As far as Lily was concerned, Brockton Bay was pretty much the boonies. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. She was starting to get tired of all the noise of the big city, the fast pace of it all. Brockton Bay would be a vacation compared to Manhattan more than anything considering the fact every major villain group in the area had been taken care of as far as she knew. Sure there were still the Espada, and possibly Coil, but neither group really did much and the Espada seemed more intent on helping in their own fucked up way than anything else. All it really meant was more PR patrols than anything else since there wouldn't be much crime to stop aside from the really small stuff the cops usually handled.

It was a bit of a shock at first to go from an area as densely populated with Capes as New York to one that only really had a few. It actually took her a few days to really get used to actually having free time instead of constantly being on call in case something went wrong. That said, being on base was pretty much what she was used to. It wasn't like she had any real family back in New York so that was where she spent most of her time back there too. She was more than happy to make the transfer when it was offered since there wasn't anything holding her there.

The first few days, when she was adjusting to everything, had been oddly tense. There were clearly issues between Gallant and Shadow Stalker and the others just acted sort of out of it. It probably didn't help that their former leader, Aegis, had been transfered to Boston and replaced with Weld, who was a nice enough guy just new. Being the only other girl on the team she hoped to make friends with Shadow Stalker. The girl told her to fuck off so she'd promptly put a pin in that idea until she'd calmed down.

Considering how little there was to do on the Rig while she waited for her first patrol she'd taken to getting passes to visit the city. She mostly passed it off as recon so she could get to know the city better— She could only learn so well from a map she'd claimed— but it was just sight seeing. She could absolutely do both, she would tell anyone who might try to call her out on it.

Now, out and about in the city, she was surprised that the place was already cleaned up. Usually it took several months for a city to fully recover from an Endbringer but Brockton Bay was basically good as new. She'd figured out, even if the PRT didn't want to acknowledge, that was thanks to Sacrosanct. She'd apparently been very good about keeping collateral to a minimum and fixing what little there was. It wasn't surprising to her that she'd do her best to fix up the city after such a disaster, her very gray public perception aside.

She turned a corner and immediately slammed into someone who was coming out of a store. She didn't fall, but the girl she'd run into was basically thrown down to the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" Lily said, leaning down to help the smaller girl.

"I-I'm alright," She said as she got her head on straight. As she took Lily's hand she got a good look at her. She was short, maybe around 5'1 to Lily's own 5'7, and looked like she was probably Middle Eastern. She was kind of frazzled after the hit but didn't look any worse for wear. Most importantly, she was really cute.

"I'm really sorry," Lily said, pushing that thought away as she let go of the girls hand.

"It's really not a big deal," The girl said, leaning down to pick up her bags, which Lily immediately helped with.

"This is a lot of fabric," Lily said, gently putting the rolls back into their bags.

"I'm a fashion student," She said quietly. "Thank you for helping me."

"No, no, it's my fault in the first place," Lily said, handing the bag back. "I'm Lily, by the way."

"I'm Sabah." She smiled and Lily felt the thoughts coming back. Why did she have to meet such a cutie so soon? She hadn't settled in at all and there was no way she'd have time for—

"So, is there any way I can make this up to you? Buy you a coffee or something? I know I'm not the softest of things to hit," Lily offered. She decided she wasn't going to let this chance slip by. She didn't have the time for dating in New York but that wasn't true here. Might as well take the chance and see if and where it goes.

"O-oh!" Sabah started, obviously surprised at the offer. "I-uh-I don't have time right now," and Lily did her best not to look disappointed, "But maybe another time? Do you… Would you like my number?"

"Yes!" Lily said far too quickly for her liking. "I mean, yeah, that'd be great," She amended as she pulled out her phone.

Jogging back to HQ she didn't feel that there was anything that could ruin her day.

—

"So, uh… What can you tell me about yourself, Shadow Stalker?" Lily asked as they started their patrol through the Boardwalk.

"What?" Shadow Stalker stopped, turning to face Lily. "You want me to tell you about myself?" She scoffed.

"Yeah," She nodded. "We're going to be teammates from now on and you're the only girl on the team my age so I figured we could be—."

"Seriously?" She asked derisively.

"Is there a problem?" Lily asked, more confrontational than she really meant.

"The problem is you're here trying to waste my time."

"What? You think trying to be friends with my teammates is wasting time?"

"Yes," Shadow Stalker said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Get this through your head newbie—,"

"Newbie?!" Lily squawked in offense. She knew for a fact she'd been a Ward longer than Shadow Stalker had and she had the audacity to call her a newbie?!

"We're not here to make friends, we're here to catch the bad guys. That's the only thing that matters. We're not gonna go back to base and talk about boys and paint each others nails after patrol is over. Whatever bullshit ideas you have about being a hero, you need to drop them now. And stay out of my way." With that, Shadow Stalker took off, dashing up the fire escape in some alley.

"What a bitch," Lily managed after she got a grasp of her emotions. Not even a two weeks and she already felt like she might have been better off staying in New York.

Shaking off the lingering anger, she started her patrol. What she couldn't shake was the creeping feeling that conversation would serve as the defining moment of her time the Brockton Bay Wards.

AN: Oh man, it's been... 3-ish months now huh? I'm sorry it took this long to get this out. Summer gets kinda hectic for me. Had family over, lots of birthdays, stuff like that. Add in I had to rewrite this a few times because I wasn't feeling it, a sudden drop in general motivation, and agonizing over how I was gonna end this story, and you get a 3 week hiatus turning into 12. Part of what helped me actually get back into the mood to write was I ended up coming up with an epilogue for this story while half asleep. So now it's just a matter of getting to it. Sabah/Lily supremacy and all that. Hoped you like the chapter.