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The days after Shroud’s death were strange for everyone. The entire z-team was off their game, messing up multiple times on the simplest of missions, but more so because: Invisigal was out in the hospital after immediately reopening her wounds, Waterboy had sprained his ankle sometime during the fight, and Prism was out performing on tour, which was somehow counted for PTO.
But Blazer noticed one person seemed the most off: Coupe.
She was being held in SDN’s holding cells for the last few days, waiting for whenever the higher-ups would give her the go-ahead to rejoin the Phoenix Program or send her off to jail. Her demeanor had shifted, becoming less angry after being welcomed back by the team, who, of course, made sure to check in on her daily; they were villains, not assholes. Some of them anyway.
But now she was acting sad and mopey, constantly looking as if she were drowning in self-pity.
Angsty was the best way Blazer could phrase it.
Or that’s what she thought until she asked the team.
_____
When Blazer was bored with paperwork, she’d often find herself walking around the office to talk with dispatchers and fellow heroes during their lunch break. Not like she could do much else without her amulet, she had been left as nothing more than another office jockey wandering the halls for more work or conversation to be had.
She found herself in the break room, hoping to find something to snack on, where she spotted a smug-looking Flambae, though she could be wrong; he always looked kind of smug, talking on the phone with who she could only assume was Prism after hearing her boisterous voice on the other end of the line, cheering.
“What’re you talking about?” Blazer questions, and the tall man gives her a frightened head turn, seemingly unaware she had entered the room.
“Fuck! I forgot you got- uh- shorter, I didn’t even see you- shit.” Flambae’s reaction wasn’t too uncommon now that Blazer had lost all that made her stand out as a hero; most people have gotten into the habit of forgetting she’s their boss and slipping up around her, which she isn’t complaining about. It helps a lot when part of her job is being a narc.
She lets out a soft giggle at the large man’s reaction, and Flambae lets out a melodramatic sigh in response.
“It’s alright Flambae, sorry if I spooked you.” She teases, leaning against the open door frame, a smile now resting on her face.
Prism’s voice peaks through the phone, and Flambae has to pull it away from his ear as his friend yells, “Hi, Miss Blazer!” He turns the phone around to face the smaller woman who leans in to examine the screen, which displays the illusionist ecstatically performing on stage, holding up her phone to get a full view of the crowd, who are frenziedly jumping to the beat of her music.
“Oh shoot, you’re like live live. Um- Hi Prism and audience.” Blazer replies, a tad confused, but in return, she hears the crowd burst into a jumble of cheers. “I’ve told them all about y’all,” Prism hollers.
The crowd’s shouting had become so erratic that it could be heard across the office, turning a few heads of workers who were passing by. Flambae, not seeming to care, shouts even louder, making sure Prism can hear him over her overjoyed fans, “I’ve got to go! Big boss is here, y’know!” More shouting can be heard, but Blazer has no clue what Prism nor her fans could be saying, though it seems to be no issue for Flambae as he, without fail, responded to everything Prism said before hanging up.
“So what’d you need, boss?” Flambae stated sincerely. The Z-team always treated Blazer with respect, but it was nice to see them being a little more casual with how they spoke to her after the battle with Shroud, like they had all grown closer. The thought made her feel a bit giddy.
“Oh well, nothing technically, I’m just making rounds after some paperwork.” Blazer admitted, “You spoke to Coop today? She seemed a little sad.”
Flambae looked at her, bemused by the statement. “Uh, I did, yeah, but she seemed pretty normal to me, like sure she was grumpy, but that’s like usual for her. RBF and all that.”
“Huh… You sure? Cause I coulda sworn she seemed upset.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
“Like sure sure?”
“…Yes?”
“Huh."
______
Now Blazer couldn’t stop thinking about it, and after letting it eat away at her for a few more hours (thirty minutes), she had asked the rest of the Z-team, and turns out all of them had pretty much the same thing to say as Flambae; she was not sad or didn’t seem to be to them.
The whole thing was sending her for a loop. She’s pretty great at reading people, or at least she thinks, because now that part of her has been completely turned on its head. But she was so sure, the look on Coupe’s face screamed sad, kicked puppy on the side of the road.
She felt insane for doing so, but it was break, so no one would question her walking in alone to Coupe’s cell, not like they had earlier, but still. She needed to see her face again for herself to prove she wasn’t going crazy.
Without a second thought, she found herself weaving through the dispatchers in the halls and almost knocking over a few potted plants on her way; she’ll probably have those removed, now seeming like a hazard.
After reaching the holding cell room, she paused for a second to catch her breath, not realizing she was even out of it. Reaching for the handle, she cracked the door open to peek at Coupe who was sitting on her cell bench, nonchalant perusal, fully focused on the plastic butter knife they had given her to play with. She seemed to like fiddling with it, a small smirk on her face as she did, her demeanor completely different since Blazers’ last visit.
“I know you’re there. You can come out.” Coupe blurted, spooking Blazer, who quickly opened the door so as not to cause any more suspicion from the assassin. “Sorry, Coop, I just- well, I didn’t really have a good reason for spying on you, sorry.”
Coupe swiftly sat up, placing the knife to her side. “Blonde Blazer, it’s you. I didn’t- wasn’t expecting to see you.” A light chuckle left Blazer involuntarily, shocking Coupe, who looked at her wide-eyed.
“Sorry, sorry! It’s just you don’t need to get so tense, you started talking like Waterboy. I’m not coming here with any bad news or any news for that matter.” Coupe relaxed a little, but her unease was still clearly visible; her eyes now avoiding Blazers. “Then why did you come?” Coupe asks her hands warily now fidgeting with the knife, feeling the grooves of the plastic blade with her thumb.
Coupe looked different without her mask or her costume in general, for that matter. The only giveaway being the robotic, featherless (Knifeless?) wings connected to her back, which had been tucked behind her the second she saw Blazer exit from the cover of the door.
Blazer’s expression softens as she walks towards Coupe, the assassin’s gaze flickering between her cell wall and the brunette woman closing in on her. The hand that had been fiddling with the knife now clenched into a tight fist. Blazer’s eyes lingered on that hand, slowly drifting up to see Coupe now fully refusing eye contact, burning her gaze into the bench below her.
“Do I need to have a reason to come see you?” Blazer questions earnestly, “Or can I not come check in on a friend?” The look on Coupe’s face shifted into something more akin to shame, her mouth quivering. “You would still consider me a friend? Even after…” Coupe cuts herself off, not wanting to finish her sentence. A moment passed before either spoke, both likely not knowing what to say.
Blazer was the first to speak up, “Coupe, I’ve always seen you as a friend.” She could hear the assassin’s breath hitch. “Sure, you fucked up big time, but I fucked up too. I never gave you a fair chance, shit, I regretted cutting you almost the instant I didn’t see you at work the next morning.” The tension in the room felt unbearably thick, each movement between the two feeling incredibly stiff. Coupe’s golden eyes drifted up finally looking into hers, now boring into hers, as if searching for something. “It just didn’t feel right to do that to you after how hard you- everyone tried."
The two observed each other for a few long moments in silence and, without thinking for any longer than she had already been, Blazer started unlocking the cell door, much to the others’ confusion, stepping inside the concrete box her expression indecipherable to the other woman, locking the door from the inside, and tossing the key across the room, the metal hitting the hard floor with a loud clang.
An awkward hush fell in the room, both women looking at the key, then both back at one another.
“What the fuck.” Was all Coupe could muster as she gaped at the key, now several feet away from where either of them could reach. “Yeah, I didn’t really think that out… but, it’s fine! I’ll just- stay in here with you and bond! Kinda like a team-building exercise!” Blazer cheered. “Wouldn’t a team-building exercise require, well, the rest of the team?” Coupe huffed out, but seemingly not too against the on-the-whim decision.
“Well, uh, yeah, that is true.” Blazer admitted,
“And how are you supposed to get out after this ‘team building’ session?” Coupe pressed
“Okay, okay, I know, dumb decision I just made, I’m grasping that now.” The hero sputters out, “But-” Blazer plops down on the stiff bed, “I still think this is a great opportunity to get to know you and you know me! Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Coupe lets out a deep sigh but responds, undeniably enjoying whatever web she’s been spun into, “Fine, where do we start?” Blazer practically beams in response. “Well, um- oh! My name is Mandy. It’s nice to meet you…” She waits expectantly, a hopeful grin stuck to her face.
“Janelle.”
_____
“Coupe! The others and I brought ya some cell-warming gifts- Oh, hello Ms. Blazer… Blazer?”