Toni did not recognize the woman reflected from her mirror.
Gone was the hero get-up, the flashy red and black body-suit designed for Wildfire. Gone was the gaudy fashion she was often forced to wear to events. Being a detective called for wearing business-casual clothes, and she had done so, done to the letter. Toni met her eyes once more in the mirror, scanning her mask-free free face.
Today she did not have to be Wildfire. All she had to be was Toni Reid. Not the hero. Not the icon. Not the celebrity. Simply Toni Reid---the detective. She could not have been happier.
And perhaps a little bit nervous, even if she didn't want to admit it.
She needed to hurry. She was already running late, and, given how much media coverage the affair had been given, dodging the press would eat up a significant amount of her time. She was just passing through the kitchen when a note on the kitchen counter caught her eye. A message had been written on it in neat penmanship. She looked up instinctively towards the empty coat hook by the front door.
Ethan wasn't home. He'd suited up hours earlier to go meet with the press. Now that she'd done something "historic", every wannabe reporter and journalist were frantic to know what her fellow celebrity Powers thought about her recent union with the police force. And none were more keen to share than her fiance, a.k.a. "The Man".
She was curious to see what he'd left written there for her. A love poem? No; that was expecting too much of him. He used to leave her little of messages of endearment when they first began dating, but, she supposed he'd grown illiterate now since they've been engaged, in addition to being indolent. Still, she could not help but feel her heart beat quicker as she leaned in to read his note. Perhaps...
"Smile for the cameras."
Huh. Good to know where his priorities were. With a bit of sarcasm, Toni scrawled on a "Love you too" on the bottom of the note. With any luck, he would see it when he got home. But knowing him, he'd probably toss it in the trash without even looking. Her mouth twisted up.
Whatever. She shrugged on her trench coat and left out, locking the door quietly behind her.
Smile for the cameras? She'd see about that.
Cameras, indeed.
Every single news outlet in the country must have sent their reporters to come sniff the Bureau out. Her view shot to the prim man sitting beside her, her publicist Michael Lop. He met her eyes readily, as if he knew exactly how upset she was. Still, he said nothing. Her lips pursed.
"You said there wouldn't be a lot of press."
Mike's immediate shrug was unapologetic. "I said there'd only be a few cameras, nothing--"
"A few?"
Someone must have tipped the vultures off to what car she was in. Outside, the clamoring of the paparazzi grew louder as their driver pulled up alongside the curb. They pressed up close against the vehicles, their cameras flashing incessantly. Toni swung her head around to speak to Mike, but the older man was already in the process of getting out of the car, expertly angling his body away from the crowd. Even still, the reporters managed to swarm him, until she could no longer see the black of his ill-fitted toupee. His assistant, a young blonde woman named Anna, sat in the front seat, and she twisted around to face Toni. Her voice was the chirpy song of a bird.
"Remember. You've only got 2 minutes."
Avoiding news hounds was like running the gauntlet. For someone like her, it was a mastered art. While Mike was used to some degree of exposure with his other clients, dealing with Wildfire was another issue on an entirely different level. Toni could not count the many times they've had to slip out back doors, switch vehicles, wear disguises, or think up elaborate ruses, all in the vain effort to avoid the mass of journalists who seem to swarm to Toni's every social engagement. It was tiresome. It was time consuming. And frankly, it made Toni want to retire altogether.
But that was before Mike hired Anna.
As Anna smiled cheerily at her, her face began to morph, spinning and flickering until Toni was faced with an unsettling copy of herself. The now Toni-Anna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and winked at her. "You're welcome," She replied in a voice identical to Toni's. And without further ado, she sprang from the car, descending into the surrounding mass with more courage than Toni has ever had in her entire life. For two minutes, the press would have "Wildfire" at their disposal--until they didn't. Hopefully by then Toni would be long-lost within the bowels of the police bureau, a place even the paparazzi--for all their lack of scruples--would be hard pressed to enter, unless they were shopping for an excuse to be arrested.
While Anna hammed it up out front, her driver pulled around to the side entrance. Toni counted the time as she hurried inside. One minute, 22 seconds. She stood by the elevator impatiently, checking her watch the way self-important businessmen did. 58 seconds The doors opened, and she ran into the empty carriage. It was deliberately slow moving up. She checked her watch again when she reached the 3rd floor. 30 seconds.
Sweet Jesus.
She accosted the first police officer she encountered, a man slouched against the help desk who's eyes were glued to his tablet. She tried to smile politely.
"Hi, I'm looking for--"
"Down the hall, 3rd door on the right, second desk from the exit."
He never once looked up. Toni squinted at him hard, wondering how in the world he could possibly know where she wanted to go if he wasn't even looking at her. But, after some length, she heaved a sigh and moved on, muttering a "thanks" under her breath. Who knows? Maybe he was secretly a Power too. The psychic, know-it-all asshole kind.
But as fate would have it, the man had been right. Toni hovered in the entryway to the Powers Division suite. It was her first time seeing the department during active hours. Although small compared to the other divisions, the space teemed with activity. She slipped in behind a young intern carrying folders and trailed him, looking out for her new desk. It wasn't hard to find; there, seated across her desk, was her partner. Blake Hampton--she'd met him briefly before, at the tour she'd been given of the department some weeks back. She approached him quietly from the side.
"Good morning. It is good to see you again." She hesitated, before adding, "A pleasure to begin working with you."