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August 18th, 2033
Bratchford College
5:30 PM
"Wow, look at that building! Now that’s something you don’t see every day."
Grace and Patricia were currently standing in the middle of Bratchford College in Kingsdale, a fairly small liberal arts college in the upper-class district. Grace had insisted that Patricia begin to seriously think about higher education now that she was entering her senior year, and had recently presented her with a massive itinerary of local college tours full of schools that Patricia could realistically get into. Grace insisted that Patricia not abandon her education, lest she end up like Jamie, and that being an employee of HERO meant that her chances of acceptance would be much higher, and tuition costs would be partially covered by the organization. Grace had pretty much strong-armed Patricia into going on the tours, but Grace promised that she would treat Patti to a nice dinner at a fancy steakhouse, all on her, and that she would go to the gym with her.
Grace was wearing a red-and-black Bratchford College sweatshirt that was a couple sizes too big on her and jean shorts. Her hair was freshly-dyed and braided, tied into two buns atop her head. She was holding a glossy Bratchford pamphlet and, as she was following the tour, made sure to constantly lob factoids about the college at Patricia. "That building is called Baker Hall. Constructed in 1898, originally as a church, but it was later purchased by the college for use for the department of history,” Grace explained as she followed the tour through the college campus. "You know, this school is a sister college of Kingsdale College. Definitely has a level of prestige there. It was founded in 1879 in response to Kingsdale College’s refusal to admit women. It’s still an all-girls school, though I’m sure you already know that..." Grace whisper-said to Patti, looking at the back of the pamphlet. "Your SAT scores are a bit lower than the average SATs here, so maybe you could retake it, but I’m sure being in HERO will be a massive boost to your resume. Plus, the financial aid packages here are very generous...combined with HERO scholarship money, you’re going to have extremely limited out-of-pocket costs. Isn’t that neat?"
Before Grace could hear a response, though, the woman leading the tour, a sweet-looking middle-aged blonde lady named Susan, stopped the group in the middle of a large plaza with a patina statue of a woman. ”I’m going to stop you guys here at Bratchford Plaza. Here’s our founder, Mary Anne Bratchford, a real fighter for women’s rights and equality. Here at Bratchford, we make sure that every young lady that attends our school will feel safe, comfortable, and obtain the best possible educational experience.” Susan smiled brightly. ”Anyway, I need to take a quick call, and we’ll resume the tour momentarily.” With that, she held her phone up to her ear and began whispering angrily at it as the tour group splintered apart into their own separate conversations.
Grace turned back to Patti with an equally bright Susan smile. "Sooo...what do you think? You like it? Don’t like it? You seem like you could be Bratchford Bear material.”
Patricia shrugged, not looking up from her phone. She had been too busy talking to Eliza to pay attention to most of the tour, so had pretty much missed everything except “women’s college”. Which sounded interesting enough, but this was not where she wanted to be today. “It’s alright. Their music program any good?” she asked, but more muttered, still tapping away on her phone.
It had not been Patricia’s choice to attend this college tour marathon with Grace, but unfortunately, overbearing mothers don’t give their daughters much of a choice. When Grace had sat down with Patricia and her mother to “talk” (immediate red flags, Patti had thought, and she had been right), her mom had jumped at the chance to get someone knowledgeable and intelligent and responsible to go on college tours with her. Which had got Patti stuck on this thing. It wasn’t so bad- she had planned to start doing tours sooner or later anyways, and she was becoming a senior. She had just been so busy for so long that she hadn’t thought about it, and was now being dragged through a women’s college by her coworker. Unlike Grace, Patricia had not really dressed for the occasion. In defiance, she had worn her deepest purple lipstick and applied her best smokey eye. But much to Patricia’s chagrin, her style seemed to fit in at Bratchford. Her black corduroy skirt, long-sleeved black and white crop top, and black high top boots made her seem like the perfect perspective student. Damn Eliza for suggesting she go goth today! She had also worn sunglasses, but, well… that was more for not being recognized anyways. Even though that hadn’t worked. Already, a couple people had pointed at them and gasped, either scared or gleeful to see a celebrity.
Being famous was the worst.
Grace folded her arms as Patricia spoke. "You are not paying attention at all, Patti,” Grace said condescendingly. She uncrossed one arm, raising it, and with a quick slashing motion, she opened a small portal right in front of Patti’s hands. The portal sucked the phone right out of the girl’s mitts, like a vacuum cleaner picking up dust, and a second mini-portal deposited the phone into Grace’s hands. Grace put the phone into her pocket. "You have to pay attention! This is your future. What if something were to happen to you, or your voice, and you get taken off of HERO’s roster? You need a degree. And plus, it’s important that you expand your educational experience and find a good college for you.” Grace tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And before you ask, music does not count. Pick something better. Don’t you like history? Or political science? Or maybe even acoustics? That might help with your singing powers.”
“HEY!” Patti screeched, and grabbed for her phone right before Grace put it into her pocket unsuccessfully. She stomped her foot. A few eyes turned their way, curious about the portal and her screeching, and Patricia blushed bright red. Maybe she shouldn’t have shouted that. “That’s my phone, Grace!” she hissed, and grabbed for it again. “Give it back! I was texting Eliza…”
Knowing Grace, Patricia wasn’t about to get that phone back. She sighed heavy, rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. Who did Grace think she was? Her mom? “You are the worst. I get the value of a college degree and everything, but if my voice gives out, I’m sure H.E.R.O will give me a job as a secretary or something. Or, my pretty impressive resume could get me a good job anywhere else.” Patricia examined her nails, which she had painted a nice pink last night. “No, no, and… is that guitar? Acoustics sounds sort of cool.” Patricia took out the brochure out of her pocket (it had been folded very small), and browsed through it, frowning. “How about Women’s Studies? Or Superpower Studies? I’m a woman, and I have superpowers,” she commented, only half-joking. A couple majors on there sounded alright, but she wasn’t about to tell Grace that.
The older girl pursed her lips at Patti’s outburst. ”Do you want to be a secretary? Or do you want to do something you have passion for? Because college affords you a chance to do that.” She rolled her eyes at Patti’s jesting. ”Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the properties of mechanical waves, particularly sound...so yes, guitars, sort of. And if you’re really passionate about gender studies, then knock yourself out. Just...take this seriously, OK?”
“Oh. Ew.” Patricia wrinkled her nose at the mention of physics. Eugh.
Grace played with the same loose strand of purple hair, knotting it around her finger and then letting it unwind. ”I...I just wanted to do something good for you, OK? Be a good friend, help you with something that I’m good at. In case...in case I’m not in Castleburg for much longer,” she said finally, choking out the last phrase with a pained expression on her face.
Patricia’s eyes flicked to Grace, annoyance melting off her face in favor of concern. “What does tha-”
Before Patti could respond, though, Susan got off her phone and gave a bright, forced smile. ”Sorry for the delay, folks!” she chirped. ”We’ll get right back to the tour. We’re going to head to the President’s Hall now near the center of campus,” she explained, and the tour group began to move again. Grace didn’t speak, her eyes dimly turning to face the guide and walking, her hands shoved into her pockets as a large bubble of gum expanded from her lips.
Patricia followed the tour group, brochure forgotten in her hands. Grace wasn’t leaving... was she? Her chest tightened. As much as she would never admit it in a million years, in the past months Grace had become a friend. A good friend. A little more than that, even, with all the shit they had gone through together. It had occurred to Patti before that Grace might one day go back to Korea, but she had sort of though Grace would want to stay in Castleburg forever. She walked along, staring anxiously and only half-listening, before saying, “What does that mean? Grace, you aren’t… are you going back? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Grace popped the obnoxiously large bubble that was forming at her lips, spitting the wad into a nearby trashcan. ”You know that whole EAGLES thing...it didn’t exactly improve HERO’s reputation. The opposite, more like,” Grace explained softly as they walked through the campus. ”There’s been a surge of younger heroes, though, and so...how do I put this...ICOSA wants to trim the fat, so to speak. Ship out some of the older heroes so they can help mold the new ones into something that they want.” She spoke with a tone of intense disapproval in her voice. ”Brie going to LA wasn’t just some coincidence. I know it isn’t. ICOSA is just trying to prune us. Split us up. I’m expecting an official letter sometime today...” Grace looked down guiltily, trailing off, staring down at her sneakers as she walked.
Patricia’s heart stopped. Then started. Then stopped again. No. She stared off into the distance, still walking along, and clenched her fists. Why would they do that? They couldn’t just… take everybody away! Brie leaving had been enough of a blow- she had really been one of Patti’s best friends- but she hadn’t thought it was ICOSA’s fault. Was Grace leaving, too? Her stomach dropped at the thought. “N-no you’re not!” she exclaimed, loud. “They can’t just do that! Tell them you wanna stay. Because… because of that new C.R.E.W thing. They’ll get it. They have to.” Patricia turned her gaze to Grace again, and moved closer to her. She’d mind control ICOSA into letting her stay if she had to! “You can’t leave. If they’re “trimming the fat”, then… what about the rest of us?” She said “us”, but it was clear in that moment that Patricia really meant “me”. She said all this with near desperation in her voice, quiet but worried. Was that what Grace had meant earlier, that she might not have H.E.R.O. to rely on forever?
”Shush, shush, we’re in public, quiet down,” Grace whispered annoyedly at Patricia. ”I’ve already told them that I don’t want to go. I’m just going to have to wait and see...believe me, Patti, I don’t want to leave. I have…friends here.” By “friends,” of course, Grace meant the type of friends that hug and kiss, though she didn’t say that part aloud. ”You’ll probably be fine, at least for now. You still live with your mom, after all,” Grace said soothingly, putting a hand on Patti’s shoulder. ”They can’t just make a minor pack up and move to a foreign country. But if you were born and raised in that country, and worked there for most of our life...different story,” Grace explained bitterly, for once not paying close attention to the tour.
”Nothing is decided yet, but...just in case. I wanted to spend some time with you.” Grace smiled weakly. ”I’m surprised you didn’t sniff out my ruse already. You should know I would never, ever go to the gym unless something like this was happening,” she said lightly.
“I just thought you finally recognized the importance of being able to break someone’s nose or run for 10 minutes straight…” Patti muttered, half to the side. It was relieving that they couldn’t make her leave, but still. She was only a while away from 18. And she didn’t want Grace to leave, either. “Do you maybe have the addresses of these ICOSA guys? And do they maybe… live in Castleburg?” she asked, only half-jokingly, and glanced at Grace again.
”There’s nothing important about lifting a heavy metal bar over and over again,” Grace retorted. She frowned at Patricia’s next statement. ”If you do what I know you’re thinking of, you will be forced to move. Into a jail cell. For a long time,” Grace said plainly. ”Don’t worry too much about me. Even if I do get transferred...I’ll still be alright. PHANTOM was fun,” Grace said optimistically. ”You forget that I am Korean, anyway, and that I used to work there. I’m sure everything will turn out just fine. Now, why don’t you focus on the tour, and then we’ll grab a bite to eat afterwards. Do you like sushi? Of course you do, everybody likes sushi...”
“Hmph.” Patricia crossed her arms, again, scrunching up her face. She knew Grace would be fine, it was more the idea of her leaving that scared her. And plus, she totally wouldn’t get caught if she mind controlled some ICOSA councilmen. “Sushi sounds nice,” she said, and cracked a smile. She was still worried, but even if Grace was leaving, it would be nice. Then it would be even nicer to break her the following day in the gym. Then she raised up her hands, and chuckled. “Fine. I’ll focus on the tour if it makes you happy, jeez…”
Grace smiled back warmly. ”That’s the spirit! Well, actually, that’s not quite the spirit, but we’re getting there.” Grace smiled. ”Tour’s almost over, anyway. We just have to get to the science labs and that’s pretty much it. Then it’s off to a nice dinner. Here...” Grace fished into her pocket, giving Pati back her phone. ”But if I see you texting again, I will not hesitate to drop it directly into the harbor.,”
Though her words were harsh, Grace had on a gentle smile that made it clear she was joking. Well, half-joking.
“Oh thank God,” Patricia muttered. There was only so much yammering a girl could take, and after their fifth tour, Patti was at her limit. Plus, sushi did sound nice. Walking made her hungry. Seeing her phone, though, made her even happier. She snatched it out of Grace’s hands greedily, ready to text Eliza again, before Grace made her warning. “Fine, fine. You better get me the most expensive sushi roll they have.” So she tucked her phone into the tiny pocket of her skirt and followed the tour.
One very adult dinner later…
Grace was drunk.
She wasn’t totally and utterly wasted, her tolerance for alcohol having improved from inhumanly low alcohol tolerance to extremely lightweight, but she was still very clearly tipsy from having almost six shots of sake in her system. Her plate emptied, Grace was finishing off her last drink of sake, before putting the porcelain cup back down on the table. She gave a dopey smile. ”Well, I’ll drive you home,” she said, her words a bit jumbled as she stood from her seat, stumbling somewhat, the eyes of nearly every patron in the high-end sushi restaurant shooting towards her. ”Leeet’s go.”
True to Patricia’s word, she had made Grace buy her the most expensive rolls on the menu. Along with a California roll, of course. It was the best kind! But she munched on her rolls happily, with… one caveat. She watched Grace down 6 shots of sake with growing concern. Oh. This is going to be bad, she thought after the third. Grace had never handled alcohol well. She didn’t try to stop her, though. This would be hilarious. Patricia could barely hold back laughs now, watching her stagger up from her seat.
“No way are you driving,” Patricia said, and grabbed onto Grace’s arm. She was trying desperately to hold back her laughter, but a few giggles escaped anyways. “Give me your keys. Now. Come on.” She held out her hand for Grace’s car keys, motioning.
”Fine. You can drive. Not because I’m drunk or anything, but because...you should practice,” Grace mumbled as she removed her keys from her pocket, putting them in Patricia’s palm, before staggering for the door. She walked out, nearly tripping over herself as she made her way to her car. It was Grace’s favorite car, her Jaguar D-Type, a classic matte black 1950s racing vehicle that Grace had purchased at auction and refurbished. The vehicle could easily have been worth 7 digits (though Grace had shrewdly obtained it for less), but somehow seemed almost normal in the fancy sushi restaurant parking lot. Grace drunkenly attempted to slide over the hood of the car, failing and nearly falling off the vehicle, before sitting down in the passenger seat.
As Grace struggled to put her seatbelt into the socket, she spoke with a silly grin. ”Patti Patti Patti, you know what we should do?” she said, the excitement in her tone contrasted by the slow and jumbling, drunken manner she spoke with. ”We should do what you thought about before. We should go to that ICOSA guy’s house and mess him up. Do your singing thing, you know.” Grace giggled. ”I’ve been to his apartment before, so I know where he lives! Here...” Grace tapped on the (custom-created) screen on the head unit of the car, opening Google Maps. ”127 Terrace Avenue. It’s in Kingsdale, too! We just barge in, hypnotize him, and then get it. Easy-peasy. Woo! Grace and Patti adventure!”
“Oh yeah, totally, that’s the reason,” taunted Patti as they left the sushi restaurant. She held the keys tight, watching Grace. As they walked to the car. “C’mon, Grace. Door’s right there.”
Once Grace managed her way into the passenger seat, Patricia buckled her seatbelt in, too, getting settled in the driver’s seat with caution. She didn’t think she had ever driven such a fancy car before, and she wouldn’t want to mess it up. What was this… a Leopard? Some sort of cat. Nice car… she ran her hands over the steering wheels. This whole situation was funny, really. Getting Grace drunk, although disastrous, was fun. Except when she tried to hit on her. That was just weird.
When Grace suggested they go over to an ICOSA agent’s house, though, Patricia just cackled. Drunks came up with the craziest plans. “No way. That was just a joke, remember? We could go to jail? I’m taking you home, not to some dude’s house to fuck him up.” She turned the keys in the car, and pulled out of the parking lot and started to go in the direction of where she thought Grace’s house was.
”Wrong direction, Patti!” Grace called out. ”You’re being silly. Car, navigate to 127 Terrace Avenue, Kingsdale, Castleburg,” Grace commanded, and at once the car began to operate on its own, pulling a tight U-turn and speeding well above the limit down the highway in the opposite direction.
“Wait- nO!” Patricia screeched, suddenly panicking as the car wrenched itself from her control and started to speed onto the highway. This was not happening. They could not be going to that guy’s place- they’d get arrested, or worse, and Patricia had had so many unpleasant experiences with authorities lately that put the fear of God in her. “GRACE MOK! Nononono- car, go home! Home!” She banged on the display. “Grace, if we don’t get pulled over for speeding first, we’ll go to Coldwater, we can’t.” She tried desperately to control the car, pulling the steering wheel with all her might.
”Nope, not happening” Grace responded with a wide, very intoxicated smile. ”Come on, Patti, it’ll be fun! And easy! And we won’t get caught. We’re us!” The car narrowly avoided collision as it zoomed down the highway, well over 100 miles per hour at this point. ”I thought you wanted me to stay! This is the easiest way to do that!”
Patricia still tried to tug the steering wheel to the side, squeezing it. She also stepped on the brakes as hard as possible. “At least slow the car down, Jesus! We’ll hit someone,” she cried, seeing people swerving out of the way of their car. “Grace, you’re drunk, you’re not thinking straight, and we literally just got out of 50 first degree murder charges two weeks ago! This is a bad idea. I want you to stay, but you can also just like… ask them not to transfer you.” She let go of the wheel and took her by the shoulders and shook her, hard. “Stop! Being! Drunk!”
”I’M NOT DRUNK!” Grace shouted back with equal volume as the car took a narrow dive towards the right, barely making it onto the exit ramp without slamming into the guardrails. ”This is so much easier than asking. Plus, this way, they’re guaranteed to listen!” Grace said, sticking her tongue out as the vehicle finally began to slow down in front of a nice brick apartment building. Compared to the glamor of Kingside, it wasn’t anything particularly awesome, but it was still a nice, rustic building that Grace had spontaneously planned to break into.
Grace stepped out of the vehicle, somewhat winded from the high-speed car ride. ”Come on, Paaaatiii. It’ll be quick and easy. And then I get to stay!” Regular Grace would have thought of a plan of action first (in reality, Regular Grace would not have been in this situation in the first place), but Drunk Grace did not have any semblance of Regular Grace’s rationality. She instead lifted her hand and fired a disc-shaped, violet projectile at the oaken lobby doors, which promptly splintered cleanly in the center, leaving a smoldering hole in its wake.
”Right through here,” Grace said, stepping into the lobby of the apartment building as the night guard looked up from his magazine in total confusion.
“Intruders!”
Patti did not, in fact, calm down. “JESUS CHRIST!” Grace threw a portal frisbee at the door, making a splitting sound. Shit. She didn’t want to do this, but it looked like Grace was leaving her no choice- she had already committed a crime. The most Patricia could do was make sure they didn’t actually go to Coldwater. So Patricia got out of the car and dashed into the lobby after Grace, intent on making sure she didn’t do anything else. But the night guard was in there, and he was yelling and reaching for his phone…
“Laaaa-AAAAAA!~” Patricia opened her mouth and sang, much to the night guard’s complete confusion. “Don’t call anyone and don’t move,” she ordered, and he put down the phone and froze. Good. She stalked forward, and grasped his chin in her hand. “Listen to me. You will forget all of this, everything that happened tonight, you understand? None of this ever happened. You’ll forget us. And, once you wake up, you’ll wipe tonight’s tapes because they’re clearly faked. Nod if you understand.” He nodded, fearfully. “Good. Now go to sleep.”
The poor night guard closed his eyes and sank back into his chair, falling into a deep sleep. Then, Patricia turned to face Grace. “You are not going up there!” she cried, in a stark contrast from her prior tone. She grabbed Grace’s arm, stern. “Stop being a fucking idiot. I’m taking you home before you do anything dumb. Come on. Let’s go, now.”
Grace nearly fell over when Patti pulled on her arm, her lack of balance very clearly apparent as she staggered for the front door. She seemed to have sobered up a bit, though, as she followed after Patricia, making her way over to the car and flopping into the seat after fumbling to open the door. She smiled with a look in her eyes that only a drunk person having succesfully accomplished something stupid would have. ”Guess what I managed to portal out of his office?” she said, holding up a manila file that had appeared in her hands, as if by magic. ”Transfer forms! I almost destroyed his desk in the process, but I got them!” She giggled. ”I’ll fill these out later...mission accomplished, though! Thank you so much, Patato.” She smiled. ”We’ve now successfully violated ICOSA Article 3, Title Fourteen of the official ICOSA handbook. It was soooo easy, too! Loser didn’t even have any security systems. What type of stupid-ass ICOSA agent doesn’t even have-”
At that moment, the sounds of sirens erupted through the building as the ICOSA representative’s security systems went off. The sounds of sirens began to grow louder as Grace blinked. ”Oh fuck. Drive!”
Patricia gasped at the sounds of the sirens. Oh, this was bad. Grace had stolen paperwork, just paperwork, and the police were definitely coming now. This was just the thing she needed, to be hunted by police for a second time this month. But it was okay. They definitely wouldn’t put them in real prison now, right? “Fuck!” she exclaimed, and turned the keys in the ignition. Then, she stepped on the brakes, and the expensive car zoomed forward and out of the parking lot. They were going fast, but Patti slowed down as they reached the traffic lanes, not wanting to make a scene. She could hear the police sirens, but maybe they wouldn’t know it was their car?
“Fuck, Grace, just like- put that in your empty space or your closet or something! It’s incriminating information, you dumbass! God, I’m never letting you drink alcohol again.”
”Alright, alright, put it in an empty space or my closet or something… ” Grace repeated, clutching the files to her chest. ”Got it! You can handle the cops, right? Of course you can, you’re Patti...alright, don’t dent the car!” And with those parting words, Grace opened a portal under her seat and dropped through, leaving Patti alone in the vehicle.
“Wait, what?” And just like that, Grace disappeared into a portal. Did Grace just… abandon her? Patti’s mouth dropped open for a second, flabbergasted, before she screamed in rage and dug out her phone. Grace was so dead. She got to Grace’s contact, the phone dialing, but not before...
Police sirens blared as they pulled up to the vehicle (which was so expensive, it was easily distinguishable from the others). Several cop cars pulled up next to Grace’s car, demanding that the driver pull over immediately.
Patti panicked, dropping the phone. Her driver’s lessons had taught her to pull over when the police asked, but nearly everything in her body screamed at her to drive away. She tried to find an opening in traffic, eyes flitting about wildly with her hands still on the driver’s wheel. But there was none, and about three cop cars were surrounding her. So Patti obeyed her driver’s lessons and pulled over to the side and rolled down her windows. This would’ve been so much easier to explain if Grace had been here, but now… she gulped. This wasn’t even her car. And everybody knew her face now!
Oh, God, she was so grounded. Patti’s hands tensed on the wheel, and she tried very hard not to hit something.
A flashlight ran over the outside of the car as a police officer walked up to the vehicle. She leaned down in front of the driver side window and removed her glasses, revealing the bruised face of Castleburg Police Department Officer Sarah Burke.
“Well, look what we got here,” the police officer said with a scarily vengeful grin. “You know, that stunt you pulled at the club got my salary slashed in half…” she muttered wistfully, before looking back at Patricia with a devilish grin. “I’m going to need to have you step out of the vehicle, ma’am. And no funny business.”
Shit. This was the worst cop possible to get caught by. Patti smiled nervously, starting to sweat. Her hands grew slippery on the wheel. She briefly considered using her power, but decided that would be a distinctly terrible idea. “L-listen, ma’am,” she started, unbuckling her seatbelt, “nothing about that encounter was personal. You know, I’m sorry. I didn’t really want to hypnotize anyone, especially a cop, of which I have the utmost respect for, but it was necessary. You know, I was innocent, and no one got hurt, so it worked out in the end, didn’t it? I’m sorry that your salary was slashed and everything, I really am, but can’t we just let bygones be bygones? You’d be doing me a big favor.” Patti was taking a page out of Starbright’s book, trying to charm the fuck out of this woman. She smiled, wide and slightly disconcerting, and unlocked the door just for prosperity. “Please?”
Officer Burke rolled her eyes. “Alright, I won’t make your life as miserable as possible, fine. But I’m still taking you in for trespassing and larceny,” she said, opening the door and grabbing Patti by the elbow, hauling her casually out of the vehicle (as it so happened, Officer Burke was quite strong). She pinned Patti’s hands behind her back and slapped a pair of sleek, silver-and-blue isocuffs on her wrists. “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in court, et cetera, et cetera. Now, in the cop car, princess.” Officer Burke swung open the back door of her cruiser. “And if you try anything, particularly, anything musical, I will forget our bygones-be-bygones thing and smash your forehead directly into the side of the car.”
“W-wait, I didn’t steal anything, that wasn’t me!” Patti yelped as the officer cuffed her. As always, she felt a sinking, nauseous feeling in her stomach as the isolene cut off her superpower. “Hey! It wasn’t me, you can’t take me to jail!” Patricia didn’t step into the car, standing there, looking stubborn. She was so going to kill Grace when she saw her.
“Well, you’re the only one in the damn car, so unless the culprit mysterious teleported away, you were definitely responsible,” Officer Burke said sarcastically, grabbing Patti by the hair. “Now, since your legs are obviously failing you, I’ll give you a hand.” With those words, she roughly shoved Patti into the back of the cruiser and slammed the door shut. “Hope you enjoy sleeping behind bars!”
The next morning, the summer sun was shining brightly through the small, rectangular, cell window of Patti’s cell at the East Flank 48th Precinct holding cell. The cell was comfortably spacious and the inevitable ending location of the crew’s many misadventures. It even had a gumball machine.
At 7:00 AM sharp, the sounds of heavy footsteps filled the corridor as the tall, imposing figure of Director Hugo Powers entered the corridor. He walked up to the souped-up, rich-person cell that Patricia had been given, rapping his knuckles against one of the steel bars. Inexplicably, this simple action produced a lot of noise, comparable to the sound of a gong, as Powers peered into the cell. ”Good morning, Aria. I’m going to ask that you wake up now.”
Patricia… hadn’t really gone to sleep. Filled with anxiety at the thought of getting in trouble for something she definitely hadn’t done, she had stayed up for most of the night, worrying. She really hated being in jail, and felt tense for most of the night. But eventually she had dozed off on the bed in a weird half-sitting position. She had gotten about two hours of sleep. But at 7:00 AM sharp, she jolted awake from her sleep to the sound of Powers’s voice. Oh no. But at least it wasn’t her mom. She stared into his eyes, anxiety ramping up.
“G-good morning, sir!” Patti sat up ramrod straight and tried to hide terror. “I promise, this is not what it looks like. You see, Grace got drunk, and, well… it’s all her fault! Please don’t call my mom,” she begged, staying seated and as far away from the door as she could get.
The director looked at the girl, his arms behind his back, his gaze as stoic as ever. ”I know,” he said, reaching forward and opening the cell door. ”Bypass informed me of the whole situation this morning. You’re off the hook,” he said. ”You’re all clear to go now. You might want to check on Grace, though. Being fired can be a rough experience.”
"F-fired?" Although her relief was palpable after finding out she wasn't in trouble, that word in particular made her wince for her friend. Even though it had been her that had gone Patti into trouble, she still didn't want Grace to be in that much trouble. She stood up, and walked out of the door. "Sir, you can't fire Grace over this. I mean, yeah, she was being dumb… but Blake and Brie and Jamie used to he dumb together all the time and you never fired them. And-and you know she can't control herself when she's inebriated. She just wanted to… to stay here. That's why. So while I would love my vengeance… she deserves her job. I think."
If Powers was feeling any sort of emotion, he certainly didn’t show it, instead looking at Patti with a blank, collected expression. ”Out of my hands. ICOSA takes these matters very seriously. I’m forced to have her suspended from the organization until they do a whole formal investigation. Then they do some sort of tribunal, which will determine her future here,” Powers said. ”In any case, my hands are tied here. I’m sure if you talk to her, she’ll feel much better..” Powers pulled out a set of car keys from his pocket. ”Here’s your...well, Grace’s car keys. It’s a nice ride, enjoy the time you get to drive it while you can.” With that piece of advice, Powers walked out of the corridor, his heavy footsteps echoing through the area as he left.
Patricia grasped the keys in her hands and frowned. She watched Powers leave. That was… disappointing. She was a bit too tired to be mad about it, and she knew that Grace definitely had done something wrong, but still. Grace didn’t deserve to be fired! Maybe a pay cut, yeah, but…
It was out of her hands, though, unless she really wanted to come back to the precinct later that day. The only thing she could really do was try and be a good friend. Even if Grace had just gotten her arrested. So Patti left the precinct and went to go find the car. It wasn’t difficult to find- apparently someone had recovered it from when she had been pulled over. She unlocked the car door and sat in the driver’s seat.
“Car, direction to McDonald’s closest to Grace’s- I mean, my house?”
About 30 minutes later (it was that time of morning when everybody was going to work and Castleburg traffic was miserable), there was a ding as Grace’s doorbell rang. For good measure, Patti banged her fist on the door, too. Poor girl was probably passed out right now. “GRACE! Open up!” she yelled. She had gotten a Big Breakfast with Hotcakes for Grace, and an Egg McMuffin for herself, along with two frappes. “Come on, I’ve got food!”
”Coming! ” came the surprisingly chipper response, and a few moments later, Grace opened the door. She was unexpectedly in a rather good moment, though she did look somewhat hungover and disorderly. Her hair was tousled and fell in a knotted mess down her back, and she was wearing one of Tom’s t-shirts. For somebody that had just been suspended from their job without pay, though, she seemed astonishingly cheerful. ”Patti! Oh, I’m soooo sorry...” Grace said, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. ”I didn’t mean to ditch you, I hope you’re OK...come in! I took a few Aspirins, so I’m feeling better, I could use breakfast,” Grace said with a warm smile, opening the door for Patti.
Patricia nodded, stepped in, and raised a brow. “You look… chipper,” she commented. She put the platters of food and the drinks down on the nearest table, along with Grace’s stuff that she had left in her car. “You know, for a woman who’s about to go on trial and probably be revoked of her Hero Exemplar status and possibly fired from the organization she works for. I’m okay. Are you sure you’re okay?” Patti started to take the food out of the bags, laying it on the table.
”For the most part. Still feel bad about leaving you in jail...” Grace shrugged. ”Everything worked out, mostly according to plan. Ooh, are those hotcakes? I mean, I’m not really big on fast food, but those look good...”
“Oh, get over yourself and eat it. You’re lucky I even came to talk to you. You’re still on thin ice. And what do you mean everything went to plan? You wanted to be fired?” Patricia sat down and opened her own sandwich, sinking her teeth into it.
”You are adorable when you’re mad. And yeah, pretty much. You see, turns out that ICOSA can’t transfer you when you’re suspended. So, my plan was pretty much to get suspended. It’ll buy me some time to fix the actual transfer. I also messed with the apartment’s security footage and conveniently cropped out the footage that involved us. Luckily, the guy that you mesmerized is as dumb as a bag of rocks, so he’s not going to be blabbing any time soon. So, pretty much, they’re going to drop everything and bring me to trial, and then promptly look like a bunch of buffoons due to a lack of evidence.” Grace nibbled on a piece of McDonalds pancakes. ”No wonder all these ICOSA people keep getting dropped by Caustic. They haven’t even figured out how to encrypt files. I mean, honestly...it’s kind of sad. Only catch was dragging you into the whole mess...I really am sorry about that. You know I would never do that...I was just...well, you know.” Grace shrugged and took another bite of her food. ”And on the plus side, I get a week off of work, which is nice.”
Grace smirked at Patti. ”Let this be a lesson to you that even when I’m wasted, I’m still smarter than you.” The purple-haired girl gently jabbed Patricia with her plastic fork. ”Kidding.”
Well, now Patti felt like an idiot. “Oh,” she said, and frowned. She tapped her fingernails on the table. “I’m still mad at you, by the way. Why didn’t you tell me?!” Patti took a big sip of her mocha frappe.
”I was drunk! I’m sorry...I would’ve told you. I just...you know, I’m terrible once I start drinking. I just thought I would take a couple sips to take my mind off things and get a little less tense, and then...it went out of control.” Grace sighed, shaking her head. ”I really do owe you one, Patti. Big-time. Anything you need me to do.”
Meanwhile, Chell had entered the room and was currently aggressively licking Patti’s leg. Grace cracked a smile. ”Awww, she likes you! Chellie likes everybody, though, don’t you girlie? Aren’t you the bestest dog in the world?”
“Oh! Hi, Chell!” Patricia patted the dog on the head, cooing to her. “Please stop… licking me.” She giggled, ticklish, and gently pushed the dog’s head away from her leg. Then, she gave her a belly rub. All dogs liked belly rubs. Seeing Chell put a smile on her face. The dog had always been so adorable.
Patricia thought for a moment. So, Grace owed her, hm… good to know. She wouldn’t cash in on it just yet, though. She’d bide her time. Wait for the right moment to strike.
“You’re still going to the gym with me, right? You promised.” Patricia was reminding her of something she had promised yesterday, before the tours. She smirked and prepared to revel in Grace’s misery.
Grace made a sour face as she chewed a hotcake. ”I guess I did,” she said after a brief pause, as Chell snuggled up against her leg. ”Alright, alright...I will exercise with you in the gymnasium,” she said, an expression on her face that clearly showed that saying those words pained her. ”I guess I'll have to get changed…and showered…" she said, looking down at her messy appearance, before sighing. ”I'm still not sold on this whole exercise idea. You do realize I can just teleport people into the bay, right? I haven't figured out exactly what part of superpowers involves being able to lift a heavy metal bar or outrun a treadmill. Plus, I am perfectly in shape as is. You just want to torment me."
“Well, I exercise to increase my lung capacity, to run fast, and to break people’s jaws. You should exercise to not be a pathetic lump of usefulness when you lose your powers or can’t use them,” Patti commented, and sipped on her frappe with a certain look on her face. “If you’re in shape, drop and give me 30 push-ups.” She said this deadpan, and gestured to the floor.
Grace put on a stubborn face and set her drink down on the counter, before lowering herself to the floor. She got in position and sank into a pushup. ”One..." she wheezed as she lifted her body up and down. ”Two...thr-" Grace was halfway into her third push-up before collapsing on the expensive, fluffy carpet. ”Ow..." she grumbled. ”Fuck you! I'm still hungover!" Still lying on the floor, Grace lifted her hand from the ground and raised her middle finger at Patti.
Patti used both of her middle fingers to flip off Grace right back. “It’s definitely not just the hangover,” she commented, examining her nails. “You’re just weak. It’s okay. We can fix that. Not like I’m the fittest person either, if I’m being honest… but at least I’m better than you.” Patti offered a hand to Grace, who was still laying on the floor. “Come on. You can’t go to the HERO gym while you’re suspended, which is a shame, but there’s a Planet Fitness just around here. It’s a no judgement zone, you know.” Patricia giggled at that. “No one’s around to think you’re pathetic. Unlike at the HERO gym.”
”I may be weak, but at least I'm not technically Blake's sister," Grace fired back, taking Patti's hand and rising unsteadily to her feet. ”I said I would go already, jeez…" She dusted herself off. ”I'm going to take a long shower and get changed. And also mentally prepare myself for my impending demise. You should probably shower, too. You smell like prison. And mothballs. And...gumballs, for some reason. I think that's why Chell is licking your leg so much."
“Eliza and I are not marr- wait, hold up, how did you even know- what?!” Patricia looked incredulous for a moment, before dragging her hands down her face. “I may be… dating Eliza,” she admitted, “but I am NOT Blake’s sister! I don’t even know if Angie and his relationship will last.”
Patti rubbed her eyes and sniffed her armpit, and then made a face. “Eugh. I do. Do you have a second bathroom? You probably don’t, it’s Castleburg. If not, I’m going first.” She stood from the chair. “I’ll just wear your clothes.” She didn’t ask if that would be okay.
”First off, you should really come out soon. The two of you are not even remotely conspicuous," Grace said as she finished off her latte, portalling it into the trash. ”My sources tell me that you went to a musical and a concert, last week alone. Seriously.” Grace rolled her eyes. ”Second, you are most definitely Blake’s sister. You might as well dye your hair red at this point. And third, I am rich, Patti. Of course I have a second bathroom," Grace pointed across the fancy kitchen at a white door. ”Right in there. Unfortunately, the in-shower entertainment system doesn’t work on that one...I’ll have to take a look at it soon." Grace opened a portal on the countertop, reaching into it like it was a laundry basket. ”Here. Take one of Tom’s t-shirts," she said with a smirk, pulling a Die Hard t-shirt from the portal and chucking it at Patricia. ”It’s very soft material."
Patti stammered at the suggestion that Eliza and her weren’t good at hiding their relationship, but eventually hung her head in admission “Alright, alright, maybe we will soon…” she relented, and listened to the rest of Grace’s yammering. Her eyes went wide at the mention of “in-shower entertainment system”, and just the idea of having two bathrooms in a one-bedroom apartment. Patti definitely did not have two bathrooms, and she lived with her mom!
“Jesus, you’re rich…” she muttered, and caught the shirt in her hands. She squinted at it, and then rolled her eyes. “Fine. I guess your clothes are too small for me…” With that, Patricia yawned and went to go take a shower in Grace’s very fancy bathroom. Torturing Grace at the gym was going to be so fun.
After Patti went off to take a shower in Grace’s golden bathroom (much to Grace’s disappointment, it was not all real gold), Grace quickly portalled a Coke out of the fridge and swallowed another Aspirin, before making her way over towards the other bathroom of her penthouse. As she walked, she paused to look at a sleek glass etagere mounted on her wall, which had a number of framed photographs. Of her with her parents, her sister, her old friends at PHANTOM, and of course, the rest of the gang from HERO. She removed the photo from the shelf, looking at it warmly. ”I don’t know what I would do without you." she whispered to herself, clutching the frame to her chest, before putting it back and walking over to the bathroom.
She pet Chell as she opened the door to the bathroom. ”You better make up your mind on who you want to live with next, in case I don’t come back alive," she said, very seriously, to the dog, before closing the bathroom door.
