I wasn’t any stronger or braver than the others who were pulled into that God-forsaken arena, I was just luckier.

Arthur and Robert looked from the whiteboard to the other four members of the crew in open confusion. “Are we missing something?” Arthur asked, his British accent still sounding odd to Vincent even after all these months. The former students were only now beginning to understand how isolated the world had become since the Invasion, and just how poor their education on the farm had been.

Vincent had spent as much time since escaping as he could, trying to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. It was hearing Arthur speak aloud for the first time that prompted him to dive into the study of other cultures, which in turn helped him recognize the accents of Ember and his crew.

It was fascinating to Vincent that, despite countries ostensibly no longer existing, the world had actually become more xenophobic and isolationist under the NGG. The world’s population was just over two billion, and people were largely confined to specific, dense population centers. Some of that was due to the destruction of the invasion, but Vincent suspected there was more to it.

Regardless, learning that Arthur, the master of the Cult’s intelligence network–and someone he’d been speaking to for years in written form–was actually from a place so distant was an exciting revelation. Air travel was incredibly restricted, and to Vincent, who’d been trapped in Vermont for almost his entire life, other continents may as well have been other worlds.

Danny answered the older man’s question. “You’re not missing much, mate,” Danny was also becoming more worldly…in his own way. “It’s just nostalgic to see Vince back in front of a white board, plotting out some impossible scenario,” Arthur nodded in understanding, Robert grunted.

“The fact that we’re nostalgic isn’t a good thing,” Emi said with undisguised irritation. “Spooky here, told us what came next the first day we arrived, and we haven’t seen any movement in eight months.” Vincent glared at her. I never should have told her my class was ‘Specter’, he thought.

“It’ll be quickly apparent what I needed the time for after you let me tell you the details,” Vincent countered. Emi opened her mouth to retort, but Robert silenced her by dropping a gargantuan fist on the table. He didn’t have patience for banter when there was something important to be done. Vincent gave him an appreciative nod, while Emi gave him the finger.

“As I was saying,” Vincent continued, “we have two very specific, and ambitious goals.” He wrote on the board as he spoke. “We’re going to destroy the Watcher, and take down the NGG. Thankfully, the first will lead to the second,” he said.

Lucia turned her red-rimmed eyes onto his, “You never came out and said it,” she said in a clearly accusatory tone, “tell us exactly where this plan comes from.” Vincent met her gaze unflinchingly.

“As my sister knows, this was what the Cult of the Mind was created for,” he answered. Arthur and Lucia knew this, of course, but to Emi, Danny, and Robert this was something of a controversial revelation. Danny looked the most uncomfortable, and Vincent wasn’t surprised that he spoke first.

“Vince, I know your mother was part of,” he gestured at the building around them, “all this–oh and Arthur is the coolest man alive,” Arthur nodded once. “But, the Cult, man. Everyone knows they tried to take over the world,” he finished.

“They tried to take over the NGG,” Vincent corrected. “The organization that enslaved the world and outlawed Psychics,” Danny shrunk under Vincent’s stare, and nodded, but it was clear he wasn’t convinced. “Regardless, we’re not interested in that part of their plan. We only care about this,” he walked the short distance to nearby dais and placed his hand on the Book of the Prophet.

Lucia rolled her eyes dramatically, “That book is bullshit, Vincent. No one can predict the future; it was just the Cult’s propaganda. Something to justify taking over the world–which they absolutely tried to do.” Arthur turned his calm gaze on her at that, but stayed silent. He was very good at silence.

“Did you read this book?” Vincent asked in response.

“Of course not,” Lucia said dismissively. “I heard enough of that garbage when we were here as kids. I’m not interested in drowning in those fairytales again.”

Vincent nodded, expecting this. “I didn’t ask if you read the prophecies, I asked if you read this particular book,” Lucia raised an eyebrow. “Emi did,” he added, before flipping to the back of the large tome. Everyone turned their gaze on the Tech, as Vincent placed the book on the conference table. It was open onto pages that were clearly blueprints.

“Whoa,” Danny said, turning a few pages, and marveling at the complexity of the images. “This is some serious stuff, what’s it mean Emi?” Emi Sato’s face scrunched up slightly.

“I’m not sure,” she answered, clearly not liking the truth of the statement. “It’s beyond me. It’s probably beyond almost any Tech on the planet,” she added.

“All but one,” Vincent prompted, and Emi sighed.

“All but Tecnico, himself,” she said, and eyes widened around the room. Emi continued, “There’s no doubt about it. It’s old, a couple of decades at least, but it’s definitely K-Tech, and it’s a level of complexity beyond anything I’ve seen. Some of the base suppositions used for the components reference concepts and laws that only exist in Tecnico’s head–I’ve checked.

“This is beyond anything on the Network. It’s beyond the Network itself,” she said with something akin to awe.

“Uh,” Danny said, taking it all in. “Okay, so how do we know what it does?” he asked. Vincent nodded.

“Fair question. Some of it is implied by the prophecies, which refer to it as ‘the Weapon that Ends Corruption’. The rest comes from Emi’s interpretations of the blueprints. Emi?”

Everyone turned back to her, and she looked uncharacteristically nervous. “Well, I can’t understand how it’s built, but I can recognize a number of the aggregate components.” She pointed at an unrecognizable collection of rectangles. “This is a device to absorb Gamma. A crazy amount of Gamma. I’m surprised they could even produce this much when it was designed.”

She flipped a few pages ahead, stopping on something cylindrical. “This is…well, what it seems. Basically a gun-barrel. It can be aimed at a target, and fires something.”

“Something?” Danny asked. Vincent quickly glanced over to gauge his sister’s reaction, and was pleased to see that some of her skepticism was forgotten, as she too stared at the remarkable diagrams. They were made by the most legendary Tech the world had ever known, who was also their mother’s former teammate.

Emi flipped the pages again, stopping at something spherical, and vastly more complex than the other two components. “Something,” she said again. “This is the part I understand the least. It’s the heart of the device, so to speak. It takes the Gamma, processes it somehow, then sends it to the barrel. But…”

“But what?” Lucia asked suspiciously.

Emi sighed, “‘But’…so many things. But I don’t understand what it does. But I don’t understand how it does it. But…But it’s too complicated.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vincent asked. Emi hadn’t mentioned this the last time they spoke.

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot, Spooky,” she said, tracing her finger along the designs. “I don’t think it just does one thing,” she turned a page, pointing at more inscrutable blueprints. “I think this part was added after, and that it adds some kind of second function.”

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Vincent considered that for a moment. “Okay, for now focus on what you do know.” Emi nodded.

“Well, some part of the process involves synchronizing with an external energy source, and destabilizing it. That much I know, and it’s what leads us to believe we understand its overall function.”

“Which energy source?” Lucia asked, likely suspecting the answer.

“The Watcher,” Vincent supplied. “It synchronizes with the energy being expelled from the Asteroid, and makes it volatile somehow. Volatile energy explodes,” he explained with a smile, but Emi looked unsure.

“Emi?” Lucia prompted.

“He might be right, I just don’t know. Like I said, this is too far beyond me.”

“Right, that’s the part I don’t get,” Danny chimed in. “If it’s this far beyond Emi, who is the best–and only–Tech I know, what’s the point of all this? Are we hoping she keeps leveling up until she can build it?”

Now Vincent smiled widely again, returning to the white board, and writing. “Arthur?” he prompted.

The dark skinned man stood up to be more easily seen, then spoke. “The attack on the Cult wasn’t what people were told,” he announced. “Yes, to some extent, the NGG simply wanted to be rid of us, but that had been true for years. The reason they finally committed such an overwhelming force to the effort was because of the device,” he indicated the blueprints.

“The truth of its purpose was known only to the Prophet and a few trusted agents, but we were all told it was the key to stopping the NGG, and taking back our world,” he looked away, rare emotion touching his sharp features. “The assault came when the device was near completion. It was a terrible operation with no subtlety, likely because of the need to act so quickly,” he said.

Lucia looked away angrily. “We remember,” she said simply.

Arthur nodded, “What you could not have known as children, was that the device was here.” Lucia looked back at him, surprise clear on her features. “This is a more important facility than you may have realized, in no small part because of its proximity to Tecnico’s little Kingdom.

“The device was constructed here, and meant to be used here as well, but then the attack came,” he crossed his arms. “We had many agents then, and were given some foreknowledge of the impending assault. We had enough time to dissemble the device into three pieces. Vincent?” He returned to his seat.

“Thank you, Arthur,” Vincent replied, stepping back from the board, which now had additional writing on it.

The Plan: Assemble the Device

* Acquire the Core from Tecnico

* Acquire the Power assembly from the Cult of the Mind

* Acquire the Barrel from Legacy

“You can’t be serious,” Lucia said in utter disbelief.

“Vince,” Danny said slowly, “last time we just wanted out of our shitty school. Even then it was a lot of close calls. You can’t seriously want us to rob the NGG, the Cult, and K-Tower,” he said.

“Rob, borrow, compel, convince,” Vincent answered casually, “good plans have room for flexibility.” Seeing the disbelief and irritation on the faces of the crew, he decided to dive into specifics. “It’s not as outlandish as it sounds,” he insisted. “And it’s precisely why I needed so much prep-time before bringing the plan to you.”

He gestured to Arthur, “We’ve been working on this since before the five of us broke out of the Farm. There are plans in place to infiltrate each one of these groups, and get you all as close as possible to devices–or the people who know where they are, as the case may be.” That didn’t seem to give them as much relief as he’d hoped.

“Wait, what?” Danny said incredulously. “What do you mean ‘you’, or…’us’, I guess.” He shook his head and started over. “What do you mean we will be doing it? What about you?”

Vincent clenched his jaw. They had all been a lot more onboard when he’d pictured this moment. “I have my own part to play. Robert and I will be continuing to build up alliances in NTC. We need to establish a fighting force against the NGG ‘Heroes’, and in the short term there’s only one possible source for that army.”

“Wonderful,” Danny said. “Us, the Knicks, the Dollar Bills, and the Rangers, vs the entire New Global Government. At least when we die we’ll be in the worst possible company.”

Vincent ran a hand over his face, “Can you all please just let me tell you the plan before you tear every single part down. Haven’t I earned that?” There was an awkward silence as the crew looked at one another. Surprisingly, it was Lucia who answered.

“You have earned that,” she said in a whisper, and it sounded difficult for her to speak. “We’re sorry. Tell us the plan,” Emi and Danny nodded. Emi not seeming to care either way, Danny looking chagrined.

“Thank you,” Vincent gestured at the board. “All three of these goals came down to the same thing: building the right connections to make infiltration possible. You can likely guess that two of them are easier than the third.” Danny opened his mouth, then physically bit back a comment.

“Emi, you’ll be taking a position at K-Tower. We can’t simply get you into the Tech-Knights, they’re too prestigious an organization within K-Tech. We couldn’t even get information on their selection process,” he added.

“Not surprising,” Emi said. “They’re supposed to work with the man himself, and Tecnico doesn’t have a reputation for being big on new people.”

“Very true,” Vincent agreed. “What we can do is get you in the building. Arthur?”

The man stood formally once more, “Our contacts were able to convince one of the R&D units of your advanced talents. We were able to use your real inventions,” he gestured to the many benches covered in various devices, “which will make things a lot easier. Your identity will be false, however. K-Tech may not show much respect for the NGG anymore, but they don’t harbor fugitives.”

“That takes us to Lucia,” Vincent said, knowing time was running out on his excitable crew staying relatively agreeable. Strangely though, his sister already looked resigned. “Obviously you’ll be going to the Cult. Not only only will that give you an opportunity to locate the portion of the device they took, but–”

“It will also get me the training I need,” she finished. “I’ll go,” she added, and Vincent raised an eyebrow in surprise. He’d expected her to be the hardest sell. Her hatred for her own powers was matched only by any reminder of their mother, and there was no stronger example of that than the Cult they’d been raised in.

Arthur seemed to recognize that the moment was strained, and stepped in. “The Cult was the easiest part of the plan. Not only did we not require a new identity, the name ‘Villari’ was enough for them to extend an immediate invitation. You’ll be taken to the London compound, and treated with the utmost respect.” Lucia looked up with some surprise at the mention of London, but after a moment she merely nodded.

“My turn!” Danny suddenly blurted, and everyone turned to see him practically bouncing out of his chair. Vincent had expected this part to go one of two ways given the target was Legacy, but he suspected the other possibility was still likely given the realities of what he was about to propose.

“Your turn,” Vincent agreed. “There aren’t many ways to get close to Legacy, and even fewer that would put someone in a position to learn such a dangerous secret,” Danny was starting to look more subdued as he waited for the other shoe to drop. “You’ll be joining Young Infinity,” Vincent announced.

Rather than react, Danny just stared at him. The seconds ticked past and everyone turned to look at the shapeshifter expectantly. Danny remained frozen. At last Lucia smiled–a true rarity these days. “Vincent, you just told Danny that all his childhood dreams are coming true.” Vincent turned to her, confusion coloring his features.

Of course, he thought, feeling foolish. He hadn’t looked at it from that perspective. Vincent was aware of Danny’s near-worship of Legacy, and it had blinded him to Danny’s other, more childish obsession: he wanted to be a Hero. A real one, something Vincent didn’t truly believe existed in this world.

“I’m going to be in Young Infinity?” Danny finally managed to whisper. His mind seemed to catch up with the moment all at once. “Wait, so you think Mimic powers are enough to contend with the elite power sets that the NGG has been building up? Vince, you’re the one who told me those people were beyond the best of the best.”

“Actually no, you won’t be going as a Mimic,” Arthur said, stepping in. “We’ve looked everywhere–and with my network that’s a more meaningful statement than I could even communicate–and no one has heard of Mimics. If you show up with your own power set, there’s a good chance you’d be imprisoned immediately,” he ended in a serious tone.

“Wait, so you want me to Mimic someone else’s power?” Danny asked. His second Manifestation had happened recently, and exactly as they’d expected. Danny used his powers constantly–apparently even in his sleep–and he’d quickly outpaced the others. Now he was not only able to take on someone’s physical state, but duplicate their powers as well.

“I guess if I copied Vincent’s I could turn some heads, but there’s no way I could keep up with the elites with like…one limp green hand,” Emi barked a laugh, and Robert let out a deep growl that they’d learned meant the same thing.

“Hey…” Vincent said.

“Oh, sorry man,” Danny said, realizing how that had sounded. “Your powers are cool, that’s what I meant–they’d get people’s attention. But my ability only gives me a fraction of the power I’m copying.”

Arthur spoke up once more, “I’m afraid it’s a moot point,” he said. “Vincent’s powers are even more mysterious than your own. Yours are at least documented on the Network, which suggests they might be a well-kept, and therefore dangerous NGG secret. Your powers would get you arrested, Vincent’s would get you sent to a lab.”

“Well then, what do you want me to do?” He gave Arthur a sly look. “Do I get to copy your secret powers, Art?”

“No,” Arthur replied simply.

“Come on, man! It’s super weird that I can’t just do it. I don’t need anyone else’s permission, you must be hiding the good stuff!” Danny waited, but Arthur’s face was impassive. When it was clear the mysterious man wouldn’t be indulging him, Danny turned back to Vincent. “Okay fine, so who then?” he asked.

“The only person who’s powers would make you stand out above any elite, while also attracting the specific attention you’ll need.” Danny’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped as he seemed to make the connection. Vincent smiled back, “You’ll be Mimicking Legacy, himself.”