The Invaders had honor. People refuse to believe it, but it’s the real reason I was able to kill so many of them.

“I’m going to be the new Legacy!?” Danny said, his voice turning into such a squeal that it was actually hard to understand him. Vincent nodded, preparing to answer, but Danny wasn’t done. “I’m going to be Legacy’s legacy! No wait…KID Legacy! No wait, Son of Leg–no that’s worse. Legacy Lad! Wait, maybe…” This went on for several minutes.

At first Vincent had tried to cut in, but the entire group became almost hypnotized by Danny’s endless list of names. After a while, even Robert fell victim to their friend’s enthusiasm, and grumbled out his own suggestion.

“Armasmell?” Danny said in open confusion, then sounded it out. “Wait, Arm-a-smell? Like the opposite of Leg-a-see? Dude, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Suits you, then,” Robert grumbled, but his mouth was actually lifted into a small smile.

“Wait, are you mocking me?” Danny said incredulously. “I didn’t think you knew how to do that,” he added with genuine surprise. Vincent saw his opportunity to move on and spoke up.

“Enough. Please…enough,” Danny turned back to him, looking as if he’d forgotten Vincent had been telling them the plan. Seeing his friend’s serious expression, Danny blushed.

“Right, sorry. That particular crucial part of the plan can wait until later. So…how do we do this?” He paused, appearing to consider this revelation deeper for the first time. “How did I get accepted into Young Infinity? If I’m supposed to Mimic someone’s appearance, we’re in trouble–I can’t do appearance and powers at the same time yet.”

“Wait, really?” Emi asked with surprise. “So when you turn into Robert you’re just…a giant version of yourself?

Danny shrugged, “More or less. I get the same mass though, so it’s more like what my muscles would be like if I were normally that big. But no super strength, no Berserker rage, no reduced intelligence.”

Robert wheeled around, “My intelligence isn’t–” he saw Danny grinning, and let out a long, ominous growl. Vincent interceded once more.

“No, Danny, you won’t need to shapeshift. Arthur, can you please brief the crew on how you managed to arrange this particularly impressive opportunity?” Vincent asked.

Arthur, who had been entirely blank faced through Danny’s ad hoc brainstorming session, finally smiled slightly. “This was a truly fortuitous mixture of luck and planning. Candidates for Young Infinity are selected by recruiters, who travel between farms–predominantly in North America–in search of recently Manifested youths with remarkable potential.”

He tapped his left temple, and his ocular K-Device projected images into the center of the table where everyone could see. It was a farm, looking much like the one they’d left, only it was half in ruins.

“You may be aware that the Farm in Vancouver was broken into last year. Nightshade, a local Villain, caused the destruction you’re seeing. Many Adepts escaped–others were killed by the explosives in their harnesses.”

“Wait, only some were killed by the harnesses?” Emi asked curiously.

“Indeed,” Arthur responded. “That curiosity has led to speculation that Nightshade was working with someone, possibly a Tech, who managed to disable some of the explosives. I’ve been unable to confirm this however.”

“How does this relate to me?” Danny asked.

Arthur changed the image, pulling up a Student record for someone named Daniel Summers; there was no picture. “There’s another reason that a Tech was suspected to be involved. Student files are notoriously unreliable at Farms. This is encouraged by the NGG, in order to make it easier to disguise ‘training accidents’, and other supposed causes of student fatalities.”

The crew looked uniformly angry at being reminded of just how cruel life on the Farm had been. “As such,” Arthur continued, “the only definitive records of students are held on local Farm storage–which in this case, was wiped clean. This is the origin of our particular opportunity.”

He gestured at the picture, “Daniel Summers’ records were discovered mysteriously in a former hideout of Nightshade several weeks ago. The search for her is ongoing, afterall.” He swapped to an image of a nondescript warehouse, surrounded by NGG elites.

“NGG operatives found these records on a ‘forgotten’ datapad, and immediately contacted a local recruiter. After all, the records indicate that the exceptional Mr. Summers had very recently Manifested the previously unique power set of Legacy himself.”

“Wait, seriously?” Danny said. “You’re telling us there’s actually a guy walking around with Legacy’s powers? And his name is Danny? Well, Daniel, but still!” Robert buried his face in one of his enormous hands.

“Right, I’m the one with reduced intelligence,” he muttered.

Danny looked at him in confusion, but Arthur explained with no hint of disappointment. “No, Mr. Mackenzie, Daniel Summers is a fiction. We created his records, and planted them where we knew the NGG would find them. We also strongly implied he was the reason why Nightshade broke into the farm in the first place.”

“Oh,” Danny said. “That makes sense. And I’m supposed to pretend to be this other Danny, who has Legacy’s powers. I get it. I get plans,” he said, looking at Robert challengingly. He turned back to Arthur, “Okay, so how do I get from here to Young Infinity based on…” he gestured vaguely, “all this cool stuff you’ve done?”

“Part of the reason we’ve finally shared the plan,” Vincent answered, “is because Arthur has just confirmed what we’d been hoping. The recruiter took one look at the file, and contacted Legacy directly.”

“It was imperative that Legacy be informed,” Arthur added. “We couldn’t be certain how the NGG as a whole would react–for all we know Legacy’s powers are restricted somehow–we needed to be sure we had the man’s personal interest.”

“Arthur made sure the files specifically mentioned the recruiter–we had contingencies, but we were counting on the NGG team reacting the way they did,” Vincent said.

“Which brings us to now,” Arthur continued. “There was also evidence that will lead the NGG to another location in three days. Legacy is leading the team personally, and while he won’t find any trace of Nightshade, he will find Daniel Summers, captured, but having nobly resisted the Villain’s influence thanks to his remarkable loyalty to the NGG.”

He switched the image again, and Daniel Summers’ student record appeared once more, but with Danny’s picture now a part of it. “Whoa, hold on,” Danny said. “Three days? That’s all the time I have to prepare?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Vincent said. “We didn’t have control over the timeline, and this was our third iteration of the plan. You were supposed to have two months. However, the NGG elites moving in on an abandoned safehouse–one we were actually aware of–was too good to resist.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Arthur nodded, “It was for the good of the plan, and your own safety, Danny. We couldn’t risk any scenario where you aren’t guaranteed to cross paths with Legacy almost immediately. If someone wanted to check your powers for themselves, you would fail that test and be at the mercy of the NGG.”

“That and most versions of this plan were unacceptable,” Vincent added. “Swapping positions with any living student presented logistical, and moral complications. I know this isn’t much time to prepare, Danny, but it’s the only way to achieve everything we need.”

Danny considered. “So I’m a mysterious, powerful student that was stolen from my Farm by a sexy villain.”

“No one even knows what Nightshade looks like,” Emi cut in.

“By a SEXY villain,” Danny insisted. “And a recruiter for Young Infinity has already recommended me, and Legacy himself has heard of me, and is coming to rescue me.” He tapped his lip in thought. “As long as he’s anywhere near me I can copy his powers, but I won’t be very impressive with them.”

“That shouldn’t be a surprise. You Manifested just before the breakout, and you’ve been Gamma starved by–” Danny looked at Vincent and cleared his throat pointedly. Vincent sighed. “Gamma starved by a sexy Villain for months,” he finished.

Arthur took up the thread, “I’ll be spending the next few days with you to give as much training and guidance as possible. Honestly though, you know what it’s like to be on a farm for most of your life, and what it’s like for the students there. Combined with your Mimic’s abilities to copy mannerisms, you already have most of what you need.”

“Just memorize some key names from the Vancouver farm, and work with Arthur to develop a believable version of your life on the run with Nightshade,” Vincent said.

There was a long pause as Danny seemed to consider it all. Vincent frowned, looking at Arthur. As important as this was, he wouldn’t push his closest friend into it. Vincent had made mistakes before, and he was already putting everyone he cared about in more danger than he liked.

If Danny truly wasn’t willing to take this risk, Vincent would find another way. As Danny continued to stare blankly into the distance, Vincent decided to speak up–it wasn’t fair to make his friend–

“Damn it!” Danny said in almost a yell, causing several people to jump.

“Danny, it’s okay,” Vincent began. “We’re asking too much of you, I’m sorry.” His friend looked confused, and reached up to tap his temple.

“What? Oh no, it’s not that. I was using my KD to look up synonyms for ‘Legacy’ to help me with my Superhero name, and I found the perfect one,” he replied.

Vincent’s face screwed up in irritation. “Then why did you yell?”

“Well, apparently Legacy can also mean ‘endowment’, which is really fitting, but I can’t come up with a catchy name. Any ideas?” As if rehearsed, the rest of the crew looked at one another silently, then got up and left the room.

***

A few minutes later, Vincent was standing in front of Lucia’s room, trying to figure out how to speak to his sister. It wasn’t long ago that it would have been easy, but times had changed, and so had they. At last he knocked.

The rooms were soundproofed, and Vincent had to wait, unsure if she was going to open the door. He was raising his hand to knock again when it finally swung open. Lucia, still looking ragged and exhausted, just glanced at him before gesturing for him to join her.

He followed, shutting the door behind him. Their new rooms were extravagant compared to the dorms, even though they were meant to be temporary, emergency housing for the Cult members. The room was large, and comfortable. It had a screen which synced to KDs, a small fridge and even a kitchenette.

There was a comfortable looking brown couch, and a large bed that matched his own in the room across the hall. There was also clothing everywhere, and dishes piled up in the small sink. The bathroom door was closed, but Vincent imagined it was in a similar state of the rest of the place.

“Sit down wherever,” Lucia said, dropping onto the couch. Vincent remained standing, leaning against a wall and looking at his older sister.

“I thought it would be harder to convince you,” he said simply.

“A few months ago, it would have been impossible,” she said, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them.

“You seemed happy at first to have some freedom. Even if it was here,” he gestured to the stronghold their mother had loved. “But things changed. You wouldn’t talk about it.”

She gave him a tired look, “There’s nothing to talk about, Vincent. I knew you’d figure it out on your own, and there was nothing you could do.” She paused, looking away from him. “Nothing you could do, except exactly what you just did.”

Vincent didn’t speak for a long moment, knowing this was one of the moments where his difficulty processing other people’s emotions was a true handicap. He decided to just be himself, Lucia would know instantly if he was putting on some display. “When did you gain your second ability? How did you gain it?” he asked.

She sighed. “It was only a couple of weeks after we arrived that I realized my abilities were progressing without practice. It’s slow, and I think it’s unique to Psychics, but after a little while I couldn’t deny it. Maybe the fact that my passive ability is always on does it, but that’s not really the point.”

“What is the point?” he asked, and she gave him a look.

“When did you figure out that telepathy wasn’t my real first ability?” she countered.

“When you tried to attack a Beta addict with your mind,” he answered, knowing that hiding the truth was pointless right now. She snorted a laugh.

“Well, a few months later, I reached something called ‘Initiate 5’ according to my KD. It came with the lovely gift of a new ability. Suddenly I could hear people’s thoughts. All the time,” she finished, and Vincent tried not to react.

Mist, mist, mist! he shouted inside his mind, and Lucia laughed out loud.

“You think the strangest things,” she said looking into his mismatched eyes. “Some people don’t even think words, did you know that? Images, instincts, feelings. It’s worse reading them, I think.”

Vincent didn’t know what to say…and Lucia knew that he realized. She laughed again. “You’re getting it,” she said. “Every day I get a better understanding of why the whole world hates Psychics. Privacy doesn’t exist around us, and that’s the least of it.”

She got up, gesturing around them. “These rooms have some kind of shielding, probably K-tech. It doesn’t block it out completely though, I can still hear the whispers all around me.” Vincent still didn’t speak, trying to imagine what it would be like. He couldn’t.

“So you want to know why I didn’t argue, little brother?” she asked, turning to face him. “Because if I don’t go to the Cult and let them train me, I’ll probably be insane within the year. I already can’t sleep more than an hour at a time.” She cocked her head to one side, “I think you can die from that,” she said in a disturbingly academic tone.

“Then we’ll get you the help you need,” Vincent said at last. “Even if it isn’t the help you want.”

“And maybe you’ll get your magic weapon,” she said back to him in a derisive tone. “Maybe you’ll get to live out the miserable little destiny mom carved into you.” Vincent recoiled. He hated arguing with Lucia about their mother, but something about what she said…

You have to help them, his mother’s voice whispered from his memories.

“You’re exhausted,” he said, his tone angry. “You don’t know what you’re saying.” Lucia laughed, and it was almost a cackle, but when she looked back at him, her entire countenance changed.

“You’re right,” she said in a completely different tone. “Forget what I said. I’m…I’m tired.” Vincent’s mind warred with itself. He wanted to know what she meant. He needed to know, and yet he was terrified. Some part of him–with surprising strength–wouldn’t let him ask the question.

Lucia seemed to see his pain, and empathy entered her expression for the first time in months. “Never mind, okay? I’ll go to the Psychics. The sooner the better. You’ll be here, and Arthur and Robert will take care of you. And I’ll…” she trailed off, taking a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”

Vincent managed a nod before turning and wordlessly exiting her room. He was back in the central chamber in moments. Danny was there, talking to Arthur and he opened his mouth–a joke clearly on his lips–but he closed it again when he saw Vincent’s face.

Gathering his long black coat and throwing it around himself with a flourish, Vincent looked around until he spotted Robert near the kitchen. The large man was eating, but had paused at seeing Vincent’s entrance. Turning to Arthur, Vincent spoke.

“What’s the nearest gang–a small one?” he asked.

Arthur paused, surprised by the sudden question. Still, he was a professional. “It’s the Erasers. Led by a Villain named Polvane. Unusual power set; I can send you the details.” Vincent nodded, and a moment later information streamed into the ocular KD installed his left eye.

“Thank you,” he said, and began walking toward the exit. “Come on Robert. I have a sudden urge for violence.” The giant rose, grabbed his massive suit jacket and followed, a rare grin on his face.