“I don’t think the term super-abled is adequate. Abilities come with applications. Power comes with bills.”

“What do you mean?!” the young girl exclaimed, still clutching her makeshift bat with both her hands. “You two were the ones who broke in and tried killing my p—my pets!”

Her what?

“No, we were invited in,” Alison said in a calm voice. “In fact, it’s the main reason I immediately didn’t knock you out.”

“What do you mean, invited in?” the boy said as he finally got up to his feet, hands still clasped behind his back.

“Well, we knocked, and you guys opened, right?” I asked in mild concern.

“No, we didn’t,” the boy said with conviction.

“Well, someone did,” Alison said in a steel voice. “And it wasn’t us.”

The budding fear of dealing with more opponents was swiftly dispelled when a realization seemed to dawn on the boy. His eyes snapped to the girl. “Marie, could one of them have…” he started.

“Oh, right. D—the tall one…” she replied as she seemed to catch on. “… I didn’t think he’d know how to open doors.”

“The tall one?” I replied in confusion.

The girl blinked a few times, and her mouth opened and closed as she focused on what to say.

“One of my pets… Like this one over there, but taller,” she said, pointing at the beast laying on the ground. “It might have opened the door. It tends to do weird stuff when I’m not around.”

“Wait, what did it look like? Was it like a knockoff Slenderman dressed in a gross rag?” Alison said.

In an idle thought, I remarked how extensive Alison’s knowledge of pop culture actually was. It was somewhat vexing, considering she played dumb every time I made a reference to anything.

“A what?” the girl said with a frown.

“A white elongated humanoid shape,” I clarified.

“Oh, yes! That’s him! Wait, what did you do ?” the girl asked warily.

“We killed it,” Alison said bluntly. “It attacked us.”

I wondered whether the traumatic events from last week had messed me up enough that it didn’t affect me or if I simply didn’t care about some random ungodly abomination dying at Alison’s hands.

“You WHAT?” the girl screamed as she started shaking.

“I threw a blade at it, and it went up in a cloud of white smoke,” Alison said in a grave voice.

“Oh, that’s fine then,” the girl said as her stance relaxed.

What?

“What?” Alison parroted out loud.

“It’s not dead. It can do that sometimes,” the girl said with a sigh of relief. “It teleports away.”

“How in hell… Right, creepy power. What are they, anyway?”

“None of your business,” the boy cut in.

“Listen, kid,” Alison started. “Neither you nor I have time to waste by playing stupid. Please answer the question.” She waved at the girl with a large monkey wrench I just then noticed she was holding.

Although Alison’s words were somewhat reasonable and her demeanor was nonchalant, she still exuded an intimidating air that I had found few people matched so casually. The boy seemed to have similar thoughts as he clasped his mouth shut and gulped.

“So, what are they?” Alison asked again, gesturing a the slumbering beast on the ground.

“I’ve told you already. They’re my pets,” the girl let out in a timid voice. “They’re all I have… Besides my older brother, Yvan.” She cast a glance at the boy, who patted her on the shoulder affectionately. “My name is Marie-Anne, by the way. I’m a…” She gritted her teeth. “I’m a Rampant.”

This was sad. They were running from god knows what just because that girl exhibited a scary ability. I counted myself lucky that my power was conspicuous and ‘safe’ enough that I didn’t have to go through that.

“Don’t say that,” he scorned her gently. “Now, who are you guys? Why did you come here?” He said as he turned to Alison and me. His posture was tense, and his furrowed brows hadn’t lifted a millimeter since we had started talking.

I totally expected Alison to crack another one of her shitty jokes, but I was proven wrong as she unhooked the strap under her bike helmet. I did a double-take when she actually took it off. I was not expecting that. I took it as a cue to follow suit, so I gingerly reached under my chin and lifted up the front visor of my soldering mask.

“My name’s Toolbox. I fight crime,” she said with confidence. “That’s Steak. He’s MY pet.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed in indignation. There goes her seriousness.

“He’s like your vanishing friend. He doesn’t really listen when I give him orders. But he’ll get me a nice dowry when I wed him to some rich oriental princess. Or prince. Or…”

I rolled my eyes hard enough to see bright flashes of light in the corners of my vision.

“Cut the jokes. Why are you here?” Yvan thankfully interrupted.

“As I said, we’re fighting crime. Nasty people have been watching this place for a while, and apparently, they had their sights on this place for a few days now. I guess now we know why.”

“Fuck…” Yvan let out. “I thought this was the place… That they would leave us alone for at least some time…” he started but stopped abruptly when he realized Alison and I were listening intently.

“Who’s after you?” I asked with a frown. “The mob? A gang?”

“Why? Are you with them?” the boy said defiantly.

“No. We’re very much against them. Think of us as… Bounty hunters, of sorts.” Alison replied calmly. “Bounty hunters whose current target isn’t you. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

I hiccupped at the unexpected reply. How is THAT a satisfactory answer?

To my surprise, the boy seemed to consider it for a second. He scratched his throat. “Say I believe you… What do you want with us?”

“Let me put it simply: you two are in trouble, you need help, and I don’t like seeing you living like this. Don’t be mistaken, I’m no saint, but seeing you here… In those rags. It reminds me of my… bad years,” Alison said with a hint of sadness. “I want to help.”

“Help how?” Yvan said cautiously.

“What do you two say we go back to my flat and discuss it there, no tricks, you can bail now if you want, but I’d really like to discuss this further in a more… controlled environment?”

“How can we trust you?” Marie-Anne cut in. I was impressed by her courage. I was not nearly as brave as that little girl. I had never had been, actually, let alone when I was her age.

“You can’t,” I interjected. Damn, I sound like a villain. “But if it’s any comfort, she saved me too a few weeks ago. So far, I think it paid off to trust her.”

I don’t feel comfortable getting those kids mixed up with Alison’s work, but I wanted to do some good to try and counter-balance my actions from the last few days.

“Plus, I’ll feed you, and you’ll have a place to sleep,” Alison said. And here I thought I was the one who sounded evil.

I could see the hesitation in both their faces, but their current predicament had seemed to weigh heavy enough on their minds that they seriously considered the offer. The siblings looked at each other, and after a few seconds in silence, they nodded slightly.

“Fine,” Yvan said. “We’ll follow you, but we’ll be careful. If you lie with us, you’ll regret it.”

“Splendid,” Alison said with a satisfied expression. “Now that you’re on board, my name is Alison, but you have to call me Toolbox, or Mrs. A, or Mrs. B.”

“That’s… a lot to remember,” Marie-Anne said with a slight frown. She tilted her head towards me. “And what do we call you, sir?”

Mister? Well, I guess I’m an adult now.

“You can call me Alex,” I simply said.

“Alright, this is all well and good,” Alison chirped. “You kids need to pack anything?”

“Um… I don’t think so, but I need to take my pets with me,” Marie-Anne said hesitantly. “Do you have a big car?”

“Oh, I have way better than that,” Alison said with mirth. “I have friends. Friends who have money.”

Alison proceeded to call for a ‘large ride’ from Mr. O, her business partner. I hadn’t expected a random man to arrive within 10 minutes with a large white Fiat truck. Alison exchanged a couple of words with him, and he simply walked off. We then waited while surveying the surroundings as Marie-Anne fetched her two ‘pets’ from the decrepit house.

Even though Marie-Anne had said it was alive, I was still surprised to see the girl’s first creature timidly walk from the front door. It was just as we had seen it last time, wearing a tattered dress on its ivory white skin. Its toothless maw was barely visible on its oval face.

“HeLlO,” it croaked in its unsettling voice as it passed.

Alison and I promptly entered the cabin, and I was pleased to notice that it was sealed from the cargo compartment. I buckled my belt and turned to Alison as she turned on the ignition.

“What’s your plan with them?” I asked tensely. I didn’t want to upset her like last time, but I had to make sure what her motives were.

She didn’t look at me. Instead, she started driving and kept her gaze on the road as she spoke. “I’m not sure. I saved a couple of kids like them before, but they all had a family to go back to. If what they told us is true, I’m going to have to think about a more… long-term solution.”

“Wait,” I was taken aback. “You genuinely planned on just saving them?”

“Of course I did,” she said with a scowl. “What did you think? That because I killed some assholes, I forgot what human decency was? Actually, wait. You were planning to go along with that? Maybe you’re the one with the sketchy motives here.”

“What? No, I—” I stammered. She had touched a nerve there. I didn’t fancy myself a defender of the proverbial widow and orphan, but I tried to think the torn remnants of my moral code were still about justice. “The only reason I went along was that I could make sure the kids were safe. I didn’t think you’d hurt them per se, but I have to admit I expected you to offer them work for you or something.”

“I’m not a fan of child labor, Alex. Or any kind of abuse,” Alison said with a frown. “As a matter of fact, had I known you were 19 earlier, I probably would have had second thoughts about involving you. Not that it matters much anymore…”

Her answer took me by surprise. I knew she wasn’t just a killing machine, but this genuine display of caring was making me guilty for doubting her motives in the first place.

“Sorry,” I said. “I… We might have some disagreements, but it’s good to see we care when things are important.”

She didn’t reply.

“So… will we call social services or what?” I asked.

Alison’s expression soured at my words. “Do you know what the standard procedure is for Impacted children when retrieved by social services?” she asked in a solemn voice.

“No?”

“IHI checkup then detention then reeducation center, at the end of which they can be judged as ‘fit for living in society’ or ‘dangerous’. The best case for that first scenario is being locked away at least until the girl turns 16, and at worse, it’s…” she trailed off.

“…her entire life in an Impacted facility,” I finished her sentence. “Shit, is there no way to avoid that?”

“If she’s on the IHI’s radar or something worse, we’re going to have to be very careful about who sees her for now. Seeing that the IHI was monitoring their hideout, though, it doesn’t look too promising. I’ll check with my informant to see whether her life is at risk, but in the meantime, she’ll have to stay hidden.”

“We can’t do this to a kid,” I said dejectedly. “This is fucked.”

“Good to see you’re finally seeing all the issues that come with being one of our kind,” she said in a sad voice. “At least you’re not known by the public yet.”

“How are you different, though? Aren’t you going out in broad daylight and all?” I asked in confusion. “And I’ve seen you in public places without your helmet.”

“That’s because they know who my criminal persona is. They just know my power and my helmet, but they don’t know my face, nor do they know where I live. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” She paused, and her mood turned darker as she spoke again. “Make no mistakes, though. I live in the constant threat of being found out. It’s just that I’m in way too deep not to act. That kid, Marie-Anne, she hasn’t made mistakes like the ones I made yet. If we keep her safe for a while, she might have a chance at a normal life. And I’ll be damned if I fail to give her that chance.”

I nodded in silence. I had spent the last few weeks quietly questioning Alison’s motives and considering her to be at best a chaotic force that indirectly did some good by messing with the wrong crowd. But at least she did some stuff to help people. And that was already better than one could say about me.

After less than half an hour, we arrived at Alison’s building garage, which I didn’t know existed until then, and proceeded to go up to her apartment without the kids or their monster pets getting noticed by the neighbors. Thankfully the halls were deserted, and the elevator ride, albeit weird thanks to our new companions, went smoothly. I found myself quite unnerved by the thin elongated monster quietly whispering ‘hello’ every few seconds while Marie-Anne absentmindedly stroked its smooth arm.

We entered the now-familiar, poorly decorated apartment, and I finally decided to take my soldering mask off. I dropped it on the ground next to our collective shoes and led the way to the living room while Alison scooted off to her kitchen.

After I slumped down on the couch, the two kids gave me a weird look.

“What? What is it?” I asked tensely.

“Nothing… It’s just that…” Marie-Anne started in a bashful voice that contrasted with her earlier demeanor.

“You’re not like I pictured you at all… You’re just a kid!” Yvan interjected.

“I’m older than you!” I said defensively. “You’re a highschooler, are you not? I’m a college student.”

“Oh, really?” Marie-Anne said in surprise as she took a seat in a padded chair across from me. “What do you study?”

“Graphics design,” I said. “I want to be a freelance design artist.”

“That’s so cool! Can you draw something? Can you draw me?” she asked enthusiastically.

Yvan shot a glare at his sister. “Marie, we don’t know if we can trust them yet!” he said in a whisper-yelled loud enough that the next-door neighbor could probably hear.

“Yes, you do,” Alison butted in as she entered the room. She had a large plastic tray in her hands, on which sat two bottles of Desperados beer and a bottle of Orangina with two glasses. She set the beverages down on the table, one beer going for her and me, and the Orangina for the kids. “I don’t serve cold beverages in the confines of my own apartment to people I want dead. Now just calm down, have a drink, and tell us all we need to know so we can deal with your situation.”

The boy seemed to weigh his answer for a long time before speaking. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, you’re going to start by telling me exactly who or what it is you two are running away from,” Alison said as she took a sip from her beer.

I did the same, more out of mimicry than actual craving for alcohol, even though the slight buzz would be welcome.

“You don’t need to kn—” Yvan started.

“A gang. It’s a gang,” his sister cut him off. “Yvan, these are the first people to offer help since… Forever. We have to ask them for help!”

Alison and I shared a puzzled look. So it’s not the IHI they’re running away from. Or, more accurately, not just them.

“Marie…” Yvan started, but he surrendered immediately when she shot him a deadly glare.

“I feel for you, kid. I really do. You want to protect your lil’ sister, so naturally, you’re distrustful towards sketchy people,” Alison said in a soothing voice. “But if we were really going to hurt you, we would have had plenty of opportunities until now.”

The boy looked at Alison and his sister in turn. Then he simply slumped down in resignation.

“They found out I had powers, and they wanted to use me,” Marie-Anne said.

“Good,” Alison said.

“What?” the siblings said in unison.

“How is this good?” Yvan snapped. “Do you have any idea how fucked-up of a life this is?”

“It means it’s something I can fix,” Alison clarified calmly. “Are you also running from the IHI?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Yvan said as he seemed to calm down. “But we haven’t heard of them for a while. Since that gang started looking for us, I haven’t seen a single IHI patrol, actually.”

That’s probably because they’re working together. I thought to myself.

“I had to stay at one of their rehabilitation facilities back then… Back when mom and dad were still here,” Marie-Anne said in a small voice.

She looked like she was about to cry, but the next instant, she composed herself and continued like a storm of repressed feelings had passed and continued. “It sucked. They kept making me go through these weird tests, and I had to take these Impacted civics classes to make sure I wasn’t a whackjob. At the time, I didn’t have those two,” she said, gesturing at the two idle monsters standing casually in the hallway. “I only had Puppy. But he’s gone now.”

She hid it well, and her sadness overtook almost all of her emotions, but I could see traces of regret in her eyes. I chose to not ask who or what this was about. Instead, I took a sip of my beer. The taste was meh, I was used to Belgian craft beer at home, and this was far from the quality I usually enjoyed. But right now, I needed alcohol in my blood, or I wouldn’t be able to bear the emotional weight of the discussion.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, I decided to release the tension by changing topics as smoothly as possible.

“So… How does your power work, exactly?” I asked.

“Well, I…” Marie-Anne started as she stared at the table. “I guess I make monsters out of people’s bones.”

“What? Like carving them out of bones?” Alison asked wide-eyed as she leaned forward.

“Not, it’s more like…” Marie-Anne stopped and bit her lower lip as if she didn’t want any more words escaping her mouth.

“Hey, Marie, you don’t have to…” Yvan said softly.

“No, they rescued us, plus they saw it, they have to know,” Marie-Anne said with resolve. She looked straight into Alison’s eyes as she spoke again. “I can make them from people. Dead people.”

“Oh,” I said in quiet shock. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“That’s fine.” Marie-Anne let out a quivering sigh. “The large one,” she said as she nodded towards the gorilla-like monster. “Is what remains of mom. And the tall one is what remains of dad.”

A heavy silence fell on the room. Damn. I thought. This is super grim. And counter-intuitive.

“Whenever I make them,” she continued. “They don’t remember who they were, and the IHI scientists said they’re not really alive, and they think they’re just an extension of my personality.”

“What happened to your parents? How did they die? If it’s not too much to ask,” Alison asked softly.

“They got killed because those fucking assholes,” Yvan spat, startling all of us in the process. “And if Marie-Anne hadn’t raised them, we’d be dead by now. I know it’s super fucked-up, but it was the only way.”

This is not something kids should have to go through. I thought somberly. I don’t know if I could have done those things had I been in Marie-Anne’s shoes.

“I’m sorry, let’s drop the matter,” I said apologetically. “What about you, Yvan, any special ability?”

“No, I’m just a regular guy,” he said with a mirthless chuckle. “Wait.” He frowned and immediately tensed up. “Does this mean you’re going to ditch me?”

“What? No!” I exclaimed. “Of course not! We’re not some crazy Impacted cultists or anything!”

“What are you, then?” Yvan said, still frowning. “I mean, I guess that there are some decent people in this world, but you two definitely don’t strike me as casual do-gooders. If we had met you in another context, I would have definitely thought you two were villains. You don’t look like bounty-hunters at all.”

“Don’t be so quick to judge exterior appearance,” Alison said while leaning back with her beer. “Granted, we’re no angels, but I like to think that what I do isn’t just some common villainy. We rescued you because we were in a position to help, and you needed help.”

“See? That doesn’t sound like something a villain would say,” Marie-Anne said in a hushed voice.

“I’m not judging,” Yvan said, raising his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me.” He paused and looked at Alison. “Or that gives me drinks.”

Another awkward silence settled in the room, this one borne mostly of the absence of conversational pieces rather than horrifying personal stories.

“So,” Marie-Anne broke the silence a few seconds later. “What are you guys’ powers, then? I mean, I know you don’t die, and you throw tools around, and you fight like a ninja, but is there anything more?”

Alison snorted. “My fighting capabilities have nothing to do with my power. It’s just training and experience,” she said with a toothy grin. “And to fully answer your question, my ability isn’t just throwing tools around. I also summon them.” Saying so, she conjured a pair of pliers from thin air and snapped them closed a couple of times for emphasis.

“Wow, that’s so cool! You’re like, a super-secret agent or something!” the girl exclaimed in barely veiled excitement. “What about you, Mister?”

There it was again. I’m not a Mister, damn it!

“I, uh…” I started as I scratched my chin. “I basically just heal really fast… And the scarring looks really bad.” I raised one of my mangled fingers to illustrate.

“Well, I think it’s super cool!” the girl said with a genuine smile. “You’re like a werewolf!”

“Or a starfish,” Yvan unhelpfully interjected.

“Uh, no,” I said. “I don’t think I’m either of those things.”

“Yeah,” Alison said. “He’s more like a walking cancer. Like a shitty version of Deadpool.”

God fucking dammit. I knew it.

We spent the rest of the night discussing various topics until the two siblings took their leave in Alison’s guest room. After a quick chat with Alison, I decided to head home as School would be starting two days from now.

I awoke to the sound of my cellphone vibrating. I was not used to people calling me, except mom, and she would know I would not be awake before noon on the weekend. I unlocked the phone to look at the caller ID. It read a name I was not expecting but wasn’t surprised to see. Dr. Santos.

I cleared my throat and tried my hardest to hide my morning voice as I answered. “Allô?”

“Allô, Alex? This is Dr. Santos. I haven’t seen you in two whole weeks. I don’t want to sound overbearing, but the way we left our last appointment worries me a bit, and we have yet to schedule the next one. Is it okay if we talk a bit?”

“Uh… Sure,” I replied in a neutral voice. Shit. I cursed internally. I must sound about as sincere as a penis-enlargement ad.

“Are you alright, Alex?” Dr. Santos said after a brief pause. “Is there anything you want to talk to me about?”

This was bad. I had pushed off talking to my therapist about my crazy life changes… I hated the idea of lying to him again, even by omission. Aside from the fact that I felt like I owed him so much for keeping my sanity in one piece, I was dying to share my secrets with someone. I swallowed hard and ran my tongue over my parched lips.

“I…” I started and immediately froze.

I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him everything. SO. FUCKING. BAD. Being faced with the fact that I had been keeping all of this to myself —and Alison— for the past few days made me feel incredibly frustrated.

The situation made me anxious—a depressingly familiar kind of angst. I was going to feel guilty if I didn’t talk to him. I had to tell him at least something.

“Can you…” I started as my mind raced. “Can you promise me you won’t contact the police or whatever if I tell you?”

What am I doing? My mind was in turmoil. Should I tell him? CAN I tell him? If so, how much do I say?

“Alex, if it’s something serious, you have to tell me,” the therapist said in a serious tone.

Blood pumped in my veins, and my vision narrowed as adrenaline flooded my system. I’m committed now.

“I’m… I have…” I stammered, then took a deep breath. “I’m an Impacted.”

I hadn’t planned for this. Once again, I acted before fully thinking things through. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and the tightness in my chest felt like a phantom grasp on my weak heart. What was he going to say? Would he rat me to the IHI? Would he call the cops? Would he tell my mom?

“Alright, Alex,” the doctor finally said after what felt like an eon. “I understand your reluctance to tell me earlier. But this is important, and I thank you for trusting me with this.” He paused. “Are you alright? I mean physically. Did you consult a healthcare professional? Are you in contact with the IHI?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. I’ve talked to an Impacted therapist, and I have a second appointment with her soon.” I cringed at the half-truth. I took another deep breath and continued. “Listen, I don’t really want to get involved with the IHI. It… It scares me, and I don’t want to get attention from the public.”

Technically, that wasn’t a lie. I was scared shitless that my name might end up floating on that Impacted forum I lurked, or worse, the news. And I definitely didn’t trust the IHI, now that I knew what they did in the shadows.

“Alright,” the doctor said in a soothing voice. “This will be kept between us. But you will have to reach out to them sooner than later, Alex. This is serious. You could end up seriously hurt if you’re not careful… If you don’t mind my asking, what kind of… effects has your… recent change had on your life?”

What a polite and non-intrusive way to ask me about it. I noted in a rare moment of critical analysis. But that didn’t last as my brain kept pumping stress juice into my bloodstream.

“It’s fine. It’s not of the… flashy kind. Or the dangerous one,” I said. “I could probably tell you more, but I’d rather we talk about it face to face than on the phone.”

“Oh. Of course. Are you free tomorrow at 19:00 for a session? I can book you earlier, but you’ve probably got classes to attend.”

I didn’t know what to say. On the one hand, I still didn’t feel comfortable involving Dr. Santos any further, but on the other, talking to him about one of the most significant issues that had been gnawing at my guts for the past few days felt liberating. I’m committed. Again. It seemed like that had been my prime directive since I had met Alison.

“Um, yeah. Sure,” I replied with a lump in my throat.