Along for the Ride

May 25, 2020, Sweet Nothings bakery

Recently, a new store has opened up in Halcyon City. Or re-opened, after it closed four years ago after its owner’s disappearance. But with her back, it is back in business. Sweet Nothings is a bakery selling mostly cupcakes, though they sometimes have cookies and other pastries. The storefront has large windows with blue trim and a blue door. Inside is cozy and inviting, with several tables set up for customers. The bench seats are covered in blue cushions with a subtle cupcake pattern. The counter houses the glass display of the day’s cupcakes, all well marked with allergen information. Past the counter is a door to the back, where the kitchen and stairwell to the basement are. Today, the shop smells like strawberries. Soft instrumental jazz plays over the speakers.

Atlanta is behind the counter, clad in an apron with the Sweet Nothings logo on it, and arranging some white chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting and topped with white chocolate shavings and a fresh strawberry on a display tray.

“And here, we see Atlanta in her native habitat: surrounded by baked goods; the cupcake is a particular favourite. Watch as she is so focused on them that she doesn’t realize her friend has been standing 5 feet away for like 5 minutes.”

Ellen is crouched in front of the display case, looking through the glass at Atlanta, absolutely delighted by how at ease she appears.

Atlanta jumps, letting out a small squeak of surprise. She nearly drops the cupcake she’s holding, but manages to catch it...frosting side down. “Ellen! You scared me! Have you really been there for five minutes?” Atlanta looks down at the cupcake in her hand and sighs dramatically. “Look what you made me do. I’ll have to eat this one now. What a shame.” Displaying her usual talent for lying, she giggles as she licks some of the frosting off her hand.

“Not if I eat it first!”

A glowing red circle appears in the air next to Atlanta and a hand darts out and snatches the cupcake. On the other side of the glass, Ellen holds her prize triumphantly before taking a big bite.

“Holy shit I missed your baking. Like, seriously. So good.” Crumbs tumble out of her mouth as she speaks. “This whole thing is, like, perfect.”

“Rude,” Atlanta laughs and wipes her hand off on her apron. “Do they not have any manners in the future? Cupcake theft. Is there no depths you won’t stoop to now?”

Atlanta puts the non-ruined cupcakes into the display case and leans on the counter, smiling as she looks around. “I’ve missed this place. It’s been great, being able to do this with Mom again. It was our thing when I was a kid, and now...sometimes it feels like the gap where she was gone isn’t as big, if that makes sense. Four years is a long time to be gone, but when we’re here, we can connect like we used to.” Atlanta shakes her head. “Sorry, you didn’t come here for me to get sappy about cupcakes.”

“Maybe not, but I get it. Not the cupcakes part,” Ellen shoves the rest into her mouth like a hamster, “the time stuff. Me and Tay probably spent as long in my time as we did uh…everywhen else, but *man* did ‘93 drag. It felt like forever. And then we left and boom — all of a sudden we’re old or whatever.

Ellen wipes her mouth and leans on the counter. “So, what’d you wanna do, other than let me steal more cupcakes from you? Tay said she’d do something else today so you wouldn’t have to third-wheel us, so I’ve got all day!”

“Well I never mind hanging out with the both of you.” Atlanta pulls off her apron and grins. “I’m gonna show you something very cool about this place. Come on.”

Atlanta leads Ellen to the back, where Atlanta tosses her apron in a laundry hamper. The back is a large kitchen with butcher block counters and several ovens. There’s a door leading out to the back alley, and a staircase leading down. A massive man with curly red hair is currently there, taking cupcakes out of the oven and humming along with the music.

“Hey Pascal, can you watch the front? I’ll come up to frost those when they’re cool.”

Pascal nods and waves at the girls. “Sure thing, Atlanta. Hello Atlanta’s friend.”

“Thanks, Pascal!”

Ellen keeps following Atlanta’s steady pace, only slowing down to return Pascal’s greeting with a nod.

Atlanta leads Ellen down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a small landing. To the right is the door to a small office, which is currently closed and empty, and there doesn’t appear to be anything else. After a short pause, for drama, Atlanta touches a brick on the wall across from the office, and a secret door swings open. She looks back at Ellen, clearly excited about the surprise.

“Ooooh, very Scooby Doo! Y’know, part of me is really hoping this leads to a cupcake R&D lab.” Ellen jokes and looks as surprised as she can. *So this is what Tay was hinting at, huh? Cool.*

“Seriously though, this is rad. What you got back here?” She cranes her neck to try to see further in, glancing sheepishly at Atlanta as if asking if she’s allowed to proceed.

“Cupcake R&D lab. That’s a good idea if I need to lie about my secret basement.” Atlanta swings the door wide open and heads inside.

The secret basement is possibly the coziest secret base in Halcyon. There’s a kitchenette and large table in front of them. Some papers lay scattered across it, some of them unfinished homework. There’s a computer on a desk against the wall, some bean bags scattered around, and an open space spread out to the left, covered in soft mats. Ellen can recognize a training space when she sees it, although it has zero tech like the danger room. It looks a little dusty, whereas the rest of the room looks well used.

“Tada! Mom’s base. And mine now, too, I guess. It’s so cool! I’ve got so much stuff for doing hero things now.”

“Of course your secret base would be cutesy,” Ellen drops into one of the bean bags and stretches out. “So what do you two do in here? Plotting and scheming? Figure out how to save the world? Come up with new fighting maneuvers?” She scrunches up her face with doubt at the last suggestion, seeing the layer of dust on the training equipment.

Atlanta plops down into a bean bag next to Ellen. “Mom’s trying to teach me to be smarter. Strategize and stuff instead of always just running in. Like that time we walked into a warehouse even though we knew it was a trap…” She pulls her sleeves over her hands and looks a little ashamed. “But she’s not as big on fighting. Last week she gave me a mission, which went well! We saved Pascal and some other construction workers from being turned into goop. And she’s teaching me how to use some of this other stuff, like a battery to boost my powers, and some surveillance equipment. She got me a bike, too, but uh, I don’t really use it.” Atlanta scrunches up her face at a bad memory. “But yeah! It’s nice, having some guidance about hero stuff.”

Ellen nods along while internally racking her brain trying to remember if she was there at the mentioned incidents. *Warehouse? The Bishop one? But Lanta wasn’t there for that… Does she mean the shadow zone with the death lightning… guy? Was that a warehouse? Was I even there for that? Oh shit, I wasn’t paying attention. Did she just say Pascal is made of goo? The Pascal we just saw upstairs? Aaaaahhh did I miss somewhere I was supposed to say something?*

The fog around Ellen’s head disappears at Atlanta’s mention of her bike and Ellen jumps to her feet, still rising into the air before she remembers to re-center her boots.

“ATLANTA!” She shouts, eyes wide with excitement.

Atlanta looks up at Ellen in surprise. “What? Are your shoes malfunctioning or something?”

“YOU HAVE A BIKE? AND YOU DIDN’T START WITH THAT?!”

“Ummmmmmmm...I guess not? I should have started with that? The secret base is less exciting than a motorcycle?” After thinking about it for a second, Atlanta chuckles. She should have known. This was Ellen, after all.

“Ok, that’s fair. I mean, this is pretty cool and all, but we *could* be driving around and…well that’s usually fun enough for me. You don’t wanna?”

“Oh, uh…” Atlanta tugs on her sleeves again. “Okay. So it’s stupid. Well, part of it’s stupid. I don’t really know how to drive it? Like, I haven’t crashed or anything, but I’m not the best at it. I kept it Pocketed so I had it when I needed it. But then during that Zodiac thing a few weeks ago, I uh, Pocketed myself...and it fell out. Because I could only have one thing in there...back then. And since I’m not really using my Pockets now, I don’t use it? It’s not like I’m scared of it or anything. Um.” Atlanta looks down, unable to look at Ellen while she’s lying. “So I just keep it in the garage with the cupcake van.”

“Wait, you pocketed *yourself*? Is that even a thing?” Ellen sits next to Atlanta again. “Oh, duh, you just said it happened so I guess it must be. Are you…ok? Like, is the ‘no pockets’ thing because you *can’t*, or because you *won’t*?”

“Um. It’s a thing, yeah. My Pockets aren't like Reaper One's. They're just…empty. And I can’t really get myself out. But I used the gems I got from Hero One to get out the first time…and Melody got me out the second time…I Pocketed Boon by accident once...and Ernest on purpose. The thing with Ernest helped, but…they're changing really quickly, and can't control them like I used to. So it's more of a won't." Atlanta shrugs, then puts on an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I didn't ask to hang out just to complain about my powers."

“Don’t apologize. I did come here to hang out with you today. It’s kinda nice. Not the power weirdness stuff- I mean, that sucks. Yeah.”

*Smooth.*

The following minute of awkward silence seems to last forever, before Ellen finally thinks of something to hopefully cheer up Atlanta.

“I can’t help with the pockets thing, but if you wanna get better with your bike, I’m an excellent teacher. Ask anyone!” She smiles confidently. “Well, ask Tay or M- yeah, ask Tay.” The smile wavers.

Atlanta pulls up a knee and rests her chin on it. She considers what to say for a moment before asking, “Have you talked to Melody since you’ve been back?”

“Haaaaah. No.” Ellen deflates and sinks into her bean bag. “After that first day back she seemed really…off. I figured I’d give her some space before trying to talk to her again.”

“Has she been ok? Like, I don’t wanna judge or anything, but last time I saw her she looked pretty fucking rough. Y’know, bags under her eyes and all.”

*God, why am I even asking? Not like it’s my fucking business. She’s got other friends; like she needs me butting in.*

"She's doing better than she was." Atlanta pauses. "Remember what you said the other day, that just because you were gone for a while doesn't mean you wouldn't like me anymore? That goes the other way, too. Melody missed you. For what it's worth, I think she'd like to hear from you." Atlanta reaches over and squeezes Ellen’s arm. After a moment of awkward silence, she stands, knowing how to cheer Ellen up. "So uh, how about those teaching skills you were bragging about?" She smiles and offers a hand to Ellen.

Ellen smiles up at Atlanta. “Hell yeah.” She accepts the offered hand and rises to her feet, clapping Atlanta on the shoulder. “Thanks, Lanta. I’m not gonna make the same mistake twice. Promise.”

After a stretch and a yawn, Ellen shakes off the cobwebs and rubs her hands together, full of newly encouraged energy. “Ok, where’s this bike?”

“There’s a garage out back.”

Atlanta leads Ellen out the back door to the alley, stopping to seal the door to the base again and tell Pascal she was stepping out.

In the alley, Atlanta unlocks and rolls up a metal garage door. A blue van with the Sweet Nothings logo on the side fills most of the small space, but Atlanta’s motorcycle is squeezed in beside it, leaning against the wall.

“So uh, here it is.”

“Wow you weren’t kidding about not using it, huh?” Ellen reaches out and rolls the bike out of the garage. She lowers the kickstand while making very pointed eye contact with Atlanta, then takes a few steps back. Circling both the bike and Atlanta a few times, poking at them and nodding with some unknown understanding, she stops and gives Atlanta a push towards the bike.

“Alright, get on. Let’s go!”

Atlanta watches Ellen in confusion as she’s circled and poked, then stumbles as she’s pushed. “Um. Go? Like, me drive? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Atlanta James, if you do not get on that bike, so help me I will put you on it. It’s not gonna drive itself!”

*Honey, not vinegar, dumbass. She’s scared, remember?*

Rolling her eyes at herself, Ellen sits in the passenger seat, patting the seat in front of her. “C’mon, I’m not just gonna send you into traffic solo. The hell kind of teacher do you think I am?"

After a moment of hesitation, Atlanta takes the helmet off the handle bars and straps it on. Knowing Ellen, she doesn’t bother to offer her the spare that’s in the garage. She stares at the bike for a moment before shaking her head to try and clear the fog of fear.

“Yeah. It’ll be fine. You’ve got my back.” Before she can lose courage, she gets on the bike in front of Ellen. Her legs barely reach the ground, making it hard to balance as she kicks up the kickstand.

“Alright. We’re just gonna roll ahead real slow at first. Engine on, shift to neutral, hands on the clutch and your front brake.” Ellen moves Atlanta’s hands and feet into place one step at a time, helping keep the whole bike steady as it rumbles under them. “Let’s just roll, no throttle, it’s super easy. See?”

After a while they start going faster, just enough to actually drive on side streets where no one will honk at them. Convincing Atlanta to lean into her turns takes a bit more work, but before long she only needs occasional reminders of where things are.

And then the rain starts.

“Motherf- what the hell, Ern?!” Ellen points out an awning for Atlanta to stop under.

Atlanta pulls to a mostly smooth stop under the awning. To her credit, she doesn’t fall over as they stop for once. After putting down the kickstand, she removes her helmet with slightly shaky hands. Letting out a “whoof,” she leans back against Ellen.

“That...that happened.” She grins. “That went a lot better than normal. I guess you weren’t exaggerating your teaching skills.”

“Yeah yeah, practice makes perfect blah blah blah. ‘Sides, you’ve literally dealt with demons and fought death and shit. I think you can handle a motorcycle. Just takes getting used to.” Ellen shrugs, looking at the sky, trying to gauge if the rain will let up any time soon.

“Hey, no offence or whatever, but I don’t really wanna get soaked so you mind if I drive back?”

“Listen, demons are straightforward. And, no, that’s okay. We don’t have Anaya around to give us an umbrella.” After sending a quick text to Ernest to make sure he’s alright, Atlanta gets off so they can switch places. As she puts her helmet back on, she quietly says, “Thanks, Ellen. I really appreciate this. It's still scary, but a little more like the good kind of scary. Like rock climbing. Or flying.”

“No problem, dude. Long as we’re here, just ask and me or Tay can ride along with you. Now hold on, because I’m not tryna take a shower out here.” Ellen smiles her most mischievous smile and revs the engine. Her helmet materializes on her head and the motorcycle races forward, back toward Sweet Nothings.

Atlanta holds on tight, much more accustomed to being a passenger. And with Ellen driving, you needed to hold on. They arrive back at the bakery in good time. Atlanta puts the bike back in the garage, using the kickstand this time, and the girls rush inside.

“Hey, Pascal! We’re back!” Atlanta calls, and gets herself a new apron. “Want to hang out while I frost some cupcakes? I might do some badly, and we won’t be able to sell those.”

Atlanta winks at Ellen like she’s being very sneaky about her plans. She whips up some vanilla frosting for the now-cool strawberry cupcakes, dyeing some pink. In no time at all, Atlanta puts a layer of white frosting on the bottom, then deftly pipes roses onto the tops using the pink. She definitely accidentally messes two of them up, all the while chatting about Boon, Big Team, school, Jasper’s new dog, having a house, and anything else that crosses her mind to share with Ellen. At some point, she checks chitter and sees Kurt’s post about the storm not being Ernest this time, which she shows to Ellen.

Ellen watches while Atlanta deftly ices cupcakes, not surprised by her skill so much as hearing about everything that’s happened since she and Tay left. *Never a slow day in Halcyon, huh? I guess some things really never change.* A vacant smile spreads across her face as her mind wanders to things and people and places that remind her of Atlanta’s stories.

After taking a seat on a stool to eat her cupcake, Atlanta asks, “"Hey Ellen, I know this sounds super weird, but earlier did you get the feeling like you needed to punch a creepy dude who was hitting on your girlfriend?"