2AM, Ryder Home- Ally's POV

Another game of Minesweeper failed. Alliane Ryder sighed and glared at her computer screen. Her alarm clock, flashing across the room, proclaimed proudly that the time was two in the morning. She couldn't sleep. Her mother would be throwing a fit if she knew that Ally was still awake at this time of night, especially on the day before school started. Dad would have laughed had he still been alive. Her form wavered for a second at that thought. Her father had once been The Commander's faithful sidekick before he had been killed and The Commander's wife Josie had taken the position. She clicked the new game button on her computer and started again. 2:13AM. She had lost again. 2:30AM. And another game. 2:41AM. And the next one. 3:02AM. And she had almost won that game. Ally glared harshly at her computer screen and then at the clock again. 3:03AM. And she was still awake. She glanced toward her phone and debated the merits of calling Will or Layla just to have someone to talk to. After a moment of consideration she shook her head and went back to Minesweeper.

At four in the morning she had given up on Minesweeper and moved on to Spider Solitaire. At least she could actually win that game. She went through three successful games before she was bored and went back to Minesweeper. 5:49AM. That was when Ally shut down her computer and slipped under her covers. Her alarm went off at seven in the morning, giving her half an hour to prepare. She stumbled under the cold spray of the shower, dressed in jeans and a shirt, and stumbled out the door. She paused to grab an apple off the table for breakfast. She had only gotten an hour and ten minutes of sleep. Her messenger bag bounced on her hip as she scrambled around the corner to the bus stop where Layla Williams and William Stronghold (more commonly known as Will) were waiting for her. "Do you feel well?" Layla asked, eyeing her friend with concern.

"Yeah. I just didn't sleep much last night," Ally said breezily. Truth be told she never slept very much. She was terrified of her own dreams, burning in bright technicolor and trapping her inside their horrid embrace until her screaming alarm pulled her out of the chilling embrace of Mother Sleep.

"You know that's-" Layla began. The red haired girl would have started the two and a half year old argument again had Will not cut in.

"Hey look, there's the bus." Both girl's stared at him as if he came from an alien planet.

"What was in your breakfast?" Ally asked and Layla giggled. The bus pulled up and all three scrambled on, heading for seats half way back.

"All right guys," the bus driver said as he pulled away from their stop. "This is where the ride gets a little...interesting."

"Umm...what?" Ally mumbled, glancing at her two best friends. Both of them shrugged. That was when the bus literally flew off the end of the half completed bridge. It took all of Ally's willpower not to scream. She was done screaming; at nightmares, at her mother when she drank too much, at the little shocking things that happened during the day. Instead she closed her eyes as the bus soared up in the sky.

Layla woke her up a few minutes later by poking her repeatedly in the shoulder. "Time to get moving. We'll discuss your sleeping habits later," her friend said. Ally simply nodded, grateful that Layla wasn't bringing up the subject then and there. She, Layla, and Will followed the other slightly shocked freshmen into the gym. Ally was sure she and Layla were the only ones who looked mostly unimpressed.

"Hey Will? Will!"

"Don't look now," Ally mumbled. "Here comes the Zach Attack." Will snickered and Layla grinned. Zachary Braun, also known as Zach Attack or just plain Zach, had been Will's elementary school best friend.

"Hey Will. I thought that was you," Zach said with a grin. "And Layla and Ally too. I never understood how you ended up with all the pretty girls. OW!" He yelped when both Ally and Layla smacked him on the back of the head.

"So what's your power?" Layla asked to keep the conversation going.

"Well," Zach said flushing slightly. "I kinda glow." He looked as if he expected them to laugh.

"Cool," Ally said instead of laughing. "That way if some super villain ever decides to turn out the lights on us well still be able to find him and kick his butt." Zach beamed at her while Will and Layla smiled gratefully behind his back. That was when Zach walked backwards into a girl with purple streaks in her hair and black combat boots.

"Watch where you're going klutz," the girl grumbled as Zach scrambled back to his feet, apologizing profusely. He finally made his way through his apologies and offered their names. The girl looked over them for a moment before smiling slightly and saying, "Magenta but you can call me Maj. I shapeshift. Into a guinea pig."

"Seriously?" Layla asked, sounding impressed, and Magenta nodded, grinning.

"Yeah. This is Ethan by the way. He melts into a puddle," she added, hooking a thumb at the African American boy behind her. They all said their hellos as the testing started.

Ally zoned out until she heard Coach Boomer call, "Alliane Ryder." Ally walked up to the platform. "So what do you do?" he asked.

"Turn invisible," Ally said with a shrug. "It's just me though." As an example she simply vanished and then reappeared again. Her clothes vanished with her but anything she wasn't wearing, mainly her backpack, was still visible.

Coach Boomer thought about that for a moment before calling, "Sidekick." Ally joined the other sidekicks in time to hear Layla argue with the Coach about the moral questionablility of testing and labeling teenagers until she labeled sidekick. Will joined Ally, Layla, Maj, Ethan, and Zach after proving he had no powers whatsoever. Ally made it through the rest of the day in a daze and ended up right back where she started, playing Minesweeper even though it was only nine at night and not two in the morning.