Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Amelia, Ch 286- Sabah


"My girlfriend decided she felt like a surprise visit," I informed Beth.


"Really?" the girl smiled. "Y'know, you can invite her her if you want. I don't mind at all."


"I wouldn't want to impose," I replied. That and it's probably not a good idea. Lily can get a little possessive.


"How about I come with, then?" she offered. "I'd love to meet her. Maybe get an autograph."


"She probably wants it to be just the two of us," I pointed out. It was the most diplomatic way I could think of to avoid letting my girlfriend see that I spent most of my time around a girl who did the 'cute and vulnerable' look this well.


"Yeah," Beth sighed. "You're probably right. I'd just be a third wheel, and no one likes that. I'll work on the costumes while you're gone."


"She... was thinking about maybe joining our team after they're done building the portals in Eastern Europe," I offered. That might placate her a little bit, hopefully. Beth was nice, but overeager about potential friends. Either that or cripplingly shy, and it was hard to predict which and when. But once you got around the neurosis, she was a great person to be around. Actually, now that I think about it, she'd probably get along really well with Lily.


"That would be awesome!" she exclaimed. "I bet our powers would go great together. I can distract the bad guys and she'll be able to rip them apart! And because my summons aren't real, she doesn't have to be afraid to accidentally hurt any of them."


I smiled. "That's actually a pretty good tactic," I agreed. Lily and I actually used it a lot, although considering how her power and her armor worked, she really didn't need my help. Then again, with my armor I didn't really need her help, either. There wasn't a lot out there that could challenge Azrael or Tapestry when we wanted to use them to their fullest. In fact, pretty much left us solely with Endbringers. "But I'd better get going, now."


"Okay, I'll makea few more mockups," she offered eagerly. "I bet if I think 'elf sorceress', I can find something close to a summer wardrobe with a little work."


"That'd be really helpful," I agreed, heading for the door. That was the thing about Beth's power. It was incredibly versatile, on a level that rivaled Taylor and Amelia's combination. Although nowhere near their sheer scale. But her control over it left a lot to be desired.


....


The bottom half of our building was, more or less, a legitimate business. Or businesses. Space that we rented out to a few small companies that just needed a little bit, but not much, office. Or, in a couple cases, nothing more than a mailing address. Not a great way to disguise ourselves, but the whole 'unspoken rules' thing meant it was enough. No one could blow our identities without making themselves the bad guys. The kinds of bad guys we could then drag out of their bedrooms at three in the morning. No one wanted to give us permission to do that.


"Sorry I took so long," I apologized as I made it in the door to 'our' part of the building. Lily was sitting with the others. Or at least Crystal and Sveta. The three of them were smiling. GL would be around here, somewhere, too. He always was.


"What took so long?" my girlfriend asked.


"Sorry, the traffic was bad," I sighed. "Seriously, two inches of snow and Los Angeles shuts down like it's an Endbringer attack. I didn't think to bring my armor with me. I rarely ever need it." That was true. With Sveta and Anima on the team for the front lines, and Crystal as blaster and mobility, my power set with or without my armor was pretty redundant. If a scenario ever got bad enough to actually need all of us in the field, the entire Protectorate would be out as well.


"Oh," Lily replied, getting up. Her wings folded themselves around her, creating the semblance of a short dress overtop the rest of her costume. I'd forgotten how intimidating the black and silver costume could be. "Well, I'm glad you're safe." She approached me and gave me a tight hug. I returned it.


"Yeah," I agree, glancing at the others in the room. It was a little embarrassing hugging in front of the coworkers and friends. "It's bee a while, maybe we should go to my workplace and catch up."


"Sounds like a plan," Lily agreed, wrapping her arm around mine.


It wasn't until we were halfway down the stairs that I realized what it must have sounded like to the other people in the room. Including Lily, apparently, as she tilted me back and gave me a smoldering kiss the moment we stepped through the door. Normally I would have loved it, but not now, not in this building. I pushed away from her.


"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice squeaking a little.


"It's just that, well, GL's power," I stuttered. "He kinda is the building. He sees everything."


"Oh, that's not a problem," Lily answered. "I asked him not to watch us while after you got here. He's pretty cool, has some great stories about the team. Says you're a great help on the team. Did you really launch someone into the ocean like a skipping stone?"


I blushed. "Well, he was a brute with acid powers and regeneration. We didn't want to kill him and we tried everything we could think of that wasn't Crystal's ice lance, so, yeah, I threw him into the bay to buy us some time for Alexandria to get to us. I didn't stop to think that a guy who could pick up a cement truck would still only weigh a couple hundred pounds."


"Nice," she complimented. "That's the problem with some powers. Really good if you want to kill the guy, a whole lot less any other time. But you really saved the day with that one. Smart play at the right time."


"Vicky would have found a better way," I deflected the compliment.


"Well, yeah, but Vicky has 'how do I kick its ass' as one of her powers," Lily pointed out. "You did it with natural human smarts instead of unfair powers bullshit."


"Thanks," I smiled.


"Hey, you deserve it," she responded, giving me another kiss. I responded a little this time, but apparently not enough for her tastes. She broke the kiss and looked at me. "What's wrong?"


"It's kinda weird, still," I muttered. I know he promised he wouldn't peak in, but...


"Is this about 'Bee'?" she asked. "Who is that, anyway?"


"Umm..." I hesitated I didn't want to give out anyone's secret identity.


"Are you cheating on me?" she demanded. "Is that what I interrupted?"


"No!" I insisted. "I wouldn't do that to you. We're just friends. We were working on a project for some theatre costumes. Nothing big budget, but it's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot about a whole new style of art and costuming."


"I bet she's pretty," Lily prompted.


"I guess, but that doesn't mean I'm going to cheat. Besides, she's straight. She's never going to be interested in me."


"She's Anima, isn't she?" Lily pieced it together.


"I'd rather not say," I looked down. "Secret identities are there for a reason."


"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she responded. "And you're absolutely sure she's straight, then?"


"Her power runs off her subconscious," I replied. "Or at least what her subconscious was like when she was thirteen. I've never seen her female summons do anything to suggest they were... well, anything." They sometimes acted sultry, even slutty, but never in a way I could pin down. More like they were trying very hard to move like a cat, completely unaware of the sexual implications. "The male summons... well, she doesn't use the elves for a reason, even though they're her best fighters."


"Do tell?" Lily stepped back, crossing her arms.


"Well, the warriors are all guys," I started. "They're super quick, have built in ranged weapons. Super fast and accurate. I think two of them working together would give Vicky a real fight, and she could create fifty of them at once if she wanted. But we've caught them in a few, uh, compromising positions with each other. They don't really have the parts to actually do anything, but they try. I don't know everything that says about her subconscious, but I'm pretty sure it means she's only interested in guys."


"That or she's so deep in the closet she found Narnia," Lily added dryly. I didn't like her talking about Beth that way.


"No," I responded. "I caught you staring at me when you thought I wasn't looking. Beth spends her time around people like Crystal and Alexandria." Or some of her own summons. "I think one of us would have noticed."


"Fine," Lily sighed. "You're probably right, I'm being stupid and paranoid."


"It happens to the best of us," I smiled at her.


"Yeah," she smiled back. "Do you wish she would? Look at you like that?"


Yes. "No."


"I see," her smile left her face, and tears started to form. "I guess it's not really a surprise."


"But I-"


"Lie detector's running," she interrupted. Oh.


"Don't worry," she forced a smile. "I don't blame you. I won't say it doesn't hurt, but I get it."


"Get what?" I asked dumbly.


"That you'd start looking for something safer. More to your liking," she explained. "I wanted more than you're willing to give. I got too demanding. Clingy, even. So I'm calling it off."


"Calling what off?" But why?


"Calling it off. Us. Our relationship." Lily clarified, though we already knew what she meant. "Clearly we don't want the same things right now. So I'm letting you go. You don't have to feel obligated to me."


"You. You're breaking up with me?" I whispered.


"I guess so," she closed her eyes. "I want you to know I don't hold this against you. You made the boundaries abundantly clear when we got together, and I crossed every one of them. My fault. I'll try not to make things awkward for you at work. We can still be friends, even. Just, do me a favor and give me a little time. I need a chance to get my head into a better place first. Can you do that?"


No! I don't want you to break up with me! I love you and this isn't right. "Yeah," I promised. "I can do that."


"Thanks," she forced another smile. "Tell the others I had to run off early, okay? They'll assume it's because of work. Take care." She vanished, followed by the light pop sound as air rushed in to fill the void where her body was a moment ago. She's gone. Just like that, she's gone.


I didn't bother telling Crystal or the others. I couldn't face them, not right now. I went back to Beth's place. I found her trying to work out costuming patterns on a pair of inhumanly beautiful elf girls. If those outfits were real, and put on real women, you'd need to use glue to keep them from falling off.


"Hey! You're back earl..." she trailed off when she got a good look at me. "Have you been crying? Are you okay?"


"No," I whined. "L- Atropos broke up with me."


"Oh," her hands went to her mouth. "I thought you two were doing so well. Why?"


You. Me. Because I'm stupid. "Lots of reasons," I answered. "She wasn't happy for a while, and I knew it, and I just hoped it would go away instead of doing anything about it. Looks like I got my wish."


"Oh, I'm so sorry," she hugged me, resting her cheek on the top of my head. "Don't worry, it'll work out."


"You think so?" I looked up at her. How could someone who lived in the world we lived in still believe that?


"Yeah," she insisted, smiling down at me. "Things happen for a reason, even if you can't figure it out right now. You'll look back in a few months or a year and realize it was all for the best."


Her eyes are the same color as honey. I stood up on my toes, and kissed her.


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A/N- Am I a horrible person?

Yeah, I'm probably a horrible person.

But at least this time I feel bad about it?

No, seriously, it feels like I actually broke up with my girlfriend. Except not really because she'd flense me with a cheese grater if I tried. I feel bad. But not cheese-flense bad.