Chapter Text
Arada was grading papers in her office with the door open. Theoretically, this was her office hours, but nobody had shown up today (made sense, it was about three weeks in and the homework hadn’t gotten hard yet). She was about to consider texting Overse and telling her wife she was leaving early, maybe stopping at the store for bunny food, when one of her intro bio students, Amena (Mensah’s daughter, the one who’d disguised herself as a supervillain to bring Iris in), entered.
“Professor? Can we talk?”
“Of course,” Arada said, “what’s the matter? If it’s the homework, your TA will know how to help too.”
Amena frowned and seemed like she didn’t know what to say. Finally, she said, “Does your door close?”
“If the issue’s sensitive, yes. I can discuss with you in private until someone knocks.” Arada stood and closed the door as Amena sat in the other chair. “Is this an issue with grades or with the course?”
“Neither, um… will you get mad if I show you something?”
“That depends,” Arada said slowly, trying to think of what this might be about.
“Wait, I can’t show you. Forget it.” Amena stood.
“It’s alright, Amena. Is this a personal situation, and does it have anything to do with breaking into my lab a few weeks ago?”
She looked down and blushed. Bingo.
“Amena, it’s alright, I promise. I wouldn’t turn you in, because that would necessitate a variety of other secrets coming to light.” Arada let a small flame form on her hand, just big enough that Amena got the point.
“I couldn’t tell my–”
“It’s alright, Amena.” Arada’s voice stayed firm but kind. “What did you come in to talk about?”
“Second Mom said I needed to apologize. About the lab thing. And I needed to explain what I did so you can keep anyone else from using that method. I can mimic anything I hear or see, and I have an almost perfect memory for stuff like that. So I watched a bunch of videos where someone used their voice to shatter glass and played a different recording back every time. And then I mimicked your fingerprint so I could open all the locks. Sorry.”
Arada smiled. “I forgive you. I know you didn’t want to tell anyone, but next time, I will help with no questions asked. I’ve considered adding that to my syllabus for years now, I just forget I want to add a part about superpower-related problems until I’ve sent it out. I’m here if you need help again, is the point.”
She really did want to make sure Amena was okay. Arada remembered being worried about everything in college. Adding superpowers would make it worse, probably.
“Thanks, I guess,” Amena said. “I’m really sorry.” She seemed to stop herself, but then she said, “I do want to keep being a supervillain like First Mom and Parent. It was fun. I’m sorry about breaking into your lab but I’m not sorry about being a supervillain.”
Arada wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. She’d been pretty certain Mensah’s spouses were Madame Magic and Troublemaker, ever since the incident with Amena and the lab (though she’d had suspicions since Mensah handed her two extra vials of DNA labeled with the villains' names). Overse would know the whole story, certainly, she’d known to get Mensah’s wife to help with Amena, but Arada knew enough not to ask.
Arada opted to say, “I would consider your options carefully.”
Amena huffed. “I did, it’s not an uninformed choice. I liked helping Iris and I liked not having to talk to my family or anyone about it.”
Arada sighed. She taught undergraduates for a living, but she really didn’t understand their thought patterns. So she smiled, nodded, and let Amena ramble.