The Adjudicator's Institute for Heroics

"Oh, shut up you two," Sage muttered to Evan and Astrid. "Let the lovebirds have their moment."
"They're just jealous," Avery told Dawn jokingly. At the computer, Sage made a face.
"Do you want me to side with you or not?" she asked, eyebrows raised. Before Avery could respond, though, there was a beep from the monitor. "It's uploaded!"

Dawn simply covered her burning face. She desperately wanted a book on being less obvious.
Thankfully, the news that the video was uploaded was enough to ground her. Her arms lowered and she cringed. "Yeah, great. I, uh, should probably hide away for a few days, then. There's, um, not fun stuff about me on there. Haha."

Astrid high-fived Evan once the upload was complete. "I can do work on spreading it around. I'm already pretty social, anyways." Then, Dawn's words caught their attention. "Unless... you don't want me to?"

"No, no," Dawn sighed, "I don't want this to be for nothing. I just got a, uh, personal and emotional and carried away and, um, all that stupid stuff. I'm just... Not sure what people will think of me after seeing that."

Evan nodded. "I can come with you. I'm not going to be much help spreading the news...I don't have a very good reputation around here."
Avery turned to Dawn. "We can go back to the dorm, if you like."
"I'll stay and help Astrid," Sage decided. "We'll get the word out while you three take a break. You've done enough."
Avery nodded, rubbing Dawn's shoulder. "I'll make snacks!"

Astrid grinned. "Cool! You're starting to become my 2nd favorite best friend. I can't wait to go gossip and spread rumors! Oh, it's gonna be like Mean Girls or Heathers or something! Fun!"

A weak smile spread across Dawn's face. "You do make some pretty good snacks..." she whispered. "Alright, let's go. Maybe we could play a board game, or watch a movie or something." Then, she turned to Sage. "Oh, and thanks. Good luck."

Sage gave a quick mock salute. "No problem. Go have fun! You deserve it."

"A movie sounds good," Evan added. "Is there a TV in the dorm?"

"If there is, I never noticed it..." Avery frowned, rubbing her chin. "Oh well, if there isn't one we can always figure something out. I don't think I could make an entire TV...but maybe a card game? I dunno."

Dawn occasionally glanced down at Avery's hand as the three of them walked, but only felt confident enough to graze pinkies with. It was awkward the first time, and, well... with Evan, her brother there...

"Oh! We could play old maid! I love old maid," Dawn blurted out. She quickly brought her head down in embarrassment, rubbing one of her damaged hair strands shyly, "Or, um, whatever you guys want! It doesn't bother me, really."

"Old maid sounds good!" Avery rubbed her chin. "...Although, you'd have to refresh me on the rules. I haven't played in a while."

Back in the library, Sage glanced at Astrid.
"So," she began, clicking her chain nervously. "How do we start? I've never done anything like this before. I'm not particularly sociable..."
She scratched the scars on her back. Her anxious sweat was making them itch.

Astrid stared at Sage for a moment. "Oh," they whispered. "You're like Evan, aren't you?" Astrid grumbled for a moment, then shook their head. Try not to say anything mean. Don't say she's a friendless loser. That's mean, even if you don't mean it to be mean. "I'll introduce you to my friends. You spread rumors through friends first, then it goes from there. Ya gotta start small."

Izzy bumped into a warm mass. At first, she was just going to groan and walk away, but she recognized that lavendar sweater. "Ah, crap," she mumbled, looking up at Avery, then Dawn, then Evan. "Um, well," Izzy awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. "Sup? Nice haircut and..." she scanned Evan over once more, "... colors? Oh, and sorry. Yeah. I gotta talk about something, if you don't mind."

Sage raised her eyebrows at Astrid. "Like Evan? Oh God, please don't say that. I'm much more stable than espresso depresso back there. I was just...kept away from people for a while. Lost my touch."


In the hallway, Evan gave Izzy a narrow glare.
"What do you need to talk to us about? I thought you swore to stay away from us." he still hadn't let go of blaming the speedster for Sam's loss. But...he reached into his pocket to touch the warm vial of orange. Perhaps there was still hope.
"Is something wrong, Izzy?" Avery asked, casting Evan a pointed look. Don't start a fight NOW.

Once Astrid's thoughts had been confirmed, they couldn't help but smile. "Uh huh, sure," they said, "'cuz normal people are cut off from the world completely sometimes. Yep." Astrid laughed a little bit, before patting Sage's shoulder. "Maybe you can write the URL on some bathroom stalls and mirrors or something, I can handle all the people stuff. It only takes one person to start a fire, after all."

Izzy squinted at Evan, a fake grin on her face. "Wow! I can't believe you had enough brainpower up there to remember that! Good job!" she fully patronized him, her voice high-pitched and sweet. "Now, if you just sparked a few more braincells up there, you might realize that if after all that I choose to talk to a creep like you, it might be important." Izzy fully dropped her candy-coated voice and stared deadpan at the three. "Is there anywhere private we can talk? I think you'd be interested in what I have to say, and so would that one's-" Izzy pointed at Dawn, who quickly shrunk behind Avery, "-mommy dearest."

"It wasn't my fault!" Sage flinched away from Astrid's pat. "I didn't go into some self-enforced retreat! There was an accident--and they took me away--and I-I...look."

She took a deep breath. "I thought that, when I got the letter...I'd finally be free. But I'd been away from the world for so long, and so many things have changed..."

She gestured around the library, little vines curling protectively up her back. "This place, the Institute...it's the first 'outside' area I've been in years. They took me away when I was eight. So don't blame and patronize me for something that was completely out of my control!"


"You know, you're not exactly helping your case," Avery murmured calmly, one large hand on Evan's shoulder to keep him from making any sudden moves. She stared down at Izzy with unblinking eyes. "Insulting my brother isn't going to make any of us more likely to help you. What makes you think we'll listen to anything you have to say?"

Astrid quickly drew away from Sage, their expression turning to concern in a matter of seconds. That was the one problem with joking around all the time- It hit more nerves than normal talking.

Astrid quietly pulled up a chair and listened to everything Sage had to say. It seemed vague, but they were wiser than to pry. The burns on her neck let her infer enough. For once, Astrid was silent and unmoving.

"I get it," she whispered. "Being trapped. Not knowing how to talk to people, if you should talk to people." Astrid sighed and laid their arms on the desk, crossed neatly together. She stared at the screen and smiled weakly. "My tragic backstory isn't as bad as your's, thankfully, but it's sort of the same thing. Being the only trans girl in no-where, Texas isn't the best. What's funnier is that I'm probably blessed compared to others. My parents and neighbors weren't mean, just... really, super dumb. They just couldn't understand that their son, Austin Colress, was also their daughter, Astrid Colress, and sometimes they were just Astrid. I don't get why they loved putting everything into a neat little box. The worst part is, I really don't care if someone calls me Austin. You could call me Austin, if you want, I don't care! Like, Astrid's a way cooler name, for sure, but Astrid and Austin are one in the same, ya know? People- you know me as Astrid, not Austin, but Austin's still here. They were just... not who I want to be anymore. Austin was, surprise-surprise, kinda a bad person who was insecure, and now Astrid is here and she's awesome! But I don't want to get rid of Austin, I just want them to evolve and be... cooler." It only took a few chuckles from Astrid to realize that this was likely going to fly over Sage's head. It flew over everyone else, why would this be different?

"Sorry. Rambling, tangents, I do it a lot. Long story short, it sucks to be trapped. I'd never been outside of my home town before this, and now everyone knows me as me and it's awesome. I get where you come from. Great minds think alike and all."


Izzy rolled their eyes. "What, you want me to insult you instead? I can, big friendly giant." Just before Dawn could come to Avery's defense, Izzy went on. "I know you'll listen to what I say, because it evolves a little blonde dweeb and his magic mind-control goo." She crossed her arms as her eyebrow raised. "So?"

Avery gave an odd grunt. She had to admit, mind control goo was something she probably wanted to hear about...
"Fine," she crossed her arms, mirroring Izzy's pose. "What is it?"


Sage's eyes widened. She didn't know what she'd been expecting; for Astrid to shrink away, to snap back, to close off from her like a clam. She wasn't anticipating this sudden volley of information, let alone delivered so...heavily from this little ball of energy. She rubbed the back of her neck, unsure how she should respond.

"Wow. Uh..." She cringed at her own inability to say something comforting. "I'm...sorry. I'm probably not the best person to talk to about...anything."

She paused, giving Astrid a nervous look out of the corner of her eye.

"Well...if we're swapping stories, I might as well tell you mine, right? I can't hide it from everybody forever..." She sat down opposite Astrid, folding her legs awkwardly on top of the chair as she clicked her chain faster. "I'm pretty sure by now that you've noticed my scars. They're burns, from...when my house caught fire. It was just me, my dad, and my brother Thomas. I never knew my mom, but that's not really important, is it?"

"...Anyway, my dad didn't have any prodigal abilities, but me and my brother did. Thomas was only five at the time, he didn't know how to control it. He was a fire Prodigy, just like Sam. One night..." Sage rubbed her face, trying to keep the tears from welling up. Her voice cracked as she continued. "They never found the...the bodies. My dad and brother were both incinerated in the blast. I was the only one who escaped--just barely. I was severely burned, but I survived. And when I finally recovered...everyone blamed me."

"At the time, my powers had never surfaced. They'd never been documented before, and I wasn't exhibiting any sort of unusual ability. So they decided that I was hiding my powers to keep myself from being blamed and put me in a children's home. One for...troubled kids. I was assigned a special cell and kept away from everyone else, except for the security guard that brought me food. It wasn't until nine years later that I got the letter from the school. I accepted the invitation, and the bus brought me here. To the Institute. And to all of you."

She looked up at Astrid, cracking a tiny smile. "And that's my tragic backstory. You're the, um, first to know."

In the end, Astrid ended up staring at Sage wide-eyed. Their jaw was one the floor and they barely blinked. "I..." They were utterly speechless. "Jesus, man. I was thinking... Oh my God. You are way better adjusted than you think someone would be after that. You should probably, like, seek counseling or something." Astrid made a point to try and relax, as their more calm side could be a bit jarring to some. "Thanks for letting me now. And point taken: I will not try to relate my struggles to your's ever again," she chuckled. "But, maybe I needed to hear that. It's kinda easy to forget the entire world hates most of us... It's weird to think we're safer here, with psycho crazy principal, than almost anywhere on Earth. I mean, my parents thought it was a blessing, happy I wasn't fully blind anymore, but I never cared or used it until I got here. I knew the layout of my house and town by heart at that point."
Astrid's legs started kicking back and forth, but they remained silent, staring at the ceiling. It gave her a moment for the gears to start turning. "I'm starting to get really good at becoming a downer without even realizing it."

Izzy shook her head. "Mhm, yeah. Like I'm going to tell everything while we're in the middle of a hallway. But, so I can gain your trust, I'll let you know a little," Izzy spoke with full confidence, though she did turn to the side and mumble some apology for coming off as a jerk. It wasn't loud enough to hear. "Powder's been... weird, ever since Sam got their powers taken away. At first, he kept talking about having Sam's powers for himself, and now he won't shut up about enhancing his abilites and becoming better. I..." Izzy looked around briefly, then leaned in to whisper, "I seriously think the kid's going coo-coo crazy and wants to try a mass mind-control event. To do what? I dunno, but I think he's starting to lose it a tiny bit. Not fully, but, worryingly sized bits."

Evan's eyes widened as he momentarily forgot about Izzy's previous comments. "Powder is the one with the mind-control? But...I thought his powers were just making things explode."
"In here," Avery shepherded the group into a nearby janitor's closet, wrapping some Daya around the handle so nobody could get in. Then, she turned to Izzy. "Tell us everything."


Sage chuckled weakly. "You're not a downer. But you are right--the world is insane. If we ever do get out of here...I don't know where I'm going to go. I'm probably a wanted fugitive by now, disappearing from my cell and all. I wonder if they're looking for me..."