An hour had passed, and there were no clues of where Leet's lab could've been. She knew she couldn't stay away from the team forever, so she headed back to her apartment take a break from searching. She'd have to think of better ways to ask about it without raising any red flags.
Sabrina reached her apartment door, and stopped at the sight of a four foot big headed robot. It looked up at Sabrina with triangular green eyes, giving a sad and disarming gaze. "Ugh," the robot said in an exasperated tone, "another guest, I do detest guests. They don't even let me know that they're coming anymore…"
Sabrina stared at the robot in a blank gaze. "Are you… A security bot?"
The robot let out a long exhausted sigh. It sounded like it was already disappointed, "no," the robot said. "Sorry to disappoint you. I always seem to disappoint the people around me..."
Sabrina stared at him for a long amount of time. He sounded ridiculously sad, like he had some sort of depression issue. Could robots even have that? "So, if you're not security, why are you even here?"
The robot sighed aloud, longer than he ever had before. "Why am I here? Don't even get me started."
A female hologram appeared by his shoulder, she wore a circuit board patterned body suit, and was complete purple from hair to toe. "Don't mind him," the hologram said. "He has terminal depression, except its never terminal enough."
"Why couldn't Leet give me an off switch..."
"I"m Cortana," the hologram said. "Marvin here is in charge of video editing. My job is to make sure he doesn't sit around and mope all day."
"I'm the most advanced AI on the planet, reduced to making online videos for adolescents…"
Cortana shook her head, "we tend to get a lot of free time when Leet isn't in the lab."
That piqued Sabrina's interest, "by any chance, do you know where Leet's lab is?"
Marvin answered, "yes, but if you're looking to visit, I don't think he likes you very much."
Sabrina raised an eyebrow. Cortana slid her hand at him like she were slapping him across the head, "Marvin, be considerate!"
Marvin sighed again. "What I mean to say is, he's seriously concerned that you'll, and I quote," Marvin slowly rose his metal fingers in the air to emphasize quotes, "'burn it up like if Spitfire were a crazy nazi bitch.'"
Cortana began hitting Marvin in the head again, but her tiny holographic arms did no damage. "Marvin, we talked about courtesy before!"
"But Leet told me to say that…"
"Then stop listening to him!"
"But he'll call me useless again…" Cortana gave of an exasperated sigh. She rubbed at her forehead like she had sensation within her holographic fingertips. Marvin asked, "you're disappointed in me again, aren't you?"
"No, Marvin, of course not." Cortana looked up at Sabrina, "Okay, I'll be blunt. We know you have a bad history with the E88. So it's going to take some time for the others to get used to you. Aryana loves that you're here, Robert and Edwin… You'll have to get on their good side before they warm up to you."
Sabrina really didn't care about that. She wasn't going to stay for long. "So what? Am I banned from visiting Leet's lab?"
Cortana didn't want to answer that. Marvin said, "according to Leet, 'that Hitler wannabe bitch better not-'"
Cortana cut him off, "yes, just until you can show you're responsible enough to be trusted after a few missions. After that, I'm sure you'll be welcomed there."
Sabrina clenched her fists. How long would that take? She wondered how long Kaiser would be willing to wait for her. He was a patient man, but playing Loser wasn't something anyone could tolerate forever.
XXX
Tomorrow, she'd have pick the next mission. Sabrina laid back on her bed. She had her headphones on while she listened to 'sparklehorse' by herself. She was glad Emily had suggested the band to her. In terms of interests, the Losers were more relatable than anyone in the E88 were.
Age may have played a factor into that. The Losers reminded her of what she used to be like, reckless and never giving a damn. The closest thing she had to a crew of friends was before she'd gone to juvie. And those friends had backstabbed her. This time, however, instead of waiting to be ditched aside when she needed help the most, she'd be the one doing the backstabbing. It felt nice switching rolls.
But she still had to figure out from what angle she could live with them. Vivan and Aryana were kind to her, which was ironic considering that they weren't white. Vivan seemed dense to her, but she desperately wanted to find out what could get Aryana pissed.
In contrast, Robert and Edwin watched at her like she were a monster. Speaking carefully around her like she was always ready to stab them in the back. It was definitely justified, but it still hurt. Emily seemed scared to speak to her, but Sabrina figured that was more due to shyness than paranoia.
Compared to the E88, the team seemed more dynamic than what she was used to. In the E88, respect was more valuable than anything. It was like a military order, you were only accepted if you obeyed like a mindless soldier. It was an ironic position Sabrina put herself in, considering she hated authority.
Then again, as she sat alone and thought more about herself, she didn't choose to join the E88. Her uncle had just offered it to her, and her parents had pushed through with it before Sabrina had even made the decision. She would've joined anyway, sure, but she still hated when people thought they could make decisions for her.
Which was partially why she liked living with her uncle. He was the only adult in her life that treated her like an equal. He never discouraged her from doing what she wanted, never tried controlling all the little aspects of her life. He only asked that she do well with the E88. If anything, she was loyal to him more than anyone else.
There was a knock at the apartment door. Sabrina stood up and left her bedroom to open it. By the time she'd reached the living room, Vivan had already let himself in.
Vivan looked up while pulling out a container from his handbag. "Oh, hey Sabrina. I thought you were at the mall with Emily and Aryana."
Sabrina shook her head. "I didn't feel like going." She looked down at Vivan's arms, the containers had warm foods fogged from heat inside. "I'm guessing your cooked that?"
"Yup, these guys would be fat asses if I didn't cook meals for them."
Sabrina stared at him for another moment. "Are you sure you're not gay?"
"I am ninety five percent certain I'm straight." Sabrina raised an eyebrow. Vivan asked, "can you help me out with these? I'm not sure how you guys wanna organize them."
Sabrina sighed, and entered the kitchen to help Vivan. As she smelled through the Tupperware, she had hoped to gain a hint of what Vivan's ethnicity was. But it became plainly obvious that Vivan's race wouldn't be revealed through his cooking.
Tomato lasagna, bean burritos, seasoned fried rice, his cooking reeked of skill, not of any particular culture. It was odd, really, both Aryana and Vivan directly contradicted any stereotypes Sabrina was expected to believe.
"So I asked Edwin why he didn't join the E88," Vivan said.
Sabrina raised an eyebrow, "Really? What did he say?"
"Get this, apparently he's Spanish. I didn't know that until he mentioned it."
"Really?" Sabrina cocked her head back, "he doesn't look spanish."
"I know right, apparently they come in more than one color." Vivan thought back to when he asked the question.
"Holy shit Edwin, you're Spanish? Teach me how to say 'fuck you' in Spanish."
"Fuck you Vivan."
"That sounds pretty American. I'm disappointed in you."
Edwin groaned loudly to himself. Vivan asked, "bro, do you even soccer?"
Edwin tossed the playstation remote in his direction.
"Well," Sabrina said to Vivan, placing a basket of fruit at the center of the dining room, "that explains why he hates me."
Vivan clicked his tongue, not wanting to bring up her sneaking around from earlier. "Maybe, but don't take it personally. I'm sure once he knows you better, things'll become easier with him. I think he's still getting used to Emily."
Sabrina sighed, she didn't want to wait to gain anyone's approval. The only thing she needed was to get the information for the E88. Compelled to ask, and convinced that Vivan was dense enough to give an honest answer, she asked, "So… I'm guessing he won't show me his lab?"
Vivan clicked his tongue again, "yeah, don't worry about Leet's lab. He works better alone, and me and Robert just stay away from his lab anyway. He gets kind of high when he's in tinker mood."
"High?"
"Like staring at a bag of cheetos, and figuring out why there's a cheetah on the bag."
Sabrina laughed, remembering a time when she didn't know how to handle a high, "Wow, you just explained tinkers better than anyone at the E88 ever has." Vivan smiled, glad to finally make Sabrina smile.
Sabrina asked, "so no one else goes in there? That sounds creepy."
"Aryana goes in and out sometimes, but that's about it."
She squinted at him, "Are… they both fucking in there?"
"What?" The question caught him off guard. "Of course not."
"You know," she speculated a theory, "maybe they are, but you just ignore it because you don't wanna think about Edwin fucking your sister."
Vivan stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. He never even thought of the idea of Edwin and Aryana being together. His mind began making connections that weren't really there.
"Holy shit," Sabrina bursted out laughing, "you look like you just got mind fucked."
Vivan shook the thought out of his head, "stop that. You're driving this team apart."
"All part of my master nazi plan," Sabrina commented.
"Already planning a final solution, I see."
"Jew know it better than anyone." Sabrina gasped, "fuck, you just made me do it."
"One of us."
"Go to hell."
After they finished putting the tupperware away, Vivan mentioned that he made 'special' courses for the weekends. Before leaving, he looked over at the living room and said, "I can't believe it. I'm gone for a day, and Aryana is already tossing her shit all over the floor."
Sabrina looked over to the living room, he was referring to the coat and hat left on the sofa arm rest. "That's my shit," Sabrina said.
"Oh…" He turned at her and yelled, "Clean up your goddamn shit, Sabrina."
Sabrina crossed her arms, and wondered if Vivan was as casual to racist remarks as he often showed on camera. "I'm white, you do it."
Vivan bursted out laughing, "yeah, but you're also ginger, so you don't really count as a person."
"You bastard," she laughed, forgetting that she was supposed to hate him. "As a feminist, clean up my shit."
"As a feminist, clean up your own shit," they laughed for another minute. Forgetting that she was going to backstab him, he said, "Sabrina, you're gonna fit in just fine here."
XXX
The dart board had the swastikas removed from it. No one needed to ask why. They were replaced with two pictures of a glory hole, one picture of hot chocolate, and two pictures of Bob Marley. Sabrina tossed the dart where it landed it right on a picture of a glory hole. "New Wave it is," Aryana said. "It's about time we settle the score with them."
Vivan asked, "does this mean I get my rematch with Glory Girl?"
"Dude," Edwin said, "you got your ass kicked by her last time."
"Which is why I'm entitled to a rematch."
Aryana quickly presented her idea with to the team. "Alright, I say we hit them with glitter. Glitter the shit out of them. Glitter bomb their homes, their wives, their children. Because that shit sticks on forever."
"Glitter?" Sabrina said in toneless voice. "Not impressive, especially compared to what you guys did with the E88."
Aryana shrugged, " you got any better ideas?"
"How do you guys feel about hostages?"
They all shook her heads, Aryana said, "we're kinda iffy about that. Hostages get people put in the middle of danger, what's worse is that there could be a long term psychological toll involved, especially if kids get caught in the mix."
Sabrina was disappointed by how spineless they all were. "If you guys are afraid of getting your hands dirty, why are you all even villains?"
Robert answered for her, "most of us have a reason to not like the Protectorate. The shortest answer is there's no profit to being a rogue hero. Since we gotta live to eat, we're only allowed to rob villains as villains."
"In my case," Edwin said, "to get supplies for tinkering, I need to steal a mountain ton of money to supply myself. Sponsors would limit my tinkering to profitable purposes. There's no fun in that. What's worse is my specialty can never be profitable. My choice is to either tinker for myself or don't tinker at all, and I can't do the latter."
Sabrina asked. "Then why even bother attacking New Wave and the Protectorate?"
Aryana answered, "because I hate the Protectorate."
Vivan answered, "for the rep. As long as we don't go pure evil mode, fighting them is alright. It also helps that we sometimes let them win to boost their own PR. On the long list of bad guys they want to stop, we're on the bottom."
Sabrina looked over to the dartboard, "mind if I pick something else? There's a place I wanted to hit that's been on my mind on for a while." The others exchanged glances with each other. "This'll be my first mission with you guys, right? Can I pick without the throw?"
After an exchanging of nods and shrugs, the team agreed. Sabrina walked up to the dart board and re-positioned the dart onto the chocolate mug picture.
Aryana mentioned, "you do know that means we just go out for hot chocolate together, right?"
Sabrina nodded. Robert chuckled, "well, that was unexpected."
