"Um. Yes. Hello." Dean Otter said with a small pause. "I am here to discuss your attendance at Hero Academy."

"Less discussion, more owl please." Alexa extended out her hand, waving it as if she was expecting an owl deposit.

"Um. We don't give out owls." The Dean shook his head.

"Laaame. Let's go home guys, there's no owls!" Alexa turned around with a deep sigh, waving Dean Otter away. “We’ll see you in college of heroism or whatever and you better have an owl ready by then. No. One and a half owls, cus you know, interest rates.”

"Wait. Look, I… uh." The Dean wiggled his otter-like fingers.

"Can I please talk to the boss? You're obviously not the real baws." Alexa yawned.

"The boss?" The Dean muttered. "Why would there be a boss?"

"Look Dean, you're a figurehead for clueless patsies like Martin here. I want to talk to the people in charge!" Alexa looked up at the sky. "That cruiser of yours went around... something. There's something very big up there." Alexa squinted at the clouds.

“Went around something? What’s she talking about?” The Multiplier looked at Knight Chalice who shrugged.

[Holy shit, she is right!] Cottie suddenly snapped her gun up at the sky. [How did I not notice that thing?!]

Martin looked up at the sky in confusion. He didn't see anything up there, but he felt it through Cottie and Alexa. Something was indeed up there. Something enormous and incomprehensibly complex. It was watching them. It had to be incredibly dangerous. He's never heard Cottie swear like that.

[What are you guys looking at?] Ember looked up. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary either.

"I see you. Come down here and give me an owl! This idiot doesn't even have owls!" Alexa yelled at the sky.

The air in front of her shimmered, folding in complex patterns, weaving a human figure from nothing at all.

"Clever girl." A woman stood in front of Alexa clad in a red robe. She looked like a female, black red and white version of Che Guevara, a white star shimmering on her beret.

"I am Wizard Revolution." The woman smiled, offering Alexa a hand.

Alexa suspiciously looked at her hand. There was a very poorly drawn sketch of an owl there on a yellow sticky note.

[Who the fuck is that?!] Ember stared, blinking. [I've been to Hero's Academy for two years and I've never seen her before.]

"Poor Ember Kilborne. You have always lacked the imagination to see us, I am afraid." Wizard Revolution said. “Even now you’re seeing me because you’re tied to Alexa by itty bitty strings of infomatic virus patterns.”

Ember covered up her mouth stepping back. This woman knew who she was. How?

Cottie turned her gun towards the head of Wizard Revolution. "What are you? How have you done this?"

Martin noticed that the three heroes and Dean Otter were frozen, as if they were simply suspended in time. They stood there, unblinking, unbreathing.

Cottie pressed the trigger and colors faded from the world. All of the colors vanished, except for the red on Revolution. The Wizard smiled at Cottie, unchanged, seemingly unaffected by the void weapon. Her image was akin to a painting that didn’t fit into the world, a living splash of impossibly vibrant something that was suspended in the air. The way she moved, crossed her hands was giving Martin the heebie jeebies. There was something uncanny valley, something eerily unnatural about her.

Alexa blinked, backing away. She noticed that Revolution wasn’t entirely human. She came into being as if she was embossed onto the world by a giant, invisible printer that remade her every time she moved.

"Kitteny kittens on a pile of kittens!" Alexa swore, noticing that the odd, not-quite a person was made of tiny ink dots that were floating in the air.

"You don't want your owl, girl?" Revolution asked, offering Alexa the sticky note.

[What is she?!] Martin didn't know what to do.

[Not a super, clearly! She's a thing like Three!]

"The correct term is a System Wizard, young lady." Revolution shrugged. "You know, this is not how I expected our first meeting to go. Take the damn owl already. I have places to be."

[Wait, she can read our spidernet?!] Martin gasped.

Alexa nodded. [So it seems. Also, nice name. Go take the owl, M.]

Martin looked at the drawing of the owl. He didn't feel like taking it. Through Alexa he felt that there was something incomprehensible and horrible about Revolution and he didn't like it one bit. “Ember, take the owl.” He commanded.

“Why?” Ember blinked.

“Ember. Go take the fucking owl or I will force you to take it!” Martin snapped.

Ember took a step forward, then another, then a few more. Revolution didn’t seem like a threat, yet Alexa feared her. Alexa didn’t seem to fear very many things. Ember extended a hand and grabbed the square yellow paper, feeling as if she was about to explode. Nothing happened. She looked at the sticky note. It looked perfectly mundane.

“The pact has been made.” Revolution smiled ever so slightly. “Although I do wish there was less of you. Not a big fan of hive minds. Whatever. I’ll see you at Orientation.” She winked at Alexa and folded away into nothing at all, the ink dots comprising her vanishing as if she had never existed to begin with.

Ember looked up at the sky. She saw a starship there. An impossibly big starship, shaped like a pyramid woven from pyramids, glittering in colors she could not name. She blinked and it was gone.

“I’m not a clueless patsy, young lady.” Dean Otter resumed his speech. “I’m the Dean of Hero Academy.

“Riiiight.” Alexa said. “Anyways. I got my owl, you can go now. I'll see you at the Academy.”

“I’m not…” Dean Otter rubbed his head. “It's a matter of your application. You’ve been declared a villain by the Superstate. I’m afraid you can’t attend the Academy.”

“I hope you like being poor then.” Alexa grinned. “Here’s the thing, Otter. I’ll do what I want. Do you know why?”

Dean Otter blinked, confused.

“There are no rules against villains attending the Academy. I have a whole slew of lawyers booked and ready to sue the hell out of you. My contract with Hero Resonance is legally binding you into taking me. Resonance already paid the full price tag for my educational experience!"

“Hrm.” Dean Otter swallowed. “I’m sure we can work something out. We can refund the fee and...”

“No. We aren’t working kittens out, Otter. The Superstate will be bankrupt in about 5 minutes. There’s nothing you can offer me. You can’t give me a refund when your money is worthless. You’re going to take me. I’m not offering you a choice in the matter.”

“What does she mean… Bankrupt?!” The Multiplier muttered. “How?”

Alexa looked at Martin’s wristwatch. “Nope. We lost five minutes talking to a god. I’m afraid your time’s up. The Superstate IS bankrupt. S-credits are worthless and so is gold. A-credits are in. Everything else is out.”

“WHAT?!” The multiplier tapped on his SCA wristwatch. “Shit. Shit. Shit. FUCK! The price of gold has plummeted! How?! How did I lose five minutes?!"

“Yeah. Try and multiply that, kitten! A billion times zero is still zero.” Alexa laughed. “Now get the kittens off my property.”

“I… you’ll regret this.” The multiplier hissed. He looked back at his companions for assistance. Chalice and the Surgeon were already heading back to the cruiser. They’ve had enough of Alexa ten minutes ago and didn’t want to deal with the Equalizer. Without Nonpareil there was almost nothing they could do to Alexa, could not stop or arrest her.

Dean Otter looked forlorn as he glanced at his watch. His S-credits account was nearly worthless. He missed buying A-credits when they were still cheap, somehow lost five whole minutes. He didn’t understand what Alexa had done, how she had frozen time but he didn’t like it one bit.

“Out of my city.” Alexa said. “And don’t come back until you can afford to live here. And don't threaten me with nonacceptance or my lawyers will make sure the Academy won't exist by next week.”

“We’ve existed for centuries. You can’t…” Dean Otter muttered.

“Can and will. Either you allow me to attend or you stop being an institution. Thems the beans.” Alexa said. “Oh and I’m not coming alone. These three are with me. They’re an inseparable, vital part of me. Like my heart, liver and left toe.”

“But…” Dean Otter tried to argue.

“No buts. I don’t think you understand exactly how poor you are right now.

Four new prospective, paying students will make sure you’ll be able to afford rent and food next week. Martin and Allinna are recently awake - you can check him with your hexagram scanner or whatever and Cottie can go wherever she wants because of the Accord made between Equality and the supers. She is my observer. Interfering with her is a big no no.”

“Very well.” Dean Otter nodded in defeat. He turned around and retreated back into the cruiser.

The doors snapped shut and the cruiser shot off into the sky.

Alexa sighed. She went to her taxicab, pulled out a huge bag full of something, grabbed Cottie by her elbow and walked to the cathedral. Cottie pressed on her gun and the colors vanished, Alexa shoved the doors open. Martin followed.

Ember held the drawing of the owl. She didn’t understand. She was starting to feel chilly in her pjs. She sighed and followed the trio. She had nowhere else to go. Madness and inexplicable things followed Alexa like a plague. Ember didn’t like it one bit. She walked into the doors and Cottie released the trigger.

Alexa threw open the bag, shaking out cleaning droids. The droids dispensed through the cathedral, collecting dust. They weren’t very smart about it and kept bumping into each other.

“Forgot the broom, eh?” Alexa looked at Ember. “Not a very diligent sweeper, you are. Would not hire as my cleaning-drone maid.”

Ember sighed.

Alexa bent into the bag pulling out a pair of cleaning shoes. She took off her jump-sneakers and put on the swiffer-shoes, opened the door and slid into the cathedral, collecting dust as she went.

The others followed.

[Alexa. What the fuck was that thing?] Martin asked. [Gods aren’t real, right?]

Alexa skidded to a stop. She looked at the hologram of her dad. “Off” The hologram winked out.

Martin blinked. “Wait.” [You control the hologram? Has all of this been another elaborate theatre?]

Alexa deflated. [There are things out there in the Universe. Things far more awful than the worst supers. This is the third one you know of Martin.]

[The third?!] Martin blanched.

[The man made of lasers was one. Revolution is another. Can you guess who else doesn’t belong?]

[You. You don’t belong.] Martin said with a sudden, dawning realisation. [You can do impossible things. I can’t see your hexagram. I can't read your mind properly. You aren’t a super.]

Alexa nodded. [I’m sorry. I died a long time ago. I died four hundred years in the future and what had come back wasn't a girl nor a skinwalker wearing human flesh. What had come back in me was one of those things.] Her head fell and she started to cry.

Martin walked over to the girl. He hugged her. “You don’t look dead to me.”

“Yeah. A lot of things don’t look like monsters, Martin. I am one, though, I assure you. I don't have a soul. I don't have a super's hexagram. I carry the echo of a dead god inside of me instead.”

[Don’t trust her, Martin. She’s probably full of lies.] Ember thought from her corner.

[It’s no different from an educational experience in middle school.] Alexa said.

[Hm?] Martin raised an eyebrow.

[I noted that in physics class this friday, Mrs. Lester taught us that and I quote - “Momentum is Mass times Velocity.”]

[Okay?]

[It’s a gross oversimplification. Momentum is also conserved in special relativity in electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and general relativity. It is an expression of one of the fundamental symmetries of space and time: translational symmetry.]

[I understood some of that, I think.] Martin sighed.

[Exactly. Just when you understand, there is more to discover.] Alexa said. [All supers have a very special spark, a hexagram inside them.] Alexa lifted her arm and a holographic spark looking like a many limbed fractal started to spin in her hand, becoming bigger. [Some people call it a soul. A villain named Nefaria set out to prove the existence of souls. One day he caught a 12 year old girl who had too much gold and not enough minions for his experiments called soul fights. What he proved instead, was the existence of something far more insidious and impossible. He found a god.]

“Daddums. Play darknet video 8952-832-11.04.mp5” Alexa spoke and a holographic 3-d movie blossomed all around them.

A silver haired girl hung on the cross in the back along with hundreds of other crucified people all around. It was Alexa, but much younger. Beneath the girl, was an amphitheatre filled with people. Villains, Martin instantly realised. They all had masks and costumes on. Not nice ones. Most of them looked pompous or menacing or freakish and wielded guns or blades or saws.

A man in a black suit adorned with gold in a mask of black and gold waltzed across the stage. “Welcome to soul fights! I, the great Nefaria, will prove to you tonight the existence of souls! Some of you have already been to my show and others are new! Welcome one and all!"

"How can I prove that souls exist, you might ask? With science! You see, I have created a machine that can catch, extract, highlight, define a person’s energy pattern upon their death!” Nefaria pointed to an enormous sphere made of hollow hexagons that loomed over the crucified people. Complex machinery moved within the sphere, hexagons shifting in repeating patterns.

Nefaria pulled out a gold-plated gun and shot a man on a cross. The machine overhead buzzed and something flashed from it, drawing a round, colorful spark out of the man. The audience gasped.

“Behold! The soul of a man, expressed as a mathematical pattern of defined energy! A signature of life itself beneath the flesh!” Nefaria laughed. “So! Go ahead and execute your favourite victim and let the soul games begin! Tonight you shall witness which of these souls is strongest! From basic observation you cannot tell, but there are two very special people hidden amongst the others. In fact, those of you watching this on darknet, have already made bets on which of these victims are more special via your crypto-accounts!”

The crowd complied. They began their festival of murder, executing one cross-bound human after the other with a variety of devices. Blood sprayed all around. The villains cheered. The machine hummed, harvesting what looked like to be souls. Two of the men bound to the crosses were special indeed. Their souls didn’t come out as mere dots. They looked like complex, fractal patterns that spun about. Once out of their bodies, the patterns started to move, shaping themselves into angler fish-like things. They started to attack the shimmering stars pulled out from others, slapping and nipping at them relentlessly.

“Behold! These two are different because they are the souls of supers! These two were low end techie heroes we’ve kidnapped!” Nefaria laughed. “Truly this proves that we supers truly are superior beings! That we are the chosen ones, destined to inherit the earth!”

The crowd of villains cheered with wild abandon.

"Yes! And now for our own, very special guest! A daughter of a villain, whose daddy has refused to come here, refused to defend his precious pookims." Nefaria walked up a metal ladder, reaching the top of Alexa's tall cross that loomed above the others.

"Don't worry, my pretty. I won't kill you like the rest of the chaff here. I will merely bring you near to death so that we can all see your beautiful soul of a supervillain. We've already seen the souls of heroes! Now let's see what one of us looks like!"

"Get fucked. You're all going to hell." Alexa growled.

Nefaria stabbed a needle into Alexa's neck.

She passed out, after some clearly incredibly painful thrashing. The machine hummed. Its radiant energy caught something, pulled something out of her. What it had produced wasn’t a star or a fractal. What came out of Alexa was a dot of pulsating darkness.

“Well… this is new.” Nefaria looked at the dot. “How truly quirky! This is the first one of its kind! I do wonder what it will do when the souls of the supers attack!”

One of the angler-fish shaped fractals moved towards the dark dot. The dot hung in place pulsating harmlessly.

“Truly extraordinary!” Nefaria said, grinning with a set of yellowing teeth. He did not expect what had come next. Lines of darkness struck out from the pulsating dot. They pierced the fractals of the souls of heroes, drew them into itself. Other dark rays reached for the rest of the stars. The pulsating dot drew the souls into itself, devoured them whole.

“What…” Nefaria spoke, his voice shaking. “But… souls can't eat souls.”

The darkness wasn’t done. It hungered for more. Black rays had shot out of it across the crowd, pulling fractals out of living supers, pulling energy from their tech suits and guns. The villains screamed, tried to run, tried to teleport out but the darkness was faster. Nefaria fell, his eyes open, staring out lifelessly onto the world as a dark ray ripped out his hexagram of power along with his life.

The tiny dot stole power from the electromagnetic manacles holding the prisons to the crosses and they started to fall. Alexa's body slipped down to the metal stairwell when her manacles snapped open. Rays of darkness reached for the lights and the auditorium dimmed. It was barely lit now through tiny porthole-windows in the domed ceiling.

A dark vector shot up into the humming machine. It died with a groan, stilling. The small dot of darkness spun in place and vanished as the machine that had exposed it to the world lost power.

Alexa gasped, opening her eyes. She was alive. She stood up, facing a sea of dead bodies now littering the auditorium in front of her.

The video ended then, the holographic show collapsing into blue hexagon-shaped flickers.

“Oh.” Martin said.

[I’m not a super, Martin. I have no fractal hexagram. This video from the soul fight show was uploaded to the supervillain darknet. The villains know what I am. They fear interacting with me. I’ve been declared a person non-grata by them, especially after it was confirmed that 5 mercenary minions booked by me vanished from the face of the earth never to be seen again.]

Martin nodded. He understood why Alexa didn’t just hire more super mercenaries.

[The void weapons created by a brilliant villain techie long ago, used and improved by the Equalizers are similar to what lives in me. The precogs can’t see it, get bamboozled by me much easier because of it. Just like they can’t predict or understand Three or Revolution. Just like they can’t stop Enforcers from killing heroes.] Alexa sent. [This is why I wanted Cottie to kill me in the end. I don’t deserve to live. Like Cottie’s gun, the thing inside me had leached energy, information, life out of everything it touched, permanently when Nefaria’s machine gave it form. The only problem is… I don’t know if it can even be killed by a human. I’m not a hero or a villain. I’m the nothingness between the stars wearing human flesh.]

Martin hugged Alexa harder.

[It's the void you saw in my mind. The tool sorter. Infinity Paradox. It takes things and organizes them. It can exist in a simulation too because data for it is as real as flesh. Like Agent Three it makes no distinction between a virtual world and the real. Everything is numbers to it. It itself is made of numbers. Everything for it is a device with utility. I tried to get Three to hit it, but he mostly missed. I got scared and moved a bit.]

Alexa shuddered.

[I’m sorry. I didn't want to forget you. I… wanted to have friends. I’ve been alone for so long in the darkness.] Alexa cried into Martin’s chest.

“I don’t care what you are.” Martin said. “I don’t see a dead god in you. I see a girl. I see my friend.”

Cottie fell to her knees, crossing her hands in prayer, carbon fiber steel kneecaps clanking against the marble floors of the cathedral. [You exist. The power that guides the hand of Equality. The power that breaks supers. The power that lives within the void weapons. I understand how you can do the things that you do now!]

“Oh please! It’s all fake! Deception! You fell for some special effects!” Ember growled. “She’s playing you two for fools! Always lying, always messing around! She’s full of it! She's obviously a super with some kind of a mental disruption-type power, that's all!”

Alexa looked at Ember. “Everything is a game to me, you are right. It’s hard to be a god.”

“Hey, uh.” Martin said. "You ain't gonna snatch up my hexagram or my soul, right?"

Alexa shook her head. "That only happened once due to that kittening infernal machine that gave Infinity Paradox form outside of my body. Techie Nefaria is dead and I burned their kittening auditorium of death to the ground."

“Right." Martin nodded. "Anyways… I thought of a perfect nickname for you while you were away. It’s relevant to Mittens and kittens too.”

“Yeees?” Alexa blinked her silver eyelashes at him.

“Casserole.” Martin declared and Alexa choked with laughter.