Nick whisked eggs in a bowl with milk and shredded cheddar, waiting for the pans on the stove to get hot. He had a six-burner stove, with all the burners on. Five pans were empty, waiting for the eggs. The sixth pan held a mix of tomato, red pepper and thin chicken slices, with a sprinkle of spices and herbs. 

Nick poured his properly whisked eggs into the waiting pans, making sure they all got the same amount. When the last drop was out, he took a spatula and flipped the omelettes. Next, he picked up a plate of sliced avocado and quickly layered slices on each omelette. He flicked the burners off, not wanting to burn anything, and used a spatula to put the chicken stuff on the omelettes. Emmy’s omelette got the surplus avocados and chicken stuff. Lastly he folded the omelettes in half and slid them onto plates. 

Beautiful. 

He picked up the plates, backing into the dining room. Emmy and Inez were already waiting at the table. As Nick slid the plates into place, Victor came down the stairs and took his seat. 

“Breakfast is served,” Nick announced, moving into his chair. 

As one, the team looked to the top of the stairs. Shawn wasn’t there. They waited a few seconds before giving up and turning back to breakfast. 

Emmy lifted the top part of her omelette with a fork and looked suspiciously at the stuff inside. Apparently she decided it wasn’t poisonous, and dug in. 

“Hot sauce?” Victor asked, chewing. 

“Which one?” Nick asked, getting up. 

Inez waved her fork at Nick. “The non-lethal green stuff.”

“Yeah,” Victor agreed. 

Nick stepped into the kitchen, debated returning with the lethal green stuff, and decided pissing Inez off at breakfast was a bad idea. He returned with the non-lethal hot sauce. 

“Thanks,” Victor said, taking the bottle. 

Nick sat back down, taking a bite. 

Emmy pushed away her empty plate. “So… How worried should we be about Shawn?”

Again, they looked to the top of the stairs. Still no Shawn. 

“He was awake at two in the morning,” Inez said. “I heard him pacing when I came down for water.”

Nick set his fork down. “We should be worried,” he said softly. 

“Do you really think…” Victor hesitated. “What he said, about Rhea and Catherine, do you believe him?”

“Shawn doesn’t lie,” Nick said coldly. “Not about stuff like that.”

“No, of course not,” Inez said quickly. “But… could he be wrong?”

Emmy glared at them. “My question still stands. Right, wrong, lying, not lying, whatever. He’s not ok. How worried should we be?”

Nick took a bite of his omelette, hardly noticing the taste. He’d met Shawn in college; they’d been assigned as roommates. They hadn’t always gotten along, and Shawn had been plenty stressed at times, but Nick had never seen him as rabidly upset as he’d been the night before. 

When Nick first found out about Shawn’s power he’d suggested forming a team. Shawn had refused, saying he didn’t want to relive a day trying and failing to keep someone alive. After college they’d parted ways, barely keeping touch until two years ago. 

Nick got fired from his job for causing a rapid expansion of superheated gas (he blamed the building owner for having improperly installed sprinklers which failed to stop the ensuing conflagration and massive structural damage/loss). Shawn wasn’t fired, but found the life of a data analyzer very dull. They’d met for lunch on a whim, and Shawn had very cautiously brought up the topic of forming a superhero team. Nick mentioned Shawn’s fear, but he’d brushed it off. He said with a good team it was nearly impossible for him to die more than once on any given failed mission. 

So… they’d gone for it. They’d had bad days. They’d had stressful days. They’d had plenty of conversations about whether the events of the day validated the cost of sending him back. Through it all, Shawn had remained calm. Shawn had always been stable, rational.

Nick hadn’t thought it possible for him to break down. At least, not like… that.

“We need help,” Nick decided. “Whatever’s going on, I don’t think we can fix it.”

“Who should we ask for help?” Victor asked. “I mean, normally Shawn is the one who fixes everything.”

Emmy crossed her arms. “We should be able to fix this ourselves.”

“How?” Nick asked.

“Prove Copper is trying to kill us,” Victor suggested.

“We can’t!” Nick snapped. “There weren’t any fingerprints on the card or the bomb. None of the cameras recorded anything. We have proof of absolutely nothing.”

Inez slowly pushed her plate away, setting her elbows on the table. “If they figured out how to kill us without leaving any proof…”

The rest of the team waited as she hesitated, staring at the wall.

“...We should be able to do the same,” she finished.

Victor looked horrified. “No! We can’t kill anyone.”

Nick shared a glance with Emmy. They nodded. 

“Let’s do it.”

Emmy sat down next to Inez, holding out a bowl of popcorn. Nick, on the other side of Inez, zoomed into a section of a blueprint page. 

“See, these aren’t just fire alarms,” Nick was saying. “If we cut off all access to oxygen in their rooms, the alarms would notice. Plus it would take like two weeks before the levels of oxygen in their rooms lowered to a dangerous level.”

Inez took some popcorn. “How hard would it be to pump in… I don’t know, nitrogen?”

“Like I said, the alarms would notice,” Nick told her. “Unless the builders cheaped out and bought straight fire alarms, or if someone removed the batteries.”

“I don’t want to leave that to chance,” Inez muttered.

“Yeah.”

“What was the plan?” Emmy asked. “Suffocate them in their sleep?”

“Something like that,” Inez answered. “Modern buildings are very well-sealed, and rely on good ventilation systems to make sure people don’t asphyxiate. I suggested stopping the air flow. I knew it would take a while, but Nick says it’d be too long.”

“It wouldn’t go unnoticed,” he said.

Emmy looked at the blueprint. “So, sneaking in isn’t possible. Blowing up the building from the outside isn’t possible. And sabotaging their air isn’t possible. What about forgetting the building and doing something to their car?”

Nick sat back from the laptop, taking some popcorn. “That would require knowing when the car is in an unobserved location.”

“Put a tracker on it?” Emmy suggested. “Check the location any time it leaves the garage. Victor or I can get to it quick if they park somewhere odd.”

Inez smiled at her. “Sure. We’ll just have to watch it until it’s in an unobserved location so we can put the tracker on.”

“Oh. Right.”

The door to the kitchen was pushed open, and Shawn walked in. He looked horrible. 

“Shawn! Welcome to the land of the living,” Nick said, jumping to his feet. “You hungry? I saved your breakfast.”

“Yeah,” Shawn muttered. “Thanks.”

Nick walked to the microwave, where he’d stored Shawn’s omelet. He pushed some buttons, reheating it.

“What are you working on?” Shawn asked, glancing at the laptop screen.

“How to kill Copper,” Emmy answered cheerfully.

Inez hit her. “It’s slightly more complicated than that.”

“Just hire a sniper,” Shawn yawned. “Doesn’t have to be complicated. Only Catherine and Rhea have to die.”

Emmy looked at Inez. Could it be that simple?

“How would we hire a sniper?” Inez asked carefully.

Shawn joined Nick at the microwave. “Hell if I know.”

“Would we have to hire someone?” Emmy asked. “I mean, Nick has guns and Inez has really good aim…”

“I can’t kill someone directly,” Inez said. “I don’t have that ability.”

“Ditto,” Nick said.

Emmy thought about it. “Yeah, same I guess.”

“I do,” Shawn said bitterly.

They all looked at him.

“You could kill someone in cold blood?” Nick asked.

“No,” Shawn said. “Not someone. Catherine and Rhea.”

Inez cleared her throat. “We’ll keep looking for options.”

“Don’t bother,” Shawn said. “I’m disbanding the team this afternoon.”

“What?” Emmy nearly screamed.

“It’s what they want,” Shawn shrugged. “They’ll win. No matter what. I’m giving up before it costs more than it has.”

“No!” Emmy jumped up, grabbing his arm. “You can’t! Shawn, no. I won’t let you! You can’t disband the team, you can’t!”

“Emmy,” he said softly. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes you do! We can do something! We can figure it out! We’ll do something, and it’ll be fine and we’ll stay together!”

He didn’t respond. It took her a few moments to realize the timer on the microwave wasn’t moving. Emmy backed away from him, mind racing. She had to do something. She couldn’t let him break up the team.

She was a speedster. She did things fast. So fast, cameras couldn’t always spot her. All she looked like was a blur. Usually a pink blur with brown hair.

This could be used to her advantage.

Emmy ran out of the kitchen, everyone still frozen in place. She went to the basement first. One of the things dumped in the corner was a box of old art supplies. No one knew what use the original building owners had for neon green and yellow paint, but there it was. She grabbed it and hurried to her room.

Not wanting to burn out, Emmy let her perceived time go back to normal once her door was locked. She looked at herself in the mirror, unscrewing the paint lids. Could she do it? Could she kill two people?

“To save the team,” she told her reflection, nodding. She could absolutely do this.

She dumped the yellow paint into her hair and worked it through, wondering how hard it would be to get out. Then she took the green paint and covered her face, arms and legs. 

Next, she went to her closet and realized she should have changed before putting paint everywhere. Oh well, too late. She found her only pair of shorts and a black camisole, quickly changing into them.

Her phone rang. Emmy put it on silent, looking herself over in the mirror. It was ok, but she could do better. 

Speeding up again, she ran to Nick’s room and found a black NASA hoodie. Taking it, she ran to Shawn’s room and stole a pair of jeans. Hurrying back to her room, she mentally apologized to them both as she pulled their clothes on and looked at herself in the mirror. 

There. She looked like a nerdy potato. For an extra touch of anonymity she added a blue surgical mask.

Deciding she owed them big time, she grabbed a pair of scissors. Once the hoodie sleeves were gone and the jeans were cut to the right length, she rolled the clothes into a ball and tucked them under her green arm. Shorts and camisole were good enough until she got close.

Emmy sped up once again, jogging to the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of water, a couple power bars, a very sharp knife, and a plastic bag to hold everything.

Slowing down just enough to open the front door, she slung the bag over her shoulder and made her way to the subway.