There were times when Julie loved her power and just how versatile it could be. No matter what the problem was, she could usually call on the right person to help her out. If her car broke, she could channel a mechanic. If she got locked out of her apartment, she could channel a locksmith…or a professional thief. And when she ran into serious trouble, she could channel a superhero, and occasionally, even a supervillain who was looking for a little redemption or revenge.

Of course, there were other times when Julie hated her powers. Due to the nature of her abilities, she was a professional damsel in distress. Whenever there was a problem, she had to call someone else for help. She had to rely on other people to fight her battles for her. She might be a superhero, but most of the time, she didn’t really feel like it.

Julie scowled impatiently, or at least, she would have if she wasn’t just a passenger in her own body. At that moment, Vesper was the one in the driver’s seat, controlling her body and talking with her assigned team. She couldn’t help but feeling a little jealous of Vesper because of that, and because she and Red Blade had been the ones to fulfill her mission, rather than her.

At the same time, Julie was straining under Vesper’s presence, and could easily have let her go at any time since their mission had been completed. However, instead of reclaiming control of her own body, Julie struggled to keep Vesper there for just a little longer. Vesper deserved this chance to say goodbye, as did Legacy.

“Everett,” Vesper cried, her tears coming from Julie’s eyes. She had just learned everything that her former teammate and friend had been through, and it broke her heart. Julie could feel the powerful emotions. “I’m so sorry…”

“No,” Legacy shook her own head. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault I died,” Vesper assured Legacy. “Nor is it your fault that you’re in my body. You never should have had to carry the burdens of the entire team…”

Julie felt awkward for being caught in the middle of such a personal moment between Legacy and Vesper, and she felt bad for having to interrupt it. “I can’t keep you here for much longer,” she warned Vesper, communicating mentally through the connection that allowed the other woman to borrow her body. “Maybe another minute at most…”

Vesper nodded their head, then gave an apologetic smile to Legacy. “I’m afraid, I have to go. Channel says that my time is up…”

Legacy scowled, “Tell her that we need more time…”

This time, Vesper shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. I think that Channel has given me as much time as she possibly could. She’s exhausted from pushing her powers…”

“Amelia,” Legacy whispered, tears still running down her cheeks.

Vesper gently reached out to touch Legacy’s cheek, smiling sadly. “I guess, you’re sort of like my sister now. It’s strange, but I kind of like the idea… I already thought of you as family, so I guess this makes it more official.”

“I...I’m glad I got to talk to you again,” Legacy quietly told her.

“Me too,” Vesper agreed. “I’m proud of you…and I know the others would be too.” With that, she leaned forward and gave Legacy a gentle kiss on the forehead.

Legacy choked up but managed to whisper, “Goodbye,” right before Vesper faded back to where she’d come.

Channel blinked her eyes as she took control over her body again, then quickly stepped back, blushing self-consciously. “That took a lot out of me,” she admitted, more to cover the awkwardness than for anything else. “Channeling two spirits back to back, and holding them for so long…”

“Thank you,” Legacy told her as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She shifted position, then winced in pain, grabbing at her leg again.

“Hold still,” Lady Knight warned her. Julie looked at Lady Knight, who had just finished tying a cloth arm sling for Kaboom.

Julie looked at Legacy’s injured leg, which according to Lady Knight, was broken. “I’d channel a doctor or something, if I wasn’t wiped out…”

“You’ve already helped a lot,” Legacy told her with a faint smile. “More than you can know.”

“You’ll probably have some hellacious bruising to go with that broken leg,” Lady Knight said as she crouched down beside Legacy. “But you don’t have a compound fracture, so that’s good. Sit still and I’ll get a splint on it…”

Julie watched as Lady Knight ran off, coming back a couple minutes with two short lengths of rebar and a bunch of cloth. She quickly put a splint on Legacy’s leg, clearly knowing what she was doing. Then again, Lady Knight had grown up among a family of superheroes, so she’d probably been trained in first aid and emergency medical care, just in case.

“That should do it for now,” Lady Knight said. “You’ll just need to keep off your leg.” She hesitated a moment, then asked, “How are we going to get back?”

Legacy grimaced in pain and gestured at her leg. “I can’t walk back through the Empty like this…”

“Can you fly back?” Julie asked.

Legacy shook her head. “My telekinesis is pretty much tapped out, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t focus enough to use it that well anyway.”

“Damn,” Kaboom exclaimed, looking around with a worried expression. “If Loki comes back, none of us are in any real shape to keep fighting her…”

“I doubt Loki will come back,” Legacy stated grimly. “More likely, he…she…will start causing trouble somewhere else.”

“You know her best,” Channel admitted.

“Once all the obelisks are gone,” Lady Knight pointed out, “the cavalry will come rushing in, and will deal with Loki and the others.” She smirked faintly before adding, “I imagine my family will probably target Force. We still owe him a good beat down.” Then she glanced to Legacy and added, “Then again, Dad will want to hit Loki…HARD.”

“Either way,” Channel said, looking at the others, especially at Legacy and Kaboom, “we’ll need to get you some real medical attention.”

Lady Knight slowly looked around with a strange expression on her face, as though she was trying to listen for something. “There,” she finally announced, pointing down one of the ruined and empty streets. “There’s a doctor down there…”

“Are you sure?” Kaboom asked, giving her a suspicious look.

Lady Knight just shrugged. “It’s a vague sense, but it’s all we have.”

A short time later, they found the materials the make a stretcher and placed Legacy on it. Then, they started carrying Legacy in the direction that Lady Knight indicated. Kaboom only had one good hand, but she was a lot stronger than she looked, so was still able to help with the stretcher.

As Julie helped carry the stretcher, she carefully watched her surroundings for any signs of danger, though she kept sneaking glances at her companions as well. It was hard to believe that all three of them used to be guys. Lady Knight, not only had ‘Lady’ in her name, but her hair and part of her costume were also pink. Julie had a hard time imagining a guy who would willingly use that codename or wear that much pink, unless he was gay. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Unfortunately, she didn’t know Lady Knight well enough to feel comfortable asking her.

After the conversation between Legacy and Vesper, Julie already knew much of Legacy’s story. It was quite a tragic one, so it was no wonder why Legacy had been so intense, and why she’d reacted so personally towards Loki. But strangely enough, much of Legacy’s intensity had faded away. She was quite subdued, and obviously not only from her injury.

And then, there was Kaboom. Julie didn’t know much about Kaboom or how she’d become a woman, but it was easy to believe she used to be a guy. Now that Julie was paying attention, she realized that Kaboom behaved something like a typical jock, and she even reminded Julie a great deal of her teammate Chrome.

“When I get back,” Julie mused. “I’m going to have a lot of questions for Glamour Girl…” She felt just a little offended that Glamour Girl had kept something as important, as the fact that she was really a guy, from her own teammates and friends.

“What was that?” Lady Knight asked.

Julie blushed a little at having been caught talking to herself. “I was just curious about you all… I mean, I had no idea there were so many heroes with the whole gender thing…”

“Me either,” Lady Knight admitted wryly. “I mean, I knew about Legacy…” She nodded towards the woman on the stretcher since her hands were both holding it. “And of course, I knew about Hardshell, since her change is kind of an open secret in the community. But everyone else…”

Legacy looked over at Lady Knight and asked, “You’re Joshua, aren’t you?”

“I was,” Lady Knight admitted self-consciously. “Needless to say, I don’t use that name anymore…”

“Will…your dad talked about you a few times,” Legacy explained with a sigh. “Back when he was with the Seven…”

“I knew about Counterweight,” Kaboom added, not to be left out of the conversation. “And I knew a villain who was intentionally trying to change…” She shook her head and chuckled. “Actually, she’s the whole reason I got changed.”

Julie gave Kaboom a curious look, definitely wanting to know more. However, instead of asking about that, she instead asked, “How much further. We’ve been going for over three blocks…”

“We’re almost there,” Lady Knight answered.

At that, Legacy looked at Julie and cautiously asked, “Channel… Do you think that you could bring Vesper back again sometime? So I can talk to her…”

Julie winced a little at the request, as she did nearly every time someone asked her to channel one of their loved ones for them. She hesitated a few seconds. “My powers don’t work that way,” she finally said, giving Legacy an apologetic look. “I can’t call up a specific person. All I can do is ask for help dealing with a situation. Most of the time, someone with a reason to help, or some kind of unfinished business offers to help. Sometimes, no one does. I can’t control who hears my call, and I rarely get the same person a second time.”

Legacy gave her a disappointed look but nodded her understanding. “Thanks anyway.”

Lady Knight abruptly stopped, forcing everyone else to do so as well. Then she stared of with a look of concentration before pointing to a nearby building. “There.”

With that, Lady Knight led them to the building, and to a specific business with a sign above the door that proclaimed it a veterinary clinic. “Just what I need,” Legacy grumbled. “A flea dip and some grooming.”

Lady Knight smirked at that. “And here, I thought we were taking you in to get fixed…”

“Really?” Kaboom added. “I thought it was for deworming.”

Legacy winced in pain, then rolled her eyes and muttered, “Assholes.” However, Julie noticed that she was smiling, very faintly.

Kaboom opened the door, then Julie and Lady Knight brought Legacy inside. “Hello,” Julie called out. “Is there a doctor here?”

“Don’t move,” a woman’s voice commanded.

Julie looked at the speaker, who had just stepped through the far doorway and into the waiting room. She was in her mid to late thirties, with dark blonde hair. And of course, she had a gun in her hand that was pointed directly at them.

“We aren’t here to hurt you,” Julie quickly said. “We’re heroes…”

“And our friend needs a doctor,” Lady Knight added, gesturing to Legacy.

“So you came to a vet?” the woman asked suspiciously. She hesitated a moment, then lowered the gun. “Well, you obviously aren’t with the rioters or the infected.”

“Infected?” Kaboom asked with a worried look.

“And fortunately for you, I am a doctor, or at least, I used to be,” the woman said. She stared at them for a moment before letting out a sigh. “My name is Denise Roberts…or Doctor Roberts if you want to get technical. Not that anyone has called me that in years.”

“No offense,” Kaboom said, “but I think she needs a human doctor, not a vet.”

Denise came over and looked down at Legacy. “I’m not a vet,” she said after a moment. “I only stopped here because I was looking for medical supplies, and it seemed like a safe place to rest up for a bit.”

“Sorry,” Kaboom apologized with a shrug.

“Bring her into the back room,” Denise told them, gesturing to the door she’d just come through. “I’ll take a look at her injuries.”

Julie and Lady Knight brought Legacy into the back room, where there was a large metal examination table, that was big enough to treat a great dane. There was plenty of room for Legacy to be stretched out on it.

Denise quickly removed the splint that Lady Knight had made, then looked at the black spandex costume that Legacy was still wearing. Legacy winced in pain, then held out her black metal hand. One of her fingers stretched out, forming a sharp looking blade, which she used to slice down the side of her leg, opening the costume so her leg could be exposed.

After performing a brief examination, Denise told them the same thing that Lady Knight had. “Your leg is broken, and it looks like you have heavy bruising. I can’t do much for your injury beyond what was already done for you, but I do have something that will help with the pain.”

“That’s a lot better than nothing,” Kaboom said, gesturing to her own injured arm. “Do you mind taking a quick look at this too?”

While Denise looked at Kaboom’s arm, she asked, “So, you’re heroes…” She looked at each of them with a wary expression. “Do you know what’s going on with all this?”

“The quick explanation,” Lady Knight said with scowl, “is that a big bad villain put a magic dome over Baltimore, so almost no one can get in or out while he and his people destroy everything.”

“Almost no one?” Denise asked.

“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to get through,” Julie told her. “We managed to get through, but very few people can. We came in to try fixing this.”

“It doesn’t seem that you’re doing a very good job of it so far,” Denise pointed out wryly. Then she hesitated a moment before asking, “Can you get back out?”

“Travel is a little challenging at the moment,” Julie pointed out wryly, nodding to Legacy, “but we do need to get back to our command center on the other side, so we can report in.”

“I’m feeling a little better,” Legacy admitted with a wince. She carefully touched her injured leg, which had been splinted again. “Now, instead of hurting like Hell, it’s mostly numb. If we’re careful, I can probably get us back through the Empty.”

“And you can’t take me with you,” Denise said in resignation. There were several apologetic looks. “Then perhaps, you can deliver a message for me instead.”

“Sure,” Julie answered.

Denise found a piece of paper and wrote down a name and phone number. “When you get out,” she said, “please call my nephew and tell him that my…condition has returned. Tell him that I’ve relapsed, and that I need him here as soon as possible. Assuming you people get rid of that barrier. If you don’t, then things could get even worse inside here, very quickly.”

Julie gave Denise a curious look, wondering what that was about, but accepting the paper. “We’ll make sure to tell him.”

Suddenly, Lady Knight froze, then blurted out, “Ms. Miracle is in trouble…”

“What?” Kaboom asked. “How do you know?”

“Psychic,” Lady Knight reminded her, tapping her forehead. “I don’t know what’s going on, only that Ms. Miracle needs help…”

Julie looked to Legacy, then to Kaboom. Kaboom let out a sigh. “I can help Legacy back to the command center, if you two are up to helping Ms. Miracle.”

“Okay,” Julie said with a sigh as she handed Denise’s note to Kaboom to deliver. “I’ve rested up, and I’m pretty sure I can find someone to help.”