"Well all of you seem to be having fun," Came the voice of an older-sounding male as they were all in the middle of their fifth or so card game.
"Hello Vice-Director," Aegis responded from his position on the sofa.
"Hi boss, just teaching the kids a nice wholesome family friendly card game." Verity said, the idea having been a rousing success in her opinion with how all the Wards present had ended up playing.
"I can see that, and it is good to meet you finally in person, Miss Mendax," Vice-Director William Renick said, the elderly man walking over to them.
"Nice to meet you too, Vice-Director." Verity said, getting to her feet quickly and extending her hand for a more formal greeting.
"Likewise," He said as he took the hand. "And it is good to see you getting along with the children."
"Yeah, I love kids, and I'm pretty sure these guys and gals like me so far, right?" Verity asked over her shoulder.
"Yeah you're awesome," Vista replied.
"A respectable hero I would like to work with then I join the Protectorate," Aegis said giving a more formal answer.
"She is all right so far," Kid Win said, having joined in on the third game after having exited his Workshop.
"She's fine," Sophia responded in a dismissive tone.
"Y'all are great too." Verity replied with a grin.
"Good to hear," Renick said with a clap of his hands that made his rather muscular arms stand out. "Though I'm sad to tell you that you're going to have to end your game as Aegis, your parents are here to pick you up, and Shadow Stalker, a van is ready to take you home."
"Damn I was about to win," Vista said with a grumble as she laid her cards down showing that yes she was in fact about to win.
"Language." Verity said lightly.
"We will get ready then," Aegis said as he stood up.
"See you some other time Verity," Sophia said as she followed Aegis.
"Have a good night!" Verity said, still riding the high of the successful talk. "I think I'm going to head out too, probably need to eat something." She gave a meaningful look to Renick. "Unless you needed something from me, Sir?"
"No there is not, thankfully it is a quiet evening so far. Hopefully Kaiser can maintain that for the rest of the weekend," Renick replied. "So you can head home."
"Hopefully." Verity agreed before taking her leave.
"See you later Verity," Vista said as she exited the Wards' Base.
Xxx
"Welcome back home," Sabah greeted Verity as she came through the door.
"...Well that's new." Verity said, having somewhat forgotten about her new gf now living with her. "Good to be back. Anything happen while I was out?"
"Nah, Taylor just provided me with emergency silk to make some simpler orders, and I got a response from my insurance company. They will come and see if I get money for the damages… next week," She answered. "And I went and made dinner."
"Oof, and… really?" Verity asked, the smell of cooking food only now registering to her. "What'd you make?"
"Just something simple, fries with deep fried chicken that has cheese in it," Sabah replied. "I hope you like it."
"Chicken… with cheese in it?" Verity repeated, amazed at the concept. "That sounds amazing."
"It's called chicken Cordon Bleu, though store bought," Sabah replied. "And I had to as I need food as well."
"Snrk, oh okay, I was thinking of something way more complicated, I love Cordon Bleu." Verity said, having imagined something more like chicken wings or deep fried drumsticks or something with cheese inside. "You did make enough for both of us, right?"
"I did," Sabah said. "And it should be done in a few minutes."
"Nice, I'm gonna get washed up, and then we can do dinner. First in-home date~!" Verity said with a grin.
"...Oh I guess it is," Sabah replied.
"Yeah, so lemme just get washed up and we can get right to that."
And about twenty minutes later Verity was done showering as she had rushed it a bit so as to not let the food get cold.
"So you asked about mine, can I ask about yours?" Sabah asked as she placed down a pitcher of water on the table alongside the utensils.
"Sure, but my what?" Verity asked, not following.
"Day, how was your day at work?" Sabah repeated.
"Oh yeah that, it was fine, it was just Consol Duty, nothing big happened, but I did start rehabilitating the problem child of the Wards through the power of card games." Verity said, having already forgotten about the torturous music of Consol Duty.
"They have one of those?" Sabah asked.
"Yeah, excessive force, some genuine fucked up bullying, pretty bad all around." Verity said. "But hopefully they'll be turning around with things now, seemed to want to change after today."
"Shadow Stalker then I assume? She seems to be the only that fits going by her Vigilante track record," Sabah asked.
"Yeah…" Verity confirmed, since if that was public knowledge then she wasn't breaking confidentiality. "I see too much of myself in her, I had to at least try to help, and thankfully she seems receptive."
"That is good to hear," Sabah replied. "She just needed a proper firm hand didn't she? To get set straight right? Going by what you said?"
"...Basically, yeah. Too entrenched in her own weird worldview." Verity said after thinking if that fit for a moment. "Hey, to blatantly change the subject, were you able to salvage anything from your workshop?"
"I went back but the stuff was too buried in rubble so I was hoping you could help me with lifting the debris so I can find stuff," Sabah answered.
"Oh yeah sure, we can do that then, tomorrow even if you want to." Verity said, eager to help. "Can you like, sense any cloth you can control? That would probably make it a little easier for some stuff."
"I can't really sense cloth as it isn't cloth manipulation, just micro telekinesis that works best with cloth and thread as it is so light," Sabah stated. "But now there is a lot of small broken stuff."
"Oh…" Verity said, before replaying that in her mind. "Wait, does that mean you can control, like, paper?"
"Yeah," Sabah said as one of the documents that had been put to the side rose up into the air for a few seconds before landing down.
"Oh so you're one of the scary types who just uses their powers for money, okay, damn." Verity said as she thought on the potential uses of such a power. "Very stronk yet smol gf is very good." She said in a bad Russian accent.
"Shush you," She said as she ate her fries.
"I'm serious though, I already thought you were pretty strong with just clothing manipulation since basically everyone wears clothing, but if you can control tiny stuff, you could probably, like, rip someone's entire outer layer of skin off no problem, that's terrifying girl."
"It's not that strong," She replied, though her tone of voice held a tinge of uncertainty like she had not gone all the way to see what she was capable of.
"You wanna test it?" Verity asked, holding up her arm. "I can heal quickly enough it wouldn't be a problem."
"I don't think that would be a good idea."
"I have never been known for having good ideas, so that's fair." Verity said, seeing Sabah's discomfort at the idea and backing off. "To once again blatantly change the subject, the house has been okay? Any issues here?"
"Nah there hasn't been any Verity, you've sorted stuff quite nicely," Sabah complimented her.
"Thanks, I tried my best." Verity said. "The food's pretty good by the way, thanks for making dinner."
"You're welcome, Verity," Sabah replied with a smile on her face. "But it's nothing to write home about."
"Yeah, but it's the thought that counts, the feeling behind a meal is just as important to the experience as the food itself." Verity said.
"Then enjoy the feelings I felt when I just threw the stuff into the oven," Sabah replied.
Verity snickered. "I know, I just feel the need to be like that with food."
"Well what do we do next? It's still early in the evening?" Sabah asked.
"I dunno, maybe we could…d-do couple things?"
Sabah blinked a few times at that before coughing. "Isn't it a little too early for that?"
Verity could feel her face heating up. "Y-yeah, sorry, I'm the one who said about taking it slow and I'm already trying to c-c-cuddle."
"...I thought you were talking about… We…. we can do that," Sabah said.
"What else would I have been…" Verity asked before it clicked what Sabah meant, and she felt her entire face go stop-light red as she let out a small squeak.
"Yeah, let's ehh, save that for much, much later. But I can do cuddling now," Sabah stated.
"Okay." Verity squeaked as she tried very, very, very, very hard to clear her mind.
Xxx
"Well this is a mess," Sabah said as they stood in front of the ruins of her house, though at the moment she was in her doll form.
"Yeah… at least it's not on fire any more?" Verity said, having difficulty finding a silver lining.
"Yeah, but hopefully some of the stuff is okay beneath all of that," Sabah replied.
"At least we know for sure the most important thing survived."
"And that is? Because I am pretty sure I didn't get to pull anything out that night," Sabah stated.
"I did."
"...Yeah you did," Sabah answered. "You're so sweet you know that?"
"Must be the honey, honey." Verity said with a grin.
"Yeah that is a lot of honey," Sabah replied referring to all the honey that was in her cabinet. "Now let's go see if we can free some of my stuff."
"Righty-o then, let's get a-diggin!"
At that the two of them began to go through the rubble with Sabah in her doll form putting her newly enhanced strength to use, easily able to lift up some of the larger chunks of concrete, while she used her powers to gather up with the surprising ease, her new form enhancing the breadth of her telekinesis.
And so for the next few hours the two of them gathered up as much intact stuff as possible were some of her tools, utensils, a few pictures that had survived and a few rolls of fabric and spools of thread that had managed to come out unscathed due still having been in their respective delivery boxes.
"More stuff than I expected," Sabah stated as lifted up the two sacks they had managed to fill with mostly whole things.
"Better to be happily surprised than disappointed!" Verity said, mangling one of her own favorite sayings. "That's why I always fear for the worst, hope for the best. No matter the outcome, it's always better than I thought."
"That seems to be a good outlook on life," Sabah replied.
"Yeah, it's served me pretty well so far." Verity said as she stretched her back. "Ah, if you think that's all we're gonna get though, I'd say we get that stuff back to the house and get lunch, maybe?"
"Yeah that sounds nice," Sabah replied as she was about to jump onto Verity's back but before she could, a female voice spoke up from behind them.
"Before you go though, can I have a word with you first, Medusa?"
"Oh, sure, I'm always willing to help." Verity said, turning around and seeing someone clearly in costume who looked vaguely like a Jedi to her, which she could vaguely recollect fit the description of Faultline. "Oh, uh. Hello. What can I help you with?" She said much more cautiously, interposing herself between Sabah and the unknown variable.
"I would tell you that you're invited to the Palanquin tonight to talk about your rather unique Case 53 status, this is of course voluntarily, but any information you might have could help in assisting my teammates and other Case 53s," Faultline stated as she skillfully threw an invitation that Verity caught less-than-skillfully.
She looked down at the invitation, before looking back at Faultline in confusion. "Uh… Thank you for the invitation, I may or may not be able to, I need to check my schedule." Verity said noncommittally but politely, as she now needed to check several rules and look up what exactly 'the Palanquin' was.
"Oh you will be," She replied as she left the area.
"...Parry, I might be wrong, but was that a threat at the end there?" Verity asked, unsure how to interpret what just happened.
"Well I think she tried to go for a 'this is a request you can't refuse' kind of thing," She replied in uncertainty, seemingly trying to find a positive spin on the possible threat.
"Ah-huh… I think I need to call someone, let's get home and get some privacy."
"Yeah that is a good idea before the E88 or something shows up," Sabah stated as she jumped onto Verity's back.
"Don't tempt fate in front of a…" Verity's brow furrowed as she tried to say what she knew was another of her family sayings. "In front of a-... ugh." She groaned before getting into gear and heading home.
Xxx
"Did she attack you?" Armsmaster asked.
"No, she invited me to the 'Pal-ann-keen' for what I think is a conference on C53's." Verity explained over her armband soon after getting home. "Just got home, and I have no idea where or what that is. How bad of an idea would it be to go?"
"Not a bad one, we do not have the resources to do a proper investigation of how people like you happen or where you come from, so others tend to do that. With Faultline and her crew being one of them, and the Palanquin is a nightclub located two blocks from the Lord Street Market on top of a small hill," Armsmaster answered.
"So… do you think I should go?" Verity asked, uncertain about walking into unknown (to her) territory potentially filled with unknown (to her) parahumans with unknown (to her) motivations and affiliations, but definitely wanted to know more, so she was rather conflicted.
"I do not see why not if you wish to gain any leads on your situation," Armsmaster stated.
"...Okay." Verity said with a nod (more to herself, since this wasn't a video call). "I guess I'll go then. Though, if I'm not on time for my shift tomorrow, assume things went horribly wrong."
"You should not be worried, the place is basically Neutral Ground like Somer's Rock."
"Alright, I'll take your word for it." Verity said, not knowing what that was either. "Sorry for bothering you then."
"Just make sure to read your files properly, you do not need to call about every single thing, we do have a degree of autonomy," Armsmaster stated as he hung up.
"...Rude." Verity said as she flexed her fingers out and thought on how to go about this, before shaking her head and going back into the main area of her house from her bedroom, where she'd gone to make the call, to see Sabah back in her normal form and going through her stuff. "Hey, so Armsaster said it was cool, but I'm still feeling a little eaugh about going."
"I think you should go," Sabah answered. "You've got nothing to lose going, only stuff to possibly gain."
"Yeah, but…" Verity trailed off. "This is going to sound really stupid, but I don't… feel… safe, going there."
"Really?" Sabah asked in clear surprise not expecting her to feel that way about it. "Really?!"
"Well, yeah." Verity said a bit ashamedly. "Like, every time I have a run in with other adult Paras who aren't you or Protectorate, I've gotten injured. I'm not literally invulnerable, and there are undoubtedly some weird-ass powers out there, and this a gathering of a bunch of unknown Parahumans, I don't wanna end up, like, mind controlled or something."
"No such powers among Faultlines crew which you should know, for if there was a human controlling Master you would not be sent," Sabah stated.
"Yeah, but it sounded like they were inviting others, too." Verity pointed out. "Randos, maybe even out of towners."
"What gave you that idea?" Sabah asked.
"She said it could help her team and 'other Case 53's', and the only other local ones I know of are on her crew already, which means there could very well be total unknowns present."
"She was obviously talking about the future or Case53s that are not on her team in general," Sabah stated. "You're being awfully paranoid."
"Remember what I said earlier about planning for the worst, hoping for the best?" Verity said. "This is what I meant by that, especially since my critical thinking skills have taken a dive lately with how… stupid, I've been acting, so I'm trying to at least try and be smart about this instead of blindly rushing in like normal."
"Well being careful is good, but I think you haven't been acting stupid," Sabah stated.
"I mean like… I've kind of just been going about everything all gung ho,even when I really shouldn't be, like, you know the robbery I stopped? You want to know what I was thinking during that?"
"What were you thinking? You seemed to handle that well going by what you said and I read of news online," Sabah asked.
"To tell the truth, I literally wasn't thinking anything." Verity admitted. "I think that's why Tattletale's… whatever she does, didn't work on me. Because I had no idea what I was doing, I was basically just working on instinct the whole time."
"Well it's working so I don't see what the problem is, especially if it messes up Thinkers like Treacle tart."
"Who?"
"I mean Tattletale, I was just making fun of her name," Sabah replied.
"Oh, okay… what were we just talking about?" Verity asked, having lost track of the conversation.
"...God you are empty headed," Sabah said while muttering something else under her breath that she couldn't in fact hear.
"Right, yeah, head empty, no thoughts, that's what I'm trying to avoid right now by being a little extra paranoid." Verity said, the words serving to get her back on the right mental track. "Do you really think it would be okay to go in with literally no prep like this? Like, obviously I'll be reading up on FC's files, but… there's that heavy 'what if' there, you know?"
"And what is that 'What if' that is going through your head?" Sabah asked.
"What if it's another Bakuda?" Verity said. "And what if this time, I'm not able to last it? Or worse, not able to protect?"
"It's not going to be that, they have never killed anybody before, and the Palanquin is a public nightclub," Sabah said. "But if it's going to make you feel better, I am willing to come along."
Verity bit her lip as she thought. "That, somehow, makes me feel both better and worse about going."
"I am not weak Verity, especially now," She said as she changed into her doll form. "This new body of mine severely boosts my powers… and I don't think I am affected by the Manton Limit anymore when I am like this."
"Wait, what? Seriously?" Verity asked, genuinely caught off guard. The Manton Limit was one of those things she'd learned about right at the start, and had stood out in her mind as one of the few actual rules this place had.
"Yeah, when I am like this, the barrier I feel when I reach out with my power towards people is just… gone, the weight limit has only increased a bit, but if I wanted to, well I think I could flay somebody alive or just crush their heart or worse," Sabah stated. "It's actually kinda scary."
"...So remember what I said before about you actually having scary strong powers?" Verity asked.
"I do, it just didn't click until now," Sabah replied.
"Yeah okay, that's uh… hm. Hmm. So it's either, we go clubbing together, or you stay here in case something happens with Taylor, since she's the other thing I'm worried about." Verity laid out. "You… are probably fine either way, now, so really it's up to you, Sabs."
"I would like to go with you, to make you feel better, and if they try to do stuff… well let's see how good a Mortal Kombat Fatality I can replicate," Sabah stated.
"Brutal." Verity said. "And… thank you."
"You're welcome dear," Sabah replied. "So it was for tonight, so in the meantime how about we make lunch, play some game and then dinner?"
Verity was thrown for a loop for a moment at the word 'dear', before getting her head back in order. "Uh, yeah, sure that sounds great. Probably read up on faultline's stuff obviously… I'm feeling mac and cheese for lunch, you wanna have some real mac and cheese?"
"That sounds nice," Sabah replied.
Xxx
"Well it definitely looks like a nightclub," Sabah stated as they stood in front of the night club known as the Palanquin to the people of Brockton Bay. And even early in the night there was a long queue despite the recent troubles and the curfew that would be in effect in about three hours.
"Yeah." Verity said, adjusting her dress again.
"So how does it feel?" Sabah asked, noticing the dress adjustment. "Did I make it too tight?"
"N-no, I think it's fine." Verity said. "I've, uh, just… never worn anything this revealing? And it feels a little weird."
"You get used to it," The Living Doll replied. "Now did you remember the invite?" She repeated for the third time.
"Yes, it's right here." Verity said, opening the small purse she was wearing specifically to carry it and a few other necessities. "We still have it, we don't have to go back this time."
"Good," Sabah replied. "So… let's do this."
At that the two of them headed towards the line walking right by it and up to the bouncer. "Get in the line," The rather well built man said seemingly unfazed by the appearance of two Capes.
At that, Verity pulled out the invitation and held it out. "She's my plus one."
The bouncer took it and turned the invitation over a few times to seemingly verify its authenticity. "You're cleared, Faultline is on the third floor, the stairs at the other end, just go in a straight line," The man stated as he stepped to the side and opened the door for them. The music they had been hearing on their way up the hill was now even clearer.
"Thank you." Verity said as she and Sabah entered and-
Verity's senses were immediately assaulted by the night club atmosphere, the music pounding in her ears, the flashing lights, and the utter melting pot of smells almost immediately sending her into sensory overload.
It made her disoriented to the point she didn't notice that Sabah had taken her hand and dragged her up to the third floor. Though now that she was away from the brunt of the senses, Verity quickly began regaining focus, though her head was now pounding.
"Well Boss you were right in that she was going to show," An unknown male voice spoke. "Though she seemed to have brought an extra."
"I was not going to have her go into a den of Mercenaries on her own," Sabah replied as Verity focused on the room they were now inside of which she assumed was like a VIP area as it had a small bar and various lounge chairs, which at the moment contained Faultline, Gregor the Snail, Labyrinth, Spitfire and at the bar stood the Case 53 named Newter, who she knew the names of thanks to the files she'd triple-read before this.
"It's alright, I expected her to bring at least one other person along," Faultline stated. "But I do not recognize you. Did the Protectorate recruit another Case 53?"
"No, I am Parian," She answered.
"Doll girl?" Newter asked.
"Literally one now," Spitfire stated.
"How did that happen?" Gregor asked.
"Second Trigger and let's leave it at that," Parian replied.
"Yeah let's do that, now please have a seat," Faultline stated as she pointed at two empty chairs that were close to each other.
Verity looked at it, and could tell it was wide enough to technically fit her, but she would have to bend her tail at an awkward angle, so she shrugged and sat back on her tail as what should have been normal by now but just...wasn't, fully, yet.
"First tail problems am I right?" Newter asked. "Should have brought out a bean bag or something Boss."
Faultline choose not to respond to that.
"It's fine, I'm basically my own chair." Verity said dismissively. "But uh… what are we doing here, exactly?"
"We wished to speak with you about what your remember before you woke up changed, as we know that you, unlike any other Case 53, have memories," Faultline stated.
"...Now, where did you hear that?" Verity asked neutrally, since that was not public knowledge in the slightest.
"The PRT is a bureaucracy and so if you ask and pay the right person you can get knowledge you shouldn't," Gregor stated.
"And sometimes guests whose lips are too loose after having been given enough liquor," Newter added.
"Well that's not terrifying." Verity said, in a jovial tone that she was not feeling at hearing that, before making the decision to confirm or deny. "But I suppose I came here for information, so it only makes sense to share in turn."
"That is only fair," Faultline stated. "Our primary goal is to uncover the truth behind Case 53s."
"Which I can guess would be pretty difficult, considering." Verity said. "Though I don't know how useful I'll actually be in this endeavor, for much the same reason."
"How so?" Faultline asked.
"I remember some stuff, but… I didn't exactly have the best memory before this happened, so I literally can't tell what I'm forgetting until I remember that I'm forgetting what I'm trying to remember." Verity said.
"Well that sucks," Newter stated. "Do you need a remembrall Nevill?" He joked.
"Don't start with me, pretty boy." Verity warned only half-jokingly.
"So do you remember things like right before you woke up?" Newter asked.
"Well… As I was trying to get to, I'm pretty sure I can remember most of my life, but with… names and faces, like… like someone took a censor bar and stuck it over that stuff, like it should be there, like I should remember what my own damn name is, but then… nothing. It's just a blank space." Verity explained.
"Well that definitely lends more credence to our current theory," Faultline stated. "Anything else, are there more disparities between what you knew before and now?"
"First, to answer Neuter's question," Verity started, mentally pronouncing his name like that even though they sounded exactly the same. "The last thing I remember was driving with my friends to go… somewhere, and then it's just… radio static, and then I was waking up in an alleyway all snakey, no idea what was going on."
"That is certainly interesting," Faultline stated.
"Yeah, something definitely happened between the driving and you waking up," Spitfire stated.
"Exactly, like, for instance, going from a world without Capes to one with them." Verity said, making a snap decision to be truthful.
"Huh?" Faultline said in shock. "Did you just say?"
"Are you sure about saying that?" Sabah whispered to Verity.
"I need to know the truth, Parry." Verity whispered back.
"It's your choice," She said back.
Verity smiled at her, before addressing the still dumbstruck crew. "Yeah, I did. My universe, the one I'm from, doesn't have Capes in the slightest… or at least, not publicly, which would imply a significantly lower or lower-power population, or like I said, entirely lacking them."
"From another earth," Gregor said.
"...Holy shit it makes so much sense now," Newter stated. "Why there are no missing person reports that match those that still have normal human bodies, why DNA tests come up with no possible matches. They get us from other Earths and plant us here on Bet."
"They?" Verity asked. "Do you already know who's doing this?"
"No," Faultline stated. "We have no concrete name. But we do know that whoever it is has to have the means of giving people powers, we just need concrete proof. And if the theory proves true it means that Case 53s are the failed products so to speak."
"And I'm living proof that it's some kind of active force, something that can think, because otherwise why would just names and faces be gone from me?" Verity asked. "It would be a different story if it was everything like everyone else, but I'm pretty sure that the fact I still remember stuff guarantees this is more of a someone than a something like some random phenomenon of like, inter-universal convergence that sucks someone between universes and is just so traumatic they trigger and lose their memories, which was my running 'accident' theory."
"The latter is what most believe, not the convergence thing but people just lost their memories due to trauma, but even then it would still leave them with speaking and communication problems. But all Case 53s can speak cleanly and even other languages fluidly like Gregor here, he can speak Icelandic despite never remembering learning that. So the memory erasing is a process. But a process that is not a hundred percent perfect," Faultline stated.
"...Yeah your own memory problems probably messed with it making them think it had been finished before it was done," Newter stated. "Well we have definitely made a lot of progress in ten minutes compared to the entire year."
"As I keep saying, I'm always happy to help." Verity said, already thankful for the near-confirmation of her theory and the bits and pieces of information she'd already gained. "But, is there anything else you guys know about C53's? I've shared my piece."
"What information are you interested in?" Faultline asked.
"Well, anything else you have on Case 53's that isn't public knowledge or what we've said so far." Verity said, before pausing. "And, might not have been keeping an eye on this, if any other C53's popped up on or around March 20th? Because I was driving with friends last I remember, and they might have been entangled in this."
"No, there is only a little over a hundred Case 53's in the United States and you're the newest one here, getting information from outside of the States is much harder due to the havoc the Endbringers have caused, so your friends if they are here could easily end up in a populated city as they could Japan or one of Moord Nag's territories," Faultline stated.
"And I'm guessing, based on that answer, you all have already said everything you know about C53's, huh." Verity asked, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice and failing somewhat.
"Sadly yes," Faultline replied.
Verity sighed. "Great. In that case, you wouldn't happen to have any info on where or when the 88's planning on acting up? Since you're so good at hearing other people's secrets."
"To the first part I am sorry, getting info on Case 53's is very hard, but for the second part… I do have something," Faultline stated. "Kaiser tried to hire us for a raid on one of Lung's places where he is supposedly holding up on Wednesday. And he is planning to hit you tomorrow during your patrol."
"Kaiser personally?" Verity asked, leaning forward slightly, suddenly worried he actually did get a god killing scythe or something he thought was close enough.
"No he wouldn't risk that, he is strong but not that strong. He would probably send Fenja and Menja, alongside Alabaster, with maybe Rune and Purity joining in if he can get her back on the team."
"Well, this is already proving way more fruitful than I expected." Verity said, no longer disappointed in the slightest. "Do you have drinks? I feel like I need a drink after this."
"I will be happy to provide," Newter stated. "Now what do you two want? And don't worry I wont spike it with my fluids."
"Vodka on the rocks, please." Verity answered. "Unless you've got Hpnotiq, then I'll take that and Sprite."
"And I'll take some rum with cola," Sabah replied.
"We don't," Newter answered. "Give me a second and I'll have your drinks." At that he lizard-like Case 53 began pulling the bottles off the shelf and mixed them up with quick expertise. "Here you go," He said as he handed them their respective glasses two minutes later.
"Merci beaucoup." Verity said as she took hers and took a sip, and as expected was immediately punched in the face when the alcohol hit her tongue, her enhanced senses making it significantly stronger than she had been expecting. "Oh, yup, that's, ooh boy."
"Well you wanted vodka on the rocks," Sabah said as she sipped her drink.
"First sip's always the worst sip." Verity quoted, before quickly downing the rest, shaking her head as the alcohol burned down her throat. "Wooh! Okay, I'm good now."
"Enjoy your drinks just tell me if you want more, that invite of yours does give you VIP privileges which means free drinks," Newter stated.
"That is true, you can stay until we close," Faultline stated as she stood up.
"O-Oh, we're done?" Verity asked, already feeling it. "I just wanted a drink, is that, is that, is that really all?"
"It is sadly," Faultline replied as headed for another door than the one they had come in from.
"Aww…" Verity whined, before her attention was drawn to who she presumed to be Gregor the Snail. "So, you speak Icelandic?"
"I do," Gregor replied.
"So do your shells speak Icelandic too?"
"Huh?" He replied.
"Your shells, do they speak Icelandic?" Verity repeated, the wires in her brain already getting crossed.
"...No, why would they?"
"Well you have to have a superpower right?" Verity asked, replaying what she was saying in her mind, before carefully enunciating her sentence. "So I'm asking if your powers have anything to do with Icccceland."
"..No."
"Oh my god," Spitfire stated. "Is she already?"
"Drunk?" Newter asked.
"...I think she is," She heard Sabah state from outside her line of sight.
"Listssssen, I have a very low tolerance alcohol thresssshold." Verity said. "I'm like thissss the whole night, no matter how much I drink, baybeeeeeeee."
"Well at least she is the fun drunk, and is she hissing?" Spitfire stated.
"Her snake hair does it in tandem too," Labyrinth stated, speaking up for the first time.
"Am I? Doessss it?" Verity asked, looking at her snakes. "Ssssss."
"Ssss."
"Ssssss."
"Sss."
"Are those hair snakes… alive?" Gregor asked.
"Isss your sssnailssss?" Verity asked curiously.
"I have no snails, I am the snail," Gregor replied.
"Then there you go." Verity said with a nod like that made sense. "They're asss alive asss my handsss or your… your… your- Parry, what'ssss the thingy called with the kneesss?"
"Legs dear, they are called legs," Sabah told her.
"Leeeegssss, right, thosssse." Verity said, a grin on her face. "You're sssso ssssmart."
"Oh good lord we should record this and post it on Youtube," Spitfire stated.
"If you as much as take a phone out I will take it apart and force your to swallow the parts," Sabah threatened.
"Kidding, I was kidding," She held her hands up in defence.
"Good."
"Aww, babe…" Verity said, looking at Sabah with a large dopey grin.
"Shush you," She replied.
"Well I have never served a hair snake before," Came Newter's voice from the bar.
"Ssss."
"Chaaarlie, you can't drunk you're a hair!" Verity scolded the snake.
"Ssss."
"Fiiiine, but don't get ssssnaked."
"Well this is going to be an interesting evening," Newter said as he handed the hair snake a bottle.