.

It was early next morning, the sun was creeping over the horizon, and the light starting to filter through the window.

There was one boy there, who actually looked familiar to Ben. He was sure he had seen him around once or twice as guests of his parents. He was sitting, splayed out, a book on his lap which he was thumbing through.
[img]https://imgur.com/a/Q2B4xYT[/img]

[img]https://imgur.com/a/3ab1HyA[/img]

Ben

He had had a restless night's sleep, unfamiliar bed and sounds. Getting up the next morning, he was scratching his head as he stumbled out into the common room, dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt.

He paused at the sight of the other guy who actually looked vaguely familiar.

"Morning." he mumbled.

“Yeah mate. It is.”

He grunts slightly.

“Torrance Underwood. What you in for? Primary actor or sideshow victim?”

Underwood. Again, he felt like he should place the name but couldn’t.

Ben

He frowned slightly, looking around to see if there is a coffee maker or not.

"Detained until I turn 18. You seem familiar. I am Ben Monroe."

Torrance

“Monroe.”

“Ah yeah. I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.”

He pauses and offers a cockeyed grin. For some reason he gave the serious impression of a clown wearing a mask, like he was obliterating his real identity under something else.

“So, actually, you might remember fa. He work ... ed. For a bank. Well. At least until his other career came out and he decided a son was unsafe weight. You probably saw me there.”

Ben

Since his father didn't have a brother the connection was obviously false but he had to grin at the convoluted pretend connection.

"Ah! That uncle's newhew's cousin's former roommate! I though you looked familiar." he said, heading over to the little counter where the microwave and coffee maker and looked through the cabinet for the makings of coffee.

"Been here long?"

Torrance:

“One week.’

He pauses again.

“who you think brokered stuff for your folks?”

Ben

He paused and glanced over his shoulder for a moment before going back to making coffee.

"I don't discuss my family business." he says. "First rule I ever learned."

Torrance:

“Eh. Eff them. Left me cold without a second thought. Owe them nothing. What have rules ever brought me? I’m discussing mine’s business because it’s over. Never did me any good anyhow.”

He points.

“Mini fridge over there. Has creamer and stuff if you want it.”

Ben

"Thanks." he said, going over to pull out some creamer to add a dollop to the coffee when it was brewed.

He took a sip and moved over to find a seat on one of the sofas.

"Cheap crap but it will have to do. So what are things like here? What do they do?"

“Oh, there is good stuff. Shipment is late.”

So it is said.

“Oh, well, right now it’s been a bit loose. Things haven’t really started up yet, we’re kind of in a break. Classes supposed to start again after a few more arrivals.

Ben

"Oh? How many students are here?" he asked. "I doubt they have a full school's worth unless some powered criminal has been popping out kids like popcorn."

Ben looked out the window to see what was outside as well as looking at if the window opened or not.

“Well, scuttlebut is that we’ve got a bumper crop. We’ve got at least three or four more girls and another couple of guys. Lot more showing up than used to. Already here we’ve got me, Glitchy chick, Paul and norton you haven’t met. They like hitting the gym early. “

Ben

"Co-ed huh? Well, better than some of the boarding schools I have been to." he said, sipping the coffee and getting out his phone to see if he had service.

"Anyone I need to keep an eye out for?" he asked, glancing up at the other guy.

At the moment, there is no reception as his phone seems to have run out of battery.

Yeah. There is freakydeak quick chick I’ve seen. H.... H... ‘Dash.”

He says, imitating a stutter.

“Seems harmless enough maybe ‘not all there’. Jittery, jumps at her own shadow. Norton Tasker. He’s the chainsaw you can hear snoring because he left his door cracked open. They say he heals, wouldn’t expect to find that here, but who knows? Bookish sort. Paul ‘blobby’ Maravich. A jock’s Jock. Way too enthusiastic for my tastes, ready to fight something. Don’t know the Newbs. Think I saw another boy brought here late last night. Didn’t get much of a glimpse of him.”

Ben

"Sounds like a real hodge podge." he said with a shake of his head.

"Phone isn't working. How do we make phone calls here?" he asked as he sipped the hot drink and rolled his shoulders to loosen up.

Torrance

“Right now, just wait. I think someone is supposed to be along in another hour or so and give us the spiel and get things set up. There are some limitations on calls, given you know... legal responsibility and all that. Been a weird couple days, apparently. A buncha apprehensions in a short time while many of the big boy hero’s are overseas.”

Ben

"Yeah, okay. I just want to make sure that the house staff gets some severance money since none of this is their fault. I need to talk to our lawyers to get that arranged." he said, drinking some more coffee.

"So is there a cafeteria around here or what do we do for meals? I assume there is a shower around here? Didn't get the tour last night."

“Oh yeah, there is breakfast. Today it’s probably buffet, as cook gets a day off now and then. Probably serving right after the intro speech. You got bagels and continental brekky stuff available in the kitchen are for now if you want.”

Ben

He got up and headed back into the kitchen to dig out a bagel and pop it in the toaster oven.

"So I assume you got dragooned here because your parents got arrested as well?" he asked casually as he got out some butter from the mini-fridge.

Lamar

Another descended to the common room. Very small, but he didn't carry himself like a child. Thin and wiry of body, an unruly mop of black hair up top, eyes of brown, green when they caught the light. He looked around, looked thoughtful, as if he were considering putting something to the test. Checking the walls, checking the ceiling, the entrances and exits. Finally, the people. A noncommittal half-wave by way of acknowledgement to any giving him a visual inspection.

Ben

Whatever Torrence was going to respond with is interrupted by the arrival of the new kid.

Ben glanced at him, taking in the size and demeanor.

"Morning. I am Ben and that is Torrence. There is coffee ready and some juice and milk in the fridge. Bagels over there if you need something to hold you over until breakfast."

Torrence raises a hand.

“Hey new guy. Got somethin’ we can call you?”

Lamar

To Torrence, a quick rejoinder,

“Oh, plenty. Lamar is the name I gave them, so that’ll do while I’m here.”

An appreciative nod to Ben, as he wandered over to the counter. He reached for the coffee, but small as he was it was a bit of a stretch, so after a moment of tongue-clicking annoyance, he wasn’t small, his entire appearance completely different for the few moments it took to pour himself a cup. The reverse back to normality was just as swift, he paused a moment to rub his temples before grabbing a bagel and lathering the most flavoursome topping he could find on it, as if he’d spent some time somewhere where bland was a byword for every meal.

“Hmm. Not completely neutralised, but they’re definitely paying attention. If you do what you do, best be careful, it seems. Thank you for the kind greeting, I was expecting far worse, be it in a school setting or a prison style. There many of us about?”

Ben

His eyebrow rose a bit at the body morphing, glancing over at Torrence before turning back.

"About a dozen of us now I guess, give or take. A lot of new arrivals like myself. Torrence has been here a bit."

Torrence.

“I think at least one more is incoming soon. Snoring stopped.”

Lamar

He came over to join them, taking a bite out of his bagel, ruminating thoughtfully. Once he was free to speak again,

“You wouldn’t have thought there’d be all that many of us, given the qualifying criteria. Not exactly a family business in most cases. Has a bit of a whiff of a Petri dish about it, sticking us all together like this and seeing what happens. I’m not exactly a bastion of law and justice, though I can’t speak for the rest of us.”

Torrence:

“Yah. Things have gone mad recently. At least a few of the Enkidu leftovers have shown up here, and well, a number of things have gone down recently. I think Dash over there in the girls is one of the abandoned lab rats. They’ve been scrambling a bit for sure. I mean, in the last month of so, you have Enkidu going down, rumors of Nyx and Alchemy, my fa, his parents.”

Motions towards Ben.

“Interesting times, mate.”

Lamar

The mention of Enkidu certainly caught his attention for a moment, as much as he was trying to keep a poker face. He looked towards Ben, listening.

A yawning figure sticks it’s head to it of a door, wearing a t shirt and boxers.


“Ah new faces! How ya doing? Paul.”

Ben

"Ben," he replied, nodding to the guy, judging him about his age.

Lamar

"Lamar," he added. "Glad to not be in a cell, so in that regard, going well so far."

He paused, glancing around at those up and about.

"So, is friendliness the norm, or are there those of a more stark viewpoint around here? Is it respect for what others might be able to do, or genuinely striving to be on the side of the angels, if you'll forgive the rhetoric?"

Paul:

“Oh, Norton is a ray of sunshine for example, but if they didn’t think we were at least a little able to not just be violent Jackasses I’m not sure they would have brought us here. Heck, I’m not all sunshine and daisies all the time but really, what can I do?”

Ben

"True. I just plan on keeping my head down until I turn 18 and can get on with my life. I should be able to make 9 months of their attempts at indoctrination or whatever." he said, glancing at the clock to see how long until the meeting.

Lamar

"Yes. 'You do your own time', as the saying goes. No idea how long I'll be in for, though," mused the smaller one, turning back to his coffee introspectively.

Ben

"Oh? How old are you?" he inquired, glancing at the smaller kid.

Lamar

A chagrined look from the smaller boy, a weary expression out of keeping with the youthful demeanour.

"That's a question I can't rightly answer. We never tracked birthdays, though I got the impression I was out of sync with the usual progression, and when you're spending so much time out of your baseline form, biology runs into a roadblock. The one person who could tell you is unavailable for the foreseeable future, forever as those who put her there would claim."

Ben

"Really, well that is a problem. They have to let us go when we turn 18 and if you don't know how old you are...." he said, leaving it up in the air.

"Need to make them give you a definite age legally."

Paul raises his hand up slightly.

‘Actually, slight problem there. With powered individuals, they’ll have to decide you’re safe to go out into the public. Not the school guys. The Supers system. They don’t think you are, they give you a choice of their supervised program, or staying here until they think you are. Don’t get mad at the school guys, they’re just taking advantage of the laws to put some of us in a better system.”

He shrugs.

“As for Lamar here, that age thing is going to be for the lawyers to hash out. School can’t really define it. They’re still trying to figure it out with Glitch. Erm. I mean H... H... Dash. As well.”

Ben

"By safe you mean in control of your powers?" he inquired, wanting to make sure his understanding of this was correct.

Lamar

The smaller boy shook his head, ruefully.

"My control over my powers is pretty top-notch, and that's where the problem lies. A lot of those who came for us at the end vertically went out horizontally. Hopefully to the hospital or a healer. I can't guarantee that."

Paul:

“Well, among other things. They also don’t want anyone they think is going to go psycho and do a lot of damage. Or go right out and become a supervillain or something. If a normal guy goes out and goes bad, can do some damage but, eh. Some of use could do a lot of damage. They don’t like loose cannons where they can avoid it. Keep your nose clean and look like you’re turning into a semi respectable citizen, you probably don’t have a problem.”

He shrugs.

“Beats going into the OTHER system by a long shot.”

He looks over at Lamar.

“I almost guarantee they did. It’s what probably let them claim you.”

Lamar

"I was fighting for my life and my freedom, and I don't fight remotely fair. I wasn't pulling my punches. I wasn't trying to kill anyone, but I can't put my hand on my heart and say I did anything to prevent anyone getting killed. Better that they lived, but I can't claim credit for that, just the harm I chose to cause. I used lethal force indiscriminately, I own up to that, I own that. So, I got lucky, they lived, I skim by the event horizon without crossing thanks to their survival and my apparent age."

A slight shake of the head, exhaling.

"Anyone else get closer to the edge, or do I need to watch my every step all the more?"

‘I think Norton is here because he healed someone back from the brink of death instead of finishing him off.”

Ben

He doesn't make a comment about what he had or had not done to get here.

"Well gents, I am going to go clean up before the meeting. Don't want my first impression to be scruffy." he said with a chuckle and headed off to the bathroom.

Lamar

Watching Ben head off to scrub up, Lamar smirked and clicked his fingers, subtly altering to become immaculate and perfectly groomed when he did so.

Paul.

“Now THATS convenient...”

Lamar

Smiling with no small amount of good-natured mischief, the boy affirmed, "It has its perks."

OOC: I think we boys are ready to move on

OOC: Agreed.

Ayup. You can meet in the parlor thread when you want. Post into that. I will be along at some point. Once a combination of getting people in there and work allows.

(After the orientation meeting)

Lamar

He returned to the communal area, musing on what he had learnt. Enough to get on with, certainly. He took a seat, mind roving, thoughts churning.

A couple of the others seemed to have headed elsewhere in the building, but ‘Snarker’ Norton walks through the door and keeps walking past towards the rooms.

Lamar

There was an interesting case. A unique attitude, and unique actions. His unbroken voice piped up,

"Norton, isn't it? Mind if we trade a few words? Bit concerned over your safety and wellbeing."

Norton:

“Yeah, Kid? What’s it to you? I’m here. Wellbeing is zip, out the door. What the eff are you talkin about?”

Lamar

"You did one of the bravest things I've ever seen, and I'm wondering how well set up you were for the repercussions, basically." answered the smaller boy, calmly.

Norton:

“You mean giving Glitch a hard time? Glitch is Bambi. Fast legs, not all there up here.”

Taps his head.

“Glitch isn’t frightening.”

Lamar

"Not all there up there? Someone unpredictable, capable of snapping? Even braver than I thought. How quickly can you go from fully asleep to fully awake, I wonder?"

Norton:

“Glitch barely moves from her chair. Fast body, slow brain. Be afraid of a Retriever puppy before Glitch. Look, kid. I get you are smart, but stop playing games.”

Lamar

"Playing games helps keep me on an even keel. I hope nothing here during my stay switches me over to playing for keeps. But fair enough, I'll stop dancing around the point and cut straight to it. If Dash isn't a threat, if she's Bambi, if she's slow, if you're just as unbothered by the friends she seems to have made back there with other unpredictable powered folk, then what's your angle? What's in it for you?"

Norton:

“Lamar, is it? Riddle about life. Everyone makes constant attempts to fond something in common with other people, to fit in. ‘Hey look, we both have ten fingers and toes, let’s be friends and go after the nine fingered boy.’ Answer - we’re all of us, especially here, freaks, mutants, the other, parties of one. Sooner that realization is reached the better.”

Lamar

“No argument on that front.” He looked at his hand, which momentarily had six fingers, then four fingers, before returning to five.

“But the difference is power and agency. The thing that makes us unique, makes us other, makes us the closest thing the world has to the gods of old, is that we can shape the world itself, tell the limitations that apply to others to shut up and sit down. Every party of one here is here because they are dangerous, you included, me included, Dash included. The danger may not be immediately apparent, but to dismiss it is to be weak to it. Every person is a nation unto themselves, and that means the potential for war is there, for alliances, for mutual self-interest.

It wasn’t you against Dash in there, it was you against The entire female half of the student body, each of them, as individuals, as parties of one, as sources of threat, making common cause because they can’t tell if nine-fingers is being attacked for that characteristic or another characteristic which they all share in, which in turn means any of them could be next. By going on the offensive first, you paint yourself as a convenient target, one that they each, in their individual self-interest, have in common.”

Norton:

“And if that happens - if that happens little Lamar, then perhaps I can exit stage left and get really lucky. Gods of old? Why that’s positively Nyxian. You are coming at this from a standpoint of presuming that I do or should care. I don’t see a reason to.”

Lamar

"How deliciously nihilistic of you. It amuses me how quickly you went from wanting people to realise everyone was on their own to just not caring. See... if you didn't care, you wouldn't make an effort to stick your head over the parapet. You wouldn't be taking potshots at powers. To be uncaring is to take the path of least resistance, least interaction, not to go full steam against the current, guns blazing. You do care, and you're trying to blaze your trail as best you see it, and I'm coming from this standpoint because I've seen how you act and I've heard what you've said. What you do is a much better indicator than what you claim. If I wanted to, I could incentivise you. Take your face, do a few things here and there. Stir up a war, or quell it. Maybe just wandering around being nice to people, making them greet you with a smile and communal acceptance. Would you care about any of that, or can I impersonate you with impunity, safe in the knowledge that it wouldn't upset you, uncaring as you are?"

Norton:

“You could try. But if you think about it, you will have hefty trouble imitating any of us if we don’t want to be. Can’t move like glitch girl. Can’t do what I do. And so on. Anyway, why do you effing care? You are just another animal at the zoo.”

Lamar

“Please. When was the last time you demonstrated your power here? That’s not an impediment to social interaction and you know it. As to why I care? Let’s say it does come to a head. Let’s say Dash snaps and gives you a physics lesson, or whatever Peri said that spooked you, or the destroyer of worlds destroys yours. Do you think this place would be allowed to continue? If the zoo burns, they’re going to euthanise the dangerous animals. I’m probably one of the very best situated to get away and be a fugitive, but I wouldn’t rate even my chances highly.”

Norton

He smiles just slightly.

“I see that you aren’t worried about my snapping.”

He chuckles slightly.

“Basic psychology. Think about it. I’m not going to provoke that war. Cadence there doesn’t want to touch whatever she does with a ten foot pole. Anne seems much the same. Peri ... that one has a bit of freak inside, I gotta admit. I don’t think she is about to explode however. Dash? She isn’t going to do anything. She never does. There’s Blake, if we ever see her ... which we don’t, pretty much ...”

Lamar

A slight nod, smirking.

"Game recognise game. Poking Dash is extremely ill-advised, but it does mean you're not bottling stuff up. No tension, no snap. Can't say the same for the quiet ones, definitely don't want to try and predict Peri, and Dash is a human being, which means relying on her to have infinite patience and constant rationality is not the smartest stance to take. Blake... Don't think I saw Blake. What did I miss?"

Norton

“You never see Blake. She’s another of the rejects from Enkidu’s lab experiments. Can’t see her pretty much unless she concentrates on letting you. Her I wouldn’t mess with. She can be pretty funny, if you can get her to talk to you that is.”

Lamar

"Not messing with powered folks is pretty much my baseline, present company aside. 'Another', you say. How many of Enkidu's creations does that make here, that you're aware of?"

Norton:

“Glitch of course. Right now, I think it’s just the two of them. At least that I know of.”

Lamar

"Good to know. I'm very familiar with some of his work outside, including some that could make you think they're completely harmless right up until you realise, a while after the fact, just how thoroughly they ruined you."

Norton:

“Ever considered what unchecked healing brings?”

He says mildly.

“Nice try on a threat there though.”

Lamar

“Oddly enough, yes. I was raised by someone who is a big believer in getting the most out of one’s powers, and there was a thought exercise we’d do sometimes, taking a random set of powers and thinking up edge cases and unforeseen uses. Plus, it’s close enough to what I have to merit extra consideration. Defensively, being difficult to kill, primarily. Being able to exceed limits and patch the limit breaks as you go. Offensively, perhaps suppress, override or reverse the healing process in others, or if you wanted to get really nasty, cancers, autoimmune diseases, hormonal immunities, strengthening and intensifying stuff to lethal levels, or levels where they’re begging for a death you’ve rendered impossible.”

He gave Norton a long, appraising look.

“I suspect you haven’t tried half that stuff yet, at least not to such a degree. Any duel between us would be pointless, painful and protracted, the sheer damage I can bring healed as a matter of course, with ill-health sloughing off of me as fast as I can change form. But the Enkidu-spawn I know? If they wanted to inflict some harm, I wouldn’t see it coming, my defenses would be useless, and they’d be long gone before I or anyone around me realised what was going down. I wasn’t offering a threat, I was highlighting a need for caution.”

Norton

“You might be surprised. You don’t know dad.”

The last bit is entirely without rancor.

“I don’t either, really.”

Lamar

He paused for a moment, thoughtful.

“Yeah, fair point, hadn’t considered who your parents might be or what upbringing you’d had. You just... don’t give off that vibe, if that makes sense? More rebel against society than rebel against a villainous home. Possibly villainous conformity in terms of color scheme, but I’m not seeing it in attitude, none of the big, sweeping control ethics, and you called out the comparison to the gods earlier.

Which might be worth revisiting, most of the old pantheons were chock full of petty assholes using their powers for their own pleasure or to hurt those who slighted them, with abilities not too far away from our own. But I digress. I know who my parents are, though one of them is a mystery to the world even now, and the other was picked out as good Powered breeding stock and never had much interest in me. Considering my last acts as a free person were using my powers to help my parent with a sophisticated bank heist, it’s fair to say that upbringing wasn’t entirely salubrious. But I couldn’t call them cruel or abusive.”

Norton:

“Kid’s gotta grow a backbone or the world’s gonna chew her up and spit her out the other side like leftover gristle on a steak. World has no room for coddling.”

Lamar

"Why do you care?"

Norton

“Who says I actually do? Why do you?”

He reaches into a cabinet and pulls out a snack bar and tosses one towards him.

“Here. All that shifting stuff you do must burn some through some chow.”

Lamar perhaps can’t help the feeling that he is trying to shift the conversation- although one might also think an easier way to do that would be to enter his room and shut the door.

Lamar

"You did, just now, by saying that. Did you ever think of talking about that with her first, let her know the philosophy of it rather than diving right in to trying to help her grow a spine?"

He caught the bar, glancing at it briefly.

"Thanks, and yeah, I suspect most folks saw me at breakfast. Haven't really pushed myself here yet, but there's the testing coming up. As for why I care, it's like I said. I know some who have been through Enkidu's clutches on the outside. I've been made aware of what it entails. There's a few common traits, sharp, smart, precocious, good at hiding one way or another, very dangerous, and hard as iron. You don't get out of what he does alive without being inured to pain and torment. The fact you still think Dash is harmless is a kindness on her part."

norton

“Yup. His experiments have it hard. At least in theory, his commissions have it easier, as at least they are usually with their different parents. Doesn’t help as much as you might think if those are a bit crazy themselves.”

He opens a coke and drinks.

“But yeah, being a science fair project is no fun, I’ll grant.”

Lamar

"I'd ask if you were speaking from experience, but I'm not trying to pry anywhere painful or that you want to keep to yourself. I imagine most folks here have had pretty grim episodes. I'll listen if you're up to share it, though. Might even quid pro quo."

He peeled the bar, chewing on it as he pondered matters further.

Norton

“Bah. Who says I know a thing, just a cynical miscreant yah? Least demons I see here is that Ben guy, and I’m pretty sure he’s just lying to himself.”

Lamar

"Always puts it on his family, good or ill. Here because of them, thinks their lawyers will help. So, villainous parents, but successful and ostensibly clever ones. And yes, both parents, he used the plural when pleading his case, which narrows it down further. He's not lying to himself, he's repeating what he thinks is true given his immersion in his upbringing. Can't see a legion of demons when you're standing in the front rank of them. On the whole seems pretty decent nonetheless."

Norton:

He snorts.

"Just because you aren't aware you're doing it doesn't mean you aren't lying to yourself, it just means you don't know you are. He could be a saint, but those parents are still sinners."

He takes a big bite of an apple.

"What I'm still working on is what angle to staff is working."

Lamar

“Easy enough. It’s a pre-emptive subversion strategy. The worst of the silvers were born of the gold, likewise the bronze from the silver. So, short circuit that production line. Any and all that you can turn away from destructive villainy is a powered individual that would likely be willing to pitch in against existential threats out of self interest, at a minimum. Convince them to actively help, and that’s a major asset on the table. Conversely, grab all the potential major threats early, and if you can’t steer them into usefulness, you dump them straight into emergency storage past the event horizon. Every outcome is an additional ally or one less problem to deal with when the next invasion or outbreak occurs.”

The door to the common room opens and Ben comes in, pausing for a moment to nod to the others.

Lamar

A friendly raise of the hand from the smaller of the other two present to reciprocate the greeting.

Norton:

A bit of a snort.

“The boy wonder arrives.”

Lamar

“Interesting. Does calling him that tie in with your philosophy of helping to toughen those who seem most vulnerable, or are you just yanking his chain to see what happens?”

Ben

He raised an eyebrow as he paused, then shrugged.

"You like picturing me in yellow and red spandex? Do you often fantasize about men in skin tight clothes?"

A faint smile quirked his lips up.

Norton:

“Worked so far with you, Boy Genius. Got lots of interesting information.”

He looks over at Ben.

“Nah. Maybe the colors, but whatever it was would be tailored by Armani.”

Ben

He chuckles and shakes his head, heading over to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge before heading to his room.

A good night's sleep is what he wanted now. Tomorrow would likely be a busy day.

"Night Lamar."

Lamar

“Night, Ben.” Came the response.

Turning back to Norton, “That’s the idea, and seeing what you do with it is a solid reason. You’re smart enough that trying to alienate everyone else is not an accident, but the potential responses to that course of action are where it gets interesting. Being isolated would prove the point you claimed to espouse, running headlong into a tolerance paradox. So, what happens when that doesn’t happen? I’m aware of the strings being pulled, but letting them be pulled will prove more interesting in the long run than not indulging.”

Norton

“Hey, bad to the bone, right? People are the sum of their flaws. Me as well.”

Lamar

“People are biological self-replicators with overactive sensory processing. People are the risen ape and the fallen angel. People are biology, chemistry, physics, mathematical principles. People are annoyingly hard to comprehensively sort owing to a predisposition to complexity in random directions. Bad to the bone? I know there’s at least one person here descended from a hero.”

Norton

“And at least one hero here descended from a Villain, yes. Changes nothing. Sometimes flaws can cancel each other out.”

Lamar

“Puts a damper on ‘bad to the bone’ if those bones were never bad to begin with, though. No moral determinism if the output doesn’t resemble the input. No excuse to be found there, sun of our flaws or no. Besides which, everything is a tool to be used, flaws included.”

Norton:

“Other thing I’ve learned, Lamar, is that one of your flaws is that you think you just have to win arguments.”

One corner of his mouth turned up.

“Almost at any cost.”

Lamar

“Can’t help it, one of my parents was a supervillain. Congenital predisposition to believing I’m the one in the right.”

Ben

<Fade for Night 1>

Lamar

Lamar re-entered, seeming pensive. It seemed an age since they’d last been in here, though in truth it was a much shorter span.

In the room, perhaps unsurprisingly, he sees Norton leaning back on the couch watching television. Of course, he’s supposed to be there. The fridge opening on its own and a drink floating across the room perhaps also implies other presences less expected.

Norton speaks.

“Hey, chameleon. Engaging in more deep philosophy?”

Lamar

He grinned back at the larger kid.

"Can if you like, Doc. Seems things have changed a bit since our last such discussion. Want a coke?"

He gravitated towards the fridge, taking a moment to gauge if the floating drink seemed like it was moving as if held, prompting a friendly nod in the approximate direction of the holder, or if it was moving as if pulled by some power or other, in which case a friendly nod towards the apparent destination.

“Yeah.” He nods. “I’ll take one.”

The head of Blake swam into view momentarily.

“Hey shifter- how’s tricks? Just checking out how the other half lives.”

Lamar

"Hey there, Blake. Pretty quiet here at the moment, though I'll admit I share your curiosity. Bit harder for me to get away with it without crossing a line, though."

Lamar grabbed a couple of cans before heading back towards Norton, handing one over.

"So, any new news that either of you have heard?"

Blake

“Curious thing, I often hear things. Do you know that Cyclone seems to have vanished? No one has seem him in a long while. Also there has been activity at the old haunt of Singularity.”

She pauses.

“I still have contacts. Nothing above street level but street level can know things.”

Meanwhile Norton looks quite disturbed.

Lamar

"Big bads shifting about. Something big in the offing, not that that was a mystery. How'd you get the information despite being in here?"

He gave Norton a questioning look. Something on his mind, clearly, but best let him volunteer it.

Blake:

“ I may be a ‘broken god’, shifty, but what I am good at I am very good at. I can’t really turn it off, but when I turn it on and really concentrate on it, there’s no one anywhere who is going to know if I’m there … or if I am not. I hear things. I know people. They didn’t capture me, I came here on my own after little D was taken. Had to make sure she was alright. Introduced myself to the staff and I stick around. Don’t know that I’m smart, but I think I’m street smart anyway.”

Norton looks at Lamar.

“You do know who,Singularity was, yes?”

Lamar

"The cause of the Black Hole of Ottawa and a dozen other disasters across the big north. Before our time, but had a whole bunch of henchpeople who never got tracked down." He nodded to Norton.

Interesting. If Blake could sneak in, who else could? At what point had the staff known?

Blake

“Actually I’m pretty sure Grey knows when I come and go. She found me the first time and I think I’m not fooling her. Can’t hide my presence from her. I’m pretty glad she’s not a villain. Anyway I’m going to keep coming back here because they’re being pretty good to little D. And it’s not like I could abandon her, right?””

Norton

“Also the father to three daughters, one going by Alchemy, one by Nyx, and the other by the much more prosaic’Mariel’. Three granddaughters as well. Cadence, Anne and Carmen. Although two of them went by different names with their mothers …”

Lamar

A brief nod to Blake as they answered the unvoiced concerns. "True enough. Thought occurs it's not just information you could sneak in and out, and given the nature of this place I'd be very surprised if that wasn't in their thoughts."

To Norton, he nodded. "Somehow I suspect it's probably not Mariel or the kids raiding the old haunt."

Norton:

“No indeed. I think she probably has everything and more she ever wants of that place. This was their house. Right here, where you are. You did know that? If you want to be melodramatic where I think Blake is talking about would have been his … lair. You would think Eidolon would have stripped anything worth having from there long ago. So why would someone be going there? Just simple questions. From simple me.”

Blake:

“Oh, Grey has had a long talk with me. Believe me, I have no interest in being on the bad side of that one. And yes. The “lair”. Abandoned as it is.”

Lamar

"Well stocked boltholes and caches are useful things to have. Even for Eidolon, there'd be no substitutes for having built the place in terms of knowing where all the secrets were, or inheriting knowledge from the builder. Perhaps something keyed to a certain hard to replicate power set." He addressed them both.

Norton

“I’m pretty sure that singularity could not be deader. I think that they scraped up what was left of him in a paper bag. After sifting out the dirt. Or so I’ve been told. Dad saw it but didn’t stick around for the aftermath. It’s my understanding that he was phased right into the ground. Remind me to never make our host upset.”

Blake.

“I’d think that would kinda make doin’ anything a bit hard.”

Lamar

"Which leaves inheritance. Both of information, and of adjacent power sets. Yes, we know Singularity is dead. We also know who isn't."

Norton:

“If I am to believe what father said, Mariel herself was sixteen when she … did her thing. The other two were younger. How much would thirteen and fourteen year old girls know about those things?”

Blake:

“Hell, Little D is something like ten and Norton I honestly would call her smarter than you, or me. I’m street smart. Maybe they’re just … that way?”

Lamar

"We're powered, Norton. I bet you could give someone twice as old studying medicine half his life a run for his money. We've got a couple powered individuals, two and three years Mariel's junior when she did what she did, who learned enough from their father to be on the same moral trajectory and stay on it all their lives. How much would they know? It's a good question, a serious question."

Blake:

“I mean that was ages ago. What could be left?”

Norton:

“Anyway, there isn’t anything WE can do about it, right?”

Lamar

"Another good pair of questions, since there's one of us in this discussion who could go take a look-see undetected."

The person in question pauses a long time. Maybe. But if one of THEM is thee, do I want to stick my forehead in front of the effing gun? Nyx is el pollo loco. Cracked. A believer in the power of the divine with her as the divine. Actually saw her once, when she was visiting. Couldn’t see her face for the mask, but she looked at me and those eyes drill through your head like diamond bits.”

Lamar

"Fair point. Still an option, if we're sure she isn't there. If she is, though? Useful information to pass up to those who can do something."

She pauses a long time.

“Look, short stuff. I’m not a good guy, I’m a flawed coward who likes to know things. Norton here … I can’t speak for him. But …”

Lamar

"Hah, join the club. How many good guys without flaws under this roof, do you reckon?"

“Flaws or no, I’m a guttersnipe. If I’m anything, I’m Fagin - directing the discards I could find ta something productive. Yes, I read, no shock. Stole books common enough. Could teach other discards an’ make ‘em more useful. I mean, it was me or the stockyards, an’ no one wants those, right?”

Norton is still ‘looking at her’ even though she has faded, or at least at the spot she had occupied as if reassessing something in his mind.

Blake continues.

‘Survival is the art of targeted cowardice and trying not to care too much about anyone or anything in case they’re gone tomorrow, and above all not getting involved. Your mother ever teach you that one?”

Lamar

"Our situation was a little more... proactive. Thriving more than surviving."

Norton

Norton finally speaks again.

“Yeah, Lamar. I think your situation - and mine - might have been just a bit different. If they’re lucky, they’re half a street urchin, fighting for scraps and hoping not to be noticed. If they’re unlucky they are noticed, then they get to be lab rats. At least with you, with me, even if it was twisted sometimes our parents valued us to some degree, maybe even had something resembling a parent’s instinct. I mean, you even call her mother. Right?”

Lamar

"Well, it's accurate. I don't bear ill will towards her, by and large. Difficult to, given who and what she is. She genuinely raised me, decent education to go along with the... less decent one."

“She CARED though, no? Were you a lab rat? I was a potential weapon, no two ways about that, but he wasn’t as likely to kill me as to keep me. I’ll give him that much, however small it is.”

Blake speaks.

“Yeah, boo hoo. Had it rough. I’m still vert rather than horiz and all my parts still attached so I’m a lucky one. At least I can still look at myself in the mirror. Wait. Strike that. Heh.”

Lamar

"It is so much harder to give a definitive answer to either of those questions given we're dealing with an empathic metamorph here. I saw someone who cared. Was that the truth or was it her power taking what I wanted to see and making it so? I did not see her treatment of me as though I were an experiment. Again, reality, or a perfectly shaped appearance to in turn shape my perceptions and deductions? I give her the benefit of the doubt, but there's so much more potential doubt. It does your head in."

Blake:

“Yeah. Well. I don’t have much reason to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, to much doubt, too little benefit. And what benefit there is definitively does not belong to me. And as I said. I’m not good I’m a survivor. And you don’t survive by being stupid.”

Lamar

“Truth well spoken,” concurred the shapeshifter. “But there’s a reason wolves hunt in packs, lions in prides. Optimal survival strategies, out where nature is red in tooth and claw.”

Blake:

“And you Lamar? You don’t feel like a wolf in the pack. We have a bunch of lone wolves here, each howling’ at the moon in their own way.”

Lamar

"I like the lion analogy better, having powers leads to having plenty of Pride. But that's the thing. Animal analogies only go so far with sentient beings. People who see what's out there, weigh up their chances. There's safety in numbers, both in terms of crowd size and how highly their powers rate. We have a bunch of people that can and do think, having the flexibility to team up when necessary and initiative to go their own way when it is safe to do so, and sufficient wisdom to tell the difference. Humans aren't wolves, wolves wish they could pull off some of the collective shenanigans we can."

Blake

“Wisdom. Hah. No wise people, just people who think they are smarter than the universe at large and get disabused of the notion quick.”

Lamar

“Ironically a statement that proves itself, in that it assumes itself wiser than any potential so-called wisdom, and that other people will be the ones getting disabused.”

Suddenly the lights flicker and dim briefly before resuming full intensity

Lamar

"Concerning. Just long enough for something to get through a barrier, if I was being paranoid about it."

Blake: “is there any other way to be but paranoid? Still. Had to guess it’s the Sorensen Girl that I’ve seen spying around in mirrors.”

Lamar

"Assuming it was a friendly isn't particularly paranoid, but balance of probabilities seems likely. Still, best keep an eye out."

The shapeshifter opened a third one briefly.

“Lamar, that is seriously creepy, dude.”

Lamar

He shrugged. “Far from the first time I’ve used it as punctuation. Nothing to worry about, it’s not as if I’m shifting into a hulking abomination of teeth or claws, or an apex predator, or a thick-skinned, sharp-tusked pachyderm.”

Blake:

“But you could. You are dangerous. Not like me.”

Norton snorts.

“Yeah, Blake. Sorry. But you are about the last person I wouldn’t be worried about. Maybe other than Lamar here. With most of the others' I’d know what was coming.”

Lamar

"Harsh, but on the balance of things probably fair, I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been using my powers in ways others would find questionable. That said, if I didn't do my occasional 'I'm a shapeshifter' stuff, it'd be worse. If I looked like the same baseline regulation human all the time, I'd be concealing my powers from the rest of us. Instead, I'm comfortable with them being seen, my unknowns are known in terms of scope and potential. You might not know what was coming, but you'd know what kind, and if I'm right here just doing parlour tricks as part of friendly discourse, I'm not some horrific stealthy thing lurking, ready to pounce unseen instead. Everyone here has powers, the ones where you can't tell what they are, are where we need to be most cautious. Unknown unknowns."

Blake

“Yeah. Watch the Destroyer of Worlds. Watch Eric. Worried there.”

She pauses again.

“You still think I should sneak out and look more? Or tell them I have been, which could be just as bad.”

Lamar

"Ultimately, not my call to make. I'm in favour of information gathering in principle, assessment of risk versus reward is best done by the one risked." He commented.

Blake

" The ones causing all the trouble, alchemy, Nyx - you met them before? I think your mother associated with them. Have you …?”

Lamar

"Those two in particular? No. Bear in mind my mother is dangerously sharp, always a few steps ahead. Exposing me to them would be potential leverage over her, because there's not many things I can turn into that can withstand matter to energy conversion. Entropy is another matter, I'm probably better able than most to withstand it, given reorganizing my physical form is just what I do. But not worth the risk of putting a child near a meatgrinder just to find out. My mother is at her best when everyone else is grasping at formless smoke, with no idea what they're truly dealing with. That goes for all sides. In her own way she's definitely as dangerous, if a lot subtler about it."

“Right now, we’re clutching smoke. I’ve been in their presence. Not sure they knew I was there. Was glad of that. Everything around them was … like insects. To be studied. Dissected.”

Lamar

"Sounds about right. Presuming strength and powers render those without them or with lesser ones as undeserving of agency. The pitfall of supremacy, you might say. People as things. Won't tell us what they're doing, but it does set the bar for what they might be capable of doing to those whose lives are without value to them."

"Lamar... I've seen it. I saw Nyx reduce someone to dust. Heard the unnatural screams. I’ve actually seen her without her mask, you know. She looks like she should be bringing cookies to a PTA meeting. Until I looked at the eyes. "

Lamar

"Dangerous thing to see, both in terms of her unmasked and close enough to see what the eyes can tell. That and the whole proximity to blatant murder via powers. Good thing you weren't caught in any backwash."

“Lamar.”

She says conversationally.

“Don’t look now, but I’m pretty sure someone is sneaking down that corridor behind us.”

Lamar

Non-shapeshifters had such quaint concepts. Lamar obviously didn't turn to look, and didn't grow a great big pair of eyes in the back of his head.

The eyes were myriad, tiny, camouflaged and hidden beneath his hair.

And there was indeed movement, furtive and barely visible.

Lamar

Funny things, eyes. So many potential wavelengths of light and other forms of radiation. A few tweaks to the receptors here, and you’re up in the ultraviolet. A another alteration and you’re down in the infrared, looking at heat. You don’t even have to take abilities humans don’t have, you can take away some they do, selectively. Anecdotally, color blind bombardiers can see through camouflage, so that’s worth trying. So, expanding the range of things those eyes could see.

He sees what almost looks like a weak double exposure, an afterimage, of a vague figure almost sniffing down the hall in a manner reminiscent of a dog

Lamar

One of his cheeks became a screen of blank skin, on which a human visual range representation of what he was seeing played out in pigmentation.

‘… ok. Maybe I go out and take a look-see? On the other hand, I can’t do that vacant I?”

Lamar

"Best I can offer is 'fly on the wall' surveillance."

Blake:

“Ok. Guess it’s me then, I’ll go out there. I’ll tackle it. Unless you just want to let it go.”

Lamar

"I'll keep an eye on it, back you up as needed."

She fades completely from view, almost seeing relieved.

As far as he can tell, whatever it is seems headed the opposite direction k in the direction of the girl’s dorm.

Lamar

True to his word, the polymorpher kept a surreptitious, hidden eye on the creature as it went, ready to spring into an appropriately fast form should it prove necessary.

And just shy of the room it seems to suddenly vanish. Although in that moment with a full view is almost certain he has seen it before, and with his mother at that .

Lamar

A moment to visualise that shock of recollection, seeking context to determine what further action needed to be taken.

If he thinks, he believes it was brought by an odd man, an older man, who seemed normal but not normal. He brought it, she examined it, gave an approval … and he took it away.

Lamar

Curiouser and curiouser. Though vanishing and seeming to vanish are very distinct things, in need of a thorough examination with every myriad sense he could bring to bear.