Closed RP Hotel Federal Employment

[Ava Hunt]

Packing. Again. One might think that with her decades of experience in performing such an activity that Ava Hunt would be quite the professional. Yeah...well...eat shit. The only thing her lengthy experience has ever actually taught her is to not accumulate a bunch of worthless sentimental bullshit clutter that does nothing but fill her garage with yet another box that won't be opened again for another fucking decade. Of course, this hard-earned lesson has seemingly flown away into the distant horizon as the prosecutor places yet another cringe-worthy mug (this one with a cute little cartoon figure saying "Best Boss EVAR") gifted to her by a former subordinate (who has not worked here in five years) in the cardboard box she'd already pre-labeled as "Memorables, 2024".

A knock at her open door manages to draw her attention away from the seemingly-infinite number of mugs that have somehow accumulated on one of her office's bookshelves. A tall young and rather attractive man stood in the doorway with a rather glum expression.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I..." the man began before his voice trailed off, breaking a little as it did. Andre Willems, her now former-paralegal / secretary, clearly wasn't handling the transition well.

At least he has his cute little girlfr-wait...no...they're engaged now. Heh. Fucking painful.

"You know, Andre, you could at least stop calling me 'ma'am' on my last day," Ava answered with a smirk.

"Yes, ma'am...I mean...yes...boss. Wait...no...former...boss?"

Ava could see the steam beginning to rise out of the boy's skull. It wasn't that he was stupid; he would never have survived working under her if he was. No, it was just that he'd come fresh from his first year of law school after leaving the Marine Corps and had never quite shaken that strict-adherence to propriety.

"Ava. Just call me Ava. Plus, you're a licensed attorney now, remember? Diploma, Bar exam and all. So, if anything, we're peers now."

Taking a moment to approach the young man, Ava pointed at him and then herself.

"Same-same."

"Yes, ma'am," Andre answered so quickly that his former superior wondered if he was going to actually salute her...again.

"Anyway, what did you want, kid?"

Sure, the older woman knew that her former underling wasn't any kind of child and really had never been since working for her, but it brought her some miniscule amount of joy in reminding the 25 y/o that he was young to her. Even if he was due to get married later this year.

"Mr. Cohen said that he could have your entire office packed up and shipped to you, didn't he? I was just wondering why you're spending all this time here fussing over it."

"Probably because Tony's exceedingly butthurt that I'm leaving and would no doubt take the opportunity to have all my stuff thrown away."

"Oh, yeah, I guess he did seem a bit tense when your name came up earlier."

Her brow raised momentarily before she went back to her packing. It didn't take long before Andre's voice picked up again. Her silence was apparently too much for the young man.

"He asked me to meet him this morning to congratulate me on passing the Bar."

Ava's silence continued as she wrapped yet another mug in packing paper.

"...and he offered me a job. Here," Andre continued, his tone a bit shaky as he tried to muddle forward. Despite their years of working together, he never could quite tell his boss' emotions when she hid her face.

Finally, as she closed the box and taped it up, Ava turned to him with a smile.

"That's great, kid. Did he give you a written offer?"

Andre was seemingly shocked out of a stupor he didn't even know he was in before letting out a quick but stuttering "Neh-nn-no."

Rolling her eyes, Ava scooped up the box of mugs and mementos with one arm and handed it to the young and quite visibly fit man. Nearly dropping the box from the sudden weight being pressed into him, a small corner of Andre's mind logged for what was easily the hundredth time just how strong Ms. Hunt was before the rest of his mind focused on her words as she quickly unfolded another box.

"Listen: don't get hung up on this one potential offer, kid. Shop around. Feel free to toss my name out there too. I know old Bernie Stanton likes you too," the prosecutor rambled as she quickly taped up the underside of the fresh box to hold it together, "I know you were kinda on the fence about which side of the aisle you wanted to play, but let me tell you now: the pay on their side is much, much better."

Her desk was entirely clear by this point as were most of her shelves. The only remaining things were some photo albums her original secretary, Denise, had made for her from her first year working here. They fit quite snugly in the last box with a soft scraping sound.

"And if you do decide to stick around here, make sure that you secure your choice of secretary and paralegals. The pool here is not too bad, but I guarantee that fucking Reynolds and Copeland will try to freeze you out during your first year if you let 'em. Pricks think this place is just an evolved form of their fucking fraternity."

"Yes, ma'am."

Looking around the room, Ava's mind briefly wondered if she'd miss it or not after a year with the Feds. Her cell buzzed softly in her pocket, but she wasn't about to answer Mom for the fourth time today.

Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, 2024

 

[Fyston]

It had been a while since Matt had graced the halls of the District Attorney's office with his presence. Partially because they tried to hem him up for his actions during the Convention shooting and partially because DA Cohen had earned such a bad reputation among the PPD that most of the detectives outright refused to do anything with the DA's office that didn't have a paper trail, a recording of some sort, and at least two witnesses. There was also the slight issue that Matty had been undercover as Fred Adkins for so long that he'd almost forgotten that he knew people outside of the Anti-Meta Militia group. Almost.

Matt had spent the better part of three hours doing his best to ensure he had identified and lost any potential tails before he even considered dropping by the DA's office. Shopping trips, walks in the park, driving like an idiot who had no idea where he was going, and a dozen other counter-surveillance techniques had become routine any time he did anything personal and, while he'd shaken whatever tails might have been sent to keep an eye on him, it grew tiring after a while.

There were a few benefits to being undercover, though, namely the fact that he'd grown slightly used to the defenseless feeling he got when he had to go somewhere without a weapon. As a uniformed officer and, later, a detective, he'd been one of the few armed people in otherwise No Guns Allowed areas. Nowadays, however, he had to join the large percentage of the population who was unarmed in secure facilities and who had to pay heed to the pesky signs like the one that hung outside the DA's office front door. Had this been a private business or a Wal-Mart or anything like that, Matt would simply have ignored it. Instead, he didn't even have a knife on him as he opened the door and stepped into the building.

The detective remembered the pockmarked face of one of the security guards, namely because the guard had tried to disarm him despite his badge. The young man clearly didn't remember Matt, though, and waved him through without much hassle. Much. He still asked too many questions about Matt's business and held his ID up for long enough for Matt or, rather, Fred to get a little angry. "I'm here for a deposition, bro, gimme my ID back." It was a little more aggressive than the poor kid deserved but Matt didn't have the luxury of assuming that the DA's office was corruption free. Cohen virtually ensured that it was rampant. It didn't win him any favors with the guard, who used what little authority he had to force Matt to endure a secondary screening but it kept Matt clean and that was more important.

Once through security, Matt hit a side staircase and made his way up to Ava's floor. In a past life, he'd have just taken the elevator or, at least, a more commonly used set of stairs. Instead, it was more important that he was seen by as few people as possible and he had a buddy at the DA's office cut the cameras in the staircase under the guise of bad wiring. They'd be working fine as soon as maintenance showed up or Matt was clear of the building, whichever was sooner, but it was all part of the game. Taking a deep breath, Matt stepped out of the stairwell and headed to the right. Ava's office hadn't moved the entire time he'd known her and she was the third office down on the left. Not much of a view but it meant she didn't have to worry about anyone throwing themselves from her window if she gave them bad news.

"Hey, Andre. I heard you passed the bar. Good shit, man, I knew you could do it." Matt's current appearance likely drew a weird look from the newly-minted attorney before Matt saw him realize who had wandered into a soon-to-be-reassigned office. Turning to Ava, he withdrew a small Ghost-Spider stuffed plushie from his hoodie pocket as well as a handwritten note addressed in cute but slightly sloppy handwriting: Ms. Ava, My Superhero. He sat both on Ava's desk and stepped back somewhat.

"At least one of us is getting out of here. I always said you were too good for this city, though now I have nothing but hate for this office. Between Cohen, Spencer, Woods, Hoskins, Wes- I'll stop, I think there's only two or three decent attorneys left in this fuckin' place. Sorry I haven't been around, I only get a few hours a week to be Matt. Speaking of which, Fred Adkins has a ticket or three that I need handled. Schmidt on nights wrote me for fuckin four over last week because he's new and trying to prove himself and I can't really pull the badge card since all of seven people know I'm UC and not on loan to one agency or another."

Taking a breath, Matt lowered himself into a chair he used to spend quite a bit of time in. "Cece sends her regards and wanted me to give you those. I appreciate you keeping an eye on her after everything happened. She's grown fond of you but I couldn't justify bringing her down. Plus Ashley is pushing for full custody given that I'm 'gone' so often and because I am 'too self-absorbed to read the visitation schedule' so, yknow, she pushed back when I asked."