seymoure

34.

The room had grown deathly quiet. The only sound was a self satisfied grunt from Carvine when she felt proven right about Mickey being responsible for all the trouble.

“Me?” Mickey squeaked with his helpless hands pointing to his chest.

“Yes, my friend, you,” Doctor Thursday said.

“What did Mickey do?” David spoke up, with his best “I’m his big brother and you’d better say whatever you were going to say about my brother to me” playground voice.

“It isn’t what he’s done,” came the answer, “It is what he his. He is an enabler, the most powerful one we have recorded in 3 centuries.”

Enabler? The word just hung in the air, waiting to make sense.

“An enabler has a unique power,” The Protector told them. “Mickey, you can make non-superhuman’s exhibit powers like flying and superhuman strength, correct?”

“Only for a few minutes,” Mickey said in self defense.

“That limit exists because of your lack of training. Eventually you could stretch that time up to an hour or more.”

Mickey and David regarded each other as they thought about that.

“But your real power is the ability to boost any super powered individual’s power a thousand fold.”

“So, say, if I could telekinetically move 500 pounds with no trouble,” Carvine mused.

“Mickey could enable you to move 50 tons or more with no more extended expenditure of thought. But only while he was within sight of you.”

There was, for the first time, something other than distain for Mickey in Carvine’s eyes when she looked at the boy.

“So the forces that oppose us see him not only as a source of great power for them, but as a way to lower our power to respond to their attacks,” Dr. Thursday explained.

“Wow,” said Mickey. He had been secretly feeling rather left out of all of this up to this moment.

He wouldn’t have wanted to admit that he saw all these individuals with wonderful powers and thought less of himself because his ability seemed rather third party. If everyone can do something and you can just make others do things you can feel a bit uninvited to the party.

Now he was being told he was one of the most important folks in Thunderbase, and had all the sides fighting over who would control him and make him do their bidding.

Even Carvine looked on him with a bit of avarice.

That made him shudder with a slight disgust.

He jumped just slightly when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned his head to see that it was his brother’s hand.

“See, kiddo,” David smiled at him, “I told you you were special.”

Somehow, just now, Mickey felt like they could handle this.