"So, were you totally and completely lost without me?"

I had to roll my eyes.

"You almost die, and the first thing you have to say to me is that?" I asked, although an easy smile was creeping up my lips.

No, bad smile.

Shoo.

Sin was lying in the small MedRoom's medical recliner. I leaned against the door frame. "How're you feeling?" I asked, noting that he had no shirt on, with a large amount of bandages covering his abdomen. "Eh, shitty." He deadpanned. I nodded, still staring at the bandages. "We could see you. From the screens, I mean."

I didn't know why, but I felt strangely detached. Which definitely wasn't what had been happening when I was running through the halls on an injured leg. Sin looked up. "You saw...that thing, right?" He asked, focusing his eyes on his hands. "I saw it almost kill you." He looked up at this, confused. "...Kill me? What're you talking about? It didn't even hurt me."

"No. No, I saw it charge at you. I saw it make impact. How was that not attacking?" I felt confused, but only at Sin's disoriented state. "It was helping me." He said quietly. I opened my mouth to reply, but no words came out.

I didn't know what to say.

A silence lapsed out, strange and quiet. Secrets practically hummed in the air, burning their prescence in my mind.

"What happened after Happy and Dopey?" I blurted out. I might as well know. Sin was the only other person who knew about what we'd seen. That is, yes the IT folks saw it, but not like we did. They didn't see it. And any conversation was better than this silence.

Sin still wouldn't meet my gaze. "Have you ever realized...?" His voice had a distant edge to it. I remembered what Wire had said, in my strange and panicked daze, I'd caught on to that small piece of information. Or at least I remembered it now. "He's on the same meds you were on before. It's a bit like steroid morphine, if you will. Only keeping him on it a bit...or else it might amount to problems." I figured she'd meant addiction. Morphine wasn't exactly a safe drug.

But the distance in Sin's tone wasn't something medical. It seemed more like a personal thing. "What?" I asked. He was still staring at his hands.

"Why do we become superheroes? If we wanted to save people, we could become members of the military, of the police force, become doctors or scientists. People making a difference for humanity, not just one human, you know? Not just one city. Think about it. There's all those people working so hard, and the ones appreciated are superheroes? How does that make sense?"

Sin sounded reflective, like he'd been thinking on the concept for a while. I bit my lip, thinking about what he was saying. "I don't know. But if there's so many people out there saving humanity, someone has to be out there saving them too." I said, cocking my head to the side. Sin nodded. "The real superheroes are there for us. Who's there for them?" He asked.

"Us." I replied, my tone set in belief.

Sin met my gaze. He looked...different. Older, mature, like he'd seen things a sixteen year old guy shouldn't have to see.

And I wasn't talking about his dad's Internet history.

"Sin, what happened?"

And then he closed his eyes. Wire entered the room, leaning over my shoulder. "Hey, Sin? The Principal wants to talk to you too." Sin nodded, his eyes closed. "Okay." He said wearily. I turned on my heel, and walked out the door.

**

"Yo, Frost!" I knocked on Squad Eight's door. I remembered her Squad number, and was interested. I wanted to know how she was doing. And any info was nice too. A boy with blond hair light as snow, eyes grey as a storm, and skin pale as a cloud, opened the door. "Are you Frost's secret brother?" I asked, smiling. He looked like he should be called Frostbite a lot more than my tanned, blue-haired friend. He shook his head silently. "No." He said quietly. His voice was a bit raspy, like he didn't use it much. Maybe he didn't.

I walked into the Squad quarters. "Frostbite, embrace me with your presence!" I demanded loudly, looking over the bare main room, similar to our own.

Frost's light blue hair showed up before she did. She stuck out her tongue at me when I grinned at her. "What, wench?" She asked, equally demanding. "I wanted a break. Plus, I wanna meet your Squad." I drawled. She rolled her eyes. "I'm busy." I mockingly pulled a hand to my chest. "Too busy for your oldest friend?" Frost looked at me, before resignedly nodding. "Okay, okay. Come with me." She pointed towards the boy, who was leaving. "That's Ace. He's our Deviser. Pretty quiet, but he's cool once you get to know him." She explained. I nodded.

Frost moved forwards stepping into a bedroom. It didn't look like hers. I studied the various band posters, and art on the walls, loosely taped up. "This is where Soundwave, the Camarade. She's like those crazy fangirls, who are also superbly scary. She's funny though, and smart." I spotted a model TARDIS on the desk, and whistled in approval.

At least this Soundwave had taste.

"You already know me, Frostbite, Healer." She waved her hands dramatically. I exaggeratedly nodded. "Yes, yes, of course. Who's your Leader?" She frowned, pulling at my arm. "Over here." She walked out of Soundwave's room, and I followed after her.

"Hey, Eden!" She shouted, her clear voice echoing through the empty hall we were in. I awkwardly scratched behind my ear, waiting as the minutes ticked by. "Um, is she here?" I asked, looking at the ground.

"Hi."

A girl with fiery red hair, curly and tangled, a lot more than Mask's, in colour and volume, was standing at the stairs, leaning down. Her hair was wild, like Merida from Brave. Even from here I could see a flurry of furious freckles. Somehow, she didn't look bad though. Okay, not hot, not ugly, just okay. "What, Frostbite?"

"This is a friend of mine, Shift. Squad One." Frost introduced. Eden's facial expression darkened. "Hunter's Squad?" Ignoring the strange hint of hostility in her tone, I answered evenly. "Yes. That's right. You're Eden? Is that your...uh, name?" My tone went from collected to awkward quicker than you could say 'Shift, antisocial much?'.

Great.

I couldn't make out any distinct differences from her, since she was up the stairs, but Eden began walking down, and she didn't look too happy to see me. "No. That's my Alias, thank you very much." She sounded weary more than anything. People probably assumed she was Alias-less often.

I guessed it got tiring after a while.

"Right, nice to meet you." She said quickly, looking away. From this close up, I realized Merid- I mean Eden, had blue-green eyes. Those kind that are never just one colour.

Well then.

Frostbite cleared her throat. "Now, you should meet the Fighter." She said, trying to dissipate the awkwardness. I silently thanked whatever divine being ruled over us for giving me such a social best friend. Eden relaxed and nodded. "Right then. Good to see you...Shift." And then Squad Eight's leader backed away and headed towards the main room.

I looked at Frostbite. "It's okay, she's usually really nice. But the whole news about Hunter...well it's not exactly reassuring. There's a lot of stress on the other Leaders." I nodded. I hadn't heard of anything of the sort. Then again, I'd only just found out that Hunter was in the Office in the first place, so I probably wasn't in the know how yet.

"Right. Who's your Fighter?" I asked, as we walked down. For some reason, I noted that Squad Eight had a longer living space than we did. More halls, more rooms. I didn't say anything though. Maybe it was just the way the building was built. "Hm? Oh, his name's Knifefight. Douche. But okay. He's probably in the simulations again. He's obsessed or something." I whistled in appreciation as Knifefight came into view. He was indeed in the simulation room, a shirt clinging to his form, which was rather built, and by the way he moved, fighting a villain that I couldn't recognize, I could tell he knew what he was doing. The fluidity of his movements, the speed of his hits, and the careful placements of his feet, Knifefight knew how to fight.

Heh.

"He's almost done, by the looks of it. You can meet him in a sec. We can wait here in the mean time." Frost plopped down on a bean bag, and I did the same.

"So what's it like with your Squad?" She asked, opening her eyes and looking at me. "It's good. Weird, tense, a lot different than how it is with, y'know, everyone, but still good. Hunter goes from being an embarrassing mom to a proper leader in five seconds, Mask is mysterious but cool, and Wire's sweet as strawberry shortcake. Sin's...interesting." Frost raised her eyebrows at that. "Interesting? How so?"

I thought about it, picking my words carefully. "He's...an enigma. Just when you start to understand him, another secret arrives and pushes you assumption into the dust. It's weird, he's witty and funny when he wants to be, but these days he just seems tortured." Frost let out some breath from between her teeth. "Yeah? Well Squad life isn't easy to be adjusted to. Ace snores really loud, so much you can hear him from any of the other bedrooms. It's very irritating. Eden can be cold but she's always in the know about anything on Tumblr, even though I've never seen her on it. And Knifefight...well, he's secretly a Potterhead. I found his stash of memorabilia the other day, and can't stop teasing him about it." Frost was rambling, and I listened, smiling and grinning. It was nice to get lost in someone else's life.

"You guys sound like a great Squad." I said, sincerely meaning it. They seemed cool, even if they were all pretty distant and a bit weird, maybe that was just what they needed to connect. Squad One was okay. I wouldn't go rambling on about them yet, but it was good.

"Hey, have you heard from Jet?" I remembered talking to him, remembered the plan we'd devised, but it didn't seem possible anymore. How could it? Two of my Squad members were nowhere to be found, and I didn't think that Eden would be too keen on working so closely with strangers.

There must be holes in our plan, but hopefully we'd get past them.

That, or we'd face eternal damnation at the hands of every superhero ever as the laughingstock of AIAA, the hero wannabes.

And that would suck.

So obviously, our plan had to work well. Or else.

"No...Deli tells me that the meeting he had to rush off to didn't go to well. Lotsa stress on him and whatnot." She said. I nodded. "It's insane though. This is the same Jet who protested the use of homework at a Superhero Academy by gluing the doors shut to the Principal's van? And now, here he is, leading the troops." I mused. Frost smiled slightly. "I always figured he was more of a Fighter. But I guess he's doing okay. Maybe."

The door to the simulation room opened. "Accio Knifefight!" Frost said loudly. Knifefight had dirty blond hair, and blue eyes. Classic cliché jock. If I hadn't just seen the way he fought, I'd've thought him no better than Smash. And Smash was basically a Hulk wannabe , except he was always a towering abnormal giant, who walked around wearing normal clothes, and didn't have green skin.

Oh, he was a good quarterback though.

Anyways, Knifefight gave Frost the stinkeye. "Shut it." He muttered, trying to walk past us. "Hey, wait! Don't be rude, ickle Potter! Meet my friend." Frost hollered. She was always the quieter one in the group, usually cool and funny, and also shushing me and Jet as we sassed everybody in assemblies and whatnot.

We were cool like that.

Here, though, Frost was looser, happier, freer, it seemed. I tried not to be a bit jealous of that. It seemed to me that getting into a Squad had made me apprehensive, freezed me up. But here, Frost was melted down.

Aw, shut up, Shift. Be happy for her. Not everyone is that lucky.

Yeah.

Knifefight turned around. "Who are you?" He asked, his head tilted slightly, looking me over skeptically. "And why are you friends with her?" I couldn't suppress a bout of laughter. They argued like siblings, or am old married couple. It was refreshing. "Hey! Im friends with practically everyone, hot-shot." Frost retorted. You could always get a rise out of Frost if you wrongly spoke of her. She spent enough of her life with that. "I'm Shift. And, Frostbite's awesome." I defended. He scoffed. "I can't be seen around you, Frosty the Snowman." He began to turn. "I'm female!" Frost called to his back. She turned to me, a lazy smile on her face.

"So, hey. That plan? I think we need to work on it. There's a bunch of holes in the idea. Sure, getting three Squads together shouldn't be much work, but it probably will be." I mused. I hadn't actually thought much of it until now, but it made sense. Maybe my brain worked better when it hasn't been thinking over things too long.

I don't think I need any more proof that I'm completely and utterly weird.

Frost said nothing. She but her lip, before shrugging. "It's a good plan. Let's try and get everyone together first?" I nodded. My copper wrist watch - beautiful, might I add - beeped, and I straightened up. "I should go. It's almost Squad curfew." I lied. Frost didn't ask, although the flicker of her eyes showed just how much she believed me.

She led me through the door, and I walked to the lift, jamming the button to call the elevator up. "Shift, tell Hunter sorry from me, will you?" Frost called after me. I felt curious, but nodded. "For what?" She didn't meet my eyes. "A mistake." The elevator dinged, and I stepped into it. I waved a farewell to Frostbite.

She waved back.

|•|

"Let's hit the town."

I stood apprehensively amongst five higher class students. Fifth-years and sixth-years, were pooling together for a solo mission. Apparently I never got the memo, because I was the only fourth-year here.

I looked at the students, talking animatedly to one another. They looked like they'd known each other forever. It was the way me, Jet, Mason, Delirium, Frost, and hand used to hang out.

Just two weeks ago.

"Hey, weirdo." I turned around and saw a guy who looked like he was a fourth-year trying to talk to me, but I couldn't make out what he was saying over the older students loud voices. I restrained myself from shouting back a "What?". Pushing past other powerful, hormonal teens, I at last made it to the dark-skinned boy. "Hey! I'm Amir!" He spoke loudly. "That's your Alias?" I scoffed. It sounded like a regular name. "No, don't have one." He said simply. I stared at him.

There were no Alias-less left.

And yet, Amir stood in front of me, looking rather puzzled at my lack of response. "He - llo?"
"Wha-sorry." I answered automatically. "Guess I got used to the silence." Amir grinned. "Hey, I get it. There sure are a lotta them, huh?" I wordlessly nodded. "Hold on, so you're Alias-less?" Amir nodded. "That's right." I blinked. "How come...?" I trailed off. It sounded offensive, and I didn't want to say anything that might make the possibly only clue to the disappearing crowd mad. "I don't know. A couple of the Staff questioned me about it, but they didn't find anything either."

The bus screeched to a halt, the sudden lurch as it stopped making me lose my balance. "Shit!" I managed to catch the edge of my seat a second away from the floor of the bus. Falcons penned the door from the outside, in her neon red suit and glowing gold feathers. "Alright rookies. You'll be shadowing me for today. Nothing too big, just a simple heist at the asylum."

Amir looked up. "Dos she jut say asylum?" I shrugged. "I..I guess so." I was a bit conflicted at the moment and Falcon's words were in the back of my thoughts.

"I've got a friend here helping me out with you guys. This is Justin." Falcon stepped back from the open door, and a lanky-built guy in a black hoodie with white headphone wrapped around his neck waved at us. "Hey." Justin adjusted his beanie, giving us all a low-key smile.

"Okay. Up and about, kiddies!" Falcon clapped her hands together, and the various students began to get up. "Hey Falcon! Remember us?" A couple of the seventh-years yelled out. Falcon turned back and flipped them off.

We were a classy institution.

The older kids got off the bus first, crowding through the exit. As I finally navigated out of the stuffy bus, I lost Amir in the crowd. I was about to look for him when Falcon began calling for a huddle.

Let me tell you, sixty-seven kids in a huddle? Not a good idea.

"Game plan is we go in strong and come back stronger. This is a pretty big opportunity for you guys, and I expect you to follow orders. If you ddon't I know you're unfit for this and you'll be sent back to AIAA shamefully. Everybody got that?"

I elbowed a girl chewing bubblegum and tried to get closer. "Bitch." What a nice thing to mutter under one's breath.

That guy...Knifefight. For some reason, the whole grunge, urban landscape seemed to be exactly where you'd find a guy like him hanging about.

"I said, everybody got that?"

----

BADUMTSHHHH!

I have no clue what that was. But heeeey, I'm back, y'all! I'm not rewriting WDWT until I finish it completely, cause I can't continue this type of work on the keyboard. The quality definitely sticks to touch keyboard right now. Once I have a better idea of what the story itself is, BAM rewrite time.

Also, 300 followers?!

I just wanna hug you all and just GAH.

Thank you. :)

~Dexx