Lore flopped down onto Jack’s couch, after having walked right into his apartment the moment he opened the door, despite his blank look and pajama pants. She had come over right after church, not even bothering to stop by her own place.

“And can you believe it? They kept on insisting that I was working with the Seven, when really they’re clearly only angry and jealous that I have powers and they don’t!” Lore didn’t bother explaining what she was talking about, instead just vocalizing the rants that had been going on in her head all day. “I actually had to defend myself in front of them, explaining why I would never do that, and it was so ridiculous!”

Lore waved her arms around, leaning her head on the back of the sofa and glaring up at the speckled ceiling. “It was so ridiculous. You know what this means? This means – well, I don’t even know what it means, but it’s--”

“Wait, wait. Wait a sec, Lore.” Jack perched himself on one of the arms of the sofa and frowned thoughtfully at her. “You mind backing up a bit? Remember, I don’t live in your head and I’m not quite sure what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Ughhh,” Lore moaned, not really feeling motivated to actually explain the details of that stupid scenario from last night. “Sorry, yeah. Okay, last night I was on patrol. And it was awful out and I really didn’t feel like being out there, but I was being responsible and nice and good, and then the stupid Everymen show up!” Lore sat up, shaking her head and glaring at Jack simply because he was the only person at whom she could glare at the moment.

Jack nodded, rubbing his eyes and encouraging her to go on as he slouched into a proper sitting position on the couch.

“And so, they show up, and Windwalker’s there, and Alpha Soarer, and Bulleto, and Princessnoid, and… I’m forgetting someone.” Lore closed her eyes and flopped her head back on the couch’s squishy back cushion.

“The Shamaness? Jade Boy? Uhh, Transtain?” Jack offered.

“Yeah, Transtain was there, too. So, they’re crowded all around me, and it’s raining like bitches, and then they start talking about how I’m working with the Seven and how I’m awful and horrible.” Lore shook her head. “It was ridiculous, like I said. They kept on calling my powers ‘false’ or something, and I called them on it, and kind of – just went off on them.” Lore winced, opening her eyes and glancing at Jack, who also had a pained expression on his face. “I know, it wasn’t the best decision. But I wasn’t thinking – I couldn’t think. I was just so angry. I didn’t even want to do this, Jack, and now these idiots are attacking me because somehow they think I’m – stealing their identity as heroes?”

Lore moaned again, closing her eyes and covering her face with her hands. “It’s so stupid!”

She felt the cushions shift beneath her, then jerked a little at the strange feeling of Jack awkwardly putting an arm around her. Uncovering her eyes a little, Lore peered up at him. Jack smiled crookedly back, his shrug jostling her slightly. He didn’t say anything, though, and Lore soon returned the smile and leaned slightly on him, as he in turn shifted again in order to take her weight better.

“This might get, you know, dangerous, too,” Lore said a few minutes later. “They didn’t actually attack me or anything, but what if they do? I can’t fight them off, not even one-on-one, probably, much less a group. I don’t know what to do.”

Jack gently lifted one of her hands away from her face, turning it and asking, “What happened to your hands, then?”

Lore had put some bandages on her palms earlier in the morning, after cleaning the scrapes and rubbing some Neosporin into the ripped skin. Her fall onto the wet pavement had, as she expected, left her with some nasty scrapes. “That wasn’t… well, it wasn’t directly them. I got upset while I was flying and kind of lost my balance.” She shrugged, wiggling her fingers in his grasp and smiling at his gentle touch. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Oh,” Jack said, placing her hand softly on her bent knee, but didn’t move his own hand away from Lore’s. “You’re right, though. This really could get dangerous. I don’t think they would straight up kill you--”

“Windwalker said I had to be ‘terminated!’” Lore interjected, illustrating with finger quotation marks.

“Maybe you should go to the police.” Jack’s shrug rocked Lore in her seat slightly, then she settled back against his chest.

Lore shook her head. “That wouldn’t go over well. Even if I’m not disliked or anything by the public, the Everymen have years of connection with them. I’d be thrown out like week old meat.”

“You don’t know that.” Despite the reassuring words, Jack’s tone was nervous and guarded.

Tucking her head under Jack’s chin and closing her eyes, feeling more secure than she had in a long time, Lore said, “Maybe not, but it’s not a huge jump. I think I just need to deal with them on my own, but I have no idea how to do that.”

“Would it be too completely ridiculous to suggest maybe working with the Seven?”

Lore’s eyes flashed open and she sat up, narrowly avoiding banging Jack’s chin with her skull in the process. She twisted and gave Jack a Look, which from his own expression, furrowed brow and twisted lips, he saw coming. “Yes! I may be anti-superhero, but I’m not a villain, Jack. The Seven aren’t just against the Everymen, they’re against everything that’s good and – that’s a completely unbalanced suggestion!”

Jack shrugged, avoiding her gaze. He grinned a little crazily. “It’d sure knock the Everymen off base.”

Lore chuckled, tilting her head as she looked at him. “Maybe so, but I’m pretty sure selling my soul isn’t worth it.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jack conceded.

Jack’s arm was still stretched out on the back of the couch, inviting, and Lore could easily have tucked herself back against him. But, instead, she pushed herself and stretched, rolling her head on her neck. “I need to go do some errands. Thanks for letting me rant about this a little, though. I’ll call you later, tell you if I think of any sudden ways to fix this stupid dilemma.”

Jack smiled easily and pushed himself off the couch, standing next to her, so close. “Alright, that sounds fine. I need to take a shower, anyway.”

“Yeah, no kidding!” Lore laughed, pushing him away with one hand on his chest, and bent down to scoop up her bag she had casually thrown to the floor earlier.

Jack smiled and escorted her to the door. Resting his hand on the tarnished brass handle, he paused and looked down at Lore. She raised an eyebrow and zipped up her coat as preemptive protection against the rain outside, which had continued since the previous night.

“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” Jack said quickly. But before Lore could figure out why he felt the need to impart that information, he leaned down and pecked her cheek, his lips warm and dry as they rested against her cheek for a second, two.

Lore felt her cheeks flare up in blooms of red, and she bit her lip and grinned as Jack straightened up, his own cheeks now boasting small flushed spots. “I’ll, um, I’ll call you later.”

Jack nodded and opened the door, flashing a brilliant, happy grin at Lore, that she was sure she was reflecting back at him. Lore waved, wiggling her fingers at his pajama’d figure as she trotted out into the hall.

Sure, the Everymen were trying to kill her, and the Seven – particularly Harkness – had some annoying special interest in her, and it was raining out, and her mom had left her four voice mail messages the night before, but at least there was this one good thing in her life, that could be purely untouched by the other drama going on. Lore rocked on her heels as she waited for the elevator to ding into its place on Jack’s floor and smiled.

---

They’re in the same empty office building as before. It’s dark, as before, with some candles dripping wax on the receptionist desk at the front of the office. The windows are streaked with a steady pounding of rain. The figures are, predictably, draped in black or dark blue or other dark colors, except for the large metallic robot and the angry Indian man whose green outfit tended toward the darker side of the spectrum but still stood out amongst his peers.

“This is stupid. Why did we trust Harkness with the mission of watching her? And why are we meeting in this stupid place again?” Sunflower said, his arms crossed over his skinny chest.

Shadowgirl sighed. “You’re just angry that we’re meeting at night.”

“Well, why do we have to meet at night? Especially when you all know that I only get my powers during the daytime!”

“That’s your own fault,” Shadowgirl shrugged, ducking her head. Her tone was clearly uninterested. “What kind of villain can’t work at night, anyway? That’s just stupid.”

The Rabid Ransom placed a gloved hand on Sunflower’s shoulder, pulling him back firmly. Sunflower seemed to resist the other man, but eventually gave in as the force of the Rabid Ransom’s grip propelled him away from Shadowgirl. The Rabid Ransom said, “Shadowgirl, don’t be like that. Sunflower has just as much of a right to be here than anyone. Do you know when Harkness is supposed to be here?”

“I gave him the same time as I gave the rest of you,” Shadowgirl said, her tone still surly.

“She’s just angry, because she wants to kick me out and adopt her precious little flaming pigeon, instead,” Sunflower spat out as he leaned against a wall, his dark brown eyes flashing with anger.

Zero One One growled, shaking her head. The squeaking of the metal scratching against itself accompanied her words, “That. Is. Not. Going. To. Happen.”

“No one’s leaving,” Shadowgirl said, straightening up herself and placing her hands on her slim hips. “Don’t be foolish, Sunflower.”

“Not sure that’s possible,” a new voice said as Harkness swung through the door in one easy motion, pushing the door closed with a click once he was in the room. A mass of dark blue material, he stood calmly in front of them, all nervous twitchiness gone. His voice was steady and his body language steadfast.