Disclaimer: First, this is a Jean-Paul Vasil centric fic. And while I don't want to promote the least likeable parts of his character, I can also not ignore them in the narrative. With that said, I'll do my best to write it in the least weird way possible. Second, I will be incorporating stuff we learn about in Ward in this story; I don't mean to spoil anything, so I won't elaborate on what is Ward, what is Worm and what is Weaverdice-ish.

Lastly, this is a work of fanfiction. The Parahumans series is the sole property of the amazing Wildbow. Please support the official release.


Rein 1.1

Being forced into ordering pizza wasn't a routine Jean-Paul enjoyed no matter how often it happened nowadays. Since Cherie was busy subduing the apartment owner, the responsibility of getting something to eat kind of rested on his shoulders. At least there were no bloodstains in the curtains this time. The owner of the apartment hadn't required violent intervention to accommodate them, this time around.

"Hey, Becky. What's up? Missing me already?" Jean-Paul raised an eyebrow. What sort of greeting was this from a pizza place? They had been on the brink of not eating for the past several days, and having dialed the wrong number was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

"Isn't this Domino's?" Truth be told, he might have dialed the wrong place. But he was hungry enough to get the number from nowhere but a pizza place. Maybe he got the names mixed up, but that only meant he gets to mess with the guy that just picked up. A win-win situation.

"Who the fuck are you?" Okay, not Domino's "That's a guy's voice. Why the fuck are you at Becky's place? That b-."

Jean-Paul raised his head, getting the phone off his face. He didn't have to ask what he wanted out loud because Cherie picked up his meaning with little difficulty. She wore a black tank top, her damp hair making it look like a strapless piece with its reach down her shoulders. She caressed the apartment's owner, Becky apparently, by the head as the petite girl breathed slowly in placid sleep.

His sister grinned, using her free hand to roll a finger to signal Jean-Paul to keep the call.

He didn't want to, he wanted to order his pizza and get it as soon as possible. But the ride had been awful, and he could use some fun.

He put the call on speaker.

"...Are you fucking listening to me?! Mark my words! I'll fucking kill you! You and that bitch are done laughing off my fucking back!"

"That explains the distress." Cherie pointed out.

"You thought abusive father." Jean-Paul pointed out, his hand covering the phone so his words wouldn't go through.

"Close enough." Cherie shrugged "Hey, are you gonna let him walk all over you? Man up and answer!" Her grinned widenned. She probably would have tried to nudge him with her power if she wasn't keeping Becky's dream so sweet, too.

Jean-Paul rolled his eyes.

"-ANSWER ME GODDAMMIT!"

"Man, you're giving off very strong small dick vibes." Jean-Paul gave his sister a thumbs up. She looked up for a moment before making a 'so-so' motion with her hand "Chill out, are you gonna take my order or not?" The guy on the other end screeched, Jean-Paul was faster and hung up. Sighing at the thought of his order not going through. He'd probably have to call another place.

"I'm pretty sure he just broke something." Cherie's attempt at being funny fell dull at Jean-Paul's empty stomach. He really needed a slice of philadelphia cheese with pepperoni and bacon on top to fix his mood "By the way, we should probably go before tonight. If he breaks in with a gun, there will be trouble."

The bathroom door opened, a slim young woman with platinum blonde hair and a short black dress stepped out. No eye-catching curves, still with her own regal charm. A frown already on her face to boost the impression of pseudo-nobility.

"If trouble comes, they will be in for a rude awakening."

Jean-Paul cringed inwardly.

"Damsel, sweetheart." Cherie got her most pleasant smile for the other woman, turning as much as she could with the girl on her lap "We know you'd just murder any and all abusive boyfriends out there, but we just got here. I'd really rather not move out of the city five hours after arriving."

She would, alright. It just so happened that her blasts are so loud Jean-Paul is pretty sure they can be heard all the way to Toronto. They are also inconveniently powerful, knocking Ashley around the place in such a way she could also knock either of the Vasil siblings if she landed on them. And that is without counting her trying to cover up when she fucks up.

Damsel of Distress, indeed. He'll end up deaf from all those annihilation blasts, he swears.

As if taking its cue, her power kicked in, strong enough to scratch at the floor besides Ashley. The young woman tumbled a little to compensate for the shift in her position.

"All of them." Of course, Cherie didn't look too amused about it. She was the one keeping their platinum blonde bodyguard in check. Even sleep was cut from her schedule just so Ashley wouldn't undo the car in the middle of nowhere with neither food nor water to wait to steal another one "I thought you went villain?" His sister added after mulling over Ashley's emotional response.

"I do what I want." Was the answer Cherie got "And no one has a say on it. If a bastard's existence offends me. You can be sure I will take cards in the matter."

Cherie made a face. Turned her eyes to Jean-Paul and made a motion as if she was firing a gun discreetly. Adamant. There wasn't much to be done there. Negative emotions would only hasten the process to get her on a bad time and they would be dead, and the same applied to strong positive ones. Which meant neither his or her powers could stop her from annihilating their bodies by accident or otherwise.

Run to America, they said. It'll be safer, they said. If he couldn't at least make a joke about it, Jean-Paul would be very displeased.

"We could put Jean-Paul to work. A puppet would raise his usefulness from none to moderate." Cherie got her brother to flip her the bird for her troubles. She chuckled it off, but turned to look at Ashley's reaction.

His opinion didn't matter, apparently. Though he would only raise complaints to mess with them. Which clearly was not the time for.

"Man, I don't know. Too much work to maintain." Jean-Paul looked through the window to his left. The curtains were hurting his eyes with so bright a yellow color. He didn't understand how someone could have such terrible tastes "What is in for me?"

Ashley's power kicked off again, and this time Jean-Paul held himself from flinching better. He would get good at that in no time, with how often it happened.

"What do you mean "work"?" Oh? Did Cherie raise her curiosity? Or did she find the idea interesting by herself? If it was the former, then kuddos to Cherie. Jean-Paul could not tell.

"Fighting off their struggles is a drag. If I'm close and awake there's no problem, but we'll need somewhere to lock him up when I'm sleepy." The time it would take to master someone was irrelevant with Cherie, which was a plus. It allowed him to basically skip the troublesome part and straight into using his puppets. And helped him keep them in check whenever the old man wanted to test the limits of Jean-Paul's power… Or perhaps his patience, he could not tell to save his life either "My beauty sleep schedule is…" He faked a yawn, and he knew it wasn't that good even without looking at the girls "...Important."

The conversation died down. Neither of the girls commented on the subject anymore, and Jean-Paul was reminded of his hunger. He left them be and went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and scanned it.

He ignored the various things that were there. He didn't know how to cook, and wasn't about to learn any time soon. So he needed something that was either already cooked or that didn't require cooking. And that tasted good, of course.

Ashley's power kicked off again, making Jean-Paul flinch. He turned around, and seeing no one behind him kept on looking for anything to eat besides that lone apple sitting where the eggs should be. He didn't want to eat just an apple, but it looked more delicious by the second. And his eyes wandered towards it with more frequency he would care to admit.

Finally, he saw the milk and looked up to the cupboards besides the freezer and blinked. He chose to endure his laziness for a moment and took out the milk, getting the apple as well before closing the freezer. A quick search got him the cereal and bowl he needed.

"Hijack." Ashley's approach made Jean-Paul shuffle in his seat. He had half of his mind in moving away a bit, but she seemed mindful enough to place her hands on her back. He chose to stay put, and raised his spoon to offer her a bit of his stuff. She shook her head.

"I don't go by that name." He kept eating, not minding if Ashley sat or not.

"Then what should I call you?" This again?

"Alec." It slid right off of Cherie, but maybe it would stick with Ashley.

"No names. We are not civilians." Ashley motioned as if to move her hands, but desisted.

"What about Cherie?"

"Your sister doesn't have a name yet, but you do." He shrugged at her words. It didn't matter too much to him, the theater side of things. But he did prefer not to be called Hijack anymore.

"I'll just think of a new one, then." It did remind him not to call her "Ashley", though. They didn't need to piss her off, even slightly. Her power was only good when it was not being pointed at the siblings. There would be no safe time to do it. And Jean-Paul would rather keep his limbs attached to his body, thank you very much.

"Do it, it's Hijack until then."

"Just call me whatever, don't care." It was a cheap move, he knew. But he tried it nonetheless.

She frowned. That looked like a no go, so he chose to present her an offering "Apple?"

Ashley stopped, staring at the fruit deviously. If it was going to grow a tail and sting her, it would sting Jean-Paul first. Or was it because she couldn't grab it? No matter, Jean-Paul stretched his arm some more so she could lean on and bite.

Her eyes closed a bit. Suspicion. Of what he didn't know nor care, his arm already hurt a bit.

She did bite on it, though. Hands still on her back, Jean-Paul would have had a peek at her cleavage if she had any. He chose the smart thing to do and kept eating, saying nothing as Ashley leaned again to get another bite. Cherie chose that moment to get close to them.

"Heads up. He's coming." Who? Oh, right? That guy over the phone.

"Am I blasting him out of this world or not?" Ashley turned to face Cherie, forcing Jean-Paul to back off as her hands now pointed his way.

"Nah, Jean-Paul can take him." His sister sent Jean-Paul a look and he shrugged. Truth be told, he would rather have at least one puppet at all times with him. But he didn't want to have to put up with the care that came with it. He hadn't grabbed anyone since Ashley accidentally killed the last one back in her town, and Cherie had agreed that it would be better if he didn't master anyone else.

Now, though. The opportunity presented itself in front of them. They would need a car, but that could wait until they had rested.

"Sure." Ashley stared him down, but Jean-Paul ignored her. He just wanted to be out of her hands' range. So he walked around the kitchen counter and returned to the couches. "Sit the girl on my lap, it'll be hilarious when it's the first thing he sees… Wait, never mind. I'll just.." He took off his shirt, tossing it out to where Becky still slept.

He stood directly in front of the door, but away from it. Stretching as he got ready to see a dumb guy with issues start banging on the door and screaming. The light of the window to his back obscured his features somewhat, but if the guy was turning into his puppet then it mattered very little.

Cherie motioned for Ashley to get behind where the door would open with a handwave. The platinum blonde didn't like that, but she silently conceded. Jean-Paul didn't need to see to know Cherie had a childish grin from cheek to cheek. She found these things more fun than he did by a wide margin, but this time she was not seizing crazed people on him nor throwing weird liquids at questionable temperatures so people would scream and wake him up, so he didn't mind.

He minded his status as bait, though, and having to rely on Cherie to catch the guy on time so no harm would come his way. But it was not as if Jean-Paul was completely defenseless either and he did want a puppet. So he could suck it up for a couple of seconds.

He still gave his sister a look, as best as he could. Just to feel like he did make sure this prank was not on him. He looked at the door when the screams and raging steps began echoing on the hall outside. He sighed and stretched his neck to either side one last time.

Cherie let the door slightly ajar. Just barely, so when the guy inevitably pummeled it with his fist it swung open without any effort.

"YOU!" As Jean-Paul expected, the guy was big, tough and red. His veins popped like he was having the hardest shit of his life. His eyes bloodshot and making him look just slightly demonic. He advanced and his words became gibberish. Jean-Paul idly wondered why fumes weren't oozing out of his mouth.

The guy reached behind his back. Jean-Paul reached out.

With a motion of Jean-Paul's hand, the guy's right knee buckled. Surprise eclipsing the flooding anger for the slightest of moments when he was forced on one knee without being touched.

Jean-Paul used his power again, and the arm closest to him seized up into a weird position. The guy groaned as a cramp made itself known for moving his limb in such a way with such suddenness. Jean-Paul closed the distance, just a couple of steps forward, and kicked the bulinking mass of muscles, hormones and anger right on the chin.

Brad fell. His routine in the gym helped him no further than to make him a bigger target. His boxing classes not even getting him into a position where losing his footing would be impossible. He fell and Jean-Paul wished he had at least finished his cereal before doing this as the only thing he had in mind.

The young Vasil turned to his left. The girl's sleep had been disturbed, but she sluggishly motioned to look around as his shirt fell off her face. Then, she slowly got her head back on the pillow.

Jean-Paul eyed Cherie for a moment, and his sister simply shrugged. He hadn't checked on the bathroom, but Cherie probably gave her something. Good call, really.

He went to pick his baggy shirt and put it back. Ashley approached the twitching guy on the ground, while Cherie closed the door.

"Well, that was easy." Cherie placed a foot on the guy's back. Checking him up and down like she was assessing the quality of the turkey she wanted to stuff for christmas.

"You didn't help." It wasn't a question, and Cherie didn't take it as one either.

"Chill, bro. I'm keeping him down, now." Cherie looked at Ashley, the girl's power kicking off for a moment before she could nod. Jean-Paul didn't know what that was about but the platinum blonde carefully picked the doorknob and went out "Don't just stare, help me get him to the bedroom."

Right. Though Jean-Paul didn't want to carry whatever the guy weighted, he did want to have a puppet. He helped her as the chilly air of December carressed his back through the open door Ashley left behind. He grumbled a little, but all in all it sure had been a great day so far. He even got a puppet before Christmas, imagine that.

Of course, that was when the window got shattered and debris flew everywhere. Jean-Paul barely had time to get his guard up and face the unknown hostiles when an egg-shaped object got through the newly made hole and into the center of the room. He should have known from all the movies, but he froze for a bit too long and didn't get to run out of the room before gas started leaking out of the grenade and he got knocked out cold by it.