Richard sat on Karen’s couch listening to Alethia recount her story. He wished that she would have come to him for help. While it was true he did not have a lot of money, he had resources and might have been able to swing bail and a local lawyer for her. He said as much,

  “I’m glad your dad helped you, Allie. But if you ever need something like that and don’t want to reach out to your dad, you can call on me.”

  Rob smiled and said,

  “Or any of us, really. You know that we would be more than happy to help you, Alethia. You are a dear friend.”

  It sounded strange coming from Rob. Almost like he was trying too hard to sound sincere. But Richard decided that he was just not used to humane behavior from Rob.

  Karen stood and said,

  “Okay, let’s get the super hero meeting underway. Richard, you’re the reason we called his meeting, what did you want to talk about?”

  “I think we have two good places to start as super heroes now. We could go after Tammy from my job or after the douches who attacked Alethia. What do you think?”

  Alethia said,

  “I would put the whole assault thing behind me. Even if they sue me, I kinda don’t care.”

  Rob said,

  “I would normally agree, but we need to be worried about a trail that leads from you to us, Alethia.”

  Richard and Karen nodded their heads. Richard did not want to agree so directly, but this mattered. He and Rob had already talked about it. If one of them got in trouble, they needed to bring the matter to the rest.

  Alethia said,

  “I understand that. Maybe we can just keep tabs on them or something? What would we do otherwise? It’s not like we can shut them up.”

  Richard said,

  “Of course not. But we should still be prepared. What if we have to flee town? What if those guys have allies we did not know about or something?”

  Alethia nodded. That gesture put Richard’s mind at ease. At least he was not upsetting Alethia more than necessary.

  Rob said,

  “We have some other business too. About leadership, rules, and such.”

  Alethia groaned,

  “Are we really going to elect a leader for our club?”

  Rob nodded, so did Richard. Alethia said,

  “Then I nominate Karen. She’s the most level-headed out of all of us.”

  Rob sucked on his teeth while nodding crookedly,

  “Not anymore though. Once the cognitive improvements gel, we’ll leave her in our dust.”

  Karen’s face was impassive at that comment. Before the super hero treatments, she would have mocked a claim like that openly.

  “So who should lead? You, Rob?”

  Richard heard the scorn in her voice. So did Rob. He said,

  “Alethia, I know you don’t trust me. But I am better now. I promise. Isn’t that right, Karen?”

  She nodded enthusiastically in response to Rob’s question. Karen said,

  “He really is better. I would be willing to support Rob as the leader. But I also think we should do things by consensus.”

  Richard’s voice sounded skeptical,

  “Isn’t that the thing the Mormons use that keeps them from changing or evolving?”

  Karen said,

  “You mean the Quakers. And not exactly. Consensus just means that one person can object and force further discussion. In your positions, I would not be comfortable with a traditional “leader” — someone who you gave permission to issue orders — telling me how to behave.”

  Alethia nodded along with Karen’s words. Richard knew the dynamic of the room. If Alethia could be brought on board, Karen would do it. And once that happened, they would be on their way to becoming heroes. Richard could taste the promise of adrenaline and excitement.

  “So, who wants Rob as our leader? All for?”

  He raised his hand and so did Alethia and Karen. Rob said,

  “I am abstaining. Just in case I was the only person who voted for me.”

  Richard punched Rob’s shoulder with the tiniest amount of force and his best friend smiled back at him.

  “Okay. It is unanimous. Rob Taylor is the boss of us!”

  Rob looked around and nodded,

  “Okay, let’s talk rules and bylaws. As leader, I am not sure I should be making up rules. I would prefer to have people vote or whatever.”

  Karen said,

  “Then let’s make consensus our official decision making process.”

  They spent another fifteen minutes on minutiae and Robert’s Rules of Order, over which Alethia giggled several times.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Discussion turned back to their first official acts as heroes.

  Rob said,

  “Frankly, the two of you, Alethia and Richard, have already started acting heroic. At this point, we just need to clean up, right?”

  Richard nodded, Alethia said,

  “Not in my case. In my case we should just be observing.”

  Rob nodded and said,

  “Alright. We need to check out Alethia’s attackers. That we be a strict look and wait op…”

  Richard said,

  “Did you just say op?”

  Rob blushed and Karen said,

  “Don’t laugh. He’s been doing research on this stuff. I am impressed.”

  Richard nodded, grinning at Rob. His friend smiled and nodded at Karen. Richard watched the exchange and found something off. Rob seemed pleased by what she said as if he anticipated it and wanted her to say that. Which was ridiculous, of course. Rob did not have a conniving bone in his body.

  Richard said,

  “Then by all means, run that op!”

  “I don’t want you two on that one. I want you two on Richard’s girl.”

  Rob pointed to both Alethia and Richard with those words. Richard said,

  “Whoa man, she’s not my girl. Tammy is just some high schooler who works at PT.”

  “Regardless, I am putting you and Alethia on that mission. I will check out Alethia’s attackers myself.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Alethia asked that last question. The answer took them well into Monday morning to hash out and finalize. When they were done, they had the beginnings of a plan. Alethia walked to Richard’s house with him, planning to get a ride from Richard or Rachel. But Rachel’s door was closed when Alethia walked by it. Richard thought he smelled someone else in the room with his sister. That was a huge bucket of ‘not my business’ so Richard ignored it. But Alethia lingered at the door, with a thoughtful look on her face.

  “Allie, are you okay?”

  She was crying when she turned to him,

  “Not really. Can we get coffee and chat?”

  “Sure, I’ll drive!”

  Richard sealed his enthusiasm in a small jar in his mind. Alethia did not need to know how badly he pined after her. Besides, as much as he might hope she intended to confess her eternal love for him over coffee, Richard had a feeling his hopes would be dashed.

  During the drive to Jim’s diner, Alethia said,

  “The serum really seemed to have helped Rob. I am not so sure it’s helped me that much.”

  “Really? Didn’t you just win a major tournament?”

  Alethia sighed and stared out the window of Richard’s sedan.

  “Sure, but a lot went bad from that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Alethia would not share whatever else was bothering her until they sat down in the restaurant. She picked a booth far in the back, away from the rest of the early morning patrons.

  Richard ordered coffee for himself as well as cheese sticks. Alethia only ordered coffee.

  “So what did you need to talk to me about?”

  Alethia nodded and grabbed her coffee mug as if she suddenly felt a chill.

  “You remember when I broke up with Tony last year?”

  “If by last year, you mean like six months ago. No wait. Four.”

  Alethia blushed,

  “Yeah. I guess you do remember.”

  “How could I forget? That seemed to wreck you.”

  And gave Richard the opportunity he had been waiting for since he met Alethia that day in Swords and Boards.

  “I never told you why it wrecked me though.”

  Richard nodded,

  “You said he wasn’t mean to you and wasn’t hurting you. So I assumed it was just a bad breakup.”

  “Well, it was. But not for the reason you might have thought.”

  “Okay, what is it?”

  Alethia took a deep breath,

  “You’re one of only four, no five if you count my lawyer, who knows this. But I think I might be gay…”

  Richard’s mind reeled from the news, but Alethia gave him no chance to right himself,

  “I actually know I am bisexual. For sure. I am not really sure I am attracted to men at all, Richard.”

  Alethia sat across from Richard all but weeping into her cheap coffee. Richard was disappointed, but he already saw a path for him and Alethia. Right now the most important thing was to say this,

  “Thank you for telling me. I really appreciate it, and I know how much it means to you. You know that you are my friend no matter what, right?”

  Alethia’s tears flowed even more freely now,

  “It’s stupid, right? I got this whole insane idea that you might have a crush on me and my telling you might piss you off or something. Stupid, right?”

  “That’s not stupid, Allie. Those kinds of things are normal fears, as I understand it.”

  “God, thank you for being supportive.”

  “So are you like attracted to Rachel or something? What was up there?”

  Alethia told Richard about Karen and Zoe. About the crush she had been nurturing for years and about the new openly gay woman who seemed to want Alethia for real. Richard could feel jealousy in his heart trying to squeeze his reason to death, but he stifled those emotions and committed to listening to Alethia.

  “So what do you think, Richard?”

  Richard took a deep breath and considered his answer.

  “Well, I hate to dash your hopes, but this thing with Karen seems impossible to me.” He did not say it, but Alethia filled in with his own thoughts,

  “Especially now, right?”

  “Sorry about that, Allie.”

  She coughed,

  “What kind of terrible person would I have to be to wish that Karen’s husband would go on being a total shit to her? I would have to be pretty selfish to want to all for me.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  Richard did not really agree right then. He would have happily smashed this Zoe chick in the face and stepped over Karen to put himself before Alethia. A plan started to form in his mind,

  “Maybe the real problem is that things are not right with either woman because you have not yet met the right one for you?”

  Alethia’s laugh sounded like a choking bunny,

  “You mean an emotionally dysfunctional wreck with super powers?”

  “Alethia Thompson, you are one of the least emotionally dysfunctional people I know. Maybe the most emotionally functional person I know. Out of all of them.”

  “Thanks, I don’t really feel like it.”

  “Look, you are going through something that most people never have to deal with. If you were an emotional blank right now, then I would be concerned about you.”

  They sat and chatted about nothing at all for another half and hour. Richard let Alethia guide the conversation, with only vague direction from him when it faltered or she grew too upset. Then he drove her home and returned to his house alone.

  That night he spent hours trying to assume various female forms. He started with the nightly news, but he could not manage either the women or the men. He even tried porn and still could not manage to take someone else’s shape. He could still assume Doctor Price’s form, as well as the nurse from the other day. He tried Tammy and discovered he could turn into her as well.

  When he tried the two men with her, he discovered that he could do it and that he could see their faces based off of his own. But any other form seemed to be closed to him. In order for his plan to work, Richard needed to figure out how to improvise a new shape, like the Animorphs. But despite his efforts, the only people he could turn into seemed to be people he met face to face.

  Then Richard was stung by temptation. He considered the idea only for a moment and managed to successfully turn into Alethia herself.

  Standing before his bathroom mirror, he was the point for point image of Alethia, down to the clothes she wore tonight. That was odd. Richard tried to imagine himself as Alethia, but wearing the clothing she wore to the banquet Saturday night. That worked without much effort.

  “Huh, this has promise.”

  He yelped because his voice sounded like Alethia too. He paused and grabbed his breasts in the mirror. Her breasts? Richard could feel his own hands touching his chest and for a lone, blissful moment, he enjoyed the sensation.

  “You know…”

  Richard cut himself off. This was like finding the cheat codes to a relationship video novel. Sure, you could cheat, but what was the point? Richard wanted Alethia to show herself to him, not to steal a glance at her body through some sort of cheat. The temptation was almost over powering, but Richard decided there were places he probably should not go. At least not if he wanted Alethia’s respect as well as his own.

  If his power had been mind control, Richard would have refused to control Alethia. What would the point be in that?

  So he changed back into the attractive nurse from the other night. She tried to chase him down and had technically seen him naked, so what was the harm? Plus, this was basically upgraded porn…