Mecklenburg Girls' Academy, Gorilla Works. 0700 AM.

Colby walked into the warehouse. Cold winter air blew in behind her. The smell of warm grease and old banana peels filled the air. The building had been one of three warehouses no longer needed when the school built the new garage. One warehouse was repurposed into a black iron gym for the girls to learn Olympic lifting. Another was a Fire Station used by the girls in the Fire Program. The last had sat empty until given over to Susan. It became the Gorilla Works.

The overhead shop lights were off, except for the kitchen. In the darkness, she heard the clang of a dropped wrench. A headlamp came out from under a tarp. The light bounced into the kitchen.

"Morning Colby." Susan’s hair was sticking out wild under the headlamp. A pile of pillows lay on the floor like a nest.

Colby plugged in the coffee maker. "Have you been here all weekend?" Colby never considered Susan wouldn’t go home for the holiday. Her parents were fifteen minutes away.

"The Doctor gave me NoNap. I haven't slept in three days. I feel great," Susan said.

Her uniform had wrinkles; banana stains blotched the lab coat. The scrunchie hung loose, and the smell. Susan had stayed at the school all holiday weekend working on the robots.

Then Colby was hit with the smell. "Go take a shower.”

"There's a package that came for you." Susan said.

"Yeah. Shower. You stink.” The headlamp bounced off into the darkness. Empty Pocky boxes and banana peels littered the table.

"Five custodian gorillas and no one cleans up," Colby pushed away the empty boxes to find the package. "We shouldn’t leave her alone over the weekends. How do I get her to build a nanny gorilla?" Colby opened the box. Inside was a DARPA X-5000 Elephant Taser with a paddle holster.

Susan returned dripping wet in a bathrobe and towel around her hair. Colby set a cup of coffee out for Susan next to the bowl of bananas. The elephant taser’s charging bar blinked on the side.

"Is that King?" Colby pointed to a sheet-covered project.

"Yes. We activate tomorrow," Susan downed the coffee in one gulp.

"This one is a bit bigger," Colby said and Susan slammed the coffee mug to the table.

"King! He's to be the war chieftain of the Robo-Gorillas. King is the pinnacle of robotic simian rage. The storm of wrath that shall smite all evil!"

"How much coffee did you have?" Colby said.

"Four cups.”

"We're switching you to decaf," Colby said.

"After I finish up the bag of triple espresso Flat gave me," Susan said,

"No."

Misty and Becky made it to class as the bell rang. They ran to their seats and the teacher gave them a annoyed look. Misty couldn't wait to end the walking around the school. But needed to deal with one thing at a time. Walking around the school didn't help. The only girls who knew anything about her were in high school. Misty suspected Coy had told her teachers, but nothing was said. She planned to tell Margret about her powers at lunch. That would be a start. The beach would help distract her from her grief.

It'll be a few hours earlier in Mexico. We could miss the lunch rush, Misty thought.

The two girls sat beside Margret, who had her head down, fingers rubbing her temples.

As graded papers were being returned Misty looked at Margret. "Are you OK? Your turning red.”

Becky leaned over to feel Margret's forehead. "I've had a headache all morning," Margret said.

"Maybe you should… What's that?" Becky said as a small flame climbed up Margret's arm.

Margret slapped at the fire. Her clothing ignited in a blast. A wash of angry flames knocked Becky back. Her hands covered her face as skin melted. Misty, on reflex, opened portals as soon as she saw the flicker. She sent much of the blast outside; white mist rolled over the floor. Students ran for the door. Misty teleported them to the Atrium. Becky blinked away in a puff of mist to Carolinas Trauma Center. The staff found her screaming outside the hospital doors.

Smoke filled the room. Misty stopped the fire around Margret, but not up or down. Heat rolled into the floor and ceiling. And she had to close portals when Margret moved. The girl stumbled over chairs as she backed into a corner. If she stumbled through a portal she would end up outside. Or worse, hung up on the transdimensional edge.

Anything in the room flammable started to burn. Misty teleported herself to the hallway and tried to keep the smoke under control. The portals vented the heat and black smoke outside the classroom. Misty later realized she had added to the air flow.

The fire bell rang. Evacuating Students stayed against the lockers to keep the center hallway open. Flat sprinted to the middle school. She found Misty and a teacher in the doorway. Five Robo Custodian Gorillas arrived behind her, wearing bib overalls and a sixth with bunker gear known as Fire Rescue Gorilla. The sprinklers in the room ran a heavy spray of old dirty water. The gorillas were getting a fire hose ready. The high school girls from the Fire Program had run down outpaced by Flat. Each lent a hand to the hose. Smoke, steam, and mist filled the room.

"Margret Douglas has manifested," The teacher said.

"Misty, do you have this?" Flat said.

"For now. I've never worked with fire," Misty said. Fire Rescue Gorilla looked over Misty's head into the room. The Custodian Gorillas knelt with the fire hose. With a hand signal from Fire Rescue, one of the fire girls spun the stop valve. The angry water rushed through the hose adding to the spray. Margret huddled in the far corner. The heat coming off of her pushed back the water. Steam built up in the room.

"Can we get her out of the building?" The teacher said.

"I can. That'll scare Margret more than this," Misty said.

"Felicity, can you get in there? At least talk to her.” The teacher looked helpless.

"I don't know if I can take fire," Flat said.

Fire Rescue bumped Flat to hand off his turnout coat and helmet. The Gorilla pointed into the room with a grunt.

"I'm going to find out.” Flat pulled on the coat. It's the whole hero thing, she thought.

Under the spray Margret's heat rolled through the bunker gear. The pooling water was running over her ankles. Flat could feel the heat coming off the girl. But her skin didn't burn.

"Margret, are you OK?" Flat knelt next to the girl. Flame dripped through Margret's hair like water.

"NO!"

"Margret try to control the fire. Even if it gets bigger," Flat said.

"Why do I have daddy's powers?"

"Don't know. You have them. Tell me you're the fire," Flat said.

"I'm the fire?”

"Yell it, own your powers. Make it hot in here," Flat said.

"I'm the fire!" Margret yelled and began to burn with a cleaner yellow-white flame. The black smoke started to clear.

"See, you can control it," Flat said as she felt the prickles of heat through the coat.

"Make it stop.”

"I can't. Do you know where the training field is?" Flat said.

"Yes," Margret said.

"I'm going to have Misty. Ah…Melissa, teleport us there.”

"Teleport?" Margret said.

"Close your eyes. Misty! Training Field."

Flat and Margret appeared on the training field. Twice the size of a football field, fenced with an eight-foot high earthwork wall. Margret looked around confused.

"OK. I'm going to back up. Push all the fire away from you. Over at that wall," Flat pointed to the far berm.

"How?" Margret looked around at the field.

"I don't know. Feel it out.”

In a moment, pure white heat rolled off Margret's hands to wash the ground with fire.

What do I do with her? Flat thought. The sunlight on the field distorted, and the tree leaves at the campus perimeter started to brown.

Gyaru and Puddles waited on the edge of the training field; Puddles brought a fire extinguisher. The sod burned black, and the sand started to look like black glass. Twenty minutes later, Margret had not stopped.

She has to be using calories. It can't go on forever, Flat thought.

With a flash of light, a sonic boom rolled overhead. Flat looked up to see Dark Inferno landed on the grass in a roll of fire from his legs. The ground scorched. She backed up.

What is he doing here? Flat thought and looked at Margret. "Oh no." Flat could see it.

Dark Inferno walked to the two girls with long, natural steps. No unnecessary movement. No awkwardness about where his hands should be. The man wore a black and red body stocking with a flame pattern that flowed over tight muscles. He pulled back the hooded mask showing a solid jaw and black hair. As he got close to the girls, his fire blinked out. Dark Inferno knelt next to Margret. She threw herself at him with a fiery hug.

"Daddy.”

"Hey, Peggy. Having a ruff day?" Dark Inferno said.

"Daddy, I'm on fire.”

"Do you feel hot?" Dark Inferno said.

"No.”

"Take a slow deep breath. Pull the fire inside. It will be like taking a breath," Dark Inferno said. After a few tries, the fire puttered out. "I spent a long time to learn that on my own.”

With the flames out Margret held her head to his chest "I'm going to be like you?"

"You don't have to be like me. You will never have to be like me. Let's go home for a few days. You can come back to school when you feel better," Dark Inferno said.

"What about Becky?"

Flat had felt like a third wheel and almost walked away. "She'll be fine. I'll have her call you.”

Dark Inferno offered his hand. "Thank you.”

Margret was picked up, the girl was almost too big to carry. "Peggy, I can't burn you anymore." His finger tapped her nose with a flicker of flame.

The girl smiled. "That means we can fly together.” The ground exploded in flame and smoke as they flew off. The pillar of smoke climbed off to the west.

Flat walked off the training field to be met by Puddles and Gyaru.

"Did you see him walk? The man’s a danseur," Gyaru said.

"A what?"

"He's a male ballet dancer," Puddles said.

"And hot," Gyaru said.

"That too," Puddles said.

"Hold on. That girl's father is Dark Inferno. The most wanted advanced human in North America. A known killer," Flat said.

"We know who he is," Gyaru said.

"He's a bad guy." Flat said.

"Very bad," Puddles said.

"You two should get some 'me' time.”

Mop Gorilla pushed the water outside. Misty teleported the ruined desks, chairs, and books out. Flat looked at the window, at the melted glass. The same as the Sparks' house, the same as the law office window. "Where did you send all that stuff?"

"To a volcano," Misty said.

"So your friend's dad is Dark Inferno.”

Misty started to teleport out the ceiling tiles. "I know. The most wanted advanced human on the F B I's list," Misty said.

At least she takes this seriously, Flat thought. "He's dangerous," Flat said.

"I'm number six on the list. The Feds never got my picture or name.”

"Oh." Flat said as Misty ran her hand over the melted glass.

If Misty wanted revenge, could we even stop her? Flat thought. "It's the same melt pattern," Flat said.

"Dark Inferno," Misty said.

"What about Margret?" Flat said.

"I'm not going to put Margret through what I just went through. Not over who her father is," Misty said.

"What about bringing him to justice?" Flat said.

"He can wait until graduation. Then we'll deal with him," Misty’s phone beeped with a text. Flat suddenly found Misty and herself in Coy's office.

Coy looked up from his desk behind a pile of papers. "I need you to get Vincent at North and have him heal Becky Murphy," Coy said.

"I don't have a connection to North," Misty said.

"We'll miss the healing window," Coy said.

"The what?" Vincent's magic never made sense to Flat.

"Magical healing needs to happen within an hour of the injury," Coy said.

"Becky stays burned?" Misty said.

"Is there a Cartel healer?" Flat said.

Misty shook her head. "No. We don't attract that kind of membership. Healers don't need us. We don't even have leverage over a healer. They make plenty of money on their own," Misty said.

Coy tapped his finger on the desk for a moment. "Then we move on to other plans. We're going to resolve the connection to North today. Hunter will drive you and give you a tour. On the way back she'll drop off Felicity at the Hospital," Coy said.

"We can teleport to the hospital," Misty said.

"No, that freaks them out. Don't do it again unless you call ahead. Besides Hunter likes to drive," Coy said.