A Scripta

Masonry thought it was stupid to join a gym. He was still working on perfecting his powers, hell, even using them at will would be a good start. A new gym had opened up in Skyway City, catering to super heroes. He figured that the reason most people joined would be to primp and preen in front of each other, to show off their massively muscular bods.

He opened the door to the Super Gym (original, that), and stepped inside. He was immediately assaulted by the clean smell of the place. The young girl at the front desk looked up from her magazine and gave him a smile. “Welcome to Super Gym, can I help you?”

“I’d like to sign up,” Masonry said.

“Okay, if you could fill out this form…”

He took the form offered and sat down in the not-so-comfortable fat chairs in the lobby. He wrote his real name, left off his hero name, and filled in the other necessary demographics like his height and weight. Personal trainer gender preference: Circle one. Male Female.

Let’s play it safe. Female.

He passed the form in to the girl. “Thank you, Mr…Greene.” She picked up the pen and filled in “Anonymous” when it asked for his hero name. “Okay, let me see, I think Judy’s available in about half an hour…”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“You can take a look around if you like. We’ll page you when she’s ready.”

“Okay,” he said, and started walking around.

He had no idea what these contraptions did, but he saw men and women on them, so he assumed they were some kind of weight training machines. He didn’t wander far from the lobby, because he didn’t want to get lost. “’Scuse me,” a woman said, and jogged past him. He thought that was silly, jogging in a building.

Masonry just watched some people, not really focusing on what they were doing, when he heard his name over the intercom. He found his way back to the lobby, and saw a woman with dark hair in black Lycra. She had muscles on top of muscles, and the Lycra was cut off at the midriff to show her six-pack abs. She was better built than some of the heroes he had seen.

“Hi, I’m Judy,” she said, and shook his hand in a bear grip. “I’ll be your trainer. Did you get a chance to look around?”

“It’s a big place, I was afraid to get lost.”

She chuckled. “Okay, I’ll take you on a tour.”

They wandered the huge building, where she helpfully pointed out cardio-vascular machines, weight training machines, body measurement machines, treadmills (he knew what those were), and all sorts of machines for all different kinds of things. Stair steppers, and ellipticals, rowing machines and free weights…it was all too confusing.

Then they went downstairs, where he saw the huge pool room. He needed to buy swimming trunks…he usually swam in costume, which was waterproof.

“Does this sound like something you’d like to do?”

He looked at her. “I think so.”

“Okay, then, let’s get started.”

She referred back to his form and turned it over. “Ever have the following medical conditions…”

He answered no to every question. “What is it you want to do? What’s your goal?”

“To keep in shape.”

“Do you do heroing?”

“On the weekends.”

“Uh huh, and what’s your day job?”

“I don’t have a day job.”

“Okay…”

Masonry gave her a disarming smile. She smiled back, though it was forced. “Okay, then, let’s take a look at your body mass index. It looks like you’re at a healthy weight. Do you want to develop muscles?”

“Sure, that’ll work.”

“Or strength training, or develop more mass…”

He shrugged. “I am putty in your hands.”

She looked him over. “Right,” she said, and shook her head. Masonry wondered if she was gay.

She wrote down a few things, and gave him an index card. “Here’s a list of machines I’d like you to try. You can start with this routine, and then we can work on how things go.”

“About how long will it take?”

“Say about an hour.”

“Okay.”

“C’mon, I’ll show you what to do.”

For two hours, Masonry sat down at assorted machines and tried them out. They were harder than they looked, considering he wasn’t using any of his power to move the weights. He definitely was out of shape, as he found himself panting through the last leg of the workout. He looked up at Judy, who was smiling. You’re enjoying this, he thought with a twinge of anger.

“Good job for the first time. I’m assuming your power isn’t super strength.”

“Yeah,” he said, leaning forward on the bench.

“Even mages need to keep in shape,” she said. She turned from him. “Will you be coming back tomorrow?”

“Probably.”

“I’ll check in with you, see how you’re doing. Thanks for coming by.” She gave him a little wave and left him.

Masonry got up from the bench and glanced around the room. Yeah, Frost is gonna get a real kick out this.


Masonry returned once every other day, except on weekends. For the first week, he barely got through the workout. He enjoyed the swimming afterward and could have spent all day in the pool.

The next week, he was pausing at an incline bench, when someone came up to him. “Can you spot for me?” he asked.

Masonry looked at the blond man, broad shouldered, and very muscular. Certainly someone he would not want to tangle with. “Spot?”

“Watch me while I’m lifting. Make sure I don’t drop the bar.”

“Oh, sure.”

“Great.” The man walked away. Nice ass, Masonry thought, and shoved that thought right out of his head.

The man lay down on the bench and Masonry stood over him. He remembered seeing other people do this, so he had some sort of familiarity with it. Masonry watched the man do his repetitions, about forty, and then he set the bar back on the standards. “That looked easy,” Masonry said.

“Eight hundred pounds,” the man said with a smile, and sat up. “Danny.”

“Nathan.” They shook hands. “Super strength?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Not.”

Danny laughed. “Heh, I see, doing it the old fashioned way. Well, thanks for the help.”

“Anytime,” Masonry said and looked at the next machine he had to do. He sighed and headed over to it.

Danny was just coming out of the shower as Masonry was walking in. “Hey,” they said to each other.

“Do you come here every day around this time?” Danny asked.

“Every other day, why?”

“I need a spotter.”

“I don’t know if I could lift 800 pounds if it dropped on you.”

“I haven’t dropped it yet, but it’s house rules you have a spotter.”

“Sure, I can help you out.”

“Great. See you next time.”

Masonry nodded, watched Danny leave. He had noticed the wedding ring on his finger. Heh, lucky girl, he thought.

Masonry often spotted for Danny, and the two men got to know each other a little better. Danny was more forthcoming with his private life than Masonry. Danny was married, had two children. His day job was working as an accountant for a subsidiary of Wentworth’s, while he did his heroing at night and on weekends. He was known as Captain Strongbow, even though he didn’t carry a bow. He didn’t do anything on Sunday, “that’s the Sabbath day.”

Masonry kept quiet about his life, saying that he did a little heroing, that he was in a relationship, and he really had no day job. Damn, he thought, I need to get a job. I feel like a sponge.

One day, Danny put two extra weights on the bar bell and lay down on the bench. “I think I’m ready,” he said, and took hold of the bar.

“What is it now?” Masonry asked.

“A thousand,” Danny grunted, lifting the bar off the standards and pulling it toward him.

Masonry stood close, watching his face. He was struggling, but, like all men, he was going to force himself through it. Then Masonry saw a look of alarm pass over Danny’s face. Masonry reached down, called upon the darkness, and with one hand grabbed the bar just before Danny’s arms collapsed.

“How…”

Masonry easily lifted the bar and set it back on the standards. Danny stared at him, his eyes as wide as saucers.

“I had a little help,” Masonry said with a smile.

“Evil,” Danny said, getting up off the bench. “You’re evil!”

Masonry looked down at his hands, and saw they were smoking with the remnants of the Netherworld. If he could guess, he figured his eyes were smoking as well.

“Spawn of Satan!” Danny cried, almost hysterical. Some of the other members of the gym turned in their direction.

“Danny, there’s nothing different about me.”

“Get away from me!” Danny ran from the room. Masonry stared after him, confused. What the hell..?

Masonry glanced at the people around the room, who turned and went back to their workouts. Masonry looked at the door, still confused, and hurried through his workout. He headed to the showers, and saw Danny hurriedly packing things in a bag.

“Danny…”

“Get thee hence!” Danny yelled, making a cross symbol with his index fingers.

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting? I’m not a devil.” Not today.

“You consort with demons, you have the powers of darkness!”

“Yes,” Masonry said patiently. He wondered what Danny’s reaction would have been if he mentioned he was gay.

“I do not consort with demons. I am a God-fearing man, and believe in the power of Jesus Christ.”

“Okay, okay,” Masonry said, suddenly uncomfortable. “But using the darkness doesn’t make me evil.”

“It most certainly does. I’m sorry, but I can’t talk to you anymore.” He finished packing his bag and got up. “In fact, I probably can’t come back to this gym anymore, not while you’re here.”

“C’mon,” Masonry said, “this gym is big enough for both of us.”

Danny shoved by Masonry, avoiding touching him. “You corrupt everything you touch,” Danny said, “So goes the power of darkness.”

Oh, brother, Masonry thought, trying not to roll his eyes. “It’s in the way that you use it.”

Danny turned his back on Masonry and stormed upstairs. Masonry’s confusion gave way to anger. Well, fuck you, too.

Masonry angrily went to his locker and started loading up his bag. He seethed as he stormed up the stairs to the lobby. At the entrance to the lobby stood a huge man with his arms folded across his chest, looking menancing. He caught Masonry’s eye and called, “Mr. Greene?”

“Yeah?”

“May I speak with you a moment?”

Masonry raised an eyebrow and followed the man into the corner. The man turned to him. He had perfected the “bouncer look” and gave it to Masonry. Masonry tossed his head back defiantly. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Greene, but we’ve received some complaints about your conduct here.”

“Complaints, my ass,” Masonry snarled. “All I did was stop a barbell from crushing someone’s chest.”

“Powers such as yours are not welcome here,” the man responded in kind.

“And this is a church?”

“We have upstanding members of the community here.”

“Oh, bullshit,” Masonry growled. “It shouldn’t matter what kind of power I have. It’s not like I summon demons in the middle of the swimming pool!” He hitched up his bag and glared at the man. “Screw it.” And screw you, and your fucking gym…

Masonry stormed out of the gym. Luckily he hadn’t left anything in the locker, and he didn’t care if he did. His mind swirled with epithets and revenge.

He stopped. “Well, screw them,” he said, and headed home. The first thing he was going to do when he got home was ask Frost for a weight machine. And then he was going to look up Captain Strongbow.