~*T*~

"Around this next corner," Harry said.

Luna drifted, slid the van sideways, rounding the corner and straightening out before she slammed on the brakes.

Harry held onto the panic handle with one hand, and grabbed the giant woman's nose hairs in a summoning spell, pulling forward and down.

She crashed into the ground, face first. She squirmed, pushing ineffectually at the ground.

Hermione walked the last five steps and put her hand on her neck.

"Which one is this?" she asked.

"Fenja," Luna answered.

Hermione nodded, already dialing.

~*i*~

The aerokinetic slashed through the clouds of flying bugs, his movements more urgent as he began to panic.

Harry forced more anger into the swarm, and the bees responded, their sound, already unnerving, became positively frightening.

Swirling winds cleared a hole in the swarm, and Harry dropped a stunning spell through it.

The winds died.

"Yeah, Amy again," Hermione nodded, "Yeah, Stormtiger."

~*i*~

Hermione parked her 1986 Toyota Corolla coupe at the curb, pushed out on the parking brake's flanged button while she pulled the lever up, and left the car in neutral. She turned off the key, got out, and locked the door, the turbo timer still counting down.

She patted the little car's hood as she walked past, headed for the sidewalk-less front yard. The grass was patchy, the trees and bushes looked freshly trimmed, and a tall middle-aged man with a very short black afro was on a ladder, cleaning out the roof gutters.

"How's it going?" she asked him.

"Less hungry than usual, but very defined cravings," he said, "Liver, oxtail, pig feet, hamhock and bean soup," he started down the ladder, "I'm back up to two hundred pounds, my joints don't hurt, my back's straightened out a lot," he held out a hand, "My fingers didn't look this good at thirty," he ran that hand over his hair, "And the pattern baldness is gone, too."

"Myrtle?"

"She said yes. Come in, let's get you some tea, or coffee?"

~*i*~

"They're trying an ambush. Crusader's going to go pick a fight with the Merchants, and Victor's going to snipe us."

"Hmm," Hermione said, "Get me some wasps."

"What are you going to do?"

"Ketamine autoinjectors."

Luna grabbed her into a hug, "You are the most amazing girlfriend ever," and snogged her until Harry had quite filled her hair with a variety of wasps.

~*i*~

"Fifty slightly high E88 members, not capes, just neo-nazi asses, ready for pickup," Hermione was telling the dispatcher.

A figure dressed all in black and dark grey, a crossbow at her back, drifted way too slowly down to land near them.

"You," she said, rounding on Harry, then Luna, "You're the team taking down the Nazis?"

"Yes?"

"Fucking awesome! Can I join?"

Harry looked at Luna.

Luna asked, "Don't you belong to the Wards?"

"Eh, it was join or jail, so I don't have much loyalty to them."

"So-" Harry cut himself off.

She pulled her mask up anyway, met his eyes, nodded, then pulled it back down.

"Why were you going to jail?"

"Shot some asshole in the leg, hit the artery, got a tourniquet on, called 911 for him, and scarpered."

"Yeah," Hermione said, "My mom always stressed remaining at the scene unless pursuing another perp."

"That's what my PD told me, too. They should put shit up like that on PHO, a FAQ for new heroes, you know?"

Luna nodded, "That sounds like a really good idea."

"So, can I join your team? I wanna beat up Nazis!"

~*i*~

Hermione sat down, accepted the cup of chicory coffee, and smiled at the fiftyish woman across from her, "You two weren't from around here, were you?"

"No, Ah wasn't," she sighed, "You know they desegregated the services in 1948, right?" Her vowels are a little long, and she almost said "yah" for "you."

"It was a big stink, as I recall."

"That's a way to put it. Laurence and I met in Korea, in 1950. Big fucking scandal, Ah was an officer, and he topped out at staff sergeant, he was black, Ah was white. We got married, an' that satisfied the Army, but a couple weeks on leave, back in Naw'leans?" she shook her head, thin grey hair over thicker brown roots, "We traveled, after we got out, and Brockton Bay was a real nice place, then. Korean grocery down the street, kimbap for a dime, some people cared he was black and Ah wasn't, but no one cared enough to push it."

She sipped her coffee, "The kids were grown by the time the Nazi's started back up, and we were too old for them to care. I like my house, I like my neighbors, I hope I don't have to leave."

"I think it'll be OK."

~*i*~

Shadow Stalker went intangible as Menja stabbed at her. Menja growled, hacking and slashing at Shadow Stalker, who put her thumbs to her cowl by her ears, and wiggled her fingers.

Menja howled her rage, and took a step forward. Tried to take a step forward. Discovered her legs had been tied together with steel cable, and fell on her face.

"Stupid Nazi," Shadow Stalker laughed. She crossed her arms, tilted her head, reached up to rub the chin of her mask, then darted forward, pulled her mask up, and kissed Menja on the cheek.

Menja left off trying to free her legs, and swiped at Shadow Stalker, who went intangible. She left her mask up just enough for Menja to see her skin color, stepped back a bit more, then pulled her mask back into place.

"You're so sweet, Menja, you're gonna make some big black mama really happy in the pen."

Menja got to her hands and knees and crawled awkwardly after her.

"Give up, Nazi, or I shall taunt you again!"

~*T*~