“Thanks Mark,” I said, smiling as we walked down the Boardwalk. I took a bite of my ice cream as he chuckled and patted my shoulder.

  “No, thank you,” he said. We sat on a bench at the end of the pier, staring out at the PHQ. It was lit up against the rapidly darkening sky. “I know how much it took to tell me, and I appreciate that you trust me so much.” I gave him a shaky smile.

  “It’s...thanks for not being shitty,” I said quietly, leaning against Amy who’d sat next to us. “You won’t tell Mom, right?”

  “I...don’t think she’d be so understanding,” Mark said hesitantly. “Your secret’s safe with me, both of them.”

  “Both of…” I frowned, cocking my head. Mark turned and smiled at me as blood began running down his face.

  “Sure,” he said, smiling as a hole opened in his forehead, his skull slowly caving into it. “I won’t tell her you killed me, the same way you’ll kill her.” I turned my head and saw Joy, blood sheeting from her cut-open throat, eyes glassy as she slumped on the bench.

  I screamed.

  “Lia! Lia!” Amy shook me as I sobbed, fighting against the firm grip on my shoulders. I pushed back, but her arms wrapped around my back, trapping me. “Shhh, hey, it’s okay, you’re safe. It’s just me, Amy. You’re okay.”

  I blubbered pathetically as she shushed me. Behind my eyes, Mark’s bloody gaze looked down on me, full of wrath and judgment. Amy’s hand gripped the back of my neck, gently rubbing in small circles, slowly bringing me back to earth. My hands held fistfuls of her shirt in a grip so tight I was shocked the fabric hadn’t been shredded.

  “I’ve got you,” Amy whispered in my ear, hot breath tickling. “You’re safe Lia, I’ve got you.”

  “Sorry,” I whimpered, relaxing my fists and slipping my arms around her waist. “I’m sorry, it was just a nightmare, I’m fine.”

  “You are,” she said gently, fingers scratching my scalp. “And it’s okay, really. You uh, wanna talk about it?” I shook my head, smearing tears and snot across the front of her shirt. She sighed and tightened her grip around my back. “Okay. Do you...want a distraction?” I shook my head again.

  “J-just...hold me,” I stammered.

  She listened, at least. I rolled onto my other side and her grip circled my belly, holding me close. Her legs came up and pressed against the back of mine. Like this she felt so big, so tall and strong. Sure, not a lot of people would use those words for Amy, but the shoe fit. I shut my eyes and took slow, shaky breaths as I settled against her. I was safe, I was safe.

  But not everyone was. My stomach churned and sweat stuck to my clothes as I recalled the image of Joy, soaked in blood, dead. My fault, or would be if it happened because she decided to follow my example; and if I was the only one around to watch her back, it would happen. But if I didn’t work with her, she’d probably go it alone and something worse would happen.

  No way I could run a real hero team on my own, but Lafayette said it wasn’t going to be like that. It didn’t have to be, not if I didn’t want it. Could I handle any of this though? I was having nightmares and nothing had even happened yet. Of course that was nothing new, god knew I saw Mark’s face too often.

  But what was my other choice, just lay here and mope until Joy went and got herself killed going it alone? I couldn’t do that. I’d never forgive myself, and Amy wouldn’t either. Nightmares were nothing new, I could handle that. I wasn’t sure I could handle getting someone killed, but all I’d have to do was stop that from happening.

  “You’re tense, scared,” Amy murmured quietly. “What’re you thinking about?”

  “Hero stuff,” I answered honestly. “Just...it’s a lot.” Her arms pulled tighter around my waist.

  “You can handle it,” she said with confidence I wished I felt. “You’ve dealt with worse, right?”

  “Have I?”

  “Yes,” she said flatly. “Unless you magically regrew your fingertips in the last thirty seconds, yeah. Lia this...being a hero isn’t always about fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine, or Leviathan. You’ve been going out on your own, I thought you’d have figured that out.”

  “But even the regular villains are monsters,” I countered. “I found Joy in a dog cage, Amy. I don’t know what they were going to do to her...and I don’t want to fucking think about it. What if...what if I can’t stop it?”

  “Isn’t she a parahuman?” Amy asked. “She can probably handle herself, as long as she has a team.”

  “She doesn’t want to join the Protectorate,” I sighed. “She’ll wind up on her own, if she doesn’t join a team and then…” I trailed off, chewing my lip.

  “Didn’t you say she wanted to team up with you?” she said. “I mean, okay, it’s a little weird, but...if I’m honest I’d feel a little better if you weren’t out on your own. Besides, maybe having someone around will keep you from going too far.”

  “I’ll...think about it.”

  “Good.” Her lips brushed the back of my neck and drew a sigh that turned into a yawn.

  “Thanks Amy,” I said, settling down and shutting my eyes. “Love you.”

  “You’re welcome Lia, sweet dreams.”

  I could only hope.

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Amelia?”

  “If I see that rat pull this shit again I’ll break a limb,” I said viciously, glaring at Nick who was sitting across from me and nursing his second broken nose in a month. “Didn’t learn messing with me, you really are stupid.”

  “Fuck you, dyke,” the Nazi prick spat.

  “Shut up you limp-dicked psycho,” Esther, the reason I was in here, retorted.

  “You too you fucking ki—”

  “Enough!” the principal barked, slamming a hand down on her desk. “Nicholas you’ve been repeatedly warned about your unacceptable behaviour. If I hear another word about this, you’ll be expelled. And don’t think that’s justification for your own actions, Amelia. Two fights in one month, and with the same student. Consider this a second strike for both of you, and if midterms weren’t on the way I’d suspend you again.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered, crossing my arms. “Can I go now? Air in here smells rotten.”

  “Esther, thank you for telling your side,” the principal said.

  “Sure,” she shrugged. “Maybe thank me by just straight up expelling Nick?” The principal sighed and dismissed us. Nick practically ran down the hall away from us, and I sneered after him. “Hey, thanks for that,” Esther said after he’d left.

  “Don’t need to thank me for a chance to beat up that little bitch,” I said dryly. “You okay? He was sort of—”

  “I’m fine,” she said shaking her head. “You heard the worst of it.”

  “And it was pretty bad,” I said.

  “I’m okay, seriously.” She offered a smile. “But if you wanted to grab lunch together sometime I’d—”

  “There you are,” Amy interrupted, striding up and grabbing my arm. “The hell did you do this time?”

  “Hey Amy,” I sighed. “Sorry, see you tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” Esther said, nodding and turning to go. “Thanks again.”

  “Can we go?” Amy asked. “Or do you need to do community service or something?”

  “Sorry.”

  She pulled me along out of the school and down to the bus stop while I did my best to ignore the guilty pit gnawing at my stomach. Once again I’d done nothing wrong but stop Nick from picking on someone, not me this time but a classmate. I didn’t know Esther before today but that didn’t matter with the absolutely fucked stuff Nick had said to her.

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  Our trip home was tense and quiet. I wrung my hands in my lap, staring out the window. I shouldn’t feel like this, I’d helped someone out after all. Wasn’t my fault the world decided I wasn’t supposed to do that. At least Amy would maybe, hopefully understand; or at least not give me too much shit.

  “Okay,” Amy sighed when we finally got into our place. “Why the hell were you causing problems this time?”

  “First of all I was stopping problems,” I countered, whirling on her. “Nick didn’t learn to shut his mouth the first time, so I shut it for him again. Esther was happy enough.”

  “And who’s Esther?” she demanded sharply.

  “A classmate, why?” I frowned.

  “She’s the one who you were talking to outside the office?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Nick was messing with her and I stepped in.”

  “Why?” I blinked at the question.

  “What do you mean ‘why’?” I retorted. “Am I supposed to just sit there while fuckers like him go after anyone who’s vulnerable?”

  “No, but he’s just a kid,” Amy said. “Like, he’s an asshole sure, but was he actually attacking that girl?”

  “No, but if you heard—”

  “Then you probably shouldn’t have broken his nose, again,” she said firmly, making me snap my mouth shut. “Lia...look, I know you want to be a hero, I want you to be a hero. But some random dickhead saying crap at school isn’t the same as a gangster mugging someone, you know?” My teeth creaked as I grit them.

  “So what?” I growled. “Do I just sit there and let him get away with it?”

  “You could try using your words,” she said with a sarcastic edge. “God knows you could use the practice.”

  “The only thing bastards like him understand is violence,” I said.

  “That doesn’t make it okay, Lia.”

  I sighed as she strode away further into the apartment, kicking off my shoes. Amy wasn’t wrong, I probably could have found a way to get Nick to back off that didn’t involve the satisfying crunch of cartilage. Did I care? Not really, beyond it now pissing Amy off apparently. But she had a point, it was causing issues.

  I needed to get back out there. Like before, I just didn’t have ‘acceptable’ targets. That issue was easy enough to fix, I just had to go on patrol and beat up some real criminals. I wouldn’t care about Nick if worse people were running scared. Yeah, that was a good solution really; solving problems and keeping them out of my personal life. And Amy was onboard with it, so really everyone would win. Joy too, if I let her tag along.

  Well...shit, she was probably feeling what I was, maybe worse considering her experience. It was hard to imagine what she was going through after an experience like hers. Probably felt helpless, like her hands were tied. I could relate to that honestly. I walked over to the couch and opened my laptop, pulling up PHO. Joy had sent me her number not long after our meeting, and I quickly punched it into my phone. It rang once, twice, then there was a click.

  “Hello?” Joy’s lightly accented voice answered.

  “Hey, it’s Lia,” I said shortly. “You free tomorrow afternoon?”

  “Uhh, yeah, what’s up?” She sounded nervous.

  “You thought about this?” I asked. There was a long pause.

  “Yeah,” she said at last. “I have.”

  “And?”

  “Uh, well, what about you?”

  “Let’s meet,” I said. “Can talk more then.”

  “Sure, yeah, cool.”

  We agreed on a place and time, then said our goodbyes. I still wasn’t convinced this was the best idea, but it was better than any others I had. I was no captain, but Lafayette said I didn’t need to be. Oh, she’d offered training too. Huh...maybe this was actually viable.

  “Who was that?” Amy asked as she sat next to me on the couch, biting into an apple.

  “Joy, the uh, the parahuman I helped out,” I said.

  “Ah.” She pursed her lips. “So...what’s up?”

  “I think...I need to get out there again, be a hero,” I said hesitantly. “A friend offered to give us training, and I’m getting all wound up just sitting her doing nothing so...yeah.”

  “You’re still going to tell me everything?” Amy asked nervously.

  “Of course,” I answered with a firm nod. “That was our deal, right?”

  “Okay,” she said, voice shaky. “Okay, fine. Just be careful okay.”

  “I’m always careful,” I said with a hint of irony.

  “That’s what I’m worried about,” she said, kissing my cheek. “Seriously, careful.”

  “I know,” I said.

  “So...” Amy said hesitantly a moment later. “Are you getting lunch with Esther?” I groaned.

  “Hey,” Joy greeted me, waving as she approached the picnic table. Her hair was in a pair of long braids with coloured beads at the end. She’d dressed for the weather, in a beaten up jacket and tired looking jeans. “What’s up?”

  “Hi,” I said, gesturing to the bench. She took a seat and I cleared my throat, looking around to make sure we were properly alone. “So, you want to work together still?”

  “Yeah,” she said with a nod. “I...I thought about it, went to the library, did some looking. I uh, I read about you, sorry.” I shrugged.

  “And?”

  “It’s not normal right?” she asked. “I mean, the last few months and stuff, the Nine...everything.”

  “Oh fuck no,” I said, shaking my head. “At least, that’s what everyone tells me. I don’t think it’s much better, if I’m honest. That’s why we work in teams, I guess. I’m not the most experienced, I’m not the strongest, and I’m sure as hell not the smartest. But if you still want to work together, I think we could both do a lot worse.” She studied me quietly. “What?”

  “Dunno, I guess...I guess I expected a no,” Joy said with an empty chuckle. “Uh, so, um...what now?”

  “If you’re in, which I assume you are,” I said and got a nod. “Then we should start sooner than later. You do much fighting, martial arts or anything?”

  “A few self-defense classes,” she replied. “Never really got into it.”

  “Well hopefully you will this time,” I said dryly. “A friend of mine offered to train us, she helped when I was in the Wards.” Joy made a face.

  “A cop?” she asked.

  “She’s great, trust me,” I said. “PRT officer and a hell of a boxer. Met at the gym she goes to the other day, it’s not much but that’s frankly ideal. Low profile and all that.”

  “We’d have to go unmasked.”

  “We would,” I confirmed. “But I trust her with my face, you can too. If you can’t I can give you a few pointers, but that’s about it.”

  “Fine,” Joy said. “So when do we actually...you know?”

  “Soon,” I said. “Trust me, that’s part of why we’re meeting. But before we do that, we need to get to know each other.”

  “Uh, okay?” she said, sounding confused. “Like, what do you want to know? I’m a uni student, I’m Kanien’keha:ka, I’m—”

  “You’re what?” I asked, cocking my head.

  “Kanien’keha:ka,” she repeated the nonsense word, then rolled her eyes. “Mohawk, you’d call it.”

  “Ohh,” I nodded. “Okay, cool, sorry. What’s that? Like you said you were from Canada, is it French?” She scoffed.

  “It’s Mohawk, dumbass,” Joy said. “You seriously never heard of it?”

  “Look at where I grew up and guess why,” I retorted. “Anyway, not what I mean. I still don’t know what your ability is, and working together that can be dangerous.” Deadly, but she didn’t need that beaten into her head anymore than it was. “If you got any questions about mine, go ahead, I can start.” I wouldn’t talk about everything, but I could give her...something at least.

  “Yeah I guess like...what is yours?” she asked. “A forcefield, that’s what PHO said.”

  “Mostly true,” I said. “It’s a little more complicated than that, an invisible projection surrounding my body that I control. Mostly invincible, as long as it stays in place.”

  “Does it usually not?”

  “It’s…” I chewed my lip and waggled my hand. “Reacts like I do, so if I twitch, well…”

  “Ahh,” she nodded. “Do you have super-strength or anything?”

  “Nah, just the projection. If I get my hands on something, good chance I can crush it, but that’s it.”

  “That’s how you got Shatterbird?”

  “Yup.”

  “God damn,” Joy cursed. “What about...no, I guess you’d probably fly around if you could. Got any other powers?” I pursed my lips.

  “Limited precognition,” I said, holding up a hand as her eyes widened. “Very limited. Trust me, if I remember anything involving us, I’d say it; and I don’t, for the record.”

  “That’s like, seeing the future, right?” she asked, getting a nod. “Cool. I think mine’s pretty shit by comparison.”

  “Try me,” I drawled. Couldn’t be that bad considering it could kill me.

  “I can make things heavier.” She paused and frowned, then shook her head. “Or not exactly. It was, what’d the cop say...it multiplies the effect of gravity on living things.” She drew a circle in the air with her finger. “He said I was a ‘Shaker’. I sort of draw a circle in my head and my power does the rest. Bigger the circle, the heavier you feel.”

  “And if it’s big enough…”

  “Yeah.” Joy hung her head.

  “Okay, so you did power testing?”

  “With the PRT,” she said. “Was the day after everything… Didn’t exactly have a choice, you know? I mean they say you do but I’m not that stupid. They stopped after I made one two meters across, said it wasn’t safe to go further since it was at ten times or whatever.” I let out a low whistle.

  “You know I think we have different definitions of a shitty power,” I said. “How close do you have to be?” She shrugged.

  “Five meters and eyesight,” Joy said simply. “Pretty close.”

  “Further away than me,” I said, holding up a hand and wiggling the fingers.

  “Hey shit, what happened to you?”

  “Huh?” I glanced and realized I was holding up my right hand, with a trio of stumpy fingers. “Ah, yeah, so a few things can get through my projection. This was the Siberian.” Joy swore viciously, hand flying to her mouth.

  “Jesus fucking christ,” she said shakily, fiddling with the end of one of her braids. “You uh, are you okay?” I couldn’t help rolling my eyes.

  “I lived,” I replied. “So yeah, I guess so. Anyway, your powers sound pretty useful, if I’m honest.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh, yeah?” I arched a brow. “Two meters isn’t a small circle, and I’m pretty sure anyone getting hit by a pulse of ten-times gravity is going to be a little shaken. Even if you don’t want to go further, it should be more than enough.”

  “You think so?” Joy asked, cocking her head.

  “Yeah,” I said, remembering being instantly sent back, no warning. “Just got to be careful, but that’s true with all powers.”

  “I guess,” she said hesitantly. “Just...what if I’m not?”

  “Then we deal,” I said. “I’ve fucked up before, hurt people, it happens. It’s...not great, but I don’t feel too bad considering who I want to take down.” She pursed her lips.

  “That...makes sense,” Joy said. “Guess these fuckers don’t deserve consideration.”

  “We’re on the same page there,” I agreed.

  “So what do we do?” she asked, leaning forward. “We set up a time to go out and knock some heads or something?”

  “Soon,” I said. “First we should go to the gym, at least get you started on the basics. Can start learning to work together too, pretty important for this stuff; I don’t want to get gravity bombed after all.”

  “Okay,” she said. “When do we start?”

  “I’ll talk to my friend, get us set up,” I said. “Probably tomorrow after school, maybe fourish. Depends on her schedule.”

  “What about costumes and stuff?”

  “Who cares,” I said with a shrug. “Get something warm, something you can move in. Armour’s good, but probably not easy to get. Oh, and a mask, obviously. Scarf, balaclava, just whatever covers your face.”

  “But don’t heroes wear more uh, flashy stuff?” Joy asked.

  “Sure, they can afford it,” I replied flatly. “But you saw what I was wearing when I came for you. I guess if you want to wear something else I can’t stop you, but you should be practical. Oh, and you need a code name, obviously.”

  “Already handled,” she said. “And okay, I’ll see what I can scrounge up, I guess.”

  “Right, well...cool.” I blinked, then stood and stuck out my hand. “Here’s to making Brockton Bay a Nazi-free zone.”

  “Couldn’t be happier,” Joy said, grasping my hand.