Chapter 28
*** Tall Dark and Sexy ***
"Pfwhahahahaha," was probably the best approximation for the sound coming out of Aisha while she was rolling around on the floor.
Brianna groaned, and tried to stand up again, quickly falling over before she could take a single step.
"C'mon, it's not that hard," Jesse said, her superhuman balance helping her walk on the torture machines.
"You literally have superhuman balance and reflexes, stop laughing!" Brianna told her. "How the fuck do people walk in these things?"
"Very carefully," she replied.
"So, is Panacea still around?" Aisha asked, trying to say the words in between bouts of laughter.
"We'll meet up tonight to turn back, if everything goes according to plan, why are you asking?" Brianna replied.
"Well, I've been looking at your new rack, and quite frankly, I'm jealous!" Aisha said.
"I have to agree, it's quite impressive," Jesse added in.
"Well, I'm glad you're both enjoying my new booty," Brianna said. "Now where's my mirror?"
"Awww, my big sis wants a mirror, you want privacy to go with that?"
"Shut up."
"I must say, these clothes are pretty cool, where'd you get all these dresses?" Jesse asked.
"Just… let's just go all right."
*** Assuming Direct Control ***
Almost everyone in the protest was carrying a sign, saying things like "stop hate now," or "Equality must come from all sides."
They were, of course, all losers, because Alec knew that he quite obviously had the best sign.
'Haha see this is why real protests are amazing, you can actually use more than 140 characters, I mean, seriously, do you really believe you can create social change with short bite-sized statements instead of with rational, well-argued thesii?'
The best part, of course, was all the hot protesting college chicks in yoga pants coming up in order to try to read the tiny letters on the sign.
The problem, of course, was that his girlfriend was currently looking over his shoulder, literally, and a hyperlethal mass of lightning-quick, ridiculously agile tentacles chased off most women. Most, but not all. Garrotte had an army of protest-signs, mostly based around the idea that fighting against body-shaming would eventually also stop people from giving Case 53's strange looks. Alec didn't think it was going to work, but Sveta was really enthusiastic about it, and the torrent of chemicals it released in her brain also made him happy.
For about a year now, he'd been using his power almost every waking moment. Unlike when he'd been with his father, he wasn't doing it maliciously. His girlfriend, Sveta, was a Case 53 that didn't have perfect control over her body, and her long slender agile tentacles. Luckily, he had the ability to take control of peoples bodies, hijacking their nervous system. And unlike Sveta, he did have perfect control over her body.
Over the year, they'd worked out a system. He'd stay away from Sveta's face, and didn't interfere when she was slowly, with control, moving her tentacles around. On the other hand, when in battle, he would assume total control of the whirling mass of death, and quickly take out most of their enemies from a distance, imprisoning them within her tentacles in a way that she would not have been able to do without killing them.
He looked around, trying to spot the rest of his team. He spotted Spitfire and Faultline, hiding as civilians, first. They were melding into the crowd, shouting about stuff every now and then, and keeping an eye out for the Protectorate, seeing as Sveta, Newter and Gregor were the type of people to easily attract attention. Then again, they had an uneasy peace, mostly because "Protectorate bigots arrest peaceful protesters for belonging to hated minority group," was a bad headline. And hey, the only thing wrong in the headline was that supervillain probably didn't count as a real minority group.
Together, the two of them marched on, with Sveta yelling random protest phrases, and people around him praising him for being so diverse as to have a Case 53 on his shoulders.
He spotted someone else coming towards him, a thirty-something Latina woman with long black hair, that he was pretty sure wasn't looking at the sign, but at him. Looking at him intently.
"Sorry lady, you're a bit too old for a threesome, not interested," he said pre-emptively. Either he'd dodge a bullet, or he'd get a hilarious facial expression, both counted as a success.
"Oh, too bad, I've always wanted to date a Vasil," the woman replied.
"Well, my dad's not into milfs either, but you could try Cherish, she'll do anything," Regent continued, not missing a beat.
"Haha, very funny. Where's your boss?" the woman asked.
"This time of day? Probably the strip club, removing what little clothing those ladies are wearing," he replied, as his boss snuck up behind the lady, striking at her back with a Taser.
The Taser, of course, did absolutely nothing, but hey, it wasn't his fault they were going to lose, so he had that going for him.
