Earlier, at 3 am that morning...

An exhausted Julianne Hunter walked back to her room after setting all the kids back to bed. She peeped into her son's room once more before heading to her own bed.

It was there that she attempted to sleep for several minutes. Nothing.

Several thoughts rushed through her mind.

Just what on earth had happened to her son? Who hurt him? Who were these kids?

She tossed and turned several times in severe worry before stopping and choosing to take a long stare to the ceiling.

Her son had just gotten himself into a terrible situation, he had made friends, in a day, no less, that were likely to put him into difficult situations just as this one and to top it all off, these kids were definitely not normal and they were at her son's school.

She sighed massively.

Julianne: (thinking: What to do, oh what to do?)

She got up and made herself a coffee with the coffee maker in her room. She'd always kept one there in case she needed to work.

After pouring herself out a cup, she did what her scientist brain told her to do.

She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started trying to piece out the puzzle.

Max went to school, found other super powered beings, and befriended them, and then a fight broke out that almost cost her her son's life.

A fight against who or for what was not that important to her, but instead the life of her son.

She'd always known that her son was reckless, but this was pushing it. Julianne knew full well what had happened to him.

The paper highlighted all of her points in bubbles. The bottom line was that her son's life was in danger.

A mother worries, and Julianne Hunter was no different.

What if her son ended up getting killed? What if those kids got her son hurt? What if the enemy they'd just defeated came back for round two.

Her son was not a good fighter. She knew that well enough. He hadn't even fully mastered his abilities.

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She continued writing the cons of letting Max spend time with the others. This was Julianne's way of rationalising things. She had done this since she was much younger, after all.

A large gulp could be heard from her room.

She did not know who the kids were. They might very well be here as spies, she thought.

She added that to the list.

To top it all off, they have powers just like Max, so they're dangerous.

She added that as well.

What if Max's new friends ended up betraying her? That seemed to be a good con. But given how they bowed to her and how they seemed to be worried about him, that wasn't a con.

She quickly took another sip.

At that point, she had made this deduction. Max's new friends were people that she could not fully trust and that were likely to cause harm to her child.

She sorrowfully looked at Max's room. It was obvious what needed to be done. She was going to, yet again, move and change schools.

It was for the best, she told herself as she hastily grabbed her computer and immediately started looking for a new school.

At that point, her heart began to feel that she was somewhat dishonest with herself. These thoughts she brushed away as she had already found a school.

Julianne: (thinking: Better hurry before the first week of the first semester was done and dealt with.)

More thoughts calling her a coward began to perturb her, but she simply brushed them off. After all, paramount to her life was that her son survived. There was no need to put his life at risk.

Another thought popped up. "Your son has finally made friends, and now you want to take them away from him?"

That thought paralysed her for a second. Her son was always lonely, after all. But no, she concluded, her son's life came first.

Julianne: (thinking: He will thank me once he's older.)

She continued to type onto the keyboard, filling in all the blanks on his new registration form.

The school was far away, far enough that she would never have to see those kids again. She was well aware of her son's stubborn nature, and she wouldn't be surprised if he decided to try to reach out to them.

Julianne: (thinking: Perhaps a strict word is in order for both my son and the teens downstairs.)

She was just about done and just about to send the filled out form when her hand suddenly jerked and the remainder of her coffee spilt.

Julianne bent over to pick up the mug, and as she raised her head after picking it up, her eyes landed on a photo of her husband.

It was then that all the guilty feelings rushed through her violently. She knew her husband well. Something like this would not be something he would have worried much about. But the mere thought paralysed her.

Her husband would have probably just started training her son right there and then. But her husband wasn't there, she thought. But then again, did that matter?

Did who her husband was and what he meant to her and her son and them as a family simply cease to have meaning simply because he was dead?

She sorrowfully pulled the mug up before reminiscing about him and his carefree attitude. Her son always wanted to be just like him.

Tears began to fall out of her eyes. The thoughts in her head did battle, but the winner was already obvious.

Julianne: (thinking: Sometimes I hate... I just hate what you make me do.)

In a way, she almost resented him. But the answer was clear. Her husband would not run, and neither would she.

Tears in her eyes, she walked over to her bed and fell apart into a long sob and slowly started crying before finally finding sleep that night.