by Fiona Price
"So, you're telling me we have armor, she has a hammer, and you have... spandex?!" Meaghan laughed hysterically, chiming in on Peter's roasting.
"Hey! Don't even talk to me about the functionality of your suit. You have a crop top!!" He defended.
"Yeah, but I have armor."
"You have a point, but I have a supercomputer in here that I've named Linda."
"Oh, so we won't put your suit through the wash and the dryer, then, especially because it'll shrink to the size of a doll!" The girls laughed. William was trying to hide his amusement and did so by breaking up the banter.
"Alright, alright, alright. That's enough, we've got bigger things to worry about, here. You three, let's go, we've got a lot to discuss." William spoke, leading them all into the conference room.
"What's this all about, William?" Maize asked.
"You're not going to like this, Maize. It's your old English teacher, Mr. Sledge, and he's kind of turned into a giant sledgehammer-wielding, Thor-hating monster. Have fun."
"You're kidding, right?"
"I wish I was. We're sending you out tomorrow morning, just like you were going to school again! Same time, same place." William spoke, then instructing the three to get a lot of rest. They were going to need it.
The next morning, the three of them weren't sent to the school on a fancy Gods jet or helicopter. That was reserved for Thor, William and Dike to ride on to observe the kids from a distance.
They were told to take the subway.
Dressed in their battle armor, the three of them stood huddled together on the packed morning train, gathering the attention of nobody but one elderly woman.
"Are you lovely kids going to a convention? What do they call it these days? Cosplay?" She asked. The three of them looked at each other in a silent panic, but Maize was quick with her response.
"Oh, were actually heading to school! It's senior dress up day and we're going as the Gods! They do so much good and are such great role models that us proper, studious kids just had to honor them at our school today."
"Isn't that swell. Wonderful, kids. Keep up the good work!"
The subway came to a halt at the station near their school, but they still had to walk down the street a few blocks to get to their school. Neither of them knew exactly what to expect when they walked inside the school. Maize and Meaghan would be seeing the friends they abruptly left behind for the first time, and they were completely different people. Their friends might not even want to be friends anymore or just use them for attention, and that was a hard pill for Maize to swallow. Especially when they walked up the steps and through the front doors of the school. The hallways were still familiarly fresh in her mind, she and Meaghan had spent the past four years there. It was hard for her to forget.
Everything seemed normal except for the fact that everything was in chaos.
A different kind of chaos than usual. No one seemed to be around, all the doors were open, glass was shattered, and papers were strewn all across the floor. They weren't sure if anyone besides The Sledgehammer was still in the building, dead or alive. When they saw the glowing red light at the end of the English hallway, they knew they were about to find out.
"Alright guys, are you ready for whatever's behind that door?" Peter asked shakily.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Meaghan answered. Maize was silent.
When they entered, there was a Menoetius-sized version of their former English teacher in the room, the source of the red light. His eyes glowed with what seemed like the fires of hell and he was wielding a sledgehammer. William was absolutely right, he was a Thor hater. Probably because he taught Maize, and Maize was the worst student he could possibly have ever had- in his world. She fought back against his bullshitting tendencies and pathological lying. The Sledgehammer was asserting his vengeance upon Maize.
"So, we meet again, huh?" Maize taunted, ready for anything. That just made him angrier.
"Bad vibes, ambulance drives, bitch!" She exclaimed, using one of his own teachings upon him, and the battle officially started.
Meaghan's shield deflected a lot of the attacks from his sledgehammer and the red light, which they learned the hard way burned. As Meaghan deflected, Maize used the power of the hammer to do some damage and weaken him, and Peter swung in and wrapped his webbing around the hammer, yanking it right out of his hands. He still had the mysterious red weapon on his side and Maize didn't know how to fight that with a hammer. She worked with Peter to weaken him from above as they swung from the rafters and through the open window from the side of the building. Meaghan had used Betty not just as a shield but as a frisbee with a razor-sharp edge that came right back to her, critically injuring the Sledgehammer.
Suddenly, Maize lost control of the hammer and was quickly plummeting down through the floor, into the earth. The hammer was leading the way and dragging her down with incredible speed, but Peter was there to help. He found the right angle and shot down a web that coated the entire bottom of the hole she was falling down, acting like a trampoline and catching her from falling any further. She regained her composure and nodded up at Peter as a quick thanks before rejoining the battle. William was having a hard time sitting and watching this happen, because if he was there the battle would already have been over. He didn't want his Probe Gods messing up or getting hurt, but they were doing fine, and he knew that they had to go out on their own like baby birds flying out of the nest for the first time. It still had a deep physical effect on him.
"Oh, my god. My whole left arm is numb, is that bad?!" William asked the other Gods as well at Jason, stressed from letting the three newbies go out on their own for the first time. Jason responded inside his suit.
"According to your vital signs, you seem to be having a moderate heart attack, sir." Jason reported.
"Well, isn't that just fucking great!" He yelled, watching as the Sledgehammer regained his weapon and began knocking down the walls, causing irreversible structural damage to the school. He was most concerned that the building would collapse on his trainees, his kids. But they were better than that; in record time they defeated the Sledgehammer and he vaporized into nothing and suddenly everything was quiet again. The student body eventually started seeping out from hiding to see that they were saved, but it wasn't a joyful reaction.
Maize and Meaghan were face to face with their old friends, who had felt utterly betrayed. The girls disappeared one day and lost all contact with them, their friends thinking that they just got up and left and forgot all about them. No one believed the rumors that they were taken to William Townsend and were training to be Gods; no, that felt like a kick in the teeth, like it was some sick joke, and no one was laughing.
Even when they saw it was true, they knew that they had lost Meaghan and Maize forever, and no physical wound hurt more than that.
The Gods that had been watching from a distance began doing damage control, herding out all the students and faculty from the school and aiding. Meaghan and Peter got swept up in the news and the media, but Maize stayed inside. Even when she was a hero, she was still invisible in her school. No one paid her any attention as they filed out of the classrooms, and no one wondered where she was after it all was said and done.
But she needed closure.
Maize knew how she could get it, and she wasn't going to deny herself what had been denied to her before. She took a right down the hallway and she slowly made her way in the darkness to her locker and stood in front of it, meditating. It wasn't long before she reached out and twisted the lock to the code, and she pushed up on the lever to open the door. The metal hit the locker next to hers with a clang, and she was face to face with who she used to be. Down the hall, she heard voices that she immediately recognized predominantly as William's.
Kicking through the rubble, William vocalized his thoughts but none of the Gods knew if he was angry, sarcastic or proud. They figured it was a little bit of everything, after all the man just had a heart attack.
"Well isn't this a wonderful mess! I mean, I'm impressed, these kids are great but has anyone else never been more afraid of three minors?" He asked, getting a different response out of Thor.
"I'm just afraid for you, you should be in an ambulance right now."
"Nah, Jason is taking care of me until we get back-" William stopped mid-sentence as they looked down the hall Maize was in. William was confused.
"Maize! What are you doing back here! We've got shit to do!"
That made Maize upset.
"Yeah, well I've got shit to do, too, Townsend!" She yelled.
"And what's that?" He responded.
"I'm cleaning out my locker!" She yelled though her voice quivered, angry at him, hot tears streaming down her face. After a deep breath, she calmly added
"I never got to clean out my locker."
William didn't say anything else. Maize took down all the pictures of her and her friends at football games and other school activities, all her magnets, decorations, funny notes and textbooks. She threw away an armful of loose papers from last semester she would never need again, and last but not least, her favorite lunchbox. She carried her belongings in her arms, Mjolnir hanging from her wrist, swinging as she walked. She closed her locker and pushed it until she heard it shut completely, and she began walking towards Thor and William.
William changed his approach, knowing she was upset. She tried to avoid them and walk past them, but William stopped her.
"Come on! William, move!" She requested, frustrated and sad.
"No. Hey, hey, look at me." He spoke compassionately, her eyes reluctantly meeting his.
"Hey, you did great, ok? We're really proud of you. I'm sorry I yelled at you, I didn't get it." He apologized and Maize nodded in understanding, biting her bottom lip.
"Come here," William said, bringing her close. He knew that she had an armful of things she couldn't drop to reach around and hug him back and the cold metal of his suit probably wasn't comfortable, but it was the sentiment. He kissed the top of her head.
"Let's get out of here, Leto." He spoke after he broke the hug, keeping his hand on her shoulder as they walked out. They met up with Peter and Meaghan, Peter speaking first.
"You're not going to make us ride the subway home, do you?" Peter asked. William chuckled.
"No, you three are coming with us, and we're getting away from here as soon as possible."
They all loaded onto the Jet, headed straight for home, even though Maize was conflicted once again on what exactly 'home' was. It wasn't long before the jet took off the ground and all the people and things below them began to become small.
Maize only prayed that she would never have to see that place or any of the people in it again. One heartbreak and disappointment was more than enough for her.
As they left, the school began to quickly fade into a distant memory for everyone, but Maize knew it wasn't over. She had other monsters to face when she got home.
A Friendly Game
"Yeah, William made us do some group therapy."
♦️
Maize was the first one off the Jet when it landed. Everyone knew something was wrong and she needed someone, but they also knew that she needed to be alone for a little while. Instead of taking the elevator with the rest of them, she ran up the stairs and found a safe haven in her room. Mjolnir returned to its resting place on her nightstand rather aggressively as she dumped her books and other locker contents on her desk, finally feeling free enough to give it a good cry. She paced the floor, wiping her tears with the back of her hand and occasionally fanning her face trying to will the tears to stop and dry themselves. She felt the same emotions when she was around her father and so her emotions wandered to him. He should have been there. Everyone else she knows has a dad that cared even just a little for them and she felt like the universe was taking something crucial from her: a father's love. She was angry, and she was sad. She hated how sometimes she felt invisible to the people she needed most. Her friends, her family.
The pictures of her, Jemma, Giles, Markie and Raelyn stared up at her from their scattered position on her desk, and she wanted to scream. She wanted to yell at them, try to convince them that she didn't leave them just like everyone else left her, but they were already gone. There was no reversing that.
But there was a part of her that wouldn't let her throw away those old pictures. Even though they hurt, there was a part of her that begged her to hold on. Should she hold on? Could she?
Meanwhile in the common room, there was a small celebration being hosted by Thor, surprisingly, that congratulated the kids on their hard work earlier that day. When William wasn't paying attention, Thor offered them each a mug of beer from what William had on tap in his secret stash. William turned around just as Peter accepted the rather large mug of beer.
"THOR! What are you doing!? These kids aren't old enough to drink! Not in my house, at least!" He scolded, but Thor was unfazed.
"They are growing boys and girls! They should be having two!" Thor opposed. "And it's arguably better they consume earthly alcoholic beverages on the top-secret premises rather than in a dirty nightclub in New York City, yes?"
"Yes, but-"
"So, it is." He interrupted, William knowing he wasn't going to win this one.
"Does anyone know the whereabouts of my child legacy? Her presence is missing." Thor then noticed.
"She's in her room, needed a little bit of time to herself." William answered, not seeming like he thought anything more of it. This was probably normal behavior for his daughter and that's why he brushed it off, but Peter knew better than to just let it go. He knew Maize could be in trouble. Once she gets lost in her own head, sometimes there's no going back.
Peter was the first one daring enough to approach Mazie since they had returned to the compound. He was growing increasingly concerned over Maize as the party went along, and he couldn't focus on the cheery conversation because he was thinking about Maize. Her presence was missing, and they all wanted her there to celebrate their victory, but it went deeper than that. Peter wanted to know she was okay. A check wouldn't hurt anyone, and he just wanted to make sure she was doing alright. If she needed to still be alone, he would leave her alone, but he wouldn't know if he didn't ask.
"Peter, she's fine! Don't worry." Meaghan tried to convince him.
"Maybe so, I just want to make sure for myself." He answered, grabbing his red plastic cup of soda that William traded him for the mug of beer, even though Peter would probably be handed another one once he returned to the party, thanks to Thor. Peter headed towards the elevator. He had no idea what his approach was going to be or how he was going to deal with whatever was coming his way, but he would go with it as he went.
After all, it was just Maize.
No immortal powers could ever change that fact.
He walked down the hall and paused at her door, ready to knock. He took a moment to try and listen to hear if she was upset or to gather any other details about what she may be feeling. He knocked, saying it was only him. She opened the door and they stood face to face.
Maize had changed out of her armor and was in black running shorts and a gray college hockey shirt, her hair a little bit all over the place. Her eyes were red, but she had stopped crying not long before Peter's visit and denied that she had been crying in the first place. She didn't want to cry in front of Peter. Even though she had done so many times before, she felt like some things were different now, and she didn't want to seem vulnerable again.
"Hey. I just came to check on you. See if you need anything. I was getting worried, we hadn't heard from you in a little while."
"Yeah, Peter. I'm fine." She half lied, flicking the remainder of a hot tear from her lashes.
"You sure? Can I come in for just a minute?" He asked, unsure of her response.
"I guess," she invited, stepping aside and letting him in. She sat on the bed amongst her pictures and he stood for a few moments before sitting with her. He sa
w the faces in the photos and Maize didn't even have to say anything before he got it.
"You know, after today I'm sure they understand it all, why you had to leave."
"But they didn't seem too grateful or happy to see me again. They've moved on completely and still think I left them because I wanted to."
"Then maybe they're really not your friends, Maize. You've got me and Meaghan, and we're for real with you. They don't get it. We- I- do."
"Yeah... yeah, I know." Maize spoke. "But it still hurts." She admitted. Peter softened, seeing that she was vulnerable and being open with him. Even though they were the best of friends, it was still a rarity that Maize had completely revealed herself and her deepest emotions to him.
"Hey, let's get these pictures out of here. You don't need them, come on." He said as he gathered the pictures she removed from her locker and shuffled them out of sight. "You've got all these great pictures of the three of us together, don't have those other ones laying around. There, that's better." Peter said as he pointed out all the polaroids of the three of them. Maize wiped her eyes.