Secret Origins, Part One

And so, one day, I woke up to find myself smack dab in the middle of a comic book.

I had a few odd sensations that day, beginning with waking to find something that obviously wasn't human standing above me on my bed. It looked human, sounded human, but very clearly wasn't human. The creature was a young woman, looking to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven. She reached down with one hand and touched me on the forehead. She giggled, then stood back up again.

"You have been chosen," she said, her voice almost like music. "Power has been granted to you. But your form is not correct." She whispered something and then disappeared. I sat up, extremely confused. "You shall be reborn today, Arachnya," her voice resonated throughout my bedroom.

A pink and green mist began to fill my room. I coughed a lot, probably because I was suckin' that mist in something fierce. I hopped off my bed and ran for my door, practically falling through it into the hallway. My mom was standing there, a look of pure horror on her face. She dropped the lamp she was holding and fainted. My dad rushed out to see what was going on. "Charlie?" he said, though I heard nothing. It was almost like he was mouthing the word. I couldn't figure out why he'd be asking if it was me, but it didn't matter a few seconds later anyway. I fainted, too.

I awoke a couple hours later, and felt like I was crawling through a thousand cobwebs to regain consciousness. It only took my dad opening my bedroom door to find that I really was crawling through cobwebs, which had almost completely overtaken my room. The cobwebs and my concern for my mom made me numb to the differences in my body, for the time being.

"Dad, what's going on?" I asked. I scratched at my throat, because my voice sounded different.

"What the hell happened to your room, kid?" he asked, ignoring my question. "Looks like a spider went overboard!" He pushed his way past a few webs and finally reached me. "Sit down, Charlie, you've got something to take in."

I sat down on my bed and then I felt it. My ass was different. It felt like my ass was bigger. I stood back up and rubbed at my ass - completely preoccupied with finding out why it felt bigger, not even considering the embarrassment of rubbing my own ass in front of my father - and found that it was, indeed, bigger than it had been before. "What's going on?" I asked again.

Dad yanked on my arm and sat me back down again. "There's no easy way to tell you this, Charlie."

"No easy way to tell me what?" I asked, after a long pause. "And why do you keep saying my  name after almost every sentence? I think I figured out my name was 'Charlie' when I was two."

He sighed. "It's not easy to tell you that you're... well..." he trailed off. "Well, you're... y'know..." he trailed off again. I was about to just scream at him when he finally asked, "You haven't noticed your boobs, yet?" I was taken aback, to be sure. I looked downward and saw that my shirt was pushed out by the breasts that were now underneath it. I fainted again.

When I woke up for the third time that day, my mom was awake, too, and had set a tray of food down on by night stand. And cleared out all the cobwebs. I sat up in my bed and looked over at the simple sandwich and potato chips my mom left me and decided to eat. I hadn't had any food the whole morning (actually, it had become afternoon by the time I'd awoken from the second fainting), so I figured it would be a good idea to chow down then. I managed half the sandwich and then I just set the tray aside. I was too freaked out to eat.

I got up and walked around my room for a while. Walking around felt different. I could feel my hips moving and my breasts jiggling. I stumbled a few times, thanks to my new way of moving, but I got the hang of it after a few minutes. The bouncing boobs was still weird, though. I opened my closet door and looked at myself in the mirror that hung on the backside of the door. I looked very much like a younger version of my mom, with little of my dad's features still present in me. The only thing I still had from my dad was my brown hair, but even that now fell past my shoulders. I don't know if it was the mirror or what, but my breasts looked bigger on my reflection than I thought they were.

I rooted through my closet and grabbed an old pair of cargo pants that hadn't fit me for a couple years. They fit better, now, but still fit wrong. How do girls deal with wearing guy clothes all the time? I guess I was going to have some practice. I left my plain white sleep shirt on and then grabbed a hoodie. I left it unzipped, but I still pulled it closed. At first I didn't put any socks on before slipping my shoes on, but after they fell off twice, it took me two pairs of socks to get them to fit right. I was going to need to buy some new clothes.

I crawled out my window and rushed down the fire escape. I'd done it dozens of times, so my parents probably figured out what I'd done when they checked my room later and didn't find me. I needed some alone time that I couldn't get in the apartment. Granger Park was only six blocks from home, so I immediately made my way there.

In the last alley before the Park, I stopped. I felt something. Something weird (and not related to my new female body, that is). I looked around me, but I didn't see anything. Then, like they'd been following me, three guys wearing gang colors walked into the alley from the street just ahead.

"Hey, chickie," the leader said, coming close to me. He was wearing a tan shirt and a black vest over top of it, the usual 'uniform' of the Upscales, a gang that dressed a lot more sophisticated than they actually were. "Never seen you 'round here before." He grabbed me by the chin and pulled me closer to him. "You real pretty."

I pushed him away from me. "Get offa me!" He hit the wall of the closest building and groaned in pain, as if I'd broken something in him.

That feeling hit me again. I dodged to the left just as one of his side thugs swiped at me with a knife. At some point when I was concentrating on him, they'd moved behind me. How I knew where he was gonna slash at me, however, I don't know. I felt that weird sensation again and, somehow, did a cartwheel out of the way. I was almost in shock when I finished rolling. The three Upscales stared at me in absolute surprise.

"Get that bitch!" the leader spat at his thugs. They ran at me, and those weird sensations guided my movements. I jumped clear over their heads, then knelt down and did a leg sweep, knocking those two on their asses. As one of them fell, his knife went skyward, and I grabbed it just before it landed in the other thug's right eye. Those two got up really quick, the one grabbed his knife, and then they bolted. Behind me, the leader reached out to grab me, but I rolled out of the way just a second before he reached me. "Bitch!"

"Hey, you came up on me! Probably wanted to rape me, or something!" He ran at me with his own knife, but just ducked to the side and clotheslined him, knocking him flat on his back. I grabbed his knife and, with strength I didn't know I had, broke the blade off of it and tossed the two pieces into the nearest dumpster. "Now, stay the hell away from me!" He stood up, then joined his friends in getting the hell away from me. I just stood there, looked at my hands, and said to myself, "Holy crap, I'm Spider-Man!"

Something landed to my left. I jumped in surprise, which made the thing - an African-American boy my age - laugh at me. "Nah, you're not Spider-Man, on account of he's a dude. You were pretty good at makin' them piss their pants, though."

"Who the hell are you?!" I asked in a squealy high-pitched voice that made me want to facepalm right after I did it.

"Whoa! Now, granted, I'm from Luther, and people think I'm ghetto all the time, but the way I see it, aren't you supposed to tell me your name before you scream at me for mine?"

"You nearly made me piss my pants! Why else do you think I screamed?!" Again, I wanted to facepalm.

"Still. What's your name?" He slammed the dumpster shut and hopped up on top of it.

I folded my arms under my breasts. "Charlie. My name's Charlie."

"Short for Charlotte, I bet, right? I've got a cousin named Charlotte. That's actually where she's from, too. North Carolina."

"So, what's your name?"

He smiled. "I'd tell you, but you wouldn't believe me."

I pointed at the scuff marks where my little fight scene had taken place. "I just pulled a Warriors on those guys when I've never been in anything other than a boring old school fight before, I don't think you can surprise me any more than that."

"Fine. Francine."

"Francine? You have a gi..." I cut myself off. Where had he come from? I was the only one in the alley before those three Upscales showed up. I was a guy when I went to sleep last night, woke up to a weird creature in the shape of a girl standing over me, and then I suddenly became a girl who can kick ass better than most professional wrestlers. "You were a girl yesterday, weren't you?" I asked.

His eyes widened, and then he jumped down from the dumpster and came closer to me. "You can tell?"

"You were a girl, and you woke up this morning, and something not quite human told you you'd been 'chosen', right?"

"Yeah. The same thing happened to you, too? Were you a guy before now?"

I nodded. "And I couldn't do everything I just did before now, either. Were you watching from the roof? Is that why I didn't see you before I got here?"

It was his - or her, technically - turn to nod. "I heard that dumbass talking to you, then I saw you wipe the floor with their asses."

I looked him head to toe. Unlike me, a girl dressed in guy clothes, he was dressed in male clothing, that didn't look like it fit him right. "Do you have a brother, or something?"

He blushed. "Um... no... These clothes belonged to my boyfriend."

It was my turn to be surprised, and embarrassed. "Oh, sorry... Were you..." I trailed off.

"He spent the night and we both woke up to that weird chick standing on top of me. She didn't change him, and when he saw me with a dick, he stormed out. I grabbed these clothes from a pile he'd left in my closet."

I didn't feel comfortable talking about stuff like this in an alleyway. "C'mon, we're only across the street from Granger Park. Let's talk there."

***

Francine - or Frank, as he chose his new male name to be - and I talked for awhile. He came from a not-exactly-poor/not-exactly-rich family that had lived in Luther for generations. I described what I'd looked like before to him and he told me he'd seen me at school a few times, thought I was 'cute for a white boy'. He laughed at my surprised reaction. He wasn't one to draw race into any situation and knew I was the same. He told me what he'd looked like when he was female, and I vaguely remembered seeing a pretty black girl like that, but we'd had few classes together.

We talked about what it was that had happened to us. From all indications, other than just getting our genders swapped, we had gained superpowers to some extent. I didn't know if I could crawl up walls, but I definitely had the spider-sense and spider-strength. I was willing to bet the cobwebs in my room had probably come from me, too. Frank could jump extremely high, and could glide to a small extent. He also seemed to be able to feel footsteps through the ground. A weird power, to be sure, but no more so than spider powers.

"Think we could be super heroes?" he asked me, as we threw stones into the lake in the middle of the Park. "Fightin' for truth, justice, the American way and all that other stuff?"

I laughed. "No. I get lucky with my goofy spider-sense, but we're just kids, we can't fight crime and that sort of thing."

"Hey, Spider-Man was a teenager. Iron Man was a teenager in that cartoon from a couple years ago. Maybe we find a few others that got changed, just like us, and we go around like a little Justice League, or something."

Time to get my nerd on. "If we're going with Spider-Man and Iron Man, that would be the Avengers. The Justice League's a completely different team from a different comic company."

He patted me on the back of the head. My spider-sense didn't go off, which told me that it could somehow tell between harmful and playful actions. "I don't read comic books, I just watch 'em on TV."

I laughed again. "Still, I don't know if I want to go around being Spider-Girl, web-swinging across the city and beating people up. I'm just a plain nerd, not a super nerd like Peter Parker. Say I can't actually make webs with my own body, I don't know how to make web fluid or anything."

Frank knelt down next to me, placed his hands on the ground and whispered, "Someone's coming."

Almost as if on cue, I heard my dad say, "I thought you'd be here."

I sighed and stood up. "Yeah, Dad, I'm here." I turned around and saw him walking up to us, his hands in his pockets. He stopped in front of us and reached out to Frank to shake his hand. "Frank Holden, this is my dad."

"Nice to meet you," Frank said, shaking my dad's hand.

"Firm handshake you've got there," Dad said.

"Did I have you guys worried for too long?" I asked.

"No. Your mom checked on you, found you gone, knew you probably headed out here." He looked Frank over. "And just how did you come to meet my daughter?"

He answered very honestly. "I watched her beat the crap out of a bunch of dumbass gang members."

Dad looked at me with a critical, but loving, eye. I looked away in embarrassment. Thanks, Frank. "It wasn't like that... Well, I mean, it was. I did beat the crap out of them, but... well..."

Dad waved me quiet. "I'm not sure I wanna know about it here."

I pointed to Frank. "He's a lot like me, Dad. He was a girl yesterday."

"You, too, huh?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I'm willing to bet you two aren't the only ones." He turned back to me. "I got called into work, there's been a bunch of missing persons reports in the last few hours."

"Wait, are you a cop?" Frank asked.

"Matter of fact, I am."

"Oh..."

Despite my best efforts, I giggled. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you that my dad's a cop. Wait, what are you doing here if you got called in on your day off?"

"Well, I came here to get you while I head to work. You're gonna have to tag along with me at the office tonight."

I sighed. "Okay." I hated going to work with Dad. Two dozen cops running around a small room, usually bumping into me and knocking me around. Just the implications frightened me.

"How about I drop your friend off at home on the way? Where you live, Frank?"

"A hundred thirteenth street, in Luther."

My dad narrowed his eyes. "That's two boroughs over. How the hell did you get here without a car?"

"I... jumped."

"What?"

I quickly said, "It's a long story, Dad. How about he just comes with us?"

Dad sighed. "Okay, I guess." Just before turning around and leading us to the car, he asked, "I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"

I smiled. "You'll never know until we get to the precinct."

***

Frank and I followed my dad into his office just off of the main detectives' office. My dad was a lieutenant, so he got his own office, though he kept it near the detectives' office, because that's where he did his best work. Thankfully, Dad had a mini-refrigerator, so the thirst I'd worked up kicking the crap out of those Upscales was quenched as soon as we got in the room. There was a stack of folders as long as my arm sitting on my dad's desk. There were more missing persons than I realized.

"All those people are missing?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Dad answered, rolling up his sleeves and sitting down behind his desk. About five seconds later, one of the other detectives walked in and dumped another stack of folders on his desk. "And that's a lot more." He picked up the top one. "Francine Holden." He looked over at Frank. "Your sister?"

Frank looked nervous. "No, actually, me."

Dad raised an eyebrow, then lowered it. "Oh, yeah, Charlie told me you'd been a girl." He looked over at me. "Speaking of my lovely young daughter, are you gonna keep going by 'Charlie'?"

"It's a girl's name," I said, defending my name.

"I guess." He sighed. "Hard to believe this many people have gone missing just since this morning. What the hell happened to you two, anyway?"

I sighed. "It's a long story, Dad."

"Well, out with it. If you don't tell me, that's technically impeding an investigation."

I pulled a chair up beside Dad and told him the whole story.

***

ACROSS THE CITY:

A man wearing a dark cloak stood upon the roof of a two story building. He walked around the roof, the metal braces on his legs making clanking sounds, loud enough to have been heard inside the building, if there was anyone living inside. As dusk turned to night, he looked up and saw only what he could see, an aurora of such brilliant colors that the fact that it was his alone was almost a crime unto itself.

He spun around and made his way to the door and down the stairs, back into his laboratory. He pressed two buttons on his keyboard and the aurora appeared on the monitor, and he began recording it. He also clicked on a small audio recorder.

Day seventeen, August twenty-third, twenty fourteen. Approximately two hundred seventy-three subjects have been infected. The aurora's strength was not as great as I thought it would be, but the effect was just as intense as the one recorded in nineteen oh eight, above Tunguska. Of the two hundred seventy-three, approximately sixty-eight of them will become more than human, but thirty-seven of those will die within the week. The remaining thirty-one will be exterminated once their diseases are diagnosed. Everything is going according to plan."

He shut off the recorder and slipped it into his desk. He smiled, a thin, hope-stealing smile, and shut off his computers as well. 31 people with above human abilities. Once he found them, he would eliminate them, just as he had for centuries.

***

At around midnight, I woke up to find one of my dad's coats draped across me. I don't even know when I fell asleep, but I wasn't the only one, either. Frank and Dad were both asleep, too, only Frank was sleeping on the floor and Dad was drooling on his desk. The detectives were all busily scurrying around the detectives' office, phones were ringing, people were yelling, it's freaking amazing I was able to get to sleep with all that going on.

I went to get up and the chair I was sitting in moved. I stopped for a second, looked around, and then tried to move again. Again, the chair came with me. I looked down at my hands on the arms of the chair and saw some webbing between my wrist and the chair. Oh, great, I could spin webs. I really was Spider-Man. I yanked my arms up and broke the webs, then cleared them off of the chair before anybody saw them. Just one more thing to file away on the What Super Powers Do I Have? list.

I slipped out of my dad's office and walked down the hallway to the restrooms. My mind must have been preoccupied with something else, because I nearly walked into the Men's Room, which I would never use again, unless something just as weird and magical happened to change me back. Fixing my mistake, I slipped into the Ladies' Room and sat down in an empty stall. That right there would be something to file in the New Female Experiences list.

I was actually feeling a lot weirder now than I was before. When I woke up from my second faint, nothing really seemed off to me, and I was almost kind of numb to my new body parts. The only thing I could use to explain it was that weird pink mist that filled my room that (I assume) changed me in the first place. Could it have made me indifferent to what it was I'd become? Was that what that weird woman standing over me wanted, since my 'form was wrong'? Ever since I met Frank, I've felt very detached from my situation, despite the fact that I'm gonna need to re-register at school, completely ignore all my friends, spend a lot of money on new clothes, etc, etc...

As I finished up on the toilet, I walked to the sink. My hands started to shake, and I was pretty sure I knew exactly why. This was my first real time alone, to think about what it was that had happened to me. I would never be the old me again, probably, and I didn't even know who the new me really was. Cop's daughter? Yeah, I guess. But what did that really mean? Any guy rapes me, my dad'll just toss his badge in the trash and shoot the guy on sight, probably. Potential super hero? The only one of my new abilities that I actually had a handle on was my spider-sense, and that's only because I read comic books. Now that I thought about it, could I even get raped? That spider-sense warns me of danger, would it help me avoid potential sexual abusers?

"You look tired, kid," a voice behind me said. I jumped. Thanks a lot, spider-sense. I turned around saw a woman in a simple white blouse and tan slacks standing behind me. She'd obviously come from one of the other stalls in the restroom, since nobody had come in through the door. "Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt ya."

I sighed. "No, you just surprised me, is all. Sorry."

She looked me over, and I realized right then that I recognized her. Detective Holly Montoya, my dad's former partner. Mom always thought Dad was cheating on her with Detective Montoya, but he always said it wasn't true. She was a very attractive lady, that much was for sure. If, and I stress that, Dad was cheating on Mom with her, I could kind of understand why. Mom wasn't unattractive, though.

"You look familiar, honey, what's your name?"

"Charlie Harkins."

"Harkins? Lieutenant Harkins' kid? I seem to remember you being a boy, sweetie."

I chuckled nervously. "Uh... yeah... there's a funny story about that."

She patted me on the head. "Yeah, I'm sure there is. I met you once, and you're pretty obviously a tomboy. I just guessed wrong, is all. Not something to brag about in my line of work, but it happens sometimes."

"Yeah," I almost whispered, rubbing my left arm.

Following Detective Montoya, I returned to my dad's office, where I found he'd woken up. He was busily shuffling through a lot of papers when we walked in. It appeared as though more had been stacked onto his desk. "Hey, Holly, you noticing any pattern between these people? They just seem to be random." He flipped through a couple more papers. "A gym owner over on Jefferson Avenue, a mother of three on Bonham, a school teacher from Harker." He looked up from his papers. "What's the connection?"

She shrugged. "Cappy was hoping you could figure that out, LT."

He sighed. "Maybe, next week, when we catch the guy who did this and I ask him."

I wanted to speak up. Dad knew what Frank and I had told him, which I assume he believed since it's not every day that your son wakes up and turns into your daughter before your eyes. Dad probably wanted to tell the rest of the detectives that he knew what was probably going on, too, but it would be too crazy to believe. I kept my mouth shut, and so did he. Frank was still sleeping on the floor, so he had nothing to say either way.

When Detective Montoya left the room, I shut the door and asked my dad, "So, what do you think? Probably the same thing that happened to Frank and me?"

Dad sighed. "I don't know, kiddo. It's not hard to believe this is all connected, though. After all, I doubt those weird things that changed you guys were gonna stop at two teenagers." He sat back in his chair. "So, he can jump real high," he pointed at Frank, "what can you do?"

"If I just said I'm Spider-Man, would that explain it?"

He stared at me for a few seconds. "Spider-Man didn't have boobs, kiddo."

I glared. "I know that. I didn't, until this morning."

"So, what does that make me? Uncle Ben and Denis Leary?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you remember Uncle Ben but not Captain Stacy, even though he was a cop, just like you?"

He shrugged. "I remember Uncle Ben because of the food with that guy who looks a lot like a black Orville Redenbacher. I only saw the movie once, Charlie, with you." He added, "I could have just said Martin Sheen."

"Anyway, yeah, I guess that does kind of make you Uncle Ben and Captain Stacy, but hopefully without the dying part."

"I would hope so as well."

I sat back down in a chair. "The only thing I can't figure out is why I was chosen."

Dad leaned forward. "Sweetie, back before you were born, I was a regular old beat cop. I just drove around in my squad car with my partner, and all we ever did was take in punks like the Upscales and the Delancy Street Gang. Then, one day, out of the ever-lovin' blue, we came across this average, every-day-type thug, wearin' a dead guy's watch. Turned out, he'd stolen it off a stiff who's case the Homicide guys were working earlier that week. He'd seen the whole murder, and knew the murderer personally. That's the case that bumped me up to detective. It wasn't some thing that happened gradually, it just came, and I was just in that place at that time, I'm not even gonna call it the right place, just that place." He leaned back again. "That's what happened with you, with Frankie down there on the floor, and probably with all these missing people that probably aren't really missing, if we've got two people who swapped gender this morning." He looked out the window. "And they've probably got super powers, too."

I sat there and thought about that. He was probably right, too. I guess it really didn't matter, yet, why I was chosen, just that I was. Wow, Dad, great work. You just became my super hero motivation, and you didn't have to die!

But with that stack of folders on his desk, that had to mean at least five hundred others were chosen as well. And that's just here in East City, no telling how many in other places, too. Things were gonna get a lot weirder, to say the least.

***

ELSEWHERE, IN EAST CITY:

His name had been Bernard Winchester. Had been because he was no longer a he. He looked at himself over and over again in the mirror and found it hard to believe that the picture of womanly beauty he was staring at was truly him. From the tips of her toes to the follicles of blonde hair on her head, that gorgeous woman was Bernard Winchester.

Not to mention the angel wings on her back.

Bernard's wife, Gloria, was still in shock. There was no way that woman could truly be her husband, even though she'd seen his transformation with her own eyes. Bernard's body was every definition an angel's, perfectly sculpted as if someone found a statue and brought it to life. His wings fluttered just a bit, probably thanks to his own shock at his situation.

"Bernie?" she said, walking close to her newly-shaped husband. He brought his hands to his perfect face and began to cry. The tears glittered, just as Gloria assumed an angel's tears would. "Bernie, please, talk to me."

He fell to his knees, his breasts bouncing with him. "Why did this happen?!" he cried. Gloria put her arms around him, a little awkwardly thanks to his large breasts. "Why did this happen to me?!"

Gloria wept along with him. "You heard the creature, dear, you were chosen." She didn't understand where the words were coming from, she just said them. "Whatever the reason, this had to happen to you, and no one else."

Bernard heard the soothing words of his wife and attempted to stop his crying, but it was difficult. Everything he had once been was lost, never to be regained again.

***

THE NEXT DAY:

Frank hated his sister, in more ways than one. Back when he was Francine, Amelia would tease him for anything, from boyfriends to clothing choices. Now that they were newly brother and sister, Amelia was teasing him for having become male. It wasn't his fault, and he hadn't asked for it, but he wasn't going to just cower in a corner, cross-dress and get a sex change to please her.

He heard a knock on his door. "Go away, Amy!" he shouted, assuming his sister would finally take the hint. The knocking happened yet again. "I mean it, sis, go get laid, or something!" Yet another knock, and this time, he was pissed. He walked over to his door, yanked it open, and there stood a smiling Charlie, dressed a little more appropriately for her new gender, and carrying a large plastic bag. "Charlie? What are you doing here?"

"I had my dad find your address, then I made a quick stop, then I swung over here." She walked inside his room and shut the door. "And I literally mean swung, you'll never believe how fun it is to web swing across this city. And it's really fast, too."

He looked her over. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans, a tank top and a hoodie, not unlike the day before when he met her, only this time, the jeans were lower cut and the tank top was quite a bit snug around her chest (and showing off some decent cleavage, too). The hoodie was exactly the same. "You look a little bit girlier than yesterday."

She shrugged. "I couldn't help it. My mom wouldn't let me get anything more unisex than this. You think I'd pick a top showing this much cleavage if I was in charge of my clothes?"

He chuckled. "No, not really. I'd make it easier on you and give you my stuff, but you're a little smaller than I was in every department except the boobs, where you're a bit bigger." He pointed at the bags she was holding. "So, what you got there?"

She smiled again. "You wanna be a super hero now, right?"

"Well, we've got the powers, might as well put 'em to good use."

"And there's one thing that every super hero needs to do his - or her - job, right?"

"You don't mean..."

She cut him off. "Yep. Costumes!"

***

ACROSS THE CITY:

The man in the cloak checked to make sure the straps were good and tight on the operating table. The man strapped to it was naked, struggling to get out of the restraints. "You'll never get out," he said to the man, "those restraints have held thousands of your kind over thousands of years, and will continue to do so long after you've been dealt with."

The restrained man spat at him, "What the hell do you think you're doing?! I'm an FBI agent, dumbass!"

The man held up the file folder. "Yes, agent Renee Weisinger, born the third of six daughters to Harold and Mary Weisinger, October sixteenth, nineteen seventy-three." He looked down at the naked man. "And just like all the rest over the years, your form was incorrect when you were chosen."

"How do you know about that?"

He chuckled. "I told you, I've hunted thousands of you. I've killed thousands of you." He clapped his hands. "Lucky for you, I'm not killing you. You'll be my first experiment, this season."

Weisinger's eyes widened. "What are you going to do?"

"You'll see. Now, tell me, just what is your special ability?" He then shook his head. "Never mind, don't tell me. I'll find out for myself once I've frayed the layers from your mind." The man picked up the rotary saw from his equipment table and held it to Weisinger's head. The poor man's screaming was so exquisite, it made the man in the cloak burst into laughter.

***

THE DAILY NEWS BRIGADE:

Anna Adamsen chucked another breath mint into her mouth and went back to typing up her story. Over six hundred people of all ages - well, between thirteen and thirty-six - missing in the course of a day was pretty big news. She was going to finish what she'd done so far, then go try and snaggle an interview with that hero cop, Lieutenant Harper, or whatever the hell his name was.

Nothing has been reveallled so far about the manner in which the six hundred and thirty-three people disappearred, she wrote, but the simple fact that it happened cannot be overluked.

"There's only one 'r' in disappeared. Only one 'l' in revealed, and two 'o's in overlooked," a voice behind her said. She spun around in her chair and saw a particularly handsome looking man wearing glasses standing there, his blue suit jacket slung over his arm and a dorky looking hat on his head. He was smiling. "How'd you ever win a Pulitzer with mistakes like that?"

She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's called spell check, and it's every writer's best friend. Who are you?"

He held out his hand. "Keith Cabot. You're Anna Adamsen, star writer, right?"

She pushed his hand away. "Matter of fact, I am. What are you doing here?"

"I'm new. Applied for the job yesterday morning, got hired today."

She felt her brow crease. "I seem to remember a pretty brunette girl applying yesterday."

He smiled. "Yeah, I saw her, too. Asked her out, but she refused to give me her phone number."

She waved her hand. "Don't expect to get mine, buster, I don't date co-workers."

As she turned around and walked over to the coffee maker on the opposite side of the writer's room, Keith whispered to himself, "Wasn't planning on it."

***

"Yup," I said, holding the bag in front of me in an embarrassingly feminine way, "costumes!"

Frank hit himself in the face with his palm. "You went out and bought costumes? Isn't it some super hero rite of passage to make 'em up yourself?"

I hugged the bag close to my chest. "Well, yeah, once you go out and screw up some, first."

"Oh, so we have to screw up first? Are you even listening to yourself? You sound like a traditionalist nerd, trying to go through every little super hero cliche in the book."

I made a face, I assume. "Hey! Every super hero does it! Watch the movies, they're all the damn same!" I set the bag to my side. "Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, Aquaman..."

Frank cut me off. "Who?"

"Aquaman? Arthur Curry? King of Atlantis? Wears orange and green?"

"Nope, still nothing."

"Can talk to fish."

"Oh! That guy! Doesn't do much, since he can't help out of the water?"

"Hey! There's plenty of stuff to do in the water!"

"So, what's his story, anyway? He was on that Superman show a few years ago, but other than that, he hasn't been in anything else."

I felt like I was boiling. Bet there was probably steam coming out of my ears like on an old cartoon, too. "He's done lots of stuff!"

He grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "Calm down, Charlie, calm down," though a lot of chuckling. "So, you bought the costumes. I imagine, since you don't seem to have a whole lot of imagination, you got yourself a Spider-Man costume."

"Whaddya mean, no imagination?!"

"Am I wrong, or is it a Spider-Man costume?"

I lowered my head. "It's a Spider-Man costume."

"So, what's mine?"

I looked back up. "I couldn't find anything that looked like it would work for a jumping guy, so I grabbed you a Wolverine costume."

"Wolverine? I don't have claws!"

"I know, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time that didn't look hero-specific."

"So, Superman wouldn't have worked?"

"No!" Again, I wanted to smack myself on the forehead for acting far more feminine than I wanted to. This whole female thing was getting to me far faster than I wanted it to, and I'm sure it had something to do with that pink mist that made me numb to my change in the first place. Actually, Frank seemed to be taking to his new form pretty well, too. Maybe those beings that changed us decided that dealing with super powers and our new 'roles' in life were enough to deal with, the fact that we were switching genders should be as easy a transition as possible. "Look, I bought you the Wolverine costume and that's what you're gonna wear!" Again, far too feminine. Good job, Charlie, you're a real girl, now.

Frank, of course, was enjoying himself in making fun of me. "Okay, okay, since the pretty white girl I just met yesterday bought it for me, I'll wear it."

I folded my arms under my breasts and muttered, "You bet I'm pretty," under my breath. His treating me like a girl wasn't helping the fact that I was trying not to be a girl.

***

Anna was quite happy to ditch the new guy, even though Barry had told her to bring him along. She didn't like sharing bylines, and keeping him back at the office while she ran off to interview Lieutenant Harkins (that was his name!) would be a refreshing way to ignore him for the rest of the day.

At least, until she walked down the hallway to the lieutenant's office and heard Cabot's voice. How did that skunk-head get here before I did? Unless he can jump down fifty floors of stairs, I should have been in the parking lot before he could even have gotten the elevator back up. She didn't ponder it for long, she just walked into the lieutenant's office and saw Cabot sitting across a very messy desk from the hero cop.

"Now, you say that none of these missing people have turned up, yet?" Cabot asked.

"That's usually how it works. It's when they don't turn up in forty-eight hours that we start to get worried. The only problem this time is that we have no solid leads on where they might be, just reports of family members having disappeared during the night, some of them also involving burglars appearing in the homes of the missing people."

"Burglars, you say?" Anna said, surprising Cabot. "My father always told me to lock the doors and keep a loaded forty-five under your pillow. Daddy was in the Air Force."

"As long as you have the permits, I guess that'd be a pretty good way to stave off burglary," Harkins said. "I know you, don't I? Yeah, Adamsen, the reporter. I thought you said you'd be here as soon as possible, you didn't say your partner would be here first."

"I didn't know." She turned to Cabot. "How did you get here first, anyway?"

He smiled. "Oh, I just flew."

***

I couldn't help but feel like crap wearing a generic, off-the-shelf, Halloween Spider-Man costume. I looked ridiculous. I had to tear a hole in the back to stick my hair through, which was already a problem, then there was the fact that despite being made for teenage girls about my size, the curse of my mom's family's history of large breasts reared its ugly head and I had to tear open the chest of my costume to make some room for my breasts.

Yeah, I looked like the over-sexualized, extremely obvious that I'm female, female version of Spider-Man. And all the while, Frank looked very at home in his Wolverine outfit.

"Oh, c'mon, you don't look that bad, Charlie," he said, laughing all the way.

"You don't have to lie, Frank, I look like Spider-Hooker more than I do Spider-Girl."

"Please, for the love of God, tell me you're not going with Spider-Girl. I'm pretty sure Marvel can sue you for copyright infringement."

Thank the mask for hiding my extremely red face. "I couldn't think of anything better!"

And thanks go to Frank for making me feel even more embarrassed by laughing his ass off at me. Lucky me, I figured out how to make my webbing earlier this morning, so I webbed his mouth closed. He tugged at the webbing on his mouth and glared at me. "That wasn't very funny," he said.

"Neither was laughing at me," I sassed back at him. Hands on my hips, standing like I was some mega-important badass babe, I was, yet again, showing off just how feminine I'd become in twenty-four hours. I could tell he was enjoying just how much I was embarrassing myself. "Okay, let's get going." I walked over to his window. "Wow, you have no neighbors with windows that look out this way."

"It's how my sister and I always got our boyfriends in here without our parents knowing."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Lucky me I know you used to be a girl, otherwise that would have sounded so awkward." I opened the window and stepped out onto the fire escape. "Okay, let's do this."

Frank asked, "You sure you can stick to walls, too?"

"Yeah, I spent the morning practicing all the stuff I can do. My mom was pretty pissed about it, too, but I weaseled my way out of a grounding by cleaning the apartment and feeding my baby brother."

"You have a baby brother?"

"Yeah. I'm not an only child."

"Wait, feed? Did you breast-feed your baby brother?"

"Ugh, no! God, you're gross!" I used that as my excuse to get a head start on him. I did a short hop onto the fire escape railing, and then onto the wall. It's an odd sensation, having tiny little things on your fingers, your palm, your toes and your feet that allow you to feel the fact that it's your skin sticking you to that wall. I could feel every pull as I scaled the wall up to the roof, where Frank was meeting me. I got up there first, but, then again, I only had a wall to scale, not six flights of stairs.

When Frank got upstairs, he was out of breath. Against my better judgment, I giggled. He just scowled at me. I jumped over to the next rooftop, and then Frank followed me. He wasn't out of breath anymore. We continued this for about six more roofs, some taller than others. I practiced some more of my web swinging, at one point landing on top of Frank as he made a particularly tough jump, but he still did just fine. Our first time really practicing our abilities, and we were already getting good at it.

I used to laugh at the fact that in most comic books, the characters only spent one or two pages learning about their powers and getting used to them. In reality, it pretty much worked out that same way. By the time we got to 22nd and Abel, I was actually pretty proficient at wall crawling and web swinging. Bet I could have rivaled the real Spider-Man, if he was real.

***

Lieutenant Harkins took a bite out of his mushroom and swiss and wanted nothing more than to understand what the hell the connection was between all the Chosen, as he'd taken to calling them. Six hundred of them, and none of them even seemed to have anything in common. The only two he could even find half a thread between was Charlie and Frank, and that's only because they were of similar age and went to the same high school. Many of the others their age went to different schools around the city, and none of the ones older than them even seemed to work in the same office buildings.

He took another bite out of his sandwich and almost dropped it when the radio crackled to life. "Go for nineteen-kane-thirty-nine."

"LT, we've got some weird reports of people in funky costumes jumping around on rooftops. Plus, there's a police standoff with some Upscales over at the Bank of America on seventy-third."

Harkins shoved another bite of sandwich in his mouth, then answered the call. "Got it, I'm heading for the bank." He set the files and the sandwich down on the passenger's seat and started the engine, then flipped on his siren and lights. "Time to earn that paycheck."

***

I almost stopped mid-jump, but, luckily, I was already over the building, and I still landed on my feet. My spider-sense was, wait for it, tingling! "Hey, Frankie, you wanna be a hero? I feel something."

He smiled. "Yep. You know where?"

I pointed west. "Feels like it's coming from that direction."

"Let's get going, maybe we can make a name for ourselves. And then we make real costumes."

"I spent fifty bucks on these!"

***

Anna offered to drive, if Keith agreed to pay for lunch. While she waited for him to get some sandwiches from the nearest Quiznos, her phone went off. It was the Brigade. "Yeah, chief?"

"Anna, where the hell are you? There's a robbery-turned-shootout over on seventy-third!"

She looked to see if Keith was done getting the sandwiches, but he wasn't. "Yeah, chief, I've got it. Tell Cabot where I'm going, I'm gonna havta leave him at Quiznos or else I'll miss this scoop!" She hung up, started the car, and sped off down the wrong side of the road to get to 73rd as soon as possible.

When Keith walked back out to the car and found it gone, he merely sighed. "That's just great." He set the bag down on the picnic table and was about to eat until he heard all the sirens in the distance. A distance further out than anyone else would be able to hear. He ducked down the nearest alley and started pulling his clothes off. He scrambled the day before to stitch together a costume, but he thought he managed very well. Too bad for him, Superman was already taken, so instead, he went with what the odd creature had called him, Guardian.

The Guardian flew upward, into the sky, and people around looked up and marveled at the sight of a man in blue and gold tights and gold cape hovering in the air.

***

I landed on the outer wall of the bank and just sat there for a while. I shot a webline at the nearest crook's gun and pulled it up and away from him. "Didn't your mother ever teach you manners? It's not exactly polite to shoot at people, y'know."

A couple of the other crooks stopped shooting. "What the hell is this?! Is the circus in town?"

"Ugh! Why is that every two-bit robber's first line?" I webbed him in the face. "Can't you see I'm trying to be witty and crime-fighty here?"

Frank landed next to the one who's mouth I webbed up, then kicked him in the gut, sending him directly into the wall just behind the cops on the other side of the street. "Didn't you hear the girl? She's trying to be funny!"

I yanked a few more guns away from the robbers, all the while Frank knocked them out. Eventually, the gunshots died down, the cops stopped shooting. We were heroes!

At least until my dad showed up.

He pulled out a megaphone. "You, in the Spider-Man suit! Get down off the wall!"

***

And get the hell back home, because if your mother sees this on the news, she's gonna go nuts! Harkins wanted to say, but he didn't. Obviously, Charlie wanted to add hero duty to her teenaged, super-powered life. He'd have a very stern talk with her later, and then commend her for taking down a bunch of crooks who'd had his very police force pinned down for half an hour. He couldn't see Frank, but he assumed he was there as well.

Charlie hopped down from the wall and walked around the toasted cars that the Upscales had been using as cover from the bullets. He wondered how those cars had bitten it, considering the seven or eight crooks Charlie and her new boyfriend (he'd tease her about that later, too) had taken out just seemed to have handguns. Nothing big enough to blow holes like that in cars.

And the exploding squad car beside him was how he got his answer. He ducked out of the way just in time to avoid Ford debris hitting him in the face.

***

Anna pulled up to the shoot-out just in time to see Lieutenant Harkins jump out of the way of the exploding car. The girl in the Spider-Boy outfit hopped up onto the wall of the bank behind her, just as one of the cars on her side of the street exploded too. Anna ducked out of her car just before it, too, exploded. She caught a piece of the shifter in her leg, but that was about it.

The source of the explosions seemed to come from a purple-haired woman standing on the roof of the bank, looking down at the street below. She jumped, landing in a crater that she seemed to create herself. "Cops and stupid kids in costumes?" the woman said, then laughed. "I guess East City's turning into a den of freaks!" She held out her hand toward one of the squad cars and it exploded, taking out at least a couple of cops with it. "This is gonna be fun after all!"

Anna saw that the woman looked like she was going to destroy another car when, suddenly, a circle of fire appeared around her. She looked just as surprised as everyone else on the scene. That was when He appeared.

***

The Guardian used his heat vision to burn a circle around the purple-haired woman. He saw a girl in a Spider-Man outfit and a boy in black leather across the street from the police. He didn't know if they had anything to do with the robbery, but they didn't seem to be with the purple-haired woman. Guardian landed on the ground in front of Purple Hair.

"Robbing a bank isn't any way to get ahead in life, ma'am," he said, walking toward her. "Stop this, and maybe you'll get off easy."

"You think those pitiful jails can hold me? Bet they'd like to get their hands on you, too, Superman." She spat at his chest symbol.

"That's Guardian, ma'am. I'd prefer it if you didn't spit on me, as well.  Now, what's your name?"

She smiled. "You can call me Quake, since we're going with stupid super hero names."

"I don't think you'd qualify as a hero."

"That's safe to say," the girl in the Spider-Man costume said.

"Shut up, powderpuff!" Quake shouted. "So, Mr. Guardian, you gonna take me in now?" she asked, seductively.

***

Powderpuff? Un-uh! I shot a webline at her and pulled her away from that Guardian guy, and she responded simply by taking out a chunk of the wall above me. I jumped out of the way and landed on one of the cop cars across the street. Dad grabbed at my leg and whispered, "Charlotte Elaine Harkins, get your ass home and away from here!"

"Wait, when did you get my name changed? Elaine, seriously? No!"

"Charlie, go home!"

"Dad, I'm doing just fine, I can handle a bitch who makes cars go boom."

I said that, and then the Guardian pushed me and Dad just out of the way before the car I was perched upon exploded underneath me. Thank you for not tingling, spider-sense! Oh, wait, it might have, had I actually been paying attention to it.

I thank Guardian for knocking Dad and me out of earshot, because his first words to us were, "Lieutenant Harkins, please take your daughter and get out of here. Your men are already pulling out. I'll take care of Quake." And then, he was gone.

"Let's listen to the superman, okay, sweetie? You're lucky the building's bank of washing machines are out of order and your mother keeps the laundry in my trunk. It's all boy clothing, but at least it's not that stupid costume."

I sighed and said, "Yes, daddy."

***

Guardian rushed at Quake and grabbed her by the neck. It took her less than ten seconds to lose consciousness, and then he dumped her on the hood of one of the remaining squad cars. "Take her and keep her hands contained. If she's not at least six feet away from what she wants to destroy, her powers don't work, and she can't blow it up if she can't point," he explained to the few remaining officers standing there, all wide-eyed at the super hero floating above them. He turned and flew away from the scene, back to the alley beside the Quiznos that Anna had left him at. Hopefully, nobody had taken them yet.

***

ACROSS THE CITY:

The man in the cloak sighed as he watched the news broadcast on the bank robbery. Four of them. Four Chosen who had all become capable of using their advantages, in so short a time. He sighed. It would be hard to get to these four, now that they had experience with their advantages. But still, he enjoyed the challenge. And it would be a challenge.

He turned to Weisinger, who stood off to the side. His formerly blue eyes had gone opaque, as if his mind were empty, which was, of course, true. The man smiled. "We'll have so much fun, won't we, my Avenger?"

Avenger answered, his voice as blank as his eyes, "Of course, my Master."

The man's smile only widened.

***

I stood in the living room, rubbing at my left arm, which hurt a little after Guardian grabbed me, and just took it. Even Dad looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to leave the room as quickly as possible. I couldn't blame him, I wanted to, too.

"And so, I ask you again, Charlotte, what the hell were you doing out there in the middle of a firefight?! What possessed you to put on a silly costume and go hunting trouble?! You could have been hurt! You could have been killed! It's pure luck that you weren't!" Mom turned to Dad. "And you! She's fifteen years old, and you just let her go out and nearly kill herself chasing down bad guys? She could have died out there!"

Dad held up his hands in defense. "Whoa, wait a minute, what did I have to do with this? She and Frank took down those Upscales thugs before I even got there!"

"All but the one with the super powers who nearly killed her!"

"Nobody saw her! Everybody we talked to on the street said they thought the Upscales used bombs on the cars as a diversion to get as many people out of the bank!"

"And that Guardian person, you let him just attack our daughter?"

"Actually, Mom," I piped in, "he was saving me from the car I was sitting on exploding. He saved Dad, too."

"You stay out of this, young lady, you're already in enough trouble as it is!"

"Mom, I don't regret what I did, and like Dad said, Frank and I took those guys out before the cops did."

"And then their leader nearly killed you!"

"I have a spider-sense, I knew when the danger was going to hit, and I ducked out of the way just in time."

She wagged her index finger at me. "No, no, no, don't you bring up that comic book stuff to me! You could have died, and it was a stupid thing to do!"

I folded my arms under my breasts. "Okay, I get it, I'm an idiot, can I just be grounded and go to my room, now?"

"Oh, you mean where you can sneak out the window and go do this all again? No! First, your father's going to nail that window shut. After that, whatever time you're not accounted for in your room, or at school, you're going to be everywhere I go with me, or at the precinct with your father."

"And just how am I gonna go to school, Mom? 'Oh, hi, I'm Charlie Harkins, no, not that Charlie Harkins, even though we share the same mom, dad, baby brother, apartment, initials, DNA'! How am I gonna go to school, Mom?"

She turned to Dad. "Henry, go nail down her window. Charlotte, you sit in that chair, and I don't want to hear another word from you until I say so!" Chris, my baby brother, started crying from my parents bedroom. "Good work, everybody, Christopher's awake and crying!"

Dad got up from his chair, squeezed my shoulder as he passed me, and then grabbed his toolbox and walked into my room. I sat down in his chair after that. Mom was pissed at me, obviously. It didn't matter, I was pissed at her for being pissed at me and for being pissed at Dad. Generally, the feeling between the two women in the family was that both of us were extremely pissed off at one another, and Dad and Chris were caught in the middle.

The day couldn't get any worse.

***

THE DAILY NEWS BRIGADE:

Keith listened to the stories Anna was telling about the Guardian, inwardly smiling. He hadn't expected his little scheme to work. People suddenly develop super powers and the new guy at the news desk wasn't initially suspected of being the Superman rip-off? Enough people knew the story of Superman for this to be as obvious as white on black.

Still and all, it helped that immediately after he'd been changed, he applied as Keith Cabot, and no one made the connection between him and Kathy Cabot, the pretty brunette that had applied just a few hours earlier. He was a little surprised, considering Keith Cabot had little background information on his resume that would actually check out. Clearly, the Daily News Brigade didn't check their references when they hired.

Anna walked over to his desk and set down her story. "Check it over for me, will ya, Keith? I might have stumped my spell check a couple of times."

He flipped through it, noticing more errors than should have been present if she'd actually used spell check. "Yeah, I'll do that, Anna."

She leaned over his computer monitor. "Say, why didn't you show up at the bank while Guardian was taking care of that Quack chick, anyway?"

"You left me five miles back without a car. By the time I flagged a taxi, I'd have been late anyway, so I just waited and ate my sandwich."

"Yeah, well, you missed one helluva show, Keith. Bet you would have loved it."

Yeah, he thought, I bet I would have.

***

I laid on my bed and just watched TV for a while until Dad walked into the room. He shut the door and sat down on the beanbag chair beside my bed. "Just so you know, those nails in that window are pretty loose," he said.

I looked over at him. "How come?"

He shrugged. "Because, I believe in what you wanna do." He leaned back in the chair. "I'm not saying I want my teenage daughter running around on rooftops beatin' the crap out of everybody that looks at her wrong, but there are some people who are just plain bad that we cops can't go after. Now, you and your boyfriend saved a lot of good cops today, though a couple of them did buy it later."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault, kiddo. You couldn't have saved them from an exploding car they were trying to escape in, no matter how hard you tried. That's something you're gonna have to live with. It's not easy, believe me. But what you did, jumping in there..."

I cut him off. "Swinging in there," I corrected him.

"Swinging in there, and takin' those guys down from behind their cover so that you could save those cops, that took guts, guts that I don't know if I'd have had at your age. You did good, even if everything went sour at the end."

I sat up and moved closer to the edge of my bed. "Thanks, Dad." I scratched the back of my head for a few nervous seconds, then asked, "Hey, Dad, did you think my costume was ridiculous?"

He sighed. "In a word: hell yes, sweetie. Not only was it ridiculous, I'm suggesting you take home ec classes at school. Sew your own costume, one that doesn't look like one of Spider-Man's bastardized rejects."

I made a noise that I can't quite describe, which made Dad chuckle. He ruffled my hair and left my bedroom. I immediately walked over to my window and checked. All three nails were loose. I smiled. Thank you lots, Dad.

***

ELSEWHERE IN EAST CITY:

Bernard sat huddled in a corner and cried. Cried his eyes out. He couldn't begin to think of himself as female, yet, despite the obvious. He had pulled on a pair of his wife's pants, with her help, and wore a backless halter top to cover his chest. He didn't like the feel of the fabric against his new breasts, it made him think about them, and he just wanted to ignore them. He wanted them gone. He didn't want this burden of being the Angel. He just continued to cry.

Gloria, for her part, hated seeing her husband the way he was. She knelt down in front of him and leaned forward, her face close to his. He looked up, his eyes almost a solid red thanks to all his tears. She leaned further forward and brought her lips to his. It was a first for her, kissing another woman. His lips were soft, softer than they had ever been when he was a man. She brought one hand to his face and rubbed at his cheek while they kissed, determined to make him feel as though nothing important had changed.

When she broke off the kiss, she looked upon a happier woman, a smiling woman. Gloria spoke, her voice soft, "It doesn't matter to me whether you're the man I married or the angel in front of me, you're still the person I love, and I'll always love you." She began to cry, herself. "For whatever reason, you were chosen. That means you have a higher calling than simply being Bernard Winchester, and it's your responsibility to live up to that calling." She closed her eyes. "You've always been an angel to me, now you need to be one for everyone else, as well."

She stood up, as did the woman in front of her. "Thank you, Gloria."

She smiled back at the Angel. "Go now, help others. They need an Angel."

Angel nodded, then walked out onto the balcony of their home. With the power of her wings, she lifted off, into the sky, and then out, toward the center of the city. Gloria simply sat there on her bed, crying tears of joy. Little did either of them know, but it was Angel's power that brought about acceptance in them both, first in Gloria, and then in Angel herself, after Gloria spoke her encouraging words. That was why Angel accepted her fate as she did, and why Gloria accepted a life without her husband.

Secret Origins, Part Two

Frank hadn't escaped punishment of his own, once he got home. His father attempted to calm his mother down, but it was no use, she was too angry at their son for his actions. During the argument, he grabbed his mother's sewing kit and quietly escaped to his bedroom. There, he took the silly Wolverine costume that Charlie had bought for him, and turned it into Seeker's costume.

Seeker, it wasn't the name he'd have chosen, had he gotten to choose his name, but when that woman stood over him and changed him from Francine into Frank, she told him that his new name would be Seeker. He assumed it had something to do with his ability to sense footsteps through the ground, though he couldn't figure out a way that jumping really high could be involved. Maybe just the fact that he could jump high meant he could seek out targets quicker, he didn't know.

His modifications to the costume involved mostly just cutting the sleeves off and making the arm holes look like arm holes instead of torn sleeves, and his last change was taking off the X-Men logo, so that nobody sued him for using their property. He did think it was funny that he nearly got his ass kicked by some girl who could make things explode with her hands, and he was worried about getting sued.

His phone rang. He reached into the one last thing he still had that reminded him of his former female existence: his purse. He laughed to himself, then pulled out his phone and dropped the purse on his bed. He didn't recognize the number, but he answered it anyway. "Hello?"

Not exactly surprisingly, it was Charlie's voice on the other end. "Bet you didn't know that being a cop's daughter means I can find any phone number I want."

He smiled. "No, I didn't know that. So you went looking for mine?"

"No, my dad went looking for your number. He just gave it to me." It sounded like she took a sip of something. "So, did your parents grill you, too?"

"Yeah. Mostly just my mom, but my dad got a few licks in, too. How about you?"

"Just my mom. My dad was on our side, hilariously enough. You'd think a cop - the chief of detectives, no less - would be a little more adverse to the idea of costumed idiots running around and beating people up."

"So, you grounded, or anything? Jury's still out for me."

"Pretty much. I'm supposed to be either with my mom, or with my dad, but my mom gave me a little leeway."

"What's that?"

"Tomorrow, after school, I have to go out and find a job."

Frank sighed. "You're headin' out to the Brigade to get a job as a photographer, aren't you?"

He could practically hear her scowl. "Hey! I liked taking pictures before I was the female Peter Parker, I'll have you know!"

***

This was it, moment of truth, time for everything I've done in the last two days to be insignificant. This was it. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked into school. It was an odd experience, after being gone for two days. Nobody looked at me and said 'Hey! Charlie's a girl!' or anything like that. Nobody actually even seemed to notice me. I was just another girl among many, interspersed with just as many boys, all chattering about this or that.

Nobody even seemed to care, actually.

According to Dad, the process of pulling a kid out of school and replacing him with a similarly named kid of the opposite gender was easier than it really should have been. Charles Harkins was no longer a student, Charlotte Harkins was, it was as simple as that. Sure, I had all new classes, and I'd have to introduce myself to people, but it wasn't any big thing in any way. I laughed at the absurd simplicity, actually.

I maneuvered my way to my new locker, which was suspiciously my old locker, as well, and opened it to find that all my stuff had been taken out. Not a big surprise, as far as the school knew, Charles was never coming back while Charlotte was here to stay - and I hate having to refer to myself as Charlotte, but hey, it's not a horrible name.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around to find Cindy Cooper staring at me. "Hi, I'm Cindy, and you are not the person I was looking for. What's your name?"

I braced myself. Cindy knew me, we'd been friends for years and dated for a short (painfully short) period of time. "I'm... Charlotte Harkins," I said, and already I saw the wheels turning in Cindy's mind.

"Charlie, why are you cross-dressing?" Great, she figured it out in about two seconds. Good work, Charlie.

"I'm not cross-dressing." I pointed at my breasts, pretty obvious thanks to my tight shirt. "See? Boobs!"

"Okay, so you're not cross-dressing, why are you a girl? Finally find out we've got all the better clothes?"

I shook my head. "No. I hate my clothes. My mom won't let me get anything that doesn't emphasize my chest. I think it's supposed to be punishment for having been turned into a girl."

"Wait, somebody did this to you?"

She and I walked down to the cafeteria, where kids hung out before school started, and I told her the whole story, from waking up with that thing standing over me to defending my honor from a bunch of Upscales, to meeting Frank, to finding out about all the other Chosen thanks to my dad, to trying my hand at being a super hero and almost dying because of it. She listened very intently, hanging on every word I said. When I was finished with the story, she simply sat there, wide-eyed. "What?" I asked.

"You mean to tell me that you were the dopey girl in the Spider-Man outfit who got her ass kicked by a chick who can blow up walls with her mind?"

I was a little loud, but no one heard me, thankfully. "I didn't get my ass kicked! Besides, she dissed me. Called me a powderpuff."

Cindy giggled. "You are kinda small, Charlie. Well, everywhere but where the boys'll notice."

I folded my arms under my breasts. "That's not what she meant. I know, I was there."

She leaned back in her seat. "So, you can do anything a spider can do? Can you shoot webs out your butt?"

"Ugh, no! My fingertips, yes, but not my butt."

"How come this happened to you, anyway? Did your dad find anything connecting any of the Chosen?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. It just seems to be random."

"There's no way. Six hundred people, and all of you were random? No way. There's gotta be some pattern to it."

"I doubt that," Frank said, sitting down next to us. "Otherwise, I bet they woulda picked my sister instead of me."

"Who are you?" Cindy asked.

"This is Frank, I told you about him," I answered. "The Amazing Jumping Boy?"

"The name's Seeker, cute stuff," he said.

"Cute, huh?" Cindy said, a glimmer of interest in her eyes.

"Well, you're cute, too, but I was actually talking about Charlie."

"Please don't," I said, meekly, "my dad already calls you my boyfriend."

Cindy gasped. "Wait, you don't like boys?!" Then she giggled.

I sighed. "I don't know yet! I've only been like this for two days. Hell, the only boy I've even been around is him, unless you count the guy at the costume shop working at the register."

We talked and laughed and just pretended to be normal teenagers until class started, and I enjoyed it. It was fun to just be Charlie again, instead of thinking about the fact that I had super powers. Maybe this whole grounding thing could work out well.

***

ACROSS THE ROOM:

Avenger watched the two Chosen as they conversed as if they were human. He knew now that the Chosen were nothing but a curse, a plague on the Earth. His Master had tasked him, one of the unlucky ones that had been Chosen, as their eradicator. After all, his Master was getting old, and couldn't carry on the fight as he could millennia ago. It was up to Avenger to carry the torch, and destroy the Chosen.

His Master told him that there were thirty-one Chosen who would gain powers from the Event. Thirty-one. Out of over six hundred innocent beings, thirty-one were chosen to lead mankind into the next stage of human evolution, and none of them could be allowed to live. It was the ultimate system of checks and balances, many were given the ability, the majority of them died from it, and the rest were systematically wiped out because humanity was not ready for the next stage in its evolution. His Master was the only one out there who saw that.

Avenger made his way toward the two girls and the young man. The young man and one of the girls were both about to die, but he might just enjoy himself and kill the third one, as well. At least, he'd enjoy it if he still had emotions.

***

I had to thank my spider-sense yet again. I dodged just as the table flew right past us, Frank pulled Cindy to the floor, and kids all over scrambled for cover or just to get the hell out. I peeked out over our table and saw a guy wearing a trench coat ripping off a piece of the pillar across the room from us. He was big, maybe twice the size of that Guardian guy I met the day before. At the risk of sounding extremely cliche, his muscles had muscles. I rolled out of the way just as the pillar flew past my head.

"Just me, or is that guy tryin' to kill us?" Frank asked.

"I'd say that's a safe bet," I answered. I looked around and saw that the cafeteria had pretty well emptied in one hell of a hurry. Apparently, looking away from a pillar flying straight at your face makes you miss out on the other stuff. Cindy was still cowering behind the table with us, though. I took another peek over the table, but the guy was gone.

That was when he hoisted me over the table.

"Hey! Lemme go!" I shouted.

He replied in a very disturbing monotone, "You are Chosen. You must die."

"I don't think so!" I said, kicking him in the face and jumping away from him. I landed on a table and watched as the big guy shrugged off my blow and simply stalked toward me. I looked over at Frank and saw him getting undressed. "I'm not entirely sure he swings that way!" I said to him. I turned back to the big guy and shot some webbing at his face. Thankfully, he struggled with it. I hopped back down by Frank and Cindy and saw Frank slipping on a black rubber mouth mask. "I really don't think he's into BDSM."

Frank shot me a look. "It's my costume, girl!"

I looked at him and saw that he'd taken the Wolverine costume I'd bought for him and taken the sleeves off. He'd striped off the X-Men logo and replaced it with a fancy looking 'S' symbol. With the mouth mask and the whole outfit, he actually looked like a super hero, and all I had was a pair of jeans and a pink shirt (damn you for that, Mom!)? I needed a new costume. "Wait, you brought that to school? I thought your parents didn't want you out being a super hero?"

"They don't, but this guy's trashin' our school! How am I supposed to just let this happen? Especially when he's gunning for us! By the way, get the hell out of the way!"

I felt it at exactly the same time he warned me, and shot a webline up at the ceiling. I climbed it and just hung there, just as the big guy barreled through the table. Frank - or, Seeker, I guess (that name is so lame) - used one of his super kicks to knock the big guy down on his back. I landed on the floor and grabbed Cindy. "C'mon, we need to get out of here."

"Even you? But you're a super hero, too!" she cried.

"Yeah, super hero with no costume, people'd pick me out quick." I turned to Seeker. "You got this?"

He nodded. "Just get out!"

I nodded.

***

Harkins pulled up to the school and saw kids, teachers, custodians, by the hundreds, standing outside. His officers were trying to keep everyone calm, but it obviously wasn't helping. He walked over the lead officer. "Tell me what they're saying."

"Sir, this kid," he pointed to a pretty tall looking teenage boy, "says that a guy the size of the Hulk walked in there and started throwing stuff af a specific table, with only three kids sitting at it."

"Who were the kids?"

"Two white girls and a black boy, he said."

Why do I bet my entire year's salary on two of those kids being Charlie and Frank? His internal question was answered five seconds later, when Charlie walked up to him, Cindy Cooper behind her. "Charlotte, what the hell is going on?"

She hit him in the arm. "Don't call me that!" In a quieter voice, she said, "This guy who knows that Frank and I are Chosen came in and tried to kill us. Frank's in there now, fighting him."

"You let him do it alone?"

"He told me he had it. Besides, I don't even have a mask, or anything."

He sighed. He turned back to the lead officer. "Gimme ten men, submachine guns. We're goin' in."

***

Seeker was suddenly hating the mask over the bottom half of his face. He knew his lip was bleeding, and he couldn't wipe the blood away. He'd taken a little of a beating after Charlie left, from two left hooks to a knee in the stomach, but he was hanging in. Clearly, in addition to being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and feeling tremors in the still ground, he'd gained some degree of enhanced durability. It was a good thing to know, finally.

He jumped in the air and then kicked off of the big guy's face, knocking the sucker all the way into and through the opposite wall. Seeker landed on his back, though the pain elsewhere distracted him from the pain in his back. He got back up and was shocked to see the big guy was already back on his feet and stalking toward him. He didn't like to go anywhere fast, it seemed. Seeker was ready for him, though, he was ready to take him down.

Then his vision started to double. He fell to his knee and rubbed at his eyes, but those blows to the head were finally taking their toll. He watched as two of that big guy slowly walked toward him, their footsteps slow and even, and it was when one of them started to run and the other simply stood back that he realized that his vision hadn't doubled, there were really two of that big guy there!

Oh, crap! He braced himself for the beating he was about endure when several automatic gunshots rang out. The big guy who'd been standing there fell down, then disappeared. Seeker looked over to his left and saw several of East City's Finest standing there, including Charlie's dad, all carrying automatic weapons. "This is the ECPD, whoever the hell you are, stand down!" Charlie's dad shouted.

The big guy grabbed a table. "I am Avenger, and it is my sacred duty to destroy the Chosen!" He threw the table at the line of cops, most of which ducked. Charlie's dad rolled underneath it, then got right back to shooting at Avenger (as Seeker now knew he was called). Seeker ran at him and jumped, then kicked the big guy in the face once again. All Avenger did was snap his jaw back into place. This doesn't look good...

***

Avenger couldn't understand why these humans were trying to stop him. He was doing what his Master said would cleanse the Earth, and they were firing weapons at him. The Chosen he was fighting made sense, but the police did not.

The Chosen was putting up a good fight, as well. His abilities were tied primarily to his feet, and Avenger could tell that his strength and endurance were also far more enhanced. Avenger was nearly invincible, but the Chosen had knocked his jaw out of place for a second. He was enjoying this fight almost just because of this Chosen, though he was disappointed that the other had fled. She would have been an easy kill.

The officer that had shouted at him was continually firing away at him with his useless hail of bullets. They may have taken down his duplicate, but they wouldn't even pierce Avenger's skin, unless they were tipped with a special coating. He considered leaving the Chosen alone for the moment and killing the police, but he knew his Master wouldn't accept that.

The receptor in his head filled his mind with his Master's pleasing voice. "Avenger, escape. The police have surrounded the building, and will destroy you unless you escape, now. Return to me via the secret direction."

His Master gave him an order, he needed to follow it. He ran toward the wall opposite the police and burst through it, then jumped over the crowd of people standing there. Several police officers fired their weapons at him, but he did not feel the impacts, nor did the bullets harm him. He landed about twenty feet away from the crowd and jumped yet again. He might not have the leaping abilities of the Chosen he'd been fighting, but he could still jump quite high and quite far.

He had no idea why his Master would have pulled him out of the fight, but the most basic thing that Avenger needed to do was follow his Master's commands. It was how he was made.

***

I nervously waited for Dad for leave the school. I'd heard all the crashing and the banging and the gunshots, but I was really scared that my dad wouldn't be coming out of that school on his own. Then came the thought that Frank could have been hurt, and I was doubly worried. Thankfully, both Dad and Frank walked out of the building. Frank had even changed back into his regular clothes.

I don't know why I was so concerned about Frank. Maybe my dad was pretty close, calling him my boyfriend. Granted, I didn't know if I liked guys, but considering how fast all these new emotions were hitting me, it wouldn't surprise me in any way.

"Hey!" I called to them, waving my hands. "What happened in there?"

Dad answered, "Well, that tough sonuvabitch got away. He took no less than a thousand bullets and didn't go down. Not to mention about a half dozen kicks from your boyfriend, here."

That set me off. "He's not my boyfriend!" Cindy, standing behind me, laughed.

Dad grabbed me by the shoulders. "Sweetie, calm down." He moved his hands away. "I'm heading back over there. Hopefully, some other officers caught a glimpse of where he went. Go tell that officer," he pointed at one of the cops directing the crowd, "who you are, and that I'll take your statements later."

"Who I am, as in Lieutenant Harkins' daughter?"

He pulled out his badge. "Actually, it's Captain Harkins, now. That stuff at the bank the other day earned me a promotion."

"You didn't say anything about it."

"I wanted to surprise you and your mom." He stuffed his badge back on his belt. "Now, go tell the officer that I'll take your statements, then get home."

I nodded. He walked away, and I led Frank and Cindy over to the cop that Dad had pointed at. "Um, officer?"

He turned to me. "We'll get your statements in time, ma'am, just wait here until we do."

"Actually, I'm Lieu-Captain Harkins' daughter. My dad said he'd take mine and my friends' statements later."

He looked us over, then grabbed his radio. "Captain Harkins, there's a girl here claiming to be your daughter, says you'll take her and her friends' statements later?" I heard my dad's acknowledgement, then the cop said, "Yes, sir." He turned back to us. "Alright, you check out. You can go."

We walked for a while, since my apartment was about twenty blocks away from the school, give or take a block. Mom hit me with concern as soon as I opened the door. "Are you hurt? Did you get hurt? Did you fight him? Did he hurt you?" Yes, the word hurt was in most of her questions, and yes it did get annoying.

"Mom, I'm fine, I got out as soon as possible. Frank, here, on the other hand, is a different story."

She turned to him. "Are you okay?"

He answered, "Yeah, Mrs. Harkins, I'm fine. A little achy, but as soon as your husband got there, that sucker ran!"

She turned to Cindy. "And you? Are you okay?"

Cindy nodded. "Yeah, Charlie got me out ASAP."

"Has Charlie explained everything to you?"

"Yeah. I think it's cool having super hero best friends."

Mom folded her arms under her breasts. "Wait until you have a cop for a husband and a super hero for a daughter, then you'll sit at home all the time worrying about them."

I said, "Mom, we're fifteen, and I have no intentions of getting pregnant at least until I'm thirty, I don't think any of us has to worry about super hero kids for a while." I turned to Frank. "You should probably call your folks, if they saw this on the news, they're probably worried."

He nodded. "Yeah. Can I borrow your phone?"

"Where's yours?"

"Broken in pieces on the school floor."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and handed it to him. He walked into the bathroom to have some privacy, because I'm sure his parents probably chewed him out something fierce. I led Cindy into my bedroom and just sat down on the edge of my bed, while she pulled my Spider-Man costume out of my closet.

She giggled. "Did you tear the chest open for some particular, uniquely feminine reason?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Shut up, you know exactly why I did it. Maybe if you had bigger boobs, you'd understand!"

She rooted through my clothes. "Hey, you've still got a lot of your boy clothes in here."

"Yeah?"

She pulled a bunch of clothes out and dumped them on my bed. "Well, c'mon, Spider-Girl, we're gonna find you stuff to patch together into a costume."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're actually encouraging this, aren't you? I did happen to mention the whole 'I'm grounded from super hero-ing' thing, right?"

"So what? What about when you're un-grounded?"

"That'll probably be when I'm twenty-six, or something like that!"

"Still, what about when you're at school, like today? Frank had his costume with him, so he could fight that guy. If you'd had a costume, you wouldn't have been stuck on the sidelines, worried about him."

I rubbed at my arm. "You could tell I was worried?"

She laughed. "Girl, anybody who looked at you could tell."

"Hey, I don't even know if I like boys, okay? I'm just close to Frank because we're the same, we were both thrown into a crazy situation. Maybe meeting him is why I'm so comfortable being a girl, I don't know. He's not my boyfriend, though."

Cindy sat down on the bed in front of me. "Kiss me."

"Um... okay... this is unexpected."

"Do it."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay! Okay!" I felt really awkward about this, even though I liked Cindy. I leaned forward a little, pursed my lips, and... then stopped. I couldn't do it. "I can't," I said, looking away.

"Well, you clearly don't like girls anymore."

I leaned back. "Seeing as I've got a pair of 'girls', it obviously makes sense. Is that why you wanted to kiss? To find out if I still liked girls?"

"Kinda. I also wanted to see if you were a better kisser as a girl than you were as a boy."

I scowled. "Are you telling me I was a sucky kisser as a boy?"

She shrugged. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Either way, we need to get back to picking out stuff we can cannibalize into your costume."

***

THE DAILY NEWS BRIGADE:

Anna dropped her story down on Barry's desk. "Now, tell me why I can't push this?" she asked.

Barry sighed. "Look, Anna, there's pieces on all these new super heroes going up on every other paper in the city, and you want to give me a piece on tech heists? It's not something I want, not even something I need. You seemed pretty up about that Guardian guy the other day, why not try and find him and get some word out of him? Hell, he could be from another planet for all we know!" The phone rang, interrupting him. "Brindleson," he said, answering the phone. "Yeah? Yeah? Send her up." He set the phone back down on the receiver. "Stay here," he said to Anna, "there's a kid coming up right now, lookin' for a job. I want you to do the interview, under my supervision."

"I'm way overqualified for this, Chief."

"I don't care, you write for me, you work for me." Minutes later, the door to Barry's office opened, and in walked a fifteen year old girl with light brown hair. "Ms. Harkins, please, sit down."

"Thanks," the girl said, sitting on the chair right beside Anna. Harkins, Harkins... Where had she heard that name before?

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked.

"Charlotte, but I prefer Charlie."

"This is Anna Adamsen, if you've read our paper, you've probably read her stories before, she's usually our front page gal. She'll be conducting your interview."

Anna hated this, but she turned to the girl and put on a smile for the chief. "So, Charlie Harkins, huh?"

"Yeah. You've interviewed my dad before."

"I have?"

"Yeah. Captain Henry Harkins, ECPD? He's talked about you before."

"Oh! You're his kid? I didn't even know he had one."

"Two, actually, me and my little brother."

"Anna," the chief said, "get on with the job interview."

She sighed. "Right. So, Charlie, what job were you most interested in here at the Brigade?"

The girl looked around for a moment, as if thinking, then said, "I was kinda hoping there was a spot open for a photographer."

Anna turned to Barry. "Chief?"

He had been sitting there with his fingers interlocked in front of his mouth, then he set his hands down. "You got any examples?"

The girl pulled her book bag up and unzipped it, then handed Barry a file folder. "Just some, not a whole lot. My computer fried on me the other day, and I lost everything but what was in my camera."

He flipped open the folder and Anna saw him looking through close to twenty pictures. Clearly, the girl was a hardcore photographer. "Wait a minute!" Anna said, "Give me that one." She didn't wait for him to hand it to her, she just grabbed it out of his hand. It was a picture of the Guardian from the other day, floating above that Quake bitch. She turned back to the girl. "You were at the bank the other day?"

She nodded, meekly. "Yeah. I took a few pictures, then my dad told me to get out of there."

Anna took another look at that picture and said, "You're hired."

Barry bolted up from his chair. "Wait, what?!"

Anna stood up. "No buts, Chief. You told me to interview her, I want her. She can be mine and Keith's photographer."

The girl asked, "I can?"

He sat back down in his chair and let out an intense sigh. "Yeah, sure, kid. You're hired. Anna wants you in her corner, you can be in her corner."

Anna pulled the girl up and out of the chair. "C'mon, Charlie, we've got to get going. Chief there wants a new front page piece, and we're gonna go out and find it."

Charlie just managed an "Okay," before they left Barry's office.

***

Ms. Adamsen almost threw me in the passenger's seat of her car and then we sped off, before I even had a chance to get my seatbelt on. I reached into my backpack and pulled my camera out and slipped the strap around my neck. "Um, where are we going?"

She smiled. "There's heroes all over this city now, kid, and we just need to find one for you to take a picture of."

"Oh," I said, already dreading my dream career choice.

***

The Guardian landed on the roof, where Lieutenant Harkins was waiting. He walked up to the cop and held his hand out. "Lieutenant," he said, regarding the other.

"Captain, actually. I want to thank you, for saving my daughter."

Guardian nodded. "She's a brave girl. The costume's a little odd, but," he waved around his own costume, "who am I to talk?"

"She's workin' on it. Listen, I need your help. You heard about everything that happened at the school a few hours ago?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"Well, we took care of it. The Force, not the kids. But the guy got away. Big sucker, too, probably twice your size."

"And?"

"We haven't been able to find him, and since I'm assuming you've probably got all of Superman's powers..."

Guardian cut him off. "Not the x-ray vision, sorry."

He sighed. "Actually, I was thinking something more like the heat vision."

***

ACROSS THE CITY:

The cloaked man again took his saw to Avenger's head. Luckily, Avenger was unconscious. If he hadn't been, than the man would probably be dead. He reached in and took his chip off of Avenger's head. If the police or anyone else discovered that chip, his plans would be discovered. It was because of this very thing that he took a welding torch and severed Avenger's brain from his body. He tore the brain in two and pocketed the chip. It was time to move.

***

Guardian landed on the building and broke through the roof. The room was full of computer equipment, just as Captain Harkins had said it would be. He had to commend the man for his skills. It made sense that whoever sent out the Avenger would have set up shop recently, either just before or just after the Event, and the captain tracked down computer and technology purchases and discovered that building, where whoever had sent the Avenger had set up shop.

And 'shop' was probably the operative word. Several of the items in the building still had tags on them from where they'd been purchased, nothing had fingerprints, everything was in a neat place, like the owner was the world's leading neat freak or organizer.

Everything except the dead body of the Avenger on the surgical table.

He pulled the radio from his belt. "Captain Harkins, we were too late. The man behind the scenes is gone. He left Avenger's body, however."

"Body, huh?"

"Yes."

"I sent a forensics team, they should be there in the next couple minutes."

"You're probably not going to find anything."

Mere seconds later, Guardian fell to his knees thanks to an earsplitting sound. He covered his ears and tried to block the sound out, but it was no use. In the midst of it all, he heard a voice say, "You may have found my former base, Chosen. It is but one of a thousand more. Enjoy this small win, for you and your kind will soon be no more."

***

IN THE CITY:

The man in the cloak placed the brain of Avenger into the prototype. He took the chip out of his pocket and smiled. The most important piece of the puzzle was still in his hands. He slipped the chip back into his pocket and returned to recreating the Avenger. "You'll do just fine for me, won't you? Of course you will. You're an Avenger, one of the many, created to eradicate the few."

He knew Avenger could not answer. Avenger would never be able to answer again. It was no longer human, and had no voice. It was simply a machine, and that's what he needed. The only thing the new Avenger required was the old one's memories, they were the key.

Avenger's photoreceptors lit up, and the man in the cloak smiled.

***

Ms. Adamsen drove like a maniac, and I'm not entirely sure why. We were only about six blocks away from where Guardian was last spotted, along with my dad. That got me pretty nervous, since he didn't know I was a photographer for the Brigade.

"Okay, kid, when we get there, you need to take pictures of everything, and it all needs to be front page material. You get me some good snapshots of Guardian, and maybe a couple of him talking to your dad." She looked over at me. "I did tell you your dad was gonna be there, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you did."

"Good. I was hoping I didn't leave that part out. It's important for a kid to see her dad every chance she can."

I didn't mind her attempts to try and bond with me. If she wanted me to be her personal tag-along photographer, it made sense. She wouldn't want me to hate her, after all. Sadly, it was getting just a little annoying. I already liked her, since she got me a job, but trying to get me to like her more every ten seconds was just... ugh!

We pulled up to the building that all the cops in East City were combing through. I got out of the car and instantly started taking pictures. Dad was talking to Guardian, so I snapped a couple pictures of them. Ms. Adamsen pulled me a little closer to them. Dad was quite surprised to see me, but he didn't get a word in just yet.

"Mr. Guardian," Ms. Adamsen began, "this... laboratory, or whatever it is, was supposedly the location that big freak that attacked the school came from, correct?"

Guardian smiled. "It's just Guardian, Ms. Adamsen. And yes, the man known as Avenger did come from this laboratory." He patted Dad on the back. "Credit goes to Captain Harkins for following a paper trail here."

Ms. Adamsen turned to Dad. "Captain, can you elaborate on that?"

He nodded. "Back when I was a detective, I ran more than one case that involved tracking purchase records by date. Unless this guy's been operating here for decades, he would have needed to get his equipment quickly, and it couldn't have happened long before or after the event that caused all these super peoples to show up." He gave me a little glance when he said super peoples. I blushed, nervously. "People aren't buying millions of dollars of computer equipment on a daily basis. That's how we tracked him down."

"And was this person Avenger, or someone else?"

Guardian was about to speak up, but Dad cut him off. "We're not sure at this time. Neither Avenger nor any mysterious benefactor was found, and nothing's got any finger prints on it."

I looked at Dad cautiously. They must have found something for him to have cut Guardian off.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Ms. Adamsen said. "Thank you for your statements, gentlemen." She turned to me. "You get enough pictures?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Alright. I've got to go run this past my editor, and Charlie here needs to get her pictures developed. Sorry to run, boys, but there's work to be done."

Dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Can I have a word with my daughter for just a second before you go?"

"Of course. I'll be waiting in the car."

Dad didn't look happy. He spoke in a low voice. "Newspaper photographer? When your mom told you to get a job, I figured something along the lines of the drive-thru at the McDonalds about two blocks away from the precinct, so I could get a Big Mac from you after work every day."

"That McDonalds is five blocks away from the precinct, and they're actually not hiring. I applied there two weeks ago."

"And what, sweetie, made you change your mind and go for newspaper photographer?"

I shrugged. "I like taking pictures."

"And the little fact that Peter Parker's a newspaper photographer?"

"Well, not exactly a coincidence, but I was planning on applying before the spider powers happened anyway."

He sighed. "You know your mom's not gonna like this. This just gives you an excuse to slip away and do some crime fighting. Just because I don't mind you doing it doesn't mean either of us is going to survive your mom."

"I told her I was gonna apply for a job at the Brigade."

He sighed again. "Alright. Get back to the reporter, you've got a job to do. I'll see you at home later, honey."

"Bye, Dad. Love you."

"Love you, too, kiddo."

I walked back to Ms. Adamsen's car, got in, and we took off back to the office.

***

Captain Harkins watched Charlie walk away, then sighed yet again. He knew she was telling the truth, that she had told her mother where she was going for a job, but it still didn't sit right. The second his wife found out that Charlie was swinging though the city looking for muggers to beat up, she was going to have her locked up somewhere, probably.

He turned back to Guardian. "I'm sorry for cutting you off, there, but I don't want the papers accidentally tipping whoever Avenger's boss is. It's bad enough I told them how I followed the paper trail, but that's about as much as we can afford to give them."

Guardian raised an eyebrow. "That actually seems like more than they need to know."

"Only because I said I looked for computer equipment."

***

She told them her name was Quake, but that was only because of how embarrassed she was to explain her situation. It's not every day you're picked up as the latest Upscale beat-down recipient and then you turn into their ace-in-the-hole. If Jose Montoya hadn't told them she'd help them, she'd probably have been raped. She sat in her cell, her hands in restraints behind her, and sighed. What she wanted more than anything was to go home.

She stood up and walked across her cell to the bars. There weren't even any officers keeping watch over her. They didn't seem to think she was a threat if she couldn't make walls explode, and they were probably right.

She sighed. She regretted her decision to join the Upscales. If her parents were still alive, they'd hate her (granted, if her parents were still alive, she probably wouldn't have been picked up by the Upscales, since she wouldn't live in East City). They'd have reason to, as well. She'd made a big mistake, then made it worse when she trash-talked that Guardian guy. Then came her attempted murder of the Spider-Girl. She was probably going to be tried as an adult.

Quake sat back down on the cot and considered sleeping. It wouldn't be comfortable, just like it hadn't been the night before, but at least it would pass the time by. She didn't like being alone.

A cop walked up to her cell and opened it. He waved her forward. "C'mon, kid." She stood up and was outright surprised to find her Aunt Holly standing there, arms crossed.

"Hi, Aunt Holly," she said, meekly.

"Jose."

"Quake!"

"No, I'm not calling you that." She walked around behind Quake and unlocked her hand restraints. "You're pretty lucky the judge still isn't believing all this super power stuff, otherwise you'd be in jail for life instead of just being released to me."

Quake rubbed at her wrists. "Can I explain?"

"You can try, but that doesn't mean I'll care." She turned to the other cop and told him to leave. Then, it was just the two of them. "Alright, explain."

Quake sighed. "I was walking to school that day, then these four Upscales grabbed me and stashed me in a van. They were just about to beat the crap out of me and rob me, and then this weird glowing woman just appeared and told me I'd been chosen. She told me my form was wrong, or something, and then, suddenly, those a-holes were groping me and telling me not to scream."

"And your powers?"

"They took me to this garage and got ready to... y'know... look, I've got a whole new respect for rape victims, now, Aunt Holly."

She sighed. "I'm glad for that, even though I don't agree with what you had to go through to get it. Now, how did you find out about your powers?"

"I accidentally blew up that van. Nobody was in it, nobody got hurt. I kinda wish they had."

"I understand that. So, what happened then? You found out you could blow up walls but you didn't try to escape?"

Quake shook her head. "No. They kept one guy near me at all times, and this guy looked like he just wanted to rape me whether he got permission from his buddies or not. After that, they told me either I help them rob a bank or I get my throat slashed and my corpse defiled."

"Think you could name any of them?"

"No. They didn't use real names, just stupid ones." She choked out a laugh. "Kinda like 'Quake'."

"What about recognize them?"

"Sorry, Aunt Holly, I tried not to memorize their faces. I just wanted to get the hell away from them. I guess when everything happened at the bank, I just acted like they wanted me to."

Her aunt patted her on the shoulder. "Look, baby, a judge who wouldn't believe in the Guardian if he showed up got you off with community service and an aunt with a watchful eye, you need to keep your nose clean if you don't want to end up in jail for robbery."

She nodded. "I know, Aunt Holly."

"And we're gonna have to find you a new name. Purple-haired girl with a figure like yours can't just go around calling herself 'Jose'."

"Monica? I've always kinda liked that name."

"Monica Montoya?" Her aunt sighed. "Well, there's a superman flying around, a girl who can stick to walls, and a big bastard hunting down kids in high school, I guess a comic book name is just par for the course these days." She poked her finger at her niece. "But dye your hair. Enough people are gonna tell you that you look like the girl who robbed the bank the other day, we don't want any of them realizing you are the girl who robbed the bank the other day."

The newly minted Monica nodded, then followed her aunt out of the building. She was quite surprised to find an odd sensation lifted from her mind, almost as if someone had been there the whole time, in her brain...

***

Despite the fact that a freak of nature had shown up, attacked some students and destroyed the cafeteria, school was still in session the next day. I wasn't as nervous as I had been the day before, despite not actually having gone to any classes. Maybe it was the fact that I was walking to school with Frank and Cindy, I don't know. It was nice to have the support system of my friends there, that's for sure.

We arrived to find that the school courtyard (basically, the school was a giant square with an empty section in the middle, that was the courtyard) had been turned into a makeshift cafeteria. There were kids all over, munching down on whatever the lunch ladies were serving in the morning before class started. I, myself, had a breakfast pizza, which was just a rectangle shaped piece of sausage pizza.

"Hey!" Cindy just exclaimed in the middle of whatever the hell it was we were doing. In a far quieter voice, she said, "I finished your costume last night."

"Oh, so the jury-rigged Spider-Man costume didn't work?" Frank asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you ever gonna let me live that down?"

He chuckled. "Nope." He turned to Cindy. "Okay, let's see this costume."

She pulled it out of her bag and handed it to me. Out of sight of everyone except Frank and Cindy, I unfolded it a little and saw a slightly-different-from-Spider-Man's symbol on the chest. "I'm not gettin' sued over this, am I?"

Cindy giggled. "Please, they'd have to know your secret identity for that, and I assume you're not answering to Peter Parker."

"Good point." The primary colors of the costume were yellow and black, completely different from Spider-Man, thankfully. "And you're sure this thing'll fit me?"

"Duh! Why do you think I took your measurements before I left yesterday?"

"Hey, that actually looks kinda cool," Frank said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

I giggled, despite my best efforts. "I can't help it if I have a better costume designer than you."

He hit my lightly in the arm. "She just went overboard on it because you two used to date."

"No I didn't!" Cindy almost shouted. I couldn't help it, I was full on giggling like a maniac now. Damnit, you two!

"Okay, okay! Calm down, everybody!" I said, though the giggles. "Cindy, I love the costume, I'll put it to great use."

"Good, I wouldn't want you to toss away all my hard work."

The bell rang, and everyone else started gathering their stuff. "C'mon," Frank said, "let's get to class. I can't afford to miss another day."

"You're technically a new student, how are you gonna miss?" I asked.

"Well, I missed yesterday."

"So did the rest of the building."

***

Frank and I walked home together. Well, we walked to his place together. It's only about a forty minute walk (or ten minute swing) away from the Brigade, and I had a sort of "new employee orientation", to get to. According to Ms. Adamsen, I could skip it and be just fine, since I was a special hire, but I didn't want them to think I was a slacker who couldn't show up for work. That would be helpful later on down the road.

We rounded a corner onto 132nd street and a fist hit me right in the face. I landed on the ground and looked up. Standing over me, holding Frank by the neck, was a frickin' robot! A robot! Straight outta sci-fi and standing on top of me. All around us, there were dozens of people just standing there, watching. I couldn't do anything, even with my freaking costume in my bag. I merely laid there, with a robotic foot on my stomach,

The robot never talked. It held Frank by the neck and just started crushing. Never said a word. Even though its eyes were just red-gold orbs that looked like they came off of a Star Wars reject, I could tell that it was somehow connected to the Avenger. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. Something metaphysical was keeping my mouth shut as I watched the robot drop Frank's body to the ground. It then jumped up, and made a run for it.

I quickly twisted around to check on Frank. He was barely breathing, his neck a bruised mess. He could barely open his eyes. I whispered to him, "Don't worry, I'm gonna get help, don't worry..." I turned and shouted to those around us who had just watched. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

***

The cloaked man smiled. The female was of no consequence, not even a Chosen, according to Avenger's identification registry. He'd had Avenger knock her out of the game and then kill the other one. Unfortunately, there were too many people around for Avenger to finish the job, so he told it to run. The boy would be dead, it was that simple.

The man smiled. Soon.

***

Charlie was already standing outside Frank's room when Captain Harkins arrived at the hospital. He embraced his daughter and felt her crying against his shirt. He could tell that this had gotten to her. He patted her on the head and asked, "How come you're out here?"

She dried her eyes a little. "They said just family. His mom came out a little bit ago and told me that he'd been stabilized, but that his spine might be too damaged. I couldn't move when it attacked us, Dad, I just couldn't move."

"When what attacked you?"

"Avenger. It had to be, I'm sure."

He sighed. She still didn't know. "Honey, Avenger couldn't have attacked you. He's dead."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "How do you know?"

He leaned in closer. "That's what I didn't want that reporter to know yesterday. When we raided that lab, Avenger's brainless body was lying on that surgical table you saw."

"Wait, brainless?"

"Yeah."

She looked as though she was putting something together, then she finally spouted, "That's it! It's gotta be Avenger's brain inside that robot!"

She pushed away from him and started running down the hall, almost knocking down a nurse as she did.

"Wait, where are you going?" he called after her.

"See ya at home, Dad!" was all she said in return.

Henry Harkins sighed, then turned to see Frank's father coming out of his son's hospital room. "Captain Harkins," he said, holding out his hand. Harkins' shook it. "Thanks for coming to see Frank."

"He's my daughter's boyfriend, how could I not?"

***

The costume that Cindy made me was quite snug. Not uncomfortably so, but still pretty slick. Thank God I was a tiny girl (well, save those things all the boys at school stare at), otherwise I'd probably have to tear this one in certain places, too, and since Cindy went to the trouble of actually making me a costume, I decided against it. There was a small hole in the back of the head of the mask for me to fit my hair through if I tied it in a ponytail. I was considering getting a haircut, but Mom wouldn't let me.

I looked at myself in the mirror and took a deep breath. This was it. This was my chance to prove myself an actual hero. Granted, all I was doing was hunting down a robot to kick its ass after it roughed up my boyfriend (yes, I'm calling him that, just for the sake of speed, because I need to hurry the hell up!), but it doesn't matter, it was time for... well... Me, I guess, to make her name in East City. Oooohhh, I'm gonna need a name.

Instead of climbing down the fire escape like I normally do, I climbed up. The walls of the apartment building had been good tests for me when I was just experimenting with my powers, but now I needed to really use them. All that stuff at the bank the other day was nothing but a trial, for this. Once I got to the roof, I spotted the tallest building I could that led off in the direction the robot went and fired a webline at it. Taking another deep breath (I don't know why, I've done this dozens of times, now), I ran off the edge of the building and swung, and swung, and swung, and swung, and swung and swu... Y'know, I think you get the point now, I was swinging, it was special. La-dee-da-dee-da.

About thirty minutes later, I found the robot, stalking along the rooftop of a building. I swung down and kicked it in the back of the head as I swung past it. I landed behind it, after it turned around to face where I had come from. I shot a web at its feet and pulled it down, onto its face.

"Like that, tin man?" I asked. I walked over to it and kicked it in the head. "Like hurting people?" I slammed my foot down on it. "'Cause I like hurting you a lot!" I went to kick it again, but it grabbed my leg and knocked me down, then stood up. Suddenly, those red-gold eyes that had stared at me before stared at me again, and I wanted to pee my pants.

***

The cloaked man couldn't believe it. Judging by the voice, this girl in the costume was very clearly the same one Avenger had deemed a non-Chosen earlier that day, yet she was quite obviously one of them. "Destroy her, Avenger," he said to his warrior. Then, he sat back and watched.

***

The robot lifted me up over its head and was about to bring me down on its knee until I webbed up its eyes and jumped out of its grip. "You're gonna havta do better than that!" Still, the damn thing didn't speak. It must not have had a mouth to speak with, I guess. I did a spin kick and knocked the robot down again. This time, I picked it up and threw it off the building and onto the street below.

I jumped down after it. It swiped at me with its arm, which had transformed into a sword, and cut just below my left shoulder. I grasped at my arm to cover the wound. It stood and came at me with the blade again, but thanks to that trademarked spider-sense (seriously, I'm a little screwed if I ever decide to write a book about being a super hero, or something), I was able to dodge every attack. On the last swing, I ducked and tripped it up with a leg swing.

A lot of people had gathered to watch me fight the robot. Most of them I actually recognized from earlier that day, when the robot nearly killed Frank. The robot was about to lunge at me, but I stomped on its head, a jelly-like substance flowed out from the cracks in its armor. Suddenly, all those people were cheering for me.

I couldn't stay there. It was too overwhelming, and I'm the girl who said I wanted to be a super hero. I shot a webline up at the nearest rooftop and swung up, out of everyone's sight. I sat there, perched on top of one of those stone gargoyles that look cool on TV but outrageously disturbing close up. I pulled off my mask and sighed. What had I just accomplished?

A weird light appeared to my left. I shielded my eyes and tried to see what it was, and what I saw took my breath away. "What the hell are you?" I asked.

It was an angel, pure and simple. An extremely beautiful woman with bright, white wings, giving off an equally bright, white aura. She looked down at me and smiled. "I am Angel, and I'm here to speak with you, Charlotte."

"How do you know my name?"

She giggled. "It's a gift, sweetie. Much like yours."

I sighed. "I just used my gift to beat the crap out of a robot. Some gift."

The angel landed beside me. "That robot harmed your friend. You were defending him."

I just sat there, staring down at the city. "Yeah, but if I'm gonna be a super hero, this sort of stuff will keep happening, and this wore me out. All I did was fight a robot, and... Those people down there wanted to talk to me, they were cheering for me! All I wanted to do was get away from them."

She put her hand on my injured shoulder, and suddenly the pain went away. "Not everyone can be as public a super hero as Guardian is."

"I didn't even want them to look at me, and I'm still no closer to finding out who sent that stupid robot after my friend in the first place!"

She smiled and hugged me. "Not every mystery needs to be solved right away. You've still got a long life ahead of you, and you need to be ready for every challenge it sets for you. Spending all your time devoted to this one question will be the end of you."

I didn't react. I didn't move. I just let her words soak in, like I was taking a bath. Was she a Chosen, as well? She said her gift was like mine. When she let go of me, I looked up at her face and saw nothing but positivity and hope in her eyes. Yep, this day was getting weirder and weirder by the second.

"So, what do I do now?" I asked.

She folded her arms under her breasts. "Well, your first act should be to find a name that doesn't reek of copyright infringement, then you need to get home. Your parents are worried about you."

Before she flew away, I asked her, "Angel was the name they gave you, wasn't it? The things that 'Chose' us?"

She nodded. "Yes, it was."

"Seeker was the name they gave my friend, Frank. And I bet Guardian is the name they gave him, too."

"So, what do you chose?"

I thought back to what the being had said, and then I repeated it. "Arachnya."

She smiled. "I like it. It suits you very well." And with that, she was gone.

***

Frank couldn't move. They'd told him that, that he probably wouldn't be able to move the rest of his life. He didn't want to think about it, he just wanted to go home, to find out if Charlie was okay. He hadn't seen her since that robot knocked him out, and he hoped it hadn't hurt her, as well.

He turned his head and saw a strangely blinding light peeking through the curtains. He closed his eyes as the light brightened, and then was moving his arms. He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful woman with angel wings standing there, her hands on his chest. "Your friend is alright," she said. He was about to ask her what she meant, but she shushed him with her finger. "You don't need to speak. Charlotte is fine. She's at home, with her parents, reveling in her discovery."

He asked, "What discovery?"

"She needed to find her calling, her reason, and I helped her, much like I'm helping you." She took her hands away from him. "You can tell the doctors what I did, but I doubt they'll believe you. It's not every day an Angel saves your life, after all." She moved back toward the window, then turned back to him. "Use your gift for the right thing, Francis, and don't let your gift be used against you." And then she flew out the window.

And Frank just sat there, completely confused.

***

Monica played with her Rubik's Cube for a while and then set it back down on her bedside table. She was quite bored after going home from school. She just laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling, nothing else to do. I need a hobby, she thought. Maybe there's a demolitions crew hiring seventeen year old girls. She chuckled to herself. Nope, it would probably be fast food or convenience store clerk for her.

She sat up on her bed and grabbed her remote. The TV came on to a news report. "And what you're seeing here is this amazing young woman swinging away on what appears to be thread. We don't know where she's going, but we're glad to see that someone has taken care of the strange robot that had injured two Midtown High teens earlier today."

Hey, it's that girl from the bank. The image then changed to that of the robot and Monica's heart stopped.

The Upscales had had that same robot in their garage, that day.

***

"You could have been killed!" Mom shouted at me. I sighed. Same speech as when I was at the bank, the other day. I just sat there and took it, until, much to my surprise, Mom threw her arms around me and hugged me. "I'm so proud of you, Charlie!"

I pushed away, completely shocked. "Wait, what?!" I asked, "Proud?!"

"Charlie, you risked your life to defend Frank, your best friend."

"Boyfriend," Dad called from the kitchen.

"Dad!" I screamed.

Mom carried on. "That took a lot more than just joyriding... or, well, joyswinging, I guess... around the city looking for crimes to stop. You did a very selfless thing, and that is what a real super hero does."

I rubbed at my arm. Damn, Mom! I asked, meekly, "So, does this mean I'm not grounded, anymore?"

She poked her finger at me. "You keep your grades up, you don't skip out on work, and you do your chores, and no, you're not grounded anymore."

I threw my arms around her this time. "Thank you so much, Mom!" I squealed.

***

Cloak, as he was truly known, watched the playback of Avenger's footage and sighed. The girl had fought gallantly, and had destroyed his one and only force of retribution against the Chosen. Oh well, he thought, Avenger doesn't matter anymore. There are always others to find and use to my advantage. This fight isn't over yet. As a matter of fact, it's just begun. He took a sip of his coffee and looked over to his guest, watching the monitors on the other side of the room. "So, how did you like my demonstration?" he asked.

The guest touched each monitor as if it would tell him a story, then said, "It was enjoyable, to say the least. What can you tell me of this girl?"

Cloak stood and walked over to his guest. His metal leg braces clanked as he did so. "Unfortunately, nothing. The list my equipment gave me had the names of thirty-one individuals who would become Chosen, and this girl wasn't on it. Twenty-nine of those have already been eliminated, but if there are Chosen that I know nothing about... This could be disastrous."

The guest smiled. "Don't worry about that. I've already taken them into account. I've been monitoring one such 'Secret Chosen' using my own gift, and she's been instrumental in my vision for the further future."

Cloak felt insulted. "And you had no plans to tell me this?"

"I need tell you nothing, Cloak. You are merely the tool I've used thus far." The guest walked over to the railing. "You're sure the police cannot track you as they did before?"

Cloak shook his head. "Of course not. They tracked me through my surgical equipment, and nothing at this facility has been recently purchased. The only way they can find me now is if I make a mistake."

The guest nodded, slowly. "Good, good." He put his hands on the railing. "This is no longer the mighty quest we've been undertaking for centuries, my friend. This is a new age, a Silver Age. These are not the same simple Chosen we've killed thus far, either. They are stronger, they are wiser, but more importantly, they are quieter. They'll hide more, they'll be more secret than they have been in the past."

"How does this help us?" Cloak asked his guest.

The guest smiled. "It's more fun."

The Interview

I sighed. My first actual day on the job, yay! I mean, I was paid for the day I got hired, but this was my first real shift, spending six hours trudging around the city with Ms. Adamsen, or at the office. This was to be a special occasion, however, we were on our way to the offices of one Mr. Gustav Hammond, a multi-billionaire who just moved his headquarters to East City. No super heroing tonight, though. I actually had to put in a full shift at the Brigade.

"Okay, Charlie," Ms. Adamsen began, "you're mostly just gonna sit there while I interview the billionaire, but still, I wanna know what you know about him."

I tried to think. "Well, he was born in a small rural town somewhere in Kansas. His parents owned a fertilizer plant, but when he took over, he branched out into other things, he supposedly owns almost every piece of farmland in his home state."

She smiled. "That's pretty good for a shutterbug. Where'd you get all that?"

"I had to do a biography on him for class last year."

"I see. what else you got?"

"Ever since branching out, he's moved up to things like cell phones and computers, and even as far up as military technology. I think I read in a magazine somewhere that he's the second largest supplier of jets for the United States Air Force."

"Good job, kid. Maybe one of these days, you can work your way up to reporter."

I blushed. "I don't really want to be. I just like taking pictures."

She nodded. "One thing, though," she jerked her thumb at my pants, "wear a skirt some time. A lot of the folks I interview for the Brigade wanna get their pictures taken by girls who should be in pictures. A nice pair of exposed legs'll help with that."

I blushed again. "I'm a pretty hardcore tomboy."

"Tomboy, with a rack like that? Sweetie, when I was your age, I had to wear a tube top just to get boys to realize I had tits."

I sighed. That's the curse of having a naturally slim, attractive figure, I guess. I just fiddled with my camera for the rest of the ride to Hammond Industries. When we arrived, a very attractive-looking (if I was still a boy, that is) woman in a business suit met us in the parking garage. She shook Ms. Adamsen's hand, but just patted me on the head. I hate being short. I'm only five-foot-four, after all.

"Ms. Adamsen, my name is Svetlana Narekova, I'm assistant to Mr. Hammond. He's currently entertaining guests who's business arrangements have run overschedule. You and your little sidekick can wait in the meeting room outside Mr. Hammond's office."

Sidekick?! Ooooh, this woman was extremely lucky I wasn't using my powers tonight - or in the company of Ms. Adamsen - because she would have gotten some web in her face. I followed Ms. Adamsen, who in turn followed Ms. Nasty Russian-American Bitch (a.k.a., Ms. Narekova) to the elevator, and then into the waiting room just outside Mr. Hammond's office. "Snap some quick pictures while we're here," Ms. Adamsen ordered, so I did. I just managed to get a quick snapshot of Mr. Hammond's 'guests' as the door opened, before Ms. NRAB closed her hand over my camera.

Two very well-known mob bosses walked through the door, regarded the three women in the room with smiles that looked about as real as the Rolex Frank's dad wears, and then made their way to the elevator. Salvatore "The Roach" Lacasto and "Big Mike" Michael Richardson. I'd seen them on the news plenty of times, but never in person. That made me a little uneasy about what I was about to witness - witness being the operative word. I really hoped I wouldn't have to go live in the Amish Country for seeing something I shouldn't see. I really like my iPhone.

I could tell that Ms. Adamsen knew exactly who they were, too. She had probably done just as much to nab these guys as my dad did. Oh, crap, if I witness something bad, and they figure out I'm a cop's daughter, they might try to use me to force my dad into working for them! My God do I have an overactive imagination.

I followed Ms. Adamsen and Ms. NRAB into Mr. Hammond's office. Immediately, I took a picture of Mr. Hammond and Ms. Adamsen shaking hands. he didn't look all that bad. He was a pretty tall guy, chiseled face, clean suit. There was no way a guy who looked like this could be doing business with two of the most obvious mob bosses this side of the River. Gee, thank you inherent detective skills culled from a childhood of hearing your father talk about this crook or that crook, now I'm suspicious of everybody. When the hell did I become a detective?

"Ms. Adamsen, it's a pleasure to meet you. And this is?" he pointed at me.

"Charlotte Harkins, my photographer," Ms. Adamsen answered for me, and I let her. Everybody knows the lowly news photographer doesn't answer any questions. I just stood back and took pictures. Of everything.

"So, Ms. Adamsen, what would you like to ask me?" he asked, sitting down on the couch in the center of the room. Ms. Adamsen sat across a small coffee table from him. She motioned for me to sit down next to her, so I did. "Also, I'm sorry that my previous meeting bled into your schedule. I couldn't please them easily."

Ms. Adamsen laughed. "No, no, it's fine. I was running a little late as it was. I foolishly scheduled this meeting without thinking about Charlotte's school schedule." I couldn't figure out why she kept calling me Charlotte, as opposed to Charlie. She never calls me Charlotte. "I'm here to do a full interview for the Brigade, every one of us is eager to know why you're calling East City your home now."

He crossed his legs, his arms resting on the back of the couch. "Every year, living on the farm in Kansas, my father would bring me on a trip out here, to East City. It was always a wonderful time. You know the feeling, don't you? Small town boy, enjoying life in the big city for the first time?"

Ms. Adamsen smiled. "My reporting partner is like that. He grew up in nowheresburg, Illinois, himself."

Funny, actually, I still hadn't met Mr. Cabot. I didn't even know if he was real. I just kept hearing about him from Ms. Adamsen or from the only other photographer my age, Timmy Saul.

"Nowheresburg," Mr. Hammond said, then laughed, "it's not all that inaccurate, actually. I spent most of my days simply tending to the farm, hearing occasionally about how the fertilizer business was going. Those few times my father actually let me visit the plant, I was in awe of the pure industrialization of it. Seventy men per floor, working 'round the clock, it was absolute beauty."

"Beauty? That's not often used to describe fertilizer plants."

He smiled. "I know. It's a simple thing, someone like yourself, who comes from the big city, can't understand it. It wasn't until I turned twenty-one that my father, God rest his soul, turned the family business over to me." He turned to me. "What about you, Charlotte? Where did you grow up?"

I looked at Ms. Adamsen, as if to get approval to answer his question, which she granted me with a small nod, and then I answered, "Over on Thirty-Ninth Street, in the same apartment I've lived in since I was a little girl." Of course, my mind said little boy, but I couldn't very well say that out loud. I was getting a little better at my responses, though, thank God.

"And was your father a photographer?"

I shook my head. "No. He's a cop. Ordinary beat cop." Ms. Adamsen gave me a small smile as she nodded her head this time. I gave the right answer, no way any potential mafia bosses were gonna single out lowly photographer girl if her daddy was an ordinary beat cop.

"I see. Y'see, Ms. Adamsen, Ms. Harkins, where I grew up, every boy grew up to do the job his father had done, every girl grew up to do the job her mother had done. Very old-fashioned and very traditional. When I decided to branch out, turn Hammond Industries into a multi-billion dollar company with a multitude of ventures, to say I was the black sheep of the family would have been to paint me in with a good brush, as opposed to how my family really thought of me."

I kept watching his movements, his reactions. Once again, I had to thank my dad for turning me into Little Miss Junior Detective, because his subtle tells were about as subtle to me as a raging bull in a Walmart. He had perfected his own art at telling lies, but his office told me otherwise. For someone so proud of his family heritage, none of his family pictures showed anything but himself. He sat on the couch as a corporate businessman raised in a high-rise rather than a podunk farmer from Kansas. Then there was the telltale sign in his photos of the 'farm' that they were PhotoShopped. Extremely well, mind you, but anyone with a basic knowledge of the art of photography knows a PhotoShopped picture when they saw one.

So, about thirty-five minutes later, when the interview was over, Ms. Adamsen and I returned to her car, drove out of the parking garage, returned to the street and then she asked me the oddest question: "So, where do you think he's really from?" I must have looked wide-eyed, because she then said, "Look, Charlie, I saw you watching him the whole time, and your dad's not just some beat cop, he's a captain in the ECPD, you were reading him like a perp, not a businessman. Give me your readings on him."

I sighed. "He's not from Kansas, that's obvious. His pictures were all PhotoShopped, and he didn't resemble either of his 'parents'. There's a certain way that people from farms sit on five million dollar couches, and it's exactly how they sit on five dollar couches: like farmers. He sat on that couch like he spent his entire life listening in on business meetings at a corporate level that we couldn't understand unless we'd sat in on them, too. He referred to us as 'Ms. Adamsen', and 'Ms. Harkins', and didn't call me 'Charlie', even though it's on my press ID, which was hanging around my neck the whole time. He treated us properly, not casually, like a farmer would."

Ms. Adamsen smiled. "You'd make a better reporter than me, sweetie." She poked her finger at me. "But don't tell that to the Chief, or else he'll make us swap jobs." I couldn't help but smile.

***

Later that night, I swung on past Mr. Hammond's building. I stuck mainly by the large windows that looked in on Hammond's office, where he was meeting with some people who didn't particularly look like they'd be involved with a farmer. Bad thing, I couldn't hear them from outside the building, so I crawled up the wall to the nearest vent opening and pulled it off, then slipped into the vent shaft. I secured the vent cover back on and then made my trek toward Hammond's office.

The bad thing about my mask? It doesn't exactly help me see in the dark. I probably scared two or three cleaning ladies as I bumped into the corners before finally finding the vent that overlooked Hammond's office. Their conversation told me I was very right about them not being legitimate business partners.

"If Richardson wants to fight me on this, let him. I don't really care. I've got enough men to take down both you and your petty boss." Hammond meant business, I could tell.

One of the others spoke, but I couldn't see which one. "Look, Mr. Hammond, let's be honest: whatever muscle you have, you just weaseled in to this city. Mr Richardson has been here for years, he's bought as many judges as you have condos in Italy."

Hammond laughed. "I have ten condos in Italy. None of them on the books in this name."

"And Mr. Richardson has ten judges, and a dozen cops in every precinct." That didn't please me. That meant that twelve (or more, if he was just using hyperbole) of the cops that my dad works with were in mob pockets. I'd have to tell Dad. "There ain't nothin' in this city that Mr. Richardson doesn't have his hands in."

Hammond laughed again. "Y'know, Mr. Stevens, Richardson is yesterday's news. A week ago, a man in a gold and blue leotard floated over a shootout and stopped a girl who could make things explode with her hands. A girl who can shoot webs from her fingertips has been spotted beating down Upscales with a boy who can jump-kick a man three blocks." I heard him stand up, or at least it sounded like he stood up, I couldn't really tell. "People with super powers - Post-Humans, as I like to call them - are emerging every day, and not just in East City." He chuckled. "And not just on the right side of the law, either."

The third man, who hadn't spoken until now, finally said, "We know about the freaks, Mr. Hammond, we've even dealt with a couple. Just yesterday, I whacked a stupid punk who tried to glue my feet to the subway tracks using goop from his hands. What's they got to do with it?"

I slowly lifted up the vent cover and tried to get a better look. Lucky me, I was on the opposite side of the room and none of them were looking in my direction. I crawled out and ducked into a shadow in the corner. Hammond was standing, like I'd thought, so was one of the other guys, but the third was sitting.

The standing man - the one who had spoken third - pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "These freaks ain't all that special, Mr. Hammond."

Hammond smiled. "I beg to differ." He looked toward the door, where his assistant, that nasty bitch, walked in. "Have you met Svetlana? She's a very skilled woman." He turned his head to face her. "Svetlana, show them what you can do."

And with a puff of smoke and a very weird noise (y'know that 'BAMF' noise that Nightcrawler makes in X-Men comics? It sounded an awful lot like that), Nasty Bitch disappeared. She then reappeared behind Standing Man and grabbed him, applying pressure to his neck. Sitting Man stood up and pulled out a gun, but Nasty Bitch disappeared again, this time with Standing Man (I need to learn their names... this is sad... 'Standing Man', 'Sitting Man'... I could have named Native Americans in a past life). They reappeared beside Hammond, who was grinning like a sonuvabitch.

"I believe this demonstration is good enough, wouldn't you agree?" Hammond said, taking Standing Man's cigarette from his hands and puffing on it himself.

I couldn't stand - or, well, stick to a wall - for this. I quietly dropped to the floor, and then I shot a webline at Standing Man and pulled him away from Nasty Bitch, then, for kicks, did the same with the cigarette that Hammond was enjoying. "Y'know, smoking is very bad for you. Plus, East City kinda has this law where you can't smoke in office buildings and, well, this counts as an office building."

Nasty Bitch disappeared, and I thank my spider-sense (yeah, I still haven't renamed it; spider-sense it is) for warning me that she was going to appear behind me, even though I probably could have guessed it after seeing her do it twice to these guys. I jumped up and landed on the ceiling just as Nasty Bitch rebamfed behind where I'd been standing. She scowled up at me.

"Aw, does that mean you like me? I wouldn't know, I've never had a Rottweiler." I just happened to be perfecting my trash-talking witticisms as well. "Hey, does that foam in your mouth mean you've got rabies, because my doctor told me to stay away from rabid dogs." I webbed her in the mouth. "There we go, good as new." I did a couple acrobatic moves that I didn't even know I was capable of when my spider-sense warned me of the incoming bullets, then landed on the floor and cartwheeled over to Hammond and his two goon friends. "I wish somebody had told me I was playing the role of target at the end of the shooting range, I've never been good at that."

Hammond simply folded his arms across his chest. "Ah, the spider girl."

"No, Spider-Girl is trademarked by Marvel, you can call me Arachnya." I was smirking under my mask, even though I knew they couldn't see it. "I'm totally different, and in no way resemble Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Spider-Pig, Spider... anybody else." I used my webs to pull the guns away from the goons. "I've never gotten along with these things. Granted, I'm just a kid, so what do I know about guns."

"You're doing very well, Ms. Arachnya. You seem to have forgotten one thing, however."

"What's that? Oh! You mean your teleporting guard dog! No, I hadn't forgotten about her, actually." Just as she reappeared behind me, I hit her in the face with the back of my fist. "She should really learn some new moves, like maybe sit, or roll over." I weblined back up to the ceiling and back into the vent, but before I left, I poked my head out. "Oh, and by the way, you have the dirtiest vents I've ever crawled through! Couldn't you at least clean them once?"

***

"Charlie... Charlie... Charlie... My baby, my daughter, the light o' my life, can you please. Tell me. You didn't antagonize a multi-billionaire with ties to the mob?" Dad asked/shouted when I got to his office.

I shrugged, pouted. "Well, antagonize is a pretty strong word." I took a sip of the soda I bought downstairs. "I maybe surprised him. Intimidated, even. I'm pretty sure I made him piss his pants."

Dad rubbed at his forehead. "Kiddo... When your mom and I said you could be a super hero, somehow, I didn't think pissing off the mob and telling me I've got bent cops in my own precinct was gonna come three days later."

I shrugged again. "Sorry, Dad. If it helps, I used all that detective stuff you inadvertently taught me to figure out that he was a bad guy."

He sighed. "Sadly, sweetie, all those pictures you took can't be admitted into evidence when our only lead comes from somebody wearing a yellow and black mask with googly eyes."

I blushed. "They're not googly eyes!"

He raised his hands. "Calm down, Charlie." He sighed again. "Look, the bent cops thing I can take care of with random testing, maybe get between three to five of 'em out here, that'll give us pretty good hints at the others, but I doubt we can get 'em all." He stood up and jabbed his finger at me. "Don't you go stirring up trouble with Hammond, okay? By virtue of being the new money on the block, he'll already be the subject of a minor investigation soon, anyway." He sat back down. "Head on home, honey, your mom's probably worried."

I smiled. "Okay, Dad. See ya later."

***

Of course, little did I know that I'd accidentally be stirring up more trouble the following day, when Ms. Adamsen and I were sent in to get a statement from him about the 'break-in' from the night before.

"Mr. Hammond, a word?" Ms. Adamsen said, walking up to him with a tape recorder in her hand. This time, my camera was confiscated by the on-duty officer before I got inside the building, so I was pretty much just there to be Ms. Adamsen's.... sigh... sidekick. Good thing that cop forgot that smartphones can take pictures. "This was a pretty intense break-in, rumor on the street is that Arachnya was involved." Hey, I was making a name for myself.

He waved his hands. "Not in the robbery, itself. She attempted to stop the criminals afterward, but they were a little too fast for her." That's not how it happened. I punk-slapped your bitch and humiliated you in front of a couple of mob goons. "I considered myself lucky, actually. The fact that Arachnya just happened to be swinging past this building of all buildings."

"And was anything of lasting import stolen?"

He shook his head. "No, simply the money out of my personal safe. It only totaled about nine thousand in marked bills, they should be easily traceable." A phone rang. I checked my phone, but it wasn't mine, it was his. "Excuse me," he said, "I have to take this."

"Of course," Ms. Adamsen said, then she shut off her tape recorder. "C'mon, Charlotte, we've got a story to go sell to the Chief. Hey, where'd your camera go?"

"Cop downstairs confiscated it."

"Okay, first we have to get your camera back. Too bad you didn't get any pictures."

I held up my phone. "Who said I didn't get any pictures?"

She smiled. "You're turning into quite the little news hound, sweetie. We make a pretty damn good team."

I smiled, then followed her downstairs.

***

The one thing I didn't like about Timmy: He won't stop trying to impress me by telling me how frickin' pretty I am. I get it, I look good! Just shut up once in a while!

I spent the rest of my shift sitting at my computer in the photography department printing out all the pictures I snapped with my phone. Timmy was trying to tell me about some job he just did with Mr. Cabot, but I was barely listening. Hell, I was barely awake, thanks to my late-night visit to Hammond's office the night before.

"And see this one?" Timmy asked, holding out a photo. "I took it at the docks this morning, Mr. Cabot and I were staking out, watching some freighter from that one Eastern European country. Um..."

I remembered it for him. "Losvina? The place we have a trade embargo with?"

"Yeah! That place!"

I leaned back in my chair. "Look, Timmy, I'm sorry, I'm just not paying much attention. I could barely sleep last night, and I've got all this stuff to do for Ms. Adamsen."

He waved his hands. "No, no, it's cool."

My phone rang. "And to top it all off," I checked the caller ID, "my dad's calling me." I answered it. "Hi, Daddy."

"Charlie," his voice came over the phone, "I thought we agreed you'd only call me that when you give me an extremely feminine hug."

"It slipped out. What do you need?"

"When you get home tonight - and I mean get home tonight, no late night wall-crawling - tell your mom I'll be at the office all night. I tried to get a hold of her just a little bit ago, but then I remembered she's at her yoga class, and she can't answer the phone and..."

I giggled. "Okay, Dad. I'll tell her."

"Good girl. I expect a hug when I get home."

"You'll get it. Bye, Daddy."

"Bye, baby." He hung up, and then so did I. Timmy was sitting there, looking at me with a smile on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"I've never heard you talk to your dad before."

"He usually doesn't call me here, but he's working late tonight and needed me to tell my mom." I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I looked at the clock, it was getting close to quitting time. I sighed. Timmy liked me, he wasn't a bad guy on his own, plus Frank had absolutely no interest in dating me.

And there I was thinking about getting a boyfriend. Stupid, stupid, silly, silly me. I'm a girl barely a week, and one of the most important things I can think about is this? I had weird priorities.

Still, I had to ask. "Hey, Tim, you wanna go get a bite to eat after work?"

He smiled. "Sure."

***

And so, of course, getting a bite to eat still meant working, because there was Timmy and me, just minding our own business and actually talking, and in comes those two goons from the night before. I was a little afraid that they could tell who I was, but there was no way they should have been able to. I still kept my eyes on them, though, all through the painfully quick Big Mac and fries that I ordered.

"So, your dad's a cop, right?" Timmy asked me, drawing my attention away from those goons.

I turned back to him. "Uh, yeah."

"Bet he's got some great stories to tell you."

I smiled. "He does. Like the first time he met Guardian." I shoved a couple fries in my mouth. "I met him, once, after Ms. Adamsen and I were sent to interview him and my dad last week." Twice, actually, I met him the same day my dad did, though I couldn't tell Tim that. "That was my first day at the Brigade, actually."

"She told me about that the next day, when you didn't show up for that orientation."

I sighed. Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. "I was dealing with some... well... personal stuff."

"I'll bet! You were one of those two that that weird robot attacked. Did your friend make it out okay?"

Oh, great, he knew about that. "Yeah, he did. Bruised neck, but nothing substantially bad."

And then those two goons finally did something to stop me from saying something embarrassing or in danger of outing myself as Arachnya: they decided to rob the place. Really. I'm not joking. Two mob hitmen decided to rob a McDonalds five blocks away from a police precinct. Real frickin' geniuses, these two.

"Shut the hell up and give us the cash, dumbass!" one of them - the cigarette smoker - shouted, drawing his gun. He hadn't managed to clean the web gunk off of it, I noticed. It made me giggle, lightly.

The other one was aiming his gun at all the rest of us in the restaurant. I was about to get up and do something about it, but - much to my surprise - Tim beat me to it.

"Hey! C'mon! There's gotta be better places to hold up at eleven o'clock at night! Leave this place alone!" He held his hands up.

The other guy walked up to him and put his gun to Tim's temple. "Shut up, kid, and put your wallet in my hand!"

Tim pulled his wallet out. "You want this? Three old hand-me-down GI Joe cards, a nickel, two dimes and six pennies? You want this?"

Thank God Tim was distracting him and the other guy was busy emptying the registers, because I pulled my phone out and quickly texted the police. About six seconds later, sirens could be heard. The two goons looked surprised and angry. "Which one of youse pansies called the cops?!" He fired a bullet at the ceiling. "I wanna know which one of you little bitches called the cops!"

I got up from my seat and walked up beside Tim. "Me. I did," I said calmly.

The goon with his gun to Tim's head suddenly pointed it at mine. "I get it," he said, "you had your boyfriend here distract me!"

"Boyfriend?" Tim asked, looking at me.

"You've got a shot at it," I said.

"Nah, I'm taking the shot!" the goon said, and then he pulled the trigger. I didn't even need my spider-sense to know to duck and pull Tim down with me. By the time the goon lowered his gun to shoot at us again, the cops got there, and we were saved! I wiped sweat from my forehead that I didn't even know had accumulated, gave my statement to the police, and then headed home after grabbing my backpack from the office.

It was time to pay someone a visit.

***

I told Mom about Dad staying at work, then I made my back to Hammond's building. I couldn't get in through the same vent, thanks to Hammond having increased security, but it didn't matter. Hammond wasn't there. I could see his desk from the window and saw that he had a late night dinner with none other than "Big Mike" Richardson. Delminio's, nice place. Dad took Mom and I there a couple days ago, in belated celebration of his promotion as well as my first successful outing as Arachnya.

Delminio's was a pretty high-class place, and had a nice balcony with the 'good' tables. Lucky me, Hammond and Richardson were having dinner there. I shut off my camera's flash, adjusted the zoom, set the timer and webbed it to a nearby building that was overlooking the balcony. I turned on a tape recorder, stuffed it in my bra (no pockets on my costume, sadly, because a rectangular plastic device between your breasts feels so freaking awkward I can't really describe it now). I swung past and landed in the third seat at the criminals' table.

"Hey, guys! Nice to see two upstanding citizens having a late night dinner at the most up-scale joint in town." I turned to a very surprised waiter. "Hey, can I get some pizza in this place?"

Hammond smiled, Richardson scowled. "Nice to see you again, Arachnya," Hammond said.

I propped my feet up on the table and took Hammond's drink from him. Dad probably wasn't going to be happy that my first taste of alcohol just happened to be at the time I further antagonized a multi-billionaire with connections to the mob, but I still took a drink. "Oh, by the way, nice touch, telling the papers that you were robbed and I tried to stop the robbers. It was the first time I ever read the front page and thought it was the funnies."

Richardson was still scowling, but what mob boss doesn't? "What's this bitch doing here, Gustav?"

"Oh, Gustav? You guys are on a first name basis? I didn't know that, Big Mike! Say, do you exchange gifts at Christmas, too? Do you pull names out of a fedora and then go rob a toy store to get that one special doll that your buddy wants?" I took another sip. "That would be so cute if you did."

Hammond's smile was practically ear to ear. "Tell me, young lady, are you old enough to drink?"

"Not really, but I didn't pay for it." Much to my surprise, that waiter came back with a pizza from a local pizza joint. I took it from him. "Hey, thanks, I wasn't expecting that. I'll swing by later with the money to pay for it."

Hammond took out his wallet. "No need, I'll pay for it now." He pulled out two hundreds and handed them to the waiter. "Give one of those to the man downstairs and keep the change."

Realizing that that was probably my cue to leave, I handed Hammond back his drink and hopped up on the table, sending Big Mike's drink flying in his face. "Sorry, boys, gotta run. I'll see you some other time, though, probably with a can of whupass to lay into you." I shot a webline and started swinging away. "Thanks for the pizza!" I shouted back at him. He was gone by the time I grabbed my camera.

***

"I brought pizza home!" I said, landing in my bedroom. Mom didn't look too happy. "What? I didn't steal it."

"You didn't tell me that you were at the McDonalds that was robbed."

I stuffed a slice of pizza in my mouth. "Sorry," I said, though a full mouth. "I was getting a bite to eat with Tim."

Her eyebrow raised. "Tim?"

"He's a boy who works at the Brigade with me, in the photography department." I grabbed for my camera and held it up. "Which reminds me, I've gotta head out there quick, I've got a lead on a big story that I want to get to Ms. Adamsen."

***

Thankfully, Ms. Adamsen was still there, still working when I arrived. I walked up to her desk and placed both the photos and the tape recorder in front of her. "What's this, Charlie?" she asked.

"You can thank Arachnya for this stuff. I was walking home after work and she grabbed me and told me about a big scoop she had for me. She dropped me off on a roof and had me take pictures while she got Hammond to incriminate himself."

Ms. Adamsen's eyes lit up. "You're joking! That's what's on this tape recorder?"

I shrugged. "I assume. I didn't listen to it."

She stood up and pulled me into the Chief's office. "We're gonna find out now."

***

"MULTI-BILLIONAIRE CHARGED WITH MAFIA TIES!

"By Anna Adamsen

"Thanks to evidence given to the Brigade's news team, multi-billionaire Gustav Hammond was charged with mafia ties, and now sits in city jail until his upcoming trial. The East City Police Department is currently performing a massive investigation of the business giant, who recently moved to East City from the Midwest."

***

I read the single paragraph and set the paper down. "That's all you could write?" I asked Ms. Adamsen.

"No, I wrote plenty, but Barry wouldn't print it all, thanks to that Losvina story that Keith and Timmy were on top of. We pull up this big story about a billionaire with connections to the mob, and we get pushed to one-paragraph sidebar!"

I waved my hands. "It's okay. At least he's behind bars for now."

She leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, but you can bet he's got the best lawyers in the city on his side. He'll be out again, soon, but now he's got the public spotlight on him." She held out her coffee cup. "We're gonna get this guy, kiddo."

I tapped my own coffee cup against hers and then sat back and smiled.

The Gathering, Part One

I'm one of those people who actually likes school, but going there has gotten increasingly difficult, especially since I got my powers. I've had a hard time learning to control them, and I've even accidentally burst the toilet pipes at home more than once. I can't begin to count how many times we've called a plumber in to fix things. At least I'm not blowing up my TV anymore. I also haven't blown up the microwave in the past couple days. Aunt Holly was at least starting to tolerate this whole mess.

I don't walk to school. I live quite a ways away from Midtown High, where I go. I ride the bus, and you'd think being the niece of a Big City Detective would get you some sort of perks, but it doesn't. I hear the captain's daughter doesn't even get special treatment (and I also thought the captain had a son). I have to sit at the back of the bus, simply because I'm the last stop, and everybody else takes the good seats up front. I have to sit on the crappiest seat, with a spring poking me in the butt. And that's a much bigger target thanks to the fact that I'm not a guy anymore.

Speaking of targets. As I got on the bus, I noticed one of the guys who nabbed me the day of the Event (as the newspapers keep calling it, after interviewing that Guardian guy who threw me in jail). I told my aunt that I couldn't recognize any of them, but I lied. I did recognize this guy. Of course, it wasn't very hard. He always wore a black vest without a shirt on underneath, and it the vest was usually always open. Also very distinguishing was the pink mohawk that he had.

I didn't know if he recognized me, because I'd not only dyed my hair back to red, but I got a haircut and styled it differently, as well. I stuck to plain clothing, as opposed that the halter top/skinny jeans combo they'd made me wear that day. Lucky him, I couldn't do anything to him here, but I would eventually. I just needed a little more restraint.

***

All through school, I focused on not breaking something. I was getting better at controlling my powers, but they were still just a little out of my bounds. I was so focused on not destroying something with an accidental hand wave that I nearly bumped into a sophomore girl, who managed to just miss hitting me.

"Sorry!" I said.

She shrugged. "It's okay." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Do I know you?"

I had no idea what she meant, I'd never seen this girl in my life, save for occasionally seeing her here at school, but something about her did seem familiar. "I don't think so," I said.

She shook her head. "Sorry, I got you confused. Thanks for not bumping into me." And with that, she was away. I watched her walk away and couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen her before, but not her face. Oh well, maybe I was just confused, like her. This is East City, after all. Thirteen million people live here, and sometimes, people could look similar to one another.

***

Angel loved her gift. It had been tough to accept, at first, thanks the shock of the change. Given her interactions with other Chosen in the three weeks since the Event, she'd found similar stories, and then others that were similar to Guardian or Arachnya, where the change had been accepted almost instantly. She didn't understand why some accepted the changes quickly and others did not, it seemed to be as random as the Choosing itself.

She landed on the edge of a rooftop and rested for a moment. She loved her gift but flying around the city looking for people to help did tire her wings out. Another thing she loved was watching the city at night. It was a beautiful sight. She could even see the John Adams Bridge from where she was, a bridge she'd traversed many times during her normal human existence as Bernard Winchester. It was lit up against the night sky, gleaming like a lost, forgotten star. The light was reflected in the river below, almost like an inverted Aurora Borealis.

Angel sighed, then smiled. Nothing made her happier than just enjoying the sight of the city. It was something she hadn't experienced when she was Bernard, Bernard would have only had time to go between work and home, putting in twelve hours at the office, then spending what waking time he had left with his wife, Gloria. Gloria was about the only thing Angel missed from those days.

She stood up and wiggled her toes. She was wearing a simple pair of sandals that Gloria had given her, but she could just as easily go barefoot and would never feel physical pain. She had even intentionally tried to injure herself and it had failed time and time again. It made her feel a little out of place among all the rest of the Chosen, but there had to be others who were incredibly resistant to injury and harm.

She was about fly away, to where she was next needed, but she stopped as soon as she heard voices coming from inside the top floor apartment of the building she'd landed on. She stopped and listened to the raised voices.

"No, Aunt Holly, I wasn't!" a young woman's voice shouted.

"Stop right there, Monica Montoya, and talk to me!" An older woman's voice, she sounded like she held a position of authority.

"I already told you, I wasn't involved! I went straight to the library after school, you can ask people!"

"Like who, Monica?"

"I don't remember any of their names! Kids from school, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Aunt Holly, I wasn't beating people up, okay? I'm trying to figure out how to control my powers, not use them wildly just to have some semblance of revenge!" There was the sound of a slammed door, and then the girl climbed out her window and stood on the fire escape. "God!"

Angel recognized this young woman. Her hair was styled, cut and colored differently, but this girl had gone by the name of 'Quake', and had helped a gang rob a bank. This had happened at the same time Bernard was going though his identity crisis, so, clearly, this girl had had an easier time coping with her new form than Angel herself had.

"I don't get it," the girl said, "I'm telling the truth, and she doesn't believe me. I lie to her, and she believes me! Why is it that when I'm honest and true, she thinks I'm lying?"

Angel felt confused. The girl obviously wasn't talking to her, she had no idea Angel was even there. Who was this girl talking to? Maybe she's simply talking to herself, Angel thought.

The girl sat down on the fire escape, curled up, and began to cry. Angel landed back down on the roof and knelt down to watch. Maybe there was something she could do to help this girl. It would all come to her soon.

***

Aunt Holly was pissing me off. She wouldn't believe me if I swore on a Bible, had a judge for a witness, or, hell, even if she witnessed it! She just doesn't want to believe me, and I can't figure out why. I banged my head against the brick behind me and shut my eyes. I hated this. I needed alone time.

Too bad I wasn't destined to get it. I opened my eyes and saw a woman standing on the roof, looking down at me. I sprung up and readied myself for a fight. "Who are you?" I asked.

She stood up, fluttered her angel wings and landed on the fire escape with me. She stared at me, I stared at her, I studied her. She was probably between twenty-five and thirty, with perfect features, like I imagine an angel would. She was wearing a purple halter top and similarly purple pants. Her angel wings were quite a sight, as was her simply perfect beauty. If I was still a guy, I'd probably have a hard on.

Granted, if she's anything like me, she used to be a guy.

The woman smiled. "I'm Angel, a Chosen, just like you."

"Wait, a Chosen? What is this, some sort of mystical thing bestowed upon special people?"

The woman reached out and touched me on the chin. "Don't you think you're special?"

"Well, no. I feel like the day I changed, I was humiliated and made to do something illegal."

"I know. You're Monica Montoya, but you used to be Jose. You were used by the Upscales to rob a bank a couple days after the Event. You go to Midtown High, and your aunt is a detective in the East City Police Department, precinct fifteen."

I sighed and leaned back against the wall, arms folded. "How'd you know that?"

"It's my gift. Yours happens to be demolishing things with your mind."

I corrected her, "My hands, actually. And I can't completely control it."

She then corrected me, "No, your mind. You think your gift comes from your hands, but that is merely a result of your not knowing how to control yourself."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, you seem to know everything about me, but I don't know jack about you. Other than the fact that I've seen you on TV before."

She took me by the hands and then lifted me up, up, up, up... Okay, we only went to the roof, but that's up enough for me. "I know because it's my gift to know. I know every Chosen I meet, though it can take a little bit of time for the knowledge to come. I had to wait for you to finish your little argument with your aunt before I knew anything about you."

I sighed. "You heard that, huh? It's about all we do, now." I laughed at myself. "Why am I telling you this? I don't know you, despite your in-depth excess knowledge in my life, you don't know me. Why am I telling you this stuff?"

Angel reached out to me. "Because we're alike. We're both Chosen, and we can help one another."

I laughed again. "What help do you need? You obviously have complete control over your powers, I still accidentally blow up mailboxes when I walk past them! I was sitting in the school cafeteria last week and I blew out every window just because I accidentally bit down on a plastic fork! You don't need help, and you can't help me!"

With that, I stomped over to the fire escape, hopped down onto it, and every window on the opposite building exploded. I knew I was gonna catch hell for that from Aunt Holly, but I really didn't care. I just wanted that Angel woman the hell away from me. I shut my window and sat down on my bed. I needed my alone time, still.

***

Gustav Hammond sat behind his desk and lit a cigar. He was grateful that his lawyers had done their job, gotten him out of jail within a mere twenty-four hours, and then he was back behind his desk enjoying his cigars. Three weeks later, he'd managed to eliminate all traces of guilt or connections to the East City mafia. He was as legitimate a businessman as young Arachnya was a hero. Granted, she wasn't as big a hero as Guardian, but she was still making headlines.

He tapped a button on his desk and asked, "Ms. Narekova, what's my two o'clock?"

Seconds later, Svetlana Narekova appeared in front of his desk and set down a memo book. "William Brand, of Brand Industries in Larsen City, across the River. He'll be here to discuss your proposed partnership."

Of course, he remembered now. The security firm that the two of them were going to fund. Though security wasn't exactly the right word. It was more-or-less going to be Hammond's private militia, despite Brand's additional support. It was quite the ingenious plan, as well. Nothing public could be tied to them, and as far as the world was concerned, it was simply a security company, there to defend the great peoples of East City or Larsen City. Brand would certainly never be able to figure it out.

He handed her back the memo book. "Thank you, Svetlana. I imagine you'll be there when we meet?"

She nodded. "Of course, sir."

He smiled. "I'm quite glad I promoted you after your change. From simple copy boy to my personal assistant simply because of a gender change."

She smiled. "Not just a gender change, sir." She disappeared, then reappeared beside him. "There are other things I can do, too," she whispered in his ear, then kissed him on the back of the neck. He touched her chin and smiled back at her.

"Remember, don't use your abilities unless absolutely necessary. Brand doesn't know you're a Chosen, and he can't know."

She nodded. "I understand, sir."

Svetlana stood behind him as the door opened and in walked sophisticated businessman William Brand. He was the product of many boarding schools, wealthy parents and a thousand board room meetings. Devilishly handsome, and quite the playboy, as well. As far as Hammond was concerned, they were complete opposites, though they both shared a rich upbringing. Granted, Hammond's was hidden in years of falsified records stating he'd been born in Kansas and grew up a farmer, the son of a fertilizer plant owner.

Hammond stood up and walked around his desk to shake hands with the young billionaire in front of him. "Mr. Brand, it's good to meet you."

Brand smiled. "Nice to meet you, as well."

"So, the security firm."

Brand sat down on one of the couches, Hammond sat down on the other. "Yes. Just a little something to keep the rise of these super humans in check."

Hammond imagined he looked surprised. "You're not a believer in post-humans like the Guardian?"

Brand relaxed his posture. "Let's just say I'm overly cautious. People like Guardian, or this other one I've heard about named Seeker, while they seem to be on the right side of the spectrum, there are likely others who aren't." His eyes seemed to focus on Svetlana, Hammond noticed. "People need to be defended against the ones who wish to use their powers for anything less than legal."

Hammond sat back in his seat. "You think there are post-humans on the wrong side of the law?"

Brand pulled out his phone, clicked on something, then set the phone down in front of Hammond. It was a video of Arachnya and Seeker thwarting the bank robbery by the Upscales just a few days after the Event. "This one calls herself Quake, and she obviously doesn't like police."

"She also hasn't been seen since that day. There are rumors that she's gone underground."

"And other super humans have been springing up every few days since then, all over the country, if not the world."

Hammond slid Brand's phone back across the table. "I'm sorry, Mr. Brand. I'm not entirely sure I can help you in this endeavor."

Brand smiled. "Is it because of Ms. Narekova back there?" His smile widened, likely because of the shocked expressions on both Hammond and Svetlana's faces. "As a matter of fact, I do know about Ms. Narekova's unique ability." He turned his head slightly toward her. "I wouldn't teleport behind me, if I were you. I'm a very hard man to sneak up on."

Hammond sat forward. "You're a man of many secrets yourself, aren't you?"

Brand stood up. "No more than you, Gustav. No more than you."

***

Hammond watched Brand's car drive away. He knew Svetlana was behind him, but he didn't look at her. "Make sure he's followed. I want to know every secret William Brand has."

Though he wasn't looking at her, he knew she nodded.

***

Anna Adamsen took a sip of her warm Coca Cola and once again cursed Barry for not getting his maintenance crew working on the air conditioning. She looked over at her young assistant and saw that even tomboyish Charlie Harkins was wearing short shorts and a tank top. Timmy Saul walked up to them, sat down, and handed Anna a folder full of photos. "Here you go, Ms. Adamsen. All the pictures I took of that Delancy Street Gang hide out that the cops raided yesterday."

Anna took the photos. "Thanks, Tim." She looked at the two photographer teenagers. "Look, you two, I can't think of anything else for you to do today. Get your butts home and out of this oven."

Charlie grabbed her book bag and flashed a pained smile. "Thanks, Ms. Adamsen."

"Hey, kid, what's wrong?"

She shrugged. "My parents are having some problems, that's all. It's nothing a little walk around town can't hurt."

With that, the two of them walked out together. Anna smirked. It was pretty obvious those two were getting closer, but she was still having a little trouble with the nice-looking reporter sitting at the desk next to hers. Keith Cabot wasn't an easy man to make interested. She walked over to him and saw that he was sweating into his drink, just like she had been.

"Say," he started, "you talked to Charlie? She gave me these pictures she took of Guardian the other day, but every time I ask her where she got them, she just says..."

She cut him off. "Trade secret?"

"She gives you the same thing?"

"So does Timmy. The art of photography, obviously, is a magic that they don't want to let us reporters in on."

He chuckled. "I guess. The weird thing is that a couple of these look almost like she was hanging off a flagpole to get them."

"Maybe she was. The girl's pretty good at her craft, I'll give her that. Being the daughter of a respected ECPD captain doesn't hurt her detective skills, either."

Keith wiped his forehead, then stood up. "What do you say we get out of here and get a bite to eat?"

Anna smiled. "I'd like that."

***

THAT NIGHT:

A lone figure stood upon a building, looking down on East City. Though he lacked a symbol on his chest, and 'ears' upon his mask, he resembled the classic hero Batman, thanks mostly in part due to his having purchased a Batman costume to forge his own from. There were differences. While the costume he bought was black and gray, the one he wore was completely gray, save for two black panels running under his arms to down his legs to his boots. His 'utility belt' was not yellow, it was black. There were always things that needed to be changed when making one's own way into the super hero business.

He looked down upon the city. He didn't come from this city, but he knew it like the back of his hand, having studied it extensively. There was no corner, no alley, no dead end he didn't know, and he would use that to his advantage. Then, after he was done there, he would return to his home town of Larsen City, and would continue there.

Though he wasn't going by the name Batman, he was using a portion of that famous hero's other alias. The Knight jumped and swooped down upon another rooftop and began his crusade toward helping East City.

***

Josh Reston hid inside his closet and hoped to God that no one came looking for him. He was crying, something he hadn't done since he was four. Nine years of pseudo male toughness gone just like his maleness, in an instant. Now, he simply cowered in his closet, and tried not to touch his new female features. He just wanted to die.

That morning, Josh Reston had awoken to find a strange woman floating above him. An unnatural light glowed from her body, and she told him that there was something wrong with his form. She scared him, since she had simply appeared on top of him. He wanted to squirm away from her, but he hadn't been able to. She touched him on the forehead, said only the word Spark and then disappeared in a pink and green mist.

Josh had then watched as his body changed, shifted into his new form. He touched his breasts as they grew, felt his groin invert. With every change came a new sensation, with every sensation came a new fear.

With every fear came a new realization.

The realizations brought the crying, the crying took him into the closet, There he sat, hoping that no one would find him, that no one would care that he was missing. His parents rarely ever checked up on him anyway, maybe now would be the time they actually decided to care about their son, wouldn't that be ironic?

He wanted to stop crying, but he couldn't. His eyes did nothing but water, despite his best efforts. He could stop, for some reason. Maybe it was his newfound female hormones kicking in, and nine years of repressed emotion coming back at him in force. He hated it. He really, really hated it.

As he sat there, in the dark, in the closet, he didn't notice the flickering light bulbs in his bedroom. There was no way he could.

***

I slipped on a ski mask and hopped between fire escapes to get to the specific alley where the Upscales grabbed me that day, three weeks ago. I was getting pretty good at using my powers to sort of propel me forward. It caused a little property damage, but it got me where I needed to go. Luckily for me, though, the property damage that I did cause was so minimal that nobody ever rushed out of their apartments to find me.

I saw them: three Upscales beating up a kid I knew from school. I landed on the ground behind them and whistled. The two flanking the assaulter turned toward me and each tried to take a swing at me at the same time. I did a somersault backward, then used the ground beneath the left one's feet to spring him up into the air. The other one looked shocked, then pulled out a knife. He tried to take another swing at me, but I caught him off guard by rushing straight at him and grabbing him by the arm. I threw him over my shoulder, on top of the other one.

The last one had stopped beating up the kid - I noticed, it was that girl I'd bumped in to the other day - and turned to face me. He walked up to me, no hesitation or fear in his face, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Monica Montoya, get up and get to school!"

***

I woke up to my alarm clock blaring loudly in my ear, alongside Aunt Holly banging on my door. I switched my alarm off and smacked myself in the head. Of course I wasn't that good with my powers. It was only last night that I'd blown out all the windows of the apartment building next to ours. I quickly struggled to get dressed, then down the stairs to the street just in time to catch the bus before it left me there.

There was a new addition to the bus, I noticed. Black kid, scruffy hair. His hands were behind his head as he casually sat back in my usual seat. He was the only one in my seat. I kind of ignored him and sat down anyway.

All through the bus ride to school, that guy wouldn't stop staring at me. It was creepy and flattering at the same time, thanks to the fact that I've spent three weeks sleeping in female hormones. If I were still a guy, I'd just find it outrageously creepy. I just tried to block him out, but that was incredibly difficult. It was like the guy was staring into my frickin' soul, or something.

By the time the bus got to school, I was ready to deck the guy, he'd been staring at me so much. A normal girl, like I wasn't, would probably have asked this guy to stop long before we got to school, but I was both preoccupied with the Upscale at the front of the bus and too extremely disturbed to even bother talking to the guy. And worse? He kept staring at me, while he followed me! Eventually, I actually did deck him.

"What's your problem?!" I screamed at him.

He rubbed at his jaw. "I was hoping to talk to you, pretty chick."

"So talk, don't just stare at me like a perverted stalker!"

The guy didn't say anything, he just kept staring. After about five minutes of me boiling with rage, he finally threw his hands up in defense and said, "Hey, hey, it's okay! Don't go blowin' me up or anything, sweet cheeks." I think my shock made him laugh. "Yeah, I figured that was you who blew out all the windows in my building last night."

"I didn't... um... I didn't hurt anybody, did I?"

"Well, you scared the crap out of a ton of people, but I don't think anybody got hurt." He knelt down to tie his shoe. "Nice to know there's another Chosen in the neighborhood besides me."

"You're a Chosen?" I can't believe I was already using that term. "What do you do?"

He looked around, like he was looking for someone, but we were in a very secluded part of the outside of the school, just outside the football field fence. He then turned back to me, stood up, and suddenly, I was looking down at him again, despite his having stood up. I looked down at my feet and saw that I wasn't on the ground!

"I'm a telekinetic. My real name's Colin, but you can call me Hold-Up."

"Hold-Up? Could you have chosen a lamer name?"

He lowered me. "I'm pretty sure you didn't pick yours, either. What did the alien chick tell you, 'Blast-Off'?"

So, learning a crappy fake name wasn't an isolated incident. Maybe every Chosen was like that. "Quake, actually. But don't ever call me that. Monica, my name's Monica."

"Yeah, you're a cop's niece, right? I've seen you before."

"I'm going ot assume you also had a very... well... interesting experience that day, too? You're a guy, so I'm going to guess you were a girl before it happened, right?"

He nodded. "Yup. From what my cousin tells me - he's a Chosen, too, by the way - all of us swapped genders. It doesn't make sense, but, hey, it's the place we're stuck in. I'm not complaining."

I sat down on the ground, back against the wall. "How come?"

He sat down beside me. "When I was changed, I was in the middle of bein' raped. Stupid ass racists, thought they could get a few notches in their belt raping a black girl. Then that woman showed up, they all got scared, and I was saved. Then, I was a guy." He sighed. "The things I did to them with my powers... I regret it now, but I didn't then."

I felt sorry for him. That's a traumatic experience. I was just threatened with rape, they didn't actually do it. "I was almost raped that day, too. Bunch of Upscales. Told me they'd do it if I didn't use my powers to help them."

He turned to me. "And did you?"

I nodded.

"You regret it?"

"Every day." I sighed. "One of 'em rides the bus with us. He's a major asshole, but I haven't done anything to stop him, since I can't control my powers."

Colin stood up, held his hand out to help me up. "C'mon."

I took his hand and stood up. "Why? We should really get to class."

He shook his head. "Nope. You need to learn how to better control your powers, and I want some practice with mine. We're heading out to the docks to train. Nobody'll care about some splashes or missing crates."

I sighed again. "I hope this isn't a bad idea."

He smiled. "Trust me."

***

Henry Harkins was roused out of his light nap by the sounds of the sirens kicking on. He looked over at Holly, who was driving, and asked, "What's going on?"

She smiled. "Just got a call about some suspicious activity by the docks. Maybe it's those Delancy Street slugs we didn't catch last week."

He yawned. "Just so long as you take it easy on the way there. Last time I rode with you, I nearly lost my asshole."

She chuckled. "Cappy, that doesn't even make sense."

My daughter swings on webs and crawls walls. My life doesn't have a whole lot of sense anymore.

***

Colin lifted the crate I was standing on, which made me lose my balance. "Hey!" I shouted. "Put me the hell down!"

He laughed. "Just havin' a little fun, is all!"

"Well have fun without scaring the shit out of me!"

"Sorry!" He set the crate back down, and I jumped off of it and pushed him into the cargo container behind him. "Oooh! You wanna wrassle?"

"Don't be a dick, Colin! I could make your stomach explode, y'know."

"Yeah, but you won't."

"Wanna bet?"

"You're too cute to kill somebody on purpose."

I blushed. "Stop that."

He leaned down, kissed me on the cheek, then walked back over to the edge of the dock. "Okay, let's see if I can't pull something out of the water. I do that, you blow it up, okay?"

I shook off my little girly moment and nodded. "Use the Force, buddy, use the Force." He stuck his tongue out at me. He looked forward again and reached out with one hand, and a glowing purple aura appeared under the water. It was a crate he'd thrown in as soon as we got to the docks. He looked like he was struggling, I noticed. Maybe it was the inherent pressure under the water, even though there couldn't have been a whole lot of pressure right there. Not like out in the ocean, anyway. He held out his other hand and the purple aura glowed a little more brightly, and I finally saw the aura moving. I watched it emerge from the water and then I held out my own hand. "Here goes somethin'," I said. I concentrated on that box, that box, and then scared the crap out of myself when the box behind me exploded, sending wooden splinters straight up into the air. Colin dropped the other crate back into the water.

"Whoa! Maybe you should concentrate a little less, Ms. 'Splodey."

I was about to say something before somebody whistled. I looked toward the direction of the sound and saw Aunt Holly and Captain Harkins standing there, both with their weapons drawn, though Captain Harkins was putting his away. Aunt Holly, however, looked like she wanted to shoot me.

"Oh, crap..." I whispered.

***

Captain Harkins sat across the table from me, but I wasn't looking at him. I was looking down at the my oddly handcuff-less hands. I heard him sipping coffee, or something (if it was coffee, I don't know why, it's freaking a hundred degrees outside), but I wasn't really paying attention to anything.

Until he snapped his fingers. "Oh, Monica," he said, dragging my name out in a sing-song-y way. "Or, I guess I could call you 'Quake', but your aunt tells me you don't wanna hear that name anymore."

I looked at him. "I'm in a lot of trouble, aren't I?"

He had his feet propped up on the table, looking very relaxed. "Define trouble. You blew up several empty cargo crates, your boyfriend dropped about a half dozen more into the water and probably killed a few fish in the process, what exactly did you do wrong?"

"Vandalism? Terrorism? Trespassing? C'mon, I had to do something!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You seem like you're really hot to go to jail, little girl."

I sighed. "I did something wrong! What else are you gonna do to me?"

He sat forward. "Okay, this is weird. I get dozens of normal people coming through here every day, none of them ever want to be on your side of the table, facing what it is you want to face, but for some reason, you want to be punished for not even doing anything? Look, your aunt's pissed off at ya, ain't that enough?"

I buried my head under my arms on the table. "Why do you think I wanna go to jail?"

As if on cue, Aunt Holly opened the door. "Cappy, can I talk to her alone?"

He stood up. "First, lemme talk to you alone." And then, they both left the room.

***

Harkins led Holly into his office and shut the door. "First off, what the hell are you doing to that girl? She'd rather go to jail than go home."

She sighed. "I've been a little hard on her, lately. Look, Cappy, she's... well... not normal."

He raised an eyebrow. "That all you can say? I got that three weeks ago when she blew up a bank." He sat down behind his desk. "Look, Holly, everything I tell you right now has to be between us, and us alone."

She looked confused. "Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, seriously, nothing here gets repeated outside this office unless you're talkin' to your niece." He leaned forward in his chair. "Dealing with a Chosen - especially a teenage one - is a tough road."

She sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. "How did you know that?"

He raised his eyebrow again. "Really? We've worked with Guardian a dozen times in the last three weeks, I saw Monica blow up half a building, we just saw her blow up some shipping crates and you really want to know how I know they're called 'Chosen'?" He sat back in his chair. "I know, because Charlie's a Chosen."

"Your daughter? That little girl is a Chosen?"

"I'm going to have to learn your definition of little some other time, because Charlie's about six weeks away from her sixteenth birthday. Yes, she's a Chosen. Arachnya, actually."

Holly scoffed. "And she just happens to be the one with the tacky choice in costumes."

"I'll be sure to tell her you said that next week during Bring-Your-Daughter-to-Work Day." He sighed. "Look, Charlie and Monica go to the same school, and maybe the two of them can get together some time and Charlie can help Monica along. Charlie's got a pretty good handle on her powers, maybe she can help your niece get a handle on hers."

"Wait, if Charlie's Arachnya, then that means that she was at the bank three weeks ago, right?"

"Yes."

"That means that Charlie and Monica have already met."

He waved his hands. "Look, I'm not sayin' they have to be best friends, or anything, especially since Charlie's got an after-school job taking pictures for the Brigade. But, maybe Charlie's limited experience in super heroing can help Monica along."

Almost as if on cue, Monica burst through the doorway. "Aunt Holly!" she nearly screamed.

"What?" both Holly and Harkins said, concerned and annoyed, respectively.

"There's somebody here in the building, and they're watching me."

"There's a security camera in the interrogation room," Harkins explained. "Speaking of, what the hell are you doing out of the interrogation room?"

Monica shook her head. "Unless the cameras can project thoughts into your mind, that's not what I'm talking about."

***

Josh waited twenty-four hours before deciding to leave his closet. He got a pretty good surprise when he opened the closet door to see every light in his room turn on at exactly the same moment. He looked around and got a scare when he saw that two of the three lamps in the room weren't even plugged in.

What just happened? he thought, in his new female inner voice. That would take some getting used to. Did I do that? He dismissed that thought as soon as it emerged. There was no way he could have done it.

He slowly opened his bedroom door and moved out into the hallway. The rest of the house was quiet, almost like it was empty. He looked down the stairs and saw that few lights were on. He slowly descended the stairs and found that no one else was in the house. His parents were gone, and he was the only person in the house. Where did they go? he asked himself.

He got his answer a minute later when he found a note on the refrigerator. Josh, we couldn't get you out of your room to tell you that we had to go visit your aunt out in California. his mother's handwriting read. We should be back sometime later this week. There's money in the safe in case you need any groceries. Be good, be back ASAP. Mom.

He sighed. They always leave me alone. I had to be both the parent and the student at my parent/teacher conference last semester. He shouldn't have been surprised. He was more surprised that they didn't even care enough about him to open his bedroom door to see if he was alright.

Josh walked into the bathroom to get a look at his new form. In place of the awkward-looking just-starting-his-teenage-years boy that he had been, he saw an awkward-looking just-starting-her-teenage-years girl. Unlike a few of the other girls his age who had already started developing into the young women they would eventually be in high school, he looked like a ten year old who stuffed a training bra.

He sighed again. His new body was going to take some getting used to. Mentally, that is. For some reason, he didn't feel any different, despite the obvious differences. It was a complete reversal from the day before, when everything felt different. What exactly had changed in twenty-four hours of crying and depression?

He walked back into the kitchen, grabbed the milk, grabbed a glass, and sat down on the couch and switched on the TV. He would have to figure things out, starting with how he was going to deal with his new female form, with how he was going to explain it all to his parents. He had no actual explanation, so he hoped something would happen to explain it to him

As Josh sat on the couch, watching TV, he failed to notice the rest of the lamps turning on by themselves, along with the street lights outside flickering out.

***

Guardian spotted him the night before, but the man had gotten away far quicker and far quieter than he'd expected him to. This time, Guardian had the drop on the stranger, and landed gently on the rooftop behind him.

It wasn't until he spoke that Guardian realized he'd never really had the drop on him. "I heard you a mile away," the stranger said, folding his small binoculars and putting them in his belt. "You're not exactly subtle."

Guardian shook his head. "Batman, I assume?"

The stranger turned around, exposing the fact that he had no comic book-esque symbol on his chest. "You've got the right idea. You can call me Knight."

"Knight, huh? Creative."

Knight smiled. "I didn't have the benefit of a beautiful woman whispering my new name in my ear. Unlike you, I don't have any super powers."

Guardian raised an eyebrow. "Coulda fooled me."

"That's what they all say."

"So, what are you doing here?"

Knight walked up to him. "I came here to find you, actually."

***

Svetlana Narekova was being watched. She knew because it was a skill she'd honed over the years. Before she was a Chosen, before she'd gone to work for Gustav Hammond as a hitman under the guise of a copy boy, before she'd even joined the Russian Mafia, it was a skill she'd developed on the streets of Stalingrad, back when the city still went by that name. Modern day Volgograd was supposed to be a better place, but she still felt exactly the same when she walked those streets.

She still felt the feelings now, as she walked the streets of East City.

She didn't look around, she didn't react as if she knew she was being watched, she simply went about her business. She didn't want to tip off whoever it was watching her, otherwise she'd never be able to get the drop on them. She followed the precise way she was going to take back to Mr. Hammond's office, and as soon as she was out of sight of anyone else, teleported away.

She reappeared behind the man responsible and grabbed him by the collar. "It's not polite to spy on a lady, wise guy!" She then felt her eyes widen in surprise when she saw his eyes. Completely gold colored, not even the slightest hint of an iris or a pupil. "What are you, another Chosen?"

He pushed her hands off of his collar and stepped back. He chuckled. "So, that's what we're called. Three weeks of finally being able to see again, and I've never known."

"What do you want?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yours appears to be teleporting, while my own gift is insight, as well as farsight. I was blinded in a car accident when I was a little..." he smirked, "a little girl."

Svetlana folded her arms under her breasts. "You think I don't know that we've all been transgendered?"

"Still. It can be quite a shock hearing that it happened to someone else as well as yourself." He walked forward a little, stopping behind her. She didn't turn to face him, nor did he to face her. "I wasn't actually in either vehicle, I was running home from school, took a shortcut, a white Ford Bronco collided with a tanker truck carrying some sort of radioactive fluid, or so I seem to remember."

Svetlana smirked. "I've seen that movie."

"It's no movie, my dear. The last thing I saw was a frightened woman in a white truck cradling her children. Each one of them, and the driver of the tanker, walked away without any serious injury. I was reliant on a cane and braille the rest of my life." He finally turned. "Until three weeks ago. GoldenEye, she called me."

Svetlana scoffed. "You choose to go by that ridiculous name? I tossed mine away."

He leaned close to her. "What was it?"

"I told you, I tossed it away. Even if I wanted to remember, it doesn't matter."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Disappointing, dear lady."

She was getting angry. "Alright, buddy, 'fess up. What the hell do you want from me?"

He didn't answer for awhile, he simply stood there, smiling. Svetlana was about to punch him, until he finally said, "Gustav Hammond wants to break in on the super powered crimes scene? He's going to need more than a Lady Teleporter on his side. Go back and ask him just how valuable someone who can peek into people's souls can be." With that, he hopped up on the building ledge and then jumped down to the street. She had to admit, quite an amazing feat, considering they were about sixty stories up.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. "Mr. Hammond? Someone has a proposition for you. I hope you refuse."

***

Captain Harkins and Aunt Holly followed me back into the interrogation room, where I heard the voices. We all looked around and saw absolutely nothing. It didn't surprise me, there had been no one in the room before I went to get them, but some part of me wanted there to be someone or something here.

Aunt Holly shut the door. "So, what exactly was it that set you off, anyway?"

I pointed at the chair I had been sitting in. "I was sitting right there and then somebody started talking to me. They asked me why I was sitting in this room, and what could they do to help."

Captain Harkins pulled a walkie from his belt. "This is Captain Harkins, front door, is anybody there?"

The voice on the other end said, "No sir. A couple people are complaining about hearing things, but that's about it."

"What are they hearing?"

"Voices, Cap."

He stuffed his walkie back in its holder. "So, you're not the only one, it seems. Sounds like another Chosen is screwing around with people out there." He walked over to me and shoved me back down in the chair. "Wait, listen, if they talk to you again, tell us exactly what they say."

I looked up at him, then over to Aunt Holly. She nodded, I sighed. Time to prove my worth, I guess. I sat there for a long time, waiting for whoever it was to contact me again. Time passed. At one point, Aunt Holly went out to get some doughnuts while Captain Harkins and I just sat, waiting for the mystery voice. I asked to go to the restroom once, but I didn't get to. Luckily, I didn't need to go all that badly, I just held it in.

About two hours later, the voice finally spoke again. They want to know where I am, don't they?

"The voice asked if you want to know where they are," I said, surprising Aunt Holly and waking Captain Harkins.

"Damn right we wanna know where they are," Captain Harkins said. "And who they are."

The voice said, Who we are isn't important, yet. That will be revealed in time. What's important, is that you all come to nineteen-sixty Westmoreland Avenue, in the Hills outside the city. The police officers may come with you if they choose.

"Nineteen-sixty Westmoreland Avenue, in the Hills. Whoever it is wants us, and said you and Aunt Holly can come, if you want."

Captain Harkins narrowed his eyes at me. "Who's 'us'?"

***

Colin was sitting with his hands behind his head, feet propped up on a small table in front of the bench in the station lobby. I sighed. "Really?"

He shrugged. "What? I've been waitin' for your aunt and Spider-Girl's dad to hurry up and finish talking to you."

Captain Harkins grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "Keep it down with the 'Spider-Girl's dad' crap, kid. Just because you ain't in a cell doesn't mean I can't put you there for pissing me off."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Only if the paperwork doesn't add up."

"So what if they know you're Spider-Girl's dad? Frank told me everything about her."

Aunt Holly smiled. "Not her name, obviously."

I sighed. "Can we just get going? Whoever this woman was, she seemed pretty adamant that we get to nineteen-sixty Westmoreland as soon as possible."

Captain Harkins turned to me. "How'd you know it was a woman?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Something about it just screamed 'woman'. It's not exactly a normal sensation, having a person talk to you in your head. So, can we just go, now?"

Captain Harkins shrugged, and then led the rest of us out the door, where we were greeted by a girl with brown hair. Not just any girl with brown hair, either, but the one I bumped into at school a few days ago. I have no idea why this thought popped into my head, no idea what made me think this, but I just knew that this was Spider-Girl. She looked a little like her dad, anyway.

Her arms were folded under her breasts. "Mom's pissed at you again, Dad," she said.

He set his hands on her shoulders. "What is it this time? Did I leave my aftershave in the shower again?"

"Something about working late for the third night in a row."

He sighed. "Look, kiddo, I'll duke it out with your mother when I get home tonight. Right now, I have to get going."

She looked at all of us. I wondered if she could recognize me as the purple-haired girl that called her a powderpuff, but she didn't say anything if she could. "Where are you going?" she asked.

He raised his hands. "Sorry, sweetie." He tapped her press badge hanging from her neck. "Not something I can tell a distinguished member of the Brigade."

She sighed. "Just because I've helped out on a few stories doesn't mean I'm a reporter, I'm still just a photographer."

"Still. I can't tell you, it's offical police business."

She looked over at us again. "Including your old partner, Frank's cousin, and Quake?"

I turned red-faced, I'm sure. She could tell who I was.

"Look, snookums, just get to work, okay? I'm sure this'll end up in the news at some point. Whatever the hell it is we're gonna find at where ever we're going is likely to come out to the press or something. Just be patient, okay?"

I looked over at Aunt Holly and saw her look away. Here was a Chosen and her parental figure, and despite the fact that he was trying to avoid a conversation, Spider-Girl was being patient with him. Aunt Holly had been less than patient with me ever since this all happened. Granted, I'd blown up a bank, while Spider-Girl had been nothing but a civil servant in what she'd done, so there was quite a bit of difference there, but still, the closest thing I had to a mom was treating me like I was the black sheep of the universe.

I didn't blame Aunt Holly for how she treated me, but that didn't mean I wouldn't appreciate some family love and bonding every now and then, like Spider-Girl was getting. I laughed to myself. There I was, getting jealous of a freaky wall-crawler that gunked up my face with webs one time. I wondered if Spider-Girl would be willing to spend some time with a fellow former-guy, just hanging out. I just hoped that her sense of humor was dedicated solely to under the mask, because her jokes weren't all that funny.

Spider-Girl sighed. "Okay, Dad. See ya when you get home." And with that, she reached out and hugged her father, and I turned away. I'd never had that kind of a relationship with my father. Granted, the two years I'd known my father before he died, I was a boy, and two years old. I don't even remember him, anymore, or my mother. The only parent I'd ever had was Aunt Holly, and I'd never even had that kind of a relationship with her.

***

The ride to nineteen-sixty Westmoreland was pretty uneventful. Colin and I sat in the back, while Captain Harkins slept in the passenger seat and Aunt Holly drove. I couldn't stop thinking about Spider-Girl (who's name, I learned on the drive, was Charlie) and her relationship with her dad. It made me depressed.

Colin elbowed me in the arm. "What's wrong with you?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff I probably shouldn't be thinking about."

"Liiiiiiike?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not telling you."

"C'mon! I'm interested, aren't girls supposed to like that?"

I smirked. "You used to be one, shouldn't you know that?"

He held up his hands like he was surrendering. "Okay, okay, I give up."

I giggled, despite my best efforts not to. I'm not the most tomboyish girl out there, but I still didn't want to be as feminine as I sometimes felt I was acting. I was still trying to adjust to skirts. "Y'know, you act pretty at home being a guy now."

He shrugged. "I had a lot of practice. I grew up with three brothers. I wasn't the girliest girl in the world. Hell, I didn't even own a doll until I was twelve years old. My family and I would visit my cousins, and I'd feel like the outsider, because they were both pretty feminine, and I wasn't." He looked down at my shorts. "Believe it or not, I never wore a pair of shorts like that in my life. My mom thought I was weird, but my brothers thought I was the only cool girl they'd ever met." He slumped a little in his seat and slid his hands behind his head. "What about you? You don't exactly act like you're tearing yourself up having a vagina now."

I rolled my eyes. Why'd he have to put it that way? I caught a glimpse of Aunt Holly smirking in the rear-view mirror. "I'm... well... I'm not, exactly. I can't explain it. Maybe this whole mental transition slipped itself in while I was helping those Upscale assholes blow up a bank, or maybe it just happened in my sleep."

He yawned a little. "Not all that surprising, really. My cousin, Frank, he went through the same thing. He took to bein' a guy like a fish out of water, same with Spider-Girl."

Surprising both of us, Captain Harkins spoke up: "If you're gonna talk about my daughter, the least you can do is call her Arachnya. Spider-Girl ain't her name. I tease her with it, sometimes. So does your cousin. Remember that, Arachnya. It's not all that hard to remember."

"We're here, Cappy," Aunt Holly said, ending all the other conversations. We each got out of the car and I looked up at the creepy mansion that stood before us. I gulped. "This is the place," Aunt Holly just had to state the obvious.

Come on inside, all of you, the voice in my head said. I didn't say anything, I just started walking up to the big house. Aunt Holly and Captain Harkins rushed to walk ahead of us, their weapons drawn. I was a little relieved when they pulled their guns out, because this place was scaring the crap out of me. I think Colin could tell, too, since he grabbed my hand. I didn't even stop him.

We got up to the door, Captain Harkins opened it up, and we walked into the house. The front hall looked like something out of a video game from over ten years ago: two stories, a giant stairway, a big chandalier overhead, extremely creepy. I walked up to the stairway and stopped when I heard one of the doors along the sides of the room open. We all looked in the same direction and saw a young man (maybe nineteen, or so) pushing a wheelchair. In the wheelchair sat a woman who looked to be about thirty/thirty-five. Her eyes darted back and forth between all of us, but she didn't speak.

Well, at least, not with her mouth.

A computerized voice said, "Welcome, all of you. I apologize for not getting up or shaking hands."

Captain Harkins stepped forward. "I assume you're the woman who called the kids to you?"

"Yes, I am. My name is Erica Morris. You are Captain Henry Harkins, your daughter is Charlotte Harkins, who calls herself Arachnya."

He nodded. "I am. Gotta tell you, though, the voice thing is a little creepy."

The voice synthesizer spat out a very disturbing laughter. "I understand, Captain. It has taken me all three weeks since the Event to get used to it."

I asked, "You mean, you weren't like this before you were a Chosen?"

The young man answered me. "Ms. Morris' gift left her this way. She almost instantly reached out to me so that she could have a sort-of liason with everyone else."

"Thank you, Brandon," the woman's voice box said. I shivered just listening to that weird voice. "Do not be alarmed, Monica. It is something very easy to get used to."

Colin spoke up next, "Why'd you call us here, anyway?"

Brandon turned the woman's chair toward Colin. "I prefer to explain that when everyone is here. I do not wish to repeat myself too often. You can understand why." I saw her eyes dart up toward the ceiling. "There are still two more on the way."

***

Hammond sat behind his desk and waited for the man Svetlana had met to arrive. This GoldenEye intrigued him, though he saw no use for such a man, even a Chosen. Svetlana was ready to do what needed to be done. Hammond lit a cigarette and took a long puff just as the door to his office opened and two individuals walked in, the man described to him as GoldenEye, and a bald headed woman wearing skintight leather and a domino mask.

"Gustav Hammond, it's a pleasure to meet you," GoldenEye greeted him, his hand extended for a handshake, but Hammond denied him the pleasure. "I'm sure Svetlana explained how I can help you."

Hammond leaned back in his seat. "She did, unfortunately, insight and farsight aren't descriptive enough for me. Explain to me exactly what you can give to my organization."

GoldenEye - Hammond could see now why he had earned that moniker, his eyes were a pure gold color - sat down in the seat across the desk from him. He stared for a moment or three, and then Hammond was getting annoyed. Finally, GoldenEye said, "You grew up in Satan's Outhouse, that colorful district just north of Granger Park. You claim to have come from Kansas, but that's purely a cover, and a particularly inadaquate one at that." He leaned back in his seat. "Easy to see through if you know what to look for."

Hammond narrowed his eyes at the casual man before him. "Go on."

GoldenEye smiled. "You see, Mr. Hammond, I can read a person's very soul, if not their mind itself. Things that anyone would want kept secret just spill out to me, as if everyone were telling me their deep, dark past." He reached over the desk and grabbed Hammond's cigarette holder, then took one out. "That's how I knew that the beautiful Ms. Narekova wasn't going to actually kill me, as you wanted."

As if she'd been told to enter the room, Svetlana appeared behind Hammond. The look on her face suggested an apology, though Hammond didn't need one. He understood completely.

"And what about your," he nodded his head toward the woman behind GoldenEye, "companion?"

"Her name is Necro. Her gift involves speaking with the dead, finding out what they know. She can convince any lost soul out there to spill its beans and reveal things that these men were told they'd take to their graves." He lit the cigarette that he'd taken. "Such as the hit that Big Mike Richardson is planning against you, after that whole debacle perpetuated by Arachnya."

Hammond snapped his fingers and Svetlana moved closer and knelt down. "Find out if what he says is the truth, then kill Richardson."

GoldenEye smiled yet again. "Dead men tell no tales, Gustav."

"I don't seem to remember saying we were on a first name basis. Especially when I don't know your first name."

GoldenEye stood. "Ah, but you will. I can tell this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Gustav. You know how?"

Hammond smiled. "Because you looked into my soul?"

GoldenEye snapped his fingers. "Exactly." At that, he and Necro turned and walked out of the room.

Hammond and Svetlana both remained where they were. "I want to know everything there is to know about GoldenEye, and I want to know yesterday."

Svetlana could only nervously nod. She didn't like the situation at all.

***

The former Josh Reston had to decide on a new name, because, try as he might, he couldn't make Josh sound like a female name. He was laying on the couch, his longer hair reaching the floor, because he was upside down. He held a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other and had about sixteen female names written down, and didn't like any of them. The one he could stand the most (and that wasn't saying much) was Amber, but that didn't fit him all that much.

He sighed. He tossed the notepad on the coffee table and hopped off the couch. He needed to go for a walk, that would help. He ran up the stairs to his room and slipped into something other than his sleep clothes. Luckily, for him, his naturally skinny frame (even before his change) meant that his old clothes would fit, he'd just look like a tomboy. He ran into his parents bedroom and grabbed one of those hair things (he was pretty sure they were called scrunchies) and pulled his hair into a make-shift ponytail. He didn't look horrible, but he did look like a tomboy.

He walked out and immediately set off in the direction of East City. He didn't know why, he just picked that direction and started walking. There was nowhere else in particular that he wanted to go. Larsen City wasn't exactly the High Point of the United States. More like the garbage pit, really.

He walked for more than an hour before he realized that the street lights had been flickering between on and off behind him the whole way. He stopped and just watched the lights, then, when nothing happened, he moved closer to one of them. That was when the weird thing happened. He touched the nearest light pole and electricity shot through him. He stepped back and watched the lamp on the end of the pole glow brightly, then fade out.

What just happened?! he asked himself. He looked down at his feminine hands and saw tiny bolts of electricity course between his fingers. He walked back to the light pole and touched it again, this time, the light stayed on. Did I do that?

"Dude," a voice from behind him roused him out of his confused stupor, "did you just make that light come on with your hands?" Josh turned around and saw a shaggy-haired junkie wearing a paper bag over his crotch. Oh, great... "Hey, did you know you're a chick?"

Josh just walked past him and ignored him. "Got no time to talk to you, buddy, and I don't have any money to give you for whatever it is you're smoking. Gotta go." He continued on his way across the John Adams Bridge, the main bridge linking Larsen City to East City. He was lucky enough to not cause any more mysterious lighting screw-ups, and eventually found himself in a KFC, standing in line. He ordered chicken strips then sat down at an empty table and ate in silence.

The meal was quiet, uneventful, slow, boring. He ate slowly, as if to stretch out the meal. When he was done, he simply threw away his trash and left. No one noticed him, he didn't accidentally cause a power outage (could he do that?), it was normal

Then he walked outside.

"Hey there, chickie chickie," said the Delancy Street thug that pulled him around the corner of the building and grabbed for his pants. He reached in and sniffed Josh's hair. "You smell nice!"

Thank you CBS special, I guess all the street gangs in East City are obcessed with raping girls. He kneed the guy in the stomach, then pushed him away. "I don't give a crap how I smell, stay away from me!" Josh cracked his knuckles. "You guys really aren't smart, are you? You dress and act like a stereotypical street gang, and your primary action is to rape a minor? Are you trying to go for life in prison?"

The gang member was about to pull a knife, but he stopped for some reason that Josh couldn't see, at least until he looked up. There, like some sort of mythical figure, was Guardian, floating in the air. Oh, wow... Josh internally smacked himself. And here I am looking like a star-struck thirteen year old girl, which, I guess, I am, seeing as I've never seen a real live super hero before.

"I hope this man isn't bothering you, young lady," Guardian said, landing and putting his foot down on top of the thug's chest. "That was a good knee to his stomach."

Josh blushed. "Um... Thanks."

***

Angel enjoyed yet another view of the city at night. This time, however, she wasn't alone. She knew that the man known as Knight was following her, though she didn't say anything. She merely sat on the roof of the SetLife building and sighed to herself. "Why is it that women can still surprise me, but men can't?" she asked, likely surprising him. "You'd think having become one, women would be such an open book for me, but they're not. I'm still just as clueless about my gender as I was when it was the opposite gender."

Knight walked up beside her and stared out at the city with her. "How long did you know I was there?"

She smiled. "I landed on this roof for a reason. I knew you'd be here, William, I knew you'd be looking for me."

He turned his head toward her just a bit. "I thought you only knew about Chosen."

Angel stood up. "You were Chosen, a Chosen of a different sort. Not all of our forms were incorrect, All a Chosen like you needed was to be inspired, and it obviously worked."

He turned his head back to the city. "If you know about me, I'm assuming you know about my plans."

She walked away from the edge of the roof. "I do. It's bold, but not unreasonable, especially since someone else is doing the same thing, but with the bad Chosen."

Knight narrowed his eyes. "Someone else?"

She folded her arms under her breasts and sighed. "I can't tell you who, and I can't tell you where, just that I know it's happening. My gift doesn't allow me to stop the evil before it starts." She turned and looked at him. "I'm not even like you."

He walked over to her. "No one's like me, it's what makes me unique. Your gift makes you unique, and we could use that gift on our team."

She sighed again, but did not say anything for a long time. When she finally did speak, her voice was soft, and quiet. "I can't help you, William. I'm sorry."

He nodded his head, then walked back to the edge of the roof. "Can't say I'm surprised." He took a device from his belt, then pointed it at the rooftop of another building. "That doesn't mean I'm done asking. We'll need you."

Angel looked away from him again, but she did not speak. She couldn't. She knew the potential future of these men and women. Perhaps they would need her, but she couldn't take the risk of the other potential futures.

Such as the one where her joining the team would kill them.

***

Aaron Dahl looked at his girlfriend, Annette Simms and wondered, not for the first time, how they both ended up as Chosen. Of all the other Chosen he'd seen in the newspapers or on television, none of them seemed to have any sort of connection, but Aaron - formerly Erin - and Annette - fromerly Anthony - had been lovers before and remained lovers after that fateful day. It was an extremely lucky circumstance.

Annette slowly sipped at her coffee across the table from him. "You don't seem all to focused on anything in particular," she said, the hint of sarcasm in her voice more than obvious. "What's on your mind, A?"

He smiled at her little nickname for him. Even when he'd been Anthony, she'd had a nickname for the man once known as Erin. Little E he'd call her, because of her size as well as her almost obcessive love of Dale Earnhardt Junior. A was simply the first letter of Aaron's new name, but he enjoyed that part of their former lives returning, since nothing else had remained.

He finally answered her, "Nothing, really, just focusing."

She smiled. "Remember the last time you just focused? I don't want a black hole in the bedroom again, sweetie."

He snickered. His powers had been difficult to control at first, but they had been nothing compared to Annette's. He couldn't count the amount of times he'd woken up in the middle of the night thanks to a nightmare she'd inadvertantly given him. The nature of her powers were to create scenarios that caused extreme fear and instability. Unfortunately, the only test subject she'd had was him, and that had led to some slight strain.

He reached across the table and cupped his hand over hers, she smiled at him. "I love it when you do that," she said.

Aaron was about to say something, but then he heard the explosion. The two of them stood and looked in the direction of the sound and saw fire spilling out of the Bank of America on sixty-third street.

He looked back at her. "Time to go to work, babe."

She smiled at him. "Of course it is."

The Gathering, Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

People who had died.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

Guardian was the first to speak. "We?"

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

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

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

***

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

***

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

And then Captain Harkins burst through the door.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

"How do you know that?" she asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Maybe."

***

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

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

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

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

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Try Spark."

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

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

"Yeah."

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

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

"And stop calling me that."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"That was weird," Spark said.

Feet nodded. "No kidding."

***

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

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

"Where are we?" Svetlana asked.

GoldenEye smiled. "Home."

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

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

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

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

"Who are you?"

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah."

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

She nodded.

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blackhole raised an eyebrow. "Associate?"

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

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

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

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

Blackhole asked, "Is that what this is?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guardian raised his eyebrow. "William?"

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah."

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

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

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

Spark smiled. "Stuff like that just happens."

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah?"

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

"How so?"

Spark sighed again. "Korra."

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

"Yeah, but I got it from - "

Quake cut her off. "From a cartoon?"

Spark blushed. "How'd you know?"

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

***

ONE WEEK LATER:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You were a late bloomer, too?"

"Huh?"

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

"Ms. Morris, too."

"Oh, yeah."

"Say, do you know Arachnya?"

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

"Huh?"

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

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

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

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

I smirked. "Surprise, huh?"

"Yeah, a surprise."

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

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

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

"Good. Tomorrow night at seven."

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

"You rented a limo?"

"Yep."

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

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

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

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

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

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

My eyes widened.

He smiled.

The Gathering, Part Three

Korra stole the ball from Peter and bounced it off of his head for a moment before sinking another basket. She was enjoying herself, and enjoying the fact that she was enjoying herself. It had only been a week, but being at Ms. Morris' school wasn't all that bad. She wished there were a few more students, as opposed to just the five of them, but she was getting along with her new family.

Which made her think about her old family. She'd left without even leaving her parents a note. Without even letting her parents know that she wasn't their son anymore. Hell, as far as she was concerned, she wasn't really even their daughter. Josh Reston's parents had never really paid any attention to him, so what guarantee did she have that they'd pay attention to her now as Korra Reston?

She had none. It was obvious.

Korra sank another basket and then almost intentionally lost the ball to Peter, who made his own basket and then stopped bouncing the ball. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She sat down on the bench on the edge of the court. "Have you thought about your parents since you came here?"

He sat down, then shrugged. "I've thought about them. I wrote 'em a letter the other day. My dad called me yesterday. Why?"

She sighed. "My parents didn't really care about me before. They went away for a week and never even came up to check on me before leaving, and then I never left them a note when I left."

"Did you know you were coming here?"

She shook her head. "Not till I met you. I knew I was heading in this direction, but I didn't know where I was going or why."

He put his arm around her. "Hey, you should put it out of your mind. If they cared that little about you before, you really think they're gonna like you more now that you're a walking spark plug?"

She giggled. "No. They'd probably be afraid of me."

"I bet they would be." He laughed. "Then you'd really be like one of the X-Men."

They both had a good laugh over that, until it was interupted by Colin walking up to them. "You guys seen Monica or Brandon? I haven't been able to find them all night."

Korra answered, "I think I saw them getting into a limo earlier."

"A limo?"

"Yeah. Long car, most of the time black, folks your age usually rent them for the prom?"

He scowled. "I know what a limo is, Kor. You see which way they went?"

Korra was about to answer, but they were all interupted by a singular thought in their heads. Meet me in my bedroom, children. Something has happened.

***

I wished that I wasn't in the limo, otherwise I would have trashed it. Well, I would have wanted Brandon out of the car, too, but at the same time, I did kinda wanna kick his ass. He brought me into this situation and all he wanted to do now was take a frickin' nap?! Real manly, buddy.

Of course, the gold-eyed freak in front of me just kept smiling. I wanted to beat the crap out of him the most. He was the one who had kidnapped me (is it really kidnapping when you get in the limo willingly? Oh, wait, yeah, it is, because I didn't know this was going to happen), and was holding my friend and I hostage, so I wanted to just outright destroy him. If I was good enough with my powers, I'd blow his spleen up.

The bald woman hadn't done much at all. She hadn't even said a whole lot. She just held onto Mr. Gold Eyes' arm like she was his obedient girlfriend, but something about her told me she wasn't as obedient as her looks implied. I spent most of my time in the car studying her, wondering what her powers were, because I just knew they were both Chosen.

"Jose?" a voice to my left asked. I looked and saw my mother sitting beside me on the seat. "Why did you get yourself in this situation, honey?"

"Mom? What's... How?"

She reached out and touched my face. "Jose, my son... Please tell me you've been a good boy for your aunt?"

I scooted away from the ghost beside me. "No way... You're dead. Who the hell are you?!"

Mom closed her eyes and smiled. "Please, son, don't give your life aw - " Thankfully, she was cut off, and she disappeared. I was extremely scared, now.

I looked over at the bald woman who looked very shocked herself. "Nobody told us that they're part of a little freak team.

Mr. Gold Eyes turned to her. "What? Freak team?"

"Yeah. There's a group of them, these two and a few more. They all live in that mansion we picked them up at, and they've all got powers." She scowled. "And their boss is a telepath."

Gold Eyes smiled and rubbed at his chin. "Really? I wonder how our benefactor missed that..." He shook his head. "Not important. What's paramount now is that we return to headquarters. Cloak is waiting for us."

I finally spoke up, "What the hell was that?!"

Gold Eyes continued smiling. "That's beautiful Necro's power. She can reach into your thoughts and pull the dead lives from your mind. Obviously, because she can go so deeply to find your dead, she can pull thoughts as well. She's a telepath of a different flavor, you could say." He sat back in his seat. "Tell me a little more about your telepath. What's he like?" I didn't answer. "C'mon, sweetheart, you can tell me." Still didn't answer. "Okay. Don't talk. Our benefactor will get answers out of you when we arrive."

This time I burst out with anger. "Who is your benefactor?!"

Gold Eyes just kept smiling. It was like all he did was smile. What the hell was his power, smiling deviously?

Lucky me, my anger was concealing what I was actually doing.

The whole while, I used a little trick that Ms. Morris taught me, to use my power to feel things and send energy toward them. Lucky me, the underside of a car is tied into the engine block as well. Touching the seat, I forced energy through the fabric of the seat, down to the fuel line, straight to the engine. I couldn't send a lot at any one time, otherwise I'd blow up the fuel line and blow myself up, but blowing up the engine was good enough. Whoever was driving probably pissed their pants when the engine shot straight through the hood.

The sudden stop - and flip - of the limo disoriented Gold Eyes and his girlfriend, and I pushed Brandon through the door and jumped out after. I reoriented myself, grabbed Brandon, and hurried as fast as I could to the nearest alley. I kept us going one way, then another, kept us from going one specific route the whole time. I needed to find a cop, or something. Actually, what I really needed to do was wake Brandon up.

I smacked him in the face to wake him up, but that didn't work right away. I took a deep breath, got myself ready for what would happen after, and then slugged him. He woke up instantly, used his earth control powers to grab me, then realized what he was doing. "What's goin' on?" he asked, looking around and confused.

"You don't remember?" I asked, once he let go of me. "We got in that limo and then you fell unconscious?"

"Limo? What limo?"

"The one we got in, that you rented for our date."

He raised an eyebrow. "Date? I asked you out on a date?"

I sighed. "We'll have to sort this out later, let's just run right now, because the bad guys are after us, since I blew up their limo."

He rubbed at his head. "What the hell happened to me that I can't remember all that?"

I punched him in the face again. "I don't know, I don't care, let's just go!"

***

Knight held the head that Guardian had brought him. The technology looked familiar, and not just from the evening news a month ago. He unscrewed the faceplate and found a flat panel underneath. Whoever designed this, they did a good job, he thought. The memory chip was likely underneath the panel that had been under the faceplate. He took his screwdriver and pried it off, and then felt himself against a brick wall. There was nothing underneath the panel. The head was empty.

Guardian had a very surprised look on his face. "What the hell?!" the man eating a sandwich asked.

"I can only assume the x-ray vision part of Superman's powers slipped past you?"

"That and the freeze breath. So, what's running these things?

Knight sat back in his seat. "I don't know. No sort of electronic brain, unless it was in the body." He turned his head slightly toward Guardian. "I don't suppose you brought one of those, too?"

Guardian shook his head. "No. And something tells me that they've probably cleaned house since I left."

"Whoever they are. We're not exactly the best super hero team if we don't know a thing about our enemies."

Guardian patted him on the shoulder. "We're work-in-progress. I'm sure the Justice League didn't know who their enemies were to begin with."

Knight raised an eyebrow. "You never read comics as a kid, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

Knight stood and took the head over to the computer on the opposite wall. He set the head down on a flat green panel and pressed a button on the side. He waited, and waited, and waited, and then, a readout appeared on the monitor. "What the hell?" he asked, leaning forward to read the display. "There's something organic in this thing!"

Guardian picked it up and ripped a piece off of it. "Where?" He held up the extremely empty shell of the robot's head. "There's nothing in this thing."

"It's not a specific piece, there's brain tissue interlaced with the metal." Knight pointed to the image displayed on the monitor. "It didn't have an electronic brain in it, it had a human brain throughout it."

Guardian almost looked as though he was going to throw up. "Whoever these guys are, we need to stop them from doing this to more people." He took a long look at the robot's head. "And we need to do it soon."

***

Blackhole stood high above the city, on top of one of his black holes. He looked down at the millions moving about and wondered just where the robot's creators could be among those millions. None of them seemed to be doing anything wrong, anything out of the ordinary. He held up his hand and another black hole appeared, this one almost like a window looking out on the ground below. People passed by, people shopped, people played with their dogs in the park, people fought. Nothing was different from any other day in East City.

He sighed. How does this work? There's nothing out of the ordinary anywhere in that city, there's just millions of people going about their daily business, none of them even aware that there's a super powered psychopath out there, plotting their deaths. He shook his head, then touched his earpiece. "Terror, what'chu got?"

He heard her sigh now. "Nothing. None of these people even have the potential fear of evil robots jumping around. It's only been a month since that kid fought one, shouldn't there be at least one person thinking about it?"

"I don't know, hun, maybe we're looking in the wrong places. You report back to Knight, I'm going to stretch out my powers a little bit. Maybe then I can find something."

"Don't bother," a voice behind him said. He turned around and saw Angel hovering there, arms folded under her breasts. "I think I know where to look."

"You do?"

She took a breath. "There's a spot I can't feel."

Blackhole tapped his earpiece. "You guys hear that? Angel says she knows where to look."

***

We went about one block further before Brandon stood still, perfectly straight, and then said, in a weird, monotone voice, "You can't run from me, Jose. I know everywhere you are."

I stopped and stared him straight in the face, knowing that I wasn't really staring at Brandon, I was staring at whoever it was had been controlling him earlier, whoever Gold Eyes' myserious benefactor was. I asked the obvious question: "Who are you?"

Though Brandon's facial expression didn't change, I could tell that the Benefactor was smiling. "I'm no one of consequence. No one would ever notice me on the street. I'm no one, I'm nothing. You've seen me many times, and you've never known who I was."

"Are you at the mansion?"

"In a manner of speaking. I've been in your head the whole time. I've been in Brandon's head the whole time. Interesting tidbit about your headmaster: I can't read her mind."

That's a good thing. I was hoping we had some sort of ace up our sleeve. "What do you want?"

Again, no facial expression on Brandon, but I knew the Benefactor was smiling. "I want you, Quake. I want to use you, again."

"You were that weird feeling in my head that day," I said, not a question, but a statement.

"I was. We did wonderful things that day. And we will do wonderful things again." Using Brandon's own hands, the Benefactor reached up and grabbed Brandon's head. "Or else, I'll snap this one's neck. As long as you serve me today, this one lives."

I stood there, looking deep into Brandon's eyes, knowing I was looking at the Benefactor's eyes as well. He knew I had no choice, just like I knew it. "Fine. Let him go, and I'll go with you."

This time, Brandon's mouth did smile, though the rest of his face was still expressionless. I felt a hand on my shoulder, turned my head and saw Gold Eyes standing there, a smile on his face, too. I closed my eyes and sighed. Here I go again.

***

Korra stood at the edge of a building and looked down at the wreck of the limo that had taken Monica and Brandon. Her phone was in a pocket on the strap of her bag. She tapped a button and said, "I found the car. Trashed." She jumped down from the roof, still amazed that a drop from such a height didn't hurt her, or even cause a scratch. She peeked inside and saw very little blood, save the mangled body of whoever had been driving. I hope they're okay.

She noticed for the first time that there were no cops around. Actually, there weren't even any people around. It was the weirdest thing. She tapped her phone again. "Anybody know why there's nobody here? No cops, no innocent bystanders who just wanna see a flipped car, it's just the car."

Korra, get away from the vehicle! Ms. Morris' voice came through her head. She quickly jumped for the closest building and started to climb - a skill she'd honed in her free time even before her change - and as soon as she hit the roof, the limo exploded. "Whoa!" Thank you a lot, Ms. Morris.

Anything I can do to help one of my students. Colin and Peter have found Brandon, unconsious just a few blocks east. Meet up with them, and then go to four-five-four-six Grandborough Avenue, in Haven's Court.

Korra nodded, then ran the rooftops until she found her friends, knelt down beside the now semi-conscious Brandon. She landed by them and then sat down on the back step of a music store. Brandon looked like he'd been run over by a garbage truck, then left in the sewer. He was clean, he just looked like crap.

"Anybody get the license number of that semi that ran me down?" Brandon asked, making Korra giggle. She'd thought the exact same thing. "And where's Monica?"

Colin said, "I was about to ask you the same question. What happened?"

Brandon shook his head. "I don't know. I blacked out after we got away from the limo. I don't even remember the limo."

"What do you remember?"

"Monica telling me that we had to get away. Then we ran, and I blacked out again. After that, I woke up to you guys."

Ms. Morris' voice filled all their heads. This is a disturbing development. It means they have their own telepath.

Colin asked, "What do we do now?"

Be cautious. Brandon's experience sounds like similar experiences cropping up about other telepaths. If that's the case, then Monica may not be acting of her own will. She'll need to be taken down without any harm done to her.

Korra said, "I'm doing better with my knock-out blasts."

Colin rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know."

Good. That's our play, then. Peter and Colin will distract Monica, while Korra will knock her unconscious.

Brandon tried to get up, then landed on his ass again. Colin put his hand on Brandon's chest. "What about me?" Brandon asked.

You're in no condition to help, Brandon, I'm sorry. You've been weakened, and your safety is at risk.

"What about Monica's safety? This is my fault!"

Korra stood up and walked over to Brandon. "It's not your fault. Whoever these guys were, they used you. We'll take care of it, nobody's holding it against you."

Listen to Korra, Brandon. She's absolutely right about it.

Brandon closed his eyes and nodded his head, slowly. "Fine," he said, through gritted teeth. Korra felt a little better.

Colin asked. "Are we going to find these guys at four-five-four-six Grandborough?"

I'm not sure. But you'll aid the other team in their search. They seem to believe they've found who they're looking for, and I can't help but think these two events are related.

Peter asked, "What other team?"

***

Knight stood on the ledge overlooking the warehouse that Angel had led them to. He was waiting for the rest of the team, alongside Angel and Blackhole, who both beat him there. Guardian and Terror had yet to arrive.

"So," Blackhole said, "I came here with my black holes, and Angel... well... flew," he heard Angel giggle at that remark, "but how did you get here? You have some sort of Batmobile, or something?"

Knight rolled his eyes. "It's called the Chariot."

"Oh! I get it! Knight, Chariot. Real creative."

Guardian landed beside Angel. "So, this place is it?"

"So Angel tells us," Knight said.

Guardian turned to Angel. "What is this place?"

She sighed. "All I can tell you is that this is the place. I can't say anymore."

"Secrets can kill people," Terror said. Knight had noticed her climbing up the building using window ledges.

Angel nodded. "Not my secrets. They keep people alive."

"Whether you believe her or not," Knight said, turning to his team, "Angel's telling the truth."

Guardian folded his arms across his chest. "It's not important right now. We're all here, let's get inside, now."

Knight shook his head. "We're still waiting."

"For what?" Blackhole asked.

"The rest of the team."

Terror counted them, then gave a confused look. "There's five of us here, there's always been five of us."

"Remember the associate I spoke of? Her team is on the way."

***

Brandon finally managed to stand about ten minutes after his friends left, and then fell back down again. He couldn't figure out why he was in such pain. He needed to think, to clear his head, but even that was difficult. He couldn't seem to focus.

"Y'know, having a lady talk to you, in your mind no less, can be a pretty weird experience when you've only ever seen this person through a window that you had to sneak up to a place to know about anyway."

Brandon looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a girl with long brown hair, wearing an odd outfit predominantly yellow and black, but there were red stripes under the arms. Her mask looked almost like a direct plagurism of Spider-Man's mask, save for the colors. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You can thank your super special telepathic cripple boss for that." The girl dropped from the thread she'd been hanging from. "I came to help you get back to your mansion out of town. Our ride should be here in just about..." She held up her arm and pretended to look at a watch, then a car pulled up at the edge of the alley. "Oh, now." The girl helped him to his feet and fireman's carried him to the car. She helped him into the car and then hopped around to the passenger's side. She slipped in through the window and then pulled off her mask. "Okay, Dad, we can go."

Brandon recognized the driver as the police officer that had arrived with Monica and Colin. "Officer Harkins?" he asked, weakly.

"Captain Harkins, to those of you that aren't the commissioner, or the chief of police," the cop answered. "You're just lucky that boss of yours has a direct line to my daughter's head."

The girl spun around in her seat. "What he means is that I was called away from spending time with my boyfriend, and he's happy."

"You're Arachnya," Brandon said.

"Yeah, but you can call me Charlie. I'm also a full-time photographer, semi-part-time reporter at the Daily News Brigade."

"Why did Ms. Morris call on you to help me?"

"Because I was in the neighborhood. Lucky you, so was my dad."

Captain Harkins added, "Her little boyfriend that I haven't met yet lives around here somewhere."

"Hey," Brandon said, "can you guys keep it down a little? It feels like I've got a mega hangover."

Charlie plopped back in her seat. "Trust me, you have no idea what a hangover feels like yet."

"How do you know?" Captain Harkins asked.

***

Knight saw as the first of Ms. Morris' students appeared, hopping over the opposite edge of the building. A young girl, shoulder-length dark red hair, wearing a yellow and black jacket and plain blue jeans, with a yellow bag slung around her shoulder. She didn't look to be any more than twelve or thirteen. After her was a boy about the same age, who ran at the speed of light. The last one to arrive was a very average looking young man, in his late teens.

Knight stepped forward and walked up to the older teen. "I take it you're in charge?" he asked the boy.

"We're a team, none of us is really in charge."

"And the others?"

"Quake and Tremor are out of commission. Quake was kidnapped by someone, and Tremor's been attacked."

"Quake? Tremor?" Blackhole asked. "Pretty goofy names, kid."

Knight turned toward Blackhole. "They came from the same creatures that created you, too." He turned back to the boy. "So, what can we call you three?"

He pointed at the runner. "Feet." Now at the girl. "Spark." Then at himself. "Hold-Up."

Knight nodded. "Welcome. I hope you're ready to get your hands dirty. This fight may not end well."

Almost as if on cue, the wall of the warehouse they'd been watching exploded. Knight ducked down and watched as four people walked out from the whole in the wall. A man, who he recognized as GoldenEye; two older women, Necro and Port; and then one younger woman, who Knight realized was Quake. Behind them were twelve more of the robots that Guardian had fought.

What the hell? Knight asked himself. He stood back up and stood ready. He watched GoldenEye grab Quake by the arm, then point to the group of costumed heroes standing atop the building. She walked forward, held out one hand, and the roof they were on burst in a circle around them, dropping them twelve feet down to the top-most floor.

***

I did what GoldenEye asked, then I scowled at him. I'd just attacked a group of heroes, and I wanted to hurl. Port made herself scarce, probably teleporting up to the building where everybody was. I just stood there, arms folded under my breasts, and waited for this all to be over. Whatever it was the Benefactor wanted me to do, he told no one other than GoldenEye.

A cube van pulled up to us and most of the robots hopped in the back. I was about to, but GoldenEye stopped me. "Wait," he said.

Then something hit him in the chest.

Feet stopped about two feet in front of me and waved his hand. Necro just about grabbed him, but he sped away just as quickly. Great. My friends were here, too. I looked up at the building and watched Guardian rise up, holding Port by the neck. After that, a big hole appeared in front of Necro and I, and a guy in a white suit stepped forward. A woman in a black dress and cape walked out behind him, alongside Hold-Up. That woman with the Angel wings that I met last week flew up from the building's roof, and then Spark jumped up onto the building ledge. The last one to move was a guy who appeared to have a Batman complex.

And there we were, in the middle of a super-powered Mexican stand-off.

Oh... shit.

***

Spark held her hand open and created a ball of electricity about the size of a grenade. In fact, that was pretty much what it was. She threw it in the back of the cube van with all the robots in it and five seconds later, there were a dozen very pissed off robots crawling out of the remains of a cube van. Oh... yay. That may have done more harm than good. She jumped up into the air and landed on a near-by power line, then slid across it and jumped off, landing on the street.

Two of the robots ran after her, laser beams shooting out of their eyes. She dodged them, shot electricity from her fingers at them, but it didn't seem to do much besides anger the robots. She almost thought she heard them growling as she dodged past them and ended up closer to the van. The two robots turned around and focused their lasers back on her, forcing her to jump on top of the van.

Spark created two electricity grenades and threw them at the robots. The grenades stuck to the machines like they were covered in duct tape, and then they exploded. Two down, ten to go.

***

Guardian held the woman known as Port by the neck and threw her up into the air. He knew she would just teleport away, and that was exactly what she did, grabbing onto his leg and pulling him down until he managed to regain his balance. He tried kicking her off, but she just teleported to a different part of him and kept causing him to fall further and further to the ground.

"This isn't working," he said, then he grabbed her by her hair. He lifted her up again and held her face to face. "Pull me down any further, I'll burn holes in your stomach."

"Not very boy scout of you," she growled at him.

He smiled. "Girl scouts, actually." He threw her again, this time she teleported down to the ground, out of his reach. Good girl.

***

Knight threw two boomerang blades at the nearest robot. He then jumped on another and turned its head to direct its laser beams at the one he'd thrown the blades at. Once the first one was destroyed, he twisted the head off of the second one and threw it up in the air, where Guardian grabbed it and crushed it in his hands.

Knight looked around and didn't see GoldenEye standing anywhere among the chaos. Where did he go? he asked himself. His concentration was then divided between that question and the robot fist about to take his face off. He ducked out of the way and planted an explosive on the robot's chest, then pressed the button on his gauntlet.

This was already turning into a nightmare.

***

The woman known to them as Necro was about to hit Terror in the face when she focused her powers on Necro's brain. She saw what Necro saw, and Necro saw worms spilling from every orafice in her body. She fell to her knees and tried to stop the worms from escaping, but it didn't seem to be working. She screamed in pain as the worms began to burst from her mouth, it probably felt to her like they were filling her lungs.

Terror looked around for the ringleader, the man known as GoldenEye, but she didn't see him. Something was up about that.

***

Feet sped inside the warehouse after Quake, but he didn't see her. He stopped and looked around, only to be smacked in the face by a metal arm. He looked up and saw one of those robots standing over him. Just before the robot made contact with him again, he moved. Then again, and again, and again, until the robot eventually stopped trying to hit him, then he stopped and made a face at the robot, only to get kicked in the back of the head by a second robot.

"Aw, crap..."

The first robot was suddenly lifted up into the air, and then thrown at the opposite wall. Feet turned to see Hold-Up standing there, reaching out with his powers. He grabbed the second robot and just managed to get it in the air before it exploded.

Both boys looked to see what had happened, only to see Quake standing there, a very angry look on her face. "C'mon, guys. There's an asshole with gold eyes that we've got to beat the crap out of."

***

Blackhole used his powers to get up into the air where Guardian was, and opened a hole for Guardian to throw some damaged robots into. "This is kinda fun, ain't it?" he asked.

Guardian gave him a look. "Fun?"

"Hey, last week, I wasn't doing anything with my powers. Now, we're beatin' down evil robots."

Guardian punched a hole into the face of the latest robot. "Maybe. At least they're not humans." He tossed the robot into the hole. "That looks like all of them."

Blackhole looked around. "Where'd Angel go?"

***

GoldenEye just made it inside the room before Svetlana shut the door. "You almost didn't make it."

He made a face. "Svetlana, my dear, have I ever let you down?"

A third voice entered the conversation, "No, but you've let me down." Between them, the angel she'd seen at the bank suddenly lowered herself down to the floor. "Both of you." Svetlana pulled a gun, but the angel knocked it out of her hand with one wing. "Don't," the angel said.

"How about you stop taking my gun away and let me shoot you, and I'll be just fine?" Svetlana asked.

The angel rolled her eyes and sighed, then turned to GoldenEye. "Has this been your plan this whole time, Trevor? Cause chaos on a grand scale to distract the heroes of East City, then slip away? You weren't this cowardly when you were a simple choir girl, afraid of the slightest hint at violence."

Svetlana laughed. "Choir girl? That's impressive!"

The angel turned back to her. "And you, Svetlana? Running isn't in your blood. Not when you were a young boy, on the streets of Stalingrad. You'd killed seventeen KGB before you were ten, and managed to keep yourself out of the public spotlight. What about your Benefactor changed your tune?"

GoldenEye had procured a baseball bat from somewhere (Svetlana had had her attention focused squarely on the angel), and while her back was turned, hit the angel in the back of the head with it. "I'm tired of hearing this!" he shouted. He hit her in the side. "It's time for you to die, Angel!"

In the second it took Svetlana to blink, the door was spread open by invisible hands, and then GoldenEye's baseball bat exploded in a shower of splinters. Another blink, and suddenly Svetlana was pushed up against the computer console she'd been standing in front of. The boy looked no older than a pre-teen.

Quake walked in and punched GoldenEye right in the jaw.

***

After the punch, I kicked him in the gut. He doubled over, and then I kneed him in the face. A spin-kick later and he fell against a computer console on the wall opposite the door. I grabbed him by the collar and hit him in the face two more times, then shoved him against the computer. Sparks flew all over the floor. "That's for making me hurt my friends, you sonuvabitch!" I picked him up by the collar again. "Where's he at?! Where's your precious Benefactor?! I wanna beat the shit out of him for using me and my friends!"

Hold-Up grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to pry me off of GoldenEye, but it didn't work. Finally, GoldenEye spat out some blood and then smiled that goddamned smile again. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I started feeding energy through my hands into his skin and was very ready to make his entire body explode.

***

Angel regained consciousness just in time to stop Quake from doing the very thing that she'd joined Knight's team to stop. She grabbed Quake and slammed her against the wall beside the damaged door. "Stop," she said, her voice calm, "this can't be undone."

Quake was fuming. "I don't want to undo this! I want that bastard dead!"

Angel nodded. "I understand, but if you do this, thousands will suffer."

"What?!"

She sighed. "It's hard to understand, but it's true. I'll explain it to you, someday. Today, we need to take these three in, and let the law take care of them. I'll help them withstand the Benefactor's mind control, they won't escape this time."

Tears were streaking down Quake's face. "They used me... Twice..."

Angel hugged the teenager. "I understand. I'm sorry. They'll pay for their crimes, though, you don't have to worry." And Angel prayed that she was telling the girl the truth.

***

Brandon looked at the television screen and watched as three Chosen were placed in cop cars, and a whole lot of destroyed robots were tossed in a garbage truck. He watched as the news crew took the microphone around to each of the heroes, including Monica, and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want her to go down just for saving his life.

Everything's worked out fine, Brandon, Ms. Morris' voice filled his thoughts, we'll all be together again, soon.

***

Spark sat on top of a street light and looked out at the whole of the crowd that had gathered to talk to each of them. She smiled. Hey, first time out in public as a super hero, and I help save the day. I feel like celebrating.

She jumped down from the street light and was about to join her friends when she caught sight of two people worming their way through the crowd. No way. She made her way toward the police line and then stood face to face with her parents. She knew, somehow, that they somehow knew who she was. She then felt extremely sad. "I'm sorry I ran away," she said.

Her mother slid around the sawhorse and embraced her in a hug that Korra Reston had never felt when she was Josh Reston, and Korra returned the hug, with tears streaming down her face. "Don't you say you're sorry again," her mother said, "you don't ever have a reason to be sorry."

***

I rubbed at my arm as I sat on the trunk of my aunt's car. She was standing before me, a smile on her face that I don't think I've seen since before the day she bailed me out of jail, a month ago. A lot had happened to me since then. "You did good here today, Monica," she said.

"I nearly killed a guy."

"But Angel stopped you."

"She almost couldn't. The whole time she was talking to me, I wanted to blow that guy up."

Aunt Holly sat down beside me. "You wouldn't have."

I laughed. "How do you know? I killed a limo driver earlier today."

She patted me on the head. "You killed a guy kidnapping you earlier today. Self-defense, the biggest plea I hear in the courtrooms these days."

I laughed again. "You think that'd hold up?"

"It won't have to."

I leaned my head against my aunt's shoulder, and she wrapped an arm around my waist, and I felt good, for the first time in a month.

***

Gustav Hammond admired the video set-up that Cloak had in his secret lair. He had to admit, the Benefactor was quite the man to work with. "I assume this whole thing was all part of your grand plan?" Gustav asked.

He turned around and saw the Benefactor standing at the railing, much like he always seemed to be. The Benefactor didn't turn to look at him. "Of course it is. It's taken over two hundred centuries to perfect, but everything I do is a part of the plan."

Gustav walked up beside the Benefactor. "It must be one helluva plan, if losing twice is a good thing."

The Benefactor smiled. "Not good, no. Great." He slapped Gustav on the back. "Brilliant things are coming, Gustav, and the Chosen won't know what hit 'em." His smile widened. "Or who."

Crawlin' on the Walls

When did it happen? When did I, the spider-powered teenage daughter who hasn't really gotten along with her mother since the moment she became the spider-powered teenage daughter become her mother's messenger? When? Why was I standing in front of the precinct, about to walk inside and tell my dad that Mom was angry with him for staying at work late, when I knew exactly why he was staying late, and so did she, if she would just read a freaking newspaper every once in awhile. If for no other reason than to congratulate her daughter on the excellent pictures she was taking for the Brigade!

But, alas, there I was, about to walk in the door when, lo and behold, Dad walks out anyway. Behind him are Detective Montoya, Frank's a-hole cousin Colin, and the girl who bumped into me at school the other day, Quake herself. I didn't let on like I knew it at the time, but even with the haircut and dye, I could still tell it was her. She hadn't done anything wrong in the past three weeks, so I assumed she was on the straight and narrow, now.

I folded my arms under my breasts. "Mom's pissed at you again, Dad," I said to my bewildered father.

He walked up to me and set his hands on my shoulders, in a reassuring sort of I'll comfort ya, kid way, despite the fact that I didn't really need comforting. "What is it this time? Did I leave my aftershave in the shower again?"

I shook my head. "Something about working late for the third night in a row."

He sighed. "Look, kiddo, I'll duke it out with your mother when I get home tonight. Right now, I have to get going."

I looked back over at the group he walked out with. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"Sorry, sweetie." He tapped my press badge, already hanging from around neck for work. "Not something I can tell a distinguished member of the Brigade."

I sighed. "Just because I've helped out on a few stories doesn't mean I'm a reporter, I'm still just a photographer."

"Still. I can't tell you, it's offical police business."

"Including your old partner, Frank's cousin, and Quake?"

"Look, snookums, just get to work, okay? I'm sure this'll end up in the news at some point. Whatever the hell it is we're gonna find at where ever we're going is likely to come out to the press or something. Just be patient, okay?"

I noticed that Quake looked over at Detective Montoya, and then Detective Montoya looked away from her. I wondered what that was all about. Were they related? They looked kind of similar, like they could be aunt and niece, or maybe cousins. Still, I wondered what that look/look away thing was about.

I sighed, then said, "Okay, Dad. See ya when you get home." I gave him a hug, and noticed once again that Quake looked very uncomfortable. After that, I turned, walked away, and ducked into an alley. I pulled out my phone and called Ms. Adamsen. "Hey, Ms. Adamsen, is it okay if I skip work today? I'm feeling a little crampy."

"Okay, Charlie. I can get Timmy to help me. If it's that bad that you've gotta skip work, you should stay somewhere cool, though. This heat probably makes that period pain feel like torture."

I nervously laughed. "Yeah. I hope I'm feeling better tomorrow. Bye." I hung up, after that. It wasn't a total lie. This was my first period, but it wasn't as horrible as Cindy and Frank were trying to lead me to believe it was. I'm sure they were joking about it. I reached into my backpack and slipped into my costume. Time to follow the coppers.

The majority of their trip to where ever the hell they were going was in the city, and near some of the taller buildings. It was pretty easy to stay out of their sight. When we got into the more countryside-like roads, it started getting trickier. Thankfully, there were plenty of trees to hide behind, otherwise I would've had to turn back and actually wait for Dad to tell me some other time. That just wasn't happening.

They arrived, and then I arrived, at this big creppy house on Westmoreland Avenue. I waited until they each entered the house before I hopped onto the walls and looked for a window that overlooked where they were. It didn't take long, but long enough for me to see that a woman confined to a wheelchair and the decent-looking guy that pushed her around had entered the room. I stuck my ear to the window to listen to what they were saying.

The woman spoke in a weird Stephen Hawking-like voice. "Welcome, all of you. I apologize for not getting up or shaking hands."

Dad was the first to talk to her: "I assume you're the woman who called the kids to you?"

Called the kids? How? This woman didn't seem to be capable of moving a pinky, how did she call them? Telepathy? Actually, now that there are people with super powers out there, that actually could be how she called them. Wait, why didn't she call me?! I'm a teenager with super powers, too!

The woman answered, "Yes, I am. My name is Erica Morris. You are Captain Henry Harkins, your daughter is Charlotte Harkins, who calls herself Arachnya."

Oh, hey, she knows me. Granted, cameramen catch glimpses of me for TV news all the time, plus people my 'name' is getting spread around pretty quickly. Then there's that possibility that she could have telepathy, so, why not? She may have read my mind when I was asleep. Okay, that seems pretty damn creepy.

Dad nodded to her. "I am. Gotta tell you, though, the voice thing is a little creepy."

Good work, Dad. Glad to know my apple didn't fall far from your tree.

The woman's voice synthesizer let out the most disturbing approximation of laughter that I hope I never, ever hear again. "I understand, Captain. It has taken me all three weeks since the Event to get used to it."

Quake spoke up, this time, "You mean, you weren't like this before you were a Chosen?"

Mr. Handsome (I'm not ashamed to admit I'm starting to get attracted to guys; granted, I'm mainly sticking to Tim, because he's actually a pretty nice guy, but this is a story for another place and time) answered, "Ms. Morris' gift left her this way. She almost instantly reached out to me so that she could have a sort-of liason with everyone else."

"Thank you, Brandon. Do not be alarmed, Monica. It is something very easy to get used to."

Monica. So that was Quake's real name. Monica. Monica, Monica, Monica... Oh, yeah! She's in my calculus class. Monica Montoya. So she's probably Detective Montoya's niece, since I know she doesn't have any kids.

Frank's dumbass cousin, Colin asked, "Why'd you call us here, anyway?"

Mr. Handsome Brandon turned the woman's chair toward Colin slightly. "I prefer to explain that when everyone is here. I do not wish to repeat myself too often. You can understand why." After that, she looked up, toward me. I ducked out of sight, but still did my best to listen in. "There are still two more on the way."

Two more? Who could the two more be, if I wasn't one of them? Great, I'm a third wheel before the other two even show up. Or is that fifth wheel? I always get those so confused.

***

I waited, and I waited, and I waited, and nothing happened. Well, at least until Dad walked out of the house and answered his phone. After that, he burst back into the house shouting something about a bank robbery, and then he and Detective Montoya rushed out to the car. Neither Colin or Quake followed them, but I didn't want to wait around forever to see what was going on. I followed my dad.

It didn't take long to find the bank once I made it back into the city. There were dozens of cops around it, and smoke billowing out of an opening in the wall. I decided to open up a vent shaft and slip in that way.

I spotted Guardian beating up on a guy in the bank vault and decided not to help. He looked like he had everything under control. Instead, I moved on a little further and found myself in the middle of a weird situation. Angel was standing there watching this man in white and a woman in a black dress and cape, who were standing over a woman in skin-tight black leather. I don't know how she wore that without feeling extremely uncomfortable. Granted, I've been female for three weeks, this woman could have been female her whole life.

The man in white walked up to the woman in black, who was kneeling over the woman in leather. "Terror," he said, "let her go. She's had it. Guardian's taking care of the other one, we've done our job."

The woman - Terror, apparently - stood up. "Alright. She's not much fun, anyway." She then waved her hand, and, well, nothing happened. Nothing that I could see, anyway. Maybe something did happen, I don't know. Either way, the man and the woman walked into the vault to help Guardian.

The woman in leather stood up and looked over at Angel, That was when I found out that Leather Woman was, in fact, Ms. Nasty Russian-American Bitch! She bamfed over to Angel and, of course, a fight ensued. Angel did quite a good job dodging Ms. NRAB's attacks, then decided to throw it in her face by saying, "I'm not much of a fighter, but I can hold my own." Then, almost annoyingly, Ms. NRAB decided to get the drop on her and drop her, by leg sweeping her.

I lowered myself on a webline while Ms. NRAB bamfed over to a gun lying on the floor, picked it up, and then bamfed back over to Angel. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, I shot a web at the gun and yanked it out of her hand. She turned to me and I imagine she scowled under that ski mask she was wearing.

"Aw, did you miss me?" I asked, my tone playful. "Oh, and silly me, I forgot to bring a chew toy!" I made a small ball out of webbing and threw it at Ms. NRAB's face. She went down like I'd thrown a rock at her head.  "My God, didn't your master teach you any good tricks? Fetch was the first thing I ever taught my dogs!"

Guardian, White Suit Man and Black Dress Woman all brought out whoever the hell it was that Guardian was beating up. Angel had picked herself back up at some point, and didn't look too hurt, just a little scuffed up. Guardian picked up Ms. NRAB and we all walked out of the bank and were greeted by the not-so-smiling face of my dad.

"So," he said, "everything settled?" He jerked his thumb to the mass of cops running around doing things. "Ever think to let the uniformed police officers do their jobs?"

I slid back behind everybody else, away from the accusing eyes of Dad. He was damn good at that. Guardian was the first to speak, "I'm sorry, Captain Harkins. The police hadn't arrived by the time I did, so I took it upon myself to help."

Dad acknowledged White Suit Man and Black Dress Woman. "And what about Penn and Teller over there?"

White Suit Man answered, "Sorry, officer. You can call me Blackhole, and this," he waved his hand toward Black Dress Woman, "is Terror. We're a team act."

"Uh-huh." He turned to me, now. Oooooh, boy. "And you?"

I stammered, "I'm... um..." and then I jumped up, shot out a webline and said, "Late for something important!" as I swung away from the scene. I needed to get away from Dad, otherwise I might accidentally out myself as Captain Harkins' teenage daughter. Not his fault, I was just really frickin' nervous.

***

I swapped out my Arachnya outfit for my normal clothes, and grateful for it, too. It was kinda hot in that costume. I pulled my camera and my press badge out of my backpack and walked into the Brigade to head to work, like I told Dad I was doing a while ago. Good work, Charlie, you lied to your dad, screwed up a police operation and now -

"Charlie! C'mon!" Ms. Adamsen said, grabbing me by the arm, "You're late for work, and we need to get out to a crime scene and interview people right now!"

I sighed. Great. Right back to where I really needed to be away from. Thanks, boss. Actually, why the hell did I show up at work? I told Ms. Adamsen that I was cramping, why did I even go to the Brigade anyway?

***

I walked home in silence, not even talking to Timmy, despite the fact that he walked me home. I thanked him when we got my apartment building, but other than that, no words. Good work treating your boyfriend like crap, Charlie. You're doing everything right today.

Mom was the only one in the living room when I got up to the seventh floor. She wasn't exactly happy with me. Guess she saw it on the news. I just sighed, didn't say anything, and walked into my bedroom. I didn't even wait for Dad to get home, I just got ready for bed and laid down with the lights off. I was feeling really down.

So, of course, Dad just walked into my room and sat down beside my bed. Didn't even turn the lights on. I just laid there, didn't say anything to him.

"I know you're awake, Charlie, you don't have to pretend to be asleep," he said. He still didn't turn the lights on. I didn't mind. "Okay, don't talk. Just listen." He propped his feet up on my bed. "When I set off for that house on Westmoreland, I told you to get to work. I didn't tell you to follow us and listen in on a conversation you weren't invited to."

I turned to face him, even in the dark. Still didn't say anything.

"I understand why you showed up at the bank, that's just the choice you made when you decided to be Arachnya, I'm not mad at you about that, even though your mother is. I just want to know why you disobeyed me and follwed me to that mansion."

I sighed. "I... was curious."

"Curious?"

"Yeah. Curious. I didn't understand why a bunch of kids my age with super powers were being called to that house when I wasn't."

"Look, sweetie, sometimes, it's not about you."

I rolled my eyes. "I know that, Dad. When I saw Quake, I thought it was some sort of rehabilitation thing, but then I saw Colin, and I knew he hadn't robbed a bank since this all started, so I wanted to know what those specific kids were being called for."

He leaned back. "It's... well... Sweetie, I'm starting to get grateful for all those comic movies you dragged me to, it's an X-Men sort of thing."

I sat up. "Wait, Stephen Hawking's wife is a telepath?"

He nodded. "Stephen Hawking...? um... Yeah, she's a telepath. Obviously, there's something you've got that those kids don't, and she wants to help them find it." He patted me on the head. "Be happy, honey, you're a more complete Chosen than they are." He stood up and walked to the door. "Oh, and next time I tell you to go to work, Go. To. Work."

I smiled. "Okay, Daddy." He smiled back at me, then he left the room. Y'know, now that I think of it, I don't know how the hell we each saw that, the lights were off the whole time.

Either way, after a crappy afternoon and an evening of crap, I went to sleep a much happier person.

Movie Magic

"What exactly do you mean, Mr. Saul," Dad asked, not even caring how increasingly red-faced I was getting listening to this whole thing.

"I didn't mean anything, I was just saying that - "

"You were just saying that my police force is useless now that there are super heroes on the scene, right?" Dad leaned forward in his seat. "That's not exactly something I like to hear, I hope you know."

I felt like I was about to die. There was Timmy - sweet, good-natured, innocent, never-wanted-to-piss-off-my-Dad Timmy - practically being beaten with a night stick. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt, and that was really uncomfortable. I almost wanted to just get up and go, but I didn't want to leave Tim there to get roasted by my dad without me there.

And so, I sat there, nervously eating my fish all the while Dad kept it up. "I understand that you kids like all these super heroes that keep popping up, but the police force is just as necessary as it always has been."

Tim looked away from Dad. "I didn't say that the cops were useless, just that - "

"Just that all we have to do now is sit in our offices and twiddle our thumbs while people like Guardian, or Knight, or Angel - " Or Arachnya! Say my name! " - do our job, but we can't do that."

I almost wanted to cry, and it was more for Tim than it was for me.

"Sir, I really wasn't trying to say that you guys don't do your part, because you absolutely do, but there are things that the cops can't handle, and I don't see - "

And Dad cut him off again. "Don't see what? Why we don't just run around and change all the diapers of the people pissing themselves while the super people fight?"

I looked over at Mom, who gave me the most sympathetic look she's given me since I started swinging around town on webs that come out of my skin. She must have gone through something similar with her parents when they met her first boyfriend. Who just so happened to be my dad, actually.

Eventually, I just couldn't take it. I stood up and slammed my fist down on the table and nearly yelled, "Dad!" After that, all three of the people still sitting just stared at me. It took me a few seconds to realize that they were waiting for me to drop the other shoe, so I more calmly said, "Let's go for a walk, Tim."

***

"I can't believe him!" I screamed, probably blowing out Timmy's ears. "You didn't do anything, and there he was, just ramming your head against the wall for nothing!"

"Charlie," he said.

But I ignored him, for some reason. Good work, Charlie, don't try to help him while your dad's reaming him, and then ignore him when he's trying to talk to you, just treat your boyfriend like crap, why don'tcha? "He's never like that when any of my other friends are there, but all of a sudden, just because it's you, he goes out of his way to make you feel like crap!"

"Charlie," he said again, a little louder.

And, again, I ignored him. Stupid, stupid, stupid! "Run you down just because he doesn't like that I actually met a guy that I like! What is it with cops for dads, they're always crappy with their daughters' boyfriends! All we were supposed to do was have a normal, pleasant meal, and he goes and thinks you're questioning his manhood, or something! Jesus Chri - "

"Charlie!" Timmy yelled, finally snapping me out of my Angry-At-My-Dad stupor.

"Huh?" I kind of whimpered out.

"It's okay. Obviously, I said something wrong and set your dad off, my bad. I'm sorry." He said that with a smile on his face. I'm not even joking. This guy who should be angry at both my dad and especially me, and he was smiling. The only thing I could do was nervously smile alongside him. "I just hope that he doesn't hold it against me."

"I'm not gonna let him hold it against you. My dad listens to me, believe it or not."

Tim chuckled a little. "I'll bet."

A thought crossed my mind. I grabbed Timmy by the arm and started dragging him along with me until we got to Granger Park. I kept dragging him along until we got to the lake, where I practically threw him to the ground and then sat down beside him. "I love coming here," I said, probably surprising the hell out of Tim.

In fact, he had a very confused look on his face. "Is there a reason we're here?"

I shrugged. "I wanted to go for a walk, and this is my favorite place to go to." Well, outside web-swinging around the city looking for petty crooks to beat up. That's always fun.

"And why did you shove me down?"

"To sit beside you. On the ground. By the lake. It's a romantic thing." Boy, listen to me. I sound like I know what I'm doing.

He sighed. "I guess that's a good thing, then."

Y'know that feeling? That feeling that you get, when you know you're about to kiss the first guy you've ever felt a connection with? It's one of the most feminine of feelings, like you just wanna close your eyes and hope to God that the guy who's kissing you doesn't do the same and accidentally kiss your nose or your chin. It's probably the best feeling a girl who's trying to save herself for marriage can have.

This. This was not that feeling.

Nope. Instead, it was my spider-sense, making me aware of the fact that a car was about to land on us. I rolled over, on top of Timmy, and then made us roll around on the ground until we were out of the path of the flying, flaming vehicle, and when it hit, Timmy just did a double take at the spot we'd just been laying on.

"Whoa!" I said, trying to fake surprise. "Good thing I wanted to roll around in the grass with you!" I wasn't even convincing myself, how the hell could I convince him? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why was I being so stupid?

Timmy gave me a weird look. "Did you... did you know that was gonna happen?"

I shook my head so very rapidly that I almost ripped my own head off, I'm sure. "Nonononono! I had no idea that was gonna happen!"

"You... You're Arachnya, aren't you?"

My eyes opened wide. "What?!"

***

And with the explosion of the car to the side of us, I woke up. At some point during that horrendous dream, I grabbed my pillow and started chewing on it. Ughghgh... I can't believe I did that. Would that dream actually be how I handle telling whatever guy I'm dating at that time that I'm a costumed super hero? I hoped not. That was horrible.

I looked to my left and realized that I'd left my alarm on, despite the fact that it was the weekend. I sat on my bed, looked out the window, and realized that this was my first day off since I started working at the Brigade. And how do I plan on spending it? You guessed it, web-swinging!

But first, I needed some breakfast. I slipped a shirt and a pair of shorts on and walked out into the kitchen, where Mom and Dad were sitting across the table from one another, not saying anything to each other. This was a common thing before my super powers started making them drift apart, but it always felt worse now. And I always felt responsible. Kinda 'cause I was.

I sat down with a bowl and a cereal box. I'm one of those 'weird' people who doesn't eat cereal with milk. Sue me, I think cereal tastes just fine without milk. Mom, to my left, was eating some toast and eggs. She asked me if I wanted any, but I didn't, so I said no. I couldn't tell what Dad was eating because he was hidden behind a newspaper, but I could hear him crunching down on something.

I would have actually been eating my cereal if I hadn't caught sight of what was on the front page of Dad's newspaper:

MOVIE ICON JAMES CAMERON OPTIONS ARACHNYA FILM FOR SONY PICTURES

As if I had super speed, I snatched the news paper and practically glued my eyes to the article. Movie? About me?! Without my permission?! Well, technically, since no one but my family and friends know my secret identity and I'm don't own a trademark on the name Arachnya, I don't exactly have to give them permission, but still!

"Charlie, what the hell?" Dad asked, spilled milk all down his shirt. Apparently he was also eating cereal. And I somehow got milk on his shirt. Good thing I helped Mom with the laundry yesterday.

I pointed at the newspaper. "This!"

Mom chuckled. "Look on the bright side. You're the first real super hero to get a movie based on her."

"But... but..." I stammered.

Dad patted me on the shoulder. "Kiddo, this sort of stuff happens all the time." He pointed at his shirt. "This, on the other hand, hasn't happened since you were little, when you thought my shirt was a jungle gym."

I blushed. "I was little. I was weird back then."

He raised an eyebrow. "You crawl on walls. You're weird now." He took the newspaper away from me and looked over the article. "Damn, they're pretty quick. They just announce it in yesterday's paper, they begin shooting today. How'd they get a script together so quickly? Eh, it's probably just a rejected Spider-Man script they slapped your name on. Looks like it's shooting here in town, too."

I jumped up onto the ceiling and looked down at the part he was reading. "Where?"

Mom half screamed/half whispered, "Charlotte Elaine Harkins, get off that ceiling right now!"

I dropped back down to the floor. Dad chuckled. "East side of town, Charlie." He set the paper down on the table. "Listen, baby, they're just innocent film makers, don't scare them off. After all that crap with Guardian and his group last week, this'll be good for the city." He took a sip of what was left of his milk. "Oh, and by the way. Sorry about getting into that argument with your boyfriend last night."

How had I forgotten about that? Oh, yeah, because I had a weird dream about it afterward. Everything that happened in the dream really happened, save for the car being thrown at us. And the rolling around in the grass part. We pretty much just took a walk through the park, where I apologized for Dad. How did I forget about that, again?

Oh well, I shrugged. "I apologized to him for you, Dad. He said he was sorry."

He sat back in his chair and pulled up the newspaper again. "Well, good. The kid did kinda get on my nerves. Talkin' about - "

"Dad!"

He smiled.

***

After slipping on my costume, I took a swing by the part of town where they were shooting the movie about me. I promised my dad that I wouldn't scare them into not making a movie about me, but I still wanted to make sure I was well represented, even if I wouldn't be in the movie.

Hmm... It would be cool to actually be in a movie about me, wouldn't it?

Of course it would. But I can't be. Unless I'm an extra. Maybe I should have taken the costume off and tried to be an extra.

Oh well, so, I was swinging. I landed on a billboard overlooking the shoot and watched as - and I'm not kidding - Tobey Maguire pulled off a crappy imitation of my mask and complained about how much he was sweating. I felt like there was steam coming out of my ears. I looked around and one of those camera cranes that you see almost any time you watch a DVD special feature about the making of a movie and I jumped onto that.

Off to one side, sitting in what appeared to be a repurposed barber's chair (with the word Director printed across the back with diamonds, I'm not even joking), James Cameron shouted, "Cut!" He stood up from his chair and walked over to the camera I was sitting on and folded his arms across his chest. "Can I get at least a little professional courtesy here? I don't need extras running around my location shoot, trying to get their fifteen minutes."

If he could see my face under the mask, he'd see me extremely confused. "Extra? I'm not an extra."

Someone walked up to him and handed him a clipboard. He flipped through a bunch of papers on it, then turned back to me and shook his head. "I can't seem to find female Arachnya cosplayer on my call sheet, here. So who the hell are you?"

I was getting mad. "I'm nah... I'm... I'm not a freaking cosplayer! I am Arachnya!"

He looked at me for a long time, then shook his head. "Nope. I don't think so. You see, last we saw on the news, Arachnya's a guy."

I seriously wanted to throw something at him. "A name like Arachnya and you think I'm a guy?!"

Tobey raised his hand. "In my defense, I did tell the studio that you were female."

I looked over at him. "I'd forgive you if Spider-Man 3 hadn't sucked." I turned back to Cameron. "And you, what was with that three hour piece of overgrown Smurf trash?! How is it a movie gets made about me, and they put you in charge of it?!"

Cameron shrugged. "Sony apologizing for pulling the Spider-Man rights away from me?"

I narrowed my eyes under my mask. "Your Spider-Man would have sucked harder than Spider-Man 3 or Elektra." Everyone in the area turned their heads when an explosion went off a block and a half away. I turned back to Cameron and said, "If I didn't have to go take care of that, I'd so web your ass to a flag pole." I turned toward the direction of the explosion and shot a webline, then swung away.

***

Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Jenkins were standing guard while Mr. Scott walked inside the building and grabbed the nearest sorter by the collar. "I need to see your manifests," Scott said, adding pressure by pressing the barrel of his gun to the man's temple.

The man was sweating up a storm. He had closed his eyes. "This is a post office, man! What idiot robs a post office!"

Scott pulled the man closer. "We're not robbing you, simpleton. You sort and deliver mail to every address in East City, and we need to know them. Once we know them, we can finally - "

He was cut off by a young female voice. "What? Figure out which guy you accidentally sent that bag of sex toys to?" Scott spun around and saw a girl in a yellow and black costume hanging upside down from a web. Wilkins and Jenkins were both webbed up and hanging from a ceiling.

Scott aimed at the girl and fired three times, but the girl dodged each time. Once she landed on the floor, he fired again, but she dodged yet again. He couldn't figure out how she was doing it. "Stand still, you little bi - " Webbing over his mouth stopped him from talking.

"That's just rude! Here I am, just trying to stop you from committing a federal crime, and you call me such a mean word?! I'm just doing my extremely underpaying job!"

Scott ripped the webbing off of his face. "You're an abomination!"

The girl was sticking to the ceiling, looking down at him. "No, I'm a sixteen year old girl who just kicked your friends' butts, and I'm doing a pretty good job on you, too." He fired another salvo of bullets, but she dodged them again. "What are you guys, anyway? You're clearly not super powered, and you're robbing a post office, so you're obviously not very bright. What's your deal?"

Scott ejected his empty magazine and pulled out his billy club, then ran at the girl when she landed on the floor. She jumped out of the way yet again. "We're Humans Against Rising Powers, monster, and we're going to end your kind once and for all!"

***

I landed in front of him. "HARP? Your name is HARP? Look, my name is cool, my friend's name is also cool, another one I know is pretty cool, too. HARP? Nope, not cool." I webbed his feet to the floor. "How about you come up with something better?"

The guy was probably scowling under that ski mask, but I didn't really care. HARP, seriously. That's so stupid. He tried taking a swing at me, but he couldn't reach me, which made it just look funny. I was grinning like a three year old under my mask, but he couldn't see me. I shot a webline at his billy club and ripped it out of his hands. I caught and started tapping it against my shoulder. "Buddy, you are the stupidest criminal I've nabbed in the last five-and-a-half weeks."

I waited around until the cops arrived to take the three geniuses away. Dad wasn't there, but Ms. Adamsen and TImmy were. Good for him. Ever since I got hired, Ms. Adamsen took a real liking to me, and I became her favorite photographer while Tim got sidelined to Mr. Cabot. Lucky him, I've got the day off, so he gets to hang around with Ms. Adamsen today.

"Arachnya!" she shouted, running up to me with tape recorder in hand. Tim was struggling to keep up. "Arachnya! Can we get a few words."

I was just chilling out on the side of the building - sticking to the wall, of course - and slid down a little bit to talk to her. I hoped my mask was enough to make my voice sound kinda different. "Sure," I said. Hopefully, short responses would help.

"You've been active in the city ever since the Event, but this is the first time you've spoken to any members of the press, why is that?"

Thank God for the mask, because they couldn't see me nervously darting my eyes. "I'm a shy person," I answered.

"A shy person, you say? Why is that?"

I sighed, then pretended to look at a watch, shot a webline at a building. "Gotta go, 24's on." And I hightailed it out of there as fast as possible, back to that damn movie set.

***

Anna looked at Timmy, who was busy taking pictures of Arachnya as she swung away. "Isn't 24 on on Mondays?" she asked.

Timmy nodded, but he didn't answer. That had sounded familiar.

***

THE NEXT DAY:

Harkins couldn't believe it. He watched as the three thugs who trashed a post office walked out of his jail, having secured their bail. Whoever the hell was bankrolling them had to have more money than whoever the hell was bankrolling that quadriplegic telepath with her little gang of super kids. He took a sip of his coffee and then walked back over to his desk, which Charlie was sleeping on, with his coat covering her. He sighed.

Poor kid. After that post office thing she'd broken up, she'd gone home, where her mother had run her over the coals with all the worry she'd been feeling and all crap she had to put up with knowing that at any point in time, either her husband or her daughter may not come home for dinner, permanently. He'd been living with that ever since he'd met Melissa, but now she was dropping it all on Charlie, and the poor kid just didn't have the self-control to just take it and go to her room for a little while.

A young detective (his shield plus six days) stepped in the doorway and knocked on the open door. "Captain?" he whispered, walking into the room. Harkins motioned for him to come in and took the file folder the kid had. He still couldn't remember the kid's name. Biscuits, or something.

"What is it, Billings?" he asked, trying not to wake up the sleeping fifteen year old on his desk.

"Butters, sir."

"Butters. What is it?"

"Those HARP guys from yesterday. They're apparently a legitimate organization, been active since the Event." He reached over Charlie and opened the folder in Harkins' hands. "They're even operating overseas, too."

"You're kidding? These guys are international?" he asked, a little louder than he should have.

In her sleep, Charlie mumbled, "No I didn't have dinner for pancakes last Friturday..."

Butters raised an eyebrow. "Is she...?"

"She talks in her sleep. Used to walk, now she talks." He flipped a couple pages. "These guys fanatics, or something? 'Monsters of science'?"

Butters sighed. "We don't know, sir. All we do know is that Detective Montoya put in a call to Homeland Security, and they told us to back off."

It was Harkins' turn to sigh. "Great. Tell Holly to get in here ASAP, I wanna know what they told her." Butters nodded, then left the room. Harkins just set his cup of coffee down next to Charlie and prayed to God that she didn't roll over. He started reading the file, noticed the odd stamp in the corner. He couldn't quite make out the acronym printed there, wondered what it was.

Holly walked in and gave the sleeping girl on the desk a deeply saddened look. "She have a fight with her mom again?" Harkins nodded. "Poor kid. If that's what happens when you've gotta deal with a costume living with you, I'm glad Monica's got that Morris lady watching over her."

He tapped the stamp in the corner of the paper. "What's this, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't tell you. I'd just gotten off the phone with DHS and this guy in plain clothes walks in, weird looking badge on his belt, and hands me that file folder."

He looked up at her from the folder. Something weird was going on. "See any letters on the badge?" She shook her head. "Damn. Alright, DHS told us to lay off, we'll lay off." He looked at Charlie. "Maybe if she beats the crap out of them enough, they'll back off East City."

***

I was sitting at my desk at work, practically about to fall asleep. Sleeping on a desk isn't as comfortable or allows as restful a sleep as you'd think it would. I looked through Tim's pictures (of me, mostly, and by me I mean Arachnya) and couldn't believe what was very obvious in front of me: I looked fat in my costume. Fat! I clicked through all the pictures that I'd taken of Arachnya (and by taken, I mean had the camera somewhere near me on automatic) and I didn't look fat in any of those. I don't get it. He can take pictures that make Guardian look like a muscular Adonis in a gold and blue suit, but me, his own girlfriend, looks fat?!

"I can't believe this..." I said aloud.

"Can't believe what?" Ms. Adamsen asked. She grabbed a chair and rolled it over beside me. "Oh, those pictures Timmy took of Arachnya yesterday? I don't get it either, she doesn't look that fat in person."

Thank God somebody agrees with me! "I know. I met her, once. Most of the time, I just get her pictures from across the street, or on a rooftop, or something."

Ms. Adamsen patted me on the shoulder. "That's why you're one of the best shutterbugs we've had at the Brigade for years. You and Tim should be proud of yourselves for being so good so young. And thanks to that detective's instinct you've got courtesy of your dad, you're making a pretty damn good reporter, too."

I smiled. "Thanks."

She smiled, too. "Now, get your camera, we're gonna head out trolling for news stories. This city, nothing stays quiet forever."

I grabbed my camera off the corner of my desk and slung it around my neck. Just before we got to the elevator, Timmy stopped me. "Hey, Charlie, can I talk to you?"

Ms. Adamsen nodded. "Keep it short, though, kids. Charlie and I have to get out there and find some stories to throw onto the front page."

"Okay." He turned back to me. "Um... Sorry about everything that happened the other night."

I patted him on the shoulder. "I already told you not to worry about it. My dad said he was sorry, too."

"Can I see you after work?"

I nodded, gave him a smile, then hugged him and slid into the elevator with Ms. Adamsen. I felt pretty lucky to have him.

***

Scott punched whatever was closest to him when he got back to HARP Headquarters, and that just happened to be Wilkins. He was angry. They'd been defeated by a little girl in a ridiculous costume, and their attempt to learn the addresses of the city's freaks had failed. What would they do, now?

Jenkins handed him a phone. "This woman just called us, sir."

Scott took the phone and said, "I don't know who you are or what you want, but if you're calling to tell us that you can help, you're sorely mistaken." Whoever had been on the other side of the conversation quickly hung up, almost as if they'd had the wrong number. Scott let out a noise of disgust, then tossed the phone into his chair. "If somebody can get whoever the hell that was back on the phone, I'll be a very happy man."

Suddenly, Scott felt himself being lifted up off of the floor. He looked around and saw a stunningly gorgeous blonde woman walk into the room, some sort of device in her hands emitting a sort of low-level hum. She was smiling a wide smile. "I'm pretty sure I can help you."

Wilkins and Jenkins both held their sidearms to her head. Scott asked, "One of the freaks, huh?"

She was still smiling. "No. I'm a member of HARP, just like you." She relaxed her grip on whatever the device in her hand was. Scott fell to the floor, landing on his ass. "I decided that if the freaks could have powers, we needed some sort of edge over them." She held up her device. "This device mimics telekinesis. I have another one that creates miniature explosions, and a third that allows the user to walk through walls."

Scott stood up, walked over to the woman and took the device out of her hand. "Interesting. And Management allowed this?"

Her smile widened. "They showed a unique interest in my technological skills. The West Coast branch sent me out here because East City in particular seems to have a large concentration of freaks." She picked up the newspaper that had been laying on Scott's desk. "Plus, there's a movie filming here, celebrating one of the freaks. The very one that took your team down yesterday."

Now it was Scott's turn to smile. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"You can call me Ms. Harmony."

"Very well, Harmony. Welcome to the East City branch of HARP."

***

I yawned a little on the drive through the city. Ms. Adamsen chuckled at me. "Late night with Tim?"

I blushed. "No!" I then wanted to smack myself for sounding the way I did. "I mean... no. I actually didn't see Tim last night. I just... My mom and I have been having problems, so I went to the precinct and slept on my dad's desk. It's not all that comfortable."

"I see. I didn't have a good relationship with my mother, either, but you shouldn't push her away. Some day, she may be all you have to turn to."

I considered that, but I pushed it out of my mind. I hoped there didn't come a day when I didn't have my dad, until, y'know, he was like a hundred and seven and it was really his time to go. I looked out the window and then asked, "So, where are we going, anyway?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this. You read the news the other day about that Arachnya movie being filmed, right?" I simply nodded my head but I really wanted to growl or foam at the mouth. "Well, since the Brigade is East City's premiere newspaper, the best selling newspaper, they've allowed us an exclusive. The producers want you taking lots of pictures, so don't put that camera down until after you've taken a snapshot of every corner of that set."

I nodded again. This was gonna be a long day.

We pulled up to the set and I followed Ms. Adamsen up to the director. He shook hands with her, but ignored me. Gee, you haven't even 'met' me, and you treat me like crap. No wonder Terminator 2 was the only movie you made with a good cast, you must be a dick to everybody.

"Now, Mr. Cameron, why did you choose to film the movie here? Certainly you could have used some of that movie magic to make any other city look like East City."

He laughed. "I know, but I wanted some authenticity to this picture. Arachnya's an East City hero, and I felt the first movie made about him should be filmed in his hometown."

Ms. Adamsen raised an eyebrow. "Um, his? I don't know if you West Coast types know this or not, but Arachnya's female." Maybe now he'll listen, the dick.

"Really? Hmmm..." He turned to his left. "Judy! Get me Avi on the phone, I need to know why everybody's been telling me Arachnya's a guy!" He turned back to us. "I'm sorry. Hopefully we can get this straightened out, and get the film back on schedule."

Ms. Adamsen was smiling now. "I'm a little surprised that you didn't do your research beforehand. You're known for a myriad of fantastic films. Terminator, Titanic, Avatar, The Abyss... Why did you sign on if you didn't know everything there was to know about Arachnya aside from her secret identity." As the sixteen year old girl taking pictures of your movie set.

"Well, in my defense, this project was thrown together at the last second. So, what can you tell me about Arachnya?"

I wandered away to take more pictures, and then I heard an explosion very close by. I ducked out of sight and pulled out my phone. I couldn't exactly just start swinging around to help, but I could call the cops. After being put on hold, I just hung up and called my dad. Of course, I got his voice mail. Great.

I got up from my little hiding place and noticed those three guys from the post office robbery the day before. One of them was using something in his hand to lift a group of people up into the air. Another one was pressing buttons on what looked to be a detonator, making things explode all around the set. The third one wasn't doing anything, simply leading his teammates. I'm pretty sure he's the one I wrassled with, actually.

"Move it, kid!" a female voice behind me said. I turned around and saw a blonde woman phasing into the wall, pushing me toward the growing group of hostages in the center of the set. Great. There I was, big time super hero, and I was stuck in the middle of the set with all the other people.

The guy who's ass I whupped stood in front of us. "It's nice to meet you all. My name is Mr. Scott, and I'm the leader of the East City branch of Humans Against Rising Powers."

"HARP?" I asked, hoping I wasn't giving away my secret identity. Ms. Adamsen elbowed me in the arm.

He walked up to me and pressed the barrel of his gun under my chin. "Yes, HARP. We took this crap from a freak yesterday, the hell I'm going to take it from a little girl!"

I growled. "I'm fifteen, buddy, I'm not a little girl."

He grabbed me by the hair and yanked, hard. Damn, but did that hurt. "You're somebody's little girl, no matter how old you are." He threw me to the ground, about as hard as he yanked my hair. Asshole. I'm a little girl, how could you - Yay, there I go. I just tell him I'm not a little girl, and there I go calling myself a little girl when he throws me to the ground. Good work, Charlie, you're really stupid.

He walked around the group of hostages, still talking. "This filmmaking endeavor is an afront to humankind." He stopped in front of Mr. Cameron. "You're celebrating a monster, an inhuman freak who's only purpose for existing is to flaunt her superiority to humankind."

Ms. Adamsen spoke up. "Arachnya doesn't 'flaunt her superiority'. She's helped a great many people since she showed up."

The closest goon punched Ms. Adamsen in the face, then his boss went on talking. "If she's such a help, where is she?" I'm kneeling on the ground just like everybody else. Asshole. "She's left you, obviously, and isn't likely to return. She sees you as beneath her." No I don't! Okay, maybe those people who budge ahead of me in line at Prism Island, but other than them, I don't see anybody else as beneath me. "If she's such a hero, she'll show up and stop us."

About then, each and every single one of us was surprised to see someone just land beside Mr. Scott and kick him into a wall thirty feet away. There was Seeker, standing there in his wannabe Wolverine costume and domino mask, just completely surprising me. "Arachnya's a little busy doin' something else right now," Seeker said, staring down the other three, "but I'm here to have a little fun with you."

While everyone else's attention was on the stand-off between Seeker and the goons, I snuck off and pulled my mask and gloves on, then slipped my street clothes off of my costume and web-zipped up to the ceiling, where I could, conceivably, have come from out of nowhere. I shot a webline onto the side of one of the fake buildings on the set and swung downward, kicking one of the goons in the face on my way. "Howdy, y'all!" No one said anything. I swear I heard crickets. "What? It ain't easy being funny."

"Heads up!" Seeker shouted. I turned to him and caught the goon he was throwing at me with some webbing, then swung the goon over at the wall opposite their boss. "'Bout time you showed up!"

I tried kicking the blonde woman, but she was using that weird phasing device to stay just out of reach. "I was busy!"

Seeker tried to punch the blonde, but he missed. "Been a while since I saw ya!"

The third goon blew up the spot I was standing on just seconds after I jumped out of the way. "Well, y'know... We've both been busy!"

Goon Three blew up a wall just behind Seeker, but he managed to hold it up, with some strain. "I still make time to see my friends!"

I punched Goon Three and just moved out of the way before the blonde would have kicked me in the face. "I still... Screw you! We agreed it was on even terms!" I webbed the wall Seeker was holding back into place so that he could dodge a few blows from the blonde.

By this time, their boss was back in the fight, shooting off his guns. I dodged the shots, turned to the crowd of hostages and shouted, "You guys might want to leave!" I jumped off of a fake stop sign and landed on a fake flagpole. "Except you, Mr. James Cameron! I think you should take some shots for your crappy movie!"

Seeker finally got a hold of the blonde and threw her at me, so I grabbed her with a webline and left her hanging from the fake flagpole. "They're makin' a movie about you?" he asked.

I stopped their boss in his tracks by webbing his feet to the ground. "Yeah, and they're screwing it all up! They made me a boy!"

Seeker punched their boss in the face, knocking him out cold. "Am I in it?"

I tapped my chin. "Y'know, I'm not sure. I never asked." I turned around and saw Mr. Cameron standing behind a cameraman, the two of them just focused on us. "Are you filming this?!"

Cameron enthusiastically nodded. "Of course we are! What better way to get butts in seats than to have the real Arachnya in your movie? You just saved us millions in post-production costs!"

I smacked my face with my hand, the whole time Seeker was laughing.

***

I met up with Ms. Adamsen after switching back to my street clothes. She hugged me. It was weird. "What did I do?" I asked.

She smacked me lightly on the head. "You had me worried! Where the hell did you go, and did you get pictures?"

I rubbed at the back of my neck. "When everybody started running, I just ducked out of sight. I got scared. I've never been in the middle of a big super hero fight before." That's a lie.

She hugged me again. "Next time, hand that camera to me if you're gonna run off and wet your pants."

I smiled.

***

Harkins looked at the four members of HARP behind his cell bars and sighed. "Twice in as many days? You guys ain't too bright, are ya?"

Scott, the leader of the group, scoffed. "We'll be out of here in a matter of hours, Captain. HARP leadership won't let us stay in here when we're just enforcing our philosophical beliefs."

Harkins tapped the bars. "Unfortunately for you, your philosophical beliefs involve killing innocent people who're just making the best out of a freaky situation forced upon them."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "You seem to know an awful lot about the freaks, Captain."

Harkins shrugged. "I've met a few."

***

Frank met up with me as I walked home from work. "So, how was our first team up after a few weeks of being split up?"

I shrugged. "Well, ya didn't havta argue with me the whole time. We sounded like we were dating."

He smiled. "I seem to remember us dating for a few days back when this whole thing started."

I shook my head. "We never dated. My dad just liked to make jokes about it."

He put his arm around my shoulder. "So, how are things with your photographer boyfriend, anyway?"

I sighed. "I was gonna meet up with him after work, but I couldn't find him. He wanted to talk to me about something, and it sounded important." I looked up at Frank. "Do you feel him anywhere?"

He shook his head. "He's not anywhere in a one-mile radius."

"Oh." I sighed again. "Thanks for showing up at the right moment, Frank. You saved me, too."

He shrugged it off. "Eh, just doin' my job. It's why we were Chosen, right?"

I smiled at him. "Yeah. Yeah, it was."

***

In one of the few normal times I've gone home, I ascended the stairs up to the apartment instead of sneaking in through my window. As I got to our floor, I stopped. The door was open. I looked at my phone, it was six o'clock. Mom and Dad both should be home, so why was the door open? I cautiously walked through the door and found all the lights on. My spider-sense wasn't warning me of anything, so I assumed it was okay to enter the apartment further.

Dad was sitting in his chair, drinking a can of beer that appeared to have come from the six-pack he was cradling in his other arm. After finishing that can, he tossed it at the wall and opened another. I walked in front of him and saw that his eyes were a very deep red.

"Dad?" I asked, cautiously.

He broke down, started crying, dropped all his beer cans to the floor and just openly sobbed in front of me. He didn't say a word, he just cried.

I looked around and saw a paper on the dining room table, my mom's handwriting all over it. I picked it up and read it and then I was crying. I fell to my knees and crumpled up the paper. I understood why my dad had left the door open after he got home with his beer.

***

Tim didn't know what to say to her. He held up one of the pictures he'd taken of Arachnya and the picture he'd secretly taken of Charlie the day they'd met and just couldn't figure out a way to talk to her. He couldn't just come out and say, "I know your secret." He had to find a way to do it right.

He sighed. C'mon, man! Just tell her that you know! It can't be a bad thing! 'Hey, Charlie, I understand, you're a webslinging crime fighter, that's cool', but no, I can't say that to her, because I'm a big frickin' pussy! He sighed again, then heard a knock on his door. "Yeah, just a second!" He slipped his photos back into the folder that he had lying on his desk, then got up from his chair and walked over to his bedroom door. Charlie didn't even wait for it to open up all the way before she latched onto him and buried her face in his chest. He put his arms around her and asked, "What happened?"

She didn't answer for a while. He just held her, she just cried. When she finally did answer, her words depressed him: "My mom left us... Because of me..." He just held her closer.

Just a Cop

I wasn't drunk enough. There was only two of Bill instead of the twelve I wanted. I could probably still drive like this, though I wasn't going to. The bartender had already taken my keys. Maybe just a few more and I'll be out cold.

Bill was no help. He was my landlord, the guy I paid to keep living in my apartment with my fa... With my daughter. I forgot. I don't really have much family anymore, since my wife left and took our youngest with her. Thanks Melissa. I can't even get drunk without thinking about you.

Anyway, Bill was no help. "You're sure she didn't rent a new apartment from you?" I asked, slugging back another one. Finally, there were six of him. Just a few more...

He sighed. "No, Hank, she didn't rent from me." He called me 'Hank'. Everybody's been calling me 'Hank'. They think it makes them sound sympathetic. The only two who've actually been sympathetic are Charlie and Holly. Neither one of them calls me 'Hank'. Hell, Charlie's my daughter, it'd be weird if she called me 'Hank'. "Hey, pal, you should go home. Bet your kid's been out of her mind with worry." He pointed to my phone, laying on the table. "She's called about a half dozen times."

I shook my head. "Charlie's got other things to worry about," I slurred out. I'm pretty sure Charlie came out as Sharsheeve.

He patted me on the back. "Then maybe she just wants a ride home from whatever dive she's gettin' drunk at."

I sighed. Only eight of him, still not quite there. I knew Charlie had taken up drinking, too, and it depressed me. My super hero daughter, somebody the city counts on just as much as me, and she was drunk half the time. She'd even dropped out of school. She was taking her mother's absence harder than I was because she thought it was her fault that Melissa left. I'd tried to console her, but what help is a father who's drunk more often than not?

He tilted his head to look me in the eyes. "You okay, Hank? I was just jokin', y'know?"

I shook my head. "No, you weren't. You just didn't know you weren't."

***

Tim helped her up, then firemans carried her to the taxi cab that was waiting outside. "How did you get them to let you in there?" he asked.

She drunkenly chuckled. "You'd be sur - " she belched, loudly "surprised how many bars let you inside when you pretend the lady in the restroom is your mom..." She laughed again. "It would be an improvement over what I've got now!" she shouted, nearly blowing his ear out. He told the cab driver the address and then paid. He already knew how much it would cost, since it was the third time in the last week that he'd had to take Charlie home from one bar or another, and they all seemed to be the same distance away. "Say... what're you doin' here? I called my dad like... a gagillion times."

He sighed. "Your dad's getting a ride home from your landlord."

She laughed again. "Great! Daddy's dru - " another belch, "drunk, too..." She turned to him. "I really screwed this up, didn't I?"

He didn't answer her, he just patted her on the back of the head and held onto her.

I don't know how to answer her. I don't know what to say. I don't know anything. I just know what I should do, and that's hold her. I'm one of the few people she's got.

When the cab came to a stop, the driver - who Tim noticed was the same driver that had carted him around to all the other bars to get Charlie back home that whole week - handed him back the cash he'd paid for the ride. "Get her cleaned up," he said. "She needs it, bad." Tim just nodded, and helped Charlie upstairs to her apartment.

He had to admit, it wasn't as dirty as he thought it would be, a week after the only two remaining members of the family turned into obnoxious drunks. He helped Charlie down onto her bed and sat down in the chair beside it. What do I do, Charlie? What do you want me to do?

Almost as if she was reading his mind, she said, "Go home, Tim."

"Not if you need help."

She propped herself up with her elbows. "What I need is to go to sleep and wake up with a killer hangover tomorrow morning, then go to work." She fell back down and rubbed at her eyes. "If I just went to work all the time, I wouldn't have time to get drunk."

He inwardly laughed. She sounded more coherent than he'd expected. He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, but she pushed him away. "Please, you smell... not drunk. I don't want your mom thinking you went out drinking tonight."

He smiled.

***

I didn't let Bill take me home. I had him take me to the precinct, where I pulled the exact same thing Charlie did over a week ago, and I went to sleep on my desk. I had to hand it to her, that thing wasn't as comfortable as it looked, and it didn't look comfortable. When I woke up, my headache was about a thousand times worse than it would have been if I'd slept in my bed, and there was Holly, ready to hand me a cup of coffee.

I gladly took the offered cup and let the nice decaffinated glory of bad office coffee fill me up and wash away my hangover. Sadly, it didn't work right away. I almost coughed out, "What's the first thing today?"

She shook her head. "First thing for you is to get a shower. Most cops don't want their captain smelling like beer and cigarettes. Especially when he doesn't even smoke."

I shook my head. "No. I want the reminder. If I don't smell like this every day, I fool myself into thinking I'll see Melissa when I get home. All I ever find is Charlie passed out either on her bed or on the floor."

Holly sat down on one of the chairs across the desk from me. "How's she doing, anyway?"

"Like shit, how else? Last night was the third night in a row that I had to call her boyfriend to pick her up from another bar. I'd be worried about him raping her if I didn't already know the kid's as harmless as a dead rat in a very small cage." I scratched at my armpit, where I felt a great deal of sweat. "Okay, maybe a quick shower and a change of clothes."

After I was done, I walked back into my office and saw Anna Adamsen sitting in front of my desk. I sat down behind my desk, shuffled a few papers and set them off to the side, and then finally asked, "How can I help you, Ms. Adamsen?"

She sighed. "Talk to your daughter."

I leaned back in my chair. "I'm sorry. This whole mother abandoning her thing is hitting her pretty hard."

"I know. She's missed work twice, and when she did come in, she was either hungover or just outright drunk." She leaned forward. "Charlie's been like a kid sister to everyone since she started, I haven't met one person at the Brigade that doesn't like her, save maybe for the guy who refills the vending machines in the sixth floor break room, because she has a habit of buying all the Snickers bars. She's the Brigade's star photographer, and..." She quickly got up, shut the door, then sat back down. "And the only super hero I know personally."

I fell forward instantly. "What are you talking about?"

She sighed. "My photographer's always mysteriously missing whenever Arachnya shows up. It's not all that hard to figure out when you put the pieces together. Plus, there was that whole deal with those HARP nuts last week, when she was supposedly cowering in a corner. I didn't tell her that I saw her sneak away and slip into her costume. She should really find a better way to hide it, too. Just covering it up with her street clothes isn't the best way to keep a secret, especially when you fall asleep at your desk a few times a week."

I sighed. "I'm glad you shut the door before you said anything. I'm going to assume you can keep a secret?"

She smiled. "Just because I believe in the First Amendment doesn't mean I'm just going to go outing one of my personal favorites just because I know who she is. She's a brave kid for taking on what she has at fifteen years old."

I nodded. "I know. She's just taking this whole thing hard, harder than me, actually. But she's a lot stronger than I am, too. I can't even face my own apartment door, and she goes back there to sleep every night."

Anna shook her head. "Not every night. There have been nights I found her at the Brigade."

I sighed. "I'll talk to her. Maybe she'll actually listen."

***

Keith Cabot looked at the girl and wondered if there had been any change in her situation. She looked like she'd been drug through the mud a few dozen times and then sprayed with a garden hose. She was barely even paying attention to what she was taking photos of. He felt sorry for her.

She took a picture of something that he wasn't paying much attention to. When he saw the screen on her camera, it just looked like a dozen people walking across the street. "You feeling okay, Charlie?" he asked.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm just... Bad hangover."

He raised an eyebrow. "Where do you get the alcohol, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Any bar'll let you in if you claim that your mother's puking in the restroom. I just find creative ways to sneak drinks." She sat down on the nearest bench. "I just wish the part I tell about my mom being in the bar was true."

He sat down beside her. "My father died when I was young. He kept a liqour cabinet in his office, so I didn't need to lie to get into any bars or anything. My mother came into that office one day and found me on the floor, drunk out of my mind, and didn't say a word. She didn't talk to me for days, until I'd sobered up." He sighed. "That was the last time I ever took a drink."

He looked down at her. "Sorry, Mr. Cabot, if this story was supposed to make me stop drinking, the ball landed way south of the goal, because I'm still depressed enough to head to a bar right after work."

He frowned. "How's your dad?"

She pulled out her phone. "You wanna call him? Ten to one he's at a bar right now."

A voice from off to the side said, "No, actually, I'm not." Keith looked in the direction of the voice and saw Captain Harkins walking up to them. "Mr. Cabot, can I speak to my daughter alone, please?"

***

Cabot got up from the bench, nodded to me, then wandered off somewhere. I wasn't paying much attention. I sat down next to Charlie and contemplated putting my arm around her, but I knew that wasn't what she needed.

Or, well, I thought that wasn't what she needed. She instantly leaned against me and put her arm around mine. I didn't know what to say. I simply sat there with her, letting my daughter cry against my sleeve (great, again I need to wash this shirt). I couldn't bring myself to actually ruin the closest thing to an important moment we've had in the last week.

Well, at least until she stood up and started to walk away. "Stop, Charlie," I said, not loudly, not forcefully. I just said it calmly. That seemed to get her, because she looked at me, tears in her eyes, and then sat down beside me again and I put my arm around her. "I know what you're going through, honey." I sighed. "It's been tough." I made sure no one was in earshot. "You should put your costume back on and do what you do, otherwise, you'll just drink yourself to death."

She moved closer to me. "Why'd she have to go, Dad? We haven't even been getting along all that well, but I didn't want her to leave."

I rubbed her shoulder. "I dunno, kiddo. Maybe she just couldn't take it anymore." I thought tried to find more words. "Maybe she was tired of seeing her husband and her firstborn gone all the time. Maybe... Maybe I don't know why she left, but we need to get past that, baby. We need to. Both of us."

She shook her head, then looked up at me. "I don't know if I can, Dad..."

I smiled at her. "I know you can. You can, if you just put that costume back on, swing around town, and help people. If you do it, then I can do it. You know why?" She shook her head. I smiled again. "Because you're my inspiration, Charlie. You're the reason I can keep putting that badge on and doing my job." I sighed. "Ever since all you heroes started popping up, I've been wondering what cops like me are still around for. I know Timmy didn't mean anything when he said what he said last week, but the truth is, he was probably right. Cops are useless when it comes to people like that GoldenEye guy, or those Avenger robots." I hugged her closer. "We need heroes like you, babe, because we're screwed without 'em. I'm just a cop."

She shook her head again. "No, you're not. You're my dad, you're my hero."

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Charlie." I laughed. "Look, baby, we both need to quit the drinking crap. I'm not going to another bar so long as I live, and I don't want to see you in another one until you're over the age of sixty-two."

She smiled, then pushed up against me. "Thanks, Daddy." I loved hearing her say that.

***

ONE WEEK LATER:

I was drinking my eighth cup of coffee when I heard a tap at my window. I turned in my chair and saw Charlie sticking to the side of the building, a giant tear in her costume along her left side. I tapped the call button on my intercom. "Holly, can you come in here, please?" Then I got up, walked over to the window, opened it up and let my daughter inside.

I carried her over to the desk and motioned for Holly to shut the door. "What was it this time?" she asked.

"Crappy special effects," Charlie answered. "That movie they're still making about me, even though more than half of it is just footage of me saving their asses - "

I lightly smacked her on the head. "Language, kiddo."

"Sorry. Even though half of it is footage of me saving their butts - " I could just imagine she was sticking her tongue out at me from under the mask. " - they still need to film more crap with actors, and as I was swinging by, some fireworks that they were using for explosives hit me. I had a really big, really expletive-filled conversation with Mr. Cameron about how he shouldn't be setting off fireworks in city streets when random super heroes are swinging by!" She yelped when Holly pulled up the torso section of her costume. "Hey! It's a really bad burn!"

Holly giggled. "Quit whining about it, and I'll buy you ice cream later."

I smiled. Holly and Charlie were really starting to make a connection now. Charlie trying to find a new maternal figure in her life, I guess. She needed one, since I wasn't much of a father figure. Granted, how does a guy raise a super hero? Especially when he's out stopping muggers, car thieves, bank robbers, drug dealers and stupidly named gangs when she's out stopping robots, uber-criminals and stupidly named anti-super hero organizations.

This was probably a good thing for Holly, too. She seemed to be missing her niece more and more, and the chance to play surrogate mother to another super hero was likely something she really needed. I'm not gonna lie, those two were helping me a lot, too.

My intercom buzzed, and Butters' voice said, "Captain, there's someone in Holding B who wants to talk to you. I don't know why."

I sighed, pressed the button. "Alright. I'll be there in a few moments." I turned to the adult policewoman and teenage super hero and said. "I'll be back. You two girl-talk for a little while, but then you - " I pointed to Charlie. " - get back to swinging around. If anybody hears you two talking for too long, they'll probably just open the door and it'd be pretty damn awkward if they saw the detective lieutenant talking to the spider-powered super girl."

***

Holly flashed Captain Harkins a smile and then turned back to Charlie. "So, how's things going with that boyfriend of yours?"

She rolled her eyes. Yeah, kid, I asked about that, deal with it. She finally answered, "He's mainly just happy that he doesn't have to drag me out of bars anymore. Our relationship hasn't really changed much. He's a great guy, I just... I dunno... I feel so awkward around him. Probably because I still haven't told him about, well, this," she said, motioning to her costume. She sighed. "And I don't know why, either. He loves Arachnya, and reads every story the Brigade prints about me, but I just can't let him know, for some reason."

Holly patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, hon, your web-swinging, bad guy beating lifestyle isn't for everyone, and there are some people who just don't like it if it's too close to home. Monica considered leaving town after the first few TVs she blew up, just so she didn't accidentally hurt me."

"How's she doing, anyway? I haven't seen much on the news about their little team of X-Men since they blew up that factory and captured those three super idiots."

"She calls from time to time. Most of their day consists of classes and then powers training. Then there's those little dates she has with Colin. We rarely ever talk about when she used to be Jose, it's almost like she's forgotten. Maybe that's for the best."

Charlie shrugged. "I dunno. It helps me when I forget I used to be a boy, but only because I've got to keep my 'life story' straight whenever somebody at work asks me about it."

Holly sighed. "I wonder what possessed those weird things to change your genders in the first place."

"I don't think about it much anymore. Honestly, I probably wouldn't change back if I could. I really, really like Timmy."

Holly just smiled.

***

I walked into Holding B and found four men wearing black suits. Four flanked the door - two in the room, two in the hall - while the fifth sat at the table in the center of the room, smoking a cigarette. He motioned for me to sit down in the chair across the table from him. I was in my own police precinct, surrounded by officers I trusted, and yet I felt worried, almost frightened.

Not showing any of this (I've been told I have the best poker face imaginable), I calmly walked in and sat down across from the cigarette smoking man and waited for him to finish going through whatever paperwork he was doing. About ten minutes later, he finally clicked his pen in, set it down, and looked up at me. "Thank you, Captain Harkins." He nodded at one of the men flanking the door and then the door was closed. Great. "First of all, I'd like to thank you for apprehending the HARP terrorists a few weeks ago."

I leaned back in my seat. "That was Arachnya. You'd know that if you read the papers."

He reached into something on his side of the table, then pulled out a file folder and set it in front of me. "Read it," he said. I was almost certain I knew what it was, but this guy had a very commanding tone to his voice. I fliped open the folder and saw exactly what I knew it was: a file on Charlie. "If you think we don't know everything about your daughter and her secret life, you're fooling yourself into thinking you're the most powerful man in the room." He pulled the folder away and stuffed it back where ever it had been. "I'm here to talk to you about your daughter."

I smiled. "Are you with SHIELD?"

He smiled back. Now I was frightened. "That's comic books, Captain Harkins."

I sighed. "Can you blame me? There's guys in costumes flying around, swinging around, shooting lightning bolts out of their hands, blowing up buildings by looking at them, teleporting, causing people to see their worst fears... That's not comic books?"

He chuckled. "It's quite obviously real life now. And it's on almost every doorstep, every morning. You read the papers, you watch TV, you pick up a magazine: Chosen, everywhere. As such, the President deemed it a necessary action to create a sort of... back-up plan for them." He took another puff of his cigarette, which didn't seem to have shrunk the entire time we were in the room, and it wasn't an e-cig. "So, tell me about your daughter."

I leaned back further, propped my feet up on the table. "What can I tell you that you don't already know? You've probably got a whole damn page in there about her alcoholism."

The man nodded. "Indeed, we do. But that's not what I'm here about."

I leaned forward. "Then what are you here for? All Charlie's done since this happened is good, she's taken down crooks, thieves, super criminals... She's done her best to - "

He cut me off. "Are you aware that she still occasionally slips off to the bars?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you know about it?"

"It's nothing serious. She simply drops in every now and again and has a single drink."

I wasn't surprised. I've smelled it on her before. I was hoping that she had just forgotten to wash her costume in the last week. She never seemed too impaired, so I just let it go, figured she still had some things to work out. I was going to talk to her about it, some time. Maybe tonight would be the night.

Still, I didn't like that this guy I've never met knew so much about my daughter. "How long have you been watching her?"

He stamped out his cigarette in the ashtray and then lit another one. Chain-smoker, apparently. "My organization has been watching your daughter and many other Chosen since the Event. It probably should come as no surprise that Chosen are still popping up even seven weeks later, am I correct?"

I nodded.

"Good."

"Now, tell me what it is you're really here for. All you've done is say you want to talk to me about Charlie, but all you tell me are things I already know, what the hell do you want?"

He leaned back in his seat. "I'm here to let you know that your daughter is on watch."

I pointed at the file folder on the table. "The fact that this is about as thick as a twenty-seven year old photo album in my living room tells me that she's on watch. What the hell did you need to say it for?"

He pulled out another file folder. "This is a file on your daughter's first meeting with Gustav Hammond. She's done an admirable job intriguing Mr. Hammond." He slid the file over to me.

"I knew that. All you're doing is proving that I'm a damn good father, considering you've told my nothing about my daughter that I didn't already know."

He smiled. "Then I can see this meeting is over." He stood, picked up his files and his briefcase, and walked to the door. "Thank you for your time, Captain." His men opened the door, then the three of them joined the two that were still outside the door. "Good day."

I stood up and adjusted my suit jacket a little, then noticed the paper on the floor. I picked it up and saw that it was a picture of someone wearing an Arachnya costume that clearly wasn't Charlie (she's not small when it comes to the boobs department, but this lady was mighty damn big, could put most porn actresses to shame, I'll tell ya), webbing up some people outside a gas station.

Oh crap...

***

Tim yawned, then Charlie yawned, then Ms. Adamsen yawned, and Tim wanted to hit himself for making everybody yawn. Only Mr. Cabot wasn't yawning, but, then again, he was actually asleep.

Tim clicked through all the pictures he had saved to his hard drive and found the one he was looking for. "See?" he said to Charlie and Ms. Adamsen. "This is the one I took outside that Shell station over on forty-third, just a couple hours ago."

Charlie and Ms. Adamsen both leaned in. "That looks like Arachnya," Charlie said.

"Not with that rack," Ms. Adamsen pointed to the large bust of the woman in the costume. "Arachnya's probably a high school student, judging by her size. This chick's clearly older."

Charlie looked nervous. "Why would you say 'high school student'? I kinda thought she looked a little older, that last time I saw her."

Ms. Adamsen shook her head. "She's nowhere near that developed. You said you took this on forty-third?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah."

"A copy-cat Arachnya? This seems kinda weird." She rubbed at her chin. "Okay, you two, I want you to head out to that gas station and ask around. Maybe you'll get some clues as to where this bitch went."

The two of them nodded, then Tim felt Charlie's hand in his. I should really tell her that I know.

***

I looked in the cell and saw what I couldn't believe. The HARP woman that Charlie nabbed us was gone. Her three buddies were still there, each of them unwilling to do anything but grumble, but still there.

"And you're saying she just disappeared?" I asked the officer that had reported it to me.

"Yeah, like that teleporter woman from the bank robbery a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but it really happened."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, kid." I took out my phone. "Keep an eye on these three and make sure their friend doesn't come back to bust them out." I walked upstairs and ducked into a secluded corner, then called Charlie.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Charlie, there was some guy here at the station, government agent type. Seems like this group has been studying the Chosen for a while now, including you. He had a picture, some woman dressed in an Arachnya costume. Judging by the fact that she just escaped today, I'm putting my money on that HARP woman you helped us catch a couple weeks ago."

I heard something over the phone, then Charlie said, "Dad, I'd love to talk right now, but I'm just a little busy."

"Wait a minute, what the hell is going on?"

***

Tim wanted to curse Arachnya's name for inspiring this woman to imitate her, but he couldn't exactly curse his girlfriend if he wanted to keep his girlfriend. His girlfriend being webbed up, just like he was, back to back with him. Okay, I guess... I'll blame Ms. Adamsen. Sending two kids to get answers about the Arachnya copy-cat. How could she do that to us?

He sighed. He couldn't blame either Charlie or Ms. Adamsen, because neither one of them was to blame. Super heroes inspire super villains, if movies are anything to go by, so Charlie's only misdeed was choosing to use her powers for good, all the while Ms. Adamsen was probably just sending them out together to give them some alone time, which Tim was pretty happy for, since he hadn't gotten much time to talk to Charlie in the last week. He almost wished she'd go back to drinking just so that he could talk to her more.

The woman in the Arachnya costume knelt down in front of him and looked him over. "This your boyfriend?" she asked Charlie. "He's a pretty nice catch for a nerdy chick like you." She patted him on the head and then walked around them over to Charlie. "Lemme guess, he took pity on you at the prom and hasn't had the heart to dump you yet, right?"

"Actually," Charlie answered, "we met at work. So, what do you want with us?"

"Well, two kids show up looking for me, I needed to put a stop to that, maybe get the real Arachnya to show up so that I can beat the crap out of her for what she did to me."

"What she did to you?" Tim asked. "You mean the fact that she beat the crap out of you? Humiliated your little anti-hero group?"

The woman kicked Tim in the face, knocking out one of his teeth. "Shut up, kid!" she spat. "That little bitch made me this!"

Tim turned his head a little bit to try and see Charlie, but he couldn't see her face. He could tell that she felt responsible, but he knew that she wasn't. Whatever this bitch was, she had been that way before she somehow developed the ability to copy Charlie's powers.

"Wait a minute," the woman said, then walked back around to Tim. "How the hell did you know that I was a member of HARP?"

"I told him," Charlie said. "I recognized your voice from that day on the movie set. You're that woman with the device that made her walk through walls."

The woman walked back around to Charlie. "No, I just made them believe that it did. None of those things worked, it was just me using all the different powers I've absorbed. I was just lucky that I could fake using so many at once."

"If you have powers, why do you hate the Chosen?"

"Because they weren't an experiment!" She kicked Charlie in the stomach. "I didn't volunteer for what happened to me, and those freaks just showed up one day and the world suddenly loved them!" She kicked Charlie again. "So I joined HARP, to kill all the freaks in the world, but then comes that stupid Arachnya, and screws it all up, just because Hollywood's making a stupid movie about her!"

Suddenly Tim realized he was free. He spun around and saw Charlie brushing the webs off of her arms. "You wanna blame Arachnya for how screwed up you are?! Fine! Here I am!"

The woman pulled off her mask. "You're kidding,right? You? You're Arachnya? A stupid little kid like you?" She laughed, loudly. "Does your little boy toy know?"

Before Tim could answer, Charlie said, "Yeah, he does. He's known for a while now, he just hasn't told me that he knows." She turned to look at him, a saddened look on her face. "Sorry. And thanks, for keeping it a secret."

The woman shot a webline around Charlie. "Such a sweet little moment, honey, but I'm afraid I'm gonna havta cut it short, and kill you."

Tim caught the first glimpse of it through the window. Light, blue and red. Cops, he thought, good timing.

***

I stepped out of the car and pulled out the megaphone. "Harmony Sprite, come out with your hands up!" Nothing happened, save for a group of my finest officers pulling out their weapons and aiming them at the building. Lucky us I was able to use the GPS feature on Charlie's phone. I thank God her mother thought it was a good idea to get that option. I also thank God we never bought her a cell phone until after she became a Chosen. It seems like every mother's nervous about her daughter dating a bad boy. Thankfully, I wasn't. Tim's actually a harmless puppy.

I motioned for two officers to go up to the door. They did, but before they could open it, the door burst open, and Harmony Sprite, the woman in the Arachnya costume, swung out from the building and landed in front of me. As I went for my gun, she pulled a knife and jammed it into my stomach. She whispered, "How's the world gonna respond when they find out Arachnya killed her own dad, cop?" She twisted the knife, then pulled it upward.

My vision started to blur as I heard gunshots. Harmony jumped up and weblined over to a building, then out of sight. Of course, a lot was out of sight for me. Things were starting to go dark pretty quick. I fell against my car as Holly ran up to me and held me upright. I heard Charlie's voice coming from twenty miles away, even though she was suddenly standing over me. I reached up to touch her face, but I only managed to just barely touch the tip of her chin. I wanted to speak, to say a thousand things to her, but the only thing I could manage was, "Be a good girl." I couldn't actually tell if I'd really said the words, sadly.

Charlie put her arms around me as I slipped away, her tears were the last thing I ever felt against my skin.

***

Holly sat beside Charlie at the funeral. It depressed her to see that the girl wasn't crying, but a part of her understood that Charlie probably had no more tears to shed. It had taken hours to get her away from her father's corpse, and when they finally did, it was all Holly could do to stop her from swinging away and slaughtering Harmony Sprite for what she'd done.

Especially when Harmony's death was exactly what Holly wanted, too.

***

As the funeral procession rounded the corner in front of the precinct, Tim felt Charlie's hand grasp his. He let it go, instead putting his arm around her. He felt she needed far more than simply someone to hold her hand. Detective Montoya nodded when he did. He nodded back.

Say you're sorry for not telling her you knew beforehand. Tell her something, you stupid asshole, just say something to help your girlfriend!

But he couldn't say anything. He couldn't find anything to say.

***

Monica Montoya watched the funeral on TV in her bedroom and couldn't help herself, she started crying again. She'd started crying as soon as she'd read about Captain Harkins' death in the paper, and now she was again. She couldn't help herself. The man had done his best to help her, to help everyone around him, and now he was gone.

***

Angel watched from the sky, incapable of finding anything to say even to the clouds she hovered amongst. She simply closed her eyes and whispered, "Goodbye."

***

Anna felt Keith's arm around her but felt no comfort. She was angry. Not at him, but at her boss. She held up the newspaper and cursed Barry Brindleson's name one more time.

"FUNERAL HELD FOR HERO COP TODAY

"By Keith Cabot (so, she had a little reason to be mad at Keith, but she didn't hold their job against him)

"The funeral for East City police captain Henry Harkins will be held today at the Saint Michael Cathedral on Seventeenth Street. Harkins, a third-generation police officer, was brutally murdered by former hero Arachnya two nights ago, in an attempt to arrest her for kidnapping two East City teens, Timothy Saul and Harkins' own daughter Charlotte Harkins. Arachnya has made no further appearances in the city since the murder, and still wanted by the police and the public at large. Harkins is survived by his wife Melissa, daughter Charlotte and son Christopher."

She crumpled the paper in her hands again. "I can't believe Barry made you write this pack of shit," she said.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Anna. He practically wrote it himself and slapped my name on it, to be honest."

"Everybody knows Arachnya wouldn't kill anybody."

"I know. And if she ever shows up again, I'll do my best to make sure the truth comes out."

I'm sure you will. You're almost every bit the hero she is.

***

Melissa Harkins couldn't face her husband's funeral. She couldn't even watch it on TV, she waited until it was over before she turned on the TV. She couldn't face the fact that she had walked out on him, She still felt miserable having done it, having left her husband and daughter without even so much as an explanation.

There was a knock on the apartment door. She set her book down and opened the door, surprised to see a very disheveled Charlie standing outside her door. "I don't have anywhere to stay," she said, slurring her words. Melissa could tell that Charlie was half drunk, despite the fact that the girl was standing upright and appeared to be very capable of walking a straight line.

She held her arms out to hug her daughter, but Charlie walked right past her and then collapsed on the couch. Melissa sat down on the other end of the couch and began to cry. "I'm so sorry, sweetie."

Mother and Daughter

I couldn't help but stare at her, lying there in my bed, her baby brother crying just a few feet away. I wanted to cry. My daughter wasn't talking to me at all, hadn't spoken to me at all in the two days since she her father's funeral, and I knew exactly why. I simply stood in the doorway and held her book bag out for her. "C'mon, Charlie, it's time for school," I said, my voice soft. I hoped she heard me.

Lucky me, she did. "Go away, Mom. I don't feel good."

I sighed. "Please, sweetie?"

She covered her head with a pillow. "I said go away. I'm really hung over and I don't wanna talk to you."

I raised my voice. "Charlotte Elaine, get to school!"

She sat up and threw a bottle at me, but it hit the wall behind me instead. "I dropped out of school when you left us, Mom!" She pulled the covers over her and webbed the light off. I just sighed and stepped out of the room.

I walked out into the living room and turned the TV back on. There wasn't much to watch, and I wasn't really paying attention to it anyway. There were news stories talking about Arachnya and her 'amazing change of tune', but I clicked away from those as soon as possible, because I knew better than to believe that my daughter would kill her own father. I eventually found a cooking show on some channel that I wasn't paying any attention to and just picked up my book and went back to reading.

I sat there, pretty much just alone with my thoughts, and asked myself the question that Charlie would likely have asked if she weren't drunk all the time. Why did I leave them? I couldn't come up with any real answer besides stress, and that made me feel like I was just being selfish. How could I have any real stress when Charlie was swinging around fighting bad guys, or her father was chasing down crooks? The answer to that is that I was always worried about the two of them. I didn't want to go any more days thinking about my daughter or husband possibly not coming home.

The sad thing is that my husband will never come home now. Murdered by a worthless bitch who had a grudge against my daughter. I wanted to strangle her, I wanted to throw her into the bay and let a shark swim by and eat her. The woman robbed me of my husband.

The worst thing is that I ruined my daughter. If I hadn't left them, Charlie never would have taken up drinking and wouldn't have dropped out of school. I wondered what her friends thought of her. I wondered if she still had Tim to fall back on if she needed someone.

***

"Hey, Charlie, it's Barry Brindleson, your editor, I'm calling again just to let you know that you have the rest of the week off. Everybody here misses you, and hopes you come as close to recovery as possible."

Anna Adamsen waited for her boss to finish his phone call to her favorite photographer before she jumped at him. "Goddamnit, Barry, will you stop running these schlock pieces about Arachnya!" She threw down the latest edition of the Brigade on his desk, showing a headline of COSTUMED MURDERER STILL WANTED. "I've told you a thousand times since the day of the murder, Arachnya does not kill people!"

He sighed. "And I've told you, there were dozens of cops on the scene that watched her stick the knife in Captain Harkins. I'm sorry, Anna, it's just the way it is. I wish I could tell you that your favorite costume is just as innocent as she used to be, but it just ain't so." He leaned back in his chair. "And, honestly, she sells more papers that way."

Anna folded her arms under her breasts. "I don't wanna hear that. One of our best photographers loses her dad and all you can say is 'it sells more papers'? That's pretty heartless, Barry."

He leaned forward again. "Look, Adamsen, I'm not here to soothe anybody, and I'm not trying to turn the world against the costumes, I'm here to sell papers, that's all. Three Pulitzers, I'd assume you'd know that by now. Now, get the hell out of my office and get to work!"

Anna barely let him finish his sentence before she turned around and slammed the door behind her. Everyone in the news room looked up and gave her a surprised look. She wanted to scream at every one of them, but instead, she simply walked into the photography room and slammed that door shut as well. Timmy looked very surprised.

She sat down in one of the chairs and just let herself steam for a moment, then told herself to calm down. Tim waved a hand in front of her slowly. "You okay, Ms. Adamsen?"

She sighed. "No, Tim, I'm not. A good cop loses his life, and thanks primarily to this paper, everybody thinks that your girlfriend is the one who did it."

His eyes widened. "Um... what?"

She gave him a look. "I know, you know, we both know, okay? Charlie doesn't know I know, but I'm gonna guess she knows you know."

"Well, I kinda didn't tell her, but she figured it out anyway."

"Good, so the point is, we know Arachnya's innocent. I just wish there was some way to prove it to everybody else."

He shrugged. "Maybe if we could get Charlie off the booze again and get her back to webbing people up, she could find that woman." He sat back in his chair a second. "Wait a minute, there might be another way."

"Like what, kid?"

"Charlie answered a phone call from her dad just before that woman webbed us up. His picture showed up on the phone, that's how she put together that Captain Harkins was Arachnya's dad, after Charlie admitted that she was Arachnya."

"So what?"

"I never saw Charlie's phone after that, maybe she hit record, or something. If she did, that woman exposed herself during the conversation, we'd just have to cut it off before the part where Charlie revealed herself." He almost leapt from his seat and grabbed his backpack. "I'm gonna head over there and see her."

Anna stood up. "Wait a second, why can't you just call her?"

He stopped, then rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well... I haven't seen her since... well... y'know..."

She sighed. "I get it, Romeo, go talk to Juliet."

***

Tim felt like he was breaking some sort of law, running through the city as fast as he could. He probably caused more than one driver to stop as suddenly as possible to avoid crashing into something or hitting him. He needed to get to Charlie, as soon as possible.

As he rounded the corner that led to Charlie's mom's apartment, he realized he had stopped dead in his tracks. Suddenly, he was yanked upward, causing a yelp, until he landed on the roof of the building. He was quite surprised to see the woman in the Arachnya costume, still wearing the Arachnya costume, as a matter of fact.

"Well, hello, boy toy. Nice to see you again." She held up a phone. "Judging by the contacts on your little girly friend's phone, I'm going to guess your name is... Timmy?" She tossed him the phone. "Go ahead, look for that recording I found on there, I already erased it. Pretty smart of your girlfriend to record me, but pretty stupid of her to leave her phone behind."

Tim stood up. "You gonna kill me, too? Everybody who really knows Charlie knows that she didn't kill her dad."

She laughed, probably smiled under that mask (Tim couldn't tell). "Big whoop, kid, everybody else thinks she did kill that cop. At some point, everybody'll know who that girl is, and they'll string her up for the murder of a hero cop. And I'll just sit back and watch it."

"She didn't do anything to you, why does she deserve this?"

The woman grabbed him with a webline and pulled him to her, grabbing him by the collar. "Shut up, kid! Arachnya ruined my life, and I'm gonna rip hers apart." She threw him onto his back. "But I'm not completely heartless. I'm not gonna take her boy toy away from her, but everybody else around her is open game."

The woman shot a webline out and swung away, leaving Tim alone on the roof. He felt his blood boiling. He had to get to Charlie, now, otherwise that woman would get exactly what she wanted.

***

I was awoken by a knock on the door, and that was the first indication that I'd even fallen asleep. Charlie was standing at the changing table changing Christopher's diaper. "Who's at the door?" I asked, groggily.

She said, "I don't know. Chris's needed three diapers in the past ten minutes, and they just started knocking."

I stood up from the chair and walked past the kitchen counter and opened the door to find Tim Saul standing there, his hair quite messy. "Can I help you?"

He nodded his head rapidly. "I've gotta talk to Charlie. It's about that woman that killed her dad."

I moved out of the way for him to come in and directed him to a chair. Charlie leaned against the wall after she finished changing Christopher's diaper. I pulled another chair from the kitchen table and sat down as well. Charlie was the first to ask, "So, what about her?"

Tim pulled out a cell phone. "You hit record that day? She grabbed your phone and erased the recording."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Dammit." She sighed. "Well, I guess that would have been too easy."

"How did you get Charlie's phone?" I asked.

He twitched a little. "She grabbed me outside."

Charlie's eyes widened. Probably mine, too. "She knows where I am?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I don't think she knows where you are, I think she was just following me." He leaned forward. "She said she's not done, too."

I saw Charlie's eyes widen even further. "Tim, can I be alone with my mom for a second? Take Chris with you."

Timmy stood up, picked up Christopher, and walked back out into the hallway and shut the door. Charlie knelt down in front of me. "Mom, please leave town."

"What?" I asked.

"Look, I know I've been kind of a bitch since I showed up on your doorstep, but I still love you, and I don't want you hurt. Please, please, leave town. Go somewhere. That witch could have copied my contacts, and might know who you are, and I don't wanna lose my mother after I just lost my father."

I couldn't say anything. This is a girl that I abandoned just two and a half weeks ago, and she still cared about me enough to want me to leave before I was hurt. I leaned forward and said, with determination, "No, sweetie."

"But, Mom - "

"No, Charlie. I'm not going to let this woman win." I leaned in, just in case Tim was listening to us outside. "She left Tim alive for a reason, and that was to leave you a message. She wants to draw you out, and she wants to use your loved ones to do it."

Charlie stood up. "Then she's gonna get what she asked for."

I smiled. "And I know exactly how to do it."

***

I walked into the hair salon and felt incredibly nervous. Something had been nagging me since I left the apartment, and I was pretty sure it was the idea that that woman was following me. Maybe I was developing some sort of latent 'spider-sense' of my own, just like Charlie had, I don't know. Either way, I almost wasn't comfortable in the salon, even though each of the employees and I had been friends since our days in college.

"Hey, Mel," Nancy Gallagan said, motioning me over to my usual seat. "What's the matter?"

I sat down. "You mean besides the fact that my husband died a few days ago?" Nancy made a face like she was about to say something, but I cut her off before she said anything, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Things have been hectic, Nance, what with Charlie moving in after I left her, and then her slipping off to the bars... I'm just trying to keep a hold of my sanity, is all."

She set to work on my hair. "How is Charlie, anyway?"

I sighed. "She's not doing all that well. She was close to her dad, and then to lose him the way she did..."

Brenda Wallace nodded. "I know. I've been so sick and tired of all the praise those super people get. Then this one that was supposed to be a big time super hero up and kills a cop, and everybody was surprised! Not me!"

Nancy said, "Keep that crap to yourself, Bren. Arachnya saved my son, I know she's on the good side. It couldn't have been her that killed Henry."

"You keep saying that, but according to the papers, there were dozens of witnesses, cops included. Charlie was there, wasn't she?" Brenda asked me. I nodded. "Bet she saw it, too."

I answered, "According to her, that woman was ranting about how Arachnya ruined her life. That doesn't seem to me like something the real Arachnya would say."

Brenda went on. "I don't believe it, she was probably just saying all that to cause confusion. That was Arachnya through and through."

I wanted to slap her. "What's your problem with the Chosen?"

She shrugged. "I just can't stand them. Who gave them the right to police the city the way they do?" She tapped a few keys at the check out computer. "They just showed up one day, and everybody treated them like they were something special."

I suddenly felt more uneasy, because that sounded exactly like what Charlie and Tim said that woman said. Thank God I knew Charlie was following me. "Brenda, have you even met a Chosen?"

"If by met, you mean..." She stopped talking and then something about her seemed to change. "Who am I kidding." She held up her hand webbed Nancy in the face. "Little dumpling told you, huh?" In front of me, Brenda changed size, shape, and facial features until she looked an awful lot like a blonde knockout wearing an Arachnya costume. "I guess it's to be expected, I did warn her little boyfriend about this."

I stood up from the chair and reached into my purse. Thank God Henry was a very paranoid, nervous man. He'd made me buy a gun years ago, and got me a carry and conceal permit around the time Charlie was born. He'd always wanted me to be safe, and because he'd asked me, I'd always carried it, even though I didn't want to.

Now, I wanted to.

I aimed the gun at the woman and thumbed back the hammer, just like Henry had taught me. I'd always done good on the shooting range at the precinct, hopefully, I would be just as good shooting at a living target. "Take another step forward and I'll shoot you," I said, probably no determination in my voice at all.

Luckily, I didn't need to do anything.

"Taaaa-daaaa!" Charlie shouted as she swung down, through the window, and kicked the woman forward. I jumped out of the way, Charlie landed on a chair, and the woman landed face-first into the shampoo cabinet on the back wall. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist!"

"You little..." The woman stood up, then I noticed a very confused look on her face. "Wait a second, are you wearing a different costume?"

Charlie pointed down at her brand new costume, that I made myself. It was pretty much exactly the same as her old one, design-wise, but instead of being yellow and black with red stripes under her arms, it was red and white with yellow stripes under her arms. "You like it? I thought it was time for an image change now that, y'know, there's a major bitch running around, copying my powers, killing hero cops." She hopped off of the chair and onto the ceiling. "Hmm... Y'know what? That major bitch I was talking about looks an awful damn lot like you!"

The woman shot weblines out of both wrists up to the ceiling and pulled down the section of the ceiling that Charlie was sticking to. Charlie jumped away from the ceiling, kicked the woman on the way down, and then used her own web to grab the ceiling and pull it toward the woman. The woman didn't seem all that happy, so she spun around, grabbed a chair with a webline, and then yanked it toward Charlie, who jumped onto it, then the wall, then onto the floor.

"Got anything better than that, lady?" Charlie asked.

The woman didn't answer, she rushed at Charlie and pushed her out the only pane of glass that wasn't broken and out into the street. I ran up to the doorway and watched as Charlie just barely saved the woman from being run over by a bulldozer. For some reason, I was very relieved. I guess it had something to do with knowing that my daughter still wanted to save someone's life, even if it was the bitch that robbed her of her father.

***

Harmony landed on a dumpster after the kid saved her from the bulldozer. She quickly got up, shot out a webline at the girl and felt even angrier when the girl dodged her and webbed up her eyes. How the hell did she do that?! She quickly ripped the webbing off of her face and dodged a flying kick from the girl just in time.

"Aw, am I running you down, Harmony?" the girl asked.

"Shut up, you little cunt!"

The girl wagged her finger. "Now, that's not a particularly nice thing to say! What kind of role model are you?" She jumped at the nearby wall, bounced off, then kicked Harmony in the face, knocking out one of her teeth. "You know kids love you, Arachnya!"

Harmony reached out and grabbed the girl by the neck. "I'm not Arachnya, you are!" She threw the girl out onto the street, where she just barely managed to jump out of the way of an oncoming car. Harmony couldn't help but laugh at the fact that motorists didn't seem to realize there were super powered people fighting on that very street.

***

Timmy held the camcorder and recorded every second of Charlie and Harmony's fight. It was a perfect plan, he had to give Charlie's mom a lot of credit. Let's just hope this works, otherwise, there's gonna be a whole lot more Arachnya haters out there...

***

I was still watching from the salon. I'd gone to check on Nancy, but it seemed she'd passed out from all the excitement. Hopefully, she wouldn't wake up a nervous, psychotic wreck.

Charlie just managed to jump up out of the street and land on the trailer of a semi, then she jumped off and kicked the woman in the face, "So, tell me, if I'm Arachnya," Charlie said, punctuating the sentence with a punch to the woman's jaw, "and you're the one who killed Captain Harkins," another punch, "then that means that I didn't kill him, which means that you framed me!"

The woman kicked Charlie off of her, then to punch her, but Charlie got out of the way. "What's it matter, kid? Who's the news gonna believe, you or a dozen cops that saw 'Arachnya' kill that cop?"

I imagine Charlie was probably smiling beneath her mask when she pointed up at Timmy and said, "How about that?"

The woman looked up and scowled, she looked like she was about to shoot a webline up at Tim, but Charlie tackled her just in time, then webbed her to the sidewalk. I couldn't help myself, I cheered. Sue me, I was happy that my daughter beat the crap out of the woman that killed her father.

It wasn't twenty minutes later before the police arrived, thanking Charlie for what she'd done to expose the truth about the woman. I met up with her afterward, after she'd slipped her clothes on over her costume and taken off her mask and gloves. I gave her the biggest hug I could muster, and felt her tears hit my shoulder as I did. Maybe, just maybe, I'd actually managed to get my daughter back.

***

Holly Montoya looked at Harmony Sprite in the cell and wanted to strangle her. Lucky for her, Knight was standing there, watching Harmony squirm. "I wouldn't mind killing her, y'know?" she said. "She murdered a great man." Knight said nothing, he simply stared at the woman in the cell. "So, what exactly was that concoction you injected her with?"

"Nanocytes."

"Nan... Okay, my niece is a lot better at that stuff than I am."

"Nanocytes are microscopic robots, primed with a genetic inhibitor. As long as they're in her bloodstream - and the only way they can be taken out is if she's given a full-body blood transfusion - she'll never be able to use her vast array of powers. She's a simple human, like your or I."

"Did you use those things on GoldenEye, Port and Necro?"

"Port and Necro, yes. GoldenEye's gift is harmless when he's in a cell."

"Ah," she said, "good."

"How is she?"

Holly raised an eyebrow. "Sprite? She's - "

He cut her off. "Harkins. How is she? If you wanted to kill Ms. Sprite, there's no doubt she did."

She felt her eyebrow raise further, if that was possible. "How'd you know?"

"There's little I don't know about Chosen. I'm also good friends with Angel and Guardian."

Holly sighed. "Hopefully, taking this bitch down has settled her conscience a little. She felt so guilty for her dad's death, and I'm sure having to move back in with her mom didn't help." She looked over at him. "You know the feeling?"

He turned and started walking up the stairs back into the precinct house. Just before he reached the top step, he turned his head and said, "No."

***

Harmony would have killed the bitch that pushed her into the cell with Scott, Jenkins and Wilkins, but thanks to that damn shot that Knight had given her, she just spat at the floor. "Guess what you get to do in twenty-four hours when we let you out for a few minutes? Clean the floors." The bitch smiled, then locked the cell door and retreated up the stairs.

Now Harmony was alone with her former comrades, who all three looked at her with cold, unforgiving eyes. "What?" she asked.

"You're a freak?" Scott asked. He walked up to her and pushed her up against the cell bars. "We trusted you and you're a goddamn freak?!"

She kneed him in the crotch. "Shut up! You don't know what it's like!" She looked at the other two. "None of you do! To have your body taken apart, molecule by molecule, to have to put it back together! I hated them for what they did to me!"

Scott coughed a little, then stood up. "Them?"

She looked down a little, then back up at him. "The one who did it was called Cloak, but there was another man, one I couldn't see all that well. Looked like he was the brains."

***

Knight sat in his Chariot and replayed what he'd just heard. "The one who did it was called Cloak, but there was another man, one I couldn't see all that well. Looked like he was the brains." He tapped at his chin. Cloak, and another man. Monica Montoya had mentioned that GoldenEye had had a mysterious Benefactor... he wondered if this had been the same man that Harmony was talking about.

***

Anna smiled as she read the headline.

"ARACHNYA OFF THE HOOK!"

She dropped the newspaper on her desk and felt like cheering. Thanks to Charlie and Timmy, Arachnya's name - Charlie's name - had been cleared, and that bitch that murdered Captain Harkins was back behind bars, hopefully for good.

Keith sat down at his desk back-to-back with her's and asked, "You back to normal, now?"

She leaned forward. "If by back to normal you mean happy Arachnya's back, you bet your mild-mannered ass I am." She leaned back again. "I wish you could have seen Barry's face when I brought him the story, he looked like he was about to have a coronary."

He laughed. "Funny, I never thought him the J. Jonah Jameson type."

She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Never saw Spider-Man, did you?"

She brushed it off. "Before they showed up in the city streets, I never gave a damn about super heroes." She looked out the window and saw smoke rising from somewhere in the distance. She looked back at Keith's desk, saw him gone, then looked back out the window again. There was Guardian, flying off toward the smoke. "Now, I don't think I could make it a day without thinking about one." She felt another smile coming on.

***

I couldn't help but stare at her, lying there in my bed, her baby brother sleeping in his crib just a few feet away. I smiled, happy to see her finally sleeping, after what had been a hellish week. I went to flip the light switch but then my hand was suddenly stuck to the wall. "Un-uh, Mom." Charlie sat up. "Get over here and sit down, I've got some things to say." I smiled again, pulled the webbing off my hand and then walked over and sat down on the bed. "First of all, I'm sorry for the way I treated you, and I swear I'm not touching another drop of alcohol until after I'm twenty-five. I've done enough drinking in the past few weeks to last a lifetime, and it's not something I wanna go back to until I'm more than old enough."

"Good," I said, "getting a beer bottle hurled at me wasn't all that fun."

She nervously laughed. "It was actually whiskey," she said quickly, "but anyway, like I said, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry that you and I have grown further apart since... well... since I became Arachnya."

I put my arm around her. "That will never be something you have to apologize for, Charlie. It was strange circumstances, leading to something that often happens between mothers and their daughters. I never got along with my mother, once I started growing up. Your grandmother and I haven't spoken since before I married your father."

She looked down, then back up at me. "Well, I'm sorry for everything bad that I ever did. If there's a bright spot to all that drinking, it made me see that I'm a really screwed up girl, who doesn't like to deal with all her problems."

I rubbed at her arm. "If you think that's a trait exclusive to Charlotte Elaine Harkins, you're dead wrong. I was the same at your age, I just didn't figure it out until I was older, and started drinking."

"You drank, too?"

"Of course I did! I was a young girl, my husband a beat officer in the most dangerous city in the country, if I didn't drink it off eight nights a week, I would have gone nuts." I flashed her a smile. "I should have started it up again when you started your crime-fighting routine, then I wouldn't have left you and your father." I looked away from her, feeling the tears start to well up in my eyes. "And then your father would still be here."

Charlie moved a little closer to me. "Mom, that wasn't your fault. That was Harmony Sprite's fault, through and through. She killed Dad."

"She plunged the knife into him, but if I hadn't left in the first place... I'm the one that needs to apologize to you, and more importantly, to your father."

She didn't say anything for a long time, and neither did I. Then, almost like she was making sure she still had a voice, Charlie asked the one question that needed to be asked more than anything: "Mom, why did you leave?"

I dried my eyes and looked directly into hers. I saw her father there, too. Charlie had always had her father's eyes, even when she was a boy. I cleared my throat and tried to find words adequate enough to explain myself to my daughter. "I..." Of course, I couldn't find any right away. "Charlie, back when you started this Arachnya business, your father and I argued time and again. He looked me straight in the eyes and told me that the best thing we could do for you was to induldge you, to let you go out there and fight crime, or web up super villains, or whatever else it was you needed to do to stay sane after this thing happened to you." I sighed. "I didn't want you to do it. I wanted my first born child to stay normal, to go to school, get a part-time job, to go on dates... But your father was adamant, he knew that being Arachnya was the best thing for you."

"But you never believed it?"

I shook my head. "No, I knew he was right. That's the best thing you inherited from your father. Had someone told Henry Harkins that he couldn't be a police officer, he would have punched them and done it anyway. He needed to help people, to be a police officer. He knew that you needed that, too, and it was something that I just couldn't grasp at the time. It was something I couldn't grasp until the day I walked out of the apartment, but by then, I couldn't take back what I'd done."

"Dad and I wanted you to come back every day, we would have understood."

I nodded. "I know you would have, but I couldn't do that. If I had, I would have hurt us all worse. The three of us needed time to heal after I left, and we couldn't do that as a family. I'm sorry, baby, but it's true. I like to believe that your father had done his healing by the time that woman murdered him, and I hope beyond hope that it's true, and I regret not knowing."

"I think... I think I understand. I think I'd finished healing by the time Timmy came in here telling us about Harmony's threat." She looked back up at me. "What about you?"

I didn't say anything for a moment, then I kissed Charlie on the forehead. "I think right now."

Flying Sparks

Peter, Brandon, Colin and Monica were already in the pool by the time I arrived, but I didn't get in the water. I couldn't get in the water. Of course, that didn't stop Peter from trying to splash me. Lucky me, I can take a little water without juicing everything. I sat down on the pool chair and just started to read.

That was when Peter decided to splash some more water at me. Ugh! I lowered my book and took off my sunglasses. "Hey, c'mon! You, quit it!"

"Why don't you get in the pool?" he asked.

"You wanna get fried that badly?"

Monica swam up to Peter and smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't be insensitve, Pete. Remember why you can't use a treadmill? Korra can't get in the pool because her body generates electricity constantly."

He scratched his chin. "Wait a minute, how do you take a shower, then?"

I shrugged. "Wet towels. I basically just squirt some body wash on me and then pat myself down with wet towels. Works so far."

He turned back to Monica. "Okay, so obviously, I kinda... broke the treadmill last time I tried it, Korra can't get in the water, Brandon accidentally demolished a subway car last week and Colin often wake up in the middle of the night floating in the air."

Monica rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me."

"What can't you do?"

She sighed. "I can't... Well... I can't use the microwave."

I giggled. "What?"

She sighed again. "I can't use the microwave. Every time my finger makes contact with the button, I blow up the inner workings, okay? You happy now, Pete?"

He raised an eyebrow. "But you never blow up the TV, or anything else, for that matter."

She smacked him in the head, again. "That doesn't matter!"

I sighed this time. "Look, guys, as much as this conversation about our unique weaknesses is, what's it really matter if I can't get in the pool. I can still have fun just talking to you guys, while you guys get to swim." I smiled. "Besides, even if I can't swim, I can still kick you guys' butts at basketball."

Colin hopped out of the pool. "Oh, I feel a challenge comin' on." He grabbed his towel and started drying off. "Wanna test that, Kor? Everybody knows white girls can't jump."

I smirked, then jumped off of my chair and held myself in the air. "I can float, y'know."

Brandon got out of the pool next, stood beside Colin. "I'm thinkin' we need to teach this girl a lesson, bro."

Monica got out of the pool and stood next to me. "Boys versus girls? Pete as the referee?"

Peter literally jumped out of the pool next. "Aw, c'mon! Why can't I play?"

I landed and giggled. "Because you can run faster than a speeding bullet. You'd cheat a thousand times a game."

He shook his head, quickly, I might add. "No, I wouldn't!"

Monica folded her arms under her breasts. "Sorry, Pete. It's decided. You referee, while Kor and I kick these guys' asses all over the court."

***

William Brand smiled as the four kids bounced the ball back and forth across the basketball court, He remembered those days, back when the only thing anyone actually cared about was friendly competition. Granted, for him those days didn't involve learning about how your brand new super powers affected you or those around you. that was the part of growing up that he'd never understand. Powers hadn't come into the equation until just recently.

He took a sip of his brandy and then set it down on the table beside his host. She simply stared forward, much like she always did. He wondered if she'd been like that before the Event, but he always put it out of his mind whenever she decided to put something in his mind.

Much like now.

They're enjoying themselves.

"I know. It's one of the last pleasures of adolescence that they still have." He turned to Ms. Morris. "You're looking good, Erica."

Please, William, I look like I can't use the bathroom on my own. And I can't. Just because I've lost my physical body doesn't mean I can't use my mind, however, and do what needs to be done to help anyone.

He nodded. "I know. It's why you're my most valuable ally."

Moreso than Guardian, or Angel? I thought you trusted them with your life.

"As fighters, yes, but Guardian's a simple man. He enjoys being the Clark Kent of the world, and I'll let him be that. Angel is an unknown commodity, and she wants to stay that way. I understand secrets, so I'll let her keep hers as long as she doesn't endanger anyone."

It's a shame you don't have as much trust in them as you do in me.

"I didn't say I didn't trust them completely. But they can't turn a group of potential teenage weapons into a group of heroes."

It's not hard when they want to learn how to control their powers.

Brand took another sip of his brandy. "Hopefully, their reputation builds, and you get walk-ins soon. There's hundreds of Chosen under eighteen out there, and a vast majority of them could use the kind of help that you provide. Not every teen hero is as strong-willed as Arachnya."

Ms. Morris' eyes looked off to the other direction. How is your relationship to the East City Police now that Captain Harkins is gone?

He sighed. "Luckily, the new captain, Monica's aunt, is as friendly to costumes as her predecessor was." He leaned against the window. "The relationship hasn't changed all that much. Maybe a little finer, a little tighter, but not much change." He turned back to Ms. Morris. "There's another student you're going to get later. Steven Hobbs. I learned about him through the ECPD, He was arrested yesterday, after an altercation with the police outside a liquor store."

And what is Mr. Hobbs' special gift?

He smiled. "Oh you'll like this one." He walked toward the door. "He stopped a guy robbing the liquor store by turning the asphalt into mud."

***

I caught the ball as Monica passed it to me just as Brandon tried to take it out of her hands. I dribbled it for a second, trying to fake out Colin, but that didn't work. Then he decided to use his powers to lift me into the air. "That's cheating!" I screamed. I then smirked, used the situation to my advantage, and took my shot, landing it in the net. "For our side!"

Brandon smacked Colin on the back of the head, making him drop me. I managed to keep myself upright and gave Monica a high-five as I landed. She dribbled the ball a little and then we were back at it, her passing it to me while the guys tried to get it. The rest of the game went like that, with the guys getting not one point.

"See, told you, you guys suck," Monica said, a smirk on her face. Colin just flipped her the bird while Brandon simply fell over out of exhaustion. Monica looked tired, but I wasn't. I don't know why, either. Maybe it was just an effect of my powers.

Brandon coughed out a laugh. "Two out of three, c'mon." He fell over after that.

Colin just shook his head. "Screw that, I don't need to get my ass handed to me by a couple girls again. It's bad enough one of 'em's my girlfriend."

Peter shrugged. "At least you guys got to play. All I got to do was be the ref, and that wasn't fun at all."

I patted him on the shoulder. "But you were a good ref."

Another voice said, "Eh, you guys didn't need a ref." I spun around and saw a woman in her mid-thirties walk up the yard. "Boys can't play basketball for shit. It's the same as it was when I was in school."

"Aunt Holly!" Monica cried, running up to her aunt and throwing her arms around her. "It's been forever!"

Captain Montoya patted her niece's back. "It's been a few days, sweetie." They broke off the hug. "I'm actually here on business. We arrested a Chosen yesterday, for his own protection, because he decided to turn a city street into muck."

I piped in. "That's the most disgusting power I've ever heard of."

She nodded. "It ain't pretty, I'll give you that much. As soon as we saw what he could do, we shoved him into a patrol car and I put a call out to that Knight guy. He told us to bring the kid up here."

Another officer - a regular uniformed patrolman, I noticed - walked up with a young man about Monica's age who looked like he hadn't lived in a home in years. He looked scruffy, his hair was a mess and he was wearing very badly fitting clothes. Granted, none of our clothes fit right after we first changed, so that was just the usual.

"You the guy?" Monica asked.

"You could say that, yeah. Steve, Steve Hobbs."

Monica held out her hand. "I'm Monica. Welcome to school, Steve."

Colin stepped up behind her. "But, Monica's off-limits, because she's already dating me."

Captain Montoya said, "Does he always go around advertising you two?"

Monica blushed. "Well... it just kinda happens... and..." She elbowed Colin. "I told you not to do that!"

I was watching Steve the whole time, and he didn't look amused in any way. Actually, he looked kinda angry. I couldn't quite place what it was with him, but he looked like he was cycling back and forth between anger and depression every few seconds. Maybe he was bi-polar.

Steve walked over to the basketball and picked it up. He dribbled for a few seconds, then tried for a basket. I seemed to be the only one paying attention to him. While the rest of them talked, I walked over to Steve and took the ball out of his hands. "You wanna play against me?" I asked.

He grabbed the ball out of my hands this time, and said, "How are you gonna play if you can't move?"

I looked down at my feet and found that he'd used his powers to stick me to the asphalt. "Hey! That's no fair!"

He smiled - Hey! A smile! - and said, "One thing I learned on the street is that nothin's fair."

I smiled back at him, then supercharged my feet to melt the muck and broke out of his little foot trap. "That so? Well then, I think maybe I can adjust to those rules."

He juggled the basketball between his hands. "Whaddid they call you? I got the stupid name of Muck."

I created an arc of electricity between my hands. "You can call me Spark."

He whistled. "Ooh, shocking"

***

EAST CITY:

Gustav Hammond knocked the ashes off of a cigar and laughed at the pure stupidity of it all. In his other hand, he held a copy of the latest Daily News Brigade, with a headline he hated a great deal.

"MIKE 'BIG MIKE' RICHARDSON ARRESTED WITH EVIDENCE POINTING TO HAMMOND!"

He pressed the intercom button on his desk. "Shirley, call the Brigade and get me Keith Cabot." He didn't even wait for her acknowledgement, he knew she'd do what he ordered. He just couldn't believe it. That Richardson would be stupid enough to have fake evidence. There was no real evidence that led in anyway to Gustav, he'd covered his tracks so well that there was no evidence he'd ever seen that road, much less driven on it.

He set the paper down, stood up and walked over to the windows behind his desk. He looked out upon the city and wondered just which of the city's precinct houses Richardson was locked away in. If he was lucky, Svetlana could deal with this situation from inside the building.

"I wouldn't count on that, if I were you," a voice behind him said, a calm and calculated voice. Gustav spun around and saw the Benefactor standing there, Cloak behind him. "Big Mike's not being locked up here. He's asked for a home-field advantage. Larsen City."

Gustav cursed under his breath. "And just how do you know that?"

The Benefactor smiled. "How do I know anything, Gustav? You should know the answer to that question already."

Right. Because you're omnisciant. I'll believe that when I see it, my friend. He walked back to his desk and tapped on the newspaper. "What do you know about this?" he asked, waiting for a response from the other man.

"Only what you know, my friend, that the evidence isn't real, purely fabricated so that he can drag you down with him. A waste of resources by anyone's account."

Gustav didn't ignore the the way the Benefactor called him friend, almost exactly as Gustav himself had thought it just moments before. "Any chance that I'll actually be tied to him?"

The Benefactor shook his head. "No." He walked around to Gustav's side of the desk and put his hand on Gustav's shoulder. "Try not to worry about such things, Gustav. I have everything well in hand, and everything's just another step on our path."

Gustav nodded slowly.

***

I intercepted the ball just before Steve had a chance to sink a basket and threw it back to my side of the court. I only just made the net before someone blew a whistle, like this was a real game of basketball and not just two super-powered teenagers trying their best to use their powers to catch the other one off guard. My kinetic thrusters (my flying ability, I have names for all of them) kept me out and away from his mud-making abilities, though it really put a hamper on my concentration.

Brandon was the one with the whistle. It looked like everybody else had already gone back inside, and I hadn't noticed? Man... I guess I was really enjoying myself. Why? It was simple basketball, which I played with Peter at least once a week.

"C'mon, Kor, time to introduce Muck here to Ms. Morris."

Steve scratched at the back of his neck. "Can ya call me Steve? Muck sounds stupid."

"Tremor isn't all that brilliant, either, but it's what our Choosers decided to name us. If you're gonna be a part of our team, you're gonna havta go by your code name once in a while."

Steve shrugged. "So how come you just called Spark 'Kor'?"

"Because she's the closest thing to a little sister that I've got." He walked a little closer to Steve. "Besides, mud gets pretty brittle when you run some electric current through it."

I giggled. "You know that's not true, right?"

He shrugged. "Seemed like a good threat, though. Right, Steve?"

Steve nervously chuckled. "Yeah." I flashed him a smile, then we walked inside.

Ms. Morris was already in the rec room, where we spent the majority of our day if we weren't being taught one of many lessons by Ms. Morris, or Brandon, who was the only one of us who had graduated high school. (Well, besides Ms. Morris, but I didn't feel I needed to say that.) Monica was shooting a game of pool with Peter, and Colin was lounging around on the couch, watching TV. Ms. Morris appeared to be watching the pool game, mainly giving Peter some pointers. Must have been his first pool game.

Alright, everyone, Ms. Morris' 'voice' said in all of their heads. Steve looked pretty surprised. You've all met Steven, now let's welcome him Brandon wheeled her closer to the surprised boy. My name is Erica Morris, and I'll be your teacher in matters relating to slightly more advanced schoolwork, as well as teaching you how to use your gifts.

"Are you... um..." he stammered out, unable to finish his thought.

Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. My gift disabled the majority of my body. It's not a pleasant feeling, being able to walk one day and then incapable of even the most mundane of tasks. I can't even move my pinky very well. Diodes connected to my brain allow me to speak through a synthesizer, but I choose to speak through the mind. My students find it's less creepy that way.

"I... un... see."

We have very basic rules here, Steven. Though you may use your powers downstairs in the training room, and you'll probably be called upon to use them against criminals out in the field, you're never to use them to harm anyone for any reason that is not defense. We're not out to hurt anyone, not for any reason.

"I understand. Um... you mentioned being in the field, do you mean out there, like in a costume, or something?"

We use code names here, but costumes are completely out of the question. No use in you all loooking stupid while you're out helping people.

"But, do you mean, like, super hero type stuff? Are you guys super heroes?"

If Ms. Morris were able to smile, I'm sure she would have. You could call us that, Steven.

***

Gustav tapped the ashes off of another cigar when the intercom buzzed that Cabot and a photographer had arrived. He couldn't understand why the Brigade insisted on sending photographers every time they sent reporters, but, if he had things his way, he knew exactly which photographer it would be. He wasn't disappointed moments later when Keith Cabot walked in with the young Charlotte Harkins.

"Mr. Cabot, Ms. Harkins, it's nice to see you both again," he said, standing from his chair. He walked over to the couches that dominated the center of the room. "Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to see me."

Cabot took Gustav's hand and shook it, but Harkins did nothing. She didn't seem all that happy to be there, and he had his assumptions as to why. "Thank you, Mr. Hammond," Cabot said, taking a seat, "but Charlotte and I weren't all that busy. Simply finishing up some new articles." Gustav sat down on the couch opposite the two and waited as his secretary arrived with coffee for the three of them. "I'm surprised that I didn't see Ms. Narekova downstairs. Is she taking the day off?"

Gustav shook his head. "No. There was some family trouble back in Russia that she had to deal with. I gave her the week."

Harkins took a sip of her coffee. "How come she's in a special cell in the basement of Captain Montoya's precinct house?" the girl asked, an accusing tone to her voice.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Harkins, could you explain yourself?"

"She's one of the three criminals the police arrested a few weeks ago, after that bank robbery that all the heroes interrupted. I saw her."

Gustav wanted to smile. The girl was confirming his suspicions. He knew there had to be something more about her after her father, a police captain instead of a simple beat cop like she'd said, had died. Now he wondered if Ms. Charlotte Harkins had actually been at that bank robbery, perhaps wearing a silly costume of her own, yellow and black with big white eyes.

"Anyway," Cabot said, "we're here because of the article the Brigade printed about your connections to Mike Richardson, correct?"

Gustav nodded. "Yes. I'd just like to inform you and your paper that Mr. Richardson and I have never even met, let alone done business on anything considered illegal."

Cabot nodded. "I understand what you're saying, Mr. Hammond, but Mr. Richardson provided proof to our newspaper, and to the police." He drank from his cup. "I saw it myself."

Gustav looked at him with a cool eye. "Proof can be fabricated. Quite easily, in fact."

Harkins made a sort of snorting sound. "You sound like you've done it yourself, Mr. Hammond."

There! He recognized that wit. Straight from the moment he first saw Arachnya in his office that night he was talking to Richardson's men. No doubt, this girl had a secret of her own. He wanted to smile, again, but he didn't. I've got you now, little girl. "I assure you, young lady, that I've never done anything of the sort." He turned back to Cabot. "I personally assure the Brigade that I've never been involved personally or professionally with Mr. Richardson, nor do I intend to."

Cabot stood up and extended his arm. "Thank you, Mr. Hammond. Thank you for seeing us, as well." Hammond shook the man's hand and was about to do the same with Harkins, but she simply folded her arms under her breasts. "Charlotte and I have work we need to prepare for tomorrow's edition. Goodbye."

Hammond watched them leave, then returned to his desk. He had assurances from the Benefactor that the evidence was indeed falsified, if he couldn't deter the press and the police from pushing their angle, or at least doing something to draw suspicion off of himself, he wouldn't be able to pursue his ultimate goal.

He tapped a key on his computer and smiled. His ultimate goal. The Benefactor had no idea about it. He had proven that there were some things that the Benefactor truly did not know, and he was going to use that to his advantage. His ultimate goal.

He felt his smile widen.

***

Brandon stood across the room from Steve and waited a moment, then he split the ground in a straight line directly toward Steve, who jumped out of the way and turned the ground beneath Brandon into mud. You think that's gonna stop me, Steve? He stepped out of mud pile and then solidified it back into stable ground. He saw the surprised look on Steve's face.

"It's why Ms. Morris picked us, Steve, our powers are similar, we both control ground to a certain degree." He used his power to create rock restraints around Steve's hands. "Now, it's time for you to learn how to use your powers without your hands."

"How do I do that?" On cue, Brandon tapped his earpiece and Colin threw two metal cubes in Steve's direction. He ducked underneath them, as much as he could with the restraints holding him in place. "I thought you said it was just the two of us?!"

Brandon ripped a piece of rock out of the floor and hopped up on it. "You also need to learn how to defend yourself against multiple enemies. Colin's gonna keep throwing stuff at you until you turn them into mud, and until you escape the restraints."

Steve looked like he was getting constipated as he tried to concentrate on turning the flying objects into mud. All he succeeded in doing was making them a little muddy on the edges before they hit near him. Brandon used his power to make sure they didn't hit him directly. He tapped his earpiece again, signalling Monica. She set off an explosion near Steve's feet.

"What the hell?!" Steve shouted. "Three of you?!"

Monica walked out of the shadows. "Sorry, Steve, boss's orders." She smirked, causing a piece of the rock restraints to explode. "Most of our powers aren't related to any specific body part, so you can use more than just your hands to make your mud. I used to think that it was just my hands that caused the explosions, but I can do 'em with my mind, now."

"Can somebody at least explain how I do that?!"

Brandon caused another restraint to grip Steve's neck. "Just think," he said, landing in front of the kid. "Think, and make all that rock mud. You've done it with asphalt and the concrete of the basketball court." Another piece of half-muddy metal flew past their heads. "And you can clearly do it with metal, too, obviously you can manipulate everything with elements of earth in it." He held up his hand and grabbed one of the metal cubes. "Just like me."

Steve again had that constipated look on his face, until something exploded in the air above his head. He tried to duck again, but the restraint around his neck, holding him in place, prevented that.

"Do it!" Brandon shouted. "They're gonna kill you, unless you learn how to make mud without your hands! Your life depends on this!"

Steve's closed eyes shot open, his pupils dead-white, and suddenly, the cubes flying toward them, the restraints holding him in place, and the rock that Brandon was standing on, all liquified, changing into mud. Brandon fell on his ass and struggled to get up, because the mud was caking, sticking him to the floor quite well.

Then Steve's eyes cleared, returning to their original state, and he had a surprised look on his face. "I... did that?" he asked.

Monica patted him on the shoulder. "Matter of fact, ya did. Now, let Brandon go, 'kay?"

Steve shook his head as if it were covered in cobwebs, then Brandon felt the mud slip away from him. He stood up and put his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Good work, Muck, you did great on your first try."

"How did I do that? I just... I felt so much power coming out of me. How'd I do that?"

Monica said, "There are times when our powers get a little out of hand, and it feels like someone or something else is taking control of us. I had that problem when I first got my powers, too. Sometimes, I'd be able to use my powers perfectly, and sometimes I'd be completely out of control. If you ever saw the news, there was this one time where I... uh... well..."

Brandon lightly punched her on the arm. "C'mon, Monica, tell him!"

She groaned. "Alright. I blew up the back of a truck full of Kibbles 'n' Bits." She waited a second before adding. "But I never hurt the driver, or anybody else. I just made a big mess in the middle of Seventy-Third Street."

Colin walked up to them, making several cubes rotate around himself. "Well, if you guys are done, let's get topside. I'm hungry."

Brandon nodded. "Right." He turned toward the observation window on the far side of the room. "Korra, Pete! Shut off the simulation!"

All around them, panels fluctuated and changed color, things changed. The large hole that Brandon had created with his powers completely disappeared, as if it had never even been there (because, in fact, it hadn't), and a solid floor appeared in its place. Brandon saw Steve's face, the look of sheer amazement.

"Holograms," he said, drawing Steve's attention, "whoever's bankrolling us has access to some pretty advanced military technology. The government's been using holograms for years now without telling the public." He started toward the door. "Hang out with us long enough, you'll see plenty of cool crap!"

***

I sat on a bench, and ate my meal in peace. Peter was busy eating with Colin and Brandon, and Monica ate in her bedroom more often than note. She said it reminded her of home, because she and her aunt rarely ever ate together. I personally think it has something to do with her not wanting to accidentally blow us all up in case her powers ever go out of control, which she says they still do every so often.

A sandwich. A penut butter and jelly on wheat bread sandwich. That's what I was eating. A simple sandwich, but a delicious sandwich nonetheless. I had a habit of asking Colin to make them for me, because he always made a big show of using his powers instead of his hands. It was always fun.

Steve walked outside with a tray full of food and sat down next to me. I must have had a weird look on my face, because he laughed a little and said, "I haven't had real food in years. I've been homeless ever since my parents got divorced and left me on the streets. Neither one of them wanted me, so I just got left behind."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. I managed to stay one step ahead of all the gangs, so I never got raped or anything. The weirdest part of that experience was going to sleep a girl and waking up a boy."

I nodded. "I know how that feels. I ended up the other way, because I was a boy who turned into a girl, but that weird part of being a Chosen, the part that for some reason means we need to be the opposite gender, well, it's weird." Wow, For some reason I had trouble deciding what to say! Wonder what the hell that was all about. Well, besides the fact that I thought Steve was kinda cute. Who can blame me? I've been a girl for over a month, female hormones were kicking in.

"So, um... have your powers ever, y'know, gotten out of control?" he asked.

I gave it a second, then answered, "Well, not exactly out of control, but, when I changed, my powers weren't exactly under my control. I was turning out lamps and street lights, and I accidentally drained all the electricity from an electronics store. They still haven't reopened, actually..."

"So, you've caused some minor damage, too?"

I nodded. "What exactly did you do?"

"I..." He shut his mouth again. "When I stopped that guy robbing the liquor store, there was this old couple behind me. When I turned around, I saw them sinking into the sidewalk. Nobody else saw it, thankfully, and I didn't tell the police. I didn't want to go to jail."

"But, you turned yourself in, anyway."

"Yeah, but I knew they'd leave me in there if I'd told them. I... I'd heard about a super hero school by listening to people on the street, and I knew I needed that."

"You need to tell somebody what happened," I suggested.

He shook his head. "No. Otherwise... No, I'm not gonna do that."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Look, if Ms. Morris doesn't already know, I'm gonna havta tell her."

The tray of food in his hands started turning into a tray of mud. "Why?!" He threw it at the wall. "You can't do that, it'll be bad for me!"

I stood up. "Because it's the right thing, Steve."

His eyes turned white. "No!" I backed away from him and put up what I liked to call a polarity wall, a shield made entirely of electricity. It didn't take long for the guys to notice, and then Brandon was lifting up the ground that I was standing on.

"Steve! Stop!" Brandon shouted. Colin lifted up the bench. "What the hell's the matter with you?!"

Steve's eyes returned to normal, and then he whispered something, turned, and ran.

"What the hell was that?" Colin asked.

I dropped my polarity wall and whispered, "I don't know."

***

Gustav told his driver to stop the car in front of the young man who was running from the large house in the Hills. He rolled down his window and said to the young man, "Stop running, Steven." The kid stopped and gave him a look. "Get in the car." He opened the door and waited for the boy to get in, then shut the door and instructed the driver to get a move on. "It's nice to meet you, Steven." He held out his hand but the boy didn't shake hands with him. "Fine, I'll get straight to the point."

Steven sat forward. "The point is that I'm trying to get away from - "

"From Erica Morris and her little band of X-Men, yes, I know."

"X-Men? Isn't that a movie?"

Gustav smirked and nodded his head. "Just a few months ago, your kind would have been classified as purely the stuff of comic books, so I don't think that's a judgment you can truly make." The boy didn't say anything to that. "I'm offering you a job, Steven. I'll ask you to do various tasks, and one of them will eventually be to destroy that house that you just ran away from."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because I know what you just went through."

"How could you know that?"

He smiled again. "My ability is seeing the future." It was a lie, but the boy would never know the truth. After he used him to destroy Richardson, he was going to kill the kid anyway, that was a simple fact. Well, maybe he'd let someone else do the job, just to stay away from it personally. Either way, this was the kid's last day on Earth.

***

And you're certain you can't find him? Ms. Morris asked Brandon as we all stood around the rec room. He's on foot, he shouldn't have been able to get very far.

Brandon shrugged. "We can't find him. Peter swept a sixteen mile radius in less than ten minutes, and he couldn't even find a trace of any weird mud anywhere."

Then we have to assume that someone else intercepted him. I'll be in contact with our friend, and we'll learn any reports from the ECPD. In the mean time, go about your chores and your classes. We'll learn something eventually.

As everyone else left the room, I stayed behind, curled up on the couch. Though she couldn't move, it was almost like Ms. Morris was right beside me, her arm around my shoulders. Probably some mental trick that I really appreciated, because I could use a parental hand on my shoulders right about now, and she'd do just fine considering my parents were off somewhere that I couldn't get in touch with them for the next week and a half. They did apologize for missing my birthday, though.

What's the matter, Korra?

"He seemed to be connecting with me, really well." I laughed. "That's kinda stupid, though, since he was only here for a day and a half."

No, it's not. Before we were Chosen, I had a relationship with a woman that I felt I could have spent the rest of my life with. That would have sounded weird to me if I didn't know she'd been a man before the Choosing. When she died in a car accident less than a week before the Choosing, I felt as though half of my soul had been ripped away from me. That relationship, it hadn't taken long to build, less than three days, and yet it had lasted a lifetime.

"So, you're saying, that I loved Steve?"

Not romantic love, perhaps, more of a sibling-like love, like you have with Colin and Brandon. Peter seems more your type, actually.

I rolled my eyes. "No, he's not. He's lightning fast and I shoot lightning out of my fingertips, we have nothing in common."

Well, that's not important right now. What is important, is that you need to head up the search for Steven.

"Why me?"

Because you had that connection. You need to take point on this, Korra.

I nodded, silently.

***

Keith Cabot sat at his desk and wondered exactly how he could nail Gustav Hammond when Charlie walked up to his desk and plopped down in the chair beside him. He looked over at her and saw a smile on her face, like she was in on a joke or something. "What is it?" he asked.

She held up her phone and pressed something on the touch screen. A recording started playing. "I've never been involved personally or professionally with Mr. Richardson, nor do I intend to."

"Yeah, so what?" he asked, a little more stress in his voice.

She held up a photo from her file folder. "I took this in Hammond's office the day Ms. Adamsen and I were sent to interview him."

He took the photo and practically glued his eyes to it. Big Mike himself, and The Roach Lacasto, both coming out of Hammond's office. "You've been sitting on these for that long?"

She shrugged. "The odds that they would have been taken seriously before now seemed pretty slim."

He grabbed her and kissed her on the cheek. "Kid, I love you, and your detective skills!"

She shrugged again. "My dad was a great cop. He told stories around the dinner table."

***

I grinded along the telephone and electrical wires as I travelled through town. I felt stupid doing this the way I was. Like I was gonna find anything just induction grinding (yes, that's my guidewire grinding move) my way around the city. If Steve was smart, he was a thousand miles away by now. How the hell was I gonna find him?

I jumped off the wires and landed on a rooftop, completely unsure of what to do. I looked down on the street and saw a line of police cars making their way through the streets, with a paddy wagon in the middle of them. I stood there, about to give up, when I looked ahead of the cop cars and saw Steve standing in front of them, his hands stretched outward.

Somehow, I'd found him, without even trying. Good work, Korra, you've just stumbled upon your objective.

I jumped back onto the wires and grinded toward Steve, then jumped on the hood of the lead cop car. Steve noticed me, and then I felt myself sinking into the hood of the cop car. I jumped out of the muck and started hovering in front of him.

"Stop this, Steve," I said, a determination in my voice that I don't think I've heard myself ever have. "Stop it, and come back."

He didn't say anything. Instead, he turned the two lead cop cars into mud and threw them at me. I jumped out of the way and leapt up onto a bus stop, which started turning into mud seconds later, causing me to jump away from that. He's been gone for three hours and he somehow has this much control over his powers now? What the hell?!

I landed on the street this time, completely uncomfortable because he already had plenty of experience turning asphalt into mud. Instead of waiting for him to make a move, I fired some electric bolts at his feet, to knock him off balance. He responded by turning a couple more cars into mud and throwing them at me.

I rolled out of the way, onto the sidewalk, jumped up, and grabbed the nearest window ledge. I had just enough time before another mud car hit the wall to jump up to another window ledge, and then another, and then I was on the roof of the building. I spun around and saw Steve there, somehow using a mud fountain (or something resembling a mud fountain) to lift himself up into the air. It was then that I got my first good look at him throughout this whole one-sided fight.

His eyes were solid white.

He couldn't control himself. That's what he told me, that he wasn't in complete control of his powers, and that he'd lost control once. He wasn't in control. His power was controlling him! How could I fight him like this?

The answer was obvious, I had to defend myself. I created a couple of my lightning grenades and threw them at his fountain, causing him to fall to the street below. After that, I jumped down from the roof and landed beside him. I used a trick that I'd developed thanks to Peter, called the arc restraint. I used electricity to restrain him, sticking him to the street.

"Steve, this isn't you, come back to your senses!"

Instead of answering me with words, he answered me by opening his eyes and causing mud to grab me by the throat. I fell backward as the mud pulled me down to the street. I gripped at my throat, trying to stop the muck from choking me, but I couldn't do anything to stop it.

A gunshot rang out, disrupting Steve's concentration, or something, because I was suddenly free of the muddy death hand gripping at my throat. I looked toward the sound of the gunshot and saw a cop standing there, aiming at both Steve and I. I held up my hands. "I'm okay, I'm fine!"

"Shut up!" the cop shouted, taking a step toward me. I kept my hands up. "Just stop moving, freak!"

"Hey, I'm the good guy - er, well, girl! I came here to stop him!"

"I said, shut up!" He looked like he was about to say something else, but he was suddenly swallowed up in a torrent of mud. It took me a second to realize that he had been turned into the mud. I looked back over at Steve and saw him standing again. The gunshot must have broken my concentration, too. I rolled out of the way just in time to escape the flying human piece of mud that Steve had just hurled toward me and tackled him to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Steve," I said, placing my hand on his face.

I don't know how I knew about this move, I just did. I'd never used it before. I called it the bio leech. I used the static electricity latent in both our bodies to draw bioelectricity from him into me. It didn't take long, just a few seconds, but it felt like it lasted lifetimes. As his lifeforce drained from him, I realized that his bioelectricity wasn't the only thing that I was draining. I saw things, memories, a man in a limosuine, photos of another man...

Steve purposefully turning the ground beneath that couple into mud. They weren't old, and they weren't some random couple.

They were his parents.

As the last of his life transferred from him into me, I fell backwards, onto my butt. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. Why had I done that? Why had I killed those people? What was wrong with me?

No! Not me! Steve! Those were his memories, not mine.

I stood up and made my way to the paddy wagon. I didn't realize that at some point, the other cop cars escorting the wagon had been turned into mud. That poor cop that I - that Steve - had turned into mud and thrown at me was probably the one driving the wagon. I opened the door of the wagon and found that it was completely empty. Big Mike Richardson (where had I learned that name from?) wasn't in the wagon, like Mr. Hammond (who?) had said. Lying son of a bitch (why was I saying that?).

I climbed a telephone pole and slid back onto the wires. I had to get back to Ms. Morris and tell her what had happened. Tell her that Steve was in a different place now.

Probably a worse place.

***

THE NEXT DAY:

Gustav smiled as he read the newspaper.

"MICHAEL 'BIG MIKE' RICHARDSON FOUND DEAD IN CELL!"

He had paid good money to get Richardson's cellmate to shiv the man the first chance he had. Using the boy to attack the police cars escorting the empty paddy wagon was just a great way to use the distraction as a distraction. The police thought that Richardson's enemies would fall for the bait of a very public police convoy, so he had the convoy attacked, to make them think that the bait was sold. It was perfect.

He leaned back in his chair and tapped off the ashes from his cigar. Richardson's 'evidence' would never come to light, He was home free.

The intercom buzzed. "Mr. Hammond, Captain Montoya of the ECPD and several of her officers just stepped out of the elevator. They're on their way to your office."

What?!

Not two seconds later, the door burst open, three officers were at his desk in less time than it took to blink. Captain Montoya strode triumphantly toward him as her officers placed him in handcuffs. "Gustav Hammond, you're under arrest for conspiring with a known felon, and suspicion in the death of a known felon."

He scowled. "What proof do you have, detective?"

"Captain, buddy. And we just happen to have photographic proof of you meeting with Mike Richardson, and after we showed him the proof, Richardson's cellmate squealed till he was blue in the face that a man working for Gustav Hammond showed up in the penitentiary ready to pay him big bucks to shiv Richardson." She smiled. "The proof alone gets you twenty-five to life. If the cellmate pans out, you've probably got at least three life sentences to serve."

Hammond scowled.

***

William Brand looked out the window at the fourteen year old girl sitting alone on a bench in the garden. "And the side-effects?" he asked.

So far, Mr. Hobbs' memories have planted themselves firmly in her brain. She has memories of Gustav Hammond hiring Steven to kill Michael Richardson.

"If only memories could help the case against him. Good thing there's enough evidence agaist Gustav already." He took a sip of his brandy. "Anything else?"

She woke up with mud covering her bed this morning. I think Steven's gifts transferred to her as well. I can't be sure of anything, though.

"She can absorb abilities? She sounds even more unique than I thought she already was."

It could be, but that aspect of her gifts could be more like a curse to her. Suppose she accidentally absorbs the abilities of multiple Chosen. Not only would they be dead, she'd have their memories as well. She's already being torn apart by Steven's memories running through her head, any more could overload her mind.

"What do you suggest, Erica?"

I don't know. There might not be anything we can do.

Brand took another sip from his glass. He'd have to keep a close eye on her.

***

I looked down at my hands and created an arc of lightning between them. I then closed my eyes and reopened them to find the arc of lightning was suddenly a geyser of mud. How was I doing that? I closed my eyes again, reopened them, and saw that the mud was lightning again. I hated that.

"What'sa matter, Korra?" someone beside me asked. I looked to my left and saw Steve sitting there.

"How - " I started to say, but he cut me off.

"I'm not real, obviously. I'm a memory, like the ones you took from me."

"Why?"

"Call me a ghost, Kor, because I'll always be here with you."

I stood up and backed away from the bench. Steve was suddenly gone. I saw the bench disintegrate into mud.

I was scared out of my mind.

The Punchline

"I'm swingin' in the rain! I'm swingin' in the rain!" I sang as I swung through, well, the rain. Sure, my suit was incredibly wet, but it was still fun to swing through the rain, on my way to beat up some bad guys who thought a thunderstorm was the best time to rob liquor stores or gas stations or...

Apparently, comic book shops.

I landed on the wall of the building, which the two crooks took no notice off and watched as they loaded up their van with boxes upon boxes of comic books. Seriously. These guys were probably the most creative crooks I've ever seen, it's pretty funny, actually. I hopped from the building wall to the top of their van, which finally made them notice me.

"It's... it's...!" one of them said, dropping his box.

The other one pulled out his gun. "A dead man!"

Thank you spider-sense! I dodged each bullet and then landed in front of him and knocked his gun out of his hand. I webbed his feet to the ground, but thanks to the rain, that didn't last long. At about this time, his buddy decided to get in the game, and tried hitting me with a crowbar, but I jumped out of the way and shoved him against the side of the van.

By the time I finished off the crowbar man, Mr. Gun-toter had picked up his gun again and took a couple more potshots at me, but I again dodged them and ripped the gun away from his hand with a webline. I kicked him into the van and webbed him to the van this time, instead of the ground. A lot more webbing, and he just was not moving.

Crowbar Man was back on his feet again, but I dodged his little tackle maneuver and webbed him to his buddy. These two were not gonna be any more of a problem. I walked over to the back of the van and looked at all the boxes of comic books inside, then peeked around the side at them, still webbed up. "You guys are really smart, y'know that? Everybody else steals money or guns or drugs." I shut the van doors and walked around to them. "I seriously stopped a couple guys who robbed a pharmacy just to get a truckload of band aids. Band aids!" I tapped one of them on the head. "But you guys? No, nononono, no, you go after the comics."

I opened the closest box and found nothing but copies of Batman, Detective Comics, Batgirl... I checked another box and found the same, all copies of the various titles that featured Batman or his Bat-family. All this for a bunch of Batman comics? "Hey, why the bias on Batman, anyway?"

One of them looked like he wanted to shrug, but, of course, the webbing. "Our boss just wants 'em. Anything with the Joker, he said."

That just seemed weird. I walked around the van, back toward them and asked, "Which one of you had the gun?" One of them whimpered. "When I showed up, you called me a dead man." I pointed to my chest. "See, these? These are the things that men do not have!"

He made a raspberry noise. "You think you got big tits, kid? My cousin Louie, worked on the docks his whole life, then he decides he's through with that life, got himself a sex change, now he's working over in Larsen City at The Open Book, brings in seven K a day in lap dances alone."

"Ew, gross! I'm sixteen, you really think I wanna hear about that crap?"

"You were the one braggin' about your tits."

I weblined away just as the police pulled up to arrest the two comic book thieves. This was gonna be a weird one to tell Mom and Timmy about.

***

Melissa Harkins set her son back in his crib and sighed. Twelve-thirty, and Charlie still wasn't back. She was about to call the super teen when she heard a knock on the apartment door. She walked out into the front room and opened the door, finding Charlie standing there, holding a wet box of donuts. "I promise they're not wet," the girl said. Melissa moved out of the way and allowed her daughter to come inside.

"I was getting worried, baby," Melissa said, hoping the strain in her voice was obvious.

"Well, after I beat the crap out of these two guys stealing comic books - "

Melissa cut Charlie off. "Comic books?"

"That's a story for later. Anyway, I got a call from Timmy, who was working late at the Brigade, and he asked me to swing by so that he could show me something regarding that whole Gustav Hammond thing, so I stopped by and then - "

"Charlie, slow down, you're talking a mile a minute."

She blushed. "Sorry. Anyway, after I left the Brigade, I stopped by the Dunkin' Donuts on Forty-Sixth and picked those up as an apology that I was out late."

Melissa sighed. It was quite the mess they lived in, thanks to Charlie having woken up with powers that fateful day three months ago. Their lives had taken quite a few twists and turns in those months, the hardest to deal with was the death of her husband, Charlie's father. Hardest to deal with, and the one that made their bond as mother and daughter much stronger than it had been since Charlie had gotten her powers.

An hour and a half of conversations later, and Charlie was laying on her makeshift bed, the couch. She had been using Melissa's bed, but after she came home to find Melissa asleep, she'd chosen to grab some blankets and turn the couch into a bed. When Melissa had found her the next morning, Charlie had said that she didn't need a real bed, since she didn't sleep much.

Melissa walked into her own bedroom, checked on Christopher, and then laid down to go to sleep. It was a long time before she did, she laid awake thinking about Charlie. The girl was becoming just as big a help to the city as her father had been. It made her nights waiting for the girl to come home hell, but the thrill she felt when she allowed herself to think my daughter's a hero was well worth it.

***

I didn't go to school anymore. I dropped out way back when my mom left my dad and I, and I haven't gone back since. I sorta regret it. Sorta. I'd been a solid B student before I became Arachnya (and a girl, sometimes I have to remind myself of that, feels like I've been one forever, now), but after that, and all that web-swinging later, my grades had been steadily dropping. I was gonna fail my sophomore year of high school anyway, if I hadn't dropped out.

So, with a very deep breath, I walked back into school. I wasn't there to learn, I was there to find my friend Cindy Cooper, because we were going to have lunch together, not something I'd done in awhile. As soon as she saw me she threw her arms around me in a hug that would have been interpreted completely differently if we'd both been boys, but she'd never been one and I haven't been one in months.

"Hey, Spider-Girl!" Cindy sort of half whispered. At least she didn't say it loud enough for anybody but me to hear. "How's the web-swinging?"

I shrugged. "Still fun, a few months in. A lot of hard work, though."

"Hey, I never got a chance to tell you after it happened, I'm sorry about your dad."

I shook my head. "It's okay. The bitch who did it is in jail with her powers removed, and the city knows it wasn't me who did it. I really miss my dad, but... it was a bittersweet win."

She patted me on the shoulder. "Well, let's get the hell outta here and snag some lunch. There's a certain Mr. Timothy Saul that I keep hearing Frank talking about."

"I need to stop telling him things," I growled.

Cindy giggled. "Hey, I think he just finds it cute that you have a boyfriend, Miss I-Used-To-Be-A-Boy."

"All 'cause he's never had a girlfriend."

We made our way to the nearest fast food place, which was only a block and a half away from the school. We talked about this, we talked about that, anything involving my secret identity and the keeping thereof required us to whisper, which we did. It wasn't easy to do, and people probably thought we were freaking crazy

But our nice, pleasand little talk about all the things that have happened to me in the past few months was ended by Timmy rushing in and stopping right beside our table, breathing heavily like he had just run a thousand miles to get here. I just stared at him for a little bit all the while Cindy was giggling her brains out.

I waited for probably seventy seconds before I finally said, "Tim, you okay?"

He held up one finger, telling us to wait, again, and then he eventually said, "I just came here... To tell you..." He looked between Cindy and I for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you were meeting up with your friend today."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, how did you know to find me here?"

He held up his phone. "Ms. Adamsen asked me to hack into your phone's GPS, I'd tell you why, but I really don't know why."

"Well, Tim, meet Cindy; Cindy, Tim."

Tim nodded to Cindy, Cindy waved to Tim. "Nice to meet you," Tim said. He looked back toward me. "Anyway, I came to tell you that..." He stared at the wall like he couldn't think of what it was he had to tell me, then he said, "I can't remember."

I facepalmed, Cindy giggled, Tim looked like he was about to stab himself with the nearest plastic fork.

"Well, whatever it was, I hope it wasn't too important."

He shook his head. "It wasn't. It was something that Ms. Adamsen wanted me to tell you. Maybe it was just that she wanted to talk to you..." He shrugged. "I can't remember."

I sighed. "Fine." I stood up from the table. "Sorry, Cindy, I've gotta swing."

Tim looked nervous. "Um... swing? What'cha talkin' about, Charlie?"

Cindy giggled again. "I've known longer than you, Mr. Boyfriend, don't worry about it. Besides, swing could mean anything, doesn't necessarily mean swinging from a web."

He blushed. "Oh. I didn't, um... I didn't know."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Tim, let's get going."

***

Timmy and I exited the elevator just as Ms. Adamsen was being yelled at by Mr. Brindleson. "C'mon, Adamsen, this gun racket can't be as big as your source says it is! The Larsen City PD hasn't said anything to their own papers about this crap!"

Ms. Adamsen stopped, turned on her heel, then poked a finger at Mr. Brindleson's face. "Shut it, Barry. This is big, we have the exclusive, and this story is gonna sell papers as fast as that Clinton scandal back in the nineties." She looked over at me and smiled. "Now, Charlie and I are headed out there, we'll get you what it is this paper needs to be one of the biggest sellers at the news stand," she added the next part with a smirk, "and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop us." She walked over to me, grabbed me by the arm, and said, "C'mon, kid, get your camera out of the little photographer's room and let's get going."

We walked into the photography department and then Ms. Adamsen shut - and locked - the door. "Um... What's goin' on?" I asked.

She grabbed my bag from around my chair. "Your camera's in here, right?"

"Yeah. What's goin' on?" I repeated.

"You got your costume on under there?" I think I must have turned beet red from surprise. "Look, Charlie, you've fallen asleep on me in here plenty of times, I caught peeks at it under your clothes. Then, one time when you were out with Keith, I took a look inside your book bag and found it in there. The only ones who know about it here are Timmy and I."

"And you waited until now to tell me this?!"

She shrugged. "I didn't think it was important. I know and I've been keeping your secret just that, secret. I'm only telling you now because you're probably gonna need it when we get into Larsen City. There's plenty of gang trouble out there. That's what we're getting into."

"We are?"

"Yup. Tell me, Junior Detective Harkins," she said with a smirk, "how many stories did your dad tell you about going undercover?"

***

My dad only went undercover a few times, and never for very long. One time when he was a temporary police liason to the FBI, and had to sneak into the Russian mafia (because, hilariously, among his many qualities, my dad could speak fluent Russian), and once when he had to pretend to be a drug dealer for a sting operation. I was really little, so the details were pretty much left out, save for I snuck in and helped take down the bad guys, so I knew even less than I pretended to know.

Despite all of that, when Ms. Adamsen and I got out of the cab on the corner of 3rd and Grapevine in Larsen City, I was given a crash course on the basics of the Larsen City gang community.

"Now, the guys you're gonna be scouting out have a thing for underage girls, so - "

I cut her off. "Whoa, what am I doing here? Whoring myself out?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing like that. They just have this compulsion for hiring teenage girls to do their gun running. Who'd believe a sixteen year old would be packing some Desert Eagles in her purse, that kind of thing."

"So, what? I'm just gonna be a delivery girl?"

"Pretty much, if my source is on the money, and he always has been before."

I sighed. "Okay. What do I need?"

She pulled a bag from some clothing shop out of the trunk. "Well, first of all, you're gonna havta dress a little more provocatively than you normally do."

I rolled my eyes.

***

Shelleye Nakamoto wished she was somewhere else. She was in a very quiet room, only one light on, directly over her head, and tied to a chair. She couldn't see them, but she felt eyes staring at her. She looked around the small area that she could see and tried to pinpoint the source of the eyes that she could feel, but she just couldn't see anything.

But she did hear something.

She heard someone breathing, walking around, occasionally stopping for a moment. She couldn't tell where in the room they were, but just the fact that she knew they were there frightened her to the point where she wanted to wet herself. Fearing a potential rape, she kept her knees right up against one another. She was more and more frightened by the second.

"Don't worry," a calm voice, a voice that sent shivers down her spine, said. "We're not into that sort of thing here." She heard the footsteps again, and then she heard a chair being pulled across the floor. The edge of the chair came into the light, then whoever it was sat down in the chair. "Matter of fact, I wanna tell you a joke." Whoever he was, he was wearing purple gloves, his pants a similar color. "Y'see, there was this girl, and she was very unique." He clapped his hands. "And this girl, y'see, she just felt like she had to help each and every person out there, like it was her job." Shelleye could almost feel the pee about to burst out of her. "And so, she takes a little trip from where she lives to a place she doesn't live, and she tries to help those people." She watched as the man pulled out a butterfly knife. "And then, this girl," he said, with an odd growl on the word girl, "found out she couldn't help people. Found out she couldn't help each and every person out there." Her eyes never left the knife in the man's hand, not even when he pushed it into her kneecap. "Would you like to know what the punchline is?"

Shelleye screamed. The pain shot through her like lightning, and then her bladder exploded.

"Now, now, now, sweetie," the man leaned forward, the light showed her something that would never leave her, thanks to the fact that her life would end shortly, "I didn't finish telling you the joke."

***

I had never worn a skirt my whole life. Granted, from birth to age fifteen, I was a boy, so it wouldn't even make sense for me to have worn a skirt, but even in the three months since I became Arachnya, I've never worn a skirt, despite my mom's attempts to get me to try (I said I would, if we ever got the chance to go shopping together, but a job at a newspaper and a part-time position defending the city as a super hero kinda put a hold on those plans). I've kinda wanted to, occasionally, but my preprogrammed male-despite-my-current-situation feelings on the subject keep pushing it off and pushing it off, so I've never worn one.

Until today.

There I was, wearing a camisole top, a skirt, sandals... and no underwear, because whoever the hell this gang is that Ms. Adamsen has me sneaking my way into requires that their gun runners don't wear underwear. I don't know why they ask this, they just do. I complied simply because I was told they'd know. Thankfully, I know enough about wearing skirts (thanks to some training from Ms. Adamsen) to not accidentally flash my privates at anybody, but this was still freakishly embarrassing and I didn't want to do it.

But, if it would bring down some bad guys and it earned me a paycheck (I wasn't being paid enough for this, however), I guess I really didn't have much choice. I walked along one of Larsen City's grimiest neighborhoods, which looked a suspicious amount like a downbeat version of my own neigherbood in East City, right down to the bum sitting in front of the apartment building that looks an awful lot like the one I used to live in, before I moved in with my mom. This bum, however, was cradling a newspaper-covered soccer ball like it was a child. I felt sorry for him. And for little Wilson, there, because you just know he named the soccer ball Wilson.

I sighed. I think I passed a hundred different people who wanted to rape me as I slowly walked to my destination, which was a warehouse just a few blocks away. I think the whole point of this was to make me seen, so that these guys who were staring at me with rape eyes could see that I was off-limits. I didn't know or care, I just wanted to get the hell away from there. I slightly quickened my pace.

The warehouse that I ended up at had a giant letter J graffitied on the door. I sighed, adjusted my bag, and walked inside, already ready to piss myself, which would be even worse, since I wasn't wearing panties. On the one hand, though, it would be the first male thing I've done in three months, since I'd be peeing standing up.

I knocked on the door, it opened, and two guys packing assault rifles motioned for me to come inside. I did, then my fear intensified significantly. The warehouse was pretty much dark, with only a few lights on, none of them illuminating the whole expanse of the building,so it looked much larger on the inside than it did on the outside. One of the two men led me to a chair in the center of the warehouse, and told me to sit down. Great. Now, if I were to piss myself, I wouldn't even have the luxury of standing up.

I looked down at the floor and saw some blood on the floor. Moved my leg a little and saw some on the chair, old and new, in both places. There came that urine I was waiting to start building up. Dammit.

"You're new," a voice said, an eerily calm voice, "and young, too. You can't be older than fifteen, sweetie." A chair was suddenly brought into the light, but only just.

I gulped, audibly, and said, "I'm sixteen, actually."

"Sixteen?" The voice whistled. "And you're pretty." Whoever it was sat down on the chair. I saw purple pants and gloves, but nothing else. "You remind me of someone I knew, when I was your age."

I gulped again, then sat the bag down in front of me. "Well... here's your latest delivery. They didn't tell me what it was, just where to go."

"They never tell you girls. I've seen a dozen of you, and none of them have ever known." He swung out a butterfly knife, and I didn't even need my spider-sense (betcha forgot I had one, didn't you? No. No, you didn't) to know that he planned on using it on me. "It's like... like telling a joke, but leaving out the punchline."

Even if I didn't need it, I was glad I had my spider-sense in this situation, because I swung my legs out of the way just as he was about to stab the knife into my knee. I hoped nobody saw my privates as I jumped out of the chair, but considering the only two people in the light were me and the weirdo in purple, I didn't think there was much trouble of that.

At least until the guys with guns dropped by, and I had the barrels of two automatic weapons pointed straight at my head. I was not telling my mom about this one.

The man in purple stood up, walked toward me, but I couldn't really see him, since he stuck to the heavy shadows. "You've got some fight in you. I like that." He clapped as he walked toward me.

"Good for you," I spat out. "Now, let me go. I did what I was told to do, nobody ever said anything about being stabbed in the knee by some crazy guy."

Mr. Purple Pants must have gotten right up to me, because somebody slapped me in the face before my spider-sense could warn me. "Don't call me that. Don't." I rubbed at my face. "You've got spunk, kid, so I'm gonna keep you around a little longer."

"This wasn't a part of the deal."

"Shoot that," he said, to one of his men. A muzzle flash lit up the room for a moment and the bag of guns that I delivered practically exploded. As the flash lit up the room, I caught sight of Mr. Purple Pants' face and realized that I've met guys who work for him before. He walked over to the bag and picked it up. "Tape recorder, huh? Which paper do you work for, sweetie?"

I didn't answer his question. Instead, I asked, "You sent a couple guys around last night to steal comic books, didn't you?"

He laughed, much like I expected he would. "Somebody's pretty good at what she does."

I hoped the two guys with the guns hadn't moved. I shot weblines at both of their guns and pulled them towards each other. By the grunting they made, I assume I hit my targets, but that's when he hit me. A kick to my shin knocked me to my knees. Why the hell wasn't my spider-sense working?

The man knelt down in front of me. "I'm willing to bet... Arachnya? Even in the dark, you're pretty obvious." He pressed his knife against my chin. "So, I'm gonna leave you alive. I'm gonna make you a message."

He stood up and walked into the light and I got a nice, full look at him. I was right. I knew why this guy wanted comic books that had the Joker in them. My lips quivering, I asked, "What's the message?"

He turned around, and I saw his face. He smiled, and said, "The punchline."

***

Anna Adamsen paced the floor of her source's apartment. She kept looking at the clock on her phone, knowing that Charlie was overdue. She looked over at her source, Ronny Miller, a forty-something man who had worked for the new gun runners on the block for about three months. He was sitting on the couch, watching the clock as anxiously as she was. If it weren't for the ridiculous amount of money he raked it working for the gun runners, she'd actually think he had a heart somewhere in there.

She was about to walk out the door when she heard a knock on it. She opened the door and saw two police officers standing in the hallway, one of them taking off his hat. "Ms. Anna Adamsen?" the one who took off his hat asked.

"Yeah?"

"We're here to escort you to Saint Mary's Memorial Hospital."

"Why?"

"Your friend, Charlotte? She was dropped off at the hospital an hour ago by a gray van. When she could finally talk, she asked for you."

Anna felt the color drain from her face. "I'll get my coat."

***

Timmy wanted the elevator to move faster. He couldn't tell if Mrs. Harkins wanted the same thing, but he assumed she was going out of her mind with worry. When the elevator doors finially opened, Ms. Adamsen was standing there. The tears in her eyes spoke volumes about what they were about to see. Oh, God, Charlie, please be okay... Tim thought.

It felt like time was slowing down as they walked toward the room where Charlie was. As soon as her mother saw her, she left the room, tears streaking down her cheeks. Tim managed to make his way into the room, but only just. He immediately turned to walk out before Charlie called his name. He walked over to her, and looked down at her in the hospital bed. Tears started falling down his cheeks as well.

Charlie was covered in dozens of cuts, though none on her face. Whoever had done this to her had left her face alone, maybe as some sort of message or something, Tim didn't know. Most of the spots that weren't cut were bruised, however, again, save her face. The only wound on her face was a single black eye. He took her hand and held on tightly. She groaned from the pain.

"Who did this, Charlie?" he asked, his voice low.

She closed her eyes, probably trying to stop tears of her own from seeping out. "He's a monster. He did this to me as a message to other heroes."

"Why?"

She coughed out, "A joke. That's all it was. I was just the punchline to a fucking joke."

"That's sick!"

"I know..." She coughed again. "The doctors say I'm gonna recover, but not quickly, and probably not psychologically."

"What else did he do to you?!"

She shook her head. "Nothing rapey, so don't worry about that. Just... the things he said, the slow way he dragged the knife across me..." He could tell that she couldn't stop the tears at all. "'What happens when a super hero and a psycho meet in a warehouse?'"

"Huh?"

"That was the joke. 'What happens when a super hero and a psycho meet in a warehouse?' The worst part was the punchline."

"You don't have to say anything else."

"No... I don't... because this," she motioned to her injured body, "was the punchline." He let her sob for awhile after that, and then she finally said, "Don't let my mom come in here. Not yet. Not until I've healed some. This was already too much for Ms. Adamsen, I don't want my mom to see me. Go find Frank, talk to him."

"Frank? That Seeker guy?"

"Yeah. He's got family in Larsen City, he should be able to track down leads pretty fast." She tried drying her tears but it didn't seem to be helping. "I wanna see that sonuvabitch suffer. Not because he did this to me, either, but because he's done this to a lot of girls."

"How many?"

"He said I was number fifty-four, and he handed me that," she pointed to a playing card on the table beside the bed. Tim took it and flipped it over.

A Joker.

***

Frank Holden didn't get many visitors on school nights, which was something he always prided himself in. He managed to maintain his grade point average because he had time to do his schoolwork before he threw on his costume and leapt around the city like a freak in spandex does when they're bored.

So, to his surprise, his mother called to him that he had a visitor, then he heard her tell the visitor where his room was. He told said visitor to come inside after they knocked on the door. The visitor was a guy his age, sort of average-looking, wearing a dark brown jacket that looked like it crawled right out of an Indiana Jones movie.

"Frank, right?" the guy asked.

"Yeah, wanna tell me how I can help you?"

He pulled a newspaper out of his jacket and tossed it on Frank's bed. His eyes widened in surprise.

"EAST CITY TEEN NEARLY MURDERED BY LARSEN CITY CRIME LORD!"

Underneath the headline was a picture of Charlie Harkins, covered in bandages and looking like complete and total crap.

"What the hell is this?!" he asked the guy in the jacket.

"Charlie sent me here. Well, actually, she sent me to find you, and I asked her mom where you lived." He pointed the way he came. "And I gotta tell you, it was damn near impossible to get here, too. I thought all that stuff about Luther being totally anti-white was crap. My girlfriend sends me here to find her friend, and I nearly get mugged every other alley." He reached into his back pocket. "And clearly it worked at some point."

Frank rolled his eyes. Didn't anybody ever see Die Hard With a Vengeance? "You said Charlie's your girlfriend? You that photographer she talks about?"

The guy nodded. "Yeah. Tim Saul. She told me all about how you two used to be a buddy act before you started splitting up and taking different parts of the city. And, her dad always made jokes about how I was her second boyfriend in two months."

Frank smiled. "Charlie and I never dated. So, what's she want me to do?"

Tim reached into his pocket and handed Frank a playing card with a joker on it. "She wants you to head over to Larsen City, use some of your family connections to find this guy, and beat the shit out of him for her."

"What? She thinks my family's a bunch of gang bangers over there, or something?"

"No, she was specifically talking about that cousin you've got in the Larsen City PD."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember telling Charlie about her."

Tim shrugged. "She probably found out some other way."

Frank walked over to Tim and patted him on the back. "I'm doin' this for Charlie, y'know. Girl's been my friend since we both became Chosen. I owe that to her. She'd do the same for me. I'll drop by the hospital and talk to her."

Tim nodded. "Thanks. You need anything from me, just tell me."

"You just console your girlfriend while I'm out there beatin' the shit out of bad guys."

***

I laid there in bed, staring up at the hospital ceiling and hoping beyond hope that I didn't just send Frank out to die. I couldn't stop thinking about that damn guy, those purple clothes, that disgusting, disturbing grin on his face, the clown make-up.

The scars, extending out from his mouth into a permanent smile literally from ear to ear.

Whoever this guy was before, he had decided to pattern himself on the Joker, in every way, shape and form.

Which meant that he was one hundred percent batshit crazy, and sociopathic.

Absorption

I felt my hand close over Brandon's face and suddenly I saw things, memories. That time I was playing baseball in the backyard with the neighborhood boys, even though Mom told me not to. (No! That's Brandon's memory!) The time I almost lost my virginity to Max Peterson, even though I thought he was the weirdest boy in school. (I'm only fourteen, I've barely ever masturbated!) I stepped back from Brandon's lifeless body and fell on my ass. Why did I do that?!

I stood up and ran into the hallway, feeling a strange tug on my head. No, it wasn't strange, it was her, Ms. Morris. She was awake, she was watching what I was doing. She'd seen me kill Brandon.

Kill me? How could I kill myself? That didn't happen. (Stop it! That's Brandon talking through me, it's not real!) I rubbed at my temples to clear out the horrible confusion, but it wasn't helping. If only Korra hadn't decided to suck me dry, I'd be okay. (That's not me!) I shook my head. Brandon's consciousness was getting to me, more so than Steve's had. Why? I needed to go see Ms. Morris, she could tell me why I did that. I need to know.

I stumbled into Ms. Morris' room and saw her in front of the window, where I (Brandon!) had left her for the night. If she could move the muscles in her face, she'd probably look very disappointed with me right now.

Korra? What's the matter?

Who? Oh, wait, duh, me. My name is Korra, not Brandon, like I think it is, for some reason. I could barely speak anymore than a whisper. "I... I think there's something wrong with me."

What do you mean?

"I just... I killed Brandon, and I don't know why..." I sat down on the nearest piece of furniture. "I killed him, and I absorbed his powers and his memories... and it felt so good, and I didn't want to stop."

Korra, this is inexcusible. I can't have you living here if you're going to do this. You need to turn yourself in to the police and, and submit yourself to a nanocyte injection.

"No!" I stood up in a jolt, literally, there were jolts of electricity throughout the room, some of them coming close to Ms. Morris. "I'm not going to do that! I'll die!" Where had that thought come from?

No, you won't. The nanocytes will simply inhibit your powers, then you can get some help to calm the voices in your head. Brandon's voice. Steven's.

"Shut up, lady!" Steven said, though my mouth, my voice. Using my (Steven's) power, I started sinking Ms. Morris' chair into the floor. "You're not using those techno thingies to kill me!"

Steven, please, let Korra speak.

"No!"

Using my own (and I mean mine, nobody else's) kinetic thrusters, I floated toward Ms. Morris. "Please," I said, "don't let Steven make me do this..."

Steven's causing this?

"I don't know!"

Something punched me. It took me a second to realize it was my own fist. Great, I was hitting myself.

"Shut up, you little bitch!" Steven said. He turned me back toward Ms. Morris. "I'm gonna use Korra to take your powers, too, lady."

You don't have to do this, Steven.

"The hell I don't! You people made me this way, you made me go crazy!"

I shook myself out of it. "No!"

Steven again, "You did! All of you! Because you were afraid of me!"

My hand reached out toward Ms. Morris' face, and then I watched as Steven made me suck her bioelectricity out. Memories surged through my head, they filled me, and then I heard things. Things that I didn't want to hear, but that my brain forced me to hear. I closed my eyes, hoping to drive the images away. I covered my ears, hoping to block the sounds out. Neither one helped, though.

I saw things, things like my first girlfriend, Nancy Yaeger (No, those are Ms. Morris' memories, not mine!). Things like the time I was Chosen, and I realized that I couldn't feel my body anymore (I'm moving right now, why do I think I can't?). Things like when William Brand came and told me that he wanted me to run the school, help the young, dangerous Chosen (William Brand funds this place, really?).

And then it all stopped as I moved my hand away from the decaying face of Erica Morris. I felt stronger. I looked at the mirror across the room and saw that I appeared to have aged some. Good. Closer to my real age. (No! I'm fourteen, that's Steven!) It felt refreshing to be female again. Too bad my parents were dead. If they could only see their daughter now.

Korra's parents are still alive, though.

I smiled. Monica and Colin were both out gone for the week, I could raid Monica's clothes for something that fit better, then I'd go see dear sweet Mommy and Daddy. The lightning that surged between my fingers bore a red glow.

I smiled.

Inside, Korra screamed.

***

I blasted the door open with a bolt and watched Korra's parents cower in the corner. Mom had a wonderful look of pure horror on her face while Dad made damn sure that he came between Mom and I. (Stop this, Steven! Stop it!) I ignored her voice inside my head - well, technically, her own head - and made the ground burst through the floor and encase them.

"Hi, Mom, Daddy, how are things?" I asked, smiling at them. I walked over to them and knelt down. "It's been awhile."

Mom stuttered out, "Ko-ko-ko-kor-Korra? Wha-what's wrong with you?"

I stood up. "Call me Stephanie, now. I think it fits." Of course it fits. It was my name before I was Chosen, after all. (Stop, Steven!) Shut up, Korra! I shook my head to try and clear her out. Didn't exactly work, but it at least shut her up for the moment. "So, Mom, Daddy, how about we have a little talk?"

Dad spoke up, "Why are you doing this, Korra?"

I reached out and grabbed him by the chin. "I told you to call me Stephanie." I sent a jolt of electricity into his face. He jerked his head away. I just laughed. "Oh, Daddy, that's too bad." I stood up and walked over to the fridge. I looked at the stainless steel door and saw exactly what I didn't want to see.

Korra. Looking back at me.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked the reflection.

(How about you leave my parents alone?)

"Get lost. I don't wanna talk to you."

(I don't care what you want! I want my body back!)

I punched the fridge right in the reflection's face. "Shut your goddamn mouth!" Electricity surged around my fist, alternating between red and blue. I turned away from the fridge and back toward Mom and Dad. "It's time to have some fun." I walked toward them and time seemed to slow. I knew what it was I wanted to do, I wasn't gonna let that stupid little bitch tell me what to do. I grabbed Mom first, loosened the ground holding her down and picked her up by the neck. "So long, Mom."

(I'm so sorry...)

Mom's eyes widened. "Korra? You're not doing this?"

"What?" I asked.

She pushed away from me. "My daughter just spoke to me, in my head!"

I balled my hands into fists. "Cunt!" Electricity shot out from my body, hitting walls, bookshelves, chairs, doors. I grabbed Mom by the neck again. "That's the last time you'll talk to her!" I just squeezed. I was going to absorb them, but I was pissed. I squeezed as hard as I could, and the snap at the end was very satisfying.

(No!)

"Shut your goddamn mouth, Korra," I growled.

***

Steven's actions were getting me mad. He'd just killed my mom, snapped her neck just like that. I wanted to pummel him, I wanted to beat the crap out of him, I wanted to...

No, I didn't, these were his emotions running through me. Was it because he was controlling my body? I couldn't think very easily, things were getting messy. Why were they messy? Was it because Korra just murdered her mother? No, wait a minute, that's...

Dad! That freak bio leeched my dad!

I balled my hands into fists, and in my own brain, electricity shot out, hitting dozens of neurons.

***

And I was on my knees in my living room, my dad's body on the floor, obviously having been sucked dry, Mom's body a few feet away, her neck at an impossible angle. (Of course it is, you stupid bitch, she's dead.) I looked down at my hands and saw the blue electricity surging from them. I was back! I was in control again! Yes! I stood up quickly, wanting to cheer!

Then I remembered that my parents, Brandon and Ms. Morris were all dead.

"I have to get back..." I said aloud, to no one in particular. I ran out the door and hopped onto the nearest power line. I had to get back before Colin and Monica got home.

***

I pounded on the walls of Korra's mind, trying to rip them down. That bitch locked me away in her brain! How could she do that? I tried to use Bradon's power to rip the wall apart, but nothing happened.

"Of course you can't," a voice behind me said. I spun around and saw Korra standing there, arms crossed under her breasts. "The only powers you can use here are your own, Steve."

"How are you here?" I asked, not even realizing that my panicked voice was still Korra's.

She smirked. "The same way you are, we got sucked up by Korra's bio leech ability."

"But, you are Korra!"

She walked over to me and flicked me on the forehead. "No I'm not, stupid. You just see me as Korra, just like I see you as Korra, because we're both Korra, but we're not Korra."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" As I asked, a portion of the wall moved outward, grabbing my left wrist. Another section grabbed my right wrist, and I looked down to see that my feet were also encased by the wall. "Brandon?" I asked.

She punched me in the face. "Bingo!"

Another Korra appeared from nowhere. "We're all here, Steven," this one said, and I knew it just had to be Ms. Morris.

"Even Korra's dad?"

"No. Despite absorbing his memories, because her father wasn't a Chosen, he simply faded into nothing."

Brandon grabbed me by the throat. "Which is what we should do to you!"

Ms. Morris waved her off of me. "Please, Brandon. She's suffering enough just knowing that she's stuck in here with us."

***

I hopped off of the nearest power line and landed on the ground in front of the mansion, where I saw dozens of cop cars, sirens casting a flashing red glow over everything. Monica was standing in front of the mansion, a fiery glow in her eyes. I threw up a polarity wall just as the air in front of me exploded. How had I know to do that?

I didn't have time to answer that question, however, as I was suddenly up in the air. I looked to my left and saw Colin standing there, the same fiery glow in his eyes. Clearly, they knew what I'd - what St - no, what I'd done. I wasn't gonna make a corpse take the blame for what I'd done.

"Please, let me go?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah, drop her, Colin," Monica said, anger in her voice. "Let her go so that I can blast her skull to pieces!"

"I can - " I was cut off by the fact that I was suddenly dropped from the air. I stood up and held my hands up in surrender. "I can explain this."

Monica grabbed me by the collar. "You can explain shit! You killed Brandon and Ms. Morris! Why?!"

My voice filled our heads. Calm down, Monica. This isn't Korra's fault.

Her eyes widened. "Are you trying to use Ms. Morris' power to get us to trust you?!"

No, she's not. It's me, speaking from inside a portion of Korra's mind. Brandon and Steven are here, as well.

Monica backed away. "No! I don't believe you!"

"I'm not doing that," I said.

***

"But I'm doing this," I said, and shot a bolt directly at Colin. He went flying right into one of the cop cars. I looked back toward Monica. "You really should have listened. Ms. Morris was telling the truth. We're all in here," I pointed to my head. "And you will be, too."

I made a step toward Monica, then something slugged me right in the face. I looked around for what it was, and saw Peter stop, arms crossed, smirk on his face. "Hey, there." I fired a bolt at him, but he moved out of the way faster than I could shoot him. I tried it again, but again, he moved. "Gonna havta do better than that, Stevie."

I was about to shoot at him again, but I was suddenly lifted off the ground again. I looked over at the cop car Colin had landed on and saw that he was standing again. "Shoot her!" he shouted to someone I couldn't see. I felt something prick my skin, then felt the shock of more voltage than I could produce surging through me. It didn't take much to knock me cold.

***

Monica walked over to me and waved her hand in my face. "Korra or Steve?"

I sat up and rubbed at my head. "If I was Steven, I'd lie about it anyway. But either way, I'm Korra." I stood up and pulled the taser prongs. "I'm so glad that worked."

She patted me on the shoulder. "Hey, Ms. Morris has never lied to us before. You okay?"

I shook my head. "No. I killed Brandon and Ms. Morris. I did that." I looked over at Monica's aunt. "You have something to take care of that, right?"

Captain Montoya nodded her head. "Yeah, kid. We'll take you to the station and shoot you up with some of Knight's nano-whatevers."

Monica smiled weakly. "Nanocytes, Aunt Holly."

The humor was appreciated, even if it wasn't helping anything.

***

I sat in the cell, waiting for the minutes to slowly, painfully, tick by until I got my injection. I wanted them to hurry up. Every second I still had my powers was a second that Steven could take control of me and use me to escape. I looked down at my stupid Mickey Mouse watch and waited, waited, waited.

Finally, I heard footsteps coming toward me. I heard those HARP guys shout something at whoever it was, but I wasn't paying attention to them. Two cops stopped in front of my cell, one of them with the keys, the other with the syringe. The one with the keys opened the door while and then the other one walked in. "Sorry to do this, kid," he said, and I saw real concern in his eyes.

"Just, please get it over with," I said.

He was about to stick the syringe in my arm, but he stopped when his partner said, "I don't think that's necessary." A sudden electrical attack - not from me, I might add - fried the cop. The other cop, holding a ball of blue electricity in his hand, stepped forward and took his hat off. "Korra Reston, I presume?" He bowed in front of me. "My name's not important, so my friends have taken to calling me the Benefactor."

I slid across the cot to move closer to the wall. "Monica told me about you... and... Harmony Sprite mentioned you, Knight said."

He smiled. "Ms. Morris's memories have served you very well." He stepped over the body of the other cop. "Just wait until you can control all those memories, all those gifts."

"Is that your gift? Giving people control?"

He was still smiling. "On the contrary. I have many gifts, much like you. It's because I'm like you that I'm taking a special interest in you. You don't need to lose your gifts, you simply need some help controlling a very specific power, you need help quieting the voices in your head." He leaned closer to me. And I can help you do it, his voice said, in my head. He gently brushed my cheek with his hand. "So, Korra, you interested?"

Across the River, Part One

My friends among the group always asked me, "Why Batman?" They've wanted to know why, of all the normal human heroes in comics, I picked Batman to base myself off of, and I never gave them an answer. I couldn't give them an answer. There was one, but it wasn't one that even I knew yet. I liked it that way. It kept me looking for answers as opposed to knowing them all. The only one that actually seemed to know anything about me aside from my public image was Angel, thanks to her gifts. I liked that that way, too. The less people who knew my secrets, the better.

I looked down upon Larsen City and heard what I always heard: blaring sirens, honking horns, unfriendly shouts, exclamatory gunshots. There wasn't a night that went by that I didn't hear these things. Some people considered them a constant, that they'd always be there, but I didn't see that. I saw a time when Larsen City could be close to crime free, a time that the city hasn't seen since the first few years after its founding.

I pulled my grapple gun from my utility belt and fired a line at the nearest building. I swung down, around the building, and landed on another, this one shorter, closer to the ground. I was following the sound of the sirens. They were close. Another grapple, another building, another swing, I landed on a different building, again closer to the ground.

It was about this time that I realized I wasn't alone in my trek. I saw a lone figure jumping from rooftop to rooftop, no equipment necessary. Seeker, if ever I could tell anyone. I fired my grapple in his direction and landed on a rooftop just as he did, surprising the teenaged super hero. I gathered my cape around me and stared the boy down.

"Hey, man, I'm not lookin' for trouble. I'm here on business."

I smiled. "I'm a businessman myself. You're an East City costume, what are you doing here? Looking for him?" I pulled a Joker playing card out of a pouch on my belt and tossed it down.

Seeker picked up the card. "How'd you know?"

"There's not a lot I don't know."

He walked toward me. "Look, the Batman crap is cool and all, but nobody can do that kinda stuff in real life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a friend who had the shit beat out of her that I need to go help."

"Ms. Harkins isn't going anywhere, Mr. Holden."

Seeker slouched. "You just know everything, don't you?"

"I told you, not a lot that I don't. Ms. Harkins was lucky, that much I'll tell you. He doesn't usually show that much restraint. I've seen the photographs of the others. I'll spare you the nightmares."

I saw the look on his face and knew that I'd done the right thing, keeping the kid out of that loop. Most of the girls that this guy has killed have barely been recognizable. I didn't like to think of the photos myself.

"If you know so much about us, what do you know about him?" he asked me.

"He leaves Joker cards everywhere. The warehouse that everyone assumes he operates out of is almost always empty. I checked it out once, no one's there most of the time. I did a stakeout, all he did was operate out of a different warehouse. He's extremely good at whatever it is he does. The girls he's killed are all similar, no older than seventeen and no younger than fourteen. White, Asian, Hispanic, that's all he asks for, it seems."

"Does he have a name?"

"Not a real one, that anyone can figure out. He doesn't even have an alias. He's so secretive, very few people know as much about him as I do."

"Who's seen him?"

"His men, who are so loyal to him that they won't give him up even under intense pressure, and the girls he's killed. Ms. Harkins is the only one who can positively identify him, and she's in so much pain that the mere thought of him is psychologically traumatic."

Seeker walked over to the edge and knelt down. "So, trying to find this guy is like fighting an uphill battle inside of a tire, right?"

I smiled. "Good analogy."

"So, what do we do?"

"We?"

He stood up. "I made a promise to Charlie that I'd stop this guy, so if you're going after him, and I'm going after him, who's to say a little Dynamic Duo action isn't in our future?"

I walked over to him. "You're not old enough, kid. Head back to East City and do what you do over there." I walked to the edge of the building, shot out a grapple line, and swung out to another building, following the direction of the ever-increasing sirens. Something big was going down.

***

Frank Holden took the elevator to the third floor, where Charlie was, and found room 314. He knocked on the door as he walked in and saw her, covered in bandages from the neck down. He felt his blood boiling, seeing her this way. Charlie Harkins was a good person, she didn't deserve this. I'm gonna get that sonuvabitch for you, Charlie, don't worry.

"Hey!" she coughed out. He could tell that talking seemed like a strain for her. "I'm glad you showed up."

He tried to smile, for her sake, but he almost couldn't. "I had to come see you. Your boyfriend told me what happened."

She coughed again. "I was all over the paper that I work for. Wouldn't have been long before you found out, even if I hadn't sent him."

Frank sighed. "What do you remember about the guy?"

"Timmy? He's five-foot-eight, light brown hair, green eyes, and when he kisses my - "

He cleared his throat. "That's enough. I don't need to hear about that crap."

She smiled, weakly, and coughed out a laugh. "I was gonna say lips."

"I know what you were gonna say, I said it plenty enough when I was still your gender." He sighed again. "Not the boyfriend, the other guy?"

"Oh. Him. I..." Her lips quivered, and he saw tears streak down her cheeks. "I don't..." She tried blinking away the tears, but Frank could tell it wasn't working. "I can't talk about him..."

He sat down. "Sorry. He said this would be tough for you to talk about."

"He who?"

"Knight. I ran into him before I came here." He leaned back. "Unfortunately, according to him, you're the only one who can describe this guy."

She shook her head, groaned a little. "No, I'm not."

He bound from the chair. "Who else?"

"You've seen The Dark Knight, haven't you?"

***

Angel hovered above the building she knew that Seeker would arrive at. She giggled to herself. A lot of people have been expecting him today, and he didn't know why. She landed on the building and looked down upon the city. It was different from East City, though it held its own charm. Her only regret right now was that she had to leave, soon. She was needed elsewhere, outside of both East and Larsen Cities.

Luckily, her gifts would not be wasted where she was going.

Seeker landed at the other edge of the building and stopped short of accidentally falling off the roof when he saw her. She sighed. That reaction was not uncommon, when someone didn't expect to see her. She walked over to him and helped him to his feet, then smiled. "I'm sorry about that. If it helps, you're not the first person that's happened to."

He looked at her strangely. "I know you, don't I?"

She nodded. "I do. I helped you when you were injured by the Benefactor's robot."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah... Hey, I was in a pretty bad way then, and you healed me. You could heal Charlie - uh, Arachnya - right?"

She sighed. She knew this was coming. "Yes, I can, but I can't."

He snarled, "Why?"

She placed a hand on his forehead, closed her eyes, then opened them again. To the casual observer, her eyes were glowing white, as were Seeker's. Inside their minds, however, was a completely different story. Inside their combined minds, they weren't on the roof of a building, they were floating above a large black space. Undefined ovals orbited around them, each looking like some sort of mid-fifties TV image. One of them held the conversation that Frank had just had with Charlie, another appeared to be the one he'd had with Knight, but his clothes were different, and yet another appeared to be him staring down the bastard who had assaulted Charlie, Frank's hands on his throat.

"Where the hell are we?" he asked.

Angel had to remember that not everyone saw this place as she did. She simply hoped that their combined minds saw something similar. "This is a repository. Every event, past, present and multiple futures exist here." She pointed to the one with Frank choking the man. "This one is where we're headed right now, if nothing changes. You'll kill him, and Charlotte will be very thankful."

"What does this have to do with healing Charlie?"

She smiled. "This one," she pulled a different oval toward them, "is a potential future, should I use my power to heal your friend." Frank gasped in horror at the image before him: Charlie's mangled corpse, tossed like a rag doll over top of her father's headstone. "I'm sorry, but this is the best possible outcome, if I heal her."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Every action has a consequence, every consequence has a reaction, every reaction has an outcome, and every outcome leads to a future. If I heal Charlotte now, before this man is taken care of, then she'll die. As I said, this is the best outcome in that situation, and all you're seeing is the aftermath. If I were to tell you about the events leading up to that outcome, you'd beg me to help her die right now, as it would be significantly more peaceful."

He balled his hands into fists. "And if you don't heal Charlie?"

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Then she lives, and everything turns out the way it should. I can't heal Charlotte because it would lead not only to her death, but to a global cataclysm that would tear the fabric of reality apart. As it stands now, the world is on the way to true peace. This sounds cold, but a little suffering for her now is the only way to help everyone and everything in the future."

He pushed past her and walked toward some of the other ovals. "You're damned right it sounds cold. She's in a hospital bed right now, feeling as though she's been raped in every way that's not physical, and you're telling me that there's nothing anyone should do about it!"

Angel sighed. "On the contrary, you're doing exactly what you should be doing, going after him."

"I don't even know where to find him."

She smiled. "You will. You'll find a clue soon. Don't worry." She closed her eyes again, and the world around them returned to normal. "I need to leave now, Francis. I'll see you some other time."

He sat down on the edge of the building. "Where are you going? Somewhere to help someone else?"

"Pine Ridge, as a matter of fact. There's a Chosen there who's a bit unsure of his path, or, perhaps, a bit too excited about his possibilities." She flapped her angel wings and propelled herself upward, but before she flew away, she looked back down at him and said, "Your first move should be to find Knight. After that, your path should become clear."

***

The police were engaged in a firefight when I arrived at the scene. Several goons inside the house were firing away with automatic weapons, while the cops had to fight back with handguns. It didn't seem fair. I landed on the roof of the house and kicked open a hole from a weakened portion of the shingles. I landed on the top floor and threw one of my rope boomerangs around the nearest goon's legs. I pulled, dropping him face first into the floor and unconsciousness.

Two other goons were in the room, one of them a trigger happy maniac that was enjoying himself too much on the police, the other a more sensible man who realized that one of his chances for cover fire was just taken down. He spun around just in time to see my boot connect to his face. The other goon finally realized what was going on just as he was reloading. I took my chance and rammed my shoulder into his gut, forcing him to drop the assault rifle. I pulled handcuffs from my belt and cuffed him to the nearest pipe just before I threw the rifle out the window.

Now to get the ones on the first floor. I found a hole in the room just to the right and slipped through it, directly on top of a goon who was about to head upstairs for something. I threw a boomerang blade into the leg of another goon, bringing him to his knees, and then heard the sound of automatic weapons go silent. There were still two more goons, but they were done shooting the cops. They were going to come after me, next.

Or, at least, that's what I thought they were going to do. I slowly entered the next room and saw Seeker puting the finishing touches on the last two goons, using zip-ties to cuff them. I wasn't exactly pleased to admit that the kid hadn't done a bad job.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "You're going after the guy who roughed up Charlie, I'm going after the guy who roughed up Charlie, and I know we're going to find some leads, soon."

I sighed. "How do you know this?"

He smiled. "Angel told me. She told me we're gonna havta work together on this."

Of course. Leave it to her to make my job that bit more complicated by working with a teenager. This kid is the very reason I bankrolled Erica Morris, but, granted, that little endeavor wasn't entirely paying off, after the situation with Muck. "And where is Angel now?"

"She said she was going to Pine Ridge."

Of course, again. That one. Pretty interesting case. I sighed. "Fine, you want to work with me, you follow my orders and don't get in my way, understand?"

He walked toward me. "I'm not here to get in anybody's way, man, I'm here to help Cha - Arachnya. You don't have to worry about me getting in your way."

I nodded. "Fine. You deliver these men to the police, and then we'll meet on top of Brand Tower. You'll know me when you see me." I walked into the other room, jumped back up to the second floor, then back through the hole I made in the roof, then I grappled away.

I landed on the roof of a building some ways away and pulled out one of the Joker cards I'd taken from one of the corpses. No DNA, no fingerprints, no nothing. Whoever he was, there was nothing on that card that could identify him. I was good with forensics, I could find things that cops couldn't, and I couldn't find anything about this guy anywhere on these cards. The guy was disturbingly good at what he did.

I put the card away and sighed again. Angel wouldn't have put the kid and I together if it wasn't for the greater good, that much I knew. I didn't like it, but that didn't change the fact that it had to happen. Besides, the kid was harmless enough. One wrong move, I'd inject him with nanocytes and take away his powers. Not something I'd ever want to do to a hero, but if the need ever arose, I'd do what I needed to do.

I shot another grapple line and made my way toward my building. If I was right, Seeker would already be there.

***

Frank walked around Mr. Brand's office and had to admit, he was pretty impressed with how the rich lived. For whatever reason he was there, he was enjoying himself. He walked over to the fully stocked bar and laughed at the variety of brands of alcohol. Rich folks really do get the best stuff. Wonder how Knight knows this guy.

"Don't touch that," Knight said, suddenly behind him. Frank spun around and saw the Batman wannabe walking away from the window. The butler that had let Frank in walked up to Knight with a tray that contained a single champange glass. "You're not old enough."

"I've had beer before, man."

Knight took a drink. "This is stronger. Besides, neither one of us can afford to be intoxicated right now."

Frank shrugged. "Whatever. So, what are we doin' here? Does this Brand guy know we're here?" Knight took another drink, then smiled. He reached up, pulled off his mask, and then Frank understood. "Oh, you're friggin' kidding me. You're more of a Batman ripoff than I thought you were!"

William Brand gave him an annoyed look. "I didn't claim to be anything less. People couldn't put two and two together in comic books, turns out life imitating art isn't so strange a phenomenon after all." He tossed several cards on the desk, all Jokers. "You're ability is a sort of ground-based sonar, correct?"

Frank shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

"What if I told you it was more like a high-intensity radar?"

"How would you know that?"

"Angel told me. She can do that sort of thing."

"Okay, so it's a radar, what about it?"

He tapped the cards. "Forensics can't find any traces of the guy on these cards, despite the fact that we know he handled them himself."

"So what?"

"Military radars have something called IFF, Identify Friend or Foe." He tossed Frank one of the cards. "Tap into your ability, learn something about these cards. Maybe it'll fine tune that radar of yours to the point where you can track him if you get close enough."

***

If there was one thing that Dave Forrest could handle, it was working for somebody who gave him simple orders. When he was overseas in Afghanistan, he was given simple orders, and never once got in any trouble with his superiors. When he came home, was passed over for a dozen different security jobs because they didn't need someone with his skillset, he turned to the police department. Lucky him, Larsen City PD was short on officers, so he got the job.

Dave preferred the simple orders, like standing guard over a patient in a hospital. The Harkins girl was being quiet enough. Granted, he'd seen what happened to her, she probably didn't want to say or do anything. He had a lot of empathy for her. He'd seen his fellow soldiers do things in Afghanistan, things that would make that poor girl scream in her sleep.

As a matter of fact, that's exactly what she was doing. He spun around and saw her violently shaking in the bed. He rushed inside and tried to hold her down, make sure she didn't accidentally hurt herself more by tearing open any of the sealing wounds. He grabbed his cuffs and just managed to get her left hand cuffed to the bed when his face was suddenly covered by something sticky. He fell back, landing in a chair. He tried to pull the gunk off his face, but the stuff wasn't coming off, whatever the hell it was.

He heard two nurses run in, one of them running over to the girl, the other one was helping him get the gunk off his face. Eventually, between the two of them, they managed to pull the sticky substance off of his face, but his face stung something awful. He looked over at the Harkins girl and saw she was calmed down now. The other nurse was holding a syringe.

"What'd you do?" he asked, coughing. He hadn't realized it, but his airways had been blocked by the gunk.

"Tranquilizer. It took a dose most people can't live through, but she's breathing normally."

He looked at the nurse who'd helped him. "What was that stuff?"

She held up the remains of the gunk. "It... looks like spider webs."

Dave worked to catch his breath. "Spider webs? Where'd it come from?"

The nurse with the syringe. "It looks like... it came from her," she said, holding up a line that led from the girl's wrist to the gunk the other nurse was holding.

"What the hell?" he said aloud to no one at all.

***

I watched the kid as he intensively stared at the cards. Maybe it was a waste of time. The kid only just learned about this fraction of his abilites, from me, it could take him some time to hone it. I was wrong to assume the kid would be a natural right away. I took another sip of brandy and turned toward the window. "How's it coming?" I asked.

He made a weird noise, then said, "Well, I'm getting a weird feeling now."

I spun around. "What kind of feeling?"

He shook his head. "I dunno. It's like a weird sensation, kinda like..."

"Like what?"

"You ever put a magnet beside a compass? The needle always points in the direction of the magnet, no matter which way is north?"

"Everybody's done that, kid."

"Well... There's this weird pulling sensation I feel," he pointed in a direction roughly southwest of the building, "coming from that way."

I looked out the window, direction southwest. "Anything more?"

He shook his head. "No, just that direction. Nothing but that."

I nodded. "At least we know which direction to look in. Maybe, once we get closer, that radar of yours will start to close down on him."

He nodded back. "Maybe we can actually catch this Joker."

I took another sip. "What?"

"That's what Charlie called him. She said he was just like the guy Heath Ledger played in The Dark Knight, y'know, the - "

***

" - joker, you here me? You're a real freakin' joker!" The man across the room from him shouted,as if he couldn't hear. He didn't mind. People were always shouting. He was used to it, even though he much preferred laughter.

And soon, 'The Roach' Lacasto would be laughing until he cried blood.

But he didn't suggest his plans in any way. In fact, if anyone were to look at him, they'd see a slightly deranged looking man wearing purple clothes and clown make-up with his hair dyed green and a Glasgow smile stitched across his face. He looked every bit like the Joker that the late Heath Ledger portrayed in Chris Nolan's famous The Dark Knight, having patterned himself on the character. He'd been asked why by his subordinates on several occasions, but he didn't feel like telling them.

In fact, he didn't feel at all. A side-effect of an accident when he was younger. The man who would grow up to be the real world version of the Joker hadn't felt anything emotional in many years, save a sort of sadistic joy whenever he killed someone. He'd garnered a reputation as a laughing maniac even before he decided to model himself on a comic book villain. It didn't hurt that everyone who'd ever crossed him had died with smiles on their faces.

Lacasto crossed the one lit spot in the room and grabbed the man called the Joker by the collar. "You're a sick prick, y'know that? You think we'd deal with you?"

The Joker calmly, slowly, grabbed Lacasto's wrists and pulled his hands off. "I don't remember exactly when I said you had a choice." He pushed Lacasto away. "Ever since the costumes showed up, Big Mike was killed, and Hammond went under, you're running out of people to do business with. You haven't gotten your products." He pointed out the window. "I control all the guns on this side of the city, on this side of the River, in fact."

"You're also a goddamn freak."

The Joker did his best to remain calm. He was good at that. "I'm a man of finer tastes. It's the one thing you New Age mob bosses don't get anymore." He reached under his suit jacket and drew his handgun. "You think that shooting people and paying off cops is all you need to do, when the world's gotten a lot stranger." He put the barrel of his gun right up against Lacasto's temple. "Tell you what, you'll get your products, all your drugs and your guns and your fake casino chips that you like to screw people over with, and I just get one thing."

Lacasto audibly gulped. "What's that?"

The Joker smiled. "Free reign to do whatever I want, using your people." He lowered his handgun, returned it to its holster, and drew his butterfly knife. "As a matter of fact. Your people, work for me now." He placed the blade of his knife directly in Lacasto's mouth. "Tell 'em, Roach. Tell 'em what I want to hear."

Lacasto's eyes widened in the most exquisite horror the Joker had ever seen. He tilted his head back and broke out into laughter.

***

Anna Adamsen sat at the desk. Not her own, but her photographer's. She picked through the many photographs Charlie had taken since coming to work for the Brigade, and laughed at how many pictures of Arachnya the kid could take while wearing her costume. At least none of them look like selfies, she thought. She sighed. Hopefully, she'd heal up and come back soon. Anna didn't like going to work without seeing the girl that had almost become a kid sister to her.

She heard the door open and looked up to see Tim walk in, backpack slung over one shoulder. He had a gloomy look on his face. "Hi, Ms. Adamsen."

"What's the matter, kiddo?"

He sighed. "Well, my girlfriend's in a hospital in Larsen, so I can't go see her every day."

"It's a two hour drive from here, Tim, you can go see her."

"No, my mom doesn't want me going over there. She's afraid the guy who did what he did to Charlie is somehow gonna know I'm her boyfriend and try to take me out, too." He sat down in his chair. "I'm only allowed to go when she drives me over there."

Anna put her hand on Tim's shoulder. "Sorry, kid."

He shook his head. "Naw, I'm okay. I called her yesterday. She said she was feeling a little better, but she still wouldn't talk about him. I didn't mind, I didn't want her to feel worse than she already does physically."

"And that super hero friend she sent you to?"

"I found him, I told him. He said he'd help."

Anna sighed in relief. "At least there's somebody working on it."

From out on the floor, she heard Barry yelling for her. She sighed again, this time in annoyance. She had to go to work. She opened the door and saw the majority of the other reporters hurrying to get their stuff. "Adamsen, get out to that hospital Charlie's at!"

"What's going on?"

"She nearly suffocated a cop with spider's webbing, and I want every one of our team out there!"

Anna looked at Tim, heard him gulp, and then did the same.

***

I could barely keep up with the kid. Jumping was in this kid's blood, clearly. He cleared six buildings with one leap all the while I had to grapple-line my way just to make half his distance. Hero envy wasn't in my blood, however. I never once thought this would be easier if I was a Chosen like him. Besides, I liked my dick.

As I cleared the sixth building, I doubled back. Seeker was standing on the roof of the building, looking out at warehouse. It wasn't the same one I knew the Joker operated out of. It wasn't the one the Joker was never at unless he was killing someone. Maybe this was the one he called home.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I'm getting this vibe, coming from that warehouse." He turned to me. "He's not there, though, but he's been there, recently."

"Recently?"

"Yeah." He closed his eyes, then opened them again. "There's somebody else though, they're not moving."

"Not moving?"

"Yeah. I think they're dead."

I shot a look back at him. "Male or female, can you tell?" He shook his head. "We're going in."

I shot a grapple line at the building and let the grapple carry me toward the building. I made the hook detatch as I arrived at the wall, and landed on the sidewalk in front of the building. Seeker landed beside me, ready to burst into the building. I waved him down, then slowly opened the nearest door. I slid in quietly, motioned for him to follow, and then slipped my night-vision headset over my eyes. The large main room was completely empty, save for one thing.

A corpse.

I looked around for a power box with the light switch, but didn't see it. Must have been in the control room. I made my way in that direction, but then my eyes were flooded with intense light. I pulled off the headset and looked toward Seeker, who had found the power box. He was smiling. I was scowling. Stupid kid.

I walked over by the corpse and knelt down. The Roach. Figures. He was probably headed down this road anyway, what with Big Mike dead and Hammond in jail. I pressed a button on my belt, which sent out a signal that only police radios could pick up. It was tied to a GPS locater, which relayed my current address to the police.

The lights suddenly went off. I promptly stood up, was about to slip my headset back on, but there was no need. Two dozen spotlights lit up from the ceiling, focusing directly on Seeker and I. The control room light was on, now, a lone figure backlit.

Obviously, the Joker.

His voice filled the warehouse, probably from speakers that I hadn't noticed, much like the spotlights. I felt like a goddamn fool. "Good evening, Knight. Funny, huh? Evening? Knight?" He laughed for a few seconds. "It's nice to finally meet you, I'm sorry it couldn't be face-to-face."

"It will be," I said, "don't worry."

I heard a clapping sound. "Oh, I know, I know! I've got so many questions to ask you when we do! Actually, I'll ask one now, with such tight costumes, is it ever a pain in the crotch?" He laughed again. "Oh, well. I'm going to have to leave, now. I've got business to attend to with the Russian, but I've left some friends in there with you." I looked around and saw men coming towards us from all around, each one with a hostage. "I'd be careful about those hostages, if I were you. I snagged 'em from a church retreat, of all places! You'll probably be learning more about that from tomorrow's papers, if you live, that is." The light from the control room shut off, and so did the spotlights.

Great.

I slipped my night-vision headset back on and glanced around at the guns and the hostages. This was gonna be a tough one. "Can you fight?" I asked Seeker.

"Yeah. I can pick each one of 'em out. You ready?"

I smiled. "Of course."

***

Dave kept hearing an address being relayed over his radio, but he ignored it, mostly paying attention to the gathering sea of reporters, TV corespondents, cameramen, photographers, sound people, and everything in between. They were crowding the space outside of Harkins' room, each one trying to use their first amendment rights to break into the girl's room and get a statement from her about what had happened earlier.

He sighed. He wished he hadn't reported it to the station, now. Of course there was gonna be some news guy with a police scanner listening, who would relay the information to his people, and there were always people from the other news places crowding around their competitors, trying to get a scoop out first. He was happy he hadn't gone into journalism after coming home from Afghanistan.

Thank God there's a couple nurses in there with Harkins now, otherwise she may never get any care, what with all these bastards out here. Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake, calling that in. I shouldn't have done it.

He grabbed his radio. "Officer requesting assistance, St. Mary's Memorial, third floor, room three-fourteen." He sighed. He turned back to the crowd. "Please! Please! Calm! Down! Ms. Harkins isn't taking visitors right now!"

From somewhere down the hall, a man shouted, "Shut up, everybody!" Dave saw a man with gray hair, a similarly gray mustache, smoking a cigar making his way through the crowd. Behind him was another group of reporters, primarily an attractive woman wearing purple and a boy about Harkins' age. "My name is Barry Brindleson! I'm the editor and owner of the Daily News Brigade, and that girl in there is my photographer!" Brindleson, the woman and the boy walked up to Dave. "I have permission from the girl's mother that only the three of us are to be allowed in there, okay?" He pulled a paper out of his pocket. "Signed and everything."

Dave nodded. "You three can go in." He turned back to the crowd. "Anyone else tries to slip in with them, my weapon will be drawn, and I will not hesitate to fire! This girl is a minor, and her mother is the only one who can authorize entry!"

***

He couldn't see Knight, but Seeker could feel him, just like he could feel the gunmen and the hostages. He felt something... strange, though, like something was off about the whole situation. If the Joker had really kidnapped a whole church group, why hadn't they seen anything about it on the news before?

He didn't have time to think about that. He ran for the closest gunman and pulled the hostage away from him, then kicked the bad guy straight in the gut, sending him flying. Bullets whizzed by, and Seeker could feel those, too. Knight's knowledge about his powers had truly kicked them into high gear, he almost felt like he could feel planes flying in the air.

He heard the next gunman practically throw his hostage to the ground. He heard a distinctly male grunt come from what he remembered to be a female hostage. He knocked the gun out of the gunman's hand, then hit him with a right cross, knocking him unconscious.

Seeker immediately ran over to the hostage and just as immediately felt a gun against his temple. "Clever, kid," the female hostage said. He was obviously a chain smoker. Seeker punched him in the face and ripped the gun from his hand just as the overhead lights came back on. He looked over and saw Knight standing by the box with the light switch. He was smiling.

"Good work. The hostages were fake. We'd have seen something about it on the news, or I'd have heard something over the radio."

Seeker stood up. "When did you figure it out?"

"About three seconds after the lights went out. I'd taken down three of them, but only one 'hostage' drew their gun."

Seeker sighed, walked over to Knight. "So, what next? Where do you think the Joker went?"

Knight shook his head. "He didn't go anywhere. He was never here." He pointed up at the control room. "That shadow up there never once moved, despite the fact that he was laughing and clapping. We would have seen that. He lured us here, for something. We're gonna comb this place over until we find out what it is."

Seeker nodded.

***

Tim was happy to be in Charlie's room, even if he wasn't alone with her. Mr. Brindleson, Ms. Adamsen and three nurses were all in the room with them. He was mainly just happy to be the hell out of that crowded hallway. He'd never seen so many people crowded into one area, it was crazy.

All because Charlie had a little accident.

Charlie waved to them with her one less-injured arm. "Hey, guys!"

Mr. Brindleson walked over to her and unfolded a copy of the East City Coast, a tabloid. "Kid, see this?" He handed her the paper. "Every paper is runnin' this story, about you. Tabloids, junk small town papers, and first class news outlets like us. Now, tell me the truth, kid, are you?"

The headline read:

"EAST CITY TEEN ACCIDENTALLY REVEALS HERSELF AS ARACHNYA?"

Tim wanted to grab that paper, rip it apart, and swear on a stack of Bibles that it wasn't true. Even though he knew that it was.

Charlie sighed. "If I say yes, will you promise not to fire me?"

Mr. Brindleson raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, the super hero business is kinda non-profit, my mom's been losing hours at work, and my paycheck is pretty much the only thing that keeps us our apartment since my dad's pension hasn't kicked in yet."

"So, it's true?"

"Well, yeah. It's kinda hard to ignore, since I accidentally webbed up that cop earlier."

"And you didn't tell us?"

Charlie looked like she was about to burst into laughter. "Sorry, Mr. Brindleson, but you gotta admit, that's a pretty stupid question. It's a super hero's job to keep a secret identity, after all."

Mr. Brindleson sighed. "Look, kid, this ain't something we can just ignore, okay? A super hero working for us for so long, your pictures being so connected to Arachnya stories... If we're lucky, there won't be lawsuits slapped on us for anything."

"Lawsuits?" Tim asked.

Ms. Adamsen answered, "Think of all the exclusives we've gotten simply because Charlie was in the 'right place' at the 'right time'. Most of her standalone scoops came from her out being Arachnya."

"So, wait," Charlie said, "they can actually sue the paper for everything I've done? Wait, who would sue the paper for what I've done? Gustav Hammond? I was in his office when I took that picture of him, Big Mike and the Roach, and not in costume, I might add."

Ms. Adamsen nodded. "That's true, chief."

Mr. Brindleson waved his hands in a calm down motion. "Look, we can't worry about that kind of stuff today." He turned to Charlie. "You okay with us taking you public? There's no goin' back from that."

She shrugged. "What else can you do? I can't exactly hide after what I did, so either I go down as a public super hero, or a pariah. You want an interview right here, right now?"

Mr. Brindleson sighed. "Okay, but I'm not doin' it." He looked around the room, his eyes landed on Tim. "You, get over here. You're officially promoted to part-time reporter, your first assignment is to interview your girlfriend, East City's first public super hero."

Tim heard himself gulp. Great. This is gonna be fun.

***

THE NEXT DAY:

The Joker tossed one of the local papers on the arm of the chair and laughed. He'd gotten it right, alright. That girl he'd had his fun with really had been Arachnya. He reached into pocket and retrieved his phone. "Yeah, boss?" his man answered.

"That reporter for Channel Seven, bring him to the funhouse."

"Uh, which one, boss?"

He shrugged, though the man couldn't hear that over the phone. "Don't really care, I just want a reporter." He hung up and smiled. This is gonna be fun, he thought.

***

I stood near the stage as the journalists and reporters assembled nearby. There were almost a hundred people in attendance. Poor kid. I felt sorry for her, being outed the way she was. When the hospital director walked onto the stage, everyone quieted down.

"Good morning, everyone." He grasped the sides of the podium. "You've all ready the story running through the papers about Ms. Harkins. Those reports are, indeed, true. Ms. Harkins is the East City hero known as Arachnya."

A hand shot up immediately. "Does that mean that she was involved in her father's murder weeks ago?"

Another hand: "Has she been exploiting her powers to benefit her newspaper?

Another: "Where did she get these powers?"

And another: "Why did the criminal known as the Joker injure but not kill her?"

That question intrigued me. How did this journalist know that name? I stepped forward, onto the stage. I needed to have a look at that journalist.

The director pointed at the journalist. "Excuse me, what did you call the criminal?"

"He's called the Joker, y'know, like from the Batman movies."

The director waved his hand. "I'm sorry, I can't answer that question. Now, the first one..."

I stepped up to the podium. "I'm sorry, ladies, gentlemen, but some of these questions can't be answered right now. There will be another press conference in a few days, perhaps Ms. Harkins will be able to attend, and then - "

I was cut off by another voice coming up the stage. "These questions and more will be answered soon, ladies and gentlemen." I turned and saw a very plain-looking man in a business suit standing there, ready to shake my hand. Instead, I simply stepped away from the podium. He nodded, smiled, and stepped up to the podium. I saw the pin on his lapel and gritted my teeth.

HealAll.

"Ladies, gentlemen, my name is Kennedy, I work for HealAll Pharmaceuticals. Many of our brands adorn your shelves, I'm sure. As I'm also sure, you're all aware that we've provided many services and technologies for St. Mary's Memorial, and we have a much more vested interest in Ms. Harkins' case."

"Interest?" I asked, barely aware that I'd spoken.

He kept smiling that damn smile. "Today, we're announcing our program to help the publicly announced Chosen here in Larsen City, in East City, as well as others. As the first hero who's publicly revealed herself, we're extending our hands in aid to Ms. Harkins, as we will with any others who choose to reveal themselves."

A hand raised. "Are you expecting many other Chosen to reveal themselves?"

Kennedy nodded. "We are. Secret identities can only be kept secret for long, despite what Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have had us think for the better part of eighty years." He put emphasis on that. Why?

Another hand raised. "And if there are heroes who choose not to reveal themselves?"

"We're hoping to, at least, extend an olive branch towards them in hopes of assistance. There are certain heroes who may, understandably, wish to remain anonymous. Knight, for instance," he flashed a look in my direction, "may not choose to reveal himself. Guardian? Doubtful. He seems to enjoy his anonymity. We hope to be able to help these Chosen without damaging their attempts to remain secret. We don't want this to turn into a super human civil war."

I stepped toward the podium again. "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that's all the time we have for today. As I said, another press conference will be held in a few days, and then - "

I was cut off again, this time by gunshots. Six men walked into the room from the east entrance, five of them just standard-looking goons. One of them was wearing purple clothes, clown make-up. My eyes widened in surprise.

The Joker.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" the Joker announced. He walked up close to the stage. "I'd like to make an announcement, and this seemed like the best place to do it." He walked onto the stage and grabbed me by the collar. "I know you, don't I?" He pulled out a butterfly knife. Sadly, the knife didn't distract me from the scars on his face, a Glasgow Smile, leading from his lips to his ears. He stuck the blade of his knife in my mouth, but didn't attempt to cut me. "Yeah, I know you... Ah, William Brand! You're a bigshot, aren't you?"

Just before he dug the blade into my skin, the glass above shattered on top of us and there was Seeker, landing beside myself and the villian. "Boing, bitch!" he shouted, then kicked the Joker away from me. The knife landed on the floor beside me. "Yeah! Betcha didn't like that, did ya?"

I looked over in the direction the Joker had been launched and saw him standing up and pulling out his gun. He fired several rounds in Seeker's direction, but the kid dodged fast, springing up and toward the Joker. He wasn't all that lucky, though, the Joker had anticipated the kids moves, pulled out a shock baton and slammed it down on the kid's back.

I looked around, saw that the room had pretty much emptied, including the Joker's men. I ran towards the Joker and sent a left hook directly into his face. He aimed the gun at me, but then his watch started beeping. "Oh, sorry, look at the time." He bounded away, laughing maniacly and firing blindly at the kid and me. I pulled Seeker away and ducked behind the nearest pillar.

I looked around the room again, at the chairs that the journalists were sitting in. I walked over to the one that the surprisingly knowledgeable reporter had been sitting in.

There was a Joker card sitting there.

I walked back to the stage where the knife had fallen and saw that it was gone, and so was my only real chance at finding out who he was, slim though it was.

***

"There," I said, pointing at the image on the monitor. Mr. Kennedy, picking up the knife that the Joker had wielded against me. Frank looked at it.

"Who's that guy?"

"His name is Kennedy, he works for HealAll."

"What do they do?"

"They're a rival to Brand Industries, one of the many companies the government went to as soon as the Chosen started cropping up."

Frank laughed. "You mean, they didn't come to you?"

I sighed. "Actually, they did, but once I found out that the government wanted to force the Chosen to register themselves and their abilities, I dropped out. About a month later, I was told that those plans had fallen through, and asked to come back in. I refused. Looks like HealAll's taken up the sword I threw away."

"And what's this guy want with the Joker's knife?"

"Probably exactly what we wanted it for, to find out the Joker's real identity. It's a safe bet that reporter probably worked for HealAll."

"Which one, there were, like, a billion there."

"The one who knew the name Joker. Harkins never gave that up in her interview with the Brigade." I sat back in my chair. "So, HealAll has the knife, the Joker's got a reporter as a hostage, and we've got absolutely - "

I was cut off by the sound of laughter coming from the TV. Frank and I both looked up and saw a feed that looked like it was coming from a small handheld camera. The line at the bottom of the screen read "JOKER SENDS IN TAPE". The journalist from the conference was strapped to a chair, cuts and bruises all over his face and chest.

"Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, Larsen City. I didn't get to say much at the press conference this morning, so I decided to send it in to our own loveable but unreliable Channel Seven." Whoever was holding the camera pointed it at the Joker. "Y'see, the forecast called for rain today." He pointed at the journalist. "This man is Channel Seven News anchor Hank Barrera, and he's obviously suffered from something other than rain." He started laughing again. "You see, I wanted to have some screen time with Arachnya, or, should I say, Ms. Charlotte Harkins, today, to show that there's no ill will between us." He shoved his face against the camera, smudging the lens. "And how can there be any ill will toward this face." He walked over to Barrera again and pulled out a butterfly knife similar to the one he'd almost cut me up with. "Well, since I didn't get to spend any time with my new BFF..." He jammed the knife into Barrera's mouth, then sliced upward, from his mouth to his left ear, then repeated the action on the other side of his face. The feed was cut, however, before the second cut could be finished.

I shut off the TV, then reached for the phone. "Nancy, I want our security personel outside Ms. Harkins' hospital room and her apartment in East City. Inform the police. I want security personel with Ms. Harkins' mother at all times, bring her into protective custody if necessary." I didn't even let her answer before I hung up. I turned back to Frank. "This bastard just upped his game, so we're upping ours."

He nodded. "I'm gonna go see Charlie. I'll meet ya back here tonight, when we go looking for this guy."

I nodded, then spun around to look out the window. We needed to stop the Joker. I needed to stop the Joker.

***

"Well, since I didn't get to spend any time with my new BFF..." Then the Joker took his knife and started slicing into the reporter's skin.

"Shut it off!" Charlie screamed, shaking Tim out of his daze. He reached for the remote and hit the power button, then turned back to his girlfiend. She was shaking and crying and he immediately put his arms around her and held onto her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." he said to her, trying to stop her shaking. He felt her fingers digging into his skin. It hurt, but he didn't want it to stop, if it helped her. "It's okay, Charlie, he's not here."

She said through tears, "Why is there somebody like him out there? Why?"

Tim could only stroke her head and hold her tighter. Even as Mr. Brand's security people came in to inform them why they were there, he could just hold her tighter.

***

Melissa Harkins got out of the cab and walked upstairs to her apartment to find two men in dark suits standing in front of her apartment door. Both men had guns in holsters, looking very much like Secret Service agents, right down to the dark sunglasses and earpieces.

One of them, with his monotone voice, said, "Mrs. Melissa Harkins? We're with Brand Security, ordered to keep you safe."

Melissa didn't feel any safer. "Brand Security as in Brand Industries?"

The other one nodded. "Yes," that one said, again in a monotone voice. "Mr. Brand ordered security for you and your daughter." He reached across the door, without looking, and opened it. "The babysitter's waiting with your son, ma'am."

Melissa took a deep breath and walked into the apartment, seeing that everything looked the same as when she left, aside from Cindy Cooper, her babysitter, looking like she was being held in prison with a baby. Melissa walked over to the girl and patted her on the shoulder. "I think it's okay," Melissa said.

"You sure?" Cindy asked. "They've got guns."

"They said they're here to protect me. Said there's some around Charlie, too."

"After that Joker guy made that video?" The girl visibly shivered. "He creeps me out big time."

Melissa sat down on the couch. "Think about how Charlie feels."

Cindy nodded. "Yeah... Has she let you see her yet?"

Melissa shook her head. "No. She says she doesn't want me to have nightmares about her. I refused to even pick up a paper the other day, because I knew they'd run pictures of her. That... What are they calling him? The Joker? He's a monster."

"You think that's why these security guys are here? Because of what he said on the news?"

She nodded. "Probably. How does someone like him exist? Someone so horrible?"

Neither of them had an answer.

***

I slipped my costume on, it took all of two minutes. When I started, it had taken longer, but I was getting better at it. I adjusted my belt and made sure I had my equipment. Tonight. I had to deal with him tonight. I had to find the Joker, and I had to put him away tonight.

Permanently, if necessary.

I couldn't ignore that. Sure, Batman doesn't kill, but I'm not Batman, no matter how much I based myself on him. I'm not bound by that decision to not kill, I can do it if necessary. I was a soldier, once. That training doesn't just disapppear. I pulled my gloves on and then opened the secret door into my penthouse. Seeker was already there, already geared up. We were ready. I hoped.

"How's that radar you've got working?"

He shrugged. "I'm reading him in every direction. It's tough to tell which one's him."

I sighed. This would probably take all night. "Fine. I'll head east, you head west. If you get any further leads on him with your powers, radio me."

He nodded. "Alright. What are you gonna do when we find him?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Look, man, I saw that look in your eyes when you watched the news. You wanna kill him, don't you?"

I walked over to him. "He hospitalized your friend, and thanks to that, she's been outed, everybody knows her identity. Even if that hadn't happened, you saw what he did to her, what he did to that reporter, what he's done to dozens of others ever since he showed up here in Larsen. He's a monster, Holden."

He pressed his finger to my chest. "When I first put on my costume, it was a crappy Halloween costume that Charlie bought me, because she wanted to be a super hero. I played along, thought it was cute, thought she was cute for wanting to do it. I've got a soft spot for that girl that gets to me every time I hear about her and Tim doing this or doing that. But like I said, I played along. That was when Charlie and I stopped that bank robbery. I knew then that I really was supposed to be a super hero." He tapped my chest. "When you put that on, when you decided that you were gonna be the real life Batman, you chose to uphold everything that Batman does, because you patterend yourself on him."

I grabbed his hand. "You trying to tell me I can't kill someone, kid? Need I remind you that I'm twenty years older than you?"

He shook his head. "I'm out here trying to stop this guy for the girl that I love, okay? Would she be happy if he died? Yeah. Would it help her get back to normal? No way. She'd feel a thousand times better if she could see him suffer like she has, so that's what's gonna happen."

This kid was standing up to me. I was quite the imposing figure, and this kid was standing up to me.

I liked that.

"Fine, kid. The Joker lives to rot in jail, or somewhere worse. Now, get going. We've got less than twelve hours to find him."

The kid nodded.

***

The Joker laid down his cards and clapped as his three fellow poker players each folded. He laughed, then pulled a knife from his pocket and slammed it into the hand of the one with the highest losing hand. The man screamed as his friends rushed to help him get the knife out of his hand.

The Joker stood from his chair and walked over to the window. He saw the young hero known as Seeker, the one who'd kicked him around earlier that day. What are you doing out here? he thought as he looked at his own reflection in the glass. And what can I do with you?

He let his smile grow wider. "Get the funhouse ready, boys. We're going to have another visitor."

***

Seeker landed on the rooftop of an old apartment building that honestly looked as though a condemned sign would make the place look better. His tracking sense could feel the Joker, but he couldn't tell where exactly. He was having a lot of trouble with that thing, ever since Knight had helped him expand it to a full-on radar as opposed to a ground sonar.

Knight. Seeker could understand why he'd want to kill the Joker, hell, Seeker himself wanted to kill the Joker after what he'd done to Charlie. But super heroes don't kill, and when we chose to wear these stupid-ass costumes, we chose to be super heroes, we chose not to kill. Well, unless it's one of those big situations like Superman had to deal with in that crappy movie from last year, then it's okay to kill. Y'know, I miss my banter with Charlie. She'd actually remember what that movie was called.

He was suddenly aware of the men walking up the stairs to the roof. He spun around and saw the door opening. He watched as six men walked onto the roof, each of them carrying baseball bats or some other blunt object. None of them the Joker. This is gonna be fun, he thought.

He rushed toward the closest target, grabbed his bat and ripped it out of his hands. Another one was on top of him in seconds. He kicked that one, sending him flying. He would have looked to make sure the goon didn't get too hurt, but he was too busy surviving the other five. He spun around and punched the second one in the face, then used the bat he'd taken from the first and smashed the nose of the third.

By now, seven more men had walked onto the roof from the stairwell. He found it difficult to focus on any individuals, and instead tried to focus on the whole. Three more went down quickly, one of them falling onto an adjacent roof. Six more came from the stairwell. There were almost more goons than footspace on the roof. Seeker had to do something!

That was when he felt something hit his back. A shock ran through his body, God only knew how many volts. He fell to his knees and felt another shock. "It's nice to see you again," a voice said, coming out from behind him. He looked up and saw that face, the smile. "Y'know, there's only so many people to play with in this city." The Joker jammed the taser prod into Seeker's shoulder. "I should have set up shop in East City, that way I could have had fun with all of you." Another attack from the taser. "But, I have to admit, it's kinda fun having Larsen all to myself." The Joker knelt down in front of him. "It's fun being able to put smiles on all of your faces!" Another attack from the taser, and Seeker went down, falling unconscious to the sound of the maniac's laughter.

Across the River, Part Two

Tim felt himself falling asleep in the chair beside Charlie's hospital bed. He had told her that he wouldn't leave, and he wasn't going to. He decided to stand up and do some walking around to stay awake. He knew he didn't exactly need to stay awake, as Mr. Brand's security people were doing their job outside the door.

I wonder what his interest in the Chosen is. Probably just like that Kennedy guy, wants to make money helping them. Hmph, now that I think about it, why aren't there any of his guys here?

He sighed, then pushed the thought out of his mind. It really didn't matter. There were guards that would be enough to protect Charlie, and he was just fine with that. He needed that.

He sat back down in his chair just as an attractive older woman walked into the room, a police badge attached to her belt. She walked up to Charlie's bed and sighed. "She asleep?" the woman asked him.

"Yeah."

She held out her hand, he shook it. "Detective Cheryl Holden, Frank's cousin. Can we talk outside?" Tim nodded and followed the woman out into the hallway, out of earshot of anyone else. "You know Frank's a Chosen, right?" He nodded. "Good. It's a pretty big source of debate in our family, especially because I'm not a big fan of super heroes messing up my job for me."

"Charlie's dad used to say the same thing."

"Well, Frank came to see me earlier, told me what he and that Knight guy are doing, hunting down this Joker guy, and I told him to keep me in the loop."

"What's this got to do with Charlie?"

She shrugged. "I was hoping that girl could tell me where he is. He was supposed to call me once every hour, but he's been missing for about two hours, and I need to find him."

"Because he's family?"

"That, and he's the only solid lead on the Joker."

"Well, Charlie's asleep, and I don't wanna make her wake up."

"Kid, it's a matter of life and death."

"She's been traumatized, y'know. She saw the Joker on TV and I couldn't get her to stop shaking or crying for hours. If I make her wake up so that you can ask her a question she probably doesn't know the answer to, seeing as Frank hasn't been here since yesterday, I don't know what that'll do to her, so I'm not going to ake her up."

She gave him an annoyed look. She sighed. "Fine, you're coming with me."

Tim raised an eyebrow. "Say what now?"

She poked him in the chest. "Look, kid, I need to find my cousin, he's into some serious shit and he's my only lead on the Joker since your girlfriend won't talk. So that leaves you to help me. Seeing as you've got personal stakes in this, too, you should be pretty cooperative. If not, I can have you arrested for impeeding an investigation."

He sighed. Sounds just like Charlie's dad... "Okay. Where to first?"

"You're okay with this?"

"Well, you kinda just told me I had to come, you're a cop, and your cousin is in trouble. My girlfriend's a super hero, if I said no, I'd pretty much be spitting on everything she stands for."

She smirked. "Wish I'd had as dedicated a boyfriend as you when I was your age. Our first stop is a club a few blocks away from where I last talked to Frank."

"Club?"

She smiled.

***

The Joker pulled up a chair and sat down across from Seeker. He flexed his fingers a little, straightened his back, crossed his legs. He smiled. He liked smiling. He cracked his knuckles and then rested his hands on his lap. He felt happy, he felt as though he was in control. Of course, he rarely ever felt otherwise, but that didn't matter to him. He loved feeling in control.

He looked at the other chair, sitting underneath the lone light in the room. Seeker was looking down at his feet, resting in a pool of blood. There were streaks of blood in his hair, cuts, bruises and lacerations all over his body, and in general, Seeker just didn't look like a happy person.

The Joker didn't like that.

***

Tim got out of Detective Holden's car and then stopped before entering the building. He took a look at her and saw her smiling at him. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Don't want to see some nekkid ladies?" He looked back toward the building, the giant Friendly Citizens Upholding Priorities, otherwise read as F-CUPS. He looked back over at Detective Holden. "C'mon, boobies all over the place, buddy."

He sighed. "There's a lead in here?"

"Join the police some time, kid, there's always a lead in a strip club." She walked forward, into the building. Tim sighed and followed her. Apparently, walking in with a cop meant that you didn't have to show ID, or pay, or so Tim observed. He looked around at all the strippers, mostly in suspended cages, Just like all the movies he'd seen with strip clubs in them, there were women dancing on poles, there was a runway where women would walk out, maybe two at a time. The whole thing looked so stereotypical that he wanted to laugh. "There," she said, pointing at a man sitting on a couch surrounded by half a dozen topless women. "I'll do all the talking, you just be sure to grab him if he rabbits."

"Fine by me."

She looked back at him. "You can fight, right?"

"I ran track before I switched to home school."

She shrugged. She walked over to the man and stood in front of him, blocking his view of the many strippers throughout the room. He tried moving from side to side, but she remained in his way, smiling as she did. She pulled her badge off of her belt and held it up for him to see.

He turned to another man. "Somebody wanna get this broad out of the way?" He turned back to her. "Listen, doll, I'm here to watch the titties, and I'm not doin' anything wrong."

She pushed the table sitting in front of him over and placed her foot right on his crotch. The topless women ran away while the man that had been called to arrived, his gun pointed straight at Detective Holden. Tim watched in surprise. She looked extremely calm. Cops in Larsen City. Guess they've seen everything.

"Larry, Larry, Larry..." She made a tsk noise. "I was hoping we'd work together on this." She pulled her gun out and pointed it at the other guy. "Call your dog off and I won't take his ear off."

"The hell do you want, bitch?"

"The Joker. Where the hell is he?"

"Why would I know that?"

She ripped open his shirt, revealing a foot-shaped bruise on his chest. "'Cause I think you helped him kidnap a kid who can kick you six miles high. And you did that tonight."

He spat in her face. "Get fucked, bitch!"

She wiped the spit off of her face. "Bad move." She squeezed the trigger, grazing the man with the gun right across the side of his face. Anyone who hadn't noticed the situation quickly started making their way out of the building, quickly leaving the only four occupants of Tim, Detective Holden, Larry, and the guy with the gun who was trying to stop the blood flow from his face. "I'm not gonna ask again. Tell me."

***

The night had been a bust. I found myself back at my building, looking out at the city while waiting for Seeker to either show up or radio. I hadn't heard from him all night. If I knew where to look for him, I'd head there right now. All I could do was wait. Dammit.

That was when my radio filled with static. I reached up and touched the side of my cowl. "Kid? Where the hell are you?"

It wasn't Seeker that answered. I wanted it to be Seeker, and it wasn't. Laughter filled my headset. "Hello, hello, Knight," the Joker said, "I've been talking to your little friend here, and he's shared some interesting interesting things! Oh, don't worry, I still don't know who you are, and I really don't care. You've got secrets, I've got secrets, this kid's got secrets. Too bad for him that he's spilled some." He laughed again. "I'm going to assume you want him back, so you can meet me at the Orchard Hill Mall on Twenty-Seventh. I'll be waiting there."

The static clicked off and I balled my hands into fists. You wanna meet me, fine. I'm on my way.

***

I looked down through the skylight and saw the Joker sitting on a bench in the center lounge area of the mall. I didn't see Seeker, or any of the Joker's men, but I knew they were there somewhere. I opened the skylight and used my grapple line to land on the ground in front of the Joker, who simply clapped his hands. I stood and gathered my cape around me.

The Joker almost bounced to his feet. "It's so nice to finally meet you! I do wish you'd gone all the way, though, picked up a cowl with the pointy ears and everything." I didn't say anything in response. "The silent treatment, I can handle that. Tell me, what's little Francis Holden to you, anyway? He your little sidekick, a little Boy-Wonder-in-training?" He laughed. "Oh, hohoho! This is fun!"

***

Tim followed Detective Holden into the mall and saw him, just like Larry's tip-off suggested. The Joker was there, talking to Knight. Batman and the Joker, just like comics. Great.

Detective Holden turned to Tim and handed him a gun. "Take this, you just have to have it, you don't have to use it."

"Then why do I need it?"

"Pretend to be a cop. Maybe if this guy thinks there's a super hero and two cops here, he'll come in quietly."

"You think he's gonna come in?"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I saw what this guy did to your girlfriend, so no, I don't think he will, but it's still my job to try. If he resists, I'll shoot him."

He nodded.

***

"Where's the kid?" I asked.

"Oh, he's here. He's where I left him. Maybe, you'll even see him."

I stepped closer to the Joker. "I asked where he is."

He laughed in my face. "Don't you worry. When we're done with our little talk, I have my people bring him out here."

"There's over a thousand people in this mall, and knowing what you've probably done to him, I don't think I want you bringing him out here in public."

Another laugh, this one louder. "Oh, please, that's half the fun. If I didn't tear this kid up, people wouldn't know the truth about you super folks."

"And what's that?"

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a radio. "Bring him here." He turned back to me. "That you're nothing special. If it weren't for crazies like me, you wouldn't have shit to do."

***

Tim watched as a group of thugs walked out from somewhere, One of them was carrying a chair, two of them were carrying a person with a black bag covering their head. Tim saw the logo on the person's chest and nearly lost his breath.

Seeker.

Tim heard Detective Holden whisper, "That sonuvabitch!"

The one thug set the chair down, the other two set Seeker in the chair. The Joker walked over to him and put his hand on the bag. "Tell me, what do you think when," he turned and shouted, "all these people!" then turned back to Knight, "see what it is I'm about to show you?" Several people who had been ignoring the situation in the center of the mall now directed their attention toward the three of them. "They're gonna call me a freak, right? Of course they are. They'd be right, of course!"

***

I wanted to shoot him in the chest with my grapple gun right now. It was the closest thing to an offensive weapon I had. I could see that the kid was breathing, but barely.

"That's right, folks! All you decent people! Take a look, at this!" The Joker removed the bag over Seeker's head and revealed his scarred, bruised and bloody face. Sections of his hair had been ripped from his scalp, one eye so rolled back, the other barely focusing on anything. "Ta-da! His name's Seeker, everybody! Well, actually, his real name's Frank!" He started laughing. Suddenly, there was a knife in his hand. "He's just not doing so well!"

***

Tim looked to the balcony overlooking the lounge and saw a news crew. This is so obviously going on live. He looked back toward the action in the center. This guy's got everybody watching this.

Then a disturbing thought filled his head. Charlie's watching this. He dropped the gun and sprinted toward the exit.

***

I took a step toward Seeker, but stopped when the Joker put his knife to the kid's throat. I got a better look at the kid, seeing that the Joker had already decorated his face with his distinctive Glasgow Smile. The kid had lived through that, that was good. Just hold on, Frank, hold on.

"So, tell me, Knight, do you wanna know how he got these scars? Do you wanna know what it was he told me as I was giving him these scars?" He grabbed what was left of Seeker's hair and lifted his head up. "I'll let him tell you."

I watched as Seeker's mouth tried to form words, he tried to speak. The only thing he managed to say was, "Kni - "

And then the Joker slit his throat wide open, his laughter was the last thing Francis Holden ever heard.

From somewhere behind me, someone shouted, "You sonuvabitch!" Bullets whizzed past me, in the Joker's direction, but the maniac had moved out of the way.

***

Melissa heard Charlie screaming as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. She ran as fast as she could toward Charlie's room, where two nurses were trying to hold her down. Melissa looked at the TV screen in the corner and saw exactly why Charlie was screaming.

The Joker, standing next to Frank Holden's lifeless body.

***

The firefight began, the Joker's thugs on one side and that unknown shooter on the other. I ignored it and chased after the maniac himself. People ran, people screamed, people tried to help.

It was pure chaos. And the Joker was laughing the whole time.

I attempted to tackle him, but a bullet caught me in the leg, knocking me down. I saw that the Joker had stopped, the barrel of his handgun was smoking. He'd shot me. "Boy oh boy, that caught you off guard, didn't it?" he said. He walked over to me. "I'm not talking about the bullet."

"I'm gonna catch you, I'm gonna tear you apart."

The Joker didn't say anything. He simple started to walk away from me. Just a few steps away, he stopped, turned slightly toward me, and held up a portable detonator. He thumbed the button, turned back away from me, and walked into the ensuing explosions, laughing as loudly as he could. The building around us crumbled down, windows blew out, walls fell.

People died.

The Joker's own men were caught in the blast, that unknown shooter probably was, too. I managed to make it to my feet and tried to make it to the closest exit before that became a death trap.

And the whole time, I heard the Joker laughing.

***

I watched as the rubble was cleared from the site. Nine hundred sixty-three people, including the Joker's thugs. Guardian was helping. I was sitting off to the side, nursing my wound. Firemen, police, paramedics, volunteer citizens, all of them helping to dig out the dead bodies of people who's only reason for dying was because they wanted to spend time with friends and family.

All because of him. That laughing bastard.

Guardian landed beside me, a solemn look on his face. "No body, William."

"You won't find one. He made it out, obviously."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I'm sorry about the kid." I stood up and pushed my way past him. "You need to rest."

I spun around and glared at him. "The hell I do. I need to find this bastard and break him in two."

"William, please, for your own safety, let the rest of us handle this. Aaron can look through his black holes, and Annette's found a way to pick out surface thoughts using her nightmare technique."

I grabbed him by the collar. "I don't care. I'm finding this guy. Alone."

He sighed. "What about Harkins?"

"What about her?"

"She and the kid were friends. They used to be partners."

"I don't know. Maybe you should tell her."

He shook his head. "I won't do that, William. Unless you talk to her, you'll never be able to forgive yourself for this," he waved his hand toward the ruins of the mall. Some of the fires weren't even out yet.

I turned away from him. "I don't have any reason to forgive myself."

***

Guardian finished helping the rescue personnel and flew up into the air. He sighed. Why can't you just accept that you didn't get him killed, William? He simply hovered there, letting the wind hit him softly. He'd been just as horrified as anyone else when he saw the footage on the news. He should have just flown off right then and there, but he still had his own secret identity to keep, and flying away in the middle of the Brigade's news room would have raised quite a bit of suspicion, and they didn't need to know that another super hero worked in their building.

He heard the gentle flap of wings and turned his head. Angel was now hovering beside him, a concerned look on her face. He looked at the dress she wore, a marked difference from the simple slacks and halter top she used to wear. "You changed your clothes," he said.

She smiled. "I felt it was time. Had to make an impression on a new Chosen in Pine Ridge, after all. I can't stay long, either. I'm off to Glassview City soon. It's a long flight there."

He nodded. "You see the news? The Joker?"

"You mean about Charlotte? Yes, I know about that."

He shook his head. "Not her. Seeker."

Her eyes widened in horror. "What?"

"The Joker took him and wiped him out, cut him up so badly that his own mother wouldn't recognize him, then slit his throat in the middle of a very populated mall. Then he blew up the mall with most of the people still inside, including his own men."

Her eyes widened further. "That's... No, that's impossible."

He flew over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, but it happened. I saw the body. I saw it happen on the news."

"No, Guardian, you don't understand. The future I saw, the best future I saw, ended with Seeker killing the Joker with his bare hands, and everything that happened should have led to that future. All the futures where Seeker died lead to..."

He narrowed his eyes. "Lead to what?"

She pushed away from him. "I'm sorry, Guardian, I have to leave, right now. Glassview's a long way away." She spun around and flew as fast as she could, breaking the sound barrier. He just stared after her, worried about whatever it was she was talking about.

***

Melissa sat with her daughter and watched her sleep. It had taken several animal tranquilizers to put her under, and Melissa didn't like to see Charlie that way. She didn't like seeing her daughter hurt, physically or emotionally. She reached out and grabbed Charlie's hand and squeezed, letting her know that her mother was there for her.

"Mom?" Charlie asked, just barely opening her eyes. "What're you doing here?" She looked around a moment. "Where's Timmy?"

Melissa touched her daughter's face. "The security people outside the door said he left with a cop last night."

She sat up. "He's not in trouble, is he?"

Melissa shook her head. "I doubt it. The boy's harmless."

Charlie sighed out a laugh. "Everybody says that. I'm sure he'll prove himself when the time comes."

"He's your boyfriend, you're supposed to say that."

Footsteps came squealing to a stop outside the room, and Melissa heard Tim talking to the security people in the hallway. A moment later, he stepped into the room and the look of concern on his face changed to one of relief. "Oh, thank God! Charlie, I'm so sorry that I left you, but Frank's cousin, uh, Cheryl, came and made me help her find the Joker."

"And did you?" Charlie asked. "Before the maniac slaughtered Frank on live TV?"

Tim's eyes widened. "He... He killed him?"

"And he blew up a mall, yeah."

"Okay, that I heard, but I was hoping that Knight would save Frank before - "

"The news is saying that Knight's dead. Nobody knows if he made it out of the mall before it blew up." She started to tear up. "Why do I get the feeling this is all my fault."

Melissa grabbed her daughter's hand. "Don't you say that!"

The television interrupted them. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen." Melissa looked up at the TV and saw that Mr. Kennedy from HealAll standing in front of a podium. "We are all aware of the tragic and brutal murder of Francis Holden, known to the public as Seeker, by the mass murderer who calls himself the Joker."

"How'd he know Frank's name?" Charlie asked. "The Joker didn't say his whole name, how'd he know?"

Mr. Kennedy continued: "As I stated yesterday, HealAll is working with the federal and state government to assist people with these powers to learn how to use them safely. We already have several such people working with us, in this regard. In some cases, these miraculous people want to help the public, following the lead of both Charlotte and Francis, who were amongst the first super heroes to be seen. Our program, which we are calling The Chosen, is meant to help these heroes, teaching them tactics, police skills, self-defense and much, much more. Frankly, I and many others believe this type of support has taken far too long to set up and enact, but we are acting now."

Charlie said, "Much as that would have helped me when I landed in here, I would have rather stayed anonymous."

Mr. Kennedy: "The event earlier today was a tragedy. We lost a young man who was actively trying to make the world a better, safer place. A shopping mall full of people going about their lives peacefully and safely, was destroyed, leaving potentially dozens of people dead, and over a hundred injured. We saw the Knight injured, and possibly killed, valiantly trying to prevent this tragedy. But, what if the Knight had had police support? Quite likely, things might have turned out far differently. If the government and the people of America had actively supported Seeker and those like him, he would most likely be alive today. We have lost f- one hero this week, cut down before he'd even reached the prime of his life, another hero is still recovering from her horrific injuries. How many more young people need to die before we offer them the support they need?"

Melissa scoffed. "There's plenty of police support for the Chosen."

Tim spoke up, "He started to say something, then corrected himself to say one hero was lost."

"So what?"

He looked over at Melissa. "How many really died?"

Mr. Kennedy: "Next Thursday, in the city of Pine Ridge, we will introduce the first super hero fully supported by the American government and industry. This young man is being trained even as we speak, to work alongside the police to deal with crimes and situations where a regular human cannot do so safely. It is our hope that he will only be the first in a long line of heroes acting as a role model for what can be accomplished when we work together for the safety and betterment of America. Thank you." The man then walked away from the podium, amidst dozens of questions that went unanswered.

Melissa grabbed the remote and muted the TV. "A government sanctioned Chosen? I don't like that idea." She looked over at her daughter and saw that Charlie was pulling off the handcuffs that were keeping her confined to the bed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm thinkin' I need to talk to some people," Charlie said, a determination in her voice that Melissa hadn't heard since the girl's father was alive.

***

I kicked the training dummy and took its head off. I was angry, and it showed. That was the seventeenth dummy I'd decapitated since I got back to my house. I still felt like shit for letting a kid die, for letting a shopping mall fully of people explode.

For letting the Joker get away.

I set up another dummy and got back to training. Every punch I landed was another reminder of the people I'd failed. Every kick, another memory of watching them burn. Every time I made contact with that dummy, I felt the pain, felt the anger.

The weakness.

Another spin-kick and the eighteenth dummy was headless. I felt a stinging at my lungs. I was tired, breathing heavily, about to collapse. I unwrapped the bandages from my hands and saw that despite my best efforts, my hands were covered in cuts and bruises. As I looked down at my hands, I remembered how the Joker had left Seeker, and I felt the anger swelling again. I kicked the dummy again, knocking it into the case that held my costume when I wasn't wearing it.

I looked at the broken glass, at the damaged mannequin that my costume rested on. My breathing slowed, everything slowed. I turned away from it. I couldn't look at it. I'd failed it. I'd failed Harkins, I'd failed those people in the mall. I'd failed Seeker.

And I was sure the Joker was laughing at me.

***

The Joker stood in his funhouse, smiling at the bloodstains that remained on the floor. Every one of them told a story, a story about the poor sap who'd died there, or been beaten. He remembered each and every one of them. He knelt down and swept his fingers along the floor, specifically for the ones that had been left there most recently. He smiled again.

"Yeah, boss?" whichever goon he'd called in asked.

"Is the tape in yet?"

He wasn't looking, but he knew the goon was nodding. "Yeah, boss. Dropped it off myself."

The Joker stood. "Good." He walked up to the goon and saw the sweat streaking down his face and smiled yet again. He reached into his pocket and retrieved one of his knives. He gripped the goon's face and held his mouth open with one hand while he shoved the knife down the goon's mouth with the other hand. The goon fell to his knees, gurgling blood, and the Joker did what he did best. Well, second best.

He laughed.

***

I walked into my office from my secret entrance and saw that the room wasn't as empty as I wanted it to be. I envied her her strength, to be out of the hospital so soon after such a traumatic event, and on the same day that one of her friends was killed.

Arachnya was in costume, surprisingly. She was sitting behind my desk, drinking from a champagne glass. She pulled the mouth portion of her mask back down when I entered the room. I took off my dinner jacket and tossed it on the arm of the chair. "You're not old enough to drink that."

"I spent three weeks as an Olympic Wino a month or so ago."

"What can I do for you, Ms. Harkins?"

She pulled her mask off and let her hair hang free of the ponytail it had been in. "He wouldn't have hated you."

I had to give this girl a lot more credit than I used to think she deserved. "I don't know what it is you're talking about."

She took another drink. "Please, Mr. Brand, before I became the living personification of a female Spider-Man, I read comic books every week, and I dragged my dad to plenty of super hero movies. I saved my allowance up just to spend money on that Avengers briefcase with all the Blu-rays in it. Your initials are even Bruce Wayne's backwards. You couldn't be more obvious to a super nerd like me."

I poured myself some of the brandy that she'd been drinking. "Okay, so I'm obvious." I took a far longer drink than I should have. "I let him die. That's on me."

She walked around to the front of my desk and sat down on top of it. "Frank made his name as Seeker because a guy attacked us at school. We'd kinda been involved in stopping a bank robbery the day before, but it wasn't until school that he finally found his calling. A day later, a robot showed up and nearly killed him. I went crazy, I chased down the robot and I tore it apart."

"I read all about that in the newspapers."

"Frank died today, and I feel exactly the same now as I did then. I don't even care about what he did to me the other day, I just want to tear the Joker apart because of what he did to Frank. But I'm not going to."

I sat down on the chair in front of her. "Why not. You have every reason to, and everyone would be on your side."

She shrugged. "It's not gonna give me Frank back. I want it to so bad, but it won't. I want him to pay, but killing him won't do that. It'd just give him what he wants."

I let out a small laugh. "I remember this speech." I stood and patted her on the shoulder. "Frank Holden gave it to me, eight hours before he died. He wanted to tear the Joker apart because of what happened to you, but he knew it wouldn't help."

The girl stood up. "You're feeling down because you feel like you let Frank die, but you didn't. You did everything you could. Somethings are just written in stone, no matter how much we don't want them to be. It wasn't your fault at all. The only way either one of us can feel peace, the only way Frank can be at peace, is if the Joker is put where he belongs, in jail for his crimes."

I felt tears in my eyes and smiled. "When did kids like you get to be the ones to tell an adult like me how these things work?"

She smiled back. "I took up a life of crime fighting and I lost my dad. I stopped being a kid awhile ago."

***

Tim was pacing the floor when Charlie landed on the side of the building. He quickly ran to the window and opened it, letting her in. "Where the hell did you go?"

She took off her mask. He saw something that he didn't think he'd see for a very long time, a smile. "For a drink. With Knight."

"He's alive?"

She flicked him on the forehead. "Duh! We costumes are tough. Just look at Frank. He took a lot more than I did, and he was still kicking before that psychopath slit his throat." She smirked. "I can only hope I'm half as tough as him when my day comes."

Tim put his hands around her waist. "I only hope that day is a long time away. I'm just bein' selfish here."

They were distracted from their intimate moment by the sound of laughter. They both turned toward the TV and saw footage of Seeker. A time stamp in the corner showed that the footage came from much earlier that morning. "Hello, citizens of Larsen City! We're recording this, because by the time you see it," the Joker walked in front of the camera and knelt down by Seeker, putting his arm around the hero's shoulders, "Frank here will be extremely dead. I wanted you to see his final moments of consciousness." He moved back behind the camera. "What's your name, Frank?"

Seeker stuttered out, "Frrrr... Frrrr... Frank..."

"That's right, it's Frank. And what's your other name?"

"See... Seeee... Seeke..."

"He's a little out of it at the moment, so I'll finish it for him, it's Seeker. And why are you here?"

"To kic... To kick... To..."

"I'll answer that one, you're here because I caught you." The Joker moved back in front of the camera and jammed a knife into Seeker's gut. The image was suddenly cut off, and a newscaster came on with an apology.

"God..." Charlie said. He felt her shaking in his arms. "I hope Knight can get this guy."

He turned to her. "Wait, you're not going after him?"

She shook her head. "No. Knight needs this. He feels so bad about Frank's death, about the mall... He needs to get the Joker more than I do, and I'm going to let him."

***

I paused the video when it passed a certain point and saw exactly what it was the Joker wanted me to see.

"7:00pm, St. Joshua's Cathedral"

He was leaving me a message, obviously. I walked over to the damaged case that held my costume and reached in to get it. I was going to bring him in. Seeker deserved that.

***

I stood in front of the cathedral and waited. I made sure my costume was on properly for probably the seventeenth time. I checked my equipment again, making damn sure I was prepared for anything the Joker could throw at me.

I was nervous. I could feel it. It was a state that I was uncomfortable with, and I was already uncomfortable knowing exactly why I was here. I felt the sweat collect on my face and wiped it away. This was already turning out in his favor, and I didn't like that.

"You came," he said, catching my attention. I looked in the direction of the cathedral doors and saw him, standing there. "I'm so thrilled." He walked down the steps toward me. "I knew that if anybody could figure it out, it'd be you. You're living up to your influence, my friend!"

I collected my cape around me. "You're not hurting anyone else."

He threw back his head and laughed. That goddamn laugh. "That's where you're very wr - "

I didn't let him finish. I ran right at him and knocked him to the ground. He kicked at my shin, knocking me to my knees, and got right back up. He pulled out something small, flicked a switch, and revealed a small baton. He smacked me across the face with it, but I countered with a punch to the gut. He did the same to me, got back up and leaped onto me, pummeling me in the face.

I managed to push him off of me for a moment, but he ran at me once more, shoving his knees one after the other into my stomach, once in the groin. I landed a right cross on him, knocking out two of his teeth. To prove what I'd done, he gave me a toothy grin, exposing the two gaps. I just punched him again. He gave me a spin-kick, much like the ones I'd used to destroy my training dummies, and then ran back up the steps.

"C'mon, Knight!" He let out another laugh. "Step into the church!"

***

Tim sat in the same room a press conference had been called in the day before. Reporters from every network and paper across the east coast tried to pile into the room. He looked at all the people trying to find seats and saw the only one he needed to see. "Ms. Adamsen!" he called out to his colleague. She turned her head, saw him, and started pushing her way toward him. "Saved you a seat."

"Thanks, kid. So, where's your girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. She just told me to be in here before everybody else got here. I've been waiting for about an hour now."

She patted him on the shoulder. "How's she doing?"

"Better. She snuck out to go talk to Knight earlier."

"He's alive?"

"My reaction, too."

"And Charlie knows who he is?"

"She seemed to. And, I guess it worked, since she said she actually talked to him."

"So, what's this all about?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno. I guess we just have to wait for Charlie."

As if on cue, the young woman's voice called the attention of everyone in the room. "Hi, everybody," she said. Everyone looked toward the front of the room, at the podium, but there was no one there. "Up here, guys." Everyone looked up. Figures she'd have to do it like this. Charlie was in costume, crawling along the ceiling. "I knew that would get your attention." She used her webbing to slowly descend to the podium. "Hi, again." She took off her mask. "As you guys all know, I'm Arachnya, Charlotte Elaine Harkins. You all found that out earlier this week when I PTSD'd all over Officer Forest. I'm sorry about that, by the way."

***

I followed the Joker into the church, finding it to be full of people, all held at gunpoint by several of the criminal's thugs. My hands clenched into fists.

The Joker stood at the podium, flipping through a Bible. "'Thou shalt not...' Y'know, I don't know what this one says!" He laughed, then tossed the book at the wall behind him. He knocked the podium over and stepped forward. "We've been here before, you and I. Me, with dozens of people held hostage, and you, helpless to do anything!" He laughed again. "But I bet you have a plan this time, don't you?"

I didn't answer his question. I ran, jamming my elbow into his chest. He fell against the bank of candles behind him, but, sadly, it didn't do any real damage to him. The church was a different matter, however, as things started to catch fire all over the room as candles either flew off the table or rolled down the two steps leading to the pews.

I watched as the pews started to burn, and the people didn't move. I realized why after a second, they couldn't. They were all chained to the pews, and they'd die chained to the pews. Even the Joker's own men were incapable of moving. Their guns must have been empty, because none of them even tried to shoot their manic boss.

I turned back toward the Joker and saw him running up the stairs off to the side. I followed him, into the steeple.

***

Charlie continued, "As everybody probably knows after I told my story to the Daily News Brigade yesterday, my dad was East City Police Captain Henry Harkins, and he was my hero. Everything I ever did after I became a super hero was to honor my dad, and everything I did after his death was to honor his memory. I ran into a few bumps here and there, but I hope I've done a good enough job. I've only ever wanted to help."

***

The Joker's laughter echoed down the stairwell, but I kept chasing him. I came into the room just below the bell and left it to my senses to tell me where the maniac was, as the room was completely dark. My senses were up to the task, however, as I managed to block an uppercut, and then another swing from that baton. Smoke from downstairs was starting to fill the room, and I heard the Joker cough. I swung my fist right, hitting him in the chest.

"You're good," he said, still trying to laugh through the coughing. Thanks to the smoke, he managed to kick me in the face, knocking me flat on my back. I saw him open the hatch to the bell and crawl through it. I got back to my feet and followed him.

***

"Frank Holden was my friend. He went after the Joker after I got hurt, because he was my friend. He died because I was hurt. Almost a thousand people died because I was hurt. Knight almost gave up hope because I was hurt. Everything that's happened this week is because of what happened to me, and I take responsibility for that."

***

"On your left!" the Joker shouted, swinging from the rope used to toll the bell. I just managed to duck out of the way, but the sound of the loud bell right next to my head disoriented me. The Joker landed beside me and kicked me in the chest as I laid on the ground, a splitting headache keeping me down. On the fourth kick, I grabbed his foot and made him fall beside me. I rolled on top of him and landed three punches on him before he kicked me off, into the railing that kept me from falling to my death.

***

"It's because Frank died that I asked you all here. I don't want to dishonor his memory anymore than I've ever wanted to dishonor my dad's. When Frank and I became living comic book characters, we swore to each other that we'd uphold the law, even if we weren't recognized by it."

***

I staggered to my feet, still disoriented from the bell. I saw three of the Joker, thanks to my headache. Felt like the worst hangover imaginable. I tried to throw a punch, but he grabbed my arm and threw me down to the floor again.

"Don'tcha get it, Knight? Don'tcha get why?"

I tried to get up, but he kicked me in the stomach. I managed to grunt out, "Enlighten me..."

He knelt down and whispered in my ear, "Because it's fun."

***

"A lot of you probably think that I should be out there hunting down the Joker for what he did to me, to Frank, to all those people at that mall, and that I should kill him for what he's done. I would love nothing more than to do that, but killing the Joker would dishonor Frank's memory, because of that silly pact he and I made."

***

"I don't think it's a secret that I get off on this, Knight," he said, picking me up and throwing me into the wall. "But I'm not the only one."

I coughed out blood. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You heroes." He pulled a knife out. "You get just as much of a thrill out of taking on guys like me as I do taking out guys like you." He took a swipe at me, but I ducked just in time. "If there's no me, there'd be no you."

***

"Knight is out there, right now, fighting to bring the Joker to justice, so that he can pay for his crimes the right way."

***

My anger had reached the boiling point that I almost didn't think it'd hit, and my fury burned right through my disorientation. I grabbed the Joker by the collar, knocked his knife out of his hand and slammed his head down on the railing. I wanted to take a line of wire and strangle him. I picked him up and threw him into the wall, my fists each swinging into his face full force.

***

"The way we all honor the memory of those who died this morning is to make sure justice is sought the right way."

***

I was about to punch him again, but he managed to jam a knife into my stomach and push me off of him. That was when he revealed the detonator. "You didn't think I wouldn't bring fireworks to such an occasion, did you?" He thumbed the switch, and I didn't hear the explosion, I simply felt the steeple lurch, tilt. I saw the roof of the church turn orange, catch fire.

I didn't think, I simply reacted. I pulled out my grapple gun and shot a line out toward another building. I didn't even attempt to grab the Joker, I simply acted in self-preservation. The heat from the explosion was coupled with his laughter, which resonated long after I stopped hearing it.

***

Tim wasn't the only one to jump to his feet at the sound of the explosion. A cop in the corner grabbed his walkie talkie and listened in. After a moment, he relayed, "Explosion at St. Joshua's Cathedral, East Gallagher Street." Tim watched as most of the reporters in the room bolted out the door, likely to find out whether or not the situation had to do with the Joker.

Tim walked up onto the stage and put his arms around Charlie. "Frank would've been proud of that, babe."

"I hope so."

***

It had been just over twelve hours since the mall explosion, and here I was, watching the clean-up of yet another explosion caused by the Joker. Guardian was, again, helping with the clean-up. When all the bodies - or what was left of them - were recovered, he flew up to me and said, once again, "No body, William."

"I hope that doesn't surprise you," I said, through at least two broken ribs. My chest was killing me. "I don't know what the hell that guy's made of, but I expect to see him again."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "For your sake, I hope not."

I nodded. "Same here. But I know it'll happen. I can feel it."

He nodded, then flew off to keep helping with the clean-up. I held up the one memento of this whole ordeal that I had, the Joker card that had been left with Harkins. I tossed it into the dwindling fire. The burning card sounded like a laugh.

The After Party

"Must be that spider-DNA, kid, you're healing faster than most people do," the doctor said to me as he looked over my torso and then at my chart, almost as if in embarrassment. Granted, he was looking at a rather attractive sixteen year old girl, and he was old enough to be my father, so he could very well have thought this somewhat inappropriate. "Three days and you're ready to head back out there."

I slipped my shirt back over my head. It stung a little, but that was because I was just mostly healed, not completely. I was happy to know that I could leave. "Nothing broken in there, or anything?"

"Just your hymen."

My eyes widened in shock. "My... uh... my what?"

He gently laughed. "Sorry, kid, just a little joke. I assume you're still a virgin."

I giggled nervously. "I... um... Yeah. So, uh, you're not a Harpie, are you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

"Sorry. The last couple days, I've just been laying in bed with my phone, reading stuff online. People on message boards have taken to calling members of HARP 'Harpies'."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh. Those people. No, Ms. Harkins, I'm not a member of HARP. That dishonor belongs to my daughter. She lives in Pine Ridge."

"Oh. Was she a part of that little demonstration yesterday, when HARP kidnapped those three Chosen?"

He shrugged. "Probably. She and I haven't actually spoken since she joined that group of whackos. You have any family with them?"

I shrugged. "If I do, it's family I haven't spoken to in forever."

"Good. It'd make for an awkward family reunion."

I sighed. "This whole week is gonna make awkward family reunions. First, I'm tortured by a guy with a purple fetish, then I accidentally out myself as a super hero, there's a multitude of deaths, including one of my best friends, and last but not least, it's almost like all the Chosen are taking sides, now."

I turned and looked out the window, at Larsen City beyond, and sighed. How long would it take before this place wasn't just a gang battlefield, but a super battlefield? Thank you, HealAll. I wonder if you even realize the shitstorm you're about to unleash.

I turned back to the doctor and gave him a smile. "So, I'm all ready to go home, and everything?"

He nodded. "You are ready. Though, I'd suggest against any unnecessary swinging for the next couple of days, until you're completely healed."

I nodded. "I see what I can do. I don't exactly have a car, so swinging around on my webs is really the only form of transportation I have aside from my feet."

He patted my knee. "Use the feet a little bit more."

I smiled again.

***

And then I was frowning. "You fired me?!" I asked Mr. Brindleson as soon as I got to the Brigade. "You fired me?"

He looked like he was about to pass out from exertion. "Only temporarily."

"Temporarily?! From where I'm standing, I get violated on the job, so the job just fires me for no reason!"

"Look, kid, your mom needed a little extra while you were in the hospital, and your severance pay covered it, so I temporarily fired you and handed your mom the check to pay the bills for a couple days. You ready to come back, or no?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to come back!"

"Then get your ass out there, grab Adamsen and get to work! The pictures don't take themselves, the articles don't write themselves, and you two are on the clock!"

I smiled. Everything was getting back to normal.

***

"Get that Power outta here!" one of the cops shouted as we drove past them. Ms. Adamsen gave me a sympathetic smile. Clearly, getting forced to go public didn't do me any favors.

"When did Power become a derogatory term for super hero?" Ms. Adamsen asked.

"I guess when HARP turned into a nationwide movement against people like me."

"Hey, just between us, you ever meet that one from Pine Ridge? Probe Tech, or whatever his name is?"

"Pro-Tech," I corrected, "and, no, I haven't. I read about him online. There's people talking it up about him all over the internet. And, I guess there were a couple of new Chosen over in Glassview City a couple days ago, too. It's amazing how much you miss when you're recuperating in a hospital after a maniac slashes you to bits."

"And did you get any good internet press?"

I sighed. "'Arachnya: Has She Put On Weight Since Being Hospitalized?'" Ms. Adamsen started giggling. "Stop! My costume's so tight, I need to keep a certain weight!"

"Well, sweetie, if the only thing you have to worry about is a few HARP goons shouting at you and some online gossip about your weight, your life probably hasn't changed much since being forced to come out as a super hero."

I smiled. "Well, now the Harpies actually know who I am, as opposed to before, when they just shouted at me when I was in costume."

She raised an eyebrow. "Harpies?"

"HARP goons."

"Harpies?"

"I read it on the internet."

"Oh. Grab your camera, hotshot, we're here."

Ms. Adamsen stopped the car right beside a group of cop cars and we both got out, walking around the police barricades to enter the building. Captain Montoya was busy talking to some of the witnesses as we got to the third floor. I snapped a few pictures, while Ms. Adamsen walked up to Captain Montoya.

"It always amazes me how the Brigade just chooses to show up, instead of waiting for us to issue a press release, like most papers," Captain Montoya said, shaking Ms. Adamsen's hand.

"It's what makes us East City's best selling newspaper, Captain. What's the deal here, anyway?"

She sighed. "From the looks of things, double homicide. Looks like HARP was behind it, too."

I rolled my eyes. They were really getting to be a threat. I turned around to take some pictures of the other side of the room when a cop stepped in front of me and shoved me against the wall. "Hey!" I shouted.

"It's because of you that these people are dead, Power."

"But I didn't do this!"

"Sergeant!" Captain Montoya shouted at the cop. "What's going on here?"

"Captain, I think this Power should be removed from the premises. She's only making the situation outside worse."

Captain Montoya looked at me, then at the cop. "She stays. She's with the Brigade. If I kicked her out, I'd have to do the same thing to Ms. Adamsen, and that would be extremely bad for the department."

He turned away from me. "It's because of her that HARP has gone out of control, ma'am!"

Captain Montoya shook her head. "No, it's because of the Joker. Ms. Harkins was just an unfortunate victim that didn't ask to be put in the public spotlight. And I'll kindly ask you not to use the term Power when speaking about a family friend."

"Captain!"

She held up her hand. "Sergeant, either accept that Ms. Harkins is here to do her job, or yours finds itself subject to extreme jeopardy."

He was staring her down. I don't think I've ever seen somebody glare at someone else that intensely. I was almost afraid for Captain Montoya, until he turned and walked back to the barricade by the stairs. I felt relieved. That guy was scaring me. I turned to Captain Montoya and said, "Thank you so much."

She patted me on the shoulder. "Hey, you deserve a lot of credit for handling the situation the way you did."

"You mean yelling at him?"

"Not that situation. I saw that press conference you had the other day. You handled that very adult-like. Your friend and your dad would both be proud."

I smiled. "I hope so."

***

Sergeant Clancy Grunburg of the East City Police Department watched as the captain talked with both the reporter and the Power, like they deserved to know what the police knew about the crime scene. He wanted to take his gun out and shoot the Power, but that would most certainly get his ass kicked off the Force, and he couldn't let that happen. He was already a little nervous that his fingerprints might be found on the crime scene, seeing as he was the one who'd committed the murder.

Of course, since they were both Powers, he didn't exactly consider his actions murder. He considered his actions necessary, and very much a service to mankind. The Powers didn't need to exist, and he was one of many such people doing HARP's good work across the nation.

Clancy unlocked his apartment door and set his jacket down on the half wall between the kitchen and the door. He walked over to the fridge, pulled out a beer, walked over to his comfortable chair in front of the TV, popped the top, and turned on the TV. As usual, there was little on aside from the infomercials, but that happened at three o'clock in the morning.

He heard his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw the number of his alcoholics anonymous sponsor. He hit the ignore button and set the phone on the table beside his comfortable chair. He hadn't spoken to his sponsor for some time, ever since he first saw the Powers showing up in the city. She hadn't wanted him to join HARP, but he knew it was his duty. He swore an oath to protect and serve, and that meant keeping the Powers from doing what they do, and keeping them from taking over.

His phone buzzed again. He picked it up and saw this time that his caller was the station. He pressed answer, this time. "Sergeant Grunburg."

"Sergeant, this is Captain Montoya. I'd like to see you in my office as soon as possible."

"Ma'am, I'm a little intoxicated at the moment. Can this wait until morning?"

"Now, Sergeant. I already called you a cab." With that, she hung up, and Clancy was concerned.

***

Clancy walked into the captain's office and was immediately greeted by a look of contempt. She scowled at him from behind her desk and then stood, very slowly. "Sergeant Grunburg, I'm going to have to ask you to hand in your badge and your firearm."

He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

She tapped at a file folder on her desk. "You've been a regular attendee at HARP meetings the past two months. Or, at least until they stopped sending us their attendance rosters when they finally started breaking the law."

"Ma'am, my being a member of HARP has, in no way conflicted with my oath as an officer of the law."

She slid the first file to the side and tapped on another. "And your fingerprints were all over that crime scene today, including on the murder victims. From the looks of the autopsy report, you strangled them with your own hands."

Clancy grit his teeth. "And?"

"Grunburg, that's Murder One, and you're not even denyin' it! Why would you kill two innocent people like that?"

He stepped forward. "Innocent? They were Powers, and I dealt with them, like a good cop. That's what we should be doing, not helping the Powers get away with whatever the hell it is they want to get away with!"

Captain Montoya stood up. "You better cool it, Grunburg. The one you personally assaulted at the scene of your own crime happens to be the daughter of the Late Captain Henry Harkins."

"Just because her father was a cop doesn't make her any more special than the rest of the Powers. She's just as much of a monster as they are!"

"I happen to know Ms. Harkins very well, so I'd suggest you hold your tongue before you say something that'll land your ass in a much deeper jail that you're already going to."

"You can't arrest me for hating the Powers, captain."

She smirked. "No. But I can arrest you for killing two of them."

***

I woke up to the sound of a knock on the door. I hauled my still somewhat achy ass out of bed and found that Mom was gone. There was a note on the fridge that read Charlie, I'll be back at noon, please babysit your brother until then. I just shrugged and went to check to see who was at the door. I looked through the peephole and saw Ms. Adamsen looking extremely impatient. I unlocked and opened the door and asked her to come inside.

"Why don't you answer your phone, kiddo?" she asked.

"Well, it was my first night home from the hospital, I kinda wanted to sleep on a normal bed, so... y'know. I put my phone on vibrate. What is it?"

She handed me a newspaper. "Read this, kid."

The picture on the front was the mugshot of the cop that had hassled me the day before. Officer Clancy Grunburg was his name, HARP was his game, apparently. Not only that, but he had been the murderer of the two Chosen that we'd seen the crime scene of!

"Whoa!" I exclaimed.

"No kidding!"

"I wonder if he was the only member of Harpie in the ECPD."

Ms. Adamsen shrugged. "I dunno. Coulda been, but I doubt it. I bet you guys are gonna have to deal with quite a few police Harpies from here on in."

I groaned. "Gee, I'm sure that's gonna be fun."

She smirked. "So, what say we put in an early day at work?"

I shook my head. "Can't. I've gotta babysit my baby brother. After that, I plan on spending some time swinging around."

"Still in costume, I hope."

"Well, yeah, even though I don't need to. It's a super hero thing."

***

As it turned out, I couldn't wear all of my costume. My mom had taken all but my mask downstairs to the laundry room, and they wouldn't be clean for a couple hours. So, instead, I improvised. A gray tee-shirt with a circular Deadpool face on the front, holey blue jeans and sandals, along with my mask. I looked outrageously goofy.

I swung by one of a dozen skyscrapers that all looked the same and landed on the roof of a building across the street from a Burger King and almost laughed. There appeared to be two guys robbing a Burger King. Matter of fact, I did laugh. I swung downward, landing on the sidewalk, and then walked into the resturaunt.

Neither one of them had noticed me as I walked inside. They were too busy getting all the money out of the registers. I walked up to the closest one and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and attempted to shoot me, but thanks to my spider-sense, I managed to dodge his bullet in a flash. I grabbed his arm and forced the gun out of his hands. "Y'know, it used to be that a girl could walk into a fast food joint, grab a Big King, and then be happy for the rest of the day." I punched the one I was holding the arm of and knocked him unconscious. "Now, c'mon, make my day a little easier, and just give up."

The other one had turned around by then, and he looked like he was going to burst into laughing tears. "You're that Arachnya girl, right? Harkers, or somethin' like that?"

I sighed. "Harkins, but, yeah, I'm Arachnya." I motioned toward my clothes. "Not that you could really tell, though. Sorry about that, but my mom's washing the rest of my costume."

"Damn, girl, you're pretty hot even in baggy clothes!"

I sighed again. "Thanks, but, this'd really go a lot easier if you just give up now. Seriously, you're robbing a frickin' Burger King, that can't be something you wanna do for the rest of your life."

He raised an eyebrow. "Whaddya mean?"

I took my chance while he was completely off guard, because we were having a calm chat, and webbed him up. I apologized to everybody in the Burger King, mostly getting cheers and thank yous (only the occasional "Shut up, you stupid Power!") and I grabbed the two geniuses and carried them outside, where I proceeded to web them to a street light. I then climbed said street light and continued my little chat with the one idiot. "See? This is what I mean. You'll just end up here a thousand friggin' times, probably with me webbing your ass to the lamp post each time. Do you really wanna do that? Is this really the best life you can imagine? Ripping off Burger Kings? McDonalds and Wendys at least make more money."

"Look, girl, it's kinda tough out there for guys like me. I ain't got no super powers, and none of my friends is rich!"

I laughed. "You think I've got rich friends? I only know one rich guy, and he's an a-hole. Even so, the whole super powers thing isn't exactly all that great. I took one wrong turn, landed in the hospital and ended up outing myself. Why does everybody think this whole super hero thing is fun and games? Swinging around takes a lot of arm strength. Try climbing a rock wall a few times, then you'll understand how swinging through a city feels. Then comes the super villain fights, when I've got to do more than simply beat the poop out of a couple goons trying to rob a Burger King. There's some big guys out there, with super powers, who want to kick my ass every now and again, and I have to deal with that. Those guys aren't easy to take down, and I've had to do it on an almost daily basis, it sucks. Then I've got the Harpies to deal with, and that - "

"Harpies?"

"Yeah, members of HARP. I read it on the internet."

"Hey, girl, I understand you. It sounds like it's even more tough for you, seein' as you've gotta deal with them super villains. Bet you never know when your next meal is, or anything."

I looked down at my dangling feet. "Well, no. I always know when I'm gonna eat, and all."

"See! See! Girl, you ain't got nothin' to deal with!"

I sighed. "Well, my food situation is dealt with by the fact that I have a job! Maybe you should go out and get one!"

"C'mon, girl, way the economy is now? I ain't gonna get no job!"

"So try! Even before I got my powers, I was getting ready to get a job. It just happened that I became a spider-powered girl before that could happen. You need to get a job. You'll be a much happier person when you get a job, and then you won't have to hold up fast food joints just for money which would probably be used at fast food joints!"

He sighed, this time. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But where the hell am I gonna get a job?"

"What's your skill set?"

"Chemical engineering."

He couldn't see it under my mask, but I had the most confused face I could possibly have. "Chemical engineering? You're a goddamn chemical engineer, and here you are, holding up a Burger King?! What the hell?!"

"I got out of Yale, and then there wasn't no work, so I went from dead end job to dead end job, til finally, I got fired from my last dead end job a couple days ago."

"What was that?"

"This Burger King."

I facepalmed. I didn't want to believe something so stupid could be true. A chemical engineer, working in a Burger King, getting fired from said Burger King, and then robbing said Burger King. It sounded so stupid. "Well... I can't actually say anything to that. Hopefully you find something worthwhile on work release." I stood up and shot out a webline as soon as the cops showed up. I swung past and made my way toward work.

***

Clancy sat in a cell, next to the rest of his HARP family, and cursed whichever beat officer would walk past them at any given time. He spoke to the four that inhabited the cell with him. Mr. Scott he recognized, he had been the leader at all the meetings up until he and the rest of his team were arrested for trying to stop that Arachnya movie from being produced. Harmony Sprite he also recognized, as she had murdered Captain Harkins and tried to implicate Arachnya in the murder. He wished that her attempt had succeeded, even though he hadn't wished Captain Harkins dead.

Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Jenkins, on the other hand, were complete strangers to him. He vaguely remembered seeing them at meetings, but that was all. He didn't care, they were brothers to him. More so than the East City Police Department had been, despite the oath they had all taken and the badges they all wore. He felt betrayed in a way, but he also knew that being released from the police department meant that he was free to do whatever it was HARP asked him to do.

Like he was about to do now.

He reached into his mouth and forced himself to vomit onto the floor. He retrieved the key and the syringe from the sack that he'd swallowed and walked back over to the cell door. He made sure none of his former fellow officers were anywhere nearby. After that, he unlocked the cell and motioned for his four fellow inmates to follow him.

"Here," he said, sticking the syringe in Harmony's arm. "Courtesy of someone who says they know you."

"What is it?"

"It'll activate your powers again."

"What?" Mr. Scott said, stepping between them. "She's a Power!"

Clancy looked over at him. "I know, but the one who gave me my instructions said to get her out and give her her powers back. I don't know why, and believe me, I'm as apprehensive as you."

Harmony's eyes glowed a white orange, and then she smiled. "Don't worry, boys, I'm one of the good Powers." She raised her hand toward the door at the end of the hallway and a fireball burst forth from her palm. The door exploded outward, directly into the detective's room. Six cops all drew their weapons and set to work shooting at the blonde woman in front of them, but most of them failed.

Clancy walked toward the only other occupied cell and unlocked it. He looked in at the three occupants, a man and two women, and nodded at them. The man seemed to understand what was going on, while the woman who had hair swore at him in Russian. Or, well, Clancy assumed it was Russian. It sounded like that language.

He walked back over to the rest of the HARP members and followed Harmony's assault out of the building, into the unmarked black van that was already waiting for them outside. He smiled as he slammed the back door of the van shut. He was home free.

***

Boy, was I surprised to find that while I was gone, they moved the photography department out of its little closet onto the main floor. Timmy and I had our own desks with the rest of the reporters, now. Made me feel a little special.

At least until I finished with my work and found I had nothing left to do except spin around in my chair. Which was what I was doing when the Brigade's oldest reporter, Carter West, walked up to me and dropped a stack of pictures on my desk. "Can I help you?" I asked.

"These need filed."

I shrugged. I wasn't exactly the file clerk, but I didn't have anything else to do. I leaned over and opened my file cabinet. "Um, which file?"

"It's all the way in the back. June fifteenth, nineteen ninety-eight."

I rifled through the files and found the one he was looking for. I pulled it out and saw that there were dozens of photos already in the file. "I don't know if I can fit these in here."

"Charlie, look at the pictures."

Wow, he knew my name. Granted, most people knew my name, let alone most people here at the Brigade, considering almost everybody took a shine to me as soon as I started working here, but Mr. West hadn't said two words to me since my first day. I picked up the pictures that he placed on my desk and something. Just. Didn't. Add up.

Tim was in the pictures. "What's up with these?"

"I found those in my personal files. Now, am I wrong, or isn't that around the time you were born?"

"It was, yeah, but, what's with Timmy being in them?"

"I don't know, kid. You'll have to ask your boyfriend yourself."

I looked down at the photos again, and scratched my head.

***

I gathered up some of my stuff as soon as Ms. Adamsen walked up to my desk. "So, anything special planned with the boyfriend tonight?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. I just wanna swing by his house and show him some pictures."

"Ah. And by swing, you mean..."

"Hey, I can actually mean swing, now. I don't have to hide from everybody." I giggled. "Much as I hate the fact that everybody in my life is a target, should some uber-villain decide I'm big threat, I love the fact that I'm free to be me. Kinda like Peter Parker in that one scene in Spider-Man 3, except that he was being really stupid in that scene, because nobody knew who he was and yet, there he was, swinging through the city streets so obviously."

She patted me on the shoulder. "Kiddo, I'm not a comic book nerd like you, okay?"

I shrugged. "I know. Well, I'm heading over to the boyfriend's place. I'll see ya tomorrow."

She held up a hand to stop me, then reached into my desk drawer. "You forgot this." In her hand she held my mask. I wanted to punch myself.

***

Clancy opened the back doors of the van as soon as they reached their destination, and was immediately greeted by an elderly man with leg braces holding a gun on him. The only one in the van who didn't look surprised was Harmony, who stood there with a smile on her face. What the hell is up with her?

His mental question was answered not with words, but with a bullet in his chest. He looked down and saw blood seeping from the hole in his chest, then he looked back up at the man with the leg braces. He'd suddenly been joined by another man and a young girl, about seventeen.

The second man turned to the girl. "Remember what I taught you, Korra. Take his mind, store it, and then release it. Officer Grunburg will be quite useful." The girl nodded to him, then walked toward Clancy and placed her hand on his forehead. He felt a very sharp shock, like the kind you suffer from static electricity, only a thousand times more amplified and localized directly on his brain.

And then Clancy Grunburg was no more.

***

I felt my spider-sense tingle just as I landed on a stop light on fifty-fourth and Honduras (yes, believe it or not, there's a street here in East City called Honduras. I didn't believe it either, until my dad drove me past there one time when we were on our way to a ballgame). I looked around, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

At least until a 1997 Buick almost hit my square in the face.

I jumped up, used some webbing to keep the car from landing on any friendly people, who were all probably secretly members of HARP, or something, and then landed on the underside of the car, which was now suspended above a Rav4 that I just could not stand the color of. I looked in the direction the car had come from and saw one of those robots like the one I'd broken to pieces back in the first days. It stalked towards me, and then it was suddenly joined by a second, then a third, then a fourth. Woo, boy. I was about to have my work cut out for me.

"I would honestly like it if everybody ran!" I shouted to the people who appeared to be frozen in their cars. I springboarded from car to car, making my way toward the robots, and shot several web balls at their feet. I leaped onto the closest one and looked around for something that looked either important or wire-y, and instead found a simple word.

HARP.

Great. So the Harpies were behind these robots. That's just plain fan-damn-tastic. I was about to twist the head around manually, but the robot did it on its own, so I simply punched it in the optic sensor, causing it to fall over in a please take me up the ass position. I assumed this one was out of commission and made my way to the next one.

The next one was already free of the webbing I'd nailed its feet to the ground with, and was busy picking up the nearest car, which it proceeded to throw at me. I dodged the wayward Dodge (heh heh, get it?), which did part of my job for me by landing on one of the other robots. Yippie for accidents! I landed on the robot's stomach, then I started crawling around it while covering it with webbing.

This, of course, was also a good thing, because the final robot had freed itself of my initial webbing and was charging toward me, ready to punch me in the face and probably take my head off in the process. Lucky me, because it hit its friend by mistake, knocking its head clean off. I rolled off of that robot as it fell to the ground and shot two straight webs at the final one, pulling it down to the ground. I then held it down with my knee (thank God for spider-strength, whatever the hell that's the equivalent of; seriously, how does equivalent strength of a spider mean anything good for a human being? We can crush spiders with our bare hands, that's not exactly strength) and yanked its head off with my hands.

I stood there as rain started to fall, and cops started to arrive. I stood there wondering why the hell the Harpies decided to send these things after me now.

***

"Well, kid, that was pretty impressive, from what the traffic cameras show," Captain Montoya said to me as she handed me a bottle of water. I offered her a weak smile for a moment, then took a drink. "Any idea who sent these things?"

I nodded. "I know exactly who. It was those damned Harpies."

She raised an eyebrow. "Harpies?"

I glared at her. "I read it online."

She sighed. "Whatever. Does this explain that HARP breakout earlier today?"

"I didn't know there was one."

She nodded. "Yup. Harmony Sprite, Scott, Wilkins, Jenkins, Clancy Grunburg, all of 'em."

I shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just glad these four are done with. I hate these stupid things."

***

Korra Reston tried to concentrate on the memories of the four HARP members who's consciousnesses she'd bio leeched from their bodies. She couldn't, though, just like he'd said she couldn't. All she felt was a nagging sensation that some part of her was gone forever. She looked down at the electricity coursing between her fingers and sighed.

Instead of focusing on that, she looked at Harmony, who was leaning against a wall. "What?" the older woman asked, an annoyed tone in her voice.

Korra shrugged. "Nothing. I'm just thinking about those four."

Harmony walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about 'em, kid. They weren't anything special."

Korra looked up at her face. "Is there some reason the robots need human brains to work?"

Harmony shrugged. "I dunno, but the Benefactor knows what he's doing. Everything'll be better soon, kiddo."

Korra nodded. She knew that Harmony was right, even if she didn't know what exactly the Benefactor was planning on doing.

Even if she didn't know what the Benefactor needed her for, because he could have bio leeched those four just as well as Korra herself could.

The Big Talk

The most important room in the White House existed in the building's West Wing, made iconically famous in the television series of the same name. The room earned its name by its shape, and thus it was called the Oval Office. At one side, in front of a grouping of windows, sat a large desk with more papers atop it than any man cared to believe he could have piled on his desk. Just slightly off center was a grouping of couches, maybe a couple chairs, and a small coffee table, around which the furniture was placed.

Behind the large desk at the one end of the room sat a man who was known throughout the world. Most people couldn't turn on a television without hearing about or from him, sometimes with threats from local terrorist leaders being directed at him. The President of the United States had no super powers of his own, but he wielded enough power nonetheless. He wasn't sitting behind the desk, he was standing, staring out the window. There were at least three helicopters on the lawn, and soon, the meeting would begin.

To the President's left stood a man who's physical description could only be average. He had no distinguishing featuristics, he wasn't abnormally tall, nor was he overweight. Average was the only thing someone could remember after seeing this man. Despite the President's stance on smoking, this man lit up a cigarette, pausing every so often to tap the ashes into a portable ashtray that was hidden behind the face of his watch.

"It's really happening, isn't it?" the President asked. "We're actually about to have this conversation."

The cigarette smoking man nodded. It was all the gesture he needed to make, but he still said, "It's long overdue."

The President turned his head toward the man. "I know. The sad thing is that a city is tearing itself apart because we took too long."

"Two cities."

The President nodded. Pine Ridge was officially a war zone, with National Guard forces stationed at every entrance to or exit from the city. Los Milagros had just suffered a devastating attack caused by a seventeen year old girl named Melody Hunter, though that unfortunate situation had since quieted down, save for the occasional rioting. National Guard troops were on station there, as well. He had hoped that the emergence of the Chosen wouldn't take the situation to these extremes.

I hate the fact that we're here. We should never have gotten here.

There was a knock on the door. "Let them in," the President said. One by one, several people entered the Oval Office. Generals Halsey and Carpenter, Senators Shuster, Liefeld and Lee, Attorney Kennedy of HealAll, Brand of Brand Industries and Kaplan of Banter Industries. The President hadn't expected Penelope Banter herself to come, though he was surprised at Kennedy and Brand's appearances. Kennedy was situated in a wheelchair after the recent attempt on his life, and Brand was well-known for his beliefs about the government, despite his rather personal role in law enforcement. "Thank you all for coming," the President said, turning to address his guests.

Kennedy was the first to speak. "I'd like to express my surprise, being called here during such a severe crisis. Pine Ridge is in a state of complete anarchy, thanks to HARP."

General Halsey spoke up next: "This HARP movement is nothing but a few peaceful demonstrators. It's my personal opinion that HealAll is escalating these events for their own press, passing off their own people as HARP, and then using them to cause chaos."

"We'd do no such thing!" Kennedy spat back at the general. "And what about the HARP attacks in East City and Los Milagros? And there's suspicion that HARP was involved in both the attack on Glassview College and the Evergreen Mall incident in Glassview City."

Senator Shuster cleared his throat. "Though credit for the Glassview College attack was later taken by HARP, eyewitness reports at the Evergreen Mall state that an, excuse me, 'orange-furred monster' was to blame. There were reports of HARP members in the mall, however they weren't involved with the incident."

Senator Lee spoke next, "HARP does appear to be on the warpath in East City, however. Police Captain Montoya reported several HARP members escaped custody, and then a group of robot attacks were later attributed to HARP, which were stopped thanks in no small part to Arachnya."

Halsey jabbed an index finger in Lee's direction. "HARP wouldn't be so much of a problem if it weren't for people like Ms. Harkins."

Kennedy moved his wheelchair slightly. "So now we're blaming a terrorist organization on people who didn't choose for this to happen to them."

Halsey snorted a laugh. "Very funny thing to say about people known as Chosen."

The President leaned against his desk and noted that William Brand hadn't said anything. It wasn't a big surprise, the CEO of Brand Industries wasn't a man of many words, but considering the role the President knew Brand had played in many Larsen City events, he was very surprised that that the man hadn't spoken yet. The President turned to General Halsey. "What's your personal take on HARP, General?"

The military man snorted another laugh. "As I said before, they're peaceful demonstrators. They've caused no harm to anyone."

"And the murder of a man rumored to be a Chosen on the front lawn of HealAll's Los Milagros office? That was peaceful? It was on live TV. The situation just yesterday, when Mr. Kennedy and a young Chosen boy were shot at a press conference? The boy died, General."

"Though Mr. Kennedy will disagree with me, the incident on the HealAll lawn was no doubt a HealAll propaganda stunt. And the shooter at yesterday's press conference was acting under duress, hardly evidence of a HARP death agenda. From what I hear, there's reasonably good intel that the psychopath known as the Joker is somewhere in Pine Ridge, and after all the things he did in Larsen City, blackmailing a man into committing murder wouldn't even sound out of place."

The President turned to Kaplan. "Mr. Kaplan, does Banter Industries have anything to say about the recent events in Glassview City? There were Chosen identified at both the college dorm and the mall, and Ms. Banter quickly swooped in and took care of both crises."

Henry Kaplan, the man the President dealt with most often when it came to Banter Industries, pushed his glasses back up from where they had slid down his nose and then leaned forward on the couch. "Ms. Banter has asked me not to comment on these incidents, sir. She's told me that her eventual plans will come across your desk once the time is right."

The President sighed. He turned to Brand. "Mr. Brand, you've been awefully quiet. Seeing as you're a resident of Larsen City, I'd like to know your take on the recent Joker situation, including the murder of one Francis Holden."

Brand nodded. "Going by what I know, mostly from the live broadcast in which Mr. Holden was murdered, the Joker was playing up Knight's similarities to the comic book hero Batman. The Joker appeared to see himself as Knight's mortal enemy, much like how the comic book Joker is to Batman."

"The Larsen City murders number just under a thousand, compiling both the mall and church explosions. How many of them were suspected to be Chosen?"

Brand shook his head. "We have no way of knowing, sir. The Chosen appear to be nothing but random, no rhyme nor reason to their selection. In the interview Ms. Harkins had with her newspaper, she mentioned a being in human shape that appeared to her in her bedroom, and the Chosen that was murdered in Pine Ridge suggested he had once been female, and that the Choosing reversed his gender. We can't substantiate these claims, as a few Chosen don't seem to have records suggesting they were the opposite gender prior to their Choosing."

The President nodded. "I know that this gender transformation issue is unclear to most of you, but the research my top advisors tell me about indicates that this is the case for all of them." He gave a small look toward the cigarette smoking man, standing in the corner. "From Ms. Harkins to Pro-Tech to the orange-furred beast in Glassview City."

Kennedy looked like he was gripping his wheelchair a little tighter. "Mr. President, I'm deeply shocked. HealAll entered into an exclusive contract with the United States government for all Chosen research. As stated by a clause in that contract, we're to be informed of any such research  Which agency did this research go through?"

The President waved his hand. "I'm not at liberty to say, Mr. Kennedy."

"Mr. President! Am I to assume our contract has been terminated, then?"

The President shook his head. "On the contrary, HealAll is very important to us. Your company is leading the charge in nanotechnology."

General Carpenter said, "Nanotechnology that is supposed to be for our soldiers on the battlefield, I might add."

Senator Shuster added, "And if our law enforcement personel were equiped with such measures, so many men wouldn't have died when Melody Hunter slaughtered them in Los Milagros. Just how far along is your nanotechnology, Mr. Kennedy?"

Kennedy appeared to be fuming. "I can't speak for the science division, as I'm simply a lawyer, but I'm told we're making good progress on that front. Sasha Jackson, our test subject, has recently made a complete recovery from he - his physical situation."

The President looked back at Brand. Before he could say anything to the reclusive billionaire, Senator Shuster asked, "And does anyone know who manufactured those nanocytes we've heard about being used in East City? Had we someone had a needle of those, Melody Hunter may not have even been able to kill so many people."

The President hid a smile. Senator Lee answered, "The only thing anyone seems to know is that the hero Knight supplies them to the East City Police. No one knows where he comes from, however."

The President held his hands up. "Gentlemen, I believe we need to get back to the original subject: HARP. General Carpenter, we've yet to hear your opinion on them, or do you share General Halsey's rather limited beliefs?"

Halsey gave Carpenter a look, one that the President didn't fail to notice. Carpenter sighed. "My own position on HARP is a little clouded, Mr. President. My daughter was recently killed in a HARP raid in Denver. She wasn't a Chosen, but they killed her anyway, because her roommate was a Chosen."

"So you know that HARP is, indeed, a terrorist organization, unlike General Halsey believes?"

Carpenter nodded. "Yes sir, Mr. President."

Halsey stood. "Mr. President, I hardly believe this one situation constitutes anything. Though claiming to be HARP, they could have simply been members of HealAll's propaganda campaign."

Kennedy groaned audibly, like a child. "No such campaign exists, General. The only thing we've done is show the country - no, the world - what monsters the HARP are. Christine and Rick's struggles prove that HARP is on a warpath to not only get rid of the Chosen, but to slaughter them, no matter their age."

Senator Liefeld finally took his chance to speak up. "I can't understand how HARP could be seen as anything other than a terrorist organization?"

Halsey said, "Is your opinion based on what Mr. Kennedy tells you, Senator? Just because Pine Ridge lies in your state doesn't mean that these attacks are anything less than HealAll propaganda." Halsey turned to Kennedy. "You've given us nothing that suggests otherwise, Mr. Kennedy."

Kennedy responded, "I don't see how you don't have proof yet? Pine Ridge: A city is tearing itself apart. Los Milagros: A man is murdered on the lawn of HealAll's headquarters. Glassview City: A college dorm is burned to the ground. East City: A HARP chapter opens up shop by assaulting a post office. A federal offense at best, an act of terrorism at worst." Kennedy leaned forward in his wheelchair. "So, tell me, General Halsey, what does that suggest?"

The President heard clapping. He turned his head and saw the cigarette smoking man slowly clapping his hands, walking forward from the corner. He was surprised that his advisor was making his presense known. This was the first time he'd ever done so.

"And just who the hell are you?" General Halsey asked.

The cigarette smoking man shook his head. "A simple advisor. The President asked me to sit in on this meeting because I'm in a very... interesting position."

Kaplan asked, "And just what position is that?"

"For instance, Mr. Kaplan, my organization knows about Ms. Banter's intentions to form the Chosen team, the Light, with Ms. Hobden and Mr. Jones." He turned to Kennedy. "We know that, while HealAll has had nothing to do with HARP's recent attacks, they are harboring the identities of three Chosen. Seeing as the Chosen are under your protection, I won't divulge their names, but I do know them." Next was Halsey. "You, General, have made several donations to HARP over the last few weeks, including military weaponry."

Halsey looked like he was about to blow his cap. "Military weaponry that was stolen before it arrived in Pine Ridge."

The cigarette smoking man shrugged. "Either way, I'm sure the Secret Service agents outside the door will be ready to take you in as soon as this meeting is over. You've committed an act of treason, at best." He smiled. He turned to Carpenter. "I'm sorry for your loss, General Carpenter, the tragedy in Denver was... I don't think I need to say much about that. Her roommate was very special. She could see truths behind lies." Next was Shuster. "Senator Shuster, Ms. Hunter herself isn't a Chosen."

Shuster asked, "Then what is she?"

"Another sort called a Rejected, generally given significantly more power than a Chosen. She's quite the specimen, too. We've had quite a bit of work on our hands examining her."

Kennedy asked, "You've taken her in? How?"

"Thanks to her dual personalities, using tranquilizer darts on one of her brings the other out. Access and Problem Child are her names, and Problem Child is under heavy sedation, and will remain so as long as she's under our care."

"And what exactly are these 'Rejected'?"

The cigarette smoking man smiled again. "I'm not at liberty to say, just yet. We've had only twenty-four hours to examine Ms. Hunter, and we don't have much information yet." He looked at Senator Lee, now. "Senator Lee, East City, your own home, has seen the largest influx of Chosen. If there's a reason for this, we don't know it yet, though we have attempted to find out many times."

Kennedy spoke up again, "And have you contacted any Chosen? Perhaps the reason lies with them."

The cigarette smoking man nodded. "We have, though none of them know. Though, our efforts to discover the reasons behind the Choosing have taken a backseat to our attempts to find the subjects pre-Choosing."

Kaplan asked, "You have a way of detecting Chosen before they're Chosen?"

"We do. There's a particularly interesting pair in Glassview City that I think you'll want to know about, but that's all I can say for now."

The President put his hand on the cigarette smoking man's shoulder. "That's enough for now, my friend."

"Actually, I did have one more surprise." The cigarette smoking man turned to Brand. "Mr. Brand, I'd personally like to know just what the Joker said to you in that church before he destroyed it."

Brand stepped forward. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The Joker and I have only spoken on one occasion, at the press conference after Ms. Harkins' unfortunate unmasking."

"On the contrary, you spoke on a few occasions, including on live television, just before Francis Holden was murdered."

Senator Liefeld said, "That would mean..."

The cigarette smoking man nodded. "Yes. William Brand is the hero Knight, and he's standing in this room with us, pretending he's not."

Everyone in the room turned to Brand, their eyes focused on a living example of a super hero, standing in the Oval Office.

Brand asked, "Tell me how it is you know that."

"I'm not at liberty to say, but I can tell you that we're proud of the work you've done, both in Larsen City and East City. Taking Guardian, Angel, Blackhole and Terror and turning them into a formidable fighting force, a force for good. Assisting Erica Morris in starting up that little children's group, though that didn't work out quite so well, did it?"

Brand's hands balled into fists. "What do you know about that?"

"We know that Ms. Reston is now in quite negative hands, working with the Benefactor."

Halsey asked, "Who is this Benefactor?"

Brand answered, "He's a criminal, taking Chosen and using them for some end that we haven't been able to figure out, though I assume you," that was directed at the cigarette smoking man, "have some idea."

The cigarette smoking man shook his head. "No, unfortunately, we don't. He's the one area that we haven't been able to figure out, no doubt due to his ability to hide himself from everyone except those he wants on his side."

The President said, "Make no mistake, gentlemen, the Benefactor is a threat to each and every one of us in this room."

Kennedy asked, "Does the Benefactor have anything to do with HARP?"

The cigarette smoking man answered, "Not that we know. His loyalties don't seem to lie with anyone but himself. He's not too dissimilar to the Joker, though he seems more focused. What he wants and what his means are are the questions that we've sought to answer, and why we've remained so secret."

The President added, "And why his organization answers only to me. You all know this now, and you all need to remember it when you leave. HARP and the Benefactor are the two biggest threats that we've ever had to face as a nation. The Benefactor uses Chosen, men who can rip apart cities with their minds; HARP does the exact opposite, and slaughters families in their homes. Both sides have put American lives in danger, and too many people have been caught in the crossfire. These two things are what we all need to focus on in the near future." He walked over to the window and looked outside. "I want you all to return to your homes, to your cities, and get ready for the coming battles. Mr. Kaplan, tell Ms. Banter to start her team; Mr. Brand, return to yours; Mr. Kennedy, get HealAll's Chosen ready. Every asset we have, every Charlotte Harkins we have, we're going to need."

Genesis

I've lived so many lifetimes, it's actually impossible to remember how many. I remember all of the little details, but most of them are out of order. Was it yesterday or next Saturday that I was in pre-Soviet Russia? Y'know, now that I think about it, it may have been over eight thousand years from now, or last Monday. These things are all jumbled up now, and completely unimportant.

What is important, however, is the plan.

I looked over all the photographs I had on my wall, all the faces I remember, that I've killed, that I've been. Not this time, but at some time. All of them exist now, or did at some point. Most of them are still alive, though a few are dead. This time around is progressing similar to the first time, so some of the ones that used to be my friends aren't around anymore.

I looked over the photos. Charlie 'Arachnya' Harkins. 'Angel'. Brenda 'Sapphire' Hobden. Sasha 'Pro-Tech' Jackson. Eli 'Brainwave' Sanders. I know or knew all of them, I've been all of them, I've killed all of them. Not this time, not this form, not for many centuries. I don't even remember most of their deaths, I just remember them. Maybe it's better that way. I shouldn't get bogged down by those details anymore.

(I remember one death. I remember her's.)

But there are some details I can't forget. Charlie's neck, under my heel. Tracy's head on a pike. Elliot's skull burning in my hand. Gabriel's blood, black as ink. These things and more haunted my nightmares and danced peacefully in my dreams. I wanted to forget them, but I loved remembering them.

Such is the dichotemy of being me.

"Boss," Jarman said, rousing me from my waking daydream. I turned to him, but didn't speak. He took the hint. "We don't know went wrong at the dorm, but we're tryin' our best. Them kids just - "

"Got the better of you? I know. I should have hired better bounty hunters." I turned away from him. "Hikari is at least semi-competent." I pressed a button on my desk and a screen on the wall showed the actions of Jarman and Hikari at the dorm. The fires raged, and Elliot Jones got away clean, even though I had wanted him dead. I pressed the button again and the screen shut off. I turned back to Jarman and folded my arms across my chest. "Would you care to explain why I should consider this anything but a cluster fuck for which I should exact punishment?"

The cowboy looked at a loss for words. I should have met with Hikari. She would have been a much better subject to debrief. In more ways than one. Too bad the Japanese woman was too busy keeping an eye on her Chosen niece to meet with me. I eventually looked away from him again when he didn't speak. Despite his ridiculous exterior, Buck Jarman was a professional. He wouldn't let this failure stop him from succeeding in the future.

Too bad for him, I didn't want him to succeed. He assumed I wanted Elliot Jones dead, mainly because I'd told him that, but the truth was far more complicated than he could ever comprehend. Hell, I wouldn't be able to comprehend it if I hadn't experienced this scenario over and over and over again over the past few billion centuries. I let Jarman leave, to finish the mission that I knew he was going to fail.

I pulled out my photograph. The one thing that tied me to my original life. It was something I'd never forget, a time I'd never allow myself to lose. I looked at that photo, and I knew I was doing the right thing.

***

Aaron Dahl looked at his love and kissed her from the bottom of her chin down to her breasts. Annette Simms moaned as he pressed his lips to her nipple, and then she grabbed him by the face and brought him to her mouth, and he didn't complain. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled away, flashing her a smile. "That was pretty rough, Annie. Almost like the old days."

She smiled. "You mean when I was the one filling you up?"

"Yeah, those days. It seems so weird, now."

She giggled. "What does? Being on top or remembering that I used to be on top?"

He smiled again. "Remembering. I'm too used to being the man, now. It's hard for me to remember what I even looked like. I look at photos and I just think they're of other people until I remember the moments. Think we'll ever forget about our old lives?"

She kissed him on the cheek. "The one thing I want to remember about my old life is still here, and that's you." She grabbed her phone from off the night stand and took a quick picture. "Which is why I'm takin' a picture of us naked."

Aaron laughed. "Us naked? What for?"

She shrugged. "Because I have my phone with me right now and we're having sex. You want us to put our clothes back on and take another one?"

He simply kissed her again.

***

I could walk the streets unnoticed because I haven't let myself be noticed. The power of invisibility was a great help, as well. No one knew I was there, and they never would. Intangibility was also good. I could literally walk right through people. These things came in handy when I needed to follow someone. When I needed to find someone.

The man I was looking for would never be picked out of a crowd. He would never be noticed in any building. He was utterly forgettable. His one distinctive feature: he smoked cigarettes. Lucky for me, I knew exactly what he looked like, and I knew exactly where he was. His base of operations was a secret building underneath the White House, unreachable by any elevator except for one hidden in the Oval Office itself, in a corner near the President's desk.

I entered the Oval Office, where the President was speaking with his seventeen year old daughter, formerly his seventeen year old son. Few people knew that the President's interest in Chosen was brought on specifically by the Choosing of his own child. As a matter of fact, aside from me, the President and the cigarette smoking man, no one knew. All anybody knew was that the President had a reclusive child who few ever saw, and fewer still knew that the child was that of the President. But now, the President's daughter wasn't reclusive, she was a semi-public figure, in fact a champion for gay rights.

I found the elevator and phased my way down, into the secret building paid for by dollars the tax-payers would never know they contributed to. I slipped through the elevator doors and found myself in a very plain hallway, which didn't surprise me in the least. I passed by offices and conference rooms, all with people in suits doing things that no American citizen would ever know about. These people made Marvel's SHIELD look like the Neighborhood Watch in comparison.

I made my way through the building, looking for the office of the cigarette smoking man, and finding it. I slipped inside and found it empty, but that was of no concern to me. I was looking for one thing and one thing only. I checked his drawers, his cabinets, but they were all empty. The only thing I found in one was a small cube-like device.

Exactly what I was looking for.

I took the device in one hand and concentrated on it. Within seconds, an exact copy of the device created itself in the palm of my other hand. Everything on the original would be on the copy, absolutely no degredation. And with it, each and every secret that the cigarette smoking man had would be at my fingertips.

Time to change the course of history.

***

William Brand stood up as his guest arrived. Penelope Banter was dressed exquisitely, as always, with a very flashy, yet simple black dress that nearly reached the floor on the left yet barely covered her thigh on the right. "It's been awhile, William," she said, giving him a hug.

"We've both been busy. I was a little dismayed that you didn't show up at the White House yourself the other day."

She made a brushing motion with her hand. "Please, I had better things to do. You'd never believe all the hard work that goes into starting a super hero team." She smiled. "Or, well, maybe you do."

He nodded. "Yes, I assumed Kaplan told you everything that happened. How was that little secret?"

She giggled. "I can't say I'm surprised. Big billionaire, sees a whole bunch of super heroes flying around, decides to buy a costume of his own and join the fun. I can understand that feeling very well."

William looked over the restaurant menu. "And just how well does the Titan work?"

As he suspected, Penelope took it in stride. "Quite well if I do say so myself. It was no small task developing a device to replicate muscle memory, but it ended up being the easiest thing to design. The weapons systems actually took me longer, believe it or not."

He smiled. "I'd think the daughter of the world's most famous weapons designer would be able to kick that one out in an instant."

"Hardly." She picked up her own menu. "What's good here, anyway?"

"I'm partial to the spaghetti myself, but I was brought up on Itallian food. How's Karen?"

She glanced over the top of the menu at him. "You know about that, too?"

"I pride myself on my detective skills."

She sighed. "It's been difficult, obviously. The man I love is still in there, even if the outside doesn't match. For the sake of appearances, however, I just finished work on a device to allow her elasticity to mimic her former appearance. Harry should be showing it to her now. She'll never be male between the legs again, unless I can find some way to do that, but at least we can go out in public without looking like a pair of girlfriends on a shopping trip."

William nodded. "And what about the two Brits? Brenda and Elliot?"

"They're coming along nicely. Brenda was the difficult one at first, her powers are controlled by her imagination, and that has been both her greatest strength and weakness this whole time. Elliot on the other hand, he's been doing just fine with his powers."

"Young Chosen can be a problem at times. Sadly, my plans for a young Chosen training center didn't pan out."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't try again. Maybe Guardian could run it this time. What does he do, anyway?"

"He's a reporter."

"You're kidding, right? A reporter?"

He glanced over the top of his own menu. "Arachnya's a photographer."

"She's also fifteen years old."

"Sixteen."

"Still."

"You're a billionaire genius."

"You forgot playgirl and philanthropist."

"We both run multinational companies, dealing in a great many different things." He reached into his pocket. "Which reminds me, take this," he said, handing her a small black case.

She took it. "What is it?"

"Nanocytes. In case you run into any difficult Chosen. These will suppress their powers to the point that they can't access them. There are sixty vials in there. Call me personally if you need any more."

"So, these are the famous nanocytes. Does HealAll know that you make these things?"

"They do now, after that meeting at the White House."

A new voice said, "Say cheese!" After that, there was a bright flash. William turned and saw Ms. Charlotte Harkins standing there, holding her camera. She lowered, exposing her smiling face. "Wow, William Brand and Penelope Banter in the same place."

William rolled his eyes. "Ms. Harkins. What brings you to this fine establishment?"

"Work, actually. My boss sent me here to interview you two. The country's two top billionaires having dinner with one another, Mr. Brindleson couldn't pass up the opportunity to send his only super reporter over here. Lemme tell you, swinging in this dress," she motioned to the ridiculously simple yellow dress she was wearing, "was not easy."

Penelope asked, "They wouldn't let you in here in your costume?"

"Nope. They were being dicks about it. Told my boss over the phone that if I wasn't all dressed up, they wouldn't even let me stick to the walls. Threatened to hose me down, even, it was rude!" Harkins pulled a chair from another table and sat down beside them. "So, what's the occasion? Is this how billionaires date?"

Penelope shook her head. "We're not together. I do have to say, though, it's an honor to meet the world's first public super hero."

Harkins shrugged. "I'm just the first, nothing special."

"On the contrary! Because of you, there'll be plenty of Chosen out there who can feel great about not having to hide."

"And because of the Harpies, there'll be plenty who just want to keep themselves hidden. I can't blame them."

William raised an eyebrow. "Harpies?"

Harkins rolled her eyes. "Why does no one know that?"

Penelope giggled. "I actually do. My young wards use it."

"Thank God! I was beginning to think I was the only one in East City that knew what it meant."

William said, "I can only assume it means members of HARP?"

"And you'd be correct! Still, they're a pain, and I can understand any other Chosen choosing to stay low-key just to keep their families safe."

Penelope said, "I hate to rush this, honey, but William and I are only meeting for dinner, so can we speed up this little interview?"

Harkins smiled.

***

One of my many abilities is, unsurprisingly, teleportation. I still enjoy the relatively normal act of taking planes, however, when the opportunity shows itself, but hopping on a 747 won't ever take any supposedly normal citizen to the South Pole, especially to a base that doesn't exist. And so, I had to use my teleportation ability, and I found myself at a secret facility not thirteen miles from McMurdo Base.

The wind was raging, as was usual for this region. I regulated my temperature and kept myself from freezing. I made my way closer to the facility and smiled as I saw the two guards standing outside. Had to be pretty cold for them. I was about to make them very warm. I walked right up to them and then made myself visible. They both looked surprised, then raised their weapons. I held out my hand and opened black holes beneath both of them. They each fell through, landing somewhere close to an active volcano.

I reached out with my hand and crushed the entrance, sending the doors flying inward. Two more guards stood and raised their assault rifles. They fired, sending bullets my way, but that didn't last long. I held the bullets in mid-air, then sent them flying right back at the guards. Blood sprayed the walls behind them as the bullets slammed into their bodies at seven times their original speed. I calmly walked inside, ignoring the sound of the alarms.

The target was seven floors down. I made my way to the elevator, as calmly as possible. I didn't want to look like I was desperate, after all. Two men in suits jumped out in front of me, handguns drawn. I looked at each one, and then they pointed their weapons at each other. Both of them thought that the other man was me, and that I was the other man. Both men fired, killing the other one. I continued on my way to the elevator.

When I reached the seventh floor, the doors opened to seventeen soldiers, each one pointing an assault rifle at my head. I smiled. Time for some fun.

Faster than any of them could see, I sped toward the man in the center and jammed both my hands in his chest. Smiling to his face, I pulled my hands in opposing directions, splitting him in half vertically. I threw each piece of the man at a different wall, then kicked the closest man in the face, tearing his face right off of his skull. His body fell to the ground with a thump that was drowned out by dozens of bullets being fired at me.

None of the bullets reached their targets, thanks to my telekinesis, but that didn't stop them from trying. I grabbed the closest man and crushed his skull in the palm of my hand, letting his body drop. The next man decided the best thing to do would be to drop his rifle and take me on with a knife. I showed him the error of his ways by plowing my fist through his stomach. I sent billions of volts of electricity through his body. His corpse burned at the edge of my arm. I threw him at another man, then used my mind to construct two saw blades, made of solid light. I launched them directly at the closest soldier and watched as they buried deep into his body, spraying blood at the walls, and on the eleven remaining soldiers.

I turned to another man, who cowered before me, trying to dry-fire his rifle. He didn't realize he hadn't reloaded yet. I simply glared at him, and two wounds opened up on his neck. His skin burned, thanks to my heat vision. When I was done with him, there were matching holes on the back of his neck as well, blood pouring out over the cauterized rims of the holes.

Ten men left. I grabbed the next one by his wrists, pulled him close, and then kicked him away, tearing his arms right out of their sockets as his body flew back against a wall. I pulled up a section of the floor and crushed him against the wall completely. Another man tried to get me with a knife, this one burying the blade into my arm. My body absorbed the metal, and I used it to turn my fingers into razor sharp claws. I dug the claws deep into the man's face and twisted my fingers around, making a disgusting swirl of blood, bone and skin.

I turned into a gaseous form now, and entered the lungs of the next man. I transformed, then, into liquid, and filled his lungs up. If that wasn't bad enough, I turned into acid, and ate away at his lungs. His death was not a quick one. I resumed my gaseous form, left his body, and became a man once again. The seven remaining men continued to try and shoot at me, still not realizing what they were dealing with, obviously. I stopped the bullets of one man, threw them into another, and then pinned the first man against a wall. I used my telekinesis to choke him, all the while his fellow soldiers kept shooting at me. I picked another one of them up and used him as a bullet shield.

Four men, four upcoming deaths. I closed my eyes and then opened them again suddenly, a tiger's eyes in their place. I leaped onto another man, tore his throat out with my fingers and sank my teeth into his forehead. He barely had time to scream. The next man turned to run, but I teleported in front of him and made the metal in his dog tags so charged that it sent him to the opposite end of the hallway and severed his head from his neck. The third man pulled a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it in my direction. I caught it, teleported beside him, caused it to shrink, and then dropped it down his throat. I kicked him away from the final man just before the explosion sent human shrapnel everywhere.

The final man finally got the idea, and fell to his knees. He begged for his life, begged me to either let him live or give him a quick death. I didn't grant his wish, however. Using my telekinesis, I yanked his vocal chords through his skin, squeezed his heart, punctured his kidneys, and ripped his scrotum apart molecule by molecule. He collapsed in a bloody heap, his final exclamation a simple gasp of breath.

I continued down the hallway, passed the body of the man with the severed head, and ripped open the only door on that side of the hallway. The girl sat up from her bed in fright.

"You don't have to be scared. Melody Hunter, I presume?"

She nodded. "Yuh - yes." She tried to back further away from me, but she was all the way against the wall.

"I'm here to free you." A man who obviously had to be Melody's personal security detail pointed an assault rifle directly to my head and squeezed the trigger. The bullet bounced painlessly against my skin. I turned my head toward the man and raised my hand. I snapped my fingers, and he fell to his knees, an earsplitting noise scrambling his brains into mulch. He finally stopped screaming with blood seeping out of his eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils. "Are you ready to go?"

***

Tim Saul couldn't believe he was laying on a giant spider web. He was six stories up, between two apartment buildings, and the only comforting thing about this was that he was holding onto his girlfriend. Charlie nuzzled up against him and made sure his arms were around her. She looked up at his face and giggled. "What's wrong?"

He laughed nervously. "Oh, y'know. Here we are, six stories up, and I can look down and see traffic go by. Not to mention it's damn near midnight, so some helicopter could come passing by and accidentally cut us down."

She tapped her temple. "Spider-sense, remember? We'll be fine. And don't worry about the webbing, it's strong enough to hold us."

"Is it strong enough to withstand helicopter blades?"

She reached up and kissed him on the lips. "Shut up, okay? Just shup up and hold me and give me lots of kisses, okay?"

"Well, since I have nothing better to do."

She held his arms against the webbing. "Um, nothing better?"

"It's an expression, I didn't mean anything. I love you, and I'd spend time with you before I'd do anything else. Well, except, maybe, donating a kidney, or something."

She pressed a finger against his chest. "As long as that kidney's going to somebody who needs it, I don't care." She then leaned in on him and kissed him again. Much to both their surprise, there was bright flash. Tim broke off the kiss and looked toward the source of the flash, as did Charlie. There was a man sitting in a window, with one of those old cameras that developed their own photos. "Hey! Who said you could take pictures of us!" Charlie squealed.

"I'm a photographer, I take pictures of everybody!" He held out the developed photo. "Here, on the house."

Charlie crawled across the web and took the photo. "Thanks, I guess." She crawled back over to Tim and handed him the photo. "Look at how cute we look up here."

He took the photo from her and laughed. There they were, kissing on a web. "Only here in East City."

***

I sat at my desk and watched the monitor as Cloak poked and prodded at Melody. He'd find nothing that I didn't know, but that didn't stop him. He'd keep looking until he knew everything about her, and then he'd try to find some sort of way to use her powers against me. Cloak didn't know that he could keep no secrets from me. He didn't really know as much about me as he thought.

I looked at my photo one more time, then tapped a button on my desk. "Yeah, boss?" Harmony's voice came over the radio.

"Bring him here," was all I said.

***

Tim heard something coming from the living room. He sat up in his bed and listened for something else, but he didn't hear anything. He cautiously stood and walked toward the door, but he didn't quite make it. The door blew inward, splinters flying everywhere. He coughed from the smoke, then opened eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed and saw someone he really didn't want to see.

Harmony Sprite grabbed him by the neck and held him up in the air. "Hi there, boy toy, how's your little girlie friend?" She applied pressure, and Tim blacked out in seconds.

***

Cloak, Harmony, Korra and Melody all joined me in the operating theater. Timothy Saul was strapped onto the table, ready for the injection I was about to give him that would change his life forever. I gently slapped him on the cheek. "Wake up, Timothy," I said, my voice taking on a soothing tone.

Tim woke up slowly, and I could see his eyes refocusing. I smiled, then walked back over to my cohorts. "Welcome to the operating theater, Timothy," I said, spreading my arms wide. "We got it ready just for you."

Tim's mouth tried to form words for a second, then he finally said, "Wh - Who the hell are you?"

I walked over to him. "My real name is unimportant, so my friends here call me the Benefactor. You'd be surprised just how many I've truly helped." I used my powers to create small clouds, similar to the ones Angel would create to show futures, and I suppose that was what I was showing him. After all, to me, it's all the future, and the past, and the present. Time has no meaning to me. "The government, the Joker, HARP, everyone. I've played each and every side, and now I'm going to help you."

"Lemme go!"

"On the contrary. But first, I have a demonstration to give." I walked over to Harmony. "Harmony, you know. She's been in my employ for awhile, though she didn't know it at first." I moved behind Melody. "Melody Hunter, the terror of Los Milagros, a recent addition to my circle of friends." Korra, now. "Korra Reston, a young woman similar to me in that she can mimic many abilities, though her mimicry is truly just theft, and death." Finally, I stood behind Cloak. I reached around, grabbed his head, and twisted. His neck snapped with a satisfying sound. "And this poor soul was named Cloak, but he was planning to betray me, much like Gustav Hammond did." I let Cloak's body fall to the floor and then picked up the syringe that would forever change Tim's life. "You see, Timmy boy, once upon a time, I was much like you. I was a simple soul, just like you, and I had a love, just like you. I was then granted great power, much like you will be."

"You're a Chosen?"

I shook my head. "No, though you could technically say I was chosen, after a fashion." I pressed the syringe into his arm. "You have been chosen, power has been granted to you." I depressed the plunger, injecting the blood into his veins. "Your form, however, is correct. Even so, you will be reborn today, Jumper." I pulled the syringe out of his arm and threw it at the wall. "Every one of my powers was in that syringe. Every one of them. You won't be able to access them right away, and they'll certainly be difficult to control right away, but I'm sure you'll do fine soon." I walked back over to the table and picked up the handgun that was placed there. I aimed it at the boy strapped to the table and cocked the hammer back. "Don't worry about this, kid, the bullet will never hit you." I squeezed the trigger and just before the bullet touched Timothy Saul's forehead, he disappeared.

"What the hell?!" Harmony exclaimed.

I turned around to her. "He's in another dimension. He'll be there for awhile."

"How can you know that?" Melody asked.

I pulled out my photograph once again. I looked at it, and felt the faint beginnings of tears that would never dry until the day I died. "He and I are very much alike."

I looked at the photograph, taken by a photographer who told us that it was on the house. The photo showed us kissing, on a giant spider's web.

Charlie and I, a billion years ago, a century from now.

A Strange & Different World, Part One

With the gunshot, I closed my eyes as if that would matter. Maybe I just didn't want Charlie seeing me with my eyes wide open when she found my body. Truth be told, I didn't want to be dead, because Charlie had lost enough people recently. Yeah, just her dad, but that was enough.

After a few seconds, I didn't feel any different, so I opened my eyes and found myself not in the laboratory that I'd just been in, but in an alleyway instead. I looked around, listened, I heard the typical noises you'd hear and saw the typical sights you'd see anywhere in East City, including but not limited to car horns, people shouting at others, the occasional mugging gone bad, police sirens, fire engines, ambulances, etc. How did I get from a laboratory somewhere to a regular old alley?

Either way, I wasn't going to find out the answers there. I checked myself, making sure everything was there, and then I made my way to the street, where I saw absolutely nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary. What was going on? What would be the magical things I would see? I continued on down the sidewalk, rounding the corner onto Montieth Street, where I found a newspaper stand.

That was where the problems started. I grabbed the latest copy of the Brigade and must have looked like I saw a ghost.

"BABY ELVIS FOUND IN CHICAGO! ALIENS ASSUMED TO BE THE CAUSE!"

What?! Baby Elvis?! What?! Did I actually read that? I thumbed through the paper and found one page of tabloid trash after the other, none of it something that the Brigade would really publish. What the hell was going on?

"Hey, kid," the news stand man said, looking up from his hot dog, "this ain't a damn library. Either pay for it or put it down!"

I quickly shelled out the buck twenty-five, only to find I still owed thirteen cents for tax, so I pulled that out of my pocket and then asked, "You got anything here that prints actual news? Like the Brigade used to?"

He looked at me with a weird look. "What the hell are you on, kid? Brigade's been a bullshit tabloid as long as I've been alive."

I gave him as weird a look as he gave me, then I wandered off, out of his sight. I had to find Charlie, ask her what the hell was going on. I quickly made my way to her apartment.

A couple days after Charlie's came home from Larsen City, she and her mom (and her little brother) moved back into their old apartment, despite the memories. They'd needed to, since her mom's apartment only had one bedroom and really wasn't set up for two and a half people to live in, even when one of them is out swinging around the city almost every night. It made things easy for me, since I always had to keep asking Charlie where it was her mom's apartment was, and I remembered their old apartment easily.

I bolted up the stairs and knocked on the door, and much to my surprise, there stood a very much alive Henry Harkins, looking like he was about to head off to work. "Can I help you, son?" he asked.

Rather than blurting out something ridiculous sounding (to everyone but me, anyway), I asked, "Is Charlie home?"

He looked at his watch. "No. Matter of fact, she's at school, which is obviously where you ought to be, too."

I nervously laughed. "I'm homeschooled." I quickly thanked him for the information and ran, making my way to Charlie's school. I didn't know what was going on, but a brunette who can spin webs and cracks wise while she's doing it shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

***

Why did I have to be wrong? Why is it that in a building full of teenagers, a single brunette that I spend every day with would be difficult to locate? She's the one I love, goddamnit! Why the hell can't I find her?

Either I'm somebody no one would notice, or I tapped into another power, because nobody was looking at me. I walked past three teachers who didn't ask me why I wasn't in class. I peeked in every classroom window, and nobody saw me. Clearly, I had somehow found some sort of invisibility power.

I decided to use this power to my advantage. If I was visible, there'd be only one place I couldn't check, and that was... The girl's restrooms or locker rooms. Pervy as hell, I know, but I needed to know what the hell was going on, like why the newspaper I worked for was suddenly a tabloid and why my girlfriend's dead father was somehow still alive.

I found the nearest restroom, slowly snuck inside - and found nothing. No one. Great. One down, I-don't-know-how-many to go. I kept it up, sneaking into every restroom I could find while still checking around classrooms. It was actually pretty tedious, since, apparently, people in this school choose not to use the bathroom in the middle of class.

The final place I had to check - after school was out, no less - was the locker room. By then, I was tired. I simply sat down on the concrete in front of the lockers and decided to rest. Lucky me, I guess, because at about that very moment, in came what I can only describe as my girlfriend trying to look like a pop star, because Charlie was wearing a denim miniskirt and a sleeveless top that bared her midriff, which I assume was way beyond the school's accepted dress code. The oddest thing about her, however, was the blonde hair. She looked an awful lot like... oh, crap... Actress, she's on Nashville, and that one Bring it On movie (I watched it for the hot cheerleaders, okay?). I can't remember that chick's name for the life of me.

I slipped out of sight as Charlie and a few other girls drifted to their lockers, chatting up this and that (mostly about boys, I noticed; I thought that was a cliche...). They were changing, and I was even more shocked when I saw Charlie change into a cheerleading outfit. Charlie had never seemed to have much school spirit in her, but then again, she wasn't a blonde before, either, and I'd just been with her a few hours ago.

Charlie told her fellow cheerleaders to head out onto the field without her, and I quietly moved closer to her. I assumed I was still invisible, and that assumption proved correct when Charlie spun around, looking in my direction, and said, "I don't see you, perv, but I know you're there, so just come out!"

I hesitated for a second. This clearly wasn't my Charlie, and this, coupled together with all the other weird things I'd been seeing today, pretty much told me that I was in some sort of alternate reality, or something, one where Charlie may or may not have her powers. I had no way of knowing, unless I found a way to turn visible again and explained the whole situation to her. I thought about it for a second. How would the heroes in Charlie's comics do this...

My decision was made for me, though, as Charlie walked forward and bumped into me, knocking us both to the floor and knocking me visible. I immediately jumped to my feet and tried to help her up, but she scrambled away from me. "What the hell?!" she screamed.

I raised my arms. "I'm not in here sneaking peeks at you, I came here to find you!"

She slowly got to her feet, never taking her eyes off me. "Why would you be looking for me?"

"This may sound weird, but - "

"It was already weird enough when you popped up out of thin air, okay? This explanation? Piece of cake, so spit it out."

I sighed. "Okay. I'm from another reality."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"No joke, I'm from an alternate reality, like, um... Like this is the Ultimate Marvel universe to the standard Marvel universe, okay?"

She waved her hands. "I don't really know what you're talking about, but it sounds nerdy."

I raised my eyebrow this time. "You're not a comic book nerd?"

She motioned to her body. "Do I look like I'd be a comic book nerd?"

"You look the same in my reality, save for the hair, and you're still a comic book nerd. I wouldn't know what I know if it weren't for you."

"Whoa, stop right there! Me? A nerd? Looking like this?" She pointed to her chest. "No way. Not in any way."

I sighed. "Look, I think I mentioned different realities, right? That's where I come from, a reality where there are people who fly and... a girl that I love who spins webs and crawls on buildings."

She stood up and walked closer to me. "Is that supposed to be me?"

"Yeah. My Charlie, who's a sexy, nerdy spider girl, and..."

She cut me off. "That's totally crazy, and I need to get out there on the field, okay? Don't follow me, or I'll tell my dad you were stalking me in the locker room, he's a cop and he's really protective of me." She turned around, made her way to the door, then turned back to me for a second. "I hope you get back to where ever it is you need to go." And with that, she left the locker room.

***

"Great," I said aloud, to no one, "I'm stuck here, in an alternate reality, and nobody's heard of a super hero. I have no idea how to control my powers, no real idea why that Benefactor even gave me powers, and I'm stuck here, in a reality where Charlie just... Isn't Charlie." I looked at the empty sky, nothing to answer me back except the silent skyscrapers. "What the hell do I do now?"

When I didn't get an answer, I sighed and said, "I'm talking to the sky. There's something wrong with me."

***

Charlotte Harkins dropped her bag on her bed and sighed, thinking back to that guy. She hadn't even learned his name, but the way he spoke... He creeped her out. She pulled the curtains shut on her window, just to make sure he wasn't peeking in at her from the rooftops, for whatever reason she thought he might be on a rooftop. She didn't even want to think about where he might be.

She heard her mom calling her out for dinner. She put thoughts of that guy behind her and slipped a hoodie on. She walked out to the kitchen table and sat down, then grabbed the chop sticks for the Chinese food her dad brought home. "Chinese again?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's a block away from the station, what else am I supposed to get when I want to rush home?"

She sighed. "Okay, I guess that makes sense."

Her mom sat down across the table from her. "So, Charlotte, there was this boy here today..."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "What?!"

Her dad sat down, next. "This kid show up at your school?"

She stammered out, "Um... Whu - What did he luh - look like?"

"About five-nine, brown hair, looks like a paper boy."

She smiled, weakly. "Nope, nobody like that today." Her dad gave her a glare. "What?"

"Charlotte Elaine... I think I can tell that you're lying." He leaned forward. "This kid got a name?"

Charlotte sighed. "I don't know. He... he was saying some weird things, and he sounded like a psychopath. I told him to stay away from me."

Her dad leaned closer. "What did he say, baby?"

She didn't answer him.

***

I stood outside the motel and looked in my wallet. I had thirty-six dollars, and that wasn't getting me anything in this place. I sighed. I had nowhere to stay while I was stuck in this alternate reality with no way of figuring out my powers. Great. Lucky me, the ability to jump a thousand feet in the air unlocked itself at some point, so I jumped toward the city and landed on the roof of a building, completely unsure of what to do next.

I sighed. So far, the abilities I'd found out that I had were invisibility, extreme Super Mario jumping, and some weird one that exists as a tingling in my head. That Benefactor guy made it seem as though he had a ton of powers, though, so I wondered just how many I had. Too many powers might be a problem, though.

I dropped from the rooftop down into a nearby alleyway, where I looked at all of the random graffiti on the wall. This would occasionally calm me down before, at least when I didn't have Charlie to hold on to. The weird thing being that I didn't feel like I wasn't calm, I just felt wrong, but I assumed that had more to do with the fact that I was in an alternate reality than the fact that I had powers. The powers thing was kind of cool, if I could figure them all out.

Stand Tall Against Rising Terrorists! read one notable piece of graffiti. It caught my eye very quickly. Rising terrorists? That sounded awful damn familiar to me. I rummaged around in my pockets, but then I realized that I didn't have my phone. Wait a minute, though, I had my wallet, why? That bitch Harmony picked me up in my pajama pants, why would I have my wallet?

Unless, of course, the Benefactor put it there. He did seem to know that I was going to be taken somewhere, probably using one of his powers. Wonder why he had so many powers, when Charlie only had a few. Do some Chosen get a ton of powers, while others get only a few? It was hard to keep track of this stuff.

I jumped back up on the roof and found a corner to go to sleep in. I hoped it wouldn't rain. I felt that weird tinglng again, but I pushed it aside to sleep. I was almost asleep when I heard the sound of wings flapping. I opened my eyes and nearly jumped off the building in fear. There was a freakin' angel hovering above the roof!

Or, at least, I thought she was an angel. At first. This woman was wearing a figure hugging cloak, hood pulled over her head, and her wings were solid black in color. She landed on the roof and walked toward me. She spoke, and her voice was low, "You are not supposed to be here."

I gulped. "I... um... I know."

"Why are you here?"

"I was in another dimension, my own reality, and I... um... was picked up by this guy who called himself the Benefactor, and he... um... injected me with this stuff, and - "

She cut me off. "Be quiet." She placed a hand on my head. "You come from a world in which we are not hidden."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not hidden?"

She pulled her hand away. "Your world, can you return?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I imagine I can, but I can't figure out all of my powers."

She shook her head. "Your power is insignificant, you must not be able to travel between worlds. This person you spoke of must return for you."

For some reason, maybe because I was happy I had so many powers, I took offense to that. "Hey, I might not be able to use 'em all, but I've got tons of powers, and I'll figure 'em all out, okay?" I sounded extremely confident.

This enraged the angel, and she raised up one hand. In the pale moonlight, I saw her fingers go from standard human fingers into talons that a crow or a raven would have, and just before she sank those claws into me, something grabbed her hand from behind. I looked around her and saw something that made my heart start doing belly flops in my chest (given the fact that I don't know what all of my powers are, my heart very well could have been doing belly flops in my chest).

Charlie Harkins, holding this woman's hand back with her webbing.

I rolled out from under the woman and stood up, halfway between this woman and Charlie, and waited for this whole thing to play out.

"You're not hurting this guy, Raven," Charlie said.

"If we find this benefactor he speaks of, we can leave this place. He lives in a world where we are not fugitives."

"I don't care, leave him alone, got that?"

Raven ripped the webline off of her wrist and let out a disturbing sound, then flew off.

"You know that invisibility trick you can do?" Charlie asked. It took me a second to realize that she was talking to me. I nodded. "Good, take my hand." I grabbed the hand of the girl who looked like my girlfriend and concentrated. I assumed I was invisible, but I couldn't tell. "Did it work?"

"I dunno."

"Well," she said, over the sound of whirring helicopter blades, "we're about to find out."

A helicopter lifted up from over the side of the building and focused its enormous spotlight on Charlie and I. The only hint that I had that we were invisible was the slightly disturbing fact that we weren't casting a shadow from the spotlight. I don't know why it was disturbing, maybe I thought I was a vampire. I don't know why I thought I was a vampire, because that's mirrors that they can't see themselves in. My brain was going into overload, there.

After realizing that there was nothing on the rooftop to see, the helicopter spotlight swung upward, focusing on the woman known as Raven. After the helicopter moved away from us, Charlie let go of my hand and I concentrated on making myself visible again. Thank God we were on one of the tallest buildings in East City. Not many people would see us, if they could at all.

Charlie sat down on the edge of the building. I practically fell onto my ass. "What the hell's going on here?" I asked her.

She pointed in the direction Raven took off in. "That was Raven. She's a little nuts, since she claims she can see the future and everything that's supposed to happen. She tracked me down after I saw you at school, asked me what your deal was. I didn't tell her anything, but she had her heart set on finding you." She let out a small laugh. "You got anybody like that in your reality?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've read about sightings of some woman named Angel, but I don't remember hearing anything about claws."

She nodded. "That figures. According to this girl named Monica, there's bound to be bigger differences between our realities than just the fact that your Charlotte's a hot nerd."

"Um... Do you prefer Charlotte? Mine prefers Charlie."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. So," she leaned forward, "what other differences you see?"

I stood up and walked over to Charlie - Charlotte - and knelt down in front of her. "Well, Chosen aren't fugitives, like that Raven chick said."

She raised an eyebrow. "Chosen? Is that what we Powers are called in your reality?"

I nodded. "There's a group called HARP that hates Chosen, they call them Powers."

She sighed. "Sounds like START. And what about your... Charlie? What can she do?"

"Same things you can. You have, like, Spider-Man's powers, right?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what Spider-Man is, besides a movie that I refused to see."

My God she was so different from my Charlie. "You spin webs, climb on walls, that sort of thing?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah, she does all that."

"So, were you Chosen, or are you just a weird freak that has powers?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. The Benefactor told me I was Chosen, but I wasn't Chosen the same way Charlie said she was."

"So, no weird creature showed up in your bedroom and told you that you'd have powers?"

I shook my head. "No. This Benefactor, a guy with a whole bunch of powers, injected me with something and told me I'd have all the same powers he did. I don't even know what all my powers are, yet."

She nodded again. "Okay, so you can't get back home yet."

"Right."

She stood up. "Well, be ready to try and escape Homeland Security a lot. When people find out you have powers, they're gonna try and kill you. I'd take you home with me, but my dad's really protective of me. Find a place to stay the night that isn't this rooftop, and meet up with me after school tomorrow, got it?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

She turned to jump off the rooftop, but then turned back to me for a second. "I can see why Nerd Me likes you. You're kinda cute, in a geeky way." Then, she leaped off of the roof and shot a webline out of her wrist and swung away, avoiding the street lights below.

I sighed. That's the girl I love, alright. Now, if only I could get back to mine.

***

I stood out on the school lawn, waiting for Charlotte (that was still taking some getting used to) to finally leave the building. I probably looked like a crazy stalker, standing there in a black hoodie. I should have bought a simple jacket, or something. Stupid, stupid me, I guess.

The worst part about this past day was that I discovered no more new powers. The only clue I really have toward knowing that I have a lot of powers is that statement the Benefactor made. I hoped I'd figure them out soon, then maybe I could find my way home. It would be nice to see my Charlie again.

Speaking of some kind of girl that shares my girlfriend's name (okay, that confused me, too), Charlotte walked out of the building along with all the other students in the school. She walked directly toward me, which made me wonder if people in black hoodies hiding behind trees didn't look like psychopathic stalkers.

"So, figure out anything new?" she asked.

"Other than the fact that my powers clearly don't all work on command, no." I pulled back my hood. "Looks like I'm at the mercy of whenever one of them decides to show itself."

She nodded. "That sucks. I know what all of mine are."

"Nice to know. So, what are we meeting for, anyway? You have some way of figuring out how to make all my powers work?"

"Well, kinda. I need to take you to see someone, she'll need to examine you, though."

I raised an eyebrow. "Examine me?"

"Yeah. She seems to know some way of making our powers work just fine. She helped me figure out the tingling in my head."

I looked her in the face. "Tingling in you head?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's a danger thing, warns me when there's trouble headed my way."

"And bumping into the invisible man yesterday didn't count?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't seem to work around you." She walked out to the curb and flagged down a taxi. "C'mon, we've got to get going."

***

Raven sat huddled in her cell, nibbling on a cracker that she'd been given with her meager amount of food. Cold soup with no flavor always tasted better with crackers, though she wished she'd been given more than one. One cracker wasn't enough to sustain her for however long they'd keep her in her cell.

In walked a man she didn't particularly want to see. He was wearing a finely tailored suit, shoes that didn't look like they'd ever seen the outside of the box they were purchased in, and a pair of black leather gloves, each one marked with the Homeland Security logo. He knelt down in front of her cell and tapped at the bars with his knuckles. "Bernice," he said, "please, look at me."

She shook her head. "No."

"Bernice, please."

"No!" she screeched. "My name is not Bernice! My name is Raven!"

He made a tsking noise and then stood up. "It's sad that you won't work with us, Bernice. We could help you. Calm the feelings you have when you see the futures you see. Maybe even make some of those nastier futures go away."

She backed up to the back wall of the cell. "Go away! I will not help you!"

The man smiled. "We'll see."

***

Raven was alone for a long time. She was glad that the man in the suit had left, but she wanted to be free to fly again. She hated being stuck in a cell. She pulled at the chain and tried to see if there were any weak links. She hoped to have at least a little freedom in the cell itself, even if she couldn't be outside.

She heard footsteps. She crawled over to the front of the cell and watched the man with the gloves walk in yet again. He knelt down, opened the cell, and pulled the chain off of her. "Go now," he said, offering her a helping hand.

She looked up at him. "Why?"

He pulled the hand away, retrieved something from an interior pocket, and the grabbed her hand and pressed what looked like a pneumatic injector against her wrist. He pulled the trigger and she felt a sharp pain.

"Because now I know where you're going, my little Bernice."

She screeched at him, then retreated back further into the cell. He grabbed her by the wrist again and pulled her out. He slammed the cell shut and stared down at her.

"You're going to do what I tell you, understand?"

"I will not! I cannot!"

William Brand knelt down in front of her, reached out, touched her face. "You're going to do what Daddy says, or else I'll have to let the extraction team do their job on you, and that's quite painful."

A second time in so few minutes, Raven screeched at the man who used to be her loving father.

***

Annette Simms sat at the reception desk, waiting for someone to actually show up. Ever since taking the job at Banter Industries' East City headquarters, she'd rarely done anything. The boss was never there for anyone to actually come visit, and so Annette's job was more akin to being a personal clock-in/clock-out manager, as opposed to someone who actually met people before they went upstairs to see the boss.

Today, however, was her lucky day.

She watched these two kids walk into the building, a skinny blonde girl and a young man with scruffy brown hair wearing a black hoodie. They walked up to the reception desk and Annette put on her trademark smile. "Hello, and welcome to Banter Industries, East City division. How may I help you?"

The girl spoke first. "Charlotte Harkins, I'm here to see the boss. She's expecting me."

Annette tapped a few buttons on her holo-display and found that the boss was expecting this girl, and likely the tag-along boyfriend as well. "I see." She pointed down the hall to the right side of the desk. "Take this hallway to the elevators, sixty-eighth floor, Mrs. Brand is expecting you."

The girl flashed her a smile, then nodded, and then the two of them made their way toward the elevators. Annette sat back down in her chair and sighed. It wasn't much, but just being able to tell anyone where the elevators were was a relief to her. It wasn't often she got to see fresh faces.

***

I followed Charlotte down the hallway that the receptionist (I swear I've seen her before) said led to the elevators. We found one that was already open for us, tapped a button on the holographic display, which brought up floor numbers. Charlotte scrolled through the floor numbers until she came to sixty-eight and then the most comfortable elevator ride I'd ever felt happened without me ever even noticing. Didn't even take five seconds to get from the ground floor to the sixty-eighth. Now that's an elevator.

Charlotte took the lead again, but it honestly wouldn't have been difficult to find who we were looking for. The room was enormous, well-lit, spacious and full of technology that would have made Tony Stark (Iron Man, if I've got my comic book characters correct) have an orgasm. I couldn't even describe what most of this stuff looked like, let alone what it did.

Charlotte led me over to the one human being in the room, a stunningly beautiful woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a pair of pajama pants and a ratty tank top that looked like it had seen better days in the eighties. She looked extremely busy.

"Hey, Penne, can't I at least get a hug, or something?" Charlotte asked the woman. She turned around and immediately brightened up, then embraced Charlotte in an extremely friendly hug.

"It's about damn time you come visit me again! How's your folks?"

"Well, Dad just got promoted to captain, and Mom's still a stay-at-home mom taking care of Chris."

"And what about you? Any boyfriends?" She looked over Charlotte's shoulder at me. "Like this handsome young man?"

I reached my hand forward for a handshake. "Uh, Tim. Timmy Saul."

She looked me over. "Hmghf... Cute, in an I deliver papers to make a living sort of way."

I sighed. "I get that more often than I want to. So, Charlotte says you can help me?"

"First, let's get introductions out of the way." She shook my hand. "Penelope Brand, billionaire extraordinaire."

"Penelope... Banter?"

"Banter's my maiden name. Brand is my married name, and now my still-have-to-use-it-even-though-I'm-divorced name. My ex-husand's dragging me through a circus of legal hell over trying to get my name changed back. So, what does Charlotte think I can help you with?"

Charlotte answered for me. "He's... like me."

Penelope's eyes damn near glowed at that. "He's a Power! Oh! This is so exciting!"

I turned red-faced. "Uh, yeah. In my reality, they're called Chosen."

She raised an eyebrow. "Your reality?" She turned to Charlotte. "The hell's he talking about?"

Charlotte shrugged. "He says he's from another reality, where these Chosen that he talks about aren't hated or hunted, like we are here. Apparently, his girlfriend is his reality's version of me, who goes by Charlie and has brown hair."

Penelope looked at me again. "Is that how you knew my name? Is your Penelope Banter still single, or did she get her name changed back easily?"

I tried to think about it for a second, then I remembered a magazine article I read about her a couple months ago. "Um... My Penelope Banter is engaged, to a Frenchman named Kevin, I believe."

She sighed. "Good. At least some form of me realized that marrying William Brand was a stupid mistake. So, how did you get here?"

"Somebody, um... shot me."

"Say that again, please?"

"Yeeeaaah... This guy named the Benefactor kidnapped me, injected me with something that gave me every super power he has, and then shot at me. That sent me here, I guess. It's weird, but it's the only explanation I've got."

She nodded. "Well, you're right, it's definitely weird. But, then again, six months ago, my daughter sprouted wings and told me she could see the future, then she started going cukoo."

"That Raven chick is your daughter?!"

"Bernice, yes. I don't even get to see her often anymore, except when she flies by the building and gives me an evil glare."

"She nearly took my head off last night."

Penelope sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Like I said, she's been having some mental issues ever since she developed her powers. Not everybody gets good powers, like Charlotte did." She came closer to me, grabbed my arm and turned it this way and that. "So, what have you got?"

I sighed. "Well, some form of dimension hopping that I can't seem to figure out how to control. Invisibility, super jumping, some weird buzzing that happens every now and again, and that seems to be about it. I can't tell what others I have, but the Benefactor told me I'd have all the same powers that he does, and he made that sound like a lot."

Penelope made an inquisitive-sounding noise, but I couldn't tell what it was she was trying to say. She eventually checked my other arm, then pointed at something behind me. "Go sit down in that chair over there. If you're anything like the other Powers I've helped, there will be a new lobe hidden within your brain that will help us to determine what it is you can do." She smiled at me. "This should be pretty exciting, if you really can do so many things."

I gulped.

***

Raven sat perched atop the Parker Building and looked down upon the city. She didn't want to be there, doing what her father had her doing. She regretted that she'd have to find that kid with the reality powers that the extraction team had  pulled from her memories.

Though, secretly, she hoped to find him so that he could take her somewhere else. She didn't want to be there, hunted like an animal. She hoped to find him, and make him take her to a different reality, where she could live in peace.

She screeched, and then leaped from the spire at the top of the building and flew, flapping her wings as hard as she could, as fast as she could. The faster she could find that boy, the faster she could be somewhere where she wouldn't be treated like a monster.

***

"Jesus Christ!" Penelope said. I only wished I could move my head and find out what it was she was seeing. "You really are from an alternate reality!"

I sighed. "I told you that already!"

"No, you don't understand, I'm looking at your memories here, kid, I can literally see the differences between this reality and yours!"

"You're looking at my memories?"

"Yeah. This is a machine I designed to find the hidden lobe that contains your powers. In order to get there, though, a trip down memory lane has to happen, because the lobe is tucked behind the brain's memory center. I can't believe this... Here's the other Charlotte, right here, doing... Oh my God, she's kissing him!"

Charlotte groaned. "Look, he's cute, but he's not my type."

I groaned, this time. "Can we get the hell on with this? I'd like to learn how to use my dimension hopping powers so that I can get the hell back home."

Penelope laughed. "Okay, okay, just give me a min - Oh... Holy shit."

"What?"

"That Benefactor guy you keep talking about... He wasn't making any sort of exaggeration."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Teleportation, levitation, telekinesis, telepathy, spider webs, agility, time travel, enhanced strength, metal manipulation, tissue regeneration, jumping, danger warning sense, super speed, full-on flight, geokinesis, matter manipulation, enhanced hearing, immortality, light amplification, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, aquakinesis, cryokinesis, time manipulation... I'm really tempted to say... I don't know what you can't do."

I leaned as forward as I could, which wasn't much, and almost whispered, "No shit?"

"No shit, kid. The least shit anybody can ever have about anything. You're a walking super weapon. The goddamn Death Star would be afraid of you." She tapped a button on her hologram and released me from her device. I just sat forward and took in what I'd just heard. "You feel any different?"

I held my hand out, concentrated, and a small ball of electricity formed in my hand. I closed my eyes, opened them again, and the electricity was replaced by flame. Again, and the flame was a floating mass of ice. "Oh yeah... I feel way different." I concentrated again, and the ice melted, the water evaporated, and the steam cleared. "But I still don't feel like I can... Move between realities, I guess. How do I do that?"

Penelope shrugged. "I don't know. I could try and shoot you, I guess."

Charlotte scoffed. "Penne!"

"Sorry, but, hey, it worked once, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately, it did. Still, I'd rather find out how to make it work without threat of impending death. If I had to wait for that to happen, it would take too damn long, especially if I have tissue regeneration." I hopped off of the examination table and put my shirt back on. "So, maybe there's some other way to do it."

Penelope shrugged. "Couldn't tell ya on a bet, kid. You're on your own, so far as figuring out your reality power goes."

"Yeah..." I was about to say something else when the glass exploded.

***

Raven burst through the window and grabbed her mother by the arms. She screeched loudly, trying to scare the boy into doing something. Unfortunately he wasn't doing anything.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had somehow rended the metal from the floor, and was using it to pull Raven down, all the while the blonde girl was using her spider webbing to keep Raven on the floor.

"Stop!" her mother shouted. "She's down!" Her mother knelt down and touched Raven's face. "Bernice, what's going on?"

"I am Raven!" she shouted, sending spit into her mother's face. "And I want the boy who can move between dimensions! I want to be away from here!"

Raven screeched , and tried to move, but the metal wrapped around her torso stopped her from moving, along with the webbing, which kept her stuck to the metal. Her wings were bound, and every time she swiped at her webbing with her talons, she just clawed at herself.

"Bernice, please, listen to me, I want to help you."

Raven screeched at her mother, and then her screech was drowned out by the wound of an explosion. She looked around and saw helicopters hovering around the building. No! Daddy!

***

I lost my concentration and the metal I was somehow controlling (this is still happening involuntarily, I guess) let go of Raven and dropped her on the floor. The helicopters each fired missiles that hit one thing or another. I somehow managed to use my own webbing to pull Charlotte and Penelope away from some of the falling ceiling, but some of the debris still hit me in the back. It hurt like hell, but I could already feel my body healing itself.

I guess, thank you Penelope Brand's deus ex machina power activating machine. I couldn't have asked for anything more convenient.

I coughed as dust particles floated around us, in my mouth and in my nostrils. Shadowy figures appeared in the dust-filled smoke. Six of them, five carrying assault rifles and one unarmed. Using what I can only describe as shape-shifting, my arm mutated into a flesh colored sword. The sheer amount of things I felt like I could now do was amazing, and all thanks to five minutes on a freakin' examination table.

Two of the men with assault rifles came close, and my body moved on autopilot. I reached outward, and outward, and outward, and I mean literally, because my arm was stretching further than humanly possible, and the closest guy with an assault rifle was suddenly impaled by my sword arm. My other arm reached out and grabbed the second man wth an oversized hand, which closed around the man's head and cut his air supply off.

Great, two seconds after I learn about my other powers, I'm suddenly a murderer, I'm doin' great. I had to calm my powers down and focus on just knocking these guys out. It's not self-defense when you can heal and they can't.

I pulled my arms back and focused on just using my super strength. I didn't want to kill anyone. The man without any weapons motioned for his people to back off. "Don't do anything foolish, men, this one has some real power." He moved closer to me, and I finally saw his face. Lo and behold, William Brand was standing in front of me, wearing a finely tailored suit (that didn't look dirty at all, despite the heavy dust and smoke in the air) and a pair of gloves that each bore the logo of Homeland Security. "Nice to meet you, son, my name is William Brand."

I nodded. "I've met you, kind of. It was in my realitiy, and I was at a press conference."

"Is that so? You're a little young to be a businessman, and I doubt I would have been speaking at a high school." He smiled. "Even if this was an alternate dimension." He and one of is goons walked over to Penelope. "I see you've met my ex-wife. Penne and I had a little falling out once I stole her technology and used it to extract the power lobe from you Terrorists' heads."

Penelope spat at Brand's feet. "Fuck off, William."

He nodded to his goon, and the goon shot Penelope in the head, blowing her brains all over the dirt covered floor. Next, he turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte Harkins, as I live and breath. We've been trying to find you for months, and here you are, right at my fingertips. Maybe now your father will start complying with me on the Terrorist raids." He turned to his goon. "Tie her up and take her to the chopper on the roof." He turned back to me. "Now, mister... what was your name, again?"

Okay, this one, I didn't care about. I was killing this guy. I stretched out with my arm, grabbed him, and threw him right out the window. His men opened fire on me, but my telekinesis kicked in somehow and held the bullets aloft.

That was when this asshole version of William Brand walked up to me and playfully picked up several of the bullets. "That was impressive, but ultimately useless." He smiled. "Who better to hunt a Terrorist than a Terrorist?"

I grit my teeth. "Teleporter, huh?"

He nodded. "Penelope had hyper intelligence. When Bernice developed abilities as well, I finally realized that I needed to heed the President's call and start rounding you monsters up."

"I'm not staying here, you asshole, and I'm not gonna let you run free here!" I called the metal out of the floor and turned the floor beneath him into spikes, which shot straight through him. Then, using the super speed that I finally figured out how to control, I ran forward, grabbed Charlotte, and jumped out the window. Just before we hit the ground, I closed my eyes, and imagined us elsewhere.

***

I woke up to Charlotte covering what I assumed were wounds with some of her webbing. "It'll sting like a bitch when you pull it off, but it'll stop the bleeding." She then plopped down beside me and I finally realized where we were: this reality's version of the room the Benefactor had held me in. I laughed at the stupidity of it.

I sat up and the second thing I realized was that my leg was broken. Seconds later, however, it healed itself, just like the wounds Charlotte had covered up with her webs. "Thanks anyway," I said, ripping the webbing off to reveal the clean, wound-free skin beneath. "Must not work unless I'm conscious. That's nice to know." I rubbed at my forehead. "Is this where I brought us, or did you haul me here?"

She shook her head. "No, this is where we landed, a couple dozen blocks away from Penne's place." She wiped tears from her eyes. "That monster killed the only friend I had that knew what I was."

I nodded. "Yeah, well... take heart in knowing that he's dead now." I stood up. "Is that what Chosen have to deal with in this reality?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately. It was worse when they first set it up. There were people being pulled from their homes, people who probably didn't even have powers. My dad just barely managed to keep me from being taken in, thanks to his pull as East City's Premiere Hero Cop."

I sighed. "I'm sorry you have to put up with all this." I turned to her. "And I'd stay if I could, but I - "

She nodded again. "You have to get back to your reality, I know. You don't deserve to be stuck here, anyway. You think you've got cross-dimensional travel mastered yet?"

I smiled. "Was that a little sexy nerd speak I just heard?"

She smiled. "What can I say, I used to stay up late with my dad and watch reruns of The Outer Limits."

"You and Charlie would get along well."

She shook her head. "I doubt it, but it's the thought that counts."

I nodded. "Yeah. And, yeah, I think I can figure it out. If all goes well, I won't be here in a few seconds."

She walked over to me and hugged me. "I hope I find a Tim Saul here. You really are cute."

I kissed her lips. She tasted like Charlie did. "I know."

After that, I stepped away from her, closed my eyes, and felt something happening. Too bad I just didn't know what, yet.

***

When I opened my eyes, I swear I must have pissed my pants, because there I was, looking out at what looked like a city-wide industrial zone, but then I just realized that there were giant smoke stacks coming out of every building, and people were driving hover cars. I looked around, trying to figure out where it was that I was, and the only clue I had was a floating sign that said... I actually couldn't read it, because it was in Korean. Great. I was in Korea. I hope. Hell, maybe I was in Spain, I really don't know.

I really didn't even want to think about this place. I closed my eyes and concentrated again, this time opening them to a far more normal-looking East City. I breathed a sigh of relief. This time, though, the differences between my reality and this one were a little more apparent, all thanks to the giant statue of Guardian and Knight standing back-to-back in the place where the Parker Building should have been.

Oh well, at least this reality had a Knight, unlike the last one I was in. I wondered what the deal was with this place. Did I go from a reality that hated Chosen to one that praised them? I teleported to the base of the statue and surprised a group of people that all brought out their cameras. They snapped pictures of me and asked for my autograph. Hey, now I know what Charlie feels like.

"Um... Hi, is there any chance I can see one of these guys?" I asked, jerking my thumb toward the statue.

"You ain't from around here, are you?" one of them asked me in response.

"No, I'm not."

"Guardian and Knight died over a hundred years ago, man."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah," a woman responded, "they both died when Gustav Hammond opened up the Hellgate and brought out Satan. If it hadn't been for the Benefactor, the world would have ended."

I imagine I had a look of pure shock on my face. "The Benefactor?"

"Yeah, he's our savior."

Well, it wasn't what I wanted to hear, but maybe this reality's version of the Benefactor would actually not be a dick who shoots sixteen year old kids in the face. "Can somebody take me to see him?"

***

After they brought me to some obnoxiously large tower, I took the elevator to the top floor, where the receptionist looked awfully damn familiar. Penelope Banter smiled at me from behind her desk. "Hello, how may I be beneficial?" Must be this world's version of help, I guess.

"I'm here to see..."

"Yes, the Benefactor is expecting you, please go on through."

This place was starting to creep me the hell out. I walked past Ms. Banter and entered a large office that looked like it probably dwarfed the entire White House. There was a large aquarium on one side, containing a small whale and three dolphins. The opposite wall was a giant window with holographic screens dotted around it, in no particular sequence. The wall opposite the door I'd entered from was another window, but this one just looked out upon the city.

The room was sparsely furnished. A couch dominated the center of the room, and a desk sat in front of the plain window. Behind that desk sat the man who pointed a gun at my face, who kidnapped me, who injected me with powers I truly can't help but understand. I balled my hands into fists, grit my teeth, and sped toward him with the super speed I forgot I had (I have so many powers, how can I keep track of them all?).

I didn't make it there, however, because before I even hit the couch, I was suddenly suspended above the floor, the Benefactor's hand wrapped around my neck. He smiled. "I wondered when you'd get here." He threw me to the floor and walked over to the aquarium. "You took a little longer in the other reality than I expected."

I rubbed at my throat and coughed. "Wait, you're really not the Benefactor of this reality? You're the one that stuck me with the goddamn needle?!"

He turned back to me. "There is only one Benefactor. I'm an anomoly, and I've made you the same." He turned back to the aquarium. "So, how was the last reality?"

"You mean the one where everything was in Korean?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, child, the other one, where you slaughtered two Homeland Security troops and impaled William Brand the teleporter with a great deal of metal, did you enjoy the idea of that reality?"

I stood up. "No. Now, if you please, I'd like to go back to my reality, now!"

He turned back to me and smiled. "I can't do that."

"What?!"

"That job is up to you. The only way I can send you back to your home reality is to go there myself with you as a passenger, and you can't trust me to do that."

"I'll take the goddamn risk."

"I won't, I'm sorry."

"This is bullshit!"

He patted me on the shoulder. "You really do remind me of myself when I was younger."

I growled, "Why? Somebody do this to you, too?"

"In a manner of speaking." He walked over to the couch and sat down. "Timothy, you'll return when you've fully mastered your teleporation ability. Once you've done that, you can return to your reality any time you want."

"And how do I do that?"

He shrugged. "That's up to you. I personally suggest meditation, but I know you'll have some trouble with that."

I turned and started walking toward the door. "The hell with this."  Before I hit the door, he was in front of me, a hand placed cautiously on my chest. "I wouldn't. I'm starting to get pretty good with those powers you gave me."

He smiled, laughed. "Not as good as me, Timothy. Billions of millennia more experience than you've had."

"I don't care, man, I just want to go home, understand?"

He nodded. "You're not ready yet, however."

"I told you that I didn't care, right?"

He smiled. "Fine. Go home, then."

I grit my teeth, closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was standing on water just outside the city. And, unfortunately, it was still the same reality as before. I could see the Guardian/Knight statue from here. I sighed. This was going to take some getting used to.

***

I walked down the street and stopped in front of Charlie's school. Maybe I'd be lucky, and she'd be there. Though, honestly, if Guardian was dead, what were the odds that my dainty little girlfriend who just shoots spider webs out her wrists would still be alive?

Pretty good, apparently. I watched as Charlie - brown hair and plain clothes and all - emerged from the front of the building, looking like the happiest girl in the world, talking to her friend Cindy. I wanted to run up to her and hug her, but then I remembered, much as she looks like her, this isn't my Charlie.

So instead, I just watched. That was the best I was gonna get until I could get home.

***

Days passed. I used my invisibility to steal food when I was hungry, but that wasn't often. Apparently, tissue regeneration also means tissue replenishment, because I barely ever felt hungry, except usually just after waking up. Nice to know, I guess.

Most of the time, I just sat on the roof of the ECPD 14th precinct house, thinking about what it was I could try to figure out my reality hopping power. The Benefactor said meditation. Maybe that worked for him, but I doubt it'd work for me. I have trouble just sitting still, probably some form of ADHD that never got diagnosd.

So, for awhile, I slept.

***

A headache woke me up in the middle of the night. That was about when I realized that throbbing pain in my head was back. It got progressively worse, so I rolled out of the way just as a fireball hit the roof, right where I was sleeping. I jumped to my feet and then rolled out of the way again just as a piece of metal sliced at where I was standing. More throbbing alerted me to a solid blue buzz saw slicing up the section of the roof that I'd rolled to, so I jumped off of the roof, and into a small puddle in the road. That, unfortunately, was not the best move, because the puddle suddenly came to life and tried choking me to death.

I used my own water powers (I vaguely remember Penelope calling them aquakinesis, which didn't even sound like a real word to me, but what the hell, ninety-nine percent of my super power knowledge comes from my girlfriend) to get the water off of my throat, then I got out of the water and looked around for whoever it was that caused that.

In front of me were six Chosen, each wearing disturbing clown make-up. One of them was a woman with stretchy arms; another was a young girl who was standing atop a tornado; the third was another older woman who was using water wrapped around her arms as tentacles; number four was a girl, slightly older than me with a weird glow coming from her right hand; the next one was a guy about the same age as the glow girl, but his hands were coated in fire; and the final one was another guy, covered in metal plates.

Oh... shit.

"It's so very nice to meet you," a voice said, though it didn't come from any of the six Chosen who were staring me down. It was a voice I recognized. I turned around and saw the face of a man I had never wanted to see again, and hoped that all that talk about him showing up in Pine Ridge was a lie.

The Joker.

"There's so very few out there, after everything that happened." He clapped his hands slowly. "And one that doesn't stand on either side, well, that's even more rare."

I coated my arms in fire as well. "Get away from me you psychopath!"

He smiled. "Psychopath?" He laughed. "No one's ever given me a compliment before!" He looked past me at his goon squad. "Tech!"

Metal lashed out at me, but I dodged it just in time. In doing so, I spun around to face the Chosen, and threw fireballs at each one. Most of them dodged my assault, save for the one who looked like he had fire powers. I switched to electricity, but the tornado girl was there to stop that attack. The metal one threw another metalic whip in my direction, this time I grabbed it and used it against him. I curled the metal around his neck and shot electricity through it, straight at his head. He fell over, in extreme pain but nowhere near dead yet.

My defense against Metal Head gave the others a chance to retaliate, unfortunately. Aqua Lady turned into a tsunami and tried washing me away, but I dropped the metal and jumped up, sending a bolt of electricity into the water below. It wasn't until I kept going up, however, that I realized Tornado Girl was keeping me aloft. I was pelted with fireballs next, courtesy of Fireball Man, and a long, rubber arm wrapped itself around my throat. Why did everybody want to go for the throat today?!

I created those arm-blades again and sliced Rubber Band Lady's arms off, then my time manipulating powers kicked in with my knowledge and I saw Tornado Girl inside her tornado. I flew toward her, knocked her out of the tornado, and slammed her head against the asphalt. These guys are Chosen, I can kill super powered people in self-defense, right? Stupid moral questions. How does Charlie do this every day without wanting to web somebody's airholes closed?

Fireball Man didn't stop shooting fireballs at me, though, and despite the fact that my skin was healing before it even burned, I still felt the pain of the fireballs hitting me. I used Aqua Lady's water and sent gallons of it down his throat before I realized what I was doing. I stopped just in time to get hit by a blue sledge hammer straight in the face. I rolled away, and a solid white wall appeared between me and the hammer. Whatever power that girl had, clearly I had it, too. Great. I pushed the wall forward, then wrapped it around Blue Matter Girl and looked around, wondering if I missed anyone.

The metal spike through my chest told me that I had.

I turned around and saw Metal Head standing beside the Joker. He was covered in electrical burns, but he was otherwise just fine, and healing, it looked like. I ripped the spike out of my chest and it fused with my arm. I walked up to Metal Head, grabbed him by the shoulder, and shoved my spike-arm into his crotch. I held him close and whispered, "Grow those back."

The only ones left were me and the Joker.

"I told you to get away, remember?" I asked him. "Now, leave. Oh, and just because I'm not around," I motioned towards his fallen Chosen, "doesn't mean these guys will ever catch up."

***

I walked up to Penelope Banter the Receptionist and said, "I wanna talk to him again."

She nodded. "He's been expecting you."

I figured. I walked through the door and teleported from the door to his desk. He didn't even turn the chair around to face me, he just said, "It's about time, Timothy." Now he did turn the chair around. "You want my advice, and that advice was already given: Meditation."

"That's not easy for me."

He nodded. "I know, but either way, that's how you're going to do it. I suggest you find a quiet place where the Joker and his thugs aren't going to find you, and spend the day meditating. Once you do that, the answer should come to you rather quickly, but I wasn't wrong when I said I couldn't send you home."

I shook my head. "I don't care. But mark my words, I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me."

I swear he smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."

***

I sat on the street corner, not the quietest of spots, and tried to concentrate on my reality. It was tough, though, so I just gave up a couple seconds later. I needed something, some place to go. This didn't seem like it was going to be easy. I stood up and started for the docks. Plenty of empty warehouses over there.

"Hey!" someone shouted, someone I recognized. I turned around and saw Charlie Harkins standing there. "You look familiar, have I met you before?" she asked.

I wanted to say yes, but I just shook my head. "No. You probably have me mistaken with somebody else."

She stood there, placed her index finger on her chin like she was thinking, then shook her head. "No, I've seen you before. You have way too cute a face for me to have you mistaken."

Oh, man, this was hurting me. I shook my head again. "Nah, 'cause I'd remember you, and I don't. Sorry. It's nice to meet you, though. Tim, Tim Saul."

"Charlie Harkins."

"You're a pretty girl."

She blushed. "Thanks. Maybe we can do something sometime?"

I shook my head. "Doubt it. I'm only here... uh... seeing family."

She looked upset. "Sorry. I'd really like to get to know you."

I nodded. "Me, too. I'll... see ya some other time, I guess."

She nodded, then leaned up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I couldn't believe just how much better that made me feel. The only problem was that it reminded me just how badly I needed to get back to my Charlie. I thanked her, and then teleported away when she wasn't looking.

***

The man known as the Joker looked over his two remaining toys and smiled. They'd do just nicely, yes they would. He swiftly ran his hands along their bodies and loved what he felt. "You two are going to do your old uncle Joker proud, aren't you?"

In unison, both women said, "Of course we are, Mister J."

He smiled again. "Good, good. Now, go find that little whelp who thinks he's as strong as the Benefactor and tear his face into a smile!"

And both of them nodded.

***

I sat in the middle of the abandoned warehouse and tried, tried, tried. It was difficult to concentrate. Maybe I'd eventually get the hang of this, but I didn't know. I just knew I needed to get home, so I tried to focus on getting home.

And that was when the walls exploded.

I leaped to my feet and readied myself for whatever the hell it was I was going to deal with now, and wasn't too surprised to see that both of them had that disgusting clown make-up on. When I got back home, I was so never going to the goddamn circus again.

One of them I didn't recognize, the other one I did. Harmony Sprite, or, this universe's version of Harmony Sprite. She obviously had powers, just like the other Harmony did. I don't know what powers the other girl had, but I figured she was plenty powerful, if the Joker had saved these two just for hunting me down. I jumped up, landed on the celing, and then jumped again as an explosion tore the ceiling open. That came from Harmony, so I focused my first attack on her, which turned out to be a bit of a surprise. Remember that solid white wall construct I accidentally made before? Yep, except that this was a full box, and it crushed her to death. I'm getting better at killing, at least. Didn't make me feel all that good.

That just left the other girl, who lashed out at me with electrical whips that slashed up my skin in quick slices, but those healed quickly and easily. I used my geokinesis (geo = ground, apparently, I didn't know that before, I figured it meant shapes) and lifted the ground she was standing on up into the air, but she countered this by jumping off and hovering with the help of some... weird... electricity thing that I couldn't possibly understand because, well, it looked weird. Instead, I broke up that piece of ground I was levitating upward into head-sized rocks and used my telekinesis (this one was easy to figure out) to throw them at her. She shot each one of them down by using a weird shockwave that somehow used electricity (who knew someone could do so many things with electricity?!).

I figured out her game, though, and realized that I probably had a similar power, but when I went to use it, I instead soaked her with water. Clearly, my powers don't always know when to do what I say. The good news is that the water thing worked, and I knocked Lady Lightning Rod unconscious. I landed beside her and said, "Now, be a good girl and stay here until the cops show up, okay?"

I was out of breath. I used some metal to keep her restrained, then walked outside to find the nearest payphone, but I collapsed instead.

A Strange & Different World, Part Two

I woke up to the sound of a buzzsaw. I tried sitting up, but that didn't happen. I felt like I'd been hit by a car going seventy, which, now that I had super powers, I could probably survive. I tried sitting up again, and this time I managed, breaking apart metal restraints that I didn't know were covering me. I looked at my legs and saw much thicker restraints. Had to break those, now.

Actually, I didn't need to break them. I concentrated on my teleportation ability, but that wasn't working right. Great. I must have been drugged.

Matter of fact, you are, someone said. In my head. I looked around and couldn't see anyone in particular. I tried concentrating again, but nothing happened. Great. That won't work, whoever you are. You're going to be stuck here at least until my boss comes and asks you some questions. I hope your answers are to his liking.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked aloud. "And where are you?"

You can call me Thought. It's actually quite remarkable, you're subconsciously keeping me separate from your mind. That's impressive, even for someone who's consciously keeping me out, like the Benefactor does.

"You still didn't answer my question, where are you?"

In your head, of course. Where else would the name 'Thought' come in?

I started feeling more in control. My regenerative ability must have been kicking in, knocking out the drugs. Good, soon I could get out of here.

I guess you forgot that I can still read your surface thoughts. Not very bright, are you?

"Do you work for the Joker?"

No. I work for a man who stays away from all sides, the Joker's, the Benefactor's and the government's. You're safe here, if you accept it.

I shook my head. "No. I need to get out of here. I have to get back to my reality, and this," I motioned to the restraints holding my legs, "isn't helping. So, if you'll excuse me..." I held my hands to the restraints and they began to ice over. After a moment or so, they cracked, then broke into small chunks of ice that had already started to melt. I hopped off the latest examination table I'd been on and looked for the nearest door.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find one.

And you won't, as long as I'm in here.

"What?"

I couldn't keep you from breaking out of the table, but I can still keep you from finding the door. That's a simple one.

"Let me out of here, goddamnit!"

No. You're staying here until my boss shows up, so that he can study you. You can survive a vivisection, can't you?

"I said, let me out!"

That seemed to work, somehow, as the unconsious body of a woman in a chair beside the examination table appeared out of thin air, and then a set of stairs leading up to a catwalk followed suit, including a door that I assumed had to be the exit.

I focused my attention on the woman, however. She opened her eyes and sat forward, then rubbed at her forehead. I ripped the railing off of the stairs using my metal... something... powers and wrapped the railing around her throat, but not enough to actually choke her. "Start talking!"

She held up her hands in a stop motion, then stood up. I kept my weird telekinetic hold on the railing around her neck. "Take it easy, kid, I'm not going to hurt you. I don't even know if I can."

"I said talk!"

She grabbed her head in pain, which told me I must have been using a power I didn't know I had, which was a lot, really. She waved me down again, so I tightened the metal on her neck. "Fine! Fine! Just let me go!" I loosened the metal. "God! What are you, the evil version of the Benefactor?"

"The Benefactor is evil! In my reality, he experimented on people, and used them to kill others. My girlfriend's dad is dead because of someone he gave powers to, and then he kidnapped me, gave me powers, and now I'm hopping between universes because I don't know how to control them!"

She looked like she was about to laugh. "The Benefactor saved the world, man, so whatever weird reality you come from, you must have a different Benefactor."

"Nope, same guy. He said there's only one Benefactor, and he knew what happened to me. Now, who's your boss, and why does he want to study me?"

A new voice entered the conversation, this one I somewhat recongized. "You're quite skilled, Mr. Saul. If your assault on the Jokerz proved anything." I spun around and watched as that guy from HealAll walked down the stairs. With a pair of crutches. He was missing one of his legs, and was wearing something that looked like a high tech eyepatch. "Distinctive slaughter, almost similar to the way the Benefactor took care of the spawn from the Hellgate." He finally stepped up to me and held his hand out to shake hands. "Gerald Kennedy, nice to meet you."

I just glanced at his hand, then back up at his face. "Why do you want to study me?" I asked.

He smiled. "You're quite the interesting specimen. Every time you barely opened your eyes, I saw a portion of your body regenerate itself. Didn't seem to work while you were out, however."

"No, it doesn't. Is that it, you want your leg back? You work for HealAll, just get some of those nano-whatevers that your company makes."

He looked at me like I'd suggested he walk up the side of a building while eating an apple. "HealAll went out of business six years ago, thanks to the Benefactor's wonderous medical technology, and they never produced any sort of nanotechnology. You really are from an alternate reality, aren't you?"

I mock-saluted him. "Con-glat-ur-ations, buddy, and yes, I said that incorrectly. Now, I'm leaving, so that I can maybe figure out how to use these damn reality-hopping powers, understand?"

I walked around him, up the stairs, had my had on the door knob when he said, "The Joker has something special to use against you. Something he's used to keep the Benefactor at bay."

I stopped, turned my head, and said, "Then he better use it on me as soon as I walk out this door, because otherwise, I don't care." After that, I walked out of the room.

***

The Joker carefully applied the make-up to his secret weapon. He smiled widely as the smile took shape on her face. He tied her hair into the pigtails that she preferred and then watched her dress in her usual attire. She slipped on the tank top with the giant smiley face on the back and the purple and white skirt and then she had a real smile on her face.

"Whaddya need from me, Uncle J?" she asked.

"Just a little favor, sweetie pie."

***

I obviously couldn't meditate, and going to talk to the Benefactor again would probably piss me off even more, so I just walked. I just walked, and walked, and walked... There were very few parts of this East City that I didn't end up seeing, and thanks to my healing factor, I didn't need to eat or sleep or even take a piss.

(Now that I think about it, why hadn't I taken a leak or a dump in the past few days? What the hell? Was my body using the waste to replen - Y'know what, I'm just going to ignore that possibility and go on griping about my situation.)

It was nighttime before I decided to stop walking. I just stood in front of the statue of Knight and Guardian and sighed. This was where I'd entered this reality, maybe being here will help me leave it. Long shot, but what the hell else was I doing? May as well give it a try.

At least, that's what I wanted to happen. I closed my eyes, ready to try and leave this reality, and then I was knocked back twenty feet into the glass of a small Italian resturaunt. I stood up, pulled the glass out of my back (pushed it out, in some cases, with my own spine) and looked around for this new threat. Man, however the hell long it is I've had powers and I've been attacked... Seven times. Is this what Charlie deals with on a daily basis? And she still manages to offer to give me a massage every time she thinks I need one? Damn... I give that girl way less credit than she deserves.

I stepped out of the resturant and kept my eyes open, ready to defend myself against... something. I thank that tingling (that didn't go off just a few seconds ago) for the warning it gave me. I jumped to the right just as an energy blast arced its way toward me. It missed me by a couple inches, and snipped off some of my hair. I punched the asphalt for some reason I can't understand, but was very grateful for seconds later, when I absorbed the asphalt and turned into Kid With Double Yellow Stripe Down Face just in time to withstand a blast to the head. I shook it off and looked in the direction of the attack, and that was when i saw her.

She was wearing a black tank top, along with a purple and white skirt. Her boots were purple, with white zippers up the sides. Her purple and green hair was tied in two pigtails high on her head, and her face was covered in clown make-up. She had a real smile to match the one painted on her face and it was this smile, the real one, that scared the life out of me. I'd seen that smile. I saw it here, in this reality, in the last one, in mine.

It was Charlie, hovering in the air, with purple light surrounding her hands. She stood on a purple disc that looked like it was made of energy, and her eyes were glowing bright purple. And she was staring at me.

"No," I said, barely aware that I'd spoken. I shed the asphalt and turned both my arms into those flesh swords. "No!" That time I knew I'd spoken. I broke into a run, and used the swords to block every attack she sent at me, then jumped into the air and knocked her to the ground. "Stop this!"

"Sorry, cutie," she said, still smiling. That smile terrified me. "Uncle J's orders."

"No!" I shouted, jamming my flesh sword into the pavement by her head. She just giggled and flicked me on the forehead, except that it was powered by whatever enegry she could generate, so it sent me flying back about forty feet. People everywhere were scurrying for cover. I changed my arms back to normal, then generated fireballs. I threw them in her direction, but not directly at her. She still ducked out of the way of each one, and countered every fireball with an energy blast that kept hitting me square in the chest.

My shirt was torn to shreds. I ripped it off and grit my teeth. Dozens of attacks at the same spot could actually cause pain, it seemed, but my body was already hard at work healing itself. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to be fighting her. Was Charlie the secret weapon that Kennedy was talking about? Why is it Charlie could keep him at bay?

I didn't have time to think, because Charlie clamped her hands together and fired a very large energy beam straight toward me. I ran toward it, hoping to stop it from destroying anything behind me. Much to my surprise, my feet stopped me from moving, my hands stuck straight out to either side, and my body... well... turned into a wall. Nice big metal one, too. Stuck there, my body stopped the beam from going any further. Looks like I got my wish, nobody else got hurt, but I was still fighting Charlie. This was still horrible.

Charlie gave up the beam attack, and my body shrunk down to normal size. I stood there, ready for whatever she'd try to throw at me next. Or, at least I thought I was. She flew toward me now, her hands balled into energy-powered fists. I steeled myself to grab her and stop her, but then the unthinkable happened. As soon as she touched me, we weren't in the city anymore.

I threw Charlie at the wall in front of me and looked around to see the same room that Charlotte and I had last spoken in. Speaking of the blonde version of my girlfriend, Charlotte was standing there, complete shock splayed across her face.

"What?" was all I could stammer out.

"You just left! What the hell are you doing back here?"

I shrugged. "Accident." After that, an energy blast hit me in the face. "Move!" I shouted, grabbing Charlotte and pulling her out of the way. She yelped in surprise. Anti-Charlie threw energy blasts at us as we ran, but I managed to get Charlotte out of the building. I looked off in the distance and saw the smoke from the damage to the Banter Industries building. It really was mere seconds after I left. That's weird.

"What the hell is going on?" Charlotte asked.

I was starting to feel out of breath. "That freaky chick throwing energy blasts at us, that's you, from another reality."

"Um... what?"

"No shit, Charlotte, now, can you web her to the ground, or something?"

Before she could answer, the wall of the building exploded, and Anti-Charlie stood there, energy practically bleeding from her hands. "Okay, cute boy, either come with me or sit still and die, 'kay?" She looked at Charlotte and a surprised look came over her face. "What's goin' on here? That's..." She started shaking her head. "No... No way... You're... me!"

Charlotte shook her head. "No way I'm you. I'd never wear anything that tacky."

Anti-Charlie bared her teeth and growled. "Shut up, suger plum!" She threw an energy blast at Charlotte, but I pulled her out of the way. A few of her hairs were singed, either way. I picked Charlotte up and teleported us to a nearby rooftop. I set Charlotte down.

"Shit!" I shouted, punching the fence that surrounded the building's air conditioning system. "I can't fight her!"

Charlotte brushed dust off her shirt. "Why not? She's a major bitch."

I looked back at her. "Same reason I wouldn't be able to fight you."

"Because I'm an alternate version of the girl you like?"

"Yes!"

"And?"

"And, what and? Every goddamn time I look at you, I see my Charlie, it's the same with her!"

She smacked me on the head. "And neither one of us is your Charlie! I'm different, she's really different. Don't look at the face, look at that gaudy make-up. Don't think about kissing her, think about knocking her stupid face off, because she's trying to do that to you. Don't think about her as Charlie, think about her as a threat."

At about that time, Anti-Charlie floated up the side of the building and stared us down, that wicked smile on her face. "What's it gonna be, cutie? You gonna come, or you gonna die?"

I ignored the face. I ignored my feelings. I ignored what I saw. Charlotte was right. This wasn't Charlie, no matter how much she looked like her. Charlie would never hurt people. She'd never threaten me. She was the sweetest thing I'd ever met, and I loved her, and this bitch was stopping me from getting back to her. My hands started glowing with fire, and I was suddenly floating in midair.

"No," I growled, disturbingly calmly, "you die."

I flew at the Enemy. It looked frightened, but I didn't care. I knocked it off of its floating purple disc and spun it around at violently dangerous speeds, then threw it down to the street below. It struggled to get out of the crater that I'd left it in, but I didn't even let it finish its crawl. I landed in the crater with it and pulled my Enemy up, grabbed it by the face and started pumping heat into my hand. It screamed, but I wasn't listening.

I threw it out of the crater and flew upwards, grabbing it before gravity brought it back down to the ground. A swirl of water surrounded the Enemy and I, and I knew that I as the cause. I forced water down its throat, then turned the water into freezing cold ice. It gagged, trying to catch a breath, but I didn't let it. Ice was in its lungs, and I turned the ice into fire. It screamed again, but that didn't last long. I grabbed it by the throat and just started squeezing.

I felt the fire burning inside me, now. I threw the Enemy back down into the crater, deepening it in the process. I landed on top of the Enemy and just started throwing punches. Blow after blow after blow, I punched and punched and punched. It tried to scream one last time, but I still wasn't paying any attention to it. I was saying something, I don't know what. Whatever it was, I wasn't even paying attention to myself.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed me by the wrist and stopped me. I turned to see who or what it was, ready to lash out at them now. I was killing my Enemy, why couldn't I keep going? The Benefactor looked at me like I'd just committed a sin. "You can stop now, Timothy," he said, a sadness in his voice. "She's unrecognizable, now."

I looked down at my Enemy - at Anti-Charlie - and saw that he was right. Her face was a mess of blood, bone and teeth. One eye was hanging out of its socket, the other torn in two. No one would ever recognize this dead creature. They'd never know who or what she was, where she was from. And that wasn't even the worst part of it.

I'd done it.

I ripped my arm from the Benefactor's grip and then knocked him into the air with a violently strong backhand. "You did this to me!" I shouted/growled. It was like I was in animal mode, or something. "You made me kill her!"

He caught himself in the air, floated there, but that didn't stop me. I flew upward and slammed my fist into his face. He tried to match me, but he couldn't. I kicked him in the stomach, flew around behind him and elbowed him in the back of the head, thrust my fist through his chest. Unfortunately, the animal part of my brain that was obviously in control didn't realize that I was just wasting my time. The Benefactor had all the same powers as me, and had had them for longer. Even if I was hurting him, it didn't last long.

Eventually, he grabbed me by the throat. "I can see you need a time out, Timothy. Don't worry, when I can, I'll give you some of the answers you need." He squeezed, and I fell unconscious.

***

I awoke on the roof where I'd left Charlotte. She was waiting for me, a concerned look on her face. I shook off any questions she asked, and just sat there, thinking about what I'd just done. About what I'd been able to do. About what I'd said.

About what I'd become.

"I have to leave," was all I'd said to her, and she was understandably disappointed in that answer, but I didn't give her anything else. Instead, I concentrated, and traveled somewhere else. Another reality. I had to get away from that one, from the things I'd done there.

***

Where ever the hell it was that I appeared in, I landed in somebody's apartment. There was trash all over the floor, some major computer equipment in one corner, and a bed on one wall. If I could have seen my own face, I'm sure I would have been shocked, because laying on the bed was a human-shaped cat in a plain white tee-shirt.

The cat-girl opened her eyes for a second, saw me, then shrieked. She jumped onto all fours and I saw bared teeth. I held up my hands to show that I wasn't there to hurt her.

"Whoa! I'm not here to hurt you!" I also said it aloud. "I'm... from another dimension?" I said with apprehension. Cat-girls exist here, doesn't mean they know that alternate realities exist.

Her eyes lit up. "You, too?"

"This has happened before?"

"I'm from another dimension. I'm... yeah, not from here."

"Okay... voice of experience... um... Can you go back to your dimension?"

She shook her head. "No. I've been stuck here ever since I melded with my cat and got sucked through a dimensional rift, or something like - "

I cut her off. "Melded with your cat?"

"Yeah."

I shook my head. "I'm outta here." I concentrated on getting the hell away from there.

***

I opened my eyes and found myself in what looked like a desecrated shithole. Literally, too, I was stepping in shit. I quickly jumped out of the feces and used my water making powers to wash my shoes off. I had to figure out where I was.

I walked through the doorway in front of me and found myself... on the other side of a wall that was simply standing up in the middle of what looked like a bombing zone. I looked around to see if I could make out where I was, but I couldn't. My only clue was a poster that wasn't written in English. Actually, it looked an awful lot like Korean. Great. I'm in another one of those realities. I shook my head, then concentrated again.

On to the next one!

***

I opened my eyes in another building. This one was completely dark, save for the minimal light coming from the open door to my left. I thought about my different powers and then my hand started glowing, illuminating the room. I looked up at a large spider's web, with probably sixteen human-sized coccoons dotted around it.

"Light go away!" someone shouted, swatting at my hand. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a horrific abomination of human and spider. Worse: It was Charlie. The Charlie of this reality, apparently, turned into a mutant spider, with her lower half being completely tarantula-like. Four legs, four arms, yep, eight limbs. She hissed at me with that weird spider-mouth she had.

"Oh, I'm gonna go away..." I said, closing my eyes. I heard her jump at me, but I managed to get out of there just in time.

***

The new reality I opened my eyes to was made out of candy, so I immediately shut my eyes and left again.

***

My next reality actually looked like East City, but things just looked... wrong somehow. I was on top of a building, and from there I could see a very large landmark, another building, with a giant rotating globe on top. I jumped down to the ground floor (AKA: The Street) and found a news stand. I paid the ridiculously cheap twenty-five cents for their most popular paper and found it to be called the Daily Planet, which, to me, meant it was probably that building with the globe.

"Hey," I said to the guy at the news stand. He leaned forward. "You got any super heroes here?"

He laughed. "Yeah, kid, we do. Look, up in the sky."

I did, and saw two very obvious things: a bird, and a plane. "What? The bird? The plane?"

He smacked me in the head, then pointed to a speck flying between the bird and the plane. "No, dumbass, Superman!"

Suddenly, the flying speck came a little closer to Earth and I saw the red cape and blue tights that did, indeed, signify Superman. I turned back to the news stand guy. "So. There a Gotham around here somewhere?"

"Huh? You talkin' about Jersey?"

Okay. Christopher Reeve Movie Superman. "No, thinking of something else, sorry." I walked around the corner into the alleyway and made my way to the next reality.

***

I appeared, this time, in a well-furnished office. Where all the writing appeared to be in Japanese. Why did I keep ending up in realities where things were Asian?! This is all punishment for failing miserably at trying to learn Chinese when I was younger, I know it is.

I was about to leave this reality when these two Japanese guys appeared from out of nowhere. I'm sure I had about as surprised an expression as they did. They said something to each other, but I couldn't understand it.

"Um... Either one of you know English?"

The shorter one with the rounder face and the glasses nodded. "Yes, we both speak English," he said, in a slightly ridiculous accent. Then again, it was probably his real accent. "Who are you?"

"Um... Tim. You?"

"My name is Hiro Nakamura, and this is my friend, Ando Masahasi."

The one named Ando asked, "Do you control time and space, like Hiro?"

I shook my head. Actually, that wasn't true. Penelope mentioned that I had time powers, who the hell knew, maybe I could travel through time and space. "Uh, are people with super powers common here?"

Hiro nodded. "Well, somewhat. I have met many, like Takezo Kensei, Peter Petrelli, Nathan Petrelli... um..."

I scratched my chin. Those names sounded awfully familiar. "Awesome," I said. "Any who hop realities?"

"Hop realities? What?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. Um... Bye...?"

"You are leaving?"

"Yeah, showing up here was kind of an accident."

"Ah, I see. I went back to the year sixteen seventy-one doing that."

"Awesome," I repeated, then I closed my eyes and moved onto the next reality.

***

My next reality looked, again, an awful lot like East City, but I was easily clued in to this one being different when I saw Stark Tower from The Avengers and watched as Iron Man destroyed one of those big leviathan things. Clearly, every movie ever made exists in its own parallel universe to our own. This is gonna take some time...

And of course, Thor landed beside me. "You, mortal boy!" he shouted at me. Damn, he really does do that. "'Tis not safe to be here. The Chitauri are invading Midgard, and the citizens of New York need to be elsewhere, out of harm's way."

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I know. By the way, the Hulk's gonna punch you in a little bit."

"What?"

"Bye." And I hopped to another reality.

***

Somehow, I ended up in the reality with the cat-girl again. I didn't give her a chance to speak before I hopped to a different reality.

***

The latest reality was looking closer and closer to mine. It actually felt like East City, this time. I looked around for any possible hints, but I couldn't see anything that would suggest this was my East City.

Until I saw Guardian flying across the sky.

I would have leaped up into the air and flown up there to tell Guardian just how happy I was to be back home, but then I saw him fly down to the El Train, pick it up, and throw it into the river. I realized quite quickly that this wasn't my reality, but I couldn't let Evil Guardian get away with that. I had the power to do something, may as well do it.

I finally leaped up into the sky and flew toward where Evil Guardian was, loosing his heat vision on a group of unsuspecting citizens. For a vague moment, I wondered why he'd be doing this, but that passed, and I just decided to hover there, arms crossed. Staring at him. He turned around and glared at me. "What, kid?"

"You got a reason to be killing these people?"

He shrugged. "It's fun."

I smiled. He didn't even notice the ice starting to form around his legs. "So's this." I covered his entire lower half in ice, then let gravity do its thing. He landed on the ground, smashed the ice and flew upwards at me. I cocked my fist back for a punch, and then shot my arm forward. And forward. And forward. Much like that elastic woman from a couple realities ago, my arm stretched out impossibly far, hitting Evil Guardian right in the face.

That didn't stop him, however. He recovered from my attack and let loose a powerful heat vision attack, which I didn't even jump out of the way from. For some reason, my body was on auto-pilot, and I literally swatted the heat vision blast away from me. This really pissed Evil Guardian off. He fired off more heat vision blasts in rapid succession, and all of them I either knocked away or absorbed into myself. I wondered if this was an effect of one of my powers.

Evil Guardian figured out that his blasts were useless, and instead flew toward me again. Auto-Pilot Me decided to counter his attack by doing the same thing. We each cocked back our arms, ready to punch, and when we did, there was a shockwave. That sounds non-chalant, but it's the best way I can describe such a large event. If anyone had been watching, they'd probably have a seizure.

The attack knocked Evil Guardian down to the ground while it knocked me into another reality.

***

I landed in a crater that was being pelted with rain. I looked around and saw tens of thousands of people in suits looking down at the crater. Not just tens of thousands of people in suits. Tens of thousands of the same guy wearing dark suits and dark sunglasses. The weirder part: That same guy was also in the crater, fighting a guy wearing a trenchcoat. Neither one of them were wearing sunglasses.

That was when I realized it. The Matrix. I was in the third movie. Don't know why this was a reality I went to, but what the hell? I did just go to the Marvel Cinematic Universe a little bit ago. Charlie was gonna geek out when I told her that. She'd probably ask me to take her there.

I closed my eyes, concentrated, and left this reality.

***

I opened my eyes, this time, to the reality where the Benefactor was considered a hero. I sat down on the closest curb and just took a breath. This was getting out of hand. What was I gonna do this time, hop somewhere where Charlie's a giant bird with seventeen eyes? I sighed. I needed to calm myself, and soon.

Of course, all the reality hopping itself wasn't helping. Things were starting to bleed together. Some realities had similarities, some were radically different. I had no real way of knowing whether or not that reality with the cat-girl had an East City, because all I ever saw of it was an apartment. That could have been anywhere.

"Tough to process, eh?" a voice behind me said. I looked up and saw him. The Benefactor. I would have tried to kill him, if not for the fact that I was tired as all hell. I just nodded. "I understand. I had that problem, too, when I first developed the reality shifting ability. You get all mixed up. You see places that look familiar, even friendly, and you lose the fact that it's not the same place you used to be." He pulled me to my feet. "But it's something you can never forget. Understand? It's something you need to remember."

I pushed his hands off of me. "Why the hell do you care? Why did you do this to me?!"

He didn't answer the question, he simply said, "Come. There's some things I want to show you." He pointed behind himself and a vortex appeared. I looked around and realized that no one else was moving. He must have frozen time so that he could open that vortex. He walked inside it and motioned for me to follow, so I did.

I walked out of the vortex into what looked like a super market. "What's this?" I asked. He pointed to the window. I watched as first a blinding flash of light erupted from an unknown source, then a shockwave of fire burst out in all directions. It ripped apart the super market, but the Benefactor stopped himself and I from being killed in the wave. I looked as the mushroom cloud grew, even while the explosion itself hadn't ended.

"This is your future," he said. "Not in your reality, not even in your timeline. But this is your future." He turned to me. "Everything you know will end. It's simply going to happen."

I grit my teeth. "And, what? I'm just supposed to let it?!"

"You can't stop it. My giving you powers is the act that caused it."

I grabbed him by the collar. "Then why the hell did you do it?!"

"To ensure it. Apparently you've forgotten, I'm the villain of this story, whether I've been beneficial or not. I don't help the heroes, I destroy them."

I pushed him aside. "Take me back, now. You've proven that you really can, so do it. If this - "I motioned to the destruction around us. " - is my future, then I want to spend what's left of it with Charlie."

He nodded. "She'll be the first casualty. It would be best if you spent your last moments with the one you love."

I balled my hands into fists. "What do you know about that?"

He tapped me in the forehead. "I've lived your life, I've lived hers. I've lived everyone's. I know every moment of love you've ever had. And I've known every moment of pain you've yet to have."

"If you know all this, why do you want to cause it?!"

He shook his head. "You're too young to understand. I'm going to send you to another point in time, this one not so long ago." He opened another vortex, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me through with him.

The time we arrived in appeared to be extremely early. Probably pre-dawn of man, even. I didn't see or hear any living creatures, I just looked out upon an untouched landscape. It looked alien and beautiful and familiar all at the same time. It was the strangest thing.

"No, this isn't pre-dawn of man," the Benefactor said. He pointed across the way and I saw them: a group of hunters prowling around. Suddenly, a glowing white being appeared in front of one of the hunters, touched him on the forehead, and then a pink and green mist surrounded him. The Benefactor walked in front of me. "That was the dawn of the Chosen." He turned to look at me. "It's because of this event that people such as Charlie even exist."

"What are you talking about?"

He pointed at the still-pervasive mist. "If it weren't for that Chosen living on, procreating, and the children of that Chosen living on and procreating, there would be no Chosen. It's a big secret of the Choosers, that their precious specimens aren't randomly selected. No. They were chosen from an early age, before they even knew."

"You're saying that all the Chosen on this planet are descendants of him?"

"And the various others coming into existence all across the planet." He turned back to me. "Things would have turned out very differently had that event not happened."

"So why don't you stop it? You obviously want to be the strongest man alive, to slaughter billions, why don't you?"

He shook his head. "If I stop this event, I'll cease to exist. I can't stop the dawn of the Chosen, I can only destroy them all when I get the chance, and that chance is coming soon."

I shook my head. "Why the hell do you keep telling me this?"

He grabbed me by the throat. There's that throat grabbing again, goddamnit. "Because I want someone to know."

***

The Benefactor brought us out of another vortex. This one led to a building, one slightly more modern than our last location. It looked like there was a shootout going on. I saw ECPD on one side and a group of Upscales who were hiding out in the building. I looked around the room at all the tables covered with bags of white powder. Cocaine, I guessed, maybe meth. Either way, I didn't care, I just wanted to be out of the firefight.

"Wait," the Benefactor said. "There's something I want you to see."

Grudgingly (because I couldn't figure out my own time traveling powers), I waited for whatever it was the Benefactor wanted me to see. The shootout raged at least another thirty minutes before a man I had only seen recently in alternate realities walked in. Charlie's dad looked weird in a beat cop outfit, but he looked right at home pointing that gun at everybody.

"Hey! Lafayette! Get in here and get these guys handcuffed!" Mr. Harkins shouted. He didn't even pay any attention to us. We must have been invisible. "Get the photographer in here!" I watched as the cops went about their business, doing everything from bagging and toe tagging to cuffing and even taking what few witness depositions there were. "Hey! Kid!" Charlie's dad shouted, looking in my direction.

I looked around and I couldn't see the Benefactor. That bastard must have left me without keeping me invisible. The photographer snapped another picture, this one included me, but I made myself invisible before Charlie's dad got over to me. He looked around, surprised, then shook it off. "Must've been dreamin'."

"No, sarge, there was a kid there. I got him on the photos."

"Then where the hell did he go?"

"I dunno."

Charlie's dad shook his head. "Forget about it. We've got other shit to worry about."

Another cop shouted, "Sarge! Dispatch!"

He grabbed the radio clipped to his shoulder. "Go for Harkins."

Over the radio, I heard the dispatcher say, "Sergeant Harkins, grab yourself a cigar! Hospital just called, you're officially a father!" I saw Mr. Harkins' eyes widen in surprise, then he grabbed and hugged the nearest other officer. He was cheering like a wild man.

"C'mon," the Benefactor said. I turned around and saw him standing by the vortex. "You saw what I needed you to see."

"Charlie's dad the day she was born?"

He nodded.

***

I don't know when I fell unconscious, but I know when I woke up. I looked around and saw my bedroom, exactly as it had beeen when Harmony rushed in and kidnapped me. I burst from my room, looking for my parents. They were both looked shocked. "Timmy?" Mom said. "Oh! Timmy! What happened? How'd you get here?"

I shook my head. "Too much to tell ya, ma. Long story short, I've got more in common with Charlie now."

Dad asked, "You shoot webs?"

"And then some. I've gotta run, I'll be back as soon as possible, okay?" I didn't give them a chance to answer, I simply ran. It probably didn't help that I super speed ran, but I needed to get to Charlie. I needed to. She needed to know. I had to tell her everything.

***

Charlie Harkins heard a rapid knocking on her bedroom door. Groggily, she awoke, got up from her bed, and stumbled her way to her door. She opened it to Tim, looking like he'd been run through a washing machine.

"Babe, I've got so much to tell you!" he said, an intensity to his voice she'd never heard from him.

Charlie yawned. "Okay. Lemme get some coffee, okay?"

***

Charlie sat crosslegged on her bed, yawning. I was pacing the room, talking a mile a minute, telling her the whole story. Not once as I was talking did she ask questions, nor did she ever call me crazy. She didn't ask for me to demonstrate any of my powers, but that probably had to do with the fact that I was demonstrating them in the room, setting off her smoke detector once, even.

"And then, I did some rapid-fire reality hopping, for reasons I still can't explain, and I think I went to probably a thousand different realities, like one with this cat-girl and one with these two Japanese guys... I even - "

"Tim," she said, cutting me off. I stopped pacing and looked at her. "What about you made this Benefactor guy pick you?"

"Huh?"

"Baby, I don't mean anything by this, but... why you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know! And he never told me, other than because he was 'like me'."

She raised an eyebrow. "As in you both got your powers synthetically, or what?"

"I don't know. It didn't make any sense to me. Hell, this whole... adventure didn't make any sense to me. I saw so many different versions of you, one of them was a cheerleader, one of them - "

She cut me off again. "A cheerleader?"

"Yeah. She went by Charlotte, and her dad was still alive."

"Charlotte? I can't even stand Charlotte."

"I know that. Still, this wasn't you."

"Well, it kinda was. I mean, technically, she was me had my life taken a different turn."

"No, I don't think so."

"Why's that?"

"Well, because there, Chosen were fugitives."

"Oh."

"And then there was this other one, where that Charlie was half spider."

"Gross."

"And..."

"What?"

"One where that Charlie was just like you were, except when she was wearing Joker make-up."

"What?"

"Yeah. I... I didn't want to talk about that one."

"Joker make-up? As in worked for the Joker?"

"As in called him 'Uncle J' and treated him like he was her father. She also had different powers, she shot energy blasts out of her hands."

"But, before the Joker make-up came on, she was just like me, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Sounds like that Melody girl I dealt with in Los Milagros."

"Huh?"

"She was this weird kind of Chosen, but these government guys came and took her away after I softened her up for 'em."

I thought back to when the Benefactor had me in his lab, and I remembered. Melody Hunter, the terror of Los Milagros. Isn't that what he called her? I'd seen the news when all that stuff was going down. That girl had murdered hundreds. And now she was with the Benefactor.

"What is it?" Charlie asked.

"That Melody Hunter... She's with him."

"Him who? The Benefactor?"

I nodded. "He also had Harmony Sprite and some other girl named Korra."

She raised an eyebrow. 'Wait, huh? Harmony? The Harpie girl with the super powers?"

"The wha - "

She cut me off again. "Do not ask me what a Harpie is!"

I held my hands up defensively. "Okay, okay. Sorry."

There was a knock on the door. Charlie got up, walked past me, and opened it to reveal her mother standing there. Mrs. Harkins looked surprised to see me. "Timmy, what are you doing here? It's two o'clock in the morning."

"He's... well... It's a long story, Mom."

I nodded. "I was, um... Y'see, a lot happened to me tonight, and I - " That was when it hit me. "Heroes!"

Both Charlie and her mom both looked confused.

"The reality with the two Japanese guys, Heroes. Remember, the time traveler who's dad was Sulu from Star Trek?" Neither one of them said anything. "What?"

Charlie turned back to her mom. "So, what is it?"

"I just got paged, I need to head out to the hospital."

"Okay."

"The hospital," I asked.

Charlie closed the door. Her mom had left. "Yeah. My mom's an on-call nurse. Didn't I tell you that?"

"No."

"Oh. Sorry." She grabbed me by the arm, opened the door, and shoved me out into the hall. "Now, go babysit my little brother until I get dressed, okay?"

I went to protest, but she had already shut the door. Instead, I just sighed. Babysit Chris? That's easy, after what I just went through. Maybe it'd actually be a little fun, I don't know. I walked out into the living room and saw Chris lying in his crib. He made a baby noise then I think he made a mess in his diaper. I shrugged, then picked him up. Charlie had taught me how to change diapers a few weeks before, when I had to babysit the kid.

Hrmph. A few weeks. Feels like a few years ago, now. I went through so much shit in those alternate realities, I felt like I was ten years older. I took off the crappy diaper and went to get another when I felt a weird shock. I dropped the diaper, thankfully in the trash, and then fell backwards. Smoke filled the room for a moment.

I coughed, then stood up, and where, moments before, there had been a six month old child, there now sat a fourteen year old kid, desperately trying to cover his privates. "What the hell?!"

Charlie ran out of her room, still not totally dressed. She was wearing jeans, but the only thing she had on up top was a bra. "What was that?" she asked, concern in her voice.

The kid covered his eyes while still trying to cover his crotch. "Oh, God," he said. "I'm seeing my sister in her underwear."

Charlie covered herself. "Chris?! What the hell happened to you?"

I raised my hand. "I think I did that."

"What the hell did you do to my little brother?!"

"I don't know! I still don't know half the goddamn powers I have!"

The kid I now knew was an older Chris removed the hand from his face and asked, "Can somebody get me some clothes, please?"

Charlie nodded quickly, then ran back into her bedroom. I turned to face away from him, because seeing another guy's dick was something I just didn't want to do. A moment later, Charlie returned with a handful of clothes, having also quickly put on a shirt herself. "Here, pick something. Quick!"

She walked over to me, turning away from her little brother. I leaned in and whispered, "Why do you have guy clothes?"

She turned red-faced. "Um... I..."

Fourteen year old Chris answered, "Because she used to be a guy."

My eyes widened. "What?!"

She shrugged. "Well, it never seemed like it was something I had to explain, 'cuz we were... y'know..." She looked at me. "What?!"

"You used to be a guy? I've been dating a transgender chick this whole time?"

"Kinda... um... I dunno?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm only a girl 'cuz I was Chosen."

"What?"

"Yeah. All the Chosen are like that. They were one gender, they got Chosen, then they were the other. I'm not the only one."

"So, Seeker used to be a girl?"

"Yeah."

"Same with Guardian, and... Wait, what about Knight?"

"He's just a regular guy in a costume, not a super powered Chosen. He's a hero, just not with powers."

"And you've been keeping this from me the whole time? Wait a minute, why the hell were you keeping your old clothes?"

She pulled a piece of fabric from her back pocket. "I knit scarfs in my spare time."

"You do?"

"What?! It's peaceful!"

***

Charlie sat across the table from her now-teenaged brother, who was busy chowing down on a bowl of Cheerios. He moaned almost orgasmically for a second, then gulped and said, "This stuff is way better than baby food!"

Charlie passed him a napkin. "Well, clean yourself up. You're makin' a mess."

He took the napkin from her and did as she instructed. "Thanks."

"Why aren't you acting like a baby, anyway?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"I mean, it only makes sense that you would, right? You were only six months old five minutes ago."

"I really don't know." He jerked a thumb towards Timmy, who was pacing the floor again. He's gonna wear a hole in the floor doing that. And, who the hell knows, one of his powers may actually be to wear holes in things. "Ask him. He did it."

"Tim, why isn't my little brother acting like the baby he was five minutes ago?"

Tim shrugged. "I don't know!"

"Did I make you mad because you just found out I used to be a boy?"

"No, it's more along the lines of I could kill both of you because I don't know what I can do!"

Chris wolfed down more Cheerios. Charlie sighed. They'd need more. "He needs to chill out," Chris said.

She sighed again, then walked over to her overanxious boyfriend and webbed his feet to the floor. "Stop, okay? Just stop."

"I'm only stopping so that you feel like you did something," he said, grabbing her hands and rubbing at them. "I could break free from this stuff easily. I can make this stuff."

"You do webs, too? Do you have any of my other powers? Wall-crawling, spider sense?"

"What's that last one?"

"Spider sense? Danger warning sense? It tells me when there's danger."

"That, I know I've got that one."

"Okay. And you say that this Benefactor guy has all these powers because he... erm... killed all these Chosen before? Even me?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. He said he's lived everyone's life, too. He said a lot of things, and I can't figure out half of them. Plus, there's no guarantee he was even telling the truth! He's supposed to be the bad guy, from his own words, but he goes around letting people call him the Benefactor."

"Wait, what? Letting?"

"Yeah. He said that's what people call him, that his real name wasn't important."

"So, this guy doesn't even use that name himself?"

"Well, people in that alternate reality called him that, too, so I imagine he told them that that was his name."

"But he didn't make it up himself?"

"I guess not, no."

"That means that his image is largely made up by the opinions of his subordinates."

"Huh?"

"Like, um... Well... Actually, I'm having a hard time thinking about anybody. Um... Well, I guess, the Wizard of Oz?"

"Huh?"

"Well, people thought he was this big floating green head, but he was just a guy behind a curtain."

"And you're saying that the Benefactor's kind of like that?"

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. It just sounded good at the time." She locked her fingers between his. "Look, just because you have all these powers doesn't mean you can't control them."

He shook his head. "Doesn't change what I did to Chris."

Chris said, "Saved me from potty training, years of time outs and being teased by a sister who was twice my age? All fine, to me!"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Stopped me from having an actual baby brother?"

***

Chris Harkins didn't feel weird in any way, despite the fact that he had been prematurely aged fourteen years. Somehow, knowledge that any fourteen year old would have was already downloaded into his head, as if whatever it was that Tim had done to age him had helped him avoid being seen as awkward. Whatever the reason, he was glad.

He wasn't glad, however, to be sitting in a hotel room that overlooked a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Charlie was sitting beside him, munching down on Doritos. He would have been doing the same, but eating an entire box of Cheerios negated any need to eat that he had. He was just bored.

"How long do we have to be here?" he asked.

Charlie shrugged. "'Til we see something, I guess. Tim said this was the building in the other reality that he realized had been the one in this reality that the Benefactor had shot him up with super powers."

"That didn't make much sense."

She shrugged again. "I crawl on walls and shoot webs out of my wrist. My friend jumped long distances and could feel where people were through the ground. My boyfriend has more super powers than a man with a million fingers can count. Seeing as this has been our reality for several months now, nothing makes sense." She munched on a few more Doritos. "Oh, need I remind you that you were still in diapers this morning?"

He yawned. "No." He grabbed the binoculars and looked at the entrances that they could see. "So, why isn't he here, busting this place down? He's sure this is the place, right?"

"He said he needed a place to rest, in peace and quiet."

"Where's he gonna find that here?"

She shrugged again. "The sky, maybe? He says he can fly, now."

Chris set the binoculars down and leaned back in his chair. "If these guys are so secretive, do you guys really think any of 'em are just gonna walk out the door and take a leak?"

"Well, considering only one of them has a dick, the other three aren't likely gonna go outside to pee."

"It was all I had."

"I know." She yawned, now. "You know Mom's gonna freak, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"And, if Dad were still alive, he'd be taking you to the first ball game this season."

He smiled. "I know."

"I miss Dad. I wish you could have known him longer than a couple months."

He nodded. "Me, too."

"He would have loved having a son, again." She looked to her side, out the window, then dropped the Doritos bag. "Hey, what's that?"

Chris grabbed the binoculars again and lifted them to his eyes. He saw someone walking up to the warehouse, someone with scruffy brown hair. "I... I think it's your boyfriend."

Charlie grabbed her mask and pulled it over her face. "Fuck!"

***

I reached out toward the giant roller door at the front of the building, using my telekinesis. I ripped the door off the building, then walked walked inside. I had to find them. I had to stop them. There was nothing else left to do. The Benefactor wanted that future with the fire, he wasn't getting it. I was going to turn this curse of powers into a weapon against him. Against him.

I ran forward, further into the building. In the other reality, it was six rooms in. I broke down walls, ripped open doors. I had to find him. There was no other choice. I finally found my way into the room where he did it and...

And nothing. There was no one there. The freshly dead body of that Cloak guy was the only thing there. I wondered if there had even been any lag between my going to the alternate realities and waking up in my bedroom. I may have only been gone seconds to this reality, even though it had been days.

"Dammit!" I shouted, kicking the corpse hard enough to knock the head clean off, into the wall. It splattered against the wall, sending blood flying around the room.

"Jesus, that's gross!" Charlie said, behind me. I spun around to see her standing there, wearing plain clothes save for her mask. "Did you kill that guy?"

I shook my head. "No. The Benefactor did, before I got sent to those alternate realities."

"Well, why'd you kick his head off?"

"Because I wanted that bastard to be here! I wanted to kill him!"

"Um... Okay."

I sighed. "You don't get it. He's going to cause everyone to die. He told me that giving me powers was the first step toward that, and I need to stop that."

"Well, not by yourself."

"Who's gonna help me, Charlie? Who?"

She meekly raised her hand. "Your super powered girlfriend? Plus, there's Guardian, Knight, Angel, whoever's left in Pine Ridge, that Banter Industries super team in Glassview City and those weirdos in Los Milagros. You're one of us, now. And that means that you'll always have help."

I looked at her, and saw something that surprised the hell out of me. Charlie wasn't just the same girl to me, now. I've loved her since the first time I saw her, but that was just ordinary teenage love. Instead, I saw that this girl standing in front of me wasn't just any other girl. I truly loved her, now. And I really didn't want her to die.

"Charlie... I can't... I can't let you help."

"Why?"

"Because, he told me... You'd be the first to die."

I couldn't see her eyes under her mask, but I imagine they were widened in horror. "What?"

I nodded. "I can't let you die, Charlie. I love you, and I don't just mean in the normal teenager I love you, I love you too way. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I don't want you to suffer what this bastard has planned."

She grabbed my hand. "Then I'm helping."

"No!"

"Timothy Barthalomew Saul!" I winced as she said my full name. I didn't remember telling her my middle name was Barthalomew. Dammit, Mom... "The only way I'm not helping is if you kill me now, and considering you finally told me you loved me, I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon."

"You could die."

"Then I die fighting side-by-side with the one I love. And that's important to me. I've always done what I think is right, and I think this is right."

I pulled her mask off, grabbed her face, pulled her close and kissed her in the closest thing to passionately that I think I've ever been able to do.

***

Chris helped Charlie go through some of the boxes that the Benefactor's people had left behind. He couldn't even figure out what some of that crap had been, let alone what it could have done. He poked around in one of the boxes and found a notebook. He picked through it, saw that it belonged either to some girl named Korra, a girl named Stephanie, or a guy named Brandon. All three of them seemed to have written their names in the small box that read property of. The creepy thing was that all three of them wrote with the same handwriting.

He tossed the notebook away and picked up another box, this one significantly heavier. "Jesus, what the hell did they keep in this thing?"

"Open it up and see," Charlie said, looking through some papers. "Man, that Cloak guy did some freaky things to Chosen. Looks like he'd been doing it since the Dark Ages."

Chris opened the box, reached inside and pulled out a weird looking robot head. "What the heck does this thing do?" He looked over at Charlie, who looked like she'd just seen a ghost. "What?"

"Gimme that," she said, shooting a webline at it and yanking it out of his hands. C'mon, sis, that was kinda rough! "Holy shit..."

"What?"

"The Harpies... um... HARP, Humans Against Rising Powers, they're a bunch of assholes who hate Chosen because we have super powers. They think that we think that we're superior to humans."

"Don't some of you?"

She glared at him. "Not the point, Chris. The point, is that HARP builds these robots."

"And?"

"Charlie!" Tim shouted from another room. The brother and sister team followed the sound of his voice, where Tim threw a switch and illuminated the entire room. All six miles of it. It took Chris a second to remember that they'd traveled down stairs to get to where they were. They were underground.

"Holy shit..." Charlie repeated. "This means..."

"It means exactly what he told me. He said he's been playing HARP. He meant he's been running HARP."

Chris couldn't believe what he was seeing. Six entire miles of eight foot tall robots, all of them decked out with one deadly looking weapon or another. He felt Charlie grab his hand. He couldn't understand why she wasn't grabbing her boyfriend's hand, but then he realized that Tim was too busy holding onto the railing, looking like he was about to give an army a command.

He could, too, Chris thought, if we can figure out how to reprogram these things.

***

The Benefactor watched on the screen as Tim, Charlie and Christopher looked out upon his robots, and he smiled. All was going according to plan. Now, he would wait. He would wait until the time was right for his final step. The step he'd spent countless lifetimes planning. The step that would ensure the future he wanted.

The Benefactor took a sip of coffee, and then smiled again.

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave, impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry."
— Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

The Big Fight, Part One

The television buzzed, and then the image of an average looking man with slicked back brown hair appeared on the screen. "Good afternoon, everyone. My name isn't important, so my friends have taken to calling me the Benefactor, and I'd like to make an announcement. Some of the Chosen know me, but others do not, and I'd just like to tell all of you out there... That your time is numbered. East City will be razed soon, mark my words, and few will survive the onslaught coming. Pine Ridge was the teaser trailer, everyone, this is the film you've all been waiting for." The image buzzed out.

***

The President of the United States picked up his telephone and pressed a button that no one knew was on the phone. The phone rang only once, and then the cigarette smoking man answered. "Mr. President," he said. It wasn't a question. The phone on the cigarette smoking man's desk only connected to one number.

The President made certain that no one else could hear his voice. "You saw the broadcast," he said, not a question. These two men knew exactly who they were talking to. "He's moved up the time table you projected."

"I know. It wasn't too unexpected, but it will complicate things."

"I sure as hell didn't expect it. He mentioned Pine Ridge. I thought the Benefactor wasn't affiliated with HARP or the Joker?"

The President couldn't see the cigarette smoking man's face, but he assumed there was a look of disdain. The cigarette smoking man prided himself in being right as often as possible, and didn't like to be surprised. This broadcast had pulled the rug out from under the world's feet. "I can't answer that, sir. Things seem to be... wrong with our information."

The President leaned back in his seat. "Was this broadcast worldwide?"

"It was. And in every known language."

"I'm going to teleconference with the world's leaders. The Benefactor is no longer a future threat. He's become a very real current event."

"I understand, Mr. President."

"After that, I'm meeting with the cabinet and the joint chiefs. I expect you to be there to brief them."

"Yes, sir, Mr. President."

"Good." The President hung up the phone, then pressed another, more obvious button on it. "I want National Guard troops sent to East City immediately. They're to meet with and aid the city's police and Chosen." He hung up again, and this time, he didn't pick the phone back up immediately. Instead, he sat there and pondered the possibilities. The President was afraid. The Benefactor was a greater threat now than he had been yesterday, and there would be no easy way to deal with that threat.

***

Charlie Harkins went just one step short of actually jumping onto the backboard and dunking the ball that way, but her younger brother, Chris, was still trying to play catch-up in points. "C'mon, baby bro, you can do it!" she said, ready to jump and knock the ball out of the air as soon as he went for his shot.

"Bite me, okay? You've got spider powers, I've got nil."

"I could always go get Cindy, it could be you two against me."

"No! It's bad enough I can't beat a girl alone, I don't wanna havta get a girl to beat a girl!"

"That's just sexist, Chris."

He made his shot, Charlie jumped...

...but didn't catch the ball. She landed back on the ground and saw William Brand holding the ball, passing it between his hands. "And I thought that spider sense of yours could detect anything," he said, tossing the ball to Charlie.

She caught the ball. "Only if I'm in danger. What're you doing here?"

He ignored the question and walked over to Chris, who looked confused. "William Brand, CEO of Brand Industries. It's nice to meet you, Christopher."

Chris turned to his sister. "How does he know who I am?"

Charlie sighed. "Because he's a fairly accurate Batman rip-off. Now, answer my question, what are you doing here?"

He turned to her. "You saw the broadcast earlier?"

"You mean where that Benefactor guy basically said he was gonna kick the shit out of everyone in town? Yeah, I saw it. Why?"

"National Guard is on their way, and they're using me to round up the city's Chosen."

Charlie turned to her brother. "Tell Mom I'm not gonna be home for dinner, okay?"

***

"What do you mean?" Chris's mother asked when he got home. "She just left with Mr. Brand?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. She said he's some kind of Batman wannabe, that he's a costume, too."

Melissa Harkins sighed and groaned at the same time. "I can't believe that girl. Now I'm going to worry for..." She looked out the window and saw something she never thought she'd see in any American city. Even the news broadcasts of Pine Ridge never showed this. There were helicopters flying everywhere, tanks rolling up the streets, soldiers marching alongside them.

East City was being invaded by the United States Army National Guard.

***

Penelope Banter waited for Marvin to step out of the helicopter. He then slid the passenger door open, and Penelope, Brenda and Elliot all stepped out. The two Brits stared in awe at Banter Tower East, likely because it was almost a carbon copy of the facility in Glassview, regularly maintained to look that way, right down to the personal effects in each room. The sensors all over the tower kept this up, so that if one opened a book in Glassview, the book would be on the exact same page in East City.

Penelope disregarded the visitor in her office as she walked in, took off her coat, and set it over the back of her desk chair. She quickly set to work making sure the Titan model under construction in the workshop was up to specs. She regretted not being able to bring her original with her from Glassview. The President had thought it would be a bad idea to fly there in it.

Brenda Hobden regarded the visitor, generally with a look of sheer surprise. She hadn't expected anyone of William Brand's stature to simply be waiting for them. "Um, can we help you, sir?" she asked, feeling a little awkward. She heard Elliot laugh, then elbowed him in the rib.

"Penelope," Brand said, completely disregarding Brenda. That's nice. I do have a magic ring I could use to knock you on your arse, you know! She kept her thoughts to herself, though she assumed Elliot could see the look on her face thanks to his latest round of chuckles. She elbowed him again. "You know why we're here."

"We, William? Are you talking about the three of us and you, or did you bring a friend along? A Boy Wonder, perhaps, or maybe your English butler who scolds you in your cave?"

Much to Brenda's surprise, down came a girl in plain clothes on a webline. She oriented herself right side up, then dropped from her web and landed on the floor. "Hi, Ms. Banter," Charlie Harkins said, and Brenda felt slightly embarrassed to be in such company. "Oh, hi! I'm Charlie, or Arachnya, if you want, but everybody just calls me Charlie."

"You're... You're Arachnya," Brenda said. She felt herself blush.

"She just said that," Elliot said, lightly punching her on the arm. He reached out to shake hands with the famous Chosen. "Elliot. You can call me Blaze."

"Blaze, huh?" Charlie said with a smirk. "Sounds hot."

"Oh, believe me, I can get - " He made a light amount of steam rise from his body. " - awfully hot."

Brenda felt her face turn red. "Stop that!" she said, in a tone a bit more high-pitched and jealousy filled than she would have liked.

Charlie giggled, then spoke with what sounded like a stereotypically fake Australian accent. "Oy, I'm sorry, guv'na! Not troyin' to take yer boyfriend 'ere!"

Elliot laughed. "Do you realize how poorly you sound right now? That's an Australian accent, for one. We don't sound anything like that."

The girl turned red. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Oh, kiddies!" Penelope said, standing up from her desk. "Can the adults have some words, now?"

"Sorry, Penelope," Brenda said.

"Good. Now, William, what is it you're here for? Doesn't the President have any lackeys to do this himself?"

"I asked you here, personally," Brand said, pulling out his phone. "You saw this, I assume?"

"Everyone in the world saw it. I have it on good authority that people in Kita City saw it. Los Milagros, West City, Pine Ridge, Chicago - everywhere."

"Penelope, please. This is serious. We need you and your team."

"And I brought them. The ones I could spare, anyway." She pointed over at Brenda and Elliot. "Brenda Hobden, AKA Sapphire and Elliot Jones, AKA Blaze. Elastique and Feral couldn't join us, sadly."

"And what about the other two?"

"What other two?"

He shook his head. "Never mind." He pointed to Charlie. "Charlotte Harkins, also known as Arachnya, you all know."

Charlie gave a shy wave. "Hi."

"This is a serious threat, Penelope," Brand said. "You've seen the National Guard presence."

"I have. And lemme tell you, getting through that was a pain in the ass." She pointed at the helicopters patrolling the city. "Those guys could ground Guardian." She smiled. "Is he really an alien from outer space?"

"No, he's a reporter with the Brigade."

"He is!?" Charlie exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at her. "Sorry, I didn't know. Just because I know him," she pointed at Brand, "doesn't mean I know everybody."

***

Aaron Dahl, the Chosen known as Blackhole, had his suit on. He laughed about the fact that his costume was purely a finely tailored, solid white suit, but, then again, his fiance's costume was simply a black dress and five-inch heels. Clearly, we weren't that creative, he thought. He placed the white domino mask on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. If he wasn't ready for some fancy costume ball, he didn't know what he was.

There was a noise from the bedroom, where Annette was. He slowly crossed the living room and started to open the door, but he was stopped before he could. "Ah, ah, ah," a female voice said. He was pulled to the side and pressed against the wall by a girl who looked vaguely like the young hero Spark that he'd met a few months before. This girl, however, looked older, and, while she was using electric powers similar to Spark, hers were alternating between blue and red. "You're not supposed to see the bride before she walks down the aisle."

"What is this?" he asked, attempting to open a black hole underneath the girl. His powers didn't seem to be working, though.

"Trying to black hole me? Sorry, that ain't gonna happen." She smirked. "There was this mute guy in Los Milagros, I stole his powers. One of them included the ability to cancel out anybody's powers I want to." She leaned close and whispered in his ear. "So I'm canceling out yours."

He pushed her off of him, trying as hard as he could to create a black hole, but he just couldn't.

She stuck her hand over his face. "I'm thinking black hole powers might be kind of cool, y'know? So... I'm thinking that I'll steal yours."

Another voice joined the fray. "Not yet, Korra." This one stepped into view. It as an average looking man, but one that everyone now knew.

The Benefactor.

"Nice to meet you again, Mr. Dahl, my name is the Benefactor."

"I know you," Aaron said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He held up his arm, hand empty, flicked his wrist upward, and the door to the bedroom flew open. Aaron looked inside and saw a particularly muscular woman standing behind Annette, her hand clasped around Annette's mouth. In the woman's other hand, there was a particularly nasty looking hammer. The woman had a devilish smile on her face, one that made Aaron's heart stop.

"In ten seconds, the back of that hammer is going into Annette's brain, and she'll be dead. My associate, Conjurer, can create any tool she wants merely by thinking it. Poof, it appears. It's a very excellent gift."

"Let her go!" Aaron shouted.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dahl." He pulled his thumb across his neck, classic kill gesture if ever there was one. Aaron watched as the woman the Benefactor had called Conjurer brought the hammer down quickly and strongly, Annette never even had a chance to feel it. "There, now that that's out of the way." He turned back to Aaron. "Korra, go ahead."

The girl pressed her hand to his face. "Don't worry," she said, "this is only gonna hurt you." Electricity crackled around him, things felt like they were being sucked from him, out of him. He felt himself losing strength, getting weaker.

And then it stopped. He saw the girl remove her hand, and then he felt himself fall to the floor. The Benefactor knelt down beside him. "It's taken me a few weeks to get Korra to realize that she doesn't need to kill to bio-leech. Not an easy task, but much easier than the undertaking I'm participating in now."

"Why... why..." Aaron tried to ask, but his mouth felt dry, his skin cracked.

"Why? Because I don't need you two. No one does." He chuckled. "Let's be honest, you really didn't do much in your lives, did you?" He stood up. "Conjurer!" Aaron heard the woman walk into the room. She knelt down in front of him, a smile on her face. "Put him out of his misery."

He saw the hammer swing up, and watched as time slowed to a crawl as it came back down. He didn't even feel the impact, there was just nothing.

***

Keith Cabot took off his glasses and his suit jacket and laid the glasses on his nightstand, and the jacket over the back of the armchair by his bed. He unbuttoned his pants and stopped just short of pulling his pants down before he buttoned them up again. "Knight, how nice to hear your heartbeat." He looked over at the shadowed corner of the room and watched as the costumed hero stepped into the lit section of the room. He wasn't alone, however. "Charlie? What's he got you here for?"

The girl crossed her arms under her breasts. "Well, how about finding out I'm not the only super hero at the Brigade? You coulda told me, y'know!"

"Everybody likes their secrets, little lady. Now, what are you two doing here?"

"Oh, goddamnit!" Charlie exclaimed.

"What?" Knight asked her.

"Keith Cabot. Clark Kent. His name is backwards from Superman's, just like your name is backwards from Batman's! How didn't I notice that?"

Keith wanted to laugh. "Answer the question, William. Why are you here?"

Knight answered, "The broadcast."

"What about it?"

"He's moving forward. You've seen all the National Guard presence here. This is going to get as bad as Pine Ridge."

Charlie said, "Worse, if you believe what that maniac says."

"That's not the point," Knight said, "the point is that he's going to do something big, and according to Ms. Harkins, he's got every ability everyone on the planet has ever shown, and then some. He won't be easy to take down."

Charlie cleared her throat. "Um... I was thinking about that..."

Knight shook his head. "Not now."

"No. I'm saying it now."

Keith asked, "What is it, Charlie?"

"Tim."

"Timmy Saul?"

"The Benefactor kidnapped him a few days back. He injected him with all of his powers. Tim's got every single power the Benefactor has."

Knight turned to face her. "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I've been trying. You keep telling me to 'Look, listen, and learn when to speak'. I'm not Robin to you, okay? You don't need to treat me like your little ward to teach everything to. And just because I'm younger doesn't change the fact that I've been in the super heroing business longer than you, okay?"

Keith simply smiled, Knight looked surprised. Charlie looked exasperated. "The kid's got a point, William."

***

Brenda looked out the windows of the tower, at all the military vehicles driving or flying past. There were so many of them, very few cars on the road weren't followed by a Humvee or even an Abrams M1A1 tank. Very few of the people that were on the road looked happy or even comfortable. It was like East City was under invasion.

"Hey," Elliot said behind her. She turned around and saw him standing there, water streaking down his body, with a towel around his waist. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, you mean other than the fact that they day we get to come here and meet some of the first super heroes of our generation, there's an armed occupation by the US Military?"

He smirked. "Look, as long as we're in costume, we've got diplomatic immunity, or whatever it is the Americans call this sort of thing."

She let out a tiny laugh, then turned back to the window. "This is really going to be big, isn't it?"

"Oh, c'mon, love, this Benefactor isn't some special thing. We'll beat him, just the two of us if necessary."

She turned to face him again, jabbed a finger in his direction. "You have entirely too much confidence."

***

The Benefactor hid his accomplices using his invisibility. They all seemed restless, and he didn't mind. It was almost time to begin. "I want to thank you all for being here, again," he said, turning to face them. "This has been a very long time coming. Longer than any of you could ever believe. We're nearing the finish line, however." He walked past them, touching each one on the shoulder as he did. It strengthened his connection to them. "You've all be very important to my cause." He nodded to each one of them. "Harmony, Conjurer, Melody, Smoke, Korra... You've all been real comrades in this endeavour. And now, the fruits of our labor will be ripe for the picking."

Harmony was the first to speak. "That's great and all, but when do we get to kill some heroes?"

The Benefactor smiled. "Soon. As soon as the time comes. Everything must be perfect."

***

"You're telling me that these two innocent civilians can't be let out of the city?" Charlie asked the soldier standing at the bus depot's front entrance. "Seriously, they aren't gonna do anything."

He looked irritated. "Look, ma'am, I understand that you're a super hero, I saw the news. And I understand that you say your family isn't going to do anything harmful, but I have orders, and the only thing that can supercede those orders is - "

A new voice entered the conversation. One Charlie had never heard before. "A signed Presidential order?" She turned to look at the new voice and saw an average looking, middle-aged man with a cigarette in his mouth. "Because I just happen to have one allowing Ms. Harkins' family to leave the city." He pulled a piece of paper out of an inside suit pocket and handed it to the soldier. "Oh, and I think you'll see the family members of a few others there, make certain you get IDs that match. Phone numbers are right there, I'd call them if I were you."

Charlie folded her arms under her breasts. "Who the hell are you?"

He smiled. "Merely a humble advisor to the President."

"Bullshit, you're the guy who came and talked to my dad the day he died."

He nodded. "I did, indeed, meet your father that fateful day. I showed him the file we have on you, Ms. Harkins. Quite extensive."

Charlie's mother asked, "What do you want from us?"

"I want you to survive. The Benefactor has threatened war, and Charlotte here will need to stay. Assuming she survives, she'll need a family to go back to."

Charlie wanted to punch this man in the face. Assuming? She planned on surviving. "Look, buddy, thanks for letting my mom and my brother leave, but you leave me alone, okay?"

He smiled again. "Oh, I shall, Ms. Harkins. I'll be... just behind the glass."

Charlie watched as the man walked away, a spring in his step like he didn't have a care in the world. Benefactor or not, it was men like that who really scared her.

***

William Brand stared at the boy like he was something other than human. And, in many ways, he was. Timothy Saul still looked human, though the power he had within him was astounding. William listened as the boy told him about the events of his dimension and time hopping journey. The dimension where William and Penelope Banter were married was a bit odd, not to mention surprising, but the entire tale was informative.

The boy didn't seem to realize that the wristband William had placed on him was recording every change to his physiology. His lungs could now store days or weeks worth of breath, his skin could reform or even change on command, his brain was capable of learning literally everything, his heart was pumping both a thousand times more slowly and a thousand times quicker. Everything about the boy seem contradictory, yet it was all working in complete harmony.

"That was when he dumped on me that everything he's done was to cause a worldwide cataclysm," Timothy said, leaning back in his seat. "He just wants to kill people."

"What else did he say?"" William asked. "Who's on his side?"

"Harmony Sprite, for one."

"The HARP member?"

"Yeah. Melody... uh... Hunter, I think was her last name."

"From Los Milagros?"

"Yeah."

"Anyone else?"

He sighed. "Some girl named Korra."

William lifted his head from his computer screen. "Korra Reston?"

"I think so."

He shook his head and sighed. "That's not good."

"That's not all," Penelope's voice called from the top of the stairs. She carried a tray with three glasses and a bottle of brandy. "I didn't want to believe that pitiful excuse of a butler when he told me you didn't have a bar down here." She set the tray down beside William's computer and started pouring the drinks. "I know you're under age, kid, but we're about to head into the heart of darkness at some point. Besides, from what Muscles - I mean, Keith - tells me, your girlfriend had quite the drinking habit a couple months ago."

William took his glass. "Any word from Blackhole, Terror or Angel?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Angel is a no-show. NORAD can't even track her on radar. Blackhole and Terror are dead."

He felt his eyes widen. "What?!"

"Yeah. Muscles just found them a little while ago. Both of them had impact wounds in their skulls, Blackhole had been sucked dry, too."

"Sucked dry?" Timothy asked.

"An effect of one of Korra's powers," William answered. "She sucks the life out of them, and with it comes their power and their memories. If She's with the Benefactor, she's probably learned how to keep the voices out of her head. That's not good."

"None of this is good, Bill," Penelope said. "From what I've read in your files, going up against this Benefactor is one step beyond suicide mission."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't call me 'Bill'. How do you have access to my files?"

She held up her phone. "Encryption hacking program, it's been running since I got here. Y'know, I'd have thought that all that money I spent in Brand Industries stock would have netted me a bigger interest in the company, this is just pathetic."

He stood up and took the phone from her hands. She looked surprised. "All you had to do was ask."

"And risk you only giving me half the juicy stuff? Uh-un!"

***

Charlie considered putting on her mask with everybody in the room, but she decided against it. Even if the multitude of other people weren't super heroes like her, they would still all know who she is. Besides, she had the rest of her costume on, that was good enough. She wouldn't feel like the outsider that, unfortunately, her boyfriend had to feel like. He was wearing a simple tee-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Although, Penelope Banter wasn't wearing her costume either. Granted, her costume was an Iron Man-like mech and not an actual costume, and it would be extremely cumbersome to help Knight conduct a meeting wearing it, but Charlie still wanted to see it. It wasn't every day you got to see the Titan in person.

They were all standing in a large, open room in Banter Tower East. Knight, Guardian, Penelope, Charlie, Elliot, Brenda and Tim. None of them looked comfortable standing there, waiting for the ball to drop, but they all knew it had to.

"I understand this isn't a big turnout," Knight said, starting the meeting, "but understand this: We are the line. We all know what's coming."

Blaze raised his hand. "Actually, no. We don't."

"Really?" Guardian asked.

"What? Unlike you East City folk, Brenda and I haven't dealt with the Benefactor in any way. We don't know what we're up against at all."

Charlie held up her hand. "Um... My knowledge about the Benefactor is relegated to what I just learned a few days ago, when my boyfriend showed up in my bedroom with super powers."

"Alright then!" Knight nearly shouted. "We'll get caught up, then. The Benefactor is a renegade, a man who has every super ability known to us, and several we don't. Based on both the information we obtained from Mr. Saul and Ms. Harkins and the message that he televised, he supplies equipment to HARP. We can only assume the Joker must have also factored into his plans, as he did nothing to stop the maniac."

Charlie visibly shivered. To think that the Joker killing Frank had been a part of the 'plan' was just disturbing. She didn't envy the Benefactor when the whole team caught up to him.

Knight continued: "He has friends. Harmony Sprite, a HARP member he experimented on, turning her into a super powered storehouse. She has multiple powers. Korra Reston, formerly a member of the teenage super team that I helped found with Erica Morris. She can steal powers using bioelectricity. There's evidence that she was involved in the murders of Aaron Dahl and Annette Simms, also known as Blackhole and Terror, respectively. Melody Hunter, known as a Rejected. She has multiple personalities, and is insanely powerful. Ms. Harkins has seen that first hand."

Everyone turned to Charlie. She cleared her throat. "She can create force fields, she has super strength, and she can murder people in extremely gruesome ways just by thinking it. I saw her kill an entire SWAT team and a lot of innocent people, watched their faces melt. She does nothing but scare me."

"Damn," Elliot said, pure and simple.

"Exactly," Knight said, stepping into the center of the room. "We're vastly outgunned, even if they're outnumbered. The only real weapon we have on our side is Mr. Saul, given abilities by the Benefactor himself."

"Anyone know why?" Penelope asked. "Why this kid in particular, not somebody else? It's kind of odd that he just happens to pick Arachnya's boyfriend."

Tim looked like he was about to speak, but Knight cut him off, "We don't know why Mr. Saul was picked, though we assume it has something to do with the Benefactor's plans."

"It does," Tim said. "According to him, picking me for these powers is the trigger for the end of the world. And that Charlie would be the first casualty."

Charlie felt her heart sink. He'd told her that before, but it didn't make hearing it again any easier. She balled her hands into fists. She was going to make sure it didn't happen that way.

Brenda raised her hand. "I really don't mean to be rude here, but why exactly is she the special first casualty? Is it because she's the first public hero?"

Charlie said, "It really doesn't matter. It's not happening, and that's that."

Guardian folded his arms across his chest. "What does Angel have to say about any of this? She can see the future."

Knight shook his head. "No one's been able to find her. And, according to you, her future sight is somewhat clouded. She didn't see Seeker's death, after all."

"What she said was that his death led to something that sounded significantly worse. What if this is what she meant?"

"She could have meant the devastation in Pine Ridge or the events in Newbright City, for all we know," Penelope said, stepping in between them. "It really doesn't matter. We don't know where she is, and we don't know what she can see. And unless Wonder Boy over there," she pointed to Tim, "can figure out how to access her powers, we're shit out of luck when it comes to seeing the future."

Elliot asked, "How do you know he has her powers, too?"

"He's got everybody's powers, Elliot," Brenda said, annoyed.

Knight said, "Look, our mission tonight is to stop the Benefactor. We don't know everything he's capable of, so we'll assume he's capable of everything. And he's got at least three super powered compatriots. We'll split off into teams." Knight waved his hand and a holographic representation of East City. It was broken up into districts, each one marked with a number or a letter. He pointed to a section of nothing but docks. "Penelope and Guardian will take district A. National Guard is smallest in this area, because they don't anticipate any entrance from the sea. The Titan has x-ray sensors embedded in its armor, those will be necessary for checking out warehouses."

Charlie pointed to a specific warehouse. "This is where the Benefactor was holed up before a couple of days ago. It's where he had all of his robots."

Knight nodded his head. "National Guard has that area secured, that warehouse is under complete guard. A nanocyte spray is coating the whole area, no one's getting in there without losing their powers."

***

Sergeant Rico Torres thought he heard something. He peeked around the corner and shined his flashlight in the direction that the noise had come from, but he didn't see anything. He turned his attention back to the storehouse full of robots and took a deep breath. The shadows and the stories, they were both getting to him.

"Intr...fzzt...intru...fzzt...Don't...fzzt...Motherfu...fzzt..." buzzed through his radio.

"Say again, over?" he spoke into his mic. "This is Torres, I repeat, say again, over!"

"Hello," was the simple response.

Torres spun around and shined his flashlight in the other room again, but still didn't see anything. He slowly moved forward, kept his finger close to the trigger, and nearly squeezed off a round when he saw a squad walking through the corridor. The team leader waved him down, motioned for him to join in the rear. Torres nodded, then followed the rest of the squad through the warehouse.

Much to the surprise of not only Torres himself, but also the entire squad, the squad leader took one step forward and disappeared into a black mist that had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. One of the other members of the squad called out to him, then tried the radio. All they got was static.

A moment later, something hit the ground with a thud. Something on the floor emerged from the mist, and everyone stepped out of its way and then trained their lights on it.

It was the squad leader's severed head, a look of sheer horror frozen on his face.

In unison, everyone turned toward the mist and started firing randomly. No one was quite sure what they were shooting at, but it didn't seem to matter. Torres then felt himself freeze up. He turned his weapon toward the nearest soldier and squeezed off one round into the man's face. One of the others turned to see what was going on, and their eyes widened in fear. The man started firing at something behind Torres.

Torres then looked to his side and saw a young girl, no older than seventeen, holding one hand up. The hand was positioned to look as though she were holding a champagne goblet, but she held nothing. It took Torres a moment to realize that she was holding something: Him. He tried to move, but it was useless, she was holding him in place with but a mere thought.

The mist dissipated, and a tall, elfen creature stood there, a blank expression on his stark white face. He drew a katana from a sheath on his hip and started slicing the soldier closest to him. When one of them turned to fire at him, he disappeared briefly, then reappeared again. Torres realized that this man was a teleporter, going from his briefings before his unit left the base. The other soldiers were essentially just shooting the air whenever he moved.

Another man appeared, this one simply walked into the corridor calmly, wearing a trench coat. It was the man the briefing had called the Benefactor. There was nothing remarkable about him, but that in and of itself scared Torres enough that he wet himself.

While the teleporter was busy taking out half of the soldiers, the Benefactor went to work on the others. Two men drew their knives and plunged them into each other's throats. Another man simply fell to his knees and started crying blood. The fourth's head exploded with absolutely no provocation. Another two men were launched down the corridor, landing upon spikes that no one could truly see.

Finally, the corridor was empty of living beings, save for the teleporter, the girl, the Benefactor, and Torres.

"Nice to meet you, sergeant," the Benefactor said, as calmly as someone who was inviting you to lunch. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Torres found that he could speak. "Why didn't you kill me?"

The Benefactor scratched at his chin. "You know... That's actually a very good question." He turned to the girl. "Melody?"

She shrugged. "He's kinda cute. I wanted a pet."

"Well... If you keep him, you'll have to feed and water him."

She sighed. "Really? Can't Korra take care of that?"

He shook his head. "No, he'll be your responsibility."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She lowered her hand, and Torres felt as though he could move again. He raised his rifle to let off several rounds into the Benefactor's face, but then he felt something sliding through his chest. He looked down and saw the blade of a katana sticking through him, from the back. "But he was kinda cute."

***

The Benefactor took in the scent of the nanocyte particles in the air. He smiled. Too bad Knight didn't realize that his pitiful invention was easily countered by another injection of the exact same thing. He concentrated and sent out a single thought to Conjurer: Activate them. In mere moments, the optics on every one of the robots lit up.

He kept smiling. "It's just about time," he said, his voice barely a whisper. He turned to Melody and Korra, who were standing to his side. "Banter Tower East, now. Send the message."

The Big Fight, Part Two

Charlie was about to say something when a distress signal came in over the radio. A blip appeared on the giant hologram of the city. Her heart sank: the blip was coming from the Benefactor's warehouse. "Put it on the speaker," Knight said to Penelope. She nodded.

At first there was static, then, finally, a panicked voice came through every now and again. "Repeat...fzzt...fzzt...factor's machines...fzzt...fzzt...fzzt...Help!"

The sound of the explosions that cut the man's voice off could be heard even from the Tower. Charlie turned to the window that faced that direction and saw the orange plumes rise from behind the buildings. She turned to the rest of the group. "I think that's all the robots."

No one got a chance to say anything, however, as the building suddenly began to lurch to the side. Charlie jumped onto the ceiling as it suddenly became a wall, and webbed everyone else to the floor. Glass shattered everywhere, rained down upon them all the while shooting upward from the building's momentum. Charlie could only hope she didn't sustain any lasting injuries from the shower of glass.

She looked out the window to see the building falling towards another building, one significantly shorter, with a spire on top with one of those flashing lights that stopped planes from flying into it. Charlie jumped from the ceiling to the floor just in time to narrowly avoid a swift impalement. Tim had already broken free of his webbing, and was shielding her with his body.

The building didn't stop moving, even after coming into contact with the shorter building. It kept going, crashing through the shorter building. Charlie heard people screaming, from both buildings. She closed her eyes and tried not to imagine the horrible things happening to those people. She felt Tim's breath on her face, but even the idea of him shielding her didn't give her any comfort.

Something crashed through the floor of the building. The sound made her open her eyes. She looked and saw one of the HARP robots hovering there, matching speeds with the still-falling building. An energy blast destroyed its head, however, an energy blast from Penelope Banter's Titan. The billionaire had somehow summoned her mech armor, and gotten inside all while the building was falling around them.

Finally, the building landed, and everyone collected themselves. No broken bones, thankfully, though a few cuts from the multitude of glass shards. Charlie noticed a tear in her costume, along her stomach, but no cuts.

"Clearly, the Benefactor's ready to up his game," Penelope said, landing the Titan. "We need to get going. There's bound to be hundreds of thousands running for cover, and when the Guard starts taking on the robots... Collateral damage doesn't even begin to describe the chaos."

"Right," Guardian said. "Maybe we can stop the robots' advance if we head out there now."

"I don't think so," a new voice said. A voice Charlie had heard before. She turned in the direction of the voice and saw Melody Hunter standing on top of some building debris. "You're all pretty much fucked."

***

Guardian flew toward the girl. He didn't even try to hold back, as he knew she wouldn't. She giggled as he lifted her high into the air. "You're funny, buddy."

"You're not hurting anyone," he said, his voice calm.

"Oh, no... I'm hurting everyone." She pointed downward. Guardian looked down at the people in the streets, all clutching at their throats as if trying to pull invisible hands away, or bleeding profusely from their mouths, ears or eyes. "And I'm gonna keep doing it if you don't let me go."

He looked her in the face and smiled. "Fine." He threw the girl down, toward the very people she was slaughtering with her mind.

Unfortunately, she caught herself in midair, and she was suddenly standing on an invisible platform. "Oh, cutiepie! C'mon!"

Guardian grit his teeth. He fired his heat vision at her, but she just casually raised a hand and caught his blast before it hit her. Then, with but a flick of her wrist, she shot it back at him.

***

Tim ran out into the crowd of dying people, ran toward some. He tried to help them, but nothing was working. He felt weak, as if he couldn't do anything. He looked over at Charlie and Brenda, who had run out into the fray with him. "What the hell do we do?!" he shouted.

"We really can't do anything," Charlie said, her voice sad. "Melody won't stop killing them until her one personality is knocked out, at least that's how the government guys did it in Los Milagros."

"We can't do anything?" Brenda asked.

"Not really, no."

"Bullshit!" Tim spat. "I'm not letting these people die!"

"Tim, I wanna help them, too, but..."

"They're living!" he shouted, and suddenly, all the dying people around him suddenly stood up, none of them bleeding or clutching at their throats. Each one of them looked around, confused, then realized that two super beings were fighting in the sky above them, and fled the scene. "What the hell?!"

"I kinda think you did that," Charlie said, the surprise in her voice obvious.

"That was... amazing," Brenda said, just as surprised.

***

Melody looked down at the kid the Benefactor had told them to watch out for, then sent the message Boss man, he's here. He just saved a lot of sheep I wanted to scalp.

His voice soothed her mind. Good. Keep pressing the attack. Deal with Guardian, like I told you. I'll handle Timothy.

***

Angel hovered in the air above East City, far out of sight. She didn't want anyone to know she was there, but she knew she couldn't remain hidden for long. Of course, her present company was not unwelcome, nor was she unexpected. The woman known to very few as Breeze materialized out of the nearest cloud and sat there as if it were a comfortable chair. "I'm here," Breeze said.

"It's begun. The fight that will end the world. We've both seen it."

Breeze nodded her head. "We have."

"And we both know that our visions of the future have been different."

Breeze nodded once again.

"Allie needs to be here. It's her destiny."

Again, Breeze simply nodded. "I know."

Angel turned to look at her. "But we both know what could happen. We've seen it."

"She'll surprise you."

Angel closed her eyes and sighed. "I hope so. You failed Newbright, I failed Pine Ridge. East City can't be counted among our failures."

Breeze stood from her cloud. "I know. I'll go to her now. She'll be here within the hour."

"Faster, dear." Angel turned back to the destruction raging below. "Something isn't right about this. I just can't sense what it is yet."

***

Knight jumped out of the way just as a lightning blast hit the ground where he'd been standing. It wasn't easy to predict where Korra would send her blasts, but he read her movements, watched her eyes. He couldn't take his own off of her. He threw two boomerang blades, both of which were shot down right away.

This isn't going to work. He reached into his belt and tossed several smoke grenades, surrounding the girl in a haze. She countered this, however, by opening a black hole above her head. The smoke was sucked into the hole, away from her. "Betcha didn't know I could do that, didja?" she asked.

Knight grit his teeth. "You killed Blackhole and Terror."

She smirked. "Nope. I drained Blackhole, but the nice woman behind you with the battle axe killed them."

He spun around and saw a Japanese woman in military gear right on the cusp of lowering an axe on his head. He rolled out of the way just in time and pulled out a small baton. He pressed a button, and the baton extended into a staff almost long enough to pole-vault with. He dodged two more swings, then thrust the staff into her stomach. She doubled over in pain and shouted, "Watashi wa anata no mazāfakkā o korosu!"

Knight shook his head. "Kono yōna utsukushī josei kara osoroshī gengo..." She looked at him in shock, then rushed at him with the axe again. "Watashi wa sono yōna bōryoku o kitai shite inakatta."

As they locked their weapons together, she spat in his face and shouted, "Anata ga shindeshimau!"

"Kyōde wanai."

***

Charlie kicked the face of one of the robots, then webbed another. She was getting tired already. She had taken out six robots, but they just seemed to keep coming. She looked to her left and saw Brenda and Elliot doing about as well as she was, maybe a little better. Elliot almost seemed to be enjoying himself. Figures... Probably the first time they've done something in awhile. She brushed hair out of her eyes and jumped just in time for one robot to hit another.

She swung out of the way of another robot, managed to shoot a webline at a... sixth? Twelveth? She couldn't even count anymore. She pulled that one forward, into the next on, crushing the one and nearly destroying the other.

"Any word from Penelope?" she shouted into her headset. She'd be able to talk normally, if it weren't for the sounds of tanks just a couple streets over. She was grateful the National Guard actually seemed to be doing something.

"Nothing!" Brenda shouted. "Last I saw her, she was somewhere near the wharf!"

"I've got nothing!" Elliot responded. "How do you East City people do this on a daily basis?"

Charlie was about to answer, but instead, she had to jump out of the way as a giant lightning bolt shot past her. She turned just in time to see Elliot and Brenda jump out of the way, too, while all the robots they were fighting were fried. Charlie looked in the direction of the blast and saw Tim standing there, one arm held straight out.

"How the hell did you do that?!" she screamed.

"I don't know what all I can do, I just thought about stopping them," he said, walking up to her. "How many of these things were in that warehouse?"

Elliot stepped up to them. "That's actually a very good question."

Charlie shrugged. "A lot more than I saw, apparently."

Their headsets all buzzed. Charlie tapped hers, and Penelope's voice came over. "Hope you haven't dealt with all of them yet, kiddies."

"Oh, there's plenty more where we're losing from. What's your ETA?"

Charlie was instantly sorry that she'd asked that question. A sonic boom burst right over their heads, as Penelope flew past them. "Right now!" She burst by them, straight into the chest of another robot that had somehow come out of nowhere.

Charlie sat up, unaware of when she'd even fallen on her ass. She looked over at Brenda and Elliot, who were also sitting up. "Does she do that a lot?"

Brenda coughed out a laugh. "You have no idea."

***

Guardian felt his arms getting weak for once. He could feel his lungs burning from all the exertion. All the while, Melody just stood there and yawned. "C'mon, big boy, I'm getting bored."

He grit his teeth and fired a blast of heat vision at her, but she swatted it away as if she were swatting a fly, then pointed her fingers down, sending him crashing down to the ground with a thud. He knocked debris off of himself and flew upward again, straight toward her. She held up her hand once more, this time stopping him dead in his tracks. He hit no barriers, he was simply held there, in the air. He tried to move, but he just couldn't.

She smiled. "I like playing with you like this, Guardian. You were always my favorite, after all."

***

Angel hovered above the HealAll facility just outside of Pine Ridge. The building's high walls were patroled by numerous guards, each one wearing full body armor. Clearly, they didn't want the Pine Ridge disaster to happen a second time. She took a moment to think about the countless dead, and the countless more, dying in East City, right now. She didn't want to do this. She needed to do this.

She swooped down and in through the window to Mr. Kennedy's office. There he sat, his back to the window. He was still in a wheelchair, even almost two weeks after the attempt on his life that killed Christine. Clearly, he wasn't healing very well, despite the name of the company he worked for.

"Nice to finally meet you, Angel," he said, still not turning around. "Or, should I call you Bernard?" She walked around in front of his desk. He looked very tired, very angry. "How can I help you?"

"I apologize for not being here when Pine Ridge was attacked," she started with. "My sight has been... Clouded... Recently."

"So I've been told. What do you want?"

"East City is dying, as you're aware."

"Pine Ridge is dead. Where was Guardian when robots destroyed hospitals? Where was Knight when the Joker kidnapped a bus full of children? Where was Arachnya when Pro-Tech was captured by a Rejecter and experimented on until his very soul was shattered? Where were East City's heroes, Angel, when we needed them?"

"I said, I apologize."

"I don't care. Our situation was no less televised, our deaths were no less significant. Tell me why any of our Chosen should help you?"

She spread her wings to their full span. "Because this fight isn't just some extremist protesters and a psychopath in clown make-up. The Benefactor is a threat to the world, Kennedy, a threat to every living creature on this planet. You think East City is it? East City is just the first, and as soon as it falls, he'll turn his gaze toward Glassview, then to Newbright, then Los Milagros. He'll destroy them all, and you'll just sit back and realize that he didn't bother with your city because you were weak, and didn't stand up against him when the time came."

Kennedy sat back in his wheelchair, clearly intimidated. "How many do you need?"

She nodded. "Send who you can, but I only need one."

***

Knight jumped out of the way of another axe swing, then put all his strength into his own swing, slamming the staff into the back of the Japanese woman's head. She spit blood onto the street and suddenly another axe appeared in her other hand. "Sore wa anata ga shinu tame no jikandesu," she said, a smile on her face.

His lips twisted into a smile, as well. "Watashi wa watashi no jikan ni shinu."

Korra stepped between them. "What the hell are you guys even saying?!"

Knight swung his staff again, this time into Korra's face. She went down, and the Japanese woman rushed forward. He brought the staff up, blocking the two axes. "Watashi wa ichinichijū made kore o iji suru koto ga dekimasu. Anata wa anata ga dekiru to omoimasu ka?"

She growled, "Mochiron, watashi wa dekiru!"

***

The Benefactor looked out at all of it and took a deep breath. The city was in absolute chaos. The robots were advancing much further than the heroes could stop them. There was only one section of the city untouched, only one place that could be considered a safe zone, to any wayward citizens.

Gustav Hammond's skyscraper.

The Benefactor stood on top of the building and watched as people burned, people bled, people died. There were so many, and he could feel, he could see, he could remember every single one of them, but he didn't recall any of them. He loved and hated that ability, but he put it to the back of his mind.

"Timothy. It's time," he said aloud, though the young man would hear the words in his mind. "You know where to find me. Do so. This will be the final battle."

***

Tim punched a robot in the chest, again surprised at his strength. He made the decision that as soon as he was done defending the city to find out what each and every one of his powers was. He thought he had a good enough idea, but then he fired that lightning blast at the robots, so... He needed more time.

Another robot was firing some sort of machine gun at him, but the bullets simply bounced off of him harmlessly. He sent another arc of electricity out, ripping that robot to shreds. He just barely missed hitting Charlie in process. "Hey!" she shouted, "I'm kicking robot ass, too!"

"Sorry!" he responded. "I really don't know my own strength here, babe!"

"Just don't hurt me! Hurt them!"

He nodded, turned to the next in what appeared to be an endless amount of robots and extended his arms. Much to his surprise, a chain lashed out along with his arm, and tore one of the robots in half. He looked at his arm in shock as the chain was fused to his skin, but it didn't hurt one bit. He waited a moment, and then the chain receeded into his arm. This is more than a little weird. More than a little.

Timothy. It's time.

Tim looked around for the voice he'd heard, but no one human was anywhere near him. In fact, the voice had been so calm and clear that he shouldn't have been able to hear it with all the noise from the robots and the rampaging going on.

You know where to find me. Do so.

He dodged a robot and slammed his fist into its back. His hand shot forward, a rubbery sword. How is it I know where to find him? he asked himself.

This will be the final battle.

Tim didn't need any help to know that the voice was the Benefactor's, and after a second, he realized exactly where he needed to go. He raised his arm and threw something at a robot. He didn't even realize it was a harpoon made entirely of energy. He had somewhere he needed to be. He burst upward, into the air, and flew toward the center of the city.

***

Elliot jumped onto a robot and melted its head between his hands. "Seventeen, love!" he shouted toward Charlie. She swung down, shot two weblines out, caught a robot in each and yanked them back, knocking the robots to the ground and into one another.

She stuck her tongue out. "Sorry, guv'na, that's twenty-six."

He groaned. "I've never even said that."

She put on that fake Australian accent again. "Sorry, mate, I've just got to stop with these bloody stereotypes, roight?"

He smiled. He liked this girl. If it weren't for prior engagements, on both sides, he'd could definitely be attracted to this spunky girl. Stop that, she's younger than you, you nutter. Granted, only by a couple years, but still.

He looked into the sky as Charlie's boyfriend took flight and left the area. "Where the hell is he going?" he asked.

"I... I don't know," Charlie answered. "I should follow him!"

Elliot shook his head. "You can't. We need you here."

She didn't look happy, but it was obvious that she knew it was the right decision. He threw a fireball at a robot that was about to pick her up by the head. She spun around, gave a shaky thumbs up, then quickly repaid the favor by webbing something behind him. He turned and saw a robot fall to the ground, its head crushed under the webbing.

"Let's not mention that to Brenda, okay?" he asked. She smirked.

***

Allie felt herself land after Breeze dropped her off. She let out a breath, saw it in the air, despite the fact that it wasn't cold at all. There were two robots in front of her, both of them looked as though they were processing her appearance. She smiled. This should be fun.

She held out one hand a sword made of ice appeared in it. She ran toward the robots and took one strong swing, slicing one of the robots clean in half diagonally upward from the waist to the right shoulder and then knicking the other robot's head. She held out her hand and created froze the robot's head, causing it to fall to the ground.

She was about to pat herself on the back when something shot it. She felt the plasma burn on her back and screamed in pain, then threw her ice sword in the direction the attack had come from. Much to her surprise, the robot that had shot her grabbed the sword. It held the sword in its hand for a moment, then squeezed, shattering it.

Shit!

A fireball hit the robot's chest, knocking it to the ground, then what looked like spider's webbing stuck it to the ground. Allie turned around again, and saw a girl with long brown hair hanging from a webline stuck to a street light and a young man covered in flames hovering beside her.

"Good to know somebody new showed up," the girl said. She turned her head toward the young man. "Well, besides you guys."

The young man landed, extinguished his flames and walked over to Allie. "Hope you're a friendly," he said, his accent British, "because we could use some of those right about now."

***

Brenda regretted leaving Elliot behind, but he'd told her to go, to help Penelope or Guardian. She hadn't been able to find Penelope or Knight, but Guardian was still tangled up in fighting that girl from Los Milagros. She held out her hand and imagined a bubble around the girl, which obviously couldn't have happened soon enough for Guardian, as he was getting the shit beaten out of him.

Within seconds, the bubble emitted from her ring and surrounded the girl, who pounded her fists against it in an attempt to break free. Brenda supported her right arm with her left and concentrated on making the bubble smaller. Less air, less chance that the girl could actually break the bubble. Brenda's problem was that her focus was divided. Despite the fact that the girl's attacks weren't visibly damaging the bubble, Brenda could feel it weakening with each blow, so she pumped more power into shrinking it and making it stronger, hoping to keep the girl contained until Guardian caught his breath.

"C'mon!" she shouted to him, "Use your laser eyes!"

He looked up at her, blood seeping from behind  his left eye. "I don't... I don't..." He coughed, blood came from out of his mouth. "I don't know if I can..."

"I can't hold her for much longer, so please shoot her!"

The girl turned to look at Brenda. "I'll rip  your goddamn face off, bitch!"

She ignored the threat. "Hurry!" she shouted at Guardian.

He stood up slowly, then closed his eyes. She saw the glow behind them, then they suddenly burst open, and a powerful blast shot forth from them, straight at... Brenda! She was forced to drop her hold on the girl and quickly jump out of the way. Guardian snapped his eyes shut as quickly as possible. The girl then landed in the middle of the street.

"Thanks, sugar," the girl said, looking toward Guardian, "I hope you're not too mad that I moved your head for you."

"Why are you helping him?" Brenda asked. "Why help the Benefactor kill millions?"

She smirked. "Because it's fun."

***

Charlie jumped just as the fist of the robot made contact with the ground at her feet. She landed on the robot's back and made a webbing garrote which she used to rip the robot's head off with. She then jumped from that robot as another started firing machine guns at her. Oh man... I'm getting a little tired now...

She landed on a building just as Elliot poured fire onto a pair of robots, melting them from top to bottom. On another part of the street, newcomer Allie was lancing robots with many different kinds of ice weapons ranging from swords to spears.

Charlie looked up toward the sky and saw helicopters flying past, some of them being destroyed in mid-air. We're going to lose, aren't we?

I don't think so, a voice said. Charlie looked around for the source, but couldn't find it. And you won't find me, Charlotte.

"Who said that?"

I'm not going to lie to you. You're the only one I can never lie to. I'm him. I'm the Benefactor.

"What?!"

Yes. I'm going to tell you something that you'll learn from Tim in a few hours. Don't be alarmed in anyway, and don't tell anyone. Can you do that for me?

"Why should I do anything for you?"

Because you're the most important person in my life, Charlie. I've loved you since the moment I first laid eyes on you, that day you came in for the interview.

Charlie felt her eyes widen. "No way..."

Yes. I'm going to tell you everything, Charlie. You, of all people, need to know.

***

Lieutenant Hapscomb fired a grenade from his mounted M203 grenade launcher straight at a robot's center mass, then retreated behind cover as a volley of machine gun rounds pelted the side of the building he was hiding in. He looked over at Captain Montoya of the East City Police Department and saw the concern in her face. He tossed her another magazine for the M4 she was holding and then popped out to launch another grenade. A second robot went down, but they just seemed to keep coming.

Captain Montoya leaned around the corner and fired off a group of rounds into the head of a robot, knocking it to one knee just before the head exploded from too much damage. She whistled. "Lots of these bastards, huh, Lieutenant?"

He laughed. "Yes there are, ma'am. How have you guys dealt with these things before?"

"Most of the time, our heroes take care of 'em."

"Sure wish we could get some of that help right now."

"They're busy, Lieutenant. When we need our Chosen, we get our Chosen."

"You sound like you've got a lot of faith in them."

She fired at another robot. "My niece is one. If she were here, she'd be helping."

***

Elliot slammed his fist straight into the robot's stomach area, the fire around his hand melting through in an instant. He hoisted it upward, then threw it at one of the other robots, which grabbed it in mid-air, then ripped it in half. Oh, bollocks! He jumped out of the way just as the pieces of the robot were thrown in his direction, then aimed a jet of flame at the robot, melting it to the ground.

"Hey! Big Ben!" Charlie's voice shouted at him from behind. He turned around and saw that she was using her webbing to hold a robot back. "I could use a hand saving your ass!" He jumped into the air and let loose a roundhouse kick on its head, accentuated by a flaming foot. Charlie let go of the robot and let its headless husk fall to the ground.

"It's called Elizabeth Tower, now," he said, smiling at her.

She shot a webline past him at another robot, pulled it forward, then swung it around until she launched it into a building. "Eh, who cares but you guys? I didn't even know it was a clock tower until I was twelve." She looked at something behind him. "Heads up, Torch."

He turned around and fired a flame jet at a robot that was running toward him. "It's Blaze, c'mon!"

She walked past him, a sexy smirk on her face. "Just keeping you on your toes."

Allie walked up to them, she looked out of breath. "Can you guys stop flirting and help me beat the shit out of these things?"

Charlie turned red. "Hey, I've got a boyfriend."

Elliot coughed out a laugh.

***

He didn't know how he knew where he was going, but he did. He landed on the roof of the building, then walked down the stairs to the floor the Benefactor was on. He took several deep breaths as he made his way to his nemesis. He had to be ready.

Tim had never been in Gustav Hammond's office before, but he assumed it had actually had furniture at some point. The room he walked into had nothing of the sort, and instead looked like it was ready to be the site of the decisive battle for humanity.

Which it was.

He saw the Benefactor across the room, looking out the window. The man was wearing a trench coat, and stood with his arms folded across his chest. "Beautiful, isn't it?" the Benefactor asked, not even bothering to turn around. "It's amazing how boldly they're all fighting, considering how soon it'll all fall."

"We're not just going to give up to you, you sick son of a bitch. Why the hell are you dressed like that?"

The Benefactor threw back his head and laughed. "It's common for a super villain to wear memorable attire, isn't it? And trench coats are very often considered villainous attire."

"Is that what this is about? Being the super villain? You just want to be the bad guy?"

He looked over his shoulder at Tim. "Isn't that all it needs to be? You're a hero, you need a villain, it's just that simple. Law of balance."

Tim grit his teeth. "You're a goddamn psychopath."

The Benefactor turned away again. "I knew you'd say that. It wasn't so long ago that I said the same thing to someone similar. Of course, it was so many lifetimes ago that I can't even remember the true outcome. Maybe I won, maybe I didn't." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that we need to fight now." He turned to face Tim. "Well? I assume you're ready?"

Tim's arms shifted into curved blades. "Yeah. I'm ready."

The Benefactor smiled, and changed his own arms into similar weapons. "Good, I was hoping this would be fun. It's been such a long time since I fought someone as strong as I am."

"Good to know I've got an edge."

Tim ran toward the Benefactor, swiping this way, slashing that. The Benefactor blocked him blow for blow, occasionally even gaining a short-lived advantage by faking Tim out, but the boy didn't give up. A metal spike sprouted from his shoulder, and he jammed it into the Benefactor's stomach. The Benefactor countered by creating a similar spike from his knee, and sending it through Tim's chest.

***

Knight defended against the axe again, completely unaware of when the woman had lost the other one. With the axe and the staff locked together, he used his advantage to punch the woman in the face. She spit blood at him, then managed an odd acrobatic feat: holding the axe with one hand, she jumped, twisted, and kicked him the face, never letting go of the axe. They  broke, and Knight fell to his knees. He spat out a tooth, some blood.

"Anata no namae wa nanidesu ka?" he asked her.

"Konjurā," she answered. "Tasha no tsuizui o yurusanai."

Conjurer, he translated in his mind. The unbeatable. We'll see.

He stood, twirled his staff and brought it down across her face. She recovered quickly, then created another axe and threw the two of them straight at him. He jumped, used the staff as a vault pole, then landed behind her. In the time it had taken him to perform the move, she had created a sledgehammer, and brought it down on the ground where he'd landed. He somersaulted out of the way, then dropped down to do a leg sweep.

Conjurer landed on her back, but she was right back up in seconds. She made several swings with the sledgehammer, but Knight managed to just barely dodge each of them. He made several swings with the staff, but she managed to just barely dodge each of them. He grit his teeth. They were too evenly matched.

He needed to change things up.

"Guardian," he said into his earpiece, "I need some help here."

***

"Too busy," Guardian responded. He was in pain. He hadn't felt this bad since he was Chosen, those three months ago. He fired another blast of heat vision at Melody, but the blast didn't even reach her. She was too powerful. Sapphire was doing just as badly, managing only to block several attacks that Melody launched at her. He couldn't even tell what powers Melody truly had, there seemed to be so many.

Just a few, a female voice said in his mind, the voice cool as ice. He recognized it instantly as Melody's. Telepathy was clearly one of them. He fired another heat vision blast at her, this one managing to clip her in the head, burn a few of her hairs. Ow! That hurt! Do it again!

Guardian punched the asphalt at his feet, then he felt it. The Earth itself. He reached down and took a grip on some soil beneath the asphalt. What's this feeling? he asked himself. It feels... good. He crushed the soil in his hand and felt power surging through him. He felt his wounds healing. He'd never felt this before, why now? He decided to ignore it, instead building this newfound power. He collected as much of it as possible.

In seconds, he felt rejuvenated. He felt himself lift off of the street. He felt lighter than ever, now. He smiled. "I hope this hurts," he said, directing the line towards Melody. She had been focusing her attacks on Sapphire, but now she looked at him, surprise in her face. He understood it. By the time she'd turned to see him, he had already closed the distance between them, his fists were almost connecting with her face by then. She tried to create some sort of force field, but it was too late. He felt it rise into his stomach, but he had already knocked her off of her floating platform of asphalt.

She landed on the ground below, complete surprise in her eyes. He hovered above her, never taking his eyes off of her. "How'd you do that?!" she asked.

He smiled. "Fuck you." He focused his energy through his heat vision and fired his most powerful blast at her head. Seconds later, he stopped his assault, and saw that her head had been vaporized.

Sapphire hovered there beside him. "Um... Remind me not to piss you off..." she said, nervously.

"You don't have anything to worry about. Let's get to Knight and help him."

"Sorry to say no, tall, strong and well-hung," Penelope's voice came over their earpieces, "but I need you guys on the west side with me. I don't have enough missiles to take down this many robots."

"We'll be right there, Ms. Banter," he said.

"Please, call me Penelope."

He sighed, then turned to Sapphire. "Let's go." She nodded.

***

The two broke, and Tim pulled throwing stars from his wrists and threw them one after another toward the Benefactor, but the villain was ready for Tim's assault, and absorbed each star as it hit his hands. The Benefactor then created a fireball in his hand and threw it at Tim's head, but Tim ducked out of the way and froze the floor, using it to hold the Benefactor in place.

The Benefactor was ready for that, too, and melted the ice right away, using the water it melted into as a series of whips, each of which tore large gouges in Tim's skin. Tim's body took care of the healing, while the boy himself punched each water whip as it came to strike him, turning the water into ice projectiles that were launched directly at the Benefactor. The Benefactor couldn't stop all of the ice, and took several blows.

But this didn't stop the Benefactor. He dropped metal from his arm and turned it into a chain, then used the chain as a metal whip. The chain-whip was used repeatedly, knocking Tim back several feet, then into the wall. The boy countered, however, by grabbing the chain and using it to pull the Benefactor close. The villain dove out of the way and let the chain leave his skin. He threw more fireballs at the boy, but Tim caught each one and threw them right back.

Tim pulled the same chain trick that the Benefactor had done, except he used two chains, one on each arm. He looked almost like a dancer, spinning around with the chains twirling around him. He would send a chain out every few seconds to slash at the Benefactor, but his attacks were doing little real damage. Worse yet, the Benefactor pulled the same trick that Tim had done, and grabbed the chains. He yanked Tim toward him, and Tim's face met the underside of the Benefactor's boot.

***

Allie buried her sword into a robot's head, then made two more, jumped off of the one robot and performed a spinning attack, severing the heads of two more robots and landing gracefully on the ground. She was about to cut the legs off of a fourth robot, but it suddenly burst into flames in front of her, while she was pulled out of the way by something.

Charlie landed on the ground next to her and cracked her knuckles. "You need to be a little more careful."

"I'm careful enough. I did take on a sun god, y'know."

The younger girl raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Newbright? Helios? Didn't you hear anything about that?"

"Did this happen recently?"

"It was about a month ago."

"Were there important people involved? Like... established Chosen, or anything?"

Allie sighed. "Forget about it."

"I probably already did."

"Whatever. What sort of bad guys have you taken out?"

Charlie looked like she was about to answer before something exploded in front of them. Allie jumped one way, Charlie jumped the opposite direction. They both landed about twenty feet away from the explosion site, where a lone woman in her mid-twenties was standing, smiling.

"Oh, yeah..." Charlie sighed, "I fought her."

The woman laughed. "Oh! Oh! This is just too good." The woman took a few steps closer to Charlie. "If it isn't little Spider-Cunt..." The woman laughed again. "Spider-Cunt, Spider-Cunt, fucks whatever it is I like to do!" A webline shot out of the woman's wrist and attached to Charlie's shoulder. "Oh, and she's got a little girly-friend!"

Allie created another sword and stood her ground. "Let her go, whoever you are!"

The woman smirked. "Nope."

Allie felt heat on her back and smiled. "Then I guess it's time for a fight."

As if he'd been called to battle, Elliot threw several fireballs in the direction of the crazy woman, then shouted, "Amazing Friends to the rescue!"

We're not calling ourselves that!

***

Hapscomb loaded another grenade into the launcher and leaned around his cover. He fired the grenade at the nearest robot, and then nearly lost his head as some of the flak from the robot was launched in his direction. He ducked under cover quickly, then heard a scream. He looked to his left and saw Captain Montoya clutching at her stomach.

"What happened?!"

"One of the bastards got me..."

He quickly reached into his side pack and retrieved a bandage, executed a roll over to the captain, and pressed the bandage to her wound. "Keep pressure here," he said to her, "I'll see if I can get a medic out this way."

She shook her head. "Just get out of here. These damn robots are just gonna keep coming..."

He slammed his fist against the wall. "No! Leave no man behind. I swore to that." He checked his magazine and then chambered a round. "I'm staying." He reached into his pack for more 40mm grenades for the M203, and found one. Better than nothing. He loaded it into the launcher and took a deep breath. One full magazine, one grenade. Be all you can be, you sonuvabitch. He jumped out from his cover and squeezed the trigger on the M203, then watched as a whole group of robots detonated right in front of him. He ducked back behind cover to avoid getting hit, waited a moment, then peeked around his cover. There was a teenage girl walking through the remains of the robots. "Hey!" he shouted. She turned his way, dropping into a defensive stance. "Lieutenant Hapscomb, National Guard! I have Police Captain Montoya here, she's injured!"

The girl's eyes widened. "Aunt Holly!" She ran toward the building, pushing Hapscomb out of the way. She knelt down next to the captain and embraced her. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Captain Montoya coughed. "Forget about me, sweetie, what are you doing here?"

"Colin and I couldn't just stand back and let this happen. We had to come back." The girl turned to Hapscomb. "Do something to help her!"

He shook his head slowly. "I'm out of bandages, kid. That wound is pretty deep."

She grabbed him by the collar. "Do something!"

"I want to! I just can't!"

"Monica Montoya, let, him, go!" Captain Montoya yelled. The girl let his collar go and knelt down by her aunt. "I'm a goner, kiddo. You get back to the boyfriend and go help somebody else, understand?"

The girl started to cry, and embraced her aunt once more. "I don't want to leave you," she said, through tears.

The captain patted her niece on the head. "I know, sweetie, but you have to. There's people out there who need your help, so go."

The girl stood up and looked at Hapscomb. "Will you stay here, with her?"

He nodded. "I will. Leave no man behind, it's our motto."

She smiled, faintly. "Just, please, keep her final moments peaceful?"

Ne nodded again, then watched as she ran back out of the building. He knelt down next to Captain Montoya and put a hand on her shoulder. "That the super hero niece?"

She nodded. "She is."

"She's a good kid."

"She is."

Those were Captain Holly Montoya's final words.

***

Knight jumped back to dodge another powerful swing, then brought his staff into direct contact with Conjurer's left cheek. She recoiled in pain, then tried to make another swing. She stopped just short of the full swing, however, as a puff of smoke appeared in between them. A tall man with an Elven face stood there, sword on his hip. He didn't draw the sword, but his hand rested on the hilt.

"Shazai shimasu," the man said. "Konjurā wa hijō ni senmon-gaidatta." He bowed. "Anata wa meiyo to tatakatte kita." He stood up again. "Watashi wa anata ga kono shiren-shi Burando o sonzoku o negatte imasu." He put his free hand on Conjurer's shoulder, and then the two of them disappeared.

Knight stood there alone, just staring at the spot where the two of them had been. "What the hell?!"

Then a voice shouted out, "Guess you forgot about me!" A lightning bolt hit him in the chest. He turned and saw Korra Reston standing there, tossing electricity between her hands.

"You don't have to do this, Korra. You can just walk away."

She shook her head. "No, I can't. You don't get it, Knight, if it weren't for the Benefactor... I'd be a mess."

He readied his staff. "You are a mess, kid. I feel sorry for you."

She smirked. "So, we gonna do this, or what?"

Knight didn't answer with words. He sprinted toward the girl and swung his staff, which she barely managed to dodge by jumping over it and hovering in the air. He twirled the staff, swung again, clipping her across the face. She landed on the ground and somersaulted backward, then tossed two of her electrical grenades his way. He jumped, threw several boomerang blades at her, which she shot down with several careful lightning bolts. He threw three more blades, but she fired out a large electric wave, which redirected them back in his direction. Using the staff, he swatted them each in different directions, then just managed to block as a chain made of pure electricity was thrown in his direction.

***

Tim's fist was covered in metal, which connected with the Benefactor's face. He was countered quickly by a knee to the gut, then the back. He turned and saw a second Benefactor behind him. Great, duplication... Nice to know I've got that one... He felt electricity flow through his arms, then shape itself into two glowing blades at the end of his arms, almost like swords. He swiped at the duplicate Benefactor, which dissolved before his eyes, then at the real one, who healed as quickly as he was injured, then roundhouse kicked Tim straight in the face.

Tim recovered quickly, threw alternating lightning bolts, fireballs, and icesicles at his enemy, who blocked each attack and countered with one of his own. This was far too even a match. Tim slammed his fist into the floor, which turned into lava very briefly, but long enough to force the Benefactor into midair, where Tim brought down a storm of fire from the ceiling. The Benefactor shifted into an animal form, a snake, and slithered across the floor and then shifted back into a human just in time to grab Tim by the throat.

Tim turned his hand into a sword and cut the Benefactor's arm clean off at the elbow, but the villain grew it back within seconds, minus the sleeve of his trench coat. He smiled, then gripped two fireballs, one in each hand. He threw them, each time gaining a replacement to throw. Tim dodged several of them, then forced a gust of wind in the Benefactor's direction, destroying the fireballs and blasting the Benefactor through the wall, into the reception area.

Tim morphed his arms into scythes and ran toward his enemy, slicing this way and that. The Benefactor's clothing was torn in several places, but the wounds simply healed. The Benefactor responded in kind by grabbing Tim by the neck a second time and elongating his arm, crashing Tim into the opposite wall. The Benefactor turned his fingers into knives, and started twisting them into Tim's neck, but Tim turned his own neck into metal, canceling the attack out. He then cut the Benefactor's arm off a second time to escape.

The Benefactor used his super speed to rush Tim, punching him in the jaw at seven hundred miles per hour, breaking his jaw. He healed quickly, then morphed his hand into a sledgehammer and returned the favor, breaking the Benefactor's legs.

***

Brenda fired an energy blast at the closest robot, then jumped out of the way as Penelope threw one in her direction. She blasted two more in the face, then created an arm to grab one and throw it toward Guardian, who caught it in midair and ripped it in half vertically.

"Brenda! Catch!" Penelope shouted. Brenda looked in that direction and nearly didn't catch the three robots that were thrown in her direction. She created two buzzsaws and cut them to pieces just in time to avoid getting hit. She flashed Penelope a thumbs up and a weak smile, then returned to blasting the growing number of robots that were destroying the surrounding buildings.

There had to be a thousand of them on this block alone. The ones that weren't trying to take a fist sized chunk out of a super hero were slaughtering the innocent civilians. Brenda tried her best to save as many people as she could, but it seemed like the moment she did, another robot either shot the people she'd just saved or destroyed the building she'd sent them to for cover. This was turning futile, and it was annoying her.

Several of the robots were suddenly hoisted into the air, then a few of them simply exploded, somehow. Brenda landed on the ground and took careful aim at some of the ones that remained floating, as did Penelope and Guardian. That street was clear now, but there were still more robots coming. What just happened? Brenda asked herself.

As if in answer, a young mildly Hispanic girl and a young black man stepped out of an alleyway. Brenda was almost certain she recognized them from somewhere, but she couldn't quite place them...

"Quake," Guardian said to the girl, landing on the street to greet them. "And Hold-Up, am I right?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. Nice to see you, too."

"Word from Knight was that you two joined the Guardians."

The boy rubbed at the back of his head and nodded. "Yeah. But as soon as we saw that broadcast, we came back here."

Penelope joined them. "You two were in that group that Knight funded, weren't you? With that electric girl, Korra?"

The girl nodded. "Uh-huh, why?"

Guardian answered, "Then you'll probably want to find Knight. He was dealing with her and some Japanese woman, last we knew."

"Korra's with the Benefactor?"

Guardian nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

***

Charlie struggled against Harmony's webbing. It was... stronger, somehow, than it used to be. It didn't make sense. Had the Benefactor done this to her? Just another reason to... No... She couldn't think about that. She just concentrated on trying to pull this webbing off of her shoulders without dislocating anything.

She tried pulling the strands off individually, but that didn't seem to be working. This stuff was tough. She managed to pull a bit of one off, then felt herself get pulled down to the ground. Her face connected with asphalt and she looked up to see that Harmony had gotten significantly closer. She was standing right over Charlie now, her foot on Charlie's head. "I wouldn't take any steps closer, kids, or the Spider-Cunt gets it."

Stop calling me that...

The bitch moved her foot from Charlie's head to her neck. "Maybe I'll just crush neck right now... Would you little shits like that?"

Why? Why do you have this stupid vendetta against me? All I did was lock you up when you were hurting innocent people!

Harmony's foot morphed into what appeared to be a raven's clawed foot, and clamped around Charlie's neck. She felt the talons digging into her skin. "I think her skull's gonna pop!"

Let go of me!

Almost as if Harmony was complying, Charlie felt herself lifted into the air and thrown at a wall, then Harmony was on her again in seconds, pressing something into her side. "How's it feel, Spider-Cunt? To have the same knife lodged in your gut that I killed your dad with?" The bitch punched Charlie, knocking her head back and into the wall. She could feel blood build up in her mouth. "What'sa matter, cunt? Got somethin' you wanna say? I bet you do." She grabbed Charlie by the chin and pulled her close. "You ruined me, you little cunt, so I'm gonna enjoy this. I'm gonna take this real slow, and it's gonna be the greatest thing -"

Charlie closed her eyes, squeezed them shut, then she opened them again. To anyone looking at her (like Harmony), her eyes were now blood red, as was the aura surrounding her hands. In less than a second, Harmony was pulled away from her, into the air, arms and legs spread straight out.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up."

The words sounded disjointed, as if some speech program on a computer was reading for her. Had Charlie herself heard the words, she would have laughed about it, but Harmony Sprite wasn't laughing. Harmony was very obviously scared. Charlie raised one hand and Harmony's entire body seemed to curl in upon itself. The cracking sounds of bones being broken into thousands of tiny pieces and the disgusting snapping sound of skin being torn and ripped apart was the last thing Harmony heard.

***

Elliot kept his flames up as Charlie came closer to him. That weird red glow around her hands was gone, but her eyes... There was something wrong about them. They were glowing a sort of deep blue, rather than her typical green. She shook her head a moment, and the blue was gone. "What?" she asked.

"How did you do that?" Allie asked.

"I don't... I don't know. I think I just..." Her eyes then rolled back in her head, and she fell to the ground. Elliot quickly dropped his flames and reached out for her, catching her just in time.

"What the hell?!" Allie shrieked.

Elliot turned to her. "We need to get her some place safe." He looked past her and saw several more robots marching up the street toward them. "And we need to get her there fast."

***

Angel stood outside of Maria's room and took a deep breath. The mind reacher hadn't been happy to see her the last time they'd met. She opened the door and walked inside, but Maria was nowhere to be found. She took another step inside, and then heard the door slam shut behind her. She spun around and saw something... odd.

The woman before her was wearing a purple suit, poorly applied clown make-up and had dyed her hair green. Beneath the make-up appeared to be scars extending outward from her mouth in a bizzare smile. The woman resembled Maria, but looked more like the Joker. "I'm not here to hurt you," Angel said, extending her wings outward.

The woman reached up and cracked her neck, then let out a sigh. "Whenever somebody says they're not there to hurt you, they take all the fun out of everything." The woman reached into a pocket in her suit and retrieved a knife. "I like the fun. It's what drives me."

Angel held out one hand, which stopped the woman. "I'm here to speak with Maria, not some fragment of the mind of a psychopath. Leave, or else."

The woman grit her disgusting yellow teeth, and then the Joker facade melted away, leaving Maria. "I'm sorry. Sometimes... It's not easy to keep her at bay."

Angel nodded. "I understand. I need your help, Maria."

"I know. I saw the broadcast, and I can feel it in your mind. The Benefactor's destroying East City, right now."

"And you may play a key role in defeating him."

"I'm not so sure I trust that future sight of yours anymore. You were pretty far off the mark with Pine Ridge."

"I know, but something's different about this. I can feel that I'm right about it."

Maria took a step closer to Angel. "I assume you know I'm pregnant?"

"I do."

"I can't leave."

"Your body doesn't have to. Only your mind."

"And if I can't keep... her... under control?"

Angel put her hand on Maria's shoulder. "You can. I'm certain of it."

She sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it. Whatever exactly it is."

Angel smiled. "You need to get inside his mind."

***

The Benefactor lifted Tim up off the floor and threw him at the large window that dominated one side of the room, but Tim managed to catch himself in midair, just outside the building. He flew back inside, shifted his hand into a giant metal hammer, and slammed it into the Benefactor's face. The villain was launched to the side, but also recovered just as quickly as Tim had moments before. He unleashed fire from his eyes, not as concentrated as heat vision but just as dangerous. Tim quickly turned himself into concrete, and held out until the flurry ended.

When the Benefactor was finished, Tim shifted back into his normal form and let out an ear shattering scream, which broke every pane of glass on that floor of the building. He heard the supports start to shake, but it was the Benefactor's icicle shard piercing his throat that stopped his assault. He concentrated on healing the large wound in the back of his neck, then just managed to counter a barrage of jabs and kicks what broke every bone in his body, at least until they healed seconds later.

Tim morphed both of his hands into swords and went on the offensive, hacking and slashing this way and that, each time managing to do a little more damange to the Benefactor's clothes if nothing else. With a grunt of exertion, he drove his left blade into the Benefactor's shoulder, pinning the villain against a wall, but the Benefactor easily escaped by turning himself into a gaseous form. Tim followed suit, shifting into a slightly more volitile gas.

"You've learned!" The Benefactor said, though absolutely no mouth.

***

Monica ran. She didn't stop running. Korra was there, fighting Knight, and she had to see her. Colin followed closely behind her, occasionally using his telekinesis to shove several HARP robots into one another. Monica, however, ignored the robots. She needed to get to Korra.

She slid to a stop, falling on her ass, as a group of robots rounded a corner. They took aim with their machine guns and let off several vollies of rounds. Colin managed to stop them in midair, but she knew that he had his limits. She concentrated on the robots, careful not to accidentally hit the bullets, but was just as surprised as Colin when the heads of the robots were suddenly sliced off, as if by a sword.

"What the hell?!" Colin asked, dropping the bullets onto the ground. When the robots fell to the ground, there stood a figure dressed completely in black. Monica couldn't tell the gender of this figure at all, thanks to the already pervasive darkness. The figure simply nodded to them, then disappeared.

"Who the hell was that?" Colin asked, though Monica wasn't entirely sure she heard him. She was too busy wondering who or what that figure had been. Why had they saved the two of them? Why did that guy look familiar? she asked herself.

Either way, her mental questions were put on hold as something flew past them and hit the building to Monica's left. Not two seconds after that, Korra Reston hovered into view, coming from the direction that whatever it was had been thrown from. "Korra!" she shouted, catching the girl's attention.

"Oh hey, Monica. Gimme a sec to kill this prick and then we can catch up."

Monica looked at the building and saw Knight climbing through the hole he'd caused on the way in. He didn't look too good. "He's a lunatic, Korra..." the hero said, "and he's going down tonight."

"Shut up!" She threw lightning blasts at him, but Monica intercepted them with some explosions. The blasts knocked Korra off balance, onto the ground.

"Go! Run!" Monica shouted at Knight, but he simply shook his head. She'll kill you if you stay, man, go!

Oh, I plan on killing him anyway, Korra's voice entered her mind. The question is whether or not I should kill you now.

"Oh shit..."

***

"She'll do exactly what you need her to," Kennedy said, rolling his wheelchair up to Angel. She turned to him. "I fear for the Benefactor's mind, though."

"If what I've seen of the future comes to pass, it's not what she'll do to his mind. It's what he will show her. What he knows." She turned back toward Maria's empty shell. "I'm sorry for how I behaved earlier."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was... Unnecessarily harsh with you. Things were bad here. And after the incident in Africa..."

She nodded. "I understand. I was with you, as well. I hope you understand why I've only asked for Maria."

He nodded, this time. "I do. It's for the best, anyway. So many of our Chosen are recovering, it's likely that they wouldn't be a help to you even if they were close to a hundred percent."

She shook her head. "It's no problem. They've been through much, and I still have to catch up, thanks to my clouded vision. But today... I'm sure of what it is I've seen."

***

Guardian punched a hole through one robot's chest, then fired his heat vision at another. He was getting tired again. There were so many robots. He blasted two more robots just in time to get punched in the face by a third. He wrestled with the robot for a few moments, then pulled its arms off and used them to bat its head clean off.

Sapphire landed beside him, then collapsed. He quickly grabbed her before she hit the ground and gently slapped her cheeks. "Wake up! Sapphire!"

She weakly opened her eyes. "This... There's too many of them..."

He looked over at Penelope. "She's down!" he shouted.

"What?!" Penelope shrieked. She quickly blasted two more robots, then rushed over to them. "Brenda!"

"We have to get her out of here, Penelope," he said, as calmly as was possible. He was worried about the girl. "We need to get her somewhere where she can recover."

"I know that!"

The robots continued to move closer to them.

***

Lieutenant Hapscomb met up with six more from another squad and together, they managed to hold onto Captain Montoya's precinct house. The robots were coming up fast and strong, though, bullets punctured the walls, occasionally riccocheting around the detective's office on the second floor.

Hapscomb took aim on one of the closer ones and pelted its head with bullets. He watched its head explode, then he ducked back behind his cover and reloaded. "Does anybody have a radio that works?" he shouted to his fellow soldiers.

Davies responded, "Yeah, sir!"

"See if you can't get any back-up!"

McKlusky slid up beside him, popped a few rounds out the window, then pulled behind cover. "We tried that already, sir. We're fucked. No back-up until morning, and..." He sighed. "And that's going to be an air strike, sir."

"What?"

"That's what they told us before. Oh-seven-fifty hours, if the Benefactor's not a confirmed kill, East City will be blown to hell. "

"Shit!" Hapscomb slammed his head back against the wall. There was a particularly loud explosion of sound just behind him. He pulled away from the wall and saw a small circle of bullet holes exactly where his back had been. He turned to McKlusky, saw that the other soldier's face was a mass of blood and holes. That was when he felt it. He looked down at his chest and saw the blood pouring freely from the small circle of wounds that perfectly matched the holes on the wall. "Shit..."

Lieutenant William Hapscomb fell to his knees, and then onto his back. The warmth drained from his body quickly, and then he saw nothing but darkness.

***

Charlie woke to Elliot kneeling beside her. Allie was over by a window, ice sword in hand, ready to fight anything that came along. Charlie sat up and scratched at her head. "What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out after you trounced that bitch with the spider webbing. How'd you do that?"

After I what? To the who?! "What did I do?"

Allie answered, "You killed that woman that kept calling you 'Spider-Cunt'. Tore her to shreds, too."

"I did?!"

Elliot put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "No... Harmony... Her name was Harmony. I killed her?"

He nodded. "Yeah, with some weird glowing energy coming out of your hands. After that, you passed out."

Charlie stood up, took a long look around the room. "Where are we?"

"The quickest place we could find shelter. Those robots are looking for us, but they can't seem to find us just yet."

I really killed Harmony? Me? "You guys didn't get hurt trying to save me, did you?"

Elliot chuckled, shook his head. "No problem, love."

"That's extremely good," came a voice from the opposite side of the room. Charlie looked in that direction and saw the man who'd shown up earlier that day, to help her family leave town. Where'd he come from?! "I imagine you three would like some answers." He stuck a cigarette in his mouth, brought a lighter to it. "Follow me, children."