She was having a nightmare.

That in itself was weird as usually nightmares involved her brother Reggie. Sometimes it was just his body… hanging lifelessly. Other times demanding answers. One time he even drowned her in the bath, but this was different.

Sarah- no. Sarah was gone. She had to change.

Lisa was a good name. Somewhat neutral, no personal baggage. Catchy for when she needed to get something done but ultimately easily forgettable, which was what she was going for while she ran away from home months back in April. Last thing she needed was to be dragged back.

All she did was duck into an alleyway to avoid a patrol car that looked like it might have been following her. Hazily she wondered why she was moving about in the late morning on a school day in her nightmare. It didn't matter that she wasn't in her home state, being the age of a high school student moving about at that time of day just made it look like she was playing hooky and was just a layer of scrutiny that she didn't actually need.

She'd have to be better than that. No, she was better than that, but Lisa had gotten listless and had the impulsive desire to go on a walk and clear her head.

But no amount of information about how the alley saw very little foot traffic could have accounted for the random burst of bad luck resulting in her running in with some creep in a hoodie.

The moment she saw him, she could sense that he was carrying a sidearm from the faint outline by his waistband and the slight bulge in his hoodie.

She had made to run, but he was faster, legs longer.

And the dumb bastard didn't keep the safety on as he hissed at her for whatever money she had on her while pointing his piece at her 'gangster style'.

In a moment of panic, her power had caught a scraping of fragmented fake leather that stuck to the inside of the elbow of his hoodie, guessing (probably correctly) that he was just a purse snatcher and that he didn't have the guts.

Which she still believed was ENTIRELY true, but the piece of shit just didn't have any trigger discipline and KEPT THE SAFETY OFF!

She tried to dodge, but the pistol was set to burst fire. She was less than ten feet away. She just couldn't catch a break even in her dreams.

It got hard to breathe. She was losing too much blood too quickly. She was sure that only one of the rounds passed cleanly through her. Two were lodged somewhere in her gut. Non lethal, but needed to be removed.

The problem is one of the rounds tore cleanly through her left lung, passing through the ribcage.

THAT. That was lethal. Blood was filling up her lungs. She was already struggling to breathe. Coughing was painful. Dreams, even nightmares, shouldn't have been painful.

Oh god. Was she dead? Was this just the life passing through the last of her life?

She couldn't even hyperventilate, it hurt so much to breathe.

Then there was a crackle. Like the satisfying snap of breaking off a piece of a chocolate bar.

Lisa couldn't remember what they looked like. Not exactly.

Clean leather boots, slim-fit jeans, a cheap but durable tight knit black long sleeve under a dusty looking brown bomber jacket that was actually completely new.

But she couldn't remember the face very well. Or the hair. It was like it hurt to look at him. Her brain screaming in pain, almost as badly as the holes in her wet and bloody lung.

There was a brief flash of dark satisfaction as she saw her shooter crumple to the ground, dead from a broken neck.

One handed. It was too easy. A Cape.

Shit.

She was so sleepy. No, she had to stay awake. Focus on the pain. So sleepy. Her left hand fell to the side as her right still pressed down over the inside of her upper left breast. She was so tired.

Something pressed into her left hand. It should have soaked up the blood. It didn't even as the liquid rubbed into it. The corner of her vision showed paper with some squiggly symbol in a circle. Was this some sort of weird hitjob? Was she being framed since she'd be dead and unable to tell her side of the story?

Lisa coughed, gasping for a breath that didn't come.

The stranger in the bomber jacket gripped her by the chin, gently pulling her eyes up to meet his. It felt like something tried to wipe the blood off her lip, but Lisa wasn't sure if that was just light-headedness or real. She was loosing a lot of blood and already couldn't feel her toes and fingers anymore.

She couldn't see what they looked like. Her head hurt. She couldn't focus on him. Some sort of Stranger ability. It hurt to look at him but she could hear his words now.

"...do you want to live?"

Of course she did. But it was too late. She didn't want to die like this.

No-one would remember Reggie if she died. Her parents never truly cared for him or her. They seemed to forget he even existed only weeks after his suicide. As if they were ashamed of the way he went and instead elected to act as if he never existed, even if he had been the favorite child.

It was only her guilt that kept his memory alive now. She couldn't-

A crimson bishop piece caught her attention.

Not because it was glowing. Not because she could… feel how warm it was even as it was nowhere near her skin.

Because she couldn't read a damn thing about it. But her head didn't hurt when she looked at it.

It wasn't reading as if nothing was there, like an extension of his Stranger ability. It just didn't give her any information like her power couldn't make sense of it. But instead of giving her a headache like whenever she tried to extrapolate information with too little to go on, it just didn't react at all.

But it was warm. Warm enough to numb her to the core as she closed her eyes.

So when they groggily snapped open, she was surprised.

She could feel, and see in the corner of her eyes, that a dusty but new bomber jacket was wrapped around her to act as a cushion and insulator from a cold wooden bench. A soft inhale, not uncomfortably wet with blood, her chest felt sore but she could breathe.

And her head was laying on a denim covered thigh like a pillow. She was laying in someone's lap IN A PUBLIC PARK!

Lisa bolted upright, mortified at what she realized she was doing in broad daylight… only to realize that something was off. The shadows were different in the trees around her. She was in a park. And the lampposts were lit despite being day-

No. It was night. Buildings in the distance with lights visible through their windows, it would have never been weirdly bright like that in daytime. Something wasn't right.

The sun had gone down and she was seeing things as if it was still bright out. Which should be impossible, unless whatever that gave her night vision (darkvision?) was a byproduct of whatever process that healed her.

"You're awake." Said her lap pillow, a rather handsome teen boy leaning his back against the bench sighed as he turned to face her. She could perceive his face properly and see very conventionally handsome features that even made her heart throb uncomfortably, but he wore the same clothes as the Stranger Cape that killed her assailant with a single hand.

It seemed he had lent her his jacket in a moment of… chivalry? Concern? Pity?

She would have guessed that he had a grab-bag power with a Brute rating if it wasn't for the fact that like the weird chess piece he pulled out before she fainted, she couldn't read him at all.

All of his clothes were new and he seemed slightly out of place in them, but while her power could glean things about his clothes, they provided nothing about the redhead himself.

Medium locks of crimson framed his face, so crimson that it had to be dyed if it wasn't for the fact that even his eyebrows perfectly shared the color and his roots showed no discoloration.

It was weird because her power still wasn't giving her anything about him.

And that made Lisa nervous. Partly because she didn't like the realization of how dependent she had become on her ability to gather information and data on things that she looked at with her power, the other half because she wasn't dead or dying anymore.

And the only reason it could be was because of the red-haired boy.

"Who-" Lisa stopped herself. Asking for another Cape's identity was a bit of a no-no. Plus… he did technically save her life. "...Did you heal me?"

A silk pouch with drawstring loops was hanging from his left wrist, a bit of a bulge to it. It must have been where the crimson chess piece came from. That strange warm light that been the last thing she could remember.

"Yes. Although healing isn't quite the right word." The boy replied coolly, meeting her eyes, why couldn't she get anything and why didn't that hurt her head? "Technically… you died."

Lisa felt the blood freeze in her veins.

It was a lethal wound. She was bleeding, had bled out. She rubbed her shirt, now dry but still splotchy (thank god she had been wearing a dark, maroon red shirt today) with dried blood, a small hole where the bullet had penetrated her body. There shouldn't have been a medical response fast enough to save and stabilize her. Not without powers, and the only real healing Cape worth mentioning in the East Coast was some old coot in his 50s that was a Rogue and was only good for dealing with surface level injuries.

But she could see in the dark like it was day. She definitely had been clinically dead for a period. The bullet wounds were gone. No… no it couldn't be.

"Oh and I don't know if you'd want to keep these but…" the crimson haired boy opened up his right hand, revealing three bullets. 9 mm. The bullets that been in and torn through her body. "You can keep them as a souvenir if you'd like. Or toss them. Whatever you prefer."

Oh fuck… he was a bio-Tinker. That was the only explanation. He must have altered her brain chemistry to prevent her from perceiving information on him from the meta level. That was the only possible conclusion!

That… that was dangerous on so many levels. Ellisburg was a terrifying example of what a bio-Tinker was capable of. What else had he-

She felt pressure at the base of her spine, just above her hips as two black bat like wings spread out from under her shirt from her building fight or flight response and flight seemed to win out here.

Lisa's panicked scream died in her throat as in a way too smooth, almost inhuman motion, the crimson haired boy stood up, pressed the bullets into her hand with his right, and covered her mouth with his left.

"Shhhh." He softly intoned, "I've set up a barrier, but it still doesn't hurt to be cautious. "You've gone through a traumatic incident and I saved you. You're… different now-"

No shit! He had turned her into a BIO-TINKER EXPERIMENT!

"-but really being a Devil isn't that different from being a human I'm told. While there will be a bit of a adjustment period-"

…what?

"Did you say devil?" Lisa asked incredulously as she pulled back away from his hand.

"Devil with a Capital D." He nodded, looking completely serious. "You might have noticed you can see in the dark as well as you would in daylight. Now that does mean you'll be a little light sensitive for a few days, but it won't take long to readapt. There might be a bit of jetlag though, as we're historically nocturnal and since you're freshly reincarnated-"

"I'm sorry, what?!"

"-your body's biological clock thinks night is when you should be up, but you don't need to worry. Devil physiology is pretty robust and flexible."

The bloodied bullets rang out as the dropped onto the concrete walkway as she held up a hand to gesture in a STOP motion.

"Wait, stop. I don't understand. What the hell is going on? Devils? Like biblical? That's the worst lie I've ever heard! I don't know what bio-Tinker power's you're trying to hide, but you need a way more believable-"

The crimson haired boy looked genuinely confused, a quizzical brow raising on his handsome features.

"Bio-Tinker? I can grasp that the Bio part alludes to biology but what is a Tinker in this context?"

Lisa decided she didn't need her currently not working on the strange teen powers to acknowledge that he sounded… genuinely confused.

"I don't know what sort of hyper-conservative Christian household you're from-"

"I definitely am no Christian." The boy replied, "If you don't believe me, try even jokingly praying to the big guy upstairs right now."

Lisa paused. Once again, she instinctively waited for her power to fill in the gaps, but the information never came. But it gleaned information just fine from the shadows of the trees in the park, the moon peering from behind the clouds, the buildings around them just fine.

So why not him?

"Ok, I don't know what kind of joke you're making but I swear to Go-OWWWW!"

Lisa felt a sharp pain through her head as she made reference to God.

"What the hell?"

The boy laughed a bit morosely.

"What the hell indeed." He agreed, "Look… I know this is going to be a hard sell, but I need you to believe in what I'm about to tell you. You're not human anymore. That mugger in the alley? He shot you. You were dying. Nothing I could have done could have healed you. Demonic power is kind of shit for healing if I'm going to be honest. But you wanted to live. Your desire to live was strong enough that I could offer you a Contract."

Now that made her blood feel like ice in her veins again, and Lisa had the distinct feeling that information analyzing power or no, the crimson haired boy was telling the truth.

And she definitely didn't like the implication of a contract that she couldn't recall properly.

"What… what is this Contract?"

That did make the boy pause for a moment. Lisa could see him gather his thoughts as he slowly began to speak.

"Firstly… I don't think this is my Earth. I don't know why but I can't sense the Heaven Faction that should be watching the Americas or the energy of Hell. But on the Earth I'm from the age of myths and legends never ceased. We just stepped out of public perception for various reasons. It was just… easier that way. Like you'd expect from Devils after our wars with Heaven we… had a bit of a population issue. People die in wars and something on the cosmic scale of a battle between realms the loss in… manpower is an apt enough word, plummeted. The easiest way we could replenish our numbers was to effectively recruit humans. But humans are, well, fragile."

He reached into the silk pouch hanging off his wrist, pulling out a little beautifully carved crimson Rook that appeared to be fashioned from some strange naturally crimson marble.

"So the Evil Pieces were created, allowing humans and other various races to be reincarnated as Devils. It breaks down your original body and remakes it into a Devil's body, which means that even people who died very recently can technically be brought back. It's technically not always guaranteed to work if they're fully dead dead, but you were just still on the brink to be turned with no complications."

Lisa felt her eyes and brow scrunch as she processed the information.

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"I'm getting to it. I reincarnated you with a Bishop piece. It gives you an increase to, and you're gonna have to understand that despite what you believe magic is real, magical and mental power. A resistance to it as well on a much lesser degree too. In exchange for both a new lease on life and the boon of power granted, you are now a member of my Peerage. My family. Although I'll be the first to admit we Gremory are unique that we view Peerage as family rather than tools-"

That was worrying that she had technically become a… if this was all to be believed, a living tool for a Devil.

The part that she hated though was that her power was of no help to determine how truthful this Gremory boy was being, and the part of her that believed him she despised more.

For all she knew the Evil Pieces came with a Master effect tied to it.

Still… the fact that she could be suspicious of that potential was a good sign though. That if it came with brainwashing included, either she was too mentally strong for it, or that it wasn't perfect.

"-and well… I'm currently quite alone right now. Having someone to teach me some common sense about this version of Earth is honestly somewhat heartening."

God- OW HER HEAD- why did he have to look like such a damn lost puppy. She felt weirdly guilty for being so suspicious of him, even though it was both in her nature and she had every right to be.

"Yeah, mentally thinking about the Big Man Upstairs will hurt too." Gremory guessed correctly, "Apparently a lot of new Devils have issues with that."

Gremory chuckled before reaching out with his hand to her head, curses for her being shorter than him and him being so fast.

But a warm… something felt like it trickled from his hand into her skull as he pat her head that soothed the pain.

Lisa quickly slapped his hand away though, feeling an embarrassed flush threaten against her neck.

It reminded her too uncomfortably of Reggie. She hated both the comfort and guilt in equal measure.

"And what's stopping me from just leaving you here right now?" she challenged.

Gremory winced.

"I mean… technically nothing in the Evil Pieces can force you to do anything but-"

Lisa immediately considered turning to leave on the spot. Only the lingering concern on Gremory's voice prevented her from bolting.

"-you just became a Devil. Jumping levels of existence like that isn't super stable, even with an Evil Piece to anchor your new energies. Without the presence of the King Piece, me, that is and yes I also hate how pretentious the words King Piece sounds, you'd destabilize into a Stray Devil and you really don't want that."

"...and pray tell what is a Stray Devil in this context?"

"Well…" Gremory puzzled at his chin, "How familiar are you with the concept of mutation in the more sci-fi term?"

Lisa facepalmed.

"You're kidding."

"I actually wish I was. And this isn't some sort of malicious coding on the part of we Devils despite how logically messed up such a failsafe might sound. Frankly there's plenty of cases when a converted Devil just kills their King for any number of reasons. It doesn't force you to like me or obey me. You really could just leave right now, but you need to understand the reality that you've kind of skipped a bunch of steps in a biological and spiritual genetic tree of sorts. A process like that is… well, dramatic. And without your Bishop Piece keeping your existence stable by feeding from the energy I produce through my King Piece, you'd devolve into more base instincts both as a human and Devil. And without me, you'd need to get existential power from somewhere and the only way you could do that is by preying on the essence of human souls, but that's a cursed existence. A half life. You'd actually end up getting more and more unstable as you consume humans to fuel your own state of existence."

"Wait, you're telling me I have to EAT PEOPLE?!"

"No! Of course not. Not as long as you stay with me until you're stable. And even then at minimum you'd have to meet me once every week or so for a bit until you become a higher rank of Devil."

Lisa pressed against her temples with the tips of her fingers, feeling a headache begin to bud, but fade quickly.

Her powers didn't work on him.

But it worked on herself.

He was… right. Her physiology had changed drastically. Normally gleaning information about herself caused more headache and heartache, but the pressure against her brain and the headache that would ensue was a dull pulsing at best. Devils had robust and flexible physiologies, Gremory said. Her brain was already adapting to better suit her power and the Bishop Piece was increasing her mental power and she could feel a strange well of energy in her body that she knew she never had before.

Her power couldn't process or understand that either. But all the other physiological changes began to make more sense. Except-

"...So… these wings… they don't make any sense. I don't have any new muscles to move them, they're too light and small to actually fly with. Are they vestigial?"

Gremory gave her a grin that would have made the other girls at her old school swoon.

"Not really. They're like channels to guide your magical energy to fly with. You don't have wings that flap and allow you to fly. Think of it more like, Devils can fly, therefor they have wings."

"So what, we're just flipping the laws of causality now?! I- you know what? I'm not going to question that." Lisa groaned, focusing a little on that strange energy inside her.

Float up. Fly. Lift off the ground if magic was actually fucking real.

And her feet gently left gravity.

Lisa's breath caught in her lungs as her eyes grew wide, her body just floating up a few feet into the air. It took everything to not just zip about in her new airborne state, unbound by even the laws of gravity.

Fuck, she felt like Alexandra right now, and she wasn't even one of her fangirls.

Why was just hovering in the air… so damn liberating? Like a weight was being lifted off her metaphoric shoulders?

Gremory gently floated up next to her, hand outheld.

"I'll cast a spell to keep us out of people's perception. It requires skin contact to maintain though. As the head of this Gremory Peerage, I'll teach you everything you need to know about being a Devil. I swear it. As your King I will keep you safe. As your family I will share your burdens as you share that of the Peerage. That is my promise. My Contract."

Lisa choked out a laugh.

What the hell.

If that was true, then this wasn't even bad deal.

She didn't trust Gremory. Not completely. But weirdly for a Devil he didn't strike her as a liar.

Not knowing that for certain from her power was a bit nerve wracking but… that might actually be good for her in the end. It could keep her on her toes. Remind her that her abilities weren't perfect like anything else.

And having Devil powers seemed like a good safety net. Bonus points for being able to fly.

"So does that mean I can't walk during the day?"

"You're thinking of Vampires. We can do that just fine, we're just slightly weaker in direct sunlight. You're a new, Low-Rank Devil at the moment though, so you'll feel it a bit extra hard for a few days, but I promise you'll adapt. And I'll be here to take care of you."

She hated how weirdly comforting that promise was.

Despite everything Gremory was still a complete stranger.

"So Gremory is your family name, right? Or clan? Tribe? What do I call you?"

Gremory chuckled as they floated further in towards the city.

"Well definitely don't call me My Lord or My King. Please. Adam is fine."

Lisa couldn't help the snort that followed.

"Adam. Like Adam and Eve? From the Bible of the enemy of Devil-kind?"

"I'm told it's in light mockery. God's first man Sinned against him. That rebellion is pretty Devil-like in the end. Or technically more Fallen, but either way Adam is a pretty common name in Hell. You'd be surprised."

Gremory, no Adam, was weird.

Despite it all though… Lisa didn't think that it wasn't a bad kind of weird.

Almost dying, scratch that, dying and resurrecting with Devil powers and a giant red Labrador of a Devil King was not the worst thing that could have happened to her.

And the ability to fly was actually really cathartic.

Lisa didn't even notice her grip on Adam's hand tighten as she flew through the air. The stress of months of being a teen on the run melting off her body.

Weirdly she felt more alive as a Devil than she ever had being a human. And she was beginning to think, in a fucked up way, that it was alright.

Being human was overrated anyways, right?