Sapphyra [Adult Superhero Progression]

We managed to transform back into human form.

I know what day I need.

“Mnemosyne, turn the day back to when I first started human trials with Sapph's DNA.”

I could hear Sapph make a noise behind me, a gasp. She was probably upset that I was bringing this day up. But if she wanted honesty, she was going to get it. 

The fade in for this memory was a little different but I could immediately tell why because it wasn't my memory Mnemosyne was using. 

It was my ex-fiance Barbie's. 

I sat there in the lab with my sleeve rolled up, tourniquet wrapped around my bicep ready to begin human testing. I locked the lab doors behind me so that only those with high level clearance could enter. 

To my surprise the only other person who had high clearance stepped in, Barbie. 

“Wyatt, what the hell are you doing?“ 

“I was ordering a pizza.” My sarcasm did not light her mood. But I'd already come this far that wasn't going to stop now. I jab the needle into my skin and I press the plunger down. 

In some fashion I was more pleased with this experiment. One could say that I was joining souls with my wife. Not quite as fun as sex but still just as intimate.I know others would call me mad.

Number one would be my wife.

“Are you going to tell me what you just injected yourself with?” 

“No.” I answered automatically.

“Okay but when something happens to you what am I supposed to tell the others or the paramedics you know if we can get you to them in time?”

My patience was draining with each word this woman spoke.

“You'll tell them that I am sleeping and that they can leave, just like you can.”

I know other people might think my words are a little harsh with Barbie and looking back on it I can see that they are absolutely right. At the time I was more focused on the mission than anything else and the mission has always been my wife's well-being. 

I cleaned up the medical supplies and flexed my arm. 

Nothing happened 

“Oh ,that's disappointing,” I sighed. 

“Wyatt Hart I don't know what you think you're doing but we're supposed to be team mates. And this right here is not teamwork. It's selfish and it's stupid because something could happen to you. But if you won’t listen to me, would you rather I go and get your wife?” 

That stopped me in my tracks. I stood up and walked briskly over to her. Just close enough that she could see my agitation in real time.

“Never bring up my wife again especially when it concerns this.” 

My arm fans out across all my research notes folders carelessly sprawled out like a frat party just finished. She huffed, pushed her glasses up in her hair and walked over examining the files for herself. When she finished reading them she slammed her hands on the table, and she looked at me like I'd gone insane. 

But the truth to it is I was always insane. 

It took her a few minutes to work up the nerve and open her mouth with a coherent thought. 

“It’s complex…What makes you think this plan of yours is even going to work?”

A dry chuckle escaped me. 

“Would you believe me if I said hope?”

“Hope, really? We're scientists, Wyatt.” 

“Yes and I am a scientist hoping that this is the solution that will help save the world. Now you can either help me or you can leave like I've been politely asking you to do since you barged in and put your nose into my business.”

What an absolute ass I was.

God, is that really what I sounded like? 

I could hear Noah laughing in my head. 

That's what you always sound like. Not so nice hearing it from the other end huh? 

Even though Barbie and I were at odds over the plan, she still helped and in doing the trial we figured out that I had gained the ability to teleport. Thus Professor Wayback was born.

Unlike Sapph, I detest bringing up my superhero days. A story for another time.

Foolishly I offered Barbie the same formula but at half the dose which would have minimized the risks considerably…to which she turned me down. 

I could tell Barbie many things, but I could not tell her the source of the sample came from Sapphyra. And she asked, oh boy did she try and dig out that answer but I would not give it up. 

“Okay so you can teleport and you've effectively figured out how to give people powers. And you just what? Plan to distribute this all around the world?”

Hell no. I would help them, not give them a bomb they can build at home.

“In a sense” I admitted. 

“It is not in a sense, Wyatt. It's either yes or no.”

How I wish she was more like Sapph and able to let things go.

I let out a tired  breath and stretched my torso from side to side. We'd gone 12 hours testing different versions of the formula to finally come up with the right one. 

“The world? No, I already have plans for the rest of the world and I gave them out. Right now all I'm concerned about is my city, my family and my friends.”

She looked at me with amusement in her eyes, “you have friends now?” 

“Oh I've always had friends even when they're nosy little brats.” Barbie was 2 years younger than me and she hated to be reminded of that fact. 

She did not help her case by sticking her tongue out at me. For one tiny moment it almost felt like things were right between us. Like I hadn’t royally fucked things up between us.

I caught her staring a few times, breaking away once our gaze locked. 

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, not nothing. Speak your mind Barbie.” 

She let out a shaky breath and finally looked up at me. I couldn't tell it at the time but I suppose that's what tunnel vision does to you. Now it was as clear as day to tell she was still wrestling with her leftover feelings for me. 

“You walked out on me Wyatt. You left me at the altar and went off to go be a knight in shining armor.”

I blinked, raising a brow as I waited for her to get to the point. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“And you never went back to say sorry. I can forgive you for doing what you did. I understand. Hell if I had half the bravery and resources that you did I would have left too. We all love her, you know that.”

“Not like I do.” 

I shocked both of us by letting those words slip out. I normally wasn't one for professing my feelings at least not to strangers, but then again Barbie wasn't a stranger. 

She is right though. I left her standing at the altar. Could I have gone back and said sorry Barbie? Yes I could have. 

I let the honesty roll off of me.

“I didn't think I needed to.” 

“You didn't think you needed to?! And why is that because you see me carrying on day by day like nothing happened?” 

“Well,” a pause, “yes.” 

I could see her eyebrow twitch twice but no other facial movements. She was pissed and we were in a lab full of dangerous experiments. 

I held up my hands trying to convey that I was peaceful. 

“Barbie I am sorry that was disrespectful to you and taking this long to realize that is my fault. I can come off like a robot sometimes and then I get so focused on…”

“Your wife?” Surprisingly, her tone was not bitter.Then again, I never took Barbie for a jealous woman to begin with.

“Yes,” I nodded sheepishly, “my wife.” 

“You know you talk about friends and family but then you only talk about her.” 

She crossed her arms, no doubt expecting me to assure her otherwise. I would not. Sapphyra was my family and my best friend but if she was safe then I would care for Beacon and then Cyran in that order.

“That's a fair point. But we're getting off topic.”

“Can I trust you to keep this a secret until I'm ready to unveil it to the city?” She hesitated but I could tell she would agree and at the time I believed her. 

“Yeah, I'll keep it a secret but when you win the Nobel Peace prize for this you better put me in the acceptance speech.”

“That brought a dry smile to my face. I'll keep it in mind but make no promises.”

“Yeah I expected as much from you.” 

She stood in the door frame, looking back at me one last time. 

“Goodbye, Wyatt.” 

I should have recognized the patterns in her voice the way she said it was not a goodbye like she would see me tomorrow. There was a finality in it. 

It was within the next two months that we would find Barbie and the process of taking her own life in the lab. I should have given it more thought. It was done in such a crude way of all the instruments and samples we had in there.

Why would she try to hang herself? 

It made no sense but we found her and we stopped her ,putting her in a behavioral health facility. But on that very same day Sapph’s DNA, my serum was released into the city into the water supply. Now the dirty truth was out.

I was never the one who released it even though my name was all over it. 

The memory stopped when Sapphyra pounded her fists on the back of the bubble. 

“There's no way in hell you took the rap for her this entire time!”

My shoulders slumped and I watched as the stone, the guilty stone in Themis hand started to rise. She was able to lift herself up and her bones started to heal. 

I could hear the air leaving my wife like a deflating balloon. She wanted truth. She wanted honesty but honesty always comes with a cost. 

“Why? Why would you cover for her? Why would you paint yourself as the bad guy and bring all this trauma into our relationship? What the hell could have made it all worth it?”

I wanted to answer her but I couldn't. The words just wouldn't come, so Noa answered for me. 

“Guilt. It was guilt, plain and simple .He made the formula yeah but she went and tampered with it, then she released it. He went back and tested the samples that got out into the water supply completely different from what he made.” 

I could feel the holes forming from where he was glaring daggers at me.

“Wyatt couldn't come out and say that Barbie did it. She was already in a sorry state as it was, although if you asked me I think we should have just killed her sorry ass.”

“Noa!” I hissed, meeting his gaze. That was uncalled for. He shrugged and continued.

“And he couldn't exactly admit that he did it. Goddess, you would have divorced him on the spot. So he sat with it until he couldn't anymore. Until he had to use it to get you to stop making yourself into a martyr.”

All eyes were on me. I welcomed them. The weight of these secrets have crushed me for far too long.

“Because he would have said anything at that point to stop you isn't that right?”

I nodded, that's all I could do. The strength had long left my body.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, " Themis said, glancing at the stones at equal weight in her hand. 

“Not guilty. I mean he's guilty of being a shitty husband and a manipulating son of a bitch but, not guilty of being a murderer. The trial is over.” Themis announced

Mnemosyne closed her book. The bubble around me dropped and I turned to Sapph slowly because I knew something would be waiting for me. 

A slap, a hug, anything I would have taken it all. But instead? All I got was a picture of her backside as she walked away. 

I just prayed it wasn't for the last time.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!