Little Canary

To be clear, Kaguya Momoko didn't really hate her work. She didn't look at herself in the mirror every morning with existential dread, wondering why the hell she allowed herself to put up with this or that. There were only a few parts that she hated. Like stupid customers. "What is this !? I ordered a martini with a bite, this is practically water!" Proof A: The guy she was serving for now.

"You specifically asked for 'agitated, not stirred'." After wasting a good five minutes thinking and insisting on what he wanted, and not letting the bartender go and serve the other customers. As if this place were some kind of commercial establishment.

"Yes, because it looked cool, but it tastes disgusting. Take a finger of whiskey to wash the taste out of my mouth." As if she were to blame here.

"Immediately, sir."

She kept the fake smile on her face and turned, her eyes chasing the liquor rack and considering what was least irritating Sir Idiot and getting him off her head as soon as possible.

"Oh, and honey, make sure you get the best whiskey you have, on the house, right? Because my taste had to suffer from that shit."

Grab the back of your head, and hit the bar grove. Her nose shatters and maybe she moves a few teeth. Blood running down his face and pure revenge -

The replica was on her lips, what he was asking for was one of the best drinks Holiday had, they couldn't just give it. Then she looked over her shoulder and realized exactly how little time she still had to put up with it. So, this guy could try to present his complaints to her replacement. Then she spilled the whiskey on her finger, imagining the expression on the guy's face as she tried not to pay.

I wonder what the idiot is going to say? "We were flirting, she said it was on the house." No one who really worked here would buy this, not with the good Macallan from Vetochkina.

"So, when do you leave the shift?" Oh, great, the start of a pickup line that every service worker simultaneously feared and rolled his eyes. Two minutes and nine seconds. Two minutes and she could get out of here, go to her apartment, put on her Valkyrie costume and go out to protect her innocence and hit some heads. Just two more minutes.

"Oh, in a little while ~"

"This is great! I have a long night of drinking ahead of me, so why don't you pull up a chair and join me?"

"As tempting as this offer may seem, I have a permanent engagement that I really don't want to miss." Sometimes it was really awful when she had to be subtle. Then again, maybe the guy was thick enough that she needed to be more open, she had heard that getting a chair on the head can be quite convincing in some cases. Alexi entered just in time. The two bartenders exchanged eye contact and a quick nod when her relief was to put the coat aside. "Aaaand this shift is mine. See you around."

"Wait."

Oh, fuck what is it now? "Yea?"

"You're not going to wish me a good night, are you?"

He must think he was being kind or something. Smooth as gravel.

"I hope you have a night as good as you deserve ... preferably in a dark, dirty and disgusting alley with torn pants and bleeding to death with a cut throat while you finish crying like a little girl." With that, she turned and left, with a frightening smile on her face and wanting to assault one or two missing robbers.

~ XxX ~

Morakawa Yuuko thought Valkyrie was the coolest hero of all time. First of all, she was a vigilante, which automatically made her 30% more incredible than the others. She could also stay up late at night and wear a really cool leather jacket. And the cops went after her because they were jealous that she was doing things better than they would ever do. She was not like all the other heroes who did this for money, fame, arrogance and other petty things that adults like. She was real.

Like any other eight-year-old fan, Yuuko wanted to have dolls of her favorite heroes, play them in the park with the other kids, things like that. But she had to be content with making newspaper clippings and photos whenever she appeared on the news. She cut them out of the paper and then put them in her special notebook. It was violet, like Valkyrie's eyes! She even managed to draw a super amazing bird on the cover!

Most half-decent parents would be a little concerned about their son idolizing a wanted criminal, but Yuuko's newest and current adoptive parents really didn't care what the girl did, as long as she looked happy and healthy enough when the boys did. social services stop for a visit.

But then, but then! Something absolutely incredible has happened! It was also really scary! But mostly it was really incredible. You saw, she really knew Valkyrie! She had just walked through the city center, her foster parents kicking her out so they could drug themselves in peace and have sex, and that's when she found her. At first, the child mistook the watchman for a sleeping bum, he had seen many, but then he noticed the leather jacket! She found Valkyrie who was ... unconscious in an alley, that meant ... shit! Valkyrie was unconscious in an alley! It could only mean that bad guys were around, or criminal scum would be looking for her.

"Wake up." Yuuko tried to insist, pulling on the guard's arm. "Please wake up." She tried again, remembering her ways this time. She released him and the arm fell back to the floor. Nothing.

Maybe she was really hurt? Yuuko concentrated, her eyes shining a faint yellow as she used her "Magic Glow". Unconsciously unconscious. Various scratches and bruises. The possibility of a mild concussion. She started to hear footsteps, from a distance now, but they could get closer. Filth. She wasn't strong enough to move them, she wasn't big enough to fight them, all she could do was, that's it!

~ XxX ~

Okay, so Kaguya Momoko was having a bad day. First with that idiot on Holiday, then some nameless purse thief somehow hits her with knockout gas. She had been doing this for three years and was knocked down by knockout gas, damn knockout gas! Then, she wakes up facing a wall, covered in newspapers and wearing a hat that is at least two sizes smaller. She gets up slowly, careful, overcoming the confusion.

Valkyrie recognizes that she is in an alley across the street from the warehouse district. The more she looked around, cardboard under her, a few empty beer bottles close by, the more she realized that she was disguised as a sleeping homeless person, so that most people wouldn't look twice. A type of social camouflage, very intelligent by the way, given the current situation in which she found herself.

"Your turn." Someone whispered close to her position. Momoko looked around and saw a smiling child hiding behind the nearby trash cans. The girl was wearing decent clothes, although the clothes were worn, and a white streak appeared in her dark hair. She started to move slowly out of hiding, looking a little impressed.

"Hi I'm-"

"Hey!"

Valkyrie turned, seeing a man with orange hair and a Red Dragon tattoo standing at the entrance to the alley. "Madame Saul's information is good! She is here!" He shouted, probably at his co-conspirators.

"Ah, shit, come on!" Without waiting for understanding or permission, Valkyrie took the child in her arms and started to park on the fire escape, hoping that the gas had completely escaped her system. While she was driving them both over the rooftops, she was plotting a strategy. The Red Dragons were an up-and-coming street gang, yet to establish supply chains and with too many hot temperaments and big egos in the hierarchy to really make it that much longer. It didn't mean they couldn't be a pain in the ass, though. Valkyrie took a dip, falling on the roof of one of the warehouses. The girl screamed as they fell as if it were a walk at the county fair.

What to do, what to do - ha!

Valkyrie looked at the broom closet and had an idea. It was not necessarily a good idea, but in vigilantism, as in jazz, you have to learn to improvise.

"Are you going to hit them?" The girl asked, looking a little excited about the whole situation. Momoko would be a little strange if it weren't for the apparent context. She nodded, and the girl practically smiled in excitement.

It would probably take a few minutes for the Red Dragons to get there, depending on how good their hearing was.

"But in order to do that, I have to make sure you're safe first, right?" She opened the broom closet, opening the lock in seconds. The child looked at her as if she were trying to sell her fried kitten meat. "Look, I ... we don't have much time, and if I'm fighting the bad guys, I can't worry about a civilian getting caught in the crossfire, okay?" The child obviously still didn't like it, but she walked anyway. Valkyrie locked the door behind her.

Yuuko made himself as small as possible to fit in the space between the door hinge and the wall, so if the door opened, they wouldn't see it right away. She learned the trick from an older foster child in one of her other foster homes.

For a while, nothing happened. She heard some clanging from afar, a scream here or there in the distance, but for a good ten-minute stretch, Morakawa Yuuko, eight, was locked in a broom closet, knowing that if anyone other than Valkyrie found her, she she would probably be dead. It was probably a revealing statement about her quality of life that it didn't scare her as much as it really should.

Then she heard footsteps. Heavy steps, definitely a man or other person of heavy build. Yuuko took a deep breath. The door opened and she put her hands over her mouth to be sure. Close the door, close the door, close the door, close the door.

After what seemed like a little eternity, the door closed - the thug making Yuuko shudder when they closed it. Then, not even five minutes later, she heard screams. So fighting. She heard at least three shots, more screams, don't cry, only crying babies cry, you have to be quiet before there is silence. Then a knock on the door.

"Kid?"

Valkyrie!

"It's me, Valkyrie. It's safe out here now, can I open the door?"

Yuuko nodded, before realizing that the hero couldn't really see her, but there was a lump in her throat that she couldn't speak.

"If you're okay with me coming in, just knock on the door. If you still don't feel safe, I can wait as long as you want."

Yuuko waited for one, two, three ... ten seconds before finally knocking hesitantly on the door. Yuuko looked in wonder at Valkyrie. Her hair was a mess, there were stains all over her leather jacket and the start of a bruise on her right cheek. But right then, for that girl? She looked like an angel. A bloody, battered and perfectly perfect angel. A Valkyrie. A Bloody Valkyrie.

"Child, are you-?"

Yuuko launched himself against the adult, burying his face in his stomach and wrapping his arms around the woman's waist. She didn't know why she was crying. Gently, almost hesitantly, Vigilante Number One wrapped her arms around the crying child, stroking her hair.

~ XxX ~

A week later

Another pleasant night and another deadbeat stupid customer. Momoko had done the last shift this time and was cleaning the bar, five minutes before closing time. She turned to assess the drink when she heard the door open.

"Fair warning, we are close to closing at night." She fired over her shoulder.

"It's okay, I'll be real quick, I promise." Standing on the bar stool was a tuft of semi-familiar black hair and a band of white hair.

"Did Valkyrie tell me to come here if I had anything?" The girl whispered to the bartender. Momoko had specifically said that the child could go to Holiday if she needed anything, but now that was semantic. Instead, the bartender just nodded.

"Well, my foster parents have a trusted drug dealer and he said there would be a big shipment of 'something cool and different' coming in. He also said it was coming from something called 'French Guiana', although I don't know what that means. I think it's the name of a place. I thought she would like to know about it. "

Momoko smiled, even when she started to notice how skinny the girl looked. "Okay, I'll pass the message on. Do you like to drink some juice?" A nod, and Momoko took a glass. "And your name is it?"

"Morakawa Yuuko!" She smiled. Momoko smiled back, turning to look for the right bottle. "And I'm going to be Valkyrie's number one best helper."

Wait what ?!

-XxX-