Prelude to a New Society (Preview)
STARK Expo, New York City, January 20, 2024
“Wesley, c’mon, it’s not like you’ve got a date or something. Hurry up with the hair gelling or you’re going to miss the bus.”
15-year-old Wesley Zhao sighed as he adjusted his hair, recently cut to a short-tapered style, for the last time before exiting the bathroom of the STARK Expo East Wing, his 25-year-old step-brother, Officer Randell Zhao of the NYPD, standing outside with his arms folded.
“You know, being a bit more patient might actually get you a girlfriend for once,” Wesley commented.
“Screw that. I’ve enough heartbreaks for a lifetime.”
“Sure about that? You were getting all nervous when Detective North showed up at our house last month and kept trying to talk to you.”
“Yeah, real funny, me getting the hots for my twin sister’s trigger-happy college friend,” Randell retorted
“I thought that shit always happens on police procedure dramas.”
“Well, this ain’t One Chicago, Wesley. Besides, I’m not interested in older women,” Randell added.
“She’s only two years older than you and Tina.”
Randell sighed. He was on stand-by duty as STARK Expo hosted the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Avengers, the world’s greatest superhero team, with the expo’s halls filled with displays and memorabilia of the Avengers’ past adventures and accomplishments.
It was Tina who had convinced Randell to bring Wesley along after learning of the latter’s interest in tales of the Black Panther of Wakanda, and Wesley got lucky: He currently had in his bag an English-translated high fantasy novel written by one of Wakanda’s most famous writers, given to him personally by the Black Panther himself, King T'Challa, who was present at the expo as part of a diplomatic visit, because…
“Seriously, how the hell did you manage to impress the Black Panther himself?” Randell asked, forcefully changing the subject so that Wesley would stop teasing him.
“I pointed out some errors on a display stand about Wakanda’s history in front of King T’Challa. I thought I offended him, but he laughed and said I had a sharp eye to notice such minute errors, then he asked about my interests and how much I know about Wakanda,” Wesley replied.
“Ha, I guess some good does come out of being a history nerd…”
“Wes!”
“What the-”
Randell nonchalantly moved out of the way, allowing Wesley to be ambushed by a female Pakistani teen around his age with long, messy hair who gave him a friendly shove.
“Kamala?”
“Of course it’s me! Unless you’re looking for the VP of America…”
Kamala Khan, who was the same age as Wesley, was the first friend Wesley made since he moved to the United States following his mother’s marriage to his stepfather, although this only happened three years after Wesley’s arrival as he spent that time living in Tulsa before moving to Jersey City. Unlike the introverted Wesley who steers clear of trouble, Kamala was more outgoing and had a strong interest in New York’s superhero community. However, Wesley and Kamala had unexpectedly formed a strong bond and Kamala was quite upset when the Zhao Family had to move to New York City just last year following his stepfather’s promotion and transfer to FDNY as Deputy Assistant Chief (Wesley’s step-siblings were already living in New York by then due to their jobs).
“What are you doing he- Wait, no, let me guess: You thought Captain Marvel would be here and convinced your parents to bring you to STARK Expo?”
“Er, no, actually,” Kamala replied, “My parents actually voluntarily brought me to the Expo this time around. And is that all you’ve got to ask me when we’ve not seen each other for a year?”
“Specifically speaking, we moved to NYC in June 2021, and since it’s January 2022, it’s only eight months-”
“It’s still a year to me! Oh, and I heard your parents moved into the apartment building right beside the Ghostbusters Headquarters?” And you never even told me? I’ve always wanted to visit that firehouse!” Kamala complained as she grabbed Wesley’s collar and shook him while the latter looked completely disengaged and was just letting his head sway around limply.
“You being a geek, I thought you’ve already been in there.”
“Well, I’ve not.”
“Fine, I’ll find a date where we can both go explore it a bit.”
“You’ve not been into it?”
“I’ve walked past it a lot of times but never really went in for a peek.”
“Well, then, I’ll leave Wesley under your care, Kamala. Time for me to get back to the ambulance before my partner thinks I’ve gone AWOL or something,” Randell said as he quickly left with a mischievous grin, leaving Wesley cursing internally since Randell knew about his secret three-year crush on Kamala, feelings he never acted on out of respect for Kamala’s close relationship with her childhood friend Bruno Carelli.
“Why do I have a suspicious feeling about the real reason he just left?” Kamala asked.
“He always do this when he knows I’m going to be left alone with a female friend… Grown-ass adult behaving like a high-schooler,” Wesley grumbled.
“Huh, well, that’s kind of a good thing, no?”
“How’s raising my anxiety a good thing? Actually, I’m so used to your presence, I’m not getting the usual tongue-tied speech inpediment… So, how’s things back at Coles Academic?”
“Adraina’s being her usual thundercloud self, Nadia’s being stricter that before. Bruno’s getting a lot of attention from schools like the University of Wakanda and MIT...” Kamala replied as she and Wesley sat down on a nearby bench.
“Zoe and Josh still harassing you?”
Kamala’s face fell a little as she nodded.
“You’ll think a culture trip to our mosque would have changed them, but they only found new ways to make jokes at my expense.”
“Maybe I should have a second fist-to-mouth talk with Josh…”
“What? No! You already almost got expelled once! I’ve got a way to deal with them, so don’t you worry!”
“How so?”
“I may or may not have accidentally left the medals of the school’s swim team in Josh and Zoe’s lockers. Both are still being hunted by the entire swim team,” Kamala confessed, prompting a chuckle from Wesley as she continued, “Anyways, what’s been going on with you? I mean, Midtown High’s pretty well-known for their high-rate of graduates entering Ivy League universities…”
“Well, there’s this guy in my class, Peter Parker. Kind of a nerd at first, then I found out he’s damn good at basketball. We’re good friends now, but he’s got the worst luck I’ve ever seen. Guy can’t catch a break…”
“How bad is his luck?”
“Got bitten by a spider, had some kind of allergic reaction and was hospitalized for a month. Finally came back to school only to find out his crush has entered a relationship with his best friend, then he finds out he lost his chance at early admittance to MIT to some girl from Chicago due to his hospitalization… All that happened in a span of six months.”
“Wow, that’s just sucks.”
“On the bright side, I may or may not have helped set him up with another classmate. Hope those two find a way to work it out.”
“Ha, this is new! Never knew Wesley Zhao is capable of playing match-maker.”
“Yeah, real funny… Where’s your parents, by the way?”
“Went off to do some New York shopping, said they’ll be back by three to pick me up. They were mentioning about your application for American citizenship hitting a snag.”
“Nah, not a snag. More like a minor inconvenience. My parents missed the cut-off age to renounce my citizenship for me so I have to wait until I’m twenty-one. Also means I have to serve National Service when the time comes. Majulah Singapura, I guess…”
“Yeah, I can so totally imagine you in a military uniform already.”
“It’s not necessary military. Two of my cousins back in Singapore did their National Service as a police officer and a firefighter respectively. Personally, I’m kinda hoping that I get to do my NS with the Air Force- What’s that sound?”
“That’s S.H.I.E.L.D.’s city-wide alarm,” Kamala said as she stood up, looking around in fear as he recognized the shrill alarm that was going through the entire city, with guests at the Expo already starting to evacuate, “That’s not good.”
“We better go, then-”
Wesley was cut off by something huge smashing through the roof of the Expo, sending the guests and staff into a panic. Grabbing Kamala by her hand, Wesley raced for the nearest exit where he could make out Randell and the other cops trying to evacuate as many people as possible, but then another object crashed down in front of them, sending debris raining down all over the two teenagers as Wesley and Kamala fell to the ground covering their heads.
“Shit, we’re trapped,” Wesley muttered as he looked up to see that they were surrounded by twisted metal frames, shattered glass windows and broken concrete chunks.
“What is this thing?” Kamala asked as she pointed at the pod-like object that had crashed through the ceiling which had also landed right in front of them.
“Don’t touch it, Kamala, it might be-”
A hissing sound was heard, and a huge amount of green gas suddenly emitted from the pod, instantly covering both Wesley and Kamala. Wesley immediately covered his mouth and nose, but then noticed that there was no odour or discomforting effects from the gas. However, when he turned to Kamala, he was horrified to see her suddenly collapsing to the floor as green webbing began forming around her body.
Completely disregarding his own safety, Wesley rushed over and tried to tear Kamala free, but the webbing continued binding her no matter how much he tore off until she was completely cocooned, causing a panicked Wesley to start screaming for his brother, by now on the other side of the Expo trying to find Wesley while getting as many people to safety as he could. Meanwhile, the pod that had been containing the gas started swaying dangerously before the tell-tale creaking sound indicated that it was going to fall…
Except it was also clear that it would falling towards both Wesley and the cocooned Kamala.
“Crap crap crap crap crap…” Wesley muttered in fear as he tried to pull Kamala out of the way, but whatver the substance that kept her in a cocoon was, it had also adhered to the ground and no matter how haard Wesley pulled, it will not budge at all.
The pod finally gave way, with Wesley looking in horror as what he estimated to be at least half a ton of alien metal came crashing down upon them. Losing himself in a panic, he instinctively swung his arm upwards while throwing his own body over Kamala, unaware that a strange energy in the form of aquamarine-coloured electricity was crackling all over his arm…
“Wesley! Wesley, where are you?” Randell shouted as he ran through the field of debris looking for his younger brother, a fire extinguisher in his hands.
Randell and his partner were about to leave the Expo when reports of Terrigen bombs stolen from the Inhuman city of Attilan were being dropped upon various cities around the world by the international Nazi terrorist organization HYDRA. The news came just two minutes before three Terrigen bombs fell upon the STAR Expo, and upon discovering that both his stepbrother and his friend were not amongst the evacuees, Randell went rushing back into the Expo despite his colleagues attempts to stop him.
“Wes!” Randell yelled, but got no response, instead find a member of the Expo’s staff trapped under a fallen stage lighting frame whom he quickly freed and re-directed to the exit. Not long after, Randell found a young child alone near a collapsed vending machine and handed him over to a security guard who had been looking for survivors.
“Goddamned shit, Wesley, where the hell are you?” Randell muttered under his breath, fearing the worst had happened as he slowly made his way deeper into the Expo when he heard a faint cry for help which he recognized as Wesley’s.
“Wesley? Hang on, I’m on my way.”
The voice was coming from a crater surrounded by debris and one of the Terrigen bombs just a few metres in front of him, and Randell realized that the Terrigen Bomb was starting to sway back and forth. He broke into a run, but the Terrigen bomb suddenly fell over into the crater, causing Randell to panic for exactly one second only to see the bomb being mysteriously blasted aside while aquamarine energy sizzled in the air.
“What the hell?” Randell exclaimed at the sight of the half-ton Terrigen bomb being knocked away before coming to his senses and approaching the crater.
The sight of the two unconscious teens, with Wesley, his right arm bruised and bloodied, cradling Kamala, partially covered in remains of an unknown substance, in a protective manner, caused Randell to drop his extinguisher, wondering in horror if he was too late, but then a slight movement on Wesley’s chest caused him to practically jump down into the crater without checking for hazards, quickly feeling for their pulses and confirming that they were both alive before letting out a sigh of relief as he pulled out his two-way radio.
“Daniel, I’ve got two kids near the Howard Stark Memorial Monument, require medical attention ASAP.”
“Paramedics en route. Did you find your brother?”
“Yeah. He’s one of the kids I mentioned… He’s injured, and his friend’s covered in some kind of unknown substance… Maybe get a Hazmat team down here as well. I’ve seen some of these unknown science-y substances hurt guys like Hulk and Thor before, best no one touches it…”
As Randell put down his radio, he did not notice that one of Kamala’s arms have become longer than the other but was slowly retracting back to normal length.
In fact, neither of the two teenagers, after waking up from and being discharged from the hospital before bidding farewell and returning home with their respective families, would realize that this would be the day their lives take an unexpected turn…