#thelittlestpowers

“The beach sounds nice,” Orion agreed, though usually she stuck to staying under an umbrella, being as susceptible to cancer as she was, and as fair. She gave another weak smile to Johnny, trying to act like things were normal. “Hey.” she tried

Johnny took a few steps closer, gun slung over his shoulder as he slid past her. His hand brushed against hers as he looked down at the young girl. "Didn't figure I'd be seeing you here. Ever handle a gun before?" he purred.

Sonia meanwhile was moving towards one of the large cases and waited casually for Andy and Orion to finish up. Tony was pulling out a cooler to have some drinks.

Orion blushed as he purred suggestively at her, her eyes meeting his briefly before looking down. “O-only in video games,” she murmured, her eyes rising back to meet his own.

"It's just as fun. Probably more than that" he said. "Want me to show you how to handle a real gun?" He was moving a little closer, his hand not leaving where it was.

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice high and reedy with anxiety. He wouldn’t try anything here with everyone else around, would he? “I don’t want to shoot myself accidentally,” she laughed

"I won't let that happen while I'm here." He moved even closer. "You want to get fitted out and ready before we start shooting? There's a good spot nearby where I can show you some private lessons." His eyes moved to the woods.

“Fitted out?” she asked, looking down at her outfit. Wasn’t it okay? “I don’t think we’ll need to go off by ourselves,” she said, shifting uncomfortably, looking back to the group. Would they even notice if Johnny took her away? Riley taught her self-defense, but Johnny had a gun.

"Come on. It'll be just us" Johnny said. "I've wanted to talk to you for a while now." He was about to take another step forward when a loud cough echoed through the woods.

Sonia, cross armed and tapping her foot stared at them. "You going to put up the clay pigeons or what, Johnny?"

“I’m going to go pick out my gun,” she said softly, breaking her gaze with Johnny and walking over to Sonia, secretly relieved

Johnny looked more than a little annoyed as he made his way to replace everything with new clay pigeons. Sonia waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Orion.

"You doing alright?" she asked.

“I-I’m okay…” she said, though Sonia could see the goosebumps on her arms. “What about you? I haven’t seen you in awhile."

"Fine" Sonia said. "I'm going to GSU. Looking forward to that." However unlike Andy, she pressed the subject further. "Is he bothering you?"

Orion’s eyes went wider, looking trapped. “I dunno…’ she said softly. “I think he wants more than I can give him.” she was a virgin and the idea of sex scared her. She didn’t entirely trust Johnny.

“Don't let him boss you around" Sonia muttered. "He's got a bug up his ass lately. And if he keeps trying to do something, I'll shut him down." It had been one thing when Orion was complying with Johnny. Now it was different, though there were other reasons why she wasn't tolerating some of Johnny's stunts right now.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Orion said optimistically. “Wanna show me the guns?” though her eyes never left Johnny picking up the pigeons

Sonia opened the box. This wasn't any normal rifles. Some were classics. Bolt action rifles, regular rifles, Shotguns, elephant guns, even a few laser weapons to boot. Sonia grinned. "My folks like to collect certain things." That was one way of saying it. She had her own personal favorite of the bunch with her own handgun back at home.

"Got a favorite?"

“The small one,” Orion said, pointing to the handgun. It looked the most like the ones she used in video games, and that it wasn’t too hard to handle. “But I’ll take whichever is easiest to shoot.”

"The handgun we can do" Sonia said. "We'll do it nice and easy. There's going to be some recoil but nothing too bad." The young woman plucked it up and turned to see if Johnny was done yet. He wasn't. Andy was helping herself to a drink with Johnny. There was a few options. Water, soda, and a few alcoholic beverages.

Orion followed Andy’s lead and took a water bottle from the cooler, not thinking alcohol and guns would mix well. “That sounds nice,” she said to Sonia. It would be a nice relaxing day, though she could already tell there was some tension in the air.

"We'll show you what to do when he's finally gone." Sonia replied. "Johnny could use a bullet in the foot to get in line, but I'm not about to do that." She sighed and turned to Orion again. "So how were your finals?"

"We did pretty good on our end" Tony chimed in.

“What’s he doing, gathering targets?” she asked, but she was grateful for the change in subject. “Finals were finals. I got into Mary Dahl, so I don’t have to worry about it.” she said with a small smile. “I’m glad you guys did well."

"Putting up targets" Sonia explained. "See any of the clay pigeons we missed and are in tact will be put on some stands. We could always practice with still targets. That'll be what you'll use. You can try and go for the moving targets, but they're trickier." That was something she and Johnny tended to do.

"I might sit this one out" Andy said. "I'm pretty out of it from last night." Sonia was fine with it, while Tony was ready to do some shooting.

“I doubt I’d be able to hit anything moving,” Orion laughed, following Tony’s lead to get ready for shooting. “I probably won’t even be able to hit the targets standing still.”

"You aren't going to find out by not doing it" Sonia replied. Johnny was making his way back, clearly annoyed that he had to do ''Tony labor' before grabbing a drink.

"Guests first" Sonia said. "Anyways just aim for any of ''em and give it a shot. And make sure the safety is off. Red means you can shoot."

Orion blinked, doing her best to turn the safety off, putting the ear muffs on, and the protective goggles. She stepped up to the line and aimed, closing one eye, her hands shaking. She forced herself to keep them still, aiming, pulling the trigger. The kick after she shot was what she hadn’t expected, making a squeak of surprise when the gun went off.

The group watched as the blast missed. "S'okay" Sonia replied calmly. "First time no one gets it right." Even gamers didn't have it entirely easy and these were at a distance. "How'd it feel?"

“It felt weird,” she said honestly. It was easier in video games, there was no kickback from the gun, and she could play on easy mode until she hit something. Now she just stood with a smoking gun in her hand, unsure of what to do with it.

"The kick of a gun can be pretty interesting" Sonia explained. "Aim again. Take as long as you need to fire. That little bit at the end and the part at the other end? That helps you aim."

Orion tried again, taking a slow, deep breath. She shot, the bullet hitting a bit closer this time, but still not on target. She turned back to the group. “It’ll probably be more fun to watch you guys,” she admitted. They would actually hit things.

"Ah come on. You can fire a gun" Johnny said. "Give it another go."

"Not everyone needs to learn how to fire a gun" Sonia said. Tony was already grabbing his gun and taking aim. He took longer while Andy sipped her drink. Johnny was already shooting Sonia a nasty look.

“My hands shake too much,” she lied. In actuality, the gun hadn’t felt right in her hands. She could hurt someone with that thing, and it made her nervous, the weight of responsibility.

"Relax." Andy said. "Not like everyone needs to use a gun."

"It helps though. It's Gotham after all" Johnny grumbled. "Besides, you'd probably want to shoot Batman a couple of times anyways." A shot rang out as Tony accidentally shot too soon by the mention of Batman. Sonia was silent and glaring at Johnny.

“I-I…” did she really want to shoot him though? She wanted to punish him, sure. She wanted to hurt him. But kill him? She doubted she had the heart to kill anyone. “I’m not a good shot.” she repeated.

"Come on. You probably thought about it a few times. It's normal. Especially after what he did to your Dad." Johnny said. "Just imagine those red clay pigeons as part of that red bat on his chest. It'll get you to--"

"Johnny?" Johnny stopped as he looked over at Sonia. "Shut it."

"I'm just saying--"

"I said to shut it. So shut it."

Sonia’s phrase was punctuated with one more shot from Orion, the clay pigeon shattering. She took a moment to look at it before putting the gun away. “I’m done.” she said, sitting down next to Andy.

"Was that so hard? Did you like it?" Johnny said. "Way to go on that shot I--"

Sonia stormed over to Johnny. There was an anger and frustration in her eyes that hadn't been seen previously before. "What the slag are you doing?!"

"What?" Johnny said, dropping the polite airs he had been putting on earlier. "I'm just--"

"You're being a tool, Sionis!"

"Don't call me a tool!"

Andy looked awkwardly at the fight already breaking out before turning to Orion. "Ri?"

Orion frowned, looking back over to Andy. At least the other girl felt as awkward as she did, it seemed. “Yeah, Andy?”

"You uh...you okay?" She said. "I mean what Johnny was saying and all..." Orion was shaken up, Andy could see that. Johnny had done a number on her already and they had only just got here.

“Why did he have to bring up my dad?” she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose so that she didn’t cry.

"Johnny's being a dreg" Andy said reaching out and putting a hand on Orion's shoulders. "He--"

"Hey! I heard that. I'm no dreg! I'm just thinking we shouldn't have to dance around this? Batman ruined our lives. This is a good motivator!"

"You're an idiot" Sonia snapped back. "This is why you don't decide things Sinois!"

"Why not? I'm strong, I'm smart. I've got a better mind than you. I'm the kid of one of the most dangerous men in Gotham."

"You're one of probably dozens of bastards who just so happens to be a bastard" Sonia snapped back. ""Your Mom just wanted to keep the name so you would have a better claim. And stronger? Smarter? Maroni has more of them than you right now!" Johnny's face was red with rage now and Sonia wasn't backing down either.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” Orion argued, though her voice was quickly drowned out by Sonia’s. The argument was getting even more heated, and she looked to Andy for some kind of answer. “What should we do?”

"I uh” Andy hated this whenever the tow got into a fight, but this one was particularly bad. “I dunno" Andy was looking back and forth like a game of ping pong. Back and forth, his eyes looked over the two, nervous as they began to raise their voices.

"I'm not some bastard" Johnny sneered. "And I'm from a better family. The Falcones? They went the way of the dinosaurs when the Bat came in the first place. My family adapted. You? You had a couple of crazies in your family yourself."

"My family isn't some punk gang" Sonia snarled back.

"That why Tony's family is more loaded than you’re debt ridden--" Johnny didn't even finish the sentence. The young Sionis was interrupted by a hard right hook from Sonia. Tony and Andy stopped, quiet as the grave, Sonia standing over Johnny, who was on the ground before getting back up, his hands balled into fists.

"You take that back" Sonia said in a low growl.

"Or what? Hit me again? I'll hit back, I don't give a rat's ass if you have tits or not. You and Orion needs to learn that she can't just hope Batman isn't going to croak and die. You want a problem gone, you fix it yourself."

When Sonia slugged Johnny, Orion gave a squeak of terror, clutching Andy’s arm, her eyes wide as saucers. “Stop it! You two are friends!” she tried, wanting to make peace between them, though she wasn’t about to move in between them. She felt safer where she was with Andy.

"You stay out of this!" Johnny barked at Orion. "I don't need you to fight my battles!"

Sonia was glaring daggers at Johnny and she was more livid when he shouted at an already terrified Orion. She was more set on her own personal insult though. "Sit down and apologize" she said, trying to keep her voice even and failing miserably. "You're being a bigger dreg than usual and I swear I'm going beat your sorry ass if you keep this up."

"You think I'm going to listen to you because you punched me? I'm Johnny slagging Sionis! I'm the toughest guy around."

"The toughest guy around that also fucked Randy Daggett back in the day" Sonia sneered. Silence fell again for a second but Johnny looked livid.

"Like you're any better, huh?"

"Least I didn't bottom."

At once another punch flew, this time from Johnny. Sonia was hit smack in the cheek, but the giant of a woman slugged Johnny in the gut. Soon is was an all out brawl between the two as Tony took several steps back and Andy was right by Orion.

Orion gave another squeak and moved even closer to Andy, covering her eyes. Wait, did Sonia say Randy?! No, she did not have enough time to process this. “Andy, please, please let’s go home, this is crazy!” there was too much fighting, and way too many guns around for her liking.

They had only just got there and already Andy was standing up. "Yeah, come on." She grabbed Orion's hand and was already tugging her back where they came. Sonia was in the middle of punching Johnny again as he was letting loose several swears. By the time the two got to the cars, Orion could see something.

Andy was crying, but trying to get into the car as quickly as possible.

Orion hadn’t realized her own tears were falling from her eyes, she was too busy wanting to comfort Andy, pulling her to her in a hug, her body shaking from all of the conflict, all of the yelling and violence. “Are you okay?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from breaking

They were in the car as the driver looked totally stunned by all of this. "Is everything--"

"Just take us back" Andy had said it so quickly and forcefully that someone else might have said it. The driver slowly nodded and began to drive. Andy's breath shuddered before hugging back. "I'm so sorry" she said. "I'm just...god...those are my friends and sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in place because of them."

Orion rubbed her back, keeping her pressed against her for comfort. “Stuck in place? H-how’s that?"

"We've known each other for years. I've had sleepovers with Sonia, hung out with all of them, partied and had fun. And then this happens and I wonder what would happen if I told them stuff I'm supposed to tell friends."

“Told them what stuff? I mean, I told them I didn’t want to do the gun thing after trying it the first time.” she said, her heart rate beginning to come down.

"No...I mean...other stuff" she said, doing her best to wipe away any tears. "I mean...stuff that you couldn't tell anyone because you're scared or embarrassed or worried what they might do or say. Johnny would probably throw a fit. Sonia? Sonia's just a traditionalist. Tony....slag I don't even know what Tony would do half the time. I feel trapped, Ri."

“Do you want to tell me? I mean, I’m not that judgy, I don’t think?” she asked, pulling out a handkerchief from her purse for Andy to dry her eyes. “You’ve listened to all of my problems before.”

"Ri I just...." Andy dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief. "I feel so stupid sometimes. I'm worried who I can talk to and...god I don't want to lose a friend, not right now." She clutched it. "Are you sure?"

“You’re not stupid, I promise you’re not stupid. I’m not going to go anywhere.” she soothed her, wrapping an arm around her friend.

For a few moments, Andy was silent as she looked over at Orion. She was gripping the handkerchief tight in her hands. The car was bumping along as the two left Sonia, Johnny and Tony farther and farther away. Finally, Andy spoke. "I...god I've never told anyone. Family, friends or anyone." Again, silence filled the car before finally it came out. "I'm...Ri, I'm trans."

“Trans?” she blinked. “But…that doesn’t mean you’re not…well you’re not Andy, you know?” she asked. “You’re a good person, and being trans doesn’t make a bit of difference to how much I like you, and like hanging out with you.” she smiled. “It’s okay.”

"Y-yeah...I'm transgender." Andy was trembling in his spot, looking over to see what Orion's reaction would be. He had heard plenty of horror stories in the past. It was one thing to tell supportive people who could relate or be helpful, but Andy's friends weren't the typical model of friendship. And yet Orion didn't look at her in disgust or stop talking or demand to be taken out of the car.

And then...Andy began to cry again.

Orion rubbed her back. “I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through, but I can listen if you want me to.” she said softly.

Andy continued to cry, but hugged Orion close. He hugged her and sobbed gently into her shoulder. "I...I thought you'd hate me or think of me like some...some freak or something."

Orion was not used to being any kind of source of strength, but she took a deep breath and decided Andy needed her a lot right now, and that she could do it. “I wouldn’t think of you any differently. I’m supportive of you being who you want to be. Isn’t that what life’s about?”

Andy nodded, doing his best to dab away any tears that he had. "T-thank you" he said. "I just...god...I was so scared. And I didn't know what you'd do." He was repeating himself, he knew. "You can't tell the others though. I'll tell them eventually but...not right now."

“I won’t. Your secret is safe with me.” she said, rubbing Andy’s back, hoping to give some comfort like her friends did for her. “I’m sort’ve scared too…of Johnny. He cornered me in the club the night we went..”

Andy gave a small nod and listened. "Johnny's been getting pretty agro lately. He's always had problems but he's never attacked Sonia or anyone. And...he's always had a thing for girls. He's a dreg Ri. I'm sorry he tried to do that."

“I didn’t think he would stop if I told him to…” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I never thought I’d say I was happy to see Batman for a half a minute.”

"I'll talk to Sonia..." Andy said. "I may wanna hold off tonight but maybe tomorrow." Sonia was probably going to be in a bad mood and Johnny would be even worse. He suddenly had a small pang of guilt when he realized Tony was still back there with the both of them.

“We should have brought Tony with us,” Orion said, thinking the same thing. She was never nice to Tony, but he didn’t deserve this. “Should we turn around?”

"Tony has his own ride. If he's smart, he'll get going soon." He knew better though. Tony was like a lost puppy sometimes and stuck around even when the going got bad. Rubbing his eyes, Andy turned to look at Orion. "You probably want to be taken back home for a while, huh?"

“Yeah…that sounds good.” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

Nodding, Andy continued to dab at his eyes. "Look if you need me for anything...I'm a drive away." Tired or not, he could swing back to see Orion if need be. Orion had been his pillar and he could do the same. "Just take it easy, okay?"