CHAPTER TWO
[ 𝗦𝟬𝟭 𝗘𝟬𝟯 : 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 ]

     The heels of Juliet's red boots clicked against the floor as she made her way to Madelyn Stillwell's office. The walk to get there was always a drag, especially since it was at the end of an extended hallway and Juliet had to pass dozens of pictures of The Seven to get there. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled to walk inside and sit through one of Stillwell's talks, but she knew there was no choice.

     Juliet paused in front of the closed door, her eyes boring into the plaque on the wall that read Senior Vice President of Hero Management on it. She raised her fist to knock on the door, but the voice inside had called out a loud "come in" before she could do so. With a heavy sigh, Juliet opened the door and stepped inside, closing it right behind her for privacy.

     Madelyn Stillwell stood up from the chair behind her desk, quietly cooing down at her son as she placed him on her chest. Juliet smiled at the baby for the brief moment she locked eyes with him before pulling her gaze somewhere else. Her eyes flickered from the framed pictures on the desk to the ones on the walls, especially the two on either side of the large television, one of her brother and Queen Maeve, and a horizontal one of the former team.

     "Stronghold, hi," Stillwell greeted while carefully bouncing her son up and down to try and soothe him.

     "Ashley said you wanted to see me."

     "Yes, yes. Sit down," Stillwell gestured to the couch feet away from the desk.

     Juliet walked over to the gray couch on the left of the coffee table placed in the center, moving the red cape of her suit to the side to prevent sitting on it and wrinkling it. Stillwell placed her son down in his crib before joining Juliet in the identical couch on the right, sitting across from her.

     "Now, Stronghold, due to the lack of Translucent's response – "

     Juliet frowned at Stillwell's words. "Wait, what happened to Translucent?"

     "Nothing you need to worry about," Stillwell brushed her words off. She crossed her hands and set them on her lap. "In the meantime, we were hoping you could cover for him tomorrow in A-Train's race."

     Moments like this were Juliet's specialty. She would be called in every now and then to fill the shoes of any member of The Seven if they were unable to attend a charity event, a team-up, and, in this case, a race. She thought back to the words the stranger from the park had told her, and how she declared that she wouldn't let them walk all over her anymore.

     "You would be doing the usual, pose for photos, sign autographs, and, before I forget," Stillwell stood up from the sofa and grabbed a sheet of paper in her desk, handing it back to Juliet. "Here are your talking points. Now that the military bill is out of committee, corporate wants to sell the shit out of it."

     Juliet skimmed through the lines written on the paper and pressed her lips in a thin line, debating what to say next. Stillwell was looking at her carefully, as if she were hoping Juliet would give her a reason to take the offer back or decline it altogether.

     "So, what do you say?"

     "Yes, of course," Juliet internally winced at the eagerness in her tone.

     Stillwell flashed her a smile, one reserved for professional matters like this one. "Great."

     Stillwell's son must've known the exact moment the conversation was over since his cries interrupted the silence in the spacious office. Stillwell rose from her seat and pulled her son out of the crib and into her embrace once again, an intimate scene that made Juliet feel like an intruder.

     Juliet made a beeline to the door, stopping by the threshold with the intention to say one last thing before she walked away. "I, uh, not that I wish anything bad on Translucent, but if he doesn't show up again, would I cover for him?"

     "There's a possibility."

     Juliet nodded at those words and closed the door after her. She slowly walked away from Stillwell's office, internally scolding herself for not standing up for herself like she promised she would. She passed a hand through her hair exasperated, swearing that next time, it would be different.

     The stadium was filled with enthusiastic fans, all wearing either blue or orange shirts to represent who they were rooting for in the race, A-Train or Shockwave. The smell of beer and greasy food contaminated the air, but no one seemed to care and instead waved their foam hands around as music blared through the speakers. Juliet thought the way people were paying a lot of money to see a race that their eyes could not even register was absurd, but she knew people were also here to get a glimpse of any member of the Seven. She signed dozens of autographs, recited her talking points in every interview she had, snapped hundreds of selfies, and even signed an arm for a fan that swore they were getting her signature tattooed right after this.

     With the opportunity to slip out of Ashley's line of sight due to her distracted state, Juliet made her way to one of the locker rooms in hopes to take a break, even if it was for a couple minutes. But of course, she wasn't that lucky. Reporters and photographers were snapping pictures of her the moment she came into their view, and Juliet plastered a smile on her face as she waved at the ones closer to her.

     "Stronghold!"

     "Stronghold, look over here!"

     She posed for the pictures and continued to wave until she stopped in front of the locker room's door, ready to disappear inside until she heard a faint voice calling out her secret identity behind her. "Juliet? Juliet!"

     Juliet thought she was hallucinating, an effect that all those blinding flashes must've caused . But the voice kept calling her name, desperate to catch her attention. The closer it approached, the familiar it sounded, she just couldn't quite put a name to it. It wasn't until she turned around when she finally realized who it was.

     "Juliet?" The man approached her with his voice almost out of breath. She recognized the green jacket, the short, curled brown hair and the graphic tee all at once. "Hi."

     She still couldn't believe she came across him again. "Park bench Hughie?"

     "You're, uh, you're Stronghold." Hughie's hands gestured her up and down, surprise laced in his tone. "That's. . .How did I not realize that?"

     "Well, that was sort of the intention," Juliet suppressed a smile, growing aware that there were still reporters around and there was a high chance that they could eavesdrop on the conversation. "Hughie, it was really nice to see you again, but I should get going."

     "Can I, uh, buy you an overpriced beer?" Hughie blurted out abruptly before she could even move. "You know, if you've got time."

     Juliet thought her answer through for a short moment of time. She figured it was better to spend some time with someone she was quite familiar with instead of sulking inside the locker room. "Yeah, I have time."

     "Okay."

     Hughie bought her the overpriced beer just as he said he would, and Juliet felt bad that he wasted his money on a beverage she surely wouldn't drink. They sat down on the most secluded table they could find, out of reporters' and fans' eyes, and neither of them knew how to start the conversation. They weren't technically friends, where they could see each other after days and just chat where they left off. Besides, Juliet had little to no experience in talking to people without a script.

     "This is just so weird," Hughie broke the silence before she could spiral even further. "I mean, the other day. . .Was it three days ago?"

     "Mm-hmm." Juliet hadn't thought of that, the interaction was so fresh in her mind that she could remember like it was yesterday.

     "You just seemed, like, you seemed so normal, you know?" he spluttered with a nervous smile on his lips. "You even had glasses, and now you don't. Now, it's just — "

     "I'm a circus freak."

     "No." Hughie's eyes widened in panic, stumbling over his words to defend himself. "No, not at — No, that's not what I meant at all. I just meant. . .I just. . .I wasn't getting Beyoncé vibes, but not that you don't have that — "

     Juliet smiled at his nervousness. "I'm kidding."

     "Okay."

     "No, it was really nice to talk to someone who wasn't asking for a selfie or an autograph, who didn't know who I was," Juliet confessed, finding it easy to open up to him. "It's different once you are behind the scenes."

     "Like how?"

     "Like. . ." Juliet exhaled a long breath. "If it's really worth it after all."

     "The other day on the bench when you were talking about how much you hated your job, you meant — you meant this job?"

     Juliet averted her eyes somewhere else to avoid Hughie's gaze, growing self conscious over the fact that she was confessing all this to someone she met only three days ago. The rational half of her brain was screaming at her to leave and never hear from him again, but the irrational half was telling her to stay, since this was the most genuine talk she had with someone in a long time.

     "Then, um. . .just quit," Hughie grabbed her attention once again. He said it so nonchalantly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "Just walk away. I mean, you got nothing to prove."

     Juliet did not respond to that sentence. She wanted to scoff and tell him it wasn't that easy for her – to drop everything from one day to the other without receiving any consequences – but she couldn't say that.

     Instead, she cleared her throat and moved to stand up from the chair. "I should probably get back, you know, before they send a search party for me."

     "Yeah, totally." Hughie nodded in agreement, but then stood up abruptly to prevent her from leaving, as if another thought ran through his head. "Listen, Juliet — Stronghold. What do you, uh. . .?"

     "Juliet."

     "Um, this is insane, but, uh, I know you're you and everything, but if you ever just wanted to, you know, get — "

     "You want my number?"

     "Yeah," Hughie stopped his rambling to flash her his signature awkward smile. "Yeah, that's — that's, uh. . .that's what I was asking."

     Juliet smiled at his antics. "Cool."

     "Do I call you or do I just commit a crime?"

     "Commit a crime," she responded, resisting the urge to laugh at the question. She crossed her arms in an attempt to look smug. I'm not one to back down from challenges."

     There hadn't been a public sighting of 'America's favorite twins' together in a long time now, and people were starting to notice, so Vought decided this event was the perfect opportunity to put an end to that. Juliet was forced to join her brother's side for the rest of the event, sliding in to replace Queen Maeve after she left for a break, and was instructed to let herself be photographed with him and let people get a glimpse of them together.

     She took in a deep breath, just as she always did whenever she was in situations like this, before joining his side on the stadium aisle he was on. The crowd's cheers grew louder ( if that was even possible ) when they noticed her, making her smile widely as she began waving at the hundreds of people clapping in their seats. She took note of the way he faltered for a second before he clapped with the rest of the audience, pretending to be excited for her presence beside him, even yelling out a 'Let's hear it for my sister Stronghold!'.

     Juliet's jaw was starting to ache for how long she'd been smiling for, but she was able to work through it due to the lack of words on her brother's part. She hoped this would be the case for the entire time she would have to be with him, but as always, he caught her off-guard.

     "What? Not even a 'Hello, Homelander' on your part?"

     "Hello," she smiled tightly up at him before focusing back on the crowd. "Happy?"

     He chuckled in his usual manner, disguising it as an innocent one in front of the audience when in reality it was to make the person he was with uncomfortable. She preferred to ignore it and kept smiling at the people who were taking pictures or cheering at them.

     "I bet you're enjoying this."

     "I am," she replied without looking at him, never stopping her waving at the people surrounding her. "It's nice to be out of that tower."

     "Let me remind you that this is temporary," He turned his body to face hers, subtle enough so he could keep smiling and waving down at the audience. He didn't need to lean down to her ear to say the words because he knew she could hear him perfectly. "Soon, you'll be back behind the curtains where you belong. Why can't you just accept things as they are?"

     Juliet was forced to smile even though the words absolutely crushed her. She lifted her head up high and turned to meet his eyes. "Because I deserve more than that?"

     He laughed again and reached out a gloved hand to touch her cheek, patting it twice to fake an affectionate gesture. "That's adorable."

     He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, and Juliet could not drop the smile on her face and push him away no matter how much she wanted to. The audience's cheers increased at the side-hug, and dozens of phones were raised to capture the moment. Juliet felt like that hug lasted an eternity, and she took in a heavy breath after he finally dropped his arm around her.

     "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the track."

     The enthusiastic cries from the crowd all died out after the announcement, everyone lowering their foam hands and directing their attention to the track in front of them. Juliet took the crowd's distraction on A-Train and Shockwave as the perfect opportunity to slip out of sight, walking back the way she came from. She dropped the heavy weight of her practiced smile and replaced it with a stoic expression, focusing on the sound of her footsteps instead of the overwhelming noise of people's cheers.

     Was this all she was good for? Smiling for cameras and pretending to not be affected by the exile she was receiving on Vought's end? No. Juliet could not let that happen – not after everything she went through to get here. With a deep breath, she committed to the idea of stepping forward, ready to fight back and one and for all let the world see her true potential.