Amelia, Ch 188- Victoria
"You're the one with the combat precog, what kind of melee weapons do you think you'd be best with?" Riley asked cheerfully. "You can ribbon fighting like I do, or maybe something with an ax. No one use axes." Missy and Trevor had begged off a couple hours ago, insisting that they needed to get home before their respective parents went insane. Crystal said pretty much the same, going to deliver news of the Barghest fight to our family.
Zach and Theo remained here, of course. Talking about my new abilities and finding potential power synergies. Along with Emma, who I had never met before today. I'd seen her in pictures about Pantheon before, but we'd never been in the same room with each other. A Case 53 tinker, She was... distracting. Her physiology was a freakin' mess, and everything my power knew was telling me there was no way she should be alive, yet here she was, analyzing my power output and lifesigns while Riley discussed features for my armor.
Theo yawned loudly. "Sorry, guys," he said sheepishly. "But some of us actually need sleep. Riley, you should go to bed, too. Clarice acts weird... well, even more weird... when you pull an all nighter."
"Awww..." Riley whined. "But this is so cool! I almost never get to build new suits for my friends."
"I'll be here tomorrow," I smiled, giving her a pat on the head. The fuck? I am patting Bonesaw. When did this become my life? "But I need to go to bed, too," I lied. "I'm going to spend a few minutes with Amy and see about finding a bed somewhere. Then I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Okay," she agreed, sounding childishly unhappy about it.
I hopped off the chair they had me in for the testing, and headed for the exit. "So, uh, someone want to tell me where Amy's room is?"
"I got it," Zach volunteered. I smiled, and while my new sight wasn't telepathy or anything like that, I knew he wasn't entirely thinking with the head on top of his shoulders. No surprise there. We spent a lot of time together talking, and I knew I was a looker. My sight flickered back to Emma as she watched him rush to help me out. Oh, that's something I didn't expect.
"So, what's the story between you and Emma?" I asked the moment the door sealed. I watched his heartrate jump and the subtle release of natural drugs into his system.
"We dated for a week or two, but it turned out she's a horrible bitch so I dumped her," he said, and for the first time since I met him, he didn't have a smile on his face. Even after Dream Girl, I remembered, he managed to force a smile. "End of story."
"If you insist," I replied, following him. "She's really pretty," I added, measuring his emotional reactions.
"So are most of the girls on this team," Zach countered. "Besides, you were a total babe before you got shapeshifting powers. And now you have shapeshifting powers. You have no need to be jealous over anyone."
Wait, he thinks I'm jealous? Cute. Vaguely insulting. But cute. "Who said I was jealous?" I smirked. "Maybe my sister and I have more in common than you realized?"
He coughed a couple times, and then dusted. Reforming a heartbeat later. "That was a really dirty trick," he insisted. "Even if Emma was into girls, you'd be better off with just about anyone else."
"Shapeshifter, remember? She doesn't need to be into girls," I teased. "Now why do you have such a problem with Emma?"
"Here's Amelia's room," he changed the subject. "Now if you need me, I'll be playing video games all night." He left quickly, taking his conflicting emotions with him. There was a lot of story going on there. Victoria Dallon, super sleuth, would be on that job later.
The door opened before I even tapped on it. Taylor was there sitting with her on the bed. "I didn't interrupt anything, I hope?" My senses confirmed that, if I did, it was only a conversation. None of the obvious tells were present.
"Not at all," Taylor answered, hints of aggressive chemicals hit her bloodstream as she prepared for a confrontation against me. And then they stopped seemingly for no reason. That's not how humans work, I thought. Maybe it has something to do with how her body's been altered to superhuman fitness levels. "I was about to go home, actually."
"I thought you lived here?" I asked.
"Seems like it, sometimes," she answered. "But I still live with my dad. It makes him happy to have me around to take care of once in a while."
"See you tomorrow," Amy kissed Taylor on the cheek. Awfully chaste for people who are engaged, I decided. I stepped aside as Taylor left the room. She's nervous about something. Hiding something. So is Amy.
"So, wanna tell me what's up with Emma and Zach?" I asked. I registered Amy's relief at the question. And then an entirely different form of apprehension. Christ, Amy, I thought you quit doing hospitals to reduce the stress in your life.
"Why do you want to know?" Amy asked suspiciously.
"I'm not allowed to worry about the wellbeing of the rest of my team?" I asked defensively. "I bet if you won't tell me, then Crystal would be happy to." Amy's emotions jumped. She was annoyed by something. I win. I also needed a better word than 'I win'. Checkmate, maybe? That sounds way too pretentious, I decided almost immediately. "Why are you afraid to tell me?"
"Seriously, Vicky," Amy sighed. "I just... we have enough drama around here. Could you please just leave it alone?"
"You know I can't," I replied. "Just tell me. What did Emma do to Zach?"
"Nothing," she answered. She's telling the truth.
"Buuuut," I prompted.
"But he hates her because of what she did to Taylor," Amy admitted. She looked at me. "Oh, you didn't hear about that before? Emma was Taylor's childhood friend. Then, for reasons I doubt anyone will ever be able to explain to me... well, Emma decided to bully and torture Taylor until she had a trigger event. Two trigger events, actually."
"Two?" I blinked. "How does that even work?"
"It happens," Amy answered. "I can tell the difference between people who've only had one trigger, and those who've had two. Taylor's had two, and since she didn't even realize it, they must have happened almost back to back. Double triggers. Probably a lot more common than second triggers."
"And you're working alongside her?" I asked. "Taylor didn't seem like Emma's biggest fan, but fuck, if it were me... I'd have gone Carrie all over Emma's face and then buried her in a corn field somewhere in Indiana."
"She had some time getting used to Riley first," Amy explained. "Compared to that, Emma's pretty small time. And Taylor's been trying to be more forgiving. She feels pretty guilty over what she did as Skitter. And Emma's been bending over backwards to prove she's sorry and should be forgiven. It... well, we've all done some pretty bad things."
Amy's emotions spiked. Guilt, something that she regrets enough to border on the suicidal. She won't tell me if I ask, I realized.
"I guess," I agreed. "And Zach isn't exactly the forgiving type, is he?"
"Not about this," Amy added. "He doesn't really like to talk about his own feelings much"
Something we have in common, I guess. "Good to know. Aren't you going to do anything to fix that mess?"
"Not my business," Amy dismissed. "They're both doing their jobs. Emma's more worried about being friends with Riley and Taylor, and even Taylor's at least willing to try to work it out," Huh, is that why Taylor seemed so... disinterested... in Amy? Does she have feelings for Emma? I will punt that bitch into the middle of the ocean if she's leading my sister on like that. "Zach's moved on to hitting on Crystal..."
"Really?" I interrupted. "And here she seemed so eager to send him my way."
"The only girls on the team he hasn't hit on at least once are Missy, who's dating his best bud. Lily, who's a lesbian with a power we're pretty certain can kill him for real. And Sabah, who's dating Lily," Amy explained. "Crystal probably wants someone a bit more, well, not a jackass."
"Her loss then," I smiled.
"What?" Amy exclaimed. "You can't seriously be interested in-"
The door opened, and a tired looking Riley walked in. "The dreams are back," was her only explanation as she climbed into Amy's bed.
"We'll talk about this later," Amy insisted as she reached over and rubbed the girl's shoulder.
"Sure," I lied before leaving the room. I wandered into the living area, where Zach was playing some kind of fighting game.
"How'd the chat go?" he asked, as one of the characters on the screen bloodily decapitated another.
"Pretty good," I answered as I walked over and plopped down next to him. "She gave me some idea of the history between you and Emma. Thinks there's some secret of your past that makes you hate her a disproportionate amount."
He sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you? Well, talk all you want, I don't have to answer any question you ask."
"I was thinking of beating it out of you," I added just a hint of tease to my voice.
"That won't really work, either," he countered.
"We'll have a duel on it," I offered. "Any competition you want to have. The loser has to do anything the winner wants. For an hour. No complaining, no resisting, no stalling. No matter what it is."
He looked at me. "I dunno, I can think of a lot of 'anythings' to do in an hour."
I smiled and licked my lips slowly. "Hit me with your best shot."
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A/N- Time for a canon omake in the NSFW section?