Scene 24 - November 14th

Interior Mansion, Late Evening

Dominic Könberg

Mom and Morgan had helped Dad go to bed a little while ago - it hadn’t been one of his good days, so he was off earlier than usual - and we were now participating in the family’s usual Friday night ritual of watching the Ryder Report. While his show usually only covered the events of the day it was recorded, on Friday nights he included news from the entire week before, so it was the best way - or at least, our preferred way - to get the news.

Tonight he had introduced a new hero who would be joining the Journeymen in New Venice. As soon as the segment was over, Morgan paused the show, then steepled her fingers, clearly thinking deeply.

“They’re so cool!” Tristan burst, leaping up from the floor where he had been sitting tonight and jumping into the air. My little brother, only sixteen, had a big goofy grin on his face. “They’re my new favorite hero!”

“Oh yeah?” Mom asked, sending a brief, worried glance to Morgan. “Why’s that?”

“They’re trans, like me!” he said happily. “Well, not exactly like me since I’m not nonbinary, but still!”

“I’m glad you’re happy, brat,” Percy - my next youngest brother, at eighteen - began, “but isn’t there already a trans hero? On the Journeymen, even?”

“Referee is trans,” Viv confirmed. My twin sister was the smartest of all of us. Well, of the kids, anyway, I corrected myself. Morgan was brilliant even beyond Viv, even beyond Dad... even beyond how Dad had been, at any rate. “And Loki too, apparently.”

“Yeah, well, Referee is my age,” Tristan explained. “Newton is an adult! That’s the difference! And Loki wasn’t out until just now, so, like, whatever - why be ashamed, right?” He pumped his fist. “But Newton was just out with it, right away! So cool!”

Viv gave me an amused glance, which I deciphered easily. Newton was an adult, yes, because they would be graduating from the Journeymen directly after their six-month training period - that meant they were at least 21, or would be by May. And since they were apparently the best friend of Loki, who was only just reaching 21 himself, they were probably much closer to 21. Our age, in other words - and yet, Tristan never treated us like adults. “What do you think, Viv?” I asked.

“I think it’ll make things a bit more difficult,” she noted, “but they don’t have much experience yet, as they themself pointed out. As long as we still do it while Referee is away, they shouldn’t be a problem for us.”

“I... just meant about Newton in general, not about how they’ll impact the plan.”

“Ah.” She shrugged. “I won’t really have an opinion on them until I know more. They were obviously well-coached for this interview - they even had that little probably-rehearsed bit where Canaveral embarrassed them to make them seem more human - and it was a real softball anyway. Once they start going on patrol I might know more. We know what you think, of course,” she said to Percy, who crossed his arms.

“Not my fault that heroes are all the same,” he said defensively. The revelations that Dad had shared with the family a few years ago had led to Percy forming a thus-far-unshakable conviction that the system of heroes was irreparably corrupt. He was very glad that, under Morgan’s direction, we were planning to finally do something about it.

Viv stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder what Devon... you know, Dad’s doctor?” she quickly added, as if we didn’t know about her crush on them. Well, I suppose the others might not have figured it out, but I was her twin - she couldn’t hide anything from me. “I wonder what they think of Newton - first openly nonbinary hero and all.”

Percy shrugged. “What do you think, Dom?” he asked, turning to me.

“I want to know what our moms think,” I said. I glanced to Morgan and Mom, who had risen while we kids chatted and slipped off to a corner to quietly speak. As I watched, Morgan nodded decisively and received a brief, supportive kiss from Mom.

Until I was sixteen, I had thought that she was just Aunt Morgan - our parents’ best friend, who lived in one wing of the family mansion and and emerged on a weekly - sometimes daily - basis to shower us all with affection, and with the literally magical gifts she created. On my sixteenth birthday, though, Mom, Dad, and Morgan had sat me and Viv down to explain that the three of them were a polyamorous triad - each of them loved the other two just the same. They had decided not to mention it to any of their kids until we turned 16 - and apparently Morgan had given birth to me and Viv, not Mom, which in retrospect should have been obvious since we had inherited her naturally white hair - because they weren’t sure if we would understand when we were younger. Polyamory had apparently not been very accepted when they were our age.

Fortunately, times had changed, and both Viv and I were fine with it - she had figured it out two years before, in fact - and so were Percy and Tristan when they were told. Hell, Tristan had tried to rope the rest of us into a plot to get the three of them together before he had been told, and had thus been brought in on the family secret a year early.

I still found it hard to think of Morgan as “mom”, though, even though she was my birth parent. Jennifer had always taken the motherly role in the family, while Morgan acted more as an aunt, and even six years after learning of the triad I still thought of Jenny as my mom and Morgan as... well, as Morgan.

Morgan turned to face the rest of us, Jenny’s arm around her shoulder in support. “Newton’s existence is a good sign,” she told us. “Their clear similarity to Starling means that they’re obviously another Ambrosia Company plant, but that’s good news for us. It means that Legion was probably in town to empower them, rather than that Ambrosia knows where we are.” She sighed. “It’s another pair of eyes and ears to watch out for until we’re ready to move, but we already had to stay clear of Starling and Canaveral. One more possible spy won’t make that much difference, particularly since we’re going to have to move soon.”

Viv’s eyes narrowed. “Are we moving the schedule up, then?”

Morgan nodded. “We’ll have to. I’ll slip Copperfield a hint, and we’ll keep an eye out for his distraction when he finally figures it out.”

My sister bit her lip. “I’m... not sure if I’m ready.”

Morgan put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We have to. For Arthur.”

Viv chuckled and waved her hand off. “It’s not that, I know it’s necessary, it’s what we have to do to save Dad. I’m just not sure if I’m ready for combat. I’m still learning magic...”

“You’ll do fine,” Morgan promised her. “The helmet will help. And with luck you won’t have to fight at all.”

Percy laughed. “Do you really think we’re going to have that much luck?”