"He wasn't that bad."

"He kept calling me sis. He didn't even know me!"

"You do that to Crash when she doesn't really like it, too."

"We know each other, but!"

"But they were nice to all the non-powered kids too. He helped Jane do her math work, remember?"

"Giving rides might not have been best move, though."

Gren shrugs.

Crash giggles, remembering how she... Dissuaded... Further people asking for rides.

Spaceman Bill had given her such a talking to regarding that. 

Later, the children and Mrs Carson take the hyperloop back home. They have school the day after tomorrow:

"Who can tell me what happened on July 12th, 1989?" their teacher Miss Rossi asks her class during history.

"The reveal of the Eight. And then the Shattering."

"Exactly right, Grenadine. The !Quell's contact vessel, the Salutation, appeared over Berlin 12: 55 pm, EST, broadcasting an invitation to any and all world leaders across all wavelengths and in all languages. After forty-eight hours of deliberation, representatives from over a hundred nations were ferried up to the Salutation."

"Where the Eight were waiting!"

Miss Rossi shoots the boy a reprimanding look. "Please raise your hand to speak, Ezekiel. Can anyone tell us why there were eight heroes to start with?"

Crash eagerly raises her hand and when called on, "So everyone had a hero to look up to while the !Quell continued negotiating with the government! It was like a test."

"A test we sadly failed, as only three days later anarchist groups, mostly operating from Eastern Europe, attempted to obliterate the Salutation with nuclear weaponry. The ship was unscathed. Berlin, sadly, was not. A week later, it was agreed that the Eight, with the help of the !Quell, would take over the administration of Earth."

Gren takes notes, despite knowing this history already. 

Someone asks, "Is that why they built the Phoenix on Berlin? Because the !Quell wanted it?"

"There were a few reasons. They felt it symbolic that the site of mankind's shame become a symbol of renewal, and they wished to provide homes and jobs to what few Berliners remained. Thankfully, the !Quell proved quite capable of curing radiation sickness. And many of the Berlin survivors went on to become what?"

"Turned!"

"Puppets!" Grumbles someone else.

"Now, now, children, we're here for facts, not opinions."

"A lot of them got new super-bodies with fancy alien tech."

"And many of the women among them became the mothers of the first born superhumans." She smiles. "But you should know that already."

Crash giggles.

"My dad says they were a bunch of sl-"

"I do hope you weren't planning on saying what I think were saying," cuts in Miss Rossi, arms folded. 

"Specially not when we're always in our super-bodies."

Miss Rossi turns to look at Tabitha. "And I should hope as well that wasn't a threat, young lady."

Grande rolls her eyes at Sol. "What's next in the book, Miss Rossi?"