…and awoke almost immediately to the sound of her alarm, the one she'd set on the wooden bedside dresser, blaring in her ear.

Groaning, Voyd pushed herself up and stretched. She had no idea how long she'd managed to sleep. Felt like all of five minutes. But she'd set the alarm for 5:00, which meant she'd slept for four-plus hours. It darn well didn't feel like it.

Oh, well, Nonetheless, it was time to get dressed.

Voyd leaned down and unzipped her duffel bag, smiling slightly at the sight of the green and blue suit within. It was a gift from Alexander Galbaki. Originally, Winston Deavor had commissioned the outfit for her—and offered to pay every cent—but when Galbaki met Voyd and saw her powers in person, he'd been so impressed that he refused to accept payment for the suit. This was the second time in her whole life that Voyd had met someone who was awed and made happy by her abilities, the first having been Winston Deavor. It was a giddy feeling, and whenever she saw the brightly-colored super costume, that feeling of that moment flared to life within her again.

When she'd suited up, Voyd left the room and went out to the living area. The sky outside was getting slightly dim with the beginnings of evening, and He-Lectrix was sitting on a cream-colored couch, gazing out the window. Otherwise, the room was empty. Screech and Krushauer had gone home for a few hours, while the rest likely hadn't awoken from their naps yet.

Voyd sat down next to him and tucked a strand of blue hair behind her ear in slight nervousness, as was her habit when she was around… well… literally anyone, actually. Even her colleagues and friends. Despite all the progress she had made in recent months, she still couldn't shake her childhood fears and insecurities entirely. Maybe someday.

He turned to her, a half-smile on his thin face. "Rough day, huh?"

"Yeah." She looked out the expansive window over the city, her eyes quickly finding the faraway downtown spot where trails of smoke still rose from the ruins of the mall she'd failed to protect. The sight made her heart clench with guilt. "I feel so scummy," she admitted.

He-Lectrix shook his head. "Don't be. It's not your fault."

"Everyone keeps saying that, so why don't I believe them?" Her voice was tense with frustration.

"Because you think you need to save everyone," he replied with a hint of wry, knowing amusement. "All at the same time. Hate to tell you, but it's impossible. Always has been."

"I know," she exhaled, scaling herself back. "I know we can't be everywhere at once. Like, deep in my brain, I know it's true. But when I think about the idea that we could sacrifice somebody by saving someone else…" Voyd cast her blue eyes toward the ground. "I just feel like throwing up."

He-Lectrix just regarded her silently for a moment, expression unreadable, before he commented. "I get where you're coming from. Because when I think about the fact that three innocent people lost their lives because we were saving that idiot Mikey, I want to throw up too."

Voyd didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or protest. She chose the latter. "Come on, cut him some slack—he just wanted to help."

"Yeah. I know. But there are so many ways he could've gone about it that weren't quite that stupid."

"I want to find him," she stated, "and I want to help him help us. If he really wants to be a hero, there are ways. He could work with the NSA—I could put in a good word with Rick."

He-Lectrix chuckled. "I doubt Rick will want to hear any good words about him."

"That's true, but still. If he wants to work with us, I'll fight to make it happen! He just wants to make up for the things he did. And…" Memories flashed bright before her eyes. Last night: the blazing ruins. Decades ago: accidentally hurting those around her. "I get that."

"That's admirable," He-Lectrix said. "But both of you are forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"That what happened wasn't your faults. And neither of you has some kind of grand obligation to atone. Despite what you seem to believe."

Voyd immediately rejected this notion out of hand. "No, we do. I mean—maybe he doesn't, but I do."

"What's the difference?"

"Well… Mikey wasn't in control of what he did. He was hypnotized, and Evelyn made him do all the evil things he did. It was totally out of his control. Me, though?" She felt shame hit her anew with the memory. "I chose to turn off my police scanner, and I ruined any chance we could've had of helping. That's totally on me."

"But this isn't just about the police scanner, is it?" he asked, perceptive.

Voyd didn't know what to say for a minute. Of course it wasn't just about the police scanner. But she didn't know if she wanted to talk to He-Lectrix about all that. Not yet.

She decided to just awkwardly and blatantly change the subject like the dork she was. "Anyway, no matter whether I have an obligation to atone or not, I'm going to try my best tonight. No turned-off scanners. No escaped villains. We'll make New Urbem the safest town in the hemisphere."

"Some of the others might object to that," he pointed out. "None of us are exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

As if on cue, the nearby doors opened and Screech entered from outside, wearing his brown-and-black suit complete with owl-like wings. The wings were a wonder of engineering: they looked as though they simply grew from Screech's back naturally, but truthfully, they were the invention of an English designer whose named escaped Voyd at the moment. As Screech already had owl-like features, the inventor had simply built a metal-framed, lightweight, durable pair of owllike wings to grant Screech the one ability that an owl had, but he lacked: the power of flight. The wings were wirelessly connected to Screech's mind and moved at his brain's command, as easily as Voyd could flutter her fingers. It was the most advanced tech you could get.

Screech always had a strangely birdlike expression, one that made it difficult to discern how he was feeling sometimes. He wore that expression now as he approached his teammates. At least he didn't look bushed, Voyd thought, and the fact that he was here, let alone that he was dressed in his super suit, indicated that he was ready for a night of hero work.

She raised a hand in greeting. "Hey!"

"Good afternoon." He was formal as always. "Are the others coming?"

"I think most of 'em are still asleep."

"That is not a surprise." Screech sat down on a chair, talon-like hands folded in his lap.

"You tired?" He-Lectrix asked.

Screech shrugged. "No more than usual. Besides, I simply can't stop thinking on what we did last night."

Voyd internally cringed a little, believing that Screech was going to talk about his own guilt over what had happened, which would only make herfeel guiltier and might even possibly result in some tears. But it was the opposite.

"In all my years, only the rarest of times have I utilized my screech to stop criminals in their tracks. Last night's exploits thrilled me to no end." His orange eyes gleamed with excitement. "Yes, I know we made an error, but despite that, I can't help but feel proud of what we did. I hope tonight, we meet some delinquents who give us a better chase. I find it most thrilling to pursue and stop criminals."

These were sentiments that Voyd agreed with. "Yeah, we did do pretty great, didn't we?" she offered hesitantly.

"Speak for yourself," He-Lectrix butted in, speaking in a mock-bitter tone. "Some of us didn't really get the chance to do anything."

Voyd knew he was joking, but his comment still worried her. "That's not true! You helped bring the others to the scene, and you helped capture the robbers. We all helped."

"Yeah, but I didn't get to…" He lifted his hands, clawlike. "Zap."

"Well, you never know. Tonight might be your night to…" She mimicked his hands. "Zap."

At that moment, Krushauer entered the room, now dressed in his blue super costume. He wordlessly lifted a hand in greeting to his fellow supers and went to stand by the window, his favorite spot. Voyd didn't know the blue-suited super all that well. He was pretty enigmatic, and she didn't know much about his past or his current civilian life; he kept those details close to his chest. She did know that he was German, originally, and that he probably had a high-powered career elsewhere, as sometimes he referred to "not having enough time." She did know he liked to crush things. He made no secret about that.

"How you feeling?" she asked Krushauer.

"I've had better days. And worse ones," came his vague response.

"Same," she responded sympathetically. She'd definitely had way better days than yesterday and today, but despite how awful they'd been, did they scratch her top 10 worst days of all time? Nope. Not really.

Within the next half-hour, Reflux had awoken from his rest, and Brick had arrived back from the outside. Each were suited-up in their costumes, and though all looked at least a little tired, Voyd's excitement slowly grew as she realized that none of her friends had been deterred by what happened yesterday. They were all ready to go, well-prepared for another night of hero work.

Voyd tried her best to put aside her feelings of guilt and doubt. These emotions wouldn't serve the people of New Urbem, not tonight. Tonight, if she and her colleagues were going to fight crime, they needed to be sharp, on their toes, not weighed down by insecurities. Sure, it was hard, but the citizens were worth it.

She looked out the window as her friends awkwardly chatted, all apparently trying to skirt around the subject of yesterday's attack. Sunset's hues of gold and pink and orange were streaked across the sky like spilled paint, bathing the city of New Urbem, all its skyscrapers and museums and alleyways, in a multihued glow. This was worth protecting. And it was evening: nearing the time of day when the city most needed its loyal guards.

"Well, everyone," Voyd interrupted their idle chatter with smiling determination. "Ready to go out and kick some butt?"