Our shift finished, Krissie, Cliff, Mike and I got taken back to Humber College, and we waved our driver goodbye. I felt tired and stressed – and Krissie looked the same. Mike and Cliff looked okay – but they hadn’t had to fight a couple of metahumans.

“Hey, guys. I think I’m going to go take a shower and get some non-damaged clothes on. Any idea on how long it’ll take Jimmy to make that non-shred, non-burn cloth he’s been talking about?”

Cliff chuckled. “He keeps saying ‘soon’, or ‘in a day or two.’ Give him a bit and I’m sure he’ll crack it.”

“Well, I hope he hurries. My wardrobe is taking a beating.”

“I might be able to repair your clothes with a spell, Karen.” Krissie interjected. “As long as they’re not completely burned off to ashes or something, I think I might be able to fix them.”

“That would be great, Krissie! Did you want the shower first?”

“Yeah – that way I can fix your clothes while you’re in the shower.”

“Okay.”

“Well, I think I’m going to go clean up too.” Mike replied. “I’ll see you both later.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Cliff said. “Good job out there today.”

“Thanks, Cliff.” I replied, as did Krissie.

Krissie and I headed up to our room, and as we came in I heard a familiar ‘brup!’ from Pepsi as she ran over to headbutt me and rub on our legs.

“Hey Pepsi! Mommy’s home. We rode with the police today!”

“Brup! Mrow!” Pepsi said, and tried to attack my shoelaces.

“I think Pepsi wants to play and cuddle a bit. Why don’t you take the shower as we talked about, and I’ll see to my furbaby’s needs.”

“Okay.” Krissie giggled. “She is so adorable with you.”

“Yes, she is.” I replied, almost in baby-talk, as I picked up Pepsi and snuggled with her. She nestled against my bosom, and licked my face. I guess I have a built in cat shelf now, I thought. Appropriate.

I went back to my room, cuddling Pepsi, and spent a good ten or fifteen minutes cuddling with her. She even presented her tummy and I tickled her murder button, and we wrestled as she tried to slash my newly impervious skin… It was fun, and I think she had fun too. By the time Pepsi was all wrestled out, I could hear Krissie had finished up in the shower, and was using the hairdryer to dry her hair.

“Okay, kitty! Mommy has to get cleaned up. Cuddle’s later!”

“Mrow!” Pepsi chimed, and cuddled up on my bed to sleep.

I stripped out of my clothes, and wrapped myself in a towel, and knocked on the bathroom door. “Krissie? Is it okay if I come in to use the shower, or would you like me to wait till you’re done?”

“No – it’s okay!” Krissie called, so I slipped into the bathroom, and past her into the shower, still wet from Krissie. I did my best to avert my eyes from Krissie, even though my presence didn’t seem to bother her much, and closed the plastic shower curtain. My shampoo and body wash were in the bathtub already, so I turned the water on and started doing my business.

I must have soaked under the water for a while, cause Krissie had left the room, and the water was starting to feel a bit cool instead of warm, so I finished up washing my hair – I used conditioner this time! – and rinsed, then turned everything off, and started drying myself.

As I looked at the beauty in the mirror, I once again had to remind myself that that was me… It felt weird and dissonant, after a lifetime of looking at my male self – but it was slowly becoming more familiar. That’s me! I thought. I still couldn’t believe my good fortune. When I was dried, I began working on my hair, first with a towel, then with the hair dryer. Krissie had some stuff on the counter – Argan Oil in a spray bottle – and I knew from experience from my wife it was to reduce frizz and stuff with your hair.

“Krissie!?” I called. “Can I use some of your Argan Oil?”

“Yeah, sure!” I heard her call, so I spritzed some on my hair and worked it in, and left my hair a teeny bit damp – my wife had also warned me about how her hair would go to frizz and worse if she over dried it. The argan oil smelled kind of spicy and nice – I liked it. I should get some products like that, I thought. I can’t keep borrowing Krissies.

I wrapped my towel around me, and headed to my room – to find the clothes I had been wearing today completely repaired, and resting on my bed. Awesome! “Thank you Krissie! You saved me about 300 dollars!”

“No problem, Karen. It’s no big deal!” she called.

“It is to me! Thanks!”

“Okay!”

It looked like her spell must have cleaned and freshened my clothes as well – they didn’t smell of sweat or anything. Better than taking them to the laundry, I thought. I put away the work clothes and got dressed in some casual clothes I had picked up from one of the newly minted men on Kajiji… I wasn’t sure of the style, but they were comfortable. They looked more like fashion for someone in their thirties, rather than my apparent age of 19 or so – but they looked nice, and frankly, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I could hear Krissie in the kitchenette, so I headed out to say hello. “How do I look, Krissie? Are the clothes okay?”

She took a look, and giggled. “You look like you’re dressed in your mom’s clothes. I take it these were some of the clothes you traded for?”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “I mean, I don’t mind the style – but it looks a bit weird when I look 19, am I right?”

“Definitely. I guess the question is what kind of style do you want to have? There’s nothing wrong with how you look – and it does make you look more mature, which you are. It’s a good look – but if you want to look younger, or more precisely, look and dress your apparent age, I can make some suggestions?”

“I’ll think about it, for sure, Krissie. I’m still working on my sense of style.”

“Cool.”

“I’m going to go hang out in the lounge for a bit.”

“Okay – see you later, Karen. I’m going to call my mom and dad and tell them how my first day on the job went.”

“Awesome. See you at dinner, Krissie.”

“Ditto!”

I quickly checked on Pepsi – and she was napping on my bed, so I left her be. She was a good girl… I left my purse in the room – I wouldn’t need it for anything – and kept my ID lanyard, and headed out to the common room.

The lounge was mostly empty, except for Kumar, doing some studying with the TV set to CP24 rollover news, and Rain, who was doing some reading on a light fantasy novel.

“Hey, guys.” I said. “How was day one of classes?”

“Hi Karen. Pretty good, actually.” Kumar replied.

“Yeah. Its pretty intense though… I think they’re trying to cram as much into us as we can handle… I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with the equivalent of a three year certificate or a degree in police services by the time our training here is done. We were told to expect a lot of homework and self study.”

“I guess I’ll get into that tomorrow, then. Who’s on patrol tomorrow?”

“Jessica, Emile, Rain and myself.” Kumar replied.

“I’m looking forward to it, actually.” Rain said. “We’ll probably learn more at the hands of our drive along officers than we will in the classroom.”

“True – my head is swimming with information after today.”

“We heard you got into a metahuman brawl.”

“What? Wow, gossip travels fast. Yeah, I ran into Rhino and his partner Rocket Raccoon. He’s the one I nicknamed Trash Panda the night of the emergence. He’s trying to rebrand himself, and frankly, I’ll call him whatever he wants – it’s no skin off my nose, as long as he’s not shooting up the place. Krissie and I were able to bring them in, and no one outside the crooks got hurt, although Rocket’s mom’s house is pretty much trashed. I hope it was insured.”

“Sounds messed up.” Rain laughed. “Glad to hear you and Krissie did good.”

“Thanks. Mind if I hang out and watch TV?”

“No – but could you keep the volume down, so I can keep studying?”

“Sure thing, Kumar.”

I sat on the couch, away from Kumar and his books, and watched some of the rollover news for a moment… I saw Krissie and my exploits momentarily mentioned, plus some more talking heads discuss Prime Minister Trudeau’s plans for the Emerged, and Doug Ford’s plan for the Emerged. A few snippets of what was happening world wide played too – and it looked bad. Deciding the news wasn’t really what I wanted to see, I switched the channel to something else – a cooking show I think, and just relaxed a bit.

Today had taken a bit more out of me than I expected – if not physically, then emotionally. I watched TV a bit, and then fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I was being gently shaken awake. “Hey, Karen, it’s time to get up.”

“Huh?” I replied, and saw Ellie, gently shaking me away with her cyberarm. Kumar and Rain were no longer in the lounge, and it was dark outside. “What time is it?”

“It’s just about dinner time. The guys thought they would let you nap, but I didn’t think you’d want to miss dinner. Oh – and Nadine Potter is looking for you – about the tribunal or something.”

“Oh shit! Yeah, I need to speak to her.”

“Ummm… I’m not sure how to ask this politely, so I’ll just spit it out. Did you really kill twelve people?”

I looked down, and nodded. “By accident. When my powers manifested, I damaged the building I was in structurally, and it fell and crushed some people. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did.”

Ellie sat down next to me, and wrapped me in a hug. “Oh shit, honey. That really sucks. Are you going to be okay?”

“I guess.” I replied. “I have a lot of guilt to work out, but all I can do is try harder. I can’t bring them back, and I know it was an accident. I just hope the tribunal saw it the same way. I don’t want to go to jail.”

“You’ll be fine, honey.” Ellie replied, giving me one more squeeze. “She’ll be waiting for you at dinner, so maybe you should go hear it from Ms. Potter.”

“Yeah, good idea. Thanks Ellie.”

“It’s fine, Karen. I don’t know what I would have done in your situation. No one blames you.”

“I know, and I’m glad – but I still kind of blame me. That will take some time to go away, if it ever does. Thanks though, for the kind words of support.”

“Anytime, Karen.”

I got up from the couch, and smoothed my skirt. “I’d better go face the truth. Thanks, Ellie.”

She nodded, and got up to come to the cafeteria as well, and we walked and gossiped about our days.

When we reached the cafeteria, it seemed that everyone was there. I spied Mal sitting with Emile, talking quietly, and Jessica was sitting with Krissie, talking. The others were all scattered in various groups, and Ms. Potter was sitting by herself… As we entered, she waved me over.

“Hi Nadine.”

“Hi, Karen. How are you doing?”

“I’m nervous as hell. Am I going to jail?”

Nadine smiled. “No. The crown attorney and the judge decided it was accidental. You’ve been cleared. You aren’t going to jail, and no charges are being brought against you. You’re all set to join the MRT officially.”

I sighed with relief, some stress I hadn’t even realized I was carrying leaving me. “Thank god.” I replied. “I was worried sick about how that was going to turn out.”

“I realize that, but you’re fine, Karen.”

“Thanks, Nadine. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Karen.” She replied. “Now, go get some dinner – Jimmy has an announcement when we’re all done.”

“Is it those clothes? I desperately need them.”

Nadine chuckled. “I don’t know – he wouldn’t tell me.”

I nodded, and went to grab some dinner. Tonight was Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans, with a bowl of green jello and a piece of lemon meringue pie for desert. I grabbed a half pint of 2% milk and a can of diet coke as well, and went to sit with Emile and Mal.

“Hey, gentlemen. How goes the war?”

“Good.” Emile replied. “But its going to take several days – maybe even a week or two to gather the evidence we’ll need.”

“Gotcha.” I replied, realizing he meant the problem about Nadine and her family’s safety. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Not yet. I was talking some tactics with Mal – but I think right now we mostly need detective work. You and Mal will be needed later.”

“Still going with non lethal, I hope.”

“For the moment.” Mal replied. “I promised you we would try it your way.”

“Thank you, Mal.”

“To be honest, if we can do this without killing anyone, I’d be happier too.” Emile replied. “I just don’t know if the universe will be kind enough to allow it.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it.” Mal replied.

“Changing the topic,” I began. “I just found out that I’ve been cleared for the accident on the day of the emergence. I’m not going to jail – they aren’t pressing charges.”

“Awesome!” Emile replied

“Yeah, that’s great Karen.” Mal said too. “I’m sure that’s a lot of weight off of your shoulders.”

“It totally is. I feel bad it happened, but I’m so relieved that I’m not going to jail. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life making up for what happened that day, honestly. If I could take that day back and save them, I would – but I don’t know how. All I can do is move forward.”

Mal just reached out and squeezed my hand in support, and I smiled my thanks back at him.

For a while we just sat and ate, and Emile and Mal talked about their day in class. It sounded pretty interesting, but I think my day was better.

Eventually, as we all finished our dinner, Jimmy stood up on a table to be better seen, and addressed us all.

“Attention, everyone!” Jimmy began. “I have an announcement! I have cracked the clothing problem, and as of tomorrow morning, I will be able to make clothing or costumes that can withstand shredding and tearing, are fire resistant, acid resistant, cold resistant, don’t go transparent when wet, and change with you if you have the ability to stretch, morph or transform. I still need to patent it – but anyone who needs something right away, come see me after dinner, and I’ll get working on it. Oh – and Emile? I have some more gadgets for you to test too.”

“Awesome!”

“Hey, Karen!” Dom called out. “Maybe now you can finish a brawl with some clothes on!”

“That’s the plan!” I called back. “I’ll need something to wear, stat, Jimmy.”

“I’ve got some stuff being worked on, Karen. I’ll show you tomorrow.”

“Awesome!” I laughed. Maybe I could finish a shift with all my clothes intact now?

Everyone shared a laugh, and I left dinner feeling like today was turning out to be a pretty good day. Sweet!