Wednesday, March 19

[sayshazam]

Billy had figured that if he was going to get serious about this hero thing they he should probably start patrolling more. At least, that's what the other heroes seemed to do. He was pretty sure that just fighting magical attacks was the only thing in his job description but there were pretty much zero of those.

So tonight he went patrolling, which meant flying around. Just... flying around the sky, looking for crimes being committed. It was really, really ineffective. It was kind of hard to spot crimes while just zooming through the air, even if he you didn't go fast. It's not like criminals carried signs stating what they were doing.

That and a lot of people just sort of ducked inside when they saw him up above. He didn't blame them, even if they weren't doing anything wrong it was still weird to get spied on by someone. Hopefully criminals were deterred just knowing he was around.

It was super boring though. After a few hours he flew to the top of the tallest building and just sat on the edge. Yup, being a hero was boring if nothing crazy was going on. Sighing, he propped his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands and just waited for something interesting to happen.

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[cest_la_v]

Meanwhile, things were getting a little more chaotic on the ground where Sailor Venus was chasing down a thief who'd tried to mug someone at the ATM. "Cease now! I, Sailor Venus, order it!" she cried, taking a jump that was superhuman in its height.

In midair, she flipped and landed in front of the mugger. When Venus' feet touched the ground, there was a golden chain in her hands that glowed faintly. Swinging over her head, she called out her attack, "Venus Love-Me Chain!"

As if awakened, the chain extended in length and spiraled around the mugger like a lasso.

[sayshazam]

"Whoa," Billy said, eyes going wide as he saw all the jumping and flipping going down on the street. Jumping from his spot on the building he flew down as he watched the woman grab the guy around the stomach with some sort of chain.

"What did this guy do?" he asked, landing on the ground by the two. Billy knew better than to get between the two but he figured he should make sure he knew what was going on.

[cest_la_v]

Venus kept her grip tight on the magic chain, not turning her back on her captive. "He mugged a local man at the ATM. I began pursuit before he could get the money."

It was a bit like her brief career as a police consultant all over again, all the official language.

The criminal scowled, "Look at this bitch! Dressed like a slut and calling herself a hero!"

Venus yanked the chain tighter.

[sayshazam]

"You're not going to kill him or anything, are you?" he asked.

Some heroes were hard core like that and while Billy himself was responsible for the death of Black Adam, that had only been as a last resort. He also had kind of really hated it. Plus, Black Adam had killed a lot of people and would have killed more, this guy just tried to steal some money.

"And dude, she has you wrapped up in a chain. I wouldn't insult her."

[cest_la_v]

"I'm a fighter for justice, not a murderer!"

Even that wasn't specifically true. She'd seen the hollow remnants of beings that had once been people die. She'd played a part in that. But she'd never killed an ordinary human and she wasn't about to start now.

"I'm escorting him to the police station!"

[sayshazam]

"I was just asking, jeez! It's not like you have a trading card or something that says this stuff!"

Man, other heroes were totally jerks. He was just trying to make sure she wasn't some sort of extreme vigilante or something and she got all upset about it.

"Wait, you can just take them to the police station? Do they make you fill out reports and stuff?"

[cest_la_v]

"Well, I did have an action figure," she preened, flipping her hair. In the same breath, she turned and marched him toward a local police station.

"I just leave them there."

[sayshazam]

Billy looked at her costume and figured that would be a pretty obscene action figure because her skirt is like... it just doesn't seem like it could possibly cover very much on a doll since it barely covers her. Maybe it was an action figured for creepy adults.

"So you just fly over there and drop them off? That's all you have to do?"

[cest_la_v]

"I don't like police very much," Venus said, her voice turning slightly cold.

"Then why the fuck are you helpin' em!?" the mugger demanded, only to end up with a few links of chain gagging his mouth.

"If you think I should file a report, then you can escort him in."

Her tone was mulish, not the one of a brave Guardian, but she could see his eyes over her costume and it was easy to see the doubt it must have produced in him.

[sayshazam]

"What? No, I don't want to fill out a bunch of stupid paperwork," Billy said. That was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, that was pretty much just like work.

"And shut up, dude, we're trying to have like, a professional conversation here."

Was it a profession conversation? Did both of them wearing bright costumes make them professionals? This superhero thing was tricky.

"I just mean I didn't know you could just drop them off. I thought they would make you fill out paperwork."

[cest_la_v]

"So rude," Venus said, turning a corner. She gave a pull to her chain and it separated, morphing into bands of light where they surrounded the mugger. "You will confess to your crime, or those chains will never dissolve."

She shoved him through the doors of the precinct and then leaped several feet away back into the shadows.

[sayshazam]

"Whoa, that's pretty handy!" Billy said, eyes going a bit wide. He looked down at his hands and wondered if he could shock people until they confessed. That seemed kind of messed up though, like torture to force a confession. Okay, so maybe her chains were kind of messed up.

"So do you patrol and look for people to help?" he asked, drifting through the air after her. He didn't really get much of a chance to talk to other heroes to find out how they did their thing.

[cest_la_v]

Once the mugger was in the building, Sailor Venus slipped the chain around her waist, letting the broken ends link together. "They won't, really. I lied to scare him. They'll fade once I'm far enough away."

She leaped up to the roof of a nearby building, crouched and watching.

"It's what I do. What I must do."

[sayshazam]

"Thaaat sounds a bit dramatic," he said, following after her, somewhat oblivious to the fact that she was trying to hide. Being a giant guy in a red suit and white cape with a glowing thunderbolt on his chest meant Billy didn't really do hiding.

"Does that mean someone is forcing you to do this?"

[cest_la_v]

"Never," Sailor Venus said, finally cracking a smile. "It's my destiny, but I could have escaped it here, couldn't I? But I chose to continue, because I can help."

[sayshazam]

"Iiiii have no idea if you could have escaped it," Billy pointed out. He wondered if she was super famous or something and he was supposed to have heard of her. He didn't know all the heroes but he was pretty sure this girl wasn't in his world. Or at least she wasn't a big name.

"But that's good that you're still helping people."

[cest_la_v]

"I've been a Guardian in two lives. I could never stop," Venus said simply.

"Why do you do it?"

[sayshazam]

Okay, so if she had been doing this for several lives, then was she a zombie or something? If so, she must eat a lot of brains or something to look so normal.

"I just really don't like bullies. No one should get their way just because they're stronger than someone else."

[cest_la_v]

Sailor Venus nodded. "I agree. Power shouldn't be used to oppress."

It should be used to unite and create strength.

[sayshazam]

"So are you part of a group of heroes or anything?" Billy asked.

A few people had mentioned it, groups of heroes working together. He wasn't sure if there were any in the city, at least not famous ones, but it could be that they just kept a low profile.

[cest_la_v]

"Not here, but at home I am," Venus explained. Thinking that they were well on the way to a proper conversation, she jumped up a little higher to the very roof of the building so that she could settle down and sit. The magic embedded in her clothing offered a great deal of protection, but there was no magic that could reduce the stress of running on heels.

"What about you?"

[sayshazam]

"No, no groups for me."

He hadn't really been a hero long enough to be a part of a group back home. Of course, given how he hated trusting other people and how they just let you down, he probably never would. That was okay though, he was Shazam, he didn't need a team.

"It sounds like it would just be a pain."

[cest_la_v]

"No!" Venus said, her tone jumping. "They're the most important people. I've been a hero, alone, before..."

She missed the other Guardians. Her comrades, her sisters.

[sayshazam]

"Other people just let you down," Billy told her. She had just said that they weren't here so her support system was gone.

"The only person you can count on is yourself."

[cest_la_v]

"You only say that because you haven't found true companions yet," Minako said with utter certainty.

"When you find the people whose souls bond, everything changes."

[sayshazam]

"Except your true companions aren't here," he pointed out. Billy was honestly trying hard not to be a dick about this but he didn't understand how people could be so blind and stupid about it. People could never be completely relied on.

"It's not their fault, right? But they're still not here."

[cest_la_v]

"So?" Venus said, narrowing her eyes at him. "That doesn't mean they aren't important to me."

[sayshazam]

"I didn't say they weren't important," Billy said. "I'm just saying it means you can't really count on people."

That was just a fact of life and any time Billy started to think otherwise he was wrong. If you only relied on yourself then you weren't let down.

[cest_la_v]

Venus shook her head, arms crossed over her chest as she regarded the other hero. "You don't understand."

[sayshazam]

"So explain it," he said, mirroring her pose. Really, no matter what she said she couldn't deny that her friends weren't here, that here she couldn't rely on them.

[cest_la_v]

"Because I died without them and I survived a second death with them." She would never have done it by herself, with each of them ruling their own distant planets.

"And even if they aren't here. They are still my life."

She looked at him with pity now. How could someone so distrustful understand?

[sayshazam]

Okay, even Billy had to admit that being brought back from the dead was a pretty good reason to want to rely on your friends. That didn't change the fact that people left though.

"So... if they're your whole life and they're not here... how does that work?"

[cest_la_v]

"Have faith," Sailor Venus said simply. "That's all I can do."

[sayshazam]

That sounded pretty stupid. Not only was she relying on people who weren't here but she was just waiting for them to come. Some people were ridiculous.

"Wellllll, then I hope for your sake they come?"