Brockton Bay

PHQ Changing Rooms

July 2nd, 17:30

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Glaring at Miss Militia, who is in her full Hero regalia as always, Maryam takes a moment to process what she'd just heard.

"What do you mean, I still have to go to school?" She asks, incredulity and annoyance both lacing her tone.

"The Youth Guard made the argument that you have never had the chance to receive proper education. It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, really."

Maryam responds by throwing her shirt at the older woman, uncaring of her own nudity as she points an accusing finger at her. "I passed the stupid tests y'all wanted me to do! I don't need to go to school, and I don't want to!"

Dragging the shirt off her face, Miss Militia can only give Maryam a wry smile as she angrily reaches into her locker for her costume. "No bra?" Her question makes Maryam freeze briefly, if only because of the unexpectedness of the question.

"Don't change the subject," she accuses, glaring again in her direction. "The school year ended recently anyway, I'll be turning eighteen right after the next year starts, then I can do some fuckin' 'apprenticeship' thing here. I don't need to go to school."

"You know it's not that simple, Mary. The Youth Guard, for all that they mean well, they rarely ever actually take into consideration the opinions of the 'youths' that they are supposedly helping. Even if you're technically going to be an adult soon enough and out of their derestriction, your circumstances have given them enough leeway that they can't really be denied."

Mary snorts slightly at her words, still scowling even as she steps into her costume, the whole thing being one piece, cape and boots exempted. "You say that like you're on my side, but your tone doesn't match your words. Why the fuck do you want me to waste my time in school?"

"I think that the Youth Guard have a point with this all," she says, watching Mary roll her eyes even as she puts on her boots. "Really. You've spent your whole life fighting and moving constantly. I think some stability will do you good. You'll be able to interact with people who are just people. They won't be demanding anything from you, or trying to hurt you. Maybe you'll even make a friend or two. It would make me happy if you had at least one friend beyond Suzuya."

"Sorry Mom," Mary responds caustically, "but why would I give a shit about making you happy? You're not actually my mother, and in case you've forgotten, you're hardly any different to all the assholes who've 'owned' me before."

"Don't say that, Mary," Miss Militia responds, actually looking a little bit hurt. Not that Mary backs down, instead choosing to simple cross her arms and glare, now fully costumed up, minus the blindfold in her hand. "It's not the same, you know that. I only want to help you."

"Bullshit. It's exactly the same. You assholes came in on my life, and 'cuz you were stronger than the other assholes, you won your 'prizes', and now you're forcing me to do shit that I don't want to do. Being government sponsored doesn't make you any different to the gangs I've dealt with before." Letting out a huff, Mary rises to her feet, picking up her cane as she does so. "Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, I don't fucking want your help?"

But as she is about to storm past, Miss Militia stops her with just a few simple, softly spoken words. "Yes. I have."

Standing there, shoulder to shoulder but facing opposite directions, neither moves for a moment as Miss Militia considers her words, and when she speaks, her tone is solemn and distant. "When I was a kid, my village was attacked by soldiers. They killed, well, pretty much everyone. Everyone except for me and the other kids. Instead of outright killing us, they used us as human minesweepers. It- When it was my turn, that's when I triggered."

Left unsaid is what she did after triggering, but with the power to always be armed, it's fairly easy to guess what she did the moment a gun was in her hands.

"When I ended up in America, they wanted me to be a part of the first Wards team. I hated it, back then. I didn't want to be forced to hang around with kids, even if I was a kid myself. I hated that they wanted me to go to school, when I should have been doing something instead."

Turning to her side, Miss Militia looks the expressionless Mary in the eye, and places a hand on her shoulder. "Look, what I'm trying to say, is that I do understand. I want you to be able to trust that I really do just want to help you, so how about a deal? If, after half a year, you really want to drop out, then I'll make it happen. But until then, please, just give it a shot? For me?"

"Bold of you to assume that I'd do anything just 'cuz it's 'for you'." Mary mutters to herself, before simply locking eyes with Miss Militia and matching her stare for a long moment, until she eventually sighs in defeat. "Fine. Six months and I'm dropping out."

"Thank you," Miss Militia says, smiling as she spontaneously reaches forward and wraps the younger girl in a hug, speaking softly as she does. "I'll let you pick what we have for dinner tonight."

Not returning the hug, Mary grows a smirk as she responds, whispering equally softly. "Unrelated question, what's your least favourite food?"

Sighing at the moment being ruined, Miss Militia leans back and gives Mary a dry look, though her mask can't hide the amusement in her eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I like all foods."

"I want lobsters then, they're expensive, right? And grilled cheese too, in case the lobsters suck."

"You're going to be a millionaire once your probation runs out, can't you save your expensive tastes for when you will be the one footing the bill?"

"Nuh uh, I want fancy foods now, not in six months when I get my inheritance. And besides, first thing I do when I get it is gonna be to move out, can't get you to buy me food then, can I?. Sucks to suck, you wouldn't go back on your word, would you, Militia?"

Miss Militia can only sigh at her Ward's personality. It's not like it's really a big deal anyway, her pay is already very good, with the bonuses from being on the S-Class emergency roster only making things better for her. 

So she simply relents, shaking her head slightly as she starts walking away, being followed by a victorious Mary. "Fine, fine, we can have lobster. And I told you, when we're alone, you can just call me Hannah."

"Yeah yeah, and you can call me Captain Falcon," Mary casually responds, continuing to walk past Hannah as she pauses at her words.

"Wait a minute," she says with growing horror, "did you want to be called falcon purely so you can-"

"-Falcon Punch!" Mary suddenly yells out, interrupting Hannah and spinning around to throw a punch at Hannah, her arm igniting into flames and launching a controlled burst of fire forwards, all the while continuing to casually walk backwards, giving the shellshocked Hannah a wink before donning her blindfold and spinning back around, twirling her cane all the while.

Shaking her head, Hannah just lets out a resigned sigh, and mutters to herself, "I can't believe that girl sometimes," before jogging briefly to catch up with her, bumping shoulders as they make their way to the garage.

Soon enough, Hannah is driving them both down the rainbow forcefield bridge that connects the PHQ to Brockton proper, and on the way to the PRT HQ that's actually in the city, instead of the bay, so that they can start their patrol.

As she drives, Hannah finds herself stealing glances in Mary's direction, seeing the younger Hero leaning her head against the window, staring unblinkingly at the passing scenery, her face blank and eerily still, with her snow-white hair framing her face like a painting. Were she a lesser woman, she'd probably be jealous of how pretty she is, sitting there like that, looking like some kind of princess gazing out from the top of her castle. Both beautiful and melancholic.

It stands out to her for more than that though, as Mary is usually playing Tetris on her Gameboy whenever they have to drive. Part of her knows that Mary is only willing to show any kind of emotion like this because the windows are tinted. That part of her mourns the fact that Mary is so reluctant to simply be herself.

The other part of her, however, feels happy. That Mary is at least willing to not put on a façade with her, it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully she will open up to the others with time, but even if she doesn't, Hannah will be there for her. Suzuya too.

Alas, the drive is not long, and they are soon enough pulling in to their assigned parkin spot. However, neither of them make to move after she kills the engine, simply enjoying a moment of peace.

Then, she turns to Mary with a smile in her eyes. "We're here," she says, getting a low hum of acknowledgement in response as they both undo their seatbelts.

But then something changes, or rather someone. Between one moment and the next, Mary seems to transform from a forlorn princess, to a glowing angel. Her bland expression changes completely, gaining a soft, almost ethereal smile. Her back straightens out, and her entire presence just changes in some inexplicable way.

From a caustic, moody teen, she transforms into a radiant, Heroic looking woman.

"Let's go save the day then, Hannah," she says, her voice just sounding kind, like some kind of angel.

It always unnerves Hannah slightly, seeing how easily she can put on a mask so convincing that she is certain she wouldn't have figured out it was fake without knowing beforehand. Hannah doesn't really like interacting with her when she's like this. It makes her uncomfortable, talking to someone and just knowing that anything they say is being put through a filter to come out as 'Heroic' as possible.

It's like trying to have a conversation with someone who's been Mastered. It's just wrong.

Shaking her head, Hannah throws away her distracting thoughts and quickly joins Mary in climbing out of the car, closing and locking it behind her as they set out for the Boardwalk for their patrol, for a given definition of the term.

The Boardwalk is the main tourist location of the Bay, so realistically, their 'patrol' is more about simply being seen by the public, instead of actually fighting crime. Making the citizens feel safe, is just as much a part of their job as protecting them is. Though, the financial aspects can't be denied either.

Brockton Bay is one of the biggest locations for 'cape tourism' in the country, thanks to having one of the highest parahuman to human ratio, and there being a cape fight generally every week or so. So walking down the Boardwalk to show their faces invites more tourists, which invites a better economy, which allows them to help people simply by going for a walk.

Unfortunately, Maryam doesn't share Hannah's same views about how great it is to indirectly help people with something so simple as going for a walk.

Instead, all she feels, is boredom.

She's been a Hero for just over a week now, and all she's done is stupid publicity patrols. The closest thing she's had to a fight since switching sides was one drugged up loser mugging some other loser. Seriously, how can you get held up by a dude too high to count to three?

Fucking pathetic, if you ask her.

She gets that she's on probation, so they're being cautious about giving her any kind of freedom, but c'mon! There was a fight just the other day between the Empire and Red Hearts, she could have been sent over there, but nooooo.

Now, as she walks down the Boardwalk side by side with Hannah, she can only hope that something interesting will happen, preferably a Villain attack of some sort. Defeating some well known Villain, like Stormtiger or something, would be good for her reputation.

After all, her main goal right now is to build up a solid reputation in the hearts of Brockton Bay's citizens, the bigger the better. All in order to get just a little leverage over that damnable oaf of a Director.

'Noooo, Mary, you can't go out and beat up Villains in disguise'. Stupid bullshit Director. The fact that the only thing she can really do to get back at the woman is to give her an annoying voice in her head only makes it suck even more.

Oh well. Six months and she'll be free of the fucking tag on her ankle, a couple months after that and she can drop out of university. Then, with more freedom available to her, she'll be able to properly build herself an unshakable reputation among the people, eventually supplanting Hannah as the leader of the Heroes.

Then she'll go hard on crime to improve her numbers, maybe cut a deal or two with the Villains in secret, so that she can appear even greater to the higher-ups. Then, with a reputation just shy of the Triumvirate, she'll be able to declare martial law, supplant Director Piggot, use the resulting influence to supplant whoever is in charge of the Brockton Bay Police Department.

And then, she will rule over this shithole of a city like the Queen she is, and all the gang lords will kiss her shoes and beg for mercy! Of course, seeing her impressive display, it's only natural that the Mayor would give up his seat to her! And then she will become the Governor of the State, and from there she will springboard her success all the way to the Presidency!

And when she is finally the undisputed ruler of the country, her first act will be to implement a one hundred percent sales tax!

"Excuse me! Fair Heroines!" The sudden voice brings her out of her delusions and back to the real world.

Not that she ever stopped playing her part, walking through the streets, waving and smiling back at the peons on autopilot as she was. But people tend to have the decency to at least only admire from afar, instead of bothering them during their patrols.

Apparently this dude didn't get the memo. She has no idea what he looks like, thanks to the blindfold, but she can use her other senses well enough to make it look like she's looking him in the eye as he approaches from their right, the direction of the sea and evening sun.

From the sound his footfalls, she can estimate that he's about one-forty pounds, and from the distance between his hasty steps, probably somewhere around five-nine. His voice sounded young but not childish, so probably late teens, and she can pick up his heavy breaths, despite having only moved a short distance, meaning he's probably out of shape, and thus unlikely to be an assassin of some kind.

Both of the Heroines come to a stop as the boy dashes in front of them, and then she hears a soft thud and a rustling sound before the soft scent of flowers invades her nostrils.

...Ah.

A boy, around her age most likely, is on one knee in front of her, with a bouquet of flowers, after having called them 'fair Heroines'...

She can practically feel the amusement wafting off of Hannah. She can hear the sounds of a slightly distant group of similarly aged boys giggling in their direction, so he is probably being put up to this. That said, best to pretend it's real. It's not exactly what she was expecting, but this can serve to bolster her reputation anyway.

"If you'd be willing, Miss Falcon, may I buy you a meal?" The guy asks, and she has to hold back a smirk as her mind is filled with plans on how to use this situation to her advantage.

The first thing she does is blush, easy enough to do by manually heating up her cheeks, but not too much. She's still a Ward, and unlike her brat teammate Vista, she is aware that people see children acting like adults as even less mature than children acting like children, for some reason.

So, she has to blush, to show of her youth, make herself seem innocent and pure, but she can't blush too much, else she risks making people perceive her as someone too soft hearted to be reliable. She wants them to think that she's both a precious youth, so they support her, and a competent Hero, so they rely on her.

With the light blush formed, she carefully controls her posture. She can't lean away, or make any kind of distance, otherwise people will subconsciously expect her to back away during more important confrontations. She can be shy, but she can't show weakness. Everything matters, detail is important when one seeks perfection.

So instead, with one hand still holding on her cain, she reaches the other up to the tips of her hair, resting just over her chest, and pinches a few strands, not twirling them, she's not in love, just shy, so she just drags her fingers down her hair. The movement only lasts a short moment, but it conveys the right level of shyness nonetheless.

Then, she has only a moment to decide what to say. Obviously she has to reject him, but she can't be blunt about it. Luckily, she doesn't actually have to care about his feelings, she only has to seem like she cares about his feelings. In fact, displaying a certain level of aloofness could even be beneficial.

Either way, she doesn't have the time to thoroughly think of an answer, so she responds with the first decent answer that comes to mind. 

"I- I'm flattered, truly, but I don't really have the time to dedicate to a relationship right now," she gives him a shallow smile to match her careful tone, and clenches and unclenches her hand at her side, "I'm sorry, I can't accept."

Predictably, the boy isn't dissuaded, obviously having known beforehand that he would get rejected. It's basically a play, she thinks. Both of them knew the result ahead of time, and both are acting like they didn't.

How amusing.

"Ah! That's perfectly understandable. Then, as an apology for bothering you, please accept these flowers anyway." He likely just doesn't want to have to carry around flowers after this farce is over, but that's fine.

"N-no no, I couldn't," she denies, waving her arms slightly, knowing full well what his response will be.

"Please, I insist. These roses deserve the company of someone that can match their beauty." It truly is like a play, she thinks as she gives the answer she knew she would.

"W-well, if you insist," she says, making herself blush a little harder, and smile a little wider as she reaches for the offered bouquet. Roses, by the feel. How fitting. Still, just leaving it at that wouldn't be as fun.

So instead, she only forces her blush to burn a little hotter, and instead of pulling the flowers away from him, she leans closer, past the bouquet, until she can feel the warmth of his own cheeks, a rapidly rising heat, brush against her own.

And with mischief on her mind, she plants a featherlight kiss on his cheek and murmurs out a quiet, "thank you for the flowers," before rising back to her full height, and using the roses to hide her mouth.

Kneeling there, shellshocked, it takes a moment for the boy's brain to reboot, and when he does, he jumps up, standing ramrod straight. It takes him another moment of just opening and closing his mouth before he is able to stutter out a farewell. "U-uh, oh. Um, ok? Uh, ok. Have uh, have a good day? Uh, Miss Falcon. You too! Uh, Miss, uh, Miss Militia!"

But the play isn't over just because he has exited stage left, retuning to his frends, and so she pulls the flowers away from her face and 'looks' down at them for a moment, seemingly contemplative, before bringing them to her nose and getting a good smell of them. A pleasant, contented smile grows on her face. The kind of smile that makes it seem like she's the only person around.

And then the moment passes, and she 'subtly' hugs the flowers slightly closer to herself, turning to Hannah with a radiant smile on her lips. "We should get back to our patrol."

She can't see what expression Hannah is making, but she is fairly certain that if it is a smile, then it's fake. She can practically feel the discomfort wafting off of the older woman as she sees Mary acting so unlike herself.

But Hannah plays along, just another actor in the play, and as they continue walking down the Boardwalk, middle-aged women sighing pleasantly at the sight of Mary holding the flowers, Hannah opens conversation, her tone teasing...and entirely fake. "Looks like you've gotten your first admirer, Falcon."

"It's no big deal, Miss Militia," she returns, bashfully playing things down.

"Ah, but I've never seen you smile like that," Hannah says, making her tone teasing instead of accusing for the sake of the audience to our little play.

"Miss Militia!~ Please don't tease me." It really is entertaining, having a conversation so completely fake, but she also knows that was not what Hannah wanted to hear, so she brings the flowers back up for another smell to hide her mouth, and continues in a lower tone, quiet enough that only Hannah can hear, and completely lacking any of the peppy nerves that she has been displaying, the contrast jarring. "I have to get my kicks somehow. It's pretty amusing letting a guy like that, think he has a chance with someone like me."

"I'm not teasing, Falcon, just making an observation," Hannah returns, before continuing in an equally low tone, her mouth already hidden by her mask enough that no one can tell. "Even without saying anything about what you just said, you don't even know what kind of guy he is."

Mary lets out a huff in response to the first statement, bringing that conversating to a close, and brings the flowers back to cover her face again to respond to the second. "Let me guess, about our height, underweight, no muscle definition, acne, glasses? Probably poor and with a face that can hardly be considered conventionally attractive, I'd guess a six out of ten. How'd I do?"

Hannah's silence is answer enough.

Conversation for the next couple of hours of their patrol is pretty light and infrequent, with the occasional person asking for a picture or autograph, and one drunk who had to be escorted away by the local security. That is, until around eight O'clock, right when the sun is starting to set and near the end of their patrol, when their peaceful walk is rudely interrupted.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Oh hell yeah, I just realised that since I'm gonna be posting the first 5 chaps at once, this is actually going to be a cliff-hanger >:) hehe

Also, I'd like to say that I have no idea what I'm doing lol. Like, this chap was supposed to start where it ended, more or less. I started out with the chap starting at night, and it was gonna be some patrol and maybe some fluff with Hannah, Suzu and Mary (this is supposed to be slice of life, at least for a while) but then that first bit came out of nowhere, and everything just kinda followed it cuz I hate doing small timeskips like "twenty minutes later", so I just kept writing and, well... here we are.

Also, I really should just write some spy-esque story at some point, cuz I love writing people who are acting, it's so fun and it helps me actually think about how they act and why. Really shows my sociopathy that it's easier for me to write emotions when they're being faked lol.

Also, this fic was supposed to start out with highschool slice of life, but of. Fucking. Course, it turns out that the american school year fucking ends right when I chose to start the fic >:( So now I've got to get through like 2 months before I can do school stuff, and it has to be University because Mary'll be too old to be in Highschool, which means she'll be separated from Suzu, which is exactly what I didn't fucking want. I angi

Also, updates will be every other day, but with chapters being twice as long, you'll still be getting the same amount of story lol