AN: I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter took. Work has been really rough this past month, and I haven't had the time to sit down and write anything. The chapters will probably be released at an inconsistent rate for the time being, but I'll try my very best for everyone reading. This chapter might not be the best I've put out, but luckily it's not the most important part of the plot. I really pushed this chapter for Christmas, and look at that, I managed to get it finished on Christmas Eve.

That said, I hope everyone has/had a happy holidays!


Ever since she was a young girl, Tamesha had been lazy.

"Tammy! Can you help me with the groceries?" she heard from the other room in their apartment.

Slouching on the living room couch, the pre-teen groaned and slowly picked herself up. She left the book she was reading on the couch and slugged her way to the front door, where her mom called her. After trying her hardest to help her sole parent, wearing a lot of jewelry, she felt like she would collapse.

At school, she would do the bare minimum in class and do nothing at recess. While all the other kids would be running around, chasing each other and laughing, she would sit against the school's brick wall, reading by her lonesome. Traveling from one part of the school to another nearly killed her. After every bell, the teacher was forced to encourage her to get out of her seat. Things would have been way worse if there wasn't a bus home.

Even with the little friends she gained, she would lose them quickly due to her laziness. They'd call her out to play or eat, and she'd be unwilling to walk to the front door to greet them. Her mother chided her so many times that she quickly lost count.

But if there was one thing her laziness couldn't fight off, it was her love for reading. She didn't have to pay attention to all the details on a big screen or rewind if she missed something. She could read at her own pace, just herself, paper, and words. All she had to do was turn the page; if the book was any good, that wasn't an issue.

She read countless titles, and even the mediocre ones were no match for her. The only problem she found was starting them. Her mother would find her a couple of new books, but she couldn't find it in herself to pick them up and start reading, quite literally.

One day, she was lying on her bed. She stared at one of the new novels sitting on the other side of the room. The girl could swear the book was staring back at her, daring her to pick it up. She stretched an arm towards it, shutting her eyes and groaning. Nothing happened for a moment when suddenly, she felt something in her hand. Opening her eyes, it was the novel.

Having no idea what had just happened, she stared at the book in shock.

Looking at another object in her room, her TV remote, she outstretched an arm and waited. At first, nothing happened, but then she noticed the remote shift ever so slightly.

Ever since that day, she trained her powers to combat her laziness. Over time, she got better at this new ability. Once her mother found out almost a week later, she took her to a professional to find out what was happening. She and her mother went from a doctor to a Power Specialist, who told them she developed this ability by chance, using her energy.

Some of her classmates thought her powers were cool at school, while others made fun of her, and the rest were put off by it. Her mother didn't know what to make of it at first, but her powers quickly became normalized in their apartment.

As the years went by, she got better with her telekinesis. It reached the point where it was second nature, and she could even lift things heavier than herself, and she didn't need to concentrate on keeping things in the air.

One normal day, while walking along the street, some yelling was heard in the distance.

There were many construction workers, and a large wall was crumbling down. The workers looked shocked, telling everyone that an accident was on the horizon.

Part of the wall came tumbling down and was about to land on one of the construction workers. The worker shielded himself with his arms, but to his surprise, the wall levitated above him like a balloon before being dropped down next to him. Looking over, he noticed the young lady with her arms up and had some idea of what had just happened.

"Kean! Are you alright?!" An older man yelled, running up to them.

"I'm fine dad," The man replied.

The older man came up to them and looked over at Tamesha. "I saw what you did. You saved us a lot of trouble."

This was the day Tamesha met Kean Standing.

The young Kean was still one of the regular workers, but his father, who was also his boss, saw the whole thing and immediately saw potential with Tamesha.

The young woman had just graduated from grade school, and luckily for her, this incident landed her a job.

For years she saved the workers hours of work, and eventually, the technology became advanced enough that they didn't need her as often on-site. So nowadays, she was the first assistant to the promoted Kean Standing of Standing Industries. His most trusted partner.


Lincoln rushed forward, dodging past some novels.

Tamesha clapped her hands together, using a bunch of books to make a wall between them.

The boy kept sprinting forward and smashed through the wall of books using his shoulder.

With him closing the distance, Tamesha tried to grab him with her powers, but to her shock, he was powering through it like a ravaged animal.

Taking out his taser, Lincoln tried to jab her with it. Unfortunately, she was quick to levitate some books over to block it. Quickly after that, Tamesha used a wave of books to knock him away.

Using this chance, she looked towards the telephone, about to pick it up with her telekinesis and attempt to call Kean. The phone was in her powers for a mere second before it was blasted by some white energy, completely destroyed.

She frowned, looking over at Lincoln, who had a pointed finger with smoke at the tip. What she focused on more was the cheeky grin he wore.

Books began to whirl around her constantly. "You'll find I'm not the most fun to play with, boy."

"I'll take my chances," Lincoln said with a smirk.

Charging forward, the boy stepped left and right to dodge a couple swarms of books before jumping up. Using the ceiling of the room, he pounced down with great speed.

The books that whirled around the woman acted as a barrier. Even so, Lincoln flew forward towards it, intending to break through.

To his surprise, Tamesha pushed that whirlwind of books forward. The tornado of hardcovers changed into a giant flock and rammed into him, knocking him back to the other side of the room.

Wasting no time, Lincoln sprinted out of his crash landing and rushed towards Tamesha once more. This time, when he was halfway to her, he made a sudden turn and jumped to the wall, before jumping off that and to the ceiling, then kicking himself back to the floor.

Tamesha watched in shock as he sped the process, jumping from wall to wall, from ceiling to floor. His attempt of trying to catch her off guard was almost working. Unfortunately for him, she always had a keen eye.

Lincoln jumped from the wall on Tamesha's left and engaged.

Unfazed, Tamesha reacted accordingly and waved her arms forward, bringing up a wall of books.

Lincoln's taser jab was blocked again, and a flurry of books knocked him back. However, that time was different, as the force of his blow pushed Tamesha back just one inch. Even then, that was some progress.

He smiled. Now he was getting somewhere. He simply had to continue keeping the pressure. This woman may be old, but she wasn't to be underestimated.

He did the same as before once he was firmly back on his feet, jumping up to the ceiling and walls, trying to confuse Tamesha. Every time he chose to strike, Tamesha could barely block and push him back. This pattern continued, and Lincoln and Tamesha were being pushed further away from the center of the room, making the room seem bigger than it was.

Lincoln thought he was doing fine until a book sidelined him from his blind spot, catching him off guard. He managed to block it with one of his taser batons, but it was such a last-second awkward block that the taser was knocked out of his hand. The weapon dropped to the floor and rolled a bit.

Before he could run up and grab it, Tamesha used her powers to bring it to her.

"Dang it," Lincoln said under his breath, rushing forth once more. He used his tactic of using the small room again, jumping everywhere he could get leverage so the woman couldn't anticipate his attack.

The pattern of engaging and being pushed back was getting really stale quickly. Lincoln wished he had something sharp on him to cut through the books, the single dull taser not doing much to them.

After being thrown back for the umpteenth time, he decided to try something different. He jumped from the wall to the ceiling before dashing towards her. But instead of trying straight for her, he skidded to a half before circling her, dodging a swarm of books.

Jumping up into the air, he lifted a finger, a bright white ball of energy conjured at the tip of it. He charged this ball of energy until it was the size of his head, then flicked it forward, shouting,

"Meteor Impact!"

Tamesha gritted her teeth, using a wall of books to take the hit. She was forced from her levitated state back down to the floor to support herself using a low center of gravity. It seemed like she was successfully able to hold Lincoln's attack, but then she heard him shout once more.

"Meteor Impact!"

A second ball of energy dropped on top of the first one, overpowering her wall of books and not stopping. She fell on her behind and gasped, unable to do anything but stare at the incoming lethal attack. She knew full well she couldn't survive this amount of powerful energy.

But before she was hit with the meteors, a snap was heard and the energy dissipated into harmless sparkles which floated in the air.

Lincoln charged through the sparkles with a taser in his grip. Tackling her to the ground, he tried to jab her in the neck.

In the last second, Tamesha grabbed the taser with her telekinesis, using her right hand, and pushed back. With the two of them pushing against each other, the taser seemed to be unmoving, but Lincoln was slowly gaining the edge, inching the active taser ever so slowly.

Using her other hand, she pushed Lincoln towards the wall and picked herself up, throwing a bunch of books at him.

Lincoln one-handed his taser and batted them away before firing a beam at her with his free hand.

The woman brought a load of books in front of her, making another wall and blocking the attack.

The explosion caused a small cloud that stayed for a couple of seconds and surrounded Tamesha. Even with such a short timeframe, Lincoln used this window to dash forward and jab through her blind spot.

Tamesha saw through this, however, and hopped to the side just in time.

Lincoln stopped himself before he crashed into the wall. He gasped, realizing something.

Tamesha puffed out, looking towards the boy with a frown. This was the most she had moved in her entire life. Even that one hop just then was something rare for her to perform. She nearly grinned when Lincoln turned to her with a shocked expression. It seems the young man realized that it was pointless to continue this. He looked too stunned to move.

"Now then." Tamesha stood up straight, not bothering to dust off her suit. "Tell me what you're doing in here."

Lincoln bent his arm close to him and pointed at her. "I get it now," he said in a calm voice.

Tamesha blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You were forced to dodge when you were in that cloud of smoke. Before when you dodged my attacks, you were able to use your ability to fly out of it or block it with your books. But once your vision was blocked from everything, you didn't lift yourself, or a single book. It wouldn't make sense for you to do that, unless…"

"You can only move what you can see."

Lincoln raised his pointed finger above Tamesha's head. He fired a single beam that hit the ceiling above, making debris rain down around the astonished woman, who held her arms up high. She easily caught and pushed the debris in her telekinesis, but it was impossible for her to grab all the dust that rained down on her. At that moment, she lost sight of Lincoln, and before finding anything to defend herself with, she felt something touch her back, followed by a big shock.

Lincoln sighed. Now that he knew how her powers worked, this was too easy and boring.


Shade pushed the button, and the EMP stuck to the ceiling.

Hanging upside down with her legs locked to one of the bars up here, she looked down at Mikey, who was keeping watch.

"We're good!" She said, giving him a thumbs up.

He looked up and gave her one back.

Flipping herself upright, she hopped down from the high ceiling, passing many computer systems on her way down.

"You felt that too, right?" Shade asked, landing next to the boy.

"Yeah." Mikey nodded. "It was faint, but I felt some powerful energy. Must be Lincoln."

"Let's head to the rendezvous point. If he doesn't meet us there soon we'll have to do the rest on our own." She said, starting to walk forward.

Mikey followed her. He was bored and wished he was the one to be thrown into a fight instead. However, the boy knew a chance to fight someone decent would arise sooner or later. He just had to be patient.


Lincoln laid her unconscious body on the ground softly. He was moments from carrying Tamesha behind the desk to keep it hidden until she woke up, but the door to the office room opened. The white-haired boy looked over and was shocked to see none other than Kenner standing in the doorway.

Kenner stared back at him, mouth slightly agape. His eyes moved between Lincoln and Tamesha's unmoving body before he grit his teeth and glared at Lincoln.

Lincoln stood up, raising his hands in the air. "Look, Kenner, I can explain-"

"What are you doing?" He asked, clenching his fists.

"Kenner, just trust me on this."

The young man narrowed his eyes at Lincoln, nodding his head towards the body. "And for what reason did you need to do all of that for?"

"She's fine," Lincoln reassured. "She'll wake up in about twelve hours, just… please… I'm trying to help fix this city, Kenner. I'm not sure if you noticed, but there are a lot of people suffering. I know it probably doesn't make sense, but once this is all over I'll explain everything. Right now I don't have the time."

Kenner stared into Lincoln's soul for a moment, his eyes wavered, and he relaxed his fists. "I know you're a good kid, Lincoln. Don't make me regret this." He nodded his head to the doorway, signaling him to take his chance and leave.

Lincoln nodded at him, walking over and passing him, leaving the office room.

"And if I find out you're doing this for bad reasons, I'll be sure to find you."

"Thanks—" Lincoln stopped, turning to him. "—Kenner."


Outside in the city, Mikey and Shade were at a shoreline on some large rocks. They decided to wait ten minutes. If Lincoln didn't show up, they'd continue without him.

After six minutes of waiting, they heard Lincoln on the comms.

"Guys?! I'm on my way."

"Was that Tamesha? Did you take care of her?" Shade asked.

"She's out cold."

"Good. How far are you?"

"I'll be there in two."

Shade nodded. "Roger."

Lincoln ran through the dark city, his black gear assisting his stealth. He reached them thirty seconds sooner than he promised.

Shade put her hands on her hips, frowning at Lincoln. "You'd better hope no one else sensed your energy."

"Sorry," Lincoln replied sheepishly. "Tamesha saw my white hair." He brushed his hair. "Sticks out in the dark I guess."

"Tamesha's always been surprisingly keen—always had a good eye," Shade said with a sigh. "So I can't completely blame you. It was just unlucky."

A pang hit Lincoln's chest, but he ignored it.

Shade pointed down to a large sewer river. "Down there. There's a large pipe leading inside of Tate's Table, the main restaurant and headquarters owned by Leopold Tate. We'll swim through to sneak inside."

Mikey furrowed his brows a little. "Disgusting."

Lincoln grinned at his reaction. For him personally, this wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He's had plenty of experience with grossness.

"Not to worry," Shade said with a smile and a roll of her eyes. "That's what the diving gear is for." She pointed to said gear with a finger, which was in some crates.

"Still…" Mikey shivered, looking down at the dirty waters.

Lincoln patted his back. "Let's put on the diving gear."

They quickly changed, but even then, Mikey still wasn't completely satisfied as the gear didn't cover him head to toe. He didn't audibly complain, but Lincoln knew better.

"Come. Stay close behind me." Shade instructed, and she jumped from the rocks to dive into the sewer river.

Lincoln and Mikey begrudgingly jumped in after her and followed down deep through the dirty water.

Lincoln didn't over-exaggerate when he told Shade not to worry about him holding his breath. He couldn't remember the last time he struggled to hold it longer than ten minutes. Well, that was a lie, the last time was back on Earth, but that didn't count. He wouldn't call the water down here 'clear,' but with some energy helping his eyes, enough to not be detected, it was easy to see.

Together the three swam to the large pipe. Bars were blocking their entry point, so Shade brought out a torch to cut a hole for them to swim through. This made Lincoln wonder if all of their equipment were waterproof. Furthermore, if Shade didn't bring out the torch, he would have probably used his energy to cut through. Mikey would have done the same. Thankfully they didn't since anyone could have sensed their strong energy. As he thought more about it, he could have just used his strength if anything, but now he was overthinking it.

It only took Shade half a minute to cut a hole through the bars, and the three of them swam through the pipe.

Looking at the sewer system map on their smart bands, it looked like a chaotic maze. But thanks to that said map, it was easy to traverse through. They swam through, taking turns whenever needed until they were in the middle of one straight pipe where the water was only at their ankles. Up above, there was a long opening.

"Up there." Shade said, and she jumped up and started to climb using the walls for leverage, the other two following close behind.

As he got closer, Lincoln noticed some small holes at the top. Squinting his eyes, he realized they were under a manhole cover.

Once Shade was up there, she slowly lifted the manhole cover and moved it to the side so they could climb through. She exited first, followed by Lincoln.

Looking around, Lincoln noticed they were in the kitchen portion of the restaurant. More specifically, they stood where all of the sinks and washing machines were. A long row of sinks was lined up, with many dirty kitchen tools, eating utensils, and plates sitting on one side, and on the other side were more of them but squeaky clean. It was like someone was in the middle of cleaning them.

Suddenly, loud footsteps were heard from outside the room, and there was a doorway with a push door seemingly about to open.

Lincoln and Shade immediately took cover behind a sink, and a very familiar man walked in.

Willy smelled the room, having a suspicious look on his face. Walking around and eyeing every corner, his footsteps could be felt by the other two hidden roommates.

"I can smell ya, if you couldn't tell," he said aloud. "It also smells worse here than it already did a minute ago."

As he walked through the room, Lincoln and Shade carefully avoided him by moving at the right time.

Willy stopped once he came across the open grate on the floor. He paused, watching as the kid from the tournament climbed out of it, his entire body surrounded by his blue energy.

"Y-you?" Willy said with a raised brow.

"So filthy…" Mikey complained to himself, checking if any part of him was covered in sewer water. Thankfully, his hardened energy seemed to cover him perfectly. He turned to Willy and just now realized the large man was there. "Oh, hey."

"What are you doing here?" Willy asked. "Why were you in our sewer system?"

Mikey stared at him for a moment. He looked to his right, where Lincoln and Shade were out of Willy's vision, then caught himself and looked left to not reveal them to him. "I wanted something to eat," he eventually answered.

"Is that so?" A new voice said, one of a woman. The voice was familiar to him and Lincoln.

The door opened, and an adult woman wearing a chef's outfit walked in. She had her brown hair done in a large bun, wrapped in a hair net. She wore a warm, endearing smile.

Mikey loosened up a bit and walked closer to them to keep their attention on him.

"Because our sense of smell can't fool us," the woman continued. "Isn't that right, Mr. Ryser?"

"Yes, Sydney. I smell the other two as well."

Lincoln widened his eyes. "Sydney?" He thought. "That lady at the underground office from the tournament?"

Mikey stopped in his tracks.

"One smells familiar," Willy said, closing his eyes. "Very familiar."

"And the other one is a girl." Sydney nodded.

Mikey put on a flabbergasted look. "How can you tell that with just a smell?" He nearly yelled.

Sydney chuckled. "Her perfume is wonderful. A friend of mine purchased one the other day."

Shade widened her eyes, whispering to Lincoln. "I didn't have perfume on since yesterday!"

"Now then," Sydney started with her hands on her hips. "Come out and explain yourselves!"

Mikey smirked. "Go! Both of you!" he yelled at them. "I'll take these two on."

Lincoln and Shade looked at each other before nodding and sprinting off.

Their footsteps were heard retreating, and Mikey pulled out his scythe.

He was ready for a fight but then widened his eyes in realization and groaned, deactivating his weapon. Taking out his new device, he pressed a button, and it extended into a staff with a taser at one end.

"Aren't you going to try and chase them?" The boy asked the two.

"Does it look like we're the speedy types?" Willy replied.

Mikey chuckled. "Well at least that means more for me."