Sarah winced as she sat down on one of the chairs on her balcony, feeling the ache in her muscles as she looked out at the city. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun showed no signs of setting yet, shining brightly and cheerfully over Brockton Bay.

Despite that, Sarah already felt exhausted, and a part of her longed to simply crawl into bed for the rest of the day. Just curl up with one of the books she'd been meaning to read for ages and stay there.

She was getting too old for this.

It was an absurd thought to have. She was barely forty. She had excellent healthcare, courtesy of a few sponsorships and Carol's success as a lawyer, even if it was hard for New Wave to stay afloat.

But it was also true.

For all that her powers meant that Sarah was able to avoid being hurt by either mundane weaponry or even most capes, the ones who did manage to hit were exceedingly dangerous. She had been lucky as Lady Photon, never suffering the sort of grievous injuries that many other heroes faced. Even so, the injuries she had taken over the years had built up, little by little.

It was undeniable. She was slowing down, slower and less capable than she used to be. She was not as fast on the uptake, with less endurance and energy than she had once had.

Today's incident was proof of that.

"Tea, honey?" Sarah looked to the side to see her husband standing there, holding a tray with two steaming cups of tea in hand.

"Thanks, Neil," She took the cup and drank, feeling some of her weariness drain away as the hot liquid went down her throat.

Neil sat on the chair opposite her, placing the tray on the table between them.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, taking a sip from his own cup, though it was filled with coffee rather than tea. It looked absurdly small in his giant hand.

Sarah smiled a little wryly. Neil knew her very well, and could easily tell exactly what she was thinking about. He was just trying to sound out if she was in the mood to talk about it.

"Just the fight at the mall today," She answered, looking out over the balcony again. The view from their apartment was spectacular, downtown Brockton Bay sprawled below them, skyscrapers rising in the distance.

From up here, Sarah could almost believe that Brockton Bay was peaceful. But she was too experienced for that.

Neil leaned back in his chair. "Well, it was a tough fight, but we did good. We took her out quickly."

"We did," Sarah agreed wearily. "But if the Captain hadn't shown up…" She trailed off.

If Brockton Bay's newest cape had been a second too late, a lot more people could have died. Would have died.

Sarah had seen what Banshee meant to do, but she had been just a moment too slow to react, to shield the people from the rain of shattered glass and stone.

And in this life, a moment was an eternity.

New Wave could still have beaten Silver Banshee without the Captain. Of that, Sarah was confident. Though the leader of the Chorus was powerful, she was also obviously inexperienced. Her tactics were sloppy and predictable, relying more on her exceptional power-set than actual skill. If Sarah had to guess, Banshee had had her powers for perhaps a few months, if not less.

But that inexperience didn't make Banshee's propensity for collateral damage any less devastating.

They could have beaten her…but a lot more people would have died before they took her down. That was the trick with powers. Sheer scale could even the odds against experience.

As always, Neil seemed to be able to read her mind by looking at her face.

"It's a good thing she did show up, then," He said reasonably. "There isn't really any point in dwelling on something that didn't happen, hon."

"I know. I just…" She sighed. It wasn't that she felt guilty, as such. That would have been ridiculous. Why feel guilty over people who weren't even dead, and would have to spend a few days in the hospital at worst?

And like she had told the Captain, having a guilt complex was a terrible thing for a hero. It was important to save everyone you could and learn from your mistakes, but dwelling on those you couldn't save was a surefire way to destroy yourself.

But all that aside, Sarah couldn't help but feel conscious of how she was slowing down as she got older. She was in good health by any standard, better than many people her age, but age had taken its toll nevertheless.

On her and also on her family. Grey had begun to creep into Neil's hair and the smile lines on his face were increasingly prominent.

Carol had begun to slow down too, just like Sarah had, though her proud younger sister would never admit it. And poor Mark's depression only seemed to deepen with every passing year.

Sarah knew that none of them let that impede their hero work. They constantly trained, went over their tactics, team maneuvers, and not even the public had gossiped about them showing a hint of slowing down.

Today, when Banshee had attacked, they had all sprung into action and acted to save as many people as they could. Victoria and Crystal in particular had done an excellent job, given their age and inexperience. Sarah was proud of her niece and daughter and had made sure to tell them so. But they also shouldn't have had to contribute in the first place.

It was undeniable that five years ago, they could have taken down Silver Banshee a lot faster. Without risking civilian lives or the lives of their kids.

Neil reached across the table, taking her hand in his own. "Hey, don't worry so much about it, alright? We did good today. Nobody was seriously hurt, and nobody died. We took down a dangerous gang leader, and without her, Chorus should fall apart soon. And yeah, the new girl helped, but that's a good thing. You shouldn't be fretting about it."

Sarah sighed and smiled, squeezing her husband's hand. "Yeah, you're right. I just worry too much."

"Well, Photon Mom," Neil said teasingly. "Worrying a bit less won't hurt."

Sarah rolled her eyes at the nickname, pulling her hand away. "Don't call me that." Neil knew she didn't like that silly thing the media called her, but that was exactly why he used it to poke at her.

"Oh come on," Neil said, grinning. "It's not such a bad nickname. You let Crystal and Eric call you that sometimes."

"It is exactly that bad. And you're my husband, not my kid," Sarah snapped, knowing her husband was baiting her but unable to resist. "Don't call me Photon Mom." Coming from the media it was something she could grudgingly tolerate because she had to. From her children, it was a mildly annoying but affectionate joke.

But from Neil, it was truly irritating.

"Alright, alright," Neil said, raising his hands though his eyes were still dancing with laughter. "Speaking of Eric, did you call him yet?"

"First thing I did when I came home," Sarah replied, even as she belatedly realized that Neil had baited her to distract her from her worry. Damn the man, he really did know her too well. "He hadn't seen the news yet, but I filled him on the basic details and told him we were alright. He was worried, but I convinced him that he could finish his trip and there was no need to hurry back."

Her son had gone on a camping trip a few days ago and wasn't due to return until for a few more days. He had missed the fight with Silver Banshee, and on some level, Sarah was relieved. Eric might have been able to contribute, but he also hadn't been at risk of injury like Victoria and Crystal were.

"I'll give him a call later too," Neil nodded.

"How are Carol, Mark and Victoria?" Sarah asked. "Have they called yet?"

"Mark called me while I was making the tea, he said they're home and doing fine. Amy was really worried and is fussing over Vicky, but that's all. They're resting now."

Sarah nodded in relief. "That's good." Not that she had really expected otherwise, but after battles like the one today…well, confirmation always made her feel better.

"Also, I was wondering," Neil began. "I saw you speaking to Brockton Bay's new wonder girl after the fight."

"I did," Sarah said, leaning back.

"What was she like?" Her husband asked curiously. "Didn't really get a chance to talk to her. Crystal likes her, but I'm curious." There was a slight hint of worry in his voice, one that would have slipped anyone else by, but Sarah recognized it. After all, she'd felt it too when her daughter had told her she'd spent a day patrolling with an unknown new cape. An adult at that.

It was perhaps a little silly to fret over her superhero daughter spending time with someone older than her, but it was also an instinct that neither of them could squash.

Every child with powers tended to think they were untouchable, but it was far from the truth. Sarah and Carol - especially Carol due to her connections - had heard numerous horror stories of child capes being manipulated, abused, or worse by adults.

Not all of the adults had powers, but that didn't make them any less influential or concerning.

But today had more or less laid those worries to rest.

"Crystal is right," Sarah told Neil. "She's a good person, I think. She also seemed…" Lady Photon trailed off for a moment. "...young."

"Young?" Neil repeated, arching an eyebrow.

"Young," Sarah confirmed, absently taking another skip of tea. "I can't say why, but her body language, the way she talked…she looks like she's in her late twenties or even early thirties, but I'm pretty sure that's her powers," The Captain's features were too flawless, too superhumanly perfect to be the product of anything less. "I'm thinking she's in college, though I couldn't say how exactly how old. Maybe even a projection."

"Huh," Neil considered that, rubbing his chin. "That does make me feel a bit better."

"Me too," Sarah said. "I offered to give her some lessons on controlling her blast powers. It was the least I could do, after the help she gave us today."

"Good thinking," Neil agreed, a spark of mischief entering his eyes. "We wouldn't want any skyscrapers being blown up by lightning bolts."

"Neil!" Sarah admonished, trying to hide her own amusement. "You know she didn't mean to do it." It was funny, but it would be hypocritical to criticize, given Sarah's own trouble with her powers back in the day.

"I know," He chuckled. "Just kidding. When are you planning on meeting her?"

"In a few days," Sarah said, putting her now empty cup on the tray. "I'm still trying to think of a good place where I could teach her safely. I thought of a testing clinic, but I don't think any of them in Brockton Bay have facilities for someone who can cause that much damage." Sarah had seen photos of what had happened to the Boat Graveyard on the news, and that level of damage was…she could have replicated it, maybe, but not easily.

Definitely not by accident.

Neil nodded in understanding. "Maybe in the forest outside the city?"

"I think people might be mad if we burned down the forest," Sarah said dryly. "No, honestly, the Boat Graveyard might be the best place. It is out of the way, and no one would be hurt there. I'll probably have to talk to Mayor Christner first, give him and the PRT a heads-up, but it should be fine."

"Fair," He agreed. "You want me to come along?"

"You want to?"

Neil shrugged and gave a lopsided grin as he stood and took the tray and empty cups. "I might be able to help. She might have a better grip on her Brute powers than her Blaster ones, but she's obviously still new to all of them. And I won't lie, I'm kind of curious."

"Alright," Sarah chuckled. "We'll go together."

"It's a date!" Neil said, rising to his feet to give her a kiss on the temple, vanishing back into the house before she could respond.

Rolling her eyes, Sarah looked back out on Brockton Bay. The upcoming lesson would be interesting if nothing else.