A Slow Start

He ate quickly after that, rushing to catch up and get ready for school in time to make it there one time given that they lived in the outskirts of Brockton Bay. Vicky never had any sort of problems getting to Arcadia on time unless she really pushed it given her ability to fly and complete lack of a secret identity to need to keep concealed. Amy would need to catch the bus with him though given her powers were completely bereft of any sort of Mover rating. Or at least she would have to if she didn't get to fly Victoria Airlines pretty much every day.

If there was one really petty thing he was allowed to be really fucking miffed about, it was that Amy got exclusive access to Victoria Airlines. Amy didn't take her up on it every single day, so Vicky could always offer him the chance to take a flight, to experience what it was like to soar through the air at incredible speeds and feel the wind whip past his face. There wasn't a single other member of his extended family who hadn't experienced the joy of flight, either because it was their own power or just being given a lift by someone who had it, but not poor old James Dallon. Victoria flew Amy or she flew alone. Offering him a trip never crossed her mind.

Of course... now he had the chance to change that didn't he?

Well he would if he hadn't thought of it way too late. Vicky had already jetted off, Amy in her arms, and he was once again walking out the door followed swiftly by his hot mother. He waved her a goodbye as she got into her car and headed to the law firm where she worked, but she didn't even acknowledge him as he did so, driving off with barely a glance in his direction.

"Hey cuz." He turned to be greeted with the smiling face of his cousin Crystal, known more commonly to the public as Laserdream. "Getting the bus again?" She asked with a sympathetic look. It wasn't the greatest, but it was appreciated that there was someone in the family who seemed to understand what he had to deal with as the only unpowered member. Of course that just meant he spent more time wanting to spend time with the one member of his family he actually saw the least of. Eric was the same age as Vicky, Amy and him so they all attended Arcadia together, but Crystal was older and had left them behind for Brockton Uni where she was majoring in English Lit.

"Hi Crystal." He returned her greeting and she fell into step beside him as he kept walking towards the bus stop. "Not flying in?"

"Not all of us need to use our powers all the time. I'm fine with walking about down here with all the mere mortals." She said jokingly beside him taking a skip into hovering a few inches above the ground for a few moments, before stepping down onto solid earth with barely a break in her stride. "The bus isn't exactly the longest trip, and it helps me avoid getting swamped by fans. Honestly I don't know how everyone else deals with it. Other people are just... exhausting at times."

"I... wouldn't exactly know." She glanced over questioningly. It was true that at first he had been swamped by people just for being Vicky's twin. Anyone seeking to get a way into her friendship group, or to get to know Amy better to work up the nerve to approach her. Not for him though. He was the uninteresting member of the family. "Vicky is so outgoing... everyone realised pretty quick that it was easier to approach her directly than try and use me as their weird go between. I've not been approached about any of that sort of stuff in... maybe 6 months now?" He wasn't quite sure. It wasn't like he kept track. But Amy's birthday had been about 6 months ago and someone had been asking what to get her as a birthday gift to try and get her to go out with him.

He hadn't told them anything. Vicky was constantly trying to hook Amy up with people she thought would be good for her, so if someone was trying to approach him instead of Vicky it was probably because Amy had already turned them down, or Vicky got red flag vibes from them and decided to scare them off. Vicky was better with that sort of thing so he defaulted to trusting her judgement.

Then again... she had been dating Dean on and off for literal years and they had month long breakups every other month. Maybe she wasn't the best to consult on long term relationships after all?

"Wow! I'm envious. Really. Since I've been at Brockton U I've had to scour the place for spots to hide in just so I don't get swamped by gawkers. Right now I've found these string of empty offices from English Lit faculty members that haven't been cleared out. Top floor of the building so no one ever really goes up there. Had to tidy up a little but now its a great place to crash between lectures." She had a warm smile on her face as she talked about her own little nook of the world, hidden away from everyone else. "One of the offices had a beanbag tucked away inside so I mostly hang out in there and read."

"Nice. I'd probably go crazy if I needed to go through that much hassle just to be alone. Makes me glad I don't have powers." The lie tasted like ashes in his mouth, but the first part was true at least. If he did have his way... he'd still love to be a cape, but he'd prefer to be one not affiliated with New Wave and the whole maskless movement. Being able to be superhero whenever he wanted, and then step out of it and just be a normal person the rest of the time... that sounded like a pretty nice gig to him.

Instead... well maybe he'd been a little bit pessimistic before. Master powers were generally viewed as being villainous, mostly because most people took **** umbrage with being deprived of their own free will, especially here in America where Freedom was the buzzword of practically every issue. But... Hero and Villain was based on actions wasn't it? And his test run on Vicky hadn't actually done anything bad. At most he had been a tiny inconvenience to her.

"Hey. Coz." Crystal leaned over and looped her arm around him, pulling him into her side tightly. He tried to ignore the way the feeling of her tit against his chest. "Don't go wishing for powers okay?" Oh. So she'd seen through his lie. He'd never been the best at them. "I know second gens are supposed to be easier, and I know everyone likes to make fun of Vicky because she got hers from getting fouled in a game of basketball. But truly? It still fucking sucks what you have to go through to get them. Amy had to watch Vicky almost die. I almost got vanished into some ABB brothel. If you never have to go through something that bad... I'll consider you lucky. And you'll still be my favourite cousin. Okay?"

"Okay." He replied, a little bit happier. Though he did have to hold himself back from mentioning he had been there for Amy's trigger. He had watched Vicky getting savaged by that gang, her invincibility failing her. He still remembered the blood dripping from the knife one of them had stabbed right into her side. Staring in horror the whole time and being able to do nothing, his whole body frozen stiff and disobeying his every desire to just do something. Amy said later that they'd pierced her lung. She would very well have died... and if it had just been him there and not Amy too, he'd have stood there and done nothing as his twin sister was murdered before his eyes.

What sort of person did it make him, that that hadn't been enough to get him to trigger? What sort of person was he that his twin being savaged to **** wasn't bad enough for him?

"Well... your bus is here coz." Crystal said, pointing at the bus pulled up at the stop just a few metres down the road. "Might want to hurry up or you'll be late, and aunt Carol will flip."

"Yeah." He said, turning to go. But then hesitating for a moment and turning back. "Hey Crystal. Do you want to hang out after school maybe? I can come by the University if you're still there."

Her smile lit up at the idea and he could almost swear her blonde hair looked like a halo for a moment. "Sure. I'll be in late today anyway, gotta get some stuff printed off and its way cheaper using the uni printers than our one at home. I swear that thing can print like 10 pages before it needs a new ink cartridge and ink is expensive!" She held up her hands at the absurdity. "When you get there, I'll be in the English Department. Head up to the third floor, then go to the back of the department and there is a hidden stairwell up to the fourth floor. I'll be there, probably in the office marked A. Hebert."

"Alright. See you later!" He said, turning to run. The last person had just gotten on the bus and it was about to leave him behind. He hopped aboard just in time, the driver giving him the stink eye for making him wait. He didn't mind that though. He was going to be spending time with his favourite family member after school. This might actually be fun for once. All he had to do was survive another dull day of school.

And in his pocket, his pen felt heavy.