Spring

Julie's father had started talking about his work more often. She hoped it meant he saw her as more grown up. She just wished it were more interesting than an assembly line error at the bot factory. "The shift supervisor was, er, disciplined. And yesterday I visited the academy."

So what did golden boy do this week? I think I'd actually rather hear more about the mining bots.

Led his squad to victory in the war game competition, apparently. Julie began arranging her food cubes in a geometric pattern on her plate and tried not to feel jealous. She'd always suspected her father would have preferred a son but it still stung to have it confirmed.

"I'm thinking of fast tracking cadet Chilton into a command position. He's a little young but he has great leadership potential. He's skilled, he's loyal, and he has charisma. The other cadets already look to him." The pride was evident in his voice.

There were so many possible responses to this. "Last week you questioned whether I was old enough to be wearing makeup and you're willing to put a boy in my grade in charge of armed troops?" or "Remember when I was seven and you specifically told me I shouldn't draw attention to myself because it was safer that way?" or just throwing the plate of food cubes in his face and storming out. But she was trying to be mature so she settled for a non-comitial grunt.

When her father finally asked what she had been up to she mentioned that she had started studying for her pod license.

"Well, here's a tip. The maximum speed will be going down to 30 mph next week. And autopilot will now come on anytime there's congestion" he commented.

"What? Why?"

"There was a near miss last week in the industrial section."

"Couldn't you just enforce the speed in crowded areas like that?" she asked.

"This is too important to be left to the digression of the general public." He snapped.

The pod instructions already devoted far more space to safety features and overrides than anything that involved skill. The further simplification of the controls was disappointing in more ways than one. If her father treated everyone in the city like a child what hope did she have that he would ever treat her like an adult?

Summer

It was the latest in KaneCo technology and Julie was using it to turn Claire's hair bright pink. She'd found the holoprojector prototype lying around the last time she'd visited her Father's house. She'd noticed her father tended to lose interest in technology when it didn't work right. Fortunately she had more patience and more free time. It hadn't been that hard to modify.

Claire was less than impressed. "I want to stand out; I don't want to look weird."

"And of course there's a difference" Julie commented as she adjusted the color to turquoise.

"Standing out is like other people only a little better. Weird is just weird. And this color is even worse, it clashes with my clothes."

"You know they wear all sorts of different colors in Motorcity." Julie said absently as she tried something else.

"Eww. I thought we agreed that Motorcity was really dangerous and you weren't going back there again. Wait, this purple isn't so bad but can you tone it down a little?"

"Like that?"

"Perfect. Now how about you try doing something with your hair besides hiding behind it?"

"I don't hide behind my hair."

"Please, I'm your best friend and I have no idea if your ears are pierced because I've never seen them."

Julie pulled her hair back. "See ears, happy now?"

"Oooh, I know let's do a fishtail braid. Your hair is so long it would be perfect." Claire said coming to sit behind her. Julie sat very still. Her neck felt exposed and the new style was pulling on her scalp in odd ways but it was still somehow relaxing. Was this just something girls with mothers naturally knew how to do?

An emergency broadcast came on destroying her peaceful mood and making Claire accidentally jerk the hair she was holding. It was a fugitive alert urging anyone who saw Mike Chilton, former cadet, to immediately report him to KaneCo security forces. Suspect is considered dangerous, do not approach. Julie stared at the screen wide-eyed. Cadet Chilton? He was her father's favorite; he was supposed to be up for advancement this week. What happened?

It didn't take her long to find out. Two days later at dinner her father was still fuming. She barely had to ask any leading questions before he started going on about ingratitude and traitors. "He refused to go through with an important construction project because not all the families had moved out the area. He turned his back on Deluxe and all for the sake of some squatters." He said bitterly. She stiffened. There had people in the area? Families? And her father knew. There was no hope it was all a mistake. Another thing she hadn't wanted confirmed.

She quickly looked down at her plate to avoid eye contact. Her dinner sat in her stomach like a brick, her appetite was gone. It was like a twisted version of her childhood fantasy. She now knew far too much about the president of KaneCo and it had turned her father into a stranger.

Fall

Now she actually wanted answers but she still couldn't bring herself to ask her father. Deluxe had shifted from smothering to oppressive. It was like her life didn't fit anymore. Maybe it was time to find another one. So she went back to Motorcity. She blended in now. She was still wearing a regulation unitard but thanks to the modified holoprojector it didn't look like one.

Her elaborate cover story turned out to be completely unnecessary. No one asked. In fact people didn't tend to talk about their pasts at all. Motorcity was a place of second lives and second chances.

She had successfully bartered her small stockpile of KaneCo first aid supplies for a meal ticket. She suspected the store owner had lowballed her but that was okay. She would have given them away except that would have looked suspicious. She wanted to do something. Now she was heading for the restaurant corridor. She read about pizza once and she wanted to try it. Tonight seemed like a perfect time for new experiences.

But first she had to get across the parking lot. The way the brightly colored cars were tearing out of there it might be a few minutes. Still between the colors, the noise and the lights it was quiet the spectacle. A small purple car seemed to be in the lead. Then an orange racer pulled out in front. She sucked in her breathe. They were going to crash. There was no way pods would be allowed to get that close while a full speed. But the orange car accelerated and pulled away. Pods couldn't maneuver like that either. She laughed out loud. She really needed to stop underestimating Motorcity.

"They're amazing aren't they?" said a voice next to her. She nodded and turned her head to see a boy about her age. He looked familiar. The clothes were different and the thuggish look was absent but it was him.

"Hey, I'm Mike Chilton," he said.

"I recognize you from your wanted poster." She said. His expression fell.

Nice one, Julie. Whatever happened to second chances?

She had to salvage this somehow. "It's good that someone actually stood up for Motorcity." She said.

"Oh, I'm just getting started." He grinned.

Dang, he really is charismatic.

She smiled back. "I'm Julie."

And for the first time she found herself feeling curious about what Mike Chilton would do next.

Note on the timeline: it's hard to tell how much time passed between episodes on the show but in Ride the Lightning Claire says it's July. Mike's one year anniversary comes up a few episodes later. And Mayhem Night is set on October 31st and the Burners have been together for at least a year since they all remember what Texas did last Halloween. Mike obviously had a busy few months there.

Author's note: I got the idea for this fic watching the finale and thinking "Wait did Kane even wait until the daughter he actually had was out of earshot before he started in on his you were like the son I never had tirade? Bad parenting there." This chapter comes closest to that original idea.