“You eat a lot, kid.” Sky commented, his eyes looking at the pile of plates beside Sky.

“I just got kidnapped and almost died. I think I deserve at least this.” Calvin said defensively, forcing another pancake into his mouth. “Whaff dijoo ashk again?”

“Your power, what is it?”

“I thought it was rude to ask that kind of question.”

“Not in an investigation.” The detective-looking character spoke.

Calvin scratched his chin, looking towards the detective who was writing notes, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

“What?” He looked back up at him, offended. “Listen kid we’re trying to do our jobs—”

“And I’m trying to eat, here, detective. I’m sorry if I’m a bit irritable to you. I just got fucking kidnapped, beaten the fuck up, almost got fucking killed, saw my goddamn workshop teacher’s dead fucking body floating in the same goddamned pod I was put in afterwards, and almost lost a fucking friend in the last few hours, give or take.” He glared at the man, chewing another piece of pancake before continuing. “So I’m sorry if I seem un-fucking-trusting and testy right now. I hope you understand.”

The detective grew silent, leaning back on his chair as he observed Calvin. His eyes narrowed slightly, silently tapping his pen on the side of his cheek before clicking it and bringing it down his notepad, scribbling away about details unknown to Calvin.

After a few moments, the detective looked back up and bowed slightly. “I apologize, I forgot myself.”

Calvin didn’t reply, continuing to eat his food in silence.

Sky sighed and nudged the detective’s shoulder. “It’s no secret anyway. I neutralize powers. He makes people spout lies.”

“Lies?” Calvin’s brows raised up, dots starting to connect in his mind. “BS… Bullshit? That’s your name?”

“That’s right.” The detective smiled wryly, clearly used to the reaction. “Your turn.”

“It’s this,” he opened his hand and summoned a pebble in midair.

He and Quinn had already talked to each other to corroborate a believable story. According to her, the rest of the other kidnapees are more than likely to have seen his use of [Impervious Pebble], as he had blocked Driver multiple times with it. He did blind him initially with [Colour Control], but Quinn didn’t even notice it. The pebble was a safer bet, at the very least.

‘Let’s just hope Ina doesn’t blurt out my [Colour Control] when she wakes up.’ Calvin thought as he watched the two look at his pebble.

The detective looked inquisitively, “A rock?”

“Technically it’s a pebble.”

“You stopped the—”, he looked down and flipped through his notepad, “—green ‘roid monster, as you described, with this?’”

“Just try moving it— ah, hold on.” He summoned another pebble as the previous disappeared. “There, try moving it.”

Calvin let the man have his fun trying his best to move the immovable with brute force. Fortunately that gave him a little bit of time to focus on eating, which he used to empty the final plate of food.

‘No food like breakfast food.’ He thought, massaging his stomach. “So, are we good here?”

“Not yet.” Sky shook his head.

“You said ‘a few questions’.”

“That was before I had to pay.”

“Aren’t you rich?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He said before summoning a weird-looking device on the table.

It looked like a small pocket watch, a flat round thing that almost looks like a giant chocolate coin, without the chocolate. Sky pressed a button in the middle and the device opened its upward face and released some sort of thin barrier that covered the three of them in a blue dome.

Calvin was about to ask what it was when the buzz of chatter and the clang of utensils vanished from earshot. The outside world was covered with a thin blurry sheet of cloth-like material, obscuring everything but the vague figures of people moving around.

“What’s this?” He looked at them with apprehension. “Please don’t tell me I’m going to get kidnapped twice in one week.”

“This is a separate investigation” The detective shook his head. “One pertaining to your circumstances.”

He narrowed his eyes but said nothing, already having an idea on what they were going to ask about. Lightspeed and Frostbloom would have already told them about him, which means he’s going to ask about his reason for being in the lab.

“Calvin—” the detective started with a serious voice, “do you remember your real name?”

“Huh?”

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

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Amnesia, huh?” Sky muttered as he walked back to the headquarters with BS. “It didn’t seem like simple amnesia.”

“What'd you mean?” The detective asked, looking up from his notepad.

“He could still speak perfectly? His mannerisms and actions feel like they’re experienced— I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel like he forgot anything.”

The detective smirked at him. “You’ve never dealt with an amnesiac before, have you?”

“Have you?”

“Yes, both natural causes and asshole causes. And that kid— his case is more likely natural. Or at least it’s very different from most memory-erasing superpowers.”

“How’d you say?”

“Language, speech, and— well, basically most subconscious things swimming around in our head are all swirling in its own pool, away from memories. Hence even if the memory pool was drained of water, it’s not really going to affect speech centers and the like. So that’s normal.” He explained before adding, “what’s not normal is when a super comes into play. Most are unrefined, just blast the pools with bombs without care of what evaporates, those kinds of amateurs. It’s that kind of amnesia that’s more destructive, literally putting holes even in their subconscious.”

“And his isn’t like that.”

“He wasn’t babbling or stopping to stare at midair, his normal faculties were fairly pristine. It’s a good thing, sure, but that’s not what we need to know, right?”

“Why he’s the only one that didn’t come out in a coma.”

The two of them arrived at the headquarters, entering from the side and heading straight towards Sky’s office. More and more people were coming into the building, the entire fiasco had ended for the students but for them it was only just budding.

“Why didn’t we just ask him?” Sky said while they rode the elevator.

The detective narrowed his eyes at him, “at this point I don’t know who’s the amnesiac, you or the kid?”

“Sorry— it’s been a rough twenty-four hours, Jake.” Sky groaned, palming his face.

“There, there, buddy.” He patted Sky’s back.

They entered his office and sat across each other, Sky’s cluttered desk in between.

“War’s coming soon.” Sky grimly stated.

“Honestly, it was coming anyway. If it wasn’t us, it would’ve been the Dynasties or Haven.” Jake sat up and went to the cupboard at the side, taking out coffee beans and some mugs. “Hatchlings in the immediate areas have been too passive and are evading the cities. Even that goddamn moose apparently went north.”

“To the Tribes?”

“Past them,” he turned and looked flatly towards Sky, “you don’t even read my reports, do you, Henderson?”

“There’s enough problems inside this damned city.” He muttered. “Now we even lost Steel City’s blueprint matrix or whatever that thing is called.”

Turning on the coffee machine, he turned around and crossed his arms, leaning on the counter while he reassured his friend. “Not your fault. Heard Miss ‘Empress’ stopped by to stop you from doing anything.”

“And Megaton. The moron came to us.” Another pang of headache came from remembering how stupid his colleague was.

“You know it’s probably just a fake or a decoy, right? No one in their right minds would hand something like that over for ‘protection’ and as a sign of ‘trust’. Not even as a bluff.”

Sky groaned, “But the people think they did, that’s enough.”

“You’re worried about public sentiment when the allies are about to declare war with each other.” He laughed. “Still, I see what you mean. Vanguard literally lost the only copy of a blueprint of a supposed device that could influence what kind of power someone awakens. Literally a history-changing device, everyone would be as strong as the great Empress or the terrifying Destructoman, and you lost it.”

“Salt in the wound, Jake. Please.” He banged his head on the desk.

The coffee machine dinged, the scent black bitter goodness filled the large office with enough energy to jolt awake the sleep-deprived hero behind the desk. Jake filled two mugs, putting one in front of Sky while sipping the other.

“I just wanted to be a hero.” He muttered, taking the cup and gulping it down.

“Too late, buddy.” Jake chuckled, sipping his own cup. “So, what do you want to do with the kid?”

“What do you mean?”

“You heard what I heard. That kid fought someone that could probably match a third-ranker.” He gestured with three fingers to emphasize. “Plus, with whatever that enhancement drug the guy took, even fifth-rankers would have trouble.”

“I know. He has an interesting power, and he gets somewhat creative with it. I was planning to sponsor him, the academy thing is happening in half a year, remember?”

“Was?”

“Someone beat me to it, by a few minutes.”

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

Calvin didn’t remember how he got back to Quinn’s luxury suite hospital room, but he walked in nonetheless. He was staring at his holowatch, newly recovered from the detective, reading a file they had sent him that made him remember his place in this world.

‘I almost forgot. This isn’t my body’ He thought grimly, a frown appearing on his face.

“You okay there?” Quinn’s voice broke him out of his reverie, her concerned expression jolting him from existential dread.

“Yeah— it’s just, well, I got ambushed by the detective-looking fella and the other dude.”

“Oh, they didn’t do anything excessive, right?”

“Not really. I made them pay for the food, though.” He smirked.

She stared at his smirk, shaking her head lightly while closing her eyes. “Oh, Calvin.”

“What?”

“The cafeteria food is free.”

“Oh the motherfucker…”

“You’re just an idiot.” She giggled.

He groaned, not expecting to have gotten one-upped despite the fact that it didn’t even matter if they paid. The man was probably rich. With how he was literally considered one of the top heroes in the city, he had to be. Still, it was the principle that mattered.

“Got my watch back, at least.” He showed her the band on his wrist.

“Oh, good. I’m sending you something.” Quinn flicked open her holowatch and started typing.

Calvin felt the usual feeling the watch gave when he received a message. Dox’ upgrades were still there, at the very least.

“What is it?” He asked while pulling up the display.

“Just read it.”

> Quinn sent a file

Vanguard Academy Sponsorship Agreement

This Sponsorship Agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into as of [Date], by and between:

The Sponsor: Quinn Margarett

and

The Sponsored: [Name]

1. Background

...

“Vanguard Academy?” He muttered while continuing to read.

“You know the Vanguard Internship Program, right? Well, they’re reaching a break-point with the amount applying for it. Lano’s Law, you know.”

Calvin nodded, not having an actual clue what Lano’s Law is. “Okay, I get that, but why? It says here you’re going to sponsor me. Can you even do that? You're a minor.”

“Technically, my parents are the ones sponsoring you.”

“Well, technically, I’m still being sponsored for no reason.”

“The reason is because now Ina has a power, so she’s going to go. Which means I’m going to go too. Which also means I’m going to drag you with us if I can.” She grinned at him. “Plus, I have a feeling you’re going to want to go anyway.”

“Will I?” Calvin tilted his head.

“You had the same look as Ina throughout the whole thing, Calvin. The same look she’s had on ever since— well, I’ll let her tell you that story herself. Point is, I don’t think you’d want to regret getting a chance at this.”

He scratched his cheek. He felt a bit like an open book in front of Quinn. “I could always go solo, the fighting arena way.”

“I’ll make sure you get a bad super name.”

“Oh yeah? Anything you have in mind?”

She looked up in thought before snapping her fingers, “The Pebbler.”

“Still kinda cool, though.” He smiled, already having thought of that himself.

“Rockblocker.” She served up another one.

“Okay, that one’s worse.” He chuckled.

“Stoner.”

“Look, I’ll think about it, okay?” Calvin rolled his eyes. “Also, I can’t imagine ‘Stoner’ not already being taken.”

“Then I’ll call you Stoner from now on.”

Calvin groaned, “I’ll call you the V-word if you do.”

“I’ll melt your insides if you call me that.”

“Don’t mess with The Pebbler, Quinn.”

The two’s banter filled the room, both of them trying their best to keep their anxiety at bay.

Quinn’s thoughts were more focused on her bestfriend. Despite her reassuring Calvin, her heart beat an anxious rhythm as she kept waiting for a notification from her holowatch, or a call from the nurses, or anything, just to know she’s awake.

Calvin’s were a tad more chaotic, only subdued by the weight of realization from what he had received from Sky and the detective.

‘Orion.’ He echoed in his mind, remembering the name of the body he was in. ‘Why’s your name so much cooler, man? Damn.’