A Darker Path [Worm Fanfic]

[Ack]

Huh. That's actually pretty good. I wasn't expecting an AI-generated song to be worth shit, to be honest.

Click to shrink...

I know, right? I was absolutely stunned at the quality.

 

[Frog_22]

I was very recently put onto a website that allows you to input a song concept (or even lyrics) and it generates the song for you, complete with instrumentals.

Here's what it came up with (after several tweaks of the lyrics):

Atropos (Doing Wrong to Make it Right)

Click to shrink...

That's very cool, both the song and the technology to make it. Thank you!

 

[Ack]

A Darker Path

Part Ninety-Six: Well-Earned Respite

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]



Tenebrae

The non-descript car, driven by a plainclothes PRT trooper, dropped Brian and Riley off outside their building. Brian was still having a little trouble adjusting to the fact that it was light out after the time they'd spent in starlit night, but Riley seemed to be taking it in her stride. In fact, she was positively bubbly about the whole thing.

"How awesome was that?" she asked as they stepped into the elevator. "I've never been to Russia before. And it was amazing to work alongside Amy again. I love watching her power at work."

"It was pretty cool," he admitted. "By which I mean, freezing cold. But joking aside, I'm still a little blown away by how Atropos was always going to send him back to St Petersburg to face murder charges, but she went through all that just to get his head fixed first."

"It's about setting boundaries." She raised her eyebrows to show she was serious. "Jack never set himself any boundaries. If he hit an obstacle he couldn't immediately overcome, he cheated to get around it, but he always insisted that everyone else stick by the limits he set for them. Atropos doesn't play that game. People respect and trust her because she says what she's going to do, and then she does it."

The doors opened and they stepped out onto their floor. "Even when it involves someone dying violently?" He wasn't arguing with her specifically, but he did want to hear her views on that aspect.

She shrugged. "How many people has she killed who didn't deserve it?"

"Due process exists for a reason." He didn't exactly disagree with her on the subject of whether people like Kaiser or Bastard Son had deserved their sudden ends, but now that he was committed to the side of goodness and light, he felt it was up to him to support that point of view. "A lot of those people could just as easily have gone to prison."

She paused outside their door and held up her finger. "How many deaths has she caused that didn't make the world a measurably better place? Or pave the way for her to keep making the world a better place?"

He shook his head. "You're using logic. That's unfair. I'm telling Aisha on you." As she burst into giggles—which had been his aim all along—he put his key in the door and turned it.

At the same time as the lock clicked, he heard the elevator door dinged again. He and Riley looked in that direction, because it hadn't been all that long since danger had literally come knocking on their door. He didn't relax all that much when a UPS package delivery guy stepped out (anyone could buy a uniform shirt, after all) but when nobody else followed the guy into the corridor, he let a little of the tension ease out of his body.

Not all of it, though. He hadn't been there for the previous kidnapping, and there was no way a second attempt would fly on his watch.

"Oh, hey," the guy greeted them, hefting a cubical parcel about six inches on a side. "Got a delivery for Laborn, first initial B?"

"Uh, that's me." Still a little wary, Brian approached the man. Behind him, he heard the apartment door open and close, and knew Riley had ducked inside.

"Sweet. Here you go." The guy handed the parcel over, made a note on the clipboard he was carrying, and turned back toward the elevator.

"Wait." Brian hefted the package. It had a little weight to it, but not a great deal. "What is this? Who sent it? Nobody here ordered anything."

"Oh, uh, yeah." The delivery guy fumbled with his clipboard. "There's a note. I'm supposed to say, 'I'm not going to let anything bad happen', whatever that means."

"Oh." Brian knew exactly what it meant, but while he was no longer worried about a kidnapping or other potential harm, he was still no wiser about the contents of the package. "Thanks. Have a nice day."

"No problem. You have a good one too, buddy." The delivery man went back to the elevator and hit the button to go down. By the time the doors closed behind him, he was whistling a popular Canary tune, albeit off-key.

Frowning, Brian headed back to the apartment door, still holding the package. When he tapped on the door, it opened immediately; Theo was on the other side, wearing a breastplate and helmet and hefting an impressively sharp-looking shortsword. "Oh, good. You're okay. What is it?"

"Everything's fine," Brian assured him. "Atropos isn't about to let anything bad happen to us, remember?" Then he looked past Theo to see what was on the TV screen. It was a paused console game, with a giant robot visible from two different angles. In both views, it had been pretty badly shot up, and was on fire. What really grabbed his attention was the swastika blatantly painted on the robot's chest, and woven into the draperies hanging from a nearby brick wall. "What the heck is that?"

"Aisha's welcome-to-the-apartment present for me," Theo said, making the armour and shortsword disappear in a mind-twisting fractal manner. "I was a bit down when we got home, then she remembered the present and gave it to me. So, we started playing."

"Oh, yeah." Brian remembered what had happened to drive the presents out of everyone's thoughts. "That was a crazy day, for sure."

"So, what's this package?" asked Aisha, pointing at the one Brian still held. "I know I didn't order anything. Did you guys?"

Brian needed no further encouragement. He pried at the box until a corner opened up, then ran his thumbnail along the edge to break the tape. Finally, he lifted the lid to reveal …

"Game controllers?" Riley looked over at the games console. "But we've already got a pair of controllers."

Aisha grinned as she pumped her fist in the air. "Three words, Ri. Four player game."

"Oh," said Theo. "Oh." He glanced from the console to Brian, then to the opened parcel. "I mean, that's if you want to play …"

"That's a hell and yes I want to play," Brian told him bluntly. He pulled the controllers out of their packaging and handed them to Aisha. "Go ahead and plug them in. If there's anything more fulfilling than kicking Nazi ass, it's kicking Nazi ass with a bunch of friends to enjoy it with."

There was homework to be done and dinner to be cooked, but right now it was time to have fun with the people who meant the most to him.

<><>

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♦ Topic: The Sleeper Has Awoken
In: Boards ► Brockton Bay ► New Capes ► Atropos

Atropos (Original Poster) (UnVerified Cape) (Banned) (You Wish) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Posted On Mar 16th 2011:

Well, I'm back.

And in returning, I will be answering the burning question on everyone's lips. Did I gank Sleeper, or did he see sense?

Okay, short answer first. He's alive.

Slightly longer answer: he agreed to the removal of his powers. This also took away some lingering problems related to said powers, so now he will live out the rest of his life entirely free of those problems.

If any of you are thinking that I'm being a little hazy on the details, you're absolutely correct. That's mainly because spilling all the beans after the fact will allow people to figure out who he is now, and someone would kill him. And while I don't give a damn about him as a person, I did *not* go through all that effort to have it go to waste.

He will live a long and healthy life. I promise nothing more.

So yeah, Russia? You and and Earth Shin no longer have to worry about having him come in and wreck your shit.

You're welcome.

Toodles!

(Showing page 1 of 238)

►TheRealGloryGirl (Verified Cape) (Cape Daughter) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Can actually confirm.
Atropos asked me and Panacea to come along, plus a couple of the Wards (with Director Renick's blessing) and under her direction we got 'er done. Sleeper had clearly taken the first warning to heart, because he didn't give us a moment of trouble.
Because Atropos doesn't want any more information coming out about him (and she's right: someone *would* totally rearrange his brainmeats with a pickaxe at the first opportunity) I'm not gonna say who he is either, though I will confirm that he's not going to be just living free and easy.
Some of you might be surprised that Atropos didn't just wave her magic wand and make the problem go away all by herself. That's not who she is, and she's never pretended to be that. She brings the right weapon to the fight, and in this case (after she delivered the warning and made him aware of his options) that was us.
But do not misunderstand the situation here. What happened with Sleeper, the way it played out, was one hundred percent Atropos' doing. Without her to tell us exactly what to do and how to do it (I spent most of the time singing the Lil' Mousey theme song, believe it or not) it wouldn't have happened. She knew exactly what needed to be done, and how to make it so. And because she was there to direct us, we achieved something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it for myself.
And yes, I know, that's basically par for the course with Atropos. Doesn't make it any less impressive when you see it for yourself.
I know that when Atropos first started rearranging Brockton Bay's criminal landscape, I aired some opinions fairly strenuously. I also know that when I came face to face with her for the first time, I acted like a trigger-happy moron. But she chose not to kill me, and once I got some perspective on the situation (about the time Panacea made me watch the Nine takedown) I understood the depth of her restraint.
So that's the truth of the matter. Atropos is entirely capable of restraint. She just has zero qualms about discarding that restraint if she considers it necessary. And everyone she's killed so far--*everyone*--managed to do something that made her decide not to bother with restraint this time.
It's as simple as that.
There's a lesson in there for everyone even considering crossing her.
Don't. *Do Not*.
I cannot stress this hard enough.

►Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
And there you have it, folks.
While I personally wouldn't consider Atropos to be any kind of hero (let's be real here, folks; she's repeatedly denied the concept) she's *extremely* consistent in her actions, and Glory Girl's basically hit the nail on the head in all respects.
As a wise man once said, "Don't cause no trouble, ain't gonna be no trouble."
I'm down with that.

►Mouse_Protector (Veteran Member) (Verified Cape) (Independent Hero) (Verified Atropos Fan)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Wow, really? Singing the Lil' Mousey theme? Personally I'd call shenanigans, except that I know how Atropos operates (with panache and style, naturally) and I would not put that past her for an instant.
Nice work all round, kiddo.

►UnconcernedFox
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
*draws a line through yet another S-class threat*
*looks at the few that are left*
*wonders if any will be stupid enough to get Atropos' attention*
*goes to get more popcorn*

►TheRealBrandish (Verified Cape) (Cape Wife) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Really? Sleeper? Why am I only hearing about this now?

►TheRealPanacea (Verified Cape) (Cape Daughter) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Well, crap. Vicky, you didn't tell her?

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
It should come as a surprise to nobody that after a thorough search of Sleeper's last verified location, there is no sign of him. Or of anyone, really. There is one farmhouse that shows signs of recent occupancy by up to six people, but it's empty and there are no indications of how they could have left.
For the moment, mainly due to the fact that Atropos has never lied about anything of this sort to the best of our knowledge, the PRT and the Guild are going to assume that Sleeper has indeed been removed from the field of play.
It is our understanding that the Russian government was offering a standing reward for any cape who took him down, but they also had conditions (must be able to supply his corpse for verification) that Atropos won't be able to meet, mainly because she killed the powers, not the man.
It is my personal opinion (I do not speak for the PRT in this) that they should waive the conditions and just pass the money on to the Betterment Committee, but I have no power in the matter.
In any case, since reading the after-action report, I offer Atropos my sincere congratulations for a job well done under trying conditions.
In unrelated news, the kidnapped lady on the highway sent in a thank-you card signed by her whole family to the PRT ENE department, for Atropos. We are forwarding it on to the Betterment Committee.

►D_Hebert_Chairman_BBBC (Da Boss)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
I believe this is my first official post on here in my capacity as Chairman.
(No, I don't know how that tag got there, and the mods don't seem to be able to remove it.)
In reference to Reave's comment about the card, we will be putting it on display in a separate venue along with the rest of Atropos' awards. The vast majority came from her victory over the Simurgh, but there are a few others as well. The location of this venue is right next to the Betterment Committee offices; we didn't understand at the time why Atropos was suggesting that we acquire it, but now we do.
Before anyone gets the idea of stealing these for whatever reason, we also have photo-galleries of her more gruesome kills (and non-lethal takedowns) that are required viewing for anyone being considered for a place on the Committee.
Long story short, if anyone thinks that because Atropos is singlehandedly bankrolling the largest private venture of this sort in history, she can't be all that dangerous, I strongly advise them to look into the cases of Janice Templeton and Paul King, as filed under 'cautionary tale'. Also, Ravioli and Barrow.

►They_Call_Me_Ash (Verified Cape) (Verified Ex-Villain) (Verified Atropos Fan) (Dockworkers Association Member)
Replied On Mar 16th 2011:
Haha yeah no, I think that would be a remarkably stupid idea. And speaking from the point of view of someone who once had Atropos' shotgun to her head, I *know* stupid ideas.

​

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 236, 237, 238

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<><>​

Aisha

Just as Aisha was about to click to the next page, the laptop screen flickered. When it cleared, the black silhouette of Atropos overlaid everything else. Leaning forward until she looked like she was about to pop out of the screen, the apparition of Atropos whispered, "Bedtime." Then her shears came up into view, and snipped once.

Aisha, knowing Atropos all too well, was entirely unsurprised when her laptop started shutting down all by itself. "Well, fuck," she muttered, unable to even feel justified about complaining, because it was definitely past her bedtime.

"Whassamatter?" mumbled Riley sleepily from her bed.

Aisha tried hard not to sound like she was bitching about being caught out, though she totally was. "Atropos just curfewed my laptop." Closing the device, she stowed it on the bedside table and settled down to sleep.

"Heh. Busted."

"Oh, shut up."

<><>​

The Person Once Known as Damsel of Distress

Ashley hummed to herself as she got off the Betterment Committee minibus outside the Committee offices. Under her right arm, as per usual, she was carrying her helmet and lunchbox. However, in her left hand she was carrying a bulky shopping bag, which had garnered her more than a little curious attention on the ride in.

There had been the occasional question about the bag, but instead of getting angry about it (as would have been her go-to in the past) she'd deflected the queries with a pretence of obliviousness, deriving more than a little amusement from the whole charade. Even Lacey (who was driving the bus) had gone from asking questions to joining in the joke, pretending that the bag didn't even exist. Ashley wasn't sure what had turned the older woman (who she actually admired quite a bit) to her side in the matter, but she was glad to have made the connection.

Shortly thereafter, all the workers for the upcoming shift were assembled in the oversized break room, and Mr Hebert took centre stage. "You all know what you're rostered on for," he began. "There are no changes at this point. We'll keep you updated through the day. Now, before we get started, I believe Ash has something to say."

Ashley blinked, not sure how he'd picked up on that, but fully aware that some of the men said Mr Hebert had eyes not only in the back of his head, but around the corner and down the street as well. If there was anyone more switched-on about the Committee than him, she had yet to meet them.

Prompted by his nod, she stepped forward to the table and opened the shopping bag. "Ah, yes," she said, abruptly shy. "I, uh, I made cupcakes." Pulling the large Tupperware container out of the bag, she took the top off, abruptly releasing the scent of freshly baked goods into the air-conditioned room.

"Damn," commented Alexander, one of the younger Dockworkers. "That smells good." Taking one out of the container, he peeled away some of the paper and bit into it. "Mmmyeah," he enthused, though his voice was a little muffled. "Really good."

"One each, please." Mr Hebert's voice cut across the sudden hubbub of the incipient feeding frenzy. "And could someone pass me one? Thank you."

As the last reaching hand grabbed a cupcake, there were three left, which she firmly closed the lid on. "I think I'll keep those back," she decided, grinning at the looks of disappointment on the faces of those who had been eyeing them off. "One for Vicky and one for Gary, for being nice about giving me a second chance. And one for me, of course."

"Where'd you learn to cook so good?" asked Alexander, balling up the cupcake paper between his fingers. "That was nice."

Ashley shrugged, though his casual praise triggered a warm feeling in her chest that refused to go away. "YouTube, mainly. And a lot of practice." In the interest of honesty, she snorted dryly. "Trust me, there were a few mishaps. The first batch wasn't even edible, and the second lot only barely so. And somehow I managed to actually light the fourth lot on fire."

"What about the third batch?"

She met his eyes and shook her head. "We do not talk about the third batch."

"Right. Got it." He nodded firmly as laughter rose in the room. "The third batch will not be talked about."

"Thanks for the cupcake, Ash." Luke slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "That was much appreciated."

"Yeah, Ash, thanks."

"Really hit the spot."

"Damn nice."

As the voices rose in echo of Luke's sentiment, Ashley found herself blushing as tears prickled in her eyes. She hadn't been sure exactly why she'd chosen to make cupcakes, except perhaps because Vicky had enjoyed her cooking on the night she'd come over. Even then, the process of learning how to make them had been as enjoyable as it had been frustrating, teaching herself a new skill from scratch and becoming better than she had been before.

But while she'd expected a few people might try a cupcake out of politeness, the overwhelmingly positive response she'd gotten had thrown her for a loop. With her new emotional awareness (the only way she could really describe how she felt following the whole thing with Teacher) it seemed that the approval of others meant more than ever, while at the same time being easier to obtain given that she could actually understand people better than before. Not that she was an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but some understanding was better than none at all.

Ducking her head, she stuffed the container back in the bag. It would fit at the bottom of her locker until she got the chance to hand out the last two and have the third one for herself. Just as she got it sorted out, a hand rested briefly on her shoulder. "Well done," Mr Hebert said quietly. "I think they were a hit."

"Thanks." She tried not to sound awkward, but it wasn't easy. "I, uh, I'm still learning how. I think I just got lucky."

"One man's good luck is another man's result of hard work and forward planning." Mr Hebert nodded to her. "I have a few recipes that my wife used regularly, if you're interested."

She blinked, her previous distraction forgotten. "Uh, okay, wow, thanks. That would be amazing."

"Entirely my pleasure." He smiled warmly. "You seem to be making cooking your new hobby, and I'm all for encouraging my people to find worthwhile things to try out. See me tomorrow and I'll get them to you."

"Okay, sure." She glanced at the clock. "Uh, gotta get going. See you tomorrow."

"Go." He waved her off genially. "Kick ass, and make me proud."

As she dashed out the door toward her locker, she couldn't stop grinning. For a shot in the dark, the cupcakes had paid off more than she could ever have expected. She knew all about cocksure arrogance and being certain about something with nothing to back it up, but this was something totally different. This feeling of accomplishment was earned.

And that mattered, more than she'd ever expected it to.



End of Part Ninety-Six

 

[Zeushobbit]

"One man's good luck is another man's result of hard work and forward planning." Mr Hebert nodded to her. "I have a few recipes that my wife used regularly, if you're interested."

She blinked, her previous distraction forgotten. "Uh, okay, wow, thanks. That would be amazing."

"Entirely my pleasure." He smiled warmly. "You seem to be making cooking your new hobby, and I'm all for encouraging my people to find worthwhile things to try out. See me tomorrow and I'll get them to you."

"Okay, sure." She glanced at the clock. "Uh, gotta get going. See you tomorrow."

"Go." He waved her off genially. "Kick ass, and make me proud."

Click to shrink...

You are being Adopted. Please do not resist.

 

[twilightwanderer]

You are being Adopted. Please do not resist.

Click to shrink...

Well, he's already got one reformed villainess (to go with his actively anti-villain daughter), so why stop there?

 

[Ack]

A Darker Path

Part Ninety-Seven: Heroes

[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]



Thursday Afternoon, June 17, 2011
PRT Department 01 Wards Base

Flechette

Wrapped in her bathrobe and drying her hair with her towel, Lily left the communal showers and headed back toward her room. It had been a long patrol, turning over metaphorical rocks and kicking in not-so-metaphorical doors, all in the name of locating Rune. A lot of criminal activity had been uncovered and turned over for the cops to deal with, but so far the ex-Empire bitch was still in the wind (so to speak).

When she'd first met Boomer, she believed him to be a little too full of himself, and he wasn't quite as cool as he considered himself to be. He turned out to be a nice guy though, and she'd picked up one or two useful tips from him. The trouble lay in his insistence on seeing the good in everyone, and with Rune that had turned out to be a fatal error.

All that aside, he'd been a good man, doing his best to be a worthwhile hero, and he hadn't deserved to be murdered like that. Or at all, really. Which meant payback was in order.

Lily had gone out on this patrol fully expecting to find Rune in the first hour, given that the major gangs should be ostracising her for what she'd done. That hadn't happened, though she'd learned more about the dim and dingy hideouts favoured by those despised by both sides of the law than she had in the last year. The second and third hours had been similarly unproductive, apart from the other human cockroaches they'd uncovered and passed on to the NYPD; the person she most fervently wanted to get her hands on continued to elude her grasp.

Still mulling over the places she'd seen and wondering exactly how many more bolt-holes there were in a city of six million people, she stepped into her room and bumped the door closed with her hip. A t-shirt and Hello Kitty sleep pants were laid out over the bed; she took two steps toward it—

"Hey."

As she spun around, her mind connected the voice with just one person, who had the ability to appear basically anywhere she wanted. By the time her eyes registered the familiar black costume, she'd already arrested the defensive motion of her hands. It didn't mean she wasn't going to yell at Atropos, just that it was going to be more of a formality than a real situation.

"Seriously, what the fuck?" she demanded, though they both knew at this point that she was only going through the motions. "I could've had a weapon in my hand. Sneaking up on me is dangerous!"

"You didn't have a weapon, and I didn't sneak up on you. Hell, I even said hi." Atropos hadn't moved from her relaxed leaning posture against the door, legs crossed at the ankle and hands in the pockets of her long-coat. "How are you doing after yesterday?"

Lily dropped the act. "Still sucks," she admitted. "I was nearly close enough to do something about it. Thanks for the save, by the way."

"You're welcome." Atropos stepped forward from the door, closing the distance. "You can ask the question, if you want."

Saying 'what question?' would've been both a waste of time and an insult to Atropos' intelligence, so Lily didn't bother. "If you knew what was going on and you could save me, why not save him too?"

Atropos held up a finger. "I can answer that, but it will lead to more questions, with answers you might not like. Are you willing to go there?"

Lily had suspected things might go this way, but she'd asked the question, and she did want to know the answer. "Sure. Hit me."

"Okay." Atropos sat down on the bed. "Let's get comfortable for this. There's three parts to this answer. First part is, I have my limits. I could've saved you or him, but not both in that time frame. Second part is, I don't do the hero thing. I don't save people. I End problems. Third part is, you're important to me, and that's why I saved you. He wasn't. Keeping up so far?"

"Yeah." Lily also sat down. Like Atropos had said, more questions were occurring to her. "What limits? I thought you could teleport anywhere."

Atropos pulled back her sleeve and showed Lily a slimline module made of black plastic, encasing her left forearm. A tap of a hidden catch opened a small panel, revealing a tiny keyboard and screen. "I got this teleporter from Leet. It works every time, but there's a cooldown period between portal jumps. I could throw you a portal, or I could throw Boomer one, but I couldn't do both at the same time." She closed the panel and slid her sleeve down again. "Next question?"

"Jesus." Lily blinked, momentarily stunned. "You're just … showing me this?"

Atropos shrugged. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Well, uh, no. Of course not. Um." The revelation was still throwing her for a loop, but at least she could understand more of what had happened. "Why … why didn't you just stop her from doing any of that? From killing Boomer or trying to kill me?"

"Because I'm not a hero." Atropos said the same words again, but with more emphasis this time. "Let's walk through this. Suppose I showed up on that rooftop and killed her. She wasn't in Brockton Bay. She wasn't threatening the city. People would wonder why I was going to other cities and killing people without any kind of good reason. I would be slightly less of a reliable figure than I was before."

"Well, you don't have to kill her," Lily pointed out. She was pretty sure Atropos had an answer for this too, but she wanted to hear it. "Just, you know, subdue and restrain."

"And then it would get out that I was out and about, stopping bad guys." Atropos spread her hands expressively. "Some people might ask why I wasn't doing it more often, or why I had to kill all the people I killed. Or maybe word would get around that I was hunting down the capes I chased out of the city. Whichever way it went, I don't need that crap. I'm not a hero. I don't care what they do, just so long as they don't do it in my city."

"But you saved me." Lily came back to that. "Even though I'm not in Brockton Bay. Because you care about me."

"Yes and no." Atropos raised her finger again. "I didn't save you because I care about you. I saved you because you're important to me. There's a difference." She looked at Lily's expression and sighed. "Okay, let's start from base principles here. I'm not a good person, and I'm never going to pretend to be one. But there are far worse people than me, and far worse things, and if my city is going to be nice and safe and prosperous, then I'll End anything and everything trying to stop that from happening without a second thought. Then there are those people who are important to me either physically or emotionally; those people, I will keep safe. That includes you. Do you understand now?"

"I … think so." Lily had thought she'd had a read on Atropos before. Now she had the whole book open before her, chapter and verse, and the words on the page sent a chill down her spine. She wasn't precisely scared of Atropos now, but a few of her assumptions were rearranging themselves in light of the new information. "So, uh … don't take this the wrong way, but you saving me, and all that stuff about the power of friendship … is that just because I'm useful to you?"

"Trust me, I'll never take anything you say the wrong way." Atropos's tone was such that Lily knew she was smiling. "You're right in that you're useful to me. You make my job a lot easier in a lot of ways. But I'm not keeping you alive and safe just because of that. I also think you're worth keeping around, which is not a judgement I make lightly. Plus, though this doesn't carry a huge amount of weight, I have a lot of time for the Rogues' Guild, and Spitfire would be upset if you got hurt."

"Oh." Lily wanted to ask if Atropos was pulling her leg now—with that matter-of-fact tone, it was very hard to tell—but she suspected she knew the answer. Atropos didn't go in for that kind of bullshit 'gotcha' assholery. She was a straight shooter, in every sense of the phrase. "So, um … what you were saying before, about Ending anything that gets in your way. What if a hero tried to stop you from doing something to fix the city? I mean, you've only killed villains so far … haven't you?"

"Villains or villain-adjacent," Atropos confirmed. "Not killing heroes serves several purposes. Mainly, it reduces the amount of tedious bullshit I have to wade through by giving the PRT an excuse to not come after me. Most heroes I can step around or dissuade by less lethal means. I did kill Shadow Stalker, but she was planning to put me in a coma or worse, and she ignored two warnings. Then there was Director Wilkins." She paused expectantly.

"You mentioned something about putting your shears to her eye." Lily frowned. "Can I ask why you did that?"

Atropos snorted softly. "She was trying to show off how smart she was by figuring out my secret identity, while on a video call with Director Piggot and the Chief Director. Piggot flat-out told her to drop it, but she kept going, right up until I put my arm around her throat and gave her a good hard look at the point of my shears."

"That would, um …" Lily cleared her throat. "That would certainly get my attention. What happened then?"

"The Chief Director told me that if I killed Wilkins, the PRT would have to take notice. I explained that even with my shears to her eye, Wilkins was still planning to return to the search once I backed off. I asked her what she would have me do."

"Oh. Wow. Way to put her on the spot. So … she told Wilkins not to be such a dumbass?"

Atropos chuckled. "About that, yes. With a threat of death penalty for treason thrown in for good measure."

Lily tilted her head as the pieces fell into place. "Did that have anything to do with why Wilkins is out and Piggot's running the show here now?"

"Little bit." Atropos sounded amused. "Anything else you wanted to know?"

"Not really." Lily paused as something occurred to her. "Wait, no, I do. Panacea and Tenebrae and Miss Medic. Are they on your 'important to me' list as well?"

"They are, and so's Tenebrae's sister." Atropos waited for a beat. "You'd know her online handle. Great and Terrible Aisha."

Lily did indeed know it. "Oh. Oh, right. She helped you blow up a bunch of drugs and stuff, and you got selfies with her." The signed Polaroid of Great and Terrible Aisha with Atropos' shears held up behind her head like bunny ears would never be topped, she was sure.

Atropos nodded. "And you helped me kill the Simurgh. Are people still saying, 'duck season, wabbit season'?"

A grin crept across Lily's face. "You know they are. Okay, yeah, I get it. You're not just using us and discarding us. We get something out of it too."

"That's the general idea, yes. So, about Rune." Atropos stood up.

Lily looked up at her, then stood as well. "You're going to grab her for us?"

"Nope. I already told you, I'm not a hero. I don't chase villains. I kill them after two warnings." Atropos snapped her fingers, and a folded piece of paper appeared between her fingertips. "You, however, are absolutely a hero. This should be right up your alley. So to speak."

"Wait." Lily stared at the proffered piece of paper. "Is that …" Reaching out, she gingerly took it, then unfolded it. Within, in impeccable penmanship, was an address in Queens, plus a time and date. 14:34, 6/18. "That's where she'll be, tomorrow afternoon?"

"Either that, or I'm sending you on the world's stupidest scavenger hunt." Atropos raised her chin slightly. "So, what are you going to do when you kick the door in? Kill her? Or subdue and restrain her then bring her back in for trial?"

Lily clenched her fists. "I know what I'd like to do."

"It'd be easy." Atropos put a hand on her shoulder. "And nobody would blame you, least of all me. But the next time someone pulls something like that, the temptation's right there, and it keeps getting easier. Somewhere down along that slippery slope, you'd stop seeing justifications and start looking for reasons to do it. And that isn't you. You aren't me, and you don't need to be me. Be a net positive to society and leave the Ending of assholes to me, okay?"

Lily took a deep breath, feeling the weight and gravity of Atropos' words. "Yeah. You're right. And thanks, for reminding me what heroes are for."

"Not a problem." Atropos gave her a quick side-hug. "It's people like you who give me faith that the world's still worth saving."

"All good. I—" Lily looked around, but Atropos had vanished between one word and the next. She chuckled and shook her head, then checked the note again. God damn. She just handed me Rune on a silver platter, just because she thinks I'm worth having around.

There were definitely worse situations to be in, when it came to Atropos.

<><>​

Friday Afternoon, 1:55 PM
An Alley in Philadelphia

Clockblocker

"And so, we return to the scene of the crime, I guess?" Dennis knew he was being inane, but he had to say something to take his mind off the horrific scene that was constantly unfolding then repeating in front of them.

"That's one way to put it, I guess." Tenebrae gave him a moderately sympathetic look. "But it's more of a rescue mission than anything else."

"Better late than never." Miss Medic tapped the side of her helmet, and magnifying optics dropped down in front of her eyes. Dennis hadn't even known they were there; but then again, she was on the same team as Armsmaster. With the sudden lack of villains to fight, the man had taken a special interest in equipping her with the very best medical gear he could devise. "Okay, once we get him out of there, it should be pretty straightforward. Only one major artery severed. Five minutes, tops."

"Wow, dang." Shebang shook her head, but she didn't look around from where she was prepping her devices. "That'll be seriously impressive. It takes me five minutes just to get a band-aid on my finger."

"Thirty seconds to save his life." Miss Medic's tone was matter-of-fact. "Four minutes thirty seconds to make it look pretty and get some blood back into him."

"She's not actually exaggerating," Dennis felt compelled to add. "One of the ex-villains currently working for the Betterment Committee was in a wheelchair. Long-term paraplegia. Miss Medic got her legs working again in less than two hours."

Tenebrae turned to look at him. "I didn't tell you about that."

"No, but I did." Leaning against the wall with his arms folded, Assault grinned. "Battery and I were both extremely impressed."

"Wait, so you actually have villains in the Betterment Committee?" Chevalier frowned. "Isn't that a kind of a risk?"

"Less than you'd think," Tenebrae assured him. "I'm an ex-villain, and I can assure you that every one of us in Brockton Bay is there in good faith. I get to be in the Wards and take care of my sister, and they get to have a good-paying job and help fix the city. And that's not even counting the Eagletons."

"I heard about those." Shebang still hadn't looked around. "They're the Machine Army, right?"

"Robotic Americans," Assault corrected her, still grinning. Dennis thought it was funny too, but Assault seemed to get a real kick out of it. "Their citizenship got fast-tracked, probably because nobody wanted Atropos to come over there and ask why it was being held up."

"They actually made them citizens?" Chevalier's tone was strong with disbelief. "You can't be serious."

Dennis shrugged. "Well, it's not like they weren't born in the United States." He shared a high-five with Assault. "Constructed, created, whatever."

"Yes, but—"

"They're not human?" Tenebrae gave Chevalier a look that shut the older man up. "Not two hundred years ago, there were people in this country—in this city—who would've said exactly the same thing about me and Miss Medic. I have it on good authority that legislation is being drafted right now making artificial intelligences equal to humans in the eyes of the law. Thanks to Atropos, it was already the case in practice. This just gets everyone onto the same page."

"And talking about being on the same page," Shebang interrupted, standing up from the two devices, both of which now had blinking lights on top, "these two bad boys are about to rock our buddy's world. Trooper Ballinger, if you could carry my cases out of harm's way? Mouth of the alley, please."

"Certainly, ma'am." The PRT trooper picked up both cases, hefting them with an ease Dennis wouldn't have been able to match with just one case, and strode down the alley in the direction that she'd indicated.

Tenebrae made sure Miss Medic was back out of the way, shooing her along even as she tried to stop and get a glimpse of what was about to happen. Dennis didn't need urging; he was quite happy to hide behind Chevalier and Assault until Shebang's bombs went off. (He knew they weren't really bombs, but they had blinking lights and weren't really safe to be around, so it was as good a term as any.)

They were all grouped around the mouth of the alleyway when Assault turned to Chevalier. "I know this is last-minute, but how sure are we that there's nobody in the danger radius? Like squatting in either of those buildings?"

"I thought of that," the veteran hero assured him. "When we were notified that you were on the way, we went through both buildings with a fine tooth comb, and sealed every entry point afterward. Once we're done, the tech guys are going to go over every inch of the affected area to catalogue all the effects for next time."

"Okay, fine, yeah." Assault nodded. "Shebang, you may fire when ready."

"You got it, chief." Bending over the massively complicated remote in her hand, Shebang tapped in a combination of buttons, then pressed a big red one. From down the alley, Dennis heard bip … bip … bip bip bip bipbipbipbeeeeep—

Silence reigned for all of five seconds. He was opening his mouth to ask if that had been it when a brilliant flash from down the alley put indigo spots in front of his eyes despite his helmet protecting his vision, and left a taste like lemon on his tongue. Then everything in the alley started juddering and vibrating, ghosts of ancient trash cans appearing and vanishing in the same instant. The weirdest thing was how outside the alleyway the sunlight was strong and steady, while inside it strobed constantly from dark to light and back again.

And then … it stopped. The alley was quiet again, save for the sound of a man collapsing to the ground. "Go!" Assault barked, and Tenebrae darted into the alley with Miss Medic hot on his heels. Dennis came third, because if this guy was dangerous in any way, he would need to be turned into a lawn ornament post-haste.

As it turned out, there was no such need. When they got to the guy, he was lying on his back with an agonised expression on his face, trying to hold his intestines in his body. Miss Medic went to her knees beside him, a syringe popping out of her left-hand bracer. "You're going to be alright," she assured him, even as the sedative entered his veins.

When Chevalier and Shebang arrived—the dependable Trooper Ballinger was guarding the cases at the mouth of the alley—the surgery was already in full swing. Tenebrae was holding up a bag of blood and another of plasma, and while Dennis couldn't see exactly what she was doing from his angle, he could hear the scissoring sound of surgical tools extending from her bracers then retracting again.

After what seemed like forever but was probably less than the five minutes originally estimated, Miss Medic sat back on her heels and used her bracers to spray some kind of cleaning solution over her hands. "Done," she announced brightly. "He'll need a night's rest and observation because that's just common sense, and he'll be sore for the next week, but he'll make a complete recovery." She beamed up at Chevalier. "Thanks for this. It's always nice to save someone's life."

He half-smiled as he offered her a hand to stand up. "We need to be thanking you. That was the neatest bit of surgery I ever saw. And Shebang, it looks like your bombs were right on the money."

Shebang nodded self-consciously. "I thought they would be, but it's good to be right about something like that. So, uh, how many Gray Boy victims are there, anyway?"

Chevalier looked grim. "I'll have to look up the exact number, but there are more than a few."

Miss Medic took on a determined expression. "Doesn't matter. We're gonna free every last one of them, and I'll fix 'em up afterward. Because that's what heroes do."

Shebang nodded, and gave her a high-five. "Damn right."

<><>​

2:00 PM
New York

Legend

Fifteen thousand feet above Manhattan Island, Keith flew steadily over the city, scanning every person he saw for any kind of resemblance to Rune. Far too many wore hats or hoodies, but he could check and reject the vast majority of pedestrians on the street. There were no fliers over any of the boroughs that he didn't already know, so she wasn't in the air.

He just didn't know where she was.

His radio earpiece clicked onto an open channel. "Sir, this is Jouster. There's something you need to see."

"Show me." He turned his eyes toward where he'd last seen Flechette and Jouster. They were both looking up into the sky, though not directly at him. In Flechette's hand was a piece of paper. Focusing in just a little gave him a handwritten note, showing a location and a time. "Interesting. Where did that come from?"

Flechette took a deep breath, audible over the comms. "Atropos gave it to me last night, sir."

That got his attention. By now, it was an article of faith within the PRT and Protectorate—as well as Cauldron—that if Atropos made a claim, it could be taken as a gold-plated guarantee. The girl had been correct far too often, and Keith couldn't actually recall when she'd been wrong about anything.

"You could have led us in that direction," he observed quietly. "Called it a hunch. We'd never know the difference, and it would've gotten you major kudos."

"I did think about it, not gonna lie," she admitted. "But Atropos gave me more than the note. She also reminded me about why people like us become heroes. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. I know that if I lied, I'd always be tempted to keep lying, just to make myself look good."

Keith knew more than a little about that, and he wondered how much of Atropos' message, delivered second-hand via Flechette, was meant for his ears. More than a little, he suspected. The girl evidently knew enough about Cauldron to be a problem if she so chose, no matter how much Doctor Mother tried to deny it.

But that was a problem for another day. "That can be a self-perpetuating trap, yes. I've seen more than one cape fall into it. It's good that you recognised it first." He paused, taking in Flechette's hopeful expression. "Would you like to be the first one through the door?"

Flechette nodded firmly. "More than anything, sir."



[A/N: Evil cliffhanger is evil. Mwahahaha.]

End of Part Ninety-Seven