Mirror’s Drone
A young woman wearing a domino mask with a red and white jump suit fidgeted. A well dressed man next to the woman gave his rotund cameraman a silent countdown. ‘3,2...’
The woman was small, only 5’1”, but behind her stood the rubble of a titanic battle. She was Miracle. She’d just started her agency two months ago and she’d just managed to stop… Conquest? Was that really his name? Wasn’t he like the third Conquest this month?! No… fifth. She forgot about the twins, Conquistador and Conqueror, and those names were just Conquest written pretentiously.
‘1.’
“We’re live.” The camera man whispered.
“Thank you Brett!” The well dressed man exclaimed into the camera. “We’re here with the hero of the hour a Miss--”
‘DontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirkDontuseyourquirk’ Miracle silently chanted to herself. This was her first interview without Boss looming behind her taking most of the interviewer’s attention.
“Miracle.” Miracle finished for him. She was so out of her depth she didn’t manage to correct the Ms. to a Mrs.. Her heart pounded. She needed to correct him for Jame’s sake. She needed to make a good impression with the public. She HAD to remember to keep her powers off. This was her first real interview! This was her shot!
“Right! Ms. Miracle--”
‘Here’s you chance correct him, tell him it’s Mrs—’ She started to open her mouth. The reporter didn’t give her a chance.
“Can you tell the world what happened here?”
Miracle’s mouth stayed open for a second. She closed her mouth. She tilted her head. ‘What was the question?’ She’d be so focused on correcting the reporter that she hadn’t really listened to the actual question. She stared at the camera’s red light. That unforgiving, unblinking, unyielding red light. She trembled.
‘Remember what Boss said,’ Miracle reminded herself, desperate to shake the cobwebs loose. ‘When in doubt, be corny.’
“Ms.?” The reporter inquired.
“Well-- I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.” Miracle took a shot in the dark hoping the mildly corny answer fit the question.
“And we’re lucky you were!” The reporter crooned. ‘Oh thank God.’
“But I was hoping you could be more specific…” The reporter continued.
‘What about?’ Miracle paused.
“Specific?” Miracle asked. Maybe if she pretended she didn’t know what he meant by the word she could pretend she didn’t mentally leave the interview in some foolish quest to tell the tristate area she was married instead of focusing on the interview. James would be pissed.
“Yes,” the reporter was confused now. ‘Good, now we’re even.’ “How exactly did you defeat the villain Conquest? Especially after he’d torn through the 3 heroes sent before you.” The reporter shuddered. “Oh even his name gives me chills!”
‘You haven’t been covering the hero business very long if a name like Conquest gives you chills.’ Miracle thought wryly. ‘The fucks you have to watch out for just tell you what their quirks do with their names. Like Jabberwocky on the Five or Midas in Japan. THOSE are the real bastards.’
“—Ms.?” Miracle had been staring at the dot like an idiot.
“Oh! Uh-- Well he was still trying to break open the jewelry store’s safe when I got here, so I reached out with my quirk and grabbed him.”
“You… grabbed him?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all?”
“I… slammed him to the ground a couple times?”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“…”
‘OH GOD I’M BORING!’
“Well-- that’s all the time we have.” The reporter continued. His tone confirmed Miracle’s worst fears, this interview was a disaster. She really REALLY shouldn’t have slept through PR training at UA. That bitch from Shiketsu would laugh her ass off if she ever saw this-- wait.
“Is this live?”
“Uh, yes.”
Miracle suddenly smiled. It was a broad genuine smile. A smile that would catapult her to the modest, local, fame she’d shortly enjoy. She stepped in front of the reporter and waved at the camera excitedly. “Hi Honey~! I’ll be home soon!”
In the end, she managed to correct the reporter.
Faith rubbed her eyes. She copied the video’s hyperlink and pasted it onto her notepad. Her phone mercilessly displayed the results of her hours of labor, dozens of hyperlinks, all interviews, not a single battle. The notepad had been born from morbid curiosity. Faith had wanted to see if there were any videos on Miracle’s, her boyfriend’s mom, last stand against the Five.
The more Faith had learned about the aftermath of the battle, both from Max and her own research, the bigger of a deal it had seemed. The battle had taken place over the course of half an hour, encompassed a city block in the middle of St. Louis annnnnnnnd nothing. Not a single video record of the fight. Not a single person had their phone on them that day? Unbelievable. That had led Faith to… branch out her search, to see if this was an isolated issue.
It wasn’t.
Faith sighed. There were no videos of Miracle actually fighting. Nowhere. There were plenty of interviews, after action reports, game show appearances, commercials, but no fights. The closest she’d gotten was when a villain named Conquest (the 500th villain to bear that name) broke onto the set of a talk show Miracle was a guest on. The big red hulking brute of a villain stared down Miracle, started to monologue, then the cameras went static.
Faith punched the button on her phone twice. She scrolled through her programs and found her browser still open to the American board /vv/ ‘Villain Victims.’ Which was unfortunately NOT a victim support group. It was a fan board dedicated to all the world’s villains, sitting opposite of /hf/ ‘heroes forever.’ She’d come here after she’d struck out finding a recording of Miracle’s fight against the Five anywhere else, including /hf/. She had made a thread asking about the Miracle fight and wanted to see if she’d gotten any replies yet.
OP: Does anyone have a record of the Five’s fight with Miracle? I looked literally everywhere.
Literally
Miracle? No tits. No ass. No care.
That’s Desolator Victim #384 to you anon
I’ll 38 your 4
Anon please we’re in public
Fucking newfaggots don’t even know about Jabberwocky
I don’t care if they watch
Shut the fuck up you Gen Delta bastard
kys I’m flirting with anon!mfw she’s actually #390
Faith scrolled until she came across a longer post that looked like it had some actual information.
Saw you on /hf/ OP, tried to reply there, but mods are homosexual. Miracle’s quirk interfered with electronics. It’s one of those things that isn’t ‘officially’ known, thus my /hf/ ban, but it’s obvious to anyone with half a fucking brain. See, her fight with Conquest #4000 or whatever the fuck his name was.
https://youtu.be/TipU3C9JGbk
See how it goes to static? Happened whenever she activated her quirk. Hell the only reason we know she had a form of psychokinesis is testimony. Unfortunately, no-one’s going to be able to help you. Even if someone witnessed the fight they wouldn’t have any evidence to back it up.
Faith frowned as she absent-mindedly scrolled through the rest of the thread. No-one seemed to have anything important to say. Unless fat middle age perverts fantasizing about Desolator giving them a spanking was important. Desolator fans were weird.
Faith sighed as she closed her phone plunging her room into darkness. She’d been at this research all night. Would’ve been nice to know she was just wasting her time when she started at a reasonable hour. The hour was surely not reasonable now, not if the Americans were active. She didn’t check her phone for the time, she didn’t dare. She put her phone on her nightstand, where it couldn’t hurt her.
Faith stared blindly at the ceiling. Why was she doing this? Why had she started looking into Miracle’s fight with the Five? She wasn’t a part of Christopher’s feud with Desolator. Christopher seemed intent on keeping it that way. Did she want in? Did she want to end up laying in a Hospital bed down the hall from her boyfriend? That wasn’t sane. She should be trying to drive him away from this stupid feud--
‘Stupid.’ Yeah. Right. How dare Chris try to get revenge for his mom? How dare he care about the fate of a woman who seemed every bit the sort that deserved to be cared about? Faith closed her eyes. Chris caring was human. It wasn’t stupid. She just… she wished it wasn’t so dangerous.
When Faith had fantasized about this relationship, back when Christopher was in the hospital. She dreamed of taking care of him when he was injured. There was something appealing about caring for him in her fantasies. There had been something romantic about it. Maybe it was the danger? The sort of danger that had already past and the two of them could bask in the glow of survival. Now? Now that she actually knew him. Now that she l-- cared? Whenever she remembered the hospital, she just saw him hurt. There was nothing appealing about that.
None of that explained why Faith had spent the last God knows how long looking for a recording of Miracle fighting. Maybe nothing could. Faith certainly didn’t know why. Did she want to help him? No, couldn’t be, she wasn’t that brave. Did she want to talk him out of it? No. She didn’t feel like she had that right. Maybe… maybe she just wanted to get to know who Chris was getting hurt for? Maybe she wanted to have someone besides her boyfriend to blame? Maybe, stupid as it sounded, she was just jealous that he’d go that far for another woman?
Faith turned on her back. She could tell sleep wasn’t coming. Her mind was racing. Her stomach was growling and she was too tired to get out of bed. She sighed.
Faith reached for her phone just as it buzzed.
“Oh shit.” Faith whispered. If that was Minnie then she had to be up in an hour!
She picked up her phone. It wasn’t Minnie.
LookingGlass: Morning.
It was Chris. Faith glanced at the clock in her phone’s toolbar. It was 0702. Fuck.
Faith yawned as she exited Hailey’s pink convertible.
“Late night?” Hailey teased, walking next to Faith.
Faith blinked. She hadn’t heard the question over her yawn. “Huh?”
“She was up in her room all night fucking around on her phone.” Edith reported mercilessly.
“Language.” Minnie hissed.
“I’m too tired to fight Edie.” Faith whined.
“Fine, I’ll just point out that Max was incommunicado last night from 1700 to 0200.” Edith smiled.
“Oooooh,” Minnie sidled next to Maxine. “Do tell.”
Maxine looked at Edith flabbergasted. “What the f-- why do you know that?!”
“We had that report for Rosethorn due today.”
“Oh no.”
“Don’t worry, I did it.”
“Minnie and I knocked that out in an afternoon.” Hailey bragged.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a big dea-- Faith?” Edith raised an eyebrow at her roommate. Faith had stopped in her tracks at the mention of the report.
Faith’s stomach fell. She hadn’t done shit last night.
“I’m so sorry Nyoro!” Faith stood in the classroom, her face suitably mortified as the class president, her project partner, glared daggers at her.
The class president was fuming mad, at least to Faith’s eyes. It was really hard for Faith to get a read on Hoge. “I won’t say anything to Rosethorn-sensei THIS time, but please remember your part of the assignment in the future.”
Faith nodded gloomily. Her eyelids were heavy. It was a struggle not to nod off.
“I texted you last night, didn’t you get it?” Hoge asked, voice dripping with venom.
Faith nodded. She’d had to check her messages just to remember who her partner was supposed to have been. “Yeah, but… I guess the notification didn’t go off?”
Hoge clicked her tongue in annoyance. Faith sulked. She really couldn’t explain outright FORGETTING an assignment. The rabbithole she’d gone down last night couldn’t justify this.
“Well fortunately for you I did your part when you didn’t respond last night. Please read my work so that you’ll be able to help with the presentation at least.”
“Alright.” She could do that.
“I fucked up.” Faith grossed.
“I thought your presentation was good.” Christopher consoled her.
They were sitting alone on the roof together, eating lunch. Christopher was halfway through his second bento. Faith was picking at her food. She didn’t have an appetite. She considered tossing her lunch to her ever hungry boyfriend, though he’d likely refuse.
“Thank Hoge for that. I did NOTHING last night.”
“Ohhhh, she didn’t take that well did she?”
“No. At least she didn’t tell Rosethorn.”
“That… surprises me.”
“Really? You think she’d rat me out?”
“Oh in a fucking heartbea-- sorry, I shouldn’t talk about her like that. Why’d you forget anyway?”
“I went down a wiki hole last night.”
“I know how that goes.” Christopher sympathized. “What were you researching?”
“… boybands.” Faith lied.
“Ah.” Christopher knew she was lying. Faith knew he knew. He didn’t say anything. He rarely pried. She hadn’t decided if that was a virtue in a boyfriend or a flaw.
Faith yawned.
“You okay?”
Faith shook her head. Her eyes were heavy. “I just need some rest.” She looked at Christopher’s lap. It was the closest thing to a pillow here and she was so tired. Maybe it was soft?
“We’ve still got half an hour before class. Go for it.”
Faith nodded while she stifled another yawn. That was as good as permission in her sleep deprived mind. She closed her lunchbox and lay on Christopher’s lap without another word. She ignored his surprised cough and closed her eyes. His lap was a little firm, but it was warm.
Christopher coughed as Faith suddenly confiscated his lap for her pillow. He barely pulled his bento away before she plunged headfirst into a pile of rice.
“I meant the nurse’s office!” Christopher laughed. Faith didn’t respond. She began to breath deeply. She was already asleep.
Christopher frowned. He stroked her hair gently.
“What the Hell were you doing last night dumbass?” Christopher teased softly. Faith slept through the mild insult. She was lost to her dreams.
Christopher worried about Faith’s earlier lie, but he didn’t have the right to pry. He’d lied to her before. He’d been lying to Faith since they started dating. Every time he was out with Sally, investigating Desolator, he told Faith that he was helping her study. It was a good lie. It was a believable lie. It was still a lie. If he could lie to her, she could lie to him, just so long as it wasn’t anything too major.
Christopher sighed as he watched Faith sleep. He felt happy. Light. Thankful. Relaxed. For so long, ever since that fucking WcDonald’s, he’d felt like catching Desolator was all he’d lived for. Now?
Christopher smiled. He was thankful that he couldn’t get at Desolator right now. Desolator being in another city, completely out of reach, meant that he didn’t itch every second of every day to find the son of a bitch. Even if he killed again, it wasn’t Chris’s fault. There was a road block, something in the way, something he had to clear before he could get started again. He could breath, even if it was for only a moment. He could live.
Christopher could just focus on the people he--
Christopher found his mind drifting for a moment as he watched Faith sleep. She really was be-- He felt his head swim. His blood rushed. His breath caught. He took off his jacket. He folded his jacket. He gently, as gently as he could, lifted Faith’s head so he could slide his jacket beneath her head like a proper pillow, before replacing her head on his thigh, away from danger. Satisfied she was adequately protected, he leaned back with a sigh. He hated his body sometimes.
Christopher watched the clouds drift above. 30 minutes from now math class would start. He’d already memorized the formulas and Faith never seemed to have an issue with STEM. Maybe he’d let her sleep through that. He could always con Hoge into giving him her notes later.