---

Madcap's energy is stressing Jet out.

"This is for all the new heroes! Some of us might be big, strong, and awesome; some of us might be dark, unknown, and badass... but we all follow the same rules. Save the day and look GOOD doing it!"

Not because he's doing, whatever- this is. It's the veneer on top. Like snow on a rocky surface. Each jump of energy a sign of something bigger underneath. He doesn't realize just how much it makes his skin crawl until Madcap launches into a speech. When he launches his fist into the air, Jet tenses. A treat was thrown at him yesterday. What does Madcap look like under the snow- is he always this upbeat? Surely that much heat would lead to burnout quick. When he moves to put a hand on his shoulder and one on Blackstar's, he begins calculating the exact pressure it would take to snap all of Madcap's fingers on both hands.

It'd be incredibly precise, but he could do it. Probably.

"I saw that stream. Freakin'. Awesome."

Dry mouthed- he chokes out "Thanks man." Jet stifles a laugh when Madcap arm covers his eyes. If anybody looks at him funny, he raises his hands in defense. Physical comedy is definitely his favorite.

When he speaks directly to Payback and Eclipse, Jet is holding his breath. After working with the pair yesterday, he has a bit more understanding of the kind of seriousness Eclipse and Payback exude. The beeping of the vending machine relaxes him- at least Eclipse is busy.

The meal he packed is in a leftovers container, spaghetti. He tosses it in the microwave for a quick zap, observing the people around him. When the vacant energy becomes too much, he starts washing the abandoned dishes in the sink. It's something to do other than watch Madcap do crunches. If someone approaches the sink he offers a friendly question, "so what's keeping you busy these days?"

After listening to their response, he offers his own answer. "I've been at the skate rink a lot recently, they have a magic the gathering club that meets there. It's a good balance of movement and keeping my brain busy." He's likely finished the dishes, and has ended up leaning against the sink, chewing on a thumbnail.

---

When it's his turn, he passes Blackstar in the hall. He smiles back at her, and enters James' office. Settling into the chair in front of his desk, he waves in a greeting as James jumps right into conversation.

"How are you getting on? And I mean, it seems like to me you ran in with the wrong crowd. Came back and suddenly hit the ground running as a hero. It seems easy for you, so, I guess the question is, why do you think it feels like such an easy switch?"

All the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. Jet isn't used to someone being this direct so quickly. In all of his other jobs, he worked for young adults just trying to stop being the manager at a Burger Czar because it was one of the only places that would hire him without job experience or a place to send the his hiring paperwork. This- was intimidating. "I don't know that I'd say it's easy- I feel like I've gotten some pretty straightforward dispatches so far? But I see i like any other job? Even being a villian was kind of a job? SDN is putting a roof over my head." He leans back to listen to James' evaluation of his last two dispatches.

This office is, stifling, but James seems to mean well so he pushes through. "Pyress didn't plan that raid very well, and flying is always cool. Doing the job is obviously the priority, but when falling with style is your power, I've just had to think outside the box a bit. Blackstar was the one who came up with the Bungee thing. She's the brains, I just work here." He raises his hands up and tries to offer a light hearted chuckle at the slightly dated reference.

Jet really takes a second to look at James before he continues. "We've got quite a team here- you think you'll be our dispatcher for long?"

After wrapping up- he stands up slowly and offers James a handshake. His father's teachings, still codified somewhere in his binary. He shuts an eye with a grimace when he realizes, playing it off like he's stiff from sitting, but he makes sure to give James smile before heading out the door. Fenomaman is next, and he just gives him a nod as he passes him in the hall. Instead of going back inside the break room, he heads down to the locker room, where he passes out on a bench for a few minutes before the next set of dispatches.

"Hey, Payback. Thanks for coming in."

Yeah, a meeting. One-on-one. She walked in, finding James in there, took a seat. There was going to be something about her performance, she knew that much, probably something else about her attitude. Probably something about this and that, needing to pull together as a team, needing to be happy go lucky with everyone. Probably. She’d been in a few meetings like it before, though, and more often than not they tended to be a big waste of time. At least, that’s how Myla looked at things.

‘Payback’, though. Fucking marketing bullshit. Fucking marketing bullshit from fucking suits in a fucking office that had too much money and not enough brains. She hadn’t chosen it. She hadn’t chosen any stupid name to throw-on, because there’d never been any point. Anyone with a ‘secret identity’ was just someone who wanted to have a calling card, wanted to have a bit of fame or some stupid shit - people who wanted that didn’t include her. She hadn’t gotten pissed at the others, they didn’t know her name and she hadn’t ever really been inclined to tell them. Hell, last she remembered, none of them had asked her for a name. But this guy, this James? He had files. He had access. He should know but he didn’t, and somehow that just pissed her off. Hands tightened into fists under the table as she stared, sitting down as she was.

"Look. I know you don't like me. But I'm looking for some cooperation with the team if we're gonna make this work, because I'm here to make you the best hero you can be for SDN, but most importantly, you. Now, so I can help you do that, can you at least be honest with me because…"

"You chose this over prison, yeah? Because you don't want to reoffend. And because you're so bloody good at this, I'm just wondering why if you're gonna be this dour about it when the Phoenix Programme is that chance for you to leave it behind. Go past what happened to you. This is good work. I'm not some company man trying to tell you this is all there is. You decide where you go once your parole's up. So yeah. Tell me what's really pissing you off. Go on. And tell me why the others are different when they've come from poverty, drugs and the hood."

"I mean I come from a place with way less sunshine than this, Payback and find all this too loud. But we have to play ball with what we're given. I'm not asking you to be like any of them, capes and all, just....this job involves helping people. Something you're clearly very, very good at, but you seem to think this is all a mess. More you believe it, more it'll happen. Because what's driving that mentality? A hope you'll prove me wrong that it is? Or all of them are needlessly dressed for some crap you're clearly as good as them at doing? Or......are you hoping you prove yourself wrong and you're more than a thief, wherever it is you're going?"

She swallowed. Yeah, that was a bunch. What made her pissed about all the rest? What made her pissed about those people, running around and doing what they did? Yeah, that was a bunch. She swallowed, and when she started talking the words were tight, taut over a spring-wire.

”You make…a lot of fucking assumptions. I’m here because feeling the sun on my face is nice, because being able to get a…a fucking coffee is nice, because I get a chance to feel…fucking normal for just a second. You can’t do that in prison. You don’t get a name in prison, and that’s just all there is, day in day out, fucking…plastic and bars and expanding foam and gas when someone fucks up or someone tries to fight, just day in, day out, that’s all there is, and every day they charge you and you forget how to be you in the normal fucking world, and that’s…that’s why I’m here.”

“It’s fucking loud, in here. But hey, prison gives me a number and you fucking suits give me an ‘alter-ego’, a fucking…clown name to dress up and sound cool and neat and interesting, to sound good to the kids and the public and the news, and neither of them feel like…me. Neither of them feel real. I look at all these other…people, people I work with, people who have…this problem or that problem, yeah, but they all get their names and they all act like fucking kids, fucking play-pretends, sure. I don’t fucking like them. So I’m here, I’m ‘playing ball’, and I’m doing my time here. Helping people.”

Yeah, she swallowed again. Felt like a lot. Felt like a dam bursting and throwing out all these stupid fucking emotions about all these stupid people and stupid things that never really got to be said in the normal world or thought-up directly by Myla because…those were all just the facts about everything. Those were all just the normal assumptions about the whole world. Yeah, felt like a lot. She deflated a little, voice a bit less taut. ”I don’t know what…what I want to do after this. Who gives a job to a ex-con, yeah? Who…hires on someone who got known for stealing shit? And yeah….stealing shit’s what I’ve been good at. Stealing shit’s…fun, to work against someone and find all their little screw-ups, find out a path they didn’t even know was there, and not even know you were there until after. Like a little game. Do I want to help people, though…” That little motion, that little shake of the head and hands briefly up like a shrug.

Hat Trick came skating up the side walk, cross stepping as he comes around the corner, and revealing the three boxes he's carrying red and white. The Iconic colors of Tim Horton's Foods. And the Eternal colors of Canada! Red and White baby!

With a skip and a hop, Hat Trick jumps through the front doors.

Stomp stomp stomp.

And he poses in the door into the break room, "Behold! I have Donuts, Timbits and coffee! From the simply best Canadian food chain!" He chuckles then sets everything on the break room table, poppping open one of the boxes and grabbing the Maple Cream donut in the corner, then grabbing his double double too. He takes a seat and leans back, sipping his double double, "Okay look...I love Timmys the same way you love a old Ford Pickup that won't start in -35C in the middle of January okay? The kind of truck you need to trudge out too and start by hand because your auto-starter ran out of juice 3 years ago and you just don't ever find the time to replace it."

He takes a big bite out of his donut. "Emmm see the coffee is just there, and it's been sitting there since opening at 6am, and it will still be sitting there until the pot is empty and a new one needs to be brewed. But this is like a fuckin' elixer bud. And this..." He lifts the maple glazed donut with bavarian creame dangling from the bite, "This is just isn't a confection this is Maple Heritage Foam here. Look at that brown glazing, the sweet smooth texture, this is fuckin' poetry in edible form ya hosers." He takes another huge bite. "You take a bite and for a second or two you're 8 years old, the shinny rink is floating under 2 feet of 5 am cold mist, your mitts are soaked through from the walk up to the rink and someone shouts, 'Heads up it might be hot!' and they don't mean just the coffee and the god damn space heater someone linked up to a genny. Because there right there at the edge of the ice is a Timmy's box, the donuts waiting, and a cardboard container with a plastic carrier for Tim Horton's coffee."

He scarfs the last of his donut down and takes another snort of his coffee. Seems the team is getting a dose of Canadian Poetry. He snuffles and nods, "See Timmys isn't about Taste, look it's not the best fare, it's not the best coffee. But Tim fuckin' Horton's isn't about Taste and class, it's about surviving a Tuesday on grit, coffee and maple syrup. You take a cup, you put in your cream and your sugar, it's too hot to drink at first but then it's not hot enough and then it's gone. And all you can say is, 'Yeah I guess that'll have to do.' And that will be the most Canadian thing you'll say all fucking day while you dodge the Mounties, and the Cobra Chickens. Emmm...hang on the jam donuts are in this one." He gets up and opens the second of three boxes, and then opens the box of timbits aka donut holes. "Eat, be merry, and tomorrow we do this all over again!"

He cackles gently.

Very Canadian in the moment.

---

Hat Trick took a seat across from James, "Hey there buddy." Yep still had that Canadian twang in his voice after his brief poetry run in the break room. He sits across from James and smiles, the big Canadian still nursing the last of his coffee, "There are still donuts, timbits and coffee in the breakroom, don't forget to go get some." He slurps again.

HE sits there as James goes through his end.

By the end when Tyler is allowed to respond he's hanging his head a little, "You know I find it funny, before the whole First Nations ancient rite and the proto-type cryotech explosion that gave me my powers, I never would have tried to split my work time." He rubs his chin, "I was happy to be PR, touching base with sponsors and making sure the public knew our people." He hums, "I was happy there. But being a hero, helping others out there on the street, being there on the front line. This is...this is pretty incredible too." He nods, "Now as for the team, damn I love this group of jerky fuckers. We've got some incredible personalities and some amazing power sets. Believe it or not from a PR angle, the A team we have in Claremont, is incredible. PR is already considering making me Team As dedicated PR rep." He grins, "I love these guys. And I'm looking forward to more."

He sighs then leans back and looks a little dour.

"Now look...I know I really royal screwed up with the Car Dealership...I...was given that script...and tried to follow it...but I just...look the one thing that's a problem with the First Nations, traditionally we didn't have a word for dishonesty and lying. That script...just screamed wrong! I know I fucked up really royally. I couldn't lie!" He sighs and sips his coffee again, "I tried, is all I can say." He takes a deep breath, "Now what would I do if I was in that same situation? Be true to who and what I am, an honest man, a truthful man. Yes I would still tell the truth, but I'd try and stick better to the script. I can't just deny who I am deep down."

He looks up at James, "I like to think that gives me a step up somehow."

He nods, "As for balancing things, this is fun! I went to school for this! I graduated 7th in my class in business and public relations. I'm having a blast and hope I can keep doing so. I'm here for the team, that's what I do. PR or as a Hero. I wanna see how Madcap, LG, Feno and others besides turn out in the future. I fully intend to turn the Team A socials into a pinnacle of good vibes and great interaction. I'm here for it. All the way."

If a man could be blindingly optimistic and truthful, right now would be the time.

Hat Trick reaches out, "There more? I wanna see if I can snag another maple donut before the others down them all."

---

"Tough call that one at the pizza parlour. Not much you could do, but, hey, we'll go for the next one. Anyway, I'm aware you seem comfortable shifting from form to form, and what I have on my desk, I've got three forms so far. I guess the only question I have is are you okay as you are in this base form, Princess? I know you'll always pick a form when you get there. But when you're back at the office, are you all comfortable as you, and is there anything I can do to help? Within reason, of course." A delving question. But one that she could answer honestly.

Princess was someone used to questions. Questions of who they are, what they are, why they are eating fried hands, normal things that most people would think of. All things that she had no true answers for. How does one quantify self when one's being is but a thousand fractured shards of glass that grind against each other in s semblances of screams and cries begging to come out?

How does one express the limitations of form to a person who has ever known themself? How does one express the deep seated loss of something integral to what make you you when you cannot even remember or express what that thing was in the first place? How does one describe such an utter loss of self as to know you once existed as a thing greater but no longer have the frame of reference to even know what is missing?

To her, skin was not something to be comfortable in, it was a stop gap. A binding to keep her together because what else could? What else could keep fragments of what was together if not something piecemeal? Something that in of itself consisted of thousands of pieces? Can one call a bird by its name if it had no feathers? Could a book be called such if it had no pages? Can one narrate life without a voice?

The princess does not know, nor does she know exactly how to voice it. So warped by others perspectives she no longer has one of herself, merely a funhouse mirror of blinding cracks. Even James, sensible James of the stalwart minds, kept her on the edge of something human and something like…static. Something based in fear and masks and tearful eyes afraid to look back, a nightmare for her and certainly for him.

“No,” she says with a modicum of cheeriness. “No, there is nothing you can do.”

Her smile is fragile.

One to One Wrap Ups

@Pragia12

What a question from the huge, burly clone. What a question. Holy shit. James didn't expect that, but well, he could answer the other aspects first.

"They'll get to know you. You're....well, learning everything here. And we are all going to the bar tonight. So you can maybe get closer to everyone then? I imagine they'll get to know you, they'll understand more about you. Same as you will them. They're a nice bunch." James replied to his first comment, trying to cheer him up, but that second part, man, was that something.

Did he like the team?

"Sure, they're a nice team. Everyone is really good at what they do. Everyone is different. But it makes things interesting. Thanks, Feno. Appreciate your time, but I've got the next person in a moment."

---

@Auragreedia

Eclipse's response was difficult.

James sighed, breathing out, his head almost slumping back, genuinely, honestly, stumped by his last comments, as he shrugged.

"I'll ask management. But be prepared to hear a no, okay? Actually, on that note....there was, a few decades back, this controlled drugs programme in the UK, you familiar with it? Kinda like Portugal's right now." James replied, leaning forwards, putting his hands on the table. He didn't pay attention or crack nerve with Eclipse. He clearly wasn't opening up. He wasn't interested. But he might be in the story he had to tell.

"It meant that if you had a heroin addiction, you took microdoses of it. Small, controlled, batches that were prescribed to you by a Doctor, not by a dealer. Tiny amounts. They switched to Methadone and it instantly got worse, so the junkie problem went out of control, and now, heroin is stronger, cheaper, and more powerful than ever before in the UK. Then coke came in, and it's so cheap, and it beats inflatio. Crazy how it works. We're lucky we didn't get Fentanyl, and.....what you create is nuclear compared to even that. So we need to get you off that drug, before it kills you. And you know I'm right. The addict in you can't tell, but it's smart enough to know if you hit that hard, you'd be dead, so you're controlling it before it overwhelms you. But I think we both know that it's bad for you and that shit is gonna end badly and ends with you sucking dicks from old men for ingredients. I'm thinking we find a method to control it. You don't want to send yourself to hell, Eclipse. I've looked at your history. You're so much more capable than that."

James was talking from a personal experience of a police officer who had told him that story. A bit of humour injected in there too, knowing Eclipse was one dark bastard, quite literally, and it would cut through to a drug addict's fear, albeit among a serious message. His friend watched the war on drugs fail. So, Eclipse was maybe lucky that he wasn't in front of any other dispatcher, but someone who could see to his core. Even if he hated this, and James knew right now, Eclipse had no reason to trust him, he had to try and break that wall down.

"No guarantees they'll say yes and if we do this, it has to be on my terms, and any more than that, I will come down on you. In the meantime, you're doing good work. So keep your head up. I'll let you get back to it."

---

But Madcap's one to one couldn't have gone worse.

Madcap raved, screamed, yelled. Grabbed James, and he stayed silent, all the time through it. Letting him rave, before being dumped down.

He tried to give nothing away. Was it possible he saw the link? Must have. But fuck him, as he reached across the table, hands on desk.

"Calm down, Madcap! I'm trying to protect you! Do that again, and you can kiss this chance goodbye...we're not talking about other heroes, we're talking about you! You think I don't talk to her or any other hero, and get her to write letters of apology, disciplinaries when they mess up like you did, you think it's just you that gets to decide right and wrong, you think I'm singling you out? Why would I do that, think for a second! I don't have any bloody powers, so yeah, I'm doing the best to help you so you can, but you do that again, we're done!" James yelled back before he left, interrupting him, making clear that he wasn't going to be put in a box.

Lightning Girl opened the door, looking in, the shouting match increasing the volume beyond the limits as Madcap stormed out, Sophie ready to step in and protect James if she had to from the commotion and the noise that exceeded that of the noise-cancelling glass.

"Everything alright here? I heard...." She added, Madcap still promptly walking past, the presence of Lightning Girl's height able to maybe dissuade Madcap from trying anything. And besides, he wanted to get away from James. After that match, it made sense.

"We were done." James replied, as Lightning Girl looked at the messy desk, and at Madcap, staring with a calculated, certain look back over her shoulders, not having heard the conversation, but the scuffle. She took the door and shut it behind her, being next in queue.

---

Sophie sat down with him, shutting the door behind, breathing out.

"Fucking hell. He's a liability." James added, as Lightning Girl helped put the desk back in place, pushing it back up to where the others were.

"What did you say to him? Your shirt is all....scruffed."

"Nothing. Tried to kill me. Usual. I know he wouldn't have made it a block before you probably tore the life from his eyes, it's not even the worst I've had after a one to one." He rambled, as Sophie looked him dead in the eye, sighing.

"James." It was one word. One reminder to get back on topic.

"Yeah? Sorry, it's like he thinks I don't treat all heroes equally. He thinks I'm picking on him. Thinks you had special treatment."

"Okay. Then how hard did you go in on him?" She asked, feet up on table, leaning back, chowing down on a packet of Bourbon biscuits.

"Fairly. As fair as I could. Same as I did to you when you fucked up. And you did fuck up badly. I can't deny that. Everyone gets treated the same because if we had favourites, we'd never make this work. Performance helps when people do well. But when there's a problem, especially numbers, shit changes. Your fuck up is dealt with. He's making one." James sighed, shrugging, this one to one weird, given they were brother and sister. And the dynamic was significantly weirder.

"Okay......so.....maybe he hasn't got the right idea of how to be a hero. Maybe that doesn't mean he's bad at it, and his mistakes come from that? Like, two out of three is good, even if one of them, he got his ass handed to him, the other, he.....did his thing. Maybe, he just needs someone to show him how to do it better because he's copying what he can't do himself. Going on his own, he has no reference level. Lunara was good, but, maybe he just needs someone to keep an eye on him who's a little lighter." She replied, James wondering where this was going.

"Go on? The team's got to be resilient. I can't give special treatment. Especially when I have new starters that need it more, and I know that Madcap is a long termer here. Wait....." James realised what she meant, right at the end, the cogs suddenly spinning as Lightning Girl put it into context.

"Well, how about I go for a dispatch with him? Can you do that?"

"Damn. You'd do that?" James asked, a little worried for her sister, especially after his rant.

"I dropped him off the other day and he seemed to take a shine to me. Before he kicks the shit out of you, maybe we try it? If you did the James shit sandwich special, yeah, Madcap was never going to react well to it. If he badmouthed me here, fine. But give us a job, I'll look after him and show him some ropes. And if he has a problem, he can take it up with me." She asserted, Sophie suddenly revealing a side to her that James hadn't seen.

"You doing my one to one Lightning Girl, or are you just....." James asked, chuckling as Sophie shrugged, not really sure if he was right.

"Eh. Maybe. Anyway, I apparently, can't open a fucking door to save my life. Sorry about that. No. So let me try and least make up for it." Sophie shrugged, almost wanting to redeem herself to her brother after earlier, blushing red again after thinking about it.

"It happens. We laughed about it more than anything, and there's a whole form we need to do. Better that than the other chaos that could have gone down. But yeah. Think shit through. Slowly. Not everything can be fixed with electricity and violence." James chuckled, as Lightning Girl shrugged.

"True that. But we owe it to ourselves to try!" She joked, as James put his face into his hands, sighing.

"Yeah.....not this time."

---

@cosmiccowgirl

James knew he'd touched a nerve. So, he didn't prod. No point pushing. She had her control, and that was fine by him.

"I understand. Not trying to poke, just don't want you to be scared in case anything happens, is all. If you have any concerns, I'm happy to hear them, my door....shit, sorry, cubicle is always open." James replied, putting a positive, gentle spin back on things with a small laugh, at the end of her response about her identity.

The compliment was nice, at least.

"Thanks. It's not my first rodeo, but, it isn't easy. Deciding what is priority....who matters the most, and having no powers means I trust you completely to do the job. It's not as hard as what you do, out there, as a hero on the frontline. But if I can make sure you get the right job for your skills, I'll do that. Least someone like me can do, and well, I'm sure there will be more. My job is to look after you as well, Blackstar. Make you the version of you that is the best hero you can be." James added, smiling, leaving that one to one on a high note.

---

@SonnetNSunbeam

Dispatcher for long? James wasn't sure. But well, what a question back that was.

"Honestly, I have no idea. But, looks like it will be for the foreseeable. And in a way, being honest with you, the stability is nice. A team to call my usual....it's better than constantly moving. I don't work here ironically, Asteroid, but I know heroes and I know you'll all make it work, even when the going gets tougher. In our industry, it does." James added, realising he was showing a side of himself he hadn't in any other 1-2-1. Almost a vulnerability, but in a strange way, a trust to the team.

"There might be some harder ones. So just be ready. Keep up the good work, and we'll just have to see what progress looks like." With that, the meeting came to a gentle end, not much said, yet plenty given out.

---

@Thayr

The response was surprisingly honest. And given the redhead across from the other redhead in chinos and a shirt had broken ice, James felt honest enough to let down his walls to Payback.

"I think you already did well at helping people. Even if you didn't like it. I don't like coming into work either. But, it pays the bills, and right now, sounds like it beats anything else for you, prison, especially. It's a part of normality I guess. We do things we don't like. I won't get prison. But I know enough about the US penal system to know it's a shitshow. There's no redemption there....but there is here. Even if it's gonna come slowly." James replied to her last segment, sipping tea down, leaning forwards.

"And I think we might still find a way to find you work after, even if you like being a thief. If stealing is what you are good at, maybe, let's reframe it. In fact.....I think I might have some ideas. Maybe we just need to find you the right.....thing. Yes, the right score." James replied, a smile on his face. Ice had cracked. He had gotten through to her. And an idea formed in his head, realising all of a sudden, what Payback really was. What a thief really was good at. She wasn't Invisgal. No, she was so much more capable, she was a bullet without a target. Someone who could break security, and put her powers to a terrifying use. And that meant not thinking like anyone else, but finding a new purpose.

She just hadn't realised it yet, but James might have seen from that one little talk, meant he was going to find her that target.

"That's something for another time. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate your honesty. And appreciate this isn't what you want. But I respect your reasons. Don't ever let anyone tell you they're not worthwhile ones. Nobody has their shit all sorted out. Not you, me, or Kat, Lightning Girl, anyone. If you're open with me, I'll do anything I can to help you." James sat up, finishing, knowing it was time to move onto the next.

"Thanks, Myla. That is, if you're comfortable with me using that name...I'll let you go, call in the next." James said to her, the last phrase, most likely to resonate.

Did he know everything about all of them? Of course not. But he could tell, there and then, she wanted to be seen more than a stupid hero.

James could see her for who she was without those powers and that addition to stealing.

---

@BigPapaBelial

Jameds nodded, smiling as Hat Trick just kept talking. Holy shit, he had a lot of energy on him. A lot of mindset. And he liked that. His honesty. His passion. But even he couldn't handle it all, perhaps, like how Myla couldn't. So he smiled.

"Fair enough, Hat Trick. The team needs someone to gel around, and so I appreciate you doing that, as part of this role. There's a team behind you so if you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask." James smiled, knowing the big man's donut contribution had kept morale up a bit higher, especially after a couple of not so great dispatches.

"They'll need all the support they can get. Claremont's not been doing great. But, we up our social numbers, and billboards, work, and everything else will flood in. It'll give us more resources. More in the way of help. And even for you, I could see a promotion in your future if you can drum up numbers." James teased, alluding strongly, knowing while he didn't have the power, Kat absolutely could.

"Thanks for this. I'll let you get going."

---

@Redking0380

Nothing he could do. James exhaled. She looked like she was having an existential crisis. He felt like he was having an existential crisis. His packet of Fishermans Friends were, an existential crisis. Nothing he could help. He knew that feeling. And didn't dwell on it hard. Princess was unique, a truly, truly eldrich horror among others. The pretty face masked a beast that had so many different forms that it wasn't worth asking where it came from. But, here she was, cheerfully in programme. And doing some good.

"Well, if ever I can help, I'm here to listen. You're doing good so far, so I just want to make sure this all works out. Thanks, Princess. I'll let you get on."

---

Late Afternoon Stint

Back in the chair, James sippped down more tea, and put his music back on in his ear.

Soundtrack: Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

Typing, clattering, chewing on a packet of Midget Gems that Sophie had brought back from a Tesco in Holyhead, Wales. Part of her usual "grocery" run to get UK based sweets and treats back home. The donuts and snacks from Hat Trick had fuelled him and the team, and he was extremely grateful for it. First beer would be on his personal card though, James thought to himself. That was for later.

Outside, the sun had fully set.

And Claremont's A Team was back on shift, as Lightning Girl leeched some power from the rooftop transformer once again, cackling and floating up, before static flying into a rainy night, no thunder or lightning able to make it really appeal.

The rain had started to ratchet up, and was coming in "waves", sometimes pouring a deluge, sometimes a fine mist. It made visibility poor, but when it rained, it poured.

---

When It Rains, It Pours

The tasks had gone well, as James clattered away, taking back over from Tyler, a few more high profile jobs coming in. He nodded to Tyler, taking control for this one, comms on private.

"Okay, Lightning Girl, Madcap, I need you at VICE Nightclub. VIP night on and they need support with the doors. Head there and they'll give you high vis vests, comms for their end, and you'll be there until 8pm. Keep the peace and show SDN's public face." James added, sending the pin to them both. Lightning Girl had RTB'd, and looked for Madcap, getting ready to carry him there if needs be.

A bit more time elapsed. The shift was continuing.

A small job popped up. He knew who might be able to take this on. After their chat, James decided it was best maybe he didn't throw Eclipse too hard at the fire. He'd been on a lot of heavy calls, so maybe, this might be more his angle, and shadows and teleportation seemed ideal for the task.

"Eclipse, I've got a kid in northern Claremont who's lost his balloon in a tree. Yes, I know, but if you could get there and get it back, that would be great. Subscriber is really high priority. Routine chance to show him why we're the best and score some points." James felt he couldn't sell it well to Eclipse, but that would be like selling sand to a Libyan. Someone had to do it, and today, Eclipse was on that task. Private comms had helped at least shield that from the rest of the team, on that occasion.

Then two more. Much, much more serious jobs. Fuck. It had been not too bad up until now, the rainy night being mostly patrols and quiet check ins.

They were both black-scored. The emergency services contact had pegged these as critical priority, and that meant a full response was needed. It wasn't a kaiju, nor a serious heist, but two equally bad situations that were going to be hard to solve.

"Feno, Payback, Blackstar, we've got a high speed pursuit in progress on Interstate 10, suspects headed west in a black Chevy Suburban. Robbery gone wrong, dead civies, will update you in route....recommend you move ASAP. Feno, either you or Blackstar will need to carry Payback."

The other one felt intuitive in terms of who to send, because it was all he had left.

"Asteroid, Hat Trick, Princess, we have a house fire in San Antonio Heights, civvies at risk. Pin sent, need you there, ASAP."

---

Tuesday
19:15
VICE Nightclub, Claremont

Electric Atmosphere

Soundtrack: Bicep- Vale

The nightclub had pounding music that reverbed every time the door opened. A former bank, inclusive of a massive vault turned into the best nightclub in eastern Los Angeles, VICE felt like the place to be if you wanted even a midweek session. A fairly renowned Northern Irish pair of DJs were on the deck, so Sophie didn't even feel like the only British Isles originating person here.

It was a electronica night, and Bicep had decided to grace the world with tunes that didn't feel like they were going to implode Lightning Girl's brain tonight. Her ears were absolutely ringing, but the air felt lit up, and it felt cosy in only the way rave music could. She liked this, of course. But she had a job to do. Make sure the people coming in, standing in a long queue in the rain, super or not, had tickets, had nothing dangerous on them, and weren't intoxicated.

Lightning Girl stood at the front of the queue with a yellow bib over her white-grey suit and a headset for speaking to the Chief of Security, yet she still was taller than most supers and non-supers that were coming in. It seemed strange to put a woman, let alone someone as smile-y as Lightning Girl to be here, a bouncer at this sort of club. But, a mixed detail was always a boon. Women felt awkward being patted down by some burly guy, so, she was there as the friendly face. And having a superhero like her on the cards, well, it made crowd control easier. She was known in this community, after all, she was one of Claremont's easy to show off heroes, a face on a bus there, a billboard which Sophie still hadn't visited, and refused to believe was real, yet.

"Yep, all good." She had patted someone down, searching for drugs, weapons, anything that could cause a bad time.

She was smiling. This was like a long time ago.

She had that memory. Sophie stopped being Sophie when she saw that guy rest a hand on her. She started being a hero. Realising that power. The fact that when he tried to punch her, she didn't flinch. She just sent voltage back and watched him fly into that skip and break half a dozen bones like a ragdoll.

Power changed everything. It made her realise it was terrifying. But man if it wasn't cool.

"Have a good time!" She added as the lanky man headed in, as the next person stepped forwards in the queue, and so far, Madcap hadn't fucked anything up, dealing with the other queue.

"You doing good, Madcap?" She asked, adjusting her cowl, the cape in the cloakroom. This was Lightning Girl in a more "sporting" configuration, practical, still all the hero that anyone coming to VICE would see. And if they were to cause trouble? Well, she had plenty of juice thanks to a recent substation that had flooded her neurons with power. In the rain, her skin may have hurt, like weird pins and needles, but it was a night that wasn't at least as insane as what she heard over the comms next.

Another club-goer came by, unable to show her phone ticket on her device.
"I got this." And so Lightning Girl gave a gentle zap to the port, smiling back, the noise making it clear that she was trying to be helpful. The device rebooted, and the QR code appeared, as she scanned it and the noise came back.

---

Tuesday
19:21
Northern Claremont

A Single Luftballon

Eclipse would find himself outside of a quiet suburban environment, the rainy sky illuminated by the streetlights, and a kid with his parents outside looking up at a tree, before being confronted with a shadowy, armoured up figure. This wasn't Fenomaman. This wasn't even a hero that could fly. Why him?

"Wow, a hero from SDN! Thanks for coming so fast!" The kid exclaimed, still excited to see a real life hero, as were his parents, proud that their son was seeing a hero for the first time. The rain pattered down, but the helium balloon, with "8" written on it, perhaps an indication of why the balloon was up there in the first place, was not moving.

"Could you get the balloon from the tree? It would be so cool if you could!" He squeaked, pointing up, the conifer at least five storeys tall, and a heritage tree that had been stuck in the environment. It felt like such a low stakes job, but then again, James knew the score with stuff like this. The subscriber was a fairly rich and powerful individual, and on his plan, he had to consider even jobs like this. So, Eclipse it was given the wider situation.

---

Tuesday
19:30
Interstate 10
Southern Claremont / Heading twards Central LA

The John Bunnell Special

On the flipside, the gunfire and the high speed chase would be visible on the interstate from the elevated view that Blackstar, Payback and Feno-maman had. Cutting through the "wave" like effect of rainy clouds above the streetlight filled interstate they'd see a car rapidly cutting through dense post-work traffic, as sub-machinegun fire would be blasted backwards towards the police cruisers in pursuit. With gunfire pouring from the Chevy Suburban, stolen, and full of loot from a robbery, they were not stopping for donuts, or anyone. Weaving in and out of traffic on the way down, and unlike the jewel heist from earlier, two people had lost their lives when SDN Ontario hadn't gotten there in time.

The chase was fast, and the driver seemed disinterested in stopping. Spike strips or ramming seemed the only other option, but given how fast they were going, the robbers were making a move to terrify the police into backing down, or even getting ahead. A police chopper couldn't go in this weather, so, heroes it was.

The robbers weren't supers, or villains, that much was clear. Just regular assholes. But there were civies that were in the crossfire around them, the SUV like a gigantic battering ram. The heists, sure, there were people at risk, but this was something else. James got the message he wasn't happy to hear, but, needed to pass on. The police could back down of course, but given the speed, risks, and everything that had so far gone down in this chase, simply following them, even with supers, wasn't an option. They had to shut this down now, before what was a chase turned into a spree and innocent people getting hurt.

The tracker moved, as the target did, making the heroes in flight have to reallocate themselves to follow, and pursue as the cops did below.

"Team, local PD has given you permission to use lethal force. You need to stop that car, by any means needed. Civies got killed in the heist that SDN Ontario couldn't stop. Now they're on our turf, we end this now. Repeat, lethal force, if you need it.....arrest if you can but they're armed to the teeth." James had grit in his voice, like he was chewing on granite.

Situations like this could escalate seriously. More people could get hurt. And of all the things at SDN, one thing was critical. Property could be damaged, collateral happened, of course, within reason. But civilians getting hurt, irrespective of where you came from, what you did.

Another team's failure was not going to be Claremont's.

Moving traffic was tough to manage, but as the black Suburban weaved in and out of traffic, heroes would be under fire if they flew close. But if they didn't, the consequences could be so much worse.

---

Tuesday
19:35
San Antonio Heights

Fire and Water

When Asteroid, Hat Trick and Princess would arrive at the burning house in the hills, the fire department were trying to contain a blazing inferno, in spite of rain, made worse by the fact that all the vegetation behind it was ablaze.

The heat felt like a second sun. It burnt hot, the cladding aflame and starving the oxygen out of the air even from the driveway where the fire truck was parked.

"Thank god you're here! There's civies inside. We can cover you, can you get them out and help put out this fire? There's propane bottles inside, we don't get those removed, it's going to be a hell of a situation!" The fireman asked, respirator over as at this point, no doubt, the heroes. The water was being poured from the nearby hydrant into the hoses they sprayed on the house, keeping it at bay, but this fire was clearly escalating and getting out of hand.

In this instance, ice and fire might have been the obvious approach, but of course, civies were priority and so was stopping this turning into an even bigger blaze. They had to go into the fire, otherwise they'd drown the people they were trying to save, rather counterintuitively.

Heroes were more resilient, more strong. And more than anything, brave. Firemen without powers might have been braver, but without the breathing apparatus and the sheer heat, all three that had been dispatched were going to struggle.

But if ever there was a moment for the two Phoenixes and Hat Trick to make it count, it would be now.

The sun was setting through the smog of downtown, but the evening traffic was not stopping anything it seemed. Perhaps it was the sound of gunfire heralding the rapidly moving SUV, but even LA commuters knew it was best to make way. Fenomaman thought it looked cool how all the little cars moved, kind of like ants down there scrambling out of the way of the coming chaos. Through his superhuman eyes, he could even see a human-shaped ant, that was somehow bigger.

If only he could understand perspective, but Blackstar was moving quickly through the sky, carrying the smaller mean lady with red hair. He had offered to take her, but she got really mad and yelled at him about hurting her ears. How could flying hurt your ears? But he was a superhero, and superheroes didn’t make people mad, even mean people if they weren’t also bad!

“They are making a lot of banging noises.” Fenom said simply over the earpiece. Because of his inexperience with the device, his microphone was kept open.

Myla, hanging off of Payback as they flew along the road’s length, was less than happy. She’d snagged a pair of goggles from some desk or another - yeah, whoever had been wearing them last had the tiniest head ever - and her hair was flapping about more or less uncontrollably. She could hear the gun shots in the distance, over her own labored breathing from the movement. There were a lot of them. Man, flying really did suck. Of course, Fenom had decided to point the bullets out too, in his own ‘interesting’ way, as they were moving up to the chase itself.

Yeah, lethal force. It wasn’t all that great, honestly. She’d rather avoid killing someone.

Goddamn they were moving fast. She basically had to yell it, considering how fast they were going. ”Bet! You! He! Can! Stop! It!”

Blackstar, currently carrying the redheaded Phoenix hero bridal style due to the high speeds they were going, just managed to catch the shouted comment. The rain had let up for a bit, lucky for them, and she could see the Phenomaman knock-up guy flying ahead. He could go a lot faster than she could, probably, even though she wasn’t slow by any means.

Come to think of it – Payback had a point. Blackstar knew she could stop that speeding Chevy too – either by using her own body to pit maneuver the vehicle, which she knew from experience would hurt a lot, or by throwing some of her dark energy blades and puncturing the tires. Or incapacitating the driver. But she couldn’t do either of those things with Payback in her arms.

”I’ll bet he can!” she exclaimed in return, though it might’ve been a little muffled to Payback between the wind and the lower half of her mask that Blackstar had put on again due to the rain.

Speaking into the comms, specifically to Fenomaman, she questioned, ”Hey, Fenom – you think you can get ahead of that Chevy and stop it?” A pause, then she added as an afterthought, ”Uh – you’re bulletproof, right?”

There was a long pause as the Caped Clone considered the question. Considered might be a strong word, because with a rumble of a sonic boom and a streak of red, Fenom flew towards the ground. One could only guess that a nod could not carry over the comms. He landed with surprising deftness, only accidentally taking out a rear-view mirror instead of multiple vehicles like that one time.

The cars parting before him did not seem to matter, nor was the accelerating black van. The crack of automatic gunfire seemed to break across his chest, leaving only holes in his costume. He would push away the cars next to him, damaging their other mirrors against the barriers. Presenting a profile to the car, hand outstretched as he yelled “Stop!” to the rapidly approaching vehicle.

The SUV had no sense of orderliness or intention of stopping, and when a large but stoppable force meets an immovable object, things tend to get ugly. The front of the vehicle crumples around Fenom, his body disappearing and then reappearing on the other side of the car being cleaved in half-it seems at least one of them was carproof. He looked down at his hand confusedly, then turned to look at the bisected ruins of the evildoer’s transport.

”Well, goddamn,” Myla chuckled, watching the carnage unfold as the two pieces of van skidded to a halt. Yeah, that was one way to stop some idiots, and she was almost surprised to not see anything red among all the pieces here and there. Blackstar set her down maybe a dozen, two dozen feet from the two halves, right there between them.

They didn’t seem to be very great with the whole stop. Anyone who had their seatbelt on seemed to just be dazed by the sudden stop, anyone who hadn’t seemed to be unconscious at best. Whichever they were, though, they weren’t shooting right off. Yeah, that was good. What shmucks, she thought, raising up both hands. Little pieces of metal shuffled at first, dragging across the ground before they flew back half that distance to her - the real things she wanted stuck for a good few heartbeats, loosely held as they were. On the plus side, it wasn’t anything especially heavy. A few heartbeats, and the submachine guns dragged out from the rubble, along with a Nokia and whatever else was light enough to be carried. What fucking shmucks. Hands down, with all that.

She looked over to Fenom. He seemed…yeah, confused at the stop, even through the now-cloudy googles Myla was wearing. Throw a thumbs-up at that, considering it all. The herculean man returned it with an awkward smile.

Yeah, splitting the vehicle in half hadn’t been what Blackstar had expected Fenomaman to do, but it seemed to have stopped the bad guys like they needed. With Payback safely on the ground, Blackstar lifted into the air again, glancing around to make sure the other traffic in the area was getting out of the way.

A glance down showed her Payback was currently drawing some of the weapons – among other things – out of the wreckage left of the suburban. The crooks still inside seemed stunned, at least for the time being.

Easy enough, Blackstar thought to herself, inwardly letting out a small sigh of relief. She’d been nervous when James informed them lethal force had been authorized. Of course she’d known that would be a possibility with SDN, that she might have to make a decision like that when given the go-ahead – but what if it wasn’t different than before? What if killing someone because they were endangering others felt the same as killing someone because she couldn’t risk them being alive?

Looked like that wouldn’t be a question she’d have to answer then. They could probably just start rounding up the crooks while they were disoriented and weaponless–

One of them moved. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, one of the thugs was alert and twisting around, reaching for something in his jacket.

It wasn’t even a decision. Without thinking she’d manifested one of her energy blades and thrown it down with vehemence – and the next second the guy was screaming as the little handgun he’d pulled free clattered to the ground. Along with his hand.

Oops. That might’ve been overkill. Blackstar blinked, the fierce glow from her eyes dimming swiftly as she let herself drop back down to the ground, looking from the now one-handed man to Payback, who she could’ve sworn he’d been about to point that gun towards.

Might as well make the most of it… Manifesting another blade that stayed on her hand, she gestured sharply around to the other criminals, at least any that were aware enough to pay attention. She was now concerned some of them might be faking. ”Unless somebody else wants to lose an appendage,” she threatened, voice raised just enough to sound imposing. ”I’d keep my hands to myself if I were you. Got it?”

Satisfied, she looked back to Payback and Fenom. ”Everybody good?” she asked her companions, over the sound of the guy screaming. He should count himself lucky he wasn’t bleeding out – her blades were made of energy, so they acted like lightsabers. That stump would’ve been immediately cauterized.

Fenom would spit out what was assumedly a piece of radiator, but who could be sure. “Phenomenal.” he offers her with a small grin, looking to the now-disarmed evildoers. The big lug’s eyes lingered on them for a long time, almost uncomfortably so. He remembered the last time he had gotten into a fight on a highway, when he had first come up from the old lab. Meta-man stood up to stop him from looking for friends on a highway, and brought him into SDN. He was missing now, Sparky had told him he was on vacation, hopefully he was having a good time.

The superman would walk over to each criminal, slugging across their face to put them under… he definitely didn’t know how hard he was supposed to punch, but he seemed to be measured. Subject shall be able to subdue and apprehend subjects alive, sufficient shock to incapacitate without fatal internal damages. New test subjects are always difficult to secure. Fenom was wearing a goofy smile the whole time as he began to gather them over his shoulder like two-by-fours in a construction site. “Where should these go?”

”Well,” Myla started to reply before pausing. Yeah, take a breath for just a second. It was weird, getting someone to point a gun right at you like that. It wasn’t really something she’d ever get used to - she’d never quite tested if she would be alright against bullets, nor did she ever really want to. But the jury was in general out for a solid ‘no’ for being bulletproof, and in any case she’d grown up with a sense that guns, when pointed, generally weren’t ever great. Yeah. Just a little breath.

Alright, breath done. Bringing her wrist up, though, she started to type out a small message on her Timex, talking as she did. ”Can just put em in a pile and wait for the cops.” Satisfied with it all, she pressed enter and a text-to-speech voice was heard in most ears.

”Got em. One hurt. Cops OK.”

The alert for a new dispatch went out. Hat Tricks phone beeping.

Out it came and the text for a fire response. He read it over then surged to his feet. He looked across the room to Princess and Asteroid, “Let's get moving folks!” He hit the accept task button and was already moving for the door. He leapt the steps leading to the street in a bound hit the pavement on a length of ice. On the way to the location Hat Trick.made a variety of moves that seemed odd. Taking odd turns, doing a lap or two around a cul de sac on the way. As he did ice built up along his legs and fists.

As they all arrive he's moving at a good clip and never stops, building up momentum. He shouts to Princess and Asteroid, “Give me another minute and move when you got a chance!” He races down the road as familiar music began blaring over his speaker system. The opening riffs of Hat Tricks unofficial-official theme song. Maybe a little apropos in the moment what with the fire spitting sparks. But it got the people feeling safe in the moment knowing at least one known name is on the scene!

Onlookers and firefighters watched as he made an elegant cross step turn that brought him back around towards the burning properties. Moving nearly 30kph now he's almost a blur. Over the music he raises his ice encased hands “CLAREMONT!” He shouts, crowd answering “Hit!”

Creating a short ramp to launch him into the air before slamming down in front of the crowd roaring, “GREAT! WHITE! NORTH!” Usually used for crowd control, but the wave of cooled air and shaved ice that he unleashes as he hits the ground dulls the roaring flames at the front of the property, and puts up containing walls to the sides of the house.

Hopefully enough to allow Princess and Asteroid to get in there.

Asteroid eyes the containing wall with a large amount of respect. “Yo- that’s a sick idea dude.” He jumps, throwing his gravity upwards he balances on the edge of the containing wall, teetering to one side and then the other as he peers in. He reaches out with gravity, combing through the objects in the space in front of him. “Can anybody hear me?” He hollers into the fire, trying to peek into one of the windows.

Remembering what the chief said about the propane tanks, he shifts his focus to looking for those. That’s something with predictable shape and mass he can locate. He walks around the top of the retaining wall, feeling how slick the fire is making the ice.

One of the windows on the ground floor of the house seemed to have enough free room for an entrance potentially. On the comms, he says- “going in. Focusing on the propane, you guys hear anybody?”

He rips the glass pane out of the window, shattering it so that the pieces fall outside. Inside, he finds a small office. There’s a computer, a treadmill, and not much else. He drops to the floor, attempting to preserve some of the o2 in his lungs.

Now that he’s inside it’s much easier to feel around with his powers. Unfortunately, that means he finds the propane tanks laying in a pile next to the furnace in the crawl space. Exactly where he’d hoped they wouldn’t be. “Fuckin’ tanks are in the crawlspace.”

Narrowly dodging a falling piece of floor, he spots a tiny black creature hiding beneath the desk. A white soot covered cat is trembling, making tiny coughing sounds in the corner. Asteroid’s always been a softie for animals. He uses his powers to lift the cat, who immediately panics and begins flailing, out of the window. Once outside, he maneuvers it into the open window of a firetruck. Where the cat promptly proceeds to rip up one of the seats. Directing his attention back to the tanks, he crawls into the hall, looking around for a hatch of any kind.

“We don’t need to worry about…collerteral is the word?” Princess speaks over the radio, the smoke interfering enough to make static come through. James replies easily enough.

“Colleteral is to be kept to a minimum, but the building has already been burning long enough to need to be demolished.”

There was a grin on the small woman's face, the sort of expression that made a few civilians step back.

“Hey Asteroid, bud? You might want to get out of there. Now?” Hat trick was still containing flames, but was just observant enough to see the steadily growing Princess as she started to charge towards the building.

As luck would have it, Asteroid had found another cat. The fifth thus far, each one a distraction to trying to brainstorm a way to get to the tanks but not one they regretted having. As such, he was looking out of the window. The same one he quickly scrambles out of as the now towering Princess takes out the wall above it, rolling away to safety.

Inside the heated building got much hotter with the influx of air, flames that already roared with power bloomed into explosive expansions. She quickly gets to work, taking the simplest approach. Straight downward.

A single punch rattles the floor, the second cracks it, the third goes through the floor and gives her the handhold to tear it further open. Singed insulation and lumber flying behind her as if she was a burrowing animal. Within moments the lower space is revealed and moments after that she shoves her head down and finds the sooty tanks of propane.

Here the issue becomes bulk. It is easy to haul out the tanks, weight being easy enough for her, but the risk of dropping the likely volatile canisters if she carried more than a few at once.

The solution came from an avenue she forgot about. Her team.

Hat Trick stomped left then right foot, shoring up the walls of ice around the house, keeping the fire from spreading to the sides anyway. The brush behind the house, not so much. Only when he’s sure the walls will hold a little longer does he join his teammates in the house. Sliding in, and creating a slick of ice to slide the propane tanks out, Asteroid followed only to slip on the ice and decide to walk on ashy floor. No words are exchanged, they simply work. From her lower spot does Princess pass the cans to Asteroid who lightens them and passes them to Hat Trick who shoots them back out. Like a net with no goalie.

In under a minute they got the strange amount of propane tanks out of the building and followed soon after. Just in time for it to start collapsing behind them.

Messy work but it will do. It’s as things start to creak and crunch they start to get out. As Hat Trick exits he lets out a breath, which causes a cloud of vapor due to the heat, yes it’s a thing. He shakes his head, “That’s hella hot.” Then his heart skips as something echos over the roaring flames. “Did you guys hear that?” He looks at the house as it collapses room by room. Then louder, “HELP US!”

And before he can really think, Tyler Ermineskin, Hat Trick throws a lane of ice in front of him. The Firefighter screams at him to stop, but Hat Trick is building up speed, and he crashed through the burning front bay window of the living room, “Hey! Is anyone here!” He shouts into the fire. With a cloud of cold vapor billowing up around him, Hat Trick stands among the flames, “Hey!” Then again, loud again, to be heard from outside, “Help!” And he moves again, shoulder down, spikes of ice on his shoulder pauldron, “Guys!” He calls, “Get in here!” He crashes through one, then two walls. And into a bedroom. There, an older woman, hunkered over 2 kids, and a man beside her, though he looks pretty bad. Hat Trick screams into the comms, “I’ve got the civvies!” He scoops the kids up in one arm, the woman and the man in the other, “I need help in here!” He cries again, "Asteroid? Princess? Get them to put a focused stream of water on the place I came in…”

After that the only sound is his grunts of effort.

Asteroid hears Hat Trick’s comm and starts directing the firemen. He claps loudly a few times to get everyone’s attention, and he directs the fire fighters to adjust their streams of water to just around the space he’d entered and just beyond.

“Princess! I can cover you, can you help him out of there?” He starts focusing on using his gravity to hold the room up and together, splitting pieces of the room off to make a bigger opening for her to get through and Hat Trick to get out. Princess charges back in, not just with destruction but direction. Heaving smoulders beams of lumber and crumbling walls out of the way with each movement till she finds herself at the rooms opening. Insides is steam and ice, but nothing that stops her from loaming over Hat Trick to take his burden, letting the icy hero escort the family though the fire and the flames.

Slowly, they make their way outside. Hat Trick protects the civilians form the ever rising heat while the Princess acts as a shield from the crumbling building, and it isn’t long before the two join the third outside absolutely covered in dust and soot. Asteroid coughs- “Well that was brutal- nice job team! Thought you were almost barbequed there Hat Trick!” Outside the building the calming sounds of relieved breaths and that pile of cats cleaning, coughing, and hissing at each other serve as a nice finish to the hectic last couple minutes.

Hat Trick coughs after handing the woman and the man to Princess. He keeps the kids close and only once they make it to the EMTs does he let go. He has no clue how the parents will fare but the kids should be fine.

Asteroid’s concern was not sated yet, walking over and letting his eyes on each of the rescued cats, their frail bodies shaking. A few are kittens, but one of them is hardly able to keep it together. He picks it up, removes a glove, and clears its mouth out with his pinky finger. “This one isn’t gonna make it without some extra help.” He slides the kitten into a pocket on the inside of his suit, leaving the top unzipped to leave room for a bit of air. Curly brunette chest hair is barely visible behind his open zipper.

With a groan Hat Trick shakes himself, “Okay…note to self…fire is hot…” As he says that one of his retaining walls comes crashing down in a burst of ice shards and cold air. “Very hot. What do you say to going back to the company building now?”

Tuesday
19:32
VICE Nightclub, Claremont

The Doors

Lightning Girl was dutifully keeping the peace. Scanning QR codes. Pushing away chancers. Only having to draw electricity once to jab someone back. But everyone played ball.

She was charming, good as ever. Friendly. Chatty, but formal. Professional. The mark of an SDN hero doing their job.

Scan ticket. Check, search, take items for the cloakroom, open barrier, in. Next.

Scan ticket. Check, search, items, open, next, scan, check, search, open, scan, no ticket, no tickets left, sorry, not tonight, think this through, next, scan ticket, search......

How Madcap was getting on she wasn't sure, but the crowd was getting inside, and they would be done soon. Free to go. There were a few more left, a few keen getting out of the rain and inside the nightclub and the small security station that Lightning Girl manned, making sure no trouble was going to happen.

And then there he was.

And all the music inside, the pounding electronica, seemed to almost pulse to a crawl.

Soundtrack: Lord Huron- The Night We Met

It was like a moment that time slowed for her.

"Hey." She simply said, the rest of the spiel dissolving in her head. That was not the way to open that conversation.

It was Quickdraw.

It wasn't even formal. What the fuck, Sophie? You're meant to say "Tickets, please." Not Hey. What the fuck?

Hollywood was so far. Why was he here?

"Uhhh.......here? Y'all scanning?" He brought out his QR code from his phone but she was locked on him.

Holy shit.

She hadn't imagined it, it was actually him.

Quickdraw.

The Texan Sureshot.

The fastest hands in the Lone Star State.

The guy who shot 12 criminals in 3 seconds with two revolvers at a bank heist. In their hands, disarming them. Rounding them up like cattle, on his own.

So maybe he had the fastest hands in the world when it came to marksmanship.

It was why he was in SDN Hollywood.

Brown Stetson, checked shirt, leather vest, a tiny whisper of a beard, but the charm of any cowboy you could dream of. The sort of thing a horsegirl would get weak at the knees imagining, in his late 20s, near her own age. The kind of man any woman like Sophie would have had posters of as a kid. Even the Westerns. His calloused, rough hands, his almost boyish charm despite the experience he had in firearms and being the kind of hero that Hollywood fell over itself for, despite the good ol' days of Westerns being long gone.

She moved the ticketing machine up and it gave a positive beep with the trigger, scanning his QR code on his phone to fill void, as she tried to find words, putting it down.

And not finding any.

"Uhhhh, are you meant to search me? Just a heads up, I'm carrying." He said, this type of thing entirely, if not completely odd. He of course, found the white haired, yellow vest wearing hero cute, but not in the way she did. At least, at first.

Sophie was still lost for words. Shocked he would come here. And she had a job to do, as she started her search, cursory, but not really doing much. Aware of it.

Say something, Soph. He's hot as hell but you can't be awkward like this.

"Right. Of course. You can't.....take those in. As you know." She said, feeling both revolvers, and awkwardly the enormous Bowie knife at his hip, pointing to the secure box, letting him draw, knowing that she could taze the living fuck from him if he did go psycho. Which he wouldn't. Because he was the kind of hero that people like Madcap really looked up to. Shit, Madcap hadn't even clocked him. Best it was that way. This would get so much more awkward.

Where was he?

"Ah yeah. Sorry. I forget." He replied with his usual drawl, as he peeled them all out and put them into the box, the engraved, custom made Smith and Wesson revolvers, chambered in .357, iconic. Carbon black barrels, smoked cherry wood grips, with so much weathering behind them. And the Bowie knife that was the length of her forearm. Holy shit.

Iconic because Quickdraw was one of the main members of SDN Hollywood's team, and if anyone in the world knew heroes in the City of Angels, outside of DTLA, these were the ones SDN paraded the most on social media. Perhaps not as practical as the real crime-fighters of DTLA, nor the straight up veterans of Compton, but showstoppers.

And Quickdraw was stopping her show.

"Thanks. Gonna need to search for any other stuff. Protocol." She patted him down, finding no more knives, or other stuff she could consider damaging. Boots that weren't for dancing yet for ranching, but as she finished the check, he had put his Stetson in the box and was pale blonde, as she was at his eye level, and trying not to come to terms with the fact that she almost had fallen for his charm then and then. Why was he here? This was a big electronica night, surely he would hate this, and he would love country and western? Was it friends, other people, business, something else? Who could tell. It was weird, that was for sure, because he wasn't casual, he was 90% Quickdraw, at a loud night out. She was looking at him just thinking that.

And he noticed her too, the gears clicking who he was looking at. This wasn't just some hero with a cape, anyone could do that, her hands had a gentle buzz about them even behind the rubber gloves she wore, her skin was pins and needles on edge at her neck, her aura was of ozone, a smell felt before seen. And realised the collar. The bee. The bus he saw on the way here with her spewing power from hands. And the stories. Good, bad. The one that moved from Britain. She was cute. At work, but cute. He'd be polite. Hospitable. Nice in response. Try and follow chat.

"Thanks. I get separation anxiety, I apologise, my guns and I....are like one team. Say are you....Lightning Girl? What are you doing here at a place like this?" He recognised her.

Her heart nearly fluttered.

"You recognise me? Oh my God, thank you! I didn't want to make a big deal of it because you're on a night out..." Sophie started, keeping her voice down as best as she could push it....

Don't fucking say "I'm a huge fan", Sophie, don't fucking say it, don't, you'll look like a creep, it will be weird, you have to not let him think you're finding him cute, and that would be really....

"But you're definitely as cool in person as you are on the TV! I guess I'm just helping out subscribers, doing the good work for SDN....so enjoy tonight, and uhh....." Sophie said, as he looked to the box of his belongings, about to go through to the cloakroom for safekeeping from the Head of Security's position from the table to her side, looking back as he didn't move.

He clearly had an eye on her. A hero like her on security work, that was odd, but Lightning Girl? Before the others had arrived, she was one of the premier heroes of the SDN Claremont team, in person, in spite a vest and headset, quite striking. He had a million and one fangirls. And fanboys, for that matter, but he could tell something was spinning in Sophie's heart. Gently. Maybe it was in her mind. He wasn't thinking that way, because he had friends to catch up with in music he didn't like. Lightning Girl didn't know what to think, or how to finish quite what she was saying.

Oh god. Don't do this. Don't fucking do this, Soph. He's gonna think you're weird and he just wants to get through tonight.

But you're Lightning Girl.

She's so much braver than you.

She can do anything.

Including talking to him, you socially awkward freak.

Say you want to talk. Worst he can say is no.

Worst he can do is shoot your head off twelve times in half a second with the revolvers four feet from him.

But you'd shock him first because you're the Silver Queen of Manchester.

Do it.

"Could I drop you a line on Slack? I...kinda would love to see what Hollywood's like....I guess I've never been recognised before. Sorry, you must get this all the time. I'll make sure your guns are looked after. If you get separation anxiety that is!" She tried to clarify, being confident, her voice going from confident, assured, to almost melting. Holy shit, he was so fucking hot without that hat on. Dammit, he was better than the giant billboard. Or the voice. Fuck he could melt her, right now, but she played it off as much as she could. Was there a double entendre in there? She couldn't tell. She couldn't say.

Quickdraw chuckled, nodding, not noticing that Lightning Girl was having an existential crisis, given how loud the music was.
"Sure, when you're done here handling the crowd. Have a good evening, Lightning Girl. My boys are already in VIP. This ain't my kinda show, but, they insisted I come....y'all have a good one. You and your bug faced friend. Let's talk later." He smiled, chuckling as he walked on by, Sophie cranking her neck to look at him and call out politely, though not to draw attention to the others in the queue.

"Have a good evening too!" She called, not wanting to make too much hassle, as she turned to the next clubgoer.

And bleep. Check. In.

Next one. Alien. Kinda looked like that Lana, from Torrance's Mailroom. Some clicks. But positive when checked. And through she went.

And next.

And next.

Quickdraw occupied her mind.

It wasn't like this. He was some big hero. That wasn't how romance worked. It wasn't, this was shitty, stupid, he was here just for a night he didn't want to remember, but he was so fucking....hot. And real. And charming. And once so far from people like her, but he actually looked at her. She thought he did. He would message her. He was charmed by her? Was she charming? Was he charming her? She had no idea. From his perspective, was this candid, was he into her, or was this overthinking?

But she let it go. The pulses nearly bursting her mind as monotony was broken up by another rejection, second to last in queue. Ouch. They didn't kick off when she stared into the punter's soul to make it clear, any wrong move, and Lightning Girl would send him flying across the street into a bin like she did that fucking touchy-feely asshole back home.

Shift was done as the last people went in, and the doors closed, and the night really took off. Not for Madcap and Lightning Girl.

They were done here, and they would head RTB, as Lightning Girl took off her vest once back in security's office, and her headset, looking to Madcap.

"Should we head home? Come on. I can give you a lift." She smiled to her co-deployed hero, drawing a ton of power out of a plug socket, glove back on as she offered him a hand.

---

Tuesday
19:58
SDN Claremont

Cat Out of Bag

The successes were big.

Really big. Shit, James expected there to be a lot more hassle in both cases for the groups.

Civilians saved, fire managed, cats even brought out. What a result. They'd shown incredible bravery, even by hero standards, to save lives and spare any more damage to the area. Both of which were critical, and even if he didn't feel the flames, he had to guess how hard it would have been. The sort of things heroes did.

Then the high speed chase. One involuntary amputation, but James already had partly filled in the KIA form, expecting the call to be of dead suspects and a lot more carnage. The team had been ingenious in stopping the Chevy and no more casualties, crooks, cops, or civilians, had happened, with very little damage left for the cleanup crews. It was literally textbook.

The balloon was back down too. What a win that was. And one happy subscriber, even if Eclipse may have questioned it.

Even the nightclub, one successful dispatch, in spite of antics occurring. A good image from SDN there, and James wondered how Lightning Girl had controlled Madcap. She'd probably let him know later, he guessed.

James put his headset down, and breathed out a long sigh of relief, the message coming through on his phone. Kat.

---

Kat (Claremont Director) [Batt: 99%]

"Big saves today. Claremont is being recognised, great turnaround. Regional director wants to talk."

James gave a gentle whistle, giving the message thought.

Shit. What did that mean?

He'd never been in a position like this. Two days in felt too soon, but was it really that impressive? Then again, half of the east side was being held together by Claremont's mighty nine, (though that went up to 12 depending on who you asked). And while rates were decent, this was something spectacular. The rest of the shift, and the team had gelled faster than he would expect. This wasn't some redemption story, where a plucky bunch of losers came together. This felt more like heroes, even the Phoenix Programme lot coming together and hitting the ground running.

They had a dispatcher to thank for that, but James didn't think himself much. He had good resources, plenty of it, and his KPIs were basically, don't let Claremont burn down. It wasn't Compton, so stopping the major stuff and keeping the minor ticking, was credit to his team. Hat Trick had done incredibly well, and he was lucky to have what Riley left behind. Outside maybe a few situations needing some brains, even then, he had a few aces up his sleeve.

So it all worked well. His mantra worked. Do the work and it pays, literally, and figuratively. He put himself exactly where he needed to be when they needed him, and now, here he was, getting that recognition. He wasn't a hero, but man, he got this game. With push close on the computer, all heroes back to base, he called it there and then and gathered the Kefir bottle and threw it into a bin, trawling across the emptying office. He was never an optimist, shit could always go wrong, always, but for now, it was fine. And that was enough.

James headed over towards the break room, where he found an assortment of the team, all returning in, all in various states of being wet from being outside in the pouring rain. He had many regards to give.

"Kat passes her regards on. All of you did very well today. Really, really well done, you deserve the applause and credit you got from public, and socials are going off nicely like Hat Trick mentioned on Slack. And shoutout to Blackstar and Feno on your first days, welcome to the Claremont team and hitting the ground running. Really, really good work from all of you. We're making a name for ourselves and while it's early days, I think we can make ourselves one of the best shifts in LA County if we keep smashing KPIs like this. That's all you." James started, smiling, trying not to be patronising, but seeming genuinely upbeat. More than his usual self. Why? Well...

"We all ready to celebrate with a beer or two tonight? This credit card isn't gonna spend itself. You have more than earned that." James asked as he waved it with a grin, attendance virtually mandatory, well, not unless they really felt like. After the high of that dispatch, a beer felt like a nice way to celebrate. Lightning Girl smiled, all the mugs put away and the dishwasher switched on, feeling a natural reply.

"Well, obviously! I'll take you there, on account of you being you know, flightless. Can I catch you a second?" She replied on behalf of the team, standing a little in front of them, chuckle on face, as James nodded.

"Alright then. Everyone, get yourselves timed out. We'll meet at The Cowl in 15, it's round the block." James finalised, as Lightning Girl headed the other way from the others, likely punching out, maybe awaiting James, but likely noticing he was staying behind, tidying up the remains of what was left in the kitchen, glad she could chat privately.

She had something to stay, occupying that doorway.

"I almost forgot to mention.....we might have a new guest." She smiled, winking at Asteroid as he walked away and giving him the finger guns, as the cat emerged from behind the door, the teeny, tiny kitten making a squeak, as Sophie nearly cried with joy, the mackerel tabby safe in her soft hands as she picked it up from where she stood, the kitten crawling between her feet. She presented the kitten to James, who got another squeak from the touch of his hands. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull in shock.

"What the......Lightning, you know I can't...."

"Well, I am sure he would love a friend that sits miserable behind a desk all day." She reassured, giving him a teeny rub, the squeak indicating he was not enjoying the bright light. A gorgeous, confused ball of grey and black brought home by Asteroid was now home.

"Shit, we can't look after a cat. It's.....so small! Like how, I need to focus on you and the team, not....."

"Relax. We have already got this. We've got a little box for him made from a bin that we made between dispatches. We thought you needed a furry companion. And look at him!"

"Have you named them?" James wasn't sure of his gender even if Sophie was, the kitten squeaking more.

"Aww.....he is scared. No, not yet. I was thinking 50 Shades of Grey but you can't call this little munchkin that." She giggled, as it all but confirmed it was a boy cat then, as Sophie tried to get out of its way in the light from James's embrace, the tiny ball of fur likely terrified in this new environment.

"Well, we'll need to drink and give him a name......as long as he has food and something to drink tonight in a box, but he has to go to a shelter. We can't do this. It's....." James said, as Lightning Girl sighed, gently sliding the kitten back into her hands, the teeny thing squeaking again as she held them against her chest, keeping him warm.

"Come on, James. Settle down a little." She replied, walking across the office, finding the tiny little bin that had been turned into a makeshift kitten home by James's desk, with a little lid that had in big marker pen, "DO NOT TOUCH, KTITEN INSIDE" written all over it. Sophie was not a cat expert either. But it was best this kitty didn't run around and after such a big night, had a little saucer of water and some tiny bits of someone else's tuna sandwich she had quietly stolen to eat tonight, before they sorted this all out in the morning. The kitten meeped as she gently slid the door of the tipped over wastepaper bin open, and cooed, looking back up at James past her hair.

"Aww....how can you not? Like, I promise. It will be fine. If it isn't, then yeah, fire me for it. I'd die for that kitten." She replied, standing up, taller than him, as he chuckled.

"Yeah, okay, when you put it like that." James chirped back, looking back inside as the kitten meowed again. "Maybe we call him Felix?" Sophie laughed, as James filled in her silence, as if she was enjoying this. Enjoying keeping her mind off what happened earlier, James adding in words.

"Never seen this side of you. One kitten and you're melting like a...." James got there in the end as she tazed him with an instant reply, making him leap across the room, both of them laughing, heading downstairs, where almost everyone had cleared out, and to shy of reception where the timecard machine sat. He was gonna die of a heart attack sometime thanks to her, but, James could take a punt she'd also be throwing so much more electricity his heart would start again. That was a joke. Right?

With a bleep of her credentials away, Sophie led the way, the rain seemingly picking up even more beyond the reception hall.

"I hate flying in the rain." She uttered, looking out at the blattering of it on the window, brushing her hair back, and without asking, picking him up, walking through the automatic doors. "Come on then....." Sophie added, and with more sparks than usual, lept into the sky and made a course for The Cowl Inn.

---

Tuesday
20:16
The Cowl Inn Taproom,
Downtown Claremont

It Comes In Pints

Upon the soft arrival in the alley next door to the fancier part of town, Sophie and James were walking out from where the trash was into the main street, amongst the hubub of the main student area of Claremont. James in his technical raincoat was still soaked, as was Lightning Girl, hair absolutely sodden from the deluge that had rained on down, her cape completely drenched through. But the bar was a warm reprieve, and the heater was on by the door. On a Tuesday, especially rainy like this, it was much quieter, significantly less so than usual, and The Cowl Inn had a tiny strip of neon, with an old-timey metal sign posted above the door. Through which, revealed quite a different establishment than a usual hero or villain dive bar.

The bar was a beautiful place, if you liked your weird, indie, alternative place.

Soundtrack: Friday Pilots Club - Trading Punches

A taproom with massive steel tanks, hiding the actual operations of the Lost Lamplight Brewery, a microbrewery that specialised in brewing up stuff that most civies couldn't drink- truly diabolically strong beers, most of which strangely, weren't that accessible on tap here (bar a couple) due to licencing laws. But the cans behind the bar in the fridge were 80% proof, and enough to send almost any super into a stupor, or at least, slightly tipsy. If pure alcohol, literally, flavoured ethanol, didn't. There were almost seemingly an endless amount of normal IPAs to pick from, as if they had a portal into another dimension to reach into to grab IPA from. You could drink here for a month or two and not get bored, there was that much choice- but that meant as a result, seating was extremely limited.

Even so, the bar was actually half empty, bar one or two students catching up, which meant from the moment the team entered the tiny little bar, probably about perfect in size for the team's number tonight, the short, brunette barwoman putting away a glass she'd been cleaning as part of her boredom killing regime on a Tuesday- they were THE crowd.

A wall could be seen with various beermats and heroes signatures, with various little trinkets and logos joining it, a few tables and chairs against a plywood backed surface that made up the majority of the seating. Spartan, but in its own way, charming. A giant cardboard cutout of Phenomaman for some reason sat next to the bar, sscaled accordingly to his size, as did a Drink Responsibly poster with a picture of Quickdraw on it, one of the SDN Hollywood heroes that Lightning Girl had happened to chance upon back at VICE. Shit. The one she had suddenly grown her little fantasy crush into something real.

And hopefully not added herself to a register. No, it was fine....

There was also, interestingly, a karaoke machine in a corner, that appeared to have a small ocean of dust on it from how few people had the balls to use it. Indie bands had done little sessions in here in that area, but nobody really came to watch a performance when they wanted solid indie beers / ciders and the place was the size of a shoebox.

There wasn't much more to it, the place barely the size of someone's living room in terms of the sitting area, although the kitchen adjacent to the brewery indicated that someone was deep frying fries, right on schedule for the booking. James led the way in, despite being the least silhouetted of all of them, with a rare smile that came from finally being at the end of a heavy, big day.

"Right. Who wants a drink, first one's on SDN!" James said looking backwards, letting others order, Lightning Girl putting her hand out and excitedly smiling at the barlady, hand against bar itself and discharging current into the bar, giving anyone who touched it a small buzz.

"Sorry! Can I get a...."

---

Sitting down with the Intergalactic Witch, James was the casual looking one amongst Hat Trick, Eclipse, Princess and Payback.

James received his pint in due course, as the others had theirs poured from the seemingly endless array of pourers, and a couple of basket of Dirty, Dirty Fries joined it. Drizzled in an endless amount of mayo, pulled pork, melted Monterrey Jack, Stilton and Blue Cheese topped up with a drizzle of Hot Honey, it was *disgusting*. In more words, disgustingly tasty once you got past the clusterfuck of flavour it was. He passed out one large tray of it to the table that he wasn't going to where the other heroes were gathering and filling in the space, before he put it down at his where there was at least some space, before going back for his pint. His rain jacket was thrown on a coatrack nearby, though the rest of his trousers and feet were soaking.

A small sip of beer contacted his stubble whilst the majority ended up as a comfy gulp after a hard day sweating over the mouse and keyboard, as he put the glass down into the mat, shuffling into the tight space between Eclipse and Hat Trick, who were physically imposing.

"Thanks." James was among all of them, the most ordinary, NPC of any character. Without an SDN shirt on, he looked like he fit here if this wasn't a hero bar, glasses away given he'd put his contacts in off work, given all the rain outside. He was just anyone else. Normal. An NPC, amongst actual, real heroes. He felt out of place at hero bars, but then again, he reasoned he had an excuse as any to come here. He wasn't the main show, they were, but he was able to help them do this.

And get them pissed. Well. Within reason.

An eclectic bunch, more quiet than maybe Lightning Girl's table, James knew they were still all top tier. From Hat Trick's icy antics and hard work behind the scenes that many would take for granted but he really, really appreciated given it was his own weak point (hero consulting required everything, after all, and he was much better with the tasks at hand rather than socials)- to Princess, who was as ever, in her almost monochrome look, pretty dress as ever being as gentle as ever. Hiding all of the absolute terror she could unleash but hey, a beer maybe would loosen the cogs, though hopefully without maiming someone. And then there was Eclipse and Payback. First two he'd had to manage in the Phoenix Programme. They'd been shy, quiet, and sometimes, difficult. The former due to drugs, the latter due to her anti-hero self, not literally because she was edgy, she was anti this. But they were both doing well. Doing well enough to make James write positively in reports about them. He wasn't like the Americans, who were ruthlessly corporate. Keep your people on side, your people would save you. For heroes, literally.

So he meant what he said as he sat down, the weakest man in this bar.

"Cheers for dealing with all the shit going on lately. Thought this would loosen the team up. For what it's worth, I'd have probably gotten the beers in if Kat hadn't forced me to use the company card." James said more generally, looking to all of them, hoping they'd strike conversation as he did.

"I have no idea what's up with Riley, by the way. Guess I'm in the same boat as you." James sipped down more, looking across. "So cheers to keeping this thing afloat?" James put his glass out, hoping to get a clink.

"Anyway. You got plans for the weekend? Up to anything nice that doesn't involve running into burning buildings or splitting cars in two? Normal stuff? You're all people at the end of the day, this isn't some workplace sitcom that my......yeah." James cut himself off. Fuck. Half a beer in and he was nearly spilling it? Calm the fuck down, you moron, he said to himself internally.

Say fucking something or they will know, windowlicker.

"Like yeah, you have lives. Okay, Phoenix Programme, I get it, prison and remand and all that, bar Hat Trick who is almost certainly watching ice hockey highlights from 2004. But you three have freedom and you can do whatever you want now. And I have no idea what to do in this hot as fuck town, so surely you have something cool going on. Or just chilling out. I know I would after this week." James mused, almost cynical, sipping beer to avoid explaining his feelings.

"There are hills to go walking in and endless traffic to get lost in, and lots of desert. I don't know how you all do it, so I guess that got me...." James asked, almost wondering if he could get an answer. A question that felt perhaps more open, the dispatcher revealing perhaps a more hollowed side to him.

The kind that corporate wanted wherever the work was, chasing dollars, chasing savings, chasing not being fixed to an SDN contract yet following his own tail to keep it that way. A consultant's life was a nomadic one, contract to contract, person to person, moment to moment.

He had no ties to anything, yet because of it, he was open, almost unlike a dispatcher, almost a little more human. Temporary yet an everyman, like the people across the stalls who were also drinking, just here for some reason, even if that reason was this team before him.

"God this is strong...." He muttered, sipping it down, this stuff certainly heavier than most IPAs he'd drunk, until he saw the percentage. 12%. Fuck me, this was like wine.....no wonder, he realised, this was definitely punching past his weight for an easy Tuesday beer.

---

Lightning Girl arrived at the booth, where Feno, Madcap, Blackstar and Asteroid sat.

She had a cool glass of Double Lemon Aid, the lemon flavoured Double Hazy Ale going down a treat as she took the glass into a rubber-gloved hand, carrying it gently without trying to spill any on her already sodden wet costume, remarkably, not having the best balance for someone who was metabolically charged and still had a little bit of juice inside of her.

There they were. The two-black suited heroes, one female, the other male, one dark energy, the other gravity. Cosmic duo. Feno, of course, needed no explaining as she got past him, the big guy charming and goofy as ever, even if he was even more aloof than Phenomaman himself. Clones were a weird business, but she liked him. And Madcap. He was what he was, but after work, they were all beers in hand, and she had at least known he was what he was.

She sat herself down, wet cape draped by one of her legs and to her side as she detached the clasp and put it on a nearby coathanger, as she finally got to enjoy the sip of a well earned post shift, and most importantly, free, beer. It barely tickled her, so it felt like drinking a slightly spicy lemonade, given her metabolism was already working on ejecting the alcohol through her liver. She parked herself next to Feno and Blackstar, keeping the smaller hero from being as much in the shadow of the bigger one. Like an average almost.

"I am starving! I could eat a horse!" She leaned in and grabbed a chip, needing that sweet, sweet filth in her. "Okay, not literally.....sorry, it's a British thing! Anyway, I am so glad today went as well as it did. You all did amazing! So stoked for you...especially you two on your first day! Asteroid, you're like born to do this too, like you're nearly at the top of the leaderboard!" She smiled to the two right next to her then across to the gravity based hero, putting her glass out and keeping it in hand. "Cheers to that!" She added, as casual as ever, hoping to get some clinks in, before sighing, leaning back, taking it in.

"I love this place. It's so original, you know! Like, so many bars are so crappy. They're all stuck up and serve nothing but Coors. But this place? They've got a cool wall of stuff of heroes before us! Good fries! And nobody comes here! Okay, because it's a Tuesday night but still.....I think this is Claremont's premier hero establishment cos of us, you know? I mean.....we're kinda a big deal!" She smiled, trying to big the team up, a little energised, as she took some fries and un-girly-like, wolfed down. "Okay. Sort of. Maybe I got ahead of myself. But it's looking like we're at least stuck together for a bit longer."

She cleared that with a bit more beer, sighing, leaning back, adjusting her cowl with one hand before looking to the others at her table.

"So, Feno, I know you're from probably out of this world. Blackstar, Asteroid, you two both.....seem very cosmic. Would it be fair to say we're kinda the same? I mean, I'm not from another planet, I'm from England, which I know to Americans sounds like it is, but.....yeah, I know, it's kinda crazy we have that in common, cos I guess I got powers from something that wasn't terrestrial? Oh, and Madcap here is just out of this world too, I suppose. In his own way!" She smiled to the group and giving a chuckle on the latter with a smile at Madcap, getting chatty, as she drank more beer down, sighing a gentle bit of relief. Lightning Girl could be like this, the extravert, the social battery that she physically was. But given she was still carrying power, her social skills were still alight, trying to spark conversation.

"Kinda makes me think. I wonder what it would be like to be out of this world you know. Like, literally. High above it all. Look down from space on it all....my lungs gave out by the time I think I cleared 100,000 feet. Feno, have you ever done that?" She piqued interest, the conversation probably having more than enough strands to break off into anyone else, and cascade from there.

---

---

James is going on some kind of tangent that, frankly, Eclipse isn't too keen on hearing. He's heard these things a thousand times before; hearing it again isn't going to help him, nor save him. It all boils down to "drugs are bad, stop doing drugs", and did that stop him? No. So what the fuck does James think will happen here? Flatter him enough, and he'll just magically quit? He already fuckin' quit to get in here, and guess what? He's getting weaker because he's a super that needs drugs. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

If he keeps off the drugs, then not only will he lose his job, he'll lose his powers too. And where will that land him? Nowhere, because he never finished college or got a degree.

It was better back in Red Ring; at least they didn't pester him with useless speeches and whatever the fuck else. Just make the drugs and call it a day, occasionally go take down some rival ganglord for Shroud, or kill some annoying narc. It was simple.

James makes a decent attempt at humor, and Eclipse bursts out laughing to the point he's slamming his fist against the table. That would be good, if it weren't for the rest of his talk.

Can't stop laughing--a shadow blade manifests in his hand, and he jams it into the table before standing up. "Understood."

So disappointing.

---

---

Madcap finds himself on the rooftop, looking up at the gray clouds above. Rain beats against his head like bullets, and for the first time ever, he can barely think with the helmet on! It's funny... He stands over the rooftop ledge and crosses his arms.

If every hero were an industry plant, then you know what? He'll show all these corporate heroes what a REAL hero looks like! Heroism, badassery, and most of all... saving the day! He'll do it all, no problem. He's done it a thousand times before in front of adoring crowds and teary-eyed fans; who's gonna stop him from doing it a thousand times more? Nobody!

He leaps off the roof with unparalleled vigor, a trail of water behind his leading foot, and dives down....

And crashes into the concrete.

The receptionist opens the door a moment later. "Hey, you, uh... You good there?"

"Never better!" Madcap rests his head in his arms and crosses his legs as clothes soak in the rain.

"Uh, yeah.... Okay."

Samson leaves afterward, and Madcap finds himself lying there for a few minutes as his eyelids fight to close. He's gonna be the most successful hero ever--completely unstoppable--the best in the world. Way better than Blonde Blazer, way better than Phenomaman, way better than Lightning Girl, way better than...

---

---

Finding Madcap is harder than it seems. Checking the break room shows nothing; checking the gym shows nothing; around the offices, no dice. It’s only until Lightning Girl checks the front desk and sees Madcap laid out on the concrete in his own little crater that she finds him.

He just lets rain drum against his helmet as he looks up at the sky.

The receptionist, Samson, looks over awkwardly. “Does, uh… he always do that?”

She shrugged, replying in turn to Samson, the demon from a random dimension, still friendly, just in a way that only SDN could approve. “No. Not as far as I’m….aware.” Lightning Girl replied, shrugging, the dispatch from James ringing in her ears. She strolled with big steps through the big doors, sunk as a shipping container dropped from on high in concrete.

“Madcap, you alright? Good to go for the club?” She asked him, her voice calling, wondering what was going on. Was he upset from earlier? From the chat with James? It must have been. But she played open, knowing it was probably best not to respond. Especially, if she had another person on another shitlist. “I’ll take you there. Easier if we fly. Even in this weather.”

It takes a few seconds for him to respond. Madcap jolts up, stretching his arms over his head. “Huh? OH!” He rubs the eyes of his mask. “Club? We’re gonna go clubbing?”

Lightning Girl laughed, peeling around her hip pack, pulling out her rubber gloves, a necessity to carry Madcap without electrocuting him to death. If he spotted, the rain was gently creating a small hum against her neck, even in spite of a woolen neckwarmer. “We’re working as security for the club. Making sure nobody bad gets in. And all the other heroes and people in this city can have some fun.” She smiled, knowing it wasn’t a perfect sell, but, being polite and as honest as she could be, offering him a hand. “So what is it going to be? Am I carrying you bridal again? Or what am I doing?” She chuckled, the gentle, warm sarcasm British in tone, but despite the pins and needles, she was still as positive as ever.

“Um… you can just do whatever works best for you.” Madcap leaps back onto his feet, water dripping off him. His voice is coated with a strange uncertainty, and he seems half ready to say no, but shrugs. Whatever Lightning Girl was selling, he… didn’t seem to be buying it. Not one bit.

Lightning Girl shrugged, nodding, gently reaching down and hoisting him into her arms, resting one of his arms over her shoulder, pulsating with power behind her costume, nodding back. “Sure thing.” She replied, keeping it short and sweet, wondering why he was quieter than usual. He felt a lot less heavy than the other night. Like, was he less dense? Well, he was dense, just in a different way, but strangely, Lightning Girl didn’t mind him. He was what he was, and well, maybe her idea would work, maybe it wouldn’t. “Hang tight!” And on that note, the heroine and the airpooling Madcap were launched into the sky, with a crackle of electricity behind her like a localised storm turning water into a sharp, tangy ozone smell. It felt like setting fire to plastic mixed with just petrichor (the smell tarmac makes when water evaporates from it in heat), but even sharper, almost, as she knew he wouldn’t enjoy the rain, but fuck it, neither did she.

He was quiet, wasn’t he. Fuck. She had to say something. Had he felt this down?

“Madcap, you definitely sure you’re ok?” She asked, hoping to get more response out. That was all she could ask him for, especially if the job ahead was an extremely social one.

Madcap covers part of his helmet with his hand, as if he were trying to block out the smell. He looks over at the city below, not really sure what he’s looking at or focusing on. The rain was bad enough–no pretty lightshow or things to look at, at least not to him.

Another minute of silence.

“I had the COOLEST nap earlier! I dreamt of a world that was super, super heroic and HONEST!” It’s obvious he’s trying to keep up his old energy; it’s forced, even for him. “Cause.” He lets his head hang back. “The rain was annoying at first, but then it was kinda calming.”

Lightning Girl almost felt sorry for him for a moment with that last aspect. Shit. He wasn’t taking this well. She may not have had the highest brainpower of the team, but she had some charisma about her, at least, enough to peel into what was going on.

“You’ll catch a cold if you stay in the rain, Madcap. But then again…"

She turned, the beaming lights of VICE puncturing into the wave-like cloud, the grey abyss broken with the sky taking on an ethereal blue-green haze in the rainy sky over Claremont. This was cool. Okay, even London at night wasn’t like this. Holy shit, it was like something from a game almost.

“Here we are in the thick of it, right? Kinda feels atmospheric. If I didn’t fucking hate this on my skin.” She chuckled to herself, trying to make conversation, but aware that it wasn’t going to be much. “What did you dream of?” She asked him, an unusually poignant question from her, her cape fluttering in the damp, spray pouring off her feet, as they were closing the distance to the club, quickly. She hadn’t been energised that much, she could keep up with a commercial airliner if she wanted to if she spent a few hours leeching away off a high voltage power line. So this was comparatively slower, and in rain, less painful as the water bristled like lumps of needles into her body.

He didn’t like the rain much either, not that he’d admit to her. The sound of droplets hitting his helmet was deafening to the point he could barely hear himself think, a nonstop barrage of bullets. It was gross. Made for a good nap, though.

“I forgot!” He shrugs and almost leaves it as that as he notices the club. “It doesn’t really matter.”

Madcap goes back into another bout of silence, just staring up at the hazy sky. It was almost beautiful. Maybe, maybe not. It’d be a lot better without the gray clouds. A lot of things would be better without gray clouds. He looks down again, sees that the club is getting ever closer as Lightning Girl flies…

“Hey,” bug-eyes bore into hers, “watch THIS!”

And he rolls out of her carry and falls down to the club with a boisterous splash.

Shock. And. Awe!

Anyone who was waiting in that queue (or whatever poor person was nearby) was splattered in water, and screaming in amazement; that’s how to make a heroic entrance.

Lightning Girl sighed, wondering quite the fuck was wrong with him. He felt like an infant addicted to this, as she only chuckled, Madcap slamming into a puddle, while Lightning Girl landed gracefully down, a gentle spray of water as she shot him a look of “what the fuck”, before breaking back to a chuckle. “Come on then. Let’s get to work. We’ll work on that.” She seemed almost regal, a classic hero in a classic mould, walking past the crowd, picking up the security team’s entrance right by the side.

He pumps a fist into the air, then salutes. “MA’AM, YES, MA’AM. No villains will come inside this club… or banned people.” He’s quick to follow her into the security team entrance.

---

---

"Eclipse, I've got a kid in northern Claremont who's lost his balloon in a tree."

Eclipse groans as he begins suiting up in the darkest corner of the locker room.

"Yes, I know, but if you could get there and get it back, that would be great."

Fuck. He heard that? Whoops. What was up with this dispatcher and sending him out to meet kids anyway? Seriously, annoying... Eclipse gets his helmet on and stays silent on the way there--no point in making a worse impression than he already has; he needs to be on his best for his deal to work out.

And what if it doesn't work out? What then?

The place he arrives in is nice and quiet. Kind of cozy. He looks up at the tallest tree he's ever seen, and yeah, that balloon is up there. But that's not the problem.

"Wow, a hero from SDN! Thanks for coming so fast!"

That's the problem.

The kid is looking at him with stars in his eyes, and his parents? They actually look proud. This is weird. Sure, his suit is engineered look as intimidating as possible, but he didn't consider that it would... also appeal to an 8-year-old's sense of cool--he should've seen that coming.

Eclipse glances at the parents again before crouching down to meet the kid. He tries his best to keep his blades away from the kid's skin.

"Could you get the balloon from the tree? It would be so cool if you could!" The kid beams at him.

He takes another look at the balloon stuck up there. He could get it, if he wanted to, and it makes him feel bad to say no, but... "Is it your birthday today?"

"Yeah! I'm 8 years old now."

"Okay..." Eclipse reaches into the kid's shadow--he notices his parents flinch a bit, but they calm down the moment they realize what's happening. "You won't be needing your old balloon, there's a prettier one hidden in your shadow,"

The kid's shadow is warm like a fireplace, filled with hope and happy spirits. It's funny, really, his shadow felt the same way once--only a slight cold edge that grew larger as he got older. He's getting carried away. The usual sweating kicks in, and the rain is beginning to throw him off. Form the 8... grab the string... don't poke the kid with his armor... he needs to get that dulled down. Either that or James stops sending him on dispatches like this, seriously, it's getting ridiculous.

Eclipse pulls an '8' balloon out from the kid's shadow and hands it to him as gently as possible. The kid grabs it eagerly; his parents seem impressed, too. "Thank you so much, mister hero!" The kid pokes at the shadow balloon, voice filled with awe.

"Happy birthday." Eclipse stands up and leaves the kid to it. He addresses the parents next. "It'll last for around a day, maybe less. Keep it out of the light, he'll have it forever."

The moment he gets far enough away from the family, he sends James another complaint: "No more kid missions, they're annoying."

---

---

This line is going amazingly! Now that the amazing ex-vigilante-turned-hero is here to watch over it, no bad guy is getting into this club! Oh, and Lightning Girl is there too. He shrugs as the next person stands in line; a quick pat-down, Madcap has to hold himself back from picking the poor person's wallet--he's more than well-off, and stealing... is only right if it's for the greater good. Then an ID check, where he can't really make out the words, but the person looks old enough.

"Next!" Madcap pushes the person in, next one comes in.

"PFT--WHU--"

Madcap already has his hands inside the person's pocket and pulls out... "You monster! Get out of this club, carrying cocaine around in broad afternoonlight, and at a hero bar! That's plain evil!" He slaps the person with a drug baggie, then manages to shove the villain hard to the ground. "Next!"

Next 'hero' to come in looks young... too young... something on the ID doesn't match up--the picture isn't even the same! Madcap grabs the kid by the collar and looks them dead in the eye. "You get out of here and don't come back until you're allowed. You understand that? There are heroes in this club that'll mop the floor with you. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!" He promptly drops the now disgruntled kid, ignoring their protests and promptly yanking them to the side by the hair and waving them off. "Bye-bye! Grow up into a nice hero. NEXT!"

The rest of the queue is boring... boring, boring, boring. He recognizes a few heroes in line and gives them the old 'Madcap Special' before ushering them inside, but it's boooooring standing out in the same spot and letting all these other heroes stay dry. But it's for the greater good! Er, he thinks, at least.

It isn't until someone goon tries to walk in with a hidden gun that he understands! Madcap yanks the gun out of their slippery hands and bashes the butt of their pistol into their head! He straddles the villain and keeps beating their head in until the stock of their pistol is caked in wet crimson and his knuckles hurt. A clatter of weapons and other illegal items follows the assault, the onlookers rightfully deciding not mess with the great hero Madcap.

No villain is getting inside this club, not on his watch!

Never on his watch.

"Okay, who's next?! AND NO WEAPONS!" Madcap leaps back onto his feet, pumping a fist into the air to his adoring fans. He starts spinning the confiscated pistol around his offhand, and up... "Ow!" he throws the pistol into his own face and it 'clunks' against his helmet.

"And that's..." Madcap poses low to the ground. "How a HERO does it!"

By the time the shift ends, Madcap takes Lightning Girl up on her offer to fly back, though he keeps the bloodied pistol with him. Better in his hands than a villain's! Not that he tells or shows anyone it, obviously.

---

---

Well, apparently everyone's dispatches went well enough that A-Team went out for drinks at a cozy, but somewhat tacky hero bar at the end of the shift. Eclipse only went because it's done as a show of respect or something like that; he's not here to make friends anyway. His eyes wander over to Asteroid, Payback, and Lightning Girl--the latter he's never worked with before, but the former two? He's impressed enough with their work. Hard to believe Asteroid was a criminal, though. Madcap, on the other hand, was less than adamant about coming until he heard that there'd be a karaoke machine.

Perhaps, for the good of the world, he was not allowed near the karaoke machine after arriving at the bar, instead sandwiched between Asteroid and the nearest wall. He stares down at the dirty fries as Lightning Girl eats them, with a vacant, bug-eyed expression. A gloved hand hovers awkwardly over the fries before immediately snapping to grab a glass of water and unclasping the mouth guard of his helmet. Sweet, sweet cold water!

"I hate beer, and I HATE alcohol 'cuz its all EVIL!" It's weird seeing a normal mouth under Madcap's helmet--he never took it off, and even then, he's leaving the top part on. He shoves a few more fries in his mouth as he attempts to shake off the feeling of disappointment? From seeping into his skin. He's surrounded by posers, and fakes, corporate hooligans, and he's just supposed to sit here and like it? That's weird. He hates feeling weird.

He HATES hearing Lightning Girl act like she didn't hurt two of her teammates before the rest of the A-Team formed. He HATES how James always yells at him for a mistake on par with Lightning Girl's, he hate, hate, HATES...

Madcap begins to choke on the fries, coughing loudly. "Ughh... I'm GOOD!"

Yeah, he's also 'out of this world'. Cause he's a real hero! Who saves real people! FOR FREE.

"Hey, Cosmic buddies," he looks at the rest of the table excitedly, wiping his hands of grease, "Wanna karaoke? I wanna sing, and no one's called dibs yet! Singing about heroics is like. Prime hero stuff. We gotta do it!"

He flashes Fenom a toothy smile and wraps an arm around Asteroid. "If you guys can't sing, then that's fine... CAUSE I CAN'T EITHER!"

Meanwhile, Eclipse has his helmet resting in his lap, with the strongest glass of alcohol he could get his hands on. James was awfully jovial, Princess was as quaint as ever, Payback was Payback, and Hat Trick looked cheery as usual. Then James tries to spark some conversation, but the only thing Eclipse thinks of...

"Cheers." He clinks his drink against James' with a wry smile before chugging his drink down. Fun.

Shit's strong. Was the drink called... Shadow... something--he can't remember, but it tastes like pure ethanol. Strongest thing he's drunk since he left Red Ring, that's for sure.

Then James starts to ask what everyone's weekend plans are, and Eclipse can only respond with a boring shrug and a lame: "Nothing." Either sleep all day, or get pissed off after eating every piece of junk in his kitchen. Outside of SDN work, he's not exactly sure what he should be doing in his time, considering his usual... isn't available to him. Not yet.

"There are hills to go walking in and endless traffic to get lost in, and lots of desert. I don't know how you all do it, so I guess that got me...."

"It's easier with powers," he muses, "clear your mind, sit in the dark, and focus. The shadows will take you wherever you wish."

He leans back in his seat and cracks a laugh. "But it's easier if you fly."

---

The Cowl Inn

It was a quaint day for Princess. The sort that ended faster than one would initially perceive, hours gone in an eyes blink.

But it was a semblance of enjoyable, a semblance of something that itches away at that need for experience. That need to find oneself.

Now here she…they sit in a bar. A place as quaint as her daily work, even if it's much cooler than that fire. Small talk filled the air like smoke, the walls had a grunge to them like soot, and she saw the same one each place she looked.

Opposed to those mixed drinks and cans of those around her, she had something more befitting her names stations. A curved glass, one befitting wine and filled with such a crimson liquor. Sips had been taken, but it mostly sat idly swirled.

"Anyway. You got plans for the weekend? Up to anything nice that doesn't involve running into burning buildings or splitting cars in two? Normal stuff? You're all people at the end of the day, this isn't some workplace sitcom that my......yeah."

Another swirl, Princess studies her glass. Noting how sticky it seemed, clinging to the glass so unlike what wine should.

“A fair question to ask, yet one I have had no forward thoughts to.” She takes a lazy lean to the side, not against the wall but again thin air. As if there was something there.

“Maybe I shall go to my cabin for a day, see how nature has treated it. Maybe I shall wander the streets alone or with my darling raven, perhaps I shall visit a gallery or draw my own art.” Princess muses, a wistful tone in her voice, but each word seems to draw color from the air. Leaving things noticeable more in shades of Grey, except her drink that seems to gain a deep hue of red.

A hum comes from deep in her chest, something orchestral. “There are many paths laid before us, we must merely pick one. Not to worry, nothing shall bar us from them all. Afterall, a path in the wood has no end just as it has no walls, the end is never…the end…” The words seem to linger, echo, her eyes tracking something not quite there as she mutters in and out of a plural reference to herself.

---

Tuesday
19:37
Locker Room

---

Alaine liked the rain when she could decide whether or not she wanted to be out in it. She, Fenomaman and Payback had been lucky that it dropped down to a drizzle while they were on their dispatch, otherwise she was pretty sure the traffic situation would’ve been a lot more dangerous. But on the way back to the SDN building the rain had picked up and Blackstar, in an effort to keep Payback as dry as possible, had been using herself as a human umbrella while giving the other woman a lift.

Her suit was waterproof and thermal, but with part of her hair out and a gap between her jaw and the collar of the suit, she got wet whether she liked it or not.

Nobody was in the locker rooms when she arrived, so she was free to tug down the upper part of her cowl, if there was enough material there to actually call it that. With a small towel she took a moment to ruffle her damp hair in its mixed colors of natural, mousy blonde and the less natural red underneath, taking a seat on one of the benches scattered around.

She’d been given a locker number but she hadn’t gone to find it yet, her jacket, earpiece and other SDN equipment removed and sitting on the bench next to her as she rubbed the towel over her face with a sigh.

Permission to use lethal force.

Alaine tugged the towel over her head and leaned over, elbows on her knees and face in her hands.

That news in her earpiece had caused a small existential crisis. She’d known situations like that would have to come up eventually, she just hadn’t expected to face it on her first day. Luckily it hadn’t been necessary, thanks to Fenom’s car-stopping techniques, but what if it had been?

She couldn’t look like she knew what she was doing. If she did kill someone, how would everyone expect her to act? She’d done it before. It’d be obvious. What then?

She’d asked John when he started getting this whole SDN thing set up for her.What am I supposed to do if I’ve got to kill someone?

Same thing you did in the desert, he’d said. Like it was normal. Like it was just another Thursday. Heroes kill, too.

“But I don’t want to,” Alaine mumbled, echoing the same thing she’d said not so long ago to John.

She could practically hear his response. You might not get a choice.

There’d been a choice earlier. She'd slipped up a bit with that little disarming thing on her dispatch with Fenom and Payback, but... well, it wasn't lethal force. And lethal force had been authorized. After seeing Fenom demolish a whole vehicle just by standing in its way, she was pretty sure he would've survived a bullet. But Payback? She hadn't been sure. And that gun had been pointed at her. It was a reasonable action taken after making a logical and rational decision--

Who was she kidding. She'd just reacted.

Her first instinct could've been to dive into the line of fire, take the bullet herself, push Payback out of harm's way. Once upon a time, that would've been her first instinct.

Now? Now it seemed instinct was violence.

Alaine felt that same touch of nausea from when she'd talked with James in her one-on-one.

A noise had her sitting up straight, swiftly tugging the towel off her head and pulling up her mask again in case someone was coming in. Just the top half that covered her eyes and the red portion of her hair; the mousy portion was kind of a mess now that it was out of its ponytail and all towel-dried, so she hastily combed her gloved fingers through it in an attempt to look put-together.

When Asteroid walks into the locker room, his posture is very stiff, his shoulders are in his neck and his hands are close to his chest clutching something precious. He's covered in soot, his mask abandoned as he stepped into the locker room, sticking out of his right pocket. His dark brown hair is a mess, and there are smudges of ash all over his face.

“Shh it's okay, I'm gonna getcha some water sweetie.” He walks by Blackstar not even noticing her, his steps short and fast.

As he approaches the mirror he sets a small bundle of fur on the counter. It's the kitten! His fur is smeared and covered in soot. But its meow is strong, and it looks old enough to be on its own. About 13 weeks or so. It's panting a bit, which isn't a great sign, but water will help.

He takes a second to look in the mirror and he spots Blackstar over on the bench. “Oh!” His eyes widen and he pats his chest hunting for his mask. After a second he shrugs and meets her gaze in the mirror. “Cats out of the bag I guess-” a small laugh that sounds kind of like a cough “literally.”

He pointedly looks down at the bundle of fur. “Would ya like to meet him?” He waits for Blackstar to join him at the sink before he jogs to his locker. “Gotta grab something to hold water, poor things gotta be parched.”

The tupperware lid from his lunch seems shallow enough. He pulls it down and fills the shallow lid with water. The kitten moves up and begins to lap furiously at it.

Alaine, who had been momentarily perplexed as to who she was looking at until she recognized the suit, hadn’t even given the secret identity thing a second thought when she realized her coworker had a kitten.

As someone whose family had been a cat family practically all of her childhood, she had been severely missing having a feline around for the past two or so years. In other words, she was already on her feet before Asteroid had technically even invited her over.

“D’aww, look at the lil’ baby,” she cooed as the kitten began to lap up the water; taking a moment to tug off her gloves, she began to stroke his fuzzy little back, fingers gently feeling for any injuries. Considering the sooty state of both cat and man, she assumed this was a rescue from Asteroid’s latest dispatch. “Silly lil’ guy, you’re all dirty…”

Jet looks up at Blackstar, feeling a bit exposed and says “since this was, ya know an accident, don't feel any pressure to reciprocate, okay?” He smiles at her softly but then grabs a paper towel and begins wiping the soot from his face.

Alaine glanced up at him in the mirror as he started trying to clean himself up, actually looking at him for the first time. “Okay–”

Oh. She stilled, one hand on the kitten, staring for a second while he was busy with the paper towel. Oh no. He was cute. Even covered in soot – which, actually, kind of gave him a scruffy vibe that made him even cuter.

“I'm not too worried about the secret identity thing as it is, but it'd be inconvenient if my Father knew so don't shout it from the rooftops or anything.” He snickers at that, hands connecting under the water to splash it over his face.

“Huh?” Alaine blinked, realizing she was still staring and quickly redirecting attention back to the ashy little cat. “Oh – yeah, no, no, sure. I’m the last one to go revealing secret identities, trust me.”

The kitten was purring as she pet it, still lapping up the water but happily so. She couldn’t help a smile and, when the kitten had finished with the water, she gently scooted it back from the edge of the counter as it started exploring and Asteroid spoke again.

“Heard we are going to the bar tonight! You in? I think Lightning Girl is gonna help me out with this little guy.” The kitten was then curiously crawling around on the counter, and checking the new space out. “I'll probably petition for baby sitting duty sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Alaine agreed immediately, if only because it sounded like he was planning on going. Dang it. She needed to think something like that through – things could go sideways very easily at a bar, she was sure… “Well sign me up too,” she hummed in amusement, her mouth brushing past the bar thing and onto the kitten thing while her mind was trying to weigh the risks of the former. “I love cats. I wish I could keep one, but it wouldn’t be fair to the cat at this point in time.”

There was a note of disappointment there but she shrugged it off, musing, “He’ll be in good hands if Lightning Girl’s going to look out for him, though.” Lightning Girl was probably way more put together. She had the hero thing downpat.

Alaine glanced over at Asteroid again, prepared to say something else but forgetting whatever it was as she spotted a dab of soot he’d missed.

“You missed a spot.” She tugged the towel off her shoulder where she’d tossed it a moment ago when she came over to the sink; without thinking, she reached over and carefully smudged away the spot on his forehead, where it had been trying to hide in his hairline.

Jet freezes. His facial expression is soft as she wipes the dirt from his brow. It’s unexpected and unfamiliar but not unwelcome. He’s kind of afraid to move, in fear he’ll spook her away.

Too late she realized what she was doing, but she made sure she’d gotten rid of the soot anyway before she pulled back. “I thought you were trying to stop a fire, not collect all the soot,” she joked, a hasty attempt to distract from the fact she’d just been touching his face and her ears were now feeling kind of hot.

The rib at his condition makes a laugh bubble out of him. “I might’ve been rolling around on the floor.” He redirects his gaze toward the kitten after watching her for a little longer than he should have. “Was definitely worth it to find these little guys, though.”

Clearing her throat, Alaine glanced down as her peripheral vision caught the kitten wandering to the edge of the counter again. “Whoa, whoa…” Reaching out, she gingerly picked him up. She loved when they were that age – they hardly weighed anything, all fluff and squeaks and teeny-tiny claws. “I see you were helpin’ Louboutins here with the soot collection, huh?”

The kitten glanced up at her face for the first time and cowered a little, ears starting to fold back. Alaine winced. “Ah, yeah. I look kinda scary, right?” Her family had had a cat before who’d been scared of people when they put sunglasses on, so she figured her mask probably looked a bit menacing.

Hesitating briefly, and ignoring that thing Asteroid had said about not reciprocating the accidental face-reveal because she did feel the instinctual need to reciprocate and besides this was about the cat, not about anything else, nope– Alaine reached up with one hand and tugged her mask down.

God, I am such an idiot, she thought, mildly horrified at herself. What was she doing? All that effort to hide her face, all the fear that that night in the desert would happen all over again because someone would connect the dots–

The kitten squeaked, ears popping back up as he realized she was a person.

“...Yeah.” Alaine’s voice softened as she pet him again, grinning at the way he kneaded his tiny claws into the slim, black star design on the front of her suit.

The hooking of needle-like claws into what he presumes to be a relatively expensive super hero costume makes him cringe just slightly, and he starts trying to formulate how he’d help her fix a snag in the fabric. The care on Alaine’s face washes those thoughts away as he actually takes her in. She’s a little shorter, and- actually quite lovely.

Plus her hair is dyed red, of all things, in the under layers. Blackstar’s cool. They’d just met, and Jet was confident of that already.

She glanced at Asteroid in the mirror, went a little pink, and looked back down at the kitten. “So, um. Bar, huh? Where’s it at?”

When her eyes meet his in the mirror, he startles. Got it, you do not have to memorize your masked colleagues face immediately. It’s not going to be the last time you see her. He clears his throat just a little- “I think I heard one of the guys say we were headed over to the Cowl.” He takes the babysitting moment to dust off the remaining soot, grab his tupperware, his leather sling bag from his locker, and a fresh mask for the bar.

“I think we’ve got that last meeting, let's see if we can catch Lightning Girl beforehand and she can help us figure out what to do with him next.”

Alaine nodded along, setting the kitten down to quickly fix her hair, the red part down and under her cowl and the natural part up in a high pony; then, mask up and using the excuse that Asteroid was already carrying, like, three things, she scooped up their new furry friend and toted him out of the locker room alongside her coworker, grabbing her jacket off the bench on the way.

Once they got back to the breakroom she surrendered custody of the kitten – not without a little kiss between his fuzzy ears – and fell back to hang around and wait for the evening’s debriefing.

“Hey! Lightning Girl- special delivery!” He holds up the tiny creature to her. “This is the one that didn’t look like it was gonna make it in the fire, but with some water, they’re looking much better.”

Lightning Girl was freshening up her face in the sink in the breakroom, back early from the job at the nightclub- aware though, that she’d get caught in all the rain again, making not much effort to tidy what was there. She turned and saw Asteroid come in and heard the tiny, raspy squeak from the kitten, her grey eyes lit up, her grey and white visage lit up as if the electricity pulsed.

Someone who could so much damage seemed to almost dissolve like butter, into a child-like, giddy almost excitement. There was pure good inside her, and seeing that kitten just made her answer instant.

“Woah! No way!” She exclaimed, excited as ever, triple checking her gloves, the black-gloved heroine so badly wanting to stroke it, and Asteroid obliging.

“It’s friendly!” Asteroid says as Blackstar places the tiny creature into LG’s hands and watches it squirm to get used to the new set of hands. “What do you think James’ll say?” His one-on-one with James had gone well enough that he didn’t think this would go over too awful bad, especially if Lightning Girl was gonna ambush him about it.

Lightning Girl gushed, smiling as she nodded to him, gently stroking the tabby’s fluffy neck.

“Leave this one to me. He might not trust you fully yet. But he can’t say no to me. I worked with the guy for a while. I can convince him to keep this little baby. Awww….yes you are, aww, he’s so cute!” She chuckled, gently rubbing a gloved finger over the cat’s side, the mackerel tabby absolutely smelling of smoke and dust still, despite clearly getting a great cleaning. Another thought popped into her head, as she looked around the corner from the break room, seeing James still dispatching away, one last job for Lunara, it looked like, before she would head home. Lunara wasn’t joining them tonight, but, it was good enough a distraction. She turned back to Asteroid, clearing strides with her long legs, cat still safe in her left “paw”.

“Wait…..he definitely needs a home though…..wait. I have an idea.” She added, the wastepaper bin in her other spare hand, setting it down and using the paper inside to create a makeshift shelter. She gently set the kitten down on the worktop as it squeaked, curious as to what the new, mysterious white haired woman was doing. That wasn’t human and definitely was not as trusting, but, within a couple of minutes, Lightning Girl had built out something.

“Right. This might do….I would take him home but we’re all going drinking tonight.” she added, turning to the fridge, opening it up, and reaching in to the far back. “I’m so sorry Martha, write up another HR violation, why not…it stinks so bad anyway….” She added, yoinking a piece of sandwich off, taking the malted bread out and sticking a piece of tuna into the basket next to a tiny saucer of water, a teeny tub of tupperware that was in the mug cabinet.

“There.” She added, jogging across and almost clearing the distance in barely seconds, all set up for their new guest, as she walked back across, fiddling with her own cowl, unaware of what had happened minutes ago privately, still nowhere near Sophie Speight given she likely had to carry James later. “I got this.”

Jet calls after her- “I’ll buy some litter and a smallish litter pan for him, and bring it in first thing tomorrow!” He is in a bit of shock at how fast Lightning Girl jumped in here and took care of business, but very grateful. It already felt like a fish was out of his depth, but that’s what having people were for.. Right? Helping when you felt out of your depth?

---

---

Tuesday
20:16
The Cowl

((ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ: @FourtyTwo, @Auragreedia, @SonnetNSunbeam, @Pragia12 ))

Alaine's first thought at officially hearing they were all invited out for company beers was dread, despite the heads-up from Asteroid.

And yes, she'd already blurted out an affirmation that she was coming. She wasn't going to back out, but... Alcoholic beverages that often loosened tongues and fogged mental processes? That, paired with her sleep deprivation and secrets to hide did not sound like a good combo.

But then.

Retreating into herself and hiding away in her apartment whenever she wasn't on the clock, although it seemed the most logical solution, would surely paint her as the kind of character who... would have done what she did. She didn't want to be seen like that. She didn't want anyone to have any reason to think that was something she'd do.

In all honesty, the mind-numbing effects of a couple of beers sounded fantastic to her guilt- and shame-riddled mind, full of doubts and a severe homesickness for people who didn't know what she'd become.

But God, the what ifs. What if she really got drunk, what if she said something she didn't mean to? Missing her family as much as she did, she was sure some information of them, uncalculated in its significance to their safety, would slip out. Or maybe she'd start thinking about the people she'd killed to prevent that threat to safety, and the faces of those two little girls who'd lost their dad because she couldn't risk him going home. Maybe she'd say something about that and someone would launch an investigation.

Or worse. Maybe she'd lose control of her carefully-maintained powers. Maybe something would shift, maybe the stars would get too close and she'd start losing her grip, maybe her hand would fumble and she'd look up and realize she'd just run someone through with a blade made of cosmic energy. Maybe there were things she didn't even know she was capable of yet, and all her star-charged body needed was a moment of laxed inhibition to go supernova.

No, no way she was even touching something that was actually alcoholic. But she did need to go -- being at least as social as her limited social battery would allow would be good for her image, or at least for everyone's perceptions of her. She could try and act like the person she was trying to be -- like Lightning Girl. Like Blonde Blazer. Not a murderer.

Even then, the thought of lingering around Lightning Girl and Fenom and the others, Phoenix Heroes and not, posed an odd juxtaposition. Feel like an imposter among the real heroes... or pretend like she wasn't as bad as if not worse than the villains in reform? No place felt right because of all her damned lies.

Well -- almost no place. Asteroid felt... comfortable.

Alaine was trying not to think about that too much, but she couldn't deny that something about him, even the almost nervous air he'd had a few times, was... calming. Which made no sense, but -- huh, well, maybe it did. She felt like she was made of stars that were all trying to go spinning off into infinity. She had dreams, or maybe nightmares, where she was a star, and she woke up in the air, flailing and all tangled in her sheets and gasping for breath like she'd just remembered she was a human being.

And Asteroid... was gravity. Something about him made all those whirring cosmic energies settle down a little. She'd actually had fun with him on her first dispatch, which still sort of blew her mind to think about. Instead of wanting to jet off into space and join the infinite cosmos... she'd enjoyed that little downward tug when they were giving Ultragal a bungee jumping experience without the bungees. It didn't feel restricting, it felt grounding.

Maybe she needed that. Every star orbited something, right?

...Those were dangerous thoughts, too. Almost as dangerous as the alcohol.

Didn't help that the darn guy had brought a kitten back from his dispatch with Princess and Hat Trick. Like was he trying to seduce her? What was wrong with him? The way he'd had it peeking out from that pocket in the chest of his suit, a little sooty fluffball all snuggled up against him... ugh, her heart. He had no way of knowing her family had been a cat family practically her whole childhood and that she wanted a cat so bad at the moment she could literally die for it, so it wasn't like he could actually do it on purpose...

But come on. Just marry me already.

Okay, well. Maybe a dumb little work crush wouldn't hurt things. It wasn't like it'd ever go beyond her stealing a glance or two in the breakroom, it never did. Even before she'd become... whatever she currently was, she'd never thought she was enough to actually be considered by the people she liked. Why make an awkward moment by being all "hey so I actually like you a lot" just for them to go "oohhh... uhh... thanks, but..."?

No, no. It was fine. It'd be fine. Everything was fine all the time and nothing was ever wrong and she was having the greatest time ever--

zap.

Alaine snapped her hand back from the bar counter, a little flash of inverted light flickering across her knuckles for a split-second. Lightning Girl called "Sorry!" before beginning to order a drink, and Alaine breathed out slow as she pulled her spiraling thoughts back to the moment.

When the bartender eventually looked at her she asked quietly if there were any non-alcoholic beverages, to which she was given a bit of an odd look but offered some options. Eventually she headed over to sit next to Asteroid -- no particular reason why -- with a drink that the lady at the bar had called The Designated Flyer. Funny. She tried not to make faces while she sipped it, which would surely give away that the closest she'd ever come to alcohol was probably two mocktails about four years ago.

"I hate beer, and I HATE alcohol 'cuz its all EVIL!"

Okay, that made her grin a little. She spared Madcap a curious look from behind the lenses of her mask, but didn't bother contributing verbally.

Content to sit in comfortable silence for a few moments, she offered Lightning Girl a smile when the sparky heroine headed over to join the table. By then it was her, Asteroid, Madcap, and Fenomaman taking up the seats, and Blackstar thought it was a funny assortment. But, she supposed the whole team was kind of a funny assortment.

She gave Lightning Girl a modest smile and a shrug at the congratulations on a great first day, moving to carefully clink the other heroine's glass with her own. While Blackstar's social battery might've been nearing the end of the line, Lightning Girl seemed just as full of energy as ever. Alaine wondered if that was genuinely her personality or if it was just... part of the hero. Not that it was bad either way, but she was curious.

"So, Feno, I know you're from probably out of this world. Blackstar, Asteroid, you two both.....seem very cosmic. Would it be fair to say we're kinda the same? I mean, I'm not from another planet, I'm from England, which I know to Americans sounds like it is, but.....yeah, I know, it's kinda crazy we have that in common, cos I guess I got powers from something that wasn't terrestrial? Oh, and Madcap here is just out of this world too, I suppose. In his own way!"

Blackstar opened her mouth to reply then shut it again. She wasn't entirely sure what gave her the powers she had. She could remember seeing what she thought was a shooting star, only it got bigger and brighter until it seemed like it was filling the whole sky... then darkness. Then the universe. And then waking up in a small crater. She had a joke with herself that the shooting star had smacked her on the head.

"I'm not from another planet," she assured after a pause, just to clarify.

"Kinda makes me think. I wonder what it would be like to be out of this world you know. Like, literally. High above it all. Look down from space on it all....my lungs gave out by the time I think I cleared 100,000 feet. Feno, have you ever done that?"

Blackstar blinked, mind starting to wander again. I wonder what it would be like to be out of this world you know...

Infinity. Swirling darkness that was simultaneously light. A spectrum of colors never seen before, an endless cacophony of singing silence. Flying, falling. Nothingness. Oneness.

The stars were closing in on her again. Blackstar inhaled sharply, jolting herself back down to Earth, back to Claremont, back to the bar. She rested her glass on the table so no one could catch her hand shaking as she sank in her seat a little. One of her boots urgently but casually felt around for a leg on the table, or a bar under her seat -- something she could hook her foot under and anchor herself with.

She was pretty sure she bumped someone's leg instead so she froze, instead trying to just push the sole of her boot against the floor as hard as she could.

"Hey, Cosmic buddies..."

Good, Madcap. That would definitely keep her attention down there, on the ground. Good.

"Wanna karaoke? I wanna sing, and no one's called dibs yet! Singing about heroics is like. Prime hero stuff. We gotta do it!"

Karaoke? Alright, she wanted to keep herself grounded, but she didn't want to put herself six feet under out of sheer embarrassment. She blinked over at the bug-masked hero, who certainly seemed enthusiastic as he looped an arm around Asteroid. What she wouldn't do for some of that complete lack of social anxiety.

Maybe it was a lack of something else, actually. She'd better not think on it too much.

"I'll pass, thank you," she said lightly, giving Madcap a small grin and another shrug. "I have more fun listening. Though--" She motioned from Madcap to Fenom, saying about the latter, "I know this guy's got a good shouting voice. Shouting's not too far off from singing, right? Bet you two could do a mean duet."

She was joking, mostly. Madcap and Fenomaman singing karaoke together would definitely be entertaining enough to keep her grounded.

---

By the time the day is over, Jet is ready to unwind. It was a good day, which felt like a rarer thing for him in the past. But lately, things have been going well. So well that his thumbnails were bitten past the quick. The open air exposure on the injury stung, so before they headed out, he’d pulled his gloves back on.

He hated going out when it was raining, but he desperately needed a change of scenery from the office. With the cold wet gloves hydrating them, his thumb pain abates, so he takes his gloves back off. Jet was a regular to the local bar scene. The Cowl Inn was on his list, but he hadn’t made it over to this side of town yet. It was nice. Picking up a beer menu on the way over to the table, he scoffed at the list. “They’ve got a lot of light beer here, huh?” He protests lightly, even as he’s already scanning the cocktail list.

And despite the comment on beer, he orders a ‘Toxic Screwdriver’ to start. It’s a screwdriver with a shot of midori swirled around the bottom of the glass. Citrus was usually his first go to drink, something to get his energy up. He follows Madcap into the corner spot with the precision of someone well used to navigating crowds with a drink in hand.

What does startle him however is Madcap’s outburst. He covers his nose with the back of his hand, trying to persuade his muscles from spasming liquid out of his nostrils.

"I hate beer, and I HATE alcohol 'cuz its all EVIL!"

Jet doesn’t respond to that, sipping his drink.

”Asteroid, you're like born to do this too, like you're nearly at the top of the leaderboard!”

Asteroid stiffens, his hand tight around his glass. “Oh- I hadn’t checked recently- I’ve been having a stroke of luck, that’s for sure.” He didn’t think he’d looked at the leaderboard once since he was hired. To hear he was towards the top half of the list was a bit of a shock.

He nods through LG’s praises to the rest of the group. He whistles and claps twice before clinking his glass with the group.

"So, Feno, I know you're from probably out of this world. Blackstar, Asteroid, you two both.....seem very cosmic. Would it be fair to say we're kinda the same? I mean, I'm not from another planet, I'm from England, which I know to Americans sounds like it is, but.....yeah, I know, it's kinda crazy we have that in common, cos I guess I got powers from something that wasn't terrestrial? Oh, and Madcap here is just out of this world too, I suppose. In his own way!"

He leans back against his seat, thinking about his powers and where they came from. Plus all the answers he’d probably never get. “Definitely atmospheric-”

When Madcap starts choking on his fries, Jet’s quickly alert. “You alright?” His hands are facing palms out towards the other hero, close to his chest. Ready to spring forward and smack on his back if necessary.

"Ughh... I'm GOOD!"

He lowers his hands slowly, quickly moving to return his mouth to the rim of his glass. “Glad to hear it-”. He drains the drink relatively quickly and follows it with the double of tequila he’d put on his own tab.

It feels like an ember in his stomach, but it helps to chase away the chill of the rain from his bones. His shoulders fall from their generally stressed elevated position. Across the bar, the tv plays the night's sports game, and he quietly notes the score to himself.

It’s close enough to his normal nightly routine that he’s relaxing in his seat between Madcap and Blackstar. It’s home territory for him, which puts him at ease enough that he lets his brain wander back to the events of the day.

Visions of the mountain bungee jumping, of the locker room. The way her fingers scratched the kitten's neck, and the smile on her face. Those moments coming back to him in flashes. His already warming neck turns a bit darker red. Blackstar was- attractive- under that mask. He used to be in the villain business- so he’d never thought too hard about who heroes were. The uniform of choice for his particular band of villains was maskless, but he’d always worn a motorcycle helmet.

Secretly it was because the first few times he’d truly tested his powers, he’d fallen pretty far down. When he woke up after the worst one, he needed staples in the back of his head. From then on, he had worn a helmet. That was quite a bit of time ago. Which is why the mask felt like the best decision when he’d worked with the people at SDN to make his costume up.

He was certainly thinking about who superheroes were now though. Who was Blackstar really?

It was in this state that he felt Blackstar’s foot knock into his. It was a deliberate movement, not a gentle nudge that happened in readjustment. She stiffens, and her posture prevents him from moving away from her. After a second, he slowly lifts and lowers his foot two or three times, the side of his dragging against hers. He means it in a comforting way, but he hopes it gently informs her that it's a foot she’s kicked. The liquid courage warms his cheeks, and melts away his inhibitions.

"Wanna karaoke? I wanna sing, and no one's called dibs yet! Singing about heroics is like. Prime hero stuff. We gotta do it!"

Madcap’s arm wraps around his shoulders, and Jet nearly spills his drink in surprise. Karaoke is something Jet did when he was hammered. He and his villain buddies would get up on stage and make absolute fools of themselves.

It was probably the tequila double that led him to his answer. “Sure- if I get to pick the song-” he’s grinning as he says it-

”’’Kay, but pick a good one! A real heroic one!”

He throws his arm over Madcap’s shoulder in turn and starts to get up, pulling him with. They physically push the table away from them to shift out the side, and they’re heading over to the dust covered machine.

The song starts while he passes one of the mics to his coworker. When the song gets to the “Ah-ah” section- he gently taps the mic trying to see if he’ll get any interaction from the crowd. He looks to Madcap to emphatically chant the first set of ‘Thunder’.

Madcap awkwardly looks between him and the lyrics screen before realizing he’s supposed to add onto the chant. He starts up too loud, overtaking Asteroid’s voice for a moment, then goes too quiet. At some point, he completely gives up and just starts clapping instead, much to the chagrin of the audience–namely Eclipse, who’s pinching the bridge of his nose because of the noise.

Once the lyrics start, Asteroid’s not too pitchy, but his voice is too casual without the gravel of the recorded version. “I was caught-” His voice carries, the speaker on the cabinet not quite loud enough. He reaches back, adjusting the volume knob just enough so the speaker is clearly louder than his actual voice.

“And I knew there was no help, no help from you-” He points to their table with each word and when he pulls his arm back he starts to mime drumming with just his right hand.

“Sound of the drums” as the guitar comes he tries to initiate a bar clap, but doesn’t continue too long. If it fails, he doesn’t seem too phased.

“Rode down the highway-” he mimes revving a motorcycle and circles Madcap, who keeps awkwardly clapping his hands to the beat.

During the first part of the song that says- “And I was shakin’ at the knees” right before the more staccato section he tries to shake his body aggressively and falls to his knees. It’s a little embarrassing in a way that only a partier usually is.

“Can I come again please”- Jet looks up at Madcap and then the ceiling from his knees on the floor. His hands are in a prayer position, and he stays there for a few more lines.

The next series of thunderstrucks go by and he rises from his knees and tries to tell Madcap- “During the last thunderstrucks we should sing to LG- it’d be funny!”

Madcap stares at Asteroid blankly as the instrumental continues before immediately launching into a wave of laughter. He nods his head eagerly and goes into the next set of lines. “Yeah, it’s alright… we’re doin’ so fine… so fine–” He’s ironically lacking in theatrics as he sings, looking back and forth between the bar counter and karaoke screen. He’s barely, just barely in rhythm, and it sounds like he’s halfway close to making up his own melody.

Then the final chorus strikes, and with full confidence, he pumps a fist into the air and snaps his head directly toward Lightning Girl. ”THUNDERSTRUCK! Yeah, yeah, yeah, THUNDERSTRUCK!” Surprisingly, he belts out the chorus perfectly fine, a far cry from his earlier performance. ”Thunderstruck, thunderstruck, thunderstruck… You’ve been THUNDERSTRUCK!” Asteroid’s voice follows him with echos and sings with him the best he can.

”THUNDERSTRUCK JUST LIKE HOW YOU STRUCK YOUR OLD TEAMMATES!” Madcap manages to tag that in just as the song fades out, but he rushes it quick enough that it's barely intelligible.

Asteroid is close enough to Madcap that he hears what he says- and it’s sobering. He turns slowly to Madcap, and then back to LG- unsure on how to react or take this situation in at all. He eventually slowly takes the microphone from Madcap, and returns them both to the machine.

Well. There they were, in a bar - probably one of the most fucking Hero-focused, indie “Our beer is all themed” places that Myla had ever been in. No, scratch that, it was probably the most Hero-focused place that she’d ever been in, definitely. SDN was full of heroes, yeah, but it didn’t like..celebrate them. This place? This place screamed it out, screamed it full. She’d already been in a deflated mood with the announcement that they’d all be getting drinks, but there was something even worse about having drinks with people you didn’t love to work with in a place that loves people like them.

There was a good thirty seconds of staring at a menu before she even got anything. They were all mixed drinks, and every now and again she’d shiver at the thought of one while reading through what it was enough to need to look up at all the decor of the place. God it was disgusting. Then she looked back down at the menu, breathing out a bit. After all that time, though, she got what was probably the safest bet. An Irish Coffee - for some reason, called the “Punch-Up” - got sat down before her. Myla looked at the menu again. Yeah, twenty bucks made it a punch into her account. What bullshit.

A sip of that as the others got settled down as well, and of course James started talking.

"Cheers for dealing with all the shit going on lately. Thought this would loosen the team up. For what it's worth, I'd have probably gotten the beers in if Kat hadn't forced me to use the company card."

"I have no idea what's up with Riley, by the way. Guess I'm in the same boat as you. So cheers to keeping this thing afloat?" James put his glass out, hoping to get a clink.

Yeah, fuck it. That gets a clink. She’d forgotten that they’d used the company card, and a free drink makes having to deal with everyone else almost worth it. Another sip as James continued, and Myla’s eyes drifted to the other stuff at the table. Hey, those coasters didn’t actually look that bad. Another sip. The words just kinda drifted over her as she considered it, frowning at the one under her own drink. Yeah, that one was pretty nice. Looked fairly clean…she lifted one corner up to see the material. Hey, that’d actually be alright. Seemed like wood, but not like…cardboard or tissue paper bullshit.

Myla sucked on a tooth, waiting for James to look down again at his drink - Eclipse and Princess, at least, seemed to not be caring a huge amount. He seemed to be all over the place, a little bit. Ah, there it was. Lift up her glass with one hand, letting the edge still touch the coaster, and a little bit of the wrist…there it was, right in her lap. She looked over at one of the unoccupied chairs, taking a coaster over from there under the drink.

"Anyway. You got plans for the weekend? Up to anything nice that doesn't involve running into burning buildings or splitting cars in two? Normal stuff? You're all people at the end of the day, this isn't some workplace sitcom that my......yeah."

Hey, it wasn’t that good. She looked down at it, considering the coaster. There was a smudge on the printing, up at the edge where the name was. That looked like shit. A quiet little exhale from Myla, as she looked back up at the one under her drink now. Well, that was one actually not that bad. With her free hand, she slipped the stolen one in her pocket, tongue against cheek in a brief thought. Yeah, she could take another. She really could. Should she? Maybe…maybe not…yeah, it was a nice thought to have a bunch of coasters, but like, what would Myla even use them for? Did she expect to have people over? Fuck no. Did she expect to be supplying coasters for some future event bullshit? Fuck no. Nope, she could take another, but she wanted a good one. Eyes wandered the table to find that good one.

"Like yeah, you have lives. Okay, Phoenix Programme, I get it, prison and remand and all that, bar Hat Trick who is almost certainly watching ice hockey highlights from 2004. But you three have freedom and you can do whatever you want now. And I have no idea what to do in this hot as fuck town, so surely you have something cool going on. Or just chilling out. I know I would after this week."

"There are hills to go walking in and endless traffic to get lost in, and lots of desert. I don't know how you all do it, so I guess that got me...."

"God this is strong...."

Wait a fuck. That was a question. There was a question there. Myla looked up sheepishly, taking another sip of her drink. Did she have plans for the weekend? Well, no, no there really wasn’t anything…’burning buildings or splitting cars’. Yeah, she was pretty sure she’d made it clear what she was there for, when they talked before, but it seemed like James was already getting kinda drunk. She waited for the other two to answer, staring for a sec.

"It's easier with powers. Clear your mind, sit in the dark, and focus. The shadows will take you wherever you wish."

"But it's easier if you fly."

“A fair question to ask, yet one I have had no forward thoughts to.”

“Maybe I shall go to my cabin for a day, see how nature has treated it. Maybe I shall wander the streets alone or with my darling raven, perhaps I shall visit a gallery or draw my own art.”

“There are many paths laid before us, we must merely pick one. Not to worry, nothing shall bar us from them all. Afterall, a path in the wood has no end just as it has no walls, the end is never…the end…”

Well, that was helpful. Thanks, Princess.

”Honestly? Not really, no.” Well, was there? Fuck. Not massively. She gave a ‘it be how it be’ gesture with the hands, taking another sip of her Irish Coffee. ”Besides, if I go hiking in the desert I’m sure some fucking alarm will ring out or…something or another.”

Sitting down with the Intergalactic Witch, James was the casual looking one amongst Hat Trick, Eclipse, Princess and Payback.

Tyler Ermineskin had doffed his armor, sitting there in his Oilers themed powersuit. Oilers Blue, on Orange and White, four piece, vest, jacket, shirt and a nice straight line silk trousers. There's always that one or two guys in a bar that are dressed sharply, and it looks like Hat Trick claimed one of those spots!

He leans back on his seat and picks at a plate of poutine. A bottle of diet Pepsi at his elbow. With a broad grin the middle aged Redskin calls to James, "Hey there man, come to join the party...dear god what monstrosity did you buy to eat?" He chuckles as he fists some gravy drenched fries with bacon and cheese curds, "not mine is any better yeah?"

He sips his soft drink with a sigh, "don't understand how you all can drink that poison though. Blah, but each their own. Just don't expect me to carry any of you home." He says with a broad Cheshire grin.

He picks some gravy off a finger "We did really good today I think. The Socials are alive with whats been going on...something to be proud of."

He looked around the room at the team chilling, "whos turn is it at the karaoke machine? Mine?" And up he gets. Cycles through songs before starting to belt out a few songs by ACDC. Not a carenin thr world if he sings off key.

Tuesday
20:32
The Cowl Inn Taproom,
Downtown Claremont

A hum comes from deep in her chest, something orchestral. “There are many paths laid before us, we must merely pick one. Not to worry, nothing shall bar us from them all. Afterall, a path in the wood has no end just as it has no walls, the end is never…the end…” The words seem to linger, echo, her eyes tracking something not quite there as she mutters in and out of a plural reference to herself.

James always wondered if she would ever stop being this airy. This....abstract? Was that how he would describe her? She was detached, almost as if she was alien to reality.

But also, an artist. Creative. That made sense.

"A gallery sounds like a good idea among all of it though. I had you down as an artist, you know. Not sure why, you just seem very creative." There. It was a normal statement back to the one she'd made, and the world would spin around. He liked her, really. Weird, sure, but dutiful. She didn't steal sandwiches. She didn't cause shit. She had a bad rap sheet, but she was weirdly, strangely, fine. The sort of character that was made of knives or grew tall,

”Honestly? Not really, no.” Well, was there? Fuck. Not massively. She gave a ‘it be how it be’ gesture with the hands, taking another sip of her Irish Coffee. ”Besides, if I go hiking in the desert I’m sure some fucking alarm will ring out or…something or another.”

"Oh yeah. Forgot you're on a tag. You're magnetic though, you'd fob that off." James added, sipping more pint down, grabbing a few more chips that were depleting, but left.

Myla. She was a weird creature. If someone thrived on pure spite, it usually meant they were pretty good at living. At pissing someone off. But he almost understood it, beyond that veneer of being annoyed. He'd feel the same. Surrounded by all these heroes, loud as anything. He was lucky he knew Sophie so well. And through it, everything he'd seen. Moulding himself around it.

He never wanted a power like it. It came with responsibility. A reality that Phoenix Programme had to come back to, that doing good was a lot more difficult than doing bad.

Myla in particular. She was here because the prison system sucked donkey balls, and well, a thief in prison was a dangerous thing.

"But you would get sunburnt. Like every ginger ever does. Even you're not immune to that." James chuckled, sipping beer as Thunderstruck was belted out, James leaning back against his chair, for a moment, relaxing. Switching off. Turning off that lever in his head that was always on.

Enjoy it while it lasts, he told himself.

It wasn't turning off completely.

///

@Auragreedia@SonnetNSunbeam@cosmiccowgirl

The signing made Lightning Girl belly laugh, as she giggled, hearing Madcap sing was nearly like nails on chalk but Asteroid had some pipes on him. Shit, he was nearly, nearly pulling this off. She sipped down more beer, feeling it gently thrum against her, as she heard them end, and absolutely didn’t miss what Madcap snuck in there.

Of course she wouldn’t. Her eyes snapped like a falcon catching a tiny sliver of rat in a wide brimmed grey eye, but she did nothing despite everything normally wanting her to tell him, purely, what the actual fuck. Bastard. Really? He knew? Well, it wasn’t exactly a secret, but…to come out with it now? Oh, you fuck.

*I was just beginning to think you were alright.*

And just like every loud American, he was two faced, unhinged, sure, but now, he was just so full of shit, so much of an asswipe, thinking he was…..special. Lightning Girl had her regrets. But they weren’t his to voice, not when she didn’t answer to him, but management. So for now, she had to almost hold it in. And did, turning her mouth towards beer as they ended, before clapping for praise.

“Hah, okay, that was amazing!” She called, amongst the ending of the song, the barlady sighing a little as she was realising she’d be losing her hearing at this rate of the Claremont team carried on hitting that karaoke machine.

She breathed out, putting hands against table, and tried, tried to relax, as James raised his eyebrows over at her, the two looking at each other for a moment, the glance saying a thousand things, because he knew what it meant.

This couldn’t get worse. For her, this was annoying, angry even, but for James, this was a pipebomb for morale. Not about his sister, no, she’d made her choices, and word would get out. Not here though. If they both got angry, then all of this was for nought. All of this good progress. Everything. It was finally actually turning a corner, and like fuck would he let anyone breach that peace. He had to be careful. Let this one play out, James said to himself mentally. And if he keeps pushing it, the others will probably tell him to calm down. He took a sip of his own beer, recoiling a tiny bit from the strength which being honest, was mad.

Lightning Girl breathed out on that note, and cleared the rest of her beer, as everyone sat back down, and for now, nobody was going up to sing, nobody really able to match that performance.

Madcap and Asteroid make their way back to the table, with the former acting none the wiser as he flashes a shit-eating grin at Lightning Girl. Still, there’s something fake to it, but with the top half of his face still covered with his bug-helmet, he’s hard to read.

A silence falls over the bar, no one else taking the chance to karaoke after the previous duo, the barkeep wiping a glass and occasionally checking in with the kitchen staff. It’s only when the bathroom doorknob begins to turn that everyone is on alert–the first thing to break the silence, and out of the bathroom comes…

“Wha’s all that noise?” An obviously drunk Tsunami, one of Lightning Girl’s old teammates, and one of the ones she zapped. Her hair is dishevelled, and she stumbles forward as she points a finger at Lightning Girl specifically. “... Fuck. You. You dumb, bitch! Like, why the fuck’re you here ruining my night?!”

Lightning Girl looked in horror. As if it couldn’t get worse. Madcap didn’t know her, did he? Or…..well, it had gone out on the Slack.

James realised she was in it. Fuck. She’d known. She had turned up. And she was causing a ruckus.

She had been unresponsive lately, but she recovered faster, clearly. And she was out of her face drunk. The single worst combo for a hero whose powers were manipulating water.

“And you brought new friends too,” she squints her eyes as she approaches the table, “a chick with worse hair than yours, some bug-eyed freak, a fuckin’ all black wearing punk that thinks, he’s like, cool or some shit with that cheesey shit on his suit! And, like, Phenomaman of all fuckin’ people! And don’t even get me started on the dorks in the back!”

“You zap me and Meta-man, and then you run off to some bar! Like, oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with you… you stupid, stupid–” Tsunami clenches her fists and any unfinished drinks have their liquid float upward slightly. The barkeep and the few customers shrink in disbelief, choosing to keep quiet. “Like, we weren’t even invited back and then Riley–that dumb fucking Riley—replaces us both with a bunch of… losers! Like, where the fuck is he?!”

James stepped forwards, before Lightning Girl had a chance to even defend herself, as he stood, sighing. “Hey hey, what the fuck! Nobody here is asking for anything to happen, alright!?” James replied, with a firm, authoritative voice, as he stood, Lightning Girl trying to find words of her own, as he put his hand out. “Calm down.. If you’re pissed about Lightning Girl, fine, but she got a disciplinary and went through the process. But right now, there’s a lot of civvies, and heroes who do not want any trouble because you can’t handle yourself. A lot of people who want a good time. So chill, let the beers go, and come sit down with us, or leave..” James was trying to roll for charisma, and maybe, with a more sober, reasonable member of the team, he might get somewhere.

“Who the fuck are you, like, LG’s boytoy or some shit?! Like, shut the fuck up, and stay out of this!” Tsunami shoves James to the side, still continuing her tirade against Lightning Girl. All the liquid of the table begins to spike upward as she comes closer. “I wanted a good time, but then this bitch steals my spotlight, steals my job, then she, like, runs away, and all me and Meta-man are left with is a half-assed, fake apology! Shut the fuck up about having a good time, and maybe teach that bitch how to handle herself on a dispatch next time!”

Madcap watches awkwardly from his corner, still pinned between Asteroid on the wall beside him. He glances at his glass of water and pokes at it as it floats out of his cup.

Lightning Girl moved out of the way, and stood tall, taller than Tsunami, as James tried to keep the peace in between, a physical barrier, as she finally found the words. “I apologised, okay! I fucked up. I didn’t realise you were throwing water, and I’m sorry I cast. I made a mistake.” She said, breathing out a heavy breath, the energy feeling like it was shooting through her already as she almost trembled in her arm with electricity. “I didn’t mean it. But we had to act quickly and I didn’t know what to do. I tried to do what was best. So I’m sorry.” She said with almost a turn in her throat, exhaling hard.

She was threatening James. And well…..James had no powers. If Tsunami went all in even while drunk, he was as good as dead. Even if she didn’t use her powers and just wanted to prove a point, she was likely to hit harder, faster, and move quicker than James could react, if she got one blow on him.

And he was between them both. Sophie could take a hit. But James couldn’t. He was trying to do the right thing, but she fucking hated him when he did this. Trying to protect his bigger sister. Trying to put himself in danger. A natural instinct, but she could more than protect herself, right now, she could absolutely turn Tsunami into powder or shock her at least to back off, but not if he was in the way. Not if he was there. And in a way, she wondered, maybe that was what James was doing. Making her think too.

Protecting Sophie from Lightning Girl.

But more likely, he just wanted a peaceful resolution. James didn’t want this to go to shit and he wasn’t a hero, he was a consultant dispatcher with a lot on his mind. Tsunami needed to go, and if the team had questions, he could deal with it. But this was fucked. It couldn’t escalate and he reasoned, if it did, at least

James wanted to make words, but this time, Sophie was first. “But leave him out of this. He was going to see you in hospital but couldn’t find you. He’s looking after all of us and he wants to look after you. If you keep talking shit, we’ll throw you out of here. Me, and my friends. Come on, Tsunami. Think it through.” She added knowing that threat came from her lead, knowing that piece of information wasn’t divulged to the team, not yet at least, not because James had told her that last night. He was standing back up again, as she realised Tsunami was eyeing him down.

The barlady was powerless to help. This was far too small a place to have bouncers or someone to enforce the peace. They’d call SDN if they needed help dealing with trouble.

Right now, SDN were the trouble.

“I think you need to leave, Tsunami. Not here.” James said in one last ditch to try and attempt to make sure nobody would come to blows, as Lightning Girl stared, stared deep into Tsunami’s drunk and wild eyes, the power gently thrumming.

If she laid a finger on him, this time, she was sober enough to know that this time, she knew it would be no accident.

Tsunami scowls at Lightning Girl, face contorted in anger. She stays like that for what feels like minutes before a jet of water is sent at Lightning Girl’s face–and a punch thrown at James’s face–she tries to hold back on it, but with all that booze in her system? Yeah, fuck that, that was a full-powered punch from a super to a civie.

James was thrown on the floor and almost halfway across it with a perfect haymaker, as Lightning Girl sparked, arcing electricity, as it likely gave everybody who was splashed a static shock, which meant almost the entire team. The water brushed on her hair and cowl, as suddenly, static poured out of her feet, legs, hands, arms, hair, everything.

She looked at James, groaning on the floor, blood pouring from his nose, and her eyes turned grey and blank.

The noise of the bar’s music seemed to turn to nothing.

Every single fibre seeming to coalesce, brim, burn, turn red-hot.

The static bounced in her fingers, growling, almost shrieking.

So much so Lightning Girl seemed to gain another foot on Tsunami, gently lifting from wooden floor into air, and her hands almost turned a brilliant white. The electricity pulsed in fingers, to a point where nobody in the team would have ever seen it.

A rage, an incandescent feeling. She hadn’t seen how James was yet. It was almost instant.

Lightning Girl was almost entirely glowing now and sparking across her suited body, to a point where the lights inside the bar physically started to almost recoil and flicker, two bulbs smashing and blowing from the sheer amount she was stealing, without contact, and disrupting, as if her mind itself had decided to take control of the bar’s electricity supply for a second, rather than the right thing to do

The smell of ozone, the taste of cobalt in her mouth, and that fucking heroine that punched her brother was right there, drunk, and taunting.

The white haired, white caped, light grey-suited heroine had so much power that she would turn her into what happened when a rabbit touched an electricity pylon.

It was a look of pure, total, rage.

Words came heavy like tungsten..

“Nobody touches our dispatcher. Nobody hurts civvies. Last chance…..run. Or everything flashes before your eyes.”

Lightning Girl’s voice had dropped two octaves. Gone was the airy, polite, nice tone.

Instead it was just rage that even as she spoke, seemed to almost emit more ozone. It wasn’t bad breath, more like the power was leaking out of her jaw.

Someone who didn’t even need electricity given her musculature would have been enough to tear the fucking bitch limb from limb, let alone manifest her not existing anymore.

With power, it was terror.

At point blank, all she had to do was just release the sinews pulling her back from putting so much electricity through Tsunami that it would hurt them both, probably taze everyone else, but it would definitely, certainly, vapourise Tsunami into ash-like cinders. And both of them would know that. A final fuck you if she did it, proving Tsunami’s point.

Lightning Girl scaled, of course. And to fly, she needed plenty of power. Power that hadn’t left her body. Power that was being burnt like a kerosene fire, and all with one target, rendered in a blue costume that would fry in her water-based guise like steam.

James could have died. James could be dying. She didn’t fucking care. She could get deported for all it was worth.

Nobody laid a finger on her brother.

Someone would have to do something. Knocking into her and stopping her would likely come with a sizeable electric shock.

But James groaned, mumbling a “Wait….”, hoping, praying someone would do something. Even he hadn’t seen her like this, but the closest he remembered seeing, she did proceed to turn them into a pile of ash. It was a sex offender in Camden. It was the single most horrifying thing he’d ever seen her sister do. In a world of heroes, unspeakable horror existed, especially when his sister had the power of a small village crammed into six foot two of her body. Some deserved it. Right now, Lightning Girl did not deserve to lose everything over this. James wanted to beg her to stop. If last time was a mistake, this, this was Tsunami goading her to destroy herself.

And James was terrified.

And he’d get killed if he tried to stop her. He could only reason, and hope she saw him, on the floor, very, very dizzy, bleary and wiping the snot and blood from his broken nose.

… And a shadowy tendril coiling around Lightning Girl’s leg that stops her from escalating the encounter as Tsunami spits at James and storms out the bar. “Well, your new dispatcher is a bitch! Fuck you, fuck your new teammates, this is why you’re stuck in Claremont, and that’s why I’m getting transferred to Hollywood! Fuckin’ nobody!”

The bar door slams closed, but tension continues to linger in the air, the barkeep rises from behind the counter, making sure it is finally over, and the few civilians around breath an uneasy sigh of relief as they try to continue their night. The rest of A-Team, however, is likely not doing much better, especially considering James’s current condition; the mood is ruined.

Lightning Girl’s eyes stay on Tsunami like a hawk, as she says nothing, absolutely nothing, static in air, the tendrils around her legs making her want to swear, but ultimately, realising as James got to his feet despite being spat on, leaning against a chair, exhaling, wiping the crap off his lips and bloodied mouth.

When Tsunami was out of the door, Sophie breathed out, and released her energy back into herself, painfully, as it felt like suckering back in every worst pins and needles you could humanly imagine. The shadow would have likely given Eclipse a bit of a buzz, given just how much power was in her at that very moment.

Sophie looks at Eclipse, and rather than a look of rage, her eyes turn back to her usual grey self, silent, the world feeling like it turned upside down. She felt heavy getting up. Pushing up off the floor, she immediately went to James’s side, as he sat down, heavy, as he leant back.

“FUCK!” She yelled, exasperated, as he gave a thumbs up to her, putting hand to nose, stemming the bleeding a bit, as Sophie seemed almost out of energy, almost out. She was silent, almost completely so as she took her hip pack and immediately drew a tactical first aid kit, her usual, and leant James back, still shocking him a little as she did, trying to elevate his head and applying a disinfectant wipe, holding back all the tears. “Hold your head up, we’re gonna be alright….” She almost whimpered….

Sophie had to do something. Help. Her default setting. There was nothing normal about it. His nose was broke, and while his teeth were luckily all in order, he was bleeding a fair chunk because of said nose. A lot of disinfectant wipes, and she barely could make words, trying to help, heal, at least, fucking stem this. She breathed out as he mumbled something, the white noise coming back into focus, as the rest of the team no doubt looked on, at a bloody dispatcher and a hero that seemed to go from top of the world, crashing straight into the ocean floor.

Looking at him, she checked for any other hurt, his head had a bump but that was fine, and he hadn’t concussed himself. Okay, that was good. So much of her was screaming internally…..chase Tsunami. Fucking turn her to vapour. Turn her into steam.

*It’s not what he wants.*

She realised his nose was out of shape, and with it, put her hand to his nose and turned, and James screamed.

It had to be done. And the noise sent a shock into Sophie, as he twitched, his nose now no longer pouring blood, fixed but painful. Her instinct kicking in, overriding everything else inside her that wanted her to stop. No, she had to look after, protect, fix. No second thought. It was snap instant. He groaned, feeling that return and the pain subside.

“Argh……fuck that hurts! Jesus…..she…..she saw our Slack. Didn’t realise I hadn’t taken her off the list. I’ll be fine. Thanks.” James said, as Sophie exhaled hard cutting back to him after doing what she would do for anyone and having to come back into the reality that she was now doing the first aid she’d done for people who were hurt in incidents to her own brother, holding back tears, holding back the feeling that she wanted to crumble.

“Don’t do anything stupid….but fuck me that was…..stupid of her.” He groaned, hurting, not having much in the way of words outside of direct ones. James peeled up and held the wipe, his energy back after being winded, as she silently peeled away with hers feeling like it had pissed out of her into grounded floor and into the air as ozone, letting the barlady bring over a bag of ice and her first aid kit, wanting everything but to scream again. The lights flickered above her where she hadn’t blown the bulbs on the wall, as she looked to everyone on the team, shaking her head, her emotions physically controlling the electricity, her hair still staticky, her hands still trembling. Looking to Eclipse. Who had stopped her, in a moment where she would have gone ham. She was angry, but grateful. And to the team. Who had seen that.

“I’m so sorry. I…..I wished you didn’t have to see that……I promise, what happened was an accident, I really didn’t mean it. I didn’t……she……..could have killed him then. I…..fuck he……he means the world to me.” She spluttered, her voice meek, nothing like what it was before. It definitely didn’t sound like Lightning Girl. It definitely didn’t sound like the version of her about to turn Tsunami into an evaporated pool of flesh. It sounded like Sophie Speight, afraid, terrified, and so, so far from home. 5,250 miles from home. Halfway across the world to the antipode.

She was alone with no friends and the only feeling she had inside her was wondering if she was just going to hurt everyone she ever touched for him

“I…..I’m……I should leave.” She croaked, trying everything to hold back tears.

And failing.

James put the bag of ice to nose from the barlady as he fumbled up, a little disoriented, wanted her to stop, but it was no use as he put his hand up. Sophie moved to the door and the sound of her crumbling could be heard, as she didn’t want anyone to follow, because she felt like she was about to break. And they couldn’t see that. She wouldn’t want them to.

Madcap watches as Lightning Girl leaves, swirling his empty glass of water and continuing to eat as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Eclipse squeezes past Hat Trick, hands James a few napkins for his bloodied face, and walks out after Lightning Girl. He wipes sweat off his face, and sighs as he feels cool night’s air on his skin. What the fuck was he doing? What the fuck did he just watch? All these questions, and he still finds himself approaching Lightning Girl.

Sophie was in the alley next to the bar and saw him, not interested, trying to leap and with it, static pouring her up. She couldn’t even make out the words. She would hurt him. And the team. And everyone. Ruined a good night.

But it wasn’t enough to leap up and fly, in fact, all the energy in her was gone, and all control, too. She was arcing off every single metal fire escape on the big redbrick blocks as she rose almost at half speed, and suddenly, she fell as she rose above it, barely able to control herself clearing the brick but not soaring, instead falling, electricity sparking all over her and the puddles and water as she slammed into the roof of one of the buildings, crashing with a wash of electricity.

It hurt, but she’d put the rest into not hurting herself at least, so it was like falling down a few steps of stairs by the time she smacked into the concrete.

Sophie didn’t want anyone here in her mental state. She was a threat to anyone. Everyone. All she did was hurt. All she had done was threaten to hurt. Came so far from home and it was for nothing, because she couldn’t manage herself. She couldn’t deal with Tsunami properly. How could she protect James from hurt when she couldn’t protect James from herself? She hadn’t looked after him. He could have died and then what? Lose everything? She’d be like fucking them, a villain, no better. But she couldn’t do nothing. Lightning Girl always did something. And that was a paradox.

Sophie sobbed, crying out of control, and put her head in her hands, leaning back against a duct, almost a wail coming from her. Her tears pouring past her cowl’s eyeholes, static almost uncontrollable across her body, almost convulsing, her hands against her face to stop her from arcing against anything else.

“Tch.” Eclipse clicks his tongue, hurrying after her up the steps. He finds her sobbing by herself on the rooftop, and a quick glance at The Cowl Inn’s door tells him enough: no one else stepped out to check on her besides him. For now, at least.

He sits down beside her, still unsure of what to say, just leans his head back and stares up at the sky. Some stars dot the sky, the grey clouds and storm having cleared since they reached the bar, and when Tsunami had appeared. Right, the two heroes that he and Payback were supposed to replace. Somehow that turned into a whole team, then Tsunami just happened to show up and everything went backwards. It’s funny how A-Team grew since their first few dispatches.

She stares at Eclipse’s shadowy figure, almost out of breath from crying and her outburst, literal and powered, wondering why he’d followed. Why? Nothing logical was in her head. No thoughts made any sense. It almost didn’t matter, as she got herself composed, leaning away from the metal, peeling against bricks, realising.

“Fuck. I’m so sorry. So, so sorry…..” She added, wiping tears, breathing out a long hard breath, Sophie backing herself up, her cape all dirtied from the filth on the roof, as was her suit, looking back at him. “I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t stop apologising. Classic British. But it wasn’t the words of a hero.

“You know that…..fuck……James worked with me a lot back in the UK. He’s close. And when I saw that…..I couldn’t.” She cut herself off, as her emotions overtook, and electricity bounded off her fingers, as she put hand to face, stopping it. “I’m sorry. I need to focus to stop it going out of control. I’m a walking fucking battery, Eclipse! I….I’m just a fucking lightning bolt I have to hold together….and when she hurt him I nearly did so much worse, I can’t…I….I can’t do this!” She almost exclaimed loud but her voice seemed entirely cropped. Like an entire part of her had been deleted as the energy was all but gone.

She let a few tears shed, and exhaled, hands over face, pointed away, clearing the snot and ugly face she had away, sighing hard, out of her head, frankly, out of her body.

“Okay…breathe.” She said almost to herself, exhaling, tears still flowing, as it seemed like with one hard touch of a nearby aerial, the electricity seemed to cease.

She breathed in, her chest puffed out, as she brought herself into control, not wanting to cause any more hurt, before looking him in the eyes, and almost glancing past, not wanting entirely to show herself. The pretty white haired, model heroine, almost a cutting figure of the classic heroes with so much to give, was laid low.

“I don’t know why you bother. I’m…..” She said almost breathless, not wanting sympathy. Wondering if he was just here to laugh at her. She had no energy left to care.

“Let the shadows cover you and breathe. Tsunami would’ve deserved it anyway.” Eclipse listens to her outburst with closed eyes, brows furrowed. What the fuck would anyone say to this even? He doesn’t even know her… “She said she was going to Hollywood?”

Yeah, this’ll do amazingly for comfort. Not. But it’s not like he knew a better way.

Sophie looked at him, not sure if that would help, sighing. “At least she’s not here. I don’t know what I would have done if I saw her after she spat on him. I was….” She put her fingers out, indicating barely a hair’s width. “This close. It’s not worth it. I should do better.” She sighed, shaking her head, looking at Eclipse.

An ex-villain was her reassurance tonight. It had come to this. She didn’t quite know what to make of it. She felt lower than Eclipse. At least he sold drugs. At least he knew what he was. He was a villain who could make what he made, and was here because getting turned into a Pinata by Tex-Mex cartel members was not the top of anyone’s Valentine’s Day gift list.

Okay, her humour was coming back, that she had, looking back at him with that sick, laugh at a funeral thought in her mind, smiling half, gently back a little.

“How did she get into Hollywood….heroes should do better. I should too. But she was pissed out of her face….drunk as anything. Like she wanted to make one last point. Like bait. Knowing I’d be hopeless.” Sophie shook her head, sighing trying to make reason, moving up closer given her voice didn’t carry anymore, her suit rustling along the floor, as she exhaled, closer to him.

With a gentle push of her hand up, she peeled the cowl away, revealing a relatively human face for such a hero, one you could have extrapolated given the cowl went from nose to top of forehead and covered little, but there she was.

Sophie Speight.

Without a mask, she felt liberated, as she looked Eclipse in the eye, allowing her total, absolute vulnerability out. Drying tears against a soft, sunkissed, pale face, the mask’s pressure revealing itself. Sunburnt, pink in corners, given Sophie didn’t react well to sunlight, but fair.

Someone normal. For a body that felt superhuman, athletic, like some biathlete in white cordura, was someone who seemed pretty enough, perhaps enough to go without a mask. She’d gone against that for many reasons, but, like this, she was open. She reasoned it was the best way to be. The mask on, she could relish in that power. The mask off, she had responsibilities to turn off the circuit breakers. Sophie didn’t wield power. Someone else did, as she thought about it all.

“Guess she got her revenge in a way. I always wanted to go there….suppose she had friends in high places. But…..you guys are pretty fun. At least it was until then.” She added, sitting back against brick, not making much in words, slower, quieter, overall, less what he would see.

She brushed her hair back, containing all the static that had messed it up, wiping tears with her gloves, sighing. There was no reveal. Nothing to say about her showing face. It felt organic. Like there wasn’t anything left to hide. Not after that. Not how she was now. She didn’t feel like Lightning Girl right here. No point pretending. That was for her other half.

“Thanks.” She uttered from her soul, unable to think of much.

Eclipse finds himself stunned by her face for a moment when he goes to look back at her. Ah. She looked nice. Probably not what he should be thinking, but… fuck. He purses his lips, flicking a wrist upward and holding out a small blade for her to see.

”I’m not a hero, so I’ll…” He pauses awkwardly, the small blade reflecting a small bit of light. “I’ll take her down for you, give her a scar she’ll never forget. The shadows will answer for what she did.”

He was an assassin back then, and while his official title is that of a hero, he’s still a villain. And if it means he can do his allies a favor, then he’s fine with it. Get rid of someone who could potentially ruin Lightning Girl’s–A-team’s image–it’d be simple, really.

Would that make anything better, though?

Probably not.

Sophie chuckled, shrugging her shoulders, contacting the blade, resting her hand against his, pushing it down.

“No…..you’re a hero, Eclipse…you don’t have to. We can’t go to her level. You don’t need to do that.” She said, whimpering almost, swallowing the lump in her throat, as she realised her hand was still against his. Security. Almost the only thing she could hold onto.

She’d stopped him from relapsing hard. Paid attention with Cheetos at least. Listened. Lightning Girl had done that, because it was what she wanted to be, at least, try for that. He was a dealer and a user, a broken man, broken more, by a broken system. And right now, she needed someone, and of all people, it was him. Someone when she was broken. That was in his own way, nicely, yet a strange karma. The universe was weird, she thought to herself.

“Every part of me held back, I guess, to stop me from killing her. That is the hard part. Doing the right thing because it’s so easy to just let go. And it hurts a lot when I don’t. It’s agony, all that energy, nowhere to go. Nowhere to turn.” She said, sighing- near literal in what she said, his hand still there, the drizzle and rain over, the stars in the night sky beginning to emerge more and more, between the fast-moving clouds in the Claremont night sky, as she found the words. More confident. More sarcastic. More Sophie.

“I appreciate you offering to be a personal hitman for some random English woman in a city far from home. That is quite a lot of trust…..not sure what I do with that, Eclipse.” She softly chuckled, perhaps not realising maybe Eclipse was waiting for a bit more sarcasm. She moved closer to him, enjoying the security he gave, and he would feel just how weak she was compared to usual. Even her aura back in the office, it was projecting, loud, ozone, and right now, it felt like nothing. It felt like the inverse almost.

He freezes, just kind of sets the blade down, lets her rest against him. Is he supposed to do something here? Fuck if he knows, but it’s nice. “You’re my ally,” he pauses, hands awkwardly hovering over her back. “I’d have done it for the dispatcher too, should he have asked...”

“... Not for the bug one, though. And the fake Phenomaman.” He could keep going, really.

“Should Tsunami show her face again, I… won’t kill her,” he drags the ‘won’t’ out as he ponders what to say next, “I’ll stick a piece of gum on her suit.”

Big time hero walking around with gum stuck on them all day–that’s a good one, and an old trick he pulled back in Red Ring to fuck with some of his buddies. Then they did it to him, and he slashed up their cars and laced their shit. Good times.

But it’s probably different to embarrass yourself as a hero; too many eyes on you, documenting every move you make. One mistake, and your whole image is gone.

Sophie laughed, enjoying this side of things, and refreshingly, enjoying not having to put on some image for him. Actually showing at least some humanity. Well, the kind that wasn’t her show. Imagining that. Yeah. That would really be shitty for her. Try using water on that, bitch.

“Okay, yeah, we should do that to her…yeah. That would work. A bit less than putting her on ice.” She chuckled, sniffing with little energy as she cleared tears, exhaling hard, knees brought close, feeling his embrace around her back, as she returned it, bringing herself close into him, putting her head against his neck, embracing him fully, sniffing still, wanting to at least feel somewhat human again after all of this. Of all people, Eclipse. All people. God, she wasn’t sure how it came to this, but she was glad he had his back, the fact she was taller making it a difficult hug, but an embrace she needed.

He would feel just how much electricity pulsed inside of her. Sophie, even in this state, would feel like a heart that wanted to leap out of her skin and into him, an otherworldly energy that almost felt like hearing ringing in your ears, and he would almost certainly feel that anxiety, pressure and panic, as well as a small static shock that was no worse than touching a door after walking on a bit of carpet. The bioelectricity regenerated slow, but when she was like this, it was like a palpitation, like a heartbeat that was jumping up and down, like the two dwarves inside her heart were hitting hammers out of time.

“Thanks, Eclipse. I’d have your back any day too. I’d go nova for any of you. I’m glad you trust me.” She said, trying to force a smile, trying to force herself back to normal, as she leaned out, back against brick again, wiping the last of her tears from her ugly crying away, hand on cowl, still wanting a second to process this.

And she was quiet. Almost empty, taking in the clearing, dark yet light polluted skies.

Eclipse moves a hand over hers, a small recoil as he feels a slight static shock. Her hand is warm in his, and slowly, he moves her hand down and away from her cowl. No need to get that back on, he figures. It’d probably feel like shit wearing a damp cowl, and besides, she looks nicer this way.

Sophie smiled small back at him, and remained silent, staring at oblivion, letting her hand stay, exhaling hard, letting her emotions slowly, silently, crawl back to where they came from and stop overwhelming.

She was glad to have such a friend in a shadowy figure. She hoped the rest of the team would understand. And while Sophie didn’t wear armour, in Eclipse, for a moment, she found someone who she could see who could see what she really was. More than just some heroine in a costume. Someone clinging to this idea so hard, it almost ate her whole.

All she wanted to be, was part of a whole. Stop being an outsider. Feel in place.

And for that, she couldn’t say words, but she just wanted to enjoy that warm embrace after it all.

=====

Asteroid looks over at Blackstar a few moments after Eclipse leaves the building. He's not sure if that's the official end to whatever SDN sanctioned gathering this was supposed to be. “Think they left?” He keeps his voice low.

“...Maybe…” Blackstar was staring from James on the ground with a bloody face to the door Lightning Girl – and Eclipse – had just slipped out of, her glass still in her hand but no longer full. She’d tried to pre-empt getting her fake beer all over herself by casually lifting her cup up under the liquid when Tsunami started making it float all over the place. Unfortunately, she’d gotten distracted by the situation and had failed to catch the falling drink, which had ended up all over her front and lap.

Thank goodness for waterproof suits.

After a moment, Asteroid nudges her with his elbow, inviting her outside- “lets go see.” His skin is hot from contact and the booze.

Blackstar blinked, setting her glass down with a soft clink and giving Fenom a small “excuse me” as she slipped past him and out of the booth, following Asteroid. Her eye lingered on Madcap, too; she’d caught the weird end to the karaoke performance, which she’d been enjoying until that last bit, and she was more than a little confused.

But, in the meantime, the awkward confusion of the bar gave them a good opportunity to slip out, and she followed her coworker wordlessly as he led the way.

She was just glad she’d been able to keep her own head. Not knowing the rest of the team super well probably helped, otherwise she knew seeing Lightning Girl and James in a situation – as well as hearing the rest of the team insulted – would’ve made her… pretty upset, to put it lightly.

The door clinks and Asteroid holds it open at the top. Lightning Girl leaning against Eclipse was so far outside of his expectations that Asteroid freezes. A quiet “uhh”, escapes him, a telltale sign of mechanical failure in his brain. He looked up to Lightning Girl, and to see her so shaken up made him deeply uneasy.

Blackstar peeked past him, eyes widening behind the black lenses of her mask. Ooh. Was this Lightning Girl and Eclipse dynamic new or had that been a thing? It was only her first day, but the way Asteroid was acting made her think he hadn’t seen it coming either.

Sophie put the cowl on, seeing them both return, hand away as she didn't have the energy to hide.

“Hey. I kinda thought I'd run but I'm drained. Ended up here.” She chirped, still a little unsettled, both Blackstar and Asteroid now seeing her worst day at work. Maybe worse than the accident. They must have thought something was between them. That was the last of Sophie's care.

“It’s not what it looks like. But I guess I needed a moment and Eclipse found me before I…I don't know. What happened with her was…difficult. Something I wouldn't hide. A mistake. That I apologised for.” She sighed. Unusually lacking at the moment. “Sorry to ruin our night. Fuck. That was stupid.”

Blackstar’s expression softened. Even with her cowl back on, it was easy to tell Lightning Girl had been crying. She could feel instinct kicking in, big sister tendencies that never went dormant making her want to offer a ride home and a stop at a convenience store for ice cream.

“Hey, you didn’t ruin it,” she spoke up, moving to stand next to Asteroid and still lingering by the door. Big sister instincts were insisting on going to hug the other heroine, but Alaine didn’t feel like interrupting whatever closeness she and Eclipse were still sharing. “That other crazy lady ruined it. Or, well, I mean – no, yeah, she ruined it.” She shrugged.

Asteroid nods through Blackstar’s reassurance, chipping in his two cents “it was all on her.”

Besides, Blackstar thought. Wasn’t like she’d behaved any better last time she’d been threatened. At least LG hadn’t killed anyone.

Which was a good point. “You didn’t kill anybody,” Alaine offered, a little quieter than she meant to. Clearing her throat lightly, she went on, as if that was solely a placating observation, “Could’ve been a lot worse.” She wasn’t going to mention the small shock they’d all gotten thanks to the messy drinks. “And the way James shouted, sounded like you fixed his nose, too. So.”

Another small shrug, though this time she paired it with a smile that radiated big sister energy. Lightning Girl might’ve been older than her, but Alaine couldn’t kick the habit.

“Right?” She glanced at Asteroid, nudging his arm gently for a little backup.

Asteroid blinks when Blackstar does- “oh yeah, his nose will be right as rain soon.” A beat, when he feels he should say more- “Everybody makes mistakes, we’ve all- made mistakes. Sometimes, really big ones.” His mouth gets a little dry through the end of his statement. He shifts his gaze from LG to Blackstar- finding it somehow easier to look at her instead “my best friend always says that it’s what we learn after we make a mistake that matters. And- based on your reaction- I don’t think it’s you who needs to grow from that situation anymore.” The last bit is quiet.

Sophie nodded, giving little reply but a gentle acceptance. She couldn't of course, explain the full reason why. That almost made it worse. It looked like a mental breakdown she couldn't entirely show. A side of her even more secret than a mask. But she appreciated the love, that at least the team could understand how much she'd protect the team. A tazer would risk the last time she hit her by accident. A punch too messy. But doing nothing was a paradox.
“Thanks.”

The moment Blackstar and Asteroid arrive, Eclipse instinctually pulls Lightning Girl closer to himself before letting go. Seeing those two was a mood killer, but it was better than what happened at the bar. Frankly, he's had enough of sudden appearances–that was more of his thing, anyway. He stays quiet, just takes in the conversation as best he can, no point in intruding, he's already done his job.

And really, he can't understand why Lightning Girl is taking the blame here. Mistakes happen, Tsunami was a drunk piece of shit, who cares? She zapped two of her teammates however fucking long ago, it's not that big of a deal; most of the Phoenix Program members on A-Team have done far worse, including himself.

"Why are you two here?" Straight to the point. It's an honest question.

”Seems like the same reason as you,” It’s with that admission that Asteroid loops his arm through Blackstar’s. She nodded along in agreement. “I think we’re both just glad she’s not sitting out here alone.” He levels a smile at Blackstar, and lifts his other hand in a wave as he turns to pull them back into the bar.

”See you both inside?” On the way in he pulls Blackstar over to the bar, and orders another double tequila. If she doesn’t move her arm, he doesn’t either.

And she didn’t, more than content to leave her arm casually linked with Asteroid’s, her hand absent-mindedly playing with his sleeve as they head back inside to the bar, only turning to toss Lightning Girl a little wave of her own and a thumbs-up of encouragement.

And Lightning Girl returned that. “Yeah sure. One minute.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Eclipse watches the two leave the rooftop with furrowed brows. They definitely thought this was something else, didn’t they? He clicks his tongue. Fuck. Were Asteroid and Blackstar together too? Was everyone just happening to look for a romantic getaway on the rooftop after the worst bar fight he’s ever seen? Whatever… it’s not that big of a deal.

He looks back at Lightning Girl to see her next move. If she wants to leave, he’s leaving with her. If she wants to stay, then… he’s staying with her.

Sophie swallowed the lump in her stomach, and with a crawl, shoved her hand against an AC unit on the roof, and thrust her hands against a plug. Gently zapping in power, it was enough for her to at least feel alive again as she stood. Enough to fall off this building without going splat. Enough to be back to Lightning Girl.

“Let's go. I'm buying.” Lightning Girl said, standing as she adjusted her gloves, and with a gust of wind, the cape picked up as she stood before Eclipse. “Actually, you can teleport, can't you? I'll see you there.” She remarked, with a smile that seemed almost beyond just a courtesy, the switch complete, but she wasn't ever going to quite be the same. For someone crying minutes ago, walking towards an edge was a terrible idea, but she indicated her electricity was under control, a spray of white static bouncing off a vent, nodding to Eclipse before she gently, elegantly fell into the alley, and headed back to the bar.

---

Tuesday
20:54
The Cowl Inn Taproom,
Downtown Claremont

Soundtrack: Two Door Cinema Club- The World is Watching

And with Lightning Girl walking back in, James was still sat there, blood no longer pissing out of his nose as badly, but in plenty of hurt. While some melodic old indie played, as seemed to be the thread of this pub. Another glass of Intergalactic Witch was slid in front of him, as she sat next to him, looking his face over like the others had after Lightning Girl and others had left then returned back to the bar, the bag of ice still against his swollen face. He looked like shit. But not dead.

"You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Lightning Girl asked, as James drank down more beer.

"I liked having my fucking face in one place. Hospital isn't fixing this. I'll.....drown my sorrows." James retorted, sighing, as Sophie chuckled before his next comment. Stubborn. As ever. "Fucking nightmare. Are you.....okay?"

"Yeah. You?" Lightning Girl replied, the beer she had significantly stronger. A glass of 70% proof. An entire glass of vodka, with a flavour of pineapple. "Know the feeling getting my arse kicked." She added, James realising her sister had been crying. He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell her it was fine. Every part of him wanted to say something to comment back. He wanted to be formal, by the book, detailed. But read the room enough to know that was stupid, too far the other way.

"I'm fine. Fucking hell. Did you go far? Apart from that." He asked, not making much in the way of words.

"No. Not really. Needed a moment after it all." She was shorter in reply. Shit. She must have been very low on energy.

James could see it in her, as she drank more beer, and looked over at the rest, then back to him. a smile back on face, trying to break past it. "Water and electricity don't mix. Jesus she was drunk." James laughed at Sophie's response, as he sighed, looking around at the others, clambering out from his chair, heading to the restroom, but not before looking to the team first.

"Don't say a word about this to Kat, or anyone else in SDN. Tsunami happens to be a very, very senior government lawyer's daughter, in case you didn't know. We're professionals, so we don't make scenes. Especially not involving her when it could ruin her career, and therefore, yours as well. Much as I would want to do this formally....." James put to all of them, adjusting the icepack, his voice not carrying, just stating now.

"I think you all hate lawyers more than me, and given I'm the only one who got hurt, I'd rather keep my paperwork volume low. I'd also rather keep my sanity high, and most importantly, any bullshit to a minimum. Are we understood?" James looked across the team, likely not expecting James to take that approach, given he'd nearly been concussed and had his nose broken, maybe he could have lost teeth or straight up been sent to the shadow realm (in which Eclipse would be).

"Cool. One more beer's left on our tab for everyone." James added, heading off to the bathroom, Sophie knowing he must have struggled to come to that conclusion. The heroic thing to do would be to say something. Speak out. Report it. Lightning Girl was in the wrong too, she knew that much, but being goaded? Well, it seemed most had fallen on her side, or at least could understand.

Maybe they hadn't quite realised the relationship yet, given the fact maybe a taze would be easier. But when the white light decended, well, Sophie knew she'd protect him.

But it was a night out. Back to it again. And another round followed, as Lightning Girl carried it back to their table, and they went back to their evening.

The team continued to chat, and bit by bit, the bar emptied, and the energy felt like it died out. They all had a way to go. Lightning Girl called James a cab, and, on that note, the team finished their drinks and the conversation, and all got ready to go home. Home after a long, hard day's work, and a big clusterfuck at their social. The vibe had been sky high, and as Lightning Girl looked to Asteroid and Blackstar, taking both of their glasses, she gave a smile. A point of her finger and she jabbed power into each of their phones, one for the road, after a long day, before putting the glasses away. She felt buzzed, but in this moment, at least not remembering as much would make things easier.

---

---

---

Carmen was walking home that night. He took the bus. It was cramped. Someone got mad at him; a lot of people got mad at him. He doesn't remember why. His front door feels cold, and his vision is blurry.

Why is the room sideways?

Why...

What was he dreaming about? Carmen wakes up on the floor, passed out beside pairs of spare shoes. His suit is caked in dirt, and his clothes are still damp with rainwater. His helmet is still on--actually, his whole hero uniform is on, but he doesn't remember sleeping here. He doesn't remember walking home, either; his head aches as he tries to recall yesterday's events.

He tries to get up, but he's glued to the floor. Every muscle aches and cries out for it all to end--every limb broken and battered. No, no, no. This isn't a hero's death. He's not supposed to die in the suit and at home, of all places. That's not how a hero dies.

It's Carmen who has to inch forward and into his living room.

It's Carmen who has to ignore each and every shooting pain in his legs as he hobbles upward.

And it's the Mighty Madcap that has to decide his new outfit for work 'cuz showing up in a dirty suit and messed up boots is nasty! The helmet and tie are an easy wash, though.

---

---

The sound of the clacking keys fills the room. Martha's office is painted a dark green, and stacks of files are piled neatly on the corner of her desk. Most of them are about HR violations: stinky cat, inappropriate workplace behavior, workplace policy... that stack is high. Martha grabs a nearby document, an SDN training program to boost hero performance.

"Hm." She adjusts her glasses as Gayatri enters the office, gracefully setting a cup of coffee down on her desk. "Morning, Gayatri."

"Good morning, Mrs. Baxter." Gayatri smiles, her eight-arms filled with office and cleaning supplies as she begins to clean Martha's office. "How is A-Team doing? Is James OK?"

Yesterday's events. It was slow, and Tyler had to pick up the slack. How Kat thought it'd be a good idea to let A-Team drink at SDN's expense on Tuesday was beyond her, especially not with the... incident that Martha had to manage--Tsunami's transfer to Hollywood and all.

"He met with Alan yesterday for pain meds and whatnot."

"Ohh."

Martha isn't exactly sure how Gayatri does it--cleaning, chatting, and somehow refilling staplers at the same time. "Solaris and Lunara were transferred out to Pasadena, too, you know how the situation is there."

"First Riley, now those two." Gayatri shakes her head. "I hope the rest of the team sticks around. They're very sweet."

"The heroes are great to work with, Blackstar especially. I'm surprised it took so long for Mayors to find her." Martha sips her coffee. "Phoenix Program is surprisingly well-behaved, too, even after their little pub stint. There's just one problem."

Gayatri tilts her head, busy dusting off a shelf.

"The bug one, Gayatri. The bug one." She begins to type faster. "We're lucky he couldn't clock in yesterday; he's a ticking time bomb. "

Gayatri pauses for a moment.

The rest of A-Team was doing amazingly; Blackstar, Asteroid, and Princess were all surprisingly sweet, especially considering the latter's criminal history. Hat Trick was amazing for PR, and Lightning Girl was still Lightning Girl, the shining star of A-Team. Payback, Fenom, and Eclipse were also strangely easy to work with, even if the former seemed to have some kind of compulsive stealing habit. She swears that Payback has tried to steal some of the newly reloaded office supplies whenever she wasn't looking.

But the bug one?

"Oh! Hold on, I'm sorry!" A jumble of sound erupts in the quiet office as all eight of her phones go off. "I have to take these, I'll come back to chat later!"

Martha waves Gayatri off and continues her work. She'd find that woman an assistant or two someday.

---

---

Eclipse arrived earlier than usual, maybe by a few minutes, or maybe the others were just late. He shrugs and rips open a bag of Cheetos. It didn't really matter what they did. He finds himself sitting on the edge, overlooking the parking lot, as the others begin to clock in. Sometimes he throws a few Cheetos down at people to annoy them.

It's fun.

Tuesday drinking was fun too, but he'd never admit that outright. Even if he... can't really remember what happened outside of being on the rooftop with Lightning Girl and that Tsunami chick crashing the party.

He does remember some of the dispatches that he went on... the balloon kid's birthday. Did he still have that balloon? Did it fade away already? And the school kids from his first dispatch, were they doing fine? Would he have to come back and put on another show?

He scowls at the thought.

No more kid missions. He hoped the dispatcher would listen to him.

Speaking of, what was James's relationship with Lightning Girl anyway? Co-workers? Both from the UK, at least, that's a mighty coincidence. But it doesn't say much, considering A-Team is a motley crew of heroes and villains. Hell, he doesn't even know where Princess is from.

Eclipse's eyes stay on his hands, a bit warmer from the sun.

Lightning Girl was a nice character. She just seemed to be that way, really, so why... was he the first one to help her that night? Tsunami wanted her dead, almost killed her, that's reasonable. He sighs; he's done far worse in Red Ring--allies and enemies all blur together in his head. If someone almost kills you during work, then you stab them in the back and leave them behind to send a message.

Apparently, heroes did that too, considering Tsunami's attack on James.

If getting revenge for Lightning Girl's sake is what gets him a better rapport with SDN higher-ups, then so be it.

---

---

The break room smells of citrus today; the counters are quickly wiped, and a vase of flowers is set in the middle of the table. The AC hums, the vending machine is completely emptied--no one's gotten to restocking it, somehow--and some SDN employees come and go to grab their things from the fridge.

Someone took the time to add a small TV to the break room, planted firmly beside the vending machine on a dinky stand.

"And for today in Claremont, the long-awaited Giggle's Playground for Little Heroes opens to the public!" The news broadcaster gestures to the screen behind them. "Similarly to last year, SDN heroes will be making an appearance at the carnival to teach your kids all about heroing..."

"SORRY I'M--" Madcap kicks the break room door open with unmatched vigor, a fluffy slipper nearly falling off his foot. He hits the ground and gawks at the empty break room. "Early?"

Where was everyone? Did he actually make it early? No way... was everyone just hiding from him because of his super awesome superhero aura?!

For anyone arriving after Madcap, they find him glued to the TV. His usual bug helmet is on, along with his signature tie, but the rest of his outfit? Walking fashion disaster. He fumbles with the hem of his pink fur coat's sleeves, a black unitard underneath. If questioned on what happened to his usual suit, he chirps a quick: "laundry," and continues staring at the TV.

---

---

"Hey, James," Raul turns from the terminal screen, "was just fixing up your account a bit and doing maintenance. I'll be moving soon, just give me a moment or two."

There's a large display of candles and flowers littering James's cubicle, no doubt put there by Raul, considering the cart of various tech and decor beside him. Raul kneels down and begins to pray a bit more before smacking the terminal on for James. "One warning, though, keep the candles lit, it's what keeps the machine spirit in there happy, 'nd don't go tampering with the flowers either, same reason." His voice takes on a sterner note, but dissipates the moment he notices the cat.

The cat from Tuesday is well-taken care of now, cleaned, and fed, but still scrawny. It sniffs Raul's shoe curiously.

"Whoa, whoa, I didn't know you had a cat!" He remarks, backing away slightly. "I know Samson brought in his today. Think you two should meet? Anyway, no touching the flowers or the candles, and keep cat hair off the keyboard. Your machine is sacred like a temple, and if you anger it, I'm gonna be the one fixing it."

Raul begins to take his leave, hands on his cart as he prepares to make it to the next cubicle. "Before I go, Kat wanted me to tell you this: she signed up your team to show up at Giggle's carnival, playground, or something. Your team's gonna be holed up there all afternoon just making sure the kids are safe and entertained."

And it's a great PR stunt.

The cart is hauled off, and James is left alone at his cubicle, cat hanging around his feet. Strangely, on his desk, he finds a small box of Fisherman's Friends with a post-it note over them, just signed by Eclipse, nothing else.

Regardless, work was going to start soon, and he'd have to break the news to the team somehow.

---

Jet might be losing his mind over the way Blackstar is playing with his sleeve. A small ache forms a few inches below his collarbone. His second double tequila goes down like every other time, fire and ice. It’s enough that he stands there for a minute grimacing and then against his better judgement, he orders just one more. It’s the exact amount of drunk he has to be to live in the moment fully. It’s also at the edge of just a little too much.

If they are there for too much longer, he’ll need another. But he supposes he’ll find his way home before then. “Do you want anything?” he turns his face towards her, looking over their shoulders behind them. “My buddy usually gets Shirley’s but not sure if you like cherry?”

“Oh–” She’d been about to politely decline before she realized he was suggesting a mocktail. He’d noticed? That made her heart beat funny for a second. She told herself it was because she was embarrassed. Not because he’d noticed and thought of it. “Actually, yeah, I do. Thanks.”

She liked cherry, sure, but honestly she just loved looking at the drink. The red was pretty. That and black were her favorite colors. Blue might be a close second. In fact she liked most things with rich, vibrant colors – though her black-on-black suit might give a different impression – and anything with said colors that light could shine through. Stained glass, sheer curtains, pretty drinks.

“First day-” his voice is lofty, “gotta buy you a drink.” He puts it on his tab before he closes it. He’ll drink more tequila tomorrow.

“You don’t gotta…” Alaine protested, but he’d already put the Shirley on his tab. That earned an appreciative smile from her – and a subconscious but happy little tug on his sleeve.

He fights a smile all the way to the booth, and regrettably loses his warm and comfortable contact with Blackstar. He clamors into the booth first, seated beside Madcap once again. Being a little drunk, he reverts a bit back to his former state of party bar fly- offering a wrist bump to Madcap.

"I think you all hate lawyers more than me, and given I'm the only one who got hurt, I'd rather keep my paperwork volume low. I'd also rather keep my sanity high, and most importantly, any bullshit to a minimum. Are we understood?”

Jet snorts, covering a laugh with a sip of his drink. If only James really knew how much Jet hated lawyers. “Aye aye Captain,” he echoes James’ call for clarity- just a little too loud.

Alaine, carefully sliding back into her seat with a polite “ ‘scuse me” past Fenom, grinned a bit and shook her head. She’d actually had very little dealings with lawyers, but she knew the general sentiment. She was impressed by James, though – maybe she didn’t know a lot about how it all worked, but she got the impression that was a tough call to make. Especially when he’d just had his face bashed in. Poor guy. She knew from experience that that smarted.

Still. Graceful thing of him to do. Alaine lifted her glass a little to James, specifically.

Now she felt twice as bad about lying to him in the one-on-one.

What else was she supposed to do, though? Besides, she’d been honest enough about the fact that no one was after her currently. As far as she knew. She just hadn’t been entirely forthcoming about why that was. Or that he wouldn’t need to get involved if someone was after her, because she’d do it again.

Alaine lowered her glass, glancing down at the red drink. Blood in her mouth. She’d hit that van in the desert hard.

No, dang it. That starry discomfort had just gone away, and all at once it was trying to sneak back. Was everything going to trigger the memories? The upward tug in her bloodstream? She felt the itch to anchor herself again and her gaze darted sideways to Asteroid; she hadn’t missed the gently-returned bump of his foot against hers earlier, and it had helped quite a bit. But did she dare to slide her boot over that way again? Or was that weird? It had been an accident before. If it was on purpose that was weird. Right?

Jet at one point or another emphatically begins speaking about a sports team- and leans across the table in Blackstar’s direction, their shoulders brush together a few times before he settles just a bit closer to her than before.

Things started to wrap up as it got later, conversations dying out, energy slowly dipping. Lightning Girl came over as empty glasses were being set aside; the white-haired heroine looked like she was doing better, but Blackstar couldn’t be sure how accurate the outward appearance really was. She doubted anyone would just bounce right back from an encounter like the one with Tsunami, even someone as vibrant as Lightning Girl.

Still – like with James, she admired LG’s spirit. It was encouraging in the same breath that it made Blackstar feel like a fraud.

Pushing the thought aside as the team began to make their exits, Alaine stood and checked her phone – a burner, or at least not her real phone. Her family contacts and pictures weren’t on this one; the other, the real one, was back in her apartment, hidden in her mattress. Checking the time, she realized the little battery icon was at full charge when it hadn’t been before. She was confused for a second before connecting the dots and realizing LG must’ve given her a charge.

Appreciative, she lingered for a minute by the booth and glanced Asteroid’s way. He looked… hm. Maybe more than just tipsy, but the mask made it a touch hard to tell. He’d had a couple of those double tequilas. Which was, what, two shots in one? Or something? She didn’t know.

She also didn’t know why she didn’t just say goodnight and get going, but she didn’t.

“...You gonna be able to get home?” Alaine asked, watching Asteroid closely. One hand tugged at the hem of her jacket, needing something to fidget with.

Jet freezes, his hands in his pockets, previously looking up at the sky. “Oh uh, yeah- def- definitely.” He stutters through his response, and that’s when he knows just how toasted he is. Reynold would want him to shake somebody down for a phone and give him a call. He reached into his pocket, feeling his modified MP3 player, and was shocked at the battery being at 100%. He’d used it a ton today. The loss of charge disorients him, and when he opens his mouth- his answer practically falls out- “Gonna jump home.”

Alaine shifted her weight to one foot, slipping her hands into her jacket pockets and, somewhat obviously, standing there to see how that went.

He grimaces a bit through some calculations, and takes a step towards her. The next step lands a little to the left of where he’d anticipated and a chuckle fills his lungs with air. He takes another, and trips- but there’s a bounce to his step that could only be explained by gravity calculations he’d done bad math on. In his stumble he nearly knocks it’s a trashcan that’s bolted to the sidewalk.

Alaine’s arm moved, the familiar hum of flight in the back of her mind – prepared to dart that way and keep him up if he fell. Luckily he didn’t, and she settled back on her heels absently as he spoke again.

“Dang, I might go inside and have another water or something.” He wasn’t going to ask to borrow her phone. Maybe the bartender can shoot Rey a text or something- he doesn’t know.

What, was a water going to sober him up? She didn’t think it worked like that. A small grin tugged at her lips before she glanced down the street, considering the situation.

She knew what John would tell her. You need a good image, but don’t go out of your way to get close. The more you let your guard down, the worse it’ll get.

But… maybe John wasn’t right about everything.

Alaine looked back at Asteroid. He’d made her feel a lot better today. Multiple times. And he’d bought her a drink. That was a good enough reason to explain away helping him if anyone asked. Yeah.

“...I don’t know how secret you want your place to be, but, um–” She cleared her throat a little. “–I’d be happy to get you there. Or within a block of there. Or whatever you’re comfortable with.” Alaine shrugged slightly, adding in amusement, “I absolutely suck at finding my way around so it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to find the place again, if you’re worried about being compromised or anything.”

Would that make him uncomfortable? Maybe that was too much. Just in case, she also offered, “Or, I mean – I’d be happy to pay for a cab or something, if you’d prefer. You bought me a drink, I buy you a ride.” She shrugged again, hoping the twenty bucks in her pocket would cover a cab ride if that was his preference.

Asteroid is surprisingly quiet through most of her suggestions. He’s having a bit of a hard time maintaining focus, his normal drunk silliness trying to invade his consciousness. He snickers as he trips over his feet in her direction. They’re close enough to touch now. Jet starts taking his glove off. He’s forgotten that she left her glove on last time, and his drunk mind is making the same mental predictions as earlier.

In any other situation, with probably any other person, she would’ve shifted to maintain a little personal bubble. She, again, had no clue why she didn’t then. Just trying to stay close enough to keep him upright if he fell. Uh-huh.

“I move a lot.” In his head he remembers Reynold scolding him. A whole saga turning into Reynold keeping a five gallon bucket of red paint in his garage. He was sick of Jet buying six cans of ‘the wrong red’ before finding the right one. It’d happened at least three times, and that was three times too many.

Alaine squinted at him, not sure what he was talking about. Like, physically? Like he was going to wiggle around a lot if she tried to fly him home? Or did he mean it in regards to home itself, that he moved a lot? If so, she could relate. But since she wasn’t sure what he was talking about, she just shrugged. Either way, wouldn’t be a problem for her.

He unclicks the bottom half of his mask, and he takes a big breath before extending a hand to Blackstar. He was getting hot under his full mask, this was the first time he’d worn it for this long consecutively. “That’d be mighty fine of you,” his words are slipping out of his grasp, each syllable lengthening more than the last.

Alaine couldn’t help an amused little scoff at that, though she tried to look exasperated as she shook her head. “Don’t mention it.” She took his hand, not sure why he took his glove off but kind of wishing she’d taken her own off.

For – uh, stability. Or something.

His hand safely in her own, she lifted off the ground; slow at first, just to make sure he was good, then a little faster once she felt confident he wasn’t going to lurch or anything. Still, she didn’t fly very fast.

Just so that he could be sure and direct her where he needed to go, of course. Not to stretch the time out.

When they’re in the air, his mouth takes over. Suddenly he’s saying things that should’ve maybe stayed on the inside. It’s her silhouette against the stars that does it, “Your costume is soooo cool, did SDN make it? They designed mine, and I was worried it’d be made cheap-” he rambles a bit about costumes and masks, and well made garments. He tells her about a light jacket he saved up for with his first few SDN checks- it’s a jacket made out of a simple blue quilt, and he loves it.

Alaine listened with a small grin, more than happy to let him ramble. She was on the quieter side by nature – she talked and made conversation around others so that everyone else was comfortable, but if she had her way, she’d just sit quietly and listen.

It wasn’t like she enjoyed his voice or anything or found his apparent interest in hero fashion endearing, obviously. It was just that letting him ramble meant she didn’t have to talk about herself which could end up with her divulging sensitive information. Yeah.

“You’ve gotta show me this jacket sometime,” she said when there was a pause in his flow of thought. She was a bit surprised to find she meant it. “I love a good jacket.”

When he realizes he’s been talking for a while, he suppresses a snicker that is dangerously close to a giggle. The bottom of his flushed cheeks are visible, barely peeking out from below what remains of his mask.

Jet points out over the landscape, towards a more industrial district of town. “Over there.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Alaine shifted course with an easy, drifting movement that gently bumped her shoulder against his.

“What do-” the bump of their shoulders short circuits his brain, and he trails off. When he comes back to himself, he tries again. “What do you like?”

The question took her off-guard. “What do I like?” she echoed, stumped. “Um–” All of the sudden she’d forgotten everything she enjoyed. She needed a narrower category. “Uh… stained glass.” It was the first thing that popped into her head. “And suncatchers. And I like swords. Um… Big sweaters. Stars. Also orange sherbet.”

Now she was a little flushed under her mask, too. That was all true. John would’ve told her to lie. Even small things can lead back to you. But what could it hurt? Asteroid probably wouldn’t remember, anyway. No one ever did, really. Plus he was four or so tequila shots under.

When they land, they’re outside a semi-lit industrial complex. An old building with large iron windows towers over them, each floor retrofitted into small apartments. His studio is just one big room, with a small shared bathroom in the hall with the only neighbor on his floor. But the rent was cheap, and they let him pay cash. Less and less places wanted him to do that.

“Thanks- I owe you one.” It’s sincere as he lets go of her hand, offers her a fist bump, and walks up to the door with his keys. He looks back over his shoulder and offers her a large open palmed wave. The only thing he remembers after the outdoor encounter with LG the next day, is just how badass she looked in the night sky with the stars behind her.

Alaine laughed a little as she returned the fist bump, replying, “No problem, Louboutins. And you don’t owe me one, really,” she tacked on, waving back at him and smiling in spite of herself. His steps definitely- don’t- get a bit bouncier at the nickname.

She remained standing there on the sidewalk for a moment, just to make sure he could get the door open. He did, so she took a step back and lifted off the pavement again, ascending smoothly along the front of the building and flipping herself over the top.

The pet store near her own apartment was just closing, but the employee let her in anyway when he realized she was a hero and not there to rob the place.

Asteroid’s SDN locker had a bottle of fish food in it the next morning.

---

---

Thursday
12:43pm
SDN

(( ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ: @Auragreedia [Eclipse] & @FourtyTwo [James] | ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ: [Madcap] ))

She was in a real good frickin' mood. Her dispatches had all gone well so far, she was pretty sure she got along well with her team, Asteroidwascute and hey, James was back and not horrifically deformed from his run-in with Tsunami the other night. Also, office cat!

Yeah, she was feeling pretty good. It had been a long time since she had felt good, honestly, so Alaine was soaking it up.

The downsides were always there, of course -- the memories, the homesickness, the pull to the void, the nightmares. She'd come to the terrible conclusion a year or so ago that they'd probably always be there. But she could do little things to make it better, and her surroundings certainly helped too.

"I can feel your heart, t-t-t-tickin' like a time bomb," she mumbled to herself, along with the lyrics of the song in her ear. Her flightpath was particularly crow-like that morning, bobbing and twirling and rolling about in the air, free to take her time since she was up early again -- nightmares -- and not due at work for another hour or two. Eventually her course steered from the clouds down to the SDN building, and she twirled her way down to the roof while humming along the her music.

Spotting an armored figure sitting on the edge of the roof, she dawdled over with a slow flip in the air, coming to an upside down hover next to Eclipse as he tossed another Cheeto down at someone.

Blackstar clicked her tongue at him. "Waste of perfectly good Cheetos," she lamented, grinning at him upside-down before shrugging and, with a casual kick of her leg, flipping herself rightside-up. Dropping to the roof, she made her way over to the door; she'd taken off from there a couple of times by then and could find her way from there better than she could from the front doors.

"Tell Lightning Girl I said hi," she added over her shoulder innocently and quickly shut the door before he could throw something worse than a Cheeto at her. Was she implying there was another reason he was sitting around on the roof where the flying heroes sometimes touched down for work, other than being a general nuisance to his coworkers? Yes. Was the implication that he was maybe waiting for Lightning Girl? Yes. Was it because of the fact that she and Asteroid had caught him and LG mid-hug Tuesday night after the Tsunami thing? Also yes. Was she ever going to let it go?

Mmm probably not, no.

Trotting down the stairwell and making her way to the dispatch floor, she stopped by James' desk and eyed the flowers and candles in confusion. Did someone think he'd died? It looked like a memorial. She'd apparently been beaten to the gift-giving by Mr. Cheeto-launcher himself, so she simply set her own down amid the flowers. The little blue succulent in its Union Jack planter was a nice addition, she thought.

"Good morning," she chirped to James as she set the plant down, giving him a smile. She was wearing her black-on-white suit today, which might've been an indicator of her mood. Or maybe just that she had to wash the other one. "Hope you're feeling better! We missed you," she said, speaking for the team whether they actually cared or not. Her eyes dropped to the kitten and she added, voice immediately turning to that higher-pitched, cooing tone for animals and babies, "And I missed you, little guy! Gotcha some stuff..."

She'd worn a small, black backpack over her jacket and she took it off then, holding it in one hand; she reached into it with the other and retrieved a bag of cat toys and a little cardboard scratcher, kitten-sized. Both she offered to James before also retrieving a little container of catnip and handing that over as well, tacking on, "Also I got him drugs. Might want to experiment at home first to see if he's the type that goes absolutely bonkers or immediately falls asleep, which might determine whether or not you want him hopped up at the office. Oh -- and just get me that form for the uh... hand thing... and I'll fill it out ASAP."

Blackstar knelt down, giving the kitten a friendly little pet or two, then straightened up and gave James a lazy salute before turning to jog off to the locker rooms. She pulled her SDN equipment out of her locker, making the switch between personal earbuds and work gear; when she went to turn off the music on her phone however, she came to a horrifying realization.

This wasn't her decoy phone. It was the real one.

There was Brook's text from the night before. Hey girly pop! How's your first week of the new job going??

And her mom-- Pictures of Calum! Dad and I got to babysit this weekend. Attached were several pictures of her nephew -- a year old already. She hadn't met him in person yet.

Alaine hastily turned the phone off, completely. Down into the very bottom of the backpack it went, with the bag itself getting shoved as deep in the locker as it could possibly go. She shut the locker and took a deep breath in -- held it a few seconds -- then let it out slow.

It'd be fine. She was bound to make a little mistake at some point. Wasn't... wasn't that big of a deal.

She nodded to herself, adjusting her jacket and huffing a loose strand of mousy hair off her forehead. Yeah. It'll be fine.

Back up to the breakroom then, where it seemed she and Madcap were the first two to arrive, aside from Eclipse on the roof. Or -- wait, was that Madcap? Blackstar paused a few steps in, squinting at the person in front of the TV that she didn't remember being there. No, yeah, same buggish helmet and tie. It was the rest of the ensemble that was... interesting.

She didn't know anything about fashion, but she'd venture to say fashion wouldn't claim that outfit. She did think Asteroid would think it was funny, though.

Moving a little further in with hopes of getting a water from the vending machine, she found it annoyingly empty. Dang it. She really ought to start making her own food and drinks rather than just hoping there'd be something at SDN.

Since "breakfast" was a bust, she instead moved to peer over Madcap's shoulder to see what was so interesting. An ad for... some kind of carnival? A superhero supervised carnival? That was probably normal enough, but something about that ad just struck her as creepy.

"Weird," she mumbled under her breath, shrugging and moving to plonk down in a seat off in the corner, boots propped up on another chair as she leaned back and crossed her arms. At least no one could tell she had her eyes closed behind her mask while she waited for the rest of the team to show up.

Tuesday
21:01
The Cowl Inn
Downtown Claremont

Earth to Sky

(Collab with @Pragia12)

It was dark out now, Fenom was not the best at parties, but the conversation with his lookalike cutout was a highlight of the night. It was always good to find people who could relate to him, and while some would say that he had the personality of cardboard, he thought that he had far more interesting things to say.

Things were winding down as he looked through the window. Alcohol didn’t really have any impact on his superhuman physiology, but the expectation was to drink, so he did. The bright orange of a mango daiquiri reminded him of his tropical island vacation weekend.
___

And the last beer was finished, Lightning Girl waved goodbye to Blackstar and Asteroid. Oh, they were a thing. It wasn't like how maybe they thought her and Eclipse were. No, it was so obvious. It was basically there, and well, as Lightning Girl leaned against the bar, she watched as Asteroid stumbled and Blackstar held onto him, leading him home, before leaping up into the sky.

As she also headed out, she was nearly the last one left, seeing Feno also following her out, having enjoyed a fruitful mango daiquiri, from a time well spent. Feno. Jeez, the guy was a lovely character, and while he had even less about him than Phenomaman did about how people worked, he was nothing but the model hero, if you stripped away perhaps some of the human factor.

A smile cracked on her face, before the drizzle picked up.

“See you tomorrow, Pheno. I’m gonna go enjoy the stars a little bit. You probably travel faster, don’t you?” She said, a little blue after all of what happened earlier and now everyone was gone, putting hand over face to stop the rain from soaking her chin that almost had a static look to it, soaking her more and more as she stood outside, the grey and white hero illuminated by the blue lamplight of neon and streetlighting. She zipped up her little hip pack with her phone away, and cowl attached to face.

Fenom took up most of the doorway, looking up for a moment and considering “Yeah, but it’s harder to know where you’re going when you’re faster.” he says simply. “It would still take a couple days to get there.” he seemed unconvinced she could get to the stars for the night.

Lightning Girl laughed, broken from her little routine, smiling, the man pure innocence. Holy shit. He was just like that. And while every hero looked up to Phenomaman, well….the pre-breakup one, Feno just seemed like a copy that reminded her of the old times.

She wanted to go into the sky away from this, even after it was all said and done. But, Feno was right.

“Then maybe come with me. Maybe slow down. I’ll show you what I enjoy seeing.” Lightning Girl said, sparks flying from her hands, gesturing for him to follow.

Fenom’s brow would raise, it was all too easy for him to say “What is it?” he’d offer as he leaves the entryway, effortlessly floating up a few feet above the cars.

Lightning Girl smiled, looking up at the gaps in cloud. “I like trying to get some perspective. Looking on the city from afar. I can’t go as high as you I’m afraid. My lungs would give out.” She replied, knowing Feno might not fully understand perspective. Of the sentimentality of it all.

If only he knew what lungs were in any way that mattered “Then how do you go to the stars?” he seemed sympathetic, if a bit confused.

Lightning Girl realized maybe he hadn’t quite understood. Nothing like a little bit of awkwardness, but given the day’s events, she was hardly one to talk.

“Not uhh…literally. More just within the atmosphere. The bit I can breathe in. Not sure what would happen to me actually, if I went into space. Never tried.” She noted, putting a hand out to Feno before he offered. “I’d rather not find out tonight though. I wouldn’t be able to work tomorrow if I died because I can’t breathe. Maybe.” Okay, she was broken herself, laughing, at the entire evening’s antics and looking back up again. “Right. I’m not enjoying this rain much….ready?”

He seemed unphased, but his grip was measured when he took her hand, he did know how to manage his strength to some degree. “We will need to try sometime, I breathe alright up there, but as you wish!” he says, a small smile on his face, he thought she was being playful.

There was a gnawing thought in her head. Why ask him to join? Well, as she leapt up, and just clambered, and clambered, and clambered, she felt like that wasn’t the point. Fuck it. May as well not be completely alone on the commute home.

Lightning Girl punched through cloud, and kept going, and going, the static burning behind her into darkness illuminated by starlight outside of the light pollution, the ozone and vapour fading the higher she climbed, as she didn't stop, knowing Feno had no challenge at all keeping up.

She didn’t stop. Maybe she was trying to leave the planet. She felt like if she had earlier, she would have given how she felt. And she hadn’t been kidding to Feno either, she had no idea of what her body would do beyond the atmosphere. Cosmic -derived powers maybe did something to that end? Who knew.

She kept going, and going….

Until it felt cold enough for her to, and the urge stopped. The energy felt steady state. Any more and she'd run out of anything to hold her. This would be nothing to Feno, who was elegant, poised, able to fly into the planets and stars without much thought. But to her, this was everything. And high in the skies, far above clouds and earth, was a certain kind of quiet.

And she could just hold. Stay static, barely thinking, able to enjoy it all for a moment without pushing to hard from her hands and feet. The oxygen was thin. She had no idea how high she was, her watch seemed to freeze with all the water she'd accumulated, turning to ice as she felt the shiver be reacted to by her heart palpitating, like what Eclipse had experienced.

She breathed out, metabolising the air that felt barely 10% of what it was below, and taking a photo of how small LA looked from this high, from between the clouds. It was like a distant dot, the way an airliner might look down, but even further.

A quiet, lonely moment. Yet one not left totally alone.

Lightning Girl was quiet, almost unnervingly so, and Feno was like a spectre holding her hand. She supposed he didn’t have as much of a need for noise, he had almost the same serenity as he was in the thick of the bar.

Lightning Girl looked right and sighed, looking back on it all, wondering how to put it to him. He was innocent. Almost incapable of understanding it at all. Emotions, feelings, all of it. It all came so easy. And yet he almost didn’t know what came on the other side.

“Why do you call me Sparky, Feno?” She interrupted those thoughts with a question, realising she genuinely had never asked it. Never had really come out to query him over it.

He was the only one to call her that, after all. His shrug didn’t help much “You’re sparky.” he said simply “Names are hard to remember.” he never really used names with anyone, even aliases didn’t stick.

She chuckled, smiling as she shook her head, nodding. “I suppose they are.” She replied, as she flicked off her mask, keeping it in hand, knowing Feno wouldn’t remember. Or share. She remembered looking over James’s shoulder once upon a time and well, Feno was an experiment. A product, but, he was still sort of flesh and bone but all charm. And that he wouldn’t give her away. Neither her work self…..or this.

“Well…..I’m Sophie. Behind that mask at least.” She said, knowing even Eclipse didn’t know from earlier, and that was probably for the best. She didn’t know him that well, nor Feno, but the latter at least might not remember. But, she felt in some weird way, up this far, looking from almost 100,000 feet above sea level, like showing her face and name to someone who couldn’t quite share. The cowl was icy, and her hair seemed to follow it, even if given how insanely thin oxygen was up here, it wasn’t affecting her speech.

Of all people, given that knowledge she had, Feno probably wouldn’t spill the beans, she hoped.

“Though…..don’t say that over the comms. That one is me. Sparky is…..well, someone I suppose I play at. I suppose that’s what I wanted you to see.” She chuckled, smiling to him, a co-worker, someone after her two more beers, she was now more tipsy and open toward.

Fenom’s expression would soften some. He understood the significance, but the glassiness in those eyes didn’t really go away. “Sophie.” he started, before stopping himself, something was itching at the back of his mind with a brief flinch “Why play at someone when you can be someone?” he asked, it was, as always, so painfully simple to him. “Is Sparky a bad thing to be?”

Sophie dwelled on that question longer than she would like. Longer than she would want to, by a lot more than her usual self.

“Most of the time I love it. But….sometimes it isn’t easy.” She left the sentence unsaid, thinking to herself about earlier. And all of it. She’d already had one intimate chat for a night. She wasn’t sure how much she could handle another. “I guess it’s part of work. Separating the human me from this.” She replied, sincere, looking over to his gaze, the alien clone the last person she wondered she would be pouring her heart out to. Like Madcap, but hey, at least he….knew some boundaries? Maybe? “It’s important to have boundaries. Like how you went to Hawaii. Enjoyed the sunshine and melon buffets. But it’s not so simple for me.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Okay, even when it looks like it is. Fine. But you’re also adjusting.”

“Its a good thing to be Phenomaman.” he said flatly, almost rotely. There wasn’t nothing going on back there in his mutton-chopped head. To him, it was that simple. “Boundaries get in the way too much.” he said, the last boundary he had an issue with was punched through without much issue.

Sophie chuckled, finding him almost a bit more endearing than Madcap. Okay, sure, maybe didn’t quite understand, but, she had to at least respect that he was still learning certain things. Things that maybe most hadn’t fully understood, and had the grace to know when to maybe not go insane on people.

“Yeah……I mean, I kicked in a door today and failed. You opened up a car. What is a boundary if not…..fixable by heroes.” She shook her head and chuckled, looking out on the distant lights of the city far, far below, the white haired heroine fixing her cowl back on, glad to have a little bit of a deep talk to enjoy this with.

“Well, a door is more of a boundary than a car. Maybe heroes are worse at dealing with boundaries.” It was almost annoying how glib he seemed to be, but Fenom wasn’t one to really know the wisdom of his own words.

Sophie could at least see it, but hey, he was learning that. Or at least, beginning to pick things up, but, well, he did drop a dime like that. She was sure he would pick up more as more time was spent about, as Lightning Girl looked back at the sight of it all, thinking on that in the relatively dry atmosphere out of clouds.

“Yeah. Maybe.” She was perhaps being a little too indirect, at least, by his standard, as she let go of his hand, realising she had to adjust herself to stay up, as Feno was naturally a lot more powerful.

“Shit, sorry! You are…..a lot better at this…..flying thing than I am.” She said, staticing back up to his level, holding passively, wiping the ice from her watch, trying to get it to work again. Fenom was more of a static fixture in the stars, holding himself still. “I might need to head back. Home is that way. Where is home for you, Feno?”

“I live at SDN, have a room in the basement.” he says simply, not seeming to think much of it. “They don’t want me in my own apartment.” It seemed pretty obvious to her why, but to him it was a mystery.

The gears turned for Lightning Girl, realising she hadn’t quite understood it before but it now had become fairly simple. Yeah, that tracked. Damn. This felt a bit morally weird. A hero that was…..well, she had no idea how Feno was here. Almost part of her felt like she wanted to ask, but she felt like that was a conversation for another time. It had been too heavy tonight, and well, she was sure they’d catch up again. The night was getting late and she was feeling the electricity in her body begin to fade a little, dripping away from the transformer she’d earlier peeled power from.

“Ahh, that was your door near the gym. I always wondered. I suppose in LA, it’s cheaper rates than whatever I pay for.” She joked, inside her not wanting to probably state any of the obvious. He laughed with her, seemed to understand it on some level. God (or James) knew how he managed his money, or more likely who managed it for him.

“It is easy to get to work.” he says with a grin. “And I can go where I want.” he explained, they trusted him enough, or more likely they couldn’t really stop him.

Lightning Girl laughed, nodding, getting that. “And the gym is next door. That is a good point. Maybe I’ll have to move closer.” She replied, pointing out in the far distance, just behind a cloud, into what seemed like the middle of nowhere, where her house was, or at least, was beyond a blur this high up at the very edge of LA.

“Because commuting sorta sucks. But, could be worse!” She grinned, sighing as she drifted away, looking over her shoulder, white hair blustering a bit, reflecting on everything. Falling for Quickdraw at the club. The failed dispatch. Tsunami punching James, and her nearly killing Tsunami over it. And then talking to Eclipse. Now this. It felt like a blur.

Probably a sign she needed a bit more power, or at least, to turn off the switch at the plug for this version of her. “I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for joining me.” She smiled, hands to strap as she gently tightened it.He remained up there, looking down to her with a nod “See you tomorrow.” he repeated, his gaze drifting to the city as she fell from the heavens.

She cracked a final smile back to Fenomaman, before tumbling down, her watch-linked phone app giving her a rough direction of where to face and where to fall. It didn't take much energy, and with the mask back on, she closed her eyes, and let go from her hands and feet, and fell. With her arms and legs put out in a tracking position, she could cover the distance, and fall gracefully, her cape fluttering, falling like a dart towards earth. Towards home, no power needed. She could save that to break her fall.

It was time to get some sleep and hope tomorrow would be a better day.

---

Thursday
12:15
Claremont SDN, Claremont

Return to Work

With the taxi dropping him off, James wondered on in, backpack on, waving to Samson as he wondered towards the lift. With a ping, the lift carried him up as he sipped hard from his thermos, drinking coffee, reluctantly, this time at least something Sophie brought home from the UK. Italian coffee. It hit like crack.

Ding.

The doors opened, as James had headed in, early as usual, where Kat was waiting for him as she chatted to Martha, dressed in her usual business attire, white and black striped shirt with black trousers, turning and smiling, the Branch Director cheerful as ever. Cynical she was, sure, sarcastic, but that meant James and her worked well together. It wasn't some scary relationship, given James didn't see her as a "boss", but someone who let him do his work and in turn, happened to luck out with him staying here to look after her A-Team.

So having him back from his day off, recovering from being punched in the face was of course, a pleasure.

"Hey, James. Damn. Didn't ruin your face completely then." Kat joked, as James nodded, both of them shaking hands, the story not quite out as to what specifically happened, but Kat knowing enough. Shapeshifters always did. James didn't lie, but damn, did he make sure the story didn't gain traction.

"Yeah. It's healing better than I thought. I wanted back in rather than feeling sorry. Alan's pills helped." James replied, as Kat smiled, nodding, out here because there was another eason.

"Good, good.....listen, hate to drop this on you on short notice, but Valerie is coming over.

"Oh, fuck."

"She's fine. Listen. We go way back. She's coming over as a favour to me."

"Right?"

"And I may have hurt her feelings in the budget in the process of keeping you. I'll handle it. I wouldn't have you otherwise."

"Well, thanks Kat. Appreciate it. I didn't want to get on her bad side....."

"Yeah, well, you deliver results and I ain't got anyone else. Look sharp."

The team would hear the elevator ding, and what appeared to be a black haired, black and silver business suit wearing, Viking queen of a woman emerge. She looked like she fought bears and won. A luxury, designer leather bag around her side, and she stank of Espresso coffee, vanilla and Chanel, almost to a point where it felt like you could taste the rose and caffeine. She was literally overwhelming every single sense, even taste, given how strong that perfume was.

Valerie Halliday was the Regional Director for SDN's operations in Los Angeles, and a thousand years of being alive, killing literally everyone from Danish people, Greenlandic people, indigenous tribes from coast to coast of North America, the French, Spanish, Mexicans, English, Americans, Germans, Cubans had finally mellowed out into a woman that now seemed about aged into her 40s and about past her bloodlust, with an Americanised accent that stuck.

She seemed to almost shake a loose table as she walked. The joke about legs stopping traffic seemed to die because it looked like Valerie could kick anyone in the office into orbit. It was likely she had.

Kat shapeshifted up, her entire body growing as she hugged the Regional Director, something James found weird. Shit, didn't know they knew each other that well.

"Val, good to have you in. Valerie, this is James Speight, are you...."

"We've met."

"We've met." Valerie answered, looking to Kat as the Claremont Director shrank, back to normal size. James did know her. James knew her well. "Good to see you, Kat. It seems like you are enjoying retirement. I was always surprised you picked Claremont, but hey. A quiet life is respectable." Valerie added, it indicating just how menacing she was given her own form not shifting down. No, she continued to dominate, as every single head and eye would be turned, heels clacking on carpet.

The three walked through the office, and headed immediately to a meeting room.

Ms Halliday had plenty on her hands, and a buzz of her BlackBerry looking phone gave James and Kat respite, but only for a few minutes.

---

Thursday
12:35
Rooftop
Claremont SDN

Another Rooftop

Soundtrack: ABBA- SOS

Lightning Girl's commute in the post-storm, blazing sunshine was one she could smell all that post-rain petrichor in.

A song from James's playlist, that she was playfully singing along to. A white-haired girl and ABBA were a match made in basic bitch heaven.

Especially when she had more juice than a block party in her for the way in.

An easy day before had made it at least easier to deal with her literal up and down of emotions, and James reporting he was okay made her at least rest easier last night. He was back on the mend, back in work even, given every day he didn't work was a day unpaid.

She was unsure why he still lived at hers. A hotel, anywhere else, surely it would be within range? Maybe he just liked company. She didn't know her own brother entirely, but had to guess at least that from how he had been looking, his priorities were work, and keeping everything turning. Classic him. Fucking workaholic.

But then again, so was she, because it was a gloriously lovely sunny day in Thursday in the City of Angels, or rather, the City of Trees and PhDs. Flying low, she could inhale all the pine trees, and it was beautiful. It was the small things really.

And there it was. Work. The usual timing, as the song began to cut, and she noticed a grey-armoured figure on the roof.

She set down by Eclipse.

She floated on electricity, standing upright, before falling down, sitting down right by him.

"This is my schtick. You saw me on the roof thinking you could do it. Admit it. You're a little envious." She chuckled, giving him a little nudge, looking out at the city streets below, people going about their day, knowing that if they were subscribers, they were one phone call away from a hero coming to save their day.

She dipped her hand into his Cheetos packet and chewed away, wiping the dust off her gloves, giving a chef's kiss, smiling back.

"Yum. Thanks. And....cheers for the other night. I wasn't all myself. But, you probably saved me from doing something really stupid." She retorted, smiling to him, looking out. "I appreciate that. Very heroic of you. Bet you fucking hate it, don't you. You wanna be nothing but shadowy rather than that. You would fit in perfectly in Manchester with all of how grey it is and people don't talk as much as me." She poked through his armour almost with that, knowing she'd seen another side to him. Another side that maybe he hadn't quite yet gotten to. Lightning Girl enjoyed the view of the midday sun, cape fluttering a little, bouncing off his suit, as she yawned and clambered up, realising it was about that time.

Not coffee time. Electricity time.

"Best you stay back for a second...just need a top up." She walked across the roof, and with a leap, across to the adjacent block, finding the transformer she usually threw herself against. And in a manner that Eclipse would probably find disturbing, she put her hands to both ends, and was spat away, feet above it, being physically shaken like a cocktail in a bartender's hands.

And Lightning Girl took on power. A power that seemed to pick her up off her feet, and she seemed to almost pulsate, turn white-hot, before releasing, and letting go, dropping onto the floor, her eyes paled out, before the semblance of any colour and grey returned with her pupils back in.

"Better. Sorry. Flying takes it out of me." She replied clicking her neck. She didn't hide what she was. Not after a flight like that. She needed a stab of power. Eclipse had to deal with withdrawals. So did she, but at least they didn't hook her. Maybe they had more in common than they liked to admit, she thought to herself, as she looked to him before walking down, foot up on a grate, cape fluttering in breeze, cowl on, silhouette near perfect. If you had to frame a grey-suited, heroine that filled the suit she had with power and poise, it would be it from Eclipse's point of view.

"I appreciate what you said you'd be willing to do. You don't have to do that for me.....but....thanks. See you at work." Sophie almost appreciated him a little, he was more than what that faceplated helmet would ever allow. What she was was someone vulnerable. Someone who needed help. And as a heroine, well, she couldn't help herself. But she had other things to do, and a work that required saving people.

She dropped down and seemed to take no fall damage, going in before Blackstar met Eclipse on the roof, making sure she was as ever, on time. No gym today, just a bit of pre-work admin.

---

Thursday
12:38
Meeting Room
Claremont SDN

SLACK: RD Meeting

The meeting room was dominated, as Valerie finally put the phone down across from Kat and James who sat at the opposite end of the long meeting table, her jaw bouncing, scowling almost. Even in spite of distance, Valerie made it look like she sat across from them. Fucking hell, she was one batch of steroids from looking like the fucking Hulk.

"Fucking, maggots." Valerie seemed almost, as she leaned in, sitting down in the chair at the end, still enormous despite however. She was still angry after her call.

"Kat, why are we paying this grifter so much money? He don't have eight arms, he can't be that good, so why is he on my budget? Even if Max and Sarah talk good...."

"His numbers are impressive. About the only thing I have holding the Phoenix Programme locally together. And I told Payroll to put him to Central, not East. We talked about this." Kat stated, breathing out. "I told corporate we need him, and Max agreed it. Right now, I cannot hire any dispatchers worth a damn. You gave me that at least, otherwise we look like those jerks in Pasadena." Kat was blunt, and defensive of James, all things considered, stuff he appreciated. Kat was ex-Special Forces, Detachment Delta, from what James understood. As capable with a gun as she was in shapeshifting. Someone who killed people in cold blood, but right now, knew how to tame that to not be overbearing. Especially not in front of her boss, and it seemed, a close work colleague. Defending James was certainly principle she was a good egg.

Valerie, ehh, not so much keen.

"Well, and I appreciate you understand being in the room, James, but, this is a lot of money and it's on my fucking pile right now. Kat, you know he ain't cheap. At least we need him on something......else." Valerie almost barked, as James spoke up.

"Look, if you're committing long term because you need dispatch services, I'm sure I can disc..."

Valerie stared daggers at him, as she put hands to table, not needing much force to spill tea all over his shirt.

"I ain't interested. The other dispatchers find out what I'm paying you, you're gonna get so much worse than a broken nose, that's the fucking point." Valerie retorted, before looking to Kat.

"Well, look at the numbers first. He makes us way more P&L than we had even with Riley. We're doing miracles, so all I'm saying is, take the hit in your budget and you get results that offset the problem." Kat reminded Valerie, the warrior queen not exactly flexing a ton of intellect, but enough to at least listen to someone she had respect and time for.

Whipping to her suit jacket and a pair of extremely expensive designer reading glasses were on. She took the paperwork, and silently, ominously, went through them, before putting them down, listening to Kat, talk away.

"And, he is temporary, so yeah, we all agree, it isn't gonna last because James has better things to do. I'll get him to train the next dispatcher when I get someone who ain't gonna fail assessments....but I ain't got much. Not with this ratio of Phoenix Programme, which, I may remind you, you sent here because Pasadena and DTLA turned up their noses at.....and Madcap. We need to talk about him."

"Fine. Are you happy your P&L looks this good?" Valerie asked, as James did not dare reply. Fuck me. She needed one hard look and she'd break his nose again.

"We happy." Kat chuckled, Valerie cracking a smile at the Pulp Fiction reference, as she breathed out, sighing as Valerie leaned back into her chair.

"Madcap ain't my fuck to give. He's a liability. But out here, he can't fuck up too hard because the DoJ told us it's gonna cost them too much to keep him down. Anyway. That wasn't the reason for my visit. This asspit of LA is so fucking far from DTLA that a quake there ain't even making it here, but I am noticing an uptick in performance beyond Prince fucking Harry, Andrew, Charles, Charming whatever the fuck, and you, Kat, are achieving." Valerie gave a significant tongue in cheek, but seemed to also be a little serious.

"Team's performing well." James replied, pointing to the very obvious. Hoping Kat would jump in. She didn't. Valerie was on it, leaning forwards and mocking. Valerie was rough, rough as a Viking shieldmaiden could be, with zero chill for anyone.

"'Team's performing well' yeah, no shit. Kat hires good people and you send those pricks out to do the dirty work, and they haven't yet fucked up completely. You ain't personally doing it. No offense, you ain't got powers, biggest thing you've moved out of the way's a suitcase." Valerie added, not letting James take any shine off of Kat's achievement. James nodded to Kat, the latter knowing it was a team effort, but, Valerie was ruthless. That dig at moving around as a consultant was particularly brutal.

Kat took the lead. "Thank you. Powers or not, we're acheiving it. But you know that anyway, so, what did you want?" Kat replied, sipping down more coffee, Valerie leaning across. She liked Kat. A fellow warrior. Different. But, Kat knew the meaning of hurt. Of making people suffer. Kat was perhaps kinder, warmer, nicer in her retirement, but Valerie, had a literal millennium of breaking people into tiny pieces and was only just about starting to relish in maybe not doing that. Corporately though, maybe she had a millennium of it to go.

"I thought I'd just.....swing on by. See a friend. And because everything seems addicted to going to shit in this world, I need some wins.....I came here thinking you'd be able to make some time to show off your success, Kat. And more importantly, give some higher ups need some good news. The kind that the A-Team......and James have made. The SDN DTLA-Hollywood Gala is on tomorrow evening." Valerie started, slurping down the rest of her Espresso, reluctant, but at least admitting it.

She was cold, icy, shitty, but she wasn't a total bitch. You didn't get to Regional Director without making enemies, but it paid dividends to have friends. It wasn't worth putting people on hills to die on, just, a usual ribbing to send a reminder.

"And I need some heroes who ain't a bunch of miserable pricks, including some Phoenix Programme heroes who aren't gonna go feral when I put them in a suit. Not some shiny, fucking nerds from San Fran, or 'community payback' bullshit from Compton who foam at the mouth when they see celebrities. No. No, I want normal heroes from a real fucking place where real fucking people live, to put in front of the Governor of California, and next to DTLA, A-Listers and Hollywood, so he keeps paying us instead of those bastard nerds, at that motherfucking, ass-eating start up from San Diego. I want heroes who will attend and not cause any problems. Can we do that?" Valerie finished, a reply confidently in turn coming from Kat.

"We can do that." It was assured. Kat didn't have any reason, James nodding.

Valerie nodded. "Good. James, if any single one of your team screw up, I will break every bone in their body, then your body....personally. Like I did to Torsten the Black when he tried to date my sister without telling me and I blood eagled him. I cannot understate how important this is. It's a a meet and greet, you show up, you say hi, you look good for cameras, leave. I can't understate this, we nearly had to close Burbank because the bean counters are scared we're gonna start losing public contracts with local government. We lose that, we're donzo in LA. Gimme something I can work with." Valerie did not fuck around.

Holy shit. What pressure was she under? It meant that Kat had to be dealing with this all of the time, but, clearly they were friendly.

The money aspect always got to people. But James knew he was right. He was talked to like shit, but, James knew that Valerie paid him unquestioningly, just wanted value.

"Understood." James replied.

"Excellent. Get this right, Kat here gets to warm up to the idea of an Assistant Regional Director while she cashes checks, and you, you actually might get a job in SDN that doesn't involve sending Madcrap an' Astrabastard to go wipe some fucking toddler's ass. I want an excuse to make you permanent so my financial line don't look so shitty paying money out of SDN. And I like it when my P&L looks crispy. Fuckers in San Jose are so smug...." The Regional Director was not exactly someone who despite her formal looks, spoke with the highest of formality. James had something to throw back.

"It isn't you, but SDN haven't found the right role yet. It's why I'm independent. I've heard it before. When is this happening? What next? No offense, Valerie. It's been said to me a lot. Every Regional Director. Every time. Ends the same. I end up picking up that big heavy suitcase you talk about and walking away." James put it back to her. He didn't like her badmouthing the team, but then again, he was mortal, she was also, a Regional Director and looked like a thousand years of rage were behind her, replaced by corporate retirement. But, James told it how it was. Valerie might run through him, and he was scared. But he was anything if lacking fact that he knew how these things played out.

Valerie's fist almost curled, as James held his line, Valerie breaking in before he added anything?

"Oh, you ever feel bad about what you do? Milking me good when you're helping heroes?" Valerie asked, as Kat wished in that moment, James shut the fuck up. He should have learned from having his face punched. But as a consultant, he was the jester in the room. Able to tell it as it was. Not just suck up profusely. They paid for results, not for sycophants. James could tell just who Valerie was.

He didn't have a superpower. He just knew how sometimes, you had to play a situation. Valerie didn't want weakness. She wanted warriors. Fighters.

A Scandinavian level of directness.

"I spent the last year running around saving SDN about twenty times what you pay me. Look, let's get down to brass tacks, yeah? Half the computers are running like absolute shit, half of the offices' dilap surveys showing half the place is falling to bits means there's gonna be big moves ahead, which means a shit-ton of logistics for some of the heroes we want to onboard, and to do that, cost cutting isn't gonna help, we need to get investment, and we do that by getting customer retention up. Phoenix Programme means you save money because you aren't paying half of them a living wage, and it takes one really big fuck up, at any branch, and the authorities kill any contracts we have with them in it." James stopped for breath.

"I'm here to try and paper any crack that you have, so yeah, I'm working as hard as I can to keep things afloat like I'm inside this thing with as much on the line as you have, because you're right. You could kick me to the kerb and be done with it. Had that happen to me on Tuesday. I don't even get to sit down and have a normal life because I'm fighting wherever you have the worst fire, East Coast, West Coast. You pay me to be a fixer, so I'm fixing whatever it is. So I don't see it as milking you. This is all I have." James half rambled, putting his words back to Valerie, and putting emphasis on it.

Fuck..

It wasn't his first time. But with Valerie, he knew she would only understand direct, straight, no bullshit.

Even so, fuck, that was a bit much. But he meant it. He actually did. This was all he had. The life outside being this....workaholic, it didn't exist.

Valerie laughed, looking at Kat, leaning back as she almost had a twink in her eye. Damn, okay, this is why Kat kept him around. Holy shit, that was funny, and well, bless him, for someone that took a punch to the face from a hero, well, he was a tryer. A fair point, but, she wouldn't have done that if she was in his place. But Valerie, well, she'd entertain that. Fine, let it roll.

"He's funny. I like how brave he is for someone a bit more......mortal." Valerie chuckled, looking over. "Sure. Chief Growth Officer position just opened up and I'm expecting to be promoted. Who's to say I can't change things, given you seem to....have a track record in developing heroes. They couldn't. Now I could. I need people I can trust....who also ain't gouging the shit out of me, so, maybe let's change your tune.....if this goes well. But as for dispatching fucking heroes, you better give me Grade fucking A. Or I'll ask Snakebite to get some Python to eat your dick." Everyone laughed, as the point was made, but in a humerous way.

Before Valerie cleared her throat. Holy shit, she was scary. Jesus. She looked like she could go cage fight Feno, and look classy doing it.

"I mean that. Punch Up's got nothing on Snakebite's anacondas gobbling up your dick if I tell him to. Make sure it don't fuck up." The room turned to shadow again.

Valerie stood as if to break that all, and with it, took the door. "James, me and Kat need to talk. If you would leave." James took the hint.

Walking towards, the brute of a Regional Director sat again, and the voices continued, as he sheepishly made his way over to the break room, breathing out heavy, brushing the sweat from his forehead.

"Who's that?" Lightning Girl asked, sitting at a table and sipping down tea, ready to go, all geared up with her pack in front of her.

"Regional Director. Love of fuck. We need to tidy up, it looks like a shithole." James called, putting cups and mugs away, as Lightning Girl helped at least to try and make tidy, glancing.

"Wait. Shieldmaiden? Oh damn, yeah, she is way bigger than the poster....." Lightning Girl looked back to James, even herself, feeling a little intimidated. Shit. It wasn't often someone scared her, but, Valerie had that effect. It was why she was a Regional Director, and not some heroine being deployed anymore.

When you were immortal, you tended to give less of a shit about people's feelings when they would die by your hand, or simply be outlasted. She wasn't terrifying like Princess, nor perhaps as potent as Fenomaman was. But, she was by most standards, the blend of intellect, charm, vigor and sheer corporatism that moved gears when people like James and Kat couldn't.

Even with what they did tidying, it wasn't fast enough. Valerie hadn't spent long talking to Kat, her steps clacking. On the way out, Valerie craned her neck into the break room, looking around at the state of it, James and Lightning Girl mixed up with clean up.

And Madcap. She didn't have words, as she shot daggers at James, for uncertain reasons. It was a break room. What was wrong with it? It was an unannounced visit. Not their responsibility.

Valerie would though.

It was that Regional Director stare, almost that "I'm mad, but mad disappointed, not angry" energy she had.

And she would cast a glance at every single one of the team. This was Claremont's A-Team?

A fine bunch. But Kat was always a light touch, looking at each hero in particular, thinking on their file. She always looked at fine print. Well, not finanical, but as a hero herself, she was always interested.

The black suited woman with brown hair, with her cowl on and her dark energy. Fear. The other black suited man, with stars on his suit and gravity. Escape. The shorter, armoured looking shadowy figure. Edgy. The obviously Canadian, ice hockey garb wearing Cree. The peacock. Phenomaman's parallel, towering imperfect. Impersonating. The casual looking redhead with her magnetism. Disillusioned. The almost black and white visage of the white-dress wearing shapeshifter. Lost. The muppet in a bug mask. Pretending. And the electricity wielding woman next to James.

More than a word.

She was in all of their heads. She knew every single one of their pain points. And she wasn't even James, she didn't know them like he did, she had this understating, unnerving ability.

The sort of person you would love to have on your side in a fight, because Valerie was like a brick wall against the bad. Who needed more than just good results. She needed a personal reason, after a thousand years, the names all faded when what mattered was those who stayed by her side when it mattered. But against anyone she didn't like, it was terror. Not cosmic, just, the kind that seemed slow and then fast burning. Not even that of the SDN corporate machine, just of a one-woman raid.

Valerie looked back to Kat and continued walking, their voices trailing as they left.

"Kat, we'll talk later, we'll discuss the quarter at the monthly managers...."

The lift doors opened, as James looked around at the assembled bunch, shaking his head. The ding indicating the lift was going down and the doors were shut.

"Regional Director. Don't." James said nothing, leaving them to it, wiping the sweat from his head, wondering just what the fuck he'd done.

---

Thursday
12:44
Dispatcher's Corner
Claremont SDN

An Unusual Shift

@Auragreedia

James returned to his desk, with Raul working away on getting it back up and running after some problems James called in. The IT technician proudly showed off his work, and it looked more Dia de la Muerte than a workstation. But it would do. He took on the advice, nodding in return, not letting himself get in the way. Raul needed simple replies, nothing more, because he had a to-do list on his Slack that was getting longer and longer.

Fucking hell. Work was a pain. But so was paying for food, Sophie's share of rent, and that all needed doing. He wasn't like Americans, work was work, it was a fucking job, but he was rather addicted to it. That made him more like the people in Claremont than he wanted to admit. Every now and then, leaving this behind, taking proper, real time for himself, came to mind. Instead of nearly being killed by Tsunami, and right now, having to tell Valerie what he thought. A suicidal way even by a shapeshifting boss of his right now to start the day, but oh well, James wasn't an ass-sucker. They didn't pay him to do that, not enough, he thought to himself.

Oh yeah, Raul. Right.

"Thanks. No worries mate, I'll not touch a thing if it keeps it online." James said in his usual northern English accent, Felix purring a little as he greeted Raul and James.

"Yeah, I.....I think I was left to look after the kitten. I'll keep it in mind about Samson's. Best the kitten doesn't get overexposed. Lots of people here who are terrifyingly big." James replied, as he sat down, the meowing from the bin below, picking up Felix as he looked confused, unsure, but, increasingly, comfy around Felix. Then Raul's comment about the carnival. Oh, yeah, right. That was today.

"Right. That sounds like a chilled day. I have got...." James looked right.....

At impressive pile of paperwork developed in his absence, before cutting back to Raul, standing adjacent to it.

"That to do. Thanks for passing it on. I'll let you know if there's any issues." James added, nodding as he looked back at Felix, letting Raul go and get on with his busy day of fixing other people's issues.

'Have you tried turning it off and on again'.

'Have you tried turning it off and on again'.

Whatever the spiritual equivalent of that was. Felix meeped and made it clear he wanted attention, James cutting his thoughts about Raul's busy day and cutting back to Felix's lack of any perspective.

To be a cat....

"Why? Why do I have to look after you? I mean...." James said, as the cat squeaked once more, curling in James's lap, as the Brit sighed.

"Ey. You didn't cause any trouble here did you?" A squeak was the only reply, as James gently stroked his teeny little head and body, the mackrel tabby beginning to grow on him, as he got the first bits of his papers together.

And on that note, Felix alerted him to the sound of the hero coming up from behind bit soon afetr, popping down the succulent and planter, letting her chat away and enjoy the little cat in James's hands.

@cosmiccowgirl

Blackstar had big sister energy all about her. James knew that because he was the older sibling.

"Aww. Thanks Blackstar, me too. I appreciate that a lot. Felix here will love those gifts, too. I'll start him slow on the catnip. He is a growing kitten. Best not hit him with the hard stuff yet." And Felix did love that indeed, purring as he pawed Blackstar, giving an meep, rather than a fully formed meow as of yet. It was amazing how things changed. James, without wanting to say it, was beginning to like his presence. He was a little rascal. Super sleepy, but also, just wanted company. He was a lap cat. Felix loved the little scratcher, and enjoyed Blackstar's scritches, before himself yawning and wanting to leave Felix's hands, going back to the basket, curling up in a way that was absolutely adorable. On her next note....

James yawned as he slid the right form across to Blackstar, giving a thumbs up as he turned in the chair, snapping back to reality as he did so.

"When a goon loses an appendage, you fill this one out. If they get killed, use the one on that pile there, and, I'll make sure we have someone from our Wellbeing team reach out. And I'll be here to talk too. Weirdly, it's shorter, as coroners tend to just want to know how to put down the mess they're about to walk into on their forms. We work in one hell of a fucked up business. But, it could be worse." James did not know at all about Blackstar, as he leaned back in the chair, spinning back.

"You could be me, Blackstar. With no fucking powers at all, a regional director that looks like she was about to run me through a meeting room wall, and some heroine that got promoted out of her capacity, punching me in the face. Anyway. Woe is me, and all that shit. We'll work through this paperwork together. Have a good shift out there. You're doing really well." James commented, a genuine compliment, given that he had nothing to lose. Nothing apart from at least making his team get out there and do some good even if he couldn't.

With it, James put his hand back up to the cat and gave Felix a fuzzy stroke, before putting the computer back on, letting Raul's magic do the trick. It held, and ran nicely, better than before, running on literal hopes and dreams of a cyber-spiritual pep talk. The packet of Fisherman's Friends, with the nice post it from Eclipse was a nice touch.

"Aww. You do have a heart after all." He opened the packet, and chewed on a lozenge, the menthol and eucalyptus giving his tongue something to do while he logged in.

The headset back over head, he watched as the team's profiles all clicked in, and their trackers came to life.

The SDN system was, as he described to Valerie, a pile of shit. But, it was make do and mend. No point crying over it.

"Afternoon, team, checking in as we're on the clock. Looks like you're headed off to a carnival. Not much for me to do today, because I have a ton of admin, so this one's your personal bottle episode. Be friendly. Polite. Nice. Show them why you're all heroes. And if you're not social....I don't know. Try and keep some families safe." James replied, sighing.

"Just don't be too weird. James, out."

---

@SonnetNSunbeam

Lightning Girl smiled, adjusting the headset in her ear, zapping out from the plug, watching Madcap watch the TV again, after all of that. It had been a quiet start. Tea sipped down, a packet of Bourbon Biscuits left on the table (chocolatey biscuits with a chocolate/cream centre to them), it was all rather quaint.

Madcap's suit being different was loud enough. He said it was weird, but hey, she wasn't asking questions. The costume was the last thing on her mind about him.

"Yeah, yeah." She looked to the group hearing James talk, the buzz coming through on her watch, as she looked across the room, seeing a certain black-costumed hero come through, as she shotgunned her tea and put it in the dishwasher, leaning against the countertop.

A powered up Lightning Girl was absolutely more social. She was glad she kept her trap shut around Valerie though. Holy shit.

"Asteroid, you want a lift to the carnival? I ain't pooled with you yet." She asked him, offering a hand, knowing while the gravity. "Don't go making yourself weigh loads. Or you are getting tazed." She smiled at him, the charming British heroine adjusting her cape, hearing that cue and the ping to her watch indicating it was go-time.

---

Jet’s head was still pounding when he made it to his locker- two nights in a row of drinking might have been too much. His skull felt like it was overstuffed with cotton. There was a lot on his mind. His mask felt a bit greasy on his face, and he knew that he’d need to have it cleaned before his next shift. Laundry. Ducky’s food. Calling Rey to get the refrigerator door fixed for good, four months of suffering was enough before calling him. Groceries. It was nearly time to call his mom- which was always a fiasco. Madcap was kind of out of line for that stunt at karaoke. Also- Eclipse and Lightning Girl? Could Blackstar be a good business partner for a bungee jumping business?

He set his lunch bag on the bench behind him. Pushing up on the mechanism to open his locker, he catches the seam of his uniform in the latch.

As it goes up, Jet swears and watches as the seam at his wrist is split about four inches up. His hands roughly drop to his sides, and he looks up to the ceiling in a huff. “It’s fine. It’s fine.” He mumbles it behind clenched teeth before refocusing his gaze on his locker. Inside, in front of his sewing kit, is a bottle of fish food.

For the first time since he woke up with a splitting headache that morning, he actually thought about how he got home after the bar. Flying- the chill of the wind reaching his bones. The blue-light pollution-green sky. The stars. Blackstar. Oh. Oh that’s.

His pulse races, his neck heats. Okay. So Blackstar flew him home. She knows where he lives. That’s- that can be okay. An itch crawls up his spine and he checks behind him for the eyes of someone else. Nobody else seems to be looking at him, there are a few people changing shifts, but everyone seems to be minding their business. In the fuzziness on the sides of his vision, memories of stars creep in.

Her silhouette among the stars is burned into his memory- and by how well he remembers the details, he knows drunk him was fixated on this moment. Through his glove he bites the thumbnail on his right hand.

He wants to know if her eyes would’ve sparkled the same way as the stars. Jet can almost picture her smiling, and he wonders if she’s seen the northern lights before.

Fuck. He had to call Rey for two reasons now.

This thought finally kicks him into motion again. Drawstring work bag in, sewing kit out. He closes his locker and puts his earpiece in.

Did Blackstar drop him food for Ducky? He ran through the list of coworkers, and couldn’t think of a single one who liked him enough to make this happen. Except maybe Lightning Girl. But, leaving it in his locker didn’t seem like her style.

Lightning Girl seemed like the type to hand it to him in person. Eclipse would do something like this- for somebody he liked. At least- that’s what Jet assumes. But he didn’t know Eclipse yet, so that was off the table. It had to be her.

Goosebumps jump up his forearms.

He saddles up to a computer that he shares with the other heroes in the office. In Slack he finds a message from James- in it, he’s asked to fill out his timesheet. Which- fair. So he quickly fills that out and then he checks his email. In it, he’s got some notes from credit collectors, a note from the last prison he’d been in before SDN picked him up. Finally- a note from his mother- from one of her sewing friends. Details on what number to call and what time for next week.

He picks a printout of the information after logging out.

Then he’s walking into the breakroom. Madcap is in front of the tv. The outfit change warrants a stare- so he does from the door. With Madcap’s focus, Jet almost expects a fly to buzz around behind his pupils like a cartoon. Blackstar and Lightning girl are seated. With James outlining today’s dispatch he shoves his lunch box in the fridge. When he reaches the table he wastes no time busting open his sewing kit to fix the seam he ripped at his locker. “Anyone else even got the ability to be hung over?” He shoves the needle and thread into the fabric with a quick and practiced hand.

Once he’s all sewn in, he folds up the printer page into his sewing kit, and shoves it into one of the high up cabinets for retrieval after shift.

"Asteroid, you want a lift to the carnival? I ain't pooled with you yet."

When she offers her hand, he keeps his glove on and nods. “Yeah- it’ll probably take four times as long to jump there based on recent experience.” He laughs a bit, and tilts his head in Blackstar’s direction. The motion is jerky, like someone who is used to the weight of a helmet.

What a fucking night.

Tsunami showed up and everything went to shit. Their dispatcher - who had tried to come in with a haymaker on the gal, of all things, had gotten shwacked pretty hard, and then Lightning Girl decided to become a goddamn lightning bolt. Lots of threats left and right before her and Eclipse - hell, then Blackstar and Asteroid - went outside for a bit. Was a hell of a time.

Myla hadn’t even realized that she’d switched on, too. She could feel the shifting away of everything, everything, the tilting of the hundred pictures on the wall or the static in the music, could feel that whole cocoon over her from it. A hand had found her baton, too. She could feel it tugging away from her grip, ready to fly. A deep breath, then, a deep breath and a calming down and things went…

Well, no. They didn’t quite get to normal. They drank a little more. James looked like hell, had a bandage and everything. She breathed a bit more, had a water to calm down. She’d been ready to skewer that person - how would that have gone? Someone else said that they would keep things quiet ish. Yeah, that wouldn’t happen, there were enough customers, and the fucking bartender lady, that Myla was sure that some report to SDN would be made. People filtered out and she disappeared. No one asked many questions. She didn’t get any texts. Hell, there was a thought, she couldn’t get any texts. No numbers, no phone, nothing like that. Her Timex had gone to static too, for a brief little bit, but it came back to life anyways.

Yeah. Just go on a hike, the guy said. Just static away the bracelet and the rest and go on a hike. You’ll just burn a bit. It’s just a hike, and you’ll just burn a bit. Whole fuckin Phoenix Program gone to shit and everything gone away for just a hike. Yeah, sure.

But hey, back to work it was. She needed to sign something off, though, that’s what the front desk said. They handed her a paper, she put in the information here and there and…wherever that was. It was for her little device - honestly, Myla was surprised that this was the first time she’d had to write about it. How many people was it that she’d blinded? Was halfway sure that it was temporary, too. Hand that off to the front desk lady, she says it had to go to James directly. Well, fine then, don’t do what is maybe-probably your job. Fine.

Weave around the desks a little, put that paper down on his, take a pencil. It looked kinda neat ish. Kinda. On to that break room. Her earpiece crackled on, though, as she walked in to find Asteroid and Madcap. A few others are in there, too. Myla’s brain pauses as she hears what the dispatcher says.

"Afternoon, team, checking in as we're on the clock. Looks like you're headed off to a carnival. Not much for me to do today, because I have a ton of admin, so this one's your personal bottle episode. Be friendly. Polite. Nice. Show them why you're all heroes. And if you're not social....I don't know. Try and keep some families safe."

"Just don't be too weird. James, out."

Don’t be too weird. Aw, fuck.

And hey, there was Lightning Girl, too. She seemed in a way better mood. What the heck had happened before, with her and Eclipse? Fuck. Myla tried to become wallpaper.

"Asteroid, you want a lift to the carnival? I ain't pooled with you yet. Don't go making yourself weigh loads. Or you are getting tazed."

“Yeah- it’ll probably take four times as long to jump there based on recent experience.”

Myla stared at the very, very obvious head-jerk from Asteroid. To Blackstar? Hell, are they hooking up from the night before? Didn’t they just get the little bit outside thing, or had there been more…had they gone home together? Maybe. She couldn’t really remember that detail, everyone just kind of disappeared or…maybe Myla had been the one to disappear? Probably. That sounded about right.

She stared, though. There were only a few people who flew here or there, and somehow she really, really didn’t want to demand one of them fly her in. Somehow.