Assess the situation

"Management?" Hiro repeated, his eyebrows shooting up into his messy hair. He looked from me to his aunt, who was currently humming a little too happily while sweeping up shattered glass, her hips swaying with a loose, relaxed rhythm that hadn't been there ten minutes ago. "We don't need management. We need answers. That... whatever that was, it wasn't normal physics."

"Normal is a setting on a washing machine, kid," I said, finishing the donut and wiping the sugar from my fingers. "And looking at your city, I'd say the spin cycle is broken." I stepped away from the counter, the heavy thud of my boots silencing the room. I looked at the colorful group of heroes. "You have a virus. A compilation of corrupted data and negative emotion. It almost ate your aunt. If you want to stop it, you take me to your lab. Now."

Hiro hesitated, looking at Go Go and Honey Lemon. Go Go was glaring daggers at me, her arms crossed over her leather jacket, popping her gum loudly. She smelled the sex on me, or at least, because she probably didn't know a lot about sex, she recognized the look of a man who had just taken what he wanted. Honey Lemon, on the other hand, was looking at me with wide, fascinated eyes behind her pink glasses, clearly more interested in the "kinetic barrier" anomaly than the social dynamics.

"He saved Cass," Honey Lemon pointed out, her voice bright and optimistic. "And his energy signature is... well, it's fascinating! We should run tests!"

"I don't do tests," I said, walking past them toward the door. "I do results. Let's go."

I paused at the door and looked back at Cass. She paused in her sweeping, looking up at me with flushed cheeks and eyes that were still slightly glazed over. "Lock the door, Cass," I ordered softly. "Take a nap. You've earned it."

"Okay," she breathed, practically melting against the broom handle. "Be careful, Ray."

I walked out into the cool San Fransokyo night, the team following me like a confused school of fish. We headed for the tram that led to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. The ride was quiet, filled with stolen glances. Go Go sat as far away from me as possible, sharpening a disk. Honey Lemon sat across from me, her long legs crossed, tapping away on a tablet while occasionally glancing up to study my face.

We arrived at the Institute, a massive, futuristic campus of glass and light. The "Nerd Lab" was exactly as I expected, a playground of high-tech machinery, suspension bikes, chemical tanks, and laser cutters. It smelled of ozone and potential. The team immediately scattered to their stations. Hiro and Wasabi went to the main computer to scan the city for the Microbot signal. Fred flopped onto a beanbag chair to read a comic.

I didn't care about the computer. I prowled the room, taking stock of the livestock.

I drifted toward the chemistry station first. Honey Lemon was standing there, mixing colored fluids in suspended spheres of Tungsten carbide. She was impossibly tall, her legs going on forever in that short yellow dress and platform heels. She moved with a fluid, chaotic grace, humming to herself. She was the innocent one. The optimist. The one who needed to be corrupted.

I walked up behind her, masking my footsteps. I didn't say a word until I was standing right in her personal space, my chest inches from her back. "What are you making?" I asked, my voice dropping an octave.

Honey jumped, nearly dropping a vial of pink liquid. "Oh!" She spun around, clutching the vial to her chest, her back hitting the edge of her workbench. She looked up at me, her face turning a bright, endearing shade of red. "I... I didn't hear you approach! That's... statistically improbable given your mass!"

"I move how I want to move," I said, leaning in. I placed a hand on the table on either side of her, trapping her in a cage of arms. As tall as she was, I still towered over her. I could smell her, she smelled like citrus and sterile lab chemicals. "You're synthesizing a hardening agent. For the bots."

"Y-yes!" She adjusted her glasses nervously, but she didn't duck under my arm to escape. She stayed there, trapped. "If we can... um... embrittle the lattice, they'll shatter on impact. It's basic chemistry."

"I like chemistry," I murmured, staring into her eyes. "Reactions. Heat. Bonding." I reached out and took the vial from her hand. Our fingers brushed. A spark of static, or maybe just raw mana, jumped between us. Honey gasped, her breath hitching.

"Did... did you feel that?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

"I felt a lot of things," I said, placing the vial back on the rack behind her, leaning so close my chest brushed her breasts. "You're brilliant, Honey. But you're distracted. You're wondering who I am. You're wondering what I did to Cass."

Her blush deepened to a dark crimson. "I... scientifically speaking, the data is... confusing."

"I'll clarify the data for you later," I promised, pushing off the table and leaving her flustered, adjusting her dress, and staring at my back.

I moved to the other side of the garage. Go Go Tomago was working on her suspension bike. She had the wheel off, wrenching a bolt with aggressive, angry ****. She was bent over, her leather shorts straining against her athletic thighs. She knew I was there. She didn't look up.

"Pass me the 10-millimeter," she snapped, extending a hand without looking.

I didn't pass the wrench. I walked up to the bike and put my boot on the tire she was working on, stopping it from spinning.

Go Go stood up slowly, dropping the wrench with a loud clang. She turned to face me, popping a bubble of purple gum. She was short, barely reaching my chest, but she carried herself like a heavyweight boxer. "You got a problem, new guy?"

"Your form is sloppy," I noted, looking down at her. "You're relying on torque instead of leverage. You're angry."

"Yeah, I'm angry," she spat, crossing her arms. "You walk in, you wreck the café, you get weird with Cass, and now you're bossing us around? I don't trust you."

"Trust isn't required," I said calmly. "Obedience is."

Go Go’s eyes narrowed. She stepped closer, invading my space, trying to intimidate the shark. "I don't obey anyone. I'm the fastest thing on two wheels. Try to keep up."

"Speed is nothing without control," I said. I moved faster than she could track. My hand shot out. I didn't hit her. I reached for her face. I pressed my finger directly into the bubble of gum she had just blown.

Snap.

The gum popped, sticking to her nose and lips.

It was a small gesture, but undeniably dominant. It reduced her tough-girl act to a messy joke in a second.

Go Go stood there, stunned, her mouth open, peeling the gum off her face. Her eyes blazed with pure, unadulterated fury. "You..." she growled, her hands balling into fists.

"You have too much attitude, Go Go," I said, looming over her, letting my shadow swallow her up. "It makes you predictable. A real enemy would have snapped your neck while you were blowing bubbles." I leaned down until we were nose-to-nose. "If you want to survive this hunt... you're going to have to learn to listen. Or I'll have to break you in like a wild horse."

"Make me," she challenged, her voice shaking with rage and something else - adrenaline.

I smiled. It was the smile of a wolf who had found a new favorite toy. "Careful, speedster," I whispered. "I might take you up on that."

"Hey! Ray!" Hiro’s voice broke the tension. He was standing at the main console, pointing at the holographic map. "I found it! The energy signature. It's spiking again. It's at the abandoned Akuma Island facility. In the bay."

I straightened up, looking at the two girls, one flustered and intrigued by the chemistry, the other furious and challenged by the dominance. The board was set.

"Gear up," I ordered, my voice cutting through the lab. "Field trip. And bring the hardening agent, Honey. We're going to need it."