So much has happened since Leni got these powers.

So much is happening right now.

It was hard to believe what became the new "normal" since she became a superhero so many months ago. She made her costume, protected the city from so many supernatural threats, and… well, her brother is getting better.

She showed up on TV, how cool is that?

Things got shockingly quiet for the following months after that. It was like the whole city was taking a breather from the attacks. Over the holidays, Leni only had to deal with the occasional mugger.

Of course, this left Lisa with another theory.

"You have presented yourself as a clear and present protector of the local area," she explained, "arguably more so than the police. The more forward-thinking criminal has to take you into consideration moving forward. They'll prepare for your presence, and act accordingly."

"In Leni- er, layman's terms," Lori offered, seeking some form a control. "The longer you do this, the more dangerous it gets. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Leni nodded.

"Of course."

In the months of waiting, it felt less like a vacation and more like everyone was holding their breath. Who would pop first?

Leni felt a jolt in her spine as a scream was carried on the winds, right into her ears. With a sigh, she set down the smoothie she had just made.

"Back to work," she mentioned to her father, in the middle of making lunch for everyone. Rita looked back at her as well, examining how she moved.

"Oh! Okay! Uh…!" her father tried to process. Leni was already out of the room. "We'll save a plate for you!"

Leni glided up the steps, turning to her room and changing in a flash. She opened up her window when she heard Rita enter.

"Hey," she called, making the younger girl hesitate. She had her arms crossed in front of her, like she was restraining herself. She opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated. Then she settled on, "Be careful."

With a smile and a nod, Leni zoomed through the air. She slowed down enough to see the commotion around a bank.

"This must be the place," she set down.

She saw the people crowding around the entrance. Police were already on the scene.

"We got the place surrounded," one of the officers approached her. "But they're refusing to surrender."

"Okay," Leni nodded. "Powers?"

"We don't know," he shrugged. "Some are saying yes, but others… I don't know if I believe them."

"Miss!" One of the people called over, "Miss!"

Leni gave him her attention. He had a wild look in his eye.

"I know it sounds crazy," he told her, "but man… they got some wacko gadgets or something! Ain't seen nothing like it since like Star Trek or something!"

"Okay," Leni nodded, "Thanks for the information."

She turned to the officer. "I'll go in and see what I can do."

The man shook his head.

"Look, miss," he warned her. "We don't know who's in there or what they're after. There's no money in a bank like this. They took too long, and now they're desperate to get out. Hobbs doesn't want anyone going in their without backup."

Leni considered this, then looked at the building in question. A squad of police would be nice, but things could get… shooty.

"I'm gonna go talk to them," Leni decided.

"No, wait!"

Leni drifted inside and looked around. Every person that makes it out alive is a win.

Making this objective harder; was the sudden ambush.

Leni didn't register what it was first, but it wrapped around her legs and pulled her down, then up. It slammed her into the ground of the main lobby.

"Crap," someone swore. "She's here!"

"Then take care of her!" someone shouted back.

"On it!"

Leni opened her eyes enough to see the barrel of a gun. She flew out of the way as a wave of heat and fire obliterated the spot she was at just seconds before.

Leni got her first glimpse of the robbers. This one couldn't have been older than fifteen. Her clothes were clearly borrowed; being a wielder's apron and boots. Clearly picked with the intention of protecting herself from the extreme heat projected by that…

Hairdryer?

She spotted another kid, a boy with rubber cleaning gloves and a thick rope in his hands. His hair was spiked, like it he'd been electrocuted. He twirled the cable around and lashed it out at Leni. Leni caught the rope by its head.

"Duh. Why didn't I do that earlier," she though to herself.

Then she looked down at the cable. It… just looked like a plug. A comically large, three-pronged black plug.

With electricity arching between the prongs.

Leni's back arched, as the electricity reached out and shocked her! A few seconds, feeling like an eternity, finally ended, and she let go of the cable. She faltered, descending towards the ground.

"What on earth…" she staggered once her feet hit. "Is going on?"

"We're kicking your-" the insult was lost, because as Leni turned, the third boy fired. A blast of wind knocking her off her feet and across the room.

As Leni got the wind knocked out of her, she noted that the big guy was wearing heavy clothes. Steel toed boots, a thick and heavy coat.

"Well, I can't just miss this!" a fourth child stepped forward. "I want a crack at this too!"

Leni looked up at the girl. She was wearing goggles, and had a tank of water hanging from her shoulder like a handbag. The tank had a hose with a wand that rested in her gloved hands. The wand had a notch at its handle. She fiddled with it and sprayed a couple of times. Leni saw how it carved into the tiles of the lobby like they weren't even there.

"I'll split her in two," the girl promised.

One dropped in from his hiding place.

"Not until I shock her a little more."

The others approached.

"I want to burn off that prim and perfect little face of hers!"

The big guy fiddled with the settings on his over-the-shoulder cannon.

"Nah. I'll set this thing at full charge. I'll blow her head clean off!"

"Wait," Leni pleaded, fighting for air. "Who are you?"

"Heh," the leading girl shrugged. "The city's going to know our names anyways. I'm the Water Witch."

"Hot Stuff," the girl with the hairdryer labeled. "What? I'm confident with my looks!"

"Killer Cable."

"Hurricane Wrench."

Leni looked between the four of them. She didn't have an opinion on their names, but their weapons…

"Where did you get those?"

"Doesn't matter," Water Witch dismissed. "Time to die."

They were standing close together, around her. Leni sucked in some air and blew, hitting them with the force of a hurricane. They all got shoved back. She launched herself forward and tackled the big guy to the ground, knocking his weapon out of his hand. Leni picked it up and threw against the wall, it broke into pieces.

She dashed at Hot Stuff, making her squeal and duck with her hands up to defend her head. Leni stopped in front of her, taking the weapon out of her hand and squeezing the nozzle. It took some doing, but she managed to crush the metal in her hand.

"Ow," she complained. "That hurts."

"Not as much as this!"

Leni pushed the girl down to the ground, covering her as a spray of white water passed overhead. She looked briefly at the damage it caused, cutting a line into the wall and floors, before getting back up and facing her attacker.

"Crap!" she swore. "I'm out!"

Leni turned her attention to Cable, who swung his weapons at his sides.

"Kill you," he grunted as he swung.

"I don't even know any of you!" Leni complained.

He swung the cables around. Lashing out and striking the ground around Leni. Leni ducked and dodged, watching for sparks of electricity as the head slam down around her.

Leni dashed forward, slamming into the boy, and him into the ground.

"Leni!" Luna's voice came over the earpiece. "What the heck is going on?!"

"Is that Leni?" Rita's voice entered the chat. "Where is she? Who is that? Is this on the news?"

"Honey? Are you alright?!" Lynn Sr.'s voice echoed in the background.

"Oh, now you show up," Leni complained under her breath.

She wrestled the cables from the boy's grip, she pulled them up and started wrapping them around the chandelier.

"Who is that? What is he holding? Leni, are you hurt?!" Rita blew up her ear canal.

"Mom, ease up!" Luna butted in. "This isn't her first rodeo! She's going to be fine."

"I'm fine," she answered, finishing up the knot she tied.

Cable tried to struggle, trying to untie himself.

"I wouldn't do that," Leni advised. "It's a long way down. You might break something."

The boy looked at her, then looked down. The anger and frustration on his face faded with the realization.

Leni looked around, seeing the door to a bathroom open.

"Hold on guys, I'm almost full!" the leader called out.

Leni drifted down to the bathroom and stepped inside. The Water Witch stood over a sink, filling up her water tank under the faucet.

"I'm almost-!" she stopped herself when she saw Leni. Leni in turn walked over and turned off the faucet.

"Well, that was easy," Rita commented.

"Now," Leni folded her arms in front of her. "You're going to tell me what you and your friends were doing here. And you're going to tell me where you got these… weapons."

"She sounds a little like you, dear," Lynn Sr helpfully noted.

"I was thinking she sounded like you, honey," Rita distracted.

"Not a great time, guys!" Lynn Jr dissuaded.

Witch, not hearing any of this, answered, "Look, it wasn't anything personal! I mean, the power kind of got to our heads, you know? And we thought, hey, it's a bank. They're greedy and evil, what harm could it really do? And we figured we owed him-"

"Owed?" Leni picked up. "Who do you owe?"

"Um…" the girl twiddled her thumbs. "I… We… don't know."

Leni gave her a disapproving look.

"He just gave us the toys," she explained, "We played around with them, and… Well, he contacted us a couple days ago and told us he needed money. He gave us this drive and… told us to just plug it in, in any bank. So…"

"Show me where."

The two of them walked behind a desk to see the computers the tellers worked on. The screens flickered with images and numbers and binary that flashed by, too quick for the girl to track.

She spotted the thumb drive and ripped it out of the computer. The flashing images stopped, defaulting to the screensavers they had.

"Leni," Lisa voiced her concern. "I would very much like to have that drive."

"What does this do?" Leni turned to the supposed Witch.

"He just said it would transfer the money he needed," she answered shakily. "A couple… billion?"

The doors burst open, and the police stormed the building. Within minutes, the teenagers were arrested, and she was left to think these events over.

"Officer Hobbs," Leni greeted as he approached.

"Does he see us?" Rita wondered.

"No, Mom," Luan was exasperated by her mother's lack of technical knowledge.

"Miss," he nodded. "Or, Sky Girl. Any troubles today?"

"They were kids," she explained. "Some of them were even younger than me."

"Well, it doesn't look like any of them are hurt, at least not too badly. This bank doesn't have any money in it, just about a weeks' worth of customer deposits. Talked to the manager already, they said everything was shipped out the other day. Did they say anything?"

"That they were gifted these weapons, and they were coerced into this robbery," she sighed. "And they got what they wanted with this thingy."

"A thumb drive?" Hobbs wondered. "That must be a hell of program on there."

"My sister is kind of a genius," Leni offered. "Can I take this and give it back to you later?"

Hobbs huffed with a short laugh, shaking his head.

"Sure, kid," he smiled. "Do what you gotta do."

With a smile back, Leni took to the skies, flying her way back home.

"It's your world," Hobbs muttered, "We're all just living in it."


The path ahead laid before him, lengthy and uncaring.

"I'm right here with you. We can start when you're ready."

Lincoln looked up at his oldest sister. She smiled down patiently, something of a rare sight in the boy's life, though couldn't muster up any appreciation for it.

His parents and Lori decided to take shifts with Lincoln after the holidays. Today was Lori's turn, and it was the first day of the second week they cleared him for physical therapy. The damage wasn't as devastating as it could have been, but it still hurt, all the same.

He took in a breath, steeling himself for the task ahead.

"Okay," he said, "Let's get this over with."

He pushed himself out of the chair, Lori briefly reaching out and helping his hand find the bars. Lincoln pulled himself up, the majority of his weight pressed into his palms. His legs were not strong enough to support him yet.

"Okay," Lori coached him. "One step at a time."

"I know, Lori."

He silently commanded his leg to move. It seemed to take so much, just to wiggle his toes. He hears his parents talk when they think he's asleep. With the restaurant still being repaired, the paychecks are cut in half. And the bills are stacked high since he was admitted. Dad has to pick up a part time job until he can get back to serving Lynn's Table. And he may have to keep it even after that.

The tip of his shoe scrapped the floor and planted itself flatly against the ground.

"Good job!" Lori cheered, careful not to touch him. "Now…"

She trailed off, watching him twitch his other foot.

There was a boiling sensation, in the pit of his stomach. It bubbled and burned and broiled.

His foot caught on his ankle, and he tripped.

"Whoa!" Lori cried.

Lincoln dropped and hooked himself on the railing. His chin and elbows hit it, and he struggled to right himself.

"Easy there," Lori advised, wrapping her arms around her brother. "Let me help you."

"..." he muttered something under his breath.

"What?"

Lincoln was leaning over the railing now, his stomach bearing most of the weight.

"Get off me!" He swatted an arm at her. "I don't need…!"

He couldn't finish the sentence. He knew it wasn't true. He needed her here, but he was just too angry to accept it.

Lori though, was not phased.

"Do you want to sit down," she asked him, "or do you want to keep going?"

Lincoln panted. Two steps. Two freaking steps!?

"I'm fine," he muttered. He hung his head in shame. "I want to keep going. I just… need a minute."

"Okay," Lori nodded. She stood next to him, with a water bottle in her hand.

The television was turned up on the other side of the rec room. Leni stopped a bank robbery committed by a bunch of kids with super weapons.

"Should've been me." A low voice muttered.

Lori looked at her brother. Her eyes were critical, dissecting.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" she offered.

Lincoln looked at her, before looking back down and shaking his head.

"No," he answered.

"Are you sure?"

He stayed silent. His eyes stayed fixed on a stain on the rug.

"…M angry."

"Okay," Lori planted a hand on his shoulder. "What are you angry about?"

"…" he bowed his head in shame.

"You can tell me," Lori encouraged. Her hand gently rubbed his back. "I'm listening."

I'm a burden on this family. I can't walk or do anything by myself. I know more about superheroes than anyone else, and I don't have superpowers. My sister does. And she bumbles her way into saving the day and she can't even spell radioactive! Haven't seen Clyde in six months. Ronnie Anne is always busy since school wasn't cancelled where she is.

And I can't take two steps without tripping over myself!

"I can't…" Lincoln struggled. "Can't say it."

"Whatever it is," Lori promised. "It stays between us."

Lincoln thought about it.

"I hate… this." He confessed.

"This what?" Lori guessed. "The exercise? You have to do it, Lincoln. You need to practice. And… you gained a few pounds over Christmas."

"I know," his tone no less light nor accepting. "I hate…"

He trailed off.

"What is it?"

"…" Lincoln shook his head. "Leni was here yesterday."

"I remember."

"I almost asked…" he sighed. "I wanted her to get me one of those… crystals."

"Crystals…?" Lori tried to remember. Right, when the generator exploded, it left crystalized debris all over the city. "Like the ones on the news?"

He nodded.

"Why would you ask her that?" Lori sounded slightly more distressed.

"I didn't ask her!" Lincoln corrected.

"Why would you, though?" she demanded.

"I… I knew that she would… go get me one," he confessed. "I knew she would get me one if she thought it would heal me."

Lori looked at her brother. Her face was stern, stunned, and unreadable.

"…You know that's wrong, Lincoln," Lori told him.

"I know," he admitted. He gave a sniff and wiped his face on his arm. "I figured it was worth a shot, but I never got her alone in the room with me. And now I just…"

He hung his head again. Shame overtook him in a single wave. He couldn't look his sister in the eye.

"But you haven't asked her," Lori questioned.

"No," he answered. "I never got the chance."

The two stayed silent for a few minutes.

"I'm a bad person," he told his sister.

Her hand found its way to his back again, as she leaned forward to listen.

"I have all these… awful thoughts," he explained. "And… I know I shouldn't be mad at Leni, but I am. I keep thinking like… did she even try? Did I have to go in there to begin with? Or if I died, maybe mom and dad wouldn't have to worry about-"

"Lincoln. Martin. Loud."

He flinched at his own name. He looked up at his sister, but not in the eyes.

"Don't ever say that." She scolded him. "Things are going to be tight for a little while, but we'll figure it out. Don't ever feel like you shouldn't be here."

Her hand reached around to his other shoulder, pulling him into a side embrace.

"I know this is rough, Lincoln," she sympathized. "But we're all going through this with you. What happened, happened. And as much as I want to go back and change it, I can't. Everyone did everything they could. And nobody did anything wrong. And that's… probably the hardest thing to accept."

"…Pretty sure that fire guy did something wrong."

Lori chuckled into his hair.

"Everyone that matters." Lori corrected.

They stayed silent for a moment. The boy oddly felt better, having let some of that out.

"I'm…" Lincoln sighed. "I think I'm ready to try again."

"Okay," Lori let him go and got beside him. "Whenever you're ready."

Lincoln struggled more, but managed to get more steps in. We worked harder, slowly but surely.

Lori remembered something she read once. The five stages of grief. Its almost never develops in the order listed, and everyone goes through it on their own pace. But everyone goes through it, regardless, if they've encountered trauma. Through all the celebration and wrapping her head around this superhero nonsense, she forgot her little brother would be going through his own battle.

As she helped Lincoln sit back down in his chair, she sighed.

"Some workout, huh?" she smiled at him.

"Yeah," Lincoln sighed. "Back to basics."

Lori pushed him out and back to the van. The only thing on her mind was how upside down the world had gotten.