinking about the rich, milky chocolate had me licking my lips.

Arthur shook his head. He did that a lot, especially when speaking with me. “Obviously, it’s our first day in the new building. Ricardo has graciously let us take over the fourth floor. We can thank his connection to Hudler Enterprises for the new digs. You’ll find your offices are fully decked out with the company’s newest technology. Get comfortable with it.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Orion.

Orion held his tablet while his eyes radiated a vibrant blue light. Somewhere he and a machine were most likely debating whether mankind had landed on the moon. “ Fine . I’ll play nice.”

“This will be a change after spending the last month in Janet’s garage,” Arthur said. “I’ll be happy to never deal with her biker friends.”

Drew nodded. “Helga was insistent that I ride her hog.”

“I’d like to not have that image in my head.” Arthur leaned forward, cupping his hands together as he rested on his elbows. “It’s a new office, but our goal is still the same. We’ve been working for six months to officially launch the HeroApp?. The beta has been out for a month with excellent results. I’m proud to say we’re ready to bring it to all of Vanguard. It’s going to save innocent Vanguardians from superhero fallout.”

That had been the original goal of Arthur’s program. When I applied for the job, he hadn’t realized its potential. It still protected innocents, but now it also served as a way for heroes to coordinate their efforts. At our first meeting, he admitted to knowing we each had secret identities. We tried playing dumb, but even with my glasses, he figured out my alter ego. He asked to use our experience as heroes to make his project something that would change the way supers did their jobs.

“Wyatt has been working tirelessly to recruit heroes. Not only will innocent people be able to use it, but heroes will have the ability to spot villains in real time. The heroing game is about to change.”

“Good job, Wyatt.”

“Thanks, Drew.” I couldn’t hide my smile. When Arthur made me the head recruiter for the app, I didn’t know what it’d entail. My only other job before this had been at Coffee! Coffee! Coffee! and that hadn’t ended well.

“You should pat yourself on the back.” I patted myself on the back. Arthur’s sigh meant it had been one of those figurative things humans said. They’re a weird and overly complicated species.

“We’re just shy of one hundred heroes registered for the launch. Which brings me to my big news.”

“You’re going to pay me rent for using my garage?”

Janet’s head popped out from the side of the break room entrance. She had a knack for showing up at the perfect moment to give her twin a hard time. They might have come from the same mother, but they couldn’t be any more different. Where Arthur had a reserved, serious personality, Janet… I think the right word was intense? I’d be scared if she didn’t like me.

“You said ‘rent free,’ Janet.”

“That’s one of those things people say to be nice,” she replied.

“Show me the contract.” He frowned. A frequent reaction when talking to his sister.

“Arthur! Your freeloading has been going on since the womb.”

“Technically, that’s a sublease,” Orion chimed in. Our technomancer had his tablet in front of him, lost somewhere inside the computer.

“Did you tell them about the launch party?” Janet switched subjects whenever Arthur got the upper hand in an argument.

Arthur leaned over the table, smacking his head against the surface. “Thanks for ruining the surprise.”

“Party?” I liked parties. “Is it a fancy party?” At fancy parties, they had cheese on little plates. I wasn’t supposed to eat them all , so I snuck them into my pockets.

Arthur didn’t stop banging his head as he talked. “We’re having a fancy party.”

“Yes!” I clapped. “Fancy parties are my favorite.”

“Ugh.” Orion looked up from his tablet. “Does this mean dressing up?” Orion had a closet full of black t-shirts with slogans about the government destroying the country. Between that and his black jeans, he never dressed up.

“If this is the official launch, we should invite the heroes.” Drew had a point.

Arthur came up from his head banging. “Wyatt, you’ve been in contact with the heroes. I’ll need you to invite them all. We want this to be a big deal. I want to impress the media.”

“Will Ricardo be there?” Janet’s eyebrows waggled. “RRRicardo.” She emphasized the rolled R every time she said his name.

We snickered at her question. We might have taken over the fourth floor, but Ricardo and Synergy Research occupied the rest of the building. When Arthur left the office, she’d ask if he was going out for a quickie in the broom closet. I didn’t understand this quickie, but it made Arthur’s face turn red every time.

“Will he be there for a quickie?” I asked.

Janet laughed as Arthur’s face turned bright red. Orion shook his head while Drew gave me a pat on the shoulder. After this meeting, I’d have to get my dictionary and see if I used the word wrong.

Janet continued laughing. “Wyatt, you’re my favorite.”

“We are way too familiar with one another,” Arthur said.

“This is getting too people-y for my taste. Send me an email with the details. Connie will put it on my calendar.” Orion had named his computer. She had a tendency to send lewd emails of exposed motherboards. I couldn’t figure out how it was pornographic. Yet, somehow, I felt dirty after seeing them.

Orion walked out of the office without taking his eyes off his tablet. The rest of us waited for Arthur to say something. Drew and I always waited for him to declare the meeting over. Janet and Orion never waited for instructions. Maybe I should practice being impulsive like them?

“I’m done here!” I jumped to my feet.

Janet tried hiding her snicker. Drew took my hand, pulling me back to my chair. “Good buddy, don’t be like Orion.”

“Okay, I guess we’re wrapping up.” Arthur pointed at Drew. “You’re reaching out to our investors to let them know we’re ready to go.” He turned to me. I loved getting assignments from the boss. “Wyatt, I need you to reach out to every hero in our database. I want the launch to look like a superhero union meeting.”

I nodded. “You got it, boss.”

Arthur frowned. “Don’t call me boss.”

Janet scooted behind Arthur and kneaded her fingers into his shoulders. “It’s okay, boss. We know you’re not comfortable being the boss. We’ve got you. You can do it, boss. Unleash your inner boss, boss.”

The frown deepened. Janet had that effect on her twin. “I’m going to fire you.”

“You can’t fire the Secret Identities’ Anger Management Counselor.” Every few days, Janet got bored with her job and gave herself a promotion. For a week, she held the position of Overlord. Arthur had to send daily memos reminding us to ignore her.

“You? Anger management?”

When Arthur stood, Janet threw an arm over his shoulder. “So, this launch party, do you have a DJ? Cause I know somebody that can lay down some sick beats.”

“We’re not hiring DJ DoubleD.”

Janet pushed Arthur to the side and used her hefty chest to hold him in place. “You hire the girls—” She looked down at her breasts. “Or I tell Mom about all those stiff socks growing up.”

I lifted my pant leg and studied the argyle pattern on my socks. Had I bought the wrong socks? Were they supposed to stand on their own? I’d need to ask my life coach to explain it.

Arthur fought his way free, and Janet chased him down the hall. My co-workers were nothing like the overly caffeinated college students at Coffee! Coffee! Coffee! It had been six months working here, and the more I learned about Earth’s customs, the more these fragile creatures didn’t make sense.

“Earthlings, am I right?” Drew asked me lots of questions about my home world. He meant well, but it always saddened me to know I was the single Halorian on Earth, and more so, I had almost no memories of the planet I came from. When I didn’t reply, he jumped to his feet and patted me on the back. “I mean, you’re an Earthling, too. You live here. Of course, you’re an Earthling.”

His upbeat attitude left me smiling. “Thanks, Drew.”

A decade on the planet, and I still didn’t quite belong. I moved to Vanguard to be surrounded by supers, people with abilities like me. They were like the people of Halo, but it didn’t quite fill that void. I’d need to call my Earth Mom later and see if she had any advice for this loneliness filling my chest.

“Fancy party.” Drew bumped into me with his hips. “You know what that means.”

I smiled. I did, indeed.

Drew knew my secret. It gave me something to look forward to. “Fancy Cheese.”

“Good luck today.”

Drew exited, leaving me alone in the break room, wiggling my butt in the old dining room chair. The padding had all but worn away. Still, the familiarity made me smile.

“Today will be a most excellent day.”