"Where is Hot Rod?" Courtney walked into Legion HQ, fuming once again. She'd just gotten off the phone with Barron, and she was ready to blow.
"What is it this time?" Achilles asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
"He put someone in the hospital on Saturday. I'm surprised I didn't hear about it before now!" She wanted to punch something.
"They probably did something wrong," Achilles replied nonchalantly.
"They were an innocent bystander! And he just set them on fire like an idiot." Courtney flopped onto a couch and held her head in her hands.
"The pressures of combat get to all of us," Achilles said, acting like he was some kind of authority on the matter.
"Not like that!" Courtney snapped, standing and whirling to face him. "Military personnel are trained to not do that. If you harm innocents in your fight, you're doing it wrong. Very wrong."
"Lightning?" Barrier Maiden came out from one of the doors to the rooms and looked at her anxiously.
"Get Hot Rod out here. He needs to hear this as much as Achilles."
"He's asleep."
"Isn't he set to patrol in an hour? Get him up!"
"What's this?" Prime asked, coming in from the training room. Tanner followed behind him. When he saw Courtney, he glared at her.
Well, he was definitely not going to shoot her again. Courtney breathed slowly, activating her Miracle in case the brat tried anything.
"I need Hot Rod out here. Are any of you aware that he burned someone half to death this weekend?"
At some point, Barrier Maiden had scuttled off, presumably to find the man in question, so she didn't hear the problem, but Prime's eyes widened in disbelief. Tanner just shrugged.
"They got in the way. We had a hard enough time fighting that guy as is."
"How did they get in the way?" Prime asked, furrowing his brows.
"Got too close. You can't expect us to be perfect every time."
"And you see no issue with that?" Courtney asked, struggling to keep her voice level.
"It's their fault for walking into a fight zone. We should make signs to keep people out."
Courtney wanted to smash her head against something. Before she could reply, however, Barrier Maiden returned with Hot Rod, who looked a bit too smug and pleased with himself until he saw Courtney.
"Great. It's the military's little minion."
"Here to ask you to be more careful in the future," Courtney said, keeping her voice level. "I don't know if you understand this, but the military is not entirely on board with the idea of the Legion."
"They're enemies," Hot Rod snorted. Tanner and Achilles nodded while Prime looked around in disbelief. Right, last time they'd had this discussion, he'd been on patrol. Most likely, no one had told him or Knight what their conversation had entailed.
"Where's Knight? And maybe grab Jo while you're at it." Courtney said. It would be (hopefully) slightly easier if everyone was here.
"I'll grab Knight. Maiden, could you grab Jo?" Prime left in the direction of the washrooms while Barrier Maiden went for Jo. Courtney sat down and waited for them to return before she got into it with these fools again. She ignored their glares and the occasional barb they threw her way.
When they got back, everyone sat in a circle, half of them looking like they would rather be anywhere else.
"Let me start at the top, since Prime and Knight missed out last time. And I really hope someone talks to Fiore too."
"I'll fill him in," Jo volunteered.
"Pathetic leech," Hot Rod muttered. Courtney ignored him.
"Okay, for those of you who don't know, I'm ex-military. I've been in contact with my former sergeant, hoping to facilitate cooperation between the Legion and the military."
"Without telling anyone," Achilles interrupted, glaring at her.
"I didn't realize it was such a big deal," she sighed. "Anyway, I managed to convince the military to give us certain privileges in light of the current rash of Miracles and our place in the situation. The Hero Emergency Unit is one such concession they made. Guaranteed treatment for Legion members without risk of exposing your identity. Another benefit is that they won't arrest us for vigilante justice.
"But we have our own responsibilities. We have to protect the citizens of Arx Nubibus to the best of our ability, and we need to work with the military to help them. Recently, I think some of us have lost sight of that. This past weekend, an innocent bystander was severely injured in a clash between the Legion and a suspect, with the injury being dealt by a Legion member."
"Look, they had it coming," Hot Rod said with a snort. "Shoulda stayed out of the way."
"And what will you do the next time we deal with a hostage situation?" Courtney asked firmly. "Last time, children got hurt because we dealt with it poorly. Are we just going to kill innocent hostages now because they're 'in the way' of our work? We're supposed to be the best of Arx. So let's live up to that."
She took a breath, glancing around to see how she was being received. Knight and Prime looked like they agreed, while Barrier Maiden looked uncertain. The other three, of course, still looked at her harshly.
"So says the military's snitch," Hot Rod spat. "You trying to turn us into the military? The organization that's so big and corrupt no one can salvage it?"
"Not the entire organization is corrupt," Courtney replied. "There are people in it doing their best to make sure it gets better. And if we help those people - "
"Don't wanna hear it. You're with the enemy." Hot Rod got up and left without another word, while Courtney heaved a sigh.
"I'll say one more warning. If you can't operate within the parameters I've set with the military, I can't guarantee you the same level of freedom. This has to be a give and take. And do you really want another enemy when we've got so many surrounding us already?"
Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she stood and left.
She was doing what she could. What came next was up to them. With another sigh, she pulled out her phone to text Jumper. At least he was someone she felt she could count on.
Part of her chastised herself for thinking of him as a confidant, but there weren't exactly a lot of other people who'd understand her situation. And he seemed like he was still interested in how the Legion situation played out.
Besides, talking to him was good for her mental health. They could just joke around like a pair of old friends.
She sent the text and put her phone away. Next up, she had to go back to Louise's and resume the search for a new place to live.
