Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Taylor: "Status report!"
Lisa: *sigh* "Before you start..."
T: "Jesus Christ, what have you done to her?!"
L: "OK! Before. You. Start."
T: "Make her stop!"
L: "Would you care for me to explain?"
T: "Oh yes Lisa, I would love to know why our resident precog is unable to do anything other than laugh and gasp for air between bouts."
L: "I asked a question."
T: "You asked a question?"
L: "I asked. A question."
T: "Oh, well I guess she should answer it then?"
L: "Well, it's gunna be kind of hard, 'cause, uh, what with the lack of being able to breath."
T: "Brilliant. So what are we supposed to do?!"
L: *Grunting, whilst standing up from her incredibly comfortable high back red chair* "Huh. Well, I guess I have to be our precog now!"
T: "What."
L: "Yep. No other option."
T: "How about any other option. ANY AT ALL?"
L: "No use trying to put the breaks on this, it's going down!"
T: "... You planned this."
L: "What?"
T: "You planned this, I know you did!"
L: "Pffft, you honestly don't trust me?"
Riley: *Bursting in through the door* "Lisa! The surgical tools have been secured. Unfortunately Big Sis said she didn't want anything to do with modifying how powers connect to our brains but..." *notices Taylor* "Oh..."
T: *Stares*
L: "You wont believe how little she's charging me for this."
T: "Fffff-"
L: "She'll do it for nothing!"
T: "Lisa!"
L: "LET ME HAVE MY DAY IN THE SPOTLIGHT!"

Originally I was just going to say that they'd have to get Amelia to keep Dinah's body oxygenated as she laughs. Then it ran away from me.

 

Amelia, Ch 202- Lily


"We're doing what!?" Taylor exclaimed.


"You heard me," Lisa replied.


"I know I heard you, I just can't believe it," she retorted. "You're basically putting Victoria in charge of a team."


Amelia's head nodded in agreement. "Can you maybe elaborate a little?"


"She and Riley are ideal for the investigation," Lisa insisted. "So we let them handle it. Pantheon needs to show it has the ability to be subtle. Going out in full regalia is going to give people the impression that we found our hammer and are using it to smash everything we see."


"Vicky's not what I'd call subtle," I retorted, and the others looked at me. "I mean, she's cool to spend time with, but she's kinda... well... I'm not really one to talk, but she's a real hothead."


"Yeah," Amelia agreed. "There's gotta be a better choice for this."


"Who else?" she asked. "Can't send you or Taylor, you're too high profile. We have to focus on our lower hierarchy members. Of those we have Crystal, who's not equipped for this sort of thing. No offense."


"I'm not equipped to do something so stupid it borders on the insane?" Crystal snarked. "I'm taking that as a compliment. The part where you imply I'm 'lower' on the hierarchy than you? That's the insult."


"We can't send any of our other tinkers," she continued, ignoring Crystal's comments. "The stuff with Chevalier and the Zerg upgrades are too critical. Zach's staying because he won't be much help in the mission, and it would disrupt Emma since they're in that squishy happy phase of the relationship. Speaking of which," she looked directly at where Taylor and Amelia were sitting. "When are the two of you going to grow out of that?"


"When you stop being a deranged bitch?" Amelia suggested. Taylor gave her fiancee a half hearted backhand that was less a reprimand and more a show of support for the comment in and of itself.


"This is likely to take a couple days," Lisa continued. "Which means Missy's not really an option. We're on thin enough ice with her mother as is. Theo is an option, but we really shouldn't be putting everything on him. He's a good leader, but others need to have their chance as well."


She's right about that, I agreed. Theo really came through for us after I fucked up. Putting him in charge would have made sense to me. Hell, I'd settle for dragging Lisa along and making her the leader for this.


"But Vicky?" Amelia asked.


"Trust me, she needs this," Lisa insisted. "We can send someone else with the group. Lily, would you like to go?"


What? "What?" I asked. Seriously, what the fuck?


"Yeah," Lisa insisted. "You're pretty good friends with Vicky, right? And you're the one advocating we do this the peaceful way. And you scare the hell out of people. When you say you're not there to fight, they'll respond with 'thank god'. You're perfect for this!"


"You're doing this to fuck with me on purpose, aren't you?" I glared at the blond. She was and I knew it. Eliminating all the better options and setting this up to make it so easy for something to go wrong. If I didn't go, there'd be an even bigger mess, and then Sabah would be even more worried. I shouldn't go, she needed me right now, and I sure as hell wasn't going to bring her along. She's been through enough.


"Would it make you feel better to know I already ran this past Dinah?" she smiled.


"We rely on her too much," Taylor complained, but I knew she'd already been persuaded.


"Fuck my life," I surrendered to the inevitable. "What's the plan?"


....


I held Sabah from behind, almost apologetically. "Really?" she asked. "Vicky? Why?"


"I guess she impressed them in Houston," I half lied. "And you have to admit, her powers make her really good for tracking and investigation work. Plus her powers mean she might even be better in a fight than I am."


"Then why do you have to go?" Sabah asked, turning in my arms to look up at me. "I don't want you getting hurt."


"If I go, there shouldn't be any fighting at all," I told her. I won't put you through that, I added silently. "Didn't you get the memo? You're being held by one of the deadliest parahumans on the planet."


"You're not scary at all," she smirked, then gave me a kiss. "Just a cute little kitten."


"Rawr," I whispered, then bit her bottom lip. "A tiger, maybe. I could eat you alive."


"Not if I don't let you," she teased back. I felt my clothes tighten as her power infused the fabric. I could have broken the hold at any time, since my power nullified hers unless I was very careful with how I used mine. But where was the fun in that?


"Seems I've caught the tiger," she put her hand on my chest and pushed me back onto her couch, then straddled my lap and leaned against me. Her next words were a whisper. "Don't worry, I'll still let you."


I smiled up at her. All games aside, I was going to protect her. As long as I can fight, she won't have to.


....


"So, are you excited?" Vicky asked me when I showed up. I glanced at the others. Riley and Theo. It was a well balanced team, I was forced to admit. High end on both offense and defense, a couple fairly powerful thinkers, and a healer if things did go south. I tried not to think to hard about again having to work with Bonesaw again. Naturally, I kept that detail from Sabah. She wouldn't understand.


There wasn't any point in trying to lie to the girl. "Nervous, honestly," I answered. "First time we've been given this level of autonomy on a mission. That takes a lot of trust." The last time was pretty much fed to me word by word. This was, as Lisa had put it, a kind of team building exercise. It probably was a good idea, except for the whole 'trial by fire' part. I really could live without that.


"Really?" Riley asked with a smile.


"Yeah," I confirmed, knowing my discomfort toward the girl was easily detectable by both her and Vicky. Fuck, Theo was smart, he probably knew it as well. If anything, that'd just make my words more meaningful. "This isn't like our missions against the Teeth and Fallen where we had side missions or direct supervision. This is just us on a mission that's going to be front page news no matter how it turns out. If we screw up it makes the whole team look bad. That takes trust."


"I hadn't thought of it like that," Vicky replied. "That's kinda big, isn't it?"


"Yeah." Well, that's a bit lame. "So I'm nervous." We all glanced at each other.


"Hey, don't let nerves get to you," Vicky insisted. "We're still a collection of crazy powerful badasses. We just have to find a killer and explain to them how badly they fucked up. The only hard part is they're only guilty of murdering Fallen. Who fucking deserve it."


"Without starting a small war," I reminded. "If this turns large scale violence, we failed our win condition."


"Shouldn't be so hard," Vicky replied. "I mean, look at us. No one wants to start a fight with us. All we really need to do is ask a few questions. Second anyone lies to us, we know where to look. Pretty easy, all considered."


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

Someone asked for a Lily chapter.

Also, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this telling the story around the main characters instead of through them experiment I've been doing lately. What do you think?