Necessity is the Mother of Invention

You had seen enough, closing the link as you quickly swiped to Stormfront's number, tapping the 'CALL' option before you had time to talk yourself out of it.

You were concerned she'd screen your call, but she picked up on the fifth or sixth ring.

"Hey Nick, what did you need?" The sounds of various people were audible somewhere around her.

"Do I need a reason to call you now? I miss you; I was thinking you might could stop by, we could have dinner, and see what happens." You offered, much more... what was the opposite of spontaneous.

There was a long pause on the other end followed by a short sigh, "That sounds nice, but umm, Nick, are you drunk? You don't usually call me to make 'plans'." Stormfront accused as you shifted the phone to your other ear, leaning forwards on the couch.

"No no, I'm not drunk, I was just," You tried to think of the easiest way to bring up such a sensitive topic, "I was thinking that the deal with Homelander deserved an explanation. I know you're close, but I should've told you before I opened that door." You confessed.

"Oh, well, that's nice I guess, but I wouldn't say we're close." Stormfront deflected masterfully, you might've believed her were the evidence not still on your mind.

"Please Klara, he's blonde with blue eyes, the strongest Supe in the world, and you're... you. I know you have certain urges, so don't lie like I don't know you like that." You snapped, the silence loud enough to speak volumes.

"Look, Nick, this isn't really the time. I'm busy right now at Sage Grove, so I'll see you later." Klara stated, the tone far from her usual teasing.

"That's perfect, I've been wanting to see what you've been doing over there, I'm obviously free right now, so I'll head over." You hung up the phone before she could argue.

It took minutes for you to change into a long coat, dark pants, and a comfortable pair of shoes. You could've changed your clothes with a thought, but you didn't for two reasons: one, you didn't want to get lazy. Not that you particularly minded the ease, but maybe that's what had gotten you into this mess, your desire to always find the easiest solution.

Two, you could tell you were starting to run a little hot and didn't want to face Stormfront like this. Despite your near infinite power, you were looking and acting like your age.

So, you took the few extra minutes to change your clothes, after all, it couldn't hurt and then headed for the broad window along the wall, the glass shimmering as it vanished, reappearing behind you as you took off into the cloudy sky, headed upstate.

It occurred to you that you'd never actually been to Shady Creek, so locating it was going to take a bit of time, but between a quick Google and access to Stormfront's tracker data, it shouldn't take long to find the human experimentation center disguised as a care home.

Which was why you were annoyed ten minutes later when you checked, only to learn both were west, why did you think it was upstate? And it took you ten minutes of hovering in the sky like some confused weirdo because the fucking place wasn't even called Shady Creek, it was Sage Grove!

Growling under your teeth, you quickly pivoted in the air, speeding westward into Pennsylvania. "You're fucking losing it!"

It took maybe thirty minutes to get to the facility, and you landed with all the aplomb of a bolt from the heavens, striking the ground as if it had personally offended you. As you strode into the building, the earth restored itself behind you, although the scowl never left your face.

You didn't know how to feel about the apparent lack of security, no alarms, no sirens, this was essentially a prison for mental unstable Supes, and there were no warnings if one escaped. Hell, there was no warnings if someone just stumbled onto this place, I mean, Lamplighter was supposed to be here, but he wasn't exactly...

"Hey Lamp." You said, switching back to your more agreeable tone as Lamplighter entered the foyer, eyes wide as he spotted you.

"Nick, umm, sir, what are you doing here?" Lamplighter stuttered, hand flicking the Zippo he always kept on him.

"I could say the same. I was looking for Stormfront, is she here?" You asked, already confident in the answer.

"No sir, I mean, she was, she just left a few minutes ago, said something about a problem needing to be solved. She should... be...back...soon." He started to trail off as you walked past him.

"Well, might as well pass the time, why don't you show me around, so I can get an idea of what you've been up to." You said, Lamplighter giving a sharp nod.

"There's not really much to tell, we only have a few people on staff, easier to keep it in house that way. Four security guards, three at night, one during the day, when I'm here, normies. The head doctor is Dr. Cartlston, an outsider, but he seems workable with the paycheck. Any serious problems are handled by me or Ms. Stormfront." Lamplighter explained as you looked around.

The breakroom looked worse than those shown in movies, flooring starting to peel, and water damage on the roof, and the lights throughout the place buzzed loud enough you felt like bees were in your skull, maybe that was intentional.

"Are there any patient files I could look at? Past or present?" You asked as Lamplighter shook his head.

"All current physical copies are locked up in Dr. Carlston's office, and once a patient is 'removed' from our care, I handle the destruction of anything left behind." He had a haunted look in his eyes as he said this.

"Hmm, well then, surely you can tell me about some of your current patients, names, powers, you know how I like to be informed." You explained as Lamplighter nodded, looking away as he led you down a hallway of heavy metal doors.

"This is Vasilii Vorishikin, Russian expat, around 30, developed..." Lamplighter trailed off as you glanced through a grate into the cell.

"Did he have that before the injection, or should we start marketing Compound V as a dick growth drug?" You joked, not quite sure whether to be jealous or pitying.

"The latter, next is Tim Rothman, he has a sister and has telekinesis. He was being very aggressive earlier, but Stormfront knocked him out before she left. I expect he'll be removed soon." Lamplighter continued, the plain man not even passed out on the bed, just dropped in the corner like an old rag.

"I assume nothing extraordinary, given Stormfront's lack of interest, but maybe he could be useful for something else I've been working on." You muttered as you followed Lamp to the next door, the sedated woman obvious in your memory.

"This is Cindy, a much better example, she has telekinesis as well, only she can crush things, metal containers, small boulders, people, we have to keep her nearly permanently sedated or she'd kill everyone and escape." Lamplighter said it all with a tone of mirthlessness.

"Sounds especially good for killing people, I think you're doing the right thing keeping her here." You pointed out, and Lamplighter seemed to relax a bit, a small breath of air releasing that he'd been holding.

"Li Chen, he can teleport, only short distances and he needs to see where he's going, so practical applications are little. Mike Donor, he shrank, but only a little. And Stu Phillips, who has the power to... you know, I'm not really sure it's a power. The doctor said he can pull his own guts out, but he seems to feel it so I'm pretty sure that's just torture." Lamplighter gestured to the next few cells, doubtless they'd put the weakest ones near each other.

"Honestly, none of those impress me, so I doubt Mr. Edgar will be pleased, or Homelander... or anyone really." I confessed, cringing at the final man.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone like that was going to be informed on our results. I mean, Sanden Perera is a much better result, he can absorb electricity and redirect it." Lamplighter said, suddenly animated.

'So if you combined Starlight and Stormfront... can Klara absorb electricity?'

"We also have Wayen Wells, who got the unfortunate ability to hit things really hard, but not the enhanced bones to not shatter on contact. Also," Lamplighter gestured across the hall to the opposite cell, "Yani Epstein, who can release an EMP blast, range seems to be around thirty feet, but Stormfront seemed eager to move him to further testing."

"Hmm, Sanden and Yani do both seem like possible applicants to show to the higher ups, not that I'm biased towards electric Supes." You smiled, but Lamplighter didn't seem to get the in-joke.

Or maybe he did as he brought you to one of the final rooms, pointing at the glaring man pacing inside, "That's Nick, he vomits." You tried to figure out if he was having a piss at you.

"And his opposite is Maia, who can create very bright lights, but only from her eyes, but they are strong enough to damage retinas if you're looking at her." Lamplighter explained, turning back to face you.

"It's a pretty mixed bag on the powers huh, most of them won't ever see the outside, but I can think of a few that might have some potential," You stated, keeping back the internal part about most only being acceptable as fodder, training dummies, or Super Villain scapegoats.

"We had another, Rebekah, she was 'transferred' just the other day. She, much like Vasilii, grew an extra-long tongue she could control." Lamplighter said as you smirked, about to make the joke before you realized he'd said transferred instead of removed.

"Was she happy to get to go home?" You asked, and his expression said more than enough.

"Ecstatic." You felt something shift within you and had to swallow done the immediate desire to hurt something... violently.