10

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Chapter Text

TUE FEB 15

I didn't sleep well that night. It wasn't just the 'dream training' getting weird and metaphysical on me, I was worried about the meeting I had later today, and still felt conflicted over the situation I'd seen with Cassie yesterday, and... Amy.

Hoo boy, Amy.

A part of my brain likened the gnawing worry over whether we were still friends to the anticipation of the Trio's bullshit every day. It was convinced things couldn't go anything but poorly, and it was hard to hold out hope that there wouldn't just be another fight.

I woke up early, it was getting harder and harder to sleep in past sunrise, these days. I'd been up before 7AM every day this week, and that showed no signs of changing. I sighed and resigned myself to being a morning person, now. A quick breakfast of granola'd yogurt and toast took another ten minutes, then I spent twenty working different muscle groups with the weights downstairs, took ten minutes to throw myself together into my morning gear, and was out the door.

Seven Fucking Thirty.

I missed sleeping in.

Still, it gave me an hour to get to school every morning, which I used to run the distance with time for a shower. So what if I was a little quicker than a normal person? Just made my jog look like actual running, right? I hadn't really thought about it until I noticed a pair of girls a block back apparently trying to keep pace with me. I could tell they were both feeling it, the curvier one puffing a bit as she hung back behind her friend.

This was weird, but not too strange. I made a couple turns to change streets without going out of my way. To my surprise, a couple blocks later the pair made the switch over, too. This was starting to get kind of creepy.

The next time I turned to change up the streets, I took a glance at the pair. An athletic black girl in bike shorts and a sports bra, her hair up in a bun to keep sweat off her neck, and a redhead with her hair braided up, a short, thin, open top and a miniskirt over the same sort of getup her friend had. She looked like someone trying to be fashionable even when working up a sweat.

If I didn't know better, I'd think it were Emma and So-

I stopped, my eyes wide ahead of me as I stood just past the corner turn. My eyes panned over to the pair, having a clear line of sight over the yard I'd almost finished passing.

Their hair was done up in styles I'd never seen them wear before, and their faces were different. Done up in thick makeup to change the shapes a little while still looking natural. Still though, now that I was looking, I could see the similarities. These two were definitely Emma and Sophia. The pair slowed their own jog to a walk while I watched them, trying to present a confused air, while I could tell they were subtly tensing for a fight as they slowly closed the distance.

Yeah, no. Fuck this.

I turned and ran.

It was actually kind of crazy, how fast I could go when I really cut loose. I was rounding the next block three seconds after I started my sprint, watching the pair just getting up to speed when I made the turn. Now I was on the next street over, line of sight broken, dashing down three blocks in the time it took them to make one. I was showing off some pretty obviously-cape speed right now though, and needed to stop.

I checked the houses on this block. All of the yards were empty of people, but a lot of them had no fence, or chain fences. The option on the other side of the street had someone puttering in a kitchen near the window overlooking the yard, so I couldn't hide back there. I certainly wasn't jumping up onto any of the houses... so I cut through the yard to my side, leapt the wooden fence there, rolled my way back upright, and dashed behind a shed. There was a bush blocking sight to the fence, and the shed blocked sight to the house. I took a breath to calm my beating heart, rather than sate any real need for air. I'd just sprinted almost four blocks, and barely felt winded.

The two came down the street minutes later. If I had to guess, they knew I was making for Arcadia, and didn't want to break off my route... kind of silly in hindsight, who cares if I'm late for class if it means dodging these two?

Sophia was looking around, and stopped when they got to the yard I'd crossed. She knelt by the ground, hand tracing what I realized was a deep footprint in the damp soil and grass. Was she... tracking me? She followed the trail, tracks set with my wide, sprinting gait, before she came to the fence itself. She inspected it for a minute or so, checked the tracks again, and said something to Emma, who'd been standing around watching.

I wasn't quite skilled enough with air yet to pull their quiet voices to myself, so I waited. It couldn't have been more than a minute or two, before they turned to leave. I heaved out a sigh of relief, and used wind to boost myself up over the other side of the fence. I went a couple more streets over, away from the pair slowly trudging their way away. When I was confident they couldn't see me, I started jogging again.

I still had to make it in time for a shower, after all.

---

When I got out of the shower, I had a text waiting for me, from Amy. She wanted to meet up before class, and I was fine with that. I shot off a reply saying I was already there, and she asked to meet in one of the second floor rooms I didn't have a class in, but it wasn't hard to find. She was alone when I got there, but that was probably the point.

"Hey." I said, the picture of eloquence.

"Hey, yourself." She muttered, her voice a little rough.

We sat there, basking in our teenage awkwardness, until I broke it. "You... wanted to talk?"

"Yeah." Her voice was stronger, now. She rummaged in her bag, and brought out a wrapped bundle. "You... I got these for you, over the weekend. Was going to give them to you yesterday, but..." She shrugged.

Yeah, yesterday was kind of a mess.

I came over and took the bundle, unwrapping it slightly to find it contained half a dozen ceramic masks. They were featureless, save for the eye holes, and came in an assortment of colors. That didn't matter, since I was just going to repaint them anyway, but I turned over the top one- Eidolon green- and found some minimal face-shaped padding to keep it from pressing too hard on the nose, with some loops in them for clips or straps.

I wrapped them back up, and held them to my chest. "Thank you." I said, trying to pour my gratitude into the words. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back?"

Amy shrugged. "Not like I didn't get them at 'Panacea Discount' anyway." She said ruefully, and continued when I just gave her a confused look. "The more famous you get, the less often people will actually let you pay for the things you want to buy. It's only about fifty times as annoying as it sounds when you first hear about it." She huffed. "The best example of it are famous actors who don't even bother carrying money, because they know they'll get recognized, and their fans will pay for everything." She took in a deep breath, and I could tell she was getting worked up. "Like, there was this one time I was in a cafe on the boardwalk, just dodging the people, when Assault walks in off his patrol, orders coffee for him and Battery, then they just hand it over, and he leaves." She threw her hands up. "I don't know if it was a regular thing, if he knew that barista, or if he's just that much of an asshole," which she followed with a darkly muttered 'because he is kind of an asshole,' before she continued; "but that's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Fame entitlement." She sighed. "I hate it."

The early bell chimed, telling us we had fifteen minutes before classes started. Probably seven or so before students would start showing up early to class and kill the current privacy we had.

"It's like, this whole thing with Carol." She shook her head. "Context, Amy... So, New Wave isn't filthy rich, but we're not bad off. I've got a credit card with a couple hundred dollar limit that Carol pays off every month for my 'allowance', but I think she did it that way just to keep an eye on me. 'You didn't buy food all week, Amy! You're not making people pay for you again, are you?'" She mocked in what I assumed was her mother's voice. "'You have to be more considerate, Amy!' 'You have to contribute to the economy, Amy!' 'You can't take advantage of your status, Amy!'" She grumbled to herself before muttering something unpleasant-sounding.

"You okay?" I asked, since she seemed done.

Amy rubbed at her eyes. "Yeah, just... sorry, didn't mean to ramble at you."

I smiled. "Nah, go ahead and vent. I'm happy to listen, if it helps." That was a thing friends did, right? "Did you want to do something after school?"

She shook her head. "Can't. Tuesday/Thursday hospital trip, remember?"

"Ahh, crap." I was excited to patch things up, and it slipped my mind. "Maybe Wednesday, then..."

She gave me a look. "You don't have plans with... Cass?"

I swallowed the sigh at her tone, before it could get out. "I wanted to ask you, first."

That got a little smile out of her, at least. "Well, there's always Vicky, if you're bored. She hates hanging around the hospital waiting for me, but she's been weird and hover-y since we all tried going out..." She said, in a leading way.

I had wanted to give her another chance, sometime soon. That it helped Amy out a bit was a plus. "I've got an appointment later today, I knew you'd be okay with leaving things off, but what about her?"

Amy shrugged. "Vicky's never trying to be mean, but she can forget things when she's worked up. If you just tell her you need to go when you need to go, she's more likely to offer to fly you over than get mad about cutting things short."

Well, that sounded fine. "I can talk to her at lunch, then?"

She grabbed up her bag. "I'll be there." She looked like she might be coming in for a brief hug, but hesitated and headed for the door.

---

The first half of school went fine, aside from some mild awkwardness with Kyle. I thankfully made my way to lunch without running into anyone else who'd asked me out yesterday.

I was waved over by Vicky and Amy, but they weren't the loudest ones, once the rest of the group noticed me.

"Taylor!" Kara waved- excitedly flailed in her seat, more like- and called out. "Did you think about the things?"

"What things?" I asked, mirrored by the dyed redhead sitting next to her.

"My things." Kara said to her friend, being intentionally obtuse in a rather obvious way.

Her 'friend' panned her gaze down Kara's body and remarked, "You do have very nice things..."

Amy cleared her throat and made a show of grabbing out her spritz bottle.

Everyone ignored Vicky giggling like am old lech, probably thinking everything hilarious.

I was reconsidering my decision to come here for lunch, today.

Kara smiled and turned back to me. Watching. Waiting.

I gulped. "Well, it... sounded fine? I just... Kinda' want to know what I'm getting into?"

Someone muttered out 'That's what he said' loud enough that the crowd was set a-tittering, and my face went nuclear.

Amy let out a loud noise and brandished her weapon.

The crowd went back to their own quiet conversations.

Kara gestured to a seat near Amy, which I now assumed had been saved for me, and I made my way over. "It doesn't have to be a big thing," she started. "Or happen at all, no pressure. Just thought it would be cool."

She was smiling widely, her eyes twinkling. She looked like an innocent little angel, begging for another cookie after dinner.

Ahh, there's the little voice in the back of my head, screaming that she's just trying to use me.

I'm not sure I missed you.

"Well, this week's pretty full, but I can stay after school Friday, as a trial run?" I wasn't actually sure I was busy most of the week, but I had plans today, needed to make plans with Amy and Vicky, wanted to keep some days free for Dinah just in case...Actually yeah, that did sound pretty full.

"Yay!" She actually bounced in her seat, she threw her arms up so hard. Or did she fake that? Her exuberance was certainly genuine... "I'll get everyone together, and everything sorted out. You don't have to worry 'bout a thing, boss!"

"Boss?" I asked, along with a quarter of the table.

"I'm buttering you up." She stage whispered. Continuing in a normal tone, she added, "I could use something else, if you'd like some more effective lubrication~"

Watching her sputter as Amy spritzed her in the face was magical.

After basking in it for a moment, I turned to Amy, as dour and stern as I'd ever seen her, and asked; "She always like this?"

"Nah," the healer grumbled. "I think she likes you."

"That's..." Terrifying? "...wonderful." I groused.

Kara finished wiping off her face soon after that, and I realized she either used minimal makeup, or went without. I didn't see a single smudge or blemish, aside from some pink where she'd scrubbed a little harder with the napkins. "Friday, after school! It's a date!" Her mood didn't seem the least bit stifled by her waterlogging, as she grabbed what was left of her food and made to leave. Probably to go discuss things with these 'other girls' she mentioned.

Time to break the ice, to ask about doing something today. "So, how was your date, yesterday?" I asked Vicky.

Her smile got a little strained. "It went... okay."

Amy scoffed. "She nearly broke up with him, again."

Vicky's eyes drifted over to where Dean was sitting, with a couple of his band friends having their table invaded by the next table over, their charge led by a ginger boy attempting to claim their french fries as part of his Irish heritage.

...I think.

It was pretty chaotic, and I hadn't been giving it too much attention until now.

Everyone was either laughing, watching gleefully, or wearily exasperated over it... so I guess everyone was having fun?

"Don't wanna talk about it, right now." Vicky said evntually.

"That's fine." An opening! "I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out after school for a few hours, anyway?"

Her face blossomed into a radiant smile, her eyes sparkling, rosy cheeks pulling back, perfect buffy lips pulling back from shining teeth. Her skin glistened and hair glowed in the light as-

-Amy poked her in the side, and everything went back to drab and dull normal.

Well, that was weird. I knew something was going on, but I was so fixated on Vicky that I just didn't care. I'd need to watch out for that, in the future.

"Really?" Vicky asked after she'd reigned herself in, in more ways than one.

"Sure. What sounds good?"

She made a show of thinking. "Well, you don't like shopping, right? We could just hit up a movie or something, while I'm killing time waiting on Ames."

How long had it been, since I'd been to the movies? "Y'know, that sounds pretty good."

"Meet you after class?"

"Out the main gate, sure."

Amy smiled a little, but she felt sad. I wasn't sure what to make of it. The rest of lunch was spent listening to others talk about how their big days had gone, yesterday.

---

I found Amy and Vicky out front after school, the pair looked like they were arguing a little. "What's wrong?" I asked as I jogged up.

"Vicky's hovering, again." Amy said, not quite snapping.

Her sister actually glanced down to make sure her feet were on the ground. It was kinda' cute. "Am not!" She said, when she realized what Amy'd actually meant. "I just want to make sure you're safe."

"The buses are safe." As safe as anything got in Brockton, anyway. "I'll be fine."

Vicky's eyes twitched between us a couple times, before settling on me. The world started closing in and getting hazy, again. "Taylor, what do you think?"

I wanted to agree with Vicky, wonderful amazing Vicky, but... "I... don't know what the problem is?" They both looked confused. "With... either situation?"

"Vicky..." Amy hissed, and the haze faded. Vicky looked sheepish. "Vicky can't carry two people. Princess carry takes two arms, so does piggyback, and dangling people is just asking for someone to dislocate something."

Vicky looked about ready to start again, so I cut in. "I'm stronger than I look." Amy's attention snapped to me, and she hesitated. "Plus, if something happens to me, Amy can just fix it, right?"

They both looked thoughtful, Amy I knew was probably considering my powers, while I could only guess at Vicky's thoughts. "Are you sure?" She asked, actually hovering a bit in her worry.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Amy snorted, and we both looked at her. "Probably could've dropped me off and came back here by now, if we hadn't started arguing over it."

That got her sister smiling again, at least. "C'mere." She floated over to hover low in front of Amy, who rolled her eyes and clambered on and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck and shoulders. Vicky hiked a hand up to grip Amy's thigh, and floated up and over to me, holding out the other. "You ready?"

I gave a smile, a nervous giggle, and nodded. I grabbed her hand, and she shook mine away, grabbing my wrist instead. I returned the gesture, grabbing her forearm with both of my hands as we slowly lifted up. Her grip was like a vice around my wrist, nearly creaking the bones. I could feel how nervous she was trying this, so I wasn't sure if she just didn't know her strength, or if her worry was making her try a little too hard. It wouldn't be anything more than a bruise at this rate, though. Nothing I couldn't heal myself, even without Amy's help.

"Alright, let's go." Vicky said, slowly accelerating us up and over, to just miss the fencing around the school, but we mostly kept horizontal after that. We stayed low, missing the rooftops by half a meter as they zipped by beneath us, only gaining altitude to pass over the buildings as they got taller the closer we got to the hospital. If I had to guess, the trip to drop Amy off only took about five minutes. It would've been at least twenty by car or half an hour by bus, but that was the advantage of a straight line without lights.

We set down on the roof of Brockton General, and I rubbed my wrist off to the side while Vicky fussed over Amy. "Well, this is my stop." Amy said, digging out her keys. "I'll see you tomorrow?" I nodded and waved, and she headed over to the roof entrance and unlocked it. It seemed a little weird to me that she had the keys for the place, but thinking about it, she probably only had the roof key.

"So..." Vicky started, awkwardly. "Movie?"

"Sure. We're both just killing a little time, right?" I asked, trying to spark conversation.

She shrugged. "I've got enough homework to keep me busy for a few hours, I always save it up for these days, but I usually run out and get stuck bored for a while."

I chuckled. "No offense, but you don't seem like the type that can sit still for long."

"Weeell.." She smiled and shook her head. "Not really. If I run out of things to do, I'll fly around, maybe patrol a bit, or get Dean to..." She drifted off, her smile drooping.

"You okay?"

She grinned wanly and gave a so-so hand shake. "Things have been... awkward? Not really bad, just... not good again, yet." She waited a moment, took a deep breath, and sighed it out. "I've been acting odd lately, and he was asking about that, then asking about-" She nearly choked on her words, the abortive hesitation was so strong. "-other girls. Which you don't do on a date, let alone Valentine's!" She'd worked herself up a bit, by the end. I felt the haze creeping in, before she clamped down on it and it faded. "The date was... just really awkward after that."

"I... think I get why, but I've never been in a relationship."

"Really?" She thought for a second, then broke into a grin. "Do you want me to..."

I broke in before she could finish her leading question. "No. I'm not looking to date right now. I'm perfectly happy..." I huffed, unsatisfied with the wording. "not happy, really, just... I don't think I can handle it, right now." Vicky had this wide-eyed worried curiosity to her features, combined with a worried head tilt that made her look adorable. I groaned. "I'm still getting used to not needing to worry about being ambushed if I let my guard down long enough to sit so I can eat, at school."

"Ahh." She had a look of mildly horrified realization, now. "I'm sorry I asked."

It was weird, dealing with someone whose heart was so firmly planted on their sleeves as Victoria. I don't think I'd have any trouble reading her, even without my extra senses. "No, it's fine. I'm more frustrated with myself, than anything."

"Right." She said with a sharp nod. "Topic change. Movie? You have a place you like?"

I was confused, before I remembered there were like three movie theaters in Brockton. "Oh, I haven't been to the movies in years. Whatever you like's fine."

She grinned. "Well, there's two places nearby," we were practically on the Boardwalk, after all. "The one with tables and restaurant-style food is kind of expensive, though. So the other one?"

I goggled a bit. "That's a thing?" It must have been recent, I didn't remember Emma ever mentioning that sort of thing.

Vicky shrugged. "It's okay, the food's pretty average, and terrible for the price, but the experience is worth it if you find the right movie."

I shook my head and smiled. It sounded ridiculous. "Yeah, the other one."

"Alrighty, then." She unceremoniously scooped me up, backpack and all, into a bridal carry. We were already off over another building by the time she started up again. "You're a little heavier than I expected."

I grabbed at my stomach, where the dreaded paunch used to sit, and whined. "But I work out?"

She giggled. "I didn't mean to call you fat, just surprised is all."

The building we eventually came to was fairly squat, compared to those nearby, but still looked to be around three stories tall. It was bracketed by stores and office buildings, with apartments further out. Its own little almost-mall just offset from the Boardwalk proper.

We set down amidst a moderate crowd, and it was only when I'd gotten my feet under me that I realized quite a few of them had their phones out and pointed at us. I glanced around, and started shrinking into myself as the crowd started to swarm Vicky.

Well, I say 'swarm', but only about half the crowd seemed interested at all. The press of bodies was still making me anxious, though. I skittered over to the theater while Vicky handled the people. She answered questions, signed some things, posed for the odd picture, generally exuberant through it all.

It was exhausting, just watching it.

They left me alone, but I'm pretty sure a couple people snapped photos of me with their phones. I had no clue why, but people weren't my forte. Ten minutes in saw Vicky apologetically extricate herself from the crowd, even going so far as to float up above them to make her way over to me.

"C'mon, let's go." She chirped as she bundled me through the doors. I didn't even really see the posters up for the various movies, along the walls outside and the short hallway into the lobby. We went up to the counter, off to the side away from the line, and she pointed up to the current listings on the wall behind the beleaguered BBU-student-aged teenagers working the tills. "What looks good?"

"What even is there?" I shot back.

"Well," She turned back and floated up a little, ostensibly to get a better view, but I was betting she'd done it out of habit. "The rom-com would be a little weird, but there's a horror/mystery-" the imagery and tagline for the poster seemed to indicate it was a noir detective story about catching a Stranger cape. "-a couple action movies-" one of them was about a robot Tinker, and seemed marketed on explosions, the other was an Aleph import 'cops and gangs' flick, centered on the grizzled gunslinger detective on the poster. It made me wonder if they ever showed the gang-centered films popular over on Aleph, what with the situation in Brockton. The last thing we needed were films that tried to romanticize the gang life. "-couple feel-good flicks-" Another aleph import about... animals? I guess? Boy-And-His-Dog story shaking it up with a girl main character, if I had to guess. The other was the 'real story' of a west-coast PRT agent putting his life back together after a cape fight took his legs. I'd actually seen commercials for this one, and my suspension of disbelief was shot to hell with the love interest being a prosthetics Tinker. "-aaand the kids movies." Of which two looked to be for the tween audience, and a family film about cape family shenanigans.

"Probably the aleph cop movie." I said with a nod. "The others all look stupid or offensive."

"I know, right?" She grinned. "I'll get the tickets, you save us a spot in the concessions line."

There were two tills each for tickets and concessions, but with all the filling bags and grabbing product, the food line was moving about half the speed of the ticket line, despite having about the same number of people waiting. I 'watched' as a boy- probably a cape geek from the gushing- let Vicky cut in about halfway up the ticket line. I shook my head, a little amused at the antics. It made me think back to what Amy'd said this morning. Some people just didn't mind flaunting what they had, I guess.

I was only a little jealous. Being famous would get old way too quick.

I'd only made it a third of the way to the counter when Vicky came up and handed me a ticket.

"You usually get much food at movies?" She asked to break the silence.

"Not really. Popcorn's fine, but I wouldn't get my own bag to myself." I'd usually get candy, Emma would get popcorn, and we'd share.

"Sure, sure." She waited, fidgeted a bit, shuffled around, and eventually just grabbed her phone for something to do. We were almost to the counter when she said, "Hey look!" and showed me her phone. "You're internet famous!"

My stomach dropped out and threw a fit as my breath hitched. I leaned over and recognized PHO, she'd expanded a few image links, and flicked over to them. One showed the three of us at school, another of us flying, and another of us just outside this building. She closed them out and went back to the thread, which she scrolled through a little, but I wasn't seeing the words.

I was busy freaking out.

"You okay?" She asked when she finally noticed I was hyperventilating.

"Fine. I'm fine." I said, too quickly.

"Tay, if it's-"

"Look, we're here!" I said, and sure enough the last customers in front of us departed, goods in hand, and we were at the counter.

Vicky got herself a soda, a big bucket of popcorn for the both of us, and a box of caramel something-or-others. She finally dropped getting me something, the third time I said I was fine. I still wound up holding the popcorn, though.

When we'd found seats, I couldn't escape the question anymore. "You okay? With the attention, I mean."

I sighed. "Yeah, sort of. I'm just... not used to anything but negative attention. I need to get used to this sort of stuff." Though I really wasn't looking forward to it. "I'm not going to stop being Amy's friend, and it was stupid of me not to think this would be a thing. I'm probably already up on whatever thread she has-" Vicky made an 'erm, yeah.' head motion, and I stifled a groan. "-being your friend too isn't going to really change much there."

We sat in silence for a while, watching the silent ads popping up on the screen.

"You think we can be friends?" Vicky asked.

I chuffed out a small exasperated sigh, and smiled at her. "Yeah, that's fine."

She seemed far too excited for such a simple thing, I thought.

---

The movie was fine. Not great, but not a terrible way to waste a couple hours. Vicky tried to argue me into letting her fly me to my 'appointment', but I worked her down to just taking me to the bus stop that'd get me where I was going. It just seemed to worry her, though. I promised I'd be fine and she nervously took me at my word.

It's not like I was going to the slums. The buses didn't even run there.

I was getting on the one that came closest to going there, though.

The address I'd been given was for a building in the 'Little Japantown' area of the city, which made up most of the disputed borders between the PRT and law enforcement keeping the Boardwalk clean, and the ABB's southern holdings. It was also the barrier between the downtown slums and 'civilization'.

It wasn't like it even had the shops and cultural identity to make it a proper Chinatown, it just tended to be where the Asian immigrants wound up. It was way cheaper than the Towers area, and not everyone could afford a house in the suburbs where I lived. People congregated here because it was better than the slums.

The building itself didn't look fantastic, but it wasn't condemned at a glance. The brief look with my senses indicated it was stable and surprisingly well-cared for, internally. The rest of the buildings around also looked to be apartments or tenement buildings, with the odd first floor converted into a shop or corner store, for people trying to make a living without the commute.

The door was locked, and had one of those intercom panels on the wall. It was full of numbers instead of names though, so I just hit the big button next to the little ones, and it gave a grating mechanical buzz. A few moments later, I heard it click and a woman, younger than I expected, said something in an Asian language.

"Um, hi? I'm Taylor, here to see Sue?"

I don't know why, but I got the feeling of being judged as the silence wore on.

The woman sighed, and said "Wait a bit." And the line clicked dead.

I watched as a woman came out of one of the lower rooms, checked the monitor above the door, and then the peephole. I could hear it as she unlatched several locks, and opened the door just enough to show her face. She was a short-haired twenty-something, shorter than me by less than most Asian women I'd met, she was thin and her face slightly gaunt. She had a few beauty marks scattered on her visible skin, and seemed overall fairly average looking. This didn't keep me from noting her hidden hand reaching behind her, softly gripping the hefty pistol holstered in the small of her back.

"What are you here for?" She asked, giving me a little bit of a glare as my eyes flicked down to where I knew she kept her gun.

"I... was invited over?" Her glare didn't waver. "For tea. I wasn't told what else."

We stayed like that for another moment, before a voice I recognized cut in.

"Hey, hey Minnie!" Jake called, hobbling down the hall behind her. "Don't worry, she's with me."

The woman's glare didn't lessen, though now it was a burden shared, her eyes flicking between us as she stood mostly behind the door. At least her hand wasn't on the gun, anymore. She snapped out more sharp syllables I didn't understand, and he chuckled, responding in kind. She said something else, and his smile grew strained as he replied.

She sighed, shook her head, and opened the door fully. She said something else, more softly this time, and went back to her own apartment.

"Sorry about her, she's... kind of intense." Jake said, ushering me in and redoing the locks. "Thought she was working today..." he muttered. "Anyway, Sue's on the third floor." The place looked to be about five floors from the outside- about as tall as buildings got outside the Towers and the buildings near Medhall. He led me down the hallway, past a turn which led to a nook for an elevator, and the stairs just past it. He tapped the button for the lift, which quietly dinged open immediately.

Awkward elevator silence prevailed until we hit the third floor, walking down the hallway to the second door past the turn, and Jake let himself in without knocking. "Got Taylor!" He said as I followed him in.

The place was cozy, and fairly busy. There was a couch off to the side, with a coffee table and a TV set up, the area lined with shelves full of books and trinkets. There was a decently sized kitchen table filling most of the rest of the space, six chairs around it with one side against the wall. There was a bathroom door to the side way from the TV nook, and a short hallway with a closed door on one side, and an open doorway leading to a kitchen area on the other. I quirked an eyebrow at the pizza boxes sitting on the table.

"Really?" I asked.

"Hey, teenagers like pizza. Figured it was a safe bet. It got here just before you did." He replied.

Sue came in from the kitchen, rolling her eyes and rubbing a dish towel over her hands. "Didn't want me cooking." She groused. "Got tea started, but now- most important..." She headed over to the closed door and opened it. Immediately a pair of blurs scurried out. One of them froze, the beautiful white cat staring at Taylor, before running back into the room. Sue chuckled. "That's Moon." She reached down to pat the big orange tabby chomping away at the food dish in the hall. "This is Sun." She headed into the room, coming out moments later carrying a mottled grey and black striped cat under his 'shoulders'. The poor thing meweled disapprovingly as his master smiled. "This one is MurderFinger." She held her grin for a couple seconds, before dropping the cat next to the dishes, where it started eating, too. She started turning for the kitchen, and muttered, "Couldn't not be, after he ate that bastard Qin-Xiao's finger."

What.

I turned, wide-eyed, to Jake. "Don't let her mess with you." He said, sitting down. "His name's Star."

"And he didn't actually eat any fingers?" I asked nervously.

"No." Jake lied.

Seriously, the fuck?

Sue came back, and set down a tray with a steaming teapot, some cups, and plates. She sat, and I felt weird being the only person standing, so I sat down, too. She filled the cups, and the silence dragged on a bit. "So...?" I hedged.

She grabbed at one of the boxes and started inspecting the contents. "You're a cape." I visibly tensed, and she chuckled. "Just thought you should know we knew." She grabbed a couple slices for a plate and set the box back. "There are others out there that wouldn't be nearly as polite about it. Mostly the gangs, but none of them know, as far as we can tell."

"That's... good?" I asked, and they shrugged.

"Cape politics aren't really our thing." Sue admitted. "But I'm guessing Danny knows," She waited for me to nod, "which means you're not a Ward. No talk of a new one anywhere, yet."

"Being independent is dangerous, though." Jake said, fiddling with his plate rather than eating. "I hope you're not out bashing heads?" I shook my head. "Good. That's smarter than a lot of newbies."

My mind was running a mile a minute. They didn't seem to be acting hostile at all. They just seemed... a little worried? "I can... trust you, right?" They looked at me oddly. "You're not going to sell me out, or anything?"

"What? No." Jake replied, and seemed honest.

Sue's look was more calculating, but I think she was wondering why I asked, rather than debating how to answer. "No, Taylor. We're not planning on using this information against you." She also seemed sincere, which was a load off my mind. She smirked a little as I visibly relaxed.

"So, why did you want to talk?" I asked, now honestly curious.

Sue shrugged. "We deal in information. Not buying and selling it, but using it to keep each other safe. Sometimes we turn in tips to the police or PRT, but mostly we stay a step ahead of gang movements, make sure to be off the streets when they're planning something, help the people who can get out to do so..." She sounded sad. "We do what we can."

We sat in morose silence for a bit. "And... you want my help?"

She laughed. "Oh, gods no. If the gangs caught wind of it, that'd ruin everything. Our building would get burned down, and everything's fire." She smiled and shook her head wistfully. "What we want is very simple." Her smile turned to a grin. "Get out."

"...what?"

She shrugged. "There are places that need new heroes more. Places that can actually hold back their gangs, keep their cities safe. Brockton's a powder keg at the best of times, what do you think happens if you take down one of the gangs?" I knew it was a trick question, and glancing over to Jake, who'd finally started eating, didn't help. "The other gangs fight over the territory and resources. The heroes couldn't take down any one of the gangs. Lung is too strong, the empire too connected, the merchants too distributed. Even if they did manage to take down all of them, what happens? New gangs pop up, or other gangs come in, or the fucking Butcher comes back." She spat the last part. "No matter what happens, the people lose."

I sat there, thinking about it. It didn't feel right. "I... don't think I can believe that." She raised a brow. "I mean, short term things would be bad, but after that? If we could keep the city and hold it, things could get better." I said, trying hard to believe every word of it.

Her eyes softened. "That's a nice dream, dear." She waited a beat, taking a breath. "The PRT can't hold the city. New Wave won't hold territory the same way the gangs do. It would take too much money and manpower, things being spent elsewhere, to fix the bay."

"I have to try."

She stared at me, and eventually sighed. "Always the idealists." She muttered, causing Jake to snicker around his food. She glared at him before turning back to me. "Alright, what do you think you can do?"

"Like, what are my powers?"

She shook her head. "About the city."

I hadn't given it much thought, I was still busy making sure I was trained enough to survive whatever plans I came up with, but... "I'm making a team." I said, then continued more firmly. "I'm forming my own team, and we can hold the city."

"Can you?" She asked snidely.

I heaved in a breath to argue, but held it. I let it out and shook my head. "We'll have to."

She stared, then sighed, took a deep breath and muttered something in another language up toward the sky. Whatever it was, it had Jake snickering again. "Eat your fucking pizza." She muttered, without any real heat to it.

I decided it was about time to actually start eating, and dug into the boxes. We ate quietly for a few minutes before she broke the silence again. "I'll need to talk to the others. I'm not sure what we can do, it's not just my risk to make, anymore." She took a long pull from her tea. "But, there's more of you young idealists around than I'd like. You're like weeds, these days."

I glanced at Jake, who grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me. I couldn't help but chuckle. "So...?" I asked.

"I'll call you in a few days. See what we can do. If you want us to help you, you might need to help us, though. Remember that." She paused for another drink. "You're some sort of thinker, yes?" I opened my mouth to answer, but she cut me off. "Be very careful who you share the details with, but... it can be used to gather information?"

I nodded, and she followed suit.

"That could be very useful. Help offset the risks..." She muttered. "Will need to plan. You need a ride home?" I shook my head, and she nudged my teacup. "Well, stay, eat. Have some tea. Leave the stressful thoughts for another day."

I spent almost an hour munching pizza and talking fighting with Jake, while Sue cut in now and then. I wound up petting a couple of curious cats, which was nice. Eventually I made my way home via the buses. Despite what Sue had said, I had a lot on my mind.

Where was I going to find more capes for this team I kept promising?