"It's time for PHASE THREE!"
Fred slammed his lunch down on the canteen table: a wild energy buzzing in his eyes. A few people sat behind them turned to stare at him as he slid onto the bench next to Wasabi, "the question is, are you READY?!"
Gogo stared at him, "you know most people start a conversation with 'hello?' What are you talking about?"
He grinned manically and held up his index finger, "the first phase was THE ORIGIN STORY. The second phase?", he held up another finger, "taking down a bot fighting ring. The second, arguably most important adventure. It cemented us as REAL SUPERHEROES-"
Tadashi clapped a hand over his mouth, "stop talking before people hear you. DON'T LICK MY HAND THAT'S SO DISGUSTING?!"
"Listen, you all protested last time, but then what happened? We were NEEDED. We ARE needed. By the CITY!"
Rena rolled her eyes, "yeah but what we did wasn't to save the city. Just like with," she lowered her voice, aware that Abigail was standing right by then, "Callaghan. That had nothing to do with any greater good."
Fred shook his head, shoving a slice of pizza into his mouth, "yeah but... It was! We didn't set out to save the city, yet we did anyway! What do you think Jason Fournier would have done to the city if we hadn't have interfered? With the technology he had? He could have destroyed San Fransokyo!"
Gogo elbowed him, "shut up, Fred."
Rena put her head in her hands, "it's a nice idea but I realllyyyy can't deal with the whole 'nearly dying every few months' thing we seem to have going on at the moment."
Hiro took a swig of his drink, "ditto to that."
"And there's no one around to harm anyone anyway," Honey Lemon shrugged, "at least no one that the police can't deal with."
"There will be," Fred replied mysteriously, "there will be."
Wasabi sighed, "don't be like that you'll give me an anxiety attack. We've been back for one day and you're already back on this bullshit?"
"Let's just see what happens," Honey Lemon said lightly, "no need to speculate."
Fred shrugged, "you mark my words. There is someone out there."
Tadashi patted him on the shoulder, "sure there is, buddy. Sure there is."

"I thought Granville was going to have a heart attack when she saw your hair," Gogo said, shoving her stuff back into her bag, "I've never seen her actually lost for words before."
Rena laughed, "I know! I didn't even think anyone would notice!"
"It's a big change, to be fair," Honey Lemon said, "it looks great!"
"Aww guys, you're making me blush."
Gogo yawned as they stepped into the hallway, "God, I can't believe we've only been back a day. I'm exhausted."
"Tell me about it," Rena replied, "I always forget how much effort everything is. AND Tadashi and I promised my aunt we'd go grocery shopping. I just want to go to bed."
Honey Lemon laughed, "how are you going to survive exam season?"
"That's the thing. I'm not."

Rena waved them goodbye and wandered over to the car.
Hiro jogged up behind her, "I CALL SHOTGUN!"
Rena grinned and grabbed his hood, "absolutely not. I'm the oldest!"
Hiro twisted out of her grip, "I said it first!"
She ran after him, shoving him out the way and passing him with ease, "I don't care!"
Hiro grabbed her wrist, his fingernails digging into her skin. Rena yelped and twisted sideways, stumbling and falling to the floor. She landed in a heap, panting. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her wrist was burning as though there was still rope digging into it. She could smell the damp and mould of the basement; feel the wooden chair digging into her back and her side was throbbing as though she'd been hit again.

"RENA!" Hiro was standing over her, a look of concern plastered on his face, "Rena?"
She brushed her hair out her face and laughed nervously, "sorry. Sorry. You can go in the front seat I don't really care I was just trying to wind you up."
Hiro outstretched her hand to help her up, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... Are you okay?"
She nodded, "yeah, course. I just... Tripped."
"You looked..." He shrugged, "I don't know. Scared."
She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans and smiled, "I'm fine. Come on, Tadashi will be wondering where we are."
"Oh yeah." He looked at her strangely, and opened his mouth like he was going to say something.
Rena looked away from him and cleared her throat awkwardly, "I hope no one saw that."
Hiro gave a hollow laugh, "yeah, that's like, super embarrassing."

Tadashi was already sat in the car when they reached it, and Rena climbed in the back seat without another word. Tadashi glanced at her in the mirror and smiled, "how was Granville last period?"
Rena yawned, "rough. She didn't seem to approve of the hair."
"No I wouldn't expect she would."
Hiro fiddled with the radio, "do we HAVE to go grocery shopping?"
Tadashi smacked his hand away before starting the car, "yes. We told Cass we would."
"I didn't! This is my fault!"
"You can wait in the car you big baby. I'm not dealing with rush hour traffic twice so you don't have to go to Target."
He crossed his arms and sunk down in his seat, "you'll be ages. You always are."

Rena tuned their arguing out and started scrolling through Twitter. Some Minecraft YouTuber was trending for being racist. Again.
She dropped the phone onto the seat next to her and closed her eyes. Thinking. Why was it that nobody else even seemed to care about Fournier? They all seemed so chill about it. Especially Fred. Which made no sense because he was ALSO kidnapped and nearly died. Was there just something wrong with her?

Tadashi glanced at his sister in the mirror. He noticed Hiro looking back at her and the two of them exchanged a look. They didn't say anything, but they didn't need to.
Tadashi didn't even need to ask what she was thinking about. It was on his mind all the time.

Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night clawing at his neck. He would see the things Fournier had made him do over and over again. He sometimes felt like he was spiralling out of control. More than once he'd had to remove his leg deliberately so he wouldn't do something he'd regret. The way everyone would act like they were stepping on eggshells around him had worsened, and he felt like he was going insane. He didn't need to be protected, or sheltered, or treat like anything was wrong with him. He just wanted everything to go back to normal.
And if he knew his sister at all, he knew she felt exactly the same.

"I'll go pay, you just go grab some orange juice and meet me at check out." Rena said, leaning on the shopping cart. They'd already been there for the best part of an hour, and all she wanted was to go home.
She got to the check out and started unloading their groceries. When she got to the front of the line, the employee apologised and said he was just waiting for his coworker to take over from him so he could finish his shift. Without looking at him, Rena nodded and finished shoving everything onto the conveyor belt. When she finally turned to look at him, her jaw dropped.
The guy stood in front of her was a year or two younger than her. His hair was different, and he had a nose ring in now. But that face was unmistakable. It was the same one she punched in the face almost four years ago.
Will's eyes widened and his customer service face immediately dropped, "Rena Hamada. Umm... Hello."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "hello William."
"How umm... How are things?" He asked awkwardly, eyes frantically searching for the coworker that would save him.
"Good. Yep. Better now that that hell hole is behind me."
He laughed awkwardly, "yeah. It was... Certainly a time."
All she could see as she looked at him was the same boy that almost killed her brother. Of all the people to she wanted to see today, he was definitely near the bottom of the list. She was just glad Hiro was sat in the car, "college not work out for you?"
"Oh, no, I'm going this year. Just decided to save up a bit first," he stared down at his hands, "you know how it is."
She nodded, "oh. Cool."
"Listen," he glanced over his shoulder at a girl making her way over to his register, "I... I have a lot I want... Need to say to you. To all three of you."
Rena blinked, "what, now? Really?"
"No... Not now. I just... I've changed as a person. A lot. And... I feel terrible for what I did."
"Yeah...You should?"
"I don't deserve the time. But... If you ever want to hear it... I don't know. Come by."
Rena considered, "maybe. Umm... Yeah. Maybe."
He nodded, and smiled at her, "I'm gonna head off. But please consider it."
"I-"
"I got it!" Tadashi announced, tossing the juice onto the conveyor belt, "I- are you alright?"
Rena transfixed her stare on the girl now on the cash register, "fine." She shook her head as though it would make all her thoughts fly out of it, "thought I saw... Someone."
The girl smiled at her warmly, "I love your hair!" She said brightly as she started scanning their items.
Rena felt her cheeks go warm. This was a distraction she could welcome. "Thanks! I love your shirt." It was a band tour shirt - one of her favourites. "I'm so jealous that you got to see them live."
"Oh my god they were AMAZING! If they don't ever tour again my life will be ruined."
They started talking animatedly as Tadashi bagged their groceries. "Okay anyway," she said, "should probably do my job. That's fifty seven dollars and four cents please. Would you like a reusable bag? We're selling them for a dollar each, all proceeds to charity."
Rena was rifling through her bag for her card, "uhh.. I think we're good-"
"That one!" Tadashi interrupted suddenly, "can we have that one, please?"
"The pride one?" The girl raised her eyebrows and stared at Rena, "sure."
When she turned her back Rena smacked his shoulder and he grinned at her, mouthing "GET HER NUMBER!" at her. Not subtly.
"Cash or card?"
"Card please."

Rena didn't get her number. "I can't believe you!" She turned to Tadashi as soon as they left the store, "whatever happened to subtlety?!"
Tadashi grinned, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Prick."