50

Chapter Text

SAT MAR 5

The other was from Rika, asking if that offer was still on the table.

"...fuck."

"Something wrong?" Vicky asked, and I caught her eyes in the rear-view. Had I said that out loud?

"It's… uhh…" How to say it… should I say it? I needed to talk to Rika before doing anything with that, and needed to get back to Sally about the information dump, and… "...pull over."

She did so, perhaps a bit faster than she should have, based on the brief urp-y weight in my gut while my eyes were back on my phone. Was that motion sickness? Because eww. "What's wrong?" She asked, her tone much more serious this time.

"We… uh… might not be going back to my place?"

Vicky looked like she was about to pop off with a dozen questions, but choked them back when I put my phone to my ear and held up my other hand to stop her. It picked up after a few rings. "Yes?" Came Sue curtly from the other end.

"I have some problems to talk about, probably with people at your place, but I'm with Vicky and Amy. Is it okay if they come over?"

"Vicky and… oh. Those two…" There was a long pause, and I caught garbled bits of chatter through the silence. "They're with you, yes?"

"They can keep a secret, yeah." I nodded to myself, staring down the incredulous eyes in the mirror.

"As long as you're not flashy about it."

No flying in, but I wasn't intending to. "Of course. Oh, is Sally there?"

Another pause. "She… could be."

"We'll be there in fifteen, twenty minutes."

"Then, yes."

"Good. See you soon." I hung up. Amy shuffled so she could look back at me, and I met Vicky's stare in the mirror. "So… you wanna meet the minions?"

Amy slumped, exasperated, while her sister's eyes lit up with glee.

Twenty minutes- a couple texts making sure Rika was home to meet us there, half an explanation that this is where I went that one time I was heading towards the slums and didn't want Vicky tagging along, and half-heartedly rebuffing a few rounds of twenty questions- later, we were parking a few blocks north of Sue's building. Just on the edge of the 'nice' part of town ostensibly under PRT control, just to minimize the chances the car would be gone when we got back. Then we walked the rest of the way.

I noted they'd filled in just over half of the shelves in their little bunker already, and there were a few modifications along the drain pipe exit that I hadn't put in for them. "So. Clandestine hush-hush. Don't tell anyone about this place, okay?"

"I can't imagine there being many secrets around here…" Vicky murmured, wearing a thick darker jacket she'd dug out of the trunk, which was very much not her usual style. I suspected it was her father's, and between that and her hair in a ponytail she looked different enough to not immediately get pegged as Glory Girl. She was eying the other buildings warily, most of them being more apartment housing.

"Maybe that's why it's here." Amy scoffed. She was wearing her dark hoodie-style jacket zipped up, which gave her a look very similar to mine. Panacea was the far less visible of the two, with her often covering part of her face or being obscured by her hood. It was probably less likely for people to recognize her, with her current hood down.

"The place itself isn't as important as who happens to live there." I added, not elaborating even as the curious silence drone on.

I buzzed the door when we got there, and I felt a young woman hop up and head to the door from what I remembered as Soo-Min's room. She checked the security, and opened the door. Rika's face froze in the half-smile she'd been wearing. She was wearing skinny jeans with a studded belt, and a turquoise baby-T that showed off her arms and a bit of her stomach. Her starched-spiky ponytail looked like it'd had some spray-in frosting highlights added today. After a few seconds of gawking in growing horror, she finally broke the silence. "...locker girl?"

The stare I pinned her with was carefully blank and disinterested, even as the old fury started burbling back to the fore of my mind. "What a fantastic way to ask me to break both of your kneecaps." My tone was cold, voice practically dripping with venom.

She flinched so hard she stumbled back a step, grimacing as she held up her hands. "No, wait, I'm sorry. I was just surprised."

"I feel like someone owes me five bucks." Amy stated blandly, though I could tell she was actually amused. I gave her a flat look. I suppose that was one of the first things my current best friend ever said to my face…

I held out a hand to placate a simmering Vicky, uttering a frustrated groan as I turned back to Rika. "It's fine, just never say that again." I assumed from what I could sense that her mind was rolling back to our first meeting, and the rather serious conversation about capes. Actually, now that I think about it… "Rika. Glory Girl, Victoria. Panacea, Amy." Her eyes roved the blond to my side, an ashamed blush creeping up her cheeks. Yeah, I remember our talk about her, too. Petty it may be, payback was a bitch.

"Uh, hey. I wasn't expecting… y'know."

"I was with them when I got your message, and probably needed to drop by anyway." She didn't need to know about the team. "And no offense, but I think those 'other things' take priority." I nodded past her, and she winced.

"Right…" She muttered, meekly stepping aside.

Well, that wasn't exactly the reaction I was aiming for, I thought with a sigh. "Hey, it's okay. We'll be back in a bit to talk, alright?"

She stood a little straighter, and nodded. I waved the sisters to follow as I headed for the elevator. "What was that about?" Vicky asked quietly once we were out of immediate earshot.

My lips thinned in the start of a scowl as I chewed on my words. "Have you ever made a really stupid offer to make someone feel better, knowing no one would ever call it in, and then they did?" I asked quietly, and could feel them glance at each other behind me. "She goes to Winslow. The school has a gang problem. Probably more of one, now. It's hard to predict." The lift dinged, and we got in. "Last time I was here, she hinted that she has to… deal... with the gangs, sometimes." I could feel both of them grimace, even though the metal and carpet of the elevator. "So I offered to give her an excuse to avoid school for a while, if she really needed it."

"...and then Lung." Amy stated, in dull exasperation.

"And then Lung, yeah." I concurred. "I'm trying to think of a reason not to snap her spine or something, and then heal it when she has her medical exemption from school for however long."

"Oof." Vicky muttered, but the elevator dinged before she could continue.

"Come on." I led them out, totally not avoiding the topic to the best of my ability. Really. That line of thought was interrupted when I spotted Sally in the hallway, the first time I'd seen her in uniform.

It bulked her figure out a bit, especially with the armored tac vest that'd become much less 'optional' for police since the uptick in gang violence around the country in the nineties, once cape gangs started solidifying themselves as a thing that wasn't going away. Knowing someone in the hallway was armed and armored was one thing, but seeing someone I knew in a uniform that still didn't quite make sense for them in the recesses of my mind was another. She gave us a confused and curious look. "...Glory Girl?"

"Hello, officer." Vicky chirped. "Do, uh, you know why we're here?"

I shook my head with a small smile, and let out a rueful sigh. "Hi, Sally."

The voice caused it to click, it seemed. "Terra…"

"Yup."

"You're, uh… not wearing a mask?"

I gave a small shrug. "I didn't have any of my masks on me when I got your message, and it seemed the sort of thing to drop everything to talk about. Besides, I've been here without the mask before, and wearing a flimsy domino would've just told everyone who I was anyway." I pointed first to my overly wide mouth and skinny nose, then my distinctive curly hair.

"Still… seems odd."

"Everyone I'm iffy about knowing is probably going to owe me by the time I leave, and secrets seem to be a thing around here."

She hummed, but dropped it. "Let's head in."

There were four people inside, Sue talking to two Asian men in hushed sharp tones I thought might be Korean, while Minnie stood off to the side watching. She turned and gave us a hard stare when we entered, while two of the three continued talking. The third took a bit to turn back to us, and then speak in a heavy accent. "Hey, kid. Not a good time to talk… wait outside?" He started trailing off near the end when he realized how many people had come calling.

Sue turned a sharp glare on the man, causing him to pale with just a few words. When he continued to stand frozen, she nodded toward the door. "Well? Go."

The two jerkily started for the door, closing it behind them. "What was that, at the end?" I wondered aloud.

Sue shrugged. "I told them it was them I was kicking out." No lie, no subterfuge I could detect. She probably hadn't told them who I was, which is what I was worried about. I was being a bit cavalier with my identity, but that was hardly cause to be stupid.

"So where are Jake and the rest?"

"Jake is out snatching up every ABB asset he thinks can be salvaged. A few you haven't met are working with him." She nodded to the door, indicating the two who'd just left were among that number. "The others are either keeping watch or couldn't be contacted. Arthur and Vincent are asleep around now."

I nodded, but wasn't able to speak first. "So, uh… what's going on?" Victoria asked, glancing between myself and the adults.

"Glory Girl and Panacea." Sue stated with a quirked brow, then glanced my way.

"Sue, Vicky and Amy Dallon. You two, this is Old Sue." I chewed on my lip for a moment, thinking. "They're sort of… an anti-gang? Mostly just people trying to survive around here." When Vicky continued to stare for a second, I continued. "They have some people spying on the gangs. Or in the gangs, like Jake with the ABB. They told me where those places were yesterday, and they've got more tips they're trying to drop on the police, but…" I turned pointedly to Sally, at that.

"It's too much, really. I've started hearing noise about disregarding most of it, thinking it's just the gangs flooding bulletins with false positives to give themselves some room. Which makes a little bit of sense from the Empire's perspective, but it's coloring the information from the other gangs. We're hoping Terra won't mind us passing things along with her name attached, saying the information came from her team."

"You can just… say that?" Amy wondered aloud, her tone slightly hostile. "There isn't a procedure, or any checks? What about moles? Plants, whatever?"

"Technically what I am?" Sally mused with small chuckle. Amy was still glowering. "If someone was feeding cops to traps, we'd figure it out pretty quick and know who did it. Stuff that just wastes people's time isn't so bad, but if it keeps happening they'll get put up for suspicion. But if the info is good, and then we find out there was no trail to the info… it doesn't matter. We still caught criminals on reasonable suspicion. If one gang's moles want to point us at good intel on another gang, it's a lot harder to tell that's what's happening. Hard to justify questioning results."

"And this is information you didn't give us, yesterday?" I cut in.

"We like you, Terra." Sue stated. "We're not going to send you into a potential cape ambush."

"That's the stuff we're trying to pass off to the PRT." Sally explained. "Along with old information on potential locations that admittedly is lower priority since they've likely been moved, but we're just covering bases with that and letting the police know it might be too old to be useful."

"It is those 'high likelihood of capes' and higher priority targets from the ABB that we want to use your name for. There is a great deal of good we can do, with a fairly small frame of time to do it." Sue added.

I stopped to ponder it. It seemed like a good idea, and most of the information they'd given us yesterday was good. They probably knew what they were talking about, and any pressure we could put on the gangs would be for the better. It was while I was still considering the options that Vicky spoke up. "I… think I know what you're talking about?" I winced. ABB drug dens and stockpiles, like the Empire ones we'd hit yesterday. The brothels they were rumored to have. The Empire's important stockpiles, and the fighting rings that Hookwolf and his goons had a decent chance of hanging around at. "Would it help if I called some things in as Glory Girl?"

"Vicky?" Amy murmured in surprise, while the two froze wide-eyed for a moment.

"That… actually would, yes." Sally remarked quietly. "I'm sure a few of them could have been spotted from the air over the past few days…" Sue moved to the table, sorting through a stack of notebooks and loose paper, before handing one back to Sally. "Okay, you want to go over things, then?"

"Sure." Vicky said, a little surprised that they'd read her in on things.

"You can take care of that, and… I suppose the rest of the important things can go under my name, sure." I said, slowly growing more sure of my words as they came. Sue nodded, and the blondes headed over to the couch and coffee table in the TV nook to go over things. "Was there anything else you needed?"

Sue shook her head. "Not immediately. Jake might need something soon, but he's out of contact for the moment."

"Okay, I can go talk to Rika while they're busy…" Sue quirked a brow at me. "School is going to be crazy for a while, especially Winslow."

She settled into a thoughtful grimace. "No issues have been brought to my attention, but… teenagers."

"I wouldn't suspect how bad it is, if I hadn't gone there for years." I offered, and she nodded. "I'm going to do what I can for her, but I'm not sure what that is, yet."

Sue settled heavily into a chair, tapping away at the table in thought. "I could have someone break in, check records. See when their last inspection was. Worst case, we can damage the foundation or collapse part of the building, force the school to close until it can be resolved…" She mused aloud.

"What?" Amy and I both immediately asked in shock, then she continued. "That's illegal. Super illegal."

The old woman waved her off, apparently unconcerned. "For the sake of children. One could argue they should be kept in the school and away from the chaos, but the worst would skip anyway, or cause trouble there. One only has the luxury of better solutions once they've found something that'll work."

I decided to translate. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Tell the teachers?" She scoffed after a moment, though I had the feeling she was scrambling and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Nope." I rebuffed immediately. "No offense, but you've always gone to the nice schools, right? That would have worked in middle school, but not Winslow. Unless you or one of your friends have parents that can make life hell for the school if they ignore you, they'll do just that. Even if you do, going up against someone else that does means the bigger money- or the one shouting they will get their parents involved- wins." Dad probably could have done something. I knew that now, but even if someone else had realized it, they also knew I'd never get him involved. Which meant pretty, popular, lawyer father Emma was free to reign over the school, as far as I could tell.

When Amy looked ready to argue anyway, I added, "If she thought it would work, she'd have tried it already. Right?"

"She could just skip." Amy tried, instead, and I nodded.

"That's what I was going to suggest she try first, yes. She could try getting suspended instead, but it's not worth it when the 'ignore problems' issue goes both ways and it might not work."

Sue sighed, drawing our attention. "I will make a few calls. If enough students fail to show up, they might just close the school. Most of the working families in the city are at least loosely networked together, spreading the word that school may be dangerous for a few weeks among the unions and large employers could get it done."

I glanced back at Amy with a quirked brow. "Better than destroying part of the building?" She rolled her eyes, but seemed to concede the point. I turned back to Sue. "If you could, it'd be appreciated. I can talk to dad about it when I get home."

"Good old boycott. Yay." Amy groused in a low monotone.

"You know Vicky would love skipping school to punch Nazis." I scoffed.

"Accurate!" Sounded across the room, and I couldn't help but chuckle while Amy tried to hide a fondly put-upon smile.

"If that's everything?" I checked again, and Sue nodded. "I'm going to go check in with her. You coming?" I added to Amy, who shrugged. "We'll be back for Vicky."

I led the way to the stairs, knowing I'd find Rika sitting at the bottom of them, near the elevator. Minnie followed along, far enough back that she thought I wouldn't notice. Rika was either lost in thought or staring intently while she waited, because she jumped when I greeted her from the landing above. "Ter… uh, umm…"

That was when I realized she didn't even know my name. Deep breath in, slow exhale out. The world doesn't revolve around me, even if it felt like it with the way everyone at Winslow knew me, even if they didn't know me. Knew of me, I supposed. "Taylor." I offered, after I managed to calm down a little.

"Right, it's… nice to meet you." She struggled out, still fairly skittish on top of being unsure how to deal with an unmasked cape.

"I talked to Sue, we're going to try and stage a boycott to let you skip without attracting attention. We don't have to… that." My voice was calm and steady until it nearly broke at the end. "Not yet, anyway."

"Oh." She felt conflicted, but mostly relieved. "I… that's fine. That'll work."

"I don't know what your relationship with your parents is like, but you should probably be talking to the adults in your life that you trust, more than you are." I added. She grimaced, but nodded. Typical teenager, I thought hypocritically. Minnie at least seemed to care, hovering protectively behind the next landing up from me and Amy with a little mirror. At least that's what her emotions seemed to indicate. Rika had been in the older woman's apartment when we'd arrived, as well. They seemed to know and care for each other. I felt a little bitter, knowing she had a support network, when I'd spent so long without one. Ignoring mine, rather. I hissed out a breath and tried to ignore the intrusive thoughts my brain was trying to beat myself up with. "If there's nothing else, we should be going, soon."

I'd turned away and started back up the stairs when she worked up the nerve to speak up. "Wait! You… I… er." She took a deep breath. "You're Panacea, right?"

My eyes flicked to Amy leaning up against the wall of the landing. She crossed her arms, leveled a not-quite-scathing glare down at Rika, and tilted her head up as if to ask 'what of it?'

Her mouth opened and closed a couple times, before she steadied up and slowly asked, "Could you… check something, for me?"

Amy closed her eyes and grumbled. It took a few seconds, but she huffed and beckoned. "Fine, come on." Rika hopped up the stairs to gingerly take Amy's still outstretched hand. A couple seconds later, Amy frowned. Twenty seconds after that, she asked, "What am I looking for?"

Rika flinched, glanced at me, and seemed to deflate. "Anything, uh… transmitted…" She muttered, quieter and quieter.

Well, that explained the shame. I tried to give her a soft, supportive smile, but she refused to come anywhere near meeting my eyes for the next few minutes of silence.

Amy was still cranky, but had seemed to drop into a bit of a work zen as she used her powers. "I'm not seeing anything that's actually dangerous or debilitating, and nothing like sixty to ninety percent of everyone over twenty don't all have anyway. I've inactivated your chicken pox so that you won't get shingles when you're older. Anything else?"

"I don't…" She sagged in relief. "Thank you. I wasn't sure, but…"

"Safe sex, get all your shots, talk to your doctor, yada, yada." She dropped Rika's hand and wiped it off on her waist, then started back up the stairs. Either missing or ignoring the wince and tooth-grit frustration her remark prompted.

"Sorry, she's a bit… grumpy, about expectations." I quietly remarked. "She means well, and did check…"

Rika sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I…" She shook her head and stepped back. "Thanks. For everything. If you ever need anything…"

"I'm sure I'll call it in at some point." I stated. Her eye- still not meeting mine- twitched. I didn't dislike Rika, she just had a bit of a habit of putting her foot in her mouth, but we weren't friends yet. "I'll see you around."

She muttered a goodbye as I followed Amy back to Sue's. Minnie had slipped back up the stairs to wait for us in the hall, leading the way in when we caught up to her.

Sally and Vicky were still talking in low tones when we got there, but didn't seem to be referencing the materials in front of them anymore. Sue was puttering about the kitchen while on the phone. Minnie broke off to check on her. "How goes… things?" I asked.

Vicky perked up. "Done…ish. We can head out whenever."

Right. Leaving, and heading back home… to Cass. Which brought the problems there back to mind. My attention wandered over the room, and through the neighborhood, while I considered the issue. My eyes settled onto Sally, and an idea popped to mind. "Are you… busy?"

"It's all hands unless something important comes up." She waved over the gathering. "Why? What's up?"

I opened my mouth and paused. It would probably be fine, but I couldn't help the shock of anxiety tearing through me. "I… might have something I need help with?"

She seemed confused and worried. "What is it?"

"Well…" I shifted to better prevent any fidgeting. "Rune agreed to defect a while back." Her eyes widened, and I paused. Sue hadn't told her about that? "And she turned up at my place. I think they tried to mobilize her against the ABB, and I told her our deal was off if she hurt anyone else. Anyway, she's… gotten twitchy, after only a day stuck inside. I'm a little worried about leaving her alone, but I don't think I can get out of school, or have dad stay home from work. We don't have a more permanent place to hide her, but we have a couple ideas and I'll work on that soon."

"So either you don't trust her, or…?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what to think. I understand being scared of the Empire, but she seems almost just as scared of being alone. I don't want to say it's trigger-related, but the first thing that comes to mind when I think about it is…" I couldn't help the visible shudder as my mind turned back to the Locker. Being left, trapped, alone.

Sally heaved a deep sigh. "I know what those are." When I- desperate for anything else to think about- leaned closer with a brow raised, she continued. "The PRT tells us," she waved a hand over her uniform, "what those are, but it basically amounts to 'it can happen at almost any crime, so close up shop and let us take over everything LEO related' really." She scoffed. "They take our funding, our best people, and as much jurisdiction as they can, then expect us to be polite about it." Her eyes softened at my concerned expression. "Don't worry about it. Just a bit of friction between departments."

If only she actually believed that. "I'm sorry, that must be… difficult."

"Well…" She hissed out a quick breath and shook her head. "So you want someone to keep an eye on her, more just… so someone is there?"

"I think it would help her, quite a lot. And help me, for not having to worry over it."

She settled, slumping slightly, as she considered it. "I won't be able to for a few days. At least the next couple, we really are calling in all hands…"

"Not a problem. Just let me know whatever you work out." I thought for a moment, then grabbed some paper and a pen to scribble down my address. "Gerard and… I'm sure some others…" I nodded my head toward the kitchen to indicate Sue. "...know where I live, but I might as well give you this."

She glanced at it, before it went into a pocket. "I'll see what I can do."

"All I can ask." I stated, then popped into the kitchen to say goodbye to Sue and the grump. We headed out after that, and didn't run into Rika on the way out.

We made our way the few blocks back to the car and piled in. "So?" Amy pointedly asked.

"So?" I returned, confused.

She glanced at me, then turned back to VIcky. "You spent more time talking to them."

That stung a little. "They seemed okay." Vicky answered. "Not what I expected… didn't seem to be hiding anything… working with the police?"

"I told you it was complicated." I stated in a low deadpan.

"Yeah…" She groaned.

Amy glanced between us, frown deepening, before she settled back into her seat with a huff. "Fine, what's the plan, then? Carol isn't going to be happy-"

"She never is." Vicky cut in. "But Aunt Sarah wouldn't care, and no one's going to figure out any 'lies of omission' or whatever unless someone blabs." She took her eyes off the road just long enough to give her sister a several-second glare.

"Wasn't… ugh." Amy shifted away to sulk at the window.

"So, the information looked good?" I asked, trying to cut off a prolonged argument.

"They had notes for what'd been spotted, and where. Movements, deals, corroborating accounts from rumors… couldn't see them lying about all of it. Seemed legit."

I gave her a smile through the rearview. "That's what I always got. A little bit of gray, not everything always legal, but they're on our side."

We chatted a bit more, but the weight had mostly lifted. Amy relaxed a bit, even if she didn't join in before they dropped me off. They left to go meet up with their family for cape things, and I went inside. Dad was working on an early dinner, and Cass was parked in front of the TV.

"I'm home!" I called. Dad returned it with a welcome home, but Cass flinched. Had she not heard the door? I decided to check on her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She lied. "How was the pow-wow?"

"Team meeting went well, detour after had its ups and downs." I sat down next to her, tossing the paperwork onto the coffee table next to a pile of crumpled papers and envelopes. "What have you been up to? Just TV?"

She alternated chewing her lip and gritting her teeth for a solid half minute. "TV, reading, checking forums…" She grabbed a sealed envelope out of the mess on the table. "Here."

I took it, and scanned it over. Stamped and addressed to 'Harold and Debra Herren' with no return address. "What's this?"

"Letter." She snapped, biting back calling me a dumbass and taking a deeper breath instead. "It's for my parents. Wrote it today. I… can't go anywhere to send it, and we shouldn't send it from here or your dad's work. I figured… you could pop it in some apartment complex' outbox or something."

I could think of a couple such boxes on my route to school, though probably better to take it with me tomorrow and drop it somewhere closer to Captain's Hill. Either way, "Yeah, I can do that."

"Thanks." She said after another long moment. "What's that?"

"Healer paperwork, for the hospital." Speaking of, I might as well. I grabbed a pen and started looking through it.

"Huh." We started chatting about it, which Dad got in on over food, once it was done. Late lunch, early dinner, with plenty of leftovers for later. Once the food was done, I started going over what'd been discussed at Dinah's. I also bought up the plans Sue suggested, for the schools. I still didn't know if he knew about her little gang, that seemed like it should be between them. Rika made for a decent reason to have asked, regardless.

Then Gram showed up. Introductions were made, which led to her grilling Cass for everything she knew about Medhall and Anders. Which was, surprisingly, less than Gram did for the former, and not much more than she'd already told me about the latter. What was essentially an arranged marriage to his son Theo was abhorrent, but tempered by the fact that neither teen seemed to want anything to do with it. I wasn't interested in the man's philosophy, and I wasn't sure how useful knowing his relationship to several other capes would be in the future.

It still surprised me that the twins were his nieces, rather than trophy girls. His ex-wife wanted nothing to do with him and was keeping away from the Empire, but was still a fanatical bigot. Interesting facts, but not really useful.

After that, we went back into the team's goals from the meeting. That resulted in a couple hours of lecture on everything Gram knew about zoning laws. Not comprehensive- she had professionals to handle things like that- but far more than I'd known. Setting up an underground base was bound to step on some toes if we weren't careful about it. The best bet she could come up with would be marketing it to the city as a staffed Endbringer shelter that could pull double-duty in emergencies. I certainly had enough examples I could sense to pull from. Brockton Bay wasn't a small city, but did it really need eight of the things? It must, if they were still building more of them.

By the end of that, I was ready for bed. I checked over my homework to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, made a note to ask someone for the assignments I'd missed Friday, and promptly flopped over to sleep.