AN: It's back! I didn't quite get as far in this chapter as I had hoped, but this was a good stopping point. I hope everyone enjoys the new chapter and I apologize for the long hiatus. Hopefully it won't be quite so long before the next chapter is out.

Daylight 01

A horn blared outside the car and Kayden slowed to let the insistent car through a gap that hadn't existed a moment earlier. I just breathed out slowly. Even if someone hit us, it shouldn't matter. I was getting faster with the Overlays. I could layer one around all three of us in under a second if needed.

"Ugh, remind me never to read PHO again," Tammi grunted from the backseat.

Kayden snorted while I held a hand over my mouth to suppress my chuckle, the idiot ahead already forgotten. Kayden glanced at Tammi through the rear view mirror, her eyebrows raising. "What are they saying?"

"Ahem. These are direct quotes." She straightened as much as she could, holding one hand over her chest, and the other clutching the phone in front of her. "'Why are they supporting the redemption of neo-Nazis? How does this make sense, people? Let's just toss them in the deepest darkest hole and forget they exist.' 'Well you're forgetting, it's Redeemed Ex-Nazi Mom that we're rooting for. The power of love my friend!' 'That's nothing, I'm cheering for Hardlight and how she flipped Miss Teenage Lesbian Nazi through the power of gay love. Legend would be so proud!' 'Are we sure that either are gay? That's a big assumption considering the origins. Or that Purity and Hardlight are related for that matter?' 'Purity and Hardlight's powers are themed along similar lines. If they aren't related they at least live nearby. Just look at New Wave. As for the other item…Considering the slurs that Crusader was tossing out to Rune just before she gave up and went with Hardlight? And that she went with Hardlight to begin with? I'm going with basically confirmed.' 'Totally. She wants the girl. She flipped because of the power of gay love.'"

Tammi collapsed back into her seat with a groan. "I am disgusted with myself."

I turned, leering, and holding my own phone out towards her. "'Confirmed. I am dating Hardlight. Deal with it bitches.'" I read off, my smirk widening.

Tammi sank deeper into her seat, an arm coming up to cover her face though not before I saw the blush on her face deepen to a cherry red. "I wanted to stop the rumors…"

"And mark your territory apparently," I smirked. I slid my phone back into my pocket and frowned. "Tammi, just for the record, I'm okay with this, but if we break up and you end up dating another girl, make sure that she's out before you go and tell others about her okay?"

Tammi's arm dropped back to her side and she stared at me, waving her hand in the air. "You're, not openly gay, Taylor?"

"The Empire just died, Tammi. It wasn't safe to be a lesbian in this city until a few days ago. A few people know, but I hadn't been very vocal about it. And my alter ego hasn't really been around long enough to get more than rumors and speculation."

"Oh. Uh…"

"I said it's fine." I shook my head and reached back to grab her hand and squeeze it. "I'm happy that you're proud enough to tell others. Really. That's…that's more than I had ever expected from a girl who would want to date me."

Tammi frowned and I caught Kayden's side-look as well. Before either could say anything though, we pulled into the underground parking lot of the PRT building and my mother shut off the car, her face smoothing back into neutrality. "Alright, girls, masks on."

"This is such a bad idea," Tammi muttered even as she slipped on her mask. "Taylor if this goes sideways I'm blaming it on you."

"That's fair," I agreed. "And I'm pretty sure that basically my entire hero career so far has been escalating moments of 'this is a bad idea'. This should, theoretically, be bucking the trend right now."

Kayden nodded. "Don't make the same mistake I did. You want to get yourself down immediately as being helpful, willing to listen, and willing to work together. I tried to go straight for months and people only really noticed a few weeks back."

"Yeah, when you shot me out of the sky," Tammi grumbled. She raised her hands, palms out and shook her head before either of us could say anything. "I know, I know, bad company, hazards of the life; I'm still annoyed though. Can we just get this over with?"

I summoned a puppy on her lap, flashed a smile and got out of the car. Tammi groaned and followed. She didn't let go of the puppy.

As the three of us left the underground lot behind, Kayden led us into a small elevator that took us down towards the basement levels. Within three minutes of parking, we were already sitting in a conference room across from Aegis, Armsmaster, Battery, and Director Piggot.

I blinked as I stared at the PRT Director. She was…thinner. A lot thinner. And her skin had real color now. Her hair didn't look so dead either and she was breathing a lot easier than the last time we had met.

"Is there a reason that you are gaping at me, Hardlight?" the woman asked, her eyebrows lifted and her hands clasping in front of her.

"Sorry, Ma'am, it's just…well…I thought you didn't want to get, you know, healed…"

She worked her mouth for a moment, Aegis groaning to the side, and Kayden slapped a hand to her forehead. I looked towards her. "What?"

"Honey, you literally flooded your father's room with minions the last time we were here. You healed her."

I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth and my eyes widening. I turned back to the Director, grasping for words all while Tammi snickered next to me.

"Wow, that's gotta sting."

"Indeed, Rune, it does," the Director said, her expression not breaking though she did reach up to rub at her temple. "As much as I want to berate you, Hardlight, I do understand negative reactions to trauma. That your projections comfort you is well documented by now. It's partly my fault for walking anywhere near a girl that is known to have little control when she gets emotional. I had already resolved not to seek any sort of recompense. Let us never speak of this again."

"Yes, Ma'am," I squeaked.

"Good. Purity, I understand that you are officially registering a new affiliated team?"

"I am." My mother slid over the paperwork that she had worked up the other night, a large grin spreading on her face as Piggot almost immediately looked up, her eyes wide.

"Is this accurate?"

"It is."

Piggot looked back down, then slid that document to Armsmaster. He read through it and glanced up, a frown on his face. "Why are you changing your name now? You were very adamant previously that your name was Purity and you should not have to change it."

She shrugged. "It's been brought up that I am very bad at optics. Aerial here is going to be using a different application of her power, but she's still going to be known to essentially everyone as a heroically inclined Rune. My daughter has never had the stigma of a sordid past. If both of them are attempting to start clean, I felt I should as well. Everyone is still going to know it's me of course, but this clearly defines that I'm starting over. Doesn't that seem like a good idea?"

"Yes. It just doesn't seem like something you would do."

I grimaced. The man really was exceedingly blunt. "Err, just so we're all clear, Aerial is free to officially sign up with us and the pardon still applies right?"

Battery smiled and nodded. "Yes, Hardlight. While the Wards are always open to either of you if you change your minds, we'd much rather have additional friendly heroic capes in the city, than more villain capes just sitting in jail."

"I really don't understand you people," my girlfriend muttered. "Why do I get this deal, but not others? I worked with the Empire. Bitch just works with dogs and you hunt her like a dog whenever you can."

Armsmaster frowned deeper, leaning forward. "Hellhound has murdered people in the past. You have not. Have you?"

Tammi shook her head. "My family connections let me skip 'initiations'. I wouldn't have joined if I had to do the kinds of things they required…Are you sure Bitch is a murderer? I talked to her when she first showed up in the city. Seemed like she had to actually train her dogs. If they weren't trained when she triggered…"

A smile spread on Piggot's face as she leaned back in her chair. "And already this affiliation is potentially yielding fruit. We'll look into this information, Aerial. Thank you for sharing. Purity, do you want our assistance with announcing your new name?"

My mother sighed. "You're not really asking are you?"

"Not particularly, no."

"In that case, sure, I would love the assistance you can provide with our great reveal party. Shall we make it tonight?"

"How about tomorrow. Tomorrow's Friday after all. Everyone loves good news on Fridays."

Kayden groaned, throwing her hands up into the air. "You're incredibly frustrating to work with."

"I do try. How about you stay here with myself and Armsmaster to work out the details while the teenagers follow Battery to their workout?"

"Fine, just remember, I have to leave within two hours so we have to be done by then."

"Perfectly acceptable."

Kayden turned to me and Tammi. "Both of you remember, if anything at all happens watch each other's back, and either get out of the building any way you can or get back here. Understood?"

I nodded and Tammi held up a thumbs up. I left her a puppy as I got up and followed Battery into the hallway with Tammi right behind me. Aegis fell in next to me.

Leaning over to him, I murmured, "Why did the Director get such a kick out of Purity rebranding herself?"

He shrugged. "When Purity initially tried to go Hero, one of our first suggestions was for her to work with the Protectorate directly. Then when she refused, we told her she should at least change her name. She didn't. People didn't even realize she had stopped working for the Empire for almost a month. I think it wasn't really until two or three weeks before the Bad Canary concert that everyone started figuring out that she was actively separate from her old gang and was at least trying."

"I remember that concert," I muttered. "Kayden convinced my dad to invite her here so that the DWU could help with the setup and keeping the streets clear…They made more in the two weeks of prep for that than they had in months."

"Huh," Tammi said. "You think she'd want to come back? Now that the Empire's back is broken, we could frame it like a celebratory concert or something."

"It's probably better as more of just a general benefit concert if you're going to go that route," Aegis said, looking towards her. "It is weird hearing you suggest a concert celebrating the downfall of the Empire Eighty Eight."

Tammi smirked. "Haven't you heard? I'm a lesbian now. Gotta get those fuckers kicked while they're down."

Battery looked over her shoulder, visibly trying for several words before finally managing to speak. "You did not have a pleasant experience with them at all did you?"

"Basically all she did was badmouth them," I said, nodding. "That was before we knew who the other was. In or out of costume."

"What can I say? I'm a rebel."

Aegis and I burst out in chuckles at Tammi's matter-of-fact statement. Battery didn't look reassured as she kept leading us on. I discreetly stepped a bit closer to her and reached out to grab her hand. She kept looking forward - and so did I - but she squeezed my hand tightly all the same.

The minion in her other arm squirmed around enough to lick her face. Tammi chuckled again, her death grip on my hand loosening ever so slightly. She'd be fine. I was going to make sure of it.

I just had to make sure my problems didn't spill over onto her in the process.

AN: I have a Pa tr eon and Ko-fi now. If you want to support my efforts and see some work-in-progress chapters a bit earlier as well as have a say in what I focus on please feel free to take a look. Both are under my other pseudonym 'Slider'. More descriptive links are in my profile.