Amelia, Ch 186
ShockConcernProtective. I simply stood, mouth agape, as my sister was consumed in light. "You got your powers back?" I asked.
"Well, not Glory Girl's powers, no," she corrected as the light faded away. Her hair had changed colors to something more resembling a sunset, with yellows and oranges blending into blues and purples. "But yeah, Victoria is back and better than ever. I'll need a new name and probably a new costume and theme. The old one was nice and all, but... uh... Ames? Were you cut in half recently? Because it really looks like you were cut in half, and it's distracting me."
"Uh... blown up, actually," I admitted.
"Well, never let it be said we live in boring times," Vicky said cheerfully. "So where's your testing facility? I can't fly anymore, but I think I'm faster on foot now than I ever was in the air. We should totally find out."
"Uh... right this way," I answered, leading her to our gym area. It wasn't really a testing facility, but Clarice was pretty much a mobile analysis system. We'd just have to give her a place to work with.
"This is really neat," Clarice started. "So what are your powers?"
"Let's wait until L- Minerva's here to listen," I insisted. "She's our primary thinker, after all."
"I'm here," Lisa answered, coming into the room. She wasn't in costume. "Let's hear it."
"Combat thinker and war form," she answered happily. "I can sense weakpoints and I'm pretty sure I have short range precognition and some kind of echolocation, because I ran here with my eyes closed, and even dodged some traffic. And that was in my normal state."
Lisa's eyes narrowed. "Okay, nevermind the standard tests. Clarice, we're going to have a sparring match."
"This is going to be fun!" Clarice declared.
....
A half hour later, and the pair of them were still going at it. More than that, Victoria clearly had the upper hand. To the point that it was a joke. Faster, stronger, and an overall better fighter. Eventually, Clarice simply froze and collapsed.
"I think I win," Vicky informed us smugly, standing on the collapsed changeling.
"So, umm, who did she get her power from?" Taylor asked.
Lisa frowned. "This is gonna sound insane, but, she got her powers from Clarice."
"You're right," Taylor answered. "That does sound insane. Clarice is," ConcernSecrecy. Taylor glanced at Vicky.
"Oh, don't worry," Vicky replied. "I knew she was fake the moment I saw her with my new eyes. Oh, by the way, I can hear you from over here. I also know you're fucking terrified of telling me who Clarice really is. I promise not to flip out. Seriously, Ames, you're already engaged to the bitch who fed me to bees," IrritationRegret. "And working alongside the even bigger bitch who shot me so the other one could feed me to bees. It can't possibly get any worse than... oh... fuck, it can get worse than that? How the fuck does it get worse than that?"
"I'd... really... Vicky, could you please not force me to answer?" I asked.
"It's better if you don't find out," Missy stepped up to defend me.
"Happened after my death," Victoria smirked. Her eyes were locked on Lisa's. "After the Slaughterhouse Nine. Connected to the Nine. Don't bother telling me when I figure it out, because I'm pretty sure my power works better than your power. Let's see, was already told Clarice was orphaned by the Nine. Okay, so that story happens to be true, but there's more to it than that."
"Bonesaw," Lisa sighed. "Clarice is a biomechanical puppet piloted by Bonesaw so she can interact with the world safely. The girl was kidnapped by the S9 when she was only six years old, and hadn't ever been able to experience what it's like to just live a normal life."
"Aww, and I was having so much fun doing the same thing to you that you did to me and Amy," Vicky pouted. "You remember that, don't you? Because I'm going to bet it hasn't sucked as much for you to be on the receiving end as it did for me."
"You might be surprised," Lisa retorted, looking down.
"Really?" Vicky's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing. "Good." She paused for a full thirty seconds. "Did you say Bonesaw?"
"Yes," Riley spoke up, walking into the room. "Hi, Vicky, it's nice to see you in person. I'd really prefer to be called Riley by the friends close enough to know who I really am. Hopefully you can be one of those friends?"
Vicky just stood there, staring at the girl. "Know what?" she laughed a little. "I think I just felt all the cares I have die simultaneously. Alderaan style. This is officially the weirdest possible thing in the universe, and the part of me that can be bothered by that has gone on vacation." She walked up to Riley and extended her hand. "It's good to meet you, Riley. Thank you for giving me my new powers."
"My pleasure," Riley responded and shook Vicky's hand like it was a perfectly normal business meeting.
"Okay, now what's this about her getting Clarice's powers, instead of, y'know, Riley's like would make logical sense?" Emma asked.
"I don't suppose any of you have heard of Acquired Characteristics theory?" she looked around, but none of us spoke up. "Figured. Basically, it was the theory of evolution before Darwin. The idea that an animal would do things. Like, say, a proto-giraffe reaching for leaves. And because of that, its offspring would inherit slightly longer necks for better reaching. Now, we've learned that doesn't work in normal earth life, because we run on genetics. But it's how Passengers evolve. They're shown how to do something by their hosts, then they reproduce and the offspring does something different. Incorporates those new ideas."
"That makes a lot of sense!" Emma declared excitedly. "Riley's Passenger is a biotinker... it knows how to be a biotinker. But thanks to Clarice, it was taught how to be a shapeshifting supersensory powered brute. So when it bred, the new Passenger was selected from those traits, to test the new evolutionary path."
"But don't Passengers choose people close to the original host?" Crystal asked. "Like family. Riley hasn't spent any time near Vicky."
"You need to redefine 'close'," Lisa smiled. "These things jump between dimensions like we change channels on the TV. They can reach to the other side of the world with no apparent effort while their real bodies remain hidden a thousand realities away from us. Do you really think physical proximity means anything to them? No, when they breed, they select a host that's close to the origin host on a mental level. So that they can protect and incubate their offspring directly. Riley's Passenger selected the living human that Riley paid the most attention to, cared the most about, that wasn't already a parahuman. Isn't that right, Riley?"
"Wasn't my power from Oni Lee?" Zach interrupted. "I'm pretty sure I never spent any time making friends with asian psychopaths."
"What Passengers do when a host dies is different," Lisa answered. "Then they just move on to a new one. This is about what happens when they breed. A baby Passenger set up to be guarded until it matures properly."
"It's true," Riley admitted. "She's my Big Sister's sister, after all. And Zach's friend. And my friend. And she's funny. Of course I am ready to protect her from harm. Plus I spent an awful lot of time figuring out all the details of her genetics from scratch. A tinker has to take pride in her work."
"Exactly," Lisa responded. "Now, her powers include a massive suite of sensory powers, including a few that you only include in some models because their energy and space requirements are too high to use together, and all the best of everything else you've ever packed into a Clarice body. Only better, because it's a Passenger doing the work instead of technology.
"What about her other power?" I asked. "The glow that accompanies her transformations?"
"Probably got it from one of the other Passengers. Whichever one, or ones, that Riley's selected as a 'mate'. Could be Zach's, he has a breaker state. Then there's her parents, Brandish and Flashbang are both are breakers as well. I'd put Brandish as the most likely. She transforms her body into energy. Victoria infuses her body with energy and uses that to manipulate and adjust details at will."
"So... I'm like if my mom had a baby with Bonesaw?" Vicky asked. "Know what? I lied. Now there is no way this day can get any weirder."
"This is awesome," Riley declared, smiling bright. She then glomped Victoria, hugging her hard as she could. "I always wanted to be a mommy!"
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A/N- Riley will never stop being adorable.
Also- Tattletale isn't always right. Remember that, kids.
