Emma cautiously approached the doorway with Joseph and Roxanne, the others trailing behind. They left their things down next to the target tree down by the lake, out of harm's way.

"This had better not ruin my new shirt," Joan grumbled, proud of her one-in-a-million find. It was almost impossible to find any good shirts for her favorite band anymore, certainly not as cheap as they'd gotten back in town.

Roxanne's fists glowed with magic, illuminating the inside of the warehouse.

"You sure you heard something, Joey?" AJ peered over their shoulders to get a good look.

Joseph nodded with certainty. "Look," He pointed at the floor, where their sleeping bags lay folded on the tarps.

"It definitely wasn't that torn when we were cleaning," Rebecca gulped. The tarp was nearly torn in half, marred by claw streaks of some wild animal.

Everyone jumped a hissing, spitting noise, came at them from above.

"A ghost!" Roxanne squeaked. She stumbled back into Joan, knocking the ball of light from her hand. It dissipated, but it sent whatever was in the rafters tumbling down onto Joseph's head.

"It's not a ghost, it's a cat!" Sam laughed.

The marmalade-colored kitten tried to dig its claws into the sides of Joseph's head, but his skin was too dense to break under the tiny claws. It settled for hissing and raising its fur at everyone else.

"AJ, get the tuna we bought," Emma said.

"Aw, the poor thing," Rebecca cooed. She tried to scratch its head, but it hissed at her hand.

"It looks old enough to be without its mother," Daniel said slowly, "maybe it was living in the warehouse before we came in."

"Oh, and then we flooded his home, the poor thing," Roxanne said in a babyfied voice.

"You doing okay Joseph?" Emma asked as AJ returned with an open can of tuna.

"I am fine. I think," he didn't dare move, for fear of upsetting the curious creature.

Emma took the can from AJ, holding it out to the cat perched on Joseph's head.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty," she called, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Everyone held their breath as its fur calmed, just a little bit. It let its nose drift towards the open can, and hesitantly dared to lick the contents of the can.

"There you go, good kitty," Emma cooed. She stepped forward, allowing the kitty to nibble at the fish meat.

It hissed when she picked it up, but quickly returned to eating when she set it and the can on the ground.

"I guess he was just hungry," Joan said.

"Well that makes two of us," AJ patted his stomach, "I'm thinking chicken-and-cheese sandwiches. With lots of pickles."

Leaving their new friend to its business, they set about making lunch, and shoving whatever refrigerated food they could into the safe. Sam made sure that they knew the code to unlock it before they submerged it halfway in the cool lake.

"Is it a girl or a boy, do you think?" Roxanne asked through a mouthful of bread. They ate their lunch in the bed of pine needles just outside the warehouse. The sun that filtered through the trees was nice and warm, and the fresh bottled water they'd bought tasted like the sweetest nectar to wash down their sandwiches with.

"I kind of wanna say it's a guy," Emma said. The cat stuck its entire head inside the can to lick it clean.

"Boy, definitely." AJ declared.

"What should we call him?" Sam asked.

Finished with his meal, and now much more calm, the kitten pranced over to the group, begging for more by rubbing his head against their legs.

"Later, okay buddy?" Emma promised, scratching the top of his head.

"I like the name Marmalade. You know, because he looks like Marmalade," Rebecca licked the mustard off her fingers with a grin.

"Ew, I hate marmalade," AJ grimaced.

Sam and Roxanne each offered the kitten a bit of chicken from their fingers.

"What about Justice?" Sam asked.

"That's a weird name," Joan said.

Roxanne tilted her head to the side, "I don't know, Jo, he kinda looks like a Justice to me."

"Where did the name of Justice come from?" Joseph asked.

Sam shrugged, "It sounds cool."

"Yeah, I guess it does," AJ mumbled thoughtfully.

"Justice means "just behavior or treatment," right?" Willow asked.

"But it can also be a magistrate or judge of a court, right?" Daniel added hopefully.

"Right," Emma nodded.

"Yeah, but I kinda meant the one Willow said," Sam put in.

AJ scooped up the kitten, holding him above his head. "All rise, for the presiding justice, Justice the cat!"

Everyone laughed as they folded up their napkins.

"I take it that is settled, then?" Joseph asked, collecting the trash in one of the grocery bags they'd brought back.

Joan wiped some mustard from her mouth with a napkin. "Yeah, our little guy here is definitely a Justice."

Roxanne rolled a few pine needles between her fingers.

"You know, there's a few things you guys should know about names." She adjusted her position from kneeling to sitting cross-legged as she grabbed everyone's attention.

"In fact, there's some things you should probably know about magic in general."

"Like what?" Sam scooted closer to Roxanne, hugging his knees to his chest as he waited with anticipation for any tidbit of information that Roxanne could give him.

Roxanne smiled cryptically, glancing across the circle of teenagers to Joseph, who sat next to Emma.

"Well first, there's spices. We have our cooking spices, and then the spices and herbs I'm going to use to help me with my spells; ones I have specially prepared for using magically. If you eat them I'm not sure what'll happen to you."

AJ chuckled, and Joan glared.

"Laugh all you want, but our dad accidentally put some cinnamon that Roxie was gonna use for a fortune-telling spell in his coffee, and he was a toad for three days."

AJ stopped laughing, and Rebecca made a face. "Who puts cinnamon in their coffee?"

"I know, right?" Roxanne said.

Joan shrugged. "It's good though!"

"No it's not!" Roxanne giggled as she threw her handful of pine needles at her sister.

"Anyway, next?" Willow rolled her eyes.

"Don't expect too much out of a magic-user." Roxanne said, using her arm to shield her face from Joan's barrage of pine needles.

Joseph continued explaining as the two sisters began to wrestle, and then AJ threw pine needles at Rebecca.

"Magic, like anything a human being does, requires energy. You'd be exhausted after running a marathon, wouldn't you? It is the same for spells like the shield that Roxanne made for us. Simpler spells do not require as much energy to cast."

"And they take practice too!" Roxanne added, tossing more pine needles at Sam.

Emma smiled as her brother laughed, hesitantly throwing pine needles in her direction.

She tossed a handful back to him, and another at Willow. She leaned to the side to dodge, and it caught on Daniel's shirt sleeve.

Uncertain what it meant, Daniel picked some pine needles off his shirt. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"It's ridiculous." Willow said.

"It's a game!" Rebecca told them.

"A game?" Daniel asked, "What is the point of it?"

"Fun!" Roxanne gasped with laughter, getting Joan to laugh too.

"Fun." Daniel smiled, plucking more needles from the forest floor. He tossed them at Rebecca, who squealed, and used her telekinesis to drop a cloud of pine needles on top of Daniel and Willow.

"It is fun. Kinda," Daniel smiled at Willow, who tried to look mad.

"Come on, Willow! You too, Joseph!" Emma pelted them both with pine needles.

Joseph looked at Willow and shrugged. Daniel was already chasing after AJ with fists full of pine needles.

"It is much different from most games that I played as a child."

"Yeah, but I bet Alexandria never had pine needles!" AJ raised his fists triumphantly, hooting with victory as he successfully darted back and forth to dodge Daniel's hits. Justice the kitten leaped between his new friends, catching some pine needles in his mouth proudly, and swiping his claws at others. A regular hunter on the prowl.

Joseph took a fistful of pine needles from the forest floor, throwing them at Emma with all his might. Emma cheered, as if someone had dumped a bucket of confetti over her head in the middle of a parade.

Now that everyone else had finally given in, Willow did too. She gathered a big armful of pine needles in her arms, as many pine needles as she could hold, and stood up. Bending down for a moment, she stood up quickly, launching all the needles into the the air.

Sam laughed as the needles fell down around them, "It's like snow!" He dropped to the ground on his back, making a pine-needle-angel.

Daniel stopped with everyone else to watch Willow's spectacular shower of pine needles. "I've never seen snow before. At least, not for myself."

Emma glanced at Willow, who stared intently into the flames.

"Have you ever seen snow before, Willow?" She asked. All laughter and jovial noises had silenced.

"I think so." Willow's hands clenched. "Once. A long time ago." She refused to look away from the fire.

"Wait, how does that work? I thought you were both born in the N-Corp labs." AJ said.

"I was." Daniel said. "Willow was one of the kids they brought in to...to give them powers."

"She was the only one to survive." Joan told AJ, holding Roxie close. The needles had all fallen down again, and everyone sat back in their lopsided circle.

"So, what else?" Rebecca prompted.

"Hmm?" Roxanne asked.

"Did you have any more tips about magic?" Rebecca brushed pine needles off of her new sweater.

"Oh yes! The last, but certainly not the least tip, is that names are important." Roxanne said, her voice filled with urgency. Well, as urgent as someone covered in pine needles could be. Joseph nodded in agreement, smiling breathlessly.

"If you use your name in front of a magician, they could use it against you."

"You aren't going to use our names against us, are you?" Willow asked. Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm nowhere near the mage level to be able to do that," Roxanne promised her quickly, "but doing so is extremely illegal, and I could never do that to someone even if I knew how! Especially after what I've seen with you two," She inclined her head.

"Control over another person's choices is an art strictly forbidden in Alexandria. I have never learned how to use that kind of magic, and I do not care to learn now."

Willow huffed and crossed her arms. She looked away from the two magicians, only slightly embarrassed. After all that she and Daniel had been through, she couldn't be too careful. The two of them were free, for now. And she'd rather it stay that way.

"What about aliases?" Like Emma's and my superhero names?" Sam asked curiously, brushing some pine needles from his hair. They did turn out to be a bit itchy.

"Those aren't real names. Do they count for magic stuff?"

Roxanne bit her lip in consideration, looking to Joseph for his input.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I had never considered that. Perhaps...it could work."

"So what you're saying here, is that we all need superhero names." AJ surmised slowly, grinning.

Joan smiled while Rebecca giggled in excitement.

Joseph shrugged. "In theory, it could work."

"Oh! Can I be Cerebral?" Rebecca waved her hand in the air, still stuck in elementary school.

"You don't need our permission, Becca," AJ said, "You're the only psychic here, it's not like anyone's gonna claim your name."

"But what if it sounds lame?" Rebecca asked.

"So?" Joan took a couple water bottle out of the grocery bags, passing them around the fire, "It's gonna be something you're stuck with. Why don't you chose something you want?"

"Do you think it's dumb?" Roxanne asked. Joan pulled her fist down before she could toss another handful of pine needles.

"No!" Rebecca said quickly. "I...I really like Cerebral."

"Then you're Cerebral. Who's next?" Joan asked.

"What about you, Jo?" Roxie nudged her sister.

AJ watched Joan closely as she bit her lip, thinking carefully.

"You first," She finally said to Roxanne.

Roxanne sighed. "I was thinking Miss Chance. You know, kind of like my dad."

"Won't people recognize you then?" Sam asked.

"We aren't going out to be heroes, like they are," Roxanne reasoned, "and if we do need to take down a thief or two, the association with my dad's name may be enough to scare them off before things have to get messy."

"Good point," Joan nodded. "Okay. I'm going to be Jaded Dragon."

"Awesome," AJ grinned. Joan huffed, almost like laughing.

"Any reason in particular for that name?" Willow asked curiously. "Rebecca has her telepathy, and Roxanne has your father, what about your name?"

"Does it have to mean anything?" Joan sounded slightly defensive, "I just think it sounds cool."

"Oh," Willow gripped a handful of pine needles, trying not to disturb Justice the kitten settled in her lap.

"What about you guys?" Emma asked Willow and Daniel.

"Not Nova." Daniel said immediately. Willow agreed.

"Why not Wildfire, Willow?" Emma asked. "It goes with your powers."

Willow shrugged. "If it means this conversation gets finished quicker, then yeah."

AJ stroked a nonexistent beard on his chin as he contemplated Daniel. He was just a bit shorter than Joseph, but he still had an impressive build.

"What about "Bear"?" He suggested.

"Why Bear?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I know what a bear is," He said before Rebecca jumped in with an explanation, "but why that?"

"You're strong, and so are bears." AJ shrugged.

"It's not as bad as some superhero names people have come up with," Emma chuckled weakly.

Daniel rested his chin in his hand, thinking as he traced his finger through the pine needles. Justice watched Daniel's movements intently, preparing for the right moment to pounce.

"What about Goliath?" Rebecca asked.

"Who's that?"

"He's a guy from the Old Testament, you know, David and Goliath?" Rebecca mimed throwing a sling for Joseph, though he didn't really understand it. "Although, you're Daniel, not David, sorry," her cheeks flushed.

"I thought you were Jewish," Sam said.

"Yeah, but Becca and I have studied tons of religions," AJ slung his arm around his cousin in show of support.

"Goliath wasn't exactly a good guy, but he was a giant. It would get the point across that you're big and scary."

"So long as no one throws a pebble at me." Daniel attempted to crack a smile. Those who got it snorted to hold back their laughter.

"Okay, who doesn't have their..."Hero-Name" I guess," Willow mumbled. She stroked Justice, the movements very therapeutic.

"Well, we've got Becca, Roxie, Joan, you, Daniel, Sam and I already have our hero names, so that leaves Joseph and AJ." Everyone turned to the two of them.

"I want something simple, like my dad," AJ's robot leg creaked as he moved it back and forth, like one would do to get the feeling back into their feet.

"Blink?" Rebecca reached over to Willow and scratched Justice's head, "Because you're both so quick."

AJ pursed his lips, "Nah, I don't think so."

"Speedy?" Sam asked.

"Copyrighted."

"How about Blur, because you're all over the place," Joan said.

AJ snapped his fingers. "Insightful."

"What about you, Joseph?" Becca tilted her head to look at him, "Any ideas for an hero name?"

Joey sat with his legs crossed, his elbows resting on his knees with his fingers interlocked in front of his mouth.

"Nephthys." He said.

"What's that?" AJ asked, looking up from his very long list of possible aliases.

"Nephthys is the goddess of water, the sister of Isis, wife of Set, mother of Anubis. She is the matron goddess of Alexandria, and her magic is what has allowed our city to thrive."

Emma nodded, "I have to admit I don't know much about Egyptian mythology, but if Nephthys is anything like the Hindu gods I've studied, she'd be honored to have someone like you representing her."

Joseph's head bowed humbly, "It is I who am honored by your compliment, Miss Emma."

"Wait! We gotta call each other by our hero names now!" Sam hopped up to his feet.

"Well, not exactly all the time," Roxanne chuckled, "Just in front of the bad guys."

"Oh," Sam slumped back into a sitting position defeatedly, "I really wanted to be called Starling all the time."

"We can call you that if you want," Rebecca smiled.

"Really?" Sam- Starling- grinned.

"Totally! And you can call me Cerebral whenever you want, but I do prefer Rebecca."

"Okay Cer- Becca!" Starling laughed and threw another handful of pine needles into the air. With a hiss, Justice launched himself from Willow's lap, nearly knocking her down, to bat at the needles.

"Well," Emma sighed as the pine needle fight began again, "That's all the work we're getting done tonight."

Looking just as bored, Willow held out a handful of pine. "What, did you have other plans?"

Shaking her head, Emma reached out to accept the handful, and Willow tossed them in her face with a mischievous grin.