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“Another one?” Daniel queried, his eyes wide as he joined Dang, Dante and Daedalus at their table in the cafeteria, Meg sitting right next to him. He examined Dante from head-to-toe. The newest doppelganger had added streaks of red to his hair and had it slicked back, so he looked a little more serious than Dang and Daedalus. But the resemblance remained nonetheless.

“Where’d this one come from?” Meg asked.

“And are you planning on having all of your doppelgangers attend the same school as you?” Daniel questioned. “You do realize that at some point, no one’s going to buy the whole ‘he’s my cousin’ thing anymore, right?”

“Cousin?” Dante repeated and snorted. “I have no idea what you mean. My name is Dante, and I’m his brother. Born a year before him but separated at birth and sent to different orphanages. We reconnected a few years ago and have been in touch since and I decided I’d come finish my high school here in California so I could get to know my little brother. Imagine my surprise when I found out that my cousin Daedalus also goes here?”

Daniel blinked, and looked from Dang to Dante to Daedalus. “Wait, what?”

“See?” Dante nudged Dang in the shoulder, a playful grin on his face. “I told you the half-brother thing was golden. Besides, even if he wasn’t, the principal here seems to stop asking questions once you show him the money which is technically good, I guess? At least for us?” Dante returned his attention to Daniel and Meg. “Who are you guys supposed to be? Considering you know about the whole doppelganger business, I suppose you’re part of the inner circle?”

“Yes,” Daniel beamed proudly, puffing his chest out. “We’re very inner circle. You could say Dang and us are practically best buds!”

“He’s the moron I told you about,” Dang muttered. “Daniel, Meg, meet Dante, the newest me. Dante, Daniel and Meg are, uh, classmates of ours and I suppose you could also call them colleagues.”

“Colleagues?” Dante repeated. “What type of colleagues?”

“The sort who kick ass together,” Daniel grinned and held up his index finger. He looked around the cafeteria to be sure no one was looking and once he made sure, he summoned a flame at the tip of his index finger, the light golden flame dancing about harmlessly. “Cool, huh?”

“Yeah,” Dante nodded and held out a hand. He summoned a ball of blue flame. “Pretty cool.”

“Wait, you’re–,”

“Pyrokinetic, yep,” Dante grinned. “It’s actually really great to meet someone else who likes to play with fire.”

“You two morons need to quit that,” Daedalus scolded.

“Right,” Daniel cleared his throat and extinguished his flame, casting another wary glance around to be sure no one had looked at their table and caught that. Dante extinguished his fireball too and leaned back in his seat, a smug smile on his face.

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Daniel looked straight into Dante’s eyes. “So…what kind of stuff can you do with your fire?”

“What else do you do with fire other than burn stuff?” Meg queried.

“Come on, my flame’s got other uses,” Daniel shrugged. “I get creative with my powers and create new moves. You ever do the same?”

“Yep,” Dante nodded. “Maybe someday, I’ll get a chance to show you what I can do? We could even have a sparring session with flame swords.”

“Flame swords?” Daniel frowned.

“Yeah,” Dante nodded. “You can’t make constructs out of your fire?”

Daniel didn’t respond. Megan, on the other hand, started to chuckle. “Looks like he’s a better fire guy than you,” Megan mocked. “That’s gotta burn, right?”

“Haha, funny,” Daniel rolled his eyes. “Of course, I can make constructs with my flame too.”

“Really?” Dang arched one eyebrow over the other. “I’ve never seen you do that before and I’ve seen a whole lot of your fights on the news.”

“Magician never reveals his best moves,” Daniel said.

Megan frowned. “You sure? I’m pretty sure that’s the entire gimmick behind magic shows? You know, revealing your best moves to wow the spectators?”

“Shut up,” Daniel muttered. “You’re embarrassing me in front of the new guy.”

Dante laughed then, tilting his head backward as he laughed. Once he stopped laughing, he shook his head. “Relax, man,” he said. “I only learned how to do the fire construct thing a year ago and trust me, it took a lot of practice honing it to perfection. I’m sure you’ll get there someday. Hell, I could teach you if you’re fine with that.”

“I don’t need flame lessons,” Daniel said sharply, narrowing his eyes at Dante. “But good looking out though.”

“Alright, if you’re done talking about fire now, think we could talk about the important stuff?” Daedalus chimed in, serious as ever. “We need to put our heads together, figure out exactly what we’re supposed to do.”

“Any progress in trying to track significant anomalies?” Megan asked. “Other doppelgangers?”

“Not yet,” Daedalus answered. “But I’m getting close. When we find these anomalies, we’re going to need to coordinate, streamline our effort, make sure we handle it with as minimal damage as possible. I’m not sure your world’s quite ready to learn about the existence of the multiverse and its dangers.”

“Eh, they’re probably ready,” Daniel shrugged. “A bunch of our best comic books and movies are about the multiverse anyways. Would be a dream come true for millions if the existence of the multiverse was suddenly confirmed right out of the blue.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Dang narrowed his eyes at Daniel. “We need to take this seriously.”

“Listen, just because I’m joking about stuff doesn’t mean I’m not taking it seriously, alright?” Daniel said. “Tell you what, how about we hit town after school today to scout for anomalies? We could split into teams. You and I, Meg and your new doppelganger, Daedalus coordinates.”

“I would, but I’ve gotta be at the shelter after school today,” Dang said.

“And I’ve gotta rush back to get the anomaly detector running efficiently,” Daedalus added. “We won’t be doing much anomaly scouting until it’s up properly. Best to wait until then.”

“Okay, sure,” Daniel nodded. “How about you, new guy? What’ll you be doing?”

“Dunno,” Dante shrugged. “I suppose I’ll be with Daedalus at the observatory? Or maybe with Dang at the shelter?”

“Cool, can I join in at the shelter too?” Daniel asked.

“Do you not have Wombat stuff to do today?” Dang queried.

“Hey, if there’s any crime or danger while I’m at the shelter, it’ll only take me a couple minutes to get there anyways. I can help out at the shelter if you’d like me to.”

Dang considered the offer for a moment then shrugged. “Alright, sure. Why not? Daniel, Dante, Megan and I will head to the shelter after school, help out with stuff. And if you get tired working on the detector, you’re more than welcome to join us,” Dang told Daedalus.

“Sure thing,” Daedalus nodded.

“Alright,” Daniel grinned. “Now that that’s settled and out of the way, who’s hungry? I’m absolutely famished.”