Hope of Morning (open)

It had been a few years now, but it still didn’t get easier to deal with everything he’d been through. There hadn’t been any alien invasions he’d been caught up in, no getting caught between idols and family, who were labelled as villains and no there were no more deaths of friends or parents as a result. His life had been very different since he’d stopped being part of a superhero team. Billy Kaplan’s life was definitely not what any normal teenager’s had been like.

He probably would have been doing a bit better if he hadn’t just stopped speaking to most of his old team, but he’d figured it was safer if they went their separate ways. He didn’t want to risk losing anyone else; he didn’t think he could take it. The only reason Billy thought he’d recovered from the depression he’d fallen into back when the team had split was because of his boyfriend despite going through problems of their own along the way. Billy was actually surprised they’d managed to stay together as long as they had.  

He was not far off 25 now and was living as close to a normal life as someone with powers could…or at least as normal as possible for anyone related to the infamous Maximoff family in any way.
While his depression wasn’t completely gone, Billy at least went outside and actually smiled now, compared to when he’d first developed it back before he was even 18. He was normal for the most part, but occasionally he slipped back into his dark moods. He’d been trying his best to keep himself busy to prevent it happening, which was helped mostly by his boyfriend and his new apprenticeship.

A few weeks ago, Billy had been picked up as an apprentice by the man known as Doctor Strange. The man had offered to help train Billy years ago, but the young superhero had turned him down at the time.

That’s where he was now; Billy was just leaving Dr Strange’s, still in his superhero outfit after practicing using the magic side of his powers with the Sorcerer.

Lucky walked down the street talking to his phone, thanks to being a technopath it was like his phone and other things had a mind of it's own. Being the lone Meta in his family was rough on Lucky, ever since he had been young he had been different and while his family loved him he couldn't help but feel like he was on the outside sometimes.

He had his best friend Ethan though, true Ethan was completely normal and they had only became friends because Ethan was assigned as his hander for Checkmate. But Ethan had quickly became his closest friend and he understood that the whole Checkmate life was a little hard on Lucky sometimes, he could though be a little over protective though.

"No I will not say I'm sorry for not telling him I was going to the vending machine CP..." He huffed at his phone which he had dubbed as CP, not realizing it looked strange when the phone wasn't even near an ear. "We were in the building it wasn't like I was going to be the cause of a fight in the span of five minutes... It would at least take six to seven..." He sighed. "Fine CP... I'll call in an hour..." He stopped as he bumped into another young man.

Billy was only half paying attention as he left Dr Strange's, focused on remembering what he'd just learned. He heard someone talking, but didn't realise how close they were to him until their shoulders knocked each other's. Out of habit, Billy quickly jumped back; his red cloak flapping a bit as he moved. He tensed as if he was expecting a fight to start, though instead of raising his hands to prepare for a fight, he nervously brushed a hand through his dark hair instead.

"Oh, um sorry... I didn't mean t-" Billy started before realising there was only one person. "...who were you talking to?"

Lucky jumped back nervously, surely he wasn't getting into a fight outside of his work. Ethan would never let him live it down if he did, he'd probably threaten with the giant bubble again. "So sorry sir..." He started before stopping at his question, he had heard him talking to CP. "Oh well... I was talking to my cell phone... Wait I mean talking on... Talking to would be not possible... And rather silly...." Lucky rambled nervously.

"Oh come on, really?" As he listened to the man, Billy couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head. "Do you really think I'm someone who'd freak about something that's 'impossible'?" He asked, gesturing to his outfit before tugging on the hood of his red cloak that shadowed his face.
He figured the outfit suggested he wasn't 'normal'. He didn't know anyone who was lived a quiet life who dressed like he was.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking; how were you talking to it?"

"I suppose not, but one cannot be too sure." Lucky answered before giving a friendly smile and answering his second question. "I have a power called Technopathy, it means I can control about any machine and I can talk to the smarter machines like computers and cell phones." He felt like the young man wouldn't freak out about it like his co-workers, though he figured he shouldn't make a habit of telling people.

"I guess not." Billy replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He listened to the other male with a curious expression. "Technopathy? I've heard of it before, but never seen it, that's cool!" He said, grinning. Despite being older than when he started as a hero, Billy wasn't really much more mature and still went 'fanboy' when he met new people with powers.

"Its an interesting power to have, but I suppose it's not considered one of the greater powers out there. I think it suits me though and how I as a person am." Lucky said as he smiled at the other powered human.

"Well that depends on how you look at it I guess." Billy replied, shrugging. "Some people say it's the power that shapes the personality. My grandfather certainly thinks so; but mostly because his power led to events that changed his personality..." He added, frowning slightly. He didn't dare mention the name of his grandfather, knowing from experience that it usually drove people away from him; or led to them trying to use him and his powers for their own purposes.

"Hey, I think technopathy's pretty cool. I could tell my video games to never freeze on me." He chuckled, purposely changing the subject from his family.

"I kinda use it to keep my game system from losing or corrupting my save files, stopping freezing is always a good thing too though." Lucky smiled with a soft a laugh, it was nice to be so open about his powers.

"Yeah that'd help a lot," Billy said with a smile. "Always sucks when that happens. I suppose technically I could just change things so that games never had the issue but I don't really trust my power enough for that..."

Lucky smiled, "I think I drive my best friend crazy with my powers sometimes, but they come in handy."

"I'm lucky I don't drive myself crazy with mine," Billy sighed. "But yeah, like you said; they come in handy. I bet you'd have no problem with a job as a computer tech...or anything involving that stuff really."