Hadley Becker

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“Alright so, I had to move around some of your meetings because I noticed some of the times overlapped or you’d have no break in between them to prep for the next one. That means you’ll be busy next week but at least you’ll get a chance to breathe. You can look at the paperwork I left on your desk to catch up on all that,” Don started informing Ward. “Oh yeah, speaking of meetings, you’ve actually got one set up with Conner Ludenberg. Should be fun. Something about wanting his new place to be set up well enough to keep monsters out? You wouldn’t have any idea why that was added into the notes?” She asked with a smirk and a raised brow. 

As they got closer to Vera’s studio, she brought up another topic. “Right, since we’re just about here, I’ve got a project you might want to have your designer take part of. Should also give Hads some good work experience too. Your daughter brought up the sad sense of fashion that the kids’ school has and she’s right. All the shades of browns and beige are too plain for the students. Do you think you’d be alright with funding the school with getting new uniforms? If not, I can pay for it, but we’d still have to set up a meeting with the school board to see if they’d even approve of the new apparel.” 

“Who the fuck is Conner?” Ward scoffed, before stopping for a second. “I think we’ve had this conversation before.” Disregarding the deja vu, he caught up with the shorter pair, placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “You know what? That’s a great idea. Their uniforms are an eyesore and it could make Hadley more popular. It’s a win win.”

The giant smiled as he opened the door. Weirdly, Vera’s music was…quieter than usual. He started wondering what that could mean…until he opened the door and saw Vera buzzing around Annie, embroidering and stitching, making a beautiful black and red gown. “Yo! This woman fucking RIPS!”

The pair followed in after Ward and each of their behaviors were different. Dawn was finding the interaction between Vera and Annie rather amusing; seeing the seamstress buzz around the teen while making an elaborate dress was impressive. Then again, watching Vera work her magic was always entertaining. Hadley on the other hand immediately stiffened up after seeing Annie. This girl would be here with them? They always felt at home here in the studio but now that might not be the case anymore. What the heck?

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This whole experience was feeling like too much and nothing much had even happened yet. Then again… most of Hadley’s day was trying to avoid this girl only to end up being shoved into the same room with her. Not exactly pleasant.

“I-I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this,” they finally said some moments after Annie left. “The more I’m around her, the harder it gets to ignore and the more I want to run. Ward, we’re locker buddies. What the heck do I do? She’s your daughter and I don’t want to be a butt about things but… I just- I don’t know…”

This was clearly gonna be difficult. The large man reached down and grabbed the bowl cut by the waist, lifting them up to his face. “Look kid. I get it, she kinda spooks me too.” Ward said softly, gently tussling their hair. “Don’t worry, she’s gonna be working with Ruby and me, so first thing we’re gonna do is make sure she pulls that fear stuff back.”

“Mmm…” they pursed their lips and nodded, fixing their hair afterward. “Ok. In the meantime I’m gonna not be around her though, sorry. At least at school. Here, I’ll-I guess I’ll try.”

With that, the kid left the room and picked up their backpack from the office.

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“I- Hnn…” Even if their body didn’t show off how nervous they were, their voice clearly did. Hadley’s eyes darted from Ward to Annie and then back to Ward before they took his hand and pulled him out of the room.

“Oh are you two done or-?” Donna’s question was cut off with their cousin’s talking at Ward. “I guess not,” she muttered.

“Do you-Do you know?” Hadley asked. “I just found out that she’s your kid but like… Do you know about how she’s like, well, like you? Like Ammy? She feels like Ammy but not because she’s a person and it’s throwing me off and I don’t like it. Are her vibes just off or does she have powers like Ammy? Wait does she know that she pretty much has three parents or am I keeping this a secret for you? Because I’m fine with not talking to her for now. I can’t get a good read on her yet and I just- I just don’t like it.”

Ward blinked at Hadley and sighed, pulling the kid back into the conference room. He raised his hand high above his head while staying in the doorway. “Annie, do the thing.” She looked up and stuck her hand out, a black shadow slowly forming in her palm. It looked almost flower like at first, before slowly growing fingers and shooting out to complete the high five. 

“Yes, she’s like me, and the amulet. Did I intentionally do that? No, but it’s kind of unavoidable when so much of me is filled with the shadows from it.” Ward softly explained, placing a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “She’s learning how to use her powers properly, and she’s going to have a good teacher. Hell, she doesn’t even seem to have the some of the downsides that I do.”

Ok.

Ok.

So Ward knew. Made sense. He was her parent after all. The shadows coming out of her hand and making their own makeshift appendage to high five her dad wasn’t surprising or strange in the slightest. What put off the teen was the feeling of fear and discomfort that seemed to emanate which only made them want to leave.

Hadley wound up holding onto Ward’s hand again, squeezing it nervously as they took a step back. “I-“ they shook their head, “I don’t know if I can do that, not in person at least, or not until she gets it under control. It doesn’t feel safe around her and it just-just feels like I have to go against what I’ve learned growing up and-“ They cut themselves off, not sure if they should continue speaking. Growing up they had to learn what entities were good and bad, their morals, customs, what ones would help or harm, and much more. Whatever creatures that could give off fear always meant bad news for anyone that stuck around; or if nothing bad happened to the ones nearby, unsavory creatures would start to come around to the source.

It was scary.

But Annie didn’t look scary… she only felt it.

And Ward wanted the two of them to be friends. So then maybe…

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“Gimmie a sec please. I just- Uh-” Immediately they grasped at the necklace when it was handed to them and walked over to the corner of the room. At the moment, they didn’t exactly care about looking like the weird kid. They just wanted answers. 

After bringing the amulet up close to their face, they began to whisper a multitude of rapid questions at it. “What the heck is going on? Why does she feel like you? Are you guys related somehow? Does this have to do with Ward being with you? Does she also have an amulet like you? Ammy, I need answers please. I don’t know what to do in this situation and I know you don’t know a lot of modern terms but she’s my locker buddy at school and I cannot deal with any more awkwardness at school than I already do.” This was stressful to say the least. 

But… with the answers that were given, they weren’t exactly sure how to feel. For one, did Ward know anything? And second, if not, how were they going to explain because they were the only one that could understand the relic? Well, either way, Hadley returned the amulet and simply said “Part of me regrets asking for Ammy. Thank you though.” 

Ward leaned on the table, watching Hadley whisper with the amulet. Something was itching at them, something was wrong. “What’s up with them?”

Was…he really asking that? Annie turned and looked at him, a slightly sour expression on her face. “I don’t even know them, why are you asking me?” She shook her head and sighed. “This has been an annoying day, so whatever’s going on with your kid is on you.”

“Oh are you two done or-?” Donna’s question was cut off with their cousin’s talking at Ward. “I guess not,” she muttered.

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Hadley was currently making sure that the projector was properly set up in the office and that the laptop in the room had the slides to match the minutes page. Everything was looking good so far. Was this a meeting that they’d have to attend to and take notes on though? They didn’t know yet, and they weren’t told anything about it either; from the looks of it, this looked like some meeting about getting a business to change the materials they used or something? Maybe they should actually read through this stuff just in case…

Just as they started reading through the informational paperwork, they heard the door open and saw Annie. Great.

“Uh-“ they shrugged, “I like going through town a lot, mostly for inspirational purposes. Not sure if you know her or not, but I’m Vera’s apprentice so I try and design at least an outfit a day in my sketchbook.” Alright. Decent answer. Probably. They just hoped they didn’t come off as rigid or anything. “Why? Are you… Are you only talking to me because we’re going to be seeing each other regularly?”

“Are you only talking to me because we’re going to be seeing each other regularly?”

Annie stared at the kid incredulously, then sighed. Why were they acting so shifty, they’d barely even interacted. “I mean, I’ve just moved here, I have no one to talk to besides my dad and my uncle, and I thought ‘hey, if I’m going to see this kid a lot, then I might as well try to be cool with them’ but whatever.”

Frick. They were probably being a bit too rude. They just wanted to know the truth though.

“I don’t do people,” or not living people at least. “People don’t just come up to me acting all nice out of nowhere. I’m not making any exceptions to you just because you’re the new girl in town. So excuse me of being wary of a total stranger and not wanting to make friends with someone I just met.” Hadley huffed and focused on the slides for a quick second, putting the laptop to sleep when they were done.

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“They’re pretty capable. Then again they do like to spin on the chair to the point of getting so dizzy they fall over so…” she pursed her lips at the thought. One day that kid was going to get hurt from an office chair. It was only a matter of time.

She’s got a point. Maybe I can see if I can pull some strings with the school board to get the kids some better outfits. Lord knows they need it, she thought to herself. Maybe Vera or Hadley could be in on the project too.

“Aw,” Dawn smiled playfully at the girl, “are you trying to make friends with my baby?” She teased. “Hypothetically speaking, you could go with a few things. Magic tricks. Baking. Fashion. There’s some other things too but you’ll have to actually talk to them to find out what those other things could be. If you are trying to make friends with them though, you do have to keep in mind that they’re a bit… different if you haven’t noticed already. But if you play your cards just right, you should be fine.”

The Proxy signed off on some of the papers and nodded at the completion before printing out a new spreadsheet and laying that on top of the stack. “All done with this…” she muttered to herself, “now to hand this off so I can get going…”

The teen rolled her eyes again. She could tell this woman was gonna be frustrating to say the least. “I mean, I can tell that based on their choice of hairstyle. They make it work though.” As Dawn started to go back to work, Annie just wandered into the conference room, where the other kid was, and sat on the edge of the table. 

Just as they started reading through the informational paperwork, they heard the door open and saw Annie. Great.

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“You underestimate my skill if you think I can’t steal with a child present,” she informed, glancing at Annie briefly. “If anything of yours goes missing, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Dawn printed out some paperwork and chuckled at the girl’s admission. “I never said I wasn’t his girlfriend. But I’m not even sure if that’s the right word if you want to slap a label on us,” she told her, earning a very audible “blech” from Hadley. “Rude. Put these with Ward’s meeting room. I still need to review the rest of what’s here.”

“Mmkay,” they said, taking the papers and going into the connected room.

“You’ll probably be seeing Hadley more often than me; your matching uniforms give that much away, Speaking of which, that school really needs to update their look. Those outfits are too drab. And no do-overs. You’re stuck with your little mishap so just own up to it and do better. And yes, I’m serious about the swear jar. You can throw in a dollar and then complain to your dad later if you want to see if he’ll pay you back. He probably will since he did forget to to tell you about us. Hell,” she smirked, “if you want you can lie and say you put in more than you really did too because I’ve got the feeling that you don’t bother censoring yourself.”

“I meant more about putting your kid in danger, but go off I guess.” Annie stretched out and laid on the couch. “You’re telling me, these things suck. If you’re gonna force us to wear something, at least make it good.” She yawned, stood up and crossed the room, placing the hundred into the jar and rolling her eyes.

She’s got a point. Maybe I can see if I can pull some strings with the school board to get the kids some better outfits. Lord knows they need it, she thought to herself. Maybe Vera or Hadley could be in on the project too.

“Aw,” Dawn smiled playfully at the girl, “are you trying to make friends with my baby?” She teased. “Hypothetically speaking, you could go with a few things. Magic tricks. Baking. Fashion. There’s some other things too but you’ll have to actually talk to them to find out what those other things could be. If you are trying to make friends with them though, you do have to keep in mind that they’re a bit… different if you haven’t noticed already. But if you play your cards just right, you should be fine.”

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The woman sighed. She was told that his daughter would be stopping by, but apparently he didn’t have the thought to tell his daughter about her let alone his little intern. “He’s your father yet he doesn’t tell you about who’s here. Isn’t that great communication?” She asked sarcastically, taking a moment to pull out her cellphone and text her boss, letting him know that his daughter was in the office before turning her attention back to the computer.

“My name is Dawn Ko and I work here if that isn’t obvious. If you’re worried about me being some big bad stealing Daddy’s information, don’t worry about that. I have no interest in ruining his life. Not only that but robbing him doesn’t give me any personal gain,” she answered honestly, not caring if Annie took her seriously or not. “The faceless one here-“

“Hi,” Hadley interjected.

“-is Hadley. They’re an intern here getting credits for school. Speaking of which— Hadley, did you finish the office work here yet or-?”

“I normally do that on weekends. And there wasn’t anything in my work pile on the desk to do so I think I’m good. I’m just waiting for the old man just in case ‘cause I know I gotta work with Vera today.”

“Alright then. So back to-“ she returned her attention to Annie, “you. Whether or not you’re Mr. MacLeod’s daughter, you have to put money into the swear jar whenever you swear. Go ahead and do that now. You can ask anything in the meantime while I’m working over here while you wait for your father.”

“I…hrm.” The teen sat there for a second, letting everything sink in. “Well, first of all, I wasn’t accusing you of stealing or anything. Taking a kid with you to do that would be, well, dumb.” She scoffed and shook her head. Now she just felt stupid. “I uh…almost don’t want to say what I was thinking, to be honest…but uh…” Rolling her shoulders, he chuckled and sat on one of the couches. “I was thinking that like…you were my dad’s girlfriend and they were like…your guys’ lovechild. I can’t tell how old you are and they definitely look like family.”

Dawn printed out some paperwork and chuckled at the girl’s admission. “I never said I wasn’t his girlfriend. But I’m not even sure if that’s the right word if you want to slap a label on us,” she told her, earning a very audible “blech” from Hadley. “Rude. Put these with Ward’s meeting room. I still need to review the rest of what’s here.”

“Mmkay,” they said, taking the papers and going into the connected room.

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“-but it’s kinda hard finding one that’s in good condition so I might have to go to a taxidermist shop or something to get one and-“ Hadley’s sentence was cut short when the girl from earlier walked in, looking pissed off for some reason.

“Swear jar,” Dawn and Hadley said at the same time, Dawn pointing at the jar while she stood in front of the computer and typed away considering the chair was occupied. Hadley stopped manually spinning the chair and let it steadily come to a halt, feet gently gliding on the floor before they used their toes to turn around on the chair so they could actually face the new girl.

“What’s got you all grumpy?” They asked, hopping off the chair and pushing it toward their cousin, motioning for her to sit. A soft ‘thank you’ and a kiss on the cheek-or where their cheek would be under all their hair- was given in turn.

They weren’t exactly thrilled by the encounter either but they weren’t going to be a butt about it. Speaking of encounters, if she was here, then that meant she knew Ward, right? Did he already know about the weird vibes and Ammy feels she gave off? It would make sense for her to be here for those reasons. Like, he wanted to look into her some more and get answers. Didn’t he have a group of kids some place that had powers or something? Maybe she was from them? Going to them? Hmm.

“Are you a new intern, hon?” Dawn asked, not looking up from the computer. “If you are, you can hand me your paperwork and take a seat right there while I get you started before Mr. MacLeod comes in; it’ll make things run a lot smoother and we can get you introduced sooner too.” She had a hunch of who the girl was; Ward had mentioned his daughter would be coming in, but it was good to have some sense of formality just in case.

“My question is who are you two?” The girl said, placing her hands on her hips. “Because I’m clearly not in the loop.” 

“My name is Dawn Ko and I work here if that isn’t obvious. If you’re worried about me being some big bad stealing Daddy’s information, don’t worry about that. I have no interest in ruining his life. Not only that but robbing him doesn’t give me any personal gain,” she answered honestly, not caring if Annie took her seriously or not. “The faceless one here-“

“Hi,” Hadley interjected.

“-is Hadley. They’re an intern here getting credits for school. Speaking of which— Hadley, did you finish the office work here yet or-?”

“I normally do that on weekends. And there wasn’t anything in my work pile on the desk to do so I think I’m good. I’m just waiting for the old man just in case ‘cause I know I gotta work with Vera today.”