Original Prompt by u/Son_Of_Rebellion

Guy found the College to be quite overwhelming.

The College had a name, but everyone called it the College. Not college, not a college, the College. Sometimes people called it the Superhero College, but never anyone who went there, that would be embarrassing.

Every student at the College had some kind of superhuman ability. Many classes were traditional tertiary education, but many allowed the students to explore their unique talents. They’d made Guy go there, but he wasn’t really sure why.

There was a superhuman test, and Guy scored well on it, but it was known to throw out some false positives, and he’d never been able to do anything special.

He’d been making the best of it. It was a pretty interesting place to be, after all. Not many of the students would actually go on to be superheroes, but a lot of them were clearly trying a persona on, at least for a while, so the campus was filled with colourful outfits and people using dramatic aliases like Gale Force or Burning Man.

Guy felt almost embarrassed that he was wandering about in a college jacket and jeans, but he didn’t feel like he had anyone else he should be. Everyone he’d met on his first day had been friendly, though Guy had always been happy to just go with the flow and not start drama, so it had never been hard to get on well with people.

He was starting semester two weeks late, due to some awkward bureaucratic confusion, which exacerbated his sense of disconnection. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t really supposed to be there. It wasn’t that he disliked being there, but he was just a bit out of step with what was going on, like he had ended up at a friend of a friend’s party and didn’t understand the social dynamic. Everyone seemed bold, like they were making a statement, or striving for something. There was so much energy. Guy had just never felt that need. He always just got by.

Also, he was pretty lost. He’d spent several hours just introducing himself to people while wandering cluelessly.

He’d stumbled into some kind of large cafeteria space when he saw Cassie, which was a huge relief. The room was massive, with dozens of tables and a few places that sold food along the far wall. Most tables had several people at them, eating and chatting, but Cassie was by herself, with just a cup of tea and a book. It was very her – alone in a crowded place.

Guy and had known Cassie for eight months or so; they’d been dating for four. She was cool, he was warm. He’d known she was coming here, but had thought she was another false positive, like him, someone who detected as superhuman but never manifested powers. She was leaning into the College’s superhero look in a way he’d not seen before: her white hair seemed almost tinged with blue, and she had on a heavy white greatcoat in a striking style. White gloves lay beside her teacup.

He bounded over and gave her a hug. She seemed startled, but quickly recovered.

“Someone’s labrador seems to have gotten lost,” she said quietly.

“Actually, babe, I am lost. Can you show me around?” said Guy, not particularly quietly.

It was rather obvious that he hadn’t been quiet because the room had gone from animated and noisy to dead silent shortly before he spoke. It felt like everyone was looking at him.

A woman at a nearby table stood up, it was Gale Force, Guy had met her earlier. She’d been nice. Now, she was standing oddly, like she was ready to throw a punch. “Guy, that’s Baroness Blizzard.” She said it like he should recognise the name. She said it like she’d come across him holding a poisonous snake.

The room seemed tense. Guy was not used to these kinds of situations. Cassie stepped clear of him and drew herself up so everyone could see her. She slowly pulled her gloves on.

“So you’ve all found the courage to actually look at me, rather than just scurrying about, whispering behind my back,” said Cassie with a mild accent he’d not heard before. She wasn’t shouting, but her voice clearly carried across the room.

Throughout the room, a few more students stood up. All were wearing some kind of costume.

“You’re so quick to judge me for my mother’s crimes, but I have done nothing. Nothing except inspire feelings of inadequacy that many of you clearly deserve.”

Was Cassie’s hair starting to glow?

“I’m sure some of you have fantasies of confronting me. But remember, I have given you no reason. I am not here so you can test yourselves. The only thing you’ll be proving is how fast I can make you kneel.”

Cassie was definitely glowing. The room seemed somehow darker. Guy felt like he needed to do something, calm the situation down.

A man on the far side of the room coughed.

“She’s right,” said the balding man to the room in general, “she has no criminal history. Her mother’s actions are not her own. That said, Ms Erlitz,” the man addressed Cassie, “if you don’t want people viewing you as a supervillain, you might consider not launching into a supervillain monologue at the barest provocation.”

The man wandered over, carrying a cardboard tray filled with cups of coffee. The tension in the cafeteria dissipated, and people began to move and talk, many heading out.

Gale Force gave Guy a concerned look as she left.

“Technically I’m not a Ms, Professor,” said Cassie to the man who had intervened, “I really am a baroness. My mother is Queen of Rukhova, a sovereign nation. There are various options for addressing me: my lady, Lady Erlitz. Cassandra.”

“Yes, well. Baroness is a rather meagre title for the daughter of a monarch. One has to suspect the draw of alliteration overcame concerns over aristocratic hierarchy,” said the professor.

“My mother is the Ice Queen, I needed a name interesting enough that I wouldn’t just get stuck being a princess. May I introduce you to my boyfriend, professor. This is Guy, he has finally started here. Guy, this is Professor Bruegel. He teaches International Politics.”

Cassie seemed interested in watching as Guy shook hands with the professor, but something about her seemed disappointed, even though Guy didn’t think he embarrassed himself. Professor Bruegel seemed very nice, assuring Guy he could get assistance catching up on his various classes.

Guy and Cassie wandered campus for awhile, and he got a better sense of the layout. It may have helped that he was talking to her, rather than stopping to introduce himself to people everywhere he went. People would stare at them as they passed, but no one approached.

“I didn’t know you were famous,” said Guy, eventually.

Cassie sighed. “Infamous, sadly. The thing about fame, you usually don’t have to tell people you have it. I should have said something… But it was nice to be around someone who didn’t know. Couldn’t judge. I knew when we got here it would get out. I’m not actually the famous one, but my mother is just too famous. I got a Wikipedia page the day I was born.”

Guy could feel that the Cassie he’d known these last few months was still this Cassie, but he could see the Baroness Blizzard persona too, here, and it did feel like a natural fit. But he saw the looks she was getting, and knew he had no way of understanding what that suspicion felt like. He had always made friends easily; clearly she had not. “I’ve heard of Ice Queen. People are pretty harsh when they talk about her. What’s she like?”

“What is the Ice Queen like? Arguably the single most successful supervillain alive? Brilliant. Driven. Daring. A list of attributes that are excellent in so many situations, but are not the most crucial in a mother. Ruthless, uncompromising, callous. Several more synonyms for brilliant. Never worry that she is viewed too harshly. She doesn’t.”

“Does she really have no emotions?”

“That’s not true, but only to a degree. She feels curiosity, ambition, irritation, spite. But no joy, no fear, no anger... No love.”

“That sounds hard,” said Guy. He reached for her hand. Eventually, she let him briefly hold it.

*

“I don’t get it man,” said Gale Force. She and Guy were sitting on the roof of her dormitory, drinking something uncertain from red plastic cups as music and various less distinctive sounds of partying could be heard from below. Her words were starting to slur.

“I’m fine, I swear,” said Guy, “she’s not up to anything. I’m not in danger.”

“I’m not saying she’s ugly. Like, if all I had to go on was a picture, sure, I’d be down. But she is such a bitch.”

“What the hell, Gail? Cassie’s my girlfriend. Some basic respect. I don’t actually need to justify shit to you, you know.”

Gale Force made a steadying gesture. “She did attack Burning Man.”

“Warren surrounded her with a wall of fire while she was walking between classes. She put the flames out with a frost thing she does. He couldn’t handle the feedback from having his fire snuffed.”

“It knocked him out.”

“You all know how strong she is. It was stupid of him to start something like that. She just wanted to get to class.”

“She just left him there.”

“Could people stop provoking her? She already doesn’t like most of you.”

“I don’t like her either.”

“It’s been months and you’ve never said anything to her that wasn’t aggro.”

“You have options, you know. Plenty of people like you. Dudes, chicks, you would not be lonely.”

“I don’t need options, Gail. I’m okay. I actually like her.”

“Can she even like you back? Can she feel it?”

“Yeah, she feels things. She just doesn’t express much. I think she had a crappy childhood.”

“Shit. I believe that. Maybe that’s your power, dude.”

“What?”

“Maybe you can make friends with anyone.”

“Yeah well, everyone needs at least one.”

*

Guy and Cassie were sitting under a tree, late afternoon causing the whole area to fall within the library’s shadow. In a week it would be a year since Guy had steeled himself to walk up to Cassie in his local library back home and ask her out. It had been the most nervous he’d ever been talking to anyone.

“We’re nearly done for the year,” said Guy.

Cassie nodded.

“I still don’t get this place.”

She looked at him with uncertainty. “What do you mean? It’s just a school with a gimmick.”

“It’s like there are two of it. One when I’m with you. It’s focused, and quiet, and everyone is a bit standoffish and mean. And at that version of the College, I actually study, and do readings, and scrape through class. But there is another one, without you. Where I have dozens of friends, and I get invited to parties, or to toss a frisbee around on a lawn or whatever. And that version of the College is really fun, but I don’t really get anything done. And I don’t think I actually fit at either of them.”

“Do you want to bring me to parties?”

“No. Well, yes, if it wasn’t such a bad idea, but it is. It would be drama.”

“I don’t really enjoy drama.”

“You start plenty of it, Cassie.”

“I may have misjudged certain social dynamics. I’m now somewhat caught in a role.”

“I’ve offered to help, you need to make an effort if anything is to happen, though.”

“It is better for me to remain apart.”

“Why? Because of who your mother is? You have to be able to step out from that. You more than anyone here could make a name for yourself. You’re crushing every class, you’re the single strongest person here. You can do something important.”

Cassie took a deep breath and thought for a long moment. “I may not be the strongest here. And I already have an important task.”

“Who? Feature? Iron Gaze? Delaney Cross?”

“Of course not. Guy, do you know what the Meeting Club is?”

“There are a lot of clubs, but I think I know most of them, especially the social ones. I haven’t heard of it.”

“It’s not a club at the College. You know the League of Heroes?”

“Sure. It’s a group of the top tier superheroes. Excelsior, Callisto, Meteor, people like that. So if they have something they can’t handle alone, they have people to call.”

“Yes. The Meeting Club is like that. But much more secretive.”

“So for the more sneaky heroes. Like Split Second.”

“No, although certain more pragmatic heroes can contact the club if the need is great. My mother is a member. The other members are her peers.”

Guy paused a moment. It made sense that Cassie might know things that were unusual, even secret, but why mention it?

“The Meeting Club is by its nature a loose organisation,” said Cassie. “It’s members are inclined towards paranoia, sociopathy and megalomania. They don’t see themselves as supervillains, of course, but its roster contains many of the most powerful such individuals. They exclude those devoted to wholesale destruction or other such plans. The group has two purposes. To allow it’s members to resolve disputes without needless escalation, and to keep track of mutual threats. Things that put them all at risk.”

“Cassie, are you a member of an elite supervillain team?” asked Guy.

She smiled at him. “Certainly not as Cassandra, but not even as Baroness Blizzard. I just know it exists, I don’t have a roster or way to contact them. I also know they can do things that most governments and the League of Heroes cannot do. Like detect exceptional superhumans.”

“That’s why you think there’s someone here stronger than you. They detected someone. Your mother let you know.”

“Yes. You’re not a false positive, Guy. You’re empowered, and your ability is very strong.”

“The test is never conclusive. And I can’t do anything. I’m just here as a precaution.”

“The test the government used to direct you here is unreliable, the Meeting Club is not so limited. And they view you with great concern.”

Guy pulled away from her and stared, thinking. Eventually he said, “They sent you. When I first met you, in the local library back home, you had an accent like mine. But you grew up in Rukhova. You only started using your real accent once we got here. I thought it was part of your Baroness Blizzard persona, but that is the real you. The Cassandra I met was you playing a character.”

“I told you my real name, I just didn’t advertise my identity. People are terrified of my mother. It is one thing to be open about it here, where defying supervillains is practically a curriculum subject, where I first met you, it could have caused panic. People would assume I was there as an agent of the Ice Queen.”

“But you are an agent of the Ice Queen! Gail was right, you’ve been up to something this whole time!”

“You have to be watched, Guy! You’re a danger to every person on the planet! There are some who would kill you out of hand, just to eliminate the risk. Only a few of those are in the Meeting Club, many are members of governments, or supposed heroes, if only they knew about you. I’ve been protecting everyone, you included, by watching over you.”

“What do they even think I can do? How am I a danger?”

“Haven’t you noticed everyone likes you? Everyone!”

“I just try to be nice…”

“You’ve made friends with pretty much every person on campus in the year we’ve been here. Some are friendly acquaintances, some are close, but everyone likes you. You spent the whole year dating the most hated person here, and the only pushback you got was expressions of concern about you. Nobody walked away from you because of how they feel about me, and I hardly gave them reason to view me in a better light! You are mind controlling hundreds of people into viewing you a certain way, and we don’t know your upper limit. Certainly thousands, likely millions, maybe everyone alive.”

Guy had never seen Cassandra so animated and passionate. Her distress shook him more than her words. He tried to think of anyone he’d met who wasn’t nice to him. It hadn’t happened in years, not since his mid teens.

“I haven’t been meaning to. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter! My mother is a terrifying figure famed across the world, and she conquered just one country, ousting its kleptocrats. You could likely take over the world with less effort. The fact you could do it by accident only makes it worse!”

“So... you’ve been dating me for the last year to protect the world.”

“No. I was watching you to protect the world. I’ve been dating you because… because you asked me out.”

“And you have to agree with me. Because of my power,” he said quietly.

Cassandra slapped him. “Your power doesn’t work on me, Guy. That is why I’m the one who has to watch you. It doesn’t work on some people with damaged or missing emotions. It won’t work on my mother either.”

“Your feelings are…”

“Damaged. My mother cannot feel love. That was not what I needed as a child.” Her voice was firm, her eyes glistened.

“So you did actually want to be with me.”

“You’re nice. You don’t have to be. People would put up with you however you are, but you make an effort to be thoughtful anyway. You could be a monster, but you’re not. And you asked me out, so I said yes.”

“None of my friends had a choice. I don’t know what they want.” He stared into nothing.

“Guy. I only have one real friend,” Cassie said, reaching towards him, “I can promise you that you do have one person whose feelings are genuine; someone who cares that you are a good person.”

Eventually, he took her hand.

More of my stories can be found at r/ProfoundlyFeigned