A dying man is given a second chance. This story is a fan fiction that takes place in the Whateley Universe.

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It was strange to wake up on in the middle of a super villain’s lair, but not really much stranger than anything else that had happened to me lately. In fact, it almost seemed like every time I woke up, I found myself in a different place.

“Better than the hospital,” I reminded myself, thinking of the real hospital rather than the Clinic.

My internal clock told me it was just after 7AM, which meant that I’d had a full night sleep of four hours. I chuckled faintly as I thought of the fact that I now considered a mere four hours to be a full night sleep. And considering what time I usually woke up, this was really getting up late too.

I was fully aware that Rachael hadn’t gone to bed last night, a fact that I knew since I’d not only used the only bed I’d seen, but because I’d heard her moving around and working on things the entire night. I had no idea how she was able to keep going on so little sleep, but from what she’d said about her insomnia, she was well used to it.

After I got up, I noted that my dress was gone, having dissolved and faded away while I was asleep. I’d created it yesterday morning around this time, so that was no surprise at all, nor was it a problem. With only a little concentration, I was suddenly wearing a black silk bathrobe. And as an afterthought, I created a pair of slippers, though they were more like cotton socks on my feet, not thick enough to protect the bottoms of my feet if I stepped on anything sharp. But since my body was pretty tough, the slippers were more to keep my feet clean than anything else.

I followed the sound in the distance until I found Rachael, who was busy working on a machine that looked like a gold metal beach ball. To my surprise, I saw a gold metal tiara on her forehead along with the bracer on her arm. She glanced at me and nodded faintly in acknowledgment but didn’t say a word about why she was wearing the device when last night she’d firmly insisted she couldn’t.

“Where did you get that robe?” Rachael finally asked, giving me a curious look.

“Did you want one?” I asked pleasantly, holding my hand out and making a new robe appear, one about the right size for my daughter. “It will only last a day though.”

Rachael looked only vaguely surprised, commenting, “So you can summon more than just ribbons.”

I nodded at that, then joked, “Since I can’t work on cars anymore, I’ve taken up sewing as a hobby.”

Rachael nodded at that, then abruptly asked, “Do you want breakfast?” But before I could even answer, she was already starting towards the area she’d set aside as her kitchen.

A couple minutes later, Rachael poured two cups of coffee, and when I took a sip of mine, I was suddenly thankful that I had an exemplar constitution. This was the strongest and nastiest coffee I’d ever had, and I’d had some pretty bad stuff over the years. However, she didn’t show any signs of being bothered by it. Then again, considering her sleep habits, she probably lived off this stuff.

After this, Rachael made breakfast, if it could be called that. She nuked up a bunch of cheap microwave sausages and then made up two bowls of what looked like green mush. I poked at the mush with my spoon, wondering if it was about to start moving.

“Protein, carbs, and all the vitamins and nutrients required for the day,” Rachael said as she ate hers. “Very efficient.”

I took a bite, thankful that it tasted better than it looked…though not by much. In fact, it was so bland and tasteless that I might as well have been eating soggy cardboard.

“When was the last time you had a good meal?” I asked Rachael. “I mean, the last time you had a good home cooked dinner?”

She hesitated a moment, then admitted, “I don’t remember.” Then she scowled and said, “I’m too busy to waste time cooking when I don’t need to.” She sounded just a little defensive as she said that.

We ate in near silence, and it was definitely a little awkward. It was obvious that Rachael didn’t have a lot of company or get out and socialize much. Then again, I couldn’t imagine that it would be easy to relax and be friendly with a bunch of super villains. Still, in spite of her odd behavior, she did seem somewhat happy to have me there. After all, she’d taken a break from her invention in order to eat with me, and I had a feeling she didn’t stop working very often. Then it dawned on me. She was lonely.

I felt another wave of sadness as I thought about the way Rachael was living. It was obvious that she needed help but was too stubborn to ask for it…and probably even to accept it. She’d always been a bit stubborn, a trait I was sure she’d inherited from her mother.

Once we finished eating, I went to go clean up, only to find that she only had a small shower, which would have been more than large enough for me to use. Still, one look at that was enough to make me immediately miss a nice large tub filled with bubbles. After a few minutes of consideration, I decided to just do a sponge bath so I wouldn’t have to worry about drying my hair. For all I knew, her hair dryer might have a chance of making all your hair fall out, and I didn’t want to risk anything like that.

I cleaned up as quickly as I could and then got dressed, this time creating a nice black dress with a slightly different cut than I’d used before. Once I’d decorated myself up with a few bows and ribbons, I went to go check on Rachael.

Rachael took one look and me, smiling faintly and shaking her head. “I still can’t believe that’s you, Daddy,” she told me with a chuckle. “I mean, it’s hard enough seeing you as a little girl, but dressing like that… I never would have imagined you’d EVER wear something like that of your own free will.”

“Things change,” I reminded her with a forced smile, thinking about just how much things had changed for her and how few of them had been good.

Rachael nodded at that and came closer, staring at me thoughtfully before she reached out and touched my skull shaped hair clip. “You know,” she teased me, “this kind decoration is fairly common in my business…though usually not on a hair clip. Are you sure you’re not going into the business?”

“Pretty sure,” I responded, glad to see that Rachael seemed to be in a good mood at the moment.

“Things change,” she pointed out with a faint smile as she repeated my own comment. Then her expression turned serious and she said, “I haven’t heard anything back from my contacts yet, so we’ll have to keep waiting for now.”

I nodded at that, even as I clenched my fists in frustration. I REALLY wanted to just punch something to let loose a little steam, and before I’d turned into a pint sized powerhouse, I probably would have. Now, I was trying hard not to act on these impulses, but it wasn’t easy. I’d never been known as a bastion of calm and self-control, though with my new powers, that might have to change.

“You’re wearing that thing you made,” I said, gesturing to the metal bracer on Rachael’s arm and trying to distract myself.

“I…worked on one of the flaws last night,” she answered after a moment. “I built in a force field generator that should kick in when I get paralyzed. That way, I won’t be completely vulnerable.”

“That’s good to hear,” I responded, not sure what else I could say to that. I knew that even with this addition to protect herself, getting paralyzed at all during the wrong moment could still be very dangerous for her. She was putting herself at great risk in order to avoid losing control again.

“Unfortunately,” she commented as she walked over to one of her work benches. “Air won’t pass through it, so I can’t be targeted with poison gas, but that means if I’m in it for too long, I’ll suffocate.” She said this in a casual tone, as though this wasn’t a big deal.

I blinked at that, then asked, “Can’t you get an air tank or something…?”

“When I get time,” she agreed almost absently.

A moment later, Rachael picked something off the work bench and handed it to me. It was a metal remote control, though it only had two buttons on it. One of them was labeled with a lightning bolt and the other was labeled with a circle. I gave her a curious look.

“If I drick out while facing the Marquis,” she told me with a grim look. “If I freeze up but there isn’t anyone else at risk…you can end my paralysis so I can fight him.”

“And the other button?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“You can deactivate my force field,” she answered.

I stared at Rachael for a moment, realizing just how much trust she’d placed in my hands. With this simple remote, I could release her while she was wild and out of control, letting her hurt or kill innocent people, or I could leave her paralyzed, without anything at all to protect her from danger. And since I’d once betrayed her and turned her in to the police, this show of trust was especially potent.

“I’ll just have to be careful not to have an episode at the wrong time,” Rachael told me with a faint smile. “It would be quite awkward to get paralyzed while out driving. But you know what they say…don’t drick and drive.” She chuckled as if that was an old joke, but for all I knew, it might very well be a common joke among the Diedricks crowd.

Rachael continued to fiddle with various inventions for the next couple hours, while I stood close by, watching and occasionally talking. It was strange being so close to her after such a long time, especially considering everything that had happened. However, in spite of everything that had happened, it was nice to see my daughter again and spend time with her.

When I was talking to her, some of her words and expressions gave me a good look at the hard and dangerous woman she’d become, and that woman scared me a little. But at the same time, I also kept seeing glimpses of the little girl she used to be. She was lost and lonely, but deep down, she was still the same girl who used to squeal in delight whenever I gave her a piggy back ride. I was pretty sure that I was the only person she’d allowed to see that part of herself in a very long time.

Rachael kept taking breaks from her work to see if any of her contacts had gotten back to her yet, and I could see her slowly growing more tense and frustrated. I watched nervously, knowing that she was on a downward spiral and that her worry about Rich was going to trigger an episode soon. I wasn’t sure how bad the episode would have to be before it triggered her new device, but I didn’t want to risk her getting anywhere near that bad.

“There isn’t anything more you can do right now,” I told her, trying to calm her down though I felt the same way myself. “You can’t help Rich if you go off into an episode.”

“You’re right,” Rachael admitted with a scowl. “But I have to do something.”

I hesitated a moment, then put my hand on hers and gently reminded her, “We aren’t the only ones who are worried about Rich. I think…I think that maybe you can help make them feel better in the meantime.”

“What do you mean?” Rachael asked, giving me a suspicious look.

It was nearly two hours later when I finally returned home. As soon as I stepped through the door of the house, I called out, “Honey, I’m home.” Doing so in the voice of a little girl really just didn’t have the right effect.

Melanie came rushing into the living room, crying out, “Alyss…” She threw her arms around me in a tight hug, not having to worry about squeezing me too tightly. “I was so worried… You said you were probably going to be home late last night, but I wasn’t expecting you to be gone all night…”

“Sorry about that,” I told her with a faint smile. “I got caught up in something and forgot to give you a heads up…”

Kaylie and Kimberly came into the room, with Kimberly rushing over to give me a hug too. “I’m glad you’re back,” she told me, then gave me a stern look and said, “And don’t you worry me again.” She looked so much like her mother at that moment that I couldn’t resist laughing.

“Did you find uncle Rich?” Kaylie demanded with a hopeful look.

I shook my head at that, then carefully said, “No…but I did find someone else. Someone who can help.”

Melanie gave me a look of surprise, then asked, “You found one of those super heroes?”

“Not exactly,” I started.

But then, a voice announced from the door behind me, “I wouldn’t exactly call me a hero.”

Rachael stepped into the house, wearing civilian clothes that looked like they hadn’t seen a lot of use. She still had on the golden tiara and arm bracer, which along with her sharp teeth, made it difficult for her to look like a civilian no matter how else she was dressed. She looked around nervously, and her body language suggested that she was almost ready to run right back out the door.

Melanie stared at her sister, her eyes going wide in disbelief and amazement. “Rachael?”

“Hi, Mel,” Rachael greeted her with a nervous smile. “It’s been awhile.”

For a moment, Melanie just stood there as if too stunned to move. Then she slowly moved closer to Rachael, staring her in the face. Without warning, Melanie suddenly slapped Rachel across the face.

“Don’t do that,” Rachael warned her.

“Why?” Melanie demanded angrily. “It’s going to make you flip out and kill us all?”

“No,” Rachael responded with a forced smile. “Because it hurts.”

Then Melanie lunged at Rachael again, but instead of hitting her, she grabbed her in a tight hug. My daughters hugged each other in silence for nearly a minute before they pulled apart, and when they did, both of them were teary eyed.

“Eight years,” Melanie finally said. “It’s been eight years. Where were you?”

“Keeping away from you and your family,” Rachael answered grimly. “I couldn’t put you in danger…”

“But you can now?” Melanie asked suspiciously.

Rachael glanced to me and absently ran a hand over her metal bracer. “I’ve taken precautions to protect you from me.”

“Who is this?” Kaylie demanded, staring at Rachael suspiciously.

Melanie turned to her daughter and hesitated a moment before answering, “This is your Aunt Rachael.”

“Aunt Rachael?” Kaylie asked nervously.

Rachael tried giving the girls a gentle smile, though it didn’t quite come out that way. “Hi,” she started, though Kimberly immediately hid behind Melanie. Rachael looked a little hurt by that.

“Are you really my aunt?” Kaylie demanded, still looking nervous but also defiant.

Rachael nodded at that, giving her another smile, this time with her lips closed. “You probably don’t remember me,” she told Kaylie. “You were pretty young the last time I saw you.” Then she looked at Kimberly, who was carefully peeking out from behind her Mom. “And this is the first time I’ve ever seen you.”

Melanie continued to stare at her, finally asking, “You’re here because of Rich?”

“I’m going to get him back,” Rachael stated firmly.

“You’re gonna save Uncle Rich?” Kimberly asked, coming out of hiding at that and looking hopeful.

“You’d better believe it,” Rachael responded, her look of determination making it clear that she wouldn’t accept any alternative. I fully agreed.

“I thought the whole family needed to be here for this,” I said, looking to Rachael.

Melanie stared at me with a look of relief and gratitude, saying, “Thank you so much for finding her… But how…?”

I grinned mischieviously as I answered, “I just asked a few villains where I could find her.”

Rachael gave me a curious look, then mused, “I was wondering how you tracked me down. I thought it must have been part of your powers.”

I chuckled at that, remembering the way Frogger had been hanging upside down from the fire escape. “Indirectly.”

“Can I get you something to drink?” Melanie asked Rachael abruptly.

“Nothing alcoholic,” Rachael told her with a faint nod. “I have to be ready to go as soon as I hear back from my contacts.”

A few minutes later, we were all sitting down in the living room. Rachael had a cup of coffee in hand while Melanie and the girls both sipped cranberry juice. I had a beer, though it had been poured into a plastic cup so that it wasn’t so obvious to the girls. Of course, while I was pretending I wasn’t drinking beer, they were pretending not to know that I really was.

I sat back and watched with a smile as Melanie and Rachael caught up, with the girls coming out of their shell and asking her all kind of questions. The only thing that would have made this better was if Rich was here with us to enjoy the reunion as well. As it was, his situation was on all our minds.

“What’s it like being a super villain?” Kaylie asked Rachael curiously.

Rachael hesitated at that, then answered, “I wouldn’t recommend it as a career.”

“Crime doesn’t pay,” Melanie told her daughter, giving Rachael a glare as if Rachael had been trying to temp the girl into following her path.

“Actually,” Rachael responded with a faint smile. “It can pay very well.” Melanie glared at her again, but Rachael acted as though she didn’t notice it as she continued, “However, there are a LOT of downsides.”

“Like what?” Kaylie asked.

“For one,” Rachael told her, “it’s very dangerous. Most people in my business either don’t live until retirement…or they spend it behind bars. We can’t do a lot of things that most people take for granted, at least not without taking a big risk. And of course, we can’t have friends or family because they might be used against us…” She glanced to me at that, then quietly added, “Or get hurt.”

Kaylie’s eyes went wide with a look of horror. “Then why’d you become a villain?”

Rachael frowned at that, looking sad and not sure how to respond. Melanie gave Rachael a sympathetic look, then explained, “Your Aunt Rachael is sick. She has a disease that sometimes makes her do bad things.”

“Poor Aunt Rachael,” Kimberly said, going over and hugging my surprised daughter. Rachael sat there, looking frozen and confused, not sure how to deal with something like that. Then she gently put her arms around Kimberly and began to cry.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Melanie told her. “And whatever happens after this, please promise that you’ll at least keep in contact. If nothing else, it should at least be safe to e-mail…”

“No promises,” Rachael told her with a faint smile. “But I’ll try.”

A short time later, Melanie said, “Mark should be home from work in just a little while…”

“Oh,” Rachael responded, looking just a little tense.

She and Mark hadn’t exactly gotten along well before she’d gone into hiding, due in no small part to his disapproval of her actions and concerns about her being safe for his family to be near. At the same time, she hadn’t been sure he was good enough for her big sister, an opinion I’d shared for some time, though I’d eventually come around. Obviously, Rachael was taking Melanie’s words as a warning that she might want to leave before Mark returned.

To my surprise, Melanie continued, “Will you be staying with us for dinner?” She looked rather excited by the prospect. “Alyss has been helping me in the kitchen lately.”

Rachael’s eyes went wide and she gave me a look of surprise. “You? In the kitchen?”

I shrugged at that, feeling a little self-conscious. “Hey, I can’t live off mac and cheese forever.”

“Oh sure, NOW you agree,” Rachael teased me. “It only took turning into a girl for you to learn to cook.”

“Hey,” I protested, thinking about my mastery of the grill. “I’ve always known how to cook.” Rachael and Melanie shared a doubtful look while I reminded them, “Remember my legendary steaks...?”

Just then, the doorbell began to ring. Kaylie jumped to her feet and exclaimed, “I’ll get it.” However, a few seconds later, she called out awkward, “Um…Alyss… It’s for you…”

I stood up and absently smoothed my dress, wondering who could possibly be here for me. But when I looked towards the door, I was surprised to see Pinnacle stepping through and into the living room.

“Alyss,” Pinnacle started, “I wanted to talk to you about…” Then he froze, his eyes locked firmly on Rachael.

Rachael instantly jumped to her feet, reaching behind her back and then pulling out an energy rifle. I was stunned at that, wondering how in the world she could have possibly had that thing on her without my noticing it. However she’d done it, it was obviously some trick she’d designed. She pointed the weapon directly at Pinnacle, snarling with an expression that was pure Lady Havoc, showing little of the Rachael who’d been there a moment before.

“Lady Havoc,” Pinnacle stated grimly, obviously about to charge at her.

“Asshole,” Rachael responded coldly.

“NOT IN MY HOUSE,” Melanie yelled out with a look of panic.

Rachael and Pinnacle both hesitated at that while Kimberly ducked behind Rachael, hiding behind her the same way she had her mother after Rachael had first arrived. She peeked out from behind Rachael to stare at Pinnacle.

“I thought you didn’t know where she was,” Pinnacle accused me.

“I didn’t,” I responded, annoyed at his suggestion that I was a liar. “I managed to track her down yesterday.”

Pinnacle glanced at me, though he kept most of his attention locked on Rachael. “I came to talk to you about the Marquis,” he said grimly, “to see if you remembered anything about him that the Occultist might have missed. I wasn’t expecting you to be drinking tea with another villain…”

“It wasn’t tea,” Kaylie argued defiantly. Her expression was so much like Melanie’s that I nearly laughed.

“You keep away from my Aunt Rachael,” Kimberly demanded, barely sticking her head out from behind Rachael. Pinnacle looked startled at her reaction.

“Kimmie,” Rachael suggested gently, not taking her eyes from Pinnacle. “Why don’t you and Kaylie go play in the back yard for a bit…?”

“That’s a good idea,” Melanie announced, gathering her daughters and half pushing them towards the back.

I looked back and forth between Pinnacle and Rachael, feeling caught between the two of them. I considered Pinnacle to be something of a friend, though that didn’t come close to being family.

I looked at the hero and told him, “She’s helping me fine the Marquis.”

“He’s intruded in my territory,” Rachael started with a sneer.

Pinnacle just stared at her for a moment, his expression softening just a little. “And I would have thought it was because he had your brother.”

Rachael winced at that, then she snarled, looking more annoyed. After a few seconds, she glanced to Melanie then announced, “I’m not going to fight you here. If you want to fight, let’s take it elsewhere…”

Pinnacle seemed surprised at that, then responded, “That surprisingly reasonable for you.”

“Please don’t fight here,” Melanie begged, looking more than a little worried. She kept glancing at Rachael, as if expecting her to have an episode at any moment. I could see from Rachael’s expression that she was getting close to it, making me wonder just how bad her episode had to be before her failsafe kicked in and paralyzed her.

Just then, there was a beeping sound coming from Rachael, making me groan as I realized her device must be about to trigger. But to my surprise, instead of freezing, she merely reached into her pocket with her free hand and pulled out a cell phone.

“Lady Havoc,” she said into the phone, still not taking her eyes or weapon off Pinnacle. “Yes… Good… Send it to me. Now we’re even.”

“Was that it?” I asked Rachael, feeling a surge of hope and worry at the same time.

Rachael nodded, then announced, “I just found where the Marquis is hiding. We can’t wait long, because he has a teleporter and could move if he gets wind that he’s been blown…”

“Good,” I said with a sigh of relief, at least about finding the Marquis. However, the fact that we were under a time crunch wasn’t good. I hated working under a deadline, because something unexpected always turned up and screwed up whatever you had planned.

“I don’t have time for this,” Rachael said, giving Pinnacle an intense scowl. “I don’t have time to deal with you.”

“Too bad,” Pinnacle responded. “You don’t have a choice.”

“I know where the Marquis is,” Rachael stated, just a little smugly. “And I know some of his weaknesses. Whether you like it or not, I’m your best chance at rescuing your friends.”

“I’m not just letting you walk away,” he warned her with a determined look. “The Marquis might be a monster, but so are you, and you’ve twice the confirmed death toll.”

For a long moment, Rachael just stared at him with a grim expression, then she finally asked, “Then how about we make a deal?”

“I don’t deal with mass murderers,” he responded, giving her a cold glare.

“Oh, I think you’ll like this one,” Rachael told him with a faint smirk. “If you help me rescue my brother…I’ll surrender. I’ll turn myself in.”

“What?” I gasped in surprise, sure that I must have been hearing things.

Rachael had escaped from prison and had spent years avoiding capture, even though she knew this meant she was putting other people at risk. Even though this meant people had died as a result. And though I would have been absolutely delighted to get her off the street so that she couldn’t hurt anyone else, she’d already managed to chain herself. She’d already figured out a way to protect other people from her. Then of course, there was the fact that I’d only just now gotten her back and didn’t want to lose her again. I grimaced, feeling confused by the powerful mix of emotions I felt from her offer.

“I’m getting my brother back,” Rachael told Pinnacle with a look of fierce determination. “Whether I have to go through you…or work with you. Whether I have to lose my own life…or even spend the rest of it behind bars. One way or another, I’m going to save him…and I have a better chance of doing it with your help.”

Pinnacle continued to stare at her but I could see that he was thinking about her offer. How could he not? He’d just been given the opportunity to not only take in two dangerous villains, but also rescue the people who were being held by the Marquis…including some of his friends. This was far too good an offer for him to possibly turn down.

Finally, Pinnacle nodded in reluctant agreement and responded, “Fine. You’ve got a deal.”