“After that, we just changed and headed home,” I said, scratching at my short hair. “And uh, well, you were there for the rest.”

  “I was,” Amy said with a quiet giggle. “I mean, you sure woke me up for it.”

  “Sorry,” I said, wincing.

  “Not a complaint,” she assured me, pressing her lips to my cheek. “Better than waking up how I usually do.”

  “Okay,” I sighed, leaning into her. “But yeah, it was...honestly we did good, especially for our first night. Nadir handled herself pretty well, even took down some bad guys herself.”

  “And you.”

  “And me,” I nodded. “But that was more my fault anyway, charging in like I did. We just need to practice more, you know?”

  “Makes sense,” she said, nodding. “Anything else?”

  “Nope,” I said, shaking my head and nuzzling against her. “We didn’t even meet other heroes, it was just a few officers making the arrests. I think that was good though, Nadir needed to see that like, we’re all on the same team even if we aren’t part of them.”

  “Right, you said she doesn’t like cops,” Amy murmured. “You think she’s a criminal?”

  “Yeah right,” I snorted. “Nah, I don’t know her whole story, but she came to me instead of going to the Undersiders, or other villains. Hell she stuck around to be a hero instead of going home. Whatever reason, I don’t think it’s her record.”

  “Her family maybe?”

  “Maybe,” I hedged. “Could just as easily be she had a run in with some bad cops, or bad heroes. I mean, be honest Amy, we haven’t exactly been doing great the last while. Three nominations to the Nine, plus just...everything else.”

  “I...maybe,” she partly agreed. “God, you’re just not allowed to make things easy are you?”

  “Nothing’s easy,” I muttered. “If it was, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.” I shook my head and pulled away from her. “Can we talk about something other than work, please?”

  “Sorry,” Amy apologized quickly. “Um, okay, sure, what do you want to talk about?”

  “Anything,” I groaned.

  “Um, well, Mom texted me yesterday,” she said, digging out her phone. “She uh, said she wanted to meet you sometime, actually.”

  “Oh?” I frowned. “Why?”

  “Not sure but...” She made a face. “I think they want to recruit you.”

  “Buuullshit,” I drawled. She stared at me silently and I scoffed. “Amy, I love you, I appreciate...whatever this was supposed to be but—”

  “Lia,” she snapped, cutting me off. “I know my family. When Mom tells me her and Aunt Sarah want to get to know you, on their own, that’s an interview.”

  “But why?” I asked. “Amy that makes literally no sense. I’m not family, I’m a below-standard ex-Ward dating their estranged daughter. My powers don’t fit well with theirs, and my record is...you know.”

  “I might be wrong,” she admitted. “But I just want to like, make sure you’re not going in blind.”

  “So...what do I do?” I said after a moment of thought.

  “I don’t know, go?”

  “And tell them what, I don’t want to join?”

  “Or maybe think about it?” Amy said hopefully. “You’d be more effective, working with a bigger team, and safer too.”

  “I’m not unmasking,” I said firmly.

  “Maybe you won’t have to,” she offered. “It can’t hurt to talk at least, right?”

  “I guess.” I pursed my lips. “What about Nadir?”

  “I...don’t know,” Amy said hesitantly. “But I’m sure you’d figure something out?”

  “Yeah maybe,” I sighed. “Just give your mom my number, tell her to text me.”

  “So you’ll go?”

  “I’ll talk to her about it,” I retorted.

  “Okay,” she said, nodding and tapping on her phone’s keyboard. “Hey Lia? Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know...listening? Taking me seriously?” Amy put her phone down, staring at the floor. “I just, I feel like when you say you’ll do something you at least put some effort into it.”

  “Well yeah, duh.” I knit my brows, cocking my head. “That’s what I said I’ll do, I’m not lying to you.”

  “I know, I know just...forget it, sorry.”

  “Hey, are you okay?” I shuffled closer, wrapping an arm around her back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be shitty.”

  “You weren’t,” Amy said, shaking her head. “Sorry I’m being pushy.”

  “I don’t think you were,” I replied. “Uh, guess we’re apologizing for nothing?”

  “Guess so,” she chuckled. “Sorry to spring that on you anyway, let’s worry about dinner instead.”

  “Sure,” I said, shrugging. “Um, maybe we go out somewhere? We haven’t gone on like, a date in a while.”

  “A date,” Amy repeated, a smile growing on her face. “Yeah, yeah I’d like that. Where were you thinking?”

  “Not sure,” I said, pecking her cheek and rising from the couch. “Let’s grab a bus uptown, maybe walk up Lord Street, find something we like?”

  “Cool,” she said, joining me. “Are uh, you okay buying? Sorry, payday isn’t til next week.”

  “No problem,” I replied, heading to the door. “Not like I’m hurting.”

  “Still, you should try saving it,” she said flatly.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Why?” I asked. “Between what I have right now, the rest of the bounty from my trust, and my inheritance I have way too much.”

  “If you don’t wind up with New Wave and do your own thing, it’s going to disappear quick,” Amy said, her voice low as she shrugged on her jacket. “Even with sponsorships and Mom’s job, we struggled sometimes. Couple Christmases or birthdays with just a present or two each, no big dinner, stuff like that. It’s not easy.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. “We’ve been through worse, right?”

  “Right,” she said, giving me a shaky smile. “Yeah, it’ll be fine, if I’ve got you.”

  “Always will,” I said, returning her smile. My stomach growled loudly, and we shared a giggle. “Okay, food?”

  “Food,” Amy agreed, kissing my cheek.

  We headed out into the cold, but I hardly noticed it.

  “Hey, Lia, phone’s ringing!” Joy yelled across the gym.

  “Coming!” I called back, jogging over from the heavy bag I’d been hammering away at. I grabbed my phone and took a moment to catch my breath before thumbing the answer button. “Hello?”

  “Amaranth, this is Viola Stanford, do you have a moment?”

  “Shoot, yeah, one second.” I pulled the phone away from my mouth. “Joy, tell Lafayette I need to take this.” She nodded and walked over to the ring where Lafayette was waiting, hands on her hips. “Sorry Miss Stanford, what’s up?”

  “The Davis family reached out, they’d like to meet you again this weekend,” she explained. “You’d be spending time with Vivian and their son, they’ve asked for a meeting at a different location. Would that be alright?”

  “Where were they thinking?” I asked, wiping a drop of sweat from my eyes.

  “Are you alright?” she asked instead of giving me an answer. “You sound out of breath. If you’re sick—”

  “I’m at the gym,” I said. “It’s fine, so, the meeting?”

  “Yes, apologies.” Stanford cleared her throat. “The meeting would be at their home.” My eyes widened. “With supervision of course, I would accompany you.”

  “Are they serious?” I said, not buying it. “They met me, right? That wasn’t some other couple with a kid named Max?”

  “They liked you, enough to express concern about your lodging,” she replied. “I also want to make sure it’s a good environment for you to live in. Don’t worry, we’re not going to rush this.”

  “Okay, fine,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. Had to try… “I’m still going masked.”

  “That’s your decision to make,” she said. “I don’t fault you for preserving your identity, especially in light of your experiences. For what my opinion’s worth, I think the Davis family can be trusted.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said flatly. “So what, Sunday?”

  “Saturday,” she said. “They have Mass on Sundays.”

  “Oh, they’re Catholic.”

  “I understand why you might be hesitant, but please trust that we’ve screened them,” Stanford said, sounding exasperated.

  “Fine,” I said, the plastic body of my phone creaking under my grip. I was definitely talking to Amy about this one. “So Saturday, great. Anything else?”

  “I wish the foster system worked better for young people like you,” she said out of nowhere. “For what little it’s worth, I did try and find a better fit.”

  “It’s...fine,” I said hesitantly. “Anyway, did you need anything else? Sort of busy.”

  “Ah, right, sorry to interrupt your training,” Stanford apologized. “I’ll send you more details later, alright?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “I appreciate your time, Amaranth.”

  “No problem.”

  The line clicked and I sighed, stuffing my phone back in my bag. Great, another meeting with the couple weirdoes who thought me living with Amy was a bad thing. At least now I knew why. They weren’t worried about my safety, just that I wasn’t living with a guy. No wonder they’d been so shifty when I brought it up.

  But...maybe it wasn’t that? Miss Stanford said they screened them, I assumed that meant for shit like them being raging homophobes. Of course the PRT and its various affiliates weren’t perfect, so things slipped through the cracks. But Stanford seemed to be on the level, I could at least trust she’d done her job.

  “Lia, you done yapping?” Lafayette called, stirring me.

  “Yeah!” I yelled back, shaking my head and retrieving my gloves before joining her and Joy in the ring. “Sorry, YGA.”

  “Ah.” She pursed her lips. “Everything alright?”

  “Foster crap,” I explained, then leveled a finger at Joy. “Not a word out of you.”

  “Whoa, what?” Joy held up her hands, frowning. “Won’t say anything except foster care sucks. My half-brother went through the system, fucked him up.”

  “Don’t take it out on your teammate,” Lafayette said, cuffing my shoulder. “Take it out on the pads. Come on.”

  I apologized to Joy, then donned my gloves and took my place across from Lafayette. The next half-hour I spent slamming my fists into the pads she held up for me. On occasion, we’d pause and have Joy come in, try what she was seeing. It felt weird, playing the example, but I guess I had more experience than she did.

  By the time we were done, I was sweating hard and breathing harder. I felt good though, like I’d actually been productive today. Really though, I was. Being a hero was my job, training to stay sharp was part of it. I wiped myself down with a towel from my bag, starting at my cell phone blared without warning. I bit back a curse and snagged it from my bag, ignoring Joy and Lafayette’s chuckles.

  “Hello?” I answered it tersely.

  “Is this Amelia D’souza?” a woman’s voice asked. I frowned, she sounded familiar.

  “Speaking,” I replied. “Who is this?”

  “Carol Dallon.” A chill went up my back, then I remembered Amy gave her my number.

  “Oh, hi Mrs. Dallon,” I said, trying to ease my tone. Didn’t want to piss her off. “What’s up?”

  “I believe Amy spoke with you about a meeting,” she said. “It would be with myself and my sister, a bit of ‘girl talk’ if you will.” Girl talk? “We have some time spare this Saturday and Sunday, do either of those work for you?”

  “Sunday is fine,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “Have a thing Saturday.”

  “Very well,” she replied. “We’ll be meeting at the Ardmore, do you know it?”

  “No,” I said. Sounded fancy though, I was reminded of Robertson’s where I’d met my mom’s lawyer.

  “It’s a small club on Lord Street, just a few blocks from the PRT headquarters,” Carol explained. “They have an excellent selection of sandwiches, and I believe it’s near Amy’s apartment.”

  “Okay, sounds good,” I said, resolving to look it up. Wouldn’t have time to scout it with Amy, like Robertson’s, but I shouldn’t need to. “So is it just us or…?”

  “Just you, myself, and my sister,” she said. “We’d like to get to know the young lady dating Amy, personally you understand?”

  “Alright,” I said hesitantly. “I guess I’ll see you then?”

  “We’ll be there at one in the afternoon,” she said. “The table will be under ‘Bulwark Law’, it’s the firm I partner with.”

  “Cool, um, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome Amelia, we look forward to getting to know you better.”

  The line clicked and I sighed, stuffing my phone back in my bag. When it rained… I finished packing my stuff and headed out of the gym with Joy in tow. The day was mild enough that I hadn’t bothered bringing my jacket. The cool breeze was a relief after the workout I’d gotten today.

  “Awful popular today,” Joy commented as we waited for the bus.

  “Yeah, it’s a real blast,” I said sarcastically.

  “What, don’t like the people who called?”

  “It’s just…” I sighed. “Feels like I’m being dragged all over when I just want to be left alone.”

  “Yeah, makes sense,” Joy said, nodding. “Bunch of adults who don’t know your business trying to get up in it.”

  “You...yeah, nail on the head,” I huffed. “But I have to deal with it because it’s supposed to be good for me, or better anyway.”

  “That what you think or what you’ve been told?” She asked.

  “What does it matter?” I shrugged.

  “Matters because if you feel like shit, even when everyone’s telling you it’s a good thing, they might be wrong.” She tugged at the end of her braid, draped over her shoulder. “Only figured that one out recently. Thanks.”

  I frowned and stared at the pavement as the conversation died. She’d figured it out because of me? Why else would she have thanked me? But I hadn’t said anything about that. I liked the argument, but that worried me. Amy wanted me to lead a normal life and...well, I trusted that she wanted what was best for me. Maybe she didn’t know what it was exactly, but the thought counted.

  But Joy might not be wrong either, after all here she was coming out and being a cape even though she’d been told to stick to nursing. I didn’t want to join New Wave, and I didn’t want to be part of a family that didn’t really care about me. But...I still had to try. Sure, Joy might not be wrong, but that didn’t mean she was right either. I wasn’t about to give up on what Amy wanted for me just because it might not be everything I want.

  “Hey, bus is here,” Joy stirred me from my thoughts with an elbow. “You good?”

  “Fine,” I said, nodding. “Mine’s the next one. Get home safe, Joy.”

  “You too boss,” she said with a smile. She paused in the door of the bus and turned her head. “Hey, cheer up, you’re tougher than any asshole in the foster system.” Despite myself, I grinned.

  “Thanks.”

  The bus drove off and I sighed, staring up the road after it. At least I could trust Joy was right about one thing…