Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

It was difficult to follow exactly what it was that Sunny intended, words seemed to trip out of her mouth at a breakneck speed and she leapt from subject to subject like a bird hopping between branches. It almost made Alice feel dizzy, and barely left her with a chance to respond as Sunny suggested dinner, thanked her effusively and hugged her alternately.

She fought not to cough in the rising clouds of perfume as she was pulled into the embrace. It was challenging, it seemed that Sunny just about bathed in the stuff. How she managed to breathe amidst it was beyond anyone's guess, but maybe it was a cunning plan to distract her opponents with the tears that it brought to their eyes.

Alice blinked back said tears once she was finally released from the hug. She was surprised however, to see tears in the eyes of her companion. Sunny always seemed so happy, so enthusiastic that to see tears in her eyes took Alice aback. Outside of the costume it seemed that there was another side to Sunny, she hadn't thought so, thanks to the fact that she had no secret identity. Even so it seemed that more of what she had presented to the world was false than Alice had otherwise assumed.

Except the pink thing.

Alice stared in astonishment at the enormous walk-in wardrobe. It was almost entirely pink. Sunny pulled from a rack halfway down the wardrobe. The dress she pulled out was entirely and precisely pink. It was also an evening gown.

"Ah."

Raising a hand in objection, Alice paused. In several ways this was exactly what she'd expected, but that didn't mean she was just going to let it continue as such. "You've not been out much before have you?"

Grateful that she could finally get a word in edgeways, Alice didn't stop there. "The kind of places we're going to go to are definitely not the kind of places you wear a dress like that, lovely though it is."

She dropped the hand, "And come on, a well-known Hero dressed all in pink? You're recognisable in pink, and it's not a big jump from there to think that the blue haired girl with you might be another well-known Hero. I wouldn't ask this, but can you please wear something not pink? I brought some of my own stuff with me?"

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Coryelle Wilde

+ wearing

Eventually, Alice picked up the phone. She'd been staring at it for nearly an hour, wondering whether what she was about to do was the right decision. For every argument for it there was one against. It could risk her career, her position as a Hero. It could risk her reputation, change the way people looked at her, how they looked up to her.

But it was the right thing to do.

Finally she picked up the phone, snatching it as if it were about to escape, knowing if she took too long then she would be paralysed by indecision for another hour. There was a number saved there, no name attached to it, just saved under a blank contact. She selected it and began tapping at the virtual keys.

We need to put things aside for a minute.

The response was surprisingly swift, New phone, who dis?

Alice rolled her eyes and typed out a response. You gave me this number a couple of years ago, after I helped you save someone.

Need a name, or I'm blocking.

Tapping her phone on the table, Alice wondered how she should continue, after all, the woman on the other end of the phone didn't know her real name. But then how could she know if it was still the same person? She took the risk. Paladin

This response was slower, slow enough to allow the doubts to creep in, to make Alice wonder if she'd just made a huge mistake, or if it was too late to go back now. The phone buzzed again, and what followed was a relatively fast conversation.

Surprised you saved it. What do you want.

You were down by Shaw & Pearce weren't you?

Maybe. A lot of people were. You're not really going to try and pin that on me are you?

A lot of people got hurt, and I think we know who did it

Of course we do, so why are we having this conversation?

They've told me where they are. And I'm willing to bet your friends got hurt too.

What makes you think I don't know where they are?

Do you?

No. But I'm not about to believe you scoured for an old number to find me and give it to me for free, Miss Lawful.

I'm not sure what I can say to convince you. Just meet me here. If you don't I guess I'm going in alone. I promise I won't try to take you in.

She enclosed a location with the last message. If Punk believed her then she'd show up, maybe. If she didn't then things might just be a lot more dangerous.

---

It wasn't much later that Paladin found herself on the outskirts of the city. It was mostly empty out here, industrial, with several abandoned warehouses, one of which she was lurking behind. Fully suited up, she stood awkwardly, not quite sure what to do while she waited for Punk to show up. She probably shouldn't be doing this. Heroes were given some degree of autonomy, but ultimately they were expected to answer to the Program, and they certainly wouldn't approve of her being here. She wasn't sure if she approved of her being here…

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

One of the strange things about being a Hero was the boredom. It was probably the last thing you'd think of when you considered the high stakes, dangerous situations that seemed to dominate the headlines these days. It was true though. Alice spent far more time waiting for a dangerous situation than she did in one. Sometimes those periods of boredom could stretch for weeks, with little more than minor incidents to break up the inactivity.

Right now was in the middle of one such period, and she'd convinced the Program head in San Francisco to grant her a few days leave. She hadn't been entirely honest with her intentions for said days leave, but then it wasn't really any of his business. Besides, San Francisco had Heroes other than Paladin, it was probably about time some of them got some time in the headlines.

She was in Los Angeles now, having suffered from only a small twinge of hesitation as she'd handed over the money for a flight. She'd had to remind herself that money was certainly not the issue now that it had been a year ago. It felt strange to have come so far. She'd been effectively homeless, now she shared an amazing flat with a pop star and thought nothing of buying expensive plane tickets rather than getting the bus.

Now she was in Los Angeles, reading an address from her phone and debating whether to call an Uber or get the bus. If she'd been in San Francisco and wearing her suit she wouldn't have bothered with either. She could cross the city much faster than any normal form of transport. Someone might have raised an eyebrow at a blue haired teenager leaping through the air in Beverly Hills though.

She settled for an Uber, giving the man an address a few doors down from the one she was actually going to. He still raised an eyebrow at her, she didn't exactly look the type to be living in one of those mansions. She ignored him, and he pulled away without comment.

Less than an hour later she found herself outside the mansion with the sun going down. Creeping around the back, she kept her eyes out for a room that was completely pink. Eventually spotting what looked like the right one, she gathered her legs beneath her and channelled kinetic energy down through them, launching herself into the air.

She landed soundlessly, absorbing the energy from her impact, then swung around to look in through the window, seeing the girl she'd come here for in the first place. Alice knocked.

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

+ wearing

Paladin laughed. She learned more and more about why Gravity Girl was the person she was with everything the pink clad Hero said. "Yeah, no, I don't think Ballroom would have gone down so well at the shitty public school I went to."

Presumably Gravity Girl had gone to the kind of school that would offer ballroom, which meant it was either much more upmarket than the one Alice had attended, or private. Paladin was betting on the latter. She shrugged as they followed the moves that were being demonstrated by the class teacher. "Tough doesn't mean graceful, and it takes a lot of work to do well as a Hero. I bet you understand that."

She smiled to herself anyway, so much of what Gravity Girl said seemed to be either unconsciously judgemental or backhanded. A genuine compliment seemed rare, it was nice to hear something genuine from someone like her. "Thanks though. Although you're pretty tough too. I saw you stop that car."

Carefully, she spun the pink clad girl back towards her, replicating what the teacher had just demonstrated with a volunteer. She grinned, putting a finger to her lips, "Don't tell anyone, my agent would fricking kill me, and you don't want that death on your conscience."

She had to revise her opinion a little again. Evidently Gravity Girl had lived something of a sheltered life. Paladin wondered how much of that was as a result of the girl's mother, who was clearly beyond controlling. "Scary? Sure. But not for people like you and me. What's the worst that's going to happen? It's not like you go in full costume, so most people don't even know who you are."

"Once the mask is off most people don't even look twice." She winked, "Unless you want them to."

And then the publicity obsessed Gravity Girl returned. It took a lot of effort not to roll her eyes as the blonde started babbling about pictures and going viral. She was right though, they definitely would. Thank god there weren't any members of the press in here. They'd been allowed a tour with the Heroes earlier, and taken plenty pf pictures then, as they also had when they'd officially opened the centre. She'd hoped that meant they'd all be gone by the time the two Heroes had to leave, but she knew that hope was probably in vain.

She returned to the previous point of their conversation. "Maybe we should do it sometime?"

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

+ wearing

Paladin was not in the least surprised when Sunny jumped at the chance to remain the 'girl' in the dance. If she'd been any more girly then… well Paladin couldn't actually think of any way Sunny might manage to be any more girly than she already was. The heels she was wearing had to be nearly five inches, and her suit was pink for heaven's sake. It couldn't have been any more tacky if she'd tried. Although saying that, maybe she had tried. The Heroine seemed so obsessed with good publicity and image that she'd probably run through hundreds of possible costume designs. Paladin's was still pretty similar to the original designed for her by Stephen back when she'd first started out, they were a lot higher quality now though.

The class was almost full, with mostly older kids and adults standing in pairs. There were a couple of much younger kids, though it seemed that they were there for the experience, they didn't seem to be learning that much. One of them had a finger up his nose while staring, mouth agape, at the recently arrived Super Heroes.

The dance teacher needed a moment to recover from their surprise, but resumed the class with remarkable alacrity. They were learning the initial dance steps and it didn't take long for Paladin to pick them up. It helped that she could simply absorb the kinetic energy from any misstep, and that Sunny barely had any weight to balance thanks to their respective abilities.

She spoke once they paired up to try out their new dance moves as partners.

"Have you ever done anything like this before?"

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

+ wearing

Paladin carefully avoided commenting on the idea of a barbie dream house. She'd had her phase of being girly, but had spent most of her later school life as decidedly tomboy, not to mention with her nose buried in comic books and sci-fi movies. Still, she probably had dreamed of something similar at some point, and she'd be lying if the thought of her and Nate getting married and having kids hadn't crossed her mind.

She wagged a finger at the mischievous grin, "Hey, I was reading those comics before they were cool. But yeah, pretty great movies. Never thought I'd be living them though."

Shaking her head, Paladin looked the pink clad Hero up and down, it was clear that she was slim, but she would have expected at least some degree of exercise from her, especially if she was a Hero. Still, Paladin could have probably gotten away with as much as she did, flight could take away a lot more effort than leaping around after all.

At least Gravity Girl had relaxed with the kids, clearly signing autographs and taking selfies was second nature to her. The kids clearly loved it, even if a few had looked a little red faced after inhaling a little too much of the blonde's perfume. How she could even breath in there Paladin would never know. Maybe that had helped, the kids were having fun, and even with Gravity Girl's clear hesitance, she had agreed to join in with some fun.

Paladin turned to the notice board behind her, running one gloved finger down the schedule there. "Well there's basketball in the gym, Salsa in the dance studio and arts and crafts going on in one of the classrooms. Then they have all these other classes as well."

Her finger traced down the sheet, there were classes that would work for kids of all ages, activities that might interest them, and others that were clearly aimed at the parent's. It reminded her a lot of the community centre she'd gone to when she was younger. This was much better funded, but it was the same idea. She hoped that it would continue to be this well supported, and made a mental note to visit every so often to check on it.

"Anything catch your eye?"

Paladin

Am I more than you bargained for yet?

+ Sunny Slater

+ wearing

Paladin laughed as she went out the door, ”Oh you have no idea, I have aaalll the comics. I always loved the idea of Spider Man and Wonder Woman. Having that responsibility you know? Never really got much control when I was little.”

She shut up, realising she had probably shared more than she wanted with the blonde Hero. She doubted Gravity Girl would understand. Just from the way she was behaving it was clear that she’d grown up with just about anything she’d wanted, and from the sound of it her main concern about being a Hero was the fame and the money associated. They had nothing in common.

She rolled her eyes at the Barbie comment, grateful that she wasn’t looking back at the girl as she did so. ”I guess everyone has to have a dream.”

Unfortunately it seemed that Gravity Girl had achieved her dream. With the blonde hair and bright pink costume Paladin was surprised that she wasn’t being sponsored by the famous toy line. Maybe that was already in the works.

And of course she had an autograph pen, and lipstick. Paladin could hardly believe it. Except the thought that her belt was actually full of makeup and similar supplies was all too believable. She might have been surprised if she hadn’t discovered mascara and foundation in the pouches on the other Hero’s belt.

”A pen? Uh…”

Paladin had forgotten a pen, it wasn’t exactly something she planned in to her life, usually fans showed up with one, but Gravity Girl, much to her chagrin, was right. It was unlikely there would be kids here with one.

Sunny promptly handed over a lipstick that probably cost somewhere close to a week’s rent at Paladin’s first apartment. Paladin looked at it in disbelief for a moment, it was certainly more expensive than anything that could be found in her makeup collection.

”Thanks

---

The kids were excited. Of course they were. Paladin was the biggest Hero in the country, and it wasn’t like Gravity Girl was C-List. The both of them together was probably a dream come true for some of these kids. Some of these kids had little enough to look forward to that this moment would probably be the highlight of their lives. If Paladin hadn’t developed abilities then she would likely be in the same position. Wishing desperately for something better, anything to get them out of the shit they were in.

She was grateful for the lipstick, though she ditched it at the first opportunity, being careful to stash it in her belt when she was handed an actual pen to sign autographs with. She found herself signing a lot of autographs. It was nice that it was a smaller group, she could take the time to actually talk to people instead of just signing something and moving on. Especially talking to kids like this. Kids like she had once been.

Gravity Girl was nothing like what Paladin had once been.

Eventually they reached the end of the group.

”So, did you enjoy that?”