Realignment [Worm]

Illumination 2.1
◭
Taylor​

Dad’s car screeched to a halt as we arrived at Arcadia High, the radio still playing music until I turned it off. For reasons known only to gods and Lisa, he offered to drive me to school today instead of having me ride the bus like I did with Winslow, and I accepted without question. The ride was rather relaxing, with both of us listening to some tunes like we frequently did years ago. He even seemed to make an effort to keep the smalltalk afloat, if only for a bit. It was nice.

Ever since he found out about Lisa yesterday, he looked more… active to me. Attentive? Alive? Whatever it was, it looked difficult for him, but it was a nice change of pace from the usual way he carried himself — barely there, going through the motions, noticeably hollow.

Then again, I was like that too until recently.

I knew that Lisa had something to do with this, especially considering the way dad seemed to look at her sometimes, as if seeking approval — and wasn’t that an odd concept — but all she told me was that they talked and that she had to remind him of his priorities. While her being adamant on keeping everything under wraps was as annoying as always, I was still grateful for the results and I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth — all I cared about was that Lisa was still allowed to stay and dad was more himself than usual.

“Nervous?” He asked while looking at me.

“A bit,” I conceded, glancing at my new school. Much as I was excited about leaving the hellhole that was Winslow behind as a distant, unpleasant memory, I still felt apprehension stir within me. People would undoubtedly know who I was thanks to all the fame-seeking parasites I had to unfortunately share a school with spilling everything they knew about Shadow Stalker’s wrongdoings on social media, and I was powerless to stop them. The only thing I could do was ignore everyone, which I was planning on doing regardless.

I sighed, raising my bookbag from my feet onto my lap, and looked back at my dad. “Guess it’s time,” I muttered.

Dad reached over the console and gave me a one-armed hug.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Taylor,” he said, smiling faintly. A few moments after he released me, he continued. “You, uh, have your phone with you, right?”

Confessing to him about having one was pretty difficult, but Lisa decided to annoy me until I finally agreed. Dad… wasn’t amused. He was visibly disappointed, just as I expected, but at least he didn’t take it away or anything. I still felt bad about having it, but it was too useful to ignore.

I checked my pockets, verifying that I did, in fact, have the phone with me.

“Yeah, I do.” I patted the pocket that held it.

“If anything happens, call me,” dad intoned with a frown. “Okay, Taylor?”

“You do know that Arcadia has a Faraday cage, right?” I deadpanned.

“...Ah, I forgot about that.” He guiltily rubbed the back of his head.

“Don’t worry, dad, I’ll find a way if I need it.” I opened the door, ready to leave. “So, uh. Bye, I guess?”

“Bye, kiddo. I love you.”

“Love you too, dad,” I said with a smile before stepping out.

I left the car and began walking towards the school’s entrance, my head held high. The school grounds were decently populated, and the whole place looked cared for, unlike Winslow’s. Barely any dead grass, no random trash, clean benches and tables. I couldn’t see any noticeable gang colors so far either. A group of students were sitting under a tree, apparently playing some sort of card game, while another was having a heated debate with most of the participants having their phones out. Just normal people doing normal things.

I strode further, going through the entrance.

Slowly walking through the halls, I looked around, committing the building’s layout to memory. Of course, I had already been here before on Thursday, so I was feeling less nervous than before — hopefully, my unease wouldn’t be too obvious. There was still about half an hour left before classes, though quite a lot of people were already inside, most of them chatting or walking. To my annoyance, a few were already looking at me, but I resolved myself to take it all in stride.

Soon enough I noticed a familiar blonde walking straight towards me, not breaking eye contact once it’d been established. She looked model-tier pretty, her hair was immaculate and- wait, was that Glory Girl?

Shit, did she know who I was?!

“Vicky, aura,” her mousy sister said with annoyance, elbowing her in the side. I didn’t even recognize that Panacea was with her until now, weird. Thankfully, she was still able to walk, so… Yay, me?

“Right, sorry,” ‘Vicky’ said to her before turning back to me with a cheery smile. “Hi, I’m Victoria, and this is my sister Amy! You’re the new girl, uh, Taylor Herbert, right?”

Good Lord, she’s an extrovert.

“Hebert, but um, yes. Hi?” I did a small wave with one arm while the other was holding my middle.

Victoria blinked before unfolding a small piece of paper and glancing at it. “Oh, oops.” She then offered the thing to me, still smiling. “Either way, welcome to Arcadia! Principal told me to give you this and show you around, so just tell me when you’re ready!” I saw Amy roll her eyes at that, clearly unamused.

I took the paper, which apparently contained my locker number and the password to its lock. I had a brief sinking feeling at the idea of her knowing my combination before telling myself that that’d be silly — Glory Girl wasn’t the type of person to abuse information like that. I shook the thought away and pocketed the slip of paper before shrugging. “Sure,” I said with minimal thinking — not like I had anything better to do at the time.

My wrist was then swiftly grabbed by my newly-appointed tour guide, who began tugging me in some random direction. “Nice! C’mon, we got lots to cover. So, that way’s the gym…”

This was going to be a long day.

▲​

The ‘tour’ took about twenty minutes in total, with me ending up feeling as winded as Amy, even though I usually ran in the mornings. Thankfully, her sister decided to switch things up a bit after that, stopping us by the cafeteria for some casual banter with some other friends she had. It was safe to say that I forgot their names almost immediately.

The classes that followed the ringing of the first bell went rather smoothly, in my opinion — every teacher I’d met so far had been nice, most of them seeming to actually enjoy their subjects. The Math one was more strict than I expected, though, with my initial judgement coming from Victoria’s gossip. Then again, she was also pretty fair, so everything balanced out in the end.

Oh, and apparently this school had clubs! I was pretty surprised by that, with Winslow having none at all. Regardless, I hadn’t applied to any of them yet due to feeling busy enough already nowadays — and I wasn’t even going out doing cape stuff yet! Plus, the more time I spent at home, the smaller were the chances of it being attacked when I was gone.

As yet another bell rang, I quietly collected my things and put them in my bag. I hesitated on my way out, my instincts screaming at me that I was about to be attacked but, obviously, nothing happened — I wasn’t there anymore, I no longer needed to hide. I could finally just… blend in. Coexist.

What a strange feeling.

I welcomed it.

The latest bell heralded the start of lunch break, so I started making my way towards the cafeteria. Most of my classmates were heading there too, though I noticed that some opted to go outside instead — something that I decided to try at a later date. I wasn’t going to get whatever they served here because I packed myself my own lunch, but I was willing to bet that the food was of better quality than anything one could find at Winslow.

As I walked, I basked in my newfound anonymity, a ghost of a smile finding its way onto my face. Once I entered the cafeteria though, my eyes were quickly drawn to Victoria waving at me from one of the tables, while her sister simply stared at me with no emotion whatsoever. I didn’t really feel like eating alone so I approached them, settling down beside Amy.

“Hey, Taylor!” Victoria exclaimed.

“Hi, Victoria,” I greeted them in turn. “Hi, Amy.” I received but a murmur in response.

“These…” the blonde bombshell pointed at the boys sitting across the table, “...are Dean and Dennis. Say hi, guys!”

The one who I assumed was Dennis just waved his hand with a non-committal “Hey,” while Dean extended his arm across the table, which I took.

“Nice to meet you, Taylor, I’m Dean,” he said with an oddly polite tone.

“Yeah, uh, you too,” I replied awkwardly.

Pleasantries exchanged, Victoria decided to move onto gossip once more. Apparently, she and Dean were dating, and Dennis was a bit miffed that some other boy named Chris wasn’t here today, busy with something else. I ate my lunch in silence, most of the time only contributing to the conversation when asked directly, and I noticed that Amy was doing the same thing. She looked somewhat… out of it. I was getting worried that I’d broken her somehow — I didn’t have any practice with her power, after all, I let it do most of the work by itself back then.

At some point she looked at me, as if noticing my existence for the first time. The puzzled expression on her face, mixed with what I’d peg as recognition, sent a lance of ice through my heart, especially since it was quickly replaced by something more serious. Did she know? If yes, how much did she know? Did I screw up? I screwed up, didn’t I?

As I panicked internally while I finished up my lunch, I noticed that Dean kept shooting me confused glances every so often, too. If he knew as well… I didn’t know what would happen then.

I flinched at the sudden feeling of a tap on my left shoulder.

“Hey, uhm, mind if I borrow you for a bit?” I saw Amy say, her freckled face pensive.

“Y-yeah,” I managed, trying and failing to calm my nerves. “O-okay.”

We stood up and left the table under the confounded gazes of the others, my gait rigid as she led me by my wrist to an empty classroom. The brunette leaned back against the teacher’s desk and stared at me intently, saying nothing.

I began trying to stammer through some kind of apology, a deep part of my brain telling me that I fucked up big time, but she interrupted me before I released more than one syllable from my mouth. “Are you okay?” She asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I- uh. Wh-what?”

“I remember you.” My stomach dropped. “I healed you a few months ago, didn’t I?” Oh. “You had a ton of punctures, lacerations, infections and so on, right?”

So she didn’t know. Phew.

Though… maybe she should?

“Y-yeah, that was me,” I confirmed, feeling slightly less tense. “Th-thanks for healing me.”

“What the hell happened to you in the first place?” She demanded, crossing her arms. “It took me almost half an hour to put you back together!”

Half an- what? Me fixing her up only took a few minutes! Was I really fucked up that bad?

I sighed, sitting on a desk that was across from the one holding up Amy, and spoke. “Bullies.” That was all she would get from me. Probably.

She scoffed. “‘Bullies.’ That was a fucking murder attempt. Please tell me they got caught, at least?”

“Well…” I didn’t know what actually happened to them, but I could hope that the PRT would do something useful for once. “The PRT probably dealt with two of them, but it’s not like they send updates every day or anything.”

“Hold up,” Amy leaned forward a bit, her eyes boring into my own. “PRT?”

“The third one, Sophia, escaped,” I said, giving her a hint. “They don’t know where she is right now.”

Understanding flashed across her face, solidifying into an annoyed expression. “Shadow Stalker.”

I nodded.

“The bitch never should’ve been a Ward in the first place,” she muttered. Exactly!

“Well, I doubt she still counts as one,” I commented, remembering a news report on her from a few days ago. “People are out for blood. Even the other Wards, apparently.”

“Yeah, they’re not happy,” Amy said with a dark smirk. “Things got way out of hand far too quickly.” They sure di- wait a minute.

“Was that a pun?” I deadpanned, suppressing a grin.

“Maybe. Are you doing better now, though?” She asked.

“Huh?”

“After the uh… injuries. And Stalker too, I guess,” she shrugged with one shoulder.

“I think so? Isn’t it too early to judge?” I was still waiting for that attack to happen, for example.

She shrugged again, and I looked around. Nobody in sight. This was probably the best opening I would get…

“I, uh. I wanted to ask you that too, actually.” I said, slightly quieter than before.

Amy looked at me with confusion, which meant I had to go all in. I wanted to.

“I did fix you correctly, r-right?” I whispered, anxiety spiking once again.

I watched as her eyes widened and her face paled, the knuckles on her left hand whitening as she grabbed the edge of the desk she was sitting on. She stared at me as she brought the other shaking hand to her mouth, and I could hear her breath hitch even from here.

“Th-that was you?” She asked, faintly. I was sincerely hoping she wouldn’t pass out, because that would be extremely difficult to explain to her sister without getting a punch to the face.

I saw Amy draw a triangle in the air with her finger, still not breaking eye contact with me, as if asking a silent question. She looked so small and vulnerable at this moment…

I looked around, making sure that we were still alone while noting the positions of any cameras I could find. I turned in a way that made my body obscure their views but not Amy’s, and then exhaled slowly, readying myself. Amy gasped as soon as she saw the black sand, her face becoming as white as a sheet of freckled paper when it formed into a thorn for just a split second before disappearing once again. She sat there, shaking, as I continued to watch her with trepidation, wondering what was going to happen next.

Unexpectedly, Amy jumped off her perch and hugged me, strill trembling as I wrapped my arms around her by reflex. “Oh god, thank you,” she whispered, pressing her face against my collarbone. “Thank you so much.”

I held her like that for about a minute while her shaking tapered off, a warm feeling radiating inside me. I smiled, knowing that I actually managed to help someone successfully. Though, I should probably still ask…

“I didn’t make any mistakes, did I?” I asked, letting go.

Amy shook her head, a small smile making itself known on her own face. “No. I got thoroughly checked when they drove me to the hospital, everything seemed like it was in perfect condition.” Then, she chuckled. “Although I did feel ravenous for a day or two afterwards.”

“Oh, is that bad? I’m s-” I began before getting swiftly cut off.

“No, Taylor, it’s a side effect of my power. You had to get the mass from somewhere, right?” She was looking at me with an amused twinkle in her eye.

Before I could reply, I suddenly heard something vibrating somewhere nearby before realizing that it was my phone, and promptly took it out. A message from Lisa? Was she attacked?

I opened it.

L: Hey Taylor, I assume the Faraday cage is turned off right now so gonna pester you real quick.
L: The PRT finally released their damn statement. (took them long enough!)

Oh dear.

L: Apparently, they had a new Ward that hadn’t debuted yet, and *of course* the idiots from above decided to have the Wards try and help out against Lung. Because reasons.
L: Long story short, Browbeat (the newbie) is dead, and the media ain’t happy. Fun.
L: Oh, and no info whatsoever about the other guys.
L: Ugh.
L: Hope you’re having a better day than me because I am *so* done right now.

Well, then. That was… something.

I assumed that the ‘other guys’ she was talking about were the Undersiders, and… yeah, I could understand why Lisa was so pissed right now. I sighed.

“The PRT fucked up again, who would’ve thought,” I commented out loud.

Amy, confused, sat next to me and read over my shoulder. Oddly enough, she started looking more and more guilty the further she got.

“Guess who failed to heal him in time,” the sad healer said without meeting my eyes.

I gently laid a hand on her arm, trying not to scare her away. “You can’t save everyone, it’s not your fault.”

“Sure feels like it,” she mumbled.

“If I were you, I’d blame whoever it was that put him there in the first place,” I said, trying to redirect her fallen mood.

“Yeah.” Amy looked around us, then glanced at the door. “We should probably go. Vicky might get worried otherwise.”

I nodded, sliding off the desk, and we slowly made our way to the hall, only for me to bump into Victoria right as I exited the classroom. Was she guarding it or something?

Amy seemed to notice that it startled me, because she instantly crossed her arms and glared at her sister. “What the fuck, Vicky! Were you spying on us?” Oh shit, hopefully not. I wasn’t too keen on outing myself to her just yet.

Victoria, meanwhile, was simply ignoring Amy’s words, eyeing each of us smugly, clearly entertained.

The blonde stepped forward and gave her sister a hug, ruffling her hair. “Your social circle is finally expanding! I’m happy for you, Ames.” The sister in question groaned with annoyance, which I understood completely.

“So!” Victoria began after releasing Amy. “Have you two exchanged numbers yet?”

“N-no?” I said, looking at her with uncertainty.

Seeing Amy shake her head, Victoria sighed before prompting us to do the exchange. We managed to finish it right before the next bell and, with hasty goodbyes, we separated, going to classes once more.

▲​

On my bus ride home, I felt another barrage of messages get sent to my phone. Pulling it out, I was surprised to see that they came from Amy, of all people. Feeling overcome with curiosity, I opened them.

A: hi
A: uh
A: I’d like to hang out sometime
A: if you don’t mind

Oh! I quickly typed my response.

A: just ignore me
T: Hey! Sure, when do you want to meet up? I’m free now.
A: oh
A: can’t right now, got hospital stuff to do

Right, Panacea duties. Hmm…

T: Tomorrow, then? After school?
A: ok that works

Nice! Maybe she could meet Lisa, too!

A: see ya around I guess?
T: Yes, see you!

After staring at my phone for a couple more seconds, making sure she wasn’t going to say anything else, I finally put it away. Another smile managed to find its way onto my face, and I looked outside my window, thinking about just how well today went.

It felt nice to have friends again.

 

Illumination 2.2
▲
Lisa​

It was a slow day on PHO.

I scrolled past thread after thread of boring speculation with nothing at all catching my eye. Void got tempbanned for yet another stupid theory involving the Simurgh’s bosom, someone posted a video of Scion stopping a wayward cruise liner from crashing into a port, and yet more people were discussing some tremors that were recently felt near Boston.

Tremors likely caused by a parahuman.​

Fascinating. Anything else? No? Of course not. God, this was boring.

Groaning with annoyance, I closed my laptop and went downstairs to the living room. It was still barely 2 PM, so Taylor would probably be here within the next hour. I just had to survive ‘till then. Easy.

Juice box in hand, I flopped onto the couch, hoping that at least the TV would have something interesting on today. Sure, I wasn’t an adult, but watching the local news was pretty useful for anyone who lived in a hellhole like Brockton Bay, especially if they were a cape. With a bit of luck, there might even be some clues sprinkled in that I could use.

I took a sip of apple juice and turned the TV on.

“-inues to spiral out of control. So far, Oni Lee has managed to cause nine civilian casualties in the attack.”

Welp. Apparently, some of the ABB were at Weymouth Mall, and they weren’t there for shopping. Probably.

“Velocity and Triumph of the local Protectorate were just spotted engaging with the villain. Meanwhile, seventeen of the twenty four spotted unpowered gang members have been confirmed to be incapacitated and are currently being transferred into police custody, as stated by officer Henderson, a BBPD first responder.”

I watched the fight unfold as Oni Lee teleported around, constantly trying to stab the two heroes with a military knife. He actually managed to catch Velocity off-guard once, but the cut was so tiny that the camera could barely capture it. That wasn’t helped by the fact that the speedster zoomed about as well, following Oni Lee whenever he noticed that he had teleported.

Triumph shouted, disorienting two clones with his shockwave and making the real instance of the murderous ABB lieutenant lose his balance, but Lee teleported yet again. This time, he appeared in the air behind Triumph, plunging his knife into the lion-themed cape’s shoulder before dropping a grenade from his bandolier, but Velocity succeeded in batting it away in time before it exploded.

Come to think of it, the demon-masked sociopath was surprisingly careful today. Usually, he had his clones rain grenades on his targets all the time, even using them as respawnable suicide bombers, but here he was mostly content with just using his knife. Weird.

Scavenging for resources. Avoiding accidental destruction of technology-related stores. Scavenging for Tinker resources. Is a distraction.​

Well that wasn’t ominous at all.

The wannabe ninja on the screen had apparently gotten bored — just like me, actually — and decided to fuck off into the sunset. The news people seemed to have had the same idea, resulting in a PRT-sponsored cereal ad getting shoved in my face. I sighed, turned the TV off and stretched lazily, then stood up.

▲​

Before I reached Taylor’s room, ready to partake in more mindless doomscrolling, the telltale sound of the front door opening made me immediately backtrack. Oh well, I’d just have to update my board later, instead. Hopefully, I wouldn’t forget it.

“Lisa! I’m home!” I heard Taylor shout as I walked down the stairs. “Amy’s h- oh, hey.” Aww, she was smiling. Good.

“Hey yourself,” I replied with a smirk and looked at the wayward healer by her side. “And hey to you, too. Name’s Lisa.”

“Amy,” she answered dryly, averting her eyes.

Is wary of you.​

Huh?

Is reminded of her sister. Feels guilty of the comparison.​

I mean, yeah, we’re both blondes, but what’s the problem with that?

Guilt indicates socially unacceptable feelings. Has a crush on her sister. Is aware of its social unacceptability and unlikelihood of reciprocation. Is filled with self-loathing as a result.​

…Holy shit, no wonder she clings to her so much.

Saying that this was troublesome would be an understatement.

“Lisa?” Taylor’s voice cut through my thoughts like butter. “You’re doing that thing again.”

I blinked.

Right, I was still staring at Amy. Well then.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said, sighing and leaning against the kitchen table. The beginnings of a migraine were already starting to settle in, too…

“Does she do that often?” Amy quietly asked Taylor, watching me with confusion.

“Sometimes,” I answered instead, trying to sweep everything under the proverbial rug. “Anyways, what do you two think about ordering chinese for lunch? I’m starving.”

With neither of them objecting, I fetched a menu for one of the places we ordered from already once before, and Taylor took care of the phone call once we were done with all of our choices. Of course, that then left us awkwardly sitting at the table, waiting for the food to arrive while not knowing what to do next. Hmm…

“Nice to know you’re still standing,” I stated, trying to break the ice.

“What?” Amy asked, drawn out of her idle observations of the Hebert household. “Oh. Yeah, uh. Thanks?” She shrunk in on herself, clearly still uneasy about remembering the injury.

“Fun fact,” Taylor piped up, looking rather relaxed. “Lisa’s the one who reminded me to try and heal you. I was, uh, a bit too busy trying to nail the clown at the time.” Thanks for the assist, Tay.

“Huh.” Amy was looking straight at me until now, lowering her gaze to the table. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

While I liked being thanked for doing cool things and all that jazz, this whole thing seemed to only increase her unease over time. In fact, it was probably better to avoid the topic altogether. Taylor had apparently gotten the same idea, judging by her worried expression.

“Okay, topic change: the ABB have a Tinker now, apparently,” I said, eliciting concerned looks from the both of them.

“Where did you get that from?” Amy spoke up with a mild amount of suspicion lacing her voice. Ugh, what a headache.

Wait, no, that was just my migraine.

“The TV, duh,” I answered with a knowing smile.

“Since when did you watch TV?” Taylor asked while arching an eyebrow in amusement. “Didn’t you say it was for ‘boring adults’ just a few days ago?” Meanie. Amy’s lips quirked up, at least.

“Well maybe I was wrong,” I scowled, pouting with my arms crossed.

Taylor performed a faux gasp while Amy let out a snort.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

I watched, smiling, as the two descended into giggles, the tension in the air thinning somewhat. Worth it.

As they began to slow down, I continued. “But yeah, today’s attack on the mall was a scavenging expedition, with Teleporting McMurderbot being the distraction.”

“Wait, they attacked the mall?” Taylor asked in surprise. “When?”

Amy checked her phone with an annoyed expression. “Almost an hour ago, apparently.” Then, she looked up back at me. “No word about a Tinker, though.”

I sighed, propping my head up with one hand. “Fine, let me spell it out for you puny non-Thinkers. First of all, Oni Lee barely used any grenades, unlike his usual MO. He only dropped one of them today, and even that one barely did anything. Second, he and his goons — most of which were arrested, by the by — actively avoided trashing up the mall’s tech stores. Third, he wasted the heroes’ time by ‘porting around instead of being as aggressive as he normally is.” I took in their pondering faces before asking. “Thoughts?”

A few seconds later, Amy nodded. “Okay, that does make sense.” She hummed a bit before continuing. “But, uh. Why out yourself to me?”

A sensible question, I’d give her that.

“Well, you know about Taylor already, and we’re going to be out doing cape stuff as soon as our costumes get finished.” I shrugged. “Also, I’m pretty sure you can figure out that I’m a cape simply by touching me, so eh. No point in hiding.”

“Fair, I guess,” she replied as the doorbell rang, still eyeing me warily.

“I’ll get it!” Taylor exclaimed, running to the door.

Amy’s eyes lingered on her for a moment before she looked back at me with a curious gaze. “What can you do, then?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing much,” I answered, smirking. “I’m psychic.” Wait, fuck.

I may have screwed up a little.

As I spoke the last two words her face quickly became pale, drained of color, causing her numerous freckles to stand out even more. She unconsciously started pushing herself against the back of her chair, away from me, the threat, and breathed more and more erratically. Shit, she was terrified of me.

Now, normally I would have enjoyed this, but something in her overall demeanor that I picked up so far was sadly far too reminiscent of Taylor. Not just the current one, even, but the Taylor I met that night — someone without a support network, lost in a dark spiral. Amy might’ve had a sister, sure, but since said sister was part of the problem, telling her anything would likely only make things worse.

I had to step in, that was the one thing I knew for certain.

Not to mention the fact that she was Taylor’s friend, and in Taylor’s home. We weren’t enemies, and I had enough of those already for the time being.

“Amy,” I said with a hushed tone, glancing for a moment at the front door where Taylor stood, a step or two outside, paying for our food. “Yes, I’m aware of your issues, but-”

Her eyes widened even more as she tried to exit the table, failing and hitting her knee instead.

“Amy, listen to me!” I hissed, which succeeded in making her pause like a deer in the headlights. “All of us have problems, not just you! It’s okay-”

“It’s not okay!” She choked out. “N-No one can know!” Damnit, she really was spiraling now. “I-If anyone finds out, everything would be ruined! Victoria w-would hate me, and she should… I’m disgusting…” She sniffled as she started getting up to leave again. “I-I have to go…” I really needed to fix that.

I sighed, stood up from my chair, and walked over to cut her off and give her a hug — or whatever counted as one, considering her arms were pinned to her sides at the moment. Hopefully, the gesture would work as well on her as it did on Taylor.

“It may not be okay, but we won’t judge, and we won’t tell. That, I promise.”

For some reason, Amy actually started crying, latching onto me like a limpet as I held her in my arms.

…I wasn’t really sure if that was good or not.

Power usage facilitated due to established skin contact.​

Okay, and?

Biokinesis can be used to determine truthfulness of a statement spoken by an observed individual.​

Great, a lie detector. Powers are bullshit, what else is new. Thankfully, I was telling the truth there. I think.

Also, ow. I said it once and I’ll say it again — fuck migraines.

I barely heard the sound of the door closing and saw Taylor speed walking back, food bags in hand and distress on her face. She stopped near us, unsure of what to do, and looked at me. I silently pointed with my eyes, first at her, then at Amy, and after a few tries Taylor seemed to have gotten what I meant. I felt Amy tense when she heard the bags thunk softly onto the table, but she relaxed when Taylor approached from behind and joined in on the hug, stroking her hair in a calming manner.

“I don’t know what happened, Amy, but we’ll help as much as we can,” she said gently, though I could hear her barely-hidden concern as well. “Right, Lisa?” Ever the heroic one.

Is worried. Trusts you.​

“Exactly,” I answered with a faint smile, but it faltered when I shuddered at the sensation of a hot knife being jammed straight through my temple.

“Lisa?!”

I sagged to my knees and closed my eyes, letting go of Amy as I held my head with one hand while supporting myself with the other. “T-too much power overuse t-today, owww,” was all I could say before dissolving into incoherent whimpers. I felt tears start involuntarily streaming down my face, and a wet palm cupped my right cheek a moment later.

“I-I don’t think I can do much,” I heard Amy whisper. “This is going on in your brain, your Gemma, and I d-don’t do brains… I’m sorry…”

“Painkillers, maybe?” Taylor was just as quiet. To my annoyance, even their low volumes caused my head to throb with pain. “I saw her take some a few times before, but it was never this bad. Will they still work?”

“I t-think so? I’ll uh, try synthesizing some aspirin in her bloodstream…” I heard her take a breath, then exhale. “Now.” The agony receded by a tiny bit, but it was still there, far too noticeable. I doubted I could do much in this state, but I could at least try to communicate.

“It h- ah- it helped a little,” I managed, then tried to stand. I also attempted to open my eyes, but that just sent another lance through my brain, and I felt Taylor try to support me from my left as I swayed.

“Don’t talk, that’ll just make things worse,” Amy said after rustling some papers or whatever. Judging by the nose-blowing sound that came a second later, they were probably tissues.

“Couch?” Taylor asked softly, to which I did a jerky nod. Even that still hurt. “Okay.”

As we slowly made our way to the couch, I heard Amy speak up again. “I can put her to sleep, maybe? The aspirin already made her drowsy regardless.”

Yeah, that would probably be for the best at this point.

“Do it,” I croaked as I finally laid down, ready for Morpheus to take me away.

The last thing I felt was her hand on my cheek once more.

 

Illumination 2.3
▲
Lisa​

When I woke up, everyone was already gone.

Light streamed from a nearby window, causing me to squint. Damn, morning already? I didn't think I’d sleep for that long. Had to be more than twelve hours for sure.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time I’d awoken tonight — that happened at Ass AM while both Taylor and her dad were already conked out and I was shambling about like a zombie. Back then, I simply got myself a glass of water and went back to sleep, mostly due to the fact that my head still hurt and I felt rather dizzy. In hindsight, that might’ve been due to the hunger that I was still feeling even now.

My stomach grumbled with perfect timing before collapsing into a black hole yet again.

I slowly got up and looked around, yawning and trying to adapt to the light. I wrapped myself in the blanket that had mysteriously appeared on me overnight — thanks, Tay — and checked the time on the TV cable box. 8:17 AM. Huh. Assuming I passed out at, say, 2 PM, plus a handful of minutes… ten… oh wow, eighteen hours in total.

Welp. At least I was feeling better now.

Turning around, I noticed that the armrest of the couch I was sleeping on had a sticky note on it, right next to an equally-mysterious pillow. So that was why I felt so oddly comfortable… Yet still not as comfortable as usual.

I blamed the lack of cuddles.

Upon grabbing the note and a spare pill of aspirin, I instantly recognized Taylor’s handwriting and began reading on my way to the bathroom.

Hey, Lisa. Hope you’ll feel better when you wake up. There are leftovers in the fridge from yesterday, but feel free to cook something else if you want.
P.S. Text us when you can, please!​

…Leave it to her to use a postscript on a goddamn Post-it note. Dork.

I sighed, threw it away, then reached for the toothpaste.

▲​

When I started cooking my omelette I finally bothered to take out my phone, noticing that it had a few new messages I hadn't yet opened. Most of them were recent, originating from Taylor, but the oldest three were Amy’s. Still feeling… something about the way yesterday went, I decided to open them first.

A: hi, Taylor gave me your number
A: tell me when you’ve woken up
A: or her I guess

Simple enough, considering I was planning to do that anyway. I didn’t expect her to talk about what happened between us just yet, but the fact that she messaged me at all was probably a good sign.

L: Sup.
L: I’m awake.
L: Not gonna lie, the knocking-me-out thing helped a lot. I can still feel the headache but it’s mild at best.
L: Thanks, Amy, good thinking.

A bit of praise should hopefully do the trick.

With no immediate answer, I swapped to my conversation with Taylor, expecting something with a similar sentiment.

T: Are you still not up yet? You’ve been sleeping for quite a while.

Yup, nailed it.

T: Well, I’m off to school.
T: Amy’s still a bit cagey but less now. She asked about you too.
T: What happened yesterday, anyway? It sounded serious. I still want to help you know.

And I still didn’t know what to do about it. Like, we could try and keep coaxing her away from her sister — that would help in the long run — but there was still something else to it, some other problem that I hadn’t uncovered yet. Amy’s tiredness, for example, stood out far too much — I could vividly remember the bags under her eyes, as well as how drained of life she seemed. It was yet another thing I had to ask about later, and it annoyed me to no end.

Meanwhile, simply remaining friends with her sounded like a good enough idea for now. For someone with a sibling, she looked surprisingly lonely.

Regardless, I kept reading.

T: Oh, Amy just helped me set up a group chat!
T: Here!

…Not something I would’ve thought Taylor would do but sure, why not. I joined the chat and greeted the others, though neither had answered just yet. Assuming they were busy, I set the phone aside and began consuming my delicious meal. Finally, some good fucking food.

Half a meal later, I somehow got jumpscared by a loud buzz as my damn phone vibrated against the counter. Cool, a new mes-

It was on PHO. It was sent to my Nebula account. It was from Parian.

NICE!

I took another bite as I opened the website.

---

Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
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♦ Private Messages from Parian (Verified Cape)

Parian: Hi.
Parian: Your costumes are ready, how do you want to pick them up?

Nebula: Hey!
Nebula: Can you do what the brooch guys do and hide the costumes somewhere random outside?
Nebula: In boxes, obviously.

Parian: Yes, that sounds doable.

Nebula: Neat, do that then. Preferably as soon as you can.

Parian: Okay.
Parian: In that case, I’ll message you a picture and the location later today.
Parian: Bye for now.

Parian has left the conversation

---

Fuck yes.

I quickly finished my plate and washed it down with OJ, then cleaned it and put it away. Afterwards, I grabbed my phone again and sent another text to the group chat.

L: Costumes are finally ready!
L: Gonna pick them up later.

…Huh, still no answer.

I waited a bit more, but neither of them were marked online. Was I forgetting something?

Arcadia Faraday cage currently active.
​

Oh. Yeah, that was it. Considering all the messages were sent before 8 AM, I should’ve easily remembered that. Damnit.

I laid my face onto the table and groaned. Stupid fancy schools.

▲​

A bunch of excited Taylor texts, two forays into the wilderness and several bonus hours of boredom later, both girls finally decided to show up. I stretched and waved at them from the couch — I was watching TV at the time — while they hung up their raincoats and swiftly approached me. Taylor was noticeably animated, practically flouncing on her way to my domain, and Amy appeared rather curious as well. Apparently, the excitement was at least slightly infectious.

The frizzy-haired healer didn’t say a word as she stretched out a hand with a slight frown on her face. It looked like she was having difficulties keeping eye contact with me, but when I tried on a softer smile it seemed to have alleviated her unease a bit. Taking her hand in mine, I watched as she silently scanned me with her power and, a second or two later, she nodded.

“Gemma’s still pulsing its pain receptors but way less than before. You’ll live.”

I snorted. “Thanks for the confidence boost, Amy.”

“Anytime,” she replied with a wry smile. “You should probably avoid using your power too much, though. At least for a little while.”

I saw Taylor’s smile crumble from those words. “Oh. I thought we could go out tonight…”

With a mental sigh I shifted my gaze back to Amy and asked. “Do you think we can still do that? I barely feel the headache right now, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be gone by midnight.”

She looked from me to Tay and back to me, then huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine,” she said, frowning again. “But don’t blame me if the same thing happens to you again.”

Taylor pumped her arm, eliciting a grin from me. “Sounds good to me,” I agreed.

Reluctantly smiling as well, Amy took a moment before speaking once more. “So, uh. What about the costumes?” Yeah, she was definitely nervous now. “Can I see them too?”

Before I could speak, Taylor piped in again. “I already said yes before, Amy, it’s fine!” She then seemed to remember that I was present too, because she glanced at me with guilt before slightly shrinking on herself. “Uhm, i-if it’s okay? Lisa?”

…Why did I delude myself into thinking that I could beat her trauma within a single week? That thing has hands, I tell you.

“Of course it’s okay, Taylor.” I rose from the couch and gave her a quick hug with one arm. Turning the TV off, I looked at my friends, spread out my arms, then spoke. “Let's go, then?”

We brought a few Capri Sun pouches as we entered Taylor’s room, the two costume boxes waiting for us at the foot of the bed. I set aside my juice as I slid one of them closer to an empty space, and we all settled around it on the floor.

“How the hell did you get this stuff?” Amy asked with surprise. To be fair, that surprise had merit — the boxes in question were each nearly as big as my torso and weighed heavier than one would’ve expected them to. Carrying them back here was not fun.

“Well, I had to get them one at a time, sooo…” I lazily leaned back against the bed. “Let's just say I’m not doing this again without a car.”

The two chuckled as a thorn was summoned to slice the tape apart. Before it was dismissed, Amy turned to Tay and asked her with a whisper. “Hey... Can I, uh, hold my thorn again?”

Taylor nodded, smiling warmly, and levitated the thorn into the shorter girl’s hands. While I was slowly unpacking my costume, I glanced at the others every so often as well — Amy was embracing her glowing oceanic crystal with both of her hands, hugging it close to her chest and looking relaxed and at peace; Taylor, meanwhile, absently stared at it, her mind likely too busy with watching the healer by proxy. It was simply adorable, and I probably would’ve suspected a Master effect in our midst had I not been witness to her injury and subsequent recovery that day at the market.

Grinning at their antics, I took my folded up costume and slowly stood up. “Gonna change now,” I muttered and waddled past them to the bathroom, not forgetting my tinkertech brooch.

Several minutes later, I was good to go. I looked at myself in the mirror and smirked with satisfaction — Parian had done a great job indeed.

Pretty much the entirety of my costume was colored in similar shades of a very dark violet, with the legs being the darkest part. Just like Taylor, I opted to have an almost-knee-length skirt flow from under my utility belt of a lighter, more lavender hue, and my trusty pistol’s holster sat right at my hip instead of its usual place on my thigh. Unlike Tay’s, my skirt split into five pointed strips, with each strip’s point radiating a glowing yellow-to-purple gradient along the edges.

The same gradient originated from my glowing, gloved palms — designed in a way that made them attention-grabbing in a fight. That way, Taylor could sneak about in her edgy clothes with ease while I took care of the others. From a distance, of course.

Obviously, both of us had requested for our gloves’ fingertips to be thin. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to poke her thorns to fill them with pretty stars, while she wouldn't be able to, uh… I don’t know. Get healed with Amy’s power, maybe? Neither of us at the time were expecting for Panacea to know us personally, but it seemed like all of this worked out in the end.

Anyways, the last accessory I had on me was a comfy, dark shawl-like thing. It was stretched over my shoulders but didn’t reach down to my chest, and kinda helped with accentuating the whole mysterious, almost arcane feel I now possessed.

Oh, and my domino mask was pastel yellow, just like the brightest parts of the gradients everywhere else.

I secured my brooch on the designated part of the shawl near the top of my sternum, waited a few seconds, then proceeded with the on/off command by tapping it with three fingers, then two, then one. Before turning on, it was dark and glossy, but as soon as the final tap landed the darkness turned pitch black, a pure void surrounded by a border of that familiar gradient glowing ever so softly.

Thanks to the real reason I got the brooches in the first place — keratin-based hologram projection — my hair began glowing in the same manner, the glow and color being brighter the closer they were to my scalp. Within the hair, the favorite part of my custom VFX began showing, too — tiny, four-pointed stars with a yellow-to-purple gradient, just like the ones that could be seen in my thorns. They shimmered and sparkled, appeared and disappeared at random times and in random places, and even left behind a very faint trail if I moved.

Perfection.

Exiting the bathroom, I bumped into a bored-looking Amy standing in the corridor.

“Oh!” She said with a start, stepping back and giving me a once-over. “Woah.” She came closer and put a hand through my hair. “Holy shit, this is so pretty…” She trailed off, clearly awestruck.

Before I could answer, though, Taylor’s voice sounded from her room. “I’m ready, you can come in!”

Grinning once more, I opened the door, and both of us walked back inside.

Taylor looked wonderful. Her costume consisted completely of near-black dark grays, and was rather form-fitting, which she seemed to have only fully realized now, fidgeting nervously. Of course, that was thanks to me prodding her for a bit, but details.

She still had a half-skirt, similar to her original attempt, but it was now of much better quality with a slightly odd texture near the edges. Above it was, obviously, a gray belt, and attached to it on her left was a small pack where I assumed she would keep her pepper spray and burner phones.

Her upper body was rather simple, lacking decorations, and appeared almost tactical in nature — which, to be fair, was her intention from the start. Her gloves were slightly lighter than her body but darker than the belt, and looked just as comfortable as mine. Naturally, her domino mask — fitted with prescription lenses — was the same color as the rest of her outfit, and the brooch on her own sternum was a glossy black triangle pointing upwards.

Speaking of which…

“You finished your effects?” I asked with surprise, still looking Taylor over.

“Oh, y-yeah, I did that yesterday while I was showing them to Amy.” Huh. “...Is it good?”

I slowly walked around her and looked at her hair. Inside it, particles trickled down, almost like water, but I could see the resemblance already — Taylor’s black sand. Just like the sand that formed her thorns, just like the sand that the thorns turned back into, it flowed through her mane before disappearing in a nonexistent wind.

“Looks perfect to me,” I grinned, and I could actually see the tension leaving her in real time. “You look great, Taylor.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling.

“Uh,” Amy hummed as the both of us turned to her. “It looks well-done, don’t get me wrong, but…”

“But?” We spoke at the same time.

“Jinx,” I whispered to Taylor, earning an elbow to my ribs. Joke’s on you — I saw that grin!

“...It kinda looks like what a villain would wear?” By the end, Amy was visibly cringing at her own words, but she did have a point, however.

“Maybe,” I replied, trying to explain things. “But Taylor wanted to go with stealth, and you can’t be all stealthy in bright colors like me.”

“Your costume is literally ninety percent dark purple,” the healer deadpanned.

“Sure, but I doubt people will just ignore my glowing brooch, my glowing hands, my glowing hair and my glowing skirt,” I deadpanned back.

Amy rolled her eyes and shrugged, looking back at Taylor. “Whatever. You look good, Taylor.” I nodded in agreement as well.

“Thank you,” she managed before looking at me. “You do too, Lise! This costume is amazing!”

“I know, right?” I struck a pose. “Totally worth it.”

“Wait, hold on, a gun?” Amy asked, pointing to the weapon in my hand.

“Yup.”

“...Why?” Her face was full of suspicion. Again. Ughhh…

“Because I’m safer with one than without one?” I tried, technically telling the truth.

“And you won’t shoot anyone to death?” Yeah, she was not amused.

“Not really? This is for emergency stuff only,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

“...Fine.”

“You know, Amy, I’m pretty sure she can get you a gun too if you want one,” Taylor commented, awkward but entertained.

Amy, for that matter, took several seconds to actually consider it before shaking her head, curly hair going everywhere. “Nah, Carol would flip,” she said, her voice filled with annoyance.

Now that sounded important.

Loathes her adoptive mother. Adoptive mother distant. Acknowledges the apparent impossibility of fulfilling her adoptive mother’s expectations. Constantly tries to fulfill them regardless.​

God, what is it with everyone I know all having shitty as fuck parents?

“Uhh.” Ah, they were both looking at me.

“...I said that outloud, didn’t I?” I sighed.

“Yup,” Amy said, half-confused and half-amused.

“Taylor, put your hand down,” I said with a bit of annoyance. “Don’t even try to defend your father here; he only got better after I whipped him into shape.”

She sighed and did as I said. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Alright, I’m not in the mood for this right now,” I began, stepping back towards the door. “Amy, we’ll talk more about that later...”

“O-kay..?”

“...But for now, I think it would be best to lose the costumes and relax a bit.” I removed my mask and opened the door. “Movie night?”

---

​

 

This post will get updated as the story progresses.
All art is spoilered for user convenience.​

---

Spoiler: Refraction 1.1

Thorn Measurements

Spoiler: Illumination 2.3

Nebula


Black Rose

Spoiler: Interlude 2.E

Shadow Stalker's Prosthetic