Will of The Force (Star Wars / Worm)

[Silveraith]

Who wants to bet Pigot or Armsy wants to treat this as a bluff

Click to shrink...

Piggot is being replaced after the fiasco of the last battle and Armsmaster is no longer in-charge of the local Protectorate office.

 

[Narsil]

Who wants to bet Pigot or Armsy wants to treat this as a bluff

Click to shrink...

As Anakin pointed out (if only to himself), they can simply ask Dinah for verification. She can predict the effects, if not the actions, of the Endbringers.

 

[CapCaverna]

Hannah threw her towel on top of a chair and sat on the bed, the mattress far too soft for her liking, despite years of living in the US, her hair nearly perfect, thanks to a combination of a hairdryer and several beauty products she had only dreamed of as a child.

She had made a full recovery; the damage she suffered when Anakin threw a building at her had been steadily healing thanks to her minor regeneration power, but Panacea finally had time to fully heal her, accelerating what would have taken weeks into only a couple of minutes…

Another benefit of being in the Protectorate.

She'd have refused it, giving her turn to someone who actually needed the healing, but with the Teeth in town and clashing with the remnants of the Empire, the protectorate needed everyone in fighting shape.

With a sigh, Hannah put her resignation letter back in her pocket and got up. She hadn't slept tonight, instead working on the letter, but that was no surprise; she only slept once every few months anyway.

Despite everything, she was still reluctant to leave, to end this part of her life, but she felt it was the right thing to do. She didn't need to work for the Protectorate to defend what she believed in, the values she was taught since coming into the country.

Out of habit, she touched the weapon at her side, her power changing the construct from a pistol into a combat knife, which she started throwing up and down in her hand.

Still, to hand her resignation letter now would be a betrayal, not to the Protectorate, no, but to the Wards, and to her other responsibilities, she'd wait until things normalized before doing it.

Tying the scarf around her mouth, she got up and put her power-generated weapon, now a revolver, on her waist. Her mandatory break was over; it was time to get back to work.

Half an hour later, she stood in front of the door to the Wards' temporary room in the Protectorate, the warning light still turned off as she waited for the kid to make her choice.

Not only the Wards, but most of the PRT administrative resources had been relocated into the Protectorate and away from easy access by villains. It wasn't a perfect solution, starting to mix Protectorate and PRT responsibilities, but for the moment, it was necessary.

"Do I have to?" Dinah asked with a tired voice, and slumped posture.

"No," Hannah shook her head, doing her best not to patronize the kid, despite her age, Dinah was incredibly bright. "But it will be another three days before we can release you to your parents, do you really want to spend those days alone?"

The girl seemed to actually consider her question, still incredibly mad at the role the wards had in her rescue, but she sighed. "No, there's a ninety percent chance I'd get bored… or hurt myself with training."

"Don't worry," Hannah assured the girl. "You already interacted with some of them alone a few times, this won't be any different."

"Look at the bright side," Assault said, patting the girl on the back. "You can poke fun at their botched rescue, teasing someone always helps with boredom."

She sighed, glaring at Assault and trying to convey a single message, don't make this worse!

With another annoyed huff, Dinah rolled her shoulders, looked up and put both arms behind her back, adjusting her posture.

Hannah recognized what she was doing, something that was simultaneously polite and unnervingly threatening on her… mentor? Kidnapper? Savior? She supposed all of those were accurate to describe Anakin.

On the girl, it just looked cute.

"That was not a 'rescue'," the girl said, giving the hero a disgusted look. "The only danger I was in came from their feeble efforts."

"That's perfect," Assault nodded, giving her a thumb up.

This was going to be a disaster, wasn't it? Sophia and the kid were either going to get along great or try to kill each other, and she didn't know which option she preferred. Hannah tapped a finger against the automatic pistol at her side and sighed, and then there was Missy...

"Indeed," the floating robot head said. "Excellent use of the word feeble, Mistress. Personally, I'd have used a more insulting adjective for the meatbags; however, I understand how difficult it is to remember one that is still sophisticated enough in the moment, I shall make allowances for your inferior wet hardware."

Hannah gave the floating head another glare, Hal, as the girl called it, after a movie about a murderous AI from before parahumans started appearing, a terrible influence, worse than Assault.

Despite every test they made, both Armsmaster and Dragon still hadn't been able to figure out if the robot was a true AI or just a very advanced program. The machine's inner code was completely alien to anything they were familiar with and only tangentially compatible with most technology.

It also seemed purposely built to be confusing; every interactive test they did turned out inconclusive results.

On one hand, Piggot wasn't about to just let the robot run around the base with his body, something comparable to a mid-level brute and mover, as well as a low-level combat thinker, and without any of the normal weaknesses of a flesh-and-blood human.

On the other hand, the deal with Anakin had been to keep the robot by the girl's side, and even the director wasn't willing to risk breaking it; in fact, she had been ordered not to break that deal, not without a member of the triumvirate in the city.

Thankfully, the robot's head had been initially built as a drone, and it could act that way again with minimal effort, trading the laser weapon it had contained for a non-lethal alternative built by Armsmaster, so that's what they had done.

Dinah gave the drone a glare, the same one Hannah recognized every time Battery looked at Assault, a look that yelled, Don't embarrass me, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

With an imperious movement, the kid pressed the button on the door with her prosthetic hand, a warning sounding through the Wards room so they could put their masks back on, the light turning red until they were ready.

Behind her scarf, Hannah smiled, then the lights turned green and she put a hand on the girl's shoulder, giving her support as she walked inside, even as she made sure to change her mindset, starting to think of the kids by their cape names again.

Inside, most of the Wards present were looking at the door, their masks on, Clockblocker winced, immediately looking away from Dinah, the girl noticed and, for a second, was unable to hide a satisfied smirk before her face became blank again.

"Who's it?" Shadow Stalker asked, finally leaving her room with her full costume on. "Oh, you."

Hannah gave her a look. Ever since Anakin's warning had forced them to take a closer look at their own employees, the probationary ward was being kept in the headquarters, there were a few discrepancies in her case that needed to be investigated.

A few cases of bullying or fights at her school that hadn't been reported wouldn't exactly mean Shadow Stalker lost her probationary status, but if it was found she had been going out on unauthorized patrols…

Well, if she was honest, even if they found something more serious, they'll probably still keep the girl, better than putting her in a detention facility and guaranteeing she'd become a villain when she got out.

Hannah believed the systems were what made things so good here, but she knew they weren't perfect, and she had seen the numbers, the real numbers. Virtually no teen parahuman convicted ever became a hero.

So, yes, they'd keep Stalker, but her deal would change, and she'd probably be transferred out of the city.

Meanwhile, Shadow Stalker was still allowed some freedom, but the tracking device in her ankle and increased scrutiny made the girl constantly hostile —not that she had been a saint before— and the last thing they needed was for her to insult Dinah.

"Stalker," Aegis said in a warning tone, doing his job as team captain.

"What? I'm not gonna pick a fight," Shadow Stalker gave him an offended look. "Kid nearly shot Trickster's head off, she's alright in my books."

By his side, Vista snorted, crossing her arms and glaring at Stalker.

Aegis sighed. "If only you could extend that respect to the rest of the team…"

"Maybe when one of you losers earns it, I will."

Hannah noticed Vista's hand twitching and her eyes narrowing, the air around Shadow Stalker seeming to twist for a moment, less than a second, sending a spike of worry through her body, but she trusted the girl not to lose control.

Despite her age, Vista was the most professional of the Wards.

"Stalker, have you finished your physical training today?" Hannah said, interrupting their interaction… better safe than sorry after all.

At least Dinah seemed to be enjoying the show, the kid almost radiating an air of superiority at seeing the way the Wards were acting.

"Ah, not yet, didn't really have time to…" Stalker said.

"Then perhaps you'd like to spar with me later?" she said in a perfectly normal voice, but making her eyes glint with a dangerous light.

With her mouth hidden behind the scarf, it was surprisingly difficult to portray the right emotions using only her eyes, but after years of being a cape, Hannah thought she had grown fairly skilled at it, at least by the way Stalker swallowed hard and nodded.

"Alright, have we all got the insults out of the way?" Assault asked, tapping his foot against the ground in disapproval. "Then maybe you guys can finally greet the girl like decent people?"

Hannah would have given them a little longer to interact, trying to let the kid take the first move, but Assault's way worked too.

"I'm sorry," Aegis sighed, nodding towards Dinah. "I'm Aegis, the current Team Captain. I heard you're not joining us?"

"That's right," Dinah nodded, breaking character a little before she caught herself.

"Well, I want you to know we're still here if you need anything, and we'll always welcome you if you change your mind."

"Yep," Shadow Stalker said, grabbing a bottle of soda from the fridge. "We need more badasses around here."

Dinah looked at Stalker from the corner of her eyes, then huffed in dismissal, turning to stare at Missy and Hannah felt the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose, the girl was actually smirking after noticing she was a little taller than Vista, her eyes running over the Ward's costume from top to bottom.

Vista adjusted her position, narrowing her eyes at Dinah. "What?"

"Hmph, I win," Dinah said, turning away from the girl and seeming to dismiss her entirely.

Hannah almost facepalmed, she just knew Dinah had been using her power to find the best way of pissing off Vista.

"What!" Vista growled.

"You are a Shaker 9," Dinah said, glancing back at the girl from the corner of her eye, particularly her childish costume. "I expected you to be more impressive, but what I see is… disappointing."

"Alright, enough," Hannah said, putting one hand on top of Dinah's head and tousling it, breaking her composure. "You don't need to follow Assault's suggestions, in fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't."

"I would suggest settling it with a battle," Hal said, floating around Dinah. "I heard it is a surprisingly effective way of both settling disputes and starting friendships for meatbags."

"Quiet," Dinah glared at the robot. "You just want to watch me beat her."

"That does not make my statement false."

"Please, as if you could beat me," Vista huffed.

"Vista, don..." Aegis sighed.

Clockblocker held him back, shaking his head and whispering. "Dude, are you crazy, you never get between two girls like that, even young ones."

"Shit, do we have popcorn?" Shadow Stalker said.

"You know," Assault said. "The rust bucket may have a point."

"You two are not gonna be fighting," Hannah said with a tone of finality, sending Assault a murderous glare when he tried to speak again. "However, since you all seem so eager, you're going to be sparring with me, without powers, it's about time I saw where the Wards stood."

"Crap," Clockblocker cursed, swallowing hard. "I knew I should have kept quiet."

"Ah… shouldn't we do it when Gallant and Browbeat are present?" Aegis said.

"Don't worry, I'll spar with them later too," Hannah shook her head and smiled at them with her eyes, satisfied with the way everyone was reacting.

She wasn't even making an excuse; she really needed to get their measure. It had been nearly two months since she had last overseen their training. leaving most of it to Triumph and Aegis.

"Dinah," Hannah said. "Of course you're not required to do it, but you're invited to join if you want."

Two hours later, Hannah blocked Shadow Stalker's punch, guiding her hand to the side while striking with an elbow to her temple fast enough the girl didn't have time to react, she didn't hit, of course, stopping less than a centimeter from her head, but the scare still caused the teenager to freeze, less than a second, but it was enough.

Hannah didn't stop, following up with the movement while grabbing Stalker's wrist, kicking the back of her legs and extending an arm, smashing her forearm against Stalker upper chest, the combination lifted the girl entirely off the ground, then sent her back smashing against the tatami with enough strength to drive the air out of her lungs.

"Uff," Clockblocker said from the sideline, having barely managed to push his exhausted body into a sitting position.

"What… haa… happened," Vista gasped, trying and failing to lift her head off the ground where she was lying belly up.

"Something beautiful," Dinah said, adjusting her meditative position so she was no longer sitting on her bruised backside while trying to recover.

"I think she's out." Aegis commented, being an adaptive brute, he wasn't even tired anymore, but the beating he had received was probably still humbling, at least by the way that Assault had to drag his dumbfounded body off the tatami when Hannah was done with him.

As Miss Militia, she preferred to use ranged weapons, but she had spent more than a decade training martial arts, coupled with her perfect recall, it meant she was fairly competent, not a match to a combat thinker, but wiping the floor with a few teenagers wasn't a problem.

Hannah knelt down by the girl's side, checking just to make sure she hadn't done any real damage, but Stalker was just too stunned to move. "Haaa… Did… huff… Did I win?"

"No," Hannah shook her head, then gave her an eye smile. "Want to try again?"

Stalker only groaned, head falling back against the tatami and her body slowly curling into a fetal position.

"I would have preferred if the fights had been to the death," Hal commented, floating closer to Dinah. "Or at least there had been blood, but I suppose I can only expect so much from meatbags, and utter humiliation is still acceptable."

"Do you… mind if I crush him," Vista asked Dinah, extending one shaky hand towards Hal.

Getting up, Hannah wiped the sweat from her forehead and stretched her back. None of the kids had lasted more than five minutes, but it had still been exhausting to face them all one after the other.

Staring at their collapsed bodies, she was reminded of a similar scene, the first Wards all laid out by Hero after Mouse Protector had convinced them all to go out in an unsanctioned patrol, and he had caught them in the middle of it.

She sighed, those had been better times, certainly more hopeful, at least.

Extending one hand, she pulled Shadow Stalker to her feet, then helped/half carried her to the sofa before allowing the girl to collapse again.

"Why… does she… huff… get the sofa," Clockblocker grumbled. "No fair."

"Next time, last more than a minute, and I'll carry you too."

"Next... time?" the boy asked with dread in his voice.

Crossing her legs, Hannah sat by Dinah's side. "How are you? I hope I didn't take it too far."

"...No," the girl answered in a grudging voice, relaxing her meditative position. "It was fine."

"Have you given any more thoughts about Panacea healing your hand? I know you didn't want to when you arrived, but you'd have done better with it."

Adjusting her position again, Dinah sighed. "I guess… if you guys let me talk with her."

Hannah narrowed her eyes at the girl. Her words were perfect, but having grown up with Mouse Protector and then spending years dealing with Wards, let her recognize when someone was trying to hide how smug they felt.

Still, the girl wasn't a villain, not really. "I'll have to talk with her, but I think I can do that."

"First, you were right, popcorn was a great idea," Assault said, nodding towards Stalker while setting his bucket aside and cleaning his salty fingers on a towel. "Second, I just want to remind you we've another meeting with Piggot this morning."

Cracking her neck, Hannah stretched her arms upward. "Do I have time for a shower?"

'Sure, it's in 45 minutes, just don't take too long."

"Aegis, can I trust you to take care of everyone?" Hannah asked.

"Yes, I'll make sure they're all fine."

"Thanks," she nodded, then offered Dinah a hand. "Come on, want me to help you into the shower?"

"I can walk," she pouted, but still accepted help getting up, her legs a little shaky from their spar.

The kid had been surprisingly good, almost matching Vista, but the latter had two years of serious training in the Wards while Dinah only had a few days with Anakin… She'd have to ask the girl's parents again if she had any previous training, just to make sure, but that's exactly what they needed, to learn that Anakin had a Trump rating too.

Turning on the warm water in the Ward's bathroom, Hannah stepped under the shower and just let it run for a full minute.

She was doing her best not to think about the Bay's new gang leader, about how things could have gone had their first meeting been different, had the PRT not been so incompetent as to have a villain in their own chain of command.

All the information they had about Anakin was confusing, they were sure he first appeared in the Bay at the hospital, his body hideously burned, but they weren't sure it was Lungs fault anymore.

The mercenaries he had killed shortly after were confirmed to be Coil, but there was no signs that Anakin had any connection with them, as far as anyone knew, Dinah's version of things was right, Anakin had simply seen the girl in danger and moved to help.

After that, every time he had been provoked into action, by Bakuda, Lung, the Empire… the Protectorate, his only real wish to protect the girl.

And yet, despite all his intentions, he had still killed hundreds, caused more than four hundred million dollars in damage, had personally killed Sere and Velocity, the latter being declared brain dead only a day ago.

That was something one just couldn't overlook, no matter the intentions.

Getting out of the shower, she made sure to call a team of PRT troopers to watch over Dinah and went to the meeting.

Piggot seemed… unwell; there were huge bags under her eyes and she was pale, having lost at least ten pounds since their first contact with Anakin, the lack of appetite only making her look worse.

Leaning against a wall, Hannah twirled a small throwing needle between her fingers, just about the least threatening thing she could make her power become, killing time as the rest of the remaining team arrived.

"Good, you're all here," Piggot sighed, finally putting a stack of papers aside and scratching at her tired eyes. "What's the situation with the Teeth, any signs of the Butcher?"

"No," Hannah shook her head. "She's still missing, although every other cape in the Teeth has been sighed in the Bay, most getting into short conflicts with what's left of the Empire, but Spree and Animos were seen on ABB territory."

That drew everyone's attention towards her, the room suddenly becoming heavier.

Hannah still remembered when the Butcher was nothing more than a simple villain in the Bay with just an enhanced body and the ability to inflict agony, running a gang that often clashed with the Empire. Yes, they were brutal, but nowhere as dangerous as today.

Then they were nearly wiped out, had to flee the city and, more importantly, the true power of the Butcher became obvious, the ability to transfer his counciousness to his killer, as well as a weaker version of his power.

Be it a villain or a hero, the inheritor would inevitably be driven mad by voices of his predecessors in his mind, eventually assuming the name and returning or reforming the Teeth.

Now, the current Butcher had once been Quarrel, a woman capable of bending space so that her projectiles would have perfect accurate, and she was Butcher XIV, with thirteen voices in her head driving her mad.

She also had fourteen powers, amongs which were a short range explosive teleport, an immunity to pain, a danger sense, the ability to cause pain and to drive people into a mindless rage, she could reshape unrefined matter into objects, heal her own body and more.

It made fighting her a terrifying challenge, as killing the current Butcher meant becoming the next one, and the woman knew it, often risking a killing blow while knowing her enemies would hesitate and pull back.

"Since nobody informed me, I assume he didn't...?"

"No Susanoo didn't get involved, Animos was hit with a laser weapon in the head and Spree was repelled by common ABB members, two of which are at the hospital."

"And they didn't change any of their operations?"

"No, they still seem to be sending equipment and resources out of the city, according to the police department, even a few of the more well-off members seem to have left the city with their families, the ABB seems to be either breaking up or expanding."

"Wonderful, I'll make sure to share the information with the closest cities later today."

"About the Empire," Dauntless hesitantly spoke up. "I've been contacted by Purity… she says she wants a way out."

"Well," Assault said. "Word was she was trying to leave the Empire behind for months, then Kaiser somehow talked her back, maybe it didn't work out?"

"Something I'm glad I won't have to deal with," Piggot sighed. "And on that note, they finally settled on my replacement. Director Dan Seneca will be arriving tomorrow evening, at which point I'll be 'allowed' to retire and he'll assume command immediately.

"Renick, I'll need you to stay up late today, you'll be in charge of getting Director Seneca up to date when I'm gone, and you'll remain deputy director for the moment, Armsmaster, I'm taking most of the blame, but you just won't be able to escape everything, they'll likely transfer you somewhere else once I'm gone."

"I understand, Director," Armsmaster nodded, without as much anger as in their last meeting, maybe Dragon had finally managed to talk some sense into him.

"Miss Militia, this means you're almost certainly assuming full command of the Protectorate from now on," Piggot continued.

"I'm sorry," Hannah said. "It's best if someone else assumes the position, I'll be resigning from the Protectorate as soon as this crisis is over."

Again, there was a pregnant silence in the room, but Piggot just released a long breath through her nose. "Of course you are…" Then she actually seemed to get a little happier. "Again, that's no longer my problem, for now you'll continue as temporary head until Director Seneca arrives, let him decide."

"Will the prisoner transfer still happen tomorrow?" Battery asked.

"Yes, Legend himself will be arriving early in the morning, then leaving with the prisoners in the evening. Considering everything, Renick will be overseeing the operation."

"Director," Renick said. "I've to note there's been a change, we'll not be able to move Tattletale, Someone hired Quinn Calle as her lawyer."

Assault snorted, pushing his chair back until it was balancing on only two legs, earning him a glare from his wife, but he just shook his head in amusement. "She's getting away free isn't she?"

"What?" Battery asked in an angry voice.

"Puppy, we quite literally have proof that Coil was threatening the girl's life weeks before she ever committed any crimes in that lovely bunker in the middle of downtown, he even tried to kill her when he fled."

"Yes," Renick nodded. "We could play hardball and probably managed to get something that stuck against her, but she's a Thinker and Calle is a shark, they have enough evidence to take us to court while forcing us to reveal far too much of the Coil case."

Piggot snorted. "Even if we did, the girl would just get probationary Ward status, and they won't want her enough to take any more PR hits right now."

Armsmaster seemed about to speak, but there was a hurried banging on the door, a PRT worker hurrying inside before Piggot even allowed them to enter.

"Sir, I apologize, but we've just been contacted by a lawyer connected to the ABB."

"Is Susanoo trying to contact us?" Hannah asked, pushing herself away from the wall.

"H-he sent…" the woman had to pause, swallowing hard with an air of dread around her. "He sent a message."

Hannah traded a glance with Armsmaster, years working together making them understand each other, her old friend expected the worst while, despite everything, she still hoped for the best.

"What message?"

"He said…" She started to say, but had to take a moment to calm herself again. "To warn us, Leviathan will probably attack this city sometime this week."

Hannah dropped her weapon, Assault lost his balance and fell off his chair, Dauntless crushed the plastic cup he had in hand and Piggot just… let her head fall, forehead banging against the table, then she did it again.

"Impossible," Armsmaster said, getting up and glaring at the woman. "Nobody can…"

"Of fucking course he can predict Endbringers," Piggot said, using such a crude curse for the first time since Hannah met her, then had a violent fit of coughing, her small swollen hand trying to grab a cup of water and needing Renick's help. "He already ignores every other rule we have about Parahumans, what's one more?"

"She kinda has a point," Assault sighed, getting a glare from Armsmaster. "What? She does!"

Pouring herself another glass of water, Piggot massaged her temples and ignored everyone, "Not my problem… not my problem," She mumbled, taking long, slow breaths.

"Anything else?" Hannah asked the woman still holding the door open, trying to take control of the situation.

"Y-Yes, the lawyer said Dinah Alcott may be able to verify his words," her eyes shifted to the side, a clear sign she was trying to remember the phone call. "Even if she can't predict Leviathan, her power should be able to predict the destruction after he's done."

At some point, Hannah's power had shifted into a larger form, one of those experimental rifles she had been shown by the military, the size making it awkward at her hip. Glancing down, she forced it back into the shape of a revolver.

"Thank you," Renick finally managed to say. "But until we verify the information, make sure not to spread it, we don't want to cause a panic."

"Yes, sir, of course," the woman nodded, then finally closed the door.

Only a few weeks ago, Hannah would have given a better than even chance everything that happened would be on PHO by the end of the hour, but the purge of moles in both PRT and Protectorate personnel had been very effective, so the information may not leak.

Almost unconsciously, she drew the revolver from her waist, starting to flick the cylinder in and out with a wrist motion. It was bad discipline and would stress a real weapon, but her power was much safer and couldn't be damaged, then she spoke. "We have to act on this."

"He could be mistaken," Dauntless said. "Or lying, I know he was extremely direct before, but there's nothing stopping him from starting now."

"It doesn't matter," Hannah shook her head. "We still have to act like it's real, Armsmaster, do you have a way to verify this?"

"I've been working on an Endbringer prediction system," he said after a second of hesitation. "It should give us a few hours of warning if the attack is real, particularly if I have it focused on Leviathan."

Looking around the room, Piggot finally seemed to regain control, taking one last deep breath. "I apologize, I've been having far too little sleep," she said between gritted teeth, the admission seeming to almost hurt her. "Militia is right, we can't ignore this information, Assault, can you talk with the girl, she seems to like you."

"Yes," Assault nodded, dismissing his playful acting.

"Do it, use all of her questions if you need, but make sure if she can predict the attack or not, Armsmaster, make the changes, I'll contact the Chief Director as soon as you're done. The rest of you, there's not much we can do at the moment without confirming things, you're dismissed, we'll probably have to meet again tonight."

Slowly, her companions started to walk out of the meeting room one by one, Armsmaster contacting Dragon as soon as the door was open again. Putting her revolver away, Hannah started to leave when Piggot stopped her.

"Militia, stay for a moment," The woman said with a tired voice, getting up from her chair with some effort.

"Yes, Director?' Hannah said when they were finally alone.

"As acting commander for the Protectorate, you'll need to get ready… I'll try to get reinforcements, but if the girl somehow confirms there will be an attack, we'll have to act."

"What do you mean?"

"The Butcher, we can't allow her to be in the city when Leviathan attacks… I've no idea who would inherit if she died during the attack, but even the thought of a teleporting Endbringer, one of the Triumvirate, Susanoo or, god forbids, Sion getting unlucky gives me nightmares."

Hannah swallowed… Yes, that would be a problem.

_________________________$$$_____________________________

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[TFTwink]

Sion getting unlucky gives me nightmares.

Click to shrink...

This might unironically be better than golden morning lol

 

[Unclouded]

"She's still missing, although every other cape in the Teeth has been sighed in the Bay,

Click to shrink...

sighed -> sighted
minor typo

god forbids, Sion getting unlucky gives me nightmares."

Click to shrink...

Sion -> Scion
minor typo

Thank you for the chapter.

 

[Have a Little Feith]

This might unironically be better than golden morning lol

Click to shrink...

Shame it's not possible, since he's not actually a Parahuman, eh?

 

[Joy]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Enthessi]

Shame it's not possible, since he's not actually a Parahuman, eh?

Click to shrink...

Same with Anakin and Leviathan for that matter lol.

 

[mpbjunkie]

Great chapter! Thank you.

 

[vtkun]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Silveraith]

a teleporting Endbringer

Click to shrink...

To quote our beloved Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Hello there."

 

[gaouw]

Shame it's not possible, since he's not actually a Parahuman, eh?

Click to shrink...

IIRC, if the Butcher died without a Parahuman in range, it could just latches into the nearest Muggles.

 

[Razorfloss]

Shame it's not possible, since he's not actually a Parahuman, eh?

Click to shrink...

Scion could still be affected. Its why that shard is so damn dangerous

 

[Have a Little Feith]

Scion could still be affected. Its why that shard is so damn dangerous

Click to shrink...

Did the entities really forget to make sure they can't be taken over by one of their own body parts? Broadcast isn't the rule for that, since the name says what it's supposed to do, and that wasn't taking over Zion. (That name made me think of The Matrix, and the new movie. It isn't bad, like some people say it is. That is, if you don't go over-analyzing it. The weird shit tired brains make connections to, eh?)

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Calling it now Anakin's gonna run into the Butcher. And do the equivalent of tearing out the Ghosts when they try to take him over.

 

[Vallander]

Did the entities really forget to make sure they can't be taken over by one of their own body parts? Broadcast isn't the rule for that, since the name says what it's supposed to do, and that wasn't taking over Zion. (That name made me think of The Matrix, and the new movie. It isn't bad, like some people say it is. That is, if you don't go over-analyzing it. The weird shit tired brains make connections to, eh?)

Click to shrink...

IIRC the butcher's shard is the main driver for storing the hosts engram (and like Aisha's the main shard was shattered and functionallity shared) but the body hopping is actually a glitch like Ash Beast

 

[ProtoSovereign]

Anakin would probably crushed the butcher shard... maybe.

 

[zooba]

Did the entities really forget to make sure they can't be taken over by one of their own body parts?

Click to shrink...

Well, the entire plot of Worm revolves around Scion being manipulated by his own HumanEmotions.exe software, so it wouldn't suspend my disbelief for a shard to upload more personas to that running simulation.

Calling it now Anakin's gonna run into the Butcher. And do the equivalent of tearing out the Ghosts when they try to take him over.

Click to shrink...

That wouldn't happen. The Butcher would jump to the nearest parahuman. Pretty sure it's canon that if The Butcher was timelocked the shard would register it as the host being dead while still being connected and spam new connections to every nearby parahuman.

 

[Snakespm]

Pretty sure it's canon that if The Butcher was timelocked the shard would register it as the host being dead while still being connected and spam new connections to every nearby parahuman.

Click to shrink...

I don't think it is canon, I think it is just WoG, and some authors draw a line between the two. Don't know Cap's specific stance on that.

 

[564]

Scion could still be affected. Its why that shard is so damn dangerous

Click to shrink...

the butcher shard is a relatively young shard and would not have the access codes necessary to take over any of the noble shards (Queen Administrator, Broadcast, High Priest, The Chirurgeon, The Shaper, Keeper of the Dead, The Destroyer, The Negotiator) or vital shards (none named in canon), much less Scion.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

This might unironically be better than golden morning lol

Click to shrink...

Depends on if the previous Butchers can realize that rather than killing parahumans directly, blowing up the planet would be faster

 

[Raved Thrad]

"Do it, use all of her questions if you need..."

Click to shrink...

This line really sticks in my craw. Granted, that it's an Endbringer situation provides some mitigation, but this is exactly the situation Dinah was trying to get away from Coil for, to not be used as a prediction machine churning out answers.

While in practice the PR Team may end up asking Dinah to corroborate instead of just ordering her to (and she's been shown to have some ability to control her power), the fact is that this is exactly what her fate would be if the so-called white hats get to keep her. She's not even a Ward, and yet they act as if they're entitled to her power and her person.

Anakin can't bust her out of there soon enough. And I hope Militia gets what's coming to her for her insipid charm offensive.

 

[Yohnos]

"For a jedi, size matters not"
Leviathan will get yeet by a chosen one through space

 

[Yohnos]

This line really sticks in my craw. Granted, that it's an Endbringer situation provides some mitigation, but this is exactly the situation Dinah was trying to get away from Coil for, to not be used as a prediction machine churning out answers.

While in practice the PR Team may end up asking Dinah to corroborate instead of just ordering her to (and she's been shown to have some ability to control her power), the fact is that this is exactly what her fate would be if the so-called white hats get to keep her. She's not even a Ward, and yet they act as if they're entitled to her power and her person.

Anakin can't bust her out of there soon enough. And I hope Militia gets what's coming to her for her insipid charm offensive.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and we all know how much Anakin feel about slavery. That's going to be biblical

 

[CapCaverna]

First, Merry Christmas for those who celebrate, or Happy Holidays for those who don't, and happy New Year too, now that I think about it, it's the 31st already, right? I hope 2026 will be better for everyone, cuz 25 kicked my ass so hard... at least I started writing again at the end of it, so there's that. (and even those who did have a good year, it can always be better!)

Haaaa.... finally finished the next one!

This one is another alternative Pov, but we'll be back to Anakin with chapter 36 in a bigger chapter.

As I said, I initially wanted this to be part of chapter 34, but the Miss Militia Pov got a little too big... I thought of just skipping this and going back to Anakin, but I felt it was needed to set things up.

For those who follow Supergirl and my other stories, they're also a little behind, and I thought I'd have time to work on them now that it's the end of the year, but things just kept happening, I'll try to hurry up with chapters, but... yeah, last time I said that I only ended up taking more time.

Also, my family decided to all come into the city for the first time in years, so my usually small Christmas and New Year celebration turned into huge affairs, and then a part of the ceiling in my house just collapsed, it seems like water had been leaking for a month or two, and it accumulated, ruining the plasterboard and making a mess of everything... was a huge pain to clean, but that's solved now.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
______________________________________________________

Aishaa Laborn – Thinking of a fitting cape name in the Undersider's hideout.

"I say we do it," Regent, or Alec as she now knew, said, voice full of irony as he searched for the last piece of cold Pizza, only to realize there was none. "I mean, we're obviously gonna die, but I'm running out of money and life's not worth living if I have to work for it."

The guy was a little too pretty, with blonde hair and thin limbs of someone who avoided work like the plague… Aisha could appreciate the feeling.

"Not helping," Brian sighed, and she could see the way his hand started to rise, but her brother resisted the urge to slap his teammate. "And no, we're not going to try and rescue Susanoo's newest kidnap victim, or try to free Tattletale."

Aisha ate her stolen pizza, wondering just how much longer she could keep everyone inside by continuing to make them forget there was a door. Would they try to use the windows next?

Then she pulled out her phone and started browsing it, only half paying attention to the conversation.

"I'm not saying we fight him," Taylor said, a beanpole of a girl with curly black hair, her brother's newest gang member. "But he's experimenting on her, doing something with her head… If we had Tattletale, she could help us disable his security, then it would only take a minute to rescue Sundancer, we can escape before he ever notices."

What kind of villain's name was Skitter anyway? So lame, she should have called herself The Swarm or Black Widow, since she liked to use the spiders so much.

"I said no," Brian shook his head. "We can't risk doing anything right now, Coil is still aiming to kill us, and without support, we're in no position to even try freeing Tattletale, she knew the risks."

Wow, Aisha loved him, but her brother was kind of an asshole.

As far as she could figure out, this Tattletale had risked her life to warn the rest of the Undersiders about Coil and almost got killed because of it, but her Brother refused to even talk about her rescue.

Well, she didn't really expect him to act, Brian was boring that way, but at least pretend to think about it!

"Fuck you," Bitch said, Aisha still didn't know her real name, but the girl looked tough, and moved more like an angry animal than a human. "It's irritating enough when you want to give me orders during jobs, I'm not putting up with you making my decisions too. I don't give a shit about Sundancer, but Tattletale is ours, we're getting her back."

Done with everything, Bitch turned around to leave, only to hesitate in brief confusion, turn towards a window and start to seriously consider leaving through it… Aisha resisted the urge to smirk.

When she had first triggered after getting attacked by those Empire thugs, she had thought her power was to become invisible. Not the most exciting thing, even if it was still neat, but it was oh so much better.

Instead, she could make an area around herself unnoticeable, people's eyes would just slide right off wherever she was, almost as if they'd forget the area, and everything inside the area ever existed. This range could vary from only a few centimeters around herself, to an entire block, depending on her focus.

If she leaned against a parked car, the owner would forget he ever had one, and people would ignore its existence, but, strangely enough, nobody would try to park in its place. It was like they knew the car was still there, it was just impossible to acknowledge it.

Unfortunately, her power's default setting seemed to be 'on', Aisha had panicked for an hour or two as everyone ignored everything she did, at least until she learned how to pull it back.

It was just... Controlling her power, letting herself be noticed took effort, concentration, and focus had never really been her strong point, even during conversations, her power just kept slipping.

At least her Mother could no longer get mad at her, not for long enough to matter anyway.

She wondered what would happen if she let her power fill the room, would everyone forget where they were? Would they stumble around like blind or just leave the place as fast as they could, not even realizing what they were doing until they were out of the area?

Note to self, test that as soon as possible, maybe against her mother's drug dealer the next time she sees him.

"Regent?" Taylor asked again, trying to force him to be serious.

"I don't think I care?" Regent said after some thought. Putting his remote aside, he looked at them. "Why are we voting anyway? I mean, without the boss, do we even have reason to stay a team?"

That just caused Bitch to frown harder and start pacing restlessly, but both Brian and Skitter were caught by surprise, not seeming to have considered his question before.

Aisha finished her slice of pizza before licking her fingers. And she had just started to think her brother was cool, creating a team of villainous thieves and everything, but turns out he just worked as a minion for someone better.

Pity, she kinda wanted to be part of a Parahuman gang.

Could she rescue this Tattletale and help keep her brother's team together? The PRT were a bunch of incompetents who were probably still reeling from getting smashed by Susanoo, how hard could it be?

"I thought we…" Skitter hesitated, the swarm of insects around the house starting to get restless, their buzzing increasing in volume by the second, then she swallowed and refocused. "We have to stick together, I don't know if Coil is still trying to kill us, but we're safer if we stay together."

Regent shrugged. "I was just going to skip town as soon as possible, pity I couldn't get a plane ticket on the internet. Apparently, they're having server problems, and I'm too lazy to go in person."

"That's stupid," Bitch nearly growled, glaring straight at Regent as her hands closed into fists. "You don't get to just walk off."

Her brother seemed at a loss as he started to lose control, but Skitter seemed calmer, although her swarm was starting to get annoying.

The insect master looked down for a moment, then sighed. "I'll pay you one thousand to help rescue Tattletale."

"Wow, I'm offended you think I'm that cheap," Regent dramatically put a hand in front of his mouth in mock indignation. "Still… what the hell, I do need a new console, had to ditch the last one in our hideout, I guess I can go take a look, but the second things look difficult I'm ditching you guys, you're not paying me enough to risk my freedom."

Aisha snorted, what a reassuring teammate. Yeah, the team was so gonna fracture without Tattletale, she could already see her brother start to consider ditching the rest of the villains.

She was also pretty sure Bitch was gonna try and attack her brother for ditching the team and, despite his skill, she didn't think he'd win against giant dogs… Then she'd be forced to maim the woman, because nobody messed with her family, and she didn't want that trouble.

Pushing away from the door, Aisha slipped out of the house. She did need to thank Vista for the save, she had already triggered and was pretty safe, but her dad would probably die from the beating if it wasn't for the Ward.

Maybe she'd kill two birds with one stone and see if she could get this Tattletale out of the lock too, she was the blonde teenage one, right?

_____________

Rebecca Costa-Brown / Alexandria

Rebecca continued to read the documentation on her notebook even as the others filtered into the meeting room, her eyes going over every piece of new data she could get on Susanoo.

"Rebecca," David said with an annoyed voice. Taking off his Eidolon's mask, he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down. Quite possibly the strongest parahuman in the world, he could be quite petty when he wanted to. "This better be good, I was in the middle of something."

Rebecca managed to keep herself from glaring, she had only pushed their meeting forward by an hour, she knew for a fact David wasn't in the middle of a fight, and she could see the telltale signs he was just complaining for the sake of it.

Those last few days, he had been unusually irritated, reacting with less control than she knew he was capable of. Although she knew this wasn't the case, he had started to remind her of a parahuman who was forbidden from using his powers for too long.

She waited until everyone was in Cauldron's base of operations on their own private Earth, Doctor Mother came from inside the facility, the non-parahuman woman continuing to read a stack of documents while adjusting her glasses.

Kurt, widely known as The Number Man, was also already here, she had been discussing with him for some time and the Thinker agreed his calculations, while not conclusive, matched the information she had received.

Last, Contessa arrived through a door, an opening in space connecting to whatever location she had been in on Earth Bet, the strongest Thinker in the world, constantly at work following the directions of her power.

Rebecca had debated inviting Keith, the last member of the Triumvirate that acted as a cornerstone of the Protectorate, but they chose to keep Legend out of some of Cauldron's more… dubious efforts, including this one.

"Very well," Doctor Mother said, putting her papers aside and taking a seat at the table. "Why have you moved this meeting up?"

Lowering the screen of her notebook, she pushed it aside and spoke. "We may need to interfere in the Terminus Project."

She hated to even say those words. The Terminus Project was important, almost critically so, a way to see if a Parahuman could take control and establish a stable society without their direct interference.

"What level of interference?" Doctor Mother asked. "Coil's failure is already a setback, but he could always return, and it was decided Susanoo would be a fitting substitute even if he didn't."

"The Director for the PRT in the city just gave me an emergency call. It seems like Susanoo opened a line of communication with the local authorities, using a lawyer to warn them Leviathan may be attacking this week."

David almost spilled his coffee, then put his mug down and looked at her. "Are we sure he's not just trying to play mind games?"

Kurt shook his head. "Although I can't say with absolute certainty, once I used Brockton Bay as a variable in my calculations, there's a high chance of an attack happening in the city."

"I don't think there were any indications he was such a powerful Thinker," Doctor Mother said, turning to Rebecca. "Have you received any new information about his capabilities?"

"I've gone over the rest of his appearances, even the minor ones," she said, handing everyone the relevant recordings.

"Any new insights?" Doctor Mother asked, crossing her arms on top of the table and considering her.

Rebecca had to balance her job as head of the PRT in her civilian identity, with her role as a member of the Triumvirate in her cape identity, and, despite her power giving her perfect memory and faster thinking ability, she was still always pressed for time.

It meant that she hadn't watched every single appearance of Susanoo, just his latest confrontation against the Protectorate after it was clear he would become the new candidate for the Terminus Project.

But now she had taken the time to watch every single appearance, her mind allowing her to catch every detail possible. "Some of his reactions are almost exactly like the Simurgh, I'm near certain he can see the future. Considering he was able to react to the rescue attempt of Dinah Alcott, we can't be sure of his range or how far ahead he can look."

"Then why leave her alone at all?" David wondered out loud, trying to consider the extent of Susanoo's power.

"Arrogance, that or simple human fallibility," Kurt said, adjusting his glasses. "Just because he can see the future doesn't mean he can see everything. Despite all her power, our own Thinker can be surprised by things she wasn't aware of."

Contessa's power, Path to Victory, acted as the ultimate Thinker ability, she could ask for a path to anything and her power would not only give, but guide her with perfection into taking a series of steps to make it happen, from winning the lottery, to killing an invulnerable target on the other side of the world.

Very few things interfered with her power, things like the Endbringers, the source of all powers and Eidolon himself. But, theoretically, even she needed to activate her power, she could be caught by surprise if she wasn't running a path or didn't word her goal properly.

"Ignoring the consequences to the Terminus Project, could we convince him to join us?" Doctor Mother asked.

"I don't know," Contessa said, acting uncertain for the first time since Rebecca had met her. "Susanoo isn't a blank spot like Eidolon, but… any path including him isn't stable; it can change without notice."

"You can't path him?" David asked.

"I can, and I don't need to model him, but… the changes I had to the paths were too great," Contessa looked away in thought, her face seeming to struggle to find the right words. "I'm not sure the path is correct. Also, any path where we remain in control is long and complicated."

"I could capture him?" David offered. "Once Susanoo is gone, we could prop up Coil; his power is good enough that he could recover with only a little help."

Rebecca frowned, having the ability to choose any three powers at the same time, and to change those powers at will, Eidolon was understandably confident in winning that battle, but it was uncharacteristic of him to focus so much on facing Susanoo.

Worse, she had also felt an urge to meet the cape after watching the rest of his appearances. She made a note to check if any other capes reported a similar reaction.

"That would invalidate the goal of the Project," Rebecca said, shaking her head.

The Protectorate system was still working, Cauldron was using it to prop up governments in the entire planet, but it was fraying at the edges, and places like Africa had already collapsed.

The Terminus Project was meant to see if a Parahuman government could be established with no interference from them, if a city could become effective and self-sustaining under a suitable Parahuman candidate without Cauldron's help, and they had chosen Brockton Bay as the test city.

It wasn't just about creating an alternative government for now, but for later, once the end of the world arrived and things like countries no longer existed. Without a strong government or Cauldron, Parahumans would inevitably rise to power. If they won, could society survive and be rebuilt under Parahuman government?

A parahuman's power increased their aggression, it made them seek conflict and take actions that, much of the time, lead to more confrontations. It was important to know if, despite the influence, they could lead a stable society.

And... If they lost… could pockets of humanity survive hidden away with a parahuman warlord keeping order? It was a small hope, but they had to try.

If the Terminus Project failed, they'd have to find an alternative solution, and they only had limited time.

"Even if he can predict an Endbringer, do we want to interfere in the Terminus Project?" Kurt asked. "Susanoo's ability may be limited, it could be related to his danger sense, or he may need to look into the future of a city individually, which would make him only marginally useful.

"With Dragon and Armsmaster prediction algorithm, we're already able to get a few hours of warning for any attack, anything further and the numbers indicate we risk the Endbringer changing targets. It's also not as useful when we can't defeat the creatures."

"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Doctor Mother interrupted. "Let's first verify if he's telling the truth."

"I already forwarded the information to the rest of the PRT directors," Rebecca said, "And I started preparing everything they need for an evacuation, but it's about time, so everyone was already expecting an Endbringer attack soon, and there's not much else we can do."

"Even if he is telling the truth, I say we leave him in place," Kurt said. "Restarting the Terminus Project would cost us two years, and if it fails we'll need another four to six years to test new alternatives. In any case, he already seems willing to share without our interference.."

"The path to make Susanoo assist us requires a significant amount of effort, even if we don't require his cooperation," Contessa said, using the time to type something on her own computer, and Rebecca knew it was probably something required by another path. "He also has the possibility of interfering in several other paths, his influence being contained to Brockton Bay is an acceptable outcome."

"And if he leaves the Bay?" David asked.

"We'll not interfere if he just attempts to branch out, local resources should be enough to deal with that," Doctor Mother said, then considered the options and made a decision. "But if he leaves the Bay, we'll have to intercept him, anything else won't be enough and we can't risk someone of his power further destabilizing the government, not now."

"Good," David said. "I look forward to it."

"I'll make sure to keep an eye on the situation," Rebecca said. If there really was an attack, she could meet Susanoo in person; he'd also be forced to interact with several other Parahumans, so she could verify their reactions.

"Good, I trust you judgement in this regard," Doctor Mother nodded. "Now for the rest of the meeting. The new vial is a…"


----------------------

Marissa / Sundancer


Marissa hated her power, she hated the way she had gained it, drinking that accursed vial in a desperate situation, hoping against hope that it would help them survive the horror that was a Simurgh attack.

She hated the power it gave her, the ability to create a sun, so easily misused and capable of accidentally killing someone with even the shortest manifestation. She hated what capes represented, the way those with real power didn't care about normal people, they weren't like comic books, didn't save anyone, just fought and fought, destroying everything around them.

She hated what power had done to her best friend, Noelle didn't deserve to become a monster. She hated what it had done to her, forcing her to become a villain, traveling this alternative Earth in search of a solution.

Marissa hated everything about being a parahuman, from the silly costume, to the constant fear, to her inability to use her power for anything but wide scale destruction.

And yet, she was considering helping out if Leviathan attacked, to face another of those impossible Endbringers, the same type of creature that destroyed Madison, tore a hole in reality and dumped her here, in this twisted version of Earth where supervillains were a thing.

In truth, she didn't want to do it, she wanted nothing to do with parahumans anymore, and she had half hoped Anakin's experimentation would destroy her power, it was one of the reasons she agreed to let him do it.

That and the fear, because she saw what he did to the rest of the Travelers and, despite everything, she didn't want to die.

But Marissa knew she couldn't live with herself if she just ran away, not anymore, the guilty from allowing that… thing to keep killing, to keep eating people while using her best friend's face.

Because, at some point, that thing had no longer been Noelle, her childhood friend had been a kind, charismatic woman, someone capable of uniting a group of friends like the Travelers, that helped her when she left her mother's home, fleeing her oppressive personality. Noelle would have wanted to be a hero.

Her best friend would never have eaten her.

How many people had she helped that thing kill? Not personally, but she had helped hide, and protected the thing as it killed Fifty people? A hundred? More? She had lost count, mostly because she refused to even think about it.

Anakin was one of those capes she hated, someone too powerful to care about average people, but he had allowed her to help, not to run the gang, although she knew it was contributing, but to help those girls.

Prostitutes, slaves in all but name, they had been forced, mostly by debt and circumstance, to become whores for the ABB, and she was helping them get back on their feet, finding new jobs and regaining their independence.

It didn't make up for what she did in the Travelers, but it was a start.

Once Anakin was done with her, Marissa was going to leave, to get as far away from here as she could and abandon cape life, avoiding her power as much as possible, but she had decided, she'd continue helping, she'd find a way.

And if she could at least be useful in this fight, she'd continue attending Endbringer attacks, because it was the least she could do to atone, and even if it killed her, she wouldn't die ashamed.

"Come on, girl," the old woman said, getting out of Anakin's kitchen. "You've been going over those papers the entire afternoon, have a cookie."

Marissa sighed, Lilian Aikawa, Anakin's neighbor, was an odd woman, she reminded her of Noelle's grandmother, only far less sane.

"Thank you, Ms. Aikawa, but I want to finish it before he arrives."

"What?" Ms. Aikawa asked, putting the plate of cookies on the table. "Don't mumble, girl."

"I said thank you, but I don't use drugs."

"Kids those days," the Japanese American woman shook her head. "You really should learn how to have some fun. No matter, the cookies are normal, damn PRT got most of my plants and I'm trying to let the new buds grow a little before harvesting some leaves."

Under the table, one of the woman's cats started weaving between her legs, demanding some attention, so Marissa breathed through her nose, put Kieu Chinh, a Vietnamese immigrant's file aside and scratched Kumo's head, taking a cookie with her other hand.

"Thank god I still got my mushroom tea," the woman nodded, pouring herself another mug. "Are you sure you don't want to experiment a little? I mostly use it to help with the pain, growing old isn't easy, but it could help you relax a little."

"I'm sure, I really do need to finish those files, the ABB was keeping the documents for some of the girls and I want to help them get it back as soon as possible."

"Humph, sweetie, you're far too stiff, no wonder you haven't jumped into his bed yet," Ms. Aikawa snorted, and Marissa almost spit her cookie out. "What, have you seen the man? And he even killed that damn gecko. I tell you, youth is wasted on you kids, if only I were fifteen years younger…"

"Weren't you married by then?"

"Yes?" Ms. Aikawa said with a confused voice, as if she couldn't understand why that would change things. "I think we shared enough girls in our youth that he wouldn't begrudge me one man. If not, a little rope and lube were great ways of asking forgiveness."

That was when Anakin chose to return to the house, his presence seeming to fill the space like a terrifying blanket, temporarily pushing all her thoughts away. Marissa watched him march into the room and swallowed… She really didn't know what to think about the man.

He had slain most of the Travelers, but killing the creature Noelle had become had been a kindness, and the others… what they did to survive and try to cure Noelle had long since ruined any real friendship between them.

They still acted like friends, but it was mostly a lie, and one of the reasons they had been able to so easily vote Cody out, to hand their fromer friend over to Accord when he had let Noelle consume a dozen people in a night.

Maybe they could have rebuilt that friendship if they succeeded in saving Noelle, it was what Marissa had so desperately tried to believe in, but that was always a long shot, and now it was never going to be answered.

At least Jesse had survived, Marissa hadn't been that close to the woman, particularly after she was the one to propose giving up on Noelle when she started...

It had made her angry, that Jesse was willing to abandon her best friend, but the woman had been right in the end, hadn't she?

Marissa was still afraid of Anakin, terrified of how easily he could kill, or how he'd change his mind about her. She was also pretty sure he was insane, she had caught him talking with himself in his workshop, having an actual discussion with the air, it almost made her have a panic attack and certainly didn't help things.

But, after he had gotten rid of the Simurgh's influence on her mind, and after he had helped heal her from the wounds received inside that monster, she was also incredibly thankful.

Anakin stared at the old woman for a moment too long, his face without emotions, then he spoke. "I believe I told you to leave this city."

"Don't be daft," Ms. Aikawa waved a hand in the air. "Where would I even go? No, you said the bastard may not come, and even if he does, I saw the way people who fled from Kyushu lived, better to stay home, I'm too old to move anyway. Now come, I've heard you've been skipping meals, so I cooked dinner."

Marissa swore she could feel his annoyance in the air, the feeling temporarily overcoming his usual aura of fear, but Anakin just continued to stare at the old woman for a minute, as if he couldn't figure out how to react.

Yes, she got a feeling he never had to deal with a busybody grandma, the well meaning ones were always the worst, you just couldn't say no to them.

Two hours later, the old woman finally left, carrying one of her cats in her arms and having left two bags of mushrooms in Anakin's kitchen, clearly meaning to have them ready for tomorrow morning.

Anakin followed after her, the second cat floating by his side as he offered her an arm and helped the old woman back to her house.

"She really shouldn't be here," Marissa said as he came back.

"I ordered one of the men to watch over her, they will leave the city as soon as the attack commences. Now, come, I believe I've made a breakthrough in my efforts."

Waving a hand, Anakin used his power to put everything back in place, plates, chairs and tablecloth moving with precision in a way that Marissa couldn't help envying, if only her power was as convenient.

Swallowing hard, Marissa sat down on the chair in her usual place, doing her best to calm her nerves as Anakin took a position behind her. She honestly didn't know if what he was doing was working, but she always felt something happening.

It wasn't something conscious or physical, but there was always a sense of wrongness when he tried to look into her power, an urge to move, to run, to escape by any means possible that she had to struggle against.

But she had given her word, agreed to let him study his power, and she was tired of running away, of going with the flow because she was a coward.

Although she had to confess, it helped that she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, running would be useless, she could never escape him, it was easier to be courageous when there were no other options.

"Can I ask," she said, taking another deep breath while gripping the arm of her chair. She knew it wouldn't hurt, at least it hadn't the other times he had done this, but she still couldn't help bracing for the worse. "What are you trying to do?"

Anakin didn't immediately answer, putting both hands beside her head. "Dodge's technology, it is not the same, but I recognized the principles used to create pocket dimensions."

"You think my power comes from another dimension?"

"I know it does, however, I lacked the knowledge to pry open this connection. That is no longer the case."

Pushing herself against the chair, Marissa squeezed harder, forcing herself to remain in place as Anakin did… whatever it was he did with his power, he had so many that she honestly didn't know.

After almost twenty minutes, she felt something give, like a barrier inside her power that was broken and she lost control, a small ball of plasma starting to form in front of her face. She tried to stop it, but her power didn't answer.

A wave of terror hit her, fear filling her every cell until she couldn't move, frozen in place as she imagined becoming like Noelle, slowly losing herself as whatever… thing granted her powers slowly took control.

With almost contemptuous ease, Anakin moved one hand off the side of her head, squashing the forming star into his fist before it could grow larger than a tennis ball, and she felt her power cutting off, completely contained by his power.

Marissa's heart started beating again, every single muscle in her body relaxing as she collapsed against the chair, the overdose of adrenaline leaving her body numb.

Then she heard a raindrop hitting the window, the droplet unusually large, then another, and another, the rain hammering the window with surprising strength, what should have been a quick rain turning into a downpour.

Outside in the Bay, the Endbringer sirens started blasting.




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[Morkail]

Oh….. force dominate…. Force dominate on a shard……

ah shit… here we go again.

 

[Vongrak]

Oh….. force dominate…. Force dominate on a shard……

ah shit… here we go again.

Click to shrink...

I mean, really, aren't shards more like Droids anyway? Anakin has a GREAT track record with those. I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[Bearligoust]

And Here, we, Go, Leviathan ending time!!!

 

[Taps148]

Brooo he just took over a shard from the network, excited for the fight curious how he is going to drive it off

 

[gaouw]

Here comes the Fic Killer.