The Protagonist System

210 Dramatic Retelling

“Th-that's not true!” Vicky said after the humiliating implication that she only slept with Atlas to get him to join New Wave. “I really love...”

“Enough!” Carol shouted and Vicky snapped her mouth shut. “Unless you are going to say you'll take one for the team and accept the full blame for this, possibly destroying your reputation and public image for stealing Atlas from Panacea, whatever you were going to say is meaningless.”

Amy's hand in Vicky's squeezed hers and she stayed silent.

“Panacea.” Sarah said and looked at Amy with a blank face. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Amy had spent a lot of time thinking about it. “I... I can't. I can't lie to him or lead him on like that.” She admitted. “He's too nice of a guy to do that to. I did have fun and I enjoyed it; but, I... I don't love him.”

Sarah's face didn't change as she looked at Vicky. “Glory Girl.” She said and Vicky almost couldn't meet her aunt's gaze because of the intensity in her eyes. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Vicky thought about what she said to Greg, what they did, how she felt, and then Amy squeezed her hand and reminded her that she had always been there for her and would never abandon her. She took a deep breath and let it out.

“Atlas is perfect and is the most compatible man I've ever been with.” Vicky said with conviction. “But, he's not family and I will always put my sister first.”

Sarah stared into her eyes and sighed, then leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “Why couldn't you lie that convincingly to Atlas?”

“What?” Vicky and Amy asked at the same time.

“Vicky has never put anyone else first in her entire life, just like my sister.” Eric said.

“Hey!” Crystal shouted and smacked him.

“You know it's true.” Eric said and shrugged. “Vicky knows Amy hates hanging around her groupies at school and she never once listened to her complaints or arguments. She always forces Amy to stay there with her and suffer through their airheadedness while Vicky basks in their attention.”

“That's not true!” Vicky exclaimed.

Eric couldn't help but smirk at the lie. “What about how many jocks you have set her up on dates with? How all of them ended in disaster and you still keep setting her up with the same type of guys you like and never once asked her who she preferred?”

Vicky looked embarrassed. “I was just... I wanted to include her! She's my sister and I thought if she just got out there and had fun, she would find someone she liked...”

“...that you completely controlled, because the only guys you picked were popular and you liked them, because they compliment you and gave you all their attention, which Amy hates because you were dating her dates.” Eric said.

“Ames?” Vicky asked with a soft voice.

“They don't even pay any attention to me, so I stopped complaining or caring who you set me up with.” Amy told her. “I only went along to keep you company anyway when you needed a break from dating them.”

Vicky looked shocked at her saying that. “But... I thought...”

“Once you date one Brad, or Biff, or Chad, they're all the same. They talk and act the same, too.” Amy said with a shrug. “What difference would it make if I said anything? You were in charge of everything and I went along with it to make you happy.”

Vicky looked really sad. “Ames, I didn't know.”

“I know.” Amy responded. “That's why I never said anything. You were happy and that was all I cared about.”

Sarah sighed. “And that's the problem.”

“What is?” Amy and Vicky asked.

“Amy is more concerned with your happiness than her own. When someone amazing comes along and genuinely tells her that he loves her, she ignores it because she's too focused on you.” Carol said and stood up. “I want to keep berating the both of you for this, only you're both so focused on Vicky that it's like talking to a brick wall.”

“That's not fair!” “That's not true!” Amy and Vicky said at almost the same time.

Carol squinted her eyes at them. “I am this close to ordering you to call him and beg him to take you back!”

“You can't do that!” Vicky said in denial.

“Don't tempt me, Victoria!” Carol almost shouted.

“I can't endorse that move, only because Atlas would never believe it.” Sarah said and their husbands nodded.

“Wh-what?” Vicky asked.

“Both you and Panacea are terrible actors and you'd never pull it off.” Manpower said. “He'd see right through the ploy and that would destroy any good will the rest of us have with him and his mother.”

“His mother!” Amy and Vicky gasped.

“Oh? Are you finally understanding how much you screwed up?” Carol asked and pointed at her cured husband. “We OWE the both of them! Especially Nostrum!” She shouted and both girls ducked their heads. “What do you think is going to happen to our family's reputation on Monday when you two idiots go to school and ignore Greg because you're embarrassed about what you did?”

“We weren't going to...” Vicky started to say.

“Don't you dare lie to me young lady!” Carol interrupted her. “We all know what you're going to do, because you always do it.” She pointed at her nephew. “Eric, tell us what she's going to do.”

“She's going to make up with Dean and start hanging out with the Wards group again, like always.” Eric said. He wasn't really happy about being the one to say that out loud, though. The glare from Vicky promised him pain later, so he needed to avoid her for a few days and she would forget about why she was angry at him, again like always.

“And he'll happily take her back, because he always does.” Carol said and sat back down and looked at Amy. “As for you, you were going to completely ignore Greg like a coward, because you don't want to face him or own up to your mistake.”

“It's not a mistake! I said I don't love him and I don't!” Amy responded, hotly.

Carol glared at her. “I already told you that it doesn't matter if you love him or not! Weren't you listening? It! Doesn't! Matter!” She stopped ranting when Sarah put her hand back on her shoulder. She lost the glare and sighed. “All that matters is how people perceive things, and right now, we can easily be declared rogues by the public, the Protectorate, and the Parahuman Response Teams.”

Amy and Vicky paled when they heard that. Their clasped hands tightened and started sweating, because being dropped in classification from an Independent Hero Team to a Rogue Hero Team, would be a huge blow to their reputations.

“What...” Vicky paused and swallowed audibly. “What do we have to do?”

“You can't be trusted to handle this.” Sarah said and Vicky wilted at the implication.

“Aunt Sarah...” Amy started to say.

“Neither are you, obviously.” Carol interrupted her. “What the responsible ones around here are going to do first, is damage control.”

Sarah nodded and gave her sister's shoulder a light squeeze. “I'll call Atlas first thing in the morning and try to get him here to sign the paperwork you have for the settlement from the PRT lawsuit.”

Carol nodded back and put a hand on hers to give it a light squeeze. “The huge amount of money he's getting from that should put him in a good enough mood to tell him we are very disappointed in how Panacea and Glory Girl have acted against a fellow team member without our knowledge or approval.”

Amy's and Vicky's eyes widened at that wording. Their mother was throwing them under the proverbial bus and looked happy to do it!

“I'll help write up a press release for either late Saturday or early Sunday, to get the word out about how Glory Girl's comments were just a joke and they aren't really dating.” Sarah said, getting into spinning the facts to suit hem.

“That's pretty good.” Carol said, easily playing off Sarah's idea. “Why don't we go one step farther and claim they've never dated? It's technically true.”

“You're right, they've never been seen out on a casual date.” Sarah agreed.

Eric slowly put his hand up and both his mother and aunt gave him a stern look. “I just wanted to say they've been seen kissing and hugging occasionally at school and that Glory Girl said they were boyfriend and girlfriend on PHO, while Vicky said the same thing at school.”

“That's even better!” Carol said with an evil glint in her eyes. “You've already told us Vicky's been forcing a bunch of guys onto Amy for dates that she hated, so we can easily add Greg into that mindset.”

“He is pretty jocky.” Eric said with a nod and recalled the stories he heard in the hallways at school. “The girls love him flexing his muscles and watching him work out in gym class.”

“That's perfect.” Sarah said with a huge smile on her face and took out a small wad of cash to hand to Amy. “Girls, why don't you go pick up some pizzas? The rest of us are going to be busy trying to fix this mess.”

“I'll drive.” Crystal said and stood. “I doubt I can contribute much to this anyway.”

Amy and Vicky stood and followed Crystal out of the house. They climbed into her car and drove to the closest pizza take-out to place the large order. They didn't talk and both Amy and Vicky silently wondered how things were going to be for them after their mother was through vilifying them.

*

I had just entered the house and said hello to my mother when my phone made the sound of an incoming text. I took it out from my inventory and chuckled.

“What is it?” My mom asked and placed a plate of food on the dining room table she had moved into the kitchen.

“It's a double heads-up from Lisa.” I said and handed her the phone before I sat down and started eating.

My mother read the text and chuckled. “When it rains, it pours.”

I laughed and almost spit out the mouthful of food I had in my mouth. That was an old saying that meant when something bad happens, other bad things happened quickly afterwards. My mom patted me on the back and handed me my phone, then she grabbed her own plate and sat down beside me to start eating, too.

After a few minutes of silently eating, I couldn't resist asking why. “Shouldn't you be grilling me about what happened during the patrol?”

My mom paused eating to give me a sad smile. “I assumed things were going to be icy between you and Vicky, I just didn't think they would be glacial.”

“How did you know that?” I asked, curious.

“Fugly Bob's.” She answered and I groaned.

“Of course someone was filming us.” I said in a defeated tone.

“It's more like everyone was. It's all over PHO.” My mom said and I barely resisted dropping my head into the remains of my food. “Did the two of you really say nothing to each other the whole time?”

I sighed and nodded. “Right up until the end when Vicky told me she was backing Amelia and always would, no matter what she felt for me.”

My mother reached up and ran her fingers through my hair and rubbed my skull for several seconds. I leaned into her hand and she made a kind of cooing sound and then she pulled me into her arms and kissed me. It wasn't passionate or anything as intense, though. She was just reassuring me.

“Are you feel better?” She asked me when she broke the kiss.

“Surprisingly, yes.” I said and she softly laughed.

“Finish your food and decide who you want to deal with first.” My mom said and we both did as she instructed. I cast cleaning spells on the dishes when we were finished, making her giggle like she got away with something. She kissed my cheek, stacked them up, and carried them back to the kitchen.

“I think Miss Militia will be the easier one to deal with.” I said and followed her into the kitchen.

“She's not going to do anything with you, not with the strict military doctrine she sticks to.” My mother said and floated up to the top cabinets to put the plates away.

“Technically.” I said and she gave me a pointed look. “The third world village she was kidnapped from as a child had marriages at 12 and kids at 14.”

“You're kidding!” My mom gasped.

“Well, I don't know for sure what Kurdish village she's from, so I could be off by a year or two.” I said with a shrug. “Then again, she loves America and accepts all its faults, so you might be right, too.”

“I'm always right.” My mom said and floated down to land on the floor. “I just don't know if you want me to be right or not.”

I laughed and hugged her. “I think my opinion is immaterial when it comes to that.”

She pretended to struggle and then sighed and hugged me. “You should text her and ask her if she's busy.”

I shook my head and let her go. “I can't be the aggressor, not with her or Paige.”

“You can't?” My mother asked, her voice full of curiosity.

“They're both coming to me after I had a bad break-up, probably to console me and share in my pain.” I said and wagged my eyebrows at her suggestively.

My mom laughed and swatted my shoulder. “That's a horrible way to get in their pants!”

“It's effective, though.” I said and kissed her cheek. “I'm going to fly around the neighbourhood for a few minutes to clear my head.”

“Uh huh.” My mother said, not believing me at all. “Can you at least try to not act eager if either of them show up?”

“No promises.” I said and walked over to the front door this time. “I might not be back until late.”

“Don't have too much fun.” She said and waved.

I stepped out and closed the door, took a deep breath, and let it out. I slowly floated up into the air and turned around to give myself an unobstructed view of the neighbourhood, then went a little higher to see out farther, then I chose the most probably route to my house from the PRT's temporary HQ and drifted mostly in that direction, taking my mother's advice about not being too eager.

*

Miss Militia had been out on patrol for only a short time before she added a few extra streets to her route. Her normal motorcycle rumbled quietly as she slowly made her way towards her actual destination without taking a direct route.

She couldn't help but feel a little excited about the potential meeting and tried to tamp it down. She had to be professional and give the brokenhearted young man as impersonal of a greeting as possible and not give away that she felt quite bad about what happened between him and Panacea, even if her own heart went out to him as she remembered her own break-up when she was around his age.

Miss Militia took the corner at the stoplight and her eyes caught movement up in the sky. She briefly looked with both eyes and saw a white costume disappear over the roof of a building halfway down the street. She gunned the engine and swerved around a slow car as she leaned to the side and kept her balance.

She reached the end of the street a moment later and tapped her rear brake, locking the tire for a second and squealing it across the smooth pavement as she took the next turn and drifted around the corner. She let her momentum carry her through the intersection and then gunned the engine again when she saw it was Atlas casually flying down the street.

Miss Militia slowed down and matched his flight speed as she held the handlebars steady and waved, then gave him the hand signs for meeting and the direction. Atlas signed back agreement and they both proceeded to a small green area with a single tree and a park bench and no one else around. She parked her motorcycle on the street and took off her helmet to hang on the handlebars.

Atlas landed beside her as she turned towards the park bench and she saw the warm smile on his face. Before Miss Militia could say anything, he pulled her scarf down and his lips were on hers. All thoughts about being professional fled her mind as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back as passionately as she could.

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