9 9 I Really Like Tetris

Brockton Bay, PHQ

July 14th, 13:40

///

With her hands stuffed in her costume's pockets, Emma Frye walks into the Wards' common room, the picture of teenage angst.

Inside of the room, she can see Gallant, or Dean, since they've all unmasked to the new Wards by now, sitting at the console, watching the cameras and such, keeping in communication with Clockblocker and Aegis as they enter the last steps of their patrols.

Dean is a pretty standardly attractive guy, if a little short. With blond hair, broad shoulders and a slim waist, he looks like the kind of rich white kid that Kaiser would love to use as an example of white superiority, again, if you ignore his height.

Then again, Napoleon was supposed to be short. At least, that used to be an excuse, but Maryam recently pointed out to her that Napoleon being short was just propaganda, and that he was actually just average height. She even double checked with the internet, because no way is Emma going to take anything Maryam says at face value.

And speaking of Maryam, she is one of the three other Wards present right now, the other's being Suzuya and Missy, or Vista, as she actually seems to prefer over her actual name. Not that she can blame the kid, she clearly doesn't have the best parents.

Emma doesn't really think Vista should have been allowed into the Wards, the girl is ten for Christ's sake, but she also understands that it's better she just do nothing as a Ward than risk her going out and doing whatever by herself. 

And with her white skin and dark blonde hair, there would even be the risk of Kaiser or one of his lot grooming her into joining the Empire.

Then there's the two new Wards. A pair of former Villains. No one has outright said that they used to be Villains, but considering they joined up shortly after the adults took down some slave ring and that they both have fucking tags on their ankles.

Well, it's pretty clear that their 'probational status' is about more than just a bit of delinquency. She doesn't trust them, Suzuya more than Maryam, as the crazy midget could barely even feel the effects of her power.

Her power, which she now reluctantly understands works to produce flames that burn at a heat that is proportional to the amount of times a person has felt guilt. Meaning that if you've lived a completely guilt-free life, something she genuinely doesn't think is possible without some kind of mental disorder, then it won't burn you at all.

As supposed 'Heroes' that were forced to be Villains, they should be practically drowning in guilt. And yet, only Maryam felt any kind of a burn, while Suzuya just said her fire felt warm. Like he was in some kind of sauna.

In other words, the crazy midget has, in his entire life, barely ever felt any significant amount of guilt. The fires being just warm means that he's probably only felt guilty over small things, like eating someone else's food or something.

But even if she trusts him less than Maryam, he still likes him more, if only because of petty reasons. When she was forced back into being a Ward, the PR people redesigned her costume, making it more plain and less 'risky', whatever that's supposed to mean.

The reason for her pettiness just comes from the fact that Maryam's costume as Falcon is all Lady of Justice, with a pair of scales over her chest. Exactly like her own costume used to be before she left the Wards the first time.

She knows she's being petty, but she also doesn't care.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she actually looks at them, and sees that Suzuya and Vista are both sitting on some pillows on the floor, their backs to a couch as they play Mario Cart. At the same time, Maryam is sitting on the sofa with her legs wrapped around Suzuya's chest as she played Tetris on her Gameboy.

Well, she can't see what she is doing on the Gameboy, but she also hasn't seen Maryam play any other game than Tetris, so she feels it's a safe assumption.

Suzuya is the only one actually in costume, the others all being in casuals; jeans and white shirt for Dean, green skirt and a lighter green blouse for Vista, while Maryam is wearing black jeans that are far too tight, and a black crop top with fishnet covering her ample chest. Maryam is also wearing black lipstick and eyeshadow, looking spectacularly goth.

Emma's entrance to the room naturally draws the attention of the two teens not currently engaged in a 'friendly' contest, getting a brief glance from Maryam before she returns to her game, and an actual smile and nod of acknowledgement from Dean before he returns to his duties. 

Goody two shoes, she can't help but think to herself, disliking her 'knightly' teammate mostly on sheer principle. He's a rich white boy who's never had to want for anything in his life, and now he wants to act like he's some paragon of virtue. If he was so gallant, then surely his relationship with Victoria wouldn't be so shitty that they break up every other month.

Pretentious asshole.

Moving deeper into the room, she climbs over the back of the couch, behind Vista, and sits with her legs crossed so as to not push against the younger girl.

She's got a patrol with Suzuya in, she checks the clock on the wall, 13:41, nineteen minutes, so she's in no rush to push the boy off his game, and frankly she just wants a few minutes to relax before she has to go out and spend hours of her day doing her best not to break her own 'totally not probation' probation.

She doesn't have an ankle bracelet or anything like Suzuya and Maryam do, but she's already defected from the Wards once, and she is under no delusion that the moment she shows any signs of not being the perfect little Ward that she'll get sent straight to juvie.

So she has to resign herself to the fact that she will waste her time on public patrols that do absolutely nothing to combat the rampant crime present in this city.

For fuck's sake, no matter where you stand in Brockton Bay, you'll hear gunshots at least once a day, and there's usually a cape fight every other week.

That thought brings her mind back to her newest teammate, Maryam. She's heard all about what happened, and the fact that this girl took down Lung, even if it was with assistance. Well, it's impressive, and Emma can't help but respect it.

Especially since she knows just how badly Lung fucked her up. The resolve needed to keep up the pressure all the while literally melting is frankly, fucking insane. Even if she used her power to turn of her sense of touch, the sheer visceral knowledge that you. Are. Melting! Should seriously fuck you up mentally.

Emma sure as hell doesn't want to know what it's like. She quite likes her bones hidden under her skin, thank you very much.

As she is thinking this, she hears a soft 'tsk' from her side, followed by a soft, "fuck."

Turning over, she sees Maryam falling backwards, collapsing into the couch and dropping her arms either side. Noticing Emma's curious attention, she simply offers out her Gameboy, and Emma takes it out of curiosity, if nothing else.

It's Tetris, as expected. Showing a screen that says 'Defeat' above another line, 'Score: 964,500'. she doesn't know much about Tetris, but a score of nearly a million sounds pretty good, so she turns a questioning brow to Maryam besides her.

"Press A," she says, and Emma does as told, making the screen change to show a scoreboard with twenty entries, and she feels her lip twitch at the sight of it.

'1) Penis: 999,999 - 11) Penis: 999,999'

'2) Penis: 999,999 - 12) Penis: 999,999'

'3) Penis: 999,999 - 13) Pussy: 987,200'

'4) Penis: 999,999 - 14) Pussy: 976,000'

'5) Penis: 999,999 - 15) Pussy: 964,500'

Of course she named her scores Penis and Pussy. Emma hasn't known her for long, but she would honestly have been more surprised to actually see her using her name instead.

"I'm trying to get all twenty scores to be perfect," Maryam pointlessly adds, as if Emma couldn't figure that much out by herself.

"Do you ever play anything else?" She asks, genuinely curious.

"Well, I kick this little dweeb's ass every now and then on Mario Kart, but nah, not really. Tetris is the perfect game, a nice mix of high-octane geometry that is very satisfying. You ever played?"

"No, not really. And I don't really see how you could call Tetris 'high-octane'"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you give it a shot then, and if it's not fun, then I'll do a weeks worth of homework for you when school starts up again."

"Make it a month."

"Girl, you're winning on both sides. Either you have fun with a good game or I do your homework. You're already guaranteed to win, why bargain?"

"Because I feel like you want me to enjoy Tetris more than I want to find a fun game to play, so why not?"

"Fair enough," Maryam happily concedes, giving a shrug and a grin, "two weeks, then."

"Done." Emma wasn't really interested in playing games, but she is also happy to get out of doing homework.

Though, she doesn't want her grades to drop, so she never would have accepted if it meant someone like Clockblocker was doing her homework for her, but Maryam is the oldest Ward by a couple of years, basically an Adult by now. Something that would have made her the Captain of the Wards, as the position is given to the eldest, if not for her probationary status getting in the way, leaving Triumph as the leader for now.

Speaking of her erstwhile leader, she glances around, looking for him. Only Clockblocker and Aegis should be on patrol right now, and everyone else is here.

"Where's Rory?" She asks after Maryam explains which buttons do what.

"I hear he's got a date," Maryam says, pausing slightly and giving her a smirk when she looks up, "with a girl."

"Thank you for the specification," is her droll reply, leaving Maryam to chuckle lightly.

"I'll send you pictures of the girl while you play, she's quite the looker~."

Emma does her best not to blush, turning away from the snickering girl to focus on the Gameboy in her hands. She has no idea how Maryam figured out her preferences, but she did and hasn't stopped subtly teasing her about it since.

At the very least, Maryam has kept it secret like she asked, something that she is grateful for, grateful enough to look past her petty reasons to dislike the girl. However, keeping her sexuality secret doesn't stop her from using every opportunity she gets to attempt to embarrass Emma.

As far as she knows, she's the only gay Ward, though she's honestly suspicious of Dean. But she also blames that suspicion on Maryam, who put it into her head that the reason for his rocky relationship with Victoria was that he was a closeted gay and could only pretend for so long at a time.

The rest are all straight, except for Vista who is too young to be thinking about this kind of thing, and Maryam, who is, in her own words, 'just really really horny'. Bisexual, in other words. But she can understand the way Maryam chose to explain her sexuality, since it took all of a minute after getting Emma to admit to being gay before she was inquiring about casual sex.

Fucking stupid slut, she thinks to herself, pouring more focus into the game of Tetris in the hopes of being able to ignore the warmth of her cheeks or the soft giggling of the incredibly attractive Arabian girl sitting right next to her in a top that gives a clear view into her cleavage.

Stupid fucking horny bitch and her stupid fucking sexy voice.

So distracted by her thoughts is she, that she forgets to play the game properly and promptly loses. But before Maryam can snatch her device back, she quickly starts a new level, hoping that Maryam didn't notice anything.

Time passes peacefully in that manner for the next few minutes, just the sounds of Suzuya and Vista's friendly competition, Dean's occasional voice, and Emma playing Tetris while Maryam leans on her and watches in companionable silence.

That is, until Emma loses again.

"Tch, too fast," she complains, having spent the last half minute desperately trying to keep alive with only the top five rows to work with.

Sighing to herself, she turns to Maryam, only for her words to die in her throat as she is reminded of just how close Maryam is to herself. In her surprise, she takes in a breath, breathing in Maryam's tantalising scent.

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, she tries to look away, but when she looks down, she is greeted by Maryam's chest, pushed up against her arm as it is, and from her viewpoint, she gets a good view straight down her low-cut top, the fishnet doing little to hide that caramel orbs beneath it.

Her breath hitches and she panics about being shamed, when her eyes catch a glint of metal, and her curiosity briefly overwhelms her shame as she observes the item. Unfortunately for her, that curiosity meant that she ended up looking at Maryam's breasts for longer than can really be called a glance, something the girl in question obviously notices.

"Ara ara~, see something you like, Darling~?"

Maryam's words cause Emma's face to snap back up, only to quickly have to look away as she feels herself flush despite her best attempts to the contrary. Luckily at least, it seems that no one else is paying attention to their exchange, small mercies.

"No!- I mean. No. I just, ah, I was curious about that ring, I never noticed it before..."

The defence is weak and they both know it, but Maryam must have been feeling merciful, as she decides not to tease her into oblivion. "Oh, this little thing?" She asks, reaching into her top to fish it out, holding it up for her to inspect.

The ring itself seems deceptively simple, as at first glance it just looks like a simple steel band, but upon closer inspection, she can see that it is covered in intricate engravings, both on the inside and outside, making a tapestry she doesn't really understand, but assumes is simply meant to look pretty.

"It looks nice," she says, "does it have a story?"

Looking at the ring hanging between them, Maryam gives a fond smile, her answer light and solemn. "Story? Nah, not as such. It's more like a promise, a favour owed."

After a moment, Emma looks Maryam in the eye, raising a brow in question. "You gonna elaborate on that?"

"Nah, it's a se~cret~."

"Of course." Emma rolls her eyes at the mischief in Maryam's tone, before turning back to the clock hung up an an adjacent wall and checks the time, 13:54. She should get going now, or she'll be late.

"Suzuya." Him and Vista both perk their heads up at her voice, but doesn't look away from their game. "Get up, it's time to go."

"Uhuh, in a minute," is the immediate reply, making her sigh.

But before she can begin another fruitless attempt at getting Suzuya to take anything seriously, Maryam taps her arm with the back of her hand, and gives her a wink when she turns.

Whatever she expected to happen, Maryam saying some magical words to convince Suzuya or something, she was left completely off-guard when Maryam just casually unwrapped her legs from Suzuya, before leaning down until her face was upside-down over his chest so she can wrap her arms around his waist.

And then, she simply lifts him up, and rises from her position like she's in a shampoo commercial, bringing a screaming Suzuya with her until the peak of her arc, where she lets him go, sending the poor boy flying behind her until his back hits the far wall upside-down and with a solid thud.

His body seems to hand there for a moment before dropping, landing on his head and crumpling forward with only an 'oof'.

Sweating, Emma turns to Maryam, who gives her a thumbs up and a smile, "go get 'em Darling~"

Turning away and definitely not blushing, Emma gives a huff and storms off, dragging a dazed but now standing Suzuya by his arm as she does. 

After watching the two of them leave for their patrol, Maryam turns her attention to the softly giggling Vista, sharing a grin with the younger girl that only has her giggling harder.

"That," Vista huffs out another chuckle, "that was mean."

It's clear that she doesn't really mean it, so Maryam just gives her a shrug before sliding down from her spot to join her on the floor. "Mah, you can't complain. You won the race, after all~."

"I don't think it counts if the other player gets thrown into a wall," another soft giggle leaves her throat, "I'm pretty sure that would be a disqualification or something."

"So? If one side is disqualified then the other wins. Speaking of, wanna play Tetris?" In line with her words, Maryam offers out her Gameboy to Vista, a grin on her face.

But Vista did hear Emma's bargaining earlier, and thought it sounded fun. "Only if you beat me in a race." But unlike Emma, she doesn't actually want to discourage Maryam from playing with her, so she decides against bringing her homework into this.

In the face of her challenging smile, Maryam's grin only grows. "Pshh, easily done."

"Oh, I don't know about that, I've got a pretty good record, won my last race so hard the other guy DNF'd."

The bark of laughter that came from Maryam's throat at that was completely unexpected to herself, but very welcome.

///

Subject Title: Redemption, formerly Retribution*

Subject Name: Emma Frye

Power Classification: Shaker(Variable, 0-6**)

Affiliation: Hero

Place of Residence: Brockton Bay, New Jersey

Date of Birth: May 16th, 1993

Status: Active, unmarried

Height: 5'5

Weight: 126lbs

Class S Threat: No

Appearance: Long chestnut hair, brown eyes, developing body, physically fit, passively tense

General Assessment:

Grew up in an average nuclear family as an average child. Until when she was thirteen and her family was killed in a Villain attack. Only when she realised that the police were not going to chase after the Villain responsible***, due to the investigation being under PRT derestriction with the involvement of a parahuman, she triggered.

Representing her desire for Justice, she got a power perfectly suited to get her that justice by herself, and she promptly tracked the responsible Villain down and burnt him severely enough that he didn't leave intensive care for months. (See: Page 63)

After that, she moved to Columbus, Ohio, and roamed as a Vigilante until near the end of the year where she was convinced to join the local Wards (See: Page 65). However, after a series of unfortunate events (See: Incident Report: OhoC-Cos0-1029-MpLNoP>T) she ended up resigning from the Wards and returning to Vigilantism, only noticeably more violently.

Not long after the fact, after she [REDACTED] she was given an ultimatum to either re-join the Wards or be sent to juvenile detention. She chose the former, and is now a member of the ENE branch.

General Personality:

Cynical and tense. She assumes the worst of people and seems to subconsciously start thinking negatively of people in their absence, but seems to think more fondly of them as they interact, only to go back to thinking she dislikes them when she is alone.****

She resents being held back from serious Hero work as a Ward, siting that she has already experienced it all as a Vigilante. But she wants to be a Hero too much to do anything other than complain.

She believes in rules, and dislikes their breaking, unless they violate her personal morals, in which case she doesn't view them as rules. She has a very black and white view of the world, but seems to be aware of it and is doing her best to see the greys.

Ultimately, upholding her morals will always likely be her biggest priority.

She doesn't enjoy any recreational activities, finding them to be a waste of time that could be spent training. This attitude has made her an incredibly skilled combatant for her age.

Powers:

Can generate flames that burn a target to a degree dependant on their 'sins'. In actuality, it appears that her power scans the memories of those under its effect, picking out every instance in which the target has felt guilt. It then adds each of those instances together with a metric that is not understood, to decide how hot to burn.

If the target has only ever felt guilty about simple things, like bumping into strangers, or not holding the door open for someone behind them, then the fire will burn slightly cooler than a natural fire. If the target has felt significant amounts of guilt, it is possible for the fire to burn hot enough to reduce a human to ash in less than a minute (See: Page 63).

It is also possible for one to be mostly immune to the fire, feeling only a warm sensation, but such an occurrence is incredibly unlikely, as it requires a certain level of neurodivergency in the target.*****

Power is Manton-limited and only effects humans. Applied to anything else, no change in temperature is observed.

Additional notes:

Has had an interaction with [REDACTED] (See: [REDACTED])

* Retribution was the name she used as a Vigilante.

** Her power rating can range anywhere from 0 to 6, but it is unknown if it has a limit.

*** The incompetency of the local authorities has since been corrected.

**** She seems to go into an interaction with a dislike of whoever she is interacting with, but over time she becomes more friendly, yet this friendliness never lasts until their next interaction. It's likely she is suppressing her feeling for some reason. A specialist therapist is scheduled to arrive for the ENE Wards within the month, so this page is subject to change.

***** Only two people have been observed to experience this sensation, (See: Gypsy and [REDACTED]) both of whom are considered psychopaths.

///

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

In case it wasn't clear, there's gonna be quite a bit of slice of life for the first half of this fic, though obviously with action n' stuff, cuz I can't help myself.

Also, lmao, my sleep schedule has me waking up in the afternoon and sleeping with the rising sun again, so I'm just yawning all the time and really didn't want to keep writing after 3k words to hit the 4k I'm trying to go for, and then I remembered the PRT profile thing and realised I could just write one of those to sub for word count, instead of as an extra to a full chap.

Is it cheap of me? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm so fucking tired right now, it's 05:30 right now and I literally only realised that as I'm writing this. I thought it was like 2 or 3 :(

Also, I'm probably not going to do any profiles for canon characters, if ya wanna know their backstory, go to the wiki.

Also, I'm glad I wrote that incident report thing out before, cuz it meant I could just copy paste it instead of having to figure out the code I came up with lol

(5)Advanced chapters on pat.reon, link in description and profile. Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses