Realignment [Worm]

Refraction 1.7
◭
Lisa​

Thursday went by in a blur. Between our sessions of lazing about and decompressing from recent events, Taylor had to visit Arcadia with her dad to finish her transfer, so I, bored out of my mind, stuck with the ol’ reliable — internet browsing. Freaking out about Shadow Stalker being loose didn’t feel productive enough to me.

Yes, I was a hypocrite.

After some fussing and a few less-than-legal website visits, I managed to arrange for two discreet deliveries for the coming days, expediting our plans somewhat. The first one was a debit card for one of my accounts so we could actually do some in-person shopping, while the second one contained some fancy Tinker cosmetics for our costumes. The former would be especially useful…

…Which was why, the day after, I was walking next to Taylor on our way to the Boardwalk. I was obviously still nervous about Coil and his spies, but we both needed to destress and I had things I needed to buy to ensure our safety. Thanks to Taylor’s post-Arcadia supply run though, we actually had the means to ‘defend’ ourselves.

Enter: disguises!

At the moment, I was sporting more freckles than was normal for me, with many spilling out onto my cheeks and nose, had a fake mole on my left jaw, and my eyes were housing brown-colored contacts. I was, of course, wearing more borrowed clothes — a light blue blouse this time, and a dark skirt. Most of my hair was in a bun, hidden in a pretty yellow sun hat plundered from the brunette’s wardrobe.

Speaking of whom, the raven-haired girl’s mane was currently pulled back in a ponytail. To my annoyance, she didn’t want to go outside without a hoodie, but at least she agreed to keep the hood down and show the world those magnificent legs of hers via an old pair of jeans that weren’t of the baggy variety. Progress!

Anyways, once we were nearing our destination I led Taylor on a detour into an alley to pick up today’s delivery. Just as described, a small unmarked letter was hidden away in the crook between a crumbling brick wall and some random metal garbage. I grabbed the letter and shot a thumbs up at my bemused companion, grinning.

“What’s that?” She asked with an eyebrow raised.

I held up a finger while I ripped the letter apart, and took out the glorious card within. “Money.” I winked.

“Ah,” Taylor supplied. “I was wondering why you didn’t want me to take any cash.” She paused. “Uh, how much is that, anyway?”

“Don’t remember the exact amount, but it had a bunch of zeros so we’ll prooobably be fine,” I answered, leading us back out towards the street.

Taylor snorted and shook her head. “Yeah, probably. I wonder if…” She looked around, clearly wary of being overheard. “...your ‘former employer’ knows about that.”

It was, indeed, a good question. Theoretically, he could’ve just been ignoring my thefts to make me think that I was fooling him; this wasn’t a difficult thing for a person like him to do. I was most certainly not going to get sucked into another recursive spiral of ‘he knew that she knew’ and the like — that way lay madness. Paranoia was one hell of a drug.

“Probably not,” I answered after a moment, “but I doubt it would matter much if he did. Hopefully…” Hopefully.

Ugh. Even now, Coil was spoiling my mood. Could I not have a single day of peace without having to think about him? He reminded me of that one Fallen chick at this point, this was ridiculous.

Oh well.

I felt Taylor hesitantly take my hand, a quick glance telling me that she was still looking straight ahead. “He won’t take you again.”

Will protect you. Won’t betray you. Is comforted by the feel of your hand.​

I smiled at that. It was definitely still new for me to have someone I could show weakness to without being judged. It was soothing, and something I had missed out on for a long time, just like Taylor herself. This was nice.

I sighed quietly, feeling a bit calmer.

A few more silent but comfortable minutes of walking and I finally had my first target in sight: a neat little clothing store I visited sometimes. It was time to upgrade that wardrobe...

◭​

Clothes shopping went relatively well.

Sure, Taylor was difficult to coax into garments that showed any of her skin and/or figure, but I managed to get her to try out a sundress or three; she even let me buy one of them! Still, she was noticeably uncomfortable during most of the time we were there, and that irritated me. The poor girl truly believed her tormentors’ lies about her appearance, subconsciously acting in ways that made her more invisible to the public; hiding away and nervously scanning her surroundings.

I would need to break that habit.

“Lisa?” I heard Taylor say, drawing me out of my thoughts. She was looking at me with an adorable worried frown, fidgeting with her shopping bag’s handle.

“Hm?” I managed.

“You didn’t hear what I just said, did you?” She sighed, shaking her head. “Want to go get ice cream? I know a place nearby…”

Well, it was warm outside for once.

Family tradition. Stopped visiting after her mother’s death. Is hoping you will go with her.​

Oh dear. How could I say no to that?

“Sure, Tay. Lead the way!” I rhymed with a grin. Clearly, it was the right answer, because Taylor perked up with a smile of her own and dragged me by my hand to an old ice cream shop.

We soon emerged from it with a large ice cream cone each — mine was vanilla-flavored, while hers had strawberry and creme brulee; we both wanted to sit down and relax inside, but we still had places to visit before heading back home so we decided against it; another time, perhaps? Regardless, we ended up quietly discussing the failings of the PRT on our way to a nearby tech store, the final errand-esque location for today, with me describing just how easy it is to escape their custody with proper preparation, planning and outside support. I wasn’t in the mood to go there anytime soon, but theory is important!

“Lisa.” Taylor was glaring at the violet Dragon-branded phone in my hand. “Why are you getting a second one?”

“You need one as well, y’know.” I smiled at her with a small tilt of my head, only to see her wince slightly and look away.

Right, mom trauma. Fuck.

I sighed, stepped closer and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Taylor, listen to me. I know about your family’s issue with phones, I do, but we really need to stay in contact, just in case. Please?”

She looked into my eyes, unblinking, for a few more seconds before nodding. “Alright, yeah. Just… feels wrong, I guess.”

I returned the nod, clearly relieved, but after another moment of hesitation Taylor snatched the phone I was holding away and put it back on the shelf.

“I want mine in black,” she clarified with an awkward half-smile.

I rolled my eyes and got what she asked, moving on.

“More?” She soon commented. “Is two not enough?”I could hear a bit of exasperation in her voice, probably because I was eyeing the burner phone section for too long.

“Don’t knock burners, they’re useful!” I said defensively, which prompted her own eye roll. “They are!”

No, I wasn’t whining. Shut up.

“Whatever you say,” she replied playfully.

I was originally planning on just four, but I got six just to spite her.

Beyond our odd array of phones, we also bought a spool of fairy lights for our stalker-shaped problems, as well as a decent laptop and modem for yours truly. A quick visit to the bathroom later, we concealed our technological treasures within the ones made of cloth and returned outside. It was then that Taylor had another idea.

“Oh, how about we check out Lord’s Market?” Tay actually looked less guarded than earlier, so I assumed that our outing was serving its purpose. Good. “I haven’t been there in a while.”

“We are rather close.” I shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

Shopping bags in hand, we set off, enjoying each other’s company.

Of course, right as we got near the jewelry & miscellaneous knickknacks part of the market, the hand of fate finally decided to flip us off.

“Hey, hey, people!” An odd voice split through the crowd, coming from somewhere higher. “Who’s ready for a show? I know I am!~”

Me and Taylor both spun our heads around to face the source of the voice, only to find a masked jester standing atop one of the stalls, arms apart, looking into the crowds around them.

Circus.

Employed by Coil. Paid to look for you. Planning to cause chaos for cover. Is entertained.​

“Shit,” I whispered, close enough for Taylor to hear, the blood draining from my face. “They’re actually searching for me.”

⬆◮⬇
Taylor​

Lisa’s words were full of terror, and the feeling quickly subsumed me as well. We were outside, far from home, not in costume and in danger due to an androgynous clown. All I knew from my wiki searches was that they were a solo villain and had a literal hammerspace power. If only I could steal it…

I felt Lisa grab my wrist and push through the panicking crowd towards one of the stalls. I assumed this was for cover, because she instantly hid behind it as we got there. She set her bags next to the flimsy wall and I did the same, still panicking.

“Lie down, or take a beating!~” I watched the carnie say before dropping down from their perch and absolutely decimating one of the stalls with their enormous, ridiculous hammer. “Yeah, there we go. Come on, come on!”

I looked at Lisa and she silently tugged me down, both of us lying down on the uncomfortable concrete, just like the rest of the people unlucky enough to be here. Except… there was a pair that was still standing, a dozen feet away from us.

A girl with long, platinum blonde hair was glaring at Circus, her hands curled into fists and disdain clearly written on her strangely familiar face. A shorter girl, her hair frizzy, curly and brown, was standing next to her, hiding slightly behind the older one’s arm and staring daggers at the threat. Oddly enough I recognized her face too, though I couldn’t quite figure out where I knew her from…

“Oho, the Dallon sisters?~” I heard the clown say. Wait. Dallon, as in the New Wave kind? “Well, now, this is about to get interesting!”

Before the brunette — who was, apparently, Panacea — could say anything, the blonde took off towards Circus, her right fist ready to punch. I watched as the attack was easily dodged; the villain flipping through the air while launching several throwing knives. One of them was blocked by the annoyed Glory Girl’s forearm, another tore through two nearby stalls, and the third embedded in the ground, dangerously close to a sneaking miracle healer who let out an ‘eep!’ and hopped back a step.

As the flying brick and the clown college reject kept dodging, trading blows and wrecking the market, I looked at Lisa. Her face was weary, and I was beginning to worry that she was getting another migraine, but she noticed my gaze and wormed closer.

“Don’t even think about running in there to save the day,” she hissed quietly. “We need to keep a low profile, and neither of us have costumes.”

Her stare was intense and I swallowed, nodding.

“You are in a moderately good position, though,” she continued with a growing smirk. “Mostly because they still don’t know about us. Try to sabotage the clown, and please don’t get us caught.” She tightened her hand’s hold on mine for a moment, the smirk turning to a fragile smile. I answered in kind before looking back at the fight.

I saw several street torches affixed to a few of the stalls’ exteriors; light sources that were definitely not there before. Glory Girl had just broken off one of them, tossing the burning stick away with an impressive throw, but it seemed like Circus had planned for that. They cartwheeled away from another punch with a gleeful smile on their face as the airborne torch, instead of stopping to burn, flared up even more. The flames were launched in the opposite direction of the wood’s trajectory, as if the former slid off the latter, and the large fireball — why does it always have to be fireballs?! — shot straight towards the blonde hero, the one who was currently preoccupied with weaving around more knives.

As I summoned a thorn in a broken vase from a stall nearby, I watched the flaming orb hit Glory Girl straight in the torso. Her body flew backwards and crashed into a fruit stand, destroying it and becoming buried in a sea of bananas. I brought my thorn closer, maneuvering through the destruction so less people would see it.

“You need more potassium, darling!~” Circus quipped with a hand on their hip. I heard Lisa snort at that. Figures.

Focusing, I spied a determined-looking Panacea creeping up behind them, hands in front of her as if ready to pounce. She lunged at the jester, but her target spun away at the last second, eluding her grasp. The frizzy brunette landed on the ground and quickly began picking herself up, but as soon as she turned around to face the demented clown once more…

…Circus spun again, summoning their fuck-off hammer right before it collided with Panacea’s chest, propelling her through the air and into a telephone pole several stalls away from us. She slumped to the ground and didn’t move further.

“AMY!” I heard Glory Girl yell as she burst out of the banana pile skyward. She scanned the ‘battlefield’, saw where her sister landed, and dropped right next to her with haste, touching the fallen healer’s shoulders. The blonde kept whispering something which I could only imagine was Panacea’s name and, after a few shakes, the brunette raised her head.

Her facial expression began as one of pain; then it shifted to confusion and, finally, to pure horror. Even from here, with the crowd eerily silent, even with Circus watching with interest, I could hear her speak with a horrible rasp.

“I-” She swallowed heavily, wincing in pain. “I c-can't... feel my l-legs...”

I stilled from that declaration, and I could feel Lisa’s grip tighten even harder. The world’s greatest healer was just heavily crippled right in front of my eyes, and I had done nothing to stop it! How could I be so useless?!

Glory Girl flinched away, her own horror evidently roiling within her and turning into rage. She balled up her fists, so tight that I saw trickles of blood, and, after a second of glaring at a terrified Circus, launched at them like a bullet with a cry of unbridled fury.

I caught myself staring at the display, frozen like a statue, before I suddenly noticed that my thorn had felt full for a while now. Bewildered, I focused on it, leading it towards a place I could see from here.

The thorn peeking out of the rubble seemed to bring some of the debris with it, and had a golden tint with an equally golden ribbon coiling within. Bringing it further into sight, I realized that the rubble was being dragged alongside it due to a triangular skirt-like golden forcefield around the base of the thorn, translucent and shimmering slightly. Oddly enough, the forcefield was completely invisible in a nearby broken mirror’s reflection, but that was a mystery for later. Steadying my still-panicked breath, I sent the shielded thorn towards Glory Girl’s and Circus’ location, still hiding it between the remaining market stalls, hoping to at least be somewhat useful.

"HOW-"​

I felt Lisa’s grip tightening again, if but for a moment, and turned to look at her. With her serious expression she nodded towards Panacea, and- oh. Holy shit, why was I so dense today?

I summoned another thorn nearby, but it immediately became full too. So did the third. What the fuck? They both felt like the first one, which I assumed was Glory Girl’s, so…

“Aura,” Lisa whimpered beside me. Okay, that made sense, I supposed. So… how could I then heal Panacea if her sister’s power kept cockblocking me?

I dismissed the two youngest thorns while flicking my attention to the remaining one just for a moment to keep it from disappearing. Then, I summoned another thorn, trying to bullshit my way into it not taking Glory Girl’s power and… nope, it still did that. Ugh.

"-FUCKING-"​

I could… try doing the two other things I felt I could do? Not that my practice had ever yielded any clues on what exactly that entailed… Disregarding the mental action I could perform which required me to select several active thorns at once, I focused on attempting the other one instead, as it could be done during a thorn’s summoning. Honestly, to me it felt completely useless so far, mostly because all it did was give the thorn in question a number. That was it. A fucking number. But hey, I was out of options anyway so why not give it a try.

I summoned a thorn while giving it the number 1, the lowest I could give, and… well shit, it actually remained empty. Huh. The number went down to 0, though…

Alright, healer healing time. Hopefully, this would work.

“-DARE YOU!!!”​

I flew my ‘zero’ thorn off the cracked shelf that I summoned it on and sent it towards Panacea. While it was on its way, I looked at the battle to my right, witnessing Glory Girl avoid an incoming hammer swing as they dueled on another stall’s roof. Lining up my Glory Girl thorn under Circus’ feet, I watched them take a step and stabbed the thorn upwards, dismissing it as it went through their foot. The clown yelped, off-balance for once, and got decked by the avenging blonde, a loud crunch sounding as the hero’s fist met Circus’ shoulder before launching them back into the side of a car, its windows shattering immediately.

…Nice, I actually helped for once!

Now, with my attention fully on my ‘zero’ thorn, I continued sneaking it the rest of the way over to Panacea, my control more precise. The girl was still slumped and in pain, but she managed to notice the incoming object when it got within a few feet of her and… began pressing herself against the pole in fear? What? Why?

Oh. I’m such an idiot. Of course she would do that; it looked like it was about to stab right through her! God, if ‘Moron’ was a power classification, I would totally have it.

I fixed my mistake by angling the thorn so it was pointing towards the ground, and made it rotate slowly — that seemed to help, as the healer looked less terrified than before, merely tired. I then started moving said thorn closer to her hand and, midway through, she seemed to get the idea, hesitantly stretching out that hand towards it, shaking and wincing.

She grabbed my thorn, and it instantly felt full, becoming see-through and greenish blue like deep sea water. Its center held a shimmering mote of sunlight, with the surfaces having patterns of light not unlike what one could see on the ocean floor.

Fuck yes, numbers for the win!

Panacea let go of it with a flinch, most likely surprised by the transformation, but I quickly moved it back into her palm. It was then that my perception of her expanded and I could feel her whole body in its entirety. My eyes widened at the incredible amount of injury just one attack had caused — a broken spine, broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a collapsed lung... I winced and, slowly getting used to her powerful and complex power, began healing. Thankfully, her power assisted with the changes.

The curly-haired girl stared at the item in her hand with incredulity as I knew that she was feeling her pain go away in real time. Her eyes widened even more as she tried and succeeded at moving her legs again. She propped herself up and shakily stood straight, still looking at the thorn while I double- and triple-checked to make sure she was ok. Satisfied with her newly-restored health, I dismissed her thorn, causing it to fade away as black sand that was swiftly carried away on a non-existent breeze, watching with amusement as Panacea kept trying to catch the disappearing particles to no avail.

Phew. Yeah, that was all I could say on the matter at the moment.

I glanced towards where I last saw Circus and spotted a menacing-looking Glory Girl angrily tying them up with a rope. They… did not look good. I then turned my gaze to Lisa who was, of course, grinning as always. Her grip was soft now, and I just laid there, unmoving for a few moments, relaxing on the still-uncomfortable asphalt. When I looked back to Panacea, I saw Glory Girl with her, hugging the tired yet relieved healer with a smile on her face.

Taking in the display of affection, I noticed that there were PRT officers setting up a perimeter and helping some of the civilians. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t notice the sirens up until now, though, to be fair, I did have bigger things to worry about than that. Shaking my head, I rose, helping Lisa up as well. We took our bags, brushing off the dirt from our clothes, and started walking, exhausted but satisfied, home.