Episode 4 - Forewarning

P-roes Spin-Off
Pisay Garnet 2013
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Abilities.
Real People. Unreal Adventure.
Episode 4 - Forewarning
Written and directed by Bianca Publico 
Co-directed by Marianne Cadiz

Previously, on PG13… 
“It’s great to get out sometimes. And watch you play.” 
“Ah, yes. A lot seems to lead up to this dance thing.” 
“Waterbreathing, huh? Do you know how it works?” 
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and all that.” 
“Oh, so that’s why I lost consciousness after getting in the car.” 
“Actually, I’d like to talk to you. Can we go somewhere else?”

Now, PG13 continues.

_________________________

Pardau looked wearily down a list. Finally locating the right name, she crossed it off with a little more force than necessary.

“That’s pretty brutal.” Jethro winced, seeing the deep indentation the ball point pen made on his name.

“Well, you’re already here.” Stephen leaned back in his chair, facing the table. Bianca was on Pardau’s phone, on loudspeaker. “So, do I set him up for training or something?”

“Yeah,” Bianca sounded exhausted, and Dave’s car whirred in the background. “Hey, about the photokinetic—”

“Agent Tamayo just reported back; she agreed on five days for basic control training and surveillance, then insisted wanted to go back to school,” Pardau said. “It’s understandable. It’s the start of her school year.”

“And it’s a science school,” Stephen said with slight amusement.

“So she’s there now?”

“No, but they’re on their way here. Olin says they’ll be here in a few hours. Looks like he had some trouble talking Jadee into it.”

“And I assume Agent Espiritu has the precognitive back there?”

“Silvestre? Of course. He’s already in the training room… But why are we training him? He’s a precog. You don’t make precogs field agents.” Stephen, Pardau, and Jethro looked around as Stephen’s phone beeped.

“He’s a kinetic precog. He can predict where an object will move, or, rather, an opponent’s next move. He’d make an excellent field agent, especially in hand-to-hand combat.” Bianca paused, and her voice rose octaves as she turned excited. “Hey, he might be able to defeat you!”

Stephen’s mouth thinned; he hit the mute button and told Pardau, “I have to get back to the training hall, Pia says she’s supposed to be helping Javi with an experiment… and she needs a break.” He stood up to leave.

As he reached the door, Jethro on his heels, he whipped around and yelled, “He still wouldn’t be able to defeat me without using his powers!”

-xxxxx-

Bianca hung up after Pardau gave her a proper goodbye, and returned the topic to her and Dave’s mission. “This is the last we have to check for this month… finally.”

“How long have we waited for the day that someone beats Stephen in combat!” Dave said excitedly.

“Without using their abilities,” Bianca reminded him. “Stephen picked up on that, you know.”

A few minutes later, Dave stopped the car. “We’re here.”

She opened her eyes. “Yes.” She drove away the ancient, creaky mutterings of the apartment, complaining about how it had been recently refurbished.

-xxxxx-

The doorbell rang. Andrei looked up from his thesis. Nobody ever rang his doorbell except for those insufferable door-to-door business men and that… pair.

Not again.

He slouched to the door and opened it. The black-hooded girl and the overexcited boy were there. Again.

Especially annoyed from no progress on his thesis, he snapped, “The answer is still no, I’m not going with you. I haven’t exposed my powers to the general public, and no, I’m not planning to any time soon, so I don’t understand why you two would come by.” Andrei shot them a glare and he slammed the door in their faces. When would they stop?

On the other side of the door, Dave was about to whine, but Bianca shushed him. “I want to find something out,” just as Andrei switched on the radio.

A few seconds later, Dave heard Andrei growl as he shut it off. Dave only heard Andrei shuffling around in the room and was already growing impatient, but Bianca closed her eyes and he knew she was reading something.

“What is it?” he asked, following her as she made to leave.

“Later,” was all Bianca said, but the fear and worry was apparent in her voice.

-xxxxx-

Kirby’s hands were already lit with small flames when Gene and a young girl with long, curly hair skidded around the corridor. “Issa!” the little girl breathed.

“Pia!” the augmenter acknowledged the girl as she morphed into her normal, adult self. Kirby gasped, and the flames flickered. “It’s becoming more difficult to hold him back. I end up needing more effort than I began with.”

“Why hasn’t it gotten easier to control? Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction?” Gene said, getting nervous.

“Don’t you think he’d be scared of burning himself and the entire building down?” Issa said sarcastically. “I’m guessing you’re the new recruit. Bianca said your powers match his nicely. Let’s see it.”

The temperature in the room rose ever so slightly as Gene started to panic. “Now?!”

“I’ll keep his power down, and boost yours. It’ll be easy.”

“I thought you had a hard time control—”

Keeping her right hand low and her fingers pointed at Kirby, Issa raised her left hand and pointed it at Gene. Nothing happened.

“What was supposed to happen?” Gene said. Issa sighed in exasperation, poised to try again. “Give me a minute, I’m trying to figure out how to do this again.” As she raised her hand once more, Gene felt something stirring in his bones. Something good. He managed not to say ‘wow’.

The flames on Kirby’s hand, however, grew stronger. Issa tuned to Gene. “Hurry!”

Gene’s hands turned a deep, navy blue, in stark contrast to Kirby’s flame-covered, red orange hands. Pia shuddered as the temperature dropped quickly, and the blaze on Kirby’s hands burnt out. Gene was very conscious that it took him a fourth of the effort usually required to manipulate the temperature; it felt wonderful.

“Keep the temperature like this for now,” Issa said, slowly returning Kirby’s power back to normal as he shivered violently.

“Very nice, Agent Gansit,” Pia said as Issa finally released her hold on Kirby’s powers, pride in her voice.

Gene exhaled quietly as his hands turned brown again, and the temperature rose once more. Kirby muttered tiredly, “Thanks f-for helping m-me. But I d-don’t feel so…”

The prodigy inventor dropped down on the floor. Issa knelt down and took his pulse. “Just unconscious. This is a good time as any to take him back to the Company.”

“We’ll need your help smuggling him out of the building, though,” Pia said.

“No problem. I can make an easy excuse.”

Pia’s phone rang shrilly in the quiet. “Hello?” She mouthed, ‘Bianca’ at Gene and Issa. “Yeah, we’ll be right there.” She hung up.

“What was that?”

“Bianca wants us at headquarters ASAP.”

Issa’s brow knotted in confusion. “Is something wrong?”

Pia’s voice gradually turned into a child’s as she said, “She might’ve found a threat to the posthumans’ secrecy.”

-xxxxx-

Arriving at HQ, Gene had taken Kirby down to Dr. Pascasio for some rest, and thirty minutes later had to bring him back up to the training hall for the meeting; Pardau said he was vital. The training hall was the biggest room in the makeshift headquarters, and all field agents had been called.

As Gene steered Kirby in, he looked around at the agents, looking for Pia, his mentor. He found her beside Issa, who offered to look after Kirby for the time being, seeing as how she didn’t have a mentee yet.

“Bianca’s not here,” Pia noted.

The person in question burst through the double doors breathing heavily, Dave right behind her. “Sorry I’m late. I was tracking someone down. Didn’t find her. Is everyone here?” She went to the front of the room while Dave hopped over to sit beside James.

With a huff, Bianca said, “Dave and I came from a check-up on a posthuman, Andrei Jimenez. For long, we have known him to possess… hostile qualities, but never to use his powers in such a way.”

“What’s his ability?” Kirby asked suddenly, raising his hand as an afterthought.

“Temporal duplication. He can summon and control clones of himself from the past, but they only last for a very short time. Because he is not an agent, we haven’t had the chance to gauge how long they could possibly last. His ability is similar to Agent Patron’s, but her own body changes to that age instead of calling a duplicate. By the way, welcome, Kirby Manuel.

“Now, I heard something in his apartment while he was yelling in my face.”

“Smoke and flash bombs?” The agents looked around at the doorway.

“Ah, Agent Cadiz,” the psychometric said calmly. “So my manhunt earlier was pointless. I should have known you’d come of your own accord.”

“The perks of not being an agent, Bianca. I’ll come by when I want to.”

Everyone in the hall watched as the new arrival handed Bianca a slip of paper. “Oh yeah, hand the blind person something to read, why don’t you,” Stephen said scathingly, rolling his eyes. Marianne shot him a glare.

“Printed out two days ago,” Bianca murmured, ignoring them. “By… a shipment company. What is this, Marianne? I’m blind. Still blind.”

“It’s the delivery receipt of an unusually large amount of adrenaline to the Caloocan area. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, but this should be enough.”

“What’s the big deal?” James asked, noticing how some of the more experienced agents turned edgy.

“Adrenaline is a hormone released into the blood stream when the body gets excited, threatened, et cetera. To a regular people, an adrenaline overdose can cause insomnia and turn you into a ball of hyperactive nerves. To a posthuman, however, an adrenaline overdose can lead to disasters nobody wants to think about. “Adrenaline overdose is most dangerous in those who have openly combative powers,” Marianne recited in a bored voice. “The most common example is pyrokinesis” (Kirby looked up curiously) “where the posthuman releases uncontrollable amounts of fire. To someone like Bianca—”

“—the whispering in my head turns into yelling.”

“In any case, Andrei must be planning something.”

“You don’t have enough proof,” Stephen said matter-of-factly. Marianne’s jaw twitched as the lights flickered and a low whistle sounded through the room.

“How do we know she’s to be trusted? We don’t even know her…” Olin said.

“Your boss trusts me.”

“And that’s a valid reason?” Stephen asked.

Before Marianne could come up with a reply, Bianca cut in. “If I recall right, Agent Tamayo, you were an agent from seven months ago?” He nodded. “I guess I’ll have to introduce you. Everyone, meet former Agent Marianne Cadiz. She was an agent until a year ago, after which she resigned from the Company for… reasons.” Bianca pulled up her hood instinctively. “I know her well enough to trust her. Even though it works only one way.”

“Hey, I trust you!” Marianne corrected, then reconsidered. “…Well, I trust the Company. Sometimes. Kinda. That’s why I’m here. I need your assistance. If everything works out, we’ll all benefit.”

“If what works out?” Jethro asked from the corner of the room. Majority of the new agents were still clueless about what was happening.

“Okay, let me start from the top.” Bianca ripped her gaze from the slip of paper. “Andrei Jimenez is in possession of smoke bombs, flash bombs, possibly a hefty amount of adrenaline, and an unusual personality.”

“In short, he’d ruin the dance.” Marianne supplied, leaning against the mirrored wall. “Back in third year high school, he had a crap prom, but then again, he’s a hell of a pessimist. Ybiernas Industries’ party is like a prom, and Andrei would want to ruin it. He’s just like that, I don’t… He was my classmate for two years. It’s indescribable, but… it’s something he would willingly do.”

“I found the smoke and flash bombs in his apartment when Dave and I checked up on Andrei,” Bianca said. “He bought them shortly after his senior prom. Quite amusing, really, how I found them so fast. They were literally yelling.”

“And this shipment receipt,” Marianne held the sheet between her fingers, “is proof. What would he do with adrenaline? Andrei majored in biochemistry for two years, he should know what adrenaline does to posthumans. He’s not stupid, you know.”

“It’s still not conclusive,” Stephen said determinedly. “There’s no guarantee that Andrei plans to use all that stuff on the dance.”

“What, you would risk being exposed? ‘Cause if you’re not going, then I am.” Marianne said, just as determinedly. “Once the posthumans are no longer a secret, we’re gonna be in trouble.” She turned to Bianca for the final decision. “There’s nothing to lose in being too careful. David—”

“—would go. I am too.” She paused at the mention of her uncle. “I set up this branch to help out the Palawan outpost, to cover while the Company is gone. We shouldn’t turn our backs on a threat, no matter how baseless our accusations may be.”

Digesting what she said, she turned around to face the agents, a big grin plastered on her face, contrary to her serious look a few minutes ago. “Now, who’s going? You have to wear a tux or dress, it’s all part of being undercover!”

- - - - -

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alien mission
Where everything isn’t meant to be okay
- American Idiot by Green Day

End of Episode 4.

Episode 3 - Uncontrolled

Once again, all episodes can be read at pisaygarnet2013@tumblr. I recommend reading it there instead, because the formatting is better preserved. Pero anyway, bahala kayo.

This episode introduces four new characters. Not sure tho. Happy reading~

_______________________

P-roes Spin-Off
Pisay Garnet 2013
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Abilities.
Real People. Unreal Adventure.

Episode 3 – Uncontrolled
Written and directed by Bianca Publico
Co-directed by Marianne Cadiz and Benny Almirol

Previously, on PG13…

“It’s another math exam. I’m on the brink of failure.”
‘Good thing people couldn’t fly.’
“The Company was founded by my uncle, David.”
“Send someone ASAP, won’t you? She might be a bit unstable after that shock.”
“Stuff. I can’t remember. But it was AWESOME!”
“You know, I hate it when you flaunt your power.”

Now, PG13 continues.

________________________

“STRIIIIIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!”

Joaqui exhaled in relief as he released his tense pose, and walked back to the bench, removing his glove.

“Good play, Silvestre.”

He looked up at their temporary manager, who was handing him a bottle of water and a towel. He grabbed them gratefully. “Thank you.”

The manager stretched her arms luxuriously as he chugged down the water. “It’s great to get out sometimes. And watch you play.”

“Thanks for taking time out for me, Mika.”

“The fashion business isn’t that demanding,” she said, “And this is cool too, I got to be your manager and stuff. And we’re going to the mall!”

“By the way, I thought you were inviting that friend of yours? The one you designed outfits for, the CEO…?”

“Oh, you mean Rham. He couldn’t come, there’s this big dance he’s organizing. I think it’s an invention launch of some sort.”

“Well then, he’s bound to be busy.”

-xxxxx-

In truth, Rham’s events coordinator was just a little bit busier than him.

Issa wandered down the hallways of the fourth floor, looking for the right room. Rham had asked her to bring up Kirby, the inventor of the dance’s main attraction. He had conveniently forgotten that she was a temporary recruit and didn’t know her way around very well.

She peered into a room with an open door, and found an inventor she recognized. It was the one who had asked her for burn ointment a few days ago. He was sleeping; Issa wondered how he still managed to stay on par with Kirby’s inventing. Issa decided to leave him alone, making a mental note to ask if Rham even knew about this.

Issa found Kirby in the next room over. She pushed the door open quietly, about to call out his name but stopped in her tracks.

He was holding a blowtorch in one hand, and passing the flame over his fingers one by one, very slowly. There was no visible protection on his hand, but no burn marks appeared. The room was also quite warm, but the prodigy inventor wasn’t sweating a drop.

She backed out of the room quickly, processing what she had seen.

Finally coming to a decision, she entered the room and said, mustering as much authority as she could, “Mr. Manuel?”

The blowtorch fell from his hand and clattered down to the floor. Kirby made a show of jumping in pain and nursing his foot as he switched off the blowtorch. It would have all been believable had Issa not seen that unusual event. “Er… The CEO wants to see you in his office right away.”

“No problem,” he said, placing the blowtorch back on his brightly lit table, and brushing eraser dust off some blueprints. He stumbled out of his office sheepishly.

He really is absentminded. He’d forgotten to lock his door and I’m still in here.

Issa picked up the blowtorch, and pulled a Post-It note from the unused cube on Kirby’s desk. She burned the note, confirming the flames that had touched Kirby’s hand.

She hurried back to her office and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi there!”

“Is this Dave? Why are you in Bianca’s office?”

“I’m waiting to get a new recruit. I can mentor someone now!”

“I see. Listen, can I talk to her?”

“Sure.” The phone switched hands. “Hey, Issa.”

“How’d you know?”

“Dave’s future was yelling. Why’d you call, Issa? You don’t usually…”

“There’s a new posthuman,” she whispered discreetly, glad that Rham had given her one of the specially soundproof rooms. “He’s one of the inventors in this company I’m in. You must have heard about it. The one hosting the dance?”

“Ah, yes. Mr. Ybiernas’s dance. It sounds wonderful.” Over at the Company, Bianca was smirking. Issa thought she sounded a little bitter.

“It’s actually Ybiernas Industries’ first invention launch. And the inventor is the posthuman.”

“What can he do? Frankly, I’m surprised he isn’t in our database yet.”

“He doesn’t get burnt. I saw him touch white-hot flames without flinching.”

“Sounds impressive. Do you want backup? Wait, no, stupid question. Disablers rarely need backup.”

Issa smiled, but there was no emotion. “You know, why not keep someone ready. I think my powers have gotten a little rusty.”

“Okay. There’s a new recruit that compliments your inventor’s powers nicely. This new posthuman may be able to do more than you think. Remember, he isn’t in our database. Be careful.”

“I think I can handle him.”

-xxxxx-

Eight months ago

Jethro went out to his backyard, ready to spend another day relaxing, and his wide backyard was more than enough for just that.

Fully equipped with a ten-foot wide private pool, spa , orchid garden, barbeque station, and several comfortably cushioned lounge chairs, the Malimatas’ backyard was perfect for hosting pool parties.

Which Jethro rarely held. He didn’t like parties. Too many people.

He settled into one of the lounge chairs and adjusted the umbrella so it shaded him from the sun. Jethro sighed in content, completely relaxed.

That is, of course, until the sliding door leading into the main house slipped open, and the pattering of shoes forced him to open his eyes.

An unfamiliar man wearing a casual outfit was seated on the lounge chair beside him. His eyes were obscured by polarized sunglasses, and his already brown hair looked even lighter under the sunlight. Jethro sat up, curious.

“Nice place you have here. I wouldn’t say so much about security, though.” His voice had a slight accent, as though some words were clipped. His sunglasses glinted as he removed them.

“Yeah, I’d think so.”

“I’m Stephen. Nice to meet you.” He extended a friendly hand. Jethro looked at it uncertainly for a few seconds, until Stephen lowered it, and muttered, “That never works.” He raised his voice again. “So, Jethro, I guess you’re wondering what I’m doing here, hm?”

“Of course. How did you know my name?”

“That ties well with what I’m doing here. Actually, I’m from a special Company. We take care of people with abilities, and make sure they remain secret.”

Jethro’s curiosity was instantly spiked. Stephen noticed. “Why would you do that?”

“Firstly, normal people would love to study them, hunt them down. We don’t want that. And secondly, we also aim to restrain abilities, should it become a danger to the posthuman or people around him or her.”

“Posthuman? That’s what we’re called?” The excitement was building up for Jethro. He wanted to learn so much more.

“Yes. What ability do you have? You said ‘we’.”

Jethro smiled. “Er, I’m not really sure what it’s called, but I can show you.”

He stood on the edge of the water as Stephen looked on. He decided to give Jethro the chance to awe him, since he already knew his ability from the database.

“Ready?”

Jethro jumped into the water fully clothed. He kneeled on the pool floor, and started breathing in the water.

He closed his eyes as he focused on inhaling and exhaling, totally mindless of the water, breathing as though he were aboveground. Stephen took his chance to roll his eyes while he wasn’t looking.

The excited water bug floated to the top of the surface, wiping the water off his face. “Did you see it?”

“I was going to tell you that I already knew you were a waterbreather, but yeah, it was amazing.” The last three words were as drenched in sarcasm as Jethro was of water.

“Waterbreathing, huh? Do you know how it works?” He climbed out of the pool and started drying himself with a towel.

“Nope. You can ask the scientists back at headquarters. My only job is to bring you back.”

Jethro’s hands froze on the towel he was holding. “I have to come with you?”

“Not if you don’t want to. But know that we’ll be keeping you in check, and will force you to come when you start flaunting your power in public.”

The waterbreather stayed silent. “I-I don’t think I’m ready to go with you yet.”

Stephen grew slightly annoyed, but managed not to let it show. “You don’t have to come. I can come back some other time.” Bianca, you better send someone else on this guy’s check-ups, he thought scathingly at the back of his mind. Freaking specials, eager one minute and reluctant the next.

“… I’m sorry. I know it’s trouble, but I can’t yet.”

Stephen rose to leave. “That wasn’t totally unexpected, believe me. Most want to keep their lives in order and totally ignore their abilities. However, I warn you again: should you display your power publicly, the Company will have to restrain you.”

-xxxxx-

Present Day

He scuffed both shoes against the ground, psyching himself up. Joaqui got into the position beside the strike zone that he was so familiar with, placing the bat a little above his shoulder. He nodded, and the catcher, pitcher, and umpire all tensed.

The pitcher swung backwards, and suddenly, everything slowed down.

Joaqui saw everything in red. The outline of the pitcher glowed a bright white, and the ball was a separate entity. He saw the outfielders and the short stops in the same white outline.

Just as suddenly, everything sped up.

He saw exactly where the ball was flying, and where the short stops first ran to. All of them were marked by blinding white trails of light, vivid against the red. He blinked, and suddenly everything came back in full color. The ball was halfway to him. Joaqui shut his eyes and opened them again, just as the umpire called “Ball!”

Lucky. Joaqui tried to shake his surprise off. He had to concentrate…

But I just saw where the ball was going before it went there!

He licked his lips nervously, and gave the OK to start again. The pitcher moved his hand, and Joaqui’s eyesight turned red once more. As soon as he saw where the ball was going, he blinked, and just as he anticipated, the world turned full color again. The white trail left by the ball was still clearly visible, burned into his eyes.

He swung, and it was perfect.

-xxxxx-

Stephen was sprawled over the lounge chair he had sat in eight months ago, hands behind his head and completely at ease.

The same door slid open, and Jethro dropped the glass of wine he had been holding. He cursed, the wine having been his last glass of high-grade Chateau Latour.

“I saw the effort to upgrade your security after my last entrance, but there was a blind spot over in those bushes,” he gestured lazily to the shrubbery behind him. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and all that.”

“Hello to you too. So Dave told you about my decision?”

“Agent Llorin was rather vague, but yes. Let’s go, my car is out back.”

-xxxxx-

Joaqui’s team won the game, much thanks to his grandslam following his red visions. He sat on the bench long after everyone on his team had gone, still contemplating. His vision was now slightly tinted pink, with faint white trails of where the grass was blowing next.

“That was a really good game!”

He looked up to find a small, curly-haired man wearing a baseball cap. He seemed younger than he looked. Joaqui assumed he was a fan. “Um, thanks.”

“Your ability’s really something, huh?”

Joaqui looked at him in disbelief.

“I know what you can do. You can predict where things will move next, right?”

There was another trail showing the boy sitting down next to him. Sure enough, he did.

“I can see where the air blows the grass next,” Joaqui said uncertainly, referring to the grass.

“No, no,” Dave said. Aside from Javi, Dave was the main science nut in the Company. “The wind is an air. A moving air.”

Joaqui was about to point out the grammatical errors, but decided against it. “What is it? This… this thing I can do?”

“It’s called kinetic precognition. Really rare, too.”

Joaqui decided not to care how he knew. All that mattered was that he get to the bottom of this soon. He started with a basic question. “What’s your name?”

“Lawrence. Nah, just kidding. Call me Dave. I work for a Company, a Company found to help and hide people like you and me. Posthumans.”

“Post…humans?”

“Yeah! You can come with me if you’d like, I’ll show you the headquarters and everything. We’d love to help you, if you need it.”

“Um, okay.” Joaqui was more than a little overwhelmed by his talkativeness, but that was okay, since he hardly knew what to say. “How do we get there?”

“Come with me, I have James waiting in the car. He’s really awesome, you know. He can levitate!”

A few minutes later, Joaqui was sitting beside Dave in a heavily tinted car. “Dave, what’s your ability?”

“Oh, speaking of which…” Dave looked Joaqui in the eye, his eyes swirling blends of blue, purple, and black. Joaqui fell back in his chair, lightly snoring.

James looked back at them as he revved up the engine. “Oh, so that’s why I lost consciousness after getting in the car.”

-xxxxx-

Once again, Issa was walking around on the fourth floor, but now she knew where she was going. She knocked on the open door, and called out Kirby’s name.

Right then, Kirby wasn’t trying to burn himself. He was innocently poring over the designs of his newest invention. He wheeled his chair around, pencil hooked behind his ear and a pen-like eraser between his teeth. He removed the eraser before he said, “Does Mr. Ybiernas need me again?”

“Oh, no, no,” Issa said, adjusting her glasses. “Actually, I’d like to talk to you. Can we go somewhere else?”

Kirby looked uncertain, but he dropped his pencils and came with her.

She led him to a deserted corridor, rarely passed by people. “Kirby, I saw you using the blowtorch.”

He became nervous at once. “Oh, huh. Well, um…”

“Do you know why you don’t get burnt?”

“No,” he replied in a small voice, crossing his arms across his chest.

“I know. You have a power.”

Kirby looked up, the interest obvious in his eyes. “Rea—”

The next moment, Kirby’s hands were ablaze. He looked at them in horror; Issa reacted instinctively as she raised her palms and lowered them, as if pushing the air down. The flames on Kirby’s hand slowly went out, but he could still feel the warmth beneath his skin.

“How did you do that!?”

“Power augmentation. No time explaining. I didn’t know you were a pyrokinetic!”

-xxxxx-

Bianca’s eyes were closed as she listened to the wireless headset, ignoring its whispers about how it once belonged to an animal agent (Who the hell even considers platypode to be agents?) and instead listening to the drama unfolding.

“I didn’t know you were a pyrokinetic!”

She took her feet off the desk and grabbed the pager.

“Pia, take Gene to Ybiernas Industries. It seems Agent Garcia’s inventor is actually a dormant volcano who just exploded. And that wasn’t metaphorical; he’s pyrokinetic.”

“Right away.”

- - - - -

You’re worth losing my self-esteem
Your clever words mean nothing more to me
Than a lot I’ve heard in a movie
You’re worth losing my, losing my, losing my self-esteem
You’re not worth putting myself in these situations
- Whoa Oh (Me Vs. Everyone) by Forever the Sickest Kids

End of Episode 3.