Pinn looked up from his mostly-empty plate as Sami stumbled in through the door, rushing up to his table. Pinn almost brought himself to a stand, ready to go into action for the kid. Sami panted a few times, then pointed to a water cup on the table with his Shadow Hand. Pinn nodded, quickly raising the cup to offer it to Sami. Taking it with his phantom hand, he swallowed it in three gulps. He wiped the back of his mouth with the Shadow Hand then looked at Pinn seriously.

  “I need your name. Quick!” he said urgently, palms firmly on the table.

  “Why?” Pinn asked, rising to his feet and flexing in anticipation.

  “Quick!” Sami insisted.

  Pinn said nothing and Sami shook the table with his hands. Patiently, Pinn waited for an explanation until Sami sighed and drooped his head over.

  “No reason, I was just trying to spook it out of you,” he admitted.

  Exhaling lightly in amusement and relief, Pinn lowered himself back into his chair.

  “Buy you breakfast?”

  “Not today. I have a meeting with Apex, I gotta run.”

  “Already up at the top of HUE?” Pinn asked facetiously.

  “No, but I think they’re gonna lecture me already. I had an interview with some outlet and told them they were a waste of time,” Sami said, unashamed.

  Pinn smirked, pulling out his phone to look up the interview, curious if Sami even had the capacity to be rude.

  “Hey, what do you do all day after breakfast? Do you just mope about how you used to be…” Sami closed his mouth as another patron walked by. Pinn appreciated the discretion.

  “No.”

  “Then what do you do?”

  Pinn said nothing. Grinning, Sami checked the time on his phone. Then, with a hint of consternation on his face, he seemed interested in some information on screen. Raising his eyebrows to himself, Sami turned off the phone screen and glanced at Pinn, a curious smile on his face.

  “You win this time, but I’ll crack you next time.”

  “Next time,” Pinn agreed.

  Saluting, Sami burst out the door, rushing out as urgently as he ran in. Circling the sliced strawberry with his fork, Pinn browsed local news outlets. He wondered whether Sami would be let go for something like souring their relationship with a news station. How fragile was the HUE brand? It certainly wasn’t looked at kindly by the city, with many laws being enacted to keep them out of regular disturbances. Taking a glance away from his phone, he savored the last bit of strawberry.

  “Was that Sami?” Kelly asked.

  Pinn jumped in his seat, having not noticed her walk up to his table. Keeping his head low over his phone, his face slowly colored itself a beet red.

  “Yeah,” he managed to mumble. “But he was busy today. HUE things, so no time to ask if you added crepes to the menu. He’ll be back next time, hopefully.”

  “Hopefully?” Kelly asked, a smirk on her face. “I didn’t know you looked forward to anyone’s company.”

  Pinn kept his gaze down, quiet but smiling slightly. Reaching for his wallet, he handed Kelly cash for his meal with a tip. He didn’t need the bill to know his tab. Kelly graciously accepted the money and gave him one last smile.

  “Need anything else before you head out? Where are you headed, if you don’t mind me asking?” she asked. Pinn didn’t answer, and she moved smoothly to the next topic. “Coffee to go? It’ll be on the house. I know how tired we get when we’re this old.”

  “Thirties aren’t old,” he grumbled softly.

  “What was that?”

  “I volunteer,” he blurted, embarrassed. “At the homeless shelter. I help serve lunch.”

  “Wow, that’s very kind of you. If you ever need extra food for them, let me know and I can put in a word with the owner.”

  “Will do, thank you.” Pinn got up and headed to the door with barely a glance up to meet her always smiling face.

  Pinn took the usual route to the homeless shelter in the Hammerton Central district. It was only a couple blocks down from the diner, which was the reason he frequented it. Well, one of the reasons.

  He arrived and headed to the back where they would be serving pizza, as always. A line was already forming, so he quickened his steps to aid in the set up. Respectfully, he gave nods to the regulars who waved to him and smiled. With a cursory glance, he scanned them for a familiar face from years past, but there was just no locating him.

  Inside, Pinn saw Quinton was already on-site, opening the last table legs to hold the paper plates next to him. Quinton’s young, lanky form etched his past as a long-distance runner throughout highschool who took care of himself since graduation.

  In the past, they would have gotten donations from a local pizza parlor to help supply their operations, but Quinton had Awakened a little less than a year ago and had gained the ability to manipulate any foodstuff into pizza. A pretty niche power, but one that served the homeless well. Pinn felt an honor to serve food beside someone that used their power so well. The Lightcrown he wished he could have been.

  “Hey, Pinn!” Quinton called out. He seemed in high spirits today.

  “Hi, Quinton,” Pinn replied, cringing. He didn’t like his name being called out, but respected Quinton too much to correct him. “Ready to go?”

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  “Always! I’ve been practicing with my ability in my spare time, and I think I’ve made a breakthrough!”

  “A breakthrough? Like what? Can you finally make stuffed crust?” Pinn asked, somewhat sarcastically.

  “Much better than that! Let me show you!” Quinton looked around excitedly, eyes lingering on a dozen different objects. Excitedly, he pointed to the stack of paper plates. “That’ll work. Grab me one of those.”

  Pinn went to grab one, but before he could give it to Quinton, one patron mistook them for having started the feed line. The entire procession took a few steps forward, breakfast having begun by silent agreement.

  “Can I have vegetarian?” an older, brittle woman asked. Quinton shrugged his shoulders at Pinn. He’d have to show off afterwards. Pinn opened up a bag of uncooked rice, took out a scoop, and poured it into the plate before handing it over to Quinton.

  Nodding kindly to the old woman, Quinton raised the plate to his eye level. Narrowing his vision, the rice on the plate leaped and spun like a galaxy before merging, landing as two slices of vegetarian pizza. Pinn watched closely, impressed by how little Quinton seemed to be affected, energy-wise. On his first day, he almost passed out after a request with a single topping. Now, it didn’t phase him in the slightest.

  “Bless you for helping us with your gifts,” she said sweetly, stepping away from the counter. Pinn smiled after her; her kind words reminded him of his mother.

  “I want cheese. Just cheese. None o’ that extra stuff on top. I used to get just cheese, me an’ my ol’ man, every Sunday when we went to the plaza on Seventh Street. You know the one?” Talkative Tom asked. Quinton smiled and offered him his slices. “I tell ya, nothin’ has been as good as the pizza from Seventh Street. Woulda kept going, but Lightcrown went and blew the whole thing up. Indus hasn’t recovered since. Why I remember a time..." he continued talking, carrying on his story to someone else as he walked out of line. Lowering his head a bit in shame, Pinn wondered how he never missed a beat. And if he would ever stop hearing about Lightcrown’s failures.

  “I’ll take whatever you want to make with your unnatural powers,” Donald said sharply.

  “Donald,” Pinn said. “Don’t be rude. Quinton doesn’t have to do this, you know? He does it for free.”

  “Yeah, but it ain’t right,” Donald continued.

  “Free food to the hungry ain’t right?” Pinn repeated flatly.

  “I’m telling you, something is up with this town! Something in the air, water, or food supply! Jet streams might be fake elsewhere, but I’m starting to wonder about us. Why we got all these Awakened folk poppin’ up outta nowhere? And how come they are just about all from Hammerton? Even Lightcrown started here, curse his soul. Ever heard of an Awakened outside our city, hmmm?”

  Pinn raised an eyebrow. He had long left his pride behind regarding Lightcrown being cursed and took no offense, but Donald gave him pause about where people would Awaken. The emergence of other Awakened individuals, besides himself, was a recent phenomenon of about one to two years, but he never questioned their localized distribution. It was just a fact that Hammerton came with Awakenings. No one could find answers as to why. Even he, the first Awakened, was raised in Hammerton.

  Quinton graciously handed Donald a larger-than-average slice of his favorite chicken and hawaiian pineapple pizza.

  Donald eyed it for an extra second before acquiescing.

  “Pineapple on pizza? This is the only unnatural thing I’ll accept out of this whole situation. I just… Nevermind. Thank you kindly, boys,” he mumbled as he walked off.

  “Chicken is new. Is that what you wanted to show me?” Pinn asked. “Have you been able to make new types of pizza too? Deep dish, maybe?”

  “No, it still has to have tomato sauce and it can only have toppings if it’s a common topping. Last week I tried to make lobster on pizza and it wouldn’t happen. But olives? I don’t even have to think about it. But that’s not what I wanted to show you, it’s way cooler. Oh, hold on, let me help this guy first.”

  The next young man that approached them looked at Quinton with awe behind a set of black goggles. Scanning up and down, he studied Quinton with fascination as he stepped in front of the plastic serving table. He had his larger, taller friend next to him, also with dark goggles, who nodded and pulled out a baseball bat. Interesting apparel was nothing new in the shelter. Weapons were common for people without homes in a world of Awakened. No one gave them a second glance.

  Except Pinn, who could smell a sinister stink on them.

  “We’ll take you,” the smaller one said.

  With a spin of his hands, a small energy cannon appeared in his grasp and he fired in the air. Screams filled the room and bits of ceiling rained down over Pinn, Quinton and the two newcomers.

  Both Pinn and Quinton stood in shock, but neither flinched. Where had the goggled man acquired something as rare as a gun? Was it legally distinct enough from a gun to not count? Or was the gun a part of a natural Awakening?

  The shelter employees went around making sure all the homeless hit the deck and then followed suit. The civilians were on the ground except for Talkative Tom, who was berating the two assailants, standing tall.

  “I can't believe you would choose to use this wonderful mornin’ on an escapade like this when you could be out havin’ a blast with your ol’ man out at a plaza or someplace, but you chose to try an’ rob a buncha homeless people of their provider ‘cause you aren’—"

  “Shut up, gramps!” the man with the bat screamed, turning toward him. Tom grumbled to himself but didn't continue.

  “We just want the infinite food for our group, alright Pizza Man?” the man with the energy gun announced. Threateningly, it shined red. “We aren't gonna hurt you or any one of the old folk, so long as you come quietly.”

  To Pinn’s annoyance, he seemed to glance towards Pinn as he said the words “old folks.”

  Pinn quickly assessed his options. There were too many witnesses to do anything too overt with his powers. But he had to do something. His mother would never forgive him. Maybe more importantly, he would never forgive himself.

  Meanwhile, Quinton glared at the two thugs, a fire in his eyes. Pinn made to step forward, but Quinton raised his hands and slowly stepped out from behind the table.

  Tom was quick to protest. “You don't have to listen to these hooligans cause they think they’re tough with their weapons, why I'm sure we could jump them ourselves and take them down without even breaking—”

  “I said, shut up gramps! One more comment and I knock out this wonderful old lady,” the man with the bat said. The bat extended three feet and rested under the chin of the old woman closest to him.

  Tom clamped his mouth shut, staring daggers into him.

  “I’ll be fine,” Quinton told Pinn and the others.

  The confidence impressed Pinn, even if he agreed. He wouldn’t let them get anywhere with Quinton, and he might be able to act more discreetly outside the shelter.

  The kidnappers guided Quinton outside to a van that waited just beyond the door, engine running. Swinging his energy weapon around the civilians, the man with the gun signaled for Quinton to get inside quickly. Rushing in, the larger man with the bat jumped in the car and hit the gas while the man with the gun kept it trained on Quinton.

  Pinn looked around to ensure everyone was safe. Mind racing, he tried to think of an excuse as to why he would abandon the old folk when they were so scared.

  “Well, what are you waiting for? After them!” Tom pointed with a frail, confident arm.

  Determination on his face, Pinn nodded to him. Tom may talk a lot, but at least he knew to say the right things.

  Bolting out the door, Pinn grit his teeth as he had to run at a normal speed, at least until he had turned a corner. He had already Memorized the make and license plate of the car. In a worst-case scenario, he could report the car to the police. Though, Pinn realized that once the police heard Awakened were involved, they’d probably take longer to send someone in since HUE and others weren’t on their payroll. Pinn would have to resolve this himself if he didn’t want to delay and make sure Quinton wasn’t tucked away in some cell to make pizza indefinitely.

  The van screeched and snapped around the first turn, away from the shelter. Pinn pushed himself to reach the corner, then blasted off, running fifty miles an hour as glass shattered around him.