I plan on listening to Mr. Wolfe's advice, to aid the man's stress if anything—knowing him, despite his retirement, he's still stressing about the company—and stay out of trouble. Or at least attempt to, since that's never worked out too well for me.

However, this ends up being pointless, because it's only a week after Noel takes over that I'm being summoned to his office. I can't help but feel confused, because I've been doing pretty well. The police have contacted me about interrogating Three since she's not talking. I was planning on going down to the police station, I was actually excited about it.

These plans are ruined when—right after I arrive at work and finish preparing for the day—Mr. Wolfe's secretary, Darla, is waiting for me.

"Mr. Hayes?" This is how she gets my attention, and I'm instantly confused. The only time I ever talk to his secretary is when I'm being summoned to his office. I can't remember a single time Darla was the one to retrieve me, though. I guess Al did retire with Mr. Wolfe, though. They likely haven't found his replacement.

"What?" I reply, though I already have a pretty good idea why she's here.

"Mr. Wolfe needs to see you."

For a second, I get my hopes up. I haven't thought about the fact that Noel is the new Mr. Wolfe. That is his last name, after all. I only associate that name with one person, though, so for a brief moment I believe Mr. Wolfe (do I need to start calling him John now?) has returned.

I begin following the woman, but in my head, I can't help but feel concerned. What the hell could he possibly want? We've never spoken before, and he just took over. I haven't done anything worthy of getting in trouble yet, so I'm at a loss in terms of predicting the reason for my summoning.

Once we reach the top floor of headquarters, Darla takes a seat behind her desk, and I'm faced with the large wooden doors that lead to the executive office. Before I can enter, Darla tells me someone else is in there and I'll have to wait. She motions towards some chairs, but I'm not fucking sitting down. Did he seriously bring me up here just to have me wait?

I already didn't like him, but I didn't have a valid reason. Now I do, because that is more than enough. Fuck this guy. Does he think this is a doctor's office or something?

I don't sit. I stand with my arms crossed in front of the large double doors for three minutes. It finally opens, and I watch a nameless hero exit. She glances at me but keeps her eyes cast down afterward. They're unmoving from the floor, and I watch her leave the room and enter the elevator, wondering the purpose of her visit. My attention isn't on the woman for long, though.

"Mr. Hayes?"

I flick my gaze to Noel, finding him standing off to the side, near the door frame, leaving me room to enter. I don't respond to him, because what on earth would I respond to my last name with, and do so. Like I've done a billion times, I enter the office and take my seat in front of the large desk. He sits in Mr. Wolfe's chair, and the first real sentence he says to me also pisses me off.

"Remove the eyewear, please." Maybe there's no winning. At this rate, everything he says is going to irritate me. I just don't like him. It might be the fact that he's rich. I don't like rich people.

I do as asked, removing my utility goggles and placing them on his desk. I then give him an unimpressed look, my blacklight eyes narrowing on his amber. His expression remains neutral. I don't know why I'm here, but I already want this little meeting to be over.

Noel begins to sort through some files on his desk, and I don't have the time for this. I need to go to the police station. It's not like Three is going anywhere, but I don't want to forget the miniature plan I came up with for interrogating her. Mostly the questions. I should've written them down, but in my defense, I didn't know I'd be stalled to begin with. Also, I just don't want to be here.

I'm just about to snap at him and ask what the fuck he needs because I have places to be, but he does finally speak. "I'm re-interviewing all the heroes. Since we will be working closely, I'd like to be a bit more detailed with you all. Especially you and Mrs. Fletcher, since you're essentially the faces of the company."

Oh, okay, cool. So, basically, he wants to waste my time and put me through a process I've already been through. Great, yeah, just what I wanted to do instead of assisting the police in interrogating a fucking numbered. One of the most difficult kinds of villains to catch, which I know because we've never fucking caught one.

Luckily, I'm able to bite my tongue and instead respond with a simple; "okay."

"Okay," Noel positions one open file in front of himself, setting the rest off to the side, and a simple look at the paper on the top reveals that it's my record from the asylum.

I really, really don't like this fucking guy. At all.

"I'd like to start by going over your records, just to make sure all the information we have is still correct." He tells me, and I just give him a blank stare. I'm practically praying that he will take my attitude as a sign that he should end this whole thing early, but he doesn't seem to have taken the hint so far, so maybe I'm just gonna have to deal with it.

"So, it looks like you were admitted to Saint Mary's Asylum when you were six years old, after staying in a few other mental care facilities for an unlisted amount of time. It also says you were released from psychiatric care at 18, is that true?"

"Yes," I tell him simply, wondering if this is going to just be our entire meeting. If so, I'd much rather he have just given them to me to look over and then I could correct anything wrong. I already dislike the way he does things, why did his dad just have to retire? This is gonna suck, maybe Mrs. Fletcher and I should look for a new HSA, after all.

"Okay, and Carlotta Hayes was your psychiatrist until her untimely death before your discharge? Is there any relation there?" He asks, and I knew this conversation would take a turn. My childhood wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, and the fact that HSAs need to do such in-depth background checks has never been ideal, but this is ridiculous. Why would he need to know if we were biologically related, anyway? I took her last name because my family entirely disowned me, and I wouldn't want theirs anyway.

"Why do you need to know our blood relation?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow. He just blinks at me, seeming unsure as to where my sudden increase in hostility is coming from. I guess on paper she is just listed as my psychiatrist, but still.

"You have no family listed. I'm unsure if there was a mistake."

"There wasn't," I can see the reflection of my eyes in his, which means they're probably glowing brighter than normal. Something that happens with heightened emotion, as well as when I'm having a hallucination. It means I need to calm down and remind myself that despite my personal opinion, this little procedure will be over sooner if I'm compliant.

Noel nods, eyes lingering on me before flicking back to the paper. He moves on easily, not seeming to notice the tension in the air. Well, that or he just doesn't care.

"I don't know, Dad." I hear from my left, and I turn to see what produced the sound. I find another Noel, standing more towards the window, with a phone up to his ear. It's hard to tell how far back this happened, but it looks like this scene did take place in the past.

That's one thing I've gotten better at, over the years. Being able to tell when I'm having a vision of the future versus a vision of the past. Usually, the coloring is different, but there are a few minor things about changes in the lighting that give it away. It seems as though this likely happened today since the colors are only slightly faded.

"I really need to hire a new personal assistant, because all this paperwork is already hell on my own." Noel sighs into the device, running a hand through his brown-grey hair and looking stressed. Good. I want him to be stressed. Maybe he'll quit. Or, even better, die.

"Yeah, I know," Hallucination Noel says after a few moments, presumably after his father replies. I watch him stare out the window for a moment in deep thought, before letting out a long sigh. Why is he so stressed? Why doesn't he just hire someone? "I don't think anyone else would do it right, though."

Oh. That's why. Well, there's one solution to his problem, yet he's unwilling to take it. He should probably just leave the company. Yeah, if the workload is so bad but he won't be willing to hire someone to help with it, he should probably just quit his position entirely. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like to take it.

"Mr. Hayes?"

I stop watching my vision play out and flick my gaze back over to Noel. He's giving me a patient look, and I don't even get time to say something in response to my name before he continues.

"I understand you have an ability that causes you to hallucinate, but I'd appreciate it if you could focus." He tells me patiently, and I know that just about everyone knows about my ability. Everyone knows I see shit, but it's still been quite an adjustment. I'm so used to having to explain myself, but now that I'm a well-known hero, it's not needed.

"You know," I cross my arms, quirking an eyebrow at the emotionless man. He's quite difficult to read, and just by his first impression, he seems like a pretty professional person. He also seems decently friendly, or at the very least cordial.

"If the workload's so bad, you should probably just quit."

Noel just stares down at me. The desk is large, as is his chair, and it's also elevated. It's designed to make whoever is sitting on the other side feel small, which I do, especially around this gigantic man. That doesn't mean I'm intimidated, though, and I want this to be over. I want to go interrogate Three.

"I can handle my own private matters, thank you." It annoys me that this guy has done his homework on me. He clearly knows all about my ability, which sucks, since that's the only good part of meeting new people. Catching them off guard with the random knowledge I have. It usually makes them uncomfortable, and therefore ends the interaction early.

Not this time, since Noel has clearly already read my file and just generally seems to have basic knowledge about me. It bothers me that I know nothing about him in return. I dislike that sort of power imbalance. I dislike the fact he has access to my information at all.

"Now, onto your hero name: Hatter. I'm assuming that stems from your time in the asylum. Do you have any other aliases?"

I don't like this guy. Sorry, I just don't, and I'm not gonna get over it. I don't like how easily he brushes me off or his suffocating lack of personality so far. I want his dad to come back, and I want Noel to leave forever. This is so stupid.

"Some people just call me Blacklight," I tell him, which is true. Mostly kids and the elderly, or people from other areas of the world who don't know my name. It's a name purely based on my appearance since blacklight practically leaks out of my fucking pores. "But it's not an official alias."

Noel nods, writing something down, I assume the second name I just gave him. This all just feels so dumb, though. So pointless. Why couldn't this have been an email? Then I could just correct whatever needed to be corrected, and it wouldn't have had to turn into this whole ordeal. Then I could go to the police station and do my fucking job.