Emmett woke up six hours later—Monday evening. Between surgery that morning and his impromptu nap, Monday had passed in a blink. 

He’d already missed dinner. 

For a moment, he thought about Sunday dinner with his family. About taking the bus to his childhood home. Seeing the nephews playing in the front yard. The rest of the family split between the kitchen and the living room. 

But that wasn’t how things were. His old house was underwater. The rest of his family was at a shelter, sandwiched inside with countless others displaced from across the city. 

Emmett wondered how long it would be before things were back to normal. 

Against Dr. Venture and TINA’s wishes, Emmett flew back to the shelter on the North end of Belport to see his family. Clara understood and insisted on going with him. They sat together on the bench of the heavy drone, hand in hand. 

“I’ll stay in the drone if you want me to, but someone has to keep an eye on you.”

Emmett managed a smile. Clara felt like the one warm spot surrounded by sterile metal. 

“Thanks.”

She squeezed his hand. “Hell of a week.”

“Yeah.”

The heavy drone set down in an empty parking lot a block away from the shelter and the Summit staging area. In the end, Emmett asked Clara to come with him. Between everything that happened, he needed the support.. 

Clara didn’t mind coming along. She practically jumped at the chance to get to know his family better. 

“It’s only fair. You’ve spent more time with my dad than anyone except me and TINA.”

“Yeah, and I still don’t know hardly anything about him!”

Clara chuckled. “Welcome to the club.”

They walked hand in hand down the quiet street, toward the only signs of life. While they walked, Emmett looked up at the starry night sky. Even as dim as the city was, it still blotted out the stars for most people. Not for Emmett. He saw everything now.

It was a testament that he only looked up once. The rest of the walk, he focused on Clara, the growing smell of dinner, and of seeing his family.

~

The last time Emmett had visited the shelter, it had been a mix of emotions—not just for him, but for everyone staying there. Despite the disaster, most people had been in good spirits. 

Tonight though, the shelter was subdued and apprehensive. Conversations were quiet and huddled. Instead of running wildly through the cots, kids played close to their families. Emmett glanced at families as he passed and saw the recent attack written on their faces. Even if the damage hadn’t reached this far, they would’ve heard fighting from across the city. They would’ve heard stories from the Summit. As Emmett and Clara walked through the rows, it felt like they were walking through fog. As though warmth and resilience had been sucked from the room. 

Emmett found his family gathered around their cots. Mom came over, greeting both Emmett and Clara with hugs. Emmett barely had time to introduce Clara before she was swept up. Emmett went to shake his dad’s hand, but his dad pulled both him and Clara into an embrace as well.

Mom blubbered, “It’s so good to see you, both of you, happy and healthy.” Then she hugged Emmett again. 

Emmett held his breath, afraid that he’d start losing it himself. He couldn’t remember seeing his parents choked up like this—not Mom, and definitely not Dad. Emmett had been away a lot these past few years between college, moving into the apartment, and becoming a super. In his mind, his parents were still unshakeable and invincible. Even if they were civilians, like hundreds—thousands—of others in the city, it felt wrong seeing them like this. 

It was like seeing Paragon stumble. 

Darryl came over a second later and embraced Emmett, barely giving their mom a chance to let go. “There’s my second little bro. They better be taking good care of you guys over there.”

Emmett forced a smile. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Darryl made an exaggerated side-eye at Clara. “And who’s your friend?”

Clara introduced herself to Darryl, giving a quick fabrication about meeting while volunteering with the Summit.

“Well, you look pretty cozy for just meeting, but I always told Emmett to put himself out there—get his nose out of those books for a few minutes, you know.”

Emmett chuckled awkwardly.

Darryl added slyly, “Let me know when you want some stories about him.”

Emmett coughed. “Right. Anyway…” He looked past his brother, looking for the rest of the family. 

Both Maci and Antony were asleep on their cots. A blanket was draped over Maci’s cot, and Darryl pointed out that the nephews were hiding underneath, also napping. 

Despite Darryl’s earlier attempts at levity, it felt like the room closed in again. 

Mom said, “Nobody’s gotten a lot of sleep. Not even the kids.” Dad nodded in agreement and wrapped an arm around her. 

Darryl asked, “You guys were okay, right? I mean, of course you were—you’re here.” He chuckled awkwardly before adding, “It got a little crazy here. We just hunkered down and tried to keep the kids calm.”

“We managed,” Dad said.

Darryl added emphatically, “Yeah, we did!”

Emmett and Darryl exchanged a look. Emmett’s older brother was doing that thing he did when he was nervous or stressed: He would be overly positive and try to fill any silence or lull in a conversation. 

It was harmless, mostly—unless he started spilling brotherly secrets to Clara. But it just served as a bitter reminder of how much everyone was shaken up. 

~

Emmett didn’t want to wake up Antony and the others if they were finally getting sleep, so he and Clara made their rounds through the shelter. They went and talked to Max’s mom, Marlene, and she congratulated them on finally getting together. Then Emmett introduced Clara to Larian’s family. Emmett still hadn’t met Cherry or Krystal’s dads, so he couldn’t find them. 

Max, Cherry, Larian, and Krystal were all out together on patrol, but both Emmett and Clara talked about staying until their friends were done their shifts and back at the shelter. 

Dinner was served soon after. That night, the shelter served chili and succotash.

It was the first time Emmett saw Antony up and walking around.

He was limping. His right ankle was wrapped up. 

When Antony finally saw Emmett, he gave a half-hearted greeting and limped over to the food line. 

Tony had never been as outwardly cheery as their oldest brother, but Emmett couldn’t remember the last time he saw his youngest brother so defeated. Even when Rutherford got booted out of the playoffs early, Tony wasn’t ruffled. He was stoic and determined, rallying his teammates out of their slump, and then he was back to training the next week. 

…He’d also never been injured.

The realization hit Emmett like a truck. No wonder his youngest brother was bummed. The way he was limping made Emmett think that the injury was pretty bad. He should probably be on crutches and get a doctor to look at it, but they were in the middle of a war—Tony’s injury would be the least of anyone’s concerns. 

Injured and going into his senior year. Not just that, but Antony had hopes of playing college ball…

Emmett got in line a few people behind his brother, trying not to wince as Tony limped along. 

They gathered around their cots with their bowls and ate mostly in silence. Dad and Darryl tried to get conversations going, but nothing was able to lighten the mood. 

Emmett tried to continue the conversation, but it was hard to concentrate on other things. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about his brother’s injury and the rest of everything that had happened. It should’ve never happened to Antony. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near danger—

Antony had been picking idly at his food when he suddenly stood up and limped away toward the back of the room. Toward the stairwell. 

The rest of the family exchanged concerned looks.

Finally, Darryl wiped his mouth. “I’ll go talk to him.”

Reluctantly, the rest of them went back to eating. But Emmett wasn’t hungry anymore. 

“I’m gonna go check on them.”

He squeezed Clara’s hand, then went off to find his brothers.

~

Emmett found Tony and Darryl on the roof. Both brothers were sitting along the edge, with their backs against the retaining wall. Antony wiped his eyes. Darryl glanced up at Emmett and waved him over. Emmett slumped down against the wall on the other side of Antony.

“The three amigos!” Darryl said emphatically. “It’s been a minute since it’s just been us…”

Emmett grunted in agreement. It had been a while. Not since they were kids. Not since before Darryl left for school. He’d met Maci in college and never came back home. There was four and five years’ difference between them, and it felt like that gap had only widened the older they’d got. 

Emmett focused on Antony. “Mom told me about what happened—well, a little, anyway. Sounds like it was rough.”

Antony nodded. He was still looking down at his hands, tear streaks glistening in the lights. 

He was doing that thing where he stayed tensed up, jaw clenched, like he was afraid to speak because he didn’t know what would come out. Emmett recognized it. He’d been there himself—both before and after his accident. 

The brothers sat silently, waiting until Antony was ready to speak.

“Just needed to get away,” he finally said. “I… I figured the roof would be quiet.”

“It’s pretty nice up here,” Darryl added. “Good choice.”

Antony scoffed and nodded. “It’s quiet. I get why supers like to hang out on the roofs. I heard the volunteers talking about it. None of them are supers, but I guess they’ve worked with them. They say it’s not just about the vantage point. The rooftops are quiet…”

He trailed off and silence settled in between them. Emmett heard the bustle of a shift returning to the Summit staging area across the street. A group of supers flew quickly over their building. 

When the moment passed, Darryl pointed to Antony’s ankle. “That’ll pass. Especially a strong dude like you. You’ll bounce back. You probably won’t even feel it by the time preseason training rolls around.” 

“It’s not that. Yeah, that sucks, but it’s not that…”

Their younger brother smiled bitterly. “You know how everybody thinks they’re a hero? Everybody says when something bad happens, they’re gonna be the one to do something or stand up to the bad guy. That they’re gonna help people. 

“Well… I didn’t. I tried to run. I should’ve done something, but I was scared. I just ran.”

Antony sucked in a breath. “Didn’t even make it anywhere. My ankle popped and I fell. I couldn’t even get up. The bad guys… they… laughed at me.

“I should’ve done something. I wish I would’ve. But I didn’t.” Antony hung his head and silence fell again. 

Silence fell between the brothers again. Darryl sounded like he was about to say something—struggling to find the right words—but he didn’t say anything. 

Emmett wished like hell there was something he could do to take the pain away. If he could erase what happened or reach into Antony’s brain and pluck it out, he would. But there was no easy way to get over something like that. 

Emmett said quietly, “People train their whole lives to get through stuff like that—police, firefighters, the military, supers, all of them—just to make sure they know what to do. And it’s not easy for them. They still need to go to therapy after.”

Antony nodded. 

Darryl chuckled. “Hey, that’s what therapy is for, right? Everybody should go to it.”

Emmett nudged his brother and joked, “You’re not a super. What did you think you were gonna do against them? Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Antony scoffed. “Yeah. I’ll get right on that. …Maybe therapy and physical therapy too. After all this war shit is done.”

The brothers shared an exasperated sigh of agreement. 

Emmett added, only half-joking, “Well, if you ever want superpowers, I know a guy.”

Antony rolled his eyes and elbowed Emmett. “Yeah, right.”

Emmett knew it would take time for his little brother to heal—physically and emotionally—but Antony was breathing easier. Soon, Darryl was cracking bad jokes and eliciting groans and chuckles. Then both of them asked about Clara, to which Emmett gave smitten, half-true answers. 

Out in the darkness, Belport and half the world were still flooded and under threat, but this small respite—this small victory—was enough for now. 

~ ~ ~