This story will be tangentially connected to my other self insert stories, the hows and whys will be explained as the story progresses. For those who have read Galeem's Gift, this isn't the same Fossil that you have been reading about. For those who have no interest in reading my other stories, fear not, because each story will be largely self contained. If you haven't read Worm, Glow-Worm or Ward past the first two arcs please read those before this, the following story will contain spoilers and I don't want to tarnish your experience reading those.
I intend to continue writing this story once Ward has finished and may need to rewrite portions of this chapter at such time. Until then, please enjoy the first chapter.
I woke slowly to the sounds of birds singing outside my window. Chickadees and robins if I wasn't mistaken. The species were most likely different than the ones I knew growing up but the songs were familiar enough to almost bring a smile to my face.
A little slice of home.
I sat up, glanced around my bedroom, then flopped back down. It was too early to deal with this. Instead I pulled the covers tight around me, half my head sticking out so I could enjoy the morning music while I did my best to ignore the heaps of stuff that surrounded my bed.
There was every chance I would fall back asleep, so I made an effort to keep my eyes open, studying the ceiling as I did.
The round ceiling was supported by logs and wood boards, each with their own irregularity or asymmetry. A spot where two adjoining planks had a wide gap between them had darkened, spotted, mildew creeping into the wood. My inexperience showed in a few other spots.
I needed to fix that before the weather turned wet.
When my urge to pee finally outweighed my desire to hide in bed I groaned, flinging my legs out the side of the massive bed and pushed myself upright.
Indoor plumbing was regularly available these days, but my home predated those developments. Which meant walking through my main living space, out my front door, eyes half shut from the bright light.
"Hi Fossil! Nice pajamas!" A voice shouted out from the garden as I stepped outside.
I lifted a hand to block out the sun, spotting the person who spoke and glancing down to see what I was wearing.
Dragon pajama bottoms and a grey t-shirt. The guy had good taste.
"Thanks Archer, what are you doing here so early?" I asked, walking barefoot towards my outdoor toilet as I spoke.
"It's one in the afternoon!" Archer shouted, holding back laughter at my expense.
Of course it was.
That would explain why the sun was above the tree line around my home.
I didn't say anything more to Archer, hustling into the small stall. My composting toilet was the second structure I had built after my initial cottage and it had been renovated nearly as my times as my house. When the sewer line had reached my area, I had thought I was clever keeping my sewage off grid. Then the world ended and my fear that local infrastructure would completely collapse was unfounded, and I was stuck using an outhouse.
At least it provided fertilizer for the garden.
Leaving the restroom I spotted Archer bending down to grab a handful of cherry tomatoes and placing them in his wicker basket. The area around my house was dotted with raised beds, filled with vegetables I had grown up with and native ones I was in the process of domesticating. All of these were connected by a network of hoses and pipes to form a drip system I didn't end up needing most of the year.
"Make sure to take a couple of those squashes!" I called out. Archer stood up and frowned at me, the unapologetic sass of a teenager. "What? I thought you liked those."
"I did, but we've had squash every other night for two weeks." Archer grumbled. "Mom is trying all these weird recipes to mix it up."
"Yeah, I hear you. Maybe see if anyone wants to trade with you for something else. They'll go bad if you don't take them." I said, meandering between the beds. "I think the nitrogen levels in the soil are off though. When I chop in the leaves this fall I'm thinking of mixing in some coffee grounds. I used beans early on in the year, but it looks like they weren't doing enough. Of course coffee grounds are way too expensive these days, what with…"
Archer rolled his eyes, looking all too much like someone from a lifetime ago. A reminder of the hole left behind by their passing.
The little things were the worst sometimes.
Archer didn't say anything about me zoning out. Everyone was all too familiar with those moments when grief would bubble up to the surface and everyone was sick of the old scripts people used to offer comfort.
Sniffing, I shook my head, "How is your grandpa? Feeling better?"
"Yeah! His coughing stopped right away. He said to send his thanks, and said to ask for you to pass on his thanks to that cape." Archer said, perking up.
"I'll be sure to pass that along, just don't spread it around. Capes with healing powers are rare and I don't want anyone going through you to find him." I said. "Excited about school starting?"
Archer's eyes darted away from my face, fast enough I wouldn't have caught it if I wasn't looking at him.
"Sure, yeah, should be fun."
"What's wrong Archer?"
He looked towards the heavy gate to the outside world, most likely left ajar from when he arrived here. I could spot a mixture of anxiety, guilt, and curiosity in his face.
"Chell and I have been talking, we.. I don't think we're gonna do farming after school." Archer said apologetically.
"I thought you were excited about that, what are you doing instead?" I knew the answer, even without the ability to read minds I knew exactly where his thoughts were going. I just didn't want to be right.
"We were gonna try out for patrol group." Archer said.
I let out a sigh. "It is your decision, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't. You're a great farmer, you practically run this garden while I'm lazing around and I'm positive you'd excel with any farm you were assigned with. It would be reliable work, a source of food built into your job, you would get to be outdoors. Why patrol block?"
"Chell said that one of the older students said you get told more about capes if you join, that they tell you what actually happened on.. you know."
Gold Morning.
The word stood out in his head, even with my exercises at blocking out other people's thoughts I could feel his memories, snippets of screaming, panic, dread and a great unknowing. His world had ended and he didn't know why, no one he talked to knew why.
Almost no one.
I felt numb, thinking of that day and the days that lead up to it, followed by thoughts of eyes and tree trunk limbs and twisting claws and feathered wings.
"Hey..hey Fossil, I'm sorry I brought it up. It's gonna be okay." Archer had put down the basket and crossed the garden to me, hand on my shoulder.
I had been holding my breath without even noticing, hands shaking uncontrollably at my side.
"I'm fine, no need to worry." I said, waving Archer off, raising a hand to cover my mouth as I yawned. I distracted myself by thinking how much he had grown. When he and his family had first arrived in New Brockton he had been a tiny wide eyed child, among countless other children adrift in a new Earth. My property had become a hang out spot during those early months, an island of calm in a rapidly developing landscape. One or two of the parents would help me keep watch over the dozens of children that played in my young orchards, gardens and the playground I had hastily set up in the early days. Most kids had moved on as things had settled, but a few older ones had stuck around to help me maintain the gardens. Archer, Chell, Kim, Sal. Anne before she graduated high school. A few others.
Poor nutrition in the first winter meant that a lot of children didn't grow, or had visible symptoms of malnutrition as they did. Archer had grown like a weed, creeping up to my chin, not even at his first year of high school.
"Are the others signing up for patrol block as well?" I said, putting conscious thought towards regulating my breathing.
"Chell is, Kim is on the fence but I think she'll go wherever Chell does. Sal is sticking with farming but he has a year to go still." Archer said.
I had half a mind to tell him right here what happened in those last days, the way it played out, if it would keep him and the others from joining patrol. Keep them from an unforgiving life.
I could draw on the story version, hiding my own contributions to the fight, but it would expose me as someone who knew. Archer wouldn't tell anyone if I asked him not to, but powers meant he could still be vulnerable.
"What if I find out for you? I can go to the school, find out what they teach the patrol so you all don't have to do it. How does that sound?" I said, nervous he would take me up on the offer. Nervous that he wouldn't.
"Are you sure? I know you don't like talking about it. If it would be too hard for you…" Archer trailed off. He wanted me to, his expression contradicting his words.
"Would it keep you from patrol block?" I said, with as much steel as I could muster.
Archer contemplated for a moment. I became uncomfortably aware of a drop of sweat rolling it's way down my forehead, replaced by another as I wiped it away.
"Yeah. I mean yes it would. I can pass it on to the others as well." He said.
"Good, after work I'll go swing by the school. I might run long so if you need help gathering peaches get Kimberly to help you." I said.
I nodded, breaking away to head inside.
"Oh! Stop feeding Humphrey and the other squirrels, the cats are going to catch him if he gets any fatter!" I shouted at Archer from the doorway.
Archer waved in acknowledgment and I stepped inside.
Returning to bed seemed more appealing for every second I looked at the mess before me. The central room of the house was the largest of the three, the diameter twice that of the two smaller rooms. I had built this room in my second year here and the quality was considerably better than my bedroom. A dozen wooden beams held up the ceiling, radiating like spokes on a wagon wheel, made by hand and showing few of the blemishes and mistakes of my first attempt. Glass bottles and tiles were fitted into the compacted earth walls, allowing prismatic rays of light to stream through at the right times of day. Unlike my bedroom the cob plaster hadn't pulled away from the two window frames, blending the circular windows into the walls. It all came together to a quality home I was still proud of.
Quality that was hidden beneath the chaos.
Piles of unfolded laundry had been heaped on the couches that were arranged in a central ring, laundry I had promised myself that would only live there for a few days. Dozens of art projects, wooden toys, knick knacks and tools overflowed from the tables that lined the outer wall into the gaps between the couches. Things I couldn't part with, things I knew I didn't have the space for.
The only empty places were pathways to the kitchen and bedroom, and the mouth of the fireplace. I wasn't going to let my stuff be burned down.
I waded to a couch, stepping over spools of pinecone garland, slices of wood with hand prints drawn on with crayons, glass jars filled with native flower dyes.
Stretching my arm out, I snagged a pair of work pants, wrinkled t-shirt and a light button up from the nearest couch, along with underwear and a pair of socks. Then I made my trek back to the bedroom.
With Archer here I had missed my window for a morning shower. Afternoon shower, whatever.
Instead I flexed, calling upon a facet of my power. My skin tingled as the change spread across the surface of my body, a faint buzz similar to the feeling of reading thoughts, though physical instead of mental. To the naked eye the change was subtle, almost undetectable. On the microscopic level my epidermis was restructuring to accommodate a feature it was not evolved to handle. Dead skin was reabsorbed, sweat and dirt pulled into my body and converted into something else.
Thankfully I didn't need a reference for this, turning into a variant of myself was intuitive, and comforting, like putting on a favorite coat.
It was over in a second, my own instant shower. The only downside was that my beard was still sticking to the side from where I had slept on it.
I changed into my clean clothing and snagged my phone from the bedside shelf it was perched on. Wallet and keys followed the phone into my pockets.
Feeling somewhat put together, I left my house. I waved to Archer again in passing, meandering along the gravel path to the front gate.
Beyond the gate, the path was lined with thick hedges, obscuring sight and sound from the outside world. It wrapped around my property, acting as an extra buffer for my home. The walk around to the exterior gate was a little inconvenient, but I felt the extra privacy was worth the tradeoff. Just inside of the exterior gate was a small brick shed, nestled into the hedges.
I was mid step when someone came into my mental awareness, another consciousness. Another me. Not something I was expecting, but it never was. They were nearby, I could tell, but that was relative. As long as we were in the same reality any copies of myself were telepathically linked, no matter the physical distance.
"Everything alright?" I said to the other me, telepathically.
"Yeah, it's fine, just popping in for something." They replied.
Well alright then. They would explain more if I needed to know.
I ignored their presence and continued my walk keys jingling as I approached to the shed, hand reaching for the padlock.
"Excuse me, are you open today?"
I had been distracted by the arrival of another me, so much so that I didn't notice the small group outside my front gate.
"What? I'm sorry but what are you talking about?" I said to the elderly man on the other side of the wrought iron gate.
"The sign says this is a historical site." The man said, as if that gave him permission to tour my home. A few small children were playing some sort of game behind him, occupying themselves by racing around the sign in question. Too young to help with the reconstruction, the man was likely too old to do the same. Probably a grandparent or neighbor watching over the kids while the parents were working.
I held back a sigh, it wasn't the man's fault for the confusion. It was the person responsible for putting up that sign. The dork.
"Yes the sign is correct, this is where the first building in the city was built. This is a private residence however, it isn't available to the public." I said. "If you walk about a half mile down the hill there is a public library if you are looking for a place to entertain the kids. Most of it is still under construction, but the front portion is open."
"We just came from there, are you certain we can't see the building?" The man said through the gate.
"It isn't available to the public." I repeated.
The man's eyes fell, giving me the impression that this was more important to him than the children half paying attention to our exchange.
"Of course, I'm sorry for wasting your time young man." He said, turning to the group, "Looks like we'll be going to Zachary's early."
The kids didn't seem phased by the change of plans, but the man sagged, showing his age with every step.
I was tempted to read into why he was so invested in seeing my house, but held off to practice skills that had atrophied from lack of practice and years of isolation. Did he see my home as a monument to humanities history? Their new future? Anything more than some man's attempt at living in the backwoods of an alternate earth while waiting for the world's end to play out as it needed to.
He looked...
He looked so tired.
"Wait."
The man paused, kids turning to watch as I unlocked the front gate.
"I'll give you a tour around the grounds, just don't spread it around that I gave you one." I said, looking around to see if anyone on the street was paying attention.
The old man smiled.
It was an hour later when I reopened the front gate to let them out. The tour had performed a reversal on the group, the kids were tired, dragging their shoes in the gravel and making exaggerated sounds of exhaustion, while the old man was lighter on his feet.
"Thank you again for going out of your way. The kids loved it." He said.
"No problem, the playground wasn't getting enough use as is." I said.
He reached out to shake my hand, "take care of yourself."
"You too," I said, shaking his hand.
He left, shuffling along to catch up with his grandkids.
I watched them go, looking out over the city's skyline and the bay beyond.
Smog plumes rose from all corners of the New Brockton settlement, swirling streams that joined the clouds above. What few skyscrapers had been put up glittered in the afternoon light, their windows a mix of traditional glass and gold tinted solar panels.
Even a foot outside my gate, the sounds of activity were overwhelming, driving me to retreat back to the gate. I locked it behind me and went to the shed.
Unlocking the door, I stepped inside the cramped space. It had a single light bulb to illuminate the interior as I closed and locked the door behind me and slid the four heavy bolt locks into place. One of the walls was covered in shelves, a few tools hung from the other walls for maintaining the gravel path and such, but they weren't the main reason for the shed. The mirror at head height was.
The kids had known I worked with capes, knew that this was my 'work entrance'. From what I picked up in their surface thoughts, they believed I had a secret passage beneath the shed that connected to an elaborate system of tunnels. Somewhere in that twisted maze was the base of the capes I worked with, on those days I disappeared and left the gardening to them.
I wish I did have a secret underground base.
I felt along the side of the mirror, finding the latch and flipping it. A soft tug caused the mirror to swing forward, revealing a shallow opening containing a lone journal. Taking out the journal, I pushed the mirror back until it was barely ajar.
The first few pages of the notebook were maps, an overview of the city, individual spans and stretches. Things were changing often enough that I had taken to drawing in new labels and areas as they sprung up around the city, rather than going to the library to print a new map every few days. Addresses of specific locations and sites of interest followed the maps.
The next few pages were old photos, pictures and paintings from history books and records of people long dead. Flipping through, I found a photo of a parade, taken in nineteen twenty one. I picked a man from the crowd that looked to by my height and build.
I shifted. Flesh rearranged, hairs lengthened and shortened, bones softened to make the adjustments needed for the transformation. The process was painless, if a little discombobulating when surprises pop up.
For example, the man I had chosen was red green color blind apparently. I let my eyes revert back to my own, trusting I wouldn't encounter any Thinkers who could identify me by eyes alone on my first errand of the day.
His appearance didn't matter much for my purposes beyond being someone I wouldn't accidentally bump into while borrowing their face, but I took a moment anyway to examine myself. Lumpy chin, thick brow that protruded slightly, small forehead, pasty skin. He looked gruff, thuggish. Not my usual choice but it would work for today's job.
Flipping through the notebook again, I passed the section of portraits and searched for outfits. I moved through pages of clothing until I spotted what I wanted, an image of a black business suit, something that not many could afford these days.
A thought was all it took for the clothes to appear in my hand.
Setting the journal down, I undressed, folding up my own clothes and placing them on the shelves. The pants and undershirt fit, the jacket didn't. Dismissing the jacket, I conjured a new one, measurements corrected.
Got it on the second try this time.
I locked the journal behind the mirror and examined myself once more, tugging at the suit in places where it bunched until everything fit properly. First contacts made me nervous, even though I had done it a few times now, this was the point when I felt things could go wrong.
I looked like a hired thug, someone who could take a punch to the face and still stand, but was paid well enough to afford old world clothing, good clothing. At least that was the conclusion I hoped my contact would come to.
Somewhat satisfied with my disguise, I drew upon my powers once more. Destination firmly in my mind, I willed a gate into existence. Just below the ceiling a break in reality split open, a black plane, branching away in geometric roots away from a swirling center. Blue veins glowed against the portals light consuming outline, forming a vortex in the middle and a grid like pattern near the edges.
The portal drew me in, twisting me in a spiral that matched the openings pace, faster and faster until I breached the surface. For the first few times it made me sick, spinning so quickly. On my very first trip vomited on arrival. This time I had no such problem.
I was met by gasps as I dropped out of a matching portal into an occupied loading dock. The portal faded in square chunks from the outside inward as I touched down on the concrete floor. A half dozen people watched me, recoiling from my sudden appearance.
"Who's in charge?" I asked the nearest person, intentionally altering the way I talked. It wasn't an accent per say, I wasn't talented enough to pull that off, but with how my current form had a bit of a rasp it should throw off anyone from recognizing my true voice.
Hopefully.
"I am." A middle aged woman stepped forward, uniform put together but her eyes revealed a deep tiredness. She had an air of confidence, head held high, back straight. It would have been a convincing front if I couldn't detect the undercurrent of nervousness in her thoughts. Her name tag read Mari Geison, Store Manager. "You're late, we had the dock clear for you an hour ago."
"Busy times, a lot of people need the services my employer provides." I said, nodding to pallets around the dock, "Is this the product?"
"Yes, all the canned goods for the week." Mari said. The other employees were leaving the loading dock as we talked.
"Not much here."
"That's why we reached out, there are more farms than last year, but they can't keep up with the new folk coming from Bet."
"You shouldn't have known to reach out." I said, scowling. I made a show of looking around the loading dock, stalking around, looking in corners and behind the pallets of cans. It was for show, if someone was hiding here I would have detected them in at least two different ways by now.
"That's...I'm sorry, I didn't know." I hated making her nervous, but with her attempt at contacting me, I had to play the role.
"Not your fault Mari." Saying it in a way where it could still have been her fault. I looked at her as I said her name. "My employers are private people, very private. The fact that you heard something means someone is talking when they shouldn't."
Mari nodded, "How do we do this then? I'm new to this whole.. cape business." She gestured to the air with her hand.
I wanted to smile, do something calm her down. Instead I circled around over to her, looking around as I did, scowl still on my face, brow furrowed.
Barriers were lowered, and a flood of information crashed into my brain, inner thoughts, imaginings, undercurrents of emotions. It was a lot, but it was just one human mind. I could handle one human mind.
Mari was nervous, but I knew that from my surface readings of her. She was curious as well, not curious enough to voice her other questions about my work, at least at the moment. She also showed no sign or thought of betrayal, so I continued to play my role.
"You pay the house call fee, five thousand Trade Dollars up front. While you are getting that I confirm the location is secure. Is that camera working?" I said, pointing at the security camera by the bay door.
"It is, but nobody is monitoring the footage." Mari said.
"Turn it off, I'll cover it and you can uncover it after we leave. After you pay and leave I make a call and my employers will teleport in, do their thing, teleport out. You'll get a text when it is clear. You change your books, add an extra zero to all the products received, whatever it takes to make it look like an error in the system. Things are hectic enough no one should be digging into a happy mystery."
"That's it, no other strings?" Mari looked more concerned. "I mean, I just want to know if there are any other… expectations."
"You are expected to stay quiet, no more signs asking for the capes helping with food supply. Like I said, my employers are private people."
"What's it like? Working with capes?" She was whispering, casting around looks as if we were part of a conspiracy. I didn't know what I was doing that made her ask, but apparently I wasn't being intimidating enough. Or Mari was the type of person who would let her curiosity get the best of her. Beyond finding out if she was going to betray me or my 'employers' I didn't want to violate her mental privacy, at least not to sate my own curiosity.
"I'm paid not to talk Mari. Get the cash. Knock before entering." I said.
"Right, I'm sorry. I'll be back in a sec." With that she hurried from the room and I propped a chair under the door handle behind her, bracing the door closed..
That done, I moved to the bay door, tugging on the chain next to it. The door rattled its way down, thudding hard against the pavement. I hopped down the ledge to the bottom of the bay and latched the bay door.
The camera was a good twenty feet above the ground, angled such that it had nearly complete coverage of the loading bay. Except for directly below it. Checking again to make sure it couldn't see me, I drifted upwards, using one of the forms of levitation I had at my disposal. Once I was close enough, I conjured a thick cloth and draped it over the lens, conjuring a rubber band to hold it in place.
Room secure, I drifted over towards the door, touching down on the ground right next to the chair I had used to brace the door. The knock came just after I withdrew the chair.
"Five thousand trade dollars. I hope it's okay, I had to use smaller bills for the last thousand." Mari said after she entered the room, handing me the stack of cash.
"It's fine." I began counting the cash, not that it mattered much that I had all of it. Most of it was going to end up in the store's tip jars over the next couple of weeks any way.
"Money checks out." When I finished counting, I looked at Mari dead in the eyes, "It's like any other job."
"Excuse me?"
"Your question. Working with capes is like any other job. You've got good bosses and bad bosses, good people and the people who abuse the power they have over you. With capes the stakes are just higher, that's all."
"Sounds so mundane, when you say it like that." Mari said, her tone one of disappointment, "Is there anything else you need?"
"No." I said. "If you wish to purchase my employer's services again text the number we give you the all clear from."
"Right, I will." Mari said, shifting in place. She gestured towards the door. "I guess I should.."
"Yes."
"Right, I'll leave you to it." She closed the door behind her.
I waved a hand, a monolithic block of iron appearing in front of the door, ensuring no one was entering that way without powers or a wrecking ball.
The pallets were next my next focus. I dectupled each pallet, filling up the loading bay with conjured food. One by one, new stacks of cans popped into existence without a sound or fanfare.
With the work done, I sat down and waited, maintaining the illusion that this took time. When I felt I had waited long enough, I sent a text to the store's number I had looked up earlier with my 'work' phone, dismissed the block of iron and teleported back to my shed, cash in hand.
I would sort through the cash later, pick out a few hundred dollars for paying bills and spending money, a few hundred to donate to causes I felt important, the rest back to the store. My attempts at offering to duplicate food for free had been met with rejection and suspicion, enough so that this work around had been my eventual solution.
Job done, I repeated my process of disguising, though this time it was a form I had taken on in the past. Heavy boots, thick work pants, a tank top and work gloves replaced the business attire I had worn. The form I took was taller too, muscular in a way that a regular person would take half a life time to achieve. Square jaw, short brown hair, a neck wider than my face. All in all, this form screamed cape in civilian clothing.
I checked the map again, even though I had made this trip a dozen or so times, I couldn't trust my memory.
The faint crackle of the portal was overwhelmed by the sound of hammers, engines and voices shouting. There was no shade to be seen, the hot summer sun beating down on the apartment complex's skeleton. Sunscreen and sweat mixed with dust, tickling my nose as I stepped off my designated portal point.
"Well, well, John Doe! Haven't seen you in a while. Thought you bailed on us." One of the workers called out as he passed, pushing a wheelbarrow that sagged from the load of cement mix bags within. I recognized his face, but his name eluded me. It didn't help that his hard hat didn't have his name like it should.
"Been busy." I said, "Is Ted around?"
"Might be in his office. Hey Ev, you seen Ted?" The man called out to a woman leaning over a table covered in blue prints.
Ev looked up at the man, then to me, her eyes obscured by dusty safety glasses. "Welcome back stranger." She said with a grin.
"Glad to be back, things are crazy out there." I said, then pointed up to the complex, "It's coming along pretty quick."
"Not too quick, we're taking our time on this one. None of that leaky shit some others are putting up, my kids are gonna live somewhere nice." Ev said, swelling with pride and excitement. She put her hands on her hips, looking up at the complex with a smile.
"You sticking around this time? Be nice to get outta the tents sooner." The man asked me.
"We'll see what Ted has to say, lots of folks need help. Office?" I said, nodding in the direction of the office.
"Oh sure hun, he should be in there. Happy for any help you have to give." Ev said.
I thanked her and moved towards the office. Even with the din of construction I couldn't help but overhear them.
"Why are you so buddy buddy with him Ev?"
"I'm that way with everyone Patrick, why change now?"
"He's a cape Ev. He doesn't follow a schedule, just shows up when he pleases. No accountability."
"John's volunteering his time, last I heard he isn't getting anything in exchange for that."
"How do we know that…"
I reverted my ears back to normal, letting their voices fade into the cacophony. There was so much good that could have come from powers and parahumans had ruined it. Correction, the entities had ruined it.
I nearly bumped into the door of the mobile office, parked at the edge of the lot. Three sharp raps on the door later, I heard a voice call me in.
"Hey John, glad to see you. Anne can we hold this off for the time being?" Ted said to the familiar woman in his office.
Anne nodded, her hair bobbing as she did. She had tanned since I had seen her last, looked more mature as well. The quiet teen who helped watch over the kids, taught them carpentry skills I hadn't picked up in my years of construction, now a young woman building a future for herself.
I held back a smile, but couldn't keep my cheeks from raising.
"Excuse me," Anne said, gesturing past me.
"Sorry, forget how much space I take up sometimes." I said, stepping to the side.
It had been too long since I reached out. I needed to see her sometime, wearing my own face. Ask her the million questions I wanted to know, about her life, how she was doing, tell her about the others, how the garden was coming along.
"Could you close the door there John, there's something we need to discuss in private." Ted said.
I complied, studying his face as I did. Ted wasn't a serious fellow, leading with enthusiasm and hope in the wake of the end of the world. Smooth bald head, heavy frame, dirty office attire because he refused to stay behind the desk. With that in mind, the creases around his eyes, his pursed lips, the undercurrent of anxiety in his mind, it made me worry.
Had tension with capes gotten so bad he couldn't allow me to continue helping.
"First off, it's a relief to see you. I was worried you had finally gotten caught up in a fight, got yourself hurt." Ted said, settling into the chair behind his office.
"You don't have to worry about that. Crime fighting will never be my thing, I'd much prefer to build, or haul as the case may be. Besides villains have been laying low for two years, holding to the amnesty for the most part, I don't see that changing soon." I said.
"And we are all thankful for that. That does remind me, can you come in tomorrow at four AM, we've got a shipment for the fourth floor coming in. If you could help, it would save my crew a day of stair carry." Ted said, tapping his hands on his desk.
"I can do that, shouldn't be a problem."
"Good, that's good. Really good."
"That wasn't what you wanted to talk about was it?" I asked.
Ted's face fell, nervousness swelling.
"What I'm about to tell you, I need you to keep quiet. I could lose my job, a lot could go wrong if this gets out before the final decision is made. I need your word that you won't tell a soul."
"You have it, I'm in this to help."
Ted nodded, glancing out the window between the shades.
"Upper management has been in discussion for weeks, talking about the employee housing priority benefits. There is a lot of pressure to take those away, put all current and future housing units on the market instead of only a portion of them." He sighed, rocking in his chair. "We can barely afford to pay our workers enough as is, and they don't complain because they think they'll get out of the tent cities before winter. Most wouldn't be able to afford housing for years if they had to pay market price, heck with how many new people come to the city every day some might be retired before they could get out of the tent cities. If Mortari did this company wide, it would be a shitshow as it is, but I've heard through some contacts that RBR might change their equivalent policy at the same time."
"So the workers can't just switch companies to keep the benefits."
"Exactly. Some of the other construction groups might be in on it as well, who knows." Ted said.
"That's awful, they can't think that will go well." I said.
"I won't pretend to know what their thinking." Ted said.
"Why tell me though? I help unload, move stuff when your crane is out of commission. I don't have any pull in this." He couldn't know my connection to Sierra, not that I had spoken to her for years. She might not even remember me, what with everything going on when I first showed up in Bet. A single voice on the board of RBR wouldn't be enough even if I could convince her, even with her position as a mayoral candidate.
"If this happens, the workers aren't going to roll over and take it. They'll protest, march at the very least. I'd join them too." He balled his first, setting it on his desk. "If it comes to that, can I count on you to show up on our side."
Cape backup, that's what he wanted.
"I'm with you, if they pull that bullshit, I'll be shoulder to shoulder with you." Ted's shoulders lowered, tension releasing all at once.
"That said, I'm not getting in a cape fight for this. I've been there, done that and I'm not doing it again. If the Wardens have to come in to break up protests, I'll help them before I fight them." I said.
Ted's face flushed, wrinkles deepened. The vein on his forehead protruded as I spoke.
"So you'll help your own before us then. Should have known."
"Hey, I didn't say that. I'm telling you that if you want me to fight the Wardens and whatever other hero teams they pull in you can forget it."
"That's what they'll do! If we get too organized, if we get too much power they take it away! I was there, when they put down riots back home, they pulled the same horse shit then and they'll do it again, just the names and faces have changed. You all haven't changed a lick."
He had risen to his feet, accent creeping in as his voice rose.
"I'm not them, I volunteer with construction, help with farming. I. Don't. Fight." I punctuated each word, though kept my volume down.
"Get off my job site." Ted growled.
I didn't say a word, conjuring a portal, I allowed the tug to pull me through, warping me across the city back to my shed. The singular bulb buzzed above me.
I tried not to take it personally. Resentment was building, even with the rapport I had built with different contractors over the last year, most had snapped at me, insulted me, kicked me off the site. Probably because I was someone with power who they were confident wouldn't lash out at them.
I didn't have it in me to check and be proven wrong.
I dropped my disguise, oversized clothes hanging off of me. My true face looked back at me in the mirror.
The dark circles under my eyes had faded slightly after my fifteen hour sleep, though they showed the exhaustion I felt post confrontation. Red, brown and blonde beard hair flowed from my face in curls and waves, reaching my collarbone and spiraling towards my right shoulder. Blonde hair cascaded around my head and face, reaching my shoulders. Long ago I had kept it short, but with how much I went out in other forms I had neglected to keep my own hair a manageable length. A hairy mess, hiding the person beneath.
The tank top from my cape disguise dangled off my wide shoulders, exposing muscular arms, pasty white despite the season. I had once been lean and tall, but powers meant any muscle mass I gained wasn't lost with time and what was gained was gained quickly and dramatically. No reason to work out any more.
Why had I told Archer I'd go to his school today? I was so done with people for the day, for the year.
I wanted to go back to bed.
Wanted to do so, so much that I drew upon a power I resented using.
I stepped forward, reality shredding in a me shaped hole, edges flapping from the atmosphere flowing into the void. Glancing back, I watched as the hole sealed behind me, just to be sure nothing or no one followed me.
The hole sealed, taking the last pinpricks of light with it.
To my eyes blackness was everywhere, a black that my eyes could even process. Dull patterns swam across my vision, ocular organs struggling to understand something not meant to be fully understood.
Thankfully I didn't need my eyes to sense what I was looking for.
A vast river lazily flowed through the darkness, countless streams and trickles branching away like tree limbs. They in turn branched, and again and again beyond measure. My senses didn't extend far, just to the nearest flow and the offsprings, but I knew there were many others like this beyond my view.
I could feel them, other places I had been, will be, could have been, out in the void. Tiny lighthouses in an ocean of time and space, guiding me to safety.
The world I came from was out there somewhere, I just couldn't go back.
I drew upon my strongest levitation power, overpowering the immense forces holding me frozen in place, dragging my body in a direction it wasn't meant to go. Through this nowhere place I crawled upstream and plunged back into reality, tearing another me shaped hole, this time near the ceiling in my bedroom.
Floating slightly over, I lowered the power to my levitation and fell slowly down, onto my bed.
"Everything alright?" My voice said in my head.
"Yeah, it's fine, just popping in for something." I replied.
There wasn't a response, just like I knew there wouldn't be. I wrapped my blankets around me tighter, putting a pillow over my ears when the sound of kids chattering outdoors became loud enough to keep me awake.
As I drifted off to sleep, my mind wandered. I watched through my past self's eyes, as he gave the tour to the old man. He was talking about the techniques we used to garden the first year we settled out here. Halfway through the conversation one of the kids spotted the playground we had set up the fall before last and they all rushed over to play on it.
My body slept and my mind continued watching as he saw the group off, multiplied food, talked with Ted and returned more tired than before.
I was still drained, but I had promised.
I woke myself up, groggy from the short nap. Peeling off my oversized clothes, I dismissed them and dressed myself yet again to face the day. A quick peek outside showed that no one was looking, so I portaled straight from my home to the roof of a building I was familiar with near New Brockton High. Seconds later, my past self broke through the fabric beyond realities.
New Brockton High was a nice school, even though most other buildings in the neighborhood had a functional tilt at the expense of aesthetics, the school had both. Brick was alternated with large gold tinted windows, covered walkways connected the main building to the adjoining wings and murals had been put up on the majority of open space. It predated Gold Morning, and I wouldn't be surprised if my sister had a hand in making sure extra funding had been shifted to the local schools before and after everything had gone to hell.
It didn't mean it had all the solutions however.
"No, there isn't much to tell. Our Patrol Group program is newer than most. We are only starting it this year and our Patrol Block Captain is still settling in." Principal Knott said, leaning back in her chair. "I can understand your concerns, even though Patrol Group is expected to disengage if a situation becomes hostile there is an inherent danger working with or around capes."
The situation felt too similar to my conversation with Ted, talking about the dangers of capes.
"Do you have an idea when the Captain will be open to talking?"
"I do not, he was a Junior Captain near the New York central area, I believe he is still unpacking from the move."
"Gotcha, and school starts on the…" I trailed off.
"Seventh of next month."
"Right, so I have a little over two weeks. I guess I'll check in next week if that works for you?" I said, hands on the arms of the chair, readying to stand.
"One moment, there might be another option, if you don't mind a bit of a trip." She said.
"Shouldn't be an issue, what are you thinking?" I said.
"I've heard good things about the Bridgeport Patrol, based out of Wayfair High School. They have a cape expert working for them, we were planning on reaching out and inviting her to talk to our group later in the year." She explained. "You'd want to call ahead, what with the commute, but they should be open by this point. Though they'd be closed by the time you'd get there today."
"Thank you, I'll check them out and come back in a few days if that doesn't work out."
"Oh, if you are looking for what is publically available about capes and.. that day, I doubt you'd find a better source than that, save the Wardens." She said, looking a little choked up. She composed herself and continued, "You are welcome to come back any time, however I can't promise I'll be able to meet in person once the school year starts."
"Thank you again, I'll be sure to do so at some point in the school year."
I put on my sunglasses before exiting the school, bracing myself as I pushed open the door.
The heat felt all the more oppressive on leaving the air conditioned hallways of New Brockton High.
I was fireproof, hell I could be lava proof at that and the humid warmth still felt miserable. Being in public without a disguise meant I couldn't shift into a more comfortable form without drawing unwanted attention. This wasn't a dimension where glasses were all it took to hide one's identity.
I hopped down the wide steps of the school's front entrance two at a time. Across the street was a warehouse that had seen better days, the brick walls covered in a mural of blue mountains that faded into indigo ocean waves. Probably was used for materials when the area was first being built, but had fallen out of use as the city spread away from the original Brockton Bay portal, new warehouses popping up as needed.
Not many people were around, enough that I couldn't teleport in the middle of the street, but few enough that an alley in the shadow of the warehouse was sufficient to hide me from view.
Portal created, I went through, arriving a hundred miles southwest of where I had been standing.
And a mile up.
I called upon a levitation power, a minor one, that left me gently floating in air as if I was underwater. The wind drowned out the sounds of the city at this height and nearly tore the sunglasses from my face. Even with the direct sun exposure, it was cold, nearly freezing. Much more comfortable.
Few capes flew this high, I was probably one of the few in the city with a form of flight, cold resistance and could handle the sudden pressure change. Even so I glanced around for anyone nearby, just to be sure.
Satisfied with my privacy, I began to drift lower, looking for a suitable landing spot.
The Bridgeport span looked to be around ten miles of glittering gold towers and sprawling residential complexes just inland of the coastal estuaries, marshes and inlets that had largely been filled in Earth Bet.
And my home world.
The farm land on the western end was an ideal touchdown point for privacy, but it was too far off to be a practical one regarding time. Thankfully I was good with navigating from a top down view.
I conjured another portal, reappearing on the highest skyscraper I could see near the neighborhood the school should be in. The wind wasn't as bad here, but I still held a hand by the side of my face, ready to grab my sunglasses as needed.
Walking between the solar panel arrays covering the rooftop, I inched towards the railing, peeking over the edge. The cars on the road below looked like insects, the people barely noticeable outside of a crowd. My stomach flipped, dizziness urging me to back away from the drop.
I could hover thousands of feet in the air and not blink an eye. Edge of a tall building and my fear of heights became nearly crippling.
I pushed through, knees feeling weak. Tearing my eyes from the street below, I pulled the folded paper from my pocket slowly, the semi-updated map of Bridgeport. Wayfair Highschool didn't have something as convenient as a name in large letters on the side of the building, but it's location was deducible from its position relative to the coastline. Picking it out from the landscape of buildings, I warped to the roof.
A few minutes waiting for people to pass, I warped to a shaded alcove, out of sight.
Wayfair Highschool was post Gold Morning and it showed. Less attention had been given to appearance, and more to getting a big blocky brick building up as quickly as possible to house the next generation a few hours a day.
When I walked through the front doors there was air conditioning, but it barely made a difference.
I was directed towards the Patrol Block Captain's office by a woman who hadn't stopped speed walking down the hall even as she gave me directions. The office door was partially glass, textured or a layer applied to obscure details, but I could still tell someone was inside.
I knocked.
"Come in," A gruff voice called out.
Entering the room, I held back a sigh. My meetings with Ted and Principal Knott did not end the way I had hoped, but both had an air of welcoming when I first arrived.
This man did not.
He was frowning, bushy eyebrows nearly obscuring his appraising gaze. The impression he gave was ex-military and the texture of his surface thoughts made me think PRT specifically, someone trained to compartmentalize their thinking as a safeguard against Masters and Strangers. His bald head was beaded with sweat.
"What do you need?" He said.
"Hello.." I scanned for his name tag, "Captain Gilpatrick. I wanted to ask about the Patrol Group Program. Some of the kids I watch over are going into highschool this year, and are planning on going into Patrol. What sort of information are they given about capes and cape involved events as part of the program?"
"Less than the students who don't join the parol, we give priority access to our records for those outside our program. Anything else?" The Captain said.
"That's...that's good to hear." I said, letting out a sigh. "I've been trying to convince them to go into the farming work study program instead, they just.. they have a lot of questions and thought Patrol block would have the answers."
Gilpatrick nodded, expression softening, "A lot of them think the same thing."
"Could I see the records? I know it's for students, but I want to bring at least some facts back for the kids, show I did the leg work." I said.
"I'll call our cape expert, if she is up for a visitor I don't have a problem with it." He said, pulling out his phone.
I nodded, tuning out Gilpatrick as he made the call.
"What's your name son." He said.
"Fossil." I replied.
He repeated the name into the phone, made a noise of agreement and hung up.
"She said it is alright with her." He said, "Her office is across the street, above the showers. The stairway is on the outside of the building. If you get lost ask for Victoria's office."
"Thank you Captain."
"You're welcome." He said, "Sorry for the less than warm welcome. I just got off the phone with the third angry parent of the day, expected you might be the fourth."
"Oh I've been there, no worries. Hopefully it stays at three today."
I left his office, the empty hallways echoing with the sound of my footsteps.
After I left the building, I ended up needing to loop halfway around the school before I spotted the showers with the outdoor stairway. The wood creaked as I walked up to the door, entering the office.
The first thing my eyes fell on was stunning. An entire wall filled with binders, magazines, books and more. PRT Confidential, Costumes Under Clothes and Case Zero were just a few of the titles I picked out from the rows. It was a cape geeks dream. I felt excited, excited in a way I hadn't felt in too long.
"Hello, are you Fossil?" A voice asked.
I turned to the speaker and found myself floored once more.
She was beautiful, but her beauty wasn't the first thing I noticed. It was the exchange.
A conservation was taking place right next to me. Strings of commands, information and feedback were being sent through the woman's head, to a thing, broadcasting its response to her brain so loudly it was impossible to mistake the source. Calculations of local object velocity, adrenaline levels, connection strength to layered mass stored in nearby dimensions and more were flowing to and from the unique lobe in her brain, the signals filling up my own head in a slurry of raw data.
A shard of the entities that had invaded this planet and died in their attempt.
This shard was small, its voice quiet compared to many I had encountered, yet it was a booming yell compared to human thoughts. It wasn't a core function of the entities, instead it seemed to be a piecemeal thing, made up of parts of other, bigger shards if the signal it was broadcasting was any indication. That didn't mean the power it provided wasn't dangerous if leveraged properly.
This woman was a parahuman.
This woman had just asked me a question and I'd been staring awkwardly at her.
"Yeah...yeah I'm Fossil. You're Victoria right?" I said, reaching out to shake her hand. A faint sense of deja vu crossed my mind.
She took my hand, giving it a firm shake, "That I am. Gilpatrick said you wanted to look through my files."
"I do, I didn't expect this. This is amazing." I said, gesturing at the wall. "I was expecting a file cabinet or two, not this."
"Thanks, it was a lot of work putting it all together." Victoria said, pride emanating from her thoughts, swirling through the mental pathways connected to her passenger. Her smile was intoxicating, distracting me enough that I didn't hear her next couple words, "... for something specific?"
I scanned the wall, wanting to just start at the top and work my way down. "Yeah, I'm looking for… well for context I'm in the process of convincing teenagers not to join patrol, no offense intended."
"None taken, that would explain why Gilpatrick sent you my way. He does everything he can to scare new students off and too many still join." She said, brushing a strand of platinum blonde hair out of her face.
Her hair was long, reaching past her waist, well maintained. She wasn't wearing much makeup, what she did wear was expertly applied, making her eyes seem like crystalline pools in the dappled office light. The skirt she wore ended just above her knees, exposing athletic legs that made me think she worked out regularly, or had a minor Brute power.
She wore a white undershirt that gave hints at the shape of her body beneath. A black jacket hung on her chair. Again a passing sense of familiarity came to me. Which was confusing, with how attractive she was there was no way I'd forget her face. Geeky, gorgeous, powers, I was tempted to ask her out for coffee, probably would have too if I wasn't focused on a personal mission.
"No doubt, everyone wants to know more about capes." I said, "Which brings me to my point, said teenagers have become convinced that joining patrol block will give them access to information about.. about Gold Morning."
The term was guaranteed to cause a surge in brain activity, pushing through the mental barricade I held, giving me flashes of her memories from that day. Sounds of screams, crying, the world falling apart as expected, all heard in stereo beyond what a normal person could hear.. Her unique memories surprised me, beams of golden light, some glancing off her skin.
No, not her skin.
Her forcefield.
The forcefield that clung to her skin, her arms, recurrent, repeated, viewed through dozens of eyes.
I was talking to Glory Girl. The Glory Girl.
It had been years since I had read Worm! but I almost felt a little embarrassed it took me this long to realize who she was. Though from what I knew, I expected her to still be.. to look different.
To look like the form her sister had turned her into.
"That is a rumor we have been trying to curb. The patrol block doesn't know or share anything beyond what the public does." Victoria said, pulling her arms up, crossing them.
She had avoided including herself in that statement. A lie by omission, another thing we both shared.
"Understood. Sorry for bringing it up, I just… I don't want them to get tangled up in that life. Not if they have other options. I'll pass on that info, hopefully it will be enough to deter them." I said.
"It's fine. Is there anything else you need?" Victoria said quickly, her fingers clutching at her skin. Her thoughts had moved from the fight with Zion to a room, seen from multiple angles simultaneously from within. The images looped, playing moments of people gazing on her, the faces distorted, the emotions displayed exaggerated by the memories having been replayed so many times.
"There is one thing. Do you mind if I hang out and read? I'm a bit of a cape geek myself, but I've never had access to this much in one place." I said, redirecting the conversation.
She didn't say anything at first, her storm of emotion subsiding enough that it no longer breached my mental barriers, "I'm locking up in half an hour, but until then I don't mind. I can get another chair for you from downstairs." She said. She wanted an out, from what I could still perceive without prying, she wanted to go somewhere else and compose herself.
"That would be great. Though.. what hours are you in? I could come back other times, until I read it all or you get sick of me sitting in the corner." I said with a grin.
"As long I can still help students who come by, that should be fine. I'll have the door open at eight and lock up at four thirty on weekdays." She said. Her posture relaxed, fingers no longer digging into her forearm.
"Sweet," I said, giving a quick glance to the shelves, meandering towards the door. "I have an overview of Bet's history but it will be nice to fill in the gaps."
"Oh, which Earth are you from?" She said. I had expected her to end the conversation there, but apparently focusing on something else was enough for her to calm down. I turned on my heel to face her.
"That's a good question, not sure actually. As far as I've been able to tell I'm the only one who made it here from my home Earth." I said, scratching the back of my neck.
"I'm sorry." Victoria said, looking like she genuinely meant it.
"Yeah, though I did luck out in some ways. Found my sister pretty quickly after arriving in Earth Bet back in twenty eleven, well a version of my sister, our shared mom had kids around the same time for the same reasons in both Earths."
Another spike of emotion crossed her mind, and I kicked myself internally for bringing up sisters. Victoria looked like she was about to say something when my phone chimed. I pulled it out and took a quick glance.
Smartass:
I will pay you to come home right now
"Umm, well, speak of the devil. Sorry, apparently she wants something, one sec."
Victoria nodded, leaning against her desk.
Me:
I don't need money, and your stupid sign led to me giving a tour today. Not feeling that generous
Smartass:
Lol
The long con pays off once again
Seriously, what will it take to get you to warp here right now?
I was halfway through my reply when she sent another text.
Smartass:
I'll set you up on a date with the girl you are talking to
Me:
I'll bite, how do you know I'm talking to a woman I'd date?
Smartass:
You're minorly agoraphobic
Can reliably overcome to help people you care about/wearing an alt form
You don't answer this number in alt form
You'd jump on a chance to come home unless still helping or talking with someone dateable
You saw Archer this afternoon, told you about patrol block
You're talking to a patrol block squad captain you'd bang
Easy peasy
Now come home
My head's gonna explode
I was fairly certain she was skipping a number of steps in her logic, assuredly due to her migraine.
"Sounds like I need to rush off, minor medical emergency. Thank you again for everything Victoria. I'm excited to read some of your collection. It was nice meeting you." I said, sliding my phone into my pocket.
"Hope everyone is alright. Nice meeting you too." She said.
I stepped out of the office and looked around for a hidden point to warp away.
I found it behind a dumpster, not the most appealing but it served the purpose. Portal conjured, I reappeared in the shed. Unlatching the door, I left the shed, sealed it, and walked quickly along the gravel path homeward.
When I slipped through the inner gate I spotted a young boy, no older than ten, leaning against one of the garden beds, slouched down as he watched my chickens wandering the lawn. His head turned my way as I approached, red brown hair done up in a fauxhawk.
"She's inside Mr. Wilbourn." He called out.
"Thanks Aiden." I said, hurrying to the front door. "You can call me Fossil when she isn't around you know."
Aiden shrugged, apparently not wanting to get caught up in our sibling conflict.
Swinging the door open wide, I almost mistook the person in the middle of my stuff as Regina. Her eyes and upper face were covered, leaving everything else that they shared. Slim build and long sandy blonde hair, coupled with habits seemingly designed to annoy me.
Despite my protesting, she still went out in costume, though she wasn't wearing it at the moment. Still used a name that was well known in the cape scene throughout the city. Still insisted on being a super villain, being Tattletale.
Lisa was sprawled out on one of my couches, dirty flats on a pile of dried clothing. What looked to be a wet washcloth was draped over her forehead and eyes.
"Really, your migraine is so painful that you couldn't have taken your shoes off?" I grumbled.
"Something has mildew in this pile, you'll have to wash them all again anyway. And yes, it is that bad, do your thing already." Lisa said, stretching her arm in my direction, otherwise not moving from her position.
I stepped carefully over my things, tapping Lisa on the finger. A wave of blue light washed over her body, collecting around her head like a halo.
"Oh thank god." Lisa said, rubbing her temples. She rolled her head in a circle, neck popping.
"You really need to stop pushing so hard. One of these days I'm not going to drop everything just to heal you." I said.
"The world needs to be put back together first, then I can take it easy. Retire to a beach somewhere." Lisa said.
"You'd get lonely." I said, lifting my leg high over the debris. "Scoot over."
Lisa sat up and shuffled towards the end of the couch, letting me climb onto the pile of laundry. I turned and she leaned back, so we were back to back, supporting each other and facing opposite directions.
"It's been awhile since we've caught up. How have you been?" I asked, eyes wandering around the mess that was my house.
"Eh… some good some bad. Putting out a lot of fires lately, anti-cape attitude is getting worse by the day. Something is going to give soon. There are a lot of signs pointing towards war before winter." Lisa said.
"I encountered some of that today actually. Ted finally kicked me off the job site."
"It was a matter of time, he's been nursing a grudge against capes since o seven when the crew he was on was held hostage by a villain in Texas. Moved east after that and dealt with more fallout from capes all the while. He only tolerated your presence because he thought you'd keep other capes from pushing in on his work sites."
"Stop.. just stop pushing your power, you're gonna give yourself another migraine." I groaned.
"I'm not, I did a bit of digging when you started volunteering. Wanted to make sure he wouldn't sell you out to a villain group. You're welcome by the way." Lisa said, pushing against my back.
"Thanks, sorry for jumping to conclusions. Today's been rough. Ted 'fired' me, I've been powering through my agoraphobia as you pointed out, had to talk about Gold Morning a few times."
"Hmmm, fun." She said, her tone flat. "Do you have any plans for when school starts? I don't want you moping around here when the kiddos are all gone."
"No. Glow-worm is happening right now so the events of Ward are probably going to start soon. My original plan had been to get involved, but I don't know where to start and I really, really don't want to get involved, you know?"
"So you don't have any plans?" Lisa said.
I was about to speak when Lisa interrupted. "You don't know what will happen anyway, even if you had read Ward, your part in the fight against scion changed things. That point two percent of the population, those billions you saved will cause countless minor changes, deviating from the original timeline. You spent two years hiding so you wouldn't disrupt the timeline, now it is, there is no point stressing it about anymore, so stop stressing it!"
"Okay, but with all the pre-cogs out there, wouldn't even numerous minor deviations be corrected and accounted for, keeping the timeline mostly directed towards the outcomes they want." I said, preparing for a debate. "And the vast majority of those I saved were on different Earths, not those connected to Gimel."
"We aren't getting into this topic again, besides I won this argument last time we had it. You don't get to bring it up again as if that didn't happen."
"No, you didn't win, you said your power indicated that wasn't how it worked. Your power isn't infallible and it definitely doesn't accurately predict stuff from my home Earth." I argued.
"We also aren't getting into the debate about whether this reality is all fictional or if Wildbow has the ability to view across dimensions. You wanted me to hold back with my power, and I am. So that means putting ongoing debates on hold too."
"Alright I concede on grounds of your medical well being." I relented.
"Good, so back to the plan thing. Once school begins, you move into an apartment near my place, get away from all this." I could feel her shift, no doubt swinging her arm at the clutter, "We'll see each other more often. Lily and Sabah might actually hang out with the rest of us if you are hosting and if you miss watching the hoodlums I'm sure Aisha would love for you to watch the Heartbroken from time to time."
"I appreciate wanting to hang out more, and it would be nice to see everyone else out of costume, but I've put a lot of work into this place, I don't want to leave it."
"Fossil, I say this out of love, but you've built yourself an island and you need to leave it and get out in the real world. The house is cool, I'll give you that, but it isn't healthy anymore. I know you know it isn't healthy." Lisa said, sitting upright and turning to face me. I pivoted so I could see her face in turn, "How are you going to feel when you bring that girl home to this?"
"You're really confident about my relationship skills." I said, eyebrow raised to show my skepticism.
"I'm confident because you have the coolest sister in this entire reality helping you get a date. Except no one is going to keep dating you after seeing this. You need to move out or take a bulldozer to this heap." Lisa said.
"Alright, I'll consider moving, I'll consider cleaning up too. Either way I am holding you to that dating help."
"Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Alright, lay the deets on me, when are you gonna see this girl again?"
"Soon, she's the cape expert for the patrol block based out of Wayfair High, has a huge collection of cape material and doesn't mind if I stop by to read it while she's there." I said.
"Cape geek huh, you have something in common then. A reliable way of making contact and longer term strategies are in play." Lisa said, eyes up towards the ceiling, muttering to herself more than me. "How does she dress."
"She had a black skirt, her shirt was a little tight, tight enough to show off her figure but not so tight that it was unprofessional. Boots, I think she had an outer layer but had left it off, probably because her office was warm." I said, thinking back on the scene. "Oh and a bit of eye makeup, not much. Looked really good."
"I'm gonna take some liberties and assume she is up on the latest fashion. Cares about appearance, good chance she'll care about yours as well. You have to shave." She said.
"Hey I'm doing you a favor here!" Lisa said as I began to roll my eyes.
"No, you are paying me back for a favor I did for you, I'll shave but keeping a half inch or so of my beard." I said.
"Make it seven eighths, it looks better at that length. You need to trim your hair, and wear something that hasn't been rotting on your couch for a month."
"It hasn't been there a month." I said.
"It has. Moving on, any idea where she's from, a sensitive topic these days, true, but it could help gauge what her expectations are around dating. Different culture would be nice to know, if she isn't from Bet." Lisa said, counting something on her fingers.
"I'm like ninety nine percent sure she's from Earth Bet," I said, shifting my mouth slightly to give her a mischievous smile, the one she used on me all too often. "Just as sure as I am about where she's from. Brockton Bay."
Lisa froze, one of her eyes twitched.
"What. Is. Her. Name?" She said, eyes narrowing at me.
"Victoria."
"SON OF A BITCH!"
"Hey our mother was a gentle soul." I said.
"Your version maybe. Gah! I can't believe my brother has the hots for Glory Hole of all people." Lisa said, hands digging into her hair. "And you knew, when I offered to get you a date you fucking knew this would happen. Do you even know what that bitch threatened to do to me?"
"Yeah, I've read the bank heist scene like a dozen times, I remember, I also remember you being a total asshat right back at her." I said. "Also, don't call her that, you're better than that."
"You don't get to talk right now, talking privileges revoked." She slammed her hand over my mouth, pressing my mustache against my lips. "No telepathic talking either, I need to focus. Nudge me if I get off topic."
I chuckled, muffled as it was Lisa glared at me for it all the same.
Victoria Dallon working as a cape expert with patrol block, not in New Brockton, liked the original city; sees the settlement as a pale reflection or avoiding Undersider territory, doesn't matter either way.
Collected books, more, stuff that takes resources and time to accumulate; invested in cape life, invested in staying with patrol block.
"Did she refer to the books as hers or the schools?" She lifted her hand from my face just long enough for me to get out a single word.
"Hers."
Hand re-applied directly to face.
Invested, keeps separation between her belongings and the organization's; not committed to staying indefinitely, investment in helping stability not specific organization or group.
Wants stability, to do good; invested in keeping the monsters at bay, solving the problem of villains, disarming them or locking them away.
She gave me a look.
Was present at Gold Morning, was healed at Gold Morning, hasn't joined a hero team in two years; can't or won't join a hero team, possibly both.
Has a violent background, time away from the streets, additional issues from her time in the asylum; hero teams would be hesitant to recruit her.
Has years of experience, continued studies of capes even after time in asylum, maintains large collection of cape materials, popular heroine in her time and area; hero teams would hire her eventually if she was trying.
Avoiding getting back into the cape scene.
All the while, her lips weren't moving. If I looked beyond her stream of consciousness I could perceive the way her shard was guiding her, connecting stray bits of information and forming a greater picture. It never gave her everything it knew, sometimes giving her false leads intentionally, held in reserve, instruments of conflict meant to sabotage its host.
Not that it risked it if I was watching, her shard seemed to have learned not to misdirect her while I was double checking it's work. Even so, she was sticking to just the basics, not throttling her power like I knew she could and risk another thinker headache.
It still gave me a headache to look at that much raw data.
Lisa continued to parse through the information I had given her to work with, limited as it was.
Finally she spoke out loud.
"Okay, doesn't seem to me like she is going to be a problem to me so I'll help, but we need to lay down some ground rules, even if you and Vicky don't become an item." Lisa said, withdrawing her hand from my face. "I've been meaning to bring this up anyway, for whenever you get off your ass and help the city."
I nodded, "I'll get to it eventually, I just want to stay out of the spotlight a little longer."
"First rule, if she gets into the game again or you date another cape, you steer her the fuck away from me and she never learns my identity. Ever. No subtle hints, no half truths like you're fond of, if she asks about me you lie your ass off, tell her I work in housing and leave it at that."
"Yeah, agreed, I'm not going to risk your well being over a girlfriend. A potential girlfriend." I said.
"You say that now… second rule, if you get pulled into the game, we have each other's backs. If it means pretending to fight, sure we can do that, but you'll redirect any efforts against me you hear about, you let me know about any plots in advance, and I'll do the same on my end." Lisa said.
"Fair, but there is no way I'm dressing up in costume and fighting crime." I said.
"You are awful at saying no to people you like. If Vicky asked I'd bet it would be less than a week before you were wearing spandex."
"Armor maybe, you're the one who thinks spandex is an acceptable material to wear in the middle of combat."
"Touche. Third rule, and the most important." Lisa took a deep breath. "If I tell you a relationship with her is bad for you, please please please, listen to me. Everyone with powers has issues and mine are telling me Vicky's issues have issues. There is a significant chance you'll bring out the worst in her, or she'll bring out the worst in you, just by the nature of what you both are. I need to know I'm not walking you into a situation I can't pull you out of."
I nodded, mulling over her rules as I did. "Alright, but only if I can read your mind at the time to make sure it isn't because of the conflict engine in your head."
"If that's what it takes, then yes, sure, absolutely." She looked relieved, leaning into my shoulder.
"Anything else?"
"Nah, that covers everything I'd be concerned about. I have some big stuff coming up so we need to get this done ASAP." Lisa said.
"So in a few days?" I said.
"Oh no, I'll stick around tonight to plan out our strategy. Because tomorrow, we are getting you that date."