Teens Relate Anecdotes, Instruction, and Niceness

***Will she like my outfit?***

**That’s the first thought on A-Vis’ mind as they stand in front of the Big Team Base, now openly wearing their AEGIS uniform and getting looks for it. Despite the very obvious answer of “No”, he can’t stop thinking about it. He straightens his jacket out, then does it again. And again. The sleeves are specially designed to stretch with his arms, but that means that they can be stretched incorrectly, so he has to fix them and fix them and fix them. And never mind his pant legs.**

**“I mean, it’s not very fashionable. Not...colorful. It’s kind of all grey and blue and black. But that’s...that’s fine, right? It’s serious! Professional! It’s the kind of outfit a good guy wears!” After a moment, A-Vis sniffs at the outfit’s collar. “See? It even smells like starch! Starch is a good smell! I, uh, don’t know why she’d be smelling my outfit, but...”**

**Nat rounds the corner and trots up to A-Vis with a cheerful wave. “Hi! I wasn’t sure what to wear, so I went with exercise clothes? Your outfit looks cool though! Is that your uniform?” Nat herself is wearing a pair of blue cropped leggings with a pattern of lighter blue stars, pink sneakers, and a pink track jacket over a light blue tank top over a darker blue tank top. Her hair is pulled up into a ponytail with a bedazzled hair tie, and her bangs are held out of her face by a small army of colorful barrettes.**

**“Exercise clothes are great! And, uh, yeah! It’s what I’d usually be fighting in, so makes sense to practice in it too. I, uh, have more than one though. It’s not like I’m just all wearing the same one all the time. Uh, anyway, come with me. The AEGIS base is a little ways away, so we could take public transit, or, uh...” A-Vis sighs. “Or I could drive us. Mrs. Ruelle wants me to practice whenever possible.”**

**“Driving works,” Nat agrees. “Um. I hope I didn’t cause problems for you with her. I stand by everything I said to her, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight at the time.” She follows A-Vis to their car. “Emotions running high and all.”**

**“I, uh, guess we’ll find out.”**

**A-Vis heads over to the minivan and folds himself into the front seat. Nat can see Mrs. Ruelle riding shotgun, taking some notes in a notebook. She looks at Cadenza, and she can see her eyes widen for a moment before she just nods a bit mechanically. “Hello. Natalie, correct?”**

**“Um, yes,” Nat says self-consciously, clambering into the back seat. “Nat is okay, too. Um. Hi. I hope there aren’t, uh, too many hard feelings from last time? I wasn’t really...thinking things through. When I said that stuff.”**

**“No. I think you were.” The statement comes out a bit bitter, but she sighs afterwards. “...I think you had thought a lot about it. And I feel like it was a good idea to take you seriously. Okay, Johnny. Bring us to the base.”**

**“Yes ma’am.” A-Vis nods and slightly awkwardly un-parallel parks and starts driving.**

**“So, Natalie...Nat. You seem like you’d prefer that. What sort of school do you go to?”**

**Mrs. Ruelle is not great at small talk, it seems.**

**Nat smiles a little, relieved. “Oh, I just go to Big High. It’s where a lot of people on Big Team go. It’s nice - the building is really sturdy, so there doesn’t really have to be a lot of worrying about, uh, property damage.”**

**“I can imagine. Johnny has asked for a transfer there. AEGIS and I are considering it a bit more seriously now that he’s openly acting as a superhero, but I do think there’s a lot he can gain from St. Smithtons. How are you feeling about that, by the way?”**

**A-Vis’ hands grip a bit harder on the steering wheel, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the road.**

**“You mean how do I feel about him being an AEGIS employee?” Nat asks, confused. “Or the school thing?”**

**She seems a little surprised by that and lets out a single dry laugh. “The first one Nata-Nat. Though I suppose I’d appreciate the opinion of someone actually going to Big High. How are your classes? Do you feel like your teachers push you?”**

**Nat gives a self-conscious little chuckle. “Oh, uh. I don’t mind the AEGIS employee thing. I get why other people have...more of a negative impression of AEGIS? But Johnny having access to their resources has been helpful, and we work with AEGIS a lot anyway. And also I just...trust him?” She shrugs. “We’ve been on a couple of missions together and we’ve always had each other’s backs. Or at least, I’ve tried to have his, and he saved my life last time we were in the fae forest together. So. I don’t see a reason to think any differently of him, is what I’m saying. And! I appreciate the invitation to the AEGIS power control class, too. I didn’t know they had those, and I’m hoping they can help me.”**

**“As for Big High…” Nat shrugs a little. “I mean, it’s the kind of place where you get what you put into it? Like, I know some people who slack off a lot, and I know some people who work really hard. The teachers are pretty good at gauging where you’re at and working with you there.”**

**Johnny visibly relaxes and sighs softly. “Hey!” Mrs. Ruelle lightly slaps his arm with her notebook. “Eyes on the road.”**

**He straightens up and nods. “Yes ma’am!”**

**Mrs. Ruelle sighs and glances back at Cadenza. “I’m glad to hear that you’re having a good experience at school. I’ll take that into account when we talk about a potential transfer.”**

**After a few uncomfortably quiet moments, you see a large building that A-Vis pulls into the parking lot of. He parks a little close to his own side, but otherwise does alright. “Hmm...I think I’ll need to repark this. Johnny, could you go and check in?”**

**“Oh, of course!” A-Vis gets out and starts running towards the building. Before Nat can follow him, though, Mrs. Ruelle looks back at her. “Natalie...thank you for being Johnny’s friend. You were right, I wasn’t taking my job as his caretaker as seriously as I should. He’s a bright young man with a good future ahead of him. But he still needs people to help him grow.”**

**Nat nods seriously. “I’m glad to hear you say that. Johnny’s always been nice to me, and I...never really had a lot of friends before I joined Big Team. I just want him to be happy, that’s all.” She smiles at Ms. Ruelle and gets out of the car.**

**“Johnny! Wait up!” Nat takes off after him. Since she’s both much shorter and much less athletic than A-Vis, she has basically no shot at keeping up with them. “I don’t know where we’re going!” She calls.**

**A-Vis was power walking, but he sees Cadenza and quickly slows down. “Oh, yeah! Sorry! We gotta sign in first. I was just gonna sign you in, but, uh, I forgot you wouldn’t know where we’re going, sorry.”**

**He brings you into the building, and you see a bored older man behind the desk. “Oh, hello Johnathan. You don’t have to sign in for training.”**

**“No, but I brought a guest. This is Nat.”**

**She can see the man looking at her over his reading glasses before typing on his computer. “Any weaponry to declare?”**

**“That’s okay,” Nat tells him, “I’m just shorter than you! Gotta work to keep up.”**

**When she gets to the desk, she smiles at the man behind it. “No weapons,” she says. “I mean, my powers, I guess? But nothing other than that.”**

**The man scrolls down a bit on his computer. “Mmm, hypersonic vocal abilities? There’s a few places you should stay out of, but I trust Agent ACRONIM to get you where you need to go. Training starts in the gymnasium. Just follow Johnny.”**

**“Thank you, sir!” A-Vis salutes and starts walking, deliberately a bit slowly, down one of the seemingly identical hallways.**

**“Thanks!” Nat echoes brightly, and trots after A-Vis. She looks around with obvious interest as they head through the facility. “Wow. Is this where you usually work or are there like, other places? Um, if you’re allowed to tell me. I don’t know how much of your deal is like, top secret? Oh!” Nat claps, face suddenly becoming more serious. “I’ve been meaning to say this. I assume you’re the one who sent me that Chitter message after The Immortal kidnapped our families, right? I, uh, kind of wrote that off, obviously. Because I didn’t think it was coming from a reliable source. I’m sorry if me never acknowledging it made you think it would affect my opinion of you or something? I didn’t mean to just...ignore you telling me something important.”**

**“No, no, that makes perfect sense, I was just...” A-Vis sighs. “I didn’t know how to deal with it. So I used Gretchen’s account to send that. She spent the rest of the week trying to give me a wedgie and yelling about Dae-Jung.” He’s awkward for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “Oh, right, the other thing! Uh, no, this building is mostly open to the public. I’ve done most of my work here, but I’ve been to AEGIS bases all around the world! The ones in Halcyon are the biggest though. The hallways are deliberately kind of confusing in case of an incident, but I know them pretty well.” He turns right and gestures for Nat to follow. “Anyway, we’re heading towards the gymnasium. It’s too cold for practice outside I think. Don’t worry, though, it’s super reinforced. They’ve had way worse than you in there before.”**

**Nat nods. “That’s a relief. I’ve been practicing with Ernest whenever I can, but I always break the danger room and the panic room isn’t really suited for it. My control issues...kind of have a time limit, it turns out, so.” She sighs and looks away. “I’m hoping this can help me.”**

**“A time...” A-Vis clearly has gears turning, then he turns. “Nat, are you okay? Is something about your powers hurting you?”**

**“It’s, well.” Nat clears her throat a little. “It’s not the *powers*, it’s the lack of *control*. They’re destroying my voice. If I don’t get them under control, I’ll lose it. Forever.” She shakes her head. “I don’t even know how extensive the damage is already. So the whole thing just got more pressing.”**

**“Fuh...flip. I’m so sorry. I, uh...I kinda know what it’s like to have powers that you were born with hurt you, but not like that. That means so much to you.” A-Vis hugs Nat. He’s gotten better at hugging, though his joints are as sharp as ever. “I’m so glad you’re here. AEGIS has helped me so much, I’m certain they can help you. Thank you thank you thank you for trusting me.”**

**When he pulls back from the hug, he walks, a bit faster now, stretching his arm as he turns sharply towards a pair of double doors. When he pushes one of them open, you see a massive gymnasium with a decent number of people, in and out of uniform, stretching, loitering and mingling.**

**Nat hugs back, quick and tight. “Thank *you* for bringing me here. Of course I trust you. You’re my friend.” When A-Vis pulls back, she wipes her eyes quickly. “Violet has some ideas on what else we can do, so. Hope springs eternal, and all that. But let’s get to work.”**

**When A-Vis opens the door, Nat steps right in, looking around curiously at the AEGIS gymnasium. The reinforcements are obvious, which is a relief. She looks back to A-Vis, smiling a little. “Let’s...go join in, I guess?”**

**“Yeah!” A-Vis steps in. “Hi, Mrs. Jones. Mr. Smith. Major Thomas.” He takes some time to say hello to a bunch of the people here, many of whom recognize him.**

**There are people of every age here. Most of them are well built and in AEGIS fatigues, though there are a few people in civilian clothes here too. There are numerous metahumans with monstrous or obviously dangerous forms. A person who is physically on fire is meditating on a yoga mat. There’s a woman playing with a medicine ball like it’s a volleyball. A man has his eyes covered with a blindfold, though a light glow can be seen through it.**

**A-Vis joins Cadenza again. “So, the trainers and physical therapists are gonna come out pretty soon. Since you’re new, you might be paired with one to test your abilities, but I can stay with you if you want. For safety reasons, people are usually pretty spread out. Most of the year these classes happen outside, but...well, you know.” He looks back and forth for a moment, then leans down to whisper. “If anything gets out of hand, a containment field will come up from below and down from the ceiling. It’s really jarring and kinda scary, but it’s safe.”**

**That’s not comforting.**

**Well, it might not be comforting to the average person, but Nat Nixon’s worst, deepest fear is Nat Nixon, so knowing she’ll be contained if things get too bad is a comfort to her. She thanks A-Vis for the warning, and her face shifts from cheerful to serious as she turns back to the people in the gym.**

**Like A-Vis said, before long a group of trainers emerges from another door. A-Vis bounds off to meet with his usual trainer. Another trainer, a tall dark-haired man with a pair of heavy-duty headphones clasped over his ears, flags Nat’s attention and waves her over to him.**

**“You’re Cadenza?” He asks, signing at the same time.**

**Nat, who does not know how to sign, just nods in response.**

**“Good. My name is Kenneth. I work with high decibel heroes like you all the time.” His hands move quickly as he speaks, and his speech is a little different, not exactly an accent, but certainly an oddness in his inflections. “I’ve done work with vocalists like you, but also with amplification heroes and even the occasional mimic. So, what do you want to know about me, and what do you think I should know about you?”**

**At the other side of the room, there are other groups or single people working with their trainers. A-Vis is speaking to a woman in glasses who is helping him to stretch one of his arms very slowly. It is much more unpleasant to look at when he does it slowly and deliberately, carefully unfolding and pulling his arm out further and further and further. Among all the bedlam of the other practicing superhumans, it’s all pretty chaotic.**

**Nat smiles at the sight of A-Vis and then turns back to Kenneth. “My powers are damaging my voice,” she explains. “Obviously I want to get them under control so I can stop causing so much collateral damage, but my first priority right now is to stop the vocal damage so I can actually keep my voice long enough to get it the rest of the way under control.” She swallows around the lump that forms automatically in her throat every time she tries to talk about this. “Um, besides that, how strong are those headphones? Like, am I likely to hurt you through them?”**

**“Hmmm...unless you know your MDO, uh, Maximum Decibel Output, it’s impossible to say, but these are rated for up to 200 DB, so they can handle most sonic heroes. But let’s not worry about your maximum just yet.” Kenneth gestures for Nat to follow him and walks over to a water fountain, which he uses to fill a few bottles hanging from his belt with water. “I understand it’s cold and snowy outside, but I do prefer exercising in open areas. Would you be alright with that, or do you want me to take you to one of the silent rooms? They’re, uh, they’re not as sinister as that sounds, AEGIS is just terrible at naming things.” He chuckles slightly.**

**“I’m fine with outside,” Nat says, trotting after Kenneth. “I’m from Boston, I’m used to cold. Last week I got dunked in the Harbor, actually, and Halcyon’s nowhere near *that* cold. Fighting water-based villains in November is a bad idea, it turns out.” She stops and bites the inside of her cheek. She knows rambling on like this is a nervous habit and she knows it’s annoying, but she can never seem to stop herself. Oops.**

**“Alright. We’ll stop by one of the rec rooms to grab some warm drinks for us both, then head outside. The chill isn’t ideal, so try to remember to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. That will let the air heat up and moisturize in your lungs before you bring it through your larynx.” Kenneth brings Nat to a break room with an...acceptable assortment of coffees and teas, and he tells her to take whatever she’d like.**

**Once they’ve stopped there, he brings her further into the building. After a few truly inexplicable turns and hallway passages, they walk through an unassuming door and wind up in a courtyard. This building’s internal architecture is about as confusing as it’s possible to be without getting magic involved. There’s a few people in the courtyard, but Kenneth walks away from the building, and eventually they end up in an empty, gravel covered area. “This is my favorite place to work because the acoustics are absolutely terrible. And the snow will dampen things even more, so you don’t need to worry about that. Before we get started, tell me what sort of vocal exercises you do?” He starts drinking the coffee he picked up back in the break room.**

**Nat picks up a mint tea in the break room. On the way through the AEGIS building, she looks around curiously. The building’s layout is totally baffling, and she’s honestly kind of impressed by how easy Kenneth and A-Vis are able to navigate it.**

**Outside, she nods approvingly about the acoustics and the snow. “Um, most of my exercises have come from vocal coaches who work on the singing end of things,” she explains. “So like, vocal warm-ups, scales, singing from the diaphragm and not the throat, that kind of thing.”**

**Kenneth nods, handing her one of the bottles of water hanging from his belt. “Make sure you drink plenty of this, through practice and in general. That’s really good information to have for a singer, but if it’s your throat being damaged, we will want to focus more on that. We’re going to do some basic vocal warm ups first. It may seem a little pedestrian, but it’s even more important for you than it is for most people.”**

**He takes Cadenza through a few very typical warm ups for singers, such as lip and tongue trills, scales, and tongue twisters. “Okay. Try to do those every day, though you probably already do, and try humming during the morning to help warm your voice up right away. Now we’re going to get into something a bit more esoteric. I want to ask permission to touch your neck or your back. I won’t hurt you, but I may put some pressure on them, and if you’re ever uncomfortable, we’ll have a signal so that you can pull away. If you don’t want that, though, that’s completely fine. When we’re ready, I’ll want you to slowly sing in a comfortable range, moving from the quietest you can be slowly up to as loud as you feel safe getting. It doesn’t need to be your maximum volume, we’re not going straight there. I just want to see how you react physically while you use your powers.”**

**“Okay,” Nat says. She takes a drink from the water and steps up to Kenneth so he can touch her when he needs to. Once she’s sure he’s ready, and that he knows that waving her hand means *stop*, she starts to sing as quietly as she can.**

**She tries to remember what he said about breathing in through her nose so cold air doesn’t hit her throat. The quietest Nat can go is barely audible to anyone but herself, and slowly she lets the volume build. When she’s singing about as loudly as she might shout, her power starts to thread in without her permission. Nat takes a slow breath through her nose, trying to relax through her instinctive panic at the lack of control. Keeping a close eye on Kenneth, she continues to increase the volume carefully.**

**Kenneth doesn’t seem bothered by the noise. When Nat reaches a volume that shakes the gravel they’re standing on and blows the top layers of snow away from them, she stops, unwilling to keep pushing the volume in case her power kicks in too strong and boosts her voice loud enough to hurt Kenneth.**

**While Cadenza is singing, Kenneth stands behind her. “This is the least dangerous place to be for a sonic vocalist.” While he’s there, he feels her back with one hand, then touches her throat with his fingers, feeling the way it vibrates and making it a bit harder to sing properly. After a moment, he takes out a stethoscope, with a plug at the end of it’s cord rather than a set of earpieces. He plugs it into his headphones and listens to both her back and her throat until she finishes singing. “Alright. Good job, Cadenza. Part of it seems to be vocal fry, but I could tell that you were also having a lot of issues modulating your volume. How does using your powers feel different from the ways you normally use your voice? Some people say it’s just a gradual increase in volume when they do it, others actually have a mystical or physical change when they get loud. If you’re not sure, I can see if I can get you an appointment with an AEGIS Meta-physician.”**

**“Um…” Nat thinks for a minute. “This might not be specific enough? But it’s like trying to roll a heavy cart down a hill. Like, it *wants* to go? But it wants to go way more than necessary, or safe? When I’m just talking normally, or quietly, it’s like walking on level ground - super easy. But if I’m upset, or loud, it gets harder to hold it back. And singing tends to be harder to control, too, but I’m not sure if that’s the singing itself or the fact that I *like* singing so I get more, like, into it emotionally.” She scratches the back of her head a little self-consciously, thinking. “I don’t know if it’s physical or not? It just...the cart *really* wants to roll downhill.”**

**Suddenly she snaps her fingers. “Oh! Um, there must be a physical change, because I can control the sound waves I produce to do stuff other than just be loud when I’m using my powers? Like, one of the things I do all the time is I use the sound waves to form a barrier around myself or someone else, for protection. I *might* be able to control my normal speaking voice that way? But it’s way easier to do that kind of thing once I’ve charged up my powers with warm-ups and I produce the sound with the specific intention of manipulating it like that. So then there would probably be something different about the sounds I make when my powers are active? If that makes sense?”**

**Kenneth nods, clearly listening closely and taking this very seriously. “Alright. A metaphys appointment could definitely help you, so if you want I can help you set that up. But for now, I think it would be best to try practicing low level uses of your powers while singing. Since there’s such a large emotional component, I’m also going to teach you some mindfulness exercises that might help you get some better control and understand what your body and your voice are doing while you use your powers.”**

**For the next hour, Kenneth helps Cadenza practice, making sure she drinks water between “songs”. Once they’re done, he helps bring her back to the breakroom for some more tea before heading back to the gymnasium.**

**Most of the people there at the beginning are already gone, or heading back into locker rooms to get changed out of their exercise clothes. A few, however, are still practicing, and A-Vis is one of those. They’re currently in their giant form, standing awkwardly on their legs while holding a surprisingly heavy set of dumbbells. He's doing some very awkward looking squats, bending their legs in a whole lot more places than most legs bend, while also doing very literal arm curls with the dumbbells. “Oh, hey Nat!”**

**A-Vis puts a dumbbell down and waves, looking a bit embarrassed and instinctively moving towards his compressors at his hip. His trainer snaps her fingers though. “Ahp-ap-ap! Who said you were done, Doe-boy? You’ve still got ten more reps!”**

**“Oh, uh, yeah, one minute!” And A-Vis gets back to his exercise, clearly trying to speed through the last of it.**

**Nat, who is generally immune to things like Carmen’s resting villain face or A-Vis’s giant form being unpleasant to look at, smiles and waves back at him. She turns back to Kenneth and thanks him for his help before making her way over to stand a bit apart from the woman training A-Vis. She looks like she wants to cheer for him, but thinks it might be too disruptive, so instead she gives him her most encouraging look and rocks back on her heels.**

**Johnny finishes his last few reps and quickly grabs his compressor injector and turns it back up, shrinking back down. Before he can step towards Cadenza, though, his trainer grabs him by the neck of his shirt. “Hold on there, Doe-boy. Hey, girly, you’re part of the team that Johnny’s out superheroing with, right? Can you tell him to actually practice with his big-boy form instead of just using it when he needs to make absolutely certain he hits his head on a doorframe?”**

**“Rina!” A-Vis blushes and slaps her away. “Ugh, don’t listen to her, Cadenza, she’s only, like, five years older than me.”**

**“And yet so much wiser! Seriously, you need to learn to balance as a big boy! You should have learned it when you were a kid, but you didn’t get the chance ‘cause they folded up your bones like origami, so you gotta do it now.” It’s clear that this woman has known A-Vis for a while.**

**Nat grins wider, clearly enjoying watching A-Vis and Rina interact. “I mean, I think he does great out on missions,” she says. “But I guess he could practice more in the danger room? I don’t go in there much ‘cause I keep breaking it, but *generally* it’s a good spot.” She turns to Johnny. “Honestly I don’t know why you don’t get big more often? You’re already way taller than me, but like, if I could stretch myself out and reach the top shelf in the kitchen without having to climb onto the counter I would totally do it, you know?” Nat bounces onto her toes a little to illustrate her point about being short. “I’m pretty sure the only one smaller than me on the team is Carmen.”**

**Rina blows a raspberry. “I mean just walking around. He’s not gonna know how to fight if he can’t walk instead of crawling like the world's most awful baby.”**

**“Rrrrr...Thank you for your training, Rina, I’m gonna go now see you bye!” A-Vis quickly moves to walk away, but turns around. “AND I’M TRAINED TO FIGHT ON ALL FOURS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”**

**“You’re underutilizing your abilities!” Rina yells after him, then shakes her head. “Dork. Stay safe out there, kid.” With that, she moves to start cleaning up the gymnasium with the other trainers, kicking a medicine ball to her hands as if it were a soccer ball.**

**Nat beams at Rina, waves in farewell, and trots off after Johnny. “I didn’t know you moved around like that because you *couldn’t* walk?” She bumps him playfully with her shoulder. “I figured you crawled around like a water strider because it’s faster or something. It’s good to see you have, like, friends here, though! I dunno how everyone else has been taking the whole AEGIS thing, but even besides that, I guess it would suck to work here if you didn’t get along with anybody like that.”**

**“Ugh, she’s the woooooorst!” A-Vis runs a hand through his dreads and sighs. “And I can walk! It’s just...well, you try having your center of gravity seven feet off the ground and make walking happen! And that’s not even taking into account the fact that I have weird mutant muscles and bones thanks to all the drugs and surgeries I’ve had.” There’s a moment of awkward silence with that. “But, uh, but yeah. I’ve known Rina since I was little. She’s super serious about people learning to control the full extent of their powers, ‘cause she’s got super ridiculous super strength. She says that it’s the same with me, but it’s not like that, I’ve just got a weird other form and I’m able to stretch my arms and legs by accident, that’s all.”**

**“By accident, huh?” Nat quirks an eyebrow at him. “I feel like that kind of gives you away right there, buddy. Besides, practice can’t hurt you.” A beat of silence as she processes the slight bitterness in her own tone there with an internal *yikes*. “Um, but anyway, *you* try having a center of gravity this close to the ground! I don’t fall over much, sure, but it has to be pretty convenient being so tall.”**

**Nat speeds up a bit to get ahead of A-Vis and then turns to face him, smiling mischievously. “What do I even look like to you? Can you see the top of my head, like, all the time?”**

**A-Vis stops a bit abruptly. “Uh, yeah. I can see the tops of most people’s heads most of the time. I have to stand a little further away or lean back a bit to see your face completely. And people are always looking up at me. What, uh, what do I look like from down there?”**

**“Depends on what you’re doing.” Nat puts a thoughtful hand to her chin and makes the executive decision not to mention the giant inflatable dancing tube men outside car dealerships. “Right now you look like - have you seen *Toy Story*? My point is, you look like you’re looking down to get a good view of me, but you’re somewhere with high ceilings so you don’t have to get all hunched over. You must get some nasty back pain having to deal with some places, huh? Does driving hurt your knees? They make special pedal extensions for really short people - maybe they make cars for really tall people?”**

**“Yeah,” A-Vis sighs. “I have to hunch my shoulders a whole bunch. My physical therapist has told me to try and stretch and stand up straight whenever I can, but I forget a lot of the time. And It does kinda hurt when I have to drive, I kinda have to smoosh myself into the car.” He thinks for a moment. “That’s another reason why I like to stay in this form. Other than...you know, looking like a person. All of the world is built for people who are about 5 or 6 feet tall.”**

**Nat nods sympathetically. “That must suck. Nothing being designed for you so you have to pretzel into weird shapes. You look like a person when you’re big, though! Maybe not a - an *Earth* person, but like, still.” She wrinkles her nose. “That made zero sense. I’m trying to say you *are* a person and therefore you *look* like a person no matter what you look like. Sometimes words are…blegh.” Nat waves one hand around in a vague gesture that could mean anything. “I’m hardly saying anything, like, groundbreaking here, anyway. Just lemme know if anyone’s a dick to you about you being so big and stretchy, I’ll talk to them. I yelled at Riptide’s *mom* last week and I don’t even *like* that kid.”**

**Johnny scratches the back of his neck. “Man, you’re really cool...Well, no, nobody’s being mean to me about how I look. Not now. It happened when I was a kid, but, you know, that’s just the sort of thing kids do.” It’s clear from the look on his face that it’s not a silly fun memory for him. “Uh, Mrs. Ruelle should be driving up soon. Do you want us to drive you home or anything?”**

**“I think *you’re* cool!” Nat beams up at A-Vis. “And, um, if you don’t mind, driving me home would be nice? My house isn’t that far from Big Base, but it *is* getting a bit too cold for the walk to be any fun. And, um. I’m glad Ms. Ruelle has been...better to you lately.” She glances at him out of the corner of her eye. “You seemed surprised, when I said you deserved better support? Like, someone in your corner? Which just pissed me off more, to be honest. But I think it...reflects well on her, that she heard what I was saying despite, uh, the way I said it.”**

**“It makes a lot of sense. Mrs. Ruelle’s been helping with socializing AEGIS’ wards for a really long time, so it’s probably gotten kind of routine to her.” A-Vis shrugs. “But...yeah, you did seem to have an effect on her. And things have been...” He smiles slightly. “Things have been nicer since then.”**

**Nat smiles up at him again, softer this time. “I’m really glad to hear it.” She reaches up to squeeze his shoulder affectionately, trying not to be too obvious about having to go up on her tiptoes a bit to do it.**

**A-Vis leans down and gives Nat a hug. “Uh, anything else you wanna know? Do you think you’re gonna come back again?”**

**“Yeah! I think this could really help me. And, um, what did you mean by AEGIS ward? Like, did you grow up here?” Nat frowns. “Why are you just getting ‘socialized’” - air quotes - “now?”**

**“Oh...OH!” A-Vis looks confused for a second before snapping his fingers. “Yeah! When there are children with superpowers and without any family or other options to take them in, AEGIS will! We’re called ‘wards of AEGIS.’ Sorry, I assumed Fearless would have told everyone that too. I was raised by AEGIS my whole life, but that means there’s a lot of stuff that most people know that I don’t, like cooking and driving and talking to civilians. So Mrs. Ruelle helps with people like me.”**

**Nat considers this for a moment. “So you didn’t learn this earlier because you had to learn, like, how to use your powers and stuff? What happens after you learn what Ms. Ruelle has to teach you? Do you *have* to work for AEGIS or is that, like, what you want to do?”**

**“Oh, no, not at all, we don’t have to. But I want to. AEGIS are heroes! I mean,” Johnny looks away awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong, superheroes are heroes too, but AEGIS is a bunch of people without power fighting to try and make civilians safe. They don’t have to do stuff like me. They want to. They choose to be heroes, even without things that make them different like me.” Cadenza can see a sparkle in his eyes as he looks up at the building. “It’s everything. They saved me when they found me on the moon. They saved everyone I grew up with. And I wanna save people like them.”**

**Nat grins. “I’m glad you had them to look out for you, then! I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have to yell at anyone else to treat you better.” She elbows him again playfully. “Someone’s gotta, every now and then. And, I don’t think Fearless has told people much about whatever you two talked about, ‘cause, like, privacy. But yeah.” She looks around. “Thanks again for bringing me here, Johnny. I really, *really* appreciate the help. And it’s cool to see where you grew up, and your other friends and stuff!”**

**“Thank you for coming! Everyone...everyone seems to kind of hate AEGIS a lot, so I’m glad that I got to show someone something good that they do.” There’s an edge of frustration and sadness to his voice, even though he’s trying to stay positive.**

**At this point, Mrs. Ruelle’s car drives and parks in the lot and Johnny is quick to start moving towards it.**

**“You’re my friend! I trust your judgement,” Nat tells them, trotting to keep up. “You tell me these people help, then I believe you.” Once they reach the car, she climbs into the backseat. “Okay, so, to get to my house you wanna turn right out of the parking lot.”**