The Gathering, Part Two

Svetlana wasn't fond of the ski mask over her face, but she understood the neccesity. They didn't want anyone connecting her to Mr. Hammond, after all. That was also the reason for the skin-tight leather she was wearing. It was Necro's idea, and not one that Svetlana liked. Clearly, Necro was still into women.

GoldenEye walked behind the two women. Necro carried the grenade launcher, while Svetlana carried a pair of handguns. So far, the only people she'd shot were a pair of security guards, but that's only because the grenade to the front of the building had taken care of getting the rest of the people to stay down.

Too bad, too. It's taking the fun out of this, if you could call this fun..

She stepped out of the way as GoldenEye walked ahead of her and Necro. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for your calm fright, you're making this a lot easier than it needs to be." He placed a hand on each womans' shoulder. "These are my associates, Necro and Port." Svetlana hated the name, but it was the one GoldenEye had asked for in the first place. "I'm afraid you won't be experiencing Necro's wonderful gift today, she'll simply be holding the sword of Damocles over your heads until we're done. Port, on the other hand." He looked at her and nodded his head. She nodded back, and teleported behind one of the larger groups of innocent civilians that they were threatening.

GoldenEye clapped, then walked over to the teller counter. "If you'd be so kind as to open the vaults, please. I need something to do while my beautiful assistants threaten these peoples' lives."

***

Guardian heard the sound of the explosion even from the Brigade newsroom. He quickly ducked into a broom closet with a window and leapt out the window, changing into his costume along the way. He flew toward the bank, then dodged to the left as a grenade exploded in his flight path.

The woman with the grenade launcher was bald, wearing skin-tight leather. He landed just in front of her and grabbed the grenade launcher by the barrel. "If you're planning on firing that thing again, you might want to step back about twenty feet."

She grabbed him by the arm, and then he lost sight of everything. All around him, people faded into view, faces that he remembered from the time before his life as a Chosen.

People who had died.

"What is this?" Guardian almost screamed. He couldn't seem to control his voice at the moment.

That was about the moment his Aunt Regina walked up to him. "Kathy," she said, reaching out to touch his face, "what's happened to you?"

He pushed her hand away. "I'm not that girl, anymore, Auntie... My life's changed since then."

It was at that moment that Aunt Regina shifted form, into the bald-headed woman. "Kathy, eh? Kathy Cabot. I seem to remember reading newspaper articles by a Keith Cabot. Hmm... Guess that old Superman schtick really does work in real life, huh?"

Guardian reached out and grabbed her by the neck. "What did you do to me?"

She smiled. "It's my gift, Keith. Every loved one you've lost, I can use them against you. And since I've touched you, I can even communicate with them without you. Every dirty little secret the Guardian of East City has is mine now!"

He punched her in the face. As suddenly as it had began, the phenomenon of dead voices from the past ended, with the bald woman unconscious on the ground. Time to go inside and deal with the head honcho.

***

Svetlana was getting bored, but the mission was almost over. She just had to wait a little bit longer until the bird flew. She looked up when something crashed through the wall. Speak of the invulnverable devil. She smiled. It was all going to be over soon, and GoldenEye's plan would go off without a hitch.

Guardian walked into the bank and looked as though he was about to say something when another explosion rocked the building. What the hell?

Svetlana felt something pulling on her. She turned around and saw a black hole appear behind her. She dropped her guns, then grabbed a hold of the pillar behind her. A man wearing a very expensive white suit stepped out of the black hole, and then it disappeared. "Fret not, citizens, we're here to save you."

Guardian was the first to speak. "We?"

Suddenly, Svetlana doubled over. She clutched at her head, her temples were killing her. At some point during the extreme pain, she had closed her eyes. She forced her eyes open again, and saw that to either side of the man in the white suit were a pair of giant worm-like creatures with many, many rows of sharp teeth.

The man in the suit smiled. "Don't try to adjust your television set, m'lady, for the next several minutes, we are in control." From behind him, a woman dressed in a black low-cut minidress and knee-high boots with four inch heels stepped into view. A long black cape flowed from the back of the dress. "For your rescuing pleasure, we are Blackhole and Terror."

The worms growled at Svetlana, and for the first time since she was a young boy in Stalingrad, Svetlana Narekova felt afraid.

***

Angel stood atop the building across the street from the bank and sighed. She needed to help, otherwise, more would die than if she stood by and did nothing. She leapt up into the air, and flew down in through the hole that Guardian had made when he burst through the wall. She hovered there for a moment, looking at all the Chosen around her. It wasn't supposed to be this way, she thought. But it is, and I have to accept that.

***

The guy standing behind Wheelchair Woman didn't say much. Actually, after Wheelchair Woman said that others were coming, nobody said much of anything. Captain Harkins walked outside to take a phone call, but that was about it. Nobody did much of anything. I mainly hung around Colin, but that was it. We didn't talk, Aunt Holly didn't talk, Wheelchair Woman didn't talk. Everybody stood, nobody did anything, the clock ticked and tocked. It was the most boring day of my life.

And then Captain Harkins burst through the door.

"Holly! C'mon! Bank robbery, super heroes and villains up the ass!"

I got to my feet, but Aunt Holly held up her hand to stop me. "You say here, Monica. We'll be back to find out what's going on here later."

"But, what if I can help?" I asked.

"No offense, kid," Captain Harkins said, "but after the last time you were at a bank, you probably shouldn't visit one again." After that, both he and Aunt Holly were out the door and I heard the car speed off away from the building.

And, I also caught sight of Arachnya swinging away, too.

I turned back to everyone else. "Did anybody else see that?" I asked.

Wheelchair Woman (her name was Ms. Morris, why couldn't I remember that? I remember Arachnya, probably because a cop told me to, but I can't remember Ms. Morris?) did her approximation of a nod and said through her voice box, "She has been watching us since you all arrived."

Colin spoke up, "She's a teenage super-freak, too, how come she wasn't invited?" He stood up. "Come to think of it, my cousin's a teenage super-freak, too, and he wasn't invited. What's up with that?"

Finally, the guy behind Ms. Morris (Brandon, his name is Brandon!) said something: "Ms. Morris didn't pick them because they've figured out what it is they want to do."

I asked, "You mean, dress up in goofy costumes and fight bad guys? What is it exactly that we're gonna do?"

Brandon walked up to me. "You've seen the X-Men, right?"

***

Guardian looked all around him. The bald-headed woman was still unconscious on the sidewalk outside, Angel was hovering in front of him, the ringleader of the bank robbery was on the other side of Angel, another woman in leather was standing by a group of hostages, a man in a white suit was standing in front of her, and a woman in a black dress and cape was standing to the side of that man.

So many of us in one place. I seem to remember another bank robbery where this happened, and nothing went right. Guardian took a step toward Angel. "Are you here to help?" he asked her. "You've stayed away from this sort of thing this whole time."

She nodded. "I know." He saw the uncertainty in her face, followed by solid determination. "I have to interfere this time. If I don't, millions will die." She looked over at the ringleader. "GoldenEye."

The man known as GoldenEye clapped his hands. "I'm impressed. You can sense other Chosen?"

"I know who you are, and I know what your gift is. What I don't know is what your motive is."

He walked closer to her and waved his hands downward, in such a way as to ask her to lower herself to the floor. She complied, then slapped GoldenEye in the face. He rubbed at his cheek. "Interesting, you slap me even though you don't know why I'm here."

"You've injured people, that's reason enough to slap you."

He smiled, then slugged her in the jaw. "Unlike you, I don't hit like a girl."

Guardian flew at GoldenEye and pushed him into the wall on the opposite side of the room, straight through into the vault. "You shouldn't hit a lady, GoldenEye," Guardian said, holding him up against the wall of the vault. "What's your game?"

GoldenEye chuckled. "My game? This is my game - Port!

***

Svetlana fell on her ass and backed away from those two disgusting worms. One of them slithered closer to her and started growling into her ear like a dog. Somewhere in the background, she heard GoldenEye shouting for her, but she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything except cower in fear.

The woman in the black dress walked over to her and knelt down. "Oh, dearie, is it all too much for you?" she said, in a disturbing perversion of a mother's calming tone, "don't you worry, it'll all be over soon."

Svetlana couldn't answer her, couldn't say anything. While the woman was to her left, whispering in her ear, the worm was to her right, making more noises than she had words to describe. She wanted to get away, but she couldn't control her teleporting power at the moment, all she could do was wimper and cry.

The man sounded closer, now. "Terror, let her go. She's had it. Guardian's taking care of the other one, we've done our job."

The woman said, "Alright. She's not much fun, anyway." She heard someone snap their fingers, and then the noises from the worm stopped. Svetlana dared to open her eyes and saw that the man and the woman had walked away from her. She stood up and looked to where the worm had been, and there was no evidence that it had ever even been there. So, her power is making people's fears come true?

She found that she was back in control of her power again. GoldenEye was no longer screaming her name, but the woman with the angel wings was staring her down. Svetlana teleported over to the woman and tried to punch her, but the woman moved out of the way. She threw another punch, but still didn't even touch her. She threw a kick, but the angel woman grabbed her leg and knocked her down.

"I'm not much of a fighter," the angel said, "but I can hold my own."

Svetlana scowled under her mask and did a leg sweep, catching the angel by surprise. She teleported back to her fallen handguns, picked one up, and was about to shoot the angel when something yanked the gun out of her hand. She turned to the front of the bank and scowled yet again.

"Aw, did you miss me?" Arachnya said, hanging upside from the hole Guardian had made earlier. "Oh, and silly me, I forgot to bring a chew toy!" She spun a small web ball and threw it at Svetlana's head. It was surprisingly hard for something made of a spider's web. "My God, didn't your master teach you any good tricks? Fetch was the first thing I ever taught my dogs!"

***

Captain Harkins pulled up to the police madhouse outside the bank and walked up to the officer who looked like he was trying to coordinate everything. He looked over at Holly and saw that she looked concerned. "Hey, don't worry about Monica, she's in good hands."

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Because my daughter loves comic books and comic book movies and thanks to her, I've seen every X-Men movie out there."

Holly raised her eyebrow. "I don't follow."

He sighed. "Telepath in a wheelchair, teenage people with super powers, mansion outside the city... it's all, sadly I know this, classic X-Men." He turned to the officer who was trying to be in charge. "What's going on, sergeant?"

The young cop breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, we got a call about thirty minutes ago that there was an explosion, then a report of people with powers going in and politely asking for money. After that, Guardian showed up and took out this one," he pointed to the unconscious bald woman handcuffed in the back of the paddy wagon, "and then this angelic woman showed up and flew in there, too. We didn't see anything else until Arachnya showed up and slid in there, and then all the fighting sounds stopped. Other than that, we're completely in the dark out here, cap."

And now Charlie will have a ton of pictures that nobody else will have been close to the place to get... I don't know how she's maintaining this secret identity stuff. I told you to get to work, honey, what the hell are you doing here?! He sighed. Of course Charlie was there, she probably couldn't help herself.

Before Harkins could issue an order to the sergeant, Guardian carried out another woman dressed similarly to the unconsious one, the angel woman that the officer described led a man with the oddest-looking eyes out of the building. Harkins noticed that both of them had their hands webbed together. Charlie walked out after them, followed by a man wearing a white suit and a woman wearing a black dress and cape. Great... now we've got ourselves a little group of Chosen dealing with a bank robbery. What the hell do I get paid for, again?

Guardian laid the woman down in the paddy wagon, and the angel helped the man into the vehicle as well. The officer shut the door, hopped inside and drove off with them. After that, Harkins and Holly were surrounded by a Superman knock-off, an angel, a man who looked the spitting image of a crappy magician and his assistant and the female Spider-Man that was Captain Harkins' daughter.

"So," he said, "everything settled?" He jerked his thumb to the mass of cops running around doing things. "Ever think to let the uniformed police officers do their jobs?" He saw Arachnya slip back behind the rest of the officers, looking down. He'd have to smooth that over later.

Guardian stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Captain Harkins. The police hadn't arrived by the time I did, so I took it upon myself to help."

He pointed at the man in the white suit and his obvious girlfriend. "And what about Penn and Teller over there?"

The man in white stepped forward. "Sorry, officer. You can call me Blackhole, and this," he waved his hand toward the woman in the black dress, "is Terror. We're a team act."

"Uh-huh." He looked to Arachnya. "And you?" he asked with a slightly more accusing tone, more like the father of a teenage daughter with super powers would do.

"I'm... um..." she stammered out, then quickly jumped up and swung away. "Late for something important!" she yelled as she left the scene.

Harkins shook his head, then looked at the smiling angel woman. "What about you?"

"I was here to help," she answered, "if I hadn't, there would have been more harm done than good."

Harkins sighed. "Okay, people. Look, I'm personally fine with all of you. Super heroes aren't something I'm against, and I'm going to assume that this situation would have been better defused with you than with my police force, here, but this can't go on forever. Sometimes, we cops have to do our jobs. From now on, if this happens again, I want some coordination between your little band of super friends here and my cops."

Guardian nodded. "Understood, Captain. This miscommunication won't happen again."

Harkins turned around and returned to his car. Holly followed him. "Good." He turned to the young sergeant who had been trying to deal with the situation. "Get statements from them all, sergeant. This whole thing is gonna be crazy." He started the car, and then sped off. Once they rounded a corner, he pulled into an alley and stopped the car.

"What's wrong, Cappy?" Holly asked.

"Well, aside from this whole madhouse, I did just chew out my daughter." He looked over at her. "This is the kind of stuff you'll have to deal with if Monica ever decides to hop on the super hero bandwagon. It might be a good idea to get used to it."

***

I stood there and almost wanted to laugh. The X-Men? Really? These people wanted us to be some group of teen misfits out there trying to help people who'd very much like to throw us into an incinerator and kills us? Oh. My. God.

Granted, what did I really have to do? In the movies, the X-Men got help controlling their powers, which was something I sorely needed. Maybe it was a good idea. Or, maybe, this woman was just making me think this. Either way, I supposed I owed it to Aunt Holly to wait until this woman explained her proposal for us.

"I'll be right back," I said, then I walked outside. Colin followed me. "What, Colin?"

He sat down on the steps leading up to the house. "I know what you're thinkin'."

I giggled. "Funny, I thought she was the telepath."

He looked up at me. "I'm serious, Monica. You're thinking that she's controlling your mind, right?"

I looked away, slightly nervously. "Okay, so you do know." I sat down next to him. "What do you think?"

He sighed. "I don't know. But maybe this woman can help us. We both need help controlling our powers, and maybe this is what we need."

I looked at him. "Does it make sense that this scares me? Does it make sense that I would be scared of learning how to control my powers?"

He smiled. "Hey, I'm scared of you learning how to control your powers. I kinda like you, and if we start dating and I piss you off, you could probably blow me up from the inside out."

I giggled. "You're getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

***

Svetlana sat in the corner of the paddy wagon and pulled off her mask. GoldenEye was patting Necro on the head, looking extremely satisfied. "What the hell are you smiling about?" she asked.

He turned to her. "Simple: We won."

"Funny, I don't remember winning meaning stuck in a truck on the way to jail."

"We're not on the way to jail."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"We're on the way to our benefactor."

***

Josh looked at the map he'd bought at the last gas station he'd stopped by (along with a soda, he was thirsty) and found that Westmoreland Avenue wasn't all that far away. He didn't even realize why he wanted to go there, but for some reason, that was the only thing he could think about. He'd even abandoned his search for a new first name (mostly because nothing leapt out at him; almost thirty names running through his head and he couldn't think of one to use).

He took another drink and then slipped the map back into his pocket. Time to get going, he thought. He put foot to sidewalk and continued on his way. It wasn't a tough walk, just a lot of turns and hills.

At one point, he stopped and walked over to a street light. Time to figure out exactly what it is I can do. He reached out and touched the street light, and a bolt of energy surged from the light into his arm. He felt it coursing through his body, like he was super-charged. Is this what that woman calling me 'Spark' meant? He looked up at the clear sky and reached out. A bolt of electricity surged from his hand into the sky, almost like a reverse lightning bolt.

"Hey, that's a neat trick," someone said behind him. Against his wishes, Josh let out a very feminine scream of surprise. "Whoa, cutie! Hold on! I didn't mean to scare you."

He looked over at the new arrival, a boy about his age, similarly wearing unfitting clothes. His hair, to Josh's surprise, was a shining silver, a very odd color. "What the hell are you doing just creeping up on me?!" Josh almost screamed. "I'm a defenseless gu - girl," - he almost said guy - "and you just sneak up on me?!"

In a flash, he was suddenly up beside him. "First, you don't seem all that defenseless. Second, you caught my attention." He looked him over. "I'm gonna guess with the guy clothes you're wearing, that you used to be a guy?"

Josh looked at him in surprise. "How did you know? Did you used to be a girl?"

"Yup. You can call me Feet, but my name used to be Emma."

"Feet? Did the weird alien woman floating above you really call you Feet?"

He sighed. "Yes, yes... She did. I caught hell for it from my parents, too. What'd she call you, Juice?"

"Try Spark."

"Great!" He raised his arms up in exclamation. "Your name makes sense."

Josh looked down at his feet. "Well, judging by the fact that you went from twenty feet away to right beside me in the blink of an eye, I'm going to assume you can run fast?"

"Yeah."

"Feet makes sense, it just sounds stupid." Josh sat down in the grass. "My name used to be Josh. I can't think of anything else to call myself, so please, just call me Spark."

Feet sat down beside him. "You got it, cutie."

"And stop calling me that."

"I can't help it, you're cute."

"I've been this way a whole two days, I'm not even sure if I like boys."

"And I've been this way for a whole two days, and I'm not sure if I like girls, but I still look at you and think cute. You look a whole lot more developed, physically speaking, than I did when I was a girl."

Spark felt her face turn red, so she changed the subject. "So, what are you doing out here, anyway?"

He sighed. "Looking for this place on Westmoreland. I don't know why, somebody told me that I should go there. Weird thing: They told me through my mind."

"You, too? That's where I'm headed, too."

Feet jumped up on his feet. "Great, then let's not waste any time. We're probably only about a mile away, so let's get going."

Spark stood. "Okay. I guess." I don't know why I'm going with you, seeing as we just met, but for some reason, you seem trustworthy.

In the back of her mind, someone said, He's trustworthy, don't worry. Everything will be explained when you arrive, children.

"That was weird," Spark said.

Feet nodded. "No kidding."

***

The truck stopped, the door opened, and Svetlana stepped out first. She wanted to be out of the back of that truck. The building they were in looked like a factory. She looked around and saw no one besides them and the cop that had driven them there looked quite sleepy and confused, and then he fell over.

GoldenEye stepped out of the truck and walked over to a large door. He pressed a button on a control panel beside the door and it opened, into another large factory-looking area.

"Where are we?" Svetlana asked.

GoldenEye smiled. "Home."

Lights kicked on all around them, and up on a catwalk above them, Svetlana saw three men. One of them was Mr. Hammond, which surprised her. Another was an elderly man with metal braces on his legs, probably to keep him from using a wheelchair. The one in the middle looked even more like a businessman than Mr. Hammond did. This man hopped over the catwalk railing and landed in front of them.

"Welcome, my friends." He looked between them. "Where's Necro?"

"Unconscious," GoldenEye answered. "Courtesy of Guardian."

"Ah, well, not important. You," he walked over to Svetlana and lifted her head by the chin. "You're the important new addition to the team."

"Who are you?"

He smiled, then turned to look up at the catwalk. "You didn't tell me she was spunky, Gustav." He turned back to her. "Very spunky." He walked away from them and looked toward the still darkened area of the factory. "I'm a man of principle, Svetlana. A man who has had a plan since long before your great-grandparents were a thought in the back of their great-grandparents' minds." He turned his head slightly. "But my name isn't important." Svetlana narrowed her eyes, and then felt a splitting headache. "That slight pain in your neo-cortex is my doing, Svetlana, a way to teach you that you're a part of something bigger." He laughed. "It's time to gather our allies, friends! The fight is coming."

***

Colin and I sat outside the house for a while, mostly just talking. Getting to know one another, telling jokes, learning about each other's powers. It was quite a pleasant hour until these two younger kids walked up to the front door. A girl wearing male clothing, and a boy wearing loose-fitting male clothing that obviously wasn't his. I assumed these were the two more that Ms. Morris was talking about showing up. That made us five kids and the creepy voice box woman that led us. Yep. This is a pretty good team of X-Men.

I stood up. "You guys called here, too?" I asked. Both of them nodded. "Okay, then. Let's get inside. I'm sure our gracious host will explain everything to us, now." There was a little sarcasm in my voice. I wasn't exactly finding this whole situation all that gracious.

The four of us walked into the house and then we all waited for Brandon to finish feeding Ms. Morris her baby formula (I guess, when you're practically an invalid, it makes sense that somebody would have to feed you baby formula; still gross, though). When they were done, Ms. Morris said, "Sorry, children. I did not mean to keep you waiting."

The new girl raised her hand like she was in a classroom. "Are you the one who told us to come here?"

Brandon nodded for her. "I am. My name is Erica Morris, though as you can understand, that was not always my name." Brandon wheeled her over to the new girl. "Your name was once Joshua Reston, correct?"

"Yeah."

"You would like us to call you Spark, correct?"

She nodded.

"You do know that you will eventually need to give yourself a more fitting name than Joshua, correct?"

"Yes, I know all that. I just can't think of anything right now."

Brandon wheeled Ms. Morris away. "That is of no concern right now. For the next three days, the goal you will have will be to come closer to mastering your abilities. I will help you, as will Brandon. Tomorrow, the training begins."

Brandon wheeled Ms. Morris out of the room, and I think the entire group of us gulped very loudly, in unison.

***

Knight had suspected that his cape would be a bit of an annoyance, especially when sitting down, but he hadn't figured it would be as much of a problem as it was being now. After waiting about sixteen minutes, he eventually just stood and threw it over the back of the chair. That was, of course, when Guardian decided to arrive.

After Guardian came a double act, Blackhole and Terror. He recognized them from the news. Blackhole was dressed completely in white, while Terror completely in black. Knight had to admit, they were quite the pair. From what Guardian had told him, Blackhole could do just what his name implied: create black holes. Terror, on the other hand, seemed to be able to create living nightmares in people's minds, which seemed completely real to the people she did them to.

The last one to arrive was Angel, a reluctant look on her face. He wondered, not for the first time, why she'd rejected his original offer, but that secret would remain with her if she deemed it so. He wouldn't push her. After all, if anyone knew the value of secrets, it was William Brand.

Knight stood from his chair and shook the hands of the men and woman in front of him. "I'm grateful to you all for coming." He walked over to the table he had been sitting at and pressed a button. A large screen on the back wall came to life with three pictures, those of GoldenEye, Necro and Port. "Myself and the rest of the city would like to thank you for apprehending these three, but these three, and the others like them, are exactly why I've called you here."

Guardian was the first to respond. "You think there are other Chosen on the wrong side of the law." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Knight pressed another button and the picture of a young woman with purple hair appeared on the screen. "This one goes by the name of Quake."

"She was taken into police custody after her attempted bank robbery."

Terror said, "She's just a kid, and she tried robbing a bank?"

Knight nodded. "Had it not been for these two," he pressed another button and Quake's image was replaced by those of Arachnya and Seeker, "she would have gotten away with hundreds of thousands, and several police officers would have died. Instead, there were two casualties, and Quake was let out of custody the very next day, placed in the care of her aunt."

Guardian folded his arms across his chest. "I didn't know that."

Angel spoke up. "She's an innocent. Monica's no threat to anyone anymore."

Knight was impressed. "No, she's not, because she's in the care of an associate of mine."

Blackhole raised an eyebrow. "Associate?"

"A Chosen named Erica Morris. She's telepathic, unfortunately, her gift left her quadriplegic and in need of a voice box to speak. With my funding, she's agreed to teach a group of young Chosen who have no life path."

Guardian chuckled. "Isn't that the plot of X-Men?

Knight scowled at the Guardian. "Nevertheless, it's a good plan. Better to have these kids learning how to control their powers and be productive members of society than they be running off using their gifts to harm others."

Terror defended him, "It's a great plan. I'm sure there's other adult Chosen that could probably use some teaching,as well."

Blackhole asked, "Is that what this is?"

Knight looked at him. "More or less. You've all got a handle on your powers, but at the moment doesn't mean forever. Eventually, any of you might go... bad, and someone needs to be able to take care of you."

Angel looked away, Knight noticed. He wondered what that was all about, but he filed it away for the moment. The value of secrets, and all that jazz. Instead, he turned to Guardian, and asked a very simple question: "Are you in?"

Guardian looked around at the set-up in the room. Knight had furnished the place with enough equipment to monitor the planet, and he assumed they'd need it. Guardian must have been in awe. He took a long, hard look at Knight, and then said, "Yes."

Knight turned to Blackhole and Terror. "What about you?"

Terror was the first to answer. "I don't know about Blackhole, but I'm in. I'd prefer it if there was somebody out there with the capabilities of stopping me if anything goes wrong. Count me in."

Blackhole nodded. "I go where she goes. Always have, always will."

Finally, Knight turned to Angel. "And you?"

She folded her arms under her breasts and leaned against the wall. "I'll observe. And I'll help when I'm needed. There's a lot of things that can go wrong with a group like this, William, and I'm at the center of all of it. Don't ask, because that's all I can tell you."

Guardian raised his eyebrow. "William?"

Knight sighed, then pulled off his mask. "William Brand, billionaire."

Guardian chuckled. "Well, I'll be damned."

***

The room was a sixty foot by sixty foot square by sixty foot box, and Spark was standing in the center. She looked to her left, then to her right. Quake to the left, Tremor - Brandon - to the right. She closed her eyes, and then slammed her fists down on the floor and sent electricity out in all directions. Quake jumped, landed on one of the floating squares that Hold-Up was levitating above the floor.

That was when Feet decided it was his turn to jump into the fray - literally, Spark watched him run at a very high speed, then jump twenty feet into the air and land on the same square that Quake was on. She went to kick him, but he ducked faster than she could spin around. While Quake was distracted, Spark shot out a bolt and hit her in the back, knocking her off that square and onto another.

Unfortunately, Spark's attack had been her own distraction, and Tremor had taken advantage of it. He caused the portion of the floor that she was standing on to knock her into the air, then used a section of the wall to knock her forward, right on top of Quake. I hate this...

Spark sat up and rubbed at her head, then said aloud what she had been thinking, "I hate this."

Quake sat up as well. "What? That you've been Brandon's punching bag the whole time?"

"Yeah."

"At least you're turning out to be a natural at your powers. I've been doing this for three weeks, and I'm still screwing up my aim." Somewhere, something exploded, and Feet yelped in pain. "See?" Spark, despite her best intentions, giggled. "Yeah, I know, I've been doing that a lot, too. It's just a girl thing, no matter how much we keep trying to be boys. After a week, I just gave up and accepted it."

Spark looked down. "I've only been this way two days, I still want to hold on to being a boy."

Quake elbowed her in the arm lightly. "Funny, if you're a boy, why are you an A-cup?"

Spark smiled. "Stuff like that just happens."

And the older teen looked upon the younger teen and smiled.

"So, you got a name, yet? It's kinda weird just calling you Spark all the time."

She shrugged. "I've got a list that I keep crossing names off of. I just can't seem to find one that fits."

"Hey, you'll get one, eventually. When I was your age, I dated a girl named Monica. Colin got his name from an actor. I don't know about Brandon, or Ms. Morris, but I'm sure they came from somewhere."

Spark sighed. "Well. There is this one I've been thinking about."

"Yeah?"

"Well... it's... it's kinda stupid where I got it from."

"How so?"

Spark sighed again. "Korra."

"Korra? That's a pretty good name."

"Yeah, but I got it from - "

Quake cut her off. "From a cartoon?"

Spark blushed. "How'd you know?"

"I'm seventeen, I still watch cartoons. Hell, my aunt still watches cartoons."

***

ONE WEEK LATER:

I. Was. Exhausted. Six whole days of "Blow up this" or "Focus your gift here" or "You're doing a lot better, Monica". Granted, I was doing a lot better at controlling my powers. Despite being a complete rip-off from a movie, this whole train the teenage super freaks to control their powers thing was working just fine,.I had managed to not blow stuff up accidentally. Plus, living at the mansion wasn't too bad, except for when Brandon hogs the shower. Yep. Big mansion, one bathroom. Half a dozen toilet rooms, but one shower in the whole damn place.

I laid down on my bed (which I actually got to bring over from Aunt Holly's apartment) and stared out the window at Korra and Peter (otherwise known as Feet) playing basketball in the courtyard out back. I would have joined them, but I was literally exhausted from all the stuff I'd been doing with Colin. He would lift the blocks, I would blow them up, he would lift them, I'd blow them up... I never knew making stuff explode would actually take a lot out of me.

I heard a knock on my door, got up and opened it to find Brandon standing there, a towel wrapped around his chest, but still covering his crotch. Barely. "Um... Yes?"

He scratched at the back of his head. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to, y'know, go somewhere tomorrow."

I pointed at his towel. "Are you planning on getting dressed tomorrow?"

He looked down, then turned red. "Sorry."

I waved my hands. "No, no, it's okay. You don't really need to cover your chest, though, seeing as you don't have breasts anymore."

He looked down again, then adjusted the towel. "Yeah, sorry, again. This is only my second full week as a boy, it's still a little weird."

"You were a late bloomer, too?"

"Huh?"

I jerked my thumb toward the window. "That's what I call Chosen like Korra and Peter, late bloomers. Most every other Chosen I know changed about the same time I did. Colin, that Arachnya chick, Colin's cousin, Guardian... That's about all the ones I can name."

"Ms. Morris, too."

"Oh, yeah."

"Say, do you know Arachnya?"

"If by know you mean beat her up outside a bank, then yes. I do know Arachnya. She's my aunt's boss's daughter."

"Huh?"

I sighed. "You remember that cop that showed up with Colin and I? The male cop? That's Arachnya's dad. I actually just learned it that day."

"Huh... I'll be damned."

I changed the subject. "So, why exactly are you asking me out?"

He looked nervous. And my damned female hormones were enjoying it. "I wanna keep it a surprise."

I smirked. "Surprise, huh?"

"Yeah, a surprise."

I shrugged, fake sighed. "I guess." Good work, Monica, you sound like that lame chick who likes leading boys on. Oh, wait. I kinda do, now. Thank you one month of being female, you've already changed the hell out of me. "I assume you want to take me somewhere special?"

He smiled. "Well, as special as it can be."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll go."

"Good. Tomorrow night at seven."

"Okay." He turned, walked back to his room. I leaned out my doorway and shouted, "And don't spend a thousand hours in the shower tomorrow!"

***

Guardian hovered over the city and spoke into the microphone on his collar. "So, you think they're here?"

Knight responded, "It's where I finally tracked the wagon to, after all that running around I had to do. Whoever they're working for has some pretty capable people on his side, if they can stop me from hacking into their system."

Guardian laughed. "You don't have to keep telling me you're the best, William, I believed you the first three times you said it." He flew downward, toward the factory door, and studied the keypad. "There's a keypad here, think you can break into it?"

"Not without having something there on-site to help. Maybe there's some sort of clue there, look around and - " Knight was cut off by the sound of Guardian ripping the factory door off the structure. "What was that?"

"Me, opening the door." Guardian walked inside, then saw another door. He wasted no time in ripping this one off its supports and walked into the factory propper. He found a control box, flipped the light switch, and all around him, dozens of lights switched on, illuminating a space that looked far larger than its three block footprint. He whistled. "Lots of space in this factory. Bet they were doing a lot more here than just building boats and RVs."

He walked over to a railing and looked down at the factory floor. "What?" Knight asked him.

"Reminds me of that place Captain Harkins and I tracked Avenger to just about a month ago. Lot of the tech is similar, too." He tapped a few buttons on a control panel. "The tech is very similar." He heard something behind him. "Wait a second." He turned around and saw them, silhouetted against the light. He recognized them from the news. "I'll have to get back to you, I've got company."

There were seven of them, all of them exactly the same as the robot that Arachnya had fought one night, four weeks ago. The one that Captain Harkins had told him was likely made using Avenger's brain. Each one of them walked forward, coming close to him. He rushed at the closest one, grabbed it by the arm, and tossed it toward another. A third one jumped on him and started choking him, but he ripped its arms off and impaled it with them.

Numbers four and five both made their moves, firing microlasers from their photoreceptors. Clearly, their creators had been impressed by Guardian's own heat vision. He raised his arms to protect his eyes (invulnerable, yes; resistant to flash damage, no) and jumped up into the air. The beams followed, but he was able to nullify them by ripping a piece of catwalk off and threw it at the two robots. Both of them managed to dodge, but that gave Guardian just the chance he needed to rip one of them apart just in time to get hit in the back by the other. He heard his cape tear some, but he managed to spin around and block the beam.

Using nothing but force, he pushed his way to the robot and made it destroy its head with its own beam. Now, he only had numbers six and seven to deal with. He looked around the room and couldn't find them. He closed his eyes and listened, it helped focus his super hearing, then heard the telltale clanking of robot limbs, on a catwalk. He looked up and then immediately jumped to his left, then flew straight up as the laser beams hit the floor where he'd been.

Six and seven both stopped firing their lasers and used jets built into their feet to join him in mid-air, which Guardian used to his advantage. He used his heat vision and destroyed both robots' feet. They fell to the factory floor, and landed hard, crashing into thousands of pieces, almost as if they were made of the flimsiest of materials.

Guardian landed next to the second one he'd taken out, the one that was most likely to be intact. He ripped the machine's head off and then tapped his collar. "Knight, I'm on my way back. I think I've got a lead."

***

I felt nervous. One month as a girl, the only guys I'd gotten anywhere near close to were Brandon, Colin and Peter, and there I was, about to go on a date with Brandon. Why him, of all people? I was doing my best training with Colin, why hadn't he asked me out first? Well, then again, he could still like guys,for all I know. Clearly, our preferences weren't all affected the exact same way, because Brandon, despite the fact that he was about to take me out on a date, still took his opportunity to catch glimpses of Colin, though he did stare at me more.

I looked at myself in my mirror and sighed. Short shorts and a tank top, thanks to this continuing heat wave. Hopefully, we were going somewhere with air conditioning. I grabbed the purse that Aunt Holly forced me to get used to taking and then took a deep breath. Here I was, about to go on my first date since my change. I felt like a goddamn moron.

Luckily, for me, Brandon was dressed similarly. Shorts and a simple tee-shirt. His reddish-blonde hair looked humorously shaggy, though not messy in any way. "You ready?" he asked. I nodded, and then we walked outside and I was surprised to be greeted by a limosuine. "Surprised? I told you it would be a surprise. C'mon, you're gonna love the place I've got picked out."

"You rented a limo?"

"Yep."

I felt really nervous now. I didn't know he was gonna do that. Brandon held the door open for me to get in, I did, he sat down beside me, and then I was immediately scared. There was somebody else in the car. Two somebody elses.

I looked over at Brandon. Instead of the confidant later teen that he'd been just a few seconds ago, he now looked like he was about to pass out. I looked back at the guy sitting across from me. "What did you do to him?" I asked.

The guy made a tsk sound. "Nothing. That would be our benefactor." He took his sunglasses off and his pure gold eyes made me feel even more frightened. "It's nice to meet you, Monica. Our benefactor has had nothing but good things to say about you."

I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to be tough, but the bald headed woman across from me just laughed. "You think you're in control, little girl?" she asked.

"Not really," I said, "but I wanna know how this benefactor of yours knows about me."

The man with the gold eyes sat further back in his seat. "He touched your mind four weeks ago, I believe. A certain bank robbery for a group of Upscales."

My eyes widened.

He smiled.