Battle damage during fighting with the Atlanteans led HCPD to cordon off a section of freeway. Big Bill is able to remote-pilot his aircraft form down onto the asphalt. Once they hear about it, local emergency responders start escorting people toward this improvised shelter. But only so many can fit inside.
Half a mile away, Emma and friends discover another shelter. The rain has started coming down as they exit the prototype vehicle and take in what they’re seeing.
Police herded everyone into a park, when a bunch of apartment buildings were in the blast zone for another EMP. Unfortunately, nobody was available to follow up on the evacuated civilians - another thousand people, slipping through the cracks of a city already bursting at the seams.
Without power, the apartments will be freezing. People would be out of the rain there - but would be stumbling around in the dark, perhaps for hours. They’re better out here, if the team can find a way to provide shelter and heat until EMS is notified.
Big Bill carefully navigates the vehicle through packs of people, stopping at the center of the park. Emma gets out, and positions herself on top of the car. She takes a breath, closes her eyes, and starts concentrating.
A layer of hot air forms overhead, spreading out from her position. It’s just enough to dispel the rain, just high enough that radiation downward provides a comfortable temperature and keeps the evening chill at bay. It’s a delicate balancing act.
Alex stays near the car, furiously operating their laptop, sending Nono out as their data farmer. Who has small children, or special physical needs? Who has medication back in the apartment that they need right now? Who hasn’t heard from a loved one, or needs to reassure one?
Big Bill, meanwhile, has heard from Mo, and tells Alex about an option for restoring power. “Sounds good, I’ll give him a call,” Alex responds.
Nono is surprised when Pietro Mancini, the Plasma Prince of Gardner, shows up riding in a big oversized work truck. He’s got a crew with him, and they begin running some kind of big flexible pipe out of the back of the truck, toward the apartments.
“Nono Rodriguez. Hi there,” he says, and approaches her.
“Huh? You know me?”
The young man smiles. “I remember you punched out that villain. When we were in high school. Since then you’ve been doing amazing work for the Quill Foundation, from what I hear.”
Nono is shocked out of the ability to speak. Who the hell remembers her?
Alex calls out “Hey, you’re Mancini, right? Plasma power, EMP resistant, right?”
“Yes, that’s me,” the inventor answers. “It’s just Peter these days, though. You folks–”
He catches sight of Emma on the roof of the prototype car, and his eyes widen. “Another familiar face.”
Nono finds her voice. “Yes, that’s the girl I um, punched out that day. That’s Emma.”
“Hot Mess. A villain…” Peter is quick to spot her concentration, and the rain shield she’s projecting. “Perhaps not one any longer, eh?”
“I’m still a villain,” Emma calls, not looking away from her responsibilities.
“What are you doing here, then?” Peter asks.
“What villains always do. Doing whatever the fuck I feel like.”
He smiles. “I see. Well you’re doing a great job of it.”
“Stop distracting me, pencil-dick.”
Peter just laughs. He returns his attention to Nono. “If you’re ever looking for reliable work in plasma chemistry, let me know. I’ll keep a workstation open for you. Until then, if you’re happy where you are, I’d like to help out a little. My people are installing conduits for emergency power. Would you like to take a look?”
Nono finds herself nodding more energetically than she wants to.
The plasma conduit terminates at a big metal box hauled off the truck by workmen. In turn, it plugs into the mains of the apartments, taking the place of street power for the moment. Nono can smell the ozone and hear the thump as the conductors start handling the prodigious load.
“400 amps per building. But we could offer a hundred times that,” Peter remarks. He’s holding an umbrella over her head, as a gentleman ought.
“Gas discharge plasma, right?” asks Nono. “CO2?”
“That’s right. With a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst.” Peter smiles.
“And no risk of explosion in the conduits. Someone might get burned if they were too close, I suppose?”
“True. But that’s also a risk for loose electrical wires today.”
Lights in the apartment start coming on. The workmen cheer, and are joined by some of the more curious citizens who’ve ambled over to watch.
Peter nods back toward the park. “There’s room for your friend, too. Pyrokinetics with that kind of control over their power can write their own check in high-energy research.”
Nono smiles. “I’ll tell her. But um, I’m not sure that’s the sort of thing she wants to do…”
Peter nods. “I get it. I thought I was going to be a superhero at one point. It took time and struggle to figure out what I really did want. Now I’m there. Helping people with my inventions is what I really care about, not wearing a suit or having a code name. Whatever both of you think is best, keep doing it, okay?”
Nono grins. “Okay.”
Nono is still thinking about that conversation on the way back. Finally she broaches it to Emma, sitting beside her in exhaustion after her exertion.
“Have you ever… I dunno, thought about doing a regular paying job?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“No.”
Nono blinks. “No, as in, you’d never do that kind of thing?”
“Bingo.” Emma flops about like a lazy cat trying to get comfortable. “People telling me what to do. I hate that. Business hours. Dress codes. Fuck all that noise.”
Nono puts pieces together in her head. “If nobody did anything for you, why should you do anything for them?”
Emma’s grin is like the Cheshire Cat, and she idly thumps Nono on the shoulder with a fist. “That is straight up villain thinking right there. That’s how it is.”
“Well… I’m here now. So what would you like me to do?”
The question catches Emma distinctly off guard.
Nono waits, and smiles.
“My mom used to braid my hair,” Emma says, in the softest voice ever.
Nono pulls Emma partially onto her lap to rest, and with careful fingers, starts combing out knots and clumps. She’s never done this before, but she’s willing to learn something new.
Up front, Alex and Big Bill do their best to act like the conversation is miles away from them.