Chapter Text
July, 2000
It was a pleasantly quiet evening at the Lavere manor. Crickets and other chirping insects hidden amongst the grass of the grounds outside were performing their songs. An occasional hoot could be heard from an owl making its home along the edge of the woodland that the property backed into. These natural night sounds were complemented by the crackling of the fire below the only somewhat overly ostentatious mantelpiece. A woman’s voice cut through the ambience in a formal tone that was betrayed by barely constrained frustration.
“My lord, I implore you. It is essential that the young lady have the chance to engage with peers her own age. It is not a question of the quality of education she can receive. I know your affluence is sufficient to hire the best private tutors for any homeschooling. Nor is it a question of care. Despite how occupied we often find ourselves with our…business I know you take the time to show her the affection she needs. It is my highest honor to do so as well whenever I am able. But there are social factors essential to a young lady’s development which simply cannot be provided solely in the home!” The insistence in her argument was one borne of many previous unproductive discussions of the same topic and an earnest belief in her own points. She truly did believe in the necessity of her solution.
“Elizabeth, we’ve talked about this a dozen times already. I am still concerned about Amelia’s safety. Most villains don’t have the gall to attack a public school, but if they knew my daughter was enrolled there…the Empire wouldn’t give a damn about the consequences. They’d do whatever it takes to hurt me. The heroes would probably do the same if they thought up a convincing enough story to feed the public after the fact. It would be good for her, I know. But the risks are just…” The Marquis - no he was Charles Lavere right now - sighed heavily before turning to hunch over the edge of the bay window overlooking the front garden. Ice melted into an untouched glass of expensive liquor. The fear for his daughter’s safety bent the back of the city’s single most feared villain. The man to whom a younger Elizabeth had sworn her life and loyalty in exchange for the chance to serve a role and a place to exist. It was unsettling to see him look so tired, so human.
“I understand it’s frightening. The thought of losing her scares me like nothing else. But she needs this. If she doesn’t have the chance to make friends, form these connections with others, then-” Elizabeth took a shuddering breath when it felt as if the feelings in her words pressed hard against a tender wound. “It would be far too lonely a life for anyone to bear, let alone a girl with as much love in her as Amelia. If anything happens you know I would be there at a moment’s notice. Please consider it.” Elizabeth felt like she’d lost the mental balance she prided herself on maintaining in front of the Marquis. This situation was hitting far too close to home for her and calling up all kinds of emotions she’d thought she had properly suppressed years ago.
Charles stilled for a moment before drawing himself upright once more. For a moment Elizabeth was hopeful that her boss had finally been convinced, that she hadn’t tested the years of goodwill she had earned for no reason. Amelia would get the chance to make friends her own age and this argument could be put to rest along with all the bad feelings it dredged up in her. Then, she heard the Marquis speak.
“Get Amelia, now. Take her out the back door and move through the woods. Do not use your powers unless you are certain you have been seen. Take her to your home and stay there until I call for you. It seems the Brigade has decided to attack my home. I don’t want my daughter in the house while I am disposing of them.”
A cold rage dripped through his measured commands, one which was shared by Elizabeth as she caught the trace of movement from a white costume in the sky, barely illuminated by moonlight. How dare they? How fucking dare they? This indie team with an overinflated ego dared to attack the place her lamb ate, played, and slept in? They’d been harassing the Marche for a long time now as part of some apparent vendetta one of their members had, but this was utterly beyond the pale. An urge to don the mask of Horrormare and stand beside her boss to ravage these insolent curs until their ruined bodies begged for death’s release roared inside her, but was swiftly smothered. Amelia’s safety was far more important than those wretches. The Marquis would be certain to dole out punishment enough to make up for her absence, even with the restraints his code placed upon him.
Elizabeth turned and ran up the stairs three at a time. From there it was only a few strides down the hall until she reached Amelia’s door and threw it open. For a moment her eyes caught on the picture her lamb had drawn just this afternoon. An array of sheep, each in their own costumes. A crown on one, a chef’s hat on another, a plumed helm on the next, and so on. All images conjured up through her power and painstakingly rendered upon the page in colored wax by the girl. Elizabeth’s heart sweetly ached at the memory of how proudly her lamb had beamed at her, how pleased she looked to be able to make the same things she could. The urgency of the situation reasserted itself and she turned to Amelia’s slowly stirring form swaddled in blankets.
“Wha-what’s going on Miss Liz?” Amelia mumbled in sleepy confusion at the intrusion to her sleep.
“There are some bad people coming, my lamb. Your father will take care of them, but while he is doing that we need to go somewhere else, okay?” Elizabeth didn’t enjoy being so direct about it to the girl. She knew it was going to upset Amelia but there simply wasn’t enough time to speak as delicately as she would’ve liked or to search for a gentler excuse.
Thankfully after a moment where Elizabeth feared Amelia would cry the girl gave a jerky nod and held out her arms. Elizabeth scooped her up and began running towards the back door as quickly as she could without jostling her passenger too severely. As she used one arm to awkwardly maneuver the door open she heard a crash from the front followed by the sound of shattered glass falling onto the wooden floor. Amelia whimpered, burying her face into the crook of Elizabeth’s neck. She squeezed her lamb tighter to stave off the pain of her own impotence. Her feet hit the grass and she hurried to the treeline.
Elizabeth took a moment to glance back and check for any pursuers. Sounds of violence echoed out from the front of the manor. The peculiar sound of shattered bones that could only come from someone striking the Marquis’s power. Deep booms from heavy blows ripping up soil. Louder pops that she identified as Flashbang’s power. As she looked, a single beam came down from the night sky followed by an anguished cry. Her lamb was trembling in earnest now. She felt tears soaking through her sweater even as Amelia tried to muffle the sound. She rubbed one hand over her back in an attempt to comfort the poor girl.
Terrorizing Amelia like this was too damned far. She knew Marquis’s code compelled him to avoid harming women, but once tonight’s matter was resolved Horrormare would be quite eager to pay the women of the Brigade a visit and enlighten them about her own distinct lack of any such policy. Her boss surely wouldn’t mind as long as she covered her tracks well enough to maintain deniability. It would be easy enough to frame the Empire for any attack she did commit and preserve the Marche’s image.
Lost as she was in alternating thoughts of gruesome revenge and comforting her lamb, Elizabeth was somewhat surprised when she found she’d walked far enough to reach the parking lot which held her deliberately modest hatchback. She always kept a carseat in the vehicle for Amelia in case of an emergency or the rare occasions where she was allowed to take her out of the house. It also made some people (men in particular) bother her slightly less in her civilian life when they made the assumption she had a child of her own after seeing it.
She buckled Amelia in with minimal mistakes from her shaky hands. After getting into the driver seat she turned around, taking a moment to wipe the tears and snot from her lamb’s face using a couple tissues from the glovebox. Her stained sweater could be thrown into the washer once they got home.
“Look at me, my lamb. Your father is a very strong man, the strongest man I know. He’s never lost to anyone before and he won’t lose tonight. We’ll have a sleepover at my house tonight and in the morning we will come back. I’m sure he’ll give you such a big hug when you see him that you’ll forget you were ever even worried!” Elizabeth forced lightness into her voice and a smile onto her face. Amelia needed her to be Miss Liz right now and that’s who she would be. Her worry spiked as the invisible cloud of her power felt smothering around her head.
Amelia sniffled and managed to croak out a soft, “okay, Miss Liz.” The watery smile her lamb returned to her made Liz light up in the midst of this awful night.
The forced smile on Liz’s face immediately broadened into something more genuine. Her breath came easier as she turned around and twisted the key in the ignition. Amelia would hopefully manage until she fell back asleep. The girl just needed a final bit of encouragement to calm her down and hopefully stave off any nightmares. “Everything will be alright in the morning, I promise you Amelia.”