Though I was entering a supermarket, it wasn't a super market. Barely anyone inside had even a hint of power. After all, there were only so many people in the building and being without powers was the norm.

I set myself up for magical detection and snooping with a bit of Arcane Sight and the like. Maybe I'd throw in some divination when I got to the spot depending on how things were going. At least, that was what I was thinking as I tried to figure out how to sneak towards my target.

The will-o'-wisp or whatever it had been should have left some remnants on the cereal aisle. If I could go the the aisle next to it, maybe I could find a gap in the shelves and-

The aisle was just open. Not even a bit of tape. They just had a caution sign on burned linoleum flooring and that was it. They didn't even replace the stuff on the shelves- maybe just removing whatever had been there. It was mostly empty, but I could guess what had been there.

Cereal. Because it was the cereal aisle. Based on the world, it would be somewhere around 200% sugar, through the magic of science or something. People apparently liked their teeth rotting. I wasn't particularly fond of the idea, and I was the one with tusks that were constantly growing. I certainly didn't want them to fall apart, and I was less fond of the idea for my regular teeth.

At least speedsters had some good options if they were glucose powered. Hopefully they couldn't get super diabetes.

Speaking of supers, I could detect the lingering power. There wasn't anything else to interfere. It took me a moment to figure it out, but I knew where I remembered it. I took a look at the video and… yeah. That looked right after I compared to some other videos on the internet.

It was Stargirl's power.

I had many questions, such as when her power turned bright and happy again. And why she was using it to steal cereal.

I supposed I could ask her, since she appeared to still be nearby. I wasn't really working right now, but I supposed I could catch someone wanted if they just appeared in front of me.

I'd need to use the reverse Energy Ward to keep her from breaking things. Tuning it to her happy and bright energy signature was important as well, instead of her more modern black fire and stuff.

It had been so long since a direct confrontation with her I honestly couldn't remember if she was any good at sensing. Would she know I was coming? The last time had been Halloween and the bad angels had been a bigger deal there.

Well, whatever. I didn't feel Gloom. Worst case? I Dimension Doored out of here. Stargirl wasn't running, so I didn't really have any excuse not to try.

I peeked around the corner and… didn't see her. No, she was lower. Under the shelves? That didn't really make sense. There wasn't any room there.

I lowered myself to the floor. Stargirl was… much smaller and more mousey than before. She looked me in the eyes. I cast Energy Ward. Then Mage's Reach.

She panicked and tried to run. Her powers wrestled against mine.

Wow, she was weak. Both in body and power. And… maybe this was just a mouse.

I stuffed it in a pocket in my jacket- just hidden for the moment. The adaptive material had camouflage so that myself and other members of the Power Brigade could move around subtly without losing our defensive capabilities. Another upgrade Francois kind of had to add because Handface kept trying to kill me.

The mouse kept trying to run until I shoved a slice of cheese into the pocket. Yes, I was going to pay for it. I just slipped one out of the package first. I just used Storage twice, separating some from the inside. It would be weird to open the package inside the store.

-----

"Here are your snacks," I said to Midnight, tossing some sliced salami and stuff onto the counter. "Oh, and I caught Stargirl."

"Thanks. Wait, what?"

I pulled out the mouse. "Stargirl."

Midnight narrowed his eyes. "If that is Stargirl, she probably shouldn't be in our apartment."

"True. I don't think it is. Yet… clearly it's Stargirl, right?"

"... the power resemblance is uncanny. Hey, mouse, you don't happen to be an alien do you?"

The mouse squeaked. It wasn't super happy about talking to a cat- or something it thought was a cat. Also, it didn't seem to speak.

"I'm going to go into the office," I said. "See what they think."

-----

Calculator was waiting for me with the tiniest power suppressors I'd ever seen. Maybe it had been made specifically for mice, after the incident, or I just hadn't needed to be aware of them. After all, it wasn't super efficient to suppress just one finger on a normal sized person.

"Squirrel Swarm is waiting," Calculator said.

"For what?"

"To converse with the rodent."

Oh right. She could do that. Sort of.

We went to see Zeb. There was a back and forth between Zeb and the mouse for a while. "Mhm, and then what? Yeah? Very interesting. Tell me more about that."

"Ahem," Calculator cleared his voice. "The results?"

"Huh?" Zeb tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"First, I assume this is an actual animal, based on your interactions?"

"Oh, yeah. For sure," Zeb agreed. "Was that all?"

Calculator was very patient. He had to deal with people like me, after all. "What have you learned about how it got powers?"

"Oh! I forgot about that. Give me a moment." Zeb chatted with the mouse for another minute. "She says she doesn't have powers anymore."

"They are currently suppressed, yes. And she got them from?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"... There were a whole bunch of other mice. She thinks she got it from them."

I frowned. "Is it… contagious? Or just the lab?"

"Let's find out! Tell me about the mice, were there big people like these two? Bright lights and needles and stuff? Mhm. Yeah, I see." Zeb looked over and wagged her tail. "Probably a lab. She doesn't really know about them, though. Also, she wants more cheese."

I considered that. "I'm pretty sure I already fed her something close to her bodyweight in cheese. I don't even know if that's a healthy diet for a mouse. Is it?"

Zeb looked at me. I looked back. She tilted her head. "Wait, should I know?"

"... You're the animal person."

"I'm a Bunvorixian!"

"The Beastmaster."

"Oh yeah. I dunno. Mice aren't squirrels. Do you want to hear what squirrels eat?"

"Don't you have a mouse?"

"Squirrley is a squirrel! Whenever he or she feels like it."

"... is it safe for Squirrley to eat a diet based on transformations?"

"I sure hope so! They're quite healthy, I think."

"Reasonable," Calculator commented. "Shapeshifters can often reform nutrients to suit themselves as necessary. A common secondary power."

"Stargirl wants to know if she can go back to the lab. She says they had lots of fun things there. And treats!"

"She cannot," Calculator said. "But I believe she would have to go to some lab regardless. New Bay is quite concerned about this recent outbreak."

I couldn't imagine why. "They don't seem that bad to me. It barely takes any power to suppress them."

"And if you didn't have a power? Like most people?"

He did have a point there. Maybe people should just learn to be nice to mice, or whatever.

-----

It was a couple days later that Great Girl found me in the cafeteria. "Have you heard the news?" she asked.

"You can assume I haven't," I replied.

"The heroes are so mad about the mouse you caught," she laughed.

"Should I be worried?"

"About the heroes? No, it's not that part. They're more mad at Super Labs. Also, I have no idea how the heck those people got that name. Or a license. Though that might be the other problem."

"Oh?"

"Right, let's see," she leaned onto the table. She was at her standard size so there was no worry about her causing damage. "Basically, from what people have found out, they were trying to do something like inject mice with powers. And they might even have actually accomplished it. The problem being their complete lack of security, reasonable operation protocols, maybe licences… oh, and the fact that they had any power samples to begin with. For this to happen they would have had to have Shooting Star's power years ago, which is its own huge new controversy. Every time she shows her face or people are reminded that Dark Star was a hero, the association gets an aneurysm."

"I don't know if I really care."

"And that's why you're a great pal," she grinned. "Though maybe you should. They have a lot of leverage."

"You think Castle has a mouse? If I caught it would she forgive me for beating up her stupid apprentice or get more mad?"

Great Girl took a deep breath, in and out. "I think… if there are more high tier powers that these guys had their hands on, people are going to be very ticked. I mean, it was already bad enough that Rodentia let every last mouse out of the cages and now they're running free around the city causing adorable chaos. I don't know if you getting intentionally involved with things will help. Also next time I see Rook I'm kicking him in the face for you."

"No need," I said. "Baby Castle is kind of useless."

"Oh. That's a good name. Anyway, he's kinda not though? They have high hopes for him."

"He literally couldn't stand for most of that conflict."

"Heh. Grease. Whenever that spell works it's really funny." She pondered for a moment. "You should have specialized in low tier spells. It could have been great. You could be called Cantrip and taken people out in slapstick ways."

"I'd probably be dead."

"Yeah. Or not made as many enemies. You don't know Sleep, do you?"

"It is not in my wheelhouse at all, no," I said.

"It would probably be a good idea."

"Maybe if it fit within another mastery. Otherwise, it feels like a waste." Even if it was the norm, now I couldn't help but feel like everything was worse if it had to upgrade all on its own. It was a fine utility spell, but I could generally tune down any elemental stuff if I needed to. I didn't expect to find myself against anyone so fragile that I couldn't manage otherwise.

Except all of these mice. Maybe it was a good idea.

"Do you think knocking someone out with Sleep counts as fighting them?"

Great Girl shrugged. "That I have no answers for. I don't know how your aspect works, but probably. They'd be defeated. It doesn't have to be just damage, right? It works defensively, or with any sort of conflict. It shouldn't be too expensive to learn, either way."

She had a point there. She always did. "You'd have to help me test it."

"Done. I've got a free afternoon."

-----

"Smaller is better, right?" she commented. "That way I won't fall so far and hit my head."

"No, that's… you could just lie down?"

"Nonsense. I need to take a combat stance." Great Girl squared up at less than three feet tall. She could probably still break my kneecaps. "Come on, let's go." She performed some jabs.

"Fine." Sleep was a strange spell. It was almost single target, but it was still an area. In short, I couldn't aim it at someone, I had to aim it at the area near someone. Clouds sort of swirled throughout the area for a moment, which made it dodgable by people who knew what they were doing. That included Great Girl. "We can't test it if you just avoid it."

"And you can't use it in battle if I don't make sure you do it better! Make it faster!"

"I can't just-"

Well, I could. The parameters of spells were supposed to be more or less set, but I had broken magic. If I added a little more mana, I could probably make it take hold more quickly. First, I released a tiny fraction of power right next to Great Girl's currently diminutive head. She dodged away, and then I used the rest of the mana to cast the real spell.

She didn't crash to the ground. "Whoa. Weird. I'm kinda dizzy."

"Tired?"

"Not… really. But I'm nodding off anyway." She slapped herself. "Yeah, that clears it up. You're gonna need more than that."

"I think this was a bad choice," I said. "If I got you with that and it was so easily countered…"

"Nah. Most people won't slap themselves. And a few moments of sloth should be an advantage for your team. Besides, I'd like to think I'm higher level. Better saves and stuff."

I nodded. I understood 'saves' to be how she talked about defensive capabilities. Even if her powers didn't have anything to do with it, she did seem to have some mental resistance. Decent willpower, which she'd have to have to deal with the whole werewolf thing so well.

Now I had a new spell. I still preferred lightning.

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