Work Text:
Naomi rolled into work fifteen minutes late.
There was a crowd milling around.
Wonderful.
She hurried into the back, punched in, slid her violin into her locker, and grabbed an apron.
"You're late," growled Harvey, her manager. "There's a huge backup out there."
Like Naomi didn't see that on the way in.
It would be a lot easier if they just trained up everyone so they could make a decent cup of coffee. Instead, customers saw she wasn't there and decided to wait.
"You want your regular, Mildred?" she asked a regular a few people back in the line.
"Hey, I was next," some guy in a suit complained.
"I got you too," she assured him. "What can I get for you?"
"Double Carmel Moch, with whipped cream," he replied.
He may as well go next door and get a milkshake.
She made Mildred and the guy's order at the same time. The guy stiffed her on the tip, but Mildred offered an extra dollar for a ninety-cent cup of coffee. Naomi threw in a sugar cookie for good measure.
"Next," she called.
That's her entire morning. Slowdown around ten has her cleaning tables and checking the restrooms, because she's shift supervisor, even though it doesn't come with any more money, only responsibility.
"You gotta work and extra twenty to make up your time," Harvey told her on the way back from the restrooms.
He knows she was only fifteen late, but he doesn't care. He always tacks just enough extra time on, so they don't have to pay her for it.
It picked back up for lunch, some more regulars. A few strangers. Not a good tip day. She's probably going to have to dip into her meager savings to make rent again this month.
Crazy smirk girl came up and Naomi slid her regular across the counter with a nod. The girl dropped a five and just walked away. Best consistent tipper she had.
She finally clocked out at two twenty on the nose. Harvey got his extra twenty minutes. Whatever.
She hustled halfway down the Boardwalk and looked around for Enforcers before taking out her violin. She lay the case in front of her, intention obvious.
If she put out a sign, the Enforcers were much more likely to force her out. If she was just playing and some money happened to fall into her case. Well, that was acceptable...most of the time.
She started off with some soft stuff to draw the crowd in.
That got her started. She used to put seed money in the case, but sometimes some kids would come by and grab and dash.
It was one thing to lose money she just earned. Another entirely to lose money she had before.
Once she had them drawn in she ramped up the energy. Fast numbers brought better tips.
Just as long as she didn't play too fast for too long. Then the storeowners would complain and get her kicked out.
She played for a couple of hours and collected her money, twenty-seven dollars and a handful of change. Also, a bottle cap some asshole threw in.
That was food money for tonight and breakfast for tomorrow.
Naomi stopped by the shop on the way home and bought some discount pork that's only a day over its sell-by date. Some broccoli, bean sprouts, and cabbage completed her shopping, and she hustles home before it got too dark.
She made a quick stir-fry, adding some leftover rice, then divided the portions and took a bowl over to Mrs. Chen across the hall.
The woman insisted on thanking her for five minutes. By the time she got back to her own food, it was already cold.
Naomi absently spooned lukewarm stir fry into her mouth, thinking about the end of the month.
If she doesn't pay the electric, she can make rent. Then if she pays the electric within five days, they won't turn it off.
She had money in her savings, but she already knows how fast that gets spent. She needed a cushion in case she gets hurt or sick.
A single tear drips down her cheek into the stir fry. She eats that too.
Johnny Chen was worried.
The Azn Bad Boyz liked people who produce. And he was behind. He just joined the gang, so it wasn't really fair, but he couldn't tell the lieutenants that.
Best case scenario, the beat the shit out of him as an example. Worse case, Oni Lee or Lung decided to make an example.
He climbed the stairs to his grandmother's crappy apartment. He was supposed to check on her a couple of times a week, but he'd been slacking off lately.
Too many worries.
As he reached the final landing a young woman came out of his grandmother's apartment and walked next door.
Damn, was that the neighbor his grandma was always talking about?
She was pretty fine for this neighborhood.
He thought about using his grandma for an introduction, then he remembered. Selling drugs wasn't the only way you could earn your keep.
It wasn't cool. He'd never done it before.
Grandma would kill him if she knew he was even thinking about it.
But she wouldn't have to know. Grandma was at bingo a lot of nights.
It's not what he wanted to do...
But the guys that did...they always had money. And he had to do something.
He wouldn't even have to do it himself. Those guys paid for tips too.
Another day in the books, Naomi thought as she climbed the stairs.
She didn't have to make dinner of Mrs. Chen tonight. Her Wednesdays were spent at the church marking bingo cards.
Today she had a good day busking, so she treated herself to a pizza. With any luck she would have enough for a few days.
She trudged up the last few mildewed steps and juggled her keys and the pizza.
Almost dropped the pizza but recovered at the last second.
"Hah," she said out loud, getting the keys into the lock.
Naomi's head was suddenly smashed against the doorframe.
Stars flashed as she started to fall, head spinning, but hands caught her.
For just a second, she thought someone was trying to help her, but then they started dragging her away from her door and she remembered...this is Brockton Bay.
A bag slipped over her head, cutting off the light. She could feel blood streaming out her nose.
She kicked and swung her arms trying to it something...anything.
Naomi felt the back of her head hit someone in the face, so she swung her head back again.
She was rewarded with a punch to the gut, knocking the air out of her. She started vomiting in the bag.
"Fuckin, bitch," she heard one of the men say and she was punched in the side of the head.
Stars.
She was being carried now.
She tried to kick, but someone was holding her legs.
She felt herself being dumped in the back seat of a car, followed by a man landing on top of her, trying to grab her hands.
The car began to move.
Another punch to the face. More flashes of light.
Then...a lot of light.
You have been selected
Words flashed by her eyes too fast to see. What? More Light. Her awareness seemed to swell for a moment. Like someone was pushing a knife into her head.
Maybe they decided to just kill her. Maybe she was too much trouble.
No... the man on top of her was groping her breasts and between her legs. He wasn't stabbing her.
More flashes of words. Slowing. Resolving into something that she could read.
You have been selected as a recipient of the knowledge of the Cosmic Forge. Do you accept?
What?
Do you accept?
Accept what?
Connection to the Cosmic Forge provides an opportunity for growth.
What?
Do you accept?
Yes? She thought. Was she having a psychotic break?
Free Selection: A Memory Of The Face Of Creation: Your mind refuses to warp, your personality stays stable, and your view of reality matches what you sense and perceive.
What?
Free Selection: Environmental Protection: You know how to make Environmental Protection Packs (EPPs), specialized devices designed to protect the wearer from hazards such as lack of oxygen or heightened levels of radiation.
Knowledge of how to build devices flooded her brain.
What was happening?
Free Selection: Subnatica PDA: Loaded with an emergency intelligence and contains basic construction blueprints.
She felt an object in her hand. It felt like a cell phone. It she could call for help.
Free Selection: Satisfactorio Builder: The buildy gun from Satisfactory.
She could feel what felt like gun suddenly drop into her other hand. She pulled the trigger.
She was pulled back to reality, rolling on the road. Did they throw her out of the car? The man was no longer on top of her so she reached up and pulled the bag away.
There were three men sprawled across the road with her. One looked seriously hurt.
"The fuck happened," another shouted, rolling to his knees.
She quickly pointed the gun at the man and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
More words flashed in front of her eyes...
Free Selection: Valkyrie Core & Frame: A Valkyrie Core capable of storing, integrating, and improving technology and equipment. A Valkyrie Frame a suit of enhanced power armor that has been equipped with thrusters, weapons, and other equipment.
Naomi's heart began to burn in her chest.
Everything was fire.
She felt pieces of herself burning away.
She curled up in a ball, sobbing as the burning slowly dissipated.
"Motherfuckin' cape!" she heard one of the men yell.
There was a bunch of noise. She felt...was it raining.
She managed to finally uncoil and watched as one of the men continued to fire his gun at her.
The bullets seemed to slow as they flew at her, until finally just falling to the ground before they even touched her.
What the hell?
A heavy object stuck the ground behind her, blowing both conscious men back off their feet.
She turned and looked, to find a massive suit of armor behind her. A hero was here to rescue her. Armsmaster, or...
That wasn't any Protectorate hero she had ever seen. She started to back away as the armor split down the middle, opening, almost...inviting.
She ducked when she heard the gun go of again, running way from the men and the crazy Tinker suit in the middle of the street.
Her feet leave the ground as she runs and she is suddenly flying...fast.
A moment of panic and she's rolling on the road again, but this time it feels like rolling on pillows.
200 CP Selection: Extragalactic Tech: Your nature allows you to go beyond merely marrying the design sensibilities of several alien peoples. You easily blend the varying physical laws and examples of causality you've encountered in the creation of any one thing.
She lay there for a moment her mind racing like never before. Thoughts were coming quicker...clearer.
She thought back to the first message; you have been selected.
She knew nothing about capes...not really.
But everyone knew that capes got powers somehow. What if it was this? Her mind began to make connections quicker. It was coming together.
More bullets.
They stopped. Just like the ones before.
Something in her chest seemed to pulse.
Okay.
She turned back toward the two conscious men. One was talking on a phone. The other was reloading.
She was flying before...how? She pushed forward.
The world blurred.
Suddenly she was rushing at the man shooting at her.
Fast.
Too fast.
She slammed into the man, knocking him backward into a building with a bone-crunching thwack.
Now the other man was shooing at her. She tried, again, but slower. Hopefully whatever was stopping the bullets wouldn't stop now.
She flew across the road and slammed into the other man, like she had the first. He was down now too.
Naomi looked around.
They were on a deserted street. Somewhere deep in the docks. She had to get out of here, before more gang members showed up.
She turned, trying to fly away.
But something stopped her.
She looked over the carnage.
She wiped the blood away from her nose. The bleeding had stopped. Her nose didn't even hurt anymore. Nothing hurt. She actually felt...okay.
The giant fuck-off suit or armor was still sitting there, open. She could see the gun-thing lying on the road next to something that looked more like a small tablet than a cell phone.
She walked over and retrieved the two smaller devices.
"Unruly handling may void your warranty," said a tiny voice from the tablet.
Huh?
"Please reorient one hundred eighty degrees," she heard next.
The tablet had a tiny face on the screen.
Naomi stared.
The tablet stared back.
"Hello," she tried.