Confrontation II
Part Five: Bonding Time
[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Sophia
The moment Aisha had Sophia's skates on, she slapped Taylor on the shoulder and yelled, "Tag!" Before Taylor could react, the younger girl darted off, cackling gleefully. Sophia watched as Taylor sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had to hand it to Taylor; had it been her, Sophia would've been after Aisha without even thinking about it.
Taylor turned to Sophia and Brian. "Will you two be okay for a moment without me?" she asked. Sophia picked up on the subtext without any problem at all; Taylor was asking if she could be trusted to not make a run for it. Not that Taylor wouldn't have bugs on her already, but it was the thought that counted.
"Sure, go ahead." Sophia nodded, meeting Taylor's gaze. I'm good, right here. Subtly, she inclined her head toward Brian. Besides, if I screw up now, I don't get to go on any more dates. If she hadn't been certain that the original encounter was an accident, she might've wondered if Taylor had set up the whole 'meeting Brian' thing to convince her to behave more. The ever-present threat of being sent back to juvey was a potent stick, but Brian made one hell of a carrot. So to speak.
"Cool. Back in a second." With a clatter of wheels on wood, Taylor zipped off in pursuit of the overly-exuberant Aisha. Sophia watched her weaving through the afternoon crowd with mild envy; it wasn't fair that she was so good on them. Beside her, she heard a sigh that seemed to echo her thoughts.
Turning, she tilted her her head up to look at Brian's expression. "What's the matter? And how've you been, anyway?" She wasn't quite sure how to analyse what she felt about Brian. Up until now, her love life had been essentially non-existent. Between tormenting Taylor, hanging with Emma and Madison in and out of school, tormenting Taylor, her track work, tormenting Taylor and her Wards duties, she hadn't had enough time to notice boys socially, let alone do anything about them.
"I'm fine. I've been good." Unaware of her inner monologue, he pointed with a chuckle as Aisha ducked the wrong way and Taylor tagged her. "It's just nice, you know? To have someone else to help Aisha blow off steam. She's got attention span issues, and … well, problems at home. So I'm glad you brought Taylor along."
"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically. "Should I have stayed at home then, and just sent her on her own? Because that's what I'm hearing." Raising her eyebrows, she stared up at him challengingly.
"Oh, shit." He sounded a little shocked. "No, no, I didn't mean that at all. It's good to see you. It really is. You look wonderful. I was just saying that, because I can't not bring Aisha along, I'm glad that you let Taylor come with you, so we could have our date without having to worry about my bratty little sister spoiling it for us." His expression was hopeful as he finished his spiel.
She decided to award him bonus points for trying, though it was darkly amusing that he had zero idea as to who had allowed whom to come along. And she could definitely stand to hear more about how wonderful she looked. Those sort of compliments usually went to Emma, not her. Leaning up, she kissed him on the cheek. "Nice save, big boy," she murmured. "If you keep it up, I might have to take you seriously."
He looked a little taken aback, but she wasn't sure whether it was for the kiss or the comment. Either way was good; she decided she like having him off-guard. She got the nicest compliments that way. Linking her arm through his, which elicited another startled look, she nodded toward where Taylor was on her way back toward them, with Aisha in hot pursuit. "So, wanna make a start? From what I've seen of Aisha, they'll be at this for a while."
He made an amused sound. "Oh, Aisha'll do this all day, until Taylor pulls her up. I think she's needed a friend like Taylor for the longest time. Someone who's willing to be a little bit silly with her, but who'll pull her up short when it's necessary." Starting off alongside her, he took two steps before looking down at her in concern. "You're limping. Are you okay?"
Silently, Sophia consigned Oni Lee to the darkest depths of the PRT's dungeons. Or secure holdings, whichever worked better. "It's nothing. Just a bit banged up."
He stopped and turned to face her, his expression and tone full of concern. "If you're limping, it's more than 'a bit banged up'. Are you okay? What happened?"
She tried not to grimace in annoyance. The date had barely started, and she didn't want it to go downhill like this. He was obviously concerned for her welfare, which made her feel good. But he wasn't going to let this go, which made her not so thrilled. Goddamn it, why couldn't he be as oblivious as Clockblocker or Kid Win? "It's nothing, really. I—"
Taylor skidded to a halt next to them, an irrepressible grin on her face and her eyes alight with amusement. "Hey, guys. Everything okay?"
"Sophia's limping," Brian said without taking his eyes from Sophia's face. "I was just wondering who I was going to have to punch the crap out of for it."
Oh, man. Now I can't even be pissed with him about this. Why couldn't I have met a guy like this a year ago?
"Oh, that's easy," Taylor said immediately. "I was getting picked on by this ABB guy and his buddies, and Sophia objected kinda strenuously. You should've seen her. She was badass. I mean, I helped where I could, but she did most of it. Left them wondering what the hell hit them. They got arrested and everything." She beamed at Sophia, who blinked a few times. Whatever Taylor had been about to say, she hadn't expected that.
"Uh, yeah," she said, in response to Brian's questioning look. "That's basically what happened." Except that it was Oni Lee, not some random guys, and he was trying to kill her … huh. The rest of it's basically true. Never knew Taylor could spin a line like that. Her respect for the bug controller went up another couple of notches.
"Holy shit!" crowed Aisha, who'd been trying to sneak up on Taylor and failing. "That's awesome. Sophia, you're now officially allowed to date Brian. High-five, sister!" She held up her palm expectantly.
Feeling bemused, Sophia gave her the expected high-five. "So wait, what's been going on before this point if you're only just now giving permission?"
Aisha lifted her chin and made a throw-away gesture. "Oh, that was just a trial period. You had a certain amount of time to convince me that you're worth letting Bri date you. Otherwise, not a chance in hell."
Brian frowned, staring at his sister. "Seriously, Aish. As the older brother, I get to vet your dates, not the other way around."
"Pfft, as if," Aisha stated dismissively. "You're a guy. Guys got no judgement in stuff like this. There's any number of psycho bitches around Brockton Bay. I'd be, uh, what's the word? Something to do with duty? Not doin' it right?"
"Neglecting?" offered Taylor, her mouth quirking with suppressed laughter.
"Yeah, that's the one. I'd be neglecting my sisterly duty if I didn't check out your dates and make sure they aren't about to rip your heart out and stomp all over it." Aisha blithely gestured toward Sophia. "But hey, she passes. You can date her. See what a good sister I am?"
Brian shook his head slowly, but Sophia thought she caught the hint of a grin on his face. "Aisha, I can tell that we're gonna need to have a long talk about boundaries sometime. But not right now. Right now, I want to get back to the date." He held out his arm to Sophia. "Shall we go?"
An unaccustomed grin spread itself over Sophia's face as she took the offered arm. "Let's do this thing."
Taylor
"Fuck those ABB assholes, am I right?" Aisha wasn't dashing around as madly as before; she and I were paralleling Sophia and Brian as they strolled along the Boardwalk. "I heard Oni Lee got taken down yesterday, so they're all out of capes now."
"Yeah, I heard that too," I agreed, impressed that Aisha was so well-informed about gang events. "Maybe now the cops can roll up the regular gang members." I didn't really think that they'd hold out for long in Brockton Bay without Lung and his cape minions to back them up, but a little assistance from the BBPD surely couldn't hurt. "So what did Brian decide to go see this time?"
Aisha shrugged elaborately, then glanced over at where Sophia and Brian were deep in conversation. "I got zero fuckin' idea. But I'm glad Soph didn't get scared off the first time. Bri doesn't get to meet many girls. I can't even remember the last time he went on one date, let alone a second one."
I stared at her, then over at Brian's tall manly figure. Sophia wasn't short, but next to him she looked positively petite. "You have to be shitting me," I said slowly. "Why is he not fending off girls with a stick?"
She looked briefly uncomfortable. "Well, he's trynna fix my home situation, and there's the work he's got. I mean, he knows other girls from work, but they aren't his type and he isn't theirs. And outside of work, he's too busy with his other shit."
"Damn," I muttered, then looked away from him before he caught me staring. "So, uh, does that mean he's likely to lose interest in her?" I'd asked the question in concern that if he dropped Sophia, I'd have that emotional shit to deal with along with all the rest of it, but a moment later I realised how it sounded. "I mean, is he likely to break her heart?" Truth be told, I wouldn't have minded him paying that sort of attention to me, but not at Sophia's expense.
After a sharp glance at me, Aisha seemed to accept that I was asking the question in genuine concern for Sophia's well-being. "Nah, I can't see it. When Bri takes something up, he does it full-on. Now, if she breaks his heart, I'mma carve her liver out with a rusty spoon. Just saying." Her tone was totally serious, for all that she looked ludicrously adorable making the threat.
"Don't have to worry about that," I assured her. "Sophia's very dedicated about things. Even if Brian was a bad idea for her, I'd still have a hell of a time convincing her of that. And just between you and me, I don't think so. I mean, shit, she's smiled more often since she met him than in all the time I've known her." Smiled in a nice way, I meant. Not in a bitchy way. Of course, her bitchy smile quotient was effectively zero since I'd smacked her upside the head with my baton. Funny how that worked.
Aisha raised her eyebrows at that. "Huh. You really are looking out for her, aren't you? What'd she do, sacrifice herself for you in a previous life or something? Or were you two bumping uglies before she met Brian?"
"No!" I protested. "We're just friends. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but no. That's not us. We're just … we've been through a lot together. It's complicated." I tried to even visualise me and Sophia in that sort of relationship, and my brain came to a screeching halt. Not just nope, but hell nope. Even if either of us was that way inclined, there was way too much baggage between us to make it work.
"Woo!" she cackled as she sat down on a bench to take off her skates. By way of explanation, she pointed at a side-street that led off the Boardwalk. "The movie place is that way. Shortcut."
"Oh." I sat beside her and started unlacing my skates too. "Anyway, 'woo'? What's with that? I didn't say anything weird, did I?"
She grinned at me. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there? I can tell. I mean, apart from the way you're so goddamn nobly holding back from trynna grab Brian all for yourself. There's some sorta stuff goin' on between you and Soph, isn't there? What is it? You guys exes?"
"You just don't give up, do you?" I sighed. "No, Sophia and I have never been in a relationship. It's different from that. And a lot more complicated than I'm willing to try to explain right now." Taking my pack off, I started stowing my skates inside.
"I notice you didn't say anything about you and Brian," she said slyly as she handed me Sophia's skates as well. She didn't say any more, but I got the distinct impression that she was deriving way too much amusement from the situation.
My face started getting hot. "Pretty sure it's not something we should be talking about."
"What's not something we should be talking about?" It was Brian's voice, sounding amused. Aisha and I turned to watch him approach with Sophia. They were holding hands now, as opposed to just having their arms linked together.
"What Sophia and I were talking about earlier," I said hastily. "Sophia, wanna take your skates back?" Standing up, I offered them to her.
She wrinkled her nose as she took them. "No, but I guess I should," she admitted. Letting go of Brian's hand, she shrugged her backpack off and started to shove the skates inside.
"You really don't like rollerblading, do you?" Brian asked her, assisting her by holding the pack open. "I mean, Taylor's pretty good, but you're struggling with it. Why not just give it up? I mean, nobody's gonna think any worse of you for it. You've given it an honest try."
Sophia glanced briefly at me, and I could see the struggle in her eyes. What he was saying was perfectly logical, but he didn't know about our 'homework' with Mrs Yamada. The problem was, how was she to tell him about the therapy without either exposing the whole deal or digging ourselves deeper into lies?
"It's real simple," she said as we started down the side-street. "I don't like to lose. Taylor wanted to take up rollerblading, so I took it up too. So what if I am shit at it? That just means I gotta try harder. Just because she's done it before and I haven't doesn't mean I can't learn how. I am gonna get good at it, just so someday I can say 'fuck you' to these skates before I chuck 'em in the ocean or something."
"Huh." Brian shook his head. "Well, you're a lot more stubborn than me, I'll say that much."
Aisha snorted audibly, her expression the picture of sheer disbelief. I looked at her with interest; she rolled her eyes toward her brother, then shook her head.
Having caught the byplay as Aisha had probably intended, Brian turned toward her. "Shush, you."
She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. Sophia smirked at her antics, but I wasn't smiling any more. As a matter of course, I had bugs on everyone within a block. Not only was it good practice at using my powers—and figuring out stuff about people from a distance—but it kept me apprised of potential unwelcome surprises. Of which there were several nearby.
I didn't have a huge swarm ready to hit them with, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to tip my hand like that anyway. The flies and other bugs I had on them indicated that they were armed with nothing more lethal than knives and short lengths of pipe. I counted six overall, with two of them significantly shorter and lighter than the others. That, and their clothing, indicated to me that those two were women.
I had useful information, but my trouble was that I didn't know how to warn Sophia without tipping off Brian and Aisha that we were capes. I could've just said that going this way was a bad idea, but if I had no good reason for doing so, it would just look and sound strange. Which left option C: spring the trap, then hold them off long enough for Brian and Aisha to get away. I had no doubt that Sophia and I could disengage afterward, given subtle uses of our powers, but there was no sense in not stacking the deck. Moving casually, I reached into my pocket and palmed my pepper spray canister. I'd been carrying one ever since Dad became concerned at my early-morning runs; it hadn't done me so well against Lung, but these guys weren't Lung.
Sophia eyed me suspiciously, then glanced around, eyes darting from point to point. Our would-be muggers were just drifting into the side-street from alleys and doorways, closing in to surround us. As yet, they weren't showing actual intent, but that was just a facade. Flies sitting on their pulse points were registering increased heart rates, and hands in pockets were clutching weapons. These guys meant business.
"Uh, guys," Sophia said. "Maybe this isn't the best place—"
She was interrupted by the sound of a switchblade clicking into place. "Actually, yeah, it is." The speaker was a bit taller than the other muggers, but he looked no less dishevelled. He also had the habit of waving his blade in a lazy figure-eight as he talked.
"Oh, shit." That was Brian, his voice barely a murmur, as he looked around. The six were well spread out, holding their weapons openly now. "Girls, when I say run, you run, got it?"
Jesus Christ. I barely held back from rolling my eyes. Save me from white knights. I had a lot of respect for Brian, but he was treating us as people who needed to be saved.
"Not fuckin' likely," Sophia murmured. "We leave you, they'll dogpile you for sure."
Brian's voice was agonised. "Yeah, but—"
"Stop fuckin' talking!" The leader of the bunch of muggers stomped forward. Aisha and I were on his side; I stepped in front of her, my left shoulder toward him. He grabbed me by the upper arm and yanked at me to get me away from the group. That was fine with me; I brought my right hand up across my body and gave him a dose of pepper-spray in the face from about one foot away. At the same time, a tiny swarm of flies swept between him and me, collecting all the droplets of spray that might otherwise have reached my face. They were there and gone in an instant, too fast for anyone but me to notice.
As he screamed and let my arm go to claw at his face, I slipped the pack off my shoulder and swung it at arms' length; the weight of my skates slammed into the middle of his chest, knocking him off balance and on to his ass. The muggers stared and a couple stepped back, but the others came forward, raising their weapons. As a continuation of my action, I sent a stream of pepper-spray at the next closest one, who backpedalled hastily. He didn't get as concentrated a dose as the first one had, but it was enough to make him cough and choke and rub at his eyes.
Which was what I wanted. "Aisha!" I snapped. "Go! Get help!" With my free hand, I pointed down the side-street, through the gap I'd just opened up. Needing no more urging than that, she took off down the street like a greyhound out of the gate. I doubted very much that she could bring back help in time to affect the fight but that had never been my intention. Getting her out of the middle of the fight was the best thing for everyone; now we could concentrate on kicking ass.
Behind me, Brian slipped a knife slash and kicked one of his opponents viciously under the kneecap. Sophia was up against a guy with a pipe and a girl with a knife; even without being able to access her powers, she was able to duck aside from a swing with the pipe and shove that guy into the girl. I reached into a side pocket of the pack and pulled out the same extendible baton that I'd smacked Sophia upside the head with, once upon a time. Dropping the pack, I flicked the baton out and moved to intercept Brian's other opponent from coming up behind him. At the same time, I kept track of where Aisha was.
Mentally, I swore. The second guy I'd gotten had decided to go after her; while his eyes were obviously troubling him, I hadn't sprayed him hard enough to put him down. I gathered the bunch of bees I'd been able to gather and sent them arrowing down after him. Raising my arm, I brought the baton down on the shoulder of Brian's second opponent. I was pretty sure I hadn't broken anything major, but she let out a screech of pain and dropped her knife. For good measure, I kicked her behind the knee to put her on the ground.
And just in time, too; Sophia's two opponents were bigger than her and had greater reach, and she wasn't moving as lithely as normal, due to the injuries Oni Lee had inflicted on her. "I got this one!" I yelled at Brian, stomping on the hand of the woman I'd just put down. Moving up alongside Brian, I confronted the guy he'd kicked under the kneecap, who was limping forward and pointing a knife at me. Aisha had stopped momentarily to look back before realising that the guy was still after her; now she was running again, but he'd closed the lead considerably.
I had to save her in a way that looked natural. When Aisha ran past a bunch of garbage cans, I hoped that she'd push one over to get in his way, but she didn't. However, that gave me an idea. As he came level with the same cans, I brought two swarms into action. One was a bunch of cockroaches, racing out from the cans and across the alley in front of him. He didn't see them, but then, he didn't have to. His foot landed right in the middle of the flat, slippery chitinous bodies, and he skidded, flailing. One arm hit a can, knocking the lid off of it. That was all I needed.
The guy on Sophia had dropped his pipe and grabbed her from behind, while the girl came from in front with obviously murderous intent. Brian ignored the guy that I was facing off to go save Sophia, which was my intent. Sophia managed to fend her off once with a kick, but her injured leg wasn't able to strike as high or with as much force, and the girl realised that quickly. But by the time she did realise it, Brian was there.
I feinted with a kick, then brought the baton down on the guy's knife hand as hard as I could. I was pretty sure that I heard bone crack, and he let out a howl of pain. Even as the knife hit the ground, I was stepping in to hit him again, around the collarbone region. This time, I did hear bone crack, and the asshole lurched backward away from me. Around about the same time, I heard the impact as Brian pile-drove the girl threatening Sophia into the ground.
As Aisha fled from her attacker, help was already on the way. The bees I'd brought in swooped down along the wall of the building, then up between the garbage cans, as if they'd been disturbed by the guy. He was halfway to his feet when the first one stung him, and he promptly forgot all about chasing Aisha. She had the presence of mind to dart to one side and hide behind a dumpster as he ran past with the angry bees chasing him; his pained yelps faded into the distance.
I moved up alongside Brian, baton at the ready. The guy holding Sophia backed up, eyeing us both, holding an arm across Sophia's neck. I could see her seething, just itching to use her power and fade out of his grasp, but unwilling to do it with witnesses.
"Let her go and we might not break too many bones," Brian offered, his entire bearing suggesting that he was willing to break a great many bones if Sophia was hurt. His fists were clenched and he was demonstrating a really good skill at looming.
"Back off!" gasped the guy holding her. "Back off or I'll—ah! Bitch!"
His pained shout came from the fact that Sophia had apparently gotten her second wind; a stamp on the guy's foot coincided with an elbow in the ribs. She twisted in his grip, almost getting free. That 'almost' in this case was enough of an opening for Brian; he stepped in, his fist launching forward like a freight train. Sophia saw it coming and at the last moment she tilted her head sideways, giving his fist just enough room to skim past her neck and impact the guy solidly in the chops.
Her captor staggered back, his grip loosening, and she pulled all the way free. Her elbow smashed back into his throat and put him on the ground for good; he lay there, feebly clutching at his neck and making rasping noises. But he was breathing, so I guessed that would be good enough.
Brian looked around, shaking out his hands and moving from foot to foot, ready to continue the fight. But the fight seemed to be over. In fact, the only ones left were the guy I'd sprayed first and the one Sophia had elbowed. "You okay?" Brian asked Sophia, a little belatedly.
She didn't seem to mind. "Sure. Good hit there. Thanks."
"Hey, not a problem." He reached out and brushed some of her hair back behind her ear. Then he looked around, eyes widening. "Shit! Aisha!"
"Not to worry," I said, pointing. "She's fine." And sure enough, Aisha was making her way back toward us, looking rather pleased with herself.
"Oh, thank God." He turned toward me as I retrieved my pack and slid the baton back into the side pocket. "That was pretty quick thinking there. You came prepared, I guess."
I gave him a half-shrug, pleased at the compliment. "Hey, I live in Brockton Bay."
"And that about says it all. Should we call the cops on 'em?" Sophia's question had several layers to it. I could tell that she didn't want to disrupt the date by securing the muggers and waiting for law enforcement. Nor did she want to have to worry about filling out incident forms once we got back to base. Even talking to the cops in our civilian identities would eventually get back to Director Piggot and Deputy Director Renick, and if we hadn't crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, they'd be asking us why.
The bottom line was that if we called the cops, the date was a total loss. If we didn't … well, these guys had learned the hard way not to mug people in side streets. And after Sophia had saved my life, I didn't want to pull that shit on her.
"Dunno," I mused as Aisha came up to us. "What do you think, Brian?"
He looked down at the battered and beaten muggers. "Well, given that they're not really gonna give us any more trouble, is there any real reason to bother the cops?"
Sophia shrugged. "I can't see one." She looked at him appraisingly. "You handled yourself pretty well there. Sure you aren't one of the Wards in disguise? Aegis, maybe?"
"Hah, you can't talk," he replied in good humour as we continued on our way. "You and Taylor were pretty badass there yourself. Sure you aren't a superhero, Taylor?"
Aisha began to giggle as I posed, flexing what little muscle I had. "Sure," I proclaimed in as deep a voice as I could manage. "I'm Armsmaster, can't you tell." Hamming it up, I looked from side to side suspiciously. "Where's my halberd? Have you seen my halberd?"
As Aisha began to laugh out loud, Brian looked at Sophia. "And I suppose you're Alexandria?"
Grinning, Sophia rolled her eyes. "Well, duh," she said with heavy sarcasm. "Who else has a body like this one?" She flexed as well. Unlike me, she had curves and muscles both; I looked on with a certain amount of envy. Brian was also looking, but I was pretty sure it wasn't out of envy. Aisha broke off from her cackling to add a wolf-whistle, which started me laughing in turn.
"Which reminds me," Sophia said, stepping right up to Brian. Reaching out, she took hold of his lower jaw between thumb and forefinger. "Next time we're faced with shit like this, you might want to consider that you're not the only one who can kick ass and take names. Got it?"
Brian just stared at her for a long moment; I suspected that Sophia was the first person who'd ever called him out like that. "I, uh, yeah," he agreed. "Sure. Any time."
"Good boy," she purred, a rather predatory smile spreading over her face. Hooking a finger into the front of his shirt, she pulled him down to her level and planted a firm kiss on his lips. "Maybe you can learn after all."
The look of stunned surprise on his face as she let him go was utterly priceless. Aisha seemed to think so too, because she burst out laughing. I was grinning all over my face as I gave Sophia a high-five.
"Okay," I smirked, "now that that's over, shall we go see that movie?"
Aisha pumped her fist in the air. "Fuckin' A."
End of Part Five
