Disturbance

By Erica Rose Jackson

 I would like to dedicate Disturbance to all the people who write superhero

stories. Your creativity and amazing work made it possible for this door to

open for me. I never imagined a world where I would create my own heroes

but your brilliant work has helped to make it a possibility. Thank you.
Chapter 1

Catching Up
One year after the epilogue in Resilience

Rose walked back into Brentwood Labs after another successful mission to find her

husband, Jay, tinkering with a chemical compound she’d never seen before.

“Hey babe,” she announced her presence, “What are you working on?” she inquired,

genuinely curious. She wanted to wrap her arms around him from behind but she

resisted, afraid she’d mess up his experiment, or cause him to spill it.

He glanced up from his work, adjusting his glasses, “I trust your mission went off without

any incidents?”

She laughed, “Yes, I got the bad guys and no one got hurt. Now, what is that?” she

repeated her question while pointing at the vial of purple liquid in front of Jay.

“I’ve begun to think that it may be beneficial to have a team of heroes with different

abilities. This is, hopefully, a serum designed to give someone the skill to control the

weather. Any chance you have a friend brave enough to try it out?” he asked, knowing

all of his friends were probably too old to join a super team.

Rose leaned back against the table as she thought over her husband’s request. After a

few minutes of silence, she answered, “I’m not sure I have enough friends to help you

create an entire team of super friends but I can think of one who might be game for this.

Her name’s Reid Monroe and she lives here in Nashville. Do you want me to ask her

out to dinner and see if she’d like to come become a science experiment?” she teased a

bit at the end, earning a smirk from Jay.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I would like that very much,” he replied before he added,

“Wouldn’t you like to have some backup out there?”

Rose nodded, “Of course, I would. And, you know that I wish it could be you but I

understand why it can’t be.” She pulled out her phone, “I’ll shoot her a text and ask her if

she wants to have dinner with me tonight at The Stillery, as long as you can spare me

for a night,” she teased him again, knowing he’d be too wrapped up in his work to join

her for dinner.

“You know I’d rather spend the evening with you, but I have a lot of work to do here at

the lab,” he responded, hoping she wouldn’t be too hurt by his explanation.

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, “I was just playing with

you, my love, though it might make sense to put up our Christmas tree here since it’s

where we spend most of our time. You know, it’s only three weeks away,” she leaned in

and stole a quick kiss. “I’ll see you at home later, deal?”

“That sounds wonderful,” he whispered before he stole a kiss, before he added, “Be

safe out there, Resilience.”

She gave him a wink, “I always am.”

Reid Monroe was sitting at her desk when she got the text from Rose inviting her to

dinner. She sent back an enthusiastic ‘yes’ before she returned her focus to her work.

Once her day ended, she headed straight to The Stillery where she found Rose waiting

for her in the parking lot.

The women greeted each other with a warm embrace before they went inside and got a

table.

“How have you been?” Reid asked after they ordered their drinks, “I haven’t heard from

you much since you met Jay.”

Rose smiled, “I’ve been good. Sorry I’ve been pretty MIA for the past three years, but

that’s actually part of the reason I asked you to dinner tonight. How’s everything been in

your neck of the woods? Any romance news?”

Rose suddenly realized how long it had been since she’d shared girl talk with anyone.

Reid shook her head, “No, I’ve been so busy with work that I’ve had zero time to devote

to my personal life. I’m curious about how your relationship with Jay has something to

do with our dinner though, spill,” she added, almost ordering while looking Rose straight

in the eyes.

“Well, I was hoping we would catch up more before I revealed my ulterior motives but

it’s not looking like that’s going to be possible,” Rose paused when their waitress

returned to take their orders.

Once the waitress walked away, Rose continued, “Here’s the thing, I’m Resilience,” she

revealed her superhero identity causing Reid’s jaw to drop.

Reid took a moment to gather herself before she replied, “You’re a hero with super

strength? How?”

“My boss asked me to steal something from Brentwood Labs and I spilled some on

myself,” Rose began to explain, “That’s how I got powers. Jay is working on something

new and he asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested. You’re the first person

who crossed my mind. So, would you like to have the power to control the weather?”

she asked, still wishing they’d spent more time on small talk before getting into her

motivation behind their dinner.

“What?” was all Reid could muster, “I’m sorry but this is a LOT to take in. Why do you

think I’d want to become a superhero? I just explained how busy my life is with only my

work calculated into the equation.”

Rose could tell she’d really overwhelmed her friend. “Listen,” Rose started, “you’re right,

this is a lot. Why don’t we just enjoy our night and you can sleep on my offer and get

back to me tomorrow? You don’t have to do it, but I really think you’d find my work

extremely fulfilling and I know you’d be good,” she said her last words on the matter and

the two women moved back to general conversation until they parted ways at the end of

the night.

Reid crashed onto her bed once she got back from dinner, her mind racing over the

prospect of becoming a superhero like her friend, which she’d just learned about.
 Chapter 2

Does Anyone Want To Be A Superhero?

Reid woke the following morning, half wishing the night before had been a dream, but

then she saw her phone screen filled with texts from Rose.

‘Meet me at Brentwood Labs this morning, if you’re interested,’ Rose’s last text read.

Reid put her phone back down onto her nightstand as she laid back and thought over

the proposal.

Did she want to be a hero like Resilience? Did she have enough time for something like

that? Does anything else matter after you become a hero? Or does that become your

main priority? All of her questions made her want to scream into her pillow.

Instead, she got up and jumped into the shower where she continued weighing the pros

and cons of taking Rose up on her and Jay’s offer.

Once she was out of the shower, she threw on some leggings and a big sweater before

zipping up her boots for the final touch to her look. She decided to head to the lab and

find out more about what Jay and Rose were offering before she would decide what to

do.

Reid drove to Brentwood Labs and was immediately escorted to Rose and Jay upon

entry.

“So, you’ve decided on the hero's life?” Rose asked, once she saw Reid making her

entrance.

Reid held up her hand, “I’m not sure yet. I would like to know more before I make my

decision. So, what can you two tell me about a, what the serum will do to me and b,

what the hero’s life is like?” She explained her initial conditions as she took a seat

across from the couple.

Rose gestured for Jay to field Reid’s questions, at least the first one.

Jay nodded and began, “Reid, thank you for even considering this. My serum, if

calculated correctly, will give you the ability to manipulate weather. You will be able to

create storms , or any type of weather and stop it at your discretion,” he explained,

“And, if my formula doesn’t work then nothing will happen to you one way or the other.”

“That makes sense,” Reid replied, before turning her attention to Rose, “So, tell me, why

would I want to be a superhero?”

Rose took a deep breath before she began speaking, “Being a hero lets you help

people on a much larger scale then you could ever imagine. And, we’d be a unit so

neither of us would ever be alone to face criminals alone, again. We’d be a team, Reid.

And, hopefully, later on Jay will be able to create more heroes so that we can become

stronger with the addition of every type of power imaginable. The challenges I face are

only going to get more intense as time passes and I'd love to have someone I trust by

my side out there. And, if I’m being honest, I want that person to be you,” she shared,

inhaling through her nose as she finished and hoping it was enough to convince Reid.

Reid sat back, visibly thinking over Rose’s words, for what felt like an entirity.

Finally, she sat forward and broke the almost overbearing silence, “Do I have more time

to think this over or is there a time limit on this magic potion?”

“Unfortunately,” Jay responded, “This compound is only viable for the next two hours or

so. If any part of you wants to do this, you’ll need to decide now.”

Reid nodded, “Cool. Well, I guess I’ll do it,” she made eye contact with Rose, “I’m really

hoping this is going to be as rewarding as you’ve described.”

Jay passed her the flask filled about halfway with the purple liquid, “Just drink this. We

should know if it worked within twenty-four hours.”

“You will love this,” Rose reassured Reid as the couple watched Reid drink the liquid.

Reid passed the flask back to Jay once she was finished, “Here’s to hoping I’m able to

control the weather soon. Do I need to stay here or do I just come back?” she asked,

really wanting to crawl back into her bed and sleep until she knew what her future held.

“You can go home,” Rose replied, “Come back around this time tomorrow and we’ll see

where we are.”

Reid nodded as she exited the lab and headed home where she crawled into her bed.

Reid watched TV for the rest of the day, choosing to completely veg out. As it got later,

she moved deeper under her covers to sleep. She found herself tossing and turning,

unable to shut off her mind.

“Ugh, if only it would rain,” she said out loud to herself, “A thunderstorm would really

help me right now.”

As if she’d commanded it, a storm began raging outside of her window causing her to sit

up and stare out into the night at the sudden weather event.

Reid closed her eyes and wished the storm would stop. Wish may not be the right word

but even knowing that she was supposed to be able to control the weather didn’t make

her any more prepared for what she was experiencing.

The storm stopped just as quickly as it began causing her to let out a gasp.

She wasn’t sure if she should call Rose or just wait to share the details of this event

during their scheduled meeting the next morning.

She decided she was too tired to get into the ramifications that night and whatever

might go along with them so she went to sleep.