Amelia, Epilogue 1- Theo
"Fuck!" Missy dropped to her knees on the Yggdrasil. I rushed to her on instinct. The others looked at us in confusion. The zerg stared stupidly into space. "I just lost my powers."
Oh. Oh fuck. "All of them?" Right, stupid question. I dipped into the well that summoned my power, and found it sluggish. Different. Nearby, others started collapsing. It didn't take long to recognize the common thread. The Case 53s and Mass Trigger capes.
"Does this mean Scion's dead?" It was a question and a prayer, a hope. That all our struggles and sacrifices weren't in vain. That our plan of putting off our wedding for one more year so Clarice could participate as a bride wasn't wasted. "He's the source of powers, right? Without him, maybe all the powers are going to shut down? What about the others? Did they-"
I was cut off by a surge of electricity dancing across my body, through my newly weakened power. It bent, warped in response to another's presense in my mind and will. It was like being embraced by an angel. Metal peeled off, wrapped into shapes between me and Missy. Never before had she been so beautiful. I felt the pressure of her thoughts on mine, and mine on hers. The shared shock and incredulity of what was happening in front of us.
We started laughing at the same time. "Those bitches! Those magnificent bitches!"
It took me a moment to realize I wasn't the one who said it. The others looked at us, understandably confused. Someone needs to tell them. "They won! I don't know how, but they won!"
Sabah and Sveta looked at us from where they were trying to help a paralyzed Weld. Sabah was the one who spoke the question everyone was asking. "How can you be so sure? I mean, for all we know Scion's just taking away our powers so we can't fight him anymore. Still can't figure out why he didn't do that first, he obviously has the power."
Missy, carrying a halo of still fluid metal that I created, levitated into the air under her own power instead of the suit. "Because they sent the message through me. They swapped my power out for Glory Girl's! And gave it an immediate interaction with Theo!"
RealizationOhGodThisMeans! She's right. I jumped into the air, letting her power buoy me up. "Clarice!" ExactlyThisIsIncredibleWeNeedTo! No, not now. ConfusionWhyNot. Someone needs to stay here and coordinate this group of survivors. We have jobs to do.
You'reRightAlwaysTheResponsibleOne.
I took a slow breath. Is this what Taylor and Amelia feel like, all the time? A man could learn to enjoy it. "You go get Clarice. Spread the news. She... you'll both probably have work to do. I'll stay here and help organize the survivors. Let Clarice and Emma know there are survivors. We have to prioritize getting communications back online, then search and rescue. Hopefully communications will take care of that for us."
....
We trusted Clarice to do our search for us. Her armor was the one built to be nothing but sensory tech. "This is the only one that still has power." She didn't have to speak, not to us at least. She did so out of natural habit and a desire not to give out our new secret. Mostly, it was just her need to be a normal person. Clarice, not Riley, not Bonesaw.
She reached out a hand, gripping one of the floating bits of liquid metal. It reshaped itself to her need, a twenty foot long slender spear, far more finely detailed than anything I could have done. Missy and I followed her example, creating several more such weapons. It was Missy's aura doing the heavy work. As much as we were certain she was given Glory Girl's powers, it was in the same way I got Kaiser's and he got Allfather's. A new expression of the ability. Through her, we shared our focus, our strengths.
Missy's new magnetic control plunged the spears into the caved in side of the mountain at speeds that cracked the sound barrier. Somehow as long as the material remained inside Missy's power field, I retained my connection. The spears blossomed, going from microweave chains bound into a spear, to ones that formed woven lattice. For Clarice's desire of normalcy, and because she liked my voice, I spoke. "Okay, it's done."
Missy and I concentrated together, her power and my power worked as one, and we pulled the woven mass of metal. With it, thousands of tonnes of rubble shifted. We cleared away the majority of the rock in a matter of minutes. PrideSuccessYESWeRock.
Clarice jumped into Missy and gave her a hug. "Ohmanthatwassocooldon'tyoulovethisnewpowernow?"
Missy's smile, while no longer necessary since she had that new emotion aura, was one of the few highlights of an otherwise nightmarish day. We still didn't know the situation outside, we were hoping this bunker would have answers. "Okay, not gonna lie, that was pretty cool. I'll miss being able to bend space into a pretzel, but ripping away half a mountain does kick ass. And the new bond between us... in all the time we spent dealing with Taylor and Amelia... if what they felt was anything like this, I can't imagine ever wanting to give it up."
The two girls held each other, faces inches apart. They're so gorgeous, and I can't imagine a life without them. LoveDesireSurpriseWhoThoughtThat? I don't know, don't think it was me. WellItWasOneOfUs. OrAllOfUsAGestaltEmotion.
I took it back to words. "Okay, Clarice. How is it that I can hear your thoughts and still have no idea what the words mean?"
....
"They're dead." Victoria's words were flat, hollow.
Lisa just stared at the open panels for the machinery. She was half cloaked in the shadow that Alexandria now produced. The two women were huddled tight against one another. A certain part of my brain that I blamed entirely on Zach suspected they were up to something... less than professional, hidden beyind their shadow cloak and impossible to interpret expressions. The two were capable of bluffing an empath at poker, so I gave up any hope of figuring them out.
Eve's were far more alive, despite her AI status. "Not dead. Just... it's hard to explain."
Vicky chuckled, there was no happiness in it. "What's to understand? They became Heiress. Murdered and ate Scion. And are now space whales or some such bullshit. And as a final fuck you to life, they deleted their own backups. That's pretty much fucking dead."
Defiant looked up from his work. "They were thorough. There's no possibility of us restoring them. But there's a lot of new data here. I'll want Aceso and maybe E-" He hesitated. Emma's new knowledge set didn't fit anymore. Our former expert on AIs was now something quite different. "Well, Aceso at any rate. I think it was a message left behind by... them."
Clarice was hard at work integrating the Yggdrasil more completely into the Eve systems. Around her, dozens of tools floated patiently waiting her hands. Several moved on their own. Mine and Missy's power, responding to Clarice's thoughts. It was beautiful, the gift Taylor and Amelia left for the three of us. We all contributed to our bond. Any combination of two of us was more powerful than either could be alone. The three of us together were incredible.
The metal wrapped around Clarice's hands and feet, and she propelled herself over to where Defiant was working. "Oh, fascinating. It's encoded using the same language that allowed me to transfer sense of taste through the changelings. They didn't want anyone else, not even Eve, figuring this out first."
....
My wives were all smiles and coos, barely paying attention at all to the rest of us. Bringing a baby to strategy meetings was both incredibly unprofessional, and yet somehow remarkably right for Pantheon. Our organization just wouldn't feel correct if we didn't mix things up a bit. Maybe we'll consider having a child, some day. ShockYes!ConcernIDon'tThink- The chain of thought was cut off as the baby squealed happily and tugged on Missy's finger. OkayWe'llTalkAboutItYESLET'SHAVETHIRTY! I couldn't help but smile. Sometimes it was hard to sort which of us a thought came from. Sometimes it was quite obvious.
Eve ignored the baby shenanigans and continued on her report. "Bet and Choson have much greater environmental damage than originally predicted. Despite attempts from the colony worlds to introduce new flora and fauna, current estimates are a complete failure of the Bet food web within six years. Fortunately, there are no species of animal on Bet not currently in relatively stable populations on Aleph, Dalet and Gimmel. Nor does Choson have any unique species we've located. The South Koreas have privately inquired if the Yggdrasil could be spread over strategic areas of Choson, hopefully as a corrective measure to give the world time to heal the damage."
Micheal rubbed his chin. "Do we have that capability? To prevent the plant from overtaking the entire ecosystem?"
"Easily." Clarice didn't even look up. "Big Sister made the Yggdrasil to serve our needs for centuries without her help. And I bet we'll get a helpful Trigger to take over before things start getting tricky." She tickled the baby's stomach and cooed again. "It might even be you. Your mommy was so smart and nice and gave us so many gifts. But you're the best. Isn't that right, Taylia Ro-oww!"
Taylia had gripped Clarice's hair and started chewing on it.
Missy laughed. "Yup, definitely takes after her mother. Both of them."
Taylia, deciding hair wasn't really her thing, let go and started fussing a little.
Vicky reached over, and extracted the little girl from her aunties' attentions. DisappointmentIWantToPlayMore. "It's feeding time for the rugrat. Her armor opened up, exposing her chest, and she pulled Taylia to one of the breasts, where she began suckling. "Don't be so greedy, it's not going to dry up on you. And when you get older I'm going to use this to embarrass the hell out of you in front of your future boyfriends. Or girlfriends, depending on just how much you take after your mothers."
"Still can't believe you went with a natural pregnancy."
Vicky shrugged. "Woulda required months longer if we went with vat birth. Plus vat birth just sounds horrible. No offense to your tech, Clarice."
"No, I agree with you fully. Natural is better. More human."
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A/N- This was a fun chapter to write. Last portion inspired by my nephews. 10 and 11 weeks old (nice timing, sisters) and already colossal pains in the ass.
This is one of only two epilogue chapters for Amelia. I'm going to set up a thread for discussing my next planned project(s) later and link that thread to the final epilogue.
I am shocked no one even TRIED to guess which new shard Missy would receive.
Added a line to the final chapter- in the "I know betrayal" section. "A team I joined, who trusted and revealed their faces to me, whose freedom I would sell for fame and glory."