He shouldn’t have been so surprised – Mason had seen just what Alice could do only moments previously after all – but it was just bizarre to watch that skinny little arm first hold his in place with ease, and then whip it across his face to slam his hand down against the makeshift battleground. He gasped in shock, registering his astonishment long before belatedly noticing the sharp, brief pain of having one’s hand smacked against a table.

“Woah.” He pulled his arm away to flex his fingers tentatively, feeling for anything more serious than a potential bruise. “I’m okay, Your Highness. No damage done.”

Mason then swooned dramatically, letting out an appropriately ridiculous sigh of suffering. “Except to my dignity of course. Beaten by a girl! My superhero career is in tatters before it’s even begun…”

He was secretly quite pleased that his initial terms had decreed that the winner received a tiara. Now Alice could never escape the title of Prom Queen no matter how cool the “official” name she eventually decided upon was. He was less pleased that Alice had threatened to force-feed him said tiara, but fortunately the tiara was a metaphor. For now.

He wondered if a tiara would go invisible if he wore it. The power had some natural flex of its own, after all. He guessed that depended on how lavish the tiara was… What a weird mental image.

Mason reached into his pocket, clutching the penny in safe secrecy within his fist. Surely he could force his ability to follow his will.

No.

No, that approach didn’t work. He knew it didn’t work. He needed to treat it like a surly colleague further down the chain of command – less like a subordinate and more like a team member. Hey, he should probably treat it as the leader because it clearly knew much more about invisibility than he did.

Mason decided against experimenting for now but kept the coin clenched firmly in his hand, just in case he suddenly figured it out.

The discomfort at being centre of attention was clearly visible in Claire’s body language, but she was doing admirably in not completely shying away from them. The fact that she had felt comfortable enough with them to even demonstrate this new effect was more than enough for Mason. He knew that having all eyes on you – even if "all" constituted just two pairs of eyes – was an intimidating experience for many and a not altogether positive experience for others still. In his experience, there were very few who truly flourished and thrived in the spotlight.

“Real pretty,” he said firmly in agreement with Alice. He wouldn’t have her dismiss it as nothing so easily.

It was hard to relate to Alice’s suggestion of testing things out due to curiosity. For Mason, there was no fanciful play with his invisibility – only a constant, silent battle to gain control over it. He’d been trying hard to understand how the boundaries of his ability could be extended too, but the whole process was very difficult and he had a feeling that the subsequent frustration was not helping at all in overcoming his difficulties.

Not that touching burning hot pans was exactly "fanciful play" by most people’s standards, but there was a subtle difference there that left Mason feeling a little envious. He pushed the feeling aside. He didn’t need to add envy onto the pile of negativity that was beginning to grow within him. It was something he needed to burn down; strike a match of productivity and set fire to the worries of self-worth and invisibility until they crumbled. He needed something to take his mind off his problems by immersing himself in it.

Scolding Claire was clearly one suggestion that his brain had come up with. She’d looked terrible for a moment – so guilt-ridden – but then something had softened on her features and she offered him a hand. Apparently his scolding had been forgiven.

Mason stepped forwards and grabbed her hand carefully, giving it a firm, professional handshake. “There, we shook on it. Now you gotta behave.” He hoped she could hear the smile on his face.

“Our high school monarch isn’t selling this too well,” Mason apologised, laughing at Alice’s batless, caveless bat cave. “It would be seriously cool if you would come check out the warehouse, even if just to admire the fallen shelving unit which is probably still there after Alice tantrum-ed it to oblivion.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, adding a jeering hum so that she could get the hint.

Mason puffed up his chest and put on his best infomercial voice. “Hi! Billy Mason here!”

He allowed himself a couple of giggles, attempting to meet Claire’s gaze as best he could. He could almost convince himself that she was actually looking at him and not at a spot on the wall behind him. Almost.

Alice seemed genuinely a little let-down that Claire hadn’t worked out how to defy gravity. Sure, that would have been cool, but what she did instead was impressive and magical all in its own right. Mason watched intently as she turned away from them and began what seemed to be an impromptu strip show. He was just trying to work out what was actually going on (assuming she hadn’t developed stripper powers) when colour from the dragon on Claire’s shoulder began to bleed out across her skin.

His mouth dropped open, mesmerised by the shift.

“Woah,” he contributed.

It didn’t explain much. Her words didn’t really expand on the workings of her power either, just kind of reiterated that her skin was supernaturally tough along with the mysterious new information that this was somehow linked to the ink decorating her body.

He frowned as Alice questioned her about experimenting further. “Have you been trying that kinda stuff alone? What if you got hurt?”

Mason wanted to reach out and touch the tattoo as though it might reveal its secrets. It was such a personal power. So connected to Claire. He wondered if their powers manifested according to their own personalities. Persephone’s and Dominic’s would make sense… maybe Alice’s too, she was pretty energetic. But what did that mean for Mason - had he always been invisible? Nothing more than an empty presence in the room with nothing to contribute but the occasional laugh and joke?

He felt very small.

Mason stared, mouth agape, as Dominic further demonstrated the impressive power of his ability. It was such a wild beast of a power – the sparks and bolts carried such a fearsome energy and by their very nature lit up the entire room, casting Dominic in blinding light. He wondered how much Dominic had to think about in order to control the flow of electricity and how much was instinctive. It seemed like a much more active power than Mason’s. Mason was simply the passive recipient of invisibility; a spectator in his own head.

Alice was definitely on a high. She was just so enthused about everything, as though there was a suppressed supply of excitement all rushing to the surface now that she had her own power and could finally be truly happy for everyone else without it being tainted by resentment and disappointment.

“Depending on how old this building is, the wiring could use fuse boxes or circuit breakers, but they both essentially do the same job, as you know,” Mason added hurriedly, not wanting to assume ignorance. “Tripping a circuit is caused by an excessive flow of current. You don’t want that going on for a long time ‘cause the wires will overheat and, y’know, whoosh.” Mason raised his arms in his best, Oscar-worthy impression of flames.

He looked around. “So I reckon you could easily overload the circuit, but I’m also wondering if you could break it yourself by somehow blocking the flow of current by redirecting it away from the circuit. That would immediately shut off power on that specific circuit… Could be useful for sneaking around in the dark,” he added with a grin, his mind still firmly on the possibility – no, practically certainty – of becoming a superhero.

“This place does have power, right?”

Dom was obviously focused on finding the perfect names for a deeper reason than just the childish excitement Mason was experiencing. His marketing brain, hyper-optimised for just this kind of PR purpose, was whirring and buzzing with activity. Mason could practically hear the little cogs turning. He wanted something stronger, something with gravitas. Prom Queen, Saran-Man… not quite cutting it.

He could brain-storm, if that was what Dom wanted. He could really, honestly try to come up with something for any one of them. Surely somewhere amidst all the nonsense and jokes in Mason’s mind there were a couple of good ideas tucked away.

He nodded enthusiastically at the idea of continuing to experiment. It was fun to see just what they could do. It would be even more fun once they got together and started working as a team to complement one another with their own skillsets. He was already having visions of being launched by Alice as an invisible cannonball, although he didn’t really know if he could survive such a tactic… Mason might have to reconsider his imaginary role as tactician.

Mason decided to help, lugging the car battery closer to Dominic. “I bet you could act as a circuit breaker too, if you can redirect currents. Or trip fuses with overloads…” He smiled, happy in his comfort zone. He’d started his place in the world of work as an electrician, after all. If anyone could help Dominic think of practical uses for his power, it was him.

“So, what are you gonna try and do first?”

“Too late,” Mason told Dom firmly, the most impish of grins on his face. “PQ is stuck in my head forever. Now I just need to think of something for you… Mr Sparky Hands…”

As he said it, he had the horrible realisation that the others probably wouldn’t recognise that as a joke suggestion. Saran-Man had done some real damage to his reputation.

“I think these powers are pretty good compensation for a lack of shiny crown,” he said, amused. “Besides, no one’s gonna argue with whatever you decide to call yourself with this kind of firepower.”

Mason would like to see someone try and take Alice on after he’d seen what she’d done to that poor shelving unit. It was kind of scary – thank God these powers had fallen into Alice’s hands. In fact, they seemed to have lucked out across the board. As far as he could tell, none of them were teetering on the edge of super-villainy. Claire was a shy artist, Persephone an honest waitress, Will had been on the goddamn police force… They had the makings of a team here, he was sure.

“You’re right, there’s nothing better we could do with these gifts. We have a real chance to give people hope. It’s already giving me so much…” He smiled, an oddly bittersweet smile that he didn’t really understand himself.

He took a breath, shaking himself back into a lighter mood. “Sounds good to me. I think we should gather the others too, see if they want to get involved. I’m sure they will!” he added happily. “What’s not to love?”