Penny, in her more boyish-looking form, sat on the couch and stared down at her lap. The room was silent except for the news on the TV, which was once again playing footage from the fight the day before. Penny was still sore, since she hadn’t had a chance to moonbathe since then and heal her injuries up. Sitting on either side of her were her parents, still and quiet as the grave.

“As you can see from this footage,” the man on TV was saying, “when the parahuman known as Daybreak uses his powers, it causes some kind of illusion to be dispelled, revealing that the hero Mirage is actually a man in disguise.”

Another commentator added, “That’s kind of creepy, don’t you think? All along he was lying about his identity. Who knows how that kind of power could be abused?”

“It’s definitely unbefitting of someone who claims to be a hero to hide who he really is from the rest of us.”

“Turn it off!” Penny cried. “Just turn it off!”

Her father picked up the remote and hit the mute button. Penny pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. For a while, everything was silent.

“I can’t believe this.”

Penny turned to look at her mother, breath catching in her throat. She expected her mother to be red in the face and fuming. Instead, she looked to be on the verge of tears.

“My son has been moonlighting as a girl for weeks now. Worse, as a superhero. I can’t believe this. I… I completely failed as a parent.”

She buried her head in her hands and let out a high pitched wine. Penny’s father got up from the couch and walked over to sit next to her. Penny sat still, flaring her nostrils in rage.

“Of course,” she muttered. “It’s all about you, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you dare speak to your mother that way,” her father warned.

Penny stood up.

“I was attacked yesterday and she’s wallowing in self-pity,” she reminded him.

Her mother lifted her head and asked, “How could you do this? What were you thinking, Tobias? Didn’t you stop once to think about what you were doing or how this would affect us? This is the most irresponsible thing you’ve ever done.”

Penny’s hands curled into fists.

“Fine,” she spat. “Make it all about yourself, then, even though it has nothing to do with you. You never really cared about me, anyway.”

“How can you say that?” her mother sobbed. “I’ve cared for you and watched over you for your entire life, tried to steer you on the right path, even put up with this ‘wanting to be a girl’ phase you’ve been going through. And now I learn that you’ve gone and done permanent damage to your body while running around and pretending to be a girl in front of everybody. Do you know how much shame it would have brought on us if anybody had recognized you from that footage?”

“Your mother’s right, son—”

“Oh, don’t you start!” Penny cried, pointing a finger at him. “You’ve known about this for weeks. You saw how much happier I’ve been being able to be myself, but of course you’d take her side.”

Her father blanched and took a step away from her mother, who was glaring daggers at him.

“You knew?!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “You knew about this and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Suzanne—”

“No! Don’t talk to me!”

Penny’s mother stormed out of the room. After a moment, they heard a door slam. Penny’s father turned to face her.

“Look what you’ve done now,” he growled. “Do you just enjoy hurting your mother?”

Penny started walking out of the room.

“Where are you going?” her father demanded.

“I’m through with you,” she replied. “I tried to make you understand.”

Penny returned to her room and locked the door. After a moment’s thought, she picked up her desk chair and jammed it against the door too. Then she collapsed into bed and started crying into her pillow.

Daybreak was right: her superhero career was over. Now that everyone knew that she wasn’t a cis girl, they were never going to look at her the same way again. They probably hated her. Oh God, what if they tried to attack her when she was in costume? She wasn’t safe as Mirage anymore, and just as she was starting to get the attention that she wanted.

The worst part was that Daybreak didn’t even try to steal her powers. He didn’t have to. That bastard had known exactly what to do to cause her the most harm.

Gabriela’s warning echoed in Penny’s ears: This whole town is rotten, and if more people find out about you, things are just going to get harder.

She couldn’t even create a new identity for herself and continue to be a superhero that way. It was such a small town that people would identify her immediately. The only way Penny would get to be a hero anymore is if she left town for good, traveled far away and found a new name and costume.

Still, as her sobs subsided, she recognized that things could be worse. It seemed like nobody but her parents had been able to identify her based on the footage. Nobody had gotten very close before she’d gotten away, to begin with. Penny also didn’t know a lot of people, and even her “boy form” had changed so much over the past couple of months that nobody who remembered her from high school would be able to recognize her now at a glance.

“It’s not the end of the world, I guess,” she mumbled into her pillow.

Plus, even if her superhero life was over——and it most certainly was——she could still cast her illusion over herself and walk around as a girl. Jada’s friends wouldn’t be able to tell who she really was. And Daybreak would have a hard time tracking her down in civilian form. Her life wasn’t over just because she couldn’t be a hero anymore.

It would still suck not to be recognized by everyone. Penny wasn’t stupid: she knew that between getting to help people and having the attention of the town, the second was a much bigger draw for her. But she didn’t need fame, and Snap-trap and Transvection were good heroes and they’d take care of the town without her.

Finally, Penny pulled herself into a sitting position and hugged her pillow to her chest. There was one other thing that was really bothering her: Daybreak. He wasn’t going to stop at just exposing her, but he also hadn’t just come to her house to steal her powers away. Logically, he must be planning something.

Penny got up from bed and walked over to her desk. Pulling her communicator out, she stuck it in her ear and turned it on. She hesitated, but tapped the communicator to call Isabelle.

“Hello, Mirage,” came the voice in her ear. “How are you doing?”

Isabelle sounded weary.

“Just wanted to check if there was news about the Daybreak investigation?”

“The police searched the home address you gave them, but he wasn’t there. Hasn’t shown up to work since the day before yesterday, either. There’s an APB out on him, but no word yet.”

Penny sighed. Well, that seemed to confirm that he was definitely planning something. Michael wouldn’t just leave his life behind for no reason.

“Thank you, Isabelle,” she said.

“Of course, Mirage. Take care of yourself. Call me if you need help.”

“I will.”

That night, Penny made sure to spend some time outside basking in the moon. She could practically feel her injuries fade away in the moonlight. By the next morning, she was feeling a lot better. Still in boy-mode, Penny slipped into some work clothes and headed out.

She said a brief hello to Rachel, who didn’t return the greeting, before stepping over to man the register. At least this felt normal. It was a shame she’d have to leave this job one way or another soon enough; it really had been the only stable thing in her life for the past couple of months.

Penny heard the door chime go off and her heart skipped a beat. When she saw that it wasn’t Michael who had entered, though, she took a deep breath and relaxed. Then the door chimed again and she jumped with a start.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

Every time she heard the door, she was going to think it was him. And why not? He’d already proven he was willing to harass her at work. She wasn’t really safe here.

Tears started welling up in Penny’s eyes. He’d broken her. Penny was completely traumatized. She was always going to feel Michael bearing down on her and there was nothing she could do about it.

Penny caught Rachel staring at her out of the corner of her eye. When Rachel realized Penny was watching, she jumped slightly and turned away. Penny sighed. So that’s how it was going to be.

Time seemed to stretch on forever. Every time the door chime went off, Penny had to restrain herself from flinching and looking over to double check. Sometimes she spotted her boss watching her from some corner of the store, but Rachel always looked away before they could lock eyes.

Eventually, Penny couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped away from the register and walked over to the dress racks that Rachel was organizing. Penny cleared her throat to get Rachel’s attention.

“Tobias,” Rachel said, turning around slowly, “you shouldn’t leave the register empty like that.”

In the smallest voice she could muster, Penny asked, “Are you going to tell anyone?”

Rachel squirmed and looked away before responding, “Tell anyone what?”

“That I’m… Mirage?”

Rachel bit her lip and shook her head.

“Thank you.”

“Please just get back on the register for me.”

Penny nodded and returned to the counter. Rachel stopped glancing in her direction after that. The hours started to drift by. Eventually Penny stopped jumping every time the door went off, but she did keep glancing up just to make sure it wasn’t Michael.

What was she going to do next? Besides the factory, there weren’t a lot of places nearby where one could find a full-time job. Honestly, to get away from her parents, it might have been worth it to just take the job until she could find something better. Except that Michael technically still worked there. What if he found her?

“How did I end up in this situation?” she wondered idly.

The door chime went off again and Penny glanced over to see Gabriela walking in. The two locked eyes. Gabriela sighed and let her shoulders droop, then frowned and shrugged. Penny nodded in reply. After a moment, Gabriela turned and left the store.

“Tobias?”

Penny turned to face Rachel.

“Penny,” she said. “My name is Penny.”

“Right… um…” Rachel looked away. “I want you to take a few days off, to recover from the fight yesterday.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Penny insisted. “I heal in moonlight, so I just had to—”

“Tobias——Penny——whatever your name is, I want you to take a few days off.”

“But—”

“I’m not asking you,” Rachel said. “Go home.”

Penny’s heart sank. For a moment, she thought she was going to cry. But she gathered her strength and nodded. If this was what was happening, Penny was going to face it with her head high.

“You know how to get in contact with me,” she told Rachel.

Rachel merely grunted in response. Penny clocked out and left without giving Rachel another glance. Once she was in the car, Penny gave in and started to cry.

The house was empty when Penny got back. She shifted back into her girl form and got out of the car. What did it matter if anyone saw her now? Penny locked herself in her room and collapsed onto the bed. It seemed like she’d be stuck here for at least a few days while Rachel wrapped her mind around the whole situation.

Penny closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. She just wanted to disappear for a moment. But she wasn’t tired enough. With a sigh, Penny pulled herself out of bed. She grabbed her burner phone from the desk and sent a quick message to Jada asking if they could meet up.

What else could Penny do during her exile? The Internet was right out. There was too good a chance she’d run into something about Mirage right now and she wouldn’t be able to take the transphobia. She didn’t have any books in her room. Maybe she’d see if there was anything on TV downstairs.

At that moment, though, her phone went off.

Sure, Jada had written, but we have to meet in the park in civvies. See you in 30?

Penny sighed in relief and got up. Looking down at her outfit, she quickly used her illusions to shift into something more feminine. Then Penny grabbed her keys and headed out. She was at the park first, sitting at their usual picnic table when Jada walked up and sat down.

“Hey.”

“Hey, thanks for coming.”

Jada shrugged, then looked up.

“Lovely weather,” she said.

Penny grunted in reply.

“I thought you had work today.”

“My boss gave me a few days off.”

“Ah.”

Jada sat down across from Penny and grabbed her hands, giving them a gentle squeeze.

“So,” Penny began, “I take it you saw what happened?”

“I’m so sorry, Penny.” She took a deep breath. “Actually, we have to talk about that.”

Penny’s brow furled in confusion.

Jada looked away and continued, “My parents weren’t happy with the news. They’re… old-fashioned. They told me that if they saw any evidence that Snap-trap was hanging out with Mirage, they’re going to forbid me from being a superhero.”

Penny’s heart sank.

“It gets worse,” Jada admitted, looking down at her lap. “Because they’ve met you, I can’t just bring you over to my house and claim you’re a friend from school. The only way we can hang out is in secret.”

Penny nodded, but her face was hot and she was struggling not to cry.

She confessed, “Truth be told, I’m not sure if I still want to be a superhero after what happened. Now that everyone knows, they’re going to look at me differently.”

“Well, yeah, no duh, Penny,” Jada said, squeezing her hands tighter. “People are going to look at you differently. But part of being a superhero is being willing to stand out from the crowd. You wanted attention, and now you have it. There’s going to be some bad moments, speaking from experience, but you’re going to change some minds too. And besides, being a hero is so much fun; you’d miss it, Penny.”

“I don’t know if I can pull it off, Jada.”

“You’re strong enough, I promise.” Jada smiled softly. “But it has to be your decision. And don’t forget, you’ve still got Aaron. I’m sure Transvection will support you even if I can’t be seen with you.”

Penny nodded.

“I can try,” she muttered.

“I just don’t want you to give up something you love without fighting for it, Penny.”

Despite herself, Penny smiled.

“You’re going to make a great superhero one day, Jada. Oh, there is one more thing?”

“Name it.”

“Can… Can we go kayaking before the summer is over? I promised myself I would try now that I have real friends.”

Jada nodded slowly, saying, “I’ll need to get some other friends involved so my parents don’t get suspicious of us hanging out, but I’m sure one or two people will want to come.”

“Thank you, Jada.”

“Anything for a friend.”