Ch. 6: Week 4

Can it possibly be a month already? Glory thought to herself as she walked towards Memorial hall on her way to a meeting. September was coming to a close and fall was beginning to show in the leaves. She had the hood of her jacket up to protect against a fine mist of rain, hands buried in her pockets for warmth. At the doors she met up with KP, and she kissed him, immediately feeling the warmth of his lips, of his arms as they wrapped around her. “Hi,” she said when they separated, and she grinned. It was so nice to have a boyfriend.

“Let’s get inside,” he hurried to open the door and usher her in. The air of the hall was warm and comfortable as they made their way to the conference room where they held Valkyrie and Stone’s lectures. She had been dreading going after her argument with Stone, except that during their previous Saturday training session Romeo had announced that he would be at their next meeting instead. She liked Romeo (what woman didn’t?) and was eager to see what he had to teach them.

They all waited patiently until Romeo arrived exactly on time. “Don’t get comfortable,” he announced. “We’re not staying here today. It’s time for a field trip.”

“Field trip?” Glory asked, interested.

“Yes. We’re going to go pick out your costumes. Even though you wont be going out into the field until next semester, we want you to get them now, to help you get a feel for them, to get comfortable in them. Are you ready?”

Glory and the other girls nodded eagerly. The boys looked skeptical. “Do we have to wear tights?” KP asked.

“Hey,” Glory whispered to him, “I bet you look good in tights.”

Romeo shrugged. “We’ll have to see. Come on then.” He led them downstairs and out a loading dock entrance on the other side of the building. A large white van was waiting for them and they all piled in. Cloud took the passenger seat and the other two girls sat immediately behind them. Glory pulled KP into the second set of seats, leaving the last three boys in the way-back.

“I don’t want to wear tights,” KP said again, and Torch nodded in agreement.

Glory only laughed at them, twisting around in her seat to face the back. “Romeo wears tights,” she offered, and Captain Righteous gave a stifled laugh.

“Romeo’s a fruit,” he said.

“No I’m not,” Romeo called back from the driver’s seat as he started up the van. “Don’t think that super-grace and perfect technique are my only abilities, Righteous. I can hear everything you say.”

Captain Righteous rolled his eyes.

They drove downtown to the main shopping district on Main Street, pulling the van into a parking lot beside a large grey stone building. It’s wide windows were full of mannequins dressed in feather boas, tutus, and even a gorilla suit. The sign said “Hathaway’s Theater and Dance Supply.” It looked like a normal costume shop, and Glory wondered what they were doing there. As soon as they stepped onto the street Romeo was swarmed by a small group of women pushing pens and scraps of paper towards him. Righteous started laughing as Romeo signed autographs.

“You put up with the public,” Romeo explained as he ushered them inside. “You’re their hero, they love you.” He glanced at Righteous, still scoffing. “Besides,” he said, putting his hand on Cloud’s shoulder so she giggled. “Put on a mask and a pair of tights, and women can’t resist you.”

He continued on past Cloud, and Cloud caught Glory’s eye. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was something there. Cloud’s beauty could not be hidden by her mask any more than Glory’s could. She had dark brown hair and smooth skin the same bronze as Lola--Glory wondered if she might be Hawaiian with her dark almond eyes, but didn’t think it was right to ask--the whole secret identity thing.

“Can I help you?” a voice rang out through the store before it attached to a body, emerging from behind a rack of makeup. It was a tall, thin woman, her black hair pulled so tight her eyebrows looked like they were being pulled along too. Her face broke into a wide smile when she saw Romeo.

“Hello Mim,” Romeo said, and they embraced and brushed kisses over each other’s cheeks.

“I almost forgot you were coming,” she said, eyeing the group waiting behind Romeo.

“This is Mim Hathaway,” Romeo introduced. “She’s been doing costumes for the League in this area for fifteen years.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she said. “Most of the east cost comes here for costumes you know--this way.” She led them through the store. They passed displays of greasepaint, a wall of dancing shoes, racks of costumes for familiar shows like The Wizard of Oz and Cats. She pushed aside a rolling rack of poodle skirts and leather jackets and there was a door in the wall. They went through in single-file, Glory leading the other students behind Romeo.

The room opened up like a giant warehouse, and Glory let out the breath she had been holding. In front of them were rack after rack of costumes, and beyond that bolts of fabrics, along with several messy tables with sewing machines, scissors, piles of thread…a young woman a few years older than Glory looked up from one of the tables as they came in. “Go ahead and look around,” Mim said. “See what you like--I can make anything to order as well, if you have something specific in mind. My daughter Zim and I will be coming around to help.”

Glory separated from KP, wandering over to the women’s costumes with the other girls. They were separated on the racks by color, and Glory gravitated over to the pinks.

“This is the best part,” Blue said in her soft voice, flipping through a selection of white outfits.

Chameleon looked at the rainbow of colors and frowned. She pulled a magenta cat suit off the rack and held it up to herself. Immediately she changed the same shade. There was a lot of will power involved in keeping her regular skin tone, and one way she did it was by wearing lots of neutral colors--tans, browns, off-white. Usually she was several shades darker or lighter, depending on her outfit. Immediately Mim was sweeping over to her side. “I see your problem dear,” Mim said, taking her by the hand. “I have some body-heat activated fabric that should help you blend properly.” They crossed the room and soon she had Chameleon wrapped in a grey fabric that turned colors with Chameleon as she blended in with the wall,
the floor, and a red plastic chair.

“America,” Cloud called, holding up a pale blue outfit with a short skirt. “I think it needs a cape.”

“Definitely,” Glory replied, and turned to see Zim at her side. She hadn’t even heard her approach.

“Your name is America?” she asked.

“America the Beautiful,” Glory replied.

“You can’t wear pink!” Zim said, plucking from her hands a skirt made of some sort of shiny pink plastic. “Let me show you our red, white, and blue selections.” She more or less pulled Glory over to one of the longest racks. “All of our outfits are fire and tear-resistant. Most of them will offer some sort of protection from blades--but you’ll want something armored if you want to be bullet proof…” She went through the pros and cons of each fabric, explained why they might prefer one option over the other.

Blue and Cloud listened, but Glory was just looking at the row of patriotic outfits. She looked terrible in stripes. She liked pink. Half her wardrobe was pink; it looked excellent with her hair and skin tone. But at the same time, she knew Zim was right. It didn’t make sense to wear pink with her name. Was it too late to change her name? As Glory she could wear any color she wanted…

In the end she picked out a red costume made out of heavy, clinging silk. “It’s specially spun,” Zim said. “Impossible to rip or tear.” Glory just liked the sound the skirt and short cape made when the fabric moved. It was sleeveless and left her legs bare, but she found a pair of red and gold boots that matched perfectly. They were flat-soled and designed for running and laced up to just under her knees. She stood at the mirror patiently while Mim pinned up the skirt to be hemmed when KP came up to her. He was wearing slacks and a brown tweed jacket.

“That’s not a costume,” she told him, but he smiled.

“It’s lined with Kevlar,” he explained. “Zim is going to design a logo for me and embroider it on some handkerchiefs to put in the breast pocket.

“Cute,” she said. “Are you going to wear a tweed mask too?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I just wanted to tease you about tights,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t like red.”

“It’s a good color for you,” Mim told her. “As for your young man, these days most young male heroes don’t want to wear tights. I’m a traditionalist myself, but what can you do?”

“Indeed,” KP said.

She leaned over and straightened his bow-tie. “I like it,” she said. “You look like a real professor now. It’s called Geek Chic you know.”


******

A bold red super-hero burst into Lola’s bedroom that evening and she jumped in surprise, dropping her book on the floor. As soon as she got over the shock she realized it was Glory. “We got our costumes today,” Glory said, unnecessarily. “What do you think?”

Used to seeing Glory in nothing but pink, Lola found the red to be an improvement and told her so. “Good,” Glory said. “It was the closest thing I could get to pink while still being patriotic.”

“And you went with a cape,” Lola said, the fabric billowing out behind Glory as she spun around to display it.

“I like the way it flows behind me when I run,” she said. Glory proceeded to go over her entire trip in minute detail, and for once, Lola took notice of what would normally be an extremely dull narrative. As Glory told her about Mim and Zim Lola thought of her poor lycra cat suit shoved under the bed. A miracle seamstress was just what she needed.

Lola skipped class the next day to go downtown. Glory hadn’t mentioned a name of a store, but there was only one costume shop in town. “Can I help you?” a woman she supposed to be Mim asked when she walked into the door.

“Take me to your back room,” Lola commanded.

“Yes,” Mim said, and Lola followed her to a plain door in the back of the store.

As soon as they entered another woman stood up from where she was working with some grey material. “Mom? Who’s this?”

“I’m nobody.” Lola’s voice seemed to echo through the big room, and the woman didn’t ask any more questions. “Show me what you have in black.”

She found what she was looking for in the very back, covered in a thin layer of dust. Zim helped Lola zip herself into it and she found a pair of black stiletto boots. Lola stood in front of a half circle of mirrors so she could see herself at all angles. “I look like a dominatrix,” she said, pleased. The suit covered her from ankle to fingertips, but was low cut, showing off cleavage properly supported from the boning that also gave her a proper waist. It was made of a leather-like material (apparently it resisted bullets) and was lined in purple satin so it was fairly comfortable. She looked dangerous and sexy beneath a new leather mask.

“You wont remember me,” she said, turning to the two women who had been so helpful without knowing why. “I was never here. This outfit never existed.”

“You were never here,” Mim and Zim repeated in unison. Satisfied, Lola gathered up her clothes and headed home.

******

A/N:
I spent an entire chapter on a shopping trip, which just shows what a girl I am. (DES had a long shopping sequence too.) I don't have anything especially enlightening to say about this chapter. My favorite bit is the "Romeo is a fruit" exchange between Capt. Righteous and Romeo Avenger.

I'm trying to imbibe the lesser heroes in training with some semblance of personality, even though they dont play huge roles in the narrative. Black is the hardest, probably because of a role he's supposed to have later that I'm not positive will work. Glory has a closer relationship with the girls than I've managed to show so far, but unfortunately most of the story is in the guys.