Rigour was the name of the game for the next few days of Super training. I was still doing combat work and I had to admit it was a pretty killer workout, if nothing else. Things were going okay; I could fight passably, but it was not my forte. It was a little frustrating, though part of me also relished the challenge, even if I didn't like to admit it.

What I did really enjoy, though, was getting to use my skills in a new context. They'd still not found me a trainer, but they did find a use for me in training other Supers to build resistance to being thrown around a lot by someone like me.

My twisted little heart had a lot of fun showing off and tossing people all over a slightly padded room, and I even had my suspicions that this was Gareth's way of placating me. Honestly, the telekinetic exercise felt pretty good, and I felt a new, invigorating kind of energy surging through my head after each session.

All told, it probably wasn't surprising that I was feeling pretty weary on my first day off, and I slept like a baby that night. The next morning dawned bright, cheerful, and exciting; it was the day of Lexa's big fashion show and I was really looking forward to the whole thing. It wasn't every day that one was invited to a swanky, press-filled event that didn't involve Supers, with a handsome date on their arm. Well, and with their brother going stag, but whatever.

This was a day where I got to dress up pretty and feel fancy while watching some walking art, forgetting all about my double life for a few hours, I hoped.

By the time I got over to Lexa's place she was long gone, which I expected. The day of the show was always a ton of work for the designers, and she'd spend hours at the venue before it was time for all of that hard work to payoff. As promised, she'd left me free reign of her extensive closet, and she'd even put together some outfit ideas for me to mull over.

After trying on a ton of things, because who wouldn't, I finally decided on a divine sleeveless black jumpsuit with a plunging neckline and skinny legs that ended a few inches above my ankles. The material ended at my shoulders, where it became a delicate gold chain that made a T above a low, square back. A long, minimalist gold necklace, two gold bracelets and a killer pair of black stilettos completed the look. If I'm honest, I cursed the shoes the moment I put them on, despite how great they looked.

I left my hair loose in waves down to my shoulders, and went for a smokey eye, or my best approximation of one. Not long after I'd finished putting the final touches on, the door buzzed.

Ewan was waiting on the doorstep, dazzling in dark jeans with dress shoes, a navy sweater and an olive green wool overcoat which looked very chic and rather expensive.

"Did she dress you too?" I asked with a grin.

He ran a hand through his hair, and the long strands promptly fell back over his eyes. "I'll admit that I didn't have this just lying around. At least she trusted you to pick for yourself. You look stunning, by the way," he added appreciatively.

"Likewise. She knows what she's doing, that one. But won't you be a bit hot in that coat? It is almost summer, after all." I'd grabbed just a long, lightweight black jacket in case it got chilly later.

He grimaced. "Don't remind me. I think we should fly there."

"Yeah, that'd be low key," I laughed and rolled my eyes at him.

"I can make us invisible, remember?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Forget it, we're going to take the subway like regular people on a date to a fashion show." I turned back to the mirror to put on a pair of my favourite gold stud earrings.

"With your brother," Ewan muttered.

"Yeah, that part is awkward, not going to lie. But Lexa specifically gave them to Seb and me, so we're going to meet him at the station and the fact that it's a date is going to be our secret." Reaching for his hand, I squeezed it reassuringly.

He pulled me in closer and sighed exasperatedly. "Why did Lexa invite Seb, anyway?"

"Um, well..." Caught off guard, I struggled to think of any coherent reason. "Because they're friends too?"

Ewan was immediately suspicious. "You're being weird, in a different way than usual. What are you hiding?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said loftily, squirming out of his grasp.

He snorted. "I thought you were a better liar than this."

"Well I'm wearing heels, and you're standing there looking so pretty, and it's all melting my brain a little," I grumbled. He looked amused, and I relented. "Alright, fine. I guess it's only fair since she knows your biggest secrets, so she probably won't begrudge you this one."

"She likes Seb," he finished dryly.

"You're sharp like a knife, huh," I remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"I prefer 'like a rose,'" he quipped. "It was the only plausible answer; Seb's not particularly fashionable, and what else would make you so uncomfortable?" He grinned at this, and I grimaced.

"Well, it's kind of gross, isn't it? It's Seb. But there you have it, Lexa is gaga for my goofy brother, and she also knows about his Super identity, which caused her major mortification, as you can probably imagine. I don't think I need to tell you that if you say anything or let it slip to Seb somehow, even your Super abs of steel won't save you from Lexa's tiny fists of fury." I looked at him pointedly as I grabbed my purse off the table and headed for the door.

"Oh, I know. It's hilarious, honestly, but I won't say a word. I'm smarter than that!"

"Beauty and brains," I said sugary sweet, holding the door for him.

"Aren't you lucky?" He grinned again. "Seriously, though, I've never known Lexa to be shy about much in her life, so I'm amazed she hasn't done anything about this yet."

"Tell me about it," I groaned, "I've been saying this for years, after I got over the squicky factor. You truly can't force her to do anything she's not ready for so I've sort of given up beyond passive-aggressive comments, because I'm not a perfect person and I can't help myself."

"Let's hope that Seb gets over us too. How long did it take you?" Ewan asked, casually slinging an arm across my shoulders as we strolled along the sidewalk.

"Oh, a year or two," I said innocently.

"Is that all?" He pulled a face.

"Well, we're proper adults now, so I'd hope he'd be a little more mature about it," I chuckled.

Ewan frowned harder. "It's Seb we're talking about here, you know that, right?"

"Luckily it's not really up to him though, is it?"

He saw my determined look and smiled. "Seb who?"

"That's more like it."

The man of the hour himself was waiting for us at the station, as promised.

"Hey guys, you look fancy!" Seb bounded forward to greet us wearing trendy running shoes, jeans, and a sport blazer over a tshirt.

"Looking very 'clueless yuppie' yourself; Lexa obviously didn't dress you. I like it," I grinned evilly.

"What do you mean?" he frowned, looking down over himself. "I Googled 'men's street fashion' and everything!"

"I'm not sure that's better," Ewan quipped.

"Hey man, whose side are you on here?" Seb protested heartily.

The pause probably only felt awkward to Ewan and me, but I hurried to fill it with a deflection anyhow.

"He follows the leader, obviously."

"Woah," Seb took the bait as we squeezed ourselves onto the train, "watch how you speak to your elders."

I tried not to think about how closely Ewan was pressed up behind me as the train bumped and swayed its way through the tunnel. A feather light touch on my exposed back was enough to fluster me right in Seb's line of sight.

"Are you okay, Kenna? You look weird," Seb remarked, laced with a touch of concern. He frowned, peering closer at my face.

"And you've wondered aloud why you're single," I glared at him and stepped discreetly but firmly on Ewan's toes. His hiss of breath was cool on the back of my neck. "I'm fine, just doing my best sardine impression. The water is positively stifling." My nauseated glance at the wall of bodies around us was sincere, though technically unrelated to the point at hand.

"Yes, we're all suffering here," Ewan said drily, pressing impossibly closer.

My stiletto dug harder onto his foot.

He must have grimaced, because Seb laughed. "Looks hot in that coat, buddy."

"Oh you have no idea, man." I could hear the smirk.

Under the pretext of digging around in my little purse, I poked a sharp elbow into a rock hard abdomen.

The throaty chuckle behind me had me torn between cursing and praising whatever devil had climbed into Ewan Hamilton that evening.

One advantage to the crammed subway was that it made the hustle and bustle of the show venue seem positively spacious. I savoured the feel of any breeze at all moving over my skin and even welcomed the hammering of a thousand designer perfumes over the unique pong of the train car air.

Both Ewan and Seb looked pained, an unsung liability of Supersenses.

"I think my vision's going blurry," Ewan muttered.

"What is this shit made of?" Seb lamented.

"Vampire breath, unicorn tears, you know, the usual." I eyed a nearby particularly aromatic woman with disfavour. "I've had worse waft into my face, to be honest," I added, thinking of Poison's distinct talents.

Both men looked alarmed.

"Not even gonna touch that," Seb proclaimed, walking off in the direction of our seats.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I protested quietly to Ewan as we followed behind.

"I sure hope I do," he replied, sounding amused now.

"Boo," I scowled at him, and received a grin in return.

We settled into our seats - Lexa had snagged us second row - and admired the beautiful, strange, interesting, pretentious people milling around us. Some local celebrities dotted the front row, and I felt a mild twinge of annoyance as I spotted Gareth seated amongst them. As the commissioner of the Supers, a celebrity institution in itself, it wasn't overly surprising that he'd warranted an invitation but I'd been hoping not to think about him at all for a span of at least two hours.

Surely that hadn't been too much to ask? Suddenly he seemed to feel my gaze on him and he turned, meeting my eyes with a wink.

My teeth gritted. "Look at big shot sitting over there," I muttered to Ewan.

"Old habits die hard, huh?" he teased. "I think I remember seeing something about it lying on his desk a while ago, actually. I wonder how many of us are here incognito tonight."

"Three, at least," I smiled goofily.

"What are you guys whispering about?" Seb asked, breaking out of his distracted staring at the curtains which hid the backstage area.

"What were you staring at?" I retorted.

"I wasn't staring! Do you think Lexa's still backstage?" He tried to look nonchalant, and I smirked, knowing his face better than anyone.

"Don't worry, we'll see her soon."

"Yeah, I'm sure. I was just wondering," he said defensively.

"Uh huh," I trailed off innocently.

Luckily for both of us, at that moment the lights dimmed and music enveloped us from all around.

I tapped Ewan's finger excitedly and he wrapped his hand around mine in the safety of the twilight.

The show was electric, and I found myself transfixed by the whole experience, especially when it came to what I recognised as Lexa's design. As the model strutted her way down the runway I let out a whoop that was, in retrospect, fairly undignified, and heard Ewan stifle a chuckle beside me.

"You can dress her up..." his voice was warm.

"Where are you going to take me, Ewan?" I asked sweetly, and enjoyed the choking sound he made.

Seb, oblivious, whispered, "you guys talking about getting food after this? I'm thinking shawarma."

I had to press my hand to my face to stop myself from laughing.

The laughter died in my throat as I began to notice a shift in the energy of the room, and the hairs on my arms drifted to attention.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Ewan, and he gave me a puzzled look.

"I'm not sure what you-"

The music died, and the lights dimmed all the way into inky darkness.

Then, blinding in its sudden intensity, a spotlight blared onto the runway.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen," Gareth said pleasantly from within its radiant beam. "What a real pleasure it is to have you all gathered here tonight. Some of you might know me in my official capacity looking after our fair city with the help of our esteemed Supers." His teeth gleamed in a wolfish smile.

No, I thought, glancing with a cold jolt to my stomach between the empty spot in the front row and that feral grin, not Gareth.

"Tonight, though," Morgan continued silkily, and the cold crept up the back of my neck, "what we're really here for is a little chaos."

: Wow. Okay! Hi everyone!

First of all, I'd like to say a huge SORRY for seemingly dropping off the face of the earth! I was on a two month trip around Europe and didn't have my laptop, plus completing a transatlantic move, so just have not had the equipment nor opportunity to write. But...

We're racing towards the finish line here and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things!

So, thank you for sticking with me, those of you who have, and it's a delight to be back with you all once more!