<Sam's point of view>

"Alright, I'm here. Where we going?" I asked, appearing next to the person who had the fucking audacity to put me on a mission. She startled, curse words slipping out of her mouth.

"D.C." She replied after a moment of hitting me with the clipboard.

"I thought D.C. didn't exist anymore." I said.

"No it does, it's just not the capital of the US anymore." She said. "The professionals are over there, go greet them and receive instruction."

"Okay." I strode briskly over to the professional superheroes, recognizing one or two from the newspapers. Void stood there in all their glory, their eyes jet black and their black hair with purple faded into spots floating around them like they were in outer space without a helmet. They reminded me of Raven from the Teen Titans comics in the paper, but now they seemed much more cheerful. Dove stood off to the side, his short pale hair barely poking out of his hat. He was the one who had the personality of Raven.

"Hey, what's your name?" Void asked.

"I uh, do you mean my supersona name or my real name?" I asked.

"Both if you can." Void said, their smile kind and patient.

"I'm just Sam." I said awkwardly.

"Ah. Still haven't come up with a name for your supersona. You're still wearing the school-provided training suit." Void smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah." I agreed nervously.

"Don't worry, we'll help you with that supersona of yours." Void chuckled. "This is Dove, he's a bastard with the power of God and anime on his side."

"Void. I don't have the power of God and anime on my side, I have a side job as an animator and the power of Monster Energy Drinks on my side. My power is-"

"Control of energy around you, but not in you. You like flight the most out of all your abilities, such as force fields and turning into pure energy." I said.

"Huh. Did your research, huh kid?" Dove asked.

"Yeah. You bet I did." I replied. "You're one of my favorites other than Void."

"Well what are Void's powers then?"

"Making things disappear, dimension hopping with portals, portals, stasis, and muting everything." I explained.

"Behold, a nerd." Void said. "What are your powers?"

"Super strength, voice manipulation, self multiplication, shapeshifting, and spider climbing. Jump high too. Can't weave webs because...I am half jumping spider demon, not a house spider." I explained. "I'm also half deer demon."

"Why voice manip?" Dove asked.

"My deer demon father is a chaotic bastard who is a radio host." I sighed.

"Oh. Okay." Dove nodded slightly.

"So we gotta get going. I made a portal." Void pointed at their portal that showed the remains of the white house.

"Okay. Come on, sunsplotch." Dove said to me as he stepped through the portal. I followed, the odd sensation of using portals instead of regular teleportation hitting me.

"I did not like that. I'll stick to teleportation, thanks." I said, pausing like I just stood up with iron deficiency. Void entered the portal and closed it as Dove and the other pros started towards a large building that looked abandoned. I could hear people moving about inside the seemingly abandoned building.

"That's where we're going. The goal is to kill the scientists and rescue as many of the people they were doing inhumane experiments on. There are demons, angels, mythical creatures, and humans in there that have been either captured and enslaved or kept there their entire lives." Void explained, pulling on their mask. "Make sure you hide your identity if you don't want to be known by both your supersona and your irl self." Void then disappeared and reappeared a few feet away.

I scrambled to put on a mask before running after them. We entered the building, hearing the alarms start to go off. I ran through the halls by myself searching for anything to do. I stumbled across a panicked scientist who saw me and ran back into a room without closing the door. I peeked in through the window, seeing the scientist go to kill an innocent-looking girl who was about 16 in appearance and completely emotionless. I stopped the scientist by stabbing him through the back of the head. He stared at me with shock for a moment before falling to the ground.

"Yeah, you tried me and paid for it. Bitch." I said, kicking the scientist out of the way. The room was large and the scientist lay in a heap 3/4 of the way to the back wall. Tools attached to robotic arms were dangling from the walls. It was white and completely sterile in the room, save for a few old bloodstains and the blood of the scientist I just killed. I pulled the knife out of the scientist's head, wiping it on the lab coat and walking over to the girl to free her.

I cut her restraints, frustrated that she wouldn't move when she was free of the zip ties. I picked her up so gently as she watched me from behind her bangs. Her quiet breathing hitched and she gripped my uniform, her bright blue eyes wide. I mumbled that she was much too thin before taking her out of the building. The cold hit me hard and the thin girl I held shivered violently, shaking like a leaf. I paused, my back to the wind as I summoned a warm blanket to wrap her in. She gripped me and the blanket I had wrapped around her, her big blue eyes closed as she clung to me.

"Hey, so, I'm going to steal this-I hope you don't mind." I said to Dove.

"Go ahead. She probably needs some TLC from another living being right now." Dove shrugged. "Do you have her file?"

"She has a file?" I asked. The girl in my arms took that as a cue and produced her file from a large pocket sewn into her clothes before wrapping herself back in the blanket. I flipped though it, finding her name and a serial number along with several pictures, ranging from toddler to teenager. Her name in the file was Greta Matryoshka. She was originally a blonde until they changed her to a turquoise-haired girl permanently at age five, I discovered by quickly skimming through the file. I went back to Dad's house as quickly as I could, occasionally teleporting from place to place.

"Seven league boots would've been great in this instance." I grumbled as I finally came to a stop on the driveway. "Let's get you inside and warm." I turned the doorknob, letting the warmth and laughter of my family seep out into the cold silent winter air. I went inside, changing what I was wearing with a snap of my fingers and sitting down on the couch with her in my lap.

Dad looked at Greta, who was curled silently in my lap with her head against my chest and her eyes closed. He nodded at me like "good job finding a traumatized girl who is going to be emotionally attached to you because you showed her some form of human kindness" with a tired face.

"Can you pass me some food?" I asked Dad before leaning my head down so I could speak softly to Greta. "Hey, do you want some food too?"

"Yes." Greta's voice emerged, cracked and unused.

"Okay, what do you want?" I asked gently and patiently.

"Food." Greta looked a bit confused that I asked.

"Bread? Lasagna? Leftovers? Taco Bell?" I asked. "I can even make you something if you don't want any of that, as long as you eat something."

"Uh...what's any of that?" Greta asked quietly, climbing so she sat next to me on the couch.

"Lasagna it is." I said. "Time to treat you to our Christmas dinner." Dad gave me two plates of lasagna and I ate it happily as Greta hesitantly tasted it.

"Slow down, Sammy, you're going to choke." Bones warned as they rolled out dough.

"Don't tell me what to do, I'm five minutes older than your ass." I protested.

"And I'm six thousand years older than your ass. Slow down." Jeff said, pointing a wooden spoon threateningly in my direction from the kitchen. I reluctantly slowed how fast I ate, watching the Christmas special on television. Greta was enjoying the lasagna with slow bites, her plate barely half-finished and I could tell she was full but not willing to disappoint with an empty plate.

"Hey, you don't need to finish all of it. It won't offend anyone." I told her. She nodded slowly, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. "Did you like it?"

"Yes. It was very good." Greta replied.

"Okay, your file says your name is Greta. Is this correct? Do you want me to call you something else?" I asked.

"Please call me something else, anything else. Just not that." She said.

"Alright. Do you have anything in mind?" I asked.

"No."

"How 'bout we call you Flower. You're pretty like one. It seems to fit." I suggested. She nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching up again. "Cool. I'm going to go to bed now. Good night." I walked upstairs only to hear footsteps follow me. Flower was following me with her eyes wide.

"Don't leave me alone. Please."

"Okay. Come on then. Let's get you dressed in something more comfortable and warm and you can sleep in my bed tonight. I'll take the futon I have in my rip." I said with a small smile. I led her by hand into my room, which was warm and cozy. I got out my futon and laid it out neatly on the floor before getting into some warm pajamas. I handed Flower a pair of old sweats and a sweater, which she put on slowly and deliberately. I realized that she had a hole in her back in the shape of a perfect circle and that instead of regular feet she had ballerina shoes. She could walk on them flat but it seemed she preferred to stand en pointe. She was like one of those old BJD dolls. Her joints had a little ball in each one. She looked to be made of wood, but she wasn't wood, she was soft and warm and you couldn't get a splinter by touching her.

I looked away before she realized I was watching, turning on the white noise machine I kept in my room at all times. I laid down in my futon, facing away from her. She crawled into my bed. I fell asleep seconds later.