Amelia, Ch 308- Riley
Clarice stood watching as Genius Loci and Dubstep ran through their power tests in our isolation and scanning chambers. They had plenty of room and objects to work with, and instructions to just go nuts. We didn't always test in rooms like those, but for this pair, with their Shaker type powers, it was the best way to get a real feel for their abilities and how to harness them most efficiently.
<You almost blew your cover there,> Emma informed me as she stepped near me. She spoke in a crazy hybrid of Japanese, Spanish and Hindi. <And, yes, I think they can hear us from here.>
<Sorry,> I spoke softly. <I just got really excited.>
<You're just lucky they're West Coast and aren't going to put the connections together, and that neither of them caught on this was meant to be a secret, and they probably wouldn't know who you were if you gave them your real name,> she continued. <Oh, and that both of them were too busy checking out my rack to remember most of the conversation. Now call up Rey while I text him and tell him to act skeptical of your opinions on the subject.>
<Okay,> I agreed. She's right, I messed up bad. So stupid. I've gotten too comfortable with our position and it nearly cost me everything. My safety, my happy life that I don't deserve. And in the process I'd end up putting all my friends' hopes and dreams at risk.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked, looking at me strangely.
I almost asked her why, but then I realized it was because Clarice was starting to hyperventilate, or at least imitate the experience. Because I was starting to hyperventilate. "Umm, yes, I'm fine," I responded, then starting to force myself to calm down.
I've be the target of numerous heroes, nearly killed countless times, yet today is the first day I've ever been truly afraid for myself since I met Jack. Why?
I shook the thought off and focused. I have a job to do, I'll worry later.
I contacted Rey and went through the motions of the rest of the work day quietly. I had to admit, they did a good job passing me off as a low level assistant. I felt insulted by some of the implications that they were mostly just being nice to me because I was Amelia's little sister, but it was better than the alternative of them putting together exactly when I joined the team and what that implied. I spent the rest of the session in lost in the thought that I was on borrowed time before my secret came out, and all the things that I would lose.
....
I found Missy and Theo together on the roof of our main building. With the general lack of entertainment around here, and the replacement portal now over a hundred miles from our Capital and Missy's power now disabled, it left us with no convenient means to travel to Bet, except to shunt over, in full costume. And that would just place us in the devastated ruins of Brockton Bay. I knew some people that would have considered that a romantic date night. Missy and Theo weren't those people. Instead, they opted to have picnics and star gaze.
The were already looking at me when I came into sight. I wasn't using Bella's silent mode. The sound of her wings flapping was comforting, and they must have heard it. She touched down gently, near Calysta and Macula.
I hopped off, and rushed toward the pair of them.
"Riley?" Theo asked as I got close. "Is some- oof!" I slammed into him and held on as tight as I could. He put a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"I missed both of you so much!" I clung harder. Sensing that Missy'd gotten close, I grabbed her with my right arm and pulled her into the hug as well. At this point, I was actually a little taller than my best friend, and that would likely never change naturally.
"Riley, we saw each other six hours ago," Missy spoke up. Her arm had joined Theo's around my back. "What happened?"
"I messed up and almost let people find out who I am!" I sobbed. The both tensed.
"You didn't, though, right?" Missy asked, and I could hear the fear in her voice.
She knows how bad I just screwed up. "They didn't find out?"
"Emma covered for me," I told them. "She thinks it worked. Something about her rack distracting them."
"Emma's been spending too much time around Zach," Missy commented. "But she's probably right. If they didn't notice it then, they probably won't figure it out later. They'll be too distracted by their shiny new toys to care. You are giving them shiny toys, right?"
"Uh huh," I nodded, my face still buried in Theo's chest. "Genius Loci might even have Endslayer potential with his armor."
"That's certainly a shiny toy," Missy agreed.
"Remember how much all of you Tinkers hate how little praise you get for your hard work?" Theo added. "Well, now you get to see the benefits of it."
"But it was so stupid," I muttered, turning my head to look at Missy. "I got careless and almost cost us everything. You'd have to give me up to protect Avalon and I don't want you to have to."
"Hush," Theo squeezed. "We're not going to give you up, not for anything."
He gives the best hugs. I pressed against him. "You're not?"
"Wouldn't help even if they did," Missy responded. "Think about it. You've been part of this team for almost a year, now. You deserve the title of Endslayer just as much as anyone, because without you there would be no Enslayers. And no one would ever dare come after you here. The Triumvirate won't do it because they work for Cauldron, and we can prove it. They wouldn't dare come after us, especially since we're on the same side to get rid of Scion. Giving you up won't solve anything."
"They'd have to get through me and Missy if they wanted to hurt you," Theo added.
"And Amelia, and Taylor, and Victoria," Missy continued. "There's a whole planet between us and anyone who wants to take you from us. And even if we didn't have all of that to protect us, we'd just run away somewhere. With everything going on, we could always wait out the drama for a year or two and then we can come back and no one would ever make the connection."
"You mean that?" I asked, smiling. "You're not mad at me for being stupid."
"I'm hardly one to talk about doing something stupid," Missy shrugged. "That's why I don't have my powers right now, and even after I get them back you'll never let me within a mile of that stim drug again. Don't lie, I figured it out."
"Yeah, probably," I admitted. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she insisted. "Everyone makes mistakes and does something stupid that they regret. This is mine."
"Theo doesn't," I pointed out.
"Yes I do," he answered.
"Like what?" I asked, looking up at him. Missy didn't say anything, but I felt her tense slightly.
Are these things he's shared with Missy before? It shouldn't surprise me that she'd know more about him than I do.
"So many things to do with my father," he admitted. "I should have stood up to him while he was alive. I could have revealed his identity to the public. I could, should, have poisoned him or slit his throat in his sleep. Potentially hundreds of people suffered for every day he was still alive."
"Oh, Theo," Missy muttered. "You can't blame yourself for that."
"Then Dream Girl," he added. "I had the chance to kill her. I knew what her powers were like. I let her live, and Zach paid the price for it. I know, it indirectly brought the three of us together. But now we have to wait and wonder if she'll ever come back. The way her power works, we may never know until it's too late."
"She'll never return," I told them. Lisa made me promise not to tell anyone. I didn't really care what Lisa thought.
"How do you know that?" Missy asked.
"She's dead," I answered. "I killed her, that's why she vanished."
"I'm sorry," Theo pulled me closer. "If I'd done my job, you never would have had to do that."
"It's nothing I haven't done before, many times over," I dismissed. I had something more important in mind. I couldn't even look them in the eyes as I asked. "How can you care about me, knowing all the horrible things I've done? I'm a monster."
"We don't see it that way," Missy responded. "You're sweet and kind and have done nothing but try to make us happy, even when you had to hurt yourself to do it. That's the definition of love right there. If we threw that in your face, we'd be the monsters."
"It's true," Theo responded. "We love you. That's what matters."
The words hit me hard enough that I thought my knees would buckle. Since this arrangement started, I'd heard Theo and Missy use the word with each other a few times, but neither of them said it to me, or vice versa. I looked up at him, and then over at Missy. I could barely see their faces for the tears in my eyes.
"I don't deserve this," I denied.
"That doesn't matter," Theo insisted. "You're pretty much stuck with it."
He kissed my forehead. That wasn't common, but it had happened a few times before. I loved every second of it as always.
I wasn't prepared for when Missy kissed my cheek. I turned my head toward her in surprise. She smiled softly, and then gave me a brief kiss on the lips. The same chaste sort of kiss she and Theo often shared, but my first kiss. I had imagined what it would be like, a few times.
Missy looked self conscious. "Sorry, I just... I won't do it again."
I leaned in and silenced her. She may have stolen my first kiss, but I gave her my second.
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A/N- I swear to all things unholy that this was NOT the chapter I planned on writing this morning.
Sometimes my characters just tell me to fuck off while they do their own thing.
