In which Lisa talks to the Devils, Daniel talks to Riley, and someone else talks to Lisa.
It wasn't that hard to find the mall. Lisa had the address, she knew the location.
Danny went with her, of course. Still a little drunk, by her guess, but he could walk.
Rachel followed too, along with her dogs. Lisa didn't try to stop her.
God whispered in her ear all the while. She felt as though the voice was filling some gap left by her anxieties, playing on her expectations.
'Are you going to ask the devil to absolve you of sin?'
She didn't think the answer was yes. All she wanted was an end to the voice. Even if it was irritatingly right half the time.
She would have talked to her company, tried to drown the voice out, but Rachel wasn't chatty at the best of times and Taylor's father was as likely to explode at her if she opened her mouth as he was to just ignore her.
So it was silence and God for her.
As they approached the mall, something faded into the back of her head. A pulsing sensation, a faint pressure. If not for the silence, she might have missed it, buzzing up and down.
For a moment, she thought it was just a headache. But it didn't feel quite right.
It's not a headache.
Rachel and Danny didn't seem to notice anything.
Lisa stopped, tilted her head. What was it, then?
It happened when you approached the mall. The Devils are doing it. A Master ability?
She glanced to her companions and found her eyes instinctively wandering forward, back towards the mall.
Rachel noticed she had stopped. "Fuck you standing there for?" she grunted. "We got places to be."
"I'm just thinking," Lisa deflected.
Danny just turned around and blinked, looking altogether lost.
Drawing interest. Drawing people in. Subtle. Might not affect everyone in the same way.
"It's nothing."
The others accepted her words at face value when she started walking again.
Of course, it wasn't nothing. It was absolutely something. But what was she supposed to do about it, really?
At least the signal seemed to keep God off her back. Her headache was even going down a little.
Lisa suspected it was too good to be true. But, again, what could she do?
So she continued onward until she reached the mall.
Entryway rebuilt with scrap metal, melted plastic. Parts of a car, twisted into new shapes. Tinker work. Venus?
Lisa didn't know what to expect as she stepped past the gleaming wires and shimmering glass, feeling the Signal bounce around in the back of her head.
A pack of animals milling around wasn't it. A handful of wild dogs, along with a couple of larger cats and what might have been a fox, circled around each other in the hallway, barking and yapping and playfully chasing.
Rachel gave the little swarm an odd look. Her own dogs seemed pretty happy too, their tails wagging faster and faster as they walked.
Expecting friends. At ease. Being influenced.
Huh. So it affected animals too, she mused.
And then she stopped walking.
She definitely hadn't expected to see a giant tree with glowing sap.
It wasn't unreasonable to see Aisha there, but wow was it different seeing her in person. For a moment, her eyes had trouble sliding off of the shining stone, other things falling away from her mind - unconscious memory manipulation - in favor of the statuesque girl's form.
Then Aisha met her eyes, raised an eyebrow, and Lisa finally tore her gaze away.
Seeing the Devils, now, that was no surprise. Expected, really.
Alec in a skirt? Weird, but okay.
Three random civilians? Something weird was definitely going on.
They were about to play drinking games.
She looked at the mugs at their sides.
Lisa could see it, but that was even stranger, honestly.
Alec, standing with an Asian boy in a red jacket, raised an eyebrow. "Hey Lise, Rache."
Rachel grunted her acknowledgement.
Lisa just let out a fractional sigh.
Another civilian, a dark-haired girl, shakily raised her voice. "A-are these your friends, Alex?"
"Something like that," Alec- Alex?- replied offhand. Okay, what? New name. Feminine? Gender-neutral. Almost identical to previous name: chosen impulsively. Comfortable with new name. Comfortable with clothing? Mostly. Bought it recently, bought it today, imperfect fit-
Lisa blinked, cleared her mind.
Neptune sighed, fixing her with a focused gaze. "You can join in if you want to, but I'm guessing you're not here for that. What's up?"
She breathed in slowly. "We need to talk. And… I think Danny needs to talk, too."
Eyes turned to the adult in their midst.
The man squirmed, looking utterly lost, obviously out of place next to a veritable swarm of youths, half of them capes. "Daniel Hebert. T-... Lisa thought you could save my daughter."
Riley shot up. "Oh! Her! Taylor, right? I already saw her. I gave her some help, made sure she won't get worse, gave her a shot at recovery. But bringing her out of the coma outright… that'd be an undertaking. It won't be easy."
His eyes widened. "But you'll do it?"
She chewed her lip. "I can. I would. But I don't know if they'll let me. I'm supposed to be under supervision, and the kind of stuff I'd need to do to heal Taylor… we're talking central nervous system repairs. Opening up her brain and poking around in it. They probably don't trust me enough, Mr. Hebert."
His gaze sharpened, and his hands tensed, gaze focusing in on Riley even more now. "Who's 'they'? The PRT?"
Now it was her turn to squirm, and she slowly nodded under the weight of his stare.
Danny's lips tightened. "And you're sure you'd have to… There's no other way?"
"It's the only way I could do it, I think. Might be able to figure out something a little less invasive, but I'd have to get down in there one way or another." She scratched her head, offered a little frown. "Someone else might be able to do it, but I don't know anyone who would. So for now, it's this or wait and hope. She should be stable, at least, but even I can't tell you how likely she is to recover on her own."
He let out a slow, tortured sigh. "Fine. Fine, then. I'll talk to the PRT. It's not like I have anything better to do," Danny mused, a hint of a dark growl painting his voice.
"Okay," Riley mumbled. "I, uh, I'll need to set aside a day for it anyway."
He nodded his thanks, and she returned a smile that might have been meant to be reassuring but mostly just showed anxiety.
Lisa caught Rachel glancing that way too, something intense and wounded dancing in the shadow of her eyes under the weight of silence. Even the dogs stopped barking, sensing their mistress's tension.
Aisha broke up the quiet with a cleared throat just before it became unbearable.
"Weren't you gonna say something, Lise?"
The way she looked at Lisa made it clear that she knew exactly what Lisa was supposed to say.
"Oh, uh." Lisa flushed, feeling a little embarrassed and unusually anxious. She didn't like asking for things, especially…
"...maybe we should take this somewhere more private?" she asked, glancing meaningfully at the three civilians.
The dark-haired girl blinked. The black boy raised an eyebrow. The Asian boy narrowed his eyes.
"Are you talking to me, or everyone other than me?" he challenged.
She frowned. "It's Devil stuff, okay? I need a Devil's opinion. It'll just be a minute."
Rachel suddenly stepped up next to her, fixing the Devils with a glare. "Haven't they fucking hurt you enough already?" she growled, not to them but to Lisa besides her.
Still, everyone heard it.
Dark-haired civilian lost her breath for a moment. The two boys blinked, mouths half-open. Alex (Alec?), ever unfazed, simply raised an eyebrow. Danny's eyes widened, though less in surprise and more in recognition.
Aisha shook her head. "Easy, Rachel. Easy."
Riley shot up with a cry, jabbing her finger at Rachel in defiance. "Nuh uh! My mommies would never do that! No way!"
Jupiter blinked, fidgeting a few hands against the grain of the tree, nails sliding against the sprawling roots. "I don't… understand?" she muttered.
Venus blinked too, then shifted closer, her eyes focusing in on Lisa, much to her discomfort. At least the Devil didn't peer too closely before she found whatever she needed, frowning as she spoke. "I can see it. You're hurting. But…"
Neptune let out a long, troubled sigh, shifting her weight from side to side within her body. "Dunno what we could have done to you, but whatever. You need this to be private? We've got this whole mall to ourselves. C'mon, let's get a room."
One of Rachel's dogs growled, the three seemingly over their previous ease and glaring at the Devils as one, along with their mistress.
"You think I'm going to let you fuck with my - with Lisa?"
"They're not...trying to fuck with me," she managed.
Rachel scoffed. "That's just fucking words."
Venus frowned. "If you're worried about her, you can come with her. You two are friends, right?"
She didn't immediately have an answer for that, glancing away with that same scowl temporarily directed at nothing. Eventually, she turned back in the general direction of Venus, trying not to meet any eyes as she nodded.
Neptune clapped her hands. "Alright! As I was saying. Room, getting. Follow us!" She rolled and sloshed her way towards what might have been a storefront once, now covered in drapings of steel vines and gypsum flowers, with a simple arch of metal foliage for an entry. After a moment's pause, Jupiter followed suit, and Venus floated casually over, her eyes back towards Lisa and Rachel.
Lisa looked at them, sighed, and began to walk. Her teammate caught up with her in short order, her hounds arrayed in front of them both.
Behind them, Lisa heard Riley's fading voice. "...my mommies wouldn't hurt someone like that, would they? Not unless they were hurt first, right?"
"Probably," Aisha agreed. "Sometimes things don't go according to plan, though. Anyways. You're Taylor's dad, huh? Now I see where she gets it from."
"Gets what?" the confused man in question asked. "Who are you, anyways? She… talked about her friends, but you don't…"
"I'm Brian's sister. Aisha. Pleased to meet'cha, I guess."
He made a noise that might have been recognition, but Lisa was already tuning them out in favor of what lay ahead.
It was a dining room, of a sort, scattered with round tables of various sizes, three or four or five or six chairs surrounding each one. Both were made of the same swirling, organic designs as the entryway, cast in metal and glass, with beds of pure white feathers woven into the seats, drawn into threads and pillows and cushions. Lamps hung from the ceiling like fruit, swinging without a breeze, their light softly wandering across the tables, meeting and mixing that of the lanterns in the center of each table, looking for all the world like fireflies trapped in jars. There was even what looked like a kitchen, shelves and cabinets and appliances melding into the drywall, distinct from the dining area but without any walls or barriers between them.
Lisa stepped onto the tile interior, glancing down at those same patterns written in silver, feeling the floor give under her like wood rather than concrete. She glanced back up towards the Devils, but caught a hint of… something in the corner, something in the way the scene changed as she moved, something at once disturbing and awe-inspiring, like the room was too big to fit inside its own walls-
Negatively curved space. Angles of a triangle add up to less than 180 degrees. Exterior walls match surroundings, but interior area is larger than normally possible.
Her head span, staring at the impossible scene. She was starting to get an idea of why the Devils were so enamored with religious metaphors.
Neptune flowed up against a table, sprawling across the glass surface with a casualness belying the tension in her eyes. Venus distracted herself with curious glances at Rachel and her dogs, though she maintained a respectful distance from the anxious canines as she settled in against her girlfriend. Jupiter wrapped her hands around the back of a chair or three, tapping fingers on ironwork.
Lisa found the support of a chair herself, leaning against it rather than sitting as she cautiously met the depths of Neptune's gaze. Beside her, Rachel stood, her hand tight on her lead as she stared down the Devils, daring them to move.
Finally, Neptune spoke.
"You wanted to talk. Talk, Lisa."
She let out a breath involuntarily, pulled it back in, and spoke, her words soft.
"Since that… thing with the ice cream, I've been hearing whispers. The voice of God, I think." Or at least that's what you'd call it.
Jupiter reeled back, as if she'd been slapped across the face.
Venus's eyes widened, and even her wings flared as they turned to Lisa.
Neptune blinked, before offering her response, alarm dripping from every sound. "...well, shit."
A moment's silence, punctuated only by quiet growls. Then the Devils dissolved into a cacophony that might have been an argument, almost talking over each other.
"We're the devil! Helping people hear her is one thing, but making them hear God? I mean, people don't need any help to hear God!" Jupiter wailed.
Venus shook her head. "If it's not us, it must be her, right? I mean, everyone else hasn't reacted like this."
Neptune sighed. "Venus."
"What? Oh. U-uh, sorry. I didn't mean it like that," she stammered.
Lisa took the apology for what it was, offering Venus a brittle smile, one which the devil nervously returned.
"But I mean, you're not wrong," Neptune continued, shooting her a smirk. "Not just everyone hangs out with Bitch, after all."
Lisa blinked. This… probably wasn't going anywhere good. Actually, no, this was bad. This was really, really bad. She stepped back a bit, feeling the hands brush against her skin as Jupiter watched in curious silence, knowing that she was within the Devil's domain now, that if they wanted to stop her, there was nothing she could do.
Neither her power nor the voice of God responded to her stress. She didn't know how to feel about that.
Rachel's eyes shot up, locking with Neptune's gaze.
"You know who I am," she said, her face leveling out even as her fingers tightened on the leads.
"Yeah," Neptune drawled. "I mean, you're not really hiding it. Not very well, anyways."
Venus blinked innocently. "Wait, uh, who is she?"
"Rachel Lindt? Hellhound? Bitch to everyone who isn't the PRT? Wanted for serial murder? Not that I'm judging, fucked up shit happens and I'm sure you have your reasons."
Neptune smirked, just barely hiding her teeth, her eyes never leaving Rachel's face, meeting the darkening gaze as Lisa prepared to bolt-
"You've got a really cute fansite, though."
Tension flowed out of Rachel as quick as it came, replaced by a look of pure befuddlement. Lisa probably looked about the same, honestly.
"You do!" Neptune insisted, her laughter not unkind. "People love you, girl. At least, for a random East Coast villain. I think you're almost as popular as Uber and Leet. Well. Okay, they're not doing so hot right now, but…"
"Hey, I get that. Dogs are nice," Jupiter commented.
"People are shit at dogs," Rachel grumbled.
"I guess so? They're not that hard if you know what you're doing. My family had a hound back before camp, and she was such a sweetheart…"
"Oh! I think you mentioned her a couple times?" Venus piped up, her smile glowing in a million metal reflections.
"Probably," Jupiter agreed. She allowed herself a wistful sigh tapping her fingers on tabletops, and it didn't take a Thinker power to see her getting lost in her memories.
Neptune cleared her throat. "I'm sure she was a good dog. All dogs are, or so I hear." Her eyes trailed over towards Lisa, and Lisa glanced up at her, feeling the tension fade. "Anyway, if you're Bitch, then you're… Skitter? No, Tattletale. The psychic one."
"That's me," Lisa confirmed. "Or… well, no, that's not quite right, but close enough. You don't care that I'm a villain?"
"I certainly don't want to help you do anything evil, but nah," the Devil dismissed with a literal wave of her hand. "Like I tell everyone, we're not heroes."
"I like 'situationally ethical,'" Venus added. "We try to be good people! Or, at least, uh, I do. I dunno about Neptune."
The girl in question grinned viciously, enough to make Rachel take a step back even though the look wasn't directed at her.
"So, you're psychic?" Venus continued, as though nothing had happened. "Maybe that's it. You know things! Revelation is the domain of God, after all."
Lisa blinked. "Wait, don't you have Thinker powers too?" And if she was really going along with all of this, then… "And if the 'domain of God' matters, well, you're literally the closest thing to a biblical angel I've ever seen. Closer than the Simurgh, and I've seen people speculate that her form is an intentional evocation of the -"
"Please don't remind me of that," Venus interrupted, a minuscule shudder running through her whole body. "That thing offends me on a level I didn't even know was possible."
"Beyond just being a terrifying monster, you mean?" Lisa couldn't help but quip.
The angelic girl shook her head. "You made your point already. Please stop."
Weary eyes stared at her with disdain, and Lisa gulped. "A-alright. Moving on."
"Maybe you just had a bad time at Sunday school," Neptune suggested, a smirk playing across her face.
"That's stupid," Rachel promptly announced. "You're stupid."
Neptune stared at her, nonplussed. "...hey now-"
"So what is God actually saying to you, anyways?" Jupiter interrupted, a little too quickly.
"About how bad a time I had at Sunday school-" Lisa started, only for Rachel to cut her off with a hiss.
"Who even has school on Sundays?" she grumbled. "Stop being stupid."
...surely she'd had at least a little Sunday school bouncing through the foster system?
Still, Lisa took the comment for what it was, closing her eyes and remembering the whispers that had been hounding her in the hideout, that had followed her all the way until the Signal had blocked them out at the mall.
"Not very nice things," she murmured. "Talking about how I'm bad and weak, all the things I've done…"
Suddenly, Venus's eyes flared. "The things you've done. Responsibility?"
Lisa blinked. "I… suppose?"
"That's a feeling others can impose on you, but at the end of the day, aren't you the one who feels guilty? Guilt comes from within. You're not hearing God. Or, well, maybe you are, but that's not the point." Venus spoke quickly, her wings fluttering as thoughts danced across her eyes. "You're hearing yourself! Oh, it all makes sense now! The villain feeling guilt for her crimes!"
Rachel fixed her with a glare. Venus eep'd, slipping back from the angry dog girl.
"...the girl who happens to be a villain feeling guilt for things that may or may not involve breaking the law?" she tried.
Lisa was hardly paying attention anymore. The words echoed in her mind, despite the Signal that had long faded into the background. She sees so much but she sees none of the things that matter. Who are you to think your words mean anything but pain?
Was it really the voice of some strange God?
Or was it her own voice?
Was Venus right?
A vibration in her pocket snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hold on," she mumbled. "This might be important."
Venus nodded respectfully, letting Lisa flip open her phone and take a look.
Information on Devils
Of course. Of course it was Coil. Of course that was what he was asking.
She looked back up at the trio of alien, monstrous, divine, human, beautiful, terribly flawed girls.
That about fucking figured, didn't it?
A/N: hey I'm not dead
big thanks to Dusky for some last minute betawork