"There's a guiding hand at work behind the scenes. Too many coincidences have piled up." Rex spoke passionately about what he had discovered.

"Before the Titan attack ten years ago, you could count the number of supers in the city on two hands. With their numbers dwindling, the Science Council had even begun offering controlled exposure to the mist for anyone willing to try." Rex explained that supers were a dying breed.

"Isn't it convenient that the titan attack resulted in the creation of more supers than we'd seen in nearly a century? It even had the added benefit of reducing the population in the slums." Rex showed me charts with census numbers. This part of town still hadn't come close to recovering from the loss of that attack.

"So, you think someone devised it as a way to thin out the population?" My voice was heavy in skepticism.

In my experience, most things were precisely as they seemed. If a man spilled his drink on you in front of a girl you liked, it was probably an accident, not him trying to make you look bad.

Jeanie had been similar to this kid when I first met her. She took the government's actions as malicious when truthfully, it was more about incompetence.

"It wasn't just about clearing out their trash. They wanted more powers to work with. Studying the abilities given by the mist almost always results in advancement for tech supers. You see, the Science Council hadn't created anything helpful for several years at that point. Their well of ideas had run dry, but after the attack, our city leaped forward." He rambled.

He was facing away from me, typing on his computer. The monitors continued to display statistics highlighting his points. It did feel suspicious to me, but I could think of reasonable arguments to explain them away.

"I've also tracked shifts in patterns and behavior with many active supers. Jonathan Snow is a perfect example of this. He and his brother were small-time until about a year ago, then they took over the drug trade essentially overnight." That got my attention.

"I'm planning on taking down the Snow Gang. If you help, I'll look into them for you." I offered.

A local hero could be a lot of help in dealing with this gang. He stopped and actually turned around.

"I was actually hoping you could help me spy on someone." Rex had a very concerned look on his face.

"Eight months ago, Henry changed. Everyone else thinks it's because Susan left him, but he's not the same person. There's an intensity he didn't have before." His earnest expression got me thinking.

"Also, he's been avoiding the eyes of my drones more and more lately. He's hiding something." Rex pulled up a grainy video of Henry landing on the roof of a very expensive-looking building.

"This is Henry at the Science Council building. He dodged my cameras and went here for some unknown reason. He didn't mention it at all after he got home. Our team has only ever interacted with the council during parties." He showed another video of him leaving with a timestamp indicating he spent ten minutes inside.

"So, you think the Science Council is intentionally creating disasters to make more supers and that Henry is somehow involved?" I asked. It was plausible. The missing persons cases made sense if Henry was kidnapping them for the council to conduct experiments on them. It felt like a bit of a stretch, but still possible.

"I don't think it's just the council. I believe there is a hidden organization manipulating everything from the shadows." Rex sagged back into his chair in exhaustion.

My gut instinct was to call him a conspiracy theorist. I refrained because sometimes the pigeon watching you really could be a drone.

"Alright, I'll help you look into Henry if you help me take the Snow Gang off the board." I offered him a deal with my hand outstretched.

"Really! I-I mean, yes, of course." He reached out and shook my hand.

His limbs joined my collection, but they wouldn't be of any help. I couldn't use the powers of a tech super with just their hands. Summoning his head would partially fix that problem, but then I'd lose control over his limbs.

"Let's start with the Snow Gang. If what you said is true, this organization has existed for at least ten years. They can wait a little longer." I saw the drug-pushing gang as a more immediate threat. Clearing an infestation took time.

A beep on one of his monitors pulled his attention. He glanced over his shoulder at me after checking it.

"He's back," Rex informed me. Henry had returned. I was curious about one thing, so I decided to ask.

"Have you tried questioning Henry with your lie detector?" I threw that out there.

Rex looked at me and shook his head. "No way. If he really has gone to the other side, he could crush me like a bug."

Judging by their publicly known abilities, it was hard to guess whether Susan or Henry was stronger. Even with the various powers at my disposal, my chances of winning against either were hard to estimate.

"What about the rest of the team?" I needed to know if there was anyone else trustworthy.

"I haven't actually tried to bring anyone else in on this yet," Rex replied sheepishly.

I gave him a glare that sent him back to his computer screen.

"And why exactly did you recruit me before even your teammates?" I questioned suspiciously.

His shoulders tensed up, but he summoned up all his confidence and faced me again.

"I needed someone's help investigating Henry. If he caught you, you'd be dead. I won't risk my friends and family." He admitted.

"So, you picked me because you won't feel bad if I die?" I could respect his reasoning. Watching a stranger die was easier than someone you cared about. His thinking was a little twisted for a person his age, but it was ruthlessly practical.

"Well, if we're working together, I'll need your number." I pulled out my phone and navigated to the settings. There was an option I found to share your number with a nearby device. There was also a number search function using their name. That was something that I guaranteed would be abused.

"I shared my number," I told him, then watched as he pulled out his phone. It was larger and more expensive looking than the plain one I had.

"I got it." He pinged me back his number, which I quickly added to my contacts.

"I'm gonna go have a chat with Henry. Put together a file on the Snow Gang. I want everything you know about their numbers, supers, bases, and leadership structure." It felt good to have a direction again. There was a restlessness influencing my mind and actions from the first moment I woke up back on Earth.

Rex looked worried but didn't try to stop me as I left. I got a look at his monitor and noticed Henry was landing in front of the building. His system obviously had eyes farther out than the visible drones.

The elevator quickly brought me to the lobby level. When I stepped out, Henry was just pressing the call button. He had on a slightly different blue bodysuit.

"Morgan? When'd you get here?" Henry questioned me.

"Shortly before you. I got a chance to meet Rex." I tried to be mostly honest with him.

"That's a good sign. You made a decision?" He seemed comfortable having this conversation here. To me, it felt a little like talking while standing in a doorframe.

"I want to join. There's only so much I can do solo." My answer made him smile.

"That's great! Do you want to come upstairs? Susan is going on a night patrol tonight. Maybe she'll let you tag along." He appeared genuinely happy.

After I agreed, we took the elevator up. My thoughts kept drifting back to Rex's claims, so I took the chance to interrogate Henry.

"So, does the team do any work with the Science Council?" I probed.

"Not really. Those tinkers give us donations every now and then, like most other big shots, but we mostly cooperate with SID. The Science Council likes to leave all the groundwork to those under them." He shrugged and dropped the conversation.

I didn't want to let it go, so I kept pushing.

"I've got a friend who is something of a scientist herself. She'd love to get an inside look at the Science Council. Know anyone who could help me out?" I hoped he'd admit to a connection to them.

"No. You'd be better off asking Rex. He graduated from their junior scientist program. He might still know someone. The boy doesn't get out much." He spoke that last part with a sigh.

"What did the two of you talk about, by the way?" He didn't sound suspicious of our meeting. Giving him the truth was the easiest option.

"He's worried about the city. Rex was hoping I'd join up to help with the work that needs doing." I responded casually.

"He's a hard worker." I glanced at him and then away as the doors popped open.

 

 

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