After the dinner, they looked up their "interview". The footage clearly showed their powers - Tadeus wasn't bleeding after the initial impact, and the shot aimed at Lena was stopped short. The news did note this, though most outlets focused on the fact that Hank Baker wasn't just a harmless madman, but a dangerous one. He was obviously arrested, and the word was he cited "self defense" as his justification for the attack.

Their house - at this point Lena moved into a free room in Tadeus and David’s apartament since more was holding her in Norfolk than her own city - was downright assaulted with invitations for interviews. Phone calls, messages, even two letters. There was only one person reaching out they responded immediately to, though.

“Mister Floyd? I’m Jennifer Harris, you and Miss Lena invited me because of that…thing… and now that stuff with Baker happened and I wanted to know if you are alright and what now.”

“Now? I assume you mean now that people saw Cordians? And it’s good to hear from you. Do you want to meet and talk?"

“So people know. What now?” The teenager asked again when they met up in a cafe downtown. There were four of them: Tadeus, Lena, Jennifer and Cameron. David wanted to attend the meeting too, but he had a shift at the restaurant he worked for.

“We study ourselves more.” Lena spoke. “If we don’t know what to expect, then how could anyone else? What could we tell them? This can alter the course of history!”

“No pressure, though.” Tadeus chukled in response. “Seriously though, I understand if either of you two wants nothing to do with any of this. Just keep in contact so we can share any accommodations we come up with. Maybe even a cure.” He nodded knowingly toward Jennifer.

“Actually, I don’t think I want out anymore. I’ve split myself several times since we last met, and I sort of rely on it in some aspects. I wouldn’t want to cure it, but if you can help with the ‘itch’ I would definitely take that.”

“I want out!” Cameron piped up. “I don’t want to wear a hoodie in the summer or have people think I dressed up for halloween too early! Get those damn horns off of me!”

“Can’t you, like, chop them off? You know, Hellboy style?”

“I tried! They grow really fast, but never beyond a certain point. Besides, they are a part of my body and it hurts like a motherfucker when they break.”

There was a brief silence after that, which eventually was broken by Lena.

“So you two are going to help us study concordis?”

“Sure, I’ve done this already and you didn’t poke me with syringes or anything, and I’ve gotten used to splitting, so it’s no longer a shock for me everytime. Boys out, though, I still have problems with wardrobe malfunctions.”

“Count me in. If there is anything I can do to revert this, I will.”

“Great, now we need some sort of big space. Most of our powers aren’t the greatest, and, as you said, we will need a bit of privacy for everyone.”

One of the entities that reached out to Cordians after the Hank Baker incident was the Nebraskan Institute of Sciences. After verifying their story the institute was willing to grant them resources to study the effects of floyda concordis on humans. Anyone willing would be able to come to them, as they rented a pretty spacious compound capable of fitting twenty people, as well as enough larger rooms for seven simultaneous trials.

As they entered for the first time, Jennifer whistled. “Welcome to Floyd’s school for gifted Cordians, I guess. This place is so big!”

“Hold on. First, me and Lena are joint leaders of the project. Second, this isn’t some superhero training academy. We are not going vigilante here.”

“Killjoy.”

In the first week of testing, or “training”, as Jennifer insisted, later supported by David, they came upon a new discovery.

“Remember how when I stop something that tries to move I feel hotter after a while?” Lena started. “ It is because I actually take away the kinetic energy from that object or person. And since energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it has to go somewhere. So apparently I absorb it in the form of heat.”

“We talked about it already. What is your point?”

“I tried to grab at the feeling I get when I activate my power on purpose. If I focus, I can… not see, it’s almost like an another sense… I can feel the energy moving to my body. So I started to try to direct it. After a bit of trial and error, I am now able to focus that energy intake into a specific part of my body. But that’s not all! Cameron, grab my hand. Is it hot or cold?”

“Cold.”

“Great. Now, grab it again, same hand.”

“Now it’s warm. So what?”

“I changed the temperature of my hand in the span of a few seconds. What I’m saying is that we can manipulate the energy inside our bodies.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? How do you know if it will work for anyone else?” Jennifer asked.

This time Tadeus spoke up. “Concordis is what gives us the powers, yes? Under the microscope, I could see the microorganisms work alongside my body to fix a cut. They took materials and energy from their surroundings and they proceeded to mend the wound. They were much more effective than normal regeneration, of course. What we think is happening is that somehow the little things are able to transfer energy perfectly, without losses.”

“Lena just said you can’t destroy energy, so what losses?”

“What were you doing when they taught physics in your class? Every time energy is transferred, not all of it is transferred into the same type. When you turn on a lightbulb, only a part of electricity is turned into light. A huge portion of it is wasted in the form of heat. But concordis is able to transfer it perfectly. One Joule in, one Joule out. Perfect efficiency.” He explained.

“And since it is the same thing in everyone, everyone has access to this. Try to focus on your power, it always involves some sort of energy transfer. Though all of you create organic matter in one way or another, so the energy would be going out, not in.”

The next three days were spent experimenting with the energy control. Since it required using their powers, Jennifer locked herself in her room. Tadeus still felt uneasy with the idea of self harm, so Cameron decided to force the issue and shot him with a spike.

All three of them soon grasped what Lena taught them. Tadeus realized he could “instruct” his body to slightly change its shape, which meant he could solve the issue of the lack of muscle growth. He now willed his muscles into shape, though he couldn’t alter his appearance in any significant way. Jennifer could now direct the mass making her duplicate to grow from a specific part of her body, instead of splitting off from her entirety, destroying any garments in the process. Cameron learned to redirect the calcium from his horns towards his hand, making the spikes regrow faster while halting the growth of his horns. Unfortunately, it took conscious effort to do so, so his horns still grew during his sleep, albeit much slower.

All in all, the Cordians were happy with the progress so far, and were ready to meet anyone else who might want to join them in the facility.