Perhaps it was fate that we’d met back up with Sal. I suspected as much.

We were on our way to some sort of observatory apparently. Star Breaker didn’t say much of it, other than the fact that he was an astronomer, and it was currently closed for some reason or another.

He didn’t seem like the most chatty dude.

“So, you went from math professor to astronomer? How’d that happen?” Selene asked curiously. She was warming up to him by now, although he was also quite distant, I didn’t think they’d hit it off so fast.

“Well… I quit my old job after I got powers. And I work as a villain currently,” he began. “I do freelance work currently. But, anyone that hates TUHF is a friend of mine. So, with Twee’s urging, I came to help you folks out.”

“Oh yeah, TUHF is a load of garbage. However…” I began. “We aren’t innocent at all, we killed Bluejay. That isn’t really a question, but she had it coming. I feel we did a good thing for the world.” I tried to justify our murder of that woman. I did feel justified in killing her, just as I do with any life I take. There are a couple killings though I’ve had a very hard time dropping the guilt with, but Bluejay wasn’t one.

“Bluejay is a psychopath. I’ve heard rumors of her killing people during sexual intercourse for fun. I’m just happy she’s off to meet the maker, whoever her killer is doesn’t matter.” Star Breaker said with about as much joy as a child going to the doctor’s office. I’m glad he wasn’t so fast to jump to conclusions with this though. He seemed like a good guy, he was just really awkward in the way he interacted with others.

“Yeah, she also blew up our base, killing many innocent lives. The news isn’t talking about that lovely story though.” Twee angrily recalled. That place was her pride and joy, and she was probably pissed beyond words about it getting blown up. I’m just glad she was keeping a cool head about it right now.

“TUHF wasn’t always that bad. They got much worse though. And now… well… you know.” Sal chimed in with his unpopular opinion. He’d gotten progressively less reserved on the drive over here, although he hadn’t said a word directly to me, so I guessed he still felt indifferent.

“Well, they were kinda corrupt from the start. And with what happened during my twilight hours there… it’s safe to say they suck.” I replied to the comment, trying to make conversation with him. After my own father came and took over the place, I was extremely shocked. I didn’t even know he had powers, but apparently he just wanted to take over TUHF with them. I think he went insane, but I could care less at this point. He wasn’t himself after he ousted the previous boss, quite violently.

Afterwards, he didn’t treat me like his son, he just acted like I was another cog in that machine he calls justice. I don’t even really think he’s trying to bring justice, come to think of it. He has his own motives, but it really stings coming from him. Something changed when he got that seat of power, after the big battle.

The true question that lingered is why? Why would he want to take over TUHF? To this day I never knew.

Another riddle I sometimes ponder is how? How did he hide his powers ever since the turn of the century? And why has the government sat by idly and allowed this to go on? I assumed he’d struck a deal, the world was told that, but I know the government, and they always would cover something like this up with a lie like that. Or as I’d recently guessed, perhaps the government was completely blind to TUHF’s true intentions.

“It’s not just Tobias that’s the issue. His influence surely impacted that godforsaken place, but I feel it’s not just him. It’s the environment he’s created, and how the heroes act. I feel they are all twisted in their own right.” theorized Twee. “Also, could we please stop talking about TUHF, it pisses me off enough that they took Stocklord.”

It took a while (and Sal had yet to make-up with me) but we were now pulling up in the observatory’s parking lot around eight hours later. It was empty, abandoned, and it looked like it had been that way for a long time.

“This is it?” I asked.

“Yup, do you not like it?” Star Breaker replied timidly, I felt as if I’d offended him a little.

“Uh, well… I’m just worried about it being obvious.” I worried. “If we’re being hunted by TUHF, don’t you think we should hide a little better than an observatory on top of a mountain in plain sight?”

“Perhaps, but this is far away from where we came from, I was assuming this would only be temporary until you can clear your names.”

“Mhm…” I nodded as I got out of the car, stretching until I got a little dizzy and nearly fell over.

“You do intend to clear your names, right?” Star Breaker asked seriously.

“Well… I hadn’t really gotten to that thought yet…” I pondered, shielding my eyes from the evening sun. It had almost set, and that place in there looked spooky as fuck.

Not to say I didn’t like spooky stuff, but, I don’t really like fumbling around in abandoned observatories in the dark.

“I’m just mostly trying to conceive a plan to not die.” I continued.

“Well, there’s a town down there in the valley. I stayed there often, since I used to work here, so I’m sure the people would be open to giving some assistance, although maybe don’t tell them you’re a villain.” Star Breaker explained. His commute probably forced him to stay here, I guessed.

“You worked here too?” Twee smiled curiously.

“Yeah, I quit my teaching job the year after you left. I couldn’t hide my powers forever. I had to work somewhere that would accept a super.”

People often don’t want supers working normal jobs. Originally, they were incredibly appealing to hirers, and they’d steal all the jobs with their powers that nobody could compete with. For example, one of my friends at TUHF used to work as a demolitionist, his power was creating explosive balls of energy, you can kinda see why he’d be hired over a normal human.

Over time, supers became banned at many workplaces where their powers weren’t required like for bounty hunting, movie acting, or the Super Olympics. They are even banned from stuff where their powers don’t give advantage, like Star Breaker’s teaching job. Jobs for supers are few and far and between. Such is the curse of superpowers. And such is why my life couldn’t get back on it’s feet before I found Stocklord. Honestly, I wondered how many had become villains out of the lack of good jobs.

“And they let you work here?” Twee asked, at this point I was also listening over the hood of the car.

“Yes. They were extremely kind, also since my powers helped them push the boundaries of their research. But then they got outed for illegal conduct.” Star Breaker explained.

“Wait, what were they even doing?” I asked, walking around the car. I glanced over at Selene and Sal. The latter was showing the former how to effectively stretch. I felt at least a little glad that Sal’s distaste was only on me. I don’t think he was really enjoying himself, but-

Star Breaker had paused for a moment, then he looked up from thought. “To put it bluntly, biohacking.”

“Weren’t you studying stars though?” I tilted my head.

“That was the front. And technically we were. But we also were trying to figure out what caused The Empowerment.” Star Breaker recalled, using the name of the event that gave everyone superpowers at the turn of the century. I think it’s a rather cheesy name myself though.

“And why did they need you? Did… you sign up as a lab rat?” Twee asked in surprise, she seemed to care about his safety.

“In a way, yes. But I was paid as a worker, and I didn’t receive the worst of it. They just took blood and told me to use my powers. But... others endured experimental drugs, cybernetic implants, and radiation waves. Sometimes it even worked too, but most of those people who got powers didn’t keep them for long, if you catch my drift.” the man explained, fiddling with a lock of his black hair.

“Shit…” I swore. That stuff wasn’t common, but it wasn’t rare in this day and age either. “And on a completely unrelated note, I am curious what your other form looks like. Could I see it?”

“Umm…”

“Sorry, that-” I quickly took my request back.

“No no, I will get around to that. For now, inside please.” he ushered, bringing us over to the front door.

After fumbling with the lock for a moment, he got the door open with the best method.

A mallet from the trunk of his car.

Once we got inside, it was very dark, but from what I could make out, we stood in a small foyer with a desk and quite a lot of mess strewn across the floor. Discarded papers, dry coffee stains, and a fern’s unfortunate plant pot that had been smashed, the dirt littered on the ground.

We walked through there, heading to the main telescope room. As expected, a massive telescope four times as tall as me stood at the back of the room, surrounded by out of date tech, stuff I didn’t really know the purpose of besides some computer monitors.

“Who was even sponsoring this research?” Selene asked, looking around. Her voice echoed through the abandoned building.

“Sun Exquisites, do you know them?” Star Breaker implored.

“Oh, the alternative to TUHF… Well, I thought they could be better, but I guess if there is misconduct in their ranks-” my sister pondered.

“Hey, at least they take willing participants instead of basically kidnapping people for having powers.” Sal interrupted with his distaste. I could agree, but Sun E. performing illegal dark science isn’t really cause for celebration, so I stayed quiet instead of starting another expositional debate.

“There are bunkings over down that corridor. They are probably dirty, but I'm sure they have a washing machine here, if not, there’s probably a place in town. There are some resident villains I am good friends with here, they probably can help.” Star Breaker explained.

“We don’t have electricity. Probably will need to get a generator or go without it.” Twee pointed out. I’m so glad she was intelligent, because I couldn’t carry this group with my brain alone.

“Or we could get an electric super to do it for us…” Sal suggested to my displeasure. I was certainly not fighting Doctor Shock or The Livewire to get some power when I could just buy a fifty dollar box that does the same thing… Wait…

I began to check my pockets at that point. I had no wallet, no money.

“Guys… do you have any money!?” I panicked, staring at each of them as that truth that most people come upon at some point in their lives set in. Yup, we were all broke.

“Chill out, I have my credit cards on me.” Twee sighed, holding up her phone, cards slid into the phone case for easy access to confidential banking information. Forget what I said about Twee being intelligent.

With that, we began to settle in for the night, blissfully unaware of the shadowy figure driving toward the observatory around three miles away.