The Scar, The Rebel, and The Hacker

## Hana's “secret” base, September 1st

Clank, clank, clank. With a final pull, the lift pulled Hana’s motorcycle up onto the frame that would keep it elevated for maintenance purposes. With a wrench, she started to remove the spare tire from the front of the bike, eventually letting it fall to the floor and roll away. She leaned close to examine the front fork and the burnt, explosion marks on it. The girl let out a sigh. The brake disc was beaten up, and the suspension was bent. She supposed she got out pretty well, having crashed through a mansion wall after teleporting while flying off a freeway. It was going to be a lot of work though, and she wasn’t quite confident with fixing a whole suspension by herself.

She let out a loud groan, then pulled out her phone. She brought up the Biscord and found Fearless on it, groaned again, then put her phone away and headed to her kitchen. Hana grabbed a soda out of the fridge, opened it, chugged half, then brought her phone out again. Another sigh.

`Hey, uh, so, like, I was gonna work on my bike. The suspension is pretty busted, need to swap the brake disc, and replace the tire. I’m crap at doing a whole suspension by myself, so, like, if you wanna come over and work on it with me, I guess that would be fine. Stop around the back of the community center and lemme know when you’re here. Uh, if you’re coming. You don’t have to. I’m fine if you do though. So. Yeah.`

She sent the message, then groaned at her motormouthing. “Whatever. If she comes, cool, we can figure stuff out” she said, giving a sigh, then headed back into her garage.

Fearless grabs faer phone and grinned “Maria, looks like this is for you.”

Maria shifts in taking control of the body “I mean it seems like it was for all of us, I don’t know if she understands the difference.”

Elena mentions internally “I am happy to help fix the bike, it’s one of the only things I am better than you at Maria but you need to work things out with her. Although, I’ll gladly bring cookies as a peace offering.”

Fearless joins in “Cool, so we agree, Maria will be handling the talking bit and we'll be motorcycle experts.”

Maria stood up and sighed, grabbing her things and sending a text over to EliZe to let them know where they were going, how long until they should be worried, etc, like they always did before doing anything.

They grabbed a bunch of supplies, some cookies, and then took a moment to look at her sword collection seeing the blade she used on Shade, should she bring it? They weren’t sure, maybe it would seem like a peace offering or maybe it would seem like a threat? Maria wanted things to be okay with Hana but also was still annoyed at everything that happened that night, more annoyed to find out this was some presenting grudge given what happened.

They hop onto Aphrodite and Elena shifts into control to drive, she actually really loved it, she wasn’t allowed to drive a bike back then so she had to do it in secret, one of her only rebellions before coming to 2020. Soon enough they were at the community center and Maria texts the hot girl who hated her “We’re here, we brought some stuff and hopefully you got some too, let us in.”

Hana glanced at her phone, sitting on a small stand alongside some tools, looking away from the bike as she buffed out some of the burn marks and melted rubber. Her eyes got wide, surprised to see the response. “Oh, jeez. Okay. Okay. This is fine. We can...ugh...work things out and stuff. At least the bike’s gonna get fixed. Hopefully” she said to herself, picking up the phone as she walked over to the garage door, hidden from the outside. She opened an app and pressed a button within, and the door started to slide open. Outside, the wall slid out and to the side as the door itself pulled up on rotating sliders.

Hana stood at the base of a small incline on the inside. She gives an upnod to the girl on the bike. “Uh, hey, sup? This is, uh, my place. Come on in” she said, her voice having a bit of hesitation through the words. She waved, then turned and walked back. There was plenty of room in the garage for their own bike, even with the area for fixing up Hana’s bike and a frame holding up what appeared to be a set of robot armor and a rocket hammer. An opening led to the rest of the base and her apartment.

Fearless parks their bike carefully and then splits to Elena and Maria’s bodies. Maria looked at Hana and then looked away towards her bike. Elena waved cheerfully to Shade saying “good to see you again, I brought cookies.”

She grabbed the tupperware with the cookies inside and said “I am working on this recipe and I think I finally got it, I figured I’d share some with you, I’ve baked a bunch.”

Maria reaches for the container to grab a cookie and Elena smacks their hand softly. Maria sighs and says “Well, we’re here now and back experts. Elena is really great at this actually, she mastered the modern ways to mess with stuff in days.”

Elena goes to the bike and says “Plus I’ll have Fearless helping, so I am going to handle this first part, which means you and Maria can talk to each other so you swell cats don’t end up breaking each other's knees.”

Maria’s arms are crossed “Hana...that cool with you. If you rather we shut up and work, that's good too.”

Hana blinks as they split into the two. “Right, uh, y’all split and have...three people, Elena, Fearless, and Maria?” she said, hoping she’d remembered it right. Not that it was the weirdest thing she’d seen on Big Team, it was just new to her and she wanted to get their identities all right. “Hi, uh, thanks, for the, uh, cookies” she said, moving to grab one. It looked really yummy, definitely good to have more friends that could bake stuff.

“I, well, I don’t wanna make y’all fix my bike all on your own while I’m just...talking or whatever. I, like, if you’re fine with it, I trust you, you did an awesome job at the manor with makeshift stuff, I actually got a replacement tire and tools here so I bet you’ll make it good as new. Just…” she said, glancing to Maria, then back. Remember, people are nice, and want to help, she wouldn’t have offered otherwise. “I guess, like, I’m okay with it if y’all are offering. Sure. I can show y’all around too, like, where the bathroom and fridge and stuff are if you gotta go or want something to drink or whatever” she said, then glanced to Maria, a look of apprehension clear on her face. “We can chat on the couch or in my room or whatever, if you want”

Elena nods her head “That’s righto, I’m from the 50’s and got fused onto Maria, we’re both lesbians. Fearless is what happened when we worked in harmony, someone new that’s not me or her.”

Maria glared at Elena adding “I assure you Elena is cool with all this and we can come help if they ask for it. If we sort out all our feelings we’ll like, come here and start helping after.”

She turned her head looking at Hana while she spoke, like really trying to listen, she had to be good at this, she was going to work with Hana and Hana was cool and hot and sure maybe annoying but that was because Maria didn’t know her really. Most people annoyed Maria, so they knew they had to be willing to give Shade a real chance.

Elena chirps in “We’ll be okay finding stuff, if you could get us some water while you talk that be great but other than that we’re good.“

Maria couldn’t help but tease Hana as she suggests going to her room with a devilish smile “Oh so forward, normally we’d have had some fun before...“

They cut themself off and said “Sorry, I..am not good at talking about feelings, I am more of a show not tell, kinda person. But we’ve been working on that together.”

Maria’s eyes look away trying to avoid embarrassing herself further “The couch should be fine. “

She rubbed her fingers into her head in frustration, annoyed that she went for the flirt there when it was clearly not cool. Maria did not want to fuck this up.

Hana let out a big exhale, and nodded. “Okay, gotcha. Sure thing, I’ll bring a few bottles of water” she said, then looked to Maria. As the flirt came, her cheeks flushed and her eyes got wide. “I, wh, it, I w-wasn’t, that’s, not” she sputtered out before Maria apologized. Hana shook her head. Crap, getting flustered already, not good.

“It’s, it’s cool, yeah, that’s like, fine. Uh, cool, yeah, let’s grab them some water and...go chat on the couch” she said, still feeling weird about it, but headed into the main area anyways. “Uh, so, this is like, technically Sledge’s base, but I’ve basically made it mine too. Big computer over there kinda seals that since Sledge’s never gonna use it. My apartment is over here, kitchen, bathroom, all that” she said, pointing around at the places as she led Maria through, then came into the kitchen to get some water.

“Uh, so, like, uh, how...how you been?” she said, the only thing she could think of to start things off. Hana pulled open the door and grabbed a case of water bottles in one hand, pulling it out easily and shutting the door behind her, carrying the whole thing like someone else might carry one, then started on to lead back and drop the water off.

Maria nods “Alright that’s cool, having a secret base is kinda like the ideal home. I live in a haunted house with the others and EliZe, I don’t know if you met her but she’s really cool.”

Maria’s lesbian heart raced for a minute thinking of EliZe and Hana teaming up to kick some ass. She was going to offer to help but clearly Hana was strong enough. Maria said “been good, just working on music and training mostl. That and teaching my roomies about 2020 and stuff.”

Elena grabs the water from Hana and says “Thank you.”

She doesn’t say anything else and focuses on the bike now letting Maria follow Hana back to the couch. Maria says as they make their way over to the spot “So, let’s get to the chase right. I gave that sexy scar you got there and there is nothing i can do to take that back except listen to you and talk about how we both feel and stuff right?”

“Yeah, kinda, it’s been pretty nice, being here” Hana said, nodding as they walked. She stopped in her tracks for a moment when she mentioned EliZe, eyes getting wide. “You live with EliZe? Really? That’s awesome! EliZe is great, she’s a good friend. Huh. Well, hmph. Fine, if EliZe likes you that’s...something” she said, nodding, then continuing to walk. She sets the water down for them, nodding, then turns with Maria.

“Right, right, yeah, Rainbow Revolution, I remembered seeing y’all at some shows. You’re good,” she said, moving with her and drops onto the couch. She sits against the arm, one leg up on the cushion, her other leg on the floor as she looks to Maria, an eyebrow cocked. Her flush returned when Maria called her scar ‘sexy.’ “I, ugh, like, that, uh, yeah. Yeah. So, okay. I’ve had, like, a thing about it since then, cause like, you kicked my ass back then, and like, I’ve had to have this since. You’re like one of the few people I’ve lost to, and, like, ugh. It felt like you were being all cocky, taking me to the hospital after, and...that’s probably not what it was supposed to be like, I was just pissed, and got more pissed, and then you were just out of there and I got more pissed and never got to like, deal with that? I guess. I dunno, I’m crap at feelings and stuff. It’s just felt crappy the whole time. Yeah. You were just this super cool chick that just appeared, kicked my ass, cut up my face, then dropped me off at a hospital. Uh, any of that make sense? I talk a lot when people let me and it doesn’t always make sense”

Maria’s eyes light up, for the first time Hana has seen Maria’s eyes were full of genuine happiness. They speak, unable to not show in their voice “I am so happy to hear you are getting along with her. ”

Maria had a total sense of warmth for a moment, EliZe mattered so much to her, she just wanted them to be happy. She takes a seat leaning back against an arm but trying to be courteous of the couch as messy as her normal sitting might be. Maria looks totally confident when Hana talks about the band's music, they knew their songs kicked ass but it was nice to get some validation.

Maria listens to hana’s speech attentively and says “You made perfect sense don’t worry, ”

The demi-girl might be a total badass right now but that was only because the line of work they decided to go into required that Maria was on the ball. They knew what it felt like to get your ass kicked and not feel closure. Maria leans in and says “So like, for me how I saw everything was this cute girl comes into the place I broke into just to keep myself focused since i hadn’t had a job in a month, and got mad at me. We fought and I won but I went too hard since you were really strong and gave you a serious wound. I had two thoughts in my head, this girl is going to die if I leave them here or she is going to get caught breaking and entering and get arrested potentially. So I figured on both cases it was best to make sure you were out of there and somewhere safe. Then I barely dogged the pigs which is the closest I got to getting caught basically ever. Does that make sense?“

Maria rubbed their arm trying to sort out if they had any other feelings but for now would shut up and hear whatever Hana’s reaction to what she said was.

Hana’s cheeks flushed again. Cute? What? That’s what she thought? She blinked a few times while listening, nodding as she did, then sighed at the end. Her hands came up to rub her face, as she groaned. “Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it does. Okay. Ugh. So we both just overreacted and freaked out and got in a fight, and I ended up getting cut. That, like, that sucks. It’s my fault though, so, yeah. Okay. I, I guess now that you put it like that, I do appreciate that you didn’t leave me to bleed out or get arrested. Uh, thanks, sorry it made you almost get caught. Ugh. It’s really weird to have stuff you’ve thought for years be like ‘oh no it was actually like this’ and need to think that way now, you know? I’ll get over it, I got plenty of other crap to worry about, getting this off my mind will be good”

Maria moved closer and said “You really don’t have to forgive me, I am the one who hurt you, I've held grudges for less. ”

She rubbed her own arm and looked at the ceiling “I just like wanted you to know that I wasn’t like...totally a monster I guess. I’m not a great person or a good one, but for whatever reason I didn’t want to hurt you then and I feel bad that I hurt you now.”

Maria turned their head over to Hana and said “I’m glad you’re alive and I am glad you’re helping people. You really are a hero.”

She wasn’t sure what else to say, like what else was there to say in a situation like this. They just wanted to make sure Hana knew that she didn’t owe them anything just because they joined Big Team. Yet she asked anyway “Is there any of the crap I can help you with? ”

Hana nodded. “Yeah, yeah, like, I know that, and I shouldn’t be as mad as I was about it, like, I was breaking in too, of course it’s gonna be dangerous. It wasn’t too long after that Sledge took me in. I shouldn’t have acted like I did when I learned you were on the team. I’m sorry” she said, turning slightly in her seat, moving her leg up to sit criss cross facing Maria.

“I, well, maybe, I guess, I’m just like, trying my best and stuff. I guess I’ve been doing alright” she said quietly in response to being called a hero. Sometimes she didn’t feel like she was much of one. “Oh, uh, I dunno. It’s like, a lot of personal things. Crap with my parents, er, the people I thought were my parents, some kinda weirdness with where my powers came from, I’m worried about Hayeli, just, like, lots of stuff that the more I learn about, the more questions I have”

Maria moved in closer and figured she would let Hana’s first words stand on their own, it made sense, it was really noble of her to say all this stuff. Maria grinned at the shyness around being called a hero teasing “You don’t need to undersell yourself, you're the kind of hero that makes me feel okay with joining this team.”

Hearing about her parents there was a quick flashback in her mind, a young Maria walking out of her suburban house with a smile on her face and a pair of stolen car keys from the men who were going to take her away as the home exploded behind her. She quickly catches the rest of Hana’s problems and assures Hana “You got a ton of friends I’m sure but if you want help from someone a bit shadier, you can call on me. Parents suck, powers are weird, and Hayeli is a box full of mysteries. ”

Maria says figuring they might as well get any awkward air out of the room while they were alone “I worked a job with Hayeli, we called it the Treasure Job or Operation Treasure. I don’t really have the right to disclose anything on her behalf but honestly, I think she is a good person. At least you know as good as you get in our line of work.”

Hana nodded. There were people that would help her, something she wasn’t used to but greatly appreciated now. Having another wasn’t bad, she supposed, now that they’d sorted things out to some degree. “They do, they are, and she is. She’s really great” she said, unable to keep a smile forming on her face as her thoughts turned to the girl. She quickly glanced over, eyes wide as Maria talked about apparently doing some kind of job with her.

“Wait, what? You did? What was it? I didn’t know you like, knew her knew her! When did you have the job with her? Operation Treasure was it like some kind of pirate thing? Were you pirates?” she asked excitedly, leaning in.

Maria teases giggling a bit before letting their words out “Wow, you're so sapphic for her, it’s amazing but I can tell she’s into you too. You two would make a very badass pair.”

Maria remains a bit coy but all the tension from them was gone, you could see Maria totally relax as she spoke “There might have been a bit of pirating but that’s not why we called it operation treasure, oh no we were after a very divine treasure and as you can tell by us both being back, we were successful. ”

The demi-girl scratched their head abit trying to remember exactly when they did it “There was a lot of magic and time is harder when you got a mishmash of fused memories but I think that would have been right around when she was coming to Haylcon. Could have been a little before or a little after. It was before I was living on Wolfe island because I wasn’t a demon.”

Hana blushed once again, looking up and away as she got embarrassed. “I, that, it, wh-ugh, like, whatever, gosh” she sputtered, not really saying anything to deny the point. She nodded as she listened, taking everything in. “Oh crap, wait like divine like, godly stuff, or just divine like, really cool and valuable?” she asked. The timing thing made sense, she couldn’t imagine what having three people, one of those being a fusion of the other two, in your head would do to your memories. Hana’s were weird and messed up as it was. “Gotcha. Cool. Huh. I’m, I’m really hoping we can get together and talk about stuff soon. Her being here is like, that’s so awesome, I was freaking out for months and now she’s here and I gotta wait to see her. Sucks”

“Godly stuff” Maria states fairly planely and moves in real close to Hana “If you ever need help breaking any laws I’m no friend to A.E.G.I.S. I’m here to help with whatever.”

The devilish grin painted her face as she suggested a bit of crime, they were more than happy to take some risks for love to bloom. Despite ya know her whole attitude Maria has always longed for love and partners. While she might not be as romantic as perhaps their heart desired being with Elena, Fearless and EliZe provided at least the warm feeling she had only felt when she was in a serious relationship.

Maria asks the grin turning to a soft smile “How do you know EliZe, from the team, from another world, another time? EliZe gets around so I’m always curious.”

Hana laughed. “Awesome! That’s super cool” she said, grinning. The comment about law breaking made her think for a moment. “Good to know. I’m, like, kinda trying to not just do a crime as the first option for stuff, but it doesn’t always work out that way. It’s good to know you’re cool with that” she said, chuckling. Hana definitely hadn’t stopped the whole, bending the rules or laws thing, just tried to not do it as often or visibly.

The question of EliZe made her smile soften as well. “Uh, I actually met her when I was little. We met on my tenth birthday and hung out and stole some ice cream and vandalized some concrete together. It was awesome, she had to leave though, and I hadn’t seen her again until like, last week. I’m real glad she’s back and like, part of the team now and stuff. I had no idea she was like, more than just a person with cool powers back then, ten year old me just saw a girl with tentacles and dirt powers and was like ‘oh awesome let’s steal ice cream with them” she said, laughing at the memory.

Maria nodded her head and said “I totally get that, consider me plan C or Z or whatever. My moral code isn’t very complicated so I’m pretty down for whatever.”

Maria’s eyes lit up, how adorable the thought of little EliZe hanging out with tiny Hana was adorable. Their eyes were super wide, EliZe really was something special. Maria felt like she had mentioned Hana before just never used the name. Then again everything was complicated with EliZe and time. Maria sounds very excited saying “That’s so cool though, I am really glad you two found each other then. Also good to hear you’ve been a thief since you were little, I feel less bad about you sneaking up on me now.”

Maria giggled a bit on the last part and muses a little “EliZe and I have been friends for a while now but not that early. EliZe is actually the reason me and Elena got fused together. I helped tie her into this time and accidentally me and Elena kinda overlapped on each other, same place, same time, years apart became one spot for long enough for us to become one person, well body. That was a fun day.”

“Heh, absolutely. Trust me there’s a few of us that have, uh, loose morals or whatever on the team” she said, chuckling. As they chatted about EliZe, she grinned and nodded more. “Yeah, she’s awesome. She made a bad day into a good one back then” she said, then looked over as she started explaining the whole Elena/Maria thing. Hana’s eyes got wide.

“Oh, crap, that’s how it happened? Dang. So like, weird time magic stuff made you be in the same place and become like, together and stuff. Jeez. That, uh, that must have been really freaky at first. Seems like you’re all cool with each other now, was it a lot to get used to?”

Maria grinned and playfully said “I look forward to meeting them especially if they're open to cute demi girls and smooching.”

She winked at Hana and was glad to hear EliZe was making a positive impact on the world. Everyone was a better person than her but she didn’t need to be good, she just needed to be able to be there for them, to be strong enough to protect them so they could keep doing good.

Maria shrugged “Honestly, for how weird it was, it wasn’t too hard. We’ve only been fused for a few months and we’re already besties. ”

She pulled out her phone and showed a photo of what seemed to be themself but with purple hair “There was a little awkward phase as we properly mixed into Fearless, Fearless is our conversations, the combinations, agreements, solidarity, etc turned into faer own person. ”

Maria laughed a bit and said “I think we mostly got along because how gay we were. Elena was just so excited, she had woke up and saw girls kissing across from me this adorable Naga and Vampire couple and, she was like”

They switch to a pretty good Elena impression “Well good god, gals can just do this kinda thing in the open now, that’s so swell!!!”

Maria giggled a bit more “The hardest part was setting up the spell for us to split, we don’t actually have our own bodies anymore. This is magic fighting reality itself letting us split which is why we are Fearless bodied most of the time even when one of us is in control and not them.”

Hana nodded, leaning to look at the picture as it was shown to her. “So like, faer a person that’s like, a mix of the two of you, but still faer own person? I think I get it” she said, not quite actually getting it but at least understanding the words that were being said. She could at least relate to being excited about gay stuff.

“Heh, that’s awesome. I’m glad she’s like, handling stuff okay here, being ripped out of her own time and all. It’s super cool that you figured out how to split up when you want to. I super don’t get any kind of magic stuff, way over my head. I know it’s a thing and people do it, and it does weird shit, and yeah, that’s about it. Hehe” she said, chuckling.

Hana gave a sigh, leaning back against the couch, her head turning to face Maria. “So like, are we, are we like, cool now? I’m better now that I know all that stuff, like, actually know who you are as Maria and not just ‘that chick that cut me up.’ It was a lot the other day, probably just with everything else, but like, yeah, I’m, I’m good now. I mean we chatted on the couch so I’m pretty sure that means we’re friends now, that’s how it’s worked with everyone else, hehe”

Maria nods explaining a bit more about Fearless “I know it’s hard to get, it’s like Fearless is our conversation, an experience. Like in an anime when people fuse their a new person and it’s like that only it took work to really sort it out.”

She chuckles along with Hana and doesn’t really say more on magic, it was weird and complicated but it came naturally to her thanks to her supernatural sense, easier to figure out what items are cursed, magical, etc, even blending together stuff could be easier. Still what really helped was having Laura and Lia teach her everything they did.

Maria turned to Hana and smiled putting her arms out for a hug “I think we’re friends now, I think your couch worked. Look at that doing emotions pays off sometimes. If you ever need help or just want to hang, you can always call me. Maybe all of us and EliZe sometime.”

“Nice! This couch has a good track record for getting friends, hehe” she said, chuckling a bit before leaning in and returning the hug. She held her strength, not completely though, knowing she was tough. Hana pulled back with a grin on the offer to hang again.

“Yeah! That would be cool! You and EliZe and me would be a good time. I could come check out your haunted house or whatever, maybe, since you’ve both seen my place. How is it haunted, exactly? Are there ghosts? Are they chill? Do they need punching? I don’t think I’ve punched ghosts before but I’m down to try if they need a good punching”

Damn, Hana was strong, Maria blushed faintly making sure to brush it off and smirk at her. She patted the muscles on Hana’s arms and said “You're a good hugger.”

She giggles at the questions about the hauntings “Mostly ghosts, although with us there honestly they are the least strange thing. Also they are totally friendly to us, they tossed some things around at first but mostly they are helpful now.”

Maria turned around and said “I can’t wait to have you over, give us a heads up and we’ll make dinner, dessert, tell stories, it will be a good time.”

The woman walked back towards the garage “So we’re friends now so we should meet up with the other girls. See how the bike is doing. ”

“Ooohhh, awesome! Okay, cool, I’m glad they’re like, cool, and not bad ghosts or whatever. I’ve never met one but you know, ghost stories and stuff” Hana said, nodding, like it was obvious. She stood up with Maria and stretched after sitting for a while.

“Heck yeah! It’ll be awesome! I can’t make stuff so I could bring like, drinks or whatever, maybe? Or grab anything y’all need. I’m good at that!” She said, then nodded and hurried to follow. “Awesome! Yeah, I hope it hasn’t been super hard for them or anything. Suspensions are annoying as heck for me to deal with” she said, grinning as they walked, jamming her hands into her pockets.

Playfully Elena swoons as the others return “The warrior women are back from the war and made peace, that’s enough to make a gal faint ya know..”

Maria catches Elena as she does a fake faint and lifts her up in her arms saying “Good work on the bike.”

The job was looking amazing for how long they were gone, Elena was a talent that was for sure. When it came to motorcycles she was probably second to none. Still it wasn’t finished, whether intentional or not. Although the grin on Elena’s face perhaps told a bit too much to at least Maria.

Maria let’s go of Elena who says cheerfully “Looking good, still needs some more touches. Hana want to get in here and make sure this baby runs better than new?”

Elena and Fearless were both very happy to see that the two had resolved their problems, it was clear by the lack of tension in the air between the two. Well maybe a little bit of tension but that was Maria in general. Now it was time to put their new friendship or peace treaty to work, get them to work together on the bike for a bit.

Hana came into the garage with them, chuckling at Elena’s words. “Heh, yeah, we’re cool now”, she said, eyes getting wide at seeing the bike. “Woah! It looks amazing!” she hurried over, walking around the raised bike, checking it all out. The burn marks and dents and busted parts were all replaced or fixed, suspension looked great, just needed a bit more to get it finished. “Y’all are awesome! Thanks a bunch!”

She looked over to them with a big grin. “Yeah, totally! Let’s get her drivable. Uh, do I owe you anything for fixing it up? Wanna make sure you’re like, compensated and stuff” she said, coming around the bike to grab a wrench and the new tire, lifting it easily, then glancing over to them.

Elena smiled proud at the compliments to her work, she wanted to give it as much love as she gave Aphrodite. Plus she was still learning all this 2020 stuff, if she could learn how some of all this really advanced tech people used works she might one day be able to make motorcycles she could have never even dreamed of before.

She managed to avoid getting any grease on her dress but there was a bit on her face and arms. Elena waved her hand “No no no, a friend of Maria’s is a friend of mine, plus we’re on the same team, save my life or hack something for me sometime.”

Maria giggled it was nice seeing this side of Elena out with someone outside the house. She patted Elena on the back and said “Why don’t you take 5 greaser. Let me and Hana finish this and then we’ll re-fuse.”

Maria slides to the other side of Hana and says “Alright, I can already tell this is going to be badass as hell. Let’s get it done.”

Maria got to work, letting Hana take the lead, trusting her to know what she was doing just as well as she did. It felt like they had a nice flow between them, like an energy was there when they were working together right now. Maybe they were just in sync.

“Sure thing, I’ll punch or hack whatever you need me to!” she said happily, nodding to Elena. Hana turned back to the bike and glanced over as Maria moved next to her, giving a grin. “Hell yeah, let’s do it” she said, setting the tire down, then leaning in to get to work. It was great working with someone passionate and knowledgeable about it, and now that they’d worked things out, there definitely was a good sync between them. Really, if that day had gone a little different a few years ago, they likely would have been friends much earlier. They went back and forth as the bike slowly came together, eventually Hana moved it down from the lift and started it up, making sure everything seemed good.

“Nice! Thanks again, I really appreciate it” she said, grinning at them, then glanced to her helmet, then to their own bike. “Wanna go for a ride? Make sure it’s totally road ready?” she offered, looking back happily.

Maria was thinking similarly. They probably would have been good friends if only Maria had better self control. Still she felt a little glad it worked out this way. Maria thought of herself as a toxic element for someone like her. Who knows how different things would have been if they were friends.

Maria grabbed the helmet and said "let's go Amazon. Show me how you can drive when your not pissed off at a sword lesbian."

They hopped onto the back ready to roll into the night with a new friend.