25 years after Houston was destroyed in a brutal supervillain attack, Jay Martin is accepted into the Texan Hero Network. Tasked with this sacred duty, he takes on the alter ego of Quickwit and vows to always protect Neo Houston.
Unfortunately, desp...
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Being a superhero can mean encountering some uncomfortable situations. Yes, superheroes always win, but it comes at a cost. Usually, it's losing something dear to you. A loved one, a power, a limb; but Jay has noticed that no matter how harrowing the experience, heroes never get therapy.
Watching Pixamena stare at her lavender lemon parfait with dead eyes, he wonders if maybe he can sway her to be the exception.
"Pixamena, you good?"
Pixamena blinks, smiling sweetly. "I'm fine."
Jay raises an eyebrow, taking a look around the giant spread she's ordered. To his left there's a three tiered tower of finger sandwiches, macarons, biscotti, and other fancy cookies. To his right, there are two ornately adorned teapots, one holding hot matcha milk tea and the other filled with rose milk tea. It seems that while Pixamena hides her pain from others with frills and lace, she comforts herself with sugar binges.
Well, it's not like Jay doesn't have his own vices to deal with the stress. He digs his spoon into his bananas foster, closing his eyes for a moment to let the syrupy sweetness wash over him.
"I thought you hated sweet things?"
Jay pushes around a banana with his spoon. "I used to. I guess this year has changed me a lot."
"Gannet used to always get the chocolate mousse cake."
A silence comes over both of them. Jay spears a banana chunk, dipping it into the vanilla ice cream. "So you knew about him and Alphaman? About their situation?"
"Are you mad I didn't tell you?"
"No. It wouldn't have changed anything. Besides, I'm not about to ask you to spill state secrets just to give me the sordid details about my ex's past."
Pixamena picks up her teacup, swirling the milky pink liquid within. "I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to know."
"I know now."
"Do you really get it though?"
Jay looks up from his dessert. Pixamena clutches her teacup, french tipped nails holding on tight. "He's gone, Witty. He's gone and he didn't even try to get help."
"What do you mean?"
Pixamena covers her mouth, eyes watery. "When all of this came out I was mad and...I was convinced he'd, I don't know, got tempted into villainy by some bad actor. But seeing you doubt it made me realize just how out of character that was for Gannet."
"You think so?"
"I don't know. I just...It took a long time for him to agree to let me help him get clean. Do you think it's my fault?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember what you said at Celeste's studio? That Gannet might've been using to suppress his powers? I—" Razzmatazz wipes a tear away. "I was the one who convinced him to stop. He was living with me, I told him he had to get clean if he wanted to stay. If he's invulnerable, he would've been fine. So I forced him to stop the only thing keeping Stygian at bay. It's my fault—"
