November 4, 2022
Maddy’s initial adrenaline-fueled euphoria of tear-assing out of Grande Prairie, after destroying the monument to her monstrous father in the city park, had ebbed. Several hours later she was getting sleepy; her thoughts drifted, which was definitely not ideal while riding a motorbike, after dark, down rural Alberta highways. The sheep-bear had pulled off the road to the unlit rest stop south of Little Smoky, and flipping through her maps app while idling next to the small concrete toilet stalls, resolved to stop at the next town with a hotel. That turned out to be Whitecourt, another half-hour down the highway.
It ended up being past eleven by the time the sheep-bear staggered into their room at a recently-renovated (“UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!!”, the signboard proclaimed) independent motel. With a smirk, they observed it was conveniently right next to another Smitty’s location; the diner was already closed by the time they’d reached town, but they’d be able to have an extremely hearty breakfast in the morning. Which was all for the good, since Maddy had consumed only a bottle of Granddad’s awful old-man beer, a double-double, and a sack of A&W cheeseburgers since lunchtime.
It was then that Maddy realized a problem: despite her exhaustion, she couldn’t manage to actually get to sleep. She laid tensely in bed, staring up at the ceiling, despite the adequate mattress and the television set to the comforting background drone of The Weather Network.
“Oh, fuck, what have I done,” the sheep-bear murmured to themself, half-giggling, both pleased and slightly terrified. They were really, for-real, committed now, huh? No more waffling. No more fence-sitting. They’d burned their bridges with Granddad and the rest of the Oakes clan; it was time to start thinking about how they’d do the same with Ontario’s Heroes, once they got back to Toronto.
Wait. She had made a decision now, hadn’t she? And—buried at the bottom of her duffel bag, still carefully wrapped in (now-dirty) laundry—there was a set of the Korps’ signature Rose-Coloured Glasses. The ones worn by members of the Korps. A set given specifically to her, for her to wear. Like a member would. Someone the secretive organization trusted.
That thought ate at them, somehow. In a matter of weeks, they’d made friends (slightly unsettling though they sometimes were) who’d been nothing but kind and supportive, despite their lives outside the law, and Maddy’s hand-wringing indecision. People who’d encouraged them to take their time figuring things out, yet still trusted them with this, when and if the sheep-bear was ready.
Had Hagen ever trusted her like that? Had her teammates? Had Ontario’s Heroes, or the Prairie League? Had any part of the PHL ever really expressed that kind of confidence in “Heartforce?”
Maddy threw the covers aside and rolled their fuzzy nude bulk off the bed, padding over to the floor where they’d dropped the bag, and dug through until finding it. They looked at the bubble-shaped visor, turning it over and over in their stubby fingers, eventually finding a recessed toggle along one rim. With a deep breath, the sheep-bear clicked it, and slid the device across their muzzle.
Text flickered by in the HUD before Maddy’s eyes, bold magenta superimposed on her view of her surroundings—at that moment, gazing at her visored face in the mirror behind the desk. It looked like the operating system Grace had been using to call up Dad’s buried press conference, in the secret Korps communications post at Helical BioSpectra; she caught something about a biometrics scan and new user profile setup.
Maddy certainly didn’t feel brainwashed yet.
Suddenly, they heard a voice, as clearly as if the speaker had been standing in front of them. Not quite heard, actually; it was like a memory of speech, rather than taking it in through her stubby ursine ears.
[Hello, Maddy. My name is ROSE, and I’m so glad to meet you.]
Maddy started. Grace had mentioned this too—the AI behind Korps electronics. “Um,” the sheep-bear stammered, “H-Hi, ROSE.”
[Your biometric readings are telling me that you’re feeling fatigued and stressed right now. Is there anything I can help with?]
She scratched the back of her neck, chuckling ruefully. “I need to get some sleep, and also figure out exactly how I, uh, logistically follow through on this ‘defecting to the supervillains’ thing once I get home…?”
[Of course! Which would you like to do first?]
“…Wait, really?” Maddy tramped back to the bed, and laid down, idly staring past the television’s flicker. It was playing the segment on the week in weather history again; apparently a spectacular blizzard had struck the Great Lakes in 1913. “You can help me sleep?” Realization dawned on the sheep-bear. “Is that like when Grace—I mean, Ms. Dunlop—asked you to help her sober up?”
[She’d like you to call her Grace if you’re comfortable with it, but yes, exactly like that! And similarly, with your consent, I can drop you into a deep sleep almost instantly. Think of it as having access to the ‘software’ controlling the various functions of your nervous system.]
“You have that backdoor, you mean, not me.”
[Only with your consent, of course, as I said.]
Maddy pondered the offer, clasping hands across her furred sternum. “In… a bit, I think. First, uh, how do I…” Her face reddened, realizing she was about to ask how to ‘use’ ROSE, and became uncertain—considering the evident personality built in to the AI—how the… woman? Person? Construct?… would take it.
[Please don’t be embarrassed to ask me anything, Maddy. I’m happy to tell you all about how to use me. By all means, please do use me! That’s what I’m here for, I promise. May I begin the RCG Tutorial presentation?]
Despite having no visible face, the sheep-bear could swear the AI was winking at them, somehow.
November 5, 2022
The next day—after breakfast, of course, which had been the Ukrainian Skillet with extra smoked sausage strewn across the cheese-drenched perogies—Maddy was back on the road. There was one difference from the previous day, however. Rather than being buried at the bottom of her bag like a shameful secret, her RCGs (Her! RCGs!) were instead safely stashed in her jacket’s inner chest pocket.
The sheep-bear thought happily about their conversation with ROSE. It had lasted another two hours before they finally took the AI up on her offer and accepted the help in drifting off. Their back-and-forth resumed in the morning, too, after the most relaxing night they’d had in years. ROSE had helpfully made certain to maximize Maddy’s REM sleep, at that, gently awakening them with perfect timing to pack up for the latest possible check-out.
It also turned out that ROSE did in fact have a face, to Maddy’s surprise. After very clearly obtaining the sheep-bear’s consent, the AI had materialized in her RCGs’ view as a warmly smiling vixen, superimposed on the surroundings of the motel room as an augmented reality construct. ROSE had virtually lounged cross-legged in the room’s lone chair as the two spoke, listening to Maddy’s giddy anxiety and offering comforting commentary. They planned out what the sheep-bear would do once back in Toronto: a heart-to-heart with Mom and Brianna, then… laying low for quite some time. Could she simply disappear off OH’s radar for a while? If anyone could make that happen, it seemed like her new friends could.
More importantly, the AI had also informed Maddy of the nearest Korps facility—SCS, the Saskatoon Command Site—and told them they’d be welcome to stop by, if highway motels were beginning to lose their charm for the sheep-bear. They were, and for that reason Maddy’s route had changed, making a bee-line back down the Yellowhead Highway towards ‘the Paris of the Prairies.’
It was on passing the road sign welcoming drivers to the bi-provincial city of Lloydminster that Maddy’s phone rang through Bluetooth earbuds, briefly confusing the sheep-bear; who would possibly be calling?
On the third ring, she realized, and her blood ran cold: Slider. She hadn’t checked in, and he was, surely, going to be a dick about it. Sighing under her helmet, the sheep-bear pulled into one of the many parking lots of the bleak commercial strip stretching along the highway. Idling between a Princess Auto and a RONA warehouse, Maddy tapped to pick up the line.
“You owe me a report, valued teammate,” the rat said testily, not even pausing for the pleasantry of a ‘Hello.’ “Made any effort to do your one fucking job lately?”
Maddy snorted, watching the traffic pass by in the distance. “Good afternoon to you too,” they mumbled.
“You think I don’t goddamn mean it, pal? You want Hagen on your case? Don’t get snide with me. Come on, chop-chop, I want to hear all about it, since you couldn’t be bothered to even half-ass a voicemail yesterday. What have you accomplished in infiltrating the Korps in the last thirty-six hours?”
“Well, I went to their Halloween party last week dressed up as my childhood hero, and after got drunk after having a heart-to-heart with Redline, they gave me a set of RCGs. I finally tried them on last night. Felt pretty good, very comfortable fit on the muzzle, no brainwashing to report; the virtual fox lady interface even helped me get to sleep, after I told her all about my defection plans,” the sheep-bear snarked.
He made an angry whining noise. “Funny. Real funny. My sides are splitting. Now try again.”
Maddy took a deep breath, and repositioned their broad bottom on the saddle of their beloved V-Max. “You know what? Fuck off. After the rhyming shit, just entirely fuck off. I’m tired of playing these stupid little games. Do you like this, Neal? Do you like being the way you are?”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Finally, the rat spoke, with more than a hint of defensiveness in his voice. “I’m good at what I do.”
Maddy turned, looking at a harried crane woman trying to keep her chicks from playing with shopping carts as she loaded a box of air filters into their minivan. “Are you? Are you, though? Because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of evidence to the contrary lately. What exactly are you reporting to the boss, if I’m such a fuckup? He’s just letting you ineffectually give me shit periodically, good job, no notes?” She hesitated, before grinning, and deciding to twist the knife as hard as she could. “Hell, you’re a joke to the Korps, you know. They weren’t concerned at all about your little break-in at HBS. Threat level on par with a small-town cop, maybe? Just beneath contempt.”
“At least I fucking want to be here,” Slider snapped. “You don’t. I pay attention, Oakes! It could not be more obvious that you’ve never wanted to be part of the team! I don’t think you’ve ever even wanted to be a Hero!” He growled into the phone, exasperated. “But no, ungrateful little shits like you win the lottery with powers, and then you were oh-so-fucking-convenient to Hagen—a twofer of a diversity hire and someone for his black ops Captain Ahab thing with the Korps. Did you know he’s been planning this mission since you were on the junior prospect roster? He’s goddamn obsessed, he’s only thinking about getting the best headlines of his career—who ever fucking liked him when he was Canadian Shield, hell—and he’s willing to give you enough rope to hang yourself with. No skin off my nose.”
“Neal. Hagen hates me, but he doesn’t like you much either. Why are you so loyal, if you know he’s gone off the deep end? And if you think I’m like… a disgrace to OH, or whatever… why wouldn’t you just leave me alone to fail? To get fired—or quit, even—if I can’t hack it? Why are you standing in my way, if you think I’m just a fucking useless ‘diversity hire?’”
“Most people never get the things they want, Madison. Why should you be any different?”
The line went dead.
Slider was going to be a problem once she got back to Toronto, the sheep-bear realized.
A few hours later, Maddy was inside SCS, visor equipped. People waved and smiled, prompting the sheep-bear to wonder whether anyone at OH Lakeview had ever seemed happy to see them, and coming up blank.
It wasn’t nearly as grand as the facility she’d seen the previous week, which ROSE had informed her was Korps Downsview Site, or KDS. (The virtual vixen seemed almost to be holding back giggles, upon correcting the sheep-bear’s misapprehension that she’d been underneath Yorkdale, rather than the nearby decommissioned military base that had become Downsview Airport at ground level.) However, she’d still been welcomed, after blue-visored guards at a security checkpoint had reviewed her dossier, assigning her a guide to give her a tour of the base—and, Maddy assumed, keep an eye on her, despite ROSE’s assurance that she had already been fully vetted by KDS’ security team.
Although, ‘assigned’ might have been overselling it. ROSE had silently whispered to Maddy that the guards—a curvy zebra femme and a short, buff pintail drake—had merely pinged the local network asking for volunteers to ‘show a visiting new recruit around,’ which admittedly didn’t quite sound like they were in need of a trusted minder.
In any event, that was how the sheep-bear had ended up sitting across a mess hall table from Lou, a stout, butch pine marten wearing black overalls and a dark flannel shirt, who had to be at least in her fifties. Maddy had been venting about Slider, while digging in to a huge dish of mapo tofu liberally doused in pickled mustard greens.
“I don’t get it,” said the mustelid through a mouthful of hot and sour wontons. “This sketchy little prick is just giving you shit every day, and that’s it? Seems to me the PHL would have more of a care about keeping watch on you, for this big double agent op they think you’re doing.”
Maddy slurped at the spicy, oily sauce around her lips as she carefully picked up another fat chunk of tofu with her chopsticks. “I took some leave to come out west and see my grandfather. Well, blow up at my grandfather. Well, actually, blow up at my grandfather and then also my dead father. But anyway, I think Neal is just… freelancing with this fuckery, honestly? Being a cowardly shitheel because he can. But I don’t want to make waves by bitching about him to Hagen. More attention from OH is the last thing I need right now.”
Lou nodded, the floof of her short undercut bouncing along as she did. “Oh, sure, sure, I gotcha. You about to do anything to knock him down a peg, though? Sounds like the twerp has it coming,” she said before a belch, briefly pounding a closed fist against her chest to work down the indigestion. “Ooof. I’ll tell you, girl, I can’t half handle the spice any more. Best Sichuan food in town right here on-base, though! I always get some when I’m passing through.”
Maddy raised an eyebrow. “Are you not, uh, here? Posted or assigned or billeted at SCS, or whatever? I mean, I assumed, since you showed me around—”
She laughed, a rich, smoky guffaw that spoke to a lifetime of experience. “Oh, I spend a lot of time here, but really I mostly live on the road. Logistics and intel, see. I haul cargo between sites, and keep an eye out for things the field ops and command folks like to know about. Nothing suspicious about an ol’ trucker gal with a semi traipsing all over the continent, y’know,” the marten said with a wink and a smirk of her bristly, greying whiskers. “And as a matter of fact, I’m on my way back East; got a shipment heading to BDB, with a quick stop at SHS. It’s not all the way back to KDS, but you could take a break from riding, keep me company up front? Put your bike in the trailer behind the cargo pods, of course; couldn’t expect’cha to leave it here, sweet thing.”
That would be convenient, Maddy pondered. But also, was it her imagination, or was Lou hitting on her…?
[Yes, she is.]
The sheep-bear coughed and fumbled their chopsticks, eyes down; they’d gotten so quickly used to the RCGs, they’d forgotten ROSE was still active and listening.
[I can go offline if you’d like! But yes, she’s into you; the instance of me running on her hardware obtained her consent to share that. And from your current heart rate and brainwave activity, it seems as though you may be receptive? If it’s a concern, I can tell you that Ms. Cartier’s quarters here are very spacious and welcoming to overnight guests, as is her rig’s sleeper cab.]
“ROSE…!”
Although, this was what she’d been hoping for since seeing the crowds at KDS, wasn’t it? Especially after her self-admissions and… research… the other night. It could be a chance to feel her oats, especially in the company of such a handsome older butch. Maybe she could even pick up a few pointers, to say nothing of gaining some confidence to flirt back, the next time Grace teased her about her age. The thought appealed, and she began to imagine what Lou might look like under the overalls.
[I’ll take that as a “Please give us some privacy, ROSE.” Have fun!]
Maddy flushed, and it wasn’t just the numbing spice of the pepper that was heating up their face.
She looked up from her dinner into the older woman’s weathered cherrywood-red eyes, and grinned in what she hoped was a cockily appealing way. “You know what, Lou? I’d be happy to hop in with you for a few days. I can always use more friends to show me the ropes of the villain life…”
