Verity came to a stop in front of a burning building that had the bottom front of it blown away, an almost perfectly spherical section of it just… gone.
"Shit, everyone who isn't a first responder, stand back!" Verity said to the bystanders as she slithered forward and approached, eyeing up the opened part for a way up as she called into the building. "Anyone who's in there, keep making noise! I'm coming in to try and get you out!" She said as she went up the mercifully intact staircase, which people were starting to come down, and thankfully it was wide enough she wasn't impeding them too much. "Alright everyone stay calm, get away from the fire." She said as she passed them.
And she did get responses from her earlier question as she got screams and shouts from various apartments. It was thankfully a mercy that fire hadn't progressed very far so the people that were screaming for help were only those who had been trapped by objects that had fallen on top of them when whatever form of bomb had been used had exploded and shook the building.
And due to that luck the rescue was rather expedient and she managed to get everyone out before the fire got too serious, and it was just in time to see the fire trucks arrive at the scene.
"Hey, I think I got everyone out, but obviously can't be sure." Verity said to the firemen, before turning to the driver of the truck, the only person not rushing around at the moment. "Please tell me the others are only as bad as this."
"That depends on your definition of bad as this is actually something we can handle," The man replied. "Lots of explosions went off in the city about twenty minutes ago, though from the radio reports we've been getting civilian places were hit the least. With infrastructure being the ones targeted the most, a lot of other stations and precincts got hit hard when all the ABB guys that were throwing stuff suddenly exploded themself. That is all I know Ma'am you should find a way to contact your fellow heroes as it sounded like the PHQ got hit the hardest."
"Shit." Verity summarized succinctly as she realized just how badly having her phones exploded was. "Can I borrow your phone?"
"Yes, ma'am." He responded as he took out his phone.
"Thank you." Verity said, taking it and carefully dialing in the secure line to get to the PRT that she was suddenly very happy she memorized.
"This is the PRT secure line who is calling, your number is not registered."
"This is Medusa, calling from a borrowed phone since mine was destroyed in the attack. I'm fine, my stuff isn't." Medusa said. "Where am I needed most?"
"Good to hear from you ma'am, we've been trying to call you for the past twenty minutes, you were attacked by the ABB?"
"Bakuda herself came for a house call. Thankfully not my house, but I was able to shield the civilian in question from the blast." Verity said. "Bakuda, undoubtedly the source of all this, is currently a statue standing in the wreckage of what was previously Parian's workshop, now where am I needed most?"
"You're to go to the Docks and help with Search and Rescue as that is where the greatest amount of explosions happened that affected civilians."
"Understood. Medusa out." Verity said, before looking back to the driver and handing him his (now slightly scratched) phone. "Sorry for the damage, I'll cover it if you need it, thank you."
And with that Verity immediately left for the Docks slithering as fast as she possibly could to save as many people as possible, and along the way she came across other sites. But there was nothing she could do to help with them, as with them they had been hit by seemingly more exotic bombs, with one shop that had been converted entirely into crystals.
Verity grit her teeth and focused on what she could do to help, going in and helping with any of the ones she actually could, the ones that weren't turned into living M.C. Escher paintings or other exotic things, getting people out from under rubble and out of burning or collapsing buildings, the stuff she could actually do.
It was only as she had reached the eighth building that a horrible, horrible thought occurred to her.
'What about Taylor?'
Thankfully, this was right as she saw Velocity approaching at speed.
"Hew, hey Medusa you're looking longer and more naked than usual," Velocity said as he came to a stop.
"Didn't have much choice, kinda got blown up." Verity said hurriedly. "How bad is it?"
"Not the worst the Bay has ever experienced, the civilian fatalities are surprisingly low for how stuff went off but thankfully most buildings were empty due to it being evening or else we would have lost an entire elementary school worth of kids," He said in a grim tone. "So don't worry about having stoned the bitch."
"Elementary sCHO- Mhm." Verity cut off the flash of white hot boiling RAGE that filled her as she heard that. "Suddenly wishing I could stone her again, what do we do now?"
"Well I am going to give you this first," Velocity said as he held out a brand new armband for her.
"Thank you, been missing this all day." Verity said as she took it and quickly put it on.
"Well try and get civilians secured and safe, and then report back to PRT HQ as the Rig is going to need some rebuilding, Oni Lee came in with Bakuda Bombs as we're calling them and broke out Lung," Velocity explained. "And then afterwards we are going to find and defuse any bombs that didn't explode when you stoned Bakuda going by the time, girl seemingly had a deadman switch that went off and blew up the bombs she had seemingly implanted in all ABB members," Velocity stated.
"There was a what?!" Verity asked. "Are you telling me this is my fault?"
"No, they were already bombing places you just made the bombers blow up before they could go and do more damage, and before they could be used as suicide bombers," Velocity stated.
"Well, I guess that's… good, but shit, man." Verity said, before looking up at the pillars of smoke still rising. "We need to fix this."
"Yeah, I leave you to it just pull out as many people as you can at every site, and then report back to PRT HQ, thankfully the damage Über and Leet did were minimal," Velocity stated. "Though their bullshit caused the Undersiders to also escape."
Verity processed that for a moment, before deciding to file that information for later. "Putting aside... that, good luck."
"You too Medusa, and see about getting some clothes women, I think it is going to start to rain soon, and then the ash won't be able to cover you," Velocity said as he sped off.
"As if I could find anything that would fit…" Verity mumbled at that before activating her wristband. "Consol, this is Medusa, just met up with Velocity. Where next?"
"This is Consol, Velocity has delivered the package then?" Came the voice of Sophia.
"Confirmed. Where am I needed?"
"Well, I just got a report about some looting happening in the Docks South. Sending the address to your GPS."
"Acknowledged." Verity said as the GPS plotted her course for her, which she immediately followed. "En route now. If that's all, Medusa out."
Xxx
"Thank you all for coming after a rather stressful evening and night," Director Piggot spoke as all Protectorate Heroes sat in a conference room in the PRT HQ after things had finally calmed down and Verity had cleaned a bit up and gotten a large enough t-shirt to wear. Though sadly she hadn't been able to call Taylor as the general phone network had crashed and would only be up in a few hours.
Which was making Verity rather antsy as she needed to know if her girl was okay, that she was fine. That she wasn't hurt-bleeding-dying.
"Now I just need all you to give a verbal report, and you will be able to go back home and rest," Piggot stated. "Medusa you first, you were personally attacked by the one who staged this correct?"
"Right," Medusa said, eager to leave and check on Taylor. "I was at Parian's Workshop for civilian reasons when Bakuda's bomb burst and burned up… most of my body, I think, and wrecked the building, but thankfully I was able to shield Parian from the blast. I will admit I lost control and immediately went for the Stoning option on her once my body was at functional levels, Bakuda having thankfully stayed around a few minutes to gloat, and then assisted with the rescue efforts sans equipment for about 20-30 minutes, not sure on that, before calling in on a civilian fire truck driver's phone, followed soon by more search and rescue and meeting up with Velocity for a new armband, from which I personally and, thankfully nonviolently, dealt with the non-powered looters and such that were springing up." Verity said in one go, miraculously understandable.
And she was quite grateful the situations she dealt with after the fact were the kind she could just show up and people would stop doing whatever they were doing… though she knew videos of her doing so would definitely be online, considering.
"Thank you for the report Medusa," Director Piggot replied. "Your actions were understandable and as such will not be punished."
"Thank you, Director."
"Now the rest of you. Armsmaster?" Piggot said.
"At 19:00 PM the Rig was attacked by Oni Lee in order to free Lung," He began as he went over every single incident that had occured in the first half hour or so of the incident before he said he was done.
"Thank you Armsmaster, though that I am sure also covers most of your reports correct?" Piggot asked the others and they nodded in agreement. "Now do any of you have anything to say that wasn't stated by Medusa or Armsmaster?"
"I have one thing, Director," Dauntless stated. "During my run through the north end of the Commercial District I came across an independent hero by the name of Weaver-" Verity immediately focused in on what he was saying, suddenly snapping to full awareness. "-who had just finished chasing off Mush and Squealer who was trying to rob an automobile shop during the chaos."
"I see, what can you tell us about this hero?" Piggot asked.
"Were they injured at all?" Verity asked worriedly.
"Not from what I could see that dark costume of theirs made it rather hard to see," Dauntless answered as he focused his attention back on the Director. "From what I could tell she sounded like she was Ward age."
"She's the independent I was trying to get to join." Verity added for clarification.
"Ah, then we already know about this one, just leave your first impression for the written report then Dauntless," Piggot stated. "Now all of you are dismissed, go and get some sleep and Medusa. I want you to report here tomorrow at three pm, for we might have a gang war on our hands as many Empire places were hit," Piggot said grimly. "And they are bound to retaliate and attack the ABB that remains and Lung, so we can expect an increase in hate crimes and we don't know how many bombs Bakuda made before she was… detained."
"Understood, Director." Verity said with a nod, eager to leave, and then proceeding to do so with alacrity.
As soon as she left PRT HQ, she immediately went out at… not her top speed, but definitely closer to 'car on a highway' than 'pedestrian walking'. Hopefully not enough to make it look like she was going to anything important, not that there were many cars out and about anyway since it was… "1 in the morning, okay, cool, cool, cool." She said to herself as she slithered home.
The entire time from when she'd remembered Taylor onward, there had been a nagging, growing, gnawing worry in her mind of 'What if she's not okay?' that had only gotten stronger as the night had dragged on, only to alleviate massively at Dauntless saying he saw her and she was alright.
For some reason, on the trip home, it was growing again.
Emotions were, of course, irrational at the best of times, she assured herself, that she was just worrying over nothing.
Speaking of worry, she also remembered she needed to call Sabah… "Oh shit I didn't ask for a number." She cursed as she realized neither of their personal phones, the ones she did have a number for, had survived the blast. "Fuck… hopefully she can figure out where I live." She mumbled, before her house, and more importantly, Taylor's house came into view, and much to her immense relief both were entirely intact, as she wasted no time in heading for the Hebert home and ringing the bell.
And it opened suddenly a few seconds later to Danny standing in the hall holding a baseball bat. "Oh it's just you Verity." He said with a sigh of relief.
"Were you expecting Tiamat?" Verity asked sarcastically.
"I have no idea who that is, but the Mayor just gave an emergency press conference and told everyone curfew was in effect until all bombs have been found and dissabled," Danny said as he lowered the bat. "So here to check up on Taylor?"
"Yeah, obviously." Verity admitted. "Can I come in?"
"Sure, come on in," Danny replied as he went fully back inside and Verity followed him into the living room where she found Taylor in the middle of taking her costume off.
"Oh thank god you're okay." Verity said in relief as she pulled Taylor into a hug.
"Ugh, Verity, little bit too tight," She responded.
"Sorry, I'm just…" Verity apologized as she let go. "I heard you did good out there, Dauntless seemed impressed."
"Really?" She asked, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah, Director sounded like she wanted you on the Wards like, yesterday." Verity said, before pausing as she narrowed her eyes at the clock that reminded her it was now Saturday. "Pun unintended."
"Well it's a good thing we're going in on Monday," Danny stated. "I let it slide this time, but you being a hero on your own is almost giving me a constant heart attack."
"I know Dad, but I had to go and help people, only a bad person wouldn't when they have powers like I do," Taylor said seemingly unintentionally paraphrasing 'With Great Powers comes Great Responsibility.'
"That, right there, is the makings of a true hero." Verity couldn't help but say proudly, before ruffling Taylor's hair. "But you still shouldn't do things on your own, silly, this isn't some comic book."
"I know," She replied.
"Good, in that case, I'm gonna get out of your guyses hair now, I have ash in places ashes should not be, I need to shower." Verity said as she headed for the door.
"Same, I smell of all the trash Mush threw at me, urgh," Taylor said with a grimace, the smell only properly registering to Verity as she said it.
"Sounds gross, we'll talk about it tomorrow, later Taylorgator, night Dan."
"Night Verity," The both of them replied.
As soon as she was back in her house she took off the borrowed shirt and her armband and headed straight for her shower.
About an hour, hour and a half later, she was clean, dried, and put on her comfiest pair of pajamas before collapsing face first onto her bed and immediately passing out as the adrenaline crash finally hit.
Xxx
Verity awoke with a start as the sound of the doorbell ringing and heavy knocking echoed throughout her house.
"Omoenmt, one moment!" Verity mumbled as she quickly rolled out of bed and approached her door, opening it with no hesitation. "Hi, how can I-"
"What the fuck did you do to me Verity," Said the voice of Sabah from the woman whose face she had never seen before.
"Oh fuck I forgot to tell you about the sideeffects." Verity said, quickly ushering Sabah in and closing the door behind her.
"Side effects?" She asked in an incredulous tone. "You knew that this was going to happen to me?"
"Did you have enough focus to close your own wounds when we got exploded?" Verity asked back.
"No," She responded.
"I asked you to trust me, remember? This is what I was talking about." Verity assured. "My bite gives Parahumans extra powers. Not a hundred percent sure what would happen if I did it to a normie, but remember Taylor?"
"...You didn't make it to Panacea with her did you?" She asked in realization.
"Correct." Verity said solemnly, the memory flashing across her mind. "So the good news is, you can probably turn back to normal and back and forth."
"I can?" Sabah asked as she held up her hands, the fact they were jointed like a doll's was easy to see.
"Yeah, uh, what you do is you…" Verity thought for a moment on how she actually did it. "You focus on the idea of you, on how you're supposed to be, or what you want to be I guess, and then your body should change back. That's how I do it."
"Okay, that seems reasonable," Sabah replied as she closed her eyes.
And Verity watched as Sabah's form seemingly rippled like she was a pond and someone had just thrown a rock into her.
And she was back to how she used to look like, and was also now wearing casual clothes instead of the Victorian outfit. Sabah opened her eyes and blinked a few times as she took in her now normal hands.
Verity clapped lightly. "Nice job, it took me way longer to figure out my legs."
"Yeah at least I am not stuck as a body living doll now, I know that was what my costume made me look like but seriously how does that even… Well at least I can say is that your power booster is racist as fuck Verity," Sabah cursed.
Verity cringed at that. "Yeah I have literally no idea what the deal is there, you're only the second person to be affected… wait, is your skin literally made out of porcelain in your other form?"
"Yeah," Sabah replied. "As I said, I am a bloody living doll, I am pretty sure that I am even hollow on the inside… Not sure how that works but Weld is a thing, so I just say powers are crazy."
"Probably a bit less tough than me or Taylor then, but you should still have the regen now." Verity said, before having a thought. "Oh, but more importantly- welcome to the family."
Sabah's face instantly went red at that. "I err, I err, too soon."
Verity stared at her blankly for a moment before she realized what she meant and was immediately awash with an intense embarrassment. "Oh nononono, not like that, not like that (not unless you want to), I just meant cause we're all monster girls, like that kind of thing, like a metaphorical family, like a power family, like uh…. Shit, I don't know, uh…" She scrambled for a comparison that would make this less awkward.
"I getcha, I getcha," Sabah said, taking the hook to move the topic. "So what happened yesterday?"
"Oh shit do you not know yet?" Verity asked. "Bakuda blew up stuff all across town, and then apparently turned all or most of the ABB into suicide bombers because they all exploded."
"Holy shit," Sabah said, giving the most appropriate response to that news. "No I didn't, when I got to grandma's I just made sure to see if she and the rest of my family was safe and I just crashed and slept until like an hour ago. Where I woke up to find myself you know changed a bit," Sabah stated. "Left a note and just ran here as fast as I could… got a bit lost as I couldn't remember the exact address."
"That's understandable." Verity said. "Almost as bad, Oni Lee had more of her bombs and attacked the Rig, so Lung is kinda, sorta, on the loose again, but with basically just Oni Lee at his side. And the Undersiders got out in the chaos." Verity continued laying on the bad news, the fact that Tattletale somehow knew they'd get to escape again nibbling at the back of her mind now that she had the time to properly think on it.
"That sucks a lot," Sabah said with a sigh.
"Yeah." Verity agreed. "Yeah it really does. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be working my tail off from 3 today till infinity to deal with all this shit… But at least you're okay. You are feeling okay beyond the obvious, right?"
"Yeah, I am actually breathing easier than I usually am," Sabah replied. "So I am guessing you're on duty today?"
"Gotta be there by 3, yeah." Verity confirmed. "You're welcome to stick around till then if you'd like. And afterwards, I was serious about offering to let you stay here, since I'm… kind of the reason your place got blown up…" She said, scratching the side of her face sheepishly.
"Well I was going to tell you that I would be doing that even if you didn't mean it, as I… Don't really wanna do my Cape business in either my parent's or grandma's home," Sabah stated.
"Completely understandable." Verity said with a nod. "Feel free to make yourself at home then, just maybe don't be wearing your normal face when you leave or come back… where did I put my spare key…" She mumbled to herself as she went looking for it.
"Thank you Verity," Sabah said with a sigh of relief. "And yeah I get ya, public Cape and all that."
"Of course, like I keep saying, I'm always happy to help." Verity said as she found the key. "Aha! Here you go, don't lose this." Verity said as she handed Sabah her new key. "Did you eat breakfast yet?"
"No," She replied.
"Same, you wanna try my family pancakes?" Verity asked, already heading for the kitchen.
"I would love that, and can I borrow your laptop, I need to mail both my insurance company and my bank as I need a new card issued, for the physical one is going to be either closed now or over stuffed," Sabah requested.
"Oh yeah, sure, just don't look in the folder labeled 'Mxyzptlk'." Verity warned as she diverted from the kitchen, grabbed her laptop and unlocked it, setting it on the table, and then going back to pancakes. "You're not allergic to anything, right?" She asked as she started getting the ingredients out, before quickly setting the table.
"No I am not," Sabah replied as she took a seat.
"Alright, great."
"So…" Sabah began to speak after a few minutes of relative silence with the only sound being made being the humming Verity produced as she made pancakes. "So does the PRT actually know about the fact you bit me?"
"Uhhhh officially I don't know what you're talking about." Verity said, brain stalling as it occurred to her she was going to be asked about this pretty soon. "In fact, officially, that venom is still under experimentation and not cleared for human trials." She said as she flipped a pancake with expert precision back into the pan on the other side. "So in other words… no."
"Then you probably shouldn't ever and just let people think I Second Triggered or something," Sabah replied.
"Second Trigger?"
"It's a very rare thing, but sometimes a Cape can trigger again if they are put in the same situation as before, but even worse. Narwhal of the Guild is the most famous example of that if she was mentioned in your files," Sabah said.
"Uhh, I read that she existed, but I was focusing more on the local stuff or world-level stuff than good guys in other countries, to be honest." Verity admitted. "But also, oof."
"That makes sense, I only know because I became a bit of a cape groupie when I Triggered, wanted to know everything about the world I had just entered," Sabah replied.
"Again, completely understandable." Verity said as she flipped another pancake, this time out of the pan and onto her plate, it having gotten quite a bit more burnt due to her brain stalling. "Also sounds like an absolute shit time to go through, and a pretty good explanation for what my venom might actually be doing. Like, forcing a Second Trigger maybe?"
"Probably, which is pretty damn strong and something people would seek out to have," Sabah said. "Which is why you shouldn't tell people about that aspect of it as in addition to that people might think you can Master the people you've injected and believe you're a Nilbog-lite or something stupid like that."
Verity inhaled sharply through her teeth at that. "Yeah, uh, wasn't going to advertise it before but definitely not going to now that you've pointed that out, yeesh… though, did you find anything new or weird about yourself since you woke up?"
"Well besides waking up to being a living doll no," Sabah replied in a slight sarcastic tone of voice. "Didn't really have time to test anything out besides putting on a spare costume Grandma stored for me as a just in case. Though I do say that the magical girl clothing change I now have is neat as all hell."
"Ah, yeah, I was going to ask about that, your whole body changes so your clothes go too, but can you still feel them or whatever with your power?" Verity asked. "I've been operating under the assumption for me and Taylor that our clothes are like, covered in our new lower halves, but that was a full outfit change, and you had clothes from your other form get stored, so I'm really curious considering what you do."
"I assumed it just gets stored in like some sort of storage space, as that seems to be the case for other Changers whose clothes don't break, or maybe it is more a Breaker state than a Changer or mix of both," Sabah stated.
"So you can't feel your other set of clothes with your powers or anything?"
Sabah shook her head. "Nope."
"Aight, just checkin'." Verity said, happy to have that mystery solved, as she put a nice short stack of pancakes in front of Sabah. "Ta-da! Mendax panned cakes, you will be the first in the world to have 'em!" She said before setting the butter, syrup, and for some reason a bottle of honey on the table. "Though I'm going to ask that if you use the syrup to avoid using the computer while you're eating please thank you."
"I am not a barbarian that eats while she works Verity," Sabah replied as she pushed the laptop to the side after closing it. "Besides I am done with it for now, I just need to wait for replies."
"Perfeción." Verity said as she took her own seat with a stack of pancakes one higher than Sabah's own, which she drizzled with honey and syrup.
"So when you say pancakes, you really mean pan-cakes," Sabah stated.
"Well, these ones, yeah." Verity said with a grin. "Normally I make normal pancakes, but obviously normal isn't normal any more, since normally normal people don't metamorphosize overnight. So I went abnormal for the abnormal, and made some truly Panned Cakes to match the fact you probably burned some body mass to regenerate."
"Yeah, my stomach feels more empty than it ever has," Sabah said as she picked up the fork and knife and dove. "This is good, haven't had pancakes in months."
"Thanks, family recipe. As in, multiple family members pitched in, my brother's idea to add extra salt, my idea to use honey instead of sugar, etc." Verity said, thinking back happily on that weekend where the recipe had been devised as she took her first bite, tasting like home to her. "Another W for the… for the..." Her expression dropped as she trailed off, her train of thought derailing entirely as the family saying couldn't be complete, something about that expression in particular being extra frustrating to try and remember.
"Are you okay, Verity?" Sabah asked in clear concern.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." Verity said, breaking out of her frustrated introspection and forcing herself back to her normal cheery self. "Just was thinking of home, that's all."
"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked.
"Uh… I'm… no, it's fine, it's fine, I don't wanna ruin breakfast with my problems."
"I understand," Sabah replied. "So to blatantly change the subject, what is your favorite kind of design? I know I made rather simple clothes for you, but if you wanted something with images on what would it be?"
"Uhh… well, non-brand stuff, I guess like, dragons. Or cute stuff. Or…" Verity trailed off for a moment as most of her media library didn't exist here. "Oh, uh, like witty or funny shirts, like joke ones, like maybe one that says something like 'I have no tits' or like 'Mega Milk' or just general funny ones."
"Meme clothes then?" Sabah asked.
"Yeah basically." Verity confirmed. "Not all that, to be clear, but I do like me some funny shirts. Ooh, or something that looks like it would be a bowling alley carpet that's been there since the nineties, those are always fun, the uglier the better."
"Oh god, you're sense of fashion is fucking terrible… I really want to make that now," Sabah said with a smile.
"Thanks, I try my best." Verity said proudly with a smile back. "And that would be fantastic."
"Just need to get new materials and see what the damages actually are, hopefully something can be salvaged and I just didn't notice intact stuff yesterday due to panicking," Sabah mumbled as she continued to go through her pancakes.
"Hopefully, and when I get paid next week we'll have some more cash to play with if need be." Verity said between bites as she resumed enjoying her own Panned Cakes.
"My insurance should come from if not well, I do have enough money in a side account to get by until I can get started up again… Do you have a basement? For now when I am thinking about it I don't think I can get a new house that suits my needs," Sabah groaned. "For a few months at minimum."
"Yeah actually, I do, I haven't been using it for anything, may need to clean up a bit, but it should probably work for ya." Verity said. "And like I said before, you're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"You're the best Verity, best snake," Sabah said in relief at her generosity.
"D'ah, stop, you're making me blush."
Which made Sasha actually blush. "Shush you."
"You know, while we're on that topic, were you flirting with me before?" Verity asked while the air was still awkward in an okay way. "Just asking, since I'm really bad with that kind of thing, and I really hate beating around the bush."
"...A little bit," Sabah admitted in a high pitched tone of voice.
"Okay, just making sure we're on the same page here." Verity said. "I have been told I am denser than a black hole before."
"I don't know why but that sounds accurate to my ears," Sabah replied.
"That tracks." Verity agreed. "Oh, and to be clear, since we're both adults here, if you want to I'd be totally down to start some kind of relationship, but I like to take things slow."
"..." Sabah blinked rapidly while her face was the epitome of surprised Pikachu.
"Orrrr if you don't wanna, that's also fine." Verity said, seeing she probably misinterpreted things and backpedaling.
"NO I WANT YOU!" She shouted as she slammed her hands on the table, causing Verity to flinch back in surprise. "..." At that her face blushed as hard as it possibly could. "I mean I would like to be your gir-gir-girlfriend," She stuttered out.
"...Wow. That's a first, uh yeah, awesome! Great!" Verity said, on many levels confused but also happy. "I guess the Shapeless Isles was just Lesbos the whole time…" she muttered to herself. "Uh...let's finish eating, then talk more about this?"
"Yeah that's a good idea," Sabah said as she resumed eating.
About twenty minutes later, when breakfast was both finished and cleaned up, and they were now situated on the sofa.
"So, uh...I'm going to be honest here, I've only been in one relationship as an adult and it wasn't really… uh… Jeremy wasn't exactly keen on making anything official, and then he left for culinary school in New York and never talked to me again, so like… how does this… work, exactly?" Verity asked sheepishly.
"I have no idea," Sabah replied. "I've haven't been in a relationship with another person before, and the closest I got to one in college was guy that kept hounding me, who I kept telling no, but then I got labeled a 'bitch' and then just relented so that others would work with me again, so yeah that's my experience."
"Oof." Verity said sympathetically. "Well… if I'm ever that shitty, I'd want you to immediately call me out on it, probably. Like, if we have an issue, we talk about things instead of letting it fester, kind of thing?"
"I don't think that is ever going to happen, you are the kindest person I've ever met, and… while it's only been a week, you've gotten closer to my heart than any other person ever has Verity," Sabah said.
"...Uh, ok, wow." Verity said. "Uhh… to be clear, were you feeling this way before yesterday?"
"Yeah," Sabah said. "I was actually planning to ask you yesterday since we were practically having a date."
"...Oh my god it was a date…" Verity muttered. "But, okay, good, I was worried for a moment since you pointed out the Nilbog-y master-y thing and I was worried for a second there, but okay, that's awesome then." She said more clearly.
"Nah if I was I wouldn't have brought it up," She replied. "I just genuinely like you and think you're really, really fucking hot."
Verity was completely taken aback by that statement. "Really? Me? Hot?"
"Yeah," Sabah replied.
"How?"
"You've got a pretty face-"
"Oh, come on, don't lie to me like that."
"I am not Verity, you have the face and body of a freaking goddess," Sabah said. "And me having a thing for Monster Girls also helps." Verity could see the imaginary steam coming out of her ears at that.
"...Seriously?" Verity asked, unable to tell if she was being fucked with now. "My face. This face." She said, motioning to said face.
"Yeah, have you seen yourself in mirror Verity, I have studied lots of design and the face you have is almost perfectly symmetrical," Sabah said as she began to go into detail about her face. "You've got perfectly smooth skin without a singular blemish with perfect angles. You're probably the world's luckiest Case 53."
"...Oh my god." Verity said as it suddenly hit her why Sabah's words didn't make any sense to her in the slightest.
"What is it Verity? Did I say something bad?" She asked in concern, seemingly worried about having fucked up already at being a girlfriend.
"This isn't my face." Verity said in horror as the realization, and its implications, dawned on her. "This isn't my face."
"Huh? What do you mean? Of course it's your face silly, who else's could it be?" Sabah asked in a slightly joking manner to calm her down.
"This isn't my face." Verity repeated. "I- have I told you? I didn't remember my name. I don't remember my face, the face I've had until now, but I know it isn't this one." She said in horror as she looked at her hands.
"The former but not the latter," Sabah responded.
"This whole time I've been so distracted by the obvious changes, the monstrous parts, it hasn't even really occurred to me before." She said, continuing to stare at her claws as her reality began to crumble around her. "I- am I even me? What if I'm just someone's memories piloting someone else's body? Or a copy? Is this even my body? Would I even be able to tell?"
"Of course you're you," Sabah said as she pulled Verity's hands into her own. "You have memories, names and faces might be gone but you know who you were, so does it even matter?" Sabah asked. "Clone, body jacking, your body? The same can be said about every person. I am not the same person I was seven years ago quite literally, every single part of my body has been replaced with new stuff. But I still remember the things that makes me, me. Just like you."
"I- I- I- can, can you just, just give me a, just give me a moment." Verity said as she lightly pulled her hands free of Sabah's and went to her bathroom, and for the first real time since the rig actually bothered to look at herself.
It was her face.
She knew it was her face.
But as she stared, she realized who this face used to belong to.
"Oh. Ohh... I'm literally…" She trailed off as she stared.
Somehow, the eyes being proper snake eyes instead of rectangular had been the biggest thing throwing her off from noticing, she realized.
Well, that or the habitual refusal to actually look at her own reflection.
Or the fact none of the colors in anything but her eyes matched up with the original.
Or the big 'c' on her forehead.
Or the...
As she thought about it, she realized she actually had had some pretty good reasons for not noticing sooner.
And yet.
"Ahah..."
And yet.
"Ahaha…"
Not that she could see it, it was plain as day.
"Ahahahahahahaha!" She laughed entirely without mirth at her own stupidity for not noticing the name 'Medusa' as far more spot on than she'd previously imagined.
"Verity, are you okay?" Asked Sabah from behind her in great concern.
"It's not my face, it's hers!" Verity said, motioning to it in the mirror as if she'd made some grand revelation. "I don't know how I didn't see it before, but it's her face!"
"Whose face?" Sabah asked again from behind her, though she sounded even closer.
"Medusa, Medusa, I'm literally the Gorgon!" Verity said, continuing to 'laugh' as tears began to run down her face. "What kind of cruel joke is this? Did whatever brought me here have a sense of humor?"
"I don't know," Sabah said and Verity felt her arms wrap around her stomach from behind. "But if it was done on purpose, maybe it was chosen as the only one you would happy with besides your old one."
"That's the worst part." Verity said as she shook in a twisted cocktail of emotions. "This is way better than the old me. I hated the old one. But- but I'd just gotten my shit together. I finally had everything in a way that made sense, and then… and now I'm…"
"My girlfriend," Sabah stated. "You're my girlfriend as of five minutes ago, a hero that people seem to really like. And adored by a teenage girl who thinks the world of you."
"No… don't… don't do that…" Verity said through tears. "That… that kills the snake." She said in a clear attempt at humor.
"Then maybe I should continue, you saved Taylor's life, Verity. You saved my life, even if it came with consequences," Sabah stated. "And I will be forever grateful for that."
That proved too much for Verity's already fragile mental state as she completely broke down sobbing over everything.
Over being ripped from her old life, over being granted the body of a monster, over realizing she already cared about this world too much to let it be.
Over the fact she already had people relying on her.
Xxx
"You're early, that is good," Director Piggot said from behind her desk.
"Yeah, figure it'd be better to deal with things sooner than later, boss." Verity said, not wanting to mention she'd been too emotionally burnt out to move about an hour or two ago, only fixed by having played 'Craps' with Sabah and Taylor and just goofing around for a solid while.
"I like to see that in a soldier, now thankfully the city is calm but that is going to change quickly as early this morning Kaiser put out a video to rally the White Supremacists of the city to action against 'the undesirables that have caused damage to their beautiful city.' so we can expect the start of a gang war sometime in the next twenty-four hours," Piggot informed Verity of the current situation.
"Well, shit." Verity cursed. "So what are we planning to do about that? Go straight for the head? Hit 'em in the homeland, so to speak?"
"If we catch them out and about, sadly the only one that had a known identity was Hookwolf, and he is currently stone thanks to you," Piggot stated. "The rest of the Empire has been smart enough to keep their public identities hidden."
"So… what, are we just going to wait until something happens?" Verity asked, the adage of 'villains act, heroes react' coming to her mind.
"Sadly yes we have only little data about the Empire's criminal activities as that is mostly handled by their unpowered members so that is in the hands of the police and FBI, so now we're focusing on keeping the appearance of peace while we clean up Bakuda and repair the Rig though Armsmaster and Dragon will be handling for most of the next week or two depending on how swear the damage is. So for now while things are calm you're going to be on console duty alongside Shadow Stalker," Piggot finished up her briefing.
"Understood, but uh…" Verity trailed off as the reminder brought the image of the Stoned among the wreckage. "You guys collected the statues, right?"
"Yes and they are in a secure location," Piggot answered.
"Okay, good, just wanted to make sure." Verity said. "And, uh, sorry about the extra ones."
"They are the reason you will be having console duty, as I determined that use of it against Hookwolf was acceptable," Piggot replied. "Though the video of you doing so is making the rounds on the net so PR is working on something to improve your image, though I think they are overreacting the general opinion seems to be that you were justified in doing what you did. But we need to present you as a person and not a monster-" Verity couldn't help but flinch. "-that turns people to stone at the drop of a hat."
"Well, uh, before this happened, I was thinking of… maybe volunteering at a daycare center or something… not for PR, just because." Verity admitted sheepishly.
"I can run it by PR, it will probably be approved as you seem to be popular with children, the temp tattoos have sold out," Piggot stated.
"Oh, right, have you guys found someone who can actually do the permanent one for me? It feels off brand to have the wrong brand on my… you know what I'm trying to say."
"Yes, a Rogue by the name of No Face sent in a request to do the job, he will come by next weekend if you accept," Piggot informed her.
"As long as he doesn't steal faces, sure."
"He chose it for ironic reasons according to him as he specializes in face cosmetics and mask making," Piggot said.
"Oh, that kind of 'No' Face, got it, got it, yeah that sounds good, I'll take it." Verity confirmed.
"Then I will send the request for him," Piggot said. "Now off to the Consol Room you know the way, yes?"
"Yes, ma'am. Hopefully things go well today." Verity said as she left.
"I hope so as well," Piggot responded as the door closed behind Verity.
As soon as Piggot could no longer see her, Verity pulled up the map of the building's layout on her armband, and used that to make sure she got to the Consol Room in a timely fashion.
Verity came to the indicated door and entered after using her armband as the access key to the place, and inside she found a rather spartan looking room that only contained chairs and tables with a computer and three screens. With the only other person inside being Shadow Stalker for the moment at it looked there was another but currently absent person going by the still steaming coffee cup on the table beside hers.
"Hallo!" Verity greeted as the door closed behind her. "Medusa reporting for Consol Duty, how are things looking so far Shadow Stalker?"
That seemed to take her off guard as she jerked in her seat and turned around to look at Verity after throwing off her headset. "How are you so quiet when you move?" She asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Experience." Verity said truthfully. It happened a lot, before all this. "Looooots of experience. Sorry for spooking you though." As she spoke, she kept an eye on the monitor behind Shadow Stalker just in case while her attention was otherwise occupied.
"...Whatever," She said as she turned back around. "Just take a seat, Jones is going to be back soon and instruct you."
Verity looked at the chair that looked like she would have had trouble sitting in it before she had a tail, so she simply moved it aside and sat back on her tail as was becoming normal, as she looked at the computer that was currently off.
Though thankfully a minute later the PRT Agent known as Jones returned. "Well you're early ma'am."
"I hate being late." Verity explained. "So, how do we do this?"
"Well, let me just turn it on," Jones said as he hit the power button. "Each screen is dedicated to one task each, the right is communication with patrolling Capes and Police, the middle is for the CCTV, the left is for written communication and report writing."
"Okay." Verity said with a nod, following along and committing what he was saying to memory.
"And that's all there is to it, just respond to the stuff that gets routed to you, and tell those on duty where they need to go, you can tell who is out by their green icons," Jones said as he pointed to the right screen that held profile images of the various Capes that worked for the government in Brockton Bay and one that connected with the police.
"...That's it?" Verity asked, having been expecting something more in-depth.
"Yeah we managed to streamline the process a lot over the years, used to be a desk filled with like fifty phones a decade ago and one bulky computer," Jones responded. "The wonders of modern tech."
"That's pretty impressive." Verity said. "Uh, before I start, I'm assuming alerts and stuff are evenly distributed, or is it just whoever says something first?"
"Evenly distributed between all active consoles, you are gonna get calls from Protectorate Heroes now, I will handle the other PRT troops and Shadow Stalker gets the Wards," Jones said.
"Okay, got it." Verity said with a nod as she carefully picked up the headset and put it on.
And then she sat there listening to simple music for thirty minutes before she found something on the cameras, that being some hooligans in the middle of trying to break into a closed Seven-eleven. So she just forwarded that to the police and the nearest Protectorate Hero which was Miss Militia.
And that action was repeated again and again with calls going in and out, crimes in progress being found, police being notified and sometimes a Hero if they were close enough.
The repetition continued until her and Shadow Stalker's shifts finally ended at seven in the evening.
"I think that music counts as literal torture…" Verity said as the door closed behind them.
"And to make it worse they only put it on when you're forced to do it," Sophia stated.
"Oof, that's rough." Verity said sympathetically. "Hopefully you aren't going too crazy from it?"
"I've learned to tune it out, so I guess you wanna pick up from where we left off?" Sophia asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"If you have the time."
"I-I do," Sophia replied.
"Great! Now we just need somewhere private to talk, if you have any suggestions." Verity offered, trying to assert herself as an authority figure but not put Sophia on edge.
"My room can work," Sophia answered.
"Alright, we'll do that then."
Sophia nodded her head and they began to walk to the Ward Base where her room was.
"Hello Shadow Stalker, hello Medusa," Aegis greeted them as they entered the Wards personal area. "What can I help you with?"
"Ah, nothing, it's fine, I'm just here to talk." Verity assured casually. "Maybe play some cards with everyone after that talks over, not sure."
"What kind of card game?" Vista asked from the sofa, her mask off as she watched TV. "And hey Biggest V, haven't seen you in a while."
"So you're Little V? Oh, I should have figured that out…" Verity said with a grin as she shook her head. "And whatever game y'all wanna play, but I've got my family one that may or may not involve coins and a metaphorical pot."
"That sounds awesome," Vista replied.
"...That sounds like gambling," Aegis stated as he took a sip from his water bottle.
"It's an old family game, it's how I learned how to count." Verity said in her defense. "Also, I will not take any winnings therein, and the pot should never really get over ten dollars in a normal game, so it's not really gambling… or gambling with any stakes bigger than pocket change."
"Well that sounds reasonable," Aegis stated. "So who are you going to be having a chat with? Us and Kid Win are the only ones currently on base."
"Mostly broody over here, but if anyone else wants to talk about anything after that I'd be down." Verity offered. "Including potential non-combat applications of your powers if you ever felt like going Rogue or just make some cash on the side."
"Nah to that last part, I like being a hero but power discussions are always fun," Vista stated.
"Well I hope your conversation is fruitful, it would be nice to see Shadow Stalker become an even better teammate," Aegis stated, throwing a little bit of shade towards the girl who just crossed her arms in response.
"That's… kind of the goal, yeah" Verity said, before looking to Shadow Stalker. "Better team player, at least."
The girl didn't say anything in response to that.
"Well I will leave you to that," Aegis said as he went to join Vista on the sofa.
"See y'all again in a bit~." Verity said, before looking at Shadow Stalker and trying to (silently) get her to lead to her room, since Verity did not know this section's layout.
And after a second the two began to walk and a few seconds later they entered Sophia's private room that only contained a bed and a work desk.
"So." Verity said after a moment. "Question: how's the home life?"
"What has that to do with anything I did to Hebert?" She asked.
"...Oh, oh, I think you're misunderstanding what's happening here." Verity said. "This is me trying to get to know you, the person. I already understand the horrible shit you did to her and your proclaimed reason why, so I'm trying to understand the rest of you now. Because I want to try and help you, Sophia."
"Why would you? Why would you, a person who looked like she was about to turn me to stone help me?" Sophia asked in confusion.
"Because…" Verity took a breath to calm herself at the reminder of what she looked like to others now, and find the right words. "Because I see a lot of similarities between us. I was actually planning on having some talks like this before I found out what you did, more or less, specifically to prevent you from doing things like that."
"You did say something like that before, and fucking really?" Sophia asked.
"Yeah." Verity confirmed. "You said you like hurting people, right? Is it because you like seeing people in pain? Or because it makes you feel strong? Or maybe something else?"
"More of column B than column A," Sophia responded.
"Alright, so a little different, but… yeah, I understand that." Verity said. "I'm about to say something that could be seen as inflammatory but understand I mean this in the nicest way possible, you feel like you have no control over your life most of the time, right? That you're weak? Maybe even alone?"
The grimace Sophia made at that told Verity she had hit the nail dead on.
"Yeah, so. I completely understand that." Verity said. "So, to wrap back around to that question- how's the home life?"
"Better than it has been in the past few months," She answered.
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"Mom hasn't brought any asshole boyfriends home in a while," She responded.
"Now that is a very loaded statement." Verity noted. "How did those 'asshole boyfriends' treat you, exactly?"
"They were just dicks, like 'girl bring me beer' they didn't last long as they got kicked out quickly if mom noticed, but she is a horrible judge of character during first impressions," Sophia answered.
"Hmm. And how would you describe your relationship with your mom? Like, how does she treat you?"
"Like my Trigger didn't happen," Sophia answered, seemingly being truthful.
Verity waited a moment for her to continue, but Sophia seemed to have said all to that. "Alright. Then, let me phrase this another way- do you feel powerless when you're at home? Or was there something that made you feel powerless, just in general, before or after getting actual powers?"
"Before," Sophia answered.
"Which was…?" Verity asked. "Unless it was what caused your Trigger and you'd rather not talk about it right now."
"It was," She answered with a hard face.
"And it's not… ongoing?"
"No he is gone," Sophia answered.
"And do you ever feel powerless, in any context, nowadays?" Verity asked, deciding to skirt right around what was clearly and definitively a touchy subject.
"All the time," She admitted.
"That makes sense, you're a teenager." Verity said. "Really, unless you get emancipated or something, you're not going to have much control over your life for a few years, and maybe not even then."
"I know, I fucking know you don't have to rub it in," Sophia almost growled.
"Rub what in?" Verity asked, not following.
"That I am weak, that I am powerless, that I don't have any bloody control over my life!" She responded in a loud but controlled manner.
"...Do you want to know a secret, Sophia?" Verity asked after giving her a moment to breathe.
"Going to impart some adult knowledge onto this oblivious teen?" She asked sarcastically.
"Pfft, I wish." Verity scoffed. "No, Sophia. The secret is that I have felt the exact same way as you do for almost my entire life, though assumedly for different reasons. It… alleviates, when you get out of school and you can decide what to do with your life… if you get to decide." She almost growled that bit herself.
"So the truth of society is that everybody on the bottom is fucked and there is nothing you can do about it except do what those on top says?"
"No, no, God no, sorry, I've never had to put this into words before…" Verity said with some frustration leaking through to her voice. "What I'm trying to say is… fuck, uh... look, when you look at me, what do you see?"
"I see somebody who could rule this city if they wanted to, the strongest Cape in the Bay," Sophia answered.
"And what do you think I see when I look at you?"
"Prey."
"So, do you want to hear how I see us then?"
"What do you see?" She asked in genuine curiosity.
"When I look at you, I see a younger me." Verity said. "I see a hurt kid who feels like nothing in the universe will go their way unless you lash out and hurt others to do it. Someone who maybe doesn't understand other people are even people, yet."
"I… I fucking know that people are people, I am not like Kaiser and his Hitler Youth Group," Sophia responded.
"And there's trying to use diversionary tactics, i.e. humor, to take the focus off the topic at hand. Still use that one myself." Verity noted. "But, to finish what I was saying- I see someone with so much potential that it hurts to see you squander it like this. And I don't mean with your powers, I mean you as a person, Sophia Hess. And I know that distinction may not mean much to you, but you have so much potential to be better than you are."
"And what about you, you didn't mention how you see yourself?" Sophia asked, trying once again to divert the topic.
"...Well, for one thing, when I see myself, I see a big 'C' on my forehead." Verity said, throwing it right back at her.
"Fucking be serious!" Sophia shouted back.
"I am being serious." Verity said levelly as she made her hair part and rise from her face to show the C on her forehead. "This is a constant reminder that I will never be the same person again. The constant reminder that I will never be able to find my family, my friends again. The constant reminder that I wear a face I was not born with. To me, this little letter on my face is the sign of my powerlessness, Sophia. It means I can never take back the life I once had, because I don't look like the old me, and I don't know what my family looks like. I can juggle semi's, but no amount of brute strength will ever change that."
Sophia said no words but the emotions that crossed her face told Verity all that she needed, she saw Sophia finally realising that she was not alone. That she was truly not the only one that felt the way she did, that an adult was actually concerned about her wellbeing.
"I'm at the most powerless I have ever been in my life, Sophia." Verity said just above a whisper. "And I want to make sure you don't ever reach this point through your own actions."
"The fuck do I do so that doesn't happen?" She asked, and Verity could tell that this was the first time in her teenage life that Sophia Hess had asked anybody for help.
"It's gonna be a lot, but it starts with trying to change." Verity said. "Yoda was full of shit, the most important part is putting in the effort and trying."
"Yeah the gremlin is full of shit," Sophia said. "And I get ya, but how do I do that?"
"Well, that's the real hard part." Verity said. "Because, really? I don't know. I can certainly help, I can help as much as you need it, but… I suppose, the first step is reaching out."
"And I assume I need to reach out to my teammates?" Sophia asked.
"That would be a good starting point, yeah." Verity said. "Generally speaking, being friends with good people tends to help make yourself better."
"And help Emma get better when she gets back," She said.
"Well there you go, you're already thinking on the right track." Verity said, an inkling of pride in her tone. "Now, you wanna keep talking about this heavy stuff, or you wanna go play cards with your teammates? Or something else entirely?"
"I would like to play cards," Sophia replied.
"Alrighty then!" Verity said, her typical cheer put back into place as she said it. "Hope you got some quarters~."
xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my P A Treon. com (slash) StreamingViking and read commissioned stories. Along with voting for which stories will be updated next via Polls. And chapters before they are released here.