Chapter Five: Meet John or when superman surpasses all expectations but one

Meet John, a dedicated athlete. The team meets to discuss genetics, lions, and the way Q defies physics.

John was on his daily run. It was part of his exercise regimen for football. His footsteps pounded on the cement as he took a turn on the edge of the block. He looked ahead to see a small kid playing with a large, red ball on the edge of an intersection. Glancing around, John tried to spot the kid’s guardians, checking the lawns or porches of the surrounding houses. It appeared that they were the only two outside.

            He was quickly approaching the kid when he spotted a car coming from the other street. The kid’s ball bounced into the street as he noticed the car’s blinker switch on. The two things were going to collide. He jumped between them[WR1] .

            His hands caught the hood. The car bucked, its back wheels flying up only to slam back on the ground. The airbags burst. John sighed in relief, meeting the stunned gaze of the driver. He let go and turned to check on the kid a few feet behind him. The kid’s eyes were wide with wonder. “Wow! You’re a superhero!”

            The kid jumped around excitedly, causing John to smile. He held out his hands to the kid. He ran into the hands, letting John pick him up. He carefully placed the kid on his shoulder. The kid wrapped an arm around John’s head. John staggered to the sidewalk, stumbling around to amuse the kid who couldn’t stop giggling. He stopped when he saw an adult coming[WR2] .

            “Is this your kid?” John asked politely, pointing up at the kid.

            The man nodded, crossing his arms and taking in the situation. “What happened?” He asked.

            “I saved this little guy from a car.”

            John looked over at the car and its people, which seemed to have recovered. They slowly drove away while the parent flipped them off. John set the kid down, then pat his head. The kid beamed up at him. “Thank you, super dude!” The kid exclaimed, stepping closer to the man.

            “Happy to help,” John said to the kid with a smile.

            John turned towards the intersection and went back to running.

+++++

            Paul decided that it would be a fun team activity for everyone to go to one of his school’s football games. Theo and Alicia had work, so only Q and Tae came with Paul. They sat in the top row of the cold metal bleachers all because Espe wanted to be high up.

            She squished herself between Paul and Tae. She stomped her feet alongside the crowd. The energy and excitement made Paul’s heart race as he smiled at Q and Tae. He looked down at the neon, synthetic turf. The gold academy team hovered on the sidelines. Paul guessed they were talking strategy. Espe nudged him and wrapped her arm around his. “How does el juego work? Is it like fútbol?”

            “No, um,” Paul answered hesitant, looking to Tae who shook his head, also unaware of how the game worked. “Como entiendo the game is two teams push each other y intentan que get the ball to the other end en el campo.”

            Espe smiled. “Bueno.”

            The teams gathered on the field and the game started with a kick off. “What was eso?”

            “They kick el balón to comenzar the game. Mira, they are ahora doing the pushing cosa I was talking about.”

            She nodded, watching wide-eyed as Echo Creek made their first down. Paul noticed Tae and Q talking to each other. He kept his eyes focused on the field, but listened to their conversation. Q seemed to be answering a question, “Kris means a lot to me. She’s been supporting me and taking care of me when she didn’t have to. She’s too kind.”

            “And that’s why she went to Flare?”

            “Yeah, to get information about me.”

            “Why did she get interred there, instead of breaking in or something simpler?”

            Q looked down, thinking. Their brow furrowed and Tae reached out to pat their shoulder. “What I mean is, she had other options, so why would she choose this one? What if she can’t leave even after she finds your identity?”

            “I think she wants to get better… By doing it this way, she should also get the help she needs.”

            “Help with the fallout of that one man’s death?”

            Q blinked, momentarily stunned. “Yeah, I didn’t know you knew about that…”

            “She told me,” Tae replied. “We made a pact to be better people because we’re both… worried. I hope it helps cause she’s a pretty nice person.”

            “Yeah,” Q murmured.

            They fell into silence as Echo Creek made their first touchdown. Espe stood up, following the crowd’s lead. She shouted and stomped, inadvertently encouraging Tae to clap. Q whooped, cupping their hands around their mouth, and Paul cheered. After a minute of celebration, he patted on Espe’s back and asked her to sit back down. She did and the others’ conversation picked back up. “Do you ever remember things?” Tae asked.

            “Sensations and images,” Q answered. “When I think about things I feel like I’m remembering my past, but then I realized it’s just something I’ve seen on TV. I remember high school, attending classes and stuff like that, but when I think about it harder, it falls apart. I don’t remember what I learned or friends or even what the school looked like… I just know that I went to high school. I guess what I’ve seen has supplanted most of my memories.”

            Tae didn’t say anything, deciding to simply nod. Q’s commentary was interrupted by shouts over a fumble. “Me remembering things has led us this far in the search.”

            “It’s great that you got this far… You seem pretty close.”

            Q smiled nostalgically. “Yeah, it makes me wonder if I’ve changed much from who I was.”

            Tae pursed his lips, quickly replying, “If you’re happy, does it matter?”

            “You have a point… But what if I had responsibilities?”

            “You’ve been gone over a month and no missing person report…”

            Tae trailed off and Q nodded. The game below had stalled as a coach argued with the referee. Paul zoned out listening to the pair’s conversation, so he wasn’t sure what the call was. His side of the stadium was shouting, so he guessed it wasn’t good for the academy. Espe looked up at him and asked, “Paulo, por qué are they fighting?”

            “No lo se, querida,” Paul answered, patting her head. “Pero, it could be because a player did something malo.”

            “Okay, gracias.”

            Paul noticed Tae was looking at him. “What’s up? Is the game too boring?” Paul asked, trying not to sound worried.

            Glancing down, Paul saw that Echo Creek was back on the offensive after giving away a touchdown. Tae smiled. “No, it’s fine,” Tae answered. “I was just thinking how cute it is that you speak Spanish with your sister.”

            “Why wouldn’t I?” Paul responded with a chuckle. “Spanish is our first language.”

            Tae turned red and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know… By doing that, because you don’t have to, I think it sends a positive message. I wish I had someone like you when I was growing up.”

            “You used to speak Korean as a kid?”

            “Yeah, then I went to school and learned it wasn’t cool, and teachers wanted me to be ‘good at English.’ So, I stopped.”

            “That’s sad,” Paul commented, reaching over Espe to place a hand on Tae’s shoulder. “You know what? We can learn together, like trade words.”

            “What?” Tae replied, his forehead wrinkling.

            “Like… I call Espe querida, which means dear. What’s dear in Korean?”

            “Oh,” Tae intoned before smiling. “Heh, it’s chin-aehaneun.”

            Paul grinned and repeated, “Chin-aehaneun.”

            Paul looked down at Espe, who stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed. Suddenly, they were surrounded with cries of disbelief. Focusing on the field, Paul realized that the other team intercepted a pass. He joined in, booing. “Pueden they do that?” Espe asked.

            “Sí, unfortunately.”

            Espe jeered accordingly. Several new players walked on the field to form the academy’s defensive line. The two teams fell into formation. At the snap, the players collided together. Paul spotted one player, number twenty-two, grab at several of the opponents.

            He watched in awe as the player picked up the three players and carried them a few meters. One of his teammates took out the runner before he could catch the ball, causing the crowd to cheer. The incomplete pass set the teams back to the beginning. “Did you see that?” Q asked.

            Paul nodded. They watched as number twenty-two kneeled in the center of the formation. He charged at the man in front of him, barreling him over to get to the quarterback. He snatched up the quarterback with a hand. He dropped the player immediately, letting him fall hard on his back. “Ese guy is super fuerte,” Espe commented.

            Paul hummed in thought. Tae looked at him expectantly. Paul smiled and said, “Fuerte means strong.”

            “Ganghan,” Tae replied.

            Nodding, Paul looked at the field. “I think I’m going to have a chat with that young man.”

            The game continued, undisturbed by the conversation up in the bleachers. Number twenty-two remained on the defensive line. While he kept playing, he no longer showed off his unnatural strength.

+++++

            Alicia’s excitement was unparalleled as she danced into the lab. She received a notification on her phone that the DNA sequences had been emailed to her. She was eager to analyze them, but she had to finish some chores around the lab first.

            She logged in to a desktop before suiting up and going to the fume hood. She quickly sprayed all the mice with chemicals and turned on the fan. Reaching up, she switched on the UV lights. She shut the hood and left, slipping out of the suit. She hung it up haphazardly, then ran to her computer. She pulled up her email and found the attached files.

            She looked at the meaningless blur of ACGT in wonder before transferring all the data into a plain document. She played around with it until all the sequences were aligned. Marking the code names, she went down the six sequences and noticed immediately their identical start codons. Alicia spotted that the first several hundred nucleotides were nearly identical. Then the sequences changed.

            Scrolling horizontally, she stared at the variety of codons. She noted that the first row had a stop codon and highlighted it. Continuing along the sequences, she found the stop codons for the rest of them. The genes were all different lengths just like the karyotypes.

            She copied the sequences that was identical across all the samples and pasted it into a database. It somewhat matched a transcription factor found in prokaryotes. There were only a few codons that were different. She tried to find records of the sequences that followed the transcriptions factors, however none of them matched any genes on the database. She shrugged it off, thinking that it made some sort of sense.

            She went back to the document, noting that there was a second start sequence. The gene is short compared to the variable ones and it seemed to be identical between the samples. She looked it up in the database to no avail. She highlighted the gene and made a note about it.

            Satisfied, Alicia walked back to the fume hood to turn off the lights. Stuck in thought, she didn’t notice Pagel stride into the lab triumphantly. He held out a piece of paper to her, causing her to jump. “I have results on your dumb moss!” He declaring as she took the paper.

            “It’s actually a fungus cyanobacteria combo,” He continued as she looked at the results. “It’s basically lichen. As you should know, lichen can crack and break down stones and other solid materials.”

            “Yeah, of course,” Alicia replied, glancing up. “That’s how I found it, on the edge of where a wall used to be.”

            She set the paper down on her desk as Pagel commented, “It must be an accelerated process that someone used to break into various places.”

            Thinking of the destroyed metal jewelry and glass, Alicia nodded. It wasn’t just for breaking in. “I’ll tell the team,” She said before clapping her hands. “Guess what I got today?”

            Pagel turned to face the side room, trying to look at the fume hood from where he was standing. “Results for our damn mice?”

            “No,” Alicia answered, hiding a smirk. “I got the DNA sequences back and analyzed them a little.”

            Pagel faced her with neutral expression. “Cool,” He said dryly. “What do they look like?”

            “Well,” Alicia started, coaxing him to the computer. “From what I can tell, there are two genes, a variable and a constant. The variable gene is set up like an operon with its corresponding transcription factor coming right before the actual gene. The constant gene is an absolute mystery. It is consistent between all the samples, hence the name, but it doesn’t match anything on record.”

            Pagel glared at it as if by staring hard enough he could divine answers. “We can stick it in a model system and see how it’s expressed.”

            “Sounds good. But, I think our priority should be to see if people without powers have the variable gene or if there’s a mutation in theirs or something.”

            Shrugging, he smiled. “I’d be happy to be the subject in this instance.”

            The conversation ended rather abruptly when Pagel walked over to the fume hood. Alicia followed. Bending over, he looked into one of the cages where a mouse blinked at him. “So, seriously, nothing has happened with these mice?”

            “No, but I’m told that it will take them several weeks to respond to this treatment.”

            Pagel glanced at her, unimpressed. “Who told you? Your girlfriend?”

+++++

            Paul walked into the front office to see the principal. She towered over him, her stern expression amplified by the slicked back bun. “Good morning, Mrs. Hudson,” He greeted with a nervous smile.

            She stalked over to her office door, her heels clacking on the tile. “Please come in,” She said, holding the door open.

            Her low voice intimidated Paul and he did as she asked. She shut the door behind them. “What is this about?” He asked, looking at the orderly space.

            “Someone broke into this school last night,” She confided. “The cops arrived in response to the silent alarm and the person was arrested.”

            “Oh my,” Paul responded with raised eyebrows. “What did the guy do?”

            Paul was surprised to see doubt on her face. “I’m unsure,” She answered before gesturing to the room. “But the person wrecked my room looking for it.”

            He held back a snicker. The only thing that seemed out of place was a file on the otherwise tidy bookshelf. He nodded, putting on a serious expression. “Alright, please keep me up to date on the situation.”

            After being waved off, Paul escaped the room. He stopped by Arturo, leaning on the counter. “Man, you know about what happened last night?” Paul asked, hoping he would have more information.

            “Do I?” Arturo replied with a laugh. “I had to come in last night and observe the cops remove the guy. I had to give the cops keys, so they could search the school for any other intruders.”

            “Wow, that must’ve sucked,” Paul commented.

            “Oh no man, it was crazy,” Arturo said. “The man was shouting nonsense, saying something like a singsong voice on his phone told him to do it.”

            Paul rubbed his chin, trying to look normal. He had a feeling there was more to it. “That’s really weird. It sounds like something that would be on the news. You know, like a superpowered person.”

            Arturo clicked his teeth. “Or the man is just crazy.”

            “Possibly,” Paul admitted with a shrug.

            Contemplating leaving, Paul recalled something. “Hey, can you call John Arms to my office?”

            “Sure,” Arturo answered with a nod.

            Paul watched him slide his chair closer to the phone. He thanked the secretary before walking to his office.

            Paul unlocked his door and, leaving it open, he went to his desk. Dropping his bag, he sat down. He thought about the incident. Surely, the voice wasn’t nothing. It could belong to a person quite like the King. He wondered what the person would want from the school.

            He spotted a broad-shouldered teen in the doorway. “John, right? Come in and close the door behind you,” Paul said.

            John shut the door loudly and sat in a chair. His bulky hands clutched the armrests as he asked, “Why am I here?”

            Paul put on a solemn face, intertwining his fingers. “I know about your superpowers,” He said calmly.

            He scoffed. “I’m just strong.”

            Paul noticed that the floor shook as John bounced his leg. He pressed on. “Strong enough to lift a thousand pounds?”

            “Yeah.”

            “When did you become that strong?”

            John grimaced and looked down. The floor stilled. “After Orange Day,” He admitted.

            He glared at Paul. “So, I have powers,” He continued defensively. “What do you care?”

             Paul rolled up his sleeves, showing off his ivy vine tattoos. “Because I’m a superhero,” Paul answered. “I’m Ink.”

            John seemed taken aback. His wide eyes fixed on the vines. Paul knew that he recognized them. He shook his head, finding his voice. “Why do you care about me, weird superhero dude?”

            “I want to help you,” Paul said. “Train your strength.”

            John laughed hard, bending over from the strain. He rubbed his eyes as he calmed down. “I train every day,” He explained slowly. “I train for football, swimming, and track… I’m doing plenty of training, thanks.”

            Paul was stumped momentarily. Tapping his fingers against the desk, he thought. He nodded, finding his words, “Hm, alright, what about helping people? Putting your power to good use, instead of cheating at high school sports.”

            Slapping the armrests, John leaned forward. “Hey, I’m not cheating!”

            Paul put a hand under his chin, holding back a smile. “Oh?” He said. “Can you control your powers enough to withhold full strength? I saw what you did in the game last night.”

            John pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. Paul watched him as he considered it, hoping he said all the right things. Rubbing his forehead, the teen sighed. “When is practice?”

            “Saturday nights at Aspen Park,” Paul answered with a smile. “I’ll be happy to see you there.”

+++++

            Paul decided to check the news for a short while before going to pick Espe up from practice. He settled into his couch as the program began. “I’m Wilson and this is the Katte’s Meow,” She started, shuffling papers. “Is the animal gang back in action or is this a copycat[r3] ? A woman in a lion mask was seen beating up a car thief mid-heist, going so far as to pull him out of the car through the window. Police assume that this woman has superpowers due to reports of her tail and clawed hands.”

            He clicked his tongue, disappointed they didn’t have footage of this woman. He decided he would bring this up to the team later. Maddox nodded while looking at Wilson. “We cannot condone the violent actions of these vigilantes. Though of course, we will keep the viewers posted about the Lioness, just like the animal gang.”

            “In other news, a new drug has been introduced to the streets,” Maddox continued. “Police have found this drug sweeping through the city’s underbelly. It is currently unidentified, however it acts similar to pseudoephedrine.”

            “The worst news of this evening is about a missing person,” Wilson said as the screen cut to an image of woman. “Gracie Mulligan disappeared last night from Kingsley Club. If any viewers have information on this woman, we implore you to contact the police.”

            Paul turned off the TV, deciding he had seen enough[WR4] .

+++++

            Kris[r5]  wandered the halls of Flare, taking a new route to get to the commons room. She turned a corner, glancing out a barred window. The grass was a pleasant shade of green, she noted as she pressed forward. The second story was sure to have more interesting stuff going on.

            Beside the stairwell was a door with a plaque. Peering in the window above the plaque, she could see a set of stairs forming a spiral upwards. She tried the doorknob before finally looking at the plaque.

“Beyond this door are stairs leading up to the renowned Kattegat lighthouse. Founded in 1908, the lighthouse was in use for almost 60 years, protecting ships from its hazardous cliffs as they travelled along the Luckiamute River, until the property was bought by the city of Kattegat. The lighthouse and surrounding architecture were then converted into Flare Mental Hospital.”

            Kris blinked, realizing that this plaque echoed a familiar explanation. It confirmed, in Kris’s opinion, that Q was in Flare for some amount of time in the past. Placing a mitted hand on the sign, Kris took a breath and moved on. Finding a hall past that door, she wandered into it. At the end of the hall was a new room.

            Kris entered it slowly, looking around. It was very similar to the common room, if only smaller. There were two wooden tables and a wall-mounted TV surrounded by a handful of armchairs. Kris admired the farthest wall, which had several windows. She spotted Mø sitting with another person at the table near the window.

            She walked over and sat down next to him. He faced her, smiling. “I’m happy to see you again,” He said quietly. “All of me.”

            Kris smirked in response. “Nice to see all of you too.”

            “Let me introduce my friend.”

            He gestured to the person in front of him, a tall man with soft features. His blue eyes had a clarity unusual for this place. He nodded genially. “This is Bjorn.”

            “Hey Bjorn,” Kris greeted. “Whatcha in here for?”

            “I volunteered for the Orange Day research,” He said, his tender voice matching his baby face.

            Her eyes wandering, Kris laughed derisively. “So, you are one of those crazies.”

            Bjorn chuckled politely, though his furrowed brow revealed his true feelings. A slack-jawed Mø watched her. “They aren’t ever going to let you go now,” She added.

            Bjorn’s plump bottom lip drooped. Turning the tables, he asked, “What are you here for?”

            “I’m here for depression,” She answered shortly. “I don’t want to hang around the powered people.”

            “Well that’s rude,” Mø commented.

            Kris saw that she had hurt Bjorn’s feelings, but she stayed resolute. Shaking her head, she said, “No, I just don’t want to get looped in. I need to get out of here sometime soon.”

            Mø’s eyes dropped to the table, asking in an upbeat voice, “When you’re better?”

            She looked out the window. Past the black iron bars was the grassy hill she remembered hiking up for the first time only a few weeks ago. “Maybe,” She said before murmuring. “This was a mistake.”

            Mø tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Kris shook her head, wanting to sit in silence and stare at the hill. Mø understood, staring wide-eyed at Bjorn, who shrugged. They heard faint clanking in the hallway. They faced the doorway to see two men appear, one with bright red skin. Kris chuckled bitterly. Mø leaned over to her. “What’s so funny?” He whispered.

“That’s Tony and Cole,” She declared. “Aka Burning Man and Bam, criminals.”

Kris noticed Bjorn’s shoulders tense. He looked away quickly and hunched over the table. “Why are they here?” He asked, nervously wringing his hands.

Kris glared at the pair as they settled into the other table. A few guards stood nearby. “They are here in the same research as you, dumbass,” Kris snapped. “You have the same amount of rights as prisoners now.”

Gesturing at Mø and herself, she continued, “So do we. We, the mentally ill, are being treated as test subjects, which is illegal I’m quite sure… So, why did you do this to yourself, Bjorn?”

He switched from wringing to cracking his knuckles. “I thought I could help with the research and in turn, stop being a hazard.”

Kris grimaced, feeling sympathy for the familiar story. “There is no way to stop ‘being’ a danger,” She scoffed. “This was the worst way to go about it.”

Cole turned to look at her. “Hey, chica, do I know you?” He called.

Kris faced him with a sigh. “Yeah, probably, you little fire b***h.”

Cole raised his chained hands defensively. “Hey, hey,” He responded cautiously. “Talking like that will get you thrown in a small cell.”

“Yeah, that’s what happened to you, huh?” Kris replied snarky. “You thought robbing a bank was a good idea?”

He slammed[WR6]  his hands on the table. Standing up, he shouted, “Where do I know you from?”

He didn’t seem angry, just frustrated, but the guards moved in quickly. Two grabbed his arms and dragged him out of the room. Tony looked on from his seat with fearful eyes. He nodded peacefully to the remaining guards when Cole was gone as if assuring them he wouldn’t do the same. Kris waited a minute before leaving the room.

Bjorn and Mø watched the situation unfold with confusion. Gathering his thoughts, Bjorn commented, “I think your friend may be crazier than you.”

Mø blinked leisurely before bobbing his head. “That’s what Quinn thinks.”

Bjorn smiled politely and nodded.

+++++

Paul knocked on Kris’ door. “The door’s unlocked!” He heard.

He opened the door, walking in. He spotted Q’s costume strewn over the back of the couch. Moving further into the apartment, he saw another on one of the dining room chair. “Q?” He called.

Q appeared from the hallway, wearing baggy pajamas that didn’t quite fit their starlet feminine form. “Hey friend, are you here early?”

“I guess, I called Gung Ho already, so that’ll be here soon,” Paul answered before grabbing the costume off the couch. “What’s up with these?”

Q walked over and took it. They tenderly rubbed the fabric with a thumb in contemplation. “Oh um, since I use a photo to get ready before every patrol, then take off the costumes when I get home… The spare costumes have been piling up.”

Q grabbed the other one as Paul commented, “That’s amazing. It defies physics.”

Shrugging and giggling, Q stashed them in their bedroom. They heard Paul talking as they headed back to the living room. “You know what we can do with them?”

“What?”

Q walked to the kitchen counter and touched a photo. They transformed into the gothic “Song” while Paul said, “We could give these extra costumes to our new members for patrol. We can replicate our costumes for faster production. Soman and Bree wouldn’t need to design and sew new ones, just tailor these to fit people.”

Q grinned, moving over to Paul. “That sounds like a great idea,” They said warmly, softly punching his arm. “I’d be happy to help.”

Paul clapped his hands with a smile, satisfied with the solution to a not yet existent problem. “I’ll call Soman about it later.”

They heard a knock on the door. Q opened the door to greet Tae and Theo. “Good evening,” They greeted.

“Hello,” Theo replied as Tae politely nodded.

They stepped into the apartment. Paul directed them to the couch by standing near the TV. They sat beside each other as Q hovered by the door. Pulling out his phone, Theo reassured the group that Alicia would be here soon. “That’s okay, maybe the food will get here before her,” Paul said.

Tae crossed his legs, sinking into the worn couch. He asked, “Do you ever think that we should eat something besides Chinese?”

Paul laughed. “I don’t know any other takeout places in the area,” Paul answered, playing with his hands. “I just think it’s nice to feed you guys since you come all the way over here.”

Tae made a face that Paul interpreted as acceptance. Paul smiled at him and Q suddenly opened the door, preceding a knock and showing off a surprised Alicia. Her mouth was slightly agape, but quickly turned into a smile. “Hello, guys,” She said with an awkward laugh. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Es bueno,” Paul said, gesturing to the couch. “Have a seat and let’s start.”

Q and Alicia went to the couch and managed to squeeze in beside the others. “So, first off,” Paul started, putting his hands on his hips. “Has everyone heard of the Lioness?”

Q shook their head promptly. Paul vaguely pointed at them in acknowledgement. “Alright, Lioness is a vigilante with animalistic features who wears a lion mask and violently stops crime.”

“Her violence is being associated with us because we wore animal masks in the beginning,” Alicia explained. “Which is not good.”

Theo politely raised a hand and Paul nodded to him. “What do we want to do about it?”

“We need to find her and talk to her,” Paul said.

“Could we tell someone that we aren’t related?” Alicia asked. “We’re past are ‘animal gang’ days?”

Paul pursed his lips in uncertainty. “We haven’t reached out to the public thus far… It may not be the best idea to do it now.”

Q shifted, moving their arm pressed against Alicia behind her. Their brow creased with worry as they thought. They spoke up, “Can we make Lioness our friend?”

“We can certainly try to talk to her about it, but we’d need to find her first.”

Paul met Tae’s gaze. He tilted his chin down in agreement. Paul smiled tersely. “Let’s move on,” He said. “We can look for her on patrols, but that will not be our focus.”

Paul looked to Alicia. “Do you have any science-y updates?”

“Several,” She replied, standing up. “Do you mind if I…?”

She pointed to his place. He happily gave up the floor for her and crammed into her seat. She stood confidently with her shoulders back and fingers intertwined below her waist as she began her lecture. “To begin,” She said. “I have information from Nicki of Law-Shah lab. Nicki has a lot of people for her research. It’s impressive really and definitely concerning because they have been using regular Flare patients as the control subjects… Meaning that Kris is in the study.”

Paul leaned forward, blurting out, “If they have Kris’s DNA, they could find out she has powers and try to keep her there.”

“Well, everyone has an extra bit of DNA,” Alicia responded calmly. “So, everyone will be kept there until they figure out how to separate the powered from the non.”

“Yeah, but that’s our Kris,” Q commented, their voice slightly higher than the normal bass of Song.

Paul laid a sympathetic hand on Q’s knee. “You’re right,” He assured. “The next time she calls, you should tell her that she should try to leave as soon as possible and if she can’t, we’ll break her out.”

Theo gave them a thumbs-up as Tae smiled. Q nodded, confident that Paul meant what he said. Alicia took that as a sign to continue. “In other news, we finally got the DNA sequenced. I have categorized it into two genes, a variable gene, which is responsible for the powers and has a really proficient transcription factor, and a constant gene… That we couldn’t determine the purpose of. We plan on doing more research on it.”

“That’s cool,” Theo commented, seeming to be the only one fully understanding what she said. “But where did the addition come from?”

Alicia grimaced. “We don’t know yet. We will definitely tackle that question in time.”

Theo grinned and accepted her answer. “So, how do powered people differ from non-powered people?” Paul asked for clarification.

“We determined from a karyotype that only powered people have expressed their powers, while non-powered people show no expression. This could be due to a mutation in the transcription factor portion of the gene. They don’t make a functional factor, so the rest of the process is halted and no powers.”

His eyebrows pressed together as a thought occurred to him. “How soon do-”

A knock on the door halted Paul’s next question. He stood up excitedly. “Alright, let’s take a break for dinner.”