Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Taylor POV.
I sighed wearily, put away the empty bento box, tied it again, and prepared to take it to the locker room with the rest of my things. The moment I opened the door, I saw Vicky, Amy, and Missy. Vicky was looking at me with a trembling pout, while Amy and Missy seemed uncomfortable behind her.
"Uh... hello?" I said confused, before I could finish speaking Vicky rushed towards me and hugged me tightly.
"That was so cute!" Vicky exclaimed as she squashed me. I groaned in pain; I could feel my aura being crushed beneath her arms.
"Vicky! Let go! " I groaned in pain. Vicky let go of me, but still placed her hands on my shoulders.
"That was so beautiful, and so healthy, and so cute," Vicky said, and I looked at her, really confused. I looked at Amy and Missy, who were fidgeting.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked, confused. They both shuddered and grimaced. Then they glanced sideways at one of the doors. I looked at her. The door was next to the room I had just left.
It took me several seconds to understand what was happening. I looked at the room they were both staring at before looking back at where I had come from, and then I stopped abruptly. I had been using one of the interrogation rooms; one of the walls was a false wall. From the next room, you could see and hear everything without the people in the interrogation room noticing.
I stared incredulously at Amy and Missy.
"Vicky made us." They both said at the same time. Vicky finally stopped shaking me and looked at them incredulously.
"Wait, what?! We all decided to go in!" Vicky said indignantly, Amy and Missy blushed slightly.
"Did you hear everything?!" I asked, almost horrified. Vicky turned to look at me apologetically.
"Not all of it? Just... like half? Ever since she brought out that box of food..." Vicky said shyly.
"That was pretty much it!" I couldn't help but exclaim. The three of them shuddered, and I groaned loudly, completely embarrassed. "Just... why?" I said wearily. It really had been a long, long day. I just wanted to go on my final patrol and snuggle up with Izumi again.
"We... were looking for you," Missy said shyly. I blinked, confused.
"Looking for me? I... I think I had a patrol with Miss Militia today? I'm pretty sure none of you had a patrol scheduled for today and… Amy, didn't you say you weren't coming in tonight?" I asked, confused, as I looked at the three of them. Then I finally looked at them closely. None of them were dressed in their superhero costumes; they were completely in civilian clothes. The three of them looked at each other and before they sighed…
"We're asking for permission to throw you a farewell party," Vicky said with a shy smile. My eyes widened slightly.
"A party?" I asked, partly surprised, and partly touched by the gesture. "But, my patrol..." I tried to say, confused.
"Don't worry, we sorted it out with Armsy. In fact, you don't have a patrol today either," Missy said quickly. I looked at her in surprise.
"We thought we'd surprise you, but you never arrived where we were waiting for you and we got worried, so... we came to find you." Vicky continued the conversation.
"We ran into M&M on the way, she told us what was going on and well… Vicky decided to go into the next room, according to her and I quote, 'to make sure that bitch Annette doesn't try to manipulate you in any way.'" Amy said with a snort.
"It was a genuine and well-intentioned concern!" Vicky complained, pouting. "I never thought that conversation would turn out like this." She said quickly, and I groaned loudly as I took off my glasses and massaged the bridge of my nose.
"It's just... okay, don't worry." I sighed as I put my glasses back on. "Although it would have been nice if you'd told me before I put on my hero costume instead of telling me there wasn't a patrol," I said curtly. The three of them sighed in relief.
"And where's the surprise in that?!" Vicky exclaimed loudly as she began to float slightly and smiled broadly. "Now let's go! Dean, Lily, and the others are waiting!" Vicky said excitedly.
"And don't worry, we won't mention any of that," Amy said, gesturing toward the room. I just sighed.
"Don't even mention it." I groaned in annoyance. "Seriously, don't." I sighed. The three of them closed their mouths, miming closing their mouths. I huffed. "Let me go change. As comfortable as my hero costume is, it would be really weird to wear it to a party," I said curtly.
"Great! We'll be waiting for you! I'll go warn the others! " Vicky said before quickly flying off. I sighed.
"We're really sorry for eavesdropping," Amy said with a sigh as we started walking toward the locker room. I shook my head.
"Don't worry," I said gently.
"You know... I wouldn't have forgiven my mother if she had come to apologize." Missy said casually as she looked away, Amy snorted.
"I wouldn't have done it either if Carol had come to apologize. If that were to happen in any reality, hell would have to freeze over first, and even then it would take 10 more miracles for there to be even a 1% chance of it happening," Amy said dryly. I snorted.
"Our circumstances are different." I sighed softly. "No one should force you to accept their apologies, if they were to come, especially since their problems dragged on for years. Especially for Amy, if my mother had been completely awful like Carol was during my childhood, I wouldn't have hesitated to tell her to go to hell with my swarm." I said dryly. Amy sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, Rot in hell Carol." Missy said, and Amy snorted amusedly.
"Rot in hell, Carol." Amy repeated with a smile before looking at me mockingly. "I guess we should revoke your membership in the traumatized heroines with terrible mothers," Amy said with a cheeky grin.
"Is the Three Musketeers going to become the Dynamic Duo?" I teased them. They both laughed mockingly.
"I don't know, if I remember correctly, your friends also have problems with their mothers, they could form a Japanese division." Missy mocked cheekily, I snorted.
"Azula would love it. As long as it makes Ursa angry, she's capable of almost anything," I said dryly. Honestly, the level of meanness Azula displayed in order to upset Ursa and the rest of her family was truly admirable and incredible; at this point, it was almost an art form in itself.
"Ah, making their mother figure angry, a laudable resource for associating daughters with terrible mothers. I snuck a girl into my room, I could almost see one of Carol's veins burst when she saw the girl leave my room at breakfast time. She just sat down to eat our food without even looking at Carol before leaving, and all without introducing herself." Amy said with a nostalgic sigh. I snorted amusedly.
"The best way to get them to ignore me whenever they argued, to avoid being used or caught in the middle, was to turn them against each other even more. More than once, I hinted to one of my parents that the other had an 'active social life' they were unaware of," Vista said, shrugging. My eyebrows lifted slightly.
"Azula keeps spending her brother's money on sex toys and sending them to their house addressed to Ursa. The last time, she bought a horse chair sex with a built-in sex machine. It was so big they couldn't wrap it, so they left it in plain sight until Ursa signed for the delivery in person. The machine turned on 'by mistake,' and then everyone saw them carrying a horse chair sex with a fully powered mechanical dildo into Ursa's house," I said dryly. Both girls stared at me incredulously before bursting into laughter. I shook my head, amused.
Azula had actually paid the delivery drivers almost five times the shipping cost just to pull that stunt and record the whole thing. Azula watched the video with a truly sadistic smile.
And that was just one of many similar situations. And Izumi only made things worse by continuing to give her ideas.
We continued talking as we headed towards the locker rooms. I quickly changed and put my hero outfit back in my UA briefcase, then finally came out fully dressed in my UA uniform.
Finally, Amy and Missy dragged me over to where Vicky and the others were organizing the farewell party. To my surprise, there were more people than I expected. Most of the group my age that I'd patrolled with were there, but there were also some of the more veteran heroes, those I'd done patrols with, although several of them only stopped by to say hello and chat for a few minutes before leaving. Even Miss Militia came by a few times.
We talked and chatted, ate snacks, and played silly games for about three hours before many of them yawned and decided to leave. I sighed softly; it really was nice. None of them were bad people. If circumstances were completely different, I could see myself working here full-time for the rest of my heroic career.
It was a shame how everything had happened, but I didn't regret it. Although I made some good classmates, and maybe even a friendship with Vicky, Amy, and Missy, which I hoped to maintain, I really couldn't wait to do my second internship at a hero agency in Japan.
I really wanted to see the difference between the two institutions. So far, I only have secondhand knowledge, mainly from Ruby. Izumi's internships are quite unorthodox, with Mirko being independent, as are Azula's with Endeavor. Ruby was the only one in our group with a more 'normal' internship at an agency large enough to have multiple teams.
Next up was Darkness, who was with Fatgum, and they were a small group. So I was really hoping to get some good internships in January. I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the conversation I was having, even though it was completely pointless.
"Seriously, I'm telling you, your husband is a damn genius, and I'm not just talking about his writing, his videos are just as brilliant." Amy insisted, and I groaned loudly.
"Stop giving that idiot any motivation. The amount of absurd things he creates… and they are all aberrations that shouldn't exist, yet he insists on calling them internet culture." I groaned loudly, and Amy snorted loudly.
"I'm sorry to disagree, but the fact that they're really absurd is what makes them great," Amy scoffed.
"Are you telling me that his latest video of two gay birds dancing to court each other to a song that's over 300 years old is a stroke of genius?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes!" Amy exclaimed insistently. "I never thought I needed to see it until I did! That's what I pay my internet bill for! The dance, the plot twist, the song, everything is perfect! And I and millions of others agree!" Amy said with a wide smile. I groaned loudly.
"Goddess, Miorine already has a headache trying to control the things Izumi uploads that become really popular. It's really lucky that Izumi is too busy to keep creating those things too often." I groaned, and Amy snorted.
"A disgrace, you mean," Amy scoffed. I just snorted. It was just the two of us in the room, sipping some coffee. Vicky and Dean were still at headquarters, but I didn't really want to know where they were or what they were doing at the moment. Everyone else had already left, so I looked curiously when the door opened, revealing Armsmistress.
"Miyamura," Armsmistress said with a nod, and I stood up.
"Armsmistress." I greeted her with a nod. She glanced around before shaking her head. "Tell Victoria she must clean and leave this room spotless," Armsmistress told Amy, who simply nodded as she sipped her coffee. "Could we have a few last words?" Armsmistress asked, finally looking at me. My eyes widened, and I nodded.
I looked at Amy apologetically, which she simply shook her head in understanding, while gesturing for me to leave and follow Armsmistress, which I did. I walked behind Armsmistress to her laboratory. She approached one of the desks.
"Your internship is officially over," Armsmistress said, grabbing a stack of papers and handing it to me. "Here's all the necessary paperwork and a performance report for the last three weeks for you to submit to UA." Armsmistress said matter-of-factly, and my eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, thank you, I'll make sure to deliver them." I said immediately as I gripped the papers firmly, Armsmistress nodded.
"Don't worry, it was truly a pleasure working with you, Miyamura. UA and Japan are truly lucky to have you." Armsmistress said with a smile, and I blushed slightly.
"T-thank you ma'am, it was a pleasure working for the Protectorate." I said immediately, embarrassed. Armsmistress raised an eyebrow amusedly.
"Really?" Armsmistress asked simply, I just smiled slightly.
"I admit I had my... insecurities about the internship, but it was an excellent internship. I learned so much these last three weeks, I mean it, it was a pleasure working for the Protectorate." I told her honestly. Armsmistress nodded, she didn't sigh, but I could see her shoulders relax a little.
"I'm glad you see it that way. It's a shame you have to return to Japan. It would be a pleasure to have you as a member of the Protectorate, especially with your synergy with Vista." Armsmistress said honestly. She really seemed almost disappointed that it wasn't happening, but I was grateful that she didn't even try to convince me to stay.
"Thank you, I also enjoyed being part of a group with Vista, with everyone, they are good people, good heroes." I said honestly, Armsmistress nodded.
"They are," she agreed. "And so are you. It was a pleasure having you here, Skitter. You're already a full-fledged hero, even if you're still at UA and in training. Maybe the next time we meet will be when you're a pro hero. I'll be waiting for it." Armsmistress said confidently as she extended her hand. My eyes widened slightly.
"It would be an honor," I said honestly as I took Armsmistress's hand and shook it firmly. She simply nodded before smiling slightly.
"Now go back to Amy, they're probably waiting to say goodbye." Armsmistress said with a smile. I smiled and nodded.
"I will. Thank you for everything these past three weeks." I said once more as I bowed before leaving Armsmistress's lab, smiling gently before heading back to the lounge. I still had half an hour before my shift officially ended and Strider came to get me.
Even though I wasn't able to patrol today, it was a good way to end my internship in Brockton Bay. It was something I really needed after the exhausting day I had.
I sighed softly with a smile as I re-entered the room where Amy was, only to find her staring at a screen on the wall. I immediately recognized the music and groaned loudly as I watched two animated gay birds dancing. Amy burst out laughing.
Author's Notes : For those who don't recognize the bird video I'm talking about, Avocado - birds for some reason, I haven't been able to get that video out of my head for the past two weeks.
Okay, so that's it, the arc is finally over. Hooray! The next chapter is pure smut, almost 5.5k words. Since it's Tanya and Visha's first time and it was long enough, I decided to leave it as a full chapter instead of putting it in xxx.5.
Now, next week the different POVs will begin. This might take a while; I planned to create several of them, some relevant to the story and others simply more enjoyable and straightforward, so it may take several chapters before starting the next arc.
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.