Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Amelia, Ch 183


"Only lost a total of fifty units," Taylor informed as as she started lining her forces back up. "Most of them directly against Barghest. The rest were the shunting units, a lot of which burned out during the attack. If it wasn't for the fact that they're the hardest ones to replace, I'd call this a net gain. Oh, and I'm almost done dragging all the corpses back. I should be able to use the remaining zerg to carry back the dead."


"Good," I replied. "Regrowing them enough 'muscle' that they can haul themselves back to base is a pain," I answered. It really was, too. I wouldn't even be doing this, except that a lot of their insides were tinkertech alloys. Stuff that I had been assured was really expensive and slow to make. Especially since there was no way to build an organic device to do it for us. The purely organic parts could be made easily and with no effort. But without the tinkertech, they weren't even fit to call decoy targets in a battle against an Endbringer.


"I got readings off of Clarice," Emma informed us, as she worked with Rey, Chariot and Clarice to pack up the mobile command center. The tinkers didn't want the rest of us touching their 'sensitive equipment', so we were mostly limited to watching. "That detonation was loosely ten kilotons. If we hadn't insulated the region, it would have been as destructive as a small atom bomb."


"Fucking christ," Lily muttered. "And every time that thing shows up, it's going to do the same thing? Kill fifty four people and drop a nuke in the middle of a city? All in five and a half minutes after its arrival?"


"That's the gist of it," Lisa agreed.


"And this is the one we're considering allowing it to live for fear that the next one will be worse?"


"I'm afraid so," Lisa answered. "Don't get me wrong, we're going to do our best to kill it. But that kill can't be done by any of the Moirai." WorryConfusion.


"Why? How is it suppose to stop me?" Lily asked.


"I don't know," Lisa admitted. "But this one was designed with you and your powers specifically in mind. Its design sacrificed a lot of other potential offensive abilities, making it the most apparently weak Endbringer. Solely so it could have a method to protect itself from your power. Knowing how Endbringers tend to function, that secret weapon would guarantee that if you were present on the battlefield, a lot of people would die. We know your power easily nullifies Zach's, and I'm fairly certain it would work equally well against Eidolon's resurrection. We cannot allow Barghast to get anywhere near you, for fear of what might happen."


Lily fell silent at that, and leaned into Sabah, who had rested an armored hand on her shoulder. I wasn't sure I could imagine how huge that was. The idea that an Endbringer may have been created with the sole purpose of being a counter to her.


....


"So, how long until you announce the engagement?" I asked Lisa as we started making our way back.


"What?" Crystal asked, and it earned the attention of everyone else.


Lisa just sighed. "Really?" she asked. "Nevermind, of course you would."


"Would what?" Missy asked.


Lisa turned toward the girl. "Amelia is implying that, because Alexandria and I can use our thinker powers to communicate rapidly with one another in a way that appears, in the most superficial of visual manners, to be similar to the Taylia bond, that that means I am somehow destined to become romantically involved with the woman," she explained in a dismissive tone. "Despite the fact that all possible logical thought disagrees."


Crystal laughed. "Actually, that sounds about perfect for you."


"It really doesn't," Lisa replied.


"No, it totally does," Crystal insisted. "She's possibly the only person on the planet that could out smug you. Or is that the reason you can't be with her? Because you're afraid of having a relationship with someone who might actually be smarter than you think you are?"


"She's not smarter than me," Lisa insisted. "She just has a really unfair power that gives her the advantage."


AmusementDismissal. "Hey, Riley," Taylor spoke up. "Tell me something. Do you still have some of that anti-power drug?"


"I can make some more really easy," she answered. "We just haven't had much reason to use it. It doesn't even really work against people with the powers that are any kind of problem for our team to fight."


"I'm just thinking we give Lisa a dose, and see how smart she really is on a fair playing field," Taylor continued. I could hear the smile in her voice.


"Not that I'd mind," Riley responded. "But that's not a good idea. The drug can cause permanent damage that interfers with power use."


"She wasn't really going to do it anyway," Lisa informed us.


AmusedAnnoyed. "I might change my mind," Taylor suggested. "Still, I think you and Alexandria would be an adorable couple. You could just stand there and stare at each other for a couple minutes, then go back to your day smug in the knowledge that you just had a romantic moment worthy of an epic poem using nothing but body language so subtle that no one else on earth would know anything even happened. Truly a love story for the ages."


"Speaking of epic love stories," Lisa's smile broadened. "Did you notice Amelia checking out Narwhal?"


"I did not!" I insisted.


IrritationCertainty. "She didn't," Taylor supported me immediately. "And we all know I would have known if she had. Now stop trying to deflect attention away from yourself. Or at least try to do it in a less obvious and insulting way."


"Exactly," Lisa answered happily. "Your confirmed lesbian girlfriend was in the presence of a seven foot tall naked woman with the figure of an actual goddess, and she didn't even think to take good look at her? Out of the thirteen of us, only five can honestly say they didn't try for as much of an eyeful as they could possibly get away with. Incidentally, a few of you should be aware that I'm probably going to blackmail the piss out of you later. Just for fun."


RealizationLoveHappiness. I smiled, and fidgeted uncomfortably at the attention. "I... guess you have a point," I admitted. I looked over at Taylor and did allow myself to, as Lisa put it, 'get an eyeful'. PleasedConfident.


"Fifty bonus relationship points to my big sister."


"Riley, I can hear you on the com," I told her. "Who are you talking to?" Zach started laughing, followed quickly by Theo and Emma. Missy held out the longest, but she started laughing as well.


"Nevermind, I think I figured it out," I sighed.


The trip itself was both subjectively short and uneventful, merely slow. At least our conversation distracted us long enough for Taylor to send all her zerg through Missy's space warp to our base. There, the damaged ones would feed on Yggdrasil and regrow, while the ones that had been destroyed- whether temporarily or permanently- would be recycled and rebuilt. Possibly with improvements in mind. An additional Endbringer, and the potential threat of more meant we'd need to be even more battle ready than ever before.


....


ConfusionConcern. I looked over at Taylor. "What's wrong?"


"Nothing, I think," she answered. "I think your sister wants to have a chat with you, however. She's waiting in the lounge."


I frowned. I have neglected her, lately, I admitted to myself. "Well, we had planned for the fight and cleanup to take a few hours. I suppose I could spend the extra time with Victoria. You don't mind, do you?"


ConfidencePeace. "No, it's fine," she smiled. "I'll call Epoch and tell him how things went. He's probably as confused as everyone else who was hoping for a major show of force against the Endbringers."


"The Adepts really have been hoping to show off the full capabilities of their new armor systems, haven't they?" I smiled.


"I'm thinking we see if they want to cut loose against the Teeth," Taylor added as we approached the entrance to our base. I opened the direct path that would allow us enter the labs without bothering with the normal pathways. "It might even be better that way, showing that Pantheon and its allies are more than just a ceasefire arrangement. That we trust them to handle trouble on their own. Yeah, that sounds good."


We all stopped in the labs to take our armors off, and put the changelings back where they belonged. Some needed repairs, but every system needed stored away. Except Lily and Sabah, who just took theirs home with them.


Freed of the armor suits, Taylor gave me a peck on the cheek, and I headed up to talk to Victoria. By the time I got there, Zach, Theo and Missy had made it first and were talking to her. The four of them, along with Trevor and Clarice, had gotten to know each other pretty well at school. Not well enough to share Clarice's true identity, of course. But it was something. I paused when I saw Victoria. She was wearing her Glory Girl costume. CuriousConcern.


"Hey, sis," Victoria smiled. "Guess what I can do!" she started to glow.


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A/N- The plot twist that literally no one didn't see coming.