"... Mark Wallberg. Paulina Casper. Emily Gau —"

  "That's a long list...".

  "Over Three hundred and forty million in the US. If even a fraction of a fraction of them have powers, that's a lot of folk."

  "But most aren't even on it."

  Emily Gaunt clicked her tongue and looked up from massaging her feet.

  She was sitting in the outdoor patio of NFR News Station, on one of the benches in the manicured grass. Her feet were bare, which she'd thought would be fine because she had a rule going that made her soles repel dirt and another one which made them impervious to sharp objects. Nothing about hard ones though. That one was too UNIVERSAL for some reason. There was nothing wrong with UNIVERSAL normally, but it tended to be expensive and Emily was saving up. Shoes... may have been the way to go after all, she thought. Maybe.

  "— Francine. Kirin. IWalkedWithThunder909. Este—"

  The man who had talked was a medium build, with broad shoulders and biceps that spoke of a gym membership, but also enough weight around the belly that spoke of a lackadaisical attitude towards it.

  Still he was handsome enough, she thought. He had the round face and the salt and pepper beard that she found appealing.

  "Still plenty. I can keep adding 'fraction' to my sentence, and it would still take a while to get small. Emily." She said. "Gaunt."

  Emily waited a moment for him to recognize the name and then felt a small pang of disappointment when he just nodded easily and proffered a hand, which she shook.

  Callused. Also appealing.

  "Lance." Lance said, sitting down.

  "Just Lance?"

  "Alot." He grinned as she narrowed her eyes. "Don't look at me. Came with the power. I can't even pronounce my old one anymore. Sorta curls up the tongue just trying to say it." His mouth twisted. "Not even a hard to pronounce name either. Like John. It's not John. Bob.... So, are you a G-Lister?

  "G..."

  "Government List-er? Suppose I could have called it L-Lister...."

  "Emily. Gaunt." She huffed when he just blinked affably at her. "He just said my name."

  "Oh! I haven't been paying any mind. There are a lot of names and I don't know any of them. Guess I do now though."

  "Are you on the list?"

  "With a name like Lancelot? Nah. Maybe if it was The Merlin." He chuckled.

  "Then what are you even doing here?"

  Emily curled her legs beneath herself on the bench. She peered around at the lumpy black statues, the green grass and the trellis archways. The group hanging out on the wall of the building behind her — despite the fact that the wall was vertical, and they were... not. At the pale kid a little ways away who Emily knew for a fact, stole souls and used them to raise revenants.

  He shrugged. "It's a tough thing. Government putting together a watch list. A hit and abduct list. On its own citizens. If they were criminals, sure. But I don't think most of these are. I can usually tell. Are you a criminal, Emily?"

  "Not yet I'm not. I'm a student," Emily said, shaking her head. "Poly Sci. And I'm here," She volunteered when he didn't ask. "Because Uncle Sam deserves some L's. Legion gives them L's and so will I."

  "Ah." He chuckled affably, and Emily decided she was starting to dislike him after all.

  Well Lancelot." She adjusted herself again. "I don't see a sword. Or a shield. Or armor. How do you intend to help defend us too super Supers?"

  "I'm not."

  "... Uh.

  He shook his head. "People always forget." He said. "They remember Guinevere. The jousting and the swords and the banners. They forget that Lancelot was a Knight."

  "... O-k?"

  "The Knight. And he was knightly before the sword and shield. Before Artur an' the table round. Before Merlin."

  Lance also looked out over the grass and Emily saw him linger on one of the trellises with the climbing roses. For some reason she didn't think he was seeing the petals, though. Just the thorns.

  "I'm here to bear witness," Lance said quietly. "To what happens here today. Knights are honor-full. And there's none here, on either side. Someone needs to watch."

  "Epsilon. Sandra Hess —"

  "They're coming." The pale boy walked up. He had his hands in his pockets and looked bored. Or maybe distracted. "I'm intercepting them n —"

  There was an explosion. It passed through Emily with small WUMP of force through her diaphragm.

  "—ow" The boy said belatedly, grinning. "One down. You ready?"

  "Please. I was born ready." Emily stood up, shaking her hands out and drawing her power to her. She glanced back at Lance once as she moved forward. He was still sitting there. With his coffee in hand and a flannel shirt unbuttoned over his T-shirt.

  He just sat there, smiling a small smile. "Go give them some L's." He said encouragingly.... And not.

  Rotors roared like gatling guns and a dozen cackling models with jet black wings, wearing an assortment of fancy dresses, tight jeans and leggings, flung themselves into the air.

  Three of them died instantly in puffs of red, fire and ash and a noise like the sky was breaking, but the rest twisted away and spiraled out.

  Black Somethings appeared in their hands, and they threw them, and the sound that made, made Emily certain that they'd broken the sound barrier too.

  Emily shook her hands out as a dozen of Legion's demons clashed with US forces in the sky above LA. Her power burned in her and the air in front of her seemed to shimmer. She had a lot of it today. She'd saved up. Barely used it for weeks. 'This is my debut' she thought. 'Something big.... Something'. Emily flexed her feet in the grass and felt something that felt like a nail bend away from her big toe.

  The world warped to her eyes. Pathways and possibilities bloomed like unfolding, crystalline petals before her and she could see exactly how she coul—

  Something targeted her. It was fast. She felt reality shift slightly, and she threw herself sideways with a cut-off yelp. And then kept throwing herself in kind of humping rolling motion as the ground cratered where she'd been standing.

  The bench she'd been sitting in was gone she saw dazedly.

  "ENFO—"

  The whistle and reality twisting gave it away this time and Emily flung herself behind one of those black pillars just in time, as something impacted the grass and there was a world ending THUD which traveled right through her diaphragm and slammed her hard onto her back.

  Through her spinning head and the tinnitus in her ears, she saw three drones buzzing low over the rooftops, and fractal reality showed them cycling weaponry.

  Distantly, she was aware of that pale kid cackling while something caught bullets for him, and somewhere, blacker-than-black fire flared into horrifying being.

  They were fighting.

  The drones yawed as one, and turned. On her. Again. Five more joined them. One exploded from something and —

  A full seven burst out of roof cover from the other side, and even through the ringing and her swimming eyes Emily saw those fractal realities warp as every one of them turned on her.

  They were targeting her. They knew who she was!

  'G-Lister.'

  STOP

  Sudden fear dragged the command from her. Her power flexed, halved, and the world Listened.

  Drones froze in midair as if caught in amber. Two at the edges of her periphery shuddered and dipped, but they'd been out of focus and obeyed her yelped command less readily.

  Those two Fired —

  And metal pinged off of the feathers of two black wings which unfurled above her. Something exploded and off to the side, she thought she saw the revenant raising kid disappear in a fountain of sod.

  Emily looked up into the heart shaped face of a yellow haired beauty with eyes like glowing sapphires and a smirk so cruel it would have made a crocodile cry.

  "Do you fight from your back often, Mortal?"

  Legion had two... lieutenants. Everyone knew that. Red, was one. "You're... Gold, aren't you?" Emily's head felt fuzzy. The fractals were losing their crystalline clarity. There was a hot burning at her leg, and something at her shoulder felt... wet.

  Gold grinned prettily. "Yes." And licked her open hand with a tongue that seemed longer and more sinuous than it should have been. Then she pressed it against Emily's leg, and it BURNED.

  Emily screamed and writhed. She struck out at Gold, but the Demon simply caught her wrist. Twisted it and levered her onto her side. Licked her other hand —

  "N-NO!" —

  And pressed it to Emily's shoulder as Emily shrieked, and metal slugs bounced off of feathers that looked like they shouldn't have stopped even so much as a kitchen knife.

  Then the Demon slapped her face and the ringing dimmed.

  "Cast." Gold hissed. "Or I shall remove mine charm, an' thine leg besides."

  Emily looked down. There was a charred gash at her jeans' thigh, which the Demon had ripped open, and a red hand print where there should have been....

  Emily blinked at it. 'Where there should have been something far more egregious.' Emily thought, feeling pale.

  "Cast mortal. Thine kind dwindles as mine regroups, and only our dead return." Gold cackled, a sound Emily only just realized she shouldn't have been able to make out underneath all of the gun fire.

  There was so much of it, now that her head was clear. It had all happened so fast!

  In the sky above her five demons dipped and spun and destroyed drone gunships. But there were so many bearing down, and those glide bodies had peeled off and taken up positions circling high in the sky with those large gun platforms and were laying down a base of fire so thick it was like a rain of burning fire flies descending upon them.

  'Why aren't we dead?' Emily thought distantly. 'Why—' and like always, her power supplied her an answer and diminished even more. 'All that stockpiling for nothing.' She thought.

  It was Abjurer's doing. Power burned in her eyes and she saw the reality he'd renounced above their heads. The bullets — depleted uranium slugs — and missiles bounced and fell like small pebbles off of Nothing that expanded above them.

  The drones were blasting holes in it though, as fast as he could fill them. He was flagging, and some munitions made it through and buried themselves in the earth.

  'They're right to fear him.' Emily thought, still on her back with Gold grinning down over her. 'He's single-handedly stopping literal depleted uranium rain.... And I'm on the floor.'

  Off to her left, black fire bloomed again, and this time struck out like a snake. An armored van that screeched into the courtyard melted to slag in front of her eyes.

  One person made it out and only by flinging himself out of the back before the van had even fully entered.

  He got one shot off before disappearing in a black column of flames that didn't die.

  Whatever he fired impacted and detonated, and she heard Ren — Amaterasu — scream, before a hell-scape of black fire that looked blacker than black should be descended on the entrance to the courtyard.

  'They're right to fear him too.' Emily thought. Ren Yoshida was holding back, probably so as not to burn down the city block — again — and them along with it. 'But with him at the entrance, no one is getting through.... And I'm on my back.'

  There were more entrances though, and the walls around NFR were never actually meant to keep anyone out.

  Emily, still on her back and staring up into Gold's wicked, grinning face, was aware of armored personnel in urban digital, fighting in the courtyard now. They were supported by hunter-droids, robotic turrets which looked like bowlegged, metal spiders with gun emplacements.

  They were dying, she saw. Legion's demons — only three of them — were tearing into them as they scrambled and fired, and before her eyes, she saw the black skinned Super with the goatee, Balrog, charge and transform into his namesake — shadow and flame.

  'They were right to fear them.' She thought. And maybe that was why they fought so bitterly. And Supers died too.

  She saw one of the SHARPs take aim with something that looked like a cross between a very bulky assault rifle and rocket launcher, and fire.

  A hole the size of her head appeared in Balrog and he staggered, even as his fiery whip licked out and took someone's head from their shoulders and the flames of his breath melted a turret.

  Another hole appeared. And another. Balrog ROARED and killed three more. His wings flared and — there was a flash of something — and when Emily's eyes cleared the Balrog was gone, and only something that looked vaguely like a man crumpled where he'd stood.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Supers died. And Human's died.

  And they were right!

  "Why are you here?" Emily asked Gold standing above her.

  "My Master wills it."

  They were right. There were so many dead, and Emily didn't think even ten minutes had passed. Because a Super — just one — willed it.

  'I can stop it.' Emily thought. That solid certainty that she'd held when she'd been talked to Lance, when she'd said 'Uncle Sam deserves L's' so confidently... it wasn't there anymore, she realized. 'I could make it all stop. With just one rule.'

  And the clarity came back to her eyes. The fractals of possibility returned. There was Lance, standing off to his side and very specifically not doing anything. Somehow no one was paying him any mind. And she remembered what he'd said.

  "I'm here to bear witness, To what happens here today."

  What happens... here. When the fearful and the feared meet. She thought. Except the feared were the fearful too, and they were doing this because they were afraid.

  'Uncle Sam deserves L's'... And they did! They disappeared Supers and killed Supers, who paid taxes and lived lives and... But she knew Supers killed humans too. And what were they to do about that? About the likes of Legion. The likes of Abjurer who had fallen to one knee but who was still stymieing a squadrons worth of firepower. 'What could they do against the likes of me. If I ever get up from my back.'

  'What could they do? This. And someone has to win.'

  Emily lay on her back and didn't move.

  'Someone needs to take the L today. Maybe not forever. But today.' Emily decided. 'Uncle Sam was right to fear the Supers on that list. They were right, to fear the Supers here in this courtyard today. And they are right to fear me too.'

  "I'm a G Lister." Emily told Gold, who cocked her head in confusion. "If you go near my leg, I'll turn you into a newt."

  "... A newt?"

  Emily nodded her head solemnly. 'Someone needs to lose today. Or nothing changes. And it all goes back to normal.'

  'And normal wasn't good.'

  SHRPs had made it to the door. Another boom — so normal now that Emily barely blinked at the thud of pressure.

  "Foolish World." Emily said. And she expended the rest of her power. "Don't you know?"

  GUNPOWDER IS INCOMBUSTIBLE

  'Someone has to take the L.'

  There was a dull clamor rising in the classroom. People were speaking. Shouting. Cursing. But Jimmy had ears only for the names still streaming from Tom's phone. Eyes only for the banking drones on the screen.

  Legion's girls met them in the sky's above NFR, their wide, black wings flinging them skyward so fast it was like watching stooping hawks but in reverse.

  The drone doing the filming was obviously beating its hasty retreat, but also doing it flying backwards and whatever it was filming with was very high quality.

  So it caught it, when one of Legions' girls broke through the tracer fire and banked.

  For a brief instant she hung suspended in air. She wore a cute, black and red rashguard with what looked like a sleeping kitten stamped on it, and a flannel shirt tied around her waist in kind of a girl-next-door-back-from-a-workout-sesh look. But with her wings spread wide like that and her hair streaming in the wind like a banner, she cut the spitting image of an Angelic warrior delivering vengeance.

  She raised a black bow that hadn't been there before, and drew and fired three times seemingly without even aiming. It was smooth, almost timeless as she did it. Like the world hung on her movement for a stretched instant.

  Then it ended, and she barrel-rolled away and dived as tracer fire burned through where she'd hung.

  A second later, when the rest of the glide bodies veered away and up, one didn't, and it was flying lower, and lower....

  Sashaya covered her mouth as the glide body buried itself into an office building in a spray of glass and metal and fire.

  "—nrique Escobar. Fernando Gonzales. Kyle Fin. Story Writer — You know who you are."

  "What are they doing?!" Someone was wailing. "What are they doing?! They can't fight in LA!"

  'They could' Jimmy noted wildly. 'They'd certainly been doing it Menrose last week. There just hadn't been drone footage to make it real'.

  It felt like he had somehow achieved double vision. One eye and both ears were on Legion. One eye on the drone footage. 'It's a good thing that footage doesn't have an audio feed or no one would hear anything'. And he needed to hear. Needed...

  "James W—"

  Jimmy saw white for a brief instant --

  "—ilkins"

  And then almost collapsed in relief.

  "nymphgirl1"

  Some of these sounded like gamer tags. Or profile names. Or — Jimmy's mind flashed to his sister telling him about that site Rate My Power.

  'Dude. How is this even legal?' He thought numbly. 'It wasn't!'

  The door burst open behind him, and someone who obviously expected to be obeyed shouted, "Everyone with phones out put them a way, right now!"

  No one did.

  "I'm going to start snatching phones. Put them away right — Hey! Come back here!" Students streamed out, pushing past him out the door. There was running in the hallway. Students were milling about and pushing and running but with no clear direction as to where they were going or what they were doing in the first place, or whether they were intending on standing out in the pouring rain.

  And all the while...

  "Ixnay. Franklin Epstien. Nathan Keating. Ilph —"

  All four of them spun on Nate who backed up raising his hands. "Hey! You all know my last name is Cole —"

  But next to them a girl was grabbing her boyfriend's arm and practically yelling into his ear. "There's a Keating in twelfth! Twelfth!"

  Students were pushing past urban camouflaged figures who were pressing themselves against the wall with their too big weaponry pressed flat against their body's and looking like their training did not include stampeding students and like they wanted none of it besides. And at one point Jimmy saw Agent Mannheim striding through the crowd looking frustrated with Suma and a grim faced Agent Walker beside him.

  Students were apparently willing to stand out in the rain under jackets and overlapping umbrellas. And others found the cafeteria and the gym and...

  Their tree nerd group barricaded themselves in the real study-hall room with several dozen other students all listening and watching the news feeds.

  There were apparently several drones on the scene now. Something Jimmy learned when Kaykes joined them, making a bee-line for Jimmy even though she had no business knowing where he was. Two other ninth-graders were tagging along with her, each of them with the exception of Kaykes looking nervous about being around so many upperclassmen. All three of them had their phones out, and they were all streaming different angles of the same footage.

  Kaykes apparently saw no reason to waste a screen on Legion herself, presumably because everyone was, and he was highly audible.

  "—Shelby Corine—"

  "—as that Shelby and then Corine? Or First name Shelby, last name Corine?" A girl who called herself 'Shelly' asked nervously as her friends eyed her and edged warily away.

  Kaykes looked grim. But she didn't say anything save a muted greeting to Patricia and didn't do anything except to nod shortly to Tom and Sashaya and kick at Nate's shins perfunctorily.

  Jimmy couldn't even think of why Kaykes had swum through all the students in the first place except possibly to get to his side before... in case....

  Jimmy gulped as he crossed eyes silently with his sister, and his hands inched their way slowly to his pockets.

  — In case Legion spoke his name too.

  He felt an overwhelming wash of affection for his sister in that moment. But she just nudged him and hissed "Don't be a dork." Then she got up on tiptoes to reach his ear and hissed in her quietest voice — "He's not going to say your name." She sounded certain. Jimmy appreciated this.

  "... But if he does, you run. Don't even think. Book it. You've got cards that can get you out of here, right?"

  ... Or, maybe not.... It was already along the same lines that Jimmy himself had been thinking though, and he nodded shortly. But internally he was far less certain. 'Maybe? How far would Five Stones Of Reckoning go? Could he use them to break through walls?'

  He wondered if he threw them at the speeds he and Kaykes were experimenting with whether they'd blow down walls or just leave a set of rather damning holes with him standing awkwardly next to them.

  If people tried to stop him... what? Stun Stick of Power!! them? All?? How many zaps would he get? And Jimmy thought about the Hit-Ems being toted around and the Fléchette Launchers. And the honest to god normal damn bullets that would all work equally effectively in bringing him down.

  He would need to run though. If Legion said his name, Jimmy thought that that might be all the reason necessary for the Feds at the school to take a good long look at the only Jimmy Wallace at Eastwall High. The evidence was circumstantial, sure. But that was all the Bulwark Act needed to take effect in the first place, and focused on Jimmy, it wouldn't take them long to find out enough to drop the circumstantial part and just make it 'evidence'.

  The FBI needed a win. That's why they were here in the first place, right? To get a win in the backdrop of Amaterasu and Legion. Well, if that black fire dancing on one of the cell phones Kaykes was dragging around with her was any indication, they were both at NFR. And those wins the Feds were after were appreciating in value fast.

  "He said Kirsten Smith." Jimmy heard one girl hiss "There's a Kirsten Smith in my grade. Do you think —"

  Tom nudged Sashaya. "Are you alright Sash?"

  "My uncle is on that list." Sashaya mouthed through tight lips.

  "What?!" Tom reeled back. "Who was it?"

  Sashaya glared at him.

  "Call him." Jimmy suggested before Tom could stick his foot deeper down his throat. "Don't need to assume this kind of thing."

  Sashaya blinked at him, looking worried. "You don't think its... weird? Or...."

  Jimmy shook his head quickly. "It's all over the news now. Anyone who doesn't know will soon. Might as well be the first to ask."

  Sashaya looked relieved and peeled away. Kaykes and Patricia looked approving. Tom looked hesitantly between the two before nodding himself and trying to make it look like he'd been doing so all along.

  Legion ended the names with an "And Akila Emet." And the broadcast shut off without fanfare.

  'And he didn't say my name' Jimmy breathed in relief. 'Where would I have run to anyway? Didn't say Rosette either,' Jimmy noted after a moment. 'Unless her's was one of the real names on his list. Then he might have....'

  School did not resume even after the teachers were able to enforce some semblance of order again. No one was in any mind to go to class and in fairness, none of the teachers looked like they were in any mind to teach either. So the entire school was released almost exactly an hour after it started.

  Sashaya found them presently with Mico in tow whose face looked pinched.

  "Hey guys." Sashaya tried for her usual exuberant smile which fell a bit flat. "Called him. It's all fine. He said it's definitely a different Mark Cohen."

  'Which is definitely what a not different Mark Cohen would say too'. Jimmy thought, and was certain everyone else was thinking it. "Oh. That's good!" Jimmy tried for an encouraging smile and was certain it fell just as flat as Sashaya's did.

  "Want me to drop you guys off?" Sashaya asked, dangling keys.

  "Nah." Kaykes responded before Jimmy could get his 'Yes definitely' out. "Mom's already here." She's waiting for us out on the street so she doesn't get trapped in the crush.

  All seven of them eyed the parking lot which was turning into a gridlocked prison of honking vehicles and red lights.

  "Oh. Yea... Huh." Sashaya drooped, looking at her little Volkswagen Bug already trapped behind a line of cars who hadn't moved an inch since the time they'd started talking. "How about you guys?" She looked at the other five who all quickly shook their heads.

  "Our Mom's got room for exactly Five...."

  Nate raised his hand quickly. Tom was a second later, and Kaykes grabbed Patricia's arm who looked down at her in surprise. "Aaaanndd, I'm tagging Patricia in."

  Patricia thought for a moment. Looked at Sashaya's hopeful face. The traffic jam that was only getting worse. And then the slightly long jog to the street. Then she hitched up her backpack and made the obvious decision. "Or. I can stay in Study Room B until the traffic ends." She beamed a wide smile at them and gave Kaykes a 'thank you, but no-thank you' look in response to her betrayed one. "Quantum Mechanics does not study itself."

  "Well, I'll go with Sashaya," Mico announced, and after a moment in which Sashaya glared at Tom and Tom shifted awkwardly where he stood, Tom made the diplomatic decision and announced the same, looking like he was consigning himself to the gulag.

  So it was that Kaykes, Jimmy and Nate all were sprinting out of the parking lot covering their heads and dearly wishing in Kaykes' and Jimmy's case that they'd brought jackets.

  "Welcome to the Wallace Express," Jimmy's mother greeted them dryly. "We drive in all weather and all hours and at the beck of all disasters."

  She looked wearier than she had this morning and Jimmy had definitely noticed her turn off the radio as she'd seen them run up.

  "Thank you, Mrs. 'W'!"

  Nate jumped in on one side, Jimmy on the other while Kaykes climbed in to the front next to their mother. Kaykes had her phone out already and looked like she was sending out a stream of texts in steady succession as their mother peeled out.

  "How was your one hour of class?"

  "Horrible." Nate said, rooting around in his backpack. He pulled out another one of those green energy drinks popped it open and gulped it down. "Got a thirty-eight on the midterm."

  "Oh... I'm sorry to hear that, Nate." Their mother sounded distracted as she navigated the wet lane and pressed the gas to make the yellow light. "But you're all smart kids, so if you got a thirty-eight, I bet the teacher's going to curve."

  "No she won't!" Nate scoffed. "Genius here had to get a ninety-seven! Karma came for him though. Agent Wallace pulled him out for an interview."

  "Oh... mhm — Excuse me?!"

  Jimmy, who had returned to mulling what he would have done if his name had been on Legion's list, was pulled sharply from his thoughts and then crushed against the window by Nate, as his mother veered sharply and then swerved into a gas station. She spun around before the car even stopped moving.

  "What do you mean 'Agent Walker pulled you out for an interview?!'"

  "Hi Angie. This is Doctor Jill Wallace, speaking. Mhm. Yes. I was just told that my son was pulled out of class to speak to the FBI without me being informed."

  " — His mother."

  "Uhuh.... Uhuh. No. Forward me to his office, please. I'll hold.... Thank you."

  Jimmy's mother didn't say anything as she waited on hold with the phone pressed stiffly to her face. But her foot beat a steady tapping rhythm on the floor and she glowered at Jimmy from the other side of the kitchen counter.

  He cringed as he received another series of texts on his phone again, which were probably still Nate, still apologizing profusely.

  She turned away suddenly and stalked out of the room. "Yes. This is she." She answered frigidly. "Yes... No. You may call me Doctor Wallace."

  Jimmy winced.

  "Dunno what you were expecting, Bro." His sister muttered underneath the sound of their mother in the other room —

  " — No. I want to know what the hell you guys are thinking interviewing my son without informing his —"

  "I wasn't." Jimmy hissed back. "It all happened fast. And I didn't want to look worried. Or..." He shrugged.

  "No. I said call me Doctor Wallace. I have a title. You can use —"

  "Let me guess," As Jimmy eyed his sister with her arching eyebrow. "It's perfectly natural for a teenage boy to seem worried talking to the Feds?"

  "— I'm sorry. Is my son suspected of a crime?"

  "—Oh yeah?"

  "Pretty much."

  "So you think I should have called Mom."

  "Fuck no!" Kaykes shook her head and gagged. "It's all fucked enough without having a Mother there rearing to defend you who might just ask you a straight question expecting a straight response. Don't really know that that would have helped your case."

  Jimmy sighed and nodded. It helped that his sister agreed.

  "Don't get me wrong." Kaykes huffed. "This is mostly your fault. You're the one refusing to tell his parents."

  "— No. I don't care what you're suspicious of. I asked if My Son. Was suspected. Of. A. Crime."

  "There's only so many constraints you can add to an equation before it becomes unsolvable."

  "— Oh, he's not? Ok. Well, the next time you or any one of your agents so much as say hello to My SON. And WHILE we're on the subject, MY DAUGHTER too, without his mother and a lawyer in the room. I'm going to file a lawsuit so fast your eyes'll pop."

  "Hey. I didn't ask for powers, Kaykes."

  "—it does, huh? The Bulwark act does all that does it? And, he's not suspected of any crime?! In that case all of those broad surveillance powers don't mean squat. It doesn't give you jurisdiction to surveil several thousand minors —!"

  Kaykes shrugged and made a face at him. "Who the fuck does?" She hissed back. She cocked her head over in the direction of their mother in the other room.

  "— Well, you can argue that point in front of a judge."

  "Hear that? Mom's a badass. And dad actually is a lawyer. You probably need a better reason than 'Mom would freak' to not at least make use of those two as a resource."

  Both Jimmy and Kaykes winced as they heard the sound of a phone impacting the far wall of the room.

  Then Mom was back, and her eyes bored into Jimmy's. "Damn it, Jimmy!" She hissed. "For such a smart boy...." She glared at him. "What were you thinking?!"

  The conversation that followed was not enjoyable for anyone, least of all Jimmy and the only positive that came out of it, Jimmy later told Kaykes, was that not once did his mother ever actually ask him whether he was the Super they were looking for, or whether he had any powers at all.

  For some reason, Jimmy found himself feeling rather touched by this.

  Something had been niggling at the back of Jimmy's mind all day, but in the midst of the fallout from Legion delivering his list and the subsequent tongue lashing he received from his mother and the long conversation he had with his father afterwards, and the very silent lunch followed by dinner, it was only as he curled up in his covers that night that his mind loosened up enough to examine it.

  His eyes snapped open.

  It was a small thing. Negligible, really, but as he thought about it, it grew bigger... and bigger.

  During their interview, Agent Walker had asked him all kinds of questions.

  She'd asked him if he knew Buck. She'd asked him what he knew about Vicky M. Why she broke up with Buck.

  She'd asked if Jimmy thought what happened to Buck was wrong, and to enumerate what he knew about Buck's situation. She'd even asked him what he thought about supers, and what he thought the coolest powers were — her words, not Jimmy's.

  But at no point had Agent Walker ever asked him the million-dollar question, and in the soft glow of his nightlight, Jimmy thought that maybe he knew why.

  It was like Kaykes said last night.

  'Because you're a Super. And humans can't hold Supers. Not in prison. Not anywhere. You're too powerful. So they'll disappear you.'

  "Like Pink Mist. Like Electra-Coil and Cromagna." Jimmy recited under his breath. 'Like Everfell and Elesium and all of those Supers on Legion's list.' The too powerful ones. The ones the government couldn't control.

  Agent Mannheim and his team knew Supers. They knew about their quirks, even if they didn't know about Jimmy's. And Agent Mannheim knew that some Supers couldn't lie.

  So why not ask? It couldn't hurt to ask, right? Just go around and ask the question. The one Jimmy had been dreading all this time.

  "Did you, Jimmy Wallace, assault and steal from Buck? Are you, Jimmy Wallace, a Super. Are you The Guy?"

  It couldn't hurt right?

  But what if they thought it could hurt? What if....

  'I wasn't on Legion's list', Jimmy told himself firmly. 'I wasn't on the list and The Guy wasn't on the list.'

  But how comprehensive was Legion's list? It was long, sure, but how many Supers were there in the world? In the United States? How recent was Legion's list?

  'Rosette wasn't on it either', Jimmy noticed again, for all Kaykes thought the school had armed up because of her. 'What if it's not because she's a Hero.'

  Jimmy thought about the beefed up school security. The way the Agent hadn't asked about Rosette either. The Hit-ems and Fléchette Launchers that were so, so much overkill when considering The Guy's powers.

  'What if they just plain didn't know about her when Legion got his list?'

  Jimmy hugged himself under the covers and squeezed his eyes shut, and didn't fall asleep for a very long time.

  Myriad this last week!! There were quite a few of you, and you guys rock! Thank you Thank you! Stars are addicting, and my addiction was well fed last week.