“Hey Laffy,” Joy said as she walked into her friend’s home.

  “Welcome back Joy,” Lafayette greeted her, poking her head out of the kitchen and smiling. “Out enjoying the sun?” They shared a laugh as Joy pulled off her rain-soaked jacket and kicked off her shoes.

  “Was meeting Lia,” she replied as she walked into the kitchen and sat at the dining table. Lafayette returned to the stove, stirring a pot of some kind of soup. It smelled great, whatever it was. “Talking about the bust last night.”

  “Right, I heard about that one.”

  “Really?” Joy perked up.

  “Yeah, if it was the vigilante raid out in the Docks,” Lafayette said. “Twelve arrests was it?”

  “Something like that,” she said, nodding and smiling. “A bunch of Nazi bikers, plus some guys in suits or something.”

  “Suits huh?” Lafayette mused as she ladled soup into a pair of bowls and brought them over. “What kind?”

  “Uhh, not sure, it was pretty dark, and I sort of got shot.” Joy winced as Lafayette’s spoon clattered against her bowl. “I’m fine, Lia had a healer on call, a girl named Pandora. Fixed me right up, no problem.” The weird phantom pain had gone away after a few hours anyway, and she didn’t want to come across as weak. “Anyway, uh, it looked sort of like that,” she finished, gesturing to a picture of Lafayette in a black suit, smiling and holding a plaque.

  “My blacks?” she asked. “You sure?”

  “I don’t know,” Joy said. “Black suits, high collar, black ties. Didn’t have any emblems, but...look I don’t know, okay? Lia might be able to tell you better.”

  “Oh I’ll be asking,” Lafayette said flatly, then sighed. “Forget it, no more work talk til we’ve eaten.”

  Joy was happy to agree, digging into the chicken soup Lafayette made for them. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was, considering how badly her new life had started. From the shelter, to captivity, to gaining powers, it had all been a living hell. Now Joy had friends better than she’d ever had living in Brockton Bay before, and a job where she was doing actual, genuine good for the city.

  It wasn’t her home, but Joy couldn’t deny she cared about the bay more than it really deserved. She’d known about its ugliness before moving, but only now was starting to see the good side of things. The ugly too, but that was why she was working with Lia. The girl was intense as hell, but there was no question about her motives. It almost made Joy jealous, having clarity like that. Of course Lia had her own problems that Joy certainly didn’t want to deal with…

  Once they’d finished eating, she took Lafayette’s bowl to the sink and started on the dishes. She’d never asked for the help, but Joy didn’t like to freeload. Before last night, she’d lacked the money to pay rent, so had taken up doing whatever chores she could find around the house. But tonight, at least she could give Lafayette a pleasant surprise.

  “Want to keep watching Darksyders?” Lafayette asked as Joy came into the living room, bag in hand.

  “In a bit,” Joy said, sitting next to her and unzipping the bag. “Got something for you first.”

  “Oh shit, it’s not even my birthday,” she said lightly, offering a wide grin. “You know you really don’t have to? I know you don’t have a job or—” She was cut off by the dull ‘thud’ of a wad of twenties dropped on the coffee table. “Or...you’re gonna drop a band on my table.”

  “We uh, ‘confiscated’ some cash from Blood Wolf,” Joy said sheepishly. “Since I don’t exactly have a job, we decided it would be better if I got like...something out of it, just to stay afloat.”

  “You took evidence,” Lafayette said with an edge in her voice.

  “No, we left most of it behind!” she countered quickly. “Didn’t take the drugs or guns either, just a little money. Look I needed this, Laffy, you know that.” Lafayette sighed and scratched her head.

  “Joy, this is serious,” she replied. “Removing evidence from a crime scene is bad, stuff that’s taken down bigger heroes than you and Lia.”

  “But we—”

  “Ever hear of Lockstep?” Lafayette cut her off. “He was before your time, good guy working out of Chicago. Did six years in prison because he was stealing stuff from gangs he busted up.”

  “What was he taking?” Joy asked nervously.

  “Admittedly, most of it was drugs,” she said with a sigh. “Doesn’t change what you’re doing in the eyes of the law, get it?”

  “So even though I need this stuff and the cops don’t, I can get fucked?” Joy demanded. “Are you going to turn me in because we beat up a bunch of Nazis?”

  “I didn’t say I’d turn you in,” Lafayette retorted, pinching the bridge of her nose. “And you don’t need to pay rent to live here, you already put in more housework than I ever did.”

  “I’m eating your food, sleeping on your couch, taking up space,” Joy countered. “That stuff isn’t free, I know, so I need to pay my share. And I’m not going to do anything illegal with the money either, it’s just...like a paycheque.”

  “A cheque paid in blood and drug money,” Lafayette said.

  “The money’s already there,” Joy said. “Whether I use it or the cops take it, it’s already been made. Besides, me and Lia made sure they wouldn’t be making any more, so it’s got to be okay.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “It’s not,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll talk to Lia about this too, make sure she understands this isn’t the way to do things.”

  “Fine,” Joy sighed. This wasn’t going anywhere, and she didn’t want to piss Lafayette off more than she had already. “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize,” Lafayette said, reaching over and giving Joy’s shoulder a squeeze. “You’re new, you’re in a bad place. We’ve just got to make it a little better for you.”

  “Thanks Laffy,” she said, smiling at her friend, then glancing at the TV. “So, Darksyders?”

  “Yo, J-R, what’s good?” Zeke called out as Joy walked along the park path. She grinned and headed over to the picnic table where he was seated and grinning at her.

  “Hey Zeke,” she greeted him as she sat down. “Doing okay man, you?”

  “Oh you know, stacking bills,” he said, chuckling. “Well, stacking ain’t it exactly…”

  “Getting by?” she said.

  “Mostly,” he sighed. “Feel kind of bad, taking lessons from Lafayette without paying, but it’s not like I can.”

  “Don’t sweat it, she probably wouldn’t let you,” Joy said lightly, remembering the day before. She took a wad of twenties from her pocket and pushed them Zeke’s way. “Here, you probably need this more than me.”

  “Holy shit!” Zeke exclaimed, grabbing the money and thumbing through the stack. “Yo there’s like a kay in here, you sure about this?”

  “Yeah,” she said, shrugging. “Was uh, me and Amaranth, took down some bad guys. Figured you know, they’re not using it, but you need it.”

  “Daaamn, I didn’t know your uhh...work paid like that,” he said, stuffing the money in his jacket. “You hiring?” She snorted.

  “I’ll talk to the boss,” Joy said. “No promises. Anyway, you might not like her, she’s sort of a hard ass.”

  “Hey, she pays like this she can use me as a footstool all I care,” he chuckled. He lowered his voice before continuing. “Still crazy you’re one of those cape guys. How’d you get this, for real?”

  “I told you, we took down some bad guys,” she replied. “Some bikers in the Docks, bunch of Nazi fuckers. They had tons of money, guns, drugs too.”

  “Oh hell yeah,” Zeke said, grinning widely. “Fucking real-ass Robin Hood. What’d they have, coke, green?”

  “Don’t know, we didn’t take any,” Joy said.

  “Shit, I’m running low,” he sighed, taking out a lighter and a cigarette. When he sparked it up, she could smell it was a joint. He took a puff and coughed, then offered it. “Some?”

  “Sure,” she said, grabbing the joint and taking a pull of her own. A hacking cough wracked her as she passed it back, getting a chuckle from Zeke. “Jesus, is that weed or tear gas?”

  “It’s the good shit,” he drawled, taking another puff. “Last of the stuff I got from Blasto, when I was visiting Boston a few months back. Probably the last ever.”

  “Oh, what happened?”

  “Slaughterhouse Nine,” he said grimly, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “They ran through there then disappeared, killed a bunch of people too; he was one I heard.”

  “Damn, that’s awful,” Joy said, grabbing the joint.

  “Sure is,” Zeke said. “You think you could take them on?”

  “What the Nine?” He nodded and she grimaced. “Hell no. Even Amaranth had issues dealing with them, and she’s way stronger than me.”

  “Damn, that sucks,” he said. “Well shit, maybe I’ll get better powers than either of you, be a big hero and stuff.”

  “Yeah, maybe man,” she said, passing the joint back. “But you don’t want them.”

  “You kidding?”

  “No,” Joy said firmly.

  “Why not?”

  “Change of subject,” she snapped. “You got DJ Bleak’s new mixtape?”

  “Oh, hell yeah girl,” Zeke replied eagerly.

  Joy was glad it was so easy to talk to him.

  “Nadir, go!”

  She did. In her mind, a two meter wide circle appeared around the feet of the fleeing thieves, moving with them as they ran up the street. Nadir clicked her back teeth together, and both of them dropped to the pavement without a sound. She held them for a three-count, then let her power go and took a deep breath.

  “Nice,” Amaranth said, patting her shoulder. “Come on, let’s secure them and call for a pickup.”

  “You got it boss,” Nadir replied.

  She waited til Amaranth had turned around to wipe the sweat from her face. She’d gone on plenty of patrols already, but fighting bad guys was still getting to her. Even when it was just a couple thugs they caught breaking into a store, catching a flash of one holding a knife made her heart skip a beat or three.

  At least Nadir was getting better at dealing with it, not letting it stop her from using her power. Amaranth probably could have caught these two herself, but only after a hell of a chase. As it was, Nadir made sure the two guys couldn’t get away, while Amaranth called the cops to send a cruiser around.

  In a million years, Nadir never expected to work with the cops. But in Brockton Bay, there was at least a good argument that they weren’t the worst gang in the city. Besides, they were more like garbage men, the way she and Amaranth were using them. That thought had a smile settling on her face as the cruiser pulled up the street.

  They spent a few minutes explaining what happened, mostly Amaranth though they expected Nadir to answer a few questions too. After that, Amaranth called it and they found an alley to change into their civilian clothes before starting on the way home.

  “Good work tonight,” Lia said as they walked. “You’re hesitating less, using your power better, it’s good.”

  “Thanks boss,” Joy replied, a nervous grin touching her lips. “Just learning from the best, you know?”

  “No you aren’t,” she scoffed. “But I’m glad you’re able to get something from me.”

  Joy sighed as they continued walking. Lia was a mess. That wasn’t Joy being a bitch either, the girl knew she had issues. The most confusing one was how she constantly put down every good thing she did. She didn’t even fight back when Lafayette told them not to recover anything from the gangs, just made a weird face and nodded along.

  She was still the best hero Joy had ever met, the only one in the city that seemed to see where its problems were and was willing to go in and fix them. Shame Lia couldn’t see that in herself. It made her a decent teacher though, since she would point out every mistakes, including her own.

  “Okay, here we are,” Lia said as the paused at an intersection. “See you tomorrow, at the gym?”

  “Sure,” Joy agreed. “Uh, you know Zeke will be there?”

  “That’s fine,” she said tersely. “As long as you haven’t told him about me...it’ll be fine.”

  “I haven’t,” Joy said quickly, then pursed her lips as she remembered Zeke’s request. “Uh, hey, do you think he could join the team?”

  “What?” Lia scoffed. “We’re talking about the guy that we saved from a mugging, right?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “He um, he knows I’m a hero, thinks it’s cool. I didn’t give him an answer, just said I’d talk to you.” Lia screwed up her face.

  “Well…” She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, he’s not a parahuman right?”

  “No.”

  “Not sure what he could bring to the table,” Lia said flatly. “Like sure, he can punch people or whatever, but he’s a lot more vulnerable than either of us.”

  “I think he really wants to help though,” Joy said. “He’s not a bad guy, you know?”

  “I...I’ll think about it,” she said after a moment. “No promises. We’ll see how he does with like, training and stuff. Go from there.”

  “Okay, cool,” she replied, a wide grin stretching her lips. “Thanks Lia, you’re great.”

  “Yeah yeah,” she waved away the praise. “See you tomorrow Joy.”

  For once, Joy couldn’t wait to get to the gym.