Superpower

import Text from "../components/MDX/FuzzyStory";
import C from "../components/MDX/Conversation";

<Text>
 He put his all important Bourbon back in the newly made cabinet inside his office. Holding a glass of orange juice in one hand and several documents in the other, he pulled his chair from the back of his desk and plopped down.
 Taking a longer sip as described by his physician, he opened the first of the sealed papers and read the summary in a fuzzy. It was just a minor event, nothing extraordinary, but he had to deal with it. Not everything could be delegated.
 He glanced over at the clock he was gifted just a month ago and shook his head in vain, it read 8am. He'd have definitely liked an early start, he'd probably have to work till midnight like the past week.
 <C>Goodmorning,</C> she said in a yawning tone. <C>You're finally here.</C>
 He looked up for a moment. <C>Mhmm?</C>
 She plopped down in to one of his two elegant couches that decorated his office. Stretching, she asked sleepily while rubbing her eyes. <C>What time is it again?</C>
 <C>Eight,</C> he said returning to his work.
 <C>Oh, if only I knew you'd be up this early, I'd have slept somewhere else. Nice cushions though.</C>
 He shrugged with a sigh. <C>Go back to sleep then.</C>
 <C>Meh no,</C> she said. <C>I need to talk to you. Can I have some of that orange juice by the way?</C>
 He sighed again. <C>Look, whoever you are-</C>
 <C>Amy,</C> she said.
 <C>Hi Amy. You know I'm a very busy person. I've only got half an hour to finish this stuff before a couple of meetings that last the rest of the day. It was already pretty hard to convince my own assistant to leave me alone right now. What do you want from me?</C>
 <C>Well,</C> she said, sitting in a chair across him. <C>I need a job, I think I can help you.</C>
 <C>Oh come on, there's an entire process for that, besides what can a teenager do for me anyway?</C>
 <C>I'm nineteen.</C>
 <C>Good to know.</C>
 <C>Thing is, it's complicated, I have superpowers,</C> she said leaning back and putting her feet up on his desk.
 <C>I hope you know this desk's an antique,</C> he said.
 <C>Yeah I know what you're thinking, I'm some crazy teenager off the street conniving people. But it's true, I really do have a superpower, or whatever they call it.</C>
 <C>Oh for christ's sake, it's like some 50 years old. Put your feet down.</C>
 <C>The very first time that I noticed it, I was still eleven,</C> she said flexing her neck sideways.
 He groaned and put his folders down.
 <C>Both of my parents were low-lifers who drank. They didn't beat me or anything, but it wasn't nice,</C> she continued. <C>Anyway, mum had an addiction while dad was more of a social person so he'd head down to the bar. Everyone liked him there.</C>
 <C>He knew mum would pass out soon so he'd bring me along with him to the bar. A bar was a safer place according to him than an apartment with no supervision. It was pretty cool though.</C>
 <C>This one time, the cops raided it based on information that local high-school punks checked in without IDs. I was there when it happened. Nobody cared about me being there, but wrote a ticket for all the teenagers. Technically, they should've ticketed my dad too, for bringing me along, but it didn't happen. That should've been the clue, but I didn't pick it up.</C>
 <C>Pick up on what exactly?</C> he interrupted with raised brows.
 <C>Like I said, it's complicated, you'll know.</C>
 He rolled his eyes in disappointment.
 <C>When I was 12, mum sent me to get her a bottle of whiskey. I knew they wouldn't sell me a pack of cigs let alone whiskey, but I couldn't give up on the extra candy money. So I shrugged and took it.</C>
 <C>Surprisingly, when I got there, the place was being jumped by a robber. We lived in the crappiest part of the downtown back then. A guy in a black mask had the owner down on his knees with a 9mm pointed to his head. He looked at me for a moment and went back to coercing the shopkeeper into giving him the safe's key.</C>
 <C>I asked him 'You mind if I take some liquor?' He just said 'whatever'. So I took the booze, and some candy as well. Then left the place humming.</C>
 <C>Uh huh,</C> he said. <C>You're just way too lucky he didn't hurt you. Still not seeing a 'superpower'.</C>
 <C>Stop interrupting,</C> she said. <C>When I was 15, I was living the best highschool life. No angst filled school experience for me. I was always in the most popular groups and dated popular guys. It was pretty awesome. People in that school would've given anything to be in that group. And you know what it took for me to get in? I just sat on their table.</C>
 <C>Like, you know, took this one girl's seat and she took another place like nothing happened. Nobody objected, eventually they started liking me. If it was someone else, they'd have been pushed out five feet apart to the peasant tables.</C>
 <C>Ah,</C> he said, putting his arms on the table. <C>So your superpower's being famous?</C>
 <C>Shut up,</C> she said. <C>Anyway, this one time I was with a guy I was dating. We were at his place, having fun, you know? His mother was a strict catholic, the "no sex before marriage" types. We didn't even notice until she opened the bedroom door. We didn't have time to do anything but throw a blanket over ourselves.</C>
 <C>Two teenagers, in a bed, both staring back at her. Know what she said? She told us she'd got some Thai noodles and headed back downstairs to the dining area. Really weird experience, probably the weirdest in my life up to that point.</C>
 <C>She probably had no idea how to react,</C> he said. <C>I bet the guy got the worst of her later,</C> he speculated.
 <C>Na, uh. She never minded me being there. I could come in any time, dine in with them, watch TV when nobody's home, and go back like nothing ever happened. That was all until I dumped him of course.</C>
 <C>Anyway, I barely graduated high-school because of my attendance. Never got into college either. My parents figured it was time they let me out on my own. So I got a job as a barmaid but then got fired because I was the unreliable person who never showed up for work.</C>
 <C>That was how I became homeless. It wasn't too bad though, I survived by doing short-term jobs from time to time. I lived in a shed, it wasn't like I could pay for an apartment anyway. One day, it was raining heavily, thunderstorms everywhere. The shed rode off into the sky and now I had nothing above my head but heavy downpour.</C>
 <C>I was pretty pissed off at this point, I had to do something better in my life. I decided I'm getting out of the shed no matter what. I'd break into the first house down the neighborhood and surrender myself. The cops will take me to a nice and cozy juvenile cell and I'd not have to worry about food or a roof anymore. I did my best to make it loud, took a garbage can and bashed it straight into the windows. Put the shards aside with the lid and barged in.</C>
 <C>I'd wander my way through the living room and sat on the couch. In a couple of seconds, the lights flipped on. A terrified woman with a baseball bat stared at me from the doorway, her daughter peeked out behind her. Once they saw me though, they both let out a sigh of relief and went back to bed.</C>
 <C>Wait, what?</C> he said.
 <C>Yeah.</C>
 <C>That makes zero sense whatsoever.</C>
 <C>Exactly,</C> she agreed.
 <C>Did they know you from before or something?</C>
 <C>Nope, first time we'd see each other. Would you let me continue now?</C>
 <C>Uh, go ahead.</C>
 <C>So yeah, I stayed at their house for a couple of weeks. We even talked, I'd casually scroll through their fridge once in a while. Although I couldn't say we were friends, I could see they resented me. But they never kicked me out.</C>
 <C>That's when it happened. The big realization, that I had never been kicked out, of anywhere. Ever. I decided to test it, I went to a bank, there was a long line, I cut right to the front of it. Nobody complained. All right, but what if they just didn't mind me for being an annoying kid? I decided to get inside the employee area. I went in with another teller when they buzzed her in. Nobody cared. I even introduced myself.</C>
 <C>So I decided to grab a handful of cash from one of the drawers. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" the guard said. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm new here," I said, putting the money back to where it belonged. Then everything was normal as if nothing ever happened.</C>
 <C>Seriously? This just sounds made-up," he said suspiciously.</C>
 <C>Anyway, I did multiple tests over the next few days. I could get inside anywhere I wanted to and nobody would object. As far they thought, I was "supposed" to be there.</C>
 <C>Right,</C> he said. <C>Definitely sounds like bullshit now.</C>
 <C>But it's not really an invisible cloak though. People think I'm supposed to be there. Can't really get away with doing things they don't expect me to do. Like people at banks are not expected to grab cash from the drawers? I stole some Amoxicillins from the drug store, just to see if I could. I walked right behind the cabinets and picked up an empty pill bottle then filled it with the Amoxicillins. The pharmacist didn't care. People at the drug-store are supposed to fill pill bottles. You see it now?</C>
 <C>Yes, definitely seeing the bullshit.</C>
 <C>I figured I could work for you, I need money. Give me a job with all them benefits you get and I'll spy for you.</C>
 <C>Spy on who?</C>
 <C>Whoever you want me to, I'm sure you've got all kinds of people you need to keep an eye on. I could just get inside and they'd not mind me, I'll jot the observations down maybe. Whatever you desire.</C>
 <C>If your delusion really is true, then I could really use someone like you.</C> he agreed with a sigh. <C>But you expect me to believe you can barge into high security perimeters, past countless people and CCTV, and that you can extract information without anyone minding you? I'm sorry, there's no basis to believe you. Can you provide proof of any sort?</C>
 She put her feet down and dragged the chair closer to his desk. <C>I don't know if I can. You tell me, Mr. President,</C> she said while leaning forwards.
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