Amelia, Ch 383
I paced nervously in our mobile command center. "Do you think they're okay? It's been hours. It shouldn't be taking this long." A question I'd probably asked thirty or forty times already. "Why is it taking this long?"
Dragon's voice came over the speaker. "I don't know. I've been monitoring China's telecommunications as best I can under my current programmed limitations." And it's our fault she still has those limits. "There's not a lot to go on, except that they're preparing their miliary for a full scale military action. Whether that's a response to intel from the other side, or simply a reaction to their dimensional access being cut off, I cannot currently say."
Dammit, Taylor, how am I supposed to do this without you?
I absentmindedly took a drink from the nutrient fluid the suit provided. It tasted like cactus juice this time. Thanks to whatever weirdness the new recipe came with, its flavor would change more or less at random. Something of a weirdly specific hallucinogen that I was surprised even worked on me. Then again, since my power works to nullify organics as they interacted with my biology, it's something of a miracle that I can taste anything at all. More arbitrary Passenger bullshit that only made sense when you realized these things were making the rules up as they went.
Dragon interrupted my thoughts. "I'll continue monitoring the situation."
"Umm... yes, thank you."
Left to my own thoughts, I had to wonder about what we were doing. This mission could have been avoided simply by offering to let China in on the portal network arrangement in the first place.
Denying them a portal of their own was done with the intent of fucking with them. Social and economic pressures, an attempt to force Bet to mold itself into a single unified society. Pantheon and Avalon were always meant to be both the carrot and the stick, a goal to strive for in showing what can be accomplished with cooperation, and the threat of what we could do to those who wouldn't get with the program.
We manipulated China into being a stick as well, by creating an enemy, a more immediate threat to fear instead of us. In a world without Endbringers, we needed that distraction and danger to keep operating the way we operate. Because people are scared of us and what we can do, so we had to give them something to be even more afraid of.
Sure, we also did other things, like PR ops with us talking to world leaders and obeying all the United Nation's various rules about what we were and were not allowed to do on Bet and other colony worlds. Playing dressup and promising the world a gay royal marriage. Lisa called it 'bread and circuses, when Pantheon was young and Avalon didn't exist. And that's what it was. Acting like celebrities so people would forget one little little detail. We're terrifying. There's no other way around it, we're fucking terrifying, we know it, and we revel in it.
And the world has good reason to be afraid of us. My power alone makes Pantheon the most successful Class S threat ever seen. I looked down at the light blue-green matter that made up the surface of my world. I chose the color because it was the exact opposite of meat. Ignoring the biological impossibility of it, if Avalon's landscape was made of flesh and blood instead xylem and sap. If the scent of copper and iron replaced that of wet grass and indistinct nectar, no one would ever want to set foot on this planet.
And it was only through the damn parasite granting me these powers to begin with that I was blocked from ever really understanding my own potential. After my Third Trigger, well, fuck to that plan. I broke free of that control, found someone I was supposed to hate to be my closest friend and ally, and together we planned to save the world. Even if we had to destroy half of it to save the other half.
How many other despots and monsters have told themselves those same words? We're the good guys only if you're on our side and even then we're not exactly forgiving to our allies. Not that we expect them to be better to us. Then again, look at our allies.
We had Cauldron, and it was pretty much certain that they were gearing up to take us down after Scion's removal. Maybe they'd never act on it, a cautionary move. But they feared the need existed, and they were probably right. Japan was an ally, and honestly a really good one. We had considerable social influence there thanks to Lily and our defense against Chinese aggression. That didn't stop us from hiding the fact that their Emperor was probably an impostor. Because he was an impostor that was helping us.
The USA was something of an ally, though that was a strained relationship after our maneuvers to kidnap some of their criminals. Without the threat of the Endbringers hanging over us, we were relying solely upon their use of our robot police system to keep them dependent upon us. The UN and EU were stronger allies, but only barely. A thing that would likely change if we started treating them the way we treated the United States. And if they didn't give us the resources we needed when we asked, we'd end up doing just that. Easier to ask forgiveness than seek permission, after all.
Dragon was the ultimate example of our pattern. We had her under our complete control, much like we did with Calvert and Moord Nag. The difference being that Dragon wasn't a monster that needed to be controlled or destroyed. She was an ally, and even tried to be a friend. She did everything she could to help us even before we had the capacity to rescue her from her prison.
The fact that we don't use that power over Dragon, that she is loyal out of choice, may even make it worse. We had no reason to distrust her, except that we trusted no one. Or at least trusted no one who could conceivably be a threat to us. Dragon was very much capable of being a threat if she were freed. She was the best hope we had of fighting Scion, and still we kept the keys to her cage.
What we've done is every bit as frightening as the Slaughterhouse Nine, and Nilbog, and the Yangban, have done. Our motives differed, at least from the first two. But it wouldn't be wrong to say we've committed war crimes. Using WMDs like Bolla and a stimmed Moord Nag. Enslaving peoples' minds. Annihilating whole cities just to prove a point. All in the name of peace and unity. Which begged a question. Is a peace built on lies, fear and manipulation any kind of peace at all?
I suppose I have become my father's daughter after all.
....
My suit beeped at me, waking me from a dream that quickly faded. Something about using my powers to turn Taylor into some kind of hydra like monster to use against Scion. I couldn't remember and I got the feeling I was happier for that.
Right, the com was beeping. "Umm, what is it?"
"This is Dragon speaking. I believe we've been sent a message by the Khyber strike force. A Yangban member was captured by Akaihana inside her base."
Who? I almost asked the question, but Dragon continued too quickly.
"She's a Trump with a carefully concealed method of allowing herself to copy the powers of her teammates and occasionally others for brief periods of time. Has been the leader of one of the most popular teams in Japan for the last fifteen years."
"Okay, that's a start. The part about the message?"
"He gave Atropos' access code after his capture and now refused to speak with anyone other than you. They report he has serious injuries beyond what could have been sustained during his capture. I've yet to observe the captive or his condition, but there is the possibility that they hurt him more than they had to. Possibly related to the copying aspect Akaihana's powerset. I recommend you take care not to accuse them of anything or alert them if you suspect torture or other malfeasance. It might be wise to request transporting the captive to Avalon before interrogation."
I frowned. That's just wonderful. "I'm going. If this is a message from the team, we have to act immediately. Has Janus been contacted?"
"Yes, he'll be there presently."
Twenty seconds later, the man appeared not too far away. Our mobile command center had its own deployment pad and I was ready to go. "Thanks for the ride. And thanks for always putting up with this crap."
He shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. Maybe I don't have the most interesting job in the world, but I live a comfortable life while only working a few hours a months. At the cost of having no idea which hours they'll be ahead of time is a perfectly acceptable tradeoff."
"I still kinda feel bad about it."
He looked down. "Well, umm, if you wanna do me a favor to call us even, then I'm kinda, well."
I waited a few seconds. "We're in a hurry, if you need time to figure out how to ask, then maybe we can wait until after?"
He took a deep breath. "Mygirlfriend'sprettysmallsoIcanhurtherwhenwegetintimate."
What? Oh. Oh! I really need to stop offering to do nice things for people. But it made sense things would get a little disproportionate considering how I built his body to be a healthy adult male and then gave it the equivalent of a second final puberty spike. Dumb mistake on my part. "So, you need a size reduction?"
"It'd be appreciated, yes."
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A/N- A thought occurred to me. We've seen a lot of Taylor without Taylia. Not so much of Amelia.
Welcome back, self loathing girl that's afraid she's a monster. You're less cute about it than Riley, so everyone hates you.
Also- this chapter may have become a "spelling it out in no uncertain terms since a few of my readers aren't paying enough attention to really see it" moments.
