Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Amelia, Ch 263- Crystal


"You can't possibly be this excited to move to Philadelphia," I said to my cousin the moment we weren't in earshot of everyone else. One of the side rooms, there were plenty of them in the new buildings on Avalon.


"Why not?" she asked, smiling.


"Because it's fucking Philadelphia," I reminded her. "In the middle of winter. You were living it up in Cali. Running around fighting crime in your bikini just to prove you didn't need the battle suit."


She chuckled. "Yeah, that was fun," she agreed. "But I can still do that. Not like the cold has any impact on me."


"Not really the kind of city you can do that in, cuz," I argued. "Whole other type of culture, even before factoring in the whole 'race' thing."


"Yeah, I know," she shrugged. "I'm still a Brockton Bay native. Even Arcadia had an uncomfortable amount of racial tension. Y'know, before Leviathan came along to prove that all humans are equal in the eyes of Endbringers. In a way, I'm looking forward to it. LA's villains were all so... well, nice. Sure, the normals were as much assholes as anywhere else, but all the villains are doing is robbery and blackmail shit. Seriously, arresting someone for rigging the Oscars is so much less satisfying than punching some hate crime committing bastard."


"Vicky, you can't solve every problem by beating it up," I sighed.


"That's true," she agreed. "But it usually solves the problem of unrepentant sacks of shit who don't have enough broken bones. Besides, there's all kinds of other benefits to moving to Philly."


I tried to crush the memory of our very brief moment of having the same thoughts.


"Not those kinds of benefits," Vicky sighed. "I'd be closer to home, which makes it easier to stop by and chat. Couple hours at most, max flight speed through Avalon. Even closer to Dad's work. Then there's that parahuman asylum, it's not so far away. We'd be going there for the parahumans that have the most problems with their powers. The ones that need our help the most, and the ones that are most likely to need a new home once they're functional."


"So it's a recruitment drive?" I asked. That's not a bad idea at all, actually.


"Exactly," Vicky agreed. "You're firmly on your feet in LA, now. You've got GL, Dubs, and Rebound as backup. Sure, they're not top tier, but they're a good team and we both know you're the real leader. I'm just the flashy one." I hesitated. She's not wrong. As much as she was theoretically the one in charge, I was the one coming up with all the plays. Which mostly just boiled down to 'which mission do I send Vicky to solo, and which do we take the team out on. I'll have to ask the Tinkers about getting them custom suits. GL probably can't get much use out of one, but Dubs and Rebound should.


"Fuck, you know how much I hate the responsibility," I sighed.


"I know," she agreed. "That's why you're good at it. The best leaders are never the ones who want to do it. Look at Ames. Or Aunt Sarah. They hate the job."


She was right, I admitted. About them, at least. "I'm still not very good at it."


"Well, too bad," Vicky chirped. "You know they can't ignore just how powerful my interaction with Chevalier can be. It'd be like splitting up Taylia. I think the bosses would pack up and cancel the whole 'west coast' experiment before they gave it up. Then we'd leave those kids in the lurch."


"Probably," I sighed. She's right about that, too. The things they could accomplish. Upgrading bodies in a way even Amelia couldn't, healing Case 53s, that was just too huge. "Yeah, I guess you're right."


"I bet if we really push the issue, we can get another Protectorate member moved to LA as a trade," she suggested.


"Don't see that working," I rejected the idea. "Sure, they'd probably agree to it, they'd be stupid not to. But then it's just a 'Protectorate' member, not one of ours. Too bad Lily's still stuck on the gateways."


Vicky shrugged. "I bet there will be people at the Asylum that'll start signing up to join the heroes once they can function normally. The Protectorate's going to recruit as many as possible, but I'll see about poaching some of them."


"Yeah, because that'll make Chevalier happy," I scoffed.


"Eh, I'll find some way to make it up to him," she smiled suggestively.


"God damn it, Victoria," I put a hand over my face. I already know way too much about what you like, please don't remind me.


"What?" she asked. "I just meant I'm going to kick so much bad guy ass that he won't care about losing a couple of the B-listers to Pantheon."


"Uh huh, sure," I sighed.


"Victoria, Eki, Janus, need you in the main office," Lisa's voice came over our coms.


"Coming," Vicky responded. She turned toward the lab. "Don't worry, I know the way."


My cousin turned out to be telling the truth. Eric fell in with us as we got to the door. Inside, Amy, Taylor, Lisa and Chevalier were waiting, along with Costa-Brown on the viewscreen. It wasn't as fancy as the ones at the 'real' offices. After all, this was meant to be a powers testing facility, and nothing more. Avalon had a more tech focused lab where Dragon and Trevor spent most of their efforts, and the bioengineering lab where Riley and Rey worked. Room for more to come as more Tinkers were recruited.


"So, we've come up with an arrangement," Lisa announced. "Vicky's offer to work with Chevalier for healing and, possibly, upgrading parahumans that were mentally or physically handicapped by their powers is clearly too good to ignore."


"Indeed," the Chief Director agreed. "Victoria will be authorized to stay at the Protectorate base, after signing the requisite nondisclosure forms of course. We'll arrange things with as many parahuman care facilities as possible come morning, and formulate a priority system."


"Pantheon's waiving involvement in that," Lisa replied. "We don't yet have disruptive parahumans to concern ourselves with. However, we are insisting on a flexible schedule, we may need to draw Vicky away for other purposes."


"Alexandria would like to arrange a meeting almost immediately," Costa-Brown added.


"Considering her value in confronting Endbringers and other powerful threats, I think fast tracking her appointment would be fair," Lisa supported. And this has nothing to do with how Alexandria is currently talking with us, right? "She's earned at least that much. In fact, we're bumping priority for all those who've been injured by Endbringers, yet unable to be healed by standard methods."


"Makes sense," Vicky agreed happily. She walked up to Chevalier and extended her hand. "Pleasure to be working with you." Dammit, Vicky. At least she was being subtle about her flirting, though I was willing to bet money that the only people in the room who didn't spot it were Taylor and Chevalier.


"Glad to have you," he shook her hand. "You've done some remarkable work in LA."


Vicky gave an exuberant smile that was what passed for demure with her. "Really? You've been following my career? I'm flattered."


Wait a second. Passengers influence personality. And Vicky has the same Passenger as Riley. Does that mean Riley's going to act like Vicky when she gets older? Oh my fucking god, Zach was right, I feel pity for Theo.


"So Janus," Lisa continued. "You'll be sending Atropos and Clotho back to Faultline. Crystal goes back to LA, and you'll need to follow Chevalier and Victoria through to establish a new teleportation site. Sorry to have kept you up so long, by the way."


"I'll survive," he remarked. "Hey, Vicky, is 'doesn't need to sleep' one of those upgrades you can build into people? Because if you could do that, everyone would love you. Except the coffee companies."


"Sorry," Vicky answered. "Humans need to sleep. It's a brain thing. I can cure sleep disorders, sure. But not sleeping itself. Same rules apply to eating."


"Worth a shot," he shrugged. For his schedule, it's probably like three in the morning. That has to suck so hard. "We'll need to shunt over before I start sending anyone anywhere. Good thing we're all in costume."


"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll go get Lily and Sabah. Do this in as few trips as possible."


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


A/N- I like all the things I worked into this chapter.