Chapter Text
How could she have forgotten? Sure, that whole business with Lung had set half the docks ablaze but normally she didn’t allow her cape life to intrude upon her studies. Yet, they had! She completely forgot about the report that was due in less than two days. It was only a single page report on Fellowship of the Ring, but it was the principle of things!
That was how Victoria found herself in the library at Brockton University, working hard to avoid disappointing her favorite professor. Mrs. Hebert was generally understanding what with her cape life and the fact that she was still in high school. But there were limits and Victoria tended to skirt them far more often than she would have liked.
She was half a page deep when she vaguely noticed someone sitting across from her, setting their own books out. She paid the newcomer little mind, determined to get the first draft completed so she could start on revisions.
“Excuse me,” the girl across from her said softly.
Victoria looked up from her paper and nearly had to do a double take. She almost thought it was Professor Hebert for a moment before it clicked that she had green eyes rather than brown. Once that registered she saw that the girl was a fair bit taller, with a wider mouth though they had almost identical hair and both dressed in a dark academia style that made her jealous that they could pull it off. It was the glasses, she was sure of it.
“Yes?” Victoria asked, trying to mask her earlier confusion.
The girl smiled gently. “You’re in Mom’s English Lit class, aren’t you?”
Mom? Was this Professor Hebert’s kid? From what Victoria had heard, the girl was only fifteen, what was she doing in the university library with… Was that a textbook on advanced particle physics!? That was Doctorate level stuff. Annette sometimes threatened she would have her daughter come in to show us up when we slacked off, that apparently wasn’t a bluff.
“I am,” Victoria said. “Sorry if this is presumptuous, but you’re Taylor?”
“Mom still talks about me in class I see,” she said fondly. “Anyway, she likes to toss out that essay when it’s clear her class isn’t reading the assigned literature. Did you actually read the books, or just watch the Aleph import?”
“Read them when I was little,” Victoria said. “Only skimmed the book for reference before I started writing.”
“Just be careful you stick to the book, Mom likes to expose those who only watched the movies,” Taylor said with a smirk.
“Professor Hebert dragged a guy in front of the whole class last month over just that,” she said with a grin.
Taylor chuckled, knowing Professor Hebert she had probably told the story over dinner or something. “Mention Tom Bombadil in the proper context and you should be good with your report.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Victoria said, adding the notes to her paper. “Normally I wouldn’t be rushing like this, but Lung’s little rampage on the docks put a damper on my plans and I’m struggling to catch up.”
“Oh,” Taylor said, blinking owlishly. “I didn’t realize. Mom mentioned that she’s had some of New Wave in her class this year. I should have figured that out.”
“Victoria Dallon, at your service,” she said, offering her hand which Taylor happily shook. “Also known as Glory Girl.”
Taylor drummed her fingers along the wooden table. “I heard about that mess on the news, Lung nearly killed some group of teen villains before he drug half the city’s heroes into a running fight. They were a bit vague on the details however.”
“Yeah, some mystery cape brought him down,” Victoria said. “Nobody got a good look at them, but it’s speculated they might be an Alexandria package or someone with a Breaker state similar to Legend’s.”
“Sounds potent,” Taylor said as she wrote out an equation that made Victoria’s brain hurt. “At least Lung was stopped. The fight was getting a bit close to home by the end there.”
“You live in the docks?” she asked.
“Dad was head of hiring at the Dockworker’s Union before the PRT poached him for their own hiring department. Mom doesn’t mind the commute, though she did have a scare two years ago when she got into a car accident. We almost moved after that, but there’s too many memories at home to just leave.”
“I can understand that, the day I move out from home is going to be rough,” Victoria admitted. “I think it will be even harder on my sister, she doesn’t have many friends of her own.”
As if summoned by that comment, her phone dinged with a familiar chime. Victoria retrieved it and checked the message from her sister and nearly flipped the table when she stood. Taylor had slid back, her hands gripped tight on the heavy wood as she looked up with wide eyes.
“Sorry, but the Undersiders are robbing Brockton Central and my sister was taken hostage.”
With that hasty explanation, Victoria took to the air and shot off towards an open window, she couldn’t waste time, her sister needed her. She could fly faster than a car, and she would need every bit of that speed to get there before the villains figured out who they had as a hostage and made everything worse.
When she arrived, the Wards were already on site and Aegis was coming up to meet her. She scowled, wanting nothing more than to burst into the bank and put the villains in their place for daring to put her family in danger.
“Vicky?” he asked. “You aren’t in uniform.”
“My sister texted me, she’s in there,” she said tersely while pointing at the bank below. “I’m not wasting time changing when she’s in danger.”
“We weren’t aware Amy was one of the hostages,” Aegis said. “This is a Wards operational area, would you be willing to fold in with us for the duration? We’ll get her out safe, I promise you.”
“Got a spare headset?” she asked. Aegis pointed down at a van below and she wasted little time dropping down where a PRT tech offered her the device. “Radio check.”
“Console to Glory Girl, you are ten two.”
She nodded and took back to the air. “Ten four console, Glory Girl on standby.”
“Take an overwatch position on the roof,” Aegis said. “The Undersiders may retreat out the back and you’re our best bet at preventing that.”
“Understood.”
She floated up to the roof of the bank where Aegis had indicated, gritting her teeth that she wasn’t being allowed to just rush in there, but there were other hostages to consider. That they hadn’t tried to use Amy against them yet was a minor miracle, but it was hardly Amy’s first hostage situation either.
All she could do was wait for further instructions now, hoping that Amy kept her head down until they were ready to move in.
“Console to all responding personnel,” the operator said. “The Protectorate are en route, but they’re almost an hour out,” Console said. “Armsmaster managed to bypass whatever locks were placed on the camera feeds. We have eyes on the situation confirming it is the Undersiders. Regent along with one of Hellhound’s dogs are watching the hostages. Tattletale is in the manager’s office while Grue and Hellhound are in the vault.”
“Orders?” Aegis asked.
“The hostages are your priority,” Director Piggot cut in. “If the Undersiders leave peacefully without the hostages, let them get at least a block away before pursuing. The money they might get from a bank robbery is nothing compared to their previous job. There is another purpose to this robbery, expect this to be a trap.”
“Or a distraction,” Victoria said.
“That is a distinct possibility,” Director Piggot said. “For now, remain on standby and attempt to open negotiations with the Undersiders. Stall for time until the Protectorate arrives.”
“Ten four,” Aegis said and once more the tense waiting game resumed.
Victoria continued to send texts to Amy but none were being received let alone responded to. The Undersiders must have some sort of electronic jammer in play, perhaps some unknown aspect of Grue’s darkness. The lobby was covered in it after all, it would make sense.
“We have movement,” Kid Win said.
Victoria hopped back to her feet, hovering just over the edge of the wall she had been sitting on. Sure enough, hostages were calmly filing out of the front door, hands held to the back of their heads.
“Get ready, Grue may cover everything in darkness to cover their escape,” Aegis said.
She watched for her sister, but didn’t see her anywhere, even as the last person made it down the steps.
“They still have Amy,” she said. “Permission to engage?”
“Negative,” Director Piggot said. “We have eyes on your sister, she is currently speaking with Tattletale and Grue near the exit. She is not restrained nor under duress. Stand by.”
The minutes ticked by excruciatingly slowly, it lasted long enough that the rest of New Wave had time to arrive in full costume. Crystal spoke with the others then darted up to her.
“Hey,” she said. “Got word that Ames is discussing terms of surrender with the Undersiders.”
“Seriously?” Victoria blurted. “What the hell happened in there?”
Laserdream shrugged. “No idea, all we know is that Tattletale called it in a minute ago. She asked it to be kept off official servers until she can confirm something. They’re playing ball for now.”
Sure enough, Hellhound exited, her monstrous creatures now back to normal-sized dogs. Grue and Regent followed behind them, then came Amy and Tattletale. Victoria hopped over the edge of the roof and flew down and pulled her sister into a hug.
“Crushing. Me,” Amy squeaked out.
Victoria pulled away, a sheepish grin on her face as Tattletale coughed out something about crushing. She didn’t care, her sister was safe and had somehow managed to bring in the illusive Undersiders. She was so proud of her and couldn’t wait to get the full story from her later. Maybe she could even talk Aunt Sarah into taking everyone out to dinner to celebrate.
“Why surrender?” Aegis asked. “You were vague over the phone.”
Tattletale smiled, though it seemed forced. “Because our boss is a child kidnapping prick who was using us as cover to try and nab the Mayor’s niece. I needed to know he was actually dealt with before I could safely turn myself in.”
“You planned to surrender?” Victoria asked.
“Remember the mystery cape that took down Lung?” Tattletale asked. A round of affirmative nods or statements followed including her own. “They stopped us after that, pulled me aside and we got to talking. Needless to say, I saw an opportunity to get away from the bastard that had a gun to my head and took it.”
“They had you go ahead with the robbery while they did what?” Clockblocker asked.
“Rescue me, then kick the snake in his smug face.”
Everyone turned to the new voice, coming from a short brunette that looked far too pale, with sweat running down her face. Victoria recognized her from some of the functions Dean had dragged her to over the years. Was everything some elaborate Thinker trap set up by Tattletale or was she telling the truth?
“Funny how I tend to do that but nobody believes me,” Tattletale said. Victoria turned a scowl upon the villain but she just tapped the side of her head with a grin. “Trust me, I would not want to piss off the person that flattened Lung with one punch.”
The silence that followed her declaration was almost a physical thing. One punch. Not even Alexandria had managed that against the Dragon of Kyushu. Fucking Leviathan hadn’t been able to stop Lung, yet this unknown cape had done just that. She wanted to accuse Tattletale of lying, but something in those bottle green eyes spoke of actual fear.
“Before any of you get the bright idea to try and recruit them,” Tattletale continued, “consider that this person has gone out of their way to go unnoticed. They like their anonymity, let them keep it.”
“As interesting as all this is,” Director Piggot interjected over their coms. “Apparently the villain known as Coil was just delivered to my front door literally gift wrapped. If everyone could wrap things up, I would appreciate it as I have a mountain of paperwork to finish and not enough people to delegate it to. Double time people.”
With that Aegis snapped into motion, shouting orders to the Wards and placed the Undersiders in one of the transports. They were zip cuffed but it seemed to be largely a formality at that point. The city would likely get a new Ward or two out of it at a minimum. Thankfully she wasn’t with the Wards so that wouldn’t be her mess to deal with.
Amy had rejoined her family and she was about to see if Gallant had a moment when she remembered.
“Fuck, I left my essay in the library!”
She pulled out her phone and got to her email, quickly finding Professor Hebert among her contact list and sent a message asking if Taylor had collected her homework for her. It was a slim hope, but it was all she had.
Victoria was surprised when a message came through less than a minute later. All it said was see attached. Opening the picture, she saw all her books as well as her essay sitting in a neat pile on Professor Hebert’s desk along with a hand written note.
‘Be sure to thank Taylor next time you see her, she saved your grade twice over if the notes in your margins are any indication.’
Victoria groaned, but at least that was one disaster averted. Now, she just had to track down Taylor and thank her properly. Maybe ice cream on the boardwalk or something, that girl deserved it. Maybe she could even drag Ames along, she needed more friends.
“Vicky, they want us to attend the debriefing,” Amy yelled, snapping her from those thoughts.
“Coming!” she called back, taking flight.
She could worry about that another day, at least her family was safe.