Finding the Way


Part Twenty-Two – Reactions


Glory Girl landed on the street outside the house with Panacea in her arms.

"Are you sure it'll be all right?" asked the healer, as Victoria set her on her feet.

"Sure," Glory Girl assured her, and gave her a kiss. "Mom'll come around. She was just a little stressed, before."


"Absolutely not!" shouted Carol Dallon. "I will not have her living under my roof!"

"But Mom, this is Amy," Victoria coaxed her. "She's lived here for years."

"Until she seduced you into her bed!" snapped Brandish. "She's your sister, for God's sake!"

"Adopted sister, Mom," Vicky corrected her patiently. "No relation. They even grant exemptions to adopted siblings to marry, these days."

"I know she's adopted! She's the daughter of a villain! I took her into my home due to the goodness of my heart, and what does she do? She stabs me in the back! Tries to take my real daughter, my flesh and blood, away from me!" Carol shook her head.

"Victoria," she went on, more quietly, "you need to see how dangerous she is."

"No," Vicky's voice was stubborn. "I love her. I want to be with her."

"Then I'm too late." Carol's tone was bleak. "She's already influenced you against me. Poisoned your mind."

"But she hasn't!" protested Vicky earnestly. "I still want to live here! You're still my Mom! Nothing's changed! Just ... Amy and I will be sleeping in the same bed."

Carol shook her head. "How did this even happen?"

"We met someone who opened our eyes," Vicky told her mother softly. "And Amy opened up to me about her feelings. We ... explored them. And I found that I liked them. It's as simple as that."

Carol threw up her hands. "It's never as simple as that. There's always something deeper. And her father is a villain!"

"Mom, Amy is not her dad, whoever the hell he is!" protested Vicky. "I love her! She loves me!"

Carol Dallon shook her head adamantly. "I cannot allow her to live under my roof, not any more."

Vicky took a deep breath, and played her last card. "Then I'm moving out too."

Carol stared. "You can't mean that."

"I can and I will."

"Where will you stay?"

"Amy says she has an offer already."

Carol shook her head again. "I can't allow you to go."

"Mom, I'm sixteen. If I want to go, I can go."

"You're making a huge mistake."

"Not as big as the one you're making."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me."

"Fine. Go, then. But don't blame me when you come crawling back."

"That'll be the day."


Amy looked up as Vicky appeared at the door, hefting two large suitcases.

"Our worldly goods," she announced, dropping one case to the ground with a thud. "That one's yours."

Amy frowned. "That's all?" she asked. "I thought we had more stuff than that."

Vicky shrugged. "All Mom would let me take."

"Oh well, I guess it will have to do." Amy stepped forward and embraced Vicky. "Thanks for doing this, for being with me. It means so much."

Glory Girl kissed her adopted sister, holding her close. "I love you, Ames. That's all there is to it."

Amy snuggled into her sister's arms. She never wanted to let her go.


Aisha glanced out the window. "Hey, bro, we call a cab?"

Brian looked up from where he was mopping the kitchen floor. "Uh, no. Why?"

"Because one just pulled up outside. Ah, wait, no, someone's getting out."

"Who?"

"Fuck me. Looks like Glory Girl and Panacea."

"You're shitting me."

"Come see for yourself."

Brian lodged the mop in the bucket and came through into the living room. "Huh. Wonder what's going on here?"


Amy paid off the cabbie while Vicky hefted the suitcases out of the trunk of the taxicab. They turned to look at the house.

"You sure this is the right address?" asked Vicky, frowning.

Amy nodded earnestly. "Taylor wrote it down for me once."

Shrugging, Glory Girl hefted both cases. "Well, let's go."

They walked up the path, Amy in the lead. As she got to the bottom of the steps, the door opened. A tall black guy stood there, with a frown on his face.


Brian watched the two teen heroes advancing up the path; he went through into the front hall and opened the door.

"Uh, hi," he greeted them. "Are you in the right place?"

"I hope so," replied Panacea. "Danny and Taylor Hebert said we could stay over here for a bit?"

"Ah," replied Brian. "I'm Brian Laborn. Come on in. We can talk about this."

Amy trotted up the steps, followed by Victoria. However, as the blonde put her foot on the bottom step, there was a splintering crack and the wood broke in half.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry," she exclaimed. "I broke your step."

"Don't worry about it," Brian assured her. "I'll fix it later. I think it was rotten anyway."

Victoria looked down at the step, split in half under the weight of both her own body, and both suitcases. "I'll help you do it," she promised. Lifting into the air, she drifted in through the door, trying not to break anything else on the way.


Amy and Vicky sat on the couch with Aisha; Brian had gone back to mopping the kitchen.

"So yeah, before they went off to fight Leviathan, Danny and Taylor sort of said we could stay," Amy told Aisha. She sniffled. "They've done so much for Vicky and me, and now they're ..."

"Yeah," nodded Aisha.

"So," Brian told them. "You two can move on to the sofa bed for the time being. I'll sleep on the floor tonight, get a camp bed tomorrow."

"Thanks, Brian," said Amy, putting her hand on his arm. "This means a lot to us. Really."

"Hey," he told them. "Danny and Taylor did it for us. We can't do anything less."


One Week Later


"And we're back from our ad break, and we have in the studio three surprise guests. The heroes of the latest Endbringer attack, back from the dead in a surprising turn of events!"

Compass Rose and Miss Militia tried not to squint at the bright studio lights. Compass Rose's helmet had one cracked goggle lens, and one shattered. Pathfinder's merely had a cracked lens, but there was also a crack down the side of the helmet itself.

All wore their costumes, torn and tattered and hanging off their bodies. The sleeve of Compass Rose's coat had been removed; around her leg was a bloodstained bandage, replacing where the sleeve had been tied.

The show host, to make the contrast even more visible, was immaculately dressed; his trousers had a razor crease, and his hair looked so gelled that it could probably be lifted away in one piece from his scalp.

Each of them was also dishevelled in other ways; Miss Militia's hair was disarranged, and Pathfinder showed distinct stubble on his chin. There was a large scrape on Compass Rose's cheek.

"Compass Rose! Pathfinder! And the winsome Miss Militia!"

The show host turned to Compass Rose. "So tell me, how did you and your fellow capes pull off this magnificent escape?"

"Well, Larry ..." she began.


Lisa relaxed on the couch and watched the interview. Rachel sat beside her, her dogs sitting at her feet.

"Huh," muttered Rachel. "They're alive."

Lisa nodded. "Yeah. Figured as much."

Rachel gave her an irritated glance. "You always say that."

"And I'm always right."

"And you're always a fucking annoying smartass."

Lisa grinned. "So how are things between you and Armsmaster?"

Rachel grunted. "He's an annoying prick, but ... he understands. What it's like."

Lisa nodded. "Good." She went back to watching the interview.


Rachel watched it as well. She wasn't quite sure why there was all this fuss now that they were found to be alive; they were capes, they'd risked their lives, but that was what capes did, right?

Still, she was kind of glad Taylor and Danny were alive. They'd done right by the Undersiders, saved their lives. And putting Leviathan on the moon had saved everyone from an even worse fight, which was a good thing.

After all, some of her dogs might have gotten hurt.


End of Part Twenty-Two