"Going to the bathroom," Pip blurted out, rushing past her and out of the room. Vivainne watched her go before her eyes slid over to the hero, completely oblivious of Vivainne. This was why she hadn't wanted to tag along with Pip and her mom; there had never been a chance it wouldn't be awkward.

She jumped as Athena sighed, breaking free of her stupor and glancing at Vivainne.

Viv pointed toward the open door, after Pip. "I'm… also going to go to the bathroom."

She took off before the hero could say anything, walking as fast as she dared toward the bathroom. With so many training heroes and their parents in the building, Vivainne didn't want to draw attention to herself, or potentially get identified. So far, no one aside from Florence and Pip, and maybe Damien, knew who she was, and she wanted it to stay that way. But she also wanted to look after Pip.

Arguing with a parent was not something Vivainne had ever done, but Pip had a far better relationship with her moms than Viv. Still, she had to imagine it wasn't easy, especially when your mother was a Hero of Earth.

Reaching the bathroom, Vivainne had half a moment to consider that Pip may not have actually gone to the bathroom before pushing through the door. She found Pip by the sink, gripping the counter like if she let go, it would fall off, knuckles white.

"Hey," Viv said, sliding into place beside Pip, leaning her back against the cool tile countertop.

Pip nodded, grunting out something like a greeting.

"Are you all right?" Vivainne asked, twisting to face the girl. She had to resist the urge to reach up and brush aside a piece of hair that had fallen loose from the quick updo she'd put it in when Athena showed up.

Things had been odd between them since the morning. Not bad, but different, ever since Vivainne's misunderstanding. That was stupid. Of course Pip hadn't meant a date, but that's where Vivainne's mind had jumped, and she knew Pip felt weird about it. She'd been too enthusiastic, but not in the usual, earnest way of hers. Instead, it had been awkward, like she was trying too hard.

Maybe Vivainne shouldn't be here.

"I'm fine," Pip said, the words followed by a sharp inhale. "Just… needed a minute."

"All right." She remained where she was. Maybe she should have left, but Pip wasn't the type who wanted to be alone when she was upset or sad. Instead, she clung to whoever was closest, needing to talk. Vivainne had minded, at first, but she was used to it now. So it didn't come as a surprise a moment later when Pip began to talk at a mile a minute.

"I really shouldn't have said anything to Mom but it's just so frustrating being behind when I know I shouldn't be, because I'm a Carter and my family made the hero system what it is today, and everyone knows that and they expect more from me. And then I'm bad and I know it just makes people wonder why I'm here in the first place."

"I don't think anyone is wondering that," Vivainne said.

"And now I feel bad because Mom feels bad and I really shouldn't have said anything! I just need to get better." She curled forward, as if in pain, a sheet of hair falling across the line of her face.

Unable to resist any longer, Vivainne reached out, carefully tucking the hair back into place. "I guess it's a good thing you're good at getting better, then?"

"I guess." Pip shrugged then pushed herself off the countertop, flashing Vivainne a smile. It was weak, soft around the edges, but Vivainne smiled back.

"You saved me from having to show off more of my power," Vivainne said. "I'm still terrible at it during the light of day."

While it was something she was working on, she was still bad at it, and she wasn't sure what else she could do. She'd scheduled a session with Professor Canvas, and hopefully the power professor would be able to help, but she didn't have strong hopes. It was a good thing she excelled at the spywork side of things, with Inkwell teaching her not only to use her power in new and unusual ways, but her mind as well.

They left the bathroom, making their way back to the small training room where they'd left Athena. Before they reached it, a pitter-patter of tiny shoes and a sharp squeal found them first.

Vanya came tearing out of the room in a pair of light up, glittery sneakers, letting out a squeal as she launched herself at Vivainne.

She slammed against Viv's legs, nearly bowling her over with the force of her hug as Vivainne stared down in shock at her little sister. She wasn't supposed to be here. Charles had said he likely wouldn't be able to get out of the tower to come visit her.

Had Jordan brought her?

She looked around, wide eyes, as she brought her arms down around her sister, squeezing her tight. Instead of Jordan, she found Charles leaving the training room with Athena, a broad smile on his face.

"I made a call earlier," Athena said with a shrug. "There's no reason you should be without a parent today when there's someone else who can do Recompense's job, even if they can't do it as well."

Vivainne opened her mouth to speak, only for Vanya to beat her to it. "I missed you."

Her chest tightened, just for a moment, enough to make her eyes well with tears. She knelt down, bringing herself eye to eye with the little girl who looked so much brighter than when Vivainne last saw her. "I missed you too."

"They said you're at school? I'm going to school now." She planted her hands on her hips, beaming a smile so wide it had to hurt, revealing the tooth she'd lost at some point, the new one not grown in quite yet.

"I know," Viv said, smoothing back the girl's hair. As much as she'd changed, no longer the scared little girl she'd first met, her hair was still an awful mess. "How's that going?"

"Good," Charles answered. He walked up beside them, wrapping an arm around Vivainne's shoulders. She folded into his embrace, happier than she would have thought to see him. "Though, I never imagined myself helping teach someone to read. Turns out, I'm not a very good teacher."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"Definitely is," Charles said with a chuckle. "There's a reason I'll never go teacher."

"We'll see about that," said a new voice. Artemis made her way down the hallway, missing her signature heels that always preceded her presence. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I didn't know myself, until about an hour ago," Charles said, pulling himself away from Vivainne to give his almost-sister a hug. "Athena was able to pull in a favor and get someone to cover me, and I didn't want to bother you. I know how busy today is for you."

"Tell me about it," Artemis chuckled. "I actually need to get back to attending all these parents, I just wanted to say hi. If you have the time, you should come and have dinner with Jason and I."

"I'll try my best," Charles said.

"Me too, though Mai might kill me," Athena said. "She's stuck at home right now. Dyiona's sick."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Charles tapped Vivainne's arm as Athena and Artemis fell into casual conversation, leading her away from the group. She pulled Vanya up onto her hip and followed.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about what you've been learning?" he asked, a smile on his face. "You've hardly shared anything since starting school."

She winced. "Sorry, I've been meaning to call you, I've just been busy. Actually, I wanted to ask you about the research." She dropped her voice with the final word. Maybe no one would know what she was talking about, or care, but she wanted to be careful.

"Let's find somewhere to talk," Charles said, nodding away from the group of Carters. "I'm sure they won't miss us."

Despite his words, Vivainne made sure to wave to Pip before following after him. He led the way through the underground campus like it was a second home, which she questioned until remembering he'd trained here too. Anyone who was anyone in the hero world had trained here, it seemed.

Halfway there, Vivainne figured out where he was going and smiled.

He stepped up to the door, then away, frowning. "Forgot I couldn't get in anymore."

"I've got it." Vivainne stepped in front of him, lifting her black bracelet to the lock beside the door. It clicked quietly and unlocked, swinging inward to the spacious hangout room she'd spent far too much time in the past few weeks. Harper was fond of the Treehouse.

Vanya's eyes went wide at what must have looked like a gigantic playground to her, wiggling out of Vivianne's arms so fast she almost dropped her and taking off at a run toward the lowest set of rope pathways.

"I forget you trained here."

"It's part of the inspiration behind the clubhouse back home," Charles said. "We definitely weren't supposed to get drunk here, but we did."

She chuckled, shaking her head. "That sounds like a terrible idea."

He shrugged and made his way across the room, sitting at the base of the rope pathway Bianca had started climbing. "Half of us were hyperdurable, and the other half were stupid."

"Let me guess which half you fell into."

"I can understand why Artemis doesn't want me to build a clubhouse by the program here," he said with a sheepish grin. "After all the stunts we pulled. But, I still think it was a good idea. So, progress?"

Vivainne sat down beside him, pulling her knees up to her chest. Across the room, Bianca had found a rope swing, and she winced as her sister stepped off the platform and swung to the ground, half expecting her to land on her face. Instead, she landed awkwardly on her feet, then laughed and raced to do it again.

"I've started training under a spywork teacher," she said.

"Inkwell, yeah?"

She blinked, surprised. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I recommended him," Charles said. "I've worked with far more spywork heroes than Artemis has. Almost became one myself, actually."

"Really?" She leaned forward, all too eager to hear more. Maybe he could help her decide if that was the route she wanted to go with her hero career. "Why didn't you?"

"I was surrounded by Carters. Hard to be quiet when they're always around you. It did make some of my work easier, though, with their distractions. Ultimately, it wasn't the sort of hero I wanted to be. I like working with a team, and being surrounded by people."

Vivianne nodded, giving a small noise of affirmation as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "I've been thinking about that since I started training under Inkwell."

"And?"

"And I don't know what I want," Vivainne said. "I'm good at spywork, as best I can tell from Inkwell's… sparse praise."

"But?"

Vivainne breathed in slow, well aware her thoughts were foolish, but prepared to speak them anyway. "I worry about being like my mother."

"You don't need to worry about that," Charles said. "Unless you plan on developing technology in secret at the risk and cost of all supers."

"That's not in my plan, no."

"Then don't worry about it. Choose whatever feels best for you."

"I also worry that I won't be able to do normal hero work," Vivainne said. On instinct, she reached inside, feeling across the edges of her power core. She closed her eyes for a moment, straining to remember what her original core felt like, before it was stripped from her. Either shattered entirely, or hidden so far away she'd never reach it. "My shadows are weak under sunlight, or any light, really."

"Heroes don't only patrol during the day," Charles said with a reassuring grin. "No one expects crime or disaster to pause when it's dark out."

"Well, I suppose."

"You also have months to make your decision," Charles said. "You've only been training for a few weeks. I don't think anyone expects any of you to know what you want to do as heroes yet. You don't even have the means to make that decision yet."

Vivainne nodded, letting the words sit as she watched her sister play. Vanya had grown so much in the past few weeks, but so had Vivainne. She knew her power better now, and her mind, and trained most nights long after everyone else went to sleep. It was exhausting, but it was fulfilling.

"I also wanted to ask about the research," Vivainne said. "Have you made any progress?"

Charles grimaced, glancing away. "Any research is slow going, and having to pick through Vora's work is difficult. There's also the fact that this research is incredibly dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think no one thought, before your mother, to transplant a power core?" Charles asked, lowering his voice. "Of course they did. But we learned, at the very beginning, that messing with the natural flow and progression of power is… risky to say the least."

"I don't understand."

"And I really can't say more," Charles said, suddenly still and tense as he spoke. "Even I don't know all the details, just that there are dangerous consequences for working against the natural powers of the world, and those who have dealt with it personally are wary against touching it again. We tread carefully with our research."

Her heart beat as if caught in a trap, racing against her will. The words hardly made sense, she hadn't heard about anything like that at any point during her mother's trial or her time at the hero program, but the way Charles looked when he spoke about it had her thinking twice about asking again. What could there be that was so dangerous that no one could look into one of the most important subjects of the modern age?

"So…" She drummed her fingers against her knee, in time with her rapid heartbeat. If they couldn't research, where did that leave her? "Does that mean there's not a chance of ever fixing my core?"

"No," Charles said, shaking his head. "Like I said, I'm working on it. I've assembled a team. We're safeguarding our research, and making progress when we can. But I can't promise to have answers before you graduate."

"Right." Vivainne sucked in a sharp breath, eyes watering. I should have seen this coming.

Her mother had researched for years before developing anything worth using, anything safe to use. She should have known the idea of fixing her core was a long shot, something she could not rely on, even if it meant she no longer had options.

The path had always been in front of her, she just hadn't wanted to see it.

"Don't get discouraged," Charles said. "What you've uncovered will change the world, we just… have to control how."

"I know." The words quavered as they left her mouth, and she forced herself to breathe, refusing to let the hopelessness overwhelm her. She was here, training, learning to be a hero. No matter what happened, she would be better than her mother, not living in her shadow.

She lowered her feet to the ground, steadying herself once more. "I have learned something interesting about power cores recently. My…" What could she call Harper? "My friend has a power that interacts directly with power cores, though they are meta-fauna cores."

Charles hummed quietly, nodding. "That is interesting. There aren't many powers that interact with power cores. Amplifiers, neutralizers, however you would classify Vora… they are very rare. Did you know there's not a single documented neutralizer in the first group of supers? Not in any record I can find, at least."

"I had no idea," Vivainne said. She wasn't well versed in the history of supers, not beyond what she'd learned in Philosophy of Heroes and the homework it required, not that it sounded like information she could find online. "That sounds… odd."

"Powers were more limited then," Charles said.

"But more powerful?"

"In some ways, yes," Charles said. "But there's a difference in power through force, and power through prowess or the advantage of specificity. We're stronger as a whole now, with so many powers existing."

"That makes sense," Vivainne said, leaning back against the rope net. "I wonder if I could convince my mother to let us study her power."

"No," Charles said, surprising her with the force behind it. "She won't, and you won't ask. You will not give her the satisfaction of knowing someone is using her research."

"She's just one of the only people I know whose power interacts with power cores," Vivainne said quietly. "Oh, and that one guard at the prison."

Charles nodded. "I've spoken to him. And maybe I'll speak to this friend of yours, if she's willing."

"And you can study me," Vivainne said. Before Charles could protest, she surged forward, explaining as quickly as she could. "I'm the only person we know with an implanted power core, aside from Vanya, but she's so young still she can't make that decision. I can. Study me."

His dark eyes rested upon her before giving a reluctant nod. "If that's what you want," he said.

"It is."

"Then I will arrange it."

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