Microstory 104: Helen Larkin

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Helen Larkin was born into a gigantic family with everyone living close together, but the only one she knew of with her own special ability was her cousin, Jen. One thing later learned about anomaly abilities was that they were logically genetic. “Anomaly” wasn’t just its own separate category that allowed each individual to have any random ability. With enough time and data, one could conceivably trace an anomaly’s lineage back to the original test subject thousands of years ago. If, for instance, the anomaly could manipulate fire, that would mean that their ancestor underwent experiments involving fire. But Helen was different; an anomaly among anomalies. While Jen could harness the power of human biofuel, Helen could channel other people’s abilities. Of course, until they encountered a third one of their kind, they had assumed that they simply shared the same ability. Over the years, and with the help of Bellevue, Helen’s acuity grew enormously. She was able to channel abilities across great distances, learned better control of them, and could permanently absorb the abilities of the deceased. Anyone who didn’t know her might have been worried that she would turn to murder in order to increase her power in this way, but Helen was wholly good. Bellevue, as an organization, was designed to solve the world’s problems on massive scales. They were attempting to use people’s abilities to invent paradigm-shifting technologies, and gain perspective on social issues. The abilities themselves were secondary. After careful thought, however, Helen decided that her abilities would be put to better use as short-term strategies. She became one of the first of a select few so-called superheroes.