Chapter Ten

I rested my elbows on the table, fingers interlocked. My hands rested just in front of my lips and below my nose. All I needed to finish the look was a pair of orange tinted glasses.

"You may be wondering why I gathered you all here today."

Around the table were eight other individuals. To my right was Cherie, followed by Genesis, Sundancer and Trickster. On my left was Ballistic, Oliver, and Perdition. At the other side of the table was a large mirror about two feet long.

The mirror was actually a portal of sorts. It had other purposes, but in this instance, it was a way to communicate with Noelle without complications. Noelle's upper body was visible in the mirror. From her point of view, we were the ones in the mirror while she was in her room.

No one said anything. The Travelers, sans Noelle, were too scared to speak up. That was hardly a problem with Cherie around, but this made it easier to ask rhetorical questions without unnecessary responses.

Lowering my arms so they also rested on the table, I continued. "We're here to discuss how to go about fixing Noelle's complication."

Said girl was glowering at me from the mirror. She went to open her mouth, but I raised my hand to stop her.

Cherie was curiously examining the exchange. I hadn't told her much, so this would clear some things with her.

The former leader of the Travelers had begrudgingly accepted the ordeal. This likely deterred the rest of the members from attempting to act rashly.

"As it stands, we have three different ways to approach this. One: I use my power to cure her. The results would be less than ideal, but possible. Two: we kidnap numerous power/healing/biological parahumans and force them to heal you. Not worth the trouble in my opinion, but it's an option. And third: we do a bit of both."

I paused to let the group absorb what I said. My partner was smiling, likely having caught on to what I would say next.

Sundancer and Genesis shared a look, while Ballistic crossed his arms. I wasn't sure if Perdition was even listening. Oliver slid back and frowned.

"Of course, there wasn't really any choice. We're going with option three. We'll kidnap a cape who can heal Noelle and I'll use my power to take her power. If you have questions, now's the time to ask."

Leaning forward, Trickster took in a shaky breath. "What do you want us to do?"

It seemed that was the last straw, as Perdition slammed his hands down with a loud bang. "What the hell do you think you're saying?! You don't speak for the rest of us, so don't try to rope us into this hopeless quest of yours! Right guys? He doesn't have any right to be our leader!"

Perdition turned to Ballistic and Oliver. The former was ready to jump out of his seat to hold down Perdition. The latter avoided his gaze, shrinking in his chair.

The rebellious parahuman shifted his attention to the two members across from him. Sundancer glared back in retaliation. "That's enough, Cody."

The two stared down and Mars was close to breaking under Cody's ferocity. I decided to speak up.

"If you're worried that Trickster and I have some sort of agreement, banish the thought. And Trickster isn't the leader anymore. He can represent your group, but officially, you are under me."

Cody clenched his fists before slumping back. He grumbled, but otherwise quieted down.

"Anyway, to answer Trickster's question: nothing yet. I'm still trying to figure out which parahuman I want for this. Panacea seems like the obvious choice, but the backlash might be too much. Then there's… actually, who else is there?"

Covering her mouth, Cherie failed to hide a snort. "Really... I would've thought you of all people could name at least a few wet tinkers. Then again, maybe Panacea has some secret horrifying aspect to her power."

"Well, I could probably name a few if I thought about it, but none are coming to mind. And yes, Panacea's power is actually biological manipulation, or something like that." I slouched forward and rested my chin on my palm. "Any ideas?"

I met the eyes of the Travelers one by one. When I reached Trickster, he was the one to give me an answer. "Uh- I'm just saying this to give an example, but there is Bonesaw…"

Had the Travelers been drinking, they would've collectively spit taken. Noelle took this moment to interject.

"Krouse! Don't even joke about that!" The monstrous girl shouted at Trickster, though it lost some of its effect being on the other side of a mirror.

Sighing, Sundancer dragged her hand down her face. "You didn't need to mention that psychopath. I'm sure our new boss was trying to think of other ideas."

"Hey, while it may be silly to mention, at least he's giving something. If we want to help Noelle, we should try to contribute somehow." Ballistic motioned his hands in a placating manner.

"Like you're doing any better dumbass. Just because they say there's no wrong answers doesn't mean there aren't. This is a prime example." Cody's arm hovered over Oliver to point at Ballistic, who slapped it away.

Cherie chose this moment to break out in a fit laughter, demolishing the tense atmosphere. "Oh-ahaha… That's a good one! You guys have no idea."

Scratching the armrest of her wheelchair, Genesis followed that with a question. "What do you mean by that?"

Then it clicked. "Wait- maybe I can work with that."

I ignored the stares of the Travelers as their expressions morphed into terror. A proper plan was forming in my head. And it was glorious.

Bonesaw was a potential leading expert for Parahuman physiology. Not only that, but she had an excellent capacity for accomplishing the impossible. Sure, the end products may not have been the most stable, but there were ways to fix that.

"Yes, it's only logical! Abducting her would solve so many different problems at once. Why didn't I think of that?"

Slamming my hands on the table, I rose from my seat to look down on the group. This forced them to look up at me with wide eyes.

"I'm going to 'rehabilitate' Bonesaw."

Everyone, even Cherie, was somewhat skeptical of my claim.

"Impossible." Oliver spoke. That was the first time I'd heard his voice.

"I'm gonna have to agree with changer boy over there. I've seen you do some fucked up shit, but it's Bonesaw." Cherie stretched her arms above her head; her smile was clearly fake.

"You have no faith. It's not like I'm walking up to the girl and mastering her. I'm going to rebuild her, then break her. A lengthy process, really."

"Er-" Noelle raised her hand to brush some strands of hair behind her ear. "Don't you mean break her, then rebuild her?"

I sat back down and folded my hand over the other. "No, I meant what I said."

"Putting that aside, this is a good segue into how we'll do that. Finding the Nine isn't too difficult, but I want to know more about their new member before trying anything. Then we can properly hash out the details for dealing with each member."

Ballistic fiddled with his gear. "So… why are you talking like we're gonna take on the Nine? They're an S-class threat for a reason."

"If he thinks we can do it, then it's not like we have any choice. I say we do our best regardless. This is the only real chance at fixing Noelle that we've got." Krouse glanced at his girlfriend as he addressed his fellow displaced parahumans.

They continued to discuss (read: argue) and it looked like they wouldn't be winding down soon. Pulling out my phone, I opened the search app to check several tabs open for different online forums. Unfortunately, most of the posts I made were removed for being 'irrelevant to the conversation', 'spam', and so on.

All I did was write that people should say 'truth is often' three times in front of a bathroom mirror with the lights off. It was how I set up the communication portal for Noelle.

Ordinarily, anyone who said the incantation would be pulled into the dimension by an Agent. That removed the whole point of a secret teleporting network, so the Agent was ordered to stand by.

There wasn't a high chance it would expand much, but it'd be convenient for safer travel of numerous people.

"Is that an iPhone?" Trickster was squinting, viewing the Apple logo visible in the blue casing.

Everyone dropped whatever they were discussing to stare at the device.

"Yeah, it is. Why do you ask?"