Chapter Text
**
“Spare some change?”
Alex turned to the speaker. The woman sitting on the stone bench outside the main building of Lord Technologies was clearly homeless, her clothes rumpled and smudged with dirt, a small cardboard sign sat next to her that simply read ‘AM VETERN PLEASE HELP’, there was a streak of white in her long dark, matted hair, but Alex couldn’t tell if that was grey hair, dyed, or just some kind of stain.
But it was her eyes that caught Alex
They were a striking grey-green in color, and there was a distinct hint of pride in them, this woman may have been homeless, she may have been forced to beg strangers and passersby for money, but she still had her pride, she even held herself proudly, regally, like a solider
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer” she suddenly sneered, clearly mad at being stared at, breaking Alex out her thoughts
“Sorry,” blushing, she dug around in her pockets, coming up with about seventy-five cents in small coins and awkwardly handed them to the woman “sorry, that’s all I got” she apologized, wishing she could give more, the woman shrugged and pocketed the coinage, seemingly dismissing Alex. Still frowning, Alex turned and continued on into the lobby of Lord Technologies
“Hey, Danvers, that homeless chick bothering you or something?” the security guard asked as she signed in
“What? No, no, she’s fine” she replied
“You sure?” he asked
“I’m sure, Frank,” she sighed, getting tired of this kind of conversation “I know Mr. Lord doesn’t like people begging outside the building, but just leave her alone, she’s not harming anyone”
“OK,” Frank sighed, clearly not convinced “but she starts bothering people I’m gonna have to kick her to the curb” he warned, Alex smirked as she thought back to the sign which had declared that the woman was a veteran and then thought of Frank’s ever-expanding beet gut which got larger everyday thanks to his diet of doughnuts and coffee
“Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be able to” she warned
**
Throughout the rest of the day, Alex found herself thinking back to the woman outside, something about her drew Alex in like a moth to a flame. And while on her lunch break, Alex found herself hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman as she headed out to the little sandwich shop across the street, even though she knew logically that woman had probably already left, having either been run off by building security, or had otherwise moved on.
National City was no stranger to homelessness, and Alex tried to help whenever she could, she knew of course that the few amounts of small change she gave away had little impact on the grand scheme of things, but she felt better for it (even though she wished she could give more), and happily gave away whatever she could, not carrying what the person in question wanted the money for, drugs? Alcohol? She didn’t care; all that mattered to her was helping someone in need.
Leaving the building for that little sandwich shop across the street, Alex had hoped to catch a glimpse of the mysterious woman. The woman was no different from the dozens or so other homeless who appeared on National City’s streets far more often they used to. But still, Alex hoped to see her again.
Instead what she saw made her blood boil.
She had just crossed back from the sandwich shop when she heard the laughter, glancing over she saw the same woman who she’d met earlier now being beaten by what looked like a bunch of teenagers
“HEY!!” dropping her order Alex charged forward, slamming into Asshole One like a linebacker. Pinning him to the ground by his designer jacket, she drew back a fist and slammed it down onto his nose, mentally relishing in the distinct crack that resulted “punk!” she stood up, noticing that his buddies had scattered the second she’d slammed into him.
Ignoring him, she turned back to his victim, noticing that woman was slowly sitting up, wincing. There was a tear in her jacket and coins were scattered everywhere “you all right?” Alex asked, the woman grimaced and nodded “you sure?” Alex asked as she crouched down next to her “they were hitting you pretty hard, you might have internal injuries”
“I’m fine, I’m fine!” the woman snarled, swatting Alex’s hands away “why don’t you just go back to your ivory tower, princess and leave me alone?” she sneered, Alex glanced past her up at the towering monstrosity that was Lord Tech
“Actually I hate Maxwell Lord with a vengeance” she said
“Then you’re one out of every idiot in this city” the woman grumbled as she stooped down to gather as many of the fallen coins as she could find
“Wait here a sec” Alex instructed, she hurried back to where she’d dropped her bag and then hurried back
“What’s this?” the woman wondered as she scowled at the sandwich Alex was now offering her, looking at it like it might explode any second
“A peace offering,” Alex explained “since you obviously won’t let me get you to a hospital the least I could do is get you something to eat”
The woman swatted Alex’s hands away
“I don’t need your charity” she spat, straightening her jacket, she ignored Alex
Sighing, Alex set the sandwich down on the bench the woman had been sitting on and left it there was she walked back inside. Glancing over she shoulder she watched the woman suddenly seem to sag as she was confronted with sandwich, clearly her pride and her hunger were at war. Finally, she picked up the still-wrapped sandwich and tucked it under jacket before standing up and stalking away.
It seemed that hunger had won out, and Alex still wasn’t sure why this woman was so fascinating to her. Must be the eyes, she decided…