Amelia, Ch 330- Nelson
"Go fuck yourself," Eel spat at me. I spared a glance at the large birdlike creature next to him, electricity dancing from its eyes. With Victoria's help, as well as some insights from Minerva and a couple other Thinkers, I'd started learning how to understand the apparitions. They were a sort of mental translation of what my power was seeing about their powers. A hallucination, but one with a pattern. One caused because my human brain couldn't comprehend the actual concepts being shown, and simply gave me an approximation. Of the source of powers, the Passengers, and how they interacted with their hosts.
Good. "Well, that is unfortunate," I sighed, feigning disappointment. "I'll let the officers to know to put you in a cell overnight. We'll hand you over to Feds whenever they feel like picking you up."
His Passenger shifted, as if preparing to attack. Puffing itself up and spreading its plumage. Lightning jumped between feathers. I'd been learning to read their responses, the subtle ways they responded and what that meant. In a way, it made me an effective empath, as long as I was smart about it. A way to read someone's subconscious, as long as they were a parahuman. This one was angry, longing to prove itself and redeem its prior humiliation. He'd accept an offer, if not immediately.
Director Dunn would probably be slightly annoyed, if only because a sell by me meant she could skip the trouble of sending more talented recruiters to talk to him. She was very much a by the books type, a military woman. She wanted this asshole in a cell just as badly as I did, whatever her orders might be on the subject of recruitment. In her world, the Protectorate would be a disciplined and well oiled machine full of professionals, patriots, soldiers and nothing else. There was no room in Director Dunn's Protectorate for criminals like Eel. Or, for that matter, troublesome outsiders like Victoria and her mother.
As for myself, well, I accepted the reality that we didn't really have the option of being picky right now. And I tried to ignore the part of me that was jealous that he managed to force Victoria to use her war form. Even when we managed to win against her in our sparing matches, she rarely entered her transformed state. And certainly none of us managed to force her into it during a solo match. I was far more willing to acknowledge that the way he talked to or about about her pissed me off. Because I could allow myself to hate any man who would talk about any woman that way.
"What? I don't get my lawyer?" He asked.
"For what?" I asked. "You only get a lawyer for the purposes of trials and appeals. You've already been found guilty of over a dozen crimes and given a sentence. You don't get a trial, you just go back to jail. Maybe some pencil pusher will charge you with something new for your breakout, but that has literally nothing to do with me, and frankly I don't think you're worth the extra cost to the taxpayers. I'm just going to go congratulate Victoria for a job well done, and then do something important with the rest of my day."
"You suck at this bargaining shit, man," he responded.
"Bargaining implies that you have something I want," I dismissed as I opened the door and stepped out. Eel's Passenger squawking its silent rage at my dismissal. Director Dunn was watching from the other side, along with a couple of the PRT officers that handled closing negotiations.
"Interesting recruitment tactic, Chevalier," Dunn spoke, her face stern. Not disapproving, just stern.
"Thank you, Ma'am," I responded. "I anticipated an attack to his self esteem would be the best method at this time. It will take some time, likely a few days, but it is a strong first step. I don't anticipate he'll be able to stew for long before cracking."
"I'm sure my people will be able to exploit this psychological weakness," she mused. "We certainly didn't expect him to cave immediately, regardless. Good work. And while we're on the subject, please let Victoria know that the bounty is ready for her to pick up. I plan to watch the next phase of the interrogation."
"I'll be certain to," I agreed as I left the room. As I told Eel, he didn't concern me. Either he went to prison, and that was great. Or, much more likely, some other department in some other part of the country had to deal with him. Sometimes the former criminal recruits actually proved worth the headache. Eel's powers were a good combination of strong and generic, so I was sure someone would be happy enough to take him.
"Hey, Mike," Bonnie waved. She always called me by my middle name. Everyone did. "So what's the sitch?"
"Oh, nothing unusual," I responded. "I'm supposed to let Vicky know she has another confirmed bounty waiting around. I don't think she's collected on the pair from yesterday, either." Ever since we ran out of immediate cases to heal, Vicky's had a lot of nervous energy.
"Mrs. Dallon was in for them earlier," Bonnie responded. "She asked about you, by the way."
I suppressed the urge to cringe. "What about?"
"Oh, the usual," Bonnie walked with me as we went toward my office. "Victoria's been spending a lot of time at the PRT building. Is she being overworked? Is she lying about even being at work? Are we adhering to the contract? Nothing new."
"That's to be expected," I responded. "Although Mrs. Dallon has very little to work with in that regard. Feel free to remind her that Victoria is an adult, and an independent contractor for the Protectorate. We've been adhering to both the letter and spirit of that contract."
"I don't think it's the legal issues that she's worried about," Bonnie laughed. "But let's save that until we get to your office. Trust me, you'll be happier the fewer people actually hear this one."
"That bad, huh?" The question was entirely rhetorical. It was Carol Dallon, of course it was bad. We walked in silence for the minute or so until we got to my office. I opened the door and invited her to walk in first. "So where is Vicky, anyway?"
"Out hunting for more targets, something about only having a day or two window before they catch on to what she's doing," Bonnie responded. She waited until walked in and closed the door before she continued. "Your pet bombshell is proving to be quite the quite the useful irritation."
"Can't argue with that," I agreed, taking a seat behind my desk. "Wish I had more problems like her in my life."
"Oh, I bet you do," Bonnie teased. "So, anyway, back to her mother, who's equally irritating and far less useful."
I considered asking Bonnie not to insult Vicky's mother like that. Then promptly decided that the woman would likely find that comment to be a compliment. Vicky was here for a few reasons. Mrs. Dallon was here for exactly one. To make sure our handling of the healing interaction was done without any exploitation. Either of the individuals being healed, or of the healers. Specifically, her daughter. Perhaps she'd represent me if I requested it, but I certainly wasn't in the forefront of her mind here.
"Her exact words," Bonnie continued. "Were something along the lines of 'tell your boss that if he's sleeping with my teenage daughter in order to manipulate her into solving his crime problem for him, I will personally see to it that he goes to the Birdcage'."
"Can't say I didn't see it coming," I sighed. I opted to ignore the parts where the threat was obviously impossible to carry out, seeing as I was not sleeping with her daughter and it wouldn't be illegal, let alone Birdcage worthy, if I was.
"Yeah, well you could have warned me," she quipped. "Which leads me to believe that if you're sleeping with her for other reasons, it's cool. But I wasn't brave enough to get confirmation on that. Speaking of, are you still?"
"Under the influence of Gaea's power and all the hormonal imbalance that causes?" I finished. "Let's just say I'm glad my costume is fully face concealing. If it wasn't for her warning, I probably would have done something... unfortunate... by now."
It was true, this was far worse than I remembered it being when I was sixteen. Then again, when I was sixteen I didn't have an absurdly beautiful young woman with empathic powers around doing her level best to grab my attention every way she could imagine.
And sixteen year old me had other problems. My parents' injuries, the loss of my brother. My induction into the Wards. Trying to understand my phantom-sight, something I had only now, about two decades later, started to get answers for. Romance was certainly not on my list of priorities, at the time. And yet, somehow, Hannah and I figured it out. At least for a while.
"I think you should go for it," Rime finally volunteered.
"What?" But she hates Vicky. Well, maybe not hate, but certainly doesn't like her in the slightest. "What made you change your mind?"
"Would you believe it if I said she's grown on me?" she asked. "No? Okay, didn't think so. So how about we look at it smart instead of looking at it emotional? We already know you both want to, so that's a non issue. Now let's start talking politics."
"I'm pretty sure I don't like where this is going," I met her eyes.
"Neither do I," she admitted. "But it's going there. Everyone already assumes the two of you are together. Denying it is just going to make them think you're lying. Unfair, but true. Then there's the whole Pantheon connection. You can't deny that would be useful."
"And suddenly I know I don't like it," I responded. "I'm not-"
"No, you're not," she interrupted. "I'm just saying it's useful. What's more useful is... well, look what she's doing to this city. She's a one woman army who doesn't sleep and can track targets from half a mile away through walls. She's doing in Philadelphia what Alexandria did to Los Angeles. Crime's becoming unprofitable around here, and that means the professional criminals are finding new places to target. There's already talk of transferring out most of our team simply because they're no longer needed. They almost gave me the promotion in San Fran, and they certainly will offer me another city soon. When they do, I plan to take it."
My stomach jumped a little. Rime had been my second in command for years, I wasn't sure how I'd function without her help. "Are you sure?" I asked.
"I am," she insisted. "Well, unless they plan to send me to Alaska or something. There's not a lot left for me to do here. Crime's down, supervillains are down, celebrity superheroine is hogging all the photo ops. I can make a lot more difference than I am right now, but only if I do it somewhere else. The only thing that's keeping me right now is, well, you."
"Me?" I asked. What's she saying?
"You saved me during the worst point in my life," she responded. "Gave me a home. I know, you had your reasons. So did your parents. That I was, in a way, a replacement for... him." She looked down, having gone quiet.
"You aren't a replacement," I insisted.
"It's okay," she replied. "I'm okay with it. I'm even happy for it. There are no words for how much better my life is for having you to take me in, to protect me. That's part of why I agreed to join the Wards and Protectorate in the first place. To take care of you the way you took care of me. You don't need me to do that, anymore, and I'm ready to move on and have my own career outside of your shadow. Sort of. I guess you'll still be my boss, if indirectly. And you'll always be my brother and protector. But making my own way for a change would be nice. And I'd feel better knowing you had a woman around to keep you grounded."
"And you think Victoria's going to keep me grounded?" I asked.
"Well, yeah," she smirked. "One of you will have to be the level headed one, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be her."
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A/N- Wanted to write this from Rime's (AKA- Random Name Rolled as Bonnie) perspective, but couldn't find a voice for her in my head. Which is a pity, I think the scene would have been richer for it... maybe some day I'll revisit the character and have a proper vision for her...
