Glow sat up nice and straight, just like the nuns forced him to. He held back the shakes, and wore a nervous smile. He took slow, measured breaths and tried to pay attention.

He didn't understand why Mister Mangler had invited him for a villain team up. He wasn't a powerful super. Not a SkyCat or Professor Pain or Shimmer, all of whom were present. He was even pretty sure that old woman by Mangler was Serene, the first supervillainess. Her skin did the ripple effect like in the old news reels, but he only had those old black and white films as reference, and she was much younger back then. If it really was her, Glow was even more certain he didn't belong here.

Glow was young, and hopeful for the future. He wanted to change the world. But he also knew the system well enough to know, you didn't change it on a heroes path. Not with his measly powers. And life had pushed him to villainy, anyway. Back in high school, when people learned about his powers, they always asked him to make fake IDs. He couldn't do fancy watermarks or anything, but he could adjust the colors to change the birth year. It made him money, but the nuns kept a close eye on him, so he never went to the parties his work benefitted.

Once he aged out and was on his own, he struggled to find work, and the hero registry kept pairing him with D-list heroes who did nothing more dangerous than pulling cats out of (short) trees. Mostly they were just folks who'd put on a small show at mall openings and such. Color changes were handy and flashy for that.

Following an accident with one of these heroes, he'd been blacklisted. It wasn't his fault, but he was low enough for them to get away with not caring. He'd tried to find legitimate jobs, but ended up homeless, and lucked into a henchman job with Mirrorer. It was a headache, but it was also a foot in the door.

He'd had a few bosses after that, using his powers to full effect to avoid getting caught when they did. After his latest boss, the Temporagist, had disappeared in a time vortex last week (and the week before and the week before and the week before and) that Mister Mangler had approached him.

Mangler hadn't given a lot of details, just let him know they were putting together a team of high level villains, and Glow should join in. Gave him a time and place, and was gone. Glow was sure it was a mistake, even as he walked in and took a seat.

As the table filled up, he found him self seated between an older man in a Trilby hat whose briefcase kept saying everyone here would die, and a young woman in black techno-armor and a cape, which seemed more trouble than it was worth as she struggled through the crowd and into her chair. The Trilby hat's briefcase had him nervous, but seeing someone else struggling with villainy actually helped him relax.

"Hi," he said once she was seated.

She looked shocked and perhaps a little nervous, though he was hardly a good judge. After a second, she speak in a mechanical voice, "Hello."

"I'm Glow." He pointed at his name tag.

"Demolitia, ending t-i-a," she replied, looking around. "Where did you get a name tag?"

"Oh, I just made it. A lot of places have ID badges, so I can just..." He changed the tag to look like a photo ID badge for Amnodyne. "...and I can usually walk right in."

"An illusionist?" This came from the Trilby hat. Not the man, but the hat itself, though Glow almost missed it, as the man's mouth open and closed. It was more like a puppet than actual talking, however.

"No, I just can change the color of objects. Nothing living." He'd learned to give that caveat in the early days, when kids at school wanted him to give them tattoos.

"Just? Don't sell yourself short. Illusionists are a dime a dozen. Don't think I've ever seen your powers, son. And I've seen a great many powers."

"How large an object?" The woman asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure. I've changed cars before, that's probably the biggest I've done." Glow found he was embarrassed about never testing his limits.

"And do things change back after a time?"

"No, not that I've seen." He felt even more anxious as she reached over and started looking closely at the name tag still pinned to his chest.

"Mind of a scientist as ever, Litia? Go easy on the lad," the Trilby said.

She backed off, now embarassed herself. They all sat in silence for a moment before Mangler called the meeting to order, but as he did, she leaned over to whisper to Glow, "One more question? Must it be colors visible to you? Or can you use microwave or radio? Maybe make something invisible?"

Glow found the idea stunned him too much to be embarrassed at not considering it before. He couldn't wait to experiment. Only half listening to Mangler discuss something about eliminating some A-list hero or another, he removed his name tag, holding it where he could see. Then suddenly, he couldn't. Then he brought it back. I was just a little into the infrared, as he wasn't sure of the dangers, but it was enough.

Suddenly, he didn't feel so out of place among these stronger villains. In fact, for the first time in his life, he actually felt super.