((ooc: Theme song brought to you by Mirror~))


It was so easy. Too easy, really. Everyone always played it up as being so difficult: want to change the world, kids? Start a petition, call your congressman, stage a protest in front of building xyz that not even Wolf News will cover. Sink into the disgruntled masses, and struggle ineffectually for change.

If only people knew: all you really needed was a city full of tinder, and one ginger spark.

New York was changing. For the first time, it was mutants rising up against humans—en masse, not just a scattered handfuls of ill-focused homicidal idiots. Perfectly average, logical mutant citizens were out there right now, breaking windows and lighting things on fire.

Maxine lips curled into a smile; her peasants were so very quaint in their methods.

That's why they needed their Queen.

She'd let them vent first, of course; get a few years of therapy, crammed into one very cathartic week. She'd indulged herself in similar pursuits after getting out of the hospital. After waking back up, in a city where things were breaking, and her Amazons were waiting at the doors to escort her into the thick of it. There had been... oh, a few little incidents. The police who had assaulted her were already dead, but there was no small shortage in volunteers to take their places. Not to say she had killed anyone; no, that's what a Queen's Guard was for. And really, a good sound beating went a long way, in most cases.

She wasn't even that angry any more. She felt focused now. Cool-headed. Perfectly rational. She wasn't malicious, and she wasn't greedy.

No, Manhattan was all she wanted. A nice little island, for a nice little sovereign nation. Why not take the city, and carve out a slice for just mutants to live in? It was so very easy. They had the manpower for it; if the last few days had proven anything, it was that. The police couldn't stop them. With a bit more organization, a military would be hard-pressed to do so, either. There were mutants who read minds, saw the future—they could know of coming attacks. There were mutants who could grow crops in a matter of seconds, produce water from thin air; all the sieges and trade embargoes in the world couldn't hurt them. Hell, she'd even heard of a bartender in the city who could make booze from water. What more did a budding world power need? Humanity had spent so much time trying to repress them, it had never considered how much potential they had. There was power, here. With the right leader, they could make something, and defend it.

Maxine sat on the steps of her apartment building, enjoying a glass of water and the tingling afterglow of a pain pill. A gentle morning breeze carried shouting from the distance, and stray whiffs of smoke. All around her, though, was perfectly peaceful. This area had been cleared early and thoroughly; a few of her neighbors were still holed up in their apartments, but they weren't the types to come out and cause trouble. The other Amazons were off getting their daily dose of destruction, but Maxine had stayed behind to work on more important matters.

A Queen had to plan.

No more excuses.

A week had passed. A week filled with chaos, fear, frequent acts of violence and random acts of heroism. A week with not much sleep and a lot of wounds that even DocProf had to admit were serious enough to heal. Mirror had been on the streets, under the streets, above the streets, and in the Mansion, looking out for other people.
The week had ended, and she was running out of excuses.

Someone was going to do it, sooner or later. Maxine had started this, on screen, live. Someone, mutant or human, was bound to make the decision to end all this the way it started.

With Maxine.

Mirror was not going to let that happen. If anyone was bringing the Queen down, it had to be the Knight.

Which is why it kind of sucked that the day of reckoning was a Maya day.

The young mirrorwalker looked at her reflection. She had just finished braiding her hair that had grown out (again) without her noticing. She was not wearing the X-men uniform. This was personal.
She had her bow and arrows. And her knife.
It was personal, not friendly.

God I look like I'm about to raid some tombs.

It was not incredibly hard to find Maxine. The first place anyone would look was the place she was. Maya saw her from the reflection in a window, sitting outside the building, and she circled around so when she finally stepped out onto the pavement, she was facing the Queen.

There should have been tumbleweeds or something.

"Gawain!"

The Queen's face lit up like she was thirteen again. She didn't exactly spring to her feet—it was more of an ache-y hobble. The officers hadn't broken anything, but they'd bruised just about everything.

"Oh, sorry; Maya," she corrected herself, before the mirrorwalker could. Maya looked good; for once, Maxine was willing to admit that the other girl looked better than she did. Not out loud, of course, but... damn.

The bow, the arrows, the knife, the resolute look on her face? She looked all grown up, and ready to kick some authoritarian ass.

The Queen responded in the only way possible: she crossed the space between them, and wrapped the Knightess in a welcoming hug. Some standing on tip toes may have been involved; she'd ditched her usual high heels in favor of some nice, riot-friendly sneakers.

"I knew you'd come around," she said. "God, this is going to be awesome. We've got Allison, Sveta, Aura, Amber—"

It would be just like the Apocalypse, but even better. This time, they'd have a sometimes-Lady-Knight at their backs.

>>"Gawain!... Oh, sorry; Maya,"

Maya winced when she saw Maxine's face light up. Gawain had... always been the side she cared about. That was one reason she decided not to postpone the confrontation another day. She though it would be easier to face Maxine as Maya.
She was wrong.

"Maxine..."

Before she could come up with the whole speech she had made up just for this occasion, Maxine was hugging her.

It was a familiar feeling. Maya held her breath and paused the moment, the way someone pauses the TV to go get a glass of water.

The last moment when anything was still possible.

>>"I knew you'd come around. God, this is going to be awesome. We've got Allison, Sveta, Aura, Amber—"

Aura. Great.

The program resumed.

"Maxine" she said, more firmly, and held her at arm's length by the shoulders. The Queen was still smiling, the kind of smile that breaks things inside.

"I'm not here to join you. I'm here to tell you to stop this. All of this. You are the only one who can."

Even if they were tiny girl hands, the mirrorwalker's grip still felt good on her shoulders. Warm, and solid.

"Of course," the Queen's laugh was short: one part startled, and one part Who do you think you're dealing with? "God, you didn't think this is what I wanted, did you?" How stupid do you think I am filtered into her tone, along with just a hint of It's so cute when you're being naive; if you were a boy, I'd ruffle your hair. "Come on; sit your butt down. I'll explain everything. You're a smart bo—individual; you can make an informed decision."

The Queen accepted her own offer, and sank back down. Sitting felt a lot better than standing. The hug had been worth it, but her ribs really preferred that she stop moving around so much. She motioned to a place on the concrete steps next to her. Regardless of whether the lady knight joined her, she began speaking.

"The violence has to stop, of course," she glossed over, with a shooing off motion of her hand. "We're too disorganized this way; too easy to take down. You've been following the news, right?"

The news. She didn't know if it was the pain pills or sheer unadulterated euphoria, but she still hadn't come down off the high of that realization: she had her Amazons back, but this wasn't the Apocalypse. Outside of the Big Apple, life continued like normal. Electric plants still operated, news feeds continued, and cell phone towers still linked her to the rest of the world. They weren't lost, isolated, left to wander in a dusty haze: they could riot all day, and plug their smart phones into their chargers at night. Z-Mobile didn't care what she did, as long as she paid her monthly bill.

"They'll be sending in the National Guard soon; that will be our first real test. We can harness that to refocus everyone: bring them together under a new goal. A real goal. It was never about a stupid little riot, Maya;" No; that little 'fire' call out of hers had been the post-beating endorphins talking. "It's about building something better than what we had before. I think we can do it."

The redheaded Queen smiled as she spoke that 'we'; a vibrant smile, that promised the world.

>>"Of course. God, you didn't think this is what I wanted, did you?... Come on; sit your butt down. I'll explain everything. You're a smart bo—individual; you can make an informed decision."

Maya frowned and followed Maxine to the steps. She did not miss the change in her movements after the hug - she was still hurt, and that one detail alone made the mirrorwalker re-think joining the Amazons and burning some sh*** down.
There was no use though; the officers had already been taken care of. Some on the team said the X-men should have gotten there first, but Maya was glad that was not the case.

Maxine was not too shaken about her refusal.

>>"The violence has to stop, of course. We're too disorganized this way; too easy to take down. You've been following the news, right?"

"No." Maya said shortly, still standing as she listened to Maxine. No, she was not following the news. She was in the news. She was all over the news, wherever they popped up, usually arriving on scene at the same time as the news crews. No she was following the news. She was too busy making them.

>>"They'll be sending in the National Guard soon; that will be our first real test. We can harness that to refocus everyone: bring them together under a new goal. A real goal. It was never about a stupid little riot, Maya. It's about building something better than what we had before. I think we can do it."

"You can't." Maya said quietly, her eyes a lot more determined than her voice. "Maxine, you can't win this. And even if you do, it would not be worth it. Have you been seeing what is going on out there? What your, your Amazons are doing? I spent the entire week pulling civilians out of rubble and watching them try to piece their life back together! Is that really what you want, Maxine? Because if I remember correctly last time we talked you were pretty determined that it should not happen. Not this time."

Maya didn't join her on the steps. Maxine didn't miss the symbolism, but she continued speaking. Trying to reason with the knight.

"What you do is noble, Maya," the Queen replied, almost soothingly. "You save lives, one at a time. You have for years. You're a good person. But you change nothing; not in the grand scheme of things."

"Do you really think this riot is about me? I'm flattered, really, but my Amazons—this whole city—why do you think they listened to me? It's because they want this. They don't want to be saved by the knight in shining armor; they want to change things." There were echoes in her voice of the last time they'd had this conversation; the day they both woke up from a dream of the future. A dream where Mirror had died valiantly, and Maxine... Maxine had survived, dirtily. No. No, she didn't want that again. She wanted something better. They were on the cusp of things right now; the fire could burn itself out, it could burn the world down, or it could be harnessed for something good.

"We can do this," the redhead returned calmly, with every bit as much determination in her eyes as the mirrorwalker had. "We've got nearly every mutant in the city standing up, and doing something. They're idiots about how they're handling it, but you don't need to tell me that we're still equal with humans when it comes to stupidity. That's why they need a leader."

Her green eyes left no doubt as to who she thought that leader should be.

>>"What you do is noble, Maya. You save lives, one at a time. You have for years. You're a good person. But you change nothing; not in the grand scheme of things."

That stung. That stung where it hurt the most: the place that family left behind. Maxine was good... bad... lucky that way.

>>"Do you really think this riot is about me? I'm flattered, really, but my Amazons—this whole city—why do you think they listened to me? It's because they want this. They don't want to be saved by the knight in shining armor; they want to change things."

Maya pressed her lips together and stood, facing Maxine, with her arms folded. With the Queen sitting on the steps, they were almost eye to eye.
Only technically.

>>"We can do this. We've got nearly every mutant in the city standing up, and doing something. They're idiots about how they're handling it, but you don't need to tell me that we're still equal with humans when it comes to stupidity. That's why they need a leader."

"And then what? When you win the riots, then what? What's the difference between ruling stupid mutants and stupid mutants and humans living together? There will always be someone to hate. There will always be someone to fight."

Violence is not the answer.
Also, don't forget to eat your veggies.

"Maxine, please don't do this."

And this, kids, is the difference between Lawful Good and Chaotic Neutral.

"Please don't make me do this."

What was the difference? God, the mirrorwalker could be such a child.

"It's the difference between running from emergency to emergency, slapping patches on things and hoping they'll hold," her green eyes made sure Mirror knew exactly who she was referring to, there, "and starting with a clean slate. It's not about stupid humans and stupid mutants. It's about carving out a place where we can pull mutants together, and give them somewhere safe; somewhere they can try living up to all this damn potential they've got bottled up. We're not made for the old way of things, Maya. Do you really think mirrorwalkers and ice manipulators and office supply animators were made to work nine-to-five office jobs? We're something different. New. We don't have a place in their world. We need to find a place of our own, or they are going to kill us. One hate crime, one registration act, one police brutality incident at a time. Most mutants want peace, so they put up with that s*** every day of their lives, thinking 'one day it will be better'—but it never will be better, not until the people who give a damn stand up and make it better. That's what's happening, right now: we've got everyone standing up. All we need to do is channel that energy into something greater.

"What we're doing here is nothing more than what Egypt did, and Syria is doing; hell, it's what the United States did back in seventeen-seventy-whatever. We're living under a government that actively oppresses us, most certainly does not represent us, and which does not have any intentions to change."

The Queen stood up; slowly, stiffly, she stood up; her green gaze fell imperiously down on the Knight.

"Why did you come here, Maya?"

The young mutant had brought a bow and arrows. She'd brought a hunting knife. She'd come straight to Maxine's doorstep, in the most literal manner possible, but it wasn't to join the mutant's side in this fight.

The reporter wasn't stupid. She revised her question; and for a moment, something else showed in her eyes. Something a lot more hurt.

"Why, Maya?"

>>"What we're doing here is nothing more than what Egypt did, and Syria is doing; hell, it's what the United States did back in seventeen-seventy-whatever. We're living under a government that actively oppresses us, most certainly does not represent us, and which does not have any intentions to change."

"And you think violently taking over the single most significant city in the world will change that for the better?!"

Maya sighed and took one step back when Maxine stood up, simply to not have to look straight up to her. She had done enough of that.
Maxine was not bright eyed and giddy anymore. She looked...

>>"Why did you come here, Maya?... Why, Maya?"

"Because I promised." she said, her arms finally unfolding. The decision had been made. "I saw you when you woke up, Maxine. You did not want to be that Queen. Last time... I was not there to change that. Now I am here. To stop you."

“To stop me.” The redhead parroted hollowly. A forest of dark freckles began to stand out on her face, one by one, as a red flush rose to her cheeks.

Maya had taken a step back, furthering the distance between them. She’d unfolded her arms. The classic signal of Now the talking is finished. Now this is really going to start.Maxine could read body language was well as the next reporter, but she did not want to read this. In fact, she refused to. This was Mirror. This was the kid who she’d dragged out of a mirror and taken ballroom dancing; this was the friend she’d gone to Washington with, to find a lost mother. He--she--wouldn’t--

Would she?

“And if I don’t want to be stopped?” The redhead asked, quietly.

For the first time, Maxine realized she was alone. Her Amazons were off god knows where, doing devil knows what. She was alone: it was just her, and Maya. Maya, who’d brought a full quiver, a bow, and a knife to this talk, right from the beginning.

Some hero. Some knight.

Maxine's face flushed and Maya watched as reality dawned on the Queen.
Now it was over.

For a long and terrifying moment Maya feared that Maxine would give up. Even though she knew in her mind the Queen would not do that, there was something in her eyes that was just... Maxine. The redhead that dragged Gawain out on a date from a bathroom mirror.

Please.

Please put up a fight.

>>“To stop me... And if I don’t want to be stopped?”

And the Queen was back.

"I am sorry." Maya sighed "I can't let you go on with this. I was not sent here by the X-men, but I am still one of them. I will take you somewhere safe to hold you till this is over..."

There were two places that could hold Queen Maxine: The Mansion and MRC. But she already knew that.

"... whether you put up a fight or not."

The mirrorwalker wanted her to fight. She did, didn’t she? Maxine could see it in her eyes, in her ready stance; could hear it in the spaces between her words. The mirrorwalker wanted this fight.

The brave Lady Maya, Knight Errant of the X-Men, wanted to fight an unarmed woman. A woman who the mirrowalker--even on her ‘better half’ days, as it were--outweighed, and certainly outmuscled.

A woman who’d thought they were friends. That had been a nice thought.

...She needed Rex. No, not Rex. Rex knew the mirrorwalker. She could feel the octoclip nearby, curled at the top of a lightpost, methodically running its tentacles over the shattered fixture, seemingly unconcerned with the events below. It would take time to change that. She wasn’t sure she’d have that time.

Her dogs. She needed her dogs. But her dogs had been a dream; back in the real world, paper still hated her just as much as it hated anyone else. She could only control it as individual sheets. Even bringing a small amount to heel took time.

There was that word, again. But what else could she do? She was no fighter: even in that dream of the future, it hadn’t been her fighting skill that had held together her girls. Hell, she’d even been captured by a brat of a kid--

The Queen let out a breath, and held up her hands slowly.

“I surrender,” she said. “On one condition. There’s no way I’m sharing wardrobes with you; I am not wearing sports bras for the rest of this riot. Let me go back up to my room, and pack a bag.”

Just one little bag; it was hardly the end of the world.

Please put up a fight... please put up a fight please put up a fight...
... or surrender. That works too.

Maya sighed as the initial tension left her body. She had never seen the Queen in her dream days, but she was told that Maxine had powers no one expected. But that was a dream of the future.

Maxine wanted an overnight bag. Boy was this progressing fast.

Maya nodded and took a step forward. She was going to follow Maxine inside. She trusted her, but not enough to let her climb out the back window.

"I'll take you to the Manison." she said quietly. That was a friendly thing to do. MRC would have been worse. "All we want from you is that you stay put till this is over."

"The Mansion," Maxine said. "Right. Because hiding in a schoolhouse makes the world a better place. It's very reassuring to know that the X-Men have a solid strategy in this."

The redhead didn't push it, though; deadpan commentary aside, she moved her tush like a lady who didn't want to be slung over a knight's shoulder and carried. She went inside with head held high and shoulders squared.

And this is what Maya would see:

Inside, the elevator was out. Riots can have that effect on power lines, sometimes. Maxine's apartment was on the fourth floor. She began the trudge upwards, very determinedly not glancing back at the knightess who followed her. Her pace was slow, and she had to stop at the landings now and then, a hand to her ribs, her eyes squeezed shut as she caught her breath. But she made it to the top, any offered help be damned.

And this is what happened:

It wasn't Maxine's ribs that hurt. That pain, and the aches in the rest of her body, smoothed out to a mellow tug at her consciousness.

She needed time, so she stalled. An overnight bag? Four flights of stairs for the hobbled Queen? That would do.

She needed Rex to understand that Maya was a threat, so she feed the octoclip every cinder of betrayal burning behind her eyes, every icy finger that touched her spine. The mirrorwalker had brought a full quiver of arrows. A knife. Who the hell was she planning to use those on? Certainly not a friend. On the lamppost outside, the octoclip's tentacles became still.

She needed her dogs. But they didn't exist yet; they were part of her future.

She could fix that.

Maxine had been holding her power back since she was seventeen. She'd slammed in every mental ward she could, walling that part of her power off in a little room where she didn't have to be afraid of it. What she hadn't understood then was that there were worse things in the world; that Riding Hood needs the Big Bad Wolf around, if it's the Huntsman who's stalking her up the stairs to her own damn apartment.

It was surprisingly easy; like taking a deep breath, and jumping over the side of a cliff. The pain in her ribs was nothing but waves lapping at a lakeshore. The real pain was in her mind; she took that mental jump, and it was like her skull split open.

They were at the top of the stairs. The redhead paused with her knuckles curled white around the railing, and drew in a ragged breath. The pressure on her mind eased. It was done.

And this is what she did:

Her hand shook as she tried fitting the key into her own door lock. It wasn't an act; that trip up the steps had exhausted her. Just... not for the reasons the mirrorwalker might think. She dropped her keys; they came to a jangling halt on the carpeted floor.

"Damn it." The redhead leaned against the wall next to the door, running her hands through her hair. Her tone was imperious as ever. "You open it."

"It doesn't have to be like this. It's not too late to just... go off, and save some pedestrians. You can save the world your way, and I can save it mine. We could... we could still be friends." She said, her senses crackling with awareness of what was waiting on the other side of that door. The Alpha was awake, and displeased with life.

It was Maya's choice.