“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Lauren and Reagan said the words almost at the same time as they made eye contact.

  Lauren was still reeling from being assigned as a team leader. She wandered over to group D, only snapping out of it when she saw her least-favorite classmate glaring at her.

  Reagan stood there in a black bodysuit with yellow highlighting. Light, flexible armor panels were woven seamlessly into her outfit’s design. Her two combat sticks hung on her back, and a utility belt bristling with gadgets was secured tightly around her waist. Her face, which was locked in a grimace, was only covered by a black eye mask which made her eyes uniformly white.

  Lauren looked at the rest of her supposed team. Also standing there watching her was Mary the automaton girl, in a dark dress with sleeves and a sparkling, theatrical mask over her ivory face; Megumi, in a dull-silver padded suit studded with metal cells on her shoulders and upper arms; and Lauren’s elusive roommate, Harper.

  Despite living with Harper, this was the first time Lauren had seen her in costume. She wore a lavender-white robe that descended in several layers from her shoulders, each edged in pure black. The fabric covered her legs and arms and ended at a loop at the base of each middle finger. A hood covered her head, and underneath was a black fabric mask that covered three-quarters of her face in a crescent shape, leaving only her right eye uncovered. A white cape with a black interior covered the back of her cloak.

  Lauren stood with her team, who each looked at her with expressions ranging from anger to indifference to slight enthusiasm. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. Leadership was a foreign concept.

  Coach Dixon spoke over everyone.

  “These are your teams! These are your team leaders. Team members, you are expected to follow your leaders. Team leaders, you are expected to not get your classmates killed. Patrols begin tonight. Before we go over communication, routes, and territories, all the nitty-gritty, each of you introduce your identities to each other. If you want a team name, pick it now.”

  The five girls stared at each other.

  “Fine. I’ll start,” Reagan said, stepping forward. “Reagan Holloway. Codename: Demiguard.”

  Megumi rolled her eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Reagan bristled. “If you’ve got something better, why don’t you go next?”

  Megumi sighed, reporting boredly: “Megumi Anzai. Codename: Amp.”

  “Uninspired,” Reagan growled immediately.

  Lauren was getting a sinking feeling in her gut. She looked at the other teams talking in their own circles. They were happily sharing names, showing off their costumes, bouncing ideas off each other. It felt like some kind of joke that Lauren of all people was put in charge of a caustic punk, an overwound normal, a quiet loner, and a waifish robot. This was going to be a disaster, the least of all because Lauren had no idea how to manage any sort of team.

  She looked at the headmaster, who was watching each group interact. When she had said Lauren would “enjoy the challenge,” this wasn’t what she was expecting at all. The headmaster made eye contact with her, her face passive.

  Reagan and Megumi quelled enough to move on. Mary stepped forward, her eyes on the floor.

  “Um, I’m Mary. I don’t really have a last name. My full name is Marionette, actually. So that’s going to be my hero name. I hope that’s okay.”

  She stepped back. Heads turned to Harper, next in line.

  “Harper,” she said softly. Never one to waste words. “Codename: Miss Eclipse.”

  “That’s a cool name,” Megumi admitted.

  “Well, dear leader?” Reagan said sarcastically. Lauren could feel the resentment of not being the team leader fuming off her. “Care to bring us out?”

  Lauren looked down at her costume underneath her jacket, and thought about earlier, when her and Lucy sat on Lauren’s bed together and brainstormed a list of names together.

  “The Hedgehog!” Lucy suggested. “Cause you’re spiky?”

  She took Lauren’s silence as a no.

  “Hmm… Bone… Queen? No, that’s terrible… well you can heal fast… Unkillable… or…Adapter? Something with adaptation…?”

  They hadn’t reached a conclusion before Lauren got tired of thinking about it. Nothing felt right. The problem was, Lauren still didn’t feel anywhere close to becoming a superhero. She wasn’t like these other kids. She wasn’t born with her powers. She hadn’t trained with them. They had been forced into her. She equated having powers with being in pain.

  She thought about that day they had put the thing in her that changed her. She lay there on the floor of her cell, chest heaving, vision going in and out, feeling the thing use her inner body as a jungle gym. She spasmed and drooled helplessly. Rachel was somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t see her. All she could sense was the voice of Dr. Smythe with one of her technicians.

  “Subject is taking to its new biomass well.”

  Biomass. That’s what she had been to the people that made her this way. It was the only name for her condition that felt like it fit. If she had to pick a name to go by, she’d want it to be that one when she had Dr. Smythe impaled on the end of her claws.

  “Lauren Boone. Codename: Biomass.”

  Six hours later, after some quick patrol lessons and goodbyes to her friends, Lauren was perched on top of one of the tallest buildings in Pacific City’s oldtown. Not that that was saying much. To the South, in the near distance, the monoliths of downtown loomed, lights still on in many of the windows in the dark night. Downhill to the north was Duchess, the wealthy beachfront district. Part of the curriculum of hero class was memorizing Pacific City. The districts, the landmarks, even a map of the streets. That last part was a pipe dream.

  Lauren figured pretty quickly that her ragtag team of misfits was being kept out of the action deliberately. Oldtown was dead at night. Just a collection of low brick buildings that held things like bank headquarters and loft apartments and bars. Maybe they’d break up a street fight tonight for their first mission.

  What was the point in going out if they were going to be on standby the whole time? In their ear-communicators, given to them on campus, Lauren listened as anonymous BASTION personnel handed out tips to the other teams. Suspicious activity at the ports. Bank robbery in Thay Hill. Gang fighting in the International District. Other teams reported in as the night went on. Lauren had to listen to Grace’s renewed cockiness as she swooped in and stopped a pair of carjackers.

  If this was all superheroing turned out to be, sitting around waiting for her turn to beat up some poor person, Lauren was going to go crazy. She needed to start digging into the criminal underbelly of the city. Find someone, anyone, who might know something on Dr. Smythe. She couldn’t even sneak out to do her own investigating without dragging four other teens questioning her every move for various reasons.

  Reagan, or Demiguard, was currently the only one sharing the rooftop with Lauren. She sat on the furthest corner with her back to Lauren, brooding over the city. Or attempting to brood over the city, given that the street was only six stories below.

  Miss Eclipse and Marionette were off scouting, with Lauren’s leave. Harper traversed rooftops by melting between shadows, while Marionette shot out lines of corded metal from her body and reeled herself between buildings. Lauren caught occasional glimpses of them on the surrounding rooftops. Megumi was somewhere too, probably smoking a cigarette in an alley.

  “This is stupid,” Reagan said.

  Lauren was surprised she broke the silence. She figured Reagan would go the whole patrol without directly speaking to her.

  “My leadership?” Lauren guessed.

  Reagan stood, a black silhouette against the ambient light of the city.

  “No. Sending us out already.”

  Another surprise. Reagan of all people seemed eager to hurt something.

  “How do you figure?” Lauren asked. She still didn’t like the girl, but if they were stuck together having an actual conversation seemed better than the two of them sniping at each other all night.

  Reagan stalked across the roof. “Most of us are still woefully untrained. We haven’t learned how to move and fight as teams. So far we’re relying on overwhelming numbers and powers to get by. What happens if an actual supervillain acts tonight?”

  “We do the best we can,” Lauren said evenly. A supervillain was what she was hoping for. Not across town, but right here. Something to get started with.

  “We aren’t ready to be out here,” Reagan maintained.

  “So we just let people fend for themselves?” Lauren snapped. Her mind was on the Mara’s of the city, the overlooked youths like her and Rachel had been in Callis. Working for BASTION was still bunk to her, but helping people like herself while working on her own business was something she could see herself doing. Reagan’s whole worldview was hard to pin down. Lauren didn’t believe she didn’t want a chance to prove herself.

  “You don’t get it,” Reagan dismissed. Like she could tell what Lauren was thinking. “None of you get it…”

  “I guess not,” Lauren agreed.

  The rooftop was quiet for a while. A breeze passed through.

  “Why are you here?”

  The two girls asked the question at the exact same time. They both paused, startled by the eeriness of it.

  “I never wanted to be here,” Lauren said before she could stop herself. “I’m still not sure I want to be here.”

  “Then why are you?”

  If Lauren was ever going to drag her team, or any of her classmates into her personal search, she’d need to open up to more of them eventually. Might as well start with the most surly, antagonistic one. So she gave Reagan the brief version of events so far. She recounted her imprisonment flatly. She was getting used to explaining it by now, most of the emotions already wrung out of it.

  Reagan absorbed the story in silence. When it was over she kneeled and inspected a piece of gravel on the roof, maybe to avoid eye contact.

  “Sorry to hear that,” she said stoically.

  Lauren bounced her heel off the side of the condenser she was sitting on. “Uh-huh. Well anyway, that’s why I’m out here.”

  Reagan’s white-covered eyes looked up at her. “If you drag any of the rest of us into your search, I hope you’ll be responsible about it.”

  Lauren glared. “Screw you. I haven’t dragged anyone into anything.”

  Not yet, at least.

  Reagan didn’t take it into another verbal fight.

  “I asked you the same question,” Lauren reminded her. “Why are you here? You know I don’t give a shit about you not having powers. You were just annoying me.”

  “I figured.”

  “So?”

  Reagan sighed, like explaining herself was some terrible burden. She stood. “Look, I owe some people for the life I’ve had. I made a promise. So even though nobody wants me here, I’m here.”

  “Here for…”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Lauren’s words died as her in-ear communicator came to life. An authoritative voice spoke.

  “Team D. You’re being activated.”

  Team D. That was Lauren’s team. Across the roof, Reagan’s mouth opened slightly. She was hearing the message too, as was everyone on patrol.

  “The Nakosha Museum of Natural History seven blocks to the north-east is reporting strange activity. We’re unable to confirm, but it may be supernatural in origin. You’re to scout it out, secure the area, and wait for backup before intervening.”

  Harper walked out of a shadow cast by the roof door.

  “You’re supposed to confirm,” Reagan reminded Lauren.

  Lauren held a finger to the communicator. She didn’t remember if that was necessary to speak or not.

  “Uh, confirmed. Museum to the north-east. We’ll check it out.”

  “Confirmation acknowledged. Teams B and C, you’re closest. Begin making your way to their location…”

  More chatter on the coms ensued. Marionette zipped onto the roof and stood perfectly balanced on the edge. Just when Lauren thought they’d have to go looking for Megumi, she appeared hovering upwards from the side of the building, propelled by wobbling waves of energy under her hands.

  The team gathered on the center of the roof.

  “Alright, well, I guess this is it,” Lauren said. She had no idea how to lead into a mission. They should probably just get going. “Stick close to me. Follow my lead.”

  “We get to fight whatever’s there, right?” Megumi asked with an excited edge in her voice.

  “We’re waiting for backup,” Reagan insisted. She looked to Lauren for confirmation they were all on the same page.

  “We’ll… let’s just get there.” Lauren avoided the question for now.

  They took off from the roof, each of them in their own way. A running start into a jump was enough to get Lauren from one rooftop to another, at least with the ones of near-equal height. Some of them she had to grab onto the sides and climb upwards with her claws. Reagan traveled at a similar pace, using a grappling hook to compensate for her lack of movement abilities. Megumi crossed the roof by building up static, then directing it into bursts that sent her leaping forwards. Mary swung easily on her metal cords, which occasionally sprung from her back or even legs. She really did look like some sort of graceful, oversized puppet on strings. Harper was lost track of for a bit, until Lauren looked upwards and saw her in the sky above. Her cape unfurled, curling at the edges until it formed a disk shape that blotted out part of the moon. Add Harper to the list of fliers.

  They reached their destination in just a few minutes. The Nakosha Museum was a stately, wide building, standing uncrowded on its own block. Banners hanging from the roof in between columns advertised a dinosaur exhibit.

  Team D gathered on the roof across from the museum’s front. The block was quiet. No alarms blared, and there were no signs of break-in. At first, Lauren couldn’t even spot anything out of the ordinary.

  “Look at the windows…” Mary said.

  She was right. What first may have been mistaken for some sort of light display shining outwards from the windows was something else. A weird film covered the glass from inside, shifting and throbbing between deep black and toxic green. Nothing was able to be seen beyond it.

  By the colors, Lauren had a feeling she knew who was causing it.

  “We need to get to the museum roof,” she ordered.

  The five of them split and took their own paths across the street. Lauren and Reagan both descended to street level, then cut across and scaled the side of the building.

  They met up again on the broad roof. Skylights lined the center in rows. Lauren approached one. Like the windows on the sides and front, they were covered in the pulsing green and black film.

  Lauren tried the handle on one of the skylights. She could turn it, but it refused to open outward. It was like the unnatural film was sticking to it and holding it shut. She tried with all of her strength in it, but only succeeded in yanking the handle off. She dropped it.

  “We should wait for backup,” Reagan implored. “Whatever’s in there, it’s filling the entire museum. We were told to wait.”

  Lauren remembered what they were told. She was also almost certain Lilith was inside the museum. It was high time they had a rematch. And Lilith was obviously someone who knew things. Lauren could get her hands on her tonight. Waiting would probably give them better odds, and Lauren still didn’t know exactly what Lilith was capable of. But it might also mean she would get away. They might not have a choice but to wait, if this barrier was impossible to get through.

  “I think I can get us in,” Harper offered quietly. “If we want to.”

  They all looked back at Harper, hunched away in the shadows in her off-white cloak.

  “How?” Lauren asked.

  “I can feel the shadows inside the museum. I can reach them. I can probably pass all of us through them.”

  Everyone looked back at Lauren. Waiting for her decision.

  Lauren clenched her fists. She wasn’t ready to lead anyone into danger. This was something she could handle getting herself into. The others weren’t going to bounce back like she could. She was aware of that. It would be selfish of her to get them hurt. But wasn’t it also their job to handle things like this? Command had said to scout it out. Technically they could scout it better inside the building.

  “I’ll have Harper take me in,” Lauren decided. “The rest of you can wait out here for backup. I’m just going to check things out.”

  “Screw that!” Megumi said. “You don’t get the point of a team, do you? We all go together. I’m not pussying out now.”

  “We stick together,” Mary agreed.

  Lauren looked at each of them. There was no argument spoken. Reagan looked uncertain, but didn’t voice disapproval. She wanted to prove herself.

  “Alright then. We all check it out.”

  A voice entered Lauren’s ear. “Lauren? This is Billy. Team B is five minutes out. You holding things down?”

  Lauren pressed her ear. “There’s some kind of barrier around the museum. We’re gonna enter and make sure no one escapes.”

  “Huh? No! We’re almost there. Wait for us and we’ll handle it together.”

  Lauren ignored him. “You sure you’re all with this? Say it and we’ll all wait for the others.”

  “And let the golden kids steal all the glory?” Megumi snorted. “Let’s show them us outcast girls can get the first win.”

  Harper led them over to where a roof exit created a pool of shadow and had them all gather low to the ground.

  “This should only take a moment.”

  Lauren’s stomach plunged as the solid roof gave way and became more like quicksand, pooling around her legs. She was swallowed into syrupy blackness, a look of fear mirrored on the other girls’ faces. There was no turning back now as the inkiness rose to swirl around her chest, then face.

  Then there was a pure void of nothingness. Weightlessness. Eyes open or closed, it made no difference. There was only black.

  Lauren gasped as the void broke, and she deposited onto a cold marble floor. No idea which direction she had come from. Harper was the only one to come out of the shadow on her feet. The rest of them were sprawled like babies.

  They picked themselves up. The five of them had landed in a dark hallway. Entryways led into different exhibits. On one end of the hallway a window, covered in the other side of the supernatural barrier, and the other end looked to lead out into an open main space.

  “Start there?” Reagan suggested.

  They jogged down the hallway. Towards the end of it, Lauren signaled for her team to hang back. She crept forwards and peeked around the corner.

  The hallway they had entered into came out somewhere between the museum’s entrance and main area. Shadowy, spiny dinosaur skeletons filled the large atrium. A massive T-rex skeleton reared upwards, lit from above by the unnatural glow covering the skylights.

  Lauren crept forward, using the base of exhibits as cover. Her team moved out of the hall and flanked her silently.

  “How much longer is this little ritual going to take?” An impatient voice echoed through the room. “And why can’t you do it at home?”

  “Just keep watch,” Lilith replied. “We’re almost there.”

  Lauren recognized her voice before she saw her. Peeking around a dinosaur with armored spikes on its back, she saw Lilith standing in the center of the room. She was dressed in her usual dark leather and holding something that dangled from her pale hand. A soft chant murmured from her lips.

  Standing on either side of her were two other teens. One was a lanky girl with sickly skin, big eyes, and dark, wide lips. She was the one who had spoken. She wore armor reminiscent of sleek, sharp scales. A net dangled from her hip, and she leaned on a wickedly serrated trident.

  The other was a boy in a black, light-reflecting suit with streaks of red shot through it. His hair was spiky and fiery orange.

  “Why even lock this place down?” the boy asked. “No one would know we’re here otherwise. We’re just attracting attention.”

  Lilith paused her chant again. “Maybe I want to attract attention. Maybe I’m waiting for my friend.”

  “Is that supposed to be me?” Lauren asked, stepping into view.

  Lilith’s venomous eyes went to her, and grew excited. “Precisely! I knew you’d find me tonight, Lauren. I had a wicked feeling about it. Bloodtide, Anthracite, this is my new favorite toy, Lauren.”

  The girl leveled her trident, and the boy’s arms caught fire. They both took fighting poses.

  Lilith blew on the amulet she was holding, and it crumbled away into dust.

  “That was all I was going to get out of that meager thing. You’d be surprised how often museum curators find a genuine bit of magic.” She clapped her hands together to clear the dust. “I’m a bit embarrassed to have brought so much backup, Lauren. I’m afraid tonight might end up like last time. With you as a beautiful little ruin.”

  It was Lauren’s turn to smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

  On either side of her, Demiguard and Amp came walking out. Demiguard twirled her sticks, while Amp tossed a bolt of white lightning between her hands. Next to Amp, Miss Eclipse rose silently out of the shadow of a dinosaur, a white phantom with a hooded face. Marionette entered from above, lowering herself on strings and taking a fluid bow.

  Lilith’s guards both took a step back. Lauren reveled in watching Lilith’s cheshire-cat smile sink into a neutral line.

  “Was I the one who brought too many friends this time?” Lauren asked innocently. “Whoops.”

  “How do you want to do this?” Demiguard asked at her shoulder.

  “Think you can take those two?” Lauren asked her team.

  “Easily,” Amp said. “Can you take the spooky bitch by yourself?”

  “I guess we’ll find out. Don’t leave me waiting.”

  Lauren led the charge by breaking into a sprint.

  Anthracite stepped to intercept her, a gout of molten flame spewing from his black glove. It arced toward Lauren, who twisted to dodge it. The fire passed inches from her face, making her skin feel tight. She probably could have taken a pot shot at him as she passed, but she trusted her team to handle it.

  Bloodtide struck low with her jagged trident.

  “Where is Lyra the false princess?!” the girl demanded.

  Lauren was in the zone at that point. She stepped on the weapon’s head and easily cleared it. The warrior girl didn’t have time for another strike, as Lauren’s team surged behind her.

  Up ahead, Lilith waited on the steps before the T-rex. She was unarmed, as far as Lauren could tell, but who knew what kind of magic she had up her sleeve. Despite her relative speed, Lauren hesitated in crashing into the girl.

  That hesitation might have saved her life. An onyx blade the size of Lauren came down from out of nowhere and landed directly in front of her, blade facing outwards. Lauren halted on her toes, nearly falling backwards off the step. The sharp edge was only inches from splitting her face and belly.

  Lilith took the initiative by grabbing the handle of the blade and lifting it. Despite it being the length of her, Lilith wielded it like it had the weight of a kitchen knife.

  Sword resting on her shoulder, Lilith’s evil smile returned.

  “You didn’t think I was all bark and no bite, did you?” she asked. “I’m glad I get to carve you up and your classmates. We’ll see who’s left by morning.”

  She pivoted and swung the sword like an oversized bat, arcing for Lauren’s head. Lauren dropped low and tumbled backwards down the steps. She couldn’t match Lilith’s insane reach, and the speed at which she could swing was nothing to scoff at either. She had to wait for an opening. While she did, she risked a glance backwards to see how her team was doing.

  Demiguard and Amp were circling around Bloodtide, who was struggling to match both at once. She blocked a bolt of lightning from Amp with her trident, which seemed to disperse the energy. But that left her open to being smacked on the head by Reagan, who sent her opponent staggering. A second bolt struck the Atlantean directly in the chest.

  Anthracite had surrounded himself with a ring of fire that seemed self-perpetuating. From there he acted as a turret, firing bursts of flame. Miss Eclipse hovered, sending tendrils of shadow to try and grab him. But the tendrils withered and died when they came near the heat and glow of the fire. Marionette was more successful in making contact. She whipped a cable forward that wrapped around the fire controller’s bicep, tugging him out of his circle.

  A whoosh of air reminded Lauren she was in her own fight, and the only one without a numbers advantage. She skipped to the side, but the edge of Lilith’s blade nicked her. It cut through her jacket and costume like they weren’t there, leaving a gash in Lauren’s side.

  “Focus, Lauren!” Lilith taunted. “Are you so sure this is going to go your way?”

  “If you think a little scrape’s gonna slow me down, you don’t know me at all.”

  Lilith continued her dance forward, all attack. Lauren steadied, slowing time in her mind. She kept track of the blade as it made deadly arcs and sudden switchups. Lilith drew it back and tried to go for a pierce to Lauren’s stomach. Lauren deflected the strike by growing a spike over the back of her hand. The blade chipped her natural weapon like it was made of soft wood.

  Lilith continued to keep Lauren on the back foot, pressing her small advantage. She probably thought that meant she was winning. But Lauren’s mind was making calculations she couldn’t even keep track of. The movement of muscle, the pattern of swings.

  Then came the opening.

  Lilith went to raise her blade again, but Lauren grabbed its flat side and stepped forwards. With her other hand, she backhanded Lilith with all the strength she could muster.

  Lauren’s knuckles connected with Lilith’s mouth, snapping her head back. She stumbled and fell backwards onto the stairs, her dark blade disappearing as soon as her grip on it loosened. Her eyes closed.

  Lauren was worried for a second she had used too much strength and snapped Lilith’s neck somehow. Not worried to spare her life, but to get some information out of her as the ringleader. Lauren stood over her and put her boot on the wrist of her right hand.

  Lauren’s team came up to join her. Neither of their opponents took much longer to deal with, especially after Bloodtide was beaten and all four of them came down on Anthracite. Both of the other teen supervillains were slumped against a pillar that they had been placed against, bound in some of Marionette’s string.

  “Well that wasn’t so bad,” Megumi said. She came over and stared down at Lilith. “So, this is the big bad bitch who’s been harassing you?”

  “Yep,” Lauren confirmed.

  “She doesn’t look so tough.”

  “We need her to drop the barriers closing this place off,” Demiguard said. The barriers were indeed still active over the windows and doors.

  “We’ll get that out of her and more,” Lauren promised. She cracked her knuckles, preparing to have a very productive conversation before BASTION got their hands on her.

  Lilith’s eyes fluttered open again. She grimaced.

  “My, Lauren, it looks like this time you’ve bested me. I supposed that makes us even.”

  “Yeah, and I did it myself, you demonic asshole,” Lauren said down to her. “Before you bring these barriers down and let the others in, you’re going to answer a few questions.”

  “Certainly, certainly…”

  “Biomass, what the hell is she doing?” Demiguard asked.

  Lauren was so focused on Lilith’s face that she noticed her free hand working at something too late. Lilith formed symbols with her hands in various configurations, all within a few seconds. Lauren slammed her other foot down on it.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Lilith grunted. “Just burning off the last of that amulet’s power.”

  Lilith began her laugh that Lauren was coming to know all too well.

  Around the room, jagged tears appeared from nowhere. They fractured open, green swirls with black outlines in otherwise empty space.

  Figures appeared in them. Some walked out, while others fell to the floor.

  A towering, brutish figure with stony and warped gray skin.

  A beautiful girl with burning neon eyes and wings.

  A girl in a black bodysuit much like Demiguard’s.

  A boy in a white lab coat that covered the bottom of his face.

  Trophy Hunter, Usagi, and Maudlin all came out near each other.

  More and more figures appeared out of the portals. By the end of it, there were at least fifteen. All costumed teenagers. They looked down from the upper floors at Lauren’s team surrounding Lilith. They blocked the way to the already barricaded exits on all sides.

  Despite still being under Lauren’s boot, Lilith couldn’t have been more smug.

  “Like I said Lauren, you’ve barely begun to meet my friends. Why don’t we start? This is some of the class of The New Lord’s Academy. You can call us the New Lords.”