When Cassandane announced over the phone that she would be returning by morning, Mike almost leaped out of his chair. Based on the smiles worn by the others, they felt the same way. It had not been easy running the show without her. Her voice continued over the phone. "I accepted an agreement to recognize us as a sovereign organization. They invented the terminology for us. We have the same right to self governance as a nation but agree to adhere to the laws of the United Nations and also any nation whose borders we operate inside. The full vote is happening now, but I am lead to understand that the open sessions are merely public spectacle and everything has been decided."

"Great job, boss," Mike said.

"This is almost as good as the retainer we received from the USA," Jimmy added.

Cassandane cleared her throat. "I have received a request from Pittsburgh to begin training on Monday."

"That's just two days out," Sam muttered.

Mike ignored the complaint and leaned forward to speak into the phone. "Do you want us to start any preparations for that?"

"Attune all current members of the EDA tonight," Cassandane said.

"Tonight? You sure about that, boss?"

"There is some evidence indicating it is easier to attune to multiple precursors when a mind is exhausted," Cassandane's voice answered. "Attempt the same method Marius used on you. If anyone has not attuned after a few hours, pump them full of precursor until you can't push any more at them. They will attune within hours by that method."

Mike folded his arms. "Any advice on the method? I do this wrong and people have their potential limited for life."

"There are no guarantees in this process, Mike. Statistically, we are unlikely to get another paragon from such a small group. If there are no further questions, I have business to attend to here."

As Jimmy hung up the call, Mike let out a sigh. Since there was no point delaying the inevitable, he walked into the hall and began calling names, interrupting the easy conversations of personal time. "Cody, Whittaker, McGreary, Joe, and Jess, report to me immediately." When everyone had rushed over, he sized them up. Whittaker looked like he had been sleeping already. Jess looked like she was fighting the urge to crack a joke. "The boss said tonight is the night you five attune. We're going to give you the best possible odds we can to get the full set of super powers, but the outcome depends a lot on you and if we're being honest, a lot on chance."

He had them sit empty their bladders and sit at the table reserved for people on watch. Then he arranged for everyone but the five and him and Sam to go to lights out, letting them know that watch duties for the night were canceled because he would be awake the entire night. Once everyone was in place, Mike explained the process. "I'm going to give you tiny charges of precursor. Don't bother using them, just let them fade away. At some point, you will begin to sense precursor after you are empty of it. Your job will be to resist attuning to a single precursor. You feel it happening, let me or Sam know and we will charge you up. The goal here is to get all three. If you absolutely cannot do that, then make sure you get two. This is like that picture where it can be a duck or a rabbit depending on how you look at it. You start seeing one of those options too clearly, you need to force yourself to see both. Am I making any sense?"

Beside him, Sam shook her head. "No, but I didn't do any of this. Cassandane took the sink or swim approach with me."

Mike went down the line, pushing a charge onto each of the five. It took five minutes for the charges to expire the first time through. By the tenth time he refilled them, Mike had calibrated the skill enough that the charges lasted only half a minute. For hours, he moved down the line and back to the start. The posture of the five students drooped over time, exhaustion and boredom and frustration wearing on them. At intervals, Mike exhorted them to remain strong, telling them that they would eternally regret a failure of spirit.

Yet, no matter what he said, he couldn't help but feel pity for them. As tired as he was from a full day of training, he knew they had it worse. The mental strain that came with resisting the magnetic pull of a sub-optimal attunement went far beyond missing out on some sleep. A few times Sam jumped in to blast one of their students with an emergency charge when they began to make frantic noises. Mike stepped in himself a few times.

"Gravitas won't let me be," Cop Cody growled after being rescued for a third time. "I can't get it out of my head, Mike."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Focus on animas or nous."

"I . . . shit, I can't unsee it. I . . . ." Cody cut off as Sam shot him full of precursor. He shook his head. "I don't think I can beat this with willpower. It isn't weight lifting or running or fighting. I can't just tough it out. It's like I'm already attuned before it becomes official."

Mike stopped before his friend. "Cody, try for one of the other precursors. At least get two."

Whittaker suddenly shouted. Both Mike and Sam reached for him, but he pushed their hands away. "Too late. I was so worried about attuning to nous that when I gave a pull on animas it filled me up."

Mike didn't trust himself to speak, but Sam jumped in. "Congratulations, Whittaker. You're a kinetic."

"Yay for me," he grumbled. "Permission to sleep now?"

"Go ahead," Mike said.

The game continued. Perhaps an hour passed before McGreary attuned without warning. One moment the man was waiting attentively in the lineup and the next he stood with a dramatic sigh. "I'm just a teleotic. I'm going to bed, Ski."

Jess went next. Her bubbly personality had been displaced by surly exhaustion, causing her to rest her cheek on her fist and stare out at everyone with a wooden expression. A few times she had wobbled and almost fallen off her seat. Being lectured by Mike about the importance of her efforts that night hadn't done much good. Neither did Sam's begging. Jess either did not respond or snapped that she did not function well without sleep. In the end, she attuned while Mike was focussed on Cody, who had been on the edge for hours at that point.

"Sorry, Sam," Jess said as she dragged herself towards the female room. "We can't be paragons together. At least I got two, though."

Sam rushed after her friend while Mike continued to work with Cody and Joe. He cracked a joke about cops having incredible stamina in and out of bed. Neither of his students responded to his attempt at humor. When Sam returned, she shrugged at his unspoken question. "Jess got teleotic and noetic. That makes her a siren."

Ten minutes after that, Cody surrendered his battle with gravitas. "It was no good, Mike. I was always going to be a teleotic. My best efforts only delayed it."

"You fought like hell, Cody. Go get some sleep." Mike turned his attention towards the last holdout.

Joe met his gaze with pure determination. "Hope you don't mind staying up all night, Centurion."

"It would be my honor, Joe. I owe you for not reporting the troops when they left you on top of a roof."

They lapsed into silence once more. Sam sat down in one of the abandoned seats and her breathing became soft as she rested her forehead on her forearms. Neither Joe nor Mike commented on that. Only the two of them existed in those early morning moments. Charge Joe up. Watch Joe fight off a sub-optimal attunement by pure determination. Repeat.

"Tell me what's going on," Mike said.

"I am sure I could get any one of them. Just can't figure out how to grab more than one. Any advice?"

Mike checked the time. It was four in the morning. "We can either keep doing this, or we can use the nuclear option."

"What's the nuclear option?"

"Instead of teeny tiny charges, I load you up until precursor is leaking out of your ears. Cassandane says it is a guaranteed attunement in a few hours."

"Does it help or hurt my odds?"

"I couldn't tell you," Mike said. "But in another hour it becomes mandatory."

Joe's steely eyes narrowed. "Fuck it. This isn't working. Hit me up, Mike."

Mike put his hand on Joe's head and fed him precursor until resistance began to build up, then pushed hard to force more. Joe began to spasm, emitting a gurgly scream that shook Sam awake. "What are you . . . oh. Yeah, it hurts like hell."

He pushed precursor until he couldn't any longer, then released Joe. The man tumbled forward to face plant on the floor, shaking like he had gone into a seizure. Mike managed to soften the landing at the last moment using his corona, but then he stood uncertain. "Sam? What should I be doing?"

"It doesn't last long," Sam said. As the spasms stopped, Joe began to moan, curling up on himself. "See? Now he is going to have the worst headache of his life for a few hours. When it ends, he'll be attuned."

On the floor, Joe slurred words. "Shoulda taken easy way out."

"You don't mean that," Mike said.

"Oh, yes he does," Sam responded.

"Well, in a few hours you will think differently."

Joe pressed his forehead against the flooring. "Better not get single talent after this."