#and (2) they would insist on seeing maximus’ grave

[wildsaltair]

today’s topic for discussion: what on earth did Maximus’ soldiers think when they found out he was “dead”? like, their beloved general who fights like a god and is adored by everyone is just… deceased? kicked the bucket? gone on to a better place?

and what did Quintus even tell them to make it believable?? that Maximus died in his sleep of the same “natural causes” Marcus Aurelius died of??? he had an accident with his sword???? he wandered into the forest and never came back?? like what could you possibly tell Maximus’ men that they would believe??

[neshabeingchildish]

Madame President.

“On today’s special episode of Pipe Up! I would like to introduce Psychiatrist to the Supers…” Charlotte turned the TV down. It was recording, anyway. Piper double majored in psychology and sociology in college, worked as a professional counselor in her office, which was what used to be Junk N’ Stuff, became one of those internet professionals who had a thriving career and an online presence/following for it, not to mention all of her old following when she was a public figure… So it was only natural that her dreams of becoming a television lifecoach came true. She had done multiple talk shows as a guest, documentaries, reality projects for clients that she had who were famous, and for the past several years, after helping Charlotte to found SupesSpace (the mental health network for supers and heroes), she had her own show Pipe Up! Pipe Up was about helping and healing the heroes that kept our world safe, but also highlighted the professionals who guided them through those processes. 

It was partially mental health information, from professionals, testimonials from those who had been going through things (often heroes that had been nonconsensually unmasked, or had been forced into the life early - Piper and Charlotte’s soft spots), partially tips for those in need from the very people who did this kind of work, partially backstories of those people, because a lot of times, those not in the field considered them necessary, but rarely knew anything about them or took the time to ask them how they were. Sometimes, Piper’s clients wanted to share their story on the show and it would be special segments.

Today’s guest was the leading supers psychiatrist. Charlotte definitely wanted to see it, but had so much to do today. She was turning over her power to Max Thunderman, of all people. She had no idea that the super community would ever forgive him enough to entrust him with this position, but here they were - he was getting ready to “retire to” President of the Hero League, and she was getting ready to campaign for President of the United States.

There were a lot of people who didn’t like the thought of a super in the White House. Charlotte was tired of the gymnastics that once went into making people comfortable with having her in spaces that “weren’t meant” for her. While, some part of her worried that the Oval office was much too powerful and had too many possible setbacks for her to ever be able to redirect the country in much needed ways (even some of the historically “best” presidents had a tough time of making a dent in the state of things), she still held out hope that she could possibly make some kind of positive difference in an oppressive nation in a world built upon the oppression of others. 

Whenever she and Simone gathered to bring or pick up their children from playdates, she would always tell her, “You know that they’re going to suck your soul out in that position, right? It’s the reason that the Hero League acts in the best interest in humanity first and has sovereignty over supers. This country is a wasteland with a gated community of a certain percentile and that office is to keep the waste where it belongs and to go wherever it takes to obtain more for that gated community. Every U.S. President is a puppet and a clown…” Or some variation of it. 

Charlotte would toss a shady joke in her direction such as, “Every since you got those goddess locs, you’ve been on your bullshit again.” SImone would just smile and shake her head. Those locs looked great on her. Charlotte thought about them, but it was going to be difficult enough to run for a major office in this country with her natural hair, much less that style, as majestic as it looked. And Simone’s skin was shining every since she shed all the green genes. Max was always posting “My Four Girls,” her, in the middle of the twins and their youngest daughter Meaux (Pronounced “Mo”), now what 8 years old, maybe? They had twin boys in between her and the baby girl (Simon and Maximus Jr), maybe a year younger than Charlie - but Charlotte wasn’t keeping up with ages anymore, just how quickly everyone seemed to surpass her height! Charlie was the only kid of all their bunches that seemed like she probably wasn’t going to be taller or as tall (short) as Charlotte. 

Max, with his salt and pepper long hair and beard looked more like a supervillain than president of the Hero League, but insisted that was part of his “mystique.” He was the poster boy for reformation. He was what any villain could look to whenever they tired of their evil ways and for that, people felt somehow safer with him. He was always scrutinized for his past, therefore, they felt like he must’ve been really reformed, to not have had any incidents in nearly 20 years. With this position, Max had goals, but the greatest of them was to “Ride it out here until I die.” 

Meanwhile, Simone had not been involved in politics in a long time. Instead, she opened a center for supers who just want to be able to have normal lives. There were all grades of school and there was housing for those beyond school age. It was basically a supers community where nobody was expected to be the hero. She helped people to start businesses - everything from frozen yogurt shops to boutiques. She studied dance and opened her own dance studio in that community. But, The Center of Hope for Heroes (With the general prohibition sign covering the word Heroes) was in the center of the community and was the heart of it. It wasn’t too far from the Mimi Memorial, so Ray settled in the community with Katelyn, and buried her in tree form at Mimi’s grave. It took him a while to allow himself to care for another dog, but he’d frequently go to the dog shop to try to convince himself to do so. He was just tired of losing others and knowing that this was his fate as an indestructible man. He would last longer than most of the people he cared about. It was depressing, but the lady who owned the pet shop made it a little more bearable. 

She would introduce him to different dogs, but also gave him the information of a licensed supers counselor who worked with heroes who have lost partners. “A lot of people think that because they weren’t in the field with you that meant that they aren’t your partner, but you came home to her everyday and you took care of her, the two of you took care of each other, for many years. She counts as a partner and a friend and her loss is no less important than if you had lost a child or a romantic partner.” He had lost one of those and the potential other. He never really thought about talking to a counselor about it, beyond Piper, though. After he did, he went to check on another dog, and to check on the pet shop owner. She was single… and interested. He couldn’t stop smiling about the possibilities. Mimi would’ve wanted him to move on years ago, but his heart wasn’t ready. He and Katelyn simply coped until he had to face it - not everyone made it, and that was okay. He didn’t have to bury himself with those who left before he did, and they wouldn’t want him to...

.

Jasper was going to go ahead and call in his surrogate again. That was cool. If it was gonna be a girl, he wanted her to be called Bushida, which Charlotte told him she didn’t think that was a name and also that the word that he was probably looking for might not be appropriate for his daughter. If it was another boy, he wanted to call him Bucket. “Do you simply hate your children, or…?” He waved a hand at her. He didn’t care about the haters. Bushida or Bucket were gonna be well loved and have at least one dad that made them laugh ALL of the time. Mitch might be an overgrown child, but children loved that about him. 

Charlotte had so much money that before she even made her donations to charity, she honestly just made sure that her loved ones had everything that they could need. That meant all friends from the Man Cave, and now the Lady Lair - Piper’s family, their parents, even Jasper’s folks, the Thundermans, the Bilsky’s, The Center of Hope for, the Academy, despite Hamilton’s removal, Evelyn was still an important part of her life, and she believed in the school… She still had much to give away for her charity interests, technological advances, and other cares, causes and concerns. And, she would have enough to run a successful presidential campaign, hopefully while keeping her morals in tact.

Running a country with such a system in place and all of the insistence to continue it for all of the purposes that there were to continue it… She knew that wouldn’t be easy, if she even made it to that point. She did still have a husband and children and thought maybe, just maybe… She should actually take a BREAK, for once. 

.

Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror. She looked… similar to how she remembered. She looked at this version of herself a lot less than she had when she was younger. A lot of times, she had her hair and makeup done by someone else. A lot of times, she ate while she got dressed, or conferenced in on of of Hank’s corporate calls while she brushed her teeth on mute, or looked over assignments to dispatch heroes to while she did her skincare routine at her desk. This woman in the mirror - she was some person who had been much too busy to remember to pause every now and then. Even both of the times that she was on maternity leave, she always had a lot of “not on your feet” work to do and taking on a huge role at this moment would mean that she wouldn’t be able to get that break any time soon. It’d likely be about 2 years of campaigning, and then 4 years in office. She would probably look in the mirror in six years and the patch of gray that had grown across the front of her head would be a head full of gray and maybe there would be more worry creases and wrinkle lines.

Charlie helped her put her hair up and they had a mother daughter spa day, which was usually Charlotte trying to relax while a very excited Charlie, with very expensive product on her flopped around and attempted to tell her 50-11 stories. At the end of it, Charlotte never felt reasted, at all… just softer. She’d put Charlie to bed, check around the house to see if Hank was there (he usually wasn’t). Much like both of his parents, he was quite the workaholic. He was generally in the Danger Fortress, though… That was what Charlie had somehow gotten them to start calling the command center from which Charlotte used to assist Mr. Danger. Hank would work on upgrading things for fun, sometimes with Schwoz’s help or guidance. She found him in there, with four holographic screens pulled up with stats from businesses and with campaign projections.. “Hope you’re wrapping up and getting ready to head to bed,” she said.

“I don’t have anything to do in the morning,” he observed, typing notes on a notepad connected to his waist. 

“Fifteen minutes,” she said and made eye contact with him.

“Yes, Mom.” She looked around the room. It felt different, but the design wasn’t new. She just knew that a lot had changed since she set it up. “Miss it?” Hank wondered.

“Not especially. But, I have a lot attached to it. How are Henry’s legs?”

“In perfect shape. I would tell you if anything changed.” He began to shut things down and they left the room together. “Charlie is coming into the lair tomorrow, so I wanted to have everything squared away.”

“Coming in for training?”

He nodded and went into his bedroom, “Homework first though. I told her that I would help her with it because Dad helped her and wound up having to look up all the answers to her math. She got points deducted because she didn’t show the work.”

“Ugh. He’s supposed to grab you when he doesn’t know what he’s looking at!” She complained. 

“I was at the site we’re looking at for Page & Thunderman Corp. But, I’ll handle it tomorrow.” He gave her a kiss on the face and went into the room. She watched him for a moment, kick off his shoes, but neatly place them in a shoe rack, grabbed his night clothes and activated his computer to work on verbal command. 

She went in and checked the crystals that she knew he only kept nearby because of her. “Interface, adjust Hammy’s room for sleep, not work and replace his crystals and put these with those that need cleansing and charging, please.”

“Yes, Madame President.” She furrowed her eyebrows, and left the room. Henry was doing pull ups in his home gym and she got his attention and tapped her watch at him. He nodded, finished his set and grabbed his towel. “Did you know that Interface called me Madame President tonight?”

“Yeah, we programmed her to do that. Well, Hank programmed her to do it, but it was my idea. You always tell me that you gotta envision and claim and manifest.” She smiled at him and he kissed her on the cheek. “You take a shower yet?”

“No, I was waiting on you, Dude. But, Charlie told me about you planting her a violet garden and getting her a statue commissioned?”

“I’m positive that she said ‘commisionerred,’ because that’s what she said every single time, but yeah. I’m using my allowance card, because honestly, what I promised her is gonna cost me.”

“Stop promising her grand things.”

“She’s my daughter,” he said, as though that settled it. She nodded, so it did. “She wants the garden to have a fence with purple lights, a purple birdbath, with a birdhouse hovering above it and a bird feeder inside the birdhouse - all this is supposed to be purple, so I guess I’m gonna have to decide which shades, because naturally I won’t just have a big violet eyesore on the premises. There’s a place for all of the plants on these grounds.”

“I actually already heard the plans. I just wanna get your hot body into the shower so that I can have my way with you and you can put me to sleep.” 

Henry threw his towel away and set his water down and picked her up to go do just that. 

They were laying in bed afterward and Charlotte commented, “You make love to me like I’m still as beautiful as when we started.”

“Well, dang… I was tryin’ to do it like you’re more beautiful now than you’ve ever been!” He smiled at her. She looked emotional. “You okay?”

“I’m tired and I feel old, but I have goals and I know that I won’t rest until I’ve met them. I just want to be able to take a break… but I guess that’s what retirement is for. 65 full stop, right?”

“I’m leaning more towards 45, but…” She looked at him and he said, “Just kidding. These legs have another good 50 years. My heart will give out before they will. So… Maybe 65 for me. I already feel old, though.”

“Your work is physical. You really need to start looking for a sidekick, Hen. You don’t want to be old and trying to train someone through a headset.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll start thinking about it. Maybe I’ll create an ad on FaceMask.”

“I think SymBIOsis would be better for it. More range.”

“Yeah, but FaceMask is tried and true. I KNOW I’ll get legit level sidekick there… if I EVEN do that!”

“Well, I just want us to one day be able to take a break, while I still have some life left in me.”

“You… You get some news or something?” He asked, concerned.

“I looked in the mirror. Some old chick was looking at me. Had the nerve to be moving like I was, like she was me or something.” 

He smiled and nudged her with his nose, “Oh, her… I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve been hitting that for years. She really does it for me. I’m sure she always will, and I just can’t let her go.”

“What if she gets older and older and more old?”

“I’m gonna be tapping it until her hips go bad.” 

She cackled at his proclamation. “She must have that good good!”

“The goodest,” he said and winked at her.

.

Two years later

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States..."

Hank didn’t want to live in the White House. Henry didn’t want to leave the Charteaux to landscapers, even the finest that they hired to keep up with everything. Charlie just wanted to be a superhero and being the President’s daughter seemed pretty close to that, so she was fine with whatever. She was more concerned about her facial adjustments and her body changes. 

The first concern was the fact that she had glasses. She had to get them when she turned 11, but she was constantly breaking them to the point that now, she had ones that were much too big for her face, in her opinion and the ones that Hank worked on for her were more like goggles… So those messed with her hair, which was already a lot to take care of! The next concern was NOW, she needed braces! And… she hated the thought of it. She’d have to care for them and clean them and all of that? She hated stuff like that! For what? Straight teeth without gaps in them? For her mom’s perfect set? What could possibly go wrong with her body next?

She hated that she asked! Because not too much longer afterwards, she went to the bathroom and there was blood everywhere. Now… she knew what it was and she had been taught what to do when it happened, but when it happened, she just froze for a moment, then rushed to try to clean up and score protection. She didn’t tell her mother about it. She knew that she’d probably have some kind of serious person talk with her and she wasn’t into that. She told Hank and he got her everything that she needed and then binged movies with her and ate snacks. He was sincerely the best brother and she always loved the fact that everybody else thought he was words like “pretentious” and “narcissistic,” but she only knew him as “awesome.”

They were in her second cycle and their new way of handling it whenever she commented, “I wonder now that Mom’s president if that means that I can start trying to look into doing things through Hero League, since she can’t BLOCK me anymore.” She said it with a lot of resentment that Hank didn’t appreciate, but he understood the frustrations. To this day, he had held himself back from trying to become a super because of his anxiety over what Charlotte would say, do, or think if something went wrong.

“I’m sure that she has Maxi on the lookout for stuff like that, but… I mean, maybe she’d go a little bit easier now that you’re 13 and you’ve reached this portion of your journey.”

“What does that mean? Say it like I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well, you know, because you have a superpower, you can register for legal adulthood when you hit puberty, but you already have to be in a position to take care of yourself, for instance have money, powers, or intelligence that makes you capable of supporting your own lifestyle and needs, OR you have to be a registered hero with the Hero League. I can’t imagine that Mom WOULD support you moving forward with it, but if you want me to try to talk to her, I can always remind her that dad started his job at your age.”

She gasped and asked, “HE DID???”

“Yeah… Dad used to be Kid Danger, didn’t you know that?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that he was an actual KID, I thought it was a nickname like that funny guy you listen to on old podcasts! Kid Fury! Dad was a KID kid when he was Kid Danger? That means that I’M ready to be a sidekick too! He’s been looking for one, but he’s been training one the whole time!”

“I don’t know… I was thinking more along the lines of you speak to them about becoming legal, getting your inheritance turned over to you and safely living freely until you’re actually old enough to be a superhero.”

“I AM actually old enough to be one! You just said it! It’s legal and it would be hypocritical for them to refuse me! Daddy did it!”

“I don’t think you’re getting the moral of my message…” She zipped out of the room and he massaged his temples, “Mom is gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiissed.”

.

Mr. Danger was appointed to President Page by the Hero League for the first ever Head of the Super Secret Service. The Secret Service would still be in effect, but it was unprecedented that an unmasked super was President of the United States and therefore, getting non-pow humans to guard her life seemed unfair and unethical to her. She had never even had bodyguards before, save Mr. Danger, so an entire team felt like a lot for her. But, if they were supers, she felt better and if Danger was in charge of those supers, well - that was the best case scenario. The children had non-pow secret service, simply because she certainly didn’t want to put any of these dutiful people out of work.

Charlotte was in meetings with Mr. Danger posted outside whenever Charlie got her guards to bring her to him. He thought it might be an emergency, but kept a calm face. “Charlie, what is it?”

“Hank told me that you began being a superhero when you were my age, which means that I’m eligible for being your sidekick and I won’t take no for an answer, because that would be unfair!”

“We have to discuss this later, Sweetie,” he said and gestured for them to lead her back to her room.

“Just tell me yes right now. We shouldn’t have to discuss anything, Daddy. You say all the time that I’m way better at what I do than you were when you were younger! I didn’t know that you HAD THE JOB when you were underqualified! I am over qualified then and you need a sidekick…” 

He nodded his head, “Okay, Sweetie, but Mommy’s in here working and Daddy has to guard and keep a lookout, so please, let them bring you back to your room…” She squealed and hugged him and rushed off, telling her guard about how she was going to be a sidekick. Wait.. Had he said that to her? He replayed the conversation in his mind… 

Her: just say yes…

Him: Okay, Sweetie… but… 

“Oh my God… Charlotte’s gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiised,” he whispered to himself.

.

Charlie handed Hank her designs for her costume and her notes of the features she needed, “You can do this, right?”

“No, Charlie! Mom is not gonna let you be Dad’s sidekick. I don’t care what you think he said to you today,” He looked at the designs, “But, this is excellent work. You… must’ve gotten mom’s fashion bug.”

“Mom? Fashion?” She busted out laughing. “Anyway… So, see here, that violet will be what we can use to keep me tuned into the Interface… And I will actually settle for goggles in costume, since I can’t imagine going to battle with these!” She pointed to the glasses on her face. “This getting  a period thing kinda rocks. I know what they mean when they say you become a woman…” She looked at Hank. He was still studying her plans and apparently hadn’t heard her.

“And the schematics are properly done to scale.”

“Ummm, you bug me about details all of the time.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect you to pay attention. I’ve been bugging Dad about details since I was a kid. He still tells me stuff like, “Just take it in a little in the middle and make it a tad longer in the back. I blame mom for knowing what he means by non-measurements and just making it work. But… I need to go to the Danger Fortress…”

“I’m coming!”

“No, we can’t both go. Mom will flip out.”

“Why would she? We’ll have those secret service dudes for decoration and me for protection! I’m a sidekick now, Hank.” He sighed and rolled his eyes, grabbing her hand to help her up. “Should we clean this up before we go? Mommy says it’s rude to just leave a mess, even when there’s a maid.”

“We’re coming back.”

“You’re gonna stop doing a project to come back here?”

“Good point, make it snappy and meet me at the car.”

“Will you leave me if I’m not quick enough?” She asked. He smirked, but didn’t answer, so she hauled ass to clean up their mess and rushed to meet him at the car to go back to the property and work.

.

Charlotte came out of her chambers hours later and all she wanted to do was kiss her husband, hug her kids and try to settle for the night until the next obligation. Mr. Danger was pacing, and not wearing his mask.. Which - technically, he didn’t need it because the world knew who he was, but he still wore it because of work and stuff. “Hey, you okay?” She asked. He yelped at the sound of her voice and smiled at her, “Okay… Tell me what’s going on.”

“Okay. Well. I. May. Have… Possiblyyyyyyyyy… Perhaps… Mayhaps, even… Perchance…”

“Henry!” 

“I told Charlie that she could be my sidekick!” He gasped right after he finally said it out loud and covered his own mouth, like that was going to have him to take it back.

She looked relieved, “Oh. Jeez. You scared me for a moment. I thought it was something serious.”

“She and Hank are at the Danger Fortress working on her costume.”

“Wait. Right now? You told Charlie that she could be your sidekick right now? At her age? In this time? While I’m the president and you’re supposed to be working here on my behalf?”

“That’s the beauty of it, right? If she’s my sidekick, then she’s just at my side in the White House and stuff. We won’t have an assignment assignment for like 4 years!” He cheered, having just thought of this right now.

“Only, that’s not true. You’re one of the Hero League’s best operatives. Max isn’t just letting me HAVE you for four years. You’re creating a system, showing this group how to on the job and I’m sure that within months, maybe even weeks, he’ll have you in the field, on assignment! You… You gotta go tell her that you made a mistake and it can’t happen!”

He sucked in air through his teeth and clasped his hands, “I’ve tried to, but she keeps bringing up great points and now, I don’t know… I’m gonna just give it a shot…” Her face went on a full journey through emotions that he knew, ones that maybe she didn’t even know, and ones that terrified him, before she smiled and blinked her eyes and asked, “Why would you do this?” She clenched her fists and then held out her hands, honestly awaiting an answer.

“Hey, I started at 13 and I was fine.”

Almost immediately, she lost her entire cool, “Ray broke child labor laws, not to mention behaved morally and ethically questionable in hiring you! You were too young and it wore you out! It was incredibly hard for you and he didn't even cut you slack! If I thought for one moment that you would follow in his footsteps, I wouldn't have given you my support in your hero’s journey and certainly wouldn't have bore your children!”

He hated when she did this. She would get mad and go off on him and say something just nasty and hurtful like this. “Char, you're angry, so you're being mean…”

“You're darn right, I'm angry. Our daughter hates me enough already and now I have to go tell her that I'm forcing her not to be able to do what you promised her. Damn you, Henry, for making me have to make her hate me more!” Her voice was loud and high pitched and she knew that she shouldn’t be doing this in the White House, because somebody somewhere would have something to say about it, but her nerves were bad about this. The relationship with Charlie had been struggling since she was a little girl and whenever Charlotte began working towards being the president, a lot of Charlie’s ways and habits just… would no longer fly. She didn’t understand why SHE had to be a presentable aspect of Charlotte’s life and whenever Charlotte explained how difficult it was and how hard on her the public would be because of her marginalizations - race, gender, superpower, it would be even harder to gain their approval. But, Charlie couldn’t comprehend why she would WANT approval of anybody that she worked hard to get it from. Why not just be herself and they could take it or leave it. Hell, Charlotte playing the game was how she was even privileged enough to feel entitled to people receiving her. She was floating on Charlotte’s respectability and...

“Charlie does not hate you. She loves you. You two just don't have much in common. She wants to impress you, like Hank does. She thinks this is the only way to do that. If she can't do it, she won't hate you, but she'll be worried that you'll never see her the way that you see Hank.”

“This is unfair, Hen.” She whispered it, and her voice sounded almost like begging. It was breaking his heart, but of course, he would fix it. Of course, he would answer whatever plea her words couldn’t form.

“Char… Just, give me the chance to have her as my sidekick. Of course, I'm not gonna follow in Ray's footsteps. She'll be fighting crime with me, but I'll be protecting her while we do.”

“She'll be an easy target for any villain with half a brain!”

“I won't allow it. I promise… Char, I promise you, on us - on my love for you, on our family - that I will never let anything happen to Charlie, in the field, or otherwise.”

“On us, huh?”

He nodded once, “On us.” 

She sat in that for a while and he rocked on the balls of his feet, eager for some confirmation that she believed in him and trusted him to do this properly. He was a great father, but he was also a great superhero and with mixing both of those things, yes - he full well knew that it would be much tougher when he had one of the loves of his life in the thick of danger with him, but he wanted both of his girls happy and both of them healthy. “Well, that's a grave promise. Because, if anything does happen to her, Henry, you're dead to me. I mean it.”

“I know. If anything happens to her, I'm dead to me, too. I wouldn't be able to live another day.”

“I want her happy, but I want her safe.”

“We'll make sure that she's both.”