"Mom!!" Milantha Lightwing nudged the door shut behind her. "I'm home!"

Her mother called from the kitchen. "Hurry and get cleaned up, dear, we have company tonight!"

"My day was fine, Mom, thanks for asking," the twenty-year-old stuck her head in the door long enough to make a playful face at her mother. Mrs. Lightwing aimed a mock-glare at her only child before the young woman vanished up the stairs.

Milantha washed up, changed clothes, and brushed her hair, twisting the thick blond mass into a loose braid that hung down her back.

"How was work, dear?" her mother asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"It was good, I learned a lot."

"Like what?"

"Can't tell, Mommy, it's all confidential. Nobody outside the Bureau." She winked her big blue eyes and grinned. "But it was interesting."

"That's good."

"Who's coming over?" Milantha hovered, looking over the food but being careful not to touch. She had a nasty habit of ruining perfectly good food just by being near it.

"A young man your father works with," Mrs. Lightwing pushed her daughter out of the way gently. "He's new in town, working the summer hire job they were talking about, programming the biomed department's computers."

"I remember," Milantha went to set the table. "Dad seemed really impressed with him."

"Well, his folks don't live around here, so we invited him to come eat with us tonight."

"Is Uncle Flash coming too?"

"No, he had some work to do, but he said he'd try to stop by a little later."

"Oh." Milantha was disappointed.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome back," Milantha and Mrs. Lightwing chorused.

"There's my girls," Mr. Lightwing came in, grinning.

"Hi Daddy," Milantha hugged him. "How was work."

"Busy," he replied. "Yours?"

"Interesting," Milantha grinned. "I think the odds are good that if they offer me a permanent job when I'm done with school, I'll take it."

"Great, glad to hear it." He smiled at her. Milantha looked over his shoulder--and then up. The young man standing behind Mr. Lightwing was very tall, but very thin. His feathers were white, his eyes were brown, and his hair was bright red.

"Sparky, this is my daughter, Milantha," Mr. Lightwing moved cheerfully out of the way and nudged Milantha forward. "Lan, this is Shockwave Featherstone."

"Good to meet you," Milantha offered her hand with a smile.