Lucy’s Thursday was shaping up to be much more turbulent than the last. First had been school, which had mostly been spent anticipating the final bell. Lucy’s knee had been bouncing up and down with nervousness, and it earned her a few more strange looks than she normally received. Then it was off back home to dump the things in her bag, change her clothes, and gather her mask and the crowbar that Lucy was pretty sure Bob had lent her.

The fifteen minutes Lucy spent moving through her own house was nerve wracking. Neither of her parents were home, or normally came home around that time, but it wasn’t like either of them followed a set schedule like she did. There was a genuine chance that the stars could have aligned and Lucy’s mom and dad found her dressed unscrupulously with a crowbar and mask in her bag, but that didn’t come to pass.

It was disheartening, but Lucy left anyway and traveled to the place Gracia had told her to meet. There she met Lawrence and Paul along with Gracia and Hanna, though no introductions were made and they were quick to move on to an apartment building where they went over the plan and ate some food.

Lucy’s nerves prevented her from eating too much though. She noticed Gracia was the same way, while the rest of the five seemed to eat more. Then Pistolwhip had showed up.

He outlined stuff about the job they were doing that Lucy could barely keep up with. The stuff he said made sense, but really it was for Gracia and Lawrence who were supposed to be taking charge for the night. Then he retrieved the empty pistol from the harness on his chest, handed it to Hanna, and left calling ‘I’ll want that back’ over his shoulder.

And then they’d gone to a rooftop over a single level store and waited.

And waited some more. Lucy’s awkward attempts at conversation were shut down repeatedly.

Then Inheritor flew overhead and the wind briefly picked up on the rooftop where they were waiting. She and Cerberus started fighting soon after. Lucy could see the blowing wind in the trees and the red flashes of the villain’s power in the distance. More fights broke out closer, moving in the direction where they were waiting, and some more off to the side.

Then a hero staggered onto the street by the rooftop where they were waiting. Gracia told Lucy to come down behind the hero and attack if it was feasible, then took the others to block her hero’s path. Lucy had done as instructed, and the hero got laid out. She didn’t mean to hit his head so hard, it kind of just happened.

And now she was walking close to Gracia, huddled in a group so the briefcase carried by Lawrence wouldn’t be easily seen by prying eyes. Lucy wrung her hands as they walked up street after street. The fights had died down, and she’d spied what she thought was Ace speeding past once or twice. Only Gracia’s arm around Lucy’s own stopped her from freaking out, she clung to the other girl like she would a rock in rapids.

Eventually they returned to the apartment building where they had ate kind of together and entered the safety of a private room. Lucy hovered by Gracia as she locked the door behind them, and followed her inside where the boys were inspecting the briefcase.

“Looks like a keypad lock.” Lawrence was saying. “No idea how long the password is supposed to be. This is high tech as shit.”

“Are you sure this won’t be tracked?” Paul looked worried. Lucy empathised. “The hero was real confident it would be tracked.”

“Not unless Pistolwhip lied to us.” Lawrence shrugged. “This is a fucking fingerprint scanner. Thought they were only used for shit like high tech vaults.”

“You’re forgetting government facilities, dipwad.” Hanna cut in. She was sitting on the table cross legged, watching the briefcase like a hawk.

“Oh yeah? What makes you the know it all?”

“Common knowledge.”

“This place was prepared exactly for this. By Pistolwhip, you know, that supervillain that’s been doing this for years? Any signals should get scrambled. We’ll be safe for a while.” Gracia stopped the argument before it could escalate. Then changed the topic with a question everybody thought about at least a little. “So what powers do you want to get?”

“I’m gonna get something to go toe to toe with Cerberus.” Hanna said immediately. “Got a fuckin’ score to settle.”

“We don’t even know if that’s what’s in the fucking briefcase.” Lawrence pointed out sharply. “Or how to get it open.”

“So do you want something like telekinesis, or something to enhance your body?” Gracia asked, ignoring the larger boy.

“Something like what Heriess has, but I want to make the ground swallow people. Maybe something that’ll let me fly.” Hanna smirked. “Hard to argue with something like that.”

“That it is. Paul?”

“I… haven’t really thought about it.” Paul answered, sitting down at the table and keeping an intent eye on the briefcase. “Flying sounds… nice. But maybe something to help with…” he twirled a finger. “Thinking about it, y’know?”

“I know. Lawrence?” Gracia turned the question on the grumpy boy and he hit the briefcase with frustration.

“Green.” He said at length. “I’ve thought about it. A lot. Nothing strikes me as properly satisfying except taking things apart with my own hands.”

“Big man, huh?” Gracia gave Lucy a wink. “I’ve always fancied bending the laws of reality to my whim myself. What about you, darling?”

Lucy suddenly felt on the spot when she realised three people were looking at her expectantly. Lawrence evidently couldn’t give a shit, and was back to poking and prodding the briefcase. “Um. I- like what you said.” Lucy gestured towards Paul. “But, um. For confidence instead.” She became aware of one hand fidgeting in front of her belly, and forced herself to put it in her pocket instead.

It was too late, Gracia was already giving her a brilliant smile. Lucy looked down at her feet to hide her burning face.

“Should’a figured.” Lawrence said. “It’s always the quiet ones that turn out freaky.”

“Alright. What the fuck’s that for?” Paul demanded.

The other boy just shrugged. “She’s shy as all fuck, wants friends, and is probably going to get a chance at a power. Who in this city also fits that description?”

“I don’t think this petite spine matches that of the Swain.” Hanna deadpanned, likely only defending Lucy because it antagonised Lawrence.

“You’re right. Reports state that the Swain had real friends before going far off the deep end.” Lawrence looked up and glared at Lucy. “You want a blue power, don’t you?”

Lucy’s thoughts raced. The colours they were talking about related to the various kinds of vials that powers could be distributed in. Not a lot was known about where they came from, but a whole lot was known about what they did. There were eight kinds of vials, each of different rarity and effect. Lucy had seen pictures online, and the vials were very exotic looking, but each could be described using a simple colour.

Green, like what Lawrence wanted, was actually labeled The Emerald Juice. It was liquid, but it looked like solid, uncut emerald, and the details inside changed depending on where it was held. The blue vial that Lucy was rightfully accused of desiring was similarly labeled The Twisting Sky, which looked like a swirling vortex to another dimension contained within the glass vessel. Through that tear was the colour blue, hence the name.

No two vials gave the same power despite there only being eight kinds of vials. But the vials each granted powers according to a theme. Green powers enhanced the self. Blue powers manipulated others, all the way from throwing up obfuscation fields to taking direct control of the bodies of other people.

“I was more thinking purple.” Lucy kind of lied. A purple power was the second highest on the list of powers she wanted, since those ones directly interacted with the powers of other people. If she could become a booster for the abilities of others, people would want her around.

Unfortunately, the wildly popular The Purple Space Corridor was the second most rare of the eight kinds of vials.

Lawrence squinted at Lucy for a few seconds longer, then decided to let it go. “So how are we going to open it? I sure as shit don’t know the combination.”

“I have an idea.” Gracia walked over to Lucy, who stiffened, and pulled the crowbar out of the girl’s bag. “Think we could pry it open?”

“What if it’s trapped?” Paul cautioned.

“Way too expensive.” Hanna shot back. “They wouldn’t even think about it if there was a chance they’d get however many new heroes working for them.”

“Heard a saying once. One in every five enhanced become heroes. That you?” He demanded, glaring at Hanna.

“Fuck off.”

“How about you?” He was looking at Lucy again, who shook her head urgently. It didn’t seem to convince him, or most of the rest of them. In fact, most of the suspicious looks were being directed at Lucy and Paul.

“How about we just get it open?” Gracia offered, twirling the crowbar idly. Lawrence shoved his hand towards her and beckoned. Paul was made to hold down the briefcase as Lawrence tried to jab the sharp end of the crowbar into somewhere with leverage. It took several tries, and he ended up trying to leverage it on the edge of the table before giving up and telling Paul to get away.

Lucy shrieked when he swung the hooked end at the small screen and number pad. Lawrence struck at it twice, three times, and again until the touchscreen was smashed and the lip warped.

“There.” Lawrence found purchase in the warped parts of the briefcase and wrenched the lid open. Lucy watched with bated breath, her anticipation only rising when the boy failed to leverage the briefcase open on the first try. One lock had been busted, but the one on the other side still held, and it took a few minutes of Lawrence wrestling with the crowbar before it finally popped open.

Lucy rushed forward with the rest to see what was inside. It was almost poetic. There were five vials in the briefcase. They had somehow survived the impacts from the crowbar, and there were enough for each of them to take a vial for themselves.

Lawrence was the first to act, reaching down without saying anything and taking a vial of The Emerald Juice for himself. After that, there was a yellow, black, and a seemingly empty vial, as well as a blue vial that made Lucy immediately lose her breath.

Gracia moved next, retrieving the vial with a yellow orb fixed in the middle. Lucy knew it to be The Caged Sun, which would give Gracia the power she wanted. That left a black vial of The Adepts Oil, a blue vial of The Twisting Sky, and an aptly labeled vial called The Empty Bottle.

“What’s this?” Hanna asked the room, jabbing a finger at the seemingly empty vial. “I don’t see any red, and I don’t want to drink if it’s not something big.”

“That vial is for enigmatic powers.” Lucy said quietly, and flinched when the girl on the table rounded on her. She lost the confidence to say that it was also the rarest kind of vial.

“What does that mean?” She demanded.

“It could be anything.” Lawrence explained. “But you won’t know how to use it until you figure it out yourself. That’s what enigmatic powers are.”

“What does that mean?” Hanna frowned.

“No training wheels.” Lawrence said simply, leaning away since his vial was secured.

“Screw that noise. And I don’t want that shit.” Hanna flicked a finger at the blue vial. Her focus landed on the last remaining vial. “What’s this then?”

“Adept’s Oil. Makes you a genius in the mad scientist kind of way.” Lawrence explained. It only took an instant for Hanna to yank the vial out of its hole in the foam. The solid black liquid inside turning vapidly thin and sloshing like an oobleck that got its hard and soft states mixed up.

“This is mine. You two fight over the rest.”

Paul gave Lucy a sympathetic look before reaching down and retrieving The Empty Bottle. “I’m not going to stand in the way of what you want. I might end up on the level of Hope this way, one day.”

“No you won’t.” Hanna snorted as Lucy picked up the final vial in the briefcase.

The Twisting Sky felt strange to hold, which made sense given that Lucy was grasping what was by all accounts a tear into another dimension in the palm of her hand. Mostly it was the fact that the glass was cool to the touch, and stayed that way even after holding it for several seconds. Somehow, none of the violent energy of the roiling tear made it past the glass. Lucy wondered just how anyone was supposed to drink this.

Gracia was the one to notice the apartment door unlocking first. And Lucy was the first to notice when Gracia did something, so she was the second to see the door close behind a man in costume.

He was big, almost as much as Big Man had been at the start of the cage match. Covering his face was a deep blue mask with three black lines making an arrow starting at his chin and pointing up, with the spokes of the pointy end going over his eyes. A crown was worn over the top, and seemed to be part of the mask. It was also glowing faintly blue with active power.

As the man stood there quietly, overlooking the room, faint blue lines of power started to outline a vest, and spread out to the limbs with the beginnings of combat gear. The speed of those lines sped up as he gained the attention of all five teenagers.

Lucy started panicking.

“I trust none of you have drunk your prize yet?” Tyr asked politely. He received murmured assent and dissent, whichever implied that the vials hadn’t been drunk. The supervillain stepped further inside and raised a hand, palm up. “Show me.”

One by one, everyone raised their vial for Tyr to see. Lucy was once again last to answer, and raised the blue vial with a shaking hand.

The others had been passed over with slight nods from Tyr, while Paul received a longer look from the self proclaimed Alpha of the Bad Dogs. Ultimately, the rest were bade to lower their vials, while Lucy was instead singled out by the infamous supervillain. He approached until Lucy’s shaking hand was almost vibrating against his ethereal vest, and then closed one hand around her vial of The Twisting Sky, his power shifting to generate a cold glove.

“You have served the pack well, this night.” Tyr said, staring Lucy in the eyes. She couldn’t tell if the speech was for her or for all of them. “Through your efforts, our numbers will be bolstered. Tonight, you struck a blow to the face of the Sentinels, and I have noticed this.”

He probably planned all of it, but Lucy wasn’t about to say that. It was all she could do to swallow, which she was desperately trying not to do.

“Four hounds will join the pack.” Tyr announced, still staring at Lucy. The girl’s heart stopped. This speech was for her. “But a hound with the power to pretend alpha will not be tolerated.” His gloved hand squeezed, and Lucy heard glass shatter. When Tyr flexed his hand open, wisps of power escaped inside themselves and eventually became too small to be seen.

Lucy stared as her ticket to something resembling confidence spilled to the floor.

Tyr’s hand landed on her shoulder. “But rejoice. I have noticed you and your service. I admit to having wronged you. Dedicate yourself to the pack one more time and you will be rewarded.”

Lucy wasn’t listening. She just stared at the shattered glass that had landed in her hand. Somehow it hadn’t made her bleed.

She didn’t really pay attention when Tyr finished making his speech and left the apartment again. She didn’t look back when Paul gave her a look of pity, and she didn’t react when Hanna shoulder checked her on the way out. Lawrence didn’t even register. Eventually Gracia was gently handing Lucy her bag and crowbar, murmuring softly.

“We’d better move, darling. One hero or another will find their way here eventually.”

Lucy looked up at the person who called herself her friend. The person who Lucy had tried to hate, but failed utterly because she got the time of day from her. Gracia was everything Lucy was not and what she wished to be. Casually attractive, possessing a magnetism that attracted others, and hiding a calculating mind that let her navigate any social situation.

The concern that Lucy saw in Gracia’s brown eyes was fake. She’d known it would be from the start.

“Yeah.” Lucy’s voice was raw as she ripped the bag from Gracia’s hands and walked away, heedless of if she was being followed or not. When she’d left the apartment building and walked partway home, she turned around. Just to see if Gracia was still following.

She was.

“I’m done.” Lucy’s voice cracked. “Leave me.”

“Honey, I’m not-

Lucy cut her off. “Don’t! Call me honey.”

Gracia’s lips thinned. “Okay. I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“What do you care?” Lucy demanded. “You got your Caged Sun. You can go and alter the laws of reality all you want now, can’t you? Or do you still want to taunt me? Make fun of the fact that you’re the only one I can talk to!?”

Rather than speak, Gracia lifted her yellow vial out of her pocket for a moment. Long enough to make Lucy falter in her crestfallen tyrade, then it was hidden once more.

“Tyr told us to drink them apart from each other.” Gracia explained. “Otherwise the powers get weakened.”

All Lucy could think about was the weight of the crowbar she still held in her hand. She could…

No. She decided. Lucy would let Gracia take what she deserved. She needed to cut ties here and now.

“Have you ever…” Lucy’s voice broke, but she continued after a heavy moment. “Watched, as a reason for you to live just, broke? Right in front of you?”

“No, I-”

“Well it’s happened to me twice now!” Lucy shouted. “And I’m not talking about drinking a vial and suddenly flying like a gay happy woman, I mean what having that happen to me would have meant! I was almost part of something. Something that- I don’t know. Instead! All I got! Was Tyr going ‘I have noticed you.’” Lucy’s trembling voice briefly became a mocking facsimile of the supervillain’s polite enunciation. “Well I didn’t want to be noticed! I wanted to be included!”

Lucy’s tantrum ended abruptly. She wanted to be angry more, but there wasn’t anything more to say, so she settled for glaring at the other girl. She was offered no more words of consolation, and eventually whirled around and stormed away. Roiling emotion made Lucy shake her head in disgust. Gracia wouldn’t understand. Couldn’t understand.

They were better off not talking to each other.

When Lucy next looked over her shoulder she was alone. Suddenly the anger that had sprung up after her loss subsided and she wobbled on her feet. Walking further seemed impossible, so Lucy found somewhere to lean and realised she was close to the park where Gracia had invited her to for her first crime. She decided to collapse on the concrete wall she’d lounged on that night, to say goodbye at the spot it truly began.

Her crowbar was still in her grasp, and Lucy found herself looking at the metal hook as she thought about the day that had just passed. Slowly, the coldness of the metal in her grasp faded.

She wasn’t left alone for long.

“Hey there. You alright?”

Lucy sat up and looked over to see a familiar white costume standing half in the illumination of a street light. Jumpspark was far enough away that it wasn’t creepy, but this wasn’t what Lucy needed. Not after what had just happened. She eyed the hero’s left hand warily.

“I’m fine.” Lucy croaked. “Go away.”

“That… is not the normal reaction I get when approaching people on the street.” Jumpspark joked.

Lucy leaned back down and resumed inspecting the crowbar. Nothing was new about it, but it was something to do. “Then you finally met someone that isn’t a fan. Now go away.”

“Yes, citizen.” Jumpspark all but saluted, but failed to properly leave. He turned around as though something had occurred to him. “Say, you’re vaguely familiar. Did we meet at a dinner celebration? Was it Streamrock anniversary? That was recent.”

Lucy let her crowbar drop onto her chest. “It wasn’t.”

“Because if it was, or if we met at an event like that, it wouldn’t do for me to just leave right now.” Jumpspark pressed. “You might hurt… yourself…” He’d approached enough that he was in the darkness with Lucy now, so everything he saw equalised. Whatever the hero saw, he abruptly paused. “I think recognise you.” The young hero wasn’t speaking with a friendly tone anymore.

The girl sighed and pushed herself back into a sitting position. Lucy would’ve stood properly, but noticed something that made her inspect her hand instead.

“You’re bra girl.” Jumpspark’s body language shifted from open to on guard.

Lucy’s finger tightened around her crowbar as she climbed to her feet. Tired eyes glared at the hero that had just made her terrible night even worse. “Yeah?” She demanded with a flat voice. “So what?”