The warm summer air washed over me, carrying the scent of the ocean as I took a deep breath in. The sound of seagulls chattering overhead mixed with the beach crowds all around me, the park rides, and their riders into a familiar cacophony.

“Want another drink?” I lazily glanced to my side at the waggling can wrapped in an orange hand.

“Mmm, yeah.” I reached over and grabbed it.

“Ha! I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I said that.”

“Sorry, I guess it’s too loud here.”

“Yeah, kinda. We can find somewhere quiet later.”

The orange boy rolled over onto me and gently tugged my hair while rubbing my thigh. “Want to keep things quiet, huh? I’ll try, but I can’t make promises if you have your way with me.”

I smiled at the guitar riff softly starting in the background. “Shut up, you pervert.” He stuck out his tongue at me, and I leaned forward and captured it and his lips with my own lips, pulling him further onto me. We stayed that way for a time, mouths locked in a ferocious duel. The hand on my thigh kneaded me roughly, drawing a harsh groan from deep in my throat. “Goddamn…”

Knockin’ me out with those American thighs…

I flipped us over in the bed so I was straddling him, and he winked at me. “Looking good, gorgeous.”

“Omigod, shut up,” I whispered with exasperation and a roll of my eyes. “You’re such a dork.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” he said with a grin. “The look on your face was priceless though.” He glanced to his side, and I turned as well. All six of the milk bottles still stood upright. If milk bottles could be smug, I imagined they would look pretty smug right now.

“I’m no good at these kinds of games. I’m more of the ‘tap them into unconsciousness’ type.”

I laughed. “Sure, I get that, but you missed every toss!”

The attendant behind the counter, a large man with strange skin, laughed heartily at my companion. “Your attempt was admirable, but you cannot win.” He gave me a considering look. “Perhaps the lady can win her own prize?”

“Sure!” I grabbed one of the metal pillars stacked on the counter and levitated it in front of me while jokingly lining up my shot by holding up my hands with my thumbs together and pointer fingers aloft. I sent the pillar flying sideways into the three bottles on the bottom, and it bounced right off without moving them at all.

“That’s a failure. Reset.”

“What the hell, man? Those should’ve fallen over!”

I turned to glare at the attendant, and she crossed her arms and gave me an unimpressed look. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

“No!” I gestured wildly at the bottles. “I hit them square on!”

“Your problem is you’re being too predictable.” She walked over and tapped the leg of the table holding up the bottles. The air around her hand crackled red and blue, and the leg split in two, sending the bottles crashing to the ground.

“That’s bullshit!” I shouted, clenching my hands. “You think I’m gonna accept that?”

“And that’s three laps around the building before the next round.”

I groaned and started to jog. There was a cool breeze blowing, so I didn’t get sweaty, but before long I started to find it was actually a bit too cold.

“It’s too cold in here.”

I glared at the blond-haired twit. “You have a better idea?” I hissed at him. “Stop complaining and be quiet!”

“This was supposed to be easy,” the idiot blubbered. “Why the fuck are the Teeth here?”

I opened my mouth to respond but couldn’t manage to form the words, my teeth were chattering too badly. I pulled the comforter more tightly around me, but—Wait… A comforter?

I groaned a bit as I sluggishly rolled over from where I had been facing the wall my bed was pushed up against. I rubbed at my crusty eyes, blinked at what I saw, then blinked again for good measure.

The fuck?

I was still with a blond, but this one’s hair was much paler. Elle, I remembered, my thoughts still groggy and slow. She was curled up on a stone slab, her eyes clenched shut and whimpering. Our room was gone, and in its place were the rugged stone walls of what seemed to be a castle. A thick layer of snow coated the stones framing the empty rectangle that had been our window. It seemed to be snowing outside, but it was dark and hard to say. A chilly breeze pushed its way into the room through the gap and left me shivering. My view of the hallway was obscured by a heavy door made of a dark wood, but I imagined more of the same laid beyond.

Another whimper drew my eyes back to Elle, who had curled in on herself while I was examining the room.

“Elle?” I tentatively called out.

No response. Another cold breeze blew in, this time carrying a dusting of snow with it. I scooted further into the corner, where the wind didn’t reach. “Elle,” I tried again, speaking louder this time. “You need to wake up.”

Elle started to stir, but so did something else. The slab under her began to warp and twist, and I watched in horror as a grey wolf began to emerge from it, the stone turning and shifting into flesh with each step the great beast took forward. “Who's there? Who's there? Stand still, stranger, and tell me who you are.”

“Holy fucking shit,” I breathed out, staring wide-eyed. I tried to reach for the coin bag at the end of my bed, but I couldn’t feel anything there with my power. I felt metal further away, but the wolf was only a few feet away now. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

The beast sniffed at me then snorted out some hot air. “Fortunate favorite of the Queen,” it rumbled then turned and lumbered over to the slab Elle laid on and curled up at its base, giving me one last look before closing its eyes. The door to our room swung open swiftly before coming to a halt just shy of slamming into the wall. Gregor and Faultline stood there, the latter with a flashlight in hand, and they quickly examined the scene, their eyes alighting on the wolf.

“Is the creature from her power?” Gregor quietly but quickly asked, fluid of some kind bubbling just beneath the skin of his hands as his gaze flicked between the wolf and me.

I carefully nodded. “Y-Yeah.”

The fluid stopped bubbling as much. “Are you hurt?”

I idly realized I was trembling. The cold? The panic? Both? I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. “No…”

“Elle,” Faultline finally spoke up, her voice raised but her tone gentle. “Reign your power in.”

The other girl finally stirred, waking in a start. Her head twisted languidly to look around the room with lidded eyes. It took a couple minutes, but the stone slowly began to retreat, leaving our room in its wake. Even my coins, which earlier had been completely gone, I felt once more as the bag containing them folded back into existence.

“Sorry,” Elle said, the lone word packed full of meaning. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say more, but after several moments passed with no more words forthcoming, it seemed she couldn’t manage anything else.

Today hadn’t been a great day, and I knew her power was stronger when that happened and that it could seep out sometimes. But this? This was something different. As the last of the stone faded away, Elle’s bed returned as did the book laying upon it. “The wolf. Narnia. You made it real.”

Elle slowly turned to examine the book, blinked at it once, then returned her gaze to me. She said nothing.

Faultline carefully stepped around Gregor and further into the room, kneeling beside Elle’s bed. “Elle, did you do your exercises before bed?” The girl sluggishly turned to face the older woman but said nothing. If she was frustrated, Faultline hid it well as she added, “We will talk about this more when you’re able.”

She stood and turned to look at me. She said nothing, but I could practically hear the silent question: ‘Do you want to sleep somewhere else?’ I hesitated. Reason said I should. Camaraderie or no, the wolf could have attacked me, and I might not have been able to defend myself in time. Even still, I minutely shook my head. Something in her gaze shifted—what I couldn’t say—and she gave me a quick nod in return.

Eventually she and Gregor left, closing the door behind them, and I looked to Elle. She was mirroring my posture, her knees and her long hair hiding almost all of her face with just her eyes peeking out through the gap. It was dark again, but I could just barely make out the book on her bed. I had been so tired tonight that the thought of reading with her again hadn’t even remotely crossed my mind. Had this happened because she was reading? It didn’t happen yesterday, or if it had happened, then I somehow hadn’t woken up. Was it because today wasn’t a very good day? I hadn’t heard Elle speak all day despite riding with us to the warehouse out of town for the training session, and she had spoken a single, solitary word just now. “Sorry,” she’d said. The wolf had scared me—she had scared me—and with the one word she managed to say today, she made a point to let me know she was sorry.

My chest felt a bit strange at the thought.

I turned on my phone’s flashlight and laid it down while still plugged in. “Is it just me, or are you wide awake now?” She slowly turned to look away at the floor closer to the door. Too slow to be an indication she was embarrassed. Seeing something I couldn’t? I took it as an answer regardless. I let my feet flop to the floor with a thud and reached over to grab my pillow. “I’m gonna come over and read for a bit.”

No response, but I wasn’t expecting one at this point. I moved Elle’s pillow so it was between her back and the wall. “You can lay back if you want.” She flopped back like someone cut the strings of a puppet, all but her head which remained unerringly fixated on the floor by the door. I tossed my pillow next to hers, scooped up the book, and curled up next to her. There was no bookmark, so I started flipping through the pages. “Um. We were at Christmas—like, Santa showing up. Last thing I remember, anyway.” I glanced her way, and maybe it was just me, but she seemed to be smiling a bit. “Cool. Here we go then.”

“‘I've come at last,’ said he. ‘She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last.’”

The beginnings of lacquered, black boots began to fold into existence from the floor, slowly revealing a large, rotund man in a bright red outfit who was unmistakable. I paused in my reading at the sight and watched with interest as snow blossomed from beneath his feet and covered the floor. The ‘Santa’ procured a blanket from the large bag at his feet, stepped over to us, and draped it around us. The bite of the cold that had returned with the snow did not penetrate, and an unnatural but gentle warmth began to suffuse me.

I smiled and resumed reading. Every now and then I would glance up at the world of the children’s book come to life and marvel at the beauty of the show intended just for two.

I stared at the smorgasbord of stalls and did my best to not let my eyes drift over to where the Boat Graveyard laid, visible from where I hung in the air high above the streets below. I found myself reconsidering whether this was the best way to unwind before the mission. This was the best place to stay within my price range—at least until I had been paid for tomorrow’s work—but this place was pretty closely tied to some not so great memories. I considered the Boardwalk but ultimately dismissed the idea. The Market didn’t have creepy goons enforcing the shopkeepers’ will, and even though the Graveyard was right there, I wouldn’t be able to see it from the ground.

Blowing out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I dipped towards the ground and angled for the nearest abandoned alley. The moment I was on terra firma once more, I double-checked no one was around and slipped my mask and coins back into my bag. Not that the former was the entirety of my mask, not after everything Faultline had helped to acquire, but I forcefully pulled my thoughts away from my costume for now. Today was about relaxation. Work would wait until tomorrow.

I began the brief hike over to the market proper and zipped up my jacket halfway to ward off the chilliness of the windy October day. I didn’t have any firm ideas of what I was planning to do beyond grab a bite to eat, window shop, and maybe buy some winter clothes. I needed to shore up my winter wardrobe, which was decidedly lacking. I hadn’t begun replacing my clothes until this summer, so I presently had almost nothing that would be serviceable when winter truly hit the Bay. Still, I didn’t have much left from my advance after the additions to my costume, so I would need to stretch out what I had. Stealing was unfortunately not an option, now that I was part of the crew.

The last time I’d been here, I had suspected the Market would be much busier on the weekend, and I definitely wasn’t wrong. I had wanted to invite Newter to come with me for company, but with how busy the foot traffic was, I knew I had made the right call not asking him to come. He would have been unintentionally knocking people out by accident left and right. I also would’ve needed to keep my mask on, so there was that too. Not having had lunch yet, I began looking for food stalls first while idly noting anything of interest to come back later and check. After about ten minutes of searching, I finally found some food. I hadn’t thought there was any organization to the layout of the stalls, but given the sheer number dedicated to food in this area, I realized there must be some planning put into placement after all. It felt oddly reminiscent of a mall food court, and the mixture of smells filling the air together with the bustle of the crowds was a veritable assault on the senses. I followed one of the rows and passed several dedicated to seafood, one with Korean food, another that was an American and Italian fusion, and one that was filled with homemade baked goods.

Finally I came across one serving Vietnamese food, and another chilly breeze passed by, convincing me that some phở would be just the ticket. I had only had the broth a few times, but it had always warmed me right to the core. My eyes alighted on a walking riot of color just as I started to turn towards the stand, and I did a double take when I realized who it was. Standing in line for the burger stand a few stands down was none other than Aisha, who was sucking on a lollipop and wearing a pair of eye-wateringly bright neon green, torn jeans, matching neon green lipstick and painted nails, a purple studded collar with a matching one around her right wrist, a graphic tee with a half-naked lady splayed across it, the same over-sized brown bomber jacket she’d worn the last time I had seen her, and large, chunky boots that looked like they’d been spray painted orange.

“Yo, Aisha!” I called out. “What’s up, girl?”

She glanced my way, and after a second’s confusion, her eyebrows shot straight up. Popping out the lollipop, she said, “Junebug, that you?”

I snorted as I crossed over. “You’re the only person who calls me that, you know?”

“It’s a burden I’m forced to bear,” she replied without missing a beat.

“Hey, no cutting in line!” a lanky guy behind her in line barked at me.

“I’m just saying hi, douchebag. Chill the fuck out.”

“Yeah, right up until she gets to the front.”

Aisha rolled her eyes, stepped out of the line, and gestured broadly at the newly vacant spot. “There, I ain’t in line anymore, you rudeass prick.” The two of us flipped him the bird simultaneously, shot each other a look, and fled laughing before the asshole could shout at us anymore. Once we were further away, the other girl turned to me and asked, “The fuck you been? Ain’t seen you around school in ages.”

Whoops. Should’ve thought of a good excuse for that first. Actually, on second thought, did it really matter if I said the truth? I doubted she was the sort of person who would think less of me for dropping out of school, and if she was… well, I thought she was fun to be around, but I wouldn’t want to hang out with someone like that. “I’m not going anymore. Got a job.”

“Uh huh. You realize that ain’t how that shit works, right? Unless you’re with a gang.” She ran her eyes up and down me. “And it don’t look like you’re wearing the right colors for that.”

“I didn’t join the ABB,” I replied with a shudder, thinking of my fight with Lung and Oni Lee. I was wearing the same gray jacket I had been wearing the day I met her over a pale pink, long-sleeved shirt, some faded blue jeans, and a pair of worn sneakers. I didn’t have much red or green in my wardrobe, and I had made a point to avoid wearing any. Damn shame too. I really liked that turtleneck.

Her eyebrows rose again. “Alright, I’ll bite. Gimme the deets.”

Ah shit. Where was Melanie putting me on the payroll again? I couldn’t remember the actual company name, but I remembered what the company allegedly did—or maybe they actually did do it, who was to say—and I figured that would be enough. “It’s a temp agency thing. Some business needs someone for this or that, and I get placed there for a set period. Means I’m never in one place for long.”

“Uh huh. And I assume they shower you in money and promise it’ll never end.” I opened my mouth to reply to that, but she pressed on, asking, “How did you even get this ‘job’?”

I could practically hear the air quotes around ‘job.’ Well, it was a lie, and while I wasn’t a bad liar or anything, it wasn’t like I was especially good at it either. Well, let’s throw in some of the truth then. “I broke into a nightclub a couple weeks back. Owner took a liking to me and hired me at one of her other businesses.” The last part was a bit of a stretch but technically true. The mercenary aspect was separate from the nightclub, even if the veil was a thin one given Newter’s soirees in the balcony and my own little shows when the fancy struck me.

She stared at me, and for a second I thought I had broken her. After a moment, she burst out laughing. “That is either the worst lie ever or the most random chain of events ever. I’m not sure which I want it to be.”

I shrugged and gestured at the Vietnamese food stand that was still nearby. “I was just about to grab some lunch then do some light shopping. Wanna come?”

She looked at the stand. “What kind of food is that?”

“Vietnamese.”

“Huh. I ain’t ever had Vietnamese before. They don’t serve the food alive, do they?”

I laughed. “I mean, they might do that in Vietnam for all I know, but they sure as hell won’t here.”

She grinned. “Then fuck it, I’m down.”

Thankfully the stand’s phở was pretty good, which made it perfect for introducing Aisha to Vietnamese. I was surprised when she ordered a bowl that included tripe, which I would eat but didn’t particularly care for. My surprise lasted all the way up until our food came out and she realized what tripe was, at which point I naturally laughed at the look on her face. I had to give her props in the end because she did still try it. She couldn’t stand it, as it turned out, but at least she tried it.

Once our food was finished, our bodies warmed up, and Aisha’s horizons expanded, we paid and slipped back out into the market.

“So, did you have anything in particular you were looking for?” I asked, as we started ambling down a path at random.

“Nah. Just wanted to get out of the house.”

“Cool, cool. Well, I need to get some winter clothes.” I shot her a smirk. “Not sure I should bring you along though… Your bad fashion sense might be a negative influence.”

She cackled. “I’m the worst influence, but you need a bit’a that, Miss Prissypants.”

I released a faux harrumph while starting to steer us back towards one of the shops I’d seen earlier. “Certainly not! You may attend me, but I shall have none of your shenanigans, you hooligan!”

Only half the shops I’d eyeballed earlier ended up panning out with the rest having prices too high or shoddily made clothes. We thankfully still ended up finding some good items I was pretty confident I could mix and match well enough. Soon my arms were growing numb from all the bags hanging off them, and I all but shoved some of them into Aisha’s arms and declared, “I don’t care if you haven’t bought anything. I’m not hauling all this around when you’re right there and empty-handed!”

That had sparked an amused glint in the other girl’s eyes. “Foisting shopping bags on others, huh? You’ve got the princess act down, Princess Junebug.”

That was, of course, the moment we saw it. A pale pink beret with a blue, metal butterfly attached to it with push pins. I liked the color, but despite its size seeming to indicate it was made for an older teen or maybe a somewhat petite woman, the design screamed ‘little girl’ to me. Aisha, however, flitted over to it and declared, “And a princess needs her crown!”

“No way.”

“Aw, c’mon! You’d be cute as shit wearing this.”

“You’re just yanking my chain!”

“Nope, I’m bein’ legit. Buy this or I’m buying it for you.”

Uh huh. I’m sure. “Well I guess you’re buying it, ‘cause my money is staying in my pocket.”

She shrugged and started walking over to the shopkeeper. No way. She pulled out some money from one of her bomber jacket’s pockets. What the fuck. The lady manning the register handed over the hat and change for the bill. No really, what the actual fuck? Aisha marched back over to me, pulled the thing down over my hair, eyed me critically for a moment before making an adjustment, then all but shoved me in front of the mirror next to the rack of hats on display.

I stared, completely discombobulated by the past minute. Still, in spite of myself I still couldn’t help but note it did look kinda cute, matching my current outfit just right. If nothing else, it certainly jazzed up my shitty haircut.

“See? Cute as shit. Tried to tell you.”

“You… you actually bought it.”

“Duh. I told you I would.”

I pulled my bag around, fished inside it for a moment, then shoved a bill at her that would cover the hat. “Here,” I mumbled, feeling weird about how the beret looked on me.

Aisha stared at it with a look of consternation. “What’s this?”

“For the hat.”

She frowned. “Girl. I said I would pay for it.”

I grit my teeth, forcing myself to try to chill and explain. I liked Aisha and didn’t want to alienate her. “I don’t do debts. I need you to take it.”

Her eyes flicked to the money then back up to my eyes. She gave me a hesitant nod. “Then buy me something instead. It’s an exchange then.”

I blinked, somewhat unsure. Nobody had ever suggested this before, and the thought of repaying a gift with a different gift hadn’t occurred to me either. This was uncharted territory. “Um… Okay. What do you want?”

“Oh lord, that ain’t how you do it,” she replied, rolling her eyes in what seemed like fond exasperation. “You gotta pick it out.”

I frowned but nodded. “I’ll get you something before we leave.”

“Doesn’t have to be today.”

“Yes it does. It’s a debt otherwise, and I don’t do debts.”

“Whatever you say, Junebug.”

I poked her in the belly. “I’m gonna come up with a silly nickname for you too, if you keep that up.”

“Whatever you say, Princess Junebug,” she repeated, tossing in a ‘princess’ and a smirk for good measure.

Ooo, payback was gonna be delicious.

“Anyway, all that aside, I did say we’d get you something rockin’ for school, didn’t I? Not that you’re coming anymore or nuthin’.”

I stared at her, uncomprehending for a few seconds then I facepalmed. “Ugh, you did say we should meet up at the Market last Saturday.”

It was her turn to harrumph. “You stood me up! The nerve!”

“Sorry! The job thing was so sudden, and I didn’t think… I mean I kind of… Um…” I trailed off, searching for the right words. There really wasn’t a good way to explain ‘I kind of forgot you existed for a bit there’ without explaining why. Namely that I had been caught up in the crew giving me a crash course on fighting other parahumans in preparation for tomorrow. Powers had very abruptly become a central fixture around which my life revolved. I would have been more freaked out by it if it hadn’t all felt so natural.

I don’t know what Aisha saw in my expression, but there was a flash of genuine hurt in her eyes that was impossible to miss—I had seen the look in the mirror too much to not. I had tried to convince myself more than enough times that I should just stop giving a fuck about what the world thought of me, but I had never been able to manage it. How much it bothered me to be in someone’s debt was one way it manifested, and how much it bugged me to be misgendered was right there with it.

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to lie, but I could state as much of the truth as possible—only lie about what I had to. “Listen, I’m not supposed to talk about the details, but I’ve got a big job tomorrow, and since I’m new, my teammates have spent the last couple weeks rushing my training to get me ready. I got so caught up in it, and I… I didn’t think. Sorry…”

Aisha seemed to realize she had been visibly upset and quickly schooled her face into a smirk that was obviously forced. Grabbing my arm, she dragged me over to another stall while saying, “Ah, don’t worry about. C’mon, I think I saw some long-sleeved tees over here!”

She hates me. I couldn’t get the traitorous thought out of my head. It was obvious, but what could I do about it? I watched her out of the corner of my eye as I pretend to flick through the racks and she did the same. The bill was still in my hand, so my thoughts gravitated back to the beret on my head. She seemed blase about debts. Maybe I could get her an especially nice gift? She dressed like she was actively trying to offend the sensibilities of everyone around her, so I imagined clothes were out. Nice clothes wouldn’t fit her aesthetic at all. Today was the first time I had seen her wearing jewelry—well, accessories more like—but that might work? Seemed a stretch, so I filed that one under Plan C. This wasn’t the first time she had worn makeup, and she’d had the colored stripe of hair the whole time. Maybe cosmetics or a box of the loudest color hair dye I could find.

My thoughts ran on a loop, desperately reviewing everything I knew about her while we continued to move from shop to shop. The conversation, which had flowed freely between us earlier, was obviously stilted now. I wanted to fix it but didn’t know what to do. The afternoon was going straight to hell on a crash course, and I was powerless to stop it. Plan A and plan B never came to fruition, and if my arms hadn’t been weighed down with bags, I probably would’ve been tearing my hair out. Eventually it started to get late, the sun starting its final approach towards the horizon.

Aisha turned to face me, another obviously plastered on smile on her face. “I’ve got a bus to catch, so it’s time for me to bail.”

“M-Me too!” I blurted out before my brain could point out to my mouth that it was a stupid, stupid lie.

Her eyebrow quirked up. “Uh huh,” she drawled. We were both silent for a moment, then she huffed out a breath of air and turned to lead the way out of the market. I followed along, frantically wracking my brain for a way to fix the friendship I was watching unravel right before my eyes. I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t even notice we had walked clear past Lord Street a block or two into a more run down area of the Docks until I just about ran into Aisha.

She turned and gave me an unimpressed look. “Let me guess. It just so happens your bus is the same bus I walked out here to catch, right? You know, the doesn’t exist line?”

I winced. “Aisha… I…”

“June—” Fuck, am I actually upset she didn’t call me ‘Junebug’? “—I had a good time today.” She sighed, her facade cracking a bit. “Or… I was. You don’t have to pretend to like me. Ya can just say it, you know…”

What? “But I do like you!”

“Doesn’t seem like you like me,” she remarked, holding up her bag laden arms and jiggling the bags. “Seems like ya just wanted company for shopping.”

Oh fuck me. “But—”

“And look, I get it. I like company too, but…” She sighed again, this one more bitter than the last.

“You guys hear that? She likes company.”

The two of us turned and saw two Asian men and a woman decked in red and green approaching. I instinctively began searching the area for other threats and for metal, the act practically drilled into my brain at this point from all my practice the past two weeks. Thankfully we only had three gangbangers to worry about. Unfortunately we had three gangbangers to worry about. Nobody else was around, unless they were watching through a window, and this far enough into the Docks it was probably ABB territory. If shit went sideways, nobody would call the police or come to help—they would never risk Lung’s wrath.

“That’s good. She’ll fit right in with the others,” the lone woman of the group said, a dark smile on her lips. She looked my way. “Yo, I haven’t seen you around. This doesn’t concern you. Beat it.”

Like hell. I couldn’t overtly use my powers, not when they had seen my face. I hadn’t forgotten Melanie’s warning that Lung had been trying to recruit me. If I showed my powers, then all Lung would need to do was pair one of these clowns up with a sketch artist or something, and he would be able to put out a bounty for me or something. No, I couldn’t let my powers be tied to my face, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use them at all. A plan forming in my head, I snarled at them, “You think you can start shit because we’re alone? Joke’s on you, my dad and his buddies are just off getting the—” Yeah, that one will work. “—van where he parked it. They’ll be here any second.”

“You’re lying,” the woman countered.

“You actually think she’s bluffing? Girl, gimme some of what you’re having. Must be good shit,” Aisha quipped, playing along. “Gonna be fun watchin’ Mr. F and the boys wail on your asses if you don’t buzz off.”

The guys looked uncertain, but the woman was unmoved. I pegged her as the brains of the group and the guys as the muscle, but if everything went to plan, this was going to be over in a minute anyway and they would be a distant memory. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just have to teach beret girl some manners before we drop off the black bitch. Grab them both.”

The guys started forward but froze as the sound of rubber on asphalt filled the air. Behind them the empty van I had hijacked from a block over finished rounding the corner and began racing towards us. I pushed the van as fast as my power would allow, and I whispered furtively to Aisha, “Be ready to jump in.”

The three ABB hastily dove out of the way as the van skidded to a halt in the empty space ten feet away from us where they had been just moments prior. The side panel was sliding open long before it had come to a stop, and Aisha and I sprinted towards it and all but dove in. The door slammed close as the woman shouted at us in an East Asian language I couldn’t understand, and I wasted no time accelerating the car forward, leaving the wheels squealing for a moment before they grabbed traction.

My backpack had half fallen off in the rush to get inside, and I abandoned it and the bags of clothes to move to the front seat, so I could see well enough to make sure we didn’t run into something. Detecting the metal around us alone wasn’t a full-proof guarantee against all obstacles, after all.

“Uh, June?”

“Kinda busy, Aisha,” I distractedly replied as I brought us back around to Lord Street. There was enough traffic still on the street, and the sun not yet quite behind the mountains. I doubted those three gangbangers would come after us at this point, and I started pulling over to a spot where I could stow the van at the side of the road.

“Yeah… Really busy steering.”

“Exactly, I—” Oh shit. My hands weren’t on the wheel. “I, uh…” Oh fucking shit, and nobody else is in the goddamn car.

The van jerked to an abrupt stop, and someone behind us honked loudly, drawing a wince from me. I hastily pulled the van the rest of the way out of the street then slowly turned to face Aisha.

The other girl’s smirk was back, and this time there was nothing fake about it. “Well, well, well… It all suddenly makes sense.”

“Aisha…”

She idly poked at the floor with her orange boots, and I realized she was messing with the coins that had begun to spill out of the slightly open top of my backpack. “Metal control, right? I knew that pile of pennies was too perfect!”

Jesus, she remembered that? I actually thought I had gotten away with it too. “I, um…”

“I already believed you when you said you hadn’t joined the ABB, and that whole showdown back there pretty much solidified it. Ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell you joined the Empire, and you’re too clean to be a Merchant. You don’t seem the type to be a Ward, and getting pulled out of school would only make sense if they were moving you to Arcadia or whatever, and there’s no reason for you to avoid mentioning being transferred to Arcadia. So that means you’re not a goody-goody two-shoes either.”

She leaned forward, her eyes alight with intensity. “That leaves one of the small-time gangs or something like it. I’m guessing that’s what your job tomorrow is?”

Was there even a point to lying when you were caught this badly? I could lie and claim I was a solo villain, or whatever it was the PRT called capes that weren’t heroes or villains, but…

I really fucking hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. I took a steadying breath and carefully nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, something like that. I… I’m not supposed to say anything, but… I swear I wanted to tell you. And I dunno know why you think I don’t like you, but until I joined this crew, you were literally the only person I would call a friend in this shithole city.”

Something in Aisha’s expression shifted, and she looked away for a moment. The emotion still burning brightly in her gaze probably would have torn a hole in the floor if she… had… powers? My jaw dropped as Aisha’s face and visible skin melted into an inky black color, and her whole body seemed to twist and writhe for a moment before the inky shadows reformed into someone who was unmistakably me, albeit in Aisha’s outlandish wardrobe. One of the coins from the backpack lifted into the air and swirled in lazy arcs between her fingers.

I wasn’t moving it.

“If that’s really true… then tell your boss I want in.”