Author's note: I wrote this series as part of a story challenge. The parameters are listed at the beginning of each chapter, and are edited for younger and more sensitive viewers. ;)

1. Brian [Braddock/Captain Britain] gets his [rear] beat and Meggan leaves him! -- This is chapter 1.

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Brian Braddock was tired. He'd been running from one crisis to another all day, Meggan had been constantly calling him on his private cell phone ("Emergencies only, Meg. I've told you that."), and that last battle with a particularly nasty villain had worn him out. He was ready to call it a day when the bobby held up a hand. "Just a minute, Captain. We're getting a call."

He frowned. He hoped it was an easy one. He couldn't handle anything difficult right now.

The bobby made some notes and then hung up the phone. "Teenaged girl, stole from a grocer down in Kent. He says…" He turned around. Captain Britain was gone.

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Bridget Archdale sat behind a faerie mound and sighed. She'd been running all day since that stupid man started chasing after her, screaming that she'd stolen from him. Quite a life for a Vicar's daughter, taking food from people to survive.

She munched on some cakes she'd bagged before the codger leaped on her and brooded. If only Mum and Dad had been reasonable! It wasn't her fault she could sometimes see when people were going to die. It wasn't the Devil's work. Was it?

"Here, you!" An angry man stood over her, arms crossed. His blond hair fell over his blue eyes, so he impatiently brushed it away. "You're going to pay for stealing from an honest man."

"I'm going to pay?" Bridget was outraged. Like it wasn't bleedin' enough for her family to cast her out when she was still a kid (age thirteen), then when she finally got so hungry her bleedin' morals didn't matter, some ass decides to condemn her for trying to live? "No. You're going to pay!" She dropped her last cake in the mud and stood to her full 5'10" height. "Bleedin' judgmental stupid arse!"

The man looked arrogantly down his nose. "What are you going to do? Slap me? Pull my hair?"

She screamed in rage and used her full strength against him. She normally tried to hold back, but this time it was no holds barred. She threw him into the air, then flipped him over and slammed him head first into the ground.

He went down six feet or so. Only the soles of his shoes were visible. She felt a bit ashamed, then, but tried to hide it. She looked toward her last cake. It and the bread she'd sacrificed so much for were ruined. She nearly cried, then. After all that, she'd end up starving anyhow.

"Here." A pretty blonde woman was watching her. Funny, she hadn't seen her before. She was holding out a pretty fat wallet. "Take it."

"You really want me to." She couldn't believe it. Oh sure, occasionally people who were grateful to her for her little tricks she could do would pay her, but she hadn't done anything for this woman.

The woman sighed. "Any person can see you need a good feeding, girl. Other than Brian." Her voice turned bitter, and she gestured toward the man. "He can't even see that when his father's on the line, because his mother's gravely ill, and his wife calls him so he can come pay his final respects, it might be important."

Bridget blinked. It was all beyond her, but she took the wallet and nodded to the woman. "What are you going to do, now?"

The woman sighed. "I'm going to America. There are people there I know and trust, who value me."

Bridget tried to keep the frown off her face. Of course the pretty little blonde doll had someone who valued her. (That's not fair, Bridie, she told herself.) She tried a smile. "Good on you, then."

"I don't suppose you'd want to come with me." The woman cleared her throat. "I mean, I've been so used to having company, I'd feel kind of lost without it." Funny. She didn't look as pretty as before, just sort of nice. Cute at best.

Why not? Hey, three years here had been very lean, and at least this woman wanted her. Besides, she could always leave if she'd a mind to.

"All right. For your sake." She put out her hand. "Bridget Archdale."

The pleasant looking woman took it. "Meggan Braddock."