Piggot sat behind her desk and grimaced, resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands. With Armsmaster standing before her waiting for her response, it would not do to show weakness. After a second's more pause, she speaks, "Tell me again what you found."
Armsmaster nods and repeats himself, speaking concisely and clearly, "I arrived on scene at 4:39 pm alongside New Wave, The PRT squads, and The Protectorite. There was no one nearby that I could tell, and a total of seven bodies. Unpowered E88 membesr whose identity we're still trying to discern, and the remains of an elderly woman."
Piggot nods slowly as she digests this, "And how were they killed?"
"The Empire members were killed brutally by having their heads crushed. Best guess at the moment is a reinforced blunt object of some kind. We should know more in a day or two."
Piggot grinds her teeth in thought for a long moment, "And how did the woman die?"
Here Armsmaster grimaces, seeming a bit disquieted by this next piece of information, "She was tortured. When we arrived on the scene she was in the center of a crater a mile deep. Her body was ravaged but Panacea was able to give us information about the woman, needless to say, she was tortured seeing as her body was torn apart before death."
Piggot scoffs at that, "Great, just what we need. Another psychopath running around killing people. This is just perfect." She pinches the bridge of her nose as she leans back on her chair. "Did you or anyone present see who might have been responsible?"
"No. When we arrived the area was deserted and we had to check if it was safe to enter the area or if radiation or other contaminants were present."
Piggot lets out an exaggerated sigh. "This is going to turn into a shit show. Keep the Wards off patrols for the week, hopefully, we'll have something by then." She orders him. "Now are there still no signs of activity from any Empire Capes?"
Amy did not have body image issues. She honestly didn't know where people got that from. Though even with her power over biology she knew she couldn't alter people without significant time and biomass. So imagine growing from 5'4 to 5'10 in the span of a few seconds while also looking like an Amazon with the curves and feminine features that usually come in your twenties.
She doesn't like using the word perfect but she definitely has the ideal body. Strong lean muscles, enough that it shows power, strength, endurance but not enough to look mannish or unattractive.
She had abs, ABS!
She still looked mostly the same thankfully and her freckles were still there but her skin was unblemished all the scars and pimples were gone.
And there wasn't an ingrown hair in sight.
Her thin nails were thick. Her hair was never something she went out of her way to care for, not to the extent that Vicky and some of her friends did anyway.
But her hair now grew to her shoulders, the thick shiny hair looking like she spent a small fortune on hair care products.
She looked like a model.
Going to her study desk she opened her mini fridge and took out her water bottle filled with bullshit, super model making, blood.
When she got home after collecting all the blood she found she placed a drop on her tongue not wanting to spill a drop. it was utter bullshit. It looked human but was completely different, compatible yet utterly alien. And when she tried altering it she swore that it basically told her powers to fuck off.
She tried killing the cells and the wouldn't die. She made every plague, disease, and virus imaginable and that drop of blood didn't give a damn.
Spitting it out on a napkin and leaving it by the window getting some sun it started smoking and the stupid thing still refused to die. Amy grunted before going to bed, when she got home from a shift in the hospital the blood had finally dried up with the cells dead.
Closing the fridge she walked to her closet to get dressed. This change had many, many pros but one downside was that all her normal clothes didn't fit her and she had no interest in giving people a free show.
Good news was that she could fix that with a shopping trip with Vicky. She smiled a real smile for the first time in a very long time the guilt that weighed her down was a thing of the past.
Putting on a pair of sweats and a jacket that covered her modesty as the shirt she wore three days ago barely covered anything.
Making sure she was decent she made her way down the hall to Vicky's room.
Gently knocking on the door a grumble was heard before the door opens revealing Victoria in all her morning glory looking like she just fought an army of Capes with a hangover.
She rubbed her eyes letting out a yawn. "What's up Amy?"
"Not much. Listen I know it's early but I really need new clothes and I was wondering if you could go with me?"
She looked like she was slapped before snapping out of it. "Let me shower and get ready. I'll be down in ten minutes tops." She closed the door and She made her was down the stairs to make breakfast, she had forty minutes before Vicky would be ready.
Like clockwork she floated down the stairs in a long sleeved purple top with black jeans and a pair of white converse. She looked at me confused before floating towards the Islas I enjoyed my coffee.
"You— made breakfast?"
"Is that so strange?" Amy questiond as she took another sip of the warm caffeinated beverage.
"No, and it looks great-but."
"But what?" I asked starting to lose my patience.
"Why so much meat?" She asked and looking at the spread I noticed that besides some bread and fruit it was mostly fried eggs, bacon, and ham.
The stairs creaked as Carol walked down stairs in her costume. Looking over at us she blinked in surprise.
"You made breakfast?"
"Oh for fucks sake. Yes I made breakfast, yes I cooked a lot of meat!"
Vicky raised her hands in surrender. "Hey it looks great, it's just surprising." She glided around the table and wrapped an arm around me. "Ready to go?" She whispered.
I nodded and walked to the sink to wash my hands before walking out the door.
"I'll see you girls later, I need to discuss something with Sarah."
"Ok mom!" Vicky called back while slamming the door close.
She beamed at her and her annoyance faded just like that. How could anyone stay angry at her?
She held her arms out and I walked to her as she picked me up in a bridal carry.
"Ready?" She asked her Sphire orbs looking at Amy with concern, it filled her chest with a familiar warmth.
"Ready." Amy told her and like that she took of the ground telling gravity to sit it's ass down and we were off.
If Amy wasn't distracted by the feeling of being so close to Victoria she would have noticed the weren't flying for the Boardwalk but heading for the PRT HQ were Sarah would be waiting while Carol would arrive soon after.
The new Cape, that from what she could tell, had yet to even pick a name before she'd found him, was looking around her living room. Not surprised or overwhelmed. Just with a general interest before, after giving one of her couches a considering look, he took a careful seat with a sigh.
"Remote is over there." Lisa pointed and waited until she got a nod before she left to the kitchen to crack open one of the last of her sodas. "Make yourself at home!"
"Alright." He said as his eyes momentarily looked me over and his irises flickered a blood red color before they went back to sapphire blue.
She winced, tensed up as she expected pain to come after her power finished translating whatever...that was...and was pleasantly surprised to find herself feeling only a dull throb instead. Her power must be adjusting. Sweet.
Anyway, he'd been totally worth picking up. He was stupidly tough and unnaturally strong. Kind of sweet, handy, patient, not all that easy to anger, and willing to do extreme amounts of violence at the drop of a hat when he thought it was necessary. All good traits to have in a roommate/bodyguard...even if the low-level anti-Thinker effect he had on himself wasn't nearly so nice.
She could catch his personality. Follow the gist of whatever he said with a bit of effort...but she couldn't get a read on him otherwise. What he was thinking at the moment and whatever, other, skills and abilities he might have had seemed...garbled.
She got something out of the whole mess, but none of it made any sense. It was really fucking annoying...but she guessed that not everyone was perfect.
"I'm ordering pizza to celebrate!" Lisa hollered, phone in one hand and coke in the other as she toed open the lower freezer. Today was an ice cream day. "What kind do you want!"
"Meat lovers."
"Meat lovers?" Lisa asked incredulously. With that body? Seriously? "You sure?"
"I'm sure. Though if you want something specific by all means go for it"
"... Ok, if you say so."
After the quick call to her favorite place, Lisa effectively pranced over to the couch, with a well-practiced flex of her will and took a seat on the opposite end with her bowl of chocolate… And wow. She was feeling pretty good today. Really, really good. Giddy even!
"So, what are we watching? Comedy, action, horror... romance?" She asked me.
I couldn't believe that this was Lisa. Granted my new reality had plenty of differences but the people were somewhat relatable to their book counterparts but when I saw Lisa I expected bitchy thinker that liked pushing buttons, what I got was a girl willing to help out a stranger for some security and conversation.
Well looks like Coil is going to die much earlier then I originally planned.
We just sat their eating juck food while watching movie after movie most comedy and some romance films she picked. She didn't look my way for the whole movie until the next one played.
After the credits rolled and she starched her arms out. Before looking at me, "I have a guest room you can use let me just get you a pillow and some blankets.
"Thanks, here let me get them." I followed her to a closet where she pulled out clean sheets and a pillow case. Thanking her she pointed to the guest room.
Her door closed and the lock flicked. Entertaining the room it was a pretty good room an window with shudders and a clean queen sized bed. Setting it up I got into bed. I heard her get out of bed cursing about the heat. She opened the door slowly, probably looking if I'm outside. She walked somewhere before walking back to her room.
The AC turned on and I eventually closed my eyes and let sleep take me.
A/N: Wrote this on my phone hope you enjoy.