Meeting back up with the rest of your current team...

The round of questioning you have to endure after you pull the 'Stormchaser van' back into the League of Propriety's underground parking garage is a little uncomfortable. Several small-fish C-rank heroes and heroines are already waiting there asking if you've found Dr. Rainbow and if you need any assistance. You politely wave away their questions and tell them the situation is well in hand, doing your best not to outright lie when the subject of Photobomber comes up. "Now now," you say, holding up your hands in front of half a dozen costumed people whose monikers you don't even know. "You can't trust every little thing you hear. Balloons tend to have a habit of leaking," you glance back at your massively-endowed treacherous teammate. "...but what comes out is just hot air."

That gets a good laugh from the crowd, and Red Balloon looks at you with a sour face. It helps cover up the fact that you neither have Dr. Rainbow in your possession, nor any villains. You resolve that you're going to need to gather more information about the Wonderland Warriors and specifically Queen of Hearts, since she's the only one you can be reasonably sure is connected to the whole 'Full House Gang' that remains your only solid clue as to the mystery you became a heroine (in part) to solve.

"Umm, Thunderbird," Red Balloon asks in annoyance as the two of you walk towards the League's archives on the upper floors, "why do you keep talking about just a 'rescue' here? Aren't we supposed to be a great new hero team? I don't care what La Petite Mort said... those Wonderland Whackos have a bunch of stupid powers. The only reason they've been running rampant in the city for so long is because people are irrationally afraid of them! And if you were able to beat Queen of Hearts so easily, there's no reason I can't take her! Or Snowflake, for that matter! Both of us are in the veeeeeery top 5% of powers!"

You roll your eyes as you walk, not even looking back to respond to her. "Setting aside the fact that you contributed nothing to a battle against someone whose deadly superpower is ice skating of all fucking things... I didn't 'beat' Queen of Hearts. I caught her off guard because she didn't know what I was capable of and knocked her away long enough for me to put a reinforced steel door between me and her. You realize she's gone one-on-one with Maiden America before, right? If I'd stayed and tried to solo her, I'd be dead right now. And you weren't there when I encountered Hot-Cross Bunny. Mort was absolutely right to tell Snowflake not to underestimate that rabbit-conjuring thing."

You pass Mineshaft, the guy you crudely flirted with to prove a point to earlier today. He grins and starts trying to walk after you so you have to pointedly focus on Red Balloon until he gets the message and realizes that just because you may or may not go out with him at some point doesn't mean you have any interest in collaborating with him as a hero. You continue speaking. "Setting aside Bunny and Queen, there are, like, ten other high-powered threats in their gang. That invisible chick was way on the low end of their threats. You shouldn't discount the threat that all of those disposable henchmen they have pose, either."

"Uh!" Red Balloon makes a squeaky, contemptuous grunt. "There must be at least fifty heroes in this building right now, not even counting whoever's out on patrol! You're telling me that we have to let them outnumber us?"

"Hmph..." you fold your arms as you come to the 'Gallery of Rogues', the library where notorious criminals both superpowered and mundane are catalogued. The information therein is notoriously unreliable and sensationalized which is why many heroes prefer their own personal dossiers... but it's better than nothing. "You know, Red Balloon, I didn't just get made leader of this team because I've accomplished so much more than you, or Snowflake. I'm 24, and I just now put on the costume less than a year ago. You know why I did that instead of jumping right into it the day after I turn 18 like so many who realize they have a superpower?"

Red Balloon shrugs and mutters in a quiet voice (which, per your powers, you can hear easily): "Because you were busy committing step-incest and getting abortions?"

By this point, this obnoxious woman's constant hyper-hostility is starting to lose its edge... it is so predictable that it's not raising your hackles to the degree it was even yesterday. You continue without comment. "Because smart people actually study something before they do it, that's why! A third of male heroes end up dead or with career-ending injuries within 6 months of putting on the costume. And heroines... well, they're a lot less likely to end up dead, but a lot of them wind up as some rich creep's sex slave and are never heard from again. And one of the things you learn is that there's a reason why heroes and heroines operate in small teams and hardly ever gather together to take on a big threat at once. They... we... are bad at following orders. If we were good at following procedure and routine we'd probably be NCPs, non-costumed-powers, instead."

You lead Red Balloon into the 'Gallery', an enormous library-like chamber where mugshots and sketches of various villains and bad guys hang on the walls, a cabinet underneath each one containing whatever information is known about them. "Whether it's the urge to be heroic or just being glory hungry, too big a group and heroes start going off on their own. Like, if somebody sees some henchmen roughing up some bystanders, nobody in the League is gonna just sit there and wait until they've been ordered to make a move unless whoever is in charge of planning can keep a close eye on them. It's much easier for villains."

At the back of the place is a section dedicated to the many malefactors of the 'Wonderland Warriors'. You continue expositing to Balloon. "With them, there's a clear hierarchy, so they can make big groups like the WWs work. If you and I were villains, then the first time you started undermining my authority, you would've had my entire boot literally up your ass within seconds. And the next time I told you to do something, it would've been 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am'. So, to put it simply, I don't plan on bringing in anyone else. That goes double because of what Goldie Glider and Raven Woman said about more people trying to join the Weather Watch. How're we going to convince them we don't need any more rookies in the mix if we don't show them we can handle things ourselves? That being said, we are going to need at least three..."

You tap your communicator again. It seems that after you had abused the integrated cameras and haptic feedback in these high-tech costumes Petite Mort made for the Weather Watch to spy on Snowflake seducing that Griffinwhatever guy during Hot-Cross Bunny's assault on the headquarters, Snowflake decided to turn her costume to offline mode and leave it there. You keep sending her messages every few hours but she doesn't respond.

"Damn it..." you mutter. "I told her to rest up and catch up on her homework if she needed to, not to take a fucking sabbatical. I guess she went home with that weird guy with the metal mask and the trenchcoat. I guess I can't blame her for knowing what she wants and going for it, but..." you pause and cock your head. "Oh, I just realized." you say in a flat, deadpan voice. "I just committed a microaggression by referring to our teammate Snowflake by the female pronoun even though THEY have made themselves clear that they are to be referred to as 'they/them'. You were grossly negligent in not correcting me about such prejudice, Red Balloon. Clearly both you and I need to do more work educating ourselves on our cisgender privilege." you say in an exasperated, somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Hmph." a raspy feminine voice comes from behind you. "That sounded very insincere, Thunderbird."

"Oh," you turn and see Snowflake walking towards you, trenchcoat discarded and wearing her sexy cleavage-baring white bodysuit once again. "I had no idea you were there, Snowflake. I just took the initiative to correct myself out of sheer respect for your identity. Certainly not because I heard you sneaking up on me to ambush me with another lecture." you sniff. "Also, WHERE THE EVER-LIVING FUCK WHERE YOU? Red Balloon and I just had to face down Green Streak's arch-nemesis and her gang, and nearly got killed."

"I was-" Snowflake starts to speak but then gulps and looks down. "Nevermind that, I'm not some kind of SERVANT for you to boss around, Thunderbird! If you couldn't handle it yourself, it's your own fault for not planning for whether or not you needed me ahead of time, you're the one who told me to take a rest!"

You sigh and put your hands on your hips. "Well, whatever. It's your loss, anyway. One of the villains in that gang was the kind of repulsive sexist scumbag who I'm sure you would've liked to fuck."

That retort hits home and the tall, tan-skinned 'non-binary' hero behind you frowns and looks down at her feet. "Shut up..." is all she can manage. Red Balloon giggles and makes a kissy face at you. "Now who's slut-shaming people, Thunderbird?"

...

You spend the next few minutes getting Snowflake caught up on the situation. Your number one priority right now is getting ready to rescue Dr. Rainbow before Green Streak changes his mind about helping you. Number two priority is hopefully capturing Queen of Hearts or, failing that, tricking some information out of her using your voice-mimicking or the like. Then, and only then, will you worry about the deal you made with Goldie Glider... or what Raven Woman expects out of this convoluted chain of deals in return for quashing the efforts of 'Mr. Magopolis' (and Red Balloon) to air the dirty secrets of your involvement in the wave of incest to strike the city a couple months ago. You don't trust Raven Woman, but you absolutely cannot afford to let your bastard of a brother-in-law, Elliot (now calling himself 'Shush') get hold of that information, as he will absolutely ruin you with it.