Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 130- Lisa


I arrived promptly five minutes before my scheduled meeting. Same secretary as before, I noted. Smarter than average. College educated. Ambitious. Driven. No desire to seek out a more prestigious career. Six figure salary. I was actually surprised. Knowing that Accord knew how to take care of his people was valuable for the future.


I gazed out the window at the skyline. Excellent view, I noted. Accord has same view in office. Recent renovations of certain buildings. Symmetrical pattern. I blinked. Accord purchased several city blocks in order to sculpt this view of his. Why hadn't I noticed these details before?


I turned my power inward. Focused on Accord, jealousy toward other, more successful thinker. Distracted from other useful details by focusing power on finding methods to safely goad Accord without risk. Inferiority complex-


I cut the feed and suppressed the desire to sigh. Fucking Rapture. After learning she could do such a thing, I had to try it for myself. I didn't need my power to tell me why yet again. It was the competition. She'd gone somewhere I'd never before dared, and I just couldn't live with that thought.


All those zen monks could go fuck themselves: self awareness sucks and murders the very concept of fun. The one saving grace is how much stronger it made my power, if indirectly. Not wasting my efforts on infantile contests of will freed up a truly depressing amount of power to direct at other, more valuable, concerns. Still not enough to save Taylor from that what that empathic bond is going to do.


"Accord is ready for you," the secretary informed me.


"Thank you," I replied as I walked in. The office was an impeccable as before. In fact, I was fairly certain that everything in it, including Accord himself, was in exactly the same place as before, down to the centimeter. My power noted the symmetry in the patterns. It was, in its own way, flawless. I hated it instinctively. There is no mystery here, no imagination or possibility.


"A pleasure to see you again, Accord," I said as he stood.


"You as well, Minerva," he acknowledged. "I admit I'm once again somewhat surprised by your request for an audience. As well as your apparent promotion."


Promotion? Oh, right, I acted like nothing more than an errand girl last time. "My bosses seem to like my work," I almost shrugged. Habit from last time to be unnecessarily annoying, quit it. "I'm now head of their thinker department."


He nodded, just barely enough for my thinker perceptions to note. "They certainly have proven an ability to harness their employees talents to the fullest," he stated.


"Yes," I agreed. Approves of efficiency. Approves of order. Amoral, does not view 'good' and 'evil' as things. Replaced by concept of 'order' and 'chaos'. Views chaos as morally repugnant. "As much as I'm sure they love knowing you appreciate their efforts, we should get to business. Pantheon is currently, and I do apologize for the pun, branching out."


"As in Chicago?" he asked. Has spies, knows our plans, not internal, through the PRT, knows I'll realize this.


I nodded. "Yes," I agreed. I suppressed the desire to claim I knew the whole time. It's something I would have done, before. Fucking Rapture. "I admit... I am a little caught off guard that you knew. We weren't planning to act until tomorrow."


"Do you blame me for spying upon you?" he asked. Testing resolve and pragmatism. Is willing to make amends if it upsets me, or Pantheon.


"Not at all," I responded. "If anything, it's flattering. And it says good things of your intelligence and the strength of your information network." All true, except perhaps for being flattered by it.


He nodded. Considers test to be passed successfully.


"It actually makes me feel a lot better about my task here. I've come here to propose a... merger, of sorts, between our organizations," I informed him.


"I see," he nodded. Surprised by idea. Had desired an official alliance, had not expected such an aggressive offer. "I will make no promises, but I am interested in hearing your ideas. What you believe our respective functions would be in this arrangement."


I nodded, and carefully formulated how to present the pitch. It would be best, for a man like Accord, to start by explaining why we entertaining such a seemingly rash maneuver. "First," I started. "We have been watching you as well, as I'm sure you're aware. As I said in our last meeting, we are all very impressed with your work in Boston. You have never participated in the drug markets, or any of the other... messy... crimes. Your goals are the same as our goals."


He nodded. He was more at ease, now, knowing we had given this real consideration. The praise didn't hurt, either. "The truth is, Accord, you have strengths that we do not. We can provide resources and play politics with the best of them. However, we are facing new challenges now. After New Delhi. I would be lying if I claimed we were fully prepared for the aftermath of that."


"No one can truly prepare for the chaos that the Endbringers represent," Accord offered. Trying to offer condolences, is sincere. Huh, I thought. Did not expect that.


I nodded. "Of course," I agreed. "The Protectorate has been broken, and with it the order and stability they represent." I could imagine him frowning beneath his stern mask. He had no doubt already considered what the loss of so many heroes meant.


"Pantheon is moving to... hold things together. By replacing the Protectorate entirely if we must. Or, far more preferably, acting more as the Guild. Moving into destabilized areas and enforcing order," I explained. "We will be recruiting in large numbers, or forcing recruits to the Protectorate simply by making crime difficult and unprofitable. Those remaining criminal organizations will be unable to present themselves as a significant threat."


"And that would include my own less than legal operations?"


"Well, in your case, I believe we can offer legal choices that are far more profitable," I smiled. "As I am sure you are already aware, Pantheon and its allies currently own well over thirty percent of the city of Brockton Bay. Several billion dollars in net worth, and increasing rapidly in value as order is restored." I left out 'plus whatever a planet costs' in my calculations, of course. It was a question we might have to pose to Marketing, some day.


"Yes," he agreed. "I have been made aware. I admit to purchasing a reasonable amount of property, myself, after meeting with you last time."


I nodded. Also a known fact. "We could do the same in Chicago and other cities as well. To say nothing of the profits we can make in other areas, plus leveraging the sheer political influence we have thanks to our relationship with the PRT and police forces."


"You're saying you're willing to share that power with me?" he asked.


"Quite a bit more than that," I responded. "I'm saying we're putting you in charge of it. You are a force for order in the world, but you have trouble with people and are better working from behind the scenes. Pantheon also desires order, and I believe we have achieved that in our own way, but we are better at working with people and confronting the less civilized threats in a more direct fashion."


"A succinct way of putting it," Accord agreed.


"What we propose is an obvious division of responsibilities. Pantheon will continue operating the way it currently does," I continued. "We'll expand our presence into Boston, complete with our Yggdrasil and a minor base of operations if possible, where we can supply you and yours with our equipment. We will drive out all threats, break the drug and prostitution markets as we have in Brockton Bay. You will also continue as always, managing... our joint economic resources, including the significant wealth we have control over from Coil's organization. How to best distribute aid to areas that need it for maximum results. Allowing us to be both effective and profitable."


No surprise, level of disappointment. Knew Coil. Working relationship. Saw him as a friend. Fuck. Why didn't we think to ask Coil about Accord? "We will, of course, put you in contact with the man we have controlling those resources. Another of our silent partners, recruited much like you're being recruited. You and he will likely be working together regularly. I believe you know him already, although he goes by another name now."


Got the hint, is relieved despite not knowing why he was upset. I didn't let my smile show. Accord isn't one of the thinkers who looks inward.


He was probably doing the calculations in his head. Simply clearing Boston of the Teeth alone would be worth potentially hundreds of millions to him in the long run. The 'insider trading' arrangement we offered for future real estate and other development projects would be hard to calculate, though with his power he likely already had. More than all of that: an opportunity to use his power to its fullest extent. He'd be managing the economies of several cities, while we handled the politics so he didn't have to.


"And all this costs me is the criminal side of my organization?" Accord asked.


"For the most part," I informed him. Won't like next part, needs a way to view it as beneficial enough to be worth the trouble. Best to divorce him from the problem entirely so he knows he'll never have to concern himself with it.


"You will have to accept some... inefficiencies... when it comes to dealing with troublemakers. In essence: you won't. Pantheon will handle disruptions and determine punishment itself, possibly in ways you would find less than satisfactory. Our leaders believe in offering second chances to almost everyone. This does, sadly, mean that some people will disappoint us by taking advantage of their generosity," I stated. He of course agreed with that assessment. Now to show him the upside of the endeavor. "However, I really cannot complain. After all, without that policy I would not have this incredible opportunity, and there would still be three Endbringers."


"You bring up an excellent point," Accord sighed. "As messy as it may be, I admit I cannot dispute the results. That is acceptable, as is your offer of a merger."


I set my briefcase on the desk. "These are a list of our assets and arrangements. As well as various estimates of our organization's production capacity. If necessary, we can leverage influence with the PRT, the Guild, Alexandria, and almost any police or political force within the cities we approach. We also have the support of Dinah Alcott, but we are using her for... other projects, also detailed in the notes presented here."


He nodded. "Understood. When do you believe you'll be ready to implement my projects?"


"Our operations for the next two days will be tied up in the planning and execution of our project in Chicago. After that, Houston is our next target."


"Why Houston?"


"The Fallen have managed to earn the... personal... attention of our leadership," I responded. Worried, sees this as a vendetta of revenge instead of pragmatism. "In addition, this cements a stronger relationship with Haven and cripples or eliminates one of the more destructive forces still remaining in the country. Given their... attitude toward the Endbringers and our past history, the conflict is inevitable. If we don't go after them, then they'll eventually take the fight to us. It's better to strike now, while we have the opportunity and before they have prepared themselves.."


He nodded again, relieved by my logical reasons. "It will be a week, then, before you're ready?"


"Likely only four days," I answered. "Let us say a week, however. Time enough to recover any resources spent on our objectives. I will, of course, be available to discuss our plans and needs at any time."


"I will familiarize myself within two days and make contact," Accord stated.


"I look forward to a long and stable relationship," I smiled. "Thank you. I shall see myself out, if that is all."


"It is," he agreed.


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


A/N- And they didn't even have to brainslug him.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 131


Chicago had proven insanely successful, I considered as we went to our next destination. Director Calvert had his career made for him, now. Brockton Bay's PRT was being remodeled into something closer to 'elite training facility'. The PRT was already recruiting primarily from the same pool of candidates as the military's special forces branches, and now they had an elite even amongst the elite. He had other directors courting him to determine where the next waves of troops would come from, and where they would go. The establishment of M6s across the country.


We had a contract, of sorts, now. Calvert's new PRT would lead the charge in parahuman encounters, providing the front line cannon fodder in the form of easily replaceable M6s, and then backed up by parahuman firepower. It was a system that didn't even need a Protectorate, really.


Speaking of which, Brockton Bay no longer had a Protectorate. Battery and Assault were gone. Miss Militia, Triumph, Clockblocker, and Kid Win were the remainder of the team, and all of them but Miss Militia were looking at moving, probably to Boston. They'd likely be moved again within a year. We were hoping to convince them to switch sides, but it was... well, New Delhi. For us to recruit official members of the Protectorate under these circumstances was not acceptable.


Besides, our model had changed. We were no longer a cape group, we were setting ourselves up to be above and beyond that. By the end of the month, we would be part of an alliance of teams. Accord and his Ambassadors would be one, possibly the Guild as another. The Adepts and Haven would likely be in as well. More of a federation of groups than a single organization. Other independent hero groups and any number of rogues would no doubt start joining as well, if only because we provided a nearly obligation free membership that came with incredibly powerful defense from the PRT's strong arm tactics.


We were, of course, traveling through our own planet. One of those "secrets" we wanted to reveal semi accidentally, much like Taylor's identity and Clarice's supposed family history. Most of us just made the trip home, but Taylor and I had to drop off the prisoners. We'd have to be batshit insane to actually keep them anywhere near Chicago. So we were taking them to one of Dragon's facilities. Somewhere in Vermont. Under a lake. That meant Missy was with us. And where she went, of course Riley followed, and Theo. All on the next generation of flying horses.


No flying horses for Taylor and I, though I finally had a flight system. We rode on the front of the prison transport. A sort of walking cage, it did resemble a stagecoach, or probably closer to a covered wagon with countless centipede like legs instead of wheels. In the back was twelve parahumans, all considered the most dangerous of the bunch. Ordinary criminal assholes were, of course, going to ordinary prison.


I snuggled against Taylor. "So, is this our equivalent of a pumpkin carriage?" she asked.


"Guess that makes you Cinderella," I agreed, laughing.


"You're the one in a dress," she pointed out.


"Toga," I corrected. "And I made the carriage, so clearly I'm the fairy godmother. Besides, you're the one wearing high heels."


"Okay, you win," she sighed. "Also, I'm telling Sarah you called her an evil step mother. Then I'm telling Crystal."


"You wouldn't dare!" I exclaimed.


"You can't stop me," she teased.


"I can turn you into a slug," I told her. "We'll see who you can tell what, then." I stuck my tongue out at her.


"Still have my swarm," she dismissed. "Plus, you like my legs waaay too much for that." To emphasize her point, she stretched back and brought her right leg up. Then she ran her hand along from her knee to her hip.


"Uh..." I mumbled dumbly. ConfidentPleasedSecure. "You. I hate you sometimes."


She pulled me into a hug, resting her head on mine. It was nice, even with the armor in the way. "No you don't," she whispered to me.


I squeezed her tight. "No, I don't. But I might still club you with a fire extinguisher."


"Best first date I've ever been on," Taylor joked back.


"Same for me," I laughed. "You should meet some of the dumbasses I kept getting set up on blind dates with."


"Y'know, I had to bribe Lisa to keep quiet about our second date," she chucked, then she added huskily. "You remember, the one where I woke up handcuffed in bed."


I blushed at that. Or the way she said it and the images it provoked, at least. AmusedPleased. "Sorry about that, by the way. I was a total bitch."


"There is absolutely no need to apologize," she insisted. ComfortGratitude. "You saved my life. Or at least saved me from being crippled and in pain for the rest of it. You're my hero. Don't you dare forget that." I smiled, feeding the warmth of our link.


Vista, still on Calysta, appeared beside us. "Hey, you two," she said. "In case you've forgotten, there are impressionable children here. You can talk about beds and handcuffs when we get home."


SurpriseEmbarrassment. I covered my face. Or the armor over my face, at least. The planet was still not really comfortable for people to be outside unprotected.


"Why would anyone want to use handcuffs?" Riley asked. "There are so many better restraining devices."


Theo choked and started coughing. UneaseShock. And with that, what was left of the mood was broken.


"We're here," Missy informed us. "Have been for, like, two minutes."


The kids got off their horses, leaving them behind as they took position on top of our transport. I fused their armors to the biomass, allowing us all to be considered a single lifeform for the purposes of the teleporter. Then I pressed the button for our 'shunt' technology, and the world changed. Or, the world stayed the same and we left it for a new one.


There was no flash, no warning, simply the change of a scene. A flat plane of biomass replaced with uneven greenery of trees and life. A sun that was both brighter and smaller than the one of our world. Atmospheric illusion, apparently. When we were done terraforming, our own planet's skies would look much the same. Except the birds. Chances were that we'd never introduce a natural biosphere on our world.


Thirty PRT soldiers were there, alongside another six others in armor suits. I recognized Dragon and Defiant, but not the other four which flanked them. They all had a distinctly draconic appearance to them, and were almost identical to each other. When did Dragon start recruiting soldiers? I wondered. WaryCurious.


"Good to see you again, Pantheon," Dragon started. "I take it there weren't any difficulties."


"Nothing important," Taylor answered, buying a bit of time while I adjusted to being nearly blind again. Going from continent level awareness to almost nothing was disconcerting. "Transporting a lot of people can take a while."


She nodded. We were presenting our dimensional shunt as a form of teleporter tech. Not completely untrue, of course, but there were obvious flaws in that as a cover story. Flaws we knew they'd pick up on. Better for them to focus on that than details such as Riley's actual identity. Even if it was now the least well kept secret in the world. Worst case scenario, we'd tell the world the truth. Without her help, we would not have been able to kill an Endbringer. It wasn't the most elegant of choices, but it was there if we needed it.


"I see," Dragon nodded. Defiant, meanwhile, had gone to the back of our transport. I sent the first pulse, that separated our suits from the thing, so everyone could climb off. Then the second command, that caused the walls of the prison containment to open and fold down to the ground like ramps. The prisoners blinked as they slowly started to wake up. We didn't have containment foam, after all, so we theoretically used a sleep gas. Or just my power ensuring they didn't wake up.


They were gathered up by the PRT soldiers, with Defiant supervising.


"So, I see you're expanding," Taylor said, nodding toward the armored men.


"Yes," Dragon confirmed. "Recent events have... raised a number of concerns. We've also recently recruited a new tinker that has greatly simplified mass production of tinker tech."


ShockRealizationAwe. I nodded. "That... that is impressive," I stated.


"Not quite a match for Pantheon's production ability," Dragon admitted. "If we're being honest, I only have permission to field a force like this because of you."


"You mean because people want someone out there that can kill us if we get too troublesome," Taylor concluded.


Dragon didn't respond. In truth, she didn't have to. It was the only possible conclusion.


"We've been meaning to discuss something, actually," I stated. "We're creating a sort of alliance of non-government cape groups. We'd like to invite the Guild to be members. The perks are pretty straightforward: shared tinker knowledge, backup when it's needed. Pantheon's role is... mainly support. Our bioarmor suits are the main appeal, we offer them to any of our affiliates, although I can see where the Guild might not feel the need."


She regarded us. "I will have to discuss this with the others," she stated. "It's not my place to make those decisions."


"We also offer individual memberships," Taylor added. "There are a number of capes that have joined while still continuing to work for the Protectorate. Sure, they probably murdered their careers in the process, but you don't need to feel pressure to choose between the Guild or Pantheon."


She looked toward Defiant. "That could work," she agreed. "I do need to consider the... political repercussions, however."


AnnoyanceDisappointment. "I understand," I said. God damn politics. "We'll keep in touch."


She nodded. By now, the prisoners had been taken out of our transport and moved to theirs for whatever it was they did with prisoners. Processing? Is that what they called it? Either way, they'd be locked up in the bottom of a lake, in case anyone decided to try to escape. Only those members of truly horrific groups like the Teeth, and a handful of the other nastier gangs were here. Some were birdcage bound, others weren't but should have been. Almost twenty other capes remained in PRT custody in Chicago. The ones that there was no doubt the PRT would try to gang-press into the Protectorate or Wards.


It felt bizarre, considering our original plans to functionally break the Protectorate and PRT in half, that we were doing this.


After only a few minutes, we shunted back over to our personal dimension, and went home. With less than a third of the number of people, and a shorter trip in general, we were home in only a couple more minutes. I allowed the transport to melt back into the Yggdrasil mass before we stepped through the portal. Our suits, and the pegasus... pegasuses? Pegasi? Whatever, we all were clean of radiation.


Taylor followed me as we went to what I had started to think of as our bedroom. She still had her own, of course. But she only ever used it to change. We stripped out of our armors and left them to be healed by the Yggdrasil. I spent my time looking at her legs as she stretched and plopped down in bed.


"What are you thinking about?" she asked, smiling.


I smiled back. We both knew the answer, so I summed it up with a single word. "Handcuffs."


She blushed. PleasedAmused.


We just sat there for a minute while I was strongly considering kissing her a second time, just to see if it would work better when spontaneous. And then a man appeared out of nowhere in our bedroom.


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


A/N- Yay! A happy chapter!

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 132- Eidolon

"To those pathetic cowards who look upon the death of almost a billion people and consider it an opportunity," Gaea spoke for the cameras. Her passion was obvious, as was the threat in her voice. This was an ultimatum, and they were confident in their ability to enforce it. "Pantheon issues this warning: we consider any attempt to use the losses suffered in New Delhi for their personal gain to be a direct violation of the Endbringer truce. We will act accordingly."​

I almost sighed. I never was the passionate or charismatic one. That was Hero's job, and later it was Legend's. They had what it took to truly move the crowds, like Gaea on that stage. Idly, I wondered if I had that option. To my surprise, there even was an ability like that in my untouched repetoire: the power to know how to evoke powerful emotions in others through my words. Somewhere between 'master' and 'thinker' in its scope. I strongly considered accessing it, but instead I allowed it vanish into the well again. I rarely used pure Thinker powers, and I never touched Master powers at all.


It wasn't powerful enough to match Contessa's ability, and it could not have influenced Alexandria at all. So it would not have succeeded in convincing them to give me access to one or two more vials. Not much, in the scheme of things. Enough power that I could be there, could matter, for the deaths of the last two Endbringers. I wouldn't be the one to deliver the finishing blow, but I could save lives. I could ensure the next fight was not a disaster like New Delhi was.


"Contessa," Alexandria spoke. "When you said they were going to establish parahuman 'feudalism', I had expected it to be 'feudal'. This is closer to watching a fast forward of the colonization of the New World. They just took control of both Boston and Chicago in everything but name."


"All of our thinkers, Contessa included, expected them to stop expanding after Boston," Doctor Mother replied. She was, in her own way, living up to the 'mother' part of her title by protecting Contessa from Alexandria's criticism. She viewed the younger precog as a child of her own. I could admit a pang of envy at their relationship. "Khepri and Gaea both have authority, trust and control issues that should have made it impossible for them to maintain control over a larger territory, even given their incredible powers. They seem to be far more willing to delegate power than any of our models predicted."


Contessa finally spoke. "I believe it was the Simurgh's actions," she finally stated. "No power could have anticipated New Delhi."


"It makes sense," Doctor Mother replied. "I'm sure the experience was traumatizing enough to make them rethink their plans. Clearly this is also a response to the Protectorate's greatly weakened forces. Coupled with their sudden and unexpected willingness to cooperate with the PRT and Protectorate. I think we can assume they'll hold Chicago for the time being."


"New York, as well," Number Man volunteered.


"Pardon?" Doctor Mother asked.


"They've made... overtures... with the Adepts in Chicago," he stated. "I haven't divined all the details, but there was a payment of exactly one hundred thousand dollars from one of Pantheon's accounts. It's obviously part of a ploy to convert the Adepts. Likely a multistage plan."


"Why were the Adepts in Chicago, anyway?" Doctor Mother asked. "Aren't they East Coast?"


"Following the Teeth, it appears," he confirmed. "Same as Pantheon. Pantheon is moving to target the entire organization. Likely planning a pincer attack against their forces in both Boston and New York simultaneously."


Alexandria frowned. "The Butcher is one of the more powerful parahumans. One we had hoped would make a real impact against Scion. Do you think we should interfere to protect their organization?"


"We are better served allowing Pantheon to succeed. The Butcher has potential, but is hardly comparable to Pantheon's value," Doctor Mother responded. "Pantheon's strength isn't merely in its own parahumans, but in its ability to be a force multiplier to other parahumans. Your new equipment, for example. It is remarkable, both in terms of simplicity and ingenuity. It's possible you might be able to use it to be the next... what are they calling Atropos now?"


"Endslayer," Legend responded. "Alongside the other two Fates that operated their Moirai Cannon. But it's known that her power is what makes the weapon lethal, even to Endbringers."


"Yes," Doctor Mother agreed. "I think we agree that, as always, the death of Scion is the highest of our priorities. If Pantheon's actions ruin our experiment in parahuman feudal states, or cost us a few promising soldiers for the conflict... yet provides a stronger and better equipped force for the final battle, I see no reason to interfere with them."


There were nods all around.


I kept my own counsel on the subject. Force multipliers and power manipulation. Capable of upgrading even Alexandria. Could they do that for me?


....


Teleportation was one of the powers I was running low on, but it was better than using one of my horribly reduced number of flight options. I only had a handful of flying power that could also double as a defensive or offensive power. I had used the last of the truly good ones in the battle against the Simurgh. Telekinesis over glass. Remarkable in its elegance. Pity I lost it during the firestorm.


Strangely, I felt incredible during it. The fear, the panic, the certainty of death. I had tapped deeper into my well than ever before. Granting me a boost to my strength that had almost restored me to the power of my early days. It was slipping already, of course. But it was slipping slowly. I had, perhaps, another month or two, if I was conservative. I needed to be conservative.


I appeared inside Pantheon's base. My current power simply placed me next to the person whose face I envisioned. In this case: Gaea. One of the weakest teleport options I still had available. It required I knew the target's actual, and recent, facial features, which took time and concentration, perhaps even a scrying power, to achieve. It also didn't allow me to bring others with me. Of no value against the Endbringers or Scion, I could afford to surrender it forever.


A girl screamed, and before I could speak I was encased in a living mass. Strange, it didn't triggered my defensive power. Oh. They weren't planning to actually harm me. I could have broken free with trivial ease. I chose not to. The tree moved and shifted around me, giving me some space, and light allowed me to see my sealed prison. I blinked.


A video screen formed inside, near my face. "You have a lot of balls teleporting into our bedr-" she paused. "Eidolon?"


"Hello, Khepri," I didn't bother smiling. One of the things I wasn't very good at. Others could make smiles look charming or friendly or even seductive. I just looked stupid and awkward. She looked over to her side and was saying something I couldn't hear. I felt the presence of an energy trying to interact with me. It was something of a booster to my confidence that it failed.


"Okay, how do we know it's you?" She asked.


"If I demonstrate a power that lets me escape and is nothing like the others you've witnessed?" I suggested. "Is that acceptable?"


She nodded. The plant material around me disintegrated into dust. A dessication power, again worthless against Endbringers or Scion. Also the source of my current energy sensing abilities. I stepped out and dusted myself off.


Khepri stood defensively in front of Gaea. Both were out of costume. Neither girl was especially striking in their appearance, and I could imagine passing a hundred not unlike them without looking twice. Except for their eyes and the energy that danced between them. These two had will and presence well beyond their ages. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I hadn't expected you in bed so early. It's only five here, right?"


"It's been a long few days," Khepri responded. She'd started to relax. "To what do we owe the visit?"


"I can trust your confidentiality, I presume," I asked.


They didn't quite look at each other, but somehow they communicated their agreement before Khepri spoke. "What you tell us stays between us," she said.


"I was impressed with your work with Alexandria," I stated. That was certainly true. I took a deep breath to steady myself for what I was about to admit. "I was hoping to discuss a... problem... I am having. One that you might be able to fix. Or at least delay for a while."


They frowned in unison. A bizarre form of visual stereo. "Go on," Khepri volunteered. I was still busy trying to figure out what my power was trying to tell me about these girls when another voice came from the doorway.


"Holy fuck," another girl's voice muttered. "He's losing his powers."


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


A/N- it would have been a MUCH better cliffhanger if we readers of Worm didn't already know this.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 133


"Holy fuck," Lisa muttered from our doorway. "He's losing his powers." ShockDread.


Eidolon managed to look annoyed through his mask. "Yes, that is the problem I was going to ask about," he admitted.


"That's bad," Lisa stated. "Like, that's really fucking bad."


He sighed and nodded. "I know," he agreed.


"No, I mean, you're basically the go-to hero. Sure, Alexandria can hold her own, and there are couple others. Pantheon's equipment can make a few more come close to good enough to really matter against the Endbringers in a drag out brawl," she rambled. "But that's only close to good enough. Without you... we're fucked. You are the only reason we were able to hold the Simurgh long enough to finish her. It'll be the same with the rest of them. We need you if we want to finish this. And we really want to finish this."


"I assume that means you're willing to help, then," he stated.


"Let's go to the labs," Lisa said. "Hope you don't mind spending time in the basement. I was beginning to expect that Alexandria was going to cry or run screaming when she was down there. Did she tell you any stories?"


"No, she said it was pretty standard," Eidolon answered. "Gaea used her power for a scan, some tests were done, and you grew everything in a vat overnight."


Lisa smiled her foxlike smile. "Then it'll be a surprise."


"Lisa, stop terrifying our guests," Taylor muttered, sounding tired. "You and I know the worst thing that happened to Alexandria was when she had to get dressed after Zach did his thing, and she had a warning and privacy screen for that."


Eidolon, who had been moving to leave the room, froze. RealizationHumiliation. "She left that part out," he admitted.


"It was a power interaction test," I offered. "Zach has an ability to teleport people. It reacts oddly to certain powers. We wanted to see if it would work through her power's stasis effect, for a number of reasons. Turns out, it does."


"I suppose I probably shouldn't tell her I know about that," he chuckled.


"I've contacted our Tinkers," Taylor said, changing the subject. "It'll be a couple minutes."


"Okay," Eidolon agreed, as we left into our living area.


"Dude," Zach said from the living room, looking at Eidolon. "Theo, you owe me twenty bucks."


"And you owe me two hundred," Lisa reminded him.


"Can I get an autograph?" Zach asked.


"I suppose," Eidolon agreed, smiling. Zach ran off to his room.


Theo stood up and walked over to our guest. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," he said as he held out his hand.


"Thank you," Eidolon shook it. "It's nice to meet fans. Especially ones that are heroes in their own right."


Theo almost blushed at the compliment. "I haven't done much to be called a hero, sir."


"You saved lives," Eidolon insisted. "More than that, you did it by stepping in front of a weapon meant to kill Endbringers. And even after being practically cut in half by that weapon, you kept concentrating long enough to save everyone in the shelter. In what way are you not a hero?"


"Told you so!" Riley crowed triumphantly from the stairway to her labs. "You saved my Big Sister and Missy and everyone from being cooked. That makes you a hero, and now you have to accept it because Eidolon hangs out with all the best heroes, so he'd know."


Theo smiled and actually, finally, did blush under the praise and attention. Eidolon, on the other hand, frowned a little. And then, so did Lisa. That was a question I needed to ask later. Badly.


"Don't worry," Eidolon offered. "I'm not really good at accepting praise, either. For me, it's always been about the legacy. Knowing that I help make things better, that I'm building something that's greater than myself. That's always been my motivation, at least. You do get used to the praise and attention, eventually. But some people will never like that sort of thing."


He's a completely different kind of person than Alexandria, I thought. Inspirational, really. I guess if you spend enough time around Legend, you learn a thing or two. I glanced over at Lisa, she was still watching and observing. Less a fox now, more hawk. Definitely acting hawklike.


"Lab's ready," Riley stated. "I've got a few initial ideas, but this could take some time."


By now, Zach had managed to rush out, holding a jewel case. In his other hand, he had a pen. He handed the pen to Eidolon, and extracted a sheet of paper- more like a blank card than anything- and offered it to him.


Eidolon looked at it and smiled. "So, you got to Alexandria and Dragon first?" He clicked the pen and signed his name. "Haven't bothered asking your team for theirs?"


He shrugged. "I dunno, kinda seems weird to try that. I mean: have you ever asked Alexandria or Legend for theirs?"


"You have a point," he granted. "So, are we ready?"


"Yup," Riley answered cheerfully. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to study you up close!"


I cringed, but Eidolon took it in stride. "I'm sure," he said. "Hope you won't be insulted when I say that I would have done everything in my power to stop you, before. Your actions in New Delhi changed my mind. You risked everything by showing yourself there."


Riley looked down, unable to find words for it. "Thank you," she said, softly. This might be the first time anyone praised Riley for doing something truly heroic, I realized. I resolved then to make sure she heard it more often. I could feel Taylor's emotional response, the recognition that Eidolon was right. Too subtle to influence my emotions over the link, but enough that I at least knew the feelings were there. I reached over and grasped her hand.


Riley sprinted down into the basement, cleary determined to do her absolute best to help the arguably most powerful parahuman in the world. Eidolon and the rest of us followed at a more subdued pace, including Theo. Who wasn't usually interested in visiting the labs.


"Alright, first, symptoms time," Riley said, pulling out a couple instruments. "Have a seat and tell me what the problem is."


"Simply put," Eidolon answered. "I'm running out of powers. There was a time, early in my career, when I could access any power I wanted and expect it to be at full strength in seconds. Now it can take several minutes for a truly strong power to finish charging, and the maximum charge now is less than ever before."


"Could be physiological," Riley suggested. "Overuse of powers causing deterioration of the Pollentia or Gemma. I've seen it before. Never in a... uh... parahuman with unmodified powers." She went silent. And I thought back to the nightmares she set on me. Murder Rat, especially. Those women were still alive after what she'd done to them.


"I'll try," I suggested. "Faster for me to run the scan than anyone." I reached my hand out, and Eidolon took off his glove to make contact. I frowned. "I... I'm not seeing anything," I said after a couple seconds. "You counter my powers. Almost exactly like Weld."


"Interesting," Riley answered, then she looked at her instruments. "Would you mind using your power? Something minor, and do it as slowly as you can. The more time we have to observe your powers, the more data I can collect."


"Okay," Eidolon agreed.


Riley watched the screens for a minute. "Save file, E.I. One," she instructed her computer. Sometimes I wondered about the logic of using nothing but vocal command systems only, but Riley insisted it was more secure that way. "Hey, Osiris, can you see if your power detects him?"


"Okay," Zach agreed, and he was the next one to make contact with Eidolon. "Umm... no?" Zach answered, sounding confused. "I'm getting nothing at all. It's weird."


"What does that mean?" Eidolon asked. "I might be able to offer insights. I felt both of you trying to influence me, and you're not the first who've tried."


"Well, my power only works on living things," I answered. "The only exceptions we know of would be a number of non-organic Case 53s, people under the influence of Clockblocker's ability to freeze time, and now, you."


"I can't effect Theo's power, while it's active," Zach replied. "I can't effect Atropos' bolts when her power's controlling them. Or Clock's frozen objects. I, umm... I also made contact with Simurgh enough times to know I can't read Endbringers, either. It's not just because she's too heavy. I still know I'm in contact with something, if it's too heavy. My power tells me "


"Okay," Eidolon answered. "Sounds like they're both Thinker powers at their core. I've long ago learned I'm immune to Thinker powers. Precogs included."


"Would you mind using your power? Something minor, and do it as slowly as you can. The more time we have to observe your powers, the more data I can collect." Riley asked.


Eidolon looked confused. "Riley," I started. "You already had him do that."


"Did I?" she asked. "Funny, I don't recall. Computer, name most recent saved file."


"E I One," the machine intoned in Clarice's voice.


"Taboo," Lisa responded. "His power is Taboo."


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


A/N- The part where Riley repeated her question actually confused me for a second during the editing. Until I read the next couple lines.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 134- Emma


"Thanks, Emma," Dennis said. I was sitting on the chair I'd built and leaning back against my wall, holding my cell to my ear. "I'm sorry about this, but I don't really have much choice. You know why I have to do this. They need everything they can get."


"It's fine," I confirmed. "Everything's changed after..." I paused. The words 'New Delhi' didn't need to be spoken. Anyone on the planet would know what I meant.


"Yeah," he said. "You could still, y'know, come with?"


I sighed, closing my eyes. "We've had this conversation, Dennis, I can't."


"You can and you know it," he said. "Fuck, you have every reason to walk away. They treat you like garbage and you know it."


I cringed. It wasn't quite true, but it was still a nerve to be struck. Taylor avoided so much as looking at me where possible. Zach actively pretended I didn't exist, to the point of absurdity at times. I expected that, from both of them. I deserved it, even.


None of the others would really talk to me at all. At most I could hope for polite indifference, like from Rey, Crystal and Theo. They weren't unkind to me, they just didn't have a lot to say to me. At worst, they avoided me. The way Amelia and pretty much all of the others did. They were, one way or another, Taylor's friends. They may have accepted that Taylor didn't want them to do anything to hurt me, but that didn't mean they needed to be nice to me, either. Congratulations, Taylor, you won in the end.


Riley was the one that hurt. Her relationship with Amelia had been improving, slowly but surely, and with that she seemed to be... afraid to be too friendly with me. That, plus her friendship with Missy. The two of them were like sisters.


I had a friend like that once.


Yeah, that hurt. Riley was the one I was most connected to. What does it say about me that Bonesaw is the person I miss most? Her, I trusted with everything. I let her modify me in ways that I did not, could not, understand. Still didn't fully understand, even with my powers. I was her favorite project for a while. Her co-conspirator. The one she went to for advice in dealing with tricky situations and dilemmas where there were no easy answers. Now I was, at most, her lab partner. I'd been all but forgotten. It is amazing how much that hurts.


"Emma?" Dennis prompted.


"Sorry, just thinking," I replied. Dennis cares about me. "I'm sorry, I have to stay."


"You don't," he insisted. "You know it's not healthy. There are other options. You can join the Wards, they love Tinkers. You've seen how much Kid Win gets for some of his inventions. You're a better tinker than he is, you could pretty much write your own check."


I smiled. Can't fault him for trying. "You just want me to have a suggestive and vaguely offensive code name. Like 'Ice Box' or something." I teased.


He laughed, even if it was a little forced. "See, you're already a natural."


"No, what I'm doing here is far too important," I insisted. He hated it when I pulled that card. The Endslayer project. The augmented weapons systems. Clockblocker even got some customized weapons. Basically the standard package, plus nearly indestructible strings that he could use to freeze things at range. Both of us knew it wasn't the real reason for me to stay, however.


"After they're dealt with, then?" Dennis prompted.


"Maybe." No. "I was thinking I'd join the Guild. Y'know, work directly with Dragon. What kind of tinker could pass up on something like that, right?" I'm sorry, Dennis. Going with you isn't even my second choice.


I knew it should be my first. He was there for me when I needed it the most. I just didn't have the feelings he obviously had for me. I probably never would. He was transferring to Boston, and from there who knew? Almost certainly, he wouldn't be there, or in New York, by spring. He would find someone who could love him, and he'd forget about me. Everyone would be happier that way.


"Yeah," Dennis admitted. "I could see you working alongside Dragon and Defiant. Being one of the world's best Tinkers."


"Emma," my dad shouted from downstairs. "It's time for supper."


"Gotta go," I said, both grateful and annoyed. "The 'rents are still on about that whole 'dinner's a family meal, everyone eats at the table' thing. As if that's going to make much of a difference in anything. We'll talk tomorrow."


"Okay," Dennis answered, not sounding especially happy about it. "I... I miss you."


"Miss you, too," I answered back, not really meaning it.


By the time I got downstairs, my parents had managed to be at the table. It was, as always, uncomfortable. Mom and dad went out of their way to pretend nothing at all had changed. They knew everything I'd done, but pretended I was the same child as before. I came back from fucking New Delhi, and they called it a road trip. Where I got a sunburn. Yeah, first and second degree burns across almost eighty percent of my body. That was a 'sunburn' now.


Turns out, my hair is considered alive by my power, so it regrew itself along with the rest of my regeneration. Small favor, at best. Also meant I would have exactly the same hair style for the rest of my life, because it restored itself to this no matter what I did to it.


You're one of the ones that came back, I reminded myself, a mantra in my head. You survived. No one can say you're weak, not after that.


"How's your job going, dear?" Mom asked. I cringed. That's what they called Pantheon, now. My 'job'. Like modeling was, before.


"It's fine," I answered. "We're pretty stable right now, so I'm using the downtime to apply for my GED."


"That's good," dad nodded. "You were always a smart girl, you should just skip the rest of highschool and go right to college."


No I wasn't, I repressed the urge to scream. Taylor was the smart one. I was average at best. Sure, I'm smart now. My powers plugged about forty bonus IQ points into my brain even without considering the Tinker and Breaker parts of my power. Of course, they had to pretend I was always smart so they could pretend nothing happened. Just like dad was ignoring the real reason I couldn't go back to highschool.


"I'm not going to go to college," I said. Their looks of disapproval was almost palpable. I backpedaled on instinct alone. "For a year or two. The job's a hassle, and I could use the break. It's been a pretty stressful year."


"Okay, dear," mom agreed. Of course she did. They'd been treating me like a Fabergé egg ever since... ever since I was attacked by the ABB. Why would I ever have expected them to stop now? And when did I start to hate them for it?


"That makes sense," dad conceded. "You should at least sign up for a couple classes at the community college, just to stay in the habit. They say people lose two months of school over summer break. You need to stay sharp."


My power includes near perfect memory. "I'll be sure to do that," I agreed.


I forced myself to eat. I didn't need food, anymore. My digestive system still worked fine, which more a hassle than anything, but my actual desire to eat was nonexistent. I had no sense of taste or smell, and I did not experience hunger. I couldn't starve to death, or even lose weight, because my regeneration pulled mass out of nowhere to undo damage. It did so slowly, granted. Took over a day to recover from Taylor breaking my nose and cheek. I still hadn't fully healed my injuries after New Delhi, over a week later. But eating was both useless and without pleasure for me.


I tried to explain this, but mom said that I was spending too much time around too-skinny models, and insisted I didn't have to starve myself to be pretty.


I was grateful for the silence that having food in our mouths brought. The less I have to talk to them, the better, I had come to realize. It was a nice meal, I had to admit. Pork chops, fresh vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy. If I could have gotten away with it, I might have snuck my share out and given it to someone who could appreciate it. I was halfway through the meal, my phone rang.


Dad looked at me. "Sorry," I apologized. "It's... work. I have to take it."


At least dad appreciated that much. Being a lawyer meant he understood the concept of demanding jobs and the occasional irregular hours.


I stepped away from the table and answered. "Emma speaking."


"Got another important customer," Lisa informed me. "Need you pretty much ten minutes ago."


"I understand," I answered, then hung up the phone. 'Customer' in this case usually meant a unique powerset we really wanted to study. Not exactly an impossible code to break, but then, no code was impossible to break. It was easier just to keep the details so vague that even the person receiving the information didn't know anything important. I looked at my parents. "Sorry, it's an emergency. Promise I'll make it up to you later."


"That's fine," dad said. "You have adult responsibilities now."


"You should invite some of your friends from work over for dinner," mom suggested. "It's been so long since I've talked to Taylor, it'd be nice to see how she's grown."


I resisted the impulse to ask her what alternate reality she thought we were living in. "No promises," I said. "Most of them live the job 24/7. Don't even have time enough to visit with their own families." I rushed upstairs to get into my armor. The flight system, more than anything, was why I needed it now. Although its ability to regulate my hybrid state and buy me extra time at full power would be useful if they needed my power.


They never call me unless they need my power.


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


A/N- If that's the sound of you feeling bad for Emma? That means I've done my job right.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 135


"Taboo?" Eidolon asked. ApprehensionSurprise.


"That's the term we use for certain memory effects that powers can cause," Lisa replied. "It's... sort of like a universal stranger power, like how parahumans black out when someone nearby has a Trigger Event. And how precogs can't sense Endbringers or, well, you. And Scion." HesitanceConcern. I frowned. I know it's Eidolon, but should be be volunteering all this information?


"So a new name for an old idea," he nodded. SuspenseRelief. "I've seen some studies done on that. Like how it's impossible to predict a trigger event until after it occurs. If you just so happen to be using precog on an individual before their trigger, their predicted future will often be completely different afterward."


"Interesting," Lisa said. "We didn't know about that. Another piece to the puzzle."


"Don't feel bad," Eidolon shrugged. "People have been studying the phenomena almost as long as powers have existed. You do have one thing on them: Taboo is much more elegant than the alphabet soup the scientists on that job have managed to come up with. I'll have to pass calling it 'Taboo' along to others. Much better than Induced Parahuman Memory Loss Phenomena."


"Wow," Zach replied. "So, science has managed to just completely run out of good acronyms at this point, huh?"


AnnoyanceImpatience. "Emma's finally here," Taylor spoke up. "Told her we're in the lab, didn't say who we had with us. We're pretty well shielded against Thinkers down here, so there's still a pretty good chance no one knows you're here."


"That's appreciated," Eidolon replied. "If it makes you feel any better, my power says this remains a private conversation."


Lisa nodded. "Actually, it does, thanks."


I felt Emma's presence through my power. Her biosuit, like all of them except Parian's, was designed to link into the Yggdrasil on contact. And with that, I got the still strange sense of Emma's biochemistry. It was no less bizarre today than the first time. Half organic, half... something else. Something my power didn't consider alive. I opened a more direct path for her, and she was coming down the newly created staircase in mere moments. It vanished behind her.


She smiled and waved "Hey guys, what's the..." she paused when she spotted Eidolon. "Oh, oh wow. Was not expecting that."


"I remember you," Eidolon spoke. "You're the girl that figured out sonic powers work against Endbringers."


"Yeah, that's me," she agreed. "I remember you, too." I glanced over at Taylor. ConfusedAmused. I didn't know Emma very well, but right now she was acting more awkward than Taylor and I used to.


"That was brilliant, what you did," Eidolon stated. "I don't think I would have thought of something like that, combining two relatively weak powers into something that could do that much damage."


"Well..." she smiled at the praise. "It's something Pantheon taught me. Awesome power combos seems to be our specialty." AnnoyedTerritorial. I focused on that sense for a second. Oh, Emma saying 'our' when referring to Pantheon. At this point, it was certainly true enough. Emma exemplified the concept of power combinations.


"Yes, well, I may need to learn how to do that more often in the future," Eidolon stated.


"You should see this," Riley stated, pointing at her computer. "It's a recording of Eidolon using his power."


"Okay," Emma agreed, going over to the computer and watching the screen while we waited silently. "The powers are dying out," she said finally.


"That's my problem, yes," he acknowledged again.


"No. I mean all of them," she said. "Or ours, at least. The Case 53s. The artificial triggers."


"What?" Eidolon asked.


"My power was one of the most recent," she said. "And each new one's going to be weaker than the last. The reason I turned out as powerful as I did is because my power saps energy from the environment around me. Constantly, and more when I absolutely need it. That lets me recharge what is otherwise a pretty much dead battery."


"You said the artificial capes," Eidolon asked. "This doesn't apply to the natural shards then?"


"Doesn't appear to," she answered, still looking at the monitor. "Mind you, we haven't exactly tested everyone. Those with-"


"You know more about this," Lisa interrupted. "You're not surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. You know why the powers are dwindling. You know where they come from. What the Passengers are, don't you?"


He nodded. "We call them 'Agents'," he answered. "They're... it's going to sound crazy..."


"Omnidimensional planet sized space whale virus gods that are also basically incomprehensibly powerful supercomputers that know magic, somehow?" Zach volunteered. "Yeah, we've managed to figure out the basics, at least."


Eidolon blinked. "That helps a lot, actually. I suppose the next part is that there are only two of them, and we call them Entities. Each Agent, what you call Passengers, is a piece of the whole in the same way a cell is a piece of a person. A given Agent is huge, bigger than this city, probably. The Entities themselves? We don't know... our best estimate is that they are individually more massive than our entire solar system. Although they exist in dozens, if not hundreds, of realities at a time. Their actual footprint in any given one is probably no larger than our moon."


"The Trigger Vision!" Emma exclaimed. "I know the rest of you can't remember them, but that's what I saw when I got my powers!"


Eidolon sighed. "Yeah, them," he acknowledged. "I don't remember my vision, either. Some of our members do. It's rare, but some people, usually people with thinker powers like perfect memory or no need to sleep anymore, can still envision them. A handful we have on record, two of which are natural triggers, the rest are, as you said, artificial."


"Good information to have," Lisa nodded. "Now how did you get the ability to make capes?"


"We're... harvesting one's corpse," Eidolon answered. More or less admitting a key role in this the conspiracy. "We don't know how or why, but one of them was wounded when landing. Or perhaps they were never meant to land at all. There's a lot of guesswork as to just how the Entities work. We're pretty sure it didn't intend to leave itself so vulnerable that it could be killed by the natives of that world. At the same time, we know very little about their life cycle. It's possible that one of them does need to die as part of their reproduction."


"It's common enough for organisms on earth," Riley answered. "Viral life, insects, even sexual reproduction looks like death and rebirth from the perspective of the individual cells involved."


Eidolon nodded. "So, is this enough information? Do you think you can help?"


"Yes, actually," Emma answered. ReliefConcernCuriosity. "It will take us a little while, but I think we can. Your energy readings aren't that unique. Not much different than my own when I change states. Of course, you're using a lot more power than I am. Our Passengers are still alive, sort of. Still drawing power, just not as much of it. Not enough. We can make you something a lot like my armor system, meant to store and shunt energy to the passenger slowly. It's not perfect, and the way you consume energy means, well, it's going to take weeks of charging just to give you an hour of maximum output."


"So you're saying I am going to have to go powerless between the Endbringer battles," Eidolon stated. "If I want to remain valid during them."


"Yes," Emma agreed. "Maybe you can use your powers continuously if you have access to a truly astronomical sum of available energy, but we're talking really, absurdly, vast amounts of power."


Eidolon nodded. "I see."


"We'll need one thing before I agree to parting with that kind of tech," Lisa insisted. "Do you know why the Entities are here? Their end goal?" I briefly considered pointing out to Lisa that she didn't make these kinds of calls. That was up to me and Taylor. But I did want to hear the answer to that question. I could discuss Lisa's presumptions in private.


"If you're right, and the artificial powers dying, our hope of finding a recipe capable of solving the problem for us is functionally dead," He sighed. "You girls might be the only ones who can stop this, so I'm going to trust you. When you called them viruses? That's true on a literal level. They arrive on a world and spread their Agents across the planet. They then merge, for reasons we're unsure of, with the dominant species. Drive their hosts to irrational behavior and violence, or at least they do that to humans. We're unsure if that's intentional or a side effect, we don't know if that's what they do on every planet they find. And, at the end of the cycle, when they're done breeding, they consume all the matter and energy available. Killing the world. Killing every version of the world in every possible iteration of reality. That's where they get the mass and energy to reproduce and form more members of their species from."


"Fuck," Lisa mumbled. "We were hoping they were just parasites. Feeding on some kind of psychic energy or something. Shit. Of course not! It would be insane to expect humans to supply that kind of power. They're not using us as food. They're using us as... as... some kind of intermediary agent."


"A biological mechanism to sort viability of a given strain," Riley volunteered. "To ensure only the best genetic material, or whatever they have as an equivalent, is used in the next generation. Every natural species that can reproduce sexually has such mechanisms."


"Wait... so... you're saying that humans are basically their version of lube?" Zach muttered. DisgustAnnoyance. "Alright, well, there goes my appetite for the next five or six years."


"How about bees used for pollinating flowers?" Emma suggested. ComfortIrritation. "A lot less squick that way. They give us resources, in the form of powers. And in exchange we run around, what, field testing them? An organic debug system? We fight, and that lets them evolve? They must be in love with us, then."


"And at the end of it all, when they've determined what 'genetics' are best for them, they consume everything and use that raw material to create copies of each Passenger that was considered viable. Probably with a series of deviations in it to ensure diversity in the offspring," Riley finished.


"So... we now know what the Passengers are," Lisa concluded. "What else do we need to know?"


"We haven't found a way to break into any of the dimensions that contain Agents," Eidolon informed us. "Seems they're locked off, somehow. A power that they don't give out. One of the ones were desperately hoping to find by accident when we started harvesting the dead Entity. We also know that the Entities use a sort of avatar to interact with their host. We don't know why they do that, either."


"Scion," Lisa's voice was a whisper. "The Entity, the source of powers, it's Scion."


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


A/N- Man, it's been so long that I forgot they ever didn't know.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 136


So much for going to bed early, I thought. Eidolon had left, it would be another week before we were finished building his suit. Promises were made about him talking to his associates about letting us Tinker with a few of their formulas, giving us access to their research. To see if we could improve the potency or regenerate the dying powers somehow. We didn't have much hope of that, although Riley said she had some 'exciting ideas'. Something that filled me with equal parts dread and slightly different kids of dread.


"We have an idea of what Dinah's predictions mean, now," Lisa sighed, as she poked around on her bulletin board, moving pictures and pins and strings. The material on that thing was so random and haphazard that I suspected even Lisa had forgotten what half the stuff meant. "Scion. Fuck. I never would have guessed it. It seems so obvious now that I know."


"Taboo," I answered. "Of course he wouldn't want us to know his real motivations. So why don't they lose their memories now that we know?"


"They haven't made the mental connection, or at least not the one the Passengers are looking for," Lisa answered. "None of us really have, nor will we be able to. We can envision Scion. If only as a powerful parahuman. We can't envision the Entity that's controlling him. And he is being controlled. A puppet, not too different from the Siberian or the changelings you build. The Scion we see is not the real him, and the Passengers only care about hiding the real him from us."


"I knew," Taylor muttered. HorrorIntimidation. "I saw him during the Leviathan fight. I felt him, like others have described. He was angry, and disgusted when he looked at Eidolon. I didn't put it together until just now, but on some level I knew he was a threat even then."


"Makes sense," Lisa replied. "Eidolon is powered by the corpse of Scion's girlfriend. Or whatever passes for it in their species. The Entity might think in a nonhuman way, but Scion himself still acts human."


"Of course!" Riley exclaimed. "That's what the 'perfect human DNA' is in the Cauldron vials. It's the remains of the other Entity's avatar! Its version of Scion!"


"We should find a less clunky name for it," I suggested.


"Heiress?" Emma volunteered. She paused and looked abashed before explaining her logic. "Well, I mean, it's basically the same meaning as Scion, and if they were imitating humans and are a mating pair, it's natural to think of the other as a female variant. It'd probably at least choose to look female since Scion chose to look male, right?"


"It's as good as anything," Lisa agreed. "With exception to Emma, we all have Scion shards. Meaning our powers come from him. They're recharging at their natural rate, and have power enough to last until the end of whatever weird lifecycle Entities have. At which point, we all die."


"Chances are we die of old age before then," Riley volunteered. "I mean, sure, my sister can do the whole 'eternal youth' thing for a select number of us, but if they want to be effective about their genetic testing, they'd need to test billions, potentially trillions, of Passengers. It should take centuries at the very least."


"There's also the scale of powers they've given," I added. "Taylor and I have a couple of the truly critical portions of the Entities. Our powers, at full strength, are pretty much the nervous and circulatory systems of their full organism. It's why we can function even at planetary range. Compared to what our Passengers do normally, a planet is barely anything."


"Chances are, Scion has powers dedicated solely to gathering power," Lisa volunteered. "He might be killing entire planets every hour on the hour and we'd never even know it's happening. There's more realities than anyone could hope to guess. They wouldn't pick ones with people on them, probably. Too great a chance of something going wrong, like what happened to Heiress"


ApprehensionShock. "Do you... do you think the dead world we found was one of theirs?" Taylor asked.


"Unlikely," Emma answered. AnnoyanceDistaste. "First, that planet isn't the same kind of 'dead' as an energy sapped world would be. Second, that cataclysm happened a long time ago. If Heiress was killed and is now being harnessed, chances are they've only been here for fifty years, at absolute most."


"They'd put blocks in the way of any dimension that contained Passengers, anyway," Lisa added. "We'll need to find a different way."


"Power interaction?" Taylor asked. "They clearly didn't mean for us to find a way to open holes to other realities in the first place. Surely that means they haven't planned for everything. We should be able to find a way, eventually."


"We'll certainly try," Lisa replied. "Okay, what we need to do now: First, build more Endbringer weapons. Yum knows enough to do the 'forced evolution' without any help, right? They were as effective as we needed last time, they'll still be good enough next fight. We don't waste our efforts upgrading them, unless we can do it enough to make them valid against Scion."


"Yeah, Rey can handle that on his own," Riley agreed. Emma also nodded.


"You two are going to put all your efforts into completely undoing the Taboo," she instructed. "I need a true way through it, instead of just around it. Maybe a way to break Dinah and Accord through as well. Without that, it's like trying figure out what a building looks like using nothing but sense of smell."


"You can use my memories, if you have to," I offered. "I broke through... maybe that's enough to let others."


"It adds more data, if nothing else," Emma agreed. "Lisa, would you mind if we ran the scans on you, too. Between the three of us, maybe there's enough to synthesize a treatment that'll work."


ReluctanceAcceptance. "There's also Miss Militia," Taylor added. "She remembers the Trigger Vision, at least. That might help."


"That's good," Emma agreed eagerly. "Do you know if she had one of those 'third triggers' or anything like that?"


"It's possible," Lisa admitted. "It would explain why she's so... bizarrely reasonable, for a parahuman. Most of us are colossal assholes by default. Only the ones who've broken through the Taboo, one way or another, seem to be able to be, well, sane."


AnnoyanceOffended.


"Yes, Taylor, that includes you," Lisa muttered. "Your link with Amelia is just a layer of cream frosting on top of a god damn iceberg. I've looked at the psych reports the PRT has on both of you. Every one of their thinkers guess wrong. Because your personality is so different thanks to that empathic bond you've got going on that you no longer act like you anymore. And that's not even the most fucked up part."


AnnoyedDefensiveProud. "That's fine, I didn't like me much to begin with."


"That!" Lisa exclaimed. "That right there is the most fucked up part. Most people would be scared to death by this, and you two are over there happy as can be with it."


"We'd do it anyway," I said, coming to Taylor's defense. And my own, I suppose. "Our powers are a whole lot stronger this way. Easier, smoother. Falling back on the link... I dunno... it makes everything clearer."


"Depth," Riley volunteered. "The more attuned you become to your passenger, the more you do what it wants, the less effort it has to devote to manipulating you and forcing you to do what it wants. So it spends its time improving on your abilities. That's part of..." she hesitated. "It's why Jack was so powerful, despite having such a sucky power. Why my powers are so much stronger than most, how it's so easy for me to work with other tinker tech. Because we embrace the impulses our Passengers give us."


"You're saying our Passengers want us... together... like this?" Taylor asked. ConcernDistrust. I felt my stomach drop.


"I don't know," Riley answered. "I don't think they know enough to know you're together. How humans think, how we act normally. They seem to just care about powers being as active as possible for as many different things as possible. You're both using your link constantly, and using your powers with each other to do things that neither of you can do alone. But that's the same for all of us. Rey, Emma, and I get to work on things that otherwise could not exist. We're feeding Lisa a constant stream of information for her to use her power on. It's a sustaining cycle that lets our Passengers prove themselves as the most evolutionarily fit, so they'll be the ones to pass on their traits the most."


"That actually means were less influenced by the Passengers, not more," I concluded. ConfusionHope.


"I don't think that's the message you should be taking from this," Lisa argued.


"No, no, it makes sense." I insisted. "Why do you think we're here, able to discuss a war against, well, them. I think if they were any kind of smart, the idea of killing Entities would be impossible for us to contemplate. But it's not. If they can't figure even that out, I doubt they can figure out human relationships. All they know is that Taylor and I are using our powers actively and almost constantly, so they don't have a need to pressure us into anything." RealizationAcceptanceSoothed.


"We're doing exactly what they want us to do, so they're rewarding us by giving us more power to keep doing what we were already doing. If we break the link... try to avoid using our powers..." I paused. "They will drive us insane if they have to, won't they?" What I did to Victoria... was that me, or what the Passenger manipulating me?


"It makes sense," Emma offered, looking down. "I can't speak for the others, but Taylor, I knew you before you got powers."


AngerDisgustBetrayedImpatience. "Yes, everyone knows this," Taylor said darkly. I started letting the negative emotions in the bond break up. Don't fight. Accept and push through, I reminded myself. Taylor started calming almost immediately.


"This so-called 'new' you isn't new," Emma mumbled, unable to look at any of us. "It's the Taylor I remember. Back before... everything."


ShockPrideCertaintyJoy. Taylor started laughing.


===========


A/N- That was one of the fun ones I was working toward.

... Incidentally, those last two lines were practically the whole reason I included Emma as a major character, here. Sure, maybe I could have used Danny for it. But. Meh. This was a fuckton more natural.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 137- Carol


"Okay, you can do this," I told myself yet again. I simply sat there staring at the tree. Fortress. It was a living fortress, and in it Amelia controlled everything. An incredibly humbling thought. 'Pantheon' was an appropriate name. This is the kind of power that gods wield.


I closed my eyes and exhaled painfully. It's true. If I had encouraged her to use her powers to their full extent, she could have saved Victoria. Could have made it so Victoria didn't even need saving. Would the S9 have even dared enter this city if she had that Yggdrasil ready to be used? Khepri's father said that she wouldn't have been able to stop Leviathan with it... but the Slaughterhouse Nine, for all the fear they inspired, were mortal. I fought back the tears.


I started the keys to the car. I can't do this, maybe I'll try again later. Then the most disturbing sound formed beside me. A cacophony of discordant clicks and hums forcing itself into something that mimicked words.


"You can come in if you want," it said. And the voice was most definitely an 'it'. In spite of my years as a hero, in spite of being one of the few that had faced Leviathan in combat, I screamed, and instantly transformed into my invulnerable state.


"Is it really that bad?" the not-voice asked. "Damn, I thought I was getting pretty good at it, too."


"Wh-who are you?" I asked, forming back into a human state just enough to ask.


"Taylor," the swarm answered. "Now would you like to come inside? We can talk in person, so I don't have to communicate through the bugs."


That voice. I was going to go home and scrub down with steel wool later. "Umm, yeah, sure," I agreed. "I'll be there in a couple minutes."


I got out of my car and walked to their home. It was kind of a long walk, actually. They had a lot of unused space available on this plot of land that was once a Leviathan made crater. I was about to walk around the outer wall to the actual entrance, which faced inward to the center of the crater, instead of outward to the street, but the wall itself opened for me. Amy's power.


Wasn't I planning to just go home? I asked myself as I walked through the passageway.


Their home really was built much like a fortress. Now that I was past the first wall, I had another twenty or so feet to walk before I got to an inner wall. There was no escape from this point except to blast your way out. The area was eerily beautiful, lit solely by bioluminescent blues and purples. It could even be romantic, if you came here with the right mindset. I was nowhere near that mindset. Still, it was wondrous in an alien sort of way.


The next set of walls opened. Crystal was there. "Hey, Aunt Carol," she said cheerfully. She was beautiful, a younger version of her mother. She pulled me into a quick hug, and I squeezed her back. It was good to see she was well.


"You cut your hair," I said as I let her go. It was the first thing I could think of to say. She lost most of her smile.


"Yeah," she said, her smile coming back as she offered a shrug. Maybe she could have fooled someone else, but I've known her since she was born. "It... was time for a new 'do. Short hair's trendy these days."


"Okay," I dropped it. I don't want to pry, not now. "You know how out of touch I am with kids' fashions these days."


"Speaking of fashion," she said with her usual energy. "I was just about to take Taylor on a shopping trip. Gotta pack that summer wardrobe away and get stuff for fall and winter. The poor girl thinks 'hoodie' is the only winter wear necessary."


"It should be," another girl argued from around a corner. "It's comfortable and convenient and if you get too warm you can just take it off."


"Giggity!" a boy shouted. A couple seconds later he started coughing. There was a soft thump that sounded something like someone dropped a sack of flour on the ground, and the coughing stopped. "Where do you keep hiding the grasshoppers!"


The girl stepped out where I could see her. She was tall, lanky even. So, this is Taylor, I thought. Not unattractive, but not about to win any prizes. Except maybe for her hair. Long, chocolate brown, and it was obvious she took pride in caring for it. She should give Amy pointers. "Hello, Mrs. Dallon," she said as she walked up to me. "I'm Taylor. It's nice to finally meet you." She paused for a second. "For real, at least," she added awkwardly.


"Pleasure's mine," I said, it what I hoped was a friendly way. The girl had several inches of height on me. Hide her hair and you'd think she was a boy, not a girl. Apparently my daughter liked the androgynous look. "I've heard a lot about you." None of it from Amy.


She offered a smile. "I've heard a lot about you, too." I was sure that, if any of it was good, it had come from Crystal.


"Is Amy available?" I asked. I really didn't know how to talk to this girl. Didn't know how to talk to most people, outside of business. "I'd like to talk to her. Alone, if that's possible?"


"Uh, sure, she's in o... her bedroom," Taylor corrected. I kept my face passive at that slip. It didn't bother me as much as I might have thought to know my underage daughter was sharing a bedroom with her girlfriend. I'd probably have had a minor aneurysm if this were a boyfriend. One more bit of gender bias.. "Just go down the stairs and follow the hall," Taylor gestured while stepping off to the side. "Then turn left where you see the kitchen. The door will be open for you."


"Thanks," I said. "Maybe you can come by some time, talk about things. I've already met your father. You can invite him, too, if you like."


"Sure, okay," she agreed. "That could be nice. I've got to go now."


"Okay," I nodded, pausing for a moment to watch as she fled after Crystal.


I followed her instructions. The entire building smelled, well, alive. A little like the air after a fresh rain. It was all lit by bioluminescence, most of it in bright green tones. Much brighter lighting than the area upstairs. The stairs were deep. Two stories worth, if all my years working in offices had taught me anything. Elevators are for emergencies and people who don't care about staying in shape.


Downstairs had a nice open arrangement. Lounge area off to the left, with a couple couches and some chairs that I realized were made out of the same plant as the walls and floor. There was a couple boys playing a video game at one of the TVs. I wasn't so sure I approved of them living here with all these young girls, but I couldn't say much about what other kids were doing, and I knew I didn't need to be concerned about Amy. What a weird form of gender bias.


The other side had a large meeting room. Complete with what appeared to be a very expensive video system and a lot of chairs. I kept going forward. The kitchen was obvious enough, though larger than I would have expected. Combined with a dining room that set up like a miniature restaurant. I guess when you have miles of space underground, efficiency takes a back seat to the cool factor.


Amy's room was a bit down the side hall, and the door was indeed open. I found Amy standing, in her costume, though lacking the helmet and mask of her usual outfit. In the corner stood another costume, a true full suit of armor. Too large for Amy, must be Taylor's outfit. Amy watched me, as if challenging me to say something about this obvious display of a shared living space. One she could have hidden with ease using her powers.


"You wanted to talk to me?" she asked. I recognized that tone. That's the tone I used when I disapproved of her. It stung, realizing how good she was at using it.


"I wanted to say I'm sorry," I told her. "I've been... I was never much of a mother, was I?"


"Not to me," Amy answered. "You were decent enough to Victoria."


"I know, and I'm sorry for everything," I tried to meet her eyes, but I couldn't. She was angry, accusing. Worse, she was right. "I... when I took you in, it was out of obligation. We had to. We couldn't have put you in foster care without risking... one of your father's enemies getting to you."


"You hated him," Amy said, still cold. "And because you hated him, you hated me."


I couldn't speak, I simply nodded.


"Is that all?"


"No," I managed to say. "I... I wanted to let you know I would take it all back if I could. You're not your father, you never were. You were an innocent and I... I treated you like a monster. Or a ticking time bomb ready to go off. When you got your powers, that just made it worse. I couldn't see the good you might accomplish, only the destruction you could cause. I'm sorry it took this long for me to see you as my daughter."


She sighed. "I wanted to hear you say that for years," Amy admitted. "I... I could have handled everything else. All my other problems. Maybe I wouldn't have been happy, but at least I could have coped with it. Did you know I spent all that time in the hospital just to prove to you I wasn't bad? That I wasn't a monster, that I wouldn't become my father? So I could get your approval? Your love."


I flinched. I hadn't realized. I was too busy being relieved that she wasn't home, reminding me of everything she represented. When I wasn't angrily wondering why she didn't heal Mark's depression. There's an example of being careful what you wish for. "No," I confessed. I didn't elaborate.


"What made you change your mind?" she demanded.


"New Delhi," I said, and this time I didn't fight it as my eyes started to water. "I saw... I thought you died. We thought you were dead. That's when I realized."


"Is that so?" Amy asked, her face still stone. "Fuck, all I needed to do was die. Who woulda thought?"


I flinched. "Please, Amy," I begged. "I know you're angry. You should be angry, I deserve it, but you're my daughter. I love you. You have to see that."


Her gaze locked with mine. Her face was cold, but even through my own tears I could see the ones forming in her eyes. After what felt like an eternity, her eyes fluttered, and her stance relaxed. She muttered something under her breath that I couldn't hear. I doubt it was something I was meant to hear. Was she talking to someone through her armor?


She stepped forward, and the costume simply fell off her back, another step and she embraced me, sobbing. All my remaining self control broke, and I wept while holding my daughter.


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


A/N- This is the arc where I really explore the depth and impact of the Taylia bond.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 138- Taylor


"Carol's back," I told Amelia. I'd just come in to let her know I was about to go off on my shopping trip.


IrritationDejection. "Again?" she asked.


"Yeah," I nodded.


ResolutionExasperation. "Fuck it, just ask her to come in. The first couple times were a little bit cathartic. Now I'm just starting to feel sorry for her. Invite her in, so she can say whatever it is that's pretty much turned her into a stalker."


"I can call off the shopping trip, stick around while you two talk," I offered. "I'm sure Lisa and Crystal will understand."


GratefulSafe. "I appreciate the offer," she smiled as she looked up at me. "But I'll be fine. You've been avoiding this trip since before Chicago. Things are calm, you aren't needed for anything, and I'm not going to let Carol get in the way of Crystal's fun."


"How come it's always me?" I argued. Okay, let's be honest, I was pouting. Meanwhile, I was talking to Carol via bug swarm. "Why don't you ever get dragged off on these shopping trips?"


"First," she smirked. "I already have nice clothes. Second, you're the one who looks amazing in a skirt. And third," a mischievous gleam formed in her eye. AmusementDesire. "They won't let me climb into the changing booth with you, so there's really no point. Now let Crystal and Lisa have fun finding more pretty outfits for you to show off, because you're fooling no one."


I sighed, pretending to be far more annoyed than I really was. Not that I could hide my real feelings from her, any more than she could hers for me. Sometimes, I wondered if it was unfair, the way I was teasing Amelia like this. I had brought that up before, and quickly learned that the idea of stopping actually upset her a lot more than it did me. Oh well, with all of the strange things in our relationship, this one probably wouldn't even make it into the top ten list.


"Carol's at the wall, I'll show you exactly where," I offered, and had a few of the blade beetles slice along the inner wall closest to her. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay and play backup for you?"


She hugged me. "No, it's fine," she insisted, washing the bond with a swirl of happy emotions. "Unless you're offering to show off that elusive 'skimpy bikini' I keep hearing about. In which case, you should have offered before inviting Carol in."


I felt my face heating up. HappyAmused. I also resolved to murder Crystal and Lisa. Speaking of, I also directed Crystal to where she could expect Carol to show up from.


"Alright," I sighed. "Well, guess I'll go up top and talk to her first. Never know, this might be work related and we're just being drama queens." DoubtAmusement.


"Just built a staircase near the living room, go that way," she volunteered. I already knew, but she was being considerate. I felt her reluctance as I moved away from her, then I rushed out to meet Carol at the new door. Crystal was already upstairs, talking to her aunt.


"Gotta pack that summer wardrobe away and get stuff for fall and winter," oh, great, Crystal is talking about me. "The poor girl thinks 'hoodie' is the only winter wear necessary."


"It should be," I insisted, a bit over halfway up the stairs at this point. "It's comfortable and convenient and if you get too warm you can just take it off."


"Giggity!" Zach shouted. I frowned and found one of the grasshoppers I had smuggled in on Theo's shirt. I waited for the perfect moment when he was distracted by his game, and the insect leapt into his mouth. He started coughing and became dust almost immediately. The now freed insect quickly dived behind the couch. I was sure Theo noticed, of course. "Where do you keep hiding the grasshoppers!"


I smiled, and focused on calming myself a bit. Maybe I shouldn't have been so nervous to meet Carol, but I was. She was Amelia's mother. Or closest thing to one that the closest thing I've ever had to a romantic partner had.


Carol was shorter than I had expected. Than I remembered. Maybe her costume had platforms? Maybe I'd grown taller in the last few months? Maybe it was just a trick of memory, as the last time we'd met, there was that blowout between Amelia and New Wave. She looked tired now, I noticed. I felt a little pity for the woman.


"Hello, Mrs. Dallon," I said, approaching Amelia's mom. "I'm Taylor. It's nice to finally meet you. For real, at least." Oh, wow, Taylor, that was smooth. I saw Crystal looking at me from behind her aunt and it was only my link with Amelia that let me stabilize and keep my cool.


"Pleasure's mine," she smiled half heartedly. "I've heard a lot about you." I studiously kept my eyes on Carol instead of glancing back at Crystal.


"I've heard a lot about you, too," I stated. Not much of it was good, but I'd heard plenty.Some conversations with Amelia, a couple with Crystal. It was hard for me to reconcile the difference between their descriptions of the same woman. Lisa had summed it up as Amelia being melodramatic, and Crystal never really seeing how consistently bad Carol was at the whole 'being a parent' thing. She wasn't malicious, she was just incompetent. The rest of the blanks were filled in by Amelia's own hangups. Especially the part about her attraction to Victoria.


"Is Amy available?" Carol asked. I was struck by the oddity of the position. Shouldn't I be the one coming over to her house and asking her that? "I'd like to talk to her. Alone, if that's possible?"


"Uh, sure, she's in o... her bedroom," I almost slipped up. I didn't really have my own room here, anymore. Either I stayed at home, or if I stayed here, I stayed in Amelia's room. I moved to the side. "Just go down the stairs and follow the hall, then turn left where you see the kitchen. The door will be open for you."


"Thanks," she said, forcing more of a smile. Maybe she didn't notice my screwup? "Maybe you can come by some time, talk about things. I've already met your father. You can invite him, too, if you like." Right, they were all together for New Delhi. I still hadn't talked to dad about that. We were still in the 'pretend neither of us know that we both know' stage. He might legitimately believe I don't know, and I would rather wait for him to talk to me about it than to press the issue.


"Are you okay?" Amelia asked. She'd put her armor on, and with it I had voice communication. I can imagine how I feel through the bond right now.


"I'm fine," I answered. "Just a little weirded out, y'know."


"Are you sure?" CompassionWorry.


"Sure, okay," I agreed to Carol's invite. "That could be nice. I've got to go now."


"Okay," Carol nodded to me. I moved past her, unable to make eye contact as I continued speaking with Amelia through the armor.


"Yeah," I said. "Y- Carol just invited me and maybe my dad over for a visit sometime. I just lied and said that sounded nice."


"Oh god," AmusedIncredulous. Amelia chuckled. "That sounds awful."


"It would likely go down in history as a candidate for the most awkward conversation in the history of awkward conversations," I agreed. "I can see it now... 'Hey, girl who's engaged to my daughter, I see you've brought your dad, is he still boning my sister?'"


"She's not my mother," Amelia said, her mood and voice darkening. There was still the undercurrent of longing underneath, however. I thought back to my mom, and how much I missed her. Amelia sighed. "That's not fair and you know it."


"Sorry," I apologized. "I don't think Carol agrees with you on this. She's trying awfully hard to be nice, here. To reach out to me of all possible people. It's hard not to be sympathetic. Like watching a sad puppy. Or Riley after one of her nightmares."


"God damn it, Taylor, for you to feel bad for someone, they have to be really pathetic," Amelia muttered. "Fine. But now you have to do that incredibly awkward 'meet the family shit'. The whole family. Bring Crystal and Sarah. That is your punishment. Deal with it."


I caught up with Crystal, finally. She had made it to her car, and the little garage Amelia had built for it. Sure, we could have gotten there from underground, but Crystal insisted that we needed to go outside and see sunlight every once in a while.


"About time," Lisa teased. "So on a scale of one to ten, how bad is the fallout going to be?"


"I have inadvertently agreed to a 'meet the folks' date with Amelia, her parents, and my dad, and his new girlfriend." I reluctantly admitted. Lisa started laughing.


Crystal cringed. "God damn it, Taylor. This is going to involve me, isn't it?" Apparently, she was just going to ignore Lisa and talk in front of her. Not like my she wouldn't know what the hell was happening anyway. Forcing her to use her power to figure things out just meant less energy used on things that really mattered. Plus it kinda annoyed her that she couldn't play nosy super sleuth with us the way she likes to do.


"Blame your cousin for that one," I insisted. "I was willing to bite the bullet and go it alone, but Amelia is convinced that this is a suffering that must be shared with every possible member of her family. I wouldn't be surprised if she invites Riley along. Just for even more weirdness."


"Stay with me?" Amelia begged me right before Carol walked in.


"Always," I answered back.


"So, still spying on Amelia, right?" Lisa asked.


"She asked me to, so it's not spying," I answered. "But, yes, I am there to lend emotional support to my friend while she deals with her mother." AccusationAngerDisappointment. I cringed.


"She would do the same for me," I insisted. Meanwhile, I started focusing and mirroring the other, less painful, emotions in the link. I couldn't pretend to understand what Amelia's life has been like. I did know what it felt like to long for a mother who wasn't there. That was a common ground. And Amelia, as much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, still wanted her mother.


I didn't push the emotion. That would be a betrayal. I reinforced it, made sure Amelia knew it was there, kept it from getting lost in the storm.


I followed the conversation, watching Carol bare her soul to Amelia. Then they went silent. AngerPityCompassionAnger. Better than before, at least. I didn't need to hold the emotions at this point, they were coming to the fore on their own, now. One of the many things that we shared. We needed that sense of family. However messed up the family itself might have been.


"Thank you," Amelia whispered, seconds before letting the armor fall off. The link was still there, but she didn't need me there in a more direct sense for the rest of this. AcceptanceDeterminationCompassionPeace.


I finally focused back on the 'here and now'. We were already on the road, heading toward wherever it was my shopping experts had determined we would go today. They didn't say anything as I wiped the wetness off my cheeks.


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


A/N- Because that scene deserved a look through another set of eyes. I did, unfortunately, have to lift some dialogue straight off the last chapter. Felt like a scumbag for doing it, but, well, all attempts I made to work around it looked like shit.

I just made it an extra long chapter to make up for the partial rehash.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 139- Emma


I went over the neurological copying tech once more, perfecting the last few minor errors. Riley's work was as brilliant, as always, but it had flaws. Rey's, too, although it was better suited for this sort of thing. And the neural mapping system from both Cranial and Rapture were held together by patchwork until I managed to actually integrate them properly. It worked, for a given value of work, but was woefully inefficient. And I was willing to let her copy and paste my mind with this? Holy shit what was wrong with me? To the other side I had the last readings Riley got off of Crawler. I smiled as I compared it to the new tests I ran.


"I got it!" I declared, startling Riley from her work on the actual pathway differences between Amelia's brain, as opposed to mine and Lisa's. It was doubtful my scans would be useful, since my brain was no longer organic, but every point of reference held a chance. She was following a very strict formula, to catch any possible Taboo in her research. Every bit of data, double and triple checked by the computer, and me, and Lisa. Scion is going to end the world. If there was ever a time I might be able to prove myself, prove my value, it will be in stopping the apocalypse.


"What?" Riley asked, still working on her project.


"I've figured out how to perfectly interpret the neural engrams you pulled from Crawler," I explained excitedly. "We can pull people back who got glass bombed. Ooh! I just had a great idea! Do you think the PRT has more of those glass weapons? We could build them and use them on serious threats! Crystallize everyone in the area and only restore the ones that we don't want to stay dead!"


"That's great!" Riley declared. "Ooh! Does it have to be glass? Maybe we could do the same with your ice weapons!"


"We could!" I squealed. "It's perfect!"


Riley frowned. "No. Breaks Rule Two."


"Which one's that?" I asked.


"If the plan starts with 'kill people indiscriminately', it's a bad plan," she replied. "I think that includes glass bombs and flash freezing."


I paused for a second and thought about what I'd just suggested. "Holy f-fudge," I muttered. Did I really just suggest something like that? "I know that's wrong. I knew it when I said it. Why?"


"It's a tinker thing," Riley dismissed. "Don't worry about it too much. You still had one big breakthrough today."


"I did," I agreed. You succeeded again. "They'll have to accept me after this."


Riley looked at me. "What do you mean? You're part of the team, aren't you?"


"Not really," I dismissed. "Sure, I work here, but no one wants me around. If they could find a way to take away my powers and plug them into some random guy they find on the street holding a 'will work for food' sign, they'd do it in a heartbeat. No one really likes me."


"I like you," Riley argued.


"You like everyone," I pointed out. I smiled, however. "Actually, you remind me a lot of Taylor when she was your age."


She beamed at that. "Good!"


"It really is," I agreed.


"Why'd you stop being friends with her?" Riley asked.


I froze... err, shifted into my hybrid state. I couldn't come up with a way to answer that question any other way. In my full power state, things were easier. I was closer to a computer than human in this form. Most of my insides were no longer organic, in any state, and my brain was no exception. It was more like a crystalline electromagnetic computer system. And when in my hybrid state, it became a superconductor. Absurdly easy to think, and close to impossible to feel emotions. "It's because I hated myself. A bad thing happened that made me angry and sad. Those emotions make people hurt other people."


Riley frowned, and I dropped the power state. I couldn't keep it running forever, and I needed it for work. "Mannequin hated himself. I hate myself, sometimes," she answered. "When I think about everyone I hurt, it makes me sad and angry. But I would never hurt Missy."


"You're smarter than I was," I said.


"Do you think Missy would hurt me?" Riley asked.


Probably, if something bad enough happened, I thought. "No," I lied. I was a good liar, and my physiology was so nonhuman that Riley's ability to spot deception wouldn't work on me. Even Rapture's tech didn't work on me. Her power did, yes, but not her equipment. "Missy's smart, too."


Riley nodded, looking relieved. She'd undone a lot of the personality tech she built into herself. I could still see its remnants running in her brain, at least when I went hybrid, but she wasn't faking being cheerful anymore. She had her bad days as well as her good, like everyone else, although she made the bad a lot less bad than it would be if she were relying on normal neurochemistry. Really, it was probably less mind altering than most prescription antidepressants.


"I'm trying to make Taylor my friend again," I informed her. Somehow, she was more well liked around her than I was. And she was fucking Bonesaw. I knew how those spider-bots were made, now. There was a human neurosystem in there. A young one, capable of adapting to the change of circumstances. If she had then the kind of lab she has now, I could be persuaded that it was artificial. She didn't. She had to use a toddle for parts every time she built one of those things. If others could accept what she had done, surely I wasn't so bad?


"How?" she asked. "I don't think she wants to be your friend anymore. And I'm pretty sure she's not going to let you alter that."


"After we restore Glory Girl," I answered. "It means Amelia will have her sister back. After that, Taylor will have to be grateful that we helped her girlfriend with something that monumental. You'll benefit, too. We both know Taylor's still uncomfortable around you."


"I don't mind," Riley responded. "I tried to hurt Taylor really bad. Tried to take her apart, even. Did horrible things to one of her friends. She has every right to be mad at me. She still tries to be nice to me even though she doesn't have to. It's more than I deserve."


"After this, she'll have to," I insisted. "You can't stay mad at someone after they pretty much perform a miracle for you. Taylor will forgive us both, and Amelia will have her sister and it'll be like the bad stuff never happened at all."


"I don't think that's how it works," Riley responded. "Pretending the bad stuff isn't real just makes things worse. Trust me, I lived with the Slaughterhouse Nine. I'm only getting better now because I'm not pretending anymore."


I didn't speak, and Riley took that as an invite to continue.


"And Missy says I'm her friend because she likes being friends with me. She likes being around me, and I like being around her, and we like it when the other is happy. That's why we're friends, and that's why Amelia's my sister. It has nothing to do with what I can do for her or anything I can give her. That's only why we're part of a team together. And because we're both 'badass action babes'."


I froze and thought back. By that definition, I haven't had any friends at all since... since Taylor. I had all the friends at school. Girls who wanted to be popular. Boys who wanted to be seen with me, wanted in my pants, or most likely both.


Sophia was closer, but she had been a mentor. Sure, we spent time together, and shared secrets. In as much as Sophia would share anything with anyone. It hadn't taken me long to discover that she'd get upset if I didn't keep doing what she wanted to do. Namely, torment Taylor, lord popularity over other girls, and her activities as a vigilante. Outside of that, Sophia cared about nothing at all, and made her disinterest known in her own less than subtle way. To claim she cared about whether or not I was happy? For fuck's sake, she was going to watch me get gang raped if I didn't fight back.


"See," I said. "Told you Missy was smart." So much for that idea, I thought. Sure, resurrection technology was a big deal. The biggest deal possible. There was no way to exaggerate how important it was. But she was right. It wouldn't result in Taylor's acceptance. I would deserve it, yes. But that wouldn't mean I'd get it.


"How did you get Amelia to like you? Or Missy? Or all of the others?" I asked. "They know what you've done, and still they accept you."


Riley looked down. "I don't know," she admitted.


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


A/N- FORESHADOWING!!! Arglebargle!

Also: Emma's pathetic and Riley's both horrifying and adorable. In case you weren't aware of this.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 140- Taylor


Shopping was, as usual, an exhausting experience. Lisa and/or Crystal would decide what looked good for me, argue with each other for a couple minutes, and then I'd have to argue with them about such things as price and too much of my very not tan skin being shown.


"This is suppose to be winter clothes," I finally declared after the fifth skirt they tried to get me to buy. "I am not wearing a skirt for winter. It happens to be cold during winter. If I'm going to get frostbite, I at least want it somewhere I can tell the doctors about and still look them in the eyes."


"Isn't your fiancée your doctor?" Crystal teased.


"Yes," I said in a carefully neutral tone.


"Well, you heard Taylor," Lisa responded. "She prefers looking Amelia in the eyes."


"If Zach was here," Crystal laughed. "He'd probably say something about a kiss to make it better."


I just sighed and resolved that the next city that Pantheon claimed permanently would be in Alaska. I would assign both Lisa and Crystal to manage that site. Forever. Surely there was a PRT Director up there that would appreciate the help.


"Speaking of Zach," Lisa said, grinning.


Crystal's eyes widened. "No."


"Did you think I wouldn't find out?"


"Find out what?" I asked.


"No. No no no. Don't you fucking dare," Crystal insisted.


"Aww, but you don't want to share your plans for the future?" Lisa smirked.


"I was just being nice!" Crystal exclaimed.


"Oh Ta~ylor, your future step sister promised Za~ch a~ da~te." Lisa sang every 'a' sound, and clicked her tongue at the last 't'.


At last, I thought. Someone else suffers this bullshit! "Oh, really?" I joined in the smirking. "Sorry, Crystal, now I feel bad. Can't be easy on you when your boyfriend tastes like crickets."


"In five years!" She insisted. "I told him that, if we were both single, five years from now, then I'd maybe go on a date with him."


I shrugged. "Y'know, the way he works out, he's going to be buff as hell in five years."


"Taylor's been doing her part to help," Lisa volunteered. "Grasshoppers are really high in protein."


....


"Umm, huh," I muttered as we approached the food court. I was glad for my morning workouts, it's the only reason my feet hadn't fallen off yet. "Guess what?"


"Riley is busy creating yet another abomination against nature and god?" Lisa volunteered.


"No-" I paused. "Actually, yes. But that's not what I was talking about."


"You've decided one Endbringer is enough and want to shop for wedding dresses?" Crystal suggested.


"Close enough," I declared. "Our parents are on a date a couple blocks from here."


"Where? How come you didn't notice earlier? What are they doing?" Crystal asked.


"I dunno," I answered. "Some Italian place, I'm pretty sure. I didn't notice because I'm trying not to be omnispy. And heavy petting. Very heavy petting."


"Eww, gross," Crystal paused. Lisa snickered. "Wait. You're just fucking with me, aren't you?"


"Yep," I admitted, smiling what I was sure was a Lisa-esque smile.. "They just got there. I didn't notice because they came in different vehicles and I didn't realize they were headed to the same place until they were both in the parking lot."


"We should spy on their date!" Crystal declared.


"We are not going to spy on them," I insisted. "It's creepy."


Crystal snickered. "You, of all people, did not just say that."


"No, seriously, it's not cool and I'm not doing it," I insisted. "What they do on their own time is their own business, not ours. I am not going to pry into their relationship by eavesdropping on them without their knowledge or permission."


"They're in Brockton Bay," Crystal countered. "The act of being in this city means they've already given you permission."


"I managed to not know about you and Zach," I pointed out. "You didn't seem too happy when Lisa gave out your secrets to me."


"Fine," she huffed. "But we're their kids, we totally deserve to know. If only so we have a proper warning next time."


"Here's a suggestion," I said. "How about if we just walk right up to them and say hello? Then we can pry to our hearts content without being creepy about it."


"No wonder Amy likes you so much," Crystal complained. "You're the only person on the planet who is better at killing fun than she is. We're going to wind up having that whole 'meet the family' thing with Aunt Carol soon enough, anyway, so let's just let them have their date."


"Good, I was in the mood for cheese fries for lunch, anyway," I said happily. I wasn't going to spy on my dad's date, and volunteering to just show up and interrupt it was a bluff. I was happy he had someone, but I was happier to just let him be happy on his own. Meeting them, seeing them together, made it a bit more real than I wanted it to think about it being right now. It would be easier with Amelia there when that happened the first time.


ConcernProtective. I smiled, dipping into the link.


"Don't take this the wrong way," Crystal said. "But how in the hell are you so skinny? You eat more than anyone I've ever met and you still have the figure of a fashion model."


I shrugged. "My whole family's like that," I answered. It feels so much nicer when Amelia says stuff like that to me, I realized. Probably because I know that she means it. With anyone else, it just made me feel somewhere between 'awkward' and 'meh, whatever'.


"Good genes, then," Crystal concluded. "I am totally jealous, now. I have to watch my diet and work out religiously to keep my figure."


"Your figure comes with boobs," I countered. "So you don't get to complain about anything."


"That sounds like too much work," Lisa dismissed. "I just get Amelia to give me a tune up once every month or so, plus a few bells and whistles to keep certain other biological inconveniences out of my life," She looked at me, and grinned her usual grin. "Whose idea do you think that bikini was?"


"Oh, you cheating bitch," Crystal groaned.


"What?" she asked, feigning shock. "You mean it doesn't count unless you luck into it by genetic accident?" Her smile grew even wider. I was beginning to picture the top of her head falling off. "Well, then, on the subject of optimal figures for genetics, here's a thought: What are the odds either of your parents brought contraceptives to their little afterparty?"


And with those words, lunch was over. Probably dinner as well.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 141


AnnoyanceDisgustSadness. I cringed. What was that? I went back to my armor and started slipping it on. I had been trying to relax, after Carol left. Yet another unequal relationship in my life, I supposed. She wanted to be my mother, now. Took her long enough. It was... I wasn't even sure. Too little, too late, really. I wasn't someone who needed a mother, anymore. Still, it was closure, and I hadn't realized how much I needed that.


"Okay, what the hell's going on over there?" I asked, once the suit was active.


"Lisa's been infested by Zach's mind, I think," Taylor responded. "She's discovered a way to torment me and your cousin and she's playing it to the hilt."


"It has to do with your parents dating, doesn't it?" I asked.


"Yeah. She found a way to dial the squick up to eleven," Taylor replied. I frowned, the armor usually was better at carrying her tone of voice. Was there something wrong with it, or something wrong with Taylor's emotions at the moment? "We're on our way home, now."


"What? So bad that it canceled your shopping?" I asked. I was more than a little disappointed.


AmusedPleased. "Don't worry, I've got a dozen new outfits. I'll show some of them off for you later. Maybe I'll even show off that bikini, now that I know you were the one that wanted me to get it so badly."


"I will build an underground pool for the base, if you do," I offered. Speaking of unequal relationships. Oh well. I honestly couldn't imagine being happier, and I was glad for the no pressure, no obligation sort of relationship we had. Or at least we had in our home lives. Being engaged to marry after we killed the last couple Endbringers was definitely an obligation. It just wasn't one between me and her. It was between us and the PR department.


"Actually, that's a really good idea anyway," Taylor agreed. "Then I can hold Lisa under until the bubbles stop."


"Or it can just be part of the gym," I suggested. "Winter's coming, you know." I had already started the process. It really didn't work, positioned where the gym was. I'd have to destroy one of the labs to do it. So I simply moved the gym. A section near the edge of the crater. Near the house that was still, in theory, where I lived. I haven't actually been there in a week, now that I think about it.


It was a bit away from our living area. That was fine, if anything it was a probably a good thing to keep it away from the main areas. A bit of work later, and I managed to put together something that I was pretty sure was about the same as the pool in Arcadia. Meanwhile, I kept talking to Taylor.


"So, what did that nightmare you forced me to accept onto the team do this time?" I asked.


"Something that would make the nightmare you forced me to accept onto the team squeal with joy," Taylor responded back. Uh oh. "She's been speculating on the possibility that Crystal and I might end up with a half sibling thanks to... a lack of precaution."


I laughed. "Oh, that'd be hilarious."


DiscouragedPlayful. "Thanks a lot," she muttered.


"Oh, don't worry," I laughed. "Sarah's safe. She had me make sure of it."


"Really?" HopeRelief. Taylor asked. "You're absolutely certain."


"Unless she had a second trigger that includes regeneration or a breaker state, or asked someone like Riley to undo it?" I qualified. "Then yes, I am absolutely certain. She was fine with the two she had, and only ever put off the surgery because she was afraid of medical complications with the whole 'is a superhero' thing. She got that taken care of like a month after I triggered. Which was a bit uncomfortable for my thirteen year old self, by the way."


RelaxedComfort. "Oh thank every god!" Taylor declared. "I'm telling Crystal right now."


"Although," I added with a smile. "It's easily reversible with my power. So don't discount adorable future siblings asking their sisters for help drawing their illustrious and peculiar family tree at some point in the future."


IrritationAmusment. "I will find a way to make you suffer for that. I am not entirely sure how, but I suspect it involves Missy, Riley, a sleepover, and approximately twenty pounds of cotton candy. Also, I'm pretty sure Lisa's scheming something extra special for ruining her joke. But we're almost home, so I'll talk to you in person soon."


"Looking forward to the fashion show," I said as I got up and left my room. She probably didn't need my help carrying the bags, but I wanted to. I passed by the lounge area, where Theo and Zach had finally abandoned their gaming. We could probably have just stuck televisions in every individual room, but Lisa said this was a better way to do it. A communal area where we could interact off the job. I suspected she just didn't want to buy all the extra televisions.


Emma was now watching the walkway from one of the couches. "Hey!" she exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Do you have a minute?"


I stopped and turned toward her. Remember, she's still a part of the team, now. Taylor didn't exactly like her, and knowing what she did to Taylor meant I didn't like her, but we owed a lot of our tech to her. It wouldn't exactly kill me to be professional. "Sure," I replied. "I'm not in a huge rush."


She jogged up to me. "Uh... Taylor, are you there?" She asked. Oh, right, my armor.


"Yes," Taylor confirmed.


"Okay, good," she smiled just a little. It was really weird seeing how she reacted to Taylor. "This is one of those things I wanted to announce to both of you at the same time. I've completed the copying device."


"Copying device?" I asked.


"You know, the one that lets you copy minds into new people?" Emma looked at me strangely and shifted into her brown state. I ignored it, we'd decided a while ago that she didn't have complete control over her forms. She usually did, in the way that people controlled their facial expressions, but it was often subconscious. As long as she didn't use her hybrid state, it wasn't anything to be alarmed by.


"Do you mean the memory transfer tech?" I asked.


She looked at me strangely. "Umm... no?" Then she hesitated. "Oh, fuck, you don't know, do you?"


"Know what?" Taylor asked. The voice through the armor sounded a lot calmer than the emotions of worry and suspicion coming through our bond.


"Maybe... maybe we should talk about this in person?" Emma offered. "Just... just the three of us? Somewhere private? Maybe secret?"


"I'll be there in a minute or two," Taylor agreed. CuriosityWorryConfusion.


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


A/N- Ah, the start of THIS arc. I like this arc.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, 142


"Come on, Emma," I said, leading us back toward my bedroom. We stopped several feet away and I forced a bubble to open inside the wall for us. It took considerably less effort to build a room there than it did to build that swimming pool. I'd have to show it to the others later. "Taylor, just go into the bedroom." We waited the few minutes before Taylor managed to get there in silence.


Taylor went along with the instructions, leaving her shopping bags on my desk before stepping into the portal I created. "Okay, so what's going on here?"


"Well, like I was saying, I got the memory device working," she said.


"So you can rescue Victoria?" I asked. HappyConcerned. I looked at Taylor. I could see the mixed emotions on her face, and I knew why. Bringing Victoria back was one of those things I had longed for. I hadn't really stopped to think about what it meant. Given what we now knew about how her aura influenced me... there were a lot of things to consider. I was still going to do it, of course, she was my sister and I would save her. What came after, however, was a far more difficult question.


"That's rather the problem," Emma looked away. "Promise not to shoot the messenger on this one? All I'm doing is telling you about something that I know that you haven't figured out. None of it's my fault. I get credit for that much, at least, right?"


I glanced at Taylor. HesitanceWorry. "Okay, that's fair," Taylor answered. I was most definitely letting her take the lead on this one. Taylor was the one with the personal connection to Emma, after all. I would let make the calls when it came to this.


"This tech only 'saves' people in the same way you save a file on a computer. We aren't restoring her to life, we're building a copy of her body and then giving it her memories. It doesn't 'rescue' anyone, it creates duplicates."


"It's not the same as the memory transfer tech we used on Noelle?" Taylor asked.


"It's the same," Emma answered. "We do not have a transfer device. I doubt such a machine even can exist. Maybe if you somehow teleported the brain out of the old body and into the new one, but that's way outside the abilities of the kind of tech we're using here. This is pretty much no different than burning a CD. When you're done, there's always three copies. One's the original, one's stored on the computer, and the last is the new CD."


ShockGuilt. "So... so when we incinerated Noelle's body original body?" I asked. "Does that mean we killed her?"


Emma nodded slightly. "If this equipment is how you cured her, then yes. The original was just as much a person as the copy. Unless Riley included a second function that wiped the original's brain when it was finished, in which case that killed her first."


I leaned against the wall and formed a place to sit. "We murdered her," I muttered. "I thought we were just destroying an empty vessel, with nothing left inside it. Not killing a human being." ConcernProtectiveness.


"I don't think Noelle would see it that way," Emma countered. "Or, at least she wouldn't complain too much about it. I guess maybe the original might have, if you asked her after the transfer. I've talked to her some, and she always seems really glad to be normal. She seemed pretty set on the idea that if it hadn't work, she'd rather be dead."


I frowned. God damn it. I'm not even saving Victoria... I'm simply creating a duplicate of her. And that wasn't even the worst part. I ordered the murder of a helpless girl. I've never killed before, unless we count Jack Slash, and even now it was difficult to consider that a murder. I injured him, fatally even, and then left him to die. But that was in combat and he was Jack Fucking Slash.


In retrospect, however, I could have easily caught him instead of killing him. So I guess I've murdered twice, now. Taylor moved over to me and nudged me over a bit so she could share the seat with me. I enlarged it. She pulled me against her and started stroking my hair. It was wonderful as always, but I wasn't in a mood to appreciate it.


"Are the copies still the same person?" I asked, after pulling away from my resting position on Taylor's shoulder.


Emma shrugged. "Maybe you should ask a philosopher or theologian that question. I'm probably not the person you should be taking advice on morality and spirituality from. I can tell you that, if it's done correctly, there wouldn't be an observable way to tell the difference between the two. Assuming the bodies are copied as perfectly as the memories. The brain will be a perfect duplicate. Unless you tried something completely insane like copying onto an already active mind. That... then you'd get something incredibly messed up in the head."


"I just..." I sighed. I squeezed Taylor, just to have the comfort of someone to touch. "If we do this, will what we bring back still be my sister? I thought we were going to rescue her. Wake her up from some kind of tinkertech stasis. Not copy her like a computer file."


"I'm sorry, I thought you knew before I even started on this project," Emma answered. "I think it still counts. The mind is what makes a person, right? The brain, the memories, the thought processes? Really, it's not much different than how Zach's power works. Just a lot slower. Honestly, you should all get backups. Maybe update them every week or so. Right now... if certain members of this team die, especially the two of you... then Pantheon's pretty much fucked. And there are a lot of people who want to kill you. Two of whom are Endbringers."


I took a slow breath. "Know what? You're right. We've long since graduated past ethical dilemmas. We are dealing with omnicidal parasites." UnderstandingAgreement. I stood, and Taylor stood beside me. "We're doing it. We'll keep the clone thing a secret. Keep calling it a memory transfer device." ReliefCertainty. Taylor held me tighter. "We'll restore Victoria, and I'll have a copy of myself made."


"You already have the one copy we're studying to break Taboo," Emma pointed out. "I guess this is a big enough deal to have a newer save file made That way we won't have to go through this again with your copy if something happens."


"Yeah, kind of a big deal," I agreed. "But let's not sugar coat this. If a copy's awakened, it means I'm dead. Having a really good replacement doesn't change that. It means Pantheon can survive, and that's more important than our individual lives, but I would still be dead."


Emma smiled, if a bit hesitantly. "Okay. I was afraid you'd take this a lot worse than you did, honestly."


"Like I said," my smile probably wasn't any happier. "We're facing the extinction of our entire species. We can't afford to be picky." CertaintySupport.


Emma glanced over at Taylor. "Umm, can I talk to you about something? Alone?"


"Is it important?" Taylor asked. SuspicionAnnoyance.


"Not the way this was important," Emma admitted. "But it's important to me. I'll call in whatever credit telling you about this earned me, if that helps."


ReluctanceTolerance. Taylor gripped my hand. "Okay," she agreed. "But if you can say it to me, you can say it in front of Amelia."


Emma looked at me, then at where our hands were entwined. "Okay," she agreed. "That's fair. I was... I wanted to apologize. For everything I've done."


"You've done that already," Taylor grumbled, gripping my hand just a little too tight.


"I know," Emma agreed. "But this time... remember when I said you were acting like the old you? I meant it. And I've been thinking about it. And watching how Missy and Riley are. The way they get along. They're just..." Emma trailed off. And Taylor didn't speak, either.


"They are pretty adorable," I volunteered after an uncomfortable minute or so. If just to prompt one of them to speak up.


"Yeah, they're like sisters." Emma agreed with me, before looking back over to Taylor. "I've been paying a lot of attention to that. And it's brought back a lot of memories. How I used to have a friend like that. You're becoming the girl I remember. The one I used to be best friends with, someone I was closer to than I ever was my own family. I want that relationship again, Taylor. I want to be who I was then. Back before everything that happened."


AngerResistanceIncredulity. I gritted my teeth against the wash of emotion, and then I pushed back. Focusing on the same nostalgia and longing she had used on me just this morning. She froze for a second, losing her grip on my hand. She looked over at me, and I looked back. She paused, and then she relented, letting go of her anger, if only just enough to get the message. I could almost hear her thinking about just how ironic this was. It was my will that won this time, as the hatred splintered and dissolved in the sea of other concepts and emotions.


Taylor smiled at me. She knew the truth: that wouldn't have worked if the feelings weren't there to begin with. At best, we could mute or encourage. We couldn't create what did not actually exist. Kinda like our failed attempt at physical intimacy. Taylor looked back at Emma. Who was waiting with a nervously hopeful smile. "No," she finally said, with a soft certainty in her voice.


What? I hadn't expected that, not with Taylor's current emotional state. Emma's face showed her devastation. "I... I understand. It was too much to ask for, I'm sorry for bothering you." She turned to leave, only to realize there currently wasn't a door to leave from.


"We can't go back," Taylor continued, before I'd put together the concentration to open a new door. "But we can move forward."


Emma turned back to look at Taylor again.


"Holding on to the past isn't going to help either of us," my partner's hand gripped mine tight again. "I'm not who I was, and I never can be again. Neither are you. That door has been closed, and frankly it deserves to remain closed. But maybe, just maybe, who we are now, who we're going to be in the future, can be friends."


Emma was smiling broadly. I was pretty sure she'd be crying right now, if her physiology still had that ability. None of us said anything for a few seconds, and then Emma stepped forward and clung against Taylor, hugging her tightly. I should feel a bit more awkward about this, I reflected.


"Okay," Emma agreed, her voice still relatively neutral. Far more than it should have been. Another side effect of her altered biology.


Taylor looked at me. HesitationPeaceSatisfaction. She still held my hand, but her other arm moved around her former best friend's back and held her.


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

A/N- Isn't that sweet?

 

[edale]

Wow, I knew you commented that your biggest regret on missed opportunities was the ordering of the reaction chapters and the endbringer fight, but DAMN.

Lets review:
107
116
117
108
109
110
118
111
119
112
113
114
115
120

Looking at only the chapter numbers, that's the most random pattern I've ever seen (OK....second most random, I've seen Pi printed out to like 1000 decimal places).

And dear god man, don't you sleep? If I'm reading post times right you've been re-posting chapters non-stop for almost 18 hours now. I want to get to chapter 175 as much as you do, but damn, take a power-nap or something. At the very least I hope your watching a movie or something in the background to keep it from getting too monotonous.


*edit- and 3 more chapters get put up while I was typing this...

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, 143- Taylor


Emma left not long after, having extracted promises from both Amelia and I to get our backups done. We'd also have to talk to everyone else, with a rare exception or two, like Zach, who didn't really need the tech. "So, it's still early afternoon," I said. "What should we do now?"


Amelia snuggled against me. "Didn't you say something about a bikini?" she asked.


"Maybe later," I responded. "We do have stuff to worry about. As nice as it is to get closure for things, we have things to do." I kissed her on the forehead. "Thanks for that, by the way. I probably would have punched her again if you hadn't stepped in."


WarmthSafeLove. She looked up. "Oh, it's nothing you hadn't already done for me," she answered.


She really is the best thing that's ever happened to me, I thought, then smiled. Fire extinguisher included.


CuriousHappy. "What are you thinking about?" she asked, nuzzling into me. "Whatever it is, keep thinking it."


"Just about how we first met," I answered. "And then you hit me."


"Huh," AmusedSmug. "I wouldn't have thought you were into stuff like that."


I shrugged. "Totally worth it for what came later," I answered, and contemplated kissing her. Then I dropped the idea. Still not into girls. "Tell you what, let's actually get some work done today, then we'll relax this evening. You should talk to your mom and dad?" ReluctanceAmbivalence. She still doesn't view them as that. "Carol and Mark, then. Someone's going to need to convince them to exhume Victoria's body. The others who got caught in that bomb, as well. But it'll probably be easier to talk them into it if we have a proven success first."


"You're right," she agreed. "We could probably do it in secret, but it's better if we ask."


"The publicity, if it works, should also help," I added. "A way to bring back capes after an Endbringer fight is insanely huge..." I paused. If we had this last time, I thought. So many dead...


Amelia touched my face. "It wasn't your fault," she insisted. ProtectiveNurturing.


I forced a smile. "I know," I confirmed. "I'm sure I'd feel a lot worse if it was my fault."


"Okay," she agreed. "You just have this habit of taking responsibility for things completely outside your control."


"I do, don't I?" I agreed. "I'm going to go ask about that backup. Would you mind shutting down the relay network? Including the link. I'm not sure it's a good idea to have it running while they do all this, y'know." ConcernSuspicion.


"Umm, if you insist," she agreed. I quickly started going "blind" as the relays went into hibernation. Not the first time, certainly not going to be the last. We'd done before simply to allow the network to be properly rebuilt.


"Thanks," I squeezed her one last time before our empathic bond went silent. "It shouldn't take long. Go ahead and talk to Carol and Mark. Maybe arrange a time for that 'meet the parents, only for real this time' thing?"


"Alright," she agreed. And I reluctantly broke contact in order to head to the labs. In truth, it wasn't that bad being 'alone'. Every time Amelia was asleep, her presence in our bond was missing. And vice versa, even if I still had some control of my power when sleeping, it didn't convey anything intelligible for her to feel. So we were used to an hour or two each day without the other.


I went to our 'secret' passage to the lab. Or, at least, to the hidden lab section where we kept the 'big deal' stuff. The start of Eidolon's biosuit, the next generation of armor systems, Alexandria's new equipment. Rey spent more time working in our 'official' secret lab, which only existed to test run the zerglings and other combat units. I'd be working with him tomorrow, to test the new stuff.


And of course, our official lab space, used to design our team's battle armor, the generic suits, and the M7s. Frankly, they weren't seeing a lot of effort. We'd reached the point of diminishing returns on that tech. Plus we had other, more immediate concerns. At its best, it still wouldn't help us in the future battle with Scion.


I spotted Riley first, mumbling into her recording microphone. Emma, on the other hand, was currently in her yellow state and looking at the computer. I decided not to interrupt. After a couple minutes, she started typing, then spoke. "File saved: IT fifteen."


Riley looked up. "So, anything useful?"


"Yes, actually," Emma answered. "Turns out I might have a way to break you through. Although it's a weird way of doing it that doesn't explain how Amelia broke through. I don't think the Entities knew what 'sleep' was when they designed this memory wipe effect. If you actually pass out during or right after a Taboo event, you should be able to remember when you wake up. At the very least, it'll let you remember stuff that we've already discovered."


"And we already know how to identify when a Taboo is starting to influence the brain!" Riley declared. "I could probably build an implant that emulates losing consciousness. It may take a few tries, but should't be that hard to achieve. From there, it's just a matter of feeding the target mind enough legitimate Taboo data that the Passenger doesn't know what to remove anymore, like with you!"


"That's really good news," I said from my position near the door, then I started walking in. I meant it, too. "Good work, both of you. Riley, why don't you finish up for the day and go hang out with your sister. You might not get many chances to in the next few weeks."


"Why not?" Riley asked.


"You'll just have to trust me on this one," I said, smiling. "There's going to be a lot of things going on. She'll be really busy, and you'll probably be really busy. We're also pretty close to when you have to go back to school and that'll just make it even harder to find time. Plus, I know I kinda hog up most of Amelia's free time to begin with. Since I'm going to be taking time down here getting a memory backup made, you have time to go spend time with your big sister."


"Okay!" She agreed, and she gave me a quick hug. I repressed the only somewhat diminished urged to cringe. "Thank you."


I patted her now permanently black hair. Then she bolted from the lab. As far as I could tell, she did not have a 'walk' setting.


"So, why'd you really want to talk?" Emma asked.


"Figured it out that easily, huh?"


"So did Riley, even if she didn't say anything," she responded. "You tripped off her lie detection system. And probably her common sense, as well. She acts a whole lot more naive than she really is. Not that I need to tell you that."


"Yeah, probably not," I agreed. "I kinda wanted to ask you for help with something."


"It's the whole you not being gay thing, isn't it?" Emma asked. "No, it's not that obvious, but I have a near perfect sense of human biochemistry. You're not into her, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you not loving her. You got that much covered, at least."


I nodded. "Yeah," I agreed. "I do. I tried using that, before. Tried making feelings be enough. She, well, let's say she turned down my offer."


"Ouch," Emma sympathized. "I bet that was embarrassing."


"Humiliating," I confirmed.


"And now you want to try again, I take it?"


"Have for a while," I admitted. "I can't ask Riley because she's still ten."


"She's at least eleven, actually," Emma corrected. "Probably twelve, actually. Not that it makes it much better."


"Plus she's still Bonesaw," I continued. "She tried to saw open my skull. I know she's trying her best to be better, but I just can't imagine myself willingly giving her have access to my brain." The very idea of it was enough to give me nightmares.


"And you trust me with it?" Emma asked. "That's kind of a big deal."


I paused. "Hadn't thought of it like that before. But you'd have access to my backups, anyway. So, if anything, I'll have to trust you, eventually. I could ask Amelia, but..." I stopped and thought about how to say the rest of this. Emma didn't know what happened to Glory Girl, and that was not my secret to share. "She's afraid to work with brains. For a lot of reasons, at least partially due to examples set by assholes like Valefor and Heartbreaker."


"No, I totally get it," Emma confirmed "Plus the whole guilt factor of her having to rework part of your brain to make you attracted to her. I'd probably be bothered, too."


"So, can you switch me over to being gay with this tech?" I asked.


"Well, yeah, sorta," she said. "It's kinda hard to rewrite patterns entirely. Easier just to add new ones. Like, this equipment could make you left handed, or make it so you speak Spanish instead of English, thanks to Rey's tech. But it would be a lot easier just to make you ambidextrous or add a second language to what you already know."


"Okay, so you'd just make me bisexual, then?" I asked.


"We can be a little more precise than that, if you like," she offered. "How does 'heterosexual, plus one' sound to you?"


....


"I... don't feel any different," I said, as I climbed out of the chair.


"What? You were expecting maybe to be suddenly obsessed with boobs like a teenage boy?" she asked.


"Well... maybe a little?" I said. "You're right, though, that sounds stupid when it's said out loud."


"Speaking of boobs, are you sure you don't want me to give you an upgrade?"


I shrugged. "I'm fine," I said. "The only person whose attention matters seems to like my current figure just fine." I started thinking about the looks, and feelings, I got from Amelia on a regular basis. And then... well, I started thinking other thoughts.


"See, it totally worked," Emma declared.


I blushed. Hard. "Okay, yeah, it worked," I muttered. "I... I'm just gonna go, now."


"Have ~fun~!" she sang after me as I left the lab.


The whole process had taken a few hours. Apparently, adding new pathways is a pain in the ass without a specific copy already in the database. It turns out that 'wants to sleep with Amelia' was not in the database. Then there was the memory upload, which took a bit of time in its own right. Hopefully I'd want an update, soon, considering what I had planned. I went to my room to do the usual 'freshening up', complete with a shower where I spent most of my time trying really hard not to think about how the water system here works.


I put on one of the cuter new outfits, even though it was a little warm for that, especially inside our amazingly well regulated environment here in the Yggdrasil.


I palmed Amelia's door, and it opened. She and Riley were playing a card game.


"-ust because I have a good memory and basic math skills," Riley said insistently.


Amelia looked up at me and smiled. She's beautiful, I thought. It's wonderful, looking at her and being able to think that.


"Does this mean playtime's over?" Riley complained.


"Yeah," I confirmed, walking in. "I promise I'll make it up to you later, mushroom. I have something fun planned, already." It was true. Spending a couple hours getting your brain scanned left you plenty of time to think. We didn't have any clue when Riley's birthday actually was, but we could pick some time to throw her a party. I'd have to talk to Amelia and Missy about it, first, but it was going to happen.


"Okay," Riley agreed. "I was getting bored, anyway. My big sister's not very good at card games." Amelia pretended to try to smack her, and she rolled away backward, right off the bed. Half a second later, she was on her feet, and stuck her tongue out at Amelia. She was close to me, so I managed to smack the back of her head. "Hey! That's not fair!"


"We're partners," I said. "That means we're automatically on the same team no matter what."


She looked at me, and her eyes narrowed for a moment, then she smiled broadly. "I am so going to tell Theo to use that line on Missy," she declared, and With that, she stepped past me and left the room.


Amelia just looked at me, still smiling her wonderful smile.


"What?" I asked.


"You're being nice to Riley," she pointed out. "You're never nice to Riley. I mean, you're not bad to her or anything, but that might be the first time you've ever touched her without a really good reason. Or tease her, or use a nickname with her."


I shrugged. "I dunno," I said. "A lot of things are changing these days. And she is kinda my future sister-in-law or something. And, well, like you said earlier, she is kind of adorable, especially with Missy. Anyway, we can reestablish the link now, if you like."


She smiled, and closed her eyes. The relay network went up first, as always. The empathic bond was more complex and sensitive, and it took a little more time to reestablish.


"So, do you like my new outfit?" I asked after the bond was fully established. It was a full invitation for her to really look at me, and I luxuriated in her desires. More than usual, not because didn't enjoy them before, but because now I could return them. ConfusionSurpriseDesireJoy. I smiled. Didn't take her long to catch on, either.


I moved toward her and sat on the bed next to her, then ran my fingers through her hair as I drew her into a kiss. This time there was no hesitation on my part. This time, I wanted this as much as she did, and for the same reasons. Our second kiss was wonderful and set off all the fireworks they were meant to set off. JoyDesireLove. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed more passionately.


RecognitionWorry. She broke the kiss. HorrorPain. "Oh god, Taylor, what have you done? DisgustGuilt.


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


A/N- Die happiness! DIE!!!!

... Also, this was a chapter I expected me to get in trouble with the mods over at SB... it did not.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 144


PainHeartbreak. "I..." Taylor hesitated. "I know, I should have told you. I was going to, but then... and the link... and I just wanted to fix this so bad and..." she stuttered. "I wanted to want you like you want me. I was going to tell you..."


I pushed away from her. "When were you going to tell me?" I insisted.


"Umm... before the kiss," she answered, tears running down her face. "I didn't realize I'd want you so badly after. I went on impulse instead of easing into. I'm sorry."


I couldn't think straight, and she wasn't helping. Her desire was reacting with mine and... and if it went any longer, I would kiss her again. If that happened, I wasn't sure we'd be able to stop until it was far, far too late. A quick thought and I deactivated our bond. Taylor's eyes went wide. Her lip quivered. My heart broke at the sight of it.


"Why?" She asked.


"Because we can't talk like this," I answered. "Taylor, that would have still been after you got the changes, not before. What were you thinking?"


"You would have tried to stop me," she pleaded. "I couldn't keep hurting you like that. I love you!"


"I know! I love you, too!" I exclaimed. "God, we both knew that. There wasn't even the possibility of doubt. We can't even hide it when Zach makes a stupid joke that we actually find funny! How could I possibly not know your feelings for me?"


"I wanted to be able to say it myself," she insisted. " I didn't want it to be the empathic link. I wanted it..."


I buried my face in my hands. "Fuck. Why didn't you listen to me? I told you I was happy with our relationship how it was. I didn't need you to do this. I didn't want you to do this."


"But you did!" Taylor insisted, moving to try to touch me. I pulled back further. The temptation was still far too great. "I could feel it. Every time you looked at me. Every time we touched. I know you would never ask me to do this, but you do want more. And I... I wanted to want more. I've wanted that for a while." She was shaking, and even without the usual bond, there was still the glimmer of emotions from the rest of the network.


"No, Taylor," I sighed. "That's just what I desired. I wanted what we had. I wanted someone I could trust. Someone I could..." I trailed off. I don't even know what I want. I took a deep breath. "I wanted something safe."


She blinked. "Safe?"


"Yeah," and now that I'd said it out loud, I started to put together my feelings. "I want love. I want intimacy. I even want romance. I'm a human being, of course I want all of that. But I don't want to do more. I was perfectly happy with what we already had. Maybe I wouldn't be happy like that forever, but I was happy for now. And I thought you were happy, too. Weren't you?"


"I was," Taylor admitted. "I am. Why didn't you tell me?"


"Which part?" I asked. "I didn't know I had to tell you not to surgically modify yourself for me. I'm sorry, Taylor, I didn't think that was ever going to be an issue in my life. Why'd you even have... why now? Why not wait?"


"Victoria," she answered.


I froze. "What?"


"I'm part of the same link you are," she elaborated. "I know about your feelings for Victoria. Aura or no aura, I know you still have feelings for her. Ones that are more than just sisterly. I'm not sure you even know about them, but I do."


"God, Taylor," I groaned. "You're just not happy unless you're sacrificing yourself for a cause, are you?"


"No!" she shouted, again moving toward me. "No. That's not why."


"Then why?" I pleaded. "Why would you do this?"


"I..." she paused, then whispered. "I was afraid of losing you."


My heart jumped, and I struggled for something to say.


"I was afraid that you'd want her... and then... then you'd stop wanting me," she looked away.


My stomach clenched. "No!" I moved toward her and pulled her into a hug. I restored the link. I need her to know I mean this. ReliefJoyGrief. "Taylor. Taylor, please listen to me. I don't want Victoria. My desire for her is artificial. The result of a fucked up power that got to me at a vulnerable time. I'm over the addiction part of it. I'll get over the rest. And if I can't do it naturally, then I'll start considering something artificial. Rapture's an expert on this stuff, we can talk to her. I'm pretty sure, whatever she says, it won't be 'sleep with some other girl'."


Taylor smiled slyly. "Are you sure about that? She's dating Rey for a reason."


"Well, not as sure as I was a moment ago," I relented. "But the point remains. I was happy with what we had. I didn't want you to... to do this... it's what Victoria did to me on accident. It's what I did to her on purpose. It's not right."


GuiltHopePride. "It's not the same," she insisted. "I chose this. I have the right to do this. I wanted to. I've wanted to for... for weeks now. I was hoping for it to come naturally. That the time we spent with each other, the closeness, would make the physical desires happen."


"And it didn't," I finished. I knew it didn't. I'd spent enough time feeling for it, yearning for the moment she looked at me like I looked at her. Now I had it, and I couldn't even enjoy it. It was tainted. It was nothing but a lie. A reminder of every mistake I've ever made.


HesitationResolve. "I was willing to give it time," she insisted. "A few more weeks. Months. I could wait to see if it would evolve naturally. Maybe do something more gradual with the brain tech. But Victoria meant we... I didn't have that kind of time, anymore. It was a problem. I fixed it."


"You made it worse, Taylor," I said, and the words burned inside me. "Minerva was right. It's the link." FearAbandonmentLoss. "It's always been the link, hasn't it? Without it, you never would have felt the need to be attracted to me. We would have been friends. You could have found a nice boyfriend. I could have found a nice girlfriend, if it turned out that's still what I was still into. Instead... instead we got this. This isn't healthy."


"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," Taylor insisted. DesperationPanic. "I can undo this modification if you want me to. Or you can. It's not like it's a complete rewrite. It didn't make me attracted to girls. Just you. It's not even the only thing I did. I got Rey's medical package as well. I asked for it because it's helpful. You can't say it's not! You don't feel guilty over that, right? It's the same as this. Six years of med school in two hours is a whole lot bigger than a small tweak to who or what I'm attracted to!" Her face and our bond was awash with her fear.


I closed my eyes. "No, that doesn't help," I sighed, fighting back the tears even as I started unmaking our bond. I have to do this. I located the relays, and altered them so they no longer reacted to my power unless I needed them to. The bond isn't healthy. It's doing to Taylor what Victoria did to me. I have to end it. I reached into the bracer and slowly shut it down. For her sake. Abrupt cutoffs were always a bit jarring. "This arrangement was always mutual. The moment either one of us decided we didn't want it, it was over. No questions, no arguments. That was the promise, remember?"

LossFailureAlone. "I remember," she choked out, just before the last part of the bond was deactivated permanently. I watched through tears as she stood and walked toward the door. The portal opened when she pressed her hand on other door.


"I love you," I managed to say. She paused for a second, but didn't say anything or look back before she walked out.


I curled up and started to cry. It wasn't the first time we went without our link for a length of time. It wasn't the first time Taylor stayed at home, instead of here. But this was the first day since our bond was formed that I was alone.


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


A/N- The author of this story is a horrible person who hates happiness.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 145- Zach


The thing about not being able to sleep is that it results in a lot of free time. A whole fucking lot of free time. I could probably do something productive, like studying, or planning combat strategies, or learning a new language. Maybe I could become a painter or write the next great American novel. Although considering the sum total of my art skills amounted to 'stick figure pornography', and my writing skills were even worse, it was probably for the best that I didn't. Instead, I was just bored out of my mind.


I paced along the halls of the magic treehouse. Everyone who didn't live here had gone home. The rest of us that did were all asleep. Unless Emma was in the labs, which would only add another reason for me to not go down there alone. Or with anyone else, if I could help it.


I was sick of the internet, impossibly enough. New Delhi was the only thing anyone ever wanted to talk about. Even the friends I had that didn't know I was a cape were still obsessed over it. I, on the other hand, wanted to talk about anything and everything else. Being flash boiled several times a second is not something anyone wants to think about. I didn't want to think about it when it was happening, either. The whole time I tried to imagine how cool my second trigger might turn out. Maybe I'd be able to bring back people who had died a while ago, instead of just the little bit of 'memory space' I currently had.


There are weirder powers out there by far, right?


Even thinking about Emma was better. If anything, the scifi geek in me thought her new transformed states made her even more hot, and she was a 'ten' before. But, no. Taylor may have 'forgiven' her, for whatever political reason she had, but that didn't apply to me. She tormented another human being for her own sick pleasure. There weren't many things out there that I couldn't accept. Fuck, I spend more time hanging out with fucking Bonesaw than I did with my own sister, back before. And... what Emma did... there was no forgiveness.


I went down to the workout room. I had a custom set of training weights. If we were being honest, it was more like a modern version of being drawn and quartered. I gripped the vines and pulled. They pulled back, and I kept pulling. They wouldn't let go. I disintegrated, if I had to guess, it was a tendon pulling. Another go, this time with the new starting resistance being what tripped my regeneration last time.


I focused on holding my body together as long as possible under the strain, and failed after about three seconds. If this were my 'official' workout, it would be timed, but right now I just needed to take my mind off everything.


Another respawn. I gritted my teeth and grabbed the vines yet again. The strange combination of burning and numbness from my renewals was as familiar as always, and with it the memories. I probably imagined the screams I heard in that scouring light. Some trick of the air being so hot that it caught fire. I don't know. I didn't imagine the aftermath. The numbers of capes tough enough to survive the explosion, who still died. Sinking into molten tar that used to be roads. Struggling to find somewhere safe. Dying slowly of suffocation in the unbreathable smoke.


I tore my thoughts away from that line yet again.


More pleasant memories. I insisted to myself. Like Crystal agreeing to that date. That was worth a happy thought. She was a real beauty, after all. Smart, too. And smart enough to catch me in my bullshit. Bullshit I even convinced myself was real, sometimes. A man could do an awful lot worse for himself than that. Of course, I have to wait five years for it, I added unhappily. Shoulda tried for three. Eighteen and twenty two is cool, right?


I got out of my makeshift torture-workout device and wandered the halls yet again. Huh, since when did we have this tunnel? I followed it, and quickly realized this was the furthest away from the 'main building' that any of our underground rooms had gone. That I knew about, at least.


"Oh wow," I said when I saw the room. I meant it, too. The central area of the room contained a massive swimming pool. The pool itself was bottom lit by a soft blue glow, while the area around was bathed in a green light. It was warmer than most of the rest of the base, a warmth coming from the water in the center. The smell was slightly sweet, almost like honeysuckle. "The dead could get laid if they brought their date here."


"Okay, I don't even want to know where you got that analogy," a voice spoke from below the waves. I walked to the edge and looked down. No wonder I hadn't seen her. It was Amelia, in her armor. I could barely tell her apart from the floor even now that I was looking.


"Sorry," I said. "Didn't know anyone was here. I was just saying this place is gorgeous. Very romantic."


"Thanks," Amelia sighed. She sounded miserable.


"So, what's going on?" I asked. "Did I just interrupt something? Like, say, a warm up before Taylor gets here?"


"What?" She asked, sounding confused. I waited for her to get the joke. "No!"


At least she doesn't sound as miserable, I thought. Shock isn't quite laughter, but it's better than self pity.


"Okay," I agreed. Ice broke, NOW ask the heavy questions. "So what's the story?"


"Nothing," she answered. Doesn't sound like nothing to me.


"Practicing holding your breath?" I guessed. "I'm sure Taylor will appreciate it."


She started sobbing. Oh fuck, that's not suppose to happen. "No," she answered. "I doubt Taylor's ever going to 'appreciate' anything from me from now on."


"Want to come up here to talk about it?" I asked.


"No," she answered.


"Guess I'm coming down there then," I dropped into the water before she had a chance to refuse like I knew she would. I sank the thirty feet or so to the bottom and sat next to her. She looked at me.


"Wow, this pool is really deep," I told her. I doubted she could understand words, just 'blub blub' or something. Then I started to take a breath, which tripped my restoration as expected. A burning sensation radiated from my lungs and I appeared at the top of the pool, clothes dry.


What the fuck, power? You can teleport to get out of water, but you can't teleport to get away from two thousand degree infernos?


"Okay, I tried it your way. You'll have to come up here."


"Fine," she relented, standing and allowing buoyancy to take her to the top. "Taylor and I broke up." How the fuck? "Happy now?"


No, I thought. "So, you're saying she's single..." I answered.


"Zach, I swear that if you such much as finish that thought, I will find a way to make you stay dead," she growled.


There was no thought to finish. "Don't worry," I answered. "You're the one into the bony girls. Plus she seems like the type that'd be into weird date gifts like giant bug monsters and chocolate covered grasshoppers. Which, granted, would be a nice change of pace from the version she currently gives me. Is that what happened?"


"Yeah," she laughed bitterly. "You could say that."


Talk about a freakin' shot in the dark. "What happened?"


"She decided she didn't find me attractive," Amelia confessed.


"Then she is a lousy judge of female flesh," I offered the roundabout compliment.


"She probably should be, since she's straight," Amelia defended her girlfriend. "Or was straight. Apparently she decided that was a 'problem' and 'fixed' it. Fucking brain surgery. Most romantic gift in the fucking world."


I paused, trying to find a way to say 'you're a moron' to my boss, and one of the few people whose power I was honestly afraid of. I settled on one word. The only word in the world that could truly convey my reaction. "Huh."


"Such words of wisdom could only come from you," Amelia muttered.


"Doesn't your dad have depression issues?" I asked.


She hesitated. "Not comfortable discussing my family with you," she replied.


"Fair," I granted. "Well, a lot of people have that problem. Some of them take medications for it. So they can spend time with their children, or their spouse, or simply function to go to work. This doesn't sound any different than that to me. Except, y'know, cheaper, safer, and better in every possible way."


"I didn't want her to change herself for me!" Amelia shouted. "She at least should have asked me about this."


"You're not suppose to want her to change herself," I answered. "But she's going to. That's what relationships are. You changing yourself for others. Not because they want you to, but because you want to for them. Like last week when I kept Theo up late and Missy wanted to hang out in the morning. He did what she wanted, didn't even tell her he was tired. He did it because he wanted to, and that makes him a good guy. If Missy had known, she'd probably have told him to get his sleep. If he wanted to sleep and she insisted he get up, that would have made her a bitch."


"There's a big difference between that, and what Taylor did."


"Okay," I granted. "Then let's look at the other extreme. Riley. You know, your little sister. You can't tell me the gap between 'gay' and 'straight' is somehow less huge than the gap between 'Bonesaw' and 'everyone that doesn't belong in a cage or a casket'. She's working so hard to change herself, and she's doing it to make you happy. And Missy, but still mostly you. Yes, it's a good thing she is changing. The entire sane world would back me on this. But it's still her changing for you. Hell, you threatened me with death for making a bad joke, like, a minute ago. That'd be me changing for you. If, y'know, it worked."


"That's not the same thing at all!" Amelia insisted. "It's just asking people to behave differently, not actually be a different person."


"Why?" I asked. "Sex isn't this big amazing magical thing that defines who we are. Koalas have figured it out, and they're going extinct because they're literally too stupid to live. I'm straight as an arrow and I'd give that tech a spin just to see what it's like, if my power would let it work. Hell, I'm kinda curious if they can implant nonhuman memories. I'd honestly love to know what it's like to be a cat. As long as they edit out the parts where it licks its own crotch. I'm pretty sure I would be happier to never learn what cat crotch tastes like."


"Your analogies are disgusting."


"But true," I insisted. "Do you have a problem with gays?"


"No, of course not."


"Do you have a problem with Taylor?"


"No."


"You love each other, right?"


"Yes," she affirmed.


"Then I say run with it," I added. "Existential crises are for old people. What you should do is find your girlfriend, drag her to this love nest you've built here, and don't let her leave until the next Endbringer battle. But not before I set up the hidden cameras."


"God damn it, Zach."


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


A/N- Zach knows less than I do about both ancient execution methods and Australian wildlife. Keep that in mind if you try to "correct" those parts.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 146- Taylor


I didn't bother going home. I wasn't in any mood to talk to my dad. I was in even less of a mood to come home to an empty house and make assumptions on where my dad was spending the night. Instead, I went to the labs. Not the secret labs, since I didn't want to interrupt Riley or Emma's work, just the normal ones. Primarily where Chariot worked, these days. His skills and abilities didn't lend themselves to the high priority task of breaking the Taboo, so he was relegated to designing improvements on our bioarmor.


"How's it going, boss?" he asked as I came down into the lab.


"Picking up habits from Rey, now?"


Chariot shrugged. "Not my fault you guys don't hang out with the nerd herd enough for us to pick up your habits. Speaking of: been talking to Kid Win, he gave me a few ideas he picked up studying Vista's power. Already upgraded Matriarch, since it's the easiest to work with. I got the specs for Azrael. By the way, Kid says thanks for his suit."


I tried to smile, a system's test might keep my mind off of Amelia. "So what's it do?"


"Short range teleporter," he answered back. He didn't notice my mood. Then again, he probably wouldn't. I was calm, or at least my body was. It had been a long time since I could truly offload into my power, force my emotions down so that I could focus on the important things. Maybe Lisa was right about the link being detrimental, I mused. I can do a lot more with my time this way.


"Very nice," I praised. It was, too.


"It's a hybrid of the shunt tech, the subspace pocket tech Kid Win uses, and some of Vista's power readings," Chariot started explaining. I knew if it kept down this road, I'd be lost in the sea of technobabble. Fortunately, Chariot was one of the few tinkers that seemed to understand that people don't want to hear that stuff. "Long story short, it teleports you up to a hundred feet. Any direction. At will. Has a charge time between teleports, however. If you need it, you can also use it to shunt between Bet and our dimension pretty cheaply."


"That... I can see how useful that would be," I agreed. I could, too. "So, what do we have to sacrifice from the armor to make it work?"


"From yours? Nothing," Chariot answered. "Your armor is about two pounds heavier, and that's the end of it. Same with the Dryad, Radiant, and Clarice. Can't put it in Singularity due to how it's designed, not that Missy needs it. Azrael and Tapestry are going to suck. I'll need Emma and Riley to help me with those."


I nodded. "Okay, work on the ones you can work on," I agreed. "I'll talk to the others. Mind if I give mine a test run?"


"Sure," he agreed. "I need some user testing of the control interface, otherwise it's in full working order. It has an anti-obstacle system in it... if you find yourself in our pocket dimension, that means it would have teleported you inside of something else in this dimension. Just move around a little and try to shunt back over after the device recharges."


"I'll be sure to relay my results," I answered as I started putting on the armor. Or letting it swallow me with its back, as the case may be. A couple minutes later, I decided he was right, this control interface needed a lot of work. It was meant to respond to the eyes looking at specific parts. Which was great, if you didn't need to look at other stuff at the same time. It took me six minute just to figure out how to get the destination locked in, and I had to do it by deliberately defocussing my eyes.


Then I was outside, well above the Yggdrasil. For a second I was falling, before the antigravity caught me. There was a bit of a moment where I almost succumbed to vertigo, but I solved that easily enough by paying more attention to the insects, and less to Taylor. The conspicuous absence of Amelia made that process both easier and more difficult. Still, it helped some. I am not alone, I thought. As long as there are people in this city, I can never be alone. Yeah, that didn't work to convince me of anything.


I bolted to the north end, almost wishing we hadn't wiped out E88. I wanted someone to punch right now. I wanted it badly. I spent four hours finding nothing. I spent my time reporting details and suggestions for interface improvements. First to Chariot, then after he decided to call it a night, his recording device. Eventually I gave up and headed home. Any other day, I would have considered four hours with no crime more serious than speeding violations, some kids smoking a few joints in the park, and a single mugging a source of pride. Today it just made me that more frustrated. I stopped the mugger with my bugs, he was too far away to get there in person in time.


Besides, there was a limit to the number of bones one could break in a purse snatcher before it was bad PR.


Sleep did not come easily that night. Dad had long ago stopped bothering to wait up for me. For that matter, he didn't even bother locking the door these days. Break-ins were practically a thing of the past. Break-ins at my home were regarded as a particularly creative form of masochism. And it had happened. One dumb kid trying to impress his friends by stealing an article of my clothes, most likely my underwear. One dumb adult looking to impress his friends by shooting me in my sleep. And two very dumb reporters, also most likely intent upon stealing my underwear.


I could use an assassination attempt right about now. I would settle for punchable reporters. Instead, I got a quiet night in a warm bed. I couldn't help but think about Amelia the whole night.


....


I didn't want to come into work the next day, I really truly didn't. I didn't want to look at Amelia. I didn't want to be reminded of what I had lost. If she didn't want to, well, be with me... that would be fine, I could live with that. But I missed her presence. Her thoughts and feelings. Having a connection with someone I could trust and knew that I could trust no matter what. And that had been taken from me. It took everything I had to remind myself that no, this was not a repeat of Emma.


Still, I showed up anyway, teleporting straight down into the labs. An act which would have set off any number of automated defenses if this armor wasn't made from Yggdrasil. Riley was here, this time.


"Oh good," she said with her usual smile. "How's the armor?"


"A little sluggish compared to usual," I informed her. "Probably needs a checkup. Either the teleporter is drawing too much power off the flight system, or that extra two pounds is really that important to the speed.


"Okay, I'll check out the specs," Riley agreed. Then she stopped smiling. "Now why is my sister sad?"


"Grown up stuff," I sighed.


"Fix it," she commanded. "Right now."


"There's nothing I can do," I replied. "This is something she has to fix for herself."


"Okay," she said, not quite sounding convinced even though I know her built in lie detection would back me up. "Lisa needs to talk to you about a couple things."


"Tell her I'm going to be busy working on the zerg instincts, today. If it's not work related, it can wait."


"It's work related," Riley answered. "Dinah says someone's going to try to assassinate Director Calvert, later. And we have our working plan on how to take down Butcher permanently."


"Really?" I smiled. The Butcher is one of the only honest threats left in New England, I knew from more than one team planning meeting. With her gone, we could afford to spend more than a day in other cities.


"Yeah, really," Riley answered. "Gotta take care of Calvert's assassins, first."


"Don't worry," I smiled. "This, I can do something about."


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


A/N- Oh, hai Skitter, been a while.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 147- Lisa


I made my final phone call for the night: Dinah Alcott. Every day, the same thing. Ever since learning that Scion was not only the source of our extinction event, but would exterminate life in *every* world, not merely our own, we'd been dedicating most of our resources solely to that concern. It made it more of a pain in the ass since Dinah couldn't see Scion, only his aftermath. Same with Eidolon, the Endbringers, and apparently the effects of the Taylor-Amelia bond. This limited her effectiveness. Right now, we had sort of taken a more general approach: we were recruiting and upgrading our forces into an army, cross referencing possible power interactions, and simply increasing our power and influence.


"Hello, Minerva," the young girl's voice said in an utterly businesslike tone. Used name immediately, wants to project illusion of omniscience. Considers her power far too precious for such wasteful display. Relying on other power. Not second trigger. New parahuman. Wouldn't allow herself to be seen as childish enough for such a thing, especially to another thinker. Using equipment. Tinker tech.


I smiled. She likely spent several thousand dollars on what amounted to a really fancy Caller ID. I considered teasing her for it, but opted to do the opposite. "Getting stronger with your powers, I see," I said, then I channeled my old way of thinking. "Seems like a waste of energy."


"Pots and kettles," she retorted. I smiled. She was right, emphasis on the 'was'.


"So, the usual starter questions," I said. I liked this question. It was free, because of just who it protected.


"Point zero nine there is a credible attempt on the life of a member of Pantheon or its priority allies in the next twenty four hours, fifty nine percent chance of a credible attempt on the life of a member of Pantheon or its priority allies in the next week."


"Fuck," I muttered. "Don't waste any energy on that question for a moment, okay? I'm going to think up the most optimal way of narrowing down the possibilities first."


"Understood," Dinah replied. Afraid. Knows she's a possible target of assassination. I popped up my computer and ran down the list. Right now our 'priority allies' included the Triumvirate, Dinah, Calvert, Accord, Epoch from the Adepts, Dragon, and Costa-Brown if she wasn't already covered. She was listed separately just in case someone manage to hack our theoretically unhackable systems.


I immediately ruled out the Triumvirate. The phrase 'credible' ruled out almost any attempt against them. Plus they had assured me they had a top tier precog of their own, who was just as blind to Scion and Endbringers as Dinah. I didn't ask about Eidolon and didn't mention Taylia. I trusted Cauldron only as far as 'enemy of our enemy', no further. To allow them to learn about Taylia would be a monumental disaster.


"Will there will be one attempt, or multiples?" I asked. That would be a way to narrow down the rest of the questions.


"Umm..." she hesitated. "Just one."


That was helpful. "Male or female?" was my follow up.


"Male," Dinah spoke with a brief hint of relief. She ruled herself out. We were down to a pretty narrow pool, most of whom were our own team. Zach's power ruled him out permanently. We knew because we had tested that, already. Apparently Zach's respawning didn't register as 'death' to Dinah's predictions. Whether because the Passenger didn't consider it death, or because Dinah's powers were tied to her own psychology in interpreting what the question was, and she didn't view it as 'dying', I couldn't yet know. "You have three questions left."


She's capable of doing up to nine a day without stress, up from seven at the beginning of her release from Coil's captivity. That's interesting. Did Coil overtax her power and thus weaken it, or is she just naturally stronger now? "Alright... is the victim a member of Pantheon?"


"No," she answered.


So we were down to Coil, Accord and Epoch. "Does the victim live in Brockton Bay?" I asked.


"Yes," Dinah responded.


"Alright, that narrows it down enough," I answered. It narrows it to exactly one, but Dinah doesn't need to know that. "We'll be sure to have our people ready for any would-be assassin."


"I'm billing you for the last two questions," she responded.


"Fair enough. Got one one more for you if you don't need it elsewhere," I sighed. What was twenty grand, anyway? She didn't contest the idea, so I went ahead. "What are the odds we can successfully engage and defeat the Butcher without losing any of our members using our latest battle plan?"


"Ninety six point three seven seven," she responded.


"That is enormously better than before," I blinked. "What happened?"


"I just give the numbers," she dismissed. "The rest is on you."


I smiled. "Thanks," I replied. "So... I was thinking... you know how we've got you under guard?"


"It's appreciated, yes," Dinah responded, sounding a bit suspicious. "What of it?"


"And you know how we've created that Pegasus for Aceso?"


"And more for a bunch of the rest of your team," she agreed.


"Want one of your own?" I offered. "No strings attached beyond the stuff we've already agreed to. It'll have the added benefit of a very visible deterrent to would-be attackers, in addition to your better hidden defenders."


"Ponies are stupid," Dinah dismissed. "Can you build me a Gryphon?"


....


Taylor was conspicuously absent when we had our morning strategy meeting. It was myself, Riley, Amelia, Crystal, and for the first time ever: Emma, who was looking for someone else at the meeting. Obviously, Taylor. Didn't even need my power for that. Maybe Zach, though that wouldn't be likely.


Amelia even managed to show up on time for a change. Tired, didn't sleep at all last night, upset, Taylor missing, fight between them. I didn't need my powers to tell me any of that. Taylia bond broken. Amelia broke it. Taylor did something that upset Amelia. Emma at meeting, looking for Taylor, not afraid of usual reaction. Reconciliation? I blinked. My power had been certain that couldn't happen. Taylia bond responsible. I hated Taylia, sometimes, but I needed to get back to figuring out what broke them up. I was on Emma, right now. Emma helping Taylor? Helped Taylor. Taylor used brain modification tech on herself. Made herself gay.


I almost facepalmed at the revelation. God damn it, Taylor. I knew my best friend had a fucking martyr complex, but seriously? Also: God damn it, Amelia! It took this to break the link? She couldn't have done it when they were both in what passed for a stable emotional state with them? She had to wait until Taylor was at her most emotionally vulnerable to figure out... fuck, of course. If they were both happy, then it meant their bond was a good thing. Ugh.


Emma looked more and more apprehensive as we got closer to 'start the meeting' time. Crystal, however, was the one that spoke up. "Umm, where's Taylor?"


"She must have slept in, she was out testing the new suit improvements," Riley offered, then she looked at Amelia. Is aware of Amelia's distress. Concerned. Indirectly fishing for information. Suspects Taylor is responsible. "We'd know if she was in danger."


Amelia simply looked at her arm, where the slightly lighter patch of her already pale skin denoted the lack of their empathic device. Oh fuck, she's going to cry, can't let that happen in front of Riley!


"We'll just let her sleep in, then," I said. "I'll talk to her later about the meeting. Right now: we have some good news and some great news."


Of course, the first thing I did was go over the news from Dinah. More or less on autopilot. Meanwhile I was watching Emma and Amelia. If Riley figured out exactly what happened, we'd be facing the worst sort of damage control. I'd need to distract her. I'd need to distract her, then I'd need to get Missy to distract her. Then I'd need to talk to Emma. Then I'd need to punch Emma. Then I'd need to talk to Amelia. Then I'd need a way to call Amelia a stupid twat without upsetting Riley. Ugh.


Crystal was glancing between me and Amelia, thinking at least some of the same thoughts. Good, she's my ally in this, I realized. It's really, really nice to have someone who's willing to help me, no questions asked.


"Y'know," Crystal muttered after I finished explaining the news. "This is possibly the only organization on the planet that considers an assassination attempt on one of our most helpful allies, followed by a straight up war with one of the most dangerous people on this continent, to be the 'good' and 'great' news."


"Better than not knowing about it until it's too late," I pointed out. "Either way, Calvert's been alerted and we are pretty much prepared for any possible attempt. Unless the Endbringers are coming out with a new and weirdly specific combat strategy."


"So, what's the deal with the Butcher?" Crystal asked. "We've never had better than a thirty percent chance to take her down before."


"New weapons, near as I can tell," I responded. "Our current strategy puts a lot of the fight on your shoulders. Radiant's update has all kinds of new tricks. You could probably solo the Teeth, if not for Butcher. But the tinkers can tell you more than I can."


Emma moved to speak up, but I interrupted her. "Riley, why don't you show Crystal her equipment? Especially the nonlethal weapons."


Emma looked like a puppy that had her favorite toy taken from her, and Riley kept glancing between me and Amelia, who had said nothing the whole meeting, but I remained firm on this one. Technically, due to the social dynamics here, Crystal still outranked me. Not that she ever felt the need to assert that status. Also, she was on my side here, even if she didn't know all the details, she knew I had a plan.


"C'mon, mushroom, I can't wait to see my new toys," Crystal smiled, putting her hand on Riley's shoulder.


One last quick look and she turned to follow Crystal to the labs. Thank you Crystal you are literally a life saver.


"Alright," I sighed once I was alone with the two girls who had left their footprints all over my best friend's psyche like craters on the moon. I ignored my jealousy. Knowing I never had, and likely never would have, such a deeply personal bond with any human being hurt. But, unlike before, I admitted to myself that it was there. Pretending otherwise was no longer an option for me. Fuck you, Rapture. Fuck you and every figure you've ever said a prayer to. "So, both of you idiots are to blame for this. Emma... why the living hell would you agree to do this? I mean, I get that you're quite literally suicidally stupid, but there has got to be a limit."


"What? She just wanted a minor tweak to go along with her other upgrades," Emma defended. "It's not a big deal. Would you prefer I told her to try closing her eyes and thinking about Johnny Depp, like Sophia always suggested during our slumber parties?"


Isn't telling the truth. Attempting to use off colored humor to ease tense situation. Not very good at it. Is not used to trying to comfort people. Using a method she learned from Zach. Still strongly... I cut off my feed. It was heading into territory that I had already figured out, and frankly didn't give a fuck about. I needed to worry about Taylor's self destructive behavior, not the bitch that made her that way in the first place.


"I've already figured that out," Amelia sighed. "I over reacted. "I'll be begging her forgiveness, just as soon as I see her again. We will see her again, right? She wouldn't do anything drastic?" She practically pleaded with me to confirm her hopes, and a little piece of my heart actually felt for the girl.


"Yes," I confirmed. "Taylor's not the sort that runs from her responsibilities."


Anything and everything else, yes, but not her responsibilities.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 148


"She's back!" I exclaimed the moment Taylor's armor touched down inside the lab. I rushed off to talk to her. I needed to see her with my own eyes. To know she's okay, to remind myself of how beautiful she was. To talk to her and apologize and hold her again.


Lisa rushed after me. "No!" she insisted. "I'll talk to her first. You'll just make it worse."


Emma trailed behind us, deciding quite wisely to keep her trap shut. I still couldn't believe she let Taylor talk her into that in the first place. Fucking bitch, if she wasn't so dumb about things I'd suspect she did it on purpose just to drive a wedge into our relationship. No, this was just the same shit she always did- find the nearest person who seemed like they knew what they were doing and latching onto them for guidance.


I opened the lab passage right before we got there. Riley was poking at Taylor's discarded armor, while Taylor was halfway up the stairs. "Oh!" she exclaimed, glancing at me, before looking back toward Lisa. Ouch. "So, Riley said something about assassination attempts and a way to beat the Butcher?"


"Uh, yeah," Lisa replied. "Someone's going after Calvert. He's been informed, of course, and we have a general idea of the anti-assassin plan. We'll know more tonight, after we compare notes and discover what kind of fight we'll be up against."


"And the Butcher?" Taylor asked.


"New weapons," Lisa replied. "Zach and Crystal are the primary fighters, with their upgraded suits. The teleportation tech seems to be the tipping point. It all hinges on Zach getting into touch range. After that, we've already won. You'll be playing tactical command, of course."


"Won't Butcher sense him before he attacks?" she asked, showing the calm passionless curiosity that I'd started to forget she possessed.


"Probably doesn't trip her combat senses to be targeted for a slap by a baseline human without a harmful power," Lisa volunteered. "We never had a way to get him into touch range before, and now we do."


"Makes sense," Taylor agreed. "Is that all?"


"We should probably talk about you and Amelia breaking up," Lisa started. "Pretty important in the whole 'team dynamics' thing."


"I'm still here, aren't I?" Taylor said darkly. "My body will adjust to the new circumstances, just like it did before, and my sleep patterns will reassert themselves. Isn't stuff like that normal for a recovering addict?"


She growled the final words.


Emma looked dumbfounded, and I had to blink hard to stop from crying. Lisa, at least, kept a cool head. "Close enough," she conceded. "Surely you can see the difference between how you are now, and what you were like this time yesterday, even. Or what you were like six months ago."


"Know what, Lisa? Fuck you," Taylor barked a short laugh. "You're right, I can see the difference. I was the happiest I'd been since my mother died. I finally had some level of peace with myself. I actually believed it was possible for someone to love me. But that wasn't good enough for you, was it? You wanted me to be miserable, mopey, easily manipulated by even the faintest glimmer of pretend kindness, Taylor. Fine, you got her. Most of her, at least. We are not friends anymore, Lisa. Not now, not ever again. We are business associates, I am your boss, and you are too good at your job for me to let petty personal issues get in the way of that."


I swallowed hard, trying to control my emotions, watching the girl I loved in this kind of pain... I didn't have anything to compare it to. Not that I could say I saw her in pain. The entire time she tore Lisa down, she said it with a level of almost bored calm that I might expect of someone reading from a dictionary. She's better at controlling her feelings now than ever before, I realized. "Taylor, please, can we talk?"


She looked at me for a long moment, her face completely impassive. "Okay," she replied. "Talk."


I struggled to find the words. I had to default to emotions. "I'm sorry," I started. "I didn't mean to hurt you like this. I love you."


For a brief moment, I thought I saw an emotion on her face. "I know," she relented. "I love you too."


"I over reacted when I found out..." I sighed. "I should have at least waited, talked instead of acting on impulse."


"I should have, too," she agreed. "Sorry about that, I knew you'd want to talk me out of it. I thought, if I did it myself, then you couldn't blame yourself for it. I didn't want that. This was something I wanted for myself, I wanted to give you what you gave me. You'd just have to accept that I made my own choice because I wanted to. That's one of the things I tend to do a lot, and you shouldn't blame yourself for my actions."


I choked up. "I know," I sobbed. "I guess I was channeling a bit of you when I shut down our bond. Doing what I thought was best for the girl I love, instead of taking the time to at least discuss it with her first."


She forced a smile. "I guess," she replied. "So, do you think it was for the best?"


"What?" I asked.


"Ending the bond," she clarified. "Do you think this, now, is better than before? If you had it to do over again, would you?"


"N-no," I admitted. "I regret it."


"I don't," she stated. "The outcome, I'd change in a heartbeat. But what I did? Allowing myself the chance to love you, physically, as well as emotionally? I don't regret that for a minute, and would do it again even if this was the only possible outcome."


I smiled, and moved to hug her. She stepped back.


"No!" she exclaimed. "Don't. I know enough about your power. I don't... I can't let you touch me. I can't let you see inside me like that."


I did start crying, then. In front of Lisa and Emma, both of whom had decided to exercise discretion about their presence here. "I can restore the link," I offered. "Let you see inside me, too? Like before."


Lisa went to say something, but Taylor raised her hand up, then spoke. "Don't worry, Lisa," she said. "It's not going to happen."


"Wh-why?" I managed to gasp.


"Because I can't trust you like that again," she answered, looking away. "I did that, once. I ignored how easily you could turn it against me. How everything you were giving me, you could take away again. I believed you wouldn't. I thought that you loved me too much to do something like that. Yet here we are. I love you, that hasn't changed, but I can't trust you. I can't give you that power over me."


I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. I simply crumpled to my knees and wept. First Victoria, and now Taylor. The only two people in my life I could remember loving, in any sense of the word, and ultimately they both ended terrified to let me touch them. I gazed up at Taylor, begging her with my eyes. She closed her own, and turned away.


"I'm sorry, Amelia," she said, at the ground. "I can't help how I feel."


I didn't answer. I couldn't find the words for it. I was still trying to figure out if this was somehow better or worse than what happened with Victoria. I thought I'd moved beyond this. I'd hoped to fix my mistakes, not repeat them. I don't know what she thought about my silence. I no longer knew what she thought about anything.


"We've used up enough time on this," she finally spoke again. "Emma, Riley's been listening in. Not sure for how long, but please find a way to keep her from doing whatever incomprehensibly horrible things she might be planning to do to me right now. At least until Amelia's recovered enough to talk her out of it. You can do that, right?"


"Y... yeah," Emma agreed.


"If anyone needs me, I'll be working with Rey on the zerglings. Someone let Theo know that after lunch, I want to see him for training. And Lisa," Taylor added as she walked away. "Why don't you go ruin the life of someone who deserves it for a change?"


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


A/N- The last arc: exploring the significance of Taylia. This arc: exploring the LACK of Taylia.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 149- Theo


My cell rang, and I answered immediately. The ringtone I had set for Missy. Even though this was the 'work' cell, and therefor it was officially 'Lachesis' making the call. "Horus speaking," I said the moment the line connected. Zach was kind enough to pause our game.


"Umm... what's going on with Amelia?" Missy started. "Clarice called me and sounded really scared and upset and doesn't know what to do to help."


"I don't know," I answered. "I didn't know there was anything going on. I'll go calm her down and find out what happened."


"Thank you," Missy said. "You're the best."


I blushed. "No I'm not."


"Yes you are," she insisted. "In fact, Clarice has charts and graphs that prove it. I'm not even making that up. There's, like, eighty of them and they cover pretty much everything. I'm not sure whether it's creepy or adorable."


"That... that certainly sounds like something she'd do," I admitted. It really did. "Okay, I'm going to find her, now."


"Okay, good luck, and keep me updated."


"I will," I promised, then turned off the phone. Neither of us were much for long goodbyes, even under normal circumstances, and especially not over our work phones. Chances were pretty good her mom took away her private cell, for whatever reason. You'd think that maybe, just maybe, 'my daughter is an Endslayer' would be enough for them to trust her to make her own decisions.


Maybe I should do what Minerva suggested and let it slip that I am, functionally, on the low end of the billionaire scale. However, the idea of doing so just did not feel right to me. Reminded me too much of my father, plus it was pathetic and tacky and even if Missy didn't think too highly of her parents, I really didn't want her to know they were... those kinds of people.


"What's up?" Zach asked as I got off the couch.


"Just running a checkup on Riley," I answered. "Seems Missy's a bit concerned."


"You're just trying to get out of the game so you don't have to be humiliated by losing," he taunted.


"Dude," I chuckled. "I was winning."


"By what standard?"


"The game's," I retorted as I headed for the labs. The only place Riley would be if she wasn't in her room. Emma had, apparently, left for the night. Riley was just staring at a blank screen.


"Hey, mushroom," I said as I walked in. One of these days, someone would need to explain to me where she got that nickname.


Riley looked at me. "Amelia's sad and I don't know what to do," she told me. I could see she'd been crying. "Missy didn't know, either."


"Just tell me what happened," I shaped a seat out of metal to sit on. It was actually far more comfortable than it sounds, more like sitting on some kind of magic water balloon than anything. Weird ass powers.


"I was playing with my Big Sis, then Taylor came in and wanted to be alone, I could tell she wanted to do... adult... things, so of course I left," Riley started explaining. I blinked. Wasn't Taylor straight? Oh well, not my business. "And then a few minutes later Taylor ran out looking angry and upset and Amelia was crying and neither of them told me what happened..." Riley sobbed.


Fuck. I put my arm around Riley and gave her a hug. "Don't worry," I told her. "This is a perfectly normal thing. It sucks, but it's normal and it's nobody's fault."


"But... whenever my old family fought, someone died," she cried into my shoulder. "I don't want anyone to die."


I frowned. Not too different than my own supposed family, actually. "The Slaughterhouse Nine probably isn't where you should take examples from. It's just a minor argument. They'll be upset for a little while, then it'll be forgotten and they'll be back to their usual selves. All couples do it."


"Will... will you ever fight with Missy like that?" she asked, clutching me tighter.


I shrugged. "Don't know," I said. "Maybe. And when we do, it'll probably be over stupid things that seem really important at the time but really aren't."


"Like what?" she asked.


"I don't know," I answered. "I didn't have a normal home life, either. Most couples fight over things like not liking their in-laws, or spending too much time at work instead of together. My parents weren't exactly 'most couples'. They fought over things like whether or not all people with different skin colors are inferior, or just most of them." I was actually surprised by the bitterness in my voice at that. I probably shouldn't have been, but I was.


"Yeah," Riley agreed. "That really is stupid."


"Right," I confirmed, then rustled her hair. "So don't worry, I'm sure the two of them will fix things up. Just give them a few days to think things through and remind themselves that their love is what's really important."


....


I walked into our trianing room, Taylor was in her basic armor, this time. She almost never wore that outfit, anymore. "Good afternoon, ma'am," I said.


She nodded. "I was thinking nonpowered combat, this time," she said. She sounded, somehow, both tired and angry. "Just the biosuits with all the augments off, for protective purposes. No sense in getting hurt unnecessarily."


"Okay," I agreed. To be fair, nonpowered training was something most of us had gotten lazy about. The augmentative armor and all the bells and whistles inside made even normal people more powerful than most parahumans. Even better for those whose powers worked through the changelings, or who have powers that can be amplified. I, unfortunately, had neither. In the meantime, I changed the settings on the armor, turning off all the settings except the compensation tech that kept the armor's weight from slowing us down.


"Ready?" Taylor asked impatiently.


"Yes," I agreed. She rushed me, and I barely managed to deflect what would have been a really painful blow without the armor. I tried to knee her in the stomach, but she jumped and rolled. She was up on her feet before I could press the advantage. This was not her usual calm and collected combat style. She turned and came in low. Even though I was an awful lot more fit than I used to be, she was faster than me. And clearly more than a little pissed. Bad judgment was something I knew I could exploit.


I let her get her hit in, and then simply fell on top of her. We may have been the same height, but I was twice her weight with plenty to spare, even if only part of it was muscle. She couldn't lift me, and I was better trained with wrestling than she was.


"Okay," she gasped. "Point for you."


I stood, letting her get to her feet as we spaced ourselves apart. "Are you sure you should be fighting right now, ma'am?" I asked. "You don't seem like yourself."


"Tell that to Lisa, next time you see her," she scoffed.


"Is that what the fight was about?" I asked. "Something Lisa said?"


"Of course you know about that," she sighed. "Why can't people just mind their business about my life?"


I looked down. "Sorry, ma'am, I try to respect your privacy, but... well, Riley was upset and I..."


"It's fine," she interrupted. "You're not the one who caused this mess. I just need to work out my frustrations physically, and you're one of the few people I can trust to not want to turn it into a conversation about my personal business."


I shrugged. "Sure, if that's what you want," I agreed. "But your physique doesn't lend itself to the whole 'berserker' thing. You're a more tactical fighter, you're just going to hurt yourself trying what you just tried."


She sighed. "Yeah, I know," she agreed. Then she took a breath and returned to her stance. "Ready for round two?"


An hour later, we were both exhausted. Her more than I, but then she'd won most of the matches. She plopped down on the mat, breathing heavily. "I'm going to ask Calvert to pick out some of his best men and women for us to run the brain scan on."


"Why?" I asked.


"We've gotten to the point where we can use the tech to upload skills," she answered. "Thanks to Rey's college skills, I'm qualified to be a doctor. Sort of. Barely."


I blinked. That was a thought and a half. "So... you're saying..."


"Six years of stressful training, granted in two hours of sitting on a couch," she answered. "We should probably work out a sort of manditory curriculum for everyone."


"Oh, that's great," I laughed. "Wish Victor was around for this. He always bragged about all his stolen skills, as if he somehow 'deserved' them or some such bullshit. Now we have a way to do the same."


"Not really stealing, though," Taylor responded. "Just copying. Does that idea... bother you?"


"No," I replied. "I think I would like having the skills of a doctor. Maybe public speaker, if you think we can get one?"


She shrugged. "Don't see why not. Glad to see you see the value of this. I'm going to bring it up for a vote next time we have a meeting. Won't make it mandatory, of course, but at the very least we should invest some time and energy into setting everything up."


I slowly climbed to my feet, hissing at the soreness in my legs and shoulders. "I'm going to go play video games for a while. Do you feel better?"


"Yes," she agreed. "Mind and body. Thanks for not prying."


"Any time, ma'am," I agreed as I walked, if a bit slowly, toward the exit. Sometimes people need to talk. And sometimes, they need someone who doesn't need them to talk.


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


A/N- Because I like Theo.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 150- Chernobog


Calvert was an almost laughably predictable man. Every night he'd leave the office at the same time, arrive home at the same time, and go to bed at the same time. This night was no different. Sure, his route was in the safest city on the planet, so almost any standard attack would fail miserably. I wasn't using a standard attack. Instead, I pressed a button, and his vehicle vanished. They'd probably spot the spacial distortion, perhaps even track it to destination after a few days. They'd never be able to determine who was responsible.


Calvert's guards were easily dispatched, if remarkably professional. Some of the PRT's best, clearly. Just not 'best' enough to beat me. Calvert himself calmly exited the vehicle, but he didn't try to fight. "Grue, I presume?" he asked to the darkness.


"You are awfully calm for someone who's going to die soon," I threatened.


"I survived Nilbog," he responded. "It had a certain impact on how I view the world. I don't doubt you can kill me. I don't even doubt you can do worse than kill me if you wanted to. Still, I am currently very much alive, and that means there's hope I get out of this."


"Hardly," I answered. I found myself incredibly unnerved. Calvert no doubt had plenty of training to resist thinkers, and that included the various cold read skills I'd picked up, but he was almost inhumanly calm. Like he was sitting safely in his office in the PRT headquarters, without a care in the world. Curious about the events transpiring, but in no way worried. I was also certain he was telling the truth about me being able to kill him: there was no secret plan in which he expected to survive by enacting.


"Ah, but I am resourceful," he smiled. "I may not be able to defeat you, but I can likely convince you that you have more to gain from my remaining alive, than by killing me. Surely, there must be a solution to suit both of us."


"And I'm suppose to trust you enough to work for you?" I growled.


"You did before, Mister Laborn," Calvert's voice shifted a bit, and I finally recognized it.


"Fuck," I mustered a laugh. "You're Coil."


"Coil, as far as I am aware, has been eliminated by Pantheon," he answered. Interestingly, that passed my lie detection as well.


"Cut the crap," I spat out. "I was just going to ask you if you were involved in the same corruption that let Piggot murder my sister. Now I guess I have to ask a different question. Did you have another choice? Could your power have saved her? Don't bother lying, I'll know."


"I have no way of knowing," he answered. "Perhaps for the next couple years, until the apocalypse. I chose, instead, to ensure the death of Jack Slash and delay that over all other priorities."


I reached for my gun, a tinkertech weapon stolen from one of my other missions. And then Coil vanished, replaced by a number of people. Pantheon.


I bathed the area in darkness, and was surprised when some of them collapsed. Gaea, Aceso, Minerva, and Khepri simply fell like rag dolls, leaving me the handful remaining. Granted, that handful include Eki, and all three of the so-called Endslayers. I tested my powers, which I promptly lost as most of them took flight, leaving the darkness. Lachesis remained behind, kneeling and shaking the fallen form of Aceso. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but they probably had some kind of closed com system.


I stepped forward, testing her power at least, and regretting it quickly. My power copying never came with the same instinctive knowledge that the actual user had, nor the skills they had perfected. I was now within a foot of her. And with a half step, she was several feet away. I could see how she flexed her power, pushing the others further away from me.


I didn't know why they collapsed... no, now that I looked, I was figuring it out. They aren't real, I realized. I don't sense skills to draw from them through Victor's power. They must have been doubles, like those M4s that the police were using. Apparently they didn't get along with my power. Interesting. I had no desire to fight my former team, or their new allies, so I retreated.


Correction: I tried to retreat. Vista's power made that difficult, although with her power siphoned off for me to use, it was far from impossible.


Then I was slammed down by a kinetic attack. The safety glass of my goggles broke as I was driven into the ground. I looked up: Eki. How did she hit me? I bolted, and she fired again, causing me to stumble. That was still absurdly accurate. Still, I felt my body adapting. The third shot didn't even slow me down. I fired back, striking her with the teal energy ray. Her forcefield canceled it. Of course it did. She survived New Delhi, this shitty gun means nothing compared to that.


Lachesis took flight, carrying Aceso. Or the body double, at least. She left my darkness, and with it I lost my access to her power. Aceso stepped away, staying in the air thanks to her armor's flight system, and the area around me warped to the point that the ground started to splinter under the stress. I hesitated for a second. Her power doesn't work on living things, I reminded myself as I ran into the mess.


Crawler's enhancements and Victor's skills served me as well as always, as I bobbed and weaved my way through the disintegrating landscape, evading stronger bursts of energy than before.


A steel cage fell toward me, despite it having been dropped well off course. It took me a second to realize it was Vista's power at work, again. I was caught behind the metal bars. This would have ended the fight, if not for Crawler's power. A grip and a tug and I tried to lift the cage off me. Only for it to remain, like trying to move the planet itself. How?


A floor of bars formed beneath, denying me even the ability to dig out.


"It's over," Eki shouted from above.


Fuck. There's nothing for me to do, now, but try to talk my way out. I dispelled my darkness. It didn't take long for the remaining body doubles to climb to their feet. Superhuman senses was one of the things I had not yet managed to pick up, beyond an ad-hoc 'people detector' using Victor's ability to sense potential skills. I could not hear what they were saying to each other, as they approached.


"B-Grue?" Khepri asked, looking at me. "What happened to you?"


"Hey, Taylor," I said, taking off the helmet. For the most part, my facial features hadn't changed. I was aware of her former feelings for me. We hadn't parted on bad terms. Maybe I could use that to influence her? Although talking to her through this proxy made it hard to read her reactions and emotions. But, then, that was true of her even in person. Lisa was here, too, and I wasn't sure just how well her power would work on me. Too much to bother lying about the most obvious stuff. "Turns out, I have a more or less permanent version of Crawler's regeneration, now."


"I meant the part where you're assassinating PRT Directors," Taylor responded, her voice cold.


"You do know he's Coil, right?" I asked. I suppressed a desire to smile when a handful of people reacted like they clearly did not know this. In fact, of the ones who were actually here in person, none of them knew. I wasn't sure about the doll users, but I was pretty certain Lisa and Taylor had to know.


"No trying to bullshit your way out of this, Brian," Lisa chided. Of course, imply I'm lying without saying it. "Where did you pick up this kind of social manipulation, anyway? That's not really your sty-" she froze. "Oh fuck. Brian, how the fuck could you?"


"What?" Taylor asked, looking over. "What did he do?"


"Remember how we couldn't find Victor?" she answered. Taylor's doll didn't show a reaction, but did her real body? I couldn't know.


"You know, I am aware those bodies are fakes," I said. "There's absolutely no reason for you to talk to each other through them, instead of wherever you're really hiding. Except for my benefit, or the benefit of the people who put themselves in real danger here."


"There was never a real danger," Minerva responded. "We knew who you were before we showed up. We just really didn't want you getting access to Gaea's power. Or mine or Khepri's or Clarice's for that matter. But especially not Gaea."


I frowned. "Good to know. So, planning to turn me over? You know I'm birdcage bound, just one show trial that the powers that be will ensure I can't win."


"You've been using people as human batteries, Brian," Minerva answered. "I don't think there's a rule you haven't broken with that."


"Nazis don't consider me a person," I countered. "They don't get to bitch when I return the sentiment."


I was, of course, watching everyone. Clotho and Atropos glanced at one another. Those two, at least, are sympathetic enough. They were also amongst the ones that reacted hardest to learning about Calvert being Coil. "Don't pretend you haven't done a few morally questionable things of your own, getting this far. Bribery, blackmail, recruiting supervillains left and right. I'm not even going to speculate on how you're the most blatantly obvious Class S threat since Nilbog, yet are being treated like heroes by the PRT, instead of on the receiving end of a kill order. Don't say 'Endslayer', we all know that's not nearly enough."


"You're not psychic, Brian," Lisa countered. "You don't even have a legitimate thinker power. You can't know anything."


"I know Armsmaster is still alive, and I know you also know," I offered. "Why are you covering that up? Blackmail to keep the wolves away from your door, I'm sure. Probably blackmailing Calvert, too. Unless he's still your boss. Fuck, Lisa. Taylor. He could have saved Aisha, and who knows how many of the rest of our team. How could you still work for him?"


"We work for no one," Taylor hissed. I was surprised that she cracked first, honestly. "We work with a lot of people. We do it to save the fucking world."


"By being as corrupt as the people who murdered your friends?" I countered. "If you need to worry about Dinah's predictions, then fine: you deal with that cataclysm. Leave me to cleanse the fucking PRT of its corruption and see to it that the world you save is still worth living in. If it makes you feel better, I won't even try to touch Coil. Attempt failed, villain escaped."


"Not how it works," Gaea stated.


"No?" I asked. "Is this a dictatorship? Do you make the decisions for everyone? If you're so sure of yourself, put it to a vote."


"A vote to what?" A young girl's voice asked. I wasn't sure who it was of the people above. Lachesis, probably.


"To decide if I'm more valuable free, perhaps?" I suggested. "That if they take me into custody, I'll talk about whatever secrets I know. Or that my crimes aren't as bad as yours, so you have no right to drag me in to be locked away and murdered. Or that maybe, just maybe, I'm the one doing the right thing and should be allowed to continue fixing the mistakes that you're too busy to fix. Call it a trial by a jury of my peers. The only one I'm ever likely to get, because you know I won't get one in an actual court of law. You won't, either, if they ever decide you've outlived your usefulness."


The three girls in front of me were silent. Likely talking to themselves in person, instead of by proxy. I could imagine the conversation. Refusing to make this democratic basically meant telling some of their most valuable members that their opinions didn't matter. Allowing the vote... well, I wasn't sure how it'd go, but I was pretty sure at least someone would side with me. A schism that I could use.


"Okay, fine," Gaea responded. "A vote. "


"Take him in," Eki answered first. "He just threatened us and promised to continue a killing spree. The Nazis can go die in a fire, for all I care. But I am not letting any more unrepetant monsters walk away."


"That's a start," Lisa stated. "Same vote, here. We can't let you go just because you were our friend. Sorry, Brian."


Taylor looked away. "I'm abstaining from the vote. Too close to this." Of course she is, I thought. She knows the way the vote's going to go, and doesn't want to split her team's leadership by going against it.


I didn't wait to hear the rest. I knew which way Gaea would vote, and with her Aceso. Even if everyone else was in my favor, and I was only confident about two of them, that'd just force it back on Taylor. She'd choose her team's stability over me. I pressed the emergency button, and was teleported back to my base. I so didn't want to demonstrate that trick. Next time, they'd be prepared for it. And they had a lot more tinkers than I did. Including one with a transportation specialty.


I sighed. Well, fuck me, then.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 151- Lisa


Our combat team waited in our side dimension, of course. No sense in jumping twice. Horus and Lachesis stood together with Clarice. While Riley was next to Amelia. Off a little ways was Clotho and Atropos, talking privately. It was a clear demarcation, and I didn't need my power to see the social structure here.


Near them stood Eki, and Taylor's changeling wearing the Matriarch. And my own changeling in the newest model of the Huntress. That was the quiet corner.


Emma, Chariot and Yum Kaash were working the hardware we'd set up to track Calvert. Really, it was a van sized staging platform full of hardware I wasn't about to try to name. A lot of it was tech that we'd traded with Dragon for. Theoretically the most advanced sensory technology that wasn't currently pointed at an Endbringer.


Taylor herself was in her old, silk costume. Fighting via proxy instead of in person. Favors left side. Recent injury. Refuses to let Amelia heal it, refuses to let Riley heal it. Would likely allow Emma, but her skills aren't good enough to do more than merely speed the process. Choosing non Yggdrasil outfit, won't trust Amelia not to 'peak' at her through its connection to the living armor systems. Doesn't want to let Amelia know she's hurt. Doesn't want anyone to know she's hurt.


I tried to ignore the lovestruck longing looks that she and Amelia gave each other when they thought no one was looking. And the occasional glance they gave me that was anything but love. They blamed me for this, and I didn't need my power to tell me that, either. Fuck, the worst part about it is they were right. I fucked up bad, here. I forgot what Taylor was like without the Taylia bond. I forgot what Amy was like, too.


I hadn't accounted for just how completely alone they were, without each other. Bundles of trust issues that were only working around it because they knew the one person they trusted most was always there as backup, so no other betrayal mattered. That safety net was gone, now, and there wasn't shit I could do to fix it.


"He made his move," Taylor spoke. Of course she'd figure it out first. "Teleportation, I think? Out of my range."


"Tracking," Chariot responded. "Got it. Almost twenty miles northwest of the city. Middle of a field somewhere. Missy has the spot on her HUD."


....


Our changelings collapsed as soon as they were hit by Grue's darkness, and we were cut off from their info feed, leaving our VR systems black.


"Fuck!" Amelia exclaimed. "This happened before, during the fight with Siberian. I forgot about it with everything else that happened!"


"Everyone get out of the darkness!" I commanded through our radio system. I couldn't be certain they heard.


"Got my bugs, though," Taylor responded. Is upset by turn of events, angry at Brian, misses him, feels betrayed yet again. "The relay function of my changeling still works, I just can't control anything. Guiding Eki's attacks."


"Lachesis got me out," Riley informed. "She's going to have Theo cage him."


....


"About this thing with Coil being Calvert," Atropos asked. "Is that true?"


"Yes," Amelia answered. "I'll share the details later... let's just say he's thoroughly under control and absolutely no danger to anyone. Ever again."


"You're skating on thin fucking ice," Atropos responded. "It better be a damn good explanation."


"A vote?" Eki asked over the communication network, interrupting that particular bomb. "Of all the assinine bullshit. If he's using Victor's power..."


Confident, hard to read due to Crawler mutations and Victor's skills, is highly familiar with Victor's power as well as Crawler's, has been using them for weeks. Has access to other powers as well. Likely the other missing members of E88. Has access to high yield energy weapon and long range teleporter. Likely access to a tinker. Keeping them imprisoned somewhere. Believes he can escape if he buys enough time. Will return to his base. "We'll go along with it," I insisted.


"What? Why?" Eki exclaimed.


"We already know he's losing the vote, and so does he," I said. "He's planning some way to escape. Chariot, can you track him?"


"Already on it," Chariot answered. "Not quite sure how to explain some of these readings. He's carrying what's basically a miniature wormhole. No idea how it's being contained or where it comes out at, but the scanners are pretty sure that's what we're looking at."


Using Crawler regularly. Using E88 member(s). "Brockton Bay," I instructed. "Likely the north end, near the park they're building around Crawler's body. That's where he's keeping his victims."


"That's crazy," Taylor replied. "How the fuck could he hide something like that from me?"


"Not all that difficult," Riley answered. "You didn't notice my spider bot."


"Because it was using corpses and garbage as camouflage!" Taylor argued. Frustrated. Less forgiving of Riley's... oddities... Is aware of the danger of upsetting the girl. Doesn't care. Welcomes it, even. Refusing medical treatment. Wants to be hurt. I almost cringed. The Taylor I remembered was never so destructive. Untrue. Emotional connection and nostalgia colored perceptions. Taylor is behaving as normal, if more confidently than before. Isn't afraid of death or suffering, but not actively seeking it, even subconsciously.


"He has some kind of tinker help," I interrupted. "Don't know who, but someone's responsible for that gun and the teleporter. And the wormhole. Scan Brockton Bay." The last sentence was a clear command, he'd need to be ordered not to by Taylor or Amelia. Neither of them did.


Meanwhile, Grue teleported.


"Got it!" Chariot shouted. "You were right, Minerva. He's on the north end, near the docks. Imputing coordinates."


"He'll run," Taylor volunteered. "We've got at most ten minutes. Gathering insects. If nothing else, I can keep him from taking others with him."


We shunted over in pairs, so half of us kept a charge to return with.


We dropped back right next to the signal. "I recognize this place," Taylor exclaimed. "We're only a block from the old place. He was right under our fucking noses the whole time." She paused for a moment. "The fuck? I can't sense the building."


"Do you mean there's no bugs?" Amelia asked.


"No, there are," she insisted. "I just... they're not noticing anything."


"He's using a technological version of Imp's power," I spoke. "You'd notice if it was simply driving the insects off or killing them. Fucking clever. Okay, we can't trust the changelings and we can't trust our coms. Eki, fly above and fire the localized EMP straight down on the building. Full power."


"Got it," she acknowledged, taking off.


"I've twisted the surrounding area," Lachesis responded. "He'll be in for one hell of a fight trying to reach us with that darkness."


The pulse of energy hit hard enough that it blinded a lot of our changeling senses for a few seconds. Nothing electronic could have survived. In fact, we were lucky this area was industrial. We wouldn't have dared use this weapon in a residential zone. As it stood, it would still be hours before the repair crews fixed the damage to the power lines. This mission had better be worth it.


"Feeding the wormhole tracking to your HUDs," Chariot stated. "It'll let all of you track him."


Darkness tried to spill out of the building, caught only inches from the door and twisted around like a tornado up into the sky.


Atropos fired a couple more times, into the inky blackness. And then it stopped. Grue dropped, holding his stomach. Regenerating, faking severity of injury. Correction: not faking, is pretty hurt. Regeneration greatly inferior to Crawler's variant. Was relying on other regeneration during Coil battle. That regeneration countered by Atropos' power. "He's still functional. Gaea, cover him."


Most of her Dryad's mass simply tore off of her and collided with Grue, followed immediately by Yggdrasil pouring out of the sewers.


"There's five others in there," Lachesis reported. "Unsure if allies or captives. Two don't appear to be moving."


"On it," Taylor said darkly. "Two in cages in the basement. Another unconscious, has been for a while judging by the... smells." Angry at condition of prisoners, angry at Grue, reminded of Dinah, reminded of how Grue refused to side with her when she wanted to help Dinah. Comparing her relationship with Amelia to her relationship with Brian. Brian is very much coming up short in this. Resentful of how she lost that relationship. "Two others, holding weapons. Small guy and big guy. One seems to be the tinker. Negotiating their surrender."


Through my equipment's enhanced hearing, there was screaming.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 152


I almost got sick when I entered the basement. We trusted dealing with Grue's accomplices to the others. Theo alone should be more than capable, the rest were just for assurances. But Taylor didn't want to let the others into the basement. She didn't even want me entering the basement. It wasn't hard to see why.


To call it a 'basement' was bullshit in and of itself. They carved a hole in the ground, pretty much literally. Rough, uneven walls shorn into the earth and then coated with some kind of shell. Possibly melted into an obsidian... I didn't know, tinker bullshit of some description, I was sure. A single extension cord brought power into the room. We had to follow the stairs down before we could really see anything. There were two separate cells that looked to be cobbled together from rebar and chicken wire.


"Who are you?" A woman asked- one of the prisoners. Her clothes looked relatively clean, and she looked in decent health at first glance. The man in the cell on the other side from her was... anything but. Staring blankly, unrecognizingly, at us.


"We're heroes," Skitter spoke, mechanically. "We beat your captors. I'm sorry we didn't know about you sooner."


"I suppose it's too much to hope for that you killed those rapist bastards?" the woman spat. I looked over at Taylor. The real her, not the changelings we were working through. She tensed at the accusation, probably deciding whether or not she believed it.


"You don't have to lie," Minerva countered. "Trust me, we know how bad this is. Rape would be the least serious crime on the list."


"What they did to Victor is rape," the woman insisted. "And Fenja..."


"Riley, back room," Taylor stated from our safe place in our alt earth. "You'll find the third captive. She appears to be comatose, I'm fairly certain it's medically induced. You'll know better than I would."


Aceso jogged toward the back.


"We'll get you out," I told the woman, stepping toward her cage. "What's your name? Are there any traps down here?" I wasn't concerned about us, but I didn't want the prisoners to be killed.


"Othala," she answered. It took me a moment to remember who that was. Had it really only been a couple months since the removal of E88? "I don't think there's any traps, but one of them was a tinker, so I can't be sure."


"No," Minerva answered. "They were confident the prisoners wouldn't escape, and had no reason to set up traps. There were defenses upstairs to protect Uber and Leet, sure, but I'm pretty sure they were disabled by Eki. Any that withstood that attack? Khepri didn't give them a chance to use."


I gripped the bars and tugged. They broke easily enough. Out of the changelings, mine was definitely the strongest. In all honesty, I doubted it could rip the bars off of an actual jail cell, but this makeshift prison was nowhere near so durable.


Minerva simply opened a rather simplistic latch on Victor's door. He was unresponsive enough that they didn't even bother putting a real lock on it. How long has he been like this?


Othala rushed into the cell and gripped her... husband? I honestly didn't know enough about them to be sure. Still, she wept for the man, in full view of us and with no reservation or shame. "Can you help him?" she begged. "You're Panacea, right? A healer?"


It's been a while since I've been a healer, I thought.


"She can't," Minerva responded. "Grue used his own power on him, right? Repeated long exposures. Your husband has left behind plenty of case studies, and the damage cannot be repaired. No known healer has been able to fix the lives he's broken in the past, and he's been put through far more exposure than most of them. There's absolutely nothing for us to do beyond putting him in a care facility somewhere. Make his life as comfortable as possible."

"The fuck are you doing?" I asked Lisa from our staging area. "Our neural regeneration tech should be able to fix him."

"At best, it would allow someone else to have his body," she responded. "That mind won't be Victor's mind. Whatever remains of him in that shell is barely above brain dead. There's nothing left to save." I closed my eyes. She has a point.


"On top of that?" Lisa continued. "Fuck them both, they're still Nazis. What Grue did to them is fucked up beyond words, but that doesn't change the fact that Victor did this exact sort of thing to others on a semi regular basis, and Othala helped murder people in front of their own families for the supposed 'crime' of not being white. I want her to be fully aware that this is an ironic hell of the highest order. They might be victims, but they're nowhere near innocent."


I frowned. I might be able to undo it. I had never tried fixing Victor's victims, due to my fear of working with brains. But she wasn't wrong: whatever I built out of what was left of his mind wouldn't be the same person. Minor repairs, especially in someone I already knew, that was one thing. This... fuck, most of our zerg have higher mental facilities than what was left of Victor.


"I'm sorry," my Dryad spoke. "We can't restore him. We... we can make sure his trial is fair. Considering his... medical condition... I can't imagine he'll be subjected to prison." Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what would even be the point?


"You're going to arrest us?!" she shouted, startling Victor. "Shhh," she cooed at the upset man who couldn't understand what was happening, beyond knowing he was confused and frightened. "After everything that psycho put us through, surely you could just let us walk away?"


Taylor spoke to us in our safe spot. "So, the question is, do we recruit her? I vote against. We can't trust her, and she's mostly a redundancy."


I flinched. Fuck, the woman might be a Nazi, but she's still fucking human, and for us to go straight to the hard sell after she's been through this? I was beginning to remember why I hated Skitter and Tattletale so much.


"Nudge her over to the Protectorate," Lisa answered. "They need her far more than we do right now. Let them deal with the headaches that come with a Nazi nurse on the payroll. Right now, her only realistic value to us is making Calvert look good."


"It won't be that bad," Skitter responded to Othala. "Things have changed drastically since you've been down here. The Protectorate will make an offer. You'll get off scott free, long as you're willing to work for them. And they'll take care of your husband for you. Maybe they'll even be able to find someone who can fix him."


"What about E88?" Othala asked.


"Dismantled entirely," Skitter answered. "In prison, dead, or so deep in hiding that I'm not sure if even they know who they are."


"Purity and Crusader have joined the Protectorate in Houston," Minerva informed us. When did that happen? "Different names, of course. Purity's pretty generic, and it turns out Crusader's power can manifest almost any kind of outfit and melee weapon for his projections. He's got this whole cowboy theme going on with lassos, now. All the others have either left the country or settled down to an under the radar lifestyle so effective that I haven't been able to track them. Either that or they got themselves dead. Can't rule that out."


"You're a healer, Othala," Skitter continued. "One of the best ones on the planet, actually. Even if we ignore everything else you can do, that makes you invaluable."


She looked back down at the unresponsive Victor. "Fuck. You can promise they'll look after him?"


"I can promise a very fair and reasonable PRT Director who would meet you halfway," I answered. "Your power's too versatile and too useful. I'd be lying if I claimed to know exactly what you'll get offered. Directors will probably argue for weeks over where to assign you." Mostly who gets the credit or the blame, depending on who you ask. "Still, one way or another, Victor's going to be at the mercy of the state. At least this way you can ensure he gets the best possible medical care."


"She'll recover," Aceso announced, exiting the back room while carrying a very tall blond covered in nothing but a blanket. "Atrophy and substandard health care will be an issue, but ultimately a minor one. She should remain sedated for now, and allowed to recover slowly in a proper facility. Nothing more than a week or two. We can speed it up to about three days."


I constructed some outfits out of Yggdrasil and had them shunted over to my Dryad. "Let's get all of you into better clothes," I offered, handing Othala the set for her and Victor. She's his wife, so we were content to let her dress him while we worked to get Fenja clothed.


Meanwhile, our real selves were still debating on how to handle our captives. Victor, of course, was useless. He'd be the carrot that kept Othala in line. We'd already agreed on testing how Fenja's enlargement power legitimately worked. She might have useful powers that may or may not prove valuable. The really interesting question was if she could use her power on, say, one of our ultralisks. We could build a literally hundred foot tall monster for Taylor to command. Bring that into the next Endbringer fight.


And now, we were on to the criminals.


"Leet's got some promise for us," Lisa was discussing with Taylor, who was dead set on not taking any of the people who had done this. It feels good to know I'm still on her side most of the time. "But, honestly, if we could, I would really like to swing a way to get him straight into Dragon's personal control. That would be the absolutely ideal outcome. Leaving the kind of goodwill this kind of favor would generate with her, I've been comparing a few things, and I'm pretty sure I know what her tinker specialty is."


"Really?" I asked. I was actually interested in this.


"I think her power lets her understand other tinkers' technology," Lisa continued. "She isn't quite perfect at reverse engineering, but with each new piece of tech she picks up, she multiplies her options. It's likely she'll eventually reach a point where she can explain tinker tech in such a way that ordinary people can understand and build or improve upon it. But that's only a 'maybe', and not what I'm concerned with. What matters is that if Emma's a grab-bag-tinker, then Dragon is a trump-tinker."


"That is broken as fuck," Taylor muttered.


Riley simply nodded in agreement.


"No wonder she's so eager to buy almost everything we offer," Chariot responded. "I thought she was being nice to us for political reasons. But if you're right, then even the junky tech can be invaluable to her, as long as it's something she's never seen before. Or even if it is something she's seen before, just done in a different way."


"Holy shit!" Emma exclaimed. "You're talking about putting her in the same room as the guy who can build practically anything that can actually exist. Christ, give them a year and she might even be able to solve the Entity problem for us."


"That is exactly what I'm hoping for."


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


A/N- Munchkining!

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 153- Taylor


Dammit, Brian. I ignored the need to cry, looking at the state of his victims. Othala was reasonably healthy, though certainly not in good shape. After a bit of time, we'd decided that the only thing that had kept Fenja and Victor alive was liberal applications of Othala's powers. Part of what made her such a powerful healer is that it was 'no cost'. Or, at least, the Passenger was footing the bill instead of the laws of nature or physics. It worked like Lung, generating the mass and energy from seemingly nowhere. Instead of like Amelia, who needed to draw resources from somewhere and put concentration into it.


With Brian and his new 'friends' disabled, we could finally arrive in person, shunting our Changelings back over. Amelia had a sort of auto system that would take them back home. Most of the group was focused on finding equipment to confiscate. Whatever they used to blind me and my bugs was... I really wanted to know how that worked, and how to overcome it. I also, honestly, didn't want Dragon to rebuild a copy to use against me. Just because I happened to like her, that didn't mean I was willing to let her have that kind of power over me.


Speaking of... I glanced over at Amelia. She's beautiful. I looked away. God damn it, the world couldn't let have just that one thing, could it?


I walked over to Emma, currently in yellow mode, who was busy examining one of the larger devices. "So, what's this one?" I asked.


She shook her head. "Seems to be their teleportation device. Kinda insane, it's going to take us weeks to figure it out."


"Sell it to Dragon?" I suggested.


"Eventually," she responded. "This thing's giving me ideas, a way to transfer power from one area to another without it having to actually travel through the space between, and I'm sure Trevor will have some of his own. He's too busy on the stable point wormhole right now."


Fucking tinkers. "Okay, keep up the good work," I responded. Emma smiled far too happily at the minor praise. My own significantly less cute and horrifying version of Bonesaw, I thought. Of course, if she starts calling me 'big sister', I'm going to stab her in the kidneys. I walked away.


Ordinarily, right now Amelia and I would be holding hands and just... discussing. It was our post combat cooldown, taking the time to let the adrenaline wear off. Right now, after seeing what happened to Victor, I would have loved such a comfort. There was nothing of him left but a shell. I once again affirmed to myself that I would rather die than for that to ever happened to me. I had to hope that, if it did, someone would be kind enough to kill me.


Meanwhile, I spied with my bugs, listening in on the other conversations. Atropos and Clotho were off in a corner, doing exactly what I would have done with Amelia. I tried hard not to be resentful that they were so happy together. I chose not to listen in on them, except to ensure they weren't too upset with us over Coil.


Theo was with Lachesis, and they had approached the mostly passive Othala. She wasn't doing anything right now but trying to comfort her husband. My heart went out to her. I couldn't even imagine what she was going through. "Hello, ma'am," Theo said to his father's former employee. "I'm... I'm sorry about what happened to Victor."


Othala paused for a second. "Theo?" she asked. "Is that you?"


"Yes, ma'am," he answered. "Please don't spread it around to anyone else. I'm Horus, in costume. A hero."


"Kaiser was beginning to suspect you would never get your powers," Othala responded. "Instead you seem to have gotten the best ones out of your family."


"My father was wrong about a lot of things," Theo answered, letting a bit of distaste into his voice. Enough to show he has an edge, without making him sound needlessly angry or unstable. I was impressed. He'll be a brilliant leader, some day.


Miss Militia arrived with the PRT, someone else that I felt sorry for. I had a hard time imagining what her life was like these days. The last remaining Protectorate member in Brockton Bay. Yes, most of the others were nearby, but she was the only one here. After Piggot and Armsmaster... well, guilt by association. She may or may not deserve it, but her career was functionally dead. They couldn't demote or fire her, but they would never place her in charge of anything important.


"Don't bother sending your guys in yet," Lisa said, intercepting Miss Militia. "We're still itemizing the tech. Leet left behind some traps. We're combing the interior to make sure everything's been disabled."


"You mean to make certain you've stripped everything of value," Miss Militia countered.


"Spoils of war," Lisa dismissed. "Private organization, we don't get a fat government budget. Don't worry, we'll be selling it to your bosses eventually, I'm certain. Wouldn't want anyone to accuse us of some kind of cover up."


She frowned. The 'spoils' system was... messy, from a legal standpoint. What was valid, what was not. Especially when it came to tinker technology, which by all rights always went to the PRT and then the claimant would simply be paid for the equipment. Much the way firearms and drugs were treated. Dead to all rights, we could not legally do what we were doing. It was also a shady area of borderline legal, so if no one told us to stop... we didn't have to stop.


"Are we going to have another custody argument about the prisoners?" Miss Militia asked, choosing a different battle. She sounded tired. Resigned, even. She would have won the spoils battle, at least in the short term. And, in the process, given the PRT access to technology that might just be able to shut down my power entirely. Instead she chose not to, knowing that she didn't have the political clout to keep what remained of her career should she piss us off. Did she feel this way when she let Piggot firebomb my friends? I wondered. I certainly hope so.


"Depends on who you want in custody," Lisa responded. "Othala, Victor and Fenja are victims, here. We didn't capture them, we rescued them after they'd been kept in captivity for weeks and used as a power supply. We won't be turning them over to your custody. However, Othala's willing to discuss the terms of her own surrender. And the possibility of joining the Protectorate. Be nice to her, and she goes home with you tonight."


God damn it, Lisa, you did that on purpose.


Miss Militia didn't respond to the comment. Considering she wasn't native to this country, she may not have gotten the joke. Then again, she dealt with Assault and Clockblocker on a regular basis, so it was just as likely that she developed a skill for ignoring that kind of thing. "The other two?"


"Victor's... well, you'll see for yourself," Lisa continued. "He's not in a condition to be making decisions for himself, and likely never will be again. Fenja's injured. We will be taking care of her until she's rehabilitated. It'll take a week at most. After that... it's really up to her to decide what comes next."


"The others, the actual criminals here. Responsible for the attack on former Director Piggot, the attempted assassination of Director Calvert, at least three other murders, kidnapping, crimes against humanity, conspiracy to commit a bunch of other crimes, and possibly treason. You should be thanking us... you were on his list, too. So was Legend, although I personally doubt he could have succeeded at that." So was Costa-Brown, aka Alexandria... that would have gone poorly for him as well. "I'm sure the prosecution will come up with a few other things to add to the list... they're all yours."


"Really?" Miss Militia sounded shocked. "No argument, no surprises?"


"Well... we do have to insist that Dragon take personal custody of Grue," she added. "His powers are... weird, now. We're not sure you have the facilities to hold him. We're not completely certain we have facilities to hold him. We had to use our Endslayers to put him down the first time."


"And he survived?"


"Well, we weren't trying to kill him," Minerva countered. "Look. He has had access to a lot of powers, and he's somehow even managed to keep the ones he got from Crawler. We don't know for certain what he can do now, and it's everything Gaea can do to keep his adaptive regeneration suppressed."


"A couple more hours of this and I won't be able to keep him unconscious anymore," Amelia confirmed. "After that, Theo might be able to hold him, if he doesn't have a power that can let him escape. If we don't have a better solution by then..." She'll have to kill him, I added mentally. I wanted to laugh and cry. One of my exes might kill the other. And then I had to chide myself. Brian and I were never an 'item' to make him an ex, and Amelia wouldn't be killing anyone. More likely, Atropos would have to kill him. Hers was the only power we could rely upon to no-sell his regenerative abilities.


Meanwhile, I was drawing my new breed of shunt capable units into the area. I was the only one here, other than Riley, who legitimately had blood on their hands. I can add more, if it means no one else has to. It's not like it really matters to me.


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


A/N- being part of my story is suffering.

Also: I use "of course" *waaaay* too much in my writing. I've been deleting a lot of those because it's fucking annoying.

Why did no one ever point that habit out to me? It's a bad one and needs to die. In a fire. Made of bees.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 154- Danny and Carol


Taylor didn't even look at me when she walked in. She was wearing her old silk costume, instead of her newer armor system, which meant she had walked home. There was a time when I would have been worried sick about her out alone at night. Coupled with how quiet she'd been the last couple days... and, for that matter, how she was coming home instead of staying at their base... I had good reason to be worried. "Hey kiddo," I started. "What are you doing home?"


"Sorry," she answered. "I know it's getting pretty late, but we didn't get finished until late. Then we had to deal with the PRT and Dragon and I'm completely exhausted."


"Usually you stay at your base, especially after one of your missions," I pointed out. "C'mon, Taylor, I'm not completely oblivious. I know I haven't really been there for you when you needed it, but I'm trying to make up for that. What's wrong? Is it a problem with Emma?" It didn't seem likely, but I didn't have a lot to go on, either. I had my problems with them working together, but I trusted Taylor when she insisted that it wasn't going to be like before. Still, this...


"No," Taylor sighed. "It's not Emma. If anything, she's been too nice. Bordering on the pathetic. Like 'I wish I were a more horrible person so I could enjoy this instead of feeling pity' type... fuck, I don't even know."


I wasn't a fan of the language, but I let it slide. Now isn't the time for that. "So, what's bothering you?"


"A lot of things," she admitted. "It's a work night, I don't want to keep you up."


It was an obvious avoidance, something I was painfully familiar with. She'd done it for years, and so had I. It was something I thought was behind us, after she joined Pantheon. She was like a different person after she and Amelia started seeing one another. A couple months ago, I would have let her behavior right now go. A couple months ago, both my daughter and I were miserable, and I didn't have Sarah giving me advice on how to deal with teenage girls.


"Okay," I agreed. "But tomorrow, we're meeting up for lunch, and we'll have that conversation."


She hesitated, probably looking for a way out of it. "I have work, too," she started. "We have a pretty big op planned for Friday morning."


"Bigger than Chicago?" I asked. It's Wednesday, now, so that only leaves one more day.


"Yeah," she agreed. "Lots bigger. This is going to make people thing Chicago was a vacation day for us."


"Then we talk right after you get back," I stated. I hated negotiating spending time with my child, it was simply depressing. She's a busy girl, I reminded myself. Important on a national level. International, even. In the last week she's spoken with the Triumvirate and most of the leaders of the PRT. Dragon. A half dozen political leaders. I tried not to focus too much on how she declared all out war with some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the world. You told Sarah she should accept that her daughter's grown up and making her own place in the world. Time to take your own advice, Danny, however much it hurts.


"I'm not sure when that'll be," Taylor answered. "Itcould take days before everything's concluded."


"Okay, but then we talk about everything," I insisted.


She shrugged. "Okay, I can do that. Just, not right now. I need to get some sleep if I want to be useful when I go to work tomorrow. Logistics are going to be a nightmare, and we have to figure out how to best distribute our people. A couple of our most valuable are also our least cooperative..." She complained as she went to her room.


I smiled to myself. Not so different from her old man, then.


...


The doorbell rang. Too late at night to be business. I checked from the window. Amy was standing there, in her armor. She rarely goes anywhere without wearing it, I'd realized. I rushed to the door and opened it.


"Hey, Carol," Amy said as I opened the door. She still doesn't call me mom, I thought for what must have been the dozenth time in the last few days. I suppose I really can't expect anything more, all considered. "Mind if I come in?"


"Of course not, sweetie," I said. Then I mentally slapped myself. 'Sweetie'? Really, Carol, that's the best you can do? "What's the problem?"


"That obvious?" she asked, smiling sadly as she stepped into the house. A fairly empty house, since Mark wasn't here right now. Hopefully Amy wouldn't notice, I really didn't feel like explaining that to her. I also didn't want her to think that I was reconciling with her out of loneliness.


"You're here, aren't you?" I pointed out.


"Yeah," she sighed. "Sorry I haven't come by sooner. Caught up in all kinds of stuff."


"It has only been a couple days since I extended the invitation," I consoled. "I honestly expected it'd take a bit longer. Maybe we might get together for dinner this weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're here. You don't have to feel bad about it." When did she go from blaming me for everything in her life to apologizing? "Now, tell me what happened?"


"Taylor broke up with me," she answered. Oh, that kind of problem. "No, that's not fair. We got into a fight over something she did. Then I did something worse. And I was the one who broke up with her. We both over reacted. I apologized the next day, and now she says she loves me, but can't trust me not to do that again. I have no idea what to do."


I hugged her. "I'm sorry," I said. "Relationships are hard to give good advice on." Made more difficult by the things you're not telling me, like what the fight was really about. "Lord knows I've proven I'm not very good at them. Are you still working together?"


"Yes," she answered.


"That's good," I tried to offer her a confident smile. "Having shared goals helps. You can keep working together, and that means you're still close. The same things that brought you together as a couple the first time can do it again."


She looked down. "I... don't think that's going to be possible. Taylor has... a lot of trust issues." Well, that's one thing I have in common with the girl. "In a way, it's amazing that she ever let me get close enough to hurt her in the first place. I doubt she'll ever make the mistake of trusting me like that a second time."


Mistake to trust her? "Amy, why-"


She kept speaking, interrupting my question. "Then we ran into her ex and he..."


Oh. Oh! This definitely isn't good. "Are you afraid they're going to get back together?"


"What? No!" Amy exclaimed. "He went full psycho. Kill order type stuff. Remember the E88 members we couldn't find? He had them chained in a makeshift prison."


I tensed, trying to force myself to not think about what happened to me so many years ago. It's in the past. They're dead. They can't hurt you anymore.


"Yeah, it's that bad," Amy confirmed. That's right, she is still in contact with me. Which means she can identify my emotions. She doesn't know why I feel so strongly. "Turns out, he has a power that lets him drain powers from other people. He was using them as batteries. He drained Victor so completely that he was pretty much a zombie. It was the stuff of fucking nightmares... I'm not even sure what part's got me most messed up right now."


What part? There's more than one? Christ. "What happened. Maybe it'll help to say it out loud."


"Part of it was how Victor and Othala were," Amy responded. "I could see how much she loved him... almost anyone could. Except Victor. He was so dead inside that he couldn't recognize who she was. Every part of their memories together are missing. It... no one should have to go through that."


I simply nodded. I didn't think much for the idea of feeling sorry for Nazis, but if there was ever time for an exception, it was now.


"Then there was Taylor..." Amy shuddered. "She acted almost like Victor did. Empty, nonresponsive. It's how her power works, when she lets it. She coordinates so many things all the time that sometimes she forgets to act like a person. Especially when she's upset. It's terrifying to see her like that, especially comparing it to him."


"That's creepy, but at least she was upset, right?" I asked. I'd run into enough power based oddities to not judge things like that. Especially when it comes to the ones with Thinker powers. "Not being good at showing your emotions isn't the same as not having them."


"No," Amy sighed. "That's just part of it. She tried to hide it from me, I think. When we had her ex in custody, there was a pretty good chance he could escape if something went wrong. He has a top tier power. Maybe not Triumvirate level, but pretty close. She brought some of our anti-Endbringer weapons to use if he managed to break free of the other restraints."


"That's pretty smart of her," I stated, but there was a sense of dread forming in my stomach.


"They're killing weapons only, Mom," Amy disclosed. "She was ready to kill him. Someone she used to love. And that's not even the worst part. The worst part is how she looked at him like she didn't even see him. The way Victor looked at Othala. The way Taylor looks at me, now."


I hugged her tight. I had no advice to give.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 155- Clotho


I woke to Lily kissing the back of my neck. "Mmm," I turned and smiled. "When did you get here?"


"I only live three doors away, you know," she laughed. That was true enough. Lily and I were trying very hard to not be 'uhaul lesbians'. Neither of us wanted to live in the base the way about half of Pantheon did, either. We didn't want that even before knowing that fucking Bonesaw lived there. I pushed that thought out of my mind; they were right, she was too damn useful to get rid of, no matter how much I hated to admit it. So, instead, we lived in the 'refugee apartments' near the northern edge. It was mostly empty, now, as people received their government aid money and houses were repaired or rebuilt. A virtual ghost town. If a building could be called that.


"You have a point," I admitted, turning toward my lover, then sitting up. I didn't bother covering myself. After all, nothing she hadn't seen before. "Give me a chance to shower and clean up before we start talking business."


"I'll join you, Lily offered, starting to shed her clothes. I didn't object.


....


"Are you sure about coming with?" she asked me, after we'd managed to get dressed. "You don't have to."


"Yeah," I confirmed. "I've been doing nothing but making costumes lately. Don't get me wrong, I love the job," except I really don't, but the money is amazing and I certainly don't hate it. "But I could use some more excitement, y'know. Chicago was such a rush. I'm looking forward to doing it again." Even if it puts me in the same team as her.


She shrugged. "Yeah, I'm feeling kinda restless, myself." I ignored everything she didn't say. I knew she left New York for a reason. It made sense that they have her lead our team for that mission, she knew the way things worked there. Now she was going back. To old friends and enemies. To those who might feel betrayed by her shift of allegiances. And of course the villains that were now our allies. I could imagine how uncomfortable that was even without thinking about what happened to New Delhi.


I should probably distract her from thinking about all that, I decided. I smiled in what I hoped was a seductive fashion. "Besides, you're going to be in charge this time. I can't wait to find out what orders you'll give me."


....


"First stop, Boston!" Lachesis announced, letting that team off. It included our heaviest and most versatile forces. The ones that were going to bring down the Butcher. I understood how important that was. We could crush the rest of the Teeth as many times as we wanted, it wouldn't make much difference if the leader still remained. Still, they were sending all our primary team leadership. They weren't exaggerating when they said Lily was going to be in charge of this, she and I were easily the eldest members, and I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to be in charge of anything.


They also weren't kidding when they said we needed help to make it work. The five of us were powerful, but we weren't unbeatable, and we were lacking in a few departments. Especially when it came to a city like New York, which had a massive number of people. It was like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.


I tried to avoid glancing at the girl beside me. The one that had spit acid in my face only a few months ago. Talking to her would achieve nothing, and she had the good sense not to try, preferring to spend her time with Lachesis and Horus. Instead of thinking about that too much, I concentrated on filling my suit with power. Not too much, I didn't want to waste the energy. Systems started lighting up as they were charged. The anti-materiel blaster was one of the team's favorite weapons. Capable of destroying almost any equipment, with no risk to anyone wearing that equipment. Every so often they'd ask me to demonstrate my power again, as they tried to invent a weapon that could imitate that effect.


What seemed like only a few footsteps later, we found ourselves at our destination. We shunted over, right into a cleared out area of Central Park. Right between the Adepts and the Protectorate. Three of each. I recognized Assault and Battery, but not the third guy. I didn't recognize either girl, or the guy from the Adepts. They didn't look terribly happy with each other. They didn't seem very happy to see us, either.


"Fancy seeing you here," a man's voice spoke from the Adepts' side of the line. Lily- Atropos, we're in costume now- turned toward him immediately, Azrael's wings fanned out and angled forward toward the speaker, in response to her body language. This is the combat stance. Coupling that suit with her power meant she could put twenty rounds a second through anything, natural or parahuman, with damn near perfect accuracy right now. This is why we keep Bonesaw alive, I realized.


"Shaman," a woman spoke, sounding less than pleased. "I suggest you shut up." She looked over to us. "Sorry about that, Pantheon."


Atropos laughed. "Don't worry about it," she insisted. "We have a... history together. So, 'Shaman', do your bosses know you named yourself after your favorite class from a tabletop RPG?"


"You bitch!" he muttered. Now that I had a chance to get a look- he wasn't that old. Probably younger than me. Maybe younger than Lily, though he was pretty tall. "But since we're on the subject of sharing personal information with strangers... here's some more: We dated for six months before she cheated on me."


I blinked. What?


"No. I dumped you and then started dating her," Lily argued back. "And you couldn't handle that, so you got her drunk and slept with her when she was too wasted to turn you down!"


"Guys!" Lachesis shouted. "This is not the time! We have more important shit to worry about. You can hash out your personal problems in private, later. I'm sure everyone here would rather work out how to deal with the Teeth."


There was a cough from the heroes' side, we all looked at the source: Assault. "I think I speak for anyone when I say that this is fascinating and I am perfectly okay with letting it c-ooof." He gripped his side where Battery elbowed him.


"You're right," Atropos said, presumably to Lachesis. "Sorry. Let's start with powersets. I already know the heroes. Shaman is a breaker that can imbue various objects with special properties. I trust he's picked up a few tricks since joining the Adepts?"


The woman nodded. "Bag of sawdust. Uses it to create shields by infusing the material and causing it to lock in place."


"I've seen him use that trick with dirt," Lily confirmed. "So what's your name and power?"


"Scry," she answered, then glanced at the others. "I'd rather not let my powers be known. I'm a thinker."


"You're amongst allies, here," Lily countered. "Need to know what you're capable of. Especially since you're the one we're relying on to give us much of our information, here. How you got it is important."


"Postcognition," she answered, after pausing for a minute. "I can look into a reflective surface and view anything it reflected for up to two weeks. Usually mirrors, but pools of water, tv screens, and windows will also work." That is kind of terrifying. "In addition, I can look into one mirror and see out of another in real time. It has a few limitations. I have to set the mirror in question, and can only keep one at a time. I've been tracking the teeth for a while. I want to see them dead. Promise me we're not going to hold back."


"Trust me, we're going all out for this one," Lily answered with an almost sadistic tone. "In fact, we're about to reveal one of our own secrets for this. You are listening in, right, Khepri?"


The voice rose up around us, a chorus of clicking and chirping to mimic human speech. "Loud and clear," it stated. I shuddered involuntarily. Giving away the fact that Khepri's range was capable of covering both Boston and New York simultaneously was a big fucking step, one of those things that potentially changes everything. I knew that, but all I could think about was how fucking creepy that disembodied voice was.


Scry cringed and Battery was scratching at her side. Almost everyone on both sides glanced around looking for the speaker. That's good, I thought. I'd feel like such a child if I was the only one freaked out by that trick of hers.


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


A/N- You can't prove any of this isn't true to canon!

And, yes, Shaman is the other Sting user. Shaker variant instead of Striker/pseudo-blaster.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 156- Zach


We had a few hotel rooms rented when we arrived in Boston, which we went to almost immediately after our meeting with the Protectorate and the Ambassadors. They'd coordinated everything with the Boston heroes and villains already, so there wasn't any real difficulty there. Simply the usual final agreements bullshit. I didn't pay much attention.


"So, what's the plan?" I asked, following Taylor into her suite. It really was a suite, too. Really fancy, two bedrooms and everything. Had to cost some good money to rent this thing, let alone three of them.


"You'd know if you put as much effort into paying attention as you did pretending to sleep during meetings," Taylor chided me. "Seriously, why do you do stuff like that? We all know you don't actually sleep, ever. You're fooling absolutely no one."


I smiled. "I wasn't pretending to sleep," I told her. "I was picturing that beautiful little love nest Amelia built for the two of you. Specifically, with the two of you already spending a romantic evening in it. Seems so sad that it's going to waste."


"You..." she paused. "Wait. Why are you in my room?"


"There were only three rooms rented. I got one, Crystal and Lisa got one, and everyone just assumed you and Amelia would get the other," I answered, flopping down on the couch. "I traded with her, so this is now our room for the night. Wow, this couch is insanely comfortable. You could make out for hours on this thing. Seriously, like world record snogging sessions could be achieved here. I'll get the camera and the stopwatch, you go get Amelia."


"Fuck me, why can't you people stay out of our business?" Taylor opted to sit in one of the chairs.


"I know it comes as a surprise to loner types like us," I said, stretching out across the luxurious piece of furniture. "But this is what having friends is like. It means you're never alone because there's always some asshole taking up space on your furniture and trying to help you get laid. Do you think the hotel will let me keep this baby? Or at least tell me where to find one of my own?"


"You remind me of someone I used to know," she said. "No, that's not a compliment. At least he had the good graces to at least not poke around in my business. In all seriousness, it's not your problem. It's not anyone's problem. Why can't you people mind your own business?"


"For real?" I asked.


"Yes, for real," Taylor insisted.


"Dunno why I'm about to tell you this... must be the couch..." I tilted my head back and sighed. "Fuck, grab your note pad and pen. This stays between us. I'm not scared of you like some other people are. I can and will make your life suck if you speak of this to anyone."


"Fine, complete confidentiality" she agreed. "Let's hear it. What gives you such a need to prod around in my life?"


I closed my eyes and compelled myself. "Her name was Erica," I started. "Six years older than me... beautiful, smart, friendly, nice to everyone... she was my sister's best friend. I don't remember a time from my childhood when I didn't know her. I loved her before I even understood what love was."


Taylor said nothing, so I continued. "Maybe I'm looking back through rose colored glasses. I dunno. She had her faults. Namely, men. She always had the worst imaginable luck with men. Starting with her sack of shit father, and that set the tone for everyone she ever dated." I started crying, though I was at an angle that kept Taylor from seeing my eyes. "The fuck nineteen and twenty year olds thought they were doing, dating a twelve year old, I don't even want to imagine."


"And her father?" Taylor asked, her voice radiating her anger.


"You mean, did he touch her? Like that?" I asked. "I don't know. I do know he hit her. And, no, there's nothing we can do about him... he didn't live through Leviathan. Neither did she."


"I'm sorry, I didn't think..."


"I do go out of my way to not let people know," I pointed out. "I can hardly blame people because I succeeded at it, right?"


"I guess..." she agreed reluctantly.


"All of that? That's the stuff I could probably live with," I continued. "I was just a child, y'know. For all my fantasies of rescuing her and running away? I know that would never have happened. What really eats at me. The part that I can't forgive myself for. I never even told her how I felt. Not once. Would things have been different if I had? If she felt the same way, it could have saved her from a lot of her god damn 'boyfriends', at least. If she'd just been with me when the Endbringer sirens went off, then she would probably still be alive today. That's the shit I could have done something about. If nothing else, at least she would have known someone cared about her. That's something she deserved, and I failed to give her."


"Wow," Taylor muttered. "I'm so sorry."


"Don't be," I insisted. "Sorry won't change a damn thing. It won't make me feel better, it won't help her at all. You want to prove this story means a damn thing to you? Then don't do what I did. You have a real chance to be happy right now. More importantly, you have a chance to make someone else happy. Take it, take it and don't you dare look back. Life's too short to do justify anything else. I don't care if you're immortal, life's still too short."


"You're right," she sighed. "You're absolutely right."


"Good," I said. "I'll go get the camera and the stopwatch. You get Amelia."


"No," she stood up. "Not tonight. We need to be up at like three in the morning. Amelia needs her sleep, and so do I. We can't afford to be anything but our best tomorrow, not against the Butcher. All the happy makeup sessions in the world won't make any fucking difference if we screw up and get ourselves dead the next day."


"I guess that's fair," I relented. "Promise me that you're serious, though. I mean right after. The rest of us take care of dropping off the captives and looking good for the press. Meanwhile, you and Amelia will run off to that grotto she made and be elbow deep in each others' pants."


"Know what?" Taylor smiled. "I'll do my absolute best to do exactly that."


"Good," I said. "And remember, it has to be the grotto. That's where I put all the hidden cameras."


Taylor shook her head slowly. "I'm going to bed. Try not to get dust all over the couch." She turned and walked to one of the bedrooms. I spent my time looking for something interesting on television.


....


Four in the morning is early for most people. It's even earlier for assholes who spend all night being psychopathic fucks. They likely didn't wake up early very often. I imagine they woke up hung over a lot. Some of them have probably woken up screaming before. I bet some of them had even done both at the same time. I really doubt any of them woke up covered in terrifying mutant bugs that inject a drug designed by the world's most powerful biotinker so that all it does is inflict pain. Today, they got to do all those things.


And I was happy to let them.


"She's been flushed out," Khepri announced over the com. "She'll be looking for us, do your thing."


"On it," I responded, trying to fly in a passable copy of Khepri's armor. I was doing a pretty poor job of it. Clearly not too awful, however, as evidenced by a spear impaling my gut. The world vanished for less than a blink of an eye, and I was restored to normal. The fake-Khepri outfit continued to fall. I teleported near Butcher, and she vanished. That we had expected. A quick activation of my suicide switch, and I had a fully charged suit once again.


"Fuck, she spotted me," I said over the com.


"Othello says she's in the building," Minerva announced. I had no idea who 'Othello' was. One of the other teams' capes, I guessed. "She's checking up on her people. She's very very pissed. She'll be back out in a moment."


"Left!" Khepri shouted, and I turned immediately. In time to catch another oversized crossbow bolt to the face.


I teleported behind her a heartbeat later. She spun and stabbed at me with another spearlike bolt. It appeared to be made of brick, somehow. I managed to touch her hand before she shoved the weapon into my stomach. I reappeared. A half second later, she also reappeared right beside me. Confused and nude. I had seen how she moved- there was no fucking way I could touch her if she didn't want me to. I'd have to make her touch me.


I said the first words that came to mind. "Nice tits."


She punched me in the face, letting me tag her again. She vanished, and I pulled her back. "No, seriously. Those can't be real." This time, she clotheslined my neck before vanishing. She didn't get far.


"Or is regeneration plus durability the parahuman wonderbra?" Butcher grabbed my mouth, lifted me off the ground and slammed my head into the roof hard enough to crack the tiles.


A second later, we had both resumed our prior positioning. "You really should trim, though," I taunted, and she broke my neck for it. She didn't even try to teleport away this time, opting instead to decapitate me with a sword she got from somewhere. "Need a machete to even find anything." A sideways slash that got both of my lungs. "Just because you're a deranged bitch." And that would be my heart. "Doesn't mean you can't take the time to shave." She kneed me hard in the crotch. I was glad that pain didn't carry over between restorations.


"What do I have to do to kill you!?" she shouted, finally getting frustrated.


"Well I dunno maybe you could bitch at me, how about that?" I suggested, at which point she attempted to use some power on me. I wasn't sure which one, it didn't work except to trip my restoration.


"Seems that's all you appear to be good for these days, huh?" Another power attack, apparently, made me respawn again. "Are you trying to use your bitch-fu on me?" I asked. She stomped into my shin, and would have shattered my leg if I didn't reform before the damage was much more than superficial.


"Bitcher, that's what they should call you," I continued my memorized rant. It was easier than being spontaneous, especially when every fucking thing she hit me with hurt like hell. Speaking of, she just kicked me in the head hard enough to crush my skull.


"Seriously, five ancient sages of bitch gathered atop the peaks of Mount Bitch to proclaim your birth," I kept going, and was rewarded with an elbow to the chest that sent me flying. I rematerialized almost twenty feet away from her. She was still tagged, however, so I just stood there. "And a hundred years later, when all the bitch stars had aligned," she teleported. I almost brought her back, when a fist punched through the back of my neck.


"You were born and made everyone's life around you a living hell," Wait... Did she just uppercut me in the ass?


"Because you are SUCH a BITCH!" She didn't attack, and I felt the teleport. I brought her back, and she vanished again, only a few feet away, however.


While I had been distracting her, Khepri's swarm had been gathering. Butcher's teleportation had limits. Mass distribution- if there was too much other stuff in in the way, she couldn't teleport into it. The sky had gone so dark that even the infravision setting on my armor couldn't see the sun.


"THERE IS NOWHERE FOR YOU TO RUN," the world around me announced. I mentally reassessed last night's claim that Taylor didn't scare me.


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


A/N- Wanna hear something REALLY depressing? "Based on a true story, used with permission."

Also. Zach gets a crowning moment of something, at least.


And THIS, ladies, gentlemen, and others... is the chapter that got me in trouble on SB. The one and only chapter that got me in trouble. Everything else was apparently cool. But this, alone, got me a one day mute.

Wanna take a stab at which line, specifically, it was?

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 157- Lachesis


"Two day vacation, huh?" I smiled. Mom is going to flip her shit over this one.


"Yup," Clarice confirmed cheerfully. "Like Chicago, only without all the adult supervision. Too bad we're not going after the entire criminal underworld this time. That was so much fun "


"Only the worst of them," was my response. This really was exciting, and Clarice's energy was infectious, even if I knew she wasn't actually real. Riley was busy with other stuff. Like breaking the Taboo. Something that would likely take a lot of time. "So, how's Trevor doing?" I asked. In spite of him being a mole, he was one of the only people who actually took the time to try to get to know me in the Wards. Him and Weld. I worried about them both, sometimes.


"He's doing great," Clarice said happily. "Still playing with that wormhole. Says he has an idea for allowing us to use our powers across dimensions without needing an actual gate. It might be what we need to go after the real target." By which she means Scion's true body.


"So who's on our team?" I asked.


"Clotho, Theo, and Atropos gets to be in charge." she pouted. She still hadn't gotten over Lily getting to take that name, when she didn't get to give it to Bella. I smiled, it really was easy to forget how young she was sometimes. "They think she's best to put in charge because she was a Ward in New York and knows the landscape better."


"Makes sense," I stated. "Probably need the senior members to deal with Butcher directly. And of course they'd want to keep me, you, and Theo on the same team since we rock the house every time we're together." I, on the other, was more worried about Lily's lack of professionalism. She reacted far too much on really dumb impulses without stopping to actually figure out the situation. There is a reason she was never put in charge of the wards despite the PRT's stupid seniority system, oh brilliant leaders.


She brightened up. "Okay, that's going to be fun, at least."


....


Hopefully Khepri's display would distract everyone from Atropos', I thought. I felt more than a little humiliated that I had to look the leaders of two separate professional teams in the eyes and admit 'yes, she is our team leader'. Maybe next time they'll just put me in charge.


"Aren't you suppose to be in Boston?" Battery asked the swarm. Smart, I thought approvingly. She was trying to discern the limits of Taylor's power. No doubt there's already a pre-approved kill order waiting for a moment like 'interstate range'. If only they knew.


"We confiscated a piece of tinker tech recently," Khepri answered. "Some sort of portable wormhole that powers can travel through. I'm carrying one, Aceso's carrying the other. Functionally, it means I have my range around her as well as where I'm at. Minus a few feet."


"I see," acknowledged Adamant, the leader of the Protectorate at this location. His powerset was mostly defensive. Lowest grade brute, plus immunity to all powers. Literally any kind of power stops where he starts. Mind control, precognition, lasers, forcefields, invulnerability, super strength, none of it worked on him. Unfortunately for him and others, that didn't include bullet fire. Or Endbringers, apparently. I wasn't sure how it would apply to my powers, or Clarice's abilities, or an 'absolute' power like Atropos or Clockblocker... but none of that was likely to come up on this job.


"We're hoping to find a way to maintain the device," Khepri continued explaining to Adamant. "But it's Leet's tech, so it's anyone's guess whether we'll ever be able to fix it when it breaks. May as well take advantage of it while it still works."


Then there was the last of the Adepts. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that Atropos didn't bother to ask her what her power was. Instead, I texted the question to Riley. She spoke via the com to all of us. "The last Adept is called Alchemy. Breaker/shaker. Anything she touches can be attuned to her, so all attacks directed at her transfer harm that object instead. She's close to indestructible thanks to this, and she can extend that durability to objects she holds. One of the survivors at New Delhi."


I saw Atropos tense, as did Clotho. She sent the information to them as well, but they're not too happy with the idea of Riley being the one that sent the information.


"Thanks for the info," Khepri said over the coms. "Horus... talk with Alchemy, maybe your powers will interact. Aceso, I want you with the Adepts as well. The rest of you go with the Protectorate. How Lachesis and Adamant interact, power wise, needs to be tested in detail before we go to battle."


They're breaking me away from the rest of my team? Fuck. I knew the reason was sound, but still... fuck.


"So what's the strategy?" Scry asked, once she had recovered from the creepy swarm voice that still caused me to shiver, despite all the times I had dealt with Taylor. I had nightmares from the times I'd fought her as Skitter.


....


The plan, it turns out, was 'the bugs go in first'. The new pepper flies. Basically just large houseflies that detonate into a cloud of capsaicin- or some tinker built chemical that did the same thing, only better. One was guaranteed to clear a room in a matter of seconds. We had about ten thousand of them. There couldn't have been so many that it was any kind of necessary, but that's what we did. I was more than a little disappointed, honestly. Why even show up if we were just going to watch Taylor and Amelia play with our toys?


I watched the bedlam through my people-sense, as they ran for cover that wouldn't be available, or tried to work their way to an exit while blinded and struggling with other blinded and desperate people. Okay, I had to admit, this is kinda fun. Then a cloud of light purple smoke. billowed out of one of their buildings.


"That's Haze," Clarice announced over the coms. "Stay above the cloud at any cost." I recalled back to our briefing. Haze's power is illusionary, not chemical. He can pick who's influenced and how, and physical barriers mean nothing.


I gave the tug, and Calysta leapt into the air, folding her wings in to maximize the antigravity. It was one hell of a weird feeling, falling upward, but we had practiced with it a lot. Theo's power rippled into existence, coating the two of us and our Pegasus in indestructible metal.


All of us took to the air with our respective abilities, except Adamant, who was immune to powers- including, presumably, Haze's. And Clarice, who was of course not an actual person to begin with.


A yellowish gunk splashed against our metal shield, and quickly slid off. More shots fired upward, forcing others to avoid the attack. Shaman extended his hand casually, and the goo targeting him dissolved into nothing. "That's Plague," he announced. "Do not let that stuff touch you, it's lethal if you're lucky."


Another from the briefing, his power ranged from Crawler-type-acid to 'cancer of the everywhere' to fast acting ebola. The one saving grace was none of his afflictions were contagious, but Shaman wasn't exaggerating. Death was what happened to the fortunate. We were pretty sure our armor systems could counter the stuff, but there was no reason to tempt fate.


"Khepri, can you guide my aim?" I asked. There was no answer. "Khepri's not responding," I announced to the group. "We're on our own, here."


Another burst of acid traveled up. Atropos dived in front of it, protecting Clotho. Her power destroyed the goo. Several more bursts traveled upward, but we all had our defenses in place. Unfortunately, we were only able to defend. Especially since we couldn't risk being inside that cloud.


I was watching the ground with my power, pulling and pushing in minor fluctuations that allowed me to locate the likely source of the attacks. Setting Singularity to its lowest attack state, I fired straight at the target. Direct hit in the gut. I... may have used my power to cheat a little, making my attack the equivalent of a point blank shot. He doubled over, in what I hoped was a lot of pain. I found myself wishing I could have used 'stage three' on that sadistic bastard.


"Plague is down," I announced. "I'm watching to make sure he doesn't get back up." I hesitated, I'm not in charge here. "Atropos?"


"What?" the older girl asked, and I felt the need to either facepalm or slap her.


"You're in charge, what are the orders?"


She hesitated. "Can you clear that fog away with your power?" she asked.


"No," I answered, ignoring the desire to point out that if I could, I already would have. "It's not really there. A function of the power. I can't bend it any more than I can bend Khepri's control radius."


"I can move in," Adamant volunteered. "All I have to do is find Haze and I can take him out."


"Okay," Atropos readily agreed. "Go with that."


I activated the private com line to Riley. "Send Aceso in with him," I instructed my friend. "He's not strong enough to go in there alone, immunity to powers be damned. Don't tell Atropos about this."


"Understood," Riley agreed. I was a little more at ease, now. She was younger than me, if only by a year and a half. She also had at least that year and a half more combat experience than I did. I could trust her to handle her own.


I felt the distortion right before a shriek came from Clotho. A six armed monster had appeared in front of her and tried to claw her with some wicked looking serrated talons. It didn't work, fortunately. Tapestry was almost as indestructible as Singularity. We could trade punches with Endbringers without much problem, so chances were pretty good there wasn't a physical attack on the planet that could hurt either of us. The monster vanished only moments later, leaving a very startled, but unharmed, Clotho.


"The fuck was that?" Atropos asked.


"Don't know, not in the briefing," I responded. I sent a video over to Riley, along with another private message. "Any clues?"


"Don't recognize it," Riley answered. "Moves like it's real, so most likely a Case 53 or shapeshifter, possibly some kind of construct. Almost certainly not an illusion or projection. I'm running it through the database. Clearly has brute and mover powers, recommend you step up to stage two."


There was a thud against Horus' defensive shell. The spider monster had attacked us, but failed miserably. It vanished.


"Oh no..." Riley muttered from the private channel neither of us had switched away from. Clarice's voice went over the standard com. "Haze isn't an illusionist!" she announced. "He's a reality changer, like Labyrinth! Everyone fall back! Retreat!"


I was about to command Calysta to move when I felt a sudden sharp pain in my chest. I looked down, and could see the blood pouring out of me, out of the destroyed portions of both Theo's power and my own armor. Huh, I didn't-

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 158- Taylor


The Butcher was surrounded by enough insects that there literally was nowhere for her to move, beyond a small bubble of space in the middle. I idly wondered if she still needed oxygen, because there simply wasn't a lot of air. If these were natural insects, they would all be dying en mass right now. And, in fact, most of them were dying, only to be held in place by the antigravity latticework put together by Chariot and Emma. Who'd have though Emma, of all people, would be one of my best allies? I smiled grimly. Fucking Tinkers.


"You can't beat me with bugs," Butcher growled at me.


"LET'S TEST THAT, SHALL WE?" was my response. A dozen shock-beetles flew in at her, along with over a thousand other similarly sized cockroaches. Who were amongst the few bugs that could survive the rapidly depleting oxygen levels. She slashed the shock-beetles out of the air with a sword made from concrete and ignored the roaches entirely. So, her combat sense is effective enough to identify which bugs are a threat, and which are not. That makes this harder.


Some of the modified hummingbird moths charged in next. They couldn't last long, but they didn't need to. Another slash, and they were destroyed. But her blade was now melting. She tossed it aside before it could reach her hand. Then bolted straight into the mass of bugs.


She didn't dive into any of the deadly ones. That would be too much to hope for. I covered her body with biting, stinging creatures in masses dense enough that they could have chewed their way through a normal human body in minutes at most. Butcher wasn't most bodies, however. Too durable for the bugs to cut through anything. I tried the eyes, next, but she was fighting with them closed. Not that surprising, it was too dark for her to see in there, anyway.


She teleported. It was less than a foot, but it was enough for every insect near her to be consumed in the explosive firestorm her power left behind. God dammit, I thought I had that covered. I rapidly plugged the holes left by her movement, no sense in giving her a chance to teleport back to the spot she just came from. I couldn't stop her, but I could make her work for it.


She coughed, now that she was free of attacking bugs. Good, the air quality is poor enough to make it a problem for her.


The bugs converged again. This time, I wasn't as interested in going for the obvious weak points. These bugs swarmed into her mouth and nose, trying to fight their way down her throat. She clamped her mouth shut and started chewing the insects, crushing and grinding them with her teeth and tongue. There was not a moment of hesitation in her actions. She bolted again, then teleported back to her starting point. I just couldn't flood the area with bugs fast enough to block her return effect.


Zach was moving to get in close, and I provided the swarm of bugs needed to keep him cloaked on his way closer to the madwoman.


She dropped and pulled a makeshift spear out of the roof, throwing it toward the boy with perfect accuracy to strike his heart. "Bugs don't block her ability to sense blood and veins," I noted aloud to the team, through their armor. It wasn't something we had expected to work, which was why we were using Osiris to test the chance. "We can't use them for striking cover."


"Fuck," Minerva muttered.


"Doesn't matter," I responded. "I'm wearing her down fast. I might not need help."


"You'll need help," Minerva insisted. "You might be able to tire her out, but there's no way in hell you can take her down without killing her."


"You're right," I agreed. "But the more I can soften her up, the better off we are." I drew almost all the shock beetles and had them dive in to form a bubble around her. They activated their power surge a half second before converging on her body. Not quite as good as having them make contact, but at least this way they actually did something before they died.


She stumbled, heat and smoke pouring off her body from the rough equivalent of getting struck by lightning twice. I pressed the swarm in, trusting that her body could withstand the initial blow without killing her or even disabling her. I was not disappointed.


"Got a plan," Emma stated. "Gaea, I need you to make more of the shock beetles, but with only a hundredth of the electrical power."


"I can do that," Gaea agreed. I let myself indulge in the music of her voice for a second. "It'll take a few minutes."


"Still got her on the ropes," I reminded. "I can keep her there, but don't stop feeding more reinforcements, we've already killed half the usable insects in Boston here." It was true, too. She couldn't fight me, but this was becoming a war of attrition. Between her durability and her regeneration, she would win that war.


She had another idea however, manifesting a throwing knife of stone, she launched it at absurd speeds, where it flew out of my bug cloud and kept traveling, impaling a pedestrian that had come out to gawk at the spectacle.


"See that?" she gasped, fighting for the limited supply of oxygen that my bugs were consuming far faster than she could. "I can keep doing that. How many lives am I worth to you, hero?"


I hesitated for all of a heartbeat. However many are necessary. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I'M A HERO?" My swarm asked, as another stream of acid moths dived toward the unarmed Butcher. One even managed to clip her arm before she teleported, annihilating the rest. She didn't seem as bothered as I would have expected, frankly. Oh, right, one of her powers is supposedly an inability to experience pain. I wondered if that was a real power, or merely a side effect of her insanity.


I didn't have any actual eyes on the scene, and the junk bugs were dying quickly, so I could only make approximate guesses at Butcher's condition as she continued to fight. She was slowing down, but even still she was faster and stronger than any normal person. With her various regeneration powers and the precognition, and my bug cloud being held together by antigravity instead of their own power anymore... I had another minute or two before she worked free.


"Got the new bugs," Gaea announced. I almost sighed with relief.


"Eki, I need you to shunt in next to Osiris," Emma instructed. "T- Khepri, when they shunt through, cover her in them. Don't activate them, they should slip under her danger sense. For a little while, at least."


They appeared a few seconds later. Good, they don't rely upon oxygen, I noted. That makes this easier. They were tiny, this new batch. Mosquito sized. Butcher really didn't notice them as they found purchases in her singed hair and across a body that was charred and crisped in several areas. How is she still standing?


Eki appeared in my full awareness, as opposed to the somewhat dimmer perception across the dimensional barrier.


"Ready?" Emma asked.


"Ready," I answered.


"Taylor, I need you to take control of Eki's suit. The weapon's already ready. Fire a half second after you discharge the smaller flies, got it?" Emma asked.


"Understood," I answered, and followed the instructions.


Butcher, of course, teleported the moment before Eki's weapon fired, but the lightning arced and struck her anyway. Burning its way through a good portion of my insect cloud. For a moment, it must have looked like one of those plasma globes as the electricity discharged itself across my swarm.


She collapsed to the ground, her body battered to the point of uselessness. For a second, I wondered if we might have accidentally killed her, thus passing on that curse to me or Eki. That could have been disastrous. But then the psychopath managed to force herself to her feet. Right arm hanging limp and useless, and the rest of her so damaged that it was hard to imagine she wasn't some kind of zombie. She teleported in a burst of flame.


Only to reappear right next to Osiris, who instantly disintegrated and Eki, who started screaming in blood curdling agony. She dropped to her knees, gripping her hand around her lightning weapon. Eki struggled to catch her breath as Osiris disintegrated again in response to getting too close to the madwoman. Eki roared in inarticulate rage as she brought her weapon up and fired it directly into Butcher's gut. The psychopath gripped Eki's arm with her one good hand, holding the the energy weapon against herself. A third shot went off, and Butcher's hair caught fire from the released heat from the electricity.


"Fuck!" Minerva shouted. "Butcher's given up! She's trying to escape by forcing Eki to kill her!"