A hand hovering above my car’s dashboard, I exert my will trying to fill the waiting coin with my power without touching it.

  I’ve gotten the air twice, so spiking a coin immutable should be easy enough from a few inches away, right?

  Not that my half ?hour of idle attempts would suggest that.

  Giving up for the moment, I close my hand into a fist before turning it immutable. Having a hand-shaped void in the world is terrifying, and if it’ll work for hitting things without breaking my hand, that’ll be great.

  I should have Asher look into some weapons I could use that could take advantage of being unbreakable.

  Releasing my grip on the ability, I press my hand against the steering wheel, eyes drifting shut as I focus on the aura of energy flickering around me.

  Could be that I’m leaking energy, but there’s gotta be a trick to me not falling sometimes even when fully phased.

  Narrowing my attention, I mentally comb through the car parts, mentally dissecting the part of the steering wheel I’m touching.

  Theoretically, I don’t need to phase all of it to make it so that I don’t pass through. Full objects are easier, but what if I just did a small bit?

  Once I’ve mentally divided the component in half, I phase both my hand and the section of the wheel I’m touching, both of them becoming indistinct in my senses. More importantly, it’s not falling through the ground.

  Satisfied that I can pull it off in at least a small degree, I relinquish the pull, letting everything snap back to normal states.

  Phasing, immutability, mind map.

  Those three things are the culmination of all of my abilities and training, the sum total of power I can access no matter what we do. The sub-abilities would be my ability to partially phase or make something immutable, though if it’s not me or something I’m wearing, I struggle with that.

  At a range of ten feet in any direction, my mind map is more or less perfect with what it can feel as long as it’s physically there and is fine being monochromatic. I suppose I would be terrible at painting in the dark.

  That’s also not including the fact that I’m just physically more capable than any other human. Outrunning cars and all of that if I really push myself.

  And finally, in terms of my personal capabilities, I have enough hand to hand training and free-running experience to not completely embarrass myself if I need to rely on those skills.

  Asher’s suit protects me, and he makes tools for me to use.

  No matter how I slice it, I can’t see all of that being enough for me to do this one on my own, even if I could try one hundred times. I’m not even sure if I’m really worth half the team.

  I let myself stew in that thought for a moment. Just because it comes from my own issues doesn’t always mean it’s wrong. Nor does it mean I can’t learn from it.

  With the work I’ve been putting in on improving, I can comfortably use both aspects of my ability, the push and the pull, even if I can’t switch between them fast.

  Meaning, the most dangerous time for me will be the moments between being immutable and being able to phase.

  Of the two, immutability is the more important ability right now. I’m going to be fighting several people, even if most are going to be clones, and more than that, I want to protect everyone I can.

  Wouldn’t do for me to be escaping with the hostages only to phase and let attacks fly through me and hit them instead.

  If I can get to the point of using my powers in an aura around me, I could make everyone in the group we rescue unable to be hurt as we escort them away to safety.

  Kurt is going to be a real problem for getting anyone out, and depending on if it’s me or Amelia who ends up facing him, it’ll get dangerous.

  “Damn it,” I growl, trying to force the thoughts out. This has been hashed out repeatedly; there’s no reason for me to mope through it again. Doesn’t matter how many times I look through it; no magical solution will appear.

  My attention on my thumbnail, I watch it go from normal to an abyssal black as if it is absorbing all the light.

  It looks sorta similar to my eyes if I squint at it in a certain way.

  Does that mean my eyes are always slightly out of phase or more indestructible than other things?

  At the idea of willingly sticking needles in my eyes to test that theory, I quickly abandon the line of questioning.

  I lean forward to look at the stars and wonder what it would be like to travel them. To be away from the world and free from all of it.

  Wouldn’t it be cool if I could explore the cosmos with my powers? There are some supers out there who might have all the abilities necessary to do it, but considering I can’t deal with the temperature, I guess I’m not a good option.

  Amelia could deal with the temperature, though. And I could probably deal with the pressure with my powers at least somewhat.

  Though I don’t feel hot or cold when using them, Amelia's cold resistance isn’t exactly pulling as much weight as I initially thought.

  The only one of us I know who can fly is Cass, so we would need her powers too.

  If I had the power to leave this planet, would I? Probably, after all I just want to do stuff on my own.

  If I could escape from it all, I would leave in a heartbeat.

  My phone rings, one of the few numbers that can go through the do not disturb setting.

  I don’t even need to check the name to figure out who it is.

  She has a sixth sense for these things.

  “Hey Amelia.” I greet continuing my impromptu stargazing.

  “Hey Jason!” Amelia chirps.

  I recline in my seat, phone pressed to my ear. “Did you need something, Amelia?” I ask, battling a sudden wave of exhaustion.

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  “Well, I was feeling really lonely, so I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a movie to help me fight my demons?” She asks, rousing my suspicions immensely.

  If she was actually lonely, she would have just gone looking for me nine times out of ten.

  Am I really that obvious?

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in a bit.”

  “No need for you to go and pick up something; we have all the snacks we could need at home,” Amelia says before hanging up without another word.

  I take the moment to steady myself before recollecting my things and leaving the safety of my car to brave the outside world once more.

  At least for as long as it takes for me to go from my car door to my apartment.

  Now home, I can smell what I think are brownies baking and hear the sounds of music playing from the living room.

  “Home,” I say.

  “Home!” she cheers. “Come on, I decided I wanted to watch a musical!”

  “This one really?” I ask, laughing as I join her on the couch, Amelia quickly shifting the blanket so that it drapes over both of us.

  “It’s a classic a Jasalia tradition!” Amelia confirms. “Now the brownies will be ready by the time she goes to the castle.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I agree before grabbing my drink off of the coffee table, holding it in my hands just to have something to fill them.

  Could be because I’ve seen this movie probably two dozen times or just the general feeling of the room, but I can already feel myself relaxing.

  There’s still a lot to think about and ideas I should plan out in my head, but at least for a moment I don’t need to worry about it as much.

  The world outside can be dark and scary, but in this moment I can focus on the area around me and that’ll be enough.

  The most stressful thing in front of me of right now is trying not to sing along to the songs I memorized so long ago.

  The arrangements we sang differ from the ones in the movie, so I would be off-key, anyway.

  “Are you feeling better yet?” Amelia asks suddenly.

  “Am I so painfully obvious?” I respond dryly.

  “I’m not going to say you’re obvious, but if I had to choose between guessing your thoughts or passing calculus again, I would claim to be a mind reader.” Amelia jokes.

  “Yeah, I’m feeling better,” I say, leaning against her as I watch the movie. “Just you know?”

  “It’ll be fine. I’m scared too.” Amelia admits.

  “You’re scared?”

  “Not everyone avoids our people when we have problems.” Amelia complains, jabbing a finger into my side. “Some of us elect to ignore our problems and instead focus on solving our friends' problems.”

  “So I should ignore my problems and try to solve yours instead?” I tease.

  “My problems are solved by brownies and physical affection, so get going, chop chop, minion.” Amelia jokes.

  “Sorry, I’m all out of brownies. Guess we will have to wait, won’t we?”

  Amelia laughs as she curls against me. “What if there’s something about that place still in me? Like I’m some kind of sleeper agent and will betray you?”

  “Then I’ll beat all four of them and rescue you again.” I say sharply. “I won’t ever lose you again.”

  “And how exactly would you beat five to seven supers while saving me?”

  The problem with me answering that question is I really don’t have an idea on how I’ll do that. If she is and Horrorfrost comes back with all of Amelia’s skill, how would I beat her?

  I know I would. I have to; otherwise, what else would I use my powers for? But beyond drugging myself up and hoping for the best, I don’t know what other options I have.

  “If you’re a sleeper agent, shouldn’t I keep it a surprise from you how I will?” I say, smiling, turning to face her to find her face startling close.

  “Mmmmmm.” She considers her multicolored eyes peering into me as if looking for the secrets of my lie. “I guess I’ll believe you.”

  I turn my head back towards the movie, but I catch a flicker of something in her expression, and I stay still.

  “You ever wonder that if you stare at something long enough you’ll finally understand it?” Amelia asks out of nowhere.

  “I’m pretty sure you understand me quite well.”

  “I get you, and I know how you’ll act. I just don’t know why. That’s why you surprise me constantly. It’s irritating.” She says before turning her head back to the movie. “Now go back to watching the movie so I can rest my head on your shoulder.”

  I comply with instructions, an arm snaking around Amelia.

  “How’s the snow domain going?”

  “You actually called it by its name. What kind of prize is this?” Amelia asks, waving a hand over my drink, chilling it. “Not great. But better than you phasing things you aren’t touching.”

  “Considering you can actually do it, that’s not a high bar.” I grumble.

  “Hey Jason?” Amelia asks, a hand coming towards my cheek.

  I’m about to ask what before an alarm chirps from the kitchen and on reflex I get off the couch and head to the oven.

  Once the brownies have all been excavated from the pan and are piled high on the plate, I return to the couch before curling back into the blanket; the brownies held between us.

  “So you were saying?”

  “Oh, I just was wondering if I ever properly thanked you for saving me?” Amelia asks, mouth full of brownie.

  I take a bite from the brownie before coughing slightly in surprise. “Amelia?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why are the brownies spicy?”

  “Because I put chili peppers in them?”

  “Why?”

  “To make the brownies spicy?”

  “Because?”

  “I wanted to know what they tasted like?”

  “And why was that?”

  “Because the intrusive thoughts won while I was cooking?” She tries holding a brownie to her face to hide behind.

  The effect fails significantly with her peeking around her hands and the brownies often enough that I pretty much always can make out her entire face.

  “I don’t even know what to say.” I grumble before finishing the spicy brownie because even if it tastes a little weird, it’s still chocolate.

  “You’re supposed to do something silly your intrusive thoughts are telling you to do so that we can both feel awkward together, duh,” she snorts happily, having another brownie.

  What is something that knee-jerk, I just really want to do at some level?

  I glance over at Amelia, the lights from the movie casting shadows across her face. Though even before powers, I could trace her features even in the darkness.

  Just like I’m sure both eyebrows are bouncing suggestively as she comes up with whatever dumb comment she’s about to go with.

  “If one of those intrusive thoughts is to ravish me, then I could let it slide, you have been…” Amelia trails off once she’s realized what I’ve done. “Hey if you’re going to kiss a girl, you should warn her first!”

  Before I know what’s happening, I’m laughing as Amelia pushes me to the couch as I half wrestle her before she kisses me on the cheek. “Eye for an eye, cheek kiss for a cheek kiss.” She huffs, settling on top of me.

  “And what part of that included you getting to lay on top of me like I’m a pillow?”

  “You were being a bully, so this is my reward.” She pouts. “Now back to movies and brownies.”

  “Sounds perfect.” I agree, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear that despite her best efforts, had escaped her braid.

  With the first movie done and more brownies to still be consumed, the only thing we can do is continue watching familiar favorites, catching the last bit of relaxation we can before tomorrow morning.

  “I’m not sorry for today.” Amelia says quietly.

  “Not sorry for what?”

  “You’re supposed to be asleep so I can have my dramatic soliloquy about unrequited love by myself, Jason,” Amelia growls.

  “Unrequited?”

  “It’ll be unrequited until we talk about it now, won’t it?”

  I sit up, holding Amelia in my arms. “Then we should talk about it?”

  “Nope, ask me when we’re done with this or when you feel your own feeling unrequited.” Amelia giggles.

  “You’re messing with me.”

  “Always am. Whatever the future may hold, I have no regrets in the moment, and that’s enough for me. How about you?” She asks, flashing me a grin.

  “Tons,” I admit. “Tons of regrets.”

  Neither of us says anything more after that, both content with our own thoughts.

  I might have a million regrets, but I am going to move forward. They made me who I am. And the person I am will get through the lab and stop them.

  No matter what it takes.

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