The Net,
June 25th

I rejoiced in the freedom of my true form.

With my angel wings, silver armour and best of all my beautiful female form, I flew towards my goal. I was taking my time, relatively speaking, watching the flow of information all around me. I was on schedule, my body was almost ready to leave the hospital, and I had already introduced my parents to Whateley's website and they'd requested an information package. Now I just had to make sure I was one of the students they wanted. For that I'd have to go a little farther afield.

The computer I entered wasn't well protected, I'd scouted it out several days ago, discovering the IP address, looking at the firewalls, security systems and other things. If the owner had really been smart she wouldn't have it connected to the net, but she was just smart enough to be dangerous if I wasn't careful.

I found the open port I needed to enter his computer. To my eyes it was a dusty, old door with a broken lock. A single shove put let me enter the system. A short walk took me to a keyboard hanging in the air. I'd worked on refining my password breaking program after seeing how long it took to break into the hospital, placing a black box on the keyboard, my newest program was connected to several seldom used servers and the computers connected to them, pulling in their power to hack the password in a few seconds.

From my purse I pulled out a cute kitten. A small wired came off its tail, the free end went to my ponytail, connecting us as one. Leaving the kitten there, I went back outside, I didn't want to risk getting stuck in the computer if the meeting went bad, my proxy however was expendable.

The brute force password breaker dinged, and the plain room opened up into something from a bad movie about supervillains. A torture rack in one corner, strange machines on the other side, tomes written on what looked like leather with howling faces against one wall, chains and weapons filled up the remaining space.

“Cozy!” I said, thinking about how fun whips could be when combined with the rack.

Forcing my mind to get back to business kitty me coughed up several bugs. Each one activated as they hit the ground, running to the tomes, while another one burrowed into the machines. They went to work transferring all the information to me, where I sorted it into useless, potentially useful, useful, and most important blackmail. Since it was just a fairly standard computer, it was done fairly quickly.

Kitty me ran to the machines and pressed a button. Turning on the webcam, and making the physical computer light up. 'Hello' appeared on the screen.

No one came for several minutes.

Frustrated, I went through the computers music collection, picked the worst song I could find and made it play at full blast. The Brass Monkey's Greatest Hits blaring loud enough to wake the dead got the attention I wanted.

A woman in her early twenties, obviously tired and recovering from a fight appeared on the webcam. She hit the mute button, glaring at her computer.

'Hello, Dark Wind,' I typed.

“Who are you?” she hissed.

'A person who wants to make a deal. Interested?'

She looked over her shoulder, “Go to bed honey, there was just a problem with the computer. It's alright.” Turning back to me, “I don't know who you are, but when I find you I'm going to rip your heart out.”

'I'm Glitch. Good luck finding me. Now do you want to hear my deal?' I asked again.

“No. I don't make deals with posers who think they're super villains.”

'I'm not a super villain, or a poser. I'm a student who needs a recommendation.' Giggling at the surprised look on her face, I continued. 'I am a newly manifested mutant. I want to enter Whateley, but my parents aren't rich, I am not in any real danger, and my mutation isn't very noticeable or hazardous to my or other peoples health. Having an alumni write a letter of recommendation would be very helpful.'

“Why the hell should I help you? I don't even know you.”

'Because I have 50% of MIT's research in robotics up until late March this year. I know you dabble in robotics and you have dealings with several gadgeteers and devisors who would pay you quite handsomely for the information.”

Her jaw dropped. “You're serious?”

'Always.'

She wasn't stupid, and thought over the proposal. “Why not just go to one of these devisors yourself get the cash and the letter of recommendation without me?”

'Several reasons. Your computer security was weak enough for me to break in without any danger. You have not killed anyone, unlike most of the devisors and gadgeteers I could connect to. When you make a deal you stick to it. And finally,' I typed, still not sure if this was a wise move or not, 'you have much more to lose if you try to back out of the deal or backstab me, than anyone else I know.'

The super villain growled at the screen, letting me know I'd made a mistake. “Don't threaten my family.”

'You asked me to explain myself, I did. Would you rather have me lie, when we both know that it is a lie?' I actually sneered, even though she couldn't see it. 'I thought you were better than that?'

She stopped growling, but didn't look happy. “Why do you want to get into Whateley's so badly? You have a pretty good chance of getting in without resorting to blackmailing a supervillain.”

I had to be a little careful answering this question. 'Someone very important to me is in the school. If I don't get into the school so I can be by his side, I don't know what I'll do.'

She smirked. “Young love. Listen girl, high school romance never works out. He'll leave you as soon as someone prettier comes along, and if you're lucky all you'll have to worry about is a broken heart and some rumours. If you're not, you'll be looking at the wonderful life of a single mother.”

'He won't do that to me!' I snarled.

The woman fought to keep a straight face. “So Glitch, you swear you won't do anything except be a decent student and not do anything that could make me look bad?”

'I won't hurt any students or staff unless I'm attacked. The less attention I attract the better.'

Dark Wind put her chin in her hand, puffing out her cheeks and blowing out the air several times. “Tell me about yourself.”

'What?'

“I don't care about your name or where you live. I want to know about who you are as a person. I'm not going to put Whateley in danger by sending someone who I don't trust there.”

'What do you want to know?' I asked confused.

“What have you been doing since you manifested?” she asked, turning away from the screen for a minute before turning back with a cup of something that steamed gently.

'I'm in a hospital. I was sick for a while, and I'm still recovering. I walked three hundred meters today with only a cane today.'

“Damn. So what is the light of your life like?”

'Oh, Mas- he is very nice and kind. We would go on dates everyday. He would get me really pretty clothes to wear. We'd play fun games. We had sex so many times and he always made sure I enjoyed it so much.”

The supervillain spit out her coffee. Cursing and swearing as she wiped herself and the computer off with some tissue, she looked at the camera in surprise. “How old are you?”

'Fourteen. Why?'

“Aren't you a little young for that? Do your parents know?”

'No. But Mom said that boyfriends and girlfriends can do stuff like that if they're really close. And I was made for him.'

“Did she add in something about being older when you do it?”

'But I was made for him. He is perfect for me. I need him. Without him I don't know what I'll do. I don't have any other purpose in life.'

She shook her head slowly. “Ok, girl, you need some serious help. First you weren't made for anyone but you. The only purpose you have in life is to make yourself into someone you can respect and look at in the mirror each day. If you put all of your self respect into one person who isn't you, you're going to end up being someones bitch and punching bag.”

'Master wouldn't do that to me! He loves me!' I insisted, thinking about all the times Master had told me how much he cared for me and loved me.

“Master?”

'Yes. That's the name he uses. Are you going to help me or not?' I was furious with her for questioning our love. What did she know about anything?

She sighed, “Do you have a letter already written or do I have to make one?”

Doing a little dance, I responded instantly. 'It's written. You can make some small changes, but if there are any big problems let me know, there is an email you can use at the bottom of the letter, it's very secure. I'll save it under the name Glitch on your desktop. When I'm accepted, I'll send you the link and passwords to gain access to the files.'

“Ok. If I don't get the files, I'm going to inform Whateley how you gained my letter of recommendation, they won't like that bit of information. So lets play nice with each other, got it,” she warned me.

'Of course. Thank you, you won't regret it.'

Proxy me saved the letter, and then erased all hint that I'd been on the computer, before deleting itself. With a happy heart I went back to my body, my vocal cords were coming along nicely, but I still needed to check every few hours to make sure my cells were growing properly.

Life was good.

**

Dark Wind Residence, London Ontario
10pm, that night.

Dark Wind thought about the strange conversation she'd just had, actually replaying it with the cybernetic devise in her eye. The girl was good, there was no trace of her ever being on the computer except for the saved letter, but she was overconfident or blinded by need.

The letter wasn't exactly declaring Glitch the next Bill Gates, but came close. Saying how they'd met several times on cyberspace, passing on information and how Glitch was able to make a computer dance. It seemed pretty fair overall.

She looked at the clock, and made a decision. Heading down into the basement she pulled out a phone that never touched the net, and was protected by both magic and devises from tampering. Phoning a number she'd memorized long ago, the person picked up almost immediately.

“Hey Fubar, it's Windy. How ya doing?” she asked with a smile.

“I'm doing quite well now that I can actually relax, the last year hasn't been easy,” her friend and former counselor said, sounding tired.

“Damn, I guess I'm going to be off your Christmas card list then after I'm done talking to you.”

“What's wrong?”

“I'm about to send Mrs. Carson a letter of recommendation for a new student called Glitch. She waltzed past my computer security and took total control of it, she's some kind of technomancer. But when we talked, she freaked me out.”

“Oh?”

“I'm certain a student at Whateley mind raped her big time.”

There was a pause. “How can you can you be so certain? That's not exactly in your area of expertise.”

“She's obsessed with someone she calls Master, and was willing to openly blackmail me to make sure she got a place in Whateley. She's fourteen years old and talked about being made for the sick bastard, and being by his side is her only purpose in life. Believe me when people talk about shit like that, I'm an expert.”

“Is she a danger to the school?”

“I don't know,” she admitted. “From reading what she wrote, Glitch may attack a student if she finds the bastard with someone else, but I'd be more afraid of her killing herself.”

“We're not exactly made to look after students in this way. It sounds like she would be better off under the care of Arc, where they can begin deprogramming her and discover who did this.”

“I'll leave that up to you guys. I just want to make sure she gets some help. I have an idea of what it's like to feel like her.” She winced remembering the handsome face of the boy who'd made her feel wonderful when she was with him and like total shit when she wasn't.

“Thank you Windy. I'll talk to Carson and investigate the situation as closely as possible.”

“Thanks Fubar. I've got to go, busy day tomorrow and I need some sleep.”

“Have a good night. And remember if you're ever in our neck of the woods come by to say hello, I'd love to see your son in person.”

“I'll be sure to fit it into my schedule.”

**

Whateley Campus,
July 5th, 2007

Headmistress Carson sat in her office looking over several registration forms that had set off alarm bells. Most of them would be denied, but it was always good to give them one last look over just to make sure they didn't lose a good student to paranoia.

One in particular caught her eye because of the codename the student had chosen. The odd thing was that the sex did not match the applicant she had been warned about. Glitch, apparently a technomancer with regeneration powers, possibly an exemplar. No powers testing yet because he'd spent seven months in a coma until a miraculous recovery a month ago. The letter of recommendation from Dark Winds would have made the boy a shoe in, but the written report from Fubar along with a transcript of the blackmail attempt was enough to make them handle the applicant like he was radioactive.

“Fubar can you come to my office,” she said to the air, while thinking loudly.

The well dressed black man appeared in front of her desk. “How can I help you on this wonderful day?”

“We have the application from Glitch, he works fast, they only received the application forms a few days ago. There are some things that don't seem to add up to the conversation he had with Dark Winds.”

“He?” Fubar asked surprised. “Is he a changeling?”

Carson shook her head. “Our agents haven't been able to give him as thorough a look as they normally would, but Samuel Roberts Callahan Junior, also known as Glitch is and has always been been a male. They were able to determine that quite easily by looking up the news reports about his skate boarding accident that put him in the coma.”

“From the transcripts and talking to Dark Winds, I'd have sworn Glitch was a girl. Could he be TG?”

“If he is, he didn't say so. His forms list him as heterosexual. So what are we looking at? A student still in the closet and madly in love, a confused coma patient, a teenager suffering from delusions, or a victim of mind control?”

Louis looked into the distance for a few moments. “I don't know. I'd need to talk with him to get a better idea.”

The headmistress looked distastefully at the file. “I'm tempted to reject him. If he is confused and potentially delusional I don't want him near my students.”

Fubar read over the form himself. “He's in Toronto and he still needs to do powers testing. He would probably go to the MCO office, but the Dominion Heroes have a good testing lab. If we make a request, they could do the testing and get an idea of what might be wrong with him.”

Carson tapped her fingers thinking of Cavalier and Skybolt. It was a long shot, but if a student had done something to the child, they could be related. “I don't like it, but if this is some type of mind control or magical enslavement from one of the students, we need to know. If the Dominion Heroes agree, I'll have a letter sent informing Glitch and his parents that he needs to test his powers with the them before being accepted. Once we hear back about his stability, I'll make a decision.”

**

Callahan Residence, Mississsauga, ON,
July 7th, 2007

I stepped through the front door of the small apartment under my own power. Mom was busy telling me how my room was exactly the same as I'd left it, except for the clothes being picked up and the bed being made.

Ignored her, I closed my eyes to find the right memories of home. The bathroom was down the hall, my blue towel went on the second hook behind the door, Mom's was on the first hook. My bedroom was the smaller of the two, overlooking an alley. The kitchen was almost too small for one person, and the oven took forever to heat up. The faded yellow paint in the living room was cracked and peeling in sections, but the landlord refused to paint it. The third hand couch was the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house, and Sam would spend hours playing the old Nintendo Game Cube they'd managed to keep alive for the last six years. The skateboard that should have been in the closet wasn't there. Not that I cared, I couldn't remember how to use it, just that I had.

“Are you ok, honey?”

“Yeah, Mom. Just... remembering where everything is,” I told her trying to smile. “I'm going to go lie down, I'm a little tired.”

She gave me a hug, her face was lit up at the thought of her son being at home and acting normally. “Of course honey. Supper will be in two hours.”

To make her feel even better I gave her a kiss on the cheek, before heading for my room. My room. That was something else I'd never had. The clothes on my back, weren't a part of me, they weren't codes that I could add or remove with a few moments thought, or alter with a blink and slightly different coding. They were separate from me and always would be, yet they were mine. Closing the door for privacy, I stripped naked placing each article on the bed to look at them.

They were mine.

The bed was mine.

This room was mine.

I'd gone from having nothing, not even a body, to being a person with things I could call mine. Opening the closet, there were pants and shirts for me to wear. They felt old and well used, nothing like the clothes I wore in the computer. Even if those clothes were filthy and stained, they didn't feel like anything to me, they were simply my skin, and what does your skin feel like from the inside?

These scratched my skin, there were worn patches that felt different from the rest of the fabric. Some were smooth and looked cool, others were thick and comforting, now as I shoved my face into Sam's favourite shirt, I understood the expression 'comfy like an old sweater'. Grabbing all of the clothes I threw them onto the bed. I had to try them on. I could make any outfit I wanted online, but they weren't the same.

This was real.

I put the clothes on in one long fashion show. I didn't have a mirror, but I could see my reflection in the window. The selection was disappointing, mostly t-shirts, loose or baggy jeans, a couple of long sleeve shirts and sweaters, along with shorts and track pants. Still I tried on every combination I could think of. For the poor money situation of Sam and his family, it wasn't bad, but I needed more.

Even if I wasn't a woman in the real world, I wanted to look nice when Master saw me. He would see me at least once when I rescued him, before I went back to the security and comfort of the computers. I couldn't wait to see his reaction, I was so clever to come up up with this plan, I didn't think anyone had ever done it before. And it was all thanks to Master creating me. He would be so proud of himself and me.

As I was taking my clothes off again, I noticed a curtain move across the alleyway. A girl about my age was peeking at me, her cheeks were bright red, and her eyes were wide. I waved at her cheerfully, which made her duck for cover. There was no sign of the girl in Sam's memory, so she must be new. Or I'd accidentally overwritten his memories of her.

Putting on a pair of shorts, I sat on the windowsill not concerned that I was about eight stories up. My balance was steadily improving, and I made sure to keep an iron hard grip on the side. “Hello,” I said.

The girl opened the curtains a little, blushing furiously. “H-hi. I- I'm sorry for, for, you know.”

I couldn't help it, I chuckled at how she ducked her head. Remembering what Master would do, I slowly tensed my abs and pecs, not enough to obviously show off, but definitely noticable. I still expected to double the muscle, but for a baseline I was well on the way to being a body builder, the girl noticed. “Don't worry about it. I don't mind. I'm Sam, and you are?”

“Rachael. I haven't seen you here before, are you new here to?” She was leaning out the window, now revealing a girl who was in the ugly duckling stage of puberty, with some parts of her body not quite growing as quickly as others. Her long nose was more like a hawk, and gave her a rat like face. The loose white t-shirt with a rainbow on the chest and a tight collar, concealed her body.

“I've been here for a while, but I was in the hospital for a couple of months. I fell while skateboarding and got hurt pretty bad. When did you move here?” I leaned forward, heedless of the drop to let her know she had my entire attention.

The shyness was disappearing under my attention. “My parents moved here from Thunder Bay, as soon as school ended.”

“Do you know anyone?”

She let out a big sigh and frowned sadly. “Not really. I don't know what to say or where to go or anything.”

Smiling at her as nicely as possible, “Well Rachael, now you know me. Can I come over?”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Really! Uh sure, but my parents are at work right now.”

Shrug. “I don't mind. Just give me a minute.”

Running to the bathroom I put in the cheap pair of coloured contacts Mom had bought the day before to conceal my eyes. Heading back to the bedroom, I took a look around to see if anyone was looking and made sure Rachael's window was open. A single easy jump had me enter her room in a low dive. The landing wasn't very good however and I rolled painfully into her desk.

“What!” Rachael shouted running into her room. “You, you jumped!? HOW?”

Getting to my feet, and stretching the kinks out of my back, I smiled at her. “Yeah, it was only about ten feet.”

“Oh my god! That is AMAZING!”

“Can I sit down?”

“Oh yeah, sure, please, wherever you want. Can I get you a drink or something?” she asked in a rush.

“Water, please.”

She rushed out of the bedroom and came back almost at a run with two glasses of water. “Here you go Sam. So uh, do you do... stuff?”

Rachael put her face in her hands, embarrassed beyond belief. I chuckled a little. “Yeah I do. Do you want to go out and explore the city tomorrow? I need to catch up with some friends, and see what's been happening. I can introduce you to them and show you around.”

“Really,” she squeaked, as if she couldn't believe someone would want to be friends with her.

We talked for an hour before my Mom knocked on my bedroom door loudly enough for me to hear across the alley. Giving Rachael a kiss on the cheek I jumped back home.

Smiling to myself, I declared my first attempt at interacting with people my own age a complete success.

**

Callahan Residence, Mississauga ON.
Morning, July 8th, 2007

There was a knock on the door as I ate a bowl of cereal. Mom answered and came back a minute later looking very nervous. “It's from Whateley.”

I jumped out of my chair snatching the letter from Mom's hand. Ripping it open I scanned the letter. “I have to go to the Dominion Heroes Tower in Toronto to get my powers tested. Why can't I go to the MCO?” I asked, wondering just how closely related the superheroes and Whateley were connected.

Mom took the letter and read it. “They're probably just being careful because of your coma. The heroes probably know more about mutant stuff than the MCO,” she reasoned.

“When does it say I have to do it?”

She read it over again. “They would like you to do it today, but anytime this week is ok. They gave us a number to call to set it up.”

Grimacing, I thought about the meeting with Rachael and my other friends. “Call them and ask if I can do it this afternoon. I promised to meet some friends today. But if they can't I'll do it this morning.”

Mom called the number and very shyly talked to the person on the other end for a few minutes. Hanging up she gave a huge sigh of relief. “They want you there at one. Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, you need to get to work. I'll be fine.” Giving her a hug, I grabbed the phone. “Do you mind if I call up some of my friends so they know when and where to meet me?”

“Sure, honey. Just make sure you're not late, ok?”

Grinning, I told her, “I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

**

“Hey guys!” I yelled with a big grin. “Long time no see.”

Sam's four buddies skated over, marveling at my muscles, and the fact that I wasn't still in a coma. After making sure I remembered each of them, I introduced my companion. “This is Rachael, she just moved in next door and doesn't know anyone. Thought we could show her around.”

“Sure, any friend of Rip, is a friend of ours,” Bobby said, while Rachael shyly waved at everyone.

My brow furrowed in confusion. “Rip?”

“Yeah man, like Rip Van Winkle. It was that or sleeping beauty, and as much as I like you, you're really damn ugly,” Frank laughed punching my shoulder.

Still having no idea what they were talking about I laughed along with them. Bobby looked me over. “Dude, where's your board?”

“Would you believe I don't remember how to skateboard?”

There were looks of amazement. “You're joking. How could you have forgotten?”

Well actually the memory used for skateboarding was much better used holding my program, so I could actually survive and complete my mission. “What can I say, coma's are messed up. I've got to go see some specialists at one, how about we walk around a bit and you guys can make sure I haven't forgotten anything important.”

“Sure thing, dude,” Frank said putting his arm over my shoulder.

The next few hours were spent walking around seeing the stores, the hang out spots, talking about what happened while I was out, and telling embarrassing stories. I noticed that I was getting some strange looks as I held Rachael's hand, and Bobby actually glared at me when I kissed her chastely on the cheek. Other than that discrepancy, I assumed that things were going really well.

However after I dropped Rachael off back at her building, Bobby grabbed me by the shoulder and swung me around. “What the fuck man!”

“What?”

“What, do you mean what? Why the hell are you two timing Becky?” he practically spit.

Now I was really confused. “Who's Becky?”

“Becky, you're girlfriend, who still hasn't dated anyone in the seven months you were in a coma. I can forgive you not phoning us guys when you woke up, but not calling her, is just being a dick.” Despite being half my size, it looked like he was ready to punch me.

“I swear, I don't remember anything about her,” I insisted. “What's her number? I'll call her and see if that helps me remember.”

Somewhat mollified he got out of my face. “She's with her aunt for half the summer. I'll send it to you later. If you hurt her, I'll beat your ass down.”

“Thanks, I'll talk to you and Becky later, I gotta take off now.” Before things could get worse, I ran off to the bus stop to head into downtown Toronto.

**

Dominion Tower, Downtown Toronto,
That Afternoon

A young man wearing a completely black suit that covered everything except his lower face walked into the waiting room where I was waiting nervously. “Hi Glitch, I'm Babble I'll be helping with the powers testing today.”

Flipping through my memories, I couldn't place the hero. He must have been a new member, it probably didn't matter. Smiling as pleasantly as possible I got up and followed him out of the room. “Hello, Babble. I thought the MCO did all the powers testing.”

“Whateley likes to have someone a bit more competent than the MCO do the power testing. Don't be nervous, we'll be gentle,” he tried to reassure me.

We entered a room with lots of equipment. “Just give me a few minutes to get the computer set up. While we wait you can go behind the curtains and put on the suit there, it's set up to monitor your system as we test you. Only Whateley has a better system,” he said proudly.

Wordlessly I put on the black suit, it wasn't quite skin tight. And it wasn't very comfortable with all the elastic bands that pinched in uncomfortable places.

Babble obviously wanted to talk while I got dressed. “So Glitch, why did you pick that name?”

“I can control computers. Hook my USB port into one, and I can make it dance,” I said proudly.

Babble gave a long whistle. “That must be useful for school. With that power and being at Whateley you'll be getting access to some of the best super computers in the world.”

“I heard that. The computer program is the biggest reasons I want to go.”

“Well don't just stay inside all day. The entire school has some really great things that you have to see. Like Crystal Hall, the ranges, and of course the girls.”

I shrugged, “I'm not really interested in dating.”

Smiling, he said, “Oh sorry, I guess you have a girlfriend already.”

Masters face rose in my head. “Yeah. She's really nice. So considerate and special, and handsome.”

“Well then make sure you call her pretty often. You're going to be around a lot of Exemplars and it's easy to get distracted.”

“Don't worry. I won't be forgetting h-er anytime soon. And I'll do whatever I can to make sure we stay together.” Stepping out in the silly suit, I looked around wondering what we'd be doing first.

“Come right over here, since you can work with computers, lets do that first.” He motioned for me to sit in front of a second computer. “So what do you need to do to?”

I ran back to my clothes and grabbed the wire I'd put in my pocket earlier that day. Pulling off the caps to the USB and wiping them off in quick drying alcohol cleaner, I plugged myself in. “I'm going to enter the computer, while I do that my body will be motionless and basically in a coma.”

He tapped somethings into his own computer. “Alright, when you're ready.”

I entered the computer, taking my usual appearance of an angelic warrior. My true form appeared on the monitor. 'What would you like me to do?” I asked through the speakers.

“Can you open some files, write a quick program or alter something on the computer?”

Ten pictures appeared on the screen, fifteen seconds later they began dancing around each other, and then Babbles face appeared in each one, each face showing a different emotion. “Easily.”

“Wow. Ok, lets try some other things.”

We spent half an hour on the computer. I think we were suppose to to take longer, but everything he was asking me to do was so easy, I could do most of it in a few seconds. If I could have seen his eyes beyond the thick black lenses, I'm pretty sure they were bugging out.

Returning to my body feeling very proud of Master for how well he'd designed me, I was eager to see what else I had to do. The next three hours were very physical. I lifted weights, I could bench press three hundred pounds. Run as fast as a professional runner without quite breaking any world records. The main problem was when a ball hit me in the back of the head.

As I cursed, Babble typed something into his computer. “No danger sense. Please continue,” he said cheerfully.

We stopped for a quick meal. “So how did you hear about Whateley?” he asked as we munched on some pizza.

“An online friend told me about it. She said it was a really nice place. You went there?” I asked, trying to get the conversation off of me.

“Yeah, I graduated four years ago. Best thing I ever did, I was in the Intelligence Cadet Corps.”

“What's that?”

“There are lots of groups in Whateley, since we've got people from all over the world. The Intelligence Cadet Corps, are the group that focuses on information, we tried to learn what others were doing, keeping the bad students from getting away with cheating and pranks. It's really good training if you want to get into law enforcement or spy agencies.” He looked at me thoughtfully. “With your powers you'd be great at it.”

Maybe they'd know what happened to Master, I thought. If they collected information, who knew what info they had in their computers. “You really think I could do that?”

“Oh yeah. They're always looking for people to fight the good fight.”

I fought to keep the interested look on my face. I'd read the laws, A.I.'s like me were illegal, and were to be deleted. Maybe that was why they had taken Master? If Master had been a teacher or a student at Whateley before they kidnapped him, he might have been betrayed or caught by the Intelligence Cadet Corps. This was a clue, my first real clue. “How can I join them?”

He leaned back as I leaned forward. “You'll have to impress them, its not that easy, they only want the best. But if you talk about getting into the intelligence community and show off your skills someone will contact you.”

“Ok, I'll try that. Thanks.”

We talked about the school some more. I listened for anything that could possibly be helpful, but nothing seemed that important. Then we had to start the tests again, which involved cutting me.

“Ow!” I yelped as a blade cut into my arm.

“Sorry, they need to see how your regeneration works,” Babble said, moving the machine to jab into my arm again.

“It's simple, you could have just asked me,” I complained. “When injured, I increased the amount of red and white blood cells, along with coagulants to the area, and order the cells to increase their rate of division. I can heal ten times faster than a baseline. And there is almost no risk of infection.”

“You can control your cells?”

“Yes,” I answered, not thinking. “It's like controlling a computer.”

“Is that how you built up your muscles so quickly?”

“Yeah. I increased my testosterone, increased the cell production of muscles and decreased it for fat. I'd still be in the hospital if I hadn't.”

He stared at his computer for a few minutes. “I'm not sure what that would be listed as. Shape shifting, cellular level telekinesis?”

I shrugged, hoping I hadn't give them too much information. I wasn't about to tell them about the other things I was planning to add to my body, or how I changed my brain. I needed to play a very fine line of appearing honest and helpful while keeping my secrets.

“Ok,” Babble finally said. “I'm tentatively listing you as a TK-1f-0, that means you have telekinesis, only at the molecular level, and it only affects your body. The eggheads at Whateley can spend a few more days looking over it then I can. Let's see if you're psychic.”

We discovered after a frustrating two hours I wasn't psychic or wizard. Half an hour after that we found out I wasn't a devisor or a physical gadgeteer, when I simply stared at the machines in front of me helplessly. By nine that evening I had everything done and an MID.

I looked at card with interest, I was wearing a blue bandanna with two eye holes, that covered my hair and upper face to protect my identity, and Glitch was proudly labeled at the top. My few powers were listed for all to see, Gadgeteer (Hacker): 6, Esper: 2, TK-1f-0, Regenerator: 2. I really had no idea if this was helpful or not, but it was nice having myself defined.

Babble walked me downstairs to a waiting taxi, which would take me home at no charge, while promising to send all the information to Whateley. With a grateful thanks, I made my way home. The day was largely a success, even if I had to worry about some girl called Becky.

**

Headmistress Carson was at home trying to relax when she got a phone call from Toronto. “Hello,”

“Uh, hello, Head- um Mrs. Carson. This is Babble,” a very nervous young man said.

“Good evening Babble, I trust you're well,” she said, repressing a chuckle.

“No, well I'm ok, but the young man you sent us isn't.”

Sitting up on the couch, she got ready for the bad news. “What did you detect?”

“I didn't do a deep scan, just what he was throwing off. When I told him about the girls at Whateley, he said he had a girlfriend who he really liked. The thing is he was throwing off a lot of images of men.”

“Men, not just one man?”

“There were at least twenty different faces, but the emotions seemed to show that it was the same one. But that's not the strangest thing. I mentioned I was a member of the Intelligence Cadet Corps, and what we did. He jumped at it, I couldn't tell what it was exactly that he got from it, his emotions were almost overwhelming, fear, delight, a need to learn more, and caution, great caution.”

“What could he find in that group?” Carson asked.

“I have no idea. Sorry.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Oh yeah. When he was talking about the girlfriend, there was a feeling of love, need and loss. It was so strong it was like he was standing in on a stage, shouting it through the loudspeakers as loudly as possible. I've never felt anything like it before.”

Carson started to feel sick to her stomach. “Did you get any images of this person? Anything at all?”

“No, just the different faces. I'm not sure if this will help, but when he projected himself into the computer his avatar was a warrior woman. If it's his natural image of himself, his power or something else, I don't know.”

“Thank you Babble. This definitely makes up for the time you tried to bug the girls showers in martial arts.”

“I-I... glad to hear it.”

Carson allowed herself to laugh, even though she didn't really feel it. “Have a good night, Babble, you've earned it.”

Hanging up, she spoke to the air. “Fubar, can I see you now?”

A few minutes later, Fubar appeared. “You have news on Glitch I presume.”

“Yes. According to Babble who did his power testing today, the boy has some problems.” She ran over the pertinent details. “I don't know if this is the same Master who taught Hekate, another pupil or someone completely different, but we have a problem.”

“Shall we contact Arc?”

Carson shook her head, regretfully. “If this is Hekate's Master, he may have made a mistake by letting this boy live. We're going to accept him, but we're going to watch him like a hawk. If he's attacked, I want to know who does it and why. And when he finds his Master, I want to be ready to fall on the person like the fist of God.”

Her friend frowned unhappily. “We are likely putting him in danger. If he was in the coma because of a failed attempt on his life, whoever did it isn't going to stop simply because he's on campus.”

“I know. So he needs the best help he can get to survive. Your going to be his counselor, you can watch him more closely then anyone else, and maybe he'll let something drop when you talk to him.”

A bottle of brandy appeared in Fubar's hand, he poured himself a drink and drank it down before replying. “I'll do my best.”