Author's Note: Lulu (mykindofparty) requested some Quack. What was going to be a one-shot has turned into a full-blown fic with multiple chapters and everything. Whoops. Anyway, this story kind of blossomed from that request. So, here's a story with Quack, Brittana, superheroes, super villains, and everyone in between. I hope you all enjoy!

Hop-In Convenience Store
Downtown Tetra
October 12, 2054
19:23

Quinn wished she could say she knew the city streets like the back of her hand, but the truth was, the Alliance had sent her far beyond the familiarity of her home—one she had protected even before the incident—to a city she had only seen through a media lens, which painted a picture of a city past saving. As such, she spent the first few days dressed in civilian clothing as she wandered the streets. She blended with the populous and tried to learn the city's layout as quickly as she could. Mostly, she tried to get a feel for the people she was protecting.

The man at the corner store, for example, who allowed a child to choose any piece of candy from the display at the counter, no charge; the mother, who tried to hide her sigh of relief as she paid for the rest of the groceries; the teens outside who jumped up from their card game to help the mother and daughter carry the groceries back to the car and wished them a safe trip home.

They were all quick scenes that would be processed into her memory as photographs and videos that she could access later.

A small smile forced its way to Quinn's face as she approached the cashier with her own purchases. She had been bound and determined to hate the place the Alliance had sent her. It wasn't her home, after all, and she didn't know these people like she did back in her town. It was also loud, crowded, and stifling at times. But as the cashier gave her a friendly smile and asked how her day was going, her resolve began to crumble. A city with scenes like the one she had just witnessed was worth saving, despite what the news may say. Maybe the Alliance wasn't completely out of their minds for assigning her to the post.

She paid for the bottled water and muffin, enjoying the small talk with the cashier as she did so, then stepped outside into the parking lot. She sipped on the water as she walked down the sidewalk, subtly taking in her surroundings and the citizens passing by her in droves. Some faces were just a blur while others she was able to snap a photo of and file it away in her database, whether she wanted to or not. By the time she reached her new apartment, her head was buzzing with the images and sounds she had collected. The heavy stimulation from the day had left her reeling and, even after sinking into the comfort of her cream-colored leather couch, she was still on edge.

It wasn't until she opened the laptop on her coffee table, entered her password, pressed her thumb against the scanner, and watched the startup screen that her tight muscles loosened, as if they could sense the nearby relief.

Quinn hummed to herself as she pulled a long cable from a worn messenger bag beside the couch and plugged it into one of the USB ports of the computer. The humming became louder as she tried to distract herself from her next action, which was to plug the jack into a port hidden just behind her ear.

Of all the things that made her feel less than human, this necessity was the worst.

She could deal with the artificial arm and legs. She could handle the way her eyes sometimes zoomed in on things unbidden. She could tolerate the occasional burst of electricity that left her fingertips without her permission. Most days she could forget that those who responded to the incident—the Alliance—had turned her into a walking weapon. She could tolerate and even forget these things until she had to do her memory transfers into her computer.

Slowly, the weight of the images left her mind and poured into the computer's database. The empty, blank-slate feeling left her slightly disoriented and fuzzy, but as she watched the images fill the monitor, she started to regain her bearings. The people she had seen at the convenience store, the layout of the city streets she had wandered today; all necessities for her coming time spent at her new post. Once those were safely stored away in her brain's memory chip, she started skimming through other images and videos, enlarging those that caught her interest. As long as she got caught up in what had been recorded, she could almost ignore how uncomfortable the process made her feel.

Quinn had tried to protest this necessity at first, but the efforts had… less than desirable results. She was bedridden for a week after her stubborn behavior caused an information overload.

Her drifting thoughts halted when she came across a video that intrigued her. Quinn leaned forward and pursed her lips as she studied the images of a young woman—possibly her age—approach an alleyway. Her thick dark locks were tied back in a messy ponytail that fell down to her shoulders. Quinn couldn't see her face just yet, but she could see the dark jacket and jeans that adorned her body. The other woman slowly looked in all directions, most likely deciding if there was any danger of her being followed, before she slipped into the shadows of the alleyway. To Quinn, it seemed like she was engulfed by them.

She paused the video for a moment and worried the inside of her lower lip. After a second of deliberation, she rewound the video and went back to the moment the woman started looking around. She paused it again just as the woman turned towards her. Zooming in on the still image of the woman's face revealed lightly tanned skin, full pink lips drawn in a thin line, and hard brown eyes outlined by heavy use of eyeliner. A bandage strip across the woman's bruised nose suggested a recent break. A dark patch of skin poked out from beneath the collar of the woman's leather jacket, but Quinn couldn't tell if it was a tattoo, birthmark, or just a bruise. Given the possibly broken nose, the chances of the mark simply being a bruise were high.

It didn't take long for the uploaded picture to get a hit on the Alliance's database. Quinn pursed her lips once more as she read the description listed beneath the woman's mug-shot from 2050.

Name: Unknown

Location: Tetra City

Known Aliases: "The Mack"

Known Infractions:

Petty theft

Possession

Assault and Battery

Destruction of Private Property

Destruction of Public Property

Known Irregularities: None

Known Affiliates: The Cobra Collective

Quinn narrowed her eyes at the list of information and studied it a moment longer before she looked at the date the profile had been last updated: June, 2053. The woman's last known height and weight were listed as well, but she was more intrigued by the fact that this woman had managed to evade Alliance surveillance for an entire year. On top of that, Quinn was sure that the higher-ups in the Alliance would bristle at the 'Unknown' written where a name should be.

This Mack person was either very skilled or very lucky.

She studied the mugshot for several seconds, then saved it and the more recent photograph to her personal memory. She saved copies to her laptop as well before going through the rest of the videos her eyes had recorded throughout the day.

Hazel eyes were drooping by the time Quinn reached the last video her chip had stored. She suppressed a yawn as she disconnected the cable from the port behind her ear and shutdown the laptop. The second yawn won out, however, as she headed for her bedroom. The soft mattress and silky sheets always seemed to feel ten times more amazing on nights after her memory dumps. Tonight was no different. Despite how exhausted she felt, she knew this was only the beginning. The last few days had only been reconnaissance.

Tomorrow night, the real work began.

Ace in the Hole
Downtown Tetra
October 12th, 2054
22:40

Miles away from Quinn's new residence, The Mack sipped from a beer bottle as she laid down her cards for everyone to see. Maybe it hadn't been smart to stay in with a pair of two's in the beginning, but as the round progressed, lady luck seemed to start swinging her way. She had exchanged two of her shit cards and wound up with the two Jacks she needed to make a full-house. This round was in the bag and she couldn't stop the cocky smirk that graced her features as she reached for the chips in the middle of the table.

The jackhole next to her grabbed her wrist and squeezed before she could get far.

Mack gave the guy an apologetic smile and yanked her hand away from the meathead. "Sorry, Dan-O. Didn't notice you there."

"I'm sure," he said before he took a drag from his cigar, the grey tip burning bright red as he laid down his hand: A full-house almost identical to hers. The only differences were, instead of a pair of two's, he had a pair of sevens and a wicked grin to match his winning hand. He also had a pile of cash in front of him while Mack had nothing but the hole of debt she had dug herself over the last few weeks. With all eyes on her, she chuckled and rubbed the back of her head as she slowly backed away from the table.

"Y'know, it's always great playin' with you guys, but I've got an early morning tomorrow," she said. "Early to bed, early to rise. All that jazz, ya know?" Her not-so-subtle escape was cut short when she backed into a solid body. She looked up to find another large, well-muscled man with his arms crossed over his large chest. He was an intimidating figure with his buzz-cut and the dark stubble that covered the majority of his chin. She sighed and cursed the good luck that seemed to be avoiding her. "Look, Stevie. We don't have to go see Jimmy tonight. We can pretend I didn't show up, yeah? And you can go home without a broken finger."

A large hand rested on her shoulder and squeezed even as the man said, "You know we like you well enough, Mack, but you also know the deal." His grip tightened, pushing into her bones.

She rolled her eyes at his strong arm tactics and quickly pulled herself out of his grasp, only to run into another one of Jimmy's lackeys: A slender woman not much taller than her with shaggy dark hair and a scar etched into her right eyebrow. Mack had underestimated her once before. She didn't plan on making that mistake again.

"Jimmy's waiting in back."

"Of course he is," Mack said with a sigh.

She rubbed the back of her head as she tried to work out a plan of escape. In the end, an elbow to Stevie's gut was all she could come up with before she took off towards the door. She was nearly there when the slender woman's body appeared in front of her. The force of impact knocked her on her ass.

God, she hated Supers.

The woman chuckled darkly as she grabbed Mack by the back of her jacket collar and yanked her up. "You ever think you suck at poker because you have a tell?"

"Could be a factor, yeah," Mack grumbled as she was shoved towards the back room. When they reached the door, Mack took a deep breath and tried to gather her fleeing courage before opening the door, a shaky smile on her face.

Quinn Fabray Residence
Downtown Tetra
October 12, 2054
02:03

Quinn jerked awake, her chest heaving as she struggled to regain her senses. Remnants of the nightmare lingered. She ran her hands through her sweat-soaked hair and tried to slow her breathing. Once she was fully awake and aware of her surroundings, Quinn glanced at the clock on her nightstand. She groaned when she saw the time and laid back in bed, flinging her arm across her closed eyes.

All the selective memory in the world, and she couldn't delete the one memory she wanted to rid herself of.

She turned her thoughts away from the dark memory and focused instead on the day to come. She needed sleep if she was going to be of any use tomorrow night. With that thought in mind, Quinn tried to force herself back to sleep. She was nearly there when a crash from outside startled her. A frustrated groan bubbled in the back of her throat, but she told herself it wasn't worth getting upset over. It was probably some stray cat getting into trouble. Then there was another crash of garbage cans, followed by muffled swearing.

So much for the cat theory.

After a moment of debate, Quinn rousted herself from the bed and cautiously approached her bedroom window. It was too dark to make anything out with her regular eyesight. She closed her eyes and accessed the settings of her implants, cycling through until she landed on night vision. When she opened them again, the alley outside her building was colored an eerie green.

She scanned the area until she located the source of the sound she had heard: A woman lying prone on the ground surrounded by toppled trashcans. Quinn blinked and her vision zoomed on the prone figure. The closer perspective revealed several injuries on the woman's person. It would seem her first night of helping Tetra's citizens would be sooner than expected.

Quinn turned from the window and started towards her bedroom door, only to stumble due to her zoomed vision. She cursed her stupidity and quickly blinked back to her normal vision distance before continuing towards the door.

The rest of her journey outside the complex went smoothly with the night vision activated. It also didn't take her long to find the woman lying amongst the overturned garbage cans. She carefully approached the figure just in case she was still dangerous. Granted, she doubted the woman would willingly lay in garbage if she were well enough to be dangerous.

"Hello," she said in a quiet voice. When she got no response, she stepped closer so she could clearly see the woman. Her eyes were still open, staring up at the night sky. At first, Quinn thought she may have been too late, but then she saw the woman's chest was still moving. So she called out in a louder voice to catch her attention. She knew it worked when the woman jerked—most likely from surprise—then groaned at the movement. "Sorry," Quinn said with a wince.

"Whatever. It's fine," the woman replied, but Quinn could detect the strain in her voice.

She was going to ask if she was okay, but thought better of it. She had seen the injuries from her apartment. Instead, she asked, "Would you like a ride to the hospital?"

"Not really," the woman said. "I'm good right here."

"You're lying in a pile of garbage."

"Yeah, I'm pretty aware of that, lady."

Quinn gritted her teeth, slighted by the attitude the woman was giving her. The only thing that stopped her from snapping back was the fact that she knew if the positions were reversed, she'd be irritable, too. Instead, she got closer to the injured woman and crouched down to get a better look at her. Even through the night vision lens, she recognized the bruised face looking up at her.

It seemed this Mack person wasn't as lucky as Quinn originally thought.

"If you won't let me take you to the hospital, will you at least come inside?" Mack looked like she was about to protest, so Quinn quickly cut her off. "Or would you rather spend the night out here, freezing and waiting for whoever did this to you to catch up and finish what they started?"

That caught Mack's attention. Still, she seemed to hesitate before reluctantly accepting the offer. Quinn carefully slipped her arm beneath the injured woman's shoulder and helped her up. Once they were both standing—Mack leaning heavily against Quinn's side—she slowly guided the injured woman down the alley towards the front of the apartment.

"You're stronger than you look," Mack remarked in a tight voice.

"I get that a lot," Quinn said as she tried not to think about why she was so much stronger than she looked. "Now be quiet. People are trying to sleep."

"Shit, if I had known you were going to be bossy, I would have stayed outside," the other woman said, but she complied with Quinn's demand as they stepped through the front doors of the apartment complex. She held her tongue until they reached the staircase. "Tell me you live on like, the second floor."

"Sorry," Quinn said.

"Great," Mack muttered before she allowed Quinn to guide her upstairs.

It was slow-going with a lot of pauses so Mack could regain her composure. Even with Quinn taking most of her weight, the trip upstairs still aggravated the woman's injuries. They were both relieved when they reached the fourth floor and Quinn led Mack out of the stairwell. Luckily, her door wasn't far from the stairs. Once they were inside her apartment, she led Mack to the couch she herself had been resting on hours earlier, looking up the woman's personal Alliance record.

"Why are you doing this," Mack asked. The exhaustion was evident in her voice as she watched Quinn flit around the apartment, gathering pillows and blankets from a closet near the hallway and a change of clothes from her bedroom.

"Because you were keeping me up, crashing into those garbage cans," Quinn said when she returned to the couch, blankets and pillows in her hands. She had turned the night vision off as soon as they entered her apartment. Now, with the lights on, she had a clear look at the woman she had dragged in from the alleyway.

Her nose was bloodied and the bandage and padding that had been across it earlier that day were missing, revealing the crooked angle of the bone. She had a split lower lip, as well as some bruising along her jaw. Quinn's gaze traveled lower and landed on the woman's swollen hand, suggesting something was broken there as well. Judging by how much she struggled getting up the stairs, Quinn suspected a sprained or broken ankle and possible rib damage.

In short, the woman really should have been in a hospital and not on her living room couch. Given Mack's criminal record, however, Quinn understood her refusal to go.

"Well excuse me for being an inconvenience to your sleep schedule," Mack huffed.

Quinn shrugged as she placed the blankets and pillows beside the other woman. She left the living room for a moment, disappearing into the kitchen. She returned with two ace bandages, a wet cloth, and a sandwich bag filled with ice.

"I can't do much for the damage to your ribs, but I'll do what I can for the rest of your injuries," she said absent-mindedly as she placed her supplies on the empty couch cushion.

Mack stared at her for a moment before asking, "Do you always play doctor in your nighty?"

Quinn looked down and realized, for the first time, that she had gone outside in just her lace nightgown. She hadn't felt the cool night air on her legs earlier. While she had feeling and sensation in her artificial limbs, they weren't as sensitive as her actual flesh, allowing them to withstand cooler and hotter temperatures, as well as higher amounts of damage.

"Not usually, no," she replied as she brought the wet cloth up towards Mack's bloody face.

"I guess that makes me some kind of special then, huh?" Mack said, but her tone was bitter.

Quinn lightly dabbed at the cut on the woman's face and said, "I suppose it does." Once the blood was gone, she grimaced at the clear sight of the broken nose.

"You can just do it," Mack said. "I already know it won't feel too good."

As she predicted, resetting the broken nose was unpleasant for both of them: Mack because it hurt; Quinn because Mack smacked her out of reflex. Quinn brushed off the other woman's apology and went back to her ministrations. Mack kept the ice on her face while Quinn wrapped her other hand followed by her ankle.

Once she was finished, Quinn leaned back and admired her handiwork. "If you won't go to the hospital, I suppose this will have to do," she said with a sigh. "At least get yourself checked out by… well, whoever normally does this stuff for you after you leave."

"Hey, what makes you think this isn't my first time getting the crap kicked out of me?" Mack asked. Quinn arched an eyebrow and Mack looked down at her lap. "I mean, yeah. I'll do that."

"Good," Quinn said before getting to her feet. "Now sleep, and don't get any blood on my couch."

Mack grumbled under her breath. She distinctly heard the word 'princess' and smiled to herself as she disappeared into her bedroom and crawled back into bed. Several minutes later, the light from the living room turned off, leaving the space beneath her door as dark as the rest of her room. As she lay in bed, she tried not to think about the strange situation she had put herself in, but it was nearly impossible to ignore. Her third night assigned to this city, and she already had a known criminal sleeping on her couch.

She was off to a great start.