She felt like she’d been waiting for this all her life. A chance to bring down the wolf in their midst. Sharp Shooter may have fooled Dragon with his reformed bad guy routine, but he’d never fooled her. She was Hero Girl, she saw through that sort of bullshit instantly.
Begrudgingly leaving her siblings in the stretchy hands of Wall (after he promised that his promised Star Trek marathon would be another day as it was already way past the kids bedtimes), Hero Girl was off, rushing to her teleport device.
After stopping by the Watch Monitor room to reassure a cat girl and an alien that they were correct to call her, she practically flew to the private quarters wing of the vigilante alliance headquarters. Knocking at the door loudly, she shouted “Sharp Shooter, open the door! You’ve finally crossed the line this-”
The door swung open, displaying a dark room with the man called Joe Knight seated at his desk. He was cleaning one of his guns.
Painfully aware of the weapon, Hero Girl bit off the rest of her sentence, choosing to move quietly towards his figure. He continued to focus on the gun, acting as if he didn’t notice her.
It was all a ruse, of course. She knew that he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, calculating all of the ways to take her down. She would be ready for him. She felt her entire body tense up, preparing for the inevitable fight.
Except, the fight never came. Joe laid the gun down gently on the table before his chair spun around slowly to face the creeping heroine.
“I know why you’re here. It’s none of your concern.”
She nodded, the anger prevalent on her face. “I heard. She’s a fucking rookie, Sharp Shooter. Kids been here barely a year, and you hit and ditch her? Of course that’s my fucking concern!” Her eyes narrowed as she involuntarily thought of her own younger sister’s eventual acceptance in the alliance.
No. This wasn’t about her. This was a deranged ex-killer going too far.
“You have never been comfortable with my inclusion into the alliance. You have been gunning for me since before I joined.” He stood up, staring her directly in the eyes.
“Would you like to know why?”
“I know exactly why. It’s because you’re an emotionless sociopath who-”
“It’s because,” he interrupted, talking over her, “I represent reformation. Someone moving past a life of morally reprehensible sins. Someone who has forgiven himself and works towards a better world, despite my personal feelings.”
“Bullshit. You’d still kill again if you had the chance.”
His eyes darkened. “Yes. But I don’t give myself the chance.” He paused for a moment. “He doesn’t have the chance to either.”
Knife whirling in her hand, attack blocked by Joe’s sharp reflexes, he moved out the way faster than her eyes could follow. Knife still in hand, she rushed him again, jabbing at him whenever he was close enough. He was always one step ahead, one second quicker.
“Don’t. You. Ever. Talk. About. That!”
Each scream at him made her slower, the rage distracting her as she simply reacted in violence. She could hear his voice speaking without losing a breath.
“He can’t hurt you. He’s in jail locked away with all of the other monsters who hurt kids. He can’t hurt your sister, your brother. But you’re afraid that one day, the cops will call you up and tell you that he’s all better, that they’re letting him out. And you know that when that happens, you’ll kill him.”
Catching her arm, he held her firmly as he said, “Heather. I’m not him.”
Her knife slipped back into her utility belt. She stared at the desk, at the gun. Her voice sounded dull as she halfheartedly argued, “You still don’t belong here. You still broke the rules.”
He shook his head. “I followed the rules, just a different set of them.” At her puzzled look, he actually chuckled. “You should talk to Day Dream before you go running to Dragon. After all, there were two parties involved.”
With that, Hero Girl was standing outside his door again, wishing that she had just stayed home. Knowing she wouldn’t be sleeping, she made her way to the watch monitor room to relieve Feline Fatale.
“Fatale. You can head out, I’m taking over this watch.”
Feline Fatale vacated the seat, thanking her before starting to walk out. Lynette, however, stood by the monitor a moment longer, watching Hero Girl.
“Got something on your mind, Lynette?”
“I am simply questioning your actions. As it appears neither myself nor Feline Fatale informed you of the identities of the parties involved, I am curious as to your correct deduction that Sharp Shooter’s room was the room in question, and Day Dream the alliance member.”
“I wanted it to be him. I’d seen the way they looked at each other when each believed no one would notice. I waited, knowing they’d slip up,” she thought, refusing to verbalize these thoughts. She didn’t answer.
Lynette’s lips thinned as she appeared to struggle internally with some act of rebellion before saying “It is not my place, but I would like to create a formal complaint with the senior Alliance members in the treatment of relationships in the Alliance.”
Pulling a delighted looking Fi closer, Lynette continued, “Quite frankly, who we love should not be anyone’s concern, unless laws are broken or physical abuses take place.”
With that, the two women left the room, leaving Hero Girl alone with her thoughts.
Em and Paper 