The Adjudicator's Institute for Heroics

Astrid stared up Sage as she were a prophet, sent from heaven or whatever afterlife there was. "Finally!" they screamed, gesturing to Sage with excitement, "Someone gets it! Romance is gross and I want no part of it! Oh my God, dude! I'm so glad I finally have met my kin. It's nice to meet you." They shook Sage's hand gratefully with a grin of pure confidence.

"Hm... I mean, it does look like you guys could use someone pretty awesome on your team..." she considered, "and I also hate the admin here... AND I like supporting my self-proclaimed bestest friend." Astrid took a minute to hum to themself and think very deeply, a finger tapping against their chin and a mature expression.
That maturity was thrown out instantly. "Uh, duh! Why would I not? I'm in."

"So, um," Dawn nervously rubbed her shoulder, her face resembling a beet, "You... You all do realize that, um, Avery and I... w-we're still in earshot when you were all, uh, talking... about... us." It looked like Dawn was about to explode with embarrassment, her heart beating out of her chest.

"Nice to meet you, too," Sage returned Astrid's excited grin. She looked up at Evan. "See? Your friend gets it."
He shrugged, tiny purple freckles popping up over his nose in embarrassment. "Sorry. I of all people should know that not everybody's experience is the same..."
He rubbed his shoulders uncomfortably, internally scolding himself for being so assumptive. When Dawn turned around all red-faced the freckles multiplied, accompanied by shameful pink ears.
"Sorry," he mumbled again. Today's the day for mistakes, I suppose.
"It's fine," Avery wrapped her arm around Dawn's shoulders. "I'd rather you do it here than behind our backs. I didn't know you could do that, though."
She pointed to the freckles covering Evan's face. The little markings rapidly disappeared, leaving his cheeks stained vaguely violet.

Dawn's mind went into a shutdown when she felt Avery's arm around her. While Evan's colors disappeared, grass and flora had began climbing it's way up her legs. Am I really that obvious?! I thought- I mean, wouldn't they have said something sooner?! Oh gosh, how many people know?!, she screamed to herself. There were no othet thoughts behind Dawn's eyes.

Astrid stared at Evan, bewildered. "Woah. I didn't know you could do that either! What are your powers, anyway? Like, mine's pretty straightfoward but... I've never seen someone turn their face into an eggplant." It took a moment for Astrid to realize what they said. "Yeah, that sounded rude. Sorry. I'm still curious, though."

Evan laughed, trying to release the tension in his shoulders.
"I have power over color. Or, more accurately, I'm a chameleon," he explained, holding up his hand. Stripes of cyan, green, and yellow shot across it, combining into a color like terracotta before exploding into white-and-purple polka dots. "I can blend into things, too..."
He held his hand over one of the open trays of water, mirroring the rippling patterns on his palm. Then he touched the sleeve of his hoodie and the pattern traveled up his arm and neck, making his hair look like silvery water.
"It's not useful for much," he muttered as the effect dissipated, staining his hair a sort of bluish grey. "But I can make myself invisible, if I want. That's what I did when Izzy and the others passed us by in the hallway yesterday."

Astrid's jaw dropped. "No way," she whispered. They watched the colors like a baby watched dangling keys, completely entralled with the small display he put on. "No way!" they repeated, this time bouncing up and down. They grabbed Evan's arm ans examined it, though they couldn't technically see it. "That's so cool! I wanna do that! We should like, trade powers!" she said excitedly, before then simmering down. "Oh, right," Astrid huffed, "I wouldn't be able to do anything with it. Can't see and all. It's still sick, though. You could like, totally give someone a seizure if you tried hard enough." Astrid could picture them defeating someone with epilepsy. "It's kinda mean, but it's pretty hardcore. Like, you never expect someone to flashbang you with a rainbow!"

"I never thought about it like that before," Evan muttered, scratching his chin. "I wonder if that'd be possible. Someone coming at me and then BOOM! Color bomb."
He looked down at Astrid, grinning.
"Maybe I should try it on Izzy."
"Oh no, now you're giving him ideas!" Sage cried, laughing at the image of Evan color-bombing the angry speedster. Then she stopped herself. Astrid was right, that was a little mean-spirited...

Astrid had never been so happy. Two people who could match her energy? It was a miracle! Finally, there was someone who could understand them! Someone understood hating romance, someone understood changing their name- it was amazing! At least there was one good thing about coming to this school, other than leaving her weird small town.

"Yeah, but like, Izzy is... Well, she's like me but worse. I never thought that would even be possible!" Astrid said, sitting in their desk chair and spinning a glass of water in her hands.

Dawn, after a good five minutes of looking like she'd pass out, finally made the rose retreat back into the floor. She took a deep breath to make the red go down, but pink lingered on her cheeks. She stayed beside Avery, still. In full honesty, she would love to stay here, with Avery's arm around her shoulders, for as long as possible. "Um, so, that's one more member, right? That's good. Good. We could probably use a few more if we really want to take her down, but it's a start" she said, anxiously, "I, um, welcome to the team."

Astrid smiled back at her. "Glad to be here. You all obviously needed my help, and I'm happy to lend it," she said, "So, what's the plan to expose the Adjudicator and get her taken to jail or prison or something? We do have a plan, right?"
Dawn shifted uncomfortably at the mention of her mom imprisoned.

"Uh..." Evan scratched the back of his neck. "Not...really."
"We were going to come up with something once everybody was together," Sage added quickly. "To, you know...pander to everyone's strengths, I guess?"
"Yeah," Evan agreed, nodding. "That. So, do you have any ideas?"
He looked at Astrid.

Astrid scoffed, "Pssh. 'Course I have ideas." There was a moment of silence. "So, uh, I dunno, actually. We've got enough people to get evidence on her, and there's probably like twenty more trying to spy on us to get her favor... just a rough estimate. I think we'd just have to expose her at some sort of event without being off'd first. We just gotta get those spies off our backs so they don't tell Mrs. Adjudicator to not do anything public for a while. We should probably focus on the 'spies and targets on our backs' first."

Dawn closed in on herself, her arms wrapping around herself and slouching just slightly. Her legs locked together. Speaking of her mother like this, like she was dangerous... Well, she was, but it still wasn't a great sentiment. Dawn rubbed the purple band-aid on her cheek shyly. She couldn't think of any events coming up. None her mother would attend, at least. Not like she'd be finding out any time soon.
She was scared to face her again, especially after the outburst she had in the hall. Yet she still felt sympathy for the Adjudicator. Why was it so hard to cut off her feelings towards her?! All Mother would do was manipulate them over and over again.

She stood so uncomfortably in the corner- there was nothing Dawn could say-, but Astrid paid no mind. Not their problem if someone's mom was a crazy psycho.

"You know," Avery said softly when she noticed Dawn's anxious posture. "...Maybe we should go somewhere else. Let those three work out the details."
She nodded to Sage, Evan, and Astrid huddled in the middle of the room.

"How do we get spies to go away?" Evan wondered. "Is there a way to identify them and, like, run them off?"
"You could color-bomb them," Sage smirked. "Make them go into shock."
"That seems like it might attract attention," Evan muttered. "Even if I could make a color-bomb, which I've never even considered before."

Astrid rubbed their chin, "Hm... Well, the spies are just gonna be other students, right? You saw Powder and Izzy back there. Maybe we can bribe the other ones onto our side? And for the staff... Uh, I dunno. Act as normal, I guess?" Astrid said, scratching the side of her head. "I dunno how we'll attack them unless we know they're right there."

Dawn looked up at Avery, her face flaring right back up. "Oh, um, uh," she stuttered as her heartbeat rose, "Sure. Yeah. I'd, um, like that. Where should we go?" Dawn said. "I just, um, how long do you think they'll be?"

"Probably not too long," Avery replied, glancing over at the group. "With the little information we have, there's not much room for a complicated plan. Let's just go somewhere quiet, like the library? I'd suggest the cafeteria, but, you know...mind control."


"...But how will we identify the spies?" Sage wondered, flicking at the leaves of a vine that had sprouted near her foot. "We don't know who's a regular student and who might be watching us. Besides, what if some of them can turn invisible, like Evan? Or...hear through walls, or something? How are we supposed to protect ourselves from superpowered enemies if we don't even know where they are?"
"If one of the students working for the Adjudicator could hear through walls, we'd be long dead by now," Evan pointed out. "All she'd need to do was get them to follow us and bam-- all the information she could possibly need."
"We should probably start being more careful about what we say..." Sage murmured, scratching her chin. "Just in case."

"Well..." Astrid scratched her head again, this time much rougher, "Is there some sort of student list? We could check if there's anybody with those powers. There's gotta be some sort of class registry list we can get our hands on. We should probably know who we're up against."

Dawn nodded, though it was hard to ignore the bells ringing in her head. Now there's no doubt Avery knows I like her, and other people know, too! How many people know? Does she- No, she wouldn't. There's way better options out there.

Soon enough, her thoughts were broken and they had entered the library. Dawn loved it, mostly because there were plenty of study areas and bean bags to lie on. The view from the upper floor of it was great as well. She'd been caught napping here many times, only to get a slap on the wrist. Dawn looked to her usual spot, only to find it occupied. It was just behind a few bookshelves, making it the perfect shady corner to hide in.
Except there was someone in it.

A small child, no older than thirteen, held a teddy bear tight to her chest. She bore a striking resemblence to Powder, with her fluffy blonde hair and big, pale blue eyes. In front of her, a wooden doll spun in circles and leap similar to a ballerina. The girl was intensely focused on it, but her attention waned when she caught sight of Dawn. The small girl's eyes widened and she quickly went back to her dolls, who were either staring at the pair or trying to console her. Her teddy bear freely hugged her. It seemed as if the toys had their own sentience, not tied to the kid. Dawn marveled at it.

She snapped back to reality just seconds later. "Sorry, um, where did you wanna sit? We can go up to the loft for some privacy, or... Well, it's up to you."

Avery was watching the little girl, too, an expression of barely-concealed unease on her tall, dark face.
"The loft sounds good," she muttered, tearing her gaze away from the sentient toys to look at Dawn. "Yeah...the loft sounds good."


Sage snapped her fingers as soon as the words 'class registry list' left Astrid's mouth. Evan jumped, spots of orange appearing on his skin before blending back into his usual greyish tone.
"Can you not do that right in my ear?" he hissed to the botani-kinetic.
"Sorry," Sage apologized, clambering back to her feet. "I'm just excited. You say class registration list, Astrid? We have just the thing! Follow me!"
And she took off down the hallway, not bothering to wait for either of her companions to catch up.

Astrid stood still as Sage bolted down the hall. Silently, she turned to Evan. "Your friend is insane," they said, grinning. "I love her." With that, she sprinted after Sage, leaving their dormmate's room a mess and Evan in the dust.

One last glance at the girl was given, who was now eyeing them with caution, before Dawn nodded quickly and made her way to the upper portion of the library. The books on the shelves were far less interesting here, mostly history and public records, but the view of down below was great.
Dawn sat herself on the small red couch overlooking the balcony, two stools beside her and a long, glass coffee table in front. "So, um... Thanks for getting me out of there. I probably should've said that sooner," she whispered, rubbing her bruised cheek again. "It's just... I know I should hate her but I just can't bring myself to do it." She sighed for a moment, before shaking her head. "Sorry, I don't want to be a downer right now. I think. I hope, at least. Is there anything you want to talk about?"