Interlude - Flechette
She sat at the table and stared at her plate. Everything turned out to be much more complicated than she had thought. The battle with Leviathan was drastically different from what she had imagined from books and movies. Documentary reports also didn't show the whole truth, retouching and censoring everything that could shock an unprepared viewer. Movies didn't focus on dying heroes and ordinary people at all - in movies there were Heroes. Legend, Eidolon and of course... Her. Alexandria.
Lily bit her lip, thinking about what a fool she had been. The brilliant image of the heroine from advertising posters now seemed gray and indistinct. She remembered her trembling when she stood very close to her, when she walked beside Her, when she breathed the same air as Alexandria herself! But all this faded after the battle. Only a wall of water remained in her memory - water everywhere, water below, water above, waves from the side... water everywhere. And blood. A brackish taste in her mouth - probably it just seemed that way to her, since seawater is also salty, but she couldn't shake the thought that it was the taste of blood. And... probably it was. There was too much blood in the seawater that day. She hoped that doll-like girl had survived - she hadn't heard her name from the armband... though she didn't really remember. Too many names, too many events. The roaring Leviathan, mangled bodies of heroes, bloody rain from above and the doll-like figure of a girl trying to stop Leviathan with a giant plush doll in the shape of a tiger cub. She remembered how the wave swept her away, slammed her against the wall, how her bones crunched, how something tore inside with such a disgusting sound, tore and burst, how her mouth filled with hot and brackish liquid, how she fell down and the world darkened before her eyes. And she also remembered lying on her back with large drops falling on her face, unable to make out the face of the person leaning over her, remembered how the pain passed and how that warm feeling arose in her chest...
Someone sat at the neighboring table, and she looked around. The room was something between a small office cafeteria and a dormitory lounge. A room that the local Wards jokingly called the wardroom. Several tables, a sofa, a TV, a bar counter... bowls with nuts and candy, refrigerators with drinks, a white board for notes. On the floor - linoleum in green and white squares.
And at the neighboring table sat Shadow Stalker. Now she was without a mask, in regular clothes - everyone walked around like that at the Wards base. What was her civilian name? Oh yes, Sophia. A grim face, eyebrows furrowed. Lily suddenly calmed down at the sight of Sophia.
There, she thought, I'm not the only one worried - this is post-traumatic stress disorder, like combat veterans have. We were trained to resist this. You shouldn't give yourself too much time to think, better to get busy. Training, studying... communicating with your colleagues and friends. With those who went through the same thing. She got up and approached Sophia's table.
"Newbie," Sophia looked up at her. "What do you want?"
"My name is Lily. In costume I'm Flechette," she said, sitting down at the table. "Sorry if I'm intruding. Yes, they told me to stay here in Brockton Bay for now. Me and Sleepy Lily. Special order from Director Costa-Brown."
"Ahhh... so you're our weapon against the Great and Terrible," Sophia smirks. "Well, well. Good luck. I saw what she did to you during the fight."
"What?! What are you talking about?"
"Just that," Sophia answers mysteriously. "Your arrows pierced Levi right through. Amazing. But that won't be enough against the Great and Terrible. Sleepy Lily won't handle it either. Nobody will handle it. Only me."
"The Great and Terrible? You mean Administrator?" Lily recalls the most mysterious and frightening cape of Brockton Bay. Administrator, also known as Butcher Fifteen. Despite the fact that during orientation and briefings the New York Wards team devoted most of their time to the capes of their own city, she had heard about Administrator. The one who in a short time had killed almost half the capes of Brockton Bay, sparing neither civilians nor random victims. She killed and tortured people right in front of cameras - these footage exists online and when Lily watched them for the first time, she almost threw up. A killer who so far manages to hide from justice due to the fact that all her victims are villains. How exactly Administrator manages to stay on the edge and not get a personal Kill Order - she didn't know. Moreover, she had seen her during the battle with Leviathan and could honestly admit to herself that without this criminal's intervention - they would have fared much worse. Administrator's first attack was something unreal altogether. Then it seemed to her that everything would end with that first strike. How naive she had been.
"Administrator? I knew her back when she was just called Taylor," Sophia says and her face darkens. "I went to school with that bitch in the same class!"
"Seriously?!" Lily is amazed. How is that possible, she thinks - a Ward and an S-class Villain in the same class? That contradicts all the rules! Poor Sophia, she must have endured a lot, studying next to such a monster... wait a minute. It turns out she didn't know about this. It turns out Administrator was hiding under a civilian identity, and no one could expose her, while she...
"Did she bully you?" Lily asks Sophia, and she chokes on her tea and coughs strenuously. She wipes her mouth with a napkin and turns to her. Her eyes are just crazy, Lily thinks, did I say something wrong?
"What?!"
"Well... I thought. You're a Ward. And your ability is... cool, but not like hers. Sorry, but you're no match for her, and probably you were forbidden to use your ability at school. And she's a Villain. And not just a Villain, but a real killer. Of course she bullied you."
"Are you fucking insane?" An unexpected question. Lily doesn't know how to answer it without breaking their budding friendship. After all, all Wards are friends with each other, right?
"N-no. My name is Lily," she says, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I just wanted to talk and..."
"Listen here, you idiot from New York," Sophia looms over her like a storm cloud. "Nobody can bully me. I can. Me - nobody else. Is that clear?"
"Y-yes..."
"I can't hear you, newbie..."
"Yes! I understand everything!"
"That's more like it..." Sophia unclenches her fist, and Lily sinks into the chair, only now realizing that she had been holding her by the collar.
"Sophia! Leave the newbie alone!" Space distorts, and Sophia suddenly finds herself in the opposite corner of the room. And next to Lily stands a girl in a blue jumpsuit. Vista. Her face is sullen and grim, just like Sophia's.
"Looking for a fight?" Sophia crosses her arms. "Listen, squirt, I'm about to beat all the stupidity out of you."
"Then do it..." Vista says quietly, lowering her head. "Do it! Do whatever you want. Leave the newbie alone. Gallant wouldn't like this..."
"What are you... tsk!" Sophia clicks her tongue, turns away and leaves the room. Lily turns to Vista.
"My name is Lily. Very nice to meet you..." Space distorts and Vista is no longer nearby. Nowhere at all.
"You'll have to forgive her," says a guy who just entered the lounge. "She's really struggling with Gallant's trauma. He got pretty beaten up during the fight with Levi. We all got beaten up, but not like him. Still in the hospital, Panacea patched him up quickly, but nothing more. And then - he's in a coma, and our Amy doesn't work with brains, everyone knows that. And you..." the guy rubs his chin, pretending to think.
"Are you the mysterious stranger who was sent here to steal my heart? Then you're wasting your time," he says. "Completely wasting it. Because it's already yours."
"S-sorry," she says, feeling awkward. "But I don't start romances at work."
"Ouch. Like words enter the ears but wound straight to the heart," he dramatically grabs his chest. "Another rejection. Well, I'll survive. My name is Dennis, and in costume I'm Clockblocker. Yes, yes, you can laugh here, I chose that name myself."
"Clockblocker? I heard about you. They say you managed to delay Leviathan!" she says, feeling relief from understanding that the guy was just joking. She can't tell him that she's more attracted to Alexandria than Eidolon. But allowing him to have any hopes would be cruel on her part. You can't treat people like that. Especially since he seems like a normal guy.
"Yeah? Pfft... just for a couple seconds, probably. Anyway, I don't remember anything. I was just standing there, freezing Kaiser's metal cages, and the next minute - bam and I open my eyes with Panacea over me. Well. I'm not complaining - if you opened your eyes and saw Panacea, it means you're alive and they put you back together from pieces so you can continue taking up space."
"My name is Lily. In costume I'm Flechette." She extends her hand and he shakes it.
"Flechette. That girl with the crossbow. Your arrows pierced his chest, came out the other side. Too bad it didn't kill that bastard, but you came closest. Except for the Mistress, of course."
"The Mistress?" she doesn't understand.
"Didn't you see how she blew up almost half of Levi with her insect bombs right from the start? I always thought she was creepy, but now if I meet her in a narrow alley - I'll immediately shit myself hoping she doesn't eat shitheads," Dennis grins. "Scary as hell. Though I have to give her credit - she didn't even devour our Sophia 'Grimface' Hess, so I'm probably safe. Grimface is like a canary in a coal mine for me now - if I see she's disappeared and there's a gnawed leg lying in the corner, it's time to get out of BB as far as you can. Too bad, she has such a great ass. The Mistress doesn't have one like Sophia's, but you can't argue with genetics."
"Wait, you're talking about Administrator? But why 'Mistress'?"
"Well, who is the Administrator of Brockton Bay? The Mistress of the city. For now - the city. But if you're talking about asses, Sophia 'Grimface' has a great ass. Her legs are amazing. No wonder she does track and field. I always loved muscular girls. What about you?"
"Me? I... but I'm not into girls! How would I know!" Lily suddenly felt herself blushing.
"What? Wow! I guessed right! You really are into girls. Do you like Sophia? I'm warning you against trying in advance. I once even tried courting her. Got a broken nose and a warning in my career file. Even two."
"For harassing her?" Lily looked at Dennis again and moved away from him.
"Nope. I got punched in the nose for harassment. But the career file entry was for freezing her and writing on her forehead with permanent marker what a sweetheart she is. I don't understand what for, really... it was a compliment. She wore a bandana for a week after that... such a pirate style."
"Wait, hold on," Lily raises her hand. "You said Sophia is like a canary in a coal mine... meaning? Gas poisoning, analogy with that?"
"Well, you see, our city is small, everyone knows everyone. Administrator used to go to school in the same class as her. And still does, they just closed schools after all this... so what was I talking about? Oh yes! You saw Sophia for just five minutes and already got irradiated by her charm and hospitality, right? I can see you did. Imagine Sophia in her natural habitat, at school. Among schoolchildren. Yeah, right. There are persistent rumors that Sophia and Administrator were like cat and dog at school. Who hit whom in the liver first, I don't know, but knowing our Sophia... not hard to guess. Administrator is a tough girl by nature, she took down Lung on the first try, probably showed her character at school too. And next to Sophia... in short, an unstoppable force met an immovable object. I don't understand why they haven't transferred her to another city yet..." Dennis takes some nuts from the bowl. "But since they haven't transferred her - I'll definitely use this to my advantage. If the Mistress has enough patience and willpower not to cripple Sophia, not to slice her into small pieces, not to eat her for breakfast... then I'm safe too."
"Remarkably sound reasoning," Lily says. "Everyone thinks you're just the local jokester, but you're quite rational. And cold-blooded. To consider a girl you once courted just a canary in a coal mine? A litmus test? You're an interesting person, Dennis."
"Oh... well, I am a jokester. The team clown. Good old Clockblocker. If you know what I mean..." Dennis winks at her. "Otherwise there are already too many grim faces and serious speeches here. Sometimes I'm afraid one of ours will crack in half, they're all too tense. You can't clench your cheeks all the time, you might burst."
"I understand," Lily nods. "You're... a psychological outlet for the team. Nobody takes you seriously, but you're actually the social foundation of this group. You defuse situations and in a paradoxical manner deliver innovative ideas, as well as 'the elephant in the room.' That is, topics everyone avoids but everyone knows about and would like to discuss."
"Ha, our new girl is so smart!" Dennis shakes his head. "Okay, you managed to surprise me, newbie. I thought you'd just hit me on the head and scream 'oni-san hentai baka!'"
"I'm of Japanese descent, of course, but I was born here! I don't even really know Japanese!" Lily squints, feeling awkward. Again everyone somehow assumes she should behave like a girl from Japanese anime just because she looks like one of them. Well yes, she's Asian, moreover Japanese, but she really doesn't know anything about it! She's never watched anime in her life! She prefers indie films and reading books. She's not an anime fan!
"Well. Stereotypes," Dennis shrugs. "Nice to meet you, Lily. And by the way - about the elephant in the room... you said that's my function as a member of our group?"
"Yes?"
"You know Administrator stuck her tongue down your throat?"
"What?!"
"Yeah... there's even a video. Here." He shoves his smartphone under her nose and she sees with horror how a figure in black tactical armor leans over her broken body.
"Apparently our Mistress has healing power in her bag too. Only she needs to reach right to the tonsils with her tongue for it... interesting ability. I'd like one like that. Though I understand her, you really are a beauty... look, your leg was fixed right away! People on forums are going crazy... but there's still no electricity everywhere in BB, so not everyone knows about recent events. Give people a week or two and they'll call you her girlfriend. Surprised Piggy hasn't called you in yet and cleaned your brains about how 'a hero on the battlefield shouldn't kiss just anyone!'"
"..." Lily is silent, staring at Dennis's smartphone screen. Her head suddenly became completely empty. So that mysterious figure she remembered... that was Administrator?! Butcher Fifteen?! She was the one who healed her?!
"That's the elephant in the room that everyone thinks about and nobody will say out loud," Dennis says, not paying attention to her stunned face. "But you have me and you can tell me everything. Take the weight off your chest, so to speak. Confess your sins. I'm extremely curious what our Mistress tastes like? How does she kiss? How many points on a ten-point scale? What did you feel? And did you get her phone number? Maybe she put her business card somewhere? Like in your cleavage..."
"Oni-san hentai baka!" She strikes him on the head with the edge of her palm with full force. "Kyaaaa!!!"