Run 1-2

Nancy peered through the peephole on the apartment door as the knock came again. She let out her held breath at the sight of the tall, leggy blond on the other side of the door. They were safe. They were fine. This probably wasn't ideal, but it was fine.

She stepped back, took off the chain and pulled open the door, waving Victoria inside. The Dallon girl stepped past her, a small frown maring her near perfect features. Those legs had to be illegal and that hair was too perfect to be natural. And those clothes. Lisa would've killed for clothes like that. Or stolen them. Probably stolen them. Lisa had been a bitch like that - maybe it was for the best that she was gone now. Sarah would've just bought them and snarked at the clerk who thought she couldn't afford it.

Nancy, on the other hand, could only stare in despondent jealousy at the sky-blue blouse and russet foster pants. One day she'd get to go clothes shopping again.

"Are you checking me out?"

Nancy rolled her eyes and looked to the heavens for strength. She met Victoria's eyes as she closed the door and ran a hand down the leg of her poorly sized jeans.

"I have literally no idea what you're trying to say. Something about your pants?"

Nancy groaned and hit the back of her head against the door. She had gotten too used to Taylor and how scarily easy that girl understood her. Nancy again ran both hands down the legs of her pants, then pointed to Victoria's own leggings and flashed her two thumbs up with a wide smile. Then she pointed back to her own jeans and flipped her thumbs down.

"Okay…uh, my clothes look nice and yours…don't?" Nancy nodded. "Thanks. I think. Whatever, not what I'm here for. Is Taylor here? I really need to talk to her."

Nancy shook her head. She held both hands to the side of her head and leaned over shutting her eyes briefly.

Victoria grimaced and held up her hands. "I'm sorry I…"

She grumbled, but did not scowl. It wasn't Victoria's fault that she had been spoiled, it was Taylor's. This was why she had been practicing anyway. Taylor wasn't always going to be around and she needed to be able to communicate again without freezing up. She needed to start pulling her weight again and that wasn't going to happen until she could bring herself to make actual sounds. Or at least to write. Writing would be nice.

She grabbed the notepad from the table, sat down and breathed out, shutting her eyes as she willed the shaking in her hand to stop. She could do this. Taylor was asleep in the next room and Vicky was a…friend. More or less. Yeah, Vicky was a friend. Only friends let people crash at their secret boltholes. Vicky was a friend. She was safe. She was fine.

She was fine.

The pencil traced down the paper, pausing in spots as the tremors resumed, but after less than a minute the drawing was complete, only a few squiggles out of place. It was actually fairly easy to see what it was too. She was getting better. Maybe she should get a side-career as an artist once this was all over.

"A bed? Oh! She's napping. But it's…She's going out later, so she's sleeping now instead right? That makes sense. Damn; do you know how long she'll be out for? I really do need to talk to her."

Nancy frowned, glanced at the clock, and held up two fingers.

"Two what? Two minutes, hours, days?" Nancy glared at Vicky. The older girl blinked a few times and snorted. "Okay, yeah, I probably deserve that look. Two hours, right? Right."

Nancy handed over the pad to Vicky, raising her eyebrows.

Vicky sighed, shaking her head. "It's okay. I told my mom I was going to the Boardwalk. I can wait. Do you want to, I don't know, play a game or something? I think I have a chessboard in here somewhere."

Nancy smiled and gestured magnanimously towards the table. Vicky glanced towards her, shrugged and went to rummage in the closet. She came back after a minute with the chess set and set things up.

Experienced player from initial moves. Can checkmate in -

Nancy shook her head and suppressed her power. She didn't want to cheat. It wasn't sporting. Her power didn't prompt anything further as they both kept moving pieces in silence. Nancy bit her lip, watching Vicky's expression as she nudged her queen forward. This was it. This would set things up. One more move and she would be able to -

"You extended too far," Vicky said. She reached forward and edged her knight to the side. "Check."

Nancy grimaced and moved to block the attack.

A pawn leaped forward promoting into a new queen. "Checkmate."

Nancy dropped her fist, then held out her hand to Vicky.

"Yeah, good game. You almost had me, never forget about the pawns though. Nasty little buggers once you ignore them. Another?"

They made it through another game which Nancy won and were halfway through a third when Taylor walked out of the bedroom, yawning. She dropped onto the couch next to Nancy, their knees knocking together as the brunette wiped her eyes under her glasses.

"Hi, Vicky. Thanks for letting us borrow your apartment."

"Yeah, it's…fine." Vicky abandoned the game as she frowned, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. "I wanted to talk to you, to both of you."

"Okay."

Vicky blinked. "You're really going to make me say it?"

"I don't really know what you're talking about. I just woke up."

"Yeah, but…Whatever, okay, look, Taylor, Nancy, you guys can't hide out for forever. You can't hide out for weeks. I can maybe be okay with a few days. I talked with - uh - someone I know at the PRT, and I heard that there was an issue at home. I totally understand wanting to run away, but you guys aren't old enough to support yourselves; you can't get a legit job yet, you can't hold a mortgage, you can't legally register as a superhero team. Trust me on this, okay? I've done my research. At least one of you has to be 18 first."

Nancy turned to Taylor and inclined her head towards the apartment.

"You own an apartment."

"It's in my cousin's name who is over 18," Vicky said, sighing. "There are other options than just…hiding."

Taylor's fist clenched. Nancy doubted that Vicky would notice the tightening of her jaw or the narrowing of her eyes or the tension in her shoulders. Nancy only noticed because she had been with Taylor for long enough now to start picking up on her friend's tells. Taylor wasn't running. Taylor wasn't running at all. Taylor was hunting.

And as much as that sent terrified shivers down her back, it also sent warm flutters through her chest.

"This isn't long term, Vicky. I couldn't really explain over the phone, but I have a plan. I'm pissed at my dad, but we didn't just leave because of that. We left because if we stayed there then Coil was going to end up kidnapping Nancy again. I saw proof of that before we left my neighborhood. He had a van of goons sitting outside my house; before the PRT van got there. The only way that could happen was if he was tipped off by moles inside their organization while their own people were delayed."

Vicky leaned back, chewing her lip as her brows furrowed. "It's possible that…he might have been tipped off another way too…I mean…Please don't take this the wrong way, but, Nancy's a Thinker, right?"

Nancy scowled, and Taylor nodded.

"I thought so. I'm sorry, but my sister was asked to heal you and well, gangs don't really give tinker drugs to normals. Then there was that whole thing with Shadow Stalker and…That had Thinker written all over it. You kinda tipped your hand, to people who know where to look at least."

Nancy leaned back, covering her eyes with one hand. Taylor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against her, Nancy melded herself into Taylor's side and let her head rest on her…friend.

She wasn't going to be able to keep lying to herself for much longer. It didn't matter. Once she could talk again, she could stop ignoring it. Or at least once she could write. Once she could bring herself to write without breaking down, then no one could say that she was dependent. They wouldn't say that it was wrong, or weird, or that she had an unhealthy attachment. They wouldn't force her away for her own good.

She just needed to be able to write.

"Thank you, Nancy," Taylor whispered. "I know what that cost you to do that, and, please don't ever forget this, you saved me. It was different from what I did for you, but to me, it was just as important."

"Okay, so I see you guys are having a moment here, but it doesn't really change anything. So Coil is coming after you. Come to New Wave, hell, let's go to Boston!"

Taylor just smiled and squeezed Nancy against her tighter. "He's never going to stop coming after her and I'm not going to let him have her no matter what. So how about a compromise? Give me a week? If I can't figure this all out in a week, then I promise we will come with you to your family."

Vicky scowled, crossing her arms as she glared at Taylor. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"My range is excellent, and he doesn't even know I'm a cape. All he knows about is Nancy. I have a plan. Technically I have three plans depending on how successful my recon tonight and tomorrow goes."

"Can you at least tell me what these glorious plans are?"

"He has a form of precognition. He can see two paths and then choose the better outcome, but it's real time. Once I find him, then I can make both his choices bad options and force him into a dead end both ways. If I get really lucky, I can see him making a new choice, locking him down into a single spot with no real exit strategy and I can take him down in under a minute, then call in backup. For a last ditch, sure-fire effort, I can just attack him where he happens to be at a specific time of day after a set period when he's likely to have already set up his choices."

Victoria's scowl didn't let up. "I'm going to say it again, you're going to get yourself killed."

"Anonymity is my friend. Right now five people in this city know I'm a cape. Nancy, you, Amy, my father, and Assault. As long as no one actually says anything for a few days, I can do this. Just give me a few days."

Victoria stood, her feet not touching the ground as she twisted away from the two of them, hiding her face. "You both have my number on Speed Dial?"

"We do."

"Good. When this goes sideways - and it will - call me." Vicky flew to the door, her hand on the knob as she hesitated. "Taylor, I'll give you your week, but I'm not giving you a day longer. I like you; I'm not going to let you get yourself or your girlfriend killed because you're a stubborn bitch."

"Vicky," Taylor said. Victoria stopped as the door started to unlatch, turning her head just enough to acknowledge she'd heard Taylor. "Thank you. Really, thank you. I don't have many friends. You said on the phone that we weren't friends. I think we are. Even if I've not done what I need to, even if you have to tell your family about us, that's okay. I understand why you feel like you have to and, unlike my dad, you're at least listening to me and giving me a chance. So, thank you. We're still going to be friends, no matter what."

Nancy didn't have to consult her power to see Vicky's expression smooth out, nor did she miss how Vicky's feet touched the ground again.

"Please don't get yourself killed, Taylor."

The blonde was gone and the door was closing again as Taylor leaned her head over to rest on Nancy's. "I know that we should take her up on her offer, going to New Wave I mean, but…I wouldn't be able to finish this if we did…"

Taylor doesn't intend to capture Coil when she moves against him. Taylor doesn't intend for Coil to survive. She will try to ensure that it appears accidental or that she was forced into it, working with New Wave would make it too difficult to make plausible; she expects consequences would result. She would still do it.

Nancy sniffled as she squeezed closer to Taylor. What had she done in a past life to deserve a protector like this Dark Rogue? There certainly wasn't anything worthy in this life.

"You saved me, Nancy. I'm going to save you. Just leave it all to me. Trust me."

She had never trusted anyone more.