Toby stopped cowering but was still weary of the man. He never said whether or not he really was going to arrest him. However Toby was not one to turn down free food. "There is a hotdog cart I passed a couple of blocks back. If you are really not going to arrest me that is. I'll take us there."

Frank laughed good naturedly.

"Here's two things that should put your mind at ease; one, I was with the ITSDA but I resigned, so I have no legal authority to arrest you. Two, out of all the times I did slap cuffs on a perp, I never once offered him a meal first. So, I'd say you're safe. I'm only here to talk o you, and if after we're done eating if you're not interested in what I have to say then I'll be on my way no harm done. So, what say you take me to this cart, we get a couple of dogs, and find a quiet place where we can chat for a bit? Sound good to you?"

Toby nodded his head and smiled. "Alright. Sure thing I suppose." He thought for a few moments. "There was a dark alleyway about a half a block from the cart. That should do just fine." He turned towards the wall and snapped his fingers. A shimmering purple portal opened. "Right this way." He stepped through and waited for Frank.

Frank didn't blink as the portal appeared before him, and walked through without a moment's hesitation. Once he was abreast of Toby, he grinned once more.

"There was a guy at the ITSDA who could do something like that, but he just here and then over there in the blink of an eye. I like the light show, nice touch. You know, if I had this Gift I could have saved myself some travel time, fuel cost, and a rental fee all at the same time. Oh well, lead on my friend."

Toby smiled as they walked. "Thanks. I cant go extreme distances with the portals especially if more than just me is going through it. Well here we are hotdogs."

Frank took out his company credit card since everyone and their brother had a reader in this day and age, and laid it on the cart while ordering a dog with the works as well as a soda.

"Give Junior here anything he wants, and tack on a twenty percent tip for yourself too my friend."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 07:13, Mon 24 July 2017.

Toby ordered a hotdog with mustard and relish. He walked with Frank as they ate. "So you said you had someone to talk to me about?"

Frank's white maine shifted forward with the movement of his head, or would have at any rate if it was not forever sculpted in place by styling gel applied many years ago.

"A few someones to be honest, and a something. You, to start with, and your special talent. You got some idea at least roughly of what you can do, and you said you were working on your control which was improving which is a very good and smart move; some let it fly free, think it makes them better and above the average Joe. Others, they get so scared they lock it away, never think about it, until it tends to sort of explode out of them in usually unintended and pretty destructive ways.

"So you know you got it, and you're trying to learn how to deal with it. The next step after that is, what are your plans regarding it? I'm mean, do you plan to get a nine to five job, then rush out after dark in spandex saving the day? Or do you plan to incorporate it into some career, like working for a construction company? Or, maybe when you're down and out, the temptation of some easy cash taken without breaking a sweat from the closest bank looks really good to you.

"It's part of your life now, and one thing I know about it that stretches between all other people like you is, you get changed by it. You can't do anything about that, but you do have some say in how it changes you."

It might be thought in general that talking about such things on a public sidewalk in a major city would be quite foolish indeed, yet Frank had served in New York City for decades and had learned one undeniable truth; the more folks around you, the more invisible you became. Millions of people crowded into a mass of concrete and steel, most unknowing of those they walked past or even rode next to on the bus each day. Parents walked past urging children to keep up, countless drones lost in their media devices moved around without even taking their eyes from tiny screens, business men talking urgently on phones trying to swell their employer's bank account by another million never missed a step avoiding those they never actually saw.

Some old man sharing a hot dog with his grandson? Who cares?

Toby sidnt even hesitate to respond to Frank. "I want to help people. It is what my mom would have wanted. She always told me if you could do good by others make sure you do it. It becones your reaposibility and your calling to help those in need."

He smiled. "Not to mentiom Spandex is not my style."

"Huh, your mom sounds like she was a smart woman. Some now might call what she told you worn and corny, a catchall; personally I think you can't go wrong with the classics.

"So, you want to do good, does that mean in a couple years you'll be signing on the dotted line with the ITSDA? I worked for them for a bit, they give you a roof over your head and food in your belly along with training to boot. Travel the world, fighting villains, have jurisdiction in almost every corner of the globe; sound like something you'd be interested in?"

Toby looked at him questioningly "You say worked. Why did you leave and what do you do now.?

Frank drew in a breath, then let it out in a long sigh as he shook his head.

"I was never more than a probationary Agent with them, because I'm just the kind of guy who's got his own way of doing things and that didn't always sinc up with theirs if you know what I mean. Sometimes I was suspended, others I was their golden boy; changed so often I didn't bother keeping track.

"I guess a couple months back now, the ITSDA received information that the bad guys, called Namadians, had a secret base outside of this place called Gaultown. I was on one of the transports with a bunch of armed men and women ready to fight, plus a couple of civilians that were the ones who alerted us to the base's possible existance to begin with.

"Everything seemed so perfect, it didn't set well with me. So, I did a little digging on my own, and found any information on the spot we were going to was classified; that would only happen if it were an actual government base, no hidden one would want to wave a huge flag like that. So then I checked public records, and looked at the energy consumption of Gaultown; there was a restaurant that was really sucking up the juice even at four am in the morning. We were ordered to attack our given target, so I turned off the radio and told the others I was commandeering the transport and they could leave if they wanted. They all stayed, and when we arrived it was a blazing hornet's nest.

"There was a army waiting for us, complete with anti-aircraft missile launchers. Those scum bags even got reinforcements from the legit base, got the soldiers to believe we were the bad guys.

"We gave it our all, and the two civilians opted to join our cause for the length of the battle. Between us, them, and the army, we managed to kick the stuffing out of that town something fierce. We lost some, but managed to capture to high profile criminals. For all that, I had to go to the International Court to answer war crime charges.

"They wanted a scape goat, so I tossed my badge on the floor in front of those robes and walked out. One of my team had been in the room with me and also resigned, while a civilian who had given us a hand was allowed to go free since I knew all they wanted was someone to pin the mess on.

"The other guy who helped us, he's got both brains and money so he used them to start his own group; the GTF, or GaulTown Foundation. I tried to warn the powers that be but was ignored, managed to save the day anyway with help, and after the smoke cleared all those same powers were interested in was how to make it look like it wasn't their fault. The entire town was a fake, a front, no actual real person lived there. Just Namadian operatives with phony backstories and such. But spoon fed information was just so much better, and my saving the needless slaughter of armed forces men and women plus who knows how many ITSDA Agents resulted in me being smeared across newspapers so those who gave us bad orders remained squeaky Clean.

"I wasn't unemployed a full ten minutes before the guy who started his own thing offered me a job, and the two with me as well.

"The ITSDA will want you because you're the way you are, and your importance to them will be directly related to how deadly you are. For example if you could emit a knockout gas and render the enemy harmless, you'd rank around the level of crowd control. But incinerate a supposed Nadadian hideout in seconds? Top shelf living for you; best trainers, best food, best equipment.

"They use you to fight your own kind, and tell you it's for peace. But they don't care about how the world sees you, or your kind; they're perfectly happy letting the world quake in fear at the thought of those markedly different, while using them to kill the same.

"The GTF, we have the same stuff the ITSDA does; our own transport, HQ, beyond the latest tech since the boss man builds it himself, and enough money to probably fund our own small country if we had a notion. We are not only dedicated to doing what's right, protecting the common man from others with talent who would abuse it, but we go beyond that and try to show the world that you guys aren't some terrible, hideous monstrosity; you're just a kid that's different, one who shouldn't need to fear being arrested when all you did was protect yourself like any person fond of living would have."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:08, Tue 25 July 2017.

Toby listened the whole time with the last of his hotdog almost to his mouth. When Frank had finished his story he took the bite chewed for a few moments then swallowed. He took out his phone and sent a quick message to Li about someone who wanted to meet him and where they currently were. "I let Mr. Li know that you were here and wanted to talk to him as well. The GTF huh? Where do I sign up?

Frank finished his own dog, chuckling as he chewed. After swallowing, he said,

"Thanks for letting your friend know I'd like to bend his ear, but he was a no-show at his job so I'm honestly not holding out that much hope.

"As for getting you on board with us, the first step is I evaluate what you can do. The trip to the hotdog stand covered part of that, is there some place around here we can go where you can show me the rest? An abandoned warehouse would probably be best, plenty of junk left in them to play with coupled with plenty of room. But a condemned building is good too, or a junk yard. Your pick, whichever you feel the most comfortable with is fine by me."

Toby thought for a moment. Mr. Li had shown me a large abandoned warehouse on the west side of town. It is completely locked down and noone can get in." Toby smiled. "Unless of course you have a way to walk through walls."

Frank grinned.

"I like you kid, I think we're going to get along just fine. Yeah that sounds perfect, do we take your shortcuts to get there, or stretch our legs?"

Toby sent Li a new message updating him of their soon to be location. "Well it is on the complete other side of the city. So unless you want to walk about 50 miles. We can take my way."

Frank smiled to himself, as though amused by some internal joke.

"It wouldn't be new to me, and I've got the time. But, I want to see what you can do, so wearing you out before we get there wouldn't be the best idea. OK, find us a spot, and do your thing."

Toby smiled and walked back to the alley they had originally come out of. Another portal opened in front of him and he stepped through. When they emerged they would be in an empty warehouse probably used for lumber or steel. There was alot of open space for Toby to safely use his powers. "Well here we are. Training camp"

Looking around, Frank gave an approving nod.

"Yes, this will do nicely. OK, I've seen the portal bit, show me what else you can do."

Toby walked a ways a way. There was bits of random objects and debris strewn about the place. "Well fory next trick I am gling to need you to throw something at me." Whatever Frank picked up and launched would make it within 3 feet of Toby before bouncing off something that shimmered when hit.

Frank looked around the open space, then picked up a broken bolt and pitched it at Toby per his request. It got within three feet of the boy, then hit some form of shimmering barrier and bounced off. The old man seemed to have no noticable reaction to this, instead simply saying;

"Anything else?"

Toby shrugged "I can project that barrier about 10 feet and decide who and what it lets trhough. Although I can only keep it up for awhile before enough damage will cause it to fall. Takes me a few minutes before I can bring it up again."

He then looked up at a hole that had been lasted in the roof from a former training session. "Yea. Got one more trick." He stretched out his hand as his eyes glowed ever so softly an iridescent green, and a thunderous crash came down as a lightning bolt struck his palm. He held it for a few moments before dissipating it into the ground. "I can do a few other elements too. Air, Water, Fire, Earth. I am sill working on perfecting control but I can do a little bit. Li says the glow in my eyes might be a sign of me getting stronger, since I did not used to have it when I would use my powers."

Frank watched, then gave a bland nod but nothing else. Instead he looked about some more, until he found an old, rusted pipe junction about wide enough for Toby to stick his unfolded hand into. He moved toward the center of the warehouse, motioning that he wished the GTF candidate to follow him. When he got to his goal, the old man cleared a spot and set the worthless item down on the ground. Then, straightening up, he looked once more to Toby.

"Do you know where's there's a Wal-Mart? If so, could you pop up a portal to take me there? You stay here, but I'll need a ride back in a couple of hours."

Toby nodded. "You will need a way to contact me so that I can let you back through. Also if you do not come back to the exact place I put the original portal I will need to know where you are. I have to have been or be able to see where the end point is going to be. Also I can only keep it active for a minute at a time."