OMFG did the cover for this story get censored? I have never seen that happen before, wow.
And now to be reminded that I wrote this crime against common decency.
No review responses for this one. Just... get ready for wildly switching tones, irreverent people being themselves, AND A FUCKER GETTING FUCKED!
If this is your thing, enjoy.
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Chapter 4:
Debut
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The lockers blurred on either side of her, air burning in her lungs, the bolt cutters she lifted off the janitor's closet weighing a ton in her hands. Someone was yelling for her to slow down. Julia, or Charlotte maybe.
Sophia couldn't slow down, not after the last text from Emma.
It's done, coward.
The smell hit her first. Indescribable, worse than any trash heap around Archer's Bridge. Sophia wanted nothing to do with the locker; there were some lines that shouldn't be crossed, and what Emma had in mind was a little too Bonesaw for her tastes. As for the flute… if Sophia's mom died, and someone destroyed a precious heirloom that'd been passed to Sophia…
She may have been a predator through and through, but Sophia didn't want to know what Hebert would do; Sophia would've nailed the person who'd done it to the fucking wall. Hebert was quiet, though, and she knew what people said about the quiet ones.
After the flute, Sophia spotted a cold fire in the girl's eyes, something that made the Ward wary; it was hard to see, behind that façade of helplessness Hebert showed the world.
Something had woken up, deep inside the stick of a girl, and Sophia wanted nothing to do with it.
But Hebert did nothing. Still didn't fight back. Took it all, and fed it to that cold flame.
Emma didn't notice, didn't listen to Sophia's warnings, that if they took it too far, it would be their end instead of Hebert's.
Emma didn't listen.
And now this.
'Please, please, Hebert, be alive!' she thought as she rounded the final corner, the scent of copper overwhelming –
A pool of red, deep and black, outside the locker, maggots writhing as they drowned in the filth.
Someone screamed as Sophia ran for the pool. It sounded like Catherine, maybe; not that she cared as she screamed, "HEBERT!"
No answer, "HEBERT! SAY SOMETHING!" Nothing.
'Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck,' the teeth of the bolt cutters severed the lock like it was warm butter; tossing the tool away, she shouted to Julia, "GRAB THAT!" she pointed at the fire extinguisher behind the brown-haired girl. Julia turned, white-faced but determinedly grabbing the item with shaking hands, while Charlotte vomited uselessly on the floor due to the godawful stench filling the locker room.
Sophia opened the locker –
The half-eaten corpse of Taylor Hebert fell to the floor, covered in bugs that continued to feast on her cooling flesh, with a wet splat.
– and felt a scream rip from her lips before she could stop it.
Her mind jittered to a halt before the sound of Hebert's body hitting the floor stopped echoing through the room; she stood there in shock for what felt like an eternity, watching a millipede crawl out of Hebert's throat and skitter across the pool of blood.
There was so much blood.
The eternity lasted only two seconds, shattered by Julia's shriek of horror and Charlotte's gurgling; whipping her head around, Sophia somehow moved five feet in the blink of an eye, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and aimed the hose at Hebert.
Julia screamed through horrified tears, "Why?! She's already d-d-dead!"
"It'll kill the bugs!" Sophia retorted angrily, spraying Hebert down, hoping the girl would twitch, moan, all but praying the thing girl would do something, anything, which would give the young Ward reason to call Panacea.
But nothing happened. Hebert didn't so much as blink her one remaining eye, the pupil dilated in death…
It's done, coward.
"God, fuck," Sophia felt tears of grief and fury rise up inside her, seeing Hebert ruined on the ground, "Emma, you bitch!"
She'd failed.
Hebert's head turned, looking Sophia in the eye.
"Hebert?" she whispered, a ringing sound coming to her ears.
"Your… fault…" the raspy whisper left the ruined throat of the teen.
The blood around Sophia rippled, chains and barbed wire forming; she tried to run, but her feet wouldn't move and the chains were rising and Hebert screamed "YOU LET ME DIE!"
"SOPHIA!"
Sophia bolted upright in her bed, sweat pouring off her body. Melissa was standing near the door, in her costume but not her mask. The alarm next to her bed was going off.
Just a dream, Sophia told herself.
It was just another dream… another nightmare.
Sophia shivered and tried to even her breathing out, make her heart stop beating so hard. Her throat was raspy, which meant she'd been screaming in her sleep. Again. She hated feeling so weak, so… helpless…
"How…" Sophia coughed, swallowed nothing, and looked at Lis, who'd stepped cautiously into Sophia's room; the other black girl knew better than to wake Sophia up by shaking her. The others told her what she'd done to Gallant when he tried, a week after… after, "How long was I…?"
"Only five minutes, Soph," the newest Ward reported softly, her footsteps soft as she walked up next to Sophia, who was rubbing her eyes, trying to make the memory of that vivid nightmare go away. While she did, Melissa's voice murmured next to her, "I made sure nobody could hear; the, um, yellow fire can do that, I guess. Do… um, you need more time?"
"I'm good," Sophia replied thickly, throwing her blanket off and turning to sit on her bed, Lis stepping back but keeping in arm's reach. A sign of trust. Of understanding.
The Sophia who entered Winslow would've sneered at that; someone understanding her? Someone who wasn't Emma, understanding Shadow Stalker?
She wasn't that Sophia anymore.
She reached out a shaking hand, still feeling the terror and disgust and grief of the nightmare, like bugs crawling all over her skin; an unnaturally warm hand wrapped its fingers through hers, and then Chandra stepped between Sophia's legs, hugged her fellow Breaker's head to her chest.
"Nightmare?" whispered Lis, rubbing Sophia's hair as said teen mastered her fear; to that end, Sophia focused on the feel of the other girl's fingers running over her scalp, on the feeling of barely-restrained flames tickling her nerves.
Sophia nodded against Lis' chest, the smell of Lis' minty soap and the faint hint of ash calming her down further, "Yeah. Same as last time," she took a deep breath and blew it out, then looked up at Chandra's smiling face, the colorful beads braided into her hair, "Thanks, Lis."
"Anytime, Soph," after patting the side of Sophia's head affectionately, her friend then scoffed and grinned, "Now go take a shower; you're covered in sweat."
A small chuckle left Sophia's lips as the pyrokinetic left the short – too short – embrace and went over to the computer, no doubt to give the all-clear to the rest of the team. Standing up, Sophia mused on how… not lucky, but grateful, she was, that she still had people in her life to keep her from…
Walking to her private bathroom in the Ward's base, where she'd been living since Melissa's Trigger, Sophia shook the stupid thoughts from her head.
So what if Emma'd gone crazy, got killed by Hebert's dad… so what if her Mom didn't trust her at home, after she nearly broke her brother's ribs when he woke Sophia up from a nightmare… so what if Shadow Stalker was more popular now, after pictures were posted on PHO of Sophia carrying Melissa from the ashes of her home?
Sophia wouldn't entertain those thoughts. She just had to keep moving, the teen nodded to herself as cold water sprayed over her sweaty body; she had to keep going, or…
Or everything she'd gone through was for nothing.
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It'd been a little over a month since Sophia cut the lock off Taylor Hebert's locker. During that time, she discovered how much things could change.
Those first days had been the worst; the speedy hearings, which she attended with Hebert's father, seemed a blur of unfairness. Sophia knew Emma deserved prison or worse for what she'd done, but the redhead knew how to act in front of the panel that examined her; Alan Barnes was too good of a lawyer, and Danny Hebert didn't have the money… or the will… to do any more than settle.
And then there was the gunfire, coming from Emma's house while Shadow Stalker was on a Ward's patrol with Kid Win. They'd responded at the same time as Assault and Battery, but the cops were already there.
Danny Hebert was already dead on the front lawn.
So was everyone else inside. Sophia was the one who found Emma; it was the redhead, hiding in her closet, who'd called the cops, as she heard her family being systematically murdered by Hebert's dad.
He hadn't bothered opening the door she was hiding behind, when he shot Emma; the buckshot, fired at close range, smashed a divot into the center of her diaphragm, punctured her lungs, and half-broke her spine. Emma bled to death in her closet at home, choking on her own blood as she leaked down her front.
She hadn't been dead when Sophia found her, but unless Panacea had been right there, nothing could've been done.
So Sophia watched the biggest mistake of her life reach out to her, whimpering, eyes full of fear… and, after taking a step back, Sophia watched Emma die alone, with a boneless slump and ugly gurgle.
Luckily, no one outside the team had seen it, or heard it; she knew Kid Win saw it with his Tinker bullshit – he'd confronted her about it, later – but… well, if nobody knew she violated her NDA regarding Winslow, that meant she hadn't broken any rules. Besides, Chris – as she knew him now – understood the whole situation; a little later, he asked if Sophia wanted a training dummy that could not only fight back, but break apart and reassemble itself. Sophia thought that was stupid, but she told him to build it anyway; it would probably be funny, and a good way to practice appropriate force.
But then, before anyone could even start to relax, some new Tinker or Striker cleaned out a whole morgue, killing three people and putting the adult Protectorate and PRT troopers on edge; it got so bad that Militia came up to Sophia with a pack of broadhead bolts, and recommended talking to Armsmaster about specialized ammo.
Not even a week later, Melissa's Trigger event happened. The Wards debut was really awkward, but that was nothing a couple skirmishes with Uber and Leet couldn't fix – it helped that the pair had found a clue and started trying skits that weren't likely to harm the audience; plus, it was obvious someone was helping Leet with his Tinker-tech, but there hadn't been any big explosions so nobody was going to complain.
A few weeks of a focused attempt to return to the status quo – if with a couple more close shaves than usual with the Nazis – and then someone blew the whole entire lid off the cape scene.
Dreadnaught.
Coming out of nowhere – much like her tag in PHO's NSFW art and fanifc boards – most people who saw her didn't think she was a cape; they thought she was some kind of zombie girl cosplayer who had zero common sense, mostly because she was walking around half-naked in Teeth territory, down in Boston.
As it turned out, it wasn't a lack of common sense that brought Dreadnaught to that part of Boston; it was confidence. Rightful confidence.
There were only two clear videos of what happened, one by a civilian dash cam, and another on a nearby CCTV camera. Sophia had been shown both in a PRT/Protectorate/New Wave seminar, but had also already seen both on PHO.
Dreadnaught wiped out the Teeth as a gang, leaving only Vex, who surrendered shortly afterward to Chevalier, alive, along with a few unpowered who were quickly picked up by the cops.
But the biggest shock of that fight?
The Butcher died screaming.
The Butcher died screaming and, because of PHO, the whole world saw Dreadnaught do it, twist the other cape's head until she puked blood down her back… as well as what happened after, when Legend showed up and, shocking everyone, let Dreadnaught leave after a brief statement and talking-to.
Sure, people said Dreadnaught might become Butcher in a few days, even with Legend saying he had no reason to disbelieve Dreadnaught's claim that she couldn't hear any voices. Personally, Sophia didn't take any of it at face value; fourteen capes had become the Butcher. To think that one nobody knew about would just appear out of nowhere, kill the Butcher, and make it stick… Stalker wasn't about to hold her breath; she waited for the other shoe to drop…
But when it did, it was because she, along with all the Wards and New Wave, were called to a closed-door conference by the Director; only a few PRT troopers were there, and everyone had to sign an NDA before sitting down, saying to Sophia that whatever it was about was confidential…
And then Piggy called Melissa, Chandra, up to the podium, to tell everyone about her captivity in a nearby abandoned factory… as well as who rescued her from the kidnapper… and rapist, apparently, which Sophia hadn't known. Fair, Lis hid it well, and seemed to like being treated like nothing was wrong; so, Sophia wouldn't change the way she behaved.
It was very interesting, however, to know that Dreadnaught not only killed the rapist, she also apparently eaten him.
Piggy then outright admitted to trying to infiltrate the factory, sending an agent to pretend to be a homeless man; he was treated to watching, in growing terror, as Dreadnaught killed and ate over a dozen other people, before eventually coming for him in his heated and air-conditioned redoubt near the center of the factory complex. However, no further murders happened outside the grounds of the factory after that final kill; long-range observation showed Dreadnaught was content to thin the deer population…
As well as… experiment… with her Changer/Striker power.
That's what Armsmaster called what was in the videos, experimentation. Sophia just thought it looked like Dreadnaught was trying to kill herself. There was also the… painting project. Worryingly, it was Vista who said the edgy murals looked 'pretty'; everyone else just felt slightly disturbed, seeing faces in the endless whirls and fractals Dreadnaught covered the factory's inner walls in.
A few weeks after the PRT agent bit it, and the Cornell Bomber showed up, along with a posse she picked up on the way to the Bay; she and everyone else were killed to the last man, but the Thinkers all agreed that the Bomber had provoked Dreadnaught, which, to Sophia's mind, was like slashing the tendons in your wrists and ankles before jumping into shark-infested waters.
Not even a day later, Dreadnaught went down to Boston, apparently to do two things: kill the Butcher, and blow up a random house with one of the Cornell Bomber's Tinker explosives, specifically one that, briefly, made a small Sun in a half-abandoned subdivision. Only a single charcoaled and half-crumbled skeleton was found, answering the question of whether or not Dreadnaught had more targets… while raising many other questions, asked by dozens over the next week…
…which saw Panacea come out as a bio-kinetic – who would be buying a greenhouse once the hospitals coughed up the dough they owed her, so she could make custom floral arrangements – with Glory Girl supporting her openly while the rest of the family were more wary. Along the way, Rune stopped appearing with the Empire, who seemed worried – in their callous, Nazi way – about the missing teenage Nazi.
Still, amid all these minor-if-worrying changes to the local environment, the questions regarding Dreadnaught persisted.
Where did she go? Was she the Butcher? Were there more people in the house that was blown up? Why that house? Did Dreadnaught die in the explosion?
Or, Sophia wondered while washing her face for the morning shift, would the dark cape come back?
Of course, it was right then that Dennis' voice came over the Wards' in-base intercom, "Holy shit, everyone, GET OUT HERE AND WATCH THIS NOW!"
Sophia was already phasing through her bedroom door by the third word, Chandra going ahead of her in whorls of purple fire, which resolved back into the teenage girl next to the couch. Sophia watched as Lis stopped and stiffened- and was joined by Vista in an eye-wrenching twist of space, with Sophia arriving right after, at the same time as Carlos and Kid Win, with Dean bringing up the rear.
Distantly, Sophia noted the almost-finished game of Risk on the homework table, next to a pile of pizzas and small pyramid of empty soda cans. All of which explained why everyone was on-base, but the happenings on the Console monitors, in glorious 4K high definition with crisp surround sound, swiftly drew all of Sophia's attention.
What appeared to be a very large rectangle, about two city blocks large, was drifting over Captain's Hill, right over where the Empire's official, long-held territory sat; but it was what was on the floating Jumbo-Tron's screen, with accompanying music playing from somewhere on it, that had Sophia's jaw go slack with shock, to say nothing of the various expressions of horrified awe the other Wards were sporting.
[INSERT CARAMELLDANSEN HERE]
"Holy fuck," Dean whispered into the pseudo-Japanese Swedish pop softly assaulting their ears, at seven in the morning no less. Streaks of silver occasionally came up from the neighborhood to strike the huge big screen, to no apparent effect. "Dennis, is Kaiser attacking that thing?"
"For, like, the past five minutes," Clockblocker gleefully replied, switching his focus to another series of screens, which showed various news sites, PHO, and pretty much every social media site there was. "None of his spears can pierce it, and the twins can't grow big enough to pull it down; oh, and it's loud enough that the whole city can hear it. The video's annoying as hell, but at least the music doesn't sound that bad."
"Are you kidding?" Kid Win asked weakly as the song looped, "This is only my second go round, and I'm already getting a headache."
In reply, Dennis pointed at Twitter, "Well, Rune – or Artisan as she's calling herself now – says she'll put on something different after this round. Plus a selfie," he grunted as everyone crowded around the screens to look; sure enough, it looked like Rune, except in a black and white robe, making a 'V' sign complete with duckface. "Apparently, she bought a whole packet of Aleph anime music videos from Leet. Oh, and the Director wants us suited up."
"We are," Carlos pointed out while pulling his mask over his face; then he blinked and pointed at Artisan's Tweet, "Hey, what's with the "Undying" hashtag?"
Melissa eep-ed and stuttered, "I-I-I-uh, Dreadnaught said s-she was t-the leader of the Undying."
[INSERT LITTLE APPLE MMD DANCE HERE]
Everyone went quiet as the music video changed to something else, which they all took a moment to appreciate before commenting.
"Well, at least the music is a little better," Vista admitted with a wince, "Where'd Leet find this, though?"
"The Aleph portal, probably," Sophia shrugged, adding, "They've got pretty good streaming services and media libraries."
It was around the point that Artisan said everything was relating to powers testing, and Carlos finally reported what Chandra said to the Director, that Stormtiger flew up to confront his – likely former – teammate.
"Ten bucks says he dies," Sophia said as she headed over to the kitchen; if a Nazi fucker was about to get proper fucked, she wanted some Cocoa Puffs to go along with their screams.
"Sucker bet, and toast me some waffles while you're there, please?" Clockblocker replied, not looking away from the 3D-modeled jugs that were probably the size of his house on the floating big screen.
Shortly after saying that, the video in the sky paused, stuck on an orange-clad, smirking man with a green heart-shaped headband. Likewise, the music vanished, but it was quickly replaced by Artisan's voice.
"Hey, Mr. Kitten; what do you want?" that got a couple guffaws, but not from Sophia; she was focusing on her cereal, and only slightly noticed Assault and Battery entering the room.
"Rune! Where the hell have you… are you broadcasting this?" Stormtiger began with a yell, but it petered out to a whisper, which was still clearly heard throughout the city.
"You betcha~!" there was the sound of a camera clicking-
"Oh shit, Leet got the Snitch up there!" Sophia gave Dennis his waffles and got a front row seat to Stormtiger, quivering in rage, and Artisan, who was standing on a nearly flat black plain…
-after fiddling with her cellphone for a moment, the teenage cape grinned widely, "and I put a cute tiger filter over you; speaking of which, you should follow me on Instagram."
"Turn the fucking mic off, you stupid bitch," Stormtiger growled.
"Hmm," Rune pretended to think, tapping her phone against her chin, "I'm gonna go with… no. No? Yeah. Sorryyy, Stormie, but I'm gonna have to ask you to go back to Kaiser."
The other cape opened his mouth to retort-
"Y'know, because we all know how much he loves playing with his pussy. But if you're here, he'll get sooo bored and lonely."
-only to get burned hard by Sabrina the Teenage (maybe-not-a?) Nazi; whatever, Sophia didn't care. She was too busy laughing with the rest of the Wards.
But Artisan wasn't done, continuing in a sultry voice, "His thick, juicy, hairy, wet little pussy~. Ooh, he must miss it soooo much, Stormie."
Sophia was starting to get worried about Clockblocker; more specifically, his need to breathe. One could only howl in laughter for so long before it became a health hazard, after all.
"You are going to put that thing down," uh-oh, looked like Stormie was about to throw a temper tantrum, "and you are going to come with me. Kaiser wants a word with you, and you know how gets about people who say no to him."
"Ooooh, rapey~! No wonder his wife left him," Artisan giggled, sitting on one of the blocks dotting the top of the platform and kicking her legs, "But yeah, in all seriousness Stormtiger, fuck off before my new boss decides to take your threats seriously."
The tiger-themed cape spread his arms in challenge-
Chandra stole some of Sophia's cereal with a spoon made of solid fire, and mumbled around her mouthful, "Fucking idiot."
-and threw down the gauntlet, "Do I look afraid of some jap-loving cuck?"
Artisan didn't miss a beat, "You should be." And then she tapped the screen on her phone.
[FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS-METALLICA (2nd verse)]
Metallica – good Metallica, at that – came out of the speakers, while the screen changed to show a grinning skull that had an ouroboros surrounding it, on a black field; meanwhile, on the "top" of the platform…
One of the blocks suddenly had the top smashed off of it… by a pale fist with black veins, and black fingernails on a long-fingered hand. Another hand quickly joined it, both gripping the sides of the coffin.
Take a look to the sky, just before you die;
It's the last time you will!
Stormtiger went really pale as a perfectly sculpted face with blue-lensed sunglasses appeared from the casket's dark depths, a whirling mane of oily black hair following the grinning visage of Dreadnaught into the morning light. And then it was the turn of the sinfully tight tank top over the fishnet bodysuit, complete with white Gothic 'D' right between those pale jugs; oh, and apparently it was cold out.
Blackened roar, massive roar, fills the crumbling skies;
shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry.
"Vista, maybe you shouldn't watch this." Dean suggested weakly as Leet swung the Snitch around to get a prime view of Dreadnaught's ass – which Sophia was convinced could make any girl bi within a week – and short skirt as she stood up, revealing the dark killer had thighs to go with the melons and the cake.
"I'm fine, Gallant," Vista scoffed, "She looks nothing like Orlando Bloom."
"Who?"
"Fuckoff, Clock."
Stranger now, are his eyes to this mystery;
hear the silence so loud!
Dreadnaught stepped out of the casket, her white-tasseled black scarf seeming to wag like a pair of tails behind her as she stretched her arms over her head, every movement of her sensual body meant to draw the eye to… all that.
Once done with her stretch, Dreadnaught outright swaggered toward Artisan and Stormtiger; but there was still a sense of danger in her movements, even as she swayed her hips and put just enough bounce into her step to bring an erection to anyone watching.
The hungry licking of her plump lips, black tongue only briefly appearing, completely killed any arousal Sophia might have had regarding the cannibal cape.
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be;
now they see what will be, blinded eyes to see
for whom the bell tolls!
Stopping next to Artisan, who was a lot shorter than her, Dreadnaught snapped her fingers; the music immediately cut out, and Artisan stepped slightly away from her apparent boss, who was staring at a completely stock-still Stormtiger.
Then Dreadnaught spoke, the first words the public had heard from her lips since the day she killed the Butcher.
"Heard you were talkin' shit, pussycat."
In reply to that statement, delivered in a dangerously sultry voice, Stormtiger let out a weak little sound and started shaking his head really fast while slowly backing away.
"No? Cause, I could've sworn I heard you-"
"No! No, please, D-Dreadnaught, I really didn't know Rune had joined you." Sophia started cackling as one of Kaiser's best enforcers started all-but begging for his life; she wasn't the only one, either. Even Vista was giggling.
"So this is what schadenfreude feels like," Aegis growled with a smile in his voice; as he once had his legs cut off by Stormtiger, Sophia could see where he was coming from, doubly so given a few of her less-visible scars.
"Well, if you weren't up here talking shit to Artisan, which is her name b-t-dubs," Dreadnaught crossed her arms under her tits and leaned forward with a smile, "why did you come up here?"
Visibly gulping, Stormtiger mumbled, "The… her parents are worried about her."
"Hmm, no. No they aren't. They're worried about their standing in your little hillbilly wannabe-Waffen club of closeted Village People knockoffs; I mean," Dreadnaught scoffed and moved her hands to her hips, "did you pay attention when you got dressed this morning, or just put on whatever Kaiser laid out for you?"
"Right?" Artisan grinned while her former teammate spluttered, "He looks like a Waterworld reject."
"No, no, Artisan, that was what the Teeth looked like," Dreadnaught wagged a finger, "Pussycat here looks like he walked off the set of Planet of the Apes; though I'm sure he wasn't acting in it."
"So what was he doing?" Sophia noticed blades of wind forming behind Stormtiger's body.
"Well, the male apes needed to be kept in line somehow, and Stormie here's obviously a very good pussycat. Two plus two equals designated gorilla cumdump."
Before a now clearly livid Stormtiger could attack, a flash of light appeared right behind him, which resolved into Legend, who immediately said, "And he really should be getting his lunch ready for the evening shoot, shouldn't he?"
"Hi, Legend! How's the family?" Dreadnaught waved cheerfully as the Wards common room exploded into gut-busting laughter; mostly because Stormtiger literally fell out of the air, he was so surprised by Legend's arrival and savage one-liner.
"Dreadnaught. They're doing quite well, thank you," folding his arms, the leader of the Protectorate kept smiling as he asked, "May I ask what the hell you're doing?"
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"Hold on, lessee here…"
Amy watched as Dreadnaught, in all her pale, dark lusciousness, reached under her left boob and removed a notepad; next to her in the Arcadia hallway, one of the girls watching the U&L livestream made a choked, weak noise.
She couldn't blame the girl; those tits… Scion, even Vicky didn't have tits that perfect. If it wasn't for the fact that Amy was pretty sure Dreadnaught was using her Changer power to make herself look like that, Amy would've probably made the same weak sound Carmine just did. Or lost control of the organism wrapped around her body under her clothes: it had octopus and wasp DNA mixed together, allowing Amy a wide range of offensive options, should she come under attack.
What she really wanted, though, was to sink her hands and teeth into that ass- no. No, bad Amy; she needed to focus on the video, not on Dreadnaught's no-doubt delicious cake and/or biology.
"Okayyy, here we go…" Dreadnaught finally said, finding what she was looking for in the notepad, "First was waking up the Nazis as annoyingly as possible, because they're Nazis and don't deserve a moment's peace; why? Because Nazis are the scum of the earth, and don't count as people." She merrily crossed out the first item on the list, "Fuck with the Nazis non-lethally, done.
"Next up on my To-Do List of Awesomeness is..." Dreadnaught looked directly into the Snitch's camera, "Amy Dallon, please report to PRT HQ with your hot sister. Amy Dallon, to PRT HQ, plus flying jailbait, please."
"Could you please keep things PG, Dreadnaught?" Legend requested while Amy felt like her heart was gonna fly out of her chest; why did Dreadnaught want her at the PRT building? More importantly, Dreadnaught thought Vicky was hot too?! Did that mean she was a lesbian, or bi, or-
"Ames!" oh, and speaking of Vicky, Amy's half-sister was flying her way, waving her own phone with a scowl, "You know why she wants us over there? Or… why she just called me jailbait?"
Amy shook her head as Dreadnaught apologized to Legend, "Oh, sorry! It's just, this is Brockton Bay; most kids know the seven big cusses before they leave kindergarten. Anyway, while Amy Dallon heads to the PRT building – seriously, she needs to be there, like, now; lives will be at risk if she doesn't, and if you get in her way I'll kill you dead – item three on my Awesome List is: introductions!"
"Let's go, Vicky; hey, Karen? Send me the Bio homework? Thanks," with that, Amy kept watching the video while walking to the school entrance with Vicky.
"Good morning, Brockton Bay~!" Dreadnaught waved at the city, boobs jiggling in her tank top, "My, it's so good to be home again! As some of you are aware, I am Dreadnaught, leader of the Undying, an up-and-coming team of Parahumans who have one job and one job only: make sure deserving fuckers get fucked."
"Dreadnaught…" Legend warned.
"What? I'm telling the truth," to the city, she quickly went on, "We're on a deadline today, so I'll make this brief: I'm a Changer, Brute and Striker, and I become stronger the more biomass I consume. On a related note, if you're listening to this and are a farmer, I take donations in animal remains. Now I know what you're thinking: but Dreadnaught, how does your power allow you to defeat the Butcher? Good question!"
Amy shivered a little from the cold as she got outside and Vicky started flying them – below the rooftops of buildings – toward the PRT. On the stream, Dreadnaught's scarf hid most of her lower face, but the grin she had was so big, with so many teeth, that scarf didn't matter.
"See, I can also detach and control pieces of myself, like so," and Dreadnaught wrapped a hand around her own throat, before ripping her own head off; black ichor dripped from her severed head as the insane cape went on nonchalantly, "So, like, I sent a few pieces of myself into Butcher, and annihilated the piece of her that made her a cape; oh, and if you're worried about this ability going airborne, don't. I need physical contact for my power to work, and it needs to be a conscious decision on my part; and seeing as I'm a hero, nobody has to worry about me becoming a big nasty problem overnight. Though," she sighed wistfully, "to be honest, I'm actually a little disappointed I didn't inherit Butcher; explosive teleporting sounds awesome."
"Yet I'm sure most of the east coast is not only happy you didn't inherit," Legend interjected as Dreadnaught reattached her head to her body, "but are grateful to you for dealing with the Teeth."
"Aw, shucks, it was no big deal!" Dreadnaught giggled, waving away Legend's praise.
"Still," Artisan said, aiming her phone camera at Dreadnaught, "a lot of people on PHO, NSFW-PHO, and Uber & Leet's channel are all asking the same thing: what's next for Dreadnaught, and the Undying?"
"SO glad you asked!" Dreadnaught bounced on her heels and clapped her hands in a very preppy way, "Today, I've been scheduled for powers testing with the PRT; however," she held up a finger to Legend before he could interrupt, "due to certain circumstances, I'm fairly certain I'd destroy whatever facilities they've prepared to test the powers of someone like myself. After all, I've eaten a lot of deer, wild boar, and bear since I gained my powers, to say nothing of the dumbasses in the Teeth who didn't run.
"At the same time, I prefer to use all my time productively, so what better way to test my powers than to see them in action?"
As she and her sister landed outside the PRT building – where Assault and Battery were waiting for them, and also watching the broadcast on one of their phones – Amy had a bad feeling about what Dreadnaught was about to say.
"A field test then?" Dreadnaught nodded cheerfully to Legend's question; the leader of the Protectorate hummed, "I take it you have somewhere in mind?"
"Yep! See, I plan to participate in Endbringer fights someday, but in order to survive against them, I need a lot of biomass; at the same time, eating all the deer and bear in New England would harm the environment, so I can't just go into the wild and binge for weeks. Happily," Dreadnaught stood up straight – bounce – and giggled, "there's a whole town full of biomass nobody'll miss not far from here! It's like an all you can eat, except I don't have to pay for anything!"
Legend visibly paled, even as Amy noticed Assault stiffening before waving her over; on her phone, she heard Legend say, "Dreadnaught, no."
"Dreadnaught, yesss~," the insane homicidal cape hissed, her tone both sultry and hungry. If Amy had looked down, she'd have seen Dreadnaught using her biceps to push her breasts together and shaking her hips.
Instead, she was running behind Assault as they headed for the elevator; why?
Well, it appeared Director Piggot had put two and two together, and realized what Dreadnaught was talking about: she was going to go and eat Ellisburg, the home of the most dangerous Bio-Tinker in the world, the Goblin King.
Emily Piggot then realized that Dreadnaught could probably wipe out the whole town by herself, while Artisan's platform could probably cover Ellisburg to keep any pathogens from escaping containment… and, if she won, that meant Dreadnaught would have the combined biomass of over ten thousand people inside her.
That was as far down the path of logic the Director of the PRT-ENE branch got before she started having a heart attack; her personal doctor, realizing he couldn't save her, requested Panacea on a priority channel.
All very interesting, but only one thing was on Amy's mind as the elevator brought her closer to Director Piggot and delicious vindication, 'How did Dreadnaught know this would happen?'
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"Dreadnaught, think about this: if Nilbog gets ahold of your biomass-"
I roll my eyes – including the ones inside my torso that don't see in visible light – and laugh lowly at Legend's worries, "Like he can manage that; if it's biological, I can assimilate it. Everything Nilbog works with is biological. Ergo, he can't beat me."
"He can give his creations powers," Legend counters, but he's lost me; I'm bored, and a bored Dreadnaught is a hungry Dreadnaught… and slightly horny, too. Maybe I'll fuck one of the cattle when I get back from eating the Goblin King.
"And that's what'll make it a valid powers test… and good practice for me; never know when the Nine'll pull some stupid, apocalyptic shit just because Slash got a random murderboner; oh! And I know you're watching this, Slash!" I point at the Snitch and grin, waving my Awesome List while I do, "Just so you're aware, 'eat Jack Slash' is between 'read the entire 1988 run of National Geographic' and 'make an adult video while cosplaying as Mouse Protector'. Honestly, I almost forgot to add you, because you're just that non-threatening to me.
"Anyway," I turn back to Legend – who's looking like he doesn't know whether to run or yell at me – and tuck my List back under my tits while saying, "I've wasted enough time here, and Jamie Rinke isn't about to die screaming all on his own, so, without further ado…"
I adjust my vocal chords and lung-analogues, take a deep breath, and scream, "HEY KIDS, WANNA SEE ME KILL THE GOBLIN KING?! JOIN THE LIVESTREAM AT U&L DOT COM, AND BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION ON TWITTER, #DREADNAUGHT!"
With that, Rhonda flings us out of the Bay so fast, a small windstorm is created in our wake.
"Aaaand you're already Trending. Viewers, federal regulations require me to issue a content warning: the following contains graphic violence, coarse language, and adult situations that aren't suitable for minors. So make sure your kids watch, and do your best to explain the events they see; even high-impact sexual violence can be educational. Remember: if you don't explain necrophilia to your kids, someone else will," Artisan says with a smile while scrolling through her phone, briefly glancing up at Snitch to deliver the warning before asking me, "Speaking of the coming fight, you got any idea what music you want playing for it?"
I start stretching, modifying my bio-crystal insides in preparation for the coming feast, "Can't go wrong with Rob Zombie; plus, given what I really am, it's appropriate."
"True. Oh, just so you're aware, a lot of people on PHO are begging for you to fuck him up. 'RIP AND TEAR HIS BONES AND BLOOD', is a comment from one HyperLethal; another from the NSFW section, SpecificProtagonist, reads, 'If you can manage it, grow a dick and fuck him in the ear until his brains turn to gravy!'. You ever done something like that before?"
I laugh, "No, I haven't; too bad I've got something else in mind for Rinke. Maybe I'll save that fate for Slash, or Coil, Kaiser, or Lung."
"Not Skidmark?"
"Auto-erotic asphyxiation. No way in hell I'm letting that prick die without taking his big, fat, throbbing, drug-enhanced, juicy black dick for a nice, long~ ride."
Rhonda grins, "And you strangle the fuck out of him while he nuts in you?"
I giggle under my breath and, knowing millions of people are watching and listening, put a finger under her chin to tilt her head up, "Keep that kinda talk up and I'll string you up by your wrists again," and I kiss her, quickly slipping my tongue in to pull hers out as she shivers and mewls and kisses back.
Legend, on the other hand, says nothing; he's several dozen miles behind us and getting further by the second, as Rhonda used her power to hurl us in a direct line toward Ellisburg as soon as I finished yelling, just as we planned.
Breaking the kiss, Artisan gulps and stutters out, "W-We're here." The platform has come to a halt; walking over to the edge, I look down at the town of Ellisburg, surrounded by a high wall that forms the inner limit of the PRT Containment Zone.
"What song did you pick?" I ask softly while taking my scarf off; meanwhile, Rhonda's expanding her platform to cover the whole city and shifting the blocks – each of which contain over a hundred Tinker-tech grenades – further down so she can bomb the town.
Sitting behind her laptop, she grins, "Try to take him down quick, because the song after this one is 'It's Raining Men'," giving me a sexy look, Artisan bids me farewell, "Dreadnaught… go kill his ass."
I grin again, sharpening my teeth, and leap off the edge of the platform, which fires the hellfire grenades at the edges of the wall surrounding Ellisburg, the platform coming down as the first fires ignite.
Between the PRT's meters-thick reinforced wall, the fire that can't be put out unless there's nothing biological for it to consume, the platform making a lid over the town so nothing can escape, and me, there's no way for Jamie Rinke to escape now; even trying to escape underground won't work, as Artisan's using some of the excess parts of her platform to make another wall under the town.
As I make my 3-point landing in the streets of the town, shocked goblins of the place looking between the fire, platform and me with confusion, the speakers on the platform belt out a creepy-sounding warble, my real theme song after considerable debate with Rhonda, and I giggle.
[INSERT DRAGULA BY ROB ZOMBIE HERE]
"JAMIE RINKE!" I scream as Artisan's platform meets the PRT's wall with a BOOM that shakes the world, turning Ellisburg into a darkened battlefield lit only by the unnaturally red fires along the walls, the glowing eyes of the goblins… and me, "DEATH HAS COME FOR YOU!"
"GODS CANNOT DIE!" a voice screams back at me from somewhere within the town, along with the chittering and snarling of thousands of goblins, "AFTER MY CHILDREN EAT YOU, THIS WORLD WILL BE NEXT, AS PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR BETRAYAL! TRESPASSER! KILL HER, MY CHILDREN!"
"Who will eat whom?" I ask in a shivering voice as the goblins begin rushing me, my mouth watering and pussy quivering as-
Superstition, fear, and jealousy…
-I plunge into the rushing horde, black lattices exploding from my body and tearing into flesh, skin, bone, juicy, tasty organs~.
So variable~, so dense~, so very very very very tassstyyy~.
Fuck, I'm almost at orgasm, and I've only killed- one, two- ten goblins, including one big one, which I'm standing in, over a hundred yards away from my starting point, all-but fucking it's heart-equivalent as my lattices feast on its flesh. A trail of quickly dissolving flesh sizzles behind me, several tree-like tendrils dragging it all toward my body in big pulsing globs of warmth and delicousness. The ten I killed are mush, but dozens more were near misses, screaming as they ripped their own limbs off to avoid being devoured; only some were successful.
'Maybe this is what getting creampied is like,' I muse as the globs pump into my hot body while, with a happy mewl, I take another big bite of the juicy heart I'm grinding my bare pussy on, 'I suppose Skidmark can show me later or something.'
"KILL HER!" Rinke screams from somewhere in the town, "KILL THE MONSTER, MY CHILDREN! KILL! KILL!"
They come at me, screeching and whooping and slavering, and I have to turn from my newest snack/fucktoy to get back to work.
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Dead, I am the one, exterminating son;
slipping through the trees, strangling the breeze.
The next four seconds were carnage unlike anything Kaiser had ever seen before. If he were being honest with himself, he'd only seen something equivalent to Dreadnaught's ruthless slaughter once in his life, and that was the aftermath of a Shatterbird attack.
Striker his ass! Long barbed whips sprang from the madly cackling cape ash she leapt upwards from the husk of a 2-story-sized goblin and, whipping her hands side to side, eviscerated everything in a fifty foot radius of her person. Then she hit the ground; those that hadn't been killed outright – and were now screaming to the tune of Rob Zombie – Dreadnaught dashed to each and stabbed her hand into them. She picked them up, moved to the next, stabbed them with the same blade, and moved to the next.
She was shishkabob-ing the goblins of Ellisburg, grinning with shark-like teeth as she did. All the while, the Goblin King screamed for her head.
To Kaiser, it didn't look like Dreadnaught was touching the ground.
Dead, I am the sky, watching angels cry
while they slowly turn, conquering the worm.
They were ganging up on her again, flying goblins, ones with mover powers, others that spat acid and flung esoteric abilities; it looked like they were trying to save their kin.
It didn't work.
She leapt into the air, killing two of the fliers with almost casual ease right before thousands of black lattices burst from every goblin Dreadnaught had stabbed; their screams were silenced.
Over the song's chorus – and the chaotic screams coming from his home's surround sound system – Kaiser shivered as he clearly heard Dreadnaught scream, "FUCK YES~! GIVE ME MORE!" More goblins fell, like a scythe before the wheat, all in a red-lit town filled with screams, smoke, and distant fire.
Rune had left the Empire for this woman. Rune; not exactly their most important or influential member, but one who had potential, a small following, a future… and she gave it up, to follow Dreadnaught.
Who was slaughtering everything in Ellisburg, and apparently getting off from the experience.
He was drawn from the sight by the door to his basement recreational room opening; he waved down Fenja and Menja, who were also in costume and watching the show… execution… they were watching Uber and Leet with him.
Muting the TV, he gathered himself with a quiet breath and spoke to the approaching capes, his capes, "For all they are annoyances, Uber and Leet certainly know how to deliver high quality product. Don't you agree, Hookwolf?"
"Hmm. Don't mute it," he growled, walking past the couch to get a closer look at Dreadnaught, now looking like she was covered in coal-black armor, with thorns as a theme, "I want to hear this."
Krieg shoved a pale-faced Stormtiger onto the couch, both of them watching the silent stream; Cricket perched on the backrest next to her teammate's head and began idly playing with a knife. Alabaster just went behind the bar and began fixing drinks for Victor and Othalla, neither of whom looked very happy.
Nonetheless, Kaiser still addressed Hookwolf's… request, "Very well, but after, we need to discuss our response to her setting up shop in the Bay." He gave Stormtiger a very pointed look, promising that the discussion would not be something the aerokinetic would enjoy.
And then Kaiser umuted the TV.
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Dead I am the pool, spreading from the fool,
weak for what you need, nowhere as you bleed!
"HARPY! WHORE OF BABYLON! THIS INSULT SHALL NOT STAND! HOW DARE YOU STAND AGAINST GOD?!"
"THEN STRIKE ME DOWN, PUNY GOD! CALL DEATH OFF! OH WAIT, YOU CAN'T! BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT A GOD; YOU'RE A BIIITCH~!"
"This is hands down the most insane and badass thing I've ever seen- LISA, WHERE THE FUCK IS THE POPCORN?!"
Dead I am the rat, feat upon the cat;
tender is the fur, dying as you purr.
"I AM THE GOBLIN KING, IGNORANT CHILD! I WILL END YOU!"
"You'll die trying."
A bowl of popcorn landed in Alec's lap; he began munching it down as Lisa, still totally bed-headed and in her PJ's, sat next to him and watched Dreadnaught going absolutely apeshit on the goblins of Ellisburg.
"What did I miss?" Lisa asked, eyes darting over the screen so fast they were blurs.
"Well, she stopped wearing clothes," Alec answered between bites of popcorn and the sound of a Brute-type goblin getting its skull splattered against Dreadnaught's ample chest, "and now she's wearing some kind of armor that, honestly, I'm pretty sure is just for show."
"It is," Lisa whispered, sounding a little hot under the collar as she watched Dreadnaught pummel another massive goblin's face in, fists little more than blurs of red and partially-liquified bone and flesh.
"Elaborate?"
"All that black stuff is actually her insides," Lisa stole a handful of popcorn as bigger and tougher-looking goblins began showing up. "She eats the goblins, they become that black stuff; honestly, I think she only simulates skin to look like us. That black ooze is all she is."
Do it baby~, do it baby~!
Burn like an animal.
The screen became a kaleidoscope of colors as the goblins of Ellisburg unleashed dozens of powers on Dreadnaught. Alec felt a bit worried about his sound system becoming overloaded…
"Can she survive all that?"
"I have no fuckin' idea," Lisa replied, on the edge of her seat as a large humanoid creature sent a wave of what looked like flesh into the center of the powers orgy, which cut off, allowing everyone to hear the laughter of the Goblin King. "But I really, really hope she can."
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"AND NOW YOU END! BEHOLD, THE RESULT OF CHALLENGING A GOD! FOR YOUR HUBRIS, YOU SHALL BE THE INSTRUMENT WITH WHICH I'LL WREAK HAVOC ON THE WORLD BEYOND, AND ALL SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF THE GOBLIN KING!"
"Don't you dare," Emily Piggot snarled at her computer monitor, trying to ignore Amy Dallon's cold hands on her wrist. "Don't you fucking dare die after all that."
Yes, she'd had a heart attack when she realized what Dreadnaught's target was, but after seeing how the cannibal cape cut through Nilbog's goblins like a hot knife through butter, all while Panacea healed her body – and removed the poison Rinke left in her – Emily wanted to believe. She wanted to see that fucker die, screaming for mercy.
If it meant Dreadnaught becoming stronger… well, at least the bitch wasn't going around wiping towns of innocents out.
Rinke's gloating suddenly cut off, as… a black mass formed in the center of his flesh blob, "NO! NO! THIS CANNOT BE!"
Dead, I am the life, dig into the skin!
Knuckle crack the bone, 21 to win!
More of those lattices, countless, shot out of the flesh blob, striking into Rinke's goblins and dragging them screaming into Dreadnaught's amorphous mass…
Which was changing into…
Panacea gasped. Emily started grinning, "Say what you will about that bitch, but she knows the most important part of being a cape."
"W-What's that?" Panacea asked.
In the place of the blob was a massive nightmare of a wolf. It had eight legs, two tails ending in countless blades, a huge grinning mouth with far too many teeth, and dozens of glowing red eyes… all of which were staring, in silent laughter, at the quivering form of the Goblin King.
Dead, I am the dog! Hound of Hell, you cry!
Emily answered while fishing a cigar from her desk, a satisfied smile on her face, "Presentation."
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Devil on your back-
In an instant, I shift back into my base state, sunglasses, scarf, fishnet, tank top and all; with a snap of my fingers, the music stops… and I grin.
"I can never die."
The Goblin King screams and tries to scramble away as I pounce, tearing him in half and grabbing the umbilical that tried to escape me into the ground. Giving it a good, hard yank, I drag out the bio-casket holding the real Goblin King, Jamie Rinke…
Who jerks out of the containment shell, grinning, and grabs my face, trying to use his power to overcome me.
Fool. I am the agent of the river. I am Undying.
I start laughing as his grin melts into horror, and, grabbing him by the neck, yank him from the casket as he starts begging for his life.
"NO! Please, please, don't kill me!" Rinke screams, crying, pleading, and pissing himself, all while his hands scratch and pull at my fingers, wrapped around his neck.
"Ashes, to ashes," I reply while, using the river's water integrated into Rhonda's costume, I watch the messages pouring in from the internet, all calling for the Goblin King's death.
Rinke squeals as I lift my other arm, a long needle of darkness extending from my index finger. A part of me, the part of me that's still Taylor Hebert, wishes that the river wasn't so stark in my mind, that we, Dreadnaught, didn't know what became of the souls of the departed.
I wish this, because I wish Mom and Dad could see me now.
"Dust, to dust," my quiet, grinning words are heard above the roaring inferno that's closing around us, bit by bit, like the world's deadliest noose. Rinke's screams are reaching a fever pitch; there is nowhere for him to go, nowhere to hide.
And, out of everyone I have devoured, everyone I have killed…
This filth is the only one who truly deserves to die.
Some might say death is too good for him, but fuck those people; I'm fucking Dreadnaught.
"The King is dead," my grinning whisper is louder than a roaring crowd, drowning out Jamie Rinke's sobbing wails as the spike extending from my finger grows longer, inching closer to the monster in my hand.
"May his throne be forever vacant."
The needle stabs out, driving through Jamie Rinke's heart, devouring it in the same instant as the monster's screams cease, his body going limp in my hand as he dies. On the shores of the RIVER, countless dead, his victims, drag Rinke's weeping soul into the currents, pulling him to the rocky bottom; in moments, there's nothing left of his memories.
And in reality, I chuckle, toss Rinke's body into the air, and lop off his head with the flat of my palm…
Before I start juggling said head like a soccer ball, all while beginning to sing with a huge smile on my face:
"Ding-dong, the King is dead! Which, oh King? The Goblin King! Ding-dong, the Goblin King is dead!" I laugh while doing a somersault kick, sending Rinke's head into the encroaching hellfire. As I come out of the flip, I grab onto the handle that'd descended from Rhonda's dome; as it pulls me up, I continue singing to the Snitch, which follows me up from the burning ruins of Ellisburg, "Ding-dong, the merry-o! Sing it high, sing it low! Let them know the Goblin King is dead!"
After a brief stay in a vacuum-sealed area – where both me and the Snitch are sanitized of any biological agents, just in case Rinke made a final 'fuck you' in the form of a plague – I emerge atop the dome next to Rhonda.
The Triumvirate are also there, but I don't really care; the Nilbog has had a standing Kill Order on him since he first showed up. And, as anyone knows, no one can arrest the person who completes a Kill Order; at least, not while leaving the scene.
Thus, I sling an arm over Rhonda's shoulder, and she wraps a hand around my back, and we start doing the high-kick dance right in front of Alexandria's seething face, and sing, "He's gone where the monsters go: below! Below and OH! HO-HO! Let's open up and sing, and right the bells out!" I quickly put in, "Everybody!"
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Labyrinth squealed with laughter as Newter – with gloves on – swung her through the air in the Palanquin and sang, with the rest of the slightly-drunk mercenary band that lived there, "Ding-dong the merry-o!"
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"SING IT HIGH!" Dennis, Chris, Sophia, Melissa, Missy and Assault cried out, arm in arm in the Wards common room, to the exasperation of Battery and the other Wards.
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Emily Piggot raised her glass of very good, very expensive whiskey, a smirk on her face, "Sing it low."
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"Let them know: the Goblin King is dead!" I cry out right before pressing a button that Rhonda brings out of her massive platform; a loud thump comes from under the dome, which lifts to reveal the glassed, lifeless remains of Ellisburg.
Saluting the Triumvirate, of whom only Legend – with a shit-eating smirk – returns the gesture, I conclude, "Let them know: the Gob~lin King… is DEAAAAAAAD! Thank you for watching, and goodnight!"
And with that, we hurtle to the horizon and home, the stream ending as I shove my tongue down Rhonda's throat.
Well, not really, but… oh, you know what I mean. And if not, ask your mom.
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"We're not going to follow her?" David asked irritably.
"David," Rebecca sighed, tension bleeding out of her as the pair of awful capes vanished, "She just ate Ellisburg. I didn't want to mess with her before this. Now? I'm just hoping she doesn't go poking the Nine for kicks."
"She won't," Legend said confidently. "Call her insane – she is – but she's not the sort to go out looking for trouble for no reason. Besides," he turned and looked at them gravely, "I'm sure they'll come to her, first."
Obviously, that set no one at ease, though David telling them that his Thinker powers said she didn't absorb Nilbog's power did tone things down slightly.
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Arriving at home – after dropping off the Snitch and taking a quick selfie with Uber, Leet and their new Tinker partner Upscale – I flop onto the couch and wave Rhonda off, "I'm gonna take a few days off to digest all this. Make sure the girls get fed, will you?"
She shrugged, not looking up from her phone as she left my apartment, "Sure thing. Oh, and I don't think anyone except maybe Lung will be a problem, in the Bay at least. Seeya, D."
"Later," I bid her farewell… and waited until she's well out of sight before lifting my hand before my eyes.
A seam opens, and a dense piece of biomass flows out. Twitching my will, I make it grow.
And grow.
And grow, until it fills the entire room.
Grinning, I pull it back into my body, and tell the river's lattices within me to multiply, divide, grow. As for me, I close my eyes and prepare to take a nap, whispering to the air, "Thanks, puny god."
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…
I let out a frustrated noise and flail on my couch, "Fuck!" I glare at the ceiling; stupid powers won't let me sleep, god fucking damnit!
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Next Time: R&R