Manifestations appear to be shaped by both chance and by expectation. So someone falling off a building is likely to get a flying power or at least a power that lets them survive the impact. A place or animal that has a universal belief about it will often manifest in accordance to those myths. It is theorised that the potential to manifest is random but how a manifestation takes shape is based on ideas. That's why there are "Fairy rings" in Ireland and giant spiders in Australia. Expectations become reality.

Alarm, morning. Check roster.

Aha. Wednesday.

Mickey rolled out of bed and started making breakfast. French toast, scrambled eggs and sausages. After setting out two plates he cut off a bit of sausage and speared it with a fork. Taking the morsel into the bedroom he waved it in front of Eleanor's face.

"Wake up. There's food. Fooood."

With a snort and a grumble his girlfriend sat up and blinked at him fuzzily.

"Brekkie?" she asked, focusing on the bit of sausage.

"Only if you make it to the table."

Mickey said, before popping the meat into his mouth and chewing with the most smug smile he could manage.

He dodged the pillow she threw at him on the way out.

By the time she had dragged herself to the table he had made a cup of coffee for her and a tea for himself.

"So what's your plan for the day, Oh flower of my heart" Inquired Mickey.

Elanore finished her coffee before responding.

"Quick morning workout, brunch with the girls, a bit of power practice, and then I'll binge 'The East House Mystery' or something. Anything happening at work with you or just business as usual."

"Business as usual unless something unusual comes up. "

"You know what I'm thinking? I think we should go out for dinner after you get home. There's this new French place that has great reviews."

"Ok that sounds nice. As long as I get to drive there."

Elanore frowned.

"You always drive too slow."

"And you drive like some kinda crazy person. Speed limits are not a suggestion sweetie. Besides, if I drive there you won't have to watch the wine."

"Oh I see. This is just a clever plot to get me drunk so you can have your way with me, evil man. Well fine then, you can drive and I can drink. Have fun at work."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After signing in, Mikey was half an hour into filling a "bits and bobs" order. Rather than ordering entire boxes of items, this order required him to open up and remove individual items, resulting in a creeping sense of frustration. This tedium was interrupted by the feeling of two people entering his dungeon. Two people wearing light ballistic vests and carrying sidearms.

Cops.

Ah here come the fuzz

Mickey was about to go to the break room to give them more attention. But to his surprise after looking around a bit and trying to use the radio they quickly left.

Oh God dammit what the hell. At least try one of the rooms dammit. Ah well, at least things are moving along nicely.

—-------------------------------------

After coming home from a frustrating day at work Mickey was really looking forward to unwinding in front of a movie. However a romantic date was a good consolation prize.

As he started getting ready for the date he considered whether to tell her about the police visiting the dungeon.

On one hand honesty is always a good strategy in a relationship.

On the other hand he knew she would worry about it and he didn't want a dark cloud hanging over their date night.

Best to keep it to myself. Tomorrow will be soon enough.

As Mickey was buttoning up his dress shirt, Elanore came out of the bathroom and asked a dreadful question.

"Does this dress make my butt look big?"

Danger! Danger Will Robinson!

Mickey made sure to look her over with a critical eye, even making a twisting gesture with his hand so she would give a spin.

He nodded confidently and said

"I can honestly and confidently say that your dress does not make your butt look big."

She turned to the mirror and frowned.

"Are you-"

"Your massive badonkadonk makes your butt look big."

She turned back with an outraged look on her face.

"Wha-"

Mickey pressed on.

"Your training and diet have turned you into an attractive Amazonian beauty and your impressive if not lethal gluteus maximus is deadly in it's own right. A weapon of mass distraction if you will."

As the outrage faded to amusement Mickey moved closer to her and took one of her hands in his.

" Sweetie there isn't a part of you I find unattractive. Not your booty, not the scars on your hand or the freckles on your nose that I know you hate. You're beautiful to me. Fucking get over it."

Placing a series of kisses along the scars left on her hands and wrist from when she was still learning her powers, Mickey looked her in the eye and took a deep breath, his gut pressing against his shirt and asked.

" Also, does this shirt make me look fat? "

Elenore looked at him with a mix of irritation and amusement.

"You're awful, you know that."

She said fondly before returning to the bathroom to finish preparing.

——————————————————

At the restaurant "La Salle à Manger" they were promptly seated. When the server came to the table and asked for their order Elanore responded in rapid French.

The server turned to Mickey and asked

"And for you sir?"

"I'll have the same, thank you."

"And for wine?"

"I'll have water please."

"Very good. Your food will be out shortly."

After the server left Mikey asked Elanore

"What did I just order?"

"The chef's recommendation. It should be quite good."

As the server returned with the drinks tray, Mickey muttered to Elanore.

"These fancy plates always make me nervous. I'm ever sure if I'm making a mess of the manners or not."

"You'll be fine. I'll tell you if you're screwing something up."

As the date progressed the conversation ranged across numerous topics from fashion (Elanore disliked the stripes in women's clothing but approved of the draped layers, Mickey felt women's clothing needed more pockets.) to television, potential vacation plans, (They both agreed the mountains were preferable to the beach) to inevitably with metahumans, to what various metahumans response teams were doing.

"And they fought the thing by themselves, Without waiting for us to get there. They were lucky it went down so easily." Elanore fumed at the latest metafauna extermination the Northside Nukes handled.

"Hmmm I'll disagree with you there hun. Acheron and his team have a stronger first punch then you guys. It's their follow up that sucks."

"Wait, you think they're stronger than us?"

Elanore asked indignantly.

Mickey decided to try and calm her down without obvious backpedalling.

Please let me avoid a scene. She isn't quite drunk yet.

"No sweetie. No they're not stronger, but what strength they do have they can concentrate explosively."

"What do you mean? "

"Well Acherons main weakness isn't how powerful he is, rather it's how long he can use his power for. He's a B or C class who can throw A class punches, but only for a couple minutes. You on the other hand can throw A class punches for hours. Acheron, when he founded the team he decided to lean into his weakness. Everyone on that team is much the same. One hit wonders so to speak. "

Elly considered this.

"So they can hit stronger than us, but only once. Then they need to go have a lie down?"

" That's why they call themselves the nukes."

Mickey made an exploding gesture

" BWOOSSSHHH. Not as good in a real brawl as The Bastions but for a mutated croc? They had it handled."

"Hmm. They still should have waited for backup. So how do you know so much about this? I read their profiles but it didn't cover them with much detail."

"Now that my dear is because I have been a Brisbane meta longer than you. I have the advantage of being more connected at the ground level. The lower level metas gossip like nobody's business. And nobody tells the Department everything. "

"Ahuh."

Elanore finished off her steak. She took a slow breath before spouting out.

"My parents are visiting next month. Just for a few days I promise."

Ah there it is.

Mikey pinched his nose between his eyes.

"Fuck."

"I know you hate my parents but they're on a cruise and there's a three day shoreleave stop here, and well. They want to stay over."

"I don't hate your parents."

He said mildly.

"It's just their ontant judgemental 'You're not good enough for our daughter' attitude is more than a bit wearing."

Elanore winced.

"It'll just be for a few days. It'll be over before you know it."

"Oh great now you've jinxed it. I just know this is going to end with me getting a black eye, you getting gravy in your hair and the house in flames."