“Anywhere in the world…” Calvin whispered, staring at the egg-stained statue in front of him, understanding but not fully comprehending the implications of Quinn’s words.

Currently, he was sitting in the small park-ette, the one surrounded by giant hedges with the Seven’s statues as a centrepiece. Darkness had fallen some time ago, the moonless night only illuminated dimly by the spotlights pointing towards the statues rather than the people who will inevitably stumble and bumble in the shadows.

It was dark, but it was also comfortable. Like a blanket of privacy which he very much needed right now.

“Theoretically, Cal. Like you asked. a day ago, remember? If I can probably crack the world’s crust in half. Again, theoretically, I can, but that’ll need so much power. You were already close to dying summoning just a single pebble a few kilometres from here, so don’t get your hopes up,” Quinn reminded him while throwing an egg at the statue of her mother.

The pink-haired girl had dragged him outside after a known assailant reeking of sweat and adrenaline intruded Calvin’s dorm. The trespasser demanded a feast of meat and soft drinks before collapsing on his bed, snoring away into dreamland and forcing the two of them outside of his domicile.

They could’ve migrated to Quinn’s room, but the girl had other ideas.

“A few kilometres? How far away is your house?” He asked, before grabbing her wrist. “Stop throwing perfectly good eggs.”

“Far enough that I know you’ll definitely be on some watchlist if it ever gets out that you can do that now,” she then picked another egg up with her other hand and smushed it against his nose.

He sniffed and almost barfed, “What the fuck?! Are those rotten?”

“I got them from the cafeteria.” She nodded, throwing both eggs to the statue. “So, don’t talk about it outside.”

“Like what we’re doing now?” He asked, raising a brow as he glanced at her.

“No one comes here at night. No cameras either,” She shrugged. “I meant outside us. Me, you, and Ina.”

He sighed, “Just another skeleton in the closet, right?”

“A pretty big skeleton that might just strangle you if it gets out,” She spoke with a hint of amusement before offering him an egg. “Want to try?”

“Do I want to try throwing a rotten egg at the statue of one of the strongest superheroes in the city who I have no relation to?” Calvin enunciated his words.

“You’re technically sponsored by her, you know?”

“It’s your name on the contract.”

“It’s her money.”

“Right,” he nodded, taking the rotten egg. “Why do you hate her anyway?”

She stared at him, a smile creeping up to her face, “Half a year, you finally asked.”

“I had to when you were offering to throw eggs at her statue. Figured I should know before I get bagged in the middle of the night for defacing the statue of royalty.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. They won’t get you at night,” she scoffed at him, “they’ll do it in broad daylight.”

“Very reassuring,” He shook his head, refraining from throwing the egg.

A moment of silence came as neither of them spoke. Calvin’s gaze landed on her expressionless face staring at the statue before drawing downwards, narrowing as he noticed her fingers gripping the bench’s metal hard enough for it to dent. Even with just the dim light reflecting off of the stone statues, he could see the paleness in them.

He pursed his lips, ruminating for a moment before sighing and shaking his head lightly. His attention went back to the woman in front of them, brows curled at the mystery.

Quinn took a deep breath and let out a lengthy exhale, “Well—”

Calvin cut off her words, throwing the egg right in the middle of the statue’s forehead, “Actually, you don’t have to tell me. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s a good reason.”

There was another moment of dead air before he heard her chuckle, “It’s the same reason I’m this strong, Cal. I got my power when I was very young.”

“Hmm…” Calvin wanted to ask how young but from how strong she was, he could already guess.

“They said the entire bed was shaking like a jackhammer when it happened, and that I wouldn’t stop crying because of it.”

'They said?’ For some reason, the way she said it stuck to him.

“At first it was random. I was too young to understand what I was doing so everything I touched would vibrate if I was paying too much attention to it, like I was holding a match inside a room filled with straw furniture. Whenever I grew curious, I’d light it up. They had to quake-proof an entire room just for me,” she sent a glance towards Calvin, reading the question on his face, “Dampeners weren’t a thing back then… and it’s not like those things would’ve actually worked.”

Calvin was briefly reminded of the handcuffs from the kidnapping, “Dampeners don’t work on you?”

“On us, Cal. It’s absolute,” she emphasized.

“Right… what then? How’d you control it?”

“Slowly,” she whispered, the edge of her lips curving upwards, “we played games, like making objects shake depending on which colour was said. How you’re supposed to teach children, right? They gave rewards for succeeding— most of the time it was food, mainly cheese balls because I was apparently very receptive to cheese balls.”

“How cheesy— ow.”

“Then, it was a year after awakening my power when that woman came,” Quinn sent a glare towards the statue, “Never even seen her before that, outside of pictures on the walls. The only time she even came to look at the child she brought into this world was when it finally showed that it could be useful. How fucked up is that?”

“Very,” Calvin said immediately, grabbing another egg from the box and throwing it at the statue.

“After that, it was just lesson after lesson from professors and instructors with their heads so far up their own asses that they couldn’t even see that I was just a kid. They cared more about the prestige, the connections, and the money than the brat that couldn’t even understand what they were talking about,” her frown grew deeper, “they tried teaching me everything, not just how to be strong, but how to be cunning. What to say— when to say it, how to say it…”

“Noble shit,” he summarized eloquently.

“Politics. Social studies. Psychology. Economics. Math, Cal. Math.”

“That’s just fucked up.”

She chuckled before growing serious again, “I was alright with using my power— no, I was amazing at it. But everything else… I couldn’t catch up— I mean, how could I? I’m not… I can’t handle all of that. I’m just a kid. I didn’t even understand— couldn’t even understand what I was doing wrong! I just wanted… I was just a kid.”

“Quinn,” He whispered, resting his hand on her trembling shoulder.

She jolted at his touch before breathing out and calming herself, “I was just a kid, Cal, but in her eyes, I wasn’t that. Just a failure, a disappointment… and she made sure I knew it.”

He saw her clenched hands and felt a heat rise up in his chest, “She hit you?”

“Nope. Never even touched me. Probably wasn’t worth her time to,” she shook her head, “instead, she just said it straight to my face, 'You’re a disappointment’.”

He couldn’t help but throw another egg at the statue, “That’s fucked up.”

“That’s when I really started to hate her. I didn’t like her before, but I didn’t hate her until then. I hated her so much, Cal… so much. I hated everything. I hated that empty and cold house. I hated those unfeeling and stuck-up teachers. I hated myself and this goddamned power. I started asking myself, you know? Why even have this power? Why even try? Why even live?” She shook her head. “I— I started rebelling. Not listening to the lessons. Not even using my power. Escaping the house for days on end. Ignoring the people trying to help me. Not caring about my life.”

She grew quiet after saying that. Calvin could tell how hard it was for her to speak about it. But he could also tell how important it was, so he just let the silence hang in the air and just be beside her, listening.

“But then she changed,” Quinn continued after a minute, “She suddenly apologized and started treating me better, treating me like a person… like a kid. She gave me what I wanted, and I mean whatever I wanted. She let me do whatever I wanted to do, throw my tantrums, destroy the house, buy out entire stores, graffiti whichever building, —”

“—egg her statue,” he added.

She let out a smirk, “Yeah. She tried fixing our relationship. Trying to invite me to tea in the garden, dinner together, even going shopping. Shopping, Cal. Not her usual 'royal style’ to invite the shops to our house, go to the reception room and finally showcase their catalogue that she’ll pick from. No, actually going out to shop.”

“That… would be a sight,” Calvin couldn’t help but imagine it while staring at the regal-looking statue.

“It was all so sudden, I couldn’t react. I didn’t understand what was happening… until she introduced my step-dad.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Step-dad?” Calvin blurted out, confused.

She read the question plastered on his face, “I don’t have a dad, Calvin.”

“Oh,” he nodded, not really sure what she meant. “Was he worse?”

“No. He’s actually not a bad person. He made her change and all that. He was even nice to me, nicer than she had ever been, and treated me like his own child. But— I don’t know. I just felt… bitter,” her voice grew smaller. “It wasn’t until I met Ina that I learned to just ignore that bitterness. Move on to better things.”

“Move on, huh?” Calvin muttered, staring at the statue.

“This is just for fun,” She shrugged, chucking the last few eggs in the box. “Great stress relief.”

He smirked, listening to the satisfying sound of the egg smashing against the marble, “Thanks for telling me that.”

“Yeah, well, figured you might need leverage with all your secrets that I know.”

“I have cheats and you have a sad backstory.”

“Equivalent exchange.”

“Sure,” he chuckled.

“We should go, it’s getting a bit late. Here,” she gave him another egg, “last one.”

“I’m honoured,” he chuckled, grabbing the egg and winding up his arm.

“Ahem—”, a cough interrupted her.

The two looked over to see a portly man walking towards them, glancing towards the egged statue of one of The Seven. Calvin’s breathing stilled and his heart raced, he was literally caught egg-handed by someone who looked like a teacher.

A plaid coat, checkered shirt, brown pants, flat cap, and leather shoes— the typical look of a history professor. Everything about him seemed normal, except for the black glove he wore on his right hand.

As his mind whirred to give excuses, the man turned back towards them, “Do not worry, boy. I myself have gone through such a phase in life, there will be no memory of this, I promise you.”

“Uh… thank you?” Calvin took a moment to process the man’s unique way of speaking.

“You’re welcome,” the man nodded, his face obscured by the shadows under the hat he wore. He raised his hand and fixed his glove, “If you don’t mind, can I ask you to—”

Quinn’s brows furrowed as she stood up, grabbing Calvin’s wrist, “We were just leaving—”

“Do not interrupt me.”

Her words were stifled as he more or less growled with anger. He raised his hand, palm up, showing the peculiar palm side of the glove. It whirred, like a machine powering up, splitting down the middle and letting out a golden scarab with a glass carapace and a speaker on its back.

Quinn’s grip tightened as she pulled Calvin, “Run—”

“Stop,” the man commanded.

“Stop,” his voice, modulated, echoed through the bug.

“Be silent and stay still. Do not activate your power.”

“Be silent and stay still. Do not activate your power.”

Calvin felt a familiar compulsion echo inside his head before a small headache came and muted its enchanting voice. Anger and anxiety suddenly rose up inside of him, but seeing Quinn get pushed back down on the bench cooled his heating chest. The man had his hand on her, it was too dangerous to act out.

'Fuck… not this again,’ he was in a panic, but he was smart enough to know not to show it. 'Is Quinn okay— fuck.’

“Woahoah!” A heavily modulated voice came up from behind the man. A figure walked out from the shadows dressed in darkness, yet somehow the grin on their face was obvious, “So all that talk about not doing anything suspicious is out of the window now?”

“Memo will be busy for the rest of the week and I’ve already infiltrated the surveillance network. It’s as safe as it can be,” the portly man explained without looking towards the other person, “But you are right, my anger got the better of me, apologies.”

'Memo?’ Calvin recognized the hero’s name.

“I get it, I get it. No need to explain.”

“Of course you do.”

“So, what do you want to do with them now?”

The man didn’t answer, instead pointing his hand towards the statue and releasing golden scarabs that flew straight onto the rock. The mechanical bugs crawled towards the bits of egg and shell the two of them had thrown earlier, cleaning it up thoroughly before moving on to the next stain.

Calvin watched in confusion, 'What is he doing?’

“Cleaning up? Didn’t peg you for a neat freak,” The shadowy figure mocked.

“We can’t have this place surveilled,” the man explained. “My infiltration in the security system can be considered surface-level at best. Despite the relative safety, it’s still the most convenient location on the campus. No cameras nor student activity.”

“Student activity like these two?”

“Again, my emotions got the better of me.”

“Got too curious, huh?”

“As is my guilt,” the man nodded. “'The Subject’ is a very fascinating specimen, speaking in terms of metahumanbiorology.”

'The subject?’ Calvin felt chills at the term. 'Is he talking about me?’

“You made that word up,” the figure spoke before taking out a weapon from behind its back. An iron spike. “So do we get rid of them or what?”

'It's them,’ Cold ran through Calvin’s spine.

He almost wanted to go all out, keep them in place with his pebbles while he carried Quinn and ran to the nearest building. Unfortunately, his essence, or his spirit stamina, or his actual stamina— everything was running low from his experiments with Quinn.

At most, he could summon a couple of pebbles and use [Jumper] to hopefully get away and into a safer space. He could also probably use [Colour Control] to make themselves blend with the darkness, but that would be pushing the limit.

“Curb your bloodthirst. I was just about to remedy the situation,” the man showed them the glove again, “Go back to your dorms and forget about the past ten minutes.”

“Go back to your dorms and forget about the past ten minutes,” the scarab echoed.

Calvin felt the headache again, only this time it was mixed in with a pain-numbing amount of relief. He felt Quinn stand up right beside him and start walking away so he did his best to mimic her dazed movements and shuffle out of danger as fast as he could.

“Actually,” the man suddenly spoke, “Stop.”

“Stop.”

The two of them froze in place a second time. Calvin had to suppress the instinct to gulp and make any noise as his heart was about to beat out of his chest from hearing the man’s command and consequent footsteps.

He was already pulling on [Jumper], gathering the strength subtly to potentially push against the man and run away with Quinn, when he felt a hand grabbing his wrist. The man positioned himself beside him, looking intently at Calvin’s face before turning his gaze towards his arm.

“Let’s see here,” he whispered, raising Calvin’s arm to shoulder height.

With his other hand, he took out a golden scarab not unlike the one with a speaker on its back. Only this one had something else in its transparent carapace— a convulsing meatball.

“Ooh… is that the thing you were talking about?” The shadowy figure came close and asked, curiosity dripping from her tone.

'Tall,’ He noted their characteristics as much as possible, trying to drive away the nervousness he was feeling now.

“No,” the man, surprisingly, answered the figure while placing the scarab on Calvin’s arm, “it’s a sampler. The prototype is someplace else.”

“You’re going to copy his pebble power?”

'Copy?’ Calvin felt nervous.

“I want to analyze it,” he shook his head, opening a holographic screen on the back of his gloved hand, “and I don’t intend to 'copy’. I intend to 'imitate’. Copying is impossible.”

“You copied Trovik’s just fine?”

'Trovik,’ He almost flinched at the name. 'The guy from the kidnapping.’

“I didn’t— there’s no benefit discussing this right now.”

“But I’m curious?”

“No,” the man said, pressing the largest red button in the middle of his screen.

Calvin's thoughts were jolted off-track as he felt the scarab bite with a pressure similar to a clothespin.

“Unexpected,” the man pressed another button.

“What is?”

“His constitution is not unlike a Physic’s.”

The scarab’s jaws started biting harder, making his eyes twitch from the unexpected pain. It broke through the skin and stopped immediately after, letting blood flow off the side. Calvin grimaced unconsciously before returning to his poker face as soon as he realized.

Thankfully, the two’s attention was towards the scarab. Or, more specifically, the meatball inside the scarab.

The bug stayed still for a moment, whirring with a sound like a hard drive from the 90’s. Then, it started twitching, as did the meatball inside, and afterwards groaning and chirping like a cicada. Then, a curious sound, like a waterlogged engine trying to start. It gurgled. It screamed. It died.

The figure drew closer, staring at the 'dead’ scarab, “Was that supposed to happen?”

“Hmm…” the man hummed, looking closer at his screen. “It overloaded. Damn.”

“From one power?”

“It’s a prototype.”

“You said it wasn’t?”

“It’s not the prototype. It’s a prototype sampler for the prototype.”

“Ugh… I’m confused,” the figure threw its hands up. “Whatever, it sucks and you smell.”

“A waste of a hatchling,” the man tutted.

'Is it because I have more than one?’ Calvin theorized. 'Did he just say hatchling?’

The man grunted and let go of Calvin’s arm, walking over to Quinn and grabbing her arm, intending to do the same thing he did with him.

'Shit. I can’t let them…’ Calvin thought, knowing how destructive her power is. 'What can I… I can’t summon a pebble, they’ll see. My other powers are useless on their own— on their own…’

He focused and watched as the man placed the scarab on Quinn’s arm and did the same thing with his holographic screen. He waited, remembering the big red button from earlier, preparing his [Impervious Pebble] using the whitestuff.

'Only one shot at this,’ he thought to himself. 'Change size, change size, change size!’

As small and as precise as possible, he repeated the mantra in his head and summoned a pebble right in between the scarab’s jaws. It was smaller than usual, but that wasn’t enough. Simultaneously, he used [Colour Control], changing the colour of the pebbles to mimic her skin.

'Shit! It’s too obvious!’ Calvin panicked, seeing the rock-like lump that couldn’t even be mistaken as a cancerous bulge in her arm. 'Invisible? I can’t make it invisible… it’s not a colour! What else… think, Calvin. What would the smart people you know tell you?!’ He tried thinking about the smart people in his life, 'Dox is too insane to give advice. Ina would just punch. Quinn would… I don’t know, fuck! Calm down,’ as he tried to stop himself from panicking, Sebastien’s words came to mind again, 'Habit and perspective. Invisible isn’t a colour. But why? Why isn’t it a colour? Because light just passes through so… it has no colour? Transparent is the lack of colour? Fuck it, let’s try!’

He immediately used [Colour Control]’s whitestuff, trying to find the feeling of 'removing’ colour from an object. The man’s attention was still on his screen, but it wouldn’t be long until he looked at the weird rocky lumps on Quinn’s arm.

Unexpectedly, he was already familiar with removing a colour he added. But removing a colour that was naturally on the object was different. There was a pressure, like pulling two neodymium magnets apart. He wasn’t sure if he had both the energy and the strength to do that.

'Come on!’ He gritted his teeth, feeling essence drain from him. Panic set in as he saw the big red button appear on the man’s holographic screen. 'Work!’

The button was pressed. The scarab bit. And the jaws let out an audible clang as metal met stone. It whirred like a stuck machine before a metallic snap rang out, the teeth of the bug broke.

“What happened?” The man picked up the scarab, looking at the girl’s pristine arm with a frown.

Calvin nervously looked as well, seeing a faint silhouette of his pebble in the air. It wasn’t completely transparent, but he was hoping the light was dim enough to make it invisible.

“It seems like a redesign is needed… at least we didn’t lose the hatchling tissue this time.”

'It worked,’ Calvin almost sighed from relief.

“Aw, your wittwe buggy-wuggys got booboo? How swad…” The figure teased.

“Enough,” the man got out another scarab, placing it on Calvin’s wound before taking it off a second later.

'It healed me?’

“Oh, that’s a neat one. Can I have that?”

“No,” the man glared as he pocketed the mechanical insect. Afterwards, he leaned close to the boy’s face, staring at his eyes as if he were looking for something.

The light finally reached a part of the man's face as he leaned closer; his chin and his lips were illuminated dimly by the light. Calvin tried to memorize the unremarkable features of the man, realizing there was not much to identify him even if he took a picture now. He was fair-skinned, semi-wrinkly, and chubby but that was all.

'It’s just the lower jaw of a fat old man,’ Calvin grumbled in his mind as he did his best poker face. 'Hmm… if there’s nothing to look for, then I’ll leave something.’

The man suddenly leaned away, “Carry on and forget this.”

“Carry on and forget this.”

'Shit,’ Calvin quickly pulled on his power a second time, thankfully feeling the drain as it seemed to be successful. 'That was close.’

The figure’s voice rang as the two robotically started walking again, “You’re not going to bug them?”

“Too risky, it’ll get detected in no time. Especially since he’s close with two high-profile individuals. They’ll instantly realize I’m here,” he heard the man answer with a grunt. “Now, report.”

“Well… the patient—”

The voices soon faded in the distance as Calvin and Quinn made it towards the lit area of the campus. Calvin wanted to breathe deeply, but paranoia started to bug him and he just couldn’t relax at all, not until they arrived at the dorms.

“Huh… we’re back here? That’s… weird?” Quinn looked befuddled as she looked around then towards Calvin. “Why can’t I?”

“Quinn,” Calvin spoke gravely, “my room.”

Without waiting for her to answer, he opened the door and beckoned her in, looking towards the entrance of the corridor in suspicion before closing the door and locking it inside.

He turned around and saw Quinn sitting on the bed, right beside the unconscious and sweat-soaked Ina.

“Oh, right, she’s here,” Calvin muttered. He shook his head before offering his hand to Quinn, “Grab my hand— but brace yourself.”

She glanced at his face and then at his hand before nodding sternly, “Okay.”

A world of pain and nausea introduced itself as soon as she grabbed his hand. Quinn grunted, immediately putting her head in her hands while Calvin collapsed on his knees.

“What just— Cal!” Quinn shouted, seeing her friend on the floor.