1.17 Homecoming Part 5

“Damn you!” yells Derrick.

“I really don’t care anymore,” replies Allison, not even bothering to spare her brother a glance.

I am well and truly fed up of that brat. Why on Earth should I give a damn about him when I find battle harden supervillains on a regular basis?

Allison hears footsteps on the stairs and her mother yelling as their parents come to tell her off for “bullying” her younger stepbrother again.

No, not my mother and our parents, his mother and his parents. My dad is dead and I haven’t had my mum for a long time. For far too long.

With a weary sigh, Allison spins her chair around to face the doorway of her bedroom, where Derrick is standing by it.

Despite being in a three bedroom house, her parents share one of the two largest rooms, Derrick gets the other large room while Nathan gets the smaller bedroom. Allison on the other hand, has to put up with a small office on the top floor that has seen been converted into a bedroom.

Allison restrains herself from growling as she spots the balding black hair of her stepfather coming up the stairs.

Simon Davis. That snivelling moron who always caters to his spoiled brat of a son.

“Allison,” says Simon sharply in an angry voice, “What have you done this time?”

“Nothing,” replies Allison in a dry drawl as she knows her words won’t be believed as they always aren’t, “Derrick is just being a brat as usual, but as usual, you won’t believe me and punish me anyway.”

“Allison Ryder!” shouts Simon, “Don’t you dare take that tone-”

“Why not?” demands Allison, “All you ever do is treat me like dirt.”

“Young lady, if you’re going to live under my roof, you will have to abide by my rules and you will respect me as your father-” Simon starts to lecture only to falter as Allison begins to laugh.

Respect him? Hell no. As for abiding by his rules? Why? I’m a freaking superhero and a member of the Guardsmen, the world’s most famous team of vigilantes. I publically flout the law so why should I have to follow his dumb rules? I don’t have to a thing that this piece of scum tells me to and he is physically incapable of making me do so.

“I am so not respecting you,” says Allison through her laughter, “And if I have to follow your stupid rules to live under your roof, then I am not going to live under your roof.”

“How dare you!” yells Simon, “And where exactly will you go?”

My quarters in our base. Legacy and Scott won’t mind the company.

“I’ll manage,” replies Allison with a shrug as she begins pack a bag, “I have friends who are willing to support me.”

Ain’t that the truth.

“I’ll report you to the police as a runaway,” threatens Simon as Allison packs her most sentimental items into her bag.

Anything else other than the emotionally valuable stuff is replaceable.

“And I’ll tell them why I left,” counters Allison, “And then you’ll have to explain how you been treating me.”

As Allison finishes packing the most important things into her bag, she turns her wheelchair around once again. Not to her surprise, she sees Simon blocking the doorway with the rest of her ‘family’ in the hallway.

Is he seriously going to try and stop me? Me, the...oh right, I’m just a crippled helpless girl in a wheelchair to him. Idiot has no idea about what he’s got coming.

“Out of the way,” says Allison casually as she wheels herself towards the door.

“No,” replies Simon bluntly as he crosses his arms.

After deciding the pros and cons of arguing with him versus forcing her way out, Allison decides to simply go with the latter.

Speeding her wheelchair forward, Allison swings a gentle punch into Simon’s gut. Unfortunately for the grown man, Allison has B Class super strength and a gentle punch from her drops him to his knees.

Lightly grasping Simon’s shoulder, Allison casually shoves her stepfather to one side into the wall.

“Get out of my way,” Allison tells the rest of her family as a dazed Simon slumps and she continues to wheel forward.

After seeing what happened to Simon, her former mother and two stepbrothers all get out of her way and Allison is uncontested as she leaves the house.

As she wheels herself out of the front garden, Allison lets out a bark of laughter.

I am finally free! Man, this feels good. How could I have left it for so long? No longer having to put up with the abuse and having to pretend that those worthless excuses for human beings are my family.

But now what? Where do I go? Do I just discard my secret identity or do I cling onto what remains of my old life?

The former is seems interesting, just fully devoting myself to being Defender. I could even help others in my situation using my fame as a respected superhero. I mean, Legacy, Scott and Jaylyn are all fine without having secret identities to live and maintain.

That said, I do like my life. I enjoy school, get good grades and have friends. Do I just give all of that up so easily? I mean, the only parts of my life that I hate is my ‘family’ and my wheelchair. The wheelchair is just there as a cover now and I don’t have to live with those horrible pieces of scum anyone.

Oh, what to decide? Become Defender full time or keep on living my old life without my family?

As she goes down the street, Allison makes her decision and pulls out her phone.