Leo sat on the ground in the living room of his latest foster home, surrounded by three of the other kids he shared the house with, listening to the mindless drone of static-y television while fiddling with some screws and springs.
Leo valued the time he got to spend alone, but he didn't get much of it. This was a pretty typical afternoon. Paul and Jasmine were sprawled on the couch, and Jim sat in the armchair, having won control of the remote for the afternoon. The television played out a scene from some cop show Leo dimly recognized.
A commercial came onto the TV. "Do you ever encounter people with strange abilities?" a woman's voice said while mellow music played in the background. "Do you ever think your friends or neighbors may be different than the normal person?"
Leo snorted quietly to himself, his hands never ceasing to move. He'd seen this commercial before, and a dozen others like it. They were on all the time.
"Do you ever think they may be –" the woman on the screen leaned closer to the camera, like she was about to say a bad word, "– a demigod?"
Even though he knew it was coming, Leo's head still dropped in despair. He hated things like this, yet they were everywhere.
"Well, you don't need to be afraid," she soothed. "Just come down to your local police station and notify the Hunters. Our investigators will find any demigods and eliminate the threat they pose to you and your community, abolishing your fears."
What a load of crap. It didn't matter whether demigods posed any kind of threat. As soon as they thought you might be one, no matter who you were, they would lock you up for good.
"If you think you may know someone who shows any signs of this condition –"
Condition. They always used that word, like being a demigod was some kind of fatal disease.
"– turn them in. The safety of your city is in your hands."
Lies, lies, lies.
"Help give America and the world a safer future. Turn in demigods for a better tomorrow."
The music swelled, and the screen flashed with scenic images of sandy beaches and flowery meadows and family picnics and a dozen other things Leo could only dream of.
"Can we turn on something else?" he asked the room irritably.
Jim snickered. "What? Scared of demigods?"
"Too many damn commercials," Leo mumbled. He dug his hand into his pocket and fished around for a moment before pulling out a small wad of cash, peeling several bills from the middle. He held them up. "I'll give you five bucks if you let me have the remote."
"Deal." Jim snatched the bills from Leo's hand and tossed the remote his way. Leo caught it and started idly flipping the channels as Jim pocketed his newly earned cash. "I swear, Valdez, one day I'm gonna figure out where you get all this money. Drug dealing? Gambling ring?"
"Bank heists," Leo said with a smirk, earning a laugh from the other three, and he allowed himself a chuckle alongside them. He settled the TV on a gameshow he could watch without thinking too much and let the laugh track run as the room settled back into quiet.
It was a few minutes later when Leo felt a tap on his shoulder, and jumped slightly. Not out of surprise, exactly, since he'd been waiting for it. It was more in anticipation, excitement and adrenaline tightening his nerves.
"It's time," Cecelia breathed into his ear.
It's time. Leo got to his feet, slipping out of the room without drawing much notice from the others.
Cecelia was waiting on the porch, leaning over the railing. She was dressed for the night in casual all black. As he joined her, Leo began doing up the buttons on his own black jacket, hiding the color beneath.
"You've got a plan?"
"Yep." Cecelia pulled a small notebook from her jacket and tossed it over to Leo, who caught it in surprise. He flipped open the first page to find Cecelia's writing scribbled across it. Their plan to rob Diamonds Direct Jewelry Store.
Leo and Cecelia had been robbing stores for the better part of the past year. They had met when Leo had first moved into the foster home, where she'd been living. He'd kept a healthy distance at first, same as he did with everyone he met. It was hard, keeping his identity, his power, a secret. And he was good at it.
But not perfect.
Cecelia had found him in his shared room on a particularly tough day, when thoughts of the mother he'd lost were stuck running through his head. She'd been looking for Paul and barged in, startling Leo enough to shake him out of his memories. It was only after he saw her shocked expression that he realized his aura was glowing. Don't tell anyone, please, he had begged.
Of course not, she had responded, to Leo's immense relief.
And it could have ended there. That could have been the last time they'd spoken of the secret Leo spent most of his time trying to forget himself. But Cecelia wasn't the type to let things go.
"What can you do?"
So Leo had done his best to explain what he knew of his abilities – his gift for machines of all kinds. Not just a mechanic's intuition like his mother had had once upon a time. But something extra that had developed as he practiced it. The way he seemed able to tune in to machines, understand how they worked, and sometimes even control them. It worked for all kinds of things if he concentrated hard enough. Cars, locks, electronics –
Cecelia smiled mischievously and asked, "What about bank vaults?"
It had started out as just a pipe dream, the kind of fantasy of risk, thrill, money, and power that anyone stuck in their situation would have. Cecelia was good at planning heists – scary good. Leo actually enjoyed the hours they spent picking out place to rob, doing research and writing up plans. A good way to pass the time that seemed to move so slow. It had all changed when Leo had stumbled across a real job opportunity.
"They want us to rob a clothing store?" Cecelia asked skeptically.
"To take the money, yeah." Leo leaned toward her from their spot on the house's front porch. "Come on, we've planned for harder than this."
"Who are these people?" Cecelia pressed.
"Just our partners," Leo replied, waving the question aside. "Don't worry, I'll handle them."
In the end, to Leo's relief, Cecelia had trusted him. The robbery had gone off without a hitch, and the two of them had walked away with a healthy sum of money to split.
And so it went. Leo would find the jobs. Cecelia would make the plans. Together they would carry them out. They hadn't failed yet, and with a little skill and a touch of luck, their streak would hold tonight.
Sneaking into the shop was easy enough. Leo made quick work of the lock, letting them both inside. They entered the showroom, several display cases around the room that would have held jewelry during the day but were now all empty. Cecelia stayed, taking watch by the door, while Leo continued to the back, where she'd promised the good stuff would be.
The door to the back room was locked as well – Leo opened it and let himself inside. There was a small kitchenette and table, a desk and some filing cabinets, and – there. In the corner, a heavy black safe, nearly as tall as Leo himself. He walked over to it, reaching out a hand to stroke it gently.
Time to get to work.
Leo set the bag down. In truth, it was only for show – he didn't need any of the equipment. He didn't need anything at all.
Instead, he knelt in front of the safe door and pressed both hands against the cool metal. In his mind, he reached out into the door, probing around with a sense he had no name for, but thought of as the connection to whatever it was that gave him his power. He had worked at tuning it, and now turning the gears with this sense was nearly as easy as turning them with a finger would have been.
He felt the subtle telltale click of the safe's lock, and holding his breath, he pulled at the door. It eased gently open, and Leo exhaled in a sigh of relief as a rush of calm fell over him. It had worked.
It was the last time that feeling would come over him in a long time.
Leo reached into the safe, pulling out a drawer. On a blue velvet cushion sat several diamonds, catching even the dim light of the room. He picked one up, turning it over between his fingers.
From outside, a knock sounded through the small room. Leo dropped the gem back into its cushion and stepped out into the main room. "Something wrong?" he called to Cecelia. No reply. Leo crept further through the showroom, toward the shop's door. "Hello – ?"
Before he could finish, a hand grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the hallway. Leo let out a yelp, and found himself face-to-face with Cecelia. She put a finger to her lips, before whispering, "Cops are here."
Leo stilled. In the silence, he could hear sounds from outside. Footsteps, a car door, the chattering of voices. He took a slow, soft step toward the front, and peered through the curtained windows. Two police cars were pulled up front, lights flashing.
Leo let the curtain fall back and backed away. A sense of panic started to set in. How were they here? Had they been seen? Had they triggered some alarm? Had Cecelia missed something in her planning?
It hardly mattered now. They needed out of there, and fast. He turned to Cecelia, voice low. "What's the exit strategy?"
"The police are in the front," Cecelia whispered, "so we go out the service entrance."
Leo nodded, and started toward the back door, Cecelia hot on his heels. He flung open the door, leading out to an emptied parking lot. The gate to the street was just in front of them, approaching rapidly. Leo reached out to fling it open –
And found himself face to face with two more officers, watching the back gate from across the street. They spotted him immediately, and he pulled the gates shut again, Cecelia bumping into him from behind. "What's wrong?"
No time to think. They were boxed in, trapped, and moments from now those two police officers were certain to come through that gate and put them in cuffs. They needed an escape – they needed a distraction.
Leo turned toward Cecelia. "You've got to run, okay?" He pointed to the far side of the fence.
"How?" But Leo had already turned back to the gate, and bringing his hands up to the fence.
"I'm going to burn it down."
Before Cecelia had a chance to object, before Leo had a chance to second-guess the first thought he'd had, he lit his hands up with fire.
This power of his, he had kept secret even from Cecelia. He tried not to think of it himself – too often, the destructive power scared him. But now, trapped and cornered and panicking, he could think of nothing else.
The flames licked across the fence, spreading faster than should have been possible, crumbling the wall as it melted to ashes. Out on the street, the officers skidded to a stop, still several yards away, and recoiled at the sudden wave of heat. Leo glanced down as he pulled his hands away, the orange of his aura blending with the glow of the fire. The mask had burnt off, face now exposed to the full view of the still-watching officers.
Leo looked backward to where Cecelia had been a moment before, but she had already fled. Good. He needed to follow. He backed away, taking off toward the opposite side of the building, leaping across the still-burning remains of the fence and out onto the street.
Leo didn't stop running until he was two blocks away from the store. He had been ducking through alleys, but his cover had ended, and the conspicuousness of running on a city street would definitely be worse than the risk that he would be stopped by one of the officers.
When he finally thought he had put enough distance between himself and the crime scene, he stopped, bracing his hands on his knees, panting hard enough that he thought his lungs might burst. He could still hear sirens in the distance, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer to him.
Leo slid to the ground, crouching in the alley he'd found himself in, wedged between an overflowing dumpster and the hanging ladder of a rusty fire escape.
His partners would not be happy about this.