Super Quake

Passing Phantasms

Central City, CC Jitters, One week later.

Nervously sipping on a mug of coffee and tapping her foot, Daisy watched the news on a wall mounted TV inside CC Jitters with vested interest.

"Whoever she is... This... "Superwoman" for lack of a better word saved the crew of Castello-1," said an enthusiastic Jimmy Fallon.

The guests on the show nodded in agreement barring one. "How do we know she's not a threat? A person with that much power. To fly into space and lift a space shuttle like it's a hot air balloon. How do we know her intentions are good?

Daisy was self-consciously fiddling with a lock of her brown hair as she watched the late night talk show. The blonde hair dye had burned off in re-entry and her green contact lenses had been vaporized when she used her heat vision. It forced her to scramble for a halfway decent disguise. She kept the thick frame glasses and had her hair tied up in a ponytail. She attempted to hunch over as much as possible to shave off two inches of her height if she was ever properly identified.

"Refill?" asked the barista. A pretty woman with dark brown hair and kind eyes. Her nametag read "Iris."

"Yes, thank you," Daisy said scooting her cup toward her.

"Nervous?" Iris asked, as she refilled the cup.

"What's that?" Daisy asked, trying to gauge what tipped off the barista.

"The foot tapping," Iris said, astute.

Daisy stopped tapping her foot.

"I'm meeting my goddaughter in an hour. It's been a few years since I've seen her," Daisy replied, smoothly.

"Aw, that's sweet," Iris said with a smile before realizing the possible implication and her smile faltered.

Noticing the look on her face, Daisy explained, "Her father passed away recently but she still lives with her mom, so, she's okay," she said before hearing her own words. "Well not, okay-okay, It's just—" she started to ramble, unprepared for the flurry of resurfacing emotion in her stomach. The thought of Mack and Ward... It was a lot. Too much in fact.

"Sorry," Daisy said after a pause.

"Hey, don't be sorry," Iris said softly, taking the seat across from Daisy.

"Everyone in the city is still... getting back on their feet. We don't have anything to be sorry for," she said more resolutely.

It was then that Daisy noticed the strain under Iris' eyes. Possibly from crying or lack of sleep. Or both. She was going through her own pain. The STAR Labs explosion had taken a lot of lives on that day...

"And you?" Daisy asked, curiously but cautiously, "What don't you have to be sorry for?"

Iris looked down at her hands. Daisy recognized the look on her face. A similar one she saw when she looked in the mirror. This was a person who solved every problem that came across her path. But now she was helpless to do anything.

"My... best friend is in a coma," she confessed.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Daisy told her.

"He's... stable, but—" she tried to find the words.

"It's a waiting game," Daisy said for her.

Iris nodded, her eyes connecting with Daisy, "My dad said that, exactly. Are you... law enforcement?" Iris guessed. Growing up with a cop for a dad taught Iris that most police officers shared the same outlook on life. She recognized it in the woman sitting across from her.