Then she turned away and walked back to the cubicles.  She was halfway there when he saw her rub at one cheek with the back of her hand.

😥

“I… I just got here,” Weld said, helplessly.

I just got told by a pre-teen, he thought.

“Shit,” he swore under his breath.

Sounds about right.

He found a chair in front of the computer and dropped the stack of file folders on the nearest flat surface.  He plucked the file folder off the top of the stack, opened it and began studying.

Time to do your research.

“Thank you,” Vista’s voice piped up, with a definite note of relief.

Helplessly, Weld watched as the team split up to go their separate ways, Kid Win sitting down at the far end of the computer station, Shadow Stalker and Clockblocker heading for the elevator.

Welp, Weld. You’re gonna have a hard time.

So I guess this leaves Weld to either try to talk to Kid Win, or explore his surroundings some more. I’m leaning towards the former.

“I fucked up.  I already lost them,” Weld spoke, mostly to himself.

“No.  They’re just tired,” Vista spoke from beside him.  “And not just lack of sleep.  You’ll see what I mean.

Oh hey, or that.

And I mean, yeah, they’re under a lot of stress these days. Mourning Aegis and Gallant, the public going nuts, Director Piggot probably breathing down their necks… Anything else?

You could’ve mentioned Aegis and Gallant, but you can’t be blamed if Clockblocker didn’t give you time to get around to it.  Nobody’s really in the mood for speeches.”

That’s fair.

Also there’s some irony in Clockblocker not giving someone time to do something.

“Right,” Weld replied, feeling lost, “Aegis and Gallant.  They’re the ones who died?”

Vista gave him a look that could only be described as pity.  “You didn’t even learn their names?  Nevermind what I just said.  Yeah, you fucked up.”

Yeeah, should’ve done some research on this front. If nothing else, asked Piggot when she explained it.

“I didn’t mean to dismiss them or their sacrifice.  I just didn’t know them, and-”

Oh jeez, he doesn’t even know who it was. He’s using gender neutral pronouns (even though Clocky mentioned Aegis was a “guy”.

Or maybe it’s that Weld is referring to both of “the dead”, Aegis and Gallant. I suppose that works.

Clockblocker turned, swiping his arm angrily at his helmet to snatch it off the counter.  Tucking it under one arm, he spoke to the others, his back to Weld, “I’m going to check on my family.  I’ll head there in costume, in case I run into trouble, be back in the morning.  Mind manning the console, Kid?”

Translation: “I can’t deal with this anymore. I’m out.”

Kid Win shook his head, “I need to take a break anyways.”

Vista glanced at Weld, then asked, “Where do you guys need me?”

…it seems there’s more people wanting to get out of this pressure cooker.

“Go sleep,” Shadow Stalker spoke, placing a hand on Vista’s head as she walked past the girl, “I’ll start my patrol, go with Clock to make sure he gets home and that he has some backup.  You can relieve me when I’m back, maybe get Clockblocker to go with you.”

Okay so not only did everyone just decide to do their own things all of a sudden (though I’m not sure if “manning the console” involves staying or leaving the room), but they did that in front of the guy who’s supposed to be their new leader without consulting him at all. It’s like a collective “we’re out and fuck you you’re not our leader”.

It’d take quite a bit for this to go any worse for Weld.

Weld struggled to find something to say, failed.

Clockblocker went on, “Kid Win and I stopped some lunatics in gas masks from mixing ammonia and bleach into a poison gas.  You know why?  They wanted to off the people in an apartment block so they could loot the place and stay there.  There’s people going fucking crazy out there, and you’re talking training.”

Fucking hell. Yeah, I think I see your point, Clocky.

“I didn’t mean now,” Weld protested, backpedaling, “I was thinking in terms of the future.  The training would be something to look forward to, after this crisis has passed.”

Fair enough, though it’s evidently not what you should’ve opened with.

“You’re assuming it’s going to pass,” Shadow Stalker replied, her voice tired.  “Some are saying this is the way things are going to stay.  I almost agree with them.  This isn’t the kind of city that bounces back from things.”

Honestly, knowing this story, this setting? They might be right.

I’m losing them.  “I can’t believe that.  We’ve got to have hope.”

Hope is at an all-time low in this city. I agree, you should do your best to bring some of it back, but don’t expect everyone to agree with you.

“Pull a fifteen hour patrol out there, then come back and talk to me about hope,” Clockblocker spoke.  “You know, I could almost play along.  Go with the blind optimism, say yippee to training.  But you don’t even mention the guy you’re replacing?  A few words for the dead?  It’s a matter of respect, bro.”

And there it is.

Should he comment on that?  Offer support?  He wasn’t sure what to say, if it would even be welcome.

Pretty awkward situation. Maybe you should’ve had Piggot here after all.

Although I have a hard time imagining she’d be much comfort to Vista, at least she could’ve helped break the ice.

“Hello,” he spoke.  He received a chorus of muttered and murmured greetings in return.

Yeeeah, the moods aren’t exactly high around here these days. It certainly doesn’t help that Weld walked in here as a replacement for one of their dead friends.

“Look,” he said, “I won’t make a big deal of this.  The guys upstairs want me in charge.  It’s going to take me a short while to get up to speed, but I hope to prove to you guys that I can and will work as hard as anyone.”

I… don’t think that’s what they’re grumbling about, but nice try.

It was hard to say what he’d expected, but surely he should have gotten more of a response than some blank stares and glazed looks.  Was it the wrong time for this?  Every single one of them looked dog tired.  Clockblocker looked like he was barely managing to stand.

I suppose on top of the mourning process, they’ve had a lot of shit to deal with recently.

“From everything I’ve heard, you guys are an excellent team, and I hope I can do you justice as a leader.  It’s my hope that we can improve on a winning formula.  I’ve talked to the director about some special training-”

Stop talking. They clearly don’t want to hear about work right now.

“Training?” Clockblocker interrupted, “You just lost me.”

…what, is there no training here at all?

Or is he commenting on there being no time for that between the shit they have to deal with?

“If you’ll hear me out, I think you’ll like the idea.”

“Have you seen the situation out there?” Clockblocker challenged him, “Less than an hour ago, I saved a guy I know from my high school physics class from being dragged into an alley by a half-dozen grown men.  One of them stuck him with a needle before I got him away from them.  The Hospitals are shut down or over capacity, so I brought him here.  He’s upstairs right now, getting drugs to ensure he doesn’t get HIV.”

Yikes. Yep, sounds like the latter situation.

Kid Win and Vista arrived from what the ‘cubicles’ at the far end of the spacious room.  They weren’t really cubicles, but sectioned off areas with beds and room for personal effects.

Hm. This room appears to be kind of similar to the Undersiders’ former Loft in some respects. A spacious room, with smaller, sectioned-off, cubicle-like spaces for the individual members in the far end.

I kind of like how the Wards and Undersiders seem to be becoming clearer parallels to each other in some ways.

The base in Boston had been similar.  Kid Win was in civilian clothes, brown-haired, ruddy cheeked in a way that suggested he had been exercising until just recently.  Very normal looking.

Nice.

Vista was in pyjamas, her hair tied back into a ponytail.  He’d had someone as young as her on his team in Boston, but the boy had been a Thinker, a limited precog content to work and communicate with them from their command station.  This girl had been out in the field – three fingers on her left hand were bandaged, with crimson seeping in through the white.

Aw.

Her eyes were puffy, as though she’d been crying until very recently.

Nooo

Poor child 😥

Clockblocker sat in a chair at the huge computer to the right of the room, swiveled to check out their new arrival, then stood, folding his arms.  Red haired, freckled, thin lipped, he wore a costume that was all white, with animated images of clock faces on it.  A white helmet sat on the counter of the computer terminal.

Looking back at Interlude 3 reminded me that Clocky was supposed to be the next leader of the Brockton Bay Wards once Aegis graduated. I wonder how he feels about Weld coming in to take the role instead. At least it seemed like Clocky didn’t really want to be leader: “Go for it.  I’m going to procrastinate as long as I can on the leadership thing.”

Shadow Stalker was leaning against a wall, thumbing through a smartphone.  She had one foot against the wall, one arm folded just under her chest, her free hand resting in the crook of her other elbow.

…that’s an interesting pose. It’s got the pose of someone who quite casually doesn’t really care, mixed with a common signal of nervousness. Maybe she’s trying to appear casual, but is actually somewhat nervous about the new leader?

And Clocky doesn’t seem thrilled to see Weld either, with the folded arms.

She looked up at him, stuck the phone in a pouch on her belt.  She was dark-skinned, pretty, and from  what he could see beneath her costume and her voluminous cloak, she had a nice body.

Oh cod. Dude, I low-key ship you with Taylor (and it’s becoming more… medium-key as I learn what you’re like and don’t have to worry about you being an actual piece of shit), please don’t get romantically interested in Sophia… Seriously, anyone but Sophia.

Though to be fair, he’s not commenting on anything we don’t already know from Taylor. In this story, the narrator calling someone pretty doesn’t necessarily mean they’re attracted to them just yet.

Athletic figure.  A part of Weld’s adolescent psyche was relieved that there was some eye candy here.

Heh.

I’m sure having a metal body doesn’t hurt when it comes to getting it hard.

I remember from Interlude 3 that Vista had a crush on one of the boys, but which one was it? It wasn’t Aegis or Gallant, was it? Because if that’s the case, she… might be less than cheery these days. I should probably go back and check before I continue.

Not that I expect anyone to be totally fine with the deaths of Aegis and Gallant just because they weren’t crushing on them.

…

Ah, shit, it was Gallant.