Giving a Hand

“Superhero’s are strange creatures. They are often willing to try to talk down the worst of offenders and willing to accept a heel to face turn by a villain if not with trust, then at least tolerance.

These same people will get into knock down, drag out grudges with other heroes, over something as simple as stealing a sandwich. “

“Lord, I still get paperwork about that mess, sometimes.”

Special Agent Lillian Grant, “Grudge Matches, Heroes and their ‘Arch enemies’”

"I mean, I know he'll probably resist doing that for as long as he can, but eventually the mess will irritate him." Z admitted.

“I know, I hope your mom has enough fun for me to extend it to four weeks, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And what is the use of wealth if you can’t find ways to be passive aggressive.

"Honey, you're from the Nineteen Forties. The primary weapon women deployed in that time was passive aggression." Penny said with a smirk.

“Well yes, but I do my best to rarely indulge in it. Mm… Zoya, would you like to go to Hawaii . Two weeks to spend some alone bonding time with your mother, an early birthday gift.”

"I'm kind of helping with the thing, though."

“Oh, you have two weeks to deal with that dear. I’m not sending you until she’s had some alone time.”

"Oh, that's fair... The others are thinking of getting the cape version of "Fast and the Furious." Thud and Mercedes have both started growling "Family" at random intervals."

“Well family is important, but I think it’s a reference I’m not getting.” Solaris said with a shrug. I wonder when Nahoa was home last… his mom is there. I’ll send him with you, so you don’t fly alone.”

"It's a movie series. We'll start watching it later. It'll appeal to your gearhead nature."

“We’ll queue it up for Friday movie night”. Solaris said as Mercedes and Amzy came with boxes of Mercedes’s stuff.

Qilin pulled around the building in his car, parking a bit more... conventionally than the last time. He climbed out of the car and came to the bay door. Inside he saw four identical cars, recent model chargers if he was recognizing them correctly, all in some state of reassembly. A robot of some sort was stripping every part off one of two partially stripped frames, cleaning them in a parts washer and shelving them in very clearly labeled bins. His daughter was one of them and working a wrench along with the rest. He was privately impressed; he hadn't known she had any interest in mechanics.

Solaris was sitting on one side looking over properties for her new gym. She looked up at him, and stood running a smoothing hand over her jeans, “Hello Qilin.” She said walking towards him.

"Solaris. It seems they are being quite industrious." He frowned, seeing a green lightbar being installed. "And perhaps presumptuous. I'm assuming the children are considering chasing the car thieves."

“They are rather motivated, to catch the people they were accused of being.”

"Yes, I suppose that would be irritating. And motivating." he shook his head. "Still, the Unmatched are already pursuing the issue, if having tracked a false lead."

“We will see what happens, it never hurts to have more people looking.” She said.

"Considering everything, I will certainly admit they have a right to try. And, if nothing else, I must give them sincere points for preparation. I take it that there are no speedsters in the group."

“No, not currently. But between their own skills and what they’ve ordered from my Tailor, they should be good.”

"Oh lord, my daughter has met a Tailor. At least seven of my nightmares have come true." He sighed. "At least it's our side of the fence. Some of the dark tailors out there... its terrifying."

“I’ll have to talk to the keeper; Tailors are supposed to be neutral. But yes, I had her fitted and explained the protocols of working with a Tailor.”

"Yeah, supposed to be." He shook his head. "You know how it is; someone always has to eat the apple in the garden. There have been shadow conflicts between the bulk of the Tailor community and the darker members of their community due to the dark ones playing with the Red Capes."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“What is a red cape? I am not familiar with the term?”

"It means a cape soaked in blood." Marcus answered for him, stepping out of the garage. "The real psychos. Even Chimera doesn't rate that status, he's more in the Kaiju category. The 'first' red cape is what, Mengele?"

"No." Qilin shook his head. "Unholy as he was, he had a reason. Red Capes are those who seek body count above even their stated goals. Serial killers, psychopaths. Jack The Ripper with super powers."

“Hmm.” She opened her note app. Talk to keeper about red cape issues, might want to hold switchboard. “Thank you, I'll have to investigate that. Marcus, can you Call Levi over?”

"Sure" He stepped back in, tapping Levi on the shoulder to get his attention and gesturing him over towards the door. Levi frowned, nodded, and began wiping his hands off with a rag as he walked over. "Yeah?"

Solaris gave Qilin a look that any schoolteacher would be proud of. “This is Qilin.”

"I recognize him." Levi said, the native Texan coming out in his voice.

"Yes. I owe you an apology. As I told your Mentor, while I felt like I had a reason at the time, it turned out I was being... reckless... and you suffered the pain for my error. I sincerely apologize for the injury I did to you, and the assumption I jumped to."

Levi nodded, listening. Then he looked at Qilin's car. "The hood. your tech didn't replace it with carbon fiber?" he asked, looking more closely at the supped-up luxury sedan.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you can bleed off pounds of weight, get lots of acceleration out of some carbon fiber replacements, particularly the hood and trunk." Levi set his hand on the hood of the car, and the smell of burning paint and hot metal filled the air. When his hand lifted, a handprint was half melted into the hood of the car.

He walked by the shocked looking Qilin, and said "Bring it by in a week or two. We'll put some carbon fiber on there, get you some more weight savings. You'll love the performance boost. For now, we're busy but thanks for the apology. Consider it accepted."

Solaris smirked, “That was well said Levi. Can you ask Z if she wants to come out, let her know it’s her choice.”

"I'm here." she said, appearing to the two adults suddenly. Levi rolled his eyes as he continued in. "What can I do for you, Ms. Summers?"

Solaris shook her head. “I am so glad I’m used to speedsters doing that.” She said fondly, patting the girl on the shoulder. “Do be careful who you do that to love, or someone is going to accidentally punt you.” Her eyes went back to the girl’s father.

"Daughter, it seems you've found an interesting activity to occupy your time with." He spoke. "I had no idea you had any interest in automobiles to this degree."

“Levi and Erica have been showing me stuff so I can do maintenance on my Aztec. It broke down while I was doing a delivery out here. They brought me on as a shop gopher.”

"I admit, I was surprised to find out you purchased a car... particularly an Aztek, but it is good you are learning to maintain it." He agreed. Then with a sigh. "And I owe you an apology. I allowed... old issues to make me jump to a false conclusion. While I will point out that you make it hard to communicate with you, I failed to try as hard as I could have, and that is firmly on me. You were innocent, and I should have given you the opportunity to defend yourself, verbally, before assuming you were in the wrong."

She looked at Solaris, who nodded, keeping one hand on her shoulder letting her know she was safe. “Father, all I wanted was your attention, I went about that the wrong way, but the right way did not work. Perfect grades, sports, piano. I tried them all to get your attention, only when I broke the rules did you really look at me. Then you betrayed me, sent me away. To a place where I was beaten, robbed and mocked and tortured. After that you only supposed the worst of me, and I had no reason to be more. I hope one day I will be able to forgive you. But today is not that day. Solaris has offered me a job, and a place to stay. Mother has given her permission for me to stay here, and I want to see who I want to be without striving for your approval.”

"I have not been a perfect father, Zoya, but I am wise enough to realize your mother is smarter than I. I will not interfere with what you are doing now, While the GED was not a preferred choice, it was a responsible choice, and you will be a legal adult soon. Our relationship has not been easy, but I will not risk destroying it now." he sighed. "I can't truly apologize for many of my decisions... you know what I do, and the lives that have been in the balance, but I could have chosen differently when you were younger and, perhaps I should have. Marcus's father was willing to give you a scare, and I pushed the issue further than I even intended. For that, I am sorry."

“The problem with that apology is I don’t believe it. You are sorry that I got hurt, you are sorry it hurt our relationship. You are not sorry about what you did, because you must be right. Nothing short of perfection is acceptable, the fact my boss had to shame you into apologizing says everything to me.” She took a deep breath, "I am not perfect, I hate piano, and for now I’m going to work on accepting that, with peers who have shown me more affection than you have in years.”

He watched her walk off, pissed. And sighed. "I actually did mean that." He said to Solaris. "Though I understand why she doesn't believe I did." He managed not to mention his wife pushing the piano. He wanted her to learn violin.

“If you are ready to listen. Give her some time to be less angry, you both need space to heal, and figure out what kind of relationship you can have. I will keep her as safe as I can and help her figure out how to be an adult she can be proud of.”

"That is fair advice. Now, I shall take my... formerly new car... and return to the task at hand. Wish the young one’s luck for me, if they manage to catch the thieves first it will be quite a first feather in their cap. Are you intending to be directly involved as well?"

“No, not unless they need me. This is their hunt. I wouldn’t insult them by sticking my nose in any more than I must. Fledglings can’t learn to fly if they never use their wings.”

"I was mostly just curious." He chuckled. "Meaning you'll be floating above just in case, and that does bring me a bit of comfort. I may be a poor father in some ways, but I don't want her hurt, or Marcus for that matter. Or the rest, but this is the world we live in."

Solaris nodded. “It is. But it is our job to make sure they have the tools they need to not only survive but thrive. And I have faith in them.”

"Well, they certainly have tools." He acknowledged, "Have a good day." He climbed into the car, and pulled back out, wondering absently if he should come back to get that new hood, or not. He was tempted to come just to see if the boy would do it. The handprint was going to drive several of his teammates crazy when he refused to explain it."