A Waken 11.V
Alec piled the pancakes high.
The food in the PRT building often sucked, but Cammie knew how to make a pancake. With half the troopers out and most of the Protectorate with them, Alec planned to make full use of the quiet.
Knowing his luck something would come along and ruin it.
Have to enjoy the pancakes while the going was good.
Alec found himself a seat, poured a ludicrous amount of syrup, and picked up his fork.
"Valiant."
Fuck.
Alec stuffed his mouth quickly. He looked over his shoulder, watching as Prism and Weld approached. Great. So much for his pancakes.
"The convoy has been attacked," Prism said. Behind her, some troopers and desk jockeys ran for the door. "Kaiser is there and I heard Bakuda too."
Alec kept chewing.
"The Dragonslayers too," Weld added. "Something's happened to Dragon's systems."
"It's too convenient," Prism continued. "Come on. We need everyone ready to go. Just in case."
Great.
He was looking forward to Bugs Bunny.
At least he could pick up his plate and finish his pancakes.
Weld and Prism led the way out of the cafeteria and down the hall. Troopers moved in groups. A lot of them, actually. Did Piggy expect something from the Undersiders?
What a pain.
They'd just about made it to the elevator when Prism stopped. She turned her head, clearly listening to something.
"What is it?" Weld asked.
"New Wave and one of Newtype's suits are fighting the Patriots." She paused. "Captain's West Country Club."
"Is that important?" Weld asked.
Alec remembered something about a party there. Rory didn't want to go. He hated parties. Part of why he was so excited to be guarding the bug lady. Alec supposed he'd make a similar choice. Work sucked, but parties were worse.
Prism paused, and Alec felt her nerves tense.
"New Wave could handle that on their own," she mumbled with a strained voice. "If one of Newtype's suits is there too—"
"Weren't both her suits fighting the Dragonslayers?" Weld asked.
Prism nodded.
"She built a third. There's three of them now." Prism started back down the hall toward the elevator. "We'll let them handle it. Dragonslayers. Kaiser. Bakuda. Patriots. All at once."
"It seems unlikely," Weld said.
"It is," Prism agreed. She raised a hand to her helmet. "Stratos? What do you want to do?" She nodded. "I agree."
Alec only bothered to keep up with half of what they said. He didn't do real time strategy. Way too much work.
"I'm heading down to the Ward's room. I'll get them briefed and suited up. Make sure Kid didn't stay up all night again."
Huh.
Yeah, guess she didn't have to worry about anyone not being around, did he? With Missy gone, everyone but Chris lived in the building. Weld. Lily. Olive. Elle. The place used to be so quiet at night. Lily never made much noise, but Elle and Olive would stay up listening to pop music for hours.
It was Carlos and Dennis' fault. Why did they have to go die and mess up the flow?
Alec dumped his plate and half-eaten pancakes on a desk.
They just made it to the elevator when Prism stopped again.
"What?" She whispered. "How long has it been sitting there?"
Alec waited while Weld pushed the button to the elevator.
Prism was tense again, the nerves all along her arms and legs firing off. Some people took more effort to read than others. Sam always came through pretty easily. She was worried about something, and nervous. She usually seemed nervous whenever the older Protectorate members weren't around.
"Stratos? You have line of sight? Right. I understand. On my way."
She turned.
"Weld, brief your team. Get them suited up. Be quick."
Weld nodded. "What's happening?"
"The Undersiders are here," she revealed. "A truck out front is filling the street with Grue's smoke. I'm heading down to the lobby to meet the troopers. Meet me there."
Huh.
"Hurry."
"We will."
Prism turned back and started toward the front of the building.
"Let's go," Weld said.
Alec shrugged and followed him into the elevator.
"I'll get Lily, Elle, and Olive," Weld prattled. "Can you check on Chris before getting suited up?"
I hate real time strategy.
Who attacks from the front? Isn't that just button mashing?
"Alec?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know your legs are tired carrying all the metal around."
Weld smiled and said nothing. He was no fun.
The elevator stopped and they stepped down the hall. Alec saw a few more staffers running down one of the adjacent halls. Only other thing on their floor was the archives.
What had them so worked up?
The eye scanner didn't work on Weld. Something about metal eyes. Instead he pressed a palm against the panel installed for him.
The door slid open.
Alec looked into the room.
Yeah. Only button mashers attack from the front.
"Do come in," a sing-song voice called. "We've been waiting."
Weld tensed. Alec couldn't feel it of course, he just saw it.
They both scanned the room, counting the five mercs inside with armor and rifles. They stood in the corners, with one looking down the hall toward their rooms.
A girl in a gaudy dress and mask sat at the console.
Olive stood beside her, a knife held to her own throat.
"Don't leave the door open," Sovereign greeted. "It's rude."
Weld looked at Olive, then at Alec. He frowned and stepped inside. Alec sighed and followed.
"How did you get in?" Weld inquired.
Sovereign hummed to herself. "Wouldn't you like to know. Well, it wasn't that hard. Tattletale is so good with passwords or whatever, and it seems you're all rather shorthanded at the moment."
Weld looked past the master. "Are you okay, Olive?"
She didn't answer, knife still held to her own throat. Alec reached out. Fear and anger. Depression and hopelessness. Determination.
She'd gotten better.
She'd never been able to string together that many emotions at once before.
"Play nice and she'll be fine," Sovereign declared. "Like the rest of the team."
Alec didn't see them.
"Where are they?" Weld asked.
"Honestly can't say." Sovereign shrugged. "The blonde one just up and vanished the moment I stepped into the room, and took the Asian girl with her." She glanced around the room. "Though I do still feel them. They're around here. I just can't hear them. Labyrinth's power is a weird one."
Elle pulled Lily out, then? Could they see from wherever they were? Wouldn't do them much good. If Cherie could still feel them, she'd know they were coming and pluck them like she'd plucked Olive. They wouldn't make it to the first step.
"Oh, and Kid Win is hold up in his room," she added. "He's up to something. Kind of wondering what it'll be. I'll give out grades for effort."
Alec glanced to Weld, but Weld was still as a statue.
"Suits me just fine. All we have to do is sit nice and quiet until this little show blows over."
Weld frowned. He looked around, and Alec knew he was trying to gauge their chances.
"Do I need to spell it out?" Sovereign asked.
She pointed to Olive, who pulled the knife closer to her own neck in a brief flash of extra depression.
Weld went still.
What a pain.
Alec pushed his hands into his pockets and started toward his room.
"Going somewhere?" Sovereign asked.
"Just following orders," Alec answered.
Prism did say to suit up.
Sovereign chuckled. The merc didn't try to stop him.
Down the hall, Chris' door was sealed. Not just closed. Sealed. The red lights were on in the corners. They were supposed to lock up his lab in case of emergency. He'd used them to keep the mercs out.
So he was just inside waiting?
And no one had warned them that anyone had invaded the Ward's base. So, they'd blocked the phones or something.
Hacks.
Alec opened his door and changed into his armor. Somedays he regretted going along with it. Putting the stuff on was a pain. Half the time Chris needed to fix something. Piggy didn't want anyone knowing about the 'bad evil master' though, and it was fucking power armor. Who didn't want some?
He tested the joints and noted the lag in the left leg. Oh well. Chris wasn't coming out of his lab anytime soon.
The mercs raised their guns when Alec returned, helmet under his arm.
"Fashionable." Sovereign waved her hand and the mercs lowered their weapons. "Where can I get one of those?"
Alec ignored her, walked over to the TV, and turned on the Playstation.
Weld coughed. "Alec?"
"Is that what he's going by now?" Sovereign asked.
Alec fell back onto the couch and picked up his controller.
Sovereign rose from her chair and walked across the room. Olive trailed behind her, love of all things getting added to the emotional mix. She followed after Sovereign's beckoning finger.
"Sit," Cherie said.
Olive teetered back and forth. Her nerves fired off wildly, a mess of emotions playing through her. She fell to her knees beside Cherie, lowering her knife slightly.
Cherie looked back to Alec. "Oh? Something wrong?"
Alec unpaused his game and continued playing.
That's why real time strategy sucked. No time to actually pay attention to anything. Slight misclick and you've already screwed up.
"Something bothering you, dear Valiant?"
"You're annoying me."
"So transparent." She chuckled.
"Trying to concentrate."
"Nothing to say? It has been so long."
He loaded up his save file, picked his load out, and started playing. Might as well get something done. Moping wouldn't get him anywhere. There's only one Saturday in the week.
"Come now Jean-Paul," Cherie mused. "Don't you think you're stepping out of your role a bit?"
Alec ignored her jab and returned to his game.
"We're secondary characters," she babbled. "We don't take center stage. Or am I the only one who learned anything from Daddy?"
"I don't learn. Too much work."
Cherie chuckled.
"It is Daddy's fault I suppose. Do you remember that time we were watching cartoons and you wanted to watch the music channel?"
"Nope."
"You would have been, oh, eight or so? You wouldn't shut up. Daddy got tired of it, so he made us give you the remote. When you kept complaining"—Cherie paused—"oh what was her name. Valentine's mother, I think. She tried to shut you up by covering your mouth."
Cherie laughed. "And still, you kept complaining and whining. Daddy came storming out of his room. Nikos Vasil. Heartbreaker. In his boxer shorts!"
Weld started. Olive too, though it was harder to notice. Her own emotions were still there, but masked by the ones Cherie forced on her.
"He drowned us all in so much dread," Cherie continued. "Like we were buried in it. Must have been enjoying whatever you interrupted. You ruined everyone's afternoon. All because you needed to be taught your place."
"Weren't you bitching about that behind his back for months?"
"Hmm. I suppose. I was pretty mad. But what can I say. Daddy was right. People who don't know their place suffer. You remember that at least, don't you?"
"Nope."
"You're lying."
He was.
He did remember. All of a sudden, everything changed. Some of the women around the house just started screaming. They ran and cowered. A few grabbed their kid and ran. He never saw what happened to his father.
A giant battle mech set down—Dragon's logo on the side—and PRT and capes swarmed over the house. A few of his siblings used their powers. Alec didn't much see the point.
Maybe he was broken. He never quite felt things right. Not like other people felt them. He didn't control emotions like his father or Cherie, but he could feel them. It was all in the nerves.
Might just be a side effect. After you've felt every drug, every emotion, even slept with yourself as boys and girls in full knowledge of every sensation…Well, being himself just seemed kind of boring.
Though, there were times.
"You've gotta live a little man," Dennis said. "Come on. It'll be fun."
"We have games right here."
"It's a short walk."
"It's a walk."
"You seriously going to cramp my style like this? Don't you want to be my hero? I'll be a total weirdo going down to the arcade myself." He laughed. "I'll have to socialize or something."
"You remember," Cherie said. "That's why you're sitting here playing games, and I'm sitting here keeping all these little dolls"—she reached over and poked at Olive's head—"out of the way. No one ever got anything being in the limelight. Much better to be in the background."
Alec said nothing. Nothing he would say would make much difference. Cherie liked the sound of her own voice too much.
She liked to use it as a distraction.
Olive wasn't the only person she was playing. There were others. He could tell from her mood. She was stressed. Her attention divided. Using her power on others in the building.
Probably how they got inside. The truck out front was a distraction. Get Prism and a bunch of troopers in one place. Then…Turn them on each other. Cherie could just poke at some people with anger and a chaotic brawl would break out.
That would be how she thought.
And all the thinking was already giving him a headache. Why couldn't Weld be more useful?
"Disagree, Jean-Paul?"
"Don't care."
"Don't lie. I might not be able to play you, but I can read you as well as you read me. You're no hero. You're more annoyed than worried. Annoyed at me wasting your time, is it?"
She poked Olive again.
"Such a shame. Poor little Jean-Paul and his little muted emotions. Though, I suppose you did manage to work up the energy to hate the rest of us."
Well, she was a total bitch. What wasn't to hate?
"You're starting to bore me, brother."
"Have you tried the arcade?"
Cherie tensed. He could read her. Always wound so tight, especially among their siblings. She lost control easily.
Real time strategy really is a shitty experience.
Alec kept playing his game.
Though this strategy sucks.
"Well," Cherie mumbled. "Maybe I'll just deal with the problem myself?"
Olive raised the knife again. Cherie couldn't control those around her, not like their father. But it didn't take much. Give someone a knife and bury them in hopelessness and nature takes its own course.
Alec turned his head. He needed more—
"Ahh!" Cherie grabbed her side. Alec saw red for a moment, but he didn't bother to look for where it came from.
He threw his controller aside and crossed the distance.
"Who is in here?!" Cherie snapped. "I knew I fel—"
She noticed him too late.
Alec swung his fist forward.
"Not like that." Carlos stepped up and took his wrist.
"If you want it put a ring on it."
"Thumb, outside your fingers Alec. You punch with your thumb outside your fingers. Unless you want to break your thumb.
Thumb outside the fingers. The machine bits in the arms whirled, accelerating on the course his muscles set. Cherie started to rise and probably tried to get Olive to do something.
Too slow. Alec crossed the distance between them in a second and his fist shot forward. Cherie's mask cracked and her head snapped back. Her nerves jolted. A blow to the head. Jarring, even when you expected it. When you didn't? Painful, and distracting, if only briefly.
Olive gasped.
Alec raised his other hand and reached out. He pulled on one merc's leg, and another's arm. Then the fourths's foot. The feedback started to bite. Little jolts of pain and shock running up his arm. He twisted his fingers, twitching the fourth merc's spine.
Weld spun on the fifth, his arms shifting into solid beams.
Alec punched Cherie again, feeling her nose crack under his fist.
"Holy shit," a girl said.
Alec pulled his bitch sister up and held her in front of him. The merc shifted his aim to Olive instead. She was dazed and confused, glancing around the room with only her own emotions. Alec twisted some of the nerves in the mercs arm. The man yelped and the laser he fired went into the ceiling.
Alec grimaced at the pain in his own arm. Too much, too fast.
He punched Cherie again to keep her dazed.
When he turned to mess with the second merc, he blinked. The man was holding his leg, blood pooling on the floor. Weld was on the other side of the room, tackling the third merc and beating him over the head.
"Jean-P—"
Alec silenced Cherie with another punch. Then another. And another. Another. Another.
Oddly therapeutic.
He threw her back down into the chair and punched her yet again.
Feeling the fourth merc, Alec glanced over his shoulder. He was on the ground too, not moving.
He twitched the first and last merc's arm. The laser rifle missed Olive by a hair and she started. She hit the floor and took cover behind the couch. Alec punched Cherie again, still feeling consciousness in her nerves
"The fuck?!" Olive snapped.
"Yeah," Alec mumbled. "My sister's a bitch."
He punched her again, finally beginning to feel her consciousness slip away. There's a particular feeling to someone who isn't awake. Like static.
Not quite there yet.
A laser shot out and Alec cursed. The beam hit him in the shoulder. He felt the heat through the metal, but nothing more. Good. Putting on the armor was a pain but having to see the She-Devil in medical was worse.
He twitched the merc's arm before he fired a second shot. The man fell forward and Weld slammed a beam into his head. He combo'd that into punching the guy in the gut with a mallet head and kicked him in the shin so his legs gave out.
Beneath him, nerves sparked up and his bitch sister was trying to do something. He punched her again. Still conscious. Again. Starting to get there. One more.
Alec delivered his last punch and pulled back from Cherie's bloody, swollen face.
"Damn. I thought I hated her guts."
Alec and Olive both turned, looking at the girl sitting on the couch with a bloody knife in her hand. A cape? Her costume looked like crap. Black jeans with torn knees, army boots, and a hoodie. She wore a skull mask over her face.
"Who are you?" Weld snapped, rising from the floor and stepping over the downed mercenary.
"Nobody."
She tucked the knife into her pocket.
Alec reached out. His arms hurt still. Using his power that much on so many different people in such a short amount of time. He pushed it. Such an exhausting mess. The girl on the couch was bubbling in her nerves. Excited. Thrilled?
Weld turned toward her, arms held at the ready. "Are you with the Undersiders?"
"Does the knife with blood on it"—she drew the weapon back out and waved it—"not answer that question?"
Alec glanced back at Cherie, namely her side. She'd been stabbed. He didn't do it. His armor didn't have any sharp edges and he didn't touch her waist. She cut Cherie? Alec didn't remember seeing her.
"What do you want?" Olive snapped, rising up from the floor. She started to reach out for the nearby chair.
"Well, I wanted to stab her a bit." Nobody pointed the knife at Cherie. "Doesn't seem very sporting now. Seriously. I think you broke every bone in her face."
"Shame," Alec mumbled.
"So, what's the story? Inquiring mind wants to know."
Alec looked to his sister from the corner of his eye.
She wasn't wrong. He was more annoyed at her for wasting his time than anything. More than that though, he was annoyed at himself. That wasn't what people were supposed to feel. He'd never felt things quite right. Not as far back as he remembered.
She'd invaded the place he lived. Made Olive put a knife to her throat and corralled the others into hiding from her. Bitch move, right? He should care about that, shouldn't he?
"She fucked with my team. Seemed like something I should care about."
It's not that he minded being a secondary character. Things were easier that way. Less work. Less pressure. More time for fun.
He didn't know exactly what Cherie expected to happen, though.
It's not like this one thing changed much. He could just be lazy next week and slip back off to the side. Weld and Chris were more the type for the spotlight. They liked and they fit in better there. Alec could go back to not paying attention and being secondary tomorrow after all the hero nonsense was done.
Alec wasn't hero material and he knew it.
Though it was nice to pretend and punch Cherie repeatedly. She deserved it for threatening him with another public memorial. The last one was dreadful enough.
He stepped away from Cherie, but kept a thumb on her nerves. She was out cold. He'd punch her again if that started to change.
He went over to his controller and picked it up off the ground.
Limited Edition Doom Classic.
Broken.
"Lame."
"Is now really the time for that?" Olive asked.
He looked over his shoulder to find her glaring at him. Weld piled the Mercs in one corner of the room. They kept handcuffs around, mostly for boring reasons. The great leader got the men restrained and left them in their corner before turning back to Alec and Olive.
"You okay?" Weld asked, looking down at the girl beside Alec.
"Where are the rest of them?" Olive replied with a snarl.
"We'll figure it out." Weld looked to Cherie. "She's out?"
"I can hit her again and make sure," Alec offered.
"Watch her," Weld said. "I'll get Kid." He started toward the hall. "Mockshow, how did they get in?"
"They just walked in," she said.
Weld stopped. "They just walked in?"
"Yeah," Olive replied. "No alarm or an—"
The door opened. They stopped and looked back.
Hellhound stepped in.
She started barking out words. "You're late—"
She stopped, eyes fixing on Cherie's motionless form on the recliner. Then the mercs cuffed and groaning in the corner.
"Fuck," Alec grumbled.
Weld and Olive moved forward, but Hellhound snarled and stepped into the room. Three big dogs followed in behind her, and they were getting bigger.
Double fuck.
His power didn't work so well on dogs.
"There's supposed to be a save point after you beat a boss you know," Alec pointed out.
Hellhound just growled at him from behind her cheap plastic dog mask. The three monsters she'd led into the room kept growing till they were the size of small ponies.
And a door appeared in the room.
Alec didn't think it was there before. It looked far too fancy and ornate for anything the PRT would stuff in the building.
Also it sat in the middle of the room.
The door cracked loudly.
"Did someone do some work while we weren't looking?" Olive asked.
The door swung open and Elle stepped out, in her costume.
She smiled at Hellhound.
"Hi!" Elle cheered. "Do you want to meet Jim?"
"Brutus!" Hellhound snapped.
Elle clapped her hands together—her smile shifting to one far colder than Alec had seen before—and a sky opened in the ceiling.
A red-colored Doom Guy crashed into the common area, driving a spear into one of Hellhound's dogs. The floor shook as Doom Guy hit the ground—or was he more of a Master Chief?—and the head turned. A thin visor swept over Weld, Olive, and Alec.
The monster pinned by the spear roared and bucked, and the Doom Guy swung a big shield forward and slammed it into the other dog's side. Hellhound roared, and the third dog lunged forward.
Lily swung around from behind Elle and fired her crossbow. The dog's shoulder vanished and the creature howled.
Chris spoke up, saying, "It's spelled G-M."
