My whole body ached as we climbed the stairs to her apartment.

The entire complex was a health hazard as far as I was concerned. Trash littered the stairwell, spiderwebs dominated every corner, and cockroaches skittered around on every surface. This building hadn’t been maintained properly for years but it was par for the course in a place like Groves Den. It was a side of the city the council just neglected.

“In here,” Sam unlocked a door at the end of the fourth floor.

We walked into a pristine-looking apartment with freshly painted walls, brand-new furniture, and a refreshing scent of pine forest air freshener. It was so different from the rest of the building, it was like walking into a completely different dimension.

“Nice place,” I murmured, feeling the fatigue weigh heavier on my mind. “Couldn’t you have found something a little more structurally sound?”

“It’s convenient with no rent. Plus, with my powers, I can touch up the place. It’s a slow process but it works,” Sam explained, throwing her bag down next to the door. “Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee, please.”

She moved into the kitchen while I found solace on the couch in the living room. I sunk into the cushions and closed my eyes. It was only now I realized how peaceful the silence was. Aside from Sam messing around in the kitchen, I could finally hear myself think without my heart thundering in my ears. After a few moments, it occurred to me how late it was getting. It was past five and Mom would be expecting me home soon.

Lucy was probably already heading to my house for dinner. How was I going to explain all this to them? The car looked like it had been through a warzone with all the damage and I had no spare charges to repair it.

“Hope you like it black,” Sam’s voice sounded to my right as she walked into view carrying two cups. She handed one to me. “Cause that's all I got.”

I didn’t care what form it came in, all that mattered was that I got the caffeine into my system. I gingerly took it and sipped it, ignoring the scorching pain. My mouth was so dry I could feel cracks forming on my lips. The tiny sliver of caffeine revitalized my body and got the neurons in my head firing.

“Thanks,” I blew onto the surface of the coffee, hoping to cool it down before my next sip. “This is exactly what I need.”

Sam’s lip curved upward into a sly grin.

“So! Welcome to casa de la Madhouse. The currently temporary – hopefully permanent – residence of yours truly; me. You know, for a moment back there I was worried you were going to collapse halfway up the stairs. Gotta say, I was not looking forward to carrying your butt all the way up here. Red wasn’t going to help either.”

I blinked in hazy confusion.

“Red?”

“You met her before. The angry looking one with super strength that helped us off the roof.”

“Oh, right,” I said. Then, I shook my head. “Wait a minute, her? Isn’t that just you?”

Sam shook her hand. “Kinda.”

I tried to organize my thoughts and make sense of what she was saying. She had multiple powers and from what she said, she named them. Coupled with the noticeable personality shifts she went through in just a few short hours since meeting her, I had to assume that they were linked to these colors she kept mentioning.

“You’re on the right track,” Sam sipped her coffee innocently. “Too much?”

“Are you psychic as well?”

“Mmm, a little bit,” She answered with a mischievous smile. “It’s closer to super intelligence or intuition. Think of me as a younger, cuter Sherlock Holmes.”

I thought back to the moment when she ran so fast she punted Bonesmith into a wall.

“Super speed, super strength, super intelligence, and apparently a master at driving,” I said coolly. “That makes you an Aspect, right?”

“Aspect, full-package, stocked evo, utter bullshit. There’s lots of names,” she plopped herself down in one of her sofa chairs and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. “I have more powers than just those, and for the record, Orange doesn’t make me good at driving. She makes me the best at driving and just about every other skill under the sun.”

“When you’re… Orange,” I repeated slowly. “Why are you naming your powers after colors?”

For a moment, she considered my question in silence. Then, she gently raised her hands to her eyes and plucked out two colored contacts. She clicked open a little container in her skirt pocket and placed them inside. When she opened her eyes again, my eyes met blue.

But not just any blue.

Searing neon blue, like she had lightbulbs behind her eyes.

“Unsettling, right?”

Unsettling was one way to put it.

If I passed her on the street I’d probably do a double take. Though, thinking about it, I’d likely just think she was someone making a fashion statement. Cosmetic contacts could be bought at hobby shops everywhere so I wouldn’t have guessed she was a super at first glance. It was a different story when you were faced with them directly. It was easy to see the supernatural aspect.

I guess I wasn’t seeing things when I noticed the red lights in her eyes.

Her contacts had concealed the major changes.

“A little bit,” I replied slowly. It was strange how even the slightest eye movement had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “Yeah, it’s pretty weird, but not the worst thing out there. Would that give you a Morpher rating?”

Sam shrugged. “Maybe. When I go out in costume I normally do it as Pink, so a Morpher rating is the last thing anyone would attribute to me.”

I felt my eyebrows rise at the mention of another color. “Pink?”

“The one with super speed,” Sam clarified. “She’s a bit of a character so it gives a lot of people a false impression of me, which often works out in my favor. Pink’s the one that talked to that ECU guard that caught us.”

My brow furrowed.

“You talk about your powers like they’re separate people.”

“They are,” Sam’s lips thinned into a frown. “Eh, well… kinda. They’re separate mes. Some have different personalities entirely, like Pink. Others like Red are more just heightened emotions.”

That explains why she seemed angry when she got super strength. Red must be anger.

“Right. What’s Pink?”

The glowing blue shifted to an alluring warm pink in the blink of an eye. Her lips suddenly broke out into a grin and her resting expression looked like it had erupted into fireworks. There was a flicker of pink electricity and she was next to me in a second. Her form had blurred as she moved and I had no time to react.

“Hiya Maxie,” Pink grinned. I knew that tone of voice. The sudden invasion of personal space caused me to lean away from her. She mirrored my movements and leaned in closer. “Whatcha movin’ away for?”

“Uh, you’re a little close.”

“I could get closer if ya like,” she winked at me with her left eye, which momentarily shifted back to blue. “Ah! No fair, Sammy. Ya just let me out!”

Sam then proceeded to have some kind of mental fit because she started rapidly blinking, her eyes shifting back and forth between blue and pink. Finally, she landed back on blue. Heaving an embarrassed sigh, she pushed herself up from the couch and returned to her seat.

“Ugh… sorry. Pink is a little eccentric.”

I stared at her, baffled by what had just transpired. Then the realization hit me. “Your power is a Dissociative Identity Disorder?”

“Pretty much,” Sam sighed tiredly, returning to her seat. “Except every separate personality has a different power. I keep track of them by giving them names, they correspond with the color my eyes appear as when they take over. So when I said I was Orange earlier—”

“That was another you talking,” I finished for her. Sam tilted and shook her head a little. “No?”

“Like I said, only some of them, like Pink, are different enough to identify as separate personalities. Others are like focused emotions or a specific state of mind. Orange is… it’s like having tunnel vision. It’s really hard to communicate and take in information about anything I’m not focusing on,” she chuckled and clapped her hands. “Did you know I’ve never driven a car before? That was my first time!”

If that was her first time driving, then the power Orange provided was seriously nothing to scoff at. Being the best at anything at any given moment would definitely be a handy power to have. I could only wonder what its limits were. Was it only limited to practical things like driving? What else could she be the best at?

“Never thought I’d actually get to meet an Aspect. They’re rare, like, way rarer than supers. Like a needle in a haystack, I think.”

“Lucky me,” Sam replied. I didn’t miss the sarcasm. “It has its ups and downs. I’m strong and I could join almost anyone I want but some people don’t like being told no. Like Pandora and their little cult of followers.”

I scoffed. “Little? They’re many things, but little isn’t one of them.”

“Well, they’re not as big in California as they used to be, but they were annoying enough to chase me out of the state. I flew here to try and get away from them,” she said with mild annoyance. “I’ve been running from them.”

“Cali? You’re American?”

“Canadian, actually,” she smirked at me. “My parents moved after Dad got a job. Besides, after Howler’s rampage we weren’t exactly keen to stick around.”

“Then what’re you doing here in New Elpis? Bayside’s not exactly the safest place to be and given Groves Den borders Pandora territory, this is the last place I would expect you to be,” I stared out the sliding windowed doors leading to a very unsafe-looking terrace. “Why wouldn’t you try your luck in QC’s territory?”

“I’m desperate, not suicidal. At least here, I can actually keep an eye on Pandora’s activities. They might be a bunch of fanatics but they’re loaded fanatics and Bayside seems to have the weakest pocket of the nutjobs, so… here I am.”

Ah, now all the expensive-looking furniture was starting to make sense.

“You’re stealing from them.”

Her lips formed a sly smile. “When the opportunity presents itself. I bust open a couple of safe houses, break a few jaws and make off with the cash. It’s easy money.”

“It also makes you a target.”

She laughed. “Every super is a target, Max. After Sunday night, you should know that.”

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“You know, that brings up a great point. How exactly did you know what I was doing last Sunday? Were you following me?”

“I’d prefer we call it talent scouting, but if you must know, Gold did most of the heavy lifting. She’s really good with information gathering.”

There’s another name, likely the power with super intelligence.

“Gold.”

“Yup. She’s not good company though. I mean, unless you like having all your deepest insecurities ripped out of you and laid bare for all the world to see,” Sam rubbed her forehead and winced. “She’s the most difficult to get along with. She’s also the one who pushed me to go find you today. She told me you’d be at the mall.”

“You can communicate with them?”

Sam huffed in exasperation. “I don’t really want to get into it right now since it’s complicated. The short answer is ‘sort of’.”

It must be a circus in her head. She must be able to suppress them, otherwise, they would have driven her insane by now. If I had a bunch of different versions of myself talking constantly in my head, I probably wouldn’t be doing very well right now.

“Alright. You have an ax to grind with Pandora – so you set up here to pick away at them like a vulture,” I paced over to the window and rubbed my chin in thought. Her situation was similar to mine. I had a grudge against the Cains and they evidently had the prerogative to come after me despite letting me go. Not sure what made them change their minds though. “It’s not going to be long before they start coming after you. A place like this isn’t going to protect you against – well, anything really.”

“No, it won’t,” she agreed. “And the Cains are already after you so we’re in a similar boat. Why don’t we sail through this storm together?”

I thought about it for a moment. If she was on the run from Pandora, why didn’t she join the ECU?

“I could just go join the ECU. Their Rookie program provides benefits – protection from the gangs. It seems like a pretty sweet deal right now.”

One of her eyebrows arched, completely unconvinced.

“If you wanted to join the ECU, you would have done it already. Instead, you go out and sell Mechatech for… what, exactly? It can’t be legal, otherwise the government would foot the bill just to keep you happy and loyal. Or… maybe you don’t trust them to follow through with any promises they make? They are a government agency after all.”

I was feeling particularly snarky. “Why don’t you bring Gold out? I’m sure she’d figure it out.”

Sam’s face dropped a little. “I don’t want to ruin what we’ve got going on here. If I bring her out, you’ll walk.”

“...She’s that bad?”

“Believe me when I say she is more unlikable than words can describe,” she explained. “So be straight with me. I know you aren’t going to join the ECU for personal reasons. I have mine as well. Besides, I have no interest in being a ‘hero’.”

“I’m friends with Comet at school,” I replied offhandedly. “She doesn’t mind it. Often finds the job cathartic.”

“Catharsis isn’t a concern of mine. If I wanted to hurt scumbags, I would just go and walk around the harbor at night. I’m more of a long-term gain kinda gal,” Sam said. “Besides, like I said. Being a hero just ain’t me.”

I didn’t push the subject.

I gave her an even stare as if to tell her I was weighing my options. I wasn’t really, but I didn’t want to make this too easy for her.

She pursed her lips and did her best to look offended.

“Am I not cute enough for you to inexplicably trust me with your life?” She pretended to pout before clapping her hands. “Okay, jokes aside. I’m sorry. My intentions were shifty but we’re both up shit creek with broken paddles. You want trust? We can start over, surely I’ve earned that much.”

She stood up and offered me a hand.

“I’m Samantha Leighton, I’m a year twelve and go to Eastworth Girls. When I’m causing chaos in costume, I’m Alice.”

Alice?

It wasn’t exactly a creative superhero name but that was probably the point. It was simple and didn’t stand out like the majority of hero names. Meta-criminals or… villains, as some like to call them, weren't particularly creative either. They just typically tended to stray into edgy territory because the names tended to come from the public and people online.

“Alice,” I said, testing the name. It rolled off the tongue easily enough. It was a regular name but when said with the connotations of it being a codename felt a bit different. “Not bad. Not much for codenames myself. Maxis Troy, I go by Upgrade, but you already knew that.”

“Not exactly subtle, are you?” Her blue eyes twinkle in amusement. I could have sworn I saw them flash pink for a second.

“It’s straight to the point and drew enough attention for me to get people to pay for my tech,” I explained with a shrug. “You saw what I did with the toy. I can take whatever I like – assuming it’s not biological – and upgrade it so it performs better at whatever its purpose is.”

Her eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips in thought. “You turned a plastic toy into a real gun in a second flat. That would mean you’re a Cosmikinetic as well?”

“Something like that. Transmuting materials is easy enough, just as long as the purpose of whatever I’m focusing on matches.”

“What does that mean?”

Silence lingered for a moment as I tried to think of a way to explain things clearly. I needed an example that wasn’t the gun I had made because that took some redirection to get it to where I wanted it.

“Take my phone, for example,” I pulled it out and tossed it to her. “Those Cain guys stole my last one so I had to find a replacement. What you’re holding there started off as an old model from about twenty years ago. I salvaged it from the basement at home and used my power on it. It makes things better, so I was able to take that old thing and turn it into that.”

Sam examined my phone carefully, turning it over and even removing the back of it to get a look at the battery pack and the rest of its inner workings.

“This is the latest Nebulous model. Some of my friends at school would kill for something like this,” Sam sounded impressed. “Your power can just make these on demand?”

“Yeah, I can turn any mobile phone into one of those. Pretty easy too. All mobile phones serve the same purpose so the option is there for me to do it. It gets a little complicated when I’m trying to change something into something else,” I explained. “I have to do a bit of creative meddling and I can misinterpret things if I’m not careful.”

“How so?”

I removed the now-empty gun from my jacket and placed it on the table.

“Well, for one I thought I’d be able to easily turn the toy into a gun because the purpose of the toy gun was to shoot projectiles and hit a target. Turns out my power can take things a bit too literally. A toy is still a toy and it's designed to entertain, regardless of its function. I had to manually change its makeup for my power to recognize it as something else.”

Sam was quiet for a moment as her eyes zeroed in on the pistol. She bit her lip and tried to look away but some invisible force was keeping her attention locked.

“You’ve managed to tickle Gold’s interest.”

“Really?”

“Yup,” Sam said, reaching out for the gun. She took it and tested the weight. “Shit, this is the real deal. I can’t believe this was a plastic toy,” she then spotted the unique change I had made to the magazine. “I don’t remember this being there.”

“I did it while we were on the motorway. I was trying to make a laser pistol so I dropped a battery inside and integrated it as a power source,” I frowned as she expertly removed the empty clip. “It gave me access to electrical and EMP ammunition.”

Sam gave me a flat look. “What?”

“I can combine different things and merge them into a single item as long as they’re compatible. Laser weaponry requires a power source, so I improvised, the fact I added a crappy battery doesn’t matter since my power can just improve on it,” I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled. “Unfortunately, that model doesn’t have the base to support lasers. I’ll have to spend more time on other components if I want to get it working.”

“You couldn’t do it all at once?”

“It takes time,” I repeated, putting emphasis on the last part. “There’s only so much I can do in one day and trying to upgrade something I’ve never touched before is more expensive.”

Sam gave me a curious look. “You’ve never done guns before?”

I couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably.

“Making weapons would put me on the ECU’s radar. You know what they’re like with Mechatech weapons. I don’t want to get thrown into one of their prisons. Until my encounter with the Cains, I had a policy about not making anything too dangerous.”

Her curious look turned incredulous. “How long have you had your powers?”

“About three weeks now.”

“Are you seriously telling me you waited till now to make a gun? Come on! That’s borderline suicidal,” she lectured, shoving the gun back into my hand. “You’re lucky I decided to stalk you. You would’ve been screwed if I hadn’t.”

“What do you think I was doing at the toy shop?” I waved the weapon around. “I already came to that conclusion. Also, I wasn’t completely defenseless. I had a modified taser. It wasn’t efficient but I’m not about killing people, even if they are gang members.”

“Good,” Sam sighed in relief. “You’re only a little bit stupid— sorry,” she grumbled. “Gold leaked through there. She’s not happy.”

I was beginning to understand why she didn’t want me to meet that particular personality yet.

“I’m not interested in being lectured.”

“Which is why I’m not going to bring her out. You’ve learned the hard lesson quickly and it's good to see you're taking the necessary steps to survive now. You're doing better than I did when I first started out, so I’ll give you kudos there.”

I couldn’t help but snort in amusement. Here she was grilling me when she just admitted she didn’t do any better either.

“I’ve been working on my costume this week. I’ve just got some last minute things I want to tweak before it's done. I was just taking the time today to look into some offensive options,” I said. Sam nodded her head like she already knew. Probably Gold feeding her information. “You said earlier you had a costume?”

Sam turned on her heel and walked over to a closed door.

She stepped through and retrieved a flax bag that held a bunch of clothes, all of them looking incredibly worn. Ripped black tights, a frilly blue and black striped skirt with a matching corset, knee-high strappy boots, and finally a domino mask.

I could picture her wearing it and the mental image made me laugh.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious,” Sam replied with a sly smile. “It’s ridiculous, right? It’s meant to be. Helps to conceal my identity.”

“We aren’t living in some kind of fifties comic book, Sam. Domino masks won’t do anything to help you there.”

I couldn’t help but feel like she was playing some stupid game. There was no way this stuff was going to hide her from the ECU’s facial recognition technology. My scarf, sunglasses, and hood did more to conceal my identity than that did.

“You’d be surprised what some makeup and hair ties can do,” she dangled the domino mask in front of me. I was almost tempted to swipe it out of her hand. “I can show you if you like.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Sounds good,” she dropped the stuff back into the bag and tossed it back into her closet. “So, what do you plan to do now?”

That was a good question.

I needed to collect my thoughts and plan my next step. There was no telling what The Cains would try next and going at them alone felt incredibly daunting, not to mention foolish. Grim was their leader, one of the scariest supers in this city with the exception of Gaea. If I could help it, I didn’t want to go anywhere near the guy. All I wanted was what was taken from me.

I’m on their radar now. They’re going to be watching out for me.

Sam’s warning from earlier echoed in my head. I couldn’t run from this and trying to go back to how things were before would just get me kidnapped, or worse, killed. I knew what needed to happen but the task now laid out before me felt impossible.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Sam said. “They’ve seen our faces. They’re going to be watching out for us.”

“They need to go,” my hands started sweating just from saying it. “All of them. Drive them out of the city or into prison. Either one has to happen if things are going to go back to normal.”

Sam crossed her arms. “You want things to go back to normal? I’m going to tell you right now, that’s wishful thinking.”

“I don’t care what it is. The fact remains that The Cains are a threat to me – to us. Something needs to be done.”

“Agreed.”

I met Sam’s gaze and I knew immediately why she had stuck her neck out to help me. Maybe I had always known and had just been ignoring the fact. Realistically, I should have known from that first message she sent me online.

“You want to team up,” I said.

She smiled. “If you’re up for it.”

Sam wasn’t a hero and I doubted she did private work for the ECU given her earlier comments, which only led me to one conclusion.

“You’re a villain.”

“If that’s what you want to call me,” she said, giving me a so-so look. “I don’t look at it that way. The way I see it, I’m out for me. I’m not interested in taking advantage of innocent people like the gangs do and I don’t go looking for fights with the ECU. Though, if they come at me, I won’t be going down without a fight.”

I didn’t want to be seen as a villain, nor did I want to be seen associating with them. If that happened and my identity as Upgrade got out, almost all my relationships would crumble. I could solve all of this right now and just go and turn myself in; join the Bayside Rookies and work with Abby.

But I didn’t. I wouldn’t.

Not when they were responsible for putting Mom in her wheelchair.

Sam broke the silence the room had descended into. “You don’t need to make a decision right now—”

“No. I’m not blind. I can see the decision has already been made for me,” I cut her off. I needed someone to watch my back and the only person who proved to be able to do that was sitting right across from me. She proved that to me today. “I’m in.”

Villain labels be damned, I’d make it work.

I had to.