The police captain slammed his fists down on the table as he got up. Spittle streamed from his mouth and onto her helmet as his screaming intensified. In the corner, Miss Aisha chewed her lower lip in concern. The team's official manager and unofficial mother stood with a look of concern while Night Owl placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her.
In front of her, the police captain continued to shout." You gave us the assurance that you would handle it! If those two metas weren't there, then we would have been fully justified in busting into that warehouse with two teams and arresting everyone inside. But no, your nanny and your showboating mentor just wanted you to make a big debut in the city by busting a big drug deal and taking on two metas on your own at the same time. Goes to show that even if you have jurisdiction, you heroes are useless!"
The man paused for a breath and Dauntless regarded him with apprehension. While she was used to people chewing her out, this seemed to be more personal than most of the other official rants. Hers wasn't the only raid that had gone south- two shoot-outs had occurred quite close to her position and most of the higher ups of the gang had managed to escape. On the other hand, she had captured almost everyone in the warehouse, including a high ranking lieutenant who was the right hand man of someone important in the local scene.
Almost everyone. The mere memory of the boy in the black mask made her anger flare up. How long had it been since she had been knocked out like that? She could count in one hand the people who had overpowered her. The Lacerator, Haze Maker, Swarmer, and Grimm. Villains who were widely regarded as A-class threats, powerful annihilators who were players in the national stage and leaders of gangs and cults that had thousands of followers.
She had though her fifth fall would be from some equally great foe, not from some street rat and a human lighter. Just remembering the fight did more to irritate and shame her than whatever the captain was doing.
In a way, the captain was justified in his raving. Dauntless was known nation-wide as the hero most likely to succeed Rampart. That was her image, whether she liked it or not. When you sent in someone who was used to dealing with A-list villains who was the supposed successor to one of the most powerful heroes in the country, you expected nothing less than victory. After all sending her to do a drug bust was like using a minigun to open a pickle jar.
And the one person the captain had never doubted had just allowed one of the most important members of the gang to get away.
As the captain ran out of steam, Miss Aisha quickly hurried in. Before the captain could say anything, she began the usual apology. About how Dauntless was new to the city, about how she had probably let her guard down, and about how she was extremely sorry.
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She looked at Dauntless for the last part, and she pushed her head down in supposed shame, but underneath the mask she was smiling at the get out of jail free card she had just been offered. In this business your public image was everything, and masks had a practicality to them. The masks allowed you to hide your true emotions, while you lied with your body- it was PR 101.
After Miss Aisha finished apologizing, she quickly ushered Dauntless away while Night Owl stayed behind to discuss the issue further and calm the man down.
Dauntless entered a car with tinted windows, and was quickly driven off with Miss Aisha at the wheel.
After a while, just before the silence was about to become awkward, she asked her a question.
"The hospital staff were very concerned when you declined the checkup."
"I'm fine, just a little groggy. Nostrum will take care of it."
"You're overworking that poor boy to death, Eli."
She snorted in response. Miss Aisha didn't know the half of it. Nostrum obsessively recorded everything and performed checkups weekly, and that was before he was approved for more serious procedures like mending bones. Now, whenever he healed someone, he obsessively checked all their vitals ever single day. It might have been annoying if the boy wasn't the human equivalent of a golden retriever, and the checkups helped him to build up confidence in his power. If anything, he wanted to be overworked to death.
They soon reached the apartment they had rented. The neighborhood was fairly quiet, and mostly consisted of broke college kids who couldn't care less about four new kids moving into an already packed apartment complex.
She began to remove her armor and began packing it into the special backpack that had been given to her. The padded chest piece came off next, and her chest became considerably smaller.
After the entire costume had been packed up, she looked at herself in the mirror. The hero of the people was gone. In her place, Elizabeth Walker, a frankly disappointing teenage girl, stood. The padding and cut of her costume allowed her to look older and mature than she was, and there was endless speculation on her looks and age. Some people even said she was a model from all the PR photoshoots and magazines.
In reality, all of them would be disappointed by the plain girl reflected on the car window. A short girl with dirty blonde hair and dull green eyes and a generous amount of freckles. If she was asked to describe herself in one word, like most interviewers often asked her when she was Dauntless, her true non-cookie cutter answer would be boring.
She was interrupted from her musing by the sound of the car doors unlocking. As she shuffled toward the door, Miss Aisha cleared her throat.
"Well, Charlotte and I were planning on going shopping this evening after the interviews at the high school are over. Want to come?"
Elizabeth pretended to think about it for a moment and nodded and smiled. The smile she got in return seemed to light up the car.
After she got out of the car, the smile melted off her face. The shopping was clearly just to make her feel better after her momentous loss. But the only thing that would make her happy was to prove to the punk who had knocked her out that it was just a fluke. That it was a string of unfortunate blunders on her part and not his tricks that beat her.
As she climbed the stairs to the apartment, she began to plot. She had already found a target in this new city to hunt, and she pitied the poor bastard. It was time to do some moonlighting.