“-and that’s where some guy literally exploded into crossword puzzles three months ago.” Tahala pointed to a black smear on the sidewalk.

“Are we just here for catastrophe sightseeing?” Melody was sitting in the passenger seat.

“While that is fun, we’re here because there's one last goose to add to our gaggle.” Tahala said, slowing the van down.

“Is that why we’re at these ritzy apartments?”

“He’s a prodigy that gets paid a lot more than us. Don’t resent his smarmy little face for that.” Oliver poked his head forward, having been relegated to the back seat.

“Andre! Get out here.” Tahala began honking the van's horn. "WE'RE HERE TO PICK YOU UP!"

“He’s probably asleep again.” Oliver said.

Some passers by glared at the woman who was leaning out the car window and wildly blasting the horn.

Soon after, a man who was a bit younger than Melody came running out of the door at the bottom of the apartment complex. His jacket was a bit disheveled, as if he had woken up only moments ago.

He was carrying a satchel that he had to use both hands to keep closed. Papers wanted to rupture out and spill everywhere, like a science fair baking soda volcano, or someone's eyeballs when exposed to Delightback venom.

“Gosh! Give me a minute. You can stop shouting!” Andre daintily but hurriedly ran down the steps.

As he walked up, Oliver made a show of pretending to open the slide door, then closing it in his face.

“Oliver, that stopped being funny a while ago. You made me start carrying tissues in case I bonk my head and I get a bloody nose again.”

Oliver rolled his eyes and moved over to make room. As Andre stepped into the van, he paused as he saw Melody staring at him while giving him a toothy grin.

“Hi! I’m Melody!”

The man’s default response to this situation was the same as a deer caught in a car’s headlights. He just blankly stared forward. Unlike a deer, he was not immediately about to be run over by a car, but the day wasn’t over yet. After a few seconds, he worked up the gumption to speak.

“You’re certainly… Colorful.”

“Thanks! I take vitamins.”

“Wait, why are you in the car?”

“I work here now!”

He frowned. “That’s… Surprising”

Tahala looked back at Andre. “You get surprised when bacon sizzles. Now get in and help us think of a good one day training regimine.”

-

“Time based color coded telekinesis, huh? Do you know exactly what hues you can control at what times?”

Andre had become a little more comfortable when the conversation turned to Melody’s magic. Tahala was currently driving the group of four somewhere, and would not answer when asked where.

“I- I’m not really sure about exact hues. If it looks like the right color, it usually works.” Melody stammered.

“I have a colleague that owns a spectrophotometer. With a fine enough gradient of paint samples, I could tell you exactly what wavelengths you can control on certain days of the week. What about multi-colored objects? If something only has a little color on it, can you lift it?”

Melody was becoming more and more baffled with all the questions.

“Things that aren’t entirely the right color are harder to lift.”

“So the force is proportional to something. Does it depend on surface area or volume? Can you paint something and move it?”

“Yea, I can paint things.”

Andre was meticulously writing everything down in a notebook he had procured from his satchel.

“Do you normally get this in depth with how other people’s powers work?” Melody asked.

“I think that it’s useful, and fairly interesting to try and figure out.” Andre said. “For Oliver, I have a fairly comprehensive formula that accounts for what types of bodily harm he may have endured and estimates the cost of treatment. I use it to make sure that he isn’t trying to bill the company for more than he should be.”

Oliver glared at him.

“For Tahala, I have a list of criteria and their effects, as well as the general range of her power.” Andre continued.

Melody only now realized that she didn’t know what Tahala’s power was. She was fairly certain she would learn soon enough.

Instead, she asked. “What about your boss?”

Andre paused. “He doesn’t exactly like other people knowing about his power.”

“Okay.” Melody didn’t press any further. If there was someone she didn’t want to upset, it was the person who was going to be paying her. The conversation died a little bit until Tahala picked it back up.

“We need a way to prepare the new recruit for high stakes combat situations. Can any of you guess where we’re going?” Tahala asked.

Looking outside, the other three noticed that Tahala was driving into the old city. During the war, this part of the city had been the target of a particularly vicious series of magical attacks. Artillery had bombarded this section to the point that habitation would be unsafe.

Warning signs suggesting that they should turn back were the only things that impeded the van’s entry into the ruins. Tahala was excited. Andre seemed a little apprehensive. Oliver seemed uncaring. This was not Tahala’s first time in these ruins. She carefully avoided a vortex that removed friction, and she made sure to only turn left on a certain road that caused hemorrhaging if you turned right. Soon, she pulled up to a derelict structure.

“Are we stopping to get food? Ha! Good one.” Oliver said to himself.

Tahala had stopped the van at a fast food restaurant. The large logo sign still stood, but most of the color had faded. A few shells of cars rested here, abandoned from whatever terrible artillery hit this part of the city years ago.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably fine.” Tahala said, as she got out and stepped up to the building.

She went through the space where the front door used to be, careful not to step on any glass. Oliver and Melody looked at each other, shrugged, and followed. Andre was uneasy about going in, but eventually decided that he would rather not be alone, so he too followed. The four looked around the inside of the establishment from a bygone era, illuminated by dappled sunlight from outside.

The order window was only slightly dirtier than it was when the restaurant still served food. Also, the ice cream machine was just as broken.

Tahala gestured widely towards the back of the restaurant. “That will be our glorious arena!”

Over half of the structure housed an old indoor playground. Large plastic tubes offered joyous times for kids, and a brief respite for their parents. Climbing nets that were mostly rotted away were sprawled around.

“Wow.” Oliver looked around. “Kids played on this stuff before magic? Wouldn’t they get hurt a bunch?”

Tahala walked over to the center of the structure. “This will be our ammunition.”

At the center was a sizable ball pit. It still contained most of its multicolored balls. There was a bit of stagnant water that reached about a third of the way up the pit.

“We’ll all fight the newbie to see how well she fares when there's multiple opponents.”

“What do you think 40 years of wet vomit smells like?” Oliver asked as he walked over. “Do we really have to touch these things?”

Tahala picked up one of the balls and shook off the water. “Don’t get hit and it won’t be gross.”

Melody stepped up to the edge of the pit. “Wait, three against one? Is that fair?”

“You’re the one with telekinesis. You don’t have to touch these things.” Oliver hesitantly picked up a ball.

Melody picked up four yellow balls and started orbiting them around her.

"Okay, go!" Tahala shouted as she dove behind a tube.

Melody launched a barrage of balls against Oliver, who was not behind cover. Since they were hollow plastic balls, they didn’t do much damage. He responded by firing at Melody. Tahala took pot shots from safety. By focusing on the ball they were about to throw, Melody could briefly see where the ball was going to be. She used this technique to avoid all the shots headed towards her, until a red ball hit Melody square in the back of the head.

“She’s dodging too quickly. I think she has minor precognition.” Andre said.

After that, Tahala and Oliver started working in tandem, throwing at the same time. Balls consistently hit Melody . It sort of devolved into chaos after that. Tahala started indiscriminately attacking everyone. Andre joined in a bit more after that, making more shots at the others. Eventually, everyone got tired, with no one actually keeping any sort of score. Andre was nice enough to offer to buy everyone sandwiches.

Melody was a little worried about her first assignment that night, but Tahala told her not to worry too much, since it was just a few minor deliveries.