"Yes, come in," Blonde Blazer called out to the one knocking on her office door. Surprisingly, it was Jin who entered the room.
"Hello, I would like to have a bit more information." He started directly as he closed the door behind him, making her mind jump to their conversation the previous night, but considering the meeting just now, he was obviously here to inquire more about Stacy's relocation.
"I know it's difficult just to accept her relocation, but revealing more information about her personal situation isn't something for me to decide."
"I understand that, but as a team, we decided that we should know more than that there was a 'critical relationship'." Blonde Blazer couldn't help but wonder if he truly was representing his team or if he came here of his own accord. Though given the past few days, she didn't think he would be phrasing it like that if it weren't true.
And that was admirable. Just him trying to get some more information for his team showed where his mind was at, that he cared enough to put some extra effort into things. She was skeptical a few days ago, but he truly changed for the better even when other heroes weren't around to witness it…
"I'd like to help, but you should also understand it's not my place to expose her matter more than I already have. I'm sorry, but this is truly everything I can reveal, and Stacy has already agreed that this would be for the be-"
"Geez. I can't stand this anymore!" Invisigal's voice called out as she materialized in the room. The blonde heroine couldn't help but groan at her attempt to listen in on sensitive conversations. This hadn't been the first incident, after all.
"Invisigal-" Her attempt at reprimanding her was interrupted by the now-visible woman.
"I know you want to protect me, but…" the former criminal hesitated for a moment, long enough for question marks to appear in Blonde Blazer's mind, 'Protect you?'. Invisigal then turned to Jin. "I told her about you two, that you were fucking."
"What?"
"What?"
Jin seemed bewildered at the revelation, while Blonde Blazer said, "Wait, you were serious about that? I thought you were exaggerating because they get along!"
"Hold on!" Jin called out a bit louder, while creating a T with his hands, "Time out! The fuck you mean, you revealed we were fucking?"
"After that scene in the storeroom, it was clear you were fucking." Invisigal rolled her eyes while Jin looked honestly incredulous.
"The fuck you mean it was clear?! We aren't and weren't fucking. We had a total professional relationship!"
"Yeah, totally profesh- with the way she dragged you into the storeroom, and you told her that you found her attractive. Hell, you even said that the only reason you weren't fucking was that you noticed me."
"That was obviously not serious! I tried to make the situation less awkward! What the fuck, Visi, I wasn't fucking her- Blonde Blazer, I swear I had a complete professional relationship with her. She was a bit touchy, but I figured it was because she was naturally that way." Jin had turned toward her and explained earnestly. Blonde Blazer believed him.
"She is indeed a bit touchy." Stacy was the hugger type, so for someone like Invisigal, it might have looked a certain way.
Invisigal looked between her and Jin before grimacing slightly. "If it's not about the two fucking what other 'problematic' relationship could someone like Stacy have?"
Blonde Blazer opened her mouth, almost revealing too much information before shaking her head. "If it were just her sleeping with someone, it wouldn't be reason enough to relocate her."
"It wouldn't?" Invisigal asked with an emotion that Blonde Blazer couldn't quite place.
"No, obviously." Jin rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "There are no company policies about that, and even if there were, that would be shaky in court. People can have relationships, whether romantic or just friendships. Some companies would probably prefer that coworkers get together because they think it would make them less likely to leave."
Blonde Blazer agreed, "Indeed, SDN neither encourages nor discourages a relationship between coworkers."
"The only thing problematic would be between employees and employers because of the power dynamic, but as a dispatcher, she is just a 'regular' coworker."
"Huh, that's… neat." Invisigal seemed relieved, while Blonde Blazer somehow disliked his explanation for whatever reason, despite it being objectively correct.
"There are no laws or company policies against that either. Though there is a need to disclose the relationship." She felt compelled to say.
"Right, so it wouldn't be an issue if it had been the case, and for the record, Stacy and I truly didn't have anything going on," Jin explained. "So, you don't want to inform us because it's Stacy's business. Then can we contact her and ask personally? Convince her to return as our dispatcher?"
Blonde Blazer thought for a moment before sighing. "…Even if she tells you, I still don't want you to spread the information around." She thought for a moment before warning him. "I know you have the best intentions, but I don't think she will come back."
"It's worth a try." Jin looked determined. Blonde Blazer knew the look. He wouldn't give up easily.
She had said her piece, so she could only give Jin Stacy's phone number and watch him call her. Without any hesitation, he directly dialed her number. It was an important topic, so she could understand that they didn't want to delay it to search for another office that was sound-insulated. Her office would do fine.
"Hey, Stacy, it's me, Jin. Yeah, we just heard- Yup… No, you don't have to apologize… I know… No, for all its worth, you did an amazing job. You improved a lot in such a short timespan…" Jin continued talking for a bit, giving praising words for her work and not trying to be too pressuring.
"Hey, look, we just received the news, and the team was a bit bummed out. We only know that you had a 'critical' relationship with someone." Jin made some air quotes as he started pacing around the room a bit. Clearly, he was nervous. "We don't want to be noisy, but some people were rather affected by the news-" Blonde Blazer didn't have close insights on the team's personalities, but she was pretty sure that he was probably the one most affected. Jin fell silent as he listened to her explanation.
Stacy only spoke highly about him, so she wasn't surprised that she was willing to talk about it with him. Blonde Blazer didn't need to focus on what was being said over the phone, as she already had all the information, and it wouldn't be nice to be privy to a somewhat private conversation. After a few moments, Stacy seemed to have finished her explanation.
"I understand and thank you for sharing. I won't inform them about who it was, just that someone was involved in your parents' accident. I'm sure they will be more understanding about your choice of trying to put this behind you after knowing about it... Do you think it would help to speak about it to them? …No, I completely understand, and you don't have to apologize… A week. Everyone? Alright, I'll tell them… No, you have done a great job. It has already changed us for the better… and I hope you will be able to see past it and just see the good in them… Thank you… I'm sure you will do a good job as long as you continue to learn and try to improve… See you..."
With that, he hung up, looked at the phone for a moment before putting his phone away. With both of his hands, he rubbed his face as if to massage away a headache, and she could only empathize with him. The room was silent, and despite only having heard half of it, the atmosphere was heavy.
Invisigal seemed to realize how serious the situation was from the few snippets of the conversation. To be honest, it wasn't hard to feel the seriousness of it with the way he talked and moved during the call. It also made Blonde Blazer realize what the key difference was between the Jin in front of her and the Saiyan from a few days ago.
He cared.
And that carried over into all his actions. A hero at heart. For someone like him, it was especially difficult when they felt like they had failed someone. This situation wasn't his fault in the slightest, but from the glimpses she had seen and heard from Stacy, it was clear that Jin tried to mentor her a bit, to steer her to be better. It might have been only a small part during his work, but as empathetic as he seemed to have become, he must have realized the impact he had on her and what it might mean for her in the future. Especially after knowing the reason for her decision to discontinue working at Torrance, going as far as wanting to move cities.
Not to mention, he must have realized that the team was warming up to her as well. In a way, she had quickly become someone to be relied upon. Taking this away might be worse than never having it.
Seeing his thoughtfulness and deep investment reminded her of her starting days before she became more jaded and overwhelmed with responsibility. Back then, it would have been inconceivable to her that she would want to be Mandy for once. Perhaps it was moments just like these that turned her away from the ideal life she was imagining.
"So, who was it?" Invisigal finally asked, prompting Jin to look at her with a complicated expression. Blonde Blazer once again could empathize with him. She had been in the same situation just the day before. After all, she had the information that Stacy had desperately sought. Getting to know that Golem was involved in the accident that killed Stacy's parents wasn't something she could have easily dealt with. No matter how Blonde Blazer tried to word it.
After starting at SDN, Stacy was privy to a few services they offered to their employees. One such service was forensic, mostly to supplement their work, but in her case, it revealed the perpetrator who caused a landslide on the hillside of Santa Monica. At the time, Golem still didn't have free will, controlled and ordered by his maker.
However, even if it technically absolved him, what it meant to her couldn't be explained away. Either Stacy could move on from the fact that he unintentionally and even unknowingly took her parents from her, or she couldn't. The entire previous work day, she had thought about it before deciding that she couldn't. She couldn't forgive him this easily and wanted out of the Phoenix Program. Out of Torrance.
Just seeing him made her realize something about herself. Working with him wasn't something she was willing to do. She couldn't give him a second chance, which is why she decided that she wasn't fit to dispatch a team that needed exactly that, a chance at redemption. Despite the pain he caused her, she didn't want to reveal this to Golem. 'It might break him. I don't want to do that to him,' she said as she left early yesterday evening to avoid seeing anyone else.
In a way, this small act of kindness showed she had forgiven him. However, it was clear that looking at him would awaken painful memories she was not ready for yet, so she left. In the end, she was someone to be admired. Not many people would choose the path of forgiveness. Blonde Blazer remembered her pained expression as she left. Just seeing her like that made her feel guilty for hiring her. It was almost like fate had brought her to this team.
"I don't think it’s a good idea to reveal that." And now it was Jin's burden too, to keep that piece of information away from Golem. "It won't do anything but stir up resentment and trouble."
"You know that's fucked, right? Just now, you were at the forefront to get information, and once you have it, you don't share it! Something like that shouldn't be hidden! If someone was involved in harming her parents, they shouldn't get away scot-free…"
"How would you know that they haven't already received their punishment or that their involvement would earn a punishment to begin with? It's a highly emotional topic for Stacy, and she can't work here knowing about someone's past. Whether to reveal this isn't for us to decide. Blonde Blazer was right, it's her personal business, and she explicitly said that I should not reveal it. You should know that it's her giving grace to them, so let's not step on it."
Invisigal wanted to retort, staring at him defiantly before deflating as she exhaled. "Whatever. It's not like-" Jin patted her head at that moment.
"I know it's not easy to accept, but Stacy doesn't want them harmed, so all we can- no, what we should do is accept it and trust that this is okay this way…" Blonde Blazer realized that Invisigal might be guessing that it was someone from the Z-Team. Perhaps she thought it was because of her? "If you want to talk with her, you can in a week. She asked us to give her some space before we call her again. Let's go inform the others about this as well."
"Are you sure you want to disclose it to them? They might not take it as well." Blonde Blazer couldn't help but ask. After all, it was a difference to know that their coworker was forced to leave versus not wanting to continue working with them.
"…No, I'm not sure, but it's best to be as honest as I can with them." She wasn't sure if the team needed this as much as he did, but if he decided that it was for the best, she couldn't ask him not to. He and Stacy had just talked about it, and if she was okay with this and Jin thought it would help the team, how could she claim to know better? In fact, she should have had that talk with Stacy. Ask her about it in-depth instead of dancing around the subject because it was a sensitive topic…
"They might have already gone out on a mission." He muttered as he tapped on his earpiece, asking whether everyone was available for another short meeting. Fortunately, Sunday was a calm day, and Chase had opted to send out one of the volunteers first.
Invisigal looked a bit out of it. Her brows were furrowed, and her arms were crossed. It was clear she was mulling over what he said to her just now. After getting the confirmation that everyone was on site, they followed him to the meeting room.
It was awfully quiet when they entered, watching as Jin stood at the end of the table, while Invisigal and Blonde Blazer stood behind him.
"Since it's a personal subject, we had called Stacy directly about it. For starters, she explicitly told me not to reveal the other person involved. We are going to respect her decision, is that clear?" A pause as he glanced across the members of the Z-team, waiting for them to actually respond.
"Yeah, of course. Shit, don't make it more dramatic than it is." Some silent nods or simple Yeses to confirm it.
"She and the other person have a history together that goes a long time back. In the past, that person was involved in an accident causing the death of her parents." The way he phrased it made it seem that both were aware of one another. This would exclude anyone who wasn't exactly aware of their relationship, like it was for Golem. Very sensitive. "Since she is not able to relieve the memory of her loss, she has decided to leave Torrance and won't return until she has processed it. Since it's her choice and not something decided for her, there is no decision to be overturned. She allowed me to give you her phone number in case you want to contact her, but asked us to at least give her a week before doing so, as she is currently busy dealing with it all."
With this, he seemed to forward her phone number to them in a newly created group chat, if she caught that right from the corner of her eye. "What does that mean for us?" Flambae asked after putting his phone away, turning to her as he continued, "Do we get another dispatcher or wait until she comes back?" Urging her to step forward and respond.
"Given the circumstances, I think you have earned a break from ever-changing dispatchers. Stacy had spoken about the support the team had shown her over these few days. Although I haven't planned it in great detail yet, I figured it would be best to involve you in the hiring process as soon as possible. We would need a volunteer."
"I can help you with hiring no fuck ups." Flambae volunteered almost immediately.
"I think two people will give a differentiated opinion of our future possible dispatcher. Would two people helping out work?" Jin asked, seemingly wary of relying solely on Flambae as the only one to decide on their next dispatcher.
If she was being honest, Blonde Blazer had Jin in her mind from the beginning. After all, it was he who helped Stacy to improve.
"That should be fine. I'll tell you the details once I get around to defining them." With this, the atmosphere seemed better than when she had left the room the first time that day. Glancing at Jin's straight back as he asked how they usually coordinated with Chase.
"I'll leave you to it then." She said, earning a nod from Jin.
"Thank you, Blonde Blazer. We'll be able to take it from here." With those words, she left them to their devices, while feeling strangely confident that they wouldn't return to their previous bad attitude. Well, at least not as bad.
As she closed her office door and sat in her chair again, she now had time to process what had happened. Overall, the situation ended up on better terms than she had expected. With her mind a bit lighter, her thoughts turned to something else. Something that had worried her for the better part of the morning. Did he truly not recognize her? Her hand drifted to the gem above her sternum.
…
Sean hadn't expected this. Just as he thought he might be able to find a groove, a rhythm in trying to fit into the role of a hero and his own pursuit of power, the world threw him a curveball. Without a dispatcher, the work became less bearable. Chase was efficient, so every time, critical missions were conveyed verbally, while non-critical missions were directed to an automatic system, which relied on client input. It made the tickets less detailed and slower to arrive.
It made sense to prioritize it that way when there weren't enough dispatchers to parse all the calls into immediate missions. Although Sundays were slow in comparison, there would have been two dispatchers under normal circumstances. It seemed that Blonde Blazer wasn't able to find a replacement for Stacy in time. With only Chase to take the calls, it turned rather busy for the old man.
Most of the Z-team had to take the tickets, as there wasn't enough critical stuff to occupy their team and all the volunteers. It didn't help that Chase obviously had more trust in those volunteers than anyone on the Z-team. Logically, it made sense that the man would give the critical missions to the volunteers first, to the ones he had worked with and therefore knew them and their skill set better.
Directing the heroes with the highest probability of success, given the information at hand, was the best option he could and should take. However, this didn't change the fact that it felt unpleasant to play second fiddle.
It's only been a few days as a hero, and he could already tell he liked helping people. He was no saint in the past, but he always believed in the positive impact every individual could have on their surroundings. In his mind, there was never a need to be in a position of power to truly change the world. The only thing that mattered was how one interacted with the world. A smile, nice words to a person were already enough to change the world for that person. It was the small things that went a long way to heal people, and those people would change the world for others.
However, now he had gotten a taste of being a positive change on a larger scale. What a great impact his powers could have for the people in dire need. It was almost like he just got hooked up to a new drug, only for the supply to run out.
"…hear me?" Malevola called out, pulling him out of his thoughts. She looked a bit banged up. There were several bite marks and bruises on her body, though the injuries didn't seem to bother her much. Actually, when he looked more closely at her expression, she seemed to be blushing.
"Sorry. You done with the alligator?"
"Alligators! There were three! Why the hell would that cunt have that many as pets?!" She spat out as she shook her head. "What about you? Seems like you got that leopard under control. Where is the bear?"
"I tossed him a couple of times into the air, and then he became docile. It's somewhere inside." The bear almost looked like he was about to cry. Honestly, it made Sean feel a bit bad. Malevola also looked at him weirdly. "Do you need a band-aid?"
"Naur, it's fine. I'll transfer it to some demon beast later." She waved her arm dismissively, though her words made him remember that she had mentioned this before. Her ability to transfer wounds.
"You can transfer it to other people as well?" Instinctively, his mind had automatically honed in on a problem he might be able to fix.
"Hm? I mean, yeah, I can."
"Can you transfer your injuries to me?" His question caused her to raise an eyebrow. There probably weren't many who would ask to receive wounds instead of wanting to be healed.
A glint appeared in her eyes, while a smirk revealed itself. "Are you like me?" Although the sentence was formed as a question, it sounded more like a statement.
"Eh? What do you mean, like you?" He tilted his head in confusion, which made her look confused as well.
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'…? You… Why do you want to receive my wounds?"
"Something about my powers." If it truly worked, he would have a simple shortcut to getting Zenkai boosts. Saying it was about his powers was true, even if the explanation was basically nonexistent.
"Right…" She narrowed her eyes at him as if she wasn't fully convinced, though she didn't decide to question him further. It seemed like not asking about powers was rather ingrained, or she just didn't care enough. "Well, here you go." Her hand gripped his wrist, not giving him the chance to back out again.
"W-whoa." He grunted slightly as several cuts appeared simultaneously around him. Surprisingly, he felt a slight dip in his Ki, and the cuts and bruises seemed to be fewer and less severe than they had been on Malevola. His control over his Ki loosened, and the injuries almost closed instantly as they rushed into these spots.
If he had to guess, he could probably surround himself with Ki or just not suppress it and completely negate her ability.
"Huh, you healed fast." Sean nodded at her observation. Although Saiyans weren't known for their regeneration, it was actually quite strong as well. Usually, even having all their bones crushed would only result in the need for a couple of days of food and sleep. The pure endurance of their bodies to keep on fighting, even with debilitating injuries, was insane before bouncing back after a big meal.
However, his physical regeneration wasn't the only reason he healed this fast just then. It seemed like Malevola's transfer was distantly influenced by Ki, so pouring more Ki into those wounds made them heal quicker than normal.
As he finished healing, he felt like he had grown slightly stronger. Unfortunately, it was barely noticeable since either the wounds weren't severe enough or his Zenkai somehow didn't apply to magically sustained injuries. There was something he was missing.
"If someone else is severely injured, could you transfer them to me directly?" He might be able to suppress his Ki enough to make these wounds almost fatal. His Zenkais would hopefully scale with it.
Malevola, still examining where the cuts had been, looked surprised at the question before turning thoughtful. Then, as some realization struck her, her eyes gained a glint as she bit her lower lip. "Probably, but I won't. This is beneficial for me too..., but I could let it pass through me to you."
"Any injury? Can you slow it down, so you don't accidentally kill either of us?" Sean asked with some hope.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Oh, yeah, my love. I can drag it out however long you want it."
"…"
[A/N: IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO PLAY, PASS THE FUCKING BALL!]
He had the feeling that she wasn't motivated by potentially saving people on the brink of death. Either way, things were looking up if this did work.