"Jakob Beasley!" It was her first time back at Legion HQ since the last Team Chaos incident, and Courtney yelled for Hot Rod as soon as she was in the door. Rage fueled her steps, but she maintained enough calm to deal with things rationally. At least, she hoped so.
Barron had contacted her yesterday about a certain incident involving one of the newer members of the Legion. Apparently he'd been 'helping' some bank employees and caused massive property damage. By the time the military actually arrived, he was gone, but scorch marks remained and one employee had to go to the hospital for severe burns.
Naturally, the military wanted him in custody. She'd pacified them for now, arguing that he was still learning to control his powers, but if something similar happened again it might be beyond her control to protect him.
She stalked around the common room, wincing slightly as Fiore ducked behind a couch. Barrier Maiden hurried up to her, trying to placate her.
"Lightning! It's been a while. How's your roommate?"
"She's fine. Where's Hot Rod?"
"He's...sulking a bit. Yesterday was rough for him."
"Him and a whole bank of employees."
"I'm sorry. I found him unconscious yesterday. I was on patrol, and he reported an incident and by the time I got there..."
"It's not your fault. But I need to talk to that punk." Courtney glanced around, frowning.
"Lightning," Achilles said, coming in from the kitchen. Light Master followed just behind him.
"Where's Hot Rod?"
"Recovering. He had a rough time last night."
"How do you think everyone else felt?" Courtney sighed and put a hand over her face. "Sorry. I've had a bit of a long morning. I didn't even get out to patrol when I was supposed to." Barron had contacted her that morning to try and sort out the Hot Rod thing, and it had taken quite a while.
Most of her morning thus far had been taken up with a meeting with the Third Division lieutenants, colonels and the General himself. She'd made sure she was dressed up to avoid Colonel Evans and Lieutenant Medina recognizing her, but it was still stressful. After everything this past week, her emotions were wearing thin.
Lillie was okay, but they were trying to find a new place to stay. Louise had moved back to her place, and Lillie was staying there for the time being. Both of them had Courtney's number and a priority ringtone, but she couldn't help but worry still. Just when the situation had seemed to calm, a new problem had fallen into her lap.
"Hot Rod's still in his room," Fiore said, barely loud enough for her to hear.
"Okay. Can you ask him to come down here? I should probably discuss this with everyone." Courtney walked over to a sofa and slumped on it, feeling somewhat defeated. Fiore scuttled away while Achilles glared at her.
"Since when are you able to command people?"
"This is important." Courtney furrowed her brows at him.
"Scum," Tanner spat.
"What did I do?" Courtney asked, closing her eyes and sighing. "Y'know what, it can wait until Hot Rod gets here. I'll talk with everyone here, and then you can pass stuff on to Prime and Knight."
It took barely five minutes for Hot Rod to walk into the room, shooting her a death glare. Fiore was behind him, his eyes darting around nervously.
"Can you grab Jo too, Fiore?" Courtney asked. Fiore nodded and hurried off. His skittish behaviour made her feel like the bad guy, but she had to do this.
"So what do you want me for, Military Pet?" Hot Rod asked, glaring at her.
"What? What did you just call me?" Courtney stood, looking around. Achilles and Tanner were also looking at her sharply.
"I overheard your roommate talking to you," Barrier Maiden said. Courtney couldn't read any emotion in the girl's voice, but it gave her chills. "From your conversation, it sounded like you're connected with the military."
"Is that what this is about?" Courtney asked, narrowing her gaze.
"How do we know you're not reporting our actions to the military?" Hot Rod asked, almost spitting the words out. As he said it, Courtney noticed Fiore and Jo in the doorway.
"Why shouldn't I be? I'm of the mindset our groups should be working together. But before you ask, I haven't said anything that compromises us. I've told them what our pseudonyms and powersets are, and I let them know if we hear of any major incidents coming up." Courtney looked back at them defiantly, but the hostility made her want to hide.
"That wasn't your decision to make," Achilles said coldly.
"And yet, you've been enjoying the benefits of my connections," Courtney shot back. "I'm the one who asked to have the HEU set up at the hospital. I'm the reason your identity isn't already common knowledge, Achilles. And with this latest incident, I've managed to convince them to hold off on putting out an arrest warrant for Hot Rod. I've been making excuses for your ass all morning, and I don't want to deal with this right now."
"Snitch!" Tanner yelled.
Before Courtney realized what had happened, pain spread through her lower leg. He'd just shot her with one of his lasers.
"What..." She clenched her fist, forcing herself to calm her turbulent emotions.
"That was uncalled for," Jo called from her spot by the wall. Apparently no one else had noticed her.
"She's a military dog," Tanner spat. "It's a wonder we keep her around. Everyone here knows the military's the enemy, and here she is being all buddy-buddy with them!"
"I am not all buddy-buddy with the military," Courtney corrected. "I'm working with my former sergeant, and he's the only one who knows who I really am. The rest of the military are less friendly to me."
"Bullshit!" Tanner yelled.
"Before joining the Legion, I was expelled from the military. I'm being wary of who I trust in the organization. Not all of them look upon me fondly."
"What were you expelled for?" Hot Rod asked, a dark grin on his face.
"Defamation. I found out a superior officer was embezzling funds, and reported it, but the burden of collecting evidence was placed on me, and I was unable to produce the evidence in the timeframe they gave me. Of course, the entire thing was rigged. If I'd stayed quiet about it I'd probably still be there, but when I see an injustice I can't seem to leave it alone." Courtney folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, challenging someone to retort.
"So they wrecked stuff for you and you're still helping them. Scum." Tanner glared at her one more time before turning to leave.
"Hold it, kid. I've got a few warnings for everyone here. The military is not fond of the incident yesterday, when civilians were injured without apparent reason. They say this 'Sleeper' has robbed places before, and no one's been seriously hurt. Only minor injuries related to falls when he puts them to sleep. Yesterday, however, serious injuries occurred and he got away with stealing. Not as much as would normally happen, but they aren't impressed.
"If I hadn't stepped in to placate them - and if I might speak frankly, that was an awful meeting to sit through. They called it a meeting, but it felt more like an interrogation and I wasn't sure if they'd even let me go in the end. But if I hadn't done that, there'd be arrest warrants out for every member of the Legion. As things sit, they're still willing to let us operate. If we push things too far, however, they will take us out."
"They can't. Ben's protecting us," Achilles replied confidently.
"Ben isn't all-powerful. Frankly, Hot Rod's incredibly lucky he didn't wake up in a cell."
"Shut it, bitch," Hot Rod spat. "You're just trying to deflect from the revelation that you're reporting to the military."
Before things could escalate further, Jo stepped forward and clapped her hands.
"Okay, I think I've watched this long enough. You seem to be forgetting that we're on the same team here."
"She isn't," Tanner replied, jabbing a finger at Courtney.
"I think we all need some distance. Courtney, take some healing potion for that burn on your leg. Tanner, no more shooting our allies. Jakob, James, take some time to cool down and process this new information. Courtney's given you her reasoning, and done so quite transparently. We can have a meeting with everyone next week and maybe discuss some more ground rules for Legion members."
The three boys didn't seem to like the idea, but nobody argued with Jo. Courtney took a deep breath and decided to leave them for the day. She'd text Fiore later to ask when it was safe to return.
For now, she was going back to Louise's.
