Heroes of Royal Woods.
A cold wind brushed my hair in one direction, practically neutralizing the soft warmth of the falling sun. A chill ran down my body, and I hugged my knees against my chest. I tried to distract myself with the beautiful landscape. The sky, a watercolor painting with the most beautiful warm colors, bathing the city in a golden light. The beautiful clouds, so fluffy and soft in their sinuous shapes. Birds flew up in the sky, so free, inviting me to join them. Their flocks. Their families.
I cleared my throat, and feeling the rays of the sun on my face as a warm tickling touch, I let my power pour out in a thin layer of blue flames that surrounded my body. The cold vanished, and the emptiness in my chest became a bit less unbearable. A plane flew into the city limits, and I decided to follow it along with my gaze, distracting myself with its trajectory and its gentle flight to keep my mind from wandering away and thinking.
Below me, I heard a metallic sound, almost like a hammer blow, and then the soft whooshing sound of something traveling the air. I thought about running away as soon as possible to avoid what was about to happen, but I knew that wouldn't be more than a childish reaction to delay the inevitable. And I hated to act or behave like a child in front of him.
"Enjoying the view, Nova?"
I didn't reply right away. I didn't reply at all, actually. I stayed still in my place, my eyes following the plane, but my focus so much further away. Maybe even nowhere in particular.
"It's a wonderful view," he insisted. "Really worth the effort to get here without catching anyone's attention."
I doubt he'd said that to make me feel bad, but I couldn't avoid thinking that if he'd taken the time to get there, the least I could do was allow him the chance to speak to me.
I descended from my elevated position in the middle of the air, moving slowly and gently until I sat on the edge of the heliport at the Yates Tower. Beside me, the cold wind blew the cape of Ace Savvy, the Night Vigilante, Protector of Royal Woods.
He grabbed his cape and sat on top of it to keep it from moving. I noticed he'd taken a seat closer to me than I'd expected. Unfortunately, right then the plane hid behind a cloud, and now I had no excuse to avoid looking at him.
"I heard the police reports," he suddenly said. "Impressive. You stopped four vehicles and seven thugs without them even getting their guns out."
"They weren't that big of a deal, they just stole a supermarket," I said, perhaps rejecting praise from Spade for the first time in my life.
I didn't feel like celebrating that day.
"For Tom and Gary, the owners of the market, it was a huge deal; those delinquents almost ruined their business," he replied. "Another boring work day for you, an immense relief for them. Never forget the impact our actions have on the people we protect. After all, this effort is for them."
I breathed in to try and manage the emotions that raged within me. My lower lip quivered, and I tried to frown in order to keep my feelings in check. I didn't want to cry. Not in front of him.
The moment he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, all my defenses broke down. The tears, the sobs, I couldn't keep it together as I buried my face in Ace Savvy's chest.
Right then, however, he wasn't Ace Savvy. He was Spade Nifty.
And I wasn't Nova, I was Lori Lavigne, and not even the same one I was the day before, but a Lori Lavigne that felt like a twelve-year-old all over again.
At the top of the tallest tower in Royal Woods, no one could hear or see me cry, no one could see me breaking down, so even though I wore my suit, I didn't try to act like a tough, reliable hero. I let all my frustration, my tiredness, and my sadness flow and escape the prison inside of me.
I cried until I ran out of tears, and when I was done, I felt more tired than whenever I released a Supernova. My body, but mostly my spirit felt exhausted, tired of pretending to be strong.
"Everything's gonna be alright," Spade told me, having remained silent as I let everything go.
"Nothing's gonna be alright," I replied with a hoarse voice. "There's nothing to celebrate. No one respects Leni or me. Not the police, not the media. No one at our school wants to be friends with the sisters that never go out at night. My parents died. My biological parents didn't want us. What's the point of trying so hard just to stay a failure?"
"Don't say that."
"It's the truth."
"Of course it isn't."
He leaned away from me. I tried to wipe my face, to brush my hair, but there was little I could do to conceal how much of a mess I was.
He stared sternly into my eyes.
"Going through adversity doesn't make you a failure, it makes you human. We all carry a cross on our shoulders, and the heavier it is and the harder the road becomes, the more righteous you are for not giving up. At your young age, you've faced more tragedies and difficulties than most people could ever hope to recover from. And you and your sister have done so in an exemplary way."
He placed a hand on my shoulder and for a moment, it looked like he was addressing me as an equal.
"You've taken care of your sister on your own, a responsibility no one could have forced you to accept. Not only that, but you've decided to become a hero simply out of a need to help those who suffer and can't defend themselves. There's no nobler cause than that."
"And yet we can't even help you with your big cases. We're just a bother," I mentioned, remembering how useless we were to help Ace on his ongoing investigation against Tetherby Industries.
"You'll never be a bother. Nova, don't you realize what a great hero you've become in such a short time?"
"Oh, come on. We've never even beaten you once in our training!"
"And you think you're making it easy for me? I've been struggling for weeks, fighting at my absolute best every night. Sparring with you is the toughest training I've ever endured. You only needed a few months to convince me that you're ready to face anything that stands in your way."
He looked away with a smile on his face.
"I never told you this, but I'm convinced you two will be the ones to defeat the Royal Wood's Curse."
Throughout the years, I noticed the respect Spade seemed to have to the alleged curse. He wasn't a superstitious person in other areas. He wasn't afraid of breaking mirrors or walking under a stair. Granted, he had that ridiculous ritual of wearing a red sweater every time his team played, but he didn't seem to pay much attention to other metaphysical elements.
Except for the Royal Woods Curse. He always spoke about it like it was a real, tangible danger. That was his main excuse to push Leni and me to our limits. "If you can't beat me, how could you possibly escape the Curse?", he would taunt us with.
And yet, he'd never give us any details about it. He avoided talking about the curse, or his past. We were too young, he'd tell us.
"You've already beaten the curse," I said.
"No. I avoided it. But I could never defeat it for good. That, Nova, I'm sure will be the job of a new generation, one you'll be a part of one day."
"I suppose I'm still not old enough for you to tell me more about this curse, am I?"
"No, not yet," he replied with a smile. "But you're getting closer."
That comment tugged at my heartstrings. Hadn't I cried a river before, I would have started immediately.
"I know you miss them," he told me, reading my thoughts. "And it's okay to do it. Do you think we heroes don't cry for the loved ones we lost? For our family? If we didn't, we wouldn't be heroes. Your pain is part of your humanity. It doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger. It makes no sense to try to repress it three hundred and sixty-four days a year. Embrace it."
"I wanna get over it."
"You don't get over it, little one. You learn to live with it every day. The people we lost never abandon us."
He stared nostalgically at the horizon.
"And your biological parents loved you," he finally said, changing the subject for no apparent reason.
"If they loved us, they wouldn't have abandoned us."
"It isn't healthy to judge without knowing all the circumstances. But I'm sure they love you and your sister. And somewhere out there, if they could see you, they'd be proud of the wonderful people you've grown into. As proud as I am."
That was a nice thought. Ever since the Lavignes had adopted Leni and me, I hadn't thought too much about my biological parents. I was more interested in my real parents, the ones who drove us to school, took care of us, and taught us to keep our powers hidden.
After the accident, however, I started to think more and more about my biological parents. It may sound horrible, but I thought it might have been a way to fill in that void. I'd lost my parents, but there were others out there if they still lived. Maybe one day we could reunite. Maybe one day I'd have parents again.
I don't know. Maybe those were but fantasies of a scared child, desperate not to be alone in the world. But I wasn't, I knew that well. I had Leni, and that's all I needed.
But I also had Spade.
"Why are you doing all of this for us?" I finally asked, after several years of build-up. "You don't go through all this effort for every orphan kid you run into. Why did you let Leni and me into your life?"
My question seemed to catch him by surprise. Another plane entered the city's sky and his eyes followed it.
I kept silent. I knew he'd respond, eventually.
"You had no family left. No grandparents, no uncles. You had no one to go to. And you're metas. I saw your powers at the accident. And I know how hard it is to be a meta in this town. I knew right away that you'd need my help."
I believed him, and yet, I felt like that wasn't the full truth. Why wouldn't he look me in the eye? Sometimes I wished I had Leni's empathic powers.
Before I could question him again, he stood up.
"Alright. Nice chat. Now get up and go home."
"What? Why?"
"Because, even with the bad memories coming up, today's a day to celebrate."
He stretched a hand to help me stand up.
"I spoke with Leni already. I ordered a cake, and it'll be getting to your house any minute now."
I should've known he'd pull the same trick as last year. I let out a defeated sigh.
And, secretly, a happy one.
"Is it chocolate?" I asked.
"Just like the birthday girl likes it."
I opened my eyes as soon as I woke up. I found myself staring at my bedroom window, with the warm rays of the sun hitting my face. I closed my eyes once again as my body got used to being awake.
Why had I dreamed with a memory? It'd been such a vivid dream. I could still feel Spade's comforting embrace and the path my tears took through my face. In fact, the tears were definitely there. I raised a hand to wipe my cheek, and I immediately felt my muscles and bones aching in pain, and my stomach screaming at me to get something to eat.
It all came back to me all of a sudden. I sat up as fast as I could, causing the pain to travel through my spine. How had I gotten there? The last thing I remembered was the battle against El Dragón and his siblings, then carrying Leni home, and then…
And then?
"Oh, you're finally awake."
I was startled. Walking into my room like it was the most common thing in the world, Eva Alexander, my neighbor, approached me until she sat next to me on my bed. She grabbed some sort of pen with a flashlight on the opposite end, and grabbing me by my chin, flashed the light into my eyes.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time to take a full exam, my shift at the hospital starts soon," she said, palpating my arms and face with a focused expression. "Let me know if it hurts. Last night we took your bandages off. It looks like you've healed almost all the superficial wounds."
"Last night? What do—? Ouch!"
"Mmm. Looks like a hematoma in the medial periosteum of the humerus. Try not to make any effort on your arms for a few days, until the pain goes away."
"Eva, what are you—?"
"Other than that, you seem to be recovering well," she interrupted me, standing up. "I'll try to get some painkillers from the hospital. Tonight or tomorrow I'll give you a more thorough check-out. Kaelynn and Sam were so worried, they'll probably be paying you a visit in the afternoon. Anyway, I'm sorry, but I really gotta go. See ya! Take care."
And just like that, leaving me filled with questions and worries, Eva left my room.
Luckily, not even a minute went by before Leni ran into my room and jumped into my arms.
"Lori!"
"Leni," I replied, stopping myself from screaming from pain so she wouldn't worry too much. "What's going on?"
"I was, like, so worried!" She said, hugging me tighter, squishing our cheeks so much I could almost share her thoughts.
"I'm okay, don't worry. How about you? Are you hurt?" I asked, using my question as an excuse to lean away and glance over her.
She seemed okay.
"I'm alright," she said, fixing her hair with a smile and then holding my hands in hers. "I passed out from exhaustion, the villains didn't hurt me. I should've gotten there sooner, I'm sorry! I let you and Ace fight on your own."
"Hey, you got there just in time to save us," I said, remembering more details as minutes went by. "You managed to put La Tortuga out of combat. If you hadn't… Well, it doesn't matter. Everything turned out okay."
She tilted her head, still smiling.
"You're still scared, though," she pointed out.
"Yeah, I am. What was Eva doing here?"
"She comes every morning to check on you."
A horrible feeling spread in my chest.
"Wait. Every morning?"
"Yup!"
"Leni, how long have I been out?" I asked, dreading her saying something terrible like 'a month' or 'a year'.
"Do we count when you briefly woke up last night asking for something to eat?"
"What? I don't… remember that. How long ago did we fight?"
"Oh. Three days."
I leaned against the bed frame. Three days since our battle against the villains. And I still felt completely drained. Would it be exhaustion from the fight or was I lethargic from laying down in bed for seventy-two hours?
Pulling off my Supernova move always left me exhausted, and I'd even slept for twelve hours straight in previous attempts. But, three whole days? I'd never pushed myself to that limit. It was a dangerous gambit. An attack as desperate as devastating, with the drawback of leaving me out of combat for what could seemingly be up to a couple of days. Was this the consequence of how difficult the battle had been, or had my power increased lately and therefore so did the consequences of releasing my full reserves at once?
Something to ponder later on. Before that, there was something I needed to resolve.
"What did you tell Eva?" I asked. "That I had an accident or something?"
"I didn't tell anyone anything," Leni answered calmly.
"What?!"
"I mean, they all watched the news," she said like it was an obvious thing. "Sam and Ricky found us in the hall, by the time Eva got here she knew everything. She brought bandages and stuff from the hospital, she even cooked dinner for us. Well, I mean, you were unconscious, but it was totes delicious."
I stopped listening to her halfway into her response, as my whole world seemed to shatter around me. All sorts of terrible thoughts began to cross my mind. Should we move to a different building? How could we explain everything to our neighbors? Had Sam told his friends already? All schools showed documentaries on the importance of Secret Identity Day, he should know what the stakes were, but I couldn't bet everything on a fourteen-year-old boy's integrity.
"Hey, don't worry," Leni gently squeezed my hands. "It'll be alright."
"How can you say that?" I asked, genuinely surprised by how easy Leni was taking in the situation. "Leni, you know how important it is to keep our identities secret. We did our best to keep it an absolute secret for years, and now—"
I stopped. My sister's smile hadn't even hesitated.
"Leni… did they know already?"
She looked away with a mischievous smile, like a little girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Oh my God," I said. "All of them?"
"Yeah."
"Since when?"
"Um… After we stopped those purple ninjas? The ones that ended up being robots?"
"That was our third case!"
"Yeah, that one."
"How did…? Why…?" My mind was racing, trying to reconcile this new information with my lived experiences. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
She leaned closer and dropping my hands, she wrapped me in a warm, tight hug.
"Sorry. It didn't feel right."
"It's super dangerous that they know who we are."
"They know that," she said. "They understand how serious this whole thing is. That's why they haven't told us that they know; they wanna protect us and keep us out of trouble."
"Wait, they don't know that you know?"
She shook her head. "I read it on their feelings. All the worry, admiration, sadness. Every time we come back from a battle. Why do you think they're always giving us free stuff, or asking us to come over for dinner whenever we stay up late fighting crime? They know we don't have anyone else so they try to help us any way they can."
She thought for a second and then shrugged.
"Well, I mean, now they know that I know, 'cause they found us passed out on the stairs, costumes on, and they had to help us. But they wanna pretend it didn't happen."
It was a lot to take in at once. Our neighbors (all of them?) had known about our secret life for years. I'd failed at protecting our biggest weakness, apparently not even for a couple of months. Spade would have been really disappointed in me.
"How's the kid?" I asked, changing the subject.
"He's fine. Went right back into patrolling."
Finally, some good news.
I laid back, psychologically spent. And worst of all, I knew that we still had a lot to discuss, and the most important thing to talk about hadn't even been brought up.
My sense of distressing dread must have been pretty obvious to Leni's awesome empathic powers.
"Lori… We gotta talk," she said, with no trace of anger or complaint in her voice. She simply stated what we knew.
No need to push back the inevitable, then.
I took my time to explain the reality of our situation. I kept nothing away from her this time. I explained in detail, as clearly as I could, the legal problems with the common funds Spade had left to our name and all the complications his death had caused on them. I revealed that we'd been living off our savings for months. I also shared my fears and worries about our lack of resources as heroes. No insurance, no healthcare, no royalties for our image or TV appearances.
Naturally, Leni was familiar with most of our struggles, but she knew nothing about the economic difficulties we were facing. She'd also been surprised to learn that I'd managed to hide from her all my fears and worries that haunted me at night. My worries for our future, and her well-being.
I revealed the real reason that had driven me to Great Lakes City, along with my failure in getting an agency to sponsor us, and finally, Bobby's proposition.
"You should have told me before," she lamented. Not really calling me out, mostly just sad. "I didn't know things were that bad."
"I didn't want to worry you. It's my responsibility to—"
"No," she interrupted me. "It's not your responsibility. Lori, we're family. We're a team. None of us has to do anything on their own."
"I never meant to leave you out of this," I replied, feeling guilty. "I just wanted to have some sort of… solution ready, or at least a plan before dropping this on you. I didn't want to come up empty-handed with no trace of hope in sight."
She sighed with a smile, shaking her head like she couldn't believe how dumb her sister was.
So, uh, me.
"Lori, whenever we go to a fight, I'm never afraid. You know why? Cause you're there with me. We've both been through a lot, but we always find a way to come through. Together."
She stood up, closing her fists and raising them like she was ready to fight.
"Knowing you're there with me is all the hope I need."
For some reason, I felt the urge to cry. But I couldn't let that happen.
"I know you wanna be like Spade," she continued, "but you're not him. He was alone. You're not."
Okay, the urge to cry was too strong. I shed a tear or two.
"Alright, then let's solve this as a team," I said when I got my emotions under control. "What should we do?"
We spent all afternoon going through our options.
The next morning, we flew away first thing in the morning.
"Over there," I said, stretching an arm to point at the building.
"Oh, wow! It's, like, super cool!" Leni said. "It looks so modern. I love those gargoyle thingies, makes it look so heroic."
"Uh, no. That's a hotel. The agency's the building in front of it.
"The one that looks like a bodega?"
"Yes."
"Oh. So pretty!"
I turned to stare at her. Flying through Great Lakes City's sky, with her hair defying the laws of gravity and the wind, Leni didn't seem to be making fun of it or lying. She truly found that building charming, for some reason I couldn't fathom.
Maybe it was that, just like the first time I saw it, she found it endearing. A family running a hero agency. A dream come true.
We reached the entrance to the Guardians of the Firmament agency. When we got to the ground, Leni stumbled, losing her balance for a second.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry," she said, catching her breath.
She'd never flown so far, and her powers required more focus and concentration than mine.
"Ready?" I asked and she nodded.
Of course, I was the one that didn't feel ready, and somewhat scared for what we were about to do. Taking a deep breath, I reached for the agency's intercom and rang the bell. I waited a few seconds in silence, preparing my lines.
Then, a voice came through the speakers.
"Nova! You're back!"
The enthusiasm in what appeared to be Carlota's voice caught me by surprise. I glanced around me, looking for a security camera, but I couldn't find any.
"We saw you through the window!" She said, like she read my thoughts. "Come on in, fly to the third floor."
Leni and I looked at each other. After I shrugged, we both flew up to the third floor, where the Casagrandes waited for us with the windows wide open.
The reactions from the members of the agency were divided, though a lot more positive in general than I'd hoped for. I'd spent the previous day dreading that the whole family would hate me, but none seemed to be particularly mad at me. And yet, Artura and Maria greeted me with a certain coldness and forced smiles. Carlos kept himself busy at his desk, writing on a computer, barely throwing glances at us every now and then. Rosa and Hector left the room as soon as we entered.
Everyone else welcomed us with joy like we were old friends of the family returning after a long time. CJ and Frida approached me, asking me how I was and a thousand other questions. Carlota went with Leni, introducing herself, praising my sister's costume, and saying something about a collaboration. Carl also seemed to completely forget about me, walking in circles around Leni, trying to impress her by… doing something, I guess.
"We heard about your fight," CJ told me. "You beat the bad guys!"
"Yeah, we did."
"Do you have any idea what happened to them?" Frida asked me. "They haven't shown up since then."
"They might be recovering," I supposed. "We all ended up pretty worn out. They haven't been back in Royal Woods either. Maybe they wanna take some time off before attacking again."
Or maybe there was still enough humanity left in them to decide to leave us alone. Preferably out of a survival instinct, given that we'd clearly defeated them, but I was willing to accept their retirement out of a plain sense of humiliation.
"Don't drop your guard," Frida warned me. "The Triumvirate don't show themselves too much. They hide, waiting for the right time to strike. You were lucky to go back to Royal Woods when you did. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't left early."
According to The Omen, death and destruction. I wondered if I'd ever see that strange little girl again. How had she managed to predict the villains' attack? What were her powers exactly? A new metahuman in Royal Woods? Part of me hoped that wasn't the case. She was too young to be using her powers openly in our city. It would be better for no more young metahumans to show up for everyone's sake. That DiAngelo girl who had caused a scene at our high school's musical and then escaped prison was clear proof that we weren't ready to deal with them.
The Omen, at least, seemed to be on our side. If she ever appeared to us, I may be able to convince her not to risk her life.
The sound of thunder coming from the stairs announced La Tormenta's arrival. Sitting cross-legged on a tiny, black cloud that flashed with miniature thunder and lightning bolts, the girl opened the office doors with a gust of wind.
Her eyes were practically (perhaps literally) crackling with lightning when we looked at each other. The smell of ozone beat out the office's air freshener, and I gulped when I felt the hair on my neck bristling with the electric current in the air. Was she about to fry me up in front of her whole family?
"You must be La Tormenta!" Leni suddenly said, gliding elegantly through the air until she stopped right in front of the girl.
"Uh, yeah, that's me," she replied, staring at my sister with distrust written all over her face.
"I'm Eclipse! Nova told me about you."
La Tormenta looked back at me, and that spark of anger reappeared.
"Did she now?" She asked with a venomous glare.
"Yeah, she told me you saved her in the fight against La Cobra. And that without you, she couldn't have gotten to Royal Woods in time."
To everyone's surprise, Leni hugged Tormenta, who was shocked and overwhelmed by Eclipse's sudden gesture. After being stunned for a few seconds, and with blushing spreading through her face, she raised a hand to timidly return the hug, giving me a confused look.
I shrugged, but I stopped paying attention to the conversation Leni started with her when, a few seconds later, El Falcón joined us at the office.
Or, well, it was more like Bobby joined us, since unlike La Tormenta, Leni, or me, he didn't have his superhero costume on. He was dressed, instead, with some simple jeans, brown shoes, a white t-shirt, and a striped, unbuttoned green shirt. Naturally, my attention was drawn to his casts. The lower part of one of his legs was enveloped in bandages, making him use a crutch. His right arm was also in a cast that covered even part of his torso. At least his face looked much better, with barely some bandages taped on his cheek and a black eye.
Guilt and sadness filled my heart when I looked at him, but the negative emotions calmed a bit when I saw the warmth of his smile like everything was okay.
"Nova," he greeted me.
He tried to step closer, but I took pity on him and I moved towards him instead.
"Don't move so much," I asked, tentatively placing a hand on his good shoulder to help support him.
"I already got my mom nagging me over," he joked. "I'm happy to see you."
"Me too," I said with a smile.
We remained in silence for a few seconds, and I realized that everyone else at the office did as well. He seemed to notice, too.
"Now that you mention it, I feel a bit tired. Wanna go to the reception? There's a sofa there for me to sit."
"Yeah, sure."
Not daring to look back, I helped him into a room on the floor below. There was some kind of counter there and a meeting room, with a sofa large and comfortable enough for several people. I got some cushions for him to rest his leg on.
And then sat right next to him.
Without the pressure of our respective families looking at us or listening to our conversation, we had many minutes to calmly talk. I'm not gonna bore you with all the banal details everyone knows we talked about; his worry for what he heard about our battle against the Triumvirate, my worry about his health. My sense of guilt for his wounds, his guilt for not coming with me to Royal Woods. All that stuff.
I'll skip straight to the most relevant part of our conversation.
"I've been worried. You really don't know how relieved I am right now," he told me with a big smile.
I smiled too, needing to look away so I wouldn't lose my mind and do something I could later regret.
"Come one, I wasn't gonna let them beat us."
"Oh, no, after your fight against La Tortuga, I learned now to underestimate you. You're one of the most powerful heroes I've ever seen. Even Muscle Fish would be hard-pressed to beat you."
"Don't underestimate the pros, either, especially those that have been on the job for so long. Power isn't everything," I warned him, remembering my mentor. "So if you trusted me like that, what were you worried about?"
"'Cause you left before I could even ask your number," he replied with a straightforwardness that surprised me. "I thought I'd never see you again."
I had to double-check that his fire wings hadn't come out of his back, since the room suddenly got so much hotter.
"Falcon…"
"I know it sounds… weird. Maybe a bit selfish."
"No. Not at all. It's… kinda cute."
He blushed. Visibly. My heart beat faster.
"Did you really think I wouldn't come back?"
"Well… It was a possibility."
"A real low one. I still haven't replied to your invitation."
He frowned, confused, but then realized what I meant. He breathed in, ready to hear my answer.
"I talked about it with Eclipse. We'd love to join your agency."
His eyes lit up for a moment, but his shoulders dropped when he realized I wasn't done talking.
"You're a fantastic hero and an even better person. Your family is wonderful. And you're right. We both want to protect our loved ones, and we could help each other do a better job at it. Not only that, but Great Lakes has everything we need, everything we're looking for. A… structure. A system that works. Our life would be so much easier if we lived here."
He slowly nodded, with a defeated smile.
"But it's not your home," he said, reading my mind.
"Exactly. I know it's weird—"
"Not at all. I get it. I really do. I wasn't expecting you to take me up on my offer, to be honest. You're the kind of hero that's not looking for the easy path, but the right one instead. Right?"
"I try my best," I sheepishly said. "Our whole life is there. And… Well, let's just say this whole thing helped me realize we're not as lonely as I thought we were."
I thought about the little Ace Savvy. Our neighbors.
"I get you. It's very noble. I'd feel guilty if I took such great heroes from a town like Royal Woods. They need you more than we do."
"That's what we think. But we're really thankful for your invitation. It's more than we could have asked for."
Bobby looked away with a smirk.
"Well, like I said, I may have been a bit selfish. Everyone in this town treats me like a rookie, even heroes our age. You're the first person with whom I…"
He waved his hand in the air, stirring an invisible pot trying to find the right words. To keep him from moving his arm too much and getting hurt —at least that's what I told myself—, I grabbed his wrist, pulling it down from the air.
"I feel the same way."
Without any of us noticing, our hands moved until they held each other gently.
"But, you know, just because we don't join your agency doesn't mean we're never seeing each other again."
"I'd love that. Though I'd prefer it if there wasn't a supervillain in the middle," he chuckled.
I looked around until I found what I needed. I went to the desk and grabbed a black marker. When I sat again, I leaned over the cast on his right leg and, ever so carefully, wrote my phone number clearly on the white surface.
I signed with "Nova", though one second before capping off the marker I changed my mind, and went back to add a little heart to it.
"We may not need to wait for another villain to show up," I said.
His face could barely fit that big, dorky smile.
A few minutes later (don't ask what happened in the middle), I helped him back to the agency's main offices. We let go of each other's hands before opening the door.
Most of the Casagradnes were back to work on their desks, barely glancing at Bobby and me as we got closer to Carlota's desk. She seemed busy taking selfies with Leni. La Tormenta, next to us, watched them with a weird smile, especially at my sister.
"Eclipse, time to go," I let her know.
"What?" Carlota asked, putting her phone away. "You're not even staying for lunch?"
"Sorry, we'd love to," I lamented, remembering Rosa's delicious cuisine, "but I have an interview this afternoon. And it's not a good idea to stay out of town for too long. You never know when we might be needed."
"Oh, okay," Carlota said. "Bummer! I wanted to film you guys checking out our agency. A guided tour for our followers."
"Carlota was just teaching me how to manage our social media as heroes!" Eclipse told me, showing me her phone. "Why have we never opened Nova and Eclipse accounts?"
"For safety reasons," I reminded her. I didn't trust in technology. Not after a few experiences in the past.
"Oh, it's not that dangerous," Carlota said, shrugging it off. "Just remember to use three-factor authentication. Between that and VPNs, trust me, it's the safest thing to use. Two heroes like you could break the internet."
"Don't worry Nova, I got this," Leni said with confidence.
"Whatever you want. Anyway… Sorry our visit was so short-lived. I wanted to thank you all once more for everything, and… Well, just check on you guys."
My eyes met Bobby's, and we smiled at each other again.
Even those who hadn't greeted me with a lot of enthusiasm got closer to say goodbye. As Frida cried on my shoulders, I saw Leni approaching La Tormenta.
"No one's underestimating you", she suddenly told her with a smile, grabbing the little girl's hands in hers. "They're all very proud of you, they know you're strong. You don't have to prove anything to anyone."
La Tormenta looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"H-How—?"
"And Falcon would never replace you. Don't worry, you shouldn't feel jealous."
"I-I'm not—!"
"I get it," she interrupted with a kind smile. "I love my older sister too, and I'd be afraid of anyone taking her away from me. But they'll never stop loving us."
No one else seemed to be paying attention to that exchange between Eclipse and Tormenta, something the latter would surely be grateful for. Her blushed, confused face, so common in people not used to dealing with Leni's empathic powers, didn't quite fit her tough and confident attitude.
I felt tempted to make a joke, but Leni gave me a nasty, warning look, and I held back. My sister and I finally reached the open windows. Her hair flew up, my body was surrounded by a bluish aura, and we both lifted off the ground.
"Don't forget to write!" Carl asked us, wiggling his eyebrows before Carlota pulled his ear and left him weeping.
"Don't worry," I responded, looking at Bobby, "we'll stay in touch."
With a last goodbye, we flew through the open windows and into the sky. We traveled over the streets, surrounded by the asphyxiating noise of traffic and the busy city life. We crossed paths with several heroes patrolling the streets and clouds, many too busy to pay us any attention. At some point I saw Polaris, the Light Hero, having lunch on some skyscraper's gargoyles. He raised a hand and flashed a white light at us, which I interpreted as a 'what's up?'. I raised my arm too, wondering if I'd ever see him or any of the other heroes of Great Lakes City.
Besides Bobby, of course. I had no doubts in my heart about it.
"It's a really big city," Leni mentioned next to me.
"It is, yeah. Very busy."
"I know it's our best option, but I don't think I could get used to living here."
I smiled.
"I don't know if I could," I admitted. "But we have other priorities."
"Yeah. Royal Woods needs us."
"Exactly. We better come back before the kid blows up another warehouse."
Ten days ago, Leni would have been mad at me for making fun of the little Ace Savvy. This time, however, she smiled.
Those stupid powers of hers wouldn't even let me make jokes without her knowing what I really meant.
"Come on, get on my back," I said with a smile. "You're tired, let me drive."
"Okay. But don't go too fast!"
Of course, I didn't.
What kind of sister would I be if I didn't respect the speed limit as I carried my sis through the skies?
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Sorry for taking so long, I had a brutal semester at college. I wanted to have this chapter and story wrapped up weeks ago, but there was always something more coming up that kept me from doing it. Anyway, now the third entry in the Heroverse is officially over.
I'm happy I didn't cancel this. The theme of this story, as you probably noticed, was "family", and what every major character did to protect theirs. Lori and Leni, obviously. But also the Casagrandes, the Changs (how they put their family over their philanthropic aspirations), and even the villains. It was a theme I wanted to explore. How far someone's willing to go for their family. Naturally, all the references to the original Ace Savvy being some sort of fatherly figure for Lori and Leni is related to that. Anyway, I'm happy with the story. Cutting down chapters/scenes with Los Casagrandes really helped me find the motivation to finish this lol
Thanks to everyone that followed this story. Allow me, as always, to reply to the reviews:
STR2D3PO: One can only hope! And yeah, Lori's starting to respect Lincoln. Good for her.
wollyworld: Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Indoraptorman101: The next story in the Heroverse will be about the Queen of Diamonds, AKA Lola Yates. Regarding your idea for an alternate version of the Full Deck, no, that's not in my plans. There will definitely be more stories after phase 1 if I stay invested in the franchise/characters. Which, currently, seems like I will.
Jeff: Glad you found it satisfying! Hope this resolution was to your liking as well.
Guest: It's an actual interstate in Michigan! But yeah. Nice indeed.
Kokomo: I'm happy I was able to fulfill your very specific need of three siblings fighting a fire breathing dragon guy! Hope the finale was to your liking hehe.
And well, that's it folks. Thank you so much for reading!
You can go home now!
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Oh, who am I kidding, you guys know what's next.
Roll the tape!
"Alright, you can drop off now," I told Leni, crossing over the entry sign to the town.
"Aw, but this is fun!" She said, sitting on my back with a hand extended to the front.
"Yeah, but if anyone sees us they'll think we're playing."
"But we are playing."
"The public doesn't need to know that. Where did you leave my bag?"
She didn't say anything, but jumped off my back, now flying next to me. She examined the streets as we kept flying over them, until she recognized a water tower.
"There it is," she said.
She moved the hand she had facing forward. Her "windshield" vanished, so the strong currents of wind hit my face again. Sometimes I wished my suit had a built-in visor.
Seconds later, my bag floated from below until it rested in front of me. I grabbed my phone and checked the time.
"Dang it. I'm running a bit late."
"Sorry. I'm the one that told you not to fly so fast."
"No, it was my fault. I was distracted thinking about… stuff."
"You mean Bobby," she corrected with a teasing tone. "I'm so glad I can't see what you think, cause going off what you felt, I don't think I'm old enough to watch what was going on in your head."
"Eclipse," I said, absolutely devastated for not being able to stop thinking about Bobby during our trip, "go back home and get your homework ready. Don't even think about patrolling before I'm back."
"You're not gonna go change at home?"
"Don't have the time. I'll be back in a while."
"Oh, okay. Good luck!"
I drifted off to the left, going over the city with my aura as soft as possible, camouflaging with the bright blue sky. I passed the parks, the mall, the schools, until finally I got to the outer limits on the opposite side of the beach. I looked around until I found a recondite shed next to the parking lot. It wasn't ideal, but I'd changed clothes in worse circumstances.
Silent as a shadow, I descended in the blink of an eye, making sure no one would spot me. I took my clothes out of my bag, leaving them in an orderly pile next to a trash bin. With a sigh, I began to take off my gloves.
I was about to lower the zipper in my back when a voice behind me made me squeal out loud.
"I suppose there are worse places to change your outfit."
After that embarrassing yell, I turned as fast as I could, blushing and with a hand ready to shoot a beam of cosmic energy.
From the opposite end of the shed, a tiny girl with disheveled hair, glasses, and a know-it-all smirk approached me, sitting on a futuristic-looking chair that floated three feet off the ground.
I groaned and dropped my hand.
"How did you find me?" I asked, continuing to doff my costume. "I'm busy, I have a—"
"Job interview," she said before I could finish. "I'm aware. Do not fret, the owner is lagging behind a few minutes. We have time to talk."
"Only if I feel like talking. Turn around, you make me nervous."
Her chair turned 180º.
"You have nothing to be afraid of," she continued, even while turning her back on me as I changed clothes. "And the work will be yours, so don't be anxious about it either."
I looked up as I buttoned my pants. "Huh? What do you mean?"
She pressed a button on her chair, and some images that seemed to be security camera feeds projected in the air like holograms. Two figures were talking in the middle of the golf course, though it was hard to tell who they were. A lip-reading software generated subtitles in real time, but I couldn't read them from where I stood.
"The owner of the golf club will be late to interview you because he accidentally mentioned your last name to his daughter as they played on the fourteenth hole. Right now, she's telling you about the tragedy that stuck your family years ago, and she'll end up convincing him to give you the job no matter how badly you perform in your interview."
I couldn't help but feel relieved when I heard that. Leni and I had agreed to find part-time jobs so we could both pay our expenses until the judicial situation with Spade's bank accounts got figured out. The position at the golf course was the best option on my list. Securing it would be such a relief for our situation.
And yet, I also felt confused about it.
Not because the little girl followed all my movements. It was weird, but we'd had encounters in the past. She was the reason I didn't trust social media.
There was something else I couldn't understand.
"And why would Carol Pingrey be trying to convince her dad to give me the job?" I asked, fixing my blouse. "We never were super close or anything."
"Just like the rest of your classmates, she's aware of what happened to your parents. I can't tell for certain, but I infer that recent events have led her to believe that helping those who need a friendly hand is the best way to avoid… potential problems. Especially those with tough life experiences."
I frowned. Suddenly, it didn't feel right to take the job. I didn't want to be accepted just because they pitied me.
Then again, I couldn't allow myself not to accept the offer. Well then, if they gave me the job, I would work extra hard to be the best employee they'd ever hired.
"She'll be working at her father's golf club as well," the girl continued. "She's trying to get into Juilliard next semester, and she wants to earn her own money before leaving. It would appear that you two might be working together this summer. How does that make you feel?"
As I brushed my hair, I pondered that question.
"I have nothing against her. The jocks and popular kids never bothered me. They keep inviting me to parties, but I don't have time to go out. Why do you ask? You can turn around, by the way."
"Oh, you know," she said, turning to look at me again, "just interested in knowing your feelings on teamwork."
I sighed. I saw it coming.
"Your recent appearances along the Guardians of the Firmament in Great Lakes City, and particularly your battle next to Eclipse and Ace Savvy make me think that perhaps you're ready to reconsider my old offer."
I put my costume in the hidden pocket in my bag and approached the girl's floating chair.
"Listen, uh… Lola? Lulu?"
"Lisa."
"Lisa. I told you last year and I repeat it again: you have no idea what you're suggesting."
"On the contrary, Nova. I've been working non-stop for at least eighteen months in the L.O.U.D. Initiative. The conditions are met. Not only do we have dangerous loose ends to solve, but we have new players to take into consideration that we hadn't before."
I knew what she meant. I glared at her.
"Don't you even dare pull Ace Savvy into this."
She smirked.
"I mean it," I warned her, pointing a finger at her, "don't fill his head with your ideas to save Royal Woods. He isn't ready."
"On that, we agree," she conceded, which calmed me down for an instant, at least until she resumed talking, "but he's getting closer with each passing day. And he isn't the only one. You'd be surprised to hear, but there are more metahumans we can work with."
"You mean The Omen?" I asked.
For the first time since I knew her (which wasn't a lot, we'd only seen each other three times), Lisa looked confused.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The Omen. Oh, wait, I don't even know if that's her real name. Or hero name. She's a girl, about this tall, black hair, she flies, has some weird, spooky powers. Did you send her to me?"
Lisa kept quiet for what felt like minutes, her hands under her chin, absorbed in her thoughts.
"No," she finally said. "My number one rule is to not interfere until the program's ready. I didn't send anyone to you. Lynn almost joined the battle against the Triumvirate. She was desperate to protect—"
She stopped, clearing her throat.
"The city, of course. You wouldn't imagine how hard it was to stop her. Oh, come on, don't give me that look. I assure you that my calculations predicted a victory of the alliance you formed with Eclipse and Ace Savvy. I never doubted you would win."
"Well, I'm glad your math wasn't wrong."
"They seldom are."
"What do your calculations say now?" I asked, putting my bag on my shoulder. "That I'll accept your offer this time?"
"No," she acknowledged with a smile. "You won't. You're not ready to join just yet."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because you never considered my offer before, not for real. This time you will, at least once I leave. You'll think about it. And the next time we meet, then you'll be ready."
A red button began to flash in her chair. She pressed a sequence of commands and the button and the holographic images turned off.
"My apologies, but there are other issues that require my attention. Good luck with your interview. We'll meet again."
And just like that, she left.
Lori and Leni Lavigne will return.
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Yoooooooo, Lisa's back! Lynn was mentioned! And the L.O.U.D. Initiative?! What the heck does that even mean? And Carol Pingrey! What did Lisa mean? Why is Carol helping Lori?
Well, now we're done for real with the post-credits scene. I invite you to leave a review if you'd like to.
Bye bye!
….
Oh.
OH.
THERE'S MORE?!
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Birds flew and hares hopped away in desperation as La Tortuga tore a tree out of the ground like it was a small flower. The heavy, thick roots tried to hold on to the earth, but the mighty strength of the colossal creature overpowered nature's grasp. A tiny nest fell from the branches, crashing into the ground as the giant carried the tree on his back through a path he'd been following for the past few days.
La Tortuga continued marching down the path with his guard up. There was something in those woods that scared and disturbed him, keeping him up at night. Like something watching him in the dark, an invisible force that kept its eyes on him and his brothers. With a chill running down his scales, he decided to hurry up.
He soon reached the improvised camp he and his brothers had built the same night they ran away from Royal Woods. There, sitting against the trees that worked as a shelter, were La Cobra and El Dragón.
La Tortuga threw the tree he'd grabbed to the middle of the almost extinguished fire. The weight and humidity from the tree were about to quell the fire, but El Dragón used his fire breath to light it up once again.
He coughed after doing so, but he looked so much better than just a few days ago. After the battle against Nova and the other kids, La Tortuga feared his brother wouldn't make it.
"We're still weak," El Dragón pointed out, examining his eyes under the dancing light of the flames. "But soon we'll be whole again."
"What will we do then?" La Cobra asked. "Without our car, it'll take us days to get back to Great Lakes City. And we have no way of contacting our grunts."
"The fastest way back to our town is going back to Royal Woods," the leader said.
La Cobra and La Tortuga stared at him.
"Are you serious? Those kids—"
"Were lucky," El Dragón interrupted. "We underestimated them. Now we know their skills. We were too stubborn in not changing our approach. Rafa, you'll deal with Nova. You can resist anything she can throw out at you. I'll deal with the boy. His tricks and stunts won't do anything against my hellfire."
"How am I to deal with the other brat?" La Cobra asked. "She could keep Rafael out of combat for the entire fight."
"You'll stay hidden. Attack her from the back when she least expects it. A precise, lethal blow, that's your specialty. Without her to keep Rafa in check, there's nothing they can do."
"I… Miguel, I don't know. Maybe we should leave them alone."
"What?! And accept our defeat?! What's wrong with you, Gabriel?! We can't let them get away with this! Think about everything we've built over the years!"
As La Cobra and El Dragón discussed their course of action, La Tortuga noticed something in the corner of his eye. It wasn't the leaves that seemed to move with no wind; he'd gotten used to it after two days in that strange, infinite forest. Just like how he'd gotten used to how the trees seemed to change positions overnight, or the crazy overpopulation of animals that walked through the woods without a care in the world. Thanks to that, they didn't run into trouble getting food.
No, what he noticed was a bird that perched over a tree branch on the other end of the clearing of their improvised camp. It wasn't a regular bird. It looked like a yellow canary, the kind one could have at home, but there was something strange about it. Under the firelight, it seemed like…
La Tortuga stood up, alert.
That bird was glowing. Its ethereal body had some transparency to it, and its angry eyes shone bright with a golden glow.
"...protect you! That's my priority, not the damn Triumvirate!" La Cobra said, sounding mad.
"Protecting you is my job, Gaby! That's what this is all for, God damn it! I need to make sure no one threatens you ever again!"
"Quiet!" La Tortuga roared, raising an arm to silence his younger brothers. "There's something—!"
A grey flash rocketed out of the bushes just under the tree the bird was perched on. It crossed the clearing at full speed, turning on its axis. It went over the fire, shredding the tree and quelling the embers.
It seemed to be heading straight to his brothers, so Rafael put his arm out to protect them.
The scales on his arm gave in to the silvery edge that sunk many inches deep into the once unbreakable arm of La Tortuga. Rafael let out a roar of pain, staring dumbfounded at the blood that began to pour out of his arm, examining that strange weapon. It was…
…a rock tied with vines to a tree branch.
"What is this?!" La Cobra yelled, standing up.
El Dragón did his best to get on his feet.
"Who's attacking us?!" He screamed. "Show yourself, coward!"
La Tortuga tried to grab that improvised, primitive weapon that somehow had managed to pierce his defenses, but an invisible force pulled it out of him before he could do it.
A figure jumped from the top of a nearby tree and landed on the now-quelled tree. The figure, impossibly small, had its right hand stretched forward, and the stone axe flew through the air straight into that open palm.
The figure carried a cape made out of hundreds of tree leaves, with a hood that hid its face.
"What is this?!" La Cobra asked, glaring at the newcomer.
The glowing canary flew from the branch it rested on, going in circles around the mysterious person. With a white flash, the bird was gone, and next to the figure appeared a ghostly dog, its body glowing in a red light.
"Leave the forest and never return!" The person spoke, her voice much sharper than any of the villains would have guessed.
There was something else to it, but none of them could figure out what.
"Who do you think you are?!" El Dragón asked.
"You've killed many animals and plants since you got here," she warned them. "Turn around and leave at once, or you'll never walk away from this forest."
The villains looked at each other.
"You picked the wrong fight, little one."
The figure looked up at them, and under the moonlight, the three siblings saw blue eyes filled with rage.
"I warned you," she said, growling like a wolf.
Three months later, Great Lakes City would rejoice at the news of all the Reptile Triumvirate's grunts dissolving their organization due to the mysterious vanishing of their leaders.