SG: The League #6 (A of B)

[Whistling in the Dark]

July 7, 1998
Adjusted League Unimpeachable Central Headquarters for Morally
Outstanding and Upright Superheroes, Exclusively
Boston, Massachusetts

      *The Mob lay all around her. Dreamweaver continued to wheeze,
the allergens working through her system, blinding her and even
making the oblivion of sleep impossible. Mental huddled in a corner,
barely willing to acknowledge the world around him. The only
activity from Jenny's main console was light wafts of smoke from the
burning circuitry. To the side, Random Encounters laughed that meaty
laugh of his. Thomas -- Sensation, she had to remember to call him
-- stood to her other side, hand sliding over her mirror force
covered posterior, mostly bared by the leather thong he had her
wear, matching her bustier. As he traced, she felt that insidious
pleasure once more, caressing over touch-starved nerve endings.
Phobos managed to look up, staring at her in shock and disbelief.
"...Maria..." he moaned, "...how could you...."*
      "Hey! You awake?"
      Maria jumped in her seat. Thanks to the black bodysuit she
wore, she didn't slip off because of the movement. Trudy Galloway
was standing at the door to the inner office, wearing the black and
white urban camo pants and red anarchy symboled tee shirt that had
been her uniform since the Genocide War. "Sorry," she said,
smirking. "I hate to disturb your naptime, but I have like four
clear minutes before my next meeting and JOEL's been ordered to
flood my office with Xolchanerve gas if I miss it by more than five,
so maybe we should do this thing?"
      "Uh, sure," Maria said, standing up. She smoothed her hands
over the front of her bodysuit's pants, the fabric of her gloves
rustling on the bodysuit. Of course, she couldn't feel the pressure
of her hands, or the fabric, or anything else through the mirror
force that permeated her every cell, but the sound reassured her at
least a little.
      "Yeah, that sheer confidence speaks well of your application."
Trudy walked into the office, the Millite Trash Can lid slung over
her shoulder with a leather belt. The office looked charitably like
a bomb had hit it, with reports, official documents, books ranging
from Ezra Pound to the Warren Commission warring for space and
holding up unlikely furniture. Through it all, there was one seat
more or less empty, and Trudy nodded towards it. "Want a cup of
heartless betrayal?"
      Maria blinked. "What?"
      "I mean *coffee.* Coffee, of course."
      "Uh... sure."
      "Cool. You want any personal secrets in that?"
      "Personal--"
      "That's my little pet name for sugar."
      Maria felt her jaw setting. "I told Dani this was a mistake,"
she muttered.
      "I'll bet you did, sunshine." Trudy cocked her head. "What did
it feel like?"
      "What? Betraying the closest friends I ever had -- a family who
can't look me in the eye now?" *The only man I ever loved,* she
didn't say out loud.
      "Nah, I know what *that* feels like. I meant the Sensation
stuff. What did it feel like?"
      Maria opened her mouth. It wasn't physically possible for a
blush to show through her mirror force, but somehow one could tell.
"I... I don't know if this--"
      "I mean, did he do stuff directly with your brain? The old
pleasure center thing? Or was it like endorphins or heroin?"
      "...no," Maria half-whispered. "No... it was just...."
      "Yeah?"
      "...touch. He made me feel like he was touching me. Good
touches and bad touches -- touches that felt wonderful and touches
that felt hideously painful."
      "Pure sex and pure torment?"
      "....yeah."
      "And you ate it up with a spoon and did whatever it took to get
more of the good feeling?"
      Maria looked down. "Yeah."
      "And that included betraying every secret of the Mob to their
worst enemy, then fighting against the Mob and helping their enemies
use that information to hurt them -- to *beat* them?"
      "*Yes,*" Maria hissed.
      Trudy nodded. "Would you do it again?"
      Maria almost growled. "I don't have to take this. I told Dani
there was no way--"
      "Would you do it *again,* Reflects?"
      Maria was taken aback. "I... don't use that name. That's the
one--"
      "That's what *Sensation* called you. I know. If he came back
from the dead tomorrow, like your good friend and buddy Roger Nobody
has done any number of times... if Sensation walked through the door
and offered to get you off in my office right here, right now, but
only if you punched a hole through my chest, would you do it?"
      Maria stared at Trudy.
      "Answer or get out. I'm good with either."
      "Yes," Maria said.
      Trudy arched an eyebrow. "Yes?"
      "If Sensation walked through the door, alive and with his
powers intact, I would kill or torture you if it meant he would
touch me for just ten seconds. I would do it for the pleasure. I
would even do it for the pain. I betrayed my closest friends for
him. You wouldn't even merit a pause."
      Trudy half-smiled. "It's good to know these things."
      "So. Having established I'm an unwarranted risk, I thank you
for this little tearing open of emotional wounds and bid you--"
      "You'll start Probationary for a year. Part of the deal is
three sessions a week with Healer, and you need to agree to let the
biggest brains we can find, magic, science or otherwise, examine you
and try to figure out how to bring your powers under control."
      Maria blinked, stunned. "What?"
      "You're hired, Silverado. Don't get all mushy -- I've got that
meeting coming up."
      "But... but I... I admitted I'd sell out you or the Adjusted
League in a New York second for--"
      "Yes, you did." Trudy put her feet up on her desk. "If you'd
said 'no,' if you said you'd never betray us, I'd have thrown you
out and laughed at you. If you said you didn't know, I'd have
thanked you politely for coming in and sent you on your way. But you
admitted it." She shrugged. "I *knew* you're a spineless addict,
Marsidotes. I didn't know if *you* knew. And now I do."
      Maria just stared.
      "Now, get out of my office. I have work to do that doesn't
involve you. Oh, and what do we call you? Mirror Maid seems out of
the question, after all. I suppose there's always Reflects--"
      "*No,*" Maria snapped. "Call me *Reflection.*"
      "Why that?"
      "Because it's a reminder of what I did, but it's not that name.
I won't ever use that name again."
      Trudy shrugged. "Works for me. Go hit up Dani for a room
assignment. I know you two got all close and shit."
      "I--"
      Trudy snorted. "Seriously? Get out of my office."
      Maria, torn between upheaval and relief, left without looking
back. It wasn't until she made it halfway to the elevator that it
really sunk in. She was in the Adjusted League Unimpeachable.

November 3rd, 2007
Boston, Massachusetts
The Back Bay

      "Hey, are you even listening to me?"
      Maria blinked, turning. "Sorry -- lost in my own world for a
second."
      Roger laughed. "Some things *never* change." He chucked her
shoulder. "I'm raiding your kitchen for wine, rich girl. You want
some, wife?"
      "Bring me wine and make it red, husband," Dani said, grinning.
"I like boozahol when someone else is paying for it."
      Maria held her shoulder where Roger had touched it. She was
wearing a tank top, and she could feel her rough fingertips brushing
her skin, the ridges of her fingerprint running along where Roger's
hand had made impact. Even after all this time, simple touch seemed
so intense to her.
      "You okay, Shiny?" Dani said, too low for her husband to hear.
No one knew more about Maria's troubles than the thermonuclear
office worker. She still worried.
      "Yeah," Maria murmured. "Just... thinking about something I
said to Trudy once." She sat up. "Hey, dead boy -- make it the Luna
di Luna!"
      "Purple bottle?"
      "Red bottle!"
      "Got it!"
      "And hurry it up! This is my first night off in weeks -- I
don't have to be 'Reflects' until four p.m. tomorrow, and damn it
I'm gonna enjoy it!"
      But then, she always did.


                              THE LEAGUE
                              Episode #6
                              Arguments
                                  by
                            Eric Burns-White
           Every body... needs some body... sometimes....


      There were six of them, standing in the B Tower multi-training
facility -- what once had been the Excessive Liability Chamber of
the Adjusted League Unimpeachable, though minus the advanced
Xolchipalian equipment and the moderately snarky robots. Elizabeth
wasn't sure the lack was an improvement.
      "I'm really not sure about this," Mandy said, for the third
time. "Susan's an unknown quantity."
      "I thought we knew her pretty well," Elizabeth said. She was a
little tense.
      "You know what I mean. *They* won't know her." Mandy nodded to
the six, standing at parade rest, waiting. Four were women, two were
men. All were in prime shape. All were young, with the cockiness of
youth. And all wore dark purple sweat suits. Uniforms would come
later.
      "They're about to get an introduction," Elizabeth murmured,
nodding to the side.
      Susan was sauntering in. She wore one of the sweat suits as
well, her toned body probably the slightest in the room. She strode
with grace, her hair pulled back into a relatively bouncy pony-tail.
Her eyes fairly danced as she looked at the six, a small smile on
her face as she approached them, stopping in front of a rack of
metal and fiberglass pikes that had been laid out for this first
session. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.
      "Good morning," was echoed back, somewhat quietly. None of the
six looked terribly impressed, and at least one larger man with
dirty blond hair looked downright amused.
      "I trust you don't mind if we get right to it," Susan said.
"For the record, You can call me Carillon, and you all work for me.
Internalize that fact quickly and we'll all be pretty happy." She
scooped up one of the pikes. "This is going to be the basic Lochaber
weapon. As you can see--" she smoothly deployed a long axe head on
one side, a sharp spear also popping out of the top, and a wicked
looking hook on the other side of it "--it actually is a Lochaber
axe, though not one any Scotsman used before now."
      The six looked at one another. Smirks were passed back and
forth, and the amused looking blond snickered.
      Susan smiled more broadly. "I'm sorry -- what's your name,
friend?"
      The blond stood up, still grinning, and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry, *ma'am.* Didn't mean to interrupt."
      "Sure you did." Susan's grin turned impish. "I would like to
know your name, though. At least, what we call you here."
      He shrugged. "I'm called Brick, generally. Valedictorian of the
Academy, class of Ought Five."
      Susan giggled. "Brick, huh? Pretty on top of your game?"
      Brick shrugged. "Depends on the day."
      Susan nodded, and tossed the deployed axe to him. Brick caught
it smoothly, shifting to a dual handed grip. Susan whirled, scooping
up another of the pikes and driving it onto the floor, spinning into
a *blur* and nailing Brick with a sidekick that knocked the large
man through three of the others. Recovering smoothly into a forward
roll, Susan deployed the axe, spear and hook on her own axe. "You'll
notice the axe is light enough to be used like a staff, though it's
a bit too thick for effective quarterstaff katas," she said calmly.
      Brick, though startled, was well trained enough to regain his
feet quickly and set into a defense. Susan blurred forward, slashing
down hard, forcing Brick to move the axe high, parrying the blow and
letting her duck underneath to sweep his legs, dropping him again.
"The shaft is reinforced for defense. The butt can be used for a
variety of effects." She spun around, swinging and slamming the butt
into Brick's stomach, faster than he could block. The tip exploded
into a concussive charge that made Brick cry out. "Various intensity
impact charges and a fully configurable taser--" she whirled the
staff, delivering a potent electrical charge into the increasingly
unhappy recruit "--enable you to bring varying levels of response to
any number of situations."
      Susan jumped back, swinging the axe-head side into a moulinet
arc, energy crackling on the axe head even as she hooked the hook
around Brick's forearm, hauling him *up* with a fluid motion, his
own axe tumbling to the ground. "The axe and spearheads are
polarized, giving tremendous cutting and penetrative power," she
continued. "The hook has the capacity to expand and close as
necessary to capture enemies, and can deliver various stun charges
into its prey." She yanked the axe forward, hauling Brick towards
her as she leapt smoothly into the air, delivering bicycle kicks
into his chest and dropping him back to the floor, scooping the axe
up before it fell, the hook releasing automatically. "Interestingly,
the original Lochaber axe was as versatile for its time," she
continued, swinging the axe over her head and embedding it into the
floor next to Brick's face, cutting some of his hair as the
energized blade sizzled through the mat and concrete. "The spear
head made it an effective pike against infantry, the hook let you
yank cavalry off their horse, and then the axe head could smash
through their armor. That's our purpose. We are *versatile* in all
situations, never at a loss no matter what happens. We act first,
and react best."
      Brick began to try to move. Susan spun, dropping her elbow into
his sternum and driving the air out of him. She spun, driving a knee
down atop him to keep him in place.  "For the next four weeks, you
six are *mine,*" she said as smoothly as she moved. "I will train
you and refine you. You will be my weapon and my arsenal alike.
Halfway through, we will announce you to the world and begin to
patrol the streets. At the end of that training, I will oversee you
as you each train six recruits of your own. Four weeks after *that*
your recruits will train six recruits of *their* own, and no one in
this city will stand before us. Do you understand me?"
      "Yes *ma'am,*" the other five shouted, halfway through terror
and halfway through enthusiasm.
      "Outstanding," Susan said, a small smile on her face. "Start
running laps, kids. I'll catch up."
      She watched the five start to run, before shifting to move her
face next to Brick's. "Are you going to throw up?" she asked gently,
only loud enough for Brick and the nearby Mandy and Elizabeth to
hear.
      "N-no," Brick managed to stammer.
      "Good." She smiled a bit. "Any time you disrespect or talk back
to me in training, I will completely humiliate you. Do you
understand, recruit?"
      "Yuh... yes--"
      "Good. Because if you ever -- *ever* -- challenge my authority
while we are in a real combat situation, I will cut your heart out,
Michael Johannson. I will hold it in my hand while it beats its
last, and then I will bury it beneath an ashwood tree at least one
hundred years old. And a year and a day after that, your bones will
tear themselves from their coffin, the tree will animate with your
tortured spirit, and both will seek me out to serve me for a hundred
years plus one. And *they* will *never* talk back. Do you understand
*that,* 'Brick?'"
      "...yes..." the terrified man said in a tiny voice.
      "Good." Susan smoothly took to her feet. "Get up. We need to
doubletime to catch the others."
      Mandy stared at Susan. Elizabeth smiled, slightly, and turned
to leave. "I think they've gotten to know her," she said as she
started out. "I've got class in five, so I'll see you later."
      "...yeah, sure," Mandy said, staring as Brick ran for his life
to catch up to the others. Susan was pacing him.
      Dancing.

* * * * * *

      "Susan freaking Liddell?" Darrin sounded incredulous. "Alice's
retarded sister?"
      "Oh, Jesus," Maria said. "Here we go."
      "I mean it," Darrin said. "I remember when she first started
hanging around the Acadely. It was like talking to a nine year old!"
      "Hey!" Kirby said. "Watch your mouth."
      "Sorry, l'il K -- it was like talking to a *stupid* nine year
old."
      Maria bristled. "I knew Susan then too. She was sweet.
Something an overmuscled moron like you wouldn't understand. Or are
you just upset that Alice kept horndogs like you *away* from her?"
      Darrin clenched his fist, anger flaring along with a line of
electricity that ran up his arm. "Hey. I may like 'em hot and dumb,
but I'd *never* abuse someone in her condition. I'd have killed
anyone who tried that with--"
      "From what I've seen, you'd hit on anything with breasts and
a--"
      "She's not disabled," Roger said, softly. "She was *never*
disabled."
      "Dude," Darrin said. "I'm telling you--"
      "He's right," Cairi said. "By the time I departed this mortal
coil, she was almost scary smart. Doctor T. did something with her,
and Doctor Burns had something to--"
      "I was involved with that too," Roger said, sitting up. "We...
resolved the dissonance in her nature."
      "What does that mean?" Dani asked.
      "It means trouble," Mandy said, finally speaking up again.
"Susan's half faerie -- and please, *please* don't make a gay joke,
Darrin--"
      "Oh, so first Maria thinks I'd molest the retarded, and now I'm
a gay basher to boo--"
      "Susan's as much alien as human, from our point of view," Roger
said, smoothly cutting off the rant. "Until we worked out what she
really was, she couldn't reconcile how she saw the world with the
way everyone else did, so she stayed a child, at least mentally and
spiritually. After we helped her, she evolved like crazy. Sometimes,
in really scary ways."
      "That's the thing," Mandy said. "She's probably the most loving
person I've met, and I'm pretty sure she'd plunge a knife into your
eye without a second thought."
      "So, they put a sociopath in charge of Lochaber?" Hazard
sounded dubious.
      "She'll play by the rules," Mandy said. "But she'll push them
to the limit. And she'll be relentless in her pursuit. Any chance I
had to tie up Lochaber in regulations and stall out their
investigation of the League's over and done with -- by the time she
finishes with the initial six, they'll be one of the hardest fights
you could have. And if you fight 'Carillon' herself?"
      "We don't hold back?" Dani asked.
      "You won't have the chance to hold back. I wouldn't rule out
her taking half the team down by herself. And that includes Hazard
and Reflects."
      Dani snorted. "Don't go overboard, Mandy. I'm sure she's tough,
but we've got the edge on her in experience and I'm pretty sure I'm
still thermonuclear."
      "Oh God," Darrin said. "She didn't just make an overconfident
statement, did she?"
      "She did," Cairi said.
      "Elvis damn it, we *talked* about this, Boomer," Maria said.
      "Okay, okay. So after Susan kicks *my* ass the rest of you take
her down. No problem. Besides, if she's really that freaky, we'll
win the more important battle."
      "More important than staying out of jail?" Roger asked.
      "Damn straight. It all goes back to the public. The public
loves us and the cops love us. If Susan goes all alien freaky
half-elf, the public won't stand for it. If they take us out, we'll
finally get enough of a backlash to force some changes through.
Seriously, it's win/win."
      "Someone write down the day and time she said that," Mandy
said. "Moving on -- Hazard touched on the real problem. Something
Kirby and I were discussing too. So long as we're outlaws, we're
going to have trouble doing our real job. If we can't get resolution
before Lochaber goes online--"
      "We're going to have *real* trouble," Roger said. "I've been
saying that for *weeks.*"
      "Yeah, well -- clearly Kirby's better at debate than you are."
      Dani grinned. "You should be used to losing arguments, husband
dear."
      "You don't count. You cheat. But let's not get sidetracked --
we're *finally* going to do this, right?"
      "Right," Mandy said. "But we have to be smart about it, and we
can't stop protecting the city to do it. I'm going to start off by
increasing my search through the records -- if I can crack a few
government databases--"
      "I'm going to go see the Hawaiian," Roger said.
      There was a pause.
      "The... Hawaiian?" Cairi asked. "What are you--"
      "Parvenu, I don't want you anywhere near him," Mandy said.
"He's dangerous. You know he's dangerous."
      "He knows where every body is buried, Ops. He can get us on the
trail. Hell, he might already have the answers, and he owes me like
three favors--"
      "Ops is right," Dani said. "This guy is major league oh my God
trouble, Rog. You know that. Don't forget everything he did -- to
Trudy, to my brother, to me, to the whole freaking world--"
      "I'm telling you -- he'll help us."
      "Would someone *please* tell me who the Hawaiian is?" Cairi
demanded.
      There was a pause.
      "Oh, that's right. You were still dead then," Roger said.
"Sorry, we can't explain."
      "What do you mean--"
      "There's a deal in place," Mandy said. "If we break it, even
down here , the pact will be broken and the Hawaiian will be free to
out us officially."
      "How would he know?" Kirby asked.
      "It's a magical pact," Roger said. "I crafted it after our
first encounter with him. We can't tell *anyone* about him."
      Mandy frowned. "On the other hand, Incandescence can go with
you to meet with him," she said. "She's a member of the team -- it's
legal to bring her along with, and then she'll know what she needs
to know."
      "Bring her 'along with?'" Dani asked. "You're not seriously
going to let Roger go see that psycho?"
      "I seriously am. He's right -- the Hawaiian knows enough to get
us started. And we're running on a clock now -- Carillon is bringing
Lochaber's first squad public in two weeks. Our best case scenario
involves getting this thing cracked before that happens."
      "Then I'm going with him," Dani said. "If that bastard--"
      "No, you're not. Or have you forgotten the Galatea protocol?"
      "The what?" Kirby asked.
      "Seriously -- how many mysterious references are you going to
drop in this meeting," Cairi asked.
      "I can *handle* it," Dani said. "Parvy's done some spellwork
with me and Tim--"
      "Tim isn't Elizabeth Tirkoff," Mandy said. "And without our
really understanding what happened to you, we can't be sure
Parvenu's spells will protect you."
      "I'm not going to live my life in fear, Mandy," Dani snapped.
      "Down here it's Ops, you know that. And you don't have to live
your life in fear, because you're going to live it in anger at your
unreasonable boss who won't let you go and potentially be subverted
into a weapon of mass destruction on behalf of a war criminal.
Parvenu and Incandescence will go see the Hawaiian. I'll call
Ordinal from her patrol and put her on High Guard. Hazard, you're
solo for about an hour. When Iceweaver gets off work I'll have her
hook up with you. Tend North. Capacitor and Reflects--"
      "No." Maria's voice brooked no argument.
      Mandy spoke louder. "*Capacitor and Reflects,* you're tending
south. Reflects, you're powerful but limited in sheer damage.
Capacitor's squishy. I'm really sick of this mutual hatred. If you
can't cope with each other--"
      "Hey, I'm more than happy to let them shoot at her instead of
me," Capacitor said. "It's not my fault she's an unrepentant bitch."
      "I *will* kill you one day."
      "Do it on your own time. You two will tend south. Kirby and
I--"
      "I need a codename," Kirby said.
      "Yes you do. Kirby and I will coordinate and try to come up
with a codename for him. Let's do this, people."

[FROM HERE YOU WOULD GO TO THE NEXT PART. I DON'T SEE WHAT'S SO
HARD ABOUT THIS.]