'They cared?' Talia was shocked when her two teammates reached down to be on her level and console her with words and even an arm around her shoulder. She couldn't believe that they actually wanted to help her! 

'Maybe, just maybe... she wouldn't have to return to the life her parents had tried for so long to imprison her in... their own personal, stifling and suffocating destiny for her... No, she couldn't do that to them.' She dropped her head and looked away from Bob and Manny. 'She couldn't just disappear and change her appearance so that she couldn't be tracked. Besides, people would pick up on her moves as being from The Performer no matter what she tried to don as her outward appearance. She also couldn't hurt her new friends though. She cared for them, too, and would have defended them if the positions were reversed.' 

Steeling herself, she looked back up at them again and forced the words to exit her mouth with a semblance of confidence and assurance she didn't yet feel inside. 
"Yes, we are the CHAMPS and I don't want to give up... I won't!" Her face screwed up with determination and focus. "Whatever ideas you both have for me to try or wear or whatever, I am all ears. I don't ever want to go back to them or that life... ever again." Her voice faltered a little at the end, but she still had finished her statement. She'd spoken it out loud. She was never going back to them, not if she could help it.