1.18 Family Part 7

“You know more than one AI?” Bree asks Joan and Joan sighs in annoyance.

Gonna have to tell Bree about Jaylyn now. Just great Mum, just great. I wonder how Bree will react to finding out that she is an aunt now.

“Well,” says Joan slowly, drawing out the word in her reluctance, “When Leo first got his powers, they were overcharged. Because of that, he sort of built an AI. She is basically a little girl and her name is Jaylyn Geary because she considers Leo to be her father because he is her creator.”

“Wow,” says Bree blankly, once again catch off-guard by a revelation, “Just wow.”

“Why don’t you tell your sister about Jaylyn’s mother Joan,” says Mum with an innocent face as Joan glares at her.

“Wait, this AI has a mum?” asks Bree, “I thought it was built by Leo.”

At Bree calling her daughter an it, Jaylyn stiffens in annoyance at the insult to Jaylyn’s humanity, frowning at her sister silently.

“Well Breanne,” says their mother as she continues to keep a straight face about the whole affair, “Let’s just say that my expectations about you being the one to make me a grandparent were wrong.”

“What the £$%@!” exclaims Bree as she snaps around to face Joan superhumanly fast and grabs her sister using inhumanly quick reflexes, “You’re the mother of an AI?”

“Hey!” protests Joan in response to the violent motion that Bree grabbing her put her through.

“Sorry,” apologises Bree in a quieter voice before raising it again, “But that thing thinks you’re its mother?”

Joan slaps Bree.

“Don’t call her an it,” says Joan in a quiet, but angry voice as Bree stumbles backwards, clutching her face more out of shock rather than any actual pain, “Jaylyn might be an AI, but she is also my daughter and I will treat her as such. And I shall expect the same of you Bree.”

“Umm, sorry?” replies Bree as she takes another step away from Joan before turning and leaving the room.

Still furious with her older sister, Joan looks away from Bree as she leaves the room before stamping angrily as she lets out a wordless noise of rage.

Mum just sighs as she gets out of her seat.

“Hold this dear,” says Mum as she hands her empty cup of tea to Joan as she walks past her, “I’ll speak to Bree. I’ll explain the situation to her so she’ll understand it better.”

“Okay,” mutters Joan quietly as her mother walks out of the way using the same exit as Bree.

With a weary and angry sigh, Joan decides to head to kitchen to wash up the teacup in her hand.

It isn’t like I have anything better to do.

***

“Bye!” says Joan before logging out of Eldrim Online.

With a sigh, she removes the virtual reality helmet from her head and places down beside her. Joan sits upright from where she is lying on her bed and glances at the time.

Leo and his family should be getting here anytime now.

“Hey Joan,” says Bree and Joan looks up to see her older sister in the doorway to her room, leaning against the frame, “Can we talk?”

Joan hesitates. She really doesn’t want to talk with Bree after their incident earlier in the day, but at the same time, she also wishes to resolve things with her sister.

“Sure,” replies Joan after a moment and Bree swiftly strides into the room and sits down on the bed next to Joan, moving so fast that Joan can barely see her even with her own inhumanly good senses.

“So, Joan, I’m-I’ve spoken to Mum about Jaylyn after our falling out,” says Bree as she fidgets, not looking at Joan, “I’ve also spoken with Jaylyn herself. Plus I had a chat with Alison and Abby. Dad as well and well, I sorted of realised that I was wrong. You know, about calling Jaylyn an it and not treating as a real person. Something I particularly realised after actually speaking with her. In her case at least, Jaylyn is actually a person. Which makes senses when you remember that she was built due to Gadgeteer powers. So, you know, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry sis,” says Joan as she wraps her arms around Bree, relieved to have the situation sorted out so quickly and easily, “I forgive you! Will you forgive me for slapping you?”

“Of course Joan,” replies Bree as she hugs Joan back, “You didn’t really hurt me anyway. I was more stunned by what you did more than anything else.”

“I know,” mutters Joan under her breath, “You have no idea how annoying it is. I know I shouldn’t complain given my state a few months ago, especially since I now outmatch any normal person. But it is still super frustrating that while I am superior to any normal person, I am still helpless when compared against my family. I am even the only one without a famous and successful career in addition to not having any superpowers! Heh.”

“Yeah, I can see how that is frustrating,” says Bree soothingly as she gives Joan a friendly squeeze, “On the bright side, you are probably better set up for a happy and successful life than any of us were at your age.”

“True,” whispers Joan in agreement, “I do have Leo and Jaylyn.”

“That’s the spirit!” says Bree encouragingly as she gets up, hauling Joan to her feet, “Now let’s go and get ready for the Gearys. They’ll be arriving anytime now.”

1.18 Family Part 6

“You can change her back right?” inquires their mother.

“Yes,” replies Bree as she checks her body, Joan’s body, whosever body, out, “I’ll do that in just a moment. I’ll give Joan a chance to try out my body.”

“Mhmm,” mutters their mother silently as she puts her cup of tea down before speaking up, “I was speaking to Danica earlier about her manifestation.”

“Leo’s mum?” says Joan with Bree’s voice and body, “Wow, that felt weird.”

“Anyway,” says their mother, “It ended up with me inviting Danica and her family over. I felt it would be a good opportunity for our families to get to know each other. Especially they have just added Belinda to their ranks and both Breanne and Danica have manifested.”

“When are they coming?” demands Joan as she darts over to their mum and sticks her face in her mum’s, catching her mother completely off-guard.

“Settle down dear,” says Mum as she recomposes herself, “The Gearys will be coming for dinner so they’ll spend the evening here.”

“Don’t worry Joan,” says Bree, using Joan’s body again, “You’ll have plenty of time to spend with your boyfriend.”

“I want to spend time with-oh that is just weird,” starts Joan before being creeped out by hearing her words said with her sister’s voice, “Hey Bree, turn me back now please.”

“As you wish,” says Bree and Joan feels her body tingle as it returns to its normal self.

Wait a moment...Bree left my breast another cup bigger. I know because I’ve been keeping track of their size since Bree improved them yesterday.

“Hey Bree...” says Joan, her voice trailing off as she isn’t sure how to phrase her question.

“If you’re wondering why you are a C cup rather than a B, it is because I know about your perverted thoughts from overhearing you checking yourself out last night,” explains Bree.

“It-it isn’t my fault,” protests Joan as she blushes at being called a pervert, “I have a naturally high libido and you only increased it when you improved my body last night.”

“So you’re not even denying it,” muses Bree with amusement in her voice, “Just justifying it. Don’t sis, I won’t judge you.”

“Can we stop this now?” groans Joan.

“Sure,” replies Bree, not using Joan’s mouth, but her own as the green dress morphs back into Breanne Fowler.

Joan goes red as her sister appears in front of her as Bree has left her only in her underwear.

“Bree!” exclaims Joan as she attempts to cover herself, “Don’t just leave me in my undies!”

“Sorry Joan,” replies Bree as she attempts to smother a laugh, “I didn’t-it didn’t occur to me that turning back would leave you with nothing on. Besides, wouldn’t a pervert like you not mind being in their underwear?”

“Stop calling me a pervert!” yells Joan as she grabs a hold of Bree.

As she catches her big sister off guard, Joan uses her skills, knowledge and what is now an inhumanly good body to toss Bree over her shoulder and into the floor behind her before pinning the stunned Bree to the ground.

“Holy %$£@!” exclaims Bree as Joan grins smugly as she gazes down at her big sister, “How the hell did you learn to do something like that?”

“My best friend is Guardian,” explains Joan dryly with her smugness clear for all to see as Bree uses her superpowers to break free of Joan, “Fighting and technology are her two main things. You can’t hang out with her for a long period of time without picking up a thing or two. Besides, I got her to give me some training so I am capable of defending myself.”

“You’re best friends with Guardian?” asks Bree blankly, “How on Earth did that happen?”

“Don’t change the subject,” retorts Joan as she and Bree both get up, “I’m still in my underwear.”

“Oh yeah,” says Bree, sounding confused as she reaches out to Joan and touches her.

A pink t-shirt and brown trousers grow out of Joan’s bra and pants respectively before splitting off so that Joan has both proper clothing in addition to her underwear.

“To answer your question, Guardian and I have been friends ever since she saved me from Darkness,” says Joan as she answers Bree’s original question, “It turns out that Guardian considers saving someone’s life good grounds to start a friendship. Of course it helps that she was Gears’ partner and my boyfriend was secretly Gears. And since I didn’t have any friends outside of Leo at the time, I wasn’t in a position to be picky about who I was friends with. Anyway, I’m glad that Guardian and I are friends. She has been nothing, but kind, caring and helpful to me. You know Eldrim?”

“Yeah,” replies Bree with a nod.

“Well, Guardian make that virtual game solely because I asked her to,” continues Joan with a giggle, “She even let me pick the genre and type of the game.”

“Guardian sounds like one good friend,” says Bree.

“Oh she is,” agrees Joan with a happy smile.

“So sis,” says Bree as she changes the subject, “How come you were able to throw me like that? I know you have skills and training by Guardian, but I could tell you were stronger and faster than a normal person during that throw.”

“Oh yeah,” replies Joan with a dismissive wave of her hand, “That is easy to explain. First of all, when I got properly healed, Ceta also increased me physically. Sort of like supersoldier boosts in a manner of speaking. Weak, low level ones. Combined that with Abby’s boosts and I was at lower higher Bellator levels. Even though I was and still am just a normal person. So when you used your powers to improve me last night, it boosted me even further. So now I am basically an A Class Bellator according to Ceta.”

“Who is Ceta?” inquires Bree.

“An alien AI,” explains Joan, “Basically Guardian’s equivalent to a parahuman’s Companion.”

“Oh,” mutters Bree, now sounding worried, “But isn’t an AI on the loose a little dangerous? Hasn’t Guardian watched any movies?”

“Actually she hadn’t watched any before I introduced her to them,” admits Joan thoughtfully, “Anyway, Ceta is an alien AI. You can’t define her the same you would a human or a human created machine.”

“Besides, Ceta isn’t the only AI that Joan is close to,” says their mother with a sly grin as Joan flushes red, “Or even the closest one for that matter.”

1.18 Family Part 5

“That is your response?” inquires Ceta, the AI appearing to be surprised and Legacy takes some pleasure at the fact she caught Ceta off guard.

“Yes,” answers Legacy smugly.

“I just revealed why you shouldn’t focus on what could be considered your past life,” says Ceta as she stops pacing and looks Legacy in the eye, “And your reaction to decided that you want to learn how to dance?”

“As you said, it is pointless to focus on the person I used to be when nothing of that person remains within me,” replies Legacy, deciding to explain her response to what Ceta told her, “If anything, my only attachment is my enjoyment of dancing. As of such, I should avoid dwelling on what I used to be and instead focus on the one thing I have retained from that life.”

“That is a good approach,” agrees Ceta, “And while I won’t tell you about Charity Hector all at once, it will tell you about her over time. David too. You will enjoy learning about him and I wish you could have met David. Hmm, I suppose you could consider David to be your father Legacy. David Stark, father of Legacy of Guardian and Legacy of Guardian, daughter of David Stark. Yes, that sounds right.”

“That does have a nice ring to it,” agrees Legacy, smiling to herself, “David is my father, Scott is my uncle, Leo is my brother and Jaylyn in my niece. Allison can be my sister if she wants. But where does that leave you?”

“You’re wondering what our relationship is?” inquires Ceta and Legacy nods her confirmation, “Hmm, I suppose you could call me your mother. After all, it was I that made you from what little remained of Charity Hector.”

Legacy ponders that idea...for a split second. Almost instantly, Legacy decides to embrace her mother and pulls Ceta into a hug.

“Hmm,” Ceta hums quietly as she hugs Legacy back, “I had a few children before in my long lifetime. I loved every single one dearly and I expected this time to be no different my darling daughter.”

***

“Wow,” mutters Joan as she turns around in the middle of her home’s living room as her mother looks on as she sips tea from a comfy armchair.

Joan is wearing nought, but a forest green dress with her white underwear beneath. The dress has short sleeves, a tight bodice and a loose, flowing skirt that does down to her ankles.

And her dress is actually her sister Breanne.

When Bree asked Joan to help her test her new powers, Joan was more than willing to help out.

I enjoy exploring the powers of others. Just because I don’t have any of my own shouldn’t mean I can’t enjoy other people’s powers.

Suddenly Joan feels her body tingle and begin to move on its own.

Okay, don’t panic. It is probably just Bree and I trust my sister.

“Whoa,” says Joan’s voice from her mouth, but without Joan being the one that is actually speaking, “Sorry Joan. I didn’t realise I could do this.”

“Are you controlling your sister Breanne?” inquires their mother.

“Not intentionally,” replies Bree, still using Joan’s body, “Could just sort of sense her whilst she was wearing me the same way I sense things that I wear and I just wondered what would happen if I try to control the same way I control my clothing. And, well, I just took control of her body.”

But not my mind. Still, it feels weird just having your body move and your voice talk without you being the one behind them. I wouldn’t say I hate that feeling, but I do rather dislike it.

“I wonder if...” Bree starts to say before flushing with embarrassment, “I suppose I should let Joan control her body again.”

“Considering it is her own body, yes you should,” their mother agrees with Bree.

“Umm, sorry about taking over your body Joan,” says Bree and Joan feels her body returning to her own control a movement later.

While she does experience that moment of unsteadiness, Joan has felt it many times in the past as of such, she doesn’t stumble this time unlike the many other times when she regained control of her body.

“Don’t worry Bree,” says Joan as she rolls her shoulders, “The whole reason we are doing this is to find out what you can do with your powers. Speaking of which, I have a theory about how your shapeshifting works if you would like to hear it.”

“Go ahead,” says Bree, temporarily using Joan’s voice and mouth again.

“Well, I think that you don’t actually turn into an inanimate object,” says Joan, “Just a pseudo-inanimate object. So while you appear to be one, you aren’t actually one in a technical sense consider how you are still sort of animate and sentient. That is my first theory about your shapeshifting. The second is that your shapeshifting extends to whatever is in contact with you at the time. So when you’re in a human form, it includes clothing and other items such as jewellery and gadgets. And when you are being worn, you can change and manipulate whoever is wearing you along with anything else that may be touching you, like other clothing. You can try changing me if you want Bree.”

“Since you’re letting me...” says Bree using Joan’s voice and a moment later, Joan feels her body tingling all over as it changes.

She grows taller, her hair becomes longer, her body restructures itself and, to Joan’s great delight, her breasts grow larger as Bree reshapes Joan’s body into a copy of her own.

Oh my. I just want to grope one of these big delicious boobies. But that would be wrong because while this is technically my body, it is basically Bree’s. And I will treat my sister and her body with respect.

It doesn’t matter anyway because Bree is the one in control right now.

It could ask her to increase the boob size of my normal body, but that would just be vain. And if I was the vain type, well, I would already have gotten myself a better body.

Interlude - Breanne

Breanne Fowler looks up at her family’s mansion as she walks through the gates. By just looking at it now, she wouldn’t be able to figure out that it was wrecked by the Slaughter Seven just a couple days before.

Abby works quickly. It must be nice to have-oh wait, I have high level superpowers now as well. I hope Joan won’t jealous. I mean, she is the only member of family not to have superpowers and is probably the one who deserves some the most.

Not that the rest of us don’t deserve our powers, but rather the fact that out of our family, Joan is the only who has suffered the most and she was definitely the one who needed superpowers the most.

None the less, Breanne is proud of her powers. She has some of the basics such as super speed, strength, senses, nigh invulnerability and regeneration. Beyond that, Breanne can flight, teleport, use telekinesis and freezes things in time with just a single touch.

But the greatest of Breanne’s new powers revolve around changing forms of herself and others. She takes on elements of anything nearby, including the features of people, and can shapeshift and not just into other people, but also into animals and inanimate objects.

It felt really weird to turn into a dress. I mean, I can turn back and forth at will, but I didn’t know that at the time and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to do so. At least nobody tried me on. Hmm, I might try that latter though. I’m curious about what being worn would feel like. Perhaps I’ll turn into a dress and let Joan wear me. She is the sort of person that likes to try out new aspects of powers. And we do sisterly bonding at the same time.

And my main power is to improve and upgrade anything I touch at will. The only limits to that power I have found so far is I need to be touching whatever I’m upgrading and I can only upgrade it once.

Breanne strides up to the front doors. Fortunately for her, her shapeshifting powers apply to her current attire so while her old clothing no longer fits her voluptuous Aphrodite body, Breanne was able to alter them so they do.

I wonder what my family will think of me now? I look different, but so does everyone else in our family with powers. They won’t judge me anymore than I judged them.

Still, I’m glad I kept it simple. Smart, casual clothing of jeans, a brown shirt and a white jacket with my old brown hair and blue eyes. Hmm, I could change my eyes to green like Mum’s. I have always wanted green eyes like Mum.

As Breanne hears her mother coming to the door to let her in, she decides to change her eyes to the green ones that she has always desired.

“Hey Mum,” says Breanne as her mother opens the large doors.

“Breanne!” exclaims her Mum as she embraces her oldest daughter in a hug.

Breanne is silent as she hugs her Mum back.

“So how is Joan?” asks Breanne as they release each other, noting that she can hear the girl in question coming down the stairs in her rush to greet her big sister.

Hmm, I can also hear somebody else whom I don’t know following her. I wonder who it could be?

“I’m fine!” yells Joan as she comes in view, “Wow! You look great!”

That’s Joan alright. Always thinking good things of other people’s blessings rather getting jealous of them. I wish I was like that, but I was always jealous of my family’s powers.

“Good to see you Joan,” replies Breanne with a genuine smile on her face, “So how have things been since we last talked?”

Joan’s face darkens and Breanne feels a sudden onset of worry at her reaction to the question.

Bad things haven’t happen have they?

“We should probably bring you up to speed,” says her Mum as Breanne recognises the person that was following Joan as she comes into sight.

Wait, doesn’t Allison need a wheelchair?

***

“That is a lot to take in,” says Breanne as she leans back in her armchair, “Can just focus on my situation for now while I process all of that?”

“Sure,” replies Joan, “I want to ask you some stuff about your new powers anyway.”

Two of them, their Mum and Allison are sitting the living room. The lot of them have been bringing each other up to speed on the situation here in Grand Rapids whilst Breanne has been informing them about her powers, including the fact that she has been allowed some time to go home so she can get a handle on her powers.

“Of course, you do,” says Breanne with a smile at her sister.

“What?” says Joan defensively, “I find powers cool even if I don’t have any of my own.”

“Oh, I know,” replies Breanne, “I just know you well enough to predict that you’ll want to do that.”

“So can I ask my questions now?” inquires Joan.

“Sure,” says Breanne as she internally debates on whether to do something silly and impulsive.

I wouldn’t even consider this if it was anyone else, but Joan has that sort of personality and we never really did many things together as kids. And I do want to try and connect with her now.

“Well, I was-” Joan starts to say before squealing as Breanne teleports on top of her.

“Got ya sis,” laughs Breanne as she manhandles Joan from behind, easily overpowering her little sister’s attempts to resist.

“Breanne...” says their Mum with amusement in her voice.

“I’m just playing around Mum,” replies Breanne, “I never got to do this stuff with Joan when we were younger.”

“Joan does like this sort of stuff,” Allison pitches in.

“Get your boobs out of my face!” yells Joan and Breanne relents her hold on Joan.

“Sorry Joan, just wanted to have a bit of fun,” apologises Breanne as she releases her sister entirely.

“Now as I tried to ask before, can you use your improvement power on people?” asks Joan as she stands up.

“Um, yeah,” answers Breanne, caught off guard by the question, “I only done it once, but it worked. Are you asking me to use it on you?”

“Yes!” exclaims Joan excitedly.

“Joan, you don’t know what potential effects it could have on you,” warns their Mum.

“Don’t worry about that,” replies Joan with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Legacy has a backup of my biological and mental data, I’ll be fine. If something goes wrong, I’ll have her restore me to normal.”

“Okay then,” says Breanne as she reach forward towards Joan, “Come ‘ere sis.”

“Thank you Bree!” says Joan as Breanne touches her forehead.

The effects are instantaneous and while expecting the change, Breanne is still caught off guard.

Well, she still looks like Joan would, just better and improved.

Joan has basic look she did before, only now she is slightly taller and a lot prettier. She has a bright, lush red hair and shining green eyes. Her skin looks healthy and Joan has a good muscle structure.

Her features are more refined and her figure is average, which is a step up considering Joan didn’t have one before. And last, but not least...

“I have breasts,” squeals Joan as she looks down at herself with unconcealed joy.

“Only B cups at most,” says Breanne with a smile, noting that Joan’s clothes are now rather tight on her, “Perhaps you should change into something better suited to your new body.”

“In a moment,” replies Joan, not really paying attention, “I want to see how I look.”

Of course she does. Not that I’m in any position to speak given that I wanted to the exact same thing after I manifested. Well, I know I can help her.

“Oh, let me,” says Breanne as she shapeshifts into a handheld mirror.

“Thank you Bree,” replies Joan as she picks her up.

Wow, this feels weird.

“How about this for a suggestion,” says Breanne as she forms her face in miniature above the mirror, “I’ll turn into a dress later and you can wear me. I’m curious to see what it feels like and it seems like something we would both enjoy doing.”

“Sure thing Bree!” replies Joan happily as she checks herself out, “Oh thank you Bree! This is wonderful.”

“You’re welcome sis,” replies Breanne, more than happy to help her little sister, “Now let me change back. You have no idea how weird this feels.”

1.17 Homecoming Part 7

Allison looks around the massive dining room as they appear in the middle of it. With the appearance of herself and Abigail, Joan and her mother, Noelle, break off the conversation they were having.

Joan is looking good. Still not pretty like she wants, but healthy and vibrant. And with the amount of parahumans in her family, it is only a matter of time before she manifests. I don’t need to Legacy or Ceta to tell me that. The real question isn’t whether Joan will manifest, but whether she or her sister Breanne will do it first.

“Allison!” says Joan as she rushes forward to hug Allison.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she hugs her best friend back.

After a moment, Allison looks past Joan and at her mother instead as she watches them.

“Um, thank you for letting me stay here,” says Allison nervously.

“Oh, don’t worry about honey,” replies Noelle, “It’s no bother. We got enough rooms to fit six kids and we only got two of them at the moment.”

“Well, thanks again,” says Allison sheepishly, not really sure on what to say.

“Let’s go to my room,” says Joan excitingly as she grabs Allison’s wheelchair.

Allison feels a bit guilty as Joan pushes her wheelchair. It isn’t exactly like she needs to push around like this and Allison hates the idea of making Joan to do extra work just to keep up Allison’s secret identity.

“Hey Al,” says Joan.

“Yeah,” Allison says back.

“I accidentally spilled Leo’s secret identity earlier,” admits Joan, causing Allison no small amount of shock.

W-what?! You got to be freaking kidding me!

“So now the DSA, my family and his family all know about Gears and Jaylyn,” continues Joan before sighing, “And I got Mum on my back about that last one.”

“I wonder why,” mutters Allison sarcastically as they reach the stairs, “So how are we going to get up these?”

“Umm, I didn’t think that far ahead,” admits Joan, “Give a moment. Hey Abby! I need help getting Allison upstairs.”

“Of course you do,” says Abigail Fowler as she teleports next to them, “I’ll take the two of you to your room sis.”

“Thanks Abby,” replies Joan as Abigail touches her and teleports all three of them to the middle of Joan’s room, “I’ll be seeing you around Allison.”

And with that, Abigail teleports away again as Allison looks around Joan’s room. The room is large, as expected within mansion, with the basic essentials such as her big, fluffy bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, a desk and other stuff like that. Basically the same as every other time that Allison has been here.

But what catches Allison’s eye is all of the posters and pictures on the wall. There is one for each of the Guardsmen field members and Allison smiles as she looks at Defender’s. But there are also a few pictures of Joan’s sister Alexis posing as Iris along with an official poster of Iris. Those are new.

Furthermore, there is a picture of Abigail Fowler, looking divine and commanding, next to a couple of posters for movies that her oldest siblings as the main actors, one for Irwin on the right and one for Breanne on the left.

Lastly, there are three posters of Marcelle Fowler, one from before her manifestation, one from afterwards and the third with both Marcelle and her new girlfriend and singing partner Diana Hunter 
singing back to back.

“Huh, you have a lot of posters,” says Allison as Joan plops herself down on her bed.

“What can I say?” replies Joan with a grin, “I’m proud of my family and their achievements.”

“I wish I could say the same about my own,” mutters Allison sourly before deciding to avoid that particular topic, “So, where did you get those pictures of Alex from? I don’t recognise them from anywhere.”

“Oh, I got those from back when I was in hospital still,” answers Joan with a wave of her hand, “Man, that feels like a long time ago. Anyway, Alex let me take those an apology for not telling me when she got her powers and for abandoning me. It was back around when Darkness attacked me.”

“So how are you getting on with them now?” inquires Allison.

“Great,” replies Joan as she gets back on her feet, “My parents, Mum in particular, are doing their best to make up for not being there for me. To be honest, I don’t really give a damn about how they treated me back then as I personally consider it water under the bridge right now. Anyway, Abby also has one of her bodies around as you saw while Alex will hang out when we’re both free. Marcy will often pop in for visits with Diana and we get to hang out then. A lot of people forget that those two are still only eighteen. Bree and I video chat every now again or meet up in Eldrim. Irvin and I don’t really care for each other. The guy is too focused on his career and I’m not that important to it. Not that he is a jerk or anything, but Irvin and I just don’t connect with each other you know?”

“Yeah,” mutters Allison, thinking back to how she gets on with her step-brother Nathan, “You don’t mind me staying here?”

“Better than letting you stay on the streets or being forced to give up your secret identity,” replies Joan with a shrug of her shoulders, “You’re my best friend. I’m not just going to abandon you. Plus Mum takes being a good mother really seriously now and your mum is a really bad one.”

“May I ask something?” asks Allison.

“Shoot,” replies Joan as she pulls out a DVD, “Want to watch this?”

“One of your sister’s films? Maybe later,” replies Allison before asking her question, “So what about my secret identity?”

“Oh, Mum, Dad and Abby know that,” answers Joan, “We’ll probably end up bring Alex and Leo’s parents into the know about that soon.”

“Great,” says Allison as she gets to her feet, “It’s going to be cool not to hide who I am from the people I’m living-”

“Joan!” says Abby as teleports into the room, catching Allison off guard as she adopts a defensive stance, “Breanna has manifested.”

1.17 Homecoming Part 6

Allison pulls up Joan on her contact list and dials her. It takes only a few seconds for her best friend to answer.

“Allison?” says Joan and Allison has never felt happier to her voice.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she leaves the street.

“So Al, what’s up?” inquires Joan.

“My family finally kicked me out,” explains Allison, “Though I should admit that I kind of chose to leave in the process and I sort of forced my way past Simon on my way out.”

“So I’m guessing you need somewhere to stay,” replies Joan, quickly grasping the situation to Allison’s relief, “And since you’re phoning me instead of somebody else, I assume you want to continue your old life.”

Heh, good Joan. She summed up that I wasn’t going to Legacy because I wanted to keep up my secret identity while making sound so innocent. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Leo’s girlfriend. The guy is a firm believer that the woman of his life should be his equal.

“Pretty much,” admits Allison, feeling self-conscious about having to ask her best friend for help, “I know that you might not be able to help, but-”

“Honey,” says another voice that Allison vaguely recognises as Joan’s mother, Noelle Fowler, “Of course you can stay over here. The way your family has been treating you is just downright vile. I have honestly been meaning to do something about them for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’ll send Abigail over to pick you up now. No need to force you to make your way across town on your own.”

“Thank you,” replies Allison, feeling a bit tearful.

“See you here,” pipes in Joan before the phone call ends.

As she comes to a stop, Allison feels uneasy. For some reason, she suddenly feels alert and ready for battle as she has been many time whilst acting as Defender.

What is wrong you girl? I must have been through too many battles. No way is there anybody out here to get me.

But Allison takes notice of her surroundings, she realises that there is nobody about and night is falling. There is usually at least one or two people about in this part of town.

Okay, this really doesn’t feel right.

“You think you can just get away that easily you little @~&*ing bitch,” snarls an angry voice that reminds Allison of her stepbrother Derrick.

Oh don’t tell me that the stupid little excuse of a human being actually manifested.

With annoyed growl, Allison spins her wheelchair around to a massively improved version of dumbass stepbrother, both handsome and ripped, standing in the street.

A freaking Adonis. Of course Derrick is an Adonis and not something practical like a Bellator.

“Oh for crying out loud,” grumbles Allison as Derrick strides towards her.

“Don’t £#$%ing ignore me,” shouts Derrick spitting in her face, “Cannot just get away from being my bitch with such little effort.”

Allison laughs as she sees the fist coming towards her, easily tracking it with her super senses.

Does Derrick really believe he can just beat me like that? Oh wait, he thinks I’m just a helpless crippled girl in a wheelchair. Hah, little does he know that I’m an actually a B Class vigilante with plenty of combat experience. And while brick might be bland and simple, we do have our uses. It doesn’t matter if he out powers me, I got enough power, skill and experience to take him down.

Allison does nothing, just smiling like an idiot as she waits for the punch to connect with her face.

I can’t wait to see the look on his face.

But Allison doesn’t get that chance before Derrick’s fist pulls up short and he instead grabs her by the chin.

“I would hurt you, but I can’t be certain I wouldn’t kill a weakling like you,” sneers Derrick as Allison internally debates whether to hurt him or not, “Instead, I’m going to get you in trouble with the authorities just as you deserve.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” asks Allison dryly as she jerks her head away from Derrick.

“Why, you’re the manipulative and bullying stepsister who made an unprovoked attack on our father as he tries to rightfully punish you,” drawls Derrick, “You have record of causing trouble and picking on me. In fact, you have bullied me so much, that I actually manifested.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” mutters Allison.

“Who is going to believe somebody of your reputation over the sweet, well-behaved boy such as myself?” sneeringly asks Derrick as he leans in close to Allison.

Oh, that is it! Secret identity or not, I’m wiping that smug grin off his face. I have not whipped the butts of countless criminals and supervillains just to let Derrick of all people pull this @#£$ on me.

“I’ve heard enough,” states a strong, female voice as Allison is about to headbutt Derrick’s face.

Both Allison and Derrick turn to face a floating Aphrodite woman. She is tall with flowing brown hair and lush green eyes. She is wearing jeans and a white leather jacket whilst anger is etched into her facial features as she glowers at Derrick.

Oh, that must be Abigail. I hope it is anyway, not that I care given they are clearly going to help me.

Derrick recoils under her glare and suddenly sprints off, heading back down the street towards Allison’s former home.

Well, that is Derrick dealt with. For now at least.

“Are you okay?” inquires the Aphrodite, as she lands in front of Allison.

“I’m fine,” replies Allison, “You’re Abigail right?”

The woman nods.

I really am.

“Good,” says Abigail, “I’m going to teleport us back to the Mansion.”

“Okay,” replies Allison as Abigail touches her wheelchair.