After Jenny, Kari, and PM left, I started moving.

  I had way too much energy to just be laying around in bed. Maybe I can catch up to that asshole. I doubted it. Probably scurried back to whatever hole he hides in. Irritation bubbled up in me and one of the machines came to life. I glowered at the machine for a few moments, before going over to turn it off, trying to find a cut off switch for my emotions, bitterness, anger and resentment boiling up in me. I can’t believe they want me to fucking stand down. Even Kari! I figured she knew what he was about. Knew better than to let that mother fucker off the hook.

  As I started collecting my stuff, my family walked through the door. Pop was like me, thin, and strong, though I’d been filling out more lately. His hair had recently started to gray. Momma was the opposite, short and thick. And both of them were dark. My younger brother, Dom, and sister, Tameka, had taken all their best features and combined them. I sat in my bed and started getting up but my sister, the registered nurse, put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. “Let me check your chart first. Make sure you’re ready.”

  “C’mon, Meika. I’m fine. Just got a little rattled.” She rolled her eyes and pushed a bundle into my arms and grabbed the chart at the end of the bed in one quick motion. I looked down. She’d brought me a change of clothes. Jeans and a wifebeater. I frowned at the bag. “You stop by Goodwill on your way here?”

  “They were what you had back home,” my sister explained absently, eyes scanning over the file. I felt my mouth twitch in annoyance. These were things I’d worn before I could afford good clothes. They’ll have to do for now.

  “I told you, son,” Pop began, using the lull in the conversation to butt in. I caught his eye and felt small. Like I was a kid again and he’d just caught me using lightning for the first time. “They can’t accept you being out there like that. And when they can’t control you, they’ll handle you.”

  I’d heard this speech countless times. Especially after I developed my powers. I was eleven at the time and it was the coolest thing I’d ever felt.

  I was at school when it started, trying desperately to focus on some boring ass lesson about something that didn’t matter. I was fidgeting and trying to bring myself back into it. As my mind drifted, I could sense the flow of energy around me. The lights buzzing above me, electricity flowing through the fluorescent gasses trapped in the long bulb. The power flowing through the maze of copper in the floors and walls, into the room phone, the teacher’s cellphone, the projector, the switches on the wall, the bell, the whole of reality around me.

  I’d never realized how much power there was around me all the time. The bell rang and people started packing up, but I couldn’t move. There was just too much going on. I could feel it in my skin, my eyes, my bones. Everything. I lost myself in it, all of my focus spent trying to trace every labyrinth of seemingly infinite energy. It felt so vast and I was so small in comparison. But at the same time, I knew I was a part of this huge network. When I finally came back to myself, I was alone in the room and the lights had gone off.

  I got up to leave, but as I reached the door, something drew my attention. An outlet. I could feel it more than see it. The potential just waiting to be tapped into. I swallowed, leaning over it and stared, not sure what exactly was happening yet. I extended my hand out and felt that electricity, all of that potential, stretching out towards me. It wanted to be used. It wanted to no longer be constrained.

  An inch or two away from the plug an arc jumped to my fingers and I jumped back, crashing into a desk behind me, breathing quickly. The bolt bounced up my arm, into my chest, through my fast beating heart, and spread out all throughout my body. Wherever it went inside of me, I followed it. It found itself in a corner, ready to bounce off and start through me anew. I’m not sure how I did it, but using a thought and desire, I grasped the raw elemental energy and tugged at it.

  It struggled to escape my grip, but I felt more than consciously trying to find a way to use its will to direct it. It wanted to escape, to dissipate, to be free. I worked with it, directing it down my arm, into my fingers and finally out. I looked down at my hand and there was lightning crawling between my fingers. I held my pointer finger and thumb apart and the arc climbed up between the two. Like in those old Frankenstein movies, or something.

  “Shay! Whoa, what the hell, man?” The voice cut through my thoughts and the arc faded. I looked over and my bud Felipe was looking at me, jaw dropped onto the floor. “What was that? What were you doing?”

  “I dunno,” I replied, staring at my hand. Electricity was still all around me, begging me to reach out. My mind was racing. What else can I do? How much can I hold? Felipe shifted a little closer, dark eyes wide with awe and a little fear.

  “Can you do it again?” I thought about it for a moment. It felt like I had just gotten a thousand new toys to play with on Christmas and I wasn’t sure what to do first.

  “Think so,” I replied, trying to sound casual. School was out so we went home. We lived in the same apartment building and it wasn’t a long walk. We got to the street and I froze, looking around me. There was all of this power, just waiting to be used; in street lamps, in crosswalk buttons, in transformers, in the cars we were passing by.

  “C’mon, Shay,” Felipe said, tugging on my sleeve. He was tubby with mousy brown hair and wide, almost haunted eyes. For a moment, I thought I could feel the electricity in him, as he got closer, but I shook my head, dismissing the thought. When we finally got back to the cracked and crumbling brownstone apartments, we sat outside on the porch. Momma had said we needed to be nearby and to be back before dark.

  “So, what else can you do?” Felipe asked.

  “Dunno,” I replied, pushing the electricity between my fingers. I had worked out how to get the charge outside a little. And once I did that, it was easy to make it crawl between the fingers of my hand. Felipe reached a hesitant hand out and the lightning arced to him.

  “Ow! Damn! That hurts.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, I guess.” He said, shaking his hand. “So, it doesn’t hurt at all?”

  “No,” I said weakly. “Not at all. It feels . . . good. Kinda tingly, ya know.”

  “Nah. Not at all. So, you’re really one of them, huh?”

  “One of what?” I asked. When my attention went to him, the arc between my fingers faded.

  “A meta!” He exclaimed. “I mean, you got powers.”

  “Yeah. I guess I do.”

  “Shit’s cool.” I found myself grinning at that. This was life-changing. I didn’t know how, just yet, but I knew I would never be the same.

  It wasn’t long before a crowd of kids had gathered around us, watching me do little tricks with the arcs I was producing. I could make things float if I tried hard enough. Nothing heavier than coins and if anybody touched them, they’d get zapped. I could stretch the arc out a few inches between my fingers, but it would die out if I went farther than that. My little brother, Dom, broke through the crowd and yelled, “Whoa! Shay! That’s so cool.”

  And that’s when trouble started. He started running his mouth about it at the dinner table. “Hey, Pop. Am I gonna get powers?”

  “Powers?” Pops asked. “You got all the power you need, inside of you.”

  “No,” Dom retorted with an eyeroll. “I mean like real powers, like Shay.” Everyone at the table was looking at me, now. I stared down at my plate, trying to make myself look small as I pushed around my food, my stomach crawling. I tried to ignore their stares just as I was trying to ignore all of the energy around me, but it proved impossible.

  “Shay?” Momma asked. A smile spread across her face as she turned to me. “What’s your brother talking about?”

  “Shay has powers!” Dom all but shouted. I tried to kick him under the table, but couldn’t quite reach. “He can do lightning!”

  “What’s this, son?” Pops asked. I gave a half-hearted shrug, avoiding his eyes.

  “I can. A little. My voice was small. I held out my fingers and a little arc shot between them. “It’s nothing much.”

  “How are you doing that!?” Meika demanded, eyes threatening to pop out of her skull.

  “I dunno!” I shot back, the electricity between my fingers dying out with a soft pop. “I just can. I . . . I was at school. I could . . . can . . . feel it. Feel the electricity.”

  “That’s amazing, honey!” Momma said. She came around and hugged me from behind, watching from over my shoulder. “Do it again.”

  And I did. I aimed the arc at my fork and picked it up, spinning it around. The smell of ozone and the crackling of electricity filled the room.

  “I want powers!” Dom whined. Tameka was quiet, just staring at me as though I’d changed before her eyes. I couldn’t quite get a read on what she was thinking. Pops was also staring at me, but his face wasn’t neutral. He was wearing a frown. I dropped the fork and tried to smile at him. He shook his head and went back to eating. My stomach squirmed, squeezed uncomfortably by my uncertainty. We all did after that. After dinner, when I was getting up to help with the dishes, he pulled me to the side.

  “Shay, we need to have a talk. Sit down.” He didn’t force me, but his tone brooked no argument. He guided me to a chair and sat me down. He leaned on his knees in front of me, so we were level. “Son, you can’t be using those powers in front of people. You gotta keep them quiet.”

  “Why not?” I asked, thinking of the crowd that had gathered around me earlier. It felt nice to be seen by everyone, but being popular wasn’t something my father would care about, so I tried to put it in a way he’d agree with. “Momma always says to use what we got to get further than y’all did.”

  “And your momma is right like she usually is,” he said, one half of his mouth crawling up in a smile for a moment. “But we gotta be careful. White folk are afraid of us. Of our power. They see a smart, strong black boy like you, they get scared. And they do something about it. Something they can’t take back.”

  “But what if I can use these powers or whatever they are to make changes?” My voice was tight and strained. “Make the world better.” He stared at me for a long moment and my gaze faltered.

  “Shay. My son.” He put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. “You will change the world no matter what. The world ain’t ready for your strength. Your heart. They ain’t ready for the fact that you’ll shine brighter than all of them.” He cupped my face and raised my chin. “But we don’t need to put a bigger target on your back than you already got. You gotta keep your head down. Mind your ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘no, sirs’. Gotta let them believe they our betters. Even when we outshine them in everything we do. Promise me.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said, bowing my head.

  “Good. Now, go on. Those dishes ain’t gonna do themselves.”

  “You’ll live,” Meika said playfully. “Shame they couldn’t do anything to fix your head.”

  “And what’s wrong with my head!?” I demanded, barely able to keep the smile off of my face.

  “It’s still full of rocks,” she said, putting a hand on my chin and moving my head side to side. I didn’t resist; I knew what she was doing. She had patched me up enough in the past, so it became second nature for her to just start checking. Her long, thin fingers were tender and gentle as she double checked the other nurse’s work. “Who did these stitches? Were they blind? Whatever. I’ll redo them when we get home.”

  As I was checking out, they brought me a bag of clothes, still wet from the sudden bath that mother fucker Esvanir had taken me on. I frowned down at the bag. “Ooh, if I knew where he was . . .”

  “And what would you do then?” Dom joked, shadowboxing against my arm. “Get your ass beat again?”

  “He probably just wants to send Esvanir the drycleaning bill,” Meika replied, bumping her shoulder into mine.

  “You see how he’s dressed,” I said, keeping the heat out of my tone. They had been a gift from my first shoot when I signed up with Jenny. The clothes were probably ruined. I did my best to keep the rage off my face as I smiled and nodded to the nurse who had passed them over. “Guy like him probably knows a good cleaner. And I’m sure he could pay for it.”

  “I don’t know, Shay,” Dom replied, humor in his tone. “His girl can’t even afford clothes.”

  “True!” I agreed, letting my brother’s words lift my spirits a little. Tameka rolled her eyes but Dom smiled. “And thinking about it, he does dress like a waiter at Olive Garden.”

  After I was checked out, we all packed into the old family station wagon. The same one I borrowed to take to prom. Like my parents, the car wore its age very gracefully, but I knew they deserved better. And I could provide that for them now. “Pops, why don’t you let me buy you a new car?”

  “Because this one still runs,” he responded as the car chortled to life. “And it’s made of metal. None of that plastic crap modern cars are made of.”

  “Just saying. My Caddy has some leg room,” I said, through my folded legs.

  “It’s good to squeeze into places sometimes,” Pops responded absently. “Keeps you limber. Adaptable.” Momma caught my eye in the rearview, smiling at me. I rolled my eyes and smiled back.

  We drove to our neighborhood. Momma and Pops didn’t live in the same apartments, but they only lived a few blocks down. They’d gotten a cool little duplex. Something they owned. But these new shops had started to claw their way into the area and the local Mexican markets were being priced out for high end natural foods markets; big chain cafes had replaced locally owned places; the club had been hollowed out and turned into a microbrewery. I frowned. I didn’t live far from here, but the place had changed since I’d grown up. It just didn’t feel the same anymore.

  It took them a while to find a parking spot. There was never enough parking down here. Especially as more shops came in, slowly eating away at the neighborhood. They let us out of the car, while dad circled the block. Dom and I went over to the house. “So, you let that Esvanir beat your ass?”

  “I didn’t let him do anything,” I replied coolly. And a little less coolly, I said,“And he didn’t beat my ass.”

  “He ain’t the one in the hospital.” Dom replied, He was short and strong with tightly cropped hair and had Pop’s sharp, discerning eyes, always watching out for anything and everything.

  “He sucker punched me.” I shrugged, hands in my pockets.

  “I dunno,” my brother replied, smiling back at me smoothly. “He wouldn’t have done that if I was the one with the powers.”

  “That’s just ‘cause you’re too short to sucker punch.” He shoved me and I shoved him back and we started wrestling as we stepped through the door. Meika pushed through both of us.

  “You two better not break anything, or mom’ll send both of you to the hospital. And you won’t be out in a few hours.” I let Dom out of the headlock I’d gotten him in.

  “How’s the music coming along?” I asked after a moment, taking a breath. It was nice being home, even if I had a thousand other things to do. Dom’s expression became a little more stony, considering me, before breaking into another cocky grin.

  “Oh, it’s coming. Just fine tuning it.” Dom responded, crashing down on the couch. “We’re doing big things, brother. All of us. God willing.” I watched him kiss a cross and look up at the ceiling. He had devoted himself to the church again in earnest. I hadn’t really been since I was a kid. Figured God could talk to me wherever I am. But Dom needed it.

  Eventually mom and pop walked through the door and pop plopped down in his chair in front of the TV and started watching it passively as he reassembled some old machine parts I couldn’t quite place. Momma went to the kitchen and stopped, calling back to me, “Shay, help me make dinner.”

  “ ‘Course, Momma.” I joined her. She started setting out vegetables that needed to be cut. I washed my hands and got to work.

  We worked in silence for a little while before she finally passed over some potatoes and onions, asking, “So, what happened?”

  “What?” I replied a little, trying to play dumb, but I couldn’t quite stop from shrinking in on myself a little.

  “How’d that Esvanir guy get you?” I felt her scrutinizing me from the corner of her eye. I ran my tongue over my teeth for a moment, considering.

  “Lucky, I guess.” I shrugged, not really wanting to get into it with her. My anger was still simmering and I didn’t want to even accidentally take it out on her.

  “Luck? Honey, you know better to rely on luck. You’re more than lucky.” Momma always talked like this. Dad always wanted me to tone down who I was. Mom was never like that.

  I was 19, just out of school and looking for what I could do with the rest of my life. I had a job and hated it. It was my day off and I was hanging at the house. Didn’t have anything better to do. Momma had the TV on while she was cleaning and I was helping. Mostly. We were doing the deep spring cleaning and she was having me move things around. Dom was still in school. Meika was looking into what college she wanted to go to, off visiting campuses.

  Professor Mind was on the news. He had made a name for himself by rescuing some people from a bombing and had rebranded from his old Kid Mind persona. In this report, he’d just stopped a bus from going off the road. Momma stopped to look at the screen for a moment. “Why aren’t you doing stuff like that?”

  “Like what? Dressing like that?” I asked, laughing. “ ‘Cause it’s terrible. Looks like he’s wearing a scuba suit.”

  “No, Shay. Why ain’t you rescuing people? Helping people like that.”

  “Pops always said to keep my head down.” I shrugged. I knew I could do it. Pops was probably right about that. But it was more trouble than it was worth. “My powers bring attention.”

  “You have your powers for a reason,” she responded absently, handing me a lightbulb. “And right now, that reason is to help me decide where to put a new lamp.”

  “Momma, this isn’t a lamp.”

  “I know that. Just need to see where we need more light. Do your thing.” She motioned at me with an absent hand. I rolled my eyes and let a small charge trickle from me to the bulb and it lit up. I hadn’t really been using my powers. Not fully. But I collected the ambient electricity in the air and needed to let it out sometimes. And had learned some tricks since then. I suspended the light in the air and moved it to where she directed, enjoying the feeling of extending out the electricity towards something else, letting it loose. Lightning always wanted to be free, unrestrained. And I could relate. She continued as she directed me. “Your dad is right, in his way.” I smiled. They never disagreed. Not out loud. But they always found ways of making their opinion known. “This will put you at the front of the pack and you will outdo everyone you meet. But you’re supposed to. You’re my son, afterall. Wait! There. Right there.”

  We hung a lamp in that corner of the room and she smiled at me. “You were always meant to light up a room, Shay. Don’t let them take that from you.”

  “I dunno. I gotta get a job. Something real. I can’t keep bringing girls back here. Not if I’m tryna start something.”

  “There’ll be time for that. And you better bring them here. I need to meet them ladies trying to take my little boy.”

  “I don’t know, ma. Last time I fought him it was easy, but this time, he knew what to expect, I guess,” I said, scraping the onions and potatoes into a pot, hand gripped tight on the knife. Shame bubbled up in me. I can’t believe I lost to that mother fucker. It’s ridiculous. Some part of me was aware that he’d fought Kari to a standstill at least twice, but the way I just bowled over him the first time, I didn’t think he had anything that could counter me.

  “I saw him on the news. He seems smart,” Momma said, gesticulating with a wooden spoon. I shrugged a shoulder half-heartedly. She continued on, “Loud, but smart. Can take on that friend of yours. Smash Lady or whatever her name is.”

  “Yeah,” I said a little flatly. I didn’t want to talk about it, but I knew mom wasn’t going to drop it easily.

  “So, why’d you pick a fight with him?” She asked.

  “Because he’s a bad guy. He hurt my friend and . . .” I trailed off, considering for a few beats. The images of him trapping Kari in those damned portals of his, of him flaunting everyone constantly,and getting away with it, with things I could never get away with, just set my blood to boil, “I don’t know. He’s an asshole.”

  “Yeah, I’d say. He hurt my baby boy.” She said, slamming a slab of meat down with a little more force than was necessary.

  “I ain’t . . .” She looked my way, her brow raised, and I stopped and reconsidered what I was about to say, finding a small smile creep across my face. Even when I was down, Momma always knew how to bring me back up. “I ain’t hurt. Just a little rattled, like I said.”

  “Well, the next time you see him, rattle him back. And if you don’t, tell him I’ll do it for you.”

  “Well, damn.” I laughed. “He might be ready for Smash Gal, but he can’t take you.”

  “Damn straight.”

  I ate dinner with the family. And it was nice. Honestly, it’d been a little too long since I’d done that. A month, easy. Too many of my dinners lately had been eaten out of a takeout box as I waited in my car or on a roof somewhere, waiting for some fool to do something. Life just got busy, between the big dog and Jenny, the kids at the hospital. It was good to be back home.

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  Tameka walked me to my place. I only lived a few blocks away and she wanted to check in. We walked past the new shops and the cafes, and I tried to ignore the annoyance I felt at their encroachment on my neighborhood. “So, you gonna fight him again?”

  “Yeah, probably.” I shrugged. I figured our paths would probably cross again. Some part of me wanted them to. I’ll take him down next time. Without a doubt. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. “What?”

  “I don’t know that you should.” Tameka, my sister, was tall and thin, but she had Momma’s smile; the one that said she knew everything you’d ever done, but that she loved you despite that. Unfortunately, she wasn’t smiling right now.

  “Meeks, you too?” I asked, incredulously. What the fuck is it about this guy? Everyone wants to go so easy on him. I shook my head, speeding up my steps. “He’s an asshole. He deserves to go down.”

  “Why? Because he fights Bion and Smash Gal?” Meika asked, easily keeping up with me. She grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face her. I grimaced at her. “Who cares?”

  “I do,” I said quietly. I set my jaw stubbornly, searching for the words that’d finally convince anyone that he wasn’t worth a damn. But I couldn’t right now. I was too angry, too worn out. “I don’t wanna talk about this.”

  “I want to,” she said, her voice firm, but not heated. “You know he gave stuff to my hospital, right?”

  “He did?” I paused, searching her face. She was telling the truth. Meika was good at a lot of things, but she was a terrible liar. My stomach squirmed. “When?”

  “Last year,” she responded with a shrug. “Before Smash Gal outed him.”

  “So, nothing recent, then.” I waved a hand dismissively.

  “Bro, you weren’t even a hero then.” She stopped in front of my porch and we both were silent for a moment.

  It had been a couple of years since I’d graduated. I was the line cook at Mac’s, basically a dead end. The head chef had been there since he was my age and had no intentions, or ability, to retire. I woke up late and I needed to get to the bank before my shift at 10:30. Without looking at my phone, I checked the time. 9:21:56 am. Damn it. My rent was late. Pops had lent me some money, but the bank kept rejecting the check, so I was overdrafted, again.

  “Fuck,” was all I said as I dragged myself from my bed. I looked around the too small room in my too small apartment. It was a matchbox, but it was my matchbox. But it wouldn’t be for long if I didn’t get to the bank. I grabbed a quick shower, put on a jacket and headed out, jogging down the street. I didn’t have a car.

  My foot tapped impatiently at the crosswalk. This street was too busy to just walk across. I could feel the electricity in the pole next to me, buzzing through the stop lights, through the walk symbol, through the buttons. It was always calling out to me. It’d just be a little charge, a voice in my head insisted. Just a quick switch over and the light’d change.

  No. I brushed the thought off. I knew that fucking with systems like that could be dangerous. The light shifts and someone doesn’t see and then it’s a wreck. The other voice wasn’t convinced. You’re gonna be late. But I didn’t care. Not that much.

  The light did finally change and I hurried across. I got to the bank. The teller looked at the check and then at me. I stared at her trying not to let my impatience show. She had my ID, my account number, and the check was signed. Everything was as it was supposed to be. I silently pleaded for her to just accept the deposit. I don’t have time to jump through any hoops today, lady, I thought. But I kept the thought off my face. I didn’t say anything. Raising my voice, even talking back wouldn’t help me here.

  After an approximate eternity, she accepted the check. Thank God. And fucking finally. I thanked her and started walking away when two men burst through the door. It wasn’t gentle. They were wearing masks and I could only see the outlines of their eyes. I closed my eyes and held my breath for a moment. Not today, damn it.

  One of them gestured at a security guard who had started to pull a gun out. The air around his hand all the way to the guard’s roiled and blisters boiled up from the poor man’s flesh. He dropped the gun and cried out as the smell of burning hair spread through the room. Guilt spread through my chest. People could get hurt and I’m worried about getting to work. From behind me, I felt a new signal rush out of the building. I didn’t track what it was, but I assume the teller had hit the silent alarm. The other man rushed to the counter, right next to me and loomed over it and the teller. “You! Get the money, put it in a bag! Now!”

  The woman behind the desk wilted and a sound escaped her throat. The man held up hand in the shape of a gun and motioned. The concrete behind her exploded and she jumped. So did I. It was loud as hell. And fucking terrifying. The teller dove behind the desk and presumably started collecting money. While he was distracted, I started to shrink away. Without turning away, the man threw his hand an inch away from my face and shouted, “Nobody move!”

  I froze, gritting my teeth. I didn’t know what else to do. Sweat beaded down my neck. My hands started shaking. And without realizing it, I’d started gathering power. Electricity flowed through me, making me shake even worse. But I didn’t know what to do with it. I’d never directed my powers at a person before. You could kill him, a voice that sounded like my father echoed through my head. He could kill you, another countered.

  A minute and an infinite amount of heartbeats later, the teller had thrown a bag onto the counter. The man, who had not taken down his hand, motioned for his partner to grab it. He did. And I slumped down a little bit. Sirens echoed out down the corridor.

  “Shit!” the first bankrobber exclaimed. “What do we do?”

  “Uh,” the one who had done most of the talking hesitated. He glanced around and his eyes landed on me. The man lunged forward and grabbed my wrist. I didn’t even think to get out of the way. Stupid! I chastised myself. He tugged me forward. “You’re coming with us!”

  I could have probably done something to fight back, unleashed the electricity I was holding on him, pulled away, stomped on his fucking foot, anything. But his fingers that could blow up concrete were still trained on me. I’m probably not as tough as a wall, I thought, trying not to picture what he could do to me. And I’d still have to deal with the other one too. As I was being dragged towards the door, my wide eyes fell upon the security guard. His hand and arm were covered in burnt, smoking flesh. I swallowed, hard.

  As we got through the door, I saw a pink blur slam into the ground. Smash Gal, thank God. Please, please let this woman do her fucking job. The robber with the bag threw more hot air at her, but she barely seemed to notice. The one that had me by the arm pushed me in front of me and wrapped an arm around my neck, pressing his fingers into my head. I was still shaking both with fear and power. I’m not so big a hero that I can’t admit this wasn’t the scariest fucking thing that had ever happened to me. “Put him down, Smash Gal, or I'll waste this one!”

  A whimper, a manly one, may have escaped my throat. Through blurry eyes, I watched Smash Gal. She had the other one by the throat. But she wasn’t getting any closer. Fuck! She’s fucking choking! Christ, can’t trust these people for nothing! Tears threatened to fall and I blinked several times. “C’mon, man,” I croaked. “There ain’t no need for this.” I swallowed. “I-I-” my voice cracked. “I’m just trying to get to work.”

  “Shut up or I’ll waste you!” The man cried out. Smash Gal slammed his partner into the wall and he crumpled. Behind her, I could see the cops closing in. The sirens were getting louder. This fucker pushed his fingers harder into my temple and screamed, “Back off, Smash Gal! I’m not afraid to ki-”

  As he was speaking, I grabbed all of the energy I’d been holding and reached out for more. I didn’t know how much would be enough, how much would be too much, but I didn’t want to half-ass it. I felt lightning slam down onto the two of us. It was a weightless hammer. The thunder was deafening and we both convulsed violently. But I was made for lightning. He wasn’t. He fell. I didn’t.

  I finally took a breath. A lot of them, actually. My hands were still shaking and I was empty. I didn’t know if the man was living or dead. I didn’t know if the one Smash Gal had taken out was either. It didn’t really matter. I lived! And the power had felt good to use. Not just to defend myself, but that much power. I felt empty and light. I already missed having that much power inside of me.

  “Freeze!” That brought me back down. I deflated and looked behind the huge pink woman. The cops had pulled over at odd angles on the side of the road and were pointing their guns at the two of us, more me than her, from behind their car doors.

  “Oh, come on!” I cried out, my voice much more stable than I felt. “I ain’t got nothing to do with this! I’m just trying to get to work.”

  “Uh-huh, sure, meta.” That’s what the cop who had closed the distance had said. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the word he wanted to use. “I’m sure it’s all just a coincidence, you here as a robbery is happening.” My shoulders slumped further. Damn it! I thought, bitterly. Pop’s words echoed through my head, Keep your head down. Don’t outshine them. He was right. I squeezed my eyes shut as this pig put his hands on my wrist and started to pull it behind my back. I could’ve tried to fight back. I didn’t have any more lightning in me and couldn’t collect any without them noticing, probably. But I could’ve resisted.

  That would’ve been stupid. It’d just get you killed, the darkest part of my brain told me, without heat. And I knew it was right. Momma and Pops both had made it clear. I’d seen the videos. I’d seen people I went to school with. I saw what the cops did to us. I felt a weight drag down my arms and heard a click. Something pierced my skin and I felt something rush into my veins. And for the first time in a decade, the world was quiet. The constant buzz of electricity, the staticky radio signals, everyone’s phones, cars all around the city, things that had been a part of my reality for half my life were just gone. I had never been more empty than I was right now.

  Everything felt heavier, too. Like I was moving through jello. I wavered on my feet, almost afraid I was going to be crushed like an empty can. Nausea spread from my stomach to my head on an express train. The world got forty degrees cooler and I started shivering violently. The world was almost black and white. That woman’s neon pink costume stood out to me, but that was just about it.

  The cop was saying something as he pushed me forward and I had to concentrate to not stumble and fall. Momma wouldn’t want me to stumble in front of them. Pops neither, for that matter. There’s a difference between humility and contrition. We stopped moving. I glanced up half-heartedly, and the motion made me sick. It’s a good thing I skipped breakfast today, I thought absently. And almost lost it at the ridiculousness of the thought.

  Smash Gal and the cop were talking. I tried to tune into the conversation, but everything seemed distant. Only a handful of their words even seemed to reach my ears, much less my brain. It wasn’t going well, whatever it was. Eventually, with a lot of concentration, I heard one cop say, “If he's innocent and it was self-defense, he'll be let go.”

  I laughed. Or choked. At the moment, it was hard to tell the difference. The cop holding my shoulder tightened his grip. “Something funny, punk?”

  “If I'm innocent, I'll be let go.” I tried to laugh again, but my head was swimming. I was only vaguely aware of what I was saying. “Yeah, right. Ain't no black man with powers ever going to be let go by the police.”

  The effort it took to say that was too much and I felt my knees almost buckle underneath me. I swallowed and took a few deep breaths. When I focused on the conversation again, Smash Gal had her phone out and was recording us. I shook my head, which was a mistake, threatening to throw me off balance, but I kept my feet.

  “Stop recording that!” The cop holding me exclaimed, shifting me further. I leaned against the cruiser. The metal felt cold to the touch. I didn’t care. The officer was still keeping a tight hold on me. They continued talking. I casually noted that people were gathered around. One of them spoke. The cops seemed spooked. I almost laughed again.

  At some point, the cuffs had come off and Smashy had even given me a lift, literally, to work. Which was kind of her. But the entire time I was in her arms, I was thinking about two things. One, if she hadn’t been there, I’d probably be dead. I’d at least be in jail. Those two weren’t getting away, that much was blatant. Two, she hesitated. She could’ve just stopped the situation countless times, in countless ways, but didn’t. She was bullet-proof. Nothing could hurt her. But she still almost let me get arrested. Or killed. That was unacceptable.

  Still, though. Pops had a point. Outshining them, showing them how it’s done was risky. But Momma was also right. I couldn’t just let someone else stand up if they didn’t do it the right way. I had a responsibility to help people. I hadn’t known it during that robbery, but I had changed then. I’d gotten so trapped in the rat race that I’d forgotten that we’re supposed to live for more than just survival. Kari had reminded me of that. That we have to shine brightly. And I have to shine for those she couldn’t or wouldn’t shine for.

  I looked down at Tameka. She was looking at a recently repaved part of the street. I recognized it. And not just because I lived here. I was the cause of it. Kind of. It was the spot where I made up my mind. Where I decided that we needed Thunderblast. There was no Smash Gal, no Bion, and certainly no fucking Esvanir coming to save us. So, I’d have to do it myself.

  The Grignau were attacking. I saw it first on Twitter. Those blue bastards pouring out of seemingly nowhere. Most of them were uptown, wrecking the nicer neighborhoods. But I knew it wouldn’t be long before they got down here. There were livestreams of Kari and Professor Mind fighting them. And they seemed to be having a hell of a time actually winning. It was the first time I’d ever seen her struggle. At least before her beef with Esvanir started. And that shook me. This woman had resisted just about everything, and watching her be thrown around like the rest of us sent ice into my veins.

  I was brought out of all of this by a scream outside. I looked through the window and sure enough, there were two of them. The cameras didn’t do these things justice. They were ten feet tall and almost half as wide. With blue skin, black eyes, and beak-like protrusions for mouths. They walked in slow, lumbering steps until one seemed to disappear and reappear on top of a car, crushing it. And the person inside of it. Smash Gal’s busy, I thought, my heart racing. Bion’s doing his own thing. I grit my teeth. Why aren’t there heroes down here? Where are they? The lights of the house started to dim in response to my agitation. I hadn’t realized I’d started gathering the ambient energy around me. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

  I reached my hand out to an outlet and I felt the power flow through me. I gathered so much that it hurt, and then I reached in and gathered more. My bones rattled in my flesh. But it felt good. I felt invincible. The lights went out, the TV went off, the A.C. stalled. And I was buzzing with power. I could see my reflection in the window. Every part of me was alight. My hair was standing on end and I could even see the electricity coursing through my eyes. And I started moving. I got outside. The Grignau were still tearing things apart just outside of my place. I raised my hand, took aim and slammed a bolt right into one of them. Thunder cracked all around, setting off car alarms. The smell of ozone radiated out into the air. And the thing went down. For a moment.

  It stood back up, its blue skin charred and cracked. I had boiled whatever blood it had and the wound was already cauterized. I felt sick. I’d only used my powers like that once before; to target something living. Other than that day at the bank, it’d always just been party tricks. Little things, powering a lightbulb or supercharging a coin. Occasionally getting a free soda from a machine. And the day at the bank had stopped me from doing more. I wasn’t sure if I liked that feeling. Attacking people like that.

  It started stepping towards me, when I heard tires squeal and someone pulled out, the back end of their car whipping out and slamming into the other one. It reached over and grabbed the car, tossing it at me. The person inside was screaming. My heart thudded in my chest desperately, my horrified reflection showing over their terrified visage.

  And I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t have time to. My hands shot forth and electricity with them. I caught the car and felt my charge draining into the rubber of the tires. With a grunt of effort, I pushed the car back and it slammed back on the street. The person behind the wheel slammed on the gas and skidded down the street. I wiped my brow with the back of my hand. My hair had collapsed back down around me.

  Thick, heavy rain drops started falling as the charred alien charged down the street at me. I knew I needed to move. But these things were so damn fast. More on instinct than any conscious decision, the remaining electricity in me started crawling over my skin and I felt the twitching of muscle underneath. Some of it shorted out as it touched the rain. I felt tired, out of breath and weak. But that wouldn’t save me.

  Everything seemed slow. Except for the Grignau. When I saw it start to move, I dove out of the way and it slammed a fist down where I was standing an instant later, crumpling the street under its meaty fist. What the fuck am I even supposed to do against these things?

  “I was there, Shay. I know why you do it,” Tameka repeated, mumbling softly. I turned my back to the street it took the city eight months to repair and walked up the stairs to my apartment building. I could sense she was on my heels. I opened the door and motioned her in.

  “I know, Meika,” I replied just as softly as she passed. She didn’t. Not all of it. At least I don’t think she did. I hope that she didn’t. I didn’t want her to think that people wouldn’t come save her. That Kari and Esvanir and whoever else were too busy, that she was too small, too unimportant to save. I didn’t want anyone in my neighborhood, my city to feel that way. The way I did at the bank. “I just don’t like how people let him off the hook. They wouldn’t do that for me. Hell, they almost didn’t.”

  “I know,” her voice barely above a whisper, walking to the second door. I passed my hand by the lock and it glowed green, not bothering with the keys. She smiled and rolled her eyes. She’d always figured that whenever I was using my powers, I was showboating a little. And she wasn’t wrong. It felt nice to be able to do something that no one else could. And to be appreciated for it. We walked through and made our way to my apartment. I zapped the lock and heard the familiar click and threw open the door. My apartment was cluttered with half finished projects. A bunch of vacuum tubes were sitting out on the table. A bunch of schematics, some hand drawn, of circuits and machines. I shot out a thread of power to the record/8 track player and it came to life spinning. I sent another to the lights and they hummed to life in a soft, dim glow.

  The apartment itself was only really a room, filled with old furniture given by friends who couldn’t take it when moving, with some recent additions, like the large flat screen and game system that I never had enough time to touch. There was a kitchenette that I barely used and a bedroom with a new, comfortable bed and ten million thread count sheets. It was the only part of the apartment that I seemed to actually see for more than minutes at a time. A part of me wanted to go straight there and just crash for a few hours, my day wasn’t over, yet.

  There were also a lot of vinyls stored in egg crates, and a few put in frames that were hung on the wall. They were Dom’s records. They hadn’t originally been on vinyl, but I liked the aesthetic and used some of my signing bonus money with Jenny to have them made.

  Meika dug through her bag and found her little first aid kit and set it out on the table, pushing some of my projects to the side. One of the tubes started falling and I rushed forward and caught it. “You got so much crap in here.”

  “It ain’t crap,” I said, defensively.

  “I don’t even know what any of this is,” Tameka retorted, doubt evident in her voice.

  “It’s a TV.” I started collecting everything into a box so my sister wouldn’t go through breaking it all.

  “Doesn’t look like one.”

  “It’s not done! I got busy.”

  “Well, move your TV,” she said, irritation plain in her tone. “I’ll never understand why you collect that crap.”

  “Dunno. Just think it’s kinda cool how we’ve gone from this stuff to smart phones in 70 years,” I replied as I set the box under the table delicately. “I like knowing how it all transitioned.”

  “If you say so. Sit.” I did so without question. She took a pair of scissors and removed the stitches the nurse had put in while I was unconscious, cleaned the wound, and redid it. I winced.

  “You know, this is a lot better when I’m asleep for it,” I complained, my heart not in it. It was just awkward having someone hover over you like this.

  “Don’t be a baby. It’ll heal better like this. Less scarring,” she assured me.

  “I’m gonna have a scar!?” I demanded, worry tinging my tone. I’d just signed up for a modeling contract and I didn’t want to fuck that up, since I’d spent a lot of money on the car and the new stuff in the apartment. This is my chance. I don’t want to go back.

  “A tiny one. Won’t be noticeable by anyone. Besides, anyone close enough to see it will have already seen that crap you had on the table and ran for the hills anyway.” She tied off the knot and clipped the thread. “Besides, it’s not like you haven’t had worse.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I muttered. I was still thinking about my career. Heroing doesn’t really pay the bills. It’ll make you famous, but you gotta do something with that fame for it to mean anything.

  “That alien threw your ass like 40 feet,” My sister pointed out.

  “You go, Shay! Get those fuckers!” A voice called out. I glanced around and saw Felipe calling out. He was standing there with Tameka, but I didn’t have time to think about any of that. I pushed all the lightning I could muster and threw out another bolt. It slammed into the charred chest of the Grignau that was right in front of me. But it was already in motion and slammed its huge fist into me.

  I went flying back and shifted. My entire body shook with that impact. I needed to do something to keep myself from being roadkill. So, I reached out and with the last remains of my charge, I threw out a arc of energy. It caught onto a power line and I was able to flip back up onto my feet. I landed heavily, stumbling back slightly.

  The one that I had hit twice had fallen and wasn’t getting back up. The bolt I had just shot went straight through its chest. They can die after all. Relief flooded through me, filling up some of the space that was empty of energy. That’s good to know. The other was moving towards me. And I was completely tapped out. And the rain wasn’t helping either. Anything I held externally just shorted out. That last hit had rung my bell; I was barely standing. My vision was blurry and I didn’t know what I could do.

  But I felt something. Up above in the clouds. I glanced up and felt a smile spread across my lips. Relief gave way to hope which gave away to cocky assurance. I can do this! I threw my hand out into the sky and plucked the negative charge out, directing it down. A natural lightning bolt slammed down onto me, illuminating the street around me. I felt my hair lift up again. Thunder cracked overhead. The rain was falling in heavy sheets.

  If I threw the bolt, it’d be dispersed too much to make a real difference. So, I gathered all the charge I had just collected into my fist and I ran forward. My heart was pounding in my ears. I adjusted my internal electrical signals a little bit on the fly. I hadn’t done this before, but it made sense. Electricity is everything. We are minerals and earth brought to life with lightning. I launched myself up, augmenting my legs with the charge and I jumped up to its head. My fist came down on the Grignau’s beaked face and I let go of the charge, screaming, “Fuck you, big blue!”

  And everything went white. The entire street was aglow with electricity. A rumbling overtook every sound. And I was thrown back. And so was the alien. In the opposite direction. I landed hard and rolled. When I opened my eyes again, Meika and Felipe were standing over me. Some people had gathered around the Grignau. At first, I thought they were whispering, but eventually the ringing in my ears stopped and I realized I had just gone deaf for a minute.

  Before I could hear them, I saw what I had done. The Grignau’s head was gone. I had hit it with the force of a lightning bolt directly. I had downed two of them. And that’s when I noticed people were cheering. Tameka dragged me to the side and started checking on me, but all I could do was smile.

  People were thanking me. It felt good. Right.

  “I never thanked you for that day; for looking after me, Meeks.” My voice was soft and somber. She’d patch up the scratches and cuts I’d gotten. More than that, my arm had been dislocated and she popped it back into place.

  “Oh no. Esvanir hit you harder than I thought,” she retorted.

  “I’m serious.” I squeezed her arm. After the day I’d had, there was something nice about having family around. “You could’ve ran. Probably should’ve when you saw I was trying to fight that thing.”

  “Nah. We’re family,” she replied, soberly. Then a smile tugged at her lip, just like Pops got sometimes. “Besides, mom would never let me hear the end of it. She’d make me plan the whole funeral myself.”

  “No, she wouldn’t. She’d let you get most of it done then redo it herself,” I said, grinning. Then sobered some. I needed her to know that I meant what I was saying. No playing around or hiding behind jokes for once. “But seriously. Thank you.”

  “Just . . . Don’t get hurt too bad. I can stitch you up here and there, but I’m not a surgeon. You get your face fucked up, I can’t help you keep your modeling gigs.”

  “You saw those, huh?” I asked, feeling my face flush. It was a little weird being in magazines and ads.

  “Yeah. A lot of my girlfriends are crazy about them,” she replied, sounding a little grossed out.

  “I mean, you could always hook them up. I’m single.” I said, throwing on my best cocky grin. It’d be nice having someone to come home to.

  “Ew. You can hook yourself up, big bro.” She shoved me playfully.

  After a while, she left. With nothing better to do, I turned on the TV. I was just going to watch a movie, but a press conference caught my attention. It was the Assistant District Attorney accepting the resignation of the District Attorney. Seeing him there sent my stomach roiling uncomfortably. There’s something off about that man.

  “If these latest events have taught me anything, it’s that we’ve been relying too heavily on vigilantes. On metahuman interlopers doling out justice. It is not the role of these alien forces to decide what is and is not okay. Who is captured and who goes free. Self-appointed heroes like Thunderblast, Smash Gal, and even Esvanir have put themselves above the law and that must change.” When he mentioned my name, my skin crawled. And his next two sentences set my blood to ice. “They are citizens and must be held to the same standards as the rest of us, regardless of their . . . aberrant abilities. We will hold these people to account.”

  “What does he mean ‘hold these people to account’?” I asked out loud. There was no one in the apartment with me. I grit my teeth. Aberrant. I knew a dog-whistle when I heard one. This man is going to do something to us. To heroes. To metas. I didn’t know what it was, yet. But he’d let the mask slip just enough.

  And my dad’s words came back to me. You gotta keep your head down. Mind your ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘no, sirs’. Gotta let them believe they our betters. Even when we outshine them in everything we do. And I had tried to do that with him when we met at that bank. He had been brazen, rude, and entitled. I hated having to swallow my pride for him, but I had. And now he was going to use that as an excuse to walk all over me. Not anymore, I thought. Esvanir, this guy, anyone else. I’m accountable to myself and to my neighborhood. But that mother fucker can shove it.

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