Before Maysah’s question could be answered a man quite literally appeared right in front of her. It took every ounce of her will to stop herself from reflexively draining every single neon sign and fluorescent light in the building as she straightened up in preparation to flip the table. Only Peterson relaxing his posture prevented Maysah from causing a scene. Instead, her jumping in her seat had caused only the slightest drop of the drink that had manifested itself in front of her to spill. Maysah eyed the drink that was for [i]the lady[/i] with a hint of worry on her brow.

“What?” said Maysah flatly. She looked up at the man that Peterson introduced as Void. Maysah first noticed that he was a handsome man in a nice suit with an agreeable English accent, but the attraction stopped right there. His smile wasn’t bad but his eyes suggested otherwise. Maysah felt her skin crawl. She knew an eyefuck when she saw one. She had dealt with men like this while going to school, while working in the lab, and while fighting crime in spandex. Now she had to deal with one while glamoured up to look like a different woman. She would rather go thirsty the rest of her life than be given a drink because she was [i]the lady[/i]. Would he have given her a drink if the glamour had made her ugly? It was doubtful.

She exhaled slowly through her nose as Void began blabbering about his compensation and folded her arms over her chest. Once, she had agreed to take part in a superhero photo shoot for charity. The photographer suggested that she pose topless because her “power was so hot that it melted her shirt” and then called her a heartless bitch when she refused to do it. Once, a man had grabbed her ass while she was at a cocktail party. She slapped him, but she had also been in costume. The man claimed to be assaulted by Stardust, and only when Projector spoke up that he had witnessed the whole thing did the suit get dropped. 

There had been plenty of other onces. She was used to the shit. Didn’t make it suck any less. Her hands squeezed against her knees as she sat there and took it again. Maysah had been spoiled with the company of the Tower and Arbiter, who while not without their faults had at least been respectful. Men like Void were one of the many reasons why she never really worked with teams. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply as Void finished crunching numbers and proceeded to try and….what, exactly? Charm her? Embarrass her? Belittle her in front of her peers to make him look like a strong member of the team? It was always just implications with men like this. Implications, regardless of how obvious they were and this one was an obvious one, gave them a cowardly way out if they got called out for their behavior. 

Still, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t call.

“Oh, you’re done talking?” said Maysah. Her eyes were closed and her voice was calm. She exhaled deeply. “Good, because I want you to listen. You don’t know me, but I know you. I know people like you, and I will unfortunately continue to know people like you for a few more years to come. Since we’re going to be stuck working together for the time being, I suggest whatever it is you’re trying here ends now. In fact, I suggest you show off that nifty ability of yours where you remove yourself from my mind so I forget all about you.”

“Because if I open my eyes and still see your [i]fucking[/i] face,” she continued with ice in her throat, “you will know who I am. And you’ll know that I don’t need a  [i]thing[/i] like you to finish this job.”