201 Insert Name Here

201 Insert Name Here

Mom loved her new cape name, Nostrum. Amy thought it was fitting. Vicky thought they would both look great wearing a mix of her costume and mine, which was why I was unceremoniously shoved aside and forgotten as the three of them started arguing about the best colors, looks, and style of their new costumes.

I had a hard time not laughing at the mix of Amy's grumpy personality, Vicky's bubbly one, and my mom's practical and teasing one. They were somehow playing off of each other perfectly, as if they had been the best of friends for years, even though they had met my mother only a couple of days ago.

It was a little concerning that mom was dealing with dad's death by fully embracing her cape identity, then I remembered Sarah Pelham rationalizing that her cape life was her actual life and having a separate civilian identity wasn't worth the effort or headaches. It was her coping mechanism for dealing with how she became a cape, and that was exactly what my mother was doing.

My cell phone rang and I picked it up to see it was the woman I was just thinking about. I answered and she said she was coming over to visit to discus things, and I agreed. Since she could fly fairly fast, I walked over to the door and waited. A brief check netted me opening the door for her and I waited until the right time and opened the door just as she landed.

“Lady Photon.” I greeted her and stepped back. “Please, come in.”

“Atlas.” Sarah said and entered, hesitated for a second, and stepped close and hugged me. “I'm sorry to hear about what happened with your father.”

I let the door shut by itself and hugged her back. “Thank you.”

Sarah let me go and stepped back to look up at my face. “I've been there, you know. When we dropped the masks and became New Wave...”

“Hush.” I said and she closed her mouth. I stepped close this time and hugged her. “You don't need to remind yourself that we've both suffered from our choices, Sarah. I already like you and share your ideals, so I don't need any more convincing to accept you completely.”

Sarah shivered for a moment, then she put her arms around me again and hugged me. “Thank you, Greg.”

We stood there and held each other for several moments.

“If only you weren't married...” I said and trailed off.

Sarah huffed and let me go. “You just had to ruin it.” She said and smiled, showing me that she knew I had said it on purpose.

I smiled back and motioned towards the kitchen. “Just follow the sound of bickering and you'll find the others.”

“Oh? Who's here and what are they talking about?” Sarah asked and started walking.

“Amy and Vicky are with my mom.” I said and she nodded. “I registered my cape name last night with the PRT and made it official. I also registered my mother's.”

Sarah gasped and ran into the kitchen. I hadn't expected that reaction and quickly followed her and saw her hugging my mother and telling her how sorry she was for not being there for her. It took both Amy and Vicky several minutes to calm Sarah down and to tell her that they had been there for my mother.

That led into a discussion about what powers mom had and then Sarah was deep in the discussion about costumes and I was ignored again. I shook my head at that and prepared some drinks and snacks, thanks to my endless water container and bag of endless chips and package of endless cookies. They had been among the best purchases I had ever made and I used them all the time.

We moved from the kitchen into the living room and everyone relaxed as they enjoyed the different drinks and snacks, especially my mom and Amy. They kept giving me odd looks, as if I was holding out on them, and I kept pretending I had no clue what they were giving me looks for. They were just normal snacks and not special at all. No, sir.

Once the decisions about my mom's and Amy's new costumes were finalized, Sarah told us about the patrol schedule and how I would be flying patrols with Vicky, at her vehement insistence, because she was tired of flying them all alone while Crystal was at college. I wasn't allowed to refuse, either.

“You'll be transferring into Arcadia High tomorrow as well.” Sarah said, as if it was no big deal.

“How did you pull that off?” I asked before my mother could. “It has a two year waiting list and my grades are average at best.”

“That's only because you never applied yourself, sweetie.” My mother said and patted my hand. She looked at Sarah with concern in her voice. “The fees are going to be difficult to...”

“You don't have to worry about that. The PRT are settling out of court.” Sarah said with a satisfied look on her face. “New Wave is not rich by any means, even with our licensing deals; but, we have enough to cover both the legal costs and the fees for Arcadia until the settlement is approved in a few weeks. You can pay us back then.” She said and looked at a sad Vicky. “Things might be a little tight for a while...”

That reminded me of something important. “Ah, about that.” I said and took out my cell phone. I brought up my account information and showed it to her.

“You're rich!” All four of them gasped.

“Only because Dragon is a kind and generous friend to have.” I said, because I was pretty sure she was listening in. My powered up phone was awesome. “I helped her recover some of her stolen tech last night and she made a donation to the 'make Greg not worry about money' fund.”

“Surprisingly well.” Miss Militia. “She absolutely hates the new cape Atlas, though.”

Emily raised her eyebrows at that. “Did she mention why?”

“It has to do with his triggering in that toxic waste filled locker, because she was supposed to be the victim.” Miss Militia informed her.

Emily's raised eyebrows dropped down into a frown. “Don't tell me she blames him for taking her chance at getting powers.”

Miss Militia didn't say anything and just touched the tip of her nose.

“Stupid teenagers.” Emily said with a sigh. “Did she happen to also mention how she gained her powers?”

“Not to me directly.” Miss Militia said and Emily nodded at the qualifier. “She was talking to Vista about it over breakfast and said she read on PHO about Atlas being shot at and having an Asian woman arrested for attempted murder, whom turned out to be a serial killer going after Empire members.”

“Of course she saw a tall blonde cape and assumed he was Empire.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “Is the file attached?”

“Under 2B.” Miss Militia said and Emily checked it and read it.

“This kid just can't catch a break.” Emily commented. “His father murdered by Lung, he gets revenge...”

Miss Militia coughed and shook her head.

“...retribution, then.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “Then he comes in to register with you and gets shot when buying a map to help him with street names.”

“His mother triggered as well.” Miss Militia. “It's under 3A.”

Emily read it and let out a silent curse. “Another healing cape?”

“He thinks she's going to be a mix of Panacea and Glory Girl.” Miss Militia told her.

“Wonderful.” Emily said with a flat tone. “As if one of them wasn't enough.”

Miss Militia barely held back a smile as her prediction of Emily's reaction came true. “I suspect she's going to join New Wave as well.”

“Of course she is.” Emily said and closed the file. “Carol Dallon is never going to stop crowing about having two capes that can heal.”

Miss Militia nodded, because she knew her boss would be doing the same thing if she had landed a healing cape. Emily would never accept their services, though. Despite Panacea's claim to not do brains, her boss still thought she would be influenced by her if she accepted her healing. Personally, Miss Militia thought her boss just didn't want to owe a cape anything.

“We should offer Nostrum the same emergency healing contract that Panacea has.” Miss Militia said and Emily gave her a single raised eyebrow. “I've already told Atlas to bring her in for testing and certification for volunteer work.”

Emily smiled at the sneaky offer to get an accurate threat assessment done on the new capes. “Well done. They're going to announce Atlas joining soon, because they would be idiots if they didn't capitalize on his win against Lung, so they'll have to come here before that.”

Miss Militia's cell phone rang and she took it out. “I only gave this number to three people.”

Emily nodded and stayed quiet.

“Hello, Atlas.” Miss Militia said and Emily smiled. “No, I'm not busy.” “I see.” “That's fine. I'll call the boys at the Rig and I'll meet you on the helipad in half an hour.” “It's no trouble at all, Atlas. I'm happy to help.” “All right, see you then.”

“Take the SUV he repaired, too. Let him see we trust his work.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “You can also unofficially tell him the PRT settled his suit and it's going through in a couple of weeks.”

Miss Militia stood up. “Won't he already know that if his lawyer does?”

“Yes, but he'll know that you know about it and you're trusting him with that information.” Emily responded. “Keep rebuilding that shattered bridge, Miss Washington.”

Miss Militia smiled with a nod and left the office.