Chapter Text
Maria Alvarez stood atop the top rope facing away from the ring, she carefully bent over, grabbing the chain between the turnbuckle and the corner post for balance. She slowly crouched; she would need her knees fully bent to get the jump right. There was nothing else to it but to do it. She spun horizontally and jumped at the same time. Now she needed to flip forward and…
Maria Alvarez landed on her back atop a pile of soft foam crash pads. She didn't need the pads for landing on her back, they were here in case she landed on her head.
"Fuck!" Maria yelled straight up to the gymnasium lights. She was still 180 degrees short of hitting the 450 splash part of the Phoenix Splash.
"Ready to give up yet?" Her brother Hector yelled from the middle of the ring. This was just the 3rd time they had been able to get together to train since she called him a little over a month ago. He was shocked when she called. Shocked and flattered. He had never had much of a relationship with his little sister. Never really wanted one either. Not since the earliest signs she was a warper started to show up. He had spent his entire life being in the shadow of his big brother Eddie and suddenly here comes a little sister who is an honest-to-God superhero. Those feelings of inadequacy and even more so the feeling that it simply wasn’t fair manifested as a bitterness in Hector and a resentment of his little sister followed.
But then something miraculous happened: Project Suture.
Just like that, the warp was closed. All the monsters were gone. All the warpers were just normal people again. Like Maria. Little by little the resentment towards the little sister he barely knew was replaced with sympathy, perhaps some relatability…
"Damn it this was so easy when I had my powers." Maria said as she clambered back to her feet.
...and maybe a little schadenfreude. Seeing his little sister getting the occasional reminder that she no longer had an unfair advantage made Hector smile inside. Just a little bit. Shamefully.
"If you still had your powers we wouldn't be here." Hector learned about Maria being unable to wrestle because of her warp in the weeks of getting to know her both inside the gym and out. It felt good to grow close to another member of his family. Gloria was the only one he felt was completely on his side.
"I'm still fit. I mean look at these muscles." Maria pointed to her abs.
"That's the problem. Those are powerlifter muscles. You need lean muscle mass and less mass in general. You're a giant! Giants don’t move like that. "
"I'm gonna be the first!"
“You’re a 220 pound brick shithouse. Who do you plan on throwing around that you need all that muscle? Most Joshi are the size of one of your fucking legs. You could launch Mei Suruga into low earth…” Hector stopped mid-sentence as he caught somebody out of the corner of his eye he wasn’t equipped to deal with.
"Fuck." Hector really didn't want to see his mother today. And she was heading straight to the ring. "Time out." Hector pointed Gail out to Maria, hoping she could distract her.
"Ma? What's..." That's when Maria realized Ma wasn't alone. There was somebody with her following a few steps behind. Maria couldn't make out her facial features from where she was standing but she recognized the jacket. She knew immediately her day just got a lot more 'interesting'.
"Zero...what the fuck are you doing here?"
Maria could tell that something was off about Zero the second she didn't immediately respond by yelling at her. Even her body language was off. Zero was looking at the ground, clutching her arm in a desperate attempt to hide in plain sight. She was scared. Or embarrassed. Or ashamed.
"Um. Hi Maria. How have you been? Can we talk?"
Maria didn't know what Zero's deal was. She didn't know why she was standing in front of her looking like an abused puppy. She wasn't entirely certain she cared either. Her presence in front of her told Maria she was alive. That was all the interaction Maria wanted with Zero. Talking didn't sound great.
"Why? So you can apologize a year too late?"
Maria's dismissive attitude was answered with a derisive smack from Gail.
"Maria, what is wrong with you? This girl fights entities with you for years and you turn her away just because you yelled at each other a year ago? I raised you better than that!"
"No it's alright. She doesn't owe me anything. Thanks anyway." Zero started to turn away. When she did, a surge of guilt hit Maria. Ma was right. Nursing a grudge from over a year ago was stupid. Especially since Zero was...not herself.
"Wait Zero wait. Holy shit I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from? Please, I'll talk about whatever you want."
"Really?" Zero raised her eyes up. Maria was used to seeing fire and anger and passion in Zero's eyes. But those had all smoldered out. Her eyes looked as scared and lost as the rest of her.
"Good girl." Gail smiled at her daughter. "You should probably talk in your room."
"I just gotta shower."
"You can shower at home." Gail grabbed her daughter and pulled her down to her level "Talk first so she doesn't get cold feet and leave." Maria nodded in agreement.
“Hey Hector, bit of an emergency. Gotta call it…” Maria turned around to say goodbye to Hector but Hector was nowhere to be found.
“That boy. I swear…” Gail said, noting the absence of her second born. “Anyway. I get out of your hair now.”
When Maria and Zero crossed the street between the gym and her family home Maria noted that Zero was carrying a garbage bag. She had no idea what might have been in the big. She just hoped it wasn’t literal garbage. She didn’t want to ask here. She felt like that would be part of the discussion they were about to have.
Several posters of lucha stars of years gone by were tacked on Maria’s bedroom wall in various states of wear. The clothing on her floor made it almost impossible to tell what color the carpet was. Maria sat down on her unmade queen sized bed. Zero stood over her. Almost as if she were asking permission.
“You can sit. It’s fine.” Maria reassured her. Zero sat down, keeping several feet between them. Zero didn’t like being touched. She also didn’t release her grip on her bag.
“Are you alright?” Maria decided to cut to the chase. She knew Zero was very well not alright from how she was acting and Maria figured that getting to the heart of the matter would spare them both minutes of awkward small talk and uncomfortable silences.
“No.” Zero started blinking rapidly. Her voice cracked. She broke eye contact. “I need help.”
Zero asking for help straight up was staggering. Zero loathed asking for help and when she did it was more of a demand.
“What kind of help?”
“I…I don’t know.” Zero struggled to get the words out. She let go of the bag and started grabbing at the short cut black hair that adorned her head. Maria always remembered her hair having purple highlights but there were none there now. “I don’t know anything…I don’t know. I don’t understand…”
Maria started getting uncomfortable. Zero was deliberately avoiding her gaze while struggling to talk. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“I need help with everything!” Zero could barely get the words out before she started shaking and covering her eyes. Maria couldn’t believe it. Zero was crying. Whatever ‘everything’ was, it was absolutely gutting her; somebody Maria only knew as an unflappable force of nature, motivated only by the urge to destroy void entities and anger. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry. Oh GOD! I’m sorry!” Zero started trying to undo the drawstrings on the garbage bag only to balk at the last second.
Maria could tell Zero was hysterical and trying to explain herself was only going to make it worse. “Don’t try to answer right now. Just let it out.”
“I don’t wanna!” Zero started moving her hands over her face like she was trying to push the tears back into the ducts. “I don’t…I don’t want you to see me like this.” She was snuffling at this point. Her words coming out between sobs and sniffles.
“Ok then I’ll give you a few minutes.” Maria said, getting ready to get up. “I’ll just take my shower and we’ll see where you’re at after I get out.”
“Ok. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…” Zero was just blubbering and sniffling. Maria left her gym back in the locker room so she grabbed fresh clothes from her closet and got out of Zero’s hair for the time being.