“I spent most of my childhood watching my mom balance the books, I did the events, the photoshoots, the merchandising as a PRT-acknowledged team. I have something of a sense of what you’re probably going for.”

“Ah, the merchandising. I think I have your PRT trading card from that time period in a binder in my office.”

I smiled. “Which one? I had one that was holographic, which you could swipe through the controller for the video game to have me as a polygon-rendered helper, and the higher quality one that had the bio on the back.”

“I think it was the second one. My office is through this door.”

I took a seat opposite the glass-top desk while he closed the door. He undid the button in his suit jacket before sitting down.

“Typically those of us at Auzure like to work with new parahumans,” he said. “They’re easier to brand. When we work with capes with a history, we like that history to be a strong one.”

“I think you get the best of both worlds with me,” I said. “Most people assumed I was dead when everything happened in Brockton Bay, and nobody corrected that misunderstanding. If you do dig up information about me, a lot of it is strong.”

“I think that’s where we run into problems,” he said. “A lot of your history and presence is tied into your family’s group identity. ‘Glory Girl’ isn’t famous beyond a certain range. Hometown heroine, yes, with some people in Boston and New York who might know of you, but not famous.”

“Then consider me new. Untainted by the past.”

“I would, but we use things we term perception turns, or just turns.”

“I know the term,” I said.

“I like that you do. Branding, turns. You do seem to know what you’re getting into here. When we’re tracking someone’s marketability, we map out the turns. You’re fine, nothing exceptional, for most of your career, with an upturn if you count your disappearance, after the Slaughterhouse Nine.”

I took a deep breath, then nodded.

“But if we include your family, there’s a lot of baggage.”

“You could say that,” I said.

“Downturn, death of Fleur. Downturn, times when New Wave was subsisting, but not in the eyes of the media.”

“Four adolescents and two couples, there were weeks where school or work took priority. That got better as my cousins and I got older.”

“Cousins… and your sister?” he asked.

I felt the shock like it was cold water.

He continued, “I think if it were up to the turns and the background alone, it would have to be a no. At the time you should have been drawing the most attention, given your age and potential, you… died, as you put it. You were gone for the two years before Gold Morning.”

“Yes,” I said.