Realignment [Worm]

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Amy​

I sat in the car with crossed arms and a scowl, channeling my anxiety into anger at the world around me.

Of course everything had to go to shit. Of fucking course! As soon as things started to get better, as soon as the universe noticed me having fun, of course it had to sic Carol on me! Can’t let monstrous, evil Amy enjoy herself, no! That would be totally and utterly unacceptable!

Oh, Amy actually got friends for once in her miserable life? Well shit, gotta go yell at her! Can’t have that be happening!

Oh, Amy went with them to unwind at the arcade? Crank the glare dial all the way up! And spare some for the toy — it must be evil somehow!

Oh, Amy used her power and it was not to heal somebody? And she liked it? Heresy! Time to ruin everything, because goddamn reasons!

Fuck this joke of an existence with a rake. Why di-

I flinched as a hand softly pressed against my shoulder. “Hey,” I heard from my right. Her voice was but a whisper.

“What?” I hissed at Vicky, my heart still beating a mile a minute. Even when not looking straight at her, I could see the soft glow coming from her phone. Was she not entertained enough by her boy toy?

“Whoa, Ames, no need to get so snippy.” The words carried amusement, but there was some hurt in there as well.

Still, I didn’t deign to respond, continuing my vigil by the window. Yet more fucking rain… How on-theme.

“You can’t ignore me all day, y’know.” Was that a challenge? “Amyyy…”

…And now she was shaking me. God damnit. With a sigh, I looked at her, glaring through my hair.

Right after my head turned, the concern on her face had retreated; just a bit. The corners of her lips rose upwards. “Told ya.”

I rolled my eyes.

“What’s with the brooding, sis?” She asked, still speaking quietly. “Aren’t you excited to see them again?” Usually, I would be, but…

Ugh, this felt like being driven to my execution. If any of us slipped up somehow, gave Carol more reason to dig deeper, how many days would I have until the inevitable reveal? And what would happen then? Her going ballistic would be pretty realistic.

Heh, that one rhymed.

God, I was so fucked.

Vicky was waving a hand now, right in front of my face.

“Stop that,” I ordered. She stopped, but the worry was still there…

I really needed to say something.

“It’s nothing.” Eh, too short. Clipped. “Don’t worry about it.” Better.

“Liar.” She tilted her head. “What’s the matter, Ames? Tell me?” Oh, if only…

Hm. How would Vicky react to me joining another team behind her back? Playing around with my powers in ways that would give Carol an aneurysm?

Well, the latter she’d most likely be okay with — I still remembered her giggles from the time when we messed around with a stray cat. That was a month or two after my trigger, before I got signed up for hospital duty, and Carol had obviously spotted the glow right away, yelling at me to revert it. But Vicky was still on my side, annoyed by the ban on experimentation. Had she learned of my exploits, she’d probably support me.

What of the former, though…

Betrayed. She’d feel betrayed. Betrayed, left out, abandoned. I didn’t want that to happen — she was still getting over Dean leaving. Maybe I’d tell her, someday, but definitely not today. A week? A month? A year away from now? This was a thing left for future Amy to worry about.

Provided I survived today’s ordeal, of course. And that meant I needed an exc-

“Did you have a fight with them or something?” …Eh?

“What? Where’d you get that from?” I asked while still trying to think of a proper reply.

In response, Vicky crossed her arms; playfully, unlike me. “You’re not giving me much to go by here.” A pause. “So it’s not them?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“So you are excited.”

“...Yes.”

“And there is something else that’s smothering my lovely little sister’s excitement?”

“N- What?” I mean, she wasn’t wrong.

A glance at Carol showed her still talking to Mark.

Huh, we were halfway there.

“Was it something at the hospital..?” Victoria continued.

“No, Vicky, stop. I’m- I’m just tired.” Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t a lie — I was, indeed, exhausted, and would rather curl up under a blanket. The only reason for why I hadn’t dozed off completely was my blood being suffused by caffeine and dread.

Thankfully, Vicky listened, but I didn’t think she believed me. She watched my face intently for a few more seconds before nodding, probably hoping that I’d reconsider my answer. A chime from the phone in her lap drew her attention, though, redirecting it from me.

I let out a silent breath. Dean actually being useful was not something I expected to happen.

I returned my gaze to the window, watching other cars pass by us until we stopped. The fallen raindrops glowed red, courtesy of yet another traffic light. So far, it wasn’t dark out, but the clouds still made things gloomier, highlighting the color as I stared at it; mind empty. Only by resuming the approach to Taylor’s household did the movement snap me out of my trance.

Taking a page out of my sister’s book, I extracted my phone from my jeans and unlocked it.

EyeSea: Ames, help, we’ve created a monster.
EyeSea: Taylor doesn’t want to switch off Animal Planet.
EyeSea: It’s a 24 hour marathon, Amy, this is torture of the highest degree.
PetitHibou: Why are you sitting in here instead of watching? Look at those fangs! Look at them!
EyeSea: Oh god.
PetitHibou: Amy would like this too, I think.
EyeSea: Amy, please don’t agree with her.
PetitHibou: Hey!
PetitHibou: This is useful, you know! I got a bunch of new ideas already.
EyeSea: That’s precisely the problem, Tay. Your ideas are *terrifying*.
EyeSea: Aaand ad break’s over.
EyeSea: Welp. (send help)

…How the hell did I miss that?

Slowly blinking, I started typing up some messages of my own.

TwistedBriar: I’m just gonna ignore that
TwistedBriar: we’re on the way
TwistedBriar: almost there

Lisa, of course, answered almost immediately.

EyeSea: Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
EyeSea: We’re ready, I think.
EyeSea: You?

Absolutely not.

EyeSea: I assume that’s a ‘no’..?
TwistedBriar: are you kidding?
TwistedBriar: obviously
TwistedBriar: not, I mean
TwistedBriar: obviously mot
TwistedBriar: fguckl

My hands were shaking again. I took a deep breath, then another, trying to make it stop. Shit, we were already here- almost, but still. Fuck! Why the hell did Danny decide to invite her in the first place?!

Another message appeared.

EyeSea: Everything will be ok.

Yeah, right.

PetitHibou: We’ll be there too, Amy!

And probably catch a lightsaber to the face.

PetitHibou: Oh, I see your car.

Shit!

“We’re here,” Carol announced.

▲​

“Hello!” Danny greeted us at the door, shuffling off to the side. “Come on in — the pork is almost done.” Not wanting to stay in the rain more than necessary, we took him up on the offer.

“Smoked?” Mark asked him, shaking off his umbrella.

Danny nodded. “Loin, yes.” He proffered a hand, which was met. “Daniel Hebert- oh, but please, call me Danny.”

I turned my attention to Carol.

Her lawyer face was on, with that fake polite smile to boot, analyzing Danny while stealing glances at her surroundings. The strip lights caught her attention, if her raised eyebrow was anything to go by; still, she didn’t comment on them, nodding and contributing to the introductions as they stretched on. So far, I could spot nothing out of the ordinary in her behavior, but I knew that it could change at any moment on a dime. All I could do was pray that Lisa had some kind of plan — diverting Carol’s attention, stalling until it was late, literally anything else…

…Where was Lisa, anyway? And Taylor, come to think of it.

Judging that I wasn’t needed, I slipped away to the kitchen; my sister left behind, distracted by some family pictures.

Huh, weird. Neither of them was here. The kitchen table was set, though, with silverware, plates, empty glasses and a salad bowl. The table itself was expanded as well — a second one was dragged in, placed flush against the first. Two people could fit at each side now.

The back door opening caught me off guard, making me flinch, but I relaxed a little after seeing who it was: Lisa sauntered in, wearing a simple green blouse and a skirt; her hair was done up in a bun, except for two locks framing her face from both sides. I waved and tried to smile, stepping closer to her, but judging by Lisa’s expression all I could manage was a grimace.

I stiffened for a moment as she closed the distance and hugged me, staying utterly silent and just standing there… breathing. That lavender scent of hers filled my lungs again, soothing my fraying nerves as I tried to ignore the voices from the front hall. All too soon, though, the hug was finally broken. Lisa took a step back, looking at me with a faint smile.

“Like I said, Amy, everything will be fine,” she reiterated, her eyes probing into mine. “And yes, I got a plan — you were there, remember?”

“But what if it won’t work?” I whispered, still nervous. Carol was too paranoid. “What if she still finds out?”

Lisa took a slow breath, leaning against the doorframe. “If it won’t work, that’s what the contingencies are for. Not like we’d just let her take everything out on you.”

With a short hum of acknowledgement I glanced behind me, just in case. Everyone else had moved into the living room, and I could hear someone opening drawers. Danny, probably.

As I turned back to Lisa, I found the Thinker frowning. “You were at the hospital again,” she stated, disappointment coloring her voice.

“Well, yeah..?” I needed to. I had to. What would people say if Panacea didn’t show up?

Lisa crossed her arms under her chest, still gazing at me. “Three- no, four hours today, five hours yesterda- seven and a half?! And- what the hell, Amy?! You can’t just replace breaks with coffee!” Wincing and annoyed, I opened my mouth to respond; yet, she continued, thankfully not loud enough for the others to hear. “Yes, yes, I know, pot meets kettle. Still! What would Taylor say if she were to analyze you? You’re barely standing!”

And, to add insult to injury, my stomach rumbled as well. Traitor.

Lisa sighed and shook her head. “Damnit, Amy.”

I huffed, crossing my arms too. “And what do you want me to do? Apologize? ‘Sorry for doing my job?’ Please.”

“I want you to actually look after yourself for once!” She hissed. “What you’re doing isn’t healthy!”

“Sure, Miss Aspirin Addict, go tell that to Carol!”

“Maybe I will!”

“G-” Uh. “Okay, um, wait. Maybe not?” I backpedaled. “She might take it badly.” I wasn’t forfeiting, just… thinking and acting logically!

“Hmm… Probably.” Lisa conceded. “Yeah, she would. Fuck.” She hummed in annoyance, her calculating look back in full force, tapping her cheek with her fingers as she thought. A handful of seconds later she seemed to have found a solution, nodding to herself and meeting my eyes with hers. “Look, how about this: we get the whole dinner thing over with, not get skewered by Lightsaber Lass-” I snorted. “-and I use the info I collect from her to try and find a way to help you. Sound good?” A pause. “Not now, obviously. Later.” She added with a wave of a hand.

“Wasn’t the info thing planned anyway?” I deadpanned, eyebrows raised. She’d probably add Carol to her conspiracy board after this.

“I’m me, so yes,” she confirmed with a grin. “Juicy secrets are juicy.”

“Right.” I sighed, then leaned against a nearby chair.

Remembering the way she had described her power to me, I wondered how she’d use it in her quest to right Carol’s wrongs: talk to her in private, drowning her in facts? Going loud and public, exposing her failings to the world? Resorting to blackmail, strong-arming her into submission? Manipulating from the shadows; somehow unseen yet victorious?

Oh. Victoria. Shit, she’d be affected too. Whatever Lisa’d come up with, she better not hurt her in the process.

“I’ll only go nuclear as a last resort,” Lisa answered before the request left my lips. I stifled a sigh, knowing full well that she was in for another migraine. “This is a tricky situation no matter how you spin it — you are her sister, after all. Whatever affects you is likely to affect her as well, so her getting caught up in it is pretty damn likely.”

“She didn’t notice all the bullshit you picked up on,” I pointed out, my voice bitter. That was, as always, a conflicting, annoying thought. On one hand, Vicky didn’t notice any of my feelings towards her, for which I was grateful because she’d never let me near her otherwise; on the other, it hurt quite a bit, knowing that she was so oblivious to not notice how Carol treated me. She might’ve had her own problems to focus on, I could understand that, but still.

“She’s not a Thinker, Amy. Also, she’s a happy-go-lucky teenager,” Lisa retorted. “Or, well, trying to still be one.”

I frowned. “‘Trying’?”

“Trying. Trying to still act cheerful after one of her fixtures all but disappeared.” Oh. “She’s still glued to her phone, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” The car ride to here was a perfect example.

“Case in point.” Lisa nodded. “Were she to lose contact with Dean completely, she’d either shut down or try punching her problems away. The cracks are there if you look hard enough.” Shit, should I try to talk to her or something? And did Lisa get all that from just the Arcade? “Either way, I’d prefer not to hurt her,” Lisa said with a nonchalant shrug. “I’d like to think of her as a potential friend, y’know?” She grinned. “How things change…”

Hesitantly, I nodded, still processing the information. “Okay,” I agreed. If anything, we could discuss more details later. “Where’s Taylor, by the way? She wasn’t with Danny, last I checked.”

I ignored Vicky’s doting “Aww!” from the living room.

“Oh, she’s out there. Keeping an eye on the food.” Lisa moved away from the doorframe, glancing at her phone. “I think it’s time. C’mon.” She opened the door to the backyard, still wet from the rain, stepping onto a small, roofed deck.

“Lisa, where’d you go? I sent you on a mission!”

Lisa cursed. “The plate!”

“Yes, Lisa. The plate,” Taylor deadpanned.

I chuckled as she sighed, watching Lisa run back inside, inhaling the scent of smoked meat and ignoring the void in my stomach.

“Hey, Amy.” Taylor waved from her perch near the smoker, tiredly. “Sorry, I was a bit busy. Food’s pretty much ready, so…” She trailed off with an apologetic expression.

“Nah, it’s whatever,” I waved her off and stepped closer, coughing into my fist due to the smoke coming out of the tube thing.

Inadvertently, my eyes were drawn to her legs, revealed to the world thanks to a nice blue-yellow sundress — something I didn’t expect Taylor to wear. She shifted under my gaze, clearly uncomfortable at the attention, tugging at a familiar coat that was draped across her shoulders.

“I’m underdressed, huh,” I stated, still staring.

“It is a bit much, isn’t it?” She said with an awkward smile, peeking into the smoker in an effort to avoid my eyes. “Lisa said we needed to dress up properly…”

I shook my head. “No! More like I’m not much. Or, uh… am less?” I reached out to poke her in the side. “Help, you’re the wordy one.”

“Wasn’t that supposed to be Lisa?” Her smile grew a bit.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do. I still think you look good, though.” …Why? I was literally wearing the same stuff from yesterday. Well, a different shirt, but still.

I crossed my arms in defiance. “And so do I. Deal with it.” Boom. There. And she better not complain!

She sighed theatrically and leaned against the railing. “Oh no, whatever shall I do.”

A few beats of silence passed.

“What do you wanna bet on Lisa getting caught in Hurricane Victoria?” I asked.

Taylor snorted. “She’ll have to enjoy munching on coals instead of meat, then.”

The door, miraculously, opened. “I’m back, I’m back, shut up.”

“Oh wow, you didn’t even get lost this time,” I snarked.

“Shush, you,” Lisa muttered. The panting blonde handed Taylor the dish, and soon the meal was relocated onto it.

Of course, when we started walking back to the door, the thing opened again, spitting out another blonde. “Oh my gosh, Tay, you looked so cute when you were little!” My sister cooed in delight. You could practically see the stars in her eyes.

…Tiny Taylor did sound cute, I had to admit. As one would expect, though, Taylor herself didn’t seem to agree.

“Wh- Ugh! Damnit, dad!” She sputtered.

We quickly followed the flustered girl inside.

▲​

I took another bite. God damn was this meat delicious. So far, I could simply enjoy it — no dangerous topics were broached. Sure, I was obviously still on edge — still secretly terrified that Carol would notice something — but food and reassuring glances from my friends have kept me grounded.

Yesterday, Danny was understandably caught off-guard by our reaction. I didn’t really know what he was thinking at that point — maybe that the Dallons were a perfectly functional family due to being heroes? Well, tough luck. We weren’t, not by a long shot. Regardless, Lisa explained to him our main hang-up with the visit — Carol being paranoid, and thus destined to be cautious of her. Surprisingly, it was Danny who came up with the best cover story in the end, suggesting that Lisa’s parents were on a business trip, hence her stay at the Heberts’.

Given that the house and its occupants were still intact, Carol had bought the fake story completely.

Of course, Lisa looking drastically different from her costumed appearance had also helped dispel Carol’s possibly-correct suspicions. And no, it wasn’t really a stretch for her to suspect the connection, in my opinion — the Armsmaster visit to our home was merely two days ago. She’d probably be actively wary of blonde teenage girls for another few weeks or so.

I took a long sip of soda.

“...Okay. And what about you, Amy?”

“Huh?” Shit, everyone was staring at me. Did I miss something important?

Danny repeated his question: “What are your thoughts on Arcadia?”

“Oh. Uhm.” I gave him a shrug. “It’s good, I guess?” Not like I had anything else to compare to, other than what little Taylor told me of Winslow.

Danny blinked. “Well, yes, I would hope so.” A pause. “And the teachers?”

“I told you, dad, they’re fine,” Taylor whined. She was still embarrassed by the photos from earlier.

I just pointed at her. “What she said,” I stated. Why do they want me to talk? God, this was annoying. Uhh, let’s see… Right, stalling was good. I’d do that, then. “The worst I can think of is Mrs. Dukes, but she’s just strict. Fair, not mean.”

My sister nodded. “Yeah, she’s nice!” …Vicky, everyone’s nice to you.

Well, except for the nazis, but seriously, fuck those guys.

Danny furrowed his eyebrows as he nodded and looked at Taylor. “That’s the math teacher, right?”

“Yup.” She bit into some salad.

“I see.” He twirled his fork a bit. “Good.”

“Mr. Padilla could be better,” Taylor commented further, “but he’s okay too, I guess. And, before you ask — Computer class.” She shrugged. “I preferred Mrs. Knott.”

“Ah, I assume she’s from Winslow?” Carol asked.

“Yes, but… I’d rather not talk about it.”

I saw Lisa pat Taylor’s knee under the table while the others returned to their meals.

The awkward silence lasted a handful of seconds, only disrupted by the soft sounds of chewing and drinking. I grabbed a bit more pork, but didn’t eat more yet, just studying the reactions of Carol and Mark. Mark was, well, Mark — subdued, as always, and happy to stay in the quiet. Kinda like me, I supposed. Carol, though… She was currently thinking of something else to say, her stoic face slightly tinged by confusion, looking like she was trying to solve a difficult puzzle.

Finally, she turned to Lisa. “And what sort of school do you go to?” Carol asked.

“None, I got my GED,” Lisa answered while smiling politely. It was mildly amusing to see her act this way.

“Oh? When, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Lisa waved her hand. “About a year ago.”

“Impressive.”

Carol looked like she wanted to ask something else, but Mark was somehow faster. “What sort of hobbies do you girls have?”

Now that was a difficult one. I knew that he wasn’t asking me, just Lisa and Taylor, but all of us were too busy with cape stuff to have other hobbies. Saying that they had none would make them suspicious as hell. We did brainstorm a bit on this in private, suggesting and discarding potential answers, but I was still worried that it wouldn’t be enough. Especially if Carol prodded further than we’d prepared for.

Oh well, at least we didn’t stray far from the truth.

“I like reading,” Taylor answered quietly. “Classics, mostly.” Heh. Dork. “Also, um. Documentaries? And insects are cool as well.” They kinda were, if creepy. Those, and marine creatures — the deep ones were especially odd, almost alien. And I wasn’t even talking about stuff like the blobfish — they looked perfectly normal when you didn’t yank them out of their habitat like an idiot. Anglerfish, on the other hand… Yeah, they were freaky, but cool. Cuttlefish were adorable, and so were aquatic isopods. Octopuses… Octopi? Whatever, those too. And all the glowing critters were simply mesmerizing.

“...And sometimes I just wander around on Wikipedia for fun,” I heard Lisa say. Seems like I tuned out yet again. Way to go, me. “Oh, and shopping. Naturally.” She smiled a little wider.

Vicky all but jumped out of her seat. “And you didn’t tell me?! My god, Lisa, we gotta go together sometime!” Welp. She was certainly excited to have another friend to discuss her obsession with.

Taylor’s tired eyes met mine. Yeah.

She then looked at the table, and the nearly-empty dish. Most of the others at this point were done with their food, leaning back. I quietly snorted as she raised up her hand, suggesting dessert like she was still sitting in class. Everyone agreed, the adults began discussing work again, and Vicky and I left our seats to help Taylor and Lisa.

Eventually, we settled back. Our dessert? Cookies, cheesecake and tea. While I wasn’t stuffed before, I was certainly gonna be by the end of this. The lull in conversation lasted one heavenly minute or two before Carol decided to open her mouth yet again.

“Say, Taylor,” she queried, “How did you meet Amy?”

She nervously looked at me. “At school.” Then, my sister. “Victoria was there, too. She, um, showed me around the place.” I nodded, just in case.

Carol looked at Vicky, who gave her a nod as well, and then turned to me. “I assume you met Lisa through Taylor?” Shit, was she suspecting something?! Fuck, okay, okay, I could do this. We were doing fine so far, me fucking things up wouldn’t help at all.

I nodded. Again. I didn’t trust my voice at the moment. Lisa confirmed with a “Yes,” and yet another nod came from Taylor.

“And Victoria?” Carol probed. Fuck, this was like an interrogation. I hated everything about this, and felt through my power that Lisa agreed.

Oh, and she was beginning to have that migraine again. Great. Fantastic. Perfect. Just what we fucking needed.

“All four of us went to Mobius’ on Friday, remember?” Vicky asked.

“Right, the arcade. That’s where you first met, then?”

“Yup!” My sister chirped.

“I see.” Carol swirled the teaspoon in her cup. “What about you two?” Who..? Oh. Oh fuck.

Lisa’s heartbeat quickened, but she still looked composed on the outside. A corner of her mouth had quirked upwards for barely a moment. “We met online,” she lied, “About a year and a half ago.”

Taylor hummed in confirmation while sipping on her tea.

“And me living pretty close from here made it trivial to meet in person,” Lisa continued with a shrug. It was impressive how good she was at lying. On the spot, no less.

Please buy it, please buy it…

“How did you meet Mark?” Lisa asked, her eyes on a cookie. That worked too, I supposed — she was seizing control of the conversation.

“Oh.” Carol stopped what she was doing and took a look at her husband. “It’s… complicated.”

“Is it?” Mark asked.

Carol looked like she bit a lemon. Heh.

“Okay, it kind of is,” he agreed with a nod, “But the gist of it was that Carol joined the Brockton Bay Brigade, back in the old days.” He took a sip. “I was part of it already, and we hit it off pretty quickly.”

Carol just sighed. “Yes, that’s… accurate. Though he was pretty insufferable at the start.”

Danny chuckled, and so did Lisa.

Speaking of whom, the Thinker was apparently still not done with her questions. “Fair, fair. Oh, is it true that you’re the ones who crushed the Marche?” A bit random, but what did I know?

Carol cringed, looking at Lisa, then me, then Lisa again. “Indirectly, but I suppose so.” She nodded, as if to herself. “Yes. Yes, we did. We cut off the head of the snake by finally dealing with Marquis.” Her face turned to one of distaste, an expression I was far too familiar with. “Evil, that man. Pure evil. I’m glad that he’s gone for good.” Sheesh. What had he ever done to her? She always avoided that topic…

I could feel Lisa fighting herself not to grin, which… okay? If anything, she’d tell me later, so I ignored that for now. I also saw Danny frown, but he didn’t say anything, just kept eating. And Taylor looked confused, silently copying her dad.

Lisa nodded politely — which was still a weird thing to witness — and finished her tea, setting the cup onto a small plate. “Did you work with the PRT back then? …Wait, no, they weren’t a thing yet. What about when they were formed? Or, more accurately, when the ENE branch was created?”

…She was definitely fishing for information, huh. Welp, good luck with that. Though the innocent angle did seem to work so far…

“Not at first, but eventually, yes. And since we’re affiliates nowadays, we help out even more than before.” Carol paused for a bit. “Hopefully the new Director will be more agreeable than Piggot…” Oh yeah, that happened. He seemed sorta charismatic in today’s interview. Definitely better than Piggy.

“...New Director?” Lisa asked. Wait, she didn’t know?

“Yes, Director Calvert. He had a press conference earlier today.”

“Huh. Haven’t heard of him.” Lie. Uh oh. She looked at a guilty Taylor. “And a certain bespectacled dork was hogging the TV all day.” Animal Planet. Right.

“Sorry,” Taylor half-whispered, blushing.

“Well,” Carol continued, “He didn’t really say much of import. The usual PR speech about making the city better, defeating villains, and so on. I’m still unsure on whether or not he’s actually good, but time will tell, I suppose.”

“...Noted.” What the fuck was with her emotions? Her cortisol spiked yet again!

I couldn’t yet get an answer, so I just sat with the remains of my cheesecake.

▲​

“Lisa, what’s the problem?” I whispered as we went to the living room. The girl was still tense throughout the rest of the dinner, which only made me more curious as time went by.

“Calvert, he’s a Coil mole. Ex-military, too. His was one of the names that were associated with the organization, and he was a tactical advisor for the PRT before this bombshell of an announcement.” Shit, this was worse than I expected.

“And what about the PRT servers?” Taylor asked, her face pensive. “Did they not mention Dire- I mean, uh, Piggot? Her leaving?”

“No! That’s what’s so fucking annoying — they kept everything off the records until the last minute! Maybe they have something new now, but… Ugh.”

“Would things really be different had we known about this ahead of time?” I queried. “Not like we’d go crusading through their headquarters.” I hated that I was even considering it, but fuck. Who knew that the PRT was this infested?

Other than Lisa, obviously. Or Coil himself.

“No, but still.” She slowly shook her head in exasperation. “I don’t like being blindsided like this. Every surprise is like a reminder that I didn't prepare well enough.”

Taylor led her to the couch, Lisa taking a seat between us.

“Can’t we, like, tip someone off?” I suggested. Armsmaster, maybe..? Or Assault?

Lisa hummed out a negative. “Another point of failure. It’s part of why I don’t want Victoria in on this — just a single conversation is enough to screw us over.”

Damn. “It’s only us, then.”

“Yup.” A sigh.

“We can do this,” Taylor stated, and I smiled lightly at her naivete. It was a wonder she still had blind faith in her after all the things she’d been through.

“I st-” Lisa began saying something else, but stopped herself when we heard footsteps.

My sister entered the room with the grace of an elephant in a China shop, practically skipping towards us before taking a seat at my other side. “So, Lisa, about that shopping trip…”

I suppressed a groan, and I wasn’t the only one.

“I hope you don’t want to go now,” Lisa deadpanned. Mentally, I agreed — right now I was in the mood for lying about and attempting to sleep. Especially because it was like, what, nine already? Somewhere along those lines. I should be at the hospital, but taking one day off didn’t sound too bad…

“Duh,” Vicky said. “Of course not. But we can go tomorrow?”

“Can you not at least wait until Friday?” I whined, knowing that complaining was useless.

“Come on, Ames, you know we have time after school!” You, maybe. Not me. “And what do you mean, ‘you’? I was thinking we could all go!”

This time I did groan, which was punctuated by Taylor’s resigned sigh. Lisa was trying not to lose it, her smirk twitching as she watched us both.

I glared at her.

“Wednesday, maybe?” The all-knowing blonde counter-offered, taking the glare in stride.

Vicky thought it over. “Sure!”

“Did you ask your mom for permission?” Lisa grinned.

“Do I really need it, though?”

“She’ll be annoyed at us both if you don’t,” I pointed out. And yes, I was going along with Lisa’s distraction scheme. It was obvious to anyone with a brain.

“Point.” Vicky nodded, then ruffled my hair and stood up. “Be right back!”

And just like that, she was gone.

Lisa let out a breath. “God, she needs to work on her timing.”

“She also never knocks,” I grumbled. “Even when you ask her to.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Lisa said, reaching over for the TV remote. “Now, let’s hope there’s a rerun. Maybe I can get something useful out of it.”

“What do you think Coil will make him do?” Taylor asked, watching Lisa intently. I did so as well.

The blonde thought about it for a few seconds as she flicked through the channels, still searching for a rerun. “He’ll need to be careful,” she said, “But his goals would likely include expanding his territory. Extrapolating from that, he’d go for the other gangs. With a puppet Director, he now has the… ability…”

She trailed off as she found what she wanted — footage of Calvert’s debut, being discussed by two semi-bored news anchors. Lisa frowned and unmuted the sound as the anchors played a segment of the new Director’s speech. Then, she froze. Her remote hand went limp. I felt blood draining from her face, and her breathing became shallow and ragged.

Both me and Taylor noticed, and we looked at our Thinker with worry.

“It's him,” Lisa whispered. “That is Coil.”

…Why did the universe hate us?

 

Made some fanart for this glorious ship!

 

Reaction 3.3
▲
Lisa​

Throughout all of my adventures — if they could even be called that — there was one thing that I’d learned for certain: waiting sucked hard, yet it was often still necessary to endure. From my time on the streets to the various excursions planned by Coil, waiting was sometimes the only option, be it to gamble on getting a better position to relieve someone of their wallet, or to strike a target at an appointed, much safer time when one set of guards was getting swapped with another. The more time a person spent waiting for something, the more ways they’d find to deal with the boredom that came with it: think about how things might deviate from the plan, reminisce about the past, ponder the meaning of life, and so on. My point was that most people, as well as almost every cape, were accustomed to waiting ‘in bulk’, while Taylor simply… wasn’t. She’d been active for only two weeks, after all.

Now, don’t get me wrong — she had the patience of a saint, as well as that burning resolve when she had a clear goal to strive for, but the waiting during a stakeout was noticeably different to the waiting she was used to at her old school. At Winslow, that triad of tormentors — whom I still had an itch to break in retaliation, by the way — had instilled a sense of futility into Taylor’s mind; of inevitability. Whenever she thought she’d get attacked, or pushed, or verbally abused, she probably would be, and nary a single day went by without at least some little thing happening to her to reinforce that feeling.

The situation we were in now, though — lying on a roof, our eyes on a storage facility — was almost the opposite of what I had described. For one, there was no inevitability; even I didn’t know for sure if anyone would actually appear. There were also no known hostile entities nearby — we double- and triple-checked before properly laying down. No tense or stressful atmosphere, either — we were hoping for our targets to appear, instead of dreading them like those goddamn bullies. There was, however, boredom, and Taylor wasn’t a fan.

Honestly, neither was I, but I at least knew how to cope.

“Nebula,” Black Rose murmured, shifting yet again. “Can- can you please distract me?”

“Falling asleep already?” I whispered back with a smirk.

She sighed. “You joke, but I’m seriously worried that might happen. It’s been, what, an hour since we got here?” A few warm wisps of black sand grazed my cheek as the ravenette met my gaze, not turning her head fully and still occasionally sending glances at the location we were watching. “My legs are feeling numb, and that’s with the fact that I run in the mornings. Even with roofs being so… uncomfortable, I still feel like I’m about to pass out,” she wearily pointed out. “So please, Nebula. Talk to me?”

I smiled and shrugged. “Sure.” I was bored too, after all. “What’s on your mind?”

She turned her head back at the facility. “This, I guess. And what comes after.”

A second later I mirrored her movements, my eyes following a lone security guard patrolling the place with a flashlight. He still hadn’t noticed us, but then again — people didn’t tend to look up. Me deciding to turn off my brooch didn’t do him any favors either.

Why were we snooping about in the first place? Well, after recovering from the initial shock that came from learning of the fucker’s promotion, I decided to take advantage of Coil being likely more busy than normal. With his cushy new job as PRT Director he was probably still getting used to it, getting shown all the Director-only things he had doubtlessly already known beforehand, which meant that in order to take care of his more illegal activities he would be forced to rely on his mercenaries even more than usual for, say, a week or so. Due to that train of thought, I spent the majority of the day following the Dallon visit on compiling a list of merc congregation points, then trimming said list to leave only the places with the highest chances of them showing up. After that, the plan was to perform reconnaissance: spot the fuckers and tail them to the base. And beyond that? Who knows. Depended on what we’d find, really.

So far, though, we weren’t lucky. The only two living souls we’d spotted were the guard and some homeless guy he chased away a good twenty minutes ago. I was hoping that the mercs would show up, and that we’d finally have a good lead, but it seemed that this choice was a bust.

Oh well. Better luck next time.

“Good talk,” I heard from my left.

I rolled my eyes. “I was thinking.”

“As one does.”

“That ‘one’ being me.”

A rather faint smile wormed its way onto my teammate’s face. “Is that you implying that I don’t think at all?”

I snorted and shook my head. “Sometimes, I wish you’d think less. About crossing plant and animal traits in such horrifying ways, at least. You may not be at Giger’s level now, but you’re certainly heading there. Fast.” Fun fact: instead of being a biotinker like on Bet, his Earth Aleph counterpart was an artist. A good one, too, if you got past the weirdness of his art. An even weirder thing to note, though, was how eerily similar said art was to the things cape-Giger managed to create — had he lived in the US, the Slaughterhouse Nine would’ve totally paid him a visit. Especially due to him being unmasked — as far as I knew, dude never even used a cape name.

“You know that the combinations are useful, Neb. Heck, you said it yourself, remember? And if I and Am- uh, Nymph can easily make a thing that’s better than what we have, then why not let us do it? It’s not like you were against it during the power binge.”

Self-conscious about her preference of utility over appearance. Afraid of driving you away due to said preference. Is currently contemplating yet another biokinesis-based creation.​

No shit, Sherlock. That was obvious.

Also, not happening.

“Not against it now, either.” I pointed out, then sighed and poked her in the side. “Don’t worry, I’m just teasing you. Even if what you come up with really is super creepy sometimes, I can’t deny the usefulness of it all.” Really, the versatility of Amy’s power was truly something to behold; paired up with Taylor’s creativity, the two could do pretty much anything.

She hummed in acknowledgement. “And there’s so many possibilities I’ve yet to even think about…” Rose wistfully mused, still not letting the guard out of her sight.

“...And this is just with her base power,” I supplied. Having so many options to choose from was definitely a new feeling for me, and it was glorious; I relished it. I didn’t have such luxury while still under the creepy snake’s thumb.

“Yeah…” She paused. “Oh, did you make that list yet?”

I grimaced. “Ehh, sorta. I jotted down the interactions we’d discovered so far, obviously, but beyond several more unconfirmed ones I turned my power on? Was too busy to bother.” A shrug. “Yet, at least. I’ll get back to it sooner or later.” These Coil mercs wouldn’t catch themselves.

Not that we were catching any now. Or were planning to, for that matter.

Slowly, she nodded. “The latest one I remember you mentioning was, uhm… you and Circus? Wait, no, Nymph. Nymph and Circus.” Ah, that was a good one. Or, at least, it had the potential to be useful. While the specifics were still unknown due to this being just a theory, the most important part was, apparently, the likely ability to shove living things into that hammerspace of theirs. And no, my power didn’t tell me if they’d be able to breathe in there, but still. I could imagine the combo being used similarly to teleportation, for example.

Huh, would it work on Rose herself?

Regardless, I continued. “Still need to get Glory Girl to use her aura near you again somehow. Your version of her power looking so different from the original is… strange.”

“True,” Rose agreed. “Yours isn’t too similar either, though.”

“I know, and it’s weird. I want to know what’s up with that.” Why make it more combat-focused? Why add feedback on damage dealt? Why the stars? The illumination? The lack of clear answers annoyed me.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” My teammate asked, slightly frowning, perturbed. “I thought it was just one of those things you chalk up to powers being weird in general.”

Still laying on my stomach, I slowly stretched my spine by bending backwards. “While that may be the case, I still want to find a pattern if there is one.” Satisfied, I exhaled. “That way, you’d have something to expect while in the thick of it. Less unknowns is better than more unknowns.”

“I gue-”

The sky lit up.

Through half-blinded eyes, squinting meekly into the distance and pressing ourselves into each other out of animalistic fear, we watched. It was terrifying. And overwhelmingly loud. Much like thunder, the cacophony of sounds started a second or so after the lights did. …No, the explosions — the multiple blast waves washing over us made it blatantly obvious. Still, were I deaf, that wouldn’t have been the first thing my mind would’ve jumped to — what stood on the horizon was entirely unnatural.

At the meeting point of the Docks, the Trainyard and the Boat Graveyard, in the northeastern corner of Brockton and to the east of our current location, a remnant of the explosions could be seen even from here — a circular formation of alabaster growths and crystals. Several points of the structure rivaled a four-story building in height, and the span of that thing horizontally had to be two blocks at the least. From what I could see, several parts of it were on fire, the flames on all but one of them being purple; the last one blue. A shard the size of a school bus was hovering in the air, a bit to the left. Another section was melting like wax, and yet another was replaced by what looked like a whole playground. For every second of me analyzing whatever the hell had just happened, I spotted at least two more oddities — and we were nowhere even near the place.

The explosions themselves hadn’t ceased completely, either.

Sounds indicate large quantity of individual explosions. Certain observed explosion effects ignore conventional laws of physics. Unique explosion effects point to parahuman involvement.​

I’m not fucking blind! Give me something useful, you dick!

Amount of unique explosion effects points to either a randomness-based Shaker power or an explosion-based Tinker power.​

Okay, that’s better, I-

Likelihood of survival with baseline human biology at ground zero minimal.​

Yeah, yeah, right. While that may be true, it didn’t disprove the Shaker theory outright — the Manton effect would’ve protected them.

Well, probably. Indirect things like suffocation might do the job regardless.

I looked closer, but found no more clues — though we were on a roof, I still couldn’t see well enough. The distance didn’t help, and it was the middle of the night; we’d have to get closer for anything better than what I got already.

“W-what the f-fuck…” Rose breathed beside me, a quiver in her voice.

Like me, she had at some point rolled onto her back and sat up, her eyes wide, still shaking and breathing sporadically as she came down from the shock. Not that I looked much better — this was a surprise and a half. And my fingers were becoming numb from her iron grip on one of my wrists.

“Rose,” I whispered softly, then pulled the limb closer to me.

She looked at me with a dazed expression, which switched to an alarmed one as she glanced at my arm. “S-sorry,” Rose mumbled, simultaneously letting it go. “I- It’s just-”

“Breathe.” I hugged her.

She followed my advice.

“Better?” I asked, drawing back.

A second or two later, she nodded. “W-what was that? What is that?” Her gaze drifted to the rock thing again.

Pulling my legs closer to me, I shifted into a crouch. “Some new explosion-based cape. Tinker or Shaker, though I’m not really sure which.”

“That’s…”

“...Batshit insane?” I finished for her. “Yeah. Whatever that power is, it’s bullshit. Look, see that over there?”

“Is that a playground?!” My teammate gaped. “And the part to the right looks like lightning! The hell?!”

“I think that’s plasma.” Or something similar. “Oh, and that was flammable gas.” Was.

Rose’s several thorns vibrated near her in the air.

Suddenly, she snapped her head back to me, dismayed. “There could be people still out there!” …Pardon?

Affected area contains moderate amount of tenants despite prominent disrepair.​

Wait. Did I..? Oh. Fuck, she was right!

This was bad. Really, really bad. I’d mistaken the location in my haste to get more details. People still lived there — the mostly-abandoned part was more to the northwest. A glance at Rose made me lock eyes with her, the earlier panic transmuted into determination. Her tremors were mostly gone now, giving way to more restless fidgeting.

“We help,” she stated.

Wordlessly, I nodded. I rose, and so did she as I reactivated my brooch. The sudden brightness of my hair seemed to have caught the guard’s attention, but his shouts were ignored by both of us as we moved further from the edge. Guard rail, ladder, smokestack — it all blurred in our rush to the site. Neither of us talked, too focused on movement and movement alone.

▲​

By the time we got closer, the explosions had already stopped. Still, I could hear the sirens and crumbling buildings and cries for help. Disregarding the dull buzz in my head, I continued scanning our surroundings, looking for more hints at who the perpetrator was.

Tinker theory more likely due to gridlike pattern of secondary explosions.​

Yeah, I noticed that too: the explosions that came after the initial lightshow only appeared in a square area, cut off by some streets and an alley. The biggest indicator of this was when we’d gotten close enough to ‘enter’ the affected territory — only one side of the street was affected directly; naturally, I didn’t count broken windows. Were the explosions generated directly via a power and not through tinkertech, the city’s layout wouldn’t have been taken into account.

Or maybe it would’ve been. Who knew? Powers were bullshit, after all.

The streets within the affected square were relatively unscathed, sans one car-sized tumorous growth in the middle of an intersection. That, too, pointed to tinkertech being planted, which meant that all this might’ve been triggered remotely. So yeah, I was leaning towards the-

“What if the Nine are here?” Black Rose whispered.

Stilling, I sputtered. “Fucking what?!”

She swept her arm across the landscape. “Does this not remind you of Shatterbird?”

Christ, she’ll give me a heart attack at this rate. I could see where she was coming from, but this was a blastwave’s doing, not Shatterbird’s. “True,” I still agreed, “But she’s dead.” Hopefully forever. “Picked off not so long after Salt Lake City. Sniper cape, I think? But yeah. And, last I checked, they were heading more to the northwest.” And thank fuck for that.

Rose let out a breath. She was probably praying for me to disprove her. “Okay.” She nodded. “Okay. Good. No Nine, then.”

…She really needed to learn not to jinx us.

What distracted me from further speculation was us turning a corner, revealing that white, uneven wall again. Not even a wall, really, but a ton of rocks and other bleached forms jutting out and away from ground zero. I couldn’t get a good look at it before, as the street we were walking on had a building collapse and obscure it, leaving only small parts peeking through as the rest loomed above, unseen. I might’ve been able to see more from above, but we were forced to descend to street level fairly quickly — there were no ‘normie paths’ that I knew of intersecting the place we were bound for.

While the crystalline mass looked like an abstract painting from afar, the comparison didn’t do it justice — reality felt broken here. Technically, it was — most of the explosions had fucked with physics, and though not everything was affected, simply walking through the place gave me the creeps. It was like something from a nightmare, and yet it was real. I hated it.

Still, we moved onwards. People depended on us.

I felt Rose stop, and I turned to look at her. Her breaths were shallow again, her thorns unstable. I followed her gaze, and gasped as well — there was a man next to a wall, slightly floating.

And I didn’t mean floating like Victoria did — the victim was completely still, as if put on pause like a video. A suspicion I had, however, disagreed with that comparison. The slightly hunched pose, the bulged out eyes, the- oh god, the blue tint of his skin…

Dead due to suffocation.​

I didn’t want to think about that.

Rose had two thorns fly closer to him, but they just clinked against something invisible. She continued trying to find purchase for a few more seconds, to no avail.

“Paused air. O-or it turned solid.” I tugged on her arm. “We can’t do anything here. Let’s go, Rose,” I pleaded quietly.

She said nothing, but still followed.

We ventured further, avoiding more hazards: a half-molten bookstore with solid lava instead of walls, a car made completely out of red mucus, an urchin-like ball of needles twice our height, a slow-moving funhouse mirror effect surrounding an invisible point in the air…

“Please… help…”

I whipped my head towards the voice immediately. My teammate had heard it too, already dragging me to the entrance of some crumbling two-story apartment building. The voice came from the second floor, near the window, so we went for the stairwell. Annoyingly, some steps were broken, but Rose used six thorns all pressed together as floating stepping stones instead.

Helping me up as well, we bolted through the front door that was already torn off its hinges before we got here, sprinting through the hallway to the room that the voice was coming from.

“Careful,” the man inside rasped, and we stopped with a lurch before entering. “Try not to… cut yourselves too…” Cut?

I looked around.

Part of the wall was broken, including the door to the room with the victim, and the floor directly next to it… dipped downwards. Ah. There was a mass of metal in the middle, a bit like that spike ball from earlier, with pipes, cutlery and all sorts of other things pressed together. Many of them were bent, and most reflected the glow of my hair — our only current light source, if not counting the half-hidden moon.

Potent magnetic effect likely. Floor around doorway unstable.​

“Rose,” I called out, “Step back. Floor’s busted, gotta get in some other way.” She was relatively careful already, but more vigilance never hurt anybody.

As she stepped closer to me, I hummed, holding my chin in my hand as I thought. Apart from the window there were no other points of ingress, and none of Nymph’s toys were of any use here… Could we bash through the wall or something? The outside had brickwork, so no, probably not. Yet, some places had no scuff marks or cracks in the paint, unlike the stairwell and the start of the hall.

Apartment recently renovated.​

I raised an eyebrow, then looked closer at the mess in the adjacent room. Indeed, I managed to spot two parts of the wall that were hollow on the inside, some wooden panels — all broken — dragged along with the pipework to the center of the anomaly.

That worked.

I moved back into the corridor and knocked on the wall a few feet left of the unstable doorframe.

Hollow reverb suggests usage of drywall.​

Bingo. Also, old news, but thanks for the confirmation. Now, then…

“Can you try feeling what’s on the other side over here?” I asked Rose, then knocked again. The tactile feedback of her thorns was pretty faint, enough to only be noticeable when she was actively focusing, but it was still there. It was still useful.

A few seconds passed by. “Just the wall, I think,” Rose replied. “Do you want me to tear it down?”

“Go ahead.” Came from inside. “Place is a mess-” A harsh cough. “-anyway…”

…We needed to stop wasting time.

As I stepped out of the way, my teammate heeded the words of the victim, stabbing through the drywall with ease. The thorns flew into the material, then out, then in again. More debris littered the floor, and soon we had a hole big enough for someone to fit through.

Rose entered first, but I wasn’t far behind. The man within was slumped next to a window on a chair. He didn’t look old, but he wasn’t young, either, with dark skin, graying hair and a muscular build. The foot on his right leg was missing, tied off with some torn-up cloth and elevated onto the nightstand. His left hand had dried blood on it as well, roughly bandaged up with part of the wound still showing through. It looked as if it ruptured… Was the magnetic pull from the explosion that strong?

Posture, patience, skill in first aid and displayed keepsakes suggest military training. Lost moderate amount of blood. At risk of bleeding out.​

Right.

“Sir, we’re here to get you out,” I said to him while closing the distance.

He chuckled, coughing again. “Thanks, kids. Been sitting here for a while now… Name’s Kevin, by the way.”

I nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m Nebula, and she’s Black Rose. We sh-”

“Is there, um, anything here that you can use as a walking stick?” Rose cut in, looking around, being careful not to get too close to the giant hole in one side of the room.

“Dunno. Could use my Mosin, I guess,” The man replied with a pained expression. “‘S up there,” he pointed, “In the wardrobe.”

I walked past a confused Rose. “I’ll get it; you check his hand.” In hindsight, we should’ve made some sort of healing item first. It would’ve been quite handy right about now…

Partially annoyed by my own pun, I rummaged through Kevin’s wardrobe with haste. I doubted that he’d attack us, and Rose’s thorns should be enough of a warning anyway, but we had to hurry if we wanted to help out more people beyond him. Finally, I felt some smooth wood within the cloth and yanked the gun-burrito out, unwrapping the rifle and returning to the others.

Rifle loaded.​

I tensed a slight bit, but feigned ignorance — he was just a victim. Anyone would have weapons on hand in this part of town. Or anywhere else, really — this was Brockton Bay. Still, I undid the weapon’s latch first, letting its rounds fall to the floor, then ejected the one in the chamber. Potential — if unlikely — threat neutralized, I handed the Mosin to its owner as Black Rose carefully straightened out his hand’s bandaging.

“Right, well, I’m-” He coughed. “-Ready.”

“Not yet,” Rose mumbled. “...There.” She turned to me. “Get that side?”

I shot her a double thumbs up. “Yep.”

With an arm under his shoulders and a long rifle for him to lean on, we helped the guy hobble to his feet and head towards the uneven hole in the wall. Getting through it was more annoying, but it didn’t stop us for long. Rose also offered four thorns for more support — one under each forearm and one held in each hand — as it became clear rather fast that neither of us were used to dealing with heavy things, unlike Kevin.

I wasn’t going to complain about a lessened load, though. That’d be stupid.

“...And the fucking place just- ah! Careful.” The ex-soldier hissed as his injured leg bumped into something.

“Sorry,” Rose apologized. She readjusted her grip on the man, getting him out of the apartment.

We kept going, and Kevin continued. “So yeah — it exploded, or something… Somewhere on the first floor. Just… one second there was nothing, and then a bunch of shit suddenly started collapsing into where the sound came from. Like a damn black hole or something.”

“For objects containing metal, but yes,” I confirmed our suspicions. “Would explain your hand, for example. Guessing it was close enough that even the iron in your blood got pulled by it.” Powers, ladies and gentlemen.

“Yeah-” He rasped, then coughed again. “Yeah. The leg was fucked up by some of the metal stuff in my desk. Broke through the bone and everything.” He chuckled, clearly bitter. “Thank fuck for painkillers, huh?”

Wincing, I agreed. “No kidding.” Were I in his place, I would be swearing up a storm.

Also, I could really use some of those painkillers as well. My migraine wasn’t knockout-levels of painful so far, but it was already pretty difficult to ignore.

Carefully, we reached the busted part of the stairwell. “Okay, before my next question, do we have a way to get down there?” I asked.

“I’d prefer not to jump down,” Kevin joked, evoking an eyeroll.

“Duly noted,” I commented dryly. At least he wasn’t doing too bad. Unless he was delirious.

…Eh. Doubt it.

“Neb?” Rose called out, looking forward. “I might need your power.” Nice.

I held out my hand. “Got an idea, hm? Good timing.” A thorn then landed into my grasp.

Power requested for structural analysis.​

I already knew that, but I still had to draw on my power so she could snag it.

As expected, the thorn lit up and flew away into the air. Rose had it lightly impact the railing — which was still sorta intact, if bent and airborne — and then hummed. “Okay.”

“Care to explain?” I prodded. I could lean on my power some more, but eh. Not worth the trouble.

“The feedback said that the railing’s weakest over there.” She pointed at the bottom part of it, relatively in between the two edges. “I could have some thorns support it from below, maybe..?”

Kevin sighed. “Figured you’d say that.” He paused. “So? Are we-” A cough. “-going? Or nah?”

We didn’t have any better ideas, so climbing down via railing was the option we were forced to settle on. Kevin gave us a small scare when he was three quarters down, but Rose had her leftover thorns float up flush against his back to support him. It was a minor struggle, but soon all three of us were on the first floor. Of course, we then went for the exit.

Finally, we were outside again.

“By the muscular golden ass of Scion!” Kevin blurted out. “What is that?!”

…Right. We were outside again.

“Explosion cape,” I explained. “Which is why I was planning to ask you some questions. We’re trying to figure out who they are, and every little tidbit helps.” And yes, I was fishing for leads on the bomber. ‘Knowledge is power’, et cetera, et cetera…

“Shit.” He gulped. “Ask away. This- this isn’t what I expected.” Considering he was probably a war vet, it was doubly uncomfortable to see his reaction. This was supposed to be a city, not a warzone…

“While we walk,” Rose ordered, exasperated.

“Yeah, agreed,” Kevin nodded. “Better not bleed out now.”

Humming, I squinted my eyes. “I think I heard an ambulance. C’mon.”

 

Ah, May. What a beautiful month. Perhaps not as tantalising as March and not as hopeful as April, but there something special about it, especially in these last days, when June was already knocking on the door. A month that brought in the feeling of fullness. The trees have fully put on their gorgeous, green mantle. The kittens's tiny squeaks filled the air with sounds of new lives being brought into the world. It felt as if the canvas of life had fully unfolded itself for all to see.

But it also felt like a succubus, inviting people to remain in this particular month, knowing that after it came summer, with autumn and winter inevitably following suit. And if that was the case, why the rush? Shouldn't you stay here, in this blooming month, enjoying the moment for all it was worth?


As the sleepy, blissful, joyous silence descended on the city, even the most despicable of villains slowed down their actions, realising that this wasn't their time.

It was on one of such days, as the sun was slowly heading towards the horizon, that Taylor and Amy found themselves sitting on a flat rooftop of a multi-story building, enjoying the sun. Siting like that, on a warm, heated roof, was incredibly pleasing. The sun, looking like a freshly baked pancake, generously shared its heat with the city while bashfully pulling the white, cotton-like blanket of clouds over itself, as if afraid of getting jinxed.

Happily wiggling her toes, Amy couldn't help but feel free. Not only she had the yoke of responsibility noticeably relaxed, having the option of throwing off her shoes was incredible. As she laid there, with her head in Taylor's lap, the brunette enjoyed the way that the clouds slowly drifted across the sky, their freedom raising her mood even further.

It was at this moment that Taylor had repeated one of her many attempts to lean in, and kiss her girlfriend, only to be rebuffed by Amy puffing out her cheeks.

"What, not interested in sunset?"

"Nope, definitely not right now," Taylor admitted, not even looking up, her eyes locked on Amy's. She had leaned in once again, obviously deciding to get her wish granted no matter what. Relenting, the healer had allowed herself to melt into the kiss, smiling all the while. Just two months ago, this scenario would've looked like a fever dream. And yet, here she was, enjoying her life, for the first time in years.

Suddenly, a dark shadow had fallen over two girls, making them pull away from one another, surprisingly noticing that they were both out of breath, and looking up at the new arrival.

The blonde had stared at them with the expression that could only be placed somewhere between amusement and bashfulness. In her hands was a grocery bag, filled with what both girls presumed to be snacks and drinks. Still, something was bothering Amy.

"Hey, you're blocking out the sun! Shush, Macedon, move away from the barrel!" Amy announced, causing Taylor to look at her with surprised expression, while Lisa's expression had switched to a full-on amusement mode.

"What are you, Diogenes?" The blonde asked, crossing her arms with a smile.

"No," Amy confessed degectedly, "but I've really missed the sun. This winter was weird in how little sunlight there was."

"Huh. Should I be calling you 'sunflower' then?" Taylor asked, looking down at her, gracefully accepting a bottle of Cola that Lisa had passed on to her.

"Do that in public and I'll make you rainbow coloured," the definitely not horrifying biokinetic promised in the sweetest voice she could pull off from her horizontal position.

Nodding, Taylor watched Lisa take a seat next to them and drape her hand around Taylor's shoulder, while ruffling Amy's hair, much to the dismay of the healer who protested with barely perceptible grumbling.

"So, Lisa, how'd you get onto the roof? I'm fairly certain we've locked the door behind us," Amy suddenly asked, twisting herself to look at the blonde who grinned in response.

"Thinker seven," she said, looking incredibly smug, as if that explained everything. In reality, the blonde never would've admitted that there was a fire escape that she had managed to climbed after a few attempts, the bag with groceries slowing down her progress.

"Right… So, I take it nothing is happening in the city? We have the evening to ourselves?"

"Yup," said Lisa, popping the 'p' for emphasis. "Not only that, from what I've gathered, none of the gangs should be making any big moves in the near future, so…"

Amy looked at her second girlfriend with a disbelieving expression, that quickly melted away as the blonde suddenly leaned in and quickly kissed her, causing Taylor to grumble indignantly.

"How come she gets to do that, but I get cheek blocked the entire time?"

"She brought good news and food," was the reasonable rebuttle. Raising her finger and preparing to say something, yet quickly realised that she would've probably done the same in Amy's place.

"Alright you two, we'll talk about city things later. Dig in, some of the food is still hot," Lisa laughed, opening up the bag and pulling out a hamburger that she quickly bit into.

The three of them bantered yet more, as they basked in the light of the sunset.

 

“Look, we’ve agreed that some form of physical enhancement is necessary, right? Well, why not give Lisa what she wants while we’re at it? Besides, her Thinker power works off of her own senses, right? Then, by doing this, we will also enhance her power.”

“I get that, why a fox though?”

“Ask her, after she wakes up.”

After the group’s recent run in with the ABB, a unanimous decision was made to use both Amy and Taylor’s biotinkering ability in order to ‘sligtly improve’ their rather fragile bodies. As one would expect, it quickly devolved into the most blatant case of human experimentation this side of Bonesaw.

As they were working on Lisa, however, a realisation came to mind. Why stop at just that, when there was a very real chance to potentially improve power, not stopping at the minor brute package.

Thus, the currently sleeping blonde was now sporting a very real, fluffy pair of ears that were supposed to enhance her hearing by a wide margin, as well as several tails that should’ve greatly enhanced her equilibrium and, potentially, acrobatic ability. The question now was whether they’d keep her old, human ears, or remove them due to redundancy. A difficult topic that ended up in girl’s leaving their girlfriend asleep and heading out in order to grab some food.

A mistake they’d regret immensely.

---

Hirano Jun has never considered himself to be exceptionally smart or talented, yet he knew better that to try and get into a warehouse that was quite obviously controlled by the ABB, judging by the fact that the only people visting it were wearing gang colours. The same couldn’t be said about whoever just dived into the said warehouse through the window, causing gunfire to erupt.

Hiding behind the nearest lamppost and trying not to think of how little coverage it actually provided, Jun quickly pulled out his mobile phone and started recording the video, hoping to get the news about a, potentially, new cape, out into the world first.

Recording the flashes and gunshots coming from the warehouse, he wondered if creeping up slightly closer and hiding behind a car would get him a look into what’s been happening, especially considering that the door was unlocked, yet he couldn’t get too close on the off chance that someone else had already called the police or the PRT.

The sounds slowly petered out, an eery silence settling over the area. Cursing quietly, the young man decided to move up closer to the warehouse, only for the door to be blown off its hinges by a powerful kick. Ducking behind the car, Jun carefully poked his camera out of the cover, only for it to be snatched out of his hand, causing him to release a high-pitched scream as he scrambled to get away. The last thing he saw was a large fox-like tail trailing behind the woman that quickly jumped up the fire escape, a pair of ears twitching as she went.

Some part of him knew it to be a cape of some sort, perhaps a ‘weeb’ of some kind that wanted others to think of them as a mythological creature. Another part couldn’t shake off the worry that a kitsune was sent to torment ABB for their sins.

He would buy several packages of tofu on his way home. Just in case.

---

“How exactly did this happen?!”

“You’re asking me?! We were both working on her!”

“You’re the one with more medical experience! Any hypothesis why she didn’t come back yet? Or why there’s a ‘new cape terrorising the ABB?”

“Well… There’s been studies done that say hearing loss leads to feeling of isolation, depression, potential memory loss and so on.”

“Okay, what does it have to do with our problem? We didn’t make her deaf, if nothing else, her hearing should be way sharper!”

“That’s the problem,” Amy shook her head, collapsing onto the couch. “Who’s to say something similar doesn’t happen in the opposite case?”

Groaning, her girlfriend followed suit and almost fell into the chair. Of course even their harmless desire to improve themselves turned pear-shaped. Sure, people they knew were on the lookout for Lisa, but the damage was already piling up. ‘Why in the fuck would she steal a goddamn motorcycle?’

“So, what are we going to do about it? She’s kind of making a mess right now. PHO is already talking about bowing down to the ‘fluffy overlady’, and there’s only so long before the PRT decides to come down on her hard.”

“I’ll… Okay, I’ll contact Vicky and ask her to talk Kid Win into helping. He should be able to write an algorithm to track her, right? We just got to catch her, put her to sleep for a while and undo everything we’ve done.”

“This has better work, Amy. If she gets hurt, it’s on us.”

“Don’t I know it… Alright then, operation ‘catch the dumbass’ is a go?”

Taylor nodded, her mind already going through the possibilities of what they’d had to do. She just hoped that this wouldn’t spiral even further out of control.

 

A Hug From Nature
(takes place sometime after Arc 8)​

Taylor sighed, comfortable to the extreme and content to a degree she hadn’t thought possible in years. She snuggled further into the warm, comfortable body of Amy, her right cheek nuzzling into peach-scented hair, her arms pulling her little spoon tight against her body. She let out another little sigh, and burrowed herself further into Amy, much to the other girl’s squirming.

“Is she deep enough?” Taylor whispered directly against Amy’s ears, causing the squirming to increase. Faintly, after some moments, she felt little hairs brushing vertically across her nose, and she had to fight the urge to giggle. “I’m moving away now. Okay?”

The same hair movement was all the answer she needed. Slowly, with a calculated meticulousness born of experience from sleepovers past, Taylor disentangled herself from Amy. She slowly stepped onto the floor, careful to not trigger any of the little creaky spots she had long since mapped, and nodded at Amy’s expectant face.

Amy, on the other hand, was much less graceful. After some time concentrating, she just took her arms from around Lisa, and rolled out of the bed, falling on a small mound of blankets and clothes with a deep thump.

“Amy!” Taylor hissed, caught in the indecision of going over to bonk her noisy friend on the head, and worrying over Lisa’s prone form on the bed.

“Relax,” Amy said, rolling her eyes for dramatic effect. She got up, gingerly patting down her legs, butt and arms, before motioning to Lisa with jazzy hands. “I temporarily boosted her production of melatonin to last her through the night, as well as introduced organic compounds that mimic the non-benzodiazepine medication they use at the hospital. All the potency, little risk. She’ll sleep like a baby until noon, at least.” Amy looked very proud about that fact.

“I-sorry, I understood most of that, but the… the medicine? I thought you didn’t do brains?” Taylor asked, worried.

“I don’t,” Amy bit out, before taking a deep breath. “Sorry, I know you meant nothing by it. Just… touchy. But I don’t. Melatonin can be created in two places that I know of,” Amy starts, already moving away from the bed and towards the door.

Taylor followed her to the stairs, but just as they were about to descend, she paused, her eyes widening. Amy paused as well, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Taylor shook her head, and rushed back into her room, taking care to not make enough noise to wake her Dad or Victoria, and wrote a quick note for Lisa, leaving it right on top of her prone palm. Taylor took one moment to just stare, a small, happy smile on her face at seeing Lisa so relaxed. She went back towards Amy, who noticed her smile, and answered it with an uncertain one of her own.

“Just leaving Lisa a note, in case she wakes up. Not that I think she will-” Taylor rushed out to reassure the resident biological expert, hands flailing around her much to Amy’s amusement. “-just… just in case, you know? Wouldn’t want her to wake up and wonder. Not after…”

After a heavy moment, Amy nodded, and motioned to the stairs. “Yeah. No, I agree.” Amy paused, and then her lips split into a wide smirk that made Taylor wonder where she had gone wrong. “A note, though? You do know you could just use your phone, right? To leave her a message. You know, as one does.”

Taylor shrugged, feeling strangely antiquated, but rallied on. “I guess? It’s just… this way feels more personal. And I wouldn’t need to worry whether she looked at her phone first, or whether it had batteries, or…“ She trailed off at the amused look Amy was giving her. “You’re teasing me.”

“Would I? Little, old me?” Amy batted her eyelashes at Taylor, who just made a small, snorting noise, and thumped her on the shoulder. “Don’t make it so easy. Anyway, uh. Want me to continue the explanation?

Taylor’s smile widened, and she almost bounced on her feet as she nodded. “Yes, please. Shall we?”

“We shall. First in a little place in the brain called the pineal gland. It seems to regulate most of the melatonin production, as well as a bunch of other things related to sleep that I don’t fully understand. That is located in the brain, and I don’t mess with that.” They moved down the stairs, careful to not trigger any of the numerous, very squeaky steps. “What most people don’t know is that the retinae also produce some small amount of melatonin. Don’t ask me why, vestigial evolution, maybe? Anyway, I’ve rigged her retinae to produce a small, but constant stream of melatonin throughout the night. I’ll touch her up tomorrow to remove that, as well as see if I can reset her circadian rhythm to what it was before my intervention, but considering her sleep patterns, I’m not sure this will have done anything negative.”

Taylor nodded, pensively, as they reached the door leading down to the basement. Opening the door, she motioned for Amy to move first, which she did with an amused smile and another eye roll. Taylor thought Amy was rather fond of those.

“And the non-benzo..?” Taylor trailed off, closing the door behind her and turning on the lights so Amy wouldn’t fall to her doom like she almost did several days ago.

“Non-benzodiazepine,” Amy provided, reaching the end of the stairs and moving towards where they had set up their biological experiments area — or, as Lisa had put it, their Nightmare Lab. “It’s a less risky class of drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia. They’re the least addictive variant available, so really the only thing I felt comfortable introducing into her body.”

Amy frowned, a hand coming up to rub at her arms, and then the hem of her pajama shirt. “Can’t afford to mess up. Lisa has enough problems as is.”

Taylor nodded. She agreed completely with that assessment, after all. Since the raid at Coil’s base, and… everything that followed after, Lisa had been overworking herself to an almost dangerous degree, following up leads she had left to the sides on old dangers, as well as obsessively trying to prepare for new ones. She promised and promised that she would get rest, but it took the combined effort of Taylor, Amy, and sometimes Danny and Victoria to get her to get a modicum of rest. Unfortunately, said attempts were often interrupted by various nightmares, with Lisa’s brilliant, cursed mind recycling her old ones into new horrors with everything she imagined around the corner.

Taylor’s heart constricted at the thought of her beautiful, compassionate and genius friend suffering, endlessly preparing and waiting for the possibility of something that she was sure was coming at any moment. She wanted nothing more than to take Lisa into a hug, tell her everything was going to be okay, and know that it was going to be so. Which was partially the reason she had asked for Amy’s help in their little clandestine project.

She glanced around, and saw that Amy was already by the potted plant they were lovingly calling ‘Cuddle-vine’. Or, well, Taylor was calling it that. Amy’s initial idea led Taylor to a decidedly uncomfortable search online, and many embarrassed looks at Amy.

“Alright,” clapped the biokinetic, thankfully interrupting Taylor’s train of thought as she moved around and behind Cuddle-vine’s pot. “So, what did you have planned?”

“I wanted to make a… well, a hugging bed of vines, for lack of a better word.” Taylor began, moving closer to Amy, and leaning into her left side, one arm going around a shoulder to pull her in a hug, and the other motioning towards the pot. “The vines would have to be much thicker — maybe around an arm’s length, or two? They’d have to be really soft, but durable, and be able to configure themselves in whichever way we want them to.” She paused, humming as she leaned her head on top of Amy’s, much to her friend’s silent, squirming disapproval. “Could we pre-grow it, and then hide the length underground?”

Amy hummed, reaching with her right foot to touch the tiny base of the vine protruding from the soil, her hands holding Taylor’s around her shoulder. “It… shouldn’t be difficult? I mean, the hardest part would be to grow them. Do we want to be controlling how they move, or give them some sort of sentience?”

Taylor shivered, and hugged Amy closer still. “No. No sentience. We need to… we need to be in complete control. We cannot allow any chance for this to hurt Lisa.”

Amy nodded, a relieved little sigh escaping her. “I’m glad we agree. Alright. You ready?”

Taylor nodded, almost glaring at the little pot. “Let’s do this.”

---

Danny Hebert woke up as he usually did these days, feeling good. He got out of bed, hissing as his back popped when he stretched, the sound loud in the otherwise silent room. Danny went to the bathroom, where he took a quick, serviceable shower, brushed his teeth, and shaved. He briefly spared a look at the mirror before drying himself. Feeling more presentable, Danny left the bathroom, and glanced at the hall. Victoria’s room was still closed, and he could hear her snores coming from inside, while Taylor’s — the girls’, he corrected himself with a small, chagrined grimace — door was ajar. He moved to it, wincing at some of the heavy creaking his steps caused, and peeked inside.

Danny frowned. Lisa was the last person he would have expected to be sleeping on the bed alone like that, particularly with how she had been in the last two weeks or so. He peeked his head further in, looking around, but couldn’t find the other two. Shrugging, he went downstairs, each thumping, creaking step making him wince, afraid that it would wake Lisa up. Reaching the bottom floor, Danny looked around, and noticed the basement door.

He opened the door more, glancing inside with some trepidation. While he wasn’t unused to capes in general, living with multiple parahumans inside of his home was intimidating and stressful, particularly when his girl was one of them. Danny carefully stepped down until he could see the basement floor, and he suddenly wished he had stayed up.

No matter how cute Taylor and Amy looked, curled up against each other in that way that made him think that they weren’t only ‘really good friends’, as they seemed to insist, the nightmare of vines that supported them reminded him uncomfortably of why people were so scared of capes that could affect biology like that. It looked innocent, and Danny trusted Amy and Taylor to know what they were doing, but just looking at that thing made his pulse quicken.

Danny moved back up the stairs, and then into the kitchen, idly preparing a cup of instant coffee. He thought about Taylor, Amy, and Lisa, and how complicated everything was with them. Danny snorted, blowing on his brewed coffee even as he started the coffee machine for a full pot. Annette would have loved the other two living at the house. Danny stared at some of their old pictures, a lost, bittersweet look on his face as he imagined what his wife would say to the three now, the stories she would share, with teasing smiles, and gentle touches.

He placed his cup down, and moved to a particular frame holding their wedding picture. He traced the outline of Annette’s face with his fingers, before sighing, and moving back to the kitchen. Danny prepared a platter of eight sandwiches, two for each of the girls, with what he hoped was still their favorite, cheese and ham. He toasted them, having to prepare one extra since he burned one side a little too much, and prepared his own lunch — the burned sandwich, an apple, a boiled egg and two bottles of water. Danny looked at the basement again, and just shook his head. He’d trust his girl to know what she’s doing, and to ask for help if she needed it.

“Still,” he mused idly as he fished his keys and left the house, “better talk with her later, just in case.”

---

Lisa woke up with a jaw-breaking yawn, stretching along the empty expanse of Taylor’s bed. She felt well-rested and ready to tackle a new day, if sleepy still, which never happened. Lisa was immediately suspicious.

Well rested. Slept for 10 hours and 35 minutes. Experiencing higher levels of sleepiness. Sleepiness incongruent with previous sleep patterns. Sleepiness artificially induced. Taylor and Amy missing.

“Shit!” Lisa dove out of the bed. She was wide awake now, pupils blown and heart rate through the roof, matching her short, sharp breaths. She gazed around in a panic, trying to find any more clues she might’ve missed, until she finally noticed that her left hand was clutching something. With trepidation, she brought her hand up, staring at the balled up paper within.

Is crumpled. Visible characters written match Taylor’s handwriting. Visible characters suggest unhurried writing pace. Taylor wrote on the paper.

Lisa straightened out the paper as fast and carefully as she could, and then stared at the little note. “‘Lisa, we’re in the basement. If you wake up and we’re not there, come say hello? With care, Taylor.’ …What?” Lisa stared at the piece of paper some more after reciting its contents, as if trying to divine some deeper meaning from that.

Is carefully written. Writing suggests Taylor was worried. Writing suggests Taylor wanted to appear non-threatening. Writing suggests Taylor wanted to reassure you.

‘No shit,’ Lisa snarked, still just as confused, but now at Taylor. She brought a hand up to her chest, feeling her heart rate slowly returning to a not-so-frantic pace. ‘Is that what she considers non-threatening and reassuring? We’re going to sit down and have a long, nice talk about some things…’ Lisa groused, letting herself fall back on the bed, unbothered by the springiness of it. She stayed there for another few minutes, before finally getting back up with a sigh. She stared at the mess left around the bed with some level of fond exasperation.

Placement unintentional. Objects thrown in a hurry. Taylor and Amy left while you were asleep. Taylor and Amy threw blankets-

‘Yeah, yeah, obviously,’ thought Lisa as she got up, pacing around the room. That her friends were missing was evident, but were they still in the basement? And for that matter, when did they leave?

Door ajar. No noises in the house. 02:32 PM. Danny left for work 6 hours and 22 minutes ago. No noises in the house. House likely empty.

‘Like hell those two would just leave me here sleeping for too long,’ groused Lisa, even as a niggling, traitorous feeling bloomed in the back of her head. Lisa hurried out of the room, noticing all the little things visible and not. She went down the stairs, and glanced around.

Kitchen table made. Note on top of table. Fresh coffee pot in coffee machine. Note on fridge. TV off. Danny’s shoes gone. Taylor and Amy’s still in rack. Danny cleaned kitchen and left for work. Taylor and Amy are in the house. Bedroom empty. Bathroom empty. Kitchen empty. Living room empty. Basement door closed. No noises in house. Victoria likely left. Taylor and Amy likely in basement.

“Okay,” Lisa said, psyching herself up. “They haven’t left. They didn’t leave you. They’re still here.” She nodded, once, twice, moving closer to the kitchen to check on the notes left there. The one by the table seemed to be from Victoria, if the hurried chicken scrawl was any indication. Lisa hummed, glad that Victoria was out and about again. Cultivating friendships outside of them was supposed to be healthy. One look at the fridge, and she shook her head, her regard for Danny Hebert growing a bit more. Lisa thought it was very sweet of him to leave them prepared sandwiches in the fridge, and their favorite, too. Quite the impressive progress, considering what a wreck he was just a few weeks ago.

Lisa glanced inside the fridge just to make sure the sandwiches were actually edible before frowning again. “What are they doing in the basement that they needed me asleep for in the first place?”

Lisa stood there, mind trailing all the possibilities even as she clamped down on her power so hard she almost, almost couldn’t feel the endlessly present connection. ‘Don’t theorize, find out,’ Lisa chastised herself, moving towards the basement door with some level of trepidation. She didn’t need to get knocked out again, thank you very much.

She opened the door, her nose wiggling at the fruity, floral scent that almost physically hit her. It was pleasantly warm; cinnamon, clover, peach, apples, with more spices and scents she couldn’t recognize. She breathed deeply, a little smile on her face, and descended the stairs.

She noticed the light was still on in the basement, even as bright as it was outside; Brockton Bay had been experiencing some rather warm weather, and the days had been very clear. Lisa finally got to the bottom of the stairs, and froze at the sight before her.

Taylor and Amy were sound asleep, their little snores now not only audible, but sonorous. They were tangled in each other, which would have been endearing and cute in any other situation, had they not been involved in a bed of vines as thick as her thighs, growing green at the base, and then shifting from that to a deep, dark orange, light, pastel pinks, and finally, to bright, purple tips. It seemed to shift and bend as they themselves moved, though there was a strange ovoid absence between Taylor and Amy that she couldn’t explain.

Is made by powers. Was not present before. Occupying space similar to previous potted plant. Is previous potted plant. Potted plant placed deliberately. Potted plant placed according to plan. Taylor and Amy planned to create the plant.

Is harmless. Is holding Taylor and Amy in place. Plant’s tensile strength enough to support Amy and Taylor without visible signs of stress. Vines strategically placed to provide maximum comfort. Taylor and Amy comforted by vines. Taylor and Amy dressed in pajamas. Taylor still wearing glasses. Taylor and Amy fell asleep testing the plant.

Is purposefully designed. Vines around Taylor and Amy suggest deliberate placement. Space left between Taylor and Amy. Vines forming reactive bed around Taylor and Amy. Bed intended for you. Bed created to help you. Space left for you. Taylor and Amy intended for you to rest with them.

Lisa blinked, one hand coming to rub at the sudden throbbing of her overusing her power in such a short amount of time like that. She re-examined the plant in a new light, how it looked squished underneath her friends, and how comfortable they looked. She tentatively moved towards it, and tried sitting on the space between the two girls, humming at the pleasant, soft warmth that ran underneath her even as the vines shifted very little to support her weight. She looked first at Amy, a small dribble of drool running down her face as she slept, little snores breaking the silence every now and then, and Taylor, whose intensity disappeared entirely while asleep, replaced instead by a sort of serenity that was breathtaking.

Lisa smiled, feeling fuzzy and warm inside at the thoughtfulness. Truly, she had made the right choice, and she vowed to continue making it for as long as they all lived. Lisa hopped on her little spot, and burrowed herself between the two already there, and she was out not soon after yet again.

---

Victoria unlocked the house and got in, shuffling the many takeout bags she had with her. “Hey! I got food~” she sang, floating through the living room, and into the kitchen, placing all her bags on the table. “Hellooo? Taylor? Ames? Lisa?”

Victoria looked around, only just noticing how quiet the house was. She floated up the stairs, looking inside Taylor’s room, and then floated back down, frowning. Vicky tried calling out louder, but still, no response.

She looked around for a note, thinking with a small bit of amusement that leaving notes around and for each other seemed to be their new thing, before she fished out her phone, checking for any messages. She found the lack of anything, however, rather worrying, particularly since she hadn’t seen them since yesterday. Yes, she’d noticed the note from Mr. Hebert when she’d woken up earlier, but still. Her own note was undisturbed, right where she had left it, and she couldn’t help that tiny fear creeping into her mind of her friends and sister disappearing again.

Victoria floated around the house, careful not to rouse anything as she looked for clues as to where they could have been. They had to be somewhere, or left a clue, or… ‘There!’

Vicky flew closer to the opened basement door, noticing how the lights were turned on. Were they tinkering again? “Girls? I brought food!” Nobody answered. “You better have clothes on, ‘cause I’m coming down!”

Vicky floated down, and simply stared at the scene in front of her. All three of the girls were curled up, Lisa in the middle of the sandwich, with arms and legs tangled up along with the world’s freakiest hammock. As she watched, she noticed Lisa shake her head at something, and burrow her face into Taylor’s stomach, causing a squirming chain reaction. Amy’s familiar little snores continued on throughout it all.

Vicky snorted quietly, fishing her phone out to take pictures for the next time the three tried to tell her they weren’t interested in romance. After taking pictures from many angles, Vicky grew a devious smile. She pressed a different button on the phone, and started to record.

 

Reaction 3.4
▲
Taylor​

“We’re almost there,” I said. “Look — there’s the medical tent.”

The person that we were dragging only answered with a whimper.

“Don’t-” Nebula huffed. “Don’t bother talking. He’s in shock. And barely conscious.”

“Ugh,” I grunted. I knew that. Still, I wanted to let him know. Maybe he’d still somehow hear me; bounce back with a second wind…

At first I thought he was a zombie; the unfocused moaning and slow banging on a door sure made him sound like one, at least. This whole place being so broken only helped sell the demented illusion. Somehow, the threat didn’t scare us — I blamed it on tiredness and us being lethally armed — so, with me taking point, we went to the door leading to the motel room.

As I broke through the lock thanks to a thorn at full speed, we pushed past the guy’s weight, causing him to stumble. That let us get a good look at him, and… yeah. It wasn’t pretty. Both of his hands were gone, cut slightly diagonally at the wrist. It reminded me of Sophia, however these wounds weren’t cauterized. The tip of his nose was gone too, with only a quarter of an inch missing. All three wounds bled profusely, and the victim himself was most certainly out of it.

Nebula’s analysis declared that he was studying for exams, at least until another explosion decided to swap part of his room with a motel’s. He was in shock by the time we got there, and kept kicking the door in his stupor, likely subconsciously hoping that someone would hear it and find him. I pointed out that the timeline didn’t add up, however, and my teammate reluctantly agreed — neither of us heard more explosions after our first arrival at the scene. In the end, though, we chalked it up to time dilation — at least two different explosion effects that we’d encountered already were time-based, so having a third one delay a fourth wasn’t too big of a leap in logic.

And yes, it was a stretch and a half, but Nebula’s migraine was bad enough already. Plus, we had a student on our hands who was quickly bleeding out — there was no time for theories. Heck, there was no time for anything.

“One incoming!” Nebula called out as we approached the tent. “Get some extra blood bags!”

A pair of paramedics ran out, taking over victim-dragging duty with grim expressions. The two PRT agents, meanwhile, kept their mute vigil by the entrance.

God, those faceless helmets always unnerved me for some reason. In person, the effect only multiplied, and I felt annoyed at myself for being intimidated. I was on edge, advancing stiffly next to Nebula, my mind racing; what were they thinking right now? Were they judging us? Put off by my costume? And did I have to worry about them working for Coil?

Once we reached a free stretcher, the handless student was placed upon it. With that, we were left there to stand — the medics’ attention was solely on the survivor. Nobody’d asked me to leave as I walked over to a foldable chair, so ignoring the odor of antiseptic and iron, I took a deep breath and looked around.

There were around fifteen more people laying about, and barely a quarter of them were being tended to. Excluding two others, the rest were insensate: one had a bloody blindfold and was tracing the edges of his stretcher with a bandaged hand, while the other kept loudly breathing, muttering something to herself every few seconds.

I noted that the translucent girl was still among those sleeping; an explosion had caused all of her flesh to take on an ethereal, see-through structure. Especially when seen from afar, she greatly resembled a living glass statue. Or a ghost, or a jellyfish.

The poor thing didn’t look older than twelve.

While I was stewing in my thoughts, my teammate sank into the chair beside me, but she didn’t manage to get a single word out before the flaps of the entrance opened again. A man and two women — one of them elderly — walked in, heading straight to the triage nurse who was already jotting something down on her clipboard. The old lady was the one injured, constantly hissing as she moved, thanks to several thick, spiral fragments the length of a phone being embedded in her right forearm.

Wincing in sympathy, I shifted my gaze onto the ones that have brought her, moderately intrigued by the fact that their clothing was definitely of the cape variety. The man wore red body armor, as well as a visor of a brighter shade, while the woman’s attire of choice was a dark gray costume with cyan lines. Almost instantly, it dawned on me who they were — Assault and Battery; a duo that specialized in movement, with the latter being one of the capes I’d looked up to. This was the first time we’d seen any heroes here at all, this blasted night, and that fact unnerved me — was there something else we didn’t know about? Something even more serious, demanding all of their attention?

“Nice to see fellow heroes helping out,” Assault declared. He’d approached us as soon as the elderly woman was taken care of, his smile tired. “Nebula and Black Rose, right?”

“Yep,” my teammate said. “Been here for a while, got like three people out so far. Currently taking a breather, but we’ll be out there in a few.” She shrugged.

“You’ve been at it since the whole thing started?”

“Almost? Took ten minutes to get here.”

The crimson hero nodded in approval, and that’s when I noticed his partner returning — Battery stopped by his side, carrying three bottles of water. “Hey there. Here,” she told us with a smile, offering two of the three with one hand. “Better stay hydrated.”

I silently nodded in agreement and took one of the offered bottles.

At that point one of the nurses decided to shoo us out of the tent, as we were both crowding up an already-cramped place and were not as quiet as some would’ve liked. The water break continued outside for another minute, and soon we were ready to go and search for yet more people to rescue.

“Are you doing search and rescue in a specific area?” Nebula asked. All of us were heading in a direction chosen by Battery.

“Mhm, the southwestern quadrant.” The woman replied, still facing forward. I couldn’t get a read on her, as that damn visor didn’t show her eyes at all. The same could be said for Assault, which didn’t alleviate any of my fears; while they did seem rather friendly, I had no guarantees that they harbored no ill will towards us.

Slowly, my eyes drifted upwards, taking in the enormous scale of the… thing again. It looked so wrong and unreal, and so big, so oppressive, so dangerous. The glowing plasma part we’d seen earlier was already gone, all burnt out; the melting part looked like it had solidified, and the floating one slowed its rotation. Quietly humming, I wondered how it would all look in a week — with so many anomalies, some were bound to be unstable. Hopefully, the mass could eventually be taken apart, paving the way for recovery from this horrible scar on the city.

“So…” Assault playfully drawled. “...A little birdie told me that you two managed to outplay some nazis the other day.”

Nebula raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Really, now? Was it the one with a beard and an efficiency fetish, or the one treating the Second Amendment like the Bible?”

Ignoring the red hero’s snort, I suppressed an annoyed sigh and cut in. “We did, yes. Why are you asking, exactly?” That fight was a trainwreck and a half.

“What, can’t I be curious?” He asked me with a grin, spreading his arms in a gesture that was fit for a comedian.

“I guess.” I paused. “They’re still taken care of, right? No breakouts or anything?”

“Nah. Still locked up.”

“Good. But tell me — do you plan on losing them like Circus?” Nebula prodded, the innocent smile on her face growing slightly wider as she continued. “‘Cause I have a feeling that the Empire will stir soon — they’re bound to use this headache of a bombshell to their advantage.”

As she lazily waved a hand at the white crystals in the distance, Battery stared at her in silence, her lips pressed in a thin line.

“We’d rather not have to worry about them trying to find us,” I explained to her.

That caught Assault’s attention. “You know you can join the Wards, right? The pay’s pretty good, and we’d keep you both safe.”

That had, inadvertently, caused me to clench my jaw in defiance. “We’re aware,” I said dryly. “But we won’t. We’d already told as much to Armsmaster.” ‘Safe’ was the exact opposite of how I’d describe the Wards right now.

“And besides, we have a team already,” Nebula added with a shrug.

My eyes met hers for a moment, but she just smiled and blinked, reassuring me. Battery and Assault seemed to be doing the same thing, sharing a glance even though they couldn’t see through their visors.

“...I see. And do we know what that team is called?” Battery asked, her head tilting slightly.

“No, you don’t. And don’t bother asking us just yet — announcing the name without all of the members present would be quite a dick move,” my teammate pointed out.

“Yeah. Maybe later,” I told the heroes a second after. I wanted Amy to be here for this, as she was as much of a member as any of us.

“Fair enough, though I sugge-”

“Help! Help! The fucking plants are going haywire!” A guy was running at us from an alley, shouting. His hoodie and jeans were cut up in several places, two of the deeper slashes still lightly bleeding.

“Okay, calm down,” Battery told him, eyeing the wounds. “What plants? Where?”

“T-the plants, they got my friends!”

Nebula cut in. “It would be best if you started from the beginning.”

“We don’t have time!” The man whined.

“Then make it quick.”

He took a moment to compose himself. “Alright, okay, alright…”

▲​

“There’s Chesterton,” Assault pointed out as we all sprinted to the avenue in question. The emergency sounded serious, and the guy we met looked haunted by what he’d seen.

Apparently, he and his friends were having an all-nighter, playing poker, and he had stepped out of the apartment for a five-minute smoke break — or so he claimed. Once finished, he returned, but found a scene straight from his nightmares — a wall of thorny vines, all writhing behind the front door of his home. Some of them lashed out in an attempt to grab his arm, but he turned tail and ran almost instantly, on the search for some heroes who’d help.

After he gave us some directions, Battery pointed him to the nearest medic tent.

Annoyed by the remaining distance, I took two thorns I had summoned during our sprint, leading them to the scarlet speedster who was waiting for me, Nebula and Battery to catch up. “Assault, use your power, please.”

“Sure.” He shrugged, then touched both of the thorns and accelerated them.

Of course, the acceleration was only momentary, and I returned the two objects to me, but their tint was a deep indigo shade now; tiny red specks bounced within at random. The faster they moved, the brighter they glowed, but I didn’t waste more than a second — one thorn I’d left with me, grasped in my left palm, while the other I handed to Nebula. She accepted it without comment.

From my observations, I assumed that Assault somehow collected ‘movement’ to be used for later, possibly having his partner boost him by running into him or something. Were that indeed the case, I expected to exploit my telekinetic control over my thorns, passively collecting whatever resource it actually needed, and then expending it as we got closer to our destination.

I was wrong.

The Assault thorns couldn’t affect themselves, and I felt no internal resource. This led me to try the first thing that came to my lagging mind — having the thorn in my hand pull on the weird, pointy sensation I was feeling inside my body, right at the very center of it.

“Woah!” I yelped, stumbling forwards. Oddly, I didn’t expect that. Thankfully, the others didn’t slow down, though Assault snorted.

“It’s vectors, Rose,” Nebula said, panting, as I tried the maneuver again, this time successfully. I felt so light during that brief moment, as if flying, or something similar.

To my disappointment, I didn’t manage to stay airborne for more than a few seconds at a time, resorting to skipping across the asphalt — annoyingly enough, flying didn’t seem to be an option. I had to siphon the values of speed vectors from secondary targets to the primary one, and rotating it came at a cost too.

Oh well, it was still better than nothing.

“Ready for the final stretch?” Assault asked as we reached the intersection.

“Yeah,” me and Nebula chorused, panting slightly. Battery nodded.

“I think I get how your power works. Nebula,” I turned, “Want a boost?”

“Sure, but start small.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

We turned the corner and continued.

“Wait, is that the place?” Nebula asked a handful of seconds later, pointing at a four-story building on the left side.

“Yes,” Battery confirmed. She was the last one to arrive. “Do you see something?”

“Barely, but look over there. Second floor.”

Like the others, I focused on the window she was watching at the moment. Something that seemed like roots was obscuring the light from within, save a few cracks.

“Those aren’t curtains, are they?” Assault muttered to himself.

“No. Vines. Christ, and they’re moving! …Gross.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s go.”

Nebula sighed. “Let’s.”

As Battery informed the BBPD of the situation, calling for immediate evacuation of the building, we wandered closer to the front. The infested apartment complex was a big one, wide and U-shaped. It seemed better-kept than half of the other buildings nearby, but there was still noticeable disrepair, like some broken windows and a mangled storm drain. Idly, I wondered who had managed to do that.

There was also a bundle of vines nestled into the left wing’s corner, connecting the second and third floor’s windows while spreading a bit more horizontally. And, like a particularly thin awning, part of said vine was draped over the top of the front door.

“I’m gonna cut it,” I stated.

“Do it,” said Battery, watching.

Taking three of the seven thorns that I currently had floating around me, I directed them to that segment and impaled the slightly-bulbous part it split off of. The offshoot began to wiggle, contracting and coiling as I worked to cut it off; spurts of clear, foul-smelling liquid leaked from the ‘wounds’ every second or two. Even after the connection was broken, it still kept on fucking wriggling.

It reminded me of a decapitated snake.

“Yup,” Nebula said. “Gross.” The inner parts were almost jelly-like, similar to the insides of an aloe vera plant.

As Assault hummed, agreeing with my teammate, he opened the door.

We entered.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the central hall so far, Assault cleared his throat, then cupped his mouth, letting out a shout: “ATTENTION TO ALL TENANTS! THIS BUILDING IS UNDER ATTACK BY A PARAHUMAN THREAT! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE ABLE AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM EITHER PRT STAFF OR THE BBPD!” With that, he coughed. “Phew.”

“Hopefully people will listen,” Nebula commented.

“Militia’s megaphone would’ve helped here a lot,” Assault groaned after a follow-up coughing fit.

Meanwhile, I strode closer to a placard on the wall which showcased the layout of the place we were in. There was a staircase in the hall to the left of us, as well as another one in the nearest corner of the right wing. “Come on,” I said. “If they’re on the third floor then we have to move.” I had an increasingly sinking feeling that the plant didn’t plan on waiting for us.

Battery didn't seem to agree. “We have to get everyone out of here, not just the-”

“If we don’t stop the vines from spreading, things might get out of control before backup arrives.” Thank you, Nebula. “Rose is right, we need to go.”

“You think there’s something in that guy’s apartment?” Assault queried, arms crossed. “Like, besides the vines?”

“You saw how the part Rose cut off stopped moving after a while. That points to there being a core, or heart, or whatever else everything needs to be connected to in order to stay alive. Otherwise, the offshoot would’ve started its own ‘colony’ by now.” Shit, I didn’t even think of that.

“Uh. Right. Battery, mind checking-?”

“One second.” She looked outside. “No, still dead.”

The three of us let out a breath.

“Before we continue,” I said, “You should probably give me your power as well.” Punctuating my statement, an empty thorn levitated to her forearm — I judged it would be enough, considering the lines on her suit glowed brighter when she was charged.

“...What do I do, exactly?” Battery questioned, uncertain. “And will this have any lasting effects?”

“Nope, none,” my partner piped in. “Just do your thing.”

She did, and the thorn was filled, crackling with cobalt-blue lightning inside. Trying to not waste more time, I nodded and moved to the left staircase. As an experiment, I pinged the new thorn, yet that did nothing but flare up the sparks. I attempted to ‘hold’ the mental button instead, which resulted in the construct floating off past the stairs.

“Your controller seems broken,” Assault remarked in amusement.

“Do you need time to get used to it?” Battery asked. “We can’t wait long.” As if I didn’t know.

Annoyed, I didn’t answer. My attempts to make that thorn move didn’t work at all; it kept on floating. I released my mental hold on it, and- oh. Huh. That felt weird. That felt really weird.

It was as if all of my attention was suddenly focused on only that thorn — but it wasn’t! That was the weird part! I perceived everything else just fine, too. I tried moving Battery’s thorn again, and this time it worked perfectly fine, however my control over it felt so much better, so much faster. Strange.

“Neat,” Nebula said. “Now let’s go.” She grabbed my arm.

Returning all of my current thorns into formation behind my back, I let her lead me unimpeded.

“Shit!” My teammate cursed as we both dodged to the side a few seconds later. We’d only gotten to the second floor, and the stairs to the third were obscured by the fucking vines. They lashed out and kept constantly shifting, moving like a wall made of dark green snakes, with the spiky and thorny exterior explicitly threatening to cut us up.

Assault got in front of us to act as a sort of shield, nullifying the organic lashes’ momentum as his partner helped me and Nebula up. I waited five seconds to charge the Battery thorn for a bit, and contributed to the defense with the other seven, including the Assault pair.

Battery herself began charging too, content with our relative safety a few steps away from the stairs in the hallway. Her thorn, meanwhile, I’d already boosted and released. I made it slash through the plantmass like butter, weaving through it with ease and finesse, yet the plant still felt endless. I needed more firepower.

“We need to find another way!” Nebula shouted. “The other stairwell doesn’t look infested! C’mon!”

Retreating, Assault grunted. “Yeah, I can’t do this forever.”

“And they keep growing back, too. What the hell’s powering it?” My partner muttered.

Assault repeated his shout about evacuation, and we’d even seen a few tenants shuffle out of their apartments. Thankfully, the left stairwell’s infestation was mentioned too, so nobody tried going through it. With that out of the way, we speed-walked through the hall to the building’s right wing, going straight for the stairs and up. We pressed on to the third floor, walking into the hall and…

“Nebula…” I asked. “...Why is this wall made of… flesh?” The wall was a deep red, shot through with bone and spots of skin plastered over it at random. I could make out random bits sticking out; an ear here, an eye there. It was horrific.

Nebula didn’t answer.

“Nebula? Neb?” I looked at her. Her face was as pale as chalk, and she pointed at something else behind me.

Whirling around with my knife at the ready, I froze up as my mind understood what I saw: about four steps away, there stood a statue of a woman. She was slumped up against the meat, and was attempting to shield her eyes with one hand. Her ‘skin’ was a mixture of wallpaper and concrete, the details of all of her were far too immaculate… As much as I didn’t even want to imagine it at all, in that moment I knew — that was not just a statue.

She was staring across the hall at an open door to another apartment. A splotch of red replaced part of the entrance, with the handle resembling some sort of round bone. Gripping my knife even harder while attempting to not lose my dinner, I suppressed a full-body shudder, clenched my teeth and stepped back.

The emergency response teams could handle that one — I didn’t think anything in there was still alive.

Stench hit my nose, and I frantically looked around, expecting to see more fleshy objects or encroaching vines ready to slash at me. Thankfully, there were none — it was just Nebula throwing up. As Battery quietly reported the casualty to her earbud, we both walked past her to Assault, who was looking down the obstructed hall.

“We… may have a problem here,” he sighed, likely still reeling. What stood before us was a tangle of vines, mixed in with the fragments of the floor from above. The way further was blocked, by both plant and stone this time; while there wasn’t as much of the former, the latter made up for it twice over.

I took Nebula’s hand in mine, squeezing it lightly; she squeezed back. “Think we can go from above?” I asked gently.

“Probably,” she answered.

“Hold on,” Assault said. “You want to go down through the other stairway? Isn’t it filled with those vines, top to bottom?”

“Not top to bottom — first floor was perfectly clean. I don’t want to waste more time picking through rubble when we have other options.”

Battery’s steps announced her return. “I have to agree, Assault. Director says to proceed with her plan.”

Nebula’s grip on me tightened almost painfully, though mine wasn’t far from that either. I shuddered; was the fucker scheming yet again? Would he exploit such a tragedy to regain control of ‘his lucrative asset’? Staring into her eyes, those tired glimmering bottle-green orbs, I had a suspicion that I was correct.

“Your choice,” she breathed almost silently.

Yet we didn’t have a choice; not a real one, at least. What would we do? Turn back? There were still some people here, possibly trapped and/or dying, and I had to do my part in saving them. I’d do my best to defend my partner if Coil had truly set up some damn trap, but we had to move before more people suffered. I couldn’t condemn them to death.

“Let’s go.”

She just squeezed my hand again.

We went up to the highest floor.

Assault put his arms on his sides. “In hindsight, I should’ve expected this.” What he was referring to was the big, plant-filled hole in the center.

“There’s no plants on the other side,” Nebula stated in annoyance. “You can bounce through just fine, unless we let the vines grow even further.”

Indeed, there weren’t many of them, though they did seem alert and agitated. All were coiling and stabbing in our general direction, even though we were standing a good ten feet away.

“I wish Nymph was here right about now,” I muttered. With her, either of us could’ve just touched the plant and made it wither.

“Yeah, she’d be perfect here.”

“Who’s that?” Assault asked me. “One of your mysterious teammates?”

I hummed in confirmation. “If you see some plants glowing, then it’s probably her.”

“So are you jumping or not?” Nebula snapped. “Make a decision.”

“Wait, maybe there’s some other way..?” Battery said, looking at both of them.

In an attempt to lessen the risk for Assault, I stepped slightly closer to the rift in the floor. All of my seven thorns — with two from Assault and just one from Battery — homed in on the closest vine trying to get to me, shredding the stem into pieces.

…Vines did have stems, right?

Either way, I had it dragged closer to me — I didn’t want to enable the main mass to reconnect to it, if it could do that. That then, of course, meant that the cut-off part tried to attack me. In fact, the thing took me by surprise with its fluid movements — even though it was hemorrhaging liquid, it still kept slithering towards my foot.

“Stay down,” I grunted as I stabbed the thing with my knife. Oddly enough, it slowed, halting completely in a few seconds. Watching the glowing, glittery gold seeping out of the wound, an idea came to mind. “Huh,” I said. “Perfect indeed.”

Turning around, I was met with a fresh grin from my teammate. “That works. Though I’m not sure why — it should be plant matter, right?.. Or maybe a hybrid? Hmm…” She looked at Assault. “Think you can do the bouncy thing but stab them while you’re at it?”

Assault, who was at that point just staring silently at the gold liquid, nodded. “Yeah. I can try it.”

Shrugging, I passed the knife to him. He was, after all, the one with the most mobility here.

“Are you sure?” Battery asked him.

“Yup. I’ll be fine, Puppy, don’t worry.” With a grin he walked to the center of the hall and faced the writhing mess. “Ready when you are!”

One, two… Battery stayed there for about seven seconds. Then, the next moment the lines on her costume began to glow, some even having sparks of electricity run past them. She ran straight at Assault, tackling him bodily in a way that should hurt, but all he did was shoot forward like a bullet, his teammate unscathed and just watching.

The crimson-clad man ping-ponged so fast that my eyes could barely follow him, almost a blur as he left golden gouges in the plantmass. Every strike from the creature only sped him up even further, and soon we were left with a messy-yet-safe hallway.

Assault skidded to a halt back at our side, grinning ear to ear. “Nice workout,” he said.

“We’re still not done here,” Nebula pointed out.

“Right, gotta get you all across. Unless you can do the thing from before..?” The one with his thorns?

“We can,” I confirmed, and then gave one of said thorns to my partner. Meanwhile, its owner had given me my knife back. I stowed it. “Ready?” I asked.

“Ready,” was Nebula’s answer. Taking a running start, we both leapt right across the chasm.

Assault landed next to us, with Battery last. “I think I hear backup,” she said, turning her head as if looking through a wall.

I heard it too. Whoever it was that arrived, they were urging people still inside to either get out using the emergency exits or to lock themselves in a secure spot and wait for rescue. Assault was definitely relieved by that, most likely tired from yelling every floor.

…And then, all of a sudden, my ears were assaulted by another loud noise. I flinched, looking around, and felt cold water mist spray from the ceiling.

“SOME IDIOT PULLED THE FIRE ALARM!” Nebula shouted while covering her ears.

Oh. Fuck. With how much liquid its insides were storing, the plant’s growth was bound to speed up by a lot.

“WE NEED TO GO BEFORE IT GROWS MORE!” I yelled and ran down the stairs to the third floor. Almost tripping on a sneaky, lone vine, I jumped into the hallway and gaped at how many more there were: to my right, there were several still remaining, ones Assault couldn’t reach during his bounce-around on the fourth floor; to my left, a cord of vines had crept past the corner and into the stairwell; even more to my left, almost behind me in said stairwell, there was a bigger mass of the stuff — the same overgrown segment that we’d run into earlier.

At least I still had a clear path before me.

A thorny lash brought me back to my senses, and I had my thorns counter-attack. As I took my knife out again, dodging a vertical swing, I had the Assault pair of thorns stop two more. The four empty ones were already on the offensive, while the one touched by Battery hovered in place as it charged.

“ANY PLAN?” Assault yelled. Good, they caught up.

“GET TO THE HEART WHILE WE STILL CAN!” I yelled back. I’d also heard two gunshots a second later, coming from Nebula, but she was already putting the gun away when I glanced at her, mouthing ‘useless’.

To secure the right side’s safety, I focused on vines that were peeking through the rubble. I hopped over a low horizontal sweep and plunged my knife into the plant, however apparently I had miscalculated, as another grabbed my hand almost instantly. I struggled for a solid second, my movements more sluggish and my costume wet, but at last Battery’s thorn came in slicing and dicing, hacking the plant limb away.

My wrist was hurting, and I could see a bit of blood — some of the vine’s damn exterior was pointy and sharp enough to pierce. Thankfully though, all the vines on this side were now done for; I’d stabbed each to stop their movement, then turned back to the others right after.

I noted the blockage in the stairwell to my left no longer moving — it was cut off from the main mass. Good. Nebula was standing next to me with her normal knife, while Assault and Battery both were attacking some vines at the bend of the left wing.

“I’M ALL DONE HERE!” I told her. “YOU OKAY?”

“JUST PEACHY!” Her sarcasm didn’t hide the way she hunched in on herself, or shivered.

“COME ON, NEB, JUST A BIT MORE!” I shouted over the alarm, starting to walk.

She fell in step, still on her guard, but I could see signs of her migraine spiking. I put my free arm around the small of her back, offering help in the one way I could.

“ASK- ASK HER FOR MORE THORNS!” She yelled, suddenly more alert.

“FOR WHAT?” I queried. More boost uptime? That would indeed come in handy, I supposed.

“THE ELECTRICITY!”

I blinked at that, frowning. What electricity was she talking about?

Then, it all clicked together as I saw Battery explode in a burst of lightning. The cloying stench in the air became even more unbearable for a few seconds, but I didn’t care — the attack worked! Part of the vine cable they were fighting was just blown to pieces! Nice!

We half-sprinted to her. “BATTERY! DO THE CHARGE AGAIN!” I ordered. At the same time, I had all four empty thorns land on her forearms; on the lines.

“ONE SECOND!” She stated, then nodded.

And, that one second later, I now had five Battery thorns at my disposal.

We turned the corner into the left wing, my Assault thorns protecting him and his partner from some errant vines that they hadn’t charred yet. I also noticed that some of the mist-spraying nozzles were broken — instead of water, only more vines emerged; these being the thickness of overcooked spaghetti.

I stood with Nebula behind them, waiting for Battery’s thorns to charge. I hoped that I could indeed do that same lightning attack, because otherwise we were more limited. Eight, nine… nine was the maximum, then — the more I waited beyond that, the more dizzy I felt every second.

But… where’s the option? I felt no option to make it explode! Probably swaying from the dizziness at that point, I released my hold on the thorns and had them boost themselves again.

Fuck. So I couldn’t do it? No, wait, there was something new, now… Hm.

I pinged an option I hadn’t even noticed, one that appeared only during the boost, and the test subject thorn had released its charge. Eureka! It did work! Quickly, I made the other four plunge even deeper into the vine mass, activating the discharge and…

Boom. A dry doorway.

Speaking of doorways, as I kept charging and blasting, I noticed that most of the plantmass here was coming from one pretty-much-stuffed apartment. There was almost nothing but vines there, all packed super tightly like spiky ground beef. I was also pretty sure that it was the apartment of the man that we’d met, back in the alley — if that was the case, then there were several more people inside still.

“IS THIS IT?” I asked.

“YES!” Both Battery and Nebula answered.

Assault batted several more vines off, ones that were heading straight for me. Whoops.

We were almost there, then. If so, I could cut off the gigantic portion left of the doorway with another salvo of lightning if I positioned the thorns right. Technically, this could’ve been easier with just one thorn from Nebula, but I was not going to ask her now. She was in too much pain as is, if the way she leaned onto me was of any indication.

Battery stepped and discharged yet again, keeping up her siege of the apartment proper. I, meanwhile, waited — I needed full power for this one. As soon as I felt that weird dizziness again, I released the five Battery thorns; they dug in, cut through, then blew up.

The entire part to the left of us started shaking, wriggling and contracting; resembling an angry, eldritch octopus with no eyes but all of the tentacles. I hacked at the ones that got too close with my knife, but even with them slowing down the thing somewhat, the cessation of movement was not nearly as quick.

Still, though. Only the apartment remained. We just had to get through and find where-

“IT’S IN THE BATHROOM!”

I blinked and looked at Assault. “WHAT?”

“HE’S RIGHT!” Nebula yelled. “LOOK AT THE VINES!”

I did as she asked, following the writhing mass back with my eyes.

…Yeah, they were coming from the bathroom, though these were thicker than the average thigh. I’d have to do one of them at a time if I wanted to blast the fuckers off. Hmm, how could I cheat here?..

Nebula’s hold onto my shoulders became a bit tighter. “THE HEART’S IN THERE! HAS TO BE!” Shit, she was fucking scowling; using her power yet again.

Fine, I’ll try this blind, then.

I had all the thorns charge once more.

Like before, I did the burrowing trick — I needed to find where the heart was and stop it; if I could follow the pulsing beat of all the liquid being pumped through, maybe it would lead me straight to the source, to the core. To not waste time, I had the Assault thorns do that, one for each direction…

…On the right side, somewhere. I see.

And I acted: all Battery thorns boosted, I made them spear straight through the mass. Like heat-seeking missiles, they homed in on the pulsing organ — it was even easier with five thorns instead of two. Somewhere about three feet above from the floor, the heart hung, now surrounded.

Praying for this to work, I gave the final mental command.

▲​

I shivered in the blanket I’d been given, muscles aching as I sat outside. It wasn’t as cold as a month ago, with May right around the corner; yet, watching the crescent in the sky, I shivered more.

The rescue mission was mostly a success, and the plant was dead now. It grated me, however, that there were still those we couldn’t save. The statue woman, for one, but even some others we hadn’t found until later — eleven dead in total, not counting pets. It stung.

Apparently, it all started with one of the poker group members, Kim. When Barry — the apartment owner — stepped out for a smoke, Kim went to the bathroom; in fact, that was where we found him — or, to be clear, just smears of viscera and shards of bone. From the point of view of the others, they just heard a weird flashbang-like noise and then crunching; then tearing, then scraping… The initial plantmass explosion had even busted down the door. As the vines crept in their direction, they panicked and ran to the bedroom, barricading themselves in and praying for help to arrive sometime soon.

With my hand laying on Nebula’s, I felt her turn in her seat for some reason. A glance showed her watching Assault and Battery talk about something. The glow of her hair was still dimmer than usual, thanks to the Tinker brooch not drawing enough body heat, but slowly it was returning to its original brightness. Good.

“Battery,” she called. Then snapped her fingers. “Battery!”

“What?”

“They’re not a Striker, or a Shaker. They’re a Tinker.”

“Huh? But the current evidence-”

“-Points to it being a fucking Tinker!” Nebula snapped.

Tiredly, I sighed. And then yawned. Yeah.

While the heroes looked surprised by her oddly rude tone, I knew that we had good reasons to believe what we did.

Before all of this, on the way to that far-flung ambulance, Nebula had Kevin answer a handful of questions, most of them focusing on the explosion and his neighbors. The interesting part was him mentioning the ones living in the apartment under his: the tenants were a diehard ABB couple, never forgetting to wear something that showed off some red and green. They didn’t bother Kevin too much, but their distaste for the man was not a secret — both shared a frequently-voiced opinion that the territory they lived in was meant to only be for ‘their kind’.

That fact got my teammate’s mind racing, and soon she’d dismissed her Shaker theory outright. Most likely, in her opinion, the bomber was a Tinker; the Tinker she’d learned about from Oni Lee’s mall raid. She guessed that for one reason or another, the bomber got crossed by the gang that once welcomed them, deciding to resort to the ‘nuclear option’ and obliterate several blocks. Something about the idea didn’t feel right to me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was that everything fit perfectly, like having a child complete a jigsaw puzzle blindfolded?

Then again, even if some parts were not accurate, the thing about the ABB seemed right on the money — for one, we were deep in the heart of their territory, and both Kevin’s neighbors and Kim took part in the gang; and yes, Battery did indeed verify the latter. If the original plan was to strike out at everyone else, for example, the Tinker would take part in arming the grunts that’d participate in the attack, or defense. And with tinkertech being, well, tinkertech, having wireless triggers was not very difficult. I think.

Battery crossed her arms. “How sure are you of this?” She asked my partner.

“...Ninety-five percent.”

“And the last five?”

“Shaker, probably. Someone that causes those explosions in random locations, with a higher chance of them happening closer to the location of that person themself.” Several seconds passed, allowing the pair to digest that theory. “Yet again — it’s unlikely. They’d have to be invincible to survive in the epicenter of their own undoing.”

“Like Ash Beast?” I quietly asked. The S-class threat somewhere in Africa sounded quite similar to what she was describing.

“Yes,” Nebula nodded once. “Like Ash Beast.” She turned her head towards Assault. “Did any of you get to the center yet? Behind the wall of… whatever the fuck the white stuff is?”

Assault hesitated, exchanging a quick glance with Battery, but then answered. “Dauntless did, yeah. And some helicopters, of course. It’s pretty barren in there, not even any rubble.”

“Well duh, most of it was either pushed out by the mass or deleted by more explosions.” A pause. “So what, the inside’s like a scaled up cereal bowl, then?”

The hero hummed. “Essentially. A bit flatter, but sounds about right.”

I felt my teammate shudder in yet another risky usage of power, the fucking idiot. “And no bodies?” She asked. Right, we needed confirmation. But still!

Assault shook his head. A negative, then.

“Okay. In that case, I stand by my previous assumption, except it’s ninety-nine percent for the Tinker theory and only one percent for the Shaker. Might’ve gotten out by teleportation, I guess, but who knows. Sounds unlikely.”

I nodded in agreement.

“...That was one of Hunch’s guesses,” Battery muttered while looking at Assault.

“You notify them, then,” he replied.

A sigh. “Okay.” She stepped away to the side again.

Her partner hummed. “Speaking of. You two okay? This was quite the damn mess.”

I shrugged. “We helped.” That’s all that mattered, in the end.

“It wou-” Nebula started, but then just stopped. “Wait.”

“Wh-” Assault started.

“Be fucking quiet!”

Oh no. More explosions.

Tensely, we listened; thankfully all of them were far away. Eight blocks, maybe? Ten? It was behind our backs and a bit to the right. Why did they resume? And why there?

“God fucking damnit.”

I looked at Nebula. “What?”

“I think it’s a Trump bomb. The exponential kind.” Exponential..? So, one that granted powers? Like that one guy from the Birdcage?

“Shit. Shit! This could be catastrophic…” Assault muttered to himself. He whirled back to face us again. “But as much as it pains me to say this, you two are not coming with. I’m serious.” Yeah, he was — his usually-comedic demeanor was completely gone now.

“But-!” I tried to argue.

“No buts. You need some sleep. If not you, then at least her.” God damnit, he was right…

“Did I miss something?” Battery queried. She was frowning as she came closer. Then, she saw how Assault was tensely watching us. “...What happened?”

“We heard more. Uh, more bombs. Over there,” he pointed. “Like eight of them.”

With the way Battery took a step back, I had a feeling her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “No.”

“Yes,” Nebula said again without tact. “And your boyfriend forgot to mention that it’s likely a Trump bomb. Expect multiple culprit-victims, technically Mastered Teacher-style.”

“Did you get all that?” Battery asked her earbud, or so I assumed. She then nodded to herself. “Yeah, agreed.” Clearing her throat, she looked at both of us for a moment. Then, only at Nebula. “You were right in your assumption.”

“About the boyfriend?” She smirked.

“About the Empire.”

“Remind me: what did I guess, exactly?”

“Them using the bombing as a distraction,” Battery answered.

“God damnit!” My teammate groaned, slumping back in her chair with both hands on her head. “That was to be expected, but fuck! What did they do?” She demanded.

“Several armed groups of Empire grunts were reported southwest from here. Fenja, Menja, Krieg and Rune as well, leading the charge and fighting anyone who opposed them.”

“Do you think the explosions we heard have anything to do with this?” I asked.

My teammate hummed, thinking. “Eh. Fifty-fifty. It’s possible that the Trump bomb would grant more than one compulsion, so the one beyond bomb-making could be related to attacking the Empire. Stuff like trigger phrases, or visuals. I dunno. Maybe.”

Nobody talked for a moment or two, but the silence was soon broken by Assault. “So I guess that the…” He sighed. “...gang war is finally here.”

Nebula hummed again.

“Go sleep, you deserve it. We’ll take it from here,” Battery said. “You helped a lot, and I mean it. Take care of yourselves.”

I waved.

After a quiet, half-sarcastic “Yeah,” from my partner, Battery ‘met’ Assault’s gaze and turned around, finally leaving.

He, meanwhile, nodded. “She’s right, you know — without you, we would’ve had to wait for backup. More people would’ve died by then.”

“I guess,” I managed. “Uh, bye?” …And Hebert eloquence strikes again.

“Until next time!” Assault saluted, then jogged off to catch up to his… girlfriend?

Still. “A gang war…” I whispered in disbelief.

“…There goes that shopping trip,” Nebula muttered.

 

Reaction 3.5
▲
Amy​

I hated hospitals.

It was always the same, here.

Sure, they looked different from time to time, maybe when a local artist gets brought in to liven up the walls of a wing or something, but that oppressively sterile, bleached feeling would never leave. Not really. The discordant cacophony of clicks and beeps echoed to such a point that I could still hear them long after I’d gone home, and the way some of those patients kept trying to out-moan each other, as if that’d summon some nurses faster, grated my ears even more. At least the machinery noises were predictable, and rather easy to ignore.

At this point there was a good chance that I’d spent more time in medical facilities than at school. With the grace of an angel, the worst of ailments vanished; an act of god and a mere dozen minutes, and the deadliest of wounds were better than they ever were. Because of me, Brockton Bay was now home to medical tourism and, if you ignored gang-related violence — what a laughably naive idea — one of the healthier places in the country.

Most days, the reality of how diseased the city truly was made me want to vomit.

Yet, for the people who worked here, it was always, always the same: put on a cheerful face, then try to stay optimistic — the sacks of money getting worried was a no-no, after all. On and on and on, year after year, seeing the most depressing shit the world had to offer. Overdoses, gunshots, brain tumors — you name it — all the despair coalesced here.

Walking through these halls was an ordeal in its own right, having to endure all those damn glances, hushed words and hopeful, almost reverent expressions. So many people idolized me, put me on a pedestal; it was revolting. I was a cure-all in their eyes, a miracle made manifest, a lifeline.

Or, to be more specific, it was my power; not me. Nobody cared about Amy Dallon, the forgettable girl hiding behind her red scarf. Just a single magic touch was what they craved, and then they were gone. Then came more patients. Then even more.

All they remembered was ‘Panacea’.

“Panacea! O-oh god, please help me!”​

I shouldn’t be here.

“Do I have your permission to heal you?”​

I didn’t want to be here.

“Y-yes! Please…”​

I had to be, however. I was taking too many breaks already.

“Rapid heart rate and breathing,” I muttered quietly to myself, “Pale and cold skin, crushed fibula and tibia of the right leg, internal bleeding, swelling, superficial abrasions…” Relatively simple, I’d give it about ten minutes to deal with. Piecing all the bone fragments back together and inducing regeneration was the hardest part here.

Last night, in comparison, was a waking nightmare. The ER was overflowing with new patients, and all the staff was working overtime even more. Oh, and the PRT idiots decided to pester me later as well — mostly to check out some ‘mysterious golden liquid’.

The liquid was, obviously, the paralytic agent from Taylor’s new knife, although it was a fair bit diluted by what I could only describe as sewer water. It was amusing to see PRT personnel go straight to me about it, its creator, even if they didn’t know of that fact. Not that I was willing to do much — the one carrying the ampule said they wanted to try and replicate it, and I was certainly not about to give that piece of shit Calvert more toys to play with. I told them that it’s tinkertech — which was not really far from the truth — and that was enough for them to fuck off.

Crisis averted for now.

“Done, though remember to eat more.”​

At least Lisa and Taylor were okay, the heroic fools.

“T-thank you so-”​

Still — we should’ve prepared better. More gear, more something.

“Next.”​

I sighed. I could really use a hug right about now. Or more coffee. Or both. I was just so goddamn tired…

…But more work was still waiting for me.

This next one was fucked up by Hookwolf, the left side of the abdomen minced rather thoroughly, and as they were asleep I didn’t need permission to start, which I did momentarily. There were dozens of fresh new victims getting rolled in due to him and Lung today, and with it being only the start… I wasn’t hopeful for the near future.

At least the cunts endured some losses of their own, if not enough of them — Cricket and Lee both bit it during a clusterfuck with the former’s transfer. She, as well as Stormtiger, were being moved somewhere last night; I hoped that it was the Birdcage, but maxsec seemed more likely than that. Regardless, the relocation began less than an hour before the bombing, and both Crusader and Oni Lee showed up to duke it out on the streets. Ghost boy had, naturally, gone straight to breaking his teammates out, while the wannabe ninja attempted to sabotage him.

It didn’t end well for the latter.

I wasn’t told any details on the particulars of the fight, but I could imagine what sort of chaos two capes with clones could cause. What I did know was that Oni Lee kept dropping seemingly-useless bombs — they didn’t affect Crusader’s ghosts, nor did they change the terrain at all. The pair kept going at it for a while — though there were still a few casualties amongst PRT forces — until the Docks decided to blow up. Then, Oni Lee blew up with them.

Or, well, sorta — the effect was attributed to another bomb. When I saw his body later on, he looked warped as fuck, barely recognizable. It was similar to something that Vista could do if she had the ability to affect organic matter, much like that one Japanese guy's story about human-shaped holes in a cliff.

Cricket was rather fortunate not to get caught by whatever that was, but she wasn’t lucky enough to dodge another ‘useless’ bomb from the ABB cape. She dropped to the ground like a puppet without its strings once it went off; according to the officer’s retelling, Armsmaster compared it to an organic EMP.

“Woah, Panacea? Are- can you make my chest bigger after this? I’ll pay!”​

Complete and total brain death.

“No. Do I have your permission to heal you?”​

Good riddance. Lee too. Fuck them both, and their gangs while we’re at it.

“Aw. Well, worth a shot. Go ahead, heal away.”​

I didn’t give a fuck about ‘speaking ill of the dead’.

So much goddamn misery… Ugh, this city was hell.

▲​

Another patient, another question, another analysis; another crispy Lung victim, much like the last guy. Girl? I couldn’t really remember. It didn’t matter, anyway. This one was still awake, though, and the moaning was driving me nuts.

…And they had another deep gash as well. God fucking damnit, it was so trivial. This could’ve easily been avoided were I allowed to do more than just heal. I could reinforce all the tissues, all the muscles, make them stronger… Maybe add a reactive healing factor, increasing regeneration post-injury…

Hell, why stop there? Changing the layout of most internal organs wouldn’t be easy, but definitely worth it — there were several more efficient configurations that I could think of off the top of my head. Yes, some things would need to be redone completely, and a few were redundant enough to warrant removal, but-

“Panacea?” Doctor… Banners, was it? Yeah, Doctor Banners. He was looking at me.

I hummed in lieu of a question.

“...Are you done?”

Probably. “Yes.” I woodenly turned to the patient. “You’ll be feeling hungry for a day or two, which is normal, and both the burns and the wound are now healed. You also had an epidermoid carcinoma — an early type of cancer — in your bladder, which I took care of as well. As of now, you’re one hundred percent healthy.” I returned my tired gaze to the doctor. “Add the cancer to her history, then get me the next one.”

He raised his head a bit, as if to nod, but paused for a moment. “I think you should take a break, actually.”

Weakly, I protested. “There’s still more-”

“There will always be more, Panacea, and your last break was three hours ago. Go freshen up, or eat something, or go home; I don’t know. You’ve done enough for today, that’s for certain.” I could still be doing more.

I huffed, standing up and grumbling something that was unintelligible even to myself, and shuffled out of the room into the adjacent one; then, the corridor. I didn’t have the energy to complain even more at the moment. Yawning, I shambled to the cafeteria, ignoring the looks that I was getting.

Why couldn't things just be simpler? Like when we were younger, half a decade ago? Hanging out together, just the five of us, no adults… No care for the world, either; no responsibilities, much less stress…

My nostalgia trip was cut short by Vicky, whom I’d spotted striding closer. Huh.

“Ames? There you are!” She stood at the opposite side of the table, looking at me with an uneasy smile before slowly sitting down. Normally, I’d settle for a hum of acknowledgement, but the tinge of relief in her voice was concerning. Did something happen on her patrol? She rarely showed up like this without a heads-up.

“Well, yes?” I said, “I am? Just got kicked out like five minutes ago.”

“And did you consider telling us that?” I heard from the side and promptly flinched.

Carol, still in her cape clothes, was standing next to the table’s right edge. Her arms were crossed, her lips were taut, and her steely gaze pinned me down like an insect. I almost choked on a piece of salad that I was chewing at the time, but quickly washed it down with some water. How didn’t I notice her?!

…And why was she more pissed than usual?

“Or,” mother continued, “At the very least responding to our calls? I understand that you knew you weren’t kidnapped, however nobody else did.” Oh.

Cringing, I looked at Vicky, who was nodding with worry on her face. “I called you, but you didn’t answer.” she said, “Five times in a row, too!”

“I… didn’t hear it ring,” I confessed while withdrawing into my robe a bit further. At the same time I tried scouring my pockets, and fished the damn phone out after a few attempts.

Oh. It was off. I tried powering it on again, but failed. I must’ve forgotten to charge it, too tired to bother after that hellish night.

“I trust this won’t happen again,” Carol stated. “Am I correct in my assumption?”

“Yes, Carol.” Bitch. “I’ll try to remember to keep it charged.” I then punctuated my response by finishing my water, suppressing a yawn.

Vicky opened her mouth to say something else, but Carol resumed her verbal torture a moment sooner. “See that you do,” she said, nodding to herself. “Now, then. Your phone.”

“Huh?” I managed numbly, handing it over without any complaints.

Carol tried powering the device on again, but when nothing happened she returned it to me. “It’s out of charge and thus functionally useless, so you’re not to leave Victoria’s side until you get home. While the tracker may work separately, I’d still prefer to keep in contact.” I wished she didn’t. “It’s late, and I still have an errand to run, so I’ll trust you two not to get yourselves into trouble while I’m gone.”

With that, broaching no argument, the woman turned around and left.

Exhaling, I slowly deflated, glumly staring at the leftovers in front of me. I didn’t feel hungry enough to continue eating, so I just slid the plate, glass and utensils to the side. My eyelids felt heavy and my vision blurry as I focused on looking back at my sister, and I yawned yet again.

“So…” She began, looking uncomfortable.

Tiredly, I hummed, ceding ground in the conversation.

“You shouldn’t worry about what mom said. She’s… not had a good day today. Or, uh, night.”

“I-” I sighed. “...It’s whatever.” At least she didn’t berate me for longer. “How was your patrol? What ticked her off this time? Hookwolf?”

Vicky shook her head before shifting slightly, getting one hand to support it like she often did when tired. “No, it’s just the whole bombing thing’s getting to her, I think. Also, we sooooorta ran into Alabaster..?”

I blinked. “Did you punch him?”

Her lips curled upwards for only a moment, and then she was back to looking vaguely disturbed. “I wish,” Vicky said, staring at some random spot on the table. “He- he was stuck in a Gray Boy bubble!” That last part was whispered, but it rang in my ears. “Like, is nothing sacred anymore?”

Sparing a second to check for eavesdroppers, I leaned forward a bit. “Please tell me that was a joke.” I knew that it wasn’t, which made me feel even more fucked up than before.

“No!” Vicky shook her head again. “I swear, I saw him in there. And I also took a video-”

“-Of course you did-”

“-Just in case, you know? Here, look.”

She took her phone out, unlocked it and slid it over across the table. The video was already pre-selected, only twelve seconds long and a fair bit blurry. I made sure that the sound was off, both in the video player and overall, then pressed ‘Play’.

Yikes. Yeah, that was Alabaster. He was on the ground, shaking and yelling, with a delightfully agonized expression. There were no other moving objects within, so whatever was used to torture him must’ve been elsewhere. He writhed, clawing at nothing in futility; cried, with face warped in a grimace. And at the ninth second of the video, the bubble refreshed, and the pain did with it.

A man who could live forever was bested by torment everlasting. What an ironic way to go.

One less nazi, too. That, I could certainly live with. I let the video loop several more times, then exited back into the Gallery.

I was prepared to return the phone now, but one of the recent photos I saw made me pause — it was of me, Taylor and Lisa; the three of us posing for Vicky at the arcade. She’d insisted for me to be in the center, so the others were hugging me from the sides. All of us were smiling, lost in the moment. Happy.

“...What’s with the wistful look, Ames? You’re starting to creep me out.”

I rolled my eyes. “No reason.” Swiftly, I went back to the main menu, and then offered her phone back. “Here.”

She took it with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged and continued, “So yeah… That’s that, I guess. The rest of it went by smoothly.”

“How many gangers did you catch today?”

A self-satisfied smile graced her face. “Thirty four and a half.”

What. “‘And a half’?” I sure hoped she wasn’t talking about bisection…

“Eh, some bystander getting mixed up in everything by accident. He was let go pretty quickly, apparently.”

“Ah. Okay.” I shrugged.

Vicky looked around awkwardly. “And you’re still here, I guess, huh.”

“Far too many injured.”

“Yeah, but, like-”

“Please don't start on this too.”

She, of course, pouted. “Fine.”

Where was all this heading to? I didn’t know, so I cut straight to the point. “Are- are we going home now? Or do you have plans, still?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “It’s been a long day but with everything going on, I’m not ready to go to bed just yet,” and I was rather jealous of that fact, “I was thinking of flying around a bit more. Like, we’ll only be returning to school on the day after tomorrow, so-”

“Tomorrow,” I cut in.

“Huh?”

“We’re returning tomorrow. It’s Thursday already.”

She blinked, then checked her phone. “Well damn.”

“Anyway,” I said, rising up a bit, “I’ll go to the bathroom, and then we can go, then. Might as well punch a nazi or two myself for once.”

“Oh?” My sister grinned in surprise. “I know that we gotta stick together thanks to your phone, but I didn’t think you’d be so enthusiastic about it. What’s gotten into you lately?”

Shrugging, I didn’t answer. There wasn’t much I could say on the matter. Yes, I had never liked combat, having seen what it could result in firsthand; there were so many ways a human body could be damaged, disabled, maimed. Still, Taylor was right about my potential on the battlefield — I had many things I could capitalize on, including both my power and medical knowledge. If I just got over this half-rational cowardice, we’d be just a little bit safer in the end.

Plus, Lisa expected Coil to notice us within a month, and that scared me more than I’d like to admit. I had… nightmares a few times already. I needed to become more effective if I wanted to truly be part of the team — restricting oneself only to healing was Panacea’s thing, anyway, not Nymph’s.

“Want me to grab you a coffee, then?” Vicky offered, still partly intrigued. She took my demeanor in stride, though, which I was thankful for.

I paused for a fraction of a second, but the caffeine-adoring part of my brain won in the end. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

She gave me a thumbs up as I stood fully, and we both went our separate ways. I was somewhat worried, but it was drowned out by exhaustion, my head lightly spinning while I tried to focus. The outing would just be us flying, maybe knocking some non-cape heads together — really, it wouldn’t be dangerous. And, if anything, I still had that taser.

▲​

The air smelled oddly fresh, and it seemed like I’d missed a storm, somehow. In hindsight, that explained Carol’s hair — it was wet and slightly messy, even though most was still tied in a bun. Vicky, thanks to her forcefield, hadn’t been affected by the weather at all, which was part of why I didn’t notice anything until now. Oh well.

That, plus the cup of coffee made me feel just a smidgen more awake as both me and Vicky flew through the sky. From up here, I could see much of the city, even past the high-rises of Downtown. Car lights and glowing windows, streetlights and shining puddles made my eyes glaze over, much like they often did in such moments.

Without all the context, it was a deceptively peaceful display, though it was simple to notice what was wrong.

In the western part of Downtown shone a blinding light, like a beacon. It hung in midair, never stopping completely, and beams just as bright sometimes struck the ground below it. Said ground was best described as a scar, one of fire and destruction and more fire. There was also a glowing green speck, faintly visible, on the roof of an untouched building.

Beyond the flashiest clash of them all, I could spot a few others going on at the same time, as I had long since learned how to discern PRT vans from so high above the city: one fight was at the Boardwalk, closer to the north end of it; another two at the Docks, the more southern one making me worry. It was a good… ten? Yeah, ten seemed right enough. It was ten blocks away from Taylor’s place, and I hoped things wouldn’t cause it to get any closer.

A sobering thought lanced through my mind — what if they were in trouble right now? They were definitely patrolling, I knew that much. Fuck, and my phone was busted, too — the only way they could contact me was through Vicky. And that would open up a whole other can of worms. Shit.

God, I felt so fucking useless. Absolutely pathetic. I could end the world in a day, but failed to maintain a simple line of communication? What- what did Lisa and Taylor use? Burner phones? I’d get some as well, then. Carol didn’t mention my taser so far, which I’d kept exclusively in my Panacea robes, so I didn’t think she’d rifle through my stuff without a reason. I just… had to keep quiet and not give her that reason…

I calmed down my quickened breathing eventually.

“Huh,” I heard Vicky mutter, “What’s that sparkly stuff?” Then, louder: “Ames, do you see that?”

“See wh- Oh. Yeah, I think so.” I squinted, tracking the odd, yellowish shimmer with my tired eyes. It was traveling across a rooftop, moving at average walking speed. As we closed the distance a bit, I noticed a second figure next to it — unlike the starry, glowing one, this one was almost black.

Not seeing my dawning realization, Vicky hummed to herself. “Who are those two?”

“Uh, Vicky-”

“Wait, do you think it’s those new heroes Armsmaster told mom about?” Shit.

I wracked my brain for an excuse or diversion, but couldn’t think of anything good. We’d gotten closer now, with Vicky hovering about three stories above them. Tailing them. Watching.

As Taylor and Lisa — and it was definitely them — slowly walked to another edge of the roof, Vicky seemed satisfied. “Hey!” she called out, then waved.

Instantly, the pair spun around, alert and looking up at us, and not even a second had passed before several black, reflective objects surged forward from behind Taylor’s back. Her thorns, heading at us-

They stopped.

As my sister staggered back in the air, Taylor seemed to have recognized us, looking mortified. She made the thorns disappear and then looked at me, which for some reason caused her eyes to widen further.

For a second or two, we just kept staring at each other. A small wave from me, though, broke the spell. No longer as tense, Taylor looked at Lisa, who waved back, a bit slowly.

“Fuck,” Vicky half-whispered. “That was scary. Ames, you good?”

“Pristine, but… try not to jumpscare any capes next time?” While I did like the aesthetic of Halloween, looking like a pincushion didn’t sound very fun.

“Yeah…” She answered, and when I looked at her, she was squinting. For a moment I thought that she’d realized who they were, but it didn’t look like it. Soon, Vicky shrugged. “Alright. Going down now?”

I hummed, which Vicky took as a ‘yes’.

“Two whole members of New Wave? Wanting to talk to us?” Lisa asked, smiling knowingly as we descended; completely unphased by what had transpired. Taylor, meanwhile, was still looking at me. I gave her a weak smile, and she returned a lopsided, guilty one.

Before answering, Vicky touched the ground, and put me down from my bridal carry. I tried not to wobble too much, opting to sit on the edge of a smokestack.

“Quick question,” my sister said, “Can we please forget what just happened?”

Taylor cringed and nodded once. “Yeah, sorry, I-”

“No, no, it’s fine. I was being stupid.”

“Um. Okay..? Still, I’m sorry.”

Lisa put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Yeah, this is going swimmingly.” She then pointed — first at her, then at Taylor. “Nebula and Black Rose, though I’m sure that you already knew that.” I was relieved to see both of them in person, but god damn was that grin insufferable. Her meeting my eyes with that look of hers only made me roll mine, and lightly sigh.

“Oh! Nice!” My sister smiled. “I wasn’t wrong, then.” She looked at me and then back at them. “Well, I’m sure you two know who we are.”

The star-speckled blonde chuckled, her grin widening a bit. “Yep, that we do.” Yeah, Vicky, they went to the arcade with you.

I was kinda surprised by the fact that Vicky hadn’t recognized either of them yet, considering neither covered up their hair, nor used full face masks instead of dominos. The holographic effects from their Tinker brooches were quite distracting, I was willing to admit that much, but still — those flowing gold locks? Those wonderful, cared-for curls? Vicky was way too clueless about things sometimes…

…Then again — Lisa’s mask, for example, altered her visible face structure rather well: those pretty freckles that I was jealous of, annoyed by the light splotchiness of my own, were hidden beneath the near-white yellow fabric. Her cheekbones stood out more thanks to that effect, too. The violet lipstick made her lips demand more attention, especially when she smiled. Or grinned, like right she was doing right now, watching Vicky with naked amusement.

Taylor’s mask, meanwhile, didn’t change her face as much — her expressive mouth was on full display here, as were her eyes, meeting my gaze evenly. The only thing likely to throw someone off was her lack of glasses — the mask had lenses instead. That lean figure, as well as those legs… They were certainly eye-catching, for one. Her constantly hiding them while in civvies annoyed me greatly, and Lisa too. Even here, she stuck to the shadows, what with that color scheme of hers.

But yeah, Vicky was oblivious.

I suppressed a yawn again.

“Are you okay?” I heard Taylor ask, and the silence made me realize who she was talking to.

“Huh? Yeah, I-” Fucking yawns, Jesus. “Ugh. ‘M fine. Just tired.” I opened my eyes, only to see everyone staring at me. “...What?”

Taylor looked sad when she answered. “...Nothing.”

I tried sitting up a bit straighter.

Suddenly, Vicky’s face lit up with surprise and something else, and she turned to face the brunette. “Wait!” She exclaimed. “It’s you! That’s what felt so familiar!”

…Did I just fucking jinx us?!

Lisa must’ve noticed the burst of panic in my eyes, as she shook her head ever-so-slightly. What the hell did she mean by that? Not to talk? Or something else?

“Wh- Excuse me?” Taylor asked almost tonelessly. I could also see some black sand roiling behind her in a small cloud, too far away from her hair to be made by her brooch.

“You’re the one Ames told us about! You- you were at the market!” Vicky stepped as close to Taylor as she could get. “You healed her spine! Oh my gosh, just- Thank you, thank you so much!”

Oh. Oh. That was it? That’s- Wow. Silently, I chuckled — I couldn’t really help it. Thank fuck it was only that. And here I thought we’d have to tell her about Nymph…

…But now Vicky was excited, her fatigue all but gone. Welp.

“Can I hug you? Please let me hug you!”

“Okay..? Um, wait- Whoa!”

“Vicky,” I groaned, “Don’t make me heal her spine by the end of this.”

Vicky paused. “Oh. Yeah, sorry.”

The two separated, with Taylor looking as winded as I’d expect her to be. I grasped with one arm at her like a zombie, and she understood me, coming closer.

Why wasn’t she touching me, though?

…Right, the permission. Have to keep up appearances. At least she wasn’t as tired, ‘cause Vicky would’ve probably found my silent treatment suspicious.

Heh. Puns.

“Can I use my power on you?” I asked.

Taylor nodded and offered her hand, taking a seat next to me on the smokestack.

Vicky frowned. “Rose, wait, you gotta take off the glove first — Amy needs contact to work her magic.”

“But-”

“The fingertips of our gloves are thin enough for most Striker powers to work through,” Lisa explained, sashaying a few steps closer to us. “Originally only for Trump reasons, but…” She trailed off, waving at us.

“Oh yeah, both of you are Trumps!” My sister nodded to herself. “‘Kay, that tracks.”

Taylor leaned over to whisper. “This is so uncomfortable.”

“I know, right?” I mumbled back. A fair bit louder, I asked her a question: “Where’d you get all these cuts?”

“Those… those were from yesterday.” She winced and looked away.

I still didn’t know what they were up to last night, and these wounds felt far too odd to be from a knife or anything similar. Not messy or deep enough to be Hookwolf’s work, and no burns to point to Lung. Maybe they ran into Stormtiger again? After the cunt fled from the scene?

Regardless, I patched Taylor up, not letting her endure her wounds more than necessary. Away went the bruises as well, and-

“Oh, you two were out there?” My sister asked, because of course she did.

“Unfortunately,” Lisa answered. “What about you two?” She flicked her eyes to me for barely a moment.

“I was on patrol with my cousin when the Docks went crazy, so we waited for the adults to catch up before going there.”

“...I see.” Lisa crossed her arms. “We were there pretty early on, and stuck around for a few hours. Kinda weird that we didn’t bump into each other.”

Vicky hummed. “Were you south of the crater?”

“Yep. Southwest.”

“Ah. We were southeast. Well, for the most part, at least.”

Lisa shrugged. “Oh well. Fair. And Panacea?”

“She was-”

“Healing people. Obviously,” I said with a tired voice. “Speaking of which, it’s your turn.” Bet she had more of those cuts, at least judging by the way she winced. Unless she was overusing her power again, in which case later we would have words.

“My, what a magnanimous offer-”

“Yeah, yeah. Christ, just get over here while I’m still offering.” I almost let loose a ‘Lisa’ there, but held my tongue at the last moment. I needed to pay more attention… “Do I have your permission to heal you?”

“You sure do.”

My sister watched us three with a thoughtful expression, still somehow clueless about the pair’s civilian identities. “So… How do your powers work? Like, I know Rose has those stabby things that steal powers, but that’s about it.”

A thorn coalesced into existence. “They’re called ‘thorns’,” Taylor said, looking at it. “And they- Oh.” For no reason at all, the thorn floating in front of her turned golden. Still, it remained see-through, and there was a ribbon-like cloth moving inside. Was… was this Vicky’s? Or was someone else affecting us?

Speaking of whom, Vicky flew a bit closer. “Wow.” She touched it. “Why’d it change?”

“It’s yours. Your aura threw me off back at the market like this, too.”

“Oh. Shit.” Vicky shrunk into herself a bit, offering me a guilty expression. I shrugged — things worked out fine.

“Question: do any of you see a forcefield around it? Glory Girl?” Lisa cut in. There was supposed to be a forcefield?

Vicky was just as confused. “Uh, no?”

“Wait.” I squinted. “Can you make it vertical? Have it point its long tip up?” As Taylor nodded and did what I asked, I stared a bit closer after rubbing my eyes.

With Lisa’s hair glowing in the background, I could see miniscule motes of dust. Most just drifted through the air, but some got caught on something invisible, like a slope. I reached out, and was proven right — it was solid, and as smooth as thorns themselves were.

“One more mystery solved,” Lisa remarked with satisfaction.

“Huh,” Vicky intoned, trying for herself. “Feels like a skirt.” …What.

Half-heartedly, I raised an eyebrow. “What sort of skirts do you wear that are that smooth?”

“Not that, Ames, I meant the shape. It’s pretty angular, but still sorta skirt-like.”

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “She’s right. Unlike you three, I can see it. If you pretend that the thorn is a person, then where the pyramids connect is the hips.”

“Ooh, you can see it?” Vicky piped up while continuing to watch the thorn, as if willing the forcefield to become visible. “What color is it?”

“Gold.”

She pumped her fists. “Sweet. My power’s the best- Oh! Can you do Ames?”

“Sure, I guess?” Taylor looked at me. “Am- Panacea?”

Shrugging again, and yawning for the umpteenth time this night, I put a hand out. “Go ahead.” Might as well.

Just like several times in the past, I watched as the obsidian turned into water, the thorn retaining its solidity even while the surfaces shimmered in ways only liquid could. In the center was a point of pure sunlight, radiating outwards in every direction. Somehow, it wasn’t blinding.

That was my power. That was me.

Vicky’s smile was illuminated by the glow of the powered thorn. “Like a piece of the ocean…” She mused. “Do all powers look so pretty?”

Taylor yawned. “Um, maybe? We haven’t encountered many yet.” She furrowed her brows, and started counting under her breath. “Nebula, Glory Girl, Panacea… Stormtiger and Cricket… Battery and Assault… Seven in total, I think. Unless I’m forgetting something.” I noticed that she didn’t mention her taking Grue’s power as well. Or Shadow Stalker’s, for that matter. Seemed like the need for sleep was contagious.

Quietly, I wondered: what would the combination be like? Taylor looked like she had the same question, but after a few seconds of waiting, she shook her head. I knew that her ability to combine thorns was supposed to stay secret for now, but as the thorns crumbled into black sand all I could do was stew in curiosity.

A loud crash echoed from somewhere Downtown, louder than what was ‘normal’ to most. It came from loosely the same direction that I’d spotted Purity and Lung from, earlier. Once you lived in the Bay for long enough, you learned to tune out the dragon’s roars, but in moments like these, with the city going to shit, it just stood out as yet another problem.

An unsolved one.

“Do you think either of them will lose today?” Vicky asked seemingly no one.

“Fingers crossed?” Lisa replied. “There’s only three ways this can go, really. One: with how Purity goes for dramatics, she’d probably fail to dodge in time.” A finger was curled. “Two: Lung keeps ramping up until everyone runs away, as per usual.” Another finger. “And three: someone finds a silver bullet and slays the dragon.” Hopefully permanently.

Vicky glanced at me for a moment, but then continued watching the destruction. “Yeah.” Sighing, she took a deep breath, and a light smile appeared on her face again. “So… where were we?”

“Thorns and powers?” Taylor guessed.

“Right!” My sister turned to Lisa. “You didn’t yet say what yours was!”

Lisa reminded me of a cat that had caught the canary. “Simple: I’m psychic!” Here we go again…

“Nope!” Vicky grinned. “You’re lying. Real psychics don’t exist! You’d need to have a much higher brain capacity to process all the information that you’re getting, and-”

“Ah, but where’s the proof, hm? You know how bullshit powers are, and simple scarcity is far from enough to write off an ability like that. There's no reason for psychics to not exist because there are way more complex powers out there. Or what, do you think you’re flying thanks to a prayer and a pinch of fairy dust?”

Something about Vicky in an awkward fairy costume made me snort.

She was, meanwhile, working her mouth soundlessly. “Well uh, no… But-”

“Just because you take extra college courses doesn’t mean you shouldn’t verify everything you hear.” …And the smug bitch just winked at us. Oh my fucking god.

Vicky was now gaping in shock, but that expression slowly turned to a smirk. “Oh wow. Okay. So you wouldn’t mind a test, then?”

The nascent grin was met with another. “Shoot.”

“What number am I thinking of?”

“I’d say… zero.”

Vicky nodded. “What did I have for breakfast?”

“Cereal, side of bacon, OJ and… jammed toast. You were out of eggs, so no omelette.”

“Yeah, we forgot to do groceries.”

“You mean ‘I’?” I cut in.

She flashed me a smile. “Yes, Ames. I.” Vicky then looked back at Lisa. “Okay… What color was the skirt my aunt got me for my birthday?”

“Trick question: it was a top. Hmm… pastel blue? With leaves?”

“Branches, but you did get the color right. What’s my favorite toy, then?”

“Plush toy? You got many, and several favorites. How about the shark you had to patch up?”

My sister’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Goddamn. How the hell..? okay, what about this one-”

“What did I call the stray cat that I would pet on my way to school as a kid?” If we were going to screw with Vicky, then I wanted in.

Lisa’s grin almost split her face. “Hairball.”

“Correct.” I missed him. “What video game have I spent the most time playing within the last half a year?”

“Dota 2. It’s still in beta, and you got your key..? Invite? Whatever. You got it in October.” Yeah, that I did.

I was kinda surprised she remembered that.

Meanwhile, Lisa raised her chin a bit in an almost regal fashion, still gazing at me. “Also, contrary to public personas, you’re the one to have a sweet tooth while your sister prefers more sour stuff, you like thunderstorms while she’s slightly scared of them, your dad taught you how to use the grill after she broke his favorite pair of tongs, she used to dot her ‘I’s with hearts but stopped in middle school after your mother commented on it — though she still does it to this da-”

“Alright, I think that’s enough for now. Psychic as hell, this one,” I declared before any of us could get a headache. Technically, I already had three; or, uh, two — Taylor wasn’t up to anything dumb yet.

Still, it was kinda hilarious that we could prank Vicky like this, especially when most of the answers Lisa’d already known from my random anecdotes. I was even looking forward to seeing how Vicky would react to the reveal. Heck, maybe I could record it? Lisa would surely approve.

Shellshocked, my sister surrendered. “Fine, Nebula, you win. Thinker five is an understatement…” Lisa, understandably, preened. “Oh, by the way, I have a friend who- well, you’d love her. She likes talking about power stuff too, just like you. Bet you’d get along like a house on fire!”

Really? Really?

“Oh? She sounds smart.”

No fucking way.

“Yup! Wicked smart!”

…She couldn’t keep getting away with this.

Me exhaling while suppressing a grin — which turned into another long-winded yawn — seemed to attract their attention again. “By the way, Ames, did you thank Rose yet?” Vicky poked me. “I don’t think I heard it.”

“Clearly, that means you’re deaf,” I deadpanned. “Also, Nebula was there too.”

Lisa nodded. “Guilty.”

Vicky looked at her, surprised. “Oh! Thank you too, then!” …And turned back to me. “Do you really not want to thank them?”

“I already said ‘thank you’!” The hell else did she want me to say?

“And that’s it? C’mon, Ames.”

“I think she’s just shy,” Lisa traitorously added.

“Is that it? Do you want me to give you privacy?”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Fucking- Fine. Whatever. Yes.” At least I could talk to them properly.

Vicky gave me a nod, and then her smile vanished. “Do anything to her, and I’ll find you,” she told the others. While I couldn't see their biology through my power at that moment, I could swear that I felt goosebumps spring up on all of us.

“We won’t,” Lisa replied politely. “Don’t worry.”

Taylor nodded.

Pleased with the answer and throwing Carol’s orders out the window, Vicky then nodded too, beginning to float before looking at me. “I’ll go check the surrounding area, see if there’s any gangers snooping around. If you guys need me, I shouldn’t be far. See ya in five minutes!”

We quietly watched her fly away, until she vanished behind some warehouse. Yet again, I yawned, blinking twice to keep the sleep out.

“Christ, Amy,” Lisa murmured. “You look like death warmed over.” Much like before The Dinner, her face looked pained as she met my eyes.

Taylor, too, still seemed sad. “I thought you were injured.” Oh. Fuck. So that was what that look meant.

Shaking my head, I shrunk into my robes a bit. “...The last few days weren’t great.” And, of course, I killed the mood again. Motherfucking typical.

I didn’t really notice who was the first to reach over and hug me, but just seconds after I fell silent I was between them in what felt like heaven. Lisa was still at my left side, and Taylor was at my right. We remained on that dirty smokestack, and, in spite of the cold metal, warm.

For a moment, I wanted to relieve my arms of my self-hug so I could reciprocate. Before I found any will to move, though, their hug on me tightened slightly; it was as if they were telling me to let go, that I was safe, almost cocooned. This… this was so cozy, and I felt like I was about to tear up.

Content, I shakily sighed. If only I could fall asleep like this…

With her face still in my hair thanks to my hood falling down a short while ago, I felt Lisa let out a long breath. “Wish you could just quit.”

“Yeah.” So did I.

“What’s stopping you?” Taylor asked. “Aside from your mom, I mean.” Just like with Lisa, her speech was muffled.

“Obligation? The people?”

Lisa huffed in annoyance. “Yeah, well, the people can go fuck themselves. Also, you’re not a robot.”

“What would they say-”

“You matter; they don’t. Their opinions, especially, are worth throwing right into the garbage.”

“I think…” Taylor trailed off, rubbing her cheek against the crown of my head, “I think you’d be able to save more people out in the open instead of the hospital. It might be tiring, but less… monotonous? With biokinesis, you’d have more options, at least.”

That made me open my eyes a bit, and I turned, slightly frowning, to her. To my annoyance, this ended the hug, and the two drew away. I exhaled. “Are you sure about the ‘more’ thing?” Most of my ideas in regards to that fell into ‘exponential’, which, in turn, made me think of viruses. Eugh.

“Well, yes?” Her eyes met mine. “It just makes sense? …I’m not sure how to put it into words, though. Um-”

“I got this,” Lisa announced. “‘Kay, Amy, how about this: what is the same thing that both you and the Protectorate are doing?” I tried to guess, but she didn’t stop. “You’re reacting. If the gangs are a disease, then you’re only dealing with the symptoms…”

“...While we can head straight for the source,” I finished with her. Shit, she was right. “But why hasn’t the Protectorate done that already, though?”

Lisa shrugged. “Complacency. They cling to their status quo like it’s something holy, while innocent people suffer. Look around, Amy,” she said, gesturing towards the city. “Does this look like something worth preserving?”

“Fuck no.”

“Case in point.”

Shrugging too, I hummed. As I turned to stare into the distance, I noticed Taylor still looking… off. “What’s up with you?” I bumped our shoulders.

“Oh, I… couldn’t use your thorn on Victoria,” Taylor said. “It was like she wasn’t there.”

…Shit. “Why?”

“No idea. Is it the same for you, or..?”

“No. No, I can heal her just fine.” I frowned. “Maybe her forcefield’s what’s messing with you? Lisa?”

The blonde crossed her arms, annoyed. “Not enough information. Power says that’s possible, but I don’t trust it.” Damn.

I leaned back and looked at the sky. “Hope we can find out soon.”

“Hmm… Hey, before Vic returns, mind sharing anything juicy that you had picked up on?”

“Like..?” I looked at Lisa.

“Well, I know that your dear sister is shaken up by something she-”

“Oh. That. Yeah, Alabaster got Gray Boy’d.”

Lisa blinked long and slow. “And you’re not- Fucking hell. And you have a video? I need to see it.”

Shuddering from a gust of cold wind, I replied: “Jeez, Lisa, calm your tits. It’s on Vicky’s phone, but I’ll try asking for it.” Though she’d probably think that I’m a sadist or something…

Eh. Oh well. That’s more problems for future Amy to handle.

“Anything else?” Taylor asked, squeezing my hand. “I know you were busy, but maybe..?”

“Lee and Cricket are six feet under, Crusader sprung Stormtiger from a transfer… Oh, and Calvert’s goons tried to ask me for more of your paralytic, but I flipped them off. Not literally.” Even if I wanted to.

“That… certainly changes things.” The brunette exchanged a glance with Lisa. Then, she froze. “Wait. Assault lied? He said they were locked up!”

Lisa’s current face made her look constipated. “Well, he might’ve not known, buuut…”

Taylor groaned into her free palm. “What is it with heroes and being so- Ughhh!”

“All of us did pretty well, at least.”

“What did you two do, actually?” I asked. “Those cuts weren’t from knives.”

Lisa leaned against me. “From thorns, funnily enough.” From- “No, not the Rose kind. One of the bombs made a shit ton of sorta-sentient vines that almost took over a whole building. Had to team up with A&B, storm the thing and stab the heart.” She sighed. “Fun.”

“...This city is fucked up.”

“What, you just noticed? Also, there was a video call between PRT Directors during the day.”

“Did-”

“Nah, couldn’t even peek in — we don’t have the tech for that. All I know is that it happened, so maybe there’ll be some backup.” That would probably be nice.

…Weird. Purity just dropped out of the sky for some reason.

“Someone got the racist lightbulb,” Lisa commented.

“Good,” Taylor said alongside me.

“Have you-”

“Ames!” Came from our left. Oh, Vicky was back.

She looked distressed, which wasn’t a good sign, though I saw no injuries on her yet. “What?” I asked. “What is it?” And then I saw the phone.

Not mine, of course — that one was still somewhere in my robes. Vicky was holding hers, clutching it tightly in her right hand. She wasn’t angry, or scared, or panicked, which meant there was no outright danger, but the way she cringed meant one thing...

“Carol,” I guessed, resigned.

Vicky nodded with jerky motions. “Y-yeah, she called when I was on my way back here.”

“And..?” I felt a pit open up in my stomach. This… this sounded bad.

“Well, it’s already past 2 AM, and she’d just called and you weren’t with me… And I forgot to turn off ‘Don’t Disturb’ mode until ten minutes ago, so…”

Ignoring the comforting way Taylor and Lisa patted my back, I hid my face in my hands, groaning loudly. “Oh my god, she’s going to kill us.”