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We haven't started yet, so I'd be down to add you to the plotting.

The apartment that Alex rented was small but comfortable for someone living alone. He could have stayed at the Mansion, but it felt awkward being in a home for mutant kids, especially after finally getting his GED. He could make his own way now. Okay not completely, Sam, his adoptive father helped with some of the rent and health insurance but other than that he was on his own. And he was happy with it for the most part. He still did 6 am training and started adding meditation to his regiment to help with his anxiety. He was applying to colleges now with hopes of getting into somewhere and did telecom work from home. It wasn't the best job, he would have even preferred the same work but in an office. But no one was hiring him, so it was his only option.

Seemed like just looking up his name utterly destroyed any chance he had of getting a normal job. It was frustrating to say the least.

In any case, Alex had just kicked off his shoes and changed his clothes to something more comfortable, sweat pants and a hoodie, when someone knocked on his door. He had just gotten home from the corner store and he wasn't expecting anybody. He heard the voice before he looked through the peephole. A cop? He swallowed nervously, old fear catching his heart. Oh god, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with today.

Still, he couldn't refuse the cops, could he? He didn't want to get in trouble again. So he took a steadying breath and opened the door a crack, not removing the chain lock, "Can I help you officer?" He wasn't about to open the door or step out, not until he was sure it was safe, that this cop was safe. He glanced at the badge, being sure to memorize the number just in case. People still wanted him dead after all. Some of those people could be cops, there was no way to tell until it was too late. He wasn't about to be caught unawares. This week sucked enough, he didn't need an arrest on top of that.

Alex Maurell was doing his best to fit in. To be that ideal that his adoptive father wanted him to be, to prove to everybody that he wasn't some monster. The trial had been two years ago, or it would be in January. And yet, people haven't forgotten. His face maybe, but the incident, his name, still recognizable to most. That's why he had been really happy when he found a date online. The guy seemed sweet enough and had been receptive to hearing him out, even with knowing who he was and what he was capable of. Which made this day all the more disappointing. He had come to the cafe in hopes of meeting him but...he was a no show.

Alex waited hours for his date to show up, actually waited all day. Which made this even more pathetic. He had come in during lunch and had stayed until dinner. He had checked his phone a thousand times since, texted him what felt like a hundred, but this was a failure. He almost hoped something bad had happened, as guilty as that made him feel, because at least then there was an excuse to leave him hanging. He felt like an idiot for waiting for so long. Two hours had been long enough but four?! What in the world was he thinking? He left the cafe feeling absolutely crushed and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and forget this day ever happened.

Unbeknownst to him, his date actually did have a reasonable reason not to show up. A report had gone out that a mutant had been spotted and the eye witness account made it sound an awful lot like Alex and his power set. The police were informed and while the report wasn't immediately taken serious, it was worth a look into it.

The sun hung low in the sky and was hitting that perfect golden hour moment, casting the city in an orange glow and deepening it's shadows. Alex walked home, he had walked here because he didn't want to deal with traffic, and now he honestly didn't want to deal with commuters. The bus and the subway was just too crowded and full of strangers. This was safer, longer sure, but safer. Plus, the cool of the autumn air felt good, calming.

Gluttony watched silently as the men stared at Poseidon, as if they were attempting to make the man back down with just their eyes. He was reminded somewhat of dogs staring eachother down, the moment tense before any action actually took place, a moment where there was a chance for one or the other show weakness. Poseidon, as per usual, remain calm and smiling in the face of danger. It was honestly calming to know the man didn't waver a bit, that he was so assured that what was before him was under his control.

Finally, Poseidon spoke, "You know, gentlemen, if we’re just going to sit around and glare at one another. You could have at least offered refreshments." The humor in his voice was clear and apparently upsetting to the little thugs.

“Yo, shut the **** up, old man.”

The first spoke and he felt his fists clench in anger. How dare they?! He could have torn them apart right then and there. Yet, he remained otherwise motionless. Poseidon hadn't given the order yet and he wasn't about to act of his own accord.

“Yeah, You called this stupid meeting. But we running it.”

“Yeah, What the hell you want anyway? Still trying to get us to stop messing with your hood?”

Behind his mask, Gluttony glared at the two, eyes sharp with anger. He wanted to growl, give a demonstration of real power. But he couldn't, not yet, not yet. Poseidon was still calm, still smiling in the face of such insult. How the man could do it, he wasn't sure. But that only proved to him how good the man was, how forgiving. There was still a chance that everyone could walk out alive.

And then the men had to point him out.

“And who the f**k is this? You said to come alone.”

Alex remained silent. Letting Poseidon, speak for him. That's right only here to observe, only here to watch. He wasn't important enough to give attention too.

“That true, punk? You just f**king here to ‘observe’ or whatever?”

He merely nodded at the question, rather than answering, since he had been told that he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to. And he wasn't about to open his mouth and potentially spill all his anger out on these two. No, he was here to observe, up until such a time that observation was replaced with slaughter.

The door was suddenly iced over in front of him, making him practically slide to a halt and cry out in fright. Then Sam put himself bodily in front of the window, now there were no escape routes left, at least none that wouldn't result in self injury. Not-Alex looked from Sam to Jules and back again, breathing harshly, like some sort of cornered animal.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…. What’s up Alex…"

As Sam drew closer he stepped backward until he was pressed against the wall, looking terrified. "...Not Alex..."he murmured meekly, "N-not, no, not Alex...S-something happened, we switched, never happened...before..." He looked away from Sam, "Dunno what happened...What happened, what happened! We've never switched before! It doesn't make sense!" His hands went to his head, pressing hard and whining in distress.

His head hurt, really and truly hurt like nothing else. The pulsing and pounding of every heart beat sounded and felt like earth shaking thunder. It was too much, all of this was too much. He didn't want this, he wanted to go back, why was it like this?!

"J... Jay? Jace?"

He listened to the sleepy child mash up names and smiled warmly, "Jace...Alright, Jace it is." This was the first time in a long time he had felt so...warm, happy, content. He didn't want to let this go, he wouldn't let it go. SUPER could do nothing to ruin this for him. He finally had something worth living for.

He settled in as the boy finally succumbed to exhaustion, resting comfortably against him. Feeling content that the child was content, he let himself fall asleep as well, unaware that SUPER's scientists were busily scribbling notes down. They had something that they could hold over him, potentially bait him into compliance where punishment had failed.

========================

The next day's joy of discovery, of Jace showing him his powers and really testing it, rather than it happening on accident, was cut short. Agents came into his room and dragged the child out of the room, beating Alex half unconscious to keep the man from attacking them. Alex had screamed at them to let the boy go, begging and pleading with them to not hurt him. But his words were unheeded and he was once again left alone.

Months passed, he was given no word on how Jace was doing, if he was even alive. He felt a cold knot in the pit of his stomach grow. He knew they were doing something, he knew they must be hurting Jace. Because he had lived it himself. But he had been able to resist, able to pack away memories of his old self in cracks of his mind, hidden away from their brainwashing. He had been, by the very fractured nature of his mind and his powers, very hard to even mentally manipulate.

But Jace... Jace on the other hand was basically a blank slate. He had few, if any memories of importance to pack away nor did he probably have the function to even do that. If they brainwashed the boy, there was a very good chance Jace would not be the same.

And he was right. Months later, when that door opened, and they finally let the boy back into his room, Jace looked very different. It made his blood run cold seeing him like that, seeing a boy who had been full of emotions, look so...dead inside. Still, Alex stood, wrists cuffed together and linked to a collar around his neck, and tried to reach out to him. "Jace? Jace, you're back! We were worried, so worried...Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

Alex didn't look any better; he looked more tired than before and the lack of eating had taken it's toll. Hunger seemed to evade him as his mind focused on worrying about Jace, guilt swallowing everything for it's self.

Thank you!