The irritating chirp of an alarm was the first thing Vivienne heard as she woke up that morning. It pierced her ears and ripped her out of the pleasant dream she’d been having, leaving her stuck in the waking world for the foreseeable future. Just because this was how she woke up every weekday didn’t make it any less annoying. She groaned, burying a face in her pillow as she reached out to turn it off. Time to start her day, whether she wanted to or not.
Viv forced herself to sit up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and trying to remember what she’d been dreaming about. Regardless of the contents, it had certainly been a good one, she could say that much. Good enough to leave a wet spot on her sleep shorts and a lingering tingle in her thighs, apparently.
She couldn’t help but laugh at herself. It had been a long time since she’d had a dream like that, so it was probably due. Maybe it was time to hit up Brea for another late-night meeting? Between school, work, and Union patrols, she hadn’t really had much time to think about that sort of thing, but clearly, her body was sending her a message that she was a little pent up.
She pushed the thought into the back of her mind as she got up to shower and go about her morning routine. None of her roommates were awake yet, so she was careful not to make too much noise as she gathered her clothes and teleported into the bathroom.
Viv dumped her fresh clothes on the floor and hopped into the shower, letting the cold spray wake her up properly before it heated into something pleasant. She went through the motions, scrubbing herself down before getting out and getting dressed for the day. A touch of makeup here, some cute earrings there, and she was ready to go. She smiled at her reflection, pulling a little pose to show herself off.
From there, she teleported into the kitchen and started on breakfast, putting together a quick meal of fried eggs on toast and scarfing it down as quickly as she could. She didn’t have a lot of time before her lecture started; intentionally setting her alarm as late as possible thanks to the convenience of her powers. No need to worry about travel time when you could get to your location instantaneously, after all.
Sam, her roommate, was just coming out of their room when Vivienne was grabbing her bag and making the final preparations to go.
“Morning,” they mumbled, shuffling into the kitchen to make an instant coffee.
“Hi,” she greeted, securing her bag over her shoulder. “If you’re planning on cooking anything for breakfast, there’s already a pan there you can use. Don’t need to make any unnecessary dishes.”
Sam waved her off. “Breakfast is for chumps. I don’t eat until noon at the earliest.”
Viv paused. “That’s… unhealthy. You should eat more.”
“Your mom’s unhealthy.”
Viv plastered a smile on her face. “Pleasant as always. I’ll see you later.”
“Later.”
With that, Viv focused her mind on an image of her usual seat in the lecture hall and, with a slight pop, she teleported. Several people around her recoiled in shock. She grinned, greeting them as they calmed back down.
“Vivienne, I thought I told you not to teleport into the lecture hall!” the lecturer yelled. “You could hurt somebody!”
Viv winced, ducking her head as her face heated up. “Sorry, I forgot.”
The lecturer sighed. “Just don’t let it happen again, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
—
Vivienne trudged through the lecture, trying to intake as much information as she could, taking notes where possible, and generally just doing her best not to doze off. Despite her attempts to always come across as bright and bubbly, the truth was that Vivienne was tired. All the time. Between studying for her nursing degree, doing whatever work she could as a superhero, looking after Madeline, cooking, cleaning, doing what little self-care she could fit in, and most recently, worrying about Jordyn, she had almost no time to herself to just relax. It was good that she actually enjoyed working as a hero and spending time with Madeline, but a girl still needed time to herself to just decompress. Everyone in the union relied on her for her powers, so she constantly had to be vigilant to any monster attacks or disasters so that she could help dispatch people to the scene, and frankly, it was fucking stressful. Part of her was regretting taking on such a demanding degree, but at the same time, it was what she wanted. She couldn’t spend her whole life living off of the Union, and helping people always made her happiest. It was hard work, but it was good work. It was worth it.
Probably.
Her day continued in the usual fashion; more lectures, more notes, more expensive iced coffee from the university cafeteria, followed by two hours of frantic studying to teach herself all of the things the lecturers missed. Thankfully, all of her lectures were in the first half of the day, so while her mornings were usually an impossible flurry of activity, it left most of her afternoons free so that she could focus on whatever she deemed most important at the time. Ideally, that would’ve been a nap, but there was something else that had been sitting in the back of her mind ever since that chance encounter a few nights ago, and she had to address it before anything else.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes. It was just her luck that she would stumble upon another lost bird to take in, but now that she knew, she couldn’t just ignore it. Those bruises and cuts weren’t just training injuries. Jordyn needed help. Vivienne needed a plan.
Her ears popped as she teleported, and she worked her jaw to alleviate the discomfort as she adjusted her eyes to the dim conference room of the Union HQ. It was the biggest room in the building, with a large table right in the centre and a massive screen covering the entirety of one wall, displaying analytics of the city. Without that citizen’s report detection system, Vivienne’s job would’ve been much harder.
She shivered, hugging her arms to herself. After coming straight out of the afternoon sun, the room was almost aggressively cold. In fact, it was weird just how cold it was. Or, at least, it would have been weird, had Maddie not been sitting at one end of the table with her legs kicked up, forming small icicles to throw at a dart board set up on the far wall. She wasn’t alone. The smell of marijuana lingered in the air, wafting from a joint hanging between Ashley’s fingers as he focused on something on the table. It was pretty rare to see both Union leaders working together these days, what with Maddie’s mental health issues. Though, to be fair, it didn’t seem like Maddie was doing much work. Still, her presence alone was progress that Vivienne couldn’t help but be proud of.
“Hey guys,” she greeted, approaching them. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you both here together.”
“Hi Viv,” Ashley greeted, scratching at his dark stubble and not looking away from the papers spread out in front of him. He was a fair bit older than her and Maddie, in his mid thirties. He was one of the few people in the Union who didn’t actually have a power; having inherited his leadership of the Union and everything that comes with it from his elderly mother once she became too old to manage things, unlike Maddie, who was voted into the position. A new leadership election would be held in about a year, once Maddie’s term was up, and the new co-leader would take her place beside Ashley. As much as she had on her plate, Vivienne certainly wouldn’t mind holding the position herself, if it came to that.
“Hey,” Maddie said, grabbing the joint from him and taking a puff. “I just figured I’d come here so that I was actually doing something instead of waiting for you at my apartment. I figured you’d show up eventually, so it seemed efficient. We’re sorting out budget issues at the moment. Or, at least, Ash is. This stuff goes over my head a little.”
Ashley smiled. “Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You’re way better at the people side of things than I am.” He looked up at Viv. “So, you two are hanging out tonight?”
“Yeah,” Vivienne replied. “Having dinner at Maddie’s.”
He raised his eyebrows and nodded, glancing over at Madeline with a suggestive sort of smile. “I see. Is this just a friend thing, or…?”
Maddie practically flinched, and the ice dart she was aiming went way off course, thudding into the wall. “C’mon man. It’s not like that.”
He put his hands up. “I know, I know. I just think you should consider it. Well, maybe not with Vivienne, obviously, but just in general. Putting yourself out there again could be good for you.”
Maddie pulled her feet off the table and got up, walking away with her shoulders raised. She stopped in front of the dart board and started pulling the icicles out. “Stop, Ashley. I’m not ready for that.”
Ashley sighed. “Sorry, Madds. Just trying to help.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to.”
Ashley didn’t reply, and the room fell silent. Vivienne clenched her fists, feeling immensely uncomfortable in the suddenly frigid atmosphere of the space. She had to fix this somehow.
“Uh, I- I actually have something I wanted to speak with you about,” she said. “Both of you.”
Madeline turned around. There was still a tenseness to her shoulders, but her face had softened a bit. Viv must have sounded more upset than she realised.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Vivienne sighed, rubbing her eyes. “It’s that police hero. Seven.”
Maddie stood up straighter. “Has she done something to you?!”
Viv frantically shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that. Actually, we’ve been getting along pretty well, the few times we’ve met. It’s more… Well, I’m worried about her.”
Ashley frowned. “What is it?”
Viv bit her lip as the memories flashed through her head. “I… I don’t think she’s a hero by choice. I think de Vygon has forced her into it somehow. And… he’s not treating her well.”
“How do you know?” Maddie asked.
“You remember when someone tried to assassinate her a few weeks back? Well, Brea and I were there, helping provide first aid. We took Seven’s chest plate off, and her body was covered in bruises and cuts. At first, I just hoped it was from training or something, but I ran into her the other night, and she was practically beside herself, crying her eyes out. Someone had forced her to get drunk, apparently, and she admitted a whole lot of stuff to me. She said she has no memory of her past beyond about a year ago, and all she can ever remember was being groomed to be a hero by her dad, who I can only assume is de Vygon, though it remains to be seen if he’s actually her dad, because that man is white as hell, and Jordyn’s skin was pretty tan from what I saw. It’s just sketchy all around.” She was starting to ramble a little, but with all of the emotions that talking about this sent through her, that wasn’t surprising.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Jordyn?” Ash asked.
“Oh, um, that’s her name. She told me when she was saying everything else. Anyway, she also mentioned that her dad would punish her if she didn’t get home in time, which, by the way, is a fucking facility underneath precinct 23. By the sounds of it, she doesn’t even like being a hero, especially not in the way de Vygon makes her, with all the faux-police work. It- it’s just… Ugh! I don’t know! I want to help her but I don’t know how. I figured if anyone could, it would be the Union. There’s gotta be something we can do to get her out, right?”
Ashley frowned. “If what you say is true, then we absolutely have an obligation to help her. The only problem is, there’s no proof. Coming out and announcing something; that de Vygon… what, kidnapped an amnesiac and trained her to be a hero against her will? That would be shot down as an unbelievable rumour in an instant. And from the sounds of it, if we tried to offer her an olive branch and allowed her to stay with us, de Vygon would accuse us of kidnapping, which is the last thing we need right now. I’ve actually done a bit of research on this ‘Project Genesis’ thing of his, and it’s being funded by some of the most rich and powerful people in the country. You remember Sebastian Beaumond, the senator who ran for office a few years ago? Yeah, he owns a controlling share in the project. Honestly, even if we did have proof, unless it was absolutely incontrovertible, they would cover it up without a second thought. This isn’t a beehive we want to poke without a good plan.”
Viv snapped her fingers. “Beaumond! That was his name! He was the one that forced Jordyn to drink the other night.”
Madeline sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I don’t think this is an issue of coming up with a plan. No matter how we do it, if we lay even a single hand on de Vygon’s little pet, he’s gonna come crashing down on us with the strength of the entire police force. The Union would be finished, and no matter how bad things are for Jordyn, we can’t afford that. There are too many people relying on us to survive. She’s on her own. Besides, I’ve been keeping an eye on her activities, and let me tell you, that woman can fight. She can get herself out if she has such a problem.”
Vivienne’s jaw dropped. “Maddie, what the fuck? You of all people should know that abuse doesn’t work like that!”
Maddie clenched her fists. The room grew several degrees colder. “I’m saying we don’t have a choice. She can get herself out, because that’s the only way she’s getting out. Abuse, domestic violence, people don’t fucking care about that shit! If we raise a stink and start throwing accusations, even with proof, absolutely nothing will come of it. You’d need a much bigger controversy to even make a dent in de Vygon’s friends’ armour. It… It sucks, okay? I get it. You see someone hurting, and you wanna do everything in your power to help, because you’re just good like that, but you need to understand that there is nothing in your power that you can do.
“Besides, like you said, abuse doesn’t work like that. If she’s really been groomed by that bastard for as long as she can remember, she’s not gonna want to turn away from him just because we tell her that the way he’s treating her is wrong. The only way that anything could possibly happen would be if Jordyn was allowed to join the Union. Maybe then we could slowly work de Vygon’s collar from her neck, but that’s never going to happen, because de Vygon hates us. He would never let her anywhere near us.”
“I’m… not so sure about that,” Ashley said, butting in. Vivienne was grateful. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to formulate a reply to Madeline’s argument without bursting into tears. This type of conflict just didn’t agree with her, emotionally speaking.
Maddie turned to him. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. What could possibly be the goal here? He pours all this money into making what basically amounts to a super cop? That just seems like a waste of cash. No, there’s something he wants; something that only Jordyn can help him get. I can make a pretty good guess as to what that something is.” He pointedly glanced down at the floor before looking back up at them.
It took a second to click, but when it did, Vivienne’s stomach dropped. “You don’t think…?”
“I do. He’s been bitter about not being part of the main family ever since he learned about it. Doubly so now that we don’t share the de Vygon name anymore. That’s half the reason he hates the Union so much, like it’s our fault his grandfather was born later than my great-grandfather. I can only imagine how angry he was when my mom married my dad and took his last name. Now Min is the main family name, and de Vygon is the branch name. That’s gotta sting for a man as egotistical as him.”
“So you think Jordyn is just a ploy to get a soldier into the Union to usurp control of the Godling’s prison from you?” Madeline asked.
“Why else would a man who hates superheroes raise a superhero? He’s certainly biding his time, but I don’t doubt that the moment Jordyn expresses interest in the Union, he’ll let her come here and stake the place out.”
“So what do we do?” Vivienne asked. “I mean, we’ve still got to let her in, right? She needs help.”
“Of course. That way we kill two birds with one stone. We already know de Vygon’s plan – or at least, our best assumption of it – so we can take steps to ensure Jordyn doesn’t get too far with it, while also doing our best to help her recover and break free from him.”
Viv pursed her lips. “I suppose it’s our only real option. Still, it just… I wish we could do more.”
“I know. The situation is just awkward. Still, we’ve got a plan now. Vivienne, how close are you with her?”
“Uhh, not very? We’ve just run into each other a couple of times. She seems to like me well enough, if the hug she gave me when she was drunk was anything to go by.”
“I’ve met her once, but she seemed weirdly enamoured by me,” Maddie said. “Kept staring at me.”
“Well, the next time one of you run into her, make sure you let her know that the Union is an option.” Ashley replied. “The sooner the better.”
“Got it.”
“Also, don’t discuss any of this with anyone else. If Jordyn does join the Union, it needs to feel as natural for her as possible. That’s not gonna work if everyone’s watching her like a hawk.”
“That makes sense,” Vivienne said.
Ashley nodded. “Good. Now, I believe you two had plans? I wouldn’t want to keep you.”
“I can still work for a bit longer,” Madeline said.
Ash shook his head. “Nah, it’s alright. I’m pretty much finished anyway, and I need to go do more research into de Vygon’s whole deal. You two can head off.”
Maddie shrugged. “Okay, then.” She walked over to Viv, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Shall we?”
Vivienne’s relief that the previous tension between herself and Maddie had faded away was palpable. She smiled. “Let’s go.”
—
Cooking was always something that Vivienne looked forward to. The act of taking all of the separate ingredients, refining them, and then bringing them together into something that was more than the sum of its parts just relaxed her. For a small moment of time, all she needed to focus on were the even cuts of the knife through an onion, and ensuring that the cacciatore in the pan didn’t burn. There was no room to worry about nursing degrees, or her friend’s tenuous mental health, or the fact that an acquaintance was almost certainly being abused, or even her own never-ending fatigue. It was just her, the ingredients, and the sizzle of the pan.
That wasn’t all she liked about cooking, though. No, her favourite part was definitely what came after the cooking. Sharing a meal that she poured her heart and soul into with a dear friend; that was what made cooking truly great. The feeling of watching Madeline take her first bite of pasta and seeing her face melt with enjoyment was a sensation that would never get old.
“So? How is it?” Viv asked, perhaps stroking her ego a little bit, but who could say?
“Fuckin’ amazing, as usual,” Maddie said. “Seriously, we’ve gotta do this more often.”
Viv beamed. “What, just so you can enjoy my cooking more?”
“Exactly. Why else would I hang out with you?”
“Damn, all this time I thought it was for my charming wit and stunning good looks.”
Maddie let out one of her rare laughs. “Sure, that’s totally it.”
They fell into a comfortable silence as both of them enjoyed their meals. They were sitting out on Maddie’s apartment balcony, basking in the warmth of the setting sun and the cool breeze wafting through the streets. The city was calm; the sound of traffic floating up to them and providing a nice white noise that sat comfortingly in the background. Despite all that, though, Viv just couldn’t get her mind to rest. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jordyn. Apparently, Madeline was on a similar wavelength.
“So,” she said through a mouthful of penne and sauce. She paused and swallowed it down before continuing. “How do you think de Vygon found Jordyn, anyway?”
Viv frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you said she says she doesn’t remember anything other than her training, right? So, what, de Vygon just kidnapped someone out of the amnesia ward of the hospital or something?”
Vivienne gave it some thought. “I don’t know. That seems really risky for how secretive he’s being about the whole thing, and besides, what are the odds he kidnapped someone with a power anyway?”
“Okay, what about… he trafficked her in from another country to hide from the missing person’s report, and used hypnosis or some shit to wipe her memory?”
“No, she doesn’t have an accent. Also, I feel like that wouldn’t really work with how publicised Jordyn is. The moment anyone hears about her power to control shadows, they would immediately know who she was if they knew her before she was kidnapped, even in another country. Only one person can have a power at one time, after all.”
Maddie threw her hands up. “Well fuck, I don’t know. Genetically engineered test-tube baby? Some sort of clone? Y’know, speaking of which, do you reckon if someone cloned me, the clone would have the same power as me? Cuz they would technically still be me, right? I’ve always wondered about that.”
Viv snorted at how quickly she drifted off-topic. “I mean, they’d probably still have a power, since you’ve got the mutation for it, but they probably wouldn’t have yours. It would be like having a twin, right? Just because you’re genetically the same, you’re still different people. Thanks to how powers work, no one else can have the same power as you, so I’d imagine your clone would manifest something different.”
“So what you’re saying is, we wouldn’t be able to find out who she was cloned from by looking at power records?”
“Why do you think she’s a clone?” Viv asked with an incredulous grin. “They’ve barely even done research on cloning sheep, haven’t they? We’re years out from any reliable human cloning program, let alone one that lets you make a fully grown adult.”
Maddie tapped her temple with a finger. “That’s what they want you to think.”
Vivienne squinted, finally noticing the redness in Maddie’s eyes. “Oh my god, how high are you?”
Maddie grinned. “Hey, someone had to finish that joint Ash and I were having while you were cooking. That was good weed! I didn’t want to just waste it.”
Vivienne laughed, shaking her head. “I should’ve known.”
“Honestly, I’m just surprised you didn’t smell it.”
“Well, have you got any more? I’m starting to feel left out.”
Her grin widened. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
—
Vivienne really should’ve gone home and studied that night. It would’ve been the best use of her time, and she hadn’t promised Maddie anything more than dinner. Instead, what she did was get very high and watched movies on Maddie’s couch late into the night. She’d been having too good of a time to just up and leave, and if she was being honest with herself, the little break from everything on her plate was nice. Needed, even. There was only so much bandwidth she could spare before she fizzled out, so it was important to find the time to blow off steam like this. Usually, she would find herself in Brianna’s bed for that purpose, but hanging out like this, just relaxing like two friends should, it hit the spot just the same. She and Maddie didn’t get to do that enough these days (again, usually Brianna was filling that role lately), and Viv wasn’t going to waste this no-doubt fleeting moment of high spirits for her.
As the night wound down, Maddie retreated off to bed, and Viv stayed on the couch, not wanting to go back to her apartment where her roommates would no doubt be loudly gaming until the early hours of the morning. She stared up at the dark ceiling, thinking about everything they’d discussed today. As was the usual lately, her mind drifted to Jordyn. She remembered that drunken hug they’d shared the other night; the feeling of the cold, uncomfortable metal of her armour pressed up against her body, juxtaposed with the warmth of her tears soaking into Viv’s shoulder. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, Vivienne couldn’t help but hope that none of what they’d theorised about Jordyn was true. It hurt to think about the fact that she might be hurting at this very moment, and Vivienne couldn’t do a thing about it. The pain and fear in Jordyn’s voice that night still rang through Viv’s ears, and it was the perfect fuel for her mind to keep supplying her with horrible samples of what Jordyn’s screams might sound like as de Vygon punished her for some perceived mistake. She tried to shut it out, but as per usual, her brain just wouldn’t stop working.
Vivienne didn’t get much sleep that night. But hey, what was new there?