He grunted and gritted his teeth as he hauled a rather large box from his lab into his kitchen. He placed it on the kitchen table and hunched over, trying to catch his breath from working and straining his body. He spent practically the whole day rearranging everything in his lab and gathering important information he knew he would need.

When he finally collected himself, he reached out to open the box he had placed on the table, and began to look through all the things that were stashed away inside the box. He pulled out various paper documents and files, setting them on the table and trying to sort them out. He stopped when he heard his doorbell ring; looking up and just staring at his door, wondering who it could’ve been. Sighing heavily, he placed down a manila folder he had grabbed from out of the box and made his way over to his door. Without even looking through his peephole to see who it was, he unlatched the lock and opened the door.

“Hello Dr. Manwell.”

James leaned against the doorframe, staring at the men who had rung his doorbell. “Gentlemen.”

The men remained silent, not knowing how to come out and say what they wanted to say. James gave a small nod, “Did you, uh… did you guys find out what you needed to?” When they nodded in response, James began to nibble on his bottom lip. “So… can you guys trust me? Are you willing to let me help you?”

Kevin was the first to reply. “We’re really sorry about last night, it was just… I guess you could say it was too much for us all to handle in one night.”

“Understandable.” James nodded. “C’mon in.”

When James held the door open, the five of them filed into his house. “I can’t imagine the position you fellas are in.” James stared. “So of course it’s predictable for you guys to have the reaction you did. To tell you the truth, I thought it would’ve been far more worse, which was why I was pending on whether I should’ve revealed the truth or not.”

“Well, we’re glad you did.” Howie replied with a genuine smile. “I think it’s safe to say that we all got the answers we were looking for and we’re still on good terms with the families that took us in.”

James smiled, “I’m really glad to hear that. And I’m really glad that you five came back, god knows how long it would’ve took me to go out and look for you guys.”

Kevin chuckled, “Yeah, well… you’re the only one who knows and understands us, and by the looks of it, the only one we can turn to and trust. Now that SEC knows who we are and where to find us, we didn’t think it’d be safe to stay separated or anywhere near our families.”

James nodded, “You’re right, it isn’t safe. I don’t mean to put it this way, but you five are vital pieces to SEC’s puzzle, and as long as we can keep them from getting what they want, the better off you guys, as well as mankind, will be.”

“So, what do you suggest we do?” Howie asked.

“You guys are more than welcomed to stay here. As for what we do, I’ll help you five to discover and learn how to control your powers, because losing control of your powers can be harmful to you and those around you as you may have witnessed, but most importantly it can be lethal.”

“Then where do we go from there?” Nick voiced out this time.

“Then we’ll…” James trailed off. He hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “lets just take this one step at a time.”

~*~*~*~

“How long have you known?”

AJ didn’t turn to address the younger man who had asked him the question, he simply continued packing his belongings. They had gone back to their hotel to gather their things and had told management that they were taking a retreat to write and compose songs. It took some time for Kevin to break through with his persuasiveness, but as long as management knew you were doing something productive that would roll in the money for them, they were happy campers.

“How long have I known what?” AJ asked back, his back still facing Nick.

“How long have you known about your… powers?” Nick trailed off, feeling awkward for using that word.

AJ finally stopped and turned to look at Nick, seeing that all his clothes and belongings were simply stuffed in his suitcases, which were situated in the middle of the tidy hotel bed. “Since I was a kid.” AJ finally replied, turning back to continue folding his clothes. “You?”

Nick shrugged, “Same here. I guess you can kinda say that I stumbled upon it.”

AJ nodded. Nick wanted him to say something, do something more than just give a nod. The room was too quite for his liking, but AJ just didn’t want to hold a conversation, so Nick kept the questions rolling. “How did you discover it?”

AJ took a deep breath in and sighed, “I don’t know… I just remember going through my mom’s closet one day and stumbling across this old lighter. It was this silver lighter that had ‘Harley Davidson’ engraved on it. I assumed it was my father’s so I took it and kept it with me, not telling my mom that I had it. I played with the damn thing every chance I got; I would just sit there and flick it open, fascinated with how it produced a flame just by flicking it open. One day I was cooking something, not even realizing that my arm was positioned right over an open flame on the gas stove. My initial reaction was to quickly pull away and cry in pain, but all I did was pull away. I was convinced that I was in shock, thus being the reason I couldn’t feel my flesh burning, but it was that day that I came to realize that fire had no affect on me whatsoever. After that, I became obsessed with fire.”

“So, you were probably a pyromaniac growing up, huh?”

AJ chuckled, “No dude, although people viewed me to be that way thanks to my obsession. I never had the desire to set things ablaze, I just always wanted to control something that was never meant to be controlled.”

“So, what exactly can you do?”

“Back then… all I knew was that I could never be burned by fire and that I could control it. When I’d play around with my father’s lighter, I’d sit there and practice how to control it. But now… well, it wasn’t until last night that I learned that I could manipulate it. That night all I saw was this… blinding rage, this fury that just wanted to be unleashed. Soon enough, my anger got the best of me, but not once did I think I could actually make people combust into flames. I mean, at that moment I thought about it… I knew I couldn’t do anything without a lighter, but I stared them down, wishing there was something I could have done, hoping that I could control my power in another sense… by using my mind to set them on fire.”

“Pyrokinesis?” Nick asked.

AJ nodded, “Not only pyrokinesis, but telekinesis as well. I guess I came across that power when I was in school. We had this show and tell presentation, and I had decided to show and tell the class about my ability with fire. Of course the teacher was enraged, but the students…” AJ took a long pause, recollecting that memory. “I could hear their mockery, hear them calling me a freak and they all feared me. I didn’t like that feeling, and again I had let my anger get the best of me when I heard one of the kids call me a freak. I can’t remember what happened after that, I just kind of… zoned out, and when I finally snapped back into reality, I saw all the students huddled underneath their desks, and the teacher was screaming at me, telling me to get down under my desk. They all thought it was an earthquake, but it was actually me.”

Nick chuckled as he thought back to when he first discovered his power, “Glad to know that I wasn’t the only one that had this happen to them in school.”

“Well, what happened with you?”

Nick took a deep breath in, “The first time I came across my power was in school of course. Prior to that I had found myself drinking excessive amounts of water any chance I got. I mean, ya’ll know how I love the ocean and whatnot, but the way I drank water when I was younger, my love for the damn thing was on a whole ‘nother level. Anyway… my friend and I were on our way to a class when we were stopped by these guys. They were complete assholes who were looking for nothing but to pick a fight with us. We managed to get away and decided to split up, and those assholes were hot on my tail. It was just my luck that I came to a dead end and when I heard them nearing, I just… closed my eyes and awaited for them to find me and beat the shit outta me. It wasn’t until I heard one of them voice out their puzzlement on where the hell I was that I opened my eyes and realize that I had became invisible somehow. Wasn’t sure how the hell it was possible, but I used it to my advantage any chance I got.”

AJ chuckled and shook his head, “I’m kinda scared to ask you what the advantages were, but knowing you, your power allowed you to access free, live porn huh? You sick bastard.”

“Why does everything have to be about sex with you dude? We were having a serious conversation, and you just had to ruin it.”

“C’mon Carter, stop trying to dance around the facts, will ya?”

“I’m not trying to dance around anythi- shutup AJ.”

“You ever heard that joke about Wonder Woman, Superman and the Invisible Man?”

“Shut it AJ.”