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Chapter 32 by fyreant fyreant

What's next?

You have to deal with legal crises for your team almost immediately, while still burdened with the villain

"You're fucking kidding me." you say to Boy Blue, the handsome, clean-cut blonde hero currently in charge of security for the League HQ's entryway. Dozens of construction workers and NCPs are milling around, conducting hasty repairs to cracked walls and floors while low-ranked heroes in their twos and threes stay alert for "trouble" (or any more reporters to give interviews to). Boy Blue grins and speaks with a hint of strain in his voice. "So, you know, I'd be negligent if I didn't bring up areas that need improvement. And, um, Thunder...ahem," he mumbles the last part of your hero name, perhaps not remembering it, "now that you are a B-rank heroine, you really need to set a better example with your choice of language. Don't you think that Nightingale had a much less coarse way of speaking?"

You brush your formerly red, now bright yellow, bangs aside and make a show of cleaning your ear, then cupping it. "I'm sorry, I think my powers are malfunctioning. You must have misheard, I didn't use any four-letter words. And I think I, too, may have misheard, because I think you just said we have no secure cells for bad guys? While every bad guy in the city is running rampant? Why do we ONLY have prison cells with **** field doors? Miss Queen of the Mecha-Werewolves back here doesn't even have superpowers! Just... lock her in a closet or something until the cops stop hiding under the bed and do their jobs."

"I would hardly characterize trying to contain a wave of rioting and looting 'hiding under the bed', but the point is, that would be a terrible idea, and against our bylaws. You will just need to keep her in personal custody in an interrogation room until we get someone who can take her. There's over a dozen heroes already engaged in keeping an eye on cuffed villains right now already, but if you can find someone else willing to take her off your hands, by all means. However, I must warn you that Maiden America and her sidekicks have disappeared off to space or something again, so my advice is that you make yourselves comfortable and see if you can get any intel from the villainess among the monologuing. There's no point trying to avoid them ranting at you, you just have to let them get it out of their system. Next question?" he waves the next couple of heroes reporting in forwards.

When you get to the interrogation room where your other two current team members are waiting, Bella Donna is quite silent, despite Boy Blue's warning. However, Red Balloon is looking extremely pleased with herself as she 'sits' floating in midair, legs crossed femininely and head resting on her hand. Snowflake, by contrast, is the opposite of 'cool' right now: she's absolutely fuming. "Fucking entitled white bitch- I mean, asshole! I mean... Aaaaaaghhh! This kind of persecution is just par for the course in this damn oppressive institution!"

You fold your arms over your breasts (which, considering the large cutout on your new one-piece outfit, still doesn't hide their exposed underside). "That better not have been directed at me, Snowflake, because my patience has limits, unless you want me to show you what 'silencing tactics' really look l-" you blink and slowly turn to your side, finally noticing a short, mousy female intern in baggy, ill-fitting clothes. "What are you doing in here?"

The poor girl looks like she's on the verge of tears and hands you two slips of paper. "Just passing these along, I'll be getting out of your way now, m-miss! It's a, um, cease and desist. And another one I was supposed to not even look at. Um, Justice for All, Miss. And here's yous, mi-" she turns to Snowflake and partly says it, then stops herself, dropping the paper on the table. After an awkward pause, she extends her hand for a handshake and is left hanging. She turns around and hastily retreats.

Sighing, you lean against the wall. "Jeez, really mother?" you say under your breath. But then you unfold the top note to see that, in fact, you are being cited for using the moniker of 'Dani Thunderbird', a heroine who has been active for a couple of years now. "Augh! What the hell is this?" you grouse. "She doesn't even live in Acropolis City! She's from some mid-western dust bowl of a town over a thousand miles away! Damn it, there is no way I'm going back to La Petite Mort's awful name of 'Thunderbox'. I don't care if it WAS the title of some beloved hero from a hundred years ago. It sounded better in German..."

"Auuugh! First of all, Thunderbird, it would be problematic for you to use a name from a language and culture you don't belong to. Secondly, stop putting your own problems above everyone else's! This "Princess Snowflake" who is trying to tell me that I can't identify how I want to is from fucking Russia! Aren't there, like, thousands of superheroes across the world? Why can there only be one with that name at a time?"

"Well, don't look at me!" Red Balloon squeaks, trying and failing to stop grinning. "I've been with you two the whoooole time ever since we left HQ together this morning!" Apparently, this airhead didn't consider how suspicious it is to pre-emptively deny something you haven't been accused of. It's not like there was any doubt in your mind anyway. "But I'm sure that's all of the bad news, right? There's nothing else?" She flutters her eyes and waits expectantly.

Looking at the other paper you were handed, you see that it's a sealed letter, addressed "To R.D.: I KNOW" in a form of handwriting that you're afraid you recognize. You can't help but bury your face in your hands. The muffled, frustrated shout you let out is still uncomfortably loud. "At... at least it can't get any..."

"Oh! And that remiiiinds me!" Red Balloon speaks up again in a screechy attempt at a singsong voice. "I very briefly spoke to our illustrious Raven Woman by chance, and she told me that someone might have a way into one of the super-hidden hideouts that the Wonderland Waaaaarriors use! A one mister... Green Streak? I hope I didn't overstep my bounds, but I offered to go and see how he thinks he can help us if my teammates were preoccupied dealing with our criminal friend and, tee hee, general paperwork." She gives you a wink... and, when Snowflake isn't looking, the damn little leprechaun/imp/demon/whatever he is that you saw her talking to before pops up in midair next to her and winks too. A moment later, before Snowflake cna notice, he disappears.

So... he (it?) knows that you know. But does Balloon know that he knows you know? Questions for later. The important thing is that you know beyond doubt that Red Balloon WILL sabotage the rescue of Dr. Rainbow if she can. So you'll have to grin and bear it, and put up with Green Streak again. But even if you put this legal super-name nonsense on the back burner for now, you can't afford to let Red out of your sight for too long when you're working on something so important, and leaving Snowflake guarding Bella Donna alone seems like asking for trouble after the naive girl started openly sympathizing with this deranged young mad scientist. You need to keep this disaster of a team under close supervision, at least until you can be sure Doc is out of danger. What to do...?

"Snowflake," you say. "Hang- gggghhh," you grit your teeth, "I mean... sit tight here for a few minutes. Red Balloon, come with me, let's find some C-rank hero to hand psycho girl over to..."

What's next?

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