Dropping Bianca off was the most irritating experience I’ve had since saving Amelia.

  Not that it was Bianca’s fault. No, Amelia refused to let go of Bianca for a few hours.

  “How could you do this to me?” Amelia despairs as we drive back towards home.

  “Did you want to bring Bianca with us to where you’re going to be setting up your superhero base?” I ask changing lanes.

  “Yes, she’s our daughter. She needs to know where to find all the superhero gear when we mysteriously vanish on her fourteenth birthday so she can avenge us,” Amelia retorts.

  “Neither of us are going to mysteriously vanish. And…” I trail off, drumming my hand on the steering wheel.

  “Yes, I know you think you want to retire at some point, but worst-case scenario, I’m going to needle you to be my sidekick sometimes.” Amelia says, patting me on the arm before fiddling with the radio.

  “You excited to meet Asher?”

  “Of course I am the pet genius you’ve been keeping around while you were in your edgelord era. I bet he’s going to be fun to mess with.” Amelia cackles, rubbing her hands together.

  “You and him are going to bully me about not selecting a name.” I agree.

  “That’s because you’re a lunatic for being a hero for who knows how long and you still haven’t selected a superhero name.” Amelia says, jabbing me in the side as she pokes me.

  “I’m not a hero.” I remind her as I try to fend off her attacks.

  “If it walks like a duck.”

  “It’s probably a goose?”

  “Actually, how does a duck or a goose walk? I’ve never thought about it.” Amelia says distractedly while stopping her attacks.

  The clock-tower looms above us as I park the car.

  “You were really classy about this, but let me guess. You still haven’t done anything to your base besides keep a couple of things up there in case of emergency?” Amelia says, getting out of the car and waltzing up to the entrance like she owns the place.

  Chasing after Amelia, walking through the door she held open for me. “I didn’t want to go somewhere underground.” I admit as we walk towards the elevator.

  “Yeah, I can imagine not wanting to…” She trails off as she stares at the walls. “There’s a lot of water up here.”

  “You can tell?”

  “Well, I’ve been jealous of your ultimate spying powers, so I’ve been playing with a few ideas.” Amelia says, bringing up her hands and shooting out a flurry of snowflakes. “Poof, a distraction.”

  “I’m very distracted,” I say.

  The elevator dings, reminding us that we’ve arrived before we can get too far out into the weeds.

  Amelia walks out, looking around, whistling in appreciation. “You really added nothing to the place. We’ll have to change that.” Amelia says, completely ignoring any potential disagreement I might have.

  “Asher, this is Amelia, and Amelia, this is Asher,” I say, skipping any other commentary about the current living situation of a super base to get started with introductions.

  “Your name is Miracle and your name is Asher, someone really wasn’t all that creative. But better than Jason, so I’ll give you points for that.” Amelia says in a singsong voice as she bounds forward.

  “And you’re the ice bitch that busted up the armor I made. So I think we’re both cross,” Asher says.

  “Oh, you’re going to be fun. You can be my sidekick,” Amelia decides.

  “Any requests for your armor or just something like Jason over there? And please, dear god tell me you actually want to pick a super name out?” Asher asks, pointing a thumb at my armor that has only recently been repaired.

  “Well, I don’t want a helmet. You can give me one of those shitty domino masks; I will take care of the rest. And besides that, whatever’s easiest for you.” Amelia trails off. “Actually, since everyone else on the team has cool jackets, I also want a cool jacket.”

  “How are you going to cover your face?” I ask.

  “Well, I don’t want to look like your hotter twin or something since I would pull off the armor way better than you so I was thinking something like this.” Amelia says frozen light emitting from her palms as she runs her hands over her face and hair.

  “Is this your magical girl transformation sequence?”

  “Yes, and you’re supposed to be silent for the thirty-four seconds it takes for me to finish.” Amelia retorts.

  “Why is it she’s better with her powers than you are?” Asher comments while I’m still silently counting to thirty-four.

  I glance at Amelia, who is currently running her fingers through her hair, mist coiling around her. “Because she’s better than me seems like the correct answer.”

  Asher raises an eyebrow at me.

  “And tada, this is what I was thinking about for my mask.” Amelia says, striking a pose.

  Unfortunately, with her facing Asher, I don’t get the full look of it, but from the side profile, it looks pretty cool to me. Ice crystals throughout her hair freezing it as if a breeze was frozen in time, with a helm of some kind covering her face in ice.

  “Cool,” Asher says, pointedly looking away from Amelia.

  “What do you think?” She asks, turning to face me.

  “You look like a stone-cold killer.” I reply, keeping my tone neutral and the smile off my face. Which is a monumental well of effort.

  Her eyes narrow through the slits in her ice helm she uses to see through.

  “I’m more upset that I couldn’t come up with a third ice or cold pun.” She admits before shaking her head violently as the ice obscuring her unfreezes and splashes me with water.

  “You’re incredibly irritating, you know that.”

  “And if you’re just discovering this now after a decade of being besties, my mind control powers are doing great.”

  “Hate to interrupt your flirting.” Asher interjects.

  “We’re not flirting.”

  “We’re definitely not not flirting.”

  “The point is.” Asher says, raising his voice. “Is to see what kind of stuff I can start making for you, Amelia. You said you had a super alias you wanted to go by?” he asks hopefully.

  While I’m sure Amelia knows a name she wants to use, I remain incredibly dubious that she’s going to pick something actually tame or if that’s even going to be the one she says first.

  “I was thinking…” She trails off. “Fractal!” She says in a mock whisper with jazz hands.

  “Fractal?” Asher asks.

  “No, silly.” Amelia corrects. “Fractal!” She says once again, whispering and doing jazz hands.

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  “I think it sounds cool.”

  “Yup, that’s why I picked it.” Amelia agrees.

  “Just because it sounds cool?” Asher asks, trying to make sure he heard us right.

  “Well, also because I think it feels right, but mostly because it sounds cool.” Amelia explains mist coiling up in the air until a stylized version of the name appears in the air with floating ice letters.

  “Do you want it as armored as Jason’s suit or do you plan on just icing up the whole time?”

  “I want it ?armored, if not more armored. I prefer being alive to sex appeal. But I’ll probably cover it in ice armor too.” She muses, pacing as she walks through the problem. “But just in case I’m caught with my frost pants down, I don’t want to get shot.”

  “I can do that for you. I don’t have to worry about it being lightweight.” Asher says, glaring at me as if it’s my fault I’m weak.

  Which I guess it kind of is my fault.

  “I am taking suggestions on color scheme. Though I’m not doing black. It can fit Mr. I cut myself on this edge over here but doesn’t fit me.” Amelia says unprompted.

  “Blue and white is the classic for your powers, isn’t it?” I ask, deciding to go for the easy option.

  I don’t know what color scheme I imagine Amelia in but may as well go with the low-hanging fruit while it’s right there in front of me, right?

  “Do you want to have it complement your ice armor and stuff, or do you want it to contrast it since they’ll only be seen together sometimes I imagine?” Asher asks, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

  “Oh!” Amelia says, pointing at Asher. “I also want to join the cool leather jacket club you two are a part of.”

  “He’s not wearing a leather jacket though?”

  “Well, you wear a leather-looking jacket while you’re off being the mysterious Alias, and I figure if we’re going to be compatriots in heroism, we should have at least some part matching.” Amelia says, gesturing wildly.

  “Compatriots in heroism?”

  “Duh.” She says, putting her hands on her hips. “We can’t be partners in crime if we’re being good little boys and girls, sticking it to the Not Man and fighting crime.”

  I laugh, unable to hold it back.

  “I can definitely add a jacket to your look if you want,” Asher says, retaining composure.

  “Color schemes are hard. I’ll get back to you on the one I want to do. As soon as I can come up with something cooler than just ice blue and white because that’s too basic for me.” Amelia says, giving up on coming up with a good color for her costume.

  “Sounds good.”

  “Jason, let's go get pumpkin spice lattes with whipped cream!” Amelia says, returning to my side and putting an arm around mine.

  “Don’t we have other stuff to do?”

  “Right, but I still want my pumpkin spice latte.”

  “Do you know how strong you are?” Asher asks, delaying the coffee plans.

  “Uh, I’m pretty sure I’m at least as physically strong as this guy?” Amelia asks before without any prompting, lifting me into the air above her head.

  “Amelia, could you please put me down?” I ask, looking down at her.

  “But I’m showing off how strong I am,” Amelia complains, changing it to a princess carry. “Besides, you could get out of my arms whenever you want.”

  “I’m not going to respond to that.”

  Amelia sets me down.

  “Preferably something that won’t break if you freeze it, right?” Asher mumbles, pulling out his lucky notebook and scribbling in it.

  “Preferably.”

  Amelia and Asher chat for a little bit longer, discussing some of the stuff about the suit, with me chiming in whenever a question about how my suit works or feels comes up.

  For the most part, I goof around on my phone since I’m really not that needed. The coffee shop adventure, on the other hand, is going to be significantly more stressful.

  Cold fingers slip into my hand, and I look up from the dumb cat video I was watching. “Yeah?”

  “We’re pretty much wrapped up.” Amelia explains popping pretty much every p in that statement.

  “The newest version of your suit should be ready by the time you’re ready that way…” Asher trails off.

  “He’s currently going by Alias,” Amelia supplies.

  Asher nods. “Alias, the wimpy sidekick of Fractal, will be able to hit the town at about the same time.”

  “Wait, why is her suit going to be ready at the same time as mine?” I ask, twisting my head around. I’m not above favoritism, and I want Amelia to be ready as possible so she can be safe, but I’m still shocked.

  “I can just use most of what I built for myself for her. Unlike you where everything needed it scaled down so you could carry it.” Asher looks at me indignantly.

  “We’ll get you on a training arc. Maybe ?you run around with leg and wrist weights till one day during a boss fight you can take them off and make the ground crack.” Amelia giggles.

  “Well, bullying me aside, we all good?”

  “I don’t have anything else,” Asher agrees.

  “Besides the coffee meet-up with Reyna, we’re just grocery shopping today, right?” Amelia asks, drumming her fingers against my knuckles.

  “Keep me updated if you need anything seriously.” I say, giving Asher a firm look.

  “Nah, it’s fine. I just have to make two super suits for two supers we don’t actually understand the powers for, and they both want their costumes ready soon enough they can be in the field for.” Asher shoots back. He exhales slowly. “I love the challenge, but it can be a lot.”

  “Take it easy; it’s the holidays, right?”

  “I’m going to get you something silly for Christmas!” Amelia calls out as she drags me towards the elevator.

  As soon as we’re back in the car, Amelia pulls up directions for the coffee shop. “Who’s idea was it to meet Reyna here instead of just at home? That would have been so much easier.”

  “It was your idea.”

  “Well, it was a silly idea, and you should have changed my mind.”

  “I tried.”

  “Well, I do make a pretty convincing argument, so I’ll forgive you.” Amelia finally decides as I make my way towards the destination.

  “It’ll be okay. Reyna has been a huge help since I became a super and has watched Bianca more than once.” I say trying to reassure her.

  “I know that logically. Reyna is my best friend. I just…” She tilts her hand side to side. “You know?”

  “Nope, but I’m here to support you.” I say, keeping my voice calm. “You sure you don’t want to meet with Ben or Caleb before Thanksgiving?”

  “Nah, they’re big boys. They can understand that a girl needs some time to rest. But Reyna is my best friend, and did you know she’s been texting my phone every day despite knowing I’ve been kidnapped? I can’t leave her hanging.” Amelia says firmly.

  “That’s okay, I promise.”

  “If you really wanted to support me, then you should sing for me. Serenade me and I’ll do much better; get that performance-enhancing song buff.” Amelia says in an attempt to heckle me.

  “Then put on a song I actually know so I can sing along to it.”

  A song or two later, we’ve arrived at the parking lot we’re going to use while we walk towards the coffee shop.

  “You ready for this?” I ask getting out of the car and make my way towards the coffee shop.

  “Always I was born ready. I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Except I’m all out of bubblegum. And I don’t want to kick my best friend's ass, but yes, I’m ready!” Amelia agrees, walking beside me.

  That confidence lasts us all the way until we get to the front of the coffee shop before Amelia starts to get nervous as she fidgets with the zipper on her coat.

  “We can just go home?” I offer. “Reyna’s going to understand.”

  Amelia whirls on me. “I lied.” She says, walking in front of me. “I am not ready for this. Why did I do this? Why in the world did you let me do this? I hate you, and this is awful.” Amelia says, pacing in front of the coffee shop, wringing her hands together.

  “Amelia?” I say, trying to gauge where in the spiral of self destruction we’re at.

  “Who thought this was a good idea? I definitely didn’t. And if I did think it was a good idea, that was past Amelia, and she’s ridiculous; nobody should listen to her. I’m current Amelia. I’ve learned from her mistakes, so I should know she’s the worst.” She rambles, pacing faster and faster.

  I say a silent thank you to the fact that Reyna is not here and this part of town isn’t busy at this time of day; otherwise, this would have been a lot.

  “Amelia?” I try again, walking forward and putting my hands on her arms.

  “What if I fail? What if she doesn’t like me? What if secretly I’m just the supergirl and she took over my memories and personality and I’m just pretending to manipulate you so you stay close to me because she wants to take over my life?” Amelia rambles completely lost.

  I hug Amelia, feeling her tremble in my arms.

  “It’s going to be okay; you’re the strongest person I know. And I know you’re the real Amelia. Otherwise, the world would still feel wrong.”

  “I don’t know…”

  I pull away slightly. “Amelia, I need you to look at me.”

  She meets my gaze. “Looking.” She confirms.

  “No matter what happens, you’re the person I choose to stand by, remember? You’re never going to be alone, and until you say you don’t want me around, I’m not going anywhere. We promised.”

  “You’re getting pretty good at all of these supporting emotional speeches.” Amelia says, closing the hug again, no longer looking me in the eyes.

  “I have heard a lot of them.” I snort, giving one last gentle squeeze before pulling away.

  “So what was your plan if that didn’t work?” Amelia asks as we enter the coffee shop.

  “My plan was to kiss you on the forehead and hold you till you stopped trembling if that failed.” I say, scanning the menu looking to see if there’s anything I want.

  Maybe a hot chocolate? I don’t know.

  “You can’t forehead kiss me; we’re the same height.”

  “I’m more than capable of standing on my tiptoes.”

  “What if I’m wearing heels?”

  Before the bickering can spiral out anymore, I hear a gasp from behind us before a weight is partially slammed into me as Reyna hugs two of us already crying.

  At that moment, it becomes real that my world is back together.

  I don’t cry. Not because I don’t want to. But no matter how much emotion wells up in me, I don’t feel my eyes misting over.

  I guess that was something taken from me.

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