The air was crisp and ripe with an empowering feeling. Zoe Aves began making her way to the arcade, dragging behind her nothing except a newspaper. Ever since her disownment, Zoe had been forced to create a new life for herself, and she had lost all of her possessions. But it didn't matter, as long as she was her life as Black Cuervo was non-existent. And by this point it was.

She sat down on the cold ground and then rested her head down upon it. She covered herself with the newspaper and adjusted her body into the closest thing to a comfortable position she could. She tried to fall asleep, oh did she ever, but all she could do is watch the cars drive by and the people, who couldn't care less, hurry past her. While it didn't do much to improve her current state, it did show just how cruel the world was. Zoe slowly drifted to sleep, her mind slowing down and forgetting reality. She didn't concern herself with the events that had occurred so long ago…

. . .

Light cracked through the window of the bedroom. A slender and shapely figure slowly stirred under the satin sheets, accompanied with an irritated groan. At a snail's pace, Carmelita Aves arose out of bed, her eyes one quarter open. "Another damn day…" she mumbled as the super villainess known as Voltura dressed up in her civilian outfit. She made her way to the kitchen, still grumbling about to herself, and found Grandmami sitting at the table, looking at, of all things, a photo album.

"Grandmami, what are you doing?"

"Remembering." was the response.

Carmelita presented to her a funny look. Grandmami seemed to be smiling as if remembering an old flame, her eyes glued to the pictures adorning the pages.

"What are you remembering?" asked the former girlfriend of White Pantera.

"When you were a child." replied the former fiancé of Puma Loco.

Weird as it may seem, Grandmami had an affinity for memories, especially regarding her own family. Carmelita smirked as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Those days were so long ago, it's surprising you still remember them."

"When one lives for as long as I do, one remembers a lot." Grandmami said quietly in her rickety old voice, as her daughter sat down at the large dinner table, nursing a cup of joe.

"What picture is that?" asked Carmelita, not recognizing the image on the page. It was large and and featured a pretty young girl, with black hair, gorgeous eyes and an oddly devious smile.

"Your 8th grade yearbook photo. " answered Grandmami.

Carmelita suddenly felt a rush as memories returned to her. "That was the year when I met Rodolfo…" she muttered to herself, taking a sip from her coffee.

"You were a strange one back then. I remember you always kept to yourself, didn't hang around the other kids all that much."

"They didn't like me, I didn't like them. Simple." snarled the civilian dressed Voltura.

Grandmami shook her head and flipped the page. Finally, she muttered "Maybe you were too harsh to Zoe."

Carmelita stood up quickly, dropping her cup and letting slam against the floor, pieces scattering in every which way. She didn't want to think of that night, the night she banished her own daughter.

The woman's breathing became heavy and coarse. Grandmami simply looked on. The elder watched as Carmelita placed her hands on the table, attempting to keep herself steady, her head lowering and her eyes closing in a struggle to retain her temper.

"Don't." she growled as Carmelita sat down slowly, returning to a more calmer state.

It was the fifth time this had happened. Grandmami had been ever so slightly bugging her about her disowning of poor Zoe. Carmelita was sure she would return, but she never did. And because she never did, Carmelita slowly began to forget about it, but every once in a while Grandmami would speak up about the matter, throwing her into a wretched mood for the next few weeks. She did everything she could not to think about Zoe, but to no avail. The thought of her alone in the world would infiltrate her thoughts at every given time. As much as it angered her that her own daughter left behind her life as a supervillainess and gave up on the family, Carmelita did fear for little Zoe's safety. Especially since she knew what life as a runaway was like long ago…

Out of nowhere, Grandmami took her cane and whacked her on the head and out of her thoughts.

"Don't you have an art class to teach?" she screeched.

. . .

Carmelita slouched in her chair, picking away at her lunch. It was third period at Leone Middle School, which meant, for some students, art class. She had given them a simple assignment, just so she could escape into her thoughts and finish her lunch. It was doing a good job of keeping them occupied, but just she was about to take a bite of her salad-

"Ms. Aves?"

Carmelita looked up and saw a young, chocolate-haired boy staring back at her. As much as she wanted to strangle him, she controlled her murderous urges and responded with "Yes, Mr. Rivera?"

Manny struggled with the words. He didn't feel like getting thrown into detention today.

"I… uh… noticed that… uh… er…"

"Yes?" Carmelita egged him on.

"That… uh… Zoe hasn't been here for… the past … er… few days." Manny suddenly flinched, his arms shooting up a dodge a possible slap from the teacher's ruler, something he was all too familiar with.

But, instead of wailing on him with the aforementioned measurement utensil, Carmelita simply sighed and proceeded to take a bite of her salad finally and after a few munches and a swallow, she looked Manny dead in the eyes.

"She's been very sick lately. She hasn't left her bed." lied Manny's art teacher.

"Oh… then can you send her a message for me?"

"Uh…" Carmelita wasn't sure how to respond. "Sure, I guess."

"Tell her I'm sorry for what I did." Manny said simply. Then he walked back to his desk, sat down and continued on with his work.

Carmelita just stared. She had NOT been expecting that. But she didn't question it. If Zoe ever comes back, I'll tell her, she thought to herself.

. . .

KNOCK

Carmelita shot one eye open at the sound.

KNOCK

Someone- or something, it was good to assume both possibilities- was knocking at her door. She listened closely. She got up from her bed and walked to the top of the doorsteps, and began listening intently.

Suddenly, a tiny and painfully familiar voice seeped from under the door and into her ears.

"Mother…"

Carmelita's eyes widened and she froze.

It was Zoe's voice.

Carmelita screamed down the hallway "Grandmami! Grandmami, wake up this instant!"

Grandmami stumbled from her slumber and watched as her daughter ran downstairs in nothing but her nightgown, soon followed with her throwing the front doors open.

There stood young Zoe Aves.

Bloodied, beaten, bruised, and broken.

"Forgive me…" she whispered before she fell to the floor and blacked out.

Carmelita caught her just centimeters from impact. "Grandmami!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Why are just standing there?"

"Admit it, Carmelita. You missed her."

Carmelita just stared, then she turned her eyes towards her nearly-destroyed daughter, carefully stroking her cheek and moving her messed up bangs out of her face. She smiled weakly

"Fine, I admit it. I missed her. I needed her back. Because she's my daughter, and I love her. Now help me carry her to her room!"

. . .

A Note From The Author

This is a sequel to 'I Don't Wanna Be Me,' in case you haven't figured that out already.

Call me weird, but I really enjoy writing the Aves family. It's sooooo much fun for some reason. Carmelita is a character we don't see much in the series, so it leaves A LOT to the imagination. It was a bit maddening to flesh her out as a character with only the little information we had on her, but believe me it was fun. Let me know if I did a good job!

Kudos to nightmaster000 for telling me that 'IDWBM' deserved and needed a sequel. I completely agreed with that statement, so here it is!

This was inspired by Heroes by David Bowie. I

-Shadow's Personal Assistant