“Hijole, I know you want to go out and live your wild fantasies, but are you sure you’re ready?” his mamá questions him as she passes out her home-famous tamales; it was his birthday after all.

“Esperanza, he is ready,” Papá says, winking at me, “That’s why we gave him a rebel’s name, remember? We knew he wasn’t going to stay with us forever, just like his hermana.”

“Pedro, I just don’t know-” Mamá begins, but a figure appears in the doorway and cuts her off.

“Did someone say sister?” Águila says, leaning up against the door frame.

Static’s head jerks up, “Ila!!” A stream of adrenaline shoots through his body as he darts over to his sister and hugs her tight. He can hear her laugh reverberate in her chest.

“Feliz cumpleaños, little brother, I have a present for you,” she says

“You do?” Static pulls away, wide-eyed.

“The gift will have you wait, Águila, come eat. You look half starved.” Mamá shakes her head. “Ninos, dios mio.”

“Oh, mamá, come on now,” Ila slides into the chair next to Static, pilling tamales onto an extra plate, “You of all people should be except to the gift rule.”

“Eat, hija!” Mamá rolls her eyes, and unwraps her own.

“So, what’s new? How many patrols have you fought with? Are you still holed up in that old-” questions start flowing out of Static, and Ila puts up a hand up to stop him.

“All in good time, hermano, all in good time. Tell me about you. Do you have everything ready?” she says, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Oh does he,” Papá sighs from across the table, “he wouldn’t keep quiet about his outfit he plans on wearing- you’re gonna hate it, hija. Just be warned, it is atrocious.”

“Can I go show her??” Static asks, and mamá nods and Static shoots out of his chair, dragging Ila away with him, and beelines toward his room. Only once they get there does Static let go of his sister in exchange for his closet doors. Throwing them open with a flourish, Ila comes up behind him and messes up his styled black hair, ruffing it up into a frizzy mess. Static brushes her off and produces an outfit consisting of black skinny jeans that he can hardly fit in, a black undershirt that had a few holes in it, and a black leather jacket which was adorned with spikes and pins and buttons. Static looks back at Ila, waiting for her approval, but just sees a look of disbelief on her face.

“Stat. You’re kidding, right? All black? Hermanito, please tell me you’re smarter than that.” Ila says, shaking her head

“Yes, I know, I know, it’s all black, but I have been conditioning myself-” Static begins before Ila cuts him off.

“Static, how the hell do you ‘condition’ yourself- you know what, I’ll take your word for it. Here, this is what I wanted to give you. Un regalo de mi para ti.” She retrieves a small wrapped package from inside her jacket and hands it to him, a sad smile on her face.

Static rips off the paper and his heart soars. It’s a mask- with diagonal rainbow stripes, very colorful and very familiar. He knows this mask. “This is- this is Money’s mask? Oh, Ila… I am so sorry- why didn’t you put it in the mailbox?”

“Don’t be- they wanted it to keep going, we put their jacket in instead. They said that they wanted to give you their mask the next time they saw you, so I’m doing that. It’s yours. Of course- it might not work with your outfit-”

“No, no. It’s actually perfect! I was planning on getting a white mask or something but this works really well- you wanna see the full thing?”

“Oh! Yes, of course, let me go finish eating. You know how mamá gets.”

“ Sí, sí, go eat.”

Static pushes his sister out of the room to get changed into his outfit. He struggles a bit with the pants, misses the hole in the undershirt, and pokes himself with a jacket spike, but eventually he gets on his all black outfit, and he combs down his dark hair. Picking up the rainbow colored mask, he thinks about how much this little piece of plastic means to his sister. He puts the thin mask around his neck- he’s not ready to actually see himself in it. He straps himself into his boots and takes one last look around his room. It wasn’t planned- but he knows he’s going to be leaving. Picking up a backpack, he shoves a few sentimental items in, some extra socks and stuff, and a blanket.