Thankfully the cab driver had little interest in asking questions. His initial hesitation had been painted all over his face. The fact she was a quiet, paying customer probably worked wonders in getting him to stop caring. Ruby looked curious when she emerged from the school, she quickly shot down Ruby's inevitable questioning of why she had one arm again. Her inability to sit still was worse than usual, eventually she had to reassure her that she would tell her when they got home.
Opening the front door was awkward, she had gotten defter with her left hand during her time at the fortress. But even the short amount of time with the artificial arm had her in right-handed thinking again. With a little extra effort, she managed to deal with the keys and enter her home. Ruby rushed beneath her, tossing her bag to the side and perching on the sofa.
"What's happened? Where's your arm? Why did you change?" Ruby's questions came at her fast. Sam took a deep breath as she looked at her inquisitive daughter. She had no idea how to broach the subject, the option to ease into the topic had vanished immediately. She consistently tried and failed to piece together the words, she had to tell her that she was potentially in danger. The worst thing was that that was the easier part, how she would explain being shot several hundred times was totally lost on her.
"Are you okay?" Ruby said, she sensed her hesitation.
"I'm …Er," Sam said. Sam huffed, she had handled everything up to now. After another deep breath she simply spoke, no over-thinking. "Ruby, this… thing... I've become. It's dangerous."
"Thing? You're just you," Ruby said, she looked taken aback. She half-smiled from Ruby's acceptance of her.
"That's not what I… I represent something that dangerous people are interested in. People came after me today, others may in future," she said.
"What happened?" Ruby asked. She hesitated, unsure how specific to be. Ruby had already been through a lot, but she wanted her to understand the gravity of the situation.
"Armed men tried to abduct me. They failed, this time. But they may come for me again, or go after you to get to me…" she trailed off. Ruby's excitable bouncing was not exactly the response she had expected.
"You're here though? You fought them off, like Superman?" She said.
"Erm, not exactly. Look…" she said, words were escaping her again.
"Are you bulletproof?" Ruby cut her off.
"Well yes, but that's not the point," she said.
Ruby had already jumped to her feet in excitement. After everything it had been easy to forget Ruby was still so young. She should have known the potential threat would get lost behind the powers and the perceived excitement.
"Ruby, this is serious. There are people that will come after us. The government want my help to stop them. I've been told the best thing to do is meet the threat head on. While I was inclined to agree, it could be extremely dangerous," she said
"Oh my God, My Mum's going to be a Superhero," Ruby said. Sam rubbed her forehead, Ruby was ignoring the point she was trying to make.
"Ruby. Please take this seriously, if I get hurt... Well I don't want to do that to you," she said.
"You won't leave me again, I know you wouldn't let it happen. Besides, Superman always wins and that's basically who you are now," Ruby said. Her certainty failed to reassure her, it was at least clear she had Ruby's blessing. The large smile on her face was infectious. It made it hard to decide whether to keep pushing. She wanted Ruby to understand, but she had been through so much already. Telling her to be scared felt wrong somehow. She slumped back.
"Are you going to do it, are you going to fight the bad guys?" Ruby said. Her excitement was still present despite approaching her more tentatively. There was nothing she would not do to protect her. Even after everything that had happened, she was still so bright and positive. Sam took a hold of her hand and reluctantly nodded. Ruby jumped again and squealed with excitement.
"You're going to be famous, there's going to be posters of you and everything," Ruby said. Sam's cheeks puffed out as she let out another heavy sigh.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, I'm doing what I must to protect us, nothing more," she said. It fell on deaf ears. Ruby was already carried away with the Superhero ideas she had gotten into her head.
"Just make sure you don't tell any of your friends," Sam said.
"I know, got to protect your secret identity after all," Ruby said with a giggle.
After a few minutes of humouring Ruby's excitement, she let her get on with her day. It looked like it would take a while for her to calm down which at this point she was resigned to. She picked up her phone and scrolled down the contacts to Alex Danvers' name. Her thumb hovered for a moment, before she pressed call decisively. It only rang once before it was picked up.
"I have to admit, I thought this call wouldn't be so soon," Alex said. She looked upstairs, Ruby was up in her room, no doubt still in the thrall of this Superhero business.
"I'll help you," she said.
"And Ruby's okay with it?" Alex asked.
"She's excited, too excited. She thinks I'm going to be the next Superman," she said.
"Well, better than being scared I suppose," Alex said. Sam sank into her sofa again, doubts crept into her mind.
"Your partner, does she get scared?" She asked. Alex paused.
"Well, she's a cop, she knows the dangers of my job, I know the dangers of hers. We trust each other. Though I must admit, I can't offer you a parent's perspective," Alex said. Trust in her was something Ruby seemed to have an endless supply of, it was something she never wanted to lose.
"Look, I at least want to wait until I have two arms again, after that I want to get this done as fast as possible. Tell me what I need to do to help the D.E.O." She said
"Are you one hundred percent sure about this?" Alex said
She thought back to some of her earliest clear memories, as a teenager promising to herself that she would dictate her own fate. She brought herself to the present and thought of Ruby's enthusiasm. She stood tall and squared her shoulders.
"I'm sure," she said.
"Okay. We know where this cult is meeting in a few days, it should be enough time for you to recover and get a new arm in place. I'll prepare a brief for you and set things up. In the meantime, we'll do what we can to keep attention off of you. I suggest you do what you can to limit contact with anyone. We'll keep a constant watch on your home and Ruby as well. I'll call you when we're prepared." Alex said.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're doing the right thing," Alex said. The call ended. The phone thunked down.
"Mum, I'm hungry, what's for dinner?" echoed down the stairway. Sam looked to the fridge, food had slipped her mind again. There was an itch where her right arm would be, only having the left hand would make any attempt at cooking a messy affair. She had prepared for this occasion, the cold air blasted at her when she opened the freezer. A frozen pizza would have to do. It was hardly nutritious, but until she got her arm back it felt like the best option. A few days of less than stellar meals would have to suffice. She caught herself as she ripped open the packaging, suddenly her biggest concern was her daughter's eating habits as opposed to this World Killer nonsense. She pictured Superman going through the same motions, fiddling with the clicking of oven dials and a rumbling stomach. Even the imposing figure of Supergirl seemed offset by thinking of her fumbling around in a kitchen. Power and mundanity all rolled into one bizarre image. It was a wonder if being bullet-proof, the flying and the danger ever got as normal as the frozen pizza she was putting in the oven. She pulled out the oven tray she had pre-heated without thinking. The heat barely registered on her bare hand. The now-useless oven gloves lay sadly on the opposite counter as she placed the pizza on the tray and the oven clanged shut. Ruby re-emerged as she made her way to the living room.
"What's for dinner?" Ruby asked.
"Pizza, it may be dinner for the next few days while I'm still left-handed," she said.
Ruby planted herself next to her.
"I could always help you," Ruby said
"You know, that's not a bad idea. I could even teach you a thing or two about cooking," she said. Ruby smiled. She had sat on her right side, so she leaned in and did her best to bring her close. Ruby cottoned on fast and put her arm around her. The warmth and joy Ruby brought to her could never fade, it seemed no matter what was thrown at her Ruby stayed strong. It was hard not to well up from the pride in her daughter that filled her heart.