DECEMBER 14

1421 EST

"That'll be fifteen twenty-four, please," the clerk deadpanned.

CJ frowned at him, wallet half-open. "What?"

The clerk pointed to the monitor, displaying his total in bright green numbers fit for the holiday season. CJ stifled a groan, fully opening his wallet and rifling through the minutiae he'd stuffed into it over the past few months. He jerked his chin towards the comic book on the counter. "That is definitely not fifteen dollars, but okay."

He slapped a twenty dollar bill onto the desk and slid it towards the clerk, who picked it up and tapped away at his side of the screen. While he waited, CJ surveyed the store. A few customers dotted the aisles, flipping through comic books or browsing through other fan merchandise. A TV was lit up nearby, displaying the local news, and when CJ caught a glimpse of the headline, he wished he could turn away, but when people talked about what happened that night, CJ stopped and listened.

"The community is still reeling from the chaos of Halloween," said the news anchor, Daniel Danforth, whom CJ thought could be the poster boy for hair gel or whitening toothpaste. "In the wake of the battle, headed on one side by the beloved Union and the other by the infamous sorcerer Rune, many areas of Brightbay are recovering, in time for the holiday season. Support groups for those affected by any damage caused by the supervillains have been in place, as well as donation funds. However, citizens are still curious: is this the end of the Shadow Web?"

"Here's your receipt."

A short piece of paper was thrust under CJ's nose. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but dismissed it upon finding the clerk absorbed in the news broadcast. CJ cleared his throat, pocketing the receipt. "Thanks--"

"That was so crazy," the clerk interrupted, bleary eyes still glued to the TV.

CJ blinked. "What was?"

The clerk slowly tore his attention from the news, which had ceased discussing the fallout from the Battle of Brightbay--as the media had coined it--to look at him. "The battle," he said, as if it should be obvious. "My friends and I were so stoned, but I swear, I saw that speedster guy! What's his name...?"

CJ resisted both compelling urges to either burst into laughter or punch the guy in the face. "Rapid, I think."

"Rapid!" the clerk exclaimed. "Yeah, him. Man, his powers are so sick."

CJ nodded along, wondering if his expression was at all convincing. "Yeah, yeah, totally."

A few moments later, CJ was walking out of the comic store and into the falling snow of Brightbay City, new gift in hand. Streets were lit up with colorful shop displays, and strings of people moved up and down the sidewalks, bundled up against the cold. CJ tugged on his own hat as he jogged across the street, headed back towards Headquarters.

After that night, no one had really been in the mood for a celebration. No one really felt like they needed one, but Avi--of all people--insisted that the Union and Contingency throw their annual holiday party, and she wasn't holding back. It seemed that every day CJ padded into the cortex, there was something new being planned or delivered. Avi had barely let anyone into her planning committee, aside from Liv and Bristol, who wouldn't tell CJ or Tristan a thing. All they had said was that he needed to draw a name from a hat and get that person a gift. CJ had drawn Tristan's name, and now he was twenty bucks poorer.

"Fifteen bucks," CJ grumbled as he trekked through the snow. "What a--"

His laments were cut off by the familiar feeling of time slowing down, causing CJ to leap out of the way as a car came skidding towards where he'd just been standing. It careened into someone else's car parked on the side of the road, and suddenly CJ wasn't standing on the snowy streets of Brightbay City anymore. He was on his back on an asphalt road, baking in the midsummer California heat. His ears were ringing, his body felt numb, but he pushed himself up on his elbows to see a car overturned on the sidewalk, crumpled like a discarded piece of paper and burning. Flames reached for the blue sky, turning the air into hazy waves.

"Son, are you all right?"

A familiar voice. A trusted one. CJ squinted, tearing his eyes away from his parents' car to see someone standing there, backlit. He couldn't see their face, but he knew them. At least, he felt like he did.

"Son?"

The man outstretched a gloved hand, and CJ frowned, feeling like he was still moving through molasses. Who wore gloves in ninety degree weather?

CJ blinked and he was back in Brightbay, the cold December air rushing into his lungs as if remembering that's where it belonged. The world fell back into its normal rhythm, although CJ's heartbeat didn't. What had just happened?

"Are you all right?"

CJ flinched, spinning around to find a police officer standing behind him. Her face was etched with curiosity and stress lines, and she held a notepad in her hands. CJ blinked a few times, exhaling. His mouth tasted like metal. "Oh, um, yeah. Sorry."

"You almost got hit there," the officer nodded towards the accident, where the owners of the two vehicles involved were communing with another officer. Probably this lady's partner. "They're lucky we were patrolling."

"Yeah," CJ said softly. He cleared his throat. "But I'm fine. Are the drivers...?"

The police officer pocketed her notepad. "Uninjured. Minor damage to the second vehicle, but seems like they're both willing to comply with crash protocol."

CJ turned to see both drivers exchange some kind of information. One of them asked a question, and the police officer motioned to the nearest intersection, his finger pointed to the traffic camera positioned atop it.

Traffic cameras. CJ's blood ran cold. Butterflies of both excitement and fear filled his stomach. Could it really be that easy?

"Are you sure you're alright?" The police officer before CJ asked. She eyed him warily, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she inspected his own. "You seem a little...scattered."

"I'm fine," CJ said, albeit hurriedly. The police officer jumped, but before she could ask him any further questions, CJ took off down the street and hoped no one stopped to wonder how he ran so fast without slipping on ice.

---

CJ hoped that for once in the past few weeks, the cortex would be empty when he arrived back to Headquarters, giving him the chance to look for what he needed to find. But as the portal coughed him onto the platform, beside the grand Christmas tree and his friends stationed before it, he found that he wasn't that lucky.

"I'm telling you, white lights will look a lot better on the tree than multicolored ones," Liv said, arms folded across her chest.

Bristol's face twisted in disgust. "But where's the fun in that?"

"Fun?" Liv echoed. "It's classy."

"It's a lot."

"So is an explosion of color."

The whirring of the portal shutting down seemed to snag the girls' attention, and they both looked over in unison as CJ wished he could turn invisible.

"Oh, hey," Liv said simply before looking back to the Christmas tree.

"Where were you?" Bristol took in CJ's harried state, her eyebrows furrowing together ever so slightly. "Did you run all the way back here?"

Thankfully, CJ's feet weren't the only thing quick about him. He tilted his head back with an air of false confidence and sashayed off the platform, landing behind Bristol and Liv with a satisfied hop. "The day I stop running places is the day I die, Lightning McQueen."

Bristol rolled her eyes, but the tension in her face seemed to dissolve in favor of an annoyed smile. "That's the best you've got?"

CJ made a face as he backpedaled towards the hallway, arms brandished wide. "Did you really just ask me that?"

Bristol laughed and shook her head. She seemed lighter, in a way, since the battle. That burden of uncertainty about her powers, that fear had escaped, and been replaced with the strength she'd possessed all along. It was poetic, almost. Whatever the case, Bristol turned her attention back to Liv and the Christmas tree, giving CJ the chance to run away.

Only CJ spun and ran right into an armored torso, stopping him altogether. He blinked and stepped back, cheeks burning when he realized who he'd run into.

"Titanium Wave," he said sheepishly. "Funny seeing you here."

The leader of the Contingency stared down at CJ the way the police officer had before--quizzically, curiously, if not a little tiredly. As usual, Titanium Wave was donning his metallic supersuit, his cloak dragging at his heels. "Is it?"

CJ splayed his hands in the air in mock confusion. Titanium Wave dismissed him, sweeping into the cortex. Priscilla, Tristan, and Avi emerged from the security room, all wearing matching expressions of concern. They acknowledged CJ with a nod, before following Titanium Wave into the cortex. CJ stamped his foot into the ground when they'd passed before scurrying after them.

"It's good to see you all," Titanium Wave said, snagging everyone's attention as if he didn't command it already. His booming voice filled the room. "I understand if the past few weeks have felt...stressful, to say the least."

Liv snorted. "Based on the rest of the shit we've been through this year, these past few weeks have been a breath of fresh air." She held Titanium Wave's gaze, her face hardening. "What about him?"

Titanium Wave, for the first time, seemed nervous. He cleared his throat. "Aaron Dahl remains comatose and under constant supervision. He won't be hurting anyone anytime soon."

"We know that," Tristan said flatly. "Do you have any news?"

"I do," Titanium Wave said. "We've isolated the source of his powers." He waved a hand and Priscilla pressed a button. Information appeared on invisible screens before Titanium Wave, featuring an image of two items that looked like gauntlets to CJ. "These bands gave Dahl the mystic powers he claimed to possess."

Avi tilted her head, her green eyes glittering. "So he wasn't augmented?"

Tristan and Liv shared a look. "He never was," Tristan said. "The bands must have been something he created out of spite."

"Towards our parents," Liv muttered. "Towards us."

Titanium Wave looked visibly uncomfortable, and CJ resisted the urge to laugh. "Yes, well, whatever the case, we are looking into how they operate."

"Why?" CJ asked, and the word seemed to echo through the room. He felt the pressure of his companions' stares, but forged on, letting the feeling roll off of him in waves. "Why bother?"

Titanium Wave seemed stymied. "Because we can't have the wrong people getting their hands on tech like this. If someone else in the Shadow Web gets ahold of them--"

"The Shadow Web worked with Rune," CJ argued. "Hell, the Shadow Web formed because of Rune. You think they didn't know about his little bracelets?"

"CJ," Bristol warned.

"I think you need to lock them up," CJ said with an air of defiance. "Aaron Dahl wasn't the only person to feel screwed over by the augmented gene, and he certainly won't be the last we'll have to deal with."

Tristan nodded beside him. "I don't remember Aaron ever even building anything at home. If he could somehow learn how to put these together, I can't imagine what someone with an engineering background could create."

"He could have kept it a secret from you though," CJ said. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but there's obviously a lot you didn't know about him."

CJ expected a bitter response from Tristan, but he only smiled dejectedly as his eyes lowered to the ground, away from the pitied glances of their teammates. "Either way, we have to keep it a secret from the public," Tristan muttered. "They can't know it's even possible."

"I agree," Titanium Wave announced, his voice demanding attention. CJ rolled his eyes to himself at the man who reeked of superiority whenever addressing the Union. They'd defeated the Shadow Web and protected Brightbay without any help from the Contingency, and still were talked down to. What more they could do to finally be considered equals? "This secret will be protected within the Contingency and now also the Union."

Titanium Wave briefly said his goodbyes to the team as he walked out of the cortex, Priscilla following in tow.

"Am I the only one who doesn't like that guy," CJ asked.

"No," Liv answered, almost too quickly. "He thinks he's so tough."

Avi tilted her head to the side in consideration. "He is particularly strong."

Liv flashed her a look. "Not what I meant." She dragged a hand through her short blonde hair. "I'd like to see him try to deal with the Shadow Web the way we have. Maybe then he wouldn't act all high and mighty."

"The invincible Titanium Wave, baffled by a DIY sorcerer," Bristol announced with an air of sarcasm. "He'd lose his street cred."

"What street cred? The guy wears a cape!" Liv exclaimed.

At that, everyone burst into laughter, such an alien sound for the stark cortex they were standing in. It felt nice, CJ found. Standing around, laughing with his friends like this.

Something twisted in his heart. With his family.

Memories of the man he'd seen in his...vision? Daydream? Flashback? Whatever the case, CJ's smile melted from his face as Bristol, Liv, Tristan, and Avi began to disperse. He needed to check those cameras, sooner rather than later. What if something came up? Or worse, what if he forgot?

"Hey Avi?" CJ asked her retreating figure. "Could you uh, help me out with something before you get back to planning the party of the century?"

Avi laughed as she walked back toward him. "Do not flatter me, CJ." She stared at him inquisitively, her eyes searching his person for a task that required her attention. "What do you need help with?"

CJ lowered his voice as he answered; if this turned out to be for nothing, he didn't want the rest of his teammates to be concerned over his unanswered questions. "I'm not one hundred percent sure exactly, but I need you to access the databases for camera footage."

"Footage of what?" Avi asked.

"Me, I think." CJ lifted his eyes to Avi's, reading her confused expression. He wasn't sure the extent of information Avi knew about his past, or lack thereof. "Can you help me?"

She nodded despite her hesitation. "Of course, but--"

CJ cut her off by scooping her into his arms and racing through the cortex. They touched down in the control room barely a few moments later. The lights lazily flickered on as CJ flipped the switch and stepped inside. Massive stacks of computer monitors encompassed the room, mingled with hundreds of buttons and commands CJ had no idea how to work. Luckily, he brought the one girl who did.

CJ watched as Avi confidently strode to the security system and began pressing buttons and keys with the ease of a professional. Images suddenly flashed across every screen, filling each monitor with the forms of his various teammates. He laughed out loud as he watched Liv drop one of Avi's decorations and put it back like nothing happened. "No way! I could spend the whole day doing this," he snickered, momentarily distracted.

"Do you have a specific day and time you'd like me to check, or did you bring me here to spy on our friends?" Avi teased.

CJ's attention snapped back to his flashback as a subtle blush crept across his face. "Yes day, time, and I think... location too. Can you pull up footage from the day before I first arrived at headquarters? Mid-afternoon probably," he paused, "in California?"

"So last June the fourteenth," she muttered, more to herself than him as her mechanical fingers loudly typed out the date and other codes. "But you're going to need to be a lot more specific than just California."

CJ opened his mouth to respond, but just like the rest of his past, he didn't have an answer.

Tell her Cortona Street, Irvine. 3:27pm. A voice appeared in his head, as clear as his own thoughts. He whipped his head around his shoulder, certain he'd find someone behind him, but the space was empty save for more blinking security monitors. Was it another flashback resurfacing? CJ didn't have much experience with his memory, but this didn't feel like his own thoughts.

"Check Cortona Street in Irvine at 3:27 pm," CJ whispered.

Avi nodded and typed the coordinates into the machine.

His breath caught in his chest and his eyes opened in shock as the same scene from earlier appeared on the screen. The blue sky was striking as the sun illuminated a street as familiar to him as headquarters. The view of the camera caught just enough of a red car entering the frame for CJ to realize it was the same one as before, though this one was significantly less crushed.

"What am I watching?" Avi asked beside him, startling CJ.

"Just wait."

Seconds after he spoke, a van seemingly came out of nowhere, flying toward the red car. The van barreled into its side, sending the car toppling over itself as it sparked across the asphalt. CJ watched in horror as a body was thrown from the car. His body.

"Was that...?" Avi trailed off, her gaze flying between the boy lying broken on the screen and himself.

CJ couldn't find the words to answer, but he nodded slowly. His eyes remained glued to the screen, searching for details he'd missed the first time as he replayed the video. This time, when the van crashed into the car he fought the urge to turn away. For a second, he was glad this horrific moment was lost from his memory for so long.

"Wait a second. Does it look like the van almost speeds up into the car?" He asked aloud as he finally turned to Avi.

Her expression startled him, the blood drained from her face. "No, CJ. Look," she whispered, her tone deadly serious. She lifted a shaky finger to one of the larger screens.

In the bottom right corner, a blurred figure swept their arm with focused precision, somehow sending the van straight for CJ's car.

"Does this mean...?" CJ trailed off, watching the figure as he replayed the video over and over and over.

"Your accident was no accident," Avi breathed. "Either a villain was satisfied with crashing one car or--" she paused and met his eyes, afraid to continue, "--CJ, I think someone wanted you to become augmented."