Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[TanaNari]

159- Horus


"Haze isn't an illusionist!" Clarice shouted over the com. "He's a reality changer, like Labyrinth! Everyone fall back! Retreat!"


Moments later, I felt a sudden sharp pain in my side. I tried to cry out, but the pain and shock had taken my breath away. Then Missy slumped forward. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. I gripped Calysta's reins with the arm that wasn't holding Missy. I forced my power tight around the injury in my side, trying to staunch the blood flow. "Aceso," I managed to gasp. "Lachesis is unconscious."


I brought Calysta up and back, landing her on a rooftop a couple blocks from the mission location. Atropos and Clotho followed, with Shaman trailing behind. I could feel my armor working itself into my wound, both back and front. It was patching itself in, relieving pain and providing for my biological needs as best it could understand. Injecting what passed for its blood into my bloodstream. Missy's armor would be doing the same, but it her case it would do more harm than good.


A series of explosions sounded in the purple fog, detected and amplified by my suit's systems. It was dimmer than the usual perfect clarity it typically grants. Whether that was because the suit was putting too much of its effort into keeping me functional, or because I was injured enough to lose hearing, I didn't know.


I laid Missy flat on the roof. "I'm going to stabilize her and then shunt her over," I insisted. "This is really bad." I called upon the memories that had been installed thanks to the memory tech. Six years of medical college from Rey, plus a few updates provided by Riley and Emma. Tinker knowledge didn't translate, unfortunately, but I had first rate skills and then some. Who gives a fuck if I didn't earn them?


"Not from a rooftop," Riley insisted. "You know the shunts are geoanalogous."


"Just... just buy time in there for us, okay? I don't want them attacking us while I'm working on her."


Atropos landed first. "Is she okay?"


"Cut open her armor," I instructed, speaking slowly so as to not strain my own injury. "Neck to crotch."


Atropos didn't argue, slipping a clawed finger into the armor and splitting the high durability living armor like it was gossamer. Deep red fluid sloshed out in a way that would make you think the armor itself was bleeding. Too much blood, my unfamiliar knowledge told me. I tore open her shirt before thinking about it.


The human male part of my brain apparently spent too much time around Zach, because I couldn't help but think that I was now looking at my girlfriend topless. Unfamiliar programmed instincts screamed at me that I didn't have gloves. Not things I care about right now, I instructed my mind, but that was probably my own shock and blood loss speaking. Alongside the certainty that she was far beyond my ability to help.


"The fuck happened?" Shaman asked, after he landed. "Holy shit!"


"Not your business," Atropos told him, still staring at Missy.


"The fuck were you thinking!?" he continued, yelling at her. "You knew they had an illusionist and you fired a lethal attack!"


"It wasn't my fault!" Atropos yelled at him. Meanwhile, another series of explosions went off in the clouds.


"Nothing ever is, is it?" Shaman retorted.


"Will you two just shut up and fuck already!" I screamed at them. They looked at me, and a small part of my mind once again confirmed that I spent too much time around Zach. Another small part of me was terrified. A good amount was in pain. The overwhelming majority, however, was pissed. "We're in a god damn war zone right now, and you two are arguing while one of our own is dying in front of you! Learn some fucking priorities!"


None of them spoke up. "Clotho," I instructed, as I started to push Missy's armor back together. It needed to seal so the shunt would work on her. "You're the most vulnerable of us. Take Lachesis and shunt her. We'll coordinate from there. Then you're to go support Battery's team at the other location." Missy got shot because your girlfriend was too busy looking after you to think about the team, I added mentally. That won't happen again.


"Isn't that dangerous in her..." Clotho started.


"At this point, it doesn't matter," I interrupted. "She'll die before we get her anywhere, and the only place with facilities that can help is on the other side of our teleportation. Take her and go." A few lies, there. We didn't want Shaman to know about our side dimension. And I didn't want to tell anyone, even myself, that Missy had already died. That shot pierced her heart.


Atropos spoke up. "You don't get to make that call," she insisted. "You're sending her to..." she paused, glancing toward Shaman. Bonesaw, that's the name you can't say.


"The fuck I don't," I started coughing, and felt the metallic tasting fluids coming up. Blood, I realized. Must have pierced my lung. Fuck it, I only need one of them. "Someone needs to take command here. You have a problem with that, take it up with Khepri and Gaea when we get back. Our suits have recordings for a reason, I'm sure they'll be fair in their evaluation. Of both of us."


"It... it's fine," Clotho said timidly, her ribbons moving to wrap around Missy gently and firmly. She has the same medical 'training' as I do. She'll handle everything with proper professional care. "Saving her takes priority. I'll be back soon." At least one other person here is competent.


There was another explosion in the mist.


"Fuck!" Riley shouted. Wow, first time she's ever sworn. Now is not the time to focus on that. I had to wonder about how much my mind was wandering. Probably a function of the anesthetics the armor uses. "Lost Clarice. Sorry I couldn't buy you more time."


"Aceso's down," I wheezed. Talking so much with only one lung sucks. "Clotho, go. We'll take care of ourselves."


She hovered slightly and then vanished over to the other side. Smart choice, establishing flight before teleporting.


I forced myself to stand, using my armor to do much of the work. It was laborious to work my way back onto Calysta, despite the antigrav built into my armor, and my metal shaping to help me. "Okay, now we're going back in."


"What for?" Shaman asked.


"Rescue operation," I said grimly. "This mission's fucked already, but I'm not about to lose someone." Else.


"You're going in there for Aceso?" Atropos asked incredulously, which of course earned a look from Shaman.


"Don't forget Adamant," I reminded her. "Aceso can take care of herself, but he's barely more than baseline human."


"Once we're in there, we won't be able to trust anything we see," Shaman pointed out.


"I know," I agreed. "That's why we make a plan now. We know Adamant's power will cancel any of ours. Pretty simple to verify that it's him, that way, just have anyone claiming to be him touch your armor, and see if they lose a hand. Whoever finds Adamant is responsible for escaping with. Once they're out, our... mission control... will activate the emergency shunt and bring the rest of us to our home base. There is exactly zero other goals.


"You're going to show him our..." Atropos hissed. "You can't trust him with that."


"Oh, sure, the cheat says I'm the one who can't be trusted," he scoffed.


Can't believe I'm thinking this, but I wish Zach was here. "Horus to Clotho," I said over our com. "Tell our mission control to contact me."


"Uh... mission control?" she asked.


"Yeah," I insisted. "She should be the only other person except Lachesis there with you right now."


"Oh, right," she agreed. "I'll let her know."


A few seconds later, Riley's voice spoke into the coms. "Kinda busy, what do you need?"


"Turn on Shaman and Atropos' lie detection systems for me," I requested. Why they didn't already have them active, I thought. Know what? Don't care.


"Done," she answered.


"There," I said. "Now, Atropos, did you cheat on him?"


"No," she answered, her voice hard.


"That's a start," I sighed.


"He still got my girlfriend drunk to sleep with her," she continued.


"No I didn't!" he insisted. "Yeah, I slept with her. A bunch of times, actually, but she was sober! Most of the time, at least."


"Then why did..." Atropos started.


"Doesn't matter," I interrupted. "You guys can go find your mutual ex and have a heart to heart when people aren't trying to fucking murder us all."


"Fine, whatever," Shaman agreed. "Now what?"


"We split up and follow different paths. Keep your powers active, trust no one and nothing you see. Don't use any ranged attacks. We're immune to almost anything that matters, and we're no longer trying to win this battle. Just find our ally, cut our losses, and hope the other teams succeeded where we failed. No other goals. And remember that Clarice got out already. You see her, it's a fake." I struggled to get a deep breath. Who'd have thought running on one lung was such a pain in the ass. "If we see each other, we don't bother speaking. That's our code: there is no code. If the other talks, we know it's a fake. But don't attack... just ignore it and go back to the search. Com silence as well, we can't trust what we hear over it."


....


I was glad to have Calysta. I was glad to have a mission. I kept thinking about Missy. Sure, she had the memory scan... but was that still her? Or just a really convincing copy? Would I be able to tell the difference? Would I care? It would be easier if Riley could save her. No hard questions.


"H-help," a voice croaked. I turned my head. Clarice? No, that doesn't make sense. But there she was, partially trapped under some rubble. "Horus, I'm so happy to see you!" she smiled, and tears ran across her beautiful face. "Please, help me. It hurts." I felt a pang of sympathy and a desire to protect her. She's one of my friends, the one who introduced me to Missy. I owe her so much.


I knew it was a fake. I knew it was a fake for a bunch of reasons. Clarice is a remote control doll for Riley, who was safe. Clarice is designed to shunt over if damaged. If that fails, she self destructs entirely to prevent anyone from reverse engineering the tech inside her. Clarice doesn't have tear ducts. Clarice can't feel pain.


Despite that, I moved toward her. "How can I know it's you?" I asked.


"I don't know," she admitted, her voice going soft and timid. I wanted to hug and comfort her so much it hurt. "My armor's damaged, the com broke. I can tell you something only people you trust would know. Like your name?"


She knows my name, that makes sense, I decided. And she speaks it beautifully. "Okay, that's a start," I agreed. I approached her. My armor flashed its lie detection warnings. Lying about what? I paused again. Life signatures. Not injured. Definitely not a humanoid shaped cybernetic pseudo fungus. "You're not hurt, and you're not Clarice," I stated.


She blinked. "Well, nevermind then," she sighed, extracting her leg from the rubble and climbing to her feet. "Don't know how you're so resistant. I'm not picking up any power interference. Doesn't really matter, though. You may know I'm not 'Clarice', but my power works on the subliminal. You still believe I'm her, despite your awareness. You can't hurt me, and you will trust me. Now would you mind letting down your armor so I can climb onto the horse?"


She's right, I realized with a slowly dawning horror. I know better, and it doesn't make a difference. She approached the side of Calysta, walking seductively. I wanted her body against mine. No, that's not true. Yes, I think Clarice looks attractive, it's hard not to considering she was built like that on purpose. But this is artificial. As I was fighting my warring emotions, I caught sight of the knife she wielded. Fuck, I know it's going to happen and I can't change it. Except... "I know something you don't know," I stated.


"Do tell," she said with a confident smile.


I answered with two metal spears, formed from my armor on the side of Calysta's body. They lanced out at her, spearing in the left shin and right kneecap. She dropped screaming, and the spell was more or less broken. Must be one of the ones that require concentration. "Something like that wouldn't have hurt Clarice," I informed her as I quickly retreated from the fake that I didn't believe was a fake, forcefully crushing the emotions she played on. I love Missy, I was forced to remind myself. Not Clarice. It helped that I knew Clarice was really Riley's automoton, and I didn't feel that way toward Riley. Knowing didn't stop me from crying at the loss.


As it turns out, I probably could have spared myself the trouble of looking. It was Shaman who found and escaped with Adamant. A fact I only discovered after being shunted, painfully, into our alternate world. I gasped in agony from the sudden distortion of momentum as I was brought across the dimensional barrier.


"We got everyone out," Riley announced, and I was glad for that. "And I've managed to stabilize Missy." I smiled, but my heart wasn't in it.


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


A/N- Ah, one of the chapters I kinda wished I could have ended on a cliffhanger right around the point where she pulled the knife. Que Sera, Sera.

 

[TanaNari]

Another Canon omake by Slayer Anderson:

Heartbroken:
*~*~*~*
​

Rebecca, Rapture, sighed wearily.

It had been a difficult month, to put things simply.

It had also been a busy few months. She'd been primarily occupied with the numerous children Heartbreaker had spawned through his numerous unions, rapes, with his enslaved 'wives.' She'd had her work cut out for her as one of the few qualified capes able to counsel, console, and untangle the various psyches involved. One of the few blessings that could be salvaged from the utter disaster that was the Simurgh's death throes was that there was, for once, enough psychiatric personnel in the Protectorate's employ to spare a few for extraneous operations like seeing to the needs of dozens of mentally and emotionally damaged individuals.

She was particularly thankful for the loan of a gifted psychologist, Yamada-something, that had spent the last week relieving her of a few of her more...problematic cases.

"Rapture? You still with us?" Narwhal probed.

"Yes, just...what was the topic again?" Rebecca asked, taking another deep pull from her coffee mug.
Narwhal gave her a look, the likes of which she could read even without her power helping. "You need sleep, Rapture. Don't make me ask Defiant to slip you decaf again."

Rebecca scowled.

"I'm fine," she replied, with what she knew a half-second later was unnecessary harshness. Sighing again, she palmed her eyes tiredly. "Okay, I'm not fine. I'll head to bed after this meeting, I promise, I just..."

Narwhal cocked her head, worried, "...you just?"

Rapture shook her head. "It's...personal. Something I don't like to talk about."

Narwhal, though she looked somewhat more worried than before, nodded. "As long as you're talking to someone about it. That's what the other shrinks say, right? You need to talk to someone, don't keep it bottled up."

"Yeah," Rapture agreed faintly. "That's what they say...and, well, I'm calling Yum Kaax almost nightly now." It felt good to be that honest with someone who was rapidly becoming one of the few she'd call 'friends.' Rey, of course, was topping that list rather quickly himself. Although their long-distance relationship was far from ideal, it did allow both of them to take it slowly and give them the space they'd become accustomed to in their single lives.

Honestly, she was a bit glad for that space these days. Dealing with the mess Heartbreaker had left behind had hit her unexpectedly hard, reminding her of the 'bad old days' when she'd just gotten her powers and when she'd had to reverse a lot of the damage she'd caused after joining Haven. Her temper had frayed especially with one child whose power was somehow interfering with her own, making him difficult to read. It was like his body was saying one thing and he was thinking another...perhaps he had some undocumented Stranger power?

"Good," Narwhal smiled, inadvertently breaking her musings, then paused.

Rapture knew the question before it was asked, but tolerated it all the same.

"...so, is it true what they're saying about Pantheon and Chicago?" She finally queried.

"I honestly couldn't say, but I think it's likely enough," Rapture replied. "After all, Chicago was that hardest hit by New Dehli."

"I suppose," Narwhal sighed. "It's just difficult to accept that the Protectorate might be ceding control of a city like this, even as hard-pressed and short-handed as they are."

"Pantheon is competent enough," Rapture assured her fellow hero, despite the other thoughts she might have on the subject. Sure, Pantheon was competent, but they also had their fair share of skeletons in the closet, and far more than their share of emotional, social, mental issues to go around. In short, they were dangerous, but appeared to have cobbled together enough of a semblance of order to aim their various disorders at the far more dangerous and vile members of society.

Only time would tell if the cure would prove worse than the disease.

"So, how is progress?"

It was some Canadian official speaking, someone suitably high-profile who'd co-opted praise for 'Breaking Heartbreaker' that he'd managed to land himself nominally 'in charge' of the efforts to actually save the people they'd physically and mentally removed from Heartbreaker's influence. She never actually managed to summon up enough desire to remember the bootlicker's name, but it started with 'T'-something, she was sure.

"Well enough," Rapture began. "I think we're past the 'attempted suicide' phase that several of Niko's 'wives' went through once his control over them was gone. A few of them never even got that far and slipped into non-responsive coma-like states where they can only rock themselves and cry." Which he would have known had he actually read the reports, given what her power told her. "Normally, I'd recommend remanding them to the custody of a psychiatric facility, save for the fact that most of these women have parahuman abilities which could cause significant damage if they managed to escape...or be removed by a third party, which is actually the greater concern in this case."

The annoying man made affirmative sounds in all the right places, a habit born of long practice.

"The wives who are actually in something resembling a normative mental state are a mixed bag," Rapture continued, more for the other attendee's benefit than their 'government oversight.' "The ones who are responsive and can handle it, mostly those without powers, I'd recommend sending home to be with their families, this would likely speed their mental and emotional recovery."

Another pause. Dragon's avatar nodded, probably making notes on whatever computer she was situated behind. Defiant, the woman's significant other, was not present, but likely listening in through the comms. The rest of the Guild were there in some capacity, looking grim over the overall assessment of what the press had dubbed 'The Heartbroken.' A few of the psychiatrists and psychologists were in attendance too, though she'd likely be the only one speaking today. Even Yamada was there, when rightfully she probably should have been using the meeting as cover to get some sleep, especially since her presence wasn't necessary. Hopefully, they could exchange notes on that one specific 'problem case' after things wound down, Yamada should have had a recent session with him.

Coughing once to buy a second to order her thoughts, Rapture shuffled a few papers in front of her. "The parahumans who are...operable, are of course a different matter. Many of them have expressed desires ranging from returning to whatever life they had before Niko Vasil, to joining up with the Guild, the Protectorate, Haven, or other independent hero organizations."

Notably, she didn't name Pantheon, but she didn't have to.

It wasn't one of the options many were trying for, but a few of The Heartbroken had expressed interest in Pantheon, if only because they had co-developed the 'cure' for Master-class parahumans with Haven.
Another pause, this one somewhat longer.

"As for the children..." Rapture trailed off. "I have no idea."

There was silence for a moment as that sank in. Dragon cleared her throat.

"If you could elaborate, Rapture?"

Rebecca sighed, dropping her head into her hands to emphasize her helplessness on this cause. "None of them will likely ever lead normal live. They are, to a lesser or greater extent, functional sociopaths on top of being predominantly parahumans. Precious few of them have a mother in Heartbreaker's harem who is willing and able, both, to care for them. Likely, they'll all be remanded as wards of the state, the problem being..."

"...the state doesn't have the resources, wherewithall, or specialized skills to adequately deal with children this disturbed who have super powers...in these numbers, at least." T-something finished, surprising several of the heroes at the table by actually contributing usefully to the discussion for once.
"So, suggestions?" He continued, rubbing at his face tiredly. "Is the Guild willing to accept any of the Heartbroken on a more permanent basis? The children or the women?"

"Regrettably, we don't have the resources either," Dragon replied. "Personally, I think the best option would be to consult with the Protectorate. They have several Wards teams which could serve as the closest thing to normative socializing these children could have, all the while placing them under the supervision of the more senior members of the Protectorate."

"Allowing this many Canadian nationals to join the Protectorate or Wards," the official took a deep breath, "is tantamount to admitting Canada can't look after it's own. I can only imagine the field day the press would have if we simply turned over that many children to the Wards without so much as trying for an alternate solution. Then there's the recent PR nightmare concerning that Ward...what was her name? Shadow Stalker? The case could be made that the Wards aren't a suitable environment at all for these children and I really don't want to have to explain to the PM why we're looking at a civil suit from the Youth Guard; overall, it would be a massive headache."

"What about Haven...or Pantheon?"

All heads swiveled towards Mrs. Jessica Yamada as the discussion paused for a long moment.

The Canadian official looked towards Rapture, "That is a thought...would Haven be able to accommodate even a few of the Heartbroken children?"

Rapture sighed, her eyes turning heaven-ward for a time. "I...can't say. Theoretically, yes, but it's not my call to make. I'll have to contact Halo and see what he says, at the very least, before committing to anything."

"And Pantheon?" The official pressed. "I understand you've worked with them before?"

Rapture allowed herself a brief moment to ponder the thought of handing over even one of the most unstable children she'd ever met to Pantheon. Idly, she wondered if the ensuing visions of destruction and fire were God's way of telling her this was a 'bad idea.' She moved to speak, but Yamada was already talking.

"Even while she was nominally a 'villain,' Skitter provided food and shelter for a number of orphaned children from Leviathan, which more than demonstrates their ability to care for traumatized children. Also, some members of Pantheon have experience with the Heartbroken." Jessica Yamada continued.

The government man perked up at this, shuffling through several reams of paper. "Really? I hadn't seen anything about that...wait, there was the girl, Cherie...ah, Cherish, who was a member of the Slaughterhouse before Pantheon removed them. Is that really applicable?"

Yamada's eyebrows creased and, distantly, Rapture felt the voice of her instincts, not her power, begin to wail in alarm.

There was something wrong here.

"Not Cherie," Yamada refuted. "Jean-Paul Vasil, aka Hijack, aka Regent of the Undersiders."

Rapture frowned. Why would Yamada be going to bat for Pantheon like this? Recruiting for them? She was, too, even though everything her power was telling her said that the argument she was making was completely impartial. Her choice of words, the way she was stating facts, it indicated an obvious bias towards Pantheon. Then there was the fact that she was even citing Regent as an example...that showed she'd put some level of thought or research into building a case for Pantheon...

There was something very wrong here.

"I wasn't aware," Narwhal commented, "That the two were one and the same. How did you come by this information, Mrs. Yamada?"

"I was in Brockton Bay when he Mastered Shadow Stalker, an event which former Director Piggot thought was indicative of him back-sliding to old habits, however, with the recent information leak regarding Sophia Hess' behavior towards Taylor Hebert, now Kephri, it can be inferred that Jean-Paul's time with the Undersiders engendered some level of camaraderie, perhaps even feelings of loyalty towards his teammates, which run contrary to the supposed mental state of a sociopath." Yamada explained...

...no, Rapture faintly realized. It wasn't Yamada.

The leaps of logic she was making could hardly be called professional, and if Yamada was anything in the short time they'd known each other, it was professional.

One of the Heartbroken must have gotten to her. Rapture divined. Whichever one it is, they're trying to make a case to be sent to Pantheon. Why? To Master them? To try for asylum? Yamada has almost certainly heard of their aggressive stance on recruiting villains...

The thought of Pantheon in the hands of one of the Heartbroken made her shiver, even as the conversation continued on around her. Discretely, she caught Dragon's eyes through her webcam, then began to blink, pausing carefully as Rapture typed out a message in Morse code.

Only a moment later, a gray haze began to seep into the room. Chairs squealed against the floor as people stood in a sudden panic before they realized it was the anti-master 'cure.' Rapture's attention, though, was focused solely on Jessica Yamada as her eyes darted around in alarm.

Then their gazes met and Yamada's eyes widened further.

Rapture's hand moved to seize a non-lethal countermeasure, the tinker in her already spitting out possibilities regarding why the cure hadn't worked.

"I haven't hurt her!" Yamada shouted out, raising her hands defensively.

The room stilled as the capes settled into positions between the Mastered psychologist and the civilians. Rapture stepped up, holding what was essentially an advanced taser pointed at the woman, who was still disturbingly resistant to the Thinker aspect of her own power.

...just like the 'problem case' child I'd been trying to help, she realized.

"Who are you?" Rapture demanded, filing that realization aside.

"Reggie," Yamada's voice replied, her posture still one of surrender.

"I have a match," Dragon spoke through her armor. "Reginald Wilkins, son of Amanda Wilkins, a woman Heartbreaker abducted some six years ago. Reggie would have been four, and records indicate he went missing at the same time. His mother died two years ago in an altercation with the Adepts, she was a cape with low-level bio-manipulation powers, similar to Gaea's, but limited to humans in scope and incapable of doing anything other than repairing minor wounds. We'd believed both to be dead when he wasn't discovered among the children during the takeover of Heartbreaker's compound. Be aware he may have some Stranger power which has allowed him to stay hidden until this point."

Which explains why the cure didn't work on him, we don't have his DNA on file, only Heartbreaker's and, therefore, his close relatives.

"We need you to let Jessica Yamada go," Rapture said softly, trying to remember that this was a ten-year-old child she was dealing with.

"I...I'm sorry I took her," 'Reggie' spoke through Yamada's body. "I just...I don't want to be here anymore. I...Mrs. Yamada knew that Jean-Paul went to Brockton Bay, that he made friends there. He was the only one that was nice to me. I...wanted to go be with them."

"Whatever the case may be," Rapture stated, "you need to let Mrs. Yamada go. You might be hurting her...and you need to tell us where you are. If you do that, we can talk about getting you to Pantheon. I know Kephri and Minerva, the surviving Undersiders, and they might be willing to take you. I can't promise anything, but you're only hurting your case by keeping Mrs. Yamada under your control."

A tense moment passed as uncertainty flashed over Yamada's face.

"Okay...I'll let her go."

Before she could start to be relieved, Yamada's body had dropped to it's knees and the seam along the back of her shirt began to tear, revealing a sudden growth of skin that was rapidly emerging from her body. Within seconds, long enough for a few of the civilians to release their stomachs, the 'growth,' fully emerged as a young boy with brown hair, blue eyes, and a complete lack of clothing.

"Reggie?" Rapture forced herself to ask, even as Narwhal stepped in to slowly move Yamada away, careful of alarming the parahuman and doubtless getting her medical attention.

The boy nodded, "They...called me Parasite. Can I go see Jean-Paul's friends now?"


*~*~*~*

PRT/GUILD ID FILE - Parasite:

Striker/Breaker 3 – Capable of entirely displacing his own body mass as he 'merges' with a host organism. Requires physical contact with a suitable 'host' organism.

Sub-rating: Changer 5 – Capable of appearing as any person, animal, or otherwise organic being that he 'merges' with. Slightly enhances the 'host' organism, granting the host a low-level brute rating complete with low-level regeneration, greater physical strength, and improved reflexes.

Master 3 – Capable of controlling a single organic being at a time, only while 'merged' with it. While merged, Parasite induces a coma-like state in the host. Affected individuals feel as though no time has passed, though Parasite is capable of drawing on the host body's natural reflexes, physical skills, and subconscious ticks to pass even close inspection by some thinkers. Rating subject to change as it is not known whether Parasite can use other parahuman powers through 'proxies' after he has possessed a host organism.

Stranger 3 – Capable of utilizing the knowledge, skills, and instincts of the organic being he is merged with, to the point that, to untrained individuals Parasite will appear completely identical to the 'host' organism he is currently inhabiting.

Subject, alias Reginald 'Reggie' Wilkins, is ten years of age, having spent the last six years of his life as a resident of the Heartbreaker compound in Montreal, Canada. Speculated to have triggered soon after or at the time of his mother's death, the exact circumstances around the event are unknown. His parahuman abilities have demonstrated the classical 'inheritance' of attributes from parahuman parents. In this case, aspects of his power are representative of his mother's limited bio-manipulation abilities as well as the well-known Master powers exhibited by the Heartbroken, although he bears no known biological relation to Niko Vasil. Subject initially escaped observation by hiding within one of his 'siblings,' but attempted escape through one Jessica Yamada. Neither individual has retained any memories of their time under Parasite's control. Subject has expressed a strong desire to be placed under the custody of the independent hero team Pantheon owing to his good relationship with former Undersiders member Regent, aka Jean-Paul Vasil.

Custody decision is undergoing further discussion at this time.

*~*~*~*

Alright, so as per author-fiat, this omake is a canon one, and introduces an OC of my own design. Owing to the fact that TanaNari has no shortage of characters at this time, it is unlikely that Reggie will see any screen time in the main story for a while, if ever.

Personality-wise, I designed Reggie to be much like canon Taylor was at the beginning of the story, only with less 'heroic resolve.' In other words, he's primarily a quiet introvert who would rather hide than involve himself in confrontation. Not being one of the biological children of Niko Vasil, he was probably also bullied by some of the other children. Reggie liked Alec/Jean-Paul mainly because Alec didn't bother him and, as one of the older children, could serve as a shield from their bullying.

If anyone wants to co-op Reggie for another fic, all I ask is a little citation about having created him.

 

[TanaNari]

160- The Butcher


DANGERDEATHRUN Three cried. Two watched as our blood began to boil inside. Seven struggled against the damage, mending where it could. Fourteen screamed at her impending death, my death, I am fourteen, I am Quarrel.


We cannot let ourselves be taken, One insisted. We must fight.


HateRageMurder, Nine screamed into the mind of the blond that would be our new host, forcing her to keep attacking. Desperate stupid ploy Three cried out. Worked before, Ten insisted, adding its voice to the will of Butcher.


The annoying boy that I couldn't kill charged in, and I focused One's pain aura on him. He vanished, only to appear again. I kept the aura active, if anything the pain only drove my enraged victim to fight that much harder to kill me. The boy couldn't get to me, and somehow he lost his ability to teleport me away from her. I didn't know why. I didn't care in the slightest.


Suddenly an unexpected surge of power lanced out from the girl's weapon. Regeneration impossible! DeathdeathdeathDEATHdeathDeathDEATH.


Seconds later, I was whole again. ShockPainAngerLossRemorseRageHopeShameGlorySuccess.


"Taylor?" a girl's voice spoke. TaylorTAYLOR.


"I... I'm here," I answered. "I'm okay."


"You killed her," another voice. Minerva... her name's Minerva. Lisa. Tattletale. Traitor.


"The Butcher?" I answered sadly. I AM THE BUTCHER! "Yeah... she's dead... how long do you figure I have left?" Yes, tell us how long until fifteen breaks and submits to the will of the whole.


"Not sure," Minerva responded. "The third host managed to hold out for weeks. But there was only two previous hosts, then. You've got seven times that many to deal with. Then there's your powers, which might help you, or it might hurt you. No way to know until we see it."


I looked at Amelia. I focused on my love for her. If anything, anyone, could help me fight this.


Betrayer! Five shouted. The irony, her being the one that got the position by poisoning meherthemFourhim in his sleep, was not lost. The only host that wasn't a parahuman. Five rebelled against the thoughts. You forced me! Used me! Tortured me! Five was always troublesome, able to resist the Butcher better than all the others.


I crumpled to the ground under the conflicting thoughts and the horrific memories of sadistic abuse inflicted upon me. By me. No, her. Him! Four and Five! Not me. I'm not them. I'm not the Butcher. I'm... I'm... HostPreyMonsterPropertyHeroCowardWeaponWeakWarriorBrilliantPatheticPerfectMagnificentVictimTaylor! "I'm Taylor," I spoke aloud. Insistent. Desperate. I was the Butcher. I will be again. I will win this.


Amelia was crying, moving toward me. I took flight. "Don't come closer," I commanded.


"Please, Taylor," Amelia requested. "Let me touch you. I can make you sleep. Keep you unconscious until we find a way to remove the Butcher's influence."


"Won't work," I countered. Grief and certainty of victory warred with equal measure in my mind. "Can't work. It's been tried. If you succeed, it just means you're the new host." The idea of Amelia being trapped in this filled me with grief and joy. Her powers combined with mine-hers-mine-no! It is incomprehensible. It is thrilling. It is the stuff of horror.


Don't fight, I reminded myself. You've been through this before. Accept and push through. I breathed deeply.


"We'll figure out some way," Lisa insisted. "Rapture's technology. Riley's. We have options!"


"STOP TRYING TO CONTROL ME YOU MEDDLESOME BITCH!" I shouted at her. Much of my armor dissolved itself and reformed into a magnificent ebon colored rapier. I paused for a second, smiling as she stepped back. KillherProtectherControlherBreakherSaveher. I looked away and closed my eyes. The voices had a harder time envisioning a goal if I wasn't looking at it. It's the bugs, I realized. They're having trouble distinguishing my senses from the bugs. "Sorry... I'm... that wasn't me."


"Yes it was," Minerva replied, sadly. "Maybe you wouldn't have said it like that. But that was still you."


I called on my swarms and found a target. A lot of targets. My insects poured through sewers, finding and slaughtering rodent populations en masse. I wasn't efficient about it, I didn't want to be. I needed to draw it out. Distracting the minds inside me by inflicting suffering on a target that wasn't human. I was not clean, I was not merciful, and the minds within me were mollified. Or at least distracted temporarily. In the long run, this would probably make their influence stronger. I don't care about the long run.


"You're probably right," I admitted. "I'm sorry. Now I need you to listen to me."


"We're listening," Amelia agreed.


"I know I don't have a lot of room to talk when it comes to trust," I continued. "I've done a lot of soul searching in the last few days. None of that really matters right now, but I want you to know that I'm sorry for everything. I was going to talk to you. Apologize for everything. Talk about maybe renewing the empathic bond. That's... none of it's going to be possible now."


Her eyes were tearing up, but she didn't cry. She was being strongStupidBeautifulCowardTraitorPervertBeloved. I cringed. It was getting worse. I faltered, barely managing to keep aloft. I can't keep them at bay forever. More rodents were sacrificed at the altar of petty sadistic amusement. To my surprise, I was actually running out. How does New York City run out of sewer rats? I allowed my slaughter to make its way into the empty alleyways, away from prying eyes. I had to upgrade the carnage to stray cats and dogs.


"I want you to know I love you," I smiled, painfully. It was hard to focus on tender feelings when I was torturing animals a million at a time.


"I know," she agreed.


"When... when you awaken my copy..."


"Don't talk like that!" she insisted. "We can save you, if you let us."


"Too much risk," I told her. "Like I was saying, you have to trust me on this. When you awaken her. Me. She'll want the empathic bond restored. She won't know why it's missing. I want you to give that to her. Will you do that for me?"


"I..." Amelia looked away. "I don't know that I can."


"Just do what I say you dumb bi-" I bit down on my tongue hard enough to sever it. I spit the chunk of flesh out of my mouth, where of course it was caught in the mask. I wasn't so sure what I thought of the inability to feel pain, right now.


"Sorry," I said through the armor suits that were linked to my mind. I considered it a perverse victory that the voices may have been able to control my body, at least to a degree, but they couldn't control the voices of my power or the actions of my swarm. "It's getting worse by the second."


"It took me two weeks simply to be able to control my power," my physical body muttered, speaking more to myself- both Taylor and Butcher- than to my audience of friends. My words weren't intelligible anyway. The bleeding had stopped and my tongue was growing back, but it hadn't gotten there yet. "I controlled, maybe, a square mile back then. Now... now I control a fucking world. Let me know how long it takes you to do the same."


VAST. All my gates came down, every barrier I'd placed between my power and my mind collapsed. Right now, I was tapped into three cities. Boston, New York, and Brockton Bay. Millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of active voices. More when you added every television and radio. I could handle that. They could not. I felt the twinges and breaking as I discovered I couldn't handle it, either. Thanks to their powers, I was aware of the damage I was doing to my body and my brain. Two, Three and Seven issued their meek warnings that the only reason I hadn't given myself a fatal stroke was thanks to my newly acquired durability and healing.


"Okay," I croaked. "I've bought time. Don't know how much."


"We can still help," Amelia insisted.


"I know you would try," I agreed. I was getting tired. Slow. Winning the war inside me was impossible. "I don't want you to. Butcher dies today. That price is worth the last week of my life. I can't say I enjoyed it much, anyway. Just promise me you won't let my copy suffer for the things I've done. Treat her well. And don't listen when other people try to say what is right for us from now on, okay?"


She closed her eyes, fighting the tears. "I promise."


"Thanks," I didn't bother smiling. She wouldn't be able to see it through my mask, or all the blood. "I love you."


"Love you, too," she sobbed.


I didn't look at Lisa. I didn't want to give her any more clues than this last one would provide. It had been hard enough getting this far. I brushed my hand over the weapon I'd extracted from Zach's kamikaze Raptor. I crushed its containment system.


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


A/N- If you were hoping for a 'satisfying' conclusion to their breakup... well, too bad. Life doesn't work that way. I won't disrespect the story like that.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 161- Taylor


I woke up slowly. Strange, this isn't my room. I couldn't move, so I must still be sleeping. It was peaceful, quiet. Quieter than I could ever remember it being. I was floating in emptiness. No... no terrain? No bugs. No Amelia! My eyes snapped open, and I tried desperately to sit up. I was in a room I didn't recognize, even if it was clearly in the Yggdrasil. Amelia, Lisa, Emma and Riley were all there watching me. I could feel Amelia's power throughout my body.


"What happened?!" I exclaimed, trying to move. I couldn't. I wasn't merely restrained, my body was paralyzed. I was reminded of Leviathan, and the hospital after. I wasn't alone this time, but I was still frozen. It was easier not to panic than I would have expected, but


"It's a bit of a story," Lisa smiled warily. "Let's start with the last thing you remember, if you please."


I took a slow breath. Amelia and I talking. Emma's apology. The transfer tech's true nature. "I'm the backup copy, aren't I." It wasn't a question. There wasn't any other kind of logical conclusion here. "Guess that's not much of a surprise. What's the date?"


"August twenty eight," Emma informed me. Everyone else seemed too busy staring at me to answer any questions.


"Really?" I probably would have sounded more shocked if I wasn't completely locked down. "I didn't last very long, did I?" The false bravado was not likely to fool anyone in this room, but it was easier than thinking about this in a serious manner. Huh, wonder if this is what Zach feels like all the god damn time. No wonder he acts like such a dumbass sometimes. "So... what happened? I'm guessing it wasn't an Endbringer. Did one of those would be assassins manage to get me?"


"You don't remember that we were going to fight the Butcher?" Lisa asked.


"Ah," that did explain it. "I killed her, didn't I?"


"You did," Lisa confirmed. "We did a lot of damage and she was trying to force Crystal to kill her. Probably would have succeeded, too, but you used the system override and finished the job. Taking 'credit' for the kill, so to speak."


"Guess that explains the paralysis," I replied. "And the attention. You're making sure Butcher didn't come back with me."


"Something like that," Lisa agreed. "Now stop dodging the question. Why is your last memory from a week ago?


I frowned. It went badly, didn't it? "Can I talk to Amelia?" I asked.


"Not yet," Lisa insisted. "We're still running our tests. Asking questions, making sure there's nothing that went wrong. We have to keep Amelia away from you just in case Butcher manifests itself. The rest of us are only here in changeling form, but we need her present to control the facility and keep you under control. You can talk to your lover after we're done with all the tests."


Lover? My stomach would have clenched if it could actually respond to my thoughts. Maybe things did work out. But then why wouldn't I update myself... Or, well, I guess the question is really why wouldn't she have updated... uh... me? Future me?


"I thought so," Lisa answered. And I would have slapped her if I could. She probably figured it out before they ever woke me up. Okay, prior self, how badly did you fuck things up? Scale of one to ten?


"Emma, Riley, would you mind leaving so we can have a private conversation?" Lisa asked the other two girls. Oh, that's at least a nine. I watched as the pair retreated without any objection. Nine and a half. Lisa turned toward me and smiled an ever so saccharine grin. Ten, definitely ten. "So, why don't you tell me how long you've been planning to kill yourself to get out of your mistakes?"


Oh, fuck you, me. "I... don't think that I was?" I answered. "Wouldn't your power be able to figure it out?" Seriously, Taylor, what the fuck is wrong with you? Me? I'm going to need therapy for this, aren't I? I might need it just from trying to figure out the pronouns.


"Taylor," she sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs jutting out of the floor. "If there's anything I've learned from you in the time we've known each other. It's that you're incredibly good at finding ways to jam my powers. Moreso thanks to that whole 'Taylia' thing."


"Speaking of which, why isn't that working?" I asked. "I can't sense anything at all. I've never been completely blinded since I've had my powers."


"We sorta started the Exodus project a bit ahead of schedule," Lisa answered. "This is another dead world. Near as we can figure, life never happened here in the first place. If your stupid ploy to remove the Butcher actually works, then we will end up bequeathing this planet to Dragon using a cute little bylaw in the international Endbringer treaties about weapons research and some crap about space exploitation that was written, badly, in the sixties."


"Well, that's good news," I agreed. "So, what would have happened if it carried over and I was still the Butcher?"


"What makes you so sure you're not?" she asked. "What will happen, if you still have those powers... well, here's some facts. Somewhere in this dimension, possibly at the bottom of the ocean or in high orbit, is a gateway the size of a human eye. The only other way in is through shunting tech. If you're still the Butcher, we abandon this world and have Labyrinth change the portal destination. The atmosphere outside of this underground building is unlivable. It could take a century for the Yggdrasil to change that on its own."


"So basically, a prison that makes the Birdcage look fun?"


"Are you saying you wouldn't just open the door and walk out to die again?"


I blinked. Again, I chewed over the word. It didn't sit with me. I might do just that, just to ensure the Butcher was disabled. "That... I didn't do that," I muttered, looking at the ceiling. I really didn't have many other places to point my eyes, after all. "From my perspective it's a week ago. Amelia and I just got done making some kind of pseudo-reconciliations with our past bugbears, and I decided..." I froze. Does she know? That's kinda private, even for me to share with Lisa.


"You decided to make yourself attracted to Amelia," Lisa finished for me.


"Guess I'm not surprised that you know," I closed my eyes. "She did that, after the backup... after I was made. If it didn't work out, then this... I don't have that trait. I decided on that being the first legitimate difference between us. "


"You did plan to kill yourself," Lisa accused.


"No!" I insisted. "No. I just... accepted the odds. We live dangerous lives, and we're not immortal." What the fuck did that other me do? "You know what happened better than I do right now. Did she change so much in just a week? Do you believe she was attempting suicide?"


Lisa just looked at me, studying my mostly numb face. I had to wonder how much body language one could read from 'paralyzed and wrapped in a living blanket'. "No, I guess not," Lisa answered. "Okay, she's cleared. You're safe to come out now."


I felt Amelia's power let go, and I had control of my body again. I moved my arms for... well, the first time ever. It was difficult. Coordination was built into the brain, not the muscles. Contrary to what people sometimes believed about 'muscle memory'. I knew how to use my body, but that was just the thing. I knew how to use my body. And this body I was in now wasn't really mine. The inside of my mouth felt funny because my teeth weren't quite in the same alignment. Calluses weren't there. I was willing to bet my fingerprints were different. Everything was just close enough to feel familiar, without being close enough to be familiar.


"This is going to take a little time to get used to." I said as I slowly worked myself to a sitting position. I decided to wait a little while before attempting to walk. At least they included some kind of clothing, I noted. I guess it doesn't really matter. Semi-public nudity is better than being dead, but I was glad for the outfit nonetheless.


The wall opened and Amelia stepped through. "Hi," she said. She was nervous. Shy, even.


I, on the other hand, was just glad to see my best friend. "Hello," I answered. "I'd get up, but I'm still getting used to moving around. How long until that wears off, by the way?" Dammit, Taylor, why are you being so awkward? I asked myself. Oh, right, because something bad happened and all I know is that they're not telling me.


"Riley says an hour or two," Amelia smiled cautiously, walking toward me slowly. "Are you upset that I had to imprison you like that? Or that I was spying on your conversation with Lisa? I'm sorry if it was a unpleasant. I tried to make it as comfortable as possible.."


"No," I answered. "I mean, I'd really prefer not to make a habit of it. Being paralyzed like that isn't fun. But I get why you did it. It was the right decision. I'd have recommended the exact same thing, if it were someone else who got possessed."


"Good," she managed to move next to the bed I was sitting on. "I was worried it might bring back some ugly memories. I also might have mixed in a little mood stabilizing to keep you from getting too upset. That should wear off soon."


"It's fine," I repeated. "Special circumstances. You've stopped doing it now, right?"


"Yes," she confirmed. "You're not mad?" Seriously, what the ever loving FUCK did other-me do? I was beginning to be glad that she was dead.


"Not at all," I insisted in the most reassuring tone I could, as I reached out shakily and brushed my fingers across her hand. She tensed, and I pretended not to notice even though there was no way I could hide that from her while we were in contact. She pretended that I succeeded in hiding what I'd noticed. It wasn't the ideal reaction, but it was enough for us, for now. "We're partners," I insisted, pushing the emotion. We didn't have the link active, clearly for good reason, but she could see my every emotion through her power, since we were in contact. "I trust you."


She hugged herself tight against me and started crying. I wrapped my arms around her as I felt the flicker of awareness blossoming. One point of knowledge when I was used to a world's worth of constant information. And yet, somehow, that one spark meant more all of the rest combined.


ReliefJoy.


========


A/N- Yay! Happy feelings. Err. Just don't think about it too hard.

Also: THIS chapter. Remember the whole "twilight zone" thing talked about during the Emma arc? Hehe. Foreshadowed so hard.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 162


"Just promise me you won't let my copy suffer for the things I've done. Treat her well. And don't listen when other people try to say what is right for us from now on, okay?"


I fought back the tears. She means Lisa. "I promise."


"Thanks," Taylor said through the armor. It didn't carry vocal inflections, which I knew meant she was struggling to control it at all. She was normally very good at making her override sound convincingly normal. I could only imagine how hard she must have been fighting. "I love you."


"Love you, too," I sobbed, looking up at her hovering in the air. She reached her hand into the pack she kept with her, and a half second later she was concealed in ice and plummeting to the ground, trailing steam and smoke.


One of the ice weapons that Emma had designed, I realized, even as I focused my power into the Yggdrasil. I pulled the mass back, while forcing it to spew as much fluid into the hole as possible. I had only seconds, however. Not nearly enough time to create a pool deep enough. She collided hard enough to shatter. Explosively, thanks to the insanely cold temperatures of the ice exposed to the much warmer Yggdrasil. Liquid nitrogen and oxygen splashed across the Yggdrasil.


I just stood there, stunned. She's dead, I struggled to comprehend what that meant. So many things I should have said. Not just now, but before. Things I would never have a chance to say. Unless.


"Call Coil," I commanded Lisa. "Undo this."


She didn't say anything, she simply pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons. Then she stood there watching the screen.


"Did you know she was going to do this?" I demanded to know.


"No," Lisa answered coldly. "I didn't."


"How the fuck did she sneak something like that past your power?" I may have phrased it as a question, but it was an accusation. "She had a god damn Tinker suicide bomb in her purse! How could you miss something like that?"


"Because of your god damn link!" Lisa yelled back.


I glared. "Explain."


"I can't read Taylia!" she exclaimed. "No one can! I've paid other Thinkers while pretending to be someone trying to spy on Pantheon, just to see how it pans out. It's laughable how wrong they are. Dinah comes closest, and her predictions lose accuracy in a matter of days at best. I'm pretty much convinced that even Coil's power doesn't actually work on you, but there's no fucking way to confirm or deny that because Schrodinger's Snake takes its secrets to the grave with it. And since my power doesn't work on you, either, all the stuff I hear from Coil that sounds wrong to my power might be because I don't understand you."


"Taylia hasn't been around for a week," I reminded her, bitterly. My one source of happiness in this world, and I gave it up because I thought it was hurting Taylor. Then I lose her anyway. I ruin lives no matter what I do.


"Hasn't it?" she sighed. "Yeah, you don't have the link active, but you're already hard to predict thanks to your 'third trigger', and Taylor can offload so much of her mind and personality into her swarm that if she wants to block me out, then the only thing my power tells me is that she's deliberately blocking me out. Something she started doing the moment you two broke up, and hadn't stopped doing since. A talent she only got better at thanks to her practice with Taylia."


I didn't say anything. I knew our link was, functionally, a Taboo unto itself. We all did, of course. I just hadn't realized that it was as effective as that. Lisa hadn't told me that we'd blinded her power. I suppose it's no surprise she'd keep that weakness to herself.


"Both of you have been fucking around with your Passengers so hard that I..." Lisa paused, searching for words. "I was finally just barely starting to understand 'Taylia' enough to work around it and predict its influence. And even that was patchwork at best. Then you go and surprise me by turning off the fucking bond!"


"You wanted us to do that from fucking beginning!" I yelled back. "Don't blame me when you get what you want!"


"Did I get what I wanted?" Lisa asked. "Taylor just said she was planning to ask you to restore the link, and I don't need my power to know you'd jump on that like the lovestarved puppy that you are. We also know that Taylor's copy never lost the link in the first place. Then there's her really flashy self sacrifice suicide ploy, complete with dying wish. There's no fucking way your bond won't be up and running the minute she wakes up. You can't give it up, and neither can she."


I broke eye contact, looking back over at the ice fog pouring from Taylor's remains. "I don't know," I admitted. "Taylor's dead. I don't know if I can look at her replacement and have the same feelings. That I'll be able to look at the copy and see her as the same as the original."


"You will," Lisa sighed miserably. "You can't help yourself, and if you do, somehow, resist the impulse... well, Taylor will find a way to make that the only option in the long run. It's easiest just to let you both have your way. I failed, the damage I hoped to prevent has already happened. Heads you win, tails I lose."


"Does that mean you'll tell me the real problem you had with our link in the first place?"


She paused. I had to wonder if she was thinking about it, or looking for a way to change the subject. Probably the latter, and fate conspired to help her as her cell blipped at her. She looked at it. "Fuck," she muttered. "We have to keep this timeline."


No! I cried out internally. "No," I gasped, trying to force the word to be an order.


"It looks like Butcher managed to transfer to Crystal in that one," Lisa continued. "She's still fighting, and it's tearing Boston to pieces."


"God damn it," I whimpered. Choosing between Taylor and Crystal. Plus however many civilians are dying in the battle. Butcher "only" managed to kill one person, here. Two, including Taylor. Radiant could kill a city block every three minutes.


"We can't keep that timeline," Lisa consoled.


"What about the other teams?" I asked, grasping at straws. "Did anything go wrong in those missions?" Lisa is right, as it stands we can't allow something like Radiant into enemy hands. It was an anti-Endbringer artillery platform with so many features I couldn't begin to imagine the damage it could do if someone really wanted to go all out with it. Combined with Butcher's powers... the Triumvirate might not be enough to stop it.


"Okay," Lisa replied, her voice showing no signs of hope. "Hecate, status report?"


"We're golden," Emma answered. "Scry's intel is awesome, and Assault and Battery's combat systems are working better than anticipated. If we get the time, I'd really like to see if I can upgrade them to named suits. The normals are basically mopped up, and there's this breaker that is made out of water being a pain in the behind." Behind? I wondered. Emma's probably spending too much time around Riley. "He can't do much, but he's really durable. We're having trouble hitting him hard enough to hurt him, without accidentally killing him. And frankly, I think our combat team is showboating a bit. Other than that, there's nothing to worry about."


"Thanks," Lisa answered. "Tell them that the other missions are almost done, and they're going to be last if they don't hurry up." Lisa switch communications without waiting for Emma to respond. "Aceso, status report?"


"Not good," Riley answered. Riley, not Clarice, that's bad. I realized then how happy I was to hear it was bad news. "We found Haze." Oh, he's one of the bad ones. "His powers are a lot stronger than anything our intel suggested. Missy's been injured. I've stabilized her, but even with healing, she won't be able to contribute for the rest of the battle. Clarice has been destroyed. Theo's declared the mission a failure and is running a rescue mission to pull Adamant out of the battlefield."


"Understood," Lisa answered. She looked over at me. "Both those missions went well in the other timeline. But..." she didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to, I knew what she was saying.


"You said Coil's power doesn't work right on us, didn't you?" I begged. "You don't know..."


"We know enough," Lisa said softly. "Butcher going to Taylor instead of Crystal was probably as much luck as it was anything else. A moment of hesitation might have been all it took for Taylor to be too late. Even if we don't know that Coil's right, that means it's just as likely that Taylor did the same thing in that reality as she did in this one. She was counting on this, you know. Taylor gets what she wants, no matter what it takes."


I smiled sadly. "She really does, doesn't she?" Warm tears came to my eyes. One of the things I loved most about her. One of the things I hated most as well. "It's still my command to give, isn't it?"


Lisa didn't say anything, she knew that I already knew that. That amount of lives lost was not an option.


I spent several minutes watching the fog cloud slowly dissipating. There wouldn't even be enough identifiable material to call what we buried a body. Damn you, Taylor. "Tell Coil we're keeping this timeline."


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


A/N- Not a lot to comment on with this one.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 163- Lisa


"Tell Coil we're keeping this timeline," Amelia managed to choke out. I was almost tempted to hug her. To apologize for my failure to see this coming. How did I miss something so important? Taylor hid behaviors, power forced to rely upon models instead of indicators. Models inaccurate due to influence of Taylia on personality corrupting the behavior. Greater personality regression than anticipated. Impossible to predict. I tried to take solace in the knowledge that I couldn't do anything, but if anything it only made me feel worse.


I called Coil. Or, more properly, I called the line where the Directors were waiting for news. Calvert was amongst them, at the Boston site, alongside the various political leaders and whatnot. Both cities would have speeches and press conferences and all that stuff ready for the evening news. They probably wrote everything days ago, right after I contacted them.


"Minerva here," I said over the phone to their teleconferences. "Primary mission successful. Butcher has been successfully removed to classified location. All parahuman resistance at Boston site has been eliminated. You're clear to move in. Be prepared for the possibility of nonpowered resistance. Secondary New York missions are still ongoing."


There was cheering in the background. It was Butcher that was the biggest problem. The rest of the gang would be demoralized and likely fairly easy to break up and take down in smaller missions over the course of the next few days, if they were't beaten immediately. I would also need to consult Accord about the missions his Ambassadors were sent on. Lowest risk missions, mopping up drug and prostitution rings. But, ultimately, even if everything else was a failure, they'd call this mission a success.


How New York's location went wrong, I wasn't terribly surprised. We had been torn on that one. It was the worst odds, with only a 75% chance of success. Still no risk of any permanent harm to our team. Or at least that's what Dinah had said. She also said we'd get out of this one without losing anyone. Power works by sampling possible futures. Power works based upon her mental imagery. Cannot parse something she doesn't personally comprehend. Needs concepts or faces to perceive events related to them. Dinah would have no means to realize clones even existed. Perception does not view clones as different people.


I cringed. Well, that's one mystery down.


....


"Okay, first is how we divide our teams," I told the gathered forces of Pantheon. "We have a very narrow margin of time for this mission, Dinah's models place our best odds at Friday, between 4 and 4:30. After that, they plummet down to the levels they were last week. We may never get another shot at this. Amelia, you're going to be on the anti-Butcher team. To provide additional ordinance if Taylor runs out during the battle and to keep Butcher thoroughly unconscious once she's disabled. There's no sense in having both our healers at the same location, so Aceso is assigned to New York."


"Makes sense," Taylor agreed. "I'll be going to Boston as well." Concerned for Amelia's safety. Asserting position before argument can be made to countermand it. Wants to be part of the main mission. "Naturally my power means I'll be providing command support in both locations, but Butcher is a dangerous opponent... you won't be able to rely on me once I've engaged her."


"All the Moirai are going to New York," I continued. Lily is frustrated at the lack of influence, similar to Taylor, wants to be on important mission, views secondary mission as 'beneath her'. Already resentful due to a lack of being consulted beforehand. "We can't risk our precog-disruption suits potentially interfering with Dinah's predictions. Not with such high likelyhood of success. And I think we can all agree that the further away from Atropos that the Butcher remains, the safer the whole world will feel."


Sabah looked over to Lily, rightfully worried, and wrapped her arm around her girlfriend. Everyone else was no doubt running the same thoughts through their head. The Butcher. In Azrael. There were no words for how terrifying that was. It partially mollified the pair, at least. "Lily, you know New York better than any of us, you'll be a team leader, probably with the Adepts, if you're okay with that."


"I can handle that," Lily agreed. Happy with decision, glad to be in a position of trust. Still dislikes being part of a secondary goal, but properly intimidated by the prospect of becoming host to Butcher. This wasn't going to be a permanent solution, of course, but it was a good patch for now. Hopefully it would allow Lily to feel less like an outsider.


"Zach's respawning power and the new teleportation tech is integral to locking the Butcher down long enough to defeat her," I continued. "And Crystal's the only heavy hitter we have that can be relied upon to disable the Butcher without accidentally inheriting her powers." No arguments from that part of the plan.


"Theo, you'll go to New York," I continued. That made him and Missy very happy. "Your durability won't mean anything to Butcher's powers. Your powers will be put to better use against the Teeth's heavy hitters in that area."


"Emma... you and I are the wildcards," I continued. "You could be an asset to the Butcher team, looking for tells in her power and giving Amelia ideas. So could I, in a similar but different manner. I'll have to consult with Dinah about which gives the best odds. Either way, be prepared to listen in, even if you're in the New York team. So I'll need you at all detailed mission planning for both teams." That wasn't true. Coil's split timelines would let us use both plans simultaneously.


"I can do that," Emma agreed eagerly. Still desperate to please, feels guilty over her indirect part in Amelia and Taylor's breakup. Insecure and worried about being blamed. Worried that she may be legitimately responsible, hopes to find a way to fix the problem.


"Now, Chariot, I'd like you to work with Accord's team..." I continued.


....


I made the difference, I realized. I was there. Probably because I alerted Taylor to Butcher attempting to compel Crystal into murdering her. Taylor must not have realized the danger in time, in the other timeline.


I called Riley. "Are you free to talk?" I asked. "When you are, I need a full mission briefing."


"Yes," she answered. "Haze isn't an illusionist. His power is similar to Labyrinth. They're mostly immaterial, but still fully 'there' according to all of Clarice's senses. They even interfered with Adamant, who we had expected to also be immune. It'll be in my report to the PRT, along with a recommendation to raise him from a six to an eight."


I sighed. There wasn't anything my power would tell me on that angle, but chances were good that if I were there, I could have adapted to the discovery. I could picture how I would have made the difference in that mission by simple imagination. "That's good to know, please go on."


"His power also seems to extend outside the cloud he generates. I don't know if the cloud is even necessary at all, or something he does to bluff his enemies," she added. Unnecessary detail, providing it to put next detail into context. "In the confusion of the battle, he managed to trick Atropos into shooting Lachesis and Horus with an empowered bolt."


Oh fuck. "You said something about her being stable?"


"I fixed her, for the most part," Riley explained. "She could recover naturally, now. But I'd like my big sister to speed the process." Doesn't need to make that request, there's no doubt that Amelia would heal Missy at earliest opportunity. Missy was hurt more badly than Riley's words would indicate. Riley is upset and angry. Blames Lily. Afraid of her thoughts and impulses. Correction: Afraid of how Amelia or Missy will respond. Feels lost. Needs comfort and guidance.


I looked over Amelia, who just stared blankly at scene where Taylor died. Not an option. "I..." do not tell Riley that Taylor died. "I'm afraid Amelia's still dealing with Butcher's defeat," I informed the girl. It was true enough to beat any lie detector. Riley knew how we needed Amelia to make sure Butcher stayed under control. "Is Missy conscious?"


"No," Riley admitted reluctantly. I already knew that would be the answer.


"Okay," I said. "Put her in one of the generic Yggdrasil outfits. Talk to Emma to see who can spare one. Then Amelia will be able to do her thing at range. It's the best we'll be able to do until Missy's able to set up her warp tunnels."


"Okay," Riley agreed.


I contacted Emma immediately. "So, everything cleared up?"


"Yeah," Emma answered. "Your advice worked perfectly. Riley's calling, want me to put her on with us?"


About damn time something went right. "No. She's really upset right now. Missy's wounded and Amelia's really distracted. Do your best to make her feel better. Consider this the most important job you've had all day."


"Uh..." Emma hesitated. "Oh. Oh fuck."


Say what you will about her, she knew how to figure out social subtext quickly. Even if her presence on the team is what ensured that Riley and Taylor were competing for second place in any theoretical contest for most fucked up psyche in Pantheon. I cut the com so she could talk to Riley. Hopefully that'll be enough. How did everything go this wrong?


I went back to those thoughts. I didn't have much choice, did I? My best friend killed herself. Like my brother killed himself. I tried to help her, like I tried to help him. He pushed me away, she pushed me away. I failed. I failed miserably. I need to know why.


It's my fault, I knew that much. If I hadn't been here, Taylor wouldn't have done this. Taylor claimed she planned to apologize and make up with Amelia. Would have restored Taylia. Would not have been willing to self sacrifice. Would have tried, but hesitated. Taylia could have been restored sooner, was delayed because of Butcher mission. Reason success existed in such a narrow margin.


Dinah's numbers changed the day Amelia and Taylor broke up. Changed back the day Taylor and Amelia would have reconciled. Had they reconciled sooner, predictions would have reverted to failure of Butcher mission.


Dinah should not be able to anticipate Taylia. Doesn't need to. Dinah's power works around the Taboo by technicality. Uses a different method than other precognition powers. Accidental consequence of shard's true function being corrupted. Unanticipated by the Entities. Partially unfettered power. Dinah can be used to fight Scion directly, despite Taboo.


That was amazingly useful information, and somehow I couldn't force myself to care. Taylia could have saved my best friend. It it were active, then Dinah never would have given this mission a chance at success. I was responsible for taking that away. Her death is my fault.


I didn't scream, I didn't cry, I didn't weep. Those were things that other people did. I wasn't sure I even knew how to express myself openly, even in a situation like this. I broke quietly, looking at what little remained of my closest, arguably only real, friend. Everything went black.


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


A/N- Aaand THIS chapter.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 164


We were magnificent. We could not appreciate it, but we were magnificent. A mere moment of our cosmic dance would require centuries to express to a human mind, and all its glory meant nothing to us.


I fell to my knees, rocked with the vision. It was the first time I could remember seeing them. Breaking the Taboo meant I kept new memories, it offered nothing to allow me to restore ones I'd lost before. More than just that, I'd seen me. Correction: It. My Passenger at work. My human mind couldn't truly handle it. It was so complete, so significant, so connected into an incomprehensibly beautiful whole.


And yet it felt so meaningless and alone. Even here, grieving over Taylor. Even losing Victoria, both times. Even at my worst day, I still felt like I was more than my Passenger. At least I was. Just that. Was. Am. Its sense of self could be compared to that of a cheap gas station lighter, and that might be an insult to the lighter.


I shuddered as I pulled my mind back to the awareness of my own body, and my power as it expressed itself. I was connected to a world, a tiny world that compared to an Entity the way a golf ball compares to a human. There were less than ten people on this world, and yet that made it more meaningful than the Entities and their singular, rapacious, purpose could ever be. I was never so certain of what needed to be done, even if I was less certain of how to achieve that goal than ever before.


There was laughter behind me, a hysterical, pained sound. I turned to see Lisa, on her back and holding her hands over her face.


I wasn't sturdy enough to climb to my feet, so at a thought the Yggdrasil rose and swelled, pushing me to my feet. Still unsteady, I walked over to her. "Did you see that? Do you remember it?"


She calmed herself, and removed her hands to look at me. "I remember it," she confirmed, and I was relieved at that news. She is past the Taboo. She slowly sat up. "I remember every. Fucking. Thing."


I didn't know what to say, but her behavior was starting to frighten me.


"You just saw a Second Trigger," Lisa laughed darkly. "And probably a Third as well. Was it as as wonderful for you as it was for me?"


I cringed at the memories. None of them were good, although they certainly inspired a lot of wonder. "Terrific," I answered dryly. I meant that in every sense of the word, especially the archaic. I trusted Lisa would be smart enough to get the meaning. Good god, she triggered over this.


I knew triggers were harsh. Mine was ugly. Victoria's was, too, even if she liked to laugh it off and pretend it was less of a deal than it really was. And I knew second triggers were even worse. The fact that I didn't get one when I saw Victoria's... body... left me dreading what it would take to push me over. And Lisa just had one over Taylor's death. I didn't even know how to react.


"Riley's going to be fucking thrilled," Lisa continued. "Imagine all that data she'll have. Parahuman brain scan, then three hours later a Trigger. She'll forget all about how Atropos shot Missy and Theo, and we'll have to use a spatula to peel her off my backup recording."


"Wait, back up," I said. "Lily shot them? Why?"


"Stupidity," Lisa answered. "Remember how she was all 'grr, you hide things from me' and we were 'sorry, won't happen again' and it happened again and she was royally pissed and I thought 'hey, let's put her in charge of something that doesn't really matter so she feels important'?"


"Yeah," I prompted her to continue.


"Well, turns out she cracks under pressure," Lisa answered. "Okay, that's not entirely fair to her. She was under the influence of mind altering powers coupled with a scary spider monster that she believed was quite literally eating her girlfriend's face."


"Fuck," I muttered. "Wait, how do you know that?"


"That's my new power at work," she answered, the hysterical rambling energy slowly draining from her voice. "I can tell you what happened to this planet. Or make a guess, at least. My money's on giant fucking solar flare. I'm actually watching the sky burn right now, as we speak. It'd be beautiful if it wasn't a planet on fire around me."


I reached my hand out to help her up. She looked at me, probably judging intentions. She reached out and took it, allowing me to pull her up, while I melded our armors so that I could make actual contact, assessing her condition. It wasn't quite what I had with Taylor, but I could still pick out emotions this way. The colors of grief, in all its stages, ran through her.


"Aren't you suppose to ask permission before you pull something like that?" she asked. It wasn't a friendly comment, but it lacked any real conviction of anger. Mostly she just felt tired. The blend of denial, depression and acceptance that comes from someone who has given up entirely.


"Sorry," I said, still peeking around inside her. I stopped to look at her brain, the patterns of her gemma and pollentia. The changes weren't subtle, they did outright damage to the portions of the brain around them. Swelling and bruising, but patterned and clearly artificial. Done with a purpose. Rerouting additional bloodflow into the Coronas. Compensating the rest of the brain by altering it in bits and pieces throughout. I've seen this before, I realized. Taylor's brain was altered the same way. Grue's, too, but his was altered in a bunch of ways, thanks to Crawler's power. And Riley's.


"Find what you're looking for?" she asked.


"Yeah," I answered. "I know what a second trigger looks like, now. I... I might even be able to induce them on purpose. Even push them beyond. A legitimate third trigger, instead of breaking the memory blocks."


Her smile was anything but happy. "Well, lucky everyone who doesn't go through it the natural way."


"That can wait," I said. "Right now I need to make sure you're okay."


"You don't care about me," Lisa retorted. She wasn't wrong.


"You're Taylor's friend," I answered. "That's more than enough reason for me to care. Right now, we need to be strong. For her. And if that means helping each other, then you better believe we're going to help each other."


"Fine," she agreed. "Now could you please remove your hand. My power's... well, if I thought it was easy to get too much information before? I'm learning things about what you do with your hands that I already could have figured out, but now I can watch it happening."


Oh. Oh! Eww! I blushed and looked away as I pulled my hand back as fast as the fused armor systems would allow me. "Sorry."


"We will never speak of it again," Lisa insisted. "Ever."


"I can live with that," I still couldn't look at her. "What are we going to do about... about Taylor..."


"Privately? I don't know," Lisa replied. "We will have her backup to deal with. You'll have to decide how much you want to share with her. We can't keep the Butcher a secret from her, she's too smart and that's going to be all over every media until the next time we do something high profile and supposedly impossible. She'll figure out what happened, at least in a general sense."


I nodded. That was definitely true. Hiding her death from her copy would be idiotic and impossible.


"The real question is what we tell her about her personal life," Lisa continued. "How bad your fight was. The Taylia link being broken. Our suspicion that her suicide was planned and on purpose. I don't have any answers for that. You know this Taylor better than I have ever known anyone. I'm conceding that I fucked up and can't be trusted with this. It's all going to be on you from now on."


I swallowed, coating my throat with some much needed moisture. She's not admitting she was wrong, so much as saying she's given up, I realized. She's stopped caring. I couldn't bring myself to call her on that... there was still so much more to worry about. "What about what we tell everyone else?"


"Cover it up. Cover it up like Stormtiger covers up his Brazilian ancestry," she replied. "We'll even hide it from our team, where possible. Emma and Riley will need to know. If at all possible, no one else ever finds out. We use the excuse that containing Butcher took more effort than we anticipated, requiring us to spend all our efforts keeping her contained until we could imprison her properly on that so-called 'prison planet' we found. That'll buy us a few days of relative silence. We then pray that Taylor's clone doesn't inherit our mutual best friend's spare guests when she wakes up."


"And if she does?" I asked.


"Then unless your newfound brain knowledge proves useful, we do what we promised to do, and leave her there to die alone," Lisa whispered so softly that only my armor's systems let me hear the words. It was like a punch in the stomach.


"Fuck," I felt myself trying to cry, but I'd long ago run out of tears to shed. "God damn it, Taylor. Why did you do this to m... us?"


Lisa rested a hand on my shoulder, separated by two sets of bullet proof battle armor. "You will probably never know the real answer to that question," she told me. If this was Lisa trying to be comforting, then she had a worse bedside manner than I did.


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


A/N- Clearly Lisa's talking about being able to see Amelia wiping herself after going to the bathroom.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 165


I examined Missy's body with my power, even though it was difficult from this kind of distance. Maybe if I were in a better headspace. But after Taylor's death, and Lisa's second trigger, I just wasn't able to concentrate. She's lost a lot of blood, I realized first. And over half the blood she does have isn't even her own, it's a combination of blood substitute and a uniquely modified blood type I'd only ever seen in one person. That's how I was able to piece together the scenario. Riley is using herself as a life support machine.


I started the mending process, restoring Missy's punctured heart. Converting the material from her suit's life support layer into extra protein and raw material. Drawing upon the oxygenated blood substitute and converting it to natural, human, blood. Filtering out between her and Riley would be impossible, I'd have to trust Riley to know when things had progressed far enough for her to extract herself from whatever system she cobbled together.


I moved on to the other, incidental, damage. There was minor oxygen loss to the brain, but nothing likely to be dangerous. Especially given our neural repair technology, and the memory backups. If she woke up any time soon, it would be with a truly legendary headache, but otherwise fine. Then there were a number of other dents and injuries to worry about. Some old enough that I had to wonder why she never had me fix them before. The girl was virtually covered in scars and old injuries. I chose not to undo those, but I'd have to ask her why she never asked me to fix them.


It was during this that Zach and Crystal shunted back over.


Lisa had retired to sitting, waiting for news from the other fronts. Theo was still running the rescue mission, and that made theirs the last that was still running ongoing.


Crystal simply plopped down on the Yggdrasil, making no attempt to talk. It was comfortable enough to use as a bed, and clean enough, too. She looked exhausted, and since it was my power telling me this, I trusted its judgment. Even Zach looked tired.


"So," Zach started. "Mind telling us what the fuck just happened? Crystal was freaking out so hard about how she thought she was going to go insane that I thought she was about to go insane. And you didn't even notice that our systems were damaged by that attack that killed the Butcher."


I cringed. It was true, we forgot all about them. "Sorry," I said with absolutely no feeling.


Zach reached into the container pouch and pulled out a burnt human leg. I probably should have been upset by that, but I'd just watched by best friend explode. "I brought the body," he continued. "There was more, but I got hungry while waiting. Apparently Taylor did, too, because she got to everything else, including the bones."


I smiled at that. Taylor had the funniest ways of being being thoughtful, and making sure no one could find Butcher's body when none of the rest of us were even thinking about such things was insanely helpful. "Taylor's dead."


"Fuck me," Zach swore. "What happened?"


"She overrode my suit," Crystal finally spoke. "I was too messed up to notice, but she did, didn't she? That's why I didn't become the Butcher, because she did it first. She sacrificed herself for me."


I couldn't think of what to say to that. Fuck, that has to be... "No," I finally spoke. "Taylor had her own reasons for doing what she did. She wasn't really thinking about you when she did it." She wasn't thinking about anyone other than me.


Crystal didn't say anything. I doubted she was convinced.


"She had her backup, right?" Zach asked. "She'll back up and running as her usual self in no time. We'll just have to wake her up tell her that she shared a room with me for a night, and a brain with a bunch of psychopaths for a few minutes. Like a wild night of binge drinking. Just with a lower chance of STDs."


"A week," Lisa corrected. "She apparently decided that she wasn't going to update her copy since she was so upset with how last week had gone for her, so she's missed out on the last week."


"Okay," Zach hesitated. "Well, what happened this week? She missed out on her ex boyfriend being a fucktard."


"Not an ex," I corrected instinctively. Defensively. "They never dated, which means he can't be her ex." I didn't need Lisa to tell me why I felt I had to correct him of that. And only part of it was my feelings for her. I saw what he had become. The less we had in common, the happier I was.


"Fair enough," he responded. "And... we killed the Butcher. You made a really sexy grotto, but that's fine since you haven't broken it in yet so she didn't miss out on anything fun. Was this before or after she decided to be all friendly with Emma? Because if it was before... she's gonna think we're punking the shit out of her. All in all, not a big deal. Hey, we should totally make weird shit up that she won't believe. Maybe wear monkey costumes and pretend humans are our slaves."


I didn't say anything. Zach was ignoring the important parts, and both of us knew it. Just that conversation we had the other day alone was huge and left completely unsaid. Probably better that way. I simply nodded. Zach had just told me that he wouldn't say anything important about what happened over this week to Taylor, without actually saying anything. I'd have to find a way to thank him.


He sat down next to Crystal. "So... now what?"


"Lachesis got injured, so we won't be relying on space warping to get us around," Lisa answered. "We could ask Dragon to give us a ride, or we could take a more traditional mode of transit. Not a whole lot for us to do, really."


"Probably gonna have to shunt back over and chat with the locals," I sighed. "We're trying to keep Taylor's death a secret. Don't need the media hearing about it. Should probably keep it from the rest of the team, too. Story is, she and I are keeping Butcher contained for now."


"Which isn't completely untrue," Lisa added.


"We can buy a couple more days just by, well, me not being seen much," I added. "Let people draw the obvious conclusions."


"You two do have a pattern of vanishing from the public eye for a few days every time we have an important success," Crystal volunteered. "PHO has a meme or two hundred implying that your idea of romance involves violent conflicts. They phrase it a little differently, however."


I sighed. "You're not kidding, are you?"


"Well, to be fair, the story does sorta write itself," Zach added. "Normal romance: start a conversation while waiting in a bank. Pantheon romance: start a conversation while robbing a bank. Normal first date: going to a movie with friends. Pantheon first date: going to an Endbringer with friends."


"There's dozens of them," Crystal confirmed. "More if you include the ones about New Delhi that keep getting banned. You can thank Clarice for that little 'kill Endbringers, then get married' blurb to the press. It's been translated into almost as many languages as the bible. Mostly after we proved we could actually back up the words with results."


"Why does she get all the credit?" Zach pouted. "I was the one who posted a six page article culminating in mathematical proof that for their fifth wedding anniversary, they would conquer Russia in the middle of December. A lot of work went into that!"


What? I determined that my method of thanking Zach for earlier would be by not dissolving his armor and forcing him to walk back to Brockton Bay. And even that might be overly generous. "Okay," I said dryly. "So while all of that that is both convenient and horrible. One of us should really talk to the authorities. This is kind of a big deal and all."


"I'm not up for it," Crystal sighed. "Does Butcher's mind power have any long term side effects?"


I really wasn't ready to talk to the public, either, even without my convenient excuse of needing to stay hidden for now. And I knew for a certainty that Lisa wasn't.


"I can do it," Zach volunteered.


"It can wait," Lisa muttered. "Calvert will be more than happy to play spokesperson and brag about whatever. In fact, the more limelight we give to the PRT and politicos, the happier all of them will be. I'll let them think we're doing them a 'personal favor' and play on it for some future considerations. Meanwhile, we can play on Pantheon's rep for being elusive and mysterious. Win-win for all involved."


God knows we could use more of those, I thought.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 166


The plan was always for us to stay behind after the battles, to meet with the heroes and our assimilated villain-cum-hero allies. The plan always implied it was likely I wouldn't be part of the group that did those visits. Keeping the Butcher disabled before pickup was something no one could object to, and almost no one other than I could achieve. And so, gratefully, I stayed behind. With my thoughts. On an almost literally empty world. Our world, now. Legally.


Shunting Butcher off to a prison dimension was a secret part of the plan that only a few knew about: Costa-Brown, Dragon, and a handful of heads of state. Not even the other Directors, all they knew was we had a plan to neutralize her powers and keep her contained. But now our inter-dimensional travel secret was, at least unofficially, out of the bag. We'd soon have to debate what to do with our portal tech, how to petition off worlds to the various nations that might need it. Namely, all of them. The initial agreements included two things: a single new world, with hundreds of portals, which would acknowledge the same legal boundaries as our own planet. And that we would never open gates to worlds with humans without unanimous agreement.


There would be debates, of course. Negotiations. Treaties. Bribes and backstabbing. Possibly even wars of the literally inter-dimensional variety. Lisa had assured me that Pantheon's world being acknowledged as its own sovereign nation would be approved. Especially since that was, functionally, all that we asked. It meant we could claim other worlds during all future arrangements, as well.


Crystal, at least, stayed with me. She was also my 'flight home', after all. Boston wasn't that far away from Brockton Bay, we didn't really need Missy for that. Of course, now I had armor that could fly on its own, which was beyond awesome, but I didn't have Crystal's speed. Very few of us did, and my armor needed a lot of disposable mass associated with it to really exploit my powers, so she had a hand gripped onto my back and was, functionally, pushing me along.


Or, really, guiding my fall. Antigravity is a weird flight system.


"How are you holding up?" she asked me as we started along.


"Badly," I admited. "We're going home to replace my dead sorta-ex sorta-girlfriend with a copy of her made when we were still together, sorta. I am not prepared to deal with this kind of weirdness. No one is. Except maybe Zach."


"That kid reads the strangest stuff," Crystal agreed. "He got me hooked on this one asian comic that has a guy who turns into a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water. And his dad's a panda, and that's actually the least strange part of the story."


"Some weird cape story?" I asked. I'd heard of a few crazy ones, but like most parahumans I hated reading them. They were just mind numbingly stupid and clearly written by people who did't even ask a cape what things are really like.


"No," she replied. "No capes, just magic. Pretty much pretends parahumans don't exist. Also pretends police officers don't exist. And, for that matter, all laws of both man and nature. Or the very idea of consequences for your actions. It's really god awful by any and all literary standards, but it's fucking addictive both as a comedy and a will-they/won't-they romance. Just as long as you don't allow yourself to think about it."


"Sounds like something Victoria would read religiously," I tried to smile.


"Yeah... are you guys really going to be able to bring her back?" Crystal asked.


"Got permission from mom and dad to at least try a few days ago," I confirmed. "There's still legal mumbo jumbo, with the whole exhuming thing. Normally that would take months to work out. But it's being fast tracked by the PRT and Protectorate. They are really hoping this works. Some of their own are glassed, too. Plus others who've been transformed by other means. If this works, there will be a couple dozen others to bring back."


"Makes sense," Crystal agreed.


"And it implies we'll be able to make our resurrection tech available to others," I added. "Which is its own fucking ethical nightmare. We literally cannot do this for everyone, so how do we decide who deserves it and who doesn't? Heroes are one thing, sounds easy enough. What of the villains who fight to do something noble despite being horrible? Like Kaiser? He was there for Leviathan. Would we have extended the backup tech to him, if we had it then? Then we move to civilians. Billionaires and Heads of State with serial immortality? Is that the world we're going to create?"


"Fuck," Crystal muttered. "That's terrifying. This technology really does change everything, doesn't it? At least we won't have to ask ourself about giving it to sickos like Jack Slash and Genoscythe the Eye Raper, right? They can fucking remain in hell."


"That's better than nothing, I guess," I sighed. "So... how about you? Are you okay?"


"Not really," she admitted. "Butcher really scared me. The pain was insane, but that wasn't really the bad part. Nothing I haven't been through before. I've never been so angry before in my life. I've never been so afraid. I knew what I was doing, the whole time. That I was killing her, and what would happen when I succeeded. But I just couldn't bring myself to care about it. If... if I didn't have her there as a target, I would have found and killed someone with my bare hands and loved every second of it."


Fuck. "Fuck," I replied. "That..." I had no words.


"Yeah, I know I'm 'backed up' and all," Crystal continued. "But I keep asking myself questions. What if something went wrong? What if what comes out isn't right? Fuck, even if everything is correct, I can't really think of that copy as 'me', y'know?"


"I know," I agreed. Crystal must have heard the worry in my voice.


"Fuck!" she muttered. "That was beyond insensitive. I'm sure she'll be..."


"Don't worry about it," I interrupted. "We all knew there was a risk, even if it was a small one thanks to Dinah. If it wasn't now, there's next time. Or the time after. If nothing else, there are still more Endbringers. Simurgh made it pretty fucking clear we're not immortal."


"Y... yeah," Crystal mumbled.


"And now I'm being beyond insensitive," I apologized. "It's easy to forget there are emotional consequences, even if we make it out physically."


"I remember when this used to be fun," Crystal sighed. "Go out, zap Hookwolf in the face a few times, he runs off, day is saved. Even if you lose, he's not going to do anything more than talk shit to his skinhead buddies and let you limp away with your bruises and cuts. It was... like a game, y'know? I know it sounds stupid when you say it like that, but it really was. Now? We have an 'undo death' option, and weapons that put us in the same conversations as the Triumvirate. But I've never been this fucking terrified in a fight before."


"The Unwritten Rules," I suggested. "Lisa could explain it better, but basically heroes and villains had their fights, but they're all pretty minor. Everyone pulls their punches. Except for a few rare psychos like the Slaughterhouse Nine, no one wants to rock the boat for fear of sinking the whole ship and ruining things for everyone. Sounded so goddamn naive and trite when she said it. I just dismissed it at her trying to justify being a supervillain like it didn't really make her a criminal."


"I could really go for some of that right about now," Crystal sighed. "What happened? When did it all change? When did our lives become so fucked up that I'd rather be fighting Hookwolf in my underwear, than even going out in costume wearing an armor that gives me all the functional powers of a god? Even Leviathan wasn't this frightening. I knew I would be there and do my job, but I wasn't important enough to honestly matter in that battle. No expectations that I could make the difference."


I happened, I thought. The Entities didn't want us destroying ourselves, it doesn't give them enough time to gather results. The plan was a slow burning cold war. I got past their controls, went forward without thinking about consequences, found a partner like Taylor with a similar inability to consider consequences, and by the time anyone knew what we were doing, we were too strong to put down. Now we're in freefall and there's nowhere left to go but forward. None of that was anything I could say to my cousin.


"I think this is what the Simurgh planned as the result of New Delhi," I suggested. Not untrue, really. "The Rules no longer apply and this country is heading face first into a parahuman civil war on a scale that threatens to end the United States as a nation."


"Sounds like the Simurgh," Crystal agreed. "Who else would think they could destroy the United States by setting India on fire?"


"We have to run damage control," I continued. "We might not be able to stop the war, but at the very least we keep things from getting so bad that they collapse entirely. And to do that, we have to keep breaking those rules. Hitting so hard that no one dares fuck with us."


"Is this what they mean by 'peacekeeping' in the military?" Crystal sighed. "Do you think Alexandria thinks about shit like this?"


I shrugged. "Probably," I admitted.


"She's been doing this for like twenty years, now," Crystal muttered. "No wonder she's such an irritable uptight bitch."


I hadn't thought about it that way, before. "I guess Taylor and I are the same way," I agreed. "Doing what we have to do, no matter how much damage we cause in the process. Fuck, look at New Delhi. Even when we thought each Endbringer was a continental suicide bomb waiting to go off, we were still thinking about killing the other two. A couple billion or so more lives, half our planet pretty much destroyed. That... that we could even contemplate such an act."


"You wouldn't have done it," Crystal insisted. "We'd have found another way, like pushing them through to already dead worlds and killing them there. Or just closing the doorway and leaving them trapped there."


"Maybe," I said. But if we didn't have a solution by the time the next one came around, if the portals didn't work on Endbringers the way almost nothing seemed to work on them. We would have gone through with killing them the normal way. "What about Scion?"


"Can't you do the same thing?" she asked.


"No," I sighed. "He's like Eidolon, but without limitations. Any power he wants, as long as it exists. Including a few that are so unbelievably dangerous that he would never give them to us. It's likely any battle with him is going to cost us multiple worlds. Dinah says we'll lose billions."


"Dinah also said we'd walk away with the Butcher trapped in another dimension, and all our friends alive and well," Crystal reminded me. "I'm pretty sure none of that worked out, either."


"Didn't it?" I asked. "We got Butcher removed from our dimension. Missy's death was easily reversed. Taylor's death is... to us, she loses the last week of her life and everything that implies about our breakup and possible makeup. To her she wakes up from a dream to a bunch of people who have memories of things she never did and never will do... to us, that makes her dead. To Dinah, she's incapacitated for a day or two at the most."


"This is all so fucked up," Crystal concluded.


"We might be able to stop," I added. "There is the chance that Dragon or Cauldron piece together the winning resources. Or someone else. Dinah's predictions say there are five possible contestants at the end with strength enough to be the ones that end the threat that is Scion. We can back out and trust the others."


"No we can't," Crystal corrected. "It may be physically possible. But you and Taylor aren't the types that can let others be responsible for anything. This is the fate of the world, of every world, at stake. The whole fucking universe if what you know about their lifecycle is true. It makes you some of the most important people in the fucking multiverse just being on the list of people that might find a way to stop it. People like me, we can't handle that kind of pressure. People like the two of you can't handle anything less."

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 167- Lisa


Missy arrived with Emma and an incredibly concerned looking Riley and Theo in tow. I could tell Theo was injured, probably fairly badly. He's going to be in a lot of pain without Amelia's help, I realized. And our need to keep Taylor's death a secret means he'll be going a while without that help. I felt bad, but there wasn't much choice.


I looked at Missy, extending my new power to her, first. I paid enough for it, may as well play a bit. Bits and pieces of data filtered in. Images in the form of concept more than something audio or visual. Argument with her mother before coming, too faded to pick up details. Her injury, but very little surrounding the event. Those didn't stick out as much as her date with Theo last week. A kiss on the cheek? I could see the moment when she quit the Wards so clearly that it was like it happened then and there. I smiled as Piggot's fat rolled while she tumbled to the ground. There's an image I am going to cherish for a long time.


Missy's trigger event, which I chose not to actually look at, stood out like an inferno. Why? I wondered, then turned my original power on the question. Postcognition is extension of usual inference powerset. Postcognition locates and refines data based upon interactions with the environment. Senses events of significant emotional impact. Correction, significant formative impact. Greater impacts leave longer and clearer data trails.


I accepted that that made sense. I could see the death of this world, despite it being millions of years ago, because it was the death of a world. Trigger events, too, would be huge details. My power accidentally gives me the ability to detect parahumans, I realized. Not accidental. Second trigger relates to a need to correct flaw in power resulting in emotional reaction identical to primary trigger. Primary trigger related to helplessness at losing brother to suicide.


Current stress related to parahumans and parahuman abilities, primarily the 'Taylia' link. Power refined to respond to parahuman threats. Trump ability. Trump abilities common in second triggers. Trump abilities result from trigger events caused by parahumans. Second trigger resultant from Taylor's suicide and need to understand the reasons. Second trigger cause identical to primary trigger cause in all cases.


I was floored. My power just gave me direct insight into how the Passengers operated. A lot of insight, actually. Things that, in retrospect, should have been obvious. Things that must have triggered Taboo, before. I actually smiled. Even as I started to cry, I was smiling. Congratulations, Taylor, you'd probably consider this final proof that you did the right thing by killing yourself.


"Are you okay?" Riley asked. I did NOT point my new power at Riley. That was something I don't think my mind could handle, seeing Riley 'at work'. I thanked every star that I had to deliberately look to use my postcognition. The fact that it was pushing me toward a tinker headache after mere minutes worth of actual use made me a little less happy, but I could live with that.


"I'll cope," I replied to Riley's question. I turned my usual power on the new one again. Range limitation exists. Manton Effect. Large population of living variables greatly diminishes power's range and detail. Likely to be limited to days on Bet, save for trigger events. "The mission didn't go quite as well as we hoped. We'll need to send Emma back to base as soon as possible, then we can go back "


"Was someone else hurt?" Missy asked.


"Not seriously," I lied, willing Riley to keep the secret. I could beat the standard suit lie detection, but I doubted I could fool Riley. Fortunately she didn't say anything about it. I knew she'd ask later. "We had a few complications involving the Butcher and could use her skills. I've extended my apologies to Director Calvert about us abandoning Boston after the fight. They were understanding of our need to deal with Butcher and the... less than successful mission in New York."


My power shared all four of their opinions on how badly Atropos fucked up. There was a damn good chance Riley might do something about it, and likely only Theo would try to talk her out of it. "I'm going to review all the recordings to figure out what happened, of course," I informed them. That wasn't strictly true, in that I probably didn't need to. Postcog worked faster. But I might have to, I had maybe a single dip into it for the day. I probably overtaxed it, already, all considered. I still needed my normal power, and they both ran off the same battery.


"Good," Missy responded. "So, need a trip back to New York?"


"Yes, please," I replied. "After getting Emma where she needs to go."


....


"I fucked up," Lily stated as soon as I walked into the room. She looked exhausted, miserable even. Well, that makes things enormously easier. She and Sabah were in their civilian clothing and sitting together, on a couch, although they rose immediately after Lily spoke up.


"Pretty badly, yeah," I agreed. Sugar coating things wasn't something I was good at. Maybe if I were, then Taylor... no. No. That was not a helpful road to go down. We won a fucking victory here, a lot of victories. Taylor didn't sacrifice her life, she sacrificed a week of memories. That's virtually nothing, in the grand scheme of things. Especially for a girl whose girlfriend can just keep adding new decades whenever she feels like it. "You'll understand if we don't put you in charge of any more missions, won't you?"


She closed her eyes. "No, that's fine," she agreed. Sabah held her, offering comfort. "I'm not cut out for leadership. I don't think there are many people on the team that would volunteer to be on a team I led, anyway. Just point me in the right direction and let me wreck some faces."


"We'll keep the worst of it quiet," I offered. "You can be forgiven for the shot that... wounded Theo and Missy. Your behavior around Shaman, on the other hand. That's the sort of thing I'd expect Zach to do." Except not, because Zach's actually shockingly good at being an idiot without be stupid about it.


"I know," she agreed. "Can... can we just go home now? I really don't want to be here anymore."


"Yeah," I agreed. "Our job's almost done here. The failure to remove one out of three major Teeth holdings in New York isn't a huge black mark on our organization. Butcher's been removed, and that's all the news is going to focus on. The remainders will need to face both the Adepts and Protectorate, both of whom are equipped with our armor suits. They could be difficult, but nothing the locals can't handle. Get some rest for a couple hours while I hammer out the various political garbage.

....


"You know what happened better than I do right now," Taylor mumbled through her partially paralyzed mouth. "Did she change so much in just a week? Do you believe she was attempting suicide?" 'She'. Is distinguishing between herself and the Taylor who died to stop the Butcher. Confused. Afraid. Worried we're angry. Taylor really did change a lot in that week where Taylia was removed. Almost as completely as she had in the the first week where Taylia was activated. To call her a different person was not an understatement. Worried about my opinion. Worried about our friendship. Still friends.


I extended my new power to her. Reaching for her past. That week was missing, of course, but I didn't need it. I'd been in Taylor's room. I'd examined her week. Punishing herself physically and mentally. Even paralyzed, this Taylor in front of me was more alive than that one had been. I looked further. Into the Taylor I had known amongst the Undersiders. Fuck, I couldn't even lie to myself and pretend Taylor had ever been happy, even for a moment, as part of our gang. We gave her goals, a sense of purpose, something to accomplish. All things that she craved. I could even rest assured that she saw us, or most of us at least, as friends that she could trust. Regent being an unsurprising exception. She was not, however, happy. At any point.


Still, even like this she was my friend. And she wanted to remain my friend, which was far better for me than her 'other' self had been. "No, I guess not," I lied, or as close as I was willing to lie to her. "Okay, she's cleared. You're safe to come out now."


Amelia opened her passage and stepped out, looking timid. Afraid to be disappointed like I had been disappointed. Taylor was overjoyed to see her. She hadn't looked at me like that when I talked to her. I don't know if anyone ever had, or ever would, look at me like that. I didn't use my power to find out. Neither of them noticed as I left the room. Not especially surprising, either.


....


I made my usual call to Dinah. She already got the report. The flaws our Butcher mission revealed in her powers. I had to tell her about our cloning tech and alternate dimension access, simply because it was the only way to prevent this kind of travesty from happening again. We'd still need clones in the future. At the very least, there were still Endbringers, who Dinah could not read in any significant fashion. But I wanted to prevent us from needing them any time soon.


"How do you like your gryffon?" I asked the girl.


"Typha is more than satisfactory," she answered. Tired, physically exhausted, physically sore. Spends several hours a day playing with or riding the creature. Sacrificing sleep. I smiled.


"Glad to hear it," I said. "Usual first question."


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


"That's good," I answered. "Chances the latest attack model on the Fallen in Houston and the surrounding region will prove successful."


"Ninety four point four percent chance of total victory, ninety nine point seven percent chance of acceptable levels of mission failure. Zero percent chance of significant harm to Pantheon members during mission."


That was the change to the question, 'significant harm' covered anything that took more than a day to recover from, including our powers as a factor. That wouldn't have stopped Missy's injury, but still, it would have caught Taylor's suicide. No surprise that no harm came in that mission, it amounted to 'everyone has lunch while Taylor cuts loose on the people who planned the murder of her children'.


"Eighty seven point four four percent chance of unacceptable long term fallout," Dinah concluded. Okay, back to the drawing board on that one, I marked on the notes. About a five percent improvement from last time. The poblem with Houston's Fallen is they had a couple of the most powerful parahumans on their team, including the low powered biokinetic/stranger, brute and mover calling himself Baal. He could have been a direct relative of the old Slaughterhouse Nine member known as 'King'. Touching people and turning them into a biological armor suit surrounding his body. A lot like Amelia's Dryad, but made from still living human flesh. More, he could use the material on his own body, healing injuries and boosting his physical and mental abilities temporarily.


Deploying anyone else put them in serious danger of fighting him. Putting everything on Taylor's shoulders resulted in huge casualties as Baal subsumed people en masse to fuel his power's need for biomass. I'd thrown a few ideas at the problem, but he was just too damn durable and versatile for an easy victory. That and his girlfriend Lilith was a precog didn't help matters in the slightest. Weaker than Dinah by far, but too strong to just sneak up on. Her powerset was a lot like what we pretended Aceso's powerset was. Either way, that continued to be a bust.


"How about the Tennessee Fallen?"


"Ninety eight percent chance of success, twelve percent chance of long term fallout, no risk," Dinah answered. That one was worth attempting, through the safety net that was Coil's power. I marked that down.


"Chances that Dragon's latest Ellisburg quarantine features prevent the post-Nilbog cataclysm?"


"Twenty seven thousand casualties within seventy two hours of any successful mission to eliminate Nilbog," Dinah stated. Nilbog was something of a weird case as well. Killing him was easy. So was subduing him and throwing him in a prison world. Honesty, even our plan to just send in a small army of M6s was nothing less than 90% successful. The problem was that within days of his removal, people started dying in huge numbers, and we weren't quite sure why. Whatever it was, every plan failed. Including the one where we buried the city in Yggdrasil and had Amelia just sit on it consuming every living thing it touched until the whole city was gone.


"So that's still a bust," I sighed. "Pity, we could really have used that one."


"Umm," Dinah spoke. "Far be it from me to question your ideas... but have you thought of maybe asking him to leave nicely?"


I blinked "What?"


"Well, yeah," she continued. "He hasn't left Ellisburg in, like, ten years. Maybe if you just offer to give him somewhere for him and his monsters to play, he'll want to leave. Voluntarily."


I closed my eyes. "A wager," I muttered. "If this idea of yours works, I'll pay you double. If not, it's a free question."


"Triple," she replied. "And you have to mean it when you ask the question, no planning to throw on purpose."


"Fine," I agreed. "Odds of being able to remove Nilbog form Ellisburg by offering him a suitable chunk of land in another dimension, assume all plans involve no attempt at harming him. Include any sudden rise in deaths from his removal next. No plan right now, just wide spectrum idea."


"Seventy seven point three five percent chance of success, zero percent chance of increases in deaths within seventy two hour after mission, regardless of success. So long as mission does not include violence."


"Sounds like we have ourselves a winner," I stated. It would take some more time, some more planning, and some more questions. Of course it would require all those things. But it was an amazing opportunity to consider.


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


A/N- Dinah needed more screen time.

Also, Lisa needs hugs. All the hugs. Ever.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 168- Taylor


Everyone was so tired and glum when I got back, it was like none of them had even slept in that week I was gone. Lisa had retreated to her office before Amelia and I ever left the pocket prison. Wherever the portal was built, the actual prison was in Brockton Bay, or that dimension's geoanalogue. I found myself on our front lawn when we shunted over. No one was there to greet me, which suited me better than a crowd.


"I'm going to get dressed in real clothes," I informed Amelia. "And a shower. And something to eat. I'm starving." Makes sense, I decided. This new body hasn't ever eaten any actual food.


LonelyWorried. "Okay," she forced a smile. "You should talk to Riley or Emma before the food, you'll probably need some specific care for a little while."


I smiled. She was always the thoughtful one. I leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Thanks," I replied. JoyDesireGuilt. I walked to my room, more carried by Matriarch than under the power of my own limbs. I was still having trouble walking, though far less now than before. I stepped into my room and slipped out of Matriarch. A sudden draft informed me that I came out entirely naked. My armor ate my makeshift Yggdrasil hospital gown. Oh well, I wasn't planning to keep it.


Showering was difficult, with my lack of coordination, but somehow I managed to not stab myself in the eye with my fingers or my comb. Hmm, my clothes feel uncomfortable. Too tight in... wait a second... I sighed. Well, I needed to talk to Emma anyway.


I slipped back into Matriarch, solely because at this point I still couldn't quite move correctly.


I entered the lab. Emma was there alone. "Hey Taylor," she said with a level of cheer that I couldn't decide was a result of being genuinely happy to see me, a forced energy to hide her actual feelings, or being the result of spending too long picking up habits from Riley.


"So," I smiled back. "I'm told I may need some dietary advice."


"Oh, right," she said. "The growing system negates much of the problem, adding proper intestinal flora is built right in. I'd advise eating a good amount of yogurt and to avoid eating large amounts of meat for the next few days at least. Just to help things even out. You'll be back to your old self in no time."


"Speaking of," I said dryly. "Is there a reason that none of my bras fit, anymore?"


"Oh, that," Emma smiled. "The system may have accidentally put a little bit too much in when it was emulating the new body's puberty growth cycle. It's a very complicated process, reading your DNA and extrapolating patterns. All very involved tinker stuff that we'd be spending hours talking about. It's not really that surprising that something went a teensy bit wrong, right?" She continued smiling the whole time, and then she winked. "We've already fixed the error, but it was too late to undo the growth process without causing all kinds of other problems. We couldn't fix it, but Amelia certainly can."


Uh huh. Mistake. Sure, Emma, whatever you say. "So, any other surprises I need to worry about?"


"Shouldn't be," she replied. "The growth process is keyed to make you pretty much a match for Olympic level athletes in every physical way, and better in most, but if you don't train, then that it'll go away pretty quickly. So enjoy it while it lasts. You may have insomnia for a bit as your body reworks its circadian rhythm, and don't be surprised if you dislike salty or strongly flavored foods for a while. Your taste buds are brand new, after all."


"I meant about everything else," I responded. "Everyone's been acting weird around me. What happened?"


"Oh, that," she looked down. "Well, for starters, the only people who know you died were either there when you woke up, or Zach and Crystal, everyone else just has their own problems to worry about right now. Kinda hiding that whole 'death' thing from the public. And the team, I guess. The Butcher fight... it went pretty bad for everyone. Crystal almost became the Butcher after being hit by that rage power. You apparently activated the suit override and killed her first."


"Why didn't I just shunt Crystal out?" I asked.


"Too soon, hadn't recharged," Emma replied. I frowned. Crystal's suit had Crystal herself as a battery charger, but it was also the armor with the most energy intensive systems. It recharged in whatever order Crystal told it to, just by default. If all she cared about was killing the Butcher... well, that was a stupid question to ask.


"Okay," I agreed. "What about everyone else?"


"Lisa blames herself for asking Dinah the wrong questions," Emma continued. "Crystal's upset thanks to the whole nearly-being-possessed thing, and how you sacrificed yourself to save her. Everyone in New York blames Lily for fucking up her mission. Missy was killed, but Riley fixed that. Riley now hates Lily. Missy and Theo aren't fans, either, but Missy's too professional and Theo's too nice to let it show. And basically everything's fucked."


Well, god damn it. "And normally this is the stuff Lisa would handle, but she's upset too, right?" I asked. Crystal probably blames herself, too. Fuck my life. Or past life. Whatever.


"Pretty much," Emma agreed. "I'd try to do something, but, well, I come with baggage and no one wants to be near me, much less listen to my advice. You and Riley are the closest things I have to actual friends. Which puts a certain perspective on my life that I'm not all that pleased with."


"And what about the rest of the week?" I asked. "Lisa and Amelia are on eggshells around me, and I don't know why."


She looked away. "Are you sure you want to know?"


"Yeah," I responded. "Of course."


"Your past self preferred not to update for a reason," Emma continued. "You, she, knew that she'd be happier losing that part forever. You and Amelia got into a big blowout, and both of you were miserable, and it made other people miserable. You've been given a chance to undo that. I can't lie, I'm kinda jealous. I wish I had that option, I really do."


"I doubt your past self would appreciate the mess you left her with," I replied. A fight between me and Amelia? That explains a lot, but not why we had the fight. I had chosen to get the update before altering my sexuality, for a number of reasons. But if it didn't work out and upset Amelia that I made the change, I had expected to just use the old pattern to replace the new one. A simple enough fix, all considered.


"Guess I'm still a selfish bitch like that," she smiled sadly. "I know I keep saying this, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry."


Damn it. I stepped forward and put my arms around her, pulling into as tight a hug as I could without activating Matriarch's strength boosters. Her hair was cool on my face. That's right, part of her Case 53 traits means she doesn't generate body heat. "For what it's worth, it means more that you're trying to make up for it than if you had simply erased you memories of it in order to play innocent."


"Thanks," she mumbled into my shoulder.


....


I walked into Lisa's office. "How are you holding up?"


She jumped. "Oh, jeez, how do you move that quietly?"


"Antigrav system," I answered. "Still getting used to the new legs and all."


"Do you need something?" she asked, sliding back into her position in front of her computer.


"Just wanted to talk to you," I replied.


"About?"


"You," I answered. "I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate everything you do. I don't say it nearly often enough, but I really do."


She closed her eyes. "I know," she answered. "My power at work, it's hard for anyone to hide what they think of me."


"Still, you deserve to hear it said more often," I insisted. "Not just from me, for that matter."


She shrugged. "I don't exactly make it easy for people," she pointed out. "You're only here because you're under the emotional influence of a psychic link and a post-death experience. And that's fine, I don't like all that mushy stuff to begin with. Just be sure and praise my brilliance to the masses. You know how much I love that."


"I'll keep that in mind," I replied. "But you're not getting out of this that easily." I walked/glided over to her.


"Dammit, Taylor," she muttered, but she stood anyway, allowing me to hug her without anything more than her complaints to stop me. "You're completely ruining both of our images as a badass warrior goddess right now. I hope you realize that."


"Doesn't matter," I dismissed. "You'll just write up some crazy new scheme and next week we'll stomp some psychopath's face until we're back to being the scariest girls on the planet yet again."


"Speaking of, I have ideas for our next mission," she added. "And there's absolutely nothing that can go wrong with this one. I'll explain it at the morning meeting. But I've got a couple speeches to write, and some outlines to run past Dinah."


"I'll be there," I agreed, leaving her to her work.


I headed straight for Amelia's room after leaving Lisa. RecognitionJoy.


I paused and looked at her. I considered asking her what happened last week. Whatever it was, my other self decided it wasn't worth keeping. I also considered Emma's advice. Other-Me chose this, having a week erased. A week that might have become months, had it come down to it. Endbringer battles are generally the only time it was likely for us to die. Honestly, now that we could carry my power across dimensions, we no longer had a reason to be near them in order to fight them. She couldn't have been hoping for someone to kill her, she had to know it might take years for something to succeed. Right?


ConcernWorry. "Taylor, are you okay?"


"Still decompressing," I answered. That is certainly true. "Everyone's acting so differently, and I just found out I was dead. It's going to take a little time to get used to, is all. I'm also still trying to figure out what happened this week."


FearLonelinessGuilt. "I... I can fill you in," she offered as I started to work my way out of the armor. She stood and moved behind me to keep me steady so I didn't accidentally fall. I stumbled back, only partially on purpose, into her arms.


"Maybe later," I answered. "I've decided it doesn't matter right now. Maybe later I'll want to know more, but for right now? I'm happy just being happy. Or I will be when I don't feel like I'm trying to walk on stilts all the time, at least." ReliefConcern.


"Okay," she agreed. "I'll be here whenever you need."


I turned and hugged her tight.


SafeRealizationShockDesire. "Umm... Taylor... you're not wearing a bra."


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

A/N- So, apparently being dead for a few days makes you all mushy.

And man, on rereading this chapter... Taylor's kind of a hypocrite with absolutely no self awareness. I think that means I caught her character perfectly.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 169


"Clarice, Zach and Theo have no other guardians?" Principal Howell asked.


"I'm afraid not," my mother responded. "While Theo does have a living step mother, she is currently on the run from the law. The courts have acknowledged his legal emancipation, on condition that he continues to prove he is able to conduct himself responsibly."


AnnoyanceConcernAppreciation. And that would be Taylor, spending time with her father. Their lunch date to talk about her problems. Problems Taylor didn't even remember. I pushed what peaceful emotions that I could through the link. CalmWarmthLove.


"Which includes remaining in school," Howell concluded. "And, Theo, is Pantheon providing for you?"


"No, ma'am," he replied. Not technically true- he did live in our fortress full time, after all, but from a legal standpoint he was able to provide for himself. "My family has money. It's in a trust, Mrs. Dallon can explain it better."


My mom nodded. "I am on retainer as his advocate, and one of my senior associates specializes in corporate law, and serves his interests there. He has a trust and a monthly allowace to live on."


"I see," the principal agreed. "What of Clarice and Zach?"


"They have no immediate relatives capable of caring for them," my mom answered. "Clarice lost her family to the Slaughterhouse Nine."


Clarice hugged me. "I have my Big Sister!" she insisted.


"... and has connected emotionally to my daughter," she finished. "While she is technically considered a ward of the state at this point, I don't need to explain to you that the current conditions of Brockton Bay are still straining the child welfare systems. The city has no objection to her remaining in Pantheon's custody, although the final legalities are not yet finalized. Amelia will assume legal guardianship when she turns eighteen in two months."


"I presume Zachariah is much the same?"


"His mother and father also died to the S9," mom replied. "Other relatives were lost during Leviathan or the chaos afterward. His only adult relative is obviously unfit to care for a minor..."


"Translation," Zach interrupted. "My uncle hasn't been sober since the mid eighties."


Howell looked through the paperwork. "This seems to be in order," she concluded, then looked at me. "Is that everything?"


"Almost," mom responded. "There are two other students that are attending here that Pantheon will be paying tuition for, despite not being their legal guardians."


"The former Wards, I presume," Principal Howell asked.


"Yes," I nodded as I handed over the small stack of checks. "That should cover everything."


"Thank you," she responded. I got up, leaving with the three 'kids'. Mom remained behind to make one last arrangement.


....


I met up with Taylor and Mister Hebert after the meeting. The others went to do their own thing- we were only a mile or so away from home, after all. Clarice, thanks to the miracle of public identities, had Bella with her. I didn't worry too much about who went where, and walked the short couple blocks to one of the new outdoor diners being set up in this area. A chill reminded me that it would be winter soon. I was glad I had the Yggdrasil fully integrated to the version on the other side of our doorway. Trying to keep plants alive in winter, especially ones of the scale as mine, was damn near impossible. But this one had access to massive amounts of raw material and a uniquely warm sun.


"Hello, Mister Hebert," I said with a smile as I sat next to Taylor. A waitress got there at almost the same moment, with one of those giant pizza slices. "Are you sure you don't have a power for perfect timing?" I asked Taylor as I sat down to my lunch. AmusementPride. Taylor had opted for a vegetable soup, about as mild a dish as possible.


"I'm contractually obligated to not admit to any high end thinker powers," Taylor responded. "On grounds that it'd make Lisa cry if she had any competition."


"How did everything go during admissions?" Mister Hebert asked.


"School's been sorted out," I informed him. "Ms. Howell was really understanding about everything, and mom helped."


"I still think you girls should be going as well," he added.


AnnoyanceExasperation. "Dad, you know why we can't."


"The world isn't your responsibility, Taylor," he insisted. "You should let the adults deal with things while you get your education and a good foundation for your future careers. The world and all its problems will still be here for you when you graduate."


"Like the adults handled Lung and E88 and Butcher?" Taylor asked. "How about we ask the Simurgh what she thinks?"


"You have a point," her dad sighed. "I just want to make sure my little girl lives up to her potential. You're so smart, you should stay in school and take advantage of that mind of yours. You can easily be anything you want."


"I want to kill a couple more Endbringers and then retire to a quiet, peaceful life somewhere that no one knows who I am," Taylor responded. "That's not really an option for me, dad. Even if I wanted to, I can't ignore my responsibilities. And school just gets in the way of that. It was nice to go back, to prove I was good enough, that I was stronger than the trio. I did that, already. Now I need to prove to the Simurgh that people are stronger than her, by keeping everything from falling apart."


I reached over and put my hand on Taylor's leg, giving a squeeze and offering my emotional support. GratitudeSafePride. "Everything that she just said," I added. "Hopefully she recorded all of that so I can show it to my mom."


"There are others who can do that," Danny insisted. "The Triumvirate, for example. Let them fight this fight. That's their job, and they're good at it."


"They need help," I told him. "There's too much going on, and they can't be everywhere at once. Pantheon, on the other hand... thanks to Taylor's power, we really can be everywhere. And because of my powers, we can do it safely. I promise I'll keep her safe." From now on, at least, I added in my head. I will never allow myself to lose her again.


The answer didn't seem to make him any happier. He simply sighed. "Teenagers sure have changed since my day."


AmusementAnticipation. "Hey, look at it this way," she said with a smile that somehow managed to chill my spine and warm my heart at the same time. "At least we're not dropping out because of an unexpected pregnancy."


....


"Are you sure it worked?" I asked.


"Absolutely," Emma responded. "There's going to be a bit of difficulty at first, but yes."


I nodded, my hand trembling as I reached over and gripping Taylor's. She squeezed back. SupportLove.


"Okay, let's do this," I said, as I put my hand on the pod and finished the last step to allow her back to awareness.


Her eyes fluttered open. "Amy?" she asked, after focusing on my face. "Wha... what's going on here?"


I had to imagine I looked a lot different than the last time she saw me. Looking at her, I felt she looked a lot different, too. She was still beautiful, but she wasn't the icon, the living goddess, of my dreams and memories. She was frightened and confused. She was human and vulnerable. But, more important than all of that, she was alive.


"Hey," I said smiling, the tears running freely down my face. "It's a long story, Vicky."


=========


A/N- See. Other than Danny experiencing a nearly fatal heart attack, which Amelia quickly healed, no one suffered in this episode. I didn't write that part in because it isn't important due to how easily fixed it was. Also because it didn't actually happen.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 170


"What's with the audience?" Victoria asked, her bright blue darting between Emma and Taylor. No one else was in the room with us, for various reasons ranging from 'why would they be' to 'worst idea ever, of all time'. The only other person on the team who had a reason would be Crystal, who was currently with my parents and Rey, him being an actual doctor and all put him in position to help explain things to them better than the rest of us might.


"That's Emma," I introduced the one that would take the least amount of explaining. "She's a tinker that made much of the tech we used to restore you."


"What?" Victoria asked, eying the girl warily. "You mean you're a biotinker like Bonesaw or Blasto."


"Not exactly," I replied. They're not far away, though. "I've kinda started my own hero team. Emma's one of them. This is another." I stepped to the side and gestured to Taylor, knowing I was radiating a nervousness that my partner was kind enough to pretended not to notice. "Taylor, my partner."


Victoria sized up the tall girl to my right. "Huh, guess I'm a little woozy," she smiled a little. "When you said 'partner' I coulda swore you meant..."


"She did," Taylor answered. ProtectiveTerritorial. She gripped my hand. "We work together, and I'm also her fiancée."


"Well, that explains why you were never interested in any of the guys I set up up with," Victoria joked. AnnoyedConcerned. Taylor gripped my hand tighter. Victoria doesn't understand what she was saying, I tried to mentally remind Taylor. And myself. "Why didn't you tell me? You know I wouldn't have a problem with it, right? I dated that one guy for three months, or at least pretended to, until he finally worked up the courage to come out to his folks."


I froze, how the hell was I suppose to answer that question? 'No, Victoria, I don't think you would have been okay with your sister having a bizarre incestuous fixation on you that is entirely your power's fault' didn't seem like such a great conversation idea. Taylor came to my rescue. "She just hadn't found the right person," she volunteered. "You know how much trouble Amelia has with people. We only got to know each other through being part of the same team."


"Amelia?" Vicky asked, her eyes focused on me.


"I... felt it was time for a change," I replied. "Amy sounds so childish."


"Christ, Ames..." she paused. "Using your full name, and an engagement? How long was I out?"


"About three months," I answered.


"You got engaged after only three months?" She asked. "Are you sure that's such a good idea, Amy?" PrideProtective.


"Never been more certain about anything," I answered. Victoria just looked at me like I had grown a second head. I suppose I had, actually. In a way that was just shy of being literal. Note to self, never let Riley hear that figure of speech.


"Usually your healing power doesn't take this much getting used to," Victoria offered a brave smile, slowly sitting up. I was grateful that she chose to drop the subject. I could tell it would be a source of disagreement in the future. More when she realized Taylor was Skitter. I really did not want to deal with that headache, ever. I knew that putting it off probably wasn't the best plan, either, but maybe with a little time for her to get used to things and see how happy Taylor and I were together, she would be able to accept it.


"That's because it was our healing tinker tech that did the work," Emma explained to Victoria for me. "Your injuries were... beyond what Amelia was capable of working with. Tell me, what is the last thing you can recall? A date or major event?"


"Umm..." she closed her eyes, thinking. "I remember Leviathan. Neil and Eric's funeral. After that it's all bits and pieces. How bad was I hurt?"


I didn't want to upset her too much more, so I answered in a way she would be able to work with. "You got into a boxing match with Crawler," I informed her, almost cavalierly. "You were doing okay for a while, but he cheats."


She smiled. "Well, good to know I didn't go down like a punk." She paused and a worried frown started. "Wait. Crawler? You mean the Slaughterhouse Fucking Nine were here?"


"Yeah," Taylor answered. "Amelia here was so upset that she hunted down and killed Jack Slash. It was, sorta kinda our first date." ChagrinConcern. Oh, I must have reacted to that. I didn't like thinking about my fight with Jack. I didn't really want Victoria to think about my powers like that. HesitationConcernSupport. Taylor gave my hand a squeeze. "She recruited me after I killed the Siberian, to go after the rest of the group."


"Really?" Victoria asked, returning to her assessment of Taylor. "You killed the Siberian? Amy fought the S9?" Dammit Taylor, what are you doing?


"All that and more," Taylor continued. "The whole group is dead. Amelia got Jack and Bonesaw. The others were killed one or two at a time by a bunch of people. You can look it up later if you don't believe me, but they really weren't that tough once you figured out how to hit them."


"Bullshit," Victoria replied, slowly and unsteadily working herself to a standing position.


"Oh, that's not even the half of it," Taylor responded. ConfidentConfrontational. "Then next week we got bored, so we stomped all over E88. I'm not exaggerating, it wasn't even close to a fair fight. That was our second and third date, though I don't think either of us really figured that out at that point."


Victoria stared at Taylor.


"Their engagement party was suppose to be the Behemoth attack, in case you're wondering," Emma joined in, feeding the fire that Taylor had started. "But then the Simurgh had to be an attention whore and crash the party. So we killed that bitch."


Victoria just gaped. "You're fucking with me," she muttered.


"No, that's what really happened," I admitted. "It was a lot harder than they make it sound. We put lots of planning into all those missions. Thinker backup, including possibly the single most powerful precog in the entire world. Tinkertech weaponry. Days of prep work leading up to merely a few minutes of actual combat. Months of work for the Endbringer battle."


"What? And you had me in a coma all this time?" Victoria asked.


"It was... a little more than that," I answered. "Would you like like to see mom and dad now? They're waiting outside with Crystal and one of the doctors."


She looked at me warily. "Sure... umm, can I have actual clothes, first? Hospital gown isn't exactly the fashion statement I wanna make."


I pulsed my thoughts through the Yggdrasil, encasing her in the material before she even had a chance to react. "What the fuck!" she shouted, and then the mass pulled away, leaving her in her new clothing. Which, while admittedly looking like something you'd wear to a construction job, were both fully functional and comfortable.


"Uh... sorry, didn't think about how that might frighten you," I answered. "I've been practicing with my powers."


"I can tell," Victoria muttered, lifting her arm. "This outfit doesn't even have seams, but you really need to work on your fashion sense."


"Oh god, you have absolutely no idea," Emma remarked. "You should see the amount of effort Crystal and Lisa put into making sure these two wear something nice. If it were up to these two, there'd be no way for people be sure they're not amorphous blobs."


"Really?" Victoria smirked. "They needed Crystal for that? She doesn't know the difference between Gucci and Walmart."


"I heard that," Crystal said from behind us.


"I know," Victoria answered. "I, unlike you, am not blind."


"Stop teasing your cousin," Carol replied, sounding far less stern than her words may have implied.


"Hey, mom," Vicky smiled. "Dad. How are things?"


"Pretty good, firecracker," he answered, moving around us. "She's not going to break if we touch her or anything, is she?"


"She's fine," Emma answered. "Yum Kaax told you the basics. You don't have to worry about hurting her."


Dad moved in first, hugging her, and mom followed quickly after, hugging their daughter that had been dead for three months. I started moving forward, to join in the group hug that was quickly forming, when Vicky spoke.


"You're crushing me," she gasped, as much in surprise as pain. "Oh god, I don't have my powers!"


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


A/N- Territorial Taylor is best Taylor.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 171- Victoria


"Sorry, Victoria," Amelia said, her voice full of concern. Mom and dad didn't stop holding onto me. "It was a risk of the process."


"The fuck was the 'process', Ames?" I asked. "I know how powers work. What did you have to do to me? Brain surgery?"


"We had to construct a new body," the yellow colored girl with red hair answered. I forgot her name already. "We didn't have your exact DNA, so we got as close as we possibly could, using the resources we had at our disposal."


My eyes narrowed. "New body?"


Mom interrupted. "We were going to wait until you recovered some, first. Let you have a chance to rest," she said, putting her hand on my cheek and turning my head, gently, toward her. "Vicky, you weren't unconscious. You died."


"Show me," I demanded.


....


My corpse really is beautiful, in a horrifying way, I decided as I gazed at the contorted figure. The glass was pristine, a statue of impossible detail and complexity. It would take a sculptor years simply to get the detail of my hand. It also depicted something out of a nightmare. Flesh melted away, half my skull exposed to air. I could believe that my damaged memories were just from me not wanting to remember what going through that was like.


"Are you sure this is a good idea?" mom asked, but I ignored her as I stepped up to the crystalline statue that was my... remains. My costume had almost completely melted off, and my modesty was spared solely because my skin and most of my flesh were missing as well. Half my face, one of my arms, completely skeletal. My hair had clearly chipped and broken in pieces after being reduced to glass, or whatever material I was made out of. I brushed my hand over a portion that had somehow survived this long. It splintered easily. Traces of crimson were left behind, where the sharp edges had cut my fingers. I can bleed, now. That's when the reality of my lack of powers really hit me.


My parents couldn't even bring themselves to look at the body. I didn't have that problem. Maybe it was the same way you could faint looking at someone else's blood, but be perfectly fine seeing your own. Not that I have to worry about my own very often. Had, I corrected myself. Past tense. Now I'm as vulnerable as anyone else.


The damage extended everywhere, I could see where large patches of my belly were missing.. "Crawler had acid powers," Amy spoke up softly. "He covered you, and then hit you hard enough to get through your forcefield. The only reason you could be brought back was because you were turned into... that..."


"Without getting too technical, It's a form of silicate allotrope," the yellow girl volunteered as I caressed my own mutilated face. "Like you take coal or graphite and turn it to diamond, but this starts with sand, glass or quartz and gets something that can't exist according to molecular physics as we understand the science. Because of its properties, it flash-froze your mind. Inorganic cryogenics. Just extract the data and transfer it back over."


"We had to build you a new body, Vicky," Amy insisted. "We couldn't figure out a way to do that and still be sure you'd get your powers back. There was a chance you would, but there was a greater chance you wouldn't. I'm sorry."


"N-no," I sighed, finally pulling my eyes away from the body. "Don't be sorry. You did everything you could. You saved my life."


....


"Why's dad driving in a different car?" I asked my mother on my way home.


"He... doesn't stay in our house, anymore," she answered reluctantly.


What? "What?"


"Things have been stressed after... well, after Leviathan," she added. "You know how you and Crystal were talking about joining the Wards full time, and even your aunt Sarah was considering it?"


I concentrated, trying to find the details. Memories after Leviathan were blurry, and got worse as we got closer to... to my death. "Yeah, I recall," I lied. Then I added the part that I knew would sell it. "You kinda flipped your shit over that."


"Language," mom chastised me. The lie was believed, even though it was just minor deduction. I was pretty sure my mom would have poisoned us in our sleep before letting us join the Protectorate. "It seems your father agreed with you and Crystal. He signed up with them a couple weeks ago. He's still in Brockton Bay for now, but they'll transfer him sooner or later."


"Transfer?" I asked. "Why would he need to be transfered?"


"The city's changed, Victoria," mom sighed, stopping at a red light. "Your sister and her friends have incredible powers. Imagine what it would be like if the whole Triumvirate just decided one day that it'd be fun to vacation in Brockton Bay for a weekend, and started smacking Nazis around for fun. There's nothing left here for the Protectorate to do."


"Are you saying Pantheon is equal to the Triumvirate?" I asked, incredulously. I mean, sure, Amy had shown off some impressive stuff, but nothing I'd say let her compare to Legend, even. Much less Alexandria or Eidolon.


"Equal?" she laughed. "No, Pantheon's not equal to the Triumvirate. They make the Triumvirate look like a joke by comparison. They've taken the whole 'war on crime' crime thing to a whole new level. Even convinced the Adepts and Ambassadors that it was easier to switch sides than risk pissing them off."


"Aren't those in other cities?" I asked, a little confused. Maybe they tried to take territory in Brockton Bay after E88 was removed?


"They are," mom acknowledged. "Pantheon's been moving on other cities every week or so. They already cleared out everything in Brockton bay. And I do mean everything. Taylor's power lets her find all drugs and violent crimes from anywhere in the city. And Amy can make almost anything." She took her foot off the brake and started driving again.


"Like that weird tree thing," I volunteered. "That igg-whatever."


"Yggdrasil," mom supplied.


"Yeah, that," I agreed. "Wait... what's Taylor's power?"


"She telepathically controls and can see and hear and smell through bugs," mom answered. "Her power also works on whatever weird monsters Amy makes out of bugs."


Oh god, I froze as the realization hit me. Taylor is Skitter. "My sister's dating that cunt!?" I shouted.


"Victoria!"


....


"I still don't know how mom got me registered for school while I was dead," I complained to Amy over my cell phone. "No, seriously, something about that seems really, really off. I know she's a lawyer and all, but still. How does that even make sense?"


"Don't ask me," she answered. "Powers kicking physics in the nuts, that's a thing that makes sense to me. What mom does to the legal system? I'm hopeless."


"Why aren't you here?" I asked.


"Summer classes," she answered. "I graduated." Oh, right, I reminded myself. She didn't stop living just because I did.


"This is going to suck," I muttered.


"Can't be that bad," she replied. "You've only got to complete a single semester. You'll be out by Christmas."


"I know, but..." I didn't know how to explain it to her. "Now I know I'm stuck here. I know I won't be getting any alerts to run off and smack around some assholes robbing a bank." I wouldn't call my reminder subtle, but I still didn't get how my sister was dating a fucking supervillain. 'Reformed' or 'undercover' or whatever bullshit was being sold this week.


She was fighting crime, and not just the playing around crime fighting. Amy was on the national stage. International, even. Her engagement was talked about constantly. VS. speculations pit her up against Eidolon, and aside from some diehard fans, most people couldn't decide. Usually splitting it up and calling Eidolon the more powerful cape, but Amy the more versatile and creative one.


What almost no one had any doubt about was that Pantheon as a team could go up against the Triumvirate and their teams, and win every time. The Triumvirate had fought the Endbringers dozens of times and called the clusterfuck known as Brocton Bay a 'victory'. Pantheon goes out and kills the fucking Simurgh on their first fight. Apparently, people had called their kill of the Slaughterhouse Nine 'getting lucky' or 'they only did part of it'. But the Simurgh? That was all them and everyone knew it.


"Hey, are you still there?" Amy asked.


"Yeah," I confirmed. "Sorry, must have lost the signal for a second." That was a lie. I just didn't want to listen to her defend Taylor's former career as a bank robber. "I'm almost at Arcadia, so I should probably go now."


"Okay," she agreed. "Hey, what do you say about me picking you up after school. We can hang out, I'll even let you take me shopping for clothes."


"Sure, that could be fun," I agreed.


A boy approached me as I walked in. I, subtly of course, checked him out. Kinda short, a little shorter than me actually, but clearly young enough that he hadn't had that final growth spurt than boys get before becoming men. Other than that, he was hot. Sandy brown hair, decently tanned skin, green eyes, and in really good shape. Can't fault people for their height, but a body like that only comes to those who work for it.


"You're Victoria, right? Dallon?" He smiled. Perfect teeth, too.


"Y-yeah," I replied, smiling right back. Powers or not, I still had a rep, and I still have a great figure of my own. Really, I had an absurdly good body right now. Probably classed as a Brute one or two, on merit of the clone body alone. "Sorry, you kinda surprised me. I didn't expect to be recognized so soon."


"I'll keep it quiet, if you like," he offered. "I know how much of a pain those public identities can be." He offered his hand. I took it. Very strong hand. "I'm Zach. Osiris, in costume. I work for your sister."


God dammit, I thought. Oh well, I can still work with that. Hopefully this one doesn't turn out to be gay.


A girl on crutches came up. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked.


"Oh, yeah," he smiled at her. "Erica, this is Victoria. She's not really a friend. I haven't actually met her before today. She's my boss's sister. Victoria, this is Erica, my girlfriend."


"It's a pleasure to meet you both," I said cheerfully as I extended my hand to her. God fucking dammit.


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


A/N- Yes. Yes I did just do that. Feed me your delicious speculation. And/or hate. That's tasty, too.


Reread A/N: Oh the fucking foreshadowing.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 172- Victoria


I quickly decided that it was painfully awkward at school. There were others in the same boat as I, who only needed to complete a single semester to graduate, or at least be bumped up to the next grade level. Most of the underclassmen were simply given a denser schedule that'd let them catch up to their peers who had gotten into the summer classes. I imagined it was an expensive project for the school, but, money was being thrown at the problem.


I had taken a class or two on economics, and Brockton Bay's taxes hadn't changed while millions of dollars weren't being spent on stuff like the sewers and waste management, thanks to Pantheon's work. Part of that, at the very least, was going into the school system.


So I spent my day around a bunch of people who were the grade below mine. With only two other students, neither of which I was friends with, from my own year.


There was a time when I had been a celebrity in this school, and it was much the same for me now now, but Pantheon were more than celebrities... they were icons. Like the gods they named themselves after, it wouldn't be a stretch to say they were worshiped. Maybe not in a religious sense, but it was eerily similar. It made for an uncomfortable lunch line, being asked all these questions about things I didn't know. Like Pantheon's next big mission, or what denomination Minerva was.


"Hey," a voice said. "Wanna come sit with us?" I turned to see Zach there, along with that girl. Erica.


"Depends," I replied. "Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?"


"Don't worry," Erica responded. "You won't be a third wheel. Theo and, uh... I think his name's Trevor? He's really more Zach's friend."


"I really don't know him that well, either," Zach admitted. "He's kinda a techy type. Still fun to hang around if you keep the conversation away from cars and planes. But you really gotta work at keeping it far, far away from there."


I let myself be led along by them. I didn't want to intrude on their alone time, but if there was already going to be a group of people, then that was fine.


"This is Theo," Zach said, introducing him to me. Theo, it turns out, was another hottie, if again younger. This time of the blond hair blue eyed variety. "Theo, meet Gaea's sister, Victoria."


"Hello, ma'am," Theo said politely. He glanced at Erica, as if confused about something.


Zach may be cute, but he's not very subtle, I thought. He may as well just announce to the world that Theo is part of the team. Which probably meant Trevor was as well. I forgave him, however. Just because a cape... a former cape, I reminded myself... figured it out, doesn't mean normal people would.


"And this is Trevor," Zach introduced the other boy. Trevor was darker toned, with black hair. Obviously hispanic. One of the skinny geeky types that wore the status on his sleeve, a lot like Kid Win did. I wondered, and not for the first time, if that was just a tinker thing. But then there were examples like Armsmaster. He may have been a bigger tool than his overcompensation rod, but he was focused on things that mattered, like kicking bad guy butt.


"Hello, guys," I said, sitting down near them, opposite to Zach and Erica. Something about her was strange, and I could not put my finger on what it was. "Don't let me ruin your conversation."


"So, Theo," Erica started. "I saw Clarice chatting with a couple guys in her class about a date. Aren't you two an item?"


Theo frowned, looking away. "No, I'm seeing Missy." The way he said that made me worry. Relationship issues there. "The two are pretty close friends, though. Maybe you got them confused."


"That must be it," she smiled. No, no it's not, you bitch. You knew exactly what you were doing before you sat down at the table.


"So, how long have you and Missy been dating?" I asked. I know it's not what Erica was going for, so I may as well toss the wrench in. Besides, I was pretty sure I knew who 'Missy' was. Vista and I weren't what one would call close, but I liked the kid. Even if she had such a painfully obvious crush on my boyfriend. I didn't exactly feel guilty about that, but I did sorta feel bad for her. She found someone, and I was happy for her. That and I really wanted to feed Erica her own teeth.


"A couple months, now," Theo answered. "Kind of. We met at a dance. I don't know when we became 'official' or anything."


"I know how that goes," I said with a smile. "Relationships are complicated. I've found that, ultimately, it's all about communication. Y'know, talking to each other. Especially if there's something wrong."


Theo nodded. "Thanks for the advice, ma'am." Good, I thought. That's a step in the right direction, like I had with Dean. Sure, an outsider might think our relationship was just constant arguing. They'd even be right. But that's how we communicated, and so we would always be together in the end. Or would have. Fuck you, Leviathan. Can't wait for Amy to cut you into pieces.


"Please don't call me ma'am," I replied. Makes me feel old.


"So how about you two?" I smiled, looking at Zach and Erica.


"A couple days," Zach answered, at the same time Erica answered "Years."


She paused. "Oh, umm, we've known each other for years. Only started dating a little while ago."


"Oh, one of those childhood friendships things?"


"Yeah," she agreed. "I suppose it's not an uncommon story."


"Why haven't you asked for Amy to fix your legs?" I asked. She fidgeted. Because you haven't been here long enough to get a chance.


"I... didn't want to impose," she said. "She probably has people pestering her for stuff like that all the time."


"No imposition, I assure you," I said. "In fact, I'll talk to her after school and see what she thinks. Get you patched up tomorrow, if that's okay."


"Umm... sure, if you insist," she smiled.


"I do," I smiled broadly. "Now I'd better get going. Want to clean up before class. See you later, guys."


They said their goodbyes as I walked away. "So, bug girl, did you catch all that?" I asked a nearby garbage can. It's where the bugs would be, right? A ladybug landed on the back of my hand. "That girl creeps the hell outa me. Point whatever master/stranger shit you've got at her. You used it to take down Heartbreaker, right?" The bug flew away. She didn't say anything, but I had my answer.


Teach that bimbo to underestimate me.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 173


I landed on the roof of Arcadia, where Victoria was already waiting. She looked at my costume, clearly not terribly happy with it. "I thought you meant for a normal ride. Or, maybe, walking."


"I did, at first," I answered cheerfully. "Then I decided this would be more fun. I've kinda always wanted to do this." It was true, too. Ever since Victoria got her powers, I'd wished, fantasized even, about being the one carrying her in my arms. The romantic desire might not be there anymore, but this was still something I wanted to be able to do.


She hesitated as I held out my arms. Or my armor's arms, as redundant as that sounds. My own actual limbs were inside the core of the body. She cooperated, allowing me to pick her up and carry her bridal style, and I took off. She squealed and gripped hard around the suit.


"You act like this is your first time flying," I teased.


"I'm not flying!" she cried. "I'm being carried around by someone wearing a suit made out of vines!"


"Oh, stop being a baby," I laughed. More fun than I ever imagined! AmusementCuriousity. I decided that I'd have to tell Taylor about this one. She promised not to peak in on my conversations with Victoria, but it did make her upset. I would have to find some way to make it up to her. "Now I know why you carried me around all the time. This is hilarious."


"If you drop me, I swear I'll trigger as a ghost and haunt you forever!" She yelled over the wind rushing past us. She didn't have to, the suit's armor could hear her just fine. "This is not flying! This is falling in the wrong direction!"


Somehow, she managed to not have a heart attack on the trip. We touched down, safely, only about five minutes after we took flight. "See, was that so bad?" I asked as I watched her catch her breath. I then shed my armor, sending most of the mass into the sewer system. The armor would be transported back to base using automated systems. I was left with only the bracer. Victoria simply stood there gawking at me, and I became a little self-conscious. "What?" I asked.


"I don't even know," she admitted. "I mean, I remember having trouble convincing you to do anything but fix up a few cuts and bruises, and now here you are showing powers I didn't even know were possible."


"Things have changed," I said softly. "A lot of things."


"Like your supervillain girlfriend?" Oh god damn it Victoria.


"Do we really have to have this conversation?" I fought back the urge to yell. ConcernSupport. I took a deep breath, taking comfort from the link. "I just want to have a nice day at the mall with my sister. Eat junk food, pretend everything's normal for a change. Could you please not get on my case over my girlfriend?"


She frowned. "I seem to remember a few guys you encouraged me to leave and never look back."


I froze. Fuck. I had no way to respond to that. SupportLoveAnxiety. I sighed, I would need to do so much explaining to Taylor after this was over. "I know," I finally spoke. "I know, and I was wrong. You have every right to be pissed about every time I did that. I'm sorry."


She blinked. "Actually, I was going to use it as an example of how you should listen to me," she elaborated. "Y'know... I was being an idiot and you tried to help. Now you're being an idiot and I'm trying to help."


"Is it too much to ask that you accept that I'm happy? Because I am. Taylor makes me happy. Let's just drop it there."


"You never dropped it when you had a problem with what I was doing," she insisted. "Your girlfriend threatened you with deadly spiders," she insisted. "And shot me. And fed me to bees."


"You hurt people too, Victoria," I met her eyes, drawing on all the tips I'd learned about at least pretending to be confident. SupportConfidencePride. I didn't know what Taylor was getting off my side, not for certain, but it was good to know she was there. "She also nearly died fighting Leviathan, and stood beside me during the worst period of my life. She's sorry for all the bad things she's done. You don't have to accept her, or her apology. I wish you would, but you don't have to. You do have to accept that I have."


She just looked right back at me.


"Please, Vicky?"


She sighed. "Fine, but I'm going to call this in next time you don't like something I do."


I frowned. "That's really not how that sorta thing is suppose to work."


"Too bad," she smiled. "I'm supposed to be the irresponsible sister. Deal with it."


"Fiiine," I rolled my eyes. "I forgot what a colossal pain in the ass you are at times."


We spent much some time shopping. She needed new outfits, and so did I. She was more than happy to find out I was footing the bill, and as weird as it sounds, I'd stopped caring about money. Maybe this was what Dean felt like, when Vicky always talked him into buying everything. Didn't matter to him, and made her happy. And she seemed happy enough, flitting about. Apparently a few months is enough time for the fashion world to reshape itself into an alien landscape, to hear her talk about it. Meanwhile, I simply browsed for a few things and let her talk me into buying whatever.


"So," I asked when looking at a dark blue coat I recognized. "Would it be creepy of me to buy a coat, if my girlfriend already has one just like it?"


Vicky paused. "Probably?" she answered. "I've never had to ask that question before. I don't think it's your color, though. You need something brighter. Like this."


"Vicky, I'm not wearing pink," I said dryly.


"It's not pink, it's watermelon red."


"Which is the same color as pink."


"Whatever, we both know you're going to buy something green by the end of this argument, anyway," she countered. She's probably right, I decided.


....


"So, Dad's got a bit of time," Victoria said after putting away her cell. "We should talk to him. He's been acting really weird lately."


"Mom says he's been acting weird ever since..." I rebuilt his brain under duress from Bonesaw. "He was healed."


"Kinda reminds of when we were kids," Vicky replied. "Kinda goofy. Which was nice when we were six or seven, but it's really hard to know what to do with considering we're not little anymore."


"I know," I agreed. I was kinda avoiding him for that reason. I followed along as she led me out, to find him waiting in his car.


"Did you girls walk here?" He asked, as we got in. Victoria took the front seat, as usual.


"Amy flew us over," Vicky replied, sounding less than enthused about that. "She's terrible. I fear for the roads if she drives even half that bad."


"Hey!" I argued. "At least I've never run into a flock of seagulls."


"It was dark," Victoria countered. "And I was in a hurry."


Dad laughed. "I remember that one. You came home dripping with blood and mom almost had a heart attack when she saw you."


"Then when she found out it wasn't mine, she made me wash off in the back yard with a watering hose," Vicky muttered. "Ruined my dress, too. Worst junior prom ever."


"Not so bad," he said. "Gulls are the blind pedestrians of the skies. You had to have made at least five hundred points up there."


Vicky offered a light chuckle as Dad joked at her expense. That was something that hadn't happened in years, and we both probably felt that same blend of discomfort and happiness. He didn't act like his usual self, but he seemed happy. Despite no longer being with Mom. Then again, if I was being honest with myself, I was only happy after moving out, myself. So maybe it was just being around her. Just because I'd managed to reconcile with her, didn't mean I forgot what an unpleasant person she was to be around.


"So, Dad," Vicky started. "How long has it been since you last talked to Mom?"


"The other day, when we got you back," he answered.


"I don't think that counts," she replied. "I mean when have you actually talked to her."


"Oh... a while, I guess." About a month, I supplied in my head. Their last conversation would have been... the day of the Simurgh battle, if I recalled correctly. "What for?"


"I was thinking we should get together for a family thing," Vicky offered. "The whole family, just to catch up. It'd be nice."


"That sounds great," Dad replied. "Amelia, you should bring Taylor."


"I don-"


"And we should have Danny and Sarah come, too." He continued, interrupting me.


"Umm... who's Danny?" Victoria asked. Oh, fuck. I knew we forgot to tell her something.


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


A/N- Still love the chapters with Vicky in them.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 174- Riley


"So, how do you like the first day back?" Missy smiled as we left the school. "As if I even need to ask."


"It's awesome!" I exclaimed. "Even better than before. I have to bring my scarf tomorrow, all the boys want to play our game again!"


"Of course they do," Missy sighed. "They're trying to get you to be their girlfriend."


"Really?" I asked. "Boys are weird."


Missy just looked at me. Or my changeling, at least. "Yes. Yes they are," she agreed. "Speaking of, I see Theo."


I glanced over at him. He was with Zach and some girl I didn't recognize. She looks a little old to be a highschool student. Clarice's analysis system instantly scanned her, identifying wounds to her knee and shin, fixed with rather inefficient medical knowledge. My own tinker knowledge filled in the blanks. Approximately thirty years old, female, scars and damage from a number of injuries over the course of years. Bullet and knife wounds included. Two pregnancies, second ended in miscarriage or abortion.


"Who's your friend?" I asked them as they approach. Another alert flared- the really expensive one that I kept in the most insulated portion of the Clarice system. Rapture's master/stranger system. Although to call it that was a misnomer. It worked on a number of other things, including many illusion powers. And it failed to work on a lot of master or stranger powers- such as Taylor's or Clarice's. It was working this time, however, alerting me to the altered dynamics.


"This is Erica," Zach replied. "She's my girlfriend. Erica, this is Clarice and Missy."


"I remember," Missy replied. The personality profile alerted me to what I already knew, she was being influenced. Rapture's tech started profiling details, and I told it to detect and tell me how to respond to the influence. It was a 'soft' effect, meaning it wouldn't alter my personality. It would simply make me believe I could trust this girl, and attempt to use the brain's naturally unreliable memory structures to fill in blanks.


"Oh, right," I said. "Zach mentioned you a couple times. It's good to meet you."


"I've heard a lot about you, too," the woman said with a less than healthy smile. Obvious smoker, I noted. Other drug use as well. "You're pretty famous in school. Did you really use an invisibility power to walk around the cafeteria in nothing but your socks?"


"Sorta," I answered. "It was really a rapid shifting camouflage. My powers give me internal and external shapeshifting." A number of notices flared, as I was warned that my friends were about to tell her I lied. They knew Clarice was a fake and thus had no real powers. Drat! "Or that's the simple answer. It's really far more complex than that," I quickly added. Then I started talking 'tinker'. They wouldn't be able to call me a liar if they had absolutely no idea what I was saying.


I activated the com system in my outfit. "Taylor, I need you to do something important," I started. I knew she'd hear me, she didn't have a choice in the matter. An exploitable weakness, if you were smart enough to harness it. "Could you get a blood sample from that girl with Zach?"


"You mean Erica?" she asked. "Why would I do that?" Her, too? Darn it!


I hesitated. Big Sister wouldn't want me to lie, especially to Taylor. But she wouldn't want a Stranger hurting people. "My instruments think she might be sick, and I want to make sure without scaring her." I lied smoothly and easily.


"Oh, okay," Taylor responded. I could rely on a sample in fifteen minutes or so. Until then, I would buy time.


"Wow, that's really something," Erica said, unsure of how to approach the situation. The alerts let me know what she knew she couldn't reach me with her power. I wasn't behaving close enough to what was expected, and this model of Clarice didn't have an imitation human brain to trick thinkers.


"It is," I agreed. "But we have to rush, Zach. Minerva needs to talk to us at the base. The three of you will have to stay here."


"Really?" she asked. "What about?" There was a spike of apprehension and fear, more at the mention of the base than anything. She was afraid of something there, though I couldn't be certain of what exactly. More importantly, it was clear she knew Missy and Theo were parahumans. Secondary power? Did Zach tell her? Was it simple deduction? I had no way of knowing that, either.


"Our next mission," I answered, then glanced around to make sure no one else was in earshot. "We're planning to eliminating Nilbog," I whispered. It was a safe enough thing to admit. What's the worse she could do with that? Tell Nilbog? Even if she were to report this to some unknown leader, it was of minimum value. What really worried me was how she managed to work past Dinah's powers. Then again, her power worked on Taylor through her bugs, so apparently it carried over sensory powers.


"That's... wow..." Erica smiled. "Can you tell me what you're planning?"


Zach was about to speak up, but I interrupted again. Keeping the conversation between me and Stranger-girl. "Not sure," I answered. "That's why we need the meeting. Minerva's a really powerful Thinker and has been talking to a bunch of other powerful Thinkers. It's a really big operation, kinda like the one where we stopped Butcher." Bingo, I caught the response. She's attached to Butcher, somehow. "You can come with if you like," I offered, knowing full well she'd refuse.


"No, that's okay," she said. "I need to get home anyway. Us non-parahumans don't get homework passes. Call me after the meeting, okay?" she kissed Zach, and they held their moment of PDA for a few seconds. It gave me a chance to read more of her body language. It seemed to mold itself into the role she was playing, though Rapture's tech said the mind disagreed. Her power was rather disquieting. If she hadn't activated the power when approaching us, I wouldn't have known it existed.


I, meanwhile, called Lisa. "We have a Master/Stranger problem," I told her. "One I'm pretty sure has influenced Dinah and Taylor. It might hit you, too, if you use your powers the wrong way."


"Fuck!" Lisa exclaimed, and I sighed internally. So immature. "What do you have?"


"Already got the blood sample, anti-master drug will be released shortly. I need you to hold a meeting about the Nilbog plan, for Zach and my benefit. Missy and Theo will probably be there as well. Don't tell them anything you're worried will go public."


"Riley, I don't have enough to make a meeting out of that," she replied.


"Then make up another reason!" I exclaimed. "Buy an hour or two."


"Okay," she answered. "I can put together something."


....


The anti-master drug had been refined since its early days. No longer leaving any sign that could be detected. It was invisible and odorless. Even Amelia wouldn't know it was released. It didn't require her help, anymore. I did everything on my own. No one except Lisa even realized it had occurred, and in her case only because I told her. And then I snuck out of the lab, wearing one of Emma's new power systems and my stealth tech.


Tracking 'Erica' was easy enough. She was on the phone talking to Zach.It appeared she used her powers on the actual residents of an apartment to convince her they belonged there. They were easy enough to render unconscious. The woman seemed only mildly surprised. "Umm... I've gotta go. The 'rents are uptight about the homework. Love you too."


"Hello, Dream Girl," I growled.


"Who are you?" she asked.


"The real body behind Clarice," I answered. I knew she already knew. "And you should know that you're the second person in my life that's ever actually managed to make me angry. You hurt my friends, and for that you have to pay."


"Is that so?" she smirked. "You should know my power-"


"Works by influencing the subconscious, forcefully associating yourself with the subconscious emotions of the victim. Making you into whatever female person the victim longs to see the most. Someone they miss. For lack of a better term, a 'nostalgia' effect." That took the smile off her face in a hurry. "Complete with low level Thinker and Stranger powers to achieve a more perfect imitation."


"You're not immune to my power," she stammered. "No one is."


"No, I'm not," I answered. "And right now, I'm giving you permission to use your power on me in full. Go ahead, I'll even give you the minutes you need to make it work in its entirety."


My internal alarms went off as she accessed my mind and memories. Her eyes widened, and her lips quivered as her power caught a mental association to Siberian. It was strange. I could still tell the difference between this girl's appearance, and what I knew for a fact Siberian looked like. But I still believed she was, in fact, the same person, despite every insulation between the truth and this lie. Including knowing it was a lie.


"Now you know," I said. "Tell me, how do you reverse your power? Our anti-master drug doesn't work. And don't lie, I have equipment that will know."


"It doesn't reverse," she stuttered. "Alterations are permanent."


I knew she was telling the truth. "That makes it more difficult," I replied as I moved toward her. She collapsed, paralized by the influences of the drugs in the air. "But there are still ways to coax a specific result."


The mental association changed, replacing her with a face I thought I'd forgotten. Or maybe I had forgotten, and her power, or perhaps simple retroactive interference, filled in the blanks. "No!" she exclaimed. "Riley, you can't! You're a good girl!"


"No I'm not."


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


A/N- Damn this is a dark chapter.

Also. Foreshadowed like a hundred and fifty chapters ago. See the Cherish Interlude.

 

[edale]

"You're not immune to my power," she stammered. "No one is."

"No, I'm not," I answered. "And right now, I'm giving you permission to use your power on me in full. Go ahead, I'll even give you the minutes you need to make it work."

My internal alarms went off as she accessed my mind and memories. Her eyes widened, and her lips quivered as her power caught a mental association to Siberian.

Click to shrink...

heh hehehe HAHAHA MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Though I guess the real question is why didn't DG have her power latch on to Amelia in Riley's mind in a desperate bid to NOT die horribly by Bonesaw's hand....or was DG simply to terrified to do that...I'd say Taylia bond, but Taylor was affected.

And that puts us to where SB cut off.

 

[Swingline#57]

Just like the SB mods to overreact, I guess. Oh well, I can still follow the story here, even if less frequently.

 

[Alterego9]

Let the pedo orgy commence!

Megaolix here. I'm reading further down and it seems to have been said as a joke. But... don't do another one like that please.

 

[Xaliuss]

If you want to crosspost to SV there's tool there which can allow to copy all posts (by posters go gave agreement) from SB thread. You just have to ask, it's easier than manually posting.

 

[TanaNari]

I think you have a bit of a number problem here...

Click to shrink...

Intentional. I kept them with original numbers for the express purpose of tracking which were actually posted. I can fix that now. But I might have missed 113 and 114 entirely if I hadn't done it like that.

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.

Click to shrink...

I know, right?

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.

Click to shrink...

18? No... only about 8. Also: holy fuck!

... Y'know, a vindictive part of me wants to blame SB for this, but that would be dishonest... I had the bad luck of having a migraine today, so I was never going to accomplish anything...

Oh well.

Let the pedo orgy commence!

Click to shrink...

Sadly, that's not even the part that got me in trouble.

"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 killed."

"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."

Click to shrink...

THAT got me in trouble. An obviously smartass comment made by a character as a joke. I get their anti-porn stance... but characters can't even make smartass comments now? The fuck?

If you want to crosspost to SV there's tool there which can allow to copy all posts (by posters go gave agreement) from SB thread. You just have to ask, it's easier than manually posting.

Click to shrink...

I might. But probably not, given that they're all the same mods and what have you.

Plus I'm already active over at MythWeavers, and I don't have the energy to do much more than this story and that, so one story thread is quite enough thanks.

 

[edale]

Now the real question is, was 175 already written, or do we wait until after TanaNari's well-earned nap?

*edit- imped by author...but not the chapter, heh.

I know, right?

Click to shrink...

You know, I have seen 1 other case where the timeline was that screwed... It's exactly like the time I edited a copy of Pulp Fiction to put it in chronological order...

 

[daimahou]

Now the real question is, was 175 already written, or do we wait until after TanaNari's well-earned nap?

Click to shrink...

Wasn't it already established that he is an experimental A.I. (possibly studying literature atm)?

 

[edale]

Wasn't it already established that he is an experimental A.I. (possibly studying literature atm)?

Click to shrink...

Dragon...Is that you? And what do you mean about not paying attention to the computer behind the curtain?

 

[Divabot]

THAT got me in trouble. An obviously smartass comment made by a character as a joke. I get their anti-porn stance... but characters can't even make smartass comments now? The fuck?

Click to shrink...

Unnatural Disaster had a character possibly pregnant, until a mod directly told the author that would result in a locked thread. So that never happened. (and that's why.)

I have seen the creepers on Worm threads who make these rules necessary - there are reasons we can't have nice things - but the results are still batshit way too often.

 

[Alterego9]

THAT got me in trouble. An obviously smartass comment made by a character as a joke. I get their anti-porn stance... but characters can't even make smartass comments now? The fuck?

Click to shrink...

I know, I was being sarcastic about how the SB mods have no sense of distinction between pedo porn, and teens being teens.

 

[Xaliuss]

I might. But probably not, given that they're all the same mods and what have you.

Click to shrink...

I have never seen such problems there, I do not post much, but politics seems better there.

 

[MihoshiK]

Unnatural Disaster had a character possibly pregnant, until a mod directly told the author that would result in a locked thread. So that never happened. (and that's why.)

I have seen the creepers on Worm threads who make these rules necessary - there are reasons we can't have nice things - but the results are still batshit way too often.

Click to shrink...

True, but as you said, a few times shit really got out of hand. Worm caught some of it with Panacea Quest, for example, but the goddamn Bronies were an actual plague with their pony porn for a while. And then when the hammer came down there were fucking morons who defended the pornographers and said they wouldn't report porn even if they saw it.

So yeah, thanks to idiots like that the mods just have a "Kill It With Nuclear Fire" policy nowadays. The downside of that is that nuclear weapons are rather indiscriminate.

 

[WizardTwo]

Well, this was an interesting chapter. On one hand, Riley looks to be about to resolve the issue very quickly.

On the other hand, Dreamgirl has potentially done more damage to pantheon than nearly anyone else so far.

All psychological of course, but she's going to leave Zack emotionally damaged, She's already gotten to theo, and poor riley.

I do wonder if she's going to become a member of Pantheon though. Pretty broken powerset.

I have never seen such problems there, I do not post much, but politics seems better there.

Click to shrink...

Sv is marginally better. But only marginally. We have a 'stupid shit on SV' thread for a reason. Plenty of unfair and draconian rulings over there too, and at least one of the upper management is an actual troll.

That said, QQ has a smaller user base, so I hope the author understands that he's going to have less replies while posting on here. Hopefully still enough to keep him fueled.