Amelia, Ch 203- Riley
Missy opened up the path for us, and led us through. While she didn't need to, it was easier for the others to follow the path if they were led. Maybe Victoria could have figured it out, thanks to the power she got from my Passenger, but it was easier to be led. Clarice followed me, of course.
Our world was finally comfortable to breathe without special help, now. Still a very warm environment, especially compared to the mid fall weather on the other side. That allowed Missy and Theo to say their goodbyes with their faces exposed.
"I'll miss you," Missy told Theo, giving him a quick hug.
"I'll miss you, too," he kissed her forehead. "With any luck, we'll only take a few hours."
"I can still miss you that long," she replied.
They're so cute together. I focused on what Emma told me, about being happy that they were happy. Missy and Theo were my friends, and I would be happy for them. Vicky stepped up near me and put her hand on my head, rubbing my hair. It was nice.
"You know," there wasn't room for doubt.
"Won't breathe a word of it," she answered, then she switched to the private com system. "I take it no one else does?"
"Emma," I informed her, following suit and going over to com. "Lisa, probably, but if she does then she's keeping it to herself."
"Probably doesn't," Vicky told me. "I know more about the flaws in Lisa's powers than she does. Her ability's pretty brute force. Like a battle axe. Lots of power for smashing through obstacles, in exchange for giving up a lot of efficiency and accuracy. Mine's more like a scimitar. I can't get as deep, but mine's faster and more effective at handling the things it can handle."
"How do you know about weapons like that?" I asked.
"Emma asked Zach and I to do her a favor and help her name Chevalier's new weapon," she shrugged. "Besides, with my powers it can't hurt to find a few ideas for weapons to use. Besides, you'd be amazed at how boring things can get with the lack of sleeping."
"I thought you liked Zach," I asked. "Why?"
She understood my meaning. "Hard to explain. Probably the same reasons you have. They're good together, and it just doesn't feel right to get in the way of that."
I smiled and looked at her. "You know, Emma said something a lot like that when she thought you and Zach were together."
She blinked "Really? I guess that means I made the right choice." She wrapped her arm around me. "For what it's worth, I think you did, too. I'm glad Amy decided to adopt you."
"You mean that?" I asked. I didn't need to, my own skills and info coming off Clarice confirmed she was telling the truth. She could hide from my tech, perhaps fool it, but not all of it at once, and not without me at least knowing she was trying to beat that tech.
"Yup," she gave a light squeeze. "Ever since Amy spontaneously grew up into a badass overlady, I've been missing a cute little sister to take on shopping trips and give advice about boys and life. Guess who just got drafted?"
"So, what's the plan, anyway?" Lily interrupted. "We should probably know how we're handling this before we go in." She was right, this was important. And they were trusting us with it. It wasn't because it was something only we can do, it was because Big Sis believed we could handle it.
"First, we go by the PRT and let them know what we're doing," Vicky answered, letting me go, but still staying near. It was a nice gesture. "As much fun as it would be to just solve the problem before anyone even knows we're here, that'd probably just fuck everything." I resisted the urge to tell Vicky to stop swearing. But she was older, so I'd just have to accept adults did that sort of thing, like Lisa told me.
Lily nodded. "Fair enough."
"If we're lucky, we can get permission to see the bodies and the crime scene," Vicky continued. "Between my powers and everything Clarice is capable of, that should give us everything we need. If not, well, I'll see if Lisa can talk the Chief Director into yelling at a few people."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"We go around asking all the gangs in town what they know," she concluded. "All our suits have lie detection tech, except mine. Not a lot of parahumans out there that can really threaten me or Clarice. You two play backup since your powers require a bit more concentration."
"We could use the dimensional viewing tech," I volunteered. "I can look at everything from this side and no one will even know I'm there."
"Wow," Vicky chuckled. "When the PRT calculates our ratings, do you think they even bother to use numbers anymore? Or do they just write 'good fucking luck' down next to our profiles because it's less intimidating that way?"
"Close enough," Lily laughed. "All of our profiles have six page long notations that come out to 'you can't run, you can't hide, and you can't fight back'. Half of us have our own individual trump ratings. Mine's a four for bypassing any possible defence."
"Awesome," Vicky approved, then she turned her head toward Theo and Missy. "Hey, Horus! I'd threaten to leave you behind, but I'm afraid the bosses would blame me for any unplanned pregnancies!"
My friends quickly broke their hug, and I couldn't help but giggle at how sheepish they looked. With one last glance at each other, Missy moved and vanished, taken hundreds of miles in a single footstep. Theo jogged over to us. "Sorry about that, ma'am," he apologized. "Won't happen again."
"Don't be so uptight," Vicky insisted. "I'm not mad at you. Hell, I used to do the same thing. So did Lily, here, right?"
"Yeah, kinda," she admitted.
"So, on to the Protectorate," Vicky's voice shifted to business. "Here's how we approach this..."
....
We manifested atop the roof of the Indianapolis HQ. Or everyone else did, at least. I sat behind in our hidden world controlling Clarice. Alerts went off as guns were drawn and pointed directly at us. A meaningless gesture from them, as Clarice was the only one in the group that could be threatened by a firearm, and it would need to be one with more power than what they were carrying.
"Relax," Vicky raised her hands. "We come in peace."
"Identify yourselves!" one of the PRT troopers demanded.
"Pantheon," Vicky answered, allowing her armor to project her voice. "I'm Victoria. I have Aceso, Horus and Atropos with me," she gestured at us as she announced our names, and I watched the combat alerts adjust as the soldiers' attentions did.
"We weren't informed of Pantheon coming here," the man insisted.
"When a serial killer starts emulating our more public victories, it counts as an open invitation," she pointed out as if it was the most obvious thought in the world. "We just wanted to keep things quiet. I'd say we didn't want the perp to know we were coming, but he no doubt already knows. It'd take a real moron to not realize we'd have to show up for this. But we'd like to keep him from knowing we're already here."
"Pantheon could have sent a warning to us," the man replied.
"Not my responsibility," she replied dismissively. "It's an unofficial meeting, anyway. Just to let you know we're here before we start the investigation. We'll be on our way, now. Please keep this visit quiet."
"Wait!" the soldier shouted. "Director Nicholas would like to have a word with you before you go. He said to let you know it wouldn't take long."
"We can spare a few minutes," Lily suggested to Vicky.
"Very well," Vicky replied. "We're happy to accept."
We were led through the halls of local PRT building. It was still an impressive building, despite not being quite on par with what I'd seen in Brocton Bay or New York. But our trip didn't last very long. For reasons that I didn't understand, all the Directors like to keep their offices way up near the top. Which was stupid, making them less safe and meaning they had to travel further to get to work, unless they came in through the helipad entrance. I resolved to ask someone about that.
Clarice analyzed Director Nicholas quickly and easily. Age 44, or near enough to it. Excellent physical condition for his age, though clearly he'd been dealing with a lot of recent stress and little overall sleep for some months. Further back than the New Delhi crisis, even. I had no way of guessing the source of that stress, as it seemed a bit too recent to be a matter of the job alone.
"I must admit, I had expected Pantheon sooner," he replied. True. But wouldn't have said so if he hadn't heard Victoria's comments from earlier. "I also expected a phone call to let us know you were here."
"Sorry," Vicky replied. Lie. "As you might imagine, Pantheon is quite busy."
"Is that why Gaea chose not to come?" he asked.
"Gaea and Khepri felt their particular method would be a bit... heavy handed," she answered. "We only need to track down the guilty party. There's no need to startle the whole city over the actions of one or two dumb asses."
"No, I suppose not," the man responded. He had an admirable poker face, but Clarice knew he was disappointed. So did Victoria, I was certain. He was also more than a little annoyed with Vicky.
"Mind if we examine the bodies, sir?" Theo asked. He was fully sealed in his armor, which made his voice echo significantly, distorted into something deep and hollow. Coupled with his natural height and bulk, it was unlikely anyone would guess him still a teenager.
"I can arrange that," he agreed. "I'll let the coroner know to expect you, though it will likely be an hour before they're ready for you. We could have arranged it sooner, if we'd known you were coming." Untrue, Clarice told me. It wouldn't take long at all, he was just choosing to delay us. His disguised resentment of Victoria probably played a part of that. But, then, that was the plan from the beginning.
"We understand," Vicky replied. "Would you mind giving us a guide? We need to arrange for accommodations while we're here, and it would be nice to be brought up to speed on the local cape environment while we handle that."
"You expect to be here long?" he asked.
"As long as it takes to find the killer or killers," Vicky replied. "We can't just run around kicking down the doors of every two bit crook and torturing them for information, after all. That's not how we do things."
"I'll arrange something," he agreed.
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A/N- And Riley's new chapter.
