Chapter Four:

The door to the Truffla twins' apartment slammed open, ricocheting off the wall as two soaked, muddied, bloodied and exhausted teens threw themselves inside.

"I can't believe you!" Audrey spat, ripping off her mask and chucking it down, where it hit the floor and bounced away.

"Oh yeah?!" Onceler shot back, tugging at his collar. "I can't believe you!"

"I could handle that!"

"The only reason we got out was because of that water lady!"

"ARRRRGH!" Audrey shrieked, finally maneuvering out of her super suit and shoving her head through a sweatshirt. "I can't be here right now!"

"WHAT?!"

Audrey slammed the bedroom door, coming out a few minutes later dressed in a short hippie styled top and long pants.

"I'm going out." She snapped. "I was invited,"

"Isn't that extremely dangerous?!"

"It's not like they'll figure out I'm a super!"

"Secret identities!" Onceler cried. "You were hurt, they could make the connections!"

Audrey threw her hair up in a high ponytail and growled again at her brother before storming out of the apartment, leaving Onceler alone.

She stomped downstairs, heading towards an apartment she knew decently well. It belonged to a group of college aged girls, a little older than she was. One of them - Anne, maybe? Always met Audrey down in the laundry room and talked to her. She'd been throwing these parties for a while, and she and her roommates (Kate? Sabrina?) gave the redhead a lasting invite.

She reached the door, music already pounding from behind it, and knocked. Anne opened it confusedly, then cheered when she recognized her neighbor.

Audrey let the girls grab her and drag her inside, then grabbed a cup of lemonade from the drinks table. The music was pounding in her ears, and people she'd never met before milled around or danced.

She was going to have fun. Even if her brother didn't seem to get it.


After the fight with Audrey, Onceler found himself alone in the apartment.

It wasn't often the two fought like this - they just got along. They always had, even back in Portorosso with their dad. Geisel Truffla had always been proud of his kids, which had made the mans death that much harder. As the older one, it fell on Oncie to make sure he and his sister got across the ocean to their mom, but he'd failed then when it turned out the woman hadn't wanted them.

Brushing aside his frustration and shoving the door open himself, Onceler made his way up to the apartment building roof.

Audrey may have kept the plants in their little shoebox apartment alive, but the roof was his safe space. Surrounded by a tall wall, he was able to grow an assortment of exotic trees and brushes, even flowers and succulents that reminded him of his hometown.

Breathing in the earthy smell of the dirt and leaves, Onceler sunk to the ground and closed his eyes.

In a little bit, both twins would have calmed down and act like the fight hadn't happened. It was just tensions from the super battle earlier, added stress about the situation with O'Hare.

A soft thump and woosh of winglike fabric caught his attention. Onceler looked up, then couldn't help but smile as he recognized Empousa standing on the wall.

"Oncie?" Mavis asked nervously. "Can we talk?"


Mavis finished recounting her experience with Overkill - the taunts, the mysterious monster hunters, everything. Onceler listened closely, not really knowing what to say.

"It's just got me… worried," She muttered. "My powers have always been weird,"

"Your powers came from O'Hare," He pointed out. "Like all of ours did,"

"Except I have fangs!" Mavis shot back. "And I can turn into a bat! And see in the dark! And, and all this other stuff that's suspiciously monster-like!"

"Mav," Onceler said. "I…"

This was his chance. He could - if he wasn't a coward - tell her everything. That he was so worried during fights because she was there, that he really couldn't stomach the idea of her getting hurt. But… it wasn't actually a good time, not when she was so worried about her powers and another new threat.

"I think you're overthinking this," He finally answered. "If this does turn out to be a problem, and not just Overkill trying to save her own skin, we'll be at your side to help you out,"

"Thanks," Mavis said. She leaned in, lounging against the taller boy. "You always know what to say Oncie,"

The earthy air worked its calming effect on both of them. Slowly, the two supers relaxed with each other, losing themselves to the night air and forgetting their problems.

At one point, he looked over, surprised to see Mavis staring back at him. In the dark, her eyes sparkled in their mysterious blue way, and Onceler swore she was slowly leaning in. As if he wasn't in control of his own body, he felt himself leaning in too.

They were so close, yet it still felt like miles when Mavis blinked and suddenly jumped back.

"...goodnight," She whispered, leaping to her feet and stepping up onto the edge of the roof.

"Goodnight…" Onceler breathed, then watched her disappear into the night as she transformed and took off back towards Ralph's.

He was so screwed. So irrevocably, awfully, wonderfully, screwed.


Audrey leaned up against the counter, watching as the people at the party danced or drank. She was starting to regret going, but having time away from her brother was something that was supposed to be good for her. She sipped her drink again - a non alcoholic lemonade and iced tea mix, and scanned the room again.

"Hey Audrey!" Anne yelled, suddenly grabbing her and dragging the red head towards the other side of the apartment. "I want you to meet someone!"

"Anne-"

"This is Megan!" Anne said. "You two should talk, I think you'd really get along,"

Megan was shorter than Audrey, with rich brown hair that tumbled down her back in natural beach waves. Her skin was also a rich tan, and she wore a set of khaki paperbag shorts and a red crop top.

"Hi," Audrey offered, shrugging. Megan smiled, full lips curling.

"Hi to you," She said back. "Do you live in this building?"

"Yeah, we're on the eighth floor," Audrey said, face going red.

"You and your boyfriend?" She sounded disappointed.

"My brother," Audrey said a little too quickly. Megan leaned back and smiled, then brushed her hand against the other girls arm.

Audrey's brain stopped working for a minute, and she downed her drink in one.


Megan was amazing, her stories and accent just interesting enough but not too hard to understand for Audrey's still suffering Italian ears. The two girls talked in the corner for at least two hours, the party around them getting more and more out of hand as they ignored it.

The crowd was screaming, dancing, hooking up - the works. Megan made to drag Audrey into the fray, and she was just about to when…

"Something is wrong!"

The one lonely houseplant in Anne and Sabrina's apartment was quivering - no, shaking - in fear. She glanced outside, eyes catching on the disappearing light over the buildings.

Audrey's eyes widened. At the same time, Megan's narrowed. Before either girl could do anything, there was a loud telltale buzzing outside.

The windows of the apartment shattered, Cy-bugs of all sizes swarming in. People screamed, drinks were spilled, there was a mad rush for the door to escape. A Cy-bug made too tight of a turn and slammed into Audrey, who tripped backwards and fell out of the newly broken window. The air was wrenched from her lungs, and she ignored the voice in her head telling her to "keep your secret identity secret!"

Calling down the plants from her apartment and probably summoning her brother in the process, Audrey made herself a giant safety net to break the fall. As the Cy-bugs realized throwing people outside made a good plan, she expanded the net to make it larger.

Rising up towards the fight on a giant vine, Audrey ripped her jacket off and yanked her folded up mask out and slammed it over her face. It wouldn't do her much good now, but what was done was done.

She jumped back into the battle, taking down Cy-bugs with vines that circled around her like padded armor.

There was woosh, and Fleuria looked up to see a wave of water from the bay rise up to meet a… very familiar girl. She wore all black, but her sleeveless top showed off glowing tribal tattoos and her curly hair flew back.

Audrey scrunched her eyes, memory blurring back between the fight in the museum and the girl she'd been flirting with at the party.

Water and vines moved together as the two girls worked together. They took out Cy-bugs as they railed down, and Audrey could see Fiore in the sky as he joined in.

"So," Fleuria said, punching through the robotic bug with a rose stem. "When did you move to town?"

"What?!"

"Hi Megan," She said, pointing and suddenly feeling a lot more confident in costume than she did without. She pointed back at herself. "Audrey,"

The water hero faltered for a minute, and she whipped around, squinting at the redhead before reeling back in recognition.

Onceler took out six Cy-bugs from his spot at the roof, raining debris around them. Audrey's vines stilled as the rest of the bugs retreated, following another weird light, and the water around Megan dropped to the street.

"We need to have a conversation," Audrey said, still running off her adrenaline high. "I have a duty to the people of Sugarus, so meet me over by the TGS Building at one am, and I promise that I'll let you explain everything,"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Megan - if that is your real name - you will tell me the truth because I know at least seventeen plants to paralyze you and make you forget you even came to this city,"

There was an awkward pause, and the water hero nodded. Audrey straightened up, and the other girl turned away.

"My name is Moana," She said, then used the water on the ground to move herself away. "I'll be there,"