Baltimore. 2013.

Brad took the campus library steps two at a time into the main lobby. His favourite librarian took his books from him to scan.

“Did you find everything ok, Bradley?” she asked.

“Yes thanks, Miss.” He had been trying to get people to call him Brad since he started at the Westwood Creek Boys Boarding School, as a reinvention, but Mrs Honeywell was so kind, he didn’t mind her still calling him Bradley.

“How was your day? Judging by all these books, you’ve got a lot of homework to do?”

“Yes sadly. I’ve got a bit English assignment and a History one both due for next week. I’m going to be up all weekend doing these!”

“Well make sure you get some down time and proper sleep. Here you are, we’re all done here. Take care, won’t you?” she said, sliding the books back to him.

“Thanks Miss. See you round,” he said warmly. Brad left the library and walked off towards his dorm block.

The night was beginning to creep in and the street lights started switching on. A low mist rolled through and Brad sucked in the crisp air into his lungs. It was a lovely autumnal evening. He nodded at the peers he recognised as they walked to and from the campus buildings.

A group of six teens that Brad knew from his floor were stood on the steps of the dorm, congregated around a smaller boy who he didn’t recognise.

“Did your grandma buy your clothes or something?”

“Nah, she knits his sweater vests though I bet!” another teased. The lad was outnumbered but his clenched fists told Brad that he was close to doing something stupid.

“Oi!” Brad called out as he walked towards them. “Fuck off and leave him alone. Here, come with me.” He grabbed the boy by his jacket sleeve and pulled him into the dorm building’s ground floor restrooms.

“What are you doing? Why did you have to do that?” the boy asked, clearly agitated by Brad’s intervention. He gripped the sides of the wash basin and glared at Brad through the mirror.

“Trying to stop you from doing something stupid. They were roasting you hard and I thought you could do with an escape.”

“I had it sorted man,” he grumbled.

Brad looked at him, confused why someone wouldn’t want help. His teeth started to chatter and a chill went up his spine. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Rion. Rion Ruffin.”

“I’m Brad Jacobs. I’m in fifth grade. I guess that you might be in fourth?”

“Yeah. I’m new.”

“Look, I know I brought you in here but it’s gone really cold, do you want to go somewhere else?” Brad asked, shivering some more and hugging his books tighter.

“No, give me a minute. I’ll be fine,” Rion assured. But the condensation coming from his breath, coating the mirror made Brad think otherwise.

“Bro, what’s going on?”

“I’m not your bro!” Rion snapped back, tearing the wash basin off the wall as he turned to stare at Brad. Rion’s face had gone blue, his eyes now a bright turquoise. He stepped towards Brad, who was scared by what he was seeing that he dropped his books and instinctively pushed out, pushing Rion in the chest with slightly longer stretched out arms.

“Woah, stop!” Brad challenged. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Rion’s face turned from the blue to his regular dark African American colouring and his eyes went brown again.

“You’re like me?” Rion panted, getting his breath under control.

“Yeah, it looks that way.”

“So, what? You can stretch?”

“And you can make things cold?”

Rion sighed in resignation. “Sort of. I don’t always do it right but yeah. Look, I’m really sorry. I just get mad sometimes and can’t control myself.”

“It’s fine Rion. Don’t worry. Are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Rion smiled.

“Great, let’s get out of here before someone sees that,” Brad recommended, pointing to the broken porcelain basin in two pieces on the floor. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

***

“I hope you’re decent!” Brad called out as he opened the door.

“It’s a bit late if you’ve already come in,” came the reply back.

Brad had brought Rion back up to the room he shared with his friend, who was sat at the desk under his cabin bed on the left of the room.

“Who’s this?” he asked, turning to look at them.

“Anton, I want you to meet Rion. Rion, this is Anton, my best friend.” Brad threw his loaned books on his desk and motioned for Rion to sit in his chair. “He has enhancements too Anton!”

“Oi, why’d you tell him that?!” Rion protested, not expecting to be called out like that.

“It’s ok. Anton and I both have enhancements too. You’re safe with us. Ant, he can freeze things. It’s so cool, but... also was a bit frightening.”

“So, what can you do then?” Rion asked Anton.

“Um… well I can do a few things.”

“He can fly!” Brad interrupted.

“I can glide. Short distances,” Anton corrected. “My dad can fly, so I’m learning how to do it. But I can jump high and climb walls for a bit,” he explained modestly.

“That's so cool!” Rion enthused excitedly. "I would love to fly!" He turned to Brad. “And you can… stretch?”

“Yeah. I’ve been able to stretch more and more over the years, so I’m like you really. Just learning to get the hang of it.”

“Do your parents know what you can do?” Anton asked.

“Yeah… It’s partly why I was sent here. That’s a story for another day anyway. I should probably go back to my room now though.”

Brad’s shoulders dropped. “Are you sure? You can stay for a bit. We can talk about stuff and hang out, then I’ll walk with you back?”

“Nah, it’s fine. Thanks though. It’s been a... weird evening, but if you can give me your number, maybe we can hang on Saturday?”

“Ok sure, there’s a great diner I know that do breakfast pancakes, like, all day!” Brad eagerly decided.

***

The boys shared a bench and a box of chicken nuggets in the Pagoda of Riverside Park. They’d spent the day together walking around and chatting about what they could do.

“So how did you two find out about each other?” Rion had asked earlier.

“Pah! This is a funny story!” Anton said laughing.

“No, no!” Brad interrupted. “No Anton. Don’t. Let’s just say it gets difficult to hide things when you bunk together and share a bathroom. But we know we can trust each other and you can trust us too.”

“I really want to know the funny story!” Rion said smiling.

“Well I don’t think we do,” Brad said defensively.

“I’ll tell you one day,” Anton assured, sticking his tongue out at Brad.

“I want to change the subject so badly right now. PLEASE!” Brad pleaded, desperately tilting his head back and putting his hands together like he was praying.

“Sure, sure. Ok. So we also used to spend hours practicing what we could do. Did you do that back at home?” Anton asked.

“Mostly in the old cemetery close to where we lived. Mom didn’t like me doing it. I didn’t know my Pa, so I think I maybe got what I can do from him.”

“Which is why your Mom didn’t want you doing it?” Brad presumed.

“Yeah, that sums it up. When my aunt died, Mom came into this money and sent me off to here. I think I was too much for her.”

“But that means you can practice with us! We can help!” Brad suggested eagerly, wiggling his eyebrows comedically and suggestively.

“Maybe... sure,” Rion agreed.

“Oh! We can be the Baltimore Boarding Boys! Anton and I have often talked about going out and stopping crimes and saving people. We could do it as a trio now!”

“Isn’t that vigilantism? Wouldn’t we be in trouble doing that?”

“We’ve only talked about it, Rion. Brad’s more keen than I am,” Anton admitted. “But it’d be cool to go out and do something good and no one know it was us.”

“You want to hear what our names would be?” Brad asked.

Rion laughed. “Ok, go on!”

“I’d be Proten!”

“Pro-... Huh? What's that gotta do with what you do?”

“It’s Latin for ‘stretch’.”

“And he’s crap at Latin,” Anton cut in.

“And vigilante identities are meant to be secret!” Brad added hastily. "So no one would think it was me!"

“What’s yours Anton?”

“Well I keep saying something like the Red Phoenix but Brad keeps shittin' on it.”

“Yeah because Phoenixes are fiery birds. You aren’t fiery. And you can’t actually fly yet.”

“So we’ve sort of settled on Red Bird.”

“Why red?” asked Rion.

“My family are from Turkey and the flag is mostly red.”

“Well the Cardinal is a pretty red bird, did you know?” Rion suggested.

“Pretty? I don’t want to be pretty. I want to be a badass,” he theatrically whispered.

Brad lightly punched Rion. “What would your identity be?”

“Don’t laugh, but I’ve always called myself in my head as Lil Frosty or Lil Freezy. I can’t decide.”

“That’s sick. I like Freezy!” Brad stood up and faced his friends still on the bench. “The Baltimore Boarding Boys, featuring Proten ‘America’s Stretchiest Boy’, The Red Cardinal, ‘The Prettiest Red Bird’ and Lil Freezy, ‘The Chillest New Kid in Town!’” he announced like he was introducing wrestlers at a Royal Rumble.

“Oi, I don’t want to be pretty I said!” Anton protested. “And the ‘boarding’ part might give it away. We could be The Three Amigos, maybe?”

“Hah, well, we can keep working on our group name on the way back. I’ve still got an assignment to write and they’ll be checking on us soon,” said Brad, wiping his greasy fingers on his jeans.

“Sure, let’s bounce,” Anton agreed.

***

The sky was a lot darker as they travelled back through Downtown Baltimore on the bus to campus. The roads were busy as people returned home and little Ma and Pa businesses started closing and pulling down their shutters.

They still had a five minute walk from their stop, through a dicey part of the city. At this time of evening they knew they were pushing their luck by being out. The teachers were always warning about personal safety on weekends.

“They won’t know we’ve been out all this time will they? I’ve not done this before,” Rion had worried earlier.

“No, we’re good,” Brad assured.

Once the bus stopped, they got off and waited for the lights to change, allowing them to cross and start weaving between the other pedestrians. The crowds thinned out the further they walked, as people returned to their homes in the neighbourhood they crossed through.

A cat screaming made Rion jump.

“Chill Ri, you’re so jumpy,” Anton said.

“I just don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Would Lil Freezy be afraid of getting into trouble? No. Freezy would suck it up!” Brad explained laughing.

As they passed an alley opening, Anton stopped dead, looking down it. Something catching his attention about sixty metres away.

“What is it Ant?”

“Shit, what’s he doing to her?” The Three Amigos watched as they tried to register what they were saying.

“Are they fighting?” Rion asked.

“No, they’re doing s-e-x, right?” Brad suggested.

“I don’t think she likes whatever it is,” Rion wondered aloud.

“Man, I’ve seen it rough like that on videos before though. Women sometimes sound like they don’t like it but they seem to do,” Anton claimed, much to the disgust of Brad and Rion.

“Ew, why would you do that? I hope you don’t watch that when I’m around.”

“We should do something,” said Rion.

“I don’t know, do you think?” Anton asked a little bit uncertain.

Brad stepped forward. “We’re the Baltimore Boarding Boys, working title. This is our moment.” The boys shrugged in agreement and slung their bags to one side, running down towards the two adults.

“Stop, you monster!” Brad shouted. Anton leapt in the air, clearing ten metres easily and landing on the man, causing them to both tumble on the ground.

The man cried out in shock, surprise and pain. Brad and Rion stopped and looked at his friend on the floor and then the woman who was crying hysterically. Rion looked at the dazed man who had his pants down and genitals out.

“Why’d you have that out?” he asked, pointing at it.

“He tried to rape me!” the woman wailed. Brad’s heart was thumping in his chest. He actually got really scared, in the reality of the moment. He started to panic. This man was doing a bad thing to the woman. And he could also hurt them. He really regretted being there and thinking he could help.

Brad looked at Rion who was glaring at the man as he pulled his underwear up. Out of nowhere, Rion lifted his hand and blasted ice right at the man’s near exposed privates. The blue beam hit him on target and he doubled over in agony, screaming, crying and swearing.

“What the fuck!?” the woman screamed hysterically. She ran off in fear, leaving the boys with the incapacitated man.

“Sorry for swearing, but shit guys! We have got to get out of here!” Brad hissed urgently.

“No shit!” Anton agreed, pulling Rion by the sleeve and leaving the attacker there.

They ran to where they came from, grabbing their bags and continued all the way back to campus, straight to Brad and Anton’s dorm.

Once the door was shut, Brad burst into tears.

Anton put his arm around his shoulder. “Bro, get it together. We’re safe now.”

“That man…” Brad stammered as his shoulders heaved up and down.

“Was doing a bad thing,” Anton explained.

“You froze his penis!” Brad blurted out, looking at Rion as tears ran from his eyes.

“I… I don’t know. I panicked. I was angry and scared. I just…”

“He deserved it, Brad. Rion, you did good.”

“We were supposed to do good,” said Brad, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“We did though. That lady was upset. The dude was hurting her,” Anton insisted. “This is what vigilantes do.”

“But we hurt him in the dick! You know how much it hurts when we get ours caught in the zipper. We froze it!”

“Anton's right. He... he deserved it.” said Rion, repeating Anton, but slightly with less of the conviction.

“But… But should we hurt people?”

“If they’re hurting people then yes. He’s not going to die Brad, and he’s learnt his lesson for sure. Job done. Try to forget about it. Rion, are you good now?” Rion nodded in confirmation. “Ok, go back to your room. We’ll meet in the morning, alright?”

Both Brad and Rion nodded.

***

A month had gone by since the alleyway-penis-freezing incident.

At first, Brad couldn’t stop worrying about it and had failed to turn an assignment in on time, for the first time ever. He was conflicted with the desire to do the right thing but also the crippling worry that he had hurt someone. Brad found it tricky sleeping and sought comfort from his best friend when the night terrors struck.

At the end of the first week, things had got better as the boys hung out together again and talked through what had happened.

“How are you feeling now, Ri?” Brad asked.

“Alright now. I felt crap after, but Anton’s right. We wanted to be vigilantes. We saved a woman’s life.”

“Yeah, Rion’s right, Brad. You can’t keep letting this bother you.”

Fast forward the rest of the month, the boys continued to hang out and Brad’s outlook improved.

***

They were hanging out around the Inner Harbour on the bright and breezy Saturday afternoon. It was packed with locals and tourists who were enjoying shopping and dining by the water.

As they crossed McKeldin Plaza, Rion spotted an altercation between an irate man and a police officer.

“Damn, if we were here earlier, we might have been able to catch the guy before the cops turned up,” said Rion.

“You’ve got the bug for it now haven’t you?” laughed Brad.

The boys watched on as the man argued with the officer, getting up into his face. The cop didn’t like that and pushed the man away. The irate man didn’t seem to like that either, and much to the surprise of everyone, including the officer, the man lunged forward, and dug something into the officer’s neck, holding it in place as the officer grappled with his attacker before the implement was pulled out. The officer gripped hold of his neck, unable to call out for help or use his radio.

Brad’s anxiety and fear levels bubbled up into his chest again. The situation had escalated so quickly but they now had a chance to do something.

The attacker ran for it, running along East Pratt Street, towards and past the Aquarium.

The three boys looked at each other and nodded, knowing what they had to do. And in no time, there they were, chasing him and leaving the wounded officer in the hands of other civilians.

Rion, who was on the track and field team, was beginning to close the gap. They passed Pier Three and then Pier Four. Anton was keeping his abilities under wraps as he gave chase, conscious of the sheer number of people still milling around. The man took a right onto Pier Five towards the WWII ship.

It was quieter on this path, with less pedestrian traffic. Anton took his chance and leapt into the air, tackling the attacker onto the floor like he had done with the rapist in the alleyway. This time though, Anton landed funny and went the wrong way on his ankle and rolled over in pain.

Brad and Rion caught up as the man got back to his feet quickly and squared off to the kids.

Anton kicked his good leg out as best he could, enough to distract the attacker to allow Brad and Rion to start fighting with the man, punching and kicking at him.

The man was tall and had the height advantage and more upper body strength than the preteens. He smacked Brad on the nose, causing him to stagger back, his hand instinctively covering his now bloody nose.

Rion grabbed at the guy, sticking his hand over his face. A cold, frost spread from his hand onto the man’s face, who stumbled back in pain and confusion, taking Rion with him into the railings behind.

Brad blinked through the pain enough to see the man fall back over the railings with Rion close behind. He shot out his arms to grab hold of his friend but he wasn’t close enough to reach even at the maximum length he could achieve.

Anton cried out, unable to get up on to his feet and could do nothing as the two landed into the harbour water.

Rion and the attacker hit the water. Rion, being unable to swim, thrashed about panicking as he was unable to find a rhythm of limb movements to get himself to the surface.

His anxiety grew and grew, pressure building in his chest. Water gushed into his mouth as he tried to gasp for air and shout for his friends…

… And then the worst thing happened.

Unable to control his enhancements fully, a cold frost erupted from his hands, solidifying the water he was struggling in around him, and encasing him and his attacker into a tomb of ice.

“Shit! Anton! What do we do?” Brad stammered as they looked through the railings. “He’s iced himself up!”

“Get us out of here. There’s nothing we can do now.”

“What?!” Brad cried out.

“We need to go now! We could be in so much trouble for this. Get me up and let’s get back to our room! Now Brad!”

Back at the dorms, Brad and Anton burst through their door, Brad propping Anton up with his arm around his shoulders.

“Do you need to go to the hospital with that?” Brad asked, as he laid his friend down into a chair.

“I will do in a couple of days. I’ll say I did something to it falling in here in the dark or something.”

“Shit! What are we going to do, Anton? Rion fucking died there! We tried to do the right thing again and it ended up killing him! Shit, did we kill Rion?!” Brad’s eyes started to tighten as he felt the tears build up.

“Frick no! Don’t cry Brad. C’mon! He didn’t have a handle on his enhancements. But none of us really do though, do we?”

“No, I guess we don’t,” Brad sniffed, wiping his eyes.

“But we didn’t kill him Brad,” Anton said. “He just died, ok? It was an accident.” Brad sighed and collapsed down on the other chair opposite Anton, tears still flowing down his face. “C'mon Brad! Can you keep it together?”

“Shit shit shit! I don't know. Maybe."

"No, you need to! Tell me you can!"

"Ok, yeah... Fuck, ok! I can. But I swear man, we need to get good on our enhancements and make sure we do better. You know, use them to do like, actual good things. In Rion’s name.”

“Yeah I agree. Don’t worry, we will be better.”