Fly For Your Life

"The meeting went awesome. I can just tell we're all gonna work together, conjunto", Dust Devil said as the entire team shuffled to the elevator.

"I booed you", Aisha interjected. "To your mask - and her face."

Shadow Stalker and Brian both sighed.

"What? I did. Also isn't it gesundheit? Plus no one sneezed ya weirdo."

At the elevator bank Ray motioned at Rachel, "Try your ID card out, Rachel. It'll let you into parts of the building and give you access to your dogs."

She scowled at him until Taylor motioned at the card she absently held in her hand and gestured at the keypad of the elevator. Rachel unlocked the tinker conveyance and the former warlords of Brockton Bay piled into the sardine can with their former pursuers.

"Someone is grabbing asses in here!" Aisha exclaimed.

"That's just y- Jesus, Aisha", Lisa ended up elbowing Brian as his sister shifted out of harm's way.

The Dragon Drone was tucked up against the ceiling of the elevator, "Keep your limbs to yourself, Aisha - or I will call you Ms. Laborn."

"Fine, but when the elevator opens up I'll start kicking air and if anyone gets in the way - well, you'll be pleasantly surprised what happens to your shins."

"Legs are limbs, Ms. Laborn," Taylor added.

"Dammit, don't side with Dragon. Let's have some - Es - Easter... Soliditery. Tattletale?"

"Estrogen Solidarity."

"Let's have some Estrogen Solidarity, Taylor."

Dragon faked cleared her throat as the doors opened to their floor.

"Fine, Non-Tinker Solidarity".

Ray materialized outside of the elevator and into the hallway, "That's rude, Dragon happens to be my all time favorite Protectorate member."

As the not so merry band filtered into the hallway, Sophia walked up to Dust Devil and struck him on the shoulder, "You don't have to be so damn chummy. Remember they tried to kill us just recently."

"So violent, those Undersider kids are a bad influence on you, Dulce."

Her eyes widened at the mention of her nickname, "Hey, watch your mouth."

Ray shot finger guns at his packmate and materialized at the head of the group and guided them to the barracks. Inside it was much the same except the bunk beds were reduced in number and wall mounted desks and tables were installed with monitors and computers scattered about. The once triple decker bunk beds were reduced to double Decker, and each bed had a solid metal compartment below it. The compartment was a set of sliding drawers for storing belongings with one half of a drawer having a keypad combination to store some items securely. The large communal shower space was partitioned into a smaller men's side and a much larger women's area.

It wasn't a quarter as spacious or teched out as actual Wards quarters but Calvert's Angels, as the ENE Wards Second Team has been dubbed, was made up of criminals and vigilantes meant to serve as a strike team and wouldn't be sitting cozy waiting for trouble. Director Calvert's first grand move was expanding the Wards program and it was going to be an efficient unit guiding the future of The Protectorate or at least rehabilitating wayward young Parahumans.

In reality instructions posthumous directives for each of Coil's subordinates had orders that The Undersiders not resist joining the second Wards team, and Dinah would be freed shortly after it was confirmed The Undersiders had officially been announced as heroes.

Taylor stepped up and helped Rachel acclimate to the circumstances. Brian and Aisha acquiesced once they understood they'd each be free at eighteen. Lisa and Alec were the outliers with Lisa knowing something was up and Alec was on the fence.

Cardboard boxes were on each bed, inside were personal effects from their various bases around Brockton Bay. Even items from Sophia's old house like her Father's wedding band on a silver chain, and the sleeping bag and electric blanket from Ray's van.

Taylor looked around the barracks and turned to Dust Devil, "We're missing a bed."

"Huh? For who?"

"Well where is Alec sleeping if he is allowed to join the team?"

"Hebert, there are eight beds and seven of us. We're good." Sophia added.

Dust Devil shook his head, "She's asking about Parian."

He turned to Taylor, "turns out Parian is much older than all of us. She's Protectorate now but on loan to PRT retrofitting the heroes and officers alongside Image. Speaking of -".

Sophia had removed her mask and had a laptop open and the newly installed printer spat out three sheets, "Laborn, Lindt: you three head down to Image for rebranding and ABC packages."

Rachel looked up from her box, her old jacket and a couple large dog collars were strewn on her bed. She grunted, no one was quite sure if in displeasure or acknowledgement.

"Wait which, Laborn?" Aisha asked.

"Both you and your brother", Dragon's drone chimed in.

Dust Devil looked at Sophia, "They specific on which of us is accompanying them?"

She shook her head, "Nope, but I'd prefer the Thinker and Master not be left alone with access to PRT systems and no chaperone."

"Taylor promises to be good and I'll say I'll be mostly tolerable while you're gone."

Dust Devil stood there a moment as Rachel, the siblings, and the drone filed out.

"Nah, let them be. They chose this. I'll take these three down to Ban, and I'll meet you - at the place with no roof in ten?"

Sophia's eyes widened for a fraction of a second then shrugged. She fixed her mask back into place and headed out of the barracks.

Ray turned and addressed the rest of the room, "Anyways, Taylor, Lisa, if you need anything the barrack's systems have voice recognition so just give it the ol' grito if you need to contact anyone or want to request something. You two are next for Image so think up some cool names or concepts for your new cape identity."

And before Taylor could voice a concern Dust Devil dematerialised.

"No roof?" she asked out loud.

Lisa laughed, "Do you really want to know?"

Taylor's eyes narrowed, "Hearing that kinda laugh I'm gonna say 'No, I'm good'."

~~x

She floated down through the damaged roof of the familiar building in downtown Brockton Bay.

"Been waiting long?" Shadow Stalker asked as she shifted out of her breaker form.

Dust Devil was leaning against one of the undamaged walls with his arms crossed. The blanket they usually cast across the floor was still rolled up and sat on one of the plush arms of the lounge chair that started to crack and discolor from exposure to the elements.

Sophia pulled her hood back and removed her cloak and mask, tossing them in a pile by the chair.

"You alright Ray? You were all giggles and cheer earlier."

Without moving he answered, "No, I'm really not okay, Dulce."

"Then? What's the deal?", Sophia pulled on his arm, guided the vigilante from the wall and sat him in the chair.

She draped herself across his lap and put an arm around his neck, "Usually you're trying to get me to ride you in this dusty piece of crap, so... talk to me. The court stuff freak you out? Still got your ears ringing from Miss Militia and her fucking RPG use on a truckload of teenagers?"

He said nothing for a long space and she felt no reaction against herself from his lower half. Sophia sighed and her hand went to the neck of her costume, she pulled the chain and the ring slipped out of her costume. Her fingers played with it absently as she waited.

Finally, Ray broke the silence, "Ya know, we fought really hard for all this. Not only did we stop the unstoppable warlords of Brockton Bay but, we got them to turn hero. Calvert even kept Piggot's word and now we're back with the PRT."

She grabbed his mask and gently removed it from his head. Underneath, Ray's scarred face was devoid of emotion. He stared blankly forward at nothing in particular.

"Ray, yeah, and that's a good thing. We fought hard, it cost us little, and it paid off."

His eyes darted to hers, "No, it didn't cost us little. It cost us a lot, Sophia. Prison. The Asylum. I - you, we got fucking kidnapped by criminals and psychopaths. Fucking monsters made us do messed up shit."

Sophia grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest, "Focus, Ray. We're here. We're not back there. We're here and now, Alcaraz."

Ray's eyes were wild, a touch of moisture was at the corners of his eyes.

"Ray. Stay with me, okay? Look at me", she grabbed the chain at her throat and lifted it off herself. Sophia dangled the shiny silver chain and dull smudged gold wedding band in front of his face.

A few breaths pass, "that your dad's?"

"Uh huh", she took his hand off her chest and positioned Ray's hand flat and dropped the jewelry in his open palm.

"What're you doing?"

She locked eyes with her partner, "I'm giving you everything I have left. This is the last material possession I care about in any way whatsoever."

"Why?"

She shut his hand around the ring, "Because the last time I felt safe, felt like I had no cares in this world was when he was still alive. When Dad died Celia buried herself in caring for my brother. Babied him so much, I had to put on a brave face and teach him how to deal with other kids. I had to show him he can't cry and expect mom to fix everything. Then Steven showed up, and I went from being a little parent to a victim."

"This is your Dad's, I can't-"

"Yes, you can. You have. I'm safe. I felt safe with you at the beginning. That I didn't have to wear a brave face, I don't have to be afraid to get victimized again. I'm no longer with you to feel safe. I'm here because I want to be. You need me, and it's not a weakness to share with me. To be vulnerable and I know that now."

Ray took a deep breath and a flush spread across his face, "Gorehound, the leader of the freaks who kidnapped me. Well they threatened to come after you in prison if I didn't help them hurt - a lot of people."

"Just hurt?"

"I refused to kill alongside them, but I didn't stop them from killing people. Not successfully at least."

"Okay."

"Early on one of the Asylum inmates was brought with us, she had a strange attraction to me. I woke up one night -with her - with her - with me inside her mouth. I freaked out and after that it was like she claimed me. She wanted me to kill, to prove I was hers."

Sophia's breathing quickened, "You refused?"

"Yeah, and the after weeks of sieging a town. I left to get you out of prison, part of the agreement with serving them was your freedom. So I left and at the motel - she followed me. She was going to make me kill someone or she was going to kill you. I stopped her and they left."

He opened his hand and Sophia took the chain and undid the clasps and fastened it to Ray's neck, "Well, that's good. I'm free. So we can and have done good. We're making the world a better place."

Ray's hand went to one of his horns and he scratched at its base, "And just as they were leaving they told me they were hired to destroy and run off the people in my neighborhood. They killed my Abuela, Sophia. They murdered her and turned me into - this horned freak. To make some criminally rich asshole slightly richer."

"Fuck."

"I'm a hypocrite and a freak. The first week of May I didn't give two shits you were out there fighting to protect this city. Weeks later I was pushing you out of the way of a cinder block and then jumping down your pants. Then they threaten you and I'm working for them. Working for the people who killed me and took away my whole world."

"This is a lot, Ray, but I'm not going anywhere. And I don't hate you. Just remember that this is your world now, the one with me in it."

He took a minute to digest her words, then Ray slipped his gauntlets around her, "so I'm allowed to love you?"

She cast a sideways glance at her armored partner, "So long as you keep that ring, you're mine, Alcaraz."

~~x