Madeline sighed, running a hand through her mullet and pulling her shirt collar out to try and get some airflow going as she walked down the street. The midday sun was blistering, not at all helped by the business casual she’d been forced to put on for the job interview she just totally bombed. She supposed that was to be expected, considering she was notably mentally ill and hadn’t worked a proper job in years. Still sucked, though. Her plans for the rest of the day involved hitting up the bar and trying to get her head on straight enough to flirt with the person she’d matched with on her dating app.
She hadn’t told anyone about it yet; that she was finally starting to give moving on a try. It still just… felt really weird. Like a betrayal. Logically, she was sure Rosie wouldn’t want Maddie to be hung up on her forever, but that didn’t make it not feel like she was spitting on Rosie’s memory every time she came up with some cheesy line to hook someone on an app.
The bottom line was, Madeline was lonely. Not in the friendly, platonic sense, but in the sense that she missed having someone to cuddle with at night, and someone to confide in above all others, and frankly, someone to screw around with in the bedroom. Her body and heart yearned for Rosie in all those respects, but that just wasn’t an option, so she had to find something else.
She knew that nothing would ever really fill the Rosie-shaped hole in her heart aside from Rosie herself magically coming back to life, but surely it was better to try opening herself up to love again, rather than letting that hole fester and wither and eat away at her until there was nothing left. Maddie was tired of letting it control her life.
It was just like her therapist said. One day she would get to be happy again, and Rosie’s memory, while still tender, would just be a reminder of back when her happiness took a different form. It would be okay, but it would be different, and that was okay. Madeline needed it to be okay.
“F-fuck!”
Madeline paused in front of the alley that the curse had just echoed out of. That sounded… oddly familiar. She couldn’t place where, but she’d definitely heard that voice before.
Tuning out the rest of the city, Maddie could just about make out the sound of someone crying at the end of the alley.
The urge to just keep walking was strong. People’s problems were their own business, and she had more than enough of her own. At the same time though, she would be lying if she said she didn’t want to see who’s voice that was.
Also, well… she was a hero, wasn’t she? Wasn’t helping people like this kind of the point? Rosie would want her to check it out. Probably. Maddie imagined she’d share her curiosity, at the very least.
Sucking it up, Madeline turned and strolled down the alley. It didn’t take long to find the person at the end, clad in familiar black armour, curled up with her face hidden against the ground. Her helmet sat on the floor next to her, facing the wall.
“I… I-I don’t understand…” Jordyn whimpered through sobs. Maddie’s stomach clenched with sympathy. The girl was clearly going through it.
She inched closer, spotting something marking the tan skin on the back of Jordyn’s neck. A tattoo of some sort, perhaps? When Madeline got close enough to read it, her heart sank. Vivienne wasn’t kidding when she said something seriously messed up was going on here. A very obvious barcode lined the back of her neck, and below that, writing.
G-7: ‘JORDYN’
PROPERTY OF PRECINCT 23
…Good lord, this poor woman.
Madeline remembered the conversation she’d had with Ashley and Viv; that they would try and encourage Jordyn to join the Union. Apparently, that was all on her now. Great. She cleared her throat to announce her presence.
Jordyn jerked like she’d been electrocuted, scrambling for her helmet and putting it back on before whirling around to face Madeline.
“H-Huh?”
Maddie sighed. No backing out now. “Hey, you alright? Heard you crying.”
Jordyn loudly and obviously sniffed. “I, uh… I-I’m fine.” She climbed to her feet and dusted herself off. “S-sorry for disturbing you.”
Before Madeline could even attempt to reply, Jordyn was already scurrying off, pushing past her and running out of the alley.
“Wait! Seven!”
She didn’t stop. Maybe this was risky, given that de Vygon was no doubt surveilling everything she saw and heard, but Maddie needed to talk to her if they were going to have any chance of helping her. Viv would be mad if she didn’t at least try.
“Jordyn!”
Jordyn paused at the mouth of the alley, slowly turning around.
“How do you know my name?”
“Uh, Viv told me? Look-”
Jordyn flinched. “H-how does Vivienne know my name?”
Madeline frowned. “Because you told her?”
“No I didn’t!”
Maddie was pretty sure Viv mentioned that Jordyn was drunk during that encounter. Apparently, it had become a bit hazy for her. Hah, lightweight.
…Or she was just trying to cover for herself, since de Vygon was probably watching. Great, now Madeline felt like a bitch and probably just got her in trouble. Ugh.
She shook her head. “Whatever, that’s besides the point. I know you don’t really know me, but can I just talk to you for a bit?”
Jordyn looked away, hesitating. “I… I’m not allowed to talk to you.”
Typical. “Just five minutes, that’s all I ask. Surely your boss can begrudge you a measly five minutes?”
Without being able to see her face, it was hard to tell what Jordyn was thinking. She reached up and touched the side of her helmet, whispering to nobody. Madeline could just barely make it out.
“Sir, are you watching? Do I have permission to speak with her? I know you told me- Oh. Okay. Yes sir, I understand. Thank you.”
Jordyn turned back to face Maddie again. “What did you need to talk to me about?”
It was at that moment Madeline realised she hadn't even thought of a script yet. God, she was an idiot.
“Do you, uh… wanna sit down somewhere?” Madeline asked in a desperate bid for time to think.
“Um…” Jordyn looked around a bit, before glancing up at one of the buildings bordering the alley. “Up there?”
Madeline blinked. “How am I supposed to get up there? I can’t jump like you and I can’t teleport like Viv.”
“I could… c-carry you?” Jordyn’s voice cracked a little as she said it.
“Uh huh. And how am I supposed to get back down again?”
“Um… I just thought I would carry you again.” She wrung her hands together.
Call her egotistical, perhaps, but… was that a little crush Madeline sensed? Oh yeah, she could work with that.
She sighed. “Fine, let’s do it.”
Strolling over to Jordyn, she looped an arm around the back of her neck. “Come on, scoop me up.”
Maddie could practically hear the nervous swallow through Jordyn’s helmet. “Uh… O-okay.”
Not unexpectedly, Jordyn picked her up with ease, holding her in a bridal carry. What was unexpected was the little jump in Madeline’s gut as she did so. It had been a long time since anyone had carried her like that. She tried to ignore how much she liked the feeling.
“R-ready?” Jordyn stuttered.
Madeline smirked, trying to ignore the slight heat in her ears. “Whenever you are.”
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Jordyn bent her knees, and all of a sudden they were flying. Maddie yelped, clutching onto Jordyn tighter as her stomach dropped out and wind buffeted her hair. In no time at all, they landed on the rooftop and Jordyn hastily set Madeline down.
Madeline watched as Jordyn walked over to the edge of the building and sat down, her legs hanging off the side. She craned her neck around to look back at Maddie, and patted the space beside her.
Well, at least the view was nice. Madeline joined her and sat down, looking out over the city.
“This is what I like to do when I get some down time,” Jordyn said.
“That’s cool,” Madeline replied.
A short silence reigned between them, until Jordyn finally spoke again. “So… What did you want to talk about?”
Okay, go time. Madeline put on her best bashful look, glancing down at the street below them. “Well, I was wondering if… maybe you’d like to join the Heroes’ Union?”
Jordyn cocked her head to the side. “Why would I do that?”
“I know you do pretty different work than most Union heroes, but there are still a ton of benefits for you. We provide free food and lodging, training areas, medical care, a guaranteed minimum-wage salary with bonuses for when you help out with monster attacks and other disasters. Like I said, I know monster attacks aren’t really your M.O., but we could easily hook our analysis systems up to a police scanner so that you can find crimes easier. And all that’s not to mention the biggest bonus of the Union: you get to hang out with other heroes! People who actually… get what it’s like, y’know? They understand the struggle of trying to manage your powers, and might even be able to teach you a thing or two on how to utilise them. Viv wasn’t always a master teleporter, believe it or not. I can’t even count the number of times she popped back into HQ totally covered in sea water because she accidentally thought about the ocean too hard, way back when she first joined.”
Eugh. God, that made her feel like a door-to-door saleswoman. Thankfully, it seemed to get through to her somewhat.
Jordyn hesitated. “It… would be nice to get to hang around other heroes, I guess. But… What did you mean by minimum-wage salary? I don’t know what that-”
Jordyn paused, touching the side of her helmet. “Sorry sir, could you repeat that? Oh. Okay. Understood.” She turned back to Madeline. “Sorry, something’s come up. I have to go.”
Was she about to say what Madeline thought she was? That Jordyn didn’t know what a salary was? Yeah, if she were de Vygon, she’d cut her off too. What on earth did he do to her to make her so clueless about the world?
“Wait, just… just think about it, okay?” Madeline asked. “Ask your boss. I promise you won’t regret it!”
Jordyn nodded. “Okay, I will.”
With that, Jordyn jumped away, leaping from building to building faster than Madeline could track.
She left her on the roof.
Maddie sighed. “I wish you weren’t so clueless. That way I wouldn’t feel bad about calling you an asshole!”
Great. Now to find a way down.
—
Finally, with the help of the fire escape and a teensy bit of property damage (wedging icicles into the brickwork), Madeline was able to get back to street level and make it to the Union HQ. She knocked on the door to Ashley’s office before entering. He was inside, at his computer, and looked up at her approach.
“Hey, Madds. What’s up?”
“Got some news about the whole ‘Jordyn’ problem. I ran into her a little while ago, and… Yeah, she was not doing good. Girl was crying to herself in the back of an alley.”
Ash leaned back in his chair. “What about?”
Madeline shrugged. “I dunno. Didn’t ask. But, dude, she’s got a fucking barcode on the back of her neck. And a tattoo that says she’s the property of precinct 23.”
Ashley let out a long exhale. “Shit. Did you manage to ask her about the Union?”
Maddie nodded. “Yeah. Dunno if it’ll stick, though. De Vygon was definitely listening in to the conversation. She tried to ask me what a salary was, and he cut her off.”
“Rat bastard,” Ash muttered. He sighed again. “Well, I suppose we’ve done what we can. Now we just have to wait and see about the results.”
Madeline hummed. It really didn’t feel like enough. But… What more could they do?
The air popped, and Vivienne suddenly materialised in the room, glancing around to reacclimate with her surroundings. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.
“Woah, Viv, what’s wrong?” Madeline asked. Ashley stood up, clearly alarmed as well.
She shook her head, sniffling. “I… It’s just… fuck. Something really bad happened.”
Maddie opened her arms in an invitation, and Viv fell right into the embrace, sobbing against her chest.
“Shh, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe,” Madeline whispered, holding Viv tightly. “Can you tell us what happened?”
It took a bit, but Viv eventually pulled herself together enough to step away from Madeline and speak.
“I-it’s my uncle. I… I told him about our plan to help Jordyn because… I don’t know, because I wanted to do more. It didn’t feel like enough. S-so, we made a plan together, to sneak into that facility under the precinct to try and get some incriminating evidence on de Vygon.”
“Oh god, please tell me you didn’t go through with it.” Ash whined.
Viv’s throat bobbed up and down as she swallowed. “I didn’t get the chance. Steve went without me, b-because he thought it would be too dangerous and he didn’t want me to get hurt. He actually found a lot of really incriminating stuff, but… de Vygon wasn’t far behind him.”
Madeline clenched her fists. “Is he…?”
Viv took a deep breath. “He’s alive, just about. Stuck in hospital, though. De Vygon sent someone to his apartment that beat the hell out of him. I… I don’t know what he’s gonna do after he gets out. The doctors don’t think he’ll ever walk on his own again, a-and he can forget about going back to work under de Vygon.”
Ashley walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Vivienne. I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to help him, but we can at least give him a place to stay while he recovers. We can even see about a job, maybe.”
Viv nodded, wiping her eyes. “I’ll let him know. Thank you, Ash.”
“You said he found some incriminating evidence,” Madeline said. “Do you know what?”
“Yeah, and you’re not gonna believe it.” Vivienne reached into her pocket and pulled out a USB. “It’s all right here.”
Ash took the USB, examining it as if its outsides would hold a prelude to the data within. “Well, let’s check it out, then.”
—
“...I don’t even know what to make of any of this,” Ash said. Madeline was right there with him.
There was something viscerally upsetting about the tone of the notes, glossing over these major human rights violations as though they were mere steps in a science experiment. Subdued panic stung the back of her throat, though she didn’t fully know why. Something about this ‘Source’ that kept coming up unsettled her, as did the fact that G-2 was asking to see her wife. She just… couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Turns out you were right about the test-tube baby thing,” Vivienne said. “From the sounds of it, de Vygon grew Jordyn and her sisters all the way to adulthood before letting them out.”
“How is it even possible?” Madeline muttered.
“The real question is, what do we do with this information?” Ash asked. “Who’s gonna believe this if we try to release it? It’s so perfectly vague that it almost seems intentional. No court on earth would convict with just this document.”
“It’s a start, isn’t it?” Viv pleaded. “I know it’s not gonna actually do anything on its own, but maybe if we showed it to the right people, it could be enough to start an investigation?”
Ashley sighed. “There’s really no way to tell. I’ll look into some stuff, see if there actually is any way we could use this. It’s good to have just for reference, at least. It gives us a bit more understanding about Jordyn’s experiences, which could be helpful in getting her to trust us.”
“I managed to ask her about joining the Union,” Maddie explained to Viv. “We’ll see how it pans out.”
Viv slumped down onto one of the chairs. “It’s something, I guess. Ugh, everything just sucks.”
Madeline gently nudged her foot. “Wanna get your mind off it? Go have a few drinks?”
“Ordinarily, I would say no to that for your sake. Today, though… I’m more than down. I can’t stay for too long, though. I’ve gotta get back to Uncle Steve.”
“Hey, I only said a few,” Madeline teased.
“I’ll hold you to that, Maddie.”
“Yeah, that’s cool, just talk about it in front of me,” Ash joked.
Madeline huffed a laugh. “No one said you’re not invited, dude. Come on, we all need a break.”
He grinned tiredly. “You’re a bad influence, you know that? But… sure, why not?”
—
I arrived back at the facility at the usual time, heading down the elevator towards home. My mind was elsewhere, however. Far, far away, back at the encounter I’d had with Madeline Garcia-Holmes.
I’d been in the midst of another episode of… remembering what I did to Steven Matthews. Rather than letting my distraction cause me to risk making a mistake, I found a quiet, secluded place to take off my helmet and just let everything out for a few minutes. Only, clearly it wasn’t as secluded as I’d hoped.
Seeing Madeline again was certainly a shock. Just like last time, the sight of her sent my heart-rate skyrocketing, and I had no idea why. It wasn’t like with Vivienne, where I knew she was someone I could let my guard down around. She just… looked really pretty, I guessed. I didn’t know how else to describe it. Getting to carry her was also an experience I definitely wouldn’t forget any time soon.
But her offer… joining the Heroes’ Union? I’d never considered it before, but it made sense, right? I was a hero, so why shouldn’t I also work with the other heroes on top of my police duties? Only, Father wouldn’t like it. I’d heard him bad-mouthing the Union too many times for him to possibly approve. He definitely knew more than me when it came to them, but… surely they couldn’t be that bad? Madeline, Vivienne, and Brianna were all really nice, and the rest of the heroes probably were, too. It would be nice having people to relate to, in any case. No regular citizen would understand the difficulty of all the training and punishments we had to go through to get to be heroes.
I shuddered, remembering the feeling of a whip ripping the skin from my back. The thought that Vivienne or Madeline might have had to deal with that too was upsetting. At least they would… understand the struggle. It was a small comfort.
I shouldn’t get my hopes up. Father probably wouldn’t agree, anyway.
The elevator doors opened and I stepped out, making my way to his facility office and knocking before entering.
“Seven,” he said, looking up from his work.
I nodded to him. “Father.”
“I assume you’re here about Mrs. Garcia-Holmes’ request?”
“Yes, sir. I was hoping for your input.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I’ve given it a bit of thought. The Union isn’t the sort of place you would thrive to your utmost potential. The quote-unquote heroes it employs can’t hold a candle to the heroism you exhibit every day in your police work. Sure, they may be useful every so often when the Godling creates a monster or a disaster strikes the city, but those events are few and far between, and in the meantime, they do nothing but soak up taxpayer money. They’re freeloaders, prancing around doing nothing ninety percent of the time and sullying the title of ‘hero.’ Don’t get me started on their leader, Ashley Min. He doesn’t even have a power, yet he leeches off of taxpayer funds all the same, managing his little cabaret of fools and pretending like he actually has a use in our society. Hear me well, Jordyn. If the de Vygons – if our family still ran the Union, it would be unrecognisable from the farce it is today.”
There he went again. I really did my best to listen, but most of it just went over my head. What even was a ‘taxpayer?’
“...that being said,” he continued. “I believe this is an opportunity we can’t pass up.”
I froze. That wasn’t what I was expecting. “Sir?”
Father smiled.
“I have a job for you, Jordyn.”