Jahck awoke much later in the morning.  It didn't seem like a lot of sleep.  The dreams were mostly about clouds moving in rapid sequence like those movies that skip over days at a time by showing stop frame speed ups of a horizon.  Jahck saw clear skies then cloudy skies then rain and fog and finally after a few days had passed it would snow again.

Jahck was able to stumble through his place and brush his teeth, fix his hair, use the restroom and get some breakfast in silence.  The events of the night before played in his mind, and he knew that he had to find something else to do today other than go to work, because he couldn't.

Jahck decided the mall was a good place to go to relax and get his thoughts straight. He jumped in the shower scrubbed down, shaved his five o'clock shadow that way his goatee would look more civilized, got dressed, and hopped into his truck headed for good times.

While Adena Gorge didn't have a Mall, all it meant was that it afforded him the opportunity to get out of town.  The Meadowbrook Mall in Clarksburg would give him plenty to see as he walked around.  It may take an hour and a half to get to but being in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia, one got used to that kind of distance to travel.

Still early on a Saturday, or before noon in other words, the mall was mostly occupied by mall walkers and the small groups of teens with next to little to do all day who came to hang out.  As he stepped in the door he relaxed ten fold. Window shopping always relaxed Jahck. He decided to do the normal rounds to his favorite stores first, as was habit. Hot Topic was the first on his route so he headed towards the easily noticed entrance.

The store was vacant of customers, almost completely devoid of life except for the girl behind the counter.  She was thin almost athletic looking with bright red hair and too dark eye makeup.  She glances up briefly upon Jahck's entrance revealing the whites of her eyes and then goes back to reading something behind the counter.  The music over the intercom is non-standard Hot topic material, sounding slightly darker than usual, but the merchandise and the lighting were all the same.

Jahck headed straight towards the clearance section. There was usually some good deals and nice clothes on clearance. Sifting through the clothes he decided there wasn't much of interest. Jahck decided to browse the rest of the store for new merchandise. Hot topic seemed have caught the buzz about the superpowers that have mysteriously hit the underground news and are hoting all sorts of dark versions of Image, DC, and Marvel characters.  This is intermingled with the normal mix of rehashing the old with updated flair like crosses that bear the symbol of the green lantern in the middle or piercings with the lightning bolt of the flash or superman.

"Is there anything I can help you find?" the girl behind the counter said without looking up.  Jahck could take a quick look around to see that he was still alone in the store and she wasn't wearing an earpiece so she must have been talking to him.

"Actually I was wondering if you had any shirts with some sort of stone heroes other than 'The Thing'?" Jahck asked as he sorted through the multitude of shirts and jackets.

"No, but you can hit up some one De Es stuff along the back wall.  After the Dome of Peace was completed he hit a popular period now they are on clearance however."  A stylized t-shirt of "Freedom" catches Jahck's eye.  The woman closes what sounds like a book and put it on the counter and hops off a stool.  Coming near Jahck she is a few inches shorter than he is but smells like an orange orchid.  She pulls out a box down below the shorts and opens the cardboard lid.  More t-shirts are revealed, "2 for one deal if you want it.  What's your size?"  She smiles.

Surprised by how much he liked her smile, Jahck was caught of guard by the question. This caused him to pause a little longer than normal and made him realize just how fast the conversational atmosphere can change. "Well medium fits the best but if there is a bigger shirt it will still fit." Jahck said as he rubbed the back of his neck more nervous than he had reason to be.

The woman carefully checked the tags of the shirts and pulled one aside then checked the others until she had two.  Both medium sized, one bearing a screen-printed "Freedom" on the front and the other bearing a collection of stones with the vertical label of "Order" beside it.  "Order's a good one too, even though I'm not a fan of De Es.  I'm more of a Pollock fan myself with a little Mondrian mixed in."  The woman's eyes up close are a rich brown.  The color of her irises and the white surrounding them is only made more brilliant by the dark make-up.  "What do you say, Stone Hero.  A little culture over kitsch?"

Another pair of customers walk into the store.  The tall teenage boys have purposely greasy bad hair cuts with askew hats and baggy clothing.  They seem to be talking amongst themselves about some game online and flipping through shirts.

Smiling a little at her comment Jahck continues the conversation playfully. "Culture wins out for sure but all kitsch has root in culture and you never know they could be onto something with this new super hero craze." Jahck says as he chuckles lightly.

"No way," she adopts a wry smile dubiously, "Superheroes are only found in comic books.  Weird events have been a part of our culture from time immemorial.  It's just another fad that will pass or devolve to a mass of frenzied crazies who have nothing better to do but try to build up an alternate history of the world.  Like Bigfoot hunters or Anthropologist who search only for the Missing Link."  She stands and looks over at the boys who are laughing amongst themselves while flipping through posters.

"We should be focused on real heroes, icons of the mind through the ages who have truly given us something.  Cantor, Pascal, Gauss. But," she sighs, "If this were three thousand years ago, t-shirts probably would have bore Hercules instead of Pythagoras."

"On the other hand others would debate, and since others are not present I shall hold their debate, that all imaginary figures throughout time have in some way represented the heroes that as you say truly deserve our focus." Jahck argued just for the sake of argument. "Heroes with super speed for example are just a beefed up representation of the real guy that got where he was needed most in just the nick of time and saved someone in the process. Granted most of the super heroes are just plain shenanigans but the few that represent the real heroes are what makes the difference." Jahck smiled playfully as he completed his rock solid argument.

She humphs, "except that heroes of the mind, inventors, mathematicians, scientist aren't represented like those who accomplish through physicality.  Let's face it, Jean Grey won't be on a t-shirt or poster unless it's in a skimpy bikini."  She takes a stance that seems to mimic those of the skimpy bikini clad models and Jahck gets the distinct impression that she could fill in those modeling shoes if she so chose.  She doesn't chose to, but she doesn't go in the complete opposite direction either as to ignore her sexuality. 

"Hey, Hey!" one of the boys says as another couple of kids come into the store.  The first two are moving quick around stands and shirts and the counter obvious in flight from the other two, then three.  There is some hostility in the air immediately and a rack of clothes gets thrown aside.  The woman beside Jahck only mutters, "What the?" before screaming, "Get the hell out of here!" to the hooligans wrecking the store in their mad pursuit of the first two youths.

Jahck reaches out and grabs the two closest pursuers by the neck of their shirts halting their forward momentum in one solid lurch. "Why don't you take your issues elsewhere? That is after you help put this store back in order." Jahck says in a tone shockingly deeper than usual as he makes eye contact with the third boy.

The strength is unexpected as one of the two grabbed immediately turns and clocks Jahck, knocking him solidly to the side.  Jahck's hold is strong on the second boy but the one who punched him slipped from Jahck's grip.  Jahck and the other boy fall against a rack of clothes and knock the woman back.  Jahck feels the tingling first in his hand.  The section of the floor, devoid of carpeting, or ceramic made to look like rock, was bare concrete.  His hands first took on the substance.  Gray, solid, heavy, and firm but flexible.  Jahck felt the slow climb of the tingling sensation as the guy he still had a hold of picked himself up off the floor and sought to haul Jahck to his feet in order to clock his again with a smile.  Part of Jahck came up under the lurch of the muscular youth but Jahck's arm stayed on the floor until he pushed it up under his own strength.

The two youths blocked from the exit by a fourth who stood in the way, turned and launched a close rack at the third pursuer who paid little attention to Jahck's command.  They made their way to the back room but the one who had punched Jahck had already made his way there and blocked their escape.  Jahck's arm but now solid concrete and the tingling rushed into his neck and face on that side of his body as well as his leg and chest.  It wasn't an instant change but Jahck felt the change taking over his body.  It felt cool in both senses of the word.

Anger and adrenaline, over powering Jahck's fear of what was happening to his own body, kicked in and Jahck went into motion. Jahck grabs the individual still close to him as he gets his footing steady and shoves him into his friend blocking the exit. Jahck launched the one thug into his compatriot at the exit of the store with a strength he did not possess before.  The boy practically flew through the air striking the other and they both went down hard leaving the exit open. Turning to the pursuer that struck him, with a furry deep in his eyes. Jahck pauses for an instant, calming himself and making eye contact, to see if the woman was badly injured.

The woman was fine and she was wide-eyed as she stared at the now gray skinned Jahck, "They are real," she says.    The first two boys who were the ones being pursued didn't waste any time skirting the third and making towards the front of the store to escape.  They looked over their shoulder and saw Jahck and were a little wide-eyed and doubled their efforts.  The third who stood in the back looked suitably shocked and darted towards the far side of the store to escape.

Jahck cut off his escape route and glared directly into the punk's eye. "You ARE going to straighten this store up. Aren't you?" Jahck bellowed not giving him any real options at this point.

"Yeah! Yeah!"  the kid is scared and sets up one rack hastily then a second but dives through it at the last moment and runs from the store double time.  He clearly had experience running away from the scene of a crime.

"That was amazing!" the woman says standing next to the counter ignoring the store and staring at the grey-skinned Jahck.  "A real life superhero, not some internet rumor or mocked up news story.  I'm," she pauses and laughs, a light chuckle with what might be a blush beneath her dark make-up, "I'm Jean Grey.  Not the superhero."

An old lady mall-walker pauses in front of the store briefly before continuing on.

Jahck ducks down below one of the back racks so no more people can see him from the store entrance. "I need a hoodie fast." He says a little harsh looking at Jean, from the edge of the rack, and then adds with a light-hearted smile, "please." While Jahck is waiting he looks down at his hands a little freaked out and tries to calm his heart beat and relax like he had seen done a thousand times in the movies.

Relaxing at the moment seemed a little tough.  Jean threw a random hoodie at Jahck.  The hoodie was dark gray with stone skulls carved into a mountain like a deathly version of Mount Rushmore.  "It's either that or a pink punk rock hello kitty."  She whispered as if some secret was being held from the rest of the mall all of a sudden.  How long have you been this way?"  She ducked down and picked up a rack which suddenly half the clothing fell off of but she ignored it and went to another that had fallen into a rack of Invader Zim posters.

"As tempting as hello kitty would be at this point I think this jacket will work just fine," Jahck said as the thought of him wearing anything pink or hello kitty made him laugh. He threw the jacket on over his head and it fit just the way he liked them to, loose and long. "I wouldn't be able to say for sure how long I have been this way but I just found out about it yesterday. Believe it or not I would be laying at the end of a stream dead of a gun shot to the chest if whatever this is hadn't kicked in just as the bullet hit me last night. I don't know how it works just yet but I think it has something to do with actually touching rock or stone. So how bout them super heroes?" Jahck said with a grin from ear to ear remembering her skepticism in their earlier conversation.

She pauses and stands up looking at him, at first confused but she softens as his statement dawns on her.  She says, "Maybe I have been convinced to change my mind on that topic.  At least for the present company."  She sets a rack upright and straightens a shelf of accessories.  A mall cop wanders into the entrance of the store and looks around.  "Jean?  This the guy who ripped up your store?"

"Do you think I'd be standing here with him if he was?  He is just a customer.  The boys that did this ran in made their mess and ran back out.  They are likely in the food court yucking it up.  I need to get things back in order.  I'll fill out a report later.  Let the offices know that I may need to close to straighten up.  Last thing we need is a fine for the damage caused by others."

The mall cop grumbled but took a quick look around, pausing a second on Jahck, and then moved on.  "For once it's actually a good thing that the mall cops take forever to respond." Jahck whispers to Jean softly as he laughs and helps pick up the store.

Jean and Jahck slowly get the store back into a semblance of order with clothes still lying all about in weird places.  "Damn kids.  I know at least I never acted like that."  Jahck thought at least once that he saw one of the kids walking on the opposite side of the mall looking into the store.  In the course of picking up the racks and throwing clothes in appropriate directions, he saw his hands slowly return to normal.  His fingertips the last to change back to their fleshy hue.  He was able to take the hood down to rest on his shoulders.  Jean had taken the Twilight soundtrack out of the store radio and popped in some Sex Pistols while they worked.

When it got to a point in which she could handle the rest, she opened the store up and switch Sex Pistols back to the hot movie soundtrack of the moment.  "Thanks, Jahck.  I appreciate all the help.  What brought you to the mall today?  Hoping to thwart evil and do other comic book kind of things?"

Jahck laughed heartily at Jeans comment, "The exact opposite actually. I was hoping the familiar environment would relax me so I could think of what to do next." Jahck paused for a moment, "Doesn't seem like that's going to work at all." He finished still chuckling.

"Well, what do you want to do?  You have this awesome ability and presumably others like you.  Because if you are real, what's to say that you are indeed the only one, given all the reports that have been out since the beginning of the year.  Some are bunk and some are simply not explained.  There has to be others like yourself.  And you know that you can turn into concrete or stone or something.  Can you fly, teleport, breath fire, or do anything else?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, playful in a way, like a kid at Christmas hidden beneath a dreary Goth exterior,  "Of course maybe you just want to ignore the whole gift entirely, like that woman who could could talk to dogs but never told anyone except her dog."

Jahck continues laughing as he listens to Jean. "I think it would be harder to hide than Ms. Dog Whisperer's ability and no I don't want to hide but I also don't want to get snuffed like a lot of the people popping in and out of the news." Jahck pauses momentarily to think then continues more playful, "I think I can fly but I was saving my test jump for after beating up mall punks."

"That's some planning.  Mall Punks check, now soar little birdie, just don't fall like a rock."  Jean Grey scoops up large piles of clothing and tosses them in a bin.  A second employee comes in, a thin mostly androgynous male, with eye make-up and fingernail polish looks around. 

"Holy shit!" he says loud enough.  "What happened here, Jean?"

"Mall punks and more mall punks.  Tore the place up in a fight and then bolted.  So now we are left with the aftermath.  That's Scotch," Jean names the male who goes to the cash register and logs in to be on the clock then proceeds to pull out some kind of standing steamer and dealing with the shirts one at a time to re-hang the lot.

"Sorry I missed it," he says as he plugs in some headphones and tunes out as he works.  Some potential customers walk in and look around and then walk back out.

Jean looks at Jahck and then looks around and sighs.  "Well, I guess, back to the day job.  Excitement's over.  Well some of it."  She makes believe that she has a camera and snaps a fake picture of Jahck and then starts cleaning up in earnest.

"well I guess I will buy this hoddie and that rock hero shirt. Since he IS a fictional character he's gonna' need a fan base." Jahck says as he approaches the counter.

"They're covered, thanks for the help," Jean says, refusing to take any payment for the items.  "I think if he's the only visible public hero, his fan base will be huge.  Just don't follow the example of Will Smith in Hancock."  Jean picks up a pile of clothes and starts to hang them one at a time.  Jahck's time at the HotSpot had come to a close.  The mall was beginning to pick up and more than the average punk or mall walker was circulating the halls.  People from the area were wandering, buying, socializing.  A pair of families stopped not far from the store to talk loudly and animatedly to one another discussing plans for future holidays and the like while kids wandered off bored to nearby stores.

The punks that had invaded the HotSpot early in the day were definitely missing from the mall before long.  The police were unamused and more alert.  Other mall store employees eyed youth with a measure of apprehension for the rest of the day.

Having an idea Jahck heads over to the jewelry store and gets the attention of one of the store clerks.

The clerk doesn't take much beckoning.  He is over quickly, "Welcome to Kay's, sir.  What can I help you find today?"

"Yes, I am looking for the most durrable stone on the market. I need something that can withstand extreme heat, extreme cold, high pressures, sudden impacts, and that sort of abuse." Jahck thinks for a second then adds, "the metal used with the ring isn't that important."

The clerk looks up for a second thinking about the question.  "Well, most people associate diamonds with the most durable, but I tend to think that Moissanite is superior.  It's a much more rare mineral than diamonds, often associated only with meteorites.  Some think that it doesn't even occur naturally, but," he beckons Jahck over to a display case containing emeralds and rubies.  Then he reaches below the case and brings out a smaller case and opens it up.  "It does occur naturally but we don't have any.  This is all synthetic Moissanite. Here is an attractive ring a square cut set in a platinum band.  It's more refractive and can take a hit better than a diamond if you're active.  But if you are thinking about something for the lady in your life, then I might suggest,"  Here he holds up a white gold ring with a swirl and three sparkling diamond looking stones.  He twists it slightly one way and then the other to show how the light jumps through the stone easily.

"I like the look of that. It's called Moissanite is it?" Jahck says as he examines the stone set in platinum. "How much  would this ring set me back?" Jahck asked the clerk as he looks at the ring closer, admiring its brilliance and fire.

The clerk allows Jahck to try it on hoping that a limited term possession would entice the buyer.  "This is priced at 3000 but I could probably knock off a hundred or two, throw in a service plan."  The clerks name tag reads Joseph.  It clicks off as he leans down and pulls out a selection of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds from below the display case.  he fumbles with his name tag briefly before magnetically snapping it back into place and straightening it.  "Of course if you are looking for something a bit more traditional..."

"You think we could work an a hundred dollar a month plan with no interest for the first year?" Jahck says in his most persuasive and smooth voice trying not to let the shock of the price show in his body language or his voice. "Traditions really aren't my style. I am more of a first person to do anything kind of guy and this ring would accent my style. As an added bonus I would be advertising your company. Anywhere I go people will see the ring and wonder where I got it and where they can get one too. As on salesman to another you know how everyone just has to keep up with the Johnsons so to speak." Jahck continues to play to the salesman's personality, building an empathy between them.

"If you sign up for our credit card.  It'll only take a second to process, and based on your credit we can see what happens there.  Sometimes you can get a good plan that way and pay what you want so long as it's greater than the minimum."  The clerk seems to be trying to call his bluff.  He lets the advertising comment slide for the moment allowing the potential of a new credit card to sink in.  In the end it may seem like the clerk could knock off some cash on the top and allow him to walk away with it so long as he didn't push his luck.

"Sounds like a plan" says Jahck as he glances at the ring contemplating the possibilities that could become reality if his hunch was right. He also contemplates the huge dent in his wallet this endeavor would create.  The application process was simple enough.  As Jahck finished it and handed it over to the clerk to process in a separate terminal he said, "It'll take five to ten minutes.  Sometimes not even that."  Jahck would probably have the time to kill, especially since his cell phone suddenly went off filling his immediate space with the selected tune.

Jahck reaches into his pocket wondering who it could be on the other end of the line. No names came to mind as he flipped open his phone and placed it to his ear. "Hello?..." Jahck said into the device skeptically.

Brice heard the answer and spoke with an authoritative but friendly tone.

"Mr. Wolfe?  This is Sgt. Brice Jennings from Baltimore County Police Department.  I was hoping to speak with you about what happened last night at the Cavern.  I am in Clarksburg now, not too far from Adena Gorge.  Is there somewhere we can meet?"

"I can meet you in the food court of the mall in Clarksburg as soon as I finish up what I am doing at the jewelry store if that is ok with you." Jahck replies to the officer in a calm respectful manner.

"The Meadowbrook Mall?  I happen to be there right now.  I really appreciate it Mr. Wolfe.  I will explain when I see you.  I have something to do first as well, though.  In about an hour?  You should be able to recognize me pretty easily.  I will be the one carrying a brown briefcase and a Sears bag.  I will meet you there."

"Sounds good sir, see you in an hour." Jahck says as he hangs up the phone and turns his focus back to waiting on the store clerk. What could the police want from him that he hadn't already told them? Jahck wondered. Could they have found a flaw in his story? Maybe something at the scene that disproves his alibi? No it's not possible, Jahck thought, I went over every possible detail in my head at least a hundred times before I talked to anyone. Jahck sat and pondered this deeply as he waited.

Jahck was starting to get impatient waiting on the store clerk to run his credit. He was driving himself insane trying to think of what the officer needed to talk to him about.   After a full ten minutes the clerk returns with a smile.  "I apologize.  The lines were down for some reason and so I had to call the company and be put on hold, but the details you probably aren't interested in.  The credit line was approved for 6000.  While I waited I located a special that went with opening a credit line with us so that the ring with a service plan would run with tax and everything 2616.74.  I would just need you to sign here, here, and here and you can walk out of here with the ring on your finger, Mr. Wolfe."

"That's the best news I've had in the past 24 hours," Replied Jahck, laughing at what only he found amusing. Jahck signs the three places the clerk pointed too and stands up eager to be done with all this waiting around.