Midas Millerson is not an aggressive person, usually.

The blond sidekick glanced quickly at his friend, who was busily describing how he was going to make the heroes beg for him to be their support. Midas let Zach keep talking, but secretly he had slipped in his earbuds and was trying his hardest not to let his friend find out. Glad that Zach wasn't a mind-reader, he sang along in his head as they walked to their stations.

I wanna feel alive forever after…

Midas found his position and stood cautiously on the stage. Looking around the room, he saw Zach standing just three platforms away. He felt his heart pound a bit harder when the glowing boy looked at him and smiled. Brown eyes met green for an instant before Midas looked away, his face burning with embarrassment. He tried to regain his calm, but when he closed his eyes, images of Zach still flashed through his head. Bright, confident, funny Zach who was dating Magenta, and who would never in a million years like him.

You say you wanna feel alive forever after…

Midas opened his eyes and looked into the gathering crowd of heroes. Will would be in there, he noted, feeling glad for his dorky, hero friend. Hundreds of students would be paired today, and someone in that crowd was stuck with him. The sidekick ran a gloved hand through his hair, and breathed, calming himself down.

Follow the light to the edge and the af –

The bell rang suddenly, startling Midas into action. He took his earbuds out and stuffed them none too gently into his pocket. Then with a fluid motion, he took off his gloves. He took a moment to look around. As Sidekick Trials got under way, heroes and teachers filed through the auditorium. Occasionally, some would stop for a moment, to see if a sidekick was worthwhile. They tended to lose interest after a couple of seconds. Midas ignored the apparent apathy, kneeling down and placing his hands on the surface of the stage.

Gold instantly began to spread from his palms and fingers. Tendrils of lustrous metal seemed to weave themselves across the stage, each strand branching out into multiple glimmering lines of the stuff. In a matter of seconds, the entire stage was pure gold. The lights that hung from the rafters made the platform gleam like a polished mirror, and several heroes stopped to look.

"Gold," Midas said calmly, rising to his feet slowly and scanning the crowd. "Elemental symbol: Au, Atomic Number: 79."

He spread his arms wide, and gold dust drifted from between his fingers. He made his way to the stairs, and walked down into the crowd of heroes.

"It's a nice metal, malleable, ductile, and extremely conductive. Long held to be the most perfect of all elements. And it is my power alone to use it." He took a calculated pause before he carried on.

"My name is Midas, and everything I touch turns to gold."

He made his way back to the stage and looked out into his crowd. He felt confident in his ability to keep their attention, and prepared to launch into the second half of his performance. Then he caught sight of Lash. The jerk was hovering at the edge of the crowd, brown eyes glimmering with malicious intent. Midas felt his mouth go bone dry as he forgot what he was about to say. He looked around nervously for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. Heroes began giving him weird looks, and a few starting moving a way. The sidekick tried desperately to remember what he had planned on doing, cursing Lash for screwing him over. A moment later, Midas was thanking the heavens for the douchebag, who had inspired his plan to salvage this mess. He saw a black and white striped arm makes its way onto the platform, and he pretended not to notice as it slinked toward his ankle. His smile gleamed brighter than the stage when he spoke.

"Of course," he said evenly, "telling you guys about my power is nowhere near as cool as showing it to you. I think I'm going to need a volunteer. How about you, in the stripes? You look pretty brave."

Midas saw the hand retract, but he still had Lash in a bind. The entire crowd was now staring at the elastic boy. Looking particularly displeased, the Volunteer took a long step up to the stage. Midas could see a brilliant light from a few stages away, and he smiled briefly. Zach had gone nova during his performance. He allowed himself a moment of joy for his friend before returning his attention to his own act.

"Hold out your arm," Midas instructed, and the Hero reluctantly did so.

"Now comes the cool part," the Sidekick told his audience. Moving slowly, Midas took hold of the Hero's wrist. On contact, lines of gold began to trace their way down Lash's arm, replacing bands of black and white with solid colored metal. It only took a few moments for his entire shirt to turn gold, and it was clear in his eyes that he didn't like the color change.

"As you can see," Midas addressed the crowd, "this boy's shirt has turned to solid gold. This should keep him from moving, right? Wrong. Try moving for us, please."

Lash glared at him, but still listened, finding full range of motion in his now gold shirt. Midas looked at his captive volunteer with a look of sheer amusement. He dropped Lash a mocking smirk before turning back to his audience.

"The reason why he can move is that each individual fiber in his shirt is now a strand of gold thread. Almost everything that I touch retains its previous properties in texture and motion. The only things that don't - are living things. Now bear with me," he stated, "my powers work a little slower on people."

With a long practiced motion, he pushed up Lash's sleeve, and grabbed his arm. Gold crept up the Hero's skin and down his hand. The transformation was slow, but after a while, Midas let go. It looked like Lash's arm was covered in a golden, elbow length glove. But when Midas instructed him to move it, the strain on his face made it obvious that he couldn't. Midas' enjoyment couldn't have been greater.

When the crowd left, Midas smirked at the flexible boy.

"Now we're even," he said flatly.
"I'm pretty sure that paralyzing me doesn't make it even," Lash snarled, "Now tell me how I can use my arm again, or else."
"Well," Midas said slowly, "what you're going to need to do is wait. It should wear off in an hour or two."
"You're joking right?"
"No. There isn't anything to do but wait. I would say that I'm sorry," Midas stated, "but I'd be lying."

Lash glared at the boy, and stormed off.

"Fuck you," he called over his shoulder.

Midas grinned at his success. Then, after a few seconds of reveling in his glory, he got up to find his friends. He was dying to see how they thought they had done. Plus, the teachers wouldn't finish deciding their pairings for another half hour, and Midas didn't want to spend the time alone.

Thanks everyone, for sticking out those rough two days between the chapters. I've gotten my first reviews, and feel ready to keep up with this story as I begin to branch out. I love reviews, and follows are beautiful things, but still, only follow if you like my story.

Thanks,

FishShips