The three other people in the office were staring Mirage down with various degrees of disappointment and frustration. Mirage kept her gaze down in her lap. She could still feel their gazes, and it made her squirm.

She was in the mayor’s office with the mayor himself, the chief of police, and a superhero from the nearby city of Ashling with insectoid armor known as Scarab. They had just shown her the video of her and Daybreak fighting at the truck stop.

“National news,” the police chief said. “Your little stunt made national news.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, feeling her face burn.

Seeing the video had actually relieved a lot of her concern. The video showed Daybreak dispelling her illusions, but it was too far away to make out her body in detail. The sound was also muffled by the wind. Nobody had heard the conversation. Her secret identity was safe.

“You could have gotten yourself killed,” the chief of police continued. “It was a stupid and reckless decision. I told you explicitly not to enter a dangerous situation knowingly.”

“We’re very fortunate that nothing bad happened,” Scarab said, folding her hands in front of her. “But dealing with supercriminals is outside of your purview. You should have left the matter to the licensed heroes. We have the tools and training to handle the matter effectively. You’re lucky no innocent bystanders were hurt in the process.”

The mayor cleared his throat and looked down at his hands on the table, declaring, “In light of this event, I feel that there’s no choice but to suspend you from superhero activities.”

“What?!”

“For at least a month,” the mayor decided. “After that, we’ll reconvene and decide if enough time has passed for the matter to die down so you can return to service.”

“Mayor Williams, you can’t do this,” Mirage said, standing up from her seat. “I’m a hero. I have to help people. It’s my duty.”

“My mind is made up,” the mayor replied. “There’s simply too much negative attention on you at the moment for the town of Auburn to support your heroic activities.”

“Of course that’s what this is about,” Mirage said, curling her hands into fists. “All you care about is how good this city looks to tourists. You can’t have me mucking it up by actually trying to address a real problem if it makes you look bad.”

Scarab tried to interrupt, “Miss, that’s quite enough.”

“Daybreak and the Auburn Warriors are a threat,” Mirage said. “I have video evidence. You have to do something about them before they start hurting people.”

“We’re well aware of this group,” the police chief assured her. “We’re monitoring their activities and they’re not currently posing a threat to anybody. Whatever grief exists between you and this other hero is not cause to rope everybody else into a private matter.”

Mirage turned to Scarab and pleaded, “They’re fascists. They want to kill or exile everyone from this town that isn’t like them. Don’t you have an obligation to protect people?”

But Scarab replied, “Whatever threat that may exist is the jurisdiction of the local police. I’m sorry. It’s not my place to interfere with local matters. If there is a superpowered threat that needs our attention, the other Ashling heroes and I will definitely lend a hand. But there’s no need for that, right now.”

“I can’t believe this!”

“You’re dismissed, Miss Mirage,” the mayor insisted.

Mirage grit her teeth and stormed out of the office. Suspended! This was… She couldn’t… Mirage wanted to scream! She got into the car and slammed the door shut, then swallowed her tears and began the drive home.

She didn’t even dispel her costume when she got back. Nobody was home anyway. Mirage laid out on the couch, buried her head in the armrest, and choked back a sob. She’d set out to do good and was being punished for it!

Mirage knew that she’d made a mistake. She should never have gone out to chase down Shadow Pirate. Everyone else had been right all along. But now the only thing she was living for had been taken away from her.

What was stopping her from going out as a hero anyway? Would she be arrested? Would anyone dare call the police on her? She… she wasn’t going to be treated as a supervillain, was she? Mirage honestly didn’t know what happened to heroes who didn’t have approval of the local government. It had just never come up around her before now.

Penny eventually dispelled the costume and curled up to watch TV. She didn’t react when she heard the lock on the front door click. The door opened and, without turning to look, she mumbled, “Hi, Dad.”

“What would have happened if your mother had come home early?” he asked her, closing the door behind him.

Penny shrugged.

“I’ve seen the video, Tobias,” her father said.

“My name is—”

“Don’t!” her father said abruptly. “Just… don’t.” He walked in between Penny and the TV and continued, “Do you know how dangerous that was?! You could have been killed! What would have happened to your mother and I without you?!”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen that way,” Penny said blankly.

“That doesn’t make it better! You’re not a licensed hero! You’re not supposed to be fighting anybody! What were you even doing out there?!”

“I was trying to hunt down a supervillain,” Penny explained, shaking. “Because nobody else would.”

Her father was red in the face.

“You’re done!” he cried. “I’m forbidding you from going out anymore. Your days as a superhero are over, young man!”

Penny burst into tears, and her father blinked in surprise. He shuffled uncomfortably as she broke into heaving sobs and curled up on the couch. After a few moments, he sat down on the couch next to her and placed a tense hand on Penny’s shoulder.

“I’ve been suspended!” Penny gasped. “I’m not allowed to be a hero anymore. I can’t… I can’t…”

Her father was silent for a bit, then asked, “For how long?”

“A month,” she managed to mumble.

“That’s not so bad,” her father said. “If you find something to occupy your time, it’ll be over before you know it and you’ll be back out there helping people again.”

“…I thought you just said—”

“Don’t worry about that,” her father said. “I’m still very angry at what happened. You should never have put yourself in that situation and I feel like it’s my failure as a parent that you ever thought it was an acceptable idea. You… you can keep being a hero, but you have to promise me that you won’t be going after supervillains ever again.”

“I promise,” Penny replied.

“Well, if that’s all—”

“There is one other thing,” Penny said, sitting up. “You know my friend Michael?”

“Yes.”

“He’s the other hero, Daybreak. And… he knows about me.”

“Knows about you how?”

“He knows I’m Mirage, and that I’m trans, and he… that’s why he was attacking me in the footage.”

Her father was silent for a moment, then tightened his grip on Penny’s shoulder before insisting, “You’ll be safe here, I promise.”

Penny nodded, and her father got up and left. Eventually, she stood up and returned to her room. That evening, she saw her father cleaning his shotgun for the first time in a couple of years. Her heart skipped a beat, but it was probably for the best. If Michael attacked her at home, he wouldn’t be scared away with a stern warning.

After a few days of doing nothing but going between work and home, Penny was starting to feel a little down. She still used her illusory body whenever she was locked in her room, but she’d stopped leaving the house. Her father hadn’t grounded her, but he might as well have.

At work, Rachel had started to notice that Penny wasn’t feeling well.

“Are there any problems at home?” she asked while Penny was manning the register.

“No, everything is fine,” Penny insisted. “I’m fine, really. Can you drop it?”

“I’m just worried about you, Tobias.”

Penny sighed at the sound of her old name.

“I’m just having a rough time, that’s all,” Penny said, not even bothering to feign a smile.

“Alright,” Rachel said, stepping away. “I hope you feel better.”

Penny nodded, but said nothing more. This day was quickly turning into a bore. It was hard to stay invested in her work at the moment. Penny knew what was happening. Her depression was returning. But she also knew that there was basically no way for her to stop it.

Then Penny saw her. Gabriela was walking through the store, taking a mild interest in the different racks. Penny kept an eye on her. Eventually, Gabriela looked her way and they locked eyes. Penny waved. Gabriela glanced away, but raised a hand in a halfhearted wave. Penny’s heart sank.

When Gabriela came to pay, she avoided looking Penny in the eye. Penny asked how she was doing, but the conversation didn’t last. Was it because she knew that Penny was trans? Had it really sunk in for Gabriela how weird that was?

“Thank you, come again,” Penny told Gabriela, who nodded but didn’t say more.

After a while, Penny let her head droop and closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to fall asleep anyway, and she’d hear anyone approach the register. It was a few moments before that happened. Penny sighed and looked up at the newcomer.

Her heart dropped.

Michael smirked and said, “It’s nice to see you, Penny.”

Penny gulped and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

“I can’t believe we’ve known each other all these years and I’m still learning new things about you,” Michael said. “Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. My lunch break is nearly over. I’ll see you around, though.”

He even had the gall to wave as he walked away.

Penny was shaking. She had to brace herself against the counter and choke back a sob. Tears welled up in her eyes and started streaming down her face. He’d only come to her because he knew how much it would hurt her. And it did. It hurt so much.

“Tobias?”

Penny choked out another sob at the sound of her deadname.

“What’s wrong?” Rachel asked, wrapping an arm around Penny. “Come on.”

She brought Penny to the back of the store and sat her down.

“Now tell me what’s wrong.”

Penny shook her head.

“Dammit, Tobias. I can’t help you if…” She sighed. “Go home. Your shift is almost over anyway. I’ll pay you out for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, too, if you need it. Just call me and let me know if you won’t be able to make it.”

Penny sniffled and nodded.

“Take care of yourself, Tobias,” Rachel said.

As soon as she was in her car, Penny grabbed onto the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. It took awhile for her to steady her breathing. One thing was very apparent: she wasn’t going to be able to handle Michael alone.

The next day, Penny did end up leaving the house. She was still shaking, but only partially because of her fear of Michael. The rest was because of what she was planning to do. This could go horribly wrong. Penny had no idea of how the other two were going to react.

She was the first to arrive at the park and made her way to their usual table. It was the middle of the afternoon and there were quite a few people around. Michael could be hiding among them and watching her and she would never be able to pick him out of the crowd. He could spring out at any moment just to remind her that he was there.

Jada was the first to arrive.

“Hello,” she said, sitting down and smiling softly. “You want to tell me what this is about or should we wait for Aaron?”

“I’d like to wait,” Penny said. The longer she could put off this disaster, the better.

“There’s a hurricane coming in,” Jada said, glancing up at the sky. “That’ll be fun to deal with. You think they’ll evacuate the lower valley again?”

“I don’t know. The last time it got that bad was… what? Four or five years ago, now.”

“Yeah, I was eleven,” Jada said. She spotted Aaron walking up and waved at him. “I thought we were going to lose our home.”

“Hello,” Aaron said. In his hands were two milkshakes, which he handed to them. “Sorry I’m late. I stopped at the drive through to pick these up.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Penny said.

“I thought you’d enjoy it. So what’s on your mind?”

Penny’s heart sank a little. She sat the milkshake aside and wrapped her arms around her stomach. It was hard to look them in the eye.

“I have something really important to tell you both,” she said, shaking. “But I’m afraid… if I tell you… that you’ll both hate me for lying to you.”

Jada and Aaron exchanged a glance.

“I’m sure that if you’re withholding the truth from us,” Aaron said, “you must have a very good reason to do so.”

Penny gulped and nodded. She clarified, “Really, I’m afraid that you’ll hate me for what I am.”

“We’re not going to hate you,” Jada insisted. “Look, even if we do get angry, we’re still your friends, aren’t we? You can trust us.”

Penny took a deep breath. Then, before she could stop herself, she dropped the illusion.

“I-I’m trans,” she stammered out. “I’m transgender and this is what I really look like. A-And Daybreak knows and when he f-fought me at the truck stop he tried to steal my p-p-powers and—”

She had to stop because she was about to break down sobbing. Her eyes were shut tight, so she couldn’t see their reactions. They probably hated her.

Penny was unprepared for the hug. When she opened her eyes, Jada had walked over and wrapped her arms around Penny, squeezing her tight. Penny relaxed and leaned into the hug.

“Don’t worry,” Jada said. “We’re going to protect you from him. That bastard isn’t going to be able to lay a finger on you with us around.”

“Y-you don’t h-hate me?”

“Of course not.”

Penny sniffed and looked over to Aaron, who hadn’t said anything.

When he saw that she was looking at him, he told her, “I was worried that you were hiding something unpleasant. I definitely feel for you. Trying to find a boyfriend anywhere in a fifteen mile radius has taught me about how tolerant this town is, but I’m glad that you’re able to live comfortably as yourself.”

Penny cast her illusory body again and smiled, wiping away the tears running down her cheeks. Jada let go of her and sat down beside Penny. It took Penny a few moments to get her breathing back under control.

“I know you can’t go out as a superhero anymore,” Jada said, “but I think you should keep helping us out with our charity work until your suspension is over.”

“I disagree,” Aaron said. “I think some time to herself will be good, especially after what happened with Daybreak. Some self-reflection and relaxation will do you a lot of good.”

“I want to help,” Penny told Jada, “but I think he’s right. I need some time to myself right now.”

“Alright.”

“Can… Can we still hang out together? Now that you know…?”

Jada grinned.

“Of course. This doesn’t change anything.”

Penny sniffed and grabbed Jada in a tight hug.