Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Part 1
Happily Ever After, Part 2
Part 3

WARNING: More crack than Piggot in a thong.

Taylia paused the story for a moment, as the mention of food had caught the children’s attention. Zimmy’s stomach growled, but her eyes never left her grandmother. Levi, on the other hand, had started gnawing on the carpet. Unfortunately the carpet was mostly decorative at the moment, which Taylia idly remedied by increasing its nutritional value. Noticing the change in taste, he spit it out with a “Blech!” and a sour face. Kids can be such fussy eaters.

Levi scampered over to the pile scattered pile of blocks and action figures that had been a pint-sized city at the beginning of the evening. He moved over to where Bemmy was chewing on the leg of an Eidolon action figure, which flailed weakly in a futile attempt to escape. Well, that’s a bit disturbing, Taylia thought. I should probably ask one of the Dralins to tone down the realism on those toys. Levi grabbed the Eidolon’s other leg, beginning a tug of war with his brother. “Who wants cookies?” she quickly asked.

“I do!” Levi shouted, followed closely by another “I do!” from Bemmy. The Eidolon figure, saved from their attentions, began slowly pulling itself to safety on its elbows. “Me too!” their sister chimed in, casually picking up the figure and throwing it back into a pile with the others.

“Okay, but only if you behave.” Taylia gave the command to begin growing a box of Samosas in the kitchen as she spoke, so that she would be able to make good on her offer later, studiously ignoring an indignant “Samosas? You heathen!” from Libecca. “Promise me you’ll listen quietly until the end.”

“We promise!” the three siblings said in unison, and with that Taylia continued her tale.

Things had finally calmed down, relatively speaking, by the evening. Amelia had tracked Clarice down to her lab, which she was keeping mostly opaque to Amelia’s senses. WorriedUnderstandingPatient Being reminded of her past life like that can’t be easy. She’ll come out when she’s ready.

Taylor officially introduced Aisha to the rest of the team, being the (sober) member of Pantheon who knew her best. “Think Zach, but with Stranger powers and even less of a filter.” about summed it up. Then Aisha filled everyone at the table in on what she and Alec had been up to while presumed dead, which basically amounted to “doing awful things to awful people.” Taylor had to admit that the one with the Elite and a truckload of live squid was pretty impressive, albeit disgusting.

Meanwhile Zach and Alec were in the living room, having a FPS marathon. Theo had been uncomfortable with letting the son of a famous supervillain hang out in their base with so little oversight, but no one could argue with Zach’s logic. “Okay, raise your hands if you’d rather put up with Alec and Aisha at the same time. Anyone? Anyone? Right, that’s what I thought. Well then, I guess I’ll just need to take one for the team.” He feigned reluctance as he fired up the console.

“What the hell, dude?” Alec cried as the explosion took out both of their characters. “That’s like the fifth time you’ve gone for a double kill when I was winning. What do you think this is, Sim Suicide Bomber?”

“Hey, I’m just doing what works,” Zach replied. “Maybe I wouldn’t need to use grenades so much if you didn’t keep making my thumb twitch whenever I tried to line up a headshot.”

“First of all, you did NOT just accuse me of using my powers to cheat,” responded an irate Alec. “And even if I was, it was only because you were being such a FUCKING CAMPER!”

Their bickering, and Aisha’s gleeful enumeration of alternative uses for quick-drying cement, were interrupted by the return of Clarice, who looked rather anxious and ashamed. “Amelia, Missy, Theo … I need to tell you something,” she said hesitantly, looking down at the ground and scuffing her feet. “I was a bad girl. I, I… ” she stopped.

“It’s okay,” Amelia replied in her kindest, most soothing voice. “Even if you did a bad thing, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad girl. Whatever happened, we’re all friends and family here. You can tell us.” Wait, are we all friends here? thought Amelia. I feel like I'm forgetting someone. ConfusionDreadSupport echoed Taylor.

“Well,” Clarice began, “you know how Vicky thought it would be funny to arrange the seating chart to put Akaihana next to Chevalier, Narwhal, Adalid, and Gla- Valkyrie?” Their heads nodded in confirmation. Zach had even tried to start a betting pool on the diameter of the puddle the poor woman would leave behind in her seat, until Emma and Missy had smacked him in unison.

“After I ran out, Akaihana came up to me,” Clarice continued, “and said she wanted to ‘thank me for all my hard work’ on her suit.” Missy suddenly went rigid. “She asked if I could help her with some tune-ups, so we went to my lab.” Now Theo had tensed up as well, and everyone else was looking increasingly concerned.

“Once we were in the lab she said I looked unhappy, so I told her what happened today, and how bad I felt about what I’d done to Aisha and Alec and everyone else back then. She gave me a hug, which was nice, but then she kept hugging me and started asking all these questions. Questions like:

‘Have you ever seen a grown woman naked?’

‘Do you like movies about women in prison?’

‘Have you ever been to a Lustrum fanclub meeting?’

‘Would anyone miss you if you disappeared for a week or two?’
​

I started to feel … funny. My sensors told me that she was emitting thousands of times the normal level of attraction pheromones, and then … hands.”

Theo had grown increasingly livid over the course of the story, and had started looking around for something, or someone, to vent his barely-contained rage on. Missy, however almost seemed to have become calmer, if not for two things. The first was her thousand-yard stare. The second was a growing distortion around her right fist, which she seemed unaware of. Taylor could feel her nearby bugs being sucked toward it, the heavy Ygdrassil-wood table was beginning to crack and splinter, and even light was beginning to bend around Missy’s clenched fist. Everyone except Clarice began slowly backing away.

RageHorrorVengeful Taylor made an effort to control her voice as she asked, “Clarice, did she do anything to you? Anything … inappropriate?”

“Umm,” Clarice hesitated before working up the courage to reply, “no, but that was about when she … slipped. And hit her face on the corner of my workbench. Three times.”

The burgeoning singularity in Missy’s hand dissipated with an audible out-rushing of air, as her expression changed from grim determination to grim satisfaction. Everyone relaxed fractionally. But Clarice had just pause to gauge their reactions; she wasn’t done yet.

“And then she kind of tripped into some of my wrenches, and the welding equipment, and the workbench again, and then she accidentally fell into a healing pod for a bit, and when she came out she slipped again …”

“The goo from those damn pods is an occupational safety hazard.” Zach deadpanned.

“… she slipped and landed on some of the zerg I was upgrading, and my old remote-controlled body, and the welding equipment again, and another healing pod, and finally she somehow managed to stumble into the body swapping machine, which was mysteriously active at the time, and now she’s a platypus.”

Everyone was silent for a moment as they digested this information. Finally, Amelia spoke in carefully measured tones, “Well, I guess accidents happen. The important thing is that you’re okay.” She hugged the grateful Clarice, and it soon became a group hug as Missy, Theo, and Zach joined, while Taylor and Emma contented themselves with patting her on the head.

“Thanks everyone,” Clarice said as she blinked back tears. “I try to be good, I really do, but it can just be so hard sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Missy replied, “just keep trying. And don’t ever stop being you.” With that she kissed Clarice on the cheek, making her blush profusely.

“I hate to talk strategy at a time like this,” Taylor interrupted, “but what happened to Akaihana’s body?”

“It’s still in my lab, in a state of suspended animation,” said Clarice. “I could put her mind back at any time. Maybe I should go do that; I’m already feeling a bit bad…”

Taylor was already assuming her role as commander. “No, don’t be too hasty about that. Let’s give her some time to reflect on what she did. No one who attempts to take advantage of one of our members should expect to get off lightly.” ReluctanceAgreement She looked around the room; there were no objections. “And in the meantime we should think about how we can turn this situation to our advantage. What happened was unfortunate, but there could be a silver lining.”

Amelia joined the discussion next. “We have to be careful though, and discreet. Akaihana is potentially one of the strongest parahumans in the world. If our enemies learn that she’s … temporarily indisposed … they might also try to take advantage of the situation.” The others nodded in agreement. But why did I get the sense that someone was laughing madly when I said “discreet”? Amelia wondered.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Zach scoffed. “She’s surrounded by some of the other strongest parahumans in the world, safe inside the very heart of Avalon, and we’re the only ones who know what went down. What’s the worst that could possibly happen?” Zach paused for a moment to reflect.

“Why do I get the feeling that I just said something really stupid? And who was I playing multiplayer with before Clarice came in, anyway?”​

 

Amelia, Ch 402- Weld


It was weird, being here on Avalon. And more than that, in the capital city. Pantheon's still not officially named seat of power. More than that, there was the thought that I could have been a part of this. I could have been one of their royal family, at least in as much as Osiris and some of the other peripheral members were.


I felt Sveta squeeze my arm. "You act like you've never seen a fancy building before."


I looked over at her. How much would it cost me to get a self healing shapeshifting suit that could turn into anything I wanted? "Well, never one which was hosting the marriage of the rulers of a planet, at least."


In retrospect, I was better off for not joining. I could make more of a difference campaigning for proper treatment of the Case 53s on Bet through the Protectorate than I could through Pantheon. Especially when they already had Sveta and some others to represent our interests on their side. I had to worry about the side that needed the help.


"They really are adorable together. You went to school with them? What were they like?"


Huh, but I only went to school with them for a few weeks. "Quiet. They were the shy types. Kept their heads down, tried to avoid being noticed. The smart, nerdy type that no one really pay attention to. Really the exact opposite of both of Amelia's sisters." They're a lot like you, actually. I left that part out. I personally found Sveta's shyness to be cute, but she resented that part of herself, so I didn't make a deal about it.


She smiled at that. "Vicky always says her sister is the quiet one. I always thought that meant she was quiet by Vicky's standards."


I laughed. "I get the feeling everybody's quiet by Vicky's standards."


Sveta's laugh was lyrical. "I just have trouble believing it. I've seen them give interviews in front of billions, and during the Endbringer battles, Khepri... Taylor... she had more command than anyone else there. Even the Triumvirate and Chevalier would defer to her orders. It just doesn't fit to imagine them as anything other than these larger than life figures."


"When you bring an army of mind controlled superweapons to the fight with you, I imagine people start listening." I put my arm around her waist. "Besides, you punched Leviathan in his face. You're one of the Endslayers. Powers aren't given out based on personality."


"Yeah, I guess." She looked behind me and her smile vanished. "Well, looks like our conversation's about to be interrupted."


"Sorry about that." A man's voice, I turned and was face to face with Chevalier. I'd met him before, a few times. But never had an opportunity to talk to him in person. The leader of the Protectorate, the second half of the Victoria-Chevalier interaction that was at least giving the Case 53s a chance at having a life. Not a normal life, but better than anything some of them might have been able to hope for, before. I was luckier than most in that regard.


"I'm assuming Vicky sent you this way to screen my new boyfriend? Why isn't she doing it herself, this time?"


Oh, that's pretty obvious. "I don't think her lie detection powers work on me." I tapped my arm just hard enough to get a metallic clunk out of it. My body wasn't hollow, and too dense to get the ringing noise typically imagined in metal hitting metal. This sounded more like hitting a concrete wall.


Chevalier nodded. "I see the two of you have it all figured out. I won't insult you by pretending otherwise. If it makes you feel any better, I vouched for you. Vicky trusts my judgment, so this is more a formality than anything."


Sveta sighed theatrically. "Well, if it makes Mom happy. I'll go mingle while pretending I don't know you're threatening my boyfriend with fates worse than death." She stood up on her toes and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "If they scare you off, at least let me know before you leave. That way I know whose ass to kick and why."


I returned the kiss. "I'll be sure you get the message. By carrier pigeon if I have to."


I watched her head off for a second, before turning back to face the man that could easily cost me my job if he wanted. "So, what's the rundown, sir?"


"You've already figured everything out anyway. Think Sveta knows?"


Oh, yeah, she's too smart not to have. "I think she suspects. She's a smart girl, and probably the most popular Case 53 on the planet. She has to be wary of people who might try to manipulate her. Given my blanket immunity to most forms of emotion or biology based Thinker powers, I am the most logical candidate if the Protectorate wanted to find a way to influence her. And, through her either Pantheon or the Case 53s. It doesn't help that other people have tried the same thing in the past."


Chevalier nodded. "In the immortal words of my girlfriend: 'fucking politics'. Vicky's instituted her own version of the Master/Stranger protocol involving Sveta's boyfriends. Most have just been individual opportunists and... Well, they say no matter what it is, there's going to be someone with a fetish for it."


I cringed inwardly. Most of the Case 53s had to deal with that once or twice in their lives. It never got any less awkward. "I'm going to assume that's what set off Vicky's one woman crusade against the Elite." That had been national news. And I did follow Vicky's career. I was even subscribed to her blog.


"Yeah. One of their former management, a social manipulation Thinker named Shark, hired a guy to try to seduce and manipulate her. Vicky figured it out. He may have said something along the lines of how there wasn't a law against what he did, so she couldn't do a thing about it. She took that as a challenge." Chevalier had to stop his story when we were interrupted by a commotion near the entrance. The newlyweds had finally arrived. "We'll have to finish the conversation later. Don't worry, I'm on your side here."


A woman's voice, I wasn't sure whose, spoke. "Presenting the Empresses of Avalon, Amelia and Taylor Hebert!"


The Empresses came wearing their armor, much like the rest of the wedding party had been. Not the full combat gear. Khepri was missing her wings, and Gaea wasn't in a nine foot tall plant thing. Just the dress outfit with their military medals glinting in the light. Apparently they had enough of being in dresses for the evening. A pair of spotlights I didn't even know were hidden in the ceiling focused on them. Leading them to the part of the floor intended for dancing, while those who'd opted to have conversations there backed out. Chevalier and I were safe enough in our corner.


Amidst the cheers of encouragement, including a very enthusiastic Victoria and Clarice, the pair walked out into the center of the dance floor. Taylor turned to the crowd. "We'd just like to thank you coming. This is a big day for us, and we're glad we can spend it with our friends and family. I just..."


"You're welcome and we love you, too," A woman in a black costume responded. "Now quit stalling and dance, already!"


Taylor smiled, and turned to put her hands on Amelia's hips. Then the music started and my heart stopped, figuratively speaking. The song was soft, romantic, and I had no idea what language it was in. The girls were enraptured by each other, we were enraptured by the music.


There could be absolutely no doubt who the singer was. Humans have five senses to interact with the world. I only had hearing and sight. And of those I was more sensitive to my hearing. This was Canary's song. I'd attended one of her live performances before, I'd never forget her voice, or the effect it had on me.


I stood, enraptured by the song while the two girls slowly danced in front of all the people present. Eventually, after a few painfully short minutes, the song ended. If there was any doubt in my mind before, it ended at that moment. The audience kept listening to the song even after it stopped. The couple danced for another minute before her power bled off and we returned to our normal mental states.


"Sir? I think... I think we need to talk to the singer. This is... there might have been an escape from the Birdcage."


He came down slower than I had. He didn't have the resistance I'd developed, or maybe it was my biology that let me recover faster, but that snapped him out of it. "You're sure?"


"Positive." I didn't want to do this, but there wasn't really a choice, was there? I worked around toward the back while everyone else was setting up for the food. I'd want allies for this, I might need them. I could trust Sveta. I worked my way toward her, tapping her shoulder.


I could see hurt in her eyes the moment she saw my face. "Please don't tell me you're really-"


"No, this is something else. I need you to come with me."


The three of us made our way into the back. If the caterers and other staff wanted to say something about the three of us not belonging back here, they did nothing. I overheard the conversation before opening the door.


"-appears stable. Minor fluctuations, nothing we can't null after a couple seconds. We just have to make sure you don't spend any longer than ten m-"


"Company." The door opened a second later and Vicky stepped out to greet us. "Oh, hi guys. We'll be out in a minute. Just a last minute chat with the singer."


I almost rolled my eyes. "We know she's Canary."


"Ah, gonna be that. Well, I guess you may as well come in." She stepped back.


I took the invite. I didn't think I was in any danger, I trusted Sveta and Chevalier, at least. I got a look at the room the band was in. The lead singer was a tall woman of apparent Hispanic ancestry, she didn't look anything like Canary. But this was Pantheon, and appearances meant nothing. In the corner, Clarice and another woman I didn't recognize, but was wearing Avalon's armor were toying with a machine I had to assume was Tinkertech of some sort.


"Hey, Paige, Weld here's a fan. Thinks you're Canary."


"I'm not." The woman replied. "But I'm a fan, too. Thus the stage name."


Really? "I'm sorry, but I know what Canary's singing was like, and I know all of her songs. This was her singing, but none of her songs. You're not going to convince me it's lip syncing."


Paige sighed. "Okay, you caught us. We're using Tinkertech to cheat. I'm afraid you'd have to talk to them, I'm not a Tinker at all." She gestured at the women at the machine. "They're why I can sing like that."


"Speak for yourself," one of the backup singers spoke. "We're totally using our powers. Circe, is there any way we can keep these after the party? I'm thinking maybe we serenade some of the girls who came here without dates? And later we could make careers as rock stars with these powers."


Another guy, who I guessed was the first one's twin since they looked identical, not that looks mattered around Pantheon, nodded emphatically. "Oh, we could get so much action from that."


"Men are such pigs," muttered the unknown woman. Circe? "I've got the recordings, we might be able to work it into a frequency we can plug into your armors. It's up to you to convince the Empresses to sign off on the rest of it."


I still wasn't buying it. Pantheon broke into the Birdcage, took someone out, and no one knew even knew it happened. This was a huge freakin' deal.


Paige approached me. "You heard that Canary died, right?"


I nodded. "That's what the news said at least." It had made the feeds almost a year ago.


"They left out how and why." Paige's eyes met mine. "We both know the real answer. They killed her, the courts and that corrupt fucking judge. Her trial was a sham. If she didn't look different, if she was given a fair trial. If she wasn't treated like an animal, if they saw her as a human being, she would never have been convicted. Not of anything Birdcage worthy."


Nothing I hadn't heard before, some of it I'd even argued myself. I publicly supported the protests after news of her death was released.


"Hey, Dragon, care to tell us how Canary died?" Vicky's voice startled me slightly.


"The prisoners refer to it as 'offering tribute'." Dragon wasn't here, but her voice came through the coms. "Glaistig Uaine, an incredibly powerful and undeniably insane Trump that can steal the powers of others by killing them, occasionally demands them. Or sometimes the cellblock leaders simply offer one to purchase some favor from her. The reports indicate that her power kills instantaneously, with no signs of pain. However, most victims used as tribute are aware of their impending fates. Canary was no exception."


"Horrific, right? That an innocent woman was fed to a monster. Not even as revenge or some kind of crime of passion. There's something human in those kinds of crimes. She was merely as a piece of property to be bought, sold, and used. Can you imagine a hell where that's so normal they've even given it a name? In a way, she was lucky. Being dead is preferable to living in that place." There were tears running down Paige's eyes by the time she finished speaking.


She's not wrong. I glanced over at Chevalier and Sveta. I could push this, and I should at that. Dragon is in control of the Birdcage, and through it Pantheon has access to all those monsters and all of their powers. But speaking out about it means Paige would be sent back to that hell.


I smiled, as best I could. "I'm sorry. I have always been a big fan of Canary. Your music is... well, that and the idea that she might still be alive. I might have jumped the gun a little. Hopefully you can understand the case of mistaken identity."


"Understand? I'll take it as a compliment. I expect I'll have to get used to it, if I want to perform like she does," Paige responded. I could see the relief in her eyes. "I'll probably limit my career to Avalon, for that reason."


"That's probably a good idea."


"What's your name, anyway?"


"Weld. I know, it's not normal, but I never bothered to get a civilian name. No point, it's not like I can have a secret identity."


"Okay, Weld." She held out her hand. "I'm glad to meet a fellow Canary fan. Hopefully you'll keep an eye on my career, too."


"Absolutely." I took her hand. I didn't dare squeeze, too great a risk of me hurting her. I wasn't willing to do that.


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


A/N- Goddamn giant ass chapters. At this point, maybe I should just commit to singular 3k chapters a day instead of two ~1500-2k chapters.

Pick your own choice for what the music may have been.

Spoiler: Personally, I'm running with this.

Also- I *really* regret not putting a "Canary murdered in 'cage" chapter somewhere in the time skip. Oh well, hindsight. And sometimes I don't think of something in time to foreshadow it...