Here's a spin-off of my story "Brave New World". It introduces a character who was later important to the final arc of that story, as well as a few that aren't.

~o~O~o~

Chapter One: The First Time

The woman now known only as Angel hovered above the city of Los Milagros, California and reached out, feeling the Choosers, picking their next subjects. She knew exactly which ones they were, which ones to find. She would do what most would do: Start with the closest one and work her way toward the others. She knew where they'd be, when they'd be there. She knew everything she needed to know.

Time to go.

***

Elena Sanders dropped her phone in the sink for the sixth time that week. Idiot! she thought. She reached into the sink and pulled it up and said, "Sorry about that, I dropped the phone again."

"I kind of figured that when I heard the sounds of a nearby river," the man on the other end said. "Have you thought about our offer?"

"What was the name again? HERP, or something like that?"

"HARP. Humans Against Rising Powers. I understand you've been extremely outspoken on your position over the East and Glassview City crises? And now this news about a Power going public in Pine Ridge," he made a groaning noise, "it disgusts us as well."

She sighed. "I'm just not about people pretending they're better than anyone else. And then there's this Joker guy tearing up Larsen City, all because of the Powers showing up." She rinsed some more dishes off. "What does joining HARP entail, I might ask?"

"You may have heard some rather harsh news about us, particularly about our chapter in East City, but we're merely a protest group." He chuckled. "We don't have spies everywhere, like they say."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was hoping you'd help take care of some of my fears. Sign me up for your next rally, I'd love to be there."

She could almost hear him smile over the phone. "That's wonderful news. We'll be rallying at HealAll's Milagros office tomorrow. I'll see you then."

"I'll be there, Mr. Rayburn." Elena hung up the phone and set it down on the counter beside the sink and set back to finishing the dishes. She rinsed off the remaining dishes, dried them, and then set the dishes in the cabinet. Almost as soon as she turned around to return to her living room, a light enveloped her. She saw a woman, bafflingly beautiful, standing in her kitchen. "Who are you?"

The woman giggled and placed her hand on Elena's forehead. "You have been Chosen, power has been granted to you, but your form is not correct." The woman disappeared into a bath of pink and green mist, but her voice remained. "You shall be reborn today, Brainwave." It didn't take long after that for Elena to pass out.

***

When Elena awoke, she felt strange, she felt different. She sat up and looked around and saw that she was still in her kitchen, on the floor. She reached up and grabbed the edge of the countertop to help herself up. When she did, she saw the hair on her arm. Elena Sanders had learned young that women were to keep their arms and legs hairless, courtesy of her mother and the things she did to her daughter. She had lived by that since she was twelve years old, and despite her mother dying when she was sixteen, the habit was impossible to break even seven years after the woman's death.

Elena stood, looked down at both of her arms. They weren't just hairy, they were masculine. What's going on? she asked herself. In a man's voice. She moved in front of the stainless steel refrigerator and looked at a face that most certainly wasn't hers. The face she saw was dominated by five o'clock shadow and a square jaw. The only thing that even came close to resembling her former face were the deep blue eyes and the reddish brown hair, mementos from both of her parents.

What's happening to me? the male voice in her head asked again. She looked down at her body and realized, for the first time since waking up, that she was naked. She was at least partly naked, as her female clothes would no longer fit the male frame she somehow now possessed. She rushed upstairs to her bedroom, grabbed the pink bathrobe that hung in the closet. She needed to cover... it... up. She didn't want to see it right now. She had no shoes to fit her feet, but that wasn't too bad.

Elena made her way back downstairs and stopped when a second mystical creature appeared in her home. The woman before her looked as beautiful as an angel, with a certain poetic sadness about her face. She was wearing a dress, but no shoes. Elena wagered that this woman didn't need shoes, what with the angel wings protruding from her back. The woman was hovering just a few feet above the floor, and lowered as Elena came down the stairs.

The angel moved over to her and touched her face with one soft hand. "You've come out nicely," the angel said, her voice like music. "I'm happy to see you, Eli."

Elena gathered her voice, finally. "Who are you?" she asked, the male voice surprising her, despite the obvious.

The angel smiled, though the sadness didn't leave her face. "My name is Angel, I'm here to help you."

Elena blinked a few times. "Help me?"

Angel nodded. "Yes. You've been Chosen, and I'm here to help you accept your role in the oncoming events."

"Oncoming events?"

Angel frowned. "Are you going to repeat everything I say?"

Elena held up her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little stunned, here. I was on the phone with Mr. Rayburn about joining the HARP rally tomorrow, then this thing shows up and - "

Angel cut her off. "HARP? Humans Against Rising Powers? You're a member?"

Elena nodded. "Yeah, why? Is that a problem?"

Angel put palm to face and sighed. "This is going to be tough for you to accept, but since you hung up the phone, you became the thing that you're going to be rallying against."

Elena's eyes widened. "What?! I'm a Power?!"

Angel sighed again. "The proper term is Chosen, certainly you've heard it before?"

Elena walked past Angel and back into the kitchen. She grasped the countertop in anger. "I can't believe this! I hate the Powers!"

"And yet here you are, one of them."

"Is this some sort of punishment, or something?"

"For rallying against something you dislike? I doubt that. The Choosers have a plan, even if I don't know what it is." Angel walked over to her and put her hand on Elena's shoulder. "Why do you hate the Chosen?"

Elena spun around to face Angel. "Give me a reason not to! I see all the news about East City, with all the Powers doling out justice like they're a replacement for the police force. What gives them the right to do that?"

"The Chosen aren't a replacement, they work alongside the police, and not just in East City, either. Pine Ridge, Larsen City, Glassview City... there are Chosen all around the world, it's just that the majority of them only seem to make an impact in East City. I'm from East City, I'm a Chosen, too." Angel smiled. "We're not the monsters you seem to think we are."

Elena scoffed. "Really? All the damage that Quake girl did? And her friends with all those robots? And I saw the news about that Joker guy, too."

"Then you know about Charlotte Harkins, the hero known as Arachnya?"

"The one who was accused of killing that hero cop?"

"That hero cop was her father, and she didn't kill him."

"How would you know that?"

Angel's wings spread wide, surprising Elena. She backed away from the beautiful woman and fell onto her ass. "I know because it's my gift to know, and that's what your power is, a gift!" Elena hadn't noticed before, but the sky outside the windows had darkened significantly, to the point that it looked as though mid-afternoon was late dusk.

And for the second time that day, Elena Sanders passed out.

***

Elena woke up to find that it actually was dark, now. The digital clock on the microwave read 11:14. She stood up and turned on a light, finding a neatly folded pile of clothing on her dining room table, along with a note. She unfolded the note and read the delicate handwriting.

Go to the rally. You'll see what HARP is really capable of.

She knew that Angel had to be behind the note. She crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash, then changed into the clothing that had been left for her. She knew that after all the things she'd learned, she wouldn't be able to sleep, and so she simply plopped down in her chair and watched some late night TV, waiting for the morning to come.

***

When she arrived at the rally, Elena was asked to sign a sheet of paper, showing that she was in attendence. She knew she couldn't well sign Elena Sanders, so she signed with the name that Angel had called her, Eli. She was surprised to see so many people standing on the lawn in front of HealAll's building complex. There were security personel standing guard, equiped with riot shields in case things got out of hand.

But Mr. Rayburn told me this would be a peaceful protest, did anybody tell them that? the newly christened Eli had to ask himself. He breathed a nervous sigh at everything in front of him.

He looked up in the sky to see if Angel was around anywhere, but he couldn't see her. He decided that that was a good thing. He really didn't want to see her. He refocused his attention on the situation on the ground and saw something that downright concerned him. Two men wearing HARP shirts were leading a man with a burlap sack over his head into the area, to a wooden stage that they'd obviously constructed that morning. A third man stepped up to a podium set up in front of the stage. Eli recognized the man's voice, it was Mr. Rayburn.

"My fellow brothers and sisters! It's good to see you here, protesting alongside me. We're here at the Los Milagros corporate headquarters of HealAll Pharmaceuticals because of their outrageous new policies! Helping the Powers? Giving them government assistence? No, I say!" A chorus of no's followed him. "The Powers already have enough! Super powers aren't enough, they need badges, too? So that they can legally persecute us for being inferior to them? No, I say again!" More no's. "And will we let HealAll get away with this afront to humanity? No, I say for the last time!" He pointed to the man with the burlap sack over his head. "Just last night, our brothers and sisters in Glassview City captured a Power, and brought him here, to be tried in the court of human rights!"

Tried? Eli asked himself. Nobody said anything about any trial. He made his way a little closer to the stage. Rayburn was speaking again. "This Power has the sick ability to move you all like puppets! If not for the special anesthetic that we developed, he would hold you all in his thrall!" Eli watched as one of the men pulled the sack off the Power. The man didn't look to be much older than Eli, probably only twenty-six or twenty-seven. What's going on here?

"It's time this monster faces justice for his crimes against normal humans!"

Eli stepped forward. He watched as one of the men picked up an axe and held it up. His eyes widened in horror as the man swung the axe into the Powers' shoulder, burying it deep. He shouted, "No!" and drew the attention of everyone there. They were all staring at him. "This was supposed to be peaceful!"

Rayburn turned to a man nearby and whispered to him. Rayburn then turned back around and asked, "Why would you defend this inhuman creature?"

"You told me that HARP wasn't this sort of organization!"

Eli was suddenly grabbed by several hands, each of them restraining an arm. He looked around at the mass of people that were clearly against him. He tried to fight them off, but despite his new male size, he still wasn't as strong as a body builder. He managed to shake off a couple of them, but more simply took their place. Let... me... Go!

Much to his surprise, each and every one of them let him go, each one taking one step away from him. He looked around at all of them, seeing the slack looks on their faces clear up in time for them to realize that they had let him go. He took his chance to bolt, sprinting away from the HARP lunatics and just managing to make it past the HealAll security people as they finally decided to do something about the inhuman display against the unlucky Power on the stage.

***

Eli ended up in an alleyway a few blocks away from the HealAll building and stoped to catch his breath. He slid down the wall of a building into a crouch, his chest heaving. What the hell happened back there? he asked himself, almost expecting an answer after that weird display. Why had they let him go? Because he'd shouted in his mind? He needed to catch his breath, then he could figure out what had happened.

"See?" a voice said, above him. He looked up and saw Angel lowering herself toward him. "Pretty civilized people, aren't they?"

Eli stood up shakily. "What was that?"

"Standard HARP. They don't like Chosen, and they'll do what they want to make sure we aren't around anymore."

He shook his head. "Not that, what did I do? All I did was think 'let me go', and suddenly they were going zombie on me, actually letting me go! How did I do that?!"

She smiled. "It's your gift, Eli, and a very useful one, indeed." She landed in front of him and took his hands. "Judging by my experience with another telepath like yourself, it should be an easy gift to get a handle on."

"Easy? I didn't even know I could do that!"

"I'm sorry, Brainwave, but learning about your gifts is something you'll need to do yourself. I'm simply here to help you accept your gift."

"Yeah, well I'm having a damn hard time accepting my supposed gift." He felt his breathing coming back under control. "What am I supposed to do?"

She grabbed him by the arm and produced a sharpie from somewhere, then wrote down an address on his arm. "Go here, you'll meet a man who goes by the name of Block."

"Block?"

"He's a Chosen, one who's helped our kind for many years now."

"Years? How long have the Pow - the Chosen - been around?"

"A long time, longer than most know. Go, meet Block, but I'll warn you, he's hard to get a word out of."

Eli sighed. "Great. You can only help me so far, and this guy barely talks but can help more, but I guess I need to figure out what exactly he means."

Angel shrugged. "Pretty much. Lexington and Beroboa, he'll be expecting you." With that, Eli watched Angel lift back up and fly off into the sky, probably out to help another Chosen, or maybe even to just get a latte. At the moment, he really didn't care. He looked at the address on his arm and made his way to a bus stop.

***

He had chosen the name Gabriel, after his original name of Gabrielle became useless to him. He looked at the canvas in horror all the while realizing that he could still feel his fingers, even though they appeared to be nothing but paint. He peeled his hand away from the canvas and saw it miraculously clean itself as his hand once again became real. What the hell?

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of people banging at the door to his apartment. He spun around, then backed up against the canvas just as the door was splintered by shotgun shots. He watched as six men in tactical gear swept the room like a SWAT team, then they were joined by a seventh man.

"Is the Power here?" the seventh man asked.

"We can't seem to find him."

But, I'm right in front of you!

The seventh man sighed. "Goddamnit, find his family! I want Mr. Hunter as soon as possible!"

Gabriel watched the seven men leave the apartment, completely bewildered by the situation. He spun around to look at the canvas and was just as bewildered by the fact that the rest of the room had turned solid white, and completely emptied! He backed away from the canvas and felt himself land on his floor, his ass in pain. The room filled in with color and furniture once more, the canvas once again in front of him.

"What the hell?!" he asked aloud, knowing that no one would answer him.

~o~O~o~

Chapter Two: Access

Eli checked the address written on his arm for the thirteenth time and looked at the building he was about to enter. A music store, really? This guy runs a music store? He sighed and walked inside. Much like any other music store, there were shelves and shelves of CDs, a couple shelves with music video DVDs, even an entire corner of the store dedicated to vinyl records. He walked around the store floor, noticing that there were exactly zero employees around.

He walked up to the counter and tapped the bell sitting next to the register. He stood there, waiting, and then blew out a breath when no one showed up. Great. Maybe Angel was wrong about this guy.

Eli was interrupted by his phone ringing. He reached into his pocket and saw Mr. Rayburn's number. He slid up on the phone and pressed answer. "Hello?"

Rayburn's voice sounded confused. "Excuse me? Who is this? I'm calling Elena Sanders, this is her number, correct?"

Eli cleared his throat. "I was at your rally today, Mr. Rayburn. I saw what you were going to do."

"I don't exactly know who this is, but I'm going to have to tell you that you didn't see what it was you thought you saw."

"Then what did I see? Because from where I was standing, I saw you about to murder someone, in front of dozens of people."

"We were ridding the world of yet another Power who thought they could control us. I assume you saw the one that did control several people, just before we made an example of him?"

"I was that one!" Eli shouted into the phone. He then hit the end call button and nearly slammed his phone on the counter. He wanted to go find Rayburn and rip his limbs off, but he didn't think that was one of his powers, and he didn't want to prove Rayburn right.

He heard a beep from his phone. He held it up and saw a text message scroll across the top of the lock screen. He slid the screen up, and tapped on the messaging button.

Blokker138: That was very good. Come into the back room.

He looked to his left and saw the door open into the back room. He slowly approached the door and entered the room. It appeared to be nothing but storage, with boxes and boxes of CDs waiting to be opened. He moved around the boxes and saw a light on in what appeared to be a break room. He walked into the break room and saw an Hispanic man sitting at a table, listening to music from an iPod.

"Excuse me," Eli said, a little louder than he normally would have, so that the man could hear him. The man didn't react. He simply sat there, looking down at his iPod. Eli spoke up again, "Sir? I came here to find someone named 'Block'."

His phone beeped again. Another text message.

Blokker138: I know. You are looking at me.

Eli looked up from his phone. "You're Block?"

Blokker138: I am. I apologize for this, I rarely speak. A condition caused by my Choosing.

"You can hear me through those headphones?"

Blokker138: I hear everything. It is one of my gifts. What are yours?

I seem to be telepathic.

Blokker138: I am waiting.

"Huh?"

Blokker138: I apologize, again. You must be telepathic.

"Is one of your gifts the inane desire to apologize for everything?!"

Blokker 138: I said, I am sorry, but one of my gifts is the ability to shut off the gifts of the Chosen around me, aside from certain ones. Angel's flight is not inhibited, because it is a physical ability.

Eli groaned and sat down at the break table. "So, I can't prove to you that I'm a telepath."

Block pointed at Eli's arm.

Blokker138: I can tell that Angel wrote that. You are obviously a Chosen.

"Okay, so we've established that, now what can you do to help me?"

Blokker138: You likely need a job. It is quite difficult to deal with customers when I can only speak so often.

"That's what you're going to do to help me? Give me a job?"

Blokker138: I am sorry, how did you expect me to help you with your gift? I block your gift. Or did the name 'Block' leave you with a different idea?

Eli sighed. "Okay, so who do I go to to get help with using my powers?"

Blokker138: I could not tell you. You will have to find that yourself.

He sighed again, and watched Block. "So, do I need a company shirt, or anything?"

***

Gabriel sat across from the canvas and wanted to understand. He kept his eyes focused on the canvas and almost tried to will an image to appear, but nothing happened. He grabbed his painting supplies and walked over to the canvas. He dabbed his brush in some green paint and was about to start painting when he saw that a beautiful rolling hillside had suddenly appeared on the canvas. What the hell? He looked at the canvas a second time, touched it, and found that the paint was already dry.

There was a knock on the door. Gabriel almost jumped, then he looked at the clock on the wall. Eleven forty-five, he was expecting a client to arrive at eleven forty-five. He walked over to the wall and grabbed his painting coat, to rectify the one problem he'd had since waking up that morning: he covered his nudity. They're going to be expecting Gabrielle, not Gabriel... What am I gonna do? He opened the door to see his client standing there.

The man looked confused. "Hello, I'm Elliot Rayburn, I called Gabrielle a few days ago, she told me to show up today, this time."

Gabriel nodded. "Yes. I'm... Gabrielle's brother, Gabriel."

Rayburn smiled. "Gabe and Gabby, you must be twins."

"We are. Um, Gabby's not here, right now, and I don't know which piece is yours, so if you could just come back later..."

Rayburn pushed him out of the way. "Well, I'm sure I can find the piece I'm looking for. After all, I special ordered it, I know what it looks like."

"Sir, if you could please just leave, I'll have Gabby call you, and - "

Rayburn spun around and unholstered a gun, pointed it straight at Gabriel's face. He thumbed back the hammer and smiled. "Gabrielle only has a sister, her name's Melody, and she's seventeen, four years younger than Gabrielle. I've met her, my men have her captive, unless you turn yourself in for judgement."

Gabriel's eyes narrowed. 'You were the one in charge a little while ago, weren't you?"

"I was. Now, turn yourself in, Power, or I'll just carry out your sentencing right here and now."

Garbiel felt something odd happening. He looked down at his feet and saw them evaporating, melting into the ground. He looked back up at Rayburn, watched as he pulled the trigger at something that used to be human mere seconds before. Just as suddenly as it began, Gabriel watched as Rayburn was standing atop him, looking down at him. Rayburn knelt down, reached out, but Gabriel knew that the man felt nothing but concrete.

"I can still see you, Gabe. Nice decision, too. You make a wonderful chalk outline." Rayburn stood, turned around, and walked out of the apartment.

Gabriel sat up, then looked down. His torso was melded into the floor, with the rest of his body filled out by a chalk outline of someone who looked as though they'd been shot. He pushed himself up, realizing that there wasn't even any pain, or any feeling at all. He finally made himself whole and looked down at his body. The outline was gone, almost as if it was never there. What the hell?

***

Eli shook hands with the sixteenth person that had come into the store that day and sighed again. How did I let myself get into this one?

"Get into what one?" the customer asked, which made Eli realize that he'd accidentally used his powers, again.

"Nothing, sir, I'm sorry. Just talking out loud, I guess."

The customer shrugged, then picked up his bag and walked out of the store. Eli sat back down on the barstool behind the counter and went through the tedious process of waiting for another customer. He sighed yet again. How did I let myself get into this one? his mind repeated. Just yesterday, I was a decently well-off young woman, the rest of her life ahead of her, ready to rally against the very thing I've somehow become. Now, I'm a young man with no vision for his life, working in a music store! He almost threw something, but he didn't.

Instead, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, so he reached inside and pulled it out.

Blokker138: Do not throw anything, please. My sales barely make up the rent, while the advertising revenue makes up the costs for the products.

Eli typed in 'You can hear my thoughts now?'

Blokker138: It is not hard when we are separate. You are unfocused right now, and need some help to make sure no one hears a thought from you that they should not.

Eli sighed. stuck his phone back in his pocket and waited for the next customer.

***

Gabriel found himself by his phone and quickly dialed his parents' house. He didn't even think when his mother picked up on the other end. "Mom, listen to me, I need to know if there have been some strange men there, please, tell me."

"Gabriel, this isn't a good time to talk, we're a little busy, at the moment," she said.

"Mom, please, Melody might be - " He cut himself off when he realized his mother called him Gabriel. "Who told you that name? Is there a man named Rayburn there?"

"Baby, this really isn't a good time, we're... we're entertaining guests, at the moment."

"Mom, put Rayburn on the phone, please."

After a moment, Gabriel heard the phone being handed over to someone else, then Rayburn's voice came on. "Hello, Gabe. Nice to talk to you, again. Your mother's a fantastic cook."

"You want me, right? Well, come take me."

"Actually, your little sister will do just fine, as well."

"Melody?"

"Yes. Seems you're not the only Power in the family." With that, the phone was disconnected, and Gabriel dropped his on the floor. Mel... What the hell happened to you?

He ran into his bedroom and looked through all his clothing, looking for something that could stretch to fit his new male frame. He poked around, finding a pair of sweatpants with an elastic waist. They were pink, but at least they would stretch. Next, he looked around for a shirt, but he was out of luck there. The closest thing he found was a jacket one of his boyfriends had left from a long time ago. He slipped the jacket on, even though the temperatures outside were reaching near ninety. He'd have to make due.

Shoes... Shoes... He poked around his closet, but all he found were the shoes he wore when he was a woman, and those wouldn't fit him now. He resigned himself to go barefooted.

The last thing he went for in his closet was his nine-millimeter. Gabrielle Hunter had been a very cautious woman from the day she was born, and so when a girl on campus had been raped and murdered, Gabrielle did the first thing she could think of, she bought a taser. When a second girl had been raped and murdered, she bought the nine-millimeter. She'd taken it to the range, used it enough to get comfortable with it, shooting at paper targets. Gabrielle had never shot another human being, and now Gabriel was considering doing just that, when next he came into contact with Elliot Rayburn.

I'm coming, guys.

***

Eli was almost asleep when he felt his phone vibrate against his leg. He pulled it out and saw the text from Block and felt his heart sink.

Blokker138: HARP on their way here. You need to be back here, I will take this shift.

He slipped back behind the cloth that separated the back room from the front counter and stopped as Block stepped out of the back room. "How do you know they're coming?" he asked the other man. Block pointed up at the ceiling, but Eli couldn't see anything. He felt his phone vibrate again, and a new message appeared.

Blokker138: Angel called me. She told me. One of my gifts is deception, I will keep you hidden, as I have done for myself many times.

"Can you deceive them into thinking that you can talk?"

Without Eli seeing his lips move. "Of course I can. It's just not comfortable to do."

Eli shook his head. "This is all freakin' crazy."

Blokker138: I know. I thought the same thing when I was first Chosen. Now, get to the back room. They will be here any moment.

Eli nodded, then continued past Block into the back room, where he locked the door. He watched the monitor that showed the security camera footage and saw three men walk into the store, each one dressed in jackets and cargo jeans. Two of them fiddled around with merchandise, acting like they were about to buy something, but it was obvious that they weren't really looking. The third man walked up to the counter. Eli couldn't hear what he was saying, but he could tell that whatever Block was saying to the man must be working.

Until the man drew a handgun from a holster under his jacket and pointed it straight at Block's head.

Eli couldn't just sit back there anymore. He burst through the door, then the other door back into the store. The other two men each had their own guns drawn, but Eli didn't really care. He bowled into one of them, knocking him to the floor and his gun across it. The second man almost got a shot off, but he suddenly threw himself into a shelf. The third man, the one that had been talking to Block, was already on the floor.

Eli concentrated on Block, and tried to send a thought to him. Are you okay? He wasn't sure that his attempt had worked, however. In his little bits of training, he had merely focused on isolating his thoughts to one person, trying to make them buy certain CDs (one man he coerced into purchasing an entire Lionel Barrymore collection on vinyl), not actual communication.

Lucky him, however, his attempt succeeded. I'm fine, Eli. You're getting better at telepathic communication.

Thanks. I've been practicing on the customers.

Block walked over to him and helped him up, and this time, Eli actually did see his lips move. "No wonder our sales have been through the roof."

***

Gabriel stood a block and a half away from his parents' home and looked at the men in the black HARP van parked in the driveway. He knew what HARP was, an anti-super powers organization. They'd only sprung up after all the super heroes started showing up in East City. He'd never given them much attention, though. Gabrielle had been an avid comic collecter when she was younger. Superman and Batman had fueled her desire to become an artist in the first place.

"Hey, buddy," a voice said behind him. Gabriel turned around and saw a man picking up his newspaper at the edge of his driveway. "Can I ask you just what the hell you're doing on my lawn?"

"I'm just..." He looked back at the HARP van, saw that they two men inside didn't even seem to have a remote interest in his direction, then turned back to the man who's yard he was standing on. "You see that house, down the way? The one with the HARP van in the driveway?"

"And?"

"That's my parents' house, and these HARP guys have my familiy held hostage. They want me to turn myself in to them."

"You a super hero? I thought those guys were only out east."

"I... I have a power, I guess. I keep ending up turning into wall graffiti."

"Look, man, why are you tellin' me this?"

"Because I need your help."

"My help?"

"Yeah."

"And you're banking on the idea that I'm not a member of that stupid organization that hates you guys?"

"You probably wouldn't have called them stupid if you were."

He sighed. "Well, I can't help you, I'm ten minutes late for work."

"Could you at least give me some shoes, then?"

The man looked down at Gabriel's feet, then back up at his face. "You're lucky. My son's leftovers should probably fit you."

***

Erica Hunter hugged her daughter close while Mr. Rayburn walked around the room. He had just lit up a cigarette moments before, and was constantly checking his watch. "Why's he keep doing that?" Melody asked.

Her mother shook her head. "Maybe he's waiting for someone," was the answer, but Melody could tell that she was hiding something. She didn't know how she could tell, but she could tell.

In fact, Melody was having a little trouble figuring out a few things. Ever since she woke up that morning, she felt off. She looked at all the pictures on her walls, on her dresser, throughout the house, and she saw her older sister, Gabrielle, standing next to a younger girl she didn't recognize. Who was that girl? She didn't know.

Until she looked in the mirror.

Melody looked at her face, her very female, very pretty face, and it looked totally alien to her. She looked at the breasts pushing out the front of the nightgown she'd never before worn and nearly fainted in the bathroom. Her mother had helped her to her feet, asked her what was wrong, but Melody had no clue what was wrong. The only thing that seemed wrong was her.

Then came the things she was hearing.

Why is she acting so odd? her mother hadn't said, but had thought. She doesn't really think she's a boy, does she?

After that moment in the bathroom, Melody had returned to the bedroom that was both so obviously hers and so amazingly foreign to her and dressed in what she assumed was appropriate clothing. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Melody Hunter remembered a totally male life, one in which the only time she saw girls' clothing was when she was imagining a girl taking the clothes off. A simple pair of blue jeans and a camisole top over the bra and panties she hadn't removed after she'd taken off the nightgown, that was what she picked.

When Gabriel arrives, we'll snag both him and the sister. That was what Rayburn was thinking. Melody heard it as easily as she could hear someone speaking aloud. What was happening to her?

"Who's Gabriel?" she asked her mother, her voice low.

"According to him, Gabrielle's a man, now, and his name is Gabriel."

"Does that have anyting to do with what happened to me?"

Her mother's eyes turned sympathetic. "Sweetie, I don't know what's wrong with you, but..."

"Mom, I remember being a boy. I don't know why, maybe my brain's scrambled or something, but I distinctly remember being a boy named Melvin."

Her mother stroked Melody's hair. "Sweetie, I would never name my child Melvin."

"Still, I remember it, even if it didn't really happen. Could it have something to do with Gabby?"

"I don't know, baby. We'll just have to wait to see what's happening."

Melody nodded, then sighed. Rayburn stopped in front of her and locked his eyes on her, once again. Then he smiled. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. This'll all be over as soon as your brother arrives."

"That's why you're gonna bag both of us, right?"

He knelt down in front of her. "That wasn't a very nice thing, listening in on my thoughts like that. Pretty girl like you should really be more considerate."

***

Gabriel jumped over the back fence and kept low. He was surprised by his newfound strength. He'd never thought that women were the weaker sex, but he certainly felt a great deal stronger now than he had been when he was Gabrielle. Granted, I never tried to raid my parents' house and save their lives when I was Gabrielle. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. He Slowly walked toward the back door, then pulled his keys out of his pants pocket. He unlocked and then opened the door, then slipped inside and closed it again.

***

Melody was getting restless. She wanted to do something. No man would just sit there and let somebody take their family hostage the way she was. Granted, the tight-fitting bra keeping her breasts from experiencing gravity was a constant reminder that she really wasn't a boy, no matter how much she remembered being one.

Why do I only see Rayburn in there? Is it just him and those two guys in the van? No way, there's gotta be more. She lifted her head at the sound of someone's thoughts, the thoughts of someone new. She looked around the room and saw that the three men Rayburn had brought in with him were all just standing there, just like they had been. Whoever it was that she'd heard, they could only see Rayburn.

She cleared her throat. "Can I go use the bathroom?"

Rayburn sighed, then turned to the man by the stairs. "Milo, follow the girl to the bathroom. And be careful, we still don't know what her powers are."

Melody stood up and walked into the dining room, on her way to the hallway where the bathroom was, just like she said she was going to do. Milo, the biggest of the three goons, followed her. She passed through the dining room, into the hallway, and glanced at the stairs. She hoped that whoever it was she'd heard was somewhere around.

She stepped on a piece of paper. She gently lifted her foot from the paper and picked it up. There was a goofy stick figure holding a gun on the paper. She turned to Milo and handed the paper to him. "Here, something pretty for you to look at while I'm in there."

Milo took the paper and pushed her toward the bathroom. "Hurry up." She stuck her tongue out at him, a more feminine display that she thought she was capable of, and shut the bathroom door behind her.

***

Gabriel felt the paper he was on drift to the floor after the one Rayburn had called Milo dropped it. It took him less than a second to pull himself off of the paper and press his gun to Milo's head. "Try somethin' funny, big man, I actually do know how to use this."

To his surprise, Milo just held his hands in the air, like he was surrendering. Gabriel looked at him questioningly. "What?" Milo asked. "You've got a gun to my head and you're a Power. Your sister's in the bathroom."

As if on cue, the bathroom door opened, and Melody stepped out, a smile on her face. "I'm guessing you're Gabby, now?"

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah. You okay?"

"I'm a little confused, but that's about it."

"That's a good thing," a new voice said. Gabriel turned around and saw Rayburn walking in from the dining room. He had a smile on his face. "After all, if you Powers knew exactly what you were doing, we'd all be fucked."

~o~O~o~

Chapter Three: Problem Child

Gabriel handed his gun over to Rayburn, who jerked his thumb toward the front door. Gabriel took up the position he knew he needed to take, protecting Melody. It had been that way since they were kids, with Big Sister Gabrielle always making sure Little Sister Melody was safe and sound, or at least in her sight. Gabriel put his hands on Melody's shoulders and the two of them walked in unison toward the front door, just like Rayburn wanted.

"You okay?" he asked his little sister.

"No. There's weird guys in our house holding guns to us, and we don't know why."

"I've got a pretty good idea, actually." He turned his head to speak to Rayburn as they walked. "So, HARP, huh? That makes us Chosen, right?"

"We prefer the term Powers. Gives us Humans something to Rise Against." Rayburn smiled. "After all, if you Powers didn't have your unique abilities, we'd have no reason to be afraid of you." He pressed his gun into Gabriel's back. "We'll take you in, jack a TV signal and execute you on live television. After our demonstration this morning, and your executions this afternoon, everyone will finally know HARP is serious about ridding the world of the Powers." A cell phone rang. The two hostages and the four HARP members all stopped in the living room, where Gabriel saw his parents sitting on the couch, fear in their eyes. "Who the hell is Blokker138?" Rayburn asked, looking back and forth at his men.

Gabriel used that moment to his advantage. He grabbed Rayburn's gun and kicked him toward one of his men. He punched another one, knocking him unconscious. The only ones left with guns were Gabriel himself and the big one, Milo. "I'd put it down, if I were you," Gabriel said.

"He's gonna shoot!" Melody screeched, but somehow, Gabriel knew that she didn't mean Milo. He looked down at the man he'd kicked Rayburn toward and saw him pushing his boss to the side, giving himself a clean shot. "Stop!" Melody shouted, this time so loud that Gabriel doubled over in pain. He felt sharp pains in his hands, and glanced down to see the gun he'd taken from Rayburn had shattered into a thousand pieces. What the hell?!

As soon as the screaming stopped, Gabriel stood up and looked around at the damage that his sister had caused. Things were broken or shattered all over the room, including the kneecaps of one Ellliot Rayburn, who was bleeding on the floor.

At least he was still alive, however.

Rayburn's three men were all dead, severely. Blood was either pouring from every opening or new openings had come about so that they could bleed from those. Gabriel looked over at his parents and saw that they, too, were dead. He spun around and looked at Melody, and found that he was frightened of his little sister.

Instead of the fear face that he assumed she'd have after all that screaming, Melody was smiling a wide, devil's smile. Her eyes, normally a bright blue, were now solid red, with white pupils. Despite the fact that Gabriel had seen her face for years, he didn't recognize the one he was seeing now.

"Mel? You okay?"

She lifted up one hand, gestured lightly to the other side of the room, and suddenly, Gabriel was flying towards the damaged fireplace. He struggled to stand up, but he found that he couldn't. He reached up and grabbed hold of a piece of the fireplace and tried pulling himself to his feet, but found that it was still a fool's errand to make the attempt. Whatever Melody was doing to hold him against the ruined fireplace, she was still doing it. "Melody! C'mon! Lemme go!"

In the blink of an eye, Melody went from across the room to right beside him. She knelt down, and the demon's face that used to be his sister's smiled at him. "Sorry, bro, but you don't need to see what I'm gonna do next."

"Melody... What's going on with you?"

She grabbed him by the throat and squeezed. He felt things around him start to grow fuzzy, hazy. He tried to blink it away, but it wasn't helping. She just kept squeezing. "Some of us aren't Chosen, Gabe. Some of us are Rejected."

The last thing Gabriel Hunter saw before he passed out was his sister walking toward Rayburn and picking him up like he was nothing more than a discarded leaf.

***

Eli yawned. "You're sure that Rayburn's in there?"

Block turned his head toward Eli and nodded. It was more of an answer than he expected to get from his new employer. Eli sighed and turned the key, shutting the engine off. The black van did have the HARP logo on the side, but that didn't mean Rayburn was inside. He looked at his watch for the twentieth time and waited for something to happen.

Then the front of the house broke up into large wooden spikes, and each one of them lodged themselves into the van.

"What the fuck?!"

"Drive!" Block said, almost screaming. Eli quickly turned the key again and slammed his foot on the pedal, sending the car speeding towards the van.

Despite his foot's place, keeping the pedal firmly planted to the floor of the car, it had stopped. Eli struggled between gears, looking down just for a second to make sure he was still holding the pedal down, then he looked back up and saw a teenage girl, who looked to be no older than seventeen. On her face was the most disturbing smile any human being could ever muster, and Eli had seen photos of that Joker guy in the newspaper. This was a thousand times creepier, and what was worse was the fact that she was carrying Rayburn like he was a doll made of straw.

Eli blinked twice, but the girl still didn't go away. He tried getting the car going again, but nothing happened. He slammed his foot down on the pedal two, three times, but the car would not move. He put his foot down on the pedal one last time, and the sidewalk beneath his foot cracked a little more. Wait, sidewalk?! Eli looked around and saw that he was now standing on the sidewalk, Block beside him, equally as surprised. He looked back toward the car they had just been in and saw the girl sitting in the driver's seat. She rolled down the window and blew a kiss at him.

"Thanks, Eli. I'll take good care of it. I just need it to have a little fun with my little play toy!" She said all of this in a voice that sounded disturbingly cheerful. A voice that frightened Eli a great deal. After that, she rolled the window up and drove away.

"What the hell was that?" he asked Block, though he didn't expect an answer.

In fact, he turned to see the reaction on Block's face and found that Block was nowhere to be seen. He looked toward the destroyed house, which was now falling to pieces, and saw Block was casually walking toward the house. He ran after his employer, pausing for a moment to look at the wrecked HARP van. Good God. Were there people in there?

As a matter of fact, there were.

Block?

Yes.

How is this working now?

Every day, I manage to gain more control at blocking my own gifts. I'm blocking my ability blocking gift right now. Hurry inside, there's someone here you need to meet.

Eli shook his head, then made his way into the house, which was a very treacherous action by itself. Pieces of the roof were falling every moment, all thanks to the large section of the front of the house that was now a spike chamber for the van. He eventually found Block in what appeared to have once been the living room of the house, next to another man, who looked as though he'd just been put through a clothes dryer on high.

"Hey, I'm Eli Sanders, this is Block, what's your name?"

The man rubbed at his scruffy hair, then looked around. "Seventeen year old girl, long hair, smile like a demon on steroids, you seen her?"

Eli nodded. "Yeah, she just magically stole our car."

The man stood up, quickly, then stumbled for a second. "We have to find her, that's my sister!"

Eli steadied the man. "Sir, calm down, we're gonna help you, but first you have to tell us your name."

Gabriel, a thought came from nowhere, and it wasn't Block's. "My name is Gabriel Hunter. The girl's name is Melody, and she just kidnapped a man named Elliot Rayburn, a member of HARP."

Eli's eyes narrowed. "Rayburn? Are you a Harpie?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. They took my family hostage, so that they could take my sister and I and make examples out of us. Melody shouted at him, there was a weird noise, earsplitting, man, and I was disoriented. After that, Melody went berserk, suddenly she was throwing me against a wall, making me stick to it, she picked up Rayburn like he didn't weigh anything, and I blacked out." He took a breath, then his eyes widened. "What the hell happened to my parents' house?!"

Block spoke, but his mouth didn't move, which made Eli think that Block was using his illusory power. "That would be your sister."

"What? Wait a minute, your mouth didn't move, what the hell?"

Eli put his hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "He's not big on really speaking. Look, are you a Po - a Chosen?"

"Yeah, I am. Were you about to call me a Power?"

Eli sighed. "I was gonna join HARP until fate landed my powers at my doorstep, and then I saw what HARP was really capable of this morning. The term Power just slips out of my mouth at times. I'm telepathic, what are you?"

"I'm... Ink."

"Huh?"

"I can turn my body into living artwork. Pencil, pen, brush, chalk, marker... I can turn into all of it, look any graphic way I want to."

"That's... significantly cooler than being a telepath." Eli sighed. Why couldn't I have gotten the awesome power? "Okay, so your sister, who I assume was your brother before today, got - "

Gabriel cut Eli off. "No, actually, Melody's been Melody her whole life. I don't know what's up with her not changing. Well, except for her calling herself a Rejected, instead of a Chosen."

Eli saw Block's eyes widen, he then made a fast exit, pulling his phone out of his pocket. What's up? he tried to mentally ask Block, but the other man disregarded him.

"What's up with him?" Gabriel asked.

"I dunno."

***

Melody watched Rayburn literally burn, and wanted to puke. Her problem? She couldn't, not with her body completely under something else's control.

She felt herself walk over to Rayburn. She felt herself kneel down, and as soon as she placed her hand on Rayburn's face, she felt heat. When her hand was moved away, she saw a vicious burn on Rayburn's face, going from just above his right eye to just above his chin. Melody heard a laugh, from her very lips, though she hadn't been the one to laugh.

She felt herself move again, this time to the small pond between the trees. She knelt down and looked at herself in the murky water, and Melody could see Her. Whoever the hell Her was, Melody could see Her.

"Don't worry, Access, you'll be back out, soon."

***

Much to Gabriel's surprise, when they arrived at the Hispanic man's music store, there was an honest to God angel in the building. She was amazingly beautiful, wearing a flowing white dress and no shoes. He kept his distance from her, mainly so that he didn't get hit accidentally by one of her wings.

"It's so nice to meet you, Gabriel," she said, taking a step toward him. "You can call me Angel."

Gabriel nodded. "That's... creative."

She smiled. "My name was originally Bernard, Gabrielle."

He chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I just... So, what do you do?"

She stepped toward the Hispanic man (his name was Block, Gabriel remembered). "Why did you call me here?" she asked, ignoring Gabriel's question.

Gabriel actually saw the man's lips move for the first time since meeting him. "We need your help, Angel. There's a Rejected involved."

Eli stepped forward, biting at an apple he took from somewhere Gabriel hadn't noticed. "What's a Rejected?"

Angel's eyes showed a great deal of fear, something Gabriel assumed wasn't something she showed often, given her appearance. "A Rejected? Impossible, there can't be."

Block nodded. "I wish I were lying, but I'm not."

The angel sighed, then turned toward Eli and Gabriel. "A Rejected is another form of Chosen, but not a good one. Generally, they're picked as a punishment."

"What would my sister be punished for?" Gabriel asked.

"The Rejected is your sister?"

"Yeah, and I wanna know what she could possibly be punished for, she's seventeen goddamn years old!"

Angel waved her hands. "I'm sorry, that I can't know. I can only see futures, not pasts, and my track record there is starting to waver, after the Joker incident." She put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "For now, we need to focus on finding your sister. Do you have a cell phone I can borrow?"

"Here," Eli said, pulling his out of his pocket.

"Good. I need to call a friend from East City. You'll need to meet her at the airport tomorrow."

"Does this friend have a name?" Gabriel asked. All Angel did was smile.

***

"No name," Gabe said, sitting behind the wheel of the rental car they were using. He looked over at Eli and saw he was equally as uncomfortable. "How are we supposed to know who she is?"

Eli shrugged. "Hell if I know. Angel just said I'd know her by her thoughts."

"Well, what's anybody thinking?"

There was a tap on the roof of the car, which surprised the both of them. Gabe rolled down the window, about to stick his head out to see what it was, but instead, a mask wearing head lowered itself into view. The mask was yellow, with two giant white eyes. The wearer had long brown hair, which was currently hanging free.

The girl giggled. "Wow, you guys aren't exactly the best and brightest, are you?"

Gabe went to open the door, and the girl jumped off of the roof of the car. Other than the mask, she was wearing plain clothes, a pair of ratty jeans and a tee-shirt with the word Deadpool underneath a red, black and white face, which looked a lot like a super hero mask. "Are you the one?"

The girl pulled off her mask. "Yeah. My name's Charlie. Angel sent me to help you guys find some girl?"

Gabe shook his head. "Not just some girl, my sister."

"Oh. Well... um... Can we stop by an Arbys, or something, because I'm starving, and airline peanuts just didn't do it for me."

Gabe nearly growled. "Look, kid, my little sister's out there going crazy somewhere, and Angel said you can help, now can you help, or what?"

The girl raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. "Sorry, Graffiti Pants, I'm just a little hungry, that's all. I just got off a plane after getting no sleep, fighting four big ass robots, swinging around my town... on top of that, I just got out of the hospital the other day, after I was assaulted by a freak with fetish for clown make-up. I'm ready to help whenever you need me, but I'm hungry. I don't know about you, but I can't think on an empty stomach."

"Why'd you call me Graffiti Pants?"

"Because your pants look like train graffiti on the side of your car."

Gabe looked down and saw that he had, indeed, accidentally graffitied himself into the vehicle's paint job. He groaned, then started pushing himself off of the car. "Look, kid," he said again, this time a little softer. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about my sister, okay?"

"I understand. So, you're a living paint brush and your friend's a telepath, what other Chosen are here, anyway? What can your sister do?"

Before Gabe could answer, Eli smacked the roof of the car. "Now I remember you! Charlie Harkins, Arachnya, right?"

The girl nodded. "Yep."

Gabe raised an eyebrow. "The friend Angel had in East City is the only one of us to go public?"

"I'm just the first of a few, now. My friend, Frank, he got outed, thanks to the Joker slitting his throat on live TV." She shuddered, visibly. "And HealAll's supposed to be showing one off next week."

"Still, all you have is spider powers, what's so special about you?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Spiders can track pretty well, by the way. Besides, my dad was a cop, I'm pretty good at detective work."

Eli flashed a thumbs up. "Great. Where do we start?"

"By getting to the nearest place with greasy food and a TV."

Gabe raised an eyebrow again. "Why?"

"Angel said that your sister, or, well, the threat, took a Harpie with her, right?"

"Yeah."

"She's probably gonna find a public place to execute him."

***

Eli watched the girl pack in two large orders of curly fries and wondered if she was going to rush to the restroom to puke it out. Eli's friends, when he had been Elena, had done that when they wanted to eat like pigs. He munched on his own chicken sandwich, all the while they each kept their eyes on the TV in the corner.

That was when breaking news came on.

"Hello, everybody," Melody said, her voice so happy that it was almost like she'd just met the love of her life, "my name is Melody Hunter, and I'm a Chosen."

Charlie tapped Eli on the arm. "Where is that? Abner Park? Is it close?"

"Block or two away, east."

She jumped over top of Gabe and landed on the ceiling, much to the surprise of many of the other customers. "See ya there!"

Eli looked at Gabe, who asked, "What the hell did we get ourselves into with her?"

***

Charlie slipped her mask on, though that was all she had. The rest of her costume was still back in East City. She swung as fast as she could towards the place known to locals as Abner Park. She landed on a flagpole overlooking the park, where Graffiti Man's sister was standing over top of the very bloody looking Harpie. Great. I've gotta save one of these guys. Ugh... Just get it over with, Charlie, just get it over with.

She swung downward, toward the girl, and was ready to land a kick on the girl's face as she passed. "Hi, there!" she shouted, on her way down.

But she didn't quite make it. Something knocked her down, onto the grass. She landed on her stomach, which wasn't very pleasant, and tilted her head up to look at Melody, who was now kneeling down in front of her. "Poor, poor little spider." She held one hand up, palm facing upward. "Spiders get squashed a lot, y'know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know... But..." Charlie spun around, flipped over onto her back, and then sprung upward, landing a fist in Melody's face on her way back down. "Sometimes, we spiders squash back!"

Melody wiped blood from her mouth, and then her face changed subtly. Charlie couldn't quite place it, but it was like she, well, de-aged, somewhat. "Oh my God..." the other girl said, "What have I done?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow under her mask. "Um... You kidnapped a man, quite obviously tortured him, tried to pound me into the dirt, and then I punched you. Anything other than that, I couldn't tell you. Name's Arachnya, by the way."

"Where's my brother?"

"Captain Graffiti Pants? Gabe? He should be on his way here any minute, actually. It doesn't take that long to run three blocks and avoid the massive amount of police and media presense. I don't even know this city, and I managed to swing here in about three and a half minutes." Charlie looked over at the Harpie, who was bleeding out on the grass. She walked over to him and knelt down. "Sir, are you still conscious?" She turned toward the massive group of SWAT officers standing just outside the park. "Can we get a paramedic here?" She turned back to the Harpie. "Sir, there should be an ambulance here shortly."

The man coughed, spat blood in Charlie's face. "Fuck off, Power."

Charlie hoisted him up by the collar. "Hey, this Power just saved your ass from what would have likely been an extremely painful death. Shut up, okay?"

That was when the man's face burst into a light blue flame. Charlie immediately dropped him, making sure that she hadn't also spontaneously caught on fire. She spun around and saw Melody standing there, holding her hand out. "Little punch like that, you thought I was down for the count?"

Charlie gulped, audibly. "I kinda hoped so."

~o~O~o~

Chapter Four: Dead Zone

Charlie stood there, staring at Melody, who was grinning a devil's grin at her. She cautiously stepped to the left, knelt down, and then leaped into the air, firing two weblines straight at the other girl. She wasn't surprised when the webs didn't land on their target, but it did give her just enough of an edge to plant both her feet on Melody's face, knocking her down to the grass.

But Charlie didn't stop there. She webbed all four of Melody's limbs to the ground, using three times as much webbing as she normally would, and then made another web restraint across her torso, using even more webbing. Boy, I'm glad my body secretes this stuff. If I was Spider-Man, and had to resort to web-shooters, I'd probably have used up a dozen or so cartridges of web fluid on this chick.

"Now, don't get up, okay? I'm just a little tired, and even more jet-lagged, so I haven't been fighting you at my peak, and you really don't wanna see that."

And yet again, Melody smiled. "Sure I do," she said, almost a whisper, as the webbing began to burn. Oh, c'mon!

Charlie sighed. "You couldn't just stay down, could you? Nope... Just had to get up, didn't you? Why you gotta be doin' that?"

Charlie wanted to say more, but she didn't get a chance, as one blink later, Melody was right next to her, a hand on Charlie's throat, cutting off her windpipe. She tried to struggle out of the monster's grip, but it was extremely difficult. She felt herself losing consciousness, then Melody punched her in the stomach, and that brought her right back. "Don't fall asleep now, Charlotte."

"I'd ask how you know my name, but I've been on TV..." Charlie said, through grit teeth.

"And now you'll be on TV while I turn this park into a graveyard." Melody let go of Charlie, then walked out into the center of the park. Using one of her many powers (seriously, Charlie had never seen somebody with this much power), a portion of the ground beneath her raised up, giving Melody a sort of platform to stand on. She then held up both arms, to either side. "Watch this, everybody!"

Charlie expected the ground to shake, lightning to suddenly rain down on them, hell, even acid rain would be something she would have expected. But no, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, Charlie looked around at the SWAT officers maintaining their perimeter, and saw each and every one of them kneeling down, vomiting, wiping blood out of their eyes or away from their nostrils, cupping their hands over their ears in pain, or any number of other things that looked outrageously painful. Two or three of them literally exploded, causing Charlie to pull her mask off and vomit all over the grass. Much to her surprise, the vomit caused the grass to burn. What the hell is she doing?!

"Stop it!" she screamed. "Melody! Stop!"

Melody didn't even turn her head toward Charlie, instead, she simple raised her arms higher. Charlie looked around again, and saw the news people were now falling dead in many gruesome, horrible ways. This stops, now!

Charlie ran toward the large earthy platform that Melody was standing on. She jumped about halfway up it, then started crawling to the top. She made her way up the giant shaft of earth, then faceplanted into what felt like glass, just before reaching the top. She reached up and touched the phantom glass and then started punching. "Let me up there, Melody!"

Melody just laughed. Charlie was starting to hate laughter. First the Joker, now this bitch. "Sorry, Charlotte. Glass ceilings, and all that."

"I'm gonna break your goddamn glass!"

Melody knelt down and put her hands to her cheeks. "Oooooh, somebody's feisty." She stood back up. "Now stay there, be a good spider, and wait for me to get the fly-swatter."

Charlie jumped off of the earth platform and landed on the dead grass below. She looked around at the trees that had once been full of life, and saw that they were now decaying husks of once beautiful things. She saw now that even the passersby that had been unaffected by Melody's assault were now dying.

"Stop, Melody!" Charlie shouted. "These people don't need to die!"

Melody turned to look at Charlie, then lowered her earth platform. She walked over to the other girl, with the most incredulous look on her face. "What?!

Oh, shit, is this actually working? Wow! "No, they don't."

"No, I can't believe you're saying this. You, who's seen just how stupid humanity can be?"

Charlie sighed. "I'd ask how you know about me, but I've been on TV, and you seem to have more powers than God Himself. Look, humans aren't bad, they're just scared. Look at them," she pointed at the dying people just outside the park, "you're proving why people should be afraid of us! I want us to be accepted, that's why I don't kill people!"

It appeared to Charlie that Melody was actually considering her words, but just before the other girl opened her mouth to say something, three darts hit her chest. Charlie looked around at the buildings to see where the shoots had come from, but she couldn't see anything. She focused her attention back on the girl in front of her. She quickly used her webbing to stop her from falling hard on the dead ground. "Un-uh! You're not getting knocked out that easy."

Melody groaned. "I'm not unconscious, I'm just... back to normal, I guess is the closest thing to what I can say." She sat up. "You're... Arachnya, right?"

Charlie nodded. "Yup. Said that a little while ago. So, can I knock you out to make sure you don't accidentally kill anybody?"

She waved her hands. "No! Don't do that! That might make... the other me come back out!"

Charlie sighed. "Fine. You just give up, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, let's - " Charlie was cut off by the sound of a helicopter. She looked up and saw a solid black helicopter hovering overhead. "Hey! I was havin' a moment here!" She turned around to look at Melody, only to see her being restrained on a stretcher. "What's going on?" she asked the three men in black tactical gear who were loading Melody onto the stretcher. "Why are you guys here, cramping my style?"

One of the them raised his assault rifle. "Back away, girl, this Rejected is in our custody." He lowered his rifle a little, but Charlie noticed that it wasn't pointed away from her yet. "Your assistance was greatly appreciated."

Charlie folded her arms under her breasts. "Gee, seems to me I did all the hard work."

"Please, Ms. Harkins, vacate the area. We're not authorized to detain you, but we will if necessary."

"You guys ain't Harpies, are you?"

"No, ma'am, we're a separate organization, and we're on your side, but we don't require any more of your assistance. Please, vacate the area."

Charlie sighed. "This is never gonna be explained, is it? There's no Nick Fury showing up on my doorstep, is there?"

"Leave, ma'am, this is your last warning."

She shot out a webline to a building. "So help me, I'll roast your boss's eyepatch!"

***

Eli had trouble clearing out all the thoughts. He heard everyone's minds at once, and that wasn't an easy thing to deal with. He turned to Gabe and asked, "Can you get through the crowd?"

Gabe raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you?"

"All these people, I keep hearing everything they're thinking." He groaned. "It's my powers, I'm clearly not good with crowds."

"Fine. I'll ink under the crowd, see if I can get close to that spider kid and Melody."

"I wouldn't worry about her," Harkins said, landing in front of them. She pulled her mask out of her pocket and dusted it off. "Boy, this thing gets dirty when it's in my pocket."

Gabe didn't look to be all that happy. "Why shouldn't I worry about my sister?"

"She's been taken by some creepy MIB-like guys. They weren't exactly happy campers."

"And where are they taking Melody?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe we should go ask Angel."

***

"This doesn't seem right," Angel said, making Gabe a little angry. He wanted answers. Straight answers, not meaningless crap like she was putting out now. "None of the futures I saw involved Melody becoming a Rejected, she was simply to remain the normal human she always was. I don't like this."

Gabe smacked the countertop. Block had an angry look on his face, as the cash register dinged when he did it. "What don't you like? That my sister is a monster that slaughtered dozens of cops and even more average citizens, or the fact that she was kidnapped by some government organization that doesn't seem to exist?"

Angel gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Gabriel, I can't help you with them."

Harkins whistled from the ceiling. "Um, I can." She crawled a little closer to the other four Chosen. "My dad's friend, Holly Montoya, told me about this guy who met with my dad on the day he was killed."

"Wait, this guy killed your dad?"

She shook her head. "No. A Harpie named Harmony killed my dad, this guy just met with him. According to Ms. Montoya, he looked like he was government, but he didn't have any sort of identification on him. He had a briefcase full of file folders on Chosen, me included."

"And you think these guys who took Melody are involved with that guy?"

She nodded. "I do. Ms. Montoya said that all his files looked to be pretty thick, and this was only a month and a half ago, so a whole lot hadn't happened so far as Chosen stuff goes."

Angel rubbed at her chin. "I didn't know about this."

Gabe folded his arms across his chest. "Seems to be a lot of that happening to you right now."

"What?"

He groaned. "Look, lady, no offense, but your magic future reading powers haven't exactly helped anyone here in the last couple days. You said my sister wasn't supposed to be a Rejected, you said she wasn't supposed to be captured, you don't know about these mystic goverment agents that the kid seems to know at least a little about. How about you actually know something for once?!"

Angel's wings extended outward, her wingspan reaching it's full length. She approached Gabe, and much to his own surprise, he was scared. He retreated into the cement floor and became a spray painting of a man who looked like he was about to be hit by a train. "I want you to know that I don't take kindly to being told I'm useless. I've been helping Chosen since the beginning, far longer than you've even known what a Chosen is."

For a moment, the entire room was silent, then Harkins giggled. "Dude, you just pissed ink on the floor."

***

Charlie sat with her feet propped up on the break room table. Eli sat down on one of the other chairs and set a can of soda down in front of her. "Thanks," she said, taking the can and opening it. "Swinging around makes me thirsty."

Eli held his own soda in his hands for a moment, trying to think of something to say. Eventually, he asked, "Do you know any telepaths?"

She gulped down some soda, then nodded. "Yeah. There's this woman who lives in a mansion not far outside of East City. Her telepathy messed with her body, though. Before she was Chosen, when she was a man, she could walk and talk and everything, then she couldn't, all because she could read minds. And I read about this kid in Oklahoma who's invulnerable to bullets, but so fat that he can't move. There's this kid in East City who's body does everything faster. If he takes a drink, he's gotta pee pretty much instantly, if he eats, well, y'know. His power is speed, in case you couldn't guess."

Eli sighed. "How do you deal with all this? You're a fifteen year old kid, and you're just so used to it all."

She held up an index finger. "I'm sixteen, as a matter of fact, and lemme tell you, it hasn't been easy, I'm just three and a half months up on you."

Eli was about to say something, but a sudden newscast appeared on the TV, surprising the both of them. "This is Karen Parkman, Channel Three Action News. It's been three hours since the unknown teenage Chosen assaulted Abner Park, murdering well over three dozen SWAT officers and an unknown number of civilians. Though the appearance of famed East City heroine Arachnya did seem to be instrumental in stopping the threat, Abner Park itself has now become what scientist can only describe as a dead zone. CDC and FEMA have cordoned off the area, stopping anyone from entering. This comes after two officers from both agencies suffered severe injuries, and a third CDC man died on the spot."

"Jesus Christ," Eli said, barely aware that his lips had even moved.

"No kidding," Charlie said.

***

Melody awoke in a room full of bright lights. She tried moving her hand in front of her face to shield herself from the light, but she found she was still restrained. Luckily for her, six men stepped up to her, kneeled over, and blocked the light out. Five of them were wearing surgical garb, the sixth was in a business suit. He was smoking a cigarette.

"Just make sure she's sedated at all times. The drugs only seem to affect the other one, not Ms. Hunter's prime personality."

Melody's throat was dry, but she managed to say, "How do you know so much about me?" in a hoarse tone.

The cigarette smoking man patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Ms. Hunter. You'll be taken care of."

After he said that, she lost consciousness again.

***

Charlie sat on a chair, waiting for the inevitable delay in her flight back to East City. Gabe was sitting beside her. She noticed that he looked pretty depressed. "Hey, I know what it's like to lose somebody. My dad died, my best friend died... I kinda feel responsible for the deaths of an entire shopping mall full of people..."

He laughed. "Sorry, kid, I'm just not in that talkative a mood. I lost my parents, and my little sister's somewhere I can't even begin to figure out."

"I understand. But the one thing you can't do is let it drag you down. You need to be strong, for Melody."

He turned to her. "If this advice was coming from somebody a little older than sixteen years old, I'd probably listen to it. Sorry, kid, but you're not helping."

She sighed. "Sorry." She looked up on the board and noticed that her flight was now boarding the plane. "Say, maybe I'll see ya again, sometime. Gotta go." She stood up, pulled her ticket out of her pocket, and started toward the boarding ramp.

"Hey, Charlie," Gabe said, standing up from his own chair. She spun around to face him. "Thanks, for helping with Melody. I'm sure a lot more people would have died if you hadn't been there."

She smiled. "Well, I've tried to be a good super hero since all this started. I only hope I've done right by my dad and Frank."

"Get back to your side of the country, okay? We'll handle everything else here in Los Milagros from now on."

She flashed him a thumbs up, then continued on her way to the boarding ramp.

***

From across the airport, a man watched Ms. Harkins head for her plane. His face was hidden behind a newspaper, but if anyone was actually paying attention to him, they'd know that he was watching her. He folded the paper, stood up and picked up his briefcase. Time to go back home, huh, Charlie? the Benefactor asked himself. He smiled as he made his own way to the plane.

~o~O~o~

Epilogue: Cleaning Things Up

Eli Sanders heard the bell above the door and looked up from the order forms to see a very plain looking man with scruffy brown hair walking in. The man browsed the CD racks for a moment or two, then moved to the counter. "Hello, Mr. Sanders," the man said, a crooked smile on his face.

Eli narrowed his eyes. "And you are, sir?"

The man shook his head. "Not important. What is important, however, is that I know you" He leaned closer. And I know all about your gifts, young man.

Eli pressed a button under the counter, signaling Block. It took less than a second for the Hispanic man to enter from the back room, a gun in his hands.

The plain man raised his hands as if in surrender, but the smile never left his face. "Oh dear," he said, obvious sarcasm," whatever will I do?" Faster than Eli could keep up with, the plain man was now right next to Block, and the gun was on the floor. The man's hand was piercing Block's shoulder, the blood flowing quite freely. Eli jumped over the counter to grab the gun, but something shocked him, quite literally, knocking him to the floor behind the counter. After a moment, a teenage girl walked up to the plain man and received a pat on the shoulder from him. "Good job, Korra." He looked Block straight in the face. "I'm going to continue to browse while my lovely young associate deals with you."

The man pulled his hand out of Block's shoulder, and then the girl placed her hand on his face. "This is gonna hurt," she said, and then Eli watched as red and blue jolts of electricity were sucked out of Block's face, aging him in the process.

His attention was taken away from that show, however, by the plain man placing a CD on the counter. "I was feeling a little nostalgic," he said, standing there, waiting. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you busy? I'll just leave the money." He turned away for a moment, then said, "Korra, don't forget about this one." After that, he was humming the tune to Bob Seger's 'Old Time Rock'n'Roll'.

The girl jumped over the counter and knelt down in front of him, but she shook her head. "I don't need to absorb your stupid powers. I've already got telepathy. But the boss said to take care of you, so... I'm gonna havta kill ya." There was a flash of blue and red electricity, and then nothing. Unlike Block, Eli didn't feel a thing.