Emily needed to get out of The Acropolis. She could feel herself suffocating within its walls every time she sat in the quiet of her room.

While she and Kai were talking again, she could tell the girl was still disappointed in her. Everyone was. She screwed up. She shouldn't have broken into Crane's penthouse—she knew that now. But at least she had done something. No one had been doing anything.

They also didn't stop to think about why she had done it. She didn't do it for herself. She did it for them. Her family.

At least, she thought they were family.

Nowadays, she wasn't so sure.

A few days after being reprimanded by Director Shaw, who took her off squad duty for a week, she decided to take a trip back home. It was nearing Halloween and she knew how much her little brother liked to dress up.

She also knew how horrible the kids in their neighborhood could be. Every she would take Emerson out trick-or-treating. Not that she liked it or anything. In fact, she kind of hated it.

But she had to protect him. No one else would.

She remembered the days he would come home from school with a blank expression on his face and hurt in his big, brown eyes. He never understood why they bullied him. Emily did. It was because he was different from them. Their mother always said that he was "special in his own little way".

The woman was right. He was special.

Emily remembered how he would spend his time reading massive history encyclopedias during his free time. Given the chance, he could give anyone a rundown of what caused the fall of the Roman empire. He also loved robotics—it was the main reason why she brought him a new toy, courtesy of Archie, whenever she went came back home.

Sure, he had a few weird ticks and habits, but who didn't? Besides, being normal was overrated. Emily knew that firsthand.

"Jiě jie!" Emerson whined from downstairs. She could hear the agitation in his voice.

Emily sighed as she stared at herself. She was wearing her Atlas uniform—a black, semi-armored mesh suit with purple lines running through the material. The number "4" was printed into the center, right below the Atlas logo.

This year her brother decided he wanted to be a superhero. But not just any superhero. No, he wanted to be a Prime like his big sister. To her surprise, she was his favorite member of the team. Instead of trying to convince him to dress up as something else, she had the designers back at The Acropolis make him a mock mission suit. They even gave him a fake team number.

At least he doesn't hate me...I think.

She could never tell with him. It wasn't his fault, though. Emotions were hard for him. They were hard for her too—and for their father. It must have run in their family.

She took one last look at herself in the mirror. Her short, black hair—devoid of its purple tips—hung just past her ears. She had gotten rid of her piercings too. Without her dark makeup and studs, she almost looked like a carbon copy of her mother.

A frown pulled at her lips.

So much had changed in the past year. She barely recognized the person staring back at her. Sighing, she shook her head and left her room to join her brother downstairs. He stood in front of the door with a decorative bag in his hands and a muted expression on his face. He didn't look excited, but she could tell he was.

His fingers drummed to an internal rhythm against his thigh. Every now and then, a smile would explode onto his lips only to vanish again.

"Ready to go, loser?"

"Yes." He frowned deeply at her. "I am not a loser."

She grinned at him. "I'm just messing with you." She opened the door and offered him her hand. He took it begrudgingly.

"Can we go now?"

She nodded as they left the house and stepped onto the sidewalk. "Let's go get you some candy."

#

There were a lot of children out that night. Emily made sure to stay by Emerson's side.

Before they left, she made sure he had his rubber band around his wrist in case he got too overwhelmed. He didn't do well in crowds. They freaked him out. When they were younger, she had given him a purple rubber band to snap against his wrist. The pain distracted his brain from whatever was bothering him. It had proved to be a good system.

He never went anywhere without one.

The boy shuffled beside her, his eyes focused on his sneakers as they moved across the sidewalk. A few people cast them wary glances as they went. Some parents even pulled their children close to them.

Emily simply scowled.

It was bad enough that she and her family were one of the only minorities in the neighborhood, but now she was a superhuman. The people in her town weren't as accepting as Atlas. They hated change and they certainly hated things that they deemed "unnatural".

She didn't care what they thought about her, though. For years she had to endure their judgmental stares or the snide comments they made when they thought she wasn't listening. She was used to it.

But she would be damned if she let it happen to her brother. He didn't deserve any of it. He was a sweet boy; would never hurt a fly. Except for that one time he stepped on one. He had been torn up about it for an hour.

"Can we go to the Lakeshire's house?" Emerson asked. "They have the big candy bars."

She slowed up, her jaw clenched. "Are you sure you want to go there? You know they don't like us around there. I think we should just stay around here—"

"I want the big candy bars." He pulled back his rubber band and released it, the sound snapping in Emily's ears. He did it a few more times, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so.

She sighed and nodded. "Alright, alright. We'll get you the big candy bars, you big baby."

He grunted appreciatively.

She didn't want to go that part of their neighborhood. It was home of the elitist, snobby, and morally corrupt. It was where Stella was from. She thought back to when they were still in high school and how the girl's friends would make fun of her for her sexuality.

The memories made her want to punch something.

But Emerson wanted the big candy bars. And that's exactly what he'd get.

She led him down the sidewalk, her dark eyes scanning the street. Nothing ever happened in their town, but it couldn't have hurt to be cautious. Especially with her brother at her side. She knew he didn't like being babied, but it was for his own good. The world was cruel, and she wanted to protect him from it. It was her job to protect him.

Because no one protected her.

The two of them made their way through their neighborhood, occasionally cracking jokes or observing the costumes of those around them. Eventually, they made it to the huge houses that provided the big candies. The deeper they got, the more she could feel the stares burning holes into her back. She could feel the air sticking to her skin, along with the hatred pouring out from those around her.

She pulled at the sleeve of her mission suit. "You know, I could always buy you the big candies."

Emerson opened his mouth to argue but never got the chance to.

"Look, it's the Aspie," someone joked behind them.

Emily spun on her heel. Her hand flinched for her back, but she realized she didn't have her bow or quiver. If she did, whoever just called her brother an Aspie would've had an arrow lodged in their eye socket.

Standing before her were three teenaged boys dressed in tacky skeleton costumes with messy paint on their faces. They all grinned mischievously at her. Emerson hung his head and fidgeted with his rubber band. A low, guttural noise rose from his throat.

Her mouth twitched as she glared at them.

"What did you just say?"

The tallest one out the bunch, a wide-faced boy with dull eyes, stepped forward. "You heard me." He angled his chin upward as he towered over her. "Wait a minute, you're that girl from TV. The one who shoots sonic rings from her mouth." His friend snickered under their breath.

Emily ignored them and stepped closer to the boy. "Yeah, I am. Why don't you get lost, yeah?"

"What if I don't? What're you gonna do about it?"

Gritting her teeth, she balled her hands into fists to keep herself from punching him. Out the corner of her eye, she could see a small crowd starting to form. Someone had even pulled out their phone and started recording.

Emerson tugged at her hand. "Emily, let's just go..."

She nodded at him. "Yeah...yeah, let's go." As she turned around to walk away, the boy behind her scoffed.

"What a pair of freaks."

She froze in her tracks. A wave of anger built up within her—and it was about to crest. She felt the vein in her temple pulse as she slowly turned around. Her nostrils flared as she stomped up to him.

"Say that again," she threatened, her voice lowered. "I dare you."

He smirked. "I said what a pair of—"

She drove a fist into his gut. He coughed in surprise and doubled over. He dropped to his knees while holding his abdomen. His friends instantly rushed to his side.

"She just punched that kid!" someone in the crowd yelled.

"Isn't she supposed to be a superhero?" someone else asked.

"Make sure you're getting this on video," another said.

Emily shut her eyes. Everyone around her began murmuring amongst themselves, still in awe that she had just hit that boy. Their voices grew in her ears until they were the only thing she could hear. She pressed her hands to the sides of her head.

Shut up, shut up, shut up!

"Emily..." she heard her brother warned.

"Everyone get back," someone ordered. "She might punch you next."

"She's a monster!"

"What a freak."

A snarl twisted onto her lips.

I'm a monster? I'll show you a monster.

Breathing heavily, she opened her eyes and released a scream loud enough to break the sound barrier. A thunderous clap echoed down the street, followed by the sound of things shattering. People dropped their phones. Others clamped their hands over their ears. All the streetlights on the sidewalk exploded in a shower of glass.

Emily quickly grabbed Emerson's hand and ran.

And she kept running until she got back home.

Once she was in the safety of her own house, she told Emerson to go to his room.

"But my candy—"

"Go to your room!"

Startled, he scrambled backward before turning around and clambering up the stairs. Once he was gone, she dropped to the ground, her vision blurry with angry tears.

It was settled. She would never be accepted. And neither would he brother. Society wasn't meant for them. It wasn't ready for them. They needed something else—somewhere else. A place where they could be their selves without having to worry about what others would think about them. A place where they wouldn't be judged or ridiculed or bullied.

They needed their own utopia.

But that place only existed in her dreams.

One day, she would turn that dream into a reality. And not just for herself. It would be for her brother, for her fellow Primes, and for anyone else who didn't fit in with the rest of the world.

For now, she would have to remain in a world that hated her.