The following is a Non-Canon Side-Story based on Ward, the second story in the Parahumans series.

It is non-canon because 1: the only way Ward can come to pass is if things go all the way FUBAR due to the many changes in-story. 2: Becuase it's ignoring a bunch of my future plans to avoid spoiling them and 3: I've already established that the main story is part of a stable time-loop:

Missy stood before the cabin in the middle of nowhere. Even with her space compression powers, it'd taken her hours to get here though, hopefully, getting home would be faster. She steeled her nerves, as she hadn't spoken to the person who lived here... Well, it had been a while.

She was about to knock on the door when a "What are you doing here?" from behind her, which caused her to, in the startle, spin on her heal, transform, and charge up a blast of energy only to realize that she was aiming at the person she was here to see.

A fourteen-year-old Asian girl with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in a dirty robe that went down to just past her knees, with those legs bare down to the feet. Her skin was a shade or two darker than before, with some freckling on her face, so clearly she was spending a lot of time in the sun. Her hair wasn't bound back, the way it was before, and she'd clearly stopped caring about it at somepoint. She was taller than Missy was now, even though Missy was almost an adult at this point.

"That's nice," she snarked. "Show up to someone's house unannounced and then attack them."

"Sorry," Missy. "You startled me." Missy let the energy disperse and switched back into her more mature, non-Hulk form. Ashley was still taller than her. "What are you wearing?"

The robe melted into gold and blue slime, that quickly formed suit not-unlike the superhero costume that Ashley had worn as a child, but without a mask. Or a logo. just bits of dark blue marbled through the limbs and torso. With the change in outfit, it became apparent that Ashley was more developed and muscular than a girl her age had any right to be and Missy was pretty sure that Ashley didn't even work out to get it.

"The same thing I always wear," Ashley replied bluntly. "I just figured that if I'm gonna be a crazy hermit living alone out in the woods that I should look the part."

"Didn't you tell me once that you were never alone?" Missy asked.

Ashley looked at her blankly. "Why are you here?"

"I'm not allowed to visit an old friend?"

"Not after two years of nothing," Ashley replied.

"I'm sorry," Missy said. And she was. "It's just, after you said you were heading out into the woods... you settled down a hundred miles from the city. We all figured you needed space, and then I was busy with the Wardens, and..."

"... C'mon in, you're probably tired from the trip."

The inside of the cabin was absolutely spartan. A simple refrigerator in a corner plugged into a generator, a wood stove with a tall chimney that went out the roof, simple windows cut out of the logs, a simple wooden table, one handcrafted wooden chair, and a futon on the floor in the corner opposite the refrigerator. Some cabinets were the only other furnishing.

"Are you hungry?" Ashley asked. "I have venison, I've got some wild root vegetables and mushrooms, I have some wild berries, I have jerky that I made out of venison, and I have some stew leftover from last night. It's made out of venison, wild mushrooms, and wild root vegetables."

"What, no bear meat?" Missy joked.

"No bear in this part of the woods," Ashley said seriously. "There's some in a territory a day's walk south, but the population's too low for me to feel okay with eating them. Are you thirsty? I've got bottled water I get from a trader, I've got some juice I make from the local berries, and I've got some moonshine I make in a still outback from the leftovers after the berries are juiced and just a touch of the juice." She paused for a minute. "I recommend the water, the moonshine will probably blind you and I never actually figured out if the berries are safe for human consumption."

"...Why are you making moonshine?" Missy found herself asking. Normally, people would be concerned about a girl Ashley's age brewing alcohol. Missy was more confused about what Ashley got from it since her powers neutralized alcohol before it even got to her bloodstream.

Ashley shrugged. "Gotta do something to kill time."

Ten minutes later, Missy was sitting in Ashley's only chair, contemplating the half-empty bottle of water she'd been drinking from and wondering how to bring up the matter at hand while Ashley sat crosslegged on her futon.

"Did they ever build that statue of Taylor?" Ashley asked. The city had statues, of prominent members of the Wardens and important people, memorials for everyone who perished when the world ended... except for Weaver, the hero who gave everything to end the madness.

"No," Missy replied. "I'm sorry."

"Is Riley Davis still locked up while unrepentant terrorists got the full amnesty and act free?"

"...Yes."

Ashley scoffed. "And people wonder why I chose to live in the woods. Why are you here?"

"There's some trouble with Earth Shin. they're trying to back out of a deal, and if they do millions of people are gonna starve," Missy explained somberly. "They're asking for specific people to represent us in the negotiation, and uh... Look, Shin's opinions on Parahumans reminds me of the stories you used to tell us about being afraid of people finding out you were a mutant because they might firebomb your apartment. I'm suspicious as fuck. I got permission to recruit one person to be part of the diplomatic party and... I know it's been a while, but I trust you. I'd feel safer walking into enemy territory with you watching my back."

Ashley looked away from Missy. "I stopped living in human civilization for a reason, Missy... After everything that happened?"

"For old time's sake?"

"I don't work for the Wardens," Ashley said. "This is a favor to you, one and done. I do things my way, and my only priority is making sure everyone gets home safe. Understand?"

"Yes."

"And Missy?"Ashley asked as she stood up.

"Yeah?"

And then Missy found herself pulled into a bearhug with chiropractic properties by her friend of four years. "I'm sorry for being so prickly. It's good to see you."

"Ashley friend," Missy said as though she were a cavewoman. "Ashley no crush Missy."

This prompted Ashley to start laughing like a lunatic. and then she started crying, and Missy made a silent promise to visit with her far more often come hell or high water.