Bereavement & Recovery

[Jason Prowler]

Wednesday - June 26th – 0900 hours

The day was warm, about seventy degree with cloudy skies preventing the struggling sunlight attempting to reach the ground below. Filled with tens of thousands of fallen heroes, the National Cemetery spanned what seemed like a mile of white headstones commemorating those who have died for their country. Jason stood amongst them, accompanied by over a hundred marines attending the funeral of his brother. He stood, firm, dressed in a black suit, a white t-shirt, and a black tie. His eyes were slightly squinted exhausted from his tears. Immediately to his front was his brother’s casket with the American Flag draped around it. The casket was empty, Adam’s body was never recovered, and there was no closure here. Seven marines stood adjacent to the ceremony, about one hundred feet away, dressed in their navy blue marine uniforms holding M16s. A drill sergeant stood before the line shouting orders. “Left face!” the line faced left simultaneously and with great precision. “Aim!” the soldiers took aim, pointing their M16s toward the cloudy sky. “Fire!” The marines shot their M16s into the air; it was a three volley salute. The sergeant continued, but the background noise was inaudible to Jason as he was fixated on this empty casket, his brother wasn’t in there, and this absence would follow him for the rest of his life. His mind came back to the funereal as a soldier presented Jason with an American Flag, he just stared at it. Major Briggs stood behind Jason and placed his hand on his right shoulder signaling to accept the flag. He did and the marine saluted Jason, and Jason returned the salute. The coffin began to lower and a soldier played Taps on his trumpet. In the sky the clouds were slowly departing and the sun began to show trickles of sunlight around the area, a few beams of light shined on the coffin as it was lowered and another illuminated Jason’s face. The funeral was over, but Jason only started to begin his mourning.

After the soldiers departed Major Briggs took Jason aside and said “Son, there are some very important matters we have to discuss, we must report back to base.” The two boarded a military jeep and they drove back. The drive happened almost instantaneously to Jason as he was so caught up in his own thoughts. Upon their arrival they stopped at the security check in where the soldier on guard saluted the two upon their entry. The Major drove toward his office and parked. Jason didn’t even realize they had stopped, still staring out the window. “Jason” Major Briggs said to get his attention but it was to no avail. “Look alive soldier!” the Major shouted forcing Jason to come back to reality, “you have to pay attention, we have to go over some very important things, there’s someone waiting for you in my office.” They got out of the jeep and headed to the Major’s office. The whole time Jason was wondering who could possibly be waiting to see him? They approached a dark brown mahogany door that lead to the office. There was a small door sign with Major Briggs inscribed overhead. Jason went to open the door for the Major out of courtesy, however upon doing so he ripped it off its hinges. Jason, holding the door in his left hand very nervous and surprised said “Major! I…I’m so sorry, I’m going to fix this I swear.” The Major very seriously responded “Son, just put my door down, and stay calm; I need you to just very gently place the door down against the wall and go into my office.” Jason did what he was told very gently placing the door down against the beige wall and entered the Major’s office.

[Tracy Jade]

Tracy was still incredibly new to recruiting. He had gone through the training, and had been certified for a few months now. Being sent all over the United States was an interesting job, he just loved meeting all the young metas and their families, well, at least he did for the most part. A while back he had happened upon quite the difficult family, who called metas an abomination and Tracy himself a devil worshipper. The tattoos probably hadn’t helped his cause in that case.

Jason Prowler – 16 years old, and currently, at an army base for his brother’s funeral. This was going to be a day the kid didn’t soon forget. Sighing as he parked his little Neon by the base’s office, Tracy wished he could’ve done this a different day. Take a hotel for the night and come back tomorrow or something, but there never seemed to be good timing for these things – life was so dramatic.

Briggs had fear in his eyes as Jason ripped the door off it’s hinges. The look on Tracy’s face was quite the opposite, an almost impressed smirk on his face. Being a power mimic was always an asset in times like these and already he could tell this kid was gonna be strong. He moved forward from his spot holding up the wall. “Doors can be fixed,” he said, hoping to lighten the Major’s mood and not startle Jason. “Sir,” Tracy addressed the Major, “can we borrow your office for a few minutes?” The older man gave a curt nod before leaving down the hall.

Tracy smiled and sat on the Major’s desk, glancing at Jason. “Today’s probably been a long day as it is for you, but we’ve got some things to talk about. I know about you and your super human powers, feels like super strength to me.” Usually it was better just to lay out all the information on the table and let the teenagers freak out over it for a while. “I’m Tracy Jade from the Hammel Institute for Meta Humans, and you probably have a lot of questions...” Or maybe he didn’t, maybe he had other things on his mind, and Tracy, with his background in psychology, was willing to help with whatever was on the kid’s mind.

[Jason Prowler]

There was a gentleman at the Major’s office, an obvious civilian he could tell by the way he dressed and amount of tattoos he had. He excused the Major from the room and he left saying “I’ll leave you to your business, just listen to what this man has to say Jason.” The Major patted him on his right shoulder as he made his exit.

The office was decorated with countless military memorabilia. Shelves of old weapons including swords from the civil war, German pistols from World War II, and medals of honor for the Major’s constant dedication to the Corp. He scanned the room and saw photos on the wall of some of the most decorated officers in the marines, including his brother, Captain Adam Prowler. Jason walked over to the photo in the office and looked upon it in agony; it was still surreal that he had been missing all this time.

Jason turned and looked upon Tracy with a blank expression, his eyes filled with anguish from everything that has happened. The fact that the day was long was an understatement, it was never ending, and it was bad news to worse news as the minutes turned into eternity. He took in the information and responded with a “What do you want with me?” His tone of voice was as cold as ice towards the man; it was obvious his mind was somewhere else entirely.

[Tracy Jade]

He rose from his spot on the desk, standing a little behind, a little beside Jason, looking at the picture as well. “I bet he was a good man,” he said, glancing back to Jason. This wasn’t going to be a picnic, this was a real person he was dealing with. And all the more reason Jason would do well to go with Tracy – high strung emotions made powers even more unpredictable.

Tracy was used to most reactions, and they varied from curiosity to total distrust in anything he had to say. “I want to help you, and so do a lot of other people.” He watched the young man for some kind of reaction, wishing there was a more sensitive way to bring up the topic. “I’m here to recruit you. To bring you to a safe place where you can learn about your powers and continue to go to school with other teenage meta humans.” Right, because Jason would want to leave now, now that his memories would haunt him forever.

“We can help you harness your power.”

[Jason Prowler]

Jason walked away from Tracy toward the doorway where he rested his forearm and then placed his forehead down upon it. He whispered “meta-humans…” Jason didn’t know who he was anymore; he was a child of two dead parents and a little brother to a lost hero. He was uncomfortable in his own body. The list was going on.

He faced Tracy who stood across the room “Power? You called what I have a power? It’s a disease! I don’t even know my own body anymore. You can’t help me. I can’t even open a door without ripping it from its hinges!” There was frustration in his voice as he hit the side of the doorway with the side of his fist easily putting a large hole in it. Dust and debris dropped to the floor and lifted in the ambience of the room. His tone became lower and colder. “And if I refuse to go to your Hammel Institute?”

[Tracy Jade]

"No actually, the institute calls them powers, I don't care what you want to call your super human strength, but I guess I'll have to be the first to welcome you to the world of growing up, meta-human style." Tracy held up his own hands in surrender. "Hey, I didn't say I could help you in five seconds, learning how to control it is going to take a lot of time and energy." Tracy wasn't put off by the teen's reaction and violence. "Your drill times probably improve the more you train and the more you practice, right? Same thing with your ability."

Tracy only smiled. "You wouldn't be the first to do so, but it's for your safety and the safety of those around you. We just want to help you." Tracy placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Everyone comes around eventually." Willingly or not, he thought to himself, hoping this wouldn't be another hard case after last month's fiasco. "You can't refuse who you are kid, and you don't have to come today, but you do have to come."

[Jason Prowler]

Jason pulled his hand back from the wall realizing what he’d done. This wasn’t like Jason, he was normally really calm, peaceful, and an intellect. He took a few steps towards the Major's shelves and looked down at a German Pistol from World War II. Jason picked it up and inspected the weapon, it wasn’t loaded of course, and it was mostly a showpiece. He walked it over to Tracy and preceded to hand it to him, with the gun handle facing away from Jason. “That’s a German Luger Pistol, standard issue for Nazi soldiers during World War Two. Imagine the reaction of the Jewish population in Germany at the time when they were taken to special institutions against their will.” He snickered as he walked towards the Major’s desk where he took a seat, folded his hands, rested his chin, and faced Tracy.

“You’ll have to forgive me for my poor reaction, I’m sure you understand it hasn’t really been the greatest week for me.” Jason took a deep breath and continued quoting Socrates. “Destroying the illusion that we already comprehend the world perfectly and honestly accepting the fact of our own ignorance are vital steps toward our acquisition of genuine knowledge.” Jason leaned back in the chair looking to the right in thought and then back to Tracy “There are a many things I must accept, one is my brother is dead or a captive of an unknown enemy, the second, I have a super strength that I cannot control, third, I am not a normal human, and lastly, your presence here makes it known to me that I am not the only one.” Jason’s mind was racing with all the thoughts that were going through his head. “This brings me to my next thought, if you are a recruiter of a school dedicated to what you refer to as meta humans you must also be one, is this correct?” Jason had a serious face on as he asked with deep curiosity.

[Tracy Jade]

Tracy took the gun gingerly, noticing the details of it while listening to the story. His eyebrows went up in surprise and he nodded. “I can’t say I would understand what that felt like,” he knew damn well the parallels Jason was trying to draw, “but I can say you’ll do well in History and English.” He smirked to himself, setting the gun back down on the shelf. Jason couldn’t see it now, but Hammel wasn’t a Nazi camp.

This kid had way too much time to think. Hadn’t he ever heard of videogames? But Tracy was listening intently, almost with excitement. Jason was obviously intelligent, it was refreshing. He should probably also add Drama to his school subjects. Tracy himself loved the fine arts, but this wasn’t the time to share that. He listened as Jason came to his own conclusions and stated the obvious. His heard went out to the teen – losing a family member in whatever form was never easy.

Tracy put his hands out, as though offering himself to the kid. “Naturally,” he said, taking a seat across from the teen. “I bet your next ponderings will be something along the lines of, what can I do?” He guessed. “I’m a power mimic, I can the powers of other metas around me, and judging by the lack of control you have, mimicking yours right now would not be a good idea.” He laughed lightly, obviously teasing him.

[Jason Prowler]

Jason leaned back in his chair, interlocking his hands and resting them on the back of his head. It was intriguing that there would be actual classes at the school, interactions and discussions with kids his age. This would be a change indeed for Jason but he was hungry for social interaction. Spending your entire life on a military base with nothing but marines and their families gets boring real quick. Suffice to say he had a lot of free time on his hands to apply himself to his studies and hobbies. The office window was open as a slight breeze came through to cool the room. Military recruits were training in the background, running across the bass as the drill sergeant screamed “One two three four United States Marine Corp!” The recruits repeated the sound off as they passed the window, their voices fading away as they ran further through the base.

Tracy sat himself across from Jason, their tone of speech much different now that Jason calmed down a bit. “A power mimic? So you can take my super strength if you wanted, like indefinitely?” Jason obviously was curious to know if he could get rid of it, it didn’t suit him in any way positive he could think of. Even natural movements were too strong, he should of least been able to open a door.

[Tracy Jade]

Tracy had been calm ever since he arrived. He knew how to deal with people, it was his job. He liked to think it was like people sitting in a waiting room, wondering what the doctor was going to say about the outcome of a loved one. But having super powers was pretty well every kid's dream, right?

"I can't take it, but I can pretend like I have it, and no not indefinitely, only as long as you're within a certain distance from me," Tracy leaned back in his seat, "but trust me, I don't want to mimic your power right now, it's uncontrolled. Hence why I gotta bring you back to Hammel." No, there was nothing Tracy could do to Jason's power, and his job wasn't to train him either.

"So, you can come with me now, or someone else will come back for you in a couple days," he said, since the difficult cases were out of his hands and he wasn't going to fight anyone.