Mirage was jittery. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Every conversation was about her. All she could do was stand still and hunch over, keeping her eyes on the ground. People milled around her. Her breathing was erratic.

Someone placed a hand on her shoulder. Heart sinking, Mirage looked up to see Transvection. He was watching her with a weary smile. Mirage took a deep breath.

“You’ll be okay,” Transvection whispered.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come to a church bake sale…” Mirage muttered, glancing around.

The only reason she was here was because the church was using the money to help the poor citizens of Auburn. They hadn’t even invited her; they’d invited Transvection and he’d insisted she come. She should have turned him down, but Mirage had desperately wanted to live up to Jada’s expectations.

“I’m here for you,” Transvection assured her, stepping away.

Mirage took another deep breath and started walking around. She gripped the edges of her cape and forced herself to smile at the passersby. A few of them smiled back awkwardly, but didn’t make prolonged eye contact.

“Hello,” Mirage said to one couple who had just bought a few things. “Thank you so much for your contribution. This is going to help a lot of people.”

“Oh, of course,” the woman said nervously, nodding but not looking directly at Mirage. Her partner wrapped his arm around his shoulder and gave Mirage a thin smile before pulling the woman away.

Mirage’s spirits fell. This wasn’t going well. She spotted a family walking nearby. Probably not a good idea to talk to them; who knew how the parents would react to her? There was one man who had just shown up and was looking around like he didn’t know what to do. Excellent! She’d point out what was being sold where and he’d be so grateful!

As she got close, though, the man caught sight of her and his gaze narrowed. Mirage’s smile faded and she quickly changed course. Maybe she could find somebody else to help instead.

Finally, she just found the organizer in charge again.

“Is there anything specific you need me to do?” she asked. “I could create a cart if people need to move stuff? Or—”

The organizer cleared his throat to interrupt her.

“Honestly, Mirage, everything is running pretty smoothly. You’re free to go if you want.”

Mirage sighed.

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thank you. Best of luck.”

He nodded, but returned his attention to his clipboard quickly. Mirage scanned the area for Transvection and saw him psychically carrying a stack of plates. She could send him a message later; no need to say goodbye to him. With nothing else keeping her, Mirage turned herself invisible and made her way out.

Still invisible, Penny walked around town for a bit, just picking streets at random to turn down. Her nerves were still a tangled mess. Truth be told, she was a little nauseous. Was this the new normal? Could she ever get used to this? She wished that she could just walk around as Mirage like before, but she was never going to get that back.

She’d wanted attention, and now visibility was no longer an asset. Even if she could get used to people treating her differently, Daybreak was still out there. He could swoop in at any time and actually steal her powers. Penny wanted Jada to be right: she wanted to stay a superhero and have it mean something.

“Might as well go home,” she muttered to herself, kicking off the ground and flying up. Once she got her bearings, Penny took off in the direction of her house.

Penny got into her room through the window so she wouldn’t have to drop her illusion. Even if her parents knew who she was now, they’d probably throw a fit to see her using her powers. Best not to risk it.

She sat down at her computer and booted it up. This was a bad idea, but she just had to know. Penny opened up her browser and searched for information about Mirage. The very first thing that popped up was a transphobic post.

“That’s not good,” Penny muttered, spirits already sinking.

After sifting through some old stuff, she managed to find something from earlier at the bake sale. There were plenty of pictures of her, as well as some unflattering posts. Truth be told, she looked horrible; the photos had accurately captured just how uncomfortable she was in public. There were even a few posts noting that Snap-trap hadn’t been there and speculating that she must have turned against Mirage. Quite a few people seemed happy to hear that.

Penny quit the browser and sighed. That was more or less what she had been expecting. A glance at the clock showed that it was nearly dinner time. Once more it was time to face her parents. Penny dispelled her illusion, then tucked her growing hair behind her ear and got up.

“Hello,” she muttered to her parents as she sat down.

“What were you thinking?!” her father bellowed.

Penny blinked in confusion.

Her mother, exasperated, explained, “I saw on Facebook that ‘Mirage’ was at the church bake sale. After everything that happened? How could you do that, Tobias?”

“Transvection asked me to come and I went,” Penny said, stabbing her food with her fork. “It’s no big deal.”

“It is a very big deal!” her mother cried. “People know you’re not really a girl, now! And what happens if that Daybreak monster comes back??! You can’t go around playing superhero anymore. My heart can’t take it, Tobias.”

“That’s not my name,” Penny grumbled.

“Don’t talk back to your mother,” her father growled. “You can’t do this anymore. I should have put a stop to it when I first found out.”

“You can’t stop me,” Penny told him.

“Yes, I can,” her father replied. “You can give up this superhero nonsense or you can find a new place to live. I won’t have my son being the town laughingstock.”

Penny locked eyes with him for a moment, then stood up and started walking back to her room.

“Tobias? Tobias!” her father called after her, but Penny didn’t stop.

She didn’t have a suitcase. Penny just grabbed her backpack and pulled out a few clean clothes. It didn’t matter; she’d be using her powers to make clothes for herself, so she only needed stuff to sleep in. Food would be the bigger issue.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any kind of homeless shelter in a town this small. Penny would have to fly until she got to Ashling and make her way from there. She was old enough to get a job as a professional superhero, so it’s not like she’d be completely helpless.

The fighting in the other room died down. Penny slid her laptop into her backpack and struggled to zip it up. She also grabbed the burner phone from her desk and slipped it into her pocket. When the knock at the door came, Penny didn’t respond.

It was her mother’s voice that asked, “Tobias?”

Penny stopped just before opening the window, but didn’t turn away.

Her mother continued, “Please don’t go. I’ve talked down your father. He isn’t going to kick you out. I know you don’t have anywhere to go and I don’t want my baby to be homeless. I… I won’t stop you from being a superhero, if that’s what it takes.”

Penny thought about it for a moment, then said, “Fine. I’ll stay. For now.”

“Thank you, Tobias.”

Penny grunted. She took her backpack off and summoned up her costume. Instead of going out the window, though, she opened the door to find her mother standing there in tears. Penny’s heart ached at the sight, but she had to stay firm.

“I’m going out to talk to a friend,” she told her mother. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“A… A superhero friend?”

“Something like that.”

It was getting dark out, but Penny was getting used to flying in the dark. At the very least, she remembered the way to Gabriela’s neighborhood alright. Instead of touching down in her backyard, though, she landed a short distance away and dispelled her costume. She knocked on the door as herself. Penny didn’t recognize the man who opened the door.

“Is Gabriela here?” she asked. “I’m a friend and I was hoping to talk.”

The man nodded and turned to call into the house, “Gabriela! A friend is here to see you!”

When Gabriela appeared, she looked confused and a little annoyed at being called on at this hour. When she saw it was Penny, though, her expression shifted. She nodded and said to the old man, “Thanks, Dad,” before turning to Penny and saying, “We should talk in the backyard.”

Gabriela made sure that the back door was closed before taking one of the folding chairs on the deck for herself. Penny took another one, twiddling with her thumbs and not looking directly at Gabriela. Eventually, Gabriela took a deep breath and sighed.

“I’m really sorry for all the things that have been happening to you,” she said. Penny thought there might be an unspoken “I told you so” in there, but decided that Gabriela was better than that.

“Here’s the thing,” Gabriela continued. “You can stay where you are right now, where you simply won’t be respected for who you are, or you can leave for greener pastures.”

“I don’t want to leave my hometown,” Penny mumbled.

“Why not?”

“I grew up here. It’s special to me. I love the forest and the river and the small-town aesthetic. And there’s lots to do. Even the people aren’t normally that bad…”

“Sure, if you’re cis, het, and white,” Gabriela replied. “And unfortunately, what defines a place is its people, not its aesthetic.”

“I guess you’re right.” Penny shuffled uncomfortably. “I think I should give up being a superhero, for now. At least until the transformation is complete and everybody sees me as a girl full-time. I could start over in a new town somewhere else. I’m just… worried that the news will follow me. I don’t really want to give up being Mirage, but I might need a new identity just to avoid harassment.”

“People might recognize you anyway,” Gabriela pointed out. “You have a somewhat unusual power set.”

“You’re right,” Penny muttered, slouching in her chair and beginning to cry.

“Hey, hey! That’s not what I said. You can still be a superhero, Penny, but I don’t think you’re going to be happy if you keep running away from this. If you want to, you could probably hide the fact that you’re transgender by changing your identity, but you won’t ever be able to say anything in defense of transgender people without getting a lot of shit and speculation from bigots. Being a hero itself opens you up to scrutiny, and I think that if you weren’t on some level prepared for that then you wouldn’t have gone to that bake sale today.”

“Snap-trap said I would miss being a hero if I quit.”

“Is she right?”

Penny thought for a moment, then nodded.

“I think,” she said, “that I’ve been coasting a little bit. I wanted to be a hero for the attention, but I wasn’t really ready for the responsibility. Maybe I’m still not. I think I need a break, and when I come back I need to be ready to stand up for what I believe in. I’m not going to give up being Mirage, but I am going to make it mean something.”

Gabriela nodded sagely.

“I’ve been thinking about the things you said,” she continued. “I think maybe I should quit the supervillain business while I’m ahead and focus on finding a better way to make money for my family. If I’m ever caught——as if that would ever actually happen, but if you managed to find me, I should be careful——it would ruin things for them. Best not to risk it.”

“That’s good to hear. I’d hate to lose a friend if you went to prison.”

“Yeah, super-prisons are the worst.” Gabriela shuddered. “Of course, I basically can’t use my powers anymore, lest anyone discover that I used to be Shadow Pirate.”

Penny nodded, then stretched and yawned.

“I think it’s time to go,” she said.

“I’ll see you to the door.”

A few days later, Penny was allowed to return to work. It was still awkward between her and Rachel, who wouldn’t look directly at Penny, but at least she hadn’t lost her job. Still, it was emotionally exhausting, and when Penny got back home, she locked herself in her room to unwind.

“I guess I’ve wasted enough time,” she decided, sitting down at her computer.

There was a university in Ashling. It wasn’t far and hopefully not too expensive. Maybe it wouldn’t even be too late to apply for the spring semester. At the very least, it was a plan to get out of this town for a while and start over somewhere new.

Eventually, Penny heard a knock on the door. She glanced at the clock. It was time for dinner. Penny sighed and stood up. She’d made some progress, but it was going to take some time to get her application ready.

Dinner was quiet except for the clatter of silverware on plates. Nobody wanted to look at each other anymore. Things had been awkward after Penny came out to her parents, but it had somehow gotten worse.

“So,” Penny began, “I’m planning to go to college after all.”

Her father perked up.

“That’s great,” he said. “What are you going to be majoring in?”

“I don’t know, yet,” Penny admitted. “I thought I shouldn’t put it off any more than I already have, though.”

Her mother asked, “Are you going to… go as a… girl?”

Penny paused.

“I guess,” she said, “if I do, then I won’t have a home to come back to, right?”

Her mother didn’t respond. Neither did her father. Penny ignored them and focused on her food. She knew that they couldn’t stop her from presenting how she wanted, but she did wish that she had parents who supported her at least a little bit.

It was Penny’s turn to do the dishes after dinner. Once everything was in the dishwasher, she returned to the living room where her dad was sitting on the couch watching the news. She sat down as far away from him as possible, happy to just veg out for a bit. At least the news wasn’t about her.

After about thirty minutes, Penny shifted uncomfortably. It was probably about time to get back up and work on her application. She was about to get up when a breaking news report came on and Penny’s jaw dropped.

The reporter, with a shaky voice, was talking over live footage of Main Street. There were several dozen people there, standing in formation and carrying a mix of flaming torches, swords, and shields with an icon Penny had seen before. It was the Auburn Warriors.

After a few seconds, the camera focused on a man wearing a golden chainmail bodysuit with a golden chest plate, boots, and gauntlets. Daybreak was leading them. This was his move.

“Attention, citizens of Auburn!” Daybreak cried. “For too long our freedoms have been strangled by weak would-be tyrants who want to force us to cater to the freaks and outcasts who don’t belong. Well, we’re not going to allow that to happen. Starting today, the Auburn Warriors are going to protect and clean up this town so it can be the bastion of freedom that it was meant to be! And if the other so-called heroes try to interfere,” he held up his hand and a golden sword appeared, “they’ll have to deal with me.”

Penny was already standing. She summoned her costume and took off for the door. Before she could get to it, though, Penny felt someone grab onto her and pull her back.

“What are you doing?!” he cried.

“I’m going to stop him!” Penny replied, struggling against her father’s grip.

“That’s just what he wants! Think about it. Why would he do this if not to lure you out? You can’t go. I can’t lose you.”

Penny stopped struggling. Her father was right. She had the disadvantage at the moment. The only thing she could do was clench her fists and stare at the mess unfolding on the TV.