"Is it just me or is everything in this room kinda different?" Sam said, looking around after barging into Calvin's room.

Right now, Calvin was practicing his [Color Control] power while getting his daily exercise in. It started half a week ago, when he went to the training hall and realized that the power wasn't 'will-intensive', so to speak. Which meant he could go ham with changing the color of everything.

And right now, most things in the room is blue. Including the walls.

"It's just you." Calvin shrugged, performing his last pull-up. "What? Another girl coming over?"

"I wish." Sam's shoulders slumped as he leaned on the door frame. "I'll be gone for a week at least. Got a job in another city."

"You got a job?"

"Not that kind of job."

"Smuggling job?"

"Smuggling job." He nodded.

"Didn't know people hired for that." Calvin scratched his chin.

"You have no idea what people hire other people for." He shook his head solemnly.

"I guess that's true." He nodded. "Can I ask which city?"

"It's Nenya Business City."

"Was just asking." While they talked, he changed all the objects in the room to red.

"That's trippy," Sam commented. "Isn't there a training hall for something like this?"

"There is, but I'll be out in the afternoon. The workshop thing, remember?"

"You still doing that? You planning on being a cape?" Sam asked, a brow raised slightly as he looked at Calvin.

"What? Scared I'll arrest you soon?" Calvin smirked at him.

Sam tutted. "Repaying kindness with hatred, I see how it is."

"Nah, brochure said it's Superpower and Combat Advice today. I'm curious." Calvin stood up, stretching his arms. "Someone said they'll find a combat class for me, but now that someone is fucking off to another city."

"It's hard to find someone respectable and safe, okay?" Sam shrugged. "Why don't you get that old man to teach you? The one from the gym."

"Training hall."

"Whatever the fuck. Why not ask him?"

Calvin looked at him blankly. "Really? Ask an old man how to fight?"

"Haven't you seen the movies? It's always a mysterious old man training the supers."

"There're movies here?"

"Oh yeah, amnesia." Sam facepalmed. "I'll need to get you cultured some time later. There's a great one starring Damsel and Daydream!"

"Daydream?" Calvin remembered Damsel from the trivia game.

"Supervillain." He explained. "They cast him and Damsel. A real supervillain and superhero. Not actors or look-alikes."

"How'd that go?"

"Well, no one died during filming." He shrugged. "That's just how some of them are."

"Wild."

"Anyway, don't wreck my crib while I'm out." Sam turned around and walked out of his room.

"I might clean it up though." He mumbled.

Sam came back, peeking his head from the side of the door while smirking at him. "You're blue too, by the way. Don't forget to change back."

Calvin looked at his arm. Blue as a crayon. "Fuck, almost forgot."

"You're welcome!" He heard Sam shout from the living room.

----------------------------------------

"Good morning." Calvin greeted as he entered the kitchen of the Marina. "What's that?"

Marvin was hunched over, looking and moving delicately above a plate of raw translucent white mystery meat. The meat was arranged in a peculiar pattern that made it look like the petals of a blooming flower.

He stood up, looking towards Calvin with a comforting smile. "Want to taste?"

Calvin stepped back, "who are you? Where's Marvin?"

"I'm right here, brat." He grunted.

"Oh, phew." Calvin breathed a sigh of relief. "What is it?"

"Taste it and find out." He urged on.

Calvin went closer, marveling at the beauty of the dish's plating. He smelled the dish first, getting a hint of a slightly sweet scent along with a faint aroma of the ocean.

His [Gourmand's Insight] triggered after smelling. 'Pufferfish meat, lemon peel, spring onion, vinegar, soy sauce, tetrodotoxin... huh?'

"Marvin!" Calli's usually sweet voice turned to fire with anger. "Don't eat that!"

"It's poisoned?" Calvin looked towards Marvin, feeling betrayed.

"It's pufferfish." He nodded.

"Marvin, I done told you last time. Quit offerin' that raw fish and try somethin' less deadly to practice with!"

"It's safe, and I have this," he grabbed a small rod on the table, pressing a button to reveal a needle coming out. "He would've been fine."

"It would still have been rather unpleasant, now wouldn't it?" Calli crossed her arms, looking towards Calvin with an apologetic smile. "I apologize, dear. Marvin gets like this every few months, when exam season rolls around. He's training to be a sushi chef."

"Sushi chef?" He looked at the fugu.

"I like fish." Marvin grunted, taking the fugu and eating some of it. "And sharp knives."

Calvin stared at him while he chewed, "aren't pufferfish supposed to be- I don't know- the literal hardest fish to sashimi?"

"Marvin has a peculiar way of thinking. He believes startin' at pufferfish would make the other fishes triflin'." She sighed. "I reckon it's best not to have a nibble when he offers next time, dear."

Calvin looked at Marvin who was somehow fine despite eating poisonous fish. Since Calli wasn't saying anything, he didn't bother to ask.

The work shift continued, albeit with a bit more side-eyeing the sous chef who almost poisoned him. In the middle of cleaning up the tower of dishes, he got a message from Ina.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

> Ina: gona get u

>

> Ina: aftr ur wrk

>

> Ina: dont leav elry

He smiled, replying after finishing the new stack of dirty pots that just arrived.

> Calvin: Sure.

At the end of their shift, Calli helped him with closing and locking up the restaurant.

As the two of them went out and reached the front, they saw Ina lounging on one of the seats. She was wearing the same thing as before, a school uniform, except now she had a mouth mask.

"Well, bless my soul, is that Miss Ina? How have y'all been, darlin'?" Calli called out sweetly to the delinquent girl.

"Auntie Calli!" She jumped up and hugged her. "I'm fine. How are you? I missed you a lot."

"Maybe you wouldn't be missin' me so much if I came by more often, now would ya?" Calli grinned. "Are you here for him, darlin'?"

"I'm here just in case he bails out on me." She sent a look full of suspicion towards Calvin.

"It hurts how you trust me so little." He held his chest in fake agony.

"Say, darlin', are you two..." Calli held Ina closer and whispered in her ear.

"What? Ew! No!" She grimaced.

"Ha!" Calli giggled, winking at Calvin. "I'll go ahead and head home on my lonesome. Y'all enjoy your workshop, now."

Calli left on her own, leaving Ina awkwardly turning towards him with a frown. He could guess what she said from her reaction.

"The 'ew' was unnecessary." He grumbled as he started walking with her.

"It was completely necessary." She harrumphed. "Nice shirt, by the way."

"You bought this shirt."

"And I have exquisite taste. You're welcome."

"What's with the mask? You sick?" He asked.

"A little." She shrugged. "Come on, let's hurry to the stop."

"Don't you have a car?"

"Cars are too fast. Can't enjoy the view there."

----------------------------------------

The two arrived back in the U-shaped building with the huge alpha symbol in front. The Vanguard Headquarters, as Calvin came to know when he had time to look it up. It's basically Bastion's super hero base.

"There's a few more people here." Calvin spoke, looking around in the lobby while they lined up for a pass.

"There's a delegation coming from Steel City." She explained with a frown. "People are fussing over how to decorate the place instead of how to handle the entire thing politically."

'Steel city.' Calvin echoed in his mind, trying to recall where it was. "So we won't have a workshop next week?"

She looked at him with a glance, her eyes saying 'really?'. "We probably will. It's not anything big for people like us."

"Good. I was curious about next week's thing." They were going to learn about Tinker Tech for heroes next week.

They got their passes and made their way back to the conference room. Calvin briefly wondered why it was called a conference room when it was as big as an entire warehouse, with no chairs or tables or anything. It was just an empty space.

Entering the non-conference room, something similar to last week happened.

"Ina!" Quinn charge-tackled her. She noticed Calvin standing behind, and she quickly shielded her friend, "Ina's mine!"

"All yours." He backed off.

"Good that you know." She harrumphed, turning back to Ina with a pout. "I can't believe you had fun without me."

"Blame your parents." Ina smiled, flicking Quinn's forehead lightly. "Nice hat."

"Isn't it?" Quinn bowed down, proudly showing the black hat with cat ears.

The three walked towards the far end of the room. They sat in a corner, Ina and Quinn chatted while Calvin looked around the room. He counted them all, everyone who was in the workshop last week was still in attendance.

He spied Regina, the ink crow girl, looking around while standing all by herself. She met his eyes and nodded towards him in greeting. He nodded back and turned his attention towards other people in the room.

After a few minutes, the doors swung open, and four people walked inside.

Calvin's heart palpitated, freezing as he recognized who was walking in. He turned to Ina with a panicked face.

"I need a mask. Or a hat. Or anything!" He pleaded.

"What? Why?" Ina recoiled a bit at his desperation.

"Calvin?" Quinn squinted at him.

"Please, just-" He glanced towards the entrance.

Four people, two of which were Allen and his duplicate. The other two were heroes in costume. One wore gold and white, the other wore a dress of blue flowers.

Lightspeed and Frostbloom.

He felt a cloth on his hand. Ina looked at him weirdly but nonetheless gave him a mask. "Here."

"Thanks." He wore the mask and felt more at ease. He wasn't naïve enough to think he was in the clear, but it was better than nothing.

"Need a cap too?" Quinn asked, offering her kitty cat cap.

"I think this is enough." Calvin nodded. "Thanks, though."

"What's that about?"

Before Calvin could make up a reason, Allen grabbed their attention with a clap.

"Come on everyone." He beckoned for them to gather in front of him.

Calvin tried his best to sit in the least conspicuous middle of the crowd. Ina and Quinn sat to his left, while he was at the edge of the group.

"-twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six. Wow. Everyone's back. That's a first." Allen remarked, writing something on a clipboard he was clutching to his chest. "Today, if you all read your brochures, we're going to be giving you advice about powers and how to use them for combat and emergency situations. I brought two guests here today so that I don't die from overworking. You might know them, Lightspeed and Frostbloom."

"Good afternoon, everyone." Lightspeed spoke curtly. "I'm Lightspeed, an Enhancement Physic."

"Ice to meet you, kids." Frostbloom grinned, waiting for a chuckle. She received a facepalm from Lightspeed and an awkward cough from someone else in the room, then continued unperturbed. "I'm Frostbloom. I'm a Summoner Mystic."

She waved her hand and showed off her powers, summoning blue flowers all around them. The air chilled as a frosty mist started rolling out of the flowers she had spawned. A moment later, she waved her hand again and the flowers disappeared.

"I'm Allen, and I have a hangover." Allen continued after the flowers disappeared. "So here's what'll happen. I'll divide you all to three groups, Physics, Mystics, and Gimmicks. If you think you should be in a different group, feel free to go there.

As you may have guessed, Mr. Lightspeed here will be in charge of Physics, Miss Frostbloom will be for Mystics, and I'll do my best for my fellow Gimmicks in here. Now, come as you're called."

Allen started calling them one by one, directing them towards whichever group he told them to go. Interestingly, there was no one that wanted to change their designation.

Regina was called to Frostbloom's group and Quinn was in Allen's. Calvin did not fully understand Gimmicks, so far it seemed to be a catch-all category rather than its own.

"Calvin and Ina, since you two still don't have powers you can go ahead and pick whichever group you want." Allen addressed the two of them.

"Where-"

"I'm going to Allen's group." Calvin answered immediately.

Ina looked at him curiously before shrugging, coming along with him. "What's with the mask?"

"I'm feeling a bit sick." He gave the excuse before sending a message through his holowatch.

> Calvin: I'll tell you later.

She read the message, glancing at him before replying.

> Ina: ok

"Ina!" Quinn embraced her as if they weren't just sitting next to each other a few minutes ago.

"Gimmicks have the fewest, huh." Calvin remarked, looking at how many people there were compared to the other groups. There were eight Physics, nine Mystics, and five Gimmicks, not including the two of them.

"A lot of Gimmicks are not immediately useful for hero work." Ina explained.

"Immediately?"

"Like mine." Quinn pitched in the conversation. "I can only vibrate stuff I touch, which doesn't feel strong right now. Even if it gets stronger, it's still just vibrating stuff."

"I dunno, seems useful. It's probably hard to fight when your shirt is vibrating." Calvin chuckled, imagining an enemy shaking like a chihuahua.

"Ha! Wanna try it out?" Quinn grinned evilly, reaching over with her hands mimicking claws.

"Please don't." He started backing away.

The two Allens took their attention again with another clap. At some point, the two of them had different shirts on, one said 'Assistant' and one said 'Prime'. Allen Prime gestured for everyone to sit down in a circle on the ground.

"Damn it, why don't they ever give us chairs." Assistant Allen grumbled, summoning a chair from his pocket behind Allen Prime who sat down on it.

"Okay, we're all gimmicks here. Everyone already introduced their powers last time, but just as a refresher, let's go ahead and introduce our powers only. Let's start with you, Alex." Allen Prime gestured to the leftmost boy.

Calvin knew him. He didn't remember his name, but his power. He was the swapper.

"I can swap with anyone I can see." He spoke briefly.

Allen Prime gestured towards the next person to speak.

"I can give instructions to projectiles I throw." A brown-haired girl named Charlotte spoke.

"I can make things I touch vibrate." Quinn described her power.

"I can telekinetically control things I touch." Said Benjamin, the only telekinetic.

"I can stop any projectile with my body." A large guy named Liam gleefully said with a smile.

'I can do that too.' Calvin smiled at the weird power.

"I can duplicate myself up to eight duplicates and only during the day." Allen Prime continued. "See a pattern here? 'I can do thing given condition'. That's how gimmicks are, we have conditions. Rules. And we set the battlefield around those rules. That's what makes us Gimmicks."

Assistant Allen then asked a question. "Who can tell me the general weakness of Gimmicks?"

Surprisingly, Ina answered. Just one word. "Rules."

The two Allens looked surprisingly at her. "Correct. Rules. Of course there area also specific weaknesses, but generally the more rules you know, the easier it is to dance around them. Let's have an example."

Assistant Allen walked to the middle of the circle before turning to Alex, the swapper.

"Alex. You can swap with anyone you can see, right? Try to swap with me."

Alex was stunned at first, being randomly addressed, before focusing and looking towards Assistant Allen. Before he could do anything, Assistant Allen summoned a towel in his hand and threw it towards Alex's head.

Assistant Allen was already in front of Alex with a smile on his face and a finger gun pointed to his head. He put the gun down and walked back to the center.

He proceeded to systematically dismantle all their powers using their rules.

He feigned movements to trick the girl with curving projectiles. He removed everything in the vicinity of Quinn and the telekinetic. And he simply punched the guy who could stop projectiles with his body.

"Now, would I have managed that without knowing your rule? Maybe. But not as quickly." Allen Prime spoke as Assistant Allen walked back to his side. "So, that's the first piece of advice. Keep your rules as close as possible to your chest."

"Second advice, expect your enemies to already know your rules." Assistant Allen added. "Especially if you plan to be a famous hero. That's going to be leaked, no matter what you do. So plan ahead."

"Third advice, evolve your power as soon as you can. Either through training or epiphany. You'll get more rules, but you'll be more flexible as well."

'Evolve?' Calvin thought. "Powers can evolve?"

"You didn't know?" Ina looked at him strangely. "Everyone knows that."

"Apparently not." He was now daydreaming about the [Impervious Pebble] evolving into something greater. 'Impervious Boulder. That would be great.'

Allen Prime clapped. "Alright, now I'll do my best to give you personal pointers. Two at a time, let's go."