Author's Note: As usual, none of these characters are mine.

The gang's shouts rang out, filling the warehouse and threatening to wake someone.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Ryan looked around, nervously surveying his surroundings. He had no hope of escaping, of course, but it gave him something to do and meant he didn't have to think about what was happening. To his right, Tom gave him a nudge. "Come on, keep up!" Ryan turned to face the middle of the circle again, noticing that the others had closed in and were chanting faster.

Liam would win. Liam always won. That was the rule. Liam was biggest, and strongest, and toughest, and so even if it looked like Liam might not win this time, and someone new was going to beat him, Liam would definitely win. If anyone didn't realise that that was the way it was, and that Liam was the best at everything, then Liam would teach them. Then they would remember who was meant to win. Ryan did not like Liam.

Ryan didn't really like any of this. He certainly didn't like the fighting, or the stealing. He didn't like the smoking, or the drinking. What Ryan did like was reading, and listening to music. Not the kind of music this lot listened to, he thought, but decent music. Stuff with a tune, and intelligent lyrics. Repeated use of the word 'bitches' does not make music good, he thought. Only ever thought, of course. Never out loud. Liam wouldn't agree.

There was a cry from the crowd, and Ryan assumed that meant Liam had won again. He didn't look. He couldn't look.

"Alright, who's next?" Liam asked, cracking his knuckles and looking around at his gang. There were about fifteen of them in all, with Liam as their leader. The previous victim slunk off into a corner to lick his wounds and those remaining formed a circle again. Before Ryan knew what was happening, he felt a shove behind him and he found himself sprawling into the centre of the makeshift arena, Liam standing over him like a towering predator. He stood up and tried to get out of the circle, but nobody would let him through. Liam grabbed his shoulder and wheeled him round to face him. He smiled, a shark with the scent of blood in its nostrils. "Ready to play?"

"You?" Simon said in surprise, "you're my destiny?"

"I'm touched, kid," Shaun said with a frown, "but I don't think you're my type." He looked around and saw Curtis sitting at the table behind Simon. "Oh, you're back then? Nice of you to tell me. You lot need to come and sign those papers, otherwise I'm still responsible for your wellbeing. And believe me, I'd rather not have anything to do with you." He turned and sauntered out again, leaving Alisha and Simon to look at each other, confused.

"What's he got to do with the Hoodie?" Alisha asked, "I thought we were done with our community service?"

"Me too," he replied. "But I wouldn't have told us to go with him if there wasn't a good reason behind it. We need to do it, to make sure the future happens like it's supposed to." He stood up and prepared to leave. The others followed him.

"Oh, so I'm just going to stay here on my own, am I?" Marnie asked as they walked out of the door.

"Go home and see Dylan," Nathan told her. "I'll see you later."

"So," he continued as they walked to the community centre, "what should we do about this Cooper guy, anyway?"

Simon and Alisha stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"That police guy. Cooper. Whatshisface. You know, he chased us away from… no?" He stopped. "Oh, right, you two weren't there. There was this guy, and he found us breaking into Curtis' house, and then-"

"You broke into my house?" Curtis exclaimed indignantly.

"Yeah, I can explain that later. And then when I was trying to hide Isaac's body he-"

"You killed Isaac?" Simon interrupted.

"No, of course not. I was just disposing of the evidence, but-"

"Stop!" Kelly yelled, making everyone jump and turn to look at her in surprise. "Everyone's confused, right? So let's just talk about stuff before we do anything-" she looked at Nathan "-stupid."

"Hey, I resent that," he countered, "coming from the girl who hit our probation worker over the head with a fire extinguisher and then slept with a gorilla."

"Oh, you always bring that up, don't you? Bruno was nice, why d'you have to…?"

"Yeah, well. Nice and human aren't necessarily the same thing."

"Guys, just calm down," Simon said. "Kelly's right. We need to talk, sensibly, about what we need to do now. Curtis, is Isaac dead?"

Curtis nodded. "He got hit by a car just after you left."

"Right, so we're not going to get your power back. Nathan, can you use your power at all to contact him?"

"He's right next to you, man. He's been following us ever since we found Curtis. How did you know, anyway? I only just remembered I could do it when Nikki started giving me the evil eye!"

"You can see Nikki as well?" Alisha asked, looking around as if she might be able to do the same.

"Yeah, but she's not here at the moment. She keeps fading in and out, like she's got bad reception or something. Wish the old guy'd do the same, he's creeping me out a bit."

Alisha turned to Simon. "That letter. It said you had to make the ultimate sacrifice. What if-" she sighed, shook her head. "I thought we'd be safe following the letter's instructions, because you knew what to do. But if it said you had to do what needed to be done, no matter how much you're going to want not to do it, maybe… The Hoodie sent you to Isaac even though he knew he was going to die. Maybe the stuff in that letter's not going to save us. Maybe it's going to lead us to the end. Towards whatever's going to break us apart."

Simon nodded. "I thought of that. I think that… thing, whatever it is, is nearly here. The only clear instructions the letter left were to find Isaac and go with the probation worker, and we've done those already. Which means that anything from now on is either going to happen soon or be so unavoidable we don't need instructions."

Nathan let out a whistle. "Phew! Glad that's nothing to worry about then! Er… is anyone going to explain what this letter is, or what?"

Liam threw the first punch, but Ryan managed to dodge out of the way just in time. He wasn't going to fight back, that would be stupid, but he could at least try and stop himself being hurt too badly. From the little of the fights he had been unable to avoid seeing, he gathered that Liam tended to start off small and work up to a triumphant finish. He liked to show off, liked to look cool in front of his 'friends'. And then there were the powers to reckon with.

That was how this whole gang had started, really. After that storm, people started realising that they could do these new, weird things, and naturally wanted somewhere to show off about it. It had started small, a group of friends who'd been out together when the lightning struck. Then it widened, and more and more super-powered people were coming forward. Then Liam joined. He quickly established himself as the new leader, through intimidation or brute strength, and before long he had transformed the group into his own personal fight club. Ryan had joined by accident, heard about it through a friend. He hadn't got round to checking it out for a while, but by the time he did Liam had taken over and he had no way out. Now they knew where he lived, who his friends were, where he went to school and, more importantly, they were bigger than him. He'd tried to use his power to go back in time and stop himself ever joining, but he didn't have that much control over it so far. And so he was stuck here. Liam's new plaything.

Ryan ducked another of Liam's punches, hoping that he would give up and leave him alone. Obviously not. Just then, he saw the sign he was looking for. Liam's left eye gave a twitch, and Ryan thought he saw something stir inside his opponent- something dangerous. Liam had activated his power. Through instinct rather than any kind of common sense, Ryan did the same. Liam would be annoyed, he knew, that he'd dared to fight back, but there was nothing else Ryan could do. He opened his eyes. Where had he ended up this time?

In fact, when had he ended up?

Kelly pushed open the door of the community centre to find Shaun waiting for them. "This way," he said, leading them down the corridor to his office.

"We do know where the office is," Kelly pointed out, "we're not thick."

Shaun looked her up and down but said nothing. He handed each of them a piece of paper and a pen, and then sat lounging in his chair. "Go on then, sign it."

Simon read the form, unblinking with concentration. "Stop," he said. "This isn't right."

"What?" Nathan complained, "I've already signed it! Come on, let's just go."

"No, really. Stop. Everyone, stop right now." Simon could feel everyone's eyes on him. Even Shaun looked up from staring at his fingernails.

"What is it?" asked Alisha, looking over the contract again. "I can't-" she stopped as she realised what he was talking about.

"What?" Kelly asked, rushing over to them. Nathan and Curtis crowded round. Simon pointed to a passage about halfway through the legal language Nathan had skipped. "Look. This agreement removes the undersigned from the custody of the Community Payback, on the condition that no further offences be committed and that any superhuman powers, abilities or skills be relinquished until further notice."

"What! They're taking our powers?" Nathan exclaimed. "Well, that's bullshit! They'll have to fight to get mine off me and I'm telling you, that's not going to be easy. I've got a black belt in karate! And I'm immortal, for fuck's sake! They're not taking that off me!" He looked at Shaun. "Are they?"

Shaun shrugged. "I dunno. It wasn't my idea, I just got told to give you those papers and get you to sign them."

"Well, whose idea was it?" Simon asked, "and how did they find out about us?"

"That would be me," a voice came from behind them, as the door opened. They turned to see the policeman, Cooper, standing in the doorway with a look of triumph in his eyes. "Well, now that I've got your attention…"

"How did you find out? How did you know about us?"

"Oh, it wasn't hard. I was out in that storm too, you know. I was off duty, I'd popped out to get some bread and milk. I was just shopping. Then all of a sudden, the sky clouds over and hailstones the size of my hand start pelting down at me. I got to cover in time. I saw people hit by that lightning and then just get up, and carry on as if nothing had happened. I saw those people change, and develop powers. The crime rate soared, what with people trying out their new abilities. Nobody else realised why, but I did. I knew that out there, somewhere, there were criminals with superpowers. And, quite understandably, that worried me. I realised that the only way to stop them was to level the playing field. Which is where you come in.

You- Curtis, isn't it? You can pass through solid objects. Imagine a policeman who could catch any fleeing criminal.

You, Alisha, create illusions. Any burglars would be reluctant to come out if they saw an entire army surrounding their houses.

Kelly. If anyone tried to start a fight, I could just trap them inside a force field. Problem solved.

And Nathan. Well, I think you can see the advantages of immortality already, can't you? Law enforcement's a dangerous job, especially on an estate like this. If I weren't able to die, that really would be… useful.

So, then. I'm sure you'll appreciate exactly what I'm doing here, when I say I really would quite like your powers, please." He looked at each of them in turn, and appeared to be genuinely sincere.

"Even if we were going to give you our powers, which we're not, how would we transfer them?" Simon asked.

"Oh, you're Simon, aren't you?" Cooper said, turning to him. "I'm afraid I don't know much about you. What's your power, again?"

Simon did not answer. Instead, he rose from his chair and motioned for the others to follow him. He took the contracts from the desk and tore them into pieces, then threw the pieces in the bin. "Come on," he said, "we're leaving."

Cooper shook his head and the door shut behind him without anyone touching it. "No, you're not actually. I'm placing you under arrest on suspicion of the murders of Tony Morecambe and Sally Jones . I'm going to have to ask you all to accompany me to the station."

As if they were thinking as one person Nathan, Simon and Curtis all stood back and let the girls through. Kelly materialised a force field around Cooper, while Alisha threw brightly-coloured flashing illusions around the room to disorientate them. The five of them linked arms, and Curtis drew them through the closed door and into the foyer. They turned and watched through the glass as Shaun and Cooper struggled against Kelly's constraints, half-blinded by the illusions.

"Well, that was crap," Nathan said as they walked hurriedly away from the community centre. "You three got to show off your powers, all I did was ran away."

That was when the red car sped round the corner again and hit him.

"Liam, I said I was sorry," Ryan protested as he was led outside. "I really didn't mean to…"

"Get in the car," Liam said. "Drive."

"But I don't know how to-" Ryan began, but Liam shut the door on him. This was Liam's way of reasserting his leadership, Ryan knew. He may intimidate people into letting him win the fights, but he genuinely was a good driver. Especially when his opponent had never even had any lessons. Tom got into the other side of the car. Tom's ability was to undo any lock, hence his popularity with Liam, especially when breaking into cars. He tapped the ignition, and the car sprung into life. "Right pedal's accelerate, left's clutch. Middle's brake. You do realise you're going to be absolutely shit at this, right?"

"Yeah, well. I need to keep Liam happy."

Tom hesitated. "D'you want me to drive? They won't be able to tell while we're going along, and it'll save you looking like such an idiot. Switch back at the end, Liam'll never know."

Ryan nodded in relief. "Thanks. I wouldn't even know how to start it."

They swapped places, and Tom pulled away from the kerb. They followed Liam for a little way, before the red car (Liam always took the best for himself) began accelerating and drew away from them. Tom slowed down a little to allow Liam to win. As they rounded the corner onto Overman Terrace, they heard a thump and Liam's car stopped momentarily. Once it had continued on around the next corner, Ryan saw what had caused the noise. An old man lay in the middle of the road, unmoving and with a black boy standing over him.

"Shit!" Ryan exclaimed, "I think he's dead!"

Tom had turned pale. "But- but- it was Liam! Liam killed someone!"

The black boy turned to look at them. "Quick! Go!" Ryan practically screamed at Tom, the older boy taking his advice and accelerating off down the road. They had only travelled another few streets away when Ryan heard another noise- police sirens. "They must have found out about Liam! We need to go!" Tom nodded, and the two of them abandoned the car and sprinted away down the street. "Stop!" Ryan hissed, grabbing Tom's jacket. They peered around the corner, just in time to see three people jump through a wall. The policeman who had been chasing them stopped and swore loudly. He turned and made to walk back to his car.

"Right, I think it's safe," Tom said, stepping out from the shadows and creeping around the corner. Ryan followed slowly.

"Stop," came a voice. Tom found himself face to face with the policeman who had been chasing the kids through the wall. He was holding a gun. "Did you see those kids?" he asked.

Tom shook his head. He began backing away.

The policeman seemed to be thinking about something, but evidently he reached a conclusion as he raised the gun and pointed it at Tom's head. "I'm sorry, but I don't actually believe you." There was a pause, less than a heartbeat, when Ryan felt he could feel the whole world revolving. The policeman fired.

It was instinct again, Ryan thought as he felt his power swelling inside him. In the blink of an eye, he found himself sprawled on the pavement outside the community centre. The sky had grown darker and the streetlights had turned on. He didn't know when exactly he was, but he'd not travelled more than a few hours forwards or backwards at a time before so he assumed he'd only travelled to later that evening. He heard some sort of fight going on in the community centre, and moments later the doors opened and five people of about his own age burst out. One, with curly hair and an Irish accent, was talking loudly about not superpowers.

Ryan recognised the car as the same one that Liam had been driving earlier. It didn't stop this time either. The boy glanced off of the bonnet and rolled onto the ground. The others, apparently not particularly fazed by this, picked his body up and began running away with it. It would have been somewhat comical, were it not for the trail of still-warm blood which they left behind them. Ryan was intrigued. He followed them.

Follow the trail of blood, he thought. It's not exactly a yellow brick road.

Nathan awoke, spluttering and wincing, about fifteen minutes later. The others laid him down on the pavement and waited for him to get his breath back. "Right, what happened? How did I die? What's going on?"

"You were hit by a car," Curtis said. "The same one that killed Isaac."

Simon helped Nathan to his feet. "I've been thinking about something Cooper said. About wanting to take our powers."

"Well, he was clearly mental," Nathan pointed out, "I wouldn't take his word for it."

"But he could close the door telekinetically. And he knew we killed those probation workers." Simon replied, frowning.

"You killed one, and Kelly killed the other. I think I'm in the clear this time."

"My point is, he must have got those powers from somewhere. And he thought he would be capable of taking our powers off us as well, which means…"

"The dealer!" Kelly exclaimed, "who we got our powers off! He must have got my old power, that's how he read our minds!"

"It's a possibility," Simon said.

They reached Seth's shop a few minutes later to find the door slightly ajar. Curtis pushed it open and they walked in, looking around in case the bodyguard was anywhere around. They walked through to the room where Seth had previously been dealing the powers, but it was empty. All of the lockers that lined the room were either emptied or had been broken into. There was a newspaper clipping on the table, which Alisha picked up.

LOCAL MAN ARRESTED IN DRUGS BUST

A local man, Seth Greene, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of dealing illegal substances. Arresting officer Richard Cooper said at the press conference, "this is only the beginning of a new era of crime prevention." Reports that Mr Greene had in fact been dealing superhuman abilities have been dismissed by the police as "far-fetched".

Alisha turned to Simon, her face ashen. "This is it, isn't it? This is how it ends."

Simon couldn't think of anything to reassure her. How could he?

"Yes," he said quietly, "yes, I think it might be."