After Hal chose his hero name, his conversation with Guardian was over. He and Art were ushered out politely and they returned to Art's van. Hal sat in the front as the older man pulled away and drove off down the street.

It was a few minutes later when Art spoke. "Phoenix?" he said.

Hal shrugged, self-conscious. "I dunno. It was the best I could think of," he admitted. "You know, fire and all that."

Art chuckled. "I've heard worse," he said. "To be honest, I went through a bunch of names before picking Eagle. It sounds cool, though."

"You changed your name?" Hal asked.

For some reason, the question seemed to make Art uncomfortable. "Yes ... for reasons."

Deciding that it would probably be better if he didn't pursue that conversation, Hal sought a different topic. "Where are we going?" he said.

"To the School," Art answered, his voice jovial once again. "It's where everyone learns to control their powers. Even me and Storm went there. There are a whole bunch of people your age there. At least one hundred."

Hal squirmed. "I don't really like school. I'm not very good at it."

Art straight-up laughed at him. "Don't worry, kid," he said. "This isn't like regular school. You'll pick it up in no time. We're here." He jammed on the brakes, shooting Hal forward in his seat and nearly giving him whiplash.

"Don't you know how to do anything gently?" Hal complained.

Art grinned. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently. He indicated the building. "Your new home."

Hal got out of the van and looked up at the building. It looked similar to some of the houses—made out of metal, sparkling in the peculiar light above them—but much bigger. Some lights were on in the windows. "Wow," he said.

"Dorms are on the left, classrooms and other rooms on the right," Art said in a monotone. His grin belied the bored tone. "I've done this a thousand times. C'mon. Diana and your guides are waiting for you."

Hal followed Art down the metal path to the door of the School. The two walked through the massive doors, crafted to look like wood but still the color of metal. Inside the main lobby, there was a desk with a bored-looking woman behind it, otherwise unfurnished. She didn't even look up at them.

Art chuckled to himself and motioned to the hall on the right. "Go on," he said. "Your guides are waiting for you. First door on the right."

Hal followed the instructions and went inside the indicated room. It was not what he'd expected—instead of a classroom with desks, it looked like a gym, with a padded floor and everything. A boy was doing sit-ups in the middle of the unfurnished room, a girl standing over him. Diana leaned against the wall, staring at the floor, but she looked up when Hal came in and smiled.

The other girl looked up as well, brushing her caramel hair out of her eyes. It was cut in a pixie that demonstrated her pointy and elfin face, her dark brown eyes smiling when he approached. The boy on the floor had to be her brother. Although he was significantly smaller than the petite girl, he still resembled her, right down to the elfin face. "Hi," he said, still doing his sit-ups. "Are you Phoenix?"

Hal nodded. "Yeah."

The boy finally stood up. Now that he was standing, even under the sheen of sweat on his tan skin, Hal could see that he was only around fourteen. "I'm Brick," he said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Brick?"

Brick grinned. "Punch me anywhere."

Not really sure where Brick was going with it, Hal nevertheless punched him in the arm. He may as well have been hitting a wall, and he nursed his bruised knuckles. "Ow," he complained.

"Sorry," Brick apologized. He seemed to be preparing to say more, but his sister held up her hand and it was like his voice had been snuffed out like a candle.

"My brother's an idiot," the girl apologized. She reached out her hand. "I'm Silence."

"Silence?" Hal was a little nervous about asking people why they'd picked their names, still rubbing his injured hand.

She leaned towards him with a flirtatious expression and tapped her finger against his lips. "Say something," she said.

Hal wanted to say how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation, but when he tried to speak, he found that he couldn't. Then the girl waved her hand again and he found his voice. "What the heck?" Admittedly, his voice squeaked in anxiety.

"I can deprive a person of their voice, hearing, or sight temporarily," Silence explained. "It's very handy with an annoying brother."

Hal could imagine. In fact, he could think of quite a few people from his old life he'd like to have used that on. The thought "his old life" kind of hurt, though. It occurred to him for the first time that there was no going back to his old life now. He was stuck where he was. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he had yet to see.

Diana stepped forward, and he flushed, remembering she could read his mind. "Art said something about you being our guides?" she said, gently nudging them.

Silence and Brick exchanged rather guilty looks. "Ahh, right," Silence said. "We're supposed to show you around the school. And do you know where we should start?"

Both Hal and Diana shook their heads, Hal having the feeling that she was going to answer her own question anyway. She did. "The school cafeteria, of course!" she said enthusiastically. She grabbed their arms and pulled them along behind her. "Come on!"

The entire way through the school, Silence chattered on about this and that, and Hal found himself toning her out. He almost wished Silence's powers could be turned on herself, but he didn't want to seem mean. Diana stepped on his toes in that moment, and he grimaced, remembering that he had to be careful about what he thought. Apparently, Diana was always listening. He glared a little at her as they kept walking. Brick occasionally tried to insert something into the conversation, but Silence would simply lift her hand and his words would be choked off.

However, the atmosphere got a little less frosty when they reached the cafeteria. It was empty, being later in the afternoon on a Friday, but there were a few cooks hanging around behind the counter. Silence ordered for all of them, and in minutes they were sitting down with juicy cheeseburgers, French fries, and icy cold root beer.

Once Silence had started eating, she grew more amiable and didn't mute Brick whenever he tried to speak. Hal found himself warming to the twins a little more as they ate. Neither pressed the two new arrivals as to the circumstances surrounding their arrival, but they were willing to answer questions. "How long have you been here?" Hal asked, dipping a long, crispy fry into ketchup.

Silence shrugged. "Since we were four or five."

"Five," Brick corrected her.

Silence gave the same careless shrug again. "Whichever," she said. "Our parents were full-blown superheroes, driven to cover when Solar blew. We've practically been raised here."

"What happened to your parents?" Hal said.

It was Brick who responded. "They died. United hunted them down and shot them, luring them with a fake story of a fire," he answered quietly. "That was about four years ago. United didn't even have the decency to save the people they 'pretended' to have at risk, and they died as well."

Suddenly, the food wasn't quite as appetizing. "You mean, supers die on the job?" Hal said, his fry tasting like cardboard in his mouth.

"Quite often," Silence replied. "To villains, United, and even scared civilians. Or they just go bonkers like Solar and decide to end it all."

"Solar wasn't bonkers," Diana put in softly.

Silence eyed her. "Then why did he blow up an apartment building with over two hundred people in it and kill himself in the bargain?" she asked.

Diana said nothing, but Hal detected something strange in her expression. From the way everyone spoke of Solar's death, it was clear that they shared Silence's opinion—even Art and Storm. But Diana seemed to disagree. Still, how would she know? Solar had died when she was just a child.

"It's not all death and doom, of course," Brick said, interrupting the dark cloud that had come over their conversation. "Some of it's fun. And we're not going to be called out on a mission for a long time. We're not even half-trained."

"Yeah," Silence agreed. "You'll love this place. They have simulated missions, exercises in controlling your powers, they even let you use them on people!"

"I ... don't think I want to use my powers on people," Hal muttered.

Silence frowned in confusion. "Why not?"

"I'd kind of ... burn them to ashes?" Hal supplied.

"Ohh, right," Silence said, blushing a little. "I didn't think of that."

"You have to think first," Brick reminded her, earning a fry in the face from his annoyed sister.

"You're twins, aren't you?" Diana interrupted.

Both of them nodded in unison. "Twins," Silence said.

"Partners in crime," Brick added. "You know, when we can actually get along."

"True," Silence admitted. "Which is about half the time."

"A quarter," Brick muttered.

Hal chuckled, finishing off his burger. It seemed that this sort of conversation went on between the twins quite often. Diana was quietly observing with a smile, her food barely touched. Then again, she'd been carsick with Art. He really couldn't blame her for not eating.

Brick jumped up. "Hey, you want to see our dorm?" he said to Hal. "It's just for the two of us."

"We've got our own dorm, all to ourselves?" Hal asked, grinning. "Heck yeah!"

Not to be outdone, Silence jumped up as well. "We've got one too, Delphi!" she said. "Come on!"

. . . . . . . . . .

In the evening, Art and Storm ate dinner together at their house to the sound of Art's Frank Sinatra records. They were his pride and joy. Their house wasn't far from the School, since Storm was one of the teachers there. They rarely enjoyed a peaceful dinner together, and Art was taking full advantage of it. "You know," he said, "in the comics, superhuman wives never have to make dinner."

Storm's eyes flicked up to him from across the table. "Superhuman husbands never have to do the dishes, either," she answered. "It's a pity this is real life and not the comics, isn't it?"

Realizing he'd been outmaneuvered by his wife, Art hastily switched the topic. "What do you make of Phoenix?"

Immediately, Storm's mental barriers seemed to go up around her. "He's not that much different than the other kids we've brought here," she muttered, stabbing her fork into her barbeque chicken. "Anyway, we'll leave him where he is. The School is the right place for him."

Art knew he wasn't going anywhere with that particular conversation and decided to let it drop. He stuck a piece of chicken in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, wondering what it was about Hal that Storm seemed so uncomfortable about. Maybe Diana knew. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.

As if she'd read his mind, Storm glared at him. "Don't even think about it," she snapped.

The rest of their dinner was eaten in uncomfortable silence. Maybe Art shouldn't have pushed his wife, but it had been idle curiosity, nothing more. Once he'd finished, he stood and retrieved his coat. "I'm off to drop my van at the garage," he said. "Guardian's covering the cost."

He bent down to his wife and kissed her. She gave him a little smile. "Avoiding dishes?" she asked.

He grinned. "I'll be back. Nothing is worth garnering my wife's wrath over the dishes."

Once Art had gone, Storm stayed at the table. After a few minutes, she laid her phone in front of her and brought up a picture.

It was Solar.

U.dH