So because I like surprises, I decided to do a chapter focusing on just about the last characters you'd expect-Firecracker's parents. They're actually going to be important later on, but I also always wondered what everyone's parents always thought about their behaviors. Also another year time skip, so Firecracker is 10 and Sector Z is 7. Anyways, I'm rambling. Let's begin.

If there was one thing that Marcus and Rose Baros prided themselves on, it was being understanding towards their child.

Ava, or as she preferred, Firecracker, had always been more than a little chaotic. They knew most parents would have pitched a fit by their child wanting to play with and modify fireworks, but, instead, they had set some ground rules down for Firecracker ("no blowing up anything in the house!" "clean up after yourself." "Do not aim the fireworks at people under any circumstances" things like that) and allowed her to do as she pleased.

Honestly, it worked out for the best. Firecracker was more willing to outright trust them with things and they, in turn, were more willing to allow her to have personal freedoms because they knew they could trust her. Even still, her being trustworthy and being able to be left alone was a blessing for them as well considering how much their jobs kept them busy. Marcus was a major player in the video game industry while Rose was a police officer. So Firecracker's ability to keep herself busy meant they could save money on a babysitter and spend more money on spoiling their daughter for always being so easygoing with things.

But they would be blind if they said they couldn't tell Firecracker got lonely.

This made them all the happier when she started turning up with friends. She had a lot of them! Some her age, some older and some younger. Either way, as long as they all behaved and didn't break or steal anything, the elder Baroses were okay with anyone Firecracker would bring home.

Although that didn't mean what Firecracker and co talked about or did with them wasn't any less confusing to them.

"Firecracker, did you have to yell 'This is the Greatest PLAN!' out when Constance crashed into that satellite?" One rather common visitor, a boy named Bruce, asked as Firecracker, him, and a couple other younger boys and girls all sat around the TV, enjoying some snacks. Marcus, for his part, was in the kitchen having just returned from work, but he could hear what was going on.

"Yes, she did," Alessandra declared as she grabbed Firecracker's arm in an almost protective manners. "Because it WAS!"

"Besides, I can't resist a good video game reference," Firecracker chimed in, a cheeky smile on her face. "My dad works in it, so it was only a matter of time until I turned out like that."

"Does your dad let you play all the new stuff?" David asked, his eyes full of stars. Marcus smirked, realizing this was a chance to make an interest.

"On that topic," Marcus announced himself as he entered, a smirk still clearly visible even with his tired face. He then pulled out an unmarked case. "I believe you said you wanted this."

"Is that the new Riccardo Bros Kart?!" Firecracker exclaimed in awe as she and the other kids jumped up to look at it.

"Figured you kids would be perfect last minute play testers," Marcus explained. Of course, he also just wanted to let his daughter and friends have some fun. "Now remember. No telling anyone else about this. Wouldn't want to lose my job, now would I?"

"No way! Then you can't bring us cool stuff!" Lenny declared for the group. A little selfish, Marcus knew, but he was only seven, so it's not like he knew any better. With that, Marcus headed off, but he could hear the excitement of Firecracker and her friends as they pulled out Firecracker's Swap-O and plugged the game in, laughter and cheers filling the air.

Rose Baros wasn't shocked to see Firecracker when out on patrol.

Her route was the same as Firecracker's whenever she walked too and from the local elementary school (picked specifically because of that) and would sometimes pick the girl and any friends she walked with up from school if she spotted them. Sometimes, she'd even turn the lights on, just to make her friends laugh.

But it was shocking to see Firecracker and her friends, all of them clearly having just taken a beating.

Rose's motherly instincts flared to life. She pulled the car over and almost forgot to turn the car off as she jumped out with a first aid kit she kept in the glove box. Even if she was supposed to leave all that stuff to ETMs, she would always try to help if she could.

"Firecracker, are you okay!?" She exclaimed. Firecracker, who was surprisingly one of the least injured, looked up, giving her mother a weak smile.

"Hey mom…" Firecracker said as she sat down on the sidewalk, wincing a little as she did. "Uh…the other guys got the worst of it."

"Who did this to you!?" Rose demanded. How dare someone do this to her baby girl and her friends!?

"Some jerks," One of Firecracker's other friends, Cree, piped up as she sat down as well. Looking over the group, Rose recognized all of them as also being people Firecracker regularly hung out with: Chad, Thomas, and Maurice. "They wanted to pick a fight with us over allowance money. Firecracker made one cry." Firecracker gave a proud look at that and if Rose wasn't so worried about them all, she would have been proud too of her daughter for standing up for herself and her friends.

"Do you know what those…bullies did to you?" Rose had to actively restrain herself from calling the people who dared to hurt her only child so much worse.

"Outside of the cuts and bruises and stuff?" Chad asked. Rose just nodded. "Well…Maurice got punched in the nose really good." It was then Rose took notice of the fact Maurice had been hunched over, trying to stop the blood coming out of his nose.

"Uh, my foot hurts," Firecracker admitted as she pointed to said leg. "One of those teen jerks kicked me in the ankle. Cree decked him so it was okay." Now it was Cree's turn to look proud.

"It was a painting of much suffering…but also triumph!" Thomas, who had what looked like a lovely black eye forming, declared in his own way.

"That's…great, Thomas," Rose said as she finally managed to get the antiseptic and bandages out. "Now, I'm going to need you all to hold still. I know this is going to sting, but that means it's working." With that, she got to work bandaging the kids. A few of them did whine a little, but mostly were content to let themselves get bandaged up. Much to her great relief, Firecracker's ankle was mostly just bruised, but it was a close call and she still probably shouldn't be running around. Still…how had a teenager done so much damage? Was the kid wearing a steel boot?

"Thanks mom," Firecracker said as her mother finally finished. She tried to stand up, but Rose instead picked up. "MOM! Not in front of my friends!"

"Firecracker, you shouldn't be walking right now," Rose explained to her protesting daughter. "Besides, you already made a teenager cry. You won't lose your cool points just because your mother is carrying to sit in the front of her police car."

"...If I think, I think she just gained some!" Chad piped up. Firecracker smiled at this.

"Come to think of it, you kids probably shouldn't be walking home like that," Rose admitted once she set Firecracker down. She knew she should be getting back to her patrol, but she had a feeling that having an adult better explain what had happened might ease parental worries.

Lord knew she and Marcus freaked out whenever Firecracker turned up with one of her random scars.

"Can you put the sirens on?!" Maurice asked as he, Cree, Chad and Thomas piled into the backseat.

"Sorry kid, but it doesn't work like that," Rose replied as she climbed into the driver's seat and headed off. Once she was sure there were no cars around, she flipped the sirens on, causing all the kids to eagerly cheer.

Still, as understanding as they were, they did still have to question Firecracker about one thing.

Why the group she'd called Sector Z seemed to always be over.

While Firecracker was good about giving warnings, especially when it was related to the kids coming over for meals, sometimes, one of them would just show up at random and Firecracker would always just let them in and they'd hang out or Firecracker would help with homework or one of those weird 2x4 things.

And never once did any of them bring up parents.

So Rose and Marcus needed to understand what was going on.

"Firecracker, can we talk to you?" Rose asked one day. She and Marcus were both home and no one was over.

"What's up?" Firecracker asked as she set down her homework.

"It's about your friends," Rose decided to just bite the bullets. "We're happy you like having Bruce, Alessandra, Lenny, David and Constance over so much, but their parents must be worried about them always being over here."

"So we'd like it if you could get their phone numbers-" Marcus began, only for Firecracker to cut him off with a sentence that, in hindsight, they should have seen coming.

"They don't have parents."

"What?" Marcus said, trying to make sure he heard that right.

"They don't have parents," Firecracker repeated. "They're all orphans. I don't know why. I never bothered to ask. I meant them a few years ago. We kinda just…clicked. So I let them come over so much because they always ask about having my own room or having a big house or having my own things so…I always just bring them over here." Marcus and Rose looked at each other and realized now that a lot more things added up, like Firecracker never once asking to go visit any of their houses or mentioning anything their parents did or gave to them like she did for other kids.

Still, this did change their response quite a bit.

"Ava…" Marcus placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder, kneeling down to look her in the eyes. "You know you could have told us this, right?"

"Yeah, but some other adults make fun of them for it. So do some of the kids," Firecracker began to rub her arm as she looked at her shoes. She didn't say what she was thinking, but both Marcus and Rose could hear it loud and clear.

"I didn't want you to judge them either."

"Firecracker…we know you probably did want to talk to us about this, but we promise you that your friends are always welcome here. We just wanted to know why they always seemed to be around," Rose assured her daughter, who looked up. "And before you ask why, it's because we're your parents. It's our job to worry about this stuff."

"...Guess that's fair," Firecracker accepted the answer, a smile managing to pierce her face.

"Now how about you go get your homework done and then we'll go get some ice cream?" Marcus offered. The smile now bigger, Firecracker headed off, nearly forgetting to grab her things. Once she was out of sight, Rose and Marcus shared a look. Their house was rather big.

If Firecracker's friends wanted it, then they would be happy to add them to the family.

I knew from the get go I wanted one of Firecracker's parents to be a cop but I had trouble coming up with the other job. Decided to settle on two jobs that would be considered cool to kids.