Page 83 of No Capes

Try not to die, noted.“What’s the third?”

“Supers can only use one power at a time.”

No. What? Have I tried more than one power at once yet?No. Except… I remember the first picture I saw of Dark Static, the graffiti of him in the air and shooting lasers at Golden Ace.

“I’ve seen you flyandshoot lasers,” I say.

“Kind of. I stop using my flight powers when I fire the lasers. I had to get good enough at flying that I could let myself freefall for milliseconds at a time, while I use my other powers.”

“So, you cheat.”

“Yes.” He grins. “And you should too.”

I am never flying with him again.

“It takes energy to control them…” I reflect on the past hour. “And I need water to activate mine. Is that a limitation?”

“That,” he drums on the table for effect. “Is acost.Powers require energy and stamina. Using them is physically and emotionally draining. They take different parts from all of us.”

Interesting. Things are starting to make sense.

Except…

Arielle said that Phil’s powers are cut off if his reflection is caught in a mirror. That doesn’t seem quite like a cost or limitation. She also said not to tell anyone about Phil’s powers.Can I trust D.S.?

“You seem upset,” he says, angling closer.

“Um,” I start.Screw it.“Arielle told me that Phil…” And I tell him.

Dark Static nods along, unsurprised. “That fills some things in. Yikes. And yes, what you’re describing is aweakness,or a specific circumstance that diminishes your powers. It’s usually related to the event where you gained your powers, and it’s something you never want to be discovered.”

“Why would Phil’s weakness be a mirror?”

D.S. pauses, considering. “We can’t say without knowing what his event was. The adversity he got powers from.”

“Wait, so weaknesses are psychological?”

D.S. nods. “They’re a manifestation of your event, somehow. They’re not related to your actual powers. Like, as much as it stings when water hits me, water doesn’t take away my power. To be honest, I haven’t found my weakness yet. It’ll come out when I least want it to.”

“If my event is my mom’s car crash…” I consider.

“Your weakness could be anything,” says Dark Static. “It could be that your powers don’t work when you watch TV, if that’s how you found out about the crash. Maybe they don’t work when you read a newspaper, if that would remind you too much of your mom. The last thing is that not every Super has an ‘event.’ I have it on good authority—well, Gold’s authority—that Flare may not have had one, and she got her powers from a source even more rare. Her weakness is even less obvious. She’ll still have one. Something tailored to her psyche.”

“There’s one more thing I’ll need,” I say. “Besides the Supersuit, or whatever.”

“Yeah?”

“I need to learn how to fight.”

He grins. “I suppose you want me to teach you that too?”

I match his condescending tone. “I suppose.”

“It would be my pleasure to do that specialness for you.”

His suit glimmers as he struts under the lights, leading me to a new section of Golden Ace’s HQ. I replace his jacket with my shirt, grab two bottles of water, and follow him to a corner past the water tank. He takes me to a decently sized space that’s set up like a boxing ring, with pads over the concrete.

Dark Static said he’d wanted to help with my powers as soon as I found out about them. He must have prepped for this afternoon, despite the misunderstanding from Hallowfest. Is his secret identity similar? Afraid of showing how thoughtful he really is?