“I don’t like you.”

“Feelings mutual, Sunny.”

Pippa visibly cringes at the nickname.

“It’s Beacon. I’m only doing this because of Cotton,” she corrects. It felt wrong. The only nickname she ever accepted (while in hero mode) is Tink. And that’s Cotton’s name for her.

“Yes I am aware. Somehow my brother found someone that actually likes him,” Whirlpool comments, looking at her nails, feigning disinterest. Pippa can tell that she is worried though. She wouldn’t be agreeing to work with her if she wasn’t.

“Well maybe if you didn’t create a crime scene everywhere you go, you might find someone,” she points out because she can’t help herself. Hey, she’s a hero, not a saint.

Whirlpool scoffs. “I wasn’t asking for dating advice. Even if I did want some, I wouldn’t go to the person that somehow fell for my brother. I never thought anyone would be stupid enough to like the infamous Water Craze.”

Shrugging, she says, “He can be charming. When he wants to be.”

“Nope, don’t want to hear it. We find him and save him. That is the extent of us working together.”

“Agreed.”

As much as Pippa would love to just find him by herself, or at least not with Cotton’s villain sister, she needs her.

“So Whirlpool, where would Flood take him?”

Pippa doesn’t know anything about Flood, except that she is an old-time villain, retiring before Beacon arose. Cotton never talked about his mother, or any of his family for that matter. For freaking sake, she doesn’t even know his sister’s real name! She has to call her by her villain alias!

She needs Whirlpool’s insight.

Her slightly disgruntled associate narrows her eyes, “I have a couple ideas, but she’ll see me coming. When we find him, you need to be the distraction, so I can sneak and free him.” It feels nice to know that Whirlpool despises someone else and not just her.

“But wouldn’t it be weird for me to just randomly find him? She’ll suspect that I’m working with you,” she points out, poking a hole in her plan.

Tipping her head back, Whirlpool bangs it against the wall behind her. “Shit. I didn’t think of that.”

“Ok. Switch. I’m going to be the distraction. It wouldn’t be out of character for me to do something crazy. Like defy her and get my brother back,” she adapts the plan to fit better.

Whirlpool grabs her cup and downs her beer. Pippa winces, almost feeling the burn in her own throat. “Ugh. What a prude. Here.”

She waves her hand and water splashes into Pippa’s empty cup. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

They both just sit in silence. Pippa isn’t very good at small talk. If only that was part of her superpower.

“So where are some of the places that she might go? What are the extent of her abilities? I have to imagine she is insanely strong since Cotton won’t go without a fight,” Pippa rambles, asking the questions she has kept in her mind until this moment.

“Don’t get your light powers in a twist. We’re gonna go now.”

“Sorry, I just like to be prepared.”

Her eyes turn serious, a stormy look taking over, “My mother is dangerous. I’m not joking, Sunny. She’s called Flood because she drowns people with no remorse. She rushes in, destroys everything in her path, and then leaves.”

There is some bitterness in her tone at the end. Pippa has a feeling Whirlpool isn’t just talking about Flood’s power set.

“She has the biggest range of abilities I’ve ever seen. She can conjure and manipulate water, change state of water and control it no matter which state. She can turn herself into water which is how she’s eluded the police and other superheroes before. She can even control the water in a person’s body. That’s how she has Cotton.” Just her listing them off is giving Pippa anxiety. How do you beat all of this?

There’s just one question in her mind now. It may be the most important one. “Does she have any weaknesses?”

“One is that she’ll need about 50% of her concentration on Cotton to keep him controlled. Second is why I need you. Heat. Fire is obviously weak, but she draws water from the air. If you can make the area really dry, it will weaken her.”

Now her heart is pounding. It makes sense now, why Whirlpool was willing to work with her. She needs her. Just like Pippa needs her now.

“Your my ace, Sunny.”

“Ok. Where do we start?”