"Hey! Hey! You're him right?" The girl looked both ways, and then around nervously. She lowered her voice into a hiss. "Right? The Guy?"

"I'm The Guy," The Guy -- who was usually called Jimmy Wallace -- responded. And then, after a moment's hesitation, he continued. "I find missing objects. I locate stolen posess --"

"Yeah. I know. My friend told me. C'mon, we aren't doing this in the middle of the parking lot." She paused mid-turn and her eyes, carefully outlined in dark, cattish eyeliner and -- Jimmy couldn't help but notice -- a really vibrant shade of green, stopped darting around for a moment and focused squarely on him. "You look shady as fuck, you know that?"

The girl eyed him as he shifted uncomfortably, taking in his thick, dark sunglasses, the ball cap which was tucked low over his hairline, and then the bandana covering his lower face.

"I-I know."

Her eyes strayed down the buttoned up duster jacket he was wearing over his clothes and then hovered for a moment longer on the gloves.

She hesitated... Then pointed out quickly. "Ok. Well my friend said that too. Now before you get any funny ideas, just know that she's in this park right now and got the police on speed dial. Capiche?"

Jimmy nodded hurriedly.

"Also I'm armed," she continued after a moment -- she pulled out one of those pen-tasers that was making the rounds everywhere these days then stuck it back into her seat pocket -- "and I've been taking krav-maga for about five months, so if you try anything funny, I'm going to knock your ass out here in the park and wait for the police to bag you while drinking club soda from the vending machine. You get me?"

"Y-yeah I get you," Jimmy said still nodding quickly and trying to look as agreeable as he could behind his ball-cap, sunglasses and face-mask. He wished he'd gone for the hospital mask instead. 'Far less suspicious,' he thought. And maybe the gloves were a bit overboard?'

"Alright. C'mon." The girl said. And dragged him over behind a cop of trees. "I don't want anyone to see I'm talking to you."

"No one's noticed us." Jimmy volunteered helpfully. "Trust me."

The girl eyed him balefully one last time then rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Are you changing your voice too?!"

...

"Never mind. I don't want to know. Creepy af!"

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

The girl's name was Vicky, or Victoria Montgomery if you were reading her homework assignments, and just like all school cheer leaders, she was tall, leggy and thin and was everyone's crush.

She had done her auburn hair up in twin, french braids today, one on each side of her head, and they came together at the back to combine elegantly together into a mega-braid.

She liked tea over coffee. Lived with her mom -- but saw her father every other weekend -- had two dogs named Wriggly and Mechlin, did palates with her friends and dated the star quarterback for Eastwall High, Buck Higly.

...And Jimmy knew all of this because he was often lucky enough to sit behind her and her friends in physics class. Once or twice she even noticed him enough to ask him a homework question. Really, the fact that they were even sharing more than a few sentences was actually a little exciting, Jimmy thought.

"Ok, so here's the sitch." She said looking uncomfortable for the first time. "So my name is Vicky, and, uh... you don't need to know any more than that right?" She peered at him.

He shook his head.

"It's my ex. We broke up two weeks ago, free and clear. And I thought we were good, but then he called me up and he was a real dick!" she spat. "Said he had videos of me. Of us, you know? Pictures too. Said he'd start sending them to people if I didn't do things for him, you know?"

"What a dick." Jimmy agreed easily, but... his heart sank, and after a moment, that ever present ich that he'd been suppressing woke up.

Instant red zone. Hunger. It wanted now. And Jimmy... Jimmy had been putting it off for far, far too long. He knew he had too, but he'd been waiting for a job to come by -- this job actually, and now.... He bit his lip. He had to get out of here now.

"Yeah. Really sucks. You know? I -- I actually don't th --"

Vicky was squinting at him. Hard.

"... Oh. OH! Waidaminute, he has nudes?!"

Vicky went red and suddenly she was looking everywhere at once. "Sh-shhh-shhh!! -- Are you crazy?!" She hissed, leaning forwards and waving her hands. "Yes! Yes he has nudes! And videos. And everything! And he threatened me! ok? He said that if I don't --"

Jimmy gaped at her, and his brain stall was so complete it was almost enough shut down the red zone break he was in the process of having. Nudes? Of Vicky? Jimmy's face was burning, and if he knew anything, his ears were bright red too.

Vicky was still squinting hard at him, though. "Do I know you?"

And twice in one go, she stopped him short.

"Kn-know me?"

"You forgot to do that thing with the voice this time --"

'CRAP'

"-- And I never forget a voice. Faces whatever. But voices...." she glared at him suspiciously. "Do you go to my school?"

"Y-your school? HA!" Jimmy started backing up hurriedly, face still burning, and now... "The chances of us knowing each other," he babbled "are so minute tha --"

"That's not a 'no'!" She hissed. "You do!" Vicky advanced on him raising her fist. "I swear to god if you say a word about this.... I-if you're Parker...!"

"I'm not Parker!" He knew he should have stayed away from someone going to his school! Knew it. knew it knew it knew it!

Jimmy was in full on retreat now, warding the girl away from him with both hands and all but running backwards. If he didn't think she would absolutely trounce him in a foot race... Dammit. And damn that desperate itch!

She stopped, huffing and glaring at him. "So I don't know you?"

"Why. In the world." Jimmy said between pants. "Would you know me?"

"Mmmm. Still not a 'no'. What's the matter with you? You don't like lying?"

"This was a mistake." Jimmy spun about and --

Vicky dragged him back by his jacket before he could get more than two steps away. "Ok. Fine fine fine! I don't know you, ok? Sheesh. Parker's a dick too. And whatever the matter is with you..." she looked him up and down again, taking in the face coverings, the duster jacket and lingering again on the gloves.... "I don't think its being a dick. So can you help me, Guy? I want those videos."

"I mean... even if I wanted to I don't think I can." Jimmy said, tugging at the sleeve that Vicky was maintaining a vice grip on. I mean, if he video taped you guys to get the... uhh... the --" his ears flamed again. "It's probably all on a cloud. Nothing I can do about --"

"-- It's not!" Vicky broke in quickly. "Bucky's paranoid about clouds. He barely has more than a flip phone. No chance it's online. So? Can you do it?"

Could he? Jimmy thought about it. Than paid it a bit more attention, and thought about it again. Harder.

Could he? A video? Jimmy pursed his lips.

The problem was that when he found things for clients, he didn't go about it in any kind conventional way. He used a... a sense, so to speak, and there was a pretty exacting set of parameters for him to use it. In particular, the one that was throwing him for a loop now, was that the item had to be tangible. Discreetly ownable... and video?

"I don't think this'll work." He told Vicky quietly. "It's a video. Its not really something I can f--"

"What if I told you exactly where it is?"

"Wha -- say what now? You know where it is? Then what the hell do you need me for?"

"Please. You expect me to break into my douche ex-boyfriends house to steal his hard drive?"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"... And you expect me to?"

"Isn't that what you do?"

Vicky was peering hard at him now, and she still hadn't let go of his jacket!

"One. I find and retrieve things that are missing. I don't ste --" he choked. "I'm not a th -- damnit! I don't do break-ins! That's just plain unsafe!" he yelped. "Now. Let. Go!"

"Please. You have to help me!" Vicky hissed, holding on tight. She was looking a little manic herself now, which -- Jimmy couldn't help but notice, was a stark contrast to how she'd been before. If her friend really was hanging around the park watching, she was getting some really weird visuals. "C'mon, you're The Guy! Ann said you were awesome! What d'you want? money? I was gonna give you that already. I --"

"I told you!" and he was fighting two things now he realized. Cheerleader Vicky, who worked out and did five months of krav maga, and that itch. It burned. it Wanted! and Needed and -- it made him want to tear his skin off and if he didn't get away, he was going to -- "I can't help you!" he gasped.

"A -- a date! I'll, uh. I'll go on date with you!"

Jimmy froze. And interestingly enough that seemed to catch the itch's attention too.

"A. Date." Jimmy repeated in disbelief. "You want to go on a date with a guy... in a mask? Are you insane?"

"I mean, you do go to my school right?"

Jimmy twitched. Vicky noticed.

"Not a dick. Goes to my school. Can't seem to lie. Blushes at sex. Looks like a stick and for some reason, is giving me hard core nerd vibes." She ticked those off on her fingers one by one. "Yeah... yeah I think thats well below my danger threshold."

"So what do you say, Guy? Money and a date? Hmmm?"

Vicky did that thing that girls did where they made themselves look even prettier without noticeably doing anything!

But what was really catching Jimmy's attention was that Vicky seemed to have caught the Itch's attention too, and that was... that....

The Itch was not a skin issue. It was more cosmic. Or existential.... Or, at bare minimum, a highly peculiar mental issue. And like his sense for where things were, it came with his power.

His. Power.

And it only took interest in certain things.... A. Date?!

"This. Is a really, excruciatingly bad idea --"

"Why thou --"

"-- But. Fine!" Jimmy finished quickly, before the Itch could act back up. "A date. And money." Itch was calm.... Jimmy waited some more as Vicky whooped and let go of his arm grinning.

"So -- uh... how much money?" Vicky remembered to ask.

"Five."

"Five... Five hundred? Ann payed you five hundred bucks to get her bike back?!"

"She payed me one hundred." Jimmy said acerbically, shaking his cuff out where Vicky had gripped him. "But her job didn't involve breaking and entering! Buck is like five times my size!" He exclaimed, not even bothering to hide that he knew who Buck was. "He looks like a truck! Five!"

"Five... dates?" Vicky chirped.

"Ffff --" His skin writhed. He really couldn't afford to say no to this, Jimmy realized. 'This is dumb. This is dumb. Itch you have dumb rules.' He was never leaving it this long again. "Fine!" He said finally. "One hundred. Five dates. Deal."

Vicky whooped again. "Deal!" And she shook his gloved hand.

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

"-- Arbitrage is that AI mediated transaction app right? Why is it asking for access to my camera?"

"Part of its lie detection algorithm."

"And It'll hold my cash until the contracts been met?"

"Yup."

"... How does it know...?"

They parted ways after the logistics and Jimmy made sure to watch Vicky walk all the way to her car and drive off before he took off himself.

When he did leave, he made sure to take several unnecessary turns and check that no one was following him until he turned into an alley, ripped off his hat, glasses, and gloves and bundled them into his duster jacket, which he then stuffed into the backpack he'd left in a patch of shrubbery where two walls met.

Then he headed off to the bus stop.

If anyone saw him now, he looked no different than any number of High Schoolers headed home after school rang out.

He wasn't The Guy anymore. Just Jimmy Wallace. High Schooler, nerd, with a thin face and unassuming light brown hair which was getting a bit long... blushed at sex and most definitely was NOT one to have a conversation with Vicky Montgomery by himself in the park!

Nope. He was just a normal... Jimmy Wallace was not normal. He hadn't been for a little more than three months now by his estimate. And that estimate may have been rough, but not dangerous, seeing as the Itch hadn't really made itself known until about three weeks after he realized he could do things.

And as he walked, almost without thinking, Jimmy did one of those things now.

His hand crept into his pocket and he thumbed around absently.

"Extra pair of disguise glasses." He mumbled to himself, just as absently. "Bug spray -- hate mosquitoes. Three big sticks -- Why did I pick those up again? Pack of pens... A brick for... brick things. Lots and lots of yarn... I really need to return tha --"

Jimmy paused, and then pulled out... a card.

He stared at it accusingly. "You're new!"

To anyone else it looked like just a card, albeit one that was slightly bigger than a normal playing card, more colorful and layered in tribal calligraphy. But to him....

Jimmy flicked his wrist, and for just a moment, he was gripping a new, shiny black pen-taser, with a thumb switch on one side and pocket clip on the other. And it had a heft to it that Jimmy generally associated with expense.

Then it was a card again

He blinked at it dumbly for a moment. Then he slapped himself on the forehead!

'You Idiot!' He thought. 'So thats why the Itch went away!'

Then he climbed on to his bike, and rode off, and nobody noticed a thing.

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

"SSSSHHHHHHHH!" Jimmy's sister said dramatically as she swung the door open for him. "Moms watching the news again. She's already yelled at me for being loud. Twice!"

"-- ring you live coverage from Enderson High, where a manhunt is underway for the unidentified Superhuman responsible for this devastating attack. We have Elisa Snowsi on the scene."

"It's still going on." His sister hissed in his ear. "Apparently black fire doesn't go out. They're saying its thousands of degrees hot! The Firemen can't get in!"

Jimmy nodded without saying anything. He could see the fire on the screen. It was all murky and black, like someone had dropped an ink well and the splatter had jumped up and started dancing. Only, it wasn't comical like that image sounded in his head. It was....

Only part of the now iconic U of Enderson, was still standing, and the black blaze billowed up into the sky where the rest of it should have been.

Over the reporter's shoulder, Jimmy could see helicopters buzzing overhead and rescue personnel still running around like a kicked over ants nest.

'They must not have stopped.' He thought. 'They must have brought in reinforcements from the surroundings cities.'

The reporter looked tired. She had bags under her eyes and there was a noticeable weight to her shoulders. That didn't stop her from flipping her hair back and glaring into the camera.

"-- The current toll stands at thirty-nine confirmed dead, and over one hundred injured, many critically, with many more students and faculty still unaccounted for. Authorities believe that there are many more trapped inside the blaze and the predicted death toll has mounted to over three hundred, making this the single deadliest assault by a Super on US soil."

There's been no word yet as to why this Super attacked the school, however the most recent statement from the police is that they now believe that perpetrator of this horror may in fact have been one of the students. Back to you John."

Elisa Snowsi tossed her mic to someone in front of her and stumbled off screen before the camera cut.

"Once believed to be the next big step for humanity, the advent of Super Humans has instead heralded a time of mass conflict and death at a scale previously only associated with active war zones. What do you think of all this, Kent?"

Kent was a balding man with a pudge and his voice cracked as he spoke.

"Well... well, I think its pretty clear that this can't continue, John. I mean five years ago the fear was a man might open up on folks with a gun, now, a single man --"

"-- or woman --"

"-- Or woman, can decimate a school with just -- just their brains! It's horrifying... I, tell you John, I don't think the hard Right's going to be able to continue carrying this on the back of Second Amendment rights. It's one thing to say the public can keep and bear arms. Doesn't mean the public can carry around rocket launchers or -- or god forbid nukes."

"-- Yes. Yes I agree this is definitely going to put pressure --"

"--That right there? That right there, John. Thats a weapon of war! A-and I don't believe the US military has that in their arsenal."

"What do you believe the answer to this is, Kent?"

"Expanded powers to law enforcement. Expanded surveillance. Monitoring. At the very least mandatory registration and public records. The public has a right to know if their neighbor can tear a building down if they have a bad day. Parents have a right to know if their child sits next to a-a Super at school!"

"Thank you, Kent. Folks, we are going to go on a five minute brea --"

"--And John. John. The public is not going to continue standing for political seesawing. Not after this. We don't know enough about these guys. Eight years ago they show up? Where did they come from? Why are they here? Are -- they even huma --"

Jimmy's mother clicked the TV off and stood up. She was short even for a woman, a fact which Jimmy had found never actually made her any less imposing. She let out a harrowed breath which Jimmy echoed a second later.

"Hey Babes," She came over and gave them each tight hugs and Kaykes, his sister, a quick, apologetic smile. "Neither of you know of any Supers at school right? You'd tell us if you suspected anyone?"

They nodded and shook their heads and Jimmy was very very glad that the order of questions allowed for plenty of ambiguity.

"Supers aren't cool, babes. They're going to tear apart the world. That lunatic in Africa.... Massacres in the UK and Germany. Koreas in shambles. Now Enderson...." She trailed off shaking her head and moving towards the kitchen. "Dinners going to be ready in thirty minutes, guys."

"Hey," His sister nudged him. Her name was Kayla whenever anyone bothered to use it. To him she was just Kaykes. She took after their mother more than Jimmy did. She was short, with dark eyes and dark hair which she'd cut to just below her chin.

She gave him some finger guns and bright grin that Jimmy felt was completely at odds with the pervading sentiment that the TV had left in the room. "You wanna --"

"Not tonight." Jimmy broke in stiffly. "I got homework...."

"Aww, C'mon!"

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

Upstairs Jimmy sprawled heavily on his bed. After a moment he flicked his fingers moodily, and his cards flickered out and flowed into the air above him.

They flew out from his pants pockets, his school bag, several from his chest of drawers and one even squeezed out from underneath his mattress. There were a lot of them and they were all, if not identical, indistinguishable from one another. At least to anyone not Jimmy....

To Jimmy they were... His. And he could tell you what was in each one without a second's hesitation. He could feel them all, floating above him in a cloud...

"And you!" Jimmy fingered the card containing that pen-taser and glared at. It was a vibrant blue card, which faded into splotches of green in places, kind of like the ocean did under certain skys.

There was no border on this one, but like all of his cards, jagged and smooth black lines twisted and curved all across it. There were symbols mixed in there too -- or what he thought were symbols -- though none he recognized.

'Someone made this.' Jimmy thought, not for the first time. 'Someone not me.'

"You're a bad power. A very bad bad power." He groused. And somehow the Itch seemed to purr, deep inside of him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with five dates?" he muttered after a moment. He felt his ears go a bit red again and then he grinned stupidly. "Five dates with Vicky M!" He punched the air. Then he sobered.

'Its gonna have to be tonight,' He thought. 'There's a game on tonight and Bucks the star player. There won't be a better time.... What a dumb deal.'