Knight Princess Errant

Summary: Brockton Bay is a giant hub of crime, villainy and scum of many different sorts. Between the German-inspired barbarians and the rampaging dragon, a certain Knight Princess feels right at home.

Emma Barnes blushed bright red, apparently trying to turn her face the same shade as her hair.

She looked upon the smiling face of the handsome man offering her his hand and blushed even more. He went straight past handsome and into the 'gorgeous' category. He had silky-looking blond hair, just about short enough not to need styling, but also giving him a bit of a rugged look that only highlighted the aristocratic bent that the features of his face had, with his high cheekbones and perfectly smooth, fair skin.

His blue eyes were almost like gemstones, and his smile was heavenly.

"Are you quite alright, miss?"

And oh, his Accent, sounding British enough to tickle her fancy, but not thick enough that she had trouble understanding him... it was perfect, he was perfect in every way.

"I- ah- ehm- uhhhh-" Emma babbled something she couldn't quite understand, unable to coherently form words. She had to swallow her nerves for a moment, as well as the extreme need to ask him if he would date her, "I'm okay, ah-"

Her blush nearly reached atomic levels when she placed her hand in his and he helpfully, almost delicately, pulled her to her feet, holding her hand until she was no longer wobbly.

"My deepest apologies, I should have looked where I was going," he said, bowing slightly.

She knew, however, that it was her fault. She was the one who was rushing, who turned a corner without looking. The mall was quite a crowded place at the best of times, so it was only natural that he be walking slowly.

"No, no, I, uhm, I-" she couldn't quite form the words.

"Ah, there you are, Sir Gawain!" a new voice interrupted them, and Emma turned.

She was an angel.

There really was no other way to describe it. While Emma could conceivably describe the man before her as the very devil himself, come from heaven to tempt her into sin, the girl before her could be nothing other than a vision of divine, angelic beauty.

Everything about her was beautiful. The designer in Emma's mind drooled at the sight of her dress and how impossibly well it fit her, enhancing her image of an innocent young girl while at the same time bringing attention to her slender frame as well as highlighting her legs with the opaque stockings and the flawlessness of her fair skin by setting it aside the white material.

For a moment, Emma entertained the idea of getting a dress like hers, but she realized instantly that she would never look even a millionth as good as the girl before did wearing it, and it was pointless to.

"Oh- were you busy?" she asked. "I wouldn't want to interrupt you."

"Please do not worry, my liege, for I was merely apologizing for my rude behavior," he said.

Liege? Emma wasn't quite certain what that meant, she'd have to look it up. Maybe it was her name? But 'Mai Lish'... could be Asian. The girl looked 100% European. Hell, both of them were the Aryan wet dream, now that she thought about it.

"I would not want to be rude, but we are in quite a bit of a hurry," the young girl said, before turning to Emma. "Please forgive us, but we must make haste."

"Fare thee well, fair maiden," the blond man said.

"Uhm... ah... goodbye!" Emma stammered, almost punching herself for failing so completely and utterly in a social situation.

Those were supposed to be her thing, after all.

"Have a good day," the girl said, giving her a formal curtsey before turning around and leaving at a fast clip, the man, with his longer legs, easily keeping pace at a more relaxed speed.

"That's the man I saw at the mall," Emma said, frowning.

"Did you catch his name? If I come up with anything on these guys maybe I'll finally get some slack," Sophia said, stretching like a cat as she continued to work off the kinks of the stakeout she had just been put through. Her body was protesting the lack of movement for a very long time, but now all it wanted was to relax in the most sprawled out position possible.

"No, we got interrupted-"

"Oooh, working your charms I see," Sophia said with a salacious grin. "I'm not gonna lie, for a nazi he looks damn good," she said. "And a Parahuman too, you lucky minx."

Emma shook her head. "I wish," she said, almost defeated, "he got called away by who I think was his girlfriend or something? I mean, the girl looked like she was 14 but you never know. I thought I got her name but turns out he was just using a title," she said. "Something about royalty, I wasn't really paying attention."

"Might be the theme their little team has got going on. Well, we know his cape name, at least, he goes by Gawain."

Then Emma clicked. "Wait, I think I heard her call him that," she said. "I don't think it's a cape name. They were using it in public, unmasked."

Considering that the only change in outfit that Emma could recall from the news to the time she'd seen them at the mall was the addition of Armor that didn't cover their faces very well, if at all...

"Huh. Well, makes it easier," Sophia said, shrugging. "It's a pretty strong bunch, but they seem to be following that little girl."

There was a hint of bitterness in Sophia's tone. "Did you fight her or something?"

Sophia was usually like that when she spoke of the people who fought, and defeated, her, much like Grue or most of the E88 heavier hitters. "Nah. She just... kinda pisses me off. It's like, I dunno, she just exists and it rubs me the wrong way."

Emma frowned. "To be honest, when I met her at the mall she seemed nice enough."

"We think she might be projecting a sort of Master Aura like Barbie's," Sophia said. "It makes everyone around her just like her."

Nodding, Emma figured that might just be it. Even so... "I think it might have a lasting effect, because when I think of her, she still looks super cute to me."

Sophia snorted. "Well she is," she admitted, "kind of like a lion cub."

"Oh, and that dress - I wish I could make it look half that good!"

"Of course you would look at her clothes first," Sophia said, rolling her eyes.

The second time Emma accidentally ran into a member of Round Table, the name the group had taken for itself, had been at the Boardwalk.

This time, however, the circumstances were a bit worse, as she was held up in an alley just off of the Boardwalk by a pair of enforcers, along with a snarling Sophia. The Enforcers were clearly looking to shoo them off of the place, because of a prior incident that involved them putting a certain someone where she belonged that got a bit out of hand.

Were she to be entirely honest, Emma would never once have considered the idea of purple hair on a man to be even remotely attractive.

But here she was. In a way, it just kind of suit the overall gloomy atmosphere that Lancelot of the Round Table projected around himself. He wasn't like the radiant sun Gawain, who lit up rooms by his mere presence, a man with such charisma that he was often beyond reproach. Instead, he had this quiet presence to him, like he was much like the sea, calm but hiding a violent, raging storm within.

Or, in more common terms, he had the bad boy charm about him instead of the perfect boy next door charm. Far be it from Emma to be anythign but a teenage girl in how she described her crushes.

After a couple of weeks with the Round Table settling into town, the public at large had become aware that their perfect Knights image was not, well, perfect. After all, Tristan and Lancelot were well known to be quite flirty, and especially towards married women. The latter confirmed when they hit on Battery in full view of her now confirmed Husband, Assault. That'd put quite a few rumors to rest as well.

Similarly, it had become clear that Gawain liked rather top heavy women. This because the man was honest to a fault, and Emma did mean fault. Brutally and tactlessly honest. Enough so to tell Faultline, to her face, that the reason he was not attracted to her was that she was lacking in the chest area.

However, all quirks aside, she was quite happy to see the well known 'Knight of NTR', as he had been dubbed in PHO, swoop in to the rescue, placing a hand on the shoulder of each of the enforcers barring their passage before Sophia did something she would regret.

"Gentlemen, what seems to be the matter here?" he asked. "I believe that you are cornering these young women here against their will. Would you care to explain what, exactly, is going on?"

The enforcers tried to act like the tough guys they believed they were.

It only took a little squeezing for them to drop the act and reveal themselves to be the thugs they were. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" one of them cried.

"These two bi-"

Lancelot squeezed a bit. "Please, have a little respect, there are young ladies present," he said, his face showing his anger at the attempted curse."

Letting out a whimper, the man continued, "these two, we caught them pushing a girl off the pier last week," he said, "we were going to warn them not to do that, I swear! nothing more! please stop!"

Letting them go, Lancelot turned towards them with a rather stormy expression, clearly ignoring the fleeing Enforcers. "I've heard of that incident," he said. "So you two were the ones, huh," he said, eyes narrowed. Taking a deep breath, however, he seemed to calm. "That girl had to go to the hospital, and even now is confined to a wheelchair because of her broken leg. It is not my role to hand down punishment to the wicked and the lawbreakers, nor do I know the processes behind the scenes which must surely be undergoing," he said. "But much as I am loathe to visit violence upon a young maiden, neither will I tolerate the abuse of power upon the weak."

Sophia seemed deeply offended. Emma wondered why, for a moment, until she realized why. He was basically challenging her life's philosophy. 'Abuse' of power did not exist, in Sophia's mind. The strong took from the weak, and used them for entertainment, and put them in their place.

"It was an accident," Emma said, hurriedly.

"To lie so brazenly," Lancelot said, shaking his head. "Do not test my patience, begone from my sight. Go about your day," he said, turning around and leaving.

"Fuck you," Sophia shouted at him. "You think you can come here and talk to me like that? Who the fuck do you think you are!?"

"I am Lancelot du Lac, Knight of the Lake," he said.

"You don't know shit," Sophia said. "The strong prey on the weak. That's the rule of the world!"

"That's the rule of beasts," Lancelot said. "As for man..."

He shook his head.

"Your philosophy is misguided and rotten."

"Fuck you! We survived, we took our pain and overcame it! It's our privilege to devour the weak! That's the way the world works!"

"Lancelot," a familiar voice said. Emma turned to face them, momentarily tearing her gaze away from the confrontation. Gawain and the 'Princess' were coming into the alley. "That is quite enough."

"Fuck you, too," Sophia snarled at the Princess. "You think you're better than me, don't you?"

The Princess frowned, seemingly in displeasure.

"Well you're not! You're just a prissy little bitch, who relies on the powers of her subordinates! You're nothing compared to me! I can stand on my own, while you're-"

"Silence, cur," Gawain interrupted. "I see not a wolf standing proud, but a babbling little girl, mouthing off at those whose notice she is beneath. I will not stand idly by and allow you to insult-"

"Gawain, please stop," the princess said. "Mean as she is, that is not an excuse to hurt her further. As you said, she is already hurting, and simply lashing out," she said. "It would be remiss of us as Knights to pick on those weaker than ourselves, would it not?"

That, alone, was probably the worst blow that they could have dealt Sophia.

Sparing her simply because she was beneath their notice.

"You- You- BITCH!" Sophia screamed, and for a moment, Emma felt the need to dash, to tackle her friend to the ground and prevent her from attacking.

She never got the chance. When Sophia moved, the Knights moved infinitely faster. Gawain stood protectively, ready to fight, in front of the Princess.

Lancelot, meanwhile, had stopped Sophia and put her into a simple arm hold. 'Simple', of course, being about as good as being held in steel vice grips, given the brute package that all the knights seemed to share.

"Why!? Why do you two obey this little girl? She's an idealistic, naive fool!" Sophia shouted, "don't you get it?"

"If those words are the ones which you use to describe me, then so be it. I relish being an idealistic and naive fool," the Princess said, "if it means I can hold my head up high and trust in my convictions, if I can look back upon the path I have walked and see not regrets, but fond memories and joyful moments in time, then I will wear that label proudly and happily," she said, offering Sophia a beatific, nay, downright angelic smile. "And I know that you too can follow in this path. I know that deep within you there is a being that yearns to be a hero, that wishes to see to it that none suffers like she did."

"Fuck you!" Sophia growled. "You don't know me! You don't know anything about me! You're nothing! I'm a Predator, I know how the world works! You're just a dumb little girl!"

"Perhaps," the Princess said, giving the both of them one last glance. "But I shall leave you with some parting words. A man wiser than I once told me that it is the duty of the strong to defend the weak, and I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing. And I believe that, deep inside, you agree as well. When you let go of your pain, of your anger and suffering, and when you are ready to make amends, only then, will you truly be happy and free. Lancelot, please let her go."

He did.

Sophia did not move.

"Good day. Perhaps when we meet again, it shall be in friendlier terms."

There was a momentary pause, before she turned to Emma.

"She will forgive you," she said, simply. "You know where to find her."

"H-How..." Emma took a step back.

The princess merely shook her head.

And so they left.

Emma sat on the ground, letting out a long sigh, releasing that lungful of air that she hadn't known she was holding.

She pointedly ignored Sophia sobbing on the ground, nursing her shattered pride.

Instead, she pulled her knees up to her chin. "They... She... she can't be right. I'm strong. I'm strong... I'm a survivor... we're right, aren't we?" she asked, looking at where Sophia was rubbing the marks on her arms and back. "We're in the right, right?" she asked.

Sophia growled, but offered no answer.

"They're... they're just-"

Emma swallowed air.

"We're right," she muttered.

Every time she said it, it sounded just that little bit less confident in her own answer.

"Teenagers," Lancelot muttered, shaking his head. "Everything is made so much more complicated than it truly is."

"Careful, Lancelot, lest your remarks reflect upon your own behavior," Gawain sniped back.

Lancelot glared at him.

"Children," the Princess muttered, shaking her head. "Even so... I hope that I have done a good thing," she said. "Ah, Merlin, how I wish you were here to advise me. I truly wish for Master's happiness, but I wish you would tell me if what I did was the right thing... if only you weren't chasing women instead, perhaps you could answ-"

"It was," a voice said.

The Princess let out a very undignified yelp and in her fright, she lost her balance and fell on the ground. Fortunately, Gawain was quick on the uptake and caught her before she could hit hard enough to leave a mark. "Careful there," he said, a friendly smile on his face.

"Merlin!" the princess shouted, "you- you-"

"Well, my amazing timing aside, don't you worry your pretty little head, Artoria, you did good by your master," he said, nodding his head. "Your Master is a good girl, in the end. She wishes to have her friend back, more than she wishes to revenge the wrongs brought upon her."

Artoria nodded. "Thank you for that," she said. "You always know how to calm my fears, Merlin."

"I missed how cute you used to be. Older you was always serious and all business," Merlin mused.

Blushing, Artoria seemed to withdraw into herself. "Ah... I'm sorry, I just... I just can't picture my older self."

So, important:

I already wrote Taylor-as-Saber-Lily. So instead let's do Saber Lily in Brockton Bay. Her master is Obvious because the QA is trying to get to the Throne of Heroes for possible perfecting of the Endbringer-system for maximum conflict generation.

As for the rest of the Round Table... Merlin is still alive (locked in Avalon tho, what he sends out is a projection) and is the one who summoned them. He's actually doing a lot of work behind the scenes to dismantle the ABB's prostitution ring and basically trying to set up his own whorehouse to show them how it's done (even though he's cribbing from Gilgamesh's).