Spectacular World

The Last Day of Peace

She pushed the door open quietly and stepped into her apartment. She had been expecting the lights to be off and for her mother to be asleep, but instead, she found the woman waiting for her.

"Hope!"

Despite having superhuman strength and speed, she was unable to react in time as her mother pulled her in for a bone-hurting hug. She gasped and patted the woman on the back, trying to break out of the grip. "S- Sorry I was a bit late."

"A bit late?" Her mother pulled away, gripping her tightly by the shoulders. "What on Earth happened? I thought I could hear it on the news, but all of you guys vanished out of the city. No one knows what happened. Also, why are you glowing?"

She pressed a button on her watch, and her costume flashed away, leaving her in just a T-shirt and pants. She brushed some of her blonde hair out of the way and shrugged. "I sort of can't turn it off for some reason."

"What!"

"Oh, but don't worry! Boy Genius said he'd give me something to cover it up before I have to go to school tomorrow!"

Her mother sighed and stepped away, folding her arms. "School has been canceled."

"It has?"

"With everything that's going on, they decided it would be best to close it down for the week. No one knows where the mayor is, and while damage was kept to a minimum, everyone can tell something happened." The woman looked her daughter in the eyes. "Hope. Please. Tell me what happened."

She felt her throat go dry. She shuffled forward quietly and moved past her mother, taking a seat on the couch. She looked down at her hands, watching as they shook a bit. It was hard to believe that everything had happened in a day. Less even. In the span of a single night, they had defeated most of Zoo and Bad Timers, found out who the leader of the Wandering Coin was, engaged in combat with Fairy Queen, Golden God, and a bunch of monsters, and discovered that the Emperor was alive. Worse yet, the Enforcers were in a panic, which in turn meant the lesser heroes were in a panic, which then caused the villains to go on a rampage.

It almost felt as if the world was at the point where it would begin to change...

She jumped a bit when her mother placed their hands over hers. "Hope?"

"I'm fine." She shook her head and gripped her mom's hand. "A lot happened, is all." Slowly, she told her mother everything. About what the Wasteland was like, the fight with Wish, and the return of the Emperor, and how her powers had stopped working right. "The Victorian managed to drive him off. The Enforcers were looking all over for him, but he could be anywhere on Earth. Hell, he might not even be on Earth anymore, and worse yet, he has Avalon with him, who is apparently a magical teleporting sword!" She felt her voice break for a moment, and she gritted her teeth. "It was supposed to be different. I was supposed to be stronger."

Her mom quietly took a seat on the couch next to her. Jane stared up at the ceiling as her daughter's words rang through her mind. "You're just like your father."

"Huh?"

"He would say the same thing every time he came home from his fishing trips. A little bit before you were born, he worked at the docks. Back then, they actually used them for stuff. He would go out to the sea sometimes for months on end, trying to get old wreckage or other such things: him and your Uncle Marcus. Marcus would always get more than him, though. Each time, your father would come back and vow he'd bring back more than Marcus next time and get a better paycheck. Marcus always seemed to be ahead of him, though." Her mother's smile faded for a moment, and the woman sighed. "Your father never gave up. He worked hard. So hard that even now, he's putting in an effort to stay alive. I think some of that strength went to you."