WARNING
This story will include the following:

Graphic Depictions of Violence and Gore
Substance/Drug Abuse
Mentions of Sexual Assault
Graphic Language
Racism
Homophobia
Possible Sexual Content

This list will be updated if more warnings apply later on in the story. I haven't decided if there will be smut yet. The pairings for this story are currently undecided. I have ideas for different options, but I'm going to let the characters take me where they want to go on this one. I hope you all enjoy!

ZERO | THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ARIEL ELLIS

"it would be a scandal"

Ariel paced her room in the Tower, her face twitching as she tried to determine what emotion she wanted to settle on at the moment. Raging anger, or overwhelming sadness. Both were the cause of the tears prickling in the corner of her eyes and the raw feeling tearing at her throat. She spent hours sobbing and screaming, knowing fully well that despite the "privacy" that her room allowed her to have, everyone in Vought Tower—and possibly even beyond—could hear her.

Her privacy, like everything else that had to do with Vought, was an illusion. Between the bullshit press junkets and the calculated crime-fighting, Vought was churning out false promises quicker than they were producing shitty movies and dumb toys.

Ariel wished that she could be as hopeful and eager as she was at the start of her career. But, that was impossible now. Knowledge had eroded the innocence she once clung to, and she didn't even realize it until it was too late. Now, everywhere she looked, all she saw were careful fabrications, structured in a way that would leave the public unsuspecting. But she wasn't some random civilian, and she didn't need x-ray vision to see through the lies.

Until she turned eighteen, Madelyn kept her from the worst of it, but once the floodgates opened there was no stopping the horror that was left in reality's tsunami-like wake. Her "brother" John was not the honorable hero she once idolized. Maeve, who she once looked to as a big sister, had been paralyzed by fear, her every move made in hesitation. And the others were all horribly corrupt. Jetstream, Mister Marathon, Black Noir, Lamplighter; all of them.

All of them, except for Phantom.

Nate Banks, aka Phantom, was the only one that made things bearable for the super-powered young woman in the Tower. He made her feel normal, like someone unburdened by these so-called gifts she possessed. He had not always been an upstanding member of the Seven, but he had changed for the better. But, most of all, he made her feel loved. He gave her hope again.

And now he was gone.

Dead.

It had been the final straw for her; the camel's back was officially fucking broken. As her mental breakdown raged on in her bedroom, she didn't even acknowledge the sound of footsteps outside her room. If she had not been so absorbed in her grief, she would have picked up that Maeve was outside her door with her super-hearing, the older hero debating whether she should knock and offer the brunette girl even the slightest bit of comfort or leave her to her sorrows.

The knock broke through Ariel's fit and the girl did not even bother to wipe at her red eyes before harshly pulling the door open.

"What?" the twenty-one-year-old snapped at the older woman in front of her.

Maeve opened her mouth to speak, but the words never came to her. The older woman felt exposed, even in her armored suit, as she anxiously wrung her fingers together, unsure what to say.

The younger girl's appearance spoke volumes. Her long, perfectly curled hair was in disarray, with flyways sticking up in a halo of dyed blonde. Tear tracks trailed her cheeks, making paths down the soft skin leading away from the reddened eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and the tip of her nose red from the emotional exertion. Her lips were dry and cracked due to her intense sobs.

Despite her obvious signs of grief, Ariel's eyes were hard and Maeve worried that with one wrong move she would be melted where she stood by the younger girl's intense heat vision.

Maeve took a deep breath. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

Ariel let out a humorless laugh as she raked a hand through her hair and gave a sarcastic smile. "Well, what's your verdict?"

"You look like shit."

Ariel's laugh was a little more genuine this time, but the second she felt even a twinkle of happiness, the guilt settled in tenfold. A sob escaped her. Turning away from the door quickly, she walked back to the living room area of her suite, leaving the door open for Maeve to follow behind. "Someone better fetch the hair and makeup team then. Can't have Peacekeeper seen experiencing actual human emotion. It would be a scandal," the bottle-blonde droned on. True emotion was hidden from her tone. "How much longer until I have to build a bridge and get over it, huh? I would guess I have about an hour before Madelyn wants me in front of the press. Fucking vultures."

"You need to rest. Everyone knows how close you and Nate were." Maeve tried to calm her.

"We weren't just close!" the younger girl snapped again. Fresh tears left tracks down her cheeks. "I fucking loved him. And he loved me. And we weren't even able to act like it in public because it didn't work with my image. 'Can't have America's Sweetheart and the Bad Boy of the Seven fraternizing? What kind of image does that send?'" she mocked. "Do you know how hard that is?"

Unknown to Ariel, Maeve knew exactly how she felt, having been pushed into her relationship with Homelander for pure publicity, while Elena had been shoved into the shadows.

"Besides," the blonde hero continued, "I can't just say no."

"Why not?" Maeve said, starting to feel angry for the girl in front of her. Maeve had made her decisions and now she had to deal with those consequences. But, Ariel could still be saved from the perpetual hell that came with being controlled by those in the God-forsaken Tower. "Fuck them. You can do whatever you want. You're fucking Peacemaker."

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Now, you sound like John." Maeve winced at the comparison.

She was nothing like Homelander.

"I just mean to not let them walk all over you. You're their asset. If you need a day to process this, a week, a year. Take it!" The blonde's tears began to dry as she listened to the woman in front of her. "Do what you need to do to process this. You're one of the last selfless people in this shithole and I'm telling you that needing things for yourself doesn't make you selfish. It makes you human."

Ariel tried to let out another humorless laugh, but as the exhaustion started to settle in, it came out more like a scoff. "But, I'm supposed to be a God," she repeated sarcastically. She could help but recall the conversation John forced her into not too long ago when he said the same thing to her.

"You're not though, and that's okay. Like I said, fuck them." Maeve could not stand by as the girl she came to see as a sister was destroyed by Vought and by Homelander.

"You're right, Maggie. I just need time. Maybe a vacation or something. Just to get out of here for a while." Maeve smiled at her and nodded, agreeing that some time out of the circus would be helpful for Ariel's psyche.

Little did Maeve realize, that her suggestion would fuel the thoughts of a grieving girl. Every step away from the Tower just brought her closer to the truth, filling the young woman with cynicism and vindictiveness that would flourish into a beautiful vendetta against those she once viewed as family. Because days later, Peacekeeper would "disappear" on a covert mission.

Then, a year came and went, and eventually, Vought couldn't give further excuses for Peacekeeper's obvious absence from the Seven. She would be announced dead and with her, so would Ariel Ellis—the girl behind the dove-like uniform. But, then again, no one really cared about Ariel Ellis.

I'm trying something new with this story and Adventures in Babysitting where I'm not letting the outlining process consume me and I'm just kind of letting the story and the characters take me where they want to go. I have the storyline in my head, but sometimes I just waste my inspiration and motivation on the outline and never actually crank out any chapters. So, I'm experimenting with it this way.

Let me know what you think!