Little Birds of Brockton Bay
I don't drink, so when I woke up in an alleyway with a pounding head and no idea where I was, I was understandably very confused. Then, a teenage superhero landed on my head while trying to escape from an oversized rage dragon and I figured out I'd been ROBed. I wasn't expecting to start a flock of little birds though...
And we're back! Nothing to say here, so lets get started! Enjoy!
Chapter 7
"I said I was sorry!" said Victoria as she squirmed under her sisters glare as said sister carefully healed the shattered arm I'd ended up with at the hands of the overeager Brute.
"You shattered his ARM!" snapped Amy, "Frankly, you deserved to get swarmed."
"That and more," muttered Taylor from where she was glaring at Vicky, her swarm buzzing angrily around her.
Needless to say, my Sekirei had NOT taken kindly to the Collateral Damage Barbie shooting out of nowhere and busting my arm, so had conjured another swarm of massive bugs and fired them with the force of bullets directly into the blondes face. Fortunately, I had managed to stop Taylor before she pulled out the razor sharp centipede whip I was pretty sure she had hidden up her sleeve and try to shred the Brute because I had the distinct impression that that would go down badly.
Victoria flinched away from the buzzing swarm slightly and muttered something under her breath.
"Well what was I supposed to think?" asked Victoria, "You got taken hostage by Villians and I come in to find you being held by a creepy guy with a sword!"
"How am I creepy?" I asked as I flexed my newly healed arm, "Thanks Amy, that feels so much better."
"No problem," said the Healer, "Your own regeneration would likely have sorted it, but I doubt it'd be comfortable or short. Speaking of which…"
She prodded me in the chest.
"What exactly are your powers? I mean, you used wind to fight Trainwreck, your clearly stronger than a normal Human and I could see your body healing itself much faster than should be possible. Are you a Grab Bag?"
I snorted.
"Not exactly," I said, "My power isn't even close to being that simple."
"Whats that supposed to mean?" asked Victoria.
I smirked.
"That my dear, is a secret," I said, my grin widening slightly as Victoria's eye twitched, "I dare say you'll find out what I can do soon enough, but for now I'll keep it to myself."
A rather bubbly sounding throat being cleared behind me made me turn away from the reddening Glory Girl to see a rather tattered looking Aegis in Clockblockers costume stood there.
"Sorry for intruding, but I've spoken with Director Piggot about you," he croaked around the hole in his throat, "She told me to ask you two to come in for a debriefing."
I shrugged.
"I don't mind," I said, "I've got some business with the PRT anyway, so I might be able to get it out of the way today rather than in a couple of days. Do you mind Entoma?"
Taylor (and no, I don't know where the name came from, although it was certainly fitting) shrugged as her swarm thinned slightly.
"Sure, why not?" she said, "Although I still want to get something to eat later. That fight took a lot out of me and I'm starving."
"Fair enough," I said, before turning back to Aegis, "We'll be happy to come along."
Aegis nodded and indicated for us to follow him.
In his underground base, Thomas Calvert, better known as Coil, sat with his head in his hands while his second timeline was spent screaming in rage and slaughtering his way through his men to blow off the utter fury he felt towards both himself and that BITCH Crow. He'd been so damn sure his plan was perfect, that nothing could possibly go wrong, that he'd covered all possible factors that he'd got cocky. Instead of carefully maintaining a safe timeline like he would normally, he'd let the excitement at getting his hands on such a powerful Precog take control and used both timelines to drive the girl into a corner.
To make matters worse, if it had been anyone else the girl had run into, he might still have been able to get her, but the Black Crow was renowned for being as intelligent as she was ruthless and had seen right through his mens lies in one timeline and took them down as easily as she had in the one where he'd ordered them to attack. At least in that one, she hadn't killed them, although they were rather cut up and in custody. Fortunately, they knew better than to talk or he might be in trouble.
Coil took a deep breath and turned his attention to the other thing that had come up, namely the debut of two new Capes, Vergil and Entoma. They were clearly very powerful and rather skilled to be able to defeat the Undersiders, especially with the addition of Trainwreck and 104. He wasn't entirely sure what Vergils power was, but both were still exactly the sort of thing he wanted to get on his side. That said, it would probably be a good idea to test them first, just to make sure they were worth the effort.
He dropped his second Timeline and reached for the intercom on his desk.
"Toyotama, Ichiya, come in," he said.
The door opened and two women entered. The first was a tall woman with long, black hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue and white tight belly-top that showed off large stretches of skin, long dark gloves, stockings held by a garter over her bloomers and thigh length boots. She carried a long staff across her shoulders.
The other woman was unarmed, but equally well endowed. She was wearing what could generously be called an outfit, although it showed even more skin than her companions that was purple and yellow and held together with a ring just below her breasts. She wore long black thigh high boots and short black gloves. Her hair was black and cropped close to her skull.
"What do you need boss?" asked the woman with a staff.
Coil pushed the photo's of Vergil and Entoma across the desk.
"I have some new targets for you," he said, "I want to make sure their worth recruiting, so don't kill them outright. Give it a couple of days then hunt them down, draw them out and find out what they can do."
"Understood," said the other woman, picking up the photos.
Coil waved the two off and turned his attention back to his computer. He had plans to make and information to gather.
As we entered the PRT buildings lobby, I looked around with some interest. It looked mostly like I imagined, a bizarre mix of armed guards and colourful gift shop in the background with large, colourful posters of the Wards and Protectorate members in various poses around the room, although I noted with some satisfactions that Shadow Stalkers were nowhere to be seen. Not that surprising considering she was likely cooling her heels in a cell somewhere.
I returned my attention back to the lobby, specifically the woman stood in front of the desk waiting for the Wards who had to be Emily Piggot. The woman was an interesting sight because she didn't look anything like what I expected. Instead of an obese woman, she was still in excellent shape, although her legs were missing from the middle of her thigh, replaced by gleaming prosthetics that matched her eyes in both colour and warmth and Her hair was pale blonde and pulled up in a severe bun. She was wearing a smart looking navy jacket and shirt. All in all, a woman I had no intention of getting on the bad side of and not just because she was backed up by a Single Digit Sekirei and the entire ENE Proctorate.
At the sight of the rather battered looking Wards, the Director's lips thinned, thinning even more as she glanced in Taylor and I's direction. She didn't say anything though, instead turning and leading the way into a meeting room behind the front desk.
"Director Piggot, Ma'am," said Aegis.
"You look like hell," said Piggot, "Whats wrong with your voice?"
"Punctured lung, ma'am," rasped Aegis, "I think there's a hole in my front and back."
As if to demonstrate, he stuck his fingers into his chest cavity.
"Oh god, thats gross!" muttered Taylor.
"I really don't think that was necessary," said Piggot, "Now sit down and don't move. I'll deal with you in a moment."
The Wards did as they were told as the Director turned to me and Taylor. I met her eyes steady as she looked the two of us over with a practiced eye. After a moment, she seemed to find whatever it was she was looking for and nodded slightly.
"I understand that we have you to thank for preventing the Undersiders from succeeding in their attempt?" she asked.
"Yep," I said.
"I understand that two of the members stayed back to hold you off, but left when their teammates got away," said Piggot, "You let them get away. Why?"
"Because that would have likely ended with us having to fight the whole team at once," I said, "We're both relatively new at this, so I highly doubt we'd be able to take on six experienced Capes. I suppose we could have stopped them from escaping, but Entoma was having enough trouble holding off Haihane while she was playing for time. If she had no reason to hold back, I doubt my partner would have come out unharmed."
Taylor muttered something under her breath and a faint buzzing started coming from her hair, but she didn't argue.
"Besides, we had a hall full of hostages to deal with," I continued.
Piggot nodded, looking pleased.
"I think you did the right thing, the smart thing," she said, "Thats unfortunately rare among new Capes."
She huffed.
"We could use someone with your forthought on the Wards…"
"Sorry, but no," I said, "I have other plans."
Piggot sighed.
"Worth a try," she said, glancing at Taylor, "And I won't waste my breath asking you. To much baggage there to try."
Taylor just nodded. Yeah, while nowhere near as bad as some versions of her thanks to the PRT's quick response and lack of conflict drive, my Taylor still had a certain amount of dislike of the PRT and wouldn't be joining them anytime soon.
Piggot waved a hand and one of the troopers behind her stepped forwards.
"Please go with Sargent Jones here and we'll get your statements," said Piggot, "Then we can see about getting your powers tested Vergil. Since your here anyway, we might as well get that done."
I nodded and followed the trooper out of the room with Taylor as Piggot turned back to to the Wards, Vista and Clockblocker quickly moving to make it look like they hadn't been trying to eavesdrop.
Amy lay back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as her mind churned. There were many things to think about, but her mind kept coming back to the bank and Vergil. For some reason and against all logic, she was absolutely certain that under that mask was a boy she'd met in a dream. Exactly how that was possible she didn't know since, even in a world where her sister could bench press cement mixers and she could fix cancer with a touch, communicating through dreams was a bit much.
Then there was her bodies reaction to the Cape. It had been a long time since she'd felt anything but guilty attraction towards her sister, but even before that had started, she hadn't ever really been that interested in dating. Oh, she thought various people were attractive, on both sides of the gender gap, but she never really felt the need to date anyone. Everyone she met just seemed to lack...something, even Vicky, despite her attraction, which certainly didn't help with her confusion over the whole mess.
Vergil however seemed to have that missing something. Something about the black clad Swordsman was enough to get right past her normal lack of interest in anyone but Vicky and get her attention. It certainly helped that they seemed to have a similar sense of humour, dorky one liners and all, and, assuming he was actually Lucas from her dream (somehow) he was rather attractive. Plus, she'd got a good feel of his rock hard abs through his costume when he'd caught her and a good look at his body as a whole while healing him.
Amy's cheeks reddened at the memory of being held against Vergils chest as her imagination took that image and ran with it, her imaginary self slowly reaching up to pull down his mask and…
"Amy, phone call!" called Vicky as she opened the door.
"AHHHHH, I WASN'T DOING ANYTHING!" yelped Amy, jumping nearly a foot in the air at the sudden interruption of her fantasy, her face going fire engine red.
Vicky looked more than a little startled at the outburst and took a step back.
"Um, are you ok?" she asked, "You look a little red…"
"I-I'm fine, just...its nothing," said Amy, ruthlessly shoving down the images and her embarrassment, "Did you need something?"
Vicky stared at her for a moment, before her eyes widened and a knowing smile crossed her face.
"Oh, right, nothing of course," she said, although her tone indicated that she wasn't buying it, "Anyway, the PRT are on the phone."
"O-oh, right," said Amy, getting to her feet and brushing past her sister, doing her best to ignore the smirk the blonde was wearing and the heat still suffusing her cheeks.
I sighed deeply as I tried not to fidget while a young man in a white coat and spiky brown hair waved booping rods over me looking extremely intrigued while my sword received the same treatment by his older colleague.
"Fascinating, truly fascinating," muttered Dr Oak, the older man with my sword, "There's definitely some kind of energy here, but I can't find anything even close to it. Its definitely not anything I've ever seen."
"I've got the same readings," said the other man, who had introduced himself as Dr Oak as well, the other ones Grandson, "Whatever the energy is, your bodies producing and radiating it naturally."
"Is it dangerous?" asked Armsmaster, who was watching the power testing.
"No, not at all," said the older Oak, "It doesn't have any kind of similarity to any form of ionising radiation and I can't think of any way it could cause damage over long term exposure. Theres one more test I'd like to make to be sure, but I see no reason as to why we can't approve the use of his power in creating equipment for use in the PRT and beyond."
"Just one?" I asked plaintively.
I'd been down here for nearly two hours by this point and had been put through all kinds of tests to ensure that I didn't have any kind of native Brute, Mover or whatever rating, despite the fact I'd told them that the abilities in question came from my gear. Apparently it was standard practice, which didn't make me feel any better when I was shown the torture device they used to test Brute Ratings.
"Yes, just one," said the younger Oak, "Here, put some power into this."
He handed me a shiny ball with a lot of flashing lights on it. I took the ball and did as I was told, just wanting to get it over with.
SPRANG!
Dr Oak yelped and ducked as the ball exploded, sending bits of metal and electronics flying everywhere.
"Um, I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?" I asked as I brushed the remains of the device off my lap.
"Not exactly no," said Armsmaster, picking up a piece of the device, "I designed it to scan exotic energies produced by powers in order to make sure that they weren't dangerous. However, it looks like your power somehow removed the Miniaturization effect."
I blinked and took a second look at the parts.
"Huh, my powers gone to," I muttered, "Thats interesting…"
"We need to investigate this future," said older Oak, making me groan.
It took another half an hour before we finally finished the additional tests, during which time we discovered that my power did NOT play nice with Tinkertech. At best, whatever bit of Tech I enchanted just stopped working, at worse they literally fell apart. The two eggheads theorized that my power and whatever bullshit Tinkers did to their tech to let the components they used break physics were mutually exclusive, meaning that Enchanted Tinkertech was a pipe dream. Armsmaster couldn't even use anything I Enchanted to build anything, which seemed to annoy the Tinker.
Once we were done with that (and I'd Enchanted a length of pipe so that the power geeks could see if it interacted strangely with any other powers), I was finally free to go.
"Urrg, that was brutal!" I groaned as Taylor and I walked away from the PRT building, now back in civies, "Almost makes me wish I'd never thought of it."
"On the up side, its out of the way now," said Taylor, "Although I have to say, putting up with Clockblockers puns and come ons for two hours was starting to get annoying."
"Couldn't take the hint?" I asked.
"No, more like he didn't know when to stop," grumbled Taylor, "He stopped hitting on me after I demonstrated some of my...larger bugs, but that didn't stop the jokes…"
She shuddered.
"So many jokes…"
I snorted, earning a light swat around the back of the head.
"On the up side, I met Panacea," said Taylor.
"Didn't we meet her at the bank?" I asked.
"Yes, but we didn't really get a chance to talk," she said, "She seemed nice, if a little worn out."
I winced. I really needed to see if I could help with that somehow.
"She also seemed to be a little embarrassed about something," said Taylor, "I'm pretty sure she was blushing under her scarf and Glory Girl wouldn't stop smirking the whole time they were there."
"Glory Girl was there?" I asked, a little surprised.
Then again, without Tattletale to get through her barrier and hit the Dallon Sisters with the aborted knowledge bombs, I suppose there was nothing to stop the Alexandria Package from giving Panacea a lift. I did have to wonder what had amused the blonde Brute though.
"Yeah, I think she gave Panacea a lift," said Taylor, "Anyway, we're here."
I blinked and looked up. Sure enough, we'd come to a stop outside of a hole in the wall restaurant I immediately recognized by reputation.
"Fugly Bobs, really?" I asked.
"Sekirei need lots of protein and calories to operate," said Taylor, "We can't just pull energy out of thin air to power our abilities like you Parahumans."
"I highly doubt that grease and fat does anything to help," I said.
"Eh, I'll work it off later," said Taylor, "Come on, I want to see if I can finish the Challenger."
I snorted and followed my Sekirei into the restaurant. The odd thing was, I was pretty sure that she probably could. While I didn't know her from before she got Winged (obviously), in the time that I'd known Taylor she'd had an appetite to rivel Gokus, although with better table manners.
"Welcome to Fugly Bobs, home of the Ch...oh, its you two," said the waitress who met us at the door.
I blinked, then snapped my fingers as I quickly recognized her.
"Ah, your one of those girls who hang out with that loser Seo," I said, "Hikari, right?"
The Sekirei twitched violently at the mention of her Ashikabi.
"Thats right," she said through gritted teeth, "So, table for two?"
"Please," I said with a grin.
"How did you know that Seo's a bit of a loser?" asked Taylor as we took a seat at the booth and accepted the menus from Hikari, who also took our drinks orders.
"Lucky guess," I said, "That and the fact he showed up at Miya's the other day to bum food off her."
"I see," said Taylor, "Well, to be fair, your not entirely wrong. I'll take the Challenger."
"Chicken burger and fries please," I said.
"Your food will be right out," said Hikari.
She headed over to the kitchen window to give in our orders, before returning with the ordered drinks.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Taylor, "I mean, the public are aware of us now and you'll probably get your Rogue license in a few days, sooo…"
"Hnn, I guess that's up to you," I said, "Frankly, I'm fine with just creating my stuff to make money and respond where needed, although it would be a shame to not use the gear I made…"
Taylor took a sip of her drink, looking thoughtful.
"I think I'd like to make a difference," she said, "I've always wanted to be a hero and its not like the Protectorate doesn't need the help."
She scowled and punched her fist into her hand.
"Besides, I wanna fight Haihane again."
I raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't take you for the type to hold a grudge after one fight."
"She was toying with me," said Taylor, "Playing for time. If she wanted to, she could have beaten me easy. I refuse to leave it like that!"
"Well, when you put it like that, sure why not?" I said, "Should be interesting if nothing else."
Taylor grinned.
"Here's to an interesting life," she said, offering her glass.
I snorted.
"I think you'll regret asking for that, but sure," I said, clinking my glass against hers.
Lisa Wilborne groaned as she dropped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She'd just got through being yelled at by Brian AND Coil for the fiasco at the Bank, which marked the first time that the team had failed a job. On the up side, everyone escaped without injury, other than damage to Trainwrecks mechsuit, and its not like she could have predicted two new Capes being in the Bank. She wasn't a Precog after all. That didn't mean the scoldings were any better though.
Speaking of the newcomers, there was something extremely odd about them. She'd got the same impression from Brians girlfriend and some of the Capes in Coils employ. It was an odd impression, almost like she recognized them, and her power tended to give her odd results that she wasn't sure what to make of, referring to them as numbers rather than providing names.
Then there was that odd exchange Haihane and Entoma had had before they fought. It was almost like a ritual, something that should have given her power plenty to work with, but it had just brushed off as nothing and had instead focused on the other oddity about the day. For some strange reason, her power had fixated on Vergil and given her a lot of information about him that was both relevant and reminded her more of what a lovesick little girl would say. Everything from his looks, to the fact he was ripped under that longcoat, to his obvious strength and even the size of his…
Lisa blushed brightly and shoved that particular thought aside.
"What is wrong with me?" she muttered as she turned over and curled up, "Normally I get all sorts of gross information from people I think are attractive, but this guy gets my power to act like a horny schoolgirl? What gives?"
Obviously, there was no answer and the extremely confused Thinker slowly slipped into sleep. A sleep that was full of dreams of the black clad Swordsman.
Two hours after entering the restaurant, we left with Taylor looking extremely satisfied and a brand new t-shirt and certificate tucked away in her bag.
"Man, that hit the spot," she said.
"I'm surprised you managed to finish it," I said, "Just looking at that monstrosity made me feel full. Hell, even Hikari and Hibiki looked surprised!"
"Eh, I'm just that awesome," said Taylor with a grin.
I snorted and patted my Sekirei on the shoulder.
"Sure, whatever," I said, "So, where to now?"
Taylor shrugged.
"How about we head back to Miya's?" she said, "I want to talk to her about some training."
"Sure, why not?" I said, "I could use a rest anyway."
We headed to the nearest bus stop and caught the bus to the North of the city where Izumo Inn was located. The trip back was uneventful and before long, we were back at the Inn.
"I'm home!" I called as we took our shoes off.
"Oh, there you are Lucas," said Miya as she stuck her head out of the living room, "We were worried after Tess told us about the bank robbery."
"Yeah, that wasn't fun," I said as Taylor and I headed into the living room, "Still, its done and my Power...testings...done..too…"
I trailed off as we entered the room and were met with the rather unexpected sight of an unfamiliar woman with silver hair sat at the table with a cup of tea in front of her and wearing an extremely familiar uniform, along with a small girl I didn't recognize who was chatting with Riley. Then, the woman turned and I had to resist the urge to step back when I recognized Karasuba. Hard not to recognize that smirk.
Then Taylor followed me into the room and paused.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" she said.
I whipped my head around to stare at my Sekirei, then looked back at the grinning Black Sekirei and paled. Something told me this conversation wasn't going to end well.
And done. This...was a bit of a pain. I originally planned to have Amy get Winged in this Chapter, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it. So, it'll be pushed back a little.
Ohhh, looks like Coil might not be as easy to deal with as we thought. Hehehe, this is gonna be interesting to see the reactions.
So, Piggot didn't get out of Elisburg completely in one piece, but instead of organ damage, she just lost her lower legs. I needed a reason that she'd be regulated to a desk job and that works fine.
More of Amy being confused over her bodies Reaction to Lucas. Is it clear that I was watching Anime while writing that?
Yes, the Drs Oak are based on Professor Oak and Gary from Pokemon. I just needed some throw away characters and couldn't think of two names that start with Q for the other joke I had in mind. I'll have him visit Q branch later.
I'm...not entirely sure where Taylors sudden boost in appetite came from. Its not really for anything, it just kinda...happened. I think I did have a plan for it, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.
I originally planned to use Rachel for Lucas' third Sekirei, but then a whole bunch of problems popped up that I couldn't figure out a way around and I reread Taylor Varga, so Lisa got the role instead. Unfortunately, I can't think of a good Norito for her, so suggestions are quite welcome.
Next time, a rather tense conversation as Lucas tries to reconcile Karasuba the sadistic Sekirei with an overprotective Mother, while simultaneously attempting to get her approval. He might be almost glad for a Bakuda interrupt.
Anyway, now thats done, I'm going to sign out. Until next time, don't forget to leave a review!