The night before the bank job, Lisa Wilbourn, better known as the Thinker-class villainess Tattletale, sat in front of her computer at the Undersider's loft base as she tried to improve on the plan for the next day's heist. Her plan was as good as it could get, taking into account the fact that the Protectorate Heroes were all going to be out of town for a fundraising event, leaving only the teenage Wards and Glory Girl to deal with (and wasn't that a stupid flaw in the procedures? Not even a single professional hero left to hold down the fort. In a city like Brockton Bay). Honestly, this would be almost a complete cakewalk if there weren't any unforeseen variables if not for one thing she couldn't account for. That being the Unbound.
She didn't know what it was, but for some reason her power, the ability to cold read and extrapolate from even the smallest amounts of data, could not get much more from them than what Lisa would be able to on her own. Every member she'd met had almost completely no sold her power, leaving her with only some basic impressions only marginally more detailed than what she'd get if she turned off her power completely. Not that she could. It was always on. Which caused further issues with the Unbound, cause trying to get more information off them just gave her a headache, yet she couldn't stop.
Still, despite what some might think, Lisa's prodigious intellect didn't all stem from her powers. She'd already been damned smart and observant before she ever got them (though not enough, she always reminded herself bitterly when that thought cropped up, remembering what caused her to Trigger) so she could still apply what little she knew. And simple fact was that just from what she'd learned of the three members she'd met, and what she'd looked up on the other known members, the Undersiders had no realistic way of getting away from them. She could think of dozens of ways Nevermore alone could use his portals to completely screw them. And that wasn't including the fact that she had the nagging feeling he was a lot more powerful than he'd displayed. Not that she had any concrete proof, seeing as he kept out of the public eye enough that even the PRT only knew his name from conversations with the other patrolling members. The Undersiders knew more than pretty much anyone else did about the mysterious leader of the new cape team.
Unfortunately, calling the entire thing off wasn't an option. Lisa's 'boss' (ie, the bastard almost literally holding a gun to her head to force her to work for him), the supervillain Coil, had been the one to decide on the job, the date, and even the exact timeframe. That told Lisa he either needed something from the bank, or was using it as a front for something else. And that meant that he wouldn't allow for any deviations.
Lisa knew that the bastard's Thinker power was some sort of precognition, but she didn't have the exact details. Still, if he wanted them to continue the job in spite of the Unbound's possible interference, that meant one of two things. The first, he found the Undersiders expendable enough that it was worth their getting caught in order to achieve his goal. The second, and the one that she was finding more and more likely, was that whatever it was about the new heroes that gave her powers trouble, it was also no selling Coil's power.
'Coil surprised by after action report on Ruby Dreams Casino heist when Unbound first encountered. Did not know anything about them till informed, despite having used powers to influence the outcome. Outcome not compliant to what he had foreseen. Unbound similar to Endbringers and Scion, Thinker powers, especially precogs, diminished/completely useless on them. Coil's only information on Unbound is PRT reports and what Lisa has provided. Not informed enough to take them seriously.'
Well that was interesting information. Lisa mentally gave her power a pat on the head before focusing on the immediate problem. If the Undersiders were captured and turned over to the PRT, Lisa would be in deep shit. Coil would either break them (more specifically, her) out enroute, or he'd have her killed before she could tell the PRT about the moles and backdoors Coil had among their men and their systems. And she found the second option most likely, because he damn well knew she loathed him and would love to screw him over by making him a higher priority target. At the moment he wasn't considered a threat, especially compared to the other gangs in the city, but that could change quickly. It was why she knew he monitored her communications and movements. She was useful, but a potential liability.
'More useful working with Undersiders on the jobs he orders at the moment. Instant that changes, will cage Lisa and use her strictly for intelligence gathering and as planning aid. Will likely addict her to some Tinker drug to make her more compliant.'
Right, that was the reason being busted out by him on her way to lockup would be about as bad as a bullet to the brain. The odds of him letting her continue to work with the Undersiders after that was about fifty-fifty. Not odds she was entirely enthused by.
Lisa rubbed her temple, feeling a headache begin to approach. Her only option at the moment was to find a place that Coil wouldn't be able to get her. The problem was, he not only had moles in the PRT, but also pretty much every other gang and organization in the city. So if she decided to throw away what morals she had and join up with the Empire for protection (and the idea made her skin crawl. Fuck Nazis), she'd likely still end up dead pretty quickly.
She glanced over at the contract Nevermore had given her, set aside from where she'd thumbed through it out of curiosity once. If she could convince the Unbound to keep her and the other Undersiders in their custody rather than turning them over to the PRT, that would be her best chance. She'd happily sign on with them if they could protect her from, and even stop, Coil. The problem was getting in contact with them, because she wouldn't exactly be able to make her intentions known during the heist itself. She wouldn't be surprised if one of the responding PRT troopers 'accidentally' shot her in the head the instant she tried. And inside the bank… Well, it was an option, but she'd rather not leave this to chance, since she didn't know who from the Unbound would respond to the robbery. She'd have to take a gamble.
Quickly heading over to PHO she found various threads on the Unbound and its members. Hoping and praying that they had a Thinker on staff, she began leaving responses in the related threads which seemed like innocent questions or observations but had certain things either highlighted or emphasized so that, if taken as a whole, would form a coded message to the group.
Once she had finished posting the last message she sat back and sighed. Now she'd just have to wait and ho-
She practically leapt out of her skin when her cellphone rang. She stared at it, surprised. Had Coil realized what she'd been trying to do? How could he? He didn't have the kind of Thinker power that would let him do so.
As the phone rang again Lisa quickly picked it up to find an unknown number was registering as the caller. And it wasn't one of Coil's proxy numbers (he may use software to hide the actual number, but there were only about four dozen dummy numbers that actually reached her from him, and she could recognize them easily now). Answering the phone she quickly brought it to her ear. "This is Nancy." She said, using a random name she thought up on the spot, just in case.
"Hello Tattletale, this is Cortana, with the Unbound." A woman's voice said pleasantly.
Lisa blinked, surprised. "That was… quick." She said, her power coming up with theories on how this woman knew to contact her and discarding them just as quickly. Then her brain caught up with the situation. "Wait, how did you know to contact me at this number?" Then she remembered the little detail that Coil monitored and recorded all her conversations. "This line-"
"Is secure." The woman, Cortana, interrupted smoothly. "The tap on your phone was easy to isolate. As far as whoever is monitoring you is concerned, your phone hasn't been called at all, and has in fact shut off because you forgot to plug it in and the battery ran out. Even then, this line is encrypted to the point that Dragon has personally assured me it would take her at least an hour to break through and listen in. Even more now that she's helped me patch what few holes I had. Now, what can I help you with?"
Lisa's mind worked as fast as it could. Despite the fact that she was only listening to Cortana's voice, her power was working at half strength at most when it came to her, just as it had with all the rest of the Unbound. Some aspects of what she assumed was a Tinker simply made her power come back with a '?'. Still, she had what she wanted, because at the very least she was able to determine that this woman was telling the truth about being with the Unbound.
After a moment she nodded to herself and began to speak. In for a penny, after all… "Alright, here's the situation…"
Amy Dallon, aka Panacea, the world's greatest healing cape, absently thumbed through a magazine in boredom as she waited in Brockton Bay Central Bank's lobby. She'd needed to withdraw some money for the stupid double date her sister, Vicky, aka Glory Girl, was dragging her on, but the damn ATM had eaten her card, so now she was waiting for the bank manager (who had attended to her personally, because of course he did) to finish seeing what was wrong.
Tossing the magazine back onto the table she'd gotten it from in disgust she decided to people watch in order to pass the time. Unfortunately for her, that was just as boring, seeing as they were all just standing in line for the tellers. Even trying to diagnose any problems they might have just by looking at them in order to train herself not to rely entirely on her powers was dull as hell. There was nothing of real interest about them in that respect either.
Her attention was drawn when a woman in what Amy assumed was her early twenties sat next to her. She was the kind of attractive that made the healer acutely aware of her own mousy plainness, with an aristocratic face and long, lustrous dark hair. Her clothing was somewhat old fashioned, but not so much that it was distracting, and it seemed to fit her. Honestly, she was the most interesting looking person in the entire bank, so it wasn't surprising her gaze was drawn.
Her interest was peaked further when the woman pulled a psychology journal out of her bag and began reading it, her green eyes intent on the article she was focusing on. A psychology student, perhaps?
"Is there something I can help you with, Miss Dallon?" The woman asked calmly in a British accent as aristocratic as her looks, glancing over at Amy from the corner of her eye with an eyebrow quirked.
Amy flushed, realising that she'd lost herself in studying the woman to the point she'd been staring. She blamed her boredom for making her latch onto the only interesting person in the entire bank. She didn't bother asking how the woman knew her name. It was obvious, after all, since Amy was not only one of the top five most famous capes in the world, she was also a member of New Wave, whose identities were all public knowledge. At least some conversation might help her pass the time, especially as the woman didn't seem like she was going to start gushing about what an honor meeting her was, or ask her to fix some minor issue. Or worse, ask her to make her boobs bigger or something equally stupid. "Sorry, I just noticed that you were reading a psychology journal. I mostly deal with MDs, so I was curious. Are you a psychology student?"
The woman shook her head, setting the journal aside to turn to look at the younger girl fully. "No, I'm already practicing." She held out her hand with a smile. "Alice Liddell, at your service."
Amy reached over. "Amy Dallon." She said unnecessarily, shaking Alice's hand, her power immediately going to work without any conscious effort on her part. From what she could tell, Alice was in exceptional good shape. There were some scars and signs of previous trauma, including a couple of scars on her wrists that almost made the teen grimace, though she reigned the reaction in. She'd seen worse, after all. Beyond that, Amy assumed she was some sort of athlete, as the only people she'd found that were healthier were generally capes.
And it was clear that this woman wasn't one, and didn't have the potential to be one, either. The masses in the brain that controlled powers, the Corona Pollentia and Gemma, weren't there. While the Gemma was rare, only found in people with active powers, the Pollentia was a lot more common in a large number of the population, being an indicator that a person could trigger.
Letting the woman's hand go Amy quirked an eyebrow. "Already practicing? You must be a prodigy."
Alice shook her head. "Not at all. I simply had some advantages when it came to learning what I needed to."
"I could say the same." Amy said with a somewhat bitter smile. At Alice's look she quickly wiped it from her face. If she was any good a psychologist then the older woman would definitely have noticed, and likely inferred more than Amy'd like.
Such as the fact that she was tired. Even she knew that she was overworking herself, spending almost every available moment at the hospital healing even the most inconsequential injuries, sometimes for people who didn't appreciate it, simply acting like it was expected of her, even as she lost sleep to do so. A combination of an unhealthy guilt complex and a growing bitterness were weighing her down because of it. She knew she was overworking herself when she felt utterly and unreasonably spiteful towards a young boy she'd cured of cancer, to the point she'd actually considered causing him harm. Unfortunately said guilt complex kept her returning to help people who her increasingly angry mind told her didn't deserve it, thus perpetuating the cycle.
That combined with other messed up factors in her life, such as her unhealthy infatuation with her adopted sister, and her adopted mother's struggles to love her, left her life in what could only be called a toxic situation.
"Is everything alright?" Alice asked carefully, observing the teenaged cape with an analytical eye.
For a moment Amy wanted to say no, to yell, to scream at everybody to just leave her the hell alone, but before she could do anything the doors to the bank burst open to admit a huge monster of a dog bearing a costumed teenager on its back. It was quickly followed by another two equally monstrous animals bearing three more capes.
"Alright everybody." A muscular young man in motorcycle leathers and wearing a motorcycle helmet with a visor sculpted to look like a skull said loudly. "In case it wasn't obvious, this is a robbery. Don't do anything stupid, and no one gets hurt, even financially. The bank is insured, so you won't lose anything but some time. Now, if you would be so kind as to move to the back wall?"
While he was speaking the other capes had spread out, the blonde girl in a purple costume moving over to the bank manager, who had been on his way back to Amy when they entered, throwing an arm around his shoulders companionably and beginning to talk to him with a disquieting grin on her face, her free hand holding a pistol. The boy that looked like a Renaissance Faire reject was twirling his staff absently as he walked over to watch over the hostages, while the burly girl in a dime store mask looked after the dogs.
Amy was distracted enough by the arrival of who she recognized from descriptions as the Undersiders that she jumped in surprise when someone took hold of her shoulder. She looked over to find Alice leading her to where the rest of the hostages were congregating. "I know you're a cape, Miss Dallon, but let's not take any chances. While I'm sure they'd rather take on Lung on their own rather than harm you, there's always a chance of an accident."
The bitter, impotent anger that had been festering in Amy for months curdled in her stomach as she glared at the Undersiders. Alice was right in that none of them would even think to harm her, considering pretty much every cape in North america would come down on them like a ton of bricks if she got so much as a scratch, but she still wanted to smash their faces in. Or, more realistically, give them all sorts of debilitating conditions that would leave them a whimpering mess for the rest of their lives. After all, despite what she deliberately made others think, she couldn't just heal.
Still, for the moment she allowed herself to be pulled over to the far wall, sitting down and watching the Undersiders work, Grue quickly helping Hellhound remove the money from the vault while Tattletale did something in the back offices and Regent continued watching over the hostages, looking bored by everything.
The sounds of sirens began to sound outside, the BBPD and likely the PRT arriving to deal with the situation. Grue made his way to a window, carefully peeking out. "Wards are here." He called as Tattletale returned from the back room. "Looks like some of the Unbound are here too."
The villainess' vulpine grin grew. "Alright, almost time to get out of here." She said, making her way over to the hostages and looking over them, apparently searching for something. Someone to take hostage in order to leave?
The blonde's eyes landed on Alice, and her grin widened… till she caught sight of Amy. The smile promptly disappeared, the skin visible under her mask paling. "Oh shit."
The reason for her distress became abundantly clear when the roof of the bank was broken through, a figure in a pristine white outfit slamming into the ground as debris landed around her, cracking it as she glared around at the villains, eyes locked on Tattletale, who was standing next to Amy, gun in hand. "Get the fuck away from my sister, you bitch!" Glory Girl spat, launching herself at the other blonde.
Regent managed to react just in time, using his power to mess with Vicky's body enough that she missed turning the villainess into a red smear and slammed into the wall with a howl of fury.
"Grue, Bitch!" Tattletale called, as she stumbled away from the hostages, obviously trying to get away from the hero that wanted to knock her block off. Clouds of darkness immediately began to flow off of Grue, filling the bank so nothing could be seen, the last things Amy could make out being Hellhound's dogs leaping at Vicky and Tattletale stumbling as far from the fight as she could in order to avoid being hit accidentally.
Amy's eyes narrowed, and without thinking she launched herself after Tattletale, determined to bring her down, ignoring Alice's calls for her to come back.
Dinah Alcott was scared out of her wits, but doing her best to keep the fear down.
The twelve year old knew today was the day she was going to be kidnapped, used for her powers by some sick bastard.
She'd learned it after using her power, the precognitive ability to ask a question about anything and get a response as a percentage, to check to see if she was in danger. It had become a habit she performed every week, and mostly delivered small percentages that she later narrowed down to being near possible car accidents and such. Information that allowed her to avoid the dangers entirely.
So when, a few days before, her powers had reported a 93.64% chance that she would be abducted that week, terror was an understandable reaction.
She almost immediately went to her parents with the information, hoping to get them to contact the PRT to have them taken into protective custody, but a quick follow up question stopped her short.
Chances that she'd be abducted from PRT custody: 91.37%.
From there Dinah forced herself to calm down and continue asking as many questions as she could before getting a migraine from hell.
Chances of PRT personnel becoming injured or dying if she was taken from them? 87.48%.
Chances of something happening to her parents if she tried to take a trip out of the city with them? 89.03%.
And so on she asked for days, narrowing down the possibilities, trying to find the path that would keep her safe without cost to anybody else.
There wasn't one.
The chances that she'd be abducted, no matter what she did, never dipped below 83%. And any attempts she made to improve her odds just increased the chances of collateral damage. Including her family, in a depressing number of possibilities.
Even moving into the house of her uncle, the Mayor of Brockton Bay, with PRT protection, only ended up with the man himself dead.
Someone knew about her powers, and was willing to kill a high value elected official to get at her, if necessary.
So she'd changed her focus to the options that would let her fight back without getting anybody killed.
Because even if her kidnapping was inevitable, that didn't mean she was just going to roll over and let them take her like a good little girl. She was going to make her kidnapper work for it. As long as she didn't endanger anybody else in the process, she was going to make it as difficult as possible for the bastards. Hell, if she had to booby trap the house like in that Earth Aleph movie, Home Alone, she would.
So, having determined what time the attack would come, she excused herself as sick and sent the maid watching her while her parents were at work away from home with a request that she buy her something from a nearby shop. Dinah wasn't exactly spoiled, but it wasn't too rare for her to make requests like that and have them fulfilled. So it was a good way to empty the house.
Then she put on her most comfortable clothes and running shoes and opened her window, looking out at the tree outside it. She'd climbed the thing pretty often, so it should work to get her out before she was noticed.
Then she waited, doing her best to steel herself and not fidget. She nearly leapt out of her skin when she heard the front door get kicked down, even though she'd mostly expected it.
Showtime.
Dinah immediately leapt out of the window and into the tree branches. Without pausing she began climbing down, dropping to the ground as she heard her bedroom door go the same way as the front one. Immediately she began to run, grateful beyond words that the fence around her yard was more for show than anything else.
She immediately took the route she'd determined would give her the longest time away from her pursuers, feet hitting the pavement frantically as she ran with every ounce of strength she had, definitely wishing she'd put more effort in during PE class.
She could hear them behind her, running to catch up. A lookout had likely noticed her. She risked a glance backwards to see a team of three mercenaries straight out of a tv show, identity concealing hoods, body armor, and obviously tinkertech rifles and all. She knew they wouldn't shoot her. She was their objective, after all. But that didn't do much to calm the thrill of fear that went down her spine when one raised his rifle to aim at her legs.
Legs and lungs burning, long dark brown hair trailing behind her, Dinah turned a corner in her escape route, only to literally run into something unexpected. She bounced off the form and fell onto her ass with a cry before looking up to see a handsome man with black hair, beard and clothing standing there, holding the leash of a bull terrier. Obviously he'd been walking his dog when Dinah ran into him.
But her powers said there shouldn't be anybody on this street! That's why she chose it!
Before she could say anything, try to make the man leave so the mercenaries wouldn't eliminate him for being a witness, the dog began to bark, eyes locked on the corner Dinah had just come around. Within moments the three mercenaries were there, rifles lifted.
The was a moment of stillness before the mercs took aim, one at the dog, two at the man. Before they could fire, however, the man let go of the leash and leapt into action.
He took a shockingly quick step forward and swept the rifles aimed at him aside, both guns going off but not hitting anything. Then he slammed a fist into the face of the merc on his left while pulling the rifle out of his hands. Twirling the weapon around expertly he brought it around and shot the merc in the neck, crimson blood spraying out as the merc dropped. Before the second assailant had been able to recover the man had brought the rifle around and expertly pressed it against the man's temple, firing in almost the same motion, sending a burst of blood and brain matter out to cover the third mercenary, who was only now coming around to aim at the man.
The man sidestepped the shot the third mercenary fired before kicking out at his knee, which shattered in spite of the armor the merc was wearing, a testament to the man's strength. As the merc fell to his knees with a cry the man aimed his weapon with the ease of long experience and executed him with a bullet to the brain. Then he turned and shot the first mercenary in the head as well, ensuring he was dead.
The entire sequence of events took ten seconds, if that.
The man's dog moved over to Dinah and began licking her face comfortingly. The girl was brought out of her daze at what had just happened by the action and hesitantly reached up to pet the dog, which nuzzled her. She realized she hadn't breathed since the fight began and let out a gasping breath, her body shaking from the adrenaline.
Somehow, against all odds, she was safe. The mercenaries had failed. Assuming this man didn't mean her any harm, of course.
The man adjusted his stance, holding the rifle at the ready as he glanced around the corner the mercenaries had come around, obviously searching for others. When he didn't see any he turned to Dinah. "Are you alright?" He asked, his voice concerned as he studied her for any injuries.
Dinah nodded wordlessly, not sure she'd be able to speak if she tried. She hugged the dog as she tried to stop from shaking. "Thank you." She finally managed to get out.
Still glancing around the man nodded. "We should get you back home."
Immediately she shook her head. "No. They'll come again. And this time my family might get hurt."
The man's brow furrowed before he studied the men. "Way too professional for a simple ransom…" He murmured to himself, though she could hear him easily.
Now that she was calming down Dinah's mind began to work. She hadn't foreseen this man being there. She hadn't foreseen him being able to take out the mercenaries. Something was going on here.
"Odds that this man will help me?" She asked her power quietly, the dog tilting his head in confusion at her question. He wasn't nearly as confused as she was, however.
There was no answer. The great mosaic of possibilities that always unfolded in her mind when she asked a question did nothing. No, not did nothing. It tried to move, tried to react, to give her a response, but it didn't understand the question. As far as her power was concerned, there was no man. She might as well be asking if the imaginary friend she'd had when she was five would hurt her.
To be immune to her power… Could he be immune to others? Could this be her chance? The uncertainty, the fact that she couldn't know the answer by asking the question, was both terrifying and liberating.
She needed to make a decision. If his actions couldn't be mapped by her power, it was possible that other powers, at least Thinker ones, would be similarly in trouble. And if the man after her had a Thinker power, or someone in his employ did, this could give her some cover from them.
"They're after me because I'm a cape." She blurted out finally. "Their boss wants to use me."
The man turned to her, eyebrows raised. "We should get you to the PRT then."
Dinah immediately shook her head frantically. "91.37 percent chance I'm abducted from PRT custody."
"I'm guessing that's your power." The man said before continuing after a memento of thought. "Alright, I'll take you to my team's base for now. Harry and Cortana should be able to come up with a plan."
"Your… team?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm with the Unbound." He said as he pulled a cell phone from his pocket beginning to dial.
She'd heard about the Unbound. They were the talk of PHO ever since some of their members brought down Lung.
Dinah felt herself relax. If she was going to the Unbound's base then she should hopefully be safe. Whoever was after her probably wouldn't go up against a team that beat up Lung easily. Still…
"Chances that the Unbound will be able to protect me?" She asked.
Once again, the mosaic tried to parse through the trillions of possibilities to give her an answer, but it didn't have the necessary data.
Looks like she was going into this blind.
Feeling a headache beginning to form, Dinah got to her feet as the man finished his call. "How will we be getting there?"
Even as she finished speaking darkness began to swirl not far from them, quickly forming what Dinah assumed was a portal to wherever the Unbound's base was.
"That way." He said, motioning for the dark gateway. Seeing her hesitation she turned to the dog. "Pax." He motioned to the portal. The dog immediately went through, tongue lolling out happily. Seeing that the man wasn't worried about his dog's safety definitely helped, and she felt herself relax. It wasn't like this was the oddest Mover power she'd ever heard of, after all.
Taking a step forward she paused to turn to the man even as she heard sirens begin to approach, obviously police alerted by the gunfire. "What's your name?"
The man gazed at her for a moment before managing to smile. It didn't look like something he was used to doing recently, but she appreciated it anyway. "John. John Wick."
Dinah gave him a nervous smile. "Dinah Alcott." Then, taking a deep breath, she stepped through the portal, John quickly following behind.
If she ever met Murphy, she was going to give him a good kick between the legs.
Hell, she might just find some poor criminal named Murphy and use him as a proxy.
As Grue's darkness washed over her Alice did her best not to curse like one of the sailors her Nan's girls entertained as the plan went completely pear shaped.
She'd known there was the possibility of complications the instant she caught sight of Amy Dallon sitting in the bank, looking bored and annoyed. They had not planned on the presence of any other capes in the bank prior to the robbery, especially not such an important one. So she'd decided to sit by the girl in order to keep an eye over her when the Undersiders made their appearance.
Everything seemed to be going fine after that, and Alice was about to signal Nevermore to get ready and come in to capture the Undersiders, simply waiting for Tattletale to come to her and give her the cover needed to do so by taking her 'hostage'.
Of course, that was before the flying brick known as Glory Girl did the stupid thing and broke through the roof of the building, putting the hostages in danger of being hit by falling debris. Alice knew she shouldn't be surprised. She'd gone over the psych profile that Cortana had acquired from the PRT's systems. While in no way unintelligent, Victoria Dallon often allowed herself to be ruled by her emotions, and was incredibly impulsive, even for a teenager. A dangerous combination when packaged with the ability to accidentally pulp a person's torso with a playful punch. So when she heard that her sister was being held hostage by villains in a bank, her rushing in without thinking was pretty much expected.
It was still an incredible pain in the backside.
Now there was a girl that could bring the building down all on her own, probably rampaging blindly in a building filled with a dark fog that deadened the external senses, keeping people from being able to see, hear, or even smell very far, while her sister impulsively rushed one of the Unbound's targets, putting herself in the line of fire without any power or ability to protect herself with. Someone dying in this situation wasn't just a possibility, it was depressingly likely.
And if Panacea died, especially at her own sister's hands...
Alice needed to find her. Needed to make sure nothing happened to her. No offense to Tattletale, but the healer was undoubtedly the bigger VIP.
"Glory Girl broke into the bank." She heard Ruby report through the hidden earpiece she was wearing, likely from a sniper's perch with a good view into the building. Seems Cortana decided to patch her into the tactical channel so she'd be aware of any situations. "I can't see anything beyond her initial attack thanks to Grue's darkness."
Alice gritted her teeth. Barely twenty seconds had passed since Glory Girl started the fight in the bank, and Panacea could already be injured. The psychiatrist got to her feet and began to stumble in the direction the girl had gone.
"We're breaching with the Wards." Weiss replied back. "We have to stop the fight before someone gets hurt." Good to know that the girls have their priorities straight. "Rose, I recommend you take the shot with stunning rounds if you can."
Unfortunately she didn't have any way to locate the girl. She was completely disoriented after just a few steps, the darkness all enveloping. Her only link to reality was the tactical channel in her earpiece. If it weren't for that, this would resemble one of her more tame nightmares.
"Agreed." Ruby said simply.
Alice grit her teeth and focused, straining for any sound, any indication that there was another soul within a mile of her position. She remembered the look on Amy's face, the tiredness, the bitterness.
"I've tagged everyone in the bank with bugs. I'll stay out here and advise." Came Taylor's voice
The emotions were so familiar, she could almost taste them.
And suddenly, like a switch had flipped, the isolation caused by the darkness lifted a bit. She couldn't see or hear any better, but…
There, ten feet to her right. An edge of anger, primal and animalistic, shot through with concern.
Twenty feet a bit further left from that, a veneer of fury only barely concealing immense panic and fear.
Farther, a mass of jumbled emotions moving closer, no doubt a group of people, most centered on determination and concern.
To her left, not far, another spot of panic and desperation spiking with a deeper fear, and edged with annoyance bordering on true, indignant anger.
And almost on top of that spot, another bundle of emotion that made Alice grimace even as she rushed in that direction. Guilt/depression/weariness/bitterness/hatred/self-loathing/fear… A truly toxic cauldron of emotions, all of them feeding off of each other, making themselves more potent, that almost made the Victorian woman nauseous. That person desperately, truly needed help. And she had an inkling of who it was.
She rushed towards that node of emotions, trusting in her newly gained empathic sense to guide her. She didn't know where it had come from, and at the moment, she didn't care. She was solely focused on reaching the person that needed her help.
Soon enough she was on the two girls, Tattletale and Amy, the villainess with her pistol halfway into firing position in order to hold the other girl off, yet clearly unwilling to aim fully and risk hurting what many considered one of the world's most important capes. Instead she was saying something Alice couldn't hear that was clearly spiking Panacea's negative emotions. Likely an attempt to get her to back off by bringing up any unfortunate secrets the hero might have and blackmailing her with them.
Amy looked like she was about to explode, her gaze wrathful enough that Alice was mildly surprised Tattletale hadn't keeled over yet. The villainess, for her part, did not have the teasing smile she usually bore on her face. She was clearly wary and desperate to be anywhere else.
She had to diffuse the situation. Calm Amy down, before something unfortunate happened. Alice reached forward towards the girl's shoulder, absently aware of Tattletale's eyes widening when she noticed her. Her entire mind was focused on calming Amy down, of pulling her out of the downward spiral that Tattletale had worsened in her desperate attempts to protect herself. She'd deal with teaching the villainess the error of her ways later, though. Amy was the priority. She had to stop Amy from self-destructing. Her hand rested on the startled girl's shoulder…
Alice opened her eyes, taking in where she'd ended up. It had been some time since she'd wandered into another person's mindscape (or Otherland, as Cat liked to call them), even accidentally. The skills she'd learned in psychology were enough for dealing with her patients' issues for the most part, at least in the beginning parts of their treatment. Besides, both she and Harry agreed that her attempting to enter his Otherland was a Bad Idea, even though she knew he was the member of the Unbound in most need of help.
Still, despite how long it had been, she still recognized the sensation. But what she found made her heart sink.
The sky of Amy's Otherland was stormy, with angry black clouds as far as the eye could see, whirling around like they were in the middle of a hurricane, lightning flashing furiously, spiderwebbing constantly.
The ground was a literal swamp devoid of any animal life. The plants were sickly and dying, the trees drooping and leafless, and a foul smell filled the air. Yet the water was a brilliant gold. She'd call it beautiful, but her senses told her it was essentially an emotional poison.
The source of the poison was the marble statues that dotted the landscape. Each one bore the image of a supernaturally beautiful young woman that Alice recognized as having a resemblance to Victoria Dallon, if the girl's already exceptional looks were cranked up to thirteen. Each bore a bowl from which a horrid smelling golden liquid dripped viscously and in clumps, contrasting with its beautiful appearance, landing in the water and worsening the foulness that infested the place.
As a cherry on top there were bodies under the trees. Men, women, children, all ages, all races. All with obvious, horrific, yet ultimately different causes of death. Here a baby, body bloated and multicolored like a drowning victim. There a woman, all limbs torn off, the viscera still fresh. Close by, a man that looked normal but for the rope marks around its neck.
It wasn't hard to determine the symbolism there, considering the crushing guilt Alice had felt from the girl. All the people Panacea couldn't, and in her mind, 'selfishly' wouldn't, save.
And somewhere far beyond the swamp, peak visible in the distance, a large mountain of crystal shards stood, the only thing seemingly not diseased, yet still… alien.
Alice stood on the upraised stone that was the only thing keeping her from the diseased water's touch, despairing at how damaged, how warped, this mind was. Fixing this, if she ever could, would be a long, extremely difficult process.
"What… is this?" Amy's voice asked, and Alice turned to see the girl standing waist deep in the foul waters of the swamp. Her hair, normally frizzy and curly, was lank and full of knots, with clumps of filth making it worse. Her eyes were sunken in as though she hadn't slept in weeks, her freckled face pale. She was wearing filthy rags covered in blood and viscera, her modesty not hidden so much by the clothing as the filth that caked her skin.
Alice felt like weeping as she saw the pitiful, worthless wretch that Amy viewed herself as.
Taking a breath to control herself, Alice smiled gently and approached the edge of the rock she was on, being careful not to fall into the tainted water. "This is, I'm sorry to say, a representation of your mind and its state."
Amy turned to look at Alice, brows furrowed. "I…" She looked around again, swallowing thickly. As much as she wanted to deny that statement, something in her bones told her it was true. "I knew I wasn't healthy, but this is… a bit much." Then she turned back to Alice. "But if that's true, what are you doing here?"
Alice carefully took a seat on the dirty stone, making abundantly certain that even the skirts of her blue Wonderland dress didn't touch the golden water. "I was so focused on helping you deal with everything that I entered your mind without intending to when I touched you." She bowed her head slightly. "You have my deepest apologies. I tend to avoid violating peoples' privacy like this if I can help it."
Amy frowned, wading through the muck to get closer to Alice's rock. "But… you aren't a parahuman. I saw that when we shook hands. You don't have a Corona Pollentia and Gemma."
Alice gave the girl a wink, a small smile on her face. "There is more out in reality than you would believe, Miss Dallon, even with all Earth Bet has seen these last thirty years. Not all powers have a parahuman origin. Tales of wizards and psychics have existed since before recorded history, after all."
Amy looked around the horrid swamp once again. "I guess I can see why you became a shrink if you can go into peoples' minds like this…" She knew that she should feel indignant, angry, at the violation of her mind, but truthfully, the teenage hero just felt… unfathomably tired.
Thunder cracked overhead, making the owner of the mindscape look up at the sky, seeing the whirling clouds of the storm. "I'm really fucked up, aren't I?"
Alice frowned, resting her chin on her knees. "I'm sorry to say you most definitely aren't mentally healthy, no." She glanced around, eyes locking on the statues and the bodies. "Just from what I can see here, I can guess the sources of some of your issues." She turned back to the girl, deciding to extend some trust. "I'm a member of the Unbound. I'm not sure if you've heard of us. I'm primarily their therapist, but I do occasionally go out into the field. I came to the bank today to help deal with the Undersiders."
"Good." Amy muttered angrily. "That bitch Tattletale needs to rot in prison." There was a particularly powerful flash of lightning and crack of thunder at that.
"Actually, and I'll thank you for keeping this to yourself, but Tattletale was the one to tip us off to the robbery." When Amy turned back to her with slightly wide eyes, Alice smiled slightly, hoping the explanation would cool the girl's anger towards the reluctant villainess. The last thing the healer needed was an unnecessary grudge to go with the rest of the negativity in her life. "Apparently she's in this line of work due to a villain named Coil literally holding a gun to her head, so we were using today as an excuse to take her and her gang into protective custody." She tilted her head to the side." Have you heard of him?"
Amy frowned thoughtfully before nodding slowly. "Once or twice. Not much is known. He usually works through mercenaries and proxies. And even that's speculation." She shook her head irritably. "Fine, maybe she isn't a villain out of her own free will, but I'm still going to give her herpes if we ever meet again."
"Her words must have cut deep." Alice said soothingly. She saw Amy's jaw clench, something ugly appearing in her eyes as the storm above somehow managed to worsen. "Would you like to talk about it?" When Amy blinked, eyebrows rising, Alice held a hand up, smiling gently. "Not right now, of course, but nothing says only members of the Unbound can be my patients. I do have the training and skills to help, even if we don't count my unique abilities."
Amy bit her lip, suddenly looking worried, though with an undercurrent of anger just waiting to spring forth. "Are you saying you can influence my mind while you're in here?"
"Not in any detrimental way." Alice assured her. "I can't plant suggestions in your mind, or change you on a fundamental level." She stood up, brushed off her skirt, and summoned her Teapot Cannon, taking aim at the nearest statue. "I can, however…" She fired after allowing it to charge up, the shot obliterating the statue, the remaining marble pieces landing in the golden water with a splash. "...help you clean up a little."
Amy watched as the statue of her sister was destroyed, and she almost attacked Alice in fury. But she managed to hold herself back, barely, and managed to remain objective. Even she couldn't miss the poison that had been dripping from it, nor the connotations.
She swallowed as she considered the offer. "I'm not sure I can pay you…"
Alice waved that away. "I don't need money. And before you ask, I'm not going to advertise you're my patient. I take confidentiality very seriously, and even then, I wouldn't use you in such a way." She smiled. "I'm part of a team of heroes. What exactly would I be if I could help you and didn't?"
Amy smiled hesitantly and reached up to shake Alice's hand, the older woman doing the same. The cynicism that colored her thoughts at all times now told her not to trust the woman, but the healer was desperate for any way to improve her situation, to make her life just a bit better, and this seemed like her best opportunity.
Just once, she'd take a chance.
Just as their hands were about to meet, however, something large and horrible leapt out of the golden water, huge jaws snapping toward to try and remove Alice's arm. The battle hardened woman leapt back, managing to avoid the attack without falling into the water. The thing attacked again, but this time Alice's Hobby Horse met it head on, the massive weapon slamming into the thing's head with crushing force, shattering its skull and making it drop dead to float in the golden water.
Amy, stunned by the sudden violence, studied the monster. It looked like a crocodile, but wrong. It had too many legs, some too long, some too short, with diseased looking black skin. The head was misshapen as well, with odd growths and parts seemingly missing, and multiple eyes. Its mouth was large, almost half the size of its body, and full of more teeth than it should have, all of them pointed in different directions, like some demented kid just stuck them on for the sake making it more scary.
"Wha…" Amy began, shocked. She'd been under the impression that this swamp was completely lifeless when it came to fauna.
"If I had to guess…" Alice began as she too studied it, her Hobby Horse planted on the ground, ready if it needed to be used again. "That is a manifestation of your self destructive urges trying to stop you from doing something that might improve your situation."
"Oh…" Amy said, swallowing slightly. "How exactly do you know?"
Alice smiled sadly. "The first mind I had to fix was my own, Miss Dallon."
The younger girl studied the mindwalker for a long moment before holding her hand out again. "Amy." She said firmly. "Call me Amy."
"Alright Amy." Alice said with a warmer smile. "Then I'm Alice." She said, taking the girl's hand.
When Alice focused back on the real world it was to see Tattletale disappear with a yelp into a black portal that opened under her feet, the dispersing darkness around her indicating that the same thing had happened to Grue, and likely the other Undersiders.
Despite the fact that her hunt for Panacea after she'd run off had taken less than a few minutes at most, Alice still felt like an idiot for focusing on it so much she'd forgotten her original job of calling Harry in once Tattletale had gotten the information she wanted from the bank computer and let her know she was ready for pickup. The leader of the Unbound could have contained the situation from the very beginning by doing what he'd just done. Or in another dozen ways, such as stunning everyone in the room.
Still, as she felt Amy sag against her, apparently exhausted, she couldn't find it in herself to mind her slipup. She might have never known about Amy's desperate state of mind otherwise. Not to mention it helped her unlock what she found likely to be her semblance.
As she looked around, making sure there weren't any injuries, Alice found herself relaxing, satisfied things had turned out for the best.
Yay, done!
This is quite a bit longer than I'd planned, but I just couldn't find a point I felt comfortable stopping at. Still, I hope it came out well.
One thing I've gotten several annoyed reviews about in previous chapters was the fact that I'm not adhering to canon. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but let me make it abundantly clear now: I DON'T CARE!
sandmanwake helped a ton with my questions when it came to canon vs fanon, but I've made it clear to him and, I thought, to you, that I wasn't going to adhere to what didn't suit me. Pretty much every Worm story ignores canon in multiple ways, so I don't get the purists. If you want strict canon adherence, DON'T READ FANFICTION!
I will use what works for me from canon, and I will discard what doesn't. If you don't like it, TOUGH!
And things are constantly evolving. I gave sandmanwake a rough outline of the Worm arc some time ago, and things have changed quite a bit since then. Excelsior Industries, for one, wasn't a thing then. Even this chapter is different from what I had planned when I finished the last. It wasn't going to focus so much on Amy and incorporating a reason for her to become one of Alice's patients. Hell, Alice wasn't involved in this chapter at all to start with. But then I had an epiphany, and here we are.
In any case, Coil is now firmly on the Unbound's radar, for multiple reasons. Should be fun, huh?
Speaking of, this chapter was actually supposed to come out yesterday. I finally finished it, sat back, and started reading through it for spelling/grammar when I thought 'Hmm… Something's missing…'.
I had completely forgotten to write in the attempted kidnapping, which I'd had planned since I finished the last chapter. I almost screamed when I realized it.
In any case, it's done now. I hope you all enjoyed it.
I don't think I have anything further so discuss, so on I go to the usual reminders:
The first is that you can have a say in what I write when you donate to my Pat A Ron. Every dollar donated equals a vote in my monthly poll, and now I've made it so that the votes for the things that don't win in a given month roll over into the next, which is why some fics that haven't gotten much love for a while have been updated recently. So if you want to donate and see your favorite stories of mine updated more often, go to Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll closes on March 2nd.
The next two reminders are more important to me, however. First is that my best friend has a Pat A Ron for their original fiction. Donate any amount you want and get access to some objectively excellent writing (far better than mine, if I'm being completely honest). Their first story, which is a supernatural steampunk detective thriller that I very much enjoy called 'The Curious Investigations of Mister Jonathan Scott', is currently at 18 chapters, the first of which is free, so you can see what his style is like. So if you like, say, The Dresden Files, but want it more steampunk, this is for you. And they've now started another story that will be updated while they build up more Jonathan Scott chapters, this one being a cyberpunk (the genre, not the game) story called 'Tales of Luminous City', the first chapter of which is now also free. You can find their stuff by searching for Grimm Tales in Pat A Ron.
I would appreciate it a lot if you could help them out, as unlike me they've had employment trouble due to some disabilities, which this pandemic hasn't helped.
Second, my sister has also begun a Pat A Ron. She recently got her Bachelor's in Digital Animation. She's trying to make her own series to post on Youtube, but needs money, so she's making art and plans on accepting commissions. She primarily does tokusatsu themed fanart (Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, etc.), and she plans to let people have a say in what she makes, much like I do. That's at Pat A Ron dotcom /linduarte. (Oh no, now you know my last name! The horror!)
Please keep in mind though that we've been made aware of a bug with the site that makes it seem like you can't donate less than $5. If you don't want to donate that much, to any of us, just put a zero before the number you want to donate, such as 03. That should get you going.
Thank you all for the support, even through the dry spells I've gone through. I promise to try to improve. Till next time!