Lola looked down at the silver gauntlets on her hands, which had lines of purple on them. Then turned around, looking at the other members of the Underground experimenting what they could do with these silver gizmos on their bodies. Moving up and down, fast, energetic, laughing, glee abound like rain.
Only a week had passed, yet things had changed so fast.
This girl Phin had changed their world completely that it may as well be another entirely. With this metallic substance that rearranges itself into different things while giving superheroic capabilities no different to Spiderman, they went from kids into made adults. This Programmable Matter, as she called it, was even capable of acting as an engine for the tower. With all the electronics they were able to turn on without piggybacking on another building's electricity, they didn't need to worry about heating, especially since the programmable matter was also capable of providing insulation.
Those that were comfortable with guns were instead shooting rifles made of the stuff. Something that Lola thought Rafferty would be doing. She looked over, and saw Rafferty sparring with another member of the Underground with the new melee capabilities they were given. Given the heat underneath that scrawny surface, Lola thought she would have gone the same way as herself - yet she held that saber. Something that could be precise yet could also be wrung savagely, if need be.
Lola looked away.
Things were changing too fast.
Even though it was she that brought everything together, the Underground's birth as a sidekick to Tombstone's gang, to striking out on their own and nearly faltering until bringing Rafferty into their ranks, the only one who still holds the record of being the only one entering the group under a rain storm - there was a feeling that she was being left behind. The whole group had gained momentum from this - for what?
Recruitment was now at a high again after word about that police squad of corrupt cops thought they could still be sly to raid one their hideout for 'contraband.' They likely thought that the Underground was still a bunch of kids with guns. They were proven wrong immediately. And because there was a new policy to make sure every hideout was sparse, except for a few that would be hard to reach or find, moving things out of that one and finding a new place wasn't hard.
Lola looked around - there were too many unfamiliar faces. The ones that she did know were off somewhere else in the hideouts or too busy training the new recruits.
A week ago there were rules, people huddling together to stay warm, to keep each other afloat, trying to keep their spirits up because they had no one else.
Now, lights were everywhere - monitors old and new on the walls and ceiling showing the new version of the Underground symbol: the 'U' and 'G' close together while another part was put on top like a hat that made them all together look like a mask at a glance. Music blasted off in the distance, boasts and dares like fireworks - that was what it sounded like, at least.
Lola starred long at one of the monitors that had the new symbol,
On and on,
She felt something nagging at her mind, stuck. She needed something to uncork it.
The clashing of metal of Rafferty fighting made her look over.
She strode forward.
Those that had gathered in the training area to get used to their new digs and weaponry could not tear their eyes away from the spectacle before them. The heavy whooshing of Lola's gauntlets, the fast steps, twirls, and slashes of Rafferty's saber. Both adapting, both letting go of the archetypes of their weapons and trying the opposites of their weapons - Lola attacking light with the gauntlets, going for jabs, and Rafferty making heavy and sometimes wide swings for power.
Hitting or missing their strikes, they kept going, letting themselves go into this sort of trance that started when Lola walked over and shoved Rafferty's sparring partner to the side.
Jab,
Slash,
Kick,
Grapple and throw,
Punching the ground to throw themselves back up and use that momentum to throw the other,
Land on one of the nearby pillars using the programmable matter in the shoes - speed off like a bullet,
Dodge -
Over and over and over again with different variations and moves made on the fly.
The audience around them grew, watching and learning of what they could do with their new capabilities. Some were already seeing what they could do with their new inspiration. While Lola and Rafferty were running out of steam, everyone else had more fuel to go off of. The fight ended in a draw, both collapsing to the floor.
Both were huffing and puffing a storm on the ground while everyone else broke off inspired by the fight, or whooping and cheering, even clapping at the done spectacle.
As both Lola and Rafferty were getting back onto to their feet, someone walked into the room and whistled -
"Boss, Overwatch - Tinkerer wants to see you!"
Rafferty silently got up, while Lola sighed before dragging herself up.
With the programmable matter, they all were capable of leaping high into levels they couldn't before in the tower due to always using the stairs. Now, they had convenience no different to an elevator. Lola and Rafferty looked up, saw the level they needed to jump through the hole in the ceiling that Spiderman had made the day he nabbed Wilson Fisk, and kicked off. They skipped off the edges of the hole for a boost and shot up, they slowed upon reaching their peak and landed softly on the ledge.
Lola took a deep breath and sighed, even tilting her head back before taking a step forward, and stopped once Rafferty grabbed her arm. She looked over and recognized the look she was giving her. Lola stared back for a moment before her gaze faltered and looked away. Rafferty sighed, let go, and strode forward down the corridor. Lola followed after.
In their walk, both noticed how quiet it was. With how recent their new capabilities were, despite having changed different areas that were once part of the lower floors to the higher floors it seemed that people were either still getting comfortable or still dealing with moving things from place to place.
For now, it was just the two of them.
"What's going on, Lo?" Rafferty said.
Lola was silent, looking away.
Rafferty looked her way again, and Lola felt the urge to say something due to being prompted by this.
"...We're not getting… left behind, are we?"
Rafferty blinked, "What makes you say that?"
"Look around, B." Lola said, her voice usually loud with an undertone of power and pride was now quiet and subdued, "A lot of faces I see nowadays I don't recognize."
Lola held herself with a slight hunch, "We're bringing in too many people too fast. And…"
Rafferty stopped, "The Underground is your family, isn't it?"
Lola pursed her lip before silently nodding.
Rafferty pondered for a moment, "...I guess the feeling you have is similar to a single parent remarrying."
"With a clown car full of kids?"
"Guess that makes that worse. Most of the original group are around the different hideouts, training, or doing patrols. Come on, Lo - pick up those feet, it hurts me seeing you like this!" Rafferty grabbed Lola and tugged to make her pick up her feet.
"B? I, uh…" Lola stopped.
Rafferty turned around and saw something completely different - instead of a strong, sometimes even arrogant, young woman who wasn't afraid to put her head up high and her fists before words become miniscule. It was only a small hunch, but it was amazing how much it put a world of difference on Lola's visage - from young to younger, big to small.
And her face -
"Lo? Lo." Rafferty stepped close, putting her hand on Lola's cheek, "Talk to me. What's going on?"
Lola looked Rafferty in the eye and Rafferty couldn't help that she was looking at a different person entirely.
"...Is this still ours?" Lola said, "All of it? Some of the guys don't even call me Boss."
"Lola," Rafferty said, "Of course we do. I still see members looking at you with respect."
"Are they looking at me that way because I'm the Boss? Or is it because I'm with the Tinkerer? Their Boss?"
Rafferty closed her eyes - the new blood was indeed out populating the old blood. It was to the point that the old members haven't been able to teach the new members the rules, and due to word spreading about the Underground's new toys, issued out to any that was able to make it in, the output made it impossible. The effects of that are readily seen - most of the new blood don't even think Lola as their Boss, they don't even know, actually. In fact, most of them assume that is her name. Her own nickname, Overwatch, was played off of the presumption that was just what she was called. Barely has she heard her own name be said by anyone in the Underground now.
In just one week, it has changed this much.
Spring was one with Summer,
They had tasted Fall, but Winter was already one foot in the door -
And its wind was already in the horizon, full breath poised to blow.
"Lo." Rafferty said, putting her arm around Lola, "At least we are still here together. Come on, let's see what Phin wants."
Lola looked at Rafferty with uncertainty before taking a deep breath and stiffly nodding, "...Okay."
Rafferty kept her arm around Lola until they neared the meeting place - the "Boss's Room" - where Lola then straightened her posture and raised her head. She took a deep breath and that air of confidence returned to Lola. But Rafferty saw. She knew. She knew Lola, the only one who knew her so deeply that she could see the lines of the mask she just put on.
It hurt seeing her like this.
It hurt seeing the one and only place that Lola had become something else entirely.
Yes -
The Underground was a bunch of kids that didn't know what they were doing,
Yes -
They were staking out on their own with no aid from anyone else and being too confrontal about it,
Yes -
They had each other and no one else,
They were a family. But it was becoming clear that family was tearing itself to different ends. For every new member that joined, the more the members that were there from the beginning drifted farther and farther away - different responsibilities, from patrolling to training and anything in between.
A scarf stretched apart, its threads pulled to its limits, and for every thread new threads attached themselves to them, knotting and tying, more and more. Different colors, different structure, different design. The original color still there but overshadowed by everything else.
They passed a monitor and saw the new symbol of the Underground.
They both glanced at it,
They both had their own thoughts,
But the sentiment was the same -
This was their Underground no longer.
They couldn't get close to Phin.
Despite doing so much for the Underground, there was something about her that kept both Rafferty and Lola at arms length. Everytime they both tried to connect with Phin, she kept going around certain topics and at times even outright stopped the talk entirely. Overtime, a wedge pushed itself between them, unmovable.
There was also something about the way she looked at both Rafferty and Lola, something that wasn't always there but would show up occasionally. Something dark, a storm brewing in the horizon - the dark visible through her eyes. As well as an uncanniness to switch between somewhat light-hearted to down right serious at a drop of a hat. What made both of them uneasy was that there were times where Phin locked herself away in the Boss room for long stretches of time.
This recent case was for three days,
Only now did she finally call for the both of them.
"Our deal." She said, firm, straight to business, "I gave you tech and weapons. Now, you have to do your end." Phin pulled up a map on a nearby monitor, "Lola, I want you and a team to go in here and find data that I need. Rafferty, I need you and your team to make sure Lola's team has easier access. The programmable matter I gave you all can be many things, even as a way to hack into things."
Both of them saw the location on the map -
"Roxxon?" Rafferty said.
"Couldn't you just hack it from outside the place rather than going in to get the shit?" Lola said.
"Tried. Believe me, I tried." Was all Phin said with a dark look in her eyes, "This data is important to get information from Roxxon's main database. We get that data, we can crack Roxxon's database wide open, "Any questions?"
"The stuff you gave us good enough to go against the heat they got?" Lola said, "Their boys are starting to show up more with that new gizmo they're making."
"More than enough." Phin said, "I saw it personally. If nothing else, go. I need to get ready for the next part after this."
Rafferty and Lola left the Boss's room, learning quickly that Phin's patience should not be tested . Lola got her team, Rafferty went to the hacking and communications room to talk with everyone in there and to get ready - the security room where they were based previously having been taken over by the new members as their new hang out.
They headed out, the late evening coming onto New York as Lola and her team appeared on one of the higher terraces. A brisk wind blew against them, the chill's bite turning into a nibble even with the insulation in their clothes coated with the programmable matter. Something cold touched Lola's cheek and she looked up.
Snow.
The flakes were gliding down at a steady rate, their abundance still sparse.
"Lo." Rafferty's voice came to life through the earpieces of the mask that hid the lower half of her face, "Better hurry before the snow gets worse."
Lola sighed, "Snow's early, and its ten days until December. Think it's a bad sign."
"Lo, since when were you the superstitious one?"
Lola motioned for her team to move. They leapt off, the flashes and trails of purple in the oncoming dark vista of the night signaled their direction.
"I just can't shake the feeling that something's going to go wrong."
Lola bent her knees and kicked off to follow after her team.
Little did she know that she would be right, but at the wrong time.
Not until near the end of December.