There’s someone in my clock tower. And while I’m aware it’s not actually my clock tower, there’s never been anyone up there besides me.

  They’re waiting in the largest room.

  A small part of me is glad that there’s not the furniture I was planning on setting up there yet. I don’t want people trying to sneak up on me to be comfortable.

  I test my foot, I’m already feeling a lot better, not going to be running around at full speed, but to face one guy? That should be in my skill set.

  Now to figure out what’s the best way to come at this sideways.

  After scaling the building carefully, I walk out of the wall behind him, doing the best I can to keep my footsteps silent. “Why are you here?” I ask, trying to keep my voice measured.

  The person jumps forward, leaping away from me in a mad scramble as he spins around to face me. He’s a lot younger than I thought initially, definitely younger than I am. Why he’s in a plush fur coat is also beyond me. Would the sunglasses and coat be his costume?

  “Let me ask again, why are you here?” I say not taking a step forward but not relaxing my posture either.

  “My name is Asher,” he — well, I suppose Asher says, stepping away again to get more distance between the two of us.

  I wasn’t that close to begin with, but I do note that he’s now far enough away that I can’t close the gap so fast a normal person shouldn’t be able to react.

  That gets my metaphorical hackles rising. He has been watching me, which shouldn’t be too surprising since he found the place.

  I guess it confirms it’s not some random civilian.

  My hand drifts towards the laser pistol. If he doesn’t give me a better answer soon, I’m going to have to take him out. I can’t exactly lock him up, which means I’m going to have to move bases.

  I’ll probably have to move bases anyway. There’s just little reason to let a stranger have knowledge of where I live, able to come at any time and tell anyone.

  “Do you have a name?” Asher asks curiously. “I’ve always imagined the first thing I would do as a super is pick one out.”

  “No,” I shrug.

  “Alrighty.” He says, clapping his hands. “How’s the suit I made for you treating you?” he asks, and at this point I’m not surprised.

  This is just par for the course that he’s the one that made the suit.

  “So you’re me?”

  “M. E. It stands for Miracle Engineering. I’m the owner and sole engineer on the team,” he grumbles.

  “It’s good. Why did you do that, though?”

  “Because I thought you would seek me out for a partnership, but I sent you a gift and you didn’t respond, so I grew tired of waiting.”

  Is this kid a clingy friend?

  “Sorry, I didn’t have the time to find you,” I say, not quite lying, but I also never bothered to really think about it. Was I going to find this person eventually? Uh, sure, but really I just wanted to get another person on my side.

  “It’s fine. I’ve forgiven you out of the benevolence of my heart.” Asher says, and I question if I’m really willing to not just bop this guy and leave.

  “Apologies all done and dusted. Can we get on with this? I have things I need to do tonight,” I sigh, shifting my weight off of my injured foot to help steady my balance.

  “Work with me,” Asher says, his hands in his pockets in an attempt to seem calm, though his hands are trembling behind those pockets anyway.

  I pause, considering that statement. Do I really need to work with anyone? Would forming a team or something like that be counterproductive to my goals?

  Probably not, anyone who helps me with the lab is an ally I should use, but I don’t know if I trust Asher; he’s not exactly made it easy for me.

  “Why?” I ask. He can make his case, and I’m going to try my best to listen.

  “I have what you don’t, and you have what I can’t.” He answers. “I can make you stuff way better than the current suit you’re wearing, and I have eyes all over the city. But I can’t slug it out every night. Become my hands, and we can keep our city safe.”

  “I don’t know if I see myself doing this long term; I’m just trying to stand against the lab that made me super and took my best friend away,” I finally say, my hands tightening into fists.

  “Sure, whatever. I’m sure that someone in that lab will be willing to help me make the world a better place for a while,” Asher waves my words off, his expression something between amused and incredulous.

  “Don’t force anyone.”

  “I don’t have powers. Some of those people could kill me with a thought. I can’t force them to do anything.” Asher points out. “So if your only vendetta is against the lab, what’s with all the other shit you’ve done?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Crab dude, lightning guy, seven different robberies, two assaults, the screamer today, several prevented kidnappings. While your targets always seem to be entirely random, you have been helping a lot of people, which is surprising if you only want to deal with the lab,” Asher muses, unwrapping a piece of candy.

  “It’s training,” I say reflexively, trying to resist the urge to step back and continue avoiding this conversation.

  “And there were no better ways to do that?”

  I don’t respond to the bait there.

  It’s definitely a trap.

  “Are you going to make me a bunch of superpowered base gear that can make my whole life easier?” I ask, changing the subject to something actually relevant. He’s said a few times he’s a genius, if there’s something he can do that’ll strengthen my powers, that can only help.

  “Uh probably? I can definitely make some stuff that’ll let you hit harder, but I haven’t tried to make any phaser stuff.” Asher says after a few seconds of consideration. “Though.” he trails off, pausing as a thought crosses his mind. “There’s an issue with that.”

  “What you plan to kidnap me and study me?” I say, hoping the modulator in my helmet made it really clear what my thoughts are about him trying to kidnap and capture me.

  “I’m broke.”

  “You’re what?”

  “I don’t have the money needed for something truly good.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Aren’t you a super genius?”

  “Just because I know I can make an armband that can project force fields doesn’t mean I can build one out of junk. I can’t warp reality.” Asher complains, crossing his arms.

  “Fair.” I concede. “So your company is entirely ?self starter.”

  “If we get some legitimacy, I could probably get some materials. Supers are often willing to help out young geniuses, even if just to use us later,” Asher grumbles, seeming to get lost in his head as he walks around.

  “If you help me deal with the lab, you can have some of the tech stuff and materials from it,” I say, giving him my olive branch.

  I can’t use that stuff, and if he’s actually going to help, I would prefer to know what his stake in all of this is.

  “Could I have the location too?” Asher asks, glancing at the window and back at me.

  “Is this place not good?” I ask aloud, glancing around. I like it up here. It’s safe, and I think it makes a good base, but if there are problems, I shouldn’t get too attached.

  “Just high up. I’m a basement dweller, that’s all,” Asher says, moving away from the window and closer to the center of the room.

  “You can have it, I guess, as soon as it’s available?”

  Asher looks at me before walking forward, a hand thrust out. “Names Asher in the field I go by Miracle. Partners?” He says, waving his hand at me.

  With my left hand, I reach up and pull off my helmet, phasing it so that I don’t have to deal with the buckles. “Jason not doing the field name thing, and I can do teammates,” I say, clasping my hand in his.

  “Okay, so I have to ask, can you do anything besides phasing?” Asher asks, still shaking my hand.

  “Uhh, I don’t really know?” I lie. What am I supposed to say here? Should I tell him everything I can do, or do I keep something secret?

  “Okay, so is your plan? for me to help you knowing nothing about your abilities, and we’ll trust each other in the field?” Asher says, finally taking his hand back, freeing me from the forced need to shake people’s hands.

  “I thought you were planning on sitting in a room using cameras to help me with plans or something?” I point out.

  “Figure of speech. If you’re going to trust my plans, I need to know what you can do at least on a baseline level,” Asher sighs, settling down on the floor and looking up at me, amused.

  “In for a dime, in for a dollar.” I grumble walking to the wall and lean against it. I would love to change clothes and head home, but I’m going to finish this conversation and then run away. “Phasing, spatial awareness, and maybe air walking I don’t know. Sometimes I can stutter while I’m falling through anything.”

  “And you can do it with a little bit of weight. Not a lot though, since you don’t do it to other people,” Asher muses, pulling a small notebook out of a pocket and scribbling quickly.

  “Sixty pounds.” I say, shrugging. That is the highest I can do for a long time. Any more, and my concentration deteriorates.

  “Any idea if that’s because you’re weak or if your power is growing or you have some kind of mental block?”

  “Mental issue?”

  “So how partial are you to the idea of having your body be as normal as possible versus adding cybernetics?”

  “I would rather not have anything added to my internals. Things woven into the suit are fine, I guess?”

  He said he’s too broke to add anything really at the moment, so I doubt it’s going to be anytime soon.

  “Well, I’ll see what I can come up with. So you want ?me to bring all my stuff up or nah?” Asher asks hopefully.

  “No,” I say quickly. “I’m willing to try for all of this, but my base is my space.”

  “How exactly am I supposed to help if we’re not going to trust each other?”

  “I don’t know, but how would you like it if I decided to move into your garage or lab or wherever you do all of your work after our first meeting?”

  “Fair,” Asher agrees, taking out another piece of candy and popping it into his mouth.

  “Sorry,” I say, feeling guilty.

  The silence looms over us, but I don’t have any plans of breaking it. I’m moderately confident that I can do this all on my own given enough time, so Asher is coming to me; he can figure it out.

  I gave him my name. That should be more than enough for him to feel like I’m trusting him at least a little.

  The light of a phone screen lights up Asher’s face as he quickly navigates the device looking for something.

  Why he decided that now was the perfect time to text is beyond me.

  “Four days,” Asher says, looking back at me.

  “Four days?”

  “In four days, there’s something that needs to be stopped. I’ll leave you to your solo show until then, and we’ll stay separated but for that one mission we try working together. If I can’t prove that I was trustworthy for that, well, I’m shit out of luck. After that job, we can figure out a more legitimate arrangement,” Asher explains.

  The yarn being spun isn’t that bad, but there’s a key part of Asher’s statement that I don’t think fits or at least needs to be addressed.

  “It’s probably going to take more than one mission for us to figure out if this is going to be a long-term solution,” I point out.

  “Yeah, I know, but you say you’re not looking for long-term anyway, and the method I suggested for this plan works for any other ones no fuss no muss, so why in the world would I need to keep discussing it, huh?”

  Asher’s going to irritate me something fierce, isn’t he?

  “Some things are better ?said succinctly than rely on both of us to reach the same conclusion.”

  “Whatever,” Asher says, standing up and tossing a small box at me.

  Pushing my mind inside, I see it holds some kind of device. Sort of reminds me of an earbud but not quite.

  Asher stares at me expectantly.

  I remain where I am, staring back as I slip the case into a jacket pocket.

  “It’s a communicator. You can clip it on the inside of your helmet whenever we work together; otherwise, you’re free to leave them wherever,” Asher finally says, not willing to stay silent any longer.

  “I can’t hear while I’m using my powers.”

  “And you’re always going to stay deaf? Or you don’t think I’m going to share a plan for when you get to the punchy part?”

  There’s something about the situation that feels off to me; the scales don’t feel balanced. Asher’s meeting ?most of my desires and wants in every way.

  What can I do to help him out with his half of it all? Is there anything I have that could help the young genius?

  Laser pistol?

  I don’t want to hand it away because I want to have one.

  He made the armor, so that’s pointless to look at.

  I’d rather not get my brain scanned while I’m using my powers at the moment. That feels like a gross invasion of my privacy.

  Enhancement?

  No.

  Nope.

  Not going to give that up. That’s my ace in the hole. I can’t give that to someone else. I actually should steal more of it so I have a better supply than just the one box that I have right now.

  I stop that train of thought with a sharp jerk of my head.

  That level of visceral reaction isn’t good. I’ve only taken it once or twice, and I’m already thinking like that.

  With a few breaths to steady myself, I continue to ignore Asher’s perplexed glances towards me as I take the time to organize my thoughts properly.

  Walking over to an innocuous patch of wall, I reach in, pulling out a single patch of the drug.

  “You have a bag?” I ask, making sure not to get it on my skin.

  “Sure, why?”

  “This drug has the power to amp my mental and physical abilities far beyond what I’m capable of. I thought this would be something you would want to study?” I say, walking back and holding the triangle patch in the air.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope.”

  “So they’re making supers on a semi-regular basis and they have a paired enhancement drug? That’s damn impressive.” Asher says, bagging it and scribbling in his notebook even faster. “The question is if it’s keyed to you and those from your experiment or if it works on all supers or if it works on a different scale.”

  “It works on normals, though it’s just a temporary physical boost.”

  Before the words are even out of my mouth, Asher’s sleeve is rolled up, and he’s opening the bag.

  With the bag now firmly in my grip, I push Asher down onto his back.

  “What was that?” I snarl.

  “If all it took you to get superpowers was to put a patch on your skin or take a shot or swallow a pill, would you have done it?” Asher says not even bothering to get my foot off of him.

  “It doesn’t do that, though.” I say, deciding to stay away from the fact that I definitely would have.

  Just a single pill and I could have superpowers? Sure, there are stories, but I would do it.

  All things considered, for what I got out of it, being buried alive really wasn’t that bad a price to pay.

  Still a dumb idea though.

  “I know that, but fingers and brain faster than your conversational skills, I would have stopped on my own.” Asher says. “Probably now are you going to get your boot off my chest?”

  I drop the once again sealed bag next to him before walking away.

  “Four days, right?” I call back, heading to the bathroom so I can start pulling myself back together.

  “Four days.”

  Discord

  Patreon