Hope Comes to Brockton Bay
Part 52: In which there is a press conference and an interview, and people form opinions
Hope had been expecting the chance to get her head down for a solid four hours when they got to the shelter. They'd made good time, even with dropping off Tattletale down the block so that she could make her way into the building incognito.
But the grapevine had spread the message faster than Hope would have believed possible; when she and Amy entered the shelter, she was greeted with cheers, whoops and hugs. Amy came in for her share of congratulation as well, although she still had a tendency to shy away from human contact. Hope assisted in this by unobtrusively taking the lead, and by shielding her with her wings.
Radios were reporting the news soon, and a portable TV started showing it shortly after. A hastily-organised press conference in front of the PRT building showed Director Piggot addressing television and print journalists.
"It gives me great pleasure to confirm that the Slaughterhouse Nine has been defeated in detail this morning; their leader, the infamous Jack Slash, was captured and executed. He is the third member of the Nine to die in the last week in Brockton Bay; as you will recall, Shatterbird was killed in combat with Fenrir's Chosen, and Mannequin was killed last night by members of the Wards working in cooperation with independent capes.
"Another member of the Nine, Crawler, was killed in the battle, while Bonesaw joins Burnscar in the ranks of those currently in custody."
Someone had obviously been keeping count, because a question was called out about the Siberian and Cherish.
"It has recently been established," Director Piggot said stiffly, "that the Siberian was in fact a projection created by an otherwise normal human being. That person is now in custody, under sedation. The person's identity is being kept secret, for purposes of security."
She paused. "As for Cherish ... her whereabouts are unknown, but her face has been faxed to every bus station and airport within a hundred miles. If she shows up anywhere, we wil take appropriate measures."
One of the gentlemen from the print media – Hope could not keep track of the newspaper names – asked the extremely cogent question, "Who exactly was involved in the battle against the Slaughterhouse Nine?"
Miss Militia, who was standing beside Director Piggot, took up the microphone. "I am pleased to say that I was there. Also present were all the current membership of the Brockton Bay Wards, as well as Hope, the hero Panacea from the group New Wave ... and the villain group known as the Undersiders."
A stir ran through the crowd. Hope thought it might be about the idea of heroes and villains working together to solve a problem. But the same astute gentleman from before asked the question, "I was under the impression that Hope was a member of the Wards. But in your statement, you just referred to her as being separate to them. What is Hope's status in all of this?"
Miss Militia took a deep breath. "Due to differences in opinion, Hope chose to leave the Wards yesterday. However, as the subject of this press conference can attest, we are continuing to work together closely with her, in matters that require outside assistance."
Another reporter. "Hope was one of the 'independent capes' who assisted in taking down Mannequin last night, correct? Who were the others?"
"That is indeed correct," replied Director Piggot. "The other assisting capes were Skitter of the Undersiders, and Parian, a local rogue cape." Unbidden, she continued. "Weld, Vista and Flechette were representing the Wards."
"Skitter is a well-known villain," called out another voice. "Why are you referring to her as an 'independent cape'? Does this mark a shift in the attitude toward our villain capes?"
Director Piggot looked as though she'd just bitten into something sour, so Miss Militia took that question."Due to their unstinting efforts, and the considerable degree of teamwork and cooperation shown by the villain capes on scene at the defeat of the Slaughterhouse Nine, we are reviewing their status. Amnesty for past crimes is not something that has been taken entirely off the table."
"If they commit more crimes in the meantime, however," put in Director Piggot, "we will be forced to treat them as criminals once more."
There was a pause, then another question was asked. "Who took down Jack Slash?"
Miss Militia fielded that one. "Jack Slash was engaged and defeated by Hope. He was then delivered to me, and I carried out a summary field execution, as called for by the kill order on his head."
This sparked a flurry of questions. Hope turned away from the television, hearing Miss Militia going on. "We are still assembling a full report on everything that happened during the battle. Footage from helmet cams will also be provided to the media when ..."
She sat down on the edge of the bed that had been set aside for her, and put her head on her folded arms. Amy sat on the bed beside her, and put an arm about her shoulders.
"Are you all right?" she asked softly.
"Yes," said Hope. "No. I don't know." She felt tears welling up. "It's too much. People died. I caused a death." The first sob shook her shoulders. "I took Jack Slash prisoner, and he died. I told you what to do with Crawler, and he died." More sobs. "I don't want to hurt people. I don't want to kill people."
Amy's arms were about her, her voice soothing, her embrace warm and comforting. Hope knew that she was tired and overstressed, and that she was going through the aftermath of an adrenaline high, but all she wanted to do was curl up in someone's arms and bawl her eyes out.
"It's all right," Amy whispered. "You did what you had to do. You saved lives today, remember? You saved Menja, and you got me to save the Chosen ..." She paused. "You saved my life, too."
Hope paused, looking up at her, blinking away tears. "How did I do that?"
Amy brushed Hope's hair from her eyes. "I was chosen by Bonesaw for potential membership in the Nine. It's sort of why I left. They test their potential members, more or less to destruction. I don't think I would have survived. You found me, you stopped them." She paused. "You accepted me for who and what I am. No questions, no judgements. I owe you ... everything." She shook her head in wonderment. "Why did you do that for me?"
Hope leaned into Amy's embrace. "I told you. I'm your friend. That's what friends do. Friends support each other. Friends show trust, and love, and they offer advice."
Amy wriggled into a slightly more comfortable position. "So I'm beginning to learn. I saw Vista was quite attached to you, back there."
Hope nodded, her head pressed against Amy's shoulder. "I saved her life from the Siberian. It was really close. She's a nice kid. And a good friend. And she really pulled her weight out there today."
"She did, that's for sure," Amy acknowledged. "I think we all owe her a vote of thanks."
"I think we all owe each other a vote of thanks," Hope corrected her. "If just one of us had flaked out, the whole thing could have come crashing down. But it didn't. We got it just right."
"Thanks to you," Amy told her.
Hope looked at her quizzically. "How do you mean?" she asked.
Amy touched her on the tip of the nose. "Beep." She giggled as Hope went momentarily cross-eyed to follow the tip of her finger. "I mean, you were the glue that held us together. You gathered us all together, and gave us the plan, and not one of us even considered not following it – because it was you presenting it."
Hope frowned. "Someone else could have done that ..."
Amy shook her head. "Who? One of the villains? Skitter? The Undersiders would follow her, and Parian, but I probably wouldn't have. Miss Militia and the Wards would be too wary to trust her as well." Warming to her subject, she went on. "If Miss Militia had presented it, the Undersiders might have suspected a trap. IfI'd come up with it, both sides would have looked at me strangely and found reasons not to do it."
She shook her head. "No, dear sister of mine, you were the only one who could have pulled that off. And that hand-holding thing you made us do –" she broke off into giggles. "Did you see their faces?"
Hope shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't do it to embarrass them –"
"But you did," Amy corrected her. "You did it to challenge their ideas of who they could trust and could not trust. You forced them to re-evaluate the people they were working with. Even if you didn't know it, you were playing a head-game with them, and it worked. Standing there, holding hands while you pointed out the plan, I felt like I was part of the whole group, that we could all do it. It brought us all together symbolically, and from then it was only a short step to coming together as a team."
Hope blinked. "Wow," she said, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. "I did that?"
"Sure," said Amy. She tilted her head, regarding Hope quizzically. "You didn't even know what you were doing, did you?"
Hope shook her head. "Not really," she admitted. "It just seemed the right thing to do."
Amy smiled. "Well, all I can say is –" she began, but her opinion went unsaid, for at that moment, Lisa strolled up, with a stack of clothes over one arm.
"Hi, Hope. Hi, Amy," she said cheerfully. "I'm Lisa; I work here."
Hope, who knew quite well that Lisa was also Tattletale, looked up at the older girl. "Hi, Lisa," she said. "What's up?"
"Well," said Lisa, with her vulpine grin spreading across her face, "some people on really big dogs dropped these off." She handed over the stack of clothes; on inspection, they were fitted to Hope's particular specifications. "I would have waited till you got some rest before giving them to you, but I think it might be a good idea if you changed now."
"Why?" asked Amy. "I don't know about Hope, but I haven't slept since yesterday."
"Because there's a news crew out front," Lisa said, her grin widening. "And they really want to speak to the heroes of the hour."
"How did they find out I was here?" asked Hope, already beginning to remove the now somewhat-tattered top she was wearing. Amy gave her a hand as Lisa replied.
"There's only about a hundred and fifty people here with phones," she said cheerfully. "How many of those do you think have tweeted that Hope's here, in this shelter?"
Hope stood up reluctantly, and let Amy put the new top on her, and button it up at the back. "This is nice work," said Amy. "Parian?"
"Parian," confirmed Lisa. "I'm considering asking her to make me some stuff too."
Hope skinned out of the equally-tattered pants, and stepped into the new pair, looking down at them critically. "Good," she said, finding the pockets. "I like nice deep pockets."
"Hope!" said Amy, sounding mildly scandalised. "You don't just strip off in front of everyone! There are children here!"
"Why not?" asked Hope mildly. "I've got nothing for them to see. Except a butt, and everyone knows what a butt looks like." She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me if people can see my body. I'm about exciting as a Barbie doll."
"But –" Amy broke off, looking helplessly at Lisa. Lisa just shrugged and grinned.
"It's her body," she said. "But you might need this." She handed Amy a brush.
"Me?" squeaked Amy. "Why do I need -?" She got it, and shook her head. "No, I'm not going out there."
Hope nodded firmly. "If I have to go out there, sister dear," she said with a grin, "then so do you." She leaned over and put her arm around Amy's shoulders. "But I will be there, and you don't have to say a word if you don't want to. I promise."
Amy looked startled. "I was only joking about the sister thing," she said.
Hope shrugged. "I've never had a sister before. I kinda like the idea." She smiled at Amy. "We can take it easy for a bit, see how you like it."
Amy nodded. "I think that's a good idea. I mean, I think you'd be a great sister, but I was actually joking..." She looked into Hope's eyes uncertainly. "I'm really not sure if I want to go out there," she said quietly.
Hope grinned. "If you don't come out there with me, I'll tell them all it was your idea," she mock-threatened. She took the brush from Amy's fingers, and began to tease out the tangles from her hair. "Besides, if I let you back out of this, you'll keep finding reasons not to face the world."
"You wouldn't do that!" blurted Amy.
"She really would," Lisa said, her eyes twinkling.
Hope stopped brushing Amy's hair, put both hands on her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes. "Please?" she said quietly. "It would mean a lot to me if you came out there with me."
Almost angrily, Amy snatched the brush away from Hope, and began doing her own hair. "Damn puppy-dog eyes get me every time," she muttered. "Okay, fine, I'm coming out there with you. But you do all the talking. Okay?"
Hope nodded. "That's fine," she said. She gave Amy a hug, careful not to get in the way as she brushed out her hair. "I really appreciate this."
"You owe me big-time for this," grumped Amy as they headed for the exit.
"I know," Hope said lightly. She paused, just inside the doorway, to give Amy a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be fine," she whispered.
Then she took Amy's hand and pushed open the door, to face the news crews outside.
They were greeted with a barrage of flash photography; however, Hope and Amy were both old hands at this, and they neither shielded their eyes nor faltered in their step. Hope stepped up to the semi-circle of journalists, who were standing with microphones and cameras aimed at them.
Questions were shouted, but Hope did not answer; she held her free hand up in a gesture for silence, and rather quickly, it was granted.
"I'm willing to answer all questions as fully as I can," she said clearly. "But before I do that, I'd like to address a particular matter." She gestured at the shelter behind her. "This shelter has generously agreed to put me up for the time being. However, as it is a purely charity measure – all the people inside are homeless and have nowhere to go – I would like to ask each of you to put up a donation before we go any farther."
She looked at the journalists searchingly. "Each of you still has a job and a home, and enough to eat. The people who work here are volunteers. Some of them live here, at the shelter. Surely it is not beyond you to contribute toward helping your fellow man?"
There was a pause, and then cameras and microphones were lowered, as hands went into pockets. Behind her, Lisa led several volunteers out with donation tins. These were passed through the crowd of journalists, and coins and notes were dropped into them. When the last tin was passed back to the front, Hope smiled at the assembled journalists.
"Thank you," she said. "I really do appreciate that – and I'm sure all the people in the shelter do, too." A chuckle ran through the crowd. "Now," she said sweetly, "I'm sure you all have questions. You there, in the front row."
Mark Dallon looked up from the TV; some cameras had continued to roll, capturing Hope's impromptu fundraiser. "I don't believe she just did that," he said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Shook down those journalists for a donation, even before the interview started."
Carol Dallon looked over from where she was working at her laptop. "She really did that?" she asked, then her eyes fixed on the screen. Hope had begun answering questions, stepping toward the man who had asked one, and revealed Amy standing beside her.
"Isn't that Amy?" she asked doubtfully.
Mark looked closer. "Certainly appears to be. What's she doing in a homeless shelter?"
Carol frowned. "You read the note she left behind. She thinks she's betrayed us all."
"And you're saying she hasn't?" Carol turned her head to see Victoria standing behind the sofa, glaring at the television as though it had done her a personal wrong.
Mark sighed. "Vicky, we've been through this before. She had her reasons –"
"She held out on you, dad!" snapped Victoria, her voice rising.
"Inside voice, dear," murmured Carol.
Victoria lowered her voice, but lost none of the intensity. "Dad, she held out on you. Left you brain-damaged for ages, until there was a supervillain in the house. Let us all think she couldn't fix you, and meanwhile she was just keeping her stupid little secret! And then she –" she broke off, balling her fists.
"And then she ...?" Mark asked after a moment.
And then she used her ability on my brain, to make me feel attracted to her, to want her, to need her. But Victoria only muttered, "And then she left a stupid little note and ran away."
Carol rose and crossed to where her daughter was standing. She put her arms around Victoria, but her daughter stood still, muscles tense, not accepting the hug. "I'm sure we all feel a little hurt that she didn't help your father immediately," she said. "But she helped him in time, and no-one was hurt, so it's all good now, isn't it?"
Except that it isn't. Except that every time I see her face I want to go to her. But I can't. I won't. Victoria ducked her head and muttered, "I can't forgive her for that. Not ever. She betrayed all of us."
"Well," said Mark cheerfully from the sofa, "all I can say is that I'm glad to be able to walk and talk and dress myself again." He paused. "Although I am discovering a new preference for watching pro wrestling, so I guess she didn't heal all the damage ..."
"Mark! Don't even joke about that!" Carol, with a reluctant smile, released Victoria and swatted her husband lightly across the back of the head.
Victoria studied the image of Hope on the TV screen. She seemed intelligent and well-spoken, and she answered the questions readily enough. However, she also stood quite near Amy, who stood silent, even as Hope described the way that Bitch and Amy had taken down Crawler.
And then one of the reporters pointed a microphone at Amy and said, "So, Panacea, how do you feel about all this?"
"I'm not Panacea any more," said Amy. "Please don't call me that. I'm just Amy now."
"Okay, Amy," replied the reporter obligingly, "can you tell us how you feel about all this?"
"I'm still working my way through it," Amy replied. "But I can tell you this much. All of this is due to Hope. If it wasn't for her, none of this would have happened. None of it." She reached out and took Hope's hand."She saved my life. She saved me."
"Let's not discount your part in things, sweetie," said Hope, putting her arm around Amy's shoulders and giving her a squeeze. She addressed the microphones. "Earlier that morning, Amy saved the lives of two dozen members of Fenrir's Chosen after the Nine left them to die. I could have done nothing to save them."She gestured at her own face. "And she gave me back my eye after Mannequin destroyed it." She ruffled Amy's hair. "You're not so bad yourself, you know."
The interview ended shortly after, and Carol and Mark began discussing it.
How can she stand to be so close to her? Victoria asked herself. Doesn't she know what Amy's like? A chill struck her. Maybe Amy's done the same thing to her as she did to me.
I have to warn her. I can only hope that I'm not too late.
To be continued ...
