“Next time?” Finn asked.

“Next time,” Jack promised through his earpiece.

“I think you should. It’s probably safe now, and their training really helps a lot,” Lyra chimed in.

“I know, it’s just, ugh. You already know my reasons. It’s not like I can just turn a switch in my head and suddenly do a complete one-eighty.”

Neither teammate said anything to that, knowing Jack simply needed time to accept that they could still be a team. And he would have to do so sooner rather than later, because Finn wouldn’t allow him to get left behind.

With that thought, he jumped off the roof of the building they were on and swung his grappling hook, the movement smooth and practiced after drilling it on and off the field for months.

Lyra followed him, her powerful leaps boosted by her shockwaves. No longer were her steps hesitant, nor were her landings awkward. She ran with the improved motions taught to her by their new instructors, and her boots made no noise for her footfalls.

Today was another day of training, and Finn was resolved to take a step forward today, no matter what. He wasn’t advancing quickly enough. Lyra was making progress, but that wouldn’t help him unless they fought or went on a mission again.

The latter would apparently be happening in the not-so-distant future, according to Frameshot, but they hadn’t been able to get anything more out of the man besides that. He seemed to know something about Cyrus’ operations throughout the district. Definitely not all of it, Finn was sure, but substantially more than he and Lyra did.

Azur might know more, given her field of expertise, but it was Casey who he thought experienced a similar lack of knowledge. She was a bit too invested in their training. They were heroes, yes, but all they did was rote practice of their powers or sparring, the second of which being something she could go and see anywhere else.

It was suspicious. They weren’t yet special enough to warrant that kind of attention. He suspected she wanted to use them for her own ends. Either that or her presence there was supposed to prove something.

Granted, it was possible her reasons were more childish and she genuinely just wanted to watch the new recruits in action for her personal entertainment. But he wouldn’t count on that possibility. Even if she were there for purely educational reasons, it was probably to sate her curiosity about the people in her father’s employ. He supposed she would approach them if she wanted them to do work for whatever purpose.

One thing was for certain, though. And that was her silence about it at school. She didn’t even give a hint that anything in her life was different. And he supposed that was true from her perspective. He’d exchanged a few more words with her as Finn, but absolutely nothing she said or did indicated that she knew who Shade was under the mask.

It would be a massive security risk if she knew, and he wasn’t sure what he would do about it if that turned out to be the case. He’d been making sure he was never followed to his house since the first day he started going out in costume, and the only time something had gone wrong with his family had been pure happenstance, due to the place his mother worked at.

However, he knew he wouldn’t back down if someone outside of his team ever found out who he was. He couldn’t afford to. Ideally, no one would ever find out, but he knew how low the odds of that were. Maybe if he was content to remain complacent, keep his heroics at the district and take it no further, that would be in the cards for him. But if he continued to expand his network like he was now, gaining more and more allies along the way, he would eventually be expected to extend some level of trust towards them.

Originally, he wouldn’t have thought that was an obligation, and he knew it wouldn’t be to most people, if they were asked. Yet at the same time, he remembered how relieved Lyra had been when they were finally able to interact in a more casual setting. Unmasking to someone else removed a certain element of mystery and tension.

There was something to be said here about personal and professional relationships, but what mattered to Finn was how he needed to conduct himself in order to get closer to his goal. Not that he was only pretending to be Lyra's friend so he could get at Omega. He really did think she was a nice enough person to be around. But his priorities remained clear, and if his view of other people and the world in general changed in pursuit of them, that was fine. Expected, even.

Should he come up with something to do the next time they decided to hang out together? It was something to think about, at least. Her work ethic had really improved since last time.

They were nearing the facility by now, and they traveled in silence now that the conversation with Jack was over. It had been a while since Jack had last played overwatch on one of their missions, so Finn could understand why he was feeling stuck to an extent. While Finn knew his other friend was still doubtful about his capabilities in the long term, he was confident Gridlock was far from done.

It was at that point that Finn actually noticed Jack had dropped the call and wasn’t listening in anymore. That was a departure from their usual modus operandi, but it would be counterproductive to talk to Jack about trusting Cyrus’ people with his education only to then turn around and say they needed him to keep spying.

When they arrived, the door opened by itself. Which made him second-guess his earlier thoughts. Normally, Azur would stand at the entrance and lead them inside, but that wasn’t the case this time. Would they finally have the rug pulled out from under them this time? He shook his head, dismissing that line of thinking. Hesitantly, they headed inside, wondering what was different.

The halls looked the same as before, but when they approached the training field, Finn attempted to use his power to sense inside. This ability wasn’t able to sense people, but he could tell the terrain had been rearranged, presumably for some exercise planned for them. Exchanging glances with Lyra, he entered first.

Inside, he noticed three things. The first was that Frameshot was absent. And the second was that Casey had arrived before them this time. And finally, there were two people present who hadn’t been here before.

To the side, on a field-generated seat, sat a girl in a black bodysuit with white flower print on it, wearing a motorcycle helmet. He recognized her, of course, from his very first joint Aegis mission: Moonflower.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

And in the middle of the field, facing him directly while the rest were still turning their heads, stood a figure in a golden jester costume with red bells adorning his cap and a sun emblem on his chest.

Nar.

Instantly, Finn was wary. Coordinating with a government licensed hero to help out a new associate was one thing, but to have the leader of the Junior Aces come down to meet him directly in this training facility? That was ridiculous. Cyrus was even bolder than he thought. Or the conspiracy ran even deeper than he anticipated.

“Wow,” he heard Lyra mutter under her breath. Up ahead, Moonflower waved at him. Casey, he noticed, had a complicated expression on her face.

Nar spread his arms as they approached. “The diligent students grace us with their presence at last!” He beckoned. “Come on, we’ve no time to waste. The schedule is rather ambitious today.”

Finn said nothing in response, merely coming to a stop in front of the other costumed boy and waiting.

“Well then,” Nar began, unperturbed by his silence. “Allow me to start by mentioning that today, I’ll be stepping in for Frameshot, who's otherwise engaged. Beyond that, I must say our session will deviate somewhat from your usual routine, offering a different perspective.”

That intrigued Finn, but he kept listening before asking questions.

“More precisely, I intend to utilize my abilities to offer you a deeper understanding of how your own powers function.” He extended a hand towards Lyra, his demeanor both confident and reassuring. “Now that we've addressed the preliminaries, shall we dive into the heart of the matter? Calliope, may I have the honor of replicating your power?”

Underneath his visor, Finn’s eyes widened. He’d obviously known Nar’s ability for a long time now, but to receive an offer to copy theirs wasn’t something he really expected to happen. Not this early on in his career. People with the ability to affect—let alone fully mirror—other powers were few and far between. And oftentimes, the ones who possessed those powers had limitations that made them reluctant to offer their services to just anyone. Which meant that Nar was very generous, or very powerful. Or both; he wasn’t sure about the exact limitations of his power copying.

Glancing to his side at Lyra, he was caught off-guard. Her body language was the complete opposite of what he’d been expecting. He’d imagined she would be ecstatic at the prospect of having someone to help her with her sound manipulation, and if not that, then she would default to her usual timid, reserved bearing. But he saw none of that now.

She was shaking with… barely contained rage? What?

“No,” she bit out tersely.

The jester tilted his head. “Are you certain? I've encountered a variety of sonic powers over the years. I could perhaps offer some insights into honing yours.”

She twitched. “I said no.”

Nar held up his hands. “Very well. It's entirely your choice. I wouldn’t dream of pressuring you into something that doesn’t sit well with you.”

With a few deep breaths, she managed to calm herself down. “Thank you.”

Finn was still wondering what that was all about when Nar turned to him and asked, “And you, Shade? What do you say?”

Someone vastly stronger and more experienced than him was offering valuable tutelage, so why was he hesitating? Just because it was somewhat intrusive? He didn’t even know how the process worked, so he didn’t even know how to react other than with a general sense of unease.

Whatever reason Lyra had for turning Nar down, Finn didn’t know if he could afford the same luxury at this juncture. He needed anything he could get his hands on to get stronger. Having Nar knowing his weaknesses was something he’d rather avoid, but honestly? The cold truth of the matter was that the person in front of him did not need to figure out his weaknesses to kill him.

Ultimately, he decided that it was better to end up taking the risk. All for the sake of his goal.

“Alright,” he ended up saying. “How does it work?”

His new mentor reached out. “Give me your hand.”

Finn did so, and when Nar grasped it, he felt the brief impression of a star. Then it was over.

The floor beneath them rippled with color, rings of blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

“Excellent,” Nar said, laughing wildly. “This is excellent.”

The sight of it filled Finn with disbelief. Nar's enthusiasm was infectious, yet Finn couldn't shake off the unease bubbling within him. Seeing his power manifested by someone else was surreal and slightly unsettling. Even so, he knew this was an opportunity to learn more about his abilities and perhaps unlock new techniques.

Then, the lights began blinking on and off, alternating between visibility and darkness. After a few seconds of this, Nar grew quiet.

“Oh?” the jester said. “It goes further than I thought.”

“Further?” Finn prompted, waiting for Nar to explain.

Nar looked at him again. “Yes. As you've likely deduced by now, your power isn't about manipulating light, per se. Yet, it intriguingly affects light and other forms of energy to a limited extent. It seems that your ability operates on an underlying mechanism, guiding whatever it touches to manifest the color you envision, irrespective of its material makeup. It's as if your power works on a conceptual level.”

Finn frowned as he absorbed the implications of that.

“But that’s not all,” Nar mused, a hint of amazement in his tone. “Your power is quite fascinating. It provides automatic feedback from every interaction it has, registering the color of a target before transforming it into your chosen hue. That sensory aspect cleverly enhances your spatial awareness. Moreover, there are elements of your ability that seem linked to time or understanding. These aren't exactly locked, but your perspective on your power might evolve as you explore those facets more deeply. Even I can't claim to master every possible application yet.

“However, it’s clear that your power lacks innate offense, defense, and mobility. Short of unbinding, that’s not going to change. It makes perfect sense that you’re covering yourself in gadgets to compensate.”

Hearing that, Finn grimaced. He didn’t like the word “compensate.” Not in this context, where it meant making up for weaknesses because his power didn’t want to do any heavy lifting. From the start, he’d hardly ever complained about his power, but hearing over and over how little it could do in the scenario he was setting himself up for was frustrating.

“Regrettably, I'll have to ask you to set aside those gadgets for now,” Nar continued as he walked to the center of the field. He glanced at Lyra. “Both of you. The three of us are going to do a little warm-up exercise. Your task is to fight me with your abilities while I do my utmost to whip you into shape.”

Finn moved to follow with Lyra right behind, anticipating that he had a long night ahead of him.

As it turned out, he was right.