Morningstar 2.5
Aeshdan
Prince Fraternal Of Pudding
- Location
- Gae Parabolae
AN: You know that feeling when you've been banging your head against the wall for months, and then you take a step to the side and the wall there turns out to be a door and pops open when you hit it? That's about how I feel now. Happy Easter, everyone. He is risen!
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Emma took a sip of her caramel coffee as she surveyed the Boardwalk from her seat in front of the Cup Of Sunshine.
Was the Boardwalk always like this? she thought. She'd been here quite often before the alley and her Blossoming, and she supposed she'd always been aware of what the Boardwalk and the Enforcers that ran it were like. But now… now she couldn't overlook what she saw, the Boardwalk's flaws and the hints at what lay behind its facade stood out as though highlighted in neon. It wasn't anything flashy or overt, nothing that she could call the cops on or transform and deal with. It was the little things. It was a man in a ratty shirt and shrunken features being pulled into an alleyway by an Enforcer. It was the absence of non-whites here as compared to a few blocks over. It was an Enforcer almost stalking the black girl in the slightly grungy clothes as she made her way along…
Sophia turned to enter the coffee house and Emma rose from her seat to greet her.
"Hello, Sophia!" she said. "So, what do you want? My treat." The Enforcer nodded slightly to himself and wandered off.
"Hello, survivor," Sophia said, giving Emma a quick nod. No more words were exchanged until Sophia had ordered her coffee (black, one sugar) and the two had resumed their seats.
"So, what are we doing here?" Sophia asked.
"Well," Emma replied, feeling embarrassed, "in the first place, I owe you an apology. You've been rescuing people and stopping criminals, I know that much now. And that is worth praise even if I don't approve of everything about how you did it. I shouldn't have lost my temper and yelled at you in that alley, and I'm sorry about that."
Sophia stared at Emma for a moment, looking bewildered. "Okay… Apology accepted?" she said tentatively.
"Thank you," Emma said. Her smile felt a bit brittle. What she'd have to ask next could make the conversation even more awkward. "I have to ask, though," she said, "why'd you do it? Why did you hang back in the alley? Were you waiting for something?"
Sophia's expression grew more confident. "It's all about strength and weakness," she said. "Some people crumble under adversity, others fight back. I had to see which you were."
"Okay…" Emma said. That makes sense, as far as it goes. "So...what if I hadn't Blossomed and fought back? Would you have stepped in?" Emma wished momentarily that she could use her newly-learnt lie-detection Charm, the one Gabriel had called the Judge's Ear, in her mundane form. She wasn't bad at reading people even without magic, but the magic was certainly better.
"Of course not," Sophia said, rolling her eyes. Emma felt her heart sink. That was the answer she'd expected, but she'd been hoping for a better one. At least Sophia was being honest, though. "What's the point of rescuing someone who's just going to let someone else push them around as soon as you're gone?"
Emma stared at her. "Because it's the right thing to do?" she said, trying to put what seemed to her axiomatic into words. "Because hurting people is wrong, and letting someone hurt other people when you can stop them is the next best thing to doing it yourself? Isn't the whole point of being a hero that because you're strong, you can rescue people who aren't strong enough to save themselves?"
Sophia rolled her eyes again. "It's not about strength… ok, it kind of is," she said. "Look, some people, you can give them all the power in the world and they're still wimps, too afraid to actually use that power. You back them into a corner, they'll fold. But others, like you and me, we fight back when we're backed into a corner. It's not about whether you can win, it's about the fact that you fight instead of showing your belly."
Emma took a sip of her caramel drink to stall for a moment. Must not lose my temper, she thought. "Sophia," she said, trying to keep her tone even, "just because someone doesn't fight back when cornered like that, it doesn't make them a coward. More often, it means they're smart. If I hadn't Blossomed in that alley, all fighting back would have accomplished would have been to get me killed. I was smaller than all those thugs, even the girl, I didn't have a weapon, and I didn't know anything about fighting. If you're a sheep, it's better to let yourself get sheared and grow back your wool later than to fight back, get your throat slit, and be made into mutton… okay, that analogy kind of got away from me. But still, you see what I mean, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Sophia said. "But you and I, we're not sheep. We're wolves. And wolves don't let themselves get pushed around."
"That's my point," Emma said. "In the alley, I was a sheep and you were a sheepdog. And sheep can't fight wolves, even if they try. That's why they need sheepdogs to protect them."
"Look," Emma continued before Sophia could reply, "let's forget that whole issue. I can understand hanging back, giving people a chance to discover that they're heroes. 'Good timber does not grow with ease', after all. That part I can agree with. But if someone doesn't rise to the occasion, you still need to step in and rescue them if you can. Just because someone's a wimp, that doesn't mean they deserve to die or be robbed. It's like Taylor said, that we don't leave the weak to die is a big part of what makes us human."
Sophia stared at Emma, her face shifting through several unreadable expressions. Emma took another sip of caramel coffee, her gaze locked with Sophia's.
Suddenly, Sophia jerked to her feet. "Sooner or later, you'll realize how the world works," she said. "When you do, I'll be ready to talk. Thanks for the coffee, Survivor."
Spinning on her heel, Sophia stalked out of the coffeeshop, cup in her hand.
Well, Emma thought as she took another sip of her drink, that went about as well as could be expected. I said what I needed to say, and I think some of that got through to her.
Could have been a lot better, though. If I hadn't lost my temper in the alley and threatened her, then we might have been able to recruit her directly. As it is, even if the bad blood between us ever gets resolved, she'd still be a Ward and we can't quite trust the PRT yet. I do believe the Wards will be a good influence on her, but I also believe the three of us would be even better.
Let that stand as a lesson to be more careful with my words in the future. For now, it's time to put such concerns aside and turn to something more fun…
She got to her feet, drink in hand, and trotted down the Boardwalk to the Reading Owl.
"Come on, Taylor," she said in a loud whisper as she stepped in through the door of the bookstore. "Time to get you a proper high school wardrobe!"
"Out!" a voice shrieked. Emma glanced over to see the Reading Owl's owner pointing a shaking finger at her, then looked down and realized that she was still holding the coffee cup. She gave an embarrassed nod, feeling herself flush, then turned on her heel and stepped back out of the bookstore.
Woops…
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Taylor… No, Ladybug. Have to practice thinking of myself and the others by our cape names when Transformed, or I'll forget and blurt out someone's identity.
Ladybug forced down her nervousness as she looked up at the office of Stansfield, Smith, and Dallon. At her side, she felt the soft warmth of Em… of Princess's Light spike for a moment as she worked a Charm. She couldn't actually tell what Charm it was with this sense, but she knew what Princess was doing from their plans. The Charm would fill Princess with a supernatural charisma, ensuring a good first impression.
And when dealing with someone as prickly as Carol Dallon, we'll need a good first impression. Especially since I actually do admire New Wave, and I'd really like to work with them going forward.
"Ready?" Ladybug asked.
"Ready as I'm going to get," Princess replied.
They stepped forward and into the lobby. "Princess and Ladybug, here to see Carol Dallon," Princess said to the receptionist.
"Very good," the receptionist replied. "If you'll just wait over there, Mrs. Dallon will be down to see you momentarily."
Ladybug dropped into a seat and surveyed the lobby, trying to keep from fidgeting self-consciously at how out of place her Regalia costume made her feel. Mrs. Dallon was coming down the stairs from the upper level.
Ladybug rose smoothly to her feet, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Princess doing the same.
"Mrs. Dallon," Princess said, stepping forward and offering her hand. "I am Princess, and this is Ladybug. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Mrs. Dallon looked them up and down, and Ladybug saw a look of disapproval flash across her face. "This way," she said, not taking Princess's offered hand.
Princess and Ladybug followed Mrs. Dallon back up the stairs to her office. As they entered the office, Ladybug took a quick glance around. It was very much what she'd expected: Dignified and a bit intimidating. There were newspaper clippings about New Wave's early days on the walls and photos of the original and modern New Wave in costume on her desk, where you would normally expect to find family photos.
"All right," Mrs. Dallon said, once the door was shut, "what are you two doing here? You cannot expect me to believe that you are adults. Do you have any adult team members?"
The two of them exchanged a glance. "No, we do not," Ladybug admitted. There were a very few things that she could justify lying about even to Mrs. Dallon, but this was not one of them.
And it's not like we could get away with lying about this anyway, not for any length of time.
Mrs. Dallon closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "What are you thinking?" she said. "I can't… you can't seriously expect to go independent as children. Have you not considered the Wards as an option? They can provide protection and training, and you'll need both."
Princess pasted on her best fake smile. "The Wards are not an option for us, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are simply too many restrictions placed on the Wards. We don't have the option to ignore people who are in need, and if we joined the Wards the PRT would try and keep us from helping people. Secondly, there are details about our powers which could literally get us killed if they fell into the wrong hands, and I don't dare trust the PRT's ability to keep secrets."
Mrs. Dallon closed her eyes for a moment and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "Dammit," she said. "I… can understand where you are coming from, but I cannot endorse it. You cannot possibly understand what you are getting yourselves into."
"Are you going to try and stop us?" Ladybug said, tensing in her seat. This conversation had gone from civil to the edge of cataclysm in an eyeblink.
In retrospect, we really should have seen this coming, she thought.
"I can't," Mrs. Dallon admitted, sounding almost regretful. "Joining the Wards isn't mandatory, nor is being part of a team with adult heroes. And I don't exactly want you to get in trouble with the law either, even if that would end up with you under adult supervision."
Mrs. Dallon stiffened, her professional manner slotting back into place. "Very well," she said, "since I can't stop you, I might as well give you what direction I can. I am not actually certain whether you are legally permitted to register as independent heroes, but I can find out. And at the very least, I can inform the PRT about you and that you are intending to act as heroes. Are you two the only members of your team or are there others?"
"One other," Princess said. "Void Cowboy, the one who made his debut yesterday."
"I see," Mrs. Dallon said. "Now, I would normally recommend going to the PRT for power testing, but from what you just said I suspect you aren't going to do that. Understandable. However, I have to warn you that there are certain power types that tend to draw additional scrutiny. First, you have powers that affect the mind or manipulate perception. Those are not outright forbidden, but they do thow up a red flag, especially if you do not initially admit to them. Biotinkering also tends to draw suspicion, especially in this town, and anything which involves creating self-replicating minions or creations is actually illegal without special permission from the PRT."
"Wait, why would biotinkering be especially suspicious in Brockton Bay?" Princess asked.
Mrs. Dallon shot a quick look at Princess, then nodded slightly. "Director Piggot is a survivor of the Battle of Ellisburg."
Ellisburg… Ladybug felt QA's icy touch against her mind, replaying what she knew of Ellisburg.
"Yes, that makes sense," she said aloud.
"Moving on," said Mrs. Dallon, "money obviously won't be an issue for you… that just leaves the acceptable force and other procedural certifications. The younger members of New Wave were able to take these certifications through the Protectorate, but they still had us as adult supervision. I am not certain how the Protectorate will react to your applications for independent hero certification, other than that they will certainly pressure you to join the Wards. Now, I have a list here, and then I can help you fill out the application for independent hero status…"
Ladybug quickly looked over the list, committing it to her QA-enhanced memory as Mrs. Dallon began her explanation.
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Taylor was in her bed reading when she heard the phone ring downstairs, then heard her dad rushing down the stairs to get it. A few moments later, he came upstairs.
"Taylor, can you.. Um, change?" He made a vaguely twisting gesture with one hand. "That was Alan, apparently Greg has something important he needs to discuss with all of us, and they're trying to set up a conference call."
"Oohkay…" Taylor replied. She wriggled around until she was sitting up against the head of her bed, then reached across and touched her Phylactery, the beaded bracelet she wore around her left wrist. Closing her eyes, she called up her memories of love, of evenings reading with her mother, of sleepovers with Emma, of her father building bonfires and cooking barbecues. The Light blossomed in response, infusing her with strength and wrapping her in power.
She opened her eyes again, seeing the crimson pseudo-fabric of the Ladybug uniform. With a quick thought, her communication interface appeared in her view, and with another thought she selected Princess and Void Cowboy's Regalia phones to initiate the conference call.
If I ever do get a regular phone, I am going to have been so spoiled by this, she thought.
She heard the chiming around her, then it cut out.
"Hello, Princess speaking," she heard Princess say. "All others present."
"Ladybug here," she said. "With others."
"Void Cowboy here," Void stated. "I was checking up on my PHO account, and I have a message from Uber and Leet. They claim that they have intercepted an ABB message that gives the date and time when…" he paused for a moment "...the next shipment of sex slaves will be delivered. They say that they want to rescue the women, but that they need my help."
There was a moment's pause. Ladybug saw her dad pale.
"Okay," Ladybug said. "Obviously, if we take this offer, it's going to absolutely wreck our reputation. Especially since this will be my and Princess's debut. Even if we try to explain our position, we'll probably be labeled villains. And there's no way Uber and Leet haven't realized that, those two know PR and reputation inside and out."
"Obviously," Void replied. "But does that matter? Can we let those women get… carried off, when we can save them? Isn't this why we decided not to join the Wards, so that PR and the Youth Guard couldn't stop us from doing the right thing?"
"Wait wait wait," Taylor's father said. "This… what about Lung? What about Oni Lee? What about gangsters with guns? Don't you think those women are going to be guarded?"
"For that matter," Ladybug added, "do we have any proof that Uber and Leet are telling the truth? They are thieves and vandals at least. For all we know, they could be setting us to attack innocents, or sending us into a trap."
"That's a good point," Void admitted. "They didn't share any direct proof."
"Can we get back to the rage dragon?" Taylor's father said.
"We shouldn't be going up against Lung," Ladybug said distractedly. "I'm pretty sure he'll have better things to do than guard some slaves. And assuming this isn't a trap, Uber and Leet should actually be good allies for this mission. They're very good at pulling these sort of things off and getting away with it."
"Remember, I've got the Judge's Ear working now," said Princess. "If you can get us a face-to-face meeting, I should be able to tell if they're pulling a double cross. No way they could know I have that power, so I don't think they'll be able to trick it."
"Taylor!" her dad shouted.
"Name!" she hissed back.
"Right," he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Before he could say anything more, Emma's father spoke up. His tone was what Ladybug suspected was his "lawyer voice", smooth and oh-so-reasonable.
"Okay, so it sounds like we have three issues here. First, are Uber and Leet telling the truth? Second is reputation, and third is risk. Let's deal with those one at a time. First, is any of this even the truth? For that, I think Princess's suggestion has merit. Void, if you ask for a face-to-face meeting to discuss this offer, Uber and Leet will probably agree. As they don't know that Princess has access to the Judge's Ear, they won't be prepared to counter or work around it. If this is a trick, odds are that you'll be able to catch it."
Taylor's father winced. "Somer's Rock," he said, sounding defeated.
"Huh?" replied Void.
"Somer's Rock," repeated Taylor's father. "It's a bar in the Docks, a traditional neutral ground for meetings between gangs, or between villains and heroes. If you're doing this, that's where you'll want to meet."
"Got it," Void said. Ladybug shot her father a quick smile, and he smiled back a little ruefully.
"Okay, second point," Emma's father continued. "Reputation. That's… going to be a tougher one."
"Heroes teaming up with villains against a greater threat is a thing," Void said, sounding hopeful. "I mean, even aside from the Endbringer truce."
"Yeah," Ladybug replied. "I'm sure the Protectorate could get away with it, and I'd bet an established indy team like New Wave could. The problem's going to be that this is our debut as a team. We'll have no positive reputation to offset the fact we're working with villains, and once you've got a bad reputation it's hard to shake. But Void's right, half the reason we decided to go indy was so that we can do what is right rather than what looks right. Even if this is a trick by Uber and Leet to set us at odds with the Protectorate… as long as they're telling the truth about us rescuing innocent women, we've no choice but to work with them."
"Agreed," she heard Princess say. "It's about as close to the line as I dare go, but agreed."
"And now," said Taylor's father, "we come to the issue of the rage dragon."
Ladybug closed her eyes to think. "Like I said, I don't think Lung is going to be the issue here. He's got better things to do than stand guard. Though… the guards might call him in. That's not going to be good."
"Uber and Leet did mention the possibility of Lung in their email," Void commented. "They said the episode theme was going to be Mario, and that if Lung showed up he would be their Bowser. So they've at least considered Lung. And they're silly and childish, but they're not idiots. They must have some plan for how to steal from Lung and get away with it. We could ask them, since we're meeting anyway."
Taylor's father looked like something had hit him. "Oh God…" he groaned. "I'm… you're going to bet your lives on Uber and Leet knowing what they're doing?"
"They haven't dropped the ball on safe escapes yet," Void said. "And it's still better than going out without any backup, right?"
Taylor's father groaned again. "What's the deadline on this?" he asked. "How long did they give you to make the decision?"
"The raid will be this Friday," Void said. "I can request the meeting for Thursday, that'll give Uber and Leet a couple of days to respond."
"Better go for Wednesday," said Emma's father. "If we can help it, we will want to have another conference after the meeting with Uber and Leet, so we can discuss this with all the facts. The earlier we can get the meeting, the more likely they'll let you think about it and get back to them rather than making a call on the spot."
"And we were already planning on having our meeting with the Queens Wednesday night," Ladybug pointed out.
"Sounds like we have a plan," said Emma's father. "Any other thoughts?"
"Not at the moment," said Void.
"Other than that I still don't like this?" said Taylor's father. "No, that's it."
"Alright," Ladybug said after a moment's pause.
With a quick thought, Ladybug ended the call and dropped her Transformation, letting her inner Light fade to a dim glow.
Taylor's father lunged forward and grasped her in a tight hug, holding onto her as if he expected her to be yanked away at any moment. Taylor returned the hug, holding him tight.
He cares again, she thought to herself. Thank God for that.
"I'm scared, Taylor," her father whispered in her ear. "I don't know if I can do this. You're my daughter. I'm supposed to protect you, not let you go up against the monster who the whole Protectorate couldn't bring down. I can't lose-"
<DESTINATION>
<AGREEMENT>
Between one breath and the next, QA's presence in the back of Taylor's mind exploded into activity. Her father went stiff and fell away from her, limbs thrashing and a wordless shriek tearing from his throat.
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Emma took a sip of her caramel coffee as she surveyed the Boardwalk from her seat in front of the Cup Of Sunshine.
Was the Boardwalk always like this? she thought. She'd been here quite often before the alley and her Blossoming, and she supposed she'd always been aware of what the Boardwalk and the Enforcers that ran it were like. But now… now she couldn't overlook what she saw, the Boardwalk's flaws and the hints at what lay behind its facade stood out as though highlighted in neon. It wasn't anything flashy or overt, nothing that she could call the cops on or transform and deal with. It was the little things. It was a man in a ratty shirt and shrunken features being pulled into an alleyway by an Enforcer. It was the absence of non-whites here as compared to a few blocks over. It was an Enforcer almost stalking the black girl in the slightly grungy clothes as she made her way along…
Sophia turned to enter the coffee house and Emma rose from her seat to greet her.
"Hello, Sophia!" she said. "So, what do you want? My treat." The Enforcer nodded slightly to himself and wandered off.
"Hello, survivor," Sophia said, giving Emma a quick nod. No more words were exchanged until Sophia had ordered her coffee (black, one sugar) and the two had resumed their seats.
"So, what are we doing here?" Sophia asked.
"Well," Emma replied, feeling embarrassed, "in the first place, I owe you an apology. You've been rescuing people and stopping criminals, I know that much now. And that is worth praise even if I don't approve of everything about how you did it. I shouldn't have lost my temper and yelled at you in that alley, and I'm sorry about that."
Sophia stared at Emma for a moment, looking bewildered. "Okay… Apology accepted?" she said tentatively.
"Thank you," Emma said. Her smile felt a bit brittle. What she'd have to ask next could make the conversation even more awkward. "I have to ask, though," she said, "why'd you do it? Why did you hang back in the alley? Were you waiting for something?"
Sophia's expression grew more confident. "It's all about strength and weakness," she said. "Some people crumble under adversity, others fight back. I had to see which you were."
"Okay…" Emma said. That makes sense, as far as it goes. "So...what if I hadn't Blossomed and fought back? Would you have stepped in?" Emma wished momentarily that she could use her newly-learnt lie-detection Charm, the one Gabriel had called the Judge's Ear, in her mundane form. She wasn't bad at reading people even without magic, but the magic was certainly better.
"Of course not," Sophia said, rolling her eyes. Emma felt her heart sink. That was the answer she'd expected, but she'd been hoping for a better one. At least Sophia was being honest, though. "What's the point of rescuing someone who's just going to let someone else push them around as soon as you're gone?"
Emma stared at her. "Because it's the right thing to do?" she said, trying to put what seemed to her axiomatic into words. "Because hurting people is wrong, and letting someone hurt other people when you can stop them is the next best thing to doing it yourself? Isn't the whole point of being a hero that because you're strong, you can rescue people who aren't strong enough to save themselves?"
Sophia rolled her eyes again. "It's not about strength… ok, it kind of is," she said. "Look, some people, you can give them all the power in the world and they're still wimps, too afraid to actually use that power. You back them into a corner, they'll fold. But others, like you and me, we fight back when we're backed into a corner. It's not about whether you can win, it's about the fact that you fight instead of showing your belly."
Emma took a sip of her caramel drink to stall for a moment. Must not lose my temper, she thought. "Sophia," she said, trying to keep her tone even, "just because someone doesn't fight back when cornered like that, it doesn't make them a coward. More often, it means they're smart. If I hadn't Blossomed in that alley, all fighting back would have accomplished would have been to get me killed. I was smaller than all those thugs, even the girl, I didn't have a weapon, and I didn't know anything about fighting. If you're a sheep, it's better to let yourself get sheared and grow back your wool later than to fight back, get your throat slit, and be made into mutton… okay, that analogy kind of got away from me. But still, you see what I mean, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Sophia said. "But you and I, we're not sheep. We're wolves. And wolves don't let themselves get pushed around."
"That's my point," Emma said. "In the alley, I was a sheep and you were a sheepdog. And sheep can't fight wolves, even if they try. That's why they need sheepdogs to protect them."
"Look," Emma continued before Sophia could reply, "let's forget that whole issue. I can understand hanging back, giving people a chance to discover that they're heroes. 'Good timber does not grow with ease', after all. That part I can agree with. But if someone doesn't rise to the occasion, you still need to step in and rescue them if you can. Just because someone's a wimp, that doesn't mean they deserve to die or be robbed. It's like Taylor said, that we don't leave the weak to die is a big part of what makes us human."
Sophia stared at Emma, her face shifting through several unreadable expressions. Emma took another sip of caramel coffee, her gaze locked with Sophia's.
Suddenly, Sophia jerked to her feet. "Sooner or later, you'll realize how the world works," she said. "When you do, I'll be ready to talk. Thanks for the coffee, Survivor."
Spinning on her heel, Sophia stalked out of the coffeeshop, cup in her hand.
Well, Emma thought as she took another sip of her drink, that went about as well as could be expected. I said what I needed to say, and I think some of that got through to her.
Could have been a lot better, though. If I hadn't lost my temper in the alley and threatened her, then we might have been able to recruit her directly. As it is, even if the bad blood between us ever gets resolved, she'd still be a Ward and we can't quite trust the PRT yet. I do believe the Wards will be a good influence on her, but I also believe the three of us would be even better.
Let that stand as a lesson to be more careful with my words in the future. For now, it's time to put such concerns aside and turn to something more fun…
She got to her feet, drink in hand, and trotted down the Boardwalk to the Reading Owl.
"Come on, Taylor," she said in a loud whisper as she stepped in through the door of the bookstore. "Time to get you a proper high school wardrobe!"
"Out!" a voice shrieked. Emma glanced over to see the Reading Owl's owner pointing a shaking finger at her, then looked down and realized that she was still holding the coffee cup. She gave an embarrassed nod, feeling herself flush, then turned on her heel and stepped back out of the bookstore.
Woops…
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Taylor… No, Ladybug. Have to practice thinking of myself and the others by our cape names when Transformed, or I'll forget and blurt out someone's identity.
Ladybug forced down her nervousness as she looked up at the office of Stansfield, Smith, and Dallon. At her side, she felt the soft warmth of Em… of Princess's Light spike for a moment as she worked a Charm. She couldn't actually tell what Charm it was with this sense, but she knew what Princess was doing from their plans. The Charm would fill Princess with a supernatural charisma, ensuring a good first impression.
And when dealing with someone as prickly as Carol Dallon, we'll need a good first impression. Especially since I actually do admire New Wave, and I'd really like to work with them going forward.
"Ready?" Ladybug asked.
"Ready as I'm going to get," Princess replied.
They stepped forward and into the lobby. "Princess and Ladybug, here to see Carol Dallon," Princess said to the receptionist.
"Very good," the receptionist replied. "If you'll just wait over there, Mrs. Dallon will be down to see you momentarily."
Ladybug dropped into a seat and surveyed the lobby, trying to keep from fidgeting self-consciously at how out of place her Regalia costume made her feel. Mrs. Dallon was coming down the stairs from the upper level.
Ladybug rose smoothly to her feet, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Princess doing the same.
"Mrs. Dallon," Princess said, stepping forward and offering her hand. "I am Princess, and this is Ladybug. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Mrs. Dallon looked them up and down, and Ladybug saw a look of disapproval flash across her face. "This way," she said, not taking Princess's offered hand.
Princess and Ladybug followed Mrs. Dallon back up the stairs to her office. As they entered the office, Ladybug took a quick glance around. It was very much what she'd expected: Dignified and a bit intimidating. There were newspaper clippings about New Wave's early days on the walls and photos of the original and modern New Wave in costume on her desk, where you would normally expect to find family photos.
"All right," Mrs. Dallon said, once the door was shut, "what are you two doing here? You cannot expect me to believe that you are adults. Do you have any adult team members?"
The two of them exchanged a glance. "No, we do not," Ladybug admitted. There were a very few things that she could justify lying about even to Mrs. Dallon, but this was not one of them.
And it's not like we could get away with lying about this anyway, not for any length of time.
Mrs. Dallon closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "What are you thinking?" she said. "I can't… you can't seriously expect to go independent as children. Have you not considered the Wards as an option? They can provide protection and training, and you'll need both."
Princess pasted on her best fake smile. "The Wards are not an option for us, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are simply too many restrictions placed on the Wards. We don't have the option to ignore people who are in need, and if we joined the Wards the PRT would try and keep us from helping people. Secondly, there are details about our powers which could literally get us killed if they fell into the wrong hands, and I don't dare trust the PRT's ability to keep secrets."
Mrs. Dallon closed her eyes for a moment and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "Dammit," she said. "I… can understand where you are coming from, but I cannot endorse it. You cannot possibly understand what you are getting yourselves into."
"Are you going to try and stop us?" Ladybug said, tensing in her seat. This conversation had gone from civil to the edge of cataclysm in an eyeblink.
In retrospect, we really should have seen this coming, she thought.
"I can't," Mrs. Dallon admitted, sounding almost regretful. "Joining the Wards isn't mandatory, nor is being part of a team with adult heroes. And I don't exactly want you to get in trouble with the law either, even if that would end up with you under adult supervision."
Mrs. Dallon stiffened, her professional manner slotting back into place. "Very well," she said, "since I can't stop you, I might as well give you what direction I can. I am not actually certain whether you are legally permitted to register as independent heroes, but I can find out. And at the very least, I can inform the PRT about you and that you are intending to act as heroes. Are you two the only members of your team or are there others?"
"One other," Princess said. "Void Cowboy, the one who made his debut yesterday."
"I see," Mrs. Dallon said. "Now, I would normally recommend going to the PRT for power testing, but from what you just said I suspect you aren't going to do that. Understandable. However, I have to warn you that there are certain power types that tend to draw additional scrutiny. First, you have powers that affect the mind or manipulate perception. Those are not outright forbidden, but they do thow up a red flag, especially if you do not initially admit to them. Biotinkering also tends to draw suspicion, especially in this town, and anything which involves creating self-replicating minions or creations is actually illegal without special permission from the PRT."
"Wait, why would biotinkering be especially suspicious in Brockton Bay?" Princess asked.
Mrs. Dallon shot a quick look at Princess, then nodded slightly. "Director Piggot is a survivor of the Battle of Ellisburg."
Ellisburg… Ladybug felt QA's icy touch against her mind, replaying what she knew of Ellisburg.
"Yes, that makes sense," she said aloud.
"Moving on," said Mrs. Dallon, "money obviously won't be an issue for you… that just leaves the acceptable force and other procedural certifications. The younger members of New Wave were able to take these certifications through the Protectorate, but they still had us as adult supervision. I am not certain how the Protectorate will react to your applications for independent hero certification, other than that they will certainly pressure you to join the Wards. Now, I have a list here, and then I can help you fill out the application for independent hero status…"
Ladybug quickly looked over the list, committing it to her QA-enhanced memory as Mrs. Dallon began her explanation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taylor was in her bed reading when she heard the phone ring downstairs, then heard her dad rushing down the stairs to get it. A few moments later, he came upstairs.
"Taylor, can you.. Um, change?" He made a vaguely twisting gesture with one hand. "That was Alan, apparently Greg has something important he needs to discuss with all of us, and they're trying to set up a conference call."
"Oohkay…" Taylor replied. She wriggled around until she was sitting up against the head of her bed, then reached across and touched her Phylactery, the beaded bracelet she wore around her left wrist. Closing her eyes, she called up her memories of love, of evenings reading with her mother, of sleepovers with Emma, of her father building bonfires and cooking barbecues. The Light blossomed in response, infusing her with strength and wrapping her in power.
She opened her eyes again, seeing the crimson pseudo-fabric of the Ladybug uniform. With a quick thought, her communication interface appeared in her view, and with another thought she selected Princess and Void Cowboy's Regalia phones to initiate the conference call.
If I ever do get a regular phone, I am going to have been so spoiled by this, she thought.
She heard the chiming around her, then it cut out.
"Hello, Princess speaking," she heard Princess say. "All others present."
"Ladybug here," she said. "With others."
"Void Cowboy here," Void stated. "I was checking up on my PHO account, and I have a message from Uber and Leet. They claim that they have intercepted an ABB message that gives the date and time when…" he paused for a moment "...the next shipment of sex slaves will be delivered. They say that they want to rescue the women, but that they need my help."
There was a moment's pause. Ladybug saw her dad pale.
"Okay," Ladybug said. "Obviously, if we take this offer, it's going to absolutely wreck our reputation. Especially since this will be my and Princess's debut. Even if we try to explain our position, we'll probably be labeled villains. And there's no way Uber and Leet haven't realized that, those two know PR and reputation inside and out."
"Obviously," Void replied. "But does that matter? Can we let those women get… carried off, when we can save them? Isn't this why we decided not to join the Wards, so that PR and the Youth Guard couldn't stop us from doing the right thing?"
"Wait wait wait," Taylor's father said. "This… what about Lung? What about Oni Lee? What about gangsters with guns? Don't you think those women are going to be guarded?"
"For that matter," Ladybug added, "do we have any proof that Uber and Leet are telling the truth? They are thieves and vandals at least. For all we know, they could be setting us to attack innocents, or sending us into a trap."
"That's a good point," Void admitted. "They didn't share any direct proof."
"Can we get back to the rage dragon?" Taylor's father said.
"We shouldn't be going up against Lung," Ladybug said distractedly. "I'm pretty sure he'll have better things to do than guard some slaves. And assuming this isn't a trap, Uber and Leet should actually be good allies for this mission. They're very good at pulling these sort of things off and getting away with it."
"Remember, I've got the Judge's Ear working now," said Princess. "If you can get us a face-to-face meeting, I should be able to tell if they're pulling a double cross. No way they could know I have that power, so I don't think they'll be able to trick it."
"Taylor!" her dad shouted.
"Name!" she hissed back.
"Right," he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Before he could say anything more, Emma's father spoke up. His tone was what Ladybug suspected was his "lawyer voice", smooth and oh-so-reasonable.
"Okay, so it sounds like we have three issues here. First, are Uber and Leet telling the truth? Second is reputation, and third is risk. Let's deal with those one at a time. First, is any of this even the truth? For that, I think Princess's suggestion has merit. Void, if you ask for a face-to-face meeting to discuss this offer, Uber and Leet will probably agree. As they don't know that Princess has access to the Judge's Ear, they won't be prepared to counter or work around it. If this is a trick, odds are that you'll be able to catch it."
Taylor's father winced. "Somer's Rock," he said, sounding defeated.
"Huh?" replied Void.
"Somer's Rock," repeated Taylor's father. "It's a bar in the Docks, a traditional neutral ground for meetings between gangs, or between villains and heroes. If you're doing this, that's where you'll want to meet."
"Got it," Void said. Ladybug shot her father a quick smile, and he smiled back a little ruefully.
"Okay, second point," Emma's father continued. "Reputation. That's… going to be a tougher one."
"Heroes teaming up with villains against a greater threat is a thing," Void said, sounding hopeful. "I mean, even aside from the Endbringer truce."
"Yeah," Ladybug replied. "I'm sure the Protectorate could get away with it, and I'd bet an established indy team like New Wave could. The problem's going to be that this is our debut as a team. We'll have no positive reputation to offset the fact we're working with villains, and once you've got a bad reputation it's hard to shake. But Void's right, half the reason we decided to go indy was so that we can do what is right rather than what looks right. Even if this is a trick by Uber and Leet to set us at odds with the Protectorate… as long as they're telling the truth about us rescuing innocent women, we've no choice but to work with them."
"Agreed," she heard Princess say. "It's about as close to the line as I dare go, but agreed."
"And now," said Taylor's father, "we come to the issue of the rage dragon."
Ladybug closed her eyes to think. "Like I said, I don't think Lung is going to be the issue here. He's got better things to do than stand guard. Though… the guards might call him in. That's not going to be good."
"Uber and Leet did mention the possibility of Lung in their email," Void commented. "They said the episode theme was going to be Mario, and that if Lung showed up he would be their Bowser. So they've at least considered Lung. And they're silly and childish, but they're not idiots. They must have some plan for how to steal from Lung and get away with it. We could ask them, since we're meeting anyway."
Taylor's father looked like something had hit him. "Oh God…" he groaned. "I'm… you're going to bet your lives on Uber and Leet knowing what they're doing?"
"They haven't dropped the ball on safe escapes yet," Void said. "And it's still better than going out without any backup, right?"
Taylor's father groaned again. "What's the deadline on this?" he asked. "How long did they give you to make the decision?"
"The raid will be this Friday," Void said. "I can request the meeting for Thursday, that'll give Uber and Leet a couple of days to respond."
"Better go for Wednesday," said Emma's father. "If we can help it, we will want to have another conference after the meeting with Uber and Leet, so we can discuss this with all the facts. The earlier we can get the meeting, the more likely they'll let you think about it and get back to them rather than making a call on the spot."
"And we were already planning on having our meeting with the Queens Wednesday night," Ladybug pointed out.
"Sounds like we have a plan," said Emma's father. "Any other thoughts?"
"Not at the moment," said Void.
"Other than that I still don't like this?" said Taylor's father. "No, that's it."
"Alright," Ladybug said after a moment's pause.
With a quick thought, Ladybug ended the call and dropped her Transformation, letting her inner Light fade to a dim glow.
Taylor's father lunged forward and grasped her in a tight hug, holding onto her as if he expected her to be yanked away at any moment. Taylor returned the hug, holding him tight.
He cares again, she thought to herself. Thank God for that.
"I'm scared, Taylor," her father whispered in her ear. "I don't know if I can do this. You're my daughter. I'm supposed to protect you, not let you go up against the monster who the whole Protectorate couldn't bring down. I can't lose-"
<DESTINATION>
<AGREEMENT>
Between one breath and the next, QA's presence in the back of Taylor's mind exploded into activity. Her father went stiff and fell away from her, limbs thrashing and a wordless shriek tearing from his throat.
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