SAYA.

“Egomaniac seems a bit too light to describe Lily,” Janice laughed. “She’s definitely headstrong.” Janice saw parts of herself when she was her age in Lily – maybe that was where her soft spot for the girl came from. “Not babysit, I have no doubt she can look after herself. It’s hard out here for a woman – especially in this game. We should be guiding her. I can only imagine where I would be if I had people like us when I was her age.” 

Janice snorted. “I won’t lie, seeing him in orange was quite enjoyable.” She had had many run ins with Murdock – often finding herself on the opposite side of the courtroom to him. “He’s a pain in the ass, but he is a good lawyer, I have to give him that… I’ll see what I can do to make sure he stays behind those bars – even if it is just for now.”

“Narcissist? Psychopath?” Saya tossed a few other labels out. “Just so precocious. At least we know Lorina is crazy. Money with self importance, like what Lily has, is dangerous.” Saya knew that because it was what she had loads of. There were a few things in Lily that Saya saw in herself. Delusion of grandeur? Maybe. “Look at us, being trailblazers. I love to see it, honestly. It’s part of why I signed on.”

“I want to.” Cindy admitted, deciding honesty was the best policy as she looked up at Saya and sighed softly. “I really, really want to, Saya. But you make it really hard.”

Daisy glanced down at the smaller hand in front of her before slowly shaking it, a smile tugging at her lips as she nodded. “Thanks. And that’s me. Hopefully it’s what you’ve heard is good. It kinda swings either way.” 

“Well aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.” Clint quipped as he smiled at the younger woman.

“That you kind of sound a little entitled.” More than a little, but Miles was trying to be nice.

matt let out a bitter chuckle, “business - hasn’t been paying well, i suppose.” the guard had given him the woman’s name before their meeting, but she was mostly unfamiliar to him. her heartbeat was strong. this was a woman who was very sure of herself.

“i don’t know if i’m in the best place to offer legal advice right now, so what brings you here, miss ishii ? “

“I’ve actually been quite involved in plenty of affairs on Earth throughout the years. There’s no need for the tone.”

“From what I’ve heard, the Syndicate is an excuse for her to decide to leave A.I.M.” Monica always tried to make sure Carmilla had been isolated. Kept close to assure that A.I.M. was all she had. And maybe some would view that as manipulative, but Monica was just protective. Protective of her only biological daughter. Protective in her own, twisted way. “Yes, I know you’re just funding them. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. What if I paid you a sizeable amount to get her kicked off? A.I.M. also has plenty of high tech lab facilities that I could offer you free access to.”

“You make it kind of impossible not to. I saw you at the Gala the other night. Daisy Johnson.”

A laughed escaped Janice. “You’re not wrong about that. Gotta remember she’s still a kid – she needs some guidance on all this.” She paused for a moment. “Not that she’ll listen, but we’ll need to watch out for her all the same.”

“It’s a good line-up,” Janice nodded in agreement. Saya was right – they needed to watch themselves with Matt Murdock and Jennifer Walters on the street. “I have my connections, lawyer-wise. A few owe me some favours, so I’m sure I can pull some strings.”

“Part of me wonders if children should be allowed in the game if they’re egomaniacs.” Saya wasn’t old herself, but she at the very least knew who she was and had some composure. Class went a long way. “You mean babysit,” she intoned.

“I like the way you think, kid. Unfortunately, I came to talk business. Specifically my daughter.”

There wasn’t going to be any convincing Saya otherwise, so Cindy decided to drop it for now. As disturbed as Cindy was that Saya didn’t seem to have any remorse in what she’d done, that was a conversation for another day. Or, more like another several days. It would probably just turn into an argument that continued on between them forever, honestly. 

Cindy quickly caught herself hung up on the concept of forever and tried to just refocus herself on the conversation at hand, blinking hard at Saya’s next words. She took another large gulp of wine, not able to help herself. She felt like she needed the alcohol at this point, even if it was potentially laced with some kind of toxin. “You know, most people start with just having a conversation with someone. Maybe asking me my name to start out.” Saya was right, though. Cindy would never have revealed her identity to Silvermane’s daughter of all people. 

As angry as Cindy was about what Max and Saya had done to her, she genuinely just wanted to move on. Dodging all of the potential bad feelings in the world may as well just mean she should just go back to hide in her bunker. She wasn’t going to let this set back all of the progress she’d made.

Cindy deadpanned at Saya trying to play it off as just missing her. She’d never admit it, but part of her missed Saya too. But her eyebrows quickly furrowed with concern at Saya’s next words. “What are you talking about?”

Cindy had a strong sense of right and wrong; she had morals, convictions. It was really quite adorable. Saya wanted to just boop her on the nose and tell her not to worry her pretty little mind about any of the shit she was stirring up. That would never happen, though. The sadistic side of Saya liked the friction. Cindy was challenging her and keeping her fresh. She bored too easily. This was new and exciting.

“I already knew your name.” She pointed out before sipping from her own glass. “So, that’s a moot point. I like to be prepared. I wanted more than your name. I wanted a comprehensive portrait so I knew how to approach.”

Of course, Saya had taken all of that information and done whatever the fuck she wanted with it. Some would be considered and consider it making a first impression. A part of Saya considered that. Her id, which was a major driving force, didn’t give a flying flip about what others thought of her. The other was a little desperate to get into Cindy’s mind and know what she thought.

“wow, i must be popular today,” matt huffed, sitting down at the visitor’s table. the prison scrubs were a bit too large on his lean frame, and he fidgeted for a moment, drowning in bright orange cotton.

“I dunno if I’d go as far as to say all that.”

“That’s like, a super ignorant take.”

“You’d be surprised the amount of problems that do get fixed just be the sheer will of people wanting to do the right thing. It’s kind of the norm around here, actually.”