#oc mantis

She grins slightly from her perch at her desk, watching as Control runs around the Workshop like a proud and strutting hen, pointing at various machines and technical marvels Steel can’t even begin to understand past ‘it will be good for us in a fight’. Control’s Scottish twang echoed off the walls in her excitement as she grabbed one of the machines, a dainty-looking sphere roughly the same size as a football but covered in glowing green circuitry.

“I mean look at this Steel! Hive made a technopathy-activated net bomb! How cool is that?”

“Really nice, can he adapt it for non-technopathy use?”

“Can do and has!” Control replied, ducking behind Hive’s desk and replacing the green orb with a blue one. “This one activates with electricity- but it’s keyed into Megawatt’s electricity specifically! And he and the others are working on some that activate when in contact with your metal and Phoenix’s flames-“

“I can see you’re really proud, Con,”

Control grinned, putting the orb back on Hive’s desk and dusting it absent-mindedly. “You’re damn right I am, these kids are incredible,”

“I’m glad I picked you to be their liaison, you seem to be bringing out the best in them,”

“I’m glad too, they’re good kids and they’ll make great heroes,” Control replied, dusting a photo of Eta squad Hive had on his desk and turning back to Steel.

“I’m gonna make sure of it,”

Two

The workshop was quiet, for once, many of the heroes who used it having gone to bed long ago rather than whiling away the early hours. The lights were dimmed, with only a spotlight or two on desks still in use, and the faint hum of machinery echoed into the air as they worked. Control glanced around, having finished her own project a few moments ago, and frowned as the sound of machinery dimmed to a low buzz.

Her desk was only a short distance from Eta’s group of tables, so she had plenty of chance to see the silent figure of Eta’s leader, Hive, leaning against his desk and snoring softly. She sighed, gently tugging his tools out of his hands and switching off his project before nudging him to try and wake him up. He grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘five more minutes’ and rolled his head slightly, pillowing it against his arms.

Control smiled and gently lifted one of Hive’s arms up, hooking it over her shoulders as she slowly swept his legs off the floor, steadying his weight against her own in a simple carry. His head lolled slightly, grumbling again as he was moved, before it settled against her neck and she began walking towards the doorway.

The corridors were quiet, as to be expected at this time, as she made her way towards Eta’s dorms with the slumbering Hive. It was a comical sight, for sure, the bulky 5’3 unpowered human carrying the lanky 5’1 powered human, but anyone they passed simply smiled softly (or, in Trix’s case, offered to draw on Hive’s face). Control simply glared at Trix as the latter cackled softly, covering Hive’s face as if to protect against any rouge marker pens.

Eta’s dorms were located fairly near to the Workshop, considering their jobs within the Urban Heroes, so Control didn’t have to walk far before she came to a stop outside their communal area. She sighed good-naturedly as she took in the sight on the couch.

All three of the other members of Eta- that being, Nimbus, Cricket, and Mantis- were perched on the couch covered in several blankets, the light of the tv shining gently through the room as it played a movie’s menu screen. Gently, she pried the control out of Cricket’s hand and switched it off, before nudging the three of them awake.

Blearily, and half-leaning on each other or Control, the three of them stumbled towards their own rooms dragging their blankets behind them, and Control waited until all three were safely in their beds before making her way over to Hive’s room, opening it with one hand thanks to years of practice. Slowly, she lowered Hive into his own bed and pulled his blanket up, trying to ignore the urge to kiss his forehead before she moved to the door.

She looked back, smiling at the sight, before closing the door softly.

Three

Eta, despite their protests to the contrary, were unfortunately one of the least experienced squads on the Urban Heroes roster- partly because of their own ages, partly because of their only recent induction into the ranks. Thanks to this, they were usually the target of the…less than kind reporters that hounded the heroes after battles.

Control, for one, absolutely fucking hated this.

She gritted her teeth as she marched across what was left of the battlefield, a few chunks of pavement uprooted and strewn across the road ahead of her and a thin layer of dust making everything seem muted. A reporter- loudly pronouncing herself as the best in Malverna (even though that title currently went to the nice old lady currently on holiday)- was all but interrogating Eta about the recent battle, motioning to a gouge in the wall next to them left from Mantis’ spines when he was thrown into it during the battle.

Hive was doing his best to talk the reporter down, but a thin trickle of blood near his hairline and his sluggish movements made Control worry for him. She contemplated going to him first, until Nimbus walked over to lend a hand to Hive and motion at the captured villains. Control grinned at the display before she reached Mantis, settled a little ways away against the rubble with Cricket, nursing noticeable injuries but giving off an aura of annoyance as Cricket searched through a first aid kit.

“You alright kid?” she asked, sitting down next to them to check his armour and brush some dust off his shoulder. He shrugged and motioned his arm, wincing as the movement aggravated it. Cricket huffed in reply and started to wind a bandage around his other arm, carefully avoiding the spines on his upper arm. “You’ve got a broken arm, two cracked spikes, and a fuck-ton of cuts and bruises-”

“I’m fine-“

“Don’t give me that crap, Mantis, we’ll get you to Skye ASAP,” Control replied, taking a roll of bandages from Cricket and setting to work on one of Mantis’ gashes.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and reared back, adrenaline spiking in her system. In a reflex, she brought her hand up and almost punched the reporter that had grabbed at her, settling for simply growling until the reporter moved away.

“Woah there! I just wanted a few words with Mantis-“

“He’s injured, words can wait. If you need anything, go to Echo he’ll have an official statement,”

“Well an official statement might be enough to satisfy some people, but I’m a reporter! I get the facts from the source!” she said, crossing her arms and looking down her nose at Control. Cricket and Mantis shared a glance as Control bristled, crossing her own arms and standing in front of them.

“I don’t care what you want, we’re focusing on treating our injuries and cleaning this up. Echo has the official statement, go to him,”

“It won’t take a minute, I just want to ask if Mantis really thinks this was the best way-“

“One more word. I dare you,” Control hissed, glaring until the reporter finally took a step back before continuing to speak. “Look, Mantis and the rest of Eta have done a lot for this city, so frankly I don’t care who you are or who you work for- you’re bothering us and stopping us from doing our job and treating our injuries…I’m sure your boss would be eager to know why one of the founding Main8 is pissed at you, and why the clean-up around here took longer than it should have done,”

The reporter’s face soured before she turned on her heel and stalked off, evidently keen on interrogating Echo for information. Control huffed as she left, turning back to Mantis and continuing with her treatment. He blinked owlishly and then looked down.

“Thanks, Con,”

“Anytime, kiddo,”

Four

“Remind me why you needed my help again?”

“You can fly and you like making a mess, you’re perfect to help,”

“I mean…fair but I’ve not got the best eye for decoration,” Trix replied, grinning at their pun from their position in the rafters. Control sighed, chucking a roll of tape at Trix and making them cackle as they dodged it. Snagging it out of the air with a shadow claw, they quickly got back to their job- that being, pinning and sticking ribbons and banners to the ceiling of the workshop for Eta’s surprise party.

It was a year since the team had joined the ranks of the Urban Heroes, and while they knew that the rest of the heroes would probably be planning something they were thankfully still in the dark about what exactly.

Control was using this to her advantage, timing and organising everything so that Eta were out on a mission and wouldn’t be back until the evening, giving her plenty of time to decorate and prepare for the party.

Trix had been roped into helping her decorate, as had a few of the other heroes (Phoenix had just nipped out for more ribbons and Cerebella was finishing decorating the cake in a kitchen nearby), but the bulk of the décor had been planned and made by Control herself.

She pushed another worktable out of the centre of the workshop to lie against the wall, draping a cloth over it and then pulling out snacks and junk food from a bag. One of Eta’s joint inventions had pride of place on the table, a reminder of how far the team had come since joining, and she grinned as she arranged the food around it.

Trix paused, watching her face and smiling themselves.

“I’m sure they’ll love it Con,”

“I just want it to be perfect for them, ya’know?”

“Con, if it’s organised by you, they’ll love it,”

Con didn’t stop grinning the whole evening, especially when the faces of Eta lit up once they saw the decorations and the party, and her grin only deepened when they came up to hug and thank her.

Plus One

Control was suspicious, which was never a good sign in the Urban Heroes, since she was only ever suspicious if there was a lot of reason to be.

She frowned, slowly glancing around the quiet workshop and putting down her latest project (an upgrade to Trix’s board- needed since their last model was barely holding together but one that wasn’t cooperating completely).

Eta’s benches were still, and had been since yesterday morning. Considering the four of them were definitely still on the base, and definitely weren’t scheduled for training or any classes at the time, this was why Control was suspicious.

“I swear, if Trix has recruited them for another prank…” she hummed to herself, deciding to cut her losses with the board for now in the hopes some good old coffee would help.

Almost as soon as the thought entered her mind, a fresh cup was thrust under her nose and she almost whacked it away, stopping herself at the sound of Trix’s cackling as they placed the cup on her bench. They jumped up on the bench next to her, crossing their legs with feline grace and looking at their board.

“How’s it going with my pride and joy?”

“First of all, if it’s your ‘pride and joy’ take better damn care of it. Second, what have you done?”

“What?”

“You’re bribing me with coffee- you hate the smell of coffee,” Control replied, swinging her seat around so she could sit down backwards, arms resting on the top and legs hooked underneath the backrest. Case and point, she wafted the steam towards Trix and laughed as they scrunched up their nose.

“Why can’t I just bring a friend coffee! It doesn’t always mean I’m trying to bribe them!”

“So what do you need?”

“…I may or may not have snapped something on my radio…”

“Fucking Christ…” Control grumbled, rubbing her hand over her face and extremely grateful for the bribe as she all but gulped half of it down. “Give it here then,” she grumbled, swinging her chair around and grabbing an array of tools with one hand whilst holding the other out to Trix.

The radio wasn’t terribly broken, part of the casing damaged and something internal rattling uncomfortably was all, but Control still frowned.

“What did you even do to it?”

“I kinda…accidentally crushed it when I was half asleep?”

“And this is the one you’re currently using?”

“…Yeah? What kind of a question’s that?”

“Trix.”

“Yes?”

“This uses old parts and has an old serial number, this isn’t your current radio- it’s an old one,”

“…I hoped you wouldn’t spot that…”

“Trix…” Control said, a warning note in her voice as she glared at her friend. Trix at least had the decency to look sheepish as they rubbed at the back of their neck.

“Completely hypothetically here, but how would you react if someone were to say they’d been ask to distract you?”

“I’m going to punch you,”

“Let’s do that then! We can spar-“

“What have you gotten Eta into this time?” Control sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“What- Who says it’s Eta-“

“These are stored in the workshop’s storage only engineers have access too- that being, myself, Eta, Megawatt, and Steel- considering Megawatt’s not even in Malverna right now and Steel definitely wouldn’t be in on this, it’s Eta,”

“…I fucking hate you sometimes, do you know that?”

“Oh I know, now tell me what they’re planning and I won’t tell Steel,”

“…You drive a hard bargain, Con, but it’s a surprise- a good one, I promise,”

~*~

Whisperings and mutterings came from Eta’s room- ordinarily, Control would’ve written it off as teenage conspiracy, but considering Trix’s rather subtle attempt to distract her, Control was much more tempted to call it a different kind of conspiracy.

She knocked on the door and the voices stopped, though not without very clear ‘shushing’ noises.

“Eta? You in there?”

The door clicked open and Hive’s face appeared in the doorway, grinning but blocking the rest of the room. She sighed and leant her weight on her right leg, frowning.

“Alright, what’s Trix roped you lot into?”

“Nothing! We’re just…talking?”

“Right…Trix must’ve meant another Eta then…”

“…Hypothetically…what’s the best way to wrap a present?” Hive interrupted, ignoring the panicked shushing from the room and the groan from what sounded like Cricket. Control raised one eyebrow, a little taken back.

“Well depends on what you’re trying to wrap- if it’s just a box it’s best to line it up diagonally with the paper- you know what, it’s probably best if I show you-“

“Nope! I got it! Thanks!” Hive interrupted again, sing-songing a goodbye before shutting the door. A little bewildered, Control stood in the doorway for a moment more before shaking her head, deciding that Eta’s shenanigans could be dealt with later…after another coffee, that is.

~*~

Control had elected to bring some of her work into the communal area for a change, spreading her worksheets and files across a coffee table and claiming a nearby plug socket for her laptop. She was so engrossed in her typing that she almost didn’t hear the whispering voices of Eta as they entered the room, but she elected to ignore them regardless.

That is, until the four of them plonked themselves down on the couch opposite with huge, if nervous, grins on their faces. Frowning, she slowly closed the lid of her laptop, revealing the parcel that had been placed on the table behind it.

It was a fairly large box- shoebox sized if she had to guess, with a rather…unique wrapping paper around it. It was patterned with circuits and tools- screwdrivers and spanners and hammers and the like- and it appeared to be held together almost entirely by tape. A ribbon, lime green in colour with a rather aggressively styled bow, was tied around the parcel- also taped to the side since it hadn’t been long enough.

“…What’s that?”

Eta exchanged glanced (and elbows) until Nimbus spoke up.

“…it’s for you?”

“What’s the occasion?” Control laughed as she picked up the package, gently pulling the ribbon free and peeling back the layers of tape. Eta remained silent as she slowly worked through the wrapping, unearthing a plain white box with ‘fragile’ stamped on the lid. She raised an eyebrow at Eta as she removed the lid.

“A-are you crying?” Hive mumbled after a moment of silence.

“If you tell anyone you’re all grounded,” Control whispered.