Edna Mode slammed the door behind her, shutting out the rest of the world. Stratogal's funeral had just ended. Her family didn't even have a body to bury, just an empty casket. They had made their excuses to the people who didn't know Stratogal was a Super.
She was only in high school! She had yet to live her life. Edna could still remember when she first met Carol, before she became Stratogal. The girl was eager to become a Super, all she needed was a super suit.
"I don't have anything specific in mind Miss Mode," she had said (Carol had always referred to her as Miss Mode, despite Edna's instance on being called by her first name). "All I really want is a cape."
So Edna had designed a costume with a cape. Carol had looked absolutely fabulous.
But then Carol was sucked into the turbine of a jet engine. If she didn't have her cape, she would have survived.
Edna knew that it was her fault for putting in the cape into the design. The cape served little practical purpose, but Edna had put it in as it was ascetically pleasing. She would never design another suit with a cape again.
No more capes, she vowed. No more capes.
Edna walked over to her bedside drawer, where she kept her sketchbook. She tore out the designs with capes, muttering no more capes, no more capes for each and every one. Once she finished with that sketchbook, she hunted up others. Soon she had a huge pile of torn sheets of paper.
She shredded most of them. The others she tossed in the fireplace, once her shredder broke down. She watched the pages burn, consumed by the fire until only the ashes were left. It was then her new philosophy for costumes was born.
No capes.