Larkin followed Black Lightning into the nicer district of town. He didn't stop at all and stuck to the shadows.

He eventually came to a large forest on the edge of town. It was also a park. He slipped through the tree trunks, as nimble as a fox. Larkin slunk through the forest, right behind him.

They were somewhere in the middle of the woods when he started to climb a tree, a very tall tree.

A treehouse. Classic, thought Larkin. The tree was unmarked. There wasn't a ladder or even any handholds. She started to climb the tree when he disappeared into the canopy.

Black Lightning was invisible among the branches and leaves. Larkin couldn't see him or his treehouse. She could barely see the rough bark in front of her face.

The constant chirping of cicadas filled her ears. This tree is awfully high. Where is the treehouse? Larkin started to worry.

Suddenly, a gloved hand reached around her face and clasped itself onto her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock. The other hand gripped her right arm and twisted it behind her back. No one could sneak up on Coalescence, at least, that's what she liked to tell herself. She was too shocked to even struggle.

"I'm not an idiot. I knew someone was following me," whispered a voice. It was right next to her ear.

Larkin could feel Black Lightning's breath on the back of her neck. She was too in shock to react. She had the ability to break free, but didn't. He must be able to fly. How could he sneak up on me like that?

With her other hand, Larkin removed the hand from over her mouth.

"You must know who I am by now, since you knew you were being followed," she replied.

"Coalescence." He abruptly let go of her and she tumbled down the tree.

Larkin landed in a crouch and stood up, on guard. He may be a super, like her, but he was especially clever. She watched as he floated down from the tree, landing with a thump.

"That's obviously not your hideout," she stated.

"No."

"Take me to it."

"Why should I?"

Larkin put her hands on her hips and stepped closer to the imposing boy. She stood as tall as she could, trying to match his height.

"We have to work together. And that's only going to happen if we talk. I don't want to stand out here all night, so get along with it," urged Larkin. While she was standing so close to him, she took the opportunity to study his features more.

Larkin could see some hair sticking out the backside of his helmet: blond. He had blue eyes, and Larkin would have described them as ice, not because they were cold, but because of the color.

He sighed and began walking through the forest again. Larkin followed close behind, determined not to let him trick her again.

He stopped about three trees away from the first one and began climbing it.

"So it is a tree house," said Larkin.

"I never said it wasn't."

She followed him up the tree until they came upon a ladder hanging from a platform. She grasped the ladder with both hands and pulled her legs up onto it. She climbed a little more before her head poked through a hole in the platform.

"This is a nice setup you got here." Larkin pulled herself through the hole and stood in Black Lightning's treehouse.

The hideout was one large room. Tree branches poked through the floor in random places, holding the place aloft. The floor was covered in a rubber-like substance, probably to diffuse the electricity Black Lightning can produce. The walls were painted a deep forest green. In one corner, there were chairs, a television, and a stereo. I wonder if he gets cable here. A different corner had a kitchenette. The third corner had a couch and the last one had all the superhero gadgets and such.

"Ok. I will never know how you got all of this stuff up here, but it's pretty cool. And it's really put together considering you just got here on Saturday," exclaimed Larkin.

A bewildered look crossed Black Lightning's face. He plopped himself down in one of the chairs in the living area. "How did you know I got here on Saturday?"

"Oh! I have a twitch. My eye twitches whenever I'm around new superheroes. It started twitching on Saturday and stopped today," she explained.

"That's strange, but cool. I can't do that."

Larkin sat down in the seat across from him. "Do you live here?" she asked.

"Yes." That was the only answer she would get out of him. She wondered if he had any family.

"Oh."

The two heroes sat in silence. Larkin started to drum her fingers on the armrest. She almost hated silence more than she hated Jacob.

Black Lightning broke the silence. "I don't really know what powers you have."

"Well, my name is Coalescence," began Larkin. She explained the whole 'coming together to form one mass' thing to him. "So basically, when I touch things, they dissolve into my skin."

"I want to see!" He sounded like a child on Christmas morning.

"Uh..." Larkin looked around her and saw a pencil sitting on the side table. She picked it up. "Watch."

Larkin didn't break eye contact with Black Lightning the whole time. She barely had to think about what she was doing. She grasped the pencil in the palm of her hand. It looked as if it disintegrated in her fingers. All the pieces of it sunk into her skin, leaving no trace of the pencil. She opened her palm held it up for Black Lightning to see. He stared wide eyed at her hand.

"That's epic, but what if I want my pencil back?"

"That's the fun part. What's something you don't care about?"

"What do you mean?"

"This." Larkin raised her hand and pointed her palm at the wall. Before anyone could blink, she ejected the pencil out of her hand and at the wall directly in front of her. The pencil splintered on impact. "Well, I don't think you'll be able to use that pencil ever again. Sorry."

Larkin made the extra pencil she always carried around appear in her hand. "You can have this one."

"Wow. Can you do anything else?"

"The rest of it isn't as cool as that, but there is some. Let's see... I have a heightened sense of smell, and trust me, that's not always a good thing. Other supers' powers don't affect me, so your lightning can't hurt me at all. Don't go sharing that with the press or anything. It gives me an upper hand when I surprise people because they can't do anything to me. I can control my molecular density, which means I can walk through objects. And the twitchy eye. That's it," Larkin said. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at Black Lightning.

"I just got the lightning, man. And the flying. Oh, and super hearing, but everyone has that. That is literally it. I've never met anyone with powers like yours." He stared at her in awe.

"Really? No one from Minnesota?"

"No, and should I find it creepy that you know more about me than I know about this town?"

"I'm just prepared for everything, including meeting new supers. And you can find just about anything in Google," she replied simply.

"Ah yes, all hail king Google."

Larkin chuckled before standing. "I gotta go. I don't even know what time it is." She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. "I have one last question for you."

"Shoot."

"Do you know if any super villains followed you here?" inquired Larkin.

Larkin watched the super think. He squeezed his eyes shut and slowly shook his head. "I... I don't think so. I haven't had that many run-ins with criminals, and the ones I did run into didn't seem super. We still haven't caught the gunman from the debate, though."

"Good. I don't need super villains in my city. And I'm sure the gunman case will wrap itself up. Things like that usually do."

Black Lightning nodded his head in agreement.

"One more thing: stay out of my business."

Larkin waved goodbye and grinned. She let herself sink through the floor, and dropped into a roll before she hit the ground. Larkin stood up and brushed the grass off her hands and began her walk home.

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