Tcr 40 Return to sender

Me and Aug got to see Grandma after about an hour. She was looking more tired than anything else. The Doctors, of course, wanted to keep her overnight. After sitting with her for a while, we got kicked out and headed out to make our way underground to where I had parked my car by the substation closest to my house to get home.

Scorn got dragged off by Shimmer to visit with their parents before she could join us. The boss promised to get her a lift home.

I offered to ask Manifest to send Aug home to Florida, but she said she was staying for a while.

Chester was disappointed to see all three of us but no Grandma, but Aug was his second favorite so she went to the barn to visit with him for a while.

Then I sat down with my grandfather at the kitchen table. We stared at each other for a moment before he spoke up. “So this was all because of the Mice then?”

I nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Almost wish I didn’t take them in. But what you’re doing for them is right. They’re family at this point.”

Getting up, I poured us each a jar half full of hard cider. “Good talk.”

He snorted but nodded at that. It's so much easier dealing with other guys. Less chatter, and they don’t steal food off your plate.

Then Aug came in and kept me up for hours grilling me for details about everything I had done with the Royals, and then she got around to trying to drag out information about me and Scorn.

Coughing up a few shotgun pellets, which surprised the hell out of me, was the only thing that got her off my back long enough to crawl into bed.

Still, it’s nice to have family around.

Come morning I woke up alone and had a text telling me court was on recess until Monday morning. Sleeping in would have been nice, but I could smell breakfast cooking and I knew Grandpa would want a lift into town to see Grandmother as early as they would let him in.

Bacon and toast were on the table, and he dished out four eggs from the frying pan. "Tried to make friends with the new dog. It breathed fire out at me. I guess I missed getting that tidbit of information.”

I nodded as I shoveled food into my mouth. Aug noticed my appetite and quickly filled her plate up before I started to clear the table.

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My Grandfather watched me eat as he nibbled on some toast. He didn't seem to have much of an appetite. “How much danger are you in boy?”

I finished chewing on a fatty part of a slice of bacon. “Most of the time. None. I sit in a chair three stories underground while riding a vat grown body that was never even a person.”

I wiped at my mouth with one of the fast food napkins from the stack Grandpa had found where I had stuffed them into a drawer. "Even if one of the Super powered bad guys finds out who I am, most of them operate under unspoken rules. The ones that do stuff like go after someone's family tend to get beat up pretty badly. The first time. Then they just don't get brought in."

Getting up, I poured myself a mug of coffee. “The real danger is people working for the government, and in the private sector. The Circle taught most of them to be nice, but there are always new people rising in the ranks who think they can get away with kidnapping, blackmail, or threats. But even most of them know better than to target anyone in, or around Concentric City."

Facing the old man, I sighed. “But if you’re worried about someone putting Grandma in danger again, I can call in a favor. You two can disappear somewhere no one will ever come after you again. Mom and Dad too.”

Speaking of which, I owed them some phone calls. I'm sure someone caught them up on everything, but I’m sure they would still like to hear from me. ...and I would like to hear they were okay from them as well.

For a moment I wanted to go looking for a graveyard near the Earth Free headquarters. But law enforcement had to be doing something about those people. Right? I had to at least give them some time to do it. And waiting would also give me a chance to calm down.

My grandfather sipped his coffee. “Nope. Going to talk to Naomi first. But I’m not inclined to run from bad men and fools. It’s not the way we’re raised.”

Aug let out a sigh and nodded. "Damned right, the kids would miss you two too." Then she turned to me. "Are you going to visit when we go back home? Jacob is old enough to keep a secret and he would love to find out his Uncle's a Superhero, even a gross one."

I spoke to my parents on the way to the hospital, with Aug shouting comments over my shoulder on the Subsystem heading in. "He walked right into a shotgun. Didn't even peek around the corner first."

Grandma was waiting for us to get to the Palace Hospital to get released, and we went out for second breakfast, for me and Aug, and coffee for Grandpa before we headed home.

After showing them around the place, and what few changes I had made to the place since the last Christmas get together, Manifest showed up to portal them back home.

With a stop at KORE Studios for a few interviews where my grandparents spoke about their kidnapping, caretaking of the Mice and the other Super animals, and the family history of being able to keep our homestead after the surrounding land got turned into a national park.

At least as long as a descendant of Enoch Morton continues to live there, not that anyone was going to be able to kick us out with Concentric City right next door.

Aug declined to be interviewed or filmed. Instead, she was having a terse conversation on her phone with someone wanting to know when she was returning to duty, and discussing her actions.

I slipped away from watching the interview for a moment. “Are you in trouble?”

She shook her head no while biting at her lower lip. "Not really? It's more like I burned up a few more favors than I had planned on. Still. Worth it." She held up her fist. "No one messes with my family, speaking of which.” She gave me an evil grin. “Does your woman plan on making you an honest man anytime soon? I want to be an aunt. I want to train second gen Super powered nieces and nephews.”

"They should be strong right? Scorn got massed based Super strength by her build and you got force based. So your kids could end up stronger than you and have Regen on top. Plus whatever your powers do when mixed with empathy. Maybe they will be able to speak with the dead or…"

Manifest gave me a look. I closed my eyes to keep Aug from seeing me glace over her shoulder and nodded as I tried to cover my sister's mouth to shut her up.

She stepped back to dodge me, right through an opening portal. “Hey!”

Which snapped shut. I gave Manifest a nod of thanks and headed over to try to cut my Grandparents loose from their interviewer.