Most of my morning and a solid chunk of the afternoon were spent at PHQ. Lisa got a pretty fair deal, all things considered. She’d be on a parole agreement for a couple of years, but it wasn’t overly restrictive. The fact that she was willing to give up her ill-gotten gains, or at least, the ones she was willing to admit to, helped soften things for her significantly. The fact that she’d proven to be a damn menace over the past months, if anything, was a point in her favor for her pitch to join the Protectorate. We were keeping it hush-hush until the business with Coil was concluded.

  I was fairly ambivalent about her joining the team. She was good at what she did, and a Thinker would be a valuable addition to our operations, especially one as versatile as Lisa was. She was also getting a new identity out of the deal. Something about her parents being people with means, and her wanting to have no contact at all with them, or for them to know she even existed. I was mildly curious as to what that was all about, but I figured she’d tell me in time, if she felt like I was worth it.

  Lisa's business taken care of, we started her data dump. Coil’s network and level of integration into the city were extensive. He had a lot of hands in a lot of cookie jars, but the big one? Fortress Construction. The same group that’d been throwing shade at Brockton Strong on social media. Very interesting. I could see where it was coming from. Coil stood to profit immensely from the reconstruction effort, and we were directly taking food off his plate in that arena.

  Good. The last thing we needed was someone like him skimming off every construction contract and squeezing out competition with his criminal resources. The money he would be taking as his cut could instead be going towards paying the laborers who wanted to be able to afford to live here when the dust settled.

  We put together a loose action plan on how to resolve the issue of Coil and the Travelers, and then another for how to deal with the Slaughterhouse Nine. There was a very important key detail that I hadn’t considered. When Eclipse had reported back to HQ yesterday about her encounters with the Nine, and her abilities’ interaction with the Siberian, they’d concluded that Siberian wasn’t a parahuman herself; rather, she was a projection, the ability of another parahuman. With Dragon’s assistance and some very expensive toys in orbit, they’d been able to locate where the Siberian was coming from and track the source.

  It was surprisingly easy, once we knew where it was and what to look for. There were extremely few cars driving around the city most days, and a large van driving around was pretty conspicuous. Tattletale had provided the intel that they were shacking up at the BBU campus, which was evacuated. They’d parked the van under cover, but Dragon had been keeping ‘an eye out’ on the city since their arrival, and had caught them coming and going.

  Piggot was seriously debating just having the military level the building they were in with cruise missiles, but Dragon, Lisa, and I cooked up a plot to deal with them. If we could neutralize the true threat, which was Siberian, the others could be dealt with fairly easily. One thing Lisa was absolutely insistent on was that Slash be terminated with extreme prejudice, and not arrested, tried, and Birdcaged. The Director didn’t give a flip one way or another, and told us, quite literally, to “just shoot him.” He had a signed Kill Order, and that was that.

  It said a lot that Dragon was onboard for executing Jack and the rest of the Nine on-site. She was probably the nicest person ever. There were honest notes of detest in her voice discussing them. I hadn’t realized, but she and her fellow heroes in The Guild had been chasing the Nine around for years at this point, and across numerous membership changes. She said I could probably get signed pictures from Narwhal for Melody if we actually managed to finish them off. I couldn’t tell if she was teasing or actually serious about that.

  We’d be moving out near sunset to attack the Nine. We’d be attacking the Nine with a ‘small’ task force of myself, Taylor, Dragon, Eclipse, Vista, and Flechette. Menja, if she was willing, and I expected she was very willing. A second task force would be attacking Coil’s base. Assault, Battery, Miss Militia, Kid Win, Weld, Clockblocker, and as many members of New Wave who were willing to volunteer. A third group, consisting of police and PRT officers, would be conducting raids on more than a dozen locations around the city, once Coil had been dealt with. They wouldn’t be informed of this until after the raid took place, due to known moles tipping off the activity.

  This gave us time to break, prepare, and do what we needed to do in the meantime. Which was good, because I was pretty sure the egg timer had gone off about a half hour ago for the bun in my oven. Taylor, Lisa, and I flew back to the station to see who we could get to join our forces for the attack tonight. The power was back on when we arrived, which was a huge relief. I took that to mean that Victoria’s supply run had been completed successfully. I hoped the dockyards were getting back up to running at full capacity as well.

  I retreated to the privacy of the apparatus bay and asked not to be disturbed for what I was sure was going to be a new kind of unpleasant experience granted to me by my power.

  Huh. There’s a thought. Maybe my power is just… sadistic? That’s sort of disturbing to think about.

  I grabbed a handful of towels and an emergency blanket and settled down on my beanbag. The throbbing of my heartbeat in my gut was fairly intense. I took a moment to try to clear my mind and quiet the nervous anxiety that I had bubbling up. When I was feeling as comfortable as I was going to get, I let my power know that I was ready for whatever may come. Activating it, I could feel shifting and movement in my abdomen, chest, and throat. Then came contractions, rippling and squeezing until I felt like I was a tube of toothpaste being squeezed from the bottom up.

  A large mass was pushed up in front of the contractions, and my mouth started to gush with thick saliva. Breathing became difficult as it passed through my chest, then impossible as my neck was plugged up. The stretching of my neck burned, and then I felt like I had to vomit. My mouth yawned open, wider than normal, and I heaved on all fours. Once, twice, three times. Each was a full-body affair and shoved the lump up my throat a good distance, until finally, I wound up puking out a big, fleshy sac. I collapsed onto my side and breathed hard. The entire ordeal had taken maybe about five minutes.

  Amy stirred inside the sac, I could see her handprints pressing out from the inside. The entire thing was steaming and coated in clear slime, thoroughly disgusting, but pretty tame by the standards I was used to. I reached over between where her hands were pressing out on the surface and sliced a hole with one of my razor-sharp lower claws. Amy saw or found the hole right away, and pale fingers extended out, catching the sides and pulling it open.

  It tore easily, and translucent and pink-tinged slime oozed out as she stuck her head out, pawed some of the goop off her face, and proceeded to projectile vomit a whole bunch more of the slightly pink slime out. She was coated in the stuff, her hair plastered to her like it was a single piece. I tried to help her clear her shoulders while she was emptying her innards onto my beanbag. It was pooling around and under me where I was compressing the shell, and the entire mess was shedding vapor.

  After a few hurls, Amy shifted to coughing and hacking, producing more of the substance. Her eyes were glued shut with goop, and it was dripping off her in stringy trails and clumps.

  “Amy, can you hear me?”

  She nodded between coughs.

  “Give me your hands, I’ll help you out.”

  She held her hands out, and I pulled her with my hands, while tugging the sac with my tail in the opposite direction. She slid out easily, as lubricated as she was, and into the depression in the beanbag right up against my side. She was shivering hard, so I curled myself around her and draped my warm wings over her. I grabbed a towel and helped clear her face and head of some of the mess. It seemed to be evaporating fairly quickly, and the sac itself was rapidly breaking down. I figured she’d be more or less dry within a couple of minutes.

  So I just cradled her against my chest in the meantime and held her tightly.

  At first glance, she seemed more or less the same as she had been. Fair skin, lots of freckling, two arms, two legs, and as naked as the day of her rebirth. No blueberry spills from what I could see, crab claws or tentacles.

  I held her tightly and cry-laughed with relief. She was still shivering, and her teeth were chattering a little. She didn’t say anything, but she was holding on to me as much as I was holding her.

  “You’re drying off pretty quickly. I’ve got towels and blankets, we’ll get you all wrapped up just as soon as you’re not soaking wet,” I told her softly.

  She nodded quickly, and we waited while I kept her in my makeshift incubator nest. When the bulk of the slime had evaporated, I grabbed the towels.

  “Do you want me to help you dry off, or do you want to do it?”

  She patted her hand against my chest.

  So I got to work, toweling her dry with loving care while she lay still. I was able to get a close and detailed look at her while I was working.

  She was still very much Amy Dallon, but she had certainly changed quite a bit. Tiny, subtle differences from head to toe, and some differences that weren’t as subtle.

  She looked a bit more mature in the face? Her nose, brow, cheekbones, and jawline had been lightly tweaked and sharpened. Her lips were a bit fuller and looked soft. She’d shifted from adorably cute to striking while retaining all the features that made her her: The heavy sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks stood out from her skin as it always had. She’d lost weight across her body, and it showed in her face. I’d always thought that Amy was pretty; she was something more now.

  Her neck, shoulders, and arms were all sleek and toned, the freckles continuing on her body, dusting all over her upper arms, shoulders, and upper chest. Her hands were delicate, with long, slender fingers. She had very familiar-looking black fingernails that naturally extended out to medium-length almond points. A tap and a close look confirmed they were the same as mine. Despite them not being claws, they still felt like they were decently sharp, especially at the tips.

  Amy had lost the bit of belly fat that she’d been making good progress on, her waist was narrow, and she had barely visible abdominals. Where she’d lost some weight overall, she’d gained a little elsewhere; her chest was a bit fuller, bringing her up to an average size, and her hips and rear looked more pronounced as well, although that could have been an effect of her waist trimming. Her legs had a similar thing going on to her arms, with freckle dusting, and good underlying muscle tone. She had toenails that matched her fingernails, but not quite as long.

  When I got to toweling off her back, I saw that her neck mandala had grown and spread dramatically. There was going to be no hiding that from her mom. The fractal mandala pattern covered the entire back of her neck, spread out over the back of her shoulders to nearly her armpits, then tapered down in a concave scallop curve on each side, ending in a thin point above her butt. I ran my fingers over it, and she shivered under my touch.

  It was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. I very much doubted that she’d have troubles with her insecurities over not being seen and recognized among our little group. There just wasn’t a better way of putting it; it looked like she’d aged a few years, lost the remaining baby fat, hit the gym, and watched what she ate. She was breathtaking to me, and I was sure her sister would be squealing when she saw her.

  But the beauty was a glamour. I wasn’t entirely sure how I could tell, but I was left with the impression that there was a lot more than just subtle tweaks under the surface of her skin. Part of it was visible with my eyes, but I doubted that it would be visible to anyone else under normal visible light. There were these extremely faint winding, interconnected, and meshing fractal patterns deeper in her skin; they had a bit of a reactive glow to them under sunlight, perhaps in the UV spectrum, with their color.

  Amy coughed and cleared her throat when I wrapped her up in a soft blanket. Her hair was still damp, but she, along with my beanbag, was otherwise dry. “Will you shift into your disguise for me?” She asked. Her voice sounded slightly different as well. Richer, more harmonic, and resonant. She’d been keeping her eyes closed the entire time.

  “Of course. Give me a moment.” I triggered the shift, pushing for a fair bit of speed. I’d put up with the discomfort, and I knew the sounds wouldn’t disturb Amy of all people.

  A few minutes later, I was lying next to her in the nude. She reached out to touch me, then shifted and put the blanket over both of us. We slid closer to one another until we were touching. She was running her hands all over my body. Her nails lightly scratched me, and she accidentally scratched my upper arm, drawing a few beads of blood.

  “Careful with your nails until you get used to them, Amy. They’re rather sharp at the tips.”

  She wrinkled and twitched her nose. Drawing closer to where she’d nicked me, then she licked up the spot. She drew her brows together and smacked her lips a few times.

  “This is… so strange. It’s going to take getting used to for me,” she whispered.

  “What is it?” I asked her.

  “Everything is so… sharp, and focused, and detailed to my senses. I could smell the blood where we were close, I can taste… more. Hard to put into words. My hearing, too. And my skin is so sensitive, I can feel everything.”

  Oh. It’s the same thing I went through when I became Apex.

  I grazed the curve of her hip and thigh with my fingertips so lightly that it barely registered. She shivered under the touch. She took the sides of my face in her hands and drew me closer, then kissed me slowly and sensually. Feeling my lips with her lips with little pecks and growing more adventurous as she went. It wasn’t long before I felt her tongue teasing at my lips. I snaked my arms around her waist and held her close, enjoying the simple joy of kissing her in the mostly-quiet, half-lit garage. Just the two of us sharing sensations and ignoring the entire rest of the outside world.

  She pulled back eventually, and her eyelids opened so she could stare into my eyes. I let out a soft gasp.

  Her eyes had been a chocolate brown previously, but they’d lightened, becoming a stunning warm gold color. Her pupils dilated in a way that didn’t look natural; they were too responsive. The color was unusual, amber eyes were a rare eye color, and they usually weren’t quite this golden. There was a strong contrast between her fair skin, darker freckles, and golden eyes. Each of them drew attention to the other. She stared into my eyes for long moments, then started to turn her head and look around.

  “It’s insane, I can see the finest details on things across the room. I can see the pores on your face.”

  I chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Welcome to my world, Amy. It’s a bit like that for me, like this, and it’s like that, but on steroids when I’m Apex. My weird black ball eyes can see things from the air like a telescope. Can you see thermal or UV?”

  Amy’s eyes flitted around the room. “Maybe? There’s not much stuff in here that’s good to test that out with. But um.”

  She looked back at me, and her cheeks flushed crimson. “I want to… You know,” she whispered.

  I blinked and then snickered. “Really? Here, now?” I glanced around. She nodded quickly.

  “God, this is embarrassing, but I’m hungry and thirsty, but more than that, I’m like… horny. ”

  “I think maybe we can do something about that,” I muttered with a grin.

  She wasn’t kidding; she was thirsty. Her new senses and sensitivity seemed to extend beyond just the expected. Teasing and working her up with just her chest, belly, inner thighs, and neck actually managed to make her climax without any further intervention, but she wasn’t satisfied with just one. We took some liberties with our time until both of us were blissed out, tingling and a bit sore, left sweaty and breathless on my bed.

  “I’ve never–not ever experienced pleasure like that before. I think I saw stars at one point,” she said as we cuddled in one another's arms.

  She came close to my face until our noses were touching.

  “Morgan?” Her voice was breathy and faint.

  “Mhm?” I responded in kind.

  “We’ve known each other for a long time, and I know we haven’t been doing this for very long.” She took my hand into both of hers and stared into my eyes. “I um, I think I’m in love with you.” Her eyes looked so desperate and needy for affirmation.

  I smiled at her and leaned in, kissing her on the lips. She kissed me back.

  “I’ve been very confused and conflicted, but when you were lying there on the floor, dying, I felt like a chunk of me had been torn out at the thought of losing you. I think that made me realize just how intently I feel for you, Amy. I love you too.”

  She sobbed and wrapped her arms around me, holding me tight. I chuckled and stroked the back of her head, my eyes getting watery.

  “Can I ask what you were confused about?” Her voice was washing directly over my ear, which sent a fresh wave of tingles down my back.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So you have every right to know this, and I want to be open with you, so please don’t think I’m saying this to hurt your feelings, okay?”

  She bobbed her head against me.

  “I have feelings for several people, some much more than others. I haven’t really done anything with the others, but the thought has certainly crossed my mind in the past.”

  She pulled back so she could look me in the eyes, and she studied my face closely.

  “I knew that,” she told me with the same low volume. “You have wandering eyes, and you sort of wear your affections on your sleeve.”

  I nibbled my lower lip. Guess I was just a big old open book about just about everything.

  “Promise me you won’t do anything with my sister? That would make things extremely awkward.”

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  I frowned at her. “I was head over heels with your sister for a long time, but as things have developed further with you and me, I’ve come to see her more as my best friend than as an object of desire. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still insufferably hot, but I don’t know quite how to put it, other than to say the dynamic has sort of evolved into a different direction.”

  She brought her fingers up and ran the backs of her nails over my cheek. “Who is it, then? More than one?”

  I bit my lower lip. “I’m really attracted to Faultline, believe it or not, but I don’t think anything is going to happen there.”

  Amy blinked. “What do you see in her?”

  I could feel my cheeks warming as I explained, “I think it’s how well put together and in control of her life she is? She’s confident, and she has power, but she doesn’t swing it around needlessly. Something is enticing about all of those things.”

  Amy’s lips curled up at the corners, and her eyes got a mischievous sparkle to them. “Who else?” She prodded me.

  She got another sigh out of me. I was nervous talking about this to her. “Taylor,” I said, and her smirk turned into a grin, but she remained silent. “She–this probably sounds bad, but she reminds me so much of you, Amy. She’s got this insane ability and talent, and she’s still learning to push the boundaries and find out what she’s really capable of. You’re both prone to beating yourselves up, and each has their own insecurities about things. Some of them are shared.”

  Amy leaned forward and pecked me on the lips. “I’m grinning because I knew what you were going to say, and it’s very sweet. I really didn’t like her at first, but as I’ve gotten to know her better, I see exactly what you’re talking about. What she does frustrates me and makes me want to call her out on it, because I recognize it. Dressing better, or not hiding away.”

  I closed my eyes and nodded.

  “She does have a very intoxicating intensity, even if it doesn’t come out all that often. I’ve only seen it a time or two, but it’s like a light switch,” Amy said.

  She pulled me in close again and hugged me. “Please just promise me that you’ll never leave me for someone else. If things got bad between us, I’d want to talk and work on it, and not lose you.” Amy squeezed me tightly at the end of what she was saying.

  “I promise you, Amy. I don’t want to leave you either. You mean too much to me. Being faced with losing you was bad enough the other day.” I kissed her cheek, then nibbled on her earlobe.

  She laughed and pushed me away. “Okay, I’m starving now. And clothing would be nice. You want the blanket?”

  I shook my head and took a towel to wrap around myself. Amy stood up and stretched out. She let out a confused “whuh?” Her range of motion and how limber she was night and day improved from before. I laughed and ran her through a few harder stretches, and she followed along like it was nothing. She was red-faced and laughing a few minutes later after doing a very provocative standing split. She wound up opting to use a towel as well when we were done.

  “Come here?” I asked her as we were getting ready to head into the station.

  We stood face to face, which got rapid blinks out of her. She was slightly looking down at me.

  “Holy crap!” She exclaimed.

  I looked down, and she was standing on the balls of her feet. “Oh, you’re standing like you’re in heels, silly.”

  She frowned and lowered herself down slowly. With her heels planted, she was slightly below eye-level, but it probably wasn’t more than an inch, if that. “It’s not comfortable for me. It’s like I’m having to stretch my muscles to stand flat-footed.”

  “Relax your muscles?” I asked her.

  She rose right back up again. “Huh. That’s interesting. And this is comfortable for you?”

  “Yeah! What the heck! I’m terrible at walking in heels!” She protested.

  I grinned at her. “Well, you were before, guess you’re a pro, now.”

  Amy grumbled and grouched and flicked her hand through her fluffing hair. “I don’t want to wear stripper heels everywhere.”

  I cracked up with a loud laugh. “Girl, you need to look in a mirror before you say that.”

  Her head jerked to face me, and she squinted.

  I held my hands up. “I don’t want to ruin anything. Let’s go, yeah?”

  Amy headed to the showers, and I detoured briefly in my room to grab clothes. I grabbed her something as well. When I got into the showers, Amy was standing in front of a mirror, poking and prodding at her face. Then she all but ripped her towel off and spun around in front of the mirror to look at herself from all different angles. Her cheeks colored a rosy red as she poked, cupped, and touched herself. I got the water running on two of the showerheads and grabbed my supply basket off the shelf.

  Amy joined not long after, and there might have been a brief, steamy make-out session. We were interrupted by some of our other longer-term residents coming in to take showers. We got dressed and headed to start making the announcement rounds. A quick peek outside showed we had a couple of hours left before we needed to start getting organized.

  While Amy slipped into her bedroom to surprise Crystal and Victoria, I made my way over to check and see if Carol and Mark were in. I got lucky; they were eating a late lunch in the dining area. I pulled up a chair and plopped into it unceremoniously. They shared a look and glanced back at me.

  “Amy’s perfectly fine and healthy. She’s visiting with Vicky and Crystal right now; you’re lucky you can’t hear the squealing from down here.” Mark smiled, and Carol breathed a sigh of relief. They reached out, and I took their hands. “Thank you, Morgan,” Carol said. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you, between all three of them having too-close calls.” Her eyes were watering, and she dabbed at them with the back of one hand.

  “Carol, I’d do it anytime, without a question, you know that, but you’re welcome all the same. I want to let you know, Amy has some changes, but she’s healthy and feeling great.”

  Carol bit her lip, then nodded quickly.

  I let go of their hands and slouched back in my chair. “I have to ask a favor of you, and your family, and with little notice.”

  “Of course, anything you need,” Mark said.

  I looked around, and it was pretty quiet in here at the moment. I sat up and leaned forward over the table. Mark and Carol scooted in as well. “This is hush-hush and need-to-know only. Need to get your team together for a major combined strike tonight, a bit after sundown.”

  “What’s going on?” Carol asked conspiratorially. Mark was paying close attention as well.

  “We’re combining forces with all the PRT capes. Taking out the Nine, and hitting Coil in his home base, knocking him off his throne, and rescuing a hostage he’s had for months. As soon as Coil is in cuffs, PRT and BBPD are conducting raids on all his major assets, safehouses, and strongholds.”

  Carol’s eyes widened, and she glanced over at Mark. “What happened all of a sudden that’s leading to all of this?” She hissed at a low volume.

  I briefly explained that Tattletale had been the right hand of Coil’s operations, and had flipped on him just hours ago, the lurking danger one of the members of the Travellers presented, and then the Alcott prophecy. That got concerned looks out of both of them. “Keep the latter part of that under lock and key. That can not get out, or we’d be facing mass panic and crazies flooding the city.”

  “You have our word, Carol said.” Straightening up and cracking her knuckles, she spoke at a more conversational level, “Time for some payback. I regret we won’t be there, but you can count on us. I’ll get the rest caught up, and we’ll be ready.”

  I licked my lips. “You’re probably not going to like this part. Miss Militia is technically in charge of the operation, but Tattletale is calling the shots.”

  Carol frowned. “You’re right, I don’t like it.”

  “She knows the layout, she knows most of the soldiers, and can likely pay a good chunk of them to leave peacefully, and we’re going to look the other way while the cooperative ones make their exit. There are a lot of men armed with guns and some tinker weapons. She is confident that if they know the score, most of that fight can be avoided–they trust her to pay them when she says she will. The other thing is, she’s saying that there’s a fifty-fifty chance of having to fight this unknown member of the Travellers, named Noelle. She thinks that if you all take Amy and work with her and the Travellers, they’ll both flip on Coil and facilitate a remediation effort with Noelle.”

  “What’s the story there?” Mark asked.

  “The Travellers opened up to Tattletale, just recently, about what that story is. One of their members has some kind of degenerative illness, and an insane power she can’t really control very well. She’s extremely volatile, prone to either bouts of depression or wild, aggressive mania, and ah– extremely mutated. She’s dangerous to be around, and, in fact, nobody can make physical contact with her or should get within close range of her without her consent.”

  Mark frowned and scratched his cheek. “Mmh. Sounds bad. What’s the ability?”

  “She can clone people by touching them or taking them into her body,” I explained.

  “Doesn’t sound too bad…” Carol started to say, but I shook my head.

  “No, it’s really bad. She can clone anyone, endlessly, and they get the full powers and abilities of the person they’re based on, except they’re loyal to her, and murderously violent and unhinged.”

  Mark blinked slowly. “So wait, she can just… make like twenty copies of Heartbreaker by touching him?”

  I snapped my fingers and pointed at Mark. “Exactly. The most dangerous parahumans except they’re raging psychopaths loyal to only her, but want to kill anyone and everyone else. Apparently, they had an incident with her accidentally cloning some of their members in the past, and they had to kill their duplicates. Could you imagine how bad it would be if she popped out ten Miss Militias, Assaults, or Manpowers? It’d be a humongous disaster, almost instantly.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Mark asked.

  “We try and prevent a conflict and see if Amy can do something to help her. The Travellers are only loyal to Coil because he contacted them long before they ever came here and promised them a cure for Noelle’s condition. He’s basically been stringing them along ever since. They are all very powerful on their own, as I’m sure you know. He hasn’t made any effort to try and contact you or Amy, right?”

  Carol and Mark looked at each other, then shook their heads. “No. The only contact we’ve had recently from any people outside the norms has been from Dragon and the Guild.”

  Wait, what?

  “Erm, mind if I ask what that’s all about? Just a personal interest, nothing professional,” I asked.

  Mark took Carol's hand in his.

  “Is it time?” Carol asked him, so quiet I wouldn’t have been able to hear her without my enhanced senses.

  Mark nodded at her. “She’s grown up, she’s happier than she’s ever been before, and she’s doing well for herself. She has a right to know.”

  Carol took a shaky breath, then closed her eyes. “Okay,” she said in a tiny voice.

  “I ah– I have something to share, as well,” I rubbed the back of my head, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

  They looked at me expectantly. “Amy and I, we started dating unofficially a week or two back. After her accident the other night, we talked some earlier and sorta formalized it with each other.”

  Carol covered her mouth, and Mark smiled. Making eye contact with me, he said, “I’m really glad to hear that, Morgan. I felt like she needed someone in her life who she could be close to and confide in, and I’m happy it’s you.”

  “Is… she’s really a lesbian?” Carol asked me, her voice quiet once again.

  I tilted my head a little and chuckled. Was she confused? Did she not believe her before?

  I really sincerely hope this isn’t going to be the discovery of quiet bigotry.

  “Yes?” I asked. “I would say that she is, in fact, very gay, Carol.” I tried to keep my voice neutral and not convey any of my own confusion and apprehension.

  Carol let out a little sigh.

  Mark rolled his eyes at me. “She’s not mad or has a problem with that, Morgan. She’s just been talking about babies a lot lately.”

  Oh. OH!

  I laughed! “Oh, god. Okay. Gay couples can have kids, too, you know. Just a little science and medicine, or the creative application of some cooking tools.”

  Mark snickered and elbowed his wife, who was blushing furiously.

  Wow, what’s gotten into her? Carol had Vicky young, I’m pretty sure she’s only thirty-five, which is sort of crazy to think about. Most people who had a child very young, like that, probably don’t go on to get law degrees and lead double lives as a power attorney slash superhero.

  I propped my head on my palm and looked her over. The apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree at all. Victoria was incredibly beautiful, and Carol was as well. As much shit as her sister got, getting called Photon Mom, Carol was, without a doubt, textbook MILF material. Mark was a lucky man to have her.

  God, I wonder how that even happened in the first place. Is he secretly hu–

  Carol and Mark perked up and snapped me out of my wandering train of thought. I turned to look. Victoria and Crystal were standing side-by-side in the doorway with giant, shit-eating grins on their faces.

  “We have a surprise for you, Mom and Dad!” Vicky crooned.

  I heard Amy whisper, “Oh my god, stop making such a big deal out of it!”

  I grinned. “Come in when you make your surprise, and close the doors behind you, please.”

  Vicky and Crystal stepped to the side, revealing a blushing Amy in a dark pleated skirt and what looked like one of Crystal’s button-up short-sleeve shirts. A pair of steep, cork-colored wedge sandals with black straps completed the look.

  Carol gasped and shot up out of her seat to hurriedly make her way over, and Mark wasn’t far behind her. The trio stepped inside and closed the doors as I’d requested, and the four family members hugged and talked amongst themselves. Crystal sauntered over and sat down in a chair next to me.

  With a big grin on her face, she leaned over and asked me, “So what’s it going to cost me to get the Amy treatment, huh? Mermaid’s Coffee gift cards? A blood pact? Sacrificing some stuffed animals in your name?”

  I socked her in the shoulder and she snickered loudly.

  “I honestly don’t have control over the outcome when it comes to what happened to her. Maybe she got lucky and just won the lottery? I really don’t know. Or maybe my power’s secretly into doing glow-ups? Except it didn’t work for me, so what does that say about me?” I frowned as I mulled it over.

  Crystal stuck her tongue out at me, and I stuck my own back out at her. I liked Crystal; she was like a slightly more carefree and punk-rocky version of Victoria. And she had killer style. She was a few grades ahead of us, so I only went to school with her when I was a freshman, and she was attending BBU. Between that and her living in a different household, we didn’t get to see one another nearly enough.

  “Well, if you did, you’d be insanely, fabulously wealthy. She’s borrowing some undies from me; we’re close enough in sizes that my active wear suits her well. Not that she even needs a bra, good god. I’m so jealous. And her skin? Oh, oh! Here’s the big reveal, look, look!”

  I turned to see Amy unbutton the top few buttons of her shirt, and Victoria pulled the collar down to show Carol and Mark her ‘ink.’ Mark grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

  He’s such a great dad, now that he’s not in a funk all the time. So supportive of his family.

  Carol seemed to be a touch apprehensive, but wasn’t freaking out, so we’d call that a massive success.

  I turned back to Crystal. “If you were serious, you should talk to Amy about it, except, you know, in a more serious way.”

  Crystal gave me a side-eye look. “She’s made it very clear she doesn’t like requests like that, Morgan.”

  I shook my head. “That was true, but it isn’t currently. She said that since she’s had the pressure taken off her to perform at the hospital, she feels much less burdened by her ability, and her getting to experiment with non-traditional sorts of things, like her suits and some of her other workshop projects, has brightened up her mood and feelings on those other things.”

  Crystal’s grin slowly returned. I elbowed her and told her, “Just be careful you don’t go doing the monkey’s paw thing and getting too much of a good thing. Otherwise, people might start calling you Wetdream instead of Laserdream.”

  She threw her head back and cackled, and she had a gleam in her eye when she looked back at me. “That’s it, that’s totally what I’m going to do. My mom will hate it, but maybe people will stop calling her a MILF on PHO constantly.”

  I smiled a little and shrugged at her. “I mean, I doubt it. She is one. They both are.” I flicked a look over towards Carol.

  That got another snicker out of Crystal. “I know, it’s insufferable how many cute guys I have to deal with at university, only to find out they’re actually after my freaking mom!”

  “Wow, just wow. That takes some serious nerve,” I admitted.

  Crystal huffed a breath upward through her lips, blowing her bangs to one side. “As much as she complains, I think a lot of it is an act. Some part of her loves the attention, I’m sure.” She looked sidelong at me and tongued her cheek. “Congrats, by the way. We just found out.”

  I smiled and nodded a little.

  “She also mentioned you’re an absolute monster in the bedroom, too,” Crystal teased me with a lecherous look on her face.

  I dramatically rolled my eyes at her. “She absolutely did not say that, and you were itching for an excuse to make that pun.”

  “Okay, maybe, maybe.”

  I reached over with one arm and hugged Crystal, and she leaned into it. “I’m very happy to see you’re feeling a little bit better, Crystal. I know this has been like two months of pure hell, but don’t lose sight of the bright side, you know?”

  “Mhm,” she agreed, hugging me back. “Today is a good day, we got power back, which means clean clothing and hot showers. Mark and Vicky are back on their feet, and Amy is better than ever. It’s hard not to share in the energy.”

  “You can ride the wave, girl. We’re going monster hunting tonight and serving eviction notices to a whole bunch of them. People forget this is our city, it’s time we reminded them what’s up.”

  “Really?” She asked without picking her head up.

  “You bet. You have an invite, but we’re keeping the operation under wraps because of the risk of leaks.”

  “ Fuck yes. I want to kick their assses!”

  I gave her a solid shake by her shoulders and let her go. The Dallons were coming over to have a seat. Amy took a chair on my other side, and Vicky was next to her. Mark and Carol sat across the table from us.

  I think Carol reached over and squeezed Mark’s knee or thigh or something, because he looked at her and nodded, then turned to us. “Carol and I have something important to tell you, Amy. Family matters. Do you want Morgan and Crystal to leave?”

  Amy shook her head, saying, “No, they can stay, I’d prefer that, actually.”

  “Well, this has to do with your adoption, and some news we received from The Guild,” he was choosing his words carefully.

  Amy stiffened a little upon hearing adoption, and her hand found mine on my lap, and our fingers intertwined. She made eye contact with Mark and nodded again.

  Mark cleared his throat. “Okay, well, you’re eighteen now, legally an adult, and you will have full access to your records if you’d like to see them. The Guild and Dragon contacted us about information that was being discussed in the Birdcage that referred to you, specifically, Amy. And it’s related, so your mother and I decided it was time to tell you about your father, and what that information was about.”

  Amy squeezed my hand, and I squeezed right back. “Okay,” was all she said.

  Mark folded his hands together on the table, and Carol leaned against his shoulder. It was unusual, seeing her like this. She was normally front and center, in charge of everything.

  “New Wave, back before it was New Wave, was the Brockton Brigade. This was back before the unwritten rules of cape life became popularized, and things were… bad. They were just bad days, a bad time. We called it just that, the bad old days. It was very common for villain capes to just murder each other, murder heroes, and even some heroes murdered villains. When heroes murdered villains, it tended to get cleaned up, and people looked the other way unless it was extremely gratuitous. It was also the time when directly targeting a cape's family members was considered routine, and even people who were totally unaffiliated with the life were getting caught in the crossfire.”

  The four of us on this side of the table nodded along. We’d heard bits and pieces of this over the years, but not quite as detailed or to this extent. It was usually more sugar-coated. Mark explained some of the teams in the city at that time and the general dynamic of things. It was similar, but different enough to matter.

  “That brings us to Allfather, leader of the Empire. He had a daughter, Iron Rain, and a rival villain mastermind, Marquis.” Amy’s hand tightened at the mention of the Empire, Allfather, and Marquis. “Marquis claimed responsibility for the assassination of Iron Rain. Allfather, being a very eye-for-an-eye sort, promised Marquis that he would murder his child when they were the same age that Iron Rain died, so that he’d know the pain that he’d inflicted. He claimed he’d arranged for it to be carried out, regardless of whether he lived or died. This story, and the details of it, were just recently relayed between Marquis and another prisoner in the Birdcage, and Dragon, who monitors all the activity inside, caught it, and relayed the message to us.”

  Mark took a deep breath. “The Brockton Brigade found the location of Marquis’ residence, and we attacked him in his home to arrest him. As I’d said, this is very gross and disgusting behavior in today’s culture, but it was just the way of things back then. We were able to subdue him and bring him in for arrest, and he was subsequently sent directly to the Birdcage for many, many crimes.”

  Amy squeezed my hand, and she sniffled.

  “Marquis is your biological father, Amy. He didn’t have a strong connection to your biological mother, and we don’t know much about her identity, other than she wasn’t a parahuman, and they’d since separated after she had you, leaving you in his care.”

  Carol was crying and wiping at her eyes, and keeping her eyes downcast. Amy pulled her hand out of mine and leaned against my side, wrapping her arms around my waist. I put my arm over her shoulder and held her. Victoria was rubbing Amy’s thigh under the table.

  “I don’t have very many kind things to say about Marquis, Amy, but I can tell you this much. Many people saw him as a monster, but he held himself to a strict code of ethics. It was twisted; he would murder people, but he wouldn’t lay a hand on women or children if they weren’t directly engaged with him. He loved you, and he appeared to have taken very good care of you as a young child. You two ate meals together, and he would read to you often, and every night before bed. He could have possibly escaped or killed some of us in the fight where we faced him down, but he held back and later surrendered, out of fear that you might be harmed if the battle escalated further.”

  Carol’s voice with thick with phlegm from crying when she told Mark, “Don’t try and humanize him, he was a monster, and he got what he deserved.”

  Mark hugged his wife, but he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Carol, but I don’t agree. He was an awful, evil man, but I don’t think a monster can care for a family and take good care of them. People like the Nine are monsters. He was a bully, a criminal, and a murderer, but he wasn’t the same as them. As bad as he was for us here in the city, he never got a Kill Order put on him.”

  Carol let out a little sob, then she nodded.

  Amy brought a hand up and wiped at her eyes. Sniffing and clearing her throat, she asked, “So why is this coming up now? I mean, I get it’s because I’m eighteen and you felt I needed to know.”

  Mark rubbed his forehead for a moment. “Well, because Dragon believed that an outstanding contract for your death might be placed, or active now that you’re eighteen, which is the age that Iron Rain was killed. She doesn’t have any evidence of this, and she’s actively investigating it with Guild assets, but she felt it was important to inform us out of an abundance of caution. It could simply be an old war story, but she didn’t want to ignore a potential risk.”

  I smiled at Mark and squeezed Amy’s shoulder. “If it’s true, there’s no better person out there to sniff it out than Dragon. And if someone does come? They’re going to have to get through all of us first.”

  “God damn right,” Crystal growled, and Vicky mirrored the sentiment almost exactly.

  “And,” I said, giving Amy a light jostle. “Amy isn’t a pushover herself, especially now that she’s got that suit downstairs. That thing is a real tank, and she kicks ass with it.” I looked down at her, and she craned her chin up. “And you’re just getting started. That’s a prototype. Wait until you get a few versions in. You’ll be making us all look like amateurs. Some hired thug comes knocking, asking about you? They’re going to have a real bad day.”

  She sniffed and smiled, just a little. Even watery, her eyes were captivating. We held our eye contact, and I tried to radiate confidence and calmness her way.

  “Oh my god, are you two going to need a hotel room?” Victoria groaned and whined in an over-the-top manner.

  Amy’s cheeks colored at the comment, and I laughed. Vicky was positively beaming over at me.

  Amy looked down at my lap. “I always felt like there was something wrong with me when I was growing up and in high school, and especially after I got my power. I had a feeling that my biological parents had been villains, and that’s why you had adopted me and not some foster home.” She coughed and hiccuped once. “I thought I was going to grow up evil because I had evil parents. So when I started getting… impulses after I got powers, I figured that was what was going on.” She let out a little sob with the admission, and her shoulders shook. I gripped her and squeezed her tightly once again.

  Several people went to speak all at the same time, but Crystal won the contest. “That’s not how that works, Amy. Vicky is taking Parahumans 101, I’m taking Parahumans 302, or was, before Leviathan. Those urges and thoughts you feel, they’re around people you don’t like, or in situations that are uncomfortable, stuff like that, right?”

  Amy wiped her eyes again and looked up at Crystal, nodding slowly. “Uh, yeah. How did you know?”

  Crystal gave her a big, radiant smile. “Because almost all of us feel the exact same things! It’s a very well-documented phenomenon with Parahumans!”

  “Wait… really?” She looked back at Victora, who gave her a thumbs-up and a smile.

  “Uh-huh! It’s called The Conflict Drive, and almost every parahuman feels it, and often in similar situations. It can be stronger or weaker, depending on the circumstances. People tend to feel it the strongest in situations similar in nature to their trigger event, but yeah! Everyone gets that! You’re not evil, silly, you’re just a moody parahuman, just like the rest of us!” She laughed warmly and reached over to ruffle Amy’s hair.

  “Parahumans are significant statistical outliers for committing violent crimes, property crimes, and a few other types of crimes, compared to unpowered people. It’s one of the reasons why the PRT is as lenient as it is with taking in strays with criminal records, and the existence of the Wards program. We, on average, have a higher chance of acting out and are more emotionally volatile than unpowered people.” Vicky said her piece and smiled at Amy when she peeked over at her.

  “Well… that’s good to know. Now I just feel dumb,” Amy said with a half-hearted laugh.

  “You’re not dumb, dummy. The only dumb thing about you is calling yourself dumb, so quit doing that, dumbo.” I teased her.

  Carol sat up and got off her chair quickly, wiping her eyes and telling Amy, “I need a hug, please.”

  Amy got up and embraced her mom, and the two hugged each other tightly. “I love you just as much as I love Victoria, and you’re not my adopted daughter, you’re just my daughter with a different hair color. Someone…” she trailed off a moment, and I saw her eyes flick in my direction before they returned to Amy. “Someone told me that I didn’t always do a good job of showing it, so I’m saying it. I love you, Amy, and you’re not evil or destined for anything like that.”

  Amy let out a mournful wail and went limp in Carol’s arms. Mark got up and wrapped his arms around her from behind and hugged her, and Vicky got up and joined the pile until Amy was squeezed between the three of them. A lot of tears were shed, but they weren’t all sad; instead, trending upward into happy tears. I wound up getting sappy myself, and Crystal and I leaned on one another.

  While the Dallon household was whispering among themselves, I whispered to Crystal. “Hey, good looking. Are you searching for a boyfriend?”

  Incredulously, she asked me, “Are you kidding? Who doesn’t want to get laid as often as they can?”

  We exchanged light shoves and headbutts back and forth.

  “You know anyone?”

  “Well, depends. Are you looking for other capes?” I asked.

  “Mmm. I wasn’t, before, but then I found it sort of hard to relate to my other dates and relationships. Maybe I’ll give it another go.”

  “Well,” I hummed under my breath. “I know a few good guys. Depends on how exotic a guy you’re looking for, really.”

  She made a sound in her throat, maybe a chortle, or maybe choking on her spit, or some mix of the two. “Please tell me you’re not talking about Weld,” she said. “Isn’t he a minor?”

  I snickered. “He’s one of them, and yes, technically, he is, because he’s like 3 years old. You know, Case 53’s don't play by the same rulebook. We don’t know how old he was before he lost his memories. They put him in the Wards so they had time to observe his behavior over time, but he’s very mature. They estimate his age is about the same as yours, early twenties.”

  “Hmm, okay, I’m listening. Who else?”

  “Word on the block is that a certain tall, dark, muscular, and handsome guy is switching allegiances. That can’t leave this room until the actual papers are signed, but maybe something to think about.”

  “Wait… are you talking about Brian?” She asked me, pulling back enough to meet my gaze.

  I winked at her.

  “Oooh, he is awfully handsome, and you know I totally go for the bad boy look anyway,” she practically purred.

  “Yeah, but this way, you’re not going to risk getting crucified or something by your mom,” I teased, poking her in the ribs. “You remember that one motorcycle douche you brought home last summer?”

  “Oh my god, yes. I thought Mom was going to burn a hole through the crotch of his pants at one point! We did not do any other dates after that, you are right, he was a prick.”

  We shared a few giggles, and the Dallons broke their ‘rally around Amy’ huddle and rejoined the table.

  “Alright, so. Daylight’s running out. Who’s up for some action tonight?” I looked around the table at a bunch of determined gazes.

  I fucking love my job.