The sight of their father having what clearly sounded like a troubled discussion through the phone was the first thing the Thunderman twins perceived when they walked by the main entrance of their home as they arrived from school on that Friday afternoon. The retired superhero sat at the very edge of the living room's couch and his body language showed worry, he furrowed his eyebrows trying hard to think of a solution for the situation he was being informed, deep reflection was written all over his slightly wrinkled features, he took a hand to his chin listening carefully to whatever the person in the other line had to tell him.

"I understand Tom... No, no! Of course I do! It's the least I can do for a friend like you! Of course, the kid and literally any of your family is always welcome in our home... This day next week? Perfect. I'll talk to my family... Take care!"

Those were his very last words before he hung up on that call, they were also the only words his children got the chance to hear. Both twins turned to each other for a second to exchange looks, almost as if they owned telepathy as their fourth superpower, they would always have some sort of conversation out of nothing but looks when they found themselves in either confused, dangerous, etc. situations to make sure they're on the same page, this case wasn't an exception. Finally they targeted their gazes at their father to demand information of what was happening.

"Dad? Who were you talking to?" Phoebe was the first one to shoot a direct question

"Oh hey kids! How long have you been there?" Hank wasn't trying to avoid the question, he just truly hadn't noticed his kids until then and wanted to start a conversation properly

"Enough to hear a little of what you said through the phone... What's going on?" Max insisted

"Agh... An old friend of mine, who I went to Hero High School and College with is having some family problems and I wanted to help..." He explained

"Who?" Asked the young hero

"Ever heard of Strident Man?" He asked

At the mention of that name Phoebe's face illuminated in both admiration and excitement whereas Max's went pale in anger and frustration, these two were literally each other's counterparts.

"The Strident Man?!" Both asked simultaneously

"Yes, that would be the one"

"I've admired him ever since I investigated his biography for Hero History back in Metroburg when I was thirteen! He defeated an incredibly powerful and intelligent supervillian!" Exclaimed the eager young girl

"That 'Incredibly powerful and intelligent villian' you're talking about was Eclipsed Hatred and I've hated Strident Man ever since I was ten! When Colosso told me the story of how he turned him into a hamster just when he was about to finish his master piece! A machine that was able to extract the powers out of a supe's body!" Said Max in a tantrum manner

His sister rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back at their father

"And what family problems is he dealing with?" She concerned

"His youngest son... Ben, he has the over power syndrome.." He explained with pity

Phoebe took a hand to her mouth "oh really? That's terrible..."

"What is that?" Asked the oblivious teen boy

"The over power syndrome is when you never get to fully manage your powers, imagine that we would've never learnt how to control our telekinesis and we would just walk by the school's hallways making papers fly and shutting opened lockers" She answered his question

"Boy... Sounds serious, that must make keeping the secret almost impossible... Does he live in an all-supes town?" He reasoned

"I'm afraid not..." Thunderman said

"What's his super power?" Phoebe wondered

"Mind reading."

"Oh... Well... That's not as bad right? I mean, what's the worst thing he can do when he looses control of his ability?" The young villain thought

"Unluckily... It's a little more complicated than that... What Tom, that's Strident Man's real name by the way, told me is that his son, Ben, sometimes he'll just stare at someone and burst out some random fact about them, their lives, theirs thoughts, etc. Most kids just think of him as a freak but it's starting to become a real problem..." Hank explained

"And how are you helping dad?" The petite brunette asked

"Ben needs to start from zero... And Hiddenville high sounds like a perfect option. He'll be our guest for a little time... Only until Tom can fill some quitting papers at his job and move here to be with him. I also believe that spending more time with others kids of his age who deal with keeping their secret every day might help Ben even if it's just a little... I am also expecting you two to help him keep a low profile." He gave them a serious look and they both nodded, Max doing it more carelessly than Phoebe.

The middle aged father clapped his hands together "It's settled then! He'll be arriving next week! Since he registered himself online you'll be meeting him at school..." He gave them some very last details before heading to the kitchen to get a snack.

Six days passed in which both twins kept their normals lives going, Phoebe acing all of her subjects and attending to all of her after-school clubs, Max sleeping at all of the morning classes and skipping the after-lunch ones to smoke outside of the school with his band mates. It wasn't until the fourth period of the next week's Thursday when they got the chance to meet the so-called Ben. At that moment Max had been on the school's hallways checking out a group of senior girls with Oyster and Gideon when his name was called.

"Max Thunderman, please report yourself at the Principal's office. Max Thunderman, please come since there's literally not a chance you're at your class right now..." The speakers announced

A mischievous grin spread on his face feeling proud of his reputation. But that's when he realized he hadn't done anything that day for Bradford to want to talk to him... At least nothing that he could've got caught. He raised his shoulders before heading to the office, he needed reminder of anything bad he had forgotten he did so he could write it down in his evil chronicle anyways.

When he finally walked into the office the mood in the air was a lot lighter than he had expected it to be. Bradford was actually having a laugh with whoever was sitting in the chair on the opposite side of his desk. When he looked up to meet Max all of the joy in his face turned into annoyance.

"Thunderman." He said bitterly

"What up Bruce" The boy answered without a care as he let himself fall into the other chair of the room, earning a cold look from the principal who was not okay with being called by his first name. Finally getting a sight of who was the principal having a good time with before he walked in. It was nothing but a ginger boy, rather skinny, wild red curls grew from his head, and his freckled skin was so pale Max was sure anything... Even a sad movie would turn him into a talking tomato.

"Max, this is Ben." The principal informed, having a hard time at trying to have a bitter aura towards his unappreciated student but a friendly one towards the new kid

"Oh! It's You... Wait, it's you?" He would've expected the son of such a honored Hero to be a little more... Towering...

"I am guessing you are already familiarized with him"

"I've only heard of him... Our parents are good friends"

As the two men had their passionless exchange of words the impotent boy remained silent.

"Anyways, I had strict instructions from your father of assigning you Ben, which means you'll have to show him around, take him to all of his classes and..." Bradford picked up a little paper note from his desk, Max recognized Hank's scribbled messy handwriting on it "help him keep a low profile?..." The principal examined the new boy for a second "yeah... You won't have a hard time with that last one..."

Everything the upcoming villain wanted in the world in that moment was to leave the lame principal's office already, even if it meant having to deal and, most importantly, being seen in public with the new nerd kid.

Today's gonna be a long day... He thought as he sighted

He stood up from his chair, hanged his backpack from his right shoulder and headed to the door leaving the principal in mid-sentence.

"Come on red head!" He called for Ben

The poor boy who noticeably lacked of any sort of social abilities awkwardly hurried to grab his own bag, fix his bow tie and stand up.

"Good bye principal Bradford. Sorry about your divorce..." He said before walking out

Leaving a very confused and shocked principal wondering where did that new boy could've possibly heard about his personal problems.

The pair of teens walked in silence through the almost empty hallways of their school, most people were in their classrooms at that time, only a few kids were either at the stairs or benches skipping classes, all of them gave odd and obnoxious looks at the unlucky boy. After all, in small towns it is very unlike to see a new face, if the face in question is attractive, it'd be almost like being a celebrity, with everyone chasing you and wanting to stick around with you. However, if the face is not (which was the unfortunate case of Ben) that person becomes the new target of all jock kids.

Max walked at his usual speed, keeping his head up in a cocky/confident way and his stare focused to never look back. Ben, being a lot shorter than him struggled to keep up with his pace and wondered wether to try talking to him or not, honestly, he was quite scared of Max.

"So mind reading huh? Is it cool?" The male twin finally spoke

"Sshh!" Ben shushed him anxiously, taking a finger to his lips and spitting a little in the process, Max was too tired to complain in that moment "Someone could hear you!" He yelled/whispered

"Hey calm down! No one cares about your business here and even if they do hear you they'll think we're talking about a video game or something. Trust me my sister and I have talked about our powers in public thousands of times" He assured him

The ginger looked beyond amused with that information, almost as if he would've found a whole new world to explore "And you've never been caught?" He gasped

"I'm Max Thunderman! I never get caught!"

"Ah, proudly wearing the family's last name right? What is it like to be son of such a legendary hero like Thunderman?" Ben looked, sounded, and acted like a pre-teen obsessed with comics, but instead of comics he was committed to actual superheroes.

His new acquaintance frowned. The whole family subject and literally everything related to people praising him for being his father's son was a very delicate topic for him. He hated being known for something he didn't have anything to do with, yeah, his father saved the world thousands of times, So? He wasn't even alive when it happened. Max had made up his mind a long time ago, one day, he would be known and praised for his own achievements. Which he hoped would be evil, like ruling the world or something along those lines. But he had to be very careful and not show how upset this made him, specially with this kid who could swallow his thoughts the way he swallowed a vitamins pill.

He checked the schedule Bradford had given him and quickly pointed to a door at the end of the hallway.

"That's your classroom, you're having physics at this period." He instructed him emotionlessly as he handed the red head his schedule

Ben did some strange kind of reverence before leaving, probably his wordless way of thanking him, the kid wasn't a big fan of talking if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Max decided to go to his own class... He needed something to get his mind off his previous mental trouble, something boring enough to make his mind go blank.

The sound of the school's bell can be either beautiful or terrifying. Beautiful, like the last bell of a Friday. Terrifying, like when it announces the ending of the class you have before a test you didn't study for.

As the hallways were quickly filled with big masses of teenagers exiting their previous classrooms a specific owner of a black leather jacket made his way to the classroom of his unwanted ginger responsibility. Normally, he would've refused to do as he was told and would've just ignored the kid, but he had an almost finished rocket at home he couldn't wait to launch and he didn't want to risk his father taking it away from him as a punishment.

Ben was taking his time to put all of his books and stuff back at his backpack when Max approached him.

"Kiddo! You wanna be late to all of your classes on your first day or what?" He called from the doorframe

He just gave him an apologetic frown and hurried to pack, Max rested his back against the lockers next to the door with impatience and annoyance when he suddenly recognized a very well known brunette passing by, trying hard to get to her classroom. He sneaked behind her with a childish grin plastered on his face, the same smile of a kid who's about to play mischief and without any previous advice, he poked her ribs making her jump in surprise.

"Boo!" He screamed childishly

"Max!" Phoebe whined after letting a high pitched squeal escape her lips, punching her brother's chest in irritation

But he was far from being hurt, the boy just kept laughing feeling satisfied with his prank.

"Fine sorry, but I really needed a laugh" He kept chuckling

"Why?"

"I've been having to follow Ben all around the school today and he's a total nerd!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes, a you're-so-Max-ish smile on her face "You'll be fine... I'd like to stay and finally get to meet him but I really can't be late for chemistry" she excused herself

Her twin playfully bowed down "Have a delightful day oh my merciful Queen of Geeks" he teased, earning a laugh and another lighthearted punch, this time, on his arm from Phoebe

"Let your peace flow like a river oh my peasant of the tribe of failing six subjects or more!" She followed his game before messing a little with his hair

Max shot her a small wink and she finally turned around heading to her next class. He just stayed there watching her walk away, suddenly feeling a presence next to him he turned to his left to find Ben contemplating Phoebe as well.

"Whoa.." The skinny boy sighted dreamily

"Uh? Dude! How long have you been there?" Ben was definitely an unconventional boy

"What? Oh, Ermm... Not so long... I'm sorry Max, it's just... Whoa, your girlfriend's gorgeous.." He said

"Wait.. Wha- Phoebe? Bro you got it all wrong! That girl is my sister!" The supervillain said with disgust and embarrassment, because there was no logic reason to think they look like a couple right?

"Eh? Is she... Your sibling? Really? Then what was all that flirting for? And those looks you give each other? And why do you think she looks so cute when she crunches her nose in annoyance?"

"Uh? Agh, okay listen Ben, I'm unluckily stuck with you so if we're gonna make this work rule number one is You. Can't. Read. My. Mind." Max stated irritated

The poor read head looked down feeling ashamed "I'm sorry man... I just, I... I can't control it, I'm sorry" He apologized, because he was truly upset about his inability

His new friend sighted with just the ghost of guilt softly rolling in his stomach "okay... Fine... Let's just get you to your next class okay?"

As they walked by the place all of Max's band approached him enthusiastically.

"Sup bro! I have awesome news! Tell him Gideon!" Oyster said

"There's this new nicotine dealer hiding under Hiddenville's lagoon bridge who's the uncle of the father of the neighbor of the friend of the boss of the cousin of my brother's college teacher girlfriend!" He took a pause to breath "and he's giving me a 20% off in all we buy from him!" He announced

"We're gonna go get some! You coming?" Oyster invited him

"Damn, I'd love to but I can't. This pale red head here with us is Ben, Ben, my band, Band... This is Ben. Today's his first day and I gotta take him to all of his classes and take care of him or else..." He introduced him to his problematic best friends and explained his situation

Everyone looked at him expectantly, probably waiting for him to say hi or something, instead he immediately said with disgust "Skipping class?... For drugs?!"

"Yeah... What's the big deal mate? A teen without drugs it's like a winter without snow.." Oyster chuckled, suddenly earning a look of realization from Gideon

"Dude! Damn write that down! We are so adding that to a song!" He said

Wolfgang immediately took his phone out and started typing.

Ben couldn't help but looking at all of them as if they were some kind of criminals who were hiding from the law, Oyster noticed.

"Awe come on pal, live a little!" He tried being friendly and shook his shoulder a little

What no one would've expected was the way Ben's facial expressions changed so radically in the blink of an eye. In the second that Oyster made physical contact with him his eyes went wide, suddenly staring blankly into the distance, like a blind person would. He was even more pale now, if that was possible, the way he looked right now turned that innocent small ginger boy into an almost scary looking person.

"You... You like girls and... and boys as well..." He whispered coldly, his voice lacked of any emotion, he spoke like a robot

Now everyone was looking at him with a small amount of fear, because he looked nothing like himself. Specially Oyster who knew that his words were terribly right, but what could've given him away?

At last Ben shook his head, tightly closing his eyes and breathing heavily. When he finally stopped and opened his eyes his harmless look came back. He looked so frustrated and distressed.

"I...I..." He couldn't even articulate

Max hurried to think of a way to get both of them out of there "Okay! We uh... Should get going..." He leaned a little closer to Gideon "save me some nicotine please..." He whispered before grabbing Ben by the collar of his shirt and dragging him out of that hallway.

Once he had made a hundred percent sure they were far enough away he practically smacked him against the lockers.

"What the fuck was all of that?!" Oh how much he wanted to scream at him, but the school was still filled with students and even though the hallway was empty, the classrooms weren't, so he limited himself to just speak agitatedly

Ben was shaking in fear, his companion could literally snap his neck if he wanted to, and the sudden drain of energy he felt every time he lost control of his powers this way wasn't helping at all.

"I...I... I don't know" he said frustratedly, he hated how he was abnormal either as a a common teen or as a supe, he didn't belong anywhere "It's all part of my power disability... I'll never get to stop myself from slipping into other's minds and finding what they try their hardest to hide. Do you think it's easy for me? How would you feel if you knew the biggest insecurities of all the people around you?! It kills you on the inside and the worst part is that there's nothing you can do to fight it!" As he spoke his voice started getting less shaky and louder, he was finally letting it all out

By the end of his words Max just stood there watching him with both pity and shock, he felt somewhat sorry for him (which was very unlike for him) and so taken back by the ferocious way the small scared boy he knew had spoken.

"Okay... Man just... Listen now, it'll be different now, I swear... Now you've got a frie- acquaintance! Uh.. Me. An acquaintance who's willing to kick your ass whenever you start bursting all of the hidden sins of someone" Max said humorously, even Ben couldn't keep his little chuckle in "Just go to the nurse saying that you've got a headache, then ask for a confirmation that you were actually at the nursery and use it so the teacher lets you into your class" the villain advised him

The boy just nodded and started to walk away, when he was about six feet away from Max he suddenly stopped and turned around "And Max?" He called

"Yes?"

"Don't worry... A good thing about not being able to stop myself from knowing what everyone's thinking is that I'm great at keeping secrets" he assured him

"Why would I be worried?.."

"Well... I may or may not have read your mind just a little bit when you were talking to Phoebe..." He explained

"...and what did you see?"

"Ehh... Nothing you don't already know" he smiled and right after that kept walking, leaving a very confused teen with a thoughtful frown plastered on his face.