Nicole scrubbed the floor with a damp rag, wearing a face mask to avoid huffing the fumes. Not that it would be that much a problem with her healing powers, but still. She was on her knees in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and a bandana as she washed the floor by hand, wiping away the dirt while Amy did the same in their bathroom. Iris and Monica would be there in an hour, and the place was in a state after having not been cleaned at all the past week. This would be good- as long as nothing freaky happened over the weekend, she could have a nice time with her sisters and decompress after the past week had proven a complete ordeal. And everything would be fine. 

A gentle knock sounded on the front door. Nicole pulled off her mask and latex gloves and tossed them in the trash as she called out, “I’ve got it,” and opened the door. 

To her astonishment, not only were Iris and Monica on the other side, but so was Iris’ best friend Mark, as well as Mom and Dad!

“Mom, Dad, guys, hey!” Nicole beamed. “I’m all gross right now, but air hugs!” 

“Ja, hugs of air,” Mark said as he swayed from side to side. Iris wouldn’t stop staring at him while he did so. 

“Hey there, Sunshine!” Dad smiled a wide, toothy smile. He pulled off her bandana and ruffled her hair, and Nicole giggled. “The storm means I’m on vacation right now, figure I’d come down and say hello before you kids had your weekend together!”

“Okay!” Nicole said, gesturing them all inside. She opened a few windows and cranked up the fans. “Sorry about the smell- you caught me while I was cleaning.”

“That’s alright, kiddo,” Mom said. “It’s good that you’re taking care of Amy’s place for her. Though I do hope she’s helping as well.”

Nicole winced as she hoped Amy didn’t hear that part. 

“It’s Nicole’s place too, Mrs. Nygaard,” Amy said as she stepped out into the main room, wearing a pair of booty-shorts and a yellow tank-top. “She takes care of it just as much as I do.”

“Even though you pay for everything, right,” Mom said. 

Nicole’s jaw set tightly as her mouth formed a flat line. Please don’t start, Mom, I’m begging you-

“We wanted to drop the kids off here before we go on our little day trip,” Dad said. “Your mother is taking me for a night out in New York.”

“Oh wow, that’s so fun!” Amy said, putting an arm around Nicole’s waist. 

Dad took note of it as his eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. 

Mom raised an eyebrow. 

Dad simply said, “Good for you two!”

“You two as well,” Nicole giggled as she bumped her head against her father’s shoulder like she’d used to do as a little kid. 

He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll be back tomorrow to pick the kids up- you’re more than welcome to join us for a family dinner tomorrow night though. Same to you, Amy.”

Mom gave Dad a side-eye but didn’t say anything. No matter how much Nicole could tell she wanted to. 

“I’d love to,” Amy said. 

Nicole hoped she didn’t see her Mom wince. 

After a few quick good-byes, Mom and Dad left, leaving Nicole and Amy alone with Iris and Monica and Mark. 

“So, uh, nice to meet you,” Amy said to Mark. 

“Ja, I am Mark,” he said, still gyrating back and forth. “You are Amy? Iris has mentioned you.”

“Um… Who’s… Iris?” Amy said, eyes wide with panic and darting back and forth between Nicole and Iris. 

Iris’ iris-colored-irises were swallowed up by her dilating pupils. “I am.”

“Right, I just-”

“He knows, don’t worry,” Iris said. 

“Oh thank God,” Amy said, hand on her heart as she gulped in a breath of relief. 

“It’s good to see you, Mark,” Nicole said. Relief washed over as well- she’d been worried about Iris’ friend preventing her from getting in some girl-time, but he was in the know, and Iris had talked about him a lot the past few weeks as someone she could trust. Besides, of all of Iris’ idiot friends, Mark had always been far and away the least offensively stupid. So Nicole decided to trust him as well. 

“You too, Nicole,” Mark said. “Iris is very proud of you. And Monica, also.”

Monica jumped on Nicole for a hug, but then immediately pulled off, “Oh girl, you do smell like you’ve been cleaning.”

“Pfft, yeah,” Nicole said. “Let me take a quick shower, then we can perform the summoning. If you guys don’t mind.”

“Actually, Mark wanted to poke around Boston for a few hours then come back here,” Iris said. “Is that okay?”

“Fine with me,” Nicole shrugged. She said to Mark, “You gonna be okay by yourself?”

“Ja, I will be fine, though company would be nice,” Mark said, still swaying as if in the wind. It was almost impressive how he managed to keep doing that. 

“I have an idea, in that case,” Nicole said. “Do you still like fighting games?”

“I leev for theem,” Mark said. 

“Perfect.”

***

“Ha! Suck it!” Cass said to her opponent. 

Said opponent was a twelve year old boy who burst into tears as Cass flipped him off. 

The boy’s mother flipped him off in response as she hurried her child away from the console and television set up inside the convention center. 

Today was the day, the fighting game tournament Cass had been waiting for all year. She’d entered every year since she’d begun living in Boston, and lesser players trembled in fear before her might!

Unfortunately, now nobody wanted to play against her. 

“Nice game,” Matt said, sitting on the bean bag chair next to her on the black carpeted floor of the wide, dome-shaped convention center with white walls and a white ceiling and overhead lights dangling from above. 

“Thanks, you too,” Cass cooed, batting her eyelashes at Matt. He wasn’t terribly good, but still, playing against him was fun, and it might be leading to a proper date later that evening. 

“Who’s next?” Matt said. 

“Ja, I weel go next,” said a skinny young man with a well-groomed head of brown hair, clad in skinny jeans and a blue button-down shirt as he ambled over to them in a silly yet natural-looking walk. “I am Mark. Nicole and Amy sent me because they feared you would lack opponents.”

“Ms. Nicole sent you?” Matt said. 

“Ja… Why do you call her miss? Is she your aunt or something? Wait, no, is not possible- neither Monica nor Iris ees mother.”

Matt just shrugged, like that was the most ridiculous question he’d ever heard. 

“You’re Iris’ boyfriend then?” Cass said. “Nicole texted me you might stop by.”

“She is not girlfriend, but yes,” Mark said. Cass could tell by the look on his face he was hoping that first statement wouldn’t be true by the end of the day- it was the same facial expression Matt had been wearing all day. 

“So, you play Smash?” Cass asked. 

“Ja, since I was leetle,” Mark said, grabbing a controller as they queued up the character-select screen. Mark opted for Mr. Game and Watch. 

Respect, Cass thought. 

“Okay, let’s try to get one more player in on this,” Cass said. She stood up and scanned the convention hall. “Hey! Any of you scrubs wanna play a hot girl and two jabronies?” 

“Not if the hot girl is you!” someone called out from amidst the crowd. 

“You scare us, Ortiz,” another voice cried. 

Cass gritted her teeth. She mumbled in Spanish, “Buncha freaking babies…”

“Aye caramba,” Matt chuckled. 

“Oh don’t you start, pendejo,” Cass said. “Well, looks like we’re going for a three-person brawl-”

“I’ll play with you guys,” a voice appeared. Cass turned her head, and suddenly another young man was there. Not walking up, not parsing through the crowd, not ambling over to them. He was just… THERE, standing right behind Matt, when before he hadn’t been. 

Matt yelped. It was shockingly high pitched. Cass giggled and wondered if he made that sound when watching horror movies. Or when doing… Other activities. 

The young man looked about Amy’s age. He was Southeast-Asian, with dark skin and straight black hair worn at his collar. He was lean and muscular like a long distance runner, wearing a gold-colored flannel button-down over a red and blue Los Angeles Clippers t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and white converse all-stars. He had a single stud in his right ear, and another one in his right nostril. He was… Well, he was incredibly hot, and Cass had to stop herself from drooling. Stop it, me, Cass thought, Matt is literally right here next to you for God’s sake. 

“You sure about this, friend?” Matt asked as he offered the young man a controller. 

“Sure I’m sure,” the young man said. “I came here specifically to fight you, Mrs. Hellblazer_2005.”

Cass blushed, and her eyes went wide. Oh dear. “You… Know my online handle.”

“I do indeed,” the  young man said, taking the controller and sitting down in the spare beanbag. “And I saw your post on the forum about how you’d be here this weekend in case anybody wanted their ass kicked. I can never resist a good ass-kicking,” he said with a wink. 

Cass gulped. 

Matt glared. 

Mark chuckled. 

The young man selected Cloud Strife and cracked his knuckles. “The name’s Gabriel, by the way. Gabriel Guttierez.”

“Charmed,” Cass said. 

She hit play. 

And so they began. 

***

“So, you and Mark,” Nicole said as she applied Iris’ mascara. Nicole grinned as she said it- this was good. This was a very good sign if Iris was telling her best friend about it. And possibly an even better sign if said friend was maybe more than just a friend at this point. It was also concerning, and Nicole hoped her sister wouldn’t do anything reckless, but… She couldn’t control the kid. 

Iris twitched and nearly took the mascara wand in the eye, but dodged at the last second. “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes,” Monica said, as she sat on the floor, rifling through a crate of romance novels Amy had brought from home after promising Monica last weekend she’d let her sort through and pick out whatever she liked. She took out one titled, Alex by Zoe Storm and skimmed the back cover. Wait a minute, Nicole thought, that one sounds familiar. 

“Is it obvious to people other than you, gremlin?” Iris rolled her eyes and messed up the mascara again. 

Nicole sighed. “Amy, need your help.”

Amy stepped out from the kitchen, where she was tossing a salad. “Yessss?”

“Hold her face in place so she stops squirming.”

“Uhhhhh,” Iris whined. 

“Hey, you’re the one who keeps messing up my artistry, sis,” Nicole said with a smug grin and narrow eyes as Amy put both hands around Iris’ head and Nicole began applying the mascara once again. “Also, Monica, what’s that book about?”

“It says it’s a romance novel about a college aged man working as a waiter slowly realizing he’s actually a trans girl-”

“While striking up a romance with her longtime male best friend!” Nicole and Iris said simultaneously. Then they looked at each other. “Wait, you’ve read that too?”

“Yeah, it was on TG Storytime when I read it,” Nicole said, tilting her head to the side. “You read it and didn’t realize until now you were trans?”

“You w-w-went on a w-website called TG Storytime and didn’t realize you were tr-tr-trans until a month ago?” Iris retorted. 

“Hmmmm,” Nicole said, embarrassment bubbling around her like fizzy water. “Yeahhhhhh. Although, Iris, I must ask where you read it?”

“... That’s not important.”

Monica smirked and poked Iris in the ribs. 

“Okay, -ffine, I r-read it on TG Storytime too. I’ve visited T-T–TG St-Storytime multiple times. Are you happy?”

“Hey, I visited TGS every night for like five straight years, and God had to personally inform me that I’m trans,” Nicole laughed. “We’re both pretty dense, apparently.”

“Iron eggshells,” Amy said, arching one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.  

“Speaking of which,” Nicole said, finishing up Iris’ left eye and moving onto her right. “Why do you own that classic of the Dense Egg Romance genre?”

“... I’ve never seen that before in my life.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“No, seriously, some of those belong to Debbi,” Amy said. 

“Uh-huh, right,” Iris monotoned. 

Monica opened the book and began reading. “Which other ones are Debbi’s, then?”

“Oh, just all the gay ones,” Amy said. 

All three Nygaard sisters laughed. “That’s certainly convenient for you,” Nicole smirked. 

“No, seriously!” Amy whined. “Debbi was much more in touch with her queerness from early on than I was- she read a bunch of queer romance novels in high school and we all just collectively agreed not to make a big deal out of it.”

“Hm… Plausible,” Monica said, steepling her fingers together while squatting on the floor and squiting. “Don’t know about probable, but plausible.”

“Well, that’s what happened.”

“Monica, what else is in there?” 

“Lots more by this Zoe Storm person, for one thing,” Monica said. 

“Mm-hm,” Nicole intoned as her smug blue gaze bore directly into her girlfriend’s embarrassed emerald eyes. 

“I… May have added to the collection a bit in the past month,” Amy said, cheeks furiously, adorably red. “As part of my… Education. I really liked one called Transition Zone because of the… Well, relationships.”

“Hey, at least you p-picked the good stuff,” Iris said. “C-could have h-had a m-m-much worse entry point.”

“Yeahhhhhh,” Nicole said. 

“This is cute so far,” Monica said, somehow already at least twenty pages in. Now that was a super power right there. 

“So, Iris,” Amy said. “Wondering something.”

“Ayuh?”

“Your hair keeps getting blonder- how light do you think it’s going to get?” 

Iris spat out a heavy sigh, the scent of the multiple sticks of peppermint gum she’d been evidently chewing before arrival readily apparent as Nicole finished up her right eye and then took out a powder puff and a container of foundation. “Actually, that’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Do you need help putting together a new wardrobe that goes well with your new hair?” Nicole said, face lighting up, hands pressed together in excitement. “Because I can totally help with that!”

“Not… Not exactly,” Iris said. “So, y-you m-maybe noticed my hair got b-b-blonder and my face g-g-got softer and my voice went b-back up again?”

“It had not escaped my attention,” Nicole said. 

“Well. Here’s the thing- we g-g-got att-attacked b-b-b-by a d-demon at school.”

Nicole put down the powder puff as her jaw dropped. Amy let go of Iris’ skull and did the same with her own jaw. 

“What happened?” Nicole asked, grabbing Iris by the shoulders as she winced. “Are you okay- is everyone alright?”

“I-”

“I got cornered,” Monica said. “This girl who… Who stole my boyfriend and started bullying me, she cornered me and put a knife to my throat. Iris found me and exorcized the demon before anything could happen. Besides Iris getting cut on the shoulder.”

“You got cut on the- hold still a sec,” Nicole said.

“It’s really fine,” Iris said. 

“Iris, no,” Nicole said simply. “Please let me heal you.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do!” Nicole said, forehead creasing in frustration and concern. “It’s my job to protect you, and to patch you up when you-”

“But you’re not always gonna be there!” Iris said, scowling. “It’s not that I don’t want you to. It’s that part of me is… Part of me is wondering if you should. If, maybe I should have to live with the consequences of my screw-ups. You live here in Boston and you have important work to do here. If I’d told you right away you’d have come running immediately, and I love you for that, sis, but… I was the one who found Monica. I was the one with the power to save her. I hesitated. The scar on my arm is proof of the price of that. I’m a coward. And I need to live with that. I need to… I need to learn to live with the consequences of my flaws. I messed up. I fixed it, but not until after I messed up. I’m just grateful the price wasn’t higher given Monica’s life was hanging in the balance.”

Nicole’s jaw gradually returned to where it belonged, and she gulped as she stared at her sisters, both of them. She took her hands off Iris’ shoulders and instead put one on her head. “Ya know, you didn’t stutter or slur your words once as you were saying all that?”

Iris blinked rapidly. “I d-didn’t?”

“You didn’t,” Nicole said. “That… You’ve been doing that so much lately, but this time you didn’t… You really believe what you just said, don’t you?”

Iris nodded furiously. Monica mouthed, ‘it’s true, she does.’

“You’ve grown up a lot these past few weeks and I’m very proud of you,” Nicole said. “I won’t heal your cut if you don’t want me to. I love you very much.”

Iris sobbed and her mascara ran down her face. Nicole gave her a tight hug, which Monica joined in on after a moment, while Amy mouthed ‘awww’ as she looked on. 

“We do need to talk about the demon thing, though,” Nicole said.

Amy chimed in, “Yeah, we do.”

“We will, I promise,” Iris said. 

Monica nodded vigorously. 

“So how about I show you how to do your makeup yourself before Mark gets back, and while I do we can have a talk about how we’re handling this little diabolical infestation in Manchester, ayuh?” Nicole said.

“Ayuh,” Iris nodded as she reached for Nicole’s mascara wand. 

“And if you’re doing this… You know what this means, right?” Amy said. “If you keep using your powers, you’ll change.”

Nicole said, “And eventually, you won’t be able to hide it anymore.”

“I know,” Iris said. “And I think I’m almost ready. Tomorrow, at dinner, I want to tell Mom and Dad. And then we can take it from there. Okay?”

“Okay,” Nicole and Amy both nodded. 

“In the meantime, though, let’s do this!” Iris said. 

Monica clapped her hands together in agreement. 

“Yeah, we gotta get you prettied up before Mark gets back,” Nicole said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Hhhhhuuuuuhhhhh,” Iris exhaled. 

“Hey, he seems nice,” Amy said.

“He is nice,” Monica said. 

“Yeah, he’s a sweet boy,” Iris said. “And a very good dancer.”

“Oh yeah?” Nicole said.

“Yeah,” Iris said, her own eyebrows shooting back up. “And a good singer, and a good hunter, and-”

Nicole giggled as her little sister waxed poetical about the cute boy in her life. She hadn’t expected to be able to do this with her, with both of them, let alone with her beautiful girlfriend present for all of it. But that was where she was, who she was, what she was doing. And even if things were changing, even if they were all changing, they would have to take measures to fix the damage soon… Right now she had this moment that was like something she would have never dreamed about getting to have as a little girl. 

 She started showing Iris how to use the mascara wand while Amy helped Monica sort through the box of books.

***

Matt was punted from the stage first, then second, then third, bereft of all of his lives within the first few minutes. Mark, meanwhile, put up a damn good fight, shaving a life off of both before finally getting KO’d by Cass. 

Gabriel, however…

“Oh Jesus fucking Christ shit on a fucking dick!” Cass screamed. 

“There are cheeldren here,” Mark muttered. 

“Why would you say that?” Matt said. 

“I KNOW THAT!” Cass bellowed as Gabriel knocked her out and reduced her to one life. 

Gabriel, for his part, simply sat there silently and smugly smirking as he readied himself for Cass’ assault.

Cass’ character charged across the flat platform of Final Destination and unleashed a brutal flurry of blows…

Only for her to get KO’d again. 

She’d lost. 

Cass had lost at a game of Smash. 

She literally could not remember the last time this had happened. 

“FUCK!” Cass screamed. 

And everyone present clapped as the great and powerful Queen Ortiz had been dethroned by the newcomer. 

“Ja, I am going to geet going,” Mark said. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you, young sir,” Matt said, extending a hand to shake. 

“Likewise,” Mark said as he shook Matt’s hand and then danced his way to the exit. 

“Good game,” Gabriel said.

“WE’RE PLAYING AGAIN!” Cass said. 

“Are we now?”

“Yes. One v One.” 

“Knives only?”

“You bet your ass it’s knives only- no items, and we’re both playing Fire Emblem characters!” 

“Pfft, you’re on,” Gabriel said. 

Matt just rolled his eyes. “Do you two want me to get you anything? Moist towelettes?  Water bottles? Adderall?”

“Nah, I got my own Adderall,” Gabriel said as he reached into his flannel’s pocket and retrieved a pill bottle. “Speaking of which.” He swallowed the pill, cracked his neck, then selected a fighter and readied himself.

Cass’ head thundered with disbelief. Nope, no, this was not happening- she was defending her crown, she would win it back, and everything would be fine.

***

Heather’s legs hung off the side of her broom as she balanced in the air nomming on a double-cheeseburger with grilled onions and pineapple. Debbi did the same with her tuna burger next to her. They floated a hundred feet above the city, between the layers of clouds, nothing but fluffy silver layers above and below them. The taste was heavenly, and the company was perfect. 

“Mmm, this is nice,” Debbi said. 

“It is,” Heather said. 

“You get all your essays done?”

“Yup! Turned the last one in yesterday.”

“That’s great!” Debbi smiled. “And your creative writing assignment?”

“That too- I think I might use the story as a prologue for my novel,” Heather said. 

“That’s awesome!” Debbi said. “Does this mean I finally get to read it?”

“Heh, yeah, if you want,” Heather said, flushed with embarrassment. 

“Of course I want to, babe!” Debbi said. “Though, I am wondering… What exactly is it about?”

“Um, well, basically, it’s about this girl in ancient Japan, a child of Amaterasu, but not a part of the royal family, who gets transported to Ireland at the same time as the war between the Fomor and the Tuatha De Danann, and she strikes up a romance with this fairy girl as she tries to turn the tide of the war and get back home,” Heather said. 

“That sounds wicked interesting!” Debbi said. “Right up my alley, too. How come you’ve never let me read it before now?”

“Oh, well, mostly because I keep starting and stopping it,” Heather said. “Then throwing out what I’ve written- and I mean that literally, because I use a typewriter.”

“Of course, of course,” Debbi said. “You know, you really ought to be more confident in your writing- it’s what you want to do as a career, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but like, that’s probably never gonna happen,” Heather said. “Most authors don’t get published, and most of the ones that do don’t actually earn a living doing just writing.”

“Yeah, but that’s no reason not to try, right?” Debbi said. 

Heather sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I dunno, I guess it’s just always something that I’ve struggled to show to people because if they say they don’t like it, it sounds like they’re saying they don’t like me and… Do you hear something?”

A low rumbling shook the air, and the sound of wings carving up the sky closed in on them. “Yeah, I hear it too,” Debbi said, polishing off her food and crumpling up the bag and wrapping material. “And I feel it as well. Something’s coming-”

The cloud-wall exploded, and a black-scaled dragon with burgundy claws and eyes, the size of a semi-truck and the temperament of a rabid dog, bounded through the air towards them. They both flew in opposite directions, left and right, narrowly avoiding its warpath. 

“After that dragon!” Debbi shouted. 

“On it!” Heather said. Well, this date was nice while it lasted I guess.

***

“How do I look?” Iris said. 

Nicole pressed her hands together and cooed. Iris’ lighter-than-ever hair was parted to the right and raised with a bit of gel, her face was made up with foundation and mascara and eyeliner and dark red lipstick, and she wore the black maxi dress she’d worn on her first foray into the feminine with one of her dark red flannels as a sweater. “You look beautiful.”

“I concur,” Amy said as she looked up from her book. Monica did the same and clapped rapidly. 

“Just missing one thing,” Nicole said. 

“Oh God, what?” Iris said, panic pressing her eyes wide. 

Nicole unhooked the golden cross necklace she wore and put it around her sister’s neck. “Perfect.”

“Perfect?”

“Absolutely perfect. Go look in the mirror.”

Iris did, and Nicole held up three fingers. Then two. Then one. 

“EEEEEE!” Iris squealed. 

Nicole gestured to the bathroom in a ‘what did I tell ya’ style motion. Amy and Monica both gave the thumbs up. 

That was when both Nicole and Amy’s phones went off at the same time. Debbi had texted their group chat- she and Heather were chasing a dragon that was closing in on the convention center where Cass, Matt, and Mark all were. 

“Blue Blazes,” Nicole muttered. 

“What’s going on?” Iris said, concern sitting heavily on her face as she stepped out of the bathroom. 

“We, uh, have to take care of something,” Amy said. 

“Superhero stuff?!” Monica said, sitting up rapidly. 

“Superhero stuff,” Amy nodded. 

The stars that were nigh-perpetually in Monica’s eyes lit up ever-brighter. “Can I come?”

“No,” Nicole and Iris said simultaneously. 

Then Iris said, “Do you need me to come too?”

“No,” Nicole shook her head. 

“Why not?” Iris asked. And Amy asked too. 

“Because you haven’t even done a full transformation yet,” Nicole said. 

“Neither had you during your first week on the job,” Amy pointed out. 

“That’s different- this involves dragons!” Nicole said. 

“Dragons?” Iris said, panic dragging her lips down into a fearful frown. 

“Dragons!” Monica said excitedly. 

“Monica, it’s dangerous, and last I checked, you don’t have powers,” Nicole said. 

“Golly Gee, Nicole, that’s not fair-”

“Monica, you already almost died once this week,” Iris pointed out. “But I might be able to help- don’t I have an obligation then? Great power and great responsibility and the whole bit?”

“Iris,” Nicole said, putting her hands on her sister’s shoulder. “I get where you’re coming from, but this isn’t your fight. You need time to train, to prepare mentally and physically. You said yourself that you hesitated last time- if you hesitate when fighting one of these things, you’ll die, plain and simple. You can stay here and keep Monica safe, we’ll go to the convention center and get everyone out-”

“Wait, it’s going to the convention center? Where Mark is?” Iris said, voice low and hollow. 

“... Yes,” Nicole said, unable to make herself lie. 

“Then I’m going with you.”

“You can’t even fly yet- how are ya gonna fight a dragon?” Nicole asked.

“I won’t- I’ll just focus on getting everyone out,” Iris said. 

“No, it’s too dangerous.”

Iris’ hands glowed white with Holy Light, and she slammed one into the wall next to her. 

Nicole’s eyes bulged with shock. She didn’t look behind her to see Amy or Monica’s reactions, but she could take a guess as to what they might look like. 

“I’m going with you,” Iris said firmly and evenly. 

Monica scampered over and grabbed Iris by the arm. “I’m going too! I can help with evacuation.”

Nicole exhaled loudly. She turned around and looked at Amy, who mouthed, ‘your call.’

She sighed once again, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and her index finger. “Okay. You’ll ride with us, but no combat. Only helping with evacuation. And if I tell you to retreat, you retreat, got it?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” they both said. 

Nicole wasn’t sure whether to smile or cringe- they’d both occasionally belted out a ‘yes, sir’ for her growing up, and she’d never decided on how to feel about it. At least they were gendering her correctly. 

“Alright,” Nicole said, the light of her transformation shining over her. “Let’s do this.”

***

Cass lost. Again. A-fucking-gain. Oh my fucking GOD how is this possible! She thought as she stared at the screen in front of her. 

Gabriel, to his credit, at least wasn’t gloating. Well, audibly at least. The smug look on his face was hard to misread. He stood up, grabbed his backpack off the ground next to him, and said, “Alright, well, good game. Had a lot of fun, but I must get going now.”

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Cass bellowed, hopping to her feet. 

“Cass, weren’t we supposed to go on a date tonight?” Matt monotoned. 

“I- that, uh… Right, yes,” Cass said, the air rushing out of her like a popped balloon. Crap, she’d been acting like a complete loony toon in front of Matt literally all afternoon- he must hate her now! “Let’s- let’s get out of here, go do something back at my dorm, okay?”

“Gracias,” Matt said.  

“Seriously, thank you for indulging me,” Gabriel said, extending a hand to Cass. 

She shook it. His grip was uncomfortably strong. Matt managed not to wince at the handshake he received, but Cass could see it bubbling under the surface of his expression. 

“So, you guys know any cheap places to stay in this town?” Gabriel said. “I kinda just got here and don’t really know anybody in this city.”

“I know a bunch of places you can squat where the cops won’t give a shit,” Matt said. “But in this weather you’ll probably freeze to death, so maybe not?”

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. “You’re funny! What was your name again?”

“Matt Callahan.”

“... Wait, seriously. Matt Calahan- that’s your name?” Gabriel said, squinting and furrowing his brow. 

“Yeah, don’t wear it out.”

“I mostly just call him ‘Pendejo,’” Cass giggled, giving Matt’s hand a squeeze. Seriously, she needed to make this up to him or he’d never wanna talk to her again. 

“Are you Mike’s little brother?” Gabriel asked. 

Cass’ jaw dropped, and so did Matt’s. He blinked at a million miles per hour while Cass’ eyebrows shot up and she waited for him to respond. “Y-you know my brother?”

“Know him? He’s my ex!” Gabriel said. 

“Holy shit,” Matt said. “You- do you know where he is? I haven’t seen him in five years!”

“Well I haven’t seen him in two years, so on that one you’re out of luck.”

“Oh,” Matt said, shoulders slumped in dejection. “Well, fair enough. Where did you see him last-”

That was when the fire alarm began blaring from, a shrill shriek that stung the ears and flashed with harsh light. 

“... Que?” Cass said, looking around her. 

Behind her, a tugging sensation appeared on her sleeve. She looked behind her and found Monica and Iris were there, alongside Mark. “Time for work,” Iris said. 

Cass and Matt both nodded, and Cass turned to say something to Gabriel, only to find he was already gone. Cass spun in confusion, before shaking her head. “You three get everyone out of here as quickly as possible. Let the professionals handle the rest.”

Cass and Matt rushed out the front, where they found a black dragon barrelling towards the convention center. They both transformed as the beast closed in on them, while their friends flew behind the dragon trying to close the gap.

Cass planted her feet, breathed in and out, and raised her hands, readying a massive blast of telekinesis as Nicole pooled together a sphere of Healing Light to supercharge her… 

Only for a burst of air to rush past Cass, along with a golden streak of light, culminating in the dragon taking a glowing sword to the face. 

The beast hit the ground and skidded to a halt, while the golden blur holding the sword stood atop the dragon’s maw with both hands gripped on the pommel. He was resplendent in golden chainmail armor, and his sword was a saber double the length of a fencing foil. 

He ripped the blade out of the dragon’s skull as Nicole and the others landed and stood in front of the strange scene. Cass looked at her, and she looked back. Behind them, Iris, Monica, and Mark hurried out the back exit. 

The golden knight un-transformed, only to reveal none other than Gabriel Guttierez. 

“Hi!” he said. “Nice to meet you. I’m new in town and I was hoping for a team-up. Think you fine folks can show me the local superhero scene?”