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What Cissie really wanted was just to stay in retirement. Preferably, a peaceful retirement where she lived a normal life, but anything would do— as long as she didn’t have to be Arrowette again. After Waller, she realized that trying to forget her past wouldn’t cut it, so she’d tried the next best thing: hiding in plain sight. Star City had plenty of great universities. Transferring schools wasn’t nearly as hard as she had thought. As little as Cissie wanted to move across the country, most of her friends were heroes who were always travelling anyway, and she could just call the ones who weren’t.
If a Young Justice member needed Cissie, she could just point them to Emiko or Sienna or Mia, who would all gladly help out. If, somehow, all three were busy, she was confident that between Ollie and Roy and Connor, she could find some archer who could fill her spot. Any other group who needed something would contact someone else first, and they all knew better than to ask Cissie.
It had been a relief to find Sienna. Cissie hadn’t realized how absorbed so many of her peers were in their heroics until she’d had a full conversation with Sienna where heroism hadn’t come up once. Sienna could relate to being an outsider in the hero community. Sure, she wanted to be on the inside, and she was incredibly enthusiastic about the job, but she could still hold a conversation about music or classes or family. It was ordinary in a way that Cissie craved.
Sienna thought Cissie was cool just because she was an older hero, and because Cissie knew people that Sienna looked up to. That made Cissie a little uncomfortable, but it also felt a little nice to have someone admire her. Cissie just thought it was fun to have a friend who was also in college and also understood the whole vigilante thing.
At first, the two just sparred as Sienna took tips from Cissie. As Sienna’s skills grew, she started to lose interest in anything Cissie could help with, and started coming over to watch TV or make Cissie listen to some songs instead. Cissie had already ended up in a music video, and Sienna’s passion made Cissie want to start learning an instrument, just to be involved.
No matter how close Cissie and Sienna got, it was never quite as close or as easy as Cissie was with Mia. She hadn’t even expected to like Mia as much as she did. It had started with Mia texting Cissie memes and shitty selfies and 0.5s of other heroes. When Cissie started sending stuff back, Mia seemed genuinely interested, even if it wasn’t as flashy as Mia saving the world. And when Mia started snapping Cissie on patrol and texting to complain about her dad, it made the whole hero side of things just seem utterly normal. Like a part of life as interesting as Cissie’s college major. She never mentioned Cissie’s past, and not once did she try to convince Cissie to become Arrowette again.
Mia never acted like Cissie wanted her to change just because Cissie had retired. She’d hang out in costume and out of it. She didn’t avoid talking about her patrols and hero drama, but she also refused to let Cissie feel left-out. They just talked enough that Cissie stayed up-to-date. She was invested in Cissie’s college classes and archery competitions, even though Cissie wasn’t saving the world by hitting a bullseye. It was a breath of fresh air.
The two of them had met through Waller, and Mia had first known Cissie as Arrowette, but that didn’t define their friendship. Cissie refused to let it, and Mia never tried to step past that boundary. Both seemed to silently understand that being a hero was exactly as important to Mia as being a civilian was to Cissie. Mia had taken agency in her own life that reminded Cissie of when she had quit being Arrowette, and Cissie had respect for that.
Once upon a time, Cissie would have been surprised to hear the thunk of a rubber arrow on her window while she was studying. But by now it happened whenever Mia wanted to hang out, and it served primarily to let Cissie know that Mia was on her way in. The surprise wasn’t that Mia was at her dorm. Rather, it was that there was an arrow sticking out of Mia’s arm.
Fuck. Cissie could feel her brain shifting into Field Medic Mode. She could help. She could fix this.
“Oh my god.” Cissie held an arm out. “Get in here and lie down, why are you climbing buildings in that condition?”
Mia grimaced. “Sorry, didn’t… you were closest. Got separated from Connor.”
“No, shh, just get in here.” Mia’s forearm was slippery from sweat and grime. In a fluid motion, Cissie scooped Mia into her arms and gently placed Mia on her bed.
“I—” Mia winced. “I’ll get blood everywhere, patch it first—”
“First,” Cissie corrected, “I need to take this arrow out, clean it, and stuff it with gauze. And then get you to Ollie’s. You, on the other hand? Need to lay down. I can clean blood out of sheets, Mia. Let me go grab my stuff.” Cissie quickly washed her hands, head spinning, before grabbing her first-aid kit. She threw on goggles, a mask, and gloves before tying her hair back and getting back to her room.
The arrow was still in Mia’s arm. The good news was that it didn’t look like it’d cut through anything that’d require surgery. The bad news? Cissie would have to take it out, and Mia would hate not being able to use that arm. “Cissie, you know I have—”
“Yep,” Cissie confirmed. “I took all the precautions. Mia, you’re the one in danger right now. I know how to do this safely.” Keeping her voice as calm as possible, she added, “I need to take that out. It’s going to hurt, but once it’s out I can pack it and it’ll heal. Do you understand?”
“What is this, the hospital?” Mia grunted. “Just get it over with. I trust you.”
The arrow was slightly barbed. It hurt Cissie’s heart to see Mia wince whenever it moved. Cissie wished she could just pull it out, but she didn’t want it to cause any more damage. The uniform itself was hard to see against the wound, and while she thought some of it had gotten into the wound itself, the two reds blended together too much to tell which was which. It was bleeding more and more, with the arrow out, so Cissie decided to just close it up.
“I’m gonna pack it with gauze.”
Mia’s eyes had glazed over. “Okay,” she agreed. “Make it quick, I’m losing…”
“I know,” Cissie whispered. Cissie knew what to do automatically; she’d done this countless times before as a field medic. The steps came as naturally as nocking an arrow or drawing a bow. Mia begrudgingly nodded along as Cissie listed out the wound care, only protesting when Cissie mentioned that she wouldn’t be able to patrol for at least a week.
“Star City needs me,” Mia had protested. “I… I’m not going to just sit when I could be helping.”
“Doctor’s orders. You’re going to let yourself recover.” Cissie frowned. “I know that look in your eyes. No sneaking away either.”
“What if I just don’t get caught?”
“If you break your stitches drawing a bow, I’ll make Bart redo them. We both know what kind of scar that would leave you with.”
“I can stay away from the bows,” Mia offered, “but I need to be out there. I need to be helping.”
“There’s a lot you can do without being in the field,” Cissie reassured. “Medical, gear, providing a safe house… heroism doesn’t start and end with what happens in a battle. If I can be Arrowette because of Waller’s brain bombs, you can be Mia Dearden, ordinary civilian with a big heart, for a week or so.” She threw an arm around Mia’s shoulder, careful to avoid getting the bloody glove in Mia’s hair. “If you want, we can work on gear. Make some new trick arrows? It could be fun.”
“I guess,” Mia sighed. “I just wish Merlyn hadn’t gotten me. I was so close to getting out, and then he just—"
“I know,” Cissie soothed. “You’ll get him back next time. We both know you will.”
Ollie was almost at Cissie’s apartment, but when Mia started drifting off, Cissie couldn’t make herself wake Mia up. Even if Cissie was about to have to throw out the sheets, even if there was blood everywhere, there was just something sacred and fragile about a moment like this. Like it’d be a crime to disturb it. Cissie leaned against the wall and traced Mia’s face with her eyes, taking a picture to keep in her memory.
