Upgrade: Epilogue

"Trix, I… I don't even know where to begin thanking you," Marty Rallner said as he stood outside Valarie's hospital room.

"Don't worry about it, Marty. You must have burnt up every favor owed to you to get us back to Paragon City without Longbow or the police knowing about it. Frankly, that's thanks enough."

The tall former Marine smiled softly and was about to speak when the nurse exited Valarie's room and looked at he and Trix.

"You can see her now. Just don't keep her too long, she'll need all the rest she can."

Marty and Trix thanked the nurse and entered the room. Laying in bed was Val, still altered by Percy's experiments. Upon seeing her friends she let out something that sounded vaguely like a purr, causing all three to blink in surprise before laughing softly.

"So what's new, pussycat?" Marty asked with a grin.

"You must have been waiting for days to use that one, Rallner" Tarrine said with a chuckle, "SERAPH says they're devoting an entire team to find a way to reverse this, but I told 'em they can take their time."

"Seriously?" Trix asked in surprise, "You want to stay…"

"… in a totally awesome new body?" Valarie finished for her friend, "Sure, for a while at least. I know it looks shocking, but I wanna see what it can do before going back to normal… or whatever passes as normal for me."

Everyone got a laugh out of that, then Val looked quizzically at Trix. "So what are you going to do? Go back to the Specialists?"

Trix looked away and twirled a bit of hair around a telekinetic finger, something she usually did when faced with an awkward subject. "Not really… Gallows and I aren't exactly talking to each other right now. I'm mad at him for so readily working for Percy, and he's mad at me for head butting him in the face…"

Valarie and Marty just looked at Trix in disbelief. Tarrine was the first to crack up in raucous laughter. "YOU? Little Miss Le Petit Damsel? Giving a guy a classic Scottish kiss?"

Trix's hair-twirling intensified. "Well, I was angry… besides, the mercenary life just isn't suiting me anymore. I was thinking maybe, just possibly… you guys help me get registered as a hero?"

Marty and Valarie exchanged glances, though Trix noted they weren't nearly as surprised as she expected.

"We'll have to see if we can make Longbow accept it as heroic community service…" Marty began.
"And there's her excellent service record with Vanguard, too…" Valarie said.

"Plus I think Jim mentioned the guy down the hall from his place is looking to sell his apartment for cheap," Marty mused, "Yeah, I think we can swing this."

"Um, guys?" Trix asked, befuddled, "Were you two expecting this?"

"Ever since you started feeding us info last year, actually," Marty said with a smile, "To be honest I thought you'd take longer to make the full jump."

Trix just gaped, her lower lip on the verge of quivering from all the emotion. "Guys… I – I don't know where to begin thanking you…"

"Don't worry about it, Trix," Marty said, "You selflessly extricated an old friend from under the noses of three exceedingly dangerous villains. That's thanks enough" he said with a wink.

Trix paused for a moment before giving Marty as big a thank-you hug as her small frame could allow. Valarie chuckled, then yawned cavernously. Marty and Trix both couldn't help but notice her teeth were significantly bigger and sharper than before.

"Right, well I think we've pestered you enough Val…" Marty began.

"Yes, yes… oh! Almost forgot something," Trix said, fishing a small jewel case out of her coat pocket.

"What is it?" Valarie asked, her head tilting in a catlike fashion.

"Just something I had TiVo'd for you…," Trix answered vaguely as she popped the disc into the small DVD player attached to the room's TV, "Anyway, Marty and I will let you rest now. It's good to have you back, Valarie."

"Good to have you back too, Trix" Valarie answered as her two friends left her in her room. Picking up the TV remote Val turned it on and was instantly greeted with the familiar strains of the Hockey Night In Canada theme.

It was the same game between her hometown Canucks and that forgettable expansion team she was watching the night she was abducted. Valarie realized she had never found out how that one ended.

She dug herself in to the hospital blankets and let out another purring sound. Tonight was going to be a good night for Valarie "Snowleopardess" Tarrine.