Author's Note: As usual, none of these characters are mine. Thanks to PB Headless for (repeated) beta reading, and apologies in advance for infrequency of updates, I only ever seem to write when I'm on holiday...


Alisha sat behind the bar, flicking restlessly through an old gossip magazine she had found. This time last year, she would have been fascinated by all the ins and outs of celebrity life, who was going out with who, plastic surgery and numerous affairs, but now her own life seemed to outweigh anything a glossy magazine could offer her.

In the past year, she'd been struck by lightning, gained a (fairly crap) superpower, got a boyfriend, watched Nathan die, dug Nathan up again, lost a boyfriend, gained a boyfriend from the future, watched that boyfriend die, gained the same boyfriend, lost a superpower and- she smiled to herself- gained a new one.

She heard the door of the bar open and looked up. Simon and Kelly walked in, no longer embarrassed to be seen associating with each other, and sat at the bar. Alisha gave them both a pint and sat down opposite them. "So, what's up?" she asked.

"I fell off a roof again," said Simon, wincing slightly as Nathan walked in.

"So, guess who just got a tenner?" he grinned, sitting next to Kelly and grabbing Simon's pint.

"Hey, that's mine!" Simon complained. Nathan grimaced and drank it all in one go. Simon groaned.

"Alright, how'd you get a tenner?" Kelly asked to distract them.

"Wishing wells."

"What?"

"The wishing well in the park, for those disabled children. People chuck any old rubbish in there, it's disgraceful," Nathan said piously, "I went to tidy some of the shit out of it and look what I found!" He pulled his hand out of his pocket, clenching a crumpled, soggy ten pound note. "Either someone's really generous or really stupid. If I hadn't come along, this little beauty would have got all wet and fallen apart. And then those poor kids would have gone hungry." He reached over the counter and passed the note to Alisha, who placed it in the till with a sigh and passed him and Simon another beer.

There was a cough behind them, and they turned to see the probation worker, Shaun, standing in the doorway looking characteristically unenthusiastic. "What're you doing here?" Nathan asked accusingly.

"What makes you think I'm doing anything? I am allowed to drink the same as you lot are, you know."

Nathan looked disbelieving, and Shaun continued, "although actually, I've got to speak to you anyway."

"What about?" Alisha asked.

"I've been saddled with another load of paperwork. You lot need to come in to the community centre and sign stuff to say you haven't done anything else illegal since your probation ended."

Nathan began "but what if we-"

"I don't want to hear it, alright? Just come and sign the bloody papers and then fuck off home. Where's the other one?"

"The other one?"

"Tall black guy. Whatever his name was."

"You mean Curtis?" Alisha asked.

"Yeah, whatever. Tell him to come as well."

Alisha shrugged. "We haven't seen him for a few weeks, I don't know where he's gone."

"Oh, I dunno. Text him or something."

Nathan adopted an expression of mock surprise. "Shit! If only we'd thought of texting him we'd have found him ages ago! Thanks, man. You've been a real help."

"Whatever," Shaun said. "Listen, I don't really give a shit where he's gone, but it's easier for me to get the form signed than have to send off saying he's done a runner, alright?"

"His girlfriend died," Alisha said indignantly, "you could at least be a bit nicer about it."

Shaun shrugged. "Was that the girl that got shot in here at Christmas?" He noticed something on the floor and walked over to examine it. "Is that a blood stain?" he asked.

Simon stood up. "She was our friend."

Shaun looked as if he were about to argue, then thought better of it and left.

"Well done, man! You stood up to the probation worker!" Nathan cheered, clapping him on the back. "And you didn't kill this one, either!"

Simon paused for a moment, considering his next move. "You know, it's sometimes a real shame you're immortal."


"Okay," Seth said, leaning back in his chair and surveying the five teenagers who stood in front of him, "who's first?"

Nobody moved, each looking at the others as if daring them to make the decision for them.

"Oh, you're all such pussies! I'll do it!" the girl on the left, Kelly, said, walking over and sitting opposite him at the table. He took her hands in his.

"So, what do you want?" he asked, after glancing at the bundle of money she had just given him.

"What?"

"What power do you want?"

She looked around at her friends, who shrugged and shuffled their feet.

"Do you want me to decide for you?" Seth asked.

Kelly sighed. "Yeah, alright then. Just don't give me anything stupid or nothing."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He clasped her hand again and a burst of white light emitted from within. The others took a step back. He let go.

"Well, what was that?" she asked indignantly, "that ain't done nothing."

"Oh, it has," Seth smiled, leaning back in his chair again. "You just haven't found out what yet."


Once Alisha had returned with ice for Simon, they began discussing what to do about Curtis.

"Well, are any of our powers going to be any good for finding him?" Alisha asked.

"Nah, mine's crap," Kelly complained. "Wish I'd chosen it myself now."

"Well," Nathan bragged, "I'm still immortal. Unkillable. Never-ending. You shoot me, I get right back up again. I am absolutely unstoppable." He took another large gulp from Simon's drink. "I'm untouchable." He paused. "But, no, I dunno where Curtis is."

Simon gave him a withering look. "I'll see if the Hoodie- if I- left any clues in the flat. I don't think that all of the photos that were on the walls have happened yet."

Alisha nodded. "Right, I'll come with you. Why don't you two go to his house, see if there's any clues there?"

Kelly stood up and made to leave. Nathan sat there for a moment, then seemed to realise everyone was staring at him and looked around. "What? I wasn't concentrating. What's going on?"

Kelly raised her eyebrows and dragged him out of his seat. "No, wait! I'm meeting Marnie later, I can't!" he protested.

"You can meet her then, then. Come on!"

Alisha watched them leave, then made to follow them out of the door. Simon grabbed her wrist.

"Alisha."

"What is it?"

"I've been thinking. About us."

Alisha looked worried. "What about us?"

"When he came back, he said things wouldn't always stay the same. That things were going to happen that meant he had to do what he did."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, that means that something's going to happen to us. It means something is going to happen to you. If, at some point in the near future, I'm going to go back in time to find the past you, something must mean I can't be with the present you any more. And that worries me."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm right here."

"Yes," said Simon, distantly, "but for how long?"

They arrived at the flat a little while later, and straight away Simon set about examining the wall for any clues as to where Curtis could be. Alisha examined one of the clocks which the future Simon had used to count down to the important events. She noticed something and leaned forward for a closer look.

"What is it?" Simon asked, glancing over.

"The timers. They aren't plugged in."

Simon walked over to where she stood and together they managed to prise one of them away from the wall. In place of any wires, there was an envelope sellotaped to the wall behind. Simon took it, noticing his name on the front, and opened it. There was a letter inside.

"It's from- It's from me."


Seth looked at the four remaining teenagers. "Alright, I don't bite. Hand over the money and let's get this done, shall we?"

"Wait a minute," Kelly complained, "I don't even know if I've got a power yet. What the hell am I meant to do now?"

"Take a seat and wait for your friends. Keep quiet, I need to concentrate."

"Right, my turn!" Nathan interrupted, sitting at the table. "Give me my power back." Seth took his hands and the same flash of white light burst from it. Nathan looked underwhelmed.

"Is that it? It didn't tingle or anything!"

"Oh, it worked." Seth promised. "And next?" He motioned for someone else to join him, but Nathan was not satisfied.

"How do I know I'm immortal?" he asked. "It's quite convenient, isn't it, that if you haven't given me my power back I won't be around to complain about it? How are you going to pr-" Seth pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot Nathan through the head. His body lay there for a moment, motionless, before he sat up again and shouted "Bastard!"

The others breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw Nathan was alive- Kelly seemed to stop complaining about her lack of an obvious power and helped Nathan over to a chair in the corner. Simon sat in the chair opposite Seth and held out his hand.

"And what do you want?" Seth asked.


"Seriously, Kelly, I need to go and meet Marnie. We're taking Dylan to playgroup."

Kelly stopped and looked incredulously at Nathan. "Dylan? What kind of stupid fucking name is Dylan?"

"It's better than Bruno, at least. Anyway, I have to call him Dylan 'cos Marnie didn't like me calling him Little Donkey."

"...Right. When you've stopped being a dick, we need to find Curtis."

"Well, Marnie can help once we've dropped Dylan off. I'll be half an hour, I swear." He stopped and grinned. "Although you're not the first girl I've said that to." He turned to walk away, and got a few metres away before he keeled over backwards, clutching his nose as if he had just walked into a brick wall. "Ouch! What the hell was that?"

"That was my new power, dickhead. I worked it out earlier."

"You can make invisible walls? That seems pretty cool to me, why'd you say it was rubbish?"

"Well, you can't do anything with it. I can make invisible walls, so what? I mean, you can't die. Mine's crap compared to that. Right, you coming or not?"

"Do I have any choice?"

Kelly shrugged, then shook her head. Nathan rubbed his sore nose, then pulled his phone from his pocket and called Marnie.

"Marnie! Hey! Listen, I might be a little bit late for Dylan's playgroup today, I'm looking for-"

Kelly was a few metres away from him but even she could her Marnie's reply. Nathan held the phone away from his ear.

"Late again! Oh, out saving the world again, are you? Very convenient! Well, you'd better remember that I'm here looking after the baby. What time do you want your tea? Or are you not going to eat now that you're a superhero?"

"I'm really sorry, Marnie, we just need to find Curtis. I haven't seen him since we got the powers back. I think he's-"

"No, stop there, Nathan. I'm coming to help you."

"What? What about the baby? What are you going to-"

"Oh, I'll leave him at my mum's. She'll look after him."

"And this didn't occur to you earlier? Like when I wanted to go to the pub but you said we had to give him a bath? Or when you made me take him to the zoo so you could get your hair done?"

"Well, you wouldn't have done any of that if I hadn't made you..."

Nathan paused, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. "You sneaky bitch," he said as Marnie hung up. He turned to Kelly. "I bet Superman never got this." He mimed talking on a phone. "'What's that? You need to go and stop a meteor crashing into the city? No, you're busy tonight. Tonight, we're going to change the baby's nappy.'"

"I think you're meant to change the nappies more than once a day," Kelly pointed out. Nathan pulled a face. "How would I know? It's a bag full of shit, do you think I'm going to want anything to do with it?"He tried to change the subject. "So, you get anything good for Christmas?"

"Yeah, an annoying little Irish bastard who follows me round everywhere," Kelly said, smiling slightly despite herself.

"Er- follows you around everywhere? Who was it that dragged me here?"

"Come on, we need to find Curtis."


"Right, then. Just you left," Seth said once he had given Simon and Alisha their new powers. He looked at Curtis. "And what can I do for you?"

"I want my power back," he replied.

"Like I told you before, I haven't got your power any more."

"What have you got, then?"

"That depends on how much money you've got."

"I've got as much as the others. Now give me a fucking power, I need to save my girlfriend."

"Oh, what's happened to her?" Seth asked, almost as if he were making conversation.

"She's dead," Curtis replied. "I need to go back and stop it."

"Well, I'm afraid I haven't got any time-travel powers left. I did have one other one, but it was sold yesterday."

"Fine, just do whatever it was you did on the others. Just give me a power and we can get it over with." He held out his hand and Seth took it.

"There you go," he said a moment later, "although I'm not sure you're going to like it."

"Whatever," Curtis said, walking out of the room. The others followed a moment later without looking back at Seth, who began counting the money they had flung on the table in front of him. He smiled.


Elsewhere, under the flickering glow of a dying streetlamp, Curtis stood watching a house. He had not moved for over an hour. The bedroom light turned off. Curtis turned and walked away. Soon, he thought. Soon.