WHO: Mia and Dick WHAT: Mia made a whoops. WHEN: October 4th WHERE: Apartment.
Mia didn’t spend a ton of time in Bludhaven. Usually she just showed up for training with Dick, and then headed home. However, she’d noticed the bookstore a few blocks away, and she had left a copy of something she’d been reading on the train. So it seemed a good place to check before she headed home.
She was still in her workout clothes, drinking a large slushie as she entered the store. She wasn’t paying too much attention and was planning to go straight to the counter to ask if they had her book when she noticed that there was an actual crowd of people. Most bookstores weren’t this crowded. That was when Mia saw the stand up poster announcing Iris Hamilton’s book signing. She shuddered. That woman was all over the news, and she fancied herself the new Anne Coulter.
So Mia didn’t do what most normal people would do by finding her book and getting the hell out of dodge. No, that would be too easy. Instead, she sat down in a chair near the back just as Ms. Hamilton started in on the mutant threat.
And there she stayed for a half hour while the woman at the podium spoke like she was a talking head of a tv channel that was the child of Fox and the 700 club. She only moved to look this woman up on wikipedia on her phone.
When the people finally stood to line up to have their books signed, Mia was practically seeing red. (Her own fault, yes, for sticking around.) But she got in line anyway. One after the other people chatted kindly to her as if she was the second coming.
She stopped, looking confused when Mia didn’t instantly put a book in front of her.
“Sorry, I don’t have a book, but I have a question.” The lady looked at her with a bit of a critical eye, but nodded for her to continue, not that Mia needed the permission. “You spent a chunk of time up there decrying feminism, but you’re an author and tv personality and went to Stamford. You realize that’s all only possible because of the generations of feminists that came before you, right?”
The woman looked like this was a question she’d gotten a lot. “Modern feminism. It’s only about the inferiority of men and emasculation. We’re taking things from them.”
“Being made to share is not oppression!”
She continued on. “Besides you don’t know for sure that was needed before. Anyone can do anything with extremely hard work, and-”
“And the world doesn’t actually work that way.”
“Listen, sweetie,” Iris said in an overly saccharine tone, obviously annoyed and trying to hide it by being condescending. “You’re terribly young and naive and don’t understand how the world works. In a few years you’ll understand.”
Mia didn’t have a response for that, but her arm instantly thrashed out and her entire large red slushie splashed spectacularly on the woman in front of her. Mia dropped the cup in her lap and stomped out of the building.
~~~
Dick jerked awake to a pile of folders being dropped on his desk. He blinked his blue eyes rapidly at Amy as she gave him a disapproving look for sleeping too long on his lunch and stormed away. He leaned over a little. “You could have emailed me. Or text. I would have woken up. And why are we using paper files, still?” He leaned over his desk to call after her. “We’re killing treeees!”
“Security, Grayson,” Amy snapped back. “Until our servers are upgraded so we know the local gangs don’t have their fingers in it still, we’re back to caveman days.”
Dick slumped back in his seat, looking at the pile forlornly. He dragged the stack toward himself.
“Hey, we got a face match on the slushie chick,” one of the other officers was saying, pulling something off the fax. “Got a warrant. Some Mia Deary.”
The other officer leaned over to look, elbow atop the rickety cubicle separator. “Dearden, you dummy. Great, and she’s all the way up in-”
“I got it!” Dick said, swiping the file away and grabbing his jacket. The other officers were still blinking, the one with his hand still out as though the fax might rematerialize in his fingers. Dick swung about on his heel, pointing their way while unsteadily jostling his hat on. “Tell Captain I’m dealing with the warrant. Will return by 4 or 5 to finish up!”
Then he disappeared around the corner. The other officer huffed. “Honestly, some kids do anything to get out of paperwork…”
…
That was how Dick ended up on Mia’s doorstep. In uniform. “Sooooooo…. Slushie, huh?”
~~~
Mia had gone to bed, woke up, and gone to class just like any other day. She really hadn’t given another thought to what would end up being called the great slushie incident. She was, however, going to enjoy a rare free afternoon. Well, as free as it could be when she had a ton of reading to do.
Unfortunately that wasn’t in the cards, she wasn’t entirely sure who was knocking on the door, but if it was a friend she’d just hang out instead and weep about her poor choices later.
Initially her brow furrowed a bit in confusion when she was Dick there in uniform, but the first words out of his mouth explained it. “Wai-what?” The confusion on her face wasn’t really over the slushie only that he was actually here about it. “Oh God, did she raise a stink?”
~~~~~
Dick winced, mouth pulling to one side in a grimace. “Assault charges,” he noted. “Probably won’t amount to anything, but she is pretty adamant that you have the book thrown at you and is saying you should be forcibly tested because she thinks violence and mutant genes go hand in hand. I’m not quite sure she realizes who she’s dealing with yet.”
He glanced past the doorway. “May I come in or you want to keep this all formal like and talk in the car instead?”
~~~~~~
The noise that came out of Mia’s mouth was a purely annoyed groan. “Better come in. I’m sure your jail is freezing.” She said motioning to her shorts. She shut the door behind him when he entered. She disappeared for a few seconds a reappeared in long jeans. She hadn’t officially been Mirandized yet. “FYI, I’m not fucking sorry it happened.”
She sighed. “It’s my own fault. Store security cameras?” Of course, the bane of shoplifters. She went to grab her phone. “Should I call Oliver to meet us there now, or wait until I’ve actually been booked?”
~~~~~~~
“It’s Bludhaven. Nothing is cozy about that place.” He held his hands up. “Hey, I’m not asking for apology at all. I just didn’t want…. Well, someone else to be here who might be a lot more jerky about it.” He paused awkward.y. “Not that I’m happy about it, mind you--not that you did it, just the whole bringing you in thing and--Do you have sugar crocs? I didn’t pick anything up on the way here.” Because even though lunch wasn’t that long ago…
“Might call him now, but give him a heads up you might be staying the night in.”
~~~~~~
“Cupboard beside the fridge.” She offered, hopping up on a stool by the breakfast bar. It would be best to wait on Oliver or else chances were he’d show up first raising hell. “So is this the strangest arrest ever? Come over, eat some cereal?” It was utterly friendly and mundane, and Mia figured that had to be strange.
Suddenly her head fell to her forearm on the bar dramatically. “God, she’s a loudmouthed conservative idiot with a pulpit into millions of homes… of course this is going to bite me in the ass.”
She lifted her head and looked up at him. “Hey, so out of curiosity sake since they didn’t let me look at my file a few months ago… What’s actually in there?” She looked to the side for a second. “I just want to make sure the shit that supposed to be sealed and expunged has been.”
~~~~~
“Oh, no, not the strangest. I never told you about Candy? Trying to convince a working woman who is clinging and crying inconsolably that you’re not arresting her--that’s way more strange and awkward. Especially when she pauses, offers gum, then passes out.”
He walked into the kitchen and got the box, hopping up to seat himself on the counter and liberating a handful of cereal. “Not arguing there. Again, not upset you did it. There are pictures of her with this unbelieving look on her face drenched in red slush, by the way. You need to give them a look. And some of the tags on it are already hilarious. Ice-bucket-challenge-done-wrong and Carrie-was-better are my favorites so far.”
He had a mouthful of cereal when she asked that question. He raised his eyebrows, chewing quickly to try to speak around the crocs. “Shtuff.” And promptly grabbed another handful.
~~~~~~
“She was probably grateful. Can’t imagine working in your city.” She said with a shrug. “Did you take the gum?” Weird question.
“Honestly I was so mad, I came home took an angry shower, went to bed early and went to class today.” She motioned towards the coffee table with her laptop and books on it. “I was just about to relax and get caught up on things. There’s probably like twenty Glee jokes.” Mia would have probably dumped whatever was in her hand on her but even Mia had to admit that slush was kind of great.
“Stuff?” She raised an eyebrow. “I know that my arrest a few month ago would be on there, but that should be all. I filed earlier this year for my juvenile arrest record to be sealed. They approved.” It sucked that you had to wait five years past your last incident to request to have them sealed. Luckily they were set to be expunged later. “If there’s anything from Star City on there I’m gonna be pissed.” she realized now that she had an adult record, but it was nothing compared to arrests on your record for solicitation, shoplifting, and possession.
~~~~~
“...It was juicy fruit,” he said, as though that entirely justified his, indeed, taking the offered gum.
“There are. Again, you’ll need to give them a look. What did she say to you, by the way, to make you see her in red?”
Dick chewed on his cereal, giving Mia a measuring look and how to best explain to her concerning her file. Finally he swallowed, digging for his next handful more slowly. “They are sealed. And if this goes how I think it will, it won’t go to court. She won’t ever know what’s in your files, Mia. We book you tonight. Tomorrow you speak to your lawyer, you get bailed, the lawyer makes the woman realize how much trouble it’s going to be dealing with Oliver Queen’s family, and the charges get dismissed. This is a low battery charge, but one that’s going to be hyped for the publicity it’s getting. That might make things either easier or more difficult for you. It depends how Iris Hamilton decides to spin it, as her being a martyr for her bigoted beliefs and whether she decides to deal with the legalities quietly or not. Your worst case is probably going to be her trying to drag your name through the mud for battery publicly along with going to trial and her trying to undermine you and your organization in every way possible.”
He folded up the cereal bag and closed the box, setting it aside, dropping from the counter with a held breath. “...So. Want me to read your Miranda rights now or do you need a snack before we go?”
~~~~~~
“She’s a horrible person.” Mia pointed out. “What didn’t she say?” She sighed. “Basically I popped into that bookshop a few blocks from your place and apparently there was a book reading and signing, and I should have gotten what I needed and left but it was like watching a train wreck. And she just kept saying stupid stuff and when I questioned her about it, and she condescendingly told me I was naive and didn’t understand how the world works, and next thing I knew slushie.” She shrugged.
“So police can see my sealed record until it’s expunged in a few months?” She clarified. She hadn’t been worried about Hamilton getting it, until Dick mentioned that she couldn’t. She really didn’t care what people said about her, but she had the sneaking suspicion she’d be devastated if that had gotten out. “Does that mean you read it?”
While she’d never exactly opened up to Dick about everything in her past, he did know she had been a street kid, and he did know she had HIV. It probably didn’t take a lot to infer about the life she’d led. However, that and seeing the evidence of a couple arrests for solicitation and possession in front of your face where two totally different things. She cleared her throat. “She’s going to spin it to be the victim. Well, I mean, technically she is, because I really shouldn’t have done it, but you know what I mean.”
“We can go.” She picked up her phone and keys and handed them to him, knowing he needed her stuff and so he could lock up. “Want my hands in front or back?” Last time she’d been arrested she’d been handcuffed on the back. She knew that was usually standard procedure, but sometimes it was left up to police discretion. Besides depending on traffic the ride to Bludhaven could be long by car, which is why she always took the train.
~~~~~
“Somehow not surprised,” he decided on hearing how simple the confrontation was. Though telling Mia she didn’t know how the world worked… No wonder.
Because yes, he knew what was in her files. He gave her a shrug and an apologetic grimace. “I would have known even if I wasn’t a cop. I was trained to know.” And he knew she could fill in the rest herself without his saying. Dick had asked to be trained, and Batman had taken it seriously. That included martial arts, tricks of the trade, strategy, and arming oneself with all the knowledge one could so they weren’t blindsided by facts. In the Batfamily, respecting someone’s privacy wasn’t an option. They never brought up the dirt they knew about other capes, or even criminals. That was another part of it. Know everything--keep it to yourself unless someone really needs to know what you do. Sometimes Dick would be so frustrated with Bruce’s tight-lippedness, but he learned that Bruce expected him to read into his actions and puzzle out what he knew without being told. So Bats didn’t say.
So it had never come up that he knew details about Mia’s past. It would have been rude to say, but right now he was being directly asked. He started putting away the cereal box. “Do you think I would have treated you differently if I didn’t know?” He folded his arms and looked at her inquiringly. He knew the answer was no, he wouldn’t have treated her any different than he treated her now, because he knew information about Mia, but he knew Mia as she was in the present and that stuff was past. Dick was hoping she’d realize the answer on her own though.
“Yeah, she’s already spinning it that way. Oppression and all that on bigotry. Gee, Mia.” He said that playfully with a grin, so she knew he was teasing in his admonishing. The woman’s hate spewing probably deserved a great deal more than a slushy to the face. “It’s going to be controversial, but you already have a lot of supporters on the net for it, and some who are aghast that you shouldn’t have, and some on her side. Just be careful how you proceed legally with it all.” That’s all he could offer on that, and it was lame advice and he knew it, but there was just not going to be an easy cut and dry solution on the situation.
“Front, please. You could kick me in the face no matter which way I cuff you.” A pause. “But please don’t kick me in the face. That would look bad--for both this case and my mug.” He took the cuffs out and took a breath. “Mia Dearden, you have the right to remain silent…”
~~~~~~
No, he wouldn’t have. Mia knew that. Dick was an example of that rare sort of person who was completely nonjudgemental and completely kind. Mia liked to surround herself with that sort of person. But for the girl who generally didn’t have a care in the world about what other people thought of her, she found herself in a position where she was realizing that she did care about Dick’s opinions, which put him in an extremely small group of people whose opinions mattered a great deal to her.
“No, you wouldn’t. I just… It’s different.” She awkwardly scratched her head, feeling weird about this whole conversation. There was a difference between knowing something and seeing it first hand. She shook her head and decided that this was the best place to drop it.
She chuckled. “I’m not going to kick you. I’m not mad. It’s your job. Besides… what would I look at then?” She said moving her hands for a moment only to get her hair out of her face before placing them back out in front of her. “You should be lucky I don’t have a cop or bondage fetish.”
~~~~~
Different because she didn’t know he knew. He let the subject drop as well. Mia was adaptive. She’d compartmentalize the information quickly enough and move on.
“Uh, I don’t--never mind.” He really didn’t want to allude to what else Mia would look at. He was fully aware she thought his rear was nice, seeing as it was the thing she commented on most often. “And yes, I count myself lucky for that. It’s always awkward when they do.”
He finished reading her the Miranda warning, then opened the door for her. “Shall we? And no, you can’t claim shotgun this time.”
~~~~~
She pouted. “But I wanted to play with the siren.” She joked. She knew full well she would be sitting in the uncomfortable back seat and as such be separated. She let him open the door and stepped out ready to face some music.