Amelia, Ch 276- Victoria
"Are you okay?" a girl's voice wept. "Please, you can't die." I glanced at her. Sveta, I recognized my work anywhere. That and, as cosmetically human as she looked, and for all the modifications I did to her brain, she was still very much nonhuman in her biology.
"Funny you should mention that," I smiled. "I'm pretty sure I actually can't die." I turned my biosense inward. My legs were smashed when I was in my combat mode. Well, that's going to be a bitch to heal. My arm was missing, still. My suit was so badly shredded that it was going to die, one way or another. Patches of it looked like they were exposed to an atomizer. "Damn, if I keep ruining suits, they're going to start charging me for them. So what happened."
"Alexandria and I saved you from being squished by Wendigo," Sveta told me. "Or melted, she had some kind of mist that ate things."
"Nanothorns," I told her. "They're a weapon that Dragon uses. Don't worry, they can't hurt me." Although Dragon's version was gray, and couldn't hurt me if I were in combat mode. But Wendigo used blue, and hers could very definitely hurt me for whatever bullshit reason. "So, what happened after that?"
"They told us to retreat, so I took you with me. And then the city blew up," she answered. "It's... you had to see it, I can't really explain. And then the Endbringer did that thing where it eats everything... and... I've never been so scared before." She started crying again. Or a close imitation of it, at least. The mechanics of it weren't exact, because if I pushed her alterations too much, her powers would revert her back to her tentacle state.
"So you saved me, huh?" I asked. "That puts you on a very short list of very important people. Could you do me a favor?"
"Okay?" she asked.
"If anyone asks, please don't tell them I was knocked out. Girl's gotta protect her rep."
She smiled a little. "Okay, I can do that."
"My armor's shredded," I sighed. This stuff is suppose to be able to survive a small nuclear weapon, and against that Endbringer it was little more than tissue paper. "Can you call someone and let them know you're okay?"
"Okay," Sveta tried to smile. "How are you so brave? You almost died."
Because the alternative is hiding under my bed until I die of old age. "Just time and experience. Think about it, you went up against an Endbringer. And not just any Endbringer. That one might be the new hero killer, since Behemoth's already dead. You fought that thing side by side with Alexandria and proved that you belonged there. You're one of the top ten badasses on the planet right now. After that, what's left to be scared of?"
"It... it doesn't feel that way," she looked down.
I put my left hand, which was the only good limb I had right now, on her shoulder. "That's because you're young. You'll get the hang of it. Besides, being a little scared is a good thing. Keeps you on your toes so you don't make dumb mistakes. Now, could you make that call?"
"Alright," she nodded, a little more sure of herself. "Eki? It's Sveta. Vicky's here, too... Yeah, we're both fine..." she looked at me. I smiled and shrugged. "Okay. They're doing search and rescue now. She wants to know if you're able to help."
"Sure," I agreed. "My powers are great for stuff like that."
"Okay, Vicky says her powers are good for finding people... she's sending Anima and GL to help us out."
"Oh, cool, always wanted to find out what Anima's power was," I smiled.
....
I hate her power so much, I thought, the whole time thanking my lucky stars I had this power set instead of my old set. Because I really didn't hate her power at all. I liked it just a little too much. The ability to hide my blush was nice, and not having my aura radiating my emotions to everyone in eyesight, was invaluable.
I knew what the Wards called me, 'Hurricane Victoria', and there was a reason for that. I didn't like how people reacted to certain emotions, so I didn't let myself feel them around others. Like if I was sad, or afraid, or... turned on. And Anima's imaginary characters knew how to press every last freakin' one of my buttons. And I was currently being carried bridal style by one of them.
Because I put all my efforts into regenerating my legs, I still didn't have an arm, and I had exhausted myself to the point where further healing would need to wait. I stumbled on some loose gravel, and the knight had caught me. And now he was carrying me, my one good arm was hung over the back of his neck. Surprisingly comfortable for plate armor. And in the minutes since, he'd been nothing but quiet and polite. Not even an attempt at copping a feel, to my slowly increasing disappointment.
The pixies, on the other hand, were grabby as hell. But only in my hair. My long, blond hair was now woven into the most elaborate series of flowing and intertwined braids I had ever seen. Some of them were actually constructed by weaving the hairs together individually, then weaving those braids into larger ones. Forming something more like a rope than a braid. This is going to be a nightmare to comb out.
"Sorry about that," Anima muttered. "They're really enthusiastic about that whole 'chivalry' thing. That isn't even really chivalry."
"I've dealt with worse," I responded. She must never know. Oh god, Lisa. I have to kill Lisa. "So, are they always like this?"
"These ones are," she sighed. "They're actually the closest things to acting normal I have in my set of options. The wizards are okayish, but only helpful for offense. And the elves. I really hate the elves."
"Me, too," GL spoke up. "They're supposedly male, but they all look girlier than you, blondie. And they act it, too. But they're insanely good in a fight. It's like watching those Lord of the Rings movies in person, only with slightly less homoerotic subtext."
"What about that one time we caught three of them making out with each other in that alleyway?" Sveta asked. Poor Anima's emotions spiked through the roof with shame.
"Yes," GL replied, his tone completely flat.
"Don't worry about it too much," I spoke to Anima. "A lot of us have powers with weird implications that we can't control. Mine, for example. Put me in a room, and I know everyone who has an STD. Everyone who forgot to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. What everyone's eaten in the last five to ten hours, depending on what exactly they ate and a few other things. And I can't control it any more than you can control seeing things." I can also functionally see through clothes, which is something I really hope no one finds out about. And absolutely none of which is anything compared to what my old powers did.
"That does sound pretty bad," Anima admitted. Her emotions tapered down a bit, and the jealousy she felt toward me died down a little as well. Don't know why she felt jealous, the girl was a babe under that armor. "But at least you can hide it from people, I have to put up with it or go without using my intelligent summons."
"Look at it this way," I smiled. "If nothing else, you always have a career as the world's best hair stylist. I'd just be an MR-" I froze. Oh for the... now, really? I hate people, sometimes. "I think I found some people. I pointed east. Please tell me there are more.
We got awfully close before I spotted a few other locations to use. "GL, Sveta, got a few for you. Looks like they took shelter in a basement, and then the house collapsed. They're fine, but it's not safe. Digging them out normally might make it fall and kill them. Anima, we probably need a few more horses. I'll get the survivor in that deli over there. Meet back here in a few minutes."
"Got it," GL replied. His power was actually pretty impressive. Melding with, and controlling, the environment. It wasn't Labyrinth levels of power by any stretch, but he also got the ability to sense through the area he controlled and alter it in real time. If he could handle more than a small house worth of space at once, he'd be a power to reckon with. Still, situations like this, he was perfectly suited. He could reassure them while guiding Sveta and making sure the whole thing didn't come down on their heads.
And no one would question why I did mine alone, which was key. I extracted myself from the knight's arms. "Thanks," I spoke to him. "But it's better for me to handle this one. You know how easily small children can be frightened."
"Very well, m'lady," the knight agreed. It, and with my senses I could could confirm it as sexless as a ken doll, simply stood there patiently waiting as I made my way into the building. The scent of the meat was faint despite the fact that the glass casing had shattered in the explosion. Electricity went out hours ago, and in this weather that meant the meat actually got colder, not warmer.
"Don't worry, I'm a hero. I'm here to take you to a temporary shelter," I shouted.
A fairly normal looking young man peaked out from a back room. I must have been quite the sight, with one arm missing and my legs bare below the knees, with only the tatters of my costume providing modesty above like really ratty shorts. "Who with?" he asked.
"Pantheon," I replied. "I'm Victoria. Sorry about the costume, it's not as tough as I am." I deliberately stretched out a leg to give the man a look. I could do that for a second or two, at least.
"Okay," he agreed, coming out. A child followed. Black. Still, I confirmed with my power that they weren't related.
"Hey," I smiled at her and knelt down. I reached into my hair and picked out the pixie that had built herself a little next there. The things were actually really tough despite looking so fragile, so there was no chance of hurting it. I handed it to the girl. "She'll lead you out, okay?"
The child just nodded, afraid to say anything.
"Wait a minute-" the man started to protest. I stood up and stepped between the two. If the look on my face didn't intimidate him, then the electricity sparking out of my eyes would. Took me almost a month to perfect that display.
The girl rushed out, sensing her chance.
"The fuck's going on here?" he demanded.
"My powers," I growled. Now that the child and pixie were gone, I could talk freely. If I wasn't aware that Khepri was pretty much omnipresent, I wouldn't have bothered talking. "I can sense living things. In this case, your genetic material inside that little girl." The insects nearby buzzed their response. I have her attention, good.
"You can't prove-" I hit him with a burst of electricity, one of the other tricks I'd spent forever on. It sent the exact same signals to the brain as being on fire. Over every last inch of the body simultaneously. All with less than a twentieth of the power output that a normal taser uses. He dropped, trying but unable to scream. I held my hand over his mouth, as gently as possible. I needed silence, not marks.
"I don't think you understand," I hissed. "I only found one survivor in this building." His eyes went wide, but again, it wasn't him I was doing this for. It was her. If she wants to stop me, she'll tell me to stop. She didn't.
The angle was calculated, of course, and gentle. A soft shove sideways put the man over one of the nastier panes of broken display glass. His left lung was cut through entirely, and his right punctured deeply. He couldn't scream if he tried, now. And damn did he try.
I turned and walked away, my powers very aware of his struggle to pull himself off the glass. That didn't bother me any, it would just speed up his death and hide my involvement that much better. No witnesses except a little girl that had worse things to worry about, an imaginary being that would cease to exist by the end of the day, and my sister's fiancée, who could have stopped me with a word, but did nothing.
Some days I hate my powers, too. Today was not one of them.
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A/N- Well, that got dark fast.
