Four
"And the number shall ever be...four."
Virgil Hawkins wasn't much of a religious kid. After all, when being kidnapped and given powers by aliens at such a young age, hearing "God works in mysterious ways" didn't even begin to make sense in his fourteen-year-old mind. The only thing that seemed to justify that were the three kids he was in hiding with in Taos.
Being test subjects in STAR was boring; Wilcox only wanted to make them use their powers, Dr. D didn't really do anything but research, and Black Canary and that Nightwing dude only talked to them once just to ask about what the Reach did to them. Newt was just way too much of a pushover and willing to bend over backwards for Wilcox (okay, the kid had kinda blown up nearly all of Central City, but he couldn't blame himself for that), so that only left three other people his age.
Tye was fairly mouthy, like Virgil. The two of them got along fairly quickly; Virgil would never stop talking, and the older boy was more than content to listen, or at least pretend to. He didn't have to be a genius to know that the band-aid Tye still kept on his face wasn't from the Reach, or realize his eyes narrowing when Virgil mentioned his mom (which was rare in and of itself, because it made him realize how slim the chances of returning home and a normal life were). Whatever had happened before Tye was taken by the Reach, Virgil wasn't willing to ask. He felt that he hadn't earned that right to Tye's privacy, and he didn't know exactly what he'd do once he learned.
Asami was hard, given that neither of them spoke the same language and she only seemed to stick around Tye. Still, she was a kind girl who was more than willing to listen to the guys whenever they talked about their pasts or their woes, despite not being able to receive the same kindness from them. When she had learned to speak a little English, she'd made up for lost time (mainly with Tye, but Ed and him weren't really upset so much as amused and happy for them—Tye needed it). If getting little info on Tye's home life and drawing conclusions made Virgil upset, learning most of the details of Asami's made him furious. No one, especially someone as kind and powerful as her, deserved what she'd been through.
Ed was, much like his powers let him be, all over the place. One day, he and Virgil would be best friends, joking about Wilcox; the next, he'd be listening to Ed have a shouting match with his dad or wait for the boy to get out of his silent treatment. He got that Ed was mad about the situation, but Dr. D was his father. He didn't want this for his son, no one did. And it'd become all too clear that things weren't going to go back to normal for a long time, cure or no cure. Why couldn't Ed see that? Did he think all of it was a dream he tried so desperately hard to get out of?
Needless to say, once the four of them escaped STAR and Blue Beetle—Tye could frequently be heard muttering about how Jaime had become a puppet, "just like her", when he thought no one heard him or saw his glare at the billboards—they realized they were all each other had. No League, no Beetle, even Luthor was more than happy to just give them a place to stay and basic utilities before letting them do as they pleased. Fighting Red Volcano had shown them that their powers were cool, that they could fight back against the Reach. And if that was the spark, then going to the War World and saving Superboy, Wonder Girl, honest and real superheroes was like wildfire. They'd gotten their first taste of real heroics, and it was great.
Then came the Reach's MFDs. Ed had been keeping in contact with his dad enough that a no longer Reach controlled Blue ("How do I know it's you?" "When you were 7, you got constipated from eating so much—" "Dude!") and Wonder Girl tracked them down and asked, more like begged, for their help. How the world was at stake and that if the five of them did have their own way of doing things, having the world wiped out would keep them from doing what they wanted. So they agreed, if only because after this, it meant they may finally get a chance to go back to normal lives.
But Virgil didn't want that. He'd gotten too used to flying on trash lids, feeling the lightning exit his fingertips and wrap around someone he wanted to hurt. He'd never thought that one day, he'd be fighting alongside Black Lightning, the only person who actually seemed to know how the shakes and the tremors felt. So yeah, when BL offered up a chance to be his mentor, Virgil agreed. And he'd hoped that the others would have mentors of their own, too. Asami and Canary; Ed and Captain Atom; Tye and Atom. It'd be perfect! They'd have to be part of the Team, but they'd be together and able to actually make a difference. No more smashing Reach signs or billboards, but actually saving lives and proving that jerk Godfrey wrong.
No such luck. Arsenal was quick to leave (Been fun, guys, but I'm not one of you. I don't fit into what you've made for yourselves), and the others declined the Team's invitation to join their ranks. Virgil could see why they each had their own reasons to get out of the game; Ed had finally begun to mend bridges with his father, and Tye felt like he needed to be a hero at home before being one for the world. And since Asami and Tye were dating and she had nowhere else, she went with her boyfriend. It didn't matter; they'd all keep in touch one way or another. The four of them had a bond that no tests, no Reach Beetles, no MFDs, no distance could touch. If anything stood in the way of their friendship, they would run.
Only this time, they wouldn't be running away. They'd be running towards each other.