"Alright, this emergency meeting is officially called to order. For those attending remotely, please confirm working mic and audio."

I hated doing these meetings outside of necessity, but the kid had made it a necessity. All of the remote attendees confirmed working audio and mics, so it was time to get started, "For the record, I am John Cox, head of the Heroes Association of America, Portland Branch. The nature of the emergency concerns a recent enhanced individual, one Marcus McKenna, evaluated as an F-Tier hero, the first to appear.

"His power manifested as a 1% incremental improvement. This was classified as low-tier, with negligible real impact. In practical terms, he wouldn't have even rated as a sidekick, let alone a full hero in his own right. That is an assessment that is clearly wrong as we are only just truly catching up on. He and his father are currently in a private meeting with a Dr. Kim of OHSU after a council finding of doctors, so we can speak freely in this meeting. Miss Anna here will go more in-depth on the current situation."

I passed the floor, and Anna stood up, smoothing her skirts before addressing everyone, "As stated, my name is Anna, E-tier telepath, and my job is to work as counselor to fledgling enhanced, to give them the mental health tools to adjust to their new life.

"Marcus, now going by the hero moniker Aegis, did not want to be a superhero, and did not want powers. One week ago, his evaluation and testing put him as distinctly average for his age group and gender. His testing today puts him as faster than Usain Bolt, who holds the unenhanced record for his running speed. His BMI is top-tier, his senses have improved, but it is not just his physical capabilities that have altered.

"His speed and clarity of thought have improved, and he can master tasks in moments that would take months or years for anyone else. Finally, he has begun to be able to keep me out of his mind, despite my psychic abilities. This exists in two parts, the first being the speed of his thoughts makes it difficult to keep up with the mental conversation, and the other is legitimate defenses that he is creating subconsciously."

Everyone in the meeting took that last part with weight. It was one thing that he was getting smarter, or stronger, but if he could keep Anna out of his head, that changed an equation. Psychic intrusion was difficult to defend against in all but the most disciplined minds, and a scared fourteen-year-old boy was managing it. One of the online guests spoke up, "Is it possible that Aegis could manifest psychic abilities?"

I responded, "We don't know, but according to what we know so far, if he does, he would become the most powerful psychic that's ever existed, and he would be capable of it in an incredibly short span comparative to what it takes outside of those who were naturally granted psychic abilities in their awakening. This would most likely be the case with any other superpower were he to achieve them, and there are several, such as magical abilities, and Chi manipulation, that he definitely can gain access to if he can find an appropriate mentor.

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"As far as we are able to ascertain at this time, unless it is something purely random, or with no defined metric to be 'better' at something, he can simply choose to become the best that has ever existed in the history of humanity. In under eight hours, he went from almost never hitting a pin at bowling, to being able to get a perfect score with either hand, and much of the gap time was his own eating, taking notes and chatting with his friend."

I brought up pictures. The first picture was of Marcus, taken when he entered the H.A.A. for the first time. Then pictures taken from his bowling, from his family getting pictures on Sunday, and before during and after his workouts, "This is less than a week of the improvement. He's gotten taller, gaining muscle and bone density, heightened senses. He's gained in confidence even, as he's come into a deeper understanding of his powers. His metabolic rate is equivalent to that of professional eaters and Sumo wrestlers."

The questioner from before chimed back in, "And do we have any idea what he wants to do with this ability of his?"

That man was a consistent pain in the ass, Raphael Jones, and I sighed before responding, "So far, he has locked onto his workouts, and seems to want to see about the plight of the homeless here in Portland. He also has a passing interest in learning some other languages."

The man on the other side of the screen sat back in his own chair, "And how is it that he progressed so rapidly in such a short span?"

I sighed, "We don't have a straight answer on that one yet. The researchers are trying to work it out, but they don't have what they consider a proper certainty yet. This is a completely new power, and unlike any others that we have seen since enhanced individuals first appeared. Their current hypothesis is that his improvement isn't as simple as just 'do thing, get 1% better at doing it'. If we look at the bowling incident, you can just about see some progression in musculature as he continued, so it isn't just his physical ability to roll a ball down a lane that improves as he's doing it."

Raphael smiled a big toothy grin, "Then I don't understand the problem. I mean, he helps people, he works out, he learns to speak and understand. It's only an emergency if we make it one. One thing I will state, however, is that he is no F-Tier."

Raphael agitated me. Every meeting went like this. He would challenge the basic premise of the meeting, and grind progress to a halt, "The largest problem is his fame. Marcus 'took off the cowl' online and has refused entrance into the academy consistently. With his 1%, that status is most likely to rise, not fall, as he gets better at producing content and the world at large becomes more aware of him. It also means he does not have the protection of the cowl. People know who he is, and outside of academy it's essentially impossible to keep people from realizing he's enhanced even without the TikTok reveal. And what tier would you say that Aegis is in?"

"I believe he is the first American S-Tier."

Insane bastard, "The hell?! He's a kid! Sure, he's fast, and sure he learns fast, but sooner or later, he hits the human limit."

He let his head go to the side, and his grin widened, "That is an assumption based on his power being trapped to human limitations, and the assumption that there is a single true human limit, and we have been given no proper evidence that this is the case on either front."

My hands cupped over my mouth and nose as Raphael laid it out. He could be psychic, chi-active, and magical, let alone any other area he decided he just wanted to be better at, and Marcus was already refusing to follow guidance, and to put himself in situations outside of regulation. That was here and now, so what happens as Marcus continues to improve?