“-the disappearance of Eldritch Maiden. Blind Justice remained evasive during today’s press conference regarding the events of the attack by a yet unnamed A1 threat that claimed the lives of a local student and possibly that of the city’s superheroine. Speculation mounted following sightings of Ginger Snap operating independe-”

“Boring.”

“We now return to Ferrous Man Four: The Fist of Fate!”

“Nope.”

“City health officials warned that suicide rates have gone up by ten percent since-”

“Ugh.”

“-proposed legislation pushing for increased transparency regarding Association legal counsel. The senator argued that Association mediation process allows superheroes to retain a level of confidentiality that is open to exploitation. The bar association for the Association spoke out against the bill, arguing that it could expose secret identities.”

“There’s nothing on,” Hailey says with a groan. Wrapping herself in a blanket, she curls up on the couch and turns off the television with a flick of the remote. Staring blankly at the dark screen, she sits in silence caught up in her thoughts.

In the other room, her mother motions to her father.

“Look,” she says in a low voice, “she’s doing it again.”

“You or me?”

Closing her eyes, her mother says, “Me.” Then she walks into the living room and asks gently, “Hey honey, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah mom,” Hailey mutters.

Sitting down next to her on the couch, her mother asks, “Do you want to come help with dinner? I could use an extra pair of hands.”

“Sure, whatever.”

As the pair make their way back to the kitchen, her father asks, “So, how is school?”

Numb, Hailey nods and says in a monotone, “Fine.”

Her parents trade a meaningful glance that goes unnoticed by their daughter.

“And your boyfriend, Theo?” her mother asks, hopefully.

“We broke up.”

“Why?” her mother asks, surprised. “When?”

“Just life and stuff. It was a couple weeks ago.”

Disturbed, her mother puts a hand on her shoulder and says, “Honey? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Falling silent, Hailey begins sorting utensils.

Seeing her silence, her father asks, “What about Ginny and Missy? Have you see either of them lately?”

“Yeah at school and stuff.”

“And stuff?”

Hailey fiddles with a fork for a few seconds before mumbling, “The funeral.”

With that, Hailey’s parents fall silent. Later, they resume making awkward conversation as they eat, carefully avoiding the subject of Hailey’s school life.

Across town, a similar awkward dinner takes place in the home of her friend and co-heroine, Ginger Snap a.k.a Ginny Napp, daughter of billionaire businessman Mr. Napp.

“I apologize sir, but it appears your daughter will be missing dinner once again.”

Pensive, Mr. Napp pokes at his expertly prepared meal. “What excuse did she give this time?”

“I believe she claimed to be studying for a test, possibly in biology or math.”

Mr. Napp snorts with mirth. “She couldn’t get her story straight, huh?”

“No sir,” his butler replies. “When I offered to have her tutors flown in she decided it wasn’t a test after all, but rather a paper. She then informed me she would be at the library, digging up sources.”

“Does she even know how to use a library?”

“I don’t know sir, but I do know that she left her library card here. If I were you, I would brace myself. You may end up owning another building when she comes home.”

“Considering I donated it to the city in the first place, I’m sure they’ll take it back when I offer,” Mr. Napp says with a wry smile. He pushes his food around a little more, causing the chef looking in from the kitchen to wince. Hesitantly, he asks, “Is she… has she…” Pensive, he falls silent.

“Yes sir?”

Mr. Napp stares at his plate as he says, “She spends money when she’s upset. Even for her, she’s been spending a lot lately.”

“There has been an upward trend since last year, but yet this is an unusually high spending spree even for your daughter.”

“An upward trend?”

“Since turning sixteen, your daughter has bought a jewelry store, an island, a car for every member of the household staff as well as an expanded garage to house them all, financed the production of an award winning independent film, rented a football stadium, and purchased a surprisingly profitable insurance company.”

“Surprisingly profitable?” Napp asks with a hint of pride. “Oho she’s inherited my business acumen!”

“No sir,” his butler corrects, “the company is simply surprisingly lucky. Whenever a thief or ne’er do well robs one of their clients, Ginger Snap recovers the stolen property. They haven’t made an insurance payout over ten thousand dollars since your daughter took over.”

“Oh,” Mr. Napp replies, deflating. “Well maybe she’ll want some fatherly advice on what to do with all the profits?”

“She used the money to double the salary of every employee. She then donated the remainder to charity.”

“Well I can’t really argue with that,” Mr. Napp says in a disheartened tone. Then a smile twitches at the corner of his mouth as he adds, “I suppose she doesn’t want to expand or anything like that? No growing the business?”

Trading a knowing look with his butler, they both burst out into laughter for a few seconds.

Wiping a tear away from his eye, Mr. Napp adds, “I suppose not even I could get excited about investing in an insurance company.”

With a sigh, Mr. Napp resumes eating staring pensively out the window.

Out on a street corner several miles away his daughter is too preoccupied to consider her father, or his growing concern for her. Atop a building, Ginger Snap looks down at the overturned prisoner transport below and shouts, “Stop right there, Red Queen! Your escape ends here and now!”

A fight, dear reader, is brewing! But Ginger will continue to do the heroic thing with or without our attention and tonight there is another game afoot in Liberty City!

“So ya told her ya loved her an’ she broke up wit’ ya?” Jake asks his best friend. “Tha’s cold.”

Morose, Theo nods. “It was brutal,” he says, “she was like a ghost after the funeral and I thought I could snap her out of it if I could just get her to smile again. So we went on a date and it was great, she was laughing like her old self and I just… I don’t even know, I just kinda said it.”

“An’ then what?”

“Hailey kissed me and said it was over. I still don’t get it Jake, I don’t know what I did wrong. Do you think I went too fast?”

“Naw buddy,” Jake replies, walking behind his friend and giving him a kindly pat on the back. “She’s jus’ bein’ a girl, ya know. She prolly come back in a week an’ it’ll be like it ain’t never happened.”

He looks over at his girlfriend, Missy Anderson, who shakes her head slowly but deliberately. Wincing, Jake glances down at Theo, who could not see the gesture.

Lamely, he adds, “Or maybe not. Ya might be better off?”

“How?” Theo asks, hopelessly.

“Well,” Missy says, cutting in before her boyfriend does any more damage. “Maybe… maybe you can spend more time working out now?” Cringing at her awkward words, she adds, “Lifting always helps me clear my mind, sort of. And, you know maybe you could talk to her about getting back together too, if that’s what you want I mean. Then you won’t need to be here, all the time.”

“Thanks Missy,” Jake replies, looking up, “I should go do that. But I just don’t know what to say! She won’t respond to my texts and she just ignores me when I try to talk to her in the hallway at school! Jake,” he turns to his friend, desperately, “you’re really good with words, can you help me?”

Jake gives him a quickly forced smile, looking over to Missy as he does. “Ah… sure…”

Missy is about to protest when her phone rings. Sending a look at Jake, she walks out to the hall to take her call. A few minutes later, she hangs up as he joins her.

Running his fingers through his hair, Jake sighs. “He ain’t doin’ so great Miss. I don’t get it, an’ neither does he. Why’d she break it off?”

Missy’s eyes harden. “I don’t know for sure, but it’s not hard to figure out. First A.J. dies, then Bella. She’s afraid of losing him too, so she’s pushing him away.”

Jake frowns and shakes his head, “Tha’ don’t make no sense.”

Missy flashes him a quick smile and gives him a peck on the cheek. “We’re girls, Jake, we don’t have to make sense.”

“An don’t I know it!” Jake says wryly. “So what’s tha phone call ‘bout?”

Triumph flashes across Missy’s face. “That was my dad. You know he teaches me self-defense right? Well I’ve been trying to convince him to let me train with the Anti-Power squad so I can learn some really good stuff. He just caved, said one of his retired buddies offered to teach me if I help him clean and maintain his gun collection.”

Jake shakes his head and replies, “Sometimes Miss, ya got me feelin’ like I’m tha’ only guy ya know who don’t own a gun.”

“I think it’s cute how defenseless and in need of protecting you are,” she answers smarmily, poking her almost seven foot tall boyfriend in the chest. “And you are the only guy I know that doesn’t own a gun, hence your birthday gift last year.”

“The water gun?”

“Exactly,” she replies, “now go tend to your friend. Please. Because while you’re very cute, if we have to cancel another date night to babysit I might just get one of those guns. You never know what I might do then.”

“Hey now! Hopefully nuthin’ crazy, ‘cause you’re tough Miss, but ya ain’t tough enough for Gingey Snaps or Eldritch.”

As he walks back into the room, she glances down at her phone with a darker expression. “Not tough enough yet,” she says. “Because whoever she is, Eldritch is the reason Bella died. She’s the reason my friend is a wreck afraid to spend time with her boyfriend. And she’s going to pay.”

Across Liberty City the night falls and darkness creeps into more than just Missy’s heart. Weary, Ginger Snap returns home and collapses into bed. While she might cut a heroic figure when fighting the villains that plague the city, once the mask comes off the only expression she wears in one of exhaustion. With a tired sigh, Ginny beelines for her bed and falls face first on her voluminous sheets.

Hailey does the same, resting after a long evening dodging her mother’s probes. Lying in bed, she slowly drifts off into sleep.

As she does, a sibilant voice whispers in her ear. “Iiiiii can hhheaar yoouu.”

Gasping, Hailey rolls over in bed as the voice continues to speak.

“Iiiiii can heeaarr yoour hearrrt crrying out. I hearrr your ppppaain. Yooour aggggoonnnnyyy.

A bead of cold sweat rolls down Hailey’s forehead as her eyes dart around the room looking for the source of the voice.

“I can offfeerr yoouu a waay oouuuutl. I oofffffeeeer youuuu whaat yoour soouul craaavessss.”

Hailey spins on the bed as the voice curls around to her other ear.

“Yooouuu wanttt poweeerrrrrr. Powerr to be freeee. Powerrr to hurt thheee onnnes thhaat hurt yoouuuu. I caaannn giiivve youu thisssss.”

Changes abound for our heroines as the portent of something coming arrives carried upon the whispers in the night! Do these mysterious words carry a threat or an opportunity? For Hailey, it may not matter. One thing is certain, however. Whatever reprieve she earned after her clash with Athow is over. The voices will return, whether Hailey wills it or not, next week in… “Omens!”