Part 2: Identity Crisis.....

The cabbie dropped me off under the Atlas statue in front of city hall. I'm always impressed with the feelings I had as a new hero. I ran past a group of young heroes training with Miss Liberty.

"Hey Liberty."
"Hello, Maden, like the new uni!" she exclaimed. I looked down puzzled. I hadn't even noticed. This wasn't my costume. It looked like it, but it wasn't the same.
"Uh, thanks." I said.

I ran into city hall and went straight to the city rep, Brighid Moriera. "Hey Mental, nice outfit, what is that vintage?"
"Uh, not sure. Look Brighid, I have a problem. It seems I've been robbed. My ID, communicator, eveything....stolen." I said breathing heavily.
"Oh goodness, not a problem, just go see Klauss, he'll set you up.

Klauss Strepp had been the Hero Registrar for as long as anyone could remember. His main job is to collect all hero information for the city. Now days he mainly works with super groups and their information but in the case of a forgetful hero he could get them the proper credentials to get back out and fight crime.

"Ha ha, no problem Maden, I'll just need some civilian ID and I'll get your security card."
"Stolen, too."
"From you....really? I'd like to see the moron who did that."
"Yeah, me too."
"Not a problem, we'll just need to get a retinal scan to verify. You know security reasons. After the Praetorians started showing up we can't be too sure."
"I understand, Klauss." The Praetorians were extradimensional twins of heros from Paragon...only not the nice kind of twins. Ever since they showed up the city won't allow sight unseen clearance. He pointed what looked like a grocery store check out wand at my eyes. It beeped and he looked confused at the display.
"Hmmm, says here no matching file. Damn thing on the fritz again....Look I'll give you a minimum security badge until then...Until we can get the confounded thing working again."
"Come on Klauss, you know its me." I begged.
"Sorry Maden, you've fought em. You know how dangerous it would be if a Praetorian had level 50 clearance....Rules are rules."
I knew he was right and reluctantly took the level 1 pass. I looked down and to my horror it read Mental Maden2. He saw my reaction and was quick to retort.
"Can't use the same name. You know that. I'm sorry kid. These rules come straight from the Mayor and the Freedom Phalanx."
"I know. I know." then it occured to me. "Hey what's this I hear about Salamanca back online with the Green." (the GreenLine train went to some of Paragons higher security leveled neighborhoods)
"Oh yeah, just online today. Weird place. Lots of magic stuff going on there."

It was an idea but maybe that had something to do with my state; missing powers is usually a magical phenomenon. I headed straight to the MAGI offices to see Azuria.

"Greetings Mental Maden. What do I owe the pleasure?" she asked in her pleasant accent. I explained to her that my powers "Weren't right"; I didn't want to give too much information. That could cause serious access problems even when the computers were fixed. She explained that it was very doubtful that anything from Salamanca could have affected me but she'd be happy to look into it for me. Unfortunately they were short staffed and it would be a few days. I thanked her and went straight to the one person in the city government I could trust, Dr. St John Smythe, head of the department overseeing science related heroes. I've known him for years. He was my fathers best friend, my best friends dad, my mentor in hero training, and the man who took me in after my dad disappeared. Holding back tears, I asked to speak to him in private.

I explained in great detail what had happened, the blackout, the flight issues, the missing equipment and ID. I told him I'd seen Azuria and she was unsure of the cause. In his gentle way he hugged me and told me not to worry. He sat down at his desk and stared into nothingness for awhile deep in thought. He looked at me and asked the one thing I did not want to hear, "You don't think it's back do you?"

The words crushed me, but I had thought of it. In fact it was the first thing that came to mind. Not only were my flight powers gone. I was pretty sure they all were. Although its possible I was just having a "hiccup" of my abilities something inside felt different. But what he had asked me went beyond my mental blasts and force fields. What he asked could effect my mortality.

"I'll call Dr. Fransisco and have him see you right away. Mandy," hearing my real name made me calm, "we'll get through this. Don't worry, I'm here." He made a few phone calls and sent me to my childhood oncologist's office. Something was very wrong.