The alarm goes off at 6:25 am like every other morning at the Armstrong house. The young Alpha turns over and turns it off, burying his face deeper into his pillow. His computer screen lights up as his father checks in on him. "Time to catch the worm, son! You weren't still sleeping were you?"

The boy jumps up and throws his blankets at the end of his bed. He scratches his head with a nervous chuckle, "Uh… of course not dad! I was uh… just mentally planning my day..?"

"Great!" His father beams, "I'm sending this morning's before-school schedule to your tablet now. Remember, rigid structure bears great rewards. Go get 'em!"

Jake ignores his father signing off to see what the man had planned for him that day. Violin practice, wind sprints, school, swimming, tutoring, chello, homework, dinner and then bed. Jake groans at the second thing on the list. "Wind sprints today?"

Jake doesn't bother getting dressed yet, going out into the living room to watch the news while he practices the violin and eats an apple for breakfast, the only thing he's really got time to eat this early. By 6:40 he's dressed and at the maglev stop, waiting for the train to take him to school for his early morning exercises. The same ad was on all the TVs on the train; the same one that was everywhere in the city. Jake smiles as he watches it again for the hundredth time, "Welcome to Charter City. Once an urban blight, now the fastest growing metropolis in the world. A high tech hub, Charter City is headquarters to Rook Unlimited…"

He watches the ad twice before it the train comes to a stop in front of the Academy of Future Leadership, his high school. He gets off at the train stop and walks half a block to the front doors. Once inside he goes to the locker room and grabs his first pair of gym clothes, changing before heading out to the football/track field. At 7:30 he's heading back inside to take a quick shower and put on his school uniform. He combs his hair and straightens his tie in the mirror, then heads outside to wait for his best friend, Nathan. He takes the protein shake out of his bag and sips it between yawns, trying not to fall asleep before school officially starts for the day.

…

Nathan's startled awake like every morning, with his little brother jumping onto his bed from his bunk as soon as the alarm goes off at 7:00 am, "What?! WHY?! Hey don't eat all the cereal again!"

He gets up with a groan and grabs his bathroom supplies, going out in the hall to find a line forming. His oldest brother must be in there, checking himself out in the mirror. He rest against the wall and waits his turn; being one of three Omegas in a family of ten was a struggle, especially when you're the middle child. At least it wasn't his heat week. By the time he's done with his shower, a cold one because of course everyone wanted hot water, the others are down stairs eating breakfast. He grabs a clean bowl and kisses his mom's cheek, smiling at one of the twins when he gives him the box of cereal. He sighs when he tries to pour some into his bowl and finds the box empty, picking up his bowl and heading to the fridge. He takes the last egg and some milk and mixes it together before putting it in the microwave. He adds eggs on the grocery list on the fridge and continues getting ready.

After breakfast he goes to his room and changes into his uniform while the others are busy. Even though his brothers were family it was still weird to change in front of them, even weirder since he presented as an Omega. It takes him forever to find any of his shoes in the family pile in the living room and even then they was two different colors. He groans and puts them on anyway or else he'd be late for the bus.

"Grandpa, did you see where my bag went?" Nathan finds his school books on the coffee table by the couch but no bag, "Mom? Dad? Has anyone seen my bag?"

"One of your brother's must have taken it again." His grandpa laughs, handing him a plastic bag, "This will do for today. Give me them and fix your tie. Don't want to be late, yes?"

"Seriously?" Nathan groans, "It's my bag, it still has some of my stuff in it, like my botany book. I'll see if Jake will share his… again. How do you tie this thing?!"

His grandpa just laughs and fixes it while the Omega finishes tying his shoes, then grabs his plastic bag with his books and runs out the door with a quick farewell. He gets on the bus and tries to ignore the other kids laughing at him, just wanting to get to school to get the day over with.

When he finally makes it to school he greets his best friend as Jake yawns and tries to not fall asleep where he was standing. "You look a little more zombie-ish than usual, Jake. Kettlebell morning huh?"

"No Nathan, wind sprints." They head inside. "My dad insists this schedule's good for me."

"Hey at least your books aren't in a plastic bag. This is what happens when one of your dozen siblings takes your backpack. Again. Which reminds me that we'll need to share the botany book if you don't mind." The Alpha laughs at his friend.

"I thought you only had six other brothers and sisters?"

"Maybe." Nathan smiles, "I don't know...I-I lost count."

"Mr. Armstrong!" The two turn to see their principal standing in front of them. "Forget something?"

"I don't think so, principal Wilson."

"Well then it must of been a different Jake Armstrong that volunteered to give tours to new students."

"There's a tour today?" At the principal's look the younger Alpha backtracks, "And I'd love to do that… right now." Nathan groans when his plastic bag rips and spills his books everywhere. Jake just laughs and hands him his own bag. "Here. I'll meet up with you later but you can hold onto that for me while I give the new kid the tour."

"Thanks Jake." Nathan whispers with a smile. He ignores the other kids that laugh at him as he puts his books in the Alpha's bag and throws it over his shoulder. "I'll take notes for you."

"While I understand your need to take care of your Omega Mr. Armstrong, we do need to get moving." Principal Wilson starts walking away, towards his office.

Nathan and Jake share an eye roll and head in different directions. Jake follows the principal and clears his throat, "Uh Sir. I don't mean to be disrespectful but me and Nathan are just friends, he's not my Omega and quite frankly it's…"

"Go ahead Mr. Armstrong. You won't get in trouble about this at least." The topic of Mating had always been one that could be taken two ways and the principal prefered it when people didn't beat around the bush with it, least it mess with the school or students in any way, shape, or form.

"Yes Sir." Jake takes a deep breath, "It's kind of… annoying. That everyone thinks Nathan has to be my Omega just for us to hang out. We've been friends since we were kids; that didn't change our relationship when we presented."

"Well Jake," Mr. Wilson smiles, "This is the time most start looking for a partner, even if they aren't planning to bond. It's easy for people to assume, especially in high school. It will go away in a few years or when one of you decides to look into a bond with someone else. Just focus on your studies, yes?"

"Yes Sir." Jake smiles. When they get to the office the Alphas sit and wait for the new student to show up, talking about all of Jake's after school activities and his grades. The wait fifteen minutes before a large male comes running around the corner and passes the doorway, only to turn around. He smirks and goes inside the office.

Jake takes in his appearance and almost winces. While the uniform isn't mandatory past the jacket with the school's crest on it, to not wear the full thing wasn't something most students did. The new guy was wearing a plain white shirt under a red hoodie and jeans with red sneakers. The jacket was there but the sleeves were rolled up passed the guy's elbows and tucked under the hoodie sleeves. When he gets in the door he rest one arm on the door frame and laughs. "This is the main office right? I can always tell cause it's the place all the other students avoid."

He comes in further and Jake notices his dark brown dreads that stick up and back like it was styled that way, and blue eyes. He also picks up the neutral Beta smell. The guy crosses his arms and smirks again, "I'm Ricardo Perez."

"And you're late. On your first day." Principal Wilson stands up, gesturing for Jake to do the same.

"By like 15 minutes." Ricardo scoffs, "There are, like, 75,000 minutes in a school year."

"And at the Academy of Future Leadership every minute counts. I'm sure Jake will point that out on the tour, he's one of our top students." Jake stands up and waits for Ricardo to size him up like everyone does; one of the many perks of being a smaller Alpha. "And he's never late."

"Jake Armstrong." The Alpha holds out his hand and waits for Ricardo to shake it. "We'll start the tour at the front of the school if you don't mind. Good day Principal Wilson."

Jake nods at the man before leading the Beta out of the office. He explains a few of the medals in the display cases and what they're for between explaining the history of the Academy. Ricardo stays quiet until Jake asks if he has any questions and the Beta nods at the lockers, "Yeah. Are those just for show cause I don't see any locks. How do you keep your stuff safe?"

"Well I can show you. Do you know your locker number?" When Ricardo repeats it, Jake leads them to the right one. He instruction the Beta to place his thumb on the metal screen next to the handle and watches Ricardo's face when the door opens with a small laugh, "Thumbprint recognition. The only one with access to your locker is yourself and Principal Wilson. Of course they can be hacked but doing so would mean expulsion and a trip to the cops, so no one really bothers."

"Fancy locks, psht." Ricardo huffs and closes the locker, turning to the small Alpha, "My parents move a lot. I've been to five schools in three towns in two years. Spoiler alert. Under the paint job, all schools are exactly the same."

"Not the AFL." Jake laughs, leading them outside where some of the other students were, "Rook Unlimited sponsors us. We have the best science labs, best theater."

"Unimpressed. I can read this school like an e-book. Watch this." Ricardo smirks again and starts to point at each group as they pass them, "Jocks. They're on top, always. Then it's survival of the fittest; cheerleaders rule over the drama geeks, who try to ignore the slackers. Last and also least the science nerds. Nailed it."

"Well if I had to grade your theory… you failed." Jake smiles as Alfonso puts his homemade robot on the ground. They watch as the robot is driven over to the jocks via remote and ties one of the football players shoes together. When he goes to walk away he trips, causing everyone to laugh. One of the cheerleaders gives Alfonso a high five and heads over to the 'slackers', kissing her boyfriend on the cheek and then talking with some of the drama geeks about this new show they were binge watching together.

Ricardo watches everything with a slack jaw and wide eyes. Jake smiles and leads him inside for their next class, botany. "This school? Not always so easy to figure out."

The teacher was already passing out graded test when they walk in. Jake goes to his seat next to Nathan and Ricardo takes the seat on the other side of him. The teacher looks up, "Thank you for joining us Mr. Armstrong, and bring the new student with you as well. Mr. Park, B minus. Your brothers were brilliant at botany. I figured your family had an inherent understanding of the plant world. But… oh, well."

He gives Jake his test, "Mr. Armstrong, A plus."

Ricardo coughs, "Nerd."

The teacher turns to him, "And you must be Mr. Perez. I've checked your transfer grades, and I must say I'm more than a little surprised the Academy accepted you."

Nathan snorts behind his hand and Jake smiles, coughing, "Burn."

"So you can catch up, I'm assigning you a group report with Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Park here." The teacher smiles at the boys, and they knew it was because of their little return dig at Ricardo, "We wouldn't want to 'leaf' you behind. Ha! Botany joke."

The three of them don't talk again until after class when Jake introduces Ricado to Nathan. The Omega hands Jake his botany book and the notes he'd taken for him in their other classes. "I also stopped by your other classes to get your homework assignments for you since you were doing the tour."

"How many good Omega comments you get today?" Jake laughs, scanning the paper. Ricardo just stands next to them and watches their exchange.

"Four of your teachers and like six girls." Nathan bangs his head against the locker loud enough to make the Beta jump. His voice cracks when he rubs his head, "Why does everyone think I'm your's? Like seriously if I hear one more person say, 'Oh your such a good Mate picking up your Alpha's work for him', or something similar I'm… I'm…"

"Not going to do anything but blush and then come complain to me or your grandpa?" Jake smiles.

Nathan scowls and punches the Alpha's shoulder, "You wound me, Jake. Really, I thought we were friends."

"Are you guys Mated or…?" Ricardo asks.

"NO!" Nathan runs his hands through his hair, "Weren't you listening?! Wait I'm sorry, your new, right. Uh hi, I'm Nathan Park; Jake's best friend and according to the student body, over seventy percent of the school, our parents and that cute girl at the bakery we go to for coffee sometimes, I'm also his Mate. Because apparently our friendship wasn't supposed to last past us presenting, without turning into a Courtship. Heaven forbid an Alpha and an Omega be friends."

"It's a sore point for him if you couldn't already tell." Jake tells the Beta, "But no, we're not Mated. And unless something happens and Nathan becomes a billionaire, I don't think we ever will be."

"Why me?" Nathan raises an eyebrow.

"Because then I don't have to do this anymore if I Mate you for your money." Jake hands over his tablet with his schedule for after school.

"Your dad added linguistics and piano again?" Ricardo looks at the schedule over Nathan's shoulder.

"What the hell?" The Beta stutters.

"Yeah, my swimming coach canceled so that would have meant two hour unscheduled. You'd think hell froze over if there was even one minute of free time in my day when it comes to my dad." Jake puts the tablet back in his bag.

"Well technically there are nine circles of hell and one of them is frozen so…"

Not the point Nathan." The Alpha laughs. "My dad has tutoring planned in today too so we can use that time frame to do our botany project. I'll see you guys at my place?"

"Sure if I knew where I was going." Ricardo snorts, "I'm new here, remember?"

"Right. Here." Jake pulls out a piece of paper from his notebook and scribbles down his address. "I should be done by about 5 tonight."

"So meet at your place at 5:17?"

"Yep. Unless the train is late, then it'll be 5:43. But then we'll only have 56 minute to do the report before I have to start the next thing on the list."

"You too are weird." Ricardo looks at the two of them. "How do you have the train times down like that?"

"A lot of practice." Nathan snorts, gathering the last of his books and putting the rest of it in his locker. "And thanks again for letting me borrow your bag today Jake. Hopefully when I get home one of the demons would have put mine back."

"No problem." Jake waves as he makes his way down the hall, "See you guys later."

…..

"Sooooo…. What is the phylum?" Jake takes off his tie, "Cycadophyta or Ginkgophyta?"

"Are you playing video games?!" Nathan glares at Ricardo.

"Trying to." The Beta barely glances at the other two before turning back to his tablet. "If you guys would stop distracting me with all this botany talk."

"Hello?!" Jake shakes his own tablet, a document that him and Nathan were going over pulled up, "I only have 15 minutes left."

"Not my problem you're some big overachiever cause your dad writes out a play by play for you everyday. I'd burn out after one day as you. Actually a half-day; no an hour."

"Oh, yeah, his dad? Very encouraging." Nathan shrugs at the glare Jake sends him with a laugh. "He wants him to make the most of every moment."

"I'm not a real doctor, but let me prescribe a little medicine called, 'Fun'. Ever hear of it?" Ricardo smirks.

"Well there is something I love to do, but I just haven't had time." Jake smiles in Nathan's direction.

The Omega jumps off the couch in a panic, "Not parkour. We will definitely break our faces."

"Parkour?" The Beta stands up, "Don't know what that is, but if Nathan thinks it's too dangerous then we need to do it right now."

"This report's not gonna write itself." Jake hesitants. "But maybe we could try being a little flexible, huh?"

Nathan glares at the Alpha, a slight rumble coming from his chest. Jake turns to his best friend. "Oh come on. I never get to do this anymore. Plus you like it too, no matter what you say."

The Omega groans, "Fine."

Jake and Ricardo high five and the three teens head out. They make it to the alley between Jake's apartment building and the next before Ricardo asks what parkour was. Jake smiles, "Watch this."

The Alpha starts climbing up the drain pipe until he gets halfway up before flipping onto someone's balcony. He then gets up on the railing and jumps over to the next building, grabbing a window edge and pulling himself up. The two on the ground watch as he makes his way to the roof using handhelds he finds along the way, passing between buildings as needed. When he gets to another balcony right above the roof of the next building he climbs onto the railing again and jumps, catching the railing on the roof and hopping over it. Then he looks down at his friends, 12 stories below, and waves at them.

"Holy shit." Ricardo gasps.

"He likes to show off a little." Nathan smiles. He jumps up and catches the first window ledge, pulling himself up and then grabbing the next. "This takes a bit more time but it's a little easier. There's stairs if you don't feel comfortable climbing up this way."

The Beta watches the Omega climb each window ledge with ease until he gets to the one right under the roof. There was a large overhang that made it impossible to climb just by jumping from the window up. Nathan turns around enough to kick a flag pole that was hanging there, then turns around completely to jump to it.

"Oh SHIT!" Ricardo tries to get under the Omega when he's only able to grab it with one hand, the other slipping off by his fingertips. The Beta had just met these guys but he really didn't want to watch one fall 12 stories to his death.

Nathan hears Ricardo from where he was hanging and almost laughs while adjusting his grip to two hands and pulling himself up, slipping his legs between his arms and sitting on the pole. He waves down at the Beta, "Do you want to take the stairs or are you going to parkour it up here?!"

"You guys are insane!" The Beta laughs. He climbs up the windows the way Nathan did until he's at the last window and looking over his shoulder while Nathan explains how to get to the flagpole.

"Kick it first to make sure it's not loose, then turn around and grab it. If you miss it with one hand DO NOT PANIC. That is a sure way to fall." The Beta watches Nathan stand up on the pole using the wall as support before climbing onto the roof. He does as instructed and pulls himself up to a squat on the pole. "Ok now you stand up and grab the rails, then pull yourself over."

Once he's on the roof he turns around and looks down, laughing, "That was awesome!"

"So do we keep going or head back inside to finish the report?" Jake smirks, already heading to the other side of the roof.

"Keep going." Ricardo runs after him, "Definitely keep going."

"Let's keep in mind that I need to be home before midnight because it is a school night." Nathan passes both of them and jumps to the next roof, rolling to control his fall. The two grin and follow him, Jake taking the lead to show Ricardo the best paths to take. They take turns showing and explaining where to grab and jump for the Beta and by nightfall they were miles away from Jake's apartment.

They jump from a higher roof onto a glass one, slowing down so they don't slide or break the glass. Jake does a flip over one of the concrete barriers and loses his balance. Nathan and Ricardo grab him to keep him on his feet and the skylight opens, causing them to fall into the warehouse on top of some metal containers still hooked up to a forklift. They try to climb down without knocking everything off and fall into the driver's seat. Ricardo laughs.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Nathan glares at the Beta from under the pile and tries to push them off, accidently hitting a lever and setting the thing in motion. The three of them tumble off as the forklift drives into another one, knocking all the containers off both of them. They go in every direction but one manages to hit another forklift by the door. The containers knock against each other and one of them opens, a wave of electric blue liquid slime, to cover over half the warehouse. Including Jake, Nathan and Ricardo.

"You guys ok?" Jake looks at his friends, watching them get up and checking to see if they were hurt anywhere.

"Other than being covered in three gallons of weird slime, I'm awesome. Nathan?" Ricardo wipes some slime off his cheek.

Nathan coughs, blue slime and puke covering his shoes and clothes, "Why in the mouth?! WHY?!"

"Let's get out of here guys." Jake leads them up onto the catwalk.

"We are going straight to prison. What did I tell you Jake; parkour only gets us in trouble. It always gets us in trouble; first your dad and now Rook Unlimited. Nothing good ever comes from parkour!" Nathan's voice cracks as he whimpers.

"Calm down." Jake rumbles, trying to sooth the distressed Omega.

"And we're not going to get in trouble 'cause no one knows we're here." Ricardo huffs, "So chill out man."

The door on the ground floor is kicked open and men and women in uniforms come in with plasma guns pointed at the three boys. An Alpha in a white suit follows them in, "Rook security, hands up! NOW!"

The three boys throw their hands up at the Alpha Voice, Jake's arms extending to the ceiling and coming back down. The three gasps, echoed by the security team on the ground. Jake looks at his friends over his shoulder, "Did you just see that?!"

"Saw it. Don't believe it." Nathan steps forward, reaching for the Alpha's arm, "Are you hurt?!"

"I don't feel anything broken but…"

"Never do that again, please."

"Do that again, please." Ricardo points at the guns still pointed at them, "Like pronto."

Jake throws his arms forward like he was reaching for the skylight. The other two grab onto him, ready to get out of there, but his arms fall short and come back to hit them in the face. It throws them off balance and they fall over the railing to the ground below, Jake taking hold of the railing to try to stop all three of them from hitting the ground. Hi arm extends from the catwalk to the ground and slingshots them into the air.

"Don't let them get away!" The Alpha's Voice compels the others to move; sending everyone outside to follow the three boys.

Jake and his friends hit the roof and roll to a stop, Nathan looking at his friend in shock, "Could you always do that?"

"Of course I couldn't?!"

"Uh I'm no scientist, but that tidal wave of gloop might have something to do with it." Ricardo swipes his hands through his hair and pulls out some of the goo.

"UH!" Nathan screams, wiping off his tongue, "IT WAS IN MY MOUTH!"

Behind them the security team uses grappling hooks to get on the roof. As the first ones latch onto the edge of the building, Jake grabs his friends, "RUN!"

"No time to test our hypothesises."

"Hypothesises isn't a word!"

"Then what's the plural of hypothesis?"

"Hypotheses!"

"Guys!" Ricardo interrupts as they get off the roof and sprint down the street. "Now is not the time to geek out! Run!"

They run past a man coming out of a laundry mat and each one takes a piece of clothing to cover their faces. Jake turns around as the run to shout back at the man, "Can we borrow these?!"

"This is a t-shirt right?" Nathan asks, a pair of boxers over his head, "Cause it doesn't feel like a t-shirt."

"Totally a t-shirt bro." Ricardo and Jake speed up so the Omega can't see them laugh. The Rook security was right behind them so Jake leads them down a side street and into an alley. The security car was barely able to fit and the alley floods with Rook's men. Ricardo looks back to see if they were still being followed and misses a step. He stumbles and tries to catch himself with his other foot, which blows up to be bigger than a car. He knocks over a dumpster like it was a tin can, the force of the step sending him high into the air. He stretches his arm out to catch himself from face planting into the concrete and is pushed back into the air when his hand blows up too. A small tumble and he was back on his feet on the ground.

"What the hell?!" The Beta pants while staring at his body, shaken.

"Just go with it for now!" Jake pushes him to keep running as the sirens get louder.

"Just go with it?!" Ricardo laughs, "I just blew up like a balloon!"

"We'll figure it out together!" Jake pulls Nathan with them, "After we get out of this!"

They turn down another alley and find a dead end just as the Rook men catch up to them. Nathan stares at the wall in front of them and sobs, "Oh great. They'll send me to jail and you guys to a freak show. FOR FREAKS!"

Jake and Ricardo could smell the distress coming from the Omega clouding the alley, causing some of the Rook security guards to sniff the air and let out calming croons without meaning to. The Alpha in the white suit seem to knock some sense into them again cause they all had their plasma guns turned on the boys before they could do anything.

"No one's going to jail, come on." Jake grabs both of their arms and holds them high, jumping back into a squatting position to stretch his arms. He jumps, pulling the two of them with him. All three make it to the roof ledge of the building but Nathan loses his grip and falls back. Jake tries to reach for him with a cry of fear. "Nathan!"

The Omega yelps as he falls, throwing his arms out on instinct. He can feel his skin pull taunt, like he'd been exercising while sunburnt, and turns over while pulling his feet together, gliding over the heads of the Rook men and up into the air above the buildings. The skin from his arms, sides, and legs were stretched out in a way that reminded him of a sugar glider or a flying squirrel.

"That did not even happen." One of the guards gasps.

"Oh now we're all going to a freak show." Nathan tries not to freak out while he turns around to get back to his friends. Jake helps Ricardo over the ledge and they take off, getting as far away from Rook's men as they can. It's another hour before they stop next to Jake's building.

"Incoming!" Nathan swoops over the other two and crashes by the air vent. He yanks the clothing from his head with a groan, "Ok. My body's not supposed to work this way. We should go to the hospital, right?"

Jake helps the Omega up, scenting him lightly to check for any damage. Ricardo takes off his mask and raises an unamused eyebrow when the Alpha them turns to check him over too, pushing him away when the Alpha rumbles unhappy at the cut on his hand. He turns to Nathan, "And tell them what? We've come down with a bad case of the awesomeness? We should get talent agents or something; we're superheroes!"

"We destroyed a Rook Unlimited building. Maybe we're supervillains." Jake shakes his head, "Either way, this stays a secret. Lay low until we figure out what happened to us. The effects of that slime might even wear off."

"But we could make some serious bank!" The Beta exclaims. At the look both of them give him, he sighs, "Ok. Wanna be lame, that's cool."

"Come on, we're going back to my house and getting your stuff." Jake puts the towel he grabbed back over his face, "We need to check you guys over too and clean that cut."

"Dude, chill." Ricardo holds his hand close, "It's a scratch."

"Just go with it." Nathan pats the Beta on the shoulder. They watch Jake take hold of the roof ledge and jump down. Nathan goes to put his disguise back on when he notices what it was, "You jerk faces! These are underwear!"

"Chill." Ricardo laughs. He jumps over the ledge and expands his feet, rolling on the ground to help with the shockwave. Nathan glides down after him, hitting him with the boxers before running inside after Jake. Once inside Jake takes Ricardo into the kitchen to clean the cut while Nathan cleans up. Once the two of them leave, having thrown away the stolen clothes already, Jake sits at the kitchen table while he does his homework. He grabs a bag a chips for dinner and a glass of water. After a hour he was out of water and debating whether he could get away with using his powers to grab a water bottle off the counter across the room. With a smirk he stretches his arm, missing the bottle but grabbing an apple. He reaches for it again and grabs the teapot. He puts it back and grabs the water bottle, yanking his arm back quickly when his dad walks through the door.

"Hey Jake. You ok?"

"Yeah just studying physics."

"That's my boy." His dad puts his briefcase down, "And it looks like you still have 97 minutes for homework before bed. Way to be on schedule. You make me proud. You won't believe the day I had. Some hooligans broke into one of our facilities and busted it up."

"Really?" Jake clears his throat and hopes his dad didn't notice his voice cracking, "Any idea who did it?"

His dad gets a glass of water and takes a sip. "Not sure. But who would do that? Everyone loves Rook."

"What if it was just an accident-"

"Accident my foot. I- Hold on." His dad pulls his ringing cell out of his pocket, "Mark Armstrong."

Jake watches his dad shift into his business voice; the calm and collected Alpha voice he used with all his phone calls. "A giant what? No. Let me turn it on."

His dad turn on the news where the main story was about Jonathan Rook being attacked by a rock monster during his press conference regarding the break-in. Jake puts his tablet on mute when it rings and shows a video call for both Nathan and Ricardo.

"Is this real?! I'll be right in." Jake's dad hangs up and rushes to put his shoes back on and grab his briefcase, "This is insane. That creature came from our damaged facility. I've gotta go in."

"There's a real monster out there and you want to go back to work?" Jake gestures to the TV.

"I can help Jake." His dad opens the door. "It's what any responsible person would do."

Once his dad leave Jake unmutes the tablet. Nathan pops up first. "You're seeing this too? We're so dead, we…. We have to confess."

Ricardo pops up after him, "Whoa. First rule of superhero club is we never talk about superhero club, remember?"

"That was before a giant monster exploded out of the place we destroyed." Jake says.

"Accidentally destroyed?"

"Accident or not, it means that taking down this creature is our responsibility. Are you with me?"