"I'm Stormy,"

Zared relaxed and grinned at her. Stormy. Sto-ar-mee. Stormy. Non-monkey, he said over in his head. He squeezed his hands together a few times as he tried thinking of what they were supposed to do now. "Would you like to be my friend?" Friend? Friend-friend? His eyes went wide and his heart rate picked up. His grin spread into something larger than it was before and he nodded a little too enthusiastically.

"A friend? Of course! A friend. Stormy and Zared," he snickered under his breath as if this was the most delightful thing in the world. Well, normally people who met Zared never asked him to be his friend. They never stuck around long enough to even catch his name unless he shouted it at them so they could remember. But those people probably already forgot him anyway. The thought almost made him sad again, but standing right in front of him was Stormy, so he reminded himself he shouldn't be sad. He should be happy, right? That's the normal reactions to these types of things? Happiness. Yes, he confirmed with a nod to himself, he was happy.

He knew exactly what to do now, too. Running up to Stormy, he grabbed her hand and tugged her lightly along after him. The couple from earlier were eating at a restaurant. That's what people do when they're friends, right? When they enjoy each others' company, they spend time together doing things like that. He wanted to do stuff like that, too. Now that he could, there would be no time wasted. "The restaurant down the road is nice," he said to her as he pulled her out of the theater just as a few cops around the corner decided to go inside again through the front entrance. "No monkeys," he assured her as if they were a nuisance that supposedly bothered everyone everywhere. He didn't particularly like them, but they amused him when he had nothing better to do.

"It's nice, right?" Zared asked, looking over at Stormy as he clinged to her arm. He wanted to make sure she wanted to go there, too.

"I'm fine, Alice," Ethan assured her in his usual soft tone of voice. And he was. Already, he could feel the flow of Chi returned to normal, restoring itself as things have a habit of doing in the natural world. With each heavy double-beat of her heart, the spinning in his head became a little bit less, until he reached the point where he could raise his head to look at the girl without falling over onto his back. "My name is Ethan."

He glanced at the moped, surveying it silently. He had seen it before; he was not entirely unobservant. He knew the state it had been in. Until she had laid her hands upon it. Then, like the phone from before, it had simply put itself together.

"You're different..." he observed. He could think of nothing else to say? What were the two of them but different, he able to throw his Chi in a manner even the greatest of Tai-Chi Masters could not imagine, she able to mend, and most likely break, mechanical things with the lightest touch. They were different from other people.
And, he realized, they were the same to each other.

Erik Jackson

“I’m sorry.” Kira muttered it under his breath, lightly kissing Erik on the forehead. Erik saw the flash of a frown on Kira's face before the Performer dashed out of the reasturant, leaving Erik there. Erik bit his lip and closed his eyes. body threatening to just shut down on him. I need to get out of here. I need fresh air, I need peace, Erik thought. He forced himself to stand up as he let out a pained moan, his body hurting all over, like he had been attacked. I must have hurt myself struggling, he thought. But I still could have done more. I should have done more. Erik let out a groan as he stumbled out of the reasturant, in no condition to go anywhere anytime soon.

"I want to go home," he muttered. His pants were covered in blood, and his shirt had the remains of his breakfast and cake on it. He whipped his mouth clean, but there was no hope for his shirt. I'm going to need to think of some excuse, or mom'll kill me, he thought. Oh God... Mom... How can I face them, knowing that I might as well have killed all those people myself? Erik, deep down, knew this was somewhat irrational, but didn't care. He could have done something, not brought Kira there, not brought up the topic of good and evil. Something, anything, would have been better then that massacre... And yet, Erik couldn't bring himself to loath Kira. Couldn't bring himself to swear that justice would be done.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked aloud, lucky that no one was there to see the young teen walking through the park. He wasn't sure where he was going. All he knew was that it was somewhere else, somewhere that Kira wasn't. Somewhere he could think in peace... But really, what was there to think about? The fact that Erik felt sick, like he had killed all those poor people? The fact that Kira had done it all, had physically killed three people and used his powers to kill all the rest? The very large fact that Erik was secretly seeing an evil villain (not like there were any good villains) and said villain happened to be another male?

Erik wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about any of it, and he might have thrown up some more, had he not stumbled into some kind of clearing. Looking around, he realized he actually had just stumbled into a small graveyard, with a small church in the front. Swallowing, Erik took a few hesitant steps forward, the sight of a church somewhat comforting for the religious boy. Funny, though. He was religious but all these things were going on around him... Things that no 'good' Catholic was supposed to let happen. I just want to go home, but I don't want to go home... I want to go somewhere safe, Erik thought.

Erik stepped into the church, the dim lighting forcing him to take a few seconds to adjust. It wasn't smoky, just dimly lit, with two large stained-glass windows letting in colored light. In the front, several candles let their flames dance in the air. Erik stepped forward, his feet clacking on the wooden floor. It echoed in the grand hall, the empty pews seeming to glare at him. What was he doing, here in a building of God? He was gay, or at least bisexual, and just witnessed a mass murder with no intent of bringing the murder to justice. He bit his lip. Wasn't God supposed to be forgiving? Then again, surely there had to be a limit to how much even God could forgive one person.

"I wish I knew the answers," Erik muttered as he stopped in front of the candles. He eyed them warrily, then looked around him, like someone was going to come out of the darkness and attack him. Deciding that he was safe, Erik quickly lit two of the candles in the front. One for me, and one for Kira, he thought. He felt a little better, admittedly. Sighing, Erik sat down on the pew right in front, eyeing the candles sadly.

The taller one, the one he lit for Kira, burned slowly, the wax oozing as it fell down the sides. The smaller one, the one he lit for himself, burned quickly. The wax was gobbled up by the flames, spilling down in waves. Was this supposed to mean something? Erik wasn't sure. Moaning, he fell forward and burried his head in his hands, crying softly. "I just want some answers! I want things to be clear!" He shouted. Then, softly and to himself, "I want Kira to love me back... To give up being a villain."

Alice Laire

"You're different..."
Alice looked around and then pointed to herself as if she was asking, 'are you talking to me?' And then she laughed nervously. "You know, I am pretty different, aren't I?" She said, "I have purple hair! Most people don't have purple hair like me. Don't worry, it's not natural, I dyed it this way, and it's not totally purple, either, just streaks." She laughed again, but the look in Ethan's eyes told her that he knew something, perhaps he had seen what Alice had done back with her phone, and the clock, and the moped. She sighed, doing a mental facepalm for doing all that stuff in the open without thinking. She looked around and spotted a church not far off, it was probably empty, so she decided that would be the best place to talk instead of out in the open.
So, Alice practically threw Ethan onto the back of the moped's seat and then squeezed herself onto the front and drove into the direction of the church, hoping none of the police would realize that the moped wasn't one that was built for two.
When they got there, she pulled Ethan off and just about dragged him (not letting him walk on his own) to the steps of the church. Since there weren't any people around the church, she had decided not to go inside, because she didn't want to make Ethan walk up the stairs.
Alice sat down on one of the stairs and patted next to her, instructing Ethan to sit down. "What did you see?" She asked adding besides everything in her mind. She hoped that he had just thought that her hair was 'different' or her eyes were 'different' or her random act of goodness was 'different', but she knew that was probably not the case, she just wondered what he knew about being different. Why was he so calm if he had seen her? Most people would probably run and scream if they saw someone, 'different', or at least freak out a little. But he just sat there, was it because he was sick? She didn't know, but hopefully, Ethan would give her some answers.

"What did you see?"

"You're a technopath," Ethan observed quietly, under his breath, so that only she could hear him. He had summoned the words out of the deepest depths of his memories, from some dark, shadowy corner full of cobwebs where he stored the memories of his early childhood, when he had still been utterly obsessed with the stories of super-heroes. Technopath; one who could manipulate technology, control it. A very advanced power. He wasn't even sure that he had the word right... but his memory was usually fairly good. At least, he hoped it was...

But that didn't matter now. What she was called didn't matter to him; it never would. The important thing was that he had found someone else to whom some very odd things had happened. Perhaps he was not alone in the trials of this odd, impossible life. For months he had debated it, worried over it. Should he tell someone? Should he ignore it, simply stop using his abilities? That seemed the most practical answer; they were far too strong, and drained him, as this girl had just seen, practically to the point of collapse. What was the point of having a special power if using it got you killed?
Then again... this was a matter of Chi. The fact that the power was doing any harm to him at all meant only one thing; he was using it wrong.

Erik Jackson

Erik was sitting there silently, mulling over his thoughts darkly, when he heard a few people come in. Who are they? Erik thought, ducking behind the pew so he was hidden to all but an extremely careful eye. "What did you see?" A girl's voice. Of course that didn't mean that everything was going to be fine, but still. Who were these people? Why did they come into the church? And what in the world was Erik going to do? "You're a technopath," a male said. It was quiet, but in the church it echoed, like everything else. Erik wasn't one hundred percent what a technopath was, but it sounded cool and probably had something to do with technology. After all, it had the word 'tech' in it. So did that mean the girl could control technology? Erik wasn't sure how that power would work, but he figured it would be fun to have. It probably has lots of different uses, Erik thought.

There was a long silence while Erik thought over what to do next, the other two people in the church also quiet. He decided to peak over the top of the pew and look out. He saw a somewhat Asian looking male with glasses and a girl with purple hair. She must be the technopath, whatever that is, Erik thought. I wonder what the male can do... If he can do anything. I should probably go introduce myself. Isn't it a bad thing to watch people without them knowing? But I don't know if I can trust them... I thought I could trust Kira, but now... Erik bit his lip to stop himself from thinking about that, or risk feeling sick again. I don't want to throw up, that would be unheroic! Erik thought. He shook his head and stood up, shyly walking up to the other two.

"Erm, did I hear you right? You think she's a technopath?" Erik asked the male. He knew he looked like a mess, and he didn't look up out of embarrassment. "Uh, I'm Erik... But I also go by Neon." He wasn't sure if they would have heard of him. Sure, he ran around town doing his best to stop minor crimes, but usually he got tired of shouting out his hero name and just jumped into the butt-kicking. "I'm not sure what you'd call it... But I kinda control light and stuff." He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, a small, ping-pong ball sized orb appeared. It was a dull blue, since Erik was too tired to control the color. A dull and dark blue, he thought. Like my mood: somber. Erik shifted uncomfortably from where he stood. "I'd shake your hands... But I'm kinda a mess right now," he admitted. He felt his face heat up and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. What's wrong with me? Usually I'm more cheerful then this! More excited! But really, Erik wasn't sure what to be at this point. After all, he would feel wrong, claiming to be a hero at this point.

Alice Laire

"You're a technopath,"
Alice facepalmed, "so you did see." She muttered, sighing heavily, then she looked at him, "but can I ask you something? You saw everything and didn't freak out, why not?" She put her hand against his forehead, he didn't feel sick, "you aren't still sick, so..."
Her question was interrupted by a boy who seemed to appear from the front of the church. He asked about her being a technopath and she hit her head against a wall. "Another person knows, delightful."
The boy introduced himself as Erik or...Neon? She wasn't quite sure what to call him, or exactly what he said, I probably shouldn't of hit my head that hard. She thought, rubbing her head and rolling her eyes. Then, to add to her confusion, he made an orb of light out of nothing. She watched the dull blue orb with her purple eyes hard and then finally concluded that it wasn't an illusion.
"Okay okay okay I'm a technopath." She admitted standing up and walking over to Erik, "and you're a...lightopath." She knew that wasn't right, she was just trying to match a name with his power, and even after she said that, she was still racking her brain for the word. When she didn't find one, she made her own, remembering a little bit of Greek from a course she took, "How about fospsyche? It's light and mind, so like light control...in a way." She sighed, "sorry." She looked the boy up and down, he looked pale and shaken and his shirt had throw up on it.
Alice gasped, "are you okay? I could take you to my apartment, or a doctor, or a hospital, or to your home, or call someone, or something." She didn't want to touch him, afraid it might startle him, so she just stood there.

Why had she asked the question in the first place? Stormy's stomach sank slightly, but her heart was racing just as his was. He wasn't afraid of her. He hadn't cringed at the dead bodies and the blood. He was different - in more ways than one, now that she thought about it... The way he acted was like he hadn't excepted her to form such a question. In all truth, neither had she. Friends weren't something she had. She was evil, a villain. She knew it, whether she liked it or not. And nobody wanted to be friends with the bad-guys.

But he did. That was something new all-together. The murder this morning was washed from her mind. Her thoughts clicked into action, working to remember everything about him. He liked dolls, he was perky and eccentric, he was different. She liked that. For some reason, Stormy liked that. Maybe it was because it made her feel a little more sane than she actually was; and she knew she was insane, in an odd sort of way. Some part of her knew that she wasn't "normal". But she didn't believe that. She didn't want to believe that. She was normal. It was everyone else who was strange. They needed to be punished. It wasn't ok to be strange.

Before she could protest, Zared had taken her by the hand and was pulling him after her, leading her down the street in the direction of a restaurant. From a distance, Stormy had always been fond of the restaurant. Something about it was satisfying, despite how people went there in all smiles instead of frowns. What was the point of smiling? It was ignorance. They were all ignorant.

"The restaurant?" she asked. Was she surprised? What an odd sensation. Her bright, icy gaze flickered over to where the building sat. The smell of the food was definitely enough to draw her attention. "Yeah, it's nice," she said, unbothered by his clinging.

Ethan had sat in silence for a while, watching the interaction between these two rather wild characters. The boy with the light orb, in horrible condition, clearly, and girl with the purple hair and an unnatural tendency for picking troubled people up off the street. Such strange creatures...

And so very much like himself. He could see in their faces his own confusion, his own fear of discovery, of rejection. They just wanted to fit in, as all people their age wanted. But they did not fit in anymore. They were different, strange, and above all, special...
Special...

Shaking his head slightly, he came to his feet.
"Why don't you both come with me?" he suggested quietly, glancing from Alice to Erik. "My dojo's just across the street. You can get cleaned up there, and we can talk without anyone else interrupting us."

He glanced between the two, searching for approval or dissent. For some reason, he felt a bit protective of the two of them. Their powers were so much stranger, harder to conceal, then his own... their situations so much less fortunate. He wanted to help them, give them someone they could talk to. That was what he had always wanted to do for the people around him. He wanted to protect, support, guide. He wanted to lead them.

Erik Jackson

At least the girl wasn't freaking out yet, Erik thought numbly. She just admitted that she was a technopath (whatever that was) and then walked up to him. "And you're a...lightopath," she decided. Erik was pretty sure that was some kind of made-up word, but he was too tired to care. Usually I'd probably be excited to meet people like me, but all I can feel is sorrow and hurt... "How about fospsyche? It's light and mind, so like light control...in a way." Erik didn't know what language she was speaking, but it certainly wasn't English. "Sorry." Then she gasped. "Are you okay? I could take you to my apartment, or a doctor, or a hospital, or to your home, or call someone, or something." Erik bit his lip and shook his head slightly. He didn't think any of them could help him. He just wanted to be left alone to think about what was going on. I just want to think... And my head hurts... Suddenly, the other teenaged boy got to his feet.

"Why don't you both come with me?" He asked quietly, glancing between the two others. "My dojo's just across the street. You can get cleaned up there, and we can talk without anyone else interrupting us." Erik took a shaky breath. I need to be happy again, cheerful. After all, what else is a hero supposed to do? We're supposed to make others feel good, even if we feel terrible. It's unheroic to let something get you down! You just have to make sure it doesn't happen again, he decided. He smiled at the two, his usual, cheerful smile.

"All right, captain! Sounds awesome! I mean, is it a real dojo? Like, one of those from a movie?" Erik asked, jumping up and down at the idea of going to some super secret ninja place. He wondered if the guy was a ninja, or maybe a samurai. That would be super cool! Erik didn't know any ninjas or samurais, but he figured it would be awesome to get to meet one. "Are you a ninja?" He asked, scratching his head curiously. "I'm a hero! Or, well, that's what everyone calls me. You can call me Erik, that's my real name! Or, well, you can call me Neon." Erik smiled larger, looking very pleased with himself. "That's my hero name. Cool, right? After all, I'm all about bright lights and being cheerful and stuff, so Neon!" Erik looked around the church and his eyes briefly rested on the two candles he lit earlier. The tall one and the short one were just about neck and neck. He shook his head. Can't think about that, now, I've got to be a hero.

"I don't know your guys' names yet... Do you have a super cool hero name? I betcha need one! I mean, all heroes need superhero names, or else the bad guys'll get 'em!" Erik was now completely different then before, fully committed in cheering himself up and convincing the others that he was fine. After all, what could he tell them? I'm dating an evil villain who also happens to be a guy? Yeah, Erik wasn't about to tell them that... That was personal. Private.

Alice Laire

Alice jumped a few feet (not literally) when the gloomy kid, Erik, randomly exploded in a random blast of happiness and energy. She blinked a few times and then took a deep breath. This kid was weird, but considering the circumstances, weird seemed to be normal, I mean, 2 out of 3 people (that she knew of) in this church had super powers. One of them had purple hair, one was just freakishly calm, and the other was bipolar and looked like a billion bottles of neon puffy paint threw up on him.

She laughed and put her arm around the kid's shoulders in a comforting, friend-like manor. "My name is Alice, and no, I don't have a super hero name yet, I still wouldn't call myself a superhero, I mean, it's not like the mayor has my number on speed dial, and I don't go around keeping people from robbing banks, but whatever." She smiled at Erik, hoping he was feeling better, he sure seemed like it, but some people know how to mask their emotions, a skill that Alice had never been very good at, she seemed to wear her thoughts on her sleeve.

She brought Erik and Ethan outside of the church and led them to the pink moped. "I don't think all three of us will fit on here." She said, pointing out the obvious, "so I think that you two should ride it and I'll find something else like a broken down car or something, she looked around and spotted a rusty razor electric scooter leaning against a house near the church with a sign that read, "Free" on it in letters faded by weather. "Wait one minute. Erik, do you want to see what my power is all about?" She asked, jogging over to it, and wheeling it back to them.

"Watch this." Alice placed her hands firmly on the handlebars, and concentrated, just like with the moped, she felt the parts bend and mold and repair, until before all of them was a working scooter. "You boys ready to go to the dojo?" She asked, grinning.

Ethan nodded his agreement, swinging onto the moped with incredible grace, considering not long before he had been falling over. He said nothing, simply waiting for the other two to join them, but his mind was working a mile a minute. The only time it wasn't working hard and fast was when he was doing Tai-Chi.

The other boy's sudden personality switch did not concern Ethan. He was generally good at keeping up with people, even if on the outside he did not seem to be comprehending what they said. One did not have to reply to understand. One only had to listen. And that was what Ethan did. He listened to Erik chattering. Talking about ninja and samurai... totally ridiculous. Of course, they were cool. Ethan had always liked Japanese culture. He was half-Japanese himself.
But Tai-Chi wasn't Japanese...

And calling him Captain... that was just odd. Ethan knew he liked to lead, but... for the other boy to have picked up on it so suddenly was... odd.

"Let's go," he murmured softly to the others.

Erik Jackson

Erik's smile grew when Alice put her arm around his shoulder in a comforting, friendly manner. "My name is Alice, and no, I don't have a super hero name yet, I still wouldn't call myself a superhero, I mean, it's not like the mayor has my number on speed dial, and I don't go around keeping people from robbing banks, but whatever." The idea of having the mayor call you all the time was super cool, but Erik wasn't able to say so, since Alice then walked out of the church and motioned for them to follow her. Erik quickly ran out, looking around at everything in a completely different light. The church was really beautiful, when you looked at it. Kind of small, but Erik didn't care. After all, size didn't really matter! It was all about one's heart, and how they felt about things! He'd know, after all. Still, seeing Alice's pink moped made Erik's smile fade a little. It wasn't like he hated pink, but it wasn't exactly his favorite color.

"I don't think all three of us will fit on here." Alice was pointing out the obvious. Even though Erik was only fourteen, he wasn't a shrimp by any means. And there was no way he was sitting on someone's lap like a little kid. "So I think that you two should ride it and I'll find something else like a broken down car or something," Alice added. Sounded good, but could Alice even drive? Erik supposed it wasn't too important, since heroes got special rules. After all, Erik was pretty sure you weren't allowed to add huge rocket launchers to your car, but that didn't stop Batman. Then again, Batman was technically fictional. Meanwhile Alice was looking around for something broken down, and eventually found something. "Wait one minute. Erik, do you want to see what my power is all about?" Alice asked, not waiting for an answer. She jogged away and quickly came back, wheeling a rust electric scooter of some kind back. "Watch this." She placed her hands on the handlebars and concentrated. In a few moments the parts bended and molded, repairing until it revealed a working scooter. "You boys ready to go to the dojo?" There was a pause.

"Dude! That was totally epic! Like, could you fix a broken Playstation? My bro totally busted his, and we don't have enough money to get a new one, but you'd like! Whoa! Like, amazing!" Erik shouted, jumping up and down cheerfully, acting younger then fourteen. He wasn't even thinking about all his problems, far too into his new friends (and fellow heroes, some part of his mind had decided) to think about anything else. It would be easy to say he had a one track mind, but that wasn't really the case. He was, more then anything, repressing his bad thoughts in the only way he could: energetically talking about other things.

"Let's go," Ethan softly said, cutting into Erik's long speech about how the Playstation was totally better then the X-Box, no matter how you tried to cut it. Erik looked at him quickly, smiling and grinning, hoping on the moped in front of Ethan. They could have been adopted brothers, going on a ride on their sister's moped. Erik cheerfully grinned up at Ethan. "This is gonna be epic! Do you have some super awesome ninja skills or something? Oh, can you climbs walls and walk on water? 'Cause that would be totally epic! My brother thinks that no one can walk on water except Jesus, but I think that he really gave ninjas his epic power 'cause ninjas are awesome like that." Erik said it completely seriously, though anyone who was listening probably would have thought it was totally ridiculous. After all, Erik didn't look like he was ten, yet he acted like it.