Fuck. Shit. Super dog shitty shit FUCK! I didn't need this. I'm too close to this one. Can't reasonably do the job right now and protect Nia too. I need to bail, come back later.
So I do. I slink into one of my portals and end up outside into an alleyway where no one's looking. I need to relay everything to HQ and let them know about this…but If i do that means i have to let them know about Nia too. Shit. I could just not tell them about her but if they take her new friends she'll go looking for them like a dog with a bone.
Why couldn't she just stay in the house today like she normally does?
I sigh and straighten up my clothes, I head towards the front of the gym…which doesn't have a door, odd but not the oddest.
"NIA MAE ALLEN! ARE YOU IN HERE?! IT'S DADDY! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
I heard the tell tale groan of an embarrassed teenager and watched her lumber out to greet me. She looks bashful and can barely look me in the eye.
"...Hi daddy." she says quietly.
"We're leaving." Is all I can get through my gritted teeth. I was mad for several reasons, being bested by teenagers was one of them yes, but knowing my daughter snuck out of the house for the literal first time ever was a new kind of pain. And now I'm going to have to lie for her to the people that have taken care of us for years.
She is in so much fucking trouble when we get home.
As we drove home the ride was so silent you could hear a pin drop. It was me who broke the silence first.
"What were you thinking, leaving the house when I told you not to? You know anything you need I can get for you so what were you doing at that gym?"
"I was trying to join it." Steady voice and breathing. Truth or at least part of it.
"Why the hell do you need to join a gym? I train you enough don't I?"
"Dad, that's the problem, it's only ever been you. I'm 19 years old and you've kept me in a bubble my entire life. Sue me for wanting to make friends." She turned to me with fierce eyes.
"Oh. So you think you're grown now is that it? I know what's best for you and the people in that gym? They aint it." I'm gonna have to pack us up and move us tonight. I'll write my report to SUIPP, they'll send in another agent.
"Dad, look at me. I'm almost old enough to drink and yet you still don't trust me enough to even go out to the mailbox without keeping track of me. Do you know how crippling this is for me?" Her voice sounded strained, she was holding back tears.
My hands gripped the steering wheel tight. "Nia. It's not you I don't trust it's-"
"-The rest of the world?Why, what's so special about me?" There it is. She's trying to goad me into telling her more than she should know.
"You tell me. You're the one sneaking out and hanging with strangers instead of waiting for dear old dad to get home from work. Am I just not enough for you anymore?"
"No! You're not! Henry Rae Allen, I love you but you are SMOTHERING me and I just can't take it anymore. Can't you see that this is unhealthy?"
"So what, you want me to let you run around with those kids you just met today? Because they're just so safe right?! The answer is N.O. end of discussion."
Her hands balled into fists."Why do you never just listen to me? UGH! What is it you're so goddamn afraid of?!"
I could feel my darkness creeping up my back, eager to fight. I willed it back down. This was my daughter, she was angry. She was right to ask these questions but I had no intention of giving her any answers. I tried to raise her safely. Maybe the reins were too tight, I'll own up to that but until today she was my happy daughter.
Or maybe that was just the lie I told myself all these years.
"Nia. Believe it or not I am listening to you. But trust is a two way street. You want me to trust you then you need to open up to me." I calmed myself with some deep breathing. Returning anger to an angsty teen was just a recipe for disaster, especially one with superpowers.
"...I've gone three days without taking the pills." She said softly, her hands relaxing in front of her.
"And have you noticed anything else with that?" Like superpowers.
"I… feel off."
"What kind of off Nia?"
"You'll lock me away in an institution." She rubbed her arm for comfort.
"I promise you I won't. Just talk to me. That's all I'm asking."
It was a while before she spoke again, still not sure whether to believe me no doubt.
"I'm really strong. Like…I ripped a door off of its hinges, a solid metal one. I chucked a sofa across the room at some sort of shadow creature thing that was trying to eat us. And-And I gave other people powers too and it knocked out the power and a bunch of windows and I caused so much damage and I'm scared out of my mind but I'm also so excited-"
I put my hand over her mouth. Girl's still running on adrenaline.
"Okay…okay that's a start." I didn't say more than that, I didn't need to. Her eyes widened at me as I took my hand off of her mouth.
"Oh god…is that why you-"
"Yes. That's exactly why I've been so overprotective of you." Even though that's not even half of it, it's a damn good place to start though.