I yawned as I took a bite of my sandwich and then a sip of my tee. This shop was pretty good. I'd have to keep it in mind in the future as it was within an easy walking distance of Aimei's place. Speaking of within easy walking distance; While my physical body was enjoying eating a delicious sandwich and tea, a large part of my seemingly infinite multitasking was centered on a building two blocks away.

"Left door, two down. One guy, pistol in his belt getting something off a shelf uh...three meters in and to the left. Couch between you and him. Unaware anything's going on."

This was communicated sub vocally on a neat little device Shep had rigged up for me. between bites. We'd done some brief chatting about designing a tactical communication system with having a few bugs ride along on her body but hadn't hammered out the details on that yet. For now, we were sticking to more simple means of communication.

"Got it. I'm thinking bee. You thinking bee?" She replied, and I watched from my point of view as she lined up with the door. As she was doing so, I had a bee slip in an open window a little ways away from him and suddenly fly in his face.

He let out a startled yelp as he stumbled backwards which was a signal that Aimei took to toss the door open. She crossed the distance between herself and the stunned guy as he turned to face the door. A quick twist put her in his blind spot and an application of her taser put him on the ground and sent a tingle through the air and my bee. A brief thought made me wonder if there was something to the different waves we used in modern society having something to do with the dwindling honey bee population... she finished zip tying the guy while I was mulling it over.

I absently watched as Shepard finished looting the cash and drugs while giving her an all clear. I watched her smile and nod in the direction of one of my bugs. "I think that's enough for the day. Enough cash and drugs to fill my duffle bag and all the baddies in the building are ready for police pickup."

I frowned as she started making her way to the exit while shooting a text over to the crime tip line. "I'm still no sure on this whole reselling drugs thing."

She sighed. "Yeah, I figured that my bother you with your school and all. The point basically breaks down to this: 1: People are going to do it anyways, so profit. 2: You tend to only see the worst of it, the people that turn to them in order to feel something positive in a world that's anything but. You don't see the people that are upstanding responsible members of society who do certain things as a hobby. That's where these are going." I could tell she was doing her usual musing face even without looking at her. "That's without even comparing them to something that's "socially acceptable" like alcohol. Nanoweave spidersilk won't buy itself..."

She paused for a moment as she claimed out a window on to a far escape. "Look, I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you each of what I grabbed later and you can do your own research into the chemical effects on brains, short term and long term effects, etc. IF you still have a moral problem with it after having a solid grounding in facts then I'll drop this avenue of money making for now. Keep in mind that when we're the Warlord Queens of the Bay it will be a required thing, though."

I grumbled, but accepted the situation for what it was. When we got back to her place I'd do my own studies. Shepard would never take an uninformed position seriously but if I made a decision contrary to hers despite having all the facts then she would accept that.

Ten minutes later she'd dropped off the bag at her place and had shown up to meet me as I finished off my fries wearing an outfit that wouldn't have been out of place on a skater chick.

"Hey Taylor!" She greeted me cheerfully for the benifit of anyone that might overhear. "Ready to go?"

I gave her a hug, only partially for the benifit of onlookers. "Sure! I just finished up here."

She grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me away. Once we were out of eyesight of the place I frowned slightly. "So. Where exactly are we going?"

"Mall." She answered simply.

I gave her one of her trademark eyebrow raises.

"Why?"

"Because I just got more money I can stand to drop a little bit of some stuff."

I rolled my eyes this time. "Stuff like what?"

She grinned. "Well. Normally I'd be quite enthusiastically browsing weapon and armor mods. Somehow, I doubt that's an option at the moment."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I can see it going over well when the 16 year old skater girl drops in the gunshop and starts expertly browsing their wears."

She flashed me a grin. "It would be fun! I haven't gotten to shoot something in sooo long. And there's all these antique guns just waiting for me to get my hands on them! But yeah. Bit higher profile than I'm looking for at the moment. I'll do it in costume sometime after my name's already out there."

I shook my head in amusement. Because showing up in costume, probably as a super villain at that, would be a much better option.

"But yeah, no. I'm thinking nose ring. Also need to get my hair trimmed a bit. Split ends are a bitch."

I blinked. "That seems...incredibly mundane."

Another flash of a grin. "Well, of course. I mean, sure. I didn't do it while I was in the military. Or saving the galaxy. But that's because there were way more important things that needed my attention every waking moment. Right now, there's not. Which means I can indulge my rebellious teenage whims and get a nose piercing. Suck it mom. Down with the man. All that."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine. Fine. Let's go indulge in a little teenage rebellion."

"That's the spirit!" She tossed her arm around her shoulder. "We can get matching ones! And you know, you'd look great with a shorter hair cut. Hmm. I'm thinking blue. Yeah, you could rock blue."

Why? Why couldn't I manage to go a single conversation with her without gaping. "But. I mean. What?"

I closed my mouth and shut up so I could compose my response in order to speak without looking like an idiot. "I've never really changed my hair. It's...me? I mean, it's the only thing good genes I actually got from my mom and my feminine trait..."

She pulled the arm over my shoulders a bit tighter into a hug. "Shh. It was just a thought. I wasn't telling you to. I just thought you'd look cute with it and all."

I sighed. Yeah, she was just being friendly like...well, having a friend was supposed to be like, really. I could see me and Emma having this exact same conversation if we'd made it this far together. And maybe it would be fun to change my hair once. I mean, hair grew back. It wasn't like it would be a permanent change...

"...and I've been thinking about that a bit lately." She was continuing on some point while I was distracted in my thoughts. "I could come over and sit down with you and your dad and get things straightened up there."

My mind instantly jumped to how such a situation would play out.

"Hey Danny, mind if I grab a drink? Thanks! Now, Taylor's my friend so this bothers me. Your wife died. That sucks. You know what sucks more? You being like 12 and your mom dying. So we're going to sit here until you wrap your mind around that and we get this situation worked out."

I shuddered involentarily. "Erm. No. No. That's fine, like more than fine, like...yeah. I can handle it myself. Growing up and stuff, right?"

She gave me a sad smile. "Sure, if you feel that way. It's your family Taylor."

I gave her a reassuring one in return. "Yeah. It's for the best. Definitely for the best."

We arrived at the mall not too much later. Ultimately, I did go through with Aimei's suggestion. A few hours later and we were walking through the food court and I was strangely satisfied every time I caught sight of my blue pixie cut and nose ring in reflections. It was different but...different definitely felt good.

As we left the building and crossed the parking lot my confidence level was a few steps up from where it had been. I had new clothes that I rocked, a fun new hair cut and piercing ("No, Aimei, my well of teenage rebellion is most certainly not intense enough to warrant a tattoo or more exotic piercing!"). I looked good. Hell, I felt good.

I spotted Dean and a small group of people heading towards the mall and I gave him a, honestly for the first time in a long time, natural smile and wave.

He smiled back...

And that was when the dread settled in. The raw terror. The existential threat on my life. I half froze and half stumbled back, landing on my ass, as my eyes darted around before eventually landing on a blonde floating from the group and rapidly approaching us. Glory Girl. I'd somehow pissed off Glory Girl and she was going to kill me. She was giving a death stare in our direction and everyone was flinching away from her and Dean was yelling and I was going to die

There was a load crack and some part of my mind absently noted that guns sounded nothing in real life like they did in TV shows especially when you were right next to one.

Glory Girl looked stunned and paused for a second a few meters away from us before outrage settled on her features. I turned just enough to get a look at Shepard and felt my blood run a bit cold. Logic started to reassert itself as my emotions offloaded themselves. I was still viscerally terrified, but I was also very very good at multitasking now that the shock was removed.

I reacted to primal, life threatening fear by flinching. Wavering between flight or fight with flight winning out against someone like Glory Girl. How did Shepard respond to such situations.

Apparently by trying to put a bullet in it.

Now that it wasn't T-0 seconds in and more like T-3, initial shock to the onslaught of fear had faded slightly. Shepard's face was cold, very cold, a look I hadn't seen on her thus far. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye with some concern. I saw it flicker to releif for a moment, then to consideration, then to a slight smirk I recognized as her picking a direction as she looked past Glory Girl at the group she'd been with.

I caught where her eyes had jumped and felt my heart skip a few beats. Panacea was there. Well, Glory Girl was, so that made sense. What could Shepard be plotting that involved...oh. Oh no.

T-6. I try to say something, but as Aimei levels a challenging gaze on Glory Girl things escalate too fast. Glory Girl crosses the distance and slams a hand into Aimei's arm sending the gun flying before backhanding her with a sickening crunch.

T-8. Shepard lands on her back a few feet away with blood flowing from her obviously broken nose with Glory Girl stalking towards her.

T-10. Bugs that had been answering my call since the fear hit are densely forming in nearby trees. I'm standing protectively over Shepard with my arms outstretched. She's not stopping from taking a step forwards and raises her hand.

T-12. "Jesus Fucking Christ Vicky!" There's pounding on the pavement as both Panacea and Dean are running over.

T-13. Glory girl pauses.

T-18. Dean grabs her. Panacea shoots her a very angry look as she moves past.

T-20. "This fucking bitch hits on my boyfriend, and when I decide to give her a piece of my mind she fucking shoots me."

"Vicky, you can't just..."

I've put the pieces together by this point, and I level my gaze on her. "Yes. I'm sure that it had nothing to do with you flooding the area with some kind of pants slightingly terrifying feeling. How's the PRT feel about Supers using their powers against normals again?"

She actually flinches slightly from this before crossing her arms, a dirty look on her face. "That doesn't change the fact that she fucking tried to shoot me!"

I wave my arms. "You're fucking bullet proof. EVERYONE KNOWS YOU'RE FUCKING BULLETPROOF! That was a non-superpowered persons way of telling you to back the fuck off when you're throwing powers around!"

Panacea sighs at this point and tosses a glare and where Dean is holding Glory Girl. Was that a hint of jealousy? Well, he was a pretty good looking guy. Seemed like a decent sort, too. "Look. I can get your friend healed up and we can call this a misunderstanding. Her aura freaked her out and she shot her. Things understandably escalated from there."

I gave her a disbelieving look. I'd admit I wasn't fully up on all the hero ins and outs, but. "You're kidding me? She makes Aimei and me terrified for her life and when she reasonably responds to that she fucking breaks her nose? She's not even a criminal! How many people has she put in the hospital?!"

There's a wet chuckle from the ground. "None. Panacea is her sister, remember?"

To my credit, it only takes that a second to click. Another for it to overwrite my preexisting assumptions about heroes. Shock and anger probably flicker across my face. "You're literally immune to anything random assholes can do to you. What the hell is wrong with you? You're a hero!"

She snorts in response. "They're bad guys, and it's hard to hold back all the time. Who cares if they get a little banged up. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me..."

Panacea cuts her off. "No. No you are. Fuck, Vicky. I've been trying to tell you this shit for over a year now. And now, this? She's not even a criminal. You. Need. To. Fucking. Stop."

She huffs indignantly before pushing Dean away and then flying off, a small crack of a human sized object breaking the sound barrier echoing shortly after she leaves the ground.

Another sigh from the healer. "Look. Can I just heal you and we can put this behind us? After this, she isn't going to be able to avoid mom. I can promise nothing like this will happen again."

Another wet chuckle from Shepard. "Nuh uh. I trust you, but this is more than a little fucked up."

Panacea gives her a resigned look. "I thought it would be something like that. What are you going to do, sue? Take it to the press? I always knew something like this would happen eventually."

Shepard shook her head slightly and I winced at the small cracking sound in the process. "Nope. Going to extort you, actually. Couple of favors besides healing me, nothing illegal. And I'm stealing you for a girls night out tonight."

Panacea turned to give me a disbelieving look which I made a point of fully returning. We both then turned said look on Aimei.

She shrugged slightly. "Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"