I sat on the ground mulling about my situation. At least I knew my name. Any time I tried to get another memory the result was the same. Emptiness, a great emptiness, it seemed that every candlelight in the void had been snuffed out. I was lost again, unable to grasp any more memories.

The screen in the wall blinked as it displayed the message from before. Warning. Video in progress. Great, who is it going to be this time?

I shuffled to my feet ready for the coming interrogation, the last one was wimpy.

The screen flickered as the message disappeared. Only to be replaced by the image of what I could only describe as a greek hoplite wannabe. The man wore a greek style helmet of gold.

The only part of his face that I could see clearly was his lower mouth.

The wannabe hoplite looked a little uneasy. I couldn't see his eyes but I had a pretty good guess that they were darting around analyzing me. His mouth was stretched into a thin line.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided to you. You have the right to have an attorney for advice before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present, you have the right to stop answering at any time." The man rattled off my Miranda Rights like a machine.

Lots of practice I guessed.

"Do you understand?" the man looked at me.

"Yup!" I popped the p. How did I pop the p without a mouth? How did I talk without a mouth!?

"Good." the man seemed a little offended by my casualness. "What is your name?"

I complied with gusto, happy that I had a name. "Thomas Gawain Harper." the name still seemed a little foreign though.

The wannabe hoplite paused, "No cape name?"

Cape name? Not a term I was familiar with. Officer O'Neill said capes were like superheroes, and superheroes usually had superhero names right. Or at least that's what my anemic brain supplied me with.

"Don't have one." The man nodded understandingly.

"Under normal circumstances, we would have just locked you in a cell until the courts could deal with you. But given that you are a cape and an unknown one at that. You may get off with just a warning if you answer all my questions correctly."

Seemed fair.

"I can do that," I responded after a second.

"Currently you could be charged with seven accounts of second-degree murder, two cases of attempted murder, and on top of that you used parahuman abilities to commit all these crimes."

I think I was getting it now, parahuman abilities must be my nigh-invulnerable body and superhuman strength.

I stayed silent as the man continued. "You only have a couple of options. One, you get sent to prison for life. Two, you are released and have the entire ABB gunning for you. Or you join the Protectorate."

Protectorate, another thing I was unfamiliar with. "What's the Protectorate?"

"Superhero police." was the response that I got.

Superhero police, I liked that. "If I join the Protectorate what would happen?"

There was a pregnant pause, "Due to your current potential charges you would be in this cell for a little bit before you were processed. After which you would become a full-fledged hero."

Me a hero, I liked the sound of that. "What do I have to do to join the Protectorate?"

"First I have to ask you some questions. We don't just allow anyone in."

I nodded I could understand that.

"Why did you did you use lethal force on the ABB members?"

"I knew they were bad guys, and bad guys have to go bye-bye." the man looked like he was about to say something but I cut him off. "And truthfully I don't know my own strength." while not completely true because I knew that one hit from me was enough to cause collateral damage, to anyone.

"Did you plan to kill them?" What kind of question was that?

"No." I lied, so much for answering truthfully.

The hoplite wannabe nodded, I wasn't too sure he was buying it though. "Are you aware of the Unwritten Rules?" At the shake of my head, he continued, "The Unwritten Rules govern what capes can and can't do. While only semi-official the rules hold power over all parahumans. Breaking the Unwritten Rules can and will result in death or permanent imprisonment in The Birdcage."

There it was again, the Birdcage. Who named the place?

"One of the rules is to not use lethal force without due reason. You broke this rule when you murdered seven ABB gang members and injured two others."

There was a second of silence between us. "While this is your first known time of breaking the rules if you do so again there will be severe consequences."

I don't know why but there was a voice telling me that I would be breaking the rules again and again. "I understand," I responded.

"How long have you had your powers?" the man changed the subject.

I thought about it, from what I remember around a day or so. But I felt like I always had my powers, and that I wasn't using them to their full potential.

"It's hard to pinpoint exactly when I had my powers, but around a day." I decided to play it safe.

"Do you know the full extent of your powers?"

"Um, no haven't had the chance to actually try them out."

The hoplite wrote something down on a piece of paper in front of him. Must be writing down all the answers I mused.

"What are your powers?"

"Super strength, durability, and regeneration." I felt no need to tell him how I thought I was able to change what I consisted of.

There was some more scribbling on the man's part before he stood up and shut off the video feed. The microphone crackled as it too was shut off. The message on the screen disappeared, I was alone again. It was only me and my thoughts.

Strange the man had never introduced himself, pretty sure that was the first thing you're supposed to do during a conversation. But I guess it was more of an interrogation given that he read my Miranda rights.

Slowly I lowered myself back down to the floor. I looked at my hands, ugly gunmetal gray hands stared back at me. Why did I have to look like a gray featureless being? If I actually looked human maybe I would have better luck with people.

My hands almost seemed to ripple as a shiver went down my spine. Look human I thought, now I could feel the ripple across my whole body. Stared down at my hands as they changed color from the gray to fair white. My entire body seemed to gain details that weren't there before. I was beginning to look human.

Instinctively my hand touched my face. Using my hand I could feel features appear of my face, I now had a nose. I had a mouth and eyes. I brushed my hand over my scalp, I could feel hair covering my head.

For the first time in what felt like a long time I truly laughed, it was a laugh of pure joy.

Now I had a name and a face.