The Adjudicator's Institute for Heroics

"It should work," Avery muttered as the camera was handed off to her brother. "I dunno. Test it, I guess?"
Evan clicked a few buttons and the camera focused on Avery's face, accompanied by a little red light blinking in the corner.
"I think it's recording," he swung the camera around, watching it focus on the bedpost instead. "Yeah...okay, I'm ready to go."
Avery smiled at Dawn. "In a while crocodile."
And they all went their separate ways.

Dawn walked side-by-side with Evan. They passed Astrid briefly, who was finishing setting up the last of bags of water. They were hidden well-enough just so that she could everything while nobody would come pick them up. They gave Evan a thumbs-up as they walked off.

Dawn scratched her neck the entire walk to the Adjudicator's. It felt like centuries and every step made her feet feel tied to concrete blocks. "So, um," she started, only to swallow nervously. Did Evan know about the... mutual feelings between Dawn and his sister? Did he even care? Was this even meant to be awkward at all. Sometimes Dawn just wanted to rip her brain out, yell starting acting normal! and then go on as a normal person. If only... "Your sister's pretty cool," she said quietly, staring at the camera once more, "And you are too! Uh, yeah. I, um, I don't know where I was going with that."

Evan tilted his head, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Sure, okay. You know you don't have to try to hide anything from me, right? At least, not in regards to my sister."
He scratched his ear, gaze roaming around the hallway as they made their way toward the Adjudicator's office once more. "You're terrible at lying about stuff. But I'm sure she already told you that..."


Meanwhile, in the library, Avery and Sage had located their computer. Sage sat down at it while Avery stood watch, arms crossed like a bodyguard.
"Let's see what this pulls up," Sage murmured as she typed History of the Adjudicator into the search bar.

Dawn chuckled sheepishly, trying to ignore how "painfully obvious" she was to everyone around her. "Do, um," Dawn stared at the door for a moment, trying to steel her nerves before entering. She was sure to be yelled at for the commotion a few days ago, for sure. "Do all siblings have telepathic links with each other?" she asked earnestly.
Then, quietly, she turned the door open. "Make sure you start recording once we get to the good stuff," she told Evan, "I've gotta act like I'm on her side for a while before we get there."

Unsurprisingly, there weren't many photos and articles of the Adjudicator. Though, the few that did show up did indicate that she may've erased much of her past. There were only a few photos left. One of the photos showed her with her son, a brunette boy with noise-cancelling headphones. He was barely able to stand on his own and Dawn wasn't mentioned anywhere. The Adjudicator had a voluminous, poofy hair in style akin to the 1980's, and a huge grin on her face resembling that of Dawn's. The genes ran strong in the family.

She wore the classic superhero suit, latex, mask, and all. The photo was of bad quality and was taken before the Adjudicator was wheelchair bound. The article was about the reveal of her son, Oliver, and why she had been on a break from fighting villains. In it, she apologized for having to stay off the streets and promised to return. She never went into who the father was.

"Well, that doesn't tell us much," Sage grumbled as she scrolled through the article. "What use is the internet if she's already erased everything interesting from it?"
"I mean, it shows that she's hiding something," Avery leaned down to look over Sage's shoulder. "That's something, I suppose."
"Yeah, but it's not much," Sage squinted at the photo. "That must be Dawn's...brother? Has she mentioned him before?"
"I think so," Avery tilted her head, trying to recall. "Yeah...she said something about him dying. That's why the Adjudicator is so protective of her."
"How did he die?" Sage wondered.
"I dunno. Search it up."


Evan gave a short laugh. "No, I've just known her for way too long. She's easy to predict."
He nodded as Dawn gave the instructions. Soon he had melted out of existence, barely discernable from the background. He kept the camera tucked carefully under his arm as the two of them entered the Adjudicator's office for the second time.

Once again, there wasn't much to find. She did her best to get rid of anything damning, but she forgot the existence of archives and public records.

The most detailed article explained that there had been a run-in with someone who had super strength, causing a wrench in the mother-son duo. Oliver was only about seventeen. Oliver sacrified himself for the Adjudicator, but in the end she was crippled after being crushed under a car. From then on, she retired and withdrew completely.

There were very few photos of the event, most of them blurred, but there was one with a young Dawn in the background, her hair down in childish pigtails while dandelions and weeds sprouted by her face. She was crying her eyes out as a miscellanious paramedic took her hand and dragged her away from the scene. Another showed the outside of a hospital roon cut off from the world and locked away by grass and root. It was the first time anyone heard of the Adjudicator's daughter, and year or so later, it was revealed that the villian who put the Adjudicator in a wheelchair was named Isack Rinstone. He was never caught.

The moment Dawn entered the office, her mother's cold, hard stare shook her. "Well," she said, "How happy I am to see you again."

Dawn rubbed her cheek again. "Well," Dawn said, "I had to come back eventually. A-And I'm sorry about losing my cool by your office-"

"Save it, Dawn," the Adjudicator said, pinching the crease between her eyes, "I don't want to hear it. I doubt you'll ever learn to stay composed. You always let everything get the best of you and you become so emotional over everything! I'm this close to giving up on you."

All the work to harden her nerves were slowly unraveling as sweat appeared on her forehead. Dawn licked her lips. "Okay, fine. That's not the reson I'm here, though."

The Adjudicator's brow raised. "Oh?"

Dawn swallowed nervously. "I know everything, Mom. A-And I wanna know why. I want to help make the world safer, too," she lied. It was the most nerve-wracking lie she ever told.

The Adjudicator stopped and thought for a moment, glancing at the corner. Thankfully, Darcy wasn't there today. She had other matters to attend to at this moment. "So that's where my folder went..." she mumbled to herself. "Unfortunately, I don't believe you know everything. Besides, I doubt you'd be able to understand why I do these things."

Dawn curled her fingers into a fist, her nails digging into her palms. "Then show me."

The Adjudicator laughed. Dawn didn't.
Her mother almost smiled. "Hm, I never thought I'd see you like this. So... defiant. Weakly so, but it is strange. I wonder if it's those troublesome friends of your's. You know, I'm really not the biggest fan of your company." Dawn fought the urge not to defend her friends there and then.

The woman was silent for while, tapping her finger against her temples as she discerned her next action. "Fine. You want to know the truth? You'll find out the truth."

The Adjudicator wheeled herself to the hidden elavator comparment, beckoning Dawn over once she was inside the cramped device.

Dawn quickly glanced in Evan's direction. Then, slowly, she walked into the elavator, her legs shaking every time they were lifted off the ground.

Evan lifted the camera to his face, pressing the record button. Thankfully he could still see the vague outline of the device, even though he was practically invisible to the outside world. As the three of them entered the elevator, he slid behind Dawn, training the camera on the back of the Adjudicator's head.
Time to capture some secrets.


Back in the library, Sage read and re-read the last line of the article.
"Isack Rinstone..." she murmured, staring at the screen.
"Isn't that the last name of that speedster girl?" Avery asked. She thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers as it came to her. "Izzy Rinstone! Her dad was the one who killed Dawn's brother?"
"Or uncle," Sage pointed out. "Brothers have the same last name, too."
"This is crazy...no wonder she's such a piece of work. Her relative's a full-on murderer!"

Dawn never felt more uncomfortable than when she was crammed in that tiny elevator with Evan and her mother. What if the Adjudicator heard Evan breathe? What if something went wrong and they were stuck here forever?! Okay, Dawn. Calm down. It's not gonna break like that... Hopefully.

Thankfully, the elevator stopped with a sudden jerk and the doors opened. Darcy was down there, examining one of many liquids and blood samples in small vials. Dawn knew that she had a bit of medical training (if not professionally, than from taking care of Dawn since she and the Adjudicator met). "Well? Is this what you wanted to see?" her mother said, rolling out of the shaft nonchalantly. Dawn, on the other hand, was praying that Evan had the camera rolling. This was scene enough to build distrust, but they needed more. Distrust only went so far. They needed proof.

"It's..." she trailed off, unable to think of anything as she walked into the lab. Darcy greeted her with a wave and small smile. Dawn did not return it. Not after she did nothing when she was slapped so hard across the face it caused bruising. "It's something."

The Adjudicator smirked. "I thought you'd say that," she said. She pointed to one of the vials. Dawn's heart was in her throat as she stiffly walked over to the table. "That's your friend. Sam, I think."

Dawn stared straight at the vial of orange liquid. The blood and DNA had already been separated from the power, but it still felt as if they were in their. Their traumas, passions, dreams... It felt like the serum glowed a bit brighter when she felt Evan walk by. Dawn remembered a time where they were debating the ethics of taking away Prodigy's powers as a legal form of punishment. She remembered her brother trying to turn off the TV whenever it came up.

"And do you see who that is?" The Adjudicator put her arm around Dawn's shoulder, turning her in the direction of some sort of operating table. In reality, it was nothing more than a bench that had a machine next to it, drawing blood for an incapacitated student. "They could turn back time. What an incredible ability, hm?" The student had long, black hair that ran off the edge of the table and a tube stuck into her arm.
For a moment, Dawn saw Avery on that table. Her face went white.
She could feel her stomach churning back and forth.
"Unfortunately, they used it to cheat on tests. Clearly, something so powerful was too much responsibility for them. I'm doing her and the world a favor."

Dawn stared at the girl for a lot longer than she should've. It was only when her mother annoyedly pushed her did she come to. She covered her mouth, but it didn't stop her from dry-heaving. Something horrified her deep inside about staring at a nameless victim. Dawn would never know their story, she'd never know how they laughed, why they cried, who they were. It sent chills down her spine that the aspiration and humanity of a random teenager was being torn away right in front of her, and Dawn didn't even know their name.

The Adjudicator rolled her eyes. "You wanted to know the truth? You've got it," she sighed heavily, "This is why I keep you away from all these things. Look at you! You can't handle anything that isn't about puppies and rainbows!"

"You," the shock made her chuckle. It was so... crude. Dawn had a bewildered grin across her face. "You're insane! You're tearing aspirations from innocent kids! You're a nutjob!" She pointed accusingly.
The Adjudicator grabbed her daughter's arm so hard it turned white. The snap of her bones and the pain of a broken arm replayed in Dawn's mind. "You ungrateful little-" the Adjudicator only stopped herself because Darcy was watching, "I'm protecting everyone! I'm protecting you! I apologize that not everyone will care for you like I do, but this is the first step into stopping that!"

Izzy stared at the door in front of her. For once in her life, a strange new feeling overcame her. Was it fear? Anxiety? Who knows. The only thing she did know was Powder was no where to be seen and there was this weird plant on the door. It looked exactly like whatever Sage wrapped her in before, so she knew she had the right place.

"What're you doing here?"
Izzy turned to the sound, only to find a small kid with spiky hair and a pink dress that looked like it was missing a pair of kid-sized fairy wings.

"What're you doing here?" Izzy responded.

"Guard duty. I saw you coming up here since you turned the second corner. What do you want?" Astrid said, hands on their hips. "You wanna beat Evan up again? Yeah, I know. Words gets around. I do my research when it comes to my friends."

"Why does everyone think I want to fight them!? I just need to talk with them," Izzy said, scratched her hair in frustration. "Something's come up and, and,"

"You ain't gonna find them here," Astrid cut her off.

"Where can I find them?"

"Mm, not gonna tell you."

Izzy groaned. Of course. Why would they? Looks like she'd have to go on her own. She'd down enough arguing with middle-schoolers today.

Evan tensed when the Adjudicator grabbed Dawn's arm. He thought about Astrid, and her suggestion about being able to flashbang people with his power. Could he do that to the Adjudicator, if it came to it?
He clenched his hands tighter around the camera. He couldn't make any sudden moves, or do anything that might make a sound. Even the slightest rustle of his clothing might give him away. He kept his breathing silent and shallow, focusing on training the camera on the unnamed girl. The better quality of video, the better. He needed people to see what the Adjudicator was doing...and what she'd already done.
As he stood there he felt a slight warmth on his back. Turning carefully, his gaze rested on the vial of Sam's power. It was orange, just like their eyes. Evan cast a glance back at the Adjudicator, who was busy yelling something about protection at Dawn. Certain she wasn't paying attention, Evan reached out and touched the vial.
The heated glass warmed his fingers which, in turn, slowly melted it out of sight. Evan stuck the now-invisible vial in his pocket, then continued to film the rest of the Adjudicator's creations.

"What are you talking about!?" Dawn yelled back. She pulled her arm away from the Adjudicator to no avail. "I don't need you to coddle me all my life! That's just weird!"

The Adjudicator only seemed to grow more and more furious as Dawn kept standing up for herself. "You really think you can take care of yourself now? Please! You know you rely on those friends of yours more than you'd like to admit. If I kicked you out right now you'd die in the span of fifteen minutes!"

Finally, Dawn just broke. She stopped fighting back and just folded over. "Let me die, then! I'd rather die than be trapped here with you! I-I mean, what do you want!? You're trying to protect me, than you hit and demean me- I don't know what you want from me anymore!" Dawn tried her hardest to keep down any tears, but she couldn't help how emotions affected her. She was starting to think she'd run out of tears before the end of the year.

The Adjudicator softened for a moment, allowing Dawn to yank herself free. It only took a few more seconds of silence for the Adjudicator to finally steel herself again. "Fine." She stared at her daughter, no emotion in her eyes. Dawn didn't stare back.

Instead, Dawn rubbed her cheek and stormed in the other direction, dodging Evan as best she could. She found the poor girl on the operating table and jerked the tube out of her. Dawn didn't mind that so blood spurted onto her, as she wrapped the injury in vine afterwards. "Dawn Louise Whitlock!" her mother gasped.

"What!? It's not like you need to protect me anymore, so go ahead and punish me! You already did, anyways!" she snapped back. Dawn reached her hand out, and the Adjudicator's wheelchair was entangled in a mess of root and vine. Her wheels were clogged with bark. "See? I can take care of myself."

For the first time in her life, Dawn gazed at her mother's hate-filled eyes and felt confident.
Then the lights dimmed. Dawn felt her power slip from her.
It was only then she heard the footsteps of Darcy approaching. Her face turned white.

"Ms. Lane," she pleaded, "you don't have to do this. You- You know this isn't right! This is evil! Please, you really cared about me, didn't you? You're better than this."
Although Darcy's features were laced with regret, it didn't stop her or the syringe in her hands. Dawn tried to tie her in a creeper, but the dark made it impossible. All she could do was pray Evan was still nearby as her back was pressed against the wall.

Someone tapped Avery's shoulder. Well, they tried to. It was more like the part of her upper back nearest to her shoulder blade. When she looked, a blonde girl with big, pale blue eyes and a teddy bear was up on her tip-toes. She returned to her feet shortly after, back away after seeing just how tall Avery was. "What're you doing back here?" she asked bluntly, a wooden puppet creeping onto her shoulder. Her brows were furrowed, but it did nothing to make her intimidating. She looked akin to an angry bunny. "I thought you went away. I'm not supposed to be around you," she mumbled.

Avery's eyebrows moved closer together, matching the little girl's confused expression. "What are you talking about? We never left..."
At the computer, Sage glanced warily over her shoulder. She closed the research tab so the strange girl couldn't see what she'd been reading.


In the basement, Evan watched with a mixture of admiration and horror as Dawn ripped the tube from the girl's arm, bandaging the open wound with her powers. He'd never seen her so defiant, so...unlike herself. It wasn't a bad thing--far from it. As he watched her bind the Adjudicator's chair, Evan couldn't help but feel a spark of hope. Maybe they could actually win this!
That spark was quickly put out, though, when the lights sputtered out. Evan glanced around, fresh fear causing his skin to tingle. He stopped recording--no use keeping the camera on if it couldn't pick up anything.
Then, Dawn's pleading voice cut through the silence. Evan's head lurched around, toward the noise. It sounded like she was trying to reason with someone...he remembered the woman in the back of the room, watching them. That was Darcy Lane, right? Didn't matter. Whoever was approaching Dawn, it sounded like they were trying to take her powers from her.
But what can I do about it? I don't have any combat abilities! Evan's mind spasmed, trying to think of what to do. Then he remembered Astrid's suggestion. It was a joke at the time, but...could he actually pull it off? Only one way to find out.
Pulling all of his power from the depths of his chest, Evan concentrated it in his fingertips. As he did so he slowly became visible again, but that didn't matter in the pitch-dark environment. Concentrating as hard as he could, he drew the color out of himself. His fingertips started to glow; red, green, yellow, orange. Then the color separated from his skin, gathering between his hands like a floating, rainbow-colored marble. Darcy and the others turned toward him, startled by the sudden appearance of light in the ebony-black room.
"Dawn!" Evan cried. "Close your eyes!"
Then he slammed the color into the ground.


As soon as it made contact, the little rainbow marble exploded into a thousand shades. It washed across the tables, the chairs, the walls like a tsunami wave. The impact of the tiny concentrated bomb threw Evan backward, his eyes squinted shut as hard as possible.
Even still, he could see it through his eyelids. Indescribable colors, so bright they burned and so abundant they overloaded the senses. Then, as fast as they came, they were gone--absorbed into their surroundings like water into a sponge. The tables turned magenta, the vials turquoise; even the Adjudicator's wheelchair became a vibrant shade of lily pink.
Evan lay on his back, dazed. But he had to get up--he had to make sure Dawn was okay.

Dawn shrilled as a rainbow seemed to vomit through the room, flying back into the wall behind her. Unfortunately, she was already pressed against, so all it did was cause back pain and some sliding onto the floor. It certainly was overwhelming. Even though she closed her eyes, dots and squiggles scattered around her eyesight. It was like a flashbang, yet it somehow hurt even more. Colors flew and coated different objects, and when Dawn came to her senses, she found a few the freckles on her arm had turned purple.

She struggled to regain her senses afterwards, but after hearing Darcy screech while covering her arms, hunched over in pain, it wasn't all too hard. Especially when she heard a syringe hit the floor. A few tears pooled around Dawn's eyes when she rubbed them and stood up. "Oh gosh," she whispered, "You could do that this whole time!?" Dawn leaned against the wall and looked for Evan. After such a display burned into her retinas, it took a moment to find him amongst the colors.

Dawn shook her head one last time, and suddenly the world around her made sense. She heard the Adjudicator groan and she felt her heart drop to the floor and bounce back into her throat. "Mom!" Before she could even think, she ran to the Adjudicator and checked over her, looking for any injuries. After everything, Dawn couldn't deny her mother. She couldn't help it, and even she hated that fact. "Mom, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Dawn grabbed her mother shoulders, trying to shake her back to her senses. The Adjudicator had a hand over her eyes, wincing and flinching at every little thing. "Mom? Mother? You're alright, right? Right?"

Then Dawn felt something grab her long, curly hair. She yelped and looked at her mother. Except... It didn't really look like the Adjudicator. More... unhinged. "What have you done!?" the Adjudicator screamed. Dawn kept trying to tug her hair away, fighting briefly as she took her hair back, but it only caused the Adjudicator to wrench at her even harder. Dawn knew the longer she was forced to stay here, the more likely she was to lose everything. So, she did the first thing that came to mind, even if she hated doing it.

She had a certain keepsake in her pocket from their last encounter. A small dagger made from a strange purple liquid. Dawn raised up on right where the Adjudicator's hand was, and sliced her hair off. Her mother pulled back, waving her hand and grabbing her wrist. Dawn saw the bit of finger she cut off as a result.

She just hurt her mother... Dawn forced herself not to dry heave again. Sure, she'd been beaten and bruised, but Dawn returning that hurt was something she deemed impossible! Even if this was an accident. "Mom, I-" she cut herself off. She knew that once her hair fell onto the floor that she should run, but the most she could do was back away slowly and stand beside Evan. Dawn reached for her hair. There was still a sizeable bit left, but she never knew her hair could stop just below her shoulder. It always hit the bottom of her back until now. "I really liked my hair," she whispered to herself in the shock of it all.


Winifred squinted at Avery. The wooden puppet on her shoulders was stiff. "I saw you go to the dorms, and now you're back." Winnie leaned over suddenly, getting a good look at Sage. She returned to Avery a slip second later. "And you're with a new girl. That's weird. Where's the other one?"

"She's taking a nap," Sage explained to the little girl. Her lies were getting more convincing. "School's taken a lot out of her."
"I escorted her back to the dorm," Avery added, catching on. "But I'm not tired, so me and Sage came out here."


Down in the basement, Evan struggled to his feet. It was hard to get them underneath him--he kept slipping on the floor, sliding around on an especially slick patch of cobalt. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to stop burning. It didn't help, though, because his skin was just as brightly colored as the room around him.
Oh, great. He looked like he'd just lost an extremely violent game of paintball. Splatters of orange and canary yellow covered his body, along with several pops of cyan and violet. But he didn't have the energy to change color now. He could barely stand beside Dawn as she stepped back, feeling the frayed edges of her once-long hair.
"I have the evidence," he grunted through lime-green lips. Even his teeth had been stained an unflattering shade of burgundy. He held up the camera to show her. "Let's go."

Winifred tilted her head and squeezed her teddy bear. "That's weird," she repeated. "My brother was right, I shouldn't talk to you. You're all weird."
Despite her statement, she didn't move. She wasn't entirely sure how to leave the conversation, but she didn't want to leave it either. Powder told her to keep an eye on the weird people, but it seemed a little too late to keep it on the down-low.

Dawn gulped, then nodded to Evan. Then she quickly looked away due to how bright he was. "Oh, um, okay," she mumbled. She took Evan's arm and dragged him off the elevator, making sure they had the now green and red camera. Before the door closed, Dawn saw her mother's eyes. She seemed manic, more than usual. The Adjudicator's insanity was controlled most of the time, so such an outburst was... weird. The door slammed shut and started going up with a sputter. It was like being locked in a tin can. Her heartbeat went a mile a minute. "So... what was that?" Dawn said, messing with her frayed ends once again. Hopefully Avery could make some scissors... and hopefully Sage knew how to give a proper hair cut.

Evan slumped against the elevator wall, exhausted. He'd never done anything even close to that level of destruction before, nor had he used up so much power. It was like a part of him had been yanked out, leaving his bones empty, hollow, and flimsy.
"Color bomb," he answered breathlessly. "Like Astrid said."


Back in the library, Avery was getting worried. This little girl was a spy for the Adjudicator, was she not? If she knew what they were doing...
She had to find a way to make her go away.
"Tell you what," Avery leaned down so she was at least somewhat closer to Winnie's level. She reached into her canister, pulling out a handful of swirling purple Daya. "I can make whatever I want out of this stuff. Trucks, dolls, teddy bears--if you leave Sage and I alone, I'll make you any toy you want. Deal?"