2 Setting the Stage (Patreon)

I know I said I was gonna keep focusing on Ten shadows, and I have written a bit over a quarter of the next chap for it, but this fic is just fun and my muse is apprently loving it, so here, have another 10k chapter of this :P

I'm going to have to give this it's own collection if I make another chap, cuz it clearly doesn't wanna be a one shot lol

///

January 15th, 2011

Brockton Bay General

Amy Dallon, aka Panacea

///

Finishing yet another gruelling shift at the hospital, Amy trudges her way up the last flight of stairs and out onto the open roof. 

When she was younger, she would gaze up at the stars as she stepped out into the cool night air. Now she simply keeps her head low to more easily slip a cigarette betwixt her lips.

Is it ironic that the world's best healer is probably giving herself cancer, since the only one she can't heal is herself? Probably. Does she give a single, miniscule, flying fuck? Not at all.

Try spending so many hours witnessing the deepest secrets of hundred's of people's bodies, from alcohol abuse to married men with stretched anuses. All the while she has to deal with that damn voice in the back of her head just whispering at her, incessantly, to do more than just heal.

To twist. To mould. To grow.

She lights her cigarette.

Except the cheap lighter doesn't produce a light. 

She flicks it again. Only sparks.

"Fucking piece of shit," she mutters as she tries again, not wanting to give up and having literally nothing better to do anyway.

Which is when she notices a hand entering her peripheral vision. A normal person probably would have jumped at the sudden invasion of personal space, especially since she didn't notice anyone coming.

Amy has far too few fucks to give to do something like startle. Instead, she simply observes the fancy rich person lighter being held out in front of her by a strong, but soft, tanned hand.

"Need a light?" The voice is decidedly feminine, but rich and powerful. The kind of voice you could hear over a crowd with ease.

She doesn't even bother to look up to see who the woman in question is. She just leans forward slightly and lets them flick the lighter open and bring it to the end of her sweet sweet cancer stick.

She lights the cigarette.

Amy takes a deep puff and holds it, feeling her tension drain away as her lungs burn.

A plume of smoke leaves her lips when she can no longer hold it in, and only then does she turn to look at the woman casually leaning her back against the roof's railing next to her.

...She's definitely a Cape, that much would have been obvious just my the mask and stupidly expensive looking suit. But the, admittedly cool as fuck looking Tinkertech arm kind of gives the game away the most.

"So," Amy says after it becomes clear that the woman isn't going to start the conversation and only after taking another puff and blowing it directly into the mystery Cape's face. "The fuck do you want?"

The Cape chuckles. It's a nice sound, she can feel it reverberating through her bones. A power or just the natural result of having such a large torso?

"Just to talk," the Cape says, and Amy is immediately suspicious. "Chance provided this opportunity. I decided not to let it pass."

"Uhuh," Amy glares dubiously. "Cool beans. Who are you again?"

Mystery Cape's eyes move as if she's smiling. Amy doesn't like how it reminds her of Miss Militia.

"I am afraid that if I told you I would have to kill you."

"Isn't that line a little cliché? Do you also have a little friend you want me to say hello to? Or some pet fish that don't like sleeping without company? Just get to the fuckin' point already."

Mystery Cape chuckles, and Amy really doesn't like the look in her eyes. And then they decide to drop a metaphorical bomb on her.

"I knew your father. You do not act like him at all, but I can see the resemblance. You can at least throw insults as well as he can."

Amy almost drops her cigarette. Her hands feel cold and clammy and there's a tight knot in her chest that's making it hard to breathe.

She gave up finding out her her father was years ago. All she has is a couple of incredibly vague memories about brown hair and soft eyes. Memories that end at the point of superheated plasma.

Any time she tried to ask Carol about her actual parents she would throw a fit, sometimes start screaming. It was when she was ten and a blade of plasma burst from Carol's hand, even if for just a moment, after she'd asked that she stopped asking altogether. That was also when she stopped calling her 'Mom' and started thinking of her as Carol.

"W-who are you?" Amy manages to say after a moment, her glare returning full force. "How can I know you're even telling the truth?"

The Cape's eyes might even seem a little sad now.

"I truly am sorry, but I cannot tell you. Even making considerations for who you are, I would get chewed out for revealing my name to you when you are so likely to spread it. It is only because it is you that I am even allowed to reveal my appearance."

"What kind of cryptic bullshit is that?"

"Just the nature of things." They shrug, moving on. "Your father was a colleague of mine, Amelia. When he got Birdcaged, we received information that you were gone, likely dead. It was only when your reputation as Panacea began to spread that we realised you still lived. However, it was decided that we would wait until you were older before approaching you. Your father cared a great deal about you, out of respect for him, we decided that you deserved to live a peaceful life before ever approaching you with any offers."

The mystery Cape's words bring forth an incredibly complex cocktail of emotions within Amy, everything from bitterness to grief to rage, even some hope. She ruthlessly crushes that part of her and pushes her emotions to the side for now, with great effort.

She can unpack just.. Everything later.

"Amelia," she whispers instead, focusing on only one part of this Cape's words. She feels vaguely distant as she says it, the faint echo of a soft, warm voice echoing the word in her mind. "Why did you call me that?"

"Because that is your name. You were born Amelia Claire Lavere. Daughter to Nicholas Lavere, better known to the world as Marquis. I believe you got your middle name from your mother, but I admit that I do not know much about her."

Mystery Cape continues to talk so casually as if Amelia's entire world view hadn't just been torn down by one, simple, terrible realisation. Like one crucial piece of the puzzle has been missing that now allows all of the other pieces to fit together.

Images flash through her mind. Scenes of a face contorted in rage, of flickering plasma, of a woman whose gaze never once even tried to pretend that she felt any love for her. 

So that's why, Amelia thinks to herself, feeling lightly faint.

She recalls all of Carol's suspicious glares. The interrogations she always got whenever she was home late, or missed an hour at the hospital or whatever. She remembers the expression of almost vindication when Amelia triggered. As if she saw proof of something she already believed.

That Amelia was always going to end up a Villain.

A Villain like her father.

"Amelia." Her attention glides towards the towering cape and their soft, but still powerful voice, her mind still in turmoil. "Your sister is going to be here soon, so I am afraid I must go. I would appreciate it if you did not describe me to her, or anyone, but nothing will happen to you if you do so anyway."

The Amazonian woman places a strong hand on her shoulder, and it feels comforting. "Your father is a good man. One of the best of us. I would like to talk with you again, about this and other matters, but it is your choice. My number is already in your phone. It was truly a pleasure to meet you, regardless of your choice, Amelia."

She doesn't say anything. She's been hit by too many revelations in too quick succession that she's still trying to make sense of. So she only stares as the mystery Cape steps further into the roof and looks up at the sky.

"I am done here," she says, and then there is a man standing next to her.

The apparent teleporter is dressed in a worn cloak that covers their entire form, including casting a shadow over their face. She can't even tell their gender.

The teleporter notices her and nods respectfully in her direction before reaching up to grab the giant woman's shoulder. Then they are both gone. No flash of light or anything.

Amelia stands there for a moment, shellshocked, before letting out a long exhale and collapsing against the railing behind her.

And then not a minute later, Victoria, her beautiful Victoria, flies out of the dark sky like a falling angel.

"Hey Ames-" Victoria cheerfully greets, and her voice soothes Amelia's frayed nerves, before cutting herself off once she gets a good look at her. "Woah, you look like shit. Rough shift?"

Amelia just sighs as she walks up to her sister and just loses herself to the comfort of her presence, even when she knows the guilt and self hatred that she will feel once she gets over all the revelations she just experienced.

"Sure," she says instead of any of that. "Something like that. Let's just go home."

///

January 15th, 2011

Super Secret Underground Genesis Base No.1

Some Dumbass

///

As I reappear in my underground base, I reflect that I probably could have waited for a few more Charges before doing the Amelia Gambit. 

I only have one teleportation power right now, and it only has one Charge in it, so I had to give it a cooldown just to make it global. It can't even be used to bring other people with me.

The original plan was that 'Genesis' would have a teleporting guy, kinda like Doormaker. I was gonna pull him out to get Baron away from Amelia before Glory Girl could make things complicated.

But then I realised that my teleporter persona couldn't do two teleports that quickly, which kind of ruined things. Luckily, I'm super smart, so I was able to quickly solve that problem.

I just swapped the teleportation power over from the teleporter to Baron and then dispelled that clone at the same time that I activated the teleportation power.

So it all worked out in the end.

Now, I'm pretty sure that I have a good read on Amelia, and people in general, that revealing all that information will go in my favour. Probably. I really hope it does. Not that this is a critical part of my plans or anything, but it'd be embarrassing if it doesn't.

I also cannot let Dragon hear about that conversation, because Marquis obviously never worked for Genesis. Genesis has only existed for about a day and he was Caged years ago. So I really don't want Dragon to hear that lie, because she is literally the only person, except for maybe Saint, that could just ask him about it.

Granted, it's not like that has to be the end of things even if it happens. The great thing about lying is that you can just double down and lie again.

Oh, that's not true? Yes it is. I'm lying? No I'm not.

What are you going to do about it?

So, worst case, I can just say of course Marquis would deny it, we're a secret organisation and he is a professional!

I'd still rather avoid it.

But I have a semi solid kinda plan to recruit Marquis anyway. If I ever actually go through with that, then I'll just have to convince him to lie. Not by fessing up anything though. I'll probably just convince him to lie by lying about my reasoning.

People say that the problem with lying is that you will eventually get caught in your own web and forget your lies or make contradictions or whatever.

I say those people are just bad liars. If you get caught in a contradiction, just say that one of your lies was a lie and the other one was a truth. It's not difficult to just keep lying. It's actually rather fun.

Now, what's next on the agenda?

I need to make a teenaged Villain and I need to consider if I should let Bubbles join the PRT or if I should make another Hero character to join them. 

I was always planning on infiltrating the PRT, but Bubbles is a pretty powerful character.

It's like.. You wouldn't want to send your level 99 DPS character to go cut lumbar or whatever. You'd rather just make a new level 1 character to do the menial, low difficulty task while keeping your stronger character for more important things.

Genesis will eventually need a proper counter. It will happen whether I want it to or not, that is just the nature of the world, so I would rather that Genesis' counter was my own Hero team.

For that I will need powerful Hero characters. The Hero Party can't run through the Demon Lord's castle if they're all level 12s. Bubbles is pretty strong, well she will be since I want to put another Charge into Bubble Time, so I want her in reserve for future scheming.

Hmmm, but at the same time, it would probably be good to get a powerful cape into the PRT earlier rather than later. It takes time to rise in bureaucracy, so I should probably prioritise the characters that I know have hard time requirements first.

Hmmm, but that wasn't really what Bubbles' character was made for. Every one of my characters has distinct purposes when I'm creating them. I even designed Bubbles' tongue specifically to ensure that she liked Glory Girl's favourite drink and hated coffee, just so she can give proper reactions if she's ever forced to drink either with company.

I don't know. It all comes down to time. I suppose I could delay my Villain a bit. It would probably be fine if I put that off for a week or two. Then I can make a strong Hero to send into the Protectorate.

Then again, I can't have too many Capes appearing in Brockton too quickly. I also need to make sure I have enough Charges for my plan with the Simurgh. She should be attacking in late February right? That's about thirty Charges away. Is that enough to do everything?

I suppose I could always spare a Charge for the weaker characters and give it to them later. The Villain and Ward.

It's a good thing I can control my Blank power in just how much information I want to hide from Thinkers. My schemes would be a lot harder if I had to make everyone a blank spot. As it is, I can just make it so that Blank only hides anything that isn't specific to whatever character.

This way my characters might as well be real as far as Thinkers are concerned.

Okay, I think that I've got it decided.

My Simurgh Scheme character will come last from my current agenda.

I will first build a strong Hero character, two, maybe just one step below the Triumvirate. I'll have them show up in some city that isn't Brockton.

Then I can get back to focusing on doing all my Brockton Bay stuff before moving to the wider world.

The Villain will follow the PRT Hero, then I'll make the weak Ward. Maybe someone who can get along with Sophia Hess? I have a plan in the works for Taylor, so I'm sure I could use Sophia to good effect.

One of the great things about shapeshifting clones is that every identity is inherently disposable. It's very useful, since sometimes a character's death can have a much greater impact on the story than anything they could have done alive.

Hm... There's an idea.

That might be going a bit far though.

The question I suppose, is do I really care?

I'd like to make the world a better place in the long term, with me in charge. I certainly don't intend to rule over anything but a utopia.

But do I really care about the short term? I don't know. I don't think so.

This is basically all just a game to me honestly. I'm creating characters and sending them out to play with NPCs. I mean, I killed Preston Garvey because I wanted his hat.

But obviously this isn't a game. This world is very much real, and all of the people in it are real. It's not like I'm so delusional that I don't realise that.

I just don't think I really care either way. Whether they are real or not, they aren't me.

So why should I care about them?

///

January 26th, 2011

PRT Headquarters, Wards Room Gymnasium

Vista, aka Missy Biron

///

Lying piteously on her back, Missy stares blankly up at the ceiling. Every single one of her muscles burns, and several points on her body feel like they're going to bruise like hell later. She feels awful and is panting like a dog.

But at the same time, she kind of feels amazing. Not to mention distinctly impressed.

"You.. Are such.. Bullshit," she hears from her side, and rolls her head enough to see Glory Girl lying on her back right next to her, panting through her words just as much as Missy.

She can only summon the energy to nod in agreement.

Which is when the third of their little trio shows herself, leaning over Missy's face and looking down at her with a wide, friendly grin.

"C'mon~, don't be so down~. You almost hit me this time~." The cackling that follows matches her shit-eating grin as she teases them.

Missy first saw Bubbles, and that is a ridiculous name no matter how convincing an argument she can make for it, it was when she was being introduced to all the Heroes as the newest Independent.

Missy would say she made a decent first impression, but it's not like they had a conversation or anything. It was more just that it's important the Heroes all know one another's faces to avoid any misunderstandings out in the field.

So when Vicky said that she wanted to introduce her new Hero friend to her, she didn't really expect it to be Bubbles. Though maybe she should have really with how well their personalities compliment one another's.

That was also when Bubbles revealed that her civilian name begins with a V. She didn't tell them what it was, understandably. But Missy and Vicky have been calling each other Big V and Little V for ages now. When Bubbles heard that, she told them about her civilian name and now they're calling her New V. It's a little bit funny.

She's also older than Vicky apparently, so she couldn't be Middle V.

At some point along the conversation someone suggested they train together and spar.

Which is what led to Vicky and her getting their asses beat by Bubbles, who doesn't even have the nerve to look tired. Seriously, fuck her.

"Definitely bullshit," Missy huffs out an agreement with Vicky once her breathing is slightly more under control.

"Nuh uh~. Big V is just a dumb brick so she can't do much," Bubbles ignores Vicky's indignant squark. "But your bullshit is at least equal to my bullshit, if not better. You just need some more experience and you'll be able to take my place here."

Missy scowls up at her. She hates being patronised. "It's not my fault they won't let me do anything."

"I know, I know," Bubbles backs off with raised arms and a smile. "That's why I didn't want to be a Ward in the first place. Regardless, I don't mind beating you up until you're experienced enough to fight back. I'll run away then though, because people who can fight back are scary~."

Missy wants to stay mad, but it's really hard to with Bubbles. Vicky besides her chuckles at Bubbles' joking cowardice, but Missy just looks away to hide her face. She doesn't want to admit it, but she is really grateful for Bubbles.

People always treat her like she's just a kid playing dress up. It pisses her off. She's been a Ward for years. She has scars from fucking Hookwolf. She's tired of being treated like a child when she sees herself more like a soldier than anything. A child soldier, sure, but still.

So where most people would probably be mad at Bubbles for beating the crap out of her without holding back, Missy is only grateful. Sure, it hurts like hell. Bubbles punches like a Brute, even if she says she isn't one.

But she can feel herself learning. Bubbles is a pretty good combat instructor. Better than the crap CQC instructor the PRT assigned to the Wards.

"So, d'you wanna go again?" Bubbles askes the crowd, but before Missy can stubbornly agree, Vicky beats her to it.

"Hell no," Vicky huffs, though she seems happy. "I'm wrung out. I need to eat something."

At the mention of food Missy's stomach rumbles, and she reluctantly concedes that food sounds nice right about now. They've been going at it for, she glances over at the wall clock, nearly two hours now.

Bubbles shrugs. "Fair 'nuff. You wanna get pizza? I know a decent place, but if you've got a better 'I know a place' then feel free."

"Oooh!" Vicky makes a happy sound as she uses her power to right herself off of the floor, the cheating bitch. "You ever had Francesco's? I'm half convinced he's a Parahuman with some kind of cooking power, honestly it's amazing. Totally makes me pig out, but I think I could use the calories right now, right Lil V?"

Missy rights herself with great pain. "I want Fugly's," she mutters, and totally doesn't whine. "I feel like I could really eat the Challenger right now."

Bubbles barks a laugh. "The Challenger is like the size of your torso. I don't think it's physically possible for you to eat it no matter how hungry you are."

"I'll just use my power to make more space in my stomach," Missy replies as she climbs to her feet with a groan. She is thankful that neither of them offer to help her up.

"You can do that?" Bubbles blinks at her, making her snort.

"No. Manton Limit is a bitch."

"Speak for yourself," Vicky grumbles as they start making their way out of the gym. Vicky floats, Bubbles is fine, which leaves only Missy trudging along like she died and came back to life. "I for one am quite happy that Shakers can't just twist my insides around by glaring at me."

"Brick mentality," Bubbles sighs, shaking her head forlornly and getting a soft, for a Brute, shove on the shoulder for it.

"I'll throw a bus at you," Vicky threatens, though obviously with no heat.

"Oh no~," Bubbles' voice is completely flat despite the dramatic tone. "Fast moving objects~. My weakness~."

Missy snorts, because Bubbles' power does basically make projectiles useless, as she can slow anything down as much as she wants.

"You're so annoying, you know that right?"

"You call me at seven in the morning and I am the annoying one?"

"Seven is a perfectly normal time to get up!" Vicky cheerfully defends her sacrilege. Granted, Missy is usually up by six, but only because she has to be, otherwise she'd sleep in too. "Besides, you'd never get out of bed otherwise. Even when I call you at ten you still complain about being woken up."

Bubbles evidently fails to come up with a good argument in tine, so she just sticks her tongue out at Vicky and blows a raspberry. "You stink."

Vicky floats a little bit higher and tilts her head to look down on Bubbles, making her look like some high society type, and she speaks with a condescending stereotypical British accent. "I smell wonderful."

She actually kind of does. It's a little bit annoying. Missy wonders if it would be weird to ask what conditioner Vicky uses.

They continue to talk as they make their way out of the PRT building and across the city. With Missy's power, it's no trouble for them to all keep up a casual walk together as they cross considerable distance.

In no time at all, they find themselves inside of an out of the way fast-food joint. It's practically hidden away in an alley and doesn't even have a sign or anything.

Missy is pretty sure that the owners used to be a part of a mafia family, but when Parahumans started showing up it became difficult to do their business. However, their pizza was making so much profit that they just gave up the life of crime, not wanting to be wasted by an irritated Nazi with superpowers, and just became a fast-food chain.

She's certainly not complaining. She'd take good pizza over having to beat up mobsters any day of the weak.

Antonio behind the counter is as friendly as always. He seems to be bouncing back from the death of his father, Francesco, pretty well. Even gave them a discount on account of bringing in a new customer.

Eventually this lead to the three of them sitting around one of Antonio's small tables, because they don't want the public to be taking photos of them stuffing their faces with pizza.

Except for Bubbles of course, who eats at a normal pace. But Missy and Vicky have just spent two hours being put through the wringer, so they practically vacuum their pizzas away. Missy is sure that the sounds they make could fit into a porno, but that's why they're eating indoors.

This is really good pizza.

"Y'know," Bubbles starts once they start slowing down a bit. "I really hate to give you credit, but this pizza actually is amazing."

Vicky playfully glares at Bubbles as she chews her mouthful.

However, before she can finish and say anything in response, Bubbles turns to look at something behind them.

The apparent curiosity in Bubbles' gaze has both Missy and Vicky twisting in their seat to look behind them and at the small TV hung up on the wall.

It's only playing quietly, but it's loud enough that they can hear it if they're not talking. On the screen, the news is showing, and the reporter is talking about a new Hero debuting with the Protectorate in LA.

The screen shows the typical introduction press release where a man stands in front of the podium next to Alexandria, who is the leader of the LA Protectorate.

The upper half of his face is covered by a solid black mask that seems reminiscent of Alexandria's. It leaves his soft brown hair free, where it falls over the front of his mask somewhat on one side. His smile is kind though, making him seem like the kind of guy that would offer to help old ladies carry their groceries home.

The rest of his outfit however rather contrasts with Alexandria's black bodysuit. He is wearing a white jacket that doesn't have any obvious zip to open except for maybe disguised in the black cross the runs across the bottom of his pecks and down the entire centre of his torso. The jacket also has two flaps that hang down at his sides and leaves his white-clad legs free to move.

"Oh that guy, I heard about him," Vicky says, drawing their eyes. "Apparently he caught a crashing plane as his debut. His power is like, metal control, or gravity control or something like that. Apparently his power is stupid strong. I think he's called "

Vicky shrugs, apparently uninterested. Which does kind of make sense since LA is on the opposite side of the country from them.

"I'm sure he's a wonderful guy," Bubbles says, "But speaking of new Capes, have you guys heard about the maybe new Villain here?"

Vicky blinks in apparent surprise, which makes some sense. Because if Bubbles is talking about what she thinks she is, then Missy only found out about it this morning in her morning brief.

"There's been a string of break ins," Bubbles says, confirming Missy's suspicion. Though she has no idea what Bubbles' source is. "According to the reports, the new guy has some kind of ice or cold power. They've been going around freezing and shattering locks and stuff. I think they robbed a post office last night."

"Great," Vicky sighs, falling forward onto the table and forcing Missy to use her power to make the table larger so she doesn't push the pizza boxes onto the floor. "More Villains, just what we need. My mom says there's a new serial killer too, is that the same guy?"

Bubbles shrugs and grabs another slice of pizza. "Probably not, no. I think that one might just be a normy. The break in guy is definitely a Parahuman though. Or he just has access to a lot of liquid nitrogen I guess."

"Meh, it's not too bad," Missy says. "They're probably not very strong, what with what they've done so far. So it's not like we're getting another Lung or anything."

Bubbles swallows her food before speaking up. "Just cuz something could be worse doesn't mean that it couldn't be better too. 'Sides, maybe he really needs the money and we'll be able to flip him, who knows what the future holds?"

Then Bubbles starts laughing, but they've both gotten used to that by now. Bubbles laughs a lot. It's not like it's a bad thing.

She has a nice laugh.

///

January 28th, 2011

Brockton Bay Trainyard

Lisa Wilbourn, aka Tattletale

///

Leaning her back against a rusting shipping container, Lisa crosses her arms under her bust and taps her finger against her bicep.

"He's late," Brian, well, Grue right now, grumbles next to her, impatient.

Paranoid. Doesn't like the lack of punctuality. Thinks it's bad rep not to be punctual.

She cuts her power off before it can start telling her any more blindingly obvious facts.

When her boss, the bastard, told her about a new Cape going around committing petty theft, she naturally started looking into it. She doesn't know where he got the information, well, she assumes it was from his spies in the PRT. 

The newbie has only been active for like a week, and they only made the news yesterday.

Yesterday was also when her boss gave her a PHO account and told her that it was the new Cape. Now that is something she doesn't understand how he found out. The best her power can tell her is that it was probably his power that found it out.

Regardless, she did what she was told, not that she has much of a choice, and reached out to the newbie to set up a meeting.

Which leaves her here, leaning against a rusty metal box with Brian at her side, Alec sitting on the floor playing smash and Rachel perched up with her dogs powered up.

Doesn't want any more teammates. Thinks she will get less money with another split. Doesn't understand economics. Doesn't care about economics. Only cares about dogs. Will try to scare newbie off.

Yes. Thank you power, for these fresh and new insights that she never could have figured out or already known ahead of time.

Lisa Wilbourn anthropomorphises her power to cope with the pain of Thinker headaches.

Fuck yourself power.

Parahuman powers cannot-

She yanks on her power to shut it up. She really doesn't need to be getting in an argument with herself right now. Or ever, really.

Thankfully, before she needs to start thinking about taking schizo pills, the night's silence is broken by the soft sound of crunching gravel.

The dogs were naturally the first to notice, snapping their heads in the same direction almost as one. The rest of them straighten up, except for Alec who doesn't even seem to notice anything outside his game.

She gives him a kick but he ignores her.

Whatever, she can't be bothered to deal with him right now.

Around the corner of yet another derailed train cart, walks their guest. He's dressed in a simple black hoodie and cargo pants, leaving little uncovered. His face is covered by a surgical mask, and from what she can see, he seems to be a well built teen of Hispanic descent and probably around sixteen, same age as her.

Now that he has finally shown up, Lisa lets loose the reigns on her power.

Simple clothes. Cheap. New. Stolen. Avoids anything connecting civilian identity to Cape, including purchasing clothes. Paranoid about getting caught. Doesn't want to be here. Feels suspicious. Is willing to hear them out regardless. Hopeful for more opportunities to make money. Willing to accept unreasonable risks for money. Needs money. In debt.

Lisa mulls over what her power is telling her. It's a mixed bag of good and bad. At least he is probably reasonably smart, smart enough to realise that a certain degree of paranoia is necessary when there are Thinkers about. Not that it helped him much.

The suspicion isn't great, but is also pretty natural. That desperation means he's more likely to be willing to ignore Bitch's bitchness.

"You're late," Brian starts the meeting as their glorious leader once the newbie comes to a stop in front of them, seemingly unconcerned about the growling dogs. 

Can freeze anything that touches him.

Fast enough to be confident the dogs won't be able to hurt him? That's mildly terrifying. She makes a note to avoid touching by surprise. It'd suck if she tapped him on the shoulder without him knowing she was there and got turned into an icicle a a result.

"I was checking for traps," the newbie admits, his voice and eyes as cold as his power.

Did not check for traps. Got lost and doesn't want to admit it.

Well isn't that adorable.

"How hurtful~!" Lisa can't help but butt in. "What ever happened to honour among thieves? I'm Tattletale by the way."

Newbie glares frostily at her but says nothing. Brian takes his cue.

"Right. Introductions then. I'm Grue, this is Tattletale as she says. Over there is Bitch, like female dog, she chose the name, and last and most certainly least, over there is Regent."

Alec looks up at his name being called, but he clearly wasn't paying attention as he only then notices the newbie.

"Ah shit, is this cutscene skippable?"

Lisa rolls her eyes. "You sound like Über and Leet."

"Eughk," Regent makes a disgusted sound. "Don't compare me to that trash, Leet's dogshit at combos and Über cheats. I'm the better gamer and I don't even dress up like a faggot."

She gives a deliberate once over of Regent's renaissance fair outfit and his incredibly feminine features.

He gives her the finger.

Brain coughs and she turns away from the disturbed teenager and back to the other disturbed teenager.

"Sorry about them," Brain says. "Now we've introduced ourselves, who are you?"

"...I don't have a Cape name," newbie admits after a moment's hesitation. "My plan was to stay under the radar." He chuckles bitterly, and she can relate honestly. "Clearly I've already messed that up."

"How about Snurth?" Lisa suggests with a grin.

"The fuck is that?" Alec mutters. "Sounds like a tampon brand."

She kicks him. "It's a snow monster from Zork, like Grue."

"I'm not calling myself Snurth," newbie says and she pouts.

"Well regardless," Brain cuts in. "Have you put any thought in what your future is going to look like as a Cape? If we've found you, then someone else will eventually too. There's safety in numbers, plus you can take bigger jobs with a team at your back, so how about it?"

"..How much are we talking exactly? I'm making some good money by myself."

Brian looks to her to answer, and so she does. 

"With you on the team to help get through obstacles, we could be pulling in easily twenty five hundred a month minimum. Each. A lot of jobs would probably be more though, maybe up to 10k each." She can see that he isn't quite convinced, so she adds one last carrot. "Plus, it's not like you can't still do your own jobs solo in your free time."

With that, she can see that she has convinced him. Any option that leads to more money being made seems to be enough to motivate him. She'll have to work on building some kind of connection with him so that he will at least need to be paid a lot of money before betraying her.

Naturally, that is when Bitch's dogs start growling.

Godamnit Bitch.

"We don't need any more people," Bitch growls with her dogs, fundamentally unable to understand that the cost of an extra split will be offset by greater profit. "Fuck off."

"Bitch," Brain's voice is warning, but she is barely controllable at the best of times and ignores him.

Thinks Brian is a weak pack leader.

"I read online that you really care about your dogs," the newbie says, his voice as cold as the frost that starts spreading out from where he stands. "If that's true, then don't start shit."

Bitch's dogs continue to growl and start growing even further, but Lisa grabs Brian's arm to stop him from interfering.

The dogs take a threatening step forward and Bitch and the newbie don't drop eye contact for what might be the longest minute of Lisa's life. 

Then Bitch looks down and whistles. Her dogs quickly return to crowding around her. Lisa doesn't fail to notice the subtle glance thrown Brian's way.

Newbie proved himself to her. She believes he is strong. Wonders if he would be a better pack leader than Brian. Wants him to challenge Brian to see who would win.

Well isn't that just wonderful, Lisa thinks sarcastically.

She honestly doesn't really care who the 'leader' is. She is the team Thinker, so it's her words that matter the most anyway. At least it means Bitch won't be too much of a problem, that's good news at least.

"Well then," Brian says after an awkward moment. "Welcome to The Undersiders."

///

January 31st, 2011

Winslow High School

Taylor Hebert

///

The first Monday back after that day, and Taylor doesn't know what she was expecting. Maybe some part of her thought that after putting her in the hospital Emma would somehow 'wake up' and stop making her life hell. Maybe even apologise.

She doesn't know if she would accept such an apology, and she hates that last vestige of her childish self that still manages to hope that her old friend, sister in all but blood, was still in there somewhere.

But then she arrived and everything was the same. The whispers started as soon as she walked through the door, people parted around her like she was infectious.

A part of her mind imagines unleashing a biblical plague on the school and tearing them all apart until only bone remains. She shoves that part of her deep into the back of her mind and tries to pretend that she can't feel the temptation.

Because no. She will not stoop to their level. She has powers now, and she isn't going to use them to become a bully. She is going to be a Hero.

She will make a difference.

In thirty years, she will be like those pop stars during interviews that talk about how they were actually super unpopular in school hahaha, isn't that crazy?

She kind of hates those celebrities. They talk as if their school life was in anyway comparable to hers when the reality is often just that they only had two friends instead of a hole group.

Taylor has zero friends. She only has frenemies but without the friendship.

Eventually, she manages to make it to homeroom. Largely by just dipping her mind into the swarm and ignoring everything. If she lets her mind wonder, she can almost pretend that her body is just one of the many uncountable insects under her control. It makes her problems seem smaller, even if it probably isn't healthy.

"You may have noticed a new face among us," Mrs Knott's voice snaps her back into the real world. "Why don't you introduce yourself Dearie?"

Taylor's confusion is answered when the seat next to her scrapes against the floor and a boy she doesn't recognise stands up. She didn't even realise he sat next to her, since she generally ignores whoever does.

It's usually just whichever student failed to get another chair quick enough that has to sit next to lame old Taylor, so she's gotten into the habit of ignoring them.

"My name's Reggie," he says. He has a nice voice, one that undoubtably would have left Taylor with fantasies if not for the fact that she's been too stressed to even be in the mood for anything like that in ages. "I'm not here cuz I want to be and I'm not going to be staying in this shithole of a city for any longer than I have to. So fuck off an leave me alone."

With his piece said, Reggie sits down, uncaring of Mrs Knott's scolding for his language or the general hubbub his introduction caused to the class.

Reggie just leans forward on the desk, resting an elbow on the table and his cheek in his fist. He has smooth, tanned skin, and Taylor can appreciate the visible muscle straining against his shirt.

Reggie notices her staring at him and looks back at her, making her quickly avert her eyes to study the desk and hope her flush isn't visible.

Reggie doesn't comment, for which she is thankful.

Homeroom passes in a blur of nothing and she is startled out of her blank thoughts by the bell.

Nonetheless, she is quick to grab her bag and rush to the door, hoping to be able to avoid her bullies. She notices Reggie barely bothering to move.

Alas, it is not to be, as she steps out into the hall to find Sophia and Emma leaning against the locker opposite and smirking maliciously at her.

Taylor tries anyway, but she barely makes it three steps down the hall before Sophia bumps her shoulder and knocks her into a locker.

"Already jumping back at lockers so quickly? Did you enjoy it that much?" Emma mocks her, and all she can do is glare at her one time friend as memories she would rather forget flash through her mind.

Taylor meets Emma's eyes. Looking for something, anything. Any kind of sign that she might feel even an ounce of remorse. When all she sees is sadistic malice, Taylor feels that last spark of hope that her friend is still in there somewhere die a cruel death.

Even after everything, after the locker, she still isn't satisfied.

Taylor would cry if she didn't know how quickly that would be used against her.

"Hey! Watch it, Asshole!" Sophia's indignant voice follows as the girl stumbles a step forward, and all of their attention falls to Reggie, the new guy, who is standing behind her with a bored expression on his face as he observes the scene in front of him.

"Don't wanna get shoved then don't stand in the way," he says, eyes roving over the lot of them, taking in the sight of half a dozen girls cornering Taylor against a locker.

Without waiting for any kind of response, Reggie shoves his way past another hanger-on girl and stops in front her Taylor.

"Hey, let's be friends," is all he says before grabbing her by the bicep and hauling her after him as he walks off.

"Hey! The fuck!?" Emma almost shrieks, but no one stops them, even Sophia backs down. Taylor assumes that's because Reggie is obviously strong, and she knows that bullies only pick on people that can't fight back, like her.

Once they've cleared some distance, Reggie releases his surprisingly soft grip of her arm but keeps walking, and she naturally matches his pace.

"So um," Taylor speaks up after an awkward silence. "Thanks, I guess, for that. But uh, you probably don't want to hang out with me. They won't let it go that you stood up to them."

Reggie glances back at her as they near the cafeteria door.

"Sounds perfect to me," he says. "Let me be straight with you, whatever your name is. I want to be left alone and you're apparently the local pariah. So let's make deal. We hang out during school, I take advantage of your negative social credit to be left alone, you take advantage of my willingness to resort to violence to avoid bullies and we both profit. Deal?"

Some part of her was kind of hoping that this would be like a knight in shining armour type thing. She's certainly fantasised enough times about a big strong Hero, like Armsmaster, busting down the school's doors and saving her from the trio.

Obviously that is just a dumb fantasy, but still. This isn't that, but it's more realistic that the closest thing she could get to someone wanting to spend time with her is a guy who only wants to do so because no one else does.

But hell, she'll take what she can get at this point. She honestly probably would have been suspicious if he had any other motivations to be honest. She knows that fairy tales don't come true.

"Sure. Deal. My name's Taylor by the way."

"I don't really care."

"Oh..."

///

February 4th, 2011

Sketchy warehouse #283

Brockton's latest serial killer

///

...Is she coming or what?

Standing inside of what was formally a warehouse full of drugs and Nazis, but is now only full of drugs and corpses, I feel bored.

It turns out, I actually am perfectly willing to kill my fellow man without it bothering me much. Then again, these are Nazis, so there's that too.

I actually started these killings before I even had the Charges to build this identity properly, but it's not like it mattered. I've kept the methodology familiar.

This body is going to be my infiltration to the ENE Heroes. Originally I was just going to go with a normal, maybe a bit shy, teenager who willingly joined the Wards program.

But then I went and got some ideas for how I can use Sophia. She's such a wonderful tool. Well, only if guided properly. I guess you could say she's high maintenance.

I feel like she could easily be a pain in the ass that just isn't worth the effort. However, I also firmly believe that she could be of great value to me. I just need to wait for the opportune moment. 

Plans within plans within plans. God I'm so fucking smart. Still without even cheating with Thinker powers. Accord ain't got shit on me.

So, with the idea of manipulating Sophia in mind, I naturally need to create a character that she'd get alone with. Like making female Qunari character so you can romance Sera in Dragon Age Inquisition.

Since Sophia is a crazy psycho bitch, that means that her romance quest requires making a crazy psycho. Not that I necessarily give a shit about romancing her, I'm not a whore that wants to fuck, but I am a manipulative bastard and love makes people dumb.

And Sophia's already dumb, so it's twice as effective. Well, whether there is any romance in this quest is kind of inconsequential. The main point is that this character is supposed to be able to control Sophia's movements.

All in preparation for the opportune moment. I have no idea what that moment will be right now, but I'm confident I'll figure it out.

Eventually, I do feel Sophia beginning to approach, just as I can feel any Parahuman power that is near me at any time. Didn't even have to spend a Charge on that too.

With her closing in, I crouch down and wait for the moment I feel her about to run through the ceiling before rising. I want to be dramatic, which means it's best if she catches me as I am supposedly standing after a job well done.

She doesn't make any noise and I pretend not to notice her take a spot up in the rafters to watch me.

Back up on my feet, I bring my sword up in front of me and flick it to the side, splattering the floor in an arc of blood. Because drama.

I'm wearing a black motorcycle helmet and black leathers as my outfit, since Vicky helped me realise that most newbies don't come out with professional outfits. Best to start with something makeshift for this character.

Sophia still doesn't say anything, so I sheathe my sword in a belt loop and walk over to the nearest corpse and start patting him down and looting his wallet. I obviously don't need the money, but I'm sure Azrael could do with the cash.

Azrael is the angel of death in Islam. Which means I think it's an edgy enough name for Sophia, who chose Shadow Stalker, to approve. Oh wait, what's that Destiny thing? Nightstalker? Nah, that's too close to Shadow Stalker.

Angel of death it is.

After patting down the fourth corpse, I get the feeling that Sophia isn't going to say anything, so I decide to initiate myself.

Azrael's power is a simple illusion type, but thanks to my Shapeshift, I made him a Brute 2, which is about as strong as I can get using Shapeshift 5.

With that in mind, I use Overactive Imagination over myself and draw my sword. Then I simply temporarily pull my teleportation power into this body and teleport behind Sophia and rest me blade against her throat.

She reacts immediately, shifting into a shadow and dropping through the beam she was standing on and onto the ground below.

I follow her, leaning backwards to avoid a crossbow bolt and falling off the beam. I flip in the air and land smoothly and silently on top of a crate, leaving me looking down at her, sword drawn, while she stands and points her other crossbow up at me.

"Woah there, no need to do something you might regret, Hunter." Sophia's voice doesn't even tremble at all. She really, genuinely believes that she is in no danger whatsoever right now.

I mean, she isn't. But still, it's the principle of the matter. Where is the caution?

Sophia's mask turns slightly, and I'm pretty sure she's glancing at the illusion of me standing where I was a moment ago, so I let that me fade away. Her attention snaps back to me at that.

"Hunter?" I ask, wondering if it's just her retarded mindset making her call me that.

She shrugs. "That's what you're in the system as. You want a different name you gotta say so."

I get the feeling that she is the reason the Heroes are calling me Hunter. To be completely honest, Hunter might actually be a better option than Azrael. It's less edgy, but it fits nicely into Sophia's worldview. That means that every time she refers to me as Hunter, her opinion of me will grow, even if just ever so slightly. 

But the thing with manipulation, is that those ever so slightly differences add up eventually. 

"Whatever, I don't care what you call me," I say, very much caring. "Are you going to shoot? I don't think I would be the one regretting if you do."

Sophia snorts. "Please. I've been at this way longer than you."

"Yet you're not even aiming at me."

Sophia immediately presses the trigger, and I swing my sword and slap the bolt aside. Alright, I was bluffing. Whoops. I really thought that'd just unnerve her. Guess I underestimated her violent instincts.

Still, I can improvise.

An amused exhale leaves me followed by a short chuckle. "Alright, that was a bluff. Aren't you supposed to be a Hero? Should you be so quick to violence? Or do you just want to get the credit before your reinforcements arrive?"

"Nah," Sophia snorts. "I haven't called this in."

"You haven't?" I pretend to be surprised. "Are you sure you're in the right profession?"

I can practically feel her scowl from all the way over here.

"Fuckin' pansies hardly gave me much choice. It was join the Wards or go to juvie." She shrugs, trying to pretend that the admission doesn't piss her off as much as it does.

"Juvie?" I once again pretend surprise. "What'd you do for that?"

Sophia casts a slow, exaggerated look around the warehouse and the various Nazi corpses.

"Killed Nazis. Only one Nazi as far as they know."

"Oh~?" I straighten up and lower my blade, making her lower her crossbows as well. "My apologies, I didn't recognise your game."

She snorts. "Yeah, they covered it up pretty well. You know how those pussies love their PR."

"It's gay as fuck," I agree. "Throwing scum like this in a cell that doesn't even hold them is fuckin' pointless. If the gangs are so willing to kill, then they should be willing to die too. Fair game n' all that."

I hop down from my crate and start walking to another un-looted corpse, keeping a 'safe' distance from Sophia .

"I couldn't agree more, which I why I'm gonna tell you that you should cool your shit for a bit."

"Fuck's that supposed to mean?" I ask, annoyed.

"It means you're gonna get caught dumbass."

I layer an illusion over myself so that she doesn't notice anything and quickly sprint behind her to avoid a delay in my response.

"I doubt that," I whisper into her ear, causing her to spin around with a backhand punch that I lean back to avoid.

"Don't fucking do that! I'm trying to help you out, Asshole!"

I shrug at her. "I don't need help, I'm doing just fine."

I gesture to the corpses as if that's proof of my claim.

I get the feeling she's rolling her eyes.

"I thought the same, and now I'm on fucking probation and have to hang out with chicken shit Wards. Look, Armsmaster is looking for you, and I might not like the guy, but there's a reason he's on all those posters. He's good and he will catch you if you don't cool off a little."

"So what? I should just sit back and do nothing while scum like these fuckers," I kick a corpse for emphasis, "Walk around like they're king of the world?"

"Are you fucking paying attention, Retard? I'm saying you gotta stop making patterns. Halberd will catch you if you do. I got caught cuz I got careless. If you don't wanna end up with a collar on your ankle like me, then fuckin' listen to me, and I'll help you keep from getting caught. Deal?"

I pretend to be sceptical, as if this isn't exactly what I set this whole thing up for. 

It's time to dig your hole just a little bit deeper, Sophia.

"Why should a trust you not to sell me out?" I can't agree too quickly.

"Because you're killing Nazis, and I want Nazis to die. One good thing about being a Ward is that I have access to a lot of information. A lot of names. The only thing is that I can't do shit about them. But you can. So what do you say? Partners?"

I eye her offered hand for a moment, pretending to think about it even as I do a giddy dance in my head. Man, I am so good at social manoeuvring. Is it weird that I've always seen people like I do maths? Like, math just makes sense to me, or at least the basics anyway, I never went too deep.

People are the same, I feel like I can just understand them. It's incredibly fun figuring out the equations that solve people in whatever direction I want.

My thoughts stay in my head as I let out a light sigh and sheathe my sword before taking a step forward.

"Fine," I say, taking her hand and shaking it. "Partners. Just keep in mind that I'll kill you if you fuck me."

She snorts. "I wouldn't have expected anything less. You'd be the one to die though."

She's fun. 

Well, she's fun when I'm playing this character. She'd probably annoy the hell out of me if I was playing as Maria.

///

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Plans within plans within plans. I'm not even joking, mr protagonist likes getting his money's worth, so he aims for every stone he throws to hit at least 3 birds. Right now it's just a whole lot of setting up, but later on, everything is going to connect together in one massive web that entraps the entire world.

I'm kinda excited about it. This is fun to write. Also probably won't bee too many chapters cuz've the style of writing not being too detail/slice of life oriented.

Also, I don't think living with his clones is doing our wayward protagonist any good mentally lol.

Powers of February 4th 2011:

Blank

*Crystalline Physiology - Brute 4

*Gestalt Duplication - Master 5

Clone count upped from 2 -> 4

****Plant Manipulation - Shaker 7

*Shapeshift - Changer 5

Potential Brute rating increased from 1 -> 2

*Matter Creation - Shaker/Tinker? 4

*Earth Manipulation - Shaker 4

*Transhumanism - Striker 4

*****Technopathy - Shaker/Thinker 8

*Long Range Teleportation - Mover 4

*Shaper - Striker 4

*****Bubble Time - Shaker 8

*No Rest For The Wicked - Brute? 4

No longer need to sleep. Can be spread through all clones as the power does literally nothing else.

*****Gravity Manipulation - Shaker 8

Manipulate the forces of gravity.

**Sode no Shirayuki - Breaker?/Striker- 5

Reduce the user's body temperature to below freezing, causing everything they touch to freeze. Can reach absolute zero but can't hold it safely. Upgrades will increase the power's area of influence.

**No Gods No Masters - Stranger 5

Can not be controlled via Master effects. Second charge allows the power to spread through all clones.

*Overactive Imagination - Stranger 4

Can create physical illusions over a wide area. Illusions can be made either intangible or solid, but shatter really easily if they are solid.

35 used Charges

7 unused Charges.

Playable Characters:

Genesis;

-Adam - Role: Leader

-Baron/Maria Volkovich - Role: Fixer/Middleman

-Plant Manipulator - Role: Drug producer

-Teleporter - Role: Transportation

-Healer? - Role: Returned Faultine's Case 53's memories via Bubble Time

-Marquis - Role: He doesn't know he's in the gang yet

Heroic;

-Bubbles - Independent Hero. Created to control Vista

-Gravity guy - Created to rise through the Protectorate

Villainous;

-Reggie - Ice villain created to control the Undersiders

Vigilante;

-Hunter - Created to use Sophia Hess