“Where do you guys need me?” I ask, doing my best to trust that they’ll know what we need to do better than me.

  With Asher doing his best to figure out where they were running too, hopefully Travis can hear me and will answer.

  “Man, I suck,” Amelia complains. “I’m too distracted dealing with a pileup to come up with a dumb comment.”

  “You need Mask in your life?” Cass offers, not helping. “Could you head west? There hasn’t been anything going on over there, but everyone’s more or less scattered the moment we show up, so just running around will be good.”

  I give a nod in affirmation before realizing that none of them can see me, rendering the action entirely moot.

  “One day I'm going to figure out how to fly.” I complain as I scale the building so I can get some height.

  “At least you think you'll be able to fly,” Travis points out unhelpfully. “Some of us are going to be stuck on the ground for our entire lives.”

  “Says the person who can jog around at mach fuck. I want to fly, teleport or run around at mach fuck one of the three.” Amelia points out.

  “What is the actual speed of mach that?” Cass asks.

  “Mmmmmm, no clue. But slower than mach whatever I please.”

  “Is this really what we’re talking about as we try to rescue people?” I ask, wondering if it is alright for me to engage in conversation or if I should try to be the bastion of being on the ball and all that.

  “It’s more productive than most teams.” Travis points out. “We’re just human. And we’ve all split up to fight our own things, so not like we need to put much effort into coordinating everything.”

  “Fair.”

  “So, Cannonball and Smoulder, after tonight you want to join me and can’t pick a name mgee over here in being this city’s newest batch of superheroes. Imagine we can be the opposites team. Fire and Ice. Speed and Measured.” Amelia says, spouting her nonsense.

  “I was going to ask afterwards anyway.” Cass says, her voice sounding slightly warped. “But I’m trying to concentrate, so if I don’t respond, I’m sorry.” She says, her voice warping even farther as she does who knows what.

  Probably actual hero work if I had to hazard a guess.

  As I’m bouncing off rooftops, I try to see if there’s anything off in my awareness.

  “Any luck finding them, Miracle?” I ask quietly, not feeling any large groups moving underground or on the streets.

  As I’m now moving in a different direction than them, it’s not surprising, but it would have been glorious if they had changed direction to lose me only for us to stumble across each other.

  “No, though I’m instead narrowing down places I’m aware of that they could be moving to instead since finding where they will be going would be almost as good and hopefully easier.” Asher says.

  “You know, as long as they don’t have another secret compound none of us are aware of but what are the odds of that?” Amelia offers, and whether she’s trying to curse us or offer moral support I really don’t know.

  “Fractal?” Travis asks gently.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re not funny.”

  “Forsooth! How dare you question my hilarity! I will retort posthaste! As soon as I’m done dealing with this,” Amelia says before quieting as she goes to deal with whatever challenge she’s currently off fighting.

  “Still nothing to report.” I relay as I continue running around. Now that I’m in the general area Asher wanted me to go to, I switch from going in a straight line to a snake-like pattern. “I’m dealing with bupkis.”

  “I’m fighting a short-range teleporter. Do you want to trade?” Travis asks in a voice that might even be hopeful.

  “Uh, no capacity to deal with that.”

  “I’m helping people evacuate still.” Cass says also not wanting to fight a teleporter.

  Travis grumbles about the ridiculous stereotype of always pairing the speedster to fight teleporters, but I really don’t know what other power set is meant to fight someone who can teleport besides someone who’s fast enough to keep up.

  The crack of gunfire fills the air not too far from me, and I relay to the team that I’m going off to see what’s going on as I dial back my senses so that the details clear up.

  It’s a man in a house shooting something.

  Several other people in the house and I don’t know who is shooting what.

  Pushing off hard, I close the distance quickly, though I do my best to control my strength so that I don’t harm anyone’s roof before I drop through the building standing between the gunman and everyone else.

  The room is dark, so my eyes can’t make anything out really, but it doesn’t take me long to disarm the gunman and begin sorting out what’s going on.

  Large man that absolutely reeks of alcohol with a gun and a woman and children huddled together, the woman clutching her leg in obvious pain.

  Grabbing the drunkard with a single hand, I nearly throw him out of the house before attending to the injured woman.

  “Miracle gunshot to the leg, should I just take her to the hospital, call 9-1-1, or what?” I ask quietly, keeping my voice low; they don’t need to hear me ask questions like that.

  The kids look at me, and I force myself to smile. They can’t see my face, but they might hear my expression. “It’s going to be alright; that’s what I’m here for.”

  As Asher walks me through the steps of first aid and he pings someone to come and swing by, I keep talking with the kids.

  Once another adult is here, I cast my awareness far and wide, looking for something going on, and I come across what looks to be a train going down the street a couple blocks over.

  Why a train is going down a suburban street is beyond me, though that it’s floating a good foot or two off the ground could be what’s letting it move where the driver pleases.

  Though from this distance the shape feels more similar to a toy train than a normal one.

  If I have to fight someone who can gigantify toy trains, I’m going to be amused about the entire situation.

  Without ?much time, I run around until I’m on the street where the flying train is currently floating along.

  “So, would you guys like to explain why you’re driving a train through the city?” I ask stepping in front of the train and holding a hand up.

  To my absolute shock, the train actually pulls to a stop and settles to the ground, settling with a creaking groan as a duo steps out of the train.

  Now that I can actually see it I’m even more so convinced that the train is in fact a blown-up toy train, with the classic blue and red color scheme, and now that I’m closer I can tell that the interior is off. And there’s not an engine or anywhere for them to actually be around to drive the car. And I’m pretty sure that those wheels are locked in place, unable to spin.

  “Well, we wanted to see if we could use our powers together.” One of them says shyly. “And it’s always been my dream to drive a train, but we don’t want to steal one; that’s not right.” He says. “But my brother here can make things bigger, and I can make things move.”

  “Nothing illegal going on or malicious?”

  The brother who can make things bigger shuffles awkwardly. “If we’re not supposed to drive a train down the street, could you let us go with a warning? Please, we didn’t hurt anyone, promise!”

  “You guys are just supers who happened to go out tonight of all nights?” I ask, rubbing the back of my head, trying to figure out how to handle this situation.

  “Promise we were just trying to try it on our weekend where we didn’t have any school or work tomorrow so that we could adventure.” The older one says, and I decide to trust them.

  Worst-case scenario, I have to fight them again, but between someone who can make toys bigger and another guy who can make them float, I’m not entirely fussed that I’ll have to figure it out.

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  “You guys did nothing wrong, I promise.” I say with a nod. “But with some of the stuff going on tonight, would you be willing to drive out of the city?”

  The two share a look. “Is there something wrong going on, Mr hero sir?”

  “We can help!” The younger one says, jumping up. “We can’t fight like you can, but with our train we could help you move people if you need help?”

  The older one looks at their brother, I think. “Ma is going to be worried if we try to help the heroes. We already snuck out to do this anyway!”

  “Are you two just high schoolers?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. It would be one thing for me to drag willing adults into this, even if it would be really poor decision-making process on their parts to participate.

  “Who are you even talking to?” Amelia asks, having paid enough attention to my half of the conversation to be wondering what’s going on.

  The two share another glance before giving me a nod.

  “No, we don’t need your help. Just trust me and my other hero friends. Just stay safe. Be that going home or flying around, just do it outside the city so you don’t scare anyone else?” I ask, keeping my voice gentle.

  The two seem to agree and from the conversation that I overhear it sounds like they are heading home having decided that the little bit of driving around they have done and talking to a real life superhero (their word’s not mine) is enough excitement and they fly off moving faster than they were before.

  Now that they’re gone, Amelia is very excited for me to actually answer the question.

  “I was talking to what I think is a pair of siblings with super powers.” I say, trying to figure out where I’m best needed next.

  “Are they going to help us?” Cass asks.

  “Teenagers, so I sent them home.” I say, picking a direction and running.

  “We don’t want them around anyway.” Travis agrees. “But damn if it wouldn’t be nice to get some help. Though probably not for much longer.”

  Running as fast as I can, I push myself to the limit, going from problem to problem, none of them nearly as polite to deal with as the pair of siblings earlier.

  Strangely enough, I’m not dealing with any supers.

  “I have a dangerous question for you all.” Amelia asks, and I can already feel a headache beginning to form. Nobody in their right mind uses a lead-up like that without this going to be going in the most insane direction ever.

  “Hit me.” Cass says, and I say a silent prayer to whoever is above that this question doesn’t absolutely spiral out of control.

  “What is the appropriate amount of workplace flirting for using superhero comms while on patrol?” Amelia asks, stupid grin most certainly attached to her face.

  “Do we have to do this now?” I ask as I arc through the air, landing on the ground gently enough.

  “Yes, we do. When else am I going to have an entirely captive audience who can answer my question with vested interest?” Amelia accuses.

  “Well, I don’t know, I guess as long as nobody is uncomfortable?” Cass starts out, her voice faltering as she stumbles through her words.

  “Would you be uncomfortable if I flirted with you?” Amelia asks instantly.

  Before that train can leave the station, Travis speaks up. “Unless you guys are working together to fight something, most teams I’ve been on chat about whatever. Whatever you need to be calm and effective in the field, just make sure people don’t hear you.” He says. “Don’t flirt with me.”

  “Don’t worry about it; you're not my type.” Amelia assures him. “Your hair isn’t fluffy.”

  The stark silence over the comms is almost enough to make me laugh. Asher playing cricket sound effects is enough to get everyone laughing.

  “Are you guys still dealing with supers or has it been mostly normal people at this point?” I ask, cutting through the laughter, to voice my theory.

  “Uhhhhh, no idea.” Amelia says not surprising me at all. “The last person I remember fighting is Kurt.”

  “The person you fought several fights ago?” Asher points out.

  “They’re all the same. I can’t remember anything.” Amelia admits.

  “It’s been fifteen minutes since I dealt with someone with super powers.” Travis relays.

  “I’m not sure how long it’s been, but I haven’t had to deal with anyone recently either.” Cass tags on.

  “For those of you who fought supers who decided to retreat, what direction did they go in if you have any clue?” I ask already running back to where their lab was and more importantly in the direction they had been retreating from.

  “Are you thinking that…” Asher trails off. The sound of his keyboard picking up from his mic for a moment before cutting off.

  “All the people that tried to get away from me all were retreating north-northeast.” Travis says not confirming my suspicions at all because I really have no internal compass despite having the city memorized.

  “Is that the direction that the lab folk were running to as well?” I ask, deciding that Asher is a much easier tool than me trying to pull out my phone.

  “Yeah,” Asher says, sounding irritated.

  “Alright, team, wrap up what you’re doing and meet up with me. We’ll try to come up with a proper strategy.”

  “Aye aye, Captain!” Amelia says before loudly shouting at whatever graffiti artist she’s dealing with to drop the can or she’s going to turn them into a modern art piece.

  “I just tied up things here. I’m going to make sure that people are being processed properly.” Travis relays though as he’s the one with an actual travel-based ability. I’m not super fussed about his being a little bit late to the rendezvous.

  If I could run around breaking the sound barrier, I also would not be super fussed about doing one more thing before getting going.

  If I had super speed, I would constantly be late.

  “I’m already in the area, so do you want me to come to you Mask, and then get back to where I am?” Cass asks awkwardly.

  “Man, wouldn’t it be nice if we knew where people were somehow.” I complain good-naturedly. From Asher’s grumbling, my plan worked well enough. “Smoulder, we will meet up with you instead. Just find somewhere that overlooks the area until Miracle gives you a prospective location on where everyone could be congregating.”

  Asher’s complaints get louder, but I tune them out as I run towards the address Cass gave me.

  I don’t need to stop anything on the way, but I internally try to calibrate myself for whatever inevitable fight that’s about to break out.

  The street chills as an amazon on a surfboard made of ice glides next to me, just ever so slightly in front, so Amelia can taunt her speed superiority.

  “So what’s the rub? Do we think we actually got betrayed or that there’s something else going on?” Amelia asks as she glides around. The odd part is that I didn’t hear her through the communicator.

  I phase my helmet since I don’t know how to turn my communicator off normally. “I’m guessing pretty good odds, but I can’t say for sure.” I admit while trying to run faster.

  Amelia giggles as she spurs her powers on, pulling farther ahead of me.

  “I don’t think we were betrayed with a capital B, but we may have been betrayed with a lowercase b for what it’s worth.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “You do realize that I’m always just going to be faster than you, and we could go much faster if you say the magic words.” Amelia taunts instead of explaining.

  “Fractal, could you please do me a favor and let me ride on your snowboard?”

  Amelia slows down just long enough for me to get on and wrap a hand around her before she speeds up, rocketing down the street.

  As the world whips by, I realize that whatever we’re talking about is now on a substantially shorter time limit.

  “You were saying?”

  “I don’t think anyone at the meeting betrayed us. I’ve been thinking about it.” Amelia explains taking a hairpin turn, forcing me to use enhanced strength to remain hanging on to her. “Their response was a little bit too good. Even if they have had a bug-out plan since the start. So I think someone’s underling leaked info.”

  “Huh,” I say, mulling it over. When spun out like that, it makes a little bit of sense. “That’s why you think they flubbed up some portions despite overall seeming ready for this?”

  “Yup, but I trust you since our only underling is Bianca, and she doesn’t talk, so you couldn’t have leaked it. Though we both know who has underlings.” Amelia says, ending her statement in a whisper as we skid to a stop in front of our meeting location.

  A small warehouse, away from the water treatment plant. Eyeballing the distance, it’s going to be rough for my scouting; the detail will not be great.

  “You two want help up?” Smoulder asks, her head poking out from the roof of the building.

  I’m glad that I don’t have to see her impersonating me. That was weird.

  “Nah, we got it.”

  I quickly climb up to the top of the roof and sit down, breathing slowly to prepare myself for this next part.

  In the background, I can hear Amelia and Travis talking about something, the speedster having arrived just moments after myself and Amelia did.

  Once the whole team is perched on the roof, though I’m not sure exactly how Travis got up here unless he just jumped up, but that’s not a huge deal. I need to focus on scouting the ability with my powers.

  Pushing the boundary of what I can sense detail wise, I meticulously sweep the rooms of the former water treatment plant trying to see if there’s a secret supervillain lab down there.

  For an abandoned location, there’s a lot of people, which makes me hope we are in the right place or that we are playing a cup game and we lost.

  Though even if it’s a cup game we lose, I don’t think that’s right. There’s a lot of people in there. Several things I’m feeling make me think they’re supers too.

  Yeah, they can make more, but there’s a limit to that, right?

  “So we’re going to have a big dramatic boss fight now, right?” Amelia asks, putting a hand on my shoulder.

  “We could always be wrong, and this isn’t where a bunch of people are retreating to?” Cass offers.

  “The lab could be here. Though there’s nothing screaming evil scientist medical equipment to me though they left most of that at the lab.” I point out having finished figuring out everything going on in the buildings in front of us. “Though there’s a large concentration of people in there, so I’m guessing it’s going to be a big dramatic boss fight.”

  “How sure are you?”

  Dialing up the detail of my senses, I can tell multiple people there aren’t exactly normal person shaped.

  “Absolutely positive.”

  “Well, team, do we want to do this quiet and sneaky? The absolutely lame and boring option. Or we could go with the rad and kickass option that I really want to do.” Amelia says cheerily. “Oh wait, I guess the other option would be the loud and vibrant option. Probably not fast. Mask is acting like there’s a ton of people in there.”

  “Who there exactly is stealthy?” Asher asks incredulously.

  “I’m a big fan of barbarian stealth. If I knock everyone out, there can’t be witnesses. Therefore, that means I was very stealthy last time I checked,” Amelia snarks back. “But yeah, we don’t exactly have a great way to do that otherwise.”

  I glance at Cass and Travis before glancing towards Amelia and finally back at the building just a couple hundred feet away from us.

  I’m not sure what the right call is.

  “We go loud and fast. Cannonball go through the front door. Fractal Smoulder, can you two both drop in through the ceiling at the same time?” I ask, hoping they’ll go along with my plan.

  “Oh, and what are you going to be doing while I get the fun stuff?” Amelia asks laughing.

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