Karla had moved three times since her awakening. Once was after her childhood home was torn to pieces by ant beasts that had burst out of the driveway. The second move was due to a failure to pay rent on a quickly increasing price towards the Western City center, and finally a week ago with the destruction of her home at the hands of a pair of supers.

She poured coffee out of a kettle into a mug, both new. Her old ones, as well as her kitchen had been erased by those two. She huffed and moved to take a sip, her hand paused when a knock sounded at her front door. She eyed the entrance in the silence that followed. Another knock, exactly the same as the first. Tap, tap-tap. She set the coffee cup down and considered ‘feeling’ outside the door. She couldn’t see through walls with her powers, but she could feel anything and everything withing a few hundred feet of herself. People noticed though, especially supers. The knock sounded again. Tap, tap-tap. She crept up to the door and peered through the peep hole. A woman with the eyes of an insect stood by a rather ordinary-looking man. She was most definitely a super.

“Shit.” She murmured. This was either the damn Circle coming to recruit her again, or the Agency. Either way she didn’t want to deal with either organization. She began to creep away when she noticed a bee squeezing under her door. It shook itself off and looked up at her. She heard a muffled woman’s voice on the other side of the door as she lifted her foot to step on it.

“Please don’t kill Queen’s pet, Miss Morten.” A man’s voice spoke through the door. “We will not impose upon you, we only wish to discuss something of import.”

She hesitated but kept her foot hovering over the creature. “You send a little spy into my home and expect me to be nice?”

“I do apologize, I was the one who suggested this. You see I’m very busy, and coming here was already a large commitment for me. Would you please open the door? My only wish is to talk.”

Karla huffed and pulled back her foot. “What side are you on?”

The man laughed. “Humanity. Goodness. I am here as a representative of the Agency, I only need a moment of your time. ”

Karla frowned. She pulled back the locks and opened the door revealing a gaunt man. He looked like worn leather, frayed at the edges and thin in the middle. His suit, however, was luxurious. Fine wool, gems in his cufflinks, a watch that looked more expensive than this building. “For someone from the Agency, you dress like a villain.”

He glanced down, then laughed. “I do, don’t I?” He shook his head and looked up at her, his gaze was kind, if exhausted. “I have an assistant pick out my clothes each morning. As I said, I am a very busy man. May I come in?”

“Just you?”

“Yes, just me.”

Karla bit her lip. She could kick him out, by force or by just slamming the door on his face. But if she did, the incident earlier might come back to bite her. If he was important, perhaps she could avoid any trouble with the Agency. “Fine.”

“Sir…” The guard tensed at this. “Are you sure about this?”

“Queen, I’m positive. Just stand outside the door and ensure we are not listened to, okay?” He stepped inside, back towards Karla, a move she thought of as rather foolish.

The guard woman frowned, but nodded. She sent a glare towards Karla before shutting the door behind herself.

“You aren’t very cautious,” said Karla. She looked him over. From his exhausted face and slim, stooping figure, he seemed harmless enough. “Though I supposed I just let a stranger into my home. Would you like a coffee?”

He smiled. “Oh, yes! A coffee would be perfect!” The bags under his eyes told her he was being honest.

“Sit, I’ll put the kettle back on.” She took a step away. “And take your shoes off.”

She walked around into her kitchen, half expecting him to attack or act strange, but when she reached out with her powers, he had indeed taken off his shoes and was sitting patiently on her new couch. Outside the door, Queen fidgeted nervously as she waited. Somehow, that woman’s nervousness made her more at ease.

The kettle was already hot, it only took a moment to reheat and make another cup of coffee for her visitor.

“Ah! Thank you so much!” The man took the coffee and took a sip. “You don’t know how overworked I am.”

Karla snorted. “You are important, right?”

“I am.” He took another sip, entirely unabashed.

“I’d suggest you hire yourself someone to train you. You are quite lacking in self-preservation.”

“Oh? Do tell!” He leaned back, sipping his coffee.

“Well, for one, you came in here alone. I’d probably say that’s your biggest mistake if you are someone important. You haven’t checked the apartment, there could be an entire team of villains hiding away in my bedroom.”

“Is there?”

“No, but you don’t know that. You just walked in and sat down. Another example would be the coffee. It could be poisoned.”

“Is it?” he squinted at his mug.

“No, but, haaah.” She sighed and leaned back into a chair. She was supposed to be giving him a warning, but he seemed dense as a brick. “I’m saying you shouldn’t accept drinks from strangers, especially nowadays. If you get found out to be a super or are related to the Agency, there are people who would poison you just to get rid of you.”

“Villains?”

“And normal people.” Karla sighed. “What are they called… The New Dawn? The nutters who want to kill all supers?” She paused. “You aren’t with them, are you?”

He laughed. “No! Nono, I am not. I wouldn’t be involved with the Agency, now would I?”

“You never know. People in power are usually hypocrites.”

He looked at her for a moment, then smiled widely. “You know, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself.” He stood and gave a short bow. “My name is William Stoke. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Morten.”

She flinched. “William Stoke? The head of the Agency?” She looked him over. “You’re messing with me.”

“No ma’am. I am indeed that William Stoke, head of the Agency.” His smile soured a bit at that. “I wish I could say I’m proud of the organization I’ve created, and I have done my best, but…” He held her gaze for a moment. “You haven’t joined the Agency. May I ask why?”

She thought of flattering him, or lying to get out of this situation, but the chance to fill the ear of the head of the Agency was too tempting. “The Agency’s system… is crap. The system rewards heroes who sit on their asses all day and destroy property when they get into fights, and anyone who refuses to join is labeled as a villain. You force people to choose between serving you or becoming an outlaw. Then you force anyone who registers to take up arms whenever a fight breaks out nearby.”

“But someone must stand up to villains. The Circle won’t sit still while heroes are off relaxing.”

“Half of the villains spend their days fighting heroes. They don’t seem to do anything else. Many of the labeled ‘villains’ only want to survive, but if they don’t fight they are suddenly the enemy of society.”

“And that’s what you do, right? You’ve made regular deposits into your bank accounts, you seem to be making a decent income somewhere. I assume you work at night?” He held up the coffee. “Most people are going to bed around now.”

She tensed up. “I’m not a villain. I don’t want to fight either.”

“As you said, since you haven’t joined the Agency, normally you’d be registered as a villain. But from the reports I’ve received, you would be quite the powerful hero. Stabilizing a building that should have collapsed, stopping a rank C villain without much effort. You are perhaps one of the most powerful supers we’ve come across in some time. You could be a fantastic hero, and quite wealthy at that.”

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Karla sipped her coffee and avoided his eyes. She had almost expected this. She had been found a while ago by the Circle, but had been able to escape their eyes with judicious use of her ability and fleeing to City South.

“Why haven’t you joined anyone? You aren’t part of the Circle, you aren’t with the Agency, you just… work a normal job? Living as if you aren’t a super?”

“Well…” She did use her powers to unload shipping containers by the docks. She was paid handsomely to basically work as an extra crane. “Like I said. I don’t want to fight.”

“You’ve stepped in before though.” William pulled out a paper from his jacket and unfolded it. “You stopped a bomb scare in South Roper Canyon, containing the blast that should have taken out a stadium. You diverted a runaway truck that was hurtling towards a crowd of people last September… ah! When the city flooded last year, you held back water in the subway system. A mistake in the water management system meant tons of water was accidentally drained into the subway during rush hour. That could have killed hundreds, thousands maybe. You have been doing hero work, all this time. It’s not about fighting.”

“It is when it’s with the agency. I’ve had friends who worked as heroes, and as soon as they joined, it was a never-ending slog of fighting another villain every week. It’s as if villains searched them out.”

“Or they were pitted against one another.”

She frowned. "What do you mean?”

“What if I told you that the best way to keep the peace, the best way to maintain the order we enjoy so much was to rank both heroes and villains, and then push them to fight against one another. A villain would be encouraged to fight equally-powerful heroes, a super would chase an appropriate villain. A balance would be formed.”

Karla chuckled. “If you told me that, I’d call you crazy.”

“Is it such a crazy thought? Why is it that every super always seems to end up against a similar-powered villain? Why is it that every time a pair fights, the villain gets away, or the hero somehow survives? Why wouldn’t villains just gang up on heroes and murder them in their sleep?”

“The Circle. It… It punishes villains who go too far.”

“But why? Why on earth would they do that?”

Karla looked at him for a moment. He looked… honest. “Do… you also head the Circle?”

“Yes.”

“And you pit villains and heroes against one another?”

“Yes.”

She paused. “Why are you telling me this?”

He smiled and leaned back into the couch. “Well, because I’m tired. I’m exhausted and I wanted to tell someone.”

“Aren’t you afraid of me going to the press, or attacking you or something? There have been heroes that have died battling villains. Aren’t you worried what would happen if people knew you were putting on staged fights?”

“Not really.” He shrugged and began playing with a small coin, the surface was worn down till it was barely recognizable as a quarter. “I am not as defenseless as I look, Miss Morten. I have a power that has allowed me to maintain the delicate balance of the west coast state. The current balance of the world is entirely up to me, and because of me.”

“Bullshit.”

He smiled. “Anytime I die, or anytime I wish, I can turn back time. Every mistake I make, I undo it. Every hero that falls from grace, every villain that goes to far, every natural disaster, I go back and I fix it. If I can, that is.” William flicked the coin upwards, then suddenly, it vanished, appearing in his hand again. He flicked it again in exactly the same manner, with exactly the same sound. The coin went up, spun twice, then was abruptly back in his hand. Again. And again and again.

“Stop it!” She shouted after seeing the coin repeat its short loop a dozen times. The coin fell into his waiting hand.

“See?” he said.

“What was that?” she breathed heavily, that was scary. She couldn’t do anything. It was such a short moment, but it kept repeating in the exact same manner, over and over. She didn’t even have enough time to move much less run away or make some change in the world.

He spread out his hands. “I’ve just explained it. Such is my power. I’m sorry if I frightened you, Miss Morten. I assumed you’d say something when you came back. You see, I don’t remember sending you back, so I can only guess that I’ve sent you back several times. I don’t remember this change in time when I apply it to others. I only remember when I apply the power to myself.”

She stared at him. “If what you’re saying is true, then every hero that died, couldn’t you have saved them?”

“Some died on purpose. Some were not as heroic as we’ve told the public. As for those that didn’t deserve to die… well, I’ve done my best. But when you are powerless like I am…”

“You have one of the strongest powers I’ve ever heard of.”

“And yet, I am a normal man when I walk about every day.” He tucked the coin away. “I cannot fix everything, and indeed, sometimes, I make things far worse. I’ve gone back to ‘fix’ things so many times, and yet… here we are. As you’ve said, an imperfect system. Or, what word did you use? Ah, yes, ‘crap.’ A crap system. But, it’s the best I can do. It’s the best I’ve done after so many times.”

Karla stood up. She was done with this conversation. She either assumed he was crazy and was spouting lie after lie, or she believed him and went crazy herself. “So what? After this conversation, are you going to revert back to the beginning? Make me forget this ever happened?”

“Well, the plan was to revert time to earlier this week when you killed poor Yellow Sun.”

“I didn’t mean to kill him…”

“I know. He tried to cause an explosion, you contained it. It’s not the first time he’s died that way.”

“And you’ve saved him?”

He shrugged. “He’s a good kid. He loves to fight, but he never goes after anyone powerless.”

Karla slumped back down into her chair. “Fine. Go ahead, make this all not happen. I don’t want to talk when I’m not going to remember it.”

“You don’t mind?”

“I do mind! But what can I do?”

“You could kill me. You wouldn’t be the first who tried.”

She frowned. “I’m not a murderer.”

“And yet you are one of the most powerful supers to not reveal themselves to the greater world. You could be rich and famous if you wished.”

“I never wanted to be famous.”

“What did you want, Miss Morten?”

She looked at him with a sour expression. “I thought I said I was done talking.”

“Please. I’m curious.”

She thought it over. “When the middle states fell to monsters bursting out of the ground, and random people found themselves suddenly with power, all I wanted to do was protect my family and live well.”

“What happened?”

Karla looked away. “You said it yourself, powerful. What would you expect out of a sixteen year old girl when she tried to save her family using powers she didn’t understand? What would happen?”

“A tragedy?”

Karla blinked away tears. “Just go back. I’m done talking.”

He nodded and stood. “I hope you live well, Karla Morten.”

She waved him off, not looking.

She could feel it this time. Something more than a sudden blink in time. She felt… light and springy, as if she was floating through a gap in time. Karla blinked. The room had changed. The same small house in Chicago she grew up in greeted her eyes.

“Karla! Are you okay sweetie?” Her mother’s voice, what she hadn’t heard in over ten years echoed from downstairs.