Alex was laying on to roof just making dirt angels while the rest of the group was talking about some of the implications they had already gone over multiple times. Alex had checked out after they had cycled back for the third time. The conversation had just been that they need to find this person that was hunting them down even though none of them had the slightest idea of how to do that. They had briefly touched on Alex’s situation as well, but were unable to com up with a solution for him either.

And so, Alex checked out for a second.

The rest of the group suddenly got silent. Alex popped his head up and saw that everyone was looking at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You aren’t even going to help us come up with anything?” Lila asked, her arms crossed over her chest. She was tapping her foot. It reminded him of his mom. Actually, it was eerily similar to how his mom would stand when she was angry.

“What do you want me to say? I know less than you guys do. You have already gone over all of this and it seems like none of us really has anything further to offer.”

“I agree. We have been just circling for the last hour,” Ethan said.

Cameron and Sophia nodded in agreement. Lila just huffed.

“So, instead of focusing and worrying about things we can’t control, can we focus on what we can? How have you guys remained largely unaffected by this hero hunter?” Alex asked.

“It’s because our identities have remained hidden. No one knows who we are, and so we haven’t been tracked. Simple as that,” Cameron said.

“So are you guys helping anybody or are you just hiding?”

“Some of us help,” Cameron said gesturing to himself and Ethan. “Some don’t do that much,” gesturing towards the other two.

“We help,” both girls exclaimed in unison.

“When it’s convenient,” Cameron said with a scoff.

“Is it ever really convenient?” Lila asked.

“She has a point,” Ethan agreed.

“All I’m saying is you guys could be doing a whole lot more. You are wasting your abilities,” Cameron said.

“We’ve gone over this. Not all of us have a hero complex. We aren’t all just wasting away until there is somebody to save. Some of us had lives before and are wishing to continue those lives now,” Sophia said.

Ethan slumped over slightly. Alex didn’t think that anybody else caught it as they were busy with their argument. Alex felt sad for the guy. He had really been at his lowest before the Forge had chosen him. This was his chance at a better life.

“Guys! Calm down. Has been like this since you got back? I get that you don’t need to be best friends, but what the heck?” Alex butted in.

“You don’t know how stressful it’s been for us. You don’t get to show up and tell us how we should react,” Lila said.

“You’re right! I don’t know. I have been dealing with my own stuff, but now I’m here and I think that the only way we are going to get through this is if we work together. I would imagine that the first Awakened to get hunted down were the loners. Together we stand a chance, but if this is how we are going to be together, we’re screwed,” Alex said grabbing everyone’s attention.

“You’re right. We need to do this together. Kind of sad that we need Alex to be the voice of reason,” Sophia said.

“What does that even mean?” Alex asked in outrage.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” she said with a wink.

Alex decided to just let it drop. If they were going to start working together better, somebody had to be the bigger person to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

“So I think the first thing we need to focus on is how to get stronger. The stronger we are, the less likely this guy can actually kill us. We need to be independently strong as well as in a group since we will probably fight people in both settings. It wouldn’t help us much to be strong independently if we couldn’t coordinate when we are together. So both are going to be important,” Alex said.

“Ok. And how do you propose we do that? It isn’t like we have dragons on Earth we can fight. How are we supposed to get stronger when most humans are weaker than level 5?” Lila asked.

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“Well how have you gotten as strong as you have?” he asked.

“It’s a combo of fighting crime on Earth and the missions we have been called to. Though, I don’t remember the last time I gained a level from fighting crime. It’s been a while now since there has been any super crime around Hillcrest”

“This is why I don’t waste as much time on it anymore. Diminishing returns. Plus, you stop a mugger and I swear three more pop up to replace that one. It’s frustrating,” Sophia grumbled.

Alex could see Cameron hearing himself up for another argument and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Surprisingly, he calmed down.

“How many missions have you been called out on?” Alex asked the group.

Everyone said three except for Ethan who said he had been called on five.

“Why were you called on more?” Alex asked.

“Because they needed my skill. I have been told that I have used my skill in a unique way that is not extremely valuable to the Coalition. I will probably be called to serve more tours than the rest of you.”

“That is interesting. I didn’t know that,” Lila said.

“You never asked,” Ethan retorted.

Lila looked like she was going to say something, but thought better of it. Instead she turned to Alex.

“So, unless you want to start signing us up for deathly missions on other planets for levels, we should probably come up with something else. Don’t you think?” she said.

“Ok. Have there been any Awakened villains to pop up? If there were more people like David and his group, there has to be villains right? Heck, we know there was that crazy mentalist chick that got out of the tutorial. I have a hard time believing that she’s just laying low. She seemed super crazy and she also seemed to really like her powers.”

“We haven’t seen her or anything indicating where she would be. I also doubt she’s just doing nothing. She really liked when she was torturing me. Like, really really liked it. The torture was bad enough, but she looked like she was getting turned on by it,” Lila said.

“Gross! I didn’t need to hear that,” Alex grumbled.

“What? I’m just saying that I don’t think she would just stop if she enjoyed it that much.”

“I get it, but it just makes me feel icky.”

“You think it makes you feel icky? Imagine me. I lived it.”

“You don’t have a monopoly on icky feelings you know. We can both feel gross.”

“I think you guys are getting sidetracked,” Sophia said pointedly.

“Yeah I would like to stop talking about that as well,” Cameron chimed in.

“Agreed,” Ethan’s deep voice sounded off to the side.

“Ok. So let’s make a game plan. We should start trying to track this chick down. She’s probably got some type of trail leading back to her. Maybe there will be connections to even more twisted people,” Alex said.

“Yeah, but I think you’re forgetting something. She’s awakened, just like us. If we kill her, we will get punished by the Coalition. Ethan, you, and I need to careful about that kind of stuff. Who knows what kind of consequences we would face if we killed Awakened again,” Sophia said.

“That’s true. But don’t we get experience for just fighting?” Alex asked.

“Yes, but not nearly as much as when they get killed. At least, that’s what I’ve noticed,” Lila said.

“Well that sucks, but I guess there isn’t much we can do about that. We’ll just have to take what we can get. So that’s our first item of business then. How are we going to communicate with each other?” Alex asked

“We can communicate through our interfaces. Let me send you an invite,” Lila said as her eyes began to glow slightly.

A moment later he got a prompt which he accepted and suddenly a new folder showed up on his interface. He was now a part of a group chat. He sent requests to each of the other group members.

“With that you can send us messages in the group, as well as individual messages. The best part is that it doesn’t use anything that can be tracked. No cell towers, no satellites, nothing. It is directly tied to the Forge,” Lila said.

“Awesome. This is great because I don’t have a phone. Or money,” Alex said, reminding them once again of his struggles.

“Would you stop bringing that up? You’re making me feel bad. Look I will get you a card. I have plenty of money and if it gets you to stop complaining all the time, I can help you out a little bit. But seriously, if you keep bringing it up, I’m gonna cut you off,” Sophia said.

Alex didn’t know what to say. He was honestly not fishing for that. He was just complaining. He didn’t expect for anybody, let alone Sophia, to actually offer him anything. He ran up, and before she could protest gave her a hug.

“Wow! Thanks so much! That’s so nice of you. I don’t care what the others say about you, you’re alright in my book,” Alex said.

Sophia tried to speak, but all that came out was a grumbling, gurgling sound. She started tapping on his back before he realized he might be squeezing a little too hard.

“Holy crap dude! What have you been eating? That hurt like crazy. I think you literally broke one of my ribs,” Sophia said through wheezing breaths.

“Oh shoot! My bad. Here take one of these,” Alex said.

A health bomb worked its way from his suit into his hand. He pressed it into her mouth before she could even react. She swallowed reflexively. Her eyes began to water and her skin turned bright red. She was panting and scraping at her tongue.

“What the hell! What did you put in my mouth? Who even does that?” Sophia said as she was running around trying to find anything to ease the burning sensation she felt on her tongue.

Of course there was none. They were on a roof. It wasn’t like people just kept milk on a rooftop. After a few minutes, the burning subsided. Not completely, but enough for her to start attacking Alex. He deftly dodged all of her attacks, but with each dodge, she grew angrier. Eventually, he started to let them land.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just gotten used to them. I forgot how bad it was the first time I took one. It gets better, trust me. And look at your health.”

She did and was surprised to see the damage he had cause had already healed. He hadn’t actually caused that much damage, but it was noticeable. She felt her ribs, and they were only sore now. They no longer felt like they were cracked, just bruised.

“Pull something like that again and I will never talk to you again,” she said with intensity in her eyes.

“Sorry. Won’t happen again. But seriously, about that card.”

She transformed into a hawk and flew away.

“I’ll message you later. When you’ve had time to calm down,” he called after her.

Everyone else said their goodbyes and they all made their way down the building.

Alex stayed on the rooftop, his stomach grumbling.

“I really need that card,” he said to himself.