AN: I have drawings for all of these characters in my DeviantArt Gallery, the link is on my profile.

Both Lux and her father had advised Thrasher to keep an entirely separate e-mail address for league related messages and keep her personal address as secure as possible.

Now she knew why and in hindsight she should have figured. Her father had kept her out of the limelight as much as he could but she'd still seen enough.

Thrasher sat with a bottle of Oozeweiser in one hand and her chin settled in her free one as she studied her laptop screen with bemusement, scanning the lines and lines of...well fan mail wasn't exactly the right word for some of them. How the hell they'd gotten hold of her address so soon she didn't know. She'd ask Lux to look into that.

Her phone rang and she glanced at the display, a smile curving her lips when she saw the name. Speak of the devil. She picked the phone up and immediately had to hold it away from her ear as Lux's enthused voice blasted through. "Yes, bitch!"

"Hey, Lux."

"Damn it, I knew I should have gotten your autograph before you became famous."

"You want one now?"

"It would have been a lot more valuable if I'd had it before you made your big debut. At least I can still sell the whole 'Oh, I knew her long before she was famous!' shit to the press."

Thrasher took a drink, feeling the tension of the day ease a bit. She was smiling outright now and didn't even realize it. "That's one of the things I love about you, El. You have your priorities straight."

"Your true best friend is one who knows how to make a buck off you."

Thrasher laughed outright at that.

"So," Lux's tone sobered a bit, "you managed not to scare all the dudes off the rink. I'd thought they would turn and flee the second you showed up."

Thrasher snorted. "Maybe some of them wanted to but that was before the testosterone kicked in."

"And now that you haven't caved in and given up after one game, they'll be even more scared."

"I really don't think anyone is scared of me, El. Yet."

"Thrash, my love, there is a certain subset of the male population who, whenever they even see a female athlete, their dicks actually shrink a quarter of an inch. Since I doubt even a Rejuvenation Chamber can fix that little problem and they can't afford to lose what they have, they get all panicky."

Thrasher had to set her beer on the table, the images that conjured up making her bend over, helpless with laughter. Which, of course, had been Lux's goal.

Lux continued casually. "So be nice to them, even your asshole teammates."

There was a sharp edge to Lux's tone that put Thrasher on alert. Oh, she wasn't sure she wanted Lux Gallow moving into this city with a dead set grudge against some of her teammates once she graduated. It was probably too late, however, and Thrasher couldn't really blame her since it was her ranting and letting off steam that probably pissed Lux off just as much as she'd been.

She had to grin at the thought of Razor Kidd trying to deal with Lux. The thought gave her a sort of vengeful pleasure, she admitted it. If there was anyone on this planet who could take that one down a peg or two...

In the interest of keeping peace on her team, she tried to divert Lux a bit. "It's the strangers who've never laid eyes on me that I'm worried about."

Lux was silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. "How bad is it, Thrash?"

"Well, I admit I wasn't expecting so many rape threats on my first day," Thrasher tried to make it a joke but even she could hear the slight crack in her voice. The fact that almost all of them wouldn't have the guts to go through with those threats didn't make it any better to read them.

"The internet, making brave anonymous crusaders out of everyone," Lux said in disgust. "I wish you'd take your father up on getting someone to go through those for you, Thrasher."

"No, El. I can handle it." On the other end of the phone, Lux bit back a sigh, recognizing that firm, quiet tone. Even Malicious Malone didn't bother arguing with his daughter when he heard that tone. She'd used the same tone when Lux had tried to persuade her to let her come down and see her first game at the Doom Dome, if only so she had someone besides her father supporting her. Thrasher had refused, telling her if she couldn't face this down on her own, she was crippled right at the gate. Lux had respected it, watching the game on TV from her apartment.

That stubborn pride that went right down to the very core of Thrasher Malone was the only thing that had allowed her to step into that stadium knowing pretty much everyone inside it was going to be set against her, even her own team. That and the fact she really had no where else to go to do what she loved.

"Anyway, they're balanced out by the accusations that I cheated even getting into the League because Malicious Malone is my father," Thrasher said, her voice dry now because she had most definitely been expecting that.

"A- They never would have given you a chance otherwise and B - Fucking bullshit. If you weren't related to Malone they'd just say the only reason you got into the League was because he was fucking you," Lux said with heat.

Thrasher winced. "Delightful thought, thanks, Lux."

"You know it's true."

"Probably, but still." Thrasher stretched and shut down her laptop, that long scroll of messages vanishing for the moment, both from her screen and her mind. "I have to go, El. Can't kick ass without rest, you know."

"By this point, Malone, I think you can pretty much do anything, rest or no rest."

Best friends, Thrasher thought, were the most awesome thing in the world. "I just have to prove it. Night, El, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Goodnight and j'taime, you magnificent bitch."

Lux set her phone down and stared at it for a moment before bringing up her calender. Nothing going on at the end of the week. Good. She thought a week of Thrasher facing things on her own terms was enough to warrant paying a visit at the end of it. And once Lux moved there...well things would probably start getting really interesting.