It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had feared it was going to be getting out of the bunker, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.

  The broken parts of my suit digging into all parts of me was pissing me off as well, though I knew on some level that was due to my faltering concentration because the sound of my own breathing was also pissing me off.

  “Please tell me you all are done with the fighting for the most part, right?” I pant finally having escaped the elevator.

  “Well, with all the Andromedas gone, we’re mostly done. Though I’m probably going to be doing the rounds for a little bit, we still gotta get the people we captured to the proper authorities.”

  “Speaking of authorities, so is your plan to hike your way across the highway with a supervillain over your shoulder?” Cass asks, which is a really good point.

  “He has to get at least to the town because I want to have a supervillain mountain cabin lair, so he can’t be near it when he drops her off. But once they’re to the gas station or something, I guess it’s acceptable.” Amelia says apparently valuing her mountain cabin over convenience for myself.

  “Miracle, can you have someone move in route to pick up Andromeda specifically someone with an ability to keep her knocked out?” I ask, trudging my way through the forest.

  “Someone is already in route to you,” Asher confirms. “She should be there pretty soon, honestly.”

  I wonder what that is supposed to mean, but I push it to the side as I walk at a brisk pace, Andromeda slung over my shoulders.

  Now that I’m moving closer to normal speed, I realize just how fast I was really moving, though if he didn’t have powers, he would be moving far slower since he was carrying a person as if it was just a backpack.

  “Do you think it’s going to be a problem that everyone knows where our super base is?” Smoulder asks.

  “It’s not that obvious, is it?” Amelia questions.

  “Fractal there’s giant ice spikes coming out of the walls and the entire area looks like it was caught in a blizzard,” Asher sighs.

  “You make a decent point,” Amelia concedes.

  What I hadn’t expected was for two people to show up out of nowhere looking at me expectantly. I vaguely recognized both of them. I’m pretty sure they’re people I’ve seen work with Sasha or in pictures from Bianca’s daycare.

  That would make one of them the teleporter and the other? I trail off mentally as I figure out who the other most likely is.

  The obfuscator who had messed with my senses the day I met Sasha in the first place. Guess that means she’s the one stuck with keeping Andromeda out.

  “Delivery?” I ask jokingly.

  The one in sunglasses snorts. “You look like shit, kid.”

  “I’m sure now I believe you wanted this lady?” I say, holding Andromeda out to them.

  In a blink both Andromeda and one of the two who had appeared out of nowhere to meet me were gone.

  “Damn, that’s convenient.” I say, looking around to see if I can find any sign of where they went. There wasn’t any sign, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

  “Phasing’s not too bad either.” The sunglasses-clad probable teleporter said with a shrug. “Now, if I pop you back to your tower, will you owe me one? Or should I put it on Warden’s tab?”

  “I’m not sure what I can offer you, but I would happily take a ride. I feel awful.” I admit.

  “You’ll be able to offer something soon, I’m sure. Even if I just need someone indestructible to stand between me and something else, you’ll do good.?” The teleporter laughs, and the world warps as my stomach lurches.

  When it all finally stops moving, we’re standing inside the clock tower. I say standing, but I’m on my hands and knees still trying to find my balance.

  “I hated that.”

  “You’ll get used to it. Now, you four, have fun, but celebrate the wins.” The teleporter says before vanishing.

  “So are you going to get off the floor yet?” Cass asks from somewhere off to my left.

  In response, I collapse fully to the floor, ignoring the suit stabbing me in places or the fact that everything feels like it’s spent the better part of today in the blast freezer.

  “So we’re actually done, right? Nothing bad, no final battles or anything like that we won for now?” Amelia asks her footsteps sending vibrations through the floor I can nearly feel.

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  “Please don’t say that. There are still plenty of problems. We just dealt with the biggest one for now.” Asher’s voice started off sounding distant, but I can hear him getting closer.

  I don’t know when I had pulled back all of my senses, leaving me with only the human ones, but it’s probably a good thing I feel like I’m at zero.

  I really just want to go home, but there’s still stuff I need to do.

  I manage to get to my feet just in time to see Asher’s horrified expression when he sees both my suit and Amelia’s.

  Amelia looks to be in worse shape than I am. Normally the entire suit is frosted over, but it looks like entire chunks were destroyed that she replaced with blocks of ice and more than a bit of the ice covering her is various shades of pink.

  Upon seeing my suspicious look, Amelia holds up her hands defensively. “I’m not injured. At least I don’t think so; it was the other guys.”

  “I believe you.”

  Cass, on the other hand, looks completely unbothered, and I can’t help but feel incredibly jealous about her ability.

  It has a lot of downsides, only some I’ve figured out or been clued in to, but the benefits seem amazing.

  “So anyone want to point out the two of us are going to have to leave this place barefoot or in socks because someone iced over this whole place, and that someone is also entirely wiped out and unable to get rid of it all?” Amelia asks not bothering to go into a changing room as she strips off pieces of her armor.

  “I’ve mostly not been thinking about it,” I admit as I just step out of my suit, the broken pieces clattering to the ground.

  “The elevator could still work?” Asher offers surveying how the two armors are doing and winces at the sight of both of them. “You guys realized I only just recently fixed these, right?”

  “You do realize I stopped you from becoming Swiss cheese, right?” Amelia retorts.

  “Supervillain,” I say with a shrug.

  Now out of costume, I go through the effort to put back on my pajamas.

  “We also have to walk home.” I say quietly the moment the thought crossed my mind.

  “If the two badasses with super powers are going to be so pitiful, I can just drive you both home?” Asher asks, apparently tired of Amelia and I being pathetic.

  “Could you drive me home as well?” Cass asks sheepishly. “I flew over here, but I don’t want to have to fly back.”

  “Three people with super powers and not one of you has the ability to get somewhere stealthily?” Asher complains, looking directly at me, which I resent.

  I actually don’t have any abilities that really make me any better at being stealthy than a normal person, excluding my capacity to cut corners. I still need to walk like a normal person at the moment.

  Despite all the bickering, it doesn’t take that much longer for all of us to get into Asher’s car, and we’re quickly in the parking lot of our apartment building.

  Amelia tucked next to me as the two of us make our way back home, Amelia shivering in my arms.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to face Bianca today.” Amelia grumbles. “I’m supposed to be warm and comforting to her, not cold and frigid.”

  “I’m not cold. You are warm and comforting.”

  “Jason, you’re a terrible liar.”

  “Am I?”

  “You’re quite literally shivering in my arms.”

  Our bickering reaches a fever pitch as we make our way up the stairs, both of us knowing that I'm mostly lying about being warm, but it's important to me, so I stubbornly deny feeling cold.

  The door swings open easily, and the two of us quickly get inside, basking in the warmth of the apartment.

  It definitely wasn’t this toasty when we left. I’m very aware of what temperature I keep the apartment at. I’m pretty fastidious about it.

  As I feel Amelia relax, though any irritation about my space being messed with quickly fades.

  “We’re home!” I call out as I close the door behind us.

  Bianca races forward, crashing into my legs as she hugs both Amelia and I tightly.

  “I’m home.” I say, picking Bianca up and holding her between the two of us even if Amelia shied away, not wanting to freeze Bianca.

  “You’re not cold, right, B?” Amelia asks gently

  Bianca reaches out and makes a grabby motion towards us, and Amelia returns to her original position, one hand holding Bianca’s, the other wrapped around me.

  Family reunion met I change my gaze towards Sasha. “Thank you so much.” I say, ushering my family to the couch, where we promptly collapse into.

  “You three did good.” Sasha says, having just finished packing her bag.

  “Thank you for sending people to get Andromeda.” I say, not wanting to forget that portion.

  “Of course, she was of a high interest to us as well. We’ll keep her sedated for now, though we’ll want to try and figure out what she knows soon. How did you take her down?” Sasha asks, seeming like she wanted to get going already even if she hadn’t made any moves in that direction yet.

  “I made her immutable.”

  “Like when you’ve turned indestructible? We’ve seen a few videos, but how would making her immutable help you?”

  Amelia curls into me, nose pressed against my neck as she seeks to steal all of my warmth.

  I stroke Bianca’s hair as I find the right words for my answer. “Objects imbued with my power I can still affect, and vice versa. And I didn’t want her falling through the floor.”

  Sasha nods. “We have a few who have abilities that should let them deal with a living energy type, but we might need to call you if we can’t.”

  “Does that mean we’re going to be invited to your little club of superheroes?” Amelia asks, surprising me. I knew she wasn’t asleep yet, but I had thought she had entirely zoned out and wasn’t paying attention to the conversation.

  “We were planning on inviting you after you had either been around for a month or so longer or you dealt with an actual city battle like today. Though I’m not actually the leader.” Sasha laughs.

  “Yeah, yeah, you said it was more democratic than that.” Amelia says, waving her hand. “We really owe you one, Sasha. Not just for the super stuff but watching our daughter and making sure she was safe during all that hecticness.”

  “If I ever need someone to step in for me at a local level, I’ll make sure to call you.”

  “If I had a nickel for every time we were told that.” I joke.

  Sasha laughs as she finally takes her exit.

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