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Hero Three
After the psychologist returned to her commandeered office space, the ICOSA agent guided TJ to his, which was not unlike the other little office area in HERO Three: blank, dull, and mostly to be used for non-superhero HERO employees that didn’t want to make the trip out to HERO One but still needed to finish filing some arbitrary paperwork before the deadline. Randolph took a seat at the desk, leaning back in the cheap office chair and placing both of his feet (he was wearing expensive-looking loafers, of course) on the table. From there, he twiddled his fingers in the air above what appeared to be a small stack of a few manila folders, swiftly sliding one out from the pile and opening it. He looked to all the world like some type of business exec reviewing last quarter’s reports.
“Ms. Jennings,” he said with a coy grin as he appeared to flip through a few pages inside his little folder. ”A good few years of service, some interesting assignments, and of course, a very unique powerset. I’ve done a lot of reviews over the years and I haven’t seen anybody quite like you,” he said with an unbearably smarmy tone in his voice. Maybe it was just the British in him. ”Of course, as I’m sure you’re aware, I’m afraid I haven’t called you in just to compliment you.”
”Aw, you sure?” She asked.
”Quite, in fact,” Randolph said as he reached within his folder, he pulled out a few Polaroid-style pictures. Pictures of a woman that bore a striking resemblance to TJ (because they were, of course, of her) participating in a variety of prize fights and the like. After he laid his metaphorical cards on the table, Q. Spencer Randolph reclined back even more in the chair, pushing the office seat to its breaking point. ”I’ll give you a chance to look at these, and then describe what you think those are. Oh, and answer carefully.”
"...They appear to be images of an extremely bad bitch." She mused thoughtfully, scratching her chin. She leaned forward and set her arms on the table, looking the photos over. TJ didn’t sleep much, and there wasn’t as much crime to fight when the fighting rings were putting on shows. The people liked seeing what a powerless person could do against superpowered fighters. The way TJ saw it, it might as well be her, who will have a blast, and not someone who won’t bounce back.
”Amusing,” he responded, though his face didn’t shift from its cocky grin in the slightest, like it was frozen onto his face. ”I’ll go next and tell you what I see. I see somebody who is being paid to fight crime, in fact participating in criminal enterprise.” Randolph picked up one of the photographs, examining it closely (or at least, pretending to for dramatic effect). ”In fact, ICOSA’s code governing hero conduct prohibits any employed hero specifically from participating in unsanctioned activities that involve the use of physical force, including but not limited to street fighting, prize fighting, unofficial martial arts tournaments, duels, and jousting, ” Randolph recited. ”...the rules were written a while ago; they’re meant to encompass a lot of different possibilities. The point is, all this-” He gestured at the table covered in pictures, ”...all this is very much against code. I could easily order you to pack your things-” He snapped- impressive, given that he was wearing gloves. ”-like that.”
”In the interest of fairness, I’ll give you a chance to offer some reason why
shouldn’t have you laid off now.”
TJ rolled her shoulders, cleared her throat, and then suddenly flung herself onto the desk between them. "Oh no, please!"
"Please don't fire me, all-powerful bureaucrat! You've really got me figured out! It'll never happen again!" TJ rolled onto her back, the back of her hand pressed against her forehead.
"Just give me another chance!" She begged, reaching out to grab pathetically at his sleeves.
Randolph casually pulled his feet off the desk and pulled his sleeves comfortably out of grabbing
distance. ”Frankly, I don’t know why I would ask that question. It was pointless,” he muttered, mostly to himself. ”This is the situation for you. I’m well-within my bounds to effectively banish you from this city and make sure the best-paying job you ever get again is ‘backing up’ peoples’ cars as a valet.” He sniggered at his own pun. ”Oh, but of course, you are only a pawn in this game. Frankly, you barely qualify as a pawn. You’re more like a speck of dust on the chessboard, technically speaking. I have no interest in you. What I do have interest in…” The ICOSA operative leaned in, ”...is the fact that this whole ‘fighting and racing’ charade has been allowed to proceed unimpeded by the administration. I’m fishing for the biggest fish, Ms. Jennings. ” He reached into his coat pocket, procuring a pen and a small notepad. ”All I’m asking for is a written statement that Director Powers and the HERO bureaucracy knowingly allowed you to participate in your little hobbies. Or, even better, that they told you it was alright.”
He now stood, pacing back and forth on his little half of the mini-office. ”Sure, I suppose it’s stretching the truth, but it’s mostly accurate! And, more importantly, it’d be just the thing I need to build a case against this foolhardy organization. Just that statement and maybe a couple hearings back in Switzerland. And as for you…” Randolph shrugged. ”HERO, or whatever we rebuild it as if we change the name, would be under strict eyes for a while, but I could transfer you to the South in the meanwhile. Or Europe. And you could engage in all your little antics to your heart’s content. A bit over the line, sure, but I could stomach it.”
Randolph pushed the pen and notepad across the table. ”Just give me a little story, and you can walk out of here without anything really changing. Perhaps you might even get a promotion out of it, somewhere down the line!”
TJ deflated, laying on the table, still. No fun. She raised an eyebrow at him. She seemed oddly unbothered by all of this. "What are you, nuts? Nobody cares, dude."
"Maybe in la la land or wherever you come from ‘fighting and racing’ is a big deal. But in Castleburg, this is ‘administrative leave’ at worst. If you think this is enough to bring HERO down, this city will eat you alive." She said.
"Just fuckin’ relax. You’re goin’ full psycho over nothin’." She was talking like she was trying to explain something to a naive, overly-optimistic person. Which despite all this guys smugness, TJ thought he was. An excitable pencil pusher trying to make some dream come true. "Like. Banish? What year is it, 1350?"
”Oh, Ms. Jennings, I’m afraid you’re the one in la-la-land. I anticipate that big changes are going to be made around here soon; big changes that are the result of collections of details..” The man sat back down in his seat. ”Well, I’ve given you the chance to be on the right side of history in this case. I’ll even give you some time to come to your senses and make the most rational choice.” From his pocket, Randolph flipped out what appeared to be a playing card (it was, in fact, a four of spades), with some type of faint red etching onto the back. ”You’re free to use that to reach out to me. It’s what I call a conveyance rune. I have the receiving end. Once you realize that you want to be on the winning side, let me know.”
”Until then, though, I think it’s about time you got your arse out of this office,” he said with a cheery tone that betrayed the acerbic nature of his comments. ”Would you agree?”
TJ was looking down at her playing card and the rune on the back. "Testing, testing." She said, speaking into it. "Testing testing one two three. Like that?"
"Alright, well, see ya around…" She pointed in his direction, trying, genuinely, to recall his name. Had she ever gotten it? She couldn’t remember. "...you. " She nodded sagely, opened the door, and shut it behind her.
Looking to the other people in the room, she stretched. "Alriiight. That was more fun than I thought it’d be. What a fuckin’ prick." She said, definitely loud enough to be heard through the door. Getting out her mask, she put it back on, and headed out of Hero Three to get back onto the streets. She was pretty confident she’d be doing this no matter what.