"...and then I had a tuna sandwich for lunch and, well you know how they make it on Tuesdays, always so dry."

Hannah laughed, switching the phone to her other ear as she listened to Jake's latest voicemail. He'd only left it five minutes ago but she hadn't been able to wait to listen. Some days she could make it a day before she listened to them. Usually it was a few hours. Her patience had dwindled heavily ever since the article had come out the previous week.

She'd been listening to a voicemail from him then too when she unfurled the newspaper to find his front page article. Silver Shield's face took up center stage under the headline.

Silver Shield: The Guardian of Merifield City

That was the closest she'd come to calling him since she'd seen him. The only thing that had stopped her was a well timed call from Sebastian. His messages were like an addiction now. On the rare occasion he missed a day she didn't sleep. Had something happened? Was he ok? Was this the time he'd finally given up on her?

The radio silence never lasted longer than a day.

Hannah whispered an answering 'I love you' at the end of his message and let the phone go quiet. Her late lunch had lost its appeal. At least there was no one to nag her about not eating enough. She shoved it back into the half empty fridge and draped herself across the couch. It wasn't comfortable in any sense of the word, nothing in the safe house was made with the idea of being a quick place to stash someone, not a long term hotel.

If she stayed here any longer she'd have to redecorate or risk driving herself mad. The bland photo of some old politician smiled at her from a back wall. It didn't matter to her who he was, she'd named him Peter. He was her one constant companion.

"I can feel you judging me,and I don't appreciate it, Peter," she said. Anyone else would have turned the photo around. That was what she had done at the beginning. It only lasted three days before she felt a strange sense of guilt for the inanimate man and turned it back around. "If I order takeout again you have no right to argue with me."

A knock at the door startled her badly enough to make her stumble off the couch. "No one's home," she called.

"Um, pizza... she does like pizza, right?" a voice on the other side of the door said quietly. A second voice answered. "Pizza delivery."

"Because that's not at all suspicious." Hannah rolled off the couch and opened the door a second later. Sebastian and Finn waved as soon as it had swung completely open. "Don't you have phones?"

"You hung up on me the last time I called," Sebastian said. He pushed past her, leaving Finn to say an awkward hello.

"Did you even bring pizza?" she asked.

"Sort of," Finn answered.

Hannah looked at the two frozen pizza boxes in the plastic bag hanging off his first finger. "That isn't pizza. You can take that with you when you leave." They walked in together and past Sebastian lounging on the couch. "Why are you here?"

"Just checking in on you, you're turning into a bit of a hermit," Finn told her.

"Also, there's been some issues in Southside we should look into," Sebastian added.

"There it is. I knew you weren't here for me." Peter looked at her from the wall, so calm and reserved. Hannah considered heating up the pizza just to shove an entire pie across his dumb face. "Isn't there a vigilante down there doing the work?"

"That's another matter we need to discuss. If he isn't going to officially join us then he needs to be stopped. The police are having a field day wrangling him," Sebastian said.
"When did finding wayward vigilantes become our job?" Hannah asked.

"Would you rather only deal with the big things?" Finn countered, dropping into a seat at the counter. "I for one am glad not to be dealing with Rift nearly as much. Solar Flare has been relentless in going after him every time he so much as coughs. Her trainee can't keep up anymore."

"Which is why we've come looking for a new mentor for him," Sebastian explained. He grinned at Hannah pleadingly.

"Absolutely not, I'm in no mood to have someone tagging along on my one woman show of self destruction." Hannah rolled her eyes and sat in one of the arm chairs with her feet curled up under her. "I am on vacation."

"You haven't had a trainee yet Han, it's time," Sebastian said, more sternly. A chip bag crinkled under him as he shifted to the side of the couch. His stare made Hannah squirm in her seat. "You can't hide out here for the rest of your life."

The dining chair's legs scraped against the worn linoleum as Finn stood. He moved to sit on the arm of her chair and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. His eyes had gone inky black, pinpricks of light were scattered across them like stars. "Trust me, I know how hard it can be to come back from something like this. When I first came to earth all I wanted to do was to hide away and wait to be rescued. This planet, this body, sharing my consciousness with Finn, it was terrifying."

"I know you're trying to relate to me, and I truly appreciate the effort, but somehow I don't think the experiences of a space princess trapped in a human body are quite the same," Hannah said gently.

Finn's eyes slowly faded back to his normal hazel irises. The black receded to only his pupils. "The point she was trying to make is that you need to get your ass off the couch."

"Couldn't have said it better myself. Go pack your stuff and we'll give you a ride back to..."

"The apartment I share with the boyfriend who isn't speaking to me?" Hannah finished. The lie caught in her throat for a second. "I'll come back with you but you'll have to drive me back tonight."

"Just stay with Claudia," Finn suggested.

"No, absolutely not. Have you seen her apartment? It's a mess."

Both Finn and Sebastian looked around the filthy living room and then at Hannah.

"Don't." She snapped. "I'll just rent a car when we get there. Take me to Solar's reject."

They crowded into the car with Hannah sprawled across the back seat. Sebastian's squeaky wheeled blue tin box protested most of the ride. The shudders kept Finn in an agitated state. The otherworldly visitor he shared a body with had never fully gotten used to traveling on earth.

"So, what's this kid's power anyway?" Hannah asked.

"His name is Jordan," Sebastian said. He sighed when he saw Hannah's impatient glare in the rearview mirror. "Shielding. It started off as a psychic shielding he wasn't even aware of and grew to physical energy shielding. It's impressive when he can manage full control."

"Why the hell did you pair him with Solar then? Her main strategy is smash and bash," Hannah scoffed.

"We thought he might slow her down," Finn explained, sighing tiredly. "I was also thinking if she started going overboard he could contain her powers."

Hannah nodded. "Makes sense. It's still a stupid plan."

Sebastian pulled over in front of a two story home. "Get your masks on kids, we're here." He glanced up and down the street as he pulled out a phone and secured the elastics of his red mask.

Finn easily positioned the full mask on his face. Stars glittered and moved across its surface to match what the night sky would look like overhead when the sun went down.

Hannah had only just managed to tuck the last of her messy mop of red hair under the platinum wig when the car door opened. She was seriously out of practice. Quick changes wouldn't be happening for a while at this rate.

A young man slid into the passenger's back seat. His black and white striped hood was pulled down far over his head. He pushed it back leaving only a pale blue mask to cover his upper face. Mask was a strong term for it. The thin piece of dishcloth had two eye slits cut into it and tied in a loose knot in the back.

"I can't believe you really got her to come," Jordan said excitedly as he looked at Silver Shield. "You don't know how much I appreciate you taking me on as a sidekick. I trained so hard with Ms. Flare and I just know I'll knock your socks clean off." He looked down at her feet and laughed. "Sandals! I'm already nailing it."

Silver Shield's smile got thinner and thinner until her mouth threatened to disappear entirely. "Great."