Many thanks to Assembler, themanwhowas, frustratedFreeboota, skyrunner, BeaconHill, and ShadowStepper1300 for betareading.

Many thanks to MugaSofer for fact checking.

Many thanks to themanwhowas for the character of Auxiliary.

Interlude 7a: Janice

Rune leaned back in her cushioned seat as the limousine sped down the road. Her robe, already uncomfortably hot on this warm night, was positively drenched with sweat. Her hands were shaking where they rested on her knees.

"Rune, relax," said Oracle. "We had that."

Rune swallowed. "You just baited the cape who faced down an Endbringer," she said. Her voice was about an octave higher than normal.

"Careful, Rune," growled Hookwolf from the row in front of her and Oracle. "Your hero-worship is showing."

"I don't—"

"There's no call for that sort of behavior, Hookwolf." Kaiser's voice was smooth and unruffled from his seat beside Purity two rows ahead of Rune. He turned back to them, his armor glinting like silver in the light from the streetlamps outside and the dashboard in front. "Annatar is a dangerous parahuman, Rune, there's no question about that. But the longer she goes unchecked, the more dangerous she grows."

"And the more powerful she gets," said Oracle grimly, "the more she'll abuse that power. We have to stop her." She huffed a derisive laugh. "After all, it's not as though the fucking heroes will."

Rune glanced at her newest teammate. Oracle was a strange one. She'd sought them out, shortly after Leviathan. In general, if a cape didn't trigger from inside the E88 rank and file, they were instead slowly brought into the fold and deliberately recruited.

It was what had happened to Rune herself, after all.

A thought occurred to her. "Is Annatar really mastering all her teammates?" she asked.

Oracle raised a hand and shifted it from side to side in a "so-so" gesture. "Sort of. My power's pretty clear that there's something planted in them, and it shows up like a master effect would—but it doesn't seem to be feeding obedience into them." She shook her head. "I could be wrong, though. They're all really hard to read. Too many variables, too much input from those Rings."

"I remember when they said telepaths weren't a thing," said Alabaster dryly. "Those were the days…"

"I'm not a telepath," Oracle said. "Be a lot easier if I were a telepath."

"Close enough," Alabaster grumbled. "Thinker, with a master 0 rating, right? That's what you decided. That's spooky."

"Says the guy who was this close to naming himself Schrödinger's Zombie," said Othala caustically.

"That's totally different," said Alabaster, and even though he was facing away from her, Rune could hear the smirk in his voice.

"My friends, please," Kaiser said, his tone patronizing, as if he were speaking to children rather than colleagues. "Let's not fight amongst ourselves. We have far more pressing matters. First, we must all thank Auxiliary for his quick work on the car. Very well done."

"Yes, you did vell," Krieg agreed, his words stilted by his false German accent. Rune could barely keep herself from rolling her eyes.

The young man sitting in the driver's seat didn't visibly react to the praise. "It is just the job," he said, his crisp voice perfectly unruffled. The hint of a genuine German accent only made Krieg's sound sillier. "Be a poor tinker if I couldn't keep a car running."

"Well, you certainly went above and beyond the call of duty today," Kaiser said magnanimously. "Second, we'll be arriving at the Medhall building shortly. Do any of you need transportation from there?"

Oracle raised a hand. "If it's all right with you, sir," she said, "I'd like to stay at the building for a couple of hours, to deflect my parents' suspicion. They're not expecting me back for a couple more hours. If they hear that my 'internship's' function was cut short on the same night as a raid on Empire…"

"Surely you could just tell them it was held in that part of town," said Krieg. "That the function was canceled because of the raid."

Oracle shook her head. "My dad's a lawyer," she said. "He'd try to sue for leaving me to fend for myself in the middle of a PRT raid. No one wants that."

"I suggest," said Kaiser, a languid smile in his voice, "that we trust the psychic when she says what we should and shouldn't tell her father."

"Not a psychic," said Oracle, looking down.

"Rune," Kaiser said, glancing back at her. "Do you think you could keep Oracle company, for at least part of the time she has to stay at the building?"

Rune swallowed. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you," said Oracle, with a perfectly even voice, and Rune wondered what the girl's power had said about her.

"So, Rune."

Rune glanced up from her newspaper. Oracle was sitting across the coffee table from her, in one of the Medhall Building's private lounges. The other girl still had her mask on, but her robe had been taken off and neatly folded on the chair beside her. She was wearing a green blouse which brought out the vibrant color of her hair, alongside simple blue jeans.

Rune was jealous. She didn't think she'd ever be able to make clothes that simple look that good.

Oracle set down her mug of spiced cider. Rune felt her eyes roving over her, studying her like a bug pinned in a display.

Suddenly, Rune realized Oracle was waiting for a response. "Yeah?"

"What brought you to Empire?" Oracle asked.

Rune narrowed her eyes. "Bit of a personal question."

"You don't have to answer," said Oracle quickly. "I'm just curious."

This was the problem with fucking psychics. Thinkers in general. Rune always felt like she was in a game of high-stakes poker, and she was terrible at poker. She never knew whether Oracle was being honest, or whether it was a careful lie, designed to manipulate.

But she'd be working with Oracle for the foreseeable future. It wouldn't help to be rude. Putting herself out there was a risk, yeah, but she'd stay on guard. And it wasn't as though Oracle was a powerful master.

"I'm related to the Herrens," she said finally. "You know, Othala's extended family? My parents split from the clan, but I got back in. Got sent to juvie for shit in school, got my powers there. Joined up once I broke out."

Oracle was watching her like that again—that piercing, roving look. Rune shuddered, and was about to open her mouth when Oracle looked away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know that makes you uncomfortable. It's just—it's hard to help myself."

Rune gritted her teeth. "Mind telling me what's in my tarots, psychic?"

"I'm not a psychic." Oracle seemed to be shrinking into herself, curling up a little, withdrawing like a turtle into her shell.

Rune looked away, fighting the queasy feeling in her stomach. For a time, there was silence.

"Do you believe in it?" Oracle asked at length.

Rune glanced back. Oracle was carefully not looking at her. Her back was still bent over her cider, still curled. Her red hair fell around her mask like a curtain.

"In what?" Rune asked.

"It. The—the racism, the nationalism. The Nazi thing."

"Yes. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Oracle visibly struggled with herself for a moment, and then at last brought her hands up and cupped them over her face. "Okay," she said. "I believe you."

It hurt to watch. "Fuck," Rune swore. "Okay, then, I don't believe it! Just calm down!"

Oracle shook her head spasmodically. "Don't," she whispered. "Now it's even harder."

Rune blinked. "What?"

Oracle's hands were still covering her mask. "When I look at someone," she said, "I can see the reason why they're doing whatever they're doing right then. The deeper I go, the more I get—but I can only do it with line of sight. Please—don't tempt me to look if you don't have to. I know you hate it when I do."

Rune grimaced. Drawn inward, curled up as she was, Oracle looked like nothing so much as a kicked puppy.

"Does it… hurt?" she asked. "To not use your powers?"

Oracle shook her head. "No, it's just…" she trailed off. Swallowed. "Well. You triggered, too."

Rune found herself wincing. "If—if you don't mind—"

"My best friend threatened to—to hurt me." Oracle murmured. "Really badly. I don't—I didn't know why. I had no idea. There were no hints, no signs, and then suddenly she was just—gone."

"That sucks."

Oracle snorted. "It doesn't sound as bad as some, does it?" she asked roughly. "Here I am, surrounded by people who triggered because of rape, or because someone died, or things I can't even imagine, and I'm bitching because my friend betrayed me."

"Betrayal's a bitch," said Rune firmly. "You don't have to tell me that."

Oracle flinched. "Yeah," she murmured, hands still covering her face. "Yeah, it is."

Rune considered her. "But what does that have to do with—"

"I didn't understand her," Oracle said lowly, her voice frail over the words, "and it cost me. It's—it's scary, not to understand."

Oh.

"I'm sorry," Rune said.

"It's okay," said Oracle. Her face was still covered.

She's fucking trying, dammit, Rune told herself. She's trying so damn hard to win you over. Hell, if she's lying, she's a better fucking liar than Kaiser. Get over yourself for just one minute and help the poor girl!

"You can—" Rune hesitated. "You can stop covering your face. If you want."

Oracle tensed, and didn't move. "Are you—are you sure? I don't want to—"

"Yes," said Rune quickly, before she could change her mind. "Yes, I'm sure."

Slowly, Oracle pulled her hands away, and looked up at her. "Thank you," she murmured. "I'm sorry. I—"

"It's fine."

Oracle swallowed. "Anyway," she said, shaking herself. "Yes. Do you really believe all of it?"

Rune grimaced. "Yes? I don't know. It's a lot to believe." She considered the girl across from her. "Do you? Know whether I—"

"Yes," said Oracle curtly.

Rune waited.

"You have to ask," said Oracle quietly. "I'm not fucking Annatar. I'm not going to tell you something about yourself if you don't want to hear it."

Rune frowned. "What does Annatar…?"

"How do you think Kaiser heard her identity?" Oracle asked. "I told him."

Rune's eyes widened. "You unmasked her?"

"She's dangerous," Oracle growled. Rune flinched, shocked by the venom in her words. "She's like me—only about a hundred times worse. And she won't let you hide, if you want to. She'll take you by the hair and force you face to face with the ugliest parts of yourself, and then leave you to rot."

"It's that bad?"

"Worse." Suddenly, Oracle was looking away. "And it's my fault. I know it's my fault. I knew her, you know?"

"That's how you knew her identity?"

"Yeah." Oracle was bent, curled inward again. "I… I caused her trigger."

Rune blinked. Her mouth very nearly dropped open. "You fucking what?

"Yeah, I know. It was… stupid isn't the right word. Evil, more like."

"Well, yeah!" Rune stared at the other girl, askance. "You know what it's like to trigger! How the fuck could you do that to someone else?"

"I didn't know, then—"

"That's no fucking excuse! You don't do that kind of thing to another person!"

"This is it for you, Nazi bitch," the black boy snarled at her as he raised the cinderblock one last time. She tried to blink the blood out of her eyes. "When you get to hell, say hi to Hitler for me!"

"I know!" Oracle's voice, ragged with grief and shame, broke Rune out of her reverie. "I know. I was a monster. And I created a monster so much worse than I could ever be." She swallowed. "I just wish… I wish she hadn't done all this. I wish I could get her back, could apologize. But now she has, and I have to try and stop her."

"And that's why you joined up?" Rune asked. "To fix what you broke?"

"Yeah. Kaiser's the only one who has enough power and capes to fight her. It's my fault—I have to set it right."

"Well," Rune said, finding herself lost for words.

Oracle was peering at her, she was sure, through the hidden fabric-covered holes in that mask. "I was stupid," she said. "I was a broken little kid with my own share of trauma. It doesn't make it okay—I know it doesn't make it okay, nothing can—but I'm trying to make it right. I'm doing what I can, even if it's never going to be enough."

Rune grimaced. She'd never been good at hating or even staying angry at the pathetic. The crude, the dangerous, and the disgusting, yes—but if she had a weakness, it was pity. "I guess I can understand that," she said quietly.

"I… I appreciate it, anyway." Oracle shook her head. "If you want to know about yourself, ask. I'll never tell otherwise."

Rune pursed her lips. "You know how tempting it is, right?"

"Yeah," Oracle said ruefully. "But—it's better to have the choice, isn't it?" She sighed. "I really hate my powers, you know? Like, they're incredibly useful, incredibly powerful—but I never wanted this. I never wanted to see that my dad is a broken man holding himself together by clinging to his wealth. I never wanted to see that the only reason my mom hasn't divorced him is because of me. I never wanted to see that my sister literally hates both of my parents—really hates, like 'has considered patricide' sort of hate. And I'm not going to put anyone else through that unless they ask me to."

"You did it to Annatar," Rune pointed out.

"That," Oracle hissed, "was different. Annatar is a monster. She's powerful, dangerous, and she's willing to hurt anyone who gets in her way. It was damn time she got a taste of her own medicine."

Rune raised an eyebrow. This girl certainly seemed vitriolic, for someone who blamed herself for all of this. All she said aloud, however, was, "She didn't seem that bad during the Endbringer fight."

"No?" Oracle shook her head. "She's charismatic. You should have seen what I saw when I looked at the other Wards. They're devoted to her. She's willing to say anything she needs to, to get in people's heads. If she can use them, she tries to make them loyal to her from there. If she can't…."

Oracle reached up and roughly pulled aside her mask. The pale face looking back at Rune must once have been beautiful, with those high cheekbones and lips that would be full if they were not so thin. Her eyes were large and blue, but lay in sunken pits. She was thin—painfully so, and Rune saw that now, through the bright clothes.

"This is what she does, if she can't use you," said Oracle grimly.

"What did she do?" Rune asked.

"Cracked me," said Oracle with a shudder. "And then sent her lapdog to finish the job. I spent a week in a hospital after my psychotic break. She did that to me because she didn't think she could use me."

On some level, Rune almost found herself pleased at the idea. It felt like karmic justice. It felt right.

"What goes around, comes around, you goose-stepping whore!"

Abruptly, she felt sick. No one deserves to trigger. "You got that from reading her?" she asked.

Oracle glanced away. "That much, yes," she said. "Annatar's harder to read than anyone else I've seen. It's not that I can't get into her head—it's that I get too much. I saw…." She broke off suddenly, shuddering. "Normally, I just get ideas. Concepts. With Annatar, I got words and images. They overwhelmed me, almost made me throw up. Fire, ash, and dust that blocked out the sky… armies of monsters, consuming everything in their way… and her eye above it all, watching, commanding the slaughter and destruction." She clasped her hands together, and Rune saw that they were trembling.

"So… what? She's some kind of evil overlord?" Rune asked.

"Not Taylor," Oracle said quietly. "But Annatar, inside her? Yeah. Something like that. I don't know what it all meant, but one thing I'm sure of is that the reason she was willing to hurt me and not…." She trailed off. Shook her head tiredly. "Utility," she said, and sounded exhausted. "I wasn't useful. There was no place for me in her army."

"Well," said Rune. "Kaiser clearly thinks you're plenty useful." And if you can really put someone like Annatar off-balance with your powers, I gotta say he's not wrong.

Oracle grinned weakly up at her. "I'm glad to be of service," she said, "if it means taking down those bitches."

"Anyway, I guess if we're doing the unmasking thing…" Rune reached up and, with a touch of trepidation, lowered her hood.

Her identity really wasn't that important—she was a wanted fugitive anyway, after her breakout from juvie, so it didn't really give her much safety. Oracle had a lot more to lose, by giving out hers, and she'd already shown her face. Reciprocating was cheap.

She held out a hand. "Nice to meet you," she said. "Janice Rush."

Oracle blinked at her for a moment, then gave a wan smile and took the offered hand. "Likewise," she said. "Emma Barnes."

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