Whiteout

The elevator slowly crept up to Raymond's apartment.

Val, Weiss, and Patti stood in the middle of the living room. All of them could feel the nervous energy in the air. Val had to consciously keep herself from pacing around the room.

"I suppose it's too late to get another glass of whiskey," Weiss chuckled. She didn't seem scared on the outside, but Val could tell from the way she squeezed her hand that she was downright terrified.

Val kissed Weiss on the cheek. "We're gonna be fine. Just zip in, get Raymond, and wait for the team to get back. Everything's gonna work out."

"You sound confident."

"I

am

confident."

"I'm not!" said Patti with a nervous giggle.

Weiss rolled her eyes, a nervous grin spreading across her face. "You wanna head back home? You can just hang out at the bar until we're done."

"And miss a chance to punch some rich shitstain in the teeth? Fuck that."

The elevator dinged.

The doors opened.

* * *

At 3:47 PM, a portal opened in the meeting room of Rainbow Tower.

Val, being used to sudden shifts in gravity, landed on her feet. The two people she traveled with did not.

"Ow!" Weiss shouted, landing on her side. "Valerie, you didn't say we'd be falling!"

"Sorry!" Val said. "I thought it would be cool!"

"It was a nice idea," Patti groaned, stumbling to her feet and rubbing her butt.

"Val?"

All three women looked up and froze.

There, sitting around the table, were the four other members of Team Rainbow.

Reuben rose from his chair and stared at them. "Madame Blanc, I presume?"

"Oh, shit," Weiss said quietly.

"What the fuck are you still doing here?" Patti said. "Didn't Raymond-"

"Patti?" Yun-hee bolted upright, her jaw dropping in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey," Patti replied. "Love the lipstick, it's a good color on you."

"Thanks," Brayden said, before pausing and realizing who Patti was actually talking to. "S-Sorry."

"I don't understand," Val said, fear starting to creep through her body. "Why didn't Raymond send you after us?"

The PA clicked on. "She's not here!" Raymond shouted, sounding slightly out of breath. "Should've known that bitch would trick me..."

Raymond went to the apartment? On his own? Why would he-

"Hello?" Raymond said. "I'm on the right frequency, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Hawthorne," Reuben replied.

"Then why aren't you talking?"

"Because..." Reuben trailed off, a pained look on his face.

"Because what?" Raymond spat. "Say it!"

"B-Because she's here!" Reuben gasped.

"She's

what

?! Why-" Raymond groaned, like he was trying to hold something back. "D-Don't lay a finger on her! I won't allow you to hurt her!"

"What the fuck is going on..." Patti muttered.

"Oh, shit..." Val said, the realization dawning on her. "He

couldn't

send the team after us. You programmed him not to!"

"Yeah, she did," Raymond growled. "And it's not fun."

"L-Listen, Raymond," Weiss said, trying to maintain her composure, "I do feel quite bad about doing that to you-"

"Oh, so

now

you decide to grow a conscience? Not when you were going around town, doing God knows what to all those people? Not when you were having your way with Val?"

"She didn't hurt me!" Val cried. "She... we... it's not what you think!"

"Oh, what?" Val could almost hear Raymond rolling his eyes over the phone. "You think you love her or something? Is that it?"

"Yes! I do!" Val felt the eyes of all her teammates burning into her.

So now it's out there. Funny. Didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

Raymond chuckled softly. "Isn't that sweet? Well, let's see what that love is really worth. I can't send the team after Blanc, but I can send them after

you

, Val."

"Mr. Hawthorne, please!" Gibson pleaded. "Don't you dare make us hurt Val!"

"Your objection is duly noted, Gibson. Once Val's back on the team, you and I will have a nice, long chat to help you clear all that out."

"Wait-"

"Team Rainbow. Get Val."

Click.

The room went quiet.

For a long while, nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody wanted to make the first strike.

"Val..." Reuben whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Val sighed. "I know what you're fighting against. I won't hold it against you."

She grabbed onto Weiss and Patti's hands and fell through the floor.

* * *

"Ow, fuck! Stop

doing

that, Valerie!"

Weiss groaned and rose to her feet, her eyes straining in the darkness. "Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"My new apartment," Val responded. "Or, at least, what

would

be my new apartment, if we don't get Raymond under control."

Patti pulled out her lighter and waved it around, getting to grips with the sudden change in environment. "Are we still in the tower?"

"Yeah." Val sighed. "Look, I fucked this up. I should've realized the team would still be here, and now I've dragged you both into a warzone. So I'm giving you a chance to bail out now."

Weiss blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Just say the word, and I'll send you back to the bar."

"You thought we'd come all this way only to leave you at the last minute? I'm almost offended, Valerie."

"It's me they're after, Weiss, and even if they're ordered not to hurt you, it's not safe-"

"Oh, shut

up

, Val!" Patti rolled her eyes. "We're sticking with the plan, it's just that now we've got four people to flash instead of one."

"Those four people can shoot lightning, wind, ice, and heat vision at us."

"I'm trying to not let that sink in, Val." Patti paused and flicked her eyes towards the lighter, a slightly devious smile spreading across her face. "So it's three-on-four right now, yeah?"

"Patti," Val said, "what are you planning?"

"I think I can make it four-on-three." Patti flicked off the lighter and burst out into the hallway, sprinting wildly in a random direction. "Come and get me, assholes!"

"Patricia!" Weiss cried, poking her head out the door.

"What does she think she's doing?" Val shouted, running after her.

Just as Patti raced past a stairwell, Gibson descended from the upper floor. "Hey!"

Yun-hee ran past him, chasing Patti down the hall. "I-I got her! You guys worry about Val!"

When Gibson turned around and saw Val, she was already turning around and heading back for the room. As she got closer and closer, she felt wind at her back, steadily growing in intensity until it became so strong it lifted her off her feet. She tried to grab onto something, but she was too far away from any of the doors to get a firm grip. Val flailed wildly, spinning around in mid-air and catching glimpses of Reuben and Brayden as they joined Gibson.

"Valerie!" Weiss shouted as she zoomed past the room, rapidly approaching the back wall.

This is gonna hurt...

Val braced herself and opened a portal a few feet in front of her. She flew straight into it and landed in the room at what felt like terminal velocity. She heard something crack; she wasn't sure if it was her ribs or the laminate flooring.

Weiss rushed to Val's side. "Are you okay?"

"That's a loaded question," Val groaned. She rolled over onto her back and slowly sat up, wincing in pain. "They know we're in here now. Yun's going after Patti."

"Can you stand up?"

Val rose to her feet and cracked her neck. "I've had worse."

Weiss readied the machine and aimed it at the door. "We've got about 15 minutes till Raymond gets back here. We need to get everyone either un-brainwashed or at least incapacitated by then. You ready?"

Val leaned against the doorframe and took a deep breath. "As I'll ever be..."

* * *

Yun-hee rounded a corner and skidded to a halt. She couldn't tell if Patti was exhausted from running or what, but she was standing in the middle of the hallway, waiting for her.

Patti grinned. "You look good, Yun."

"Why are you working with Blanc?" Yun-hee demanded. As if today couldn't get any more insane, now one of her old friends from her kinkier days was working with a supervillain who brainwashed her teammate.

"Why else?" Patti grinned. "World domination!"

"Well, at least I know you're still you." Yun-hee rolled her eyes. Patti was always prone to this kind of exaggeration. Was she doing this to piss Yun-hee off, or just for her own amusement?

"And are

you

still yourself?" Patti pointed at Yun-hee dramatically. "Or has Raymond left you broken just like he did with Val?"

Yun-hee winced. She knew she wouldn't be able to speak a single negative word about Mr. Hawthorne, so she tried to steer the conversation back in her favor. "You're one to talk, working with someone who goes around town brainwashing people!"

"She was brainwashing

the rich

, Yun."

Is she for real?

Yun-hee could never get a firm read on Patti, not even when they were hanging out at the Pink Mansion. Patti always seemed like she was both completely serious and treated everything like a joke. Yun-hee remembered Patti being fairly outspoken about her anti-capitalist leanings, but would she really take it

this

far?

Patti chuckled. "You looked this surprised the first time you found out about us."

"The... first time?" Yun-hee felt worry start to creep into her gut, but clamped it down. She knew all the tricks that her opponents tried to use to psyche her out, and Patti, smart as she was, certainly wasn't an expert. Whatever she was trying to do here, Yun-hee would see through it.

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Patti scratched her chin. "You don't remember. She made sure of that, didn't she?"

"Don't remember what?"

"Who Madame Blanc

really

is."

Yun-hee paused. It sounded completely ludicrous. How could she learn something like that and not remember it? But then again, when she started this day, she didn't think she'd wind up in the pocket of some narcissistic sociopath, so it wasn't the

most

outlandish thing to consider.

Alright, I'll humor her. Let's see where this goes.

"And who, exactly, is she?"

"Aw, c'mon, Yunnie!" Patti giggled. "I'm sure someone with a big, smart brain like you can remember something like that! You met her, oh, about two days ago?"

Two days ago... does she mean at that bar?

Yun-hee remembered bringing Val there after she had that panic attack. There was that creepy guy, and that table of frat boys, and... and nothing. There was a black hole where most of that night should've been. She wrote it off as both of them getting black-out drunk, but... "Was she at the bar?"

"Oh, you're getting closer! She wasn't there, but someone else was!"

"Hm..." Yun-hee tapped her chin. "You?"

"You got it!"

"Okay, so I saw you at the bar. How does this lead to me meeting Blanc?"

Patti scoffed. "Well, I

wanted

you to connect those dots on your own. But I think we both wanna get this over with, so I'll spill." She slowly walked towards Yun-hee as she talked. "See, Val and I also knew each other. And when I saw her, I came up to the both of you and started chatting, catching up, y'know how it is. Just gals being pals!"

"Wait, what?" Yun-hee raised an eyebrow. "How do you know Val?"

"Ah! Isn't that an intriguing question?" Patti grinned, clearly having a blast toying with Yun-hee.

If she's not telling me, then it must have something to do with Blanc's identity.

"So we're at the bar, and you come up to us. Then what?"

"Well, the conversation drifted towards the kinky side, as most conversations between totally platonic gal pals tend to go." Patti reached into her pocket. "And that's when I pulled this bad boy out."

Yun-hee braced herself for a weapon, but all Patti had was a lighter. She flicked it on and let the flame dance slowly.

"...So, what?" Yun-hee asked. "Did you light up a joint or something?"

"Nope! But Val certainly got relaxed." Patti inched closer, holding the lighter up towards Yun-hee's face. "She focused real hard on the flame. It's so easy to do that, isn't it? So easy to just let your eyes fixate on the little dancing spark."

What the hell is she up to?

Yun-hee said nothing, waiting for Patti to get the point of whatever game she was playing. She tried to keep an eye open for any sudden movements, but the way Patti was holding the lighter in front of her face made it hard to look anywhere else.

"And Val found it so hard to keep her eyes open," Patti continued. "It's a very bright flame, after all. Your eyes just wanna slip shut so they don't have to look at it. But Val knew she had to keep them open. She had to keep watching."

Yun-hee nodded, feeling her eyes start to get a little tired.

Yeah, yeah, get on with it.

"In fact, it was so hard for her to keep her eyes open that she felt the rest of her strength leaving her body. She just felt so

tired

and

heavy

, staring at the light. It made her want to give up and fall into a nice, deep sleep."

Yun-hee blinked, and it felt like a monumental effort to get her eyes open again. She suddenly felt like she'd just run a marathon, her body utterly drained of energy. She swayed on her feet, her arms hanging loosely at her side. She felt someone's hand touch the back of her head and keep it upright; it took her a surprisingly long time to realize it was Patti's hand.

"And you know what happened next, Yun?" Patti whispered. "She did. She went deep, so very deep, right there in the bar. Right in front of you. You can remember what she looked like, can't you?"

Slowly, an image started to form in Yun-hee's mind. It seemed both completely alien and strangely familiar, like a memory from a past life. She saw Val and Patti sitting next to each other, Patti's arm on Val's head just like it was on Yun-hee's head now. She saw the way Val stared at the light, almost like she was looking through it. Her face was slack, her lips hanging open just the slightest amount.

"That's right," Patti purred. "And you feel now what she felt then. How peaceful, how relaxed, how

blank

she was. You might be able to see where I'm leading you, but you can't stop me now, Yun. Because you don't even want to."

I... don't?

Questioning Patti's words seemed like so much work now. So much easier to just accept them. "Yes..." Yun-hee whispered, her own voice sounding like it was miles away.

"You want to sink down for me. Sink down deep."

"Sink... deep..."

Patti smiled. "So close those eyes for me now, Yun. Close your eyes and

sleep

."

Yun-hee's eyes slipped shut. She sagged into Patti's arms as the shorter woman brought both of them down to the floor, gently petting Yun-hee's hair.

"Good girl," Patti cooed. "Now I remember how much fun we had that night. Such a shame that you can't, though." She kissed Yun-hee's cheek and grinned. "How about we rectify that?"

* * *

FLASH.

Brayden blinked away the spots in his eyes. Judging from the grunts Reuben and Gibson made, whatever just hit him also affected them.

When he could see clearly again, Val and Weiss were sprinting towards him.

Bull rush? What's this amateur hour shit?

He cracked a grin and launched a blast of frozen air towards the floor in front of her. He knew from experience that freezing someone's actual body was a straight path towards hypothermia and tissue damage, but watching people trip and fall on a patch of ice was both mostly harmless and pretty damn funny. And even though he'd been ordered to take Val down, no one said he had to actually hurt her.

As predicted, Val started to slip and slide across the floor, desperately waving her arms to regain her balance. He chuckled; she looked like a little kid trying to ice skate. "Gibson, knock her over, let's get this wrapped up."

Brayden looked to his left. Gibson wasn't there. Neither was Reuben. "Guys? Where..." His eyes widened in realization.

Oh, duh. She probably portaled them out of here while we were all dazed.

He shrugged and turned back towards-

There was flash of purple behind him, and then Brayden was on the floor.

Val pinned him down and shouted, "Weiss, get over here!"

"T-Trying!" Weiss said, taking slow, awkward steps across the slick floor.

Loud footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Must be the other guys.

"Shit," Val muttered. "Slide it to me!"

Blanc nodded and tossed the device across the floor, where it stopped just inches away from Brayden's head.

Val rolled off him and picked it up. Brayden rose to his feet-

FLASH. FLASH. FLASH. FLASH.

-and dropped to the floor. His eyes were wide and unseeing.

"Brayden," Val said, "block the stairs!"

Block the stairs.

He sat up and launched another blast at the entrance to the stairwell, creating a frozen wall.

"Now stand up and help us deal with Gibson and Reuben. Make sure you don't seriously hurt them, and don't leave or wake up unless Blanc or I tell you to. Understand?"

"Understand..." Brayden murmured, Val's orders bouncing around his head with nothing else to get in the way. He stood up and stared off into space.

"Careful with that thing," Weiss said as she hobbled over to Val. "You're gonna drain the battery if you spam it like that."

"Maybe you should've made a manual," Val sighed as she handed the machine back to her.

Weiss patted the hypnotized Brayden on the shoulder. "One down. Looks like Yellow Snow here wasn't much of a fighter, eh?"

Brayden furrowed his brow. "...Yellow Snow?"

"She didn't say that," Val quickly interjected, "you didn't hear anything."

"Didn't... hear anything..." Brayden repeated, his face smoothing back into blankness.

Val sighed. "Don't call him that, he

hates

that nickname."

A sharp

crack

rang through the hallway. The ice wall quickly shattered and fell to pieces, part of it melting into a puddle. Reuben kicked away a few of the chunks at his feet and walked into the hall, the glowing embers in his eyes slowly fading.

Gibson was right behind him, a wry grin on his face. "Y'know, Val, you probably should've dropped us off in the lobby. Would've given you some more time."

Val shrugged and smiled back. "Gimmie a break. All you guys ever want me to do is get us from A to B. It's not my fault I'm out of shape if I never get a chance to stretch my muscles."

"Brayden!" Reuben shouted. "Snap out of it!"

"No dice, soldier," Weiss smirked. "But don't worry, we won't do anything permanent. We're just borrowing him for a moment."

Reuben glared at Weiss. "I have to say, you and Val teaming up was an unexpected development. Care to tell us how you got her under your thumb?"

"We'll have a nice, long chat about it.

After

we've kicked your asses, of course."

"Strong words coming from you, Blanc," Gibson said. "I seem to recall taking you out pretty easily back-"

FLASH.

"Gah!" Gibson staggered back a step, covering his eyes with his arm.

Val blinked taking a moment to realize that they'd ended the 'villainous taunting' part. "O-Oh, right! Brayden, blast 'em!"

"Blast them..." Brayden repeated blankly. He raised his arm and fired, sending a shot down the hall.

What Val didn't realize, though, was that she hadn't told Brayden to turn around. He was still facing towards where Val and Weiss came from, meaning his blast simply flew towards the opposite end of the hallway.

Oh, great, now he's even dumber than usual.

"Turn around, Brayden!" Val shouted as she barreled into Reuben while he was still stunned, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Turn around..."

"Hey, dumbass!" Weiss snapped. "Don't worry about the ice, just try to pin them down!"

Before Brayden could respond, he and Weiss were thrown onto their back by a strong burst of wind. Landing on the ice patch, they slid back several feet before gradually slowing to a stop.

"Weiss!" Val shouted, before being suddenly picked up off the ground and slammed into a wall.