Once Bianca was safely at her daycare, it was time for Cass, Asher, Amelia, and myself to reconvene and go over what happened.

  Travis hadn’t wanted to attend because he wasn’t going to join the team supposedly while also saying if we needed any help, just ring him up and he would be there so I don’t know which side of that story I’m supposed to believe.

  As for the suit? Yeah, none of us felt comfortable having that guy attend our meeting, so it was just the four of us sitting in the war room of our clock tower.

  “For our first order of business.” Amelia says, tapping the table dramatically. “I brought doughnuts for everyone.”

  Once pastries were passed around, the serious conversation could actually begin, though I do think having something to eat helped me focus.

  Amelia and Asher look at me expectantly, and I regret every decision that led to these two looking to me as if I were the leader.

  Sure, I founded the team, picked the base and all sorts of other things, but that doesn't mean I want to be the leader.

  “Thank you for all the help you've given us Cass, and I wanted to know if you would want to join us permanently? Be that hero, support or whatever I'm doing?” I ask pointedly, not looking her in the eye.

  Cass coughs awkwardly. “I want to say yes, but I don't know if I should. Most of the time you're going to have a teammate working with only some of her power.”

  Amelia stands up to run around the table, hugging the other woman. “Hell yeah, baby, we can make all the jokes because we are fire and ice. You have no idea how much I wanted you to join.” Amelia blathers, clinging to Cass.

  Cass gives a strangled yelp, looking between me and Asher for aid, but Asher doesn't seem willing to draw Amelia's attention, and I'm too busy laughing.

  Once the pleading has passed the threshold where I no longer find it funny and instead just feel bad, I try to conceive of a way to rescue my new teammate.

  “Amelia?”

  “Yes, Jason?” She asks, head perched on top of Cass's head.

  “Would you like my other doughnut?” I ask, holding the pastry in question.

  “This smells like bribery.” She accuses.

  “That's because it is?”

  “Fair point, fair point.”

  After a bit more negotiating, Amelia has returned to her seat, happily eating my pastry.

  “Cass.” I say, bringing attention back to the point. “I trust you. My family trusts you. And I would happily work with you anytime, so if you want to try out this whole hero gig even if just for a little bit longer, please join.”

  Cass nods, getting a round of whoops and cheers from the team as our little superhero family grows.

  “I really need to get my hands on some super powers.” Asher grumbles to himself.

  Myself and the other two with actual super powers look over at him.

  Cass pushes her hands out as if passing the buck to me and Amelia. “I was born with my powers, so you two can figure out what you want to say as those who went from normal to super.”

  Amelia and I exchange a glance.

  “I’m not going to go through what those two did. You’re telling me back when you were normal you wouldn’t have taken super powers in a bottle if they had been offered to you?” Asher asked, looking minorly irritated.

  Which is fair. If all it took was just a shot, I probably would have also just gone with it and got super powers.

  “I like having super powers. Don’t like being constantly cold. But if you’re going to get ethically sourced super body parts to stitch yourself together with, I don’t have much room to comment.” Amelia says finally, her hand snaking over to grab mine underneath the table.

  “If you can figure it out, I’m fully supportive, but if you want to use the method that gave me powers, I will not help you not until we know what are the consequences of it.” I say with a shrug. “I’m making the best I can out of it, but we don’t know what exactly is running around inside me.”

  Asher tilted his head to the side, considering the statement. “And if I learn from their research to make my own method?”

  “As long as you’re sure it’s safe.” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose with my unoccupied hand.

  “Eighty percent?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Sure.” Amelia shrugs. “But make sure you’re compatible with the super goop first instead of just injecting it in randomly.”

  “What part of me seemed like the type to inject it into my body randomly!” Asher denied.

  “The dumb college student part.”

  “Can we just move on?”

  “Overall, our job was successful. We managed to get the lab captured by the authorities, and most people were captured, though how many will stay is difficult.” I explain, trying to keep us on course.

  “The main problem is Andromeda. Not only is she smart, she’s crazy and obsessed; she’s going to come after,” Amelia complains, leaning in her chair, using me as an anchor to stop her from falling back too far.

  “Can she beat us?” Cass asks, sounding scared.

  “Maybe.” Asher shrugs. “You can always escape. We think Amelia can blast enough ice to win, and Jason’s like a cockroach, unbeatable even if he can’t win.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s not still incredibly dangerous.” I point out, tapping the table. “If we saw the limit of her power in the plant, that’s bad enough, but if she still has power in reserve, it’s a problem.”

  “Let’s just hope that she won’t come for our homes since there’s little we can do about that.” Amelia sighs. “Apartments aren’t usually the type to smile upon installing anti crazy people turrets. Is the clock tower safe?”

  “Somewhat? I keep pausing my renovations due to lack of funds or repairing the armor, though the funds won’t be a problem anymore.” Asher says, his voice getting quiet at that last part.

  “So when you say funds aren’t a problem, what do you mean?” I ask carefully. I know there’s some way heroes get paid; otherwise, most of them would have day jobs, but I haven’t done anything to get that.

  “For the capture of so many criminals along with the lab, I got a pretty tidy sum.” Asher smirks, shooting finger guns at Amelia tauntingly.

  “But you didn’t even do anything. What do you mean you got paid for it?” Amelia sputters, the chair slamming down onto the ground.

  “It isn’t all for me, but I thought you all would like upgrades to the suits and making the tower safer?” Asher says backpedaling fast.

  “Mhmm, I definitely believe you,” Amelia says.

  “Can you even upgrade my clothes?” Cass inquires.

  “I think I can, but I was mostly focused on fixing up the tower first, though at least some of our defenses are more meant to be ways to augment Amelia than defend the place autonomously.”

  “Why augment me aren’t I already sort of the best in that situation anyway? Wouldn’t helping the other two make more sense?”

  “I don’t know how to augment Jason until he doesn’t suck nearly as much. And Cass’s powers are really self-contained. You, on the other hand, I can just have easy access to water around the whole complex, which is already there, and you have a little extra oomph without me having to try at all.”

  I take offense at the fact that I suck, but he’s not wrong, and more than that, I don’t know how you would augment my powers at all, even if I mastered them all.

  “Oh yeah, Cass, I wanted to ask,” Amelia says, changing the subject. “When you’re just off being a normal girl, is all the ash you have somewhere else or is it packed like really tightly and you’re actually mostly floating off the floor so you don’t break everything as you walk on stuff?”

  “I uh um.”

  “How is me giving you extra water related to asking Cass how her powers work?” Asher asks, slapping a hand against the table.

  “Your desire to get me soaked at home is appreciated, but really, Asher, I can get wet on my own.” Amelia retorts with a wave. “If you want to make me extra badass, go for it. I’ve moved on.”

  With Cass still seeming uncomfortable discussing how her power works, I use the hand holding hers to squeeze gently, causing her to look at me questioningly.

  “Asher, how about we use some of these funds to go out for dinner tonight? All of us. Or maybe ?lunch would be better. I’m sure everyone’s feeling annoyed about how it all went down. But it was a success, and we should celebrate that.”

  Asher blinks stupidly before nodding. “Yeah, we can do that anywhere you all would want to go?”

  The conversation turned toward celebration. I let myself sag in relief. I know there’s a lot that still needs to be talked about with all of this, but I don’t have the power to deal with it right now.

  It doesn’t escape my attention that Amelia bulldozes her way into picking one of my favorite restaurants, but I let it slide. She’s doing it for me.

  “Do we want to discuss anything else here or just head out to eat?” I ask once the decision of what restaurant the team wants to go to is fully selected.

  “I wanted to say that I’m sorry, guys.” Asher said, his hands clenched at his side. “You all trusted me to do research, and the entire time we were working on the back foot, and I was cut off. I just.”

  Amelia snaps her fingers, dumping snow on top of all of us. “If I had flash frozen the entire complex, we could have stopped them before they left. I bet Andromeda’s prime person was at the lab when we entered. Cass could have flash-fried the entire room except for us during the raid to the water plant and made it so we didn’t have such a close call. Jason could ?not have gotten kidnapped and distracted multiple times.”

  If Amelia was doing her best to make Cass feel distraught about her own actions, it looked like she was doing a lovely job.

  Catching Cass’s job, I gave her a smile and gestured to Asher’s distraught expression slowly calming down.

  Cass’s eyes lit up with understanding as she nodded.

  “Our fearless leader still doesn’t have a superhero name. I mean, really, this operation is so scuffed we can’t read the paper.” Amelia continues laughing. “You tried your best, and so did the rest of us. None of us are satisfied, right?”

  Everyone gives a nod in agreement. I know I’m certainly not satisfied. I need to be able to do so much more.

  “Okay, enough of this business talk now; it’s time to talk about important stuff.” Amelia says, forcing me to stand up. “Are we all carpooling together or are we splitting up and meeting back at the restaurant?”

  “We can carpool?” Asher offers.

  “Hmmm okay I will judge you fiercely by your van,” Amelia declares.

  “Why am I driving?”

  “Jason has a small car. I came with Jason. And you have a minivan. I imagine it has the most legroom.”

  “Don’t listen to her; we can take my car if none of you are comfortable having people drive around with you.” I say much, to Amelia’s chagrin.

  “I didn’t think you would have a smaller car.” Cass says thoughtfully as she looks at me. “You seem too helpful to have an inconvenient car?”

  “That’s exactly why I have it.” I explain as we get into the elevator. “People will always ask for help, but as long as I don’t have a van or a truck, I’m free from the worst of it.”

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