***10 years ago***

Callie stared at the house she dropped Anna off at.  House was inaccurate.  It was more of a mansion.  “Let me ask you a question,” she said, shutting off the engine.  “How are you paying for this place?”  

Barrage had taken the eco terrorist Stiggs, and Callie had brought Siren back to her home.

“Well, I live here with my adoptive sister,” Anna explained, suddenly feeling hot in the cheeks.

“Wasn’t what I asked,” Callie said.

“Well, we have a deal with the landlord, where, we, well, we don’t really pay.”

“And you’re alright with that?” Callie asked, her eyebrow raised.

“Well, I was, but the way you’re looking at me right now, I’m feeling like you’re judging me.”

“Oh, I am.  This is my judgment face,” she said, pointing at her scowl.  “It hasn’t bothered you before now that you’re stealing this place?”

“We’re not stealing.  It’s still the landlord’s,” Anna answered.

“First of all, not we, don’t drag your sister into this.  I’m sure she didn’t convince your landlord to let you stay in this place for free.  And second, it is exactly stealing.  You don’t think he counts on the rent money from this place?  I mean, it’s a rental property, that’s what it is for, is it not?”

“Oh, don’t worry, the guy is rich,” Anna was quick to say.  “He can totally afford it.”

“The victim doesn’t determine the crime.  That doesn’t even, ugh, it’s a matter of ethics.  You have a gift, one that gives you the opportunity to get whatever you want.  It’s up to you to use that gift responsibly.”

“Trying to be a super heroine isn’t exactly a lucrative career option.  I kind of thought,” she trailed off.

“That this was the way the public could give back for your services?  Doesn’t work that way, chica.  You want to be a super heroine?  Get ready to be held to a higher standard than the rest of the world.  It doesn’t matter how much good you do, people will always jump on the one thing you do wrong.”

“Easy for you to say, you get a paycheck.”

“Yes, the Legendary Consortium gets paid, and we’re held to an even higher standard than just a run of the mill street hero.  But that’s not the point.  Take me for instance.  I don’t gamble.  It’s a shitty example, because gambling is designed to rob people, but even still it wouldn’t be right for me to go in and clean up with my abilities.  Just like you shouldn’t use your power to get people to give you things you haven’t earned.  It’s just the right thing to do.”

“So what, you’re saying get a day job?”

“Whatever it takes, get your own place, a place you can afford without using your powers to take advantage of people.  And your sister, she needs to get her own place and stop leeching off you.  Using your powers for someone else is just the same as abusing them for your own personal gain.”

Anna’s eyes narrowed.  “Leave my sister out of this,” she said, her voice low.

Callie paused a moment, looking for a way around Siren’s command.  “Do you care about your sister?”

“More than anyone in the world.  She’s the one who encouraged me to become a super heroine.”

“Then she’ll understand.  Keep her out of this.”

“She’s the only one who knows.  I mean, her parents know what I can do, but they sort of hate me.  I was,” she paused, looking for the right word, “difficult.  I don’t think they know that I’m Siren, but I’m sure they could figure it out.  But they won’t tell anyone.  And Macy, my sister, she’s already not taking advantage of my power as much.  There’s the house, but that’s about it, and that’s just while she’s interning at a fashion magazine.  When she gets a paying job, I’m sure she won’t feel comfortable taking anything from me.  Macy is, well, she’s my moral compass.”

Callie nodded.  “That’s all well and good, but at some point you’re going to have to learn to be your own moral compass.  Until then, get a job, get a place you can actually pay for, and stop using your power in your regular life.”

“I, I’ll try,” Anna said.  “What happens now?  I mean, about the super hero side of things?  Am I going to get licensed?”

“Probably,” Callie said, watching Anna’s disappointed reaction.  “You did good tonight, chica.  I’m impressed, but I can’t give out a license based on one night.  I’ll be in touch.”

“Thank you.  That’s fair.  Do you need my phone number, or-”

Callie laughed.  “I know where to find you.  Goodnight Anna.”

Anna opened the door, getting out.  “Thank you again.  Goodnight.”

Callie nodded.  “You’re welcome,” she said.

Anna watched her speed off.  She went inside her house.

“Hey, you’re coming home late,” Macy said.  She was sitting on the couch in her pajamas with a book, waiting up for her.  Anna hadn’t even realized how late it was.

“You won’t believe the evening I’ve had.”



***present***

“Hey, it’s Ellen, you remember, your girlfriend.  I’m at your place, again.  I really wish you’d talk to me.”  Ellen hung up her phone with a sigh, leaning against Macy’s door.  She had a key, and normally she wouldn’t have thought twice about letting herself in, but now, things were different.  Macy was, distant, distracted.

And she thought she’d finally figured out why.  If only she could get in touch with her.  Macy wasn’t answering her phone; she wasn’t showing up for work.  She’d gone off the grid.

Ellen closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she fished her keys out of her pocket and let herself inside.

They’d talked about moving in together.  They spent most nights together, though that had come to a halt a few months ago.  Ellen had thought that Macy was just being hesitant, though now she suspected there was another reason.

The place was a mess, but it was evident that Macy was still coming home to sleep.  Ellen grabbed a bottle of wine and waited for her girlfriend to come back home.

She was more than a little bit drunk when the heard the key in the lock.  She looked at the bottle of cheap moscato; it was nearly empty.  She’d pivoted from sadness to frustration to anger to sympathy and back again as she waited, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt at that moment as Macy opened the door and walked back into her apartment.

“Ellen,” she said, shocked to see her girlfriend sitting backwards on one of her kitchen chairs, her chin resting on the back of the chair.  Macy noticed the nearly empty wine bottle on the table beside her.

“You haven’t been returning my calls,” Ellen said.  She thought her voice was pretty steady, but there was a slight drunken slur to her words.

“Elle, I’m sorry.  I wish I could tell you what’s been going on.”

Ellen snorted.  “That your sister is Siren?”

Macy dropped her purse to the floor.  She wanted to feign shock, indignation, any sort of emotion that would mask the truth that her drunken girlfriend had apparently stumbled onto.  She also wanted to cry, to admit that yes, Anna was Siren, and now she was missing, and she couldn’t find her, she couldn’t help her, and she just wanted someone to assure her that her sister would be all right.

“How, how did you figure it out?” she finally managed.

“You shut me out.  I needed to know why.  So I went to the one person you love more than me.  Turns out she’s been missing since you really started pushing me away.  And it all just clicked.  Your recent obsession with super heroines, the costume designs you sketch on literally everything, why your sister’s always been so weird.”

Tears started to stream down Macy’s cheek.  “She’s gone.  Something happened to her, and I don’t know what to do.”

Any hostility or resentment Ellen felt melted as Macy broke down before her.  She tried to get up, falling clumsily over the chair as she awkwardly tried to dismount.  

Macy ran over to her as she fell, offering her hands to help her up.  Ellen instead pulled her to the floor with her.  It didn’t take much.  Macy dropped to her knees, burying her head in Ellen’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” Macy sobbed.

“It’s alright,” she said, hugging her tight, even as a sobering part of her brain told her that it was not alright, and she was way out of her depth.



***10 years ago***

“I’ll get it,” Macy called upstairs to Anna as the doorbell rang.  

She was only in the kitchen, but it rang again before she was even at the door.

“Jesus, calm down, it’s a big house,” Macy muttered under her breath as she reached the door.  

Macy’s jaw dropped as she swung the door open, revealing the costumed heroine standing on their doorstep.

“Oh my god, you’re La Trogón,” Callie said, clapping her hands on her cheeks, doing a rather impressive impersonation of Macy.

Macy’s eyes got even wider.  Her jaw worked uselessly.

“How did you do that?” Callie said, again mimicking Macy.

Macy looked like she was having a stroke.

“Oh right, Anna, er, Siren, said you could see the future,” Callie said, once more getting the words out before Macy could even process her thoughts.

“I’m sorry, that’s just fun,” she said, her voice shifting back into her sultry Cuban accent.  “I am, as I’m sure you can imagine, looking for your sister.  I’m Callie by the way,” she said, extending her hand.

Macy took it, still dumbfounded.  “I’m, uh Macy.  Anna’s upstairs.”

Callie nodded.  “So, you going to get her, or can I come in?”

“Oh, right, of course, come on in,” Macy said, quickly stepping aside.  “Anna!  Your uh, friend, is here!” she called.

“Who?” Anna called from upstairs.

“Get down here chica, I got a job to do, and you’re coming with me,” Callie called.  She looked at Macy, smiling.  “Watch this.  She falls down the stairs.”

“Shouldn’t you warn-”  She didn’t get to finish before there was a crash and Anna swore as she slipped at the corner of the steps, falling into the railing.

“You alright chica?” Callie called.

“Yup, I’m fine,” Anna said, pulling herself up and dusting herself off before coming down the last of the steps.

“Go get dressed.  You can wear that joke of a costume again, it’ll be fine.”

Anna nodded, turning and running back up the stairs.

Callie smiled, turning to Macy.  “So, you’re the sister.”

“Adoptive sister,” Macy said.  “She bounced around the foster system for awhile.  Parents having to obey their kids generally doesn’t work out for long.  We met while she was with another family, but she was in my school.  She was old enough to know better than to obviously use her powers too much, but I gave her the go ahead to tell my parents to adopt her when her current family was ready to throw her back in the system.  It was rough on them, on all of us, for a few years, but it was better than a lot of places she lived.”

“I didn’t ask, but good to know,” Callie said.

“I’m sorry, you’re just, well, kind of intimidating, and once I opened my mouth, I just couldn’t stop.”

Callie laughed.  “You’re a good person, and you seem like you’re good for her.”

“I try.  Her talent is, it’s really alienating sometimes.  It can be really dangerous, but it can also be really good.  I try to see the good potential in her.”

“You really believe that, don’t you?”

“I do,” Macy said.

“I hope you’re right.  And I was wrong about you.”

“Wrong about me?” Macy asked, taken aback.

“Sí.  I told her if she wanted to be a super heroine she shouldn’t let you be quite so involved in her life.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, I said it for your protection, but I misunderstood the relationship.  We’re not all so lucky to have someone like you.”

Macy blushed.  “Um, thank you.”

There were footsteps from upstairs.  Anna came bounding down the steps.  She’d ditched the red bikini in of favor red shorts and a tank top along with her boots, gloves and mask.

“What?” she asked, looking at Callie’s and Macy’s reactions.  “You were making me self conscious last time.”

“Good call, it’s a step in the right direction.  Those skimpy costumes are for B-listers anyways.”

“Or D-listers!” Macy said.

“Damn, that was quick,” Callie said, grinning.  “You’re funny.”

“I have my moments,” Macy said.

“Alright, let’s go, chica.”

Anna nodded.  She gave Macy a quick hug.  “Should she wait up for me?” she asked Callie.

“Probably not.  I’ll have her home tomorrow Macy.  And trust me, she’s in good hands.  It was a pleasure meeting you.  And I trust you’re good at keeping her secrets, it goes without saying, don’t tell anyone I was here, or that I’m a precog.”

“I won’t,” Macy said.  “Be careful, please.”

“Always am,” Anna said, following Callie out the door.



***present***

Anna was amazed to find that being bald was by far the worst of what she was suffering in the asylum.  She had no idea how much the hair on her head had helped in regulating her body temperature.  She found herself alternatively sweating, soaking the straitjacket she was constantly kept in and the adult diapers they had put her in, and then the next minute finding herself freezing, shivering uncontrollably.  The drugs they had forced down her throat probably weren’t helping either, a concoction of about a half dozen pills they forced down her throat before putting her muzzle back on two to three times a day.  It was hard to keep track of time, with no access to clocks and never being able to see the outside world.

She assumed she was on some sort of antidepressants; she was aware that she was oddly calm as she sat in her tiny cell for hours at a time in the dark.  Part of her brain knew she should be upset, but she found she didn’t care.  The orderlies checked on her periodically, removing her gag to feed her some tasteless liquid pulp, complete with her regiment of drugs, changed her diapers, and then left her alone in the dark again.

She could hear a small voice in her head, a voice that sounded sometimes like her own and sometimes like Macy’s, telling her not to give up.  Nurse Delamonte was trying to break her, and she needed to hold onto herself.

Those voices got quieter and quieter, until finally she couldn’t hear them anymore.  And she was alright with that.

“This isn’t the end, chica.”  

It was pitch black in her padded cell.  She looked around the blackness, grunting quietly into her gag.  It wasn’t until she shut her eyes that she saw Callie.  

La Trogón stood in front of her, in her blue and white costume, her blue scale armor glinting in the sunlight.  They were in a field full of yellow flowers, the sky rivaling Callie’s armor in terms of sheer, clear blueness.

“Yep, you’re hallucinating,” Callie said as Anna looked around, finding herself still sitting in her straitjacket in the middle of the field.  “You’re stuck here, and they’re trying to break you.”  Callie shut her eyes.  “I don’t see a way for you to get free, but you can’t break.  I trained you better than that.”

Anna nodded, mumbling in agreement behind her stifling muzzle.

“Be strong, chica.  You’re still Siren.”

A padded door swung inward out of nowhere behind Callie.  She squinted as the fluorescent light invaded the field, the flowers rapidly fading away as the four padded walls boxed her in once more.  Callie nodded to her before she too faded away, revealing the two big orderlies standing in the door of the cell.

“Dinner time,” one of them said.

Anna put up a brief and ultimately futile struggle as they pinned her against the wall and removed her gag, forcing a handful of pills into her mouth, followed by the bland shake.  Her gag was put back in and she was changed into a clean diaper, and once more locked in the dark.

I’m Siren, she thought, staring at the afterimage of the door in the dark.  Hold me as long as you want, but I am and will always be Siren, the mantra cutting through the descending, drug induced cloud in her brain.