[A young hawk, an unfledged nestling taken from the nest for training.]

(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ

I was thoughtful as we put the chairs and table away, Elle's hand in mine as I carried the game box back to the cabinet. And after, I stood with Elle's hand in mine, but my mind was far away.

"Heather, a moment." Doctor Ferris said, and Heather stayed after. I guessed it was to talk about next week's meeting. I hoped Doctor Ferris let Heather pick something a little more physical. She didn't have to act the way she did, but... She really was miserable and bored. Nick hovered, a pace away, indecisive.

By the door Mimi was fidgeting, cornered by Kalie and Gretchen, with Maria standing silently in tow. Mimi was nervous, but... Not anxious any more, not poised to jump out of her own skin. Yes!

"We totally ought to hang out more." Gretchen said.

Mimi hunched her shoulders, looking for an escape, but it was just habit. I could feel it, she was surprised and pleased, and confused. Her power vibrated only mildly and distantly.

"I-I don't know," she mumbled.

"Come on, I can't be burned." Gretchen laughed, "It'll be fun!"

I wondered when was the last time Mimi had a friend she couldn't hurt. I hesitated, a moment of shyness before I sized the idea I knew had to happen.

"Hey Gretchen!" I said, stepping in, smiling and trying to hide how awkward it made me feel. Like I'd grown an extra leg and it left me hobbling every step.

"Ah, hey! Taylor, right?" Gretchen beamed, "It's going to be a little weird trying to keep everyone's names straight now."

"I wouldn't mind if it's just Taylor, everywhere. I don't really see the point in having two names. I never was a cape." Mimi let out a quiet sigh of relief as attention diverted from her, "Mimi, Elle, and I were all headed over to Doctor Widmark's. We're putting on a play, Mimi and Elle are going to be in it. Probably Nick and Heather too. You interested?"

Kalie grinned, "Cool, want to check it out?"

Gretchen glanced at Kalie, who gave her an encouraging nod, then at Maria, "Eh, whatever, sure."

"Sweet." Kalie said, "Come on Maria, let's check it out."

Kalie reached out and snagged Maria's arm and Maria serenely allowed herself to be led. Kalie was out in front, Maria along with her. I led Elle, her hand in mine. I touched on them as we walked, pushing out into the floor plan, experimenting. My senses expanded and wandered to the rooms around us, my mental framework of the floor plan. Doctor Widmark was the patient activities director, and his office was just down the hallway.

My probing touched on several familarities inside and... A negative space, I missed a step. All across my arms, the small hairs stood on end

"Mantellum?"

"Hm?" Kalie slowed. Everyone stopped.

"Um. I can sense some of the capes at Doctor Widmark's." I said, picking out motes of familiarity, little lights to the dimmer background, "I've met them before. Monster capes, Quilt, Frog, Prowler... Inkling."

"Not happy customers." Gretchen supplied.

Kalie shrugged, "Let's go say hi."

We reached the door to Doctor Widmark's office. There was a piece of paper taped to it, 'Itinerary meeting, come in!'.

Kalie pushed open the door. Doctor Widmark's office was dominated by a large whiteboard that took up one entire wall. Two others had bookshelves. His desk was tucked apologetically into one corner, almost hidden by folders and books. Many of which dealt is subjects like 'Drama Therapy', and every variant of creative therapy crowded the shelves and most level suraces.

The center of the room was taken by a wide fan of folding chairs. About half of which were already occupied. Quilt, Frog, and Oilbloom looked up when the door opened.

Inkling was seated in the furthest corner, staring at her feet. She didn't look up.

On the other end of the room, by the whiteboard, Prowler and Doctor Widmark talked; framed in blocky words 'FALL ACTIVITIES ITINERARY'. Doctor Widmark himself was a narrow, wiry man with brown hair and a widow's peak just beginning to bald. His eyes were sharp, and his face dominated by a roman nose, combined with his slightly hunched posture reminded me vaguely of a large predatory bird. Which was ironic, as he was very softspoken, warm, and gently inquisitive.

"Ah Welcome!" He said, waving the new arrivals over, "Have a seat, have a seat. We're almost ready to start. We're still missing a couple heads, might as well wait. We have a few minutes."

Without missing a step Kalie dove in, she led and spearheaded the group. Everyone was pulled along in her orbit as she made a beeline for Quilt. Gretchen was right behind her.

"Hi!" Kalie grinned, right there, offering her hand. Quilt seemed a little taken aback. After a moment of hesitation, Quilt reached out and took her hand; stiffened, just a hair, when she felt the points of Kalie's claws gently press against her wrist. I knew the feeling.

"Oh, um." I took a step forward, "This is Quilt, Oilbloom, Inkling, Frog, Prowler..."

"I'm Kalie. Feral, whichever. Good to meet you!"

"Uh. You too?"

Gretchen popped her head right through Kalie's chest, starling a yelp from Quilt. Kalie sighed, "This is Tulpa."

Quilt nodded once, slowly, "Hello Gretchen. We've met."

"You have?" Kalie glanced at Gretchen, askance. I knew that look. Mom used it on me once or twice. Gretchen gave her a sheepish smile.

"We bonded over Peat and Fen's show."

Someone snorted. Quilt looked and felt a cross between flattered and embarrassed.

"We watched a Peat and Fen video!" Getchen said, "It was great, they lifted a ranger's jeep outta a ditch. We oughtta all watch their show together."

"...Peat and Fen?" I interjected.

"They're two case fifty-threes, like us." Oilbloom said, "They travel all over the United States, they've got all kinds of blogs and fanclubs following them."

"They're awesome and get to go everywhere like wandering demon samurai!" Gretchen was bouncing on a chair now, I watched to reach out and steady her. But of course, she couldn't tip over the chair if she tried.

"They've done interviews and they talk about where they've gone and who they've seen, sometimes where they're going. They show up in the news. Junior stuff, mostly. All of it pretty heroic."

"There haven't been any sightings in a few weeks though." Quilt said, "Some of us are getting really worried."

"Where are they now?"

"They were moving through Arizona."

"There was a post on the fansite, there's going to be a live stream tomorrow. We should totally get together and watch it"

Out of the corner of my eye the door opened, admitting Nick and Heather. "Still waiting for one! Make yourselves comfortable."

Heather immediately joined us, trailing Nick in her wake. I could feel her mood, much improved after talking to Doctor Ferris. I took that as a good sign.

"What's up?"

"Peat and Fen." Oilbloom said.

"...Case fifty-three?" I asked meekly. It sounded familiar, like I'd seen in in passing, but I was drawing a blank.

Everyone turned and stared at me, and I was uncomfortably reminded of school, when a teacher called someone up in front of the class and they didn't know the answer to a question. I squirmed a little under the scrutiny.

"It's, like, monster capes." Gretchen said.

Kalie glared at her, and tried to swat the back of her head. Naturally, it her hand passed right through. Gretchen blinked and looked up at Kalie innocently.

"No." Quilt frowned, glaring at Gretchen.

"It's what the PRT calls us; capes with major mutations, like ours." Oilbloom explained.

I was... Senseing something complicated in there. She was guarded, wasn't telling us everything. I could feel the anxiety radiating off of Quilt.

"All right!" There was a clap, and evry eye turned towards Doctor Widmark. He was done talking to Prowler, and stepped towards the chairs. "Glad you could make it, Marionette."

I looked for the diminutive girl, and only just caught a glimpse of Marionette daintily weaving through the chairs at knee height. Prowler was moving to sit.

It looked like we were ready to start.

Trusting Kalie to run herd on Heather, I steered Elle towards a gap, next to Quilt and Oilbloom. Elle was sitting next to the girls, and on the other side, I was sitting next to Mantellum.

My head was starting to hurt a little. Bleed over from all the different personalities I was reading off of, or Heather. Everyone had their meds hours ago, it shouldn't be that. But I could feel their presence in my power, bright and strong, I'd attuned to them so deeply by now. It felt like they were throwing shadows in my head. Especially Mimi and Elle.

There was another brief round of introductions. We didn't make long introductions for ourselves, or talk about powers, or where we came from. Doctor Widmark simply pointed out who he had been working with before, and who was new. Quilt, Frog, Prowler, and Inkling were all previous attendees. All of them from Lizard Prince's circle. But also Gretchen, and Kalie had worked with the committee before as well, I was completely unsurprised.

Heather, incidentally, had worked with the Summer Activities Committee and actually gotten kicked out, which prompted a raised eyebrow and a pointed look from me. Heather supplied the information herself, which drew an exasperated sigh from Doctor Widmark.

He went on to talk about a couple points. Activities for the holidays, smaller weekly events, clubs and elective therapies. Most I hadn't known about. Apparently there was a Thanksgiving dinner event that was a big deal, Protectorate heroes came in to visit and everything. The most immediate event, the big point, and the point that had Elle bouncing in her seat, was that we were going to pick a play.

It wasn't a huge deal. Heather was right in comparing it to a school play, I think. But that didn't need to b a bad thing. Small steps contributing to a great distance didn't need to be impressive. Not at first. It just needed to get done.

Nick fidgeted, anxious and indecisive.

I tried to stay focused on Doctor Widmark, but found my mind wandering. Everyone felt like... Like embers in a fire, I could feel the heat off them. Except it was anxiety and fear and doubts, and nervous energy I couldn't get rid of. It had my knee bouncing. Where I sat. I still felt... Happy? Not down, it was uncomfortable but Elle was full of childlike joy, it bled off into me a little.

The others were... They weren't doing badly. My skillful maneuvering meant that Mimi had been forced to sit with Kalie and Gretchen, and Kalie was including her. Quilt was on her other side, talking with Nick and Oilbloom and... I missed Marionette at first, she was perched on one of the bookshelves apart from the group. My power still didn't work on her right. Come to think of it, my power didn't work on a lot of people in Alchemilla. There was Marionette. Charnel, Maria, whichever. I couldn't sense her real well. Like Marionette. Mantellum. It was frustrating

I pushed out a bit, touching each of them again, then the ones I could feel-

Heather was- a firework.

I was feeling more awake than I had ever thought possible. Energy poured into me from a bottomless well, filling me. It was like the first time I'd ever tried coffee, everything felt lighter. Dad had been a jerk, he'd let me try his espresso. It was like this but better, not bitter, and so clear. I felt like I could do anything! See everything. I should be running! Or hang-gliding! Or swimming! Or-

What just happened?

I swayed a little- that... What? I was dizzy. Dizzy. Who- I was holding Elle's hand, I focused on-

Time felt sluggish. Everything was muted and quiet, I felt like I was watching everyone from far away. Suddenly everyone had moved. How odd. But I... I felt great. My mind was thinking much faster. I wished I'd felt like this back in the hospital. Then I wouldn't have needed to come here after... After the accident... Cars... I wouldn't have needed to be here for two years-

I... I... I hadn't been here two years. What was Mimi saying, she was touching my shoulder. 'Are you alright?' What kind of made-up language was that? Why didn't she just-

No.

No, stop that.

It hurt, pulling in, tamping down and smothering what my power was feeding me. Chaining it back until it was something ignorable again. Just a distant conversation I didn't want to listen to. It wasn't supposed to hurt, was it?

My head was pounding, the lights were too bright and the world too loud. I was again reminded of when dad had given me my first taste of coffee, but this was the headache afterwards.

What was that?

"Are you all right?"

I opened my eyes and blinked up at Mimi. I was confused for a moment. Her face swam, everything was distorted. At first I didn't recognize her.

What was that? It had felt... I had felt like the first time I'd read off Mimi, the first time when she'd been on her meds, but worse. So much worse.

"I... I'll be fine, Mimi." I mumbled. I tilted my head, looking across the chairs. Everyone was standing. Heather was already gone, she wouldn't have stuck around somewhere boring. Nick had probably gone with her. Kalie, Gretchen, and Maria were talking with Oilbloom, Quilt, and Doctor Widmark. I didn't see Marionette.

How much time did I lose?

"Are you sure you are all right?" Mimi asked, "You haven't said anything for almost an hour. You just... Sat there holding Elle's hand."

Just- an hour? How? I glanced down. I wasn't holding Elle's hand now, I'd let go of it at some point.

"All right- let's..." I tried to stand. It was slower than it should have been. "Mimi, can you take Elle?"

(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ

We headed to the sunroom. I felt exhausted, like I needed a nap. But also energized, like I'd drank a gallon of caffeine. Everything felt wrong, but my mind was buzzing with questions. My power had never done anything like that before, and it shook me, shook me more than I could articulate with words. It was like waking up one day and suddenly breathing required my undivided attention.

All wrong.

Mimi led Elle. I could feel worry, anxiety from both of them. I tried to stamp it out, bury it; it reminded me of my own, and made it worse. I could hardly think.

Silence.

I sat down, eyes closed, head throbbing. Mimi's anxiety and Elle's worry pounding and echoing inside my skull.

And then, just like that, it was gone. It felt cool, like I had held my face to a furnace, and now the heat was gone and my skin felt cool where it had been feverish. I breathed out in a sigh, grateful.

"Mimi?"

"Yes?"

"Could you take Elle and..." I fumbled for an excuse, "Get me a glass of water? I just need a second, I'll be fine."

I heard them go, then opened my eyes and looked up.

Mantellum. He was sitting at one of the wall couches, reading a book. I watched him furtively, out of the corner of my eye. I'd talked to him before, but I took him in with new eyes was kind of skinny. His hood was draped flat around his shoulders, and his arms were folded on his lap. He reached out and turned a page, looked up and caught me watching.

I looked away quickly. Then I felt bad about looking away, what was I afraid of? I screwed up my courage and stood, walking over to him.

"Hey."

Mantellum looked up again, his hands shifting on his lap, "'lo."

He was almost hairless, with only a sharp tuft at the top of his head, like a mohawk. He didn't even have eyebrows or eyelashes. That, with the scales and the hood, I expected his eyes to be yellow and narrow like a snake's, instead they were a surprisingly human brown.

"You all right?"

"Yeah." I blinked at the sudden question.

"Did it help?"

"What?"

"Your power was, I dunno, it was reaching out and pinging everything." He pointed with both hands under the back of his book, "I tried quieting it down, did it help?"

"You can sense powers?"

"Just powers that I block." He said. He set the book down and leaned forward on his elbows, on his knees. "I felt yours back there, you know. Back at Widmark's, you were doing something weird. So, you feeling all right now?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

My headache was gone, like I'd never had it. Everything was clearer. He'd called it 'quieting', and it did feel quieter. The sensation of distant conversations was gone, absent. Muted.

It still reminded me of the Masked Man, but I was too relived to care.

I gingerly settled on the next sofa over, sitting on my hands and trying to feel as casual as I hoped it looked and I thought about the stillness and how it meshed with what I knew of his power.

I'd only felt something like it the once, but I'd been burned and half-delirious at the time. "This is just one field, right?"

"Yeah." Mantellum leaned back, "You want me to stop?"

"...I'd rather you didn't." I said at last, "My power can get really oppressive, sometimes. I had a lot of trouble controlling it, tuning out stuff. I think... I think I was just feeling overwhelmed. I wouldn't mind doing without it for a few minutes." It became a question, and I glanced at Mantelum.

"Sure, no problem." He leaned forward and picked up his book, and reached up to scratch at the edge of his fringe with one finger.

His fingers ended in claws, like Feral's, like Kalie's. The skin around his one patch of hair was mottled yellow, like his belly and arms. The back of his neck was darker, the scales denser, thicker, and larger.

"You look curious." He said after a moment, after I'd let the silence stretch a little too long, "You can look, if you want, I don't mind. You are allowed."

"Um..." I scrambled. In moments like this, I cursed my awkwardness genes. I'd inherited Mom's hair and Dad's awkwardness. "I guess you get that a lot?"

"What? Curiosity, or Thinkers trying to use their powers on me?" He smiled. His teeth were unnervingly pointed, and I still couldn't detect any emotion from him... But maybe that was humor? He joked about it?

Maybe the joke made it easier, but I unclenched a little inside. I smiled back, "Either? Uh, both?"

His tail stirred, re-coiling around his ankles, "Either. And both." He echoed, "It's not too bad. Some of us have it real bad. At least my powers are, uh... Unobtrusive? And powers don't work on me, so that's made some stuff a lot easier."

"Powers don't... You mean in general?"

"Yeah. I count as one of my fields, or something. So nothing works on me directly." He shrugged before smiling again.

He smiled again, the pointed-teeth thing was fading a bit, smiling back felt more natural.

There was the sound of briskly moving feet, and I looked up to find a nurse walking in, hard on the heels of a very frazzled Mimi. Elle walked behind her, one hand in Mimi's and gamely keeping pace. In Mimi's free hand was clutched a plastic cup of water.

"Taylor, I told the nurse you weren't feeling well, and asked if you could have some tylenol, but she said she would need to be present when you take it!" Mimi stopped and handed me the cup in her hands, "I got your water!" She held it out.

"Thank you Mimi." Her face was pinched in worry. I wondered how long she had been trying to talk to me, back in Doctor Widmark's office. My head felt fine now, but I wasn't sure what would happen when Mantellum pulled back his power.

"Drink it slowly honey," the nurse said, this one was a redheaded woman in her thirties, "Is it your time of the month?"

"No, I think it was a Thinker power thing. I just got overwhelmed." Over the nurse's shoulder I caught sight of Mantellum slipping out to the cafeteria. How was he so quiet?

Slowly, the feeling of stillness began to fade. "I... I'm feeling a lot better, but better safe than sorry." Mantellum turned and gave me a wink, and I wasn't sure...

But it felt a little like a few private moments I'd shared with Emma, like we shared a secret.

"I've been having headaches, I think it might be a power thing." I said.

"Well, drink your water. We'll take you up to talk to one of the doctors. Okay honey?"

(•͈⌔•͈ ﾂ

Doctor Fox wanted to run some tests, and afterwards asked me questions. A lot of questions. Mostly about if I'd ever had episodes like it before, and if I remembered having headaches before I gained my powers and if it had changed at all. He stopped to consult notes twice.

It... It wasn't like with Doctor Yamada or Doctor Selmy. It reminded me of a few other times, times I'd worked with Doctor Werneck and thought he'd been unfeeling. Clinical.

I knew it wasn't that simple. Werneck wasn't bad. And, I had felt Doctor Fox before, felt him emphatic and understanding. Felt him helping myself, and others. Not everyone could be sympathetic or show compassion all the time. And... It was a job for him.

He got up and talked to a nurse regarding meds. I didn't take any, but he asked her to get him my full file, and then file a request with records for files on similar powers for review. Neither of them looked at me. It wasn't horrible or anything. But it was still impersonal, still left me feeling exposed and a little humiliated.

I turned in early that night. Mimi and Elle were understanding, and Kalie promised to watch out for them until curfew. I was glad, I didn't want them cutting back on socializing just because I was having a rough patch myself.

...Kalie wasn't always going to be here. I... I needed someone else to work with them if I was incapacitated again.

I sat in front of my computer, thinking about that. Nick had his hands full with Heather. On a bad day she was as much a handful as Mimi could be, in her own way. Gretchen, maybe? Mimi couldn't hurt Gretchen.

I shook my head, and reached for my keyboard.

Case fifty-three, case fifty-three... Maybe they were impact mutations, from the craters?

Case fifty-three' was a term derived from a PRT case file, and a string of related cases. Capes with prominent physical mutations and- this was the point that tied them all together -no memories. They had no pasts prior to having powers. There was a long, long list of confirmed and probable cases dating back over two decades.

I found a paper on the phenomenon by a PRT analyst- there were other commonalities. They tended to have physical powers, not mental ones. Nearly all of them had at least minimal Brute powers, but in general they tended to be fairly weak.

None of them were big names but they did tend to be noticeable, and cape watchers and the media tended to follow their careers more easily than conventional capes. Weld, he was in the Boston Wards, a shape-shifter made of metal. His page showed a chiseled face and a physique like a Greek sculpture.

There was no clear demographic. Many were young, children. I found a page for what were probably Peat and Fen. They looked like pre-teens, but there were also clear adults, and in one case the oldest parahuman on record. Old Man Of The Mountain.

By that point, my neck was starting to seize up. I leaned back and stretched.

It was a mystery, but more of a curiosity than anything else, I thought.

I lay back on bed, and grabbed a book. Insurance against boredom for later in the evening. The internet was a wellspring of anything needed to sate my curiosity, but my neck just couldn't take that for eight hours.

But I didn't read.

A quick glance around my room and a steadying breath to gather my thoughts by.

The rest of the day had passed uneventfully, but the suspicion had gnawed at me, worried in the back of my mind. The buzzing headache and my missing time. Why had that happened? I'd never felt anything like that before.

If it had followed medication, I would have known what to blame it on. But I had reported what had happened last time, and I thought I had avoided a repeat of the medication incident.

What if it was something else? How would my power have to interact to produce that effect? What similar powers were there, what similar mechanics? Mimi's power was unstable, she had barely any control of it. It effected her emotionally and mentality, effected her brain chemistry. What if my power was like that? Nothing like that had been found in testing, before, when I arrived.

But, I hadn't exactly wanted to use my power a lot, not back then. Did it react to me, my mentality, or my circumstances in some subtle way I hadn't detected before?

Regardless, it was a bad, bad sign that Mantellum cutting me off had stopped it, that I had needed it to be quieted that way. And it left me shaken.

The unease didn't leave me over the night, and in the morning, breakfast found me still unsatisfied and anxious