Marabelle Bronx Manchester lived a mostly normal life, aside from the fact that her father was a superhero and her bedroom was hundreds of miles underground.
One day her father decides he needs a sidekick and her life becomes a bit less normal.
I keep making slight edits to the chapters of this story even after I've published them so don't be alarmed if the chapters keep changing publishing dates, I don't change any plot points just grammar. Also if I spell something wrong or anything feel free to let me know.
Bronx stayed at the hotel for three more weeks dodging texts and calls from people in Swellview, she got hold of a laptop and was submitting her homework that way. Also she was getting increasingly suspicious of her mom's empire.
Bronx kept thinking she recognized a lot of the people she came across. At first she brushed it off, she saw a lot of weird and messed up looking people in Swellview and Dystopia was essentially a functional hellscape, she was bound to see a few mangled people that looked like other mangled people. But Bronx couldn't help but thinking it was something else, the other day she was going to lunch—now allowed to leave her room—and she could have sworn she saw Drillfinger, and sure, that could have been because she'd been thinking about him recently but then it happened again: she was going to the workout room and she could've sworn she saw FriendFinder (a woman that kidnapped children without friends and forced them to play together).
All in all it was a sticky situation and Bronx was getting a little peeved at how her mother refused to tell her anything about what she actually did, it was all I give jobs to people who need them, and I see to it that Dystopia has things it needs, and Bronx's favorite I run this place of course, she'd rolled her eyes at that last one and it had become the default answer whenever she asked anyone what went on.
~
Bronx was in the gym stretching her legs in preparation to do a routine she'd been making to some song about falling in love when her phone started ringing. It was ringing most of the time but on a whim she decided to pick it up. It was Ray.
"Hi." She said shortly.
"Oh, sweetie," he lets out a breath, "Are you okay? I was so worried."
"I'm fine."
"Where are you honey?" Concern is seeping into his voice.
"Somewhere." She says with a hidden hesitation, she doesn't quite want to go yet.
"Well, can you please come home? We all really miss you."
This ticks her off, he certainly didn't care when she was there, she could have died and as long as she was in her room he wouldn't have noticed. "Why don't you just have Henry move in if your empty nest is too much to handle?"
"Bronx I-why would I want Henry?"
"Chicken. Broccoli. Casserole."
"That's why you left? Because I made dinner you didn't like? Bronx I've been worried sick, I didn't go out for a week in case you came home while I was gone."
"So? That's not my problem, you can go out just fine that's your choice." Bronx says bitterly.
"I thought you were dead, I had to call Schwoz to check up on you." He sounds scandalized, like she wasn't the product of two of the most fucked up, impulsive people in the country and this wasn't bound to happen at some point.
"So let me get this straight, first you only ever want to go on patrol and the second I get out of your hair you're suddenly grief stricken at the thought of not being near me."
"That is not true! You know there's a crime wave. And you're the one who didn't want to be my sidekick, I needed help and you didn't want to so I got Henry. We agreed to this and it's not my fault you don't like it anymore."
"Fuck you dad, this is your fault don't blame it on me." Pointing fingers never helped but god was it easy.
"How could this possibly be my fault, you ran away because I made some food you didn't like. Newsflash honey, sometimes you have to eat food you don't want to, if you don't like it make something else."
"You're an overgrown man-child with an ego bigger than Mom's crack addiction. No wonder she left you, you selfish arrogant obnoxious asshole." Bronx is almost yelling at this point.
"Marabelle do not speak to me that way. I have done my best to give you the life you deserve but time and time again you take what you have for granted and act like I'm a bad person for trying to defend my home."
"It's not a home if no one loves you." She spits.
"Marabelle I-Look I understand you're upset but you're being irrational and acting insane. When you're ready to be normal again I'll be here but until then, by all means, stay wherever the fuck you are because nobody wants to be around you when you act like this."
"So now I'm not allowed to come back huh? Well fuck you Dad. Fuck you and all your little gadgets, and your stupid fucking color coordinated Man Cave. Fuck all your goddamn pet projects you never finish, and your ugly Hawaiian shirts, and most of all Dad fuck your inability to admit you're wrong even when it drives away everyone around you." She hits the hang up button out of breath and on the verge of tears.
Bronx stand there and pants, taking in a few deep breaths before she puts away her phone and leaves the room. Bronx walks to her room and changes out of her workout clothes into a white shirt and a pleated skirt and goes out to the balcony.
She see's the fire escape on the side of the building and climbs down it. Bronx gets to the bottom and starts walking to nowhere. She meanders for a half hour down streets that remind her of the bad parts of Swellview until she comes across a hair salon and decides to go inside.
It'd been a while since she'd had a haircut, her father was a master at it and he usually cut hers whenever she needed it. Bronx had the same hair for years, a simple clean-cut right across her back that got cut every six-ish months to maintain. It was easy and simple but she'd wanted a change for a while, and if she was going to stay in Dystopia for more time she was going to change with her life. No longer was she going to be a little girl from Swellview, she was almost a woman and she was going to look the part.
Bronx ended up getting a short, shaggy cut below her jaw that wouldn't tangle all that much, her father would be horrified if he found out but that was almost half the appeal.
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After that Bronx starts walking back to the apartment. A short while later James pulls up in the same car he had the day she arrived. When they get back Magda is in the lobby sitting in a chair with her legs crossed looking annoyed.
"Where have you been?" She demands, "and what on earth did you do to your hair?"
"I wanted a change from what Dad always wanted. I thought you of all people would understand that considering you left to get away from him."
"Bella that is a complicated situation."
"Jesus FUCK, I hate this goddamn family." Bronx goes to leave half expecting someone to try and pull her back. No one does and that only furthers her rage, at least with her father they fought it out. Instead she's allowed to go back to her room, she spends the rest of the night mourning the loss of her hair and her Dad.
Damn, I went a lot heavier with this than intended. Also I am well aware that Bronx is more or less in the wrong this entire time but if you've ever been fourteen with daddy/mommy issues you get it. Anyway I'm also setting up for some future problems and planning to update that pretty soon. AS a general aside I've never done drugs nor do I know anyone who's done anything beyond pot so I may not have all my facts right, I also am not a dancer so some facts might be wrong on that front too.
