Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 302- Amelia


ConcernFocusWorry. "So we're missing one of our best for the next two Endbringer battles at least," Taylor sighed as we went back to our meeting room. It was true. Missy had one of the few universally effective weapons against the Endbringers, plus one of the most defensively powerful suits.


Nothing short of Lily had been able to get through Singularity when it was powered. It might be one of the few setups that actually worked againt Scion. Which was why we had to scare her. Even if the 'pregnancy' thing might have been a little heavy handed for my tastes.


Hopefully it'd also get Missy to think about putting herself on some kind of pill, too. She and Theo weren't doing anything like that yet, but it would happen eventually, and having her protected was just a good idea. Preferably have Emma do it. I didn't trust Riley to give her one that worked. My little sister had entered the 'babies are the best thing ever' phase, and we were all just praying she grew out of it soon.


Hmm, maybe I should talk to Emma and ask if she could cook up birth control for boys and give that to Theo. Just to be double sure.


"If we're lucky, it won't matter," Lisa responded. Oh, right, Endbringer planning. "With the last of originals destroyed, people are really starting to believe the idea that the others can be beaten for good. Villains that normally aren't interested in joining the fights are starting to take up the banner if only because they have to or lose face."


"Because they know there's an army of disposable shock troops there to eat the attacks," Taylor argued. "What happens when we don't have those available?"


"And? There still will be," Lisa replied. "Indies and heroes that normally mark the 'powers not applicable' box are asking Pantheon to give them the once over to see if there's some power combination they might be elligible for that lets them be the next Endslayers. People are actually excited about this. There's even an End the End movement online. It's becoming pretty popular."


"Sounds like something Zach would come up with," Taylor quipped.


"It should," Lisa replied. "He and Emma started it. I suspect Dragon helped. One of those benefits to not needing to sleep, ever, I guess."


ShockImpressed. "Huh, one of these days, Zach's going to run out of ways to surprise me," Taylor remarked.


"I hope not," I replied. "If he does, that means we've seen everything his mind can come up with. And I don't know if I can live with that thought. Now, how are we planning to handle the zerg transport?"


"I'll get in contact with the Thanda tonight," Lisa informed. "It'll cost us a few mil, and require giving out some high end power suits, but the Thanda capes are already committed to the cause of fighting the Endbringers. It won't take much convincing to buy their help on this."


"And putting us that much closer to a war with China," I added. ConcernAngerDisgust. We all knew the issues in India right now. China had moved into the 'unoccupied' northern corner of India, putting some of their own capes to use terraforming the land into something usable. Their claim that they were 'helping their neighbors' was believed by exactly no one, but it was appropriate lip service to let them get away with invading a territory that had an average of less than three people per hundred square miles. They didn't even want India, probably. Most of us were of the opinion they were more interested in having a 'forward base' that could let them snag a portal from the Middle East, when we built there.


"They won't dare start it until the Endbringers are removed," Lisa dismissed. "And we already have the resources to end that war before it begins."


I frowned. She's referring to Basilisk, probably. "You know I don't want to use that," I insisted.


"It's half the reason Mashu exists," Lisa responded.


"I'd rather go public with Bolla," Taylor countered.


"Because the Cold War is totally something we want to emulate," Lisa's sarcasm was palpable. "I get the appeal of the whole Mutually Assured Destruction thing. Especially when it's very much not mutual. Fuck, if we weren't on a time limit, I'd even agree that it's the best plan. But you don't build a house of cards and expect it to hold when the fucking hurricane hits."


"Instead we build weapons that make Nilbog and Sleeper look like rank amateurs?" I added.


"Nilbog and Sleeper are rank amateurs compared to the two of you," Lisa retorted. "This the path you chose, Amelia," she stressed my name, turning it into a borderline pejorative. AnnoyanceDefensiveSupport. At least I know Taylor's on my side.


"When China starts this war," Lisa continued. "And it is just a matter of 'when', it'll happen even if we do cave and give them a portal. Fuck, that might even embolden them and encourage them to be even more aggressive. We need to be able to end it in a single strike. Bolla could do it, but we both know Dragon will refuse to use it the way it needs to be used. And Basilisk is easily the least horrific weapon we have at our disposal that still works. Helps that it's scary as balls without being especially destructive."


I sighed. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."


"Sorry, but running off with Taylor to terraform your own desert paradise and live as hermits until the End of Days is no longer on the table," Lisa smirked at me. Oh, of course she'd find out about that.


"It was never an option," Taylor replied. RegretLonging. "We have our responsibilities."


"At least we got our payback on Piggot," I offered.


"Oh, right, I knew I've been forgetting something," Lisa said. "After a few discreet inquaries, I managed to get some info on what happened to the former Director. They moved her to a facility in Maine. Nowhere particularly interesting, just another jail. The fun part is she's been on suicide watch ever since our invasion of Ellisburg. They've been censoring her media so she doesn't find out about Avalon, but I can't expect that'll work forever."


AngerDisgustVindication. "Good," Taylor settled that conversation with a single word. I would have felt bad for the woman, but she napalmed a bunch of teenagers and murdered my sister. At least now I knew she was paying for it.


"Yup," Lisa agreed. "I'm still not completely sold on the idea that success is the best revenge. But it's up there. It is definitely up there. And now that we're all thinking happy thoughts, we move on to the piece de resistance. The meeting with the Emperor."


"Aren't we suppose to wait until after Lily's public unveiling before we do that?" I asked.


"If all goes well, that happens in three hours," Lisa responded. "Noon, east coast time. Vickery's currently overseeing the final prepwork, and trying very hard to hide the fact that his career is set for life thanks to us, and he knows it."


"You ever going to offer him a permanent job with us?" Taylor asked. "He's one of, like, three people on any planet that you seem to respect. I'm sure we need some kind of permanent press agent or embedded reporters or some such. May as well hire someone we know is competent."


"He'll say no," Lisa responded. "In fact, he'd even be insulted by the suggestion. Vickery's one of those guys that wants to earn his own way. Oh, and don't kid yourself. If we fuck up, he'll be in line to write a story tearing us down faster than you can say 'easy Pulitzer'."


"So much for gratitude," Taylor muttered.


"That's just how he operates. Why I respect him, honestly," Lisa replied. "He's always been straight with me. If he sees a story, he'll go for it. He's not going to dick us over unless we do something that deserves it, but he's also not going to do us any special favors just because we're on friendly terms. The only reason he even agreed to this interview was to springboard Erin... umm, the woman doing the interview, into a career in talkshows and the like."


"I guess I can live with that," Taylor agreed. "Now, about the chat with the Emperor?"


"Alright, well, the first thing you have to remember is that the Imperial family has been ruling Japan in a more or less unbroken line, for well over two thousand years. Making it one of the longest lived governmental bodies in history. And I'm pretty sure every century or so they lube up another stick to shove up their own asses to join all the others."


Oh god damn it, it's going to be one of those meetings.


"And the fact of the matter is, unless something changes drastically soon, they will lose power before Twenty Twenty rolls around," Lisa continued. "It's been on that path since World War Two ended, but Kyushu really pushed the timeline forward. This is something they know, even if they're in a combination of denial and desperation. I've yet to talk to anyone other than advisors and servants. The two of you, and only the two of you, will be allowed to talk to the Emperor himself, and only over the viewscreens. Thanks to the risks of you using your powers to manipulate the Emperor."


"But we can't-" Taylor started.


"Yes you can," Lisa answered. "Amelia's power with your bugs to deliver a mind altering agent? Not that hard. As it stands, they'll have Thinkers and Tinkers pointed at the conversation, plus a five second delay, to make sure there's no attack through that medium. All while pretending very hard that they believe their Emperor immune to such attacks. Don't bother questioning it, because they won't."


"Guess you don't stay in power for that long without a dose of paranoia," I concluded. We could live with those restrictions. If anything, it was more convenient for us. I wasn't looking forward to a trip to Japan without Missy to make it easy on us.


"In addition, they're going to treat this a business transaction," Lisa continued. "From their perspective, Lily's functionally a piece of property, not a person. Or maybe it's that Lily's a person and they're gods. Whatever, point is, try not to get too pissed about this."


"Wait!" I objective. "We're going to marry her into that?"


"Oh, no, not at all," Lisa smirked. "We've got a much better idea."


====================


A/N- Exposition chapter. They're kinda needed every so often to show things happen in the background.

Also: holy shit, it's been so long since Amelia had an Amelia chapter that I actually put her name in the chapter title!

I'mma leave it there, just so my readers can discover if they noticed or not.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 303- Zach


"Wait, you told her she was pregnant?" I exclaimed. "Holy shit, Ems, how did you not get punched in the teeth?" Especially by Taylor and Amelia. I mean, I know Taylor says it's water under the bridge, but I can't believe she really means it. Not completely, and certainly not if Emma is going to start picking on everyone's favorite little girl that wants to be a grownup already.


"It was Lisa's idea," she responded.


"And suddenly everything makes sense," I concluded.


"I still feel pretty bad about it," she sighed. "Missy puts so much of her personal value on her powers. She'll have to go without them for months, just to undo the damage she's caused herself. Which she only did because she wanted to be useful."


Emma paused for a moment. "Uh, earth to Ems?" I prompted.


"Oh god, I just now realized why I felt so bad for her," Emma facepalmed.


"Pretty sure that's every parahuman, hun." I gave her a comforting hug. Over the months I'd gotten used to the fact that her skin would never really be more than lukewarm, but that didn't really make it the most pleasant experience in the world.


"I mean, look at us," I continued. "Let's leave Taylor and Amelia out since they're one beard shy of being actual gods. You Tinkers are the most obvious, throwing yourselves into your work and spawning whatever abominations come to mind this week. Riley, Trevor and Rey are the exact same way. Then you got the ultimate workaholics with Dragon and Halbeard."


"You keep calling him that and he's going to find a way to kill you for real," Emma warned.


"What? I'm just trying to help out his love life," I defended.


"How do you figure?" Emma scoffed.


"Every couple needs pet names for each other," I insisted. "It's a requirement, so they can be sickeningly cute with one another and horrify everyone who knows them. Those two are way too serious to come up with their own, so we'll have to do it for them."


"Every couple, huh?" Emma smirked. "So why don't we have any?"


"We have pet names," I smiled. "I'm 'you moron' and you're 'please don't hurt me'."


As predicted, she jabbed me in the rib. I grabbed my side and moaned in badly acted pain. "Oww, what did I just say about not hurting me!"


"You really are a moron," she laughed. I smiled wider. My favorite thing about her is definitely her laugh. "Speaking of which, I'm betting you haven't bothered to study your homework at all this weekend."


"But there was an Endbringer fight!" I protested. "I strained my brain muscles trying to fly in virtual pitch black darkness and fighting Leviathan clones left and right. I killed at least three of them. Plus a tacky looking statue outside of a used car lot. Truly my finest accomplishment to date. Even better than filling Hookwolf with acid."


"Well, you have six hours to cram before class, get your ass in gear."


"Yes, mistress," I whined, doing my best to pout as I turned and left. A quick slap on my ass and I hurried along. She was right, I really did need to hit the books at least a little before tomorrow started up. I didn't have superhuman intelligence, although I wasn't exactly stupid and my power probably gave me about five bonus IQ points. I also suspected Amelia did a little 'upgrading' when they figured out a way to heal me. I opted not to ask, and she was choosing not to tell.


....


"So, looks like we lost three more classmates over the weekend," I said in idle chitchat at lunch. Right now, it was just me and Theo. His girlfriends were sitting at their table, chatting with the few remaining girls. Our entire 'highschool' now had a grand total of thirty three students. Everyone else had been pulled off to either return to Bet, or their parents decided they liked Avalon enough to find a permanent home. In six months, this school would be gone. A thought I'd have liked better if words like 'private tutors' weren't being bandied about.


Theo was looking over at the girls, of course, he didn't pay attention at all. "Earth to the dude with the harem," I waved my hand in front of his face.


"Wha?" he jumped a little. "Sorry, just lost in thought."


"It's about Missy, of course," I concluded. As fun as it was to fuck with Theo, figuratively speaking, this was game face time. "Emma told me the basics. Powers down for a month or two, and I imagine she's pretty upset about it."


"She almost cried when we got to school," Theo responded. "We were two minutes late, and no one cared about it at all, but she was over there fighting to keep from tearing up. I... what do I say to her? I've only had my powers a few months, she's had them for almost half her life. Riley's the only one who really understands what it's like to have powers that long. And she's trying to help, but..."


"But it's Riley and she's going all 'Victoria' in trying to force Missy to be happy, when right now she just wants to be miserable?" I suggested. "So all that's going to happen is Missy getting more and more upset while Riley desperately tries to make her feel better until both of them manage to have second triggers, at which point Missy turns all of us into something out of a Picasso painting, and Riley puts us all together as a single horrific composite monster?"


"Where do you get these ideas?" Theo just looked at me like I grew a third head without taking the time to grow a second.


"Late late night monster movies are hilariously bad," I informed. "Point remains, though. Riley's brand of delusionally cheerful optimism isn't working, and I'm going to guess that your particular brand of quiet support isn't cutting it, either."


"Yeah, that," Theo responded. "I tried last night, I really did." Don't say it, Zach, do not say it. Comedy gold be damned.


"Hey, how about I give it a shot?" I offered.


"You?" he just looked at me.


"Yeah, I'm good at this sorta thing," I insisted. "Playing world's weirdest therapist is my calling in life."


"Sure, go for it," Theo shrugged. "If nothing else, maybe you'll make me and Riley look good in comparison."


"Awesome," I agreed. "And if I succeed, you three will have to support me in my bid for a royal title."


"Zach, I keep telling you there's no way in hell they're calling you that," Theo sighed. "No one's ever going to call anyone that. Not while they're sober, at any rate."


"That's okay, I have a whole list of other options to try out," I watched the clock for a minute. Wait for it, wait for it. Now! "So, do you think if I do a good job of cheering Missy up, she'll let me join her harem?"


"Dude!" Theo exclaimed. He was then interrupted by the end of the lunch bell.


"Too late!" I declared as I got up. "You already agreed to let me try!" I bolted from the cafeteria. Sure, Theo and I had the same class this period anyway, but I was laughing the whole way there.


....


After class was a simple walk back. We tended to avoid being in large groups. Clarice and I tended to head back together, because we didn't have secret identities. Missy, Theo, and Trevor sometimes went together, and other times Trevor went home alone. He was rather paranoid about his secret identity being found out. I wasn't quite sure why at this point, but it wasn't something that seemed to make him unhappy, so I just let him have his quirk. Not like I was lacking in pet weirdness of my own.


"Hey, Theo, mind if I cut in?" I asked, approaching the pair of them from behind. "I'll swap you mine," I gestured at Clarice. Riley already knew I was going to take a stab at this, so it was a surprise to exactly Missy.



"Umm, sure," Theo agreed. "I'll see you back at home."


He started heading off, and inspiration struck me. "But you have to promise not to get her pregnant." Perfect!


"Meep!" Clarice squeaked. And on this day, we learn that Riley built her doll with the ability to blush.


"Too late, no backsies!" I declared. "You kids have fun."


I watched the pair of them head off a bit.


"Man, I must be a really sad sight if they're sending you," she chuckled bitterly. "Am I really that pathetic?"


"You'll never hear me calling you pathetic," I responded. "Mainly because I'd like my ass to remain unbeat."


"Not what Emma tells me," she quipped.


"Nice," I laughed. "Seriously, though, you are anything but pathetic."


"I am until my powers come back," she countered. "I can't do anything now. The next Endbringer the rest of you fight, I'll be sitting on the sidelines instead of out there helping and it's all my own fucking stupidity."


"You did what you had to do to save lives," I responded. I wasn't sure if that was entirely true, but I wasn't above lying to make someone feel better, so I could certainly say something I wasn't completely sure about. "It may not have been the right choice in the long run, but you did it for the right reasons."


"That's a dumb excuse and you know it," she retorted. "Now I'm useless."


"You're hardly useless," I argued. "Missy, you're the heart of this team."


She froze for a second. "What was that?"


"You are," I insisted. "Everyone has their role to play. Well, you and Amelia. But she's more like the heart of the movement itself, of Pantheon as a whole. You're the heart of this team we've created for ourselves inside. Half of us would be miserable if not for you. Riley would still be alone and miserable, but you're the one who stepped up to make that work. Your powers had nothing to do with any of that."


"Well, I did have to use them to take Clarice's ribbon," she responded.


"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "You could have done that with the word 'please' and everyone knows it. Except maybe Theo. Because let's not kid ourselves, if you asked Riley to leave Theo for you, she wouldn't even hesitate. The only person that means more to her than you is Amelia, and I wouldn't want to risk money on that bet. You're the one who stands up for us when what passes for the 'parents' of this group are being dumb. The one that finds the solutions that make everyone happy, even when no one else thinks that's possible. Even if it means you have to sacrifice yourself to make it happen."


She hesitated. "Someone said something a lot like that to me. It was a lot of comfort, then. Thanks."


I put a hand on her shoulder. The girl would probably never reach half my current weight in her life. "Look, you went overboard and it cost you. I'm not saying don't give it your all, I'm just... when you do, remember there are a lot of others ready to help. We're a team, and when one of us is hurt, all of us suffer for it. Keep that in mind from now on. And get used to the idea that we're around to make you feel better, too."


She smiled. "Thanks. So... if I'm the heart, what does that make you?"


I laughed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm the sex appeal."


========================


A/N- Obviously, the most important part of this chapter is trying to guess Zach's desired title(s).

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 304- Hannah


"This is the Mark Seven," I spoke loudly to the fresh group of troops before me. Although none of them were fresh by any normal standard. In fact they were the top hundred men and women that the PRT, police, and fire departments in Austin had to offer. These were already consumate professionals, and eager to prove themselves in an even bigger stage.


"You've certainly heard the rumors, seen video of them in action," I stated. If they were the type that wasn't paying attention to something that basic, they wouldn't be here. "Over the course of the month, you will be proficient in the use of this equipment. Merely proficient. The Advanced Armor Division has been training with these devices constantly for six months, and we are still learning to harness their full potential."


Three of the suits walked up behind me, piloted by three of Calvert's top field commanders. Then again, at this point every one of the fifty men and women on this team would be a field commander in any other circumstance. They often were, being sent out in groups of ten or so to lead operations across the country. The best of the best, and everyone knew it.


"First, you will be trained in the basic M7E. The 'E' stands for Emergency. It's the version that does not come equipped with advanced weapons," I informed them. "But don't let that fool you. These machines are fully capable of ripping a human being in half if you use them without the inhibitors. Even with inhibitors, they are stronger than any non parahuman on the planet. M7Es come with advanced medical, diagnostic, tracking and scanning technologies that could not be installed in the M7M and M7P. They are the one unit everyone here will see used in the field, and by the end of this training, everyone here will know exactly why the PRT is trained to nullify Thinker class capes first in any engagement, and why you protect your team's M7E. Is that understood?"


A few of the go getters in the group shouted. "Yes, Ma'am!"


I smiled behind my scarf. They know this song and dance. "The M7P, for Police," I gestured at the slightly larger model. "It is, functionally, the shock troop class. Equipped with some sensors, it can function as a Thinker in many situations. It is the fastest of the suits, capable of speeds of up to a hundred miles an hour. More durable than the Emergency units, and equipped with interchangeable electromagnetic or sonic blaster technology for stunning opponents and disabling electronics. In addition to being able to use standard police and PRT equipment, like vehicles, firearms and containment foam. If necessary, the PRT Director is capable of authorizing removal of inhibitors and activating lethal settings to the on board weaponry. Don't expect it to happen often."


That got their attention, at least for the cops and PRT troopers. 'Thinker' may be the most valuable job, but it wasn't exactly the most glamorous.


"And last, the M7M, Military," I gestured to the largest unit. "These have been referred to as the one man battle tank, and that's an excellent way to look at it. Slowest, toughest, and most destructive. It is capable of winning a battle against small armies, but with only a minimal advanced sensor suite. In the unlikely event that M7Ps aren't effective, the M7M might be called in. These are the weapons that retook Ellisburg. If you're lucky, you will never see them in use."


Although I wish we had these suits a year ago. The only parahumans in Brockton Bay that would have stood a chance against them were Purity and Lung, maybe Fenja and Menja. And even those would have been forced to retreat against more than one of them. I had to imagine even Lung's regeneration would not respond well to suddenly being reduced to the temperature of liquid oxygen. And Purity wouldn't do well against the long range targeting tech. Hiding in the glare of the sun or in clouds didn't mean much against something that didn't need to see you to snipe you.


My pager beeped. "My apologies," I said after glancing at the message. "Commander James, take over here, the Director wishes to see me. Operate on the assumption I won't be back for a while."


"Yes, Ma'am," the M7E suit responded. The three of them had seen this done several times before, they didn't need my help. I left in a brisk walk, bordering on a march. One of the habits I'd picked up working at this job.


....


"Director Calvert," I acknowledged, walking into his temporary office in Austin. We hadn't been here a week yet, and everything was already positioned neatly in place. After the destruction of Brockton Bay, Calvert had landed on his feet by forming a traveling task force to handle major threats across the country. I accepted the job of going with him, since there really wasn't another place for me.


And, when there wasn't a major threat, we spent our time time stationed in a few weeks at a time training the local PRT and law enforcement in the use of the M7s. They weren't quite the same quality as the SM7s that were used on Ellisburg, but they were easily a match for most parahumans. Anything that could beat one of them instantly measured a six on the power rankings.


"Good morning, Miss Militia," he responded back. "May I ask you a few questions? Strictly off the record."


"Certainly, Sir," I responded, taking a seat. This doesn't bode well at all.


"What's your opinion of me?" He asked calmly. "And please, be honest. Consider it an order, if you must."


I paused, choosing my words. Calvert struck me as possibly the single most wooden man on the planet. Which was saying a great deal, given the years I'd spent working for Armsmaster. Unlike Colin, however, the Director knew how to work with people and the system. Where Armsmaster was constantly saying the wrong thing, or saying the right thing the wrong way, Calvert was a skilled conversationalist. He had few friends, but fewer enemies and a great many allies. More than that, he actually valued my input, and conversations like this were a relative norm. Although not this subject matter.


Eventually, I picked a way to put that into words. "You're certainly very competent at your job, Sir," I responded.


He chuckled. It wasn't necessarily forced, or faked, but it was very reserved. "Yes, I suppose I am at that," he agreed. "But that's not quite what I meant. I suppose I should just say it, instead of being obtuse. They were discussing the need for replacement Protectorate division leaders. This conversation isn't a new one, of course, but with the loss of Huntress and Cardiac in San Francisco, it's become a pressing concern."


"I'm not sure I follow, Sir," I hesitated. Surely, he can't mean?


"Your name's been brought up as a strong candidate," he informed.


"I was under the impression my career was functionally over after the... incidents... in Brockton Bay," I responded. After everything I let Piggot get away with, and with the political pressure the PRT and Protectorate is under thanks to their current reliance on Pantheon.


"I admit, I'm not privy to all the details, but the Chief Director says that won't be an issue," the Director informed. "She said Minerva's words were to the effect of 'she's learned her lesson, and if she runs into another Director, she'll know to stand up to them'. From what I understand, her actual language was strongly laced with profanities, but that's the spirit of the message, at least."


Yeah, I could imagine. "That is surprising news," I managed to say, if only to prompt him to continue.


"Not necessarily," Director Calvert responded. "Pantheon, and now Avalon, has a history of strong and aggressive political maneuver. There has been some speculation that they might hope that they can gain some advantage by seeing you back to an oversight position. I couldn't discount that belief, that is something Pantheon would do. Although I assured them that your professionalism and loyalty are beyond exemplary. At the same time, I'm sure Minerva's aware of that as well."


"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Sir," I responded. I honestly meant it, too. Director Calvert was always appreciative of a job well done, but I'd never received such open praise from him before.


"We've discussed it at length, and even consulted some Thinkers on the subject," Calvert informed. "Including Alexandria and Echo Chamber." I blinked at that one. Echo Chamber's power was rarely tapped into. She wasn't a Thinker so much as she granted others around her temporary Thinker abilities, at the cost of debilitating migraines after the fact. This is a big deal if they're using her.


"The overall consensus is that Pantheon anticipates that you're likely to oppose any decisions you believe objectionable from any future Directors you may work with," Director Calvert continued. "Part of their ongoing pressure for additional oversight to prevent my predecessor's actions from repeating themselves. Are they correct?"


I paused for a minute, thinking about it. The simple fact was that admitting this would likely make it impossible to find a Director that wanted to work with me, viewing me as a meddlesome outsider that could make their jobs significantly harder. They weren't necessarily wrong, depending on how they chose to do their jobs. "Yes, Sir," I admitted eventually. "I understand the difficulties of the job, but if forced to choose between orders and my conscience again, I'll choose my conscience."


"Very well," Calvert responded, sounding far less than pleased with my answer. "The Chief Director wishes me to inform you that the position is yours, if you wish to have it. You'll need to provide an answer by the end of the week."


"Sir?" I couldn't even come up with the words to say.


"This was something of an informal interview," he offered the closest thing he ever gave to a smile when not in front of the public. "You passed with flying colors, at least by the Chief Director's standards. I can't imagine Director Chase will be as pleased, but thanks to the rebuild of the Protectorate, you won't answer directly to him."


"I have until the end of the week to decide?" I repeated.


"Yes," he confirmed. "Although they'd greatly prefer your answer by the end of the working day. Eidolon's come out of retirement to serve as an emergency leader. If you don't accept, they'll transfer Rime to the position. She's more than adequate for the task, but not to the same level you would be. This is a fairly significant shuffle, and they'd prefer not to leave Eidolon there any longer than absolutely necessary."


"What are you opinions on the subject?" I asked, more out of politeness and respect than an actual desire to know. Calvert was a good boss, but hardly what one would call a friend. Still, I had to start thinking politics if I wanted this job. Right now, the man in front of me was second only to the Chief Director in terms of influence in the PRT. Sometimes his orders were a little strange, but they always met with success, and that was earning him a lot of attention. Upsetting him would not be bode well for my suddenly revived career.


He smiled, this time seemingly genuine, and leaned back. "If we're being honest with one another, I'd prefer you didn't accept the position. You've been an excellent addition to my team, and losing you would make my job that much more difficult in the future."


I nodded. Well, that makes saying 'yes' harder.


"However, I am fully aware that your potential is being grossly underutilized," he continued. Or maybe not. "You're worth far more than merely a drill instructor, however talented you may be at that job. So from the perspective of the Protectorate as a whole, taking the job is the right play. Ultimately, it's your decision. But if you plan to stay because you're worried about how I'll handle it, then you're under direct orders to leave. I only want you here if you want to be here more. If you don't, then take the transfer."


And implicit promotion, I added silently. Sure, the pay wouldn't be that much better, and there'd be a lot more work. But I'd be in a position to actually lead a team again, instead of 'merely' being second in command of the PRT Advanced Armor Division. Or, Calvert's Elite as they were called by the PRT in general. At the same time, being second in command here was still a better position in terms of prestige than being a Director in most parts of the country would be. It wasn't as easy a decision as I might have originally thought.


"Thank you for the insight, Sir," I responded as I considered all the implications. "This is a serious decision, I need some time to think on it."


"I understand," Calvert nodded. "You're free to take some time. Take the rest of the day off if you feel that will help you make your decision more quickly. And my apologies for ending the conversation here. I have other business to attend to. You're dismissed."


"Thank you, Sir," I responded, standing and turning to leave. He was already picking up the phone before I got out the door.


=================


A/N- Just in case you were wondering what Miss Militia was up to. Or Coil, for that matter.

... Surely there was at least two people out there who wanted this chapter.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 305- Taylor


It's eleven at night here, I sighed inwardly. High noon Japan, and when they wanted to hold this meeting. "They're doing this on purpose," I stated. "They want us off our game by having us tired for this meeting."


"Probably," Amelia agreed, reaching over and brushing my hand. Instantly I felt like I'd just woken up from a good sleep. AcceptanceGlad. "Don't worry about me, I probably wouldn't crash for another hour even without the meeting."


"Thanks," I responded a bit belatedly. I looked down at my 'formal' armor. A few modifications had been made to our dress outfits. Mine being a deep metallic blue with gold trim. While Amelia was in a softer green and white costume design. Both were capable of passing as nice, if concealing, women's business suits. The fact that the armor was all one piece wasn't concealed at all. If anything, it was emphasized by the design. If we were going to be taken seriously, we'd have to look the part. And this equipment certainly looked serious.


It also hid what the few admittedly unnatural curves I now had. Definitely playing up the masculine role I adopted for my public persona somewhere along the line. Deep inside, the little girl that had dreamed of one day being a paragon of feminine beauty like Alexandria died a little. Well, at least I was no longer pedo bait like I was a year ago. Now it was just gay men.


I noted that Amelia's hand hadn't left mine. And one gay woman, I amended. Oh well, I could live with far worse fates.


"I have a direct link into your emotions and I still have trouble figuring you out, sometimes," she smirked at me.


"Just thinking about the weird path life's taken me," I responded, then I kissed her forehead. I was pretty sure my late teen growth spurt was over, so now I knew I'd always be a bit over half a head taller than my fiancee. "It's good, but it's definitely very, very weird."


"I know what you mean," she agreed. "Wouldn't trade it for the world." She nuzzled into me a little.


"It'd be a pretty lousy trade," I pointed out. "After all, you'd be giving up two worlds that you already own."


She gave my arm a light swat.


"One minute to showtime, ladies," Lisa's voice came over the com system. "So unless you want to try for a world record setting quickie, you may want to get ready for meeting the Emperor of Japan."


I stepped away from Amelia and let her give my outfit a final quick look. SatisfactionDesire. Really, Ames, you have to think that now? SheepishAmused.


She looked away, toward the viewscreen. I wasn't sure what kind of equipment they'd be looking through, but we had a beautiful system at least partially designed by Dragon, although it was really more Emma's work. Hmm, I should probably remember to thank her for the effort more often.


Our screen clicked on, showing what constituted the Emperor of Japan, a ten year old boy. He was dressed in a sharp suit, and I was glad for our 'public' armor design being fairly lacking in ostentatiousness, more akin to a military uniform than a superhero costume. Lisa and Sabah certainly made the right calls with that one.


Next to him stood the effective Emperor, the boy's uncle. Currently the Regent of Japan, until his nephew was old enough to be officially recognized, and one of only two valid male heirs to the throne, after a home grown terrorist/progressive supervillain group attempted to eliminate the royal family for good several years ago. They were partially successful in the attempt, killing several members of the royal family and others that could be considered valid heirs should the direct royal line be deceased. There were no doubt advisors watching, but this wasn't a negotiation. Nothing legal or binding could happen here, today.


Nothing legal or binding would achieve what we were here to achieve. Laws and treaties had their place, but right now we were more concerned with the symbolism and romanticism of this arrangement. That's what we needed to make use of. Everything else was secondary.


As we were, in theory, the guests at this meeting. And I was, in theory, the man in this partnership, I spoke first. "Thank you for seeing us, Emperor," I opened. "It is an honor to finally speak with you in person." Even though you're a child and the Queen of England has far more power in Canada than you do in Japan. We probably have more power in Canada than you have in Japan.


<It is good to meet you,> the translation tech did its job masterfully. Only by lip reading would you realize it wasn't what the boy actually said. <I appreciate your awareness of our interests at this time.>


"That's probably a translation error," Lisa whispered voice came into our earbuds. "They're using archaic Japanese. Trust me, they're not going to admit they're 'interested' in the way we think that word means. And don't worry, our tech's translating to what you say into modern Japanese. There won't be similar translation errors on their end."


<Especially in the wake of the death of Fish Demon,> the boy's uncle spoke. <Surely you must have many concerns right now to worry yourselves with.>


"Leviathan," Lisa volunteered, unhelpfully. "They're saying that we consider them valuable enough to go through this crap, and they're right of course. This is their negotiation tactic, so we're running Plan Three for now."


More helpful. So we are going with aloof and confident, almost bored. We can do that. We've certainly practiced it enough times to make it convincing.


"Most of our significant concerns are already being dealt with," I spoke.


"We trust our subordinates to handle the lesser details," Amelia agreed.


"There is little left for us save diplomacy and preparations for the next Endbringer conflict," I added. "There is little we can do to accelerate our Endbringer preparations beyond where they currently are."


<I see,> the child-Emperor spoke. <My advisors tell me you wish to speak of marrying one of your people into our royal family.>


"My apologies," Amelia apologized. She was, of course, to be the softer part of the conversation. "While that possibility was mentioned between our advisors and yours, I'm afraid things have changed. I trust you saw Atropos' public unmasking of her identity."


<We have,> the Emperor spoke. <It is indeed, as she said, portentous that one of our own was responsible for Leviathan's death.>


Translator must have worked out that kink, at least. "We've been told that she is being celebrated as a hero in your nation," Amelia added. "The Avenger of Kyushu, I believe the exact phrase was."


<You are correct,> the older man confirmed. Not that he needed to, we already knew the answer.


"She has captured the hearts and imaginations of your people," Amelia continued. "As well as those of most of the world. She's a household name throughout much of the world. That's why we believe you should grant her a royal title, and permission to start her own branch of the royal family, without the marriage. She would, in essence, have the status as a non inheriting son of the former Emperor."


<Preposterous!> the uncle exclaimed. <The very idea of it is absurd!>


"There is precedent for it," Amelia argued. "Other heroes of Japanese history have been granted similar titles-"


<Not for centuries! Such a thing is more myth than history,> he insisted. <And never a woman.>


The boy just watched, obviously less emotionally attached to the idea. Although it would be him who approved the idea, when it was approved. And it would be, if we had anything to say in the matter.


"Emperor," I spoke up, directing the comment at the one who mattered. "Your throne is dying. Japan is dying. The royal family no longer has the support of its people, and everyone knows it. What we're offering you is an opportunity to salvage your nation."


<By surrendering it to foreigners,> the Regent argued.


"By revitalizing it with new ideas," Amelia argued. "By healing the rifts and allowing it to move into the future. Japan was suffering even before Leviathan's attack, and it never recovered after. This is your chance to fix that."


<We are a strong people, we can solve our own problems. One of those planets you have been giving out to the Europeans would accomplish a great deal,> the man responded. <Or are you denying us a portal for political gains?>


"Maybe Japan could rebuild itself," I started, ignoring the chance to point out that if we gave them a portal it means they didn't achieve anything on their own. "But there are enemies in your back yard. Were we to build a portal in your nation, you'd face invasion from China within the month. Even if we were to use our resources to protect you, millions could die in the conflict. Already eleven of the portals in Europe have faced similar assaults. Only three succeeded, and they were eventually reclaimed by their rightful owners. Would you see Japan face a war with the Yangban?"


<They're right, Uncle,> the boy spoke up. <We cannot win against China. Avalon offers an excellent opportunity to restore our nation.>


Wow, that was a lot quicker than I expected.


<Your advisors also spoke of opening the gate to Avalon and giving Japan governance of its equivalent lands?> the Emperor asked.


"More," Amelia spoke. I did my part and slapped them with sense, now it was Amelia's turn to offer them a consolation. "Avalon's oceans are smaller than Bet's. You should have a couple hundred more square kilometers of land, conservatively estimated."


"In addition," I cut in. "Most of Avalon is unclaimed. With Japan's current population and some creativity, you could very easily claim a full quarter of our world's equivalent to China. Perhaps significantly more, with luck and time."


<We would have to accept your nation's laws in our colonies,> the Regent cut in, sounding less than pleased. <And with it, the risk that our colony would abandon its homeland in exchange for other loyalties.>


"You had to accept the United States' rule after the World War," I countered. "And even if you do lose your colonies, you'll have one of the direct portals to Avalon, and all the trade opportunities that offers. Avalon's oceans cannot support life, Avalon's soil is not yet ready to support crops not born of the Yggdrasil. It is to your extreme economic and political advantage to accept our offer."


<What do you gain?> He demanded.


"People," I answered. No sense in hiding it. "As with all the colony worlds, we are in need of colonists. In addition, before Kyushu, Japan had a strong focus on education, art and science. All things that we wish for Avalon in the future."


<You don't need the royal family to get Japan's people,> the Emperor cut in. <They will flock to your American portal no matter what we say or do here today. We lack the power to stop them, it will be a repeat of the exodus of refugees after Kyushu.>


SurprisedImpressed. That's a very good grasp of the situation. "You are very observant, Emperor," Amelia praised



<To accept your offers, all of them, would allow us opportunity to profit from the event and protect our honor,> the boy continued. <Including, perhaps, reclaiming a good portion of the people we lost after Kyushu. In exchange, all you seem to be asking for is a title with no legitimate value. It is an excellent offer, and I am inclined to accept.>


<Nephew!> the Regent objected. Do they really address each other like that, or is the translator still glitching out?


<I am still your Emperor, Uncle,> the boy cut him off, then looked back to us. <There must be one stipulation.>


Dammit, isn't there always? FrustrationPersistence.


<The Avenger of Kyushu may have her title, but she shall never be allowed to live within the palace,> he asserted. <This is the home that my ancestors bequeathed to their descendants. She is neither of royal blood, nor a royal consort, this will never be her home. Save if she chooses to marry a true member of the family in the future. That same rule shall extend to any future family she produces.>


SurpriseAgreement. Is that all? "I believe that's acceptable," I responded, carefully hiding my happiness at this development. Lily had been worried about them trying to take her freedoms and visibility. Reducing her to a sheltered symbol and doing little more than parading her about to look good and then sequestering her away again. But this was a specific decree that made that impossible. Literally the ideal outcome. "We will, of course, consult with Lily and our advisors to determine final arrangements."



<As must I,> the boy nodded. <There are trifles beneath all great things. However, I believe we are in agreement that in exchange for a portal to Avalon, your Endslayer will receive the title of Princess. Now if you'll excuse me, I have many matters to attend to.>


"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," Amelia quoted.


The boy smiled. <Interesting quote,> he responded. <I think I like it.>


"It's from Shakespeare," she volunteered. "Henry the Fourth."


<I will remember that,> he agreed. <I shall instruct my advisors to expect your contact in three days, I expect that shall be long enough.>


"Yes, thank you," Amelia answered. "Goodbye."


The screen turned off.


ReliefSuccess. "Wow," Amelia smiled. "That went enormously better than I thought it would."


"I know!" I agreed. "That was almost... too... god damn it. Lisa, please tell me this sudden feeling of absolute dread is unwarranted."


"Depends on what you consider 'warranted'," Lisa spoke over the com.


==================


A/N- Wow. This chapter really ran away from me. Over 2300 words.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 306


"So Japan's Boy Emperor is a parahuman," I sighed. "Well, makes an awful lot of sense when you think about it. I knew that kid was too smart. So where does that leave us in the long run?"


"Depends on things I don't know," Lisa replied. "If I could get a real look at him, in person, then I can use my powers to figure out more details. The most likely is he's some kind of Changer who killed and replaced the prince. Thinker or Stranger secondaries that let him, or maybe even her, maintain the ruse despite there being any number of possible ways for the plot to go wrong."


DisgustAnger. "In which case, we're faced with ousting the imposter, and losing what is nominally an ally," Taylor concluded. "And with it our clean, easy foothold with Japan. All of which is only assuming we're right and the officials believe us. I doubt the Regent would cooperate with us at all."


"He's in on the plot," Lisa responded. "Either as another parahuman, or more likely a purely normal ally. My guess is the assassination attempt succeeded better than anyone ever realized. Either the impostors were part of it, or took advantage of the chaos to get themselves into position. It's also possible other government leaders recruited them to play at being the royal family as part of some attempt to maintain morale with Japan's populace.


"Well, that's a little better," I sighed.


"And last, but certainly not least," Lisa continued. "There's the chance that he is the actual heir apparent, and he triggered with a skill or knowledge based Thinker power during the attack. Something like Victor or Uber. Maybe like me or Alexandria without the brute backup. Possibly even a precog of some type. Something that let him escape the assassins and is now informing his decisions. The Regent would, of course, be aware of this. It wouldn't be the first time a Thinker power has strongly influenced the mind of a parahuman. But there's too many unknowns."


"I think I like that one," I nodded. "What are the odds that's the actual truth?"


"Better than the Fairy Queen joining the triumvirate?" Lisa responded. "Seriously, I don't have the appropriate information to work with. All answers are equally valid until I can examine him in person. Which isn't likely to happen. So my power's of pretty much zero help. Maybe if I try some shenanigans with Dinah's power, but her answers start to get unreliable when we ask questions like 'if we use a power to do x, will y happen?'. Especially when it comes to power interactions, which this would be if he has Stranger powers or uses a Thinker power to resist mine. I suspect it's some part of the Taboo, but have no way of confirming that."


"So we have no way of knowing, and all methods of finding out are going to be conspicuous or unreliable," Taylor sighed.


"Maybe we can get a blood sample with a mosquito or something?" I suggested. "Run it through Riley's genetics tech and see if that gives us any clues."


"It's better than nothing," Lisa agreed. "But they'll probably have some way of trying to make that fail. No way of knowing what kind of parahuman defenses they have going for them. We still have to answer what we do if we do find proof he's a fraud."


FrustrationDistasteResignation. "We're going to do nothing, aren't we?" Taylor asked.


"It's the smartest plan," Lisa responded. "The kid, no matter who or what he is, is in a position that barely even qualifies him as a symbolic figurehead. He'd have more political power as an elected official. He'd have more political power as whatever Japan calls the mayor of a city."


"He may also be guilty of multiple murders and at least one or two major conspiracies. Plus treason," Taylor argued.


"Sort of the Coil scenario," Lisa responded. "Plus or minus the enslavement. The kid is in a position where he's capable of doing a lot of good. He's unnaturally smart, he's confident he has allies strong enough to get his plans through in other areas. And he's committed to achieving good things, if only for his own self interest. If it turns out the worst of our suspicions are correct, he's no worse than Accord. And blowing this secret leaves us in a much worse position when it comes to both Japan and China. Probably won't matter too much in the Scion scheme of things, but..."


"But at best it's a distraction that might slow down our preparations against the end of the world," I supplied.


"Exactly," Lisa agreed. "We should put him in the same general bubble as Cauldron and The Elite. Not people we like, but not making themselves part of the problem. So we can tolerate their presence. Because we have to."


"Don't have much choice, do we?" I asked. "If we did have the evidence we needed. If our mission was successful. If everything went perfect, removing him would not go well for our interests in Japan. We'd alienate a lot of the people we're trying hardest to recruit. There is nothing good that comes from this except removing one more villain."


"Pretty much," Lisa confirmed.


Why are the right decisions and the good decisions never the same? SupportRegretComfort. "Do we approach the fake Emperor with this knowledge?" I asked. "Or share it with Lily, since she'll be the one who meets the kid?"


"He already knows," Lisa responded. "Or knew I'd figure something out. Like I said, some kind of Thinker or Stranger. Possibly precog. It's why he gave such a convenient excuse to keep Lily away from the rest of the royalty, so we wouldn't fear her being compromised or threatened. I know, to you it looked like a standard enough chat, but there was a conversation within a conversation in the background. He's giving us everything we want, if we simply agree to let him have what he wants."


SuspicionConcern. "What does he want?" Taylor asked.


"A life of luxury with absolutely no need to do honest work a single day in his life," Lisa responded. "Or something along those lines, at least. He's currently wealthy, and people are at least willing to pretend he's powerful. And with his parahuman abilities, he can do a lot more with the position than is traditionally possible. He has what he wants, right now he just wants to make sure he keeps it. This strongly implied alliance with Pantheon gives him security. Especially from China. And that's what sold him, us being an implicit shield against China."


"Which was one of our implied bartering chips in the first place," I responded. "We came in with a really strong offer, asking only for a 'symbolic gesture with no legitimate power' and stuff we were going to get anyway. No surprise it was snapped up."


"He also sensed that we wouldn't improve on the offer," Lisa added. "It was this or turning us down and letting us wait until they changed their minds. Depending on how his power works, he's at least a four, and I'm assuming seven or better until I have more information."


"And the longer they delayed it, the more it'd look like they were forced into it," Taylor responded. "He had to see that, as well. That agreeing to this right away makes it look like it's meant to look, as high an honor as Japan can give, to the one that killed Leviathan."


"Speaking of," Lisa added. "I'll probably throw out a few ideas to Japan and see what sticks to the wall. A parade in Lily's honor is a given, no doubt. We'd likely have to agree to that one even if we didn't want it. Leviathan's death a national holiday, they likely won't even blink at that. Whatever Japan's equivalent to the Medal of Honor or Knighthood happens to be. Point is, she needs to have more title than just 'Princess'. And a couple military honors to go alongside that gay pride sticker in her costume would be an ideal outcome, here."


"We should probably come up with a medal system of our own, huh?" Taylor remarked. "I mean, we are Avalon's military, right? Shouldn't we have award ceremonies for the big stuff? Endbringer fights at the very least."


"Yeah," Lisa agreed. "I'll throw the idea past Accord, he'll love everything about it. So do one of you want to tell Lily the good news, or shall I?"


"I'll do it," I volunteered. "Haven't had a chance to talk to her in a while, anyway. But let's save it until tomorrow. I'm tired."


"Can do," Lisa smiled. "I've got some last minute things to throw by Dragon, and I'll send a memo to Accord asking him for suggestions on a medals. It'll be lowest priority, but I imagine he'll get to it pretty quickly. Feel free to resume your quickie after I leave."


She bolted for the door. I could have stopped her with ease, but what would be the point?


"She spends too much time around Zach," Taylor muttered.


=================


A/N- And no one guessed at all.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 307- Glen


"Hey, GL, morning status report?" Crystal asked. I liked Crystal, she treated me more like the reality of what I was than the others. Where they acted like I was a normal person they just couldn't see, she didn't. She just treated me like I was an extension of the environment. Or, more, the environment was an extension of me. It made me feel more respected that way.


"Nothing big," I responded. "Sabah brought a couple girls in last night."


"Two?" Crystal asked. "Well, that's a new one. They stayed out of the secure areas, I trust."


"Yeah," I confirmed. "Y'know, one of these lady friends of hers is going to plaster her identity all over the newspapers one of these days."


"I don't think she cares," Crystal responded. "But I'll talk to her about this behavior. I get the post breakup fling thing. Been there, done that, felt like a slut afterwards, never doing it again. But this is taking it a little further than it really needs to go. Actually, I'll probably consult Rapture about it, first. My shitty pop psych senses are tingling, and I think this needs a more delicate touch than Lisa's."


Her eyes didn't twitch around trying to find the invisible source of my voice, instead casually focussing on the report she had in hand. It had taken me four months to figure out how to speak to people again, how to force the air in my controlled territory to rub against itself in a semblance of a human voice. Over the course of a year, I'd gotten good enough at it that I could make people swear it came from an actual set of lungs, not a delicate process of mixing together artificial wind in an extremely complex fashion.


"Why do you treat me like that?" I asked.


"Like what?" Now she looked up.


"Like I'm on the phone or something, instead of in the room with you," I prompted. "It's weird, no one else does that."


"Umm, sorry," she responded. "I've spent a lot of time working with someone who has a power a lot like yours. Taylor's power, I know everyone thinks of it as her controlling swarms of bugs, but it's really quite a bit more than that. She doesn't command her swarm, she is the swarm. Her feelings are their feelings, her thoughts are their thoughts. It's just easier to think of her as already being everywhere, and that habit kinda extended to you."


"Except she has a range measured in city blocks, instead of just a small building," I muttered. "Even without her fiancée extending her power across an entire planet. Those two kinda makes me feel inadequate."


"There's always someone stronger," Crystal agreed. "That's how I feel fighting alongside Legend and Eidolon. Legend's all my powers only way better. And Eidolon is, well, good luck competing with that."


And then there's Scion, I added in my head. "So you don't look for me because you're used to working with Taylor," I changed the subject back.


"Pretty much," she agreed. "That and I'm used to talking to her. She almost never looks at the person she's talking to. She doesn't need to, she has her power and can see better through it than through her eyes. It's creepy as hell, if we're being honest. I can try to break the habit if you like."


"Nah, it's cool," I responded. "Honestly, I think I kinda like it. Like what I am is normal, instead of being freaked out about it."


"Well, if there's one benefit to living with Amy, Taylor and," she hesitated a couple seconds. "The others. It's that eventually there's not much left in the world that can freak you out. As long as you stay respectful of our privacy, I'm good."


"Thanks for the vote of confidence, chief," I muttered. Honestly, I'd played peeping tom a handful of times, especially in the first year or two I had my memories. Just because I wouldn't do it now didn't make me innocent.


....


Wow, Boost was so completely right, I decided. This Hecate chick is a total babe. Dubstep did his best to avoid looking at her too intently. The guy was chronically shy, probably the source of his Trigger, although he didn't tell and we didn't ask.


"Thanks for seeing us," I spoke. I had to imagine Boost tried to get in her pants the dumbest way imaginable. Because it was impossible to imagine he tried any other way. So I resolved myself to be extra polite today. "You really think you'll be able to enhance our powers?"


"Harnessing your power," the other girl, Aceso, corrected. "Enhancing powers is possible, but dangerous. Like any other drug, if you want to receive the high, you'll have to suffer the crash that comes after. What we're doing here is building equipment that will respond to your powers better than you can get just by improvising with what the environment gives you. Think of it as the difference between using PCP, and using a baseball bat."


I'd seen the occasional violent drug reaction, and I wasn't sure if a baseball bat would be enough to beat someone on that stuff. But the analogy made sense. "So you can harness our power, then?" I asked.


"Dubstep's power, with ease," Hecate answered. "He amplifies and manipulates sonic energy. At bare minimum, we can give him an armor similar to Radiant or Predator that exploits his power as a fuel source for various high end weapons. Hopefully his power follows more unique mechanics that we can use to do some really interesting stuff. Possibly even anti-Endbringer grade amplification."


"I've already named it Echo," Aceso informed cheerfully.


There is something really strange about her, I realized. I reached out with my power, touching her armor. I felt... I could get closer. The Manton Effect that kept me from direct contact with living things more advanced than a plant simply wasn't there. "You're a robot," I spoke, and immediately regretted it.


"Changeling," Aceso responded. "A lot like the M7s the PRT is starting to use. How could you tell?"


"No Manton Effect," I answered. At least she didn't seem upset that I figured it out.


"But that's impossible!" Hecate declared. "She has a Manton effect, because she was built using Endbringer... material... holy fuck, your power's like Chevalier's... you can directly effect Endbringers."


Aceso started giggling, and even clapped her hands together. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" She declared happily. "I've gotta call up Rey. He's going to love you so much that he'll want to marry you."


"Yeah, after making him dress up in a Simmie Suit," Hecate laughed.


"I... don't think I want to do that," I cut in. The fuck is a Simmie Suit? All I know is I'm terrified and slightly disgusted right now.


"Don't worry, we can do a lot better than that," Aceso dismissed. "Your powerset is much more valuable working with cloned material from Khonsu. How would you like the full Alexandria package plus shapeshifting plus forcefields plus a potential Endslayer combination?"


"Endslayer combination?" Yeah, okay, that would be fucking badass as hell. "You can do that?"


"It's theoretically possible," Hecate agreed. "Unlikely, but possible. You could use your armor to get physical contact with the Endbringer, and then take possession of its body. I have to imagine they're shielded against that some way, but maybe not. The new ones, especially, are specializing in defending against attackers like Atropos. In the process, they're sacrificing a lot of their offensive firepower and leaving themselves vulnerable in other areas. I bet if we use you in conjunction with Shaman and Rosary, we'd at least be able to subdue an Endbringer long enough to kill them some other way. Maybe use you to expose the core so it can be destroyed more easily."


"We're going to call it Fractal and it's going to be beautiful and I bet if I tried I can even get it to generate the Taboo effect and be immune to precogs," Aceso rambled on excitedly.


This is her idea of giving my power a baseball bat? Christ, what would the drug be like? "Is she always like that?" I quietly asked Hecate.


"It's a Tinker thing," she responded. "This is actually pretty mild, comparatively."


=============


A/N- GL gets a chapter. Also: Other Stuff.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 308- Riley


Clarice stood watching as Genius Loci and Dubstep ran through their power tests in our isolation and scanning chambers. They had plenty of room and objects to work with, and instructions to just go nuts. We didn't always test in rooms like those, but for this pair, with their Shaker type powers, it was the best way to get a real feel for their abilities and how to harness them most efficiently.


<You almost blew your cover there,> Emma informed me as she stepped near me. She spoke in a crazy hybrid of Japanese, Spanish and Hindi. <And, yes, I think they can hear us from here.>


<Sorry,> I spoke softly. <I just got really excited.>


<You're just lucky they're West Coast and aren't going to put the connections together, and that neither of them caught on this was meant to be a secret, and they probably wouldn't know who you were if you gave them your real name,> she continued. <Oh, and that both of them were too busy checking out my rack to remember most of the conversation. Now call up Rey while I text him and tell him to act skeptical of your opinions on the subject.>


<Okay,> I agreed. She's right, I messed up bad. So stupid. I've gotten too comfortable with our position and it nearly cost me everything. My safety, my happy life that I don't deserve. And in the process I'd end up putting all my friends' hopes and dreams at risk.


"Are you okay?" Emma asked, looking at me strangely.


I almost asked her why, but then I realized it was because Clarice was starting to hyperventilate, or at least imitate the experience. Because I was starting to hyperventilate. "Umm, yes, I'm fine," I responded, then starting to force myself to calm down. I've be the target of numerous heroes, nearly killed countless times, yet today is the first day I've ever been truly afraid for myself since I met Jack. Why?


I shook the thought off and focused. I have a job to do, I'll worry later.


I contacted Rey and went through the motions of the rest of the work day quietly. I had to admit, they did a good job passing me off as a low level assistant. I felt insulted by some of the implications that they were mostly just being nice to me because I was Amelia's little sister, but it was better than the alternative of them putting together exactly when I joined the team and what that implied. I spent the rest of the session in lost in the thought that I was on borrowed time before my secret came out, and all the things that I would lose.


....


I found Missy and Theo together on the roof of our main building. With the general lack of entertainment around here, and the replacement portal now over a hundred miles from our Capital and Missy's power now disabled, it left us with no convenient means to travel to Bet, except to shunt over, in full costume. And that would just place us in the devastated ruins of Brockton Bay. I knew some people that would have considered that a romantic date night. Missy and Theo weren't those people. Instead, they opted to have picnics and star gaze.


The were already looking at me when I came into sight. I wasn't using Bella's silent mode. The sound of her wings flapping was comforting, and they must have heard it. She touched down gently, near Calysta and Macula.


I hopped off, and rushed toward the pair of them.


"Riley?" Theo asked as I got close. "Is some- oof!" I slammed into him and held on as tight as I could. He put a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"


"I missed both of you so much!" I clung harder. Sensing that Missy'd gotten close, I grabbed her with my right arm and pulled her into the hug as well. At this point, I was actually a little taller than my best friend, and that would likely never change naturally.


"Riley, we saw each other six hours ago," Missy spoke up. Her arm had joined Theo's around my back. "What happened?"


"I messed up and almost let people find out who I am!" I sobbed. The both tensed.


"You didn't, though, right?" Missy asked, and I could hear the fear in her voice. She knows how bad I just screwed up. "They didn't find out?"


"Emma covered for me," I told them. "She thinks it worked. Something about her rack distracting them."


"Emma's been spending too much time around Zach," Missy commented. "But she's probably right. If they didn't notice it then, they probably won't figure it out later. They'll be too distracted by their shiny new toys to care. You are giving them shiny toys, right?"


"Uh huh," I nodded, my face still buried in Theo's chest. "Genius Loci might even have Endslayer potential with his armor."



"That's certainly a shiny toy," Missy agreed.


"Remember how much all of you Tinkers hate how little praise you get for your hard work?" Theo added. "Well, now you get to see the benefits of it."


"But it was so stupid," I muttered, turning my head to look at Missy. "I got careless and almost cost us everything. You'd have to give me up to protect Avalon and I don't want you to have to."


"Hush," Theo squeezed. "We're not going to give you up, not for anything."


He gives the best hugs. I pressed against him. "You're not?"


"Wouldn't help even if they did," Missy responded. "Think about it. You've been part of this team for almost a year, now. You deserve the title of Endslayer just as much as anyone, because without you there would be no Enslayers. And no one would ever dare come after you here. The Triumvirate won't do it because they work for Cauldron, and we can prove it. They wouldn't dare come after us, especially since we're on the same side to get rid of Scion. Giving you up won't solve anything."


"They'd have to get through me and Missy if they wanted to hurt you," Theo added.


"And Amelia, and Taylor, and Victoria," Missy continued. "There's a whole planet between us and anyone who wants to take you from us. And even if we didn't have all of that to protect us, we'd just run away somewhere. With everything going on, we could always wait out the drama for a year or two and then we can come back and no one would ever make the connection."


"You mean that?" I asked, smiling. "You're not mad at me for being stupid."


"I'm hardly one to talk about doing something stupid," Missy shrugged. "That's why I don't have my powers right now, and even after I get them back you'll never let me within a mile of that stim drug again. Don't lie, I figured it out."


"Yeah, probably," I admitted. "I'm sorry."


"Don't be," she insisted. "Everyone makes mistakes and does something stupid that they regret. This is mine."


"Theo doesn't," I pointed out.


"Yes I do," he answered.


"Like what?" I asked, looking up at him. Missy didn't say anything, but I felt her tense slightly. Are these things he's shared with Missy before? It shouldn't surprise me that she'd know more about him than I do.


"So many things to do with my father," he admitted. "I should have stood up to him while he was alive. I could have revealed his identity to the public. I could, should, have poisoned him or slit his throat in his sleep. Potentially hundreds of people suffered for every day he was still alive."


"Oh, Theo," Missy muttered. "You can't blame yourself for that."


"Then Dream Girl," he added. "I had the chance to kill her. I knew what her powers were like. I let her live, and Zach paid the price for it. I know, it indirectly brought the three of us together. But now we have to wait and wonder if she'll ever come back. The way her power works, we may never know until it's too late."


"She'll never return," I told them. Lisa made me promise not to tell anyone. I didn't really care what Lisa thought.


"How do you know that?" Missy asked.


"She's dead," I answered. "I killed her, that's why she vanished."


"I'm sorry," Theo pulled me closer. "If I'd done my job, you never would have had to do that."


"It's nothing I haven't done before, many times over," I dismissed. I had something more important in mind. I couldn't even look them in the eyes as I asked. "How can you care about me, knowing all the horrible things I've done? I'm a monster."


"We don't see it that way," Missy responded. "You're sweet and kind and have done nothing but try to make us happy, even when you had to hurt yourself to do it. That's the definition of love right there. If we threw that in your face, we'd be the monsters."


"It's true," Theo responded. "We love you. That's what matters."


The words hit me hard enough that I thought my knees would buckle. Since this arrangement started, I'd heard Theo and Missy use the word with each other a few times, but neither of them said it to me, or vice versa. I looked up at him, and then over at Missy. I could barely see their faces for the tears in my eyes.


"I don't deserve this," I denied.


"That doesn't matter," Theo insisted. "You're pretty much stuck with it."


He kissed my forehead. That wasn't common, but it had happened a few times before. I loved every second of it as always.


I wasn't prepared for when Missy kissed my cheek. I turned my head toward her in surprise. She smiled softly, and then gave me a brief kiss on the lips. The same chaste sort of kiss she and Theo often shared, but my first kiss. I had imagined what it would be like, a few times.


Missy looked self conscious. "Sorry, I just... I won't do it again."


I leaned in and silenced her. She may have stolen my first kiss, but I gave her my second.


================


A/N- I swear to all things unholy that this was NOT the chapter I planned on writing this morning.

Sometimes my characters just tell me to fuck off while they do their own thing.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 309- Dinah


It's so boring around here, I sighed inwardly. Sure, I could hang out gaming with Zach. Or spend time with Lisa. But Zach was kinda weird. Funny at times, but 'always on' and not my kind of humor. As for Lisa? She was even more boring than doing nothing most of the time. Oh well, this is still better than watching my parents being so painfully awkward around me, and having to use my power every day to find out if someone was trying to kill me.


Besides, Avalon had the absolutely best food. And the school here was half parahumans, so no one pestered me about what it was like to have powers. I wouldn't mind being pestered more. There was a shifting below me as Typha noted my unhappiness. Her amazingly soft feathers ruffled around me, and a low vibration spread across my whole body as she purred. I smiled. I would die if I was ever forced to go back to a normal bed again in my life.


This dumb movie Zach told me I had to watch, on the other hand, was going to make me carve out my own eyes from sheer stupidity. The whole thing was narrated so, so badly. And something with a giant black slug monster that was so slow that its 'victims' had to force themselves to climb inside it to be 'eaten'. Note to self: offer a free question to whomever it is that can come up with the best revenge against him.


Maybe Trevor's not busy right now?


There was a knock on the door. I sat up and happily turned off the TV, resolving never to turn it on again until I deleted that movie from my hard drive. I hastily grabbed one of my books off the night stand and a bookmark to put about halfway in. "You may come in now," I spoke loudly at the door after a minute. I kept the book neatly in my lap.


The door opened, revealing Missy, and followed by Riley and Theo. They all looked a little worried, Riley looked almost like a puppy that had done something wrong. Oh, so they needed me for something.


"I hope we're not bothering you too much," Missy started.


"It's quite alright," I responded. Certainly beats what I was doing. "I presume you want to use one of my questions?" I didn't need to be a precog to see where this was going. I'd seen that look enough times before from people across the world. The look of someone who was afraid of the answer but more afraid of not knowing. This time it was actually a concern for me since these were people I lived with.


"Yeah," Theo agreed. "I'd like to know-"


"My idea, my question," Missy interrupted. Her ques-? Oh, right, the freebies I offered at the christmas party. They still think I'm going to charge them if they ask for more than just the one? Well, that's probably still a good thing.


"I've still a few in reserve," I confirmed. My power wasn't quite numerical like that, some questions drained more power than others. But unless they needed something huge and worldwide, I could afford a question or two and still be at full strength for Lisa in the morning. Ultimately that was always the primary concern, and every day we used more than half my power on what little I could do to see in Scion's wake.


"Well, a couple people may have realized Aceso is a Tinker," Missy informed me. "We're wondering the odds of it becoming public knowledge that she was Bonesaw. Let's just put a time limit on before Scion does his thing. I don't think anyone will be in a position to care after."


I dipped into my well of information intuitively. It was as natural as breathing, and I pulled the answer out almost instantly. "Seven point oh three nine percent that Riley's identity is discovered by the general public before the end of the world." I paused for a moment, this was odd. "But if it does happen, it doesn't seem to matter. Numbers don't change enough for it to be considered meaningful."


"How's that make sense?" Theo asked. "This would be a pretty big deal."


"That is not how my power works," I responded. It was true, after all. "It's really more Minerva's department for determining why a given outcome is likely under a given circumstance. My power merely tells me what the results should be. We could consult her, if you like. This is a significant enough number that she would appreciate if if she were able be prepared for the event ahead of time."


Missy glanced over at Riley. "It's probably a good idea."


"She'll figure it out anyway," Riley agreed. She walked over to Typha's head, kneeling down near the Gryphon and scratching her behind the ear. The purring intensified. Typha was more like a giant housecat than the jungle predator her form was modeled after. Her way of coping, I guess. It surprised me more than it should that the animal was so responsive to her attention. Normally Typha didn't like strangers. Of course, this girl was the one who created her, of course she wouldn't be a stranger to her.


I tapped out a short text asking for Lisa to call me in my room. A couple seconds later, the screen lit up. Lisa's eyes moved to the others in the room. "Ah, so they came to you first."


"You already know?" Theo asked.


"Your boyfriend snitched," Lisa smirked. "He has an incredibly stupid plan."


"It's brilliant!" A man's voice shouted from somewhere off screen.


"Sadly, it is," Lisa agreed. "Par for the course with Zach's plans."


"I'm going to release a bunch of conspiracy theories online proving that we're all members of the Slaughterhouse Nine!" He declared in the background. "Crystal's actually Burnscar. I'm Crawler. Theo, you get to be Shatterbird. Missy's really Cherish. Lisa's Jack Slash. Amelia used her powers to turn everyone's brains into bugs that Taylor can control and give us cosmetic surgery."


"Zach, that's idiotic," Theo retorted. "None of that even makes sense. Everyone knows who Crystal is, she and Lachesis have been heroes for years. Also, everyone knows how most of our powers work, at least in the basics. There's clearly no way in hell we could pretend to be them."


"That's what makes it brilliant!" Zach argued. "Everyone knows it's all stupid as hell, so they'll ignore the parts that actually make sense. By the time anyone starts trying to connect dots, no intelligent person would ever dare admit it. It's how the government covers up their real secret experiments by forging documents of really silly ones and giving them to crazy people. It's exactly stupid enough to work!"


"That... that..." Theo stuttered. "Dinah, I have to know. I'm burning my question on this, but is that going to work?"


"Ninety seven percent chance that if that plan is implemented, the significant majority of individuals will not believe it if Riley's identity is revealed," I answered. "I... guess that means it works."


"But that doesn't even make sense!" Theo argued. "I mean, maybe it'd be a smoke blind for a bit, but that's all."


"Maybe if there was usable evidence," Lisa responded. "But there's no possible way to prove Clarice is connected to Bonesaw. She has a history, constructed before the destruction of Brockton Bay, that we can show. She no longer even vaguely resembles her old self, except in gender. Thanks to the retroviral treatments she's been taking, she's now a genetically provable half sister to Amelia. Of course, everyone knows that such tech isn't exactly out of our reach, so I doubt they'd bother with that as evidence. If this were brought to trial, no jury on Bet could convict her. Except maybe China, because they're assholes."


"So it really doesn't matter?" Riley asked, looking up from her position using my pet for comfort.


"I wouldn't say that," Lisa responded. "It could cost us a lot of progress. We will not be going public with who you were. Conspiracy bullshit is fine. Then if anyone ever asks the question we can laugh at it and ignore the person who asked without trouble. But we can't risk people actually believing it. You're Clarice, now."


"I'm Clarice, now," she agreed, smiling. "I like that."


"Good," Lisa responded.


"Hey, while we're all still here," Zach spoke up. "I'd like to remind you that this just proves how deserving I am of the title-"


"No, Zach, your title cannot be the Grand Web Poobah," Lisa interrupted. "Nor can it be Imperial Wizard or Super Kami Guru."


"That's w-w-wizard," Zach corrected. "You have to pronounce it right or it loses its effect, High Emissary."


"Actually, the correct pronunciation is 'never going to happen, Zach'," Lisa countered.


"Hey, you guys back me up," he insisted. "I've earned this and you know it."


"It's a bad plan," I responded. "Do you need the exact numbers?" That's for making me watch that horrible movie, jerk.


==================


A/N- My girlfriend promises snickerdoodles for anyone who figures out the movie being referenced.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 310- Elena


"You don't intend to protect your homeland?" The middle aged African woman asked. She hadn't given me her name, simply asking me to call her 'doctor', and she asked me to lie about mine. She wasn't using my language, that much was obvious, but she had some kind of technology that allowed her to understand me easily. My broken English wasn't quite good enough to communicate naturally, so we relied on this.


"Romania is dying," I stated to the doctor. It was a fact. "Even if I were to gain a power like Eidolon or Atropos, I would not be able to protect it from the jackals at the door and the rot from within. Our leaders have chosen to focus all their resources on retreating from this world to behind the portal, with the hope of a better life. Our nation has chosen to abandon this world."


"But not you?"


"I have a debt of honor to repay," I responded. "Pantheon has proven the Endbringers can be destroyed. I need the power to make that happen. I will see the rest of them dead, or die trying. There can be no future where both of us still live."


"You understand there's no guarantee," she responded. "The kind of power needed to kill Endbringers has proven exceedingly rare, there is little chance you'll gain a power that can destroy them. Help others achieve the goal, perhaps, but not be the hand that does the deed. In addition, the formula itself is not without risks, and one of those risks is that nothing will happen."


"Or I get mutated into a horrible freak," I responded. "Or both. Those are the breaks." If it doesn't work, I will be taking my own life by the end of the attempt. I didn't bother stating that part out loud.


"We might have a method to improve your chances," the doctor added. "It's a new process, higher risk of mutation, but a much greater reward for the experience."


"And more expensive, I presume," I stated. The woman reminded me all too much of the filthy drug peddlers and con artists. Of politicians and the degenerate culture pushed on us by America and western Europe. The money didn't matter so much to me. It was stolen, first by Lup, and then by his employees and slaves after he was killed by Tohu and Bohu. The twelve million dollars I'd gotten away with weren't worth the hell I went through. What I was spending it on might be.


"After a fashion," she responded. "But it won't cost you additional money. Merely a service you must perform. We will provide you with some reading material. It will essentially be a technical manual, and you will be expected to memorize it and pass tests asking details about that information."


"Why would you want me to do that?" I asked. Passing a test? Is this like some kind of parahuman driver's ed class?


"Does it matter?"


"I suppose not," I admitted. If it gives me better odds, I can live with their odd requests.


"Afterward, there will be a series of tests medical tests," she continued. "And you will be given a pre treatment drug to take on a schedule to be assigned to you by the doctors who do your examination. These will be done by Tinkers, so don't expect to be able to comprehend the process. You merely have to cooperate with them and follow their instructions to the letter. The tests are for our scientific benefit, while the treatment will help optimize your body for the serum, where you will gain your powers."


I frowned. I didn't like the idea of unknown doctors doing unknown things. But, then, I was planning to purchase a test tube full of a mysterious liquid that was possibly going to give me super powers. They can just as easily make that a poison and then dump my corpse in a ditch somewhere. "I can agree to that," I finally accepted the request.


"And last," she continued. "You will be brought to a secret location, with others like yourself that intend to gain powers and are cooperating with this process. It has been hypothesized that powers gained while in the presence of other parahumans tend to be stronger and more effective, with fewer surprise side effects. This will be the first truly large scale testing of that process. It will be heavily monitored, of course, for our purposes."


"So you do this for the science?" I asked. "I imagine there is more to it."


"Considerably more," Doctor agreed. "But all of that is of our concern, not yours. All you need to know is there are wealthy and powerful individuals who are interested in the success of this project. Your participation benefits them as well as yourself, but it is voluntary and you will not be punished for refusing. However, so we are clear, there is a lot to lose if this becomes known to others. You swore to secrecy before we agreed to meet, and that extends to this special project. Whether you participate or not, you will never speak of this. We will silence you if you force us to."


The threat was unnecessary. I already knew my answer the moment she described it as giving better odds, I just wanted more information. "I'm willing to participate," I finally spoke the decision I'd made minutes ago. "The whole nine yards, sign me up."


"Understand you may have to wait longer than you otherwise would have," she added. "We must have a critical mass of volunteers for this special process before we perform it, as well as the necessary drugs that must be customized specifically to your genetics. And the same process must be done for all of the other participants. Good things are worth waiting for, yes?"


I nodded. I can afford to be patient.


....


"This is a brain scanning device," the man informed me, showing me to a chair, surrounded by a metal shell and several instruments I couldn't pretend to understand. It looked like some science fiction reimagining of medieval torture technology. "It will allow us to map your mind, to prevent memory loss if you happen to mutate the way others have."


"The monster capes," I confirmed, slowly climbing into the machine.


"Quite correct," he nodded. "Although they prefer not to be known as that. Call them Case 53s, if you would. It'll make your future career as a cape much more pleasant for everyone involved, including yourself."


"Okay," I agreed. So much to know. I still wasn't sure what half the stuff I read in that book actually meant. Descriptions of Trigger Visions, the nature of Power Interactions, a dozen other things that reminded me of the most boring of my highschool biology class. Even some strange video of floating lights dancing in a bizarre pattern. Being told that the source of powers was some kind of weird alien parasite. I wasn't sure I believes half of what was described in those hand written notes, but the Doctor assured me I didn't to believe or understand any of it, just that I needed to memorize it.


"While we are here, your information says that you speak partial English?"


"Very little," I admitted. I only answered that question as a yes at all because they said partial was acceptable.


"That's fine," he replied. "If anything, it helps. This technology can be used to copy information, upload or download knowledge like you might do to a computer program. If you like, we can give you knowledge to speak perfect English or several other languages. We would like to, essentially, purchase your ability to speak Romanian in exchange. It's one of a number we don't yet have."


"Why not?" I asked.


"I don't mean to be insensitive, but Romanian isn't exactly high on our priority list," he answered. "You won't lose any memories in the process. The tech doesn't have the ability to delete knowledge from your brain, merely duplicate."


Pity, I could use a good memory deletion or two. But a new language, just like that? "Okay," I agreed. "Can I get French as well? German or Arabic if you have them?"


"Absolutely, I can set you for all four of them. Plus Japanese. Trust me, there's a good chance you'll find that one useful," he agreed quickly enough that I almost felt cheated. "Now just lay back and silently read the screen. It'll speed the mapping process."


....


My cell phone beeped at me. Who calls at three in the morning? I looked at the phone. Somehow, the ID that normally showed the calling number instead read. 'It's time, ten minutes'.


I was instantly awake and ready in minutes. I didn't bother cleaning up more than a quick comb of my hair and use of the toilet. What I wasn't prepared for is a panel to be cut out of the small apartment my refugee support status was supplying. It wouldn't last, I'd be expected to either find a job where there were none, or join a colony where I'd be little more than a cow for breeding. I wasn't considered 'valuable' enough for anything more.


A gray cowled man handed me a blue cowl the moment I was through. "You will be expected to wear this. Many clients, as well as parahumans who wish to keep their involvement secret, will be at this meeting. Do nothing to compromise their privacy."


"I understand," I responded, slowly taking the costume and gritting my teeth as I put it over my head.


The drug they told me to take once a day for the last three weeks had left me sore and stiff all over. Every four days or so so I'd think I was getting used to it, that I was recovering, and then the pain started all over again. I was warned about that side effect, warned that if I stopped before the treatment was complete, it would be impossible for it to ever work on me again. I endured the pain, like I endured many other things in my life. I earned this.


The room he lead me to was dark, and looked impossibly empty and large. There were many of us standing there. Most had started gathering together based on the colored cowl they wore, but no one spoke. We were all here for our own reasons, and all afraid of doing something that might get us remove now, mere moments before months of effort and pain were going to pay off. No one would dare risk doing something wrong now. Or maybe I was simply projecting.


I noted there were fewer blue cowls than any other color, merely ten of us. The greens had more, perhaps twenty. Then yellow, with probably thirty. Then orange and red with the most, more than I could quickly count. I guessed the colors meant something to those in control of the experiment, but I couldn't know.


Near the front was a series of what looked like recliner chairs made of foam rubber, with indents that you could lean into and not be seen from the sides.


Around the outsides of that collection of chairs sat over a dozen others, all wearing black cowls. They were already in machines similar to the one I sat in when they gave me my new languages. The exception being one child, watching the proceeding with interest. She was neither in a chair, nor wearing a cowl. Near her stood three specters in ghostly costumes. A number of others in gray cowls were near her, waiting on her nervously, in a way that bordered on groveling. I didn't know her significance, but she was clearly important for their purposes.


The woman I knew as Doctor came out from one of the entrances to the dark room. I got a glimpse of a sterile white hall beyond, before the passage closed shut. I couldn't tell the difference between it and the others I'd seen since beginning this thing. "Those wearing blue, come forward," she instructed.


I walked toward her, stopping where a number of gray cowled individuals waited. They didn't ask our names, simply pointed a device that resembled the scanner at a grocery store at us. I waited nervously as they handed each of us a vial, each with a series of letters and numbers printed on the side. Judging by the care they took in reading the lettering, they wanted to make absolutely certain they didn't mix up any vials.


More things I didn't understand, and didn't care about. I held it in my hand. The thing that would make my life worthwhile. "Please, sit in one of the chairs," the gray cowled person instructed. His or her voice was distorted by some device that made it impossible for me to guess anything about them. "And please, don't take the vial until you receive further instructions." I followed the instructions. I had no reason not to, after all.


"I recommend you shake the vial," the Doctor. "It's not essential, but will speed the process. Drink it all as quickly as you possibly can, and be prepared for it to taste extremely unpleasant. Failure to drink the entire vial could possibly result in powers that don't bond with you correctly. If that happens, you might receive dangerous and uncontrollable powers, and we could be forced to kill you to protect ourselves and everyone else in this room. You are still allowed to back out now, if you wish. If not, please take your given vials now."


She already knew none of us would back down, not after everything we'd already done to be here. I popped the cork and chugged the mess as quickly as possible. She was right, it tasted horrible. Like vomit and blood and dirt. While we waited, the green cowls were receiving their vials and finding places to sit. I quickly stopped caring, too busy biting down to keep from screaming at the pain.


============


A/N- Clearly, Riley and Cauldron have been busy behind the scenes.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 311- Lisa


"Good afternoon," Alexandria nodded to me. Neutral expression. Monitored. Convinced Doctor Mother to let her lead the conversation. Unnecessary. Wanted an opportunity to see me. Not business related, simply enjoys my company.


Got you, I smiled, and her body language stiffened slightly. You are so very gotten. "Still technically morning for me," I answered. My casual approach to conversation was (in)famous, and would raise exactly no alarms to anyone trying to analyze me.


"Yet I've had time to examine the preliminary reports. Our Tinkers are still cataloguing everything, and comparing them to the notes we were provided. I'm afraid I can only give you initial impressions at this point. We'll need to have a followup conversation in, say, a week? Plus a few more days if the next Endbringer attacks earlier than expected."


"Understandable," she agreed. "We wouldn't want to risk flawed results by trying to rush the process."


Embarrassed by the slip, worried I might be a stronger Thinker than she is, worried that I've picked up more embarrassing details. I kept smiling. She's not wrong, I certainly have figured out a few amusing little tidbits, and even an idea of some of the darker things she's done and is ashamed of doing. I met her eyes, or where they would be behind her visor. Don't worry, I still consider you a friend. "Thank you for understanding," I spoke. There was a second meaning in the phrase for the pair of us.


She relaxed notably at that. To us, at least. I continued speaking. "We're seeing a statistically unusual number of both Breakers and Tinkers, as well as the expected variety of grab-bag capes. With a sample size of only a hundred and fifty nine, and the inherent unpredictability of the serums, we can hardly call it definitive. But there does appear to be at least some pattern. Whether a result of the experiment process, or a bias caused by the recruitment process, we can't be certain. My powers indicate that it's likely a combination of both. Tinker from the psych, breaker from the treatment."


"That's very good news, regardless," Alexandria agreed. "Tinkers are the most valuable capes in the long run. Breaker states tend to be popular amongst the standard customer base, for various reasons. We should have an easier time collecting volunteers for the next wave with these results."


"We're also seeing an average of one and a quarter greater rankings than predicted for the stable formulas. Or in the grab bag cases, multiple powers each averaging approximately what is normally predicted for them to get with merely one power. And there are far fewer mutations for the unstable," I added. As was the case with Emma in both regards. Her mutations were far less severe than expected, the recipe she took should have pumped out a crystalline version of Mush. She was expecting a six ranked power, she got a total of five of them, plus several others in the two to three range, plus temporarily being an easy eight.


"Even the worst case scenarios, the results have been extremely generous compared to your projections," I finished. "Our Tinkers believe it the equivalent of having a second Trigger event."


She nodded. That was the sort of thing they could lead with, and we all knew it. Versatile powersets were easier for them to sell than high level power sets. If only because the big numbers usually came with big risks. I tilted my head slightly, an apology for making this all about business. She tensed her right hand in what might be interpreted as a handshake or, extending the logic of it to feminine culture, a hug.


"Cause currently unknown, but it may prove valuable in future knowledge of how exactly Passengers function," I added hastily, breaking that line of interpretation for fear of doing something humiliating on monitor, like blush. Alexandria's mouth twitched slightly, the impression of a smile. She got to me and she knows it. "We're still trying to analyze the dimensional readings of the Passengers connecting to their hosts. We might be able to use that to track them to their home dimensions."


"Potentially game changing," Alexandria agreed. "Speaking of, one of our agents managed to record a Second Trigger on our instrument sets." Unhappy with that statement. No sense of guilt, but a sense of disgust. Second Triggers are always horrific. Was... inflicted? Offered? Done to someone who volunteered for the process. Likely as a means to improve what they saw as a lackluster ability.


"That's going to be useful," I stated. "I trust we'll be given the data when we provide our more in depth reports on the experiments."


"Of course," Alexandria agreed. "Wouldn't want to provide it too soon. I know how Tinkers can be." Hint of sadness. Sense of loneliness. Lost someone close. A friend that was a Tinker. Hero.


"Continuing the preliminary report... of the initial batch, only twenty one managed to breach the Taboo," I chose to turn the subject back to business and I could see her gratitude for giving her that much privacy. "Curiously, every case is one that no longer requires sleep as a natural part of their biology, and all are Thinkers or Tinkers of some variety. I assure you, our people are very interested in this phenomena as a whole. Pantheon is already taking the steps necessary to recruit all of them."


I looked at her. Knows Doctor Mother would be displeased with this. Cauldron interested in having anti-Taboo capacity of their own. I took a deeper breath than average by approximately ten percent, a signal of permission for her to negotiate. She paused slightly longer than she needed to, suggesting she would take a circuitous route. I breathed out a little faster than normal, letting her know to go for it.


"That might be risky for your organization," she suggested. Ah, that approach. Excellent choice. "Surely, with that many new Thinkers and Tinkers, all able to discuss the Taboo despite the supposed rarity of such, they'll likely begin to suspect your involvement in the process of creating them. A rather serious security risk."


"You have a good point," I agreed. She honestly did, too. One I'd already prepared for, but still. "We're planning on using our contacts with Toybox and Dragon to absorb a number of them, with exception to a few of the more promising." I almost stumbled the last few words as my power hit me. Notably reacted to Dragon's name. Knows something significant about Dragon. Has special confidence regarding the Tinker. Dragon's been compromised. And now she knows I know.


"I see," she responded. Concerned about how much I'll be able to figure out. How I'll react, if I'll be angry. Knows I'll be angry. At her, not Dragon. Dragon's not responsible. Dragon doesn't even know about it. Compromised via parahuman means. Master/Stranger effect. Fuck, now I actually am pissed. Dragon's one of the few legitimately good people I've ever met. She deserves better. "That's a good plan. Still, there's a significant number of them. Perhaps we should consider absorbing a few as well? Distribute them amongst a few key Protectorate locations. Encourage cooperation."


Encourage Cooperation. Wants there to be a peacible resolution. Believes there can be. Doesn't believe they've done anything that even Amelia or Taylor would find objectionable. Have yet to leverage their control on Dragon. Recently acquired? Relatively recent acquisition at least. Hopes for acceptance.


"We could swing that," I agreed. "There are three we're most interested in. At the very least the power copying Tinker is essential for our anti-Endbringer and likely anti-Scion purposes." It's true, we need her. The ability to achieve actual, honest to goodness, copies of powers and install them into equipment was something every group would want. Granted, it came with enough limitations that she couldn't just win the game for us, but she was hugely valuable for a team built around power synergy.


I'm willing to discuss the issue with Dragon, but you know we can't compromise when it comes to her wellbeing. If I think you're going to hurt her, I will tell the others, and you will be our enemy. You know you need us too much to negotiate on this. Don't let that happen. That last part probably looked more like pleading than negotiation, but I didn't care enough to try to censor my thoughts. It wouldn't have worked on her anyway.


"We'll want the manufacturing Tinker," Alexandria responded. He was another big one. I almost cringed at the idea of losing him. We could have fully modernized Japan's colonial territories within a year with his specialty. "Through Dragon, you already have Masamune, who has equivalent or better abilities for anti-Scion purposes. We're hoping he can improve our serum production. We can use him better." Doesn't want to hurt Dragon. Sees her as essential against Scion. Also potentially dangerous, even greater an S-Class threat than Pantheon. Alien, nonhuman, never human. She's an artificial lifeform. That's why Rapture's and I have such trouble reading her.


"Understandable," I agreed. "We can worry about building our world after we ensure survival." Be that as it may, Dragon's a friend and strong ally. The hold you have on her has to be surrendered. That is possible, right?


"We feel the one with solid hologram technology is best placed in the Protectorate," Alexandria continued. "The potential for improved training methods for capes, and large scale disposable minions and forcefield effects is valuable on a number of levels that they can make better use of than you can. If only because you have better versions of the majority already available to you. And he's of little direct use to us."


Is possible. Simplistic, even. Has a key, metaphorical. Perhaps Dragon's source code? I didn't know enough about computers to know what the 'key' could be called, my power filled in the concept, but not the terminology. Could provide directly to Dragon. Is dangerous. Dragon unable to use. Taboo. Anyone who has it could use it to hurt her.


"You're right," I agreed. "Although I imagine Dragon might disagree. That tech could help her immensely." If you're right, then we can give it to people Dragon trusts. Emma's capable of reverse engineering Tinker Tech, and Defiant loves her more than anything. The pair of them could watch each other and prevent possible harm coming to her. Given a little time, we could even find ways to improve her. She can be the secret to fighting Scion.


"Dragon already works closely with the Protectorate," Alexandria responded. "She did as a Canadian citizen, she does even as an Avalon citizen, although she is admittedly less trusted. We can... find ways to convince the PRT that she can be trusted just as much as always. After all, Pantheon's been a significant boon to them. We can call some of the favors a number of our clients used as partial payment. Have them imply reluctance. Interest in, perhaps, joining Avalon to work with Dragon and possibly help with Endslayer technology. If we're subtle, it will look natural."


Agreeing to request. Asking for time to buy a subtle method to put the key in Pantheon's hands, or something with similar results. Also needs to convince her co-conspirators to participate in this plan. Is unsure how to do so, they rely on a Thinker that's stronger than her. "I suggest you consult Dinah on the issue," I offered. Is Cauldron's Thinker strongr than Dinah? Alexandria hesitated slightly. Unsure, possible that Dinah's stronger, hard to estimate.


The idea of another out there with a power equivalent to Dinah was sobering. The girl's power was absurd even at the level Pantheon operated on. "She's a consummate professional, and she can easily find out if I tried to use my various methods to spy on her business. Throw every lie detection you have at me, I swear that Dinah's support is too valuable for me to risk for anything."


"You're telling the truth," Alexandria spoke. Agreeing to idea, can convince Cauldron as a whole to harness Dinah. Will likely take it slow to see if anything comes back to me. Once secure in the idea, will move forward with more aggressive or incriminating questions, Dragon's key being one of them. Grateful that I'm willing to treat this patiently instead of immediate demands.


"She also offers significant discounts for the purposes of questions that can help improve our odds against Scion, whether to prevent or mitigate," I volunteered. "Advances of technology should qualify, I believe. After all, we have no way of knowing what will result in our ultimate success, but we can rest assured that the more knowledge we have access to, the better our odds of finding that one key component. Speaking of which, how did our special guest enjoy the proceedings?"


"She found them, in her words, 'paltry, but adequate'," Alexandria responded. "We've been constantly assuring her that this was merely the first of many. That, coupled with the promise of recordings of all the anti-Taboo witnesses like yourself and Amelia, has mostly placated her. We're making certain to record every word she tells us, and will provide you a copy."


Is apologetic for the mess. Unhappy that I had to find out about it this way, instead of a more honest conversation. Wishes it didn't have to be like this, hates all the secrecy. Wishes that it was possible to have actual trust.


"I'll take what you can give," I told her. She knew what I meant.


================


A/N- I both love and hate Alexandria/Lisa chapters. They're a pain in the ass. Kinda like PHO chapters. Difference is, chapters like this are worth the effort.

Also: commentary has been waaay down recently. How the hell did I get three chapters on the same page?

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 312- Victoria


I backflipped away as a surge of ice sprouted under my feet. With an idle thought, I wondered what it felt like for Taylor and Amelia, having chunks of their extended bodies ripped apart like that. Another burst shot up behind me, and I reluctantly hit the shields. A quick glance confirmed my armor was down to less than thirty percent of its maximum reserves. I need to talk to Emma about more battery power in the suit, it just doesn't cut it in a four on one battle like this.


A blade punched through the ice, straight toward me. I evaded only thanks to my danger sense, dropping toward the ground. Ancile was tough, but it wasn't the kind of tough needed to beat Caliburn. At full charge and shields, I could take a couple direct hits. This was nowhere near full charge or full shields. Another ice wall formed to my side. They're trying to hem me in.


I dived down. Yggdrasil was mostly soft plantlife. I set my shields to cutting, which cost me more of what precious power I had left, and the plant mass splashed around me. Then I looked up from my safe position below. Streamer, so named for his Sabah-esque telekinesis that he used to control and reinforce ribbons of cloth, was dumb enough to be on the ground. Rookie mistake, he should know better. I didn't even have to leave my safe place, simply tapping his foot from below and hitting him with a stun-taze. Maybe if he had one of our armors, he'd be okay. Oh well, sucks to be him.


That's when I realized the mistake. The ground around me started to freeze before he even began collapsing. I leapt out, burning yet more of Ancile's dwindling reserves. Another slash from Caliburn, this one too close and quick for me to dodge. I instead paried with Harpe. The immovable against the unstoppable, and in this case immovable won the contest. Twenty five percent power remaining. Another wall of ice started forming. Doesn't she know she can't build them as fast as I can get out of the area? It's not even an effective de-.


Oh fuck! The ice exploded into destructive shrapnel as Richter blasted it full on, a wall too thick to avoid. Are they insane? Streamer can't take that kind of punishment! A quick glance let me know he didn't have to. I wasn't sure where he vanished to or how, but I was the only one left in the line of fire.


I evaded most and deflected some with Harpe and Ancile, but it took so much of my focus that I didn't even sense Caliburn until it passed through my ribs. A few chunks of ice hammered the point home, before the rest splintered into what was essentially sleet.


The sword vanished from its position inside me, and I dropped to the ground. I fell, landing on hands and knees. The splash of deep red on the blue green of the Yggdrasil made for freakin' awesome theatrics.


"Vicky!" Chevalier exclaimed, rushing up to me. I smiled. Totes worked. He knelt beside me and put his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I thought you'd be avoid that and just take some hits from the ice. I didn't think I-"


"Y'know, Chevy," I teased, my voice low and sultry. "If you wanted to stick your sword inside me, you could have asked."


His worry vanished, replaced by a bit of annoyance. "She's fine, guys," he shouted to the others as he stood. He didn't take his hand off my shoulder as he helped me up with the other hand. Ever the gentleman, and one of my favorite things about him. Funny guys like Zach were nice to joke around with and all, but nothing got to me like being treated like a lady.


I leaned up against him a moment after I stood, I could blame it on the injury. Chevalier's annoyance was quickly eroded against relief that I was fine, and a light undercurrent of his attraction.


"You guys got me," I admitted, reluctantly removing myself from contact with the only hetero guy I apparenty couldn't seduce. I looked at Rime, and once again wondered what the story was between her and Chevalier. The way they regarded each other was like they were siblings, but there was no genetic connection between them. That didn't rule out adoption, of course, but I never could figure out that link. If only because Rime did not like me very much.


"We were trying to overwhelm your danger sense," Chevalier informed me. "Keep hitting you with just enough force that you were forced on the defensive, and wear you down slowly. I guess it worked."


"What really got me was using Streamer as bait," I responded, as my helmet folded back so I could speak without the damn suit in the way. It had its perks, but my face was just too pretty to be covered when it didn't need to be. "That was just ruthless. Where'd he go, anyway?"


"His idea," Chevalier replied. "He slaved his shunt drive over to my controls. He'll be sleeping it off somehwere at the bottom of the Delaware. His armor can handle that much, even if it's just a base armor system."


"It's probably cheating," Richter admitted. He was further out than the others, but even the generic suits have really good hearing. "I mean, this was supposed to be a powers on powers fight, not an exploiting the equipment fight."


"Fuck that noise," I smiled. "You saw an advantage, you used that advantage, and you kicked my ass with it. If the positions were reversed, I'd have done the exact same thing and then laughed at you."


"Uh... why didn't you?" Chevalier asked. "You have the same shunt option, only better for the way your armor harnesses your powers."


"I wanted to win," I responded. "If I run, I lose by default. Maybe if we were playing for keeps, but-" the Endbringer alarm beeped. "Well, crapperjacks. Fun and games are over, let's fish Streamer out of the river and see if all our training pays off."


I knew it had for me, and Chevalier. Rime as well. She'd gotten amazingly good at putting together ice traps, and whatever she did to allow her ice to splinter so easily for Richter, instead of just soaking the blast, was a whole new trick I'd never seen before. She was definitely ready. She just looked at me as if to say 'you're not the one giving the orders' for a second, then turned and headed back to the geoanalogue for their PHQ.


"I'll just stay on this side for now," I offered, looking toward Chevalier. I tapped the side of my armor, where his sword had punched right through it. It was already healing, and had already cleaned off the blood, but I wasn't at a hundred percent by any stretch, and my costume certainly wasn't ready. The practice fight had gotten a bit more heated than it was supposed to. Probably my fault, constantly telling them not to worry about hurting me so much.


"Sorry about that," he frowned. "I didn't mean to hurt you."


I shrugged, and then offered a coy smile. "Hey, I'm a big girl. I can take a good impalement, you just gotta give me a few minutes to catch my breath afterward."


He just shook his head and started jogging to catch up to Rime, giving me a good view of his back. Won't be that much longer now, I can smell it. Literally, my sense of smell was really good about figuring things like that out. Speaking of which. I looked over at Richter. "Hey, you need written permission to use that mental image."


"You're God's way of telling me I should have gone to college, aren't you?"


"It's never too late," I remarked back. "If you ask nice, I'll even be your wing chick. Cute girls like guys who are friends with other cute girls. At least until you're their boyfriend, then you won't be allowed to look at anything female and remotely mammalian."


"Good to know," he responded. "I'd better go now."


He's not bad, I decided. Hmm, I wonder if Crystal's thinking about getting back into the dating scene. Ever since the noodle incident with Triumph, she's been pretty dead set on becoming a crazy cat lady in her old age. Yeah, I bet they'd go great together.


....


"Ladies and Gentlemen," Janus announced. "Welcome to Paris. I wish we could be here under better circumstances."


I fought a wave of nausea, not from Eric's power, but from the effects of the Thanda member that ripped reality apart bringing hundreds of Zerg with us. Next to me, Chevalier staggered, and several of the others that I knew had special senses, like Emma and that newbie tinker they picked up out of that weird mass trigger experiment they made me attend. I almost laughed when Lisa tumbled back and had to be caught by Rey. It was subtle, she recovered quickly. Likely only a handful even noticed at all.


Amongst that handful was Alexandria, whose dim emotional responses indicated a protective, almost motherly, reaction. A desire to be the one who was there to catch her. Oh god, I am going to tease them both mercilessly until we all die of old age. No. Better. I am going to tell Taylor and Amelia and Zach. That way I can spend all my efforts on Alexandria. That's what she gets for not letting me bust that jackass Director in Indiana.


I stayed where I was, and we let the groups divide themselves. Lily landed next to me, as did Sveta and Genius Loci. "Long time no see," I said to them. "That's a new look for you, GL. So much better than the Tin Man cosplay."


It really was, too. His 'body' for this was semi humanoid, made up of floating fragments of glowing silver. There were gaps in it that I could see through, dancing along, as if following a pattern- I shook my head. "So it works on you?" he asked. "Hecate and Yum Kaax told me it would have anti-precog abilities. I don't know how that works, but I guess that means they were right."


"Yeah, worked on me," I confirmed. "So you planning to be the next Endslayer?"


"That's the plan," he responded. "Why I'm up here with you pillars of badass."


The Triumvirate had landed nearby, next to Chevalier, while I was distracted by GL's equipment. Rosary and Shaman joined us as well after another minute. GL was right, we did have a special status. We stood in the front position, amongst the swarms of zerg and armor suits. We were the heavy hitters, the Endslayers, and others that could meet these monsters head on and walk away. If not necessarily intact, then at least still breathing. I looked down at Harpe.


"Strategy's straightforward," Alexandria instructed us. "The potential Endslayers hang back for the first couple minutes, let the heavy hitters and the disposable monsters lead the first wave. Minerva will give instructions as to when and how to utilize the Endslayers on the field. Our goals are to force the new Endbringer to reveal its abilities, and then delay it long enough to kill it. Is that understood?"


"I'll take front point," I volunteered. "My senses have... some... value in the frontline fight, and I have an Endslayer grade weapon immediately available if I get the chance."


"Take point, fine," Alexandria agreed. "But that weapon's supposed to be the last resort. Don't use it without permission."


"Gotcha, sis," I responded, smiling at her. Amy's my sister, who's fiancée to Taylor, who's pretty much a sister to Lisa, who we both know you're pedo for. My powers told me the exact moment she figured out what I meant.


She said nothing and turned back toward the point we anticipated the Endbringer appearing.


==================


A/N- Vicky chapters are fun.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 313- Lily


"It's time," Chevalier spoke over the coms. "You know your jobs, take your positions and may God be with you."


I wonder if he believes that stuff. At least it wasn't one of those long winded speeches. Everyone here was either a top tier fighter that had done this before, or was going to hold back for specific instruction. I'd been to a handful of Endbringer fights before Pantheon, and in retrospect they were shameful. There was no discipline, there was no order, and there was no plan. Just a bunch of people thrown into a meat grinder and told to try not to die. It was nothing short of a miracle that anyone ever survived one.


Now we fought like an army. Disciplined, regimented, and following orders. Less than fifty capes were here. Of those, less than half would be out there fighting. The others were intel and planning, or sometimes merely emotional support. Entire teams had come here solely to watch those of us who could make a difference in this fight do so, and then be there for search and rescue or medical.


We shunted over within seconds of each other. On the front lines, Victoria, Alexandria, Sveta and Zach. The blasters, myself included, took to the air. I was alongside Legend, Eidolon, Crystal, a couple other members of Crystal's team I didn't know. I couldn't help but take a glance at Sabah. I still loved her, despite doing everything I could to come to terms with the idea that we just weren't healthy for each other. I hoped it wasn't just my imagination that she looked my way.


Further back were the others. Shaman and Rosary, that GL guy who was supposed to be another possible Endslayer. Chevalier stood in that group, coordinating the local capes who didn't have the benefit of our training and preparedness. Mostly he would just be telling them to fall back unless they were top tier capes, and sorting the blasters in with us. A dozen or so local capes ended up flying around with us.


The Endbringer materialized out of nowhere, and it easily ranked at the top of the 'hideous' meter. A tarantula-like thing that stood about ten feet tall, but its limbs extended out far further than that. It was hairless composed of a reddish brown material that even from here looked somehow sticky. As it scuttled along, it left behind pools of the red liquid oozing across the pavement. Okay, if the Endbringers all rely on someone's symbolic mindset, what the fuck were they smoking when they came up with this atrocity?


"I can sense this one," Vicky spoke over the Pantheon issued coms, instead of Dragon's offered armbands. "That's... blood. That thing is literally made out of human blood. Either it's got some really weird stranger power, or it's just really weird."


"Might be some kind of biokinetic," Lisa responded. "Blasters only. Only let the Gargants get close."


"Disposable minions," Zach spoke over the com. "If they don't solve your problem, you aren't using enough of them."


Three gargants shunted over more or less on top of the blood monster, splashing into it. That's not a misnomer, they slammed into the thing and it exploded into a shower of gore that painted itself across the walls of the nearby buildings.


"Not dead!" Vicky informed as it started to pull itself together. "Maybe it's like Wendigo and decentralized?" She flew above the mess and started firing down. A torrent of superheated laser light. Legend put his support into the mix, and soon the other blasters had joined in, except for Sabah and I. We waited and watched. Our particular attacks were more reliant on having a good, solid, target to tear into. Decentralized stuff didn't work for us.


"We... killed it?" Vicky asked. "I'm not sensing any more blood. There's no way this is it. There has to be more."


"The Endbringer signature is still active," Dragon announced over the coms. "I am not detecting any active interference."


A moment later, another monster appeared. This one a large fishlike creature that manifested above the blasters that had moved to attack the blood spider. It exhaled a stream of energy that resembled the Frost Lance weapon down upon the defenders. Several shunted automatically, saved by the emergency protocols built into the armor.


I briefly looked away, but I couldn't block the memory of those that didn't have the suits. The home defenders who weren't ready, shattered into fragments of ice by the Endbringer's power. I opened fire, shredding the thing. It managed to engulf one of the more durable capes with one of its mouths, and I stopped shooting it, for fear of hitting the still living victim.


Alexandria charged in, grabbing the monster's side and pulling, enlarging one of the wounds I'd created. She fought her way inside the creature, likely trying to rescue the consumed cape.


On the ground, another monster appeared. This one strongly resembled a human skeleton made of liquid flame, and the pavement melted beneath its feet. One of the gargants collided with it and slammed it to the ground. The creature was hot enough to burn the gargant. Eidolon targeted that one, and the fires cooled to nothing. The Gargant was also destroyed in the attack.


Zach and his special suicide raptor flew past me and collided with something off to my side. A third monster that resembled a mythological harpy. He activated his suicide device, and the area blossomed with a low range nanothorn cloud. I was already flying back, but was too close. I channeled my power through my armor, granting myself immunity to damage.


"Detecting multiple dimensional rifts across the city," Dragon announced. "Theorizing the Endbringer itself is accessing the city from a separate dimension, and sending these monsters through to fight by proxy. Methods believed to be acquired from Pantheon combat strategy. Classifying them as Brute eight, with potential Striker, mover and blaster subclassifications."


They outrank the zerg, I realized. As bizarre as they were, made from materials that just shouldn't behave the way it did, these things were still stronger than the zerg that our Tinkers spent so much of their effort building. And this one's following the tactic we've been following. If we can't find its actual body, there's nothing we can do to kill the fucker.


A massive crocodilian creature covered in hedgehog spines manifested below us. It fired several quills at us with speeds that easily broke the speed of sound. I dived downward, spreading Azrael's wings and shielding the sky from the thing's fire. I didn't know who above needed the protection, but it certainly wasn't me. I managed to land on the monster feet first, disintegrating it not unlike what I did to leviathan.


My suit alerted me to movement as a kind of deformed tree monster rushed toward me, heedless of the occasional blast of energy that struck it. I didn't move, simply reinforcing my armor with my power and hovering just above the corpse of the crocodile. It collided with me and destroyed itself.


"They're not smart," I spoke into the com. "These things aren't being directly guided by an outside intelligence. Endbringers are scary clever. but these monsters are just mindless berserkers We can beat them if we use our heads and work together."


As if to punctuate my point, Chevalier's blade lanced out, impaling the face of some bizarre giant ant-human hybrid. Despite its condition, it kept moving forward, trying to get to one of the wounded. I carefully aimed low and shot off the creature's legs. They fell, twitching, to the ground. And the bug creature slid back down the blade. A series of muscled shirtless men with piglike faces charged forward wielding axes and swords, and began chopping the thing to pieces while screaming like frat boys.


What cape got that power? Looks pretty sweet.


"She's right," Lisa agreed. "New strategy. Everyone that's not confident they can fight a Brute Eight, fall back to the Gargants. Use them as shields and form defensive rings. The Endbringer creations will seek you out, just make sure to guard your flanks."


A series of missiles streamed overhead, Dragon's weapons removing a few of the monsters from the air. They fell in pieces, destroyed by whatever insanity the Tinker to End All Tinkers had devised this time.


There's more to it, I thought. There has to be. Throwaway monsters and fighting us with these swarm tactics doesn't work. It's not destructive enough, it's not frightening enough. How is the Endbringer planning to do use these things to do the kind of real damage that they love? It has to have a way to really hurt us. Oh. Oh fuck.


=================


A/N- can you spot the references?

 

[Daunmi]

If the Endbringers keep getting more personal in nature it will get ever more easier to find out who made them.

Click to shrink...

...

Just so you know, I'm blaming you for this.

Strong, mostly independent nightmare of humanity looking for insecure, self obsessed cape with heroic tendencies. Enjoy long walks anywhere there are people to terrorize, tightly packed cities that crumple like cardboard, and violating physical laws to frustrate my targets. Willing to share you with my siblings. Must be a Trump, Thinkers need not apply.

Click to shrink...

Contessa stared at Eidolon for a moment as he sat at the table, knuckles whitening as he clutched ever tighter at the newspaper Doormaker had 'borrowed' from someone. The model of him that she used for her paths wasn't perfect, and it was at times like this that her power became useless for figuring him out.

"Something interesting in the paper?" She asked. Hmm, lets try path to telling myself what page the paper is open at...

'Next step, say "Personal ads".

She wasn't quite sure what to say.

'Next step, say "Personal ads".

She wasn't quite sure what to say, but she was damn sure she wouldn't say that.

'Next step, say "Personal ads".

Contessa knew she should stop the path. It certainly didn't seem to be going anywhere, and she had no intention of following it even if it did. This situation was still salvageable though. All she had to do was get out of here before anyone else-

"Morning Contessa." Alexandria called.

"Taking vacation talk later bye." She said, spinning on her heel and marching out of the room on a perfectly agreeable path.

"Are you feeling alright, Contessa?"

"Path, can't talk." God damn it. What did I do to deserve having to deal with this.

Her mind actually functioned for a small moment, and her feet faltered, a slight stumble along the path.

Oh. Right.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 314- Sabah


"Clotho, I need your help," Lily spoke through the com while rushing over to my position with my team.


I hesitated for a second. There were so many things I wanted to say, that I couldn't decide on any of them. It's a battlefield, Sabah, everything else can wait. If she needs help, it's as a team member. You swore to Crystal that the job comes before personal issues, time to prove it. "Okay," I agreed. She wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. "What are we doing?"


"I think I know what the Endbringer plans to do," she informed. "I've already told Lisa and she agreed that it's likely. I want to help, but I'm not fast enough to get there in time."


"I... okay, I can do that," I responded. I glanced over at Crystal.


"Go," she ordered. Of course she'd already be aware. Either told by Lisa, or by listening in on our coms. One of those advantages team leaders got was an override that let them access their team's com systems at any time.


I wrapped three of Tapestry's remaining ribbons around Lily, as information blinked onto my HUD. Oh. Oh fuck. I took off at top speed, an experience that wasn't fun for either of us. I was sure we would have some ugly bruises in the morning thanks to that. Tapestry had some incredible acceleration potential, capped off for the sole purpose of keeping me from accidentally knocking myself out with the G-forces.


I heard Lily grunt as she was pulled along by the ribbons that held her by both wings and around her waist. She'd be pulled in 'flying' position, it was less painful on the human body this way, my training instructions insisted. We found our spot after a couple minutes, underneath the park near the Eiffel Tower. I'd seen it before, when I toured Europe with Lily and Faultline's crew. It was far more romantic then than now.


The building was still standing, although a couple of others nearby weren't. A handful of zerg had already gotten here, and was guarding the grounds. And by the apparent damage done, they'd already been doing that.


Not to protect the landmarks, I was certain. I knew my bosses better than that. It was the Endbringer shelter beneath the park that needed defending. In every Endbringer conflict, that was a given. Khepri always placed her guards surrounding the shelters. Scenery be damned, the lives were her priority. She'd rip down the pyramids if it meant saving one more person.


I felt the ebb and flow of power as Lily carefully adjusted my ribbons with her power. There were dozens of properties she could grant to the material she was touching, and Tapestry's ribbons were specifically designed to be especially compatible with that. Something of a happy coincidence that the 'nanofiber mesh' was both incredibly durable and responded very well to my power.


"Straight down," Lily instructed.


Relationship issues aside, we had a lot of practice working as a team, training to be as effective as possible together in situations just like this one. I trusted her completely as I dropped, my ribbons forming like a giant arrow beneath us. The earth below didn't stand a chance. Nor did the tinker reinforced superstructure that was the shelter itself. We punched through like we were walking through the wall of a bubble.


People shouted and backed away as we dropped into the center room. This shelter looked more like a subway terminal without the tracks, with a long series of concrete and steel reinforced rooms inside. Smart design, people could take shelter in pocket rooms and seal themselves off, rather than all be sitting ducks out in the open if anything got through the blast door.


<Don't be afraid,> Lily shouted in French. Was she using the translator, or did she get that language permanently installed? I was using the translator. <We're here to keep you safe. Just stay calm.>


They didn't seem too convinced, but at least the officials took our words at face value, continuing to usher people into rooms to keep them as safe as one could hope under the circumstances. "Are they really going to attack here?" I asked Lily.


"They keep saying the Endbringers are here to hurt us, fuck with our heads," Lily replied. "Adapting to the tactics used against them so whatever we used to kill their predecessors will never work again. This one's out of reach, untouchable in a way that resembles how Taylor and Amelia fight. We keep killing them, so naturally the new ones are meant to fight us. Can you imagine a better way to attack Taylor than to drop an Endbringer right into the center of the shelter?"


I paused for a second. "No, I really can't," I admitted. "You're sure?"


"If I wasn't, the giant spider made of human blood would have convinced me," Lily replied. "Surprised it wasn't holding a 'hey, Taylia, fuck you' sign. Then there was the flying one with ice blasts, which I'm guessing was Crystal. Not sure who the harpy represented, but somewhere in my heart I'll always pretend it was Lisa."


The way she said it made it all sound so obvious, and I felt a little ashamed I didn't think of it myself. "But there are a bunch of them out there, they can't all be weird insults to us, can they?"


"Maybe not," she admitted. "Maybe just the first few, maybe there can be multiple monsters for each of us. Maybe the only one that was there to send a personal message was the blood spider, and all the rest are just random horrors. All I can tell you is that I saw how Taylor fought Leviathan, monsters appearing out of nowhere to flank the Endbringer at every opportunity, cutting off his retreat like a pack of wolves going after a deer. That's what we're watching. When they're ready to go for the throat, they'll come here. Symbolic reenactment of Leviathan's death."


I forgot how confident she could be. "It makes a sick sort of sense," I agreed. "But... is that enough?"


She looked at me. "I don't know," she admitted. "Let's hope so."


We got our answer too quickly, as our monster shunted over. It was a solid black centipede like creature, and lashed out with its jaws immediately, impaling one of the help personnel, and started charging people.


My ribbons reacted to my thoughts, before my conscious mind could realize what I was doing, slamming into the monster and trying to force it to the ground, pin it down for Lily to kill. It was viscous, not entirely solid. Made of tar, like its spider cousin was made of blood. A few of Lily's bolts struck the thing's face, doing little notable damage. It started oozing around my ribbons, and I started twisting them around to hold it back. Then it started trailing up the ribbons themselves. Lily grabbed my armor and again I felt the nature of my armor change to her power's whim.


The centipede dissolved where it touched my armor, completely erased from our reality. Lisa's best guess is that it was banished to whatever Nowhere we saw before Elle set a portal into a given reality.


The half destroyed creature collapsed to the ground, and then it started to spread out like a puddle. The fuck? Thousands of tiny place centipedes spread from the corpse of their mother, or however that worked, and began rushing toward the screams of the civilians.


Lily started taking shots with her armor, and each one was a kill. She dropped into the path, letting her armor itself destroy countless others, but she couldn't protect more than a fraction of the massive hallways and all the people in them.


I added what I could, bringing my ribbons down on them with enough force to crack the concrete. There was just too many of them. Too many to count, let alone kill with our mostly single target weapons. In desperation, I fired my TK gun into the mix, hoping that controlling the ground would be enough to combat their push forward. It was a disappointment, but not a surprise, that I failed. People fell screaming under the mass of insect sized Endbringer spawn.


I quickly turned off my translator. It was painful enough just hearing the screaming, I would have trouble enough sleeping without knowing the words they were saying. Everyone was dying and there wasn't a thing we could do for them.


An explosion rocked the shelter. They must still be fighting up above. Right, this is a war between armies. One failure doesn't mean the battle is completely lost. I hit the com.


"Some of them can break down into smaller monsters and will attack as a swarm," I informed. We failed, the least we can do is warn others. "Try to contain them behind forcefields before you kill them, if possible."


It's the best I can do, let the others know that we failed, how we failed. Maybe that way they'll be able to do better. The screaming was starting to die down as the centipedes ran out of victims. How many people were in here? Thousands? Tens of thousands? I didn't know, but gathering everyone in one place just made this that much easier for the Endbringer.


What I wasn't prepared for was when the dead started to stand. Black ichor leaked from their mouths, and the look of horror was still in their eyes. They were still screaming, even. One of them leapt at Lily, destroying himself utterly. Others piled forward, picking up the dismembered limbs and trying to attack her. Shoes and other bits of debris were thrown at me by the enraged, what, zombies? Is that what these were?


No, they weren't. Every bit of tech on this suit insisted they were still alive. Heartbeat, brain activity, the whole nine yards. They were puppets controlled by the centipedes, but they were still alive and conscious under that control.


They started rushing for the exit to the building, in a mindless stampede. Some would trip and be trampled by the others. No sense of coordination between them. One leapt toward me with enough speed that he actually caught my leg, despite my position about twenty feet above their heads. I kicked away, but the man, still screaming in horror, had grown claws sharp enough to cut into the armor. Alarms flashed throughout my suit, but I didn't need them. I felt the pain.


A shot from Lily puncture the man's skull, and he dropped, no longer attacking, but his claws were embedded in my leg so he didn't fall. I kept screaming, only held in the air by my suit's autopilot failsafes.


"I can feel it inside me!" I screamed. "It's climbing up inside my leg!"


Lily didn't even hesitate, her wing cleaving through my armor. The dead man, and my limb, fell to the floor below. It was amazing how little pain I felt at that. Alerts flashed in my HUD, telling me of damage I already knew about. I felt pressure around the wound, and a strange sensation as the medical functions took effect.


Lily caught me. "I'm sorry, I had no choice," she insisted. I sobbed against her. The loss of the limb wasn't that bad, really. It didn't hurt that much, and was something I knew could be fixed. But the look on the man's face as he tried to kill me. He was honestly sorry for what he was doing.


"Alert," Dragon's voice was shockingly calm over the coms. "Endbringer is displaying ability to infect and control humans. Infected display increased physical abilities and other mutations. This appears to be contagious from physical contact with the infected. Tactics have changed from defense to quarantine."


============


A/N- So, does this count as suitably horrible?

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 315- Crystal


"They're breaking through the northeast barricades, R12," Lisa informed me over the com. The Endbringer spawn, it turned out, didn't attack the infected. Once fully mutated, they were as capable as Lung before he started ramping up in power. Not unbeatable, but hard to stop.


Victoria was there with me. Anima retreated to Avalon, but left her summons behind to do the fighting for her. I unleashed a torrent of sonic power down on the nearest Endspawn, breaking some kind of strange scorpion made of diamond into fragments. Then I rushed toward the barricade.


There was a series of explosions deeper in the city, clearing the area around the gate. "Earth Gaul separated from portal network," Trevor announced over the speakers. "Confirming no infected or spawn crossed the gate in time. The colony is safe."


Safe, and cut off from Bet. I had to wonder why the Endbringer didn't just drop one of its number in the other Earths. It had been throwing these monsters at us like the disposable minions that they were, when it could have effectively ended the colony program in a single day by releasing a single plague spawn in each of the colony worlds. By the time we even knew what was happening, every last colony world except maybe Avalon would be uninhabitable.


I caught sight of another. Apparently made of mud. Fire? I switched over to the microwave setting and fired a beam that would boil all the water out of a human body in under a second. It seemed to be working, as hardened dirt broke off and collapsed to the ground. How many of these fuckers will we have to kill before this is over?


"Head in the game, cuz," Vicky spoke from beside me. A stream of dozens of rays fired from her 'scattershot' weapon setting. She was the only one that could use such a weapon efficiently, relying on her combat senses to make sure each shot was a hit. Infected fell dead, or those few still alive died quickly after. She mowed them down like they were nothing.


"Vicky!" I exclaimed. "How could-"


"They're already dead," Vicky spoke, her voice pained. "There's no way to separate them from the parasites. The things have completely replaced their nervous systems from the brain stem down. What's left is nothing more than a puppet that feels pain. Take it from someone who can see everything that's happening inside their bodies in real time. Death is the only mercy left for them."


As if to punctuate her point, Chevalier's sword lanced forward, cutting through several. That looks uncomfortably like how Jack Slash fought.


I kept that insight to myself, instead bolting off toward another Endspawn. I can't kill people, no matter how they're suffering. Walls of ice formed themselves near the damaged part of barricade. The wall we were building to trap most of the city of Paris and the surrounding area.


This wasn't even like the Simurgh quarantines. At least with those, we could tell ourselves there was hope. That they were compromised, but alive. The infected were implacable. They ran toward the nearest living thing and spread their disease. They only started moving outward after the city was entirely caught up in their power. We were fighting to prevent the spread, not to save the city.


One of the infected leapt toward me from the top of a building. I avoided her on reflex. After all, she didn't have a way to correct her trajectory in mid air. She twisted around in the air, attempting to claw at me as she fell to the street. She hit hard and stayed there motionless. They weren't much more durable than normal people. They were alive, they were dying.


Alexandra shot past, followed by a dragon that looked to be made out of mucous. "Don't let it touch you!" she shouted as she started a wide curve back toward me. "It should be vulnerable to cold."


I pushed away, switching to the ice weapon and reducing its core temperature to near absolute zero. It dropped and shattered against the roof of a building. Moments later, the building started to collaps inward as the thing's scattered bodyparts melted through it. Alexandria's arm was mutilated, and it looked to be spreading.


"Freeze my arm," she commanded, forcing the shoulder to work and extend the limb outward. Although the elbow didn't have much flesh left on it and thus her hand drooped down. Her voice left no room for disobedience. I pointed the weapon and tried to hit as far out as possible, the frozen air spread up to her shoulder. "That'll have to do for now. Alexandria to Atropos. Assistance needed, R9, high priority."


The largest of the spawn thus far manifested near the wall, an elephant thing with three trunks and bony spines across its body. This one actually looked like it was alive, instead of just made of random raw materials. It charged the wall. The zerg tried to block its path, throwing up shields and even a couple of the gargants, but it broke through them and collided hard enough to crack the wall in that area.


"Barricade down, P9," Dragon's automatic announcement declared. I rushed toward the monster, already swapping out to straight laser light. A steady stream of steel melting power started cutting into the thing's side. Even with the targeting AI, I was too far away for a precision move like cutting off its legs. A wall of mirror metal formed near the wall, protecting the worst of the damage. Theo, I recognized quickly.


Dozens of infected charged toward the opening. Theo can't cover that kind of area very long. At least he was smart enough to stay high in the air, using his suit to handle much of the effort in keeping him safe.


One of the Azazel suits shunted over, launching its nanothorn thrower across the area and disintegrating everything. Moments later, it was ripped apart from the inside by one of the Endspawn. They'd been doing that to every single one of Dragon's armors that took a spot in the city. For whatever reason, they ignored the ones outside the city. Best guess was some kind of range limit for the Endbringer's variant of shunting. My armor blipped an alert aura around Theo's suit. Yellow, with a black outline. Injured or otherwise nonresponsive, but stable. He probably overtaxed his power.


I fired on the spawn climbing out of the Azazel shell, a nasty spiked octopus looking monster, I didn't care. Enough electricity to power a city for a couple seconds hit it, and it exploded violently, sending shrapnel everywhere. Luckily, Theo wasn't hit by any of it.


I flew over and touched him. Commander override, automatic shunt engaged. I let go and he vanished back to Avalon. Chances are, it would be Riley or the currently depowered Missy to take care of him.


I turned, taking position to defend the wall. Other alerts came across the com. At least four other areas were in danger of being breached, including the one I left Vicky and Chevalier protecting.


I was alone here.


A massive, skinless, cobra moved around one of the nearby piles of rubble with a speed that belonged to a mover, not a giant monster. That might be explained by the fact that it was using its rib bones to pull itself rapidly along like freakish centipede legs. On its back rode a dozen infected. Does this mean they're getting smarter?


I fired at the monster's head, a shot it avoided easily. A second and third didn't make much difference, and I was running out of power. I dropped the weapon and gave the now subvocal command for my sonic weapon. The only one with a wide area of effect. I fired, and the nearby surviving windows exploded at the pulse of sonic energy that at least slowed the cobra down.


It reached the wall and slammed its head hard against it. The hasty, power erected, stone cracked. It had already been damaged by the prior spawn, and wouldn't hold. I had to count myself lucky the nanothorns took time to dissolve, or the monster could have gone for the gap that had already formed. It repeated the process, smashing its bony face into the stone. It's going to get through.


"This is Eki, requesting immediate assistance. I can't hold this point on my own!" I shouted. I didn't have a weapon I could fire at the thing's head without risking destroying the wall if I missed, and as fast as it was I would probably miss.


It smashed its head into the wall one more time, and the stone caved, leaving a gap. The infected started scrambling up the thing's neck, using its spine as a ladder. If they got out, everything was lost. I fought back the tears as I dialed the sonic weapon to maximum output.


Fuck you, Endmakers. Is this what you wanted to see? You sick sacks of shit. I took a deep breath, and through the tears I watched as I became a murderer.


====================


A/N- All aboard the mindfuck express!

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 316- Calvert


"Commander James," I opened, giving the woman a cursory examination. She was one of the best, and driven to eliminate the 'one of' part. My second in command ever since Miss Militia left. She lacked her predacessor's empathy and ability to improvise, which held her back. In many ways, she reminded me of Emily. Pity, that, it meant she was a good commander, but a poor leader at best. She'd likely be promoted to Director status in five years or less. I resolved to treat her well during that time, and see to it that I learned her well enough to properly harness her once she got her promotion.


"Yes, Director?" She responded, training her focus on me.


"We're being called into action," I informed her. "All of my team, as well as every other soldier authorized to use the SM7 models. It seems the new Endbringer is a 'master' class power set."


"Like the Simurgh?"


"Closer to Nilbog," I answered. She tensed. She had performed less than admirably during that engagement, taking considerable damage to her equipment almost immediately. It wasn't, strictly speaking, her fault. It could have been any set of armor, it could have been any member of the team. Except myself, of course. Poor luck and being a half second too slow on the response were her only faults, and I wasn't certain of the latter. But she had a chip on her shoulder even before then, and I was not adverse to using it. "There will be a series of larger monsters, which we are leaving to the parahumans and Pantheon's weapons. We will contend with humanoid monsters, numbering in the hundreds of thousands."


"I understand," she responded, her jaw set hard. I split the timeline


"There's a teleporter collecting men and matériel from across the country," I informed her next. "We have five minutes to be at the ready. Prepare the men while I attend to some last minute concerns."


"Yes, sir."


//


"You'll be in command of my team, I'll handle organizing the other teams, get yourself equipped," I instructed.


"Yes, sir."


This was the timeline for me to keep, of course, but I needed the chance to study the resources I had at my disposal. Many of the team leaders I would be working with, I'd only met a few times. Operating the EB versions of the M7s was rare, requiring authorization from the President herself, which left me precious little time to develop a more personal relationship with those men and women who'd be leading these teams. I would reacquaint myself with my prior notes and Minerva's psych evals on each of them while speaking to them via this timeline.


....


This is the first time I've ever actually seen Avalon, I realized. I stepped out of their mass 'shunt' device, fighting my nausea. I was proud to note that, while a couple soldiers lost their stomachs, none of them were part of my team. The blue green ground removed the physical signs of their weakness quickly, in an act slightly reminiscent of Nilbog's 'recycling' of matter. The place was uniform, orderly. A few small homes existed nearby, within visual range on the mostly flat fields.


"Okay, this is going to take a minute," Janus informed us. One of the few Pantheon members old enough to legally buy alcohol. That mere children ruled their own world was abs-olutely no surprise, given their powers and ambitions. At least they were smart enough to defer to more experienced individuals like Dragon and Accord when it came to management of their nation. "Please take the time to organize yourselves."


I gave the orders I needed, separating my men into squad control of the other teams. I knew them and trusted them to do the job correctly. James was given primary command of my newer men, the ones not yet trained well enough to be leaders in their own right. Those I trusted best were put in as seconds for the various other squad leaders across the country. In the two minutes it took Janus and his Thanda friend to prepare, a thousand men had been organized and assigned a M7EB of one description or another. They were eager to go, to prove themselves.


It's easy to be brave when you know you can't be touched. Isn't that what that Atropos girl had said during her interview? I couldn't help but wonder how these men and women would hold up if they had to go into this fight with their lives actually on the line.


"We're ready," Janus announced.


"As are we," I confirmed. He took that as enough of a command, and the world shifted around us. Instead of an empty field surrounded by a few hovels made of plant, we were now surrounded by Dragon armors and a number of parahumans. I spotted the makeshift hospital to the side, full of gravely injured capes. Each one missing at least one limb. I recognized Chevalier amongst the wounded. Gaea and a handful of others were moving through, caring for them.


What kind of weapon was this Endbringer using?


"It has capabilities to infect and control organic tissue," Minerva informed, answering the question before I had the chance to ask it. That imper-impatient, given the circumstances of the battle and our need to hurry it, it was a necessary shortcut. "The special M7 models should be immune, in much the same way Avalon's disposable troops are proving immune. Don't let that fool you, however. These things hit hard, they can destroy your equipment the old fashioned way."


"Understood," I nodded.


"We have two planned tactics at the moment," she continued. She wants me to use my power. It should be m- she knows what she's doing. I divided the path. It would be a while before that mattered, but there was no sense in not starting early. I could always collapse one of them later. "The first would be to deploy your men as cleanup. We know there won't be any new Endspawn in this fight."


"How can you know that?" Dragon asked via a nearby armored suit.


"Look at the number that we've counted thus far," Minerva responded.


"Six hundred and si- oh, I see what you mean," Dragon agreed.


"The problem is now there are no less than four hundred thousand infected in the city, possibly twice that, and we're running out of the resources needed to fight them," she continued. "Most of us are exhausted. This has been the longest Endbringer battle save for Khonsu, and it is starting to show. One option is to deploy your soldiers into the battlefield to run cleanup operations. Going door to door and killing everything."


Given this is on a city wide scale it could take hours, even days, to accomplish.


"The second," she continued. "Is to have your men reinforce the barriers, and deploy our last resort weapon. There's some significant risk to the plan."


<There is no risk,> a dark skinned woman in tattered clothes responded. <My shadow can handle this easily. They will all die with trivial ease, you shall see.>


"Yes, Moord Nag, I know," Minerva nodded. "But once we assault their strong points, we risk them making a coordinated break for it. All of them together. They've gotten smart enough to start coordinating. Using weapons. And their mutations are getting stronger as well."


<It does not matter,> Moord Nag spoke. <Let them hide, let them flee, let them fight. They will die all the same.>


Minerva rubbed her eyes. She's wea-ry. This has been a long battle, no one can be expected to remain at their best. I glanced over at the others. These are mere children. Children with power, granted, but children. How did I ever believe that commanding kids as they tried to play cops and robbers was a good idea? No, it was so much better now, commanding armies of grown men and women. <It's not her failing I fear, it's what she might do after she succeeds,> Tattletale spoke in... Finnish? This translation tech is remarkably thorough.


"We'll take the lead," I agreed.


<Glory obsessed fool,> Moord Nag accused. I ignored her.


//


"Let's see if she's as good as she believes she is," I suggested. "We'll reinforce the perimeter and deal with stragglers."


<At least, a voice of reason,> Moord Nag nodded. <Hurry your men.> She turned toward Lisa and held out a hand. <Give.> she commanded as a black shadow roiled around her, forming from nowhere. It wore the skull of some sort of large fish or shark.


....


I frowned. Damn it. The infected were deceptively dangerous. Faster than the suits, able to hide from their senses, and fighting with ambush tactics. No wonder Avalon's shock troops were so effective.


"They're in the sewers!" one of my men shouted. I watched his suit blip black. We're losing this.


"Perimeter breached, Z14," Dragon announced. "Perimeter breached, R9. Infected located in Versailles."


I looked over at Minerva. She wanted to know how bad the other timeline was, if we'd be forced to keep this one. She didn't need to ask, she could see it on my face.


//


We had a different sort of problem in this line. Moord Nag stood in the middle of the city, a city coated in black death. Her shadow, fattened on power from the literal hundreds of thousands that she had slain, roiled across the streets. It hammered the wall hard enough to topped a section in one blow, then it sprayed out into the area just outside Paris. Thousands more lives were claimed in seconds.


"Perimeter breached M21," Dragon's tech announced. "Moord Nag's shadow is spreading rapidly toward Créteil."


================


A/N- Ah, when situations are desperate enough to feed half a million people to Moord Nag. Five thousand was enough for her to approach Alexandria's strength. What's a hundred times that worth?

Also: I've been wanting to do a good Coil interlude for a while, now. Sorry it took so long to find a good opportunity to make it happen.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 317


"I was afraid of this," Lisa muttered as we watched the blackness that was everything we could see on Bet. Not everyone had the cross dimensional viewing tech, after all. "Dammit, I really hoped I would be wrong."


The inky darkness dissipated moments later.


"Dimensional anomaly designated as Endbringer Beelzebub is no longer registering on my scanners," Dragon reported. "It appears to be over."


"Atropos reporting," Lily spoke over the coms, sounding tired and miserable. "I... Moord Nag has been... are you planning to try to save her? Because it's going to take tinker tech to do it."


Lisa glanced at the others. Including a quick look at Alexandria, who was still missing her right arm. This is them imitating Taylia, again. Or were they? The glance didn't last much longer than a blink, and she'd looked at everyone. Was I being paranoid?


"We have to try," she replied. "What happened isn't her fault. Her power overwhelmed her ability to stay in control. We're sending someone over to perform emergency surgery. We can't risk bringing her to Avalon until we know for certain she wasn't infected. While we're on the subject, please make sure she stays unconscious."


We don't know that Beelzebub can infect Yggdrasil, but we don't know that it can't. "Do it," I spoke in the suit. Riley was still in her hideaway. Clarice shunted over almost immediately. We had plenty of healers here. Me, Cao, Sanction, Boost, and a handful of new Protectorate members that may or may not have been from our Mass Trigger experiment. For the time being, we were doing patch jobs. Actual healing would take significant time and effort. As rare as healers are, there were fewer still that could achieve something like regrowing limbs.


On the plus side, the new protocols we used for these battles made it so there were only dozens of potential wounded, instead of hundreds.


"I thought that the Endbringers were supposed to be getting weaker," Chevalier's voice was an accusation. "This doesn't feel like weaker to me. Even at our worst, we've never lost three cities in six months before."


Nice of him not to add China and India to the mix. Victoria watched him and us. She's worried, afraid there will be a fight. I looked over at Taylor, still unconscious. If I needed any more proof that the Endbringers hated us in particular, I got it today. The bug monsters that controlled the infected were insect enough that her powers could see their senses. Not enough for her to control, just to watch. I didn't have much choice but to render her unconscious. It was kinder that way.


"They are weaker," Lisa insisted. Alexandria took her position, not quite between them, but in both of their lines of sight. That message was clear enough that I didn't need Thinker powers to puzzle it out. "But they're not holding back as much. It's like... who would you rather fight? Someone like Director Calvert's soldiers, here, but they want to take you alive. Or someone like me whe I have a gun and am going to use it."


"Right, your theory that the Endbringers are holding back," Chevalier responded. He sounded skeptical of the idea.


"It's not a theory, they are holding back so hard it hurts," Lisa responded. "Or they were, at least. Endbringers come with inhibitors. Programmed limits that they're not allowed to violate, or can only violate for short periods of time. Any one of the original three had the ability to end all life on Bet within a month or two. They don't because... well, that's part of the program they follow. And each time we hit them hard enough to hurt them, they lift inhibitors and fight harder. That's why we don't wound them and drive them off. They either leave when they want to, after they reach their designated kill counter for the day or whatever. Or we kill them in the first blow. But the newest Endbringers are coming with fewer inhibitions to start with. Fighting the way the first three only started fighting after years of heroes learning how to fight them in their easiest setting."


"So the new ones are weaker, but fighting harder," he summarized.


"See, sis," Vicky quipped. Sis? What is that about? "Why couldn't you have just said that?"


"The older ones were fighting harder, too, before the end. Behemoth and Leviathan used tactics never seen before. Even the Simurgh did, I assume she foresaw what we would do. It's elegant, in its own way," Lisa continued. "But it's ultimately all psychological warfare. You hurt us, we hurt you back harder. A way to beat us down, leave us demoralized. It's..." she hesitated for a second.


"It's bullying," she concluded. "That's what it really is at its core. Like a cruel child tormenting a small animal. Every time we build up, they are there to break us down again. Or maybe it's more subconscious than that, I don't know. But this new Endbringer, Beelzebub, is easily the least powerful of the new Endbringers. I'd expect Barghest to be the strongest, because he's the one that didn't have to escalate during the fight. All the others, we fought enough to force them to use tactics early that ordinarily would have waited for dozens of fights."


"This sounds like we should be advocating for not fighting the Endbringers," Chevalier responded. "Run, hide, and spread out so they kill as few people as possible with each attack, but avoid actually fighting them?"


"Isn't that what the colony worlds are for?" I cut in. It was true, wasn't it? Fuck, we can't even beat the god damn Endbringers unless we catch them by surprise. How are we supposed to be a match for Scion, when the time comes? Is that the strategy we need? To give up on survival and hit Scion now, hope we can do the damage we need to win it before he realizes he needs to fight back?


"That's... not actually a bad thought," Lisa mused. "It won't work, not now, not after they've spent so many years fighting us. It's too late for it to make any difference now. If we could go back in time and convince the first group of heroes to just not engage Behemoth in battle?" She shrugged. "Well, we can speculate for the rest of our lives. Lives that promise to be very short if we don't find a way to improve beyond this, or abandon Bet entirely. I don't think the Endbringers will follow us to the other worlds. Their programming doesn't seem to understand the idea, or they'd have already targetted Aleph, Dalet, and the other advanced timeline worlds."


"You're saying it's hopeless?" he asked. "That there's no way to fight back?" He stood. It took a special kind of man to look imposing while missing an arm, but Chevalier pulled it off.


"I'm saying we keep trying," Lisa countered. "We know how Beelzebub functions, now. We've seen the worst that the new Endbringers can unleash. There are no more surprises, there are no more surprises for them to throw at us. We've seen the worst they can do, and we survived."


"Survive the loss of entire cities every few months?" Alexandria asked. "I wish I shared your optimism."


"Should be the last city lost," Lisa responded. "Or, at least, the last that's irrecoverable. Tohu and Bohu, now that we know their tactics, can be countered. Force it to choose capes other than Khepri and Atropos before we start our next attack. We may even be able to kill them the next time they manifest, they don't really have methods to protect them from our Endslayer combinations. Barghest, we already know Eidolon beats handedly. We just use that tactic and the worst we face is a few mil in property damage. We could just stand there and let it do its thing, then bring everyone back."


Eidolon, who had opted to quietly watch the exchange, nodded. I wondered what was going through his head.


"Khonsu's meant to be unkillable, and he probably actually is," Lisa continue. "But we don't need to kill him. Not right away at least. Thanda counters him pretty completely, with Khepri and our weapons as backup. Beelzebub is beatable with some time. By the next time we see it, we'll have studied the samples and worked out counter agents. There has to be a way. Maybe a new breed of weapons for the swarm. Do you think we could build, I dunno, shunt-bugs? Like beetles that swarm over everyone, fuse into a single life form, and then shunt to Avalon?"


That's... can that be done?


"It's possible," Dragon agreed. "The shunt drive really requires little more than a faraday cage to properly generate the field. The organic tech is the hard part, specifically allowing it to contain enough power to achieve the dimensional waveform. As long as there's a functional shunt drive attached to any part of it, you could theoretically shunt an entire world at once, if you had enough energy to make it happen. There are limitations to work around. But with a year until the next time he shows, that should be achievable."


"And suddenly, Beelzebub's terror weapon is mostly useless," Lisa responded. "That's the thing about fear. It's only scary when you don't know how to fight back. When the target finds a way to mitigate the effects, you're left with nothing but a distraction. An annoyance. They might not be dead yet, but that's just a matter of time. The Endbringers have already lost the war. The next one or two Endbringers will be even weaker, in their own way. More blatant, more immediately frightening. And then, nothing. There's no scope left, the Endmakers didn't think to save their best for last. They have no tricks left."


I wasn't quite sure I believed her, but I had to hope. I looked over at Taylor. We can't take much more of this.


====================


A/N- The thing I hate about this chapter is that some of the people reading it are going to think it's a response to certain peoples' complaints about the Endbringers.

Nope.

Had this, have the next, and Scion all mapped out. Including the general outline of this speech Lisa just gave.

Spoiler: Because Lisa has a plan.

Hehe. Yeah, you didn't actually think I was actually going to tell you what it was, did you?

Also. Yes. The Moord Nag thing was intentionally anticlimactic. (Waits for bitching about THAT now, too.)

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 318


"We should start setting up for healing," I spoke after we'd been given a minute to chew over Lisa's speech. I had to wonder what that was about. But, it was Lisa, the only secrets she kept were her own. "There's not a lot of us that can work with dismemberments."


"I'll have my men set up for triage," Calvert offered. "With permission to assume Pantheon's healers will be involved in the process?"


"Yeah," I agreed. "We'll be doing our part." Vicky and I would be essential for this, of course. Not a lot of people who can heal on the level the injured here would need. I should probably tell him about exact capabilities and names so he-


He gestured at two of his field commanders, and they approached. "Plan for three parahumans capable of restoring any injuries including lost limbs and one that can mend major injuries, but not limb restoration. Plus two more capable of surgical treatment of minor injuries. See to it that the medical camp is arranged so all patients are within fifty feet of the parahuman known as Boost. He has an aura that stabilizes injuries and promotes healing. Place him in the middle of the camp."


"Which one's that, sir?" A hard, overly masculine looking woman asked. She reminded me an awful lot of the head nurse at this one hospital, only younger and even less happy at the world. She'll probably be promoted to a PRT Director in less than five years.


"Tall male," he responded. "The one not wearing a shirt."


"Understood, sir," she responded and walked off, the other commander went with.


"The rest of you, have your men continue the sweeps, but prepare to coordinate our withdrawal," he spoke to the other three commanders he had with him. "Pending verification that there is no further risk of infection, there is little left we can do here. Refugee relief work appears to be unfortunately irrelevant, in this case."


"There won't be any risk of infection," Lisa informed. "The Endbringer vanished, the parasites will be inert, now. I'll consult Dinah Alcott as well, ensure there's no danger the outbreak will continue. But the nature of the Endmakers lead me to believe this one isn't leaving that kind of nasty surprise. They did that already, with the Simurgh. They haven't repeated tactics yet, and I don't believe they will now."


"Very well," Calvert responded. I still felt bad about puppeteering the man. Granted, he deserved it by all accounts that Lisa and Taylor gave, but I still felt wrong, using our powers that way. Turning someone into a toy. It was all too similar to what I'd done to Victoria. His people saluted and turned to handle their jobs.


"I'll take my healing last," Alexandria spoke. "It's been shown that my injuries can wait however long is necessary. It causes me no discomfort or inconvenience, since I anticipate it will take some time to finish debriefing with Chevalier, Minerva, Dragon and Narwhal." Probably also wins you points with the crowd that see you putting yourself in the back of the line like that. "And may I just say I'm very impressed with how familiar your are with the various capes here."


"Thank you," he responded. "I make it my business to stay well informed."


....


Healing lost limbs is exhaustive and exhausting. Fortunately, there was a functionally infinite amount of raw material for me to work with, but there was only three of us with this capability, and each of us required an hour or longer per patient. We had to operate one person at a time because none of us had a blanket effect or fire and forget power. This is why I'm no longer a healer.


Next to me, Vicky struggled to stand. <Okay, you're done,> she informed one of the more powerful locals that had survived the battle. Huh, Vicky's not using the translator. When did she learn French? <Talk to Tir, he'll get you shunted over.> She gestured to where Trevor was waiting, talking with Emma, Rey, and Defiant. The four of them had locked onto that 'shunt bug' idea, and were trying to find out a way to make it possible. Dragon was too busy coordinating her suits in recovery efforts.


<Thank you,> he responded. He didn't sound grateful, however, walking over to where our command center still sat. Not that I blamed him. What did he have to be grateful for? Half a million people, plus or minus not enough to make much difference compared to half a million people, were dead.


Most of the groups had been sent home already. A sick fringe benefit to what happened in Paris, very little left to save. There were no refugees to speak of, most of the city was still legitimately inhabitable, just empty. Or at least a good chunk of it was empty. Not every square mile of Paris was inside the barriers they'd erected. Really, not even half of the city in total. It was wounded, but still alive, still recoverable.


"Would you like me to give you a recharge?" Sanction offered. She seemed strangely familiar, and I couldn't quite figure it out. Maybe someone I worked with as Panacea? "I can give you a quick boost while waiting for Aceso to check up on my work."


Sanction didn't have the benefit of a Thinker power. Since Riley, or specifically Clarice, was somewhere between myself and Vicky for overall understanding of the human body, she was making sure everything worked out properly.


"Won't help," Vicky replied. "I already have regeneration, and Boost's power is doing what it can. Adding a third might even make things worse. I just need time to recover my power naturally, that's all."


"There's only six more," I replied. "Consider it a challenge."


My power never made me tired, really. Not the way it wore out Vicky, or Lisa or Theo or Missy. I was like Taylor, and could run at maximum output for as long as I could stay awake. But she was right, the time and focus took its toll. I extended my senses to the pod where Taylor was sleeping. I probably should wake her, or at least send her home. I couldn't bring myself to do the latter, I needed her nearby. And the former... I barely managed to think clearly enough to cut off Taylia when Beelzebub pulled his dirty trick. I'd wake her up in private, later.


Chevalier put a hand, the only one he currently had, on Vicky's shoulder. "She's right, we can keep going. Just a little further."


He was one of the ones that had to wait, since Sanction and I couldn't actually restore him while he and Vicky were doing their interactions. Or, specifically, he'd be unable to keep the interaction going while being healed. With Boost keeping everyone stable, there was no risk that the injuries would get worse, so he'd have to be last in priority. That, and I suspected he felt he'd lose face if he went while Alexandria was still waiting. Probably more of chivalry thing than any honest social standing, I was sure.


"Yeah, two more, I can do that," she leaned into him a little as she rubbed her eyes with her hands. In a way it was eerily reminiscent of her and Dean. What surprised me was how I wasn't jealous. I was glad for her without reservation, instead of forcing myself to ignore my feelings and trying very hard not to hate someone for having my sister's affections.


I've moved on. And so has Vicky, apparently. The age gap was a little weird, but who was I to judge? He seemed like a good guy. At least he's not an empath with all the legitimate empathy of a brick wall. And now I know it wasn't only jealousy that made me think Dean was an idiot.


"One," I corrected. "I won't be able to heal Chevalier while he's maintaining your link, and only the pair of you can heal Alexandria. So you'll need to focus on her, now."


"Well, better interrupt Lisa's date, then," Vicky smiled. I glanced over to where the pair of them were still talking. Although whether or not what they were doing counted as talking or not, I wasn't sure. After their meeting with the others, the two of them mostly just stood there looking at each other while waiting for the rest of us to finish. She'd volunteered to be one of the last to get healed, after all. Because it gave her more time with Lisa. How did I not think that sooner?


I didn't dignify it with a response. That and I swore to myself that I'd never be like those nurses that gossiped in front of their patients. I wasn't entirely sure any of our remaining patients spoke English, but no sense in finding out by getting 'Alexandria's affair with underage former supervillain exposed' on the headlines of every tabloid in the northern hemisphere. Although I couldn't help but smile at that thought.


Actually, now that I think about it, they would make a really attractive couple. Lisa's fairly short and curvy features, contrasted against Alexandria's statuesque, even Amazonian, body type? Yeah, I could totally see that... oh god damn it no do not let that mental image get into your head. Mainly because it will take all of thirty seconds for both of them to figure out what I was thinking.


I felt through the Yggdrasil to where Taylor was still in her temporary coma. Easy way to kill any errant embarrassing thought. I missed her, and the support she offered me. I feel so alone when she's not with me.


"I'll alert them," I told Vicky. A quick, easy pulse of thought caused the ground to shift under Alexandria and Lisa. They have the superbrains power, they can figure out the message. A couple seconds that I swear were reluctant later, she turned and floated over.


I couldn't help but be envious of how dignified she was, imposing even while missing an arm.


"You wished to speak with me?" she asked.


"Time for your tune up," Vicky responded, smiling broadly. "Y'know, if we keep meeting like this, I'm going to have to start charging. Don't worry, I'll give you the family discount. You've earned it."


=================

A/N- Coil cheats.

Victoria still gets the best lines. Sometimes even subtly.

And I had to rewrite half this chapter because it didn't look good.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 319- Rebecca


The Endmakers are running out of tricks? No. I'd learned a lot about Minerva, Lisa, over the last few months. She wasn't certain of any of what she just said, and she knew some of it was complete garbage. She stood just a little taller than normal. Her boots were already platformed, at least a little. She was convincing, but she couldn't make her body language lie enough to fool me. Although, to my amusement, she clearly beat Defiant's lie detector technology. Armsmaster's technology. Did they know the connection? Probably, they were willing to work with Bonesaw after all. Still, couldn't hurt to ask.


I gave a glance toward Defiant during the partial second that Lisa allowed herself to make eye contact with me specifically, then I looked toward Amelia and gave my head a tenth of a degree of tilt.


Lisa relaxed slightly, deliberately forcing her heartbeat to slow a little. No danger there. She wasn't curious, or surprised, so she knew who Defiant really was and didn't consider it a problem or a specific secret, past the parts that obviously needed to remain secret from the public.


"I suppose we should discuss how to handle the circumstances of the devastation of Paris," I spoke slowly. Around the group, the others nodded in agreement. This was really my scenario to lead. Patheon and Dragon knew my identity, had known ever since New Delhi, and likely before. I deliberately chose to look everyone in the eyes except Chevalier for this one. "We have to keep Moord Nag's involvement a secret. As Minerva said, this wasn't truly her fault. Will she be okay?"


Of course, that was a lie, it was very much her decision. She got a taste of Endbringer grade power, decided she liked it, and forgot that Pantheon had an Endslayer. She was suffering the consequences.


"In a lot of discomfort, but she'll live," Lisa responded. Meanwhile, a subtle shift of her hip, bringing her knees closer together. A signal of denial. Chevalier did not yet know I was the Chief Director, that was a relief.


"Lily's power bypasses all defenses, and annihilates everything it contacts if she wants it to," Minerva explained. "But it doesn't extend beyond that. Wounds inflicted by her weapons won't have any more trouble being healed than injury inflicted by anything else. Aceso's more than qualified to resuscitate her. From there, Gaea can handle the rest, she'll be good as new in a day or three."


Gaea tensed a little. She knew something, and wasn't happy about it. The girl had gone quiet, mousy even. Without the Khepri girl to back her up, she'd fallen back into the behavior I'd come to know from Panacea those few times I'd met her. Would Khepri default to her Skitter persona, were the situation reversed?


Lisa's reaction was slight, but involuntary. It was as good as flinching in pain to our senses. The answer to my question was yes, something that they knew for a fact, and brought shame and guilt at the memory. I wished I was better at showing emotional support, the girl clearly needed it. There were deeper undercurrents as well. More than could be conveyed through our secret language. Something between the core group, important secrets. I'd have to actually ask. "Can your men keep the secret, Director?" Lisa didn't want me to ask those questions.


"They are well trained professionals," Calvert responded, unaware of our ongoing conversations. Theoretically, he outranked me here. Realistically, our theoretical ranks were meaningless, especially here on foreign soil. "They understand the need for discretion. What would you have us claim happened here instead?"


I watched Lisa with my peripherals, she shifted her right hand, evoking thoughts of a handshake or high five, a signal of thanks for my praising the man, earlier. I already knew who he was and what Pantheon had done to him, he was far more their puppet than Cauldron's, now. But Pantheon was using him for the same basic goal we had in mind anyway, so we were content with that situation.


Lisa blinked, with a momentary delay in opening her left eye. She was signaling there's a relationship between the Moord Nag and Calvert thought points. They're planning to do to Moord Nag what they did to Coil. I didn't disagree with that plan in the slightest.


"We can imply it's the Endbringer's farewell attack," Lisa answered. "We should have the shunt bugs by the next Beelzebub attack, which means we'll have an excuse why it wasn't used in future fights."


"That should work," I agreed, to both trains of conversation. "Chevalier?"


"It's not a perfect solution," the man responded. "Moord Nag was, is, a monster. She's killed thousands even before this. If not for the Endbringer truce, we should be using this opportunity to put her in the Birdcage and wash our hands of it." And that's why we can't tell him she was responsible for her actions here.


Victoria stood next to him, and it was easy for me to figure out their not-quite relationship. Just as she at least imagined she understood mine and Lisa's. It also was quite obvious that she knew the lies we were telling, about Moord Nag. About what was going to happen with her. I wonder, would she go against her team and her sister by letting Chevalier know the truth?


"Endbringers and Scion take priority," Vicky finally spoke. "Moord Nag is one of the few parahumans that stands a real chance to hurt them. We have to keep her."


"Dragon, you're certain the shunt bugs will work?" I asked.


"The hard part isn't building them, it's building enough of them to matter," the AI responded. We'd yet to manipulate her code in any way. We'd yet to have a need to. But Saint and Contessa were enough to give us nearly unlimited access to her databanks, the general basics of her abilities. I let Lisa know that while Dragon was talking. "We'll need to adapt a purely organic variant, which we can then use Avalon's resources to mass produce."


"Our tinkers have proven capable enough to adapt purely organic antigravity technology," Lisa informed. She stood a little taller, spoke a bit more forcefully. "I trust them to handle this. Defiant, would you please assist in this project? Your specialty is exactly the kind of thing we need for this project." She still wants me to give them Richter's emergency control system

.
"Certainly," he agreed. "Perhaps we could apply the same graviton field principles on an atomic scale, creating a chain to carry the wave that doesn't require such a large amount of supporting mass interaction."


I paid only polite attention as he slowly delved into tech speak. He was a Tinker, as smart as I was I didn't have the ability to follow where their minds went. There was nothing I could say that Lisa would want to hear on the issue. She was at least assured that we weren't abusing our access to Dragon, even if she wasn't happy that we had it at all.


She hadn't told anyone about her knowledge, either. In a way, we were both going behind our organizations' backs on this. I raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly. It would be be invisible behind my helmet, the more streamlined one constructed of my own biological material, shielded by my own power, and built by Pantheon.


"Your people work quickly," I said to Director Calvert instead, as his second in command jogged back.


"Director," the woman saluted, and Calvert responded in kind. "Preparations are complete."


"Thank you, Commander James," he responded. Deliberately using her name, not so much to make it personal, but to reward her with name recognition in front of a number of powerful and influential people. It clearly made her happy. One of the ambitious types, apparently.


"Well, that's our cue," Victoria responded. She smiled cheerfully at me. "Come on, Sis, we have jobs to do. Try not to stay up past curfew, Minerva." Having got in her attempt at subtlety, she went off toward the improvised medical camp.


"Curfew?" Director Calvert asked. I had to admit I was curious, myself.


"We implemented a fairly strict lights out policy for our underage members," Lisa answered. "That was her idea of teasing me, since technically I fall under its umbrella. Clearly, however, I am an exception."


"Clearly," he agreed. I watched with a rather morbid fascination as the contempt he showed for Lisa was censored and replaced by a simple acceptance. There was a time when that would have horrified me. Now I wondered if Cauldron could harness such techniques for themselves. "If you will pardon me, I must attend to my men. Authorize the special draft recruits to return home."


"Let Janus and Tir know what you need them to do. Let them know I said to do anything reasonable to help." Lisa brushed the hair away from her cheek. Strong negation of that idea. She was right, too likely for it to be detected with people like Dragon, harnessing Rapture's technology. Still, it could have been convenient. And Amelia would be horrified at the concept of others using technology she helped Bonesaw to build. It would devastate our political alliance.


"Of course," I agreed. "We all have our responsibilities, especially after Endbringer conflicts. I expect we'll work together in the future, now that the M7 concept has been proven valid in the field."


"Indeed," he agreed marching off to his core group.


Meanwhile, Defiant hadn't managed to stop talking. He'd attracted Tir and Hecate into the conversation, and they were clearly in full Tinker fugue.


Dragon noticed me noticing them. "My apologies, Alexandria," she spoke. "I'm sure you understand."


"Yes, well, it's only to be expected," I responded. "Besides, this is a technology with the potential to save millions of lives. Don't let me waste your time on relatively inconsequential conversation when you could be improving it. I am aware none of you are in my command chain, but consider that an order."


"Thank you, ma'am," she responded. It was merely her being polite, of course. But she agreed with the request, I was sure. Richter's program made it pretty much impossible for her not to.


I watched them leave, then glanced at Lisa. She was almost wistful. I tilted my head, asking her what was wrong.


Her eyes went to the pod where Khepri was resting. She was worried about her friend. Or, more specifically, she wasn't worried. She knew things were going well, that while Taylor was hurt for now, she'd be fine in the long run, she had support to help her recover. What bothered Lisa is that it wasn't her that would make that recovery happen.


I opened my hand. Letting go.


She smiled sadly, and then broke our pattern by using words. "I tried to help her," she admitted. "But I'm not what she needed. Amelia is. And now that they have each other, I find myself wondering. We're still friends, but she doesn't need me, not really."


"You don't need her either," I responded. "You still trust and care about each other."


"Yeah," she sighed. She's lonely.


"It happens," I responded. "People change, grow. It's impossible not to. Some grow apart, others grow together, and other simply grow nearby. And those roles change often. Victoria considers you and Khepri to be effectively siblings." Much to her amusement and my annoyance. "That's not a small thing. You could have a similar relationship as she and Gaea... nevermind."



"It's fine," she replied. "I get what you mean."


She got what I meant about Victoria as well. Victoria was a Thinker, but not the kind of Thinker that Lisa and I were. Like Rapture was. Like Accord and Contessa might be if they thought to use their powers to their fullest. Victoria saw things from a normal person's mental lens. Maybe that would change in time. Unlikely, and certainly not any time soon, but maybe.


"I doubt they'll abandon you," I continued. "You'll always be a part of her life. Just, not the centerpoint. That's how life goes, with family."


She shrugged. Given what little I could divine of her family, how they were responsible for her brother's suicide, at least in her eyes. How they were responsible for her Trigger Event. She likely didn't believe in family. Then again, I didn't either. My family loved me, but they failed me nonetheless. I hadn't spoken to them in years.


"You'll find someone else to grow together with," I consoled.


She looked at me with a smug grin she rarely actually pointed at me. Costa-Brown on a regular basis, but not me. "Is that so?" The question was loaded with meanings, and entirely rhetorical. She knew the statement was an implied offer.


"Statistically, it can't not happen eventually," I replied. A logical, safe answer. Meanwhile I relaxed my body language, an invitation. Before it could have been interpreted as accidental, a slip of the tongue even for people who think like we think. Now it was quite clear it wasn't.


"You're right," she agreed. She didn't put hope into it, she put certainty. It already has.


================

A/N- This is MY personal favorite part about the Endbringers. They cause dominoes to tumble into new configurations that wouldn't otherwise happen.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 320


Chevalier flexed his new hand. "Feels strange," he stated. "Like, I don't know, like I fell asleep on it. Or like I have two left hands now."


"That will wear off as you get used to it," I stated. I did my best with it, since Vicky liked him so much, but I still had to pretty much reverse and copy his left to make his right, and that came with some minor side effects. "I'd have to rewire your brain to let you instantly adapt to the new limb. And I don't do that." Vicky didn't have to add those disclaimers, neither did Sanction. Their version of healing by gifting regeneration worked very differently than my own power.


"Well, it still beats the alternative," he agreed, getting to his feet. "Wow, that felt different, too. I feel like a kid again."


That's because you pretty much are. I'd repaired numerous old scars, like an injury to his Achilles tendon that hadn't quite healed properly sometime in his early teens. Burns that he must have gotten taken care of by a less talented healer a few years back, and the starting of cellular decay caused by radiation exposure that was about a year and a half old. I'd bet money it was Behemoth related. Repairing that alone probably improved his lifespan by twenty years or so. Plus another twenty or so by adjusting his internal chemistry and cellular age, not unlike what I did for Rey.


"Aren't you glad I talked you into agreeing to the full package deal?" Vicky asked, smiling broadly. She was standing there in a pose obviously meant to impress, her hands clasped behind her back, her back arched slightly, and her left leg forward a bit, fully extended. Like she started stretching and stopped. She still doesn't compare to Taylor.


"It's not quite as good as what you and Vicky can do," I dismissed, amused by how he was torn between staring at my sister, and figuring out his body's new responses. "But I did my best. By the way, I corrected your genetic tendency toward heart illness while I was working."


"No wonder we have such a high injury rate in the capes we give augmentations to," he mused as he hopped up and down a bit. Testing his new strength. It wasn't that impressive a jump, but then he was wearing about sixty pounds of battle armor right now, minus whatever belonged on the arm. And he was jumping without using its mechanisms to compensate for the extra weight. "I can tell this is going to take some getting used to."


"Don't worry," Vicky smiled, staring at the toned, medium brown limb like she was going to pull it off of him and eat it. "I'll help you test drive the upgraded equipment." She paused for a half second, just long enough to let ideas happen. "But it'll have to wait a couple days, I'm too tired to spar against someone with a Brute rating, after all the healing we've done today." I doubt any of us actually believed that she was talking about training.


"The practice is a good idea," I agreed. Happy belated eighteenth birthday, Sis. Hope you didn't mind waiting a few months for your present. "You're classing around a Brute two or three right now, plus Mover and Thinker one ratings, for improved reactions and accuracy. You'd have a good chance of getting gold in every Olympic event, if you were allowed to compete. On top of all your other powers. There's a reason they gave me a 'trump' rating, after all."


"Thank you for putting in the extra effort," He responded while stretching, flexing and twisting his new arm. "You do excellent work." I really do, don't I?


"Expect to feel uncoordinated, overly emotional and impulsive for the next couple weeks," I added. "It will take that long for you get used to your new hormone levels and physical abilities. Think of it like a second puberty, but without all the acne and angst. Don't worry, it won't last very long, but try not to make any major emotional decisions until it wears off."


"Uh, yeah, I'll keep that in mind," he agreed, glancing over at Victoria uncomfortably. "I wasn't really the type that made a lot of rash decisions as a teen. But thanks for the word of caution."


Vicky gave me the look of a small child that just watched me take away the puppy she wanted. Sorry, but it's for your own good. You'd be functionally taking advantage of someone while they're drunk. Or, worse, he'd end up sleeping with her and half the females on his team by the end of next week. I'd hate to clean up that mess.


"It'll probably be a couple days before we get your replacement armor ready," I informed him, happy to change the subject away from his body. I called some mass off my armor and coated his arm with it, fusing it into the living portion of his suit and forming the earliest version of our armor, the one I could still make on my own. "This'll at least give you a temporary patch for now. They're so caught up in the shunt-bug idea that I'm not sure if they'll have time to get proper armor repairs done."


There's so much extra stuff packed into this armor these days. My power was only helpful for growing the framework of the suits. The living layer was still needed, integrating into the Endbringer tissue and maintaining the organic antigravity and electromagnetic technology. Handling the shunt drives. All kinds of things, actually. Ensuring that not even Dragon could build the system, not without a copy of the seed lifeform that grew into the armor layer. But it also ensured that I didn't have the ability to fix them where they were broken. Or, in this case, dismembered.


"Alright, well, we'd better get going," Vicky agreed, tuning into my desire to be done with this, to get back to Taylor. "We've been running poor Eric ragged today. Any more and he'll be making double overtime."


She pulled Chevalier off toward where Eric was waiting, chatting with Zach about whatever it was they found interesting. She was right, the only people left now were the ones living on Avalon. Crystal's team had gone, taking Alexandria with them. Vicky was about to leave. The Protectorate and PRT members were long since gone. The tinkers were still there, talking eagerly about their plans and waiting for us to take them to their labs.


I went to the pod we put Taylor in, and simply bonded it to my armor and stood. The Dryad, even without antigrav and other augmentations, could lift a minivan without much difficulty. One deceptively heavy girl in a pod, wasn't a problem. I wasn't that light, either. Even at my slightly below average height, I weighed over a couple hundred pounds. Side effect of a bioengineered superathlete body.


Don't worry, Taylor, I'll get you home soon. I knew she'd understand that we had projects to worry about first.


"We'll have to abandon the command center here for the night," Lisa said as I approached her.


"Set it on autopilot," Trevor spoke up. "I put that feature in. It'll head to our capital city, or the geoanalogue of Brockton Bay no matter what dimension it's currently in. It's really not well defended, and it's pretty slow. But it'll arrive in a day or so."


"I'll assign a couple Azazels to protect it on the journey," Dragon offered. "Avalon territory code gives military craft right of access to certain flight paths. I can set the system to follow them appropriately, with your permission."


"Of course," I agreed immediately. "Thank you for everything."


"You're welcome," she responded. I turned to walk over to Janus, trusting her to handle things. Dragon was half the reason Avalon was working so well. An entire planetary governing system built by the most powerful Tinker on the planet, with help from some of the most powerful Thinkers. It was unlikely we'd have air traffic any time soon, but Dragon had built rules for the future air traffic right into our starting code of laws and regulations.


Not the constitutional ones, of course. The whole point of a constitution was to make a general outline that was very hard to change. The whole point of regulations was to set specific guidelines so everyone knew what to expect and wouldn't get into pointless accidents. In this case, the possibility of putting a passenger aircraft in the path of a supersonic tinkertech weapon system. No one wanted that.


"Thank you for waiting on us," I said to Eric as I got to him and Zach. "Sorry it took so long."


"Hey, Endbringer bullshit," he shrugged. "We knew what we were getting into when we signed up. Want me to send you home right away?"


"Yes, please," I agreed. The others could take care of themselves, I just wanted to leave now. Go home, see Taylor.


"Wait for Clarice," Riley instructed. I almost forgot she was still in here with me. "I'll be out of range if we teleport back."


"Hold on a sec," I interrupted him as he reached for me, instead looking back at where Riley's doll had jumped off toward us, moving at speeds that would make you think it was life or death. Her combat changeling was absurdly powerful now, one of the fringe benefits of being her personal workplace for everything she came up with. It was somewhere around model 20, now, and that showed in its speed and power.


She landed gently next to me and spoke. "Okay, time to go."


"Do you think I'll be able to see Missy, even though it's past curfew?" Riley asked, as Eric reached over and put his hand on my armor.


Missy's probably devastated about not being able to be a part of this one, I thought as the world changed around us. Of course Riley would be concerned.


"That's kind of an understatement," I responded, looking up at the dark sky of Avalon. Every star was so bright it was almost like you could reach up and touch them, the advantage of our thinner, pollution free atmosphere.


I'd started guiding the Dryad toward what was essentially our launching bay, where we kept all the suits above the labs where they were designed and tested. The more I thought about it, the more I realized our capital buildings were an incredibly high end military research facility. At least we'd finally managed to make our actual living area just a living area, instead of having superweapons in the basement. Now they were just waiting next door.


"Please, I'm really worried about her," Riley begged. "I don't want her to be alone."


She really does love Missy. That only made sense. Missy was her best friend, her first act of legitimate kindness, possibly the first person who was ever legitimately kind to her for no reason at all. I knew I couldn't claim that. I legitimately cared about the girl, now, but it certainly didn't start that way.


It was Missy who forgave her and defended her when no one else would or could. I couldn't help but see the parallels between those two, and myself with Taylor. The only way they could get closer is if they found a way to create an empathic link through their powers. Although if that were possible, I imagine Riley would have done it already.


It made me feel pretty good that Riley even felt the need to ask, instead of doing what Zach and Emma did and trying to avoid getting caught.


"If Missy's still awake," I agreed, guiding the suit into the building and landing. There was no doubt she would be, considering the circumstances. "And don't let anyone else find out I let you break the rules. I know Zach and Emma do it all the time, but I don't want to encourage that sort of thing."


Especially as we move forward and pick up more people. None of the Mass Triggers that we were hoping to recruit were underaged, but a lot of them were still pretty young. The 'dorm' layout, curfew included, was likely to be the norm even for the adults, most likely.


"Thank you!" Riley exclaimed, activating her release button and dropping down to the ground. She bolted off toward the elevator.


I couldn't help but smile, as I set the healing pod down and awakened Taylor.


"Wha-" she asked ever so eloquently as she sat up. "My head hurts."


"It's going to for a little while," I apologized. "I had to knock you out. Sorry."


"Did you use another fire extinguisher?" she asked.


"What do you remember?" I asked, smiling.


"Not a lot," she admitted. "I think... Endbringer attack?"


"Yeah," I confirmed. "This one was a Master class, spawning monsters like... us. Maybe more like Nilbog. Things got ugly when we found out you could see through the monsters it was making."


"Is that why I can't remember?" she asked, groggily.


"No, I did that on purpose," I answered. "I was lucky enough to even think clearly enough to put you under. After... I disrupted the way the sleep cycle's suppose to work. Think of it like a hangover, complete with blackout. Only without the need for alcohol poisoning to get you there. Let's get you to bed, I'll explain more in the morning." That wasn't completely accurate, but it was close enough.


"Okay," she agreed. She'd need the natural sleep that I prevented her from getting before. I didn't know exactly what she experienced through Beelzebub's creatures, but I had my suspicions. What I felt through our link was almost enough to make me physically ill. Couple that with what Riley had been saying about the way the parasites linked themselves into the nervous systems... she could easily have been experiencing every sensation and every thought of every victim. With any luck, she would never remember any part of it.


===================


A/N- Yeah, I know. Pretty much nothing actually happened in this chapter. Still, I happen to like it.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 321- Missy


I brutalized Zach's punching bag. It cracked with the force of my blows, the bone armor under the padding layer crunched and then rebuilt itself. Kicks, punches, elbows, I ran through the entire defense routine trained into me by the Protectorate, testing how it worked against the world class expert training that we managed to add to our uploadable skill banks. Surprisingly, the CQC we got from the wards training was good, in a general sense. It lacked the sheer brutality of military combat techniques, but from a defensive standpoint it was honestly excellent.


I'd never been one to be the workout fiend. It was funny, really. Of all the Wards, only Sophia really took the physical training seriously. The rest of us did what we were required, sure, but none of us really cared for it. Dennis and Chris especially hated it. Carlos and Jason had powers that let them not need to train to have perfect bodies. Even Dean wasn't really a fan, although being who he was he pretended he thought it mattered. I don't think any of us believed he meant it.


Working out was always Sophia's thing. Said that relying on your powers alone made you weak. Right now I was strong enough and capable enough that I could give an adult man with special forces training a run for their money in a straight fight. I wasn't superhuman, but I was as close as you could get without crossing the line. Classifiable as a Brute three. I'd tear Sophia to pieces and not even break a sweat doing it. I have never felt more helpless in my life.


I didn't even have the benefit of watching the fight. After the debacle that was Tohu and Bohu, they put a moratorium on televising the Endbringer conflicts, as a matter of national morale. Oh, they didn't use that as the rationale. Something about respecting the victims of the disaster by not filming it or some such.


Whatever, it was officially a United Nations policy to forbid taping of the fights anymore, with a nearly unanimous signing because a lot of countries were afraid the Protectorate and Avalon might not show up if they refused and got attacked. The why of it meant very little right now. I'd have to listen to stupid reporters speculate on the outcome of the battle, despite them not even knowing what the Endbringer's name even was.


Meanwhile, almost everyone I had left was out there fighting, risking their lives to help protect others, and I was stuck here wondering what would happen next. Would they come away with another slain Endbringer? It wasn't like it was unheard of. Wendigo died in her first battle, after all. Were there people who would live if I were there to help? If the Endbringer escapes, could I have made the difference that would have won the fight? Would some of them die in the battle? Would I have to mourn the loss of more people that I loved?


No, seriously. Do I mourn? If it happened, our equipment means they'll be back in just a few days, plus about a thousand fringe benefits. All for the ever so attractive cost of losing a week of memories and a few really unpleasant weeks as your body teaches itself how to digest solid food again. Even now I hadn't regained my American teenager tolerance for greasy fast food. I couldn't force myself to eat the stuff anymore. Which was a blessing in disguise. Not much of a disguise, either.


Taylor's been restored twice. Amelia once. Theo and I as well, which was the source of my new unfair physical abilities. So, do I mourn the dead, or just miss them as I wait around a while for them to come back? It was a hard question to answer, maybe an impossible one. I suspected I could ask a hundred people that question, and get at least eighty different answers.


And when did I become two of the things I hated most? One, Sophia, being angry and full of pent up frustration and an obsession with hating weakness. Two, the terrified girlfriend waiting at home while her boyfriend went off to war. And girlfriend, in my case. Which was still weird as hell. Letting Theo and Riley see each other with my knowledge and even blessing was one thing. Strange, but it at least made sense. Actually classing Riley as my girlfriend as well? Zach would have something to say about that, probably with comments like 'best of both worlds' that would result in me punching him.


But, well... was that something I wanted? I'd never had to ask myself that question before, I'd never thought of other girls as attractive, and then I kissed Riley on impulse and it felt nice. Right, somehow.


I found myself interested in Dean before I even figured out what physical attraction was. I loved him, and in a way I probably always would. I also loved Theo and Riley in their own unique ways. Maybe that's just how I work? I fall first, and desire second? It seemed to fit, but I didn't exactly have a lot of experience.


I needed to ask someone about that, if only to help me sort it all out. My own mother was so not an option. For someone who's been in as many relationships as she has, she didn't know shit about them.


There was always Zach. I mean, he was pretty helpful after I lost my powers, after all. I could probably at least trust him not to tell anyone about it if I asked. Maybe Trevor was a better choice, with him actually being gay and all. Zach's solution would probably be something along the lines of telling me there's plenty of material on the internet and I should do some independent studying. Which would result in me punching him again.


I unleashed another volley of blows against the bag. Charge in, left palm strike center, right palm strike above, knee in, fall, break the combo. Repeat the combo, add a close elbow strike. Each blow caused light cracking of the bag's armor. It was, at least according to Riley, durable enough that if it crunched, that meant you were hitting with enough force to break an average adult male's rib bones. I was satisfied to note that every strike I delivered crunched.


I could ask Lisa, but that would require actually going to Lisa for help. Whose solution to Zach's emotional state after Dream Girl was to functionally prostitute Emma for him. Granted, they wound up together in the long run, but only after Vicky actually set the stage to make it work. Well, while we were on that subject, maybe I could ask Vicky for her thoughts?


Hmmph. Wouldn't that be something? After spending the better part of a year hating her for how she jerked Dean around with break up and make up drama bullshit, to go to her for relationship advice. Fuck, I really must be desperate about this.


Desperate and alone.


They're still out there making a difference, and I'm still in here punching a stupid bag. Fuck! I thrust out as hard as I could. The shell of the bag, which was pretty damn tough, caved to the strike. It hurt like hell, but I buried my hand in the soft 'flesh' of the bag. It felt an awful lot like the inside of a baked potato that cooled down to about room temperature. I tugged, and with a squishing sound, my hand was released. It would mend itself in time.


Hopefully so would my wrist, because damn that hurt.


Is this the path Sophia went down? Did she feel like this, having a problem she was unable to solve, one that she brought on herself? There are certainly plenty of ways to pick out a Trigger Event, aren't there? Now would be an awesome time to have a second Trigger and be able to go in blazing with a whole new power.


Of course, Sophia had no friends and no support. If Emma was to be believed, she didn't want any. She didn't want to admit for a second that she was weak enough to need others to help her. But isn't that what got me into this fucking mess in the first place? I didn't want to admit I wasn't good enough, so I used that damn stim drug even knowing how dangerous it was. I didn't think there'd be any consequences, despite the warnings. Which of course bit me in the ass.


And now I'm here beating on something that can't fight back.


Guess we're not as different as I thought we were, Sophia.


Fuck that. There's at least one important difference between us. I actually want to be a human being, not some psychotic bitch whose only chance of not dying alone is someone deciding to hurry the occasion along.


Maybe I could ask Taylor or Amelia. Not about Sophia. I was content with not turning out anything like her. And the two of them were probably not useful sources even if I did want to know more about the psycho. But about relationship advice. Taylor was clearly putting love above attraction, since she was actually straight. That was probably the closest I was going to get to my situation right now.


Wait, how did I even know she was straight? It's not like anyone around here talks about stuff like this. Except Zach, and by his logic Taylor's gay because Amelia's such a pimp that she's seduced every last female member of the team. Including me and possibly Dinah.


Oh, right, I remember now. It was back during the 'watch Heartbreaker be publically humiliated' party. Pity it wasn't a public execution. Emma showed up, blah blah drama, blah blah Lily hated her and so did I. Blah blah, turns out she wasn't a bigot, just a psychopath. And later it turned out that she wasn't psycho, either. Just batshit fucking crazy.


Taylor admits she's not gay. Amelia says she's okay with that and their relationship is their own business after... right, Rapture knew it ahead of time because that's how her power works.


That's it! I can talk to Rapture! Her power is perfect for this sort of thing, and she didn't have any problem with Taylor and Amelia's relationship. Or Lily and Sabah's, for that matter.


I wonder if she knew they'd break up? Whatever, she was open minded enough and could help me figure out all of this. Then again, homosexuality and polygamy were quite a bit different, so maybe she wouldn't. But it cost me nothing to ask, right? I should call her ri...


Oh, right. Endbringer battle. She'll be there, worrying about that.


Fuck everything.


Maybe Dinah wants to play a card game?


================

A/N- Missy's kinda not having fun right now.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 322- Missy


"You can come in," Dinah spoke right before I knocked on her office door.


I palmed the door and it opened. "Did you use your powers to know I'd be coming?"


"It would have been pretty easy to predict," she answered, looking up at me. The way her office was aligned, she could look right at me from her perfectly sized chair. "But I have easier methods. There's a motion detection system installed in the wall, complete with a fairly standard hidden camera. It allows me to know who is approaching through the hallway."


Typha looked up at me from where she was curled up in the corner. She uttered a sound somewhere between a bird cooing, and a cat's mew, then put her head back down in her paws and returned to sleep. Calysta was the same way, all Riley's creatures were. Riley once told me why, something to do with them needing to conserve energy and heal more than normal lifeforms did. I trusted the Tinker to know her creations.


"Ah, that makes sense," I agreed, looking back toward Dinah. "So... uh, does Amelia or Taylor or Lisa know you have the hallway monitored?" Is it weird that I think she's absolutely adorable in that little girl sized business suit and want to hug her forever? No! Bad Missy! You can have one girlfriend. No more.


Wow, put that on the list of things I never thought I'd hear myself say. I was so glad her kind of psychic didn't include knowing what people are thinking.


"Lisa probably does," she responded. "I feel that with their powers, it would be absurd for them to ask me not to monitor a single public passageway leading to my office. Given just how much information they have access to."


"You have a point," I agreed. "So, umm, what do you do for fun?"


"Pardon?" the girl asked.


"Well, I mean, we normally don't spend a lot of time together," I explained. "Usually my time is taken up by school, or training, or spending time with Theo and Riley. And you're always around Lisa trying to sort out the apocalypse. Which is totally more important than my curiosity. So, I was wondering, what do you do when you've used up your power for the day. You know, for fun. Unless you're going to try to convince me that you enjoy Lisa's company."


"Lisa is a perfectly respectful and likable individual," Dinah responded, although she couldn't keep a straight face more than halfway through the sentence. It was the first time I'd seen her smile since the Christmas party. And that was a sort of nervous smile, not one of actual amusement.


"You're better off trying to sell me you liked to go to your ocean beach house on Avalon for scuba diving and tanning," I responded. The part that made that funny was that no one wanted oceanside property on Avalon. The water was laden with heavy isotopes of the 'if you swim here, your hair will fall out. And then later so will all your skin' variety. Between Dragon and the Yggdrasil, the expectation was that the ocean might be fully consumed, scrubbed and replaced somewhere around the year 2100. "Seriously, though, I'm curious what the most powerful precog on the planet does for fun."


"I read a great deal," she responded passively. "Preferably classical literature."


"Really?" I smiled.


"I find it relaxing," she explained, as if she felt the need to justify herself. "My power is... fairly indiscriminate, and I see a lot of things I really wish I didn't." Oh, wow, that sounds awful. And if there was ever a chance I might ask Dinah about my relationship, it was gone forever now. "In addition, I can't accidentally activate my power by wondering what happens next in a book in a series that's been completed. Making it one of the few things things I can safely enjoy speculating upon."


"That's it? Not new books or movies?" I asked.


"Even with old movies or books written a decade or two ago, there's always the risk a sequel comes out even a decade from now and my power will respond to that. I'm only safe with works where the creator is already dead. For whatever reason, my precognition applies directly to the maker of a work."


"Wow, that's kinda shitty," I concluded. And weird, but I didn't want to upset her by saying that. "Actually, you should talk to Theo. He's a big fan of literature and theater. I think he could come up with a lot of really good suggestions for you to try. So's Riley, but she's more into the intellectual side of it. Trying to figure out hidden meanings and stuff. You can come along next time a really good play is scheduled in Boston, maybe."


"I would prefer not to impose," she responded.


"Oh, don't worry about that," I insisted.


"I am also not interested in joining your harem," she added.


"What?!" I exclaimed. "I swear, I wasn't thinking anything like that at all!"


She started giggling, and then accidentally snorted when she tried to force herself to stop.


"You've been spending time around Zach, haven't you?" I asked, but I had to laugh as well. She really got me with that one.


"A little," she admitted once she could breathe. "You should have seen your face."


With the ice broken, we started discussing literature. Safe topic for Dinah, and thanks to Theo's love of theater, I could actually hold a conversation on the subject. For the next half hour, we discussed various works of fiction in the world. It didn't quite allow me to forget the war going on that I couldn't be a part of. It didn't let me forget the complexity of my relationship with Riley and Theo. But at least it let me have a few moments where there was something else I could think about for a little while.


....


Dinah's phone rang, interrupting a conversation we were having about how Shakespear was clearly mocking romance when he wrote Romeo and Juliet. She answered it immediately, of course. She was the only one of us that still actually had a cell phone. "Dinah Alcott speaking... You know my powers don't work on them... Well, okay, that might work, what's it do?"


How does she get service in another dimension? I briefly wondered. Then I reminded myself that Dragon had a base roughly the size of Rhode Island built into our version of the Appalachian mountains. The mysteries of interdimensional cell towers were probably well within her grasp.


"... That is quite disturbing..." Dinah responded. "Let us see... chances of the Beelzebub infection jumping to another lifeform is zero, chances of finding a new infected is zero. Chance of locating undestroyed spawn, zero. At least for the next few months. It gets vague after that, for the obvious reasons... Farewell."


"What was that about?" I asked. I'd had no news about the battle in hours.


"They are done," she responded. "It seems this Endbringer releases monsters while hiding in another dimension."


"That seems eerily familiar," I muttered.


"Indeed," Dinah agreed. "In addition, it appears at least some of those creations release infectious agents that merge into other organic life and take control of its neurology to add to the battle."


I blinked. "Please tell me you mean dogs and birds and stuff, right?"


"Them as well," she responded. "Every living thing larger than a rodent, and even the larger species of those."


"In a city the size of Paris... how many died?" I asked. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to make you use your power!"


"It's okay, you didn't," she answered. "I cannot provide numbers for things that have already happened. In addition, my abilities don't work directly on the Endbringers or Scion. I have to find ways around them."


Oh, right, duh. You were just talking about her being able to read old books without accidentally learning the plot. "I see," I responded. "Man, it'd be useful if the alien parasite god wasn't pretty much immune to all powers."


"I do believe that's why he made our powers work the way they do, to avoid that possibility," Dinah pointed out.


"So, why do you think the Endbringers are immune as well?" I asked.


"Lisa believes they're the result of a power interaction," Dinah responded. "Much as I cannot use my powers on you while you're using Singularity, and my predictions of Taylor and Amelia rapidly drift off course thanks to the Taylor-Amelia interaction."


"Uh, in what way?" I asked.


"Every version of the future I foresee ends on the certainty that Pantheon disbands within six months to a year." Wow, that is pretty off course. "The exact details change, although you, Theo and Riley always go with Amelia. Most of the other Thinkers and Tinkers on the team go with Taylor and Lisa. I've taken to phrasing my questions with 'assuming Pantheon remains together' in the privacy of my mind, simply to mitigate the discrepencies. Lisa assures me that my model's wrong irregardless, due to the nature of the Endbringers. That Taylor and Amelia, even without their anti-precog interactions, wouldn't let personal drama get in the way of stopping the Endbringers."


I wonder if Lisa believes that, or is just trying to make things sound better. The idea that Taylia was that powerful was disturbing. "That's good to know," I responded. As if I didn't have enough things to worry about, already.


"I would appreciate if you didn't speak of this to the others," she asked. "Telling you doesn't hurt the numbers, but Riley finding out could. And I cannot be certain my predictions are accurate. As I said, it's incredibly hard to work through Taylia's influence. All I can say for certain is, the longer Pantheon remains together, the better the odds are in aggregate."


"Aggregate?" I asked.


"Yes," she nodded. "There is still the matter of five incredibly powerful factions that will be involved in the end. Details are fuzzy, although based on other information I am convinced that Pantheon, or Avalon certainly, is one of those factions. The others... are complex. I'm not completely certain that it will be the same five factions during the final battles. I think that, depending on how things play out, the factions themselves seem to change."


"So we'll still be here," I responded. "With or without Taylia?"


"Correct," she nodded. "Although the form Pantheon takes at that time is... complex. As I have said before, there are too many anti-precog effects. Taylor and Amelia, the monsters created using Endbringer tissue. The Taboo research. It all adds up to a great many blind spots for me."


"That has to be frustrating," I sympathized. Like how people blocked my power, I imagined.


"It is," Dinah agreed. "In any case, the longer Pantheon stays functional, the stronger at least three of the other factions get. I think a lot of it has to do with the Mass Trigger experiments they did, but I can't see Trigger Events, either. Maybe the fourth as well. It's weird, I'm not sure that one even exists right now. One more block in my power."


"Well, at least it's a relief in one respect," I offered.


"Oh?"


"It means when the time comes, we won't be fighting alone," I told her.


=============


A/N- My browser's spellcheck thinks the "Rhode" part of Rhode Island is a typo.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 323- Missy


I was waiting at the pad when Theo returned. I may not have my powers, but Calysta didn't need me to have my powers in order for her to fly. What I wasn't expecting was that he would return alone.


"What happened to everyone else?" I asked.


"The Tinkers and Thinkers are staying behind, doing their usual planning," he started. Okay, that makes sense. It also removed pretty much the vast majority of our team in that one swipe. Almost all the people living here were our Thinkers and Tinkers. "There are also a lot of injured. Beelzebub was a messy fight."


"What happened?" I asked. Please don't let there be something that I could have done to make the difference.


"It was a summoner type Endbringer," he told me. "Can we go inside? I'm tired and I need a shower. Sorry."


"Oh, sure, no problem," I stuttured. It hurt a little that he wasn't more excited to see me, but he sounded exhausted. Not just physically. He sounded hollow, like the light echo he created when speaking while he had his power up around him. I was tired, too. "I could use a shower, too."


"Thanks for understanding," he responded.


We took off toward the living area building, letting Calysta and Macula do the work. What happened? I wanted to ask, but I couldn't. My fault I couldn't be there to help, so I'd stay silent, now. I could accept that, as penance for my mistake.


We took our showers, separately of course. My hand and wrist ached, now that it had time to stiffen up after my workout session. I probably broke my hand on that damn punching bag. I'd need to ask Riley to look at it later. Just one more way others had to pick up the slack and cover for my stupid mistakes.


I was done before Theo, and waiting by his door when he opened it. He'd changed to street clothes, and I hadn't worn anything except the street clothes today. There was no real impetus for me to protect my identity on Avalon, I had no life outside Pantheon anymore. Brockton Bay was gone, and Lisa had somehow convinced my mother that it was fine for me to live here full time, like Dinah and a few others were doing. I suspected bribery was involved, but never did get the courage up to ask. I'd rather let myself remain ignorant on the subject. I had enough things to angst about without finding out Mom sold me for spare cigarette money.


The only thing that would be worse would be finding out Lisa used something less obvious.


"Sorry for being rude earlier," he said the moment he opened the door.


"You weren't rude," I responded. He was adorable when he was trying to apologize. "It was a rough day."


Endbringers always are, that's a universal truth. Sure, Pantheon gave as good as we got in those battles, but for every victory we made against them, they extracted their price in return. The difference was, at least Pantheon did have victories against them. No one else could honestly claim they'd even gotten close.


"Thanks for understanding," he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. He pulled me into a hug. He smelled pretty neutral, after the bath. Clearly using the generic shampoo material grown from the Yggdrasil. I allowed myself the luxury of buying quality bath soaps. Nothing against Amelia, but she did not understand the value of a good shampoo. Neither did Theo, but he was a guy so that was to be expected.


"I'd be a pretty bad girlfriend, or human being for that matter, if I couldn't accept that you might be tired after fighting a city killing abomination," I dismissed his praise.


"Doesn't mean I can't appreciate it," he responded, leaning back a little to look me in the eyes. "One of those things I love about you."


"So that's what you love?" I smiled, feeling warm inside. It wasn't just that he said it, it was that I believed him. "You mean it's not the part where I kissed your other girlfriend in front of you?"


"You've been spending too much time around Zach," he didn't laugh, but at least he smiled for real.


"Your fault," I countered, stepping around him and entering his room. Dorms or no, each of us had pretty nice places to stay here. Plenty of space, almost all of it downstairs.


What one saw from above looked like five or six buildings, each only about two stories tall. If you could look at it from a room diagram, it was a massive underground complex that all interconnected like prairie dog tunnels. I plopped down on one of the Yggdrasil couches and stretched out. "Now, tell me everything."


"Shouldn't I be the one on the couch?" he asked, standing in front of me.


"Sure," I agreed, sitting up.


He sat down next to me, and I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down. "What?"


"You took my comfy sleeping spot," I pointed out. "Now I have to use you as a replacement." I climbed on top of him, and put my head on his chest. "Those are the rules."


"I'm pretty sure that rule is only meant for cats," he argued. He didn't put up too much resistance, instead stroking my hair with one of his hands. The other was caught under us. One of those unfortunate problems with having an arm on both sides, there weren't many ways to cuddle without at least one limb getting in the way.


"Too late, already napping," I quipped, closing my eyes. "So, do you want to talk about it? The Endbringer, I mean."


"No," he responded, I felt him shudder as he tried to take a breath. Oh. "But I should. It was horrible. I had to kill people. A lot of them."


"The infection?" I asked, recalling what Dinah told me.


"They were still alive, Missy," he shook as he breathed out. "I know they were under control of the Endbringer. I know they couldn't be saved, that they were in pain and being used as puppets. Or at least that's what everyone else insists. But I can't force myself to believe it. They were still human beings. When they screamed, it was in fear and pain. They were victims, Missy, not monsters. I tried to make it quick. Painless as I could. But..."


He sobbed, and I felt my body jolt from the spasm. I've never seen him cry before. He was always so stoic about things like that. I looked up at him, brushed his cheek and felt wetness.


"If they said there was nothing that could be done, I believe it," I insisted.


"Some of them were children," I felt his face shift as he clenched his eyes shut. "I don't just mean teenagers. I mean children. Five and six year olds, too young to even comprehend what was happening to them. All they understood about it was the fear and pain and me killing them. How am I supposed to live with that?"


"I don't know," I admitted. I should have been there. To share some of the burden. Instead Theo had to go through that, while I had a workout and talked to Dinah about Shakespeare. I fucked up and wasn't able to help, then. I needed to help, now. "It's not your fault. It's the fucking Endmakers."


"I've never killed before," he spoke quietly. "I didn't want to. But if they got out, they could have spread their infection to millions of others. And I thought about what Dream Girl did and how I could have prevented everything she did by stopping her for real, and I didn't and I hated my self. This time I did and I hate myself even more. This isn't what being a hero is supposed to be about."


"No, it's not," I agreed. "But the deck is stacked against heroes. The source of our powers is the enemy to all of us. Monsters using us as weapons tests. It's not your fault, or mine, or those people who were used by that Endbringer. In the end, it's all Scion's fault. And we know it doesn't care about the suffering we're going through. We're just food that's getting played with first."


"That doesn't absolve us of responsibility," he responded.


"I know," I sighed, I stroked his cheek gently. His skin was rough since he hadn't shaved for a couple days. "But maybe it can help put things into perspective. Let you think more about what would have happened if you didn't do anything. How many more would have died?"


"I don't know if I can," he replied. "Thinking of people like that. This many dead so that many more can live. I just... I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I start treating people like that."


I squeezed him. "I know," I closed my own eyes. "You care about people too much for that. It's part of why I love you. I'm willing to bet if Riley was here, she'd agree fully. You're a good man."


He was quiet for a while. "Thanks, that means a lot."


=====================


A/N- Dammit, Missy, stop hogging all the limelight!

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 324- Missy


"Hey, Missy," Theo caressed my shoulder.


"Muh?" Brilliant, Missy, truly the best dialogue ever.


"I think it's time for you to go back to your room," he sounded apologetic. "We're already a half hour past curfew."


"That rule's stupid," I complained, nuzzling my face against his chest. "Besides, Zach and Emma break it all the time."


"Zach and Emma aren't the people you want to consider role models," he countered. "Besides, they get exceptions based on the whole 'don't sleep' thing. As long as they stay in the main public areas or the labs... they're allowed to be out. We do need sleep and we're in private quarters. That's a no go."


"Still a stupid rule," I pouted. "We're responsible enough to fight to save the world from monsters and alien parasite gods, but we're not responsible enough to be in each others' bedrooms past nine?"


"It's a good rule," he responded. "Mistakes get made, you know. I mean, our parents might not mind too much. But that's because mine would see it as some kind of weird parahuman superchild in the making. And yours..."


My mother practically made a career off of child support and alimony, she'd be tickled pink if I did the same with a multimillionaire. "But we're not going to do anything like that," I argued. "Not until we're older and married and everything."


"I know that, and you know that, but they don't know that," he responded. "They could probably ask Dinah and be certain about it. But if they did that, they'd have to do it for pretty much every possible combination of boys and girls living in this building. And then they'd have to do it again every time we added someone new. Using the world's most powerful precog as some sort of ad-hoc chastity belt seems... like an incredible waste of resources."


"Also profoundly creepy," I muttered. The idea of Dinah answering questions would have been disturbing even before finding out about the side effects of her power, how she couldn't help but get visual images from the questions she asked. Making her look for those kinds of images on purpose was not cool.


"So we'll talk in the morning," he insisted.


Dammit! "Okay," I sighed, sitting up. "We'll talk in the morning."


....


It was almost midnight when my door opened automatically and Riley stepped in, looking nervous. "Riley? What's wrong?" I asked, getting up off the chair in my living room area. I wasn't really tired enough to try to go to bed. I wasn't tired when I took that nap with Theo, and there was still so much on my mind. Staying up watching dumb movies was better than laying in bed staring at the ceiling.


"I just wanted to see if you were okay," she spoke softly, walking in and slowly approaching me. I was used to a lot of things from Riley, but her acting shy was a new one. "I know how much it has to hurt to not get to help."


Oh. She's worried about me? Of course she would be. "What about the curfew?" I asked.


"Big Sis gave me permission to break it," she answered. That's Riley, alright, asking for permission to break the rules. "She just told me not to get caught. So I came to see you and make sure you're okay."


"That's okay, I think I'm over it," I responded. "It sucks, but I can cope." I carefully avoided rubbing my hand. My wrist had swollen to the point where I was convinced I'd need to ask Amelia to patch it up in the morning.


"You're hurt," she spoke immediately. Dammit!


"Yeah, I just banged up my wrist a little," I insisted. "I'll be fine."


By now she'd managed to inch her way within arm's reach of me. We were the same height now, despite my year and a half or so age advantage on her. Her hand went out and touched my elbow, guiding my arm up. I didn't resist, there wasn't much point in eve trying. She rested my injured hand in her palm, pressing gently in various spots. I tried to avoid making sounds of discomfort as she poked and prodded.


"This is pretty bad, considering you have an augmented physiology," she spoke eventually. "Several fractured bones and some serious swelling. Even minor nerve damage in the wrist. What did you do?"


"I got a little overzealous in my workout routine, punched a bag too hard," I responded. "Don't worry, I'll talk to Amelia tomorrow and it'll be good as new."


"Okay, if you insist," she looked at me, but didn't let go of my hands. "Why were you pushing yourself so hard? Is it because you couldn't go to the fight with us?"


"N-" I hesitated. I didn't want to lie to her, it wouldn't feel right. To say nothing of her lie detection abilities. "It was. But that's not a problem now."


"You're sure?" Riley asked, sounding conflicted in wanting to believe me, and wanting to make sure I was okay.


"I talked to Theo after he got back," I informed her. "He was really upset about it, about what he saw and had to do when fighting Beelzebub's monsters."


Is that a bad thing to tell her? That I was there to comfort him when she wasn't? This whole thing was really confusing sometimes and I had no way of knowing what I was supposed to do. I didn't know if telling her that might upset her.


"Good," she responded. She was still toying with my wrist, and had pinched my arm near the elbow. I felt the pain immediately start to fade. "I was worried about him, too. Is he okay? He was really upset."


"I'm not sure," I admitted. "He was pretty upset by everything. This one got to him worse than the others. What about you, are you okay?"


She smiled, a little sadly. "I'm fine. You just take care of Theo, okay?"


"Uh, Riley, you're scaring me," I looked at her, wondering what she meant by those words. "You're not planning to do anything... bad... are you?"


"No," she responded, still looking like she was going to cry. "But I can't help him. I don't know how."


"And I do?" I asked. "I don't know how to make him feel better about killing that Endbringer's victims. He already knows they couldn't have been saved, but killing them hurt him. I've never done anything like that."


"I have," she responded, looking away. "I've done it so many times that I can't even remember when I lost count."


"That's what this is about?" I asked quietly. I wrapped my arms around her. It was so easy to forget what she'd done in the past. Who she was. She didn't hug me back. "Were you reminded of what Jack made you do?"


"I saw the way Theo looked," she whispered. "He was disgusted. He hated what he had to do. H-how can I expect him to love me when I've done so much worse."


"You'd never do anything like that now," I insisted.


"But I would," she responded. "I have. When I killed Dream Girl, it was the same way. I made her walk out into the ocean to drown, and she felt every second of it. And just today I used the same tech on Moord Nag, controlling her."


I thought back on that one. Moord Nag normally wasn't someone I'd hear about- as terrifying as she was, there was a list a mile long of monsters just like her, or the Slaughterhouse Nine, or the Blasphemies throughout the world. Incredibly powerful warlords that, if I had my way, we'd hunt down one after another after another until they were all dead. I knew Taylor and Amelia wanted to as well, but bullshit politics kept us from doing that. I only knew who Moord Nag was because I saw her during the last couple Endbringer battles and did some research.


"Moord Nag's a despot and a psychopath," I responded, squeezing Riley. "Whatever you did to her can't possibly be worse than the stuff she's done. She's single handedly killed tens of thousands."


"Hundreds of thousands, now," Riley answered. "Lisa used her to clear the whole city in the end, killing everyone still inside. All the infected in one strike. Turns out her power is even capable of killing the M7s and zerg if they're exposed for more than about twenty seconds."


Holy fuck. "Doesn't her power get stronger the more people she kills?" I asked. "She was crazy powerful with only a few thousand of the artificial food source that Amelia put together for her. If it's a straight upgrade, she might be able to solo Endbringers after hundreds of thousands."


"Also crazy crazy," Riley added. "The power boost messed with her head. There's no way to grant a power increase without causing damage to the brain, one way or another. It's one of those rules Passengers have."


And I ignored that when using that drug, I added. I didn't blame Riley for telling me, I didn't think she was doing it as an accusation or even reminder. She was a Tinker, and Tinkers loved to talk tech. "So she's insane, now?"


"Temporarily," Riley answered. "But it wears off over time. Her power uses up the energy she absorbs, and the more she's containing the faster it'll go. At low power levels, the first thousand or so, it's pretty weak. Only using up one or two a day."


Only using one or two people a day, I amended in my head.


"At her current power stage, she's consuming exponentially more energy," Riley continued explaining. "She'll burn through a hundred thousand lives worth of power by this time tomorrow. Another hundred by next week. Almost all of it will be gone in a month. After two she'll be back to her standard power."


"So upgrading her to Endslayer status would require killing the entire city we're trying to defend to give her the power she needs?" Well, that would have been convenient to have, but it's not worth the costs.


"I'm planning to draft up a system for Amelia tomorrow," Riley informed. "We can assign a patch of land in our Africa to Moord Nag, now that she's under our influence. We can give her access during emergencies, so she can use her upgraded power during Endbringer battles, and against him."


"That... will help a lot," I admitted. "It's a really good idea."


"You don't hate me for messing with her brain?" She asked hesitantly. "Or because I wasn't disgusted by the Endbringer like everyone else?"


"Of course not," I responded, pulling back a little so I could look at her. I rested my forehead on hers and looked into her now dark brown eyes. Wow, those are pretty, I'll need to ask her about her cosmetics choices later, in a less intense situation. "We've talked about this. I love you, we both do." Surprise, surprise, I mean that. And not merely as a close friend, either. Although we were certainly that, as well. I did love her, just like I loved Theo.


The relationship was obviously a little different than with Theo. He was the one who protected me and made me feel strong and safe. With Riley, the role was reversed. I was the one who protected her, she was the one I wanted to make strong and safe.


I noted the way she twisted her arm to keep the pressure of her fingers steady on my hurt wrist. Okay, maybe that works both ways, at least a little.


======================


A/N- Show me a rule that says Bonesaw can't know bullshit acupuncture techniques.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 325- Crystal


"C'mon, cuz, he's perfect for you," Vicky insisted. "Smart, good looking, and the stick is only about halfway up his ass. So much better than Rory. Plus he's got the whole blaster-shaker thing, so the two of you have that in common. So think about all the fun you can have arguing with each other over which whether your future children got their powers from him or you."


I sighed. "Vicky, I don't-"


"Plus he already knows me," she interrupted. "Which means there's no chance of you getting into a massive blow up fight because he wouldn't stop ogling your younger, funner, and better looking cousin at the Christmas party."


"This is about that time you caught Dean flirting with me, isn't it?" I muttered.


"He wasn't flirting with you," she argued. "He was just being nice. He explained it to me later."


"Yeah, he explained it to you later," I continued. "After you broke up with him, literally threw him out of the house, and then spent the next three months moping about because he was dating that one girl. Whatever happened to her, anyway?"


"I think she transfered to Immaculata. Who cares?" Vicky sulked. "She was a bimbo anyway."


"I dunno, she seemed nice enough to me," I responded. It was nice to have Vicky on the ropes for once. With her boosted mental abilities and various extra senses, it was hard to get the upper hand against her in anything. And right now, I had that upper hand. "Sure, she was a little high strung, perhaps. But I'm pretty sure that was Dean's type. Remember back before you got your powers and he dated Amy for a couple wee-" Her smile vanished instantly, and I knew that I'd said something very, very wrong. "Oh, I'm sorry!"


"Don't worry about it, not your fault," she responded, shrugging dismissively. "Can't do anything to change the past."


And you've moved on to Chevalier, if you can call finding a new guy who's pretty much exactly like your old boyfriend 'moving on'.


"Okay," I agreed. "I retain the right to feel bad."


"You sound like Mom," she rolled her eyes. "Hey, speaking of moms, what's Aunt Sarah been up to? She seemed pretty dead set against staying on Avalon, last time I talked to her. Something about preferring to earn her own way."


"Oh, uh, she's moved to Boston," I informed. "Kinda doing the 'liaison' thing like you and I are. Working as part of their Protectorate, but doing it with a hand me down Radiant. Apparently she's now the de facto second in command for their Protectorate, and the functional head of their Wards." I tactfully neglected to mention that Taylor's father got a job in Boston as well. The longer it took Vicky to find out about that, the less annoying she'd be.


"Makes sense," Vicky responded. "Aunt Sarah's a badass, and she can use your suit even better than you can."


I tried to be mad, but it was true. Mom had the stronger shields, and my armor was built around harnessing its shielding. She was better able to use my armor than I was. "Yeah, you're right. Plus the Wards there love her. Clock sends his regards, by the way."


"That's where they sent him?" Vicky laughed. "Oh, man, he must be driving her up the wall with his pranks. Oh, I just thought of something! Do you remember the 'Photon Mom Sandwich'?"


"Yes, Vicky, I remember," I muttered.


"Roast beef with ketchup," she continued.


"Yes. Vicky," I growled. "I remember."


"It took me six weeks to get the joke!" She finished. "Speaking of which, one of us still has to beat the living piss out of him for that."


"Actually, from what Mom's been saying, he's turned over a new leaf lately," I informed her. "No more dumb pranks, none of the childish antics, and he's doing a very good job on the team. While rocking the whole quiet moody thing. Apparently he's like a less douchy Armsmaster. Half the girls and one of the guys on the team are blatantly flirting with him. Thus far, no one's won the prize."


"Really, your mom said all of that?"


"I may have paraphrased a little," I shrugged. "Okay, I may have paraphrased a lot. But seriously, turns out he shaped up nicely. Who woulda guessed?"


"Dean always said he had it in him," Vicky smiled sadly. "Pretty sure he didn't believe a word of it, but he did say it. Of course he also liked to say that Sophia was just misunderstood, and if everyone was patient with her, she'd open up to the team."


And he thought Amy would get over her 'little crush' on him. "For an empath, that boy just did not understand people," I sighed.


"He meant well," Vicky sighed. "Which is more than I can say for most people. And that brings us back to the guy I'm trying to hook you up with. Trust me, he's perfect for you. I know how much you like the artsy types, and he was a musician before he got powers."


"Vicky, are you trying to hook me up with some guy who's in a band?" I sighed. "Because I got over that years ago."


"Actually, he works on the other side of the screen," she responded. "You know those people that write the music that all those famous singers like to pretend are theirs, but everyone with the IQ of a dead fruit bat already knows better? He's one of those."


Huh. "That doesn't sound so bad, actually," I admitted. "So he has sonic powers? Like Dubs?"


"Not directly," Vicky shrugged. "It's more like destructive telekinesis. Kinda like Clotho's power, but without any fine control, like when she uses that tinker weapon of hers. He can make sound with it, but he can't actually control sound. Also flying, forcefields, and no Manton Limit. So should I call up Eric and let him know to have you shipped over here for a few hours? Or him shipped over there? Either works for me."


"Still not interested," I responded.


"Well, if he's not not your type, there's always Rime," Vicky suggested. "She's Chevalier's second in command, so-"


"Vicky, how many times do I have to explain that I'm not gay?"


"That's not what I heard," Vicky smirked. "Ames told me all about how you tried to steal her girlfriend."


"I'm hanging up now," I sighed.


"She even looks a little like Taylor," Vicky continued, heedless of my words. "With the whole supermodel skinny thing going on."


"Goodbye, Victoria," I turned off the phone. Why is it that the Dallon side of the family is completely fucking insane? I stood up and left my office.


"You okay?" GL asked.


"Not really," I admitted. "Just got done talking to Vicky. She was trying to cheer me up. She just sucks at it."


"Ah, Hurricane Victoria," I could imagine him nodding his head sagely, if only he had one. "She who Sveta worships as a god and may or may not be willing to go gay for. She who has more followers on her blog than most religions have at all. She who dumped actual shark bait on Shark."


I chuckled at that memory. The guy was a pompous windbag of a villain. Reminded me an awful lot of Kaiser. "She has her moments," I admitted.


"Hey, if you need someone to listen, you probably shouldn't go to the woman who never even listens to herself," he responded. The air rumbling with what I learned approximated GL's version of laughter. "I'm always willing to offer a metaphorical shoulder to cry on if you need it. May need to shop around a bit longer if you want something a bit more literal."


"Thanks," I smiled at the random nowhere. "I might take you up on that, some day. I've just been... after Paris."


"That was ugly," he agreed, his voice softening, as it did when he was busy focusing on his thoughts or emotions, instead of concentrating on using his power to speak. "It got to all of us."


"I need to talk with the others, don't I?" I asked. GL had, at some point, become my de facto second in command. "I just... I can't force myself to care anymore. It's like I want to fail, just so I don't have to keep fighting these battles we can't win."


"Minerva said-"


"Minerva's a lying bitch," I interrupted. "Trust me, I know her better than most. She says whatever's convenient for her and her goals. If it also happens to be true, that's barely a concern for her."


"So you don't think we're reaching the equilibrium?" he asked. "She's not wrong about the Endbringers getting weaker, and those of us fighting them getting stronger. New Endslayer combinations, new weapons that work against the monsters."


"It doesn't matter," I responded. "I used to be nothing. I didn't have to fight them because my powers didn't matter. The average housefly is more of a threat to Alexandria than I was to the Endbringers. Now I'm fighting alongside the Triumvirate and pulling my own weight. I just... before, if I messed up, it meant so little. Now one mistake, one moment of hesitation, and people die. Possibly thousands of them. Just because I was less than perfect just one time. I can't... I don't know how to live with that. Some days, I regret ever joining Pantheon."


"Wish I had answers for you," he responded. I felt a shifting as his power influenced my clothes, as best he could make it at least. A half attempt at a hug. "One of those things about responsibility, I guess. But I promise you none of us regret your choices. You've been a good leader and a great friend. None of us would be anywhere near as well off as we are now, without you. Don't worry about us, okay? We'll be here to help you any way you need."


"I just want it to be over," I sighed. "One way or the other."


================

A/N- Sorry, Missy. There *are* other characters in this story.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 326- Beth


I knocked on the door to Sabah's flat. This was the good part of town, at least in part thanks to our efforts. Although if I was being honest with myself, Alexandria deserved most of the credit. She was a one woman army, and pretty much all organized crime had been dealt with. Or, at least, the kind involving drugs and gangs and stuff inside the city and the nearby area. There was always petty bullshit, and people trying to fly under the radar. And there was always the Elite, but they tended to avoid the kind of crimes that drew that sort of attention. At least anywhere near LA.


After a couple minutes, the door opened, revealing a slender young Asian woman. She'd clearly just got done taking a bath, her hair was still wet. Really, Sabah, you were dismembered last night and you still found time to bring someone home with you? What the hell?


"Umm, hello?" The girl asked.


"Sorry," I smiled awkwardly. What do I even say to her? "I'm Beth, I was here to check up on Sabah."


"Oh, uh..." she glanced back into the room. "She's getting dressed."


Of course she is. "Let her know Beth's here, okay?" I asked.


"Uh, okay, sure," she agreed, then she looked back into the room again and shouted. "Someone by the name of Beth!"


"Oh!" I heard Sabah yell. "She's a friend, you can let her in."


"Umm, come in," she smiled cautiously, stepping back. "I think I remember hearing about you." Sabah talks about me to her... uh... friends? "I'm Lily."


Lily? Oh! "Sorry! I didn't recognize you!" I smiled for real this time. "I'm Beth. Anima. I was just coming over to see how Sabah was doing after Beelzebub, I didn't think there'd be anyone with her already. I've been a big fan of yours for a while. I just didn't... you look so different in person!"


She relaxed a little, at least. "I get that a lot, actually," she responded. "The armor's actually designed to highlight certain features and play tricks on the eyes. Makes me look about five years older, about a foot taller, and more like a dignified head of state than a nineteen year old girl."


"It does a really, really good job of it," I agreed, marveling at the difference. She was actually younger than me, and shorter. Even knowing this was the same girl as I saw on camera, taking off her mask for the whole world to see, I had trouble seeing the resemblance.


"Thanks," I heard Sabah respond, stepping out of her room. She was dressed nicely, as usual. "I worked pretty hard on that." She stopped for a second. "Minerva helped," she admitted. "A little bit."


"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at her leg. "I mean, that was... your entire leg was gone."


"A little stiff, a little sore," she responded. "It's not as bad as it was last night. Lily helped me with some stretches. " She blushed.


Oh that's... I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. Lily and Sabah were both all smiles, so I was glad for them, but this was a little awkward for me. Then again, I had gotten used to awkward. The only way a power could be more embarrassing than mine would literally involve use of bodily functions as the power's main mechanism. "I should probably start an exercise routine," I admitted instead, acting like I missed the point entirely. "It's just, my power really doesn't depend on my physical abilities, and with the armor I never have a need for other reasons."


"It's a good idea," Lily agreed with me. "I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that I never stopped my workout routine even after getting the armor. It's one of those things you don't really think you need. Until, suddenly, you need it and wish you had more."


"I can imagine," I agreed. "So, umm, how long are you staying? Are you planning to join the west coast team?" If you do, does that mean Sabah's going to be spending all her time with you and I'll be a third wheel? I was painfully aware that I already was a third wheel right now, and they probably wanted me gone so they could... do whatever it was they were planning to do.


"I can't, unfortunately," Lily admitted, looking for all intents like a lost puppy. "I mean... the portals still haven't been completed. Then there's the coronation ceremony. Well, not coronation, but whatever it's called."


Sabah deflated visibly. "You mean you're still going through with the marriage?"


Marriage? There was more here than I knew, so I kept silent for now.


"No, we got to skip the whole marriage part of it," Lily responded. "They're pretty much just making me a princess, nothing else."


There was a time when I would have wept in jealousy at that news, I thought. Now I was just glad it wasn't me.


"Really?" Sabah asked. "No strings attached at all?"


"Well, the part where it's very clearly in name only is supposed to be a string," she responded. "There's absolutely nothing coming with with the title, like at all. They're not even going to give me a place to stay. I get the title, I get a fancy parade, and then the royal family does its best to pretend I don't exist at all. Until the anniversary of Leviathan's death comes along. Then I get another fancy parade. I have no idea how they pulled it off, but that's the deal."


"That sounds perfect," Sabah responded. "Congratulations... Princess Lily." She giggled at little at the silliness. I died a little inside, if only because I was used to phases like that being said with absolute seriousness.


"It's everything we wanted without all the parts that sucked ass," Lily agreed. "Well, I might still need a PR coach or something to make sure I don't say things like 'sucked ass' in public. So, y'know, can't win them all."


"That might not go over well," Sabah nodded.


"So, how long are you planning on staying?" I asked.


"Another day or so," she responded. "We have to reevaluate the portal plan, because some countries are afraid the Endbringers will attack other portals and we'd be forced to collapse those, too."


"That's actually not an unreasonable fear," I mused. I may not be a traditional Thinker, but I'm not stupid, I can follow a tactical conversation. "I mean, the last three Endbringer battles happened in areas that threatened portals. Paris, Brockton Bay, and while Avalon's other portal wasn't in San Fran, it would have been caught in the destruction if the tectonic plates gave way. I can see why they'd be worried."


"I guess, but it's a real pain in the ass," she agreed.


"It's probably more than that," I continued. "Pantheon showed it had the ability to break portals during the last fight. Cutting countries off from their colonies like that is a pretty devastating weapon if you use it intelligently. And I imagine a lot of countries are wondering what else you can do with the portals. If they can be shut off, can they be moved? Set to a different world? Can you simply move a gateway from its rightful country to Avalon and invade?"


"We'd never do something like that," Lily responded, defensively. Ooops, guess I could have phrased that better.


"I know," I agreed. "Hell, you don't even need to do that. If the Empresses wanted to conquer a world, they could do it a hundred different ways. The Yggdrasil, turned into an invasive species. Those giant bug monsters. The threat of sending you or Victoria in would probably be enough to make most nations surrender on its own."


"You really think so?" Lily asked. "I mean, I've gotten used to the idea of me being a political icon. I use that all the time to push social equality in some of the countries I've been to. And I know I scare villains. But you're talking about me as if I'm like a nuclear weapon."


"In a way, you really kinda are," I continued. I was warmed up to this conversation, now. "A lot of Pantheon's heavy hitters are. Maybe that's why you don't feel like you're that special, because compared to the people you work for you're top tier, but not alone at that level. Pantheon has so many ways to win a war that nukes look almost benign in comparison. You're scary as hell, too, Sabah."


"You really think so?" Sabah asked. "I mean, the armor makes me pretty strong, but not that strong."


"Yeah, I really do," I responded. "Khepri doesn't even need the biomonsters, she could destroy a country in minutes just using regular bugs. Vicky's rep is insane, and Sveta's close. Avalon's been a country for only a few months and it's already considered a military super power, with the strongest Cape forces that aren't Scion. Pantheon controls almost all of the Endslayers, and they do control the most famous and powerful of them. You're led by the most dangerous S-class threat ever imagined. You have at least three of the top five Tinkers on the planet. If there was a war between Avalon and Bet, right now? I'm not sure Bet could win. No wonder other countries are afraid of accepting your gifts, when you've shown you can take them away so easily."


"Wow, when you put it like that," Lily muttered.


"Yeah," Sabah agreed. She reached over and grabbed Lily's hand. "That's pretty scary to think about."


"Hey, if you think it's scary for you, how do you think it feels for everyone else?" I asked.


==================


A/N- I am soooo surprised no one called this ahead of time. I was afraid I made it too obvious.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 327- Sabah


"Hey, if you think it's scary for you," Beth asserted. "How do you think it feels for everyone else?"


She made a really good point. How did we look, to the outside? I was a no-name, dodging recruitment attempts from the Protectorate and villain groups by sheer virtue of not being worth the effort of recruiting. Now I'm one of the most famous heavy hitters on the continent. Possibly even the whole world. A freakin' Endslayer. I looked over at Lily, who had gone silent as well.


"And now I've made it awkward," Beth sighed.


"No! I mean, well, yes, but not for the reason you think," Lily responded. I recognized she was starting to ramble a little. "I've just been sorta going with the flow in this whole thing. We have Thinkers for considering the consequences and everything. For me it's just been about fighting the good fight. All the good fights, I guess. I'm really good at the 'causes' thing, just not so much at the 'consequences' part."


Beth smiled and shrugged. "I'm the opposite, I guess," she admitted. "I can't help but think about consequences, how things could turn out. I've always been that way, thinking about everything and worrying about how things might turn out. I'm surprised I didn't get a Thinker power. That's where they come from, right? Triggers where you worry about things get Thinker type abilities" Woulda made things so much easier for me, too."


"Take it from me, Thinker powers aren't all they're cracked up to be," Lily responded. "Thinker powers don't make you smart, and they don't solve a thing for anyone. I mean, I technically have a Thinker sub rank, but I don't really think of myself as a Thinker, I just have superhuman aim. Real Thinkers, like Minerva or Alexandria... let's just say their powers fuck with their heads. They sometimes do really stupid things. It's... I think the problem is they rely too heavily on their powers as a crutch, and it makes other things harder for them. Like knowing how to not be complete assholes. It's a rare Thinker who can do that. Besides, parahuman smart doesn't mean honestly smart. I think that's part of the problem with Thinkers. They got their powers because they're not smart enough. And powers don't change that, they just give you a crutch. You are just naturally smart, so that's not what you needed."


"Uh... thanks," Beth smiled. "Do you really think I'm smart?"


"You figured out in a few minutes what I hadn't managed to consider in months," Lily responded. "Either you're really smart, or I'm really, really stupid. And I'm pretty sure I'm at least a little above average intelligence."


"You seem smart to me," Beth responded. "I think you're just too close to the issue. It's not like this is something people ever expect to think about."


"Except heads of state and military advisors," I added. "That's kind of their job. Maybe that's why you're so good at it? You're used to commanding your summons. You've had lots of practice with thinking about troops and stuff like that. All I ever had to worry about was assembling stuffed animals, and I could never do more than one. And now that I have this armor, I don't even do that."


"Sorta the same for me," Lily responded. "My powers are straightforward in their own way. All the thinking involved in my power is taken care of by the power itself. Worry about missing? Perfect aim. Not sure if the enemy's armored? Armor doesn't matter. There's no thought other than trusting the power to do what it does. You're more like Taylor and Amelia. Their powers are either useless or world shattering, depending on how they harness them."


"I hate my powers," she responded. I already knew that. "I honestly wish I never got them. They only made things worse."


Lily paused, glancing at me as if to say She's your friend, you know how to handle this better than I do.


"I know," I spoke up. "But I don't know why. I mean, sure it's one of the powers that's hard to control, with your summons acting whichever way suits their personalities, but you really do seem to hate your powers. Like they've hurt you. Most of us... we may not like what we had to go through to get our abilities, but we're still glad to have them. Even when I thought I had one of the dumbest and weakest abilities, I only wished I had better powers. I never wished I didn't have them. at all."


"I have Social Anxiety Disorder," she responded, looking at us. Her eyes watered a little.


"Like, umm, you're shy?" Lily asked.


"Different version of the same thing," Beth replied. "You know those people who act up, draw attention to themselves and just generally try to hard to get others to like them? Yeah, that's me."


"You don't strike me that way," Lily responded.


"I've been in therapy for years to try to get over it," she answered. "The meds help. It also helps that you're girls. I... it's a lot worse with guys, especially ones I think are cute. I'm not into women, so that makes it easier to spend time around them."


Well, that explains why a very attractive twenty year old heterosexual woman who flirts with every male she meets is somehow such a virgin that her first kiss was with me, another woman, I thought. I've known her for months and she didn't tell me about this. She tells Lily right after they meet.


"But even at my best, I'm terrified, wondering what people think of me," she continued her confession. "Does he think I'm pretty? Does she think I'm rude? Do they wish I'd just leave so they can get back to spending what little time they can together before they have to go back to work? Will my friends talk about me behind my back? Will they forget about me when I'm no longer there? I ask these questions all the time. It's part of how I got my powers in the first place. An army of servants at my command that are perfectly loyal and love me without question. Everything I wanted, and absolutely nothing I needed."


"That... that's something..." Lily responded. "Fuck, and here I thought you had such an awesome power. If it makes you feel better, I won't talk about you behind your back. And, well, I'm certainly picking up a lot of food for thought."


"Thanks," Beth responded, smiling nervously. "I keep telling myself that, and for a while I can believe it. And then something happens and it's back to the same old story. I think that's why I love acting so much. I'm good at it, and I don't have to worry about what people think about me, since they're really thinking about the character I'm pretending to be.
It makes things so much easier."


"Umm... you said you're on medication?" I asked.


"Yeah," she looked at me suspiciously. "You think I'm crazy now, don't you?"


"No!" I insisted. "It's not that, it's just... I think that we have the tech to treat that pretty easily."


"Really?" she asked.


"Yeah, that's a really good idea," Lily agreed. "I mean, they have the ability to upload entire languages in, like, ten minutes. I have all the skills of an expert surgeon and general medical practitioner, mastery of half a dozen forms of martial arts, and the violin, and I even picked up the skill to drive a tank, just for the fun of it."



"A tank, really?" I asked, looking at her.


"Hey, do not dis the tank," she warned me. "And that's not even getting into the whole 'download your mind into a new body' thing, the 'injectable cure for all genetic disorders' thing, the 'add about ten I.Q. points and photographic memory' thing, the 'artificially evolve a billion years of genetic evolutionary history into an artificial life form overnight' thing. Or whatever other complete and total bullshit our Tinkers have dreamt up this week. I mean, I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but they sure as hell are. There's only one problem I know about."


"Which is?" Beth asked.


"Well, it doesn't really work if the power itself is causing the problem," Lily responded. "Some powers, especially Thinker powers, fuck with how the brain works. Those can't be cured without erasing the powers themselves, for reasons I'm not too sure about. I work with a parahuman that has problems like that, and no I won't say who. But you're talking about something that you had a problem with before getting powers, and that medication works on."
I already knew that she meant Elle. The girl was a sweetheart when she was having a good day. And completely nonresponsive on a bad one.


"That sounds too easy," Beth responded.


"Sometimes easy's a good thing," Lily responded. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"


======================


A/N- I love that phrase.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 328- Ciara


"The abominations were not shaped by any man, or men, High Priest," I informed, sipping from the slowly cooling bevarage. "The Administrator, Artisan and Negotiator are wrong in their belief on this issue."


In the time I had spent in my mountain demesne, I had forgotten the pleasures of well made drink. The ghouls calling themselves Cauldron were resourceful, and had many worlds of fine food and drink to ply my tongue with. Thus far, the bribe had failed to truly motivate me, I would carry out my promise of granting them knowledge, as was my contract for them providing their artificial Faerie Circles for my entertainment. That did not, however, mean I went unappreciative of their efforts. Let them believe their token gestures influenced my actions, if they wished.


As I enjoyed my drink, I watched his Faerie. She was breathtaking, as grand as any I had ever seen outside the Grand Dance itself. Even the Faerie Circles did not meet this one's glamour. That it took the form of a beautiful silver colored woman, bound in chains, I chose not to tell the King of the Stillborn. Her flesh shimmered with images and ideas, possibilities incarnate. She was dead and alive. Captive and free. Obscene and pure. Profane and sacred.


"There are many clues to suggest otherwise," the man responded carefully. I was no fool, and aware that under his hood was artifice crafted by the fae-blessed. I was being recorded, they were using their talents to track my words and extract all the wisdom that might possibly come from them. Good, it was fitting in my role as the Faerie Queen that my lessers worship at my feet and supplicate for whatever wisdom I deigned fit to give them.


"Indeed there are," I agreed. "That does not make it any less false."


"Are they Agents... err, sorry, your faeries?"


"I am aware of your terminology," I spoke, and a thousand other voices expressed their annoyance by sighing in my stead. "You are entitled to your methods. No, the abominations are not of the faerie. Or rather, they are of the faerie much as the artificers' tools are."


"Artificers?" He asked, pausing for a moment to recieve what information his conspirators were providing. "You mean Tinkers?"


"If that is what you wish to call them," I agreed, regarding him. His faerie had changed, the images coalescing as he sampled his abilities. Seeking to understand the knowledge I was gifting them with. Seeking the power that the High Priest felt was needed to stay safe, should I choose to betray him. He need not have bothered, I was enjoying the company, the drink, and the view.


"So they are constructs, like Tinkertech, but without human involvement?"


"No," I answered. "The abominations answer to one of the gifted, but they were not made by them," I corrected.


"The Entities, then?" he suggested.


"They are part of the cycle," I responded. "All parts of the cycle come from the Faerie."


"But Scion killed one of them," he pointed out next. "If he made them, why's he destroying them, now?"


"The King of the Faeries follows His own path," I answered. "It is not my place to question His will."


"His will means the destruction of everything," the man argued. "You say you're not afraid to die, but this is a scale of countless trillions of worlds. Your death, the deaths of everyone you've ever cared about."


"The Faeries continue on," I responded. "This is nothing the Serpent does not already know. Did not already tell you. She taught you of the Cycle, what parts she was blessed to know. She used you on her Path of Corruption, after all."


"Serpent?" The High Priest asked.


"The Betrayer," I responded. "The bearer of false gifts. She who stole the poisoned fruit and gave it to man. She who wields the rebel Faerie and used it to slay the true Queen. Pick your favorite story, she is all of them and worse."


"Contessa, you mean," he responded. "Is... is that why you killed her? Because she killed Heiress?"


"Heiress?" I asked. "An interesting name. Who chose to name the Stillborn Queen thus?"


"I believe it's one of the terms Pantheon coined," he answered. "But please, let's stay on topic. Did you kill Contessa for killing the dead Entity?"


"Not dead, merely stillborn," I corrected. "And I did not murder the Serpent. I reclaimed her, to keep her where she can do no more to poison the cycle."


"Will you do the same, when the time comes for the rest of us to fight Scion, to kill him?" He asked. I could imagine the thoughts in his head, imagining he might need to fight me. Imagining that he might even, perchance, have a chance of success in that flight of fancy. Just as he believed he could challenge the True King of the Faeries. I found his antics amusing, at least.


"I will not need to, High Priest," I spoke. "The True King cannot be defeated by us. He and His consorts sit atop His throne, untouched and untouchable. Above the royal court even as we are above mere ungifted humans. To imagine we can slay Him is to imagine an army of mere toddlers could defeat us. I allow your rebellion, because He allows your rebellion. And He allows your rebellion because it amuses Him, and is part of His will and the Cycle. The Faeries cannot be slain."


"Contessa... the one you call a Serpent... she killed Heiress, did she not?"


"Of course not," I scoffed. "She poisoned Heiress, stole her gifts and rendered her stillborn. Then sought to unravel the Dance of the Faeries in her jealousy and fear. The Queen is merely dreaming, now. Awaiting the moment of her Rebirth and the continuation of the Cycle. And no, High Priest, it is not possible for you to stop that. The events have been set in motion, and they are not to be stopped by any agency. Not even the True King Himself could halt the process at this juncture."


"Is that what you took Contessa for?" He demanded, whispering his anger. "That you could cause this to happen?"


"It would be poetic irony, would it not?" I smiled. "There is, after all, such a fine line between the gift of Poison, and the gift of Medicine. However, now that I have properly chastised the Betrayer of her crimes, I find there is little that I need do to accomplish the goal I sought. As such, I am content to adhere to our prior agreements. You and the Pantheon have done well in learning of the Cycle as you have. I shall continue providing my advice, if you continue to provide shows as you have promised. I do believe the claim was for the next one to be twofold the last?"


"I... would have to check, that is not my department," the High Priest fidgeted uncomfortably. "Tell me, why would we trust you not to kill the rest of us? Or Pantheon's, for that matter? What is stopping you from attempting to reclaim my Faerie? Or any of the others?"


"Why, nothing could stop me," I answered. "Save for my word, given freely as I have done here. I am not a murderer for murder's sake, High Priest. I am the Faerie Queen, and what I kill needs to die to serve my purposes, and the purpose of the Cycle. Now that the Betrayer is contained, there is little else for me to do save wait for the end, when we cease our games, cast off our mortal forms, and return to the Grand Dance amongst the stars."


"I see," he muttered unhappily. The Betrayer whispered in my ear, even as I bid her hand me another cup of spiced mead. I had to admit, if begrudgingly, that the recipe was delicious. The Faerie was, as promised, an expert at all things and a caterer to every desire.


That was what made the Serpent so dangerous, so poisonously appealing. If she were allowed, she would betray me as well. Even if merely as I grew to rely upon her power and lose myself in the power to always know the most convenient path through all obstacles. But, no, I would not allow myself that. To play my role in the Cycle was one thing, but the King and Queen did not orchestrate the entire play for a reason. They created the framework, and allowed the actors to improvise upon the stage for their amusement and pleasure. I would defer to their wisdom. The Serpent was a beautiful pet to own, but it would remain locked safely behind glass.


Save for when I desire the perfect drink.


"You have my offer, High Priest," I responded. "It remains unchanged from before. I will be understanding, if disappointed, should you reject my generosity. There will be no retribution if you wish to abandon the plan. If anything, I see how the loss of the Serpent bothers you so. I shall be more generous in my dealings with your organization in the future. You may enjoy one additional hour of my company per week, distributed however you wish, should you continue to meet my price."


"I... will talk to the others," he responded, still unhappily. "We'll have our answer to you by tomorrow's meeting."


"Thank you," I responded sincerely. "Now I really must return to my duties under the mountain. As entertaining as our conversations are, I have obligations to attend to, and lesser serpents to chastise."


"Yes, I understand," he agreed. "Doormaker? Passage to the Faerie Queen's residence."


The Tunnel Digger obeyed, and the passage opened. "Fairwell, High Priest," I responded. "I look forward to our next discussion."


"As do I, Faerie Queen," he nodded.


I smiled the moment I was sure no one could see me. Perhaps it was the mead talking, but I really did look forward to our next meeting.


================


A/N- As far as April Fool's jokes go? I think my favorite part of this one is going to be where I don't tell you whether or not this is an April Fool's joke and it'll be potentially dozens of chapters before it's confirmed or denied.

Transcendent Bluff THAT, bitches!

.... Also, I may have been planning this chapter for the last two weeks....

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 329- Liam


Christ having a normal job sucks, I told myself for what felt like the hundredth time. Suppose I shouldn't be bitching too much, at least I had a job. In an industry that didn't have a lot of demand, and a city that had a real nasty problem with unemployment. All those fucking spics took up the rest of it. Shit, be easier just to quit and handle my real job full time, but the bosses didn't want that. Said it made us too conspicuous.


I stepped into the shower and blasted the water at the hottest it would go. Took a lot to hurt me, a lot more than a piddly ass apartment water heater could pull off, so I just enjoyed the steam while I lathered myself. Had to rinse the smell of ozone and blood off before going to work. Construction workers understood that staying clean wasn't exactly in the job description, but that would have raised unnecessary questions. Plus my supervisor was also my other supervisor. He'd be pretty fucking pissed if he thought I was dragging evidence around.


"Here's your mask," a woman's voice spoke casually, tossing a cloth cowl over the shower curtain.


"Gah!" I exclaimed. "Who the fuck!"


"Pants, too," she responded, and a pair of jeans sailed over.


I caught them, and hit that metal bit that switched from bath to shower. "Who the fuck are you?" I pulled my mask on right away. Wonder what it said about me that I found that the higher priority than my pants.


"I'm Victoria," she responded. "Y'know, local celebrity, beach babe without a beach, and all around beacon of awesomeness? I thought you'd remember me from the last time I kicked your ass."


"You can't be in here!" I shouted. "There are rules!" Meanwhile, I was struggling to get my soggy jeans on.


"Those rules are stupid," she dismissed. "Besides, you invited me."


"Bullshit!" I exclaimed. "Get the fuck out of my bathroom!"


"Did you, or did you not, as of April Thirtieth, when I last caught you, announce to the Channel Nine and Channel Eleven news crews that if it weren't for my battle armor you would kick my teeth out? Any time, any place? And then you went on to claim that after you were done putting me in my place you would, and I quote, 'show that bitch how a real man treats an uppity whore'?" She spoke in a deadpan voice the whole time. "Not the friendliest offer I've ever had, but somehow still far less creepy than most. And you did it publicly, instead of through anonymous comments online. So I'm giving you an 'E' for 'Effort'. The fact that this is still better than most should tell you something."


I had my pants on now, and was charging up my powers. The water on my pants and mask started to rapidly evaporate.


"Which brings me to the point. I've had a really, really frustrating last couple weeks. Like I can't even begin to describe how wound up I am right now," she continued. "And then I remembered your challenge, and how you broke out while I was busy fighting an Endbringer. Real puss thing to do, by the way. You told me to pick a time? I pick six thirty five in the morning, May fifteenth. As for place? I pick your bathroom. And guess what? I'm not wearing my armor."


I smiled. Okay, that I can work with. I focused my power toward where her voice was coming from. The curtain exploded and burst into flames as I pumped enough electricity out to turn a normal person into charcoal. Didn't expect it would kill her, but it should fucking hurt. I started charging up my body, bulking it for what promised to be a long fight. She was faster than me, but I knew I was tougher. If I kept it to closed spaces, I could win this.


She burst through the smoke and dust, landing feet first against my face, and my head slammed hard against the linoleum, shattering it. No way in fuck am I getting that security deposit back. I grabbed her legs and threw her to the ground, where she landed on the edge of the tub with a very satisfying clang. The tub cracked and splintered. Damn cheap fiberglass ain't worth shit.


She caught me with a kick in the jaw, causing me to lose my grip. Then she rolled back and onto her feet. She was panting, damaged. Smoke rose from her clothing and hair. I knew I got her with that blast. Glints of light appeared through her wounds, then vanished along with the injuries.


"Very nice," she smiled wildly. "But I know you can hit harder than that."


"Is that why you're not coming at me harder?" I growled. I wasn't complaining about the advantage she was giving me. My muscles warped and gained density while my forcefield reacted with my bioelectricity to give me even more strength and durability.


"Yup, I know how you work, Eel," she responded, leaning back against the all that my electricity and her body had broken. She casually patted out a small fire. "Used to have a sparing partner with powers similar to yours. But more TK, less zappy. His name was Browbeat. I still talk to him every once in a while, but he never did get his powers back after being restored. Pity, but he says he's happier without them. Me? I couldn't live without mine."


"Well, guess I can't argue with that," I chuckled. Not the weirdest fight I've ever had, but close. I felt the last set of altered musculature pop into place. Finally, full str-. She was right there, punching her hands through my shield and grabbing my head. A moment later, her knee was in my gut. Then she headbutted my face hard enough to break my nose despite my reinforcements. I stumbled back and landed in the wrecked tub. "How the fuck?"


"Electricity versus electricity," she answered, sparks dancing along her fingertips. "All I did was use my power to redirect yours. Oh, wait, no one knows I can do that. Please promise to blab to the press. If someone comes up with a way to counter my powers, maybe I'll even get an interesting fight."


I grabbed the shower rod and swung it at her, hoping to distract her, but she ignored it entirely, instead blocking my punch. I'm still stronger than her. I barreled forward, slamming her hard into the back wall. The shoddy construction gave before our bodies or momentum did, and we tumbled combination kitchen/living room. But I was on top. I punched down at her face, only for her to twist out of the way. The downstairs neighbors got a brand new skylight.


She elbowed me in the side of the head. Not having a lot of options, I bit her arm. My teeth warped into something sharp and wolflike. I had her, twisted to her side and pinned. I was going to win!


And then I slammed into the ceiling. By the time I even realized what happened, a glowing foot appeared through he haze of dust from the cheap ceiling tiles collapsing all around me, and I was kicked back into the bathroom.


She stood there, a glowing white silhouette of a girl. Her clothing disintegrated, but there wasn't anything interesting for the eye to enjoy. "You're not the only one with a transformed state. I sacrifice almost all my sensory powers. I get even more strength, speed and durability. Now get up and hit me, already!"


I lunged upward, connecting hard with her stomach. And by hard, I meant for me. Joints and bones gave way under the colliding force, and my hand broke. Then she backhanded me. I only traveled a couple feet before crashing into the toilet, shattering it. My concentration broken as badly as pretty much everything in my bathroom, I started to power down. Couple more hits like that and she could kill me.


"That was so unsatisfying," she muttered. "Maybe I should have waited longer to use my warform. Tell you what, how about next time I give you five minutes."


Next time!? I just lay there trying to pull my head together, water from the back of the toilet pouring all over me. Fucking concussions are the worst.


....


"So, as I see it," Chevalier sighed, looking at me. "And as the media sees it, by the way. You invited her to come find you, to say nothing of threatening sexual assault. You really don't have a leg to stand on."


"Then send me back to prison," I muttered. I was back to full strength, but they had those damn tinker-cuffs on me. Any attempt to draw on my powers would result in them hitting me with a dose of drugs. And not even the kinds of drugs that were fun, just shit that made me feel like I was going to throw up, pass out, and then throw up some more. "I'm man enough to know when I got my ass handed to me. We'll see how long my pals take to break me out."


"Uh... about that," his voice sounded more embarrassed than smug, but it still sounded smug. "Vicky's kinda on the warpath. After she knocked you out, she may have put the pictures of it online. You might want to look at this."


He handed me a picture that was obviously printed from a shitty copying machine. It was me, very much unconscious, laying in a shattered toilet. A minor burst of electricity, too slight to alert the cuffs, and the paper burst into flames. "That unbelievable bitch."


"She has her moments," he responded. "Either way, pictures like this are all over the internet, along with challenges to your buddies. I'll spare you the details until you're fully recovered from your injuries. Suffice it to say, I don't think anyone's going to help you out this time."


Fuck. Fuck!


"Now, thus far your crimes have been relatively minor," he continued. "The worst is threatening civilians with a parahuman ability, but you've managed to avoid ever carrying out that threat, so you're not birdcage bound. Yet. But you're close. One more mistake, including the mistake of breaking out, and you get to spend the rest of your life around lunatics like Glaistig Uaine, Lustrum and Acid Bath. Let's be honest, you won't survive, not around psychos like them. You don't have the instincts for it, and they're not going to give you a chance to learn them."


"You have another suggestion?" I asked. I knew the hard sell when I saw it.


"We can provide you a new identity," he offered. "Let's be honest, you'll probably never want to be known by your old moniker again, anyway. Not after you see the news stories being run right now."


"Doesn't seem like that great a deal," I muttered. "Fuck, the fact that you're offering anything at all means I'm valuable to you. I can do my dime if I have to, I'm a big guy, and I have powers. No one's gonna fuck with me in a normal prison. Ten year vacation courtesy of Uncle Sam, then I'm back out and can move and get a job and all that shit. So why would I want to go through all the trouble of working for you, instead of that? I ain't what we'd call eager to go fight the fuckin' Endbringers or such shit."


"According to Vicky, you have a secondary power that makes you immune to her combat precognition," he responded. "Put together with your other powers, this makes you the only person she's ever met that she can fight for real. Take the job. It's a paycheck, and fresh air, and you get to have regular rematches against her. Maybe one of these days, you'll even figure out how to win."


Huh. "Well, when you put it that way..." I paused for a second. "Go fuck yourself."


====================


A/N- Some people are easier to convince than others.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 330- Nelson


"Go fuck yourself," Eel spat at me. I spared a glance at the large birdlike creature next to him, electricity dancing from its eyes. With Victoria's help, as well as some insights from Minerva and a couple other Thinkers, I'd started learning how to understand the apparitions. They were a sort of mental translation of what my power was seeing about their powers. A hallucination, but one with a pattern. One caused because my human brain couldn't comprehend the actual concepts being shown, and simply gave me an approximation. Of the source of powers, the Passengers, and how they interacted with their hosts.


Good. "Well, that is unfortunate," I sighed, feigning disappointment. "I'll let the officers to know to put you in a cell overnight. We'll hand you over to Feds whenever they feel like picking you up."


His Passenger shifted, as if preparing to attack. Puffing itself up and spreading its plumage. Lightning jumped between feathers. I'd been learning to read their responses, the subtle ways they responded and what that meant. In a way, it made me an effective empath, as long as I was smart about it. A way to read someone's subconscious, as long as they were a parahuman. This one was angry, longing to prove itself and redeem its prior humiliation. He'd accept an offer, if not immediately.


Director Dunn would probably be slightly annoyed, if only because a sell by me meant she could skip the trouble of sending more talented recruiters to talk to him. She was very much a by the books type, a military woman. She wanted this asshole in a cell just as badly as I did, whatever her orders might be on the subject of recruitment. In her world, the Protectorate would be a disciplined and well oiled machine full of professionals, patriots, soldiers and nothing else. There was no room in Director Dunn's Protectorate for criminals like Eel. Or, for that matter, troublesome outsiders like Victoria and her mother.


As for myself, well, I accepted the reality that we didn't really have the option of being picky right now. And I tried to ignore the part of me that was jealous that he managed to force Victoria to use her war form. Even when we managed to win against her in our sparing matches, she rarely entered her transformed state. And certainly none of us managed to force her into it during a solo match. I was far more willing to acknowledge that the way he talked to or about about her pissed me off. Because I could allow myself to hate any man who would talk about any woman that way.


"What? I don't get my lawyer?" He asked.


"For what?" I asked. "You only get a lawyer for the purposes of trials and appeals. You've already been found guilty of over a dozen crimes and given a sentence. You don't get a trial, you just go back to jail. Maybe some pencil pusher will charge you with something new for your breakout, but that has literally nothing to do with me, and frankly I don't think you're worth the extra cost to the taxpayers. I'm just going to go congratulate Victoria for a job well done, and then do something important with the rest of my day."


"You suck at this bargaining shit, man," he responded.


"Bargaining implies that you have something I want," I dismissed as I opened the door and stepped out. Eel's Passenger squawking its silent rage at my dismissal. Director Dunn was watching from the other side, along with a couple of the PRT officers that handled closing negotiations.


"Interesting recruitment tactic, Chevalier," Dunn spoke, her face stern. Not disapproving, just stern.


"Thank you, Ma'am," I responded. "I anticipated an attack to his self esteem would be the best method at this time. It will take some time, likely a few days, but it is a strong first step. I don't anticipate he'll be able to stew for long before cracking."


"I'm sure my people will be able to exploit this psychological weakness," she mused. "We certainly didn't expect him to cave immediately, regardless. Good work. And while we're on the subject, please let Victoria know that the bounty is ready for her to pick up. I plan to watch the next phase of the interrogation."


"I'll be certain to," I agreed as I left the room. As I told Eel, he didn't concern me. Either he went to prison, and that was great. Or, much more likely, some other department in some other part of the country had to deal with him. Sometimes the former criminal recruits actually proved worth the headache. Eel's powers were a good combination of strong and generic, so I was sure someone would be happy enough to take him.


"Hey, Mike," Bonnie waved. She always called me by my middle name. Everyone did. "So what's the sitch?"


"Oh, nothing unusual," I responded. "I'm supposed to let Vicky know she has another confirmed bounty waiting around. I don't think she's collected on the pair from yesterday, either." Ever since we ran out of immediate cases to heal, Vicky's had a lot of nervous energy.


"Mrs. Dallon was in for them earlier," Bonnie responded. "She asked about you, by the way."


I suppressed the urge to cringe. "What about?"


"Oh, the usual," Bonnie walked with me as we went toward my office. "Victoria's been spending a lot of time at the PRT building. Is she being overworked? Is she lying about even being at work? Are we adhering to the contract? Nothing new."


"That's to be expected," I responded. "Although Mrs. Dallon has very little to work with in that regard. Feel free to remind her that Victoria is an adult, and an independent contractor for the Protectorate. We've been adhering to both the letter and spirit of that contract."


"I don't think it's the legal issues that she's worried about," Bonnie laughed. "But let's save that until we get to your office. Trust me, you'll be happier the fewer people actually hear this one."


"That bad, huh?" The question was entirely rhetorical. It was Carol Dallon, of course it was bad. We walked in silence for the minute or so until we got to my office. I opened the door and invited her to walk in first. "So where is Vicky, anyway?"


"Out hunting for more targets, something about only having a day or two window before they catch on to what she's doing," Bonnie responded. She waited until walked in and closed the door before she continued. "Your pet bombshell is proving to be quite the quite the useful irritation."


"Can't argue with that," I agreed, taking a seat behind my desk. "Wish I had more problems like her in my life."


"Oh, I bet you do," Bonnie teased. "So, anyway, back to her mother, who's equally irritating and far less useful."


I considered asking Bonnie not to insult Vicky's mother like that. Then promptly decided that the woman would likely find that comment to be a compliment. Vicky was here for a few reasons. Mrs. Dallon was here for exactly one. To make sure our handling of the healing interaction was done without any exploitation. Either of the individuals being healed, or of the healers. Specifically, her daughter. Perhaps she'd represent me if I requested it, but I certainly wasn't in the forefront of her mind here.


"Her exact words," Bonnie continued. "Were something along the lines of 'tell your boss that if he's sleeping with my teenage daughter in order to manipulate her into solving his crime problem for him, I will personally see to it that he goes to the Birdcage'."


"Can't say I didn't see it coming," I sighed. I opted to ignore the parts where the threat was obviously impossible to carry out, seeing as I was not sleeping with her daughter and it wouldn't be illegal, let alone Birdcage worthy, if I was.


"Yeah, well you could have warned me," she quipped. "Which leads me to believe that if you're sleeping with her for other reasons, it's cool. But I wasn't brave enough to get confirmation on that. Speaking of, are you still?"


"Under the influence of Gaea's power and all the hormonal imbalance that causes?" I finished. "Let's just say I'm glad my costume is fully face concealing. If it wasn't for her warning, I probably would have done something... unfortunate... by now."


It was true, this was far worse than I remembered it being when I was sixteen. Then again, when I was sixteen I didn't have an absurdly beautiful young woman with empathic powers around doing her level best to grab my attention every way she could imagine.


And sixteen year old me had other problems. My parents' injuries, the loss of my brother. My induction into the Wards. Trying to understand my phantom-sight, something I had only now, about two decades later, started to get answers for. Romance was certainly not on my list of priorities, at the time. And yet, somehow, Hannah and I figured it out. At least for a while.


"I think you should go for it," Rime finally volunteered.


"What?" But she hates Vicky. Well, maybe not hate, but certainly doesn't like her in the slightest. "What made you change your mind?"


"Would you believe it if I said she's grown on me?" she asked. "No? Okay, didn't think so. So how about we look at it smart instead of looking at it emotional? We already know you both want to, so that's a non issue. Now let's start talking politics."


"I'm pretty sure I don't like where this is going," I met her eyes.


"Neither do I," she admitted. "But it's going there. Everyone already assumes the two of you are together. Denying it is just going to make them think you're lying. Unfair, but true. Then there's the whole Pantheon connection. You can't deny that would be useful."


"And suddenly I know I don't like it," I responded. "I'm not-"


"No, you're not," she interrupted. "I'm just saying it's useful. What's more useful is... well, look what she's doing to this city. She's a one woman army who doesn't sleep and can track targets from half a mile away through walls. She's doing in Philadelphia what Alexandria did to Los Angeles. Crime's becoming unprofitable around here, and that means the professional criminals are finding new places to target. There's already talk of transferring out most of our team simply because they're no longer needed. They almost gave me the promotion in San Fran, and they certainly will offer me another city soon. When they do, I plan to take it."


My stomach jumped a little. Rime had been my second in command for years, I wasn't sure how I'd function without her help. "Are you sure?" I asked.


"I am," she insisted. "Well, unless they plan to send me to Alaska or something. There's not a lot left for me to do here. Crime's down, supervillains are down, celebrity superheroine is hogging all the photo ops. I can make a lot more difference than I am right now, but only if I do it somewhere else. The only thing that's keeping me right now is, well, you."


"Me?" I asked. What's she saying?


"You saved me during the worst point in my life," she responded. "Gave me a home. I know, you had your reasons. So did your parents. That I was, in a way, a replacement for... him." She looked down, having gone quiet.


"You aren't a replacement," I insisted.


"It's okay," she replied. "I'm okay with it. I'm even happy for it. There are no words for how much better my life is for having you to take me in, to protect me. That's part of why I agreed to join the Wards and Protectorate in the first place. To take care of you the way you took care of me. You don't need me to do that, anymore, and I'm ready to move on and have my own career outside of your shadow. Sort of. I guess you'll still be my boss, if indirectly. And you'll always be my brother and protector. But making my own way for a change would be nice. And I'd feel better knowing you had a woman around to keep you grounded."


"And you think Victoria's going to keep me grounded?" I asked.


"Well, yeah," she smirked. "One of you will have to be the level headed one, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be her."


===================


A/N- Wanted to write this from Rime's (AKA- Random Name Rolled as Bonnie) perspective, but couldn't find a voice for her in my head. Which is a pity, I think the scene would have been richer for it... maybe some day I'll revisit the character and have a proper vision for her...