Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One

Unchosen

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2018 by Erik Schubach

Self publishing

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Photo © 2018 Maxutov / DepositPhotos.com license and Makyzz / Freepik.com license

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Manufactured in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

Chapter 1

Lightning Bug

I tightened my grip on the spatula in my hand.  It had been two days since a bombshell had been dropped on me.  That I was the twin sister of Big City's superhero darling, the Chosen One.  Just a day before that, I was simply Emily Monroe, night manager here at Big Burger who looked so freakishly like the Chosen One that supervillains regularly attacked me here at work to make a name for themselves.  It didn't matter how adamantly I professed that I was NOT the Chosen One.

No... I am not the Chosen One, don't look so skeptical.

I now know that I am just the unintentional leftovers from a secret grand experiment by Big City and Genesis Labs to genetically engineer the perfect superhero, or Prime, to combat the rise of super-powered individuals who chose to use their abilities for nefarious purposes.  Supervillains outnumbered superheroes almost three to one in most cities and Big City had been no different until years after the experiment began and the Chosen One finally stepped out into the daylight to combat evil.

I used to hate the Chosen One for looking like me, it had ruined my life.  Nobody would hire me for fear that villains would hunt me down and destroy their business because I looked like the city's hero, even though I go through great pains to change my appearance.  Dying my blonde hair dark, and changing my eye color, and hoping one day to be able to afford plastic surgery to take more drastic steps.

That was before, but now... I didn't know what to think.  I mean, she's my sister.  I was the unintentional byproduct, the scum that floated to the top when they made her.  They were going to destroy me when I was born when they couldn't detect any power in me.  They would have 'terminated' with no second thoughts if it hadn't been for Doctor Maria Aki who had absconded with the bassinet with the EM1-LY342 label affixed to it, and left me at the doors of the Big City Orphanage.

Doctor Aki had been the surrogate who had gestated the experiment and gave birth to the most extraordinary individual... and me.  She has been hiding in plain sight from the people running the project, changing her name and running the same Big Burger I worked at.  Imagine my shock in learning that the kind woman who hired me when nobody else would, and didn't seem to care that because of who I looked like, her business got trashed every few days, was... my mother, Mrs. Yamamoto.

I'm still trying to process all that I have learned in the last few days.  My life isn't what I thought it was.  And even my girlfriend and my roommate have their own secrets.  Violet, my best friend since our days in the orphanage, has been hiding that she is the city's biggest vigilante superhero, the Blue Canary.

My girlfriend, Agent Heather Sams with Containment, had inadvertently exposed the fact to me that she was one of the three most powerful heroes in the city, Photon.  She covertly works in Containment to make sure that anti-powered rhetoric and animosity doesn't corrupt the agency.

The entire Containment force is made up of Norms.  Normals are nonpowered individuals, though some powered people use the Zeroes slur instead.

I myself am powered, though I may as well be a Norm for all the good my lame-ass powers do me.  I have the capability to change my eye color and the color of my nails.  On the Peltier Scale, where zero is unpowered, and fifty is what they call Prime, the most powerful people in the world, I'm a zero point one, the Chosen One is a forty-nine point nine.

I feel bad now, knowing that I'm the reason my sister, Wendy, is not a Prime.  When our egg split, I took that tiny bit of power from her.  And she can manifest just about any power now, but she cannot change her eye or nail color when she morphs her form.

Heh, just a month ago I would have relished knowing I was the reason the Chosen One was not little Miss Perfect like I thought she was.  Now here I am feeling guilty for... well for existing.  Just how messed up am I now?

And I'm worried now.  My sister, Wendy, hasn't been seen since the night a couple days back when a group of villains had converged on Big Burger to put an end to their nemesis once and for all.  After a huge battle that almost leveled the place, we had learned that Mrs. Y was our mother and Wendy flew off.

Nobody has seen her since, and a crime spree has ensued that is keeping Heather and Violet busy almost twenty-four seven to keep Big City safe.

I stepped back, clearing my head and swung my spatula, batting away the small ball of electric potential that Lightning Bug had shot at me.  The rubber handle insulating me from the high voltage charge.  The errant blast hit the fryer, and the oil burst into flames.

“Awwww man!”

I pointed the kitchen utensil at him menacingly as he rubbed his hands together to build up another charge.  Two, three, four.  “I told you, you static cling reject, I'm not the Chosen One... and that dumbass beetle suit makes you look like an idiot.  Antennae?  Really?”  Eight, nine...

I dove as another orb of ball lightning whizzed past my head, hitting the grill behind me and dissipating on its broad metal surface.

Ok, ten seconds between recharges, that's a huge window for me.  Why do so many supers depend solely on their powers?  They think they are unstoppable because of them, they don't think about what happens if someone finds out the limitations of their powers and has no problems being a little more, physical and proactive shall we say?

Where the hell was Containment?  I hadn't pressed the button on my ring to call Heather.  Photon has been so busy lately, and she needed a rest.  This third rate villain could be easily contained by, well, by Containment.  I had the new waitress, Jayleen, call Containment after she cleared the dining area of customers.

Normally, Vi would be here drawing the comic books that paid our rent, but she had to run off to the third bank robbery in eighteen hours.  Her wondrous nanotech gadgets would have made short work of this ass clown

I started my count again.  Two, three... I surprised the man by diving at him as he rubbed his hands together once more.  I hauled back with both hands on the handle of the spatula and slapped him across the face with the flat blade of it like I was swinging for the fences.  A bright static discharge flashed, and I saw one of his teeth go flying out of his mouth as he spun in place.  Home run!

Six, seven... I swung upwards like I was golfing, and with a solid clang, and a yelp from the man, I connected with his... ummm... golf balls as I yelled, “Fore!”

And he was down, whimpering in a fetal position, cupping his junk.  I smirked. “That's better.  Soprano is more your forte.  Here, cool off.”  I splashed a pitcher of water on him and watched what little charge he had in his body spark and short.

The fire alarms started screaming, and he started to move, so I kicked him in the face, feeling the satisfying crunch of cartilage as his nose broke.  “Stay!”

He looked up from the floor, one hand on his crotch, one on his bloody nose, a front tooth missing, “You brode bye nouse, you bidsh!”

I crouched by him and prodded him with my spatula. “Yes, I did.  Do you think it's very smart of you to be calling me a bitch right now?”

He flinched as I patted his cheek with the flat of the spatula.

“Now don't move while I handle this.  If you do, you won't have to worry about how much your groin hurts right now, got it?”

He glared at me and nodded.

I backed away and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall, pulled the pin, then sprayed the grease fire.  It quickly extinguished, and I slammed the big red canister behind me and heard a satisfying clang as it struck Lightning Bug's skull as he tried to dive at me.

I turned and looked at him now holding his swelling eye, one of the stupid antennae now broken and swinging in front of his face.  What kind of idiot wakes up one day and thinks, “Hey, I'll dress up like a blue insect, that'll be so cool!”

He scrambled back along the floor until his back was against the grill legs, his hands over his head as I brought the cylinder up, ready to thump him again.  I took a moment to mock the jerk who had just shut down Mrs... umm, mom's fast food joint for another night.  “Seriously, Larry?  What would you have done if I had really been the Chosen One?  Your little sparks wouldn't have even tickled her.  Idiot.”

He looked up at me, shock on his battered face.  I could hear sirens approaching...  finally.  Then I asked him, “Why so surprised I know your name?  You'd be amazed at what you can find on the internet these days.  Including a list of villains and their weaknesses.”

I smirked and said like I was reading from a rap sheet, “Lawrence McDougal, aka Lightning Bug.  Powers, static discharge, twenty thousand watts.  Weaknesses discharges with contact to water or grounding rods.  Hand to hand capabilities, average.”

Then I asked as I moved closer to him, grabbing my spatula again, causing him to try to back farther into the legs of the grill.  “And when I'm pissed the heck off, I'm a little better than average, wouldn't you say?”

Then the back door burst inwards halfway tearing it off its hinges as Containment agents poured in, weapons all swinging from me to Lightning Bug and back.  Big City Police came swarming in from the dining room, weapons all trained on us as well, “Drop the weapon!”

I looked at the officer, then my spatula, and gave him a “Really?” look as he aimed down his assault rifle barrel at me.  I held my free hand up and nodded, moved slowly with the spatula over Larry, who winced and I scooped the burning meat patty off the grill and into a waste bucket and let go of the spatula, clasping my fingers behind my head.

This ain't my first rodeo.

Seconds later a Containment Agent was grabbing my hands, placing power dampening faraday cages over them.  I could feel the tingle of my fingernails as they went from pretty pink to normal as my power to them was cut off.  What was I going to do?  Dazzle them to death with sparkly rainbow-colored nails?

The woman pushed her knees against the back of mine, causing me to go to my knees as the police lowered their weapons.  I knew that the other Containment Agents wouldn't until...  ah, there it is.  I squinted one eye at the voice of Special Agent Harmon Asaunt, “What fresh hell do you have for me tonight, Monroe?”

I sighed and said as I looked back at the big agent with his silvering hair and dumb as heck English driving cap, “Oh, you know, the usual Asshat.”

He corrected me reflexively, “Asaunt.”

“That's what I said.”

The man has been the bane of my existence since the first time he tried to arrest me under the vigilante statutes when I had to defend myself against a villain with delusions of grandeur who had attacked me.

Just because I barely register on the Peltier Scale, that makes me a threat in his eyes, and he has been itching to catch me stepping over the line from self-defense, to vigilantism so that he could throw me in some deep dark hole somewhere.  Normally, Heather would be beside him, being his partner, reining him in.  But she had the day off, trying to catch some well-deserved sleep.

I asked as I wiggled my hands, “Can you do something about these?  We all know what happened here, Assburp.”

He looked at me smugly and shook his head as he stepped up and pulled me to my feet, to lead me to the dining area to get a statement.  He nudged his chin at Lightning Bug, and his agents swooped down on him like vultures on carrion.  I knew Larry would find himself in a power dampening isolation chamber in a few seconds.

The police parted to let us through as the smug agent said innocently, “Oh, but we can't do that until we determine what happened here and be sure that you haven't broken any laws, Miss Monroe.  And it's Asaunt.”

“That's what I said.”

Then I looked at him as he had me sit at a booth, him slipping into the other side as he pulled out his small electronic tablet, droning out almost robotically, “So, Miss Monroe, tell me in your own words what transpired here tonight?”

I sighed and began as he had a technician come over with a quantum decay radiometer and a Peltier scanner to determine if I had used powers tonight.  Even if I had, it is legal in self-defense against another powered individual, but he liked anything that was a blow to my dignity.  We had a pact of mutually assured destruction.

Chapter 2

Wendy?

I trudged home at the wee hours of the morning, the sun rising over the towering buildings of Big City and casting an orange hue to the wispy clouds in the sky.  Harmon had taken his sweet time interrogating me before unlocking the cuffs and letting me free with a warning.

My, umm, mother – I still can't wrap my mind around that, being raised in the orphanage knowing I was just abandoned as a baby – arrived to check up on me.  It struck me how mothering she had been all this time and I never saw it.  But she has had the concern and worry of a mother for her child since I met her.  Now it was clear as day for me.

I know she had placed me at the orphanage to protect me.  It had saved my life.  But I still felt hurt, abandoned.  Probably because I had imagined my entire life that it had somehow all been a misunderstanding, that my birth parents were out there somewhere, looking for me, and that we would be happily reunited one day.  But this had been deliberate, and she always knew where I was.

I know I'll get over that small piece of insecurity, knowing what was at stake... my life.  But for now, I admit I found having an actual mother something amazing that I never thought I'd ever know.

After she showed up at the restaurant and was satisfied I wasn't injured, she called Big City Insurance.  They'll have the place as good as new in twenty-four hours or less, or we'll get a free toaster.  Nobody in the history of the insurance company had ever received a toaster, they are that good.  I swear there has to be something super about how they accomplish it.

I had to grin when I saw a familiar purple haired girl trudging towards our apartment from the other direction, Violet looked exhausted.  If she isn't picking up the slack for the lack of the Chosen One in the skies as the Blue Canary, she's working her butt off drawing comics to meet her deadlines to keep our apartment.  She paid a disproportionate amount of our rent as flipping burgers didn't pay well.  And I loved the short, purple haired wonder.

She looked up and gave me a grin in greeting then yawned.  Aw man!  I yawned back, the evil wench.  I said as I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and we supported each other up the steps, “Hey Vi.”

She looked up and asked, “Sup?”  That, for Vi, was pretty talkative and she could stuff a ton of meaning, accusation, and worry in the single syllable.

I chuckled. “Hey!  What's with the fourth degree?  Why do you think something happened tonight?  Fine, I'm sure you were monitoring the police and Containment bands.  Lightning Bug lost his spark.  I'm fine.”

She grinned and kissed me on the tip of the nose, and I hugged her to me as we entered our third story walkup.  I muttered, “Yeah, love you too, brat.”

We both groaned like zombies, slowly stripping down and leaving trails of clothing to our respective bedrooms.  I groaned as I closed my door, and had to smile at the returning groan from her room as I fell face first into my bed.

Just before I hit, the room lit up brilliantly as a bright light phased through my window and onto my bed.  My smile grew huge as I landed, not on a soft fluffy mattress, but on my delightfully naked, and smirky girlfriend.

I mumbled into her chest, “Hi Glow Stick, you're supposed to be sleeping.”

She chuckled at me and hugged me to her. “I did, all day, except when I had to fly out to take down Mole Dude around lunch time.  I just missed you, and had to see you before I had to show up for my shift at Containment in an hour.”

I inhaled deeply, taking in her scent, linen, and ozone.  God, how had I been so lucky to have her choose me?  I mean she was so glamorous and was one of the most powerful heroes in Big City.  And she actually liked me for me, not because I looked like the Chosen One.  I found it oddly validating that she saw me as Emily Marilyn Monroe; don't ask about the name, the administrator of the orphanage when I was dropped off had an unhealthy fascination for Marilyn Monroe.  And that my Photon thought that of me, made her all the sexier to me.

I wrapped my arms around her and said, “Me so tired.”

She just nodded and held me, and I could tell by the minor motions I could feel as I was dozing off in her arms that she was checking me out to make sure I wasn't injured.  I knew that she would have heard about the incident at Big Burger.

I was just about asleep a few breaths later when there was an almost timid knock on the front door.  What the heck?  It was six in the morning.  The knock sounded again.  I huffed in exasperation as I sat up and fished around for some clothes on the floor.

Heather said, “I'll get it.”  Then she was a blur of light as she went to the go bag she kept at my place that had her spare business suit for Containment.  Then she zinged out to the main room.

I grinned at that as I pulled on a nightshirt and padded after her, Vi was peeking out her bedroom door.  I froze halfway to the front door as Heather opened it and she hesitated as well as I asked in disbelief, “Wendy?”

The short, pleasantly plump redhead at the door looked shy and awkward as she looked down at her hands.  This was the form my sister morphed into to hide the tall blonde with the cute pixie cut who flew around the city with a cape.  Nobody would mistake the girl for the Chosen One, and I envied her that since I didn't have the same blessing.

I moved up to her, she looked scared even as she looked at me and she said in a voice that mirrored mine, “Hi... Emily.  Can I... can I stay with you?  I have no place else to go.”

I blinked at her.  Nobody had seen her since that night at Big Burger when we all learned the truth.  She had panicked and flew away when Mrs. Yamamoto... I mean Doctor Aki, mom, whatever, showed up.  My sister is super at everything, including panic attacks it seems.

She, wanted to stay here?  What was going on?  I rushed forward and reached out to grab her hands. “Of course, come on...”

The moment we had skin to skin contact, that's when I was being thrown across the room as an explosion of power tore through me at our contact.  Heather was suddenly behind me, about to catch me as her clothes crumpled to the floor.  An instant before I hit her like a runaway freight train I stopped, hovering in the air an inch from her, panicking at the thought I could have hurt her if we impacted.

I looked at her then at my hands as I hovered, feeling more powerful than I have ever felt in my life.  I looked up to see Wendy, in her true form, staring at me in complete and utter shock.  She looked at herself and almost panicked as she became Wendy again... but... her eyes were brown instead of blue.  She can't change her eye color.  That was the only ability I had that she didn't.  That and changing the color of my nails.

Heather gasped out at her, “Wendy.  Your eyes.  They're brown!”

In a burst of super speed, Wendy was inside closing the door behind her and leaning back against it as she whispered in awe, “I feel... stronger.”

Stronger?  But she was at the top of the scale.  Well almost, she was a 49.9.  How could she be stronger, and how the hell was I flying?  I went to go to her and felt like I almost got whiplash as I moved in the blink of an eye in front of her, looking at my hands afraid to touch her again.

Was it... was it because we touched?  Is this how she felt all the time?  The power was immense and...  She was just staring at me, and I felt a little lethargic as my feet touched the floor, and all my senses I hadn't realized had been working overtime as I heard the sound of all of our heartbeats fade back into the background again while Wendy's eyes returned to the crystal blue we shared.

I felt... less than I was a moment before.  Aww, maaaaan, whatever happened wasn't permanent.  I could have gotten used to that.  I asked, “Fut - the - actual - wuck was that?”  Looking around at the dumbfounded faces around me.  I looked at my sister then backpedaled, holding my hands up.  “Umm... I think that maybe, umm, we shouldn't touch.”

I just about jumped out of my skin when Vi rasped out from beside me, “Ya, think?”

I looked at her, in her cute kitten pajamas, holding a mallet the size of a sofa.  I chided her with a smirk. “Chatterbox,” as the giant clown mallet reconfigured to a little Hello Kitty watch on her wrist.

Heather got dressed in the blink of an eye, and then her glow faded, leaving her looking just as shocked and dumbfounded as I felt.  I had... I had powers like the Chosen One for a few seconds.  Just from touching my sister we had somehow shared our powers for a few seconds.  But... that's not possible.

Even the Leech didn't really steal powers, his abilities let him mimic powers temporarily while dampening the power he was mimicking in his victim.  After he was captured... by Wendy, the authorities studied his powers extensively to determine how they worked.  I'm sure they were hoping they could use them to somehow give their own agents powers to make heroes unnecessary.

I scrambled back when Wendy cocked her head, a thoughtful look on her face as she reached out toward me.  Crap on a bagel!

She shook her head and said in a voice that wasn't as confident as I would have liked it to be, “No, I think it is ok so long as we don't make skin contact.  I saw some power arcing between our hands when it happened.”

Sure, she could be brave, she was indestructible.  I... I think I had been indestructible for a few seconds there myself.  I closed my eyes tight waiting for that huge shocking influx of power, and she laid a hand on my shoulder.  The fabric of the nightshirt preventing our skin from touching... and nothing happened.

I opened one eye and sighed in relief then was gleeping as she pulled me into a hug.  I gasped out from the steel coils of her arms, hearing my bones creaking, “Can't... breath.”

Instantly she was five feet away looking panicked, terrified, and concerned.  I held a hand out as I took a breath of sweet air. “I'm fine.  You just gotta remember your strength...”  I hesitated then smiled and added, “Sis.”

She was shy and bashful again, looking like she didn't know what to do or say.  I didn't like her being so awkward around me.  I went into motion.  “Umm... come on in.  Of course, you can stay with us.”  I looked a question to Vi who smirked and rolled her eyes at me.  She was so cool.  I loved that she just went with the flow no matter what weirdness life threw at us.

I think that's when Wendy first realized I hadn't opened the door and there were others in the apartment.  She sounded more Chosen-y and sure of herself as she straightened and inclined her head toward each woman, “Photon, Blue.”

I had a mini panic attack, Vi had just outed herself in front of the Chosen One, and Violet was wanted for violating the vigilante laws... a few hundred times.  But then relaxed, remembering she had already done that the night Big Burger was virtually destroyed by the group of villains who decided to attack me that night.

If Wendy was going to turn her in, she could have done it then, or on the dozens of times the Blue Canary swooped in to help deal with powered villain incidents with the other heroes of the city.  Heather, Wendy, Liberty Lady, and the Rocket Speedster always conveniently say that Blue Canary got away after taking down the bad guys.

It is odd, but I think it is the heroes' way of rebelling in some little way.  They all work for the city in essence since they have to be registered with both the city and containment and be authorized to engage other powered individuals and deliver them to the authorities.  Whether that is Containment or the BCPD.

Another little rebellion is that more often than not, they will either leave the bad guys restrained on the streets for whichever agency got there first, or they would drop them off in front of a Big City police station.  Only the villains who ranked 25 or more on the Peltier Scale do they deliver directly to Containment, who has the proper means to detain someone of that power level.  All of their power dampening equipment is supplied by Genesis Labs, the same people who made Wendy and me.

That equipment worked on supers of up to about 40-45 on the scale, and only weakened those above.  Not even that on a Prime, which my sis would be if not for... well for me, ruining the experiment.

I had to know. “Why are you here, Wendy?”

She looked like she didn't know what to do and Heather told her as she led her to the couch, “Come on, sit.”

Vi moved over to a chair and perched on it like a gargoyle as she studied my sister.  “Expending energy?”

Huh?  I went to the kitchen to get some water for... heh... for the Chosen One.  What?  I had no clue what to do and felt awkward, and you'd be just as awkward if a famous person you recently learned was related to you showed up on your doorstep in the middle of the night.  Well fine, it is morning, but for those of us on the night shift, it is the middle of the night.

I came back with the glass of water and went to hand it to her, but instead, put it on the coffee table in front of her to avoid any accidental skin contact.  As much as I didn't want to do that again, part of me wanted to, amazed at how real powered people felt.  Did they always feel so... powerful?  Like they could do anything?  I was close enough to a Norm to not know.

Heather, who speaks the language of brevity my roommate is a master of, playfully pushed me onto the couch then prompted as she sat on the couch between Wendy and me as a physical buffer so we couldn't touch.  “Violet is right, you don't need to wear your disguise around us, Wendy.  You're among friends.”

The redhead nodded and bled into her tall, thin form with the adorable blonde pixie cut.  “Sorry.  Mom... Mrs. Anderson, tells me to stay disguised at all times, even at home.”  She looked at her hands, “I usually always know what to do, and what to say, but I don't know anything anymore.”

I opened my mouth and shut it when she continued, “My mom isn't my mom, I was created in a lab... I have a sister.  Nothing was ever real.”

She looked between the three of us. “I... I quit.  Then mom threw me out when I refused to do what she said and I told her that I didn't want to be the Chosen One anymore, some God damned science experiment.  A freak.”

“She told me that if I thought I could live on my own without her, then she was stripping me of my credentials, that I couldn't use my powers to stop villains anymore or I would be branded a vigilante.  If I wanted to be normal, then I'd have to live like other normal powered people did, no more Chosen One.  She even fired 'Wendy' as her assistant.  Something about tough love.”

I blinked.  Holy platypus stars and donut holes, they fired the Chosen One!  My heart went out to the woman I had hated most of my adult life as she shrugged and looked between Vi and me. “I didn't know where else to go.”

I was just nodding, looking to Violet for her approval as I said, “You always have a place here, Wendy.  With... family.”  Oh god, her big blues which looked so much like mine were watering.  Don't cry Chosen One or I'd be bawling like a baby!

Then my sis looked past Heather to me. “How does one go about getting a job?”

I snorted, forgetting the gilded cage she had lived in.  The only normalcy she ever had in her life is when they allowed her to attend public high school for her senior year so she could get some socialization skills with people who weren't scientists or keepers like the Mayor who had pretended to be her mother her entire life.

I yawned so hugely I was afraid the apartment might accidentally fall in.  Then looked sheepishly at her.  “We can figure everything out after I get a few hours of sleep.  I had a long night, stopping Lightning Bug from destroying the restaurant and all.  I can bring out some blankets and pillows, the couch folds out into a bed.”

My sis looked more like the Chosen One when she straightened up at the mention of Lightning Bug.  Fierce and confident.  But there was also... worry?  For me?  Then again, I did feel particularly protective of her at the moment too.  My sister needed help, and I was going to help her.  It was as simple as that, no matter how foreign the concept of actually having a sister was to me.

She shook her head and stood when I did.  “I don't sleep.  Well not much.  Only after I expend a lot of energy in a fight.  I'm fine.  You get some sleep.”

She... didn't sleep?

Heather stood up and grasped her hand in solidarity, then turned to me and gave me a heated look.  Besides our hair, Wendy and I looked identical at that time, but Heather saw us as different as night and day, the way she gave me a hungry look.  She leaned in and gave me a steamy kiss that left me wanting.  Then she winked at Vi and announced to us, “Well I have to get to work.  Don't do anything until we can get figure out the lay of the land, ladies.  I'll get back as soon as I can.”

Then with that, she was a being of light.  My core heated as I added, a naked being of light, and she phased through the door at light speed, leaving her clothing behind on the floor.

Wendy was blushing.  “She loves you.”

It was my turn to blush as I nodded.  I loved her too.  We both froze then turned to look at Violet who was just looking back and forth between us, shaking her head.  She shrugged then said, “Uncanny.”  Then she shuffled past me, kissing my cheek and heading into her room, yawning and saying, “Love you.”

I called out, “Love you too, brat.”

Then I was alone... with my sis.

She Captain Obvioused.  “She isn't saying much.”

I had to smile. “Doesn't really need to.”

Then we stood there in an awkward silence.  I looked between her and my bedroom door, feeling weird that Wendy would be wide awake out here alone, dwelling on what has happened.  I looked at her and said awkwardly, “Well... good night.”

She looked at me and scrunched her head to her shoulders.  It was like looking in a freaky mirror, seeing yourself do things you would never do.  I don't do cute.  She slid up to me, pulling her sleeves over her hands and she hugged me, gently this time.  “Thank you, Emily.  I promise I won't take advantage of your generosity.  I just need a job.  Mom... Mrs. Anderson froze all my assets, saying they were City funds.”

I almost growled.  That is the thanks she gets for being the champion of Big City the past few years.  The woman who raised her throwing her to the curb and punishing her for being upset that her whole life was a lie.

I said to her as I scurried off to bed, looking back,  “Don't stress over it.  This is what family is for.  Violet has been my only family my whole life, and she carries my ass here.  It's what family does.”

What was I a freakin' Hallmark card?  Did I mention how awkward I felt?

Then I said again, “Good night,” as I slipped into my room.

I snorted at her tongue in cheek reply.  “Good morning.”  Ok, we obviously shared the same sarcastic gene, being twins and all.  I hoped I saw more of that confidence from her, this self-doubt that was humbling her was all kinds of nope.

I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow, I was out like a light as soon as I laid down.  It had been an eventful and exhausting day.

Chapter 3

Mega Girl

I awoke in a panic, the smell of smoke hanging in the air. I glanced at my alarm clock, it was almost 10:00 in the morning when I usually got up.  Vi would already be at work at the comic book studio unless she had to beg off again if a villain attacked in the city somewhere.  I went dashing into the main room, I had to warn Wendy if she wasn't already up.

I skidded to a stop at a realization, and a revelation, one, fire couldn't hurt the Chosen One if it wanted to, and two, Wendy was in the kitchen patting out a fire in a pan with her bare hand.  With a tiny puff of her freeze breath, it extinguished, and she turned around looking very embarrassed, and very ummm... messy.

She shrugged at me in apology, as what looked to have been hash browns which looked more like charcoal briquettes just then, slipped out of the pan and onto the floor.  They actually bounced.

I just blinked at her in shock, she had flour all over herself, smeared on her cheek, orange stains on the apron she wore that had to be orange juice.  The smashed husks of what had to have been oranges laying on the counter a tell-tale indicator.

There was a plate with over cooked pancakes, runny eggs I could see bits of shell sticking up from, burnt toast, and a glass of extraordinarily pulpy orange juice.  She smiled and said in a meek voice, “Umm... I wanted to surprise you with breakfast.”

Dear lord in heaven, I snorted as I dumbly nodded. “Well, I'd say you succeeded... this is... umm, quite a surprise.”

Her hand still had some burning grease on it, and the flames licked up her shirt, and my favorite dish towel that was over her shoulder burst into flame.  Aww, maaaan!  It was the one that had the words, “Get out of my kitchen!” embroidered on it.

She patted her arm and the towel, smothering the flame as she squinted one eye.  I was still a little unnerved at watching my mirror image doing alien things like that.  She offered, “Sorry,” then pointed at the book as she smooshed duck lips to one side while she pointed at the food-ish stuff and the cookbook beside it covered with flour.  “It didn't turn out like they show, I followed all the instructions.”

I narrowed an eye at her as I crossed the room to the windows and slid them up to let the hazy blueish smoke to dissipate and get some fresh air inside.  “You've never cooked before?”

Her expressive face scrunched a little as she said with an apologetic tone.  “I'm only allowed the high protein and electrolyte shakes the family nutritionist makes me to ingest on a strict schedule.  They help replenish the energy I expend.  It comes back naturally, and I don't need to eat, but mom... umm, Mrs. Anderson says I need to be in peak fighting condition at all times.”

What the gerbil jousting, ferret wrangling heck?  They didn't even let her eat normal food?  What kind of life did she live?  My analogy of a gilded cage was looking more and more apt by the moment.  They only exposed her to the positive input, dictated what she ate and when, and made her work as the Mayor's assistant I'm sure to keep tabs on her when she wasn't fighting crime, and maybe to get a little social interaction.

I moved closer to her but resisted reaching out in case we accidentally touched.  “You're not allowed normal food?”

She smirked and shared with a whisper, “The year they let me attend public school, I never drank my protein shakes at lunch, I sort of dumped them then ate the school lunches instead.”  She quickly justified it like I'd take exception, “To fit in.”  Then she smiled and said with enthusiasm, “It all tasted so much better than the bland slurry I was supposed to be consuming.  The flavors were amazing.”

I blinked at her. “You actually liked the cardboard and paste tasting school lunches?”

She nodded, dubious of my description.  I snorted again, for the most powerful being in the city, she seemed innocent and naive about life.  That was a direct result of the bubble they had her living in, and I found boiling anger rising inside at the Mayor, Genesis Labs, and the City Council for treating her like a tool instead of a human being.

I looked at the plate of food she had tried to make for me and winced. There looked to be two strips of charcoal beside the eggs that I had an inkling had started their lives as bacon strips.

I picked up the plate and held it in front of my face, looking over the shudder-worthy offerings and then shook my head in humor as I dumped the contents of the plate into the trash can at the end of the counter.  “This?  Not edible, sis.  But I tell you what.  Let me clean up the mess here and get ready for the day, and I'll take you out for a real breakfast.”

Her eyes widened a bit, and she glanced toward the windows then she smiled and nodded.  She seemed surprised I was going to let her go outside, damn, Mayor McBitch had really done a number on her.

She nodded with a smile, then just as I was reaching for the dishes, in a blur, she dashed around the kitchen so fast she seemed to be everywhere at once.  She zipped in front of me in different clothes, as I gaped at the sparkling clean kitchen.  Now that, was handy.  I looked at her and admitted something I would never have told the Chosen One in a million years since she had once been my arch nemesis who I hated with the heat of the sun for the troubles which came from her looking like me. “You're amazing, Wendy.”

Somehow, that had broken through the nervous, timid cloud that has hung around her since she arrived last night, and I saw the cocky, playful, and confident attitude that had endeared the Chosen One to the people of Big City.  “Of course I am.”

I snorted again, god I have to stop doing that, and I shoved her shoulder as I walked past. “Don't get full of yourself, lady.”  She didn't budge when I shoved her. Instead, I stumbled to the side.  Of course... it was like pushing on a twenty-ton hunk of steel.  It was her turn to snort.

Then she asked as I slipped into my room to grab some clothes to bring into the bathroom with me, “You really don't have much power of your own, do you?  I can barely feel a buzz.  Except when we had somehow shared our power last night.”

I was embarrassed by that.  My power level made me the butt of all jokes between the powered, I've heard every insult including, Near-Norm, Stunt, Zero Hero.  She didn't need to point it out.  I think she caught my mood shift and tried to smooth it over. “I only asked because like just now, you couldn't budge me.  Normally, in my Wendy form, I would allow myself to be pushed, but I figured I didn't need to keep up the act around you.”

I hear the Zero slur more often than the others since it is the preferred insult the privileged powered individuals use toward Norms, and a Stunt, or Stunted is someone who came into their powers later in life, usually around puberty instead of being powered since birth.

I shut the bathroom door and started the shower as I called out, “No, it's ok.  I know I'm underpowered.  I'm just a mistake anyway, the leftovers from Genesis Labs making you.”

There was a sonic boom that shook the apartment, and Wendy was right in front of me, looking mad, her eyes crackling red with her infravision.  She hissed with real rage, “Don't you ever say you're a mistake, understand?  You're stronger than I could ever hope to be.  You've had to deal with the fallout of us looking the same.  And you came out on top, time after time without the convenience of having my power.  That is a true hero.  So don't ever put yourself down like that again.”

I nodded slowly then said, “Ow.”

She looked down at her hands grasping my arms through my shirt.  She hadn't put much pressure on them, but they were like immovable vices pinching my muscles.

She stumbled back, releasing me.  She looked almost panicked, like the time she ran away when she saw Mrs. Y, and I held a halting hand toward her.

“No, it's ok, you didn't hurt me.  Your grip was just a little tight.  I had upset you.  You just need to control your emotions a little better.”

She nodded absently, lost in her own head, and she backed out of the bathroom pausing when she looked at the door with a hole where the doorknob used to be a minute earlier.  “Umm, I owe you a door.  I just need to find a job first.”

Ok, I giggled at the embarrassed face she had on and said, “Sisters for just a few days and you're already breaking my stuff.”  Then I stuck my tongue out at her.

This got the desired result, she smiled, then shut the door behind her as she went back into the main room.  I called out, “Why don't you watch some TV while I clean up?”

I hesitated at her incredulous response. “Really?  Can I?”

It was my turn to get upset.  They didn't let her watch television?  It must be that only positive input directive.

I tried not to growl as I said, “Of course.”  I never thought I'd find myself feeling sorry for the Chosen One.  They really did a number on Wendy.

As I started my shower, I realized that earlier, she had confirmed something for me I had always been curious about.  In all her fights, she always seemed to know just how much force to put behind her attacks to disable but never kill her opponents.  Now I know it was more than just intuition, she could feel the powers of others.

Once I got cleaned up and ready for the day, I went out and headed for my room for my shoes and bag.  “Ok let's...”

I hesitated, she was almost glued to the television screen as some sort of special report was being broadcast.  I moved over beside my sis and turned the volume up a little.  Mayor Anderson was at a podium outside of City Hall, a huge crowd had gathered.

She held her hand up as she said, “Citizens of Big City.”

The crowd quieted, and she dropped her hand.

“I have a couple of announcements today that will have a huge impact on our city.  First, I want to announce that after years of service, protecting our metropolis, our beloved Chosen One has decided to retire.  We couldn't convince her to change her mind.”

The crowd gasped, and Wendy snapped at the screen, “She never once tried to convince me not to quit!”

I timidly laid a hand on her shoulder, making sure to stay clear of her exposed skin.

The mayor continued, “She will be greatly missed...”  She paused, it actually sounded like she was a little choked up.

I glanced between the TV and Wendy, who looked like she caught it too.  I guess the woman was the only mother she had ever known.  No matter how fucked up the situation and circumstances of her upbringing, it looked like they loved each other.

Then she spoke louder to calm the crowd, who had started murmuring, punctuating the rising unrest with upset cries and yells, “But fear not, she does not leave our city unprotected.  Besides Liberty Lady, Photon, and the Rocket Speedster, I am happy to announce that another hero has agreed to take to our skies and keep our people safe!”

The crowd quieted, and I found myself leaning in a bit, overly curious myself as to who they thought could do what my sister could.  There were very few powered individuals with her power level who stand on the side of justice instead of malice and greed.  I could count them on the one hand in our country.  There weren't more than a dozen heroes of that level worldwide.  They are unfortunately outnumbered three to one at that power level by the supervillains that are near or at Prime level.

She paused for effect then she said, “People of Big City, I give you your new champion...”

Then the stage in front of the podium exploded into splinters, the shape of a person in the center of the flying debris that was striking dozens of people.  People started screaming and running as two more human-shaped projectiles impacted the stage, as well as the Police and Containment Agents on hand at the gathering, opened fire on the figures.

To her credit, Mayor Anderson stayed at her microphone, crouching a little as she called out, “Everyone, please stay calm!  Containment is here.  Please proceed calmly to the nearest buildings.”

The dust and debris cloud settled, and I blinked at the impossible.  Wendy whispered in disbelief, “The Unholy Trinity.  But she's in Max-Lockdown at Containment.”

She started to move, and I grabbed her arm and said, “Wendy, don't!  You can't!  They'll arrest you if you do.”

She whispered, “But she's my mother,” as she looked from the window to me then the television where a streak of light impacted the yellow-clad woman in the middle of her three parts.  They slammed into the granite pillar outside of City Hall that had the City's motto engraved on it, “Go Big.”

Photon was striking the woman with a flurry of blows that were just a blur.  Wendy relaxed as I said, “Let the heroes of the city handle this.”  I was a little worried since the Unholy Trinity was a 47 on the Peltier Scale when she combined into her singular form.  My girlfriend was powerful, but not that powerful.

Wendy just stood there, transfixed by the battle on the screen as she clenched and unclenched her fists.  Red Trinity dove inside Yellow Trinity then punched my girl, who went flying back into the ground, leaving a furrow of dirt, rock, and asphalt, then she tumbled to a stop in the dissipating crowd.

“Heather!”

The woman of light stood, rolling her head on her shoulders then put a hand out, making a beckoning motion with her fingers.  Oh, thank all the platypus gods.

It was Wendy's turn to comfort me. “Heather's tougher than you can imagine in her light form, Em.”  Ok, even through my worry, I had to smile at the nickname she used for me for the first time.  Oh shut up, I'm not going all mushy, you are!

Then Red got knocked out of Yellow, as she tumbled along the ground when a red and blue blur zipped past her.  Rocket Speedster skidded to a halt shaking his hand like he had hit something solid and looked up to see Liberty Lady, in her signature red white and blue tights slam into Blue Trinity from above when she started to dive toward the other two.

Smart.  Very smart.  Wendy stated the obvious, “Good, don't let her combine herself.”

Photon slammed into Yellow again, carrying her into a storefront, bricks cracking and glass shattering.

The people on the street were still trying in a panic to get away, the mayor continued to urge calm, so people didn't get harmed in the exodus.  I had to give her props for that.  The BCPD and Containment were forming a protective arc between her and the battle, their weapons useless against the Unholy Trinity.

But then in a blur, the three identical women dove into the air and slammed into each other, fusing at the atomic level back into one massively powered individual.

With two solid punches, Heather and Liberty Lady were tumbling through the air in different directions.  I squeaked when they showed a helicopter view in the corner of the screen of my girlfriend hitting the water like a nuke in Big City Harbor.  I sighed in relief when she resurfaced and started slowly flying back toward the city, her light dim.

Liberty was down for the count, where she smashed through two buildings before tumbling to a halt, taking out a fire hydrant, sending water spraying into the air.  The Rocket Speedster found himself getting intimate with a brick wall a moment later as he slumped to the ground.

Then Trinity turned, and with that odd resonating voice of hers she said, “Your ass is mine now Genny.”  She sounded intimately familiar with the Mayor to be using a nickname for Genevieve Anderson.

She slammed her hands together, and a blast of chaotic energy tore into the men protecting the Mayor.  It was a macabre sight to see the death and destruction as Wendy screamed “Mother!”  She was about to fly off when the reporter was yelling into her microphone, “The Blue Canary!”

I blinked.  In front of the podium was Violet, she was leaning into a giant shield that had a big goofy cartoon dragon etched on it.  I saw where many of the nanobots that created her wonderful toys had been vaporized and she looked injured where some of the blast made it through.  But she had saved the Mayor.

The Unholy Trinity was way out of Violet's league.  There was no way she'd survive another blast or a physical hit.  For all her amazing technology, she was a Norm, having no power against someone with no regard for human life, like T3.

I was about to tell Wendy to go, when something streaked from the sky and the ground where Trinity had been standing exploded, leaving a huge crater and flying debris both injuring people trying to escape the fight as well as damaging the buildings around them.  Vi batted aside shrapnel heading toward the podium with an impossibly huge fly swatter.

When the dust settled, there was a woman in a cape standing over the three bodies of the Unholy Trinity, power dampening cuffs now on all three.  I blinked as the newcomer's purple cape fluttered in the wind.  That and the purple fabric mask she wore over her eyes were instantly recognizable.

What was 'she' doing here?

The Mayor stood up straighter, a smug look on her face as she looked at the newcomer.  Violet limped away into the shadows of the wreckage and carnage around them.  I was feeling guilty about having held Wendy back.  Since she had taken to the skies of Big City, she tried her best to make sure there was no loss of life and attempted to limit the collateral damage once she arrived on the scene.  Not this newcomer though, she did as much damage to the people and surroundings as Trinity, except for the officers T3 had killed of course.

Anderson tested the microphone, which was still working as more Containment Agents arrived on the scene to take Unholy Trinity away.  I smiled in relief when Heather stepped out of one SUV in her Containment guise beside ol' Harmon.

The mayor called out, “People of Big City, I give you our new protector, Mega Girl!”

But Mega Girl protected Mega City.  Not as well as the Chosen One did Big City, but this lady was like the glam version of superheroes, and she was a Prime!  She was always doing photo ops and interviews on all the television networks, hell she's even endorsed products for anyone with enough money to afford her.

There was a cheer from the survivors, and the woman floated to in front of all the reporters and cameras, and she posed for them and started answering shouted questions when most heroes would have simply just flown away.

I snorted again when Wendy surprised me with, “What is that attention whore, primadonna, doing in my city?”

Then I was gleeping when she grabbed me and my bag, and I found us rocketing through the skies toward City Hall.

Chapter 4

If I Catch You

We landed in the middle of the destruction.  Bodies were being loaded into morgue vehicles as medics tended to dozens of people injured by flying debris.  Farther down the block I saw BCPD documenting damage and shattered windows with Big City Insurance people following behind, cleaning up the glass and debris, as other teams swooped in to start replacing windows.  That company was amazing.

The central crater and the stage area were all taped off by both the police and Containment as crime scene techs went about cataloging everything, quantum decay radiometers and Peltier scanners all scanning the area and the people who got caught in the chaos in the crowd.

It had been years since a massacre of this kind had occurred, and never so high profile.  Wendy went out of her way to try to limit collateral damage and loss of life.  Some villains even used that against her to make her go after debris to save bystanders rather than chase them.

This... looked like a war zone.

I noted that Mega Girl was still talking with the press, her purple cape and hair billowing in a nonexistent wind.  Did she just do that for effect?  She was joking with the press and posing while bodies were being loaded in vehicles.  Did she have some sort of disconnect in her brain?

A couple of the reporters noted our arrival and recognized Wendy... well and me as they looked confused yelling over to us, “Chosen One!  How does it feel to be replaced so soon after retiring?  Do you feel guilt over what transpired today knowing you could have helped?”

I growled as I saw Wendy's hands clench.  I said under my breath to her, “I got this.”

I stood tall with the smile Wendy always had when she fought. “No, I do not.  I was told by the government officials of Big City that I cannot interfere or I will be branded a vigilante and thrown into a deep dark hole somewhere for all the years I saved all your asses!  Put that in your story!”

Wendy blanched and stood in front of me.  “She isn't the Chosen One, I am... well, I was.  Now I'm just a Big City citizen like you.  I am appalled at what transpired today, but am thankful that Big City's heroes stepped in to prevent even more loss of life.”  Her clothing seemed to just melt into her white Chosen One costume, her black cape rolling down her back.

I heard the accusation and venom in her tone, whether they did or not, and she turned to Mega Girl who had turned her attention on us.  “Thank you for stopping the Unholy Trinity, Mega Girl.”

I think I vomited a little in my mouth at the subtle undertone of disapproval rolling off the newcomer.

Mega Girl floated over to us then alighted on the ground, calling to the reporters who were in a frenzy.  “Get some pictures of me with the hero that abandoned you all.”

She went to lay an arm across Wendy's shoulder, smiling for the cameras, but my sister caught her arm, surprising the vain woman. “Don't touch me.”

I saw muscles flexing, and Mega Girl was able to pull her hand away.  Was there really that much difference in strength between a 49.9 and a Prime?  I saw Wendy's arm and neck straining though she didn't let it show on her impassive face, Mega Girl was stronger but just.  They both knew it.  That was sort of sobering to me as the Chosen One had always been the most powerful being in the city.

Then my sister said to her with a growl in her tone, “Show some respect, people were killed and injured here.  It isn't some sort of photo op.  Your counterattack was reckless.”

The other woman said through a forced smile, glancing toward the cameras, “And what are you doing here?  You no longer represent the City and aren't allowed to engage against other powered individuals.  You're a has been.”

Wendy took a deep calming breath, I applauded her control as her clothing returned to civilian garb and said as she laid a hand on the small of my back to lead me away from the spectacle that the press was eating up, “I have friends here I wanted to check on to be sure they are ok.”

We walked off, reporters yelling questions like, “Now that you're not the Chosen One, will you be revealing your identity?”  One making my steps falter.  “Who is that with you?  A Mimic or is she your sister Chosen One?”

I was no Mimic.  That was as rare power as morphing like Wendy could do.  It allowed someone to look like anyone they touched for a short period of time.

As we approached the taped off area, I understood Wendy's need to be here and her target.  The Mayor was speaking with the authorities.  She looked our way when we heard pavement cracking.  We looked back to see Mega Girl crouching, shattering the pavement when she took to the sky and flew off.

She had cratered the ground just to make a grand exit, leaving others to repair the damage it caused.  She was such a showboat.  I used to think she was so glamorous, but after meeting her, I think she's just a spoiled bitch.  And that isn't because she was an ass to my sister, though that did play into it.

The Mayor saw us, and she looked conflicted, I could see hurt and hope in equal parts in her hesitation before she started walking our way.  If Wendy had still been the Chosen One, she could have crossed the tape line without asking.

I texted Violet now that I had a chance to breathe, keeping it generic in case anyone was monitoring communications, “You ok?”

I looked up from my phone when a voice from behind us called out, “I would not have believed it if I didn't see it.  All this time, part of me thought you had been snowing me this whole time and were able to hide that you were the Chosen One, Monroe.  But here you are with her.  What are you doing at my crime scene?”

I turned to him in exasperation just to smirk as he marched up to Wendy and actually poked her in the chest.  I heard his knuckles crack as he poked solid steel and he blinked at her unyielding form then looked over then turned to me.  I snorted.  “Nice save, Assrat.”

He huffed, “Asaunt!”

“That's what I said.”

He growled, “I should have known you'd be involved in this.”  Then he snapped his fingers, and someone with a scanner scurried over as he moved his finger between my sis and me.  The man took a reading, his equipment squealing and making a racket as it almost topped the needle out.

His narrowed his eyes at Wendy, and I swallowed realizing the meter about topped out on me as well.  That momentary spike of power I got from Wendy?  “You've been using power.”

She nodded. “I just flew my roommate and me here to check on a friend.”

He regarded her and glanced to see the Mayor arriving at the police tape, and he stated coldly, “I'm going to warn you just this once.  If I catch you...”  He added me in, swinging his finger between us, “Either of you, trying to be vigilantes, the fact that you were the Chosen One isn't going to save you from where I haul you.”

Wendy was nodding sagely, and I backhanded her gut, ow, and parried, “Whatever Assrunt.”

“Asaunt, ” he said mostly to himself as he turned to jog toward some civilians trying to pry up some of the debris, probably for souvenirs.  “You there, drop that, that's evidence!”

Wendy was smiling at me then the smile washed away as she turned to the woman who had raised her, that police tape was like an invisible barrier between the two as the Mayor looked around then asked, “Umm... Chosen One... what are you...”

Wendy interrupted, looking around too as she spoke.  Obvious much girls?  “Your, umm... daughter was worried after seeing the attack on the news and asked me if I could check up on you to make sure you are ok.”

Her eyes were distracted from her faux-daughter by me for a long moment.  She knew exactly who and... what... I was.  The disdain in her eyes told me the whole story.  But I was fine with that, the feeling was mutual.  I reflected her look right back at her.  And to think, I had voted for her before I knew who the Chosen One was.

She glanced back toward the Police Chief and pointed at Wendy with a questioning look.  The silver-haired man just nodded once as he went through his notepad.  Then the Mayor called out, “Rhonda?  Where is that girl?”

A short brunette came scurrying over, she had a steno pad in one hand with a tablet computer on top of it, a pencil behind her ear and round glasses that made her look like an owl.  “Yes, Miss Mayor?”

The elder woman snapped at her, “I'll be in a private meeting, hold all calls and clear my schedule.”

The girl snapped to attention as she started tapping on the tablet. “Yes, ma'am.  But you have Jupiter Consultants at...”  She froze at the chilly look Mrs. Anderson shot her.  “Yes, ma'am.  I'll reschedule.”

Then she stalked toward the steps of city hall, Wendy on her heels like she did it every day.  Oh, I guess she did since she pretended to be the Mayor's secretary.  I hustled after her, but the mayor turned on me. “Stay here with Rhonda.”

Wendy spoke before I made some quip that I didn't take orders like a dog since I wasn't a bitch like her.  “She comes with me.”  And she grabbed my arm, gently this time, and propelled me with her.

The woman glared at me, then softened looking at Wendy and just nodded once.  I know when to zip it, though it went against every snarky bone in my body.  These two needed to work some stuff out.

My sis asked her as we entered the empty building, “So she's the new me I take it.”

The woman exhaled derisively. “Rhonda?  Goodness no.  She has your old position, but I swear the girl is worthless.  If she cries just one more time when I chastise her for messing up, I swear I'll go postal.”

The Mayor waved off the officer at the scanners, and we bypassed them.  That was good, the asshat manning the one for powered people was a bigot, and had inferred I was a Zero the one time I visited City Hall, in what felt like a lifetime ago but was really just around a week.

When we entered the elevator to go to the 33rd floor, Wendy turned to her.  “Are you all right?  Did Trinity...”

The woman held up a hand to stop her, closing her eyes with a patient look as she said, “No, I'm fine.  That vigilante, Blue Canary, stopped the blast.  We'll get her too, one of these days.  Don't think I don't know how many times you just let her get away.”

Wendy started to open her mouth to deny it, but Mrs. Anderson said, “You can throw all the tantrums you like, Wendy.  But I know my daughter.”

I almost blinked at the ferocity of my sister's denial, “I am not your daughter!  I saw the files.”

The woman nodded and sighed. “Which you obtained illegally.”  She shook her head and started again, calmer. “I don't care what those cold files and their unfeeling, cold facts state.  I raised you, and you are my daughter.  I... love you.”

I tried to become part of the décor in the elevator as I examined the waist-high railing in it while Wendy snorted and retorted, “Love me?  This is what love looks like?  You replace me as the city's champion and as your assistant all in less than twenty-four hours?”

The elder woman just shook her head. “Until you come to your senses and come home?  Yes.  The world outside these doors isn't what you think it is.  You're not equipped to...”

Ok, I know better than to get into someone's family business, but Wendy was family now, which in some perverse way made the Mayor family too.  I blurted, “Because of you and how you manipulated and guided every aspect of her life.”

She glared at me, then her surrogate daughter and huffed. “You're going to let this... this failed experiment talk to me this way?”

Wendy was in her mother's face, her hands reaching past her head on either side to crunch into the metal of the elevator wall, the metal groaning in protest.  “This failed experiment is my sister.  My sister!  And she has a name!  Emily.  Say it!”

I grabbed her arm, shaking my head at her as she glanced from the Mayor to me.  “Wendy.  It's ok.”

Anderson surprised me when she said, “No, she's right.  Emily.  There I said it.”  She put all her attention on Wendy as my sister relaxed and stepped back.  “It was easier to view her as a hiccup in the data.  A mistake, rather than a human being.  If anyone ever found out what she was, then all our hard work to protect Big City would be ruined.”

She looked at me and said like it stuck in her craw sideways to say it, “I'm... sorry, Emily.  I shouldn't project my own failings onto you just because you are a convenient target.  I don't mean all the things I say about you.”

I shrugged and offered in earnest. “That's ok, I mean all the things I say about you.”  Ok, whatever.  I never said I was diplomatic.  My mouth has a mind of its own, and I'm pretty sure it is smarter than me, always saying it how it is.

She didn't even blink.

Wendy changed the subject as the elevator doors opened while I was texting Violet again.  She pointed out toward the street. “That woman is dangerous, impulsive, reckless.  She injured as many as she saved.”

I looked around the cavernous open space, all burgundy carpeted with gold thread patterns sewn into it.

Like the first impression I had a week ago, the space was well lit, like daylight though I couldn't pinpoint where the lights were.  At the far end of a gold woven path of vines and roses sat a little desk in front of a set of great doors.  Again I felt like I was going to meet Oz, the Great and Powerful.

Anderson said as we strode across the space, “It is only temporary until you come to your senses and get over your little rebellion, Wen.”

My sister paused at the doors as she looked at her old desk, devoid of anything that identified it as her redheaded alter egos.  “I won't be coming home, mom.  You've lied to me my entire life.  I have Em to show me how to navigate a normal life now.”

Oh.  She had me.  That was oddly satisfying and terrifying.  I guess I was stuck with her.  I still don't know if it is a bad thing or a good thing.  Knowing I had a real family, a sister, did feel pretty awesome.

The doors swung open, and we stepped into a huge office that looked like some sort of cross between a library and a CEO's office-gasm with a large boardroom table just inside the doors between ceiling height walnut bookcases filled with books.  At the far end of the space was a walnut desk with four leather chairs in front of it, all arranged like it were a receiving area for royalty.

We all stopped dead in our tracks when we saw a slight, middle-aged Asian woman in one of those chairs, looking for all the world like she owned the place.

I blurted, “Mrs... umm... mom?”

Mrs. Yamamoto, defiant eyes locked on the mayor said, “Girls.  Genevieve.”

She stood as Mrs. Anderson stood straighter, raised her chin and walked right past her to sit in the chair behind the desk, smoothing her skirt under her legs as she sat.  I noted the seat sat higher than the ones in front of the desk, causing the occupants to have to look slightly up at her.  “Maria.”

She motioned a hand airily at the telephone on her desk that had more buttons than sense dictated on it.  “You know that just one call and I can have security and the police in here.”

Mrs. Yamamoto... well I guess it is Aki since that was her real name, chuckled sardonically and said, “We both know you won't do that, Gen.  I would sing like a canary about all the illegal genetic experiments you ran through Genesis Labs and other, less reputable sources to make artificial supers.”

The mayor's face soured as she let her hand drop. “Blackmail is beneath you, Maria.  It doesn't suit you.  You should have just stayed in hiding.  And don't act all holier than thou with me.  You knew exactly what you were doing too.  You led Project Peltier Infusion.”

My mother held out a hand toward me, and I grabbed it by reflex.  She smiled at me as she spoke to her ex-supervisor from Genesis Labs, “Yes, but I am no murderer.  You wanted the 'aberration' disposed of.”  She looked over at the mayor, fire in her eyes as she hissed, “Does this beautiful young woman look like a failed experiment to you?  She's a human being.  My daughter.  Both of them are my daughters.”

She shot a smile to Wendy and held out a hand.  My sister looked between the two women then almost shyly took Mrs. Y's hand and sat in the chair on the other side of her.

Mrs. Anderson growled out in impatience, “Wendy is my daughter!  Why are you here Maria?”

My biological mother stood and said matter of factly, “I just wanted to ask what you were thinking, bringing in that glory hound from Mega City.  It was irresponsible and puts the people of Big City at risk.  Do you really believe that your sister somehow got out of Containment on the very same day you were announcing to the public that Mega Girl was being named the new protector?  A very publicized and dramatic entrance for her, taking down one of the most dangerous Big City villains.”

Wait wait wait, whoa, rewind!  Unholy Trinity was the mayor's sister?  I glanced over to see the shock on Wendy's face too.  She hadn't known this either.  Spoiler!

Sis and I were looking at each other when mother added, “And whether you believe it or not, I wanted to see if you were ok.  Trin is unstable.”

The mayor chuckled. “You're concerned for me?”  Then her look of disbelief turned to one of thought when she saw no deception in Doctor Aki's face.

She looked at us girls, looking to choose her words carefully, but mother blurted out in exasperation as she saw the looks on our faces, “For fuck's sake Gen, you never told her?”

Then she turned to look at us girls and took on the tone of an instructor giving a lecture.  “Before you girls, and before I joined the team at Genesis Labs, there was an ill-conceived attempt to infuse living tissue directly with the quantum flux energy which powered individuals can manipulate to affect their powers.”

She looked accusingly at Mayor Anderson.  “Every attempt to do this in the past was met with failure, a degeneration of the tissues exposed, complete necrosis.  It was a death sentence for any test animals.  In their arrogance, they believed that by irradiating stem cells and host viruses, then introducing them into a living host, it would introduce Peltier particles slowly into the tissues as the genetic code is modified.”

The woman cocked her head. “To an extent, the process, which is highly illegal, works.  But only at low energy levels.  Two test subject volunteers were given minor powers, rating just over ten on the Peltier Scale.”

“They should have done long-term studies of the two, but once no degradation of tissues was detected after three weeks, they approved Project Prime.  A full energy infusion of the stem cells.  If they would have just waited...  five months after injection, the two test subjects started showing signs of brain tissue damage.  They became paranoid and violent and suicided in Containment custody.”

The mayor defended, “Early results showed no signs of synaptic degradation.”

Doctor Aki shook her head. “Because you were too impatient, wanting to create the perfect defender for the city.  Your own sister, Trinity volunteered.  She was to be the first artificial Prime.”

My mother looked genuinely sad as she said in a quieter tone to Wendy and me, “They never tested such high levels of Peltier infusion.  When Trinity Templeton was first injected, it actually appeared they had been successful.  Her powers grew exponentially in the first seventy-two hours until levels started holding just below 48 on the scale.”

“Trin seemed ok at first, and her powers were testing above expectations in the combat simulators.  But then the power started fluctuating wildly, and just as it passed 48 on the scale, her body and mind couldn't take the strain anymore.”

She seemed so saddened as she shared, “It is believed that the cellular mitosis was influenced by her mind as she kept assuring herself that she was trying to hang on to her sanity as her mind and body were approaching a critical mass of energy, 'I am Trinity, I am Trinity.'  Until in a huge release of nuclear energy, both her mind and body split into three to contain the power.”

She looked back at the Mayor in accusation. “The poor girl went insane, and demolished the first Genesis Labs and believes that Genevieve had done it to her.  She's terrorized Big City since, trying to undo all of Gen's accomplishments.  It looks like she has moved passed that now and just wants her dead.”

Oh my god.

I looked over at Wendy who looked to be processing that her greatest nemesis was her own aunt.  Well, foster aunt.  More a victim of Genesis than we were.

Wendy looked over at the Mayor. “Mother?”

Were Anderson's eyes watering?

She just nodded and said in a hoarse voice, “Trin was such a wonderful, caring person. All she wanted to do was to protect the city, like all of us in the Collective.  You would have liked her.  Strong willed, impulsive, sarcastic as hell.”

She let her own sister become a monster, for some misguided altruism?  Why did I feel for the woman who would let her sister take such a chance?

Then Mayor Anderson seemed to snap out of it. “I'm sure you're here for something else Maria.  The other reasons are just convenient, or did you come just to expose my daughter to my biggest shame?”

Mrs. Y stood and turned toward us and said as she looked at Wendy.  “She's my daughter too.  And I just wanted you to know I'm not going behind your back.  Wendy needs a job if she is going to make her own way in Big City.  I have a friend who would like to speak with her about just that.  But I wanted to ask up front since no matter how misguided you are, I don't doubt that in your own way, you truly do love Wendy.”

I felt a spectator in the whole thing, and almost jumped out of my skin when my cell buzzed in my hand, a little heart emoji from Violet.  I almost cried out in relief.  I hadn't realized how worried I had been with her not answering my texts.

Mother asked Wendy, “Would you like to go to an interview for a... unique position with a friend?  They need people with all sorts of talents at Big City Insurance.”

Big City Insurance?  What could Wendy do for...  ooooooh, I get it.  They use all kinds of powered individuals to do the repairs to structures damaged by battles between supers.  Wendy would be like hitting the jackpot for them.  She'd be able to fly whole replacement structures in or erect support columns without machinery.

Wendy got it too.  “I'd be a laborer?  Muscle?”

Mother smirked at her then Wendy started nodding slowly, then more adamantly.

“I think I'd like that.  Thank you Doctor Aki... umm... mother?”

Mother seemed to almost bounce on her toes in glee when Wendy agreed.

The mayor?  Not so much.  She countered. “This is just a phase.  She'll come to her senses and come back home soon.  Wendy isn't like other girls.  The outside world wasn't made for people who are special like her.”

Aki was quick to counter. “Yes, she is special, and so is Emily who has lived in her sister's shadow and thrived in spite of it with virtually no power of her own.  There is nothing these two cannot do if they put their minds to it.”

Wendy put out a hand, palm down. “It's ok, you don't need to defend me.”  She turned to the woman who raised her. “Mom, I love you.  But I need to do this.  I just wish you could understand.”

With that, she stood so I did too, and the three of us headed toward the doors, just as we reached them, we heard a strangled, “Wendy,” behind us.

The bookshelves shook with the mini sonic boom as Wendy was gone in a blur to wind up in front of the now standing Mayor, and she hugged her.  The signature smirking smile of the Chosen One was on my sister's face as she released her and said, “Everything is going to be great, just wait and see.”  Then she flew over to us, and we stepped out.  I don't have super hearing, but even I caught the whispered, “I love you,” from the mayor as we left.

As we exited out to the street, I was shocked that the craters were already gone and paved over, a steamroller with the Big City Insurance golden toaster logo on it being loaded onto a trailer.

Mother smiled at Wendy and said, “I have so many things to tell you two.  Dinner early tonight at Big Burger?”

Then to me, “Before your shift.”  And she added with a smirk. “And bring Violet, it looked like she got hurt today, I have something that may help.”

Whaaaaaaat?  She knew Violet was the Blue Canary?

Mother chuckled. “You two aren't as sneaky as you think you are, Em dear.  Do you think I don't watch the security footage?  She's always going into the restroom as her and coming out as the Canary when you need help.  I couldn't ask for a better protector for you.  Containment just never gets that part of the recordings when they request them.”

How long has she known?  And how long has she been protecting my best friend?  I only learned of her secret last week.

Before I could ask anything, she looked at Wendy. “Could I impose upon you for a ride?  My car is back behind the barricades, and I won't be able to get it for hours.”

My sister smiled at her and then nodded, picking her up like a damsel in distress, then she winked at me with the Chosen One's confidence and said, “See ya at home.”

I was just grinning and nodding as I watched my... family fly off.

Then my smile turned to a frown when I realized Wen was my ride.  Awww maaaaaaan!  I turned and started the long walk home.  The bus routes would be tied in knots with the aftermath of the battle.

Chapter 5

Violet

Wendy was nothing but apologies when I arrived at home two hours later, and she flew up to me and landed on the sidewalk.  She was smiling and swaying from side to side as we walked.  Apparently, she had a nice long talk with our bio-mom while I was hoofing it.  She was good-natured through my grumping.  She was in a good mood now, it must have been a great talk.

Then I hesitated in my speech about a good sister not leaving her poor normal sis stranded in the middle of the city, while she just grinned at me as we stepped into the apartment.  I looked around the empty space and muttered to her with my best pout, “Speaking of good sisters...”  I called out, “Vi?”

Had the silly woman gone back to work at the comic book studio after the fight?  A grunt from her bedroom had my eyes narrowing.  I knew her grunts, just like how her economy of words spoke volumes, each of her grunts did as well.

I started running for her room. “Vi!”  That was her pain grunt like she got when she sprained her ankle at the orphanage when she climbed to the roof to get the ball Juanita Higgins took from me and tossed up there.  She had slipped on her way down and fell the last ten feet.  Even then she was pretty acrobatic and landed in a roll.  But twisted her ankle when her foot slipped into a mole hole when she stood.

Huh... she's always been a hero it seems.

Wendy zipped up beside me as I laid my ear against the door.  “Is everything ok?”

I shook my head and whispered, “She's never home during the day, and she's in a lot of pain.”

She gave me a dubious look and said in hushed tones, “She barely made a noise.”

I blinked at her and whispered back, “Have you never met Violet?  She has like a seven-word a day maximum.  You have to read between the lines.  If she's moaning, she's hurting.”

This made her screw up her face in humor and chuckled. “We're talking about the same Blue Canary here?  We can't shut her up when we're fighting bad guys.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  Really?  She was a chatterbox in her alter guise?  Maybe she used up all her words then, letting the dam break.  Now I was curious what kinds of things she said when they were fighting for justice.

I tapped the door with my knuckle.  “Vi, I'm coming in.”

She grunted out a, “No.”

Ignoring her I opened the door, her room was dark, and Wendy gasped.  That got my heart beating faster, and I rushed in to sit on the side of her bed and looked at my best friend.  She was sweating and putting on a forced smile for me as she curled the blankets tighter around her, wincing.

I didn't need my sister's spectral vision to see through the cocoon she had herself bundled in.  She was obviously in pain.  I crossed my arms petulantly and looked at her expectantly.  She may be as close to super as a Norm can be, but the pout is strong in me.

She exhaled and gave me a look that told me she didn't like me guilting her, and she sat up and dropped the blankets, and this time I gasped.  “Vi, we need to get you to a hospital.”

She was in her panties and bra, and her whole left side was bubbled and burned.  She shook her head, “No.”

Wendy said from over my shoulder, “She's right.  If she goes in, they'll know the burns were caused by a super, and they'd call the police and Containment.  They'd detain her, and they would investigate, and she'd be found out.”

I glanced over my shoulder, impressed.  Sis spoke Vi-ese.  Violet was nodding with a grin.

Wendy had a knuckle to her mouth, contemplating something seriously.  Then said in a whisper almost unheard.  “I think I can help.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  There was an extensive list of the powers that the Chosen One has been seen to using over the years.  And it was quite extensive.  It seemed that being so close to Prime she could manifest a huge spectrum of abilities.  But not even Primes could use every power.  One of the few things Wendy has never exhibited, is one of the most rare powers, the gift of healing.

Only two supers have ever been reported to have that ability.  One was, fittingly enough, a Tibetan Monk, people would line up for miles outside the monastery in hopes that he could lay hands on them and cure their ailments or those of their children.  The man... overextended himself, and died of exhaustion a couple years after his power manifested, healing all he could.

The other, Raul McFlint, charged for his “miracles.”  The asshat got himself kidnapped by the Establishment, the powered mafia.  They wanted him to heal their hitmen whenever they were injured.  Nobody knows what had happened for his body to be found by fishermen in Coast City, at the bottom of the ocean, his feet encased in concrete.  I'm with the others who believe that even a person of low morals like McFlint, had a line he would not cross.  And it cost him his life.

I expressed my belief, “You don't have healing power.”

She smirked the cocky Chosen One smirk and flashed a cheesy grin as she wiggled her fingers at me to move. “Scoot.”  I moved aside as she said, “I don't.  But my blood does.  Something about the amorphous properties of my blood having no defined structure that is constantly in flux.”

She cocked a brow in thought.  “Yours might have the same properties, the cells just need to be energized.  I'm sure of it since we were able to share powers for a bit.”

I smashed my lips to the side and said,  “Nice plan, brainiac, but there's a slight problem.  Not even diamond bits or laser drills can get through your tough hide.”  I punched her in the nose to demonstrate.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!  Mother fart-burgers on toast!”  Damn, even her nose felt like hitting solid steel.

She just smirked at me, and my traitorous best friend snorted.  I pointed at her. “Hey, you're hurt. You don't get to dogpile on me.”

Then I asked, “Why didn't you just duck, or roll away or something.  You're so much faster than that, your reflexes border on powered.  You know not even your nanos can take a hit like that.”

She shrugged and winced because of it and said, “Couldn't.”

Couldn't?  Did she... Wendy interrupted my thought as she nodded, “If she did, my mother and others would be dead now.  She did what heroes do.”

Oh.

Her smile was warm and filled with respect for my fine feathered friend.  Then she looked at me and rolled her eyes at me.  “Maybe diamond drills and lasers can't cut me, but a super of the same or more power than me can.  True I heal almost instantly if I have the power, but...”

She bit the tip of the thumb, hard with her teeth.  A drop of blood welled up, and she held her hand toward Violet in question.  My purple haired friend looked at her, then the drop of blood, then just nodded once.

She started to ask as Wendy shook her thumb over the burns, the drop of blood falling, “Will it... mother humper, son of a...”  She spasmed as Wendy stepped back and I moved over to hold her as she shook.  Before my eyes, I could see the bubbled and twisted flesh along her side, smooth and pink up to pristine, healthy flesh.

I blinked in surprise when her skin seemed to move everywhere, and the dozens of scars she hid from the world from her many fights championing the city healed before my eyes, and even the scar from where she had her appendix removed.  Holy crap on a Popsicle!

Vi closed her eyes and slumped in my arms, a smile on her face.

Wendy said, “She'll sleep.  The test subjects were exhausted after the experience.  She'll need food when she wakes, lots and lots of it.  Healing took a lot of her own energy from her cells too.”

I smiled and tucked my bestie in, making a Violet burrito out of her like we did for each other in the orphanage.  Hey don't look at me like that, it's still fun.  Then I whispered as I dragged Wendy out of the room, “It was everything.  Everything healed.  Not just the burns.  She's going to be ecstatic when she wakes up.”

She looked a little sheepish as I closed the door, “I don't know how much thanking she'll be doing.  Everything is healed.  Everything.”

She looked at me expectantly like I knew what she was talking about, and she looked pointedly at my crotch.  My eyes snapped wide, “Everything?  Oh lord!  She's a virgin again?”

She started chuckling, and I joined in.  I pointed at her. “You're evil.”

She nodded. “Could be.”

Then I asked, “Are you ok?”  I was looking at her hand.

She rolled her eyes at me and showed me her thumb, there was no injury.  “It was healed in an instant, but not before I bled a drop.”

Then I asked as we headed to the couch, my brow furrowed. “I take it they got blood from you a lot that way?”

She hugged her chest as she sat. “It was the only way they could check on my health.  I had to injure myself to get the blood for them.  It wasn't until I broke into Genesis Labs and read all the files on us that I found the experiments with healing people with my blood.  There's another file about it that was only on the computer, but it is encrypted.  Plan B.”

My eyes narrowed.  “Sooo... how often did they 'check your health'?”

She shrugged and said like it was normal, “Every night before lights out.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself, then asked as I handed her the remote and headed to the kitchen, “I'm starving, we didn't get to eat, and I have to get to work soon.”  I glanced out the window at the sun low on the horizon.  Then prompted, “You want something.”

She started to answer, “I don't...”

Knowing what she was going to say, I finished, “...'need' to eat.  I know, but do you 'like' to eat?  I can make you something.”

She stared at me for a moment then shrugged. “I don't know.  What are you making?”

I grinned and held up a Choco-Boom cereal box and said in an orgasmic tone, “Choooocolate.”

I swear that her crystal blue eyes actually twinkled, maybe they did since she had so many powers.  Her cheesy grin was all I needed to see, to know that she was a red-blooded girl like the rest of us.  Chocolate, the great equalizer.

I poured two bowls, sloshed some milk on the chocolaty nuggets of grain nirvana, jammed some spoons into the bowls and headed over to my sis.  She was telling me as I came over, “Doctor Aki.  Umm.. our biological mother, told me to let you know you didn't need to come in tonight.  She thought we needed time to talk.”

Oh wow.  That was kind of cool.  Speaking of, I quickly texted her we couldn't make dinner since something at home had popped up.

We devoured the cereal as she watched the news, I felt a growl in my head as I watched her when she ate, looking at the cereal like it was made of spun gold.  What kind of life would it be to have even your meals dictated to you?  And to have the same slurry day after day?  No wonder she thought the food in school was a culinary delight.  Is it weird that I sort of hated Genesis Labs more for that than for them wanting to terminate me?

There were so many questions I had for her, but I held my tongue when I saw the intensity in which she was watching the news coverage of the battle.  She seemed to give more scrutiny to Mega Girl's actions than the Unholy Trinity's like she was studying her moves.

I snuggled back into the cushions to wait for the report to end before I could have the first real talk with Wendy.  I'm embarrassed to say, I don't know when I had dozed off, all I know was that I snorted an aborted snore when Wendy jostled me, blurting in excitement, “Em!  There's more than just the news!  I looked for the positive reinforcement regimen station, but there are hundreds of channels!”

I flailed about in mock karate chops for a moment before I was fully awake and what she had said soaked into my sleep-addled mind.  My God, they didn't even let her watch television?  She really was in a cage her whole life and didn't even know.

My eyes focused on the TV, where a bunch of kittens were wandering around mewing.  Of all the channels and shows she could be watching, she picked kittens?  Evil balls of fur?  Well fine, they were cute, so shut up.  Then I noted Violet was sitting next to her, with like seven empty plates and bowls in front of her and she was currently stuffing her pie hole with... with pie!

Hey!  Where did that come from?  Aw man, if I knew we had pie, I'd have...

Wait! I squealed and dove across Wendy to engulf Vi in a hug.  She grinned and shoved me away playfully as she motioned her eyes to the slice of pie on the plate in her free hand.  “You're between the pie and me.”  Then she nudged her chin toward the TV.  “Hundreds of channels.”

I snorted as she rolled me onto the floor at their feet.  I accused, “Chatterbox.”

She smiled around her pie as I looked up at the two girls who were my family.  I may have sighed.

Chapter 6

Big City Insurance

The next morning I stretched and looked at the clock.  Flaming turtle farts, nine in the morning?  That would be like five in the morning for normal people.  Why was I awake so flippin' early?  I glared at my alarm in accusation.  Oh yeah.  I was up at a 'normal' time for people with 'normal' jobs.  My sis had a job interview.

Heather had joined me in bed late, I didn't ask since she looked beyond tired, so we just snuggled until we drifted off.  She was already gone when I awoke.  No doubt having to show up at Containment early to make up for her day off.

I yawned and scratched my left butt cheek and thought about what was slated for the day's activities.

Our mother told Wendy that it was fine for me and Violet to tag along if we wanted, that the board of directors were personal friends of hers.  Well of course we wanted.  Duh.  I mean, who didn't want to see how the company seemed to be ready for every powered mishap in the city and were able to have exactly what was needed with exactly the right people to effect repairs within twenty-four hours.  I still vote pre-cogs.

Though there haven't been any true pre-cognitive supers.  They always seem to be limited in scope as to what they can see.  Like the futures of cats only.  Or they know what sandwich someone will pack in their lunch tomorrow.  Yes, there are jokes about pre-sub-nitives and the difference between sandwich whisperers who only pre-cogged meat vs. vegetarian vs. peanut butter and jelly.  It is pretty sad to me that knowing someone is going to have peanut-butter and strawberry jam sandwich for lunch tomorrow is actually more useful than my powers.

Nobody has been able to successfully tell a person's future, though there are the Necros who have the uncanny knack of knowing when the people around them will die.  They... are not popular, of course, except at the emo-bars in North End.

Violet said she was ahead of schedule with her comic book art submissions so she took the day off too so that she could sate her own curiosity about the mysterious company.  Well fine, not in so many words, it was more like pointing at her art satchel, giving a thumbs up, then saying, “I'm in,” but I speak fluent Vi-ese so I could fill in the missing words.

We had an in-depth conversation about Wendy's life before she showed up at our door, and I see dozens more of those talks in our future before we know a fraction of how she was raised and what made my sis tick.  She was more interested in learning about my life and even Violet's than answering our questions.  By the time I was yawning enough to swallow them and our apartment whole, we agreed to call it a night.

Wendy looked at me sheepishly when I accepted a bowl of Choco-Booms she made for me all by herself without destroying the kitchen.  Uh oh.  I asked guardedly as I shoveled chocolate infused corn puffs into my mouth, “What?”

She replied with a squinted eye, “Do you have anything I can wear?  All my stuff is for my Wendy persona.  I can morph my costume, but it is a pain to hold it for so long." With that, the cute nightshirt and bunny pajama bottoms she wore melted into her stark white Chosen One costume with its flowing black cape and high heeled thigh high boots.

She asked hopefully, “Something professional?”  Her costume melted into a smart business skirt suit like I had seen her wearing in her Wendy guise.  “I want to make a good impression.”

I chuckled at her and said, “It sounds like you won't be in any office.  They want you for your muscle, not your mind.”

Her clothing morphed into construction worker garb, complete with a cute white hard hat with a Hello Kitty logo on it.  Damn, she looked good in anything, I was her twin, why couldn't I pull that stuff off like she could?  Maybe it is the odd innocence she projects with that dangerous confidence she has with everyone but me?

I snorted.  “Ok, Bob the Builder.  Yes, you can!”

She blinked, then Chatty McChatsalot snorted, and we looked at Vi.  She rolled her eyes at me and my sister's confusion and explained, “She's just learned there's more than two channels.”

Oh.  I blushed, she wouldn't know the reference.  But wait, she knew Hello Kitty.  Was it something they showed her in her positive reinforcement regimen, or something she picked up in her time in High School?  I looked at Vi's wrist and her Hello Kitty watch.  Or it could be something more obvious, Em.

I sighed.  “Help yourself to my closet.”  Then I called after her after she flew off to my room.  “You're not going to be the sister who is always borrowing my clothes and stretching out my sweaters are you?”

The smart ass responded, “We're the exact same size, Em.”

Whatever, I had Choco-Booms.

With much prodding from my two roomies, I got ready and had to grin at Wen.  She had chosen a pair of jeans, some sneakers, and an old plaid blouse I had stuffed in the back of the closet.  I thought she looked like a blonde Daisy Duke, but it was semi-professional with my one light business jacket.  Just right for an interview for physical labor.  Neat, tidy, but utilitarian.

Vi looked between Wen and me, then cocked an eyebrow.  I growled at her, “Shut up.”  How can my sister look better than me in my own stuff?  Again, hello, twins.  It's the damn Chosen One thing, isn't it?  Don't answer if you know what is good for you.

We stepped outside and were about to walk to the bus stop when Violet squeaked, and I gleeped as Wendy grabbed us around our waists, and we were airborne.  I smiled at her and an amused looking purple haired Smirky McDoodle.  My sis told us, “It is just faster this way.”

Then she nudged her chin down after rocketing us straight up into the air, hundreds of feet above the skyscrapers in the city core.  That eagle eye view was breathtaking.  And I looked down to see what she saw, her eyes seeming to track everything at once.

Then I saw it, what she did and I felt my smile widening.  Five or six figures were darting about in the air below us, weaving between buildings.  Powered fliers heading to work or running errands.  And there were two or three blurry streaks in the lightning lanes of the major roads, where speedsters were running about their business just below the speed of sound, or they would get cited for noise pollution.

I saw flashes of static as electric supers used the power lines to travel.  You could see it all from up here, every wonder of a powered world.  I pointed when I saw Liberty Lady streaking into City Hall.  Wendy called out, “I love it up here, I can see and hear everything.  Big City is a living metropolis that is filled with wonder.”

I remember all the times I looked up from the streets, like the countless other people down there looking like ants, to see the Chosen One just hovering in the sky.  And as much as I hated her back then, it still made me feel safe, like the Chosen One had our back.  And I found out that recently, before we learned we were related, she really had been watching me from a distance, actually having my back.

My smile faded.  But she wasn't the Chosen One anymore.  Sure, she was still the second most powerful being in the city now that Mega Girl was here, but Wen was a civilian now.  She couldn't use her powers to fight crime or she herself would be branded a criminal like the Blue Canary.

I think my sister thought the same as her own look of wonder seemed to fade away into the ether.  Then she forced a smile to us and said, “Hold on!”  Then without any regard to the 'speed limits', we were breaking the sound barrier and heading to the outskirts of town instead of the huge Big City Insurance headquarters skyscraper downtown.

I caught the little smirk she tried to hide.  Breaking the speed limit was a tiny rebellion on her part, but no more serious than speeding in your car.  She was daring anyone to catch her and give her a citation.

We looked at the huge, with a capital 'gigantic', warehouse that seemed to extend out of the Impressive Mountains that bordered the north end of the city.  The entrance was squeezed between a Big Mart and a Big Auto car lot.

We landed near the doors that had nothing but the words, BCI Claims, stenciled in black on the door.  We went up to it, and I tripped and stumbled, Vi stopping me from falling.  A man chastised me from thin air, “Hey!  I'm walkin' here!”

I waved self consciously at the sidewalk. “Sorry, sir.  I...”  Oh god, I was about to tell a Shimmer I hadn't seen him.  Shimmers were the people who had the ability to turn invisible, or partially transparent,  or in some rare cases, stay perpetually invisible without being able to turn it off.

He grumbled, and I heard footsteps retreating.  Vi mumbled, “Perve.”

I had two realizations at that, one, both Wendy and Violet had stopped before colliding with the man meaning they both knew he was there somehow, and two... Shimmers could turn invisible, but they couldn't turn anything else invisible... like clothing.  Eww!  He had been naked!

Only those with high power like Wendy could affect their clothing as well.  That's why her costume never got destroyed in fights, and why she could morph it.  And she could even shimmer for short lengths times, with her costume.

She looked self-conscious at my realization about the man.  “Sorry, I thought you saw him.”

Vi just smirked at me and pointed at her eyes, I could see a lit up purple artificial iris glint in the light.  Her nanotech contacts must see in different light spectrums.  My bestie has so many cool toys!

I muttered, “Assholes,” as I reached for the door handle.

It swung open before I could, and a very short white haired young lady with frosted white lipstick and a white lab coat opened the door, speaking quickly in an almost cute voice, “Ah yes.  Chosen One, Emily Monroe, and Violet Finch.  You are expected.  I'm Echo.”  She looked right at Vi, and her smile bloomed like she was looking at the dawn of all creation, “And ohmygawd, I love your comics.  Can you sign some for me?”

My friend looked taken aback but shrugged with an unsure smile. Then a twin to the girl stepped up quickly, almost vibrating with excitement holding out the first issues of both The Chosen One and Blue Canary comics in little plastic bags and backer boards.  “Great!  Thank you so much!”

We looked between the two girls, and I wondered where the heck the second one came from.  Once Vi signed the girl squeed, and the other one said, “Please follow me.”  We were just all nodding then looking back at the one with the comics, but she was gone.

I had to smile.  Twins, like Wen and me!  And they were quirky.

We turned back to the first twin, but she wasn't there, or maybe she was, but she was now wearing a smart business suit with her white hair pulled back in a severe ponytail, a computer tablet hugged to her chest and big black rimmed glasses making her look, well like a sexy personal assistant or something.

As we marched down an impossibly long hallway, I had to blink... a lot.  Coming out of doors to go into other offices or boardrooms or the women's restroom were a few women who looked identical to Echo.  Some dressed as scientists, or custodians, or businesswomen.  And they were ever so polite to each other as they excused me'd and gratuitously allowed others to pass in front of them first.

Mixed in were a few people who weren't copies of the woman we followed, who also were ever so polite to the ones who looked like her.

Then I got it.  I thought they were just tall tales, urban myths.

Besides the Unholy Trinity's ability to split herself at the molecular level, requiring incalculable energy to accomplish it... there are rare supers called Legions, who split off and rejoined each other to do various tasks without the dangerous atom splitting aspect of Trinity.  They could be one or a hundred depending on their power level, but they were all the same person.  That is why the other one brought comics when the first asked Violet.

Echo was all of these people at once and knew what each of them was doing.  But the more they split, the more scatterbrained they appeared until they hit their maximum copies. And she appeared to be very at the top of the power curve judging by the sheer numbers of her.

They had just been an urban myth, but there was one right here, at the Big City Insurance claims warehouse.  I'm sure I was beaming at her.  Violet was super smiley too as she whispered to me in wonder, “Legion.”

I nodded and shoved her shoulder. “Got that Einstein.”

Violet jumped when Echo said from right beside her, with big eyes wide, “Yes I am.  You know of Legions?”

It was obvious that Echo was star struck and I thought it to be so cool that the odd girl seemed to idolize Vi over the Chosen One.  I liked Echo, a lot.

Vi nodded, and turned to the Echo we were following when she said, “Sweet.”  Only it was a different Echo.  This one wore a cute white skirt that played out like a theme with the white hair and lips.  Then she grabbed Violet's hand, and another of her said from her other side, “Come on, we mustn't keep the President waiting.”  She grabbed my surprised roomie's other hand, and the Echos dragged her along, and I jumped when an Echo said from behind me, “We have to hurry girls.”

The one in a white set of overalls was grinning and nodding in earnest.  These girls... this girl was too cute.  We let her hustle us along.  I tried to pay attention as to how different copies of her appeared and left, but we always seemed distracted by one or another when a new Echo showed up.  Even Wendy looked overly amazed and amused by the amazingly prolific girl.

Then we heard all of the Echos giggle.  I looked back to the one that was ushering us along quickly to keep up with the two dragging my purple haired friend along.  It was, of course, a different one, I asked, “What?”

She stage whispered behind her hand, “Sorry, one of me farted.”

Ok, I'm a perpetual five year old because I snorted and crinkled my nose at her.  God, I was encouraging her.

I turned back to see where we were heading.  Gleep!  Now the two dragging Vi were dressed differently.  I hesitated and stopped at a picture on the wall, dragging our procession to a halt.  I pointed at the photo that was labeled 'Board of Directors', stabbing my finger at someone I knew like I knew myself.  “It's Mrs. Yamamoto.”  I glanced at my sis.  “Mom.”

Echos nodded around us, there was a whole army, must have been a dozen or more, and they said in unison, “Of course, she's the head of the Board of Directors.  She owns thirty percent of the stock in Big City Insurance.”

I looked at one of the Echos, my eyes wide.  My god.  Then Mrs. Y or Doctor Aki... our mother would be worth millions then!  She just nodded like I was simple and I smirked at the sassy woman and then blinked when I realized she was the only Echo there.  And she was in boardroom battle mode with that tight ponytail.

I caught Wen whispering to Vi, “Where did they go?”

Violet just shrugged, she looked overly amused.

Ok, Echo was fun.  I was amused too.

She opened a door just past the picture and ushered us in.  At this point, I was expecting Oz the Great and Powerful.  Instead, there was just a small silver haired Hispanic man in perhaps his mid-sixties, with thick pop bottle glasses.  He was dressed in a rumpled and outdated tweed jacket and an honest to god bowtie.

Professional Echo stepped up to his desk and babbled, “This is her, the famous one I was telling you about, isn't she amazing?”

Wendy was beaming and started to step forward, raising her hand when a different Echo on the other side of the man, who hadn't been there when we stepped in, was pouring him a glass of water as she said with awe in her tone, “Violet Finch!”

Wendy almost tripped, and the man stood and offered a hand toward Violet. “Please to meet you, Miss Finch. I'm Ernesto Hemingway, president of Big City Insurance.  Earnie, please.  And for my own sanity and yours, I beg of you, no Ernest Hemingway jokes, I've heard them all.  Echo hasn't stopped babbling about you since Maria said you might come today with young Wendy.”

They shook, but he didn't release her hand right away as he narrowed his eyes and said with great interest and a wry tone, “Very interesting contacts, Miss Finch.”

Holy attention to detail.  He had seen them doing their thing? Most people never noticed her nanotech, I never did until I found out she was the Blue Canary.  And that had taken me years.

Then he released her hand and looked up when a different Echo who was pulling chairs up for us blurted, “And this is Big City's superhero darling, first name Chosen, last name One.”  She bounced on her toes.  Oh.  They didn't know her name, maybe she wanted it that way.  I was super paranoid that I may have called her Wendy while we were here.  Wait a minute, Ernie had just used her name.  Did they know everything?

Wendy was nothing but smiles for the white-haired woman. “Echo, you are too adorable.”  As four Echos beamed around her, she offered her hand to the man. “Wendy.  Wendy Templeton.”

Ok, that was a surprise, she was coming completely out of the closet now.  For some reason, I was proud of her.  Then again, maybe she realized he had used her name so was making no pretenses.

He shook her hand with gusto and said, “You, my dear, are a wonder.  Maria sure can cook.”

Then as they released each other, an Echo with her hair in snow white curls and white biker leathers said, “And this person who looks nothing like Wendy at all, in the least, not one iota, is called, NOT the Chosen One, according to Mrs. Yamamoto.  Did I mention they look nothing like each other even though they are more identical than I am?”  Another Echo put her cheek to her, and they both grinned to illustrate their not identicalness.

Then she sort of continued as the man's smile softened when he looked at me.  “Not related, just a co-inky-dink they look sort of passingly similar.”

He spoke over Echo-McBabbles, “It is such a great pleasure to finally meet you.”

I offered, “Emily.  Emily Monroe, sir.”

Echo was echoing, “As I said, Emily.  But not related.”  Another Echo stood in front of her nodding in agreement, “Just dinky and co-inky.  I can follow orders.”

I had to chuckle at the hyper smartass as I got a slight nod from Wen when I shot a questioning glance at her.  “I'm Wendy's twin sister.”

He nodded and placed a finger on the side of his nose. “Of course you are.  The board knows about your situation and how well you have dealt with it over the years.”

Echo was going on now about, “Of course they're twin sisters, I was telling you that the whole time.  That's 'the' Emily.  The dumbass villain smackdown princess.  Is anyone listening to me?  Hello? Is this thing on?”

Violet took her hand with an amused look on her face to shut the woman up.

He said toward Echo, “But it doesn't go past this room, understood?  They are trusting us.”

About two dozen Echos barked out from the perimeter of the room, all dressed in white and grey military garb holding obviously toy guns with the bright orange tips.  “Sir, yes sir.”

The old man rolled his eyes and told the one dressed like a nurse at his side taking his blood pressure, “And Echo, dear, you don't have to be such a smart ass.”  He patted her cheek, and she gave him the toothiest of grins.  I looked to the others but found them gone.  And when I looked back, professional Echo was sitting on the desk corner almost demurely.

My brain hurt.  But is it wrong I found her endlessly amusing?

We all took the chairs that were provided, and the man regarded our group a moment then his full attention was on Wendy.  “Maria says you need a job, young lady.  Welcome to BCI.”

Wendy blinked as she was offering the single page resume to the man.  We fluffed it up as much as we could, but besides “saving the city one villain at a time” her job experience was a wee bit thin.

She asked in confusion, “I... have the job?”

He chuckled, and so did the Echos who were sitting on the arms of our chairs, all taking notes.  Well, one was drawing bunnies for Vi, the rest of her were taking notes.  I think she had a serious fangirl crush on my roomie.

The man said, “Your um... family owns a third of the company.  And you have abilities we only dream of for our cleanup and replacement teams.  Most powered only manifest one or two powers at the most.  You could be a one-woman crew, 'Install Specialist,' for our biggest jobs, like multi-floor replacements.  You could just fly the whole assembly in at once.  Or mass window replacements after super battles, with your super speed.  You're a dream come true for us, young lady.”

Then he asked, “That is, if you want the job.  We also have a position open in the mail room licking envelopes if...”

Wendy blurted with a sour face, “No sir, that's ok.  I'd like to be an Install Specialist if it is all the same with you.”

An Echo who was standing by the entrance said, “Boooooo!  Five of me are down licking envelopes now.”

The amused looking man patted the hand of the nurse Echo who was back listening to his heart with a stethoscope. “And you are indispensable to me, dear.  The place would crumble around our ears if you weren't here.”

That was sweet of him, I looked to the Echo on the arm of my chair to share a smile with... thin air.  I spun to the door to point at one that was cleaning the window beside the door with a small smirk on her face, “Hey you stinker, you're doing this on purpose.”

Bunny Echo was back beside Violet, “That's Hank, the custodian.  She doesn't speak English.”

I started to turn to apologize and froze.  Hey!  The girls chuckled, and Mr. Hemingway sighed out loud. “Echo, sweetheart, please don't tease the guests.”

Nurse Echo made a sour face as she was apparently the only one of her currently in the office, shoving a thermometer under his tongue.  He harrumphed since he couldn't talk that way and she said, “Fine.  You're no fun you old curmudgeon.”  Once she had his temperature, she wrote something on a clipboard and held it out, and an Echo in a candy striper outfit took it and scurried out of the room.

He asked in a conspiratorial tone, “Have you ever wondered why we still have our golden toaster?”

The three of us and professional Echo all nodded, playing along.  He stage whispered, “Pre-cogs.”

I was blurting in a shout as I stood and punched the air, “I knew it!”

Wendy said, “There are no true pre-cognitives.  All the computer simulations of Peltier permutations have conclusively shown it not just improbable, but impossible.  Though partial cognition is possible.”

He smiled and nodded as he stood and made an ushering motion to the door.  “True, but we happen to have a brother and sister team who can see one thing, and one thing at almost one hundred percent accuracy.”

Violet nodded and said, “Damage.”

Echo played a sort of sexy game of peekaboo with my bestie.  Tapping her shoulder from side to side from behind her, wearing a smile that was a bit heated.

The man clapped his hands once. “Excellent!  You're even more perceptive and intelligent than forecasted, intuition which borders on superhuman but the internal scanners verify that you have no Peltier radiation signature, you're a Norm.  Extraordinary, young lady.”  A couple Echos looped their arms with Vi, looking proud and defiant at the man.

He sighed.  “Yes, you told me so.  But she has so many wonderful toys.”  He held out a twenty and another Echo skipped past, snatching it from his fingers without slowing.

Ok, I was uneasy.  The three of us all looked at each other, and they had the same look as me.  They knew Violet was the Blue Canary but hadn't just come out and said it.  Who the hell were these people and how much did they know?  Wasn't this just an insurance company?

He placed his finger alongside his nose and winked at us. “Nothing inside these walls gets out.  Heavens, Maria would have my balls in a vice.  She keeps so many secrets but some she needs us to know to protect you.  We had only guessed about Violet until she showed up today.”

Ok then.  Not scary or creepy at all.

He continued the prior line of conversation, addressing both Wendy and Violet, “The siblings can see things that will be damaged in a twenty mile and temporally five months in advance, only not how it was caused.  So our workshop...”

As he paused for what seemed like dramatic effect, Two Echos opened doors at the end of the corridor.  We had to have been under the mountains by that time.  And we all gasped as the man continued, “...builds or procures exact replacements for everything broken that is covered by our policies.”

It seemed the entire mountain was hollowed out.  Gigantic girders held up the ceiling ten or twenty stories above.  There were items as big as houses and two stories of the Big City Bank building complete with half the iconic sign.  Things as small as vacuum cleaners and glasses all stacked on shelves which extended as far as the eye could see.

He said, “This... is everything that is covered that will be damaged in the next five months.  We know what our clients need before they do.  We employ a small army of supers to do the installations and cleanups.”  He pointed at the portion of the bank.  “That will be your first job, young lady.  It will be damaged in twenty minutes.  We'll need you to fly the whole thing in one go to slide it in place when the cleanup crew gets the site prepped for you in the morning.”

We moved through the maze of partial buildings and walls and windows.  I froze looking at a replica of our kitchen, the others were staring at it wide-eyed too.  Our entire kitchen.  What the hell was going to happen to it?

I turned to Hemingway, and he shook his head and said, “Spoilers.”

Wendy asked, “The siblings are never wrong?”

He said proudly, “Haven't been in twenty years.”

I asked, “Even if someone knew about them and tried to change the outcome?”

We heard shattering glass and turned around, Violet looked at us daring us to say anything, the remains of a spendy looking vase on the floor with two Echo's sweeping it up.  Ah ha, she had the same idea as me.  If you do something they weren't expecting like that, you could sabotage the... whole...

An Echo zipped past on roller skates and placed a new vase on the pedestal without slowing.  One of her put her elbows on the pedestal and cutely placed her chin on her hands, adoring Vi as the man chuckled. “Even then.  They've already seen this, there is no way to trick them.”

Oh reaaaally?  I stepped over and poked the vase with my finger, and it toppled and shattered. I said, “Ha.”

Then deflated when Skater Echo zipped past and replaced the vase again, two of her sweeping up the mess.  I turned to the others in shock as an Echo with big black-rimmed glasses, and a serious look on her face tore something off a pad and handed me a... a bill.

The man chuckled.  “The first one is free, everyone tries that to sate their curiosity, but you pay for the second.”

I stared at the price of the vase with my name on the buyer's line.  A hundred dollars?  “Awww maaaan!”

The Echos all chuckled as I got a warm hug from a few of them.  I had to grin.  Ok, I deserved that for thinking I was more clever than I thought I was.

I wonder if they take payments.

The rest of the tour was amazing.  And before long we were saying goodbye, with Wendy promising to be there bright and early in the morning.  I lost track of the Echo hugs by the time we got out the door, chuckling.  I think one stuffed something in Violet's pocket.

I looked over at my stunned looking sister, and she whispered to us in a disbelieving tone,  “I...  I have a real job.”

And as odd as it sounds, as I looked at my sister, realizing that she was getting a life.  Something I desperately needed.  I was... I was so very proud of her.  Is this what sibling pride was?

She was joining the real world with us and was about to start the next chapter in her life.

I looked between the girls and smiled at them.  My sisters, my family.  And all was right in the world.

Epilogue

It was terrible, we found out that night on the television that while we were at Wendy's job interview, a couple mid-level supervillains, from Mega City of all places, had tried to rob Big City Bank.

Two guards were killed as the alarm went out.  Wendy would have been there in moments before things went too far.  But Mega Girl was nowhere to be seen until after a gunfight between the supers and local police.  One officer lost a leg when he was hit by flying slivers from the Bog Thing and the guard's flesh that was injured turned to wood.

Liberty and Rocket were just arriving from another call from a false alarm across the city which was called in suspiciously at the same time, when the men took hostages on the tenth floor.  Then like a guided missile, Mega Girl finally arrived.  Slamming into the building and destroying the bulk of two floors and half of the iconic bank sign of the building.

She had injured three hostages, one critically, and killed Bog Thing by snapping his neck.  Rattler was also in critical condition and not expected to make it after she tore off his tail and jammed it down his throat.

Then the woman had the audacity to fly to ground level and pose for pictures with the cheering crowd.  The BCPD and Containment agents didn't look too pleased.  I saw Asaunt looking at Mega Girl with even more disdain than he did with me.  She was a menace, but the city was eating up her flashy theatrics.  Her entrance was too conveniently timed so she would arrive before our other protectors.  Had she just been waiting for the moment all seemed lost before saving the day while injuring people?

And what the fuck was with killing the villains when she could have easily have subdued them for Containment?

Heather changed the channel, her eyes on Wendy.  “Hey, it isn't your fault.  Trust the people of Big City.  They'll see through her soon enough, Wendy.  And when they do, we'll be there to pick up the pieces.”

Then I said as I snatched the remote, “Let's watch a chick flick!”  And I loaded up Die Hard.

My sis relaxed a bit and asked in a little voice, “Can we have popcorn?  I read in the orientation books that popcorn was customary at a movie viewing.”

She'd never gone to a movie theater?  Mother of all finger painting mice, I really hate what they did to her.  I said, “Of course!”  I'd have to bring her to a real movie one day.

In a blur, she went to the kitchen and returned with microwave popcorn.  My girlfriend grinned at her and held her hand out, and it began to glow.  My sis dropped the package in her hand, and in moments the kernels started to pop.  Heh, I could get used to this.

We heard a tiny scream from Vi's room.  She had abandoned us to her room with her cell when she found the phone number Echo had put in her pocket.  A moment later she was running out of her room, half dressed, with her legs crossed, into the bathroom and slammed the door.  Then a louder scream followed.

Heather started to get up as I stopped her and covered my mouth with my other hand, hiding mt smile.  I looked wide-eyed at Wendy who returned the look as we realized what was going on.  And we started cracking up laughing to my girl's confusion.

Oh God, poor Violet.  We forgot to warn her.

I smiled at my new little family and just pushed back into the couch cushion to enjoy the show.

I'm Emily Monroe, and I am NOT the Chosen One.

The End

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Romance Novels by Erik Schubach

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Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Holiday Morsels

What Happened In Vegas?

Books in the London Harmony series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry

Doghouse

Minuette

Squid Hugs

The Pike

Flotilla

Books in the Pike series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Ships In The Night

Right To Remain Silent

Evermore

Books in the Flotilla series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Making Waves

Keeping Time

The Temp

Books in the Unleashed series...

Case of the Collie Flour

Case of the Hot Dog

Case of the Gold Retriever

Case of the Great Danish

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Novels by Erik Schubach

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Books in the Techromancy Scrolls series...

Adept

Soras

Masquerade

Westlands

Avalon (2018)

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash

Rose: Briar's Thorn

Let Down Your Hair

Hair of Gold: Just Right

The Hood of Locksley

Beauty In the Beast

No Place Like Home

Shadow Of The Hook (2018)

Books in the New Sentinels series...

Djinn: Cursed

Raven Maid: Out of the Darkness

Fate: No Strings Attached

Open Seas: Just Add Water

Ghost-ish: Lazarus

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Tales From Olympus series...

Gods Reunited

Alfheim (2018)

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Unbroken

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

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Novellas by Erik Schubach

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The Hollow

Novellas in the Paranormals series...

Fleas

This Sucks

Jinx (2018)

Novellas in the Fixit Adventures...

Fixit

Glitch

Vashon

Descent (2018)

Novellas in the Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One series...

Night Shift

Unchosen

Rechosen (2018)

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Short Stories by Erik Schubach

(These short stories span many different genres)

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A Little Favor

Lost in the Woods

MUB

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Oops!

Rift Jumpers: Faster Than Light

Scythe

Snack Run

Something Pretty

Summer Break (2018)