Fair warning to that one person who doesn't like how often I cripple my main character in some way, as well as everyone else.
This story has a main character who gets maimed in the first chapter, this is your warning to ditch this story now, so there, you can't say I didn't warn you at least ^.^ Oh, also, graphic depiction of sexual content, so beware if you no likey that stuff, this story is rated M for a reason!
Chapter 1
If anyone ever asked Valerie what she thought life was like after death, she would have simply shrugged and moved on.
Of course, that was before she walked in one end of an alleyway and only came out the other end an hour later on a stretcher, dead as a doorstop. And when she died, well, that was when the real trouble started. It wasn't an experience that could be explained, it was more akin to...well, the only even vague description was that it felt as if she had zoned out and walked a thousand miles, and yet hadn't walked at all, such was the paradoxical nature of whatever the hell she was experiencing.
Then, with a sudden jolt, it ended. Instead of a hospital, like she expected, she was in a bedroom, fully nude and currently straddling a man. Before she could panic, she felt memories, from the beginning of 'her life' flowing through her mind, relieved that she would know who he was and why she was fucking herself on top of him. From the first time she rode a bike, to her first day at middle school, to...her current situation, sitting on a man's erection. And with those memories came terror towards the man she was sat atop.
In public, he was known as Viking, he ran around with nordic-style equipment, beating up villains. But in private, he was a monster, as plain as day. All it took was her seeing him in costume in an out-of-the-way part of the city, following him to ask him for an autograph, and just like that he'd kidnapped her. Resting heavily on her neck, a collar of his own making, which allowed him to punish her at will, as well as track her. Without warning, a spark of pain snapped at her neck, a warning to pick up the pace or be punished. Lifting herself, she impaled herself upon him once more, whilst at the same time her conscious mind tried and failed at not freaking the fuck out. He was...he was a hero, and he'd taken advantage of her naivety to turn her into his sex slave.
The fact she was underage at the time he didn't care for, he simply cared about taking advantage of her, stringing her along until he had led her to his home, then snapping that collar onto her neck and breaking her with his cock. And he did. In her past life she was short even at 20 years old, and now, with the body of a 16-year-old, she was even smaller. With her pussy taking his cock right down to the base, it felt like it was nestled between her fucking lungs.
Her new memories surged and her conscious mind lost it, it was just...she couldn't...it hurt, in her chest, the fear she felt towards him, the knowledge that he'd never let her go free, he would kill her before running the risk of someone finding out what he'd done to her. And, with sudden, numbing clarity, it was like a part of her brain ticked over. She was going to be a slave to him until the day she died.
And her mind went elsewhere.
When she finally regained clarity, Viking lay beneath her, apparently unconscious.
Shaking, she sat there, staring at him, before tentatively trying to lift herself off of him with weak knees. Their size difference meant his cock quite literally impaled her, and lifting herself off of him when her legs were like jelly was a gargantuan effort, but she persisted. Rising up, the tip of his cock left her, and just as it did, the collar on her neck shocked her again, breaking her tenuous focus and making her drop down hard on his cock, impaling herself once again. Sliding down his shaft as her limp legs splayed out on either side of him, she bottomed out with a feeling of her insides flipping over, hating the fact that a massive and very horny part of her liked feeling his size sliding deep inside of her. Consciously she was 20-years-old, she'd gotten plenty of experience with sex and she quite liked having a nice, big cock spearing her pussy. But he was still the rapist who had enslaved her when he got the chance.
The problem was that her memories were superimposing themselves, she had two firsts for a lot of things and it was a bit confusing having to split them apart whilst still using them. But she knew that her conscious mind was of 20-year-old Valerie, not 16-year-old. How she knew, she had no idea, she just sort of did. Feeling another sharp shock, Valerie flinched, sliding herself up his cock a few inches, then back down, to which no other shocks occurred, mercifully. Without needing to be shocked again, she lifted herself up a little and slid down his shaft again, knowing that she was meant to be riding him, and the collar would punish her if she didn't.
Sliding her pussy up and down his cock, Valerie tried to brainstorm what had happened and why he was unconscious, now that she had some time to actually think. And then, something in the memories of the other Valerie stood out to her. The Triumvirate, Eidolon, Alexandria and Legend. The Teeth, Endbringers, Scion, it all...snapped into place as to where she was. And then...her name. Not her first name, though that was indicative, but her last name, Vasil. She had no knowledge of Heartbreaker in her memories, but the issue was, if she had taken the place of that person, then things were...horribly wrong.
Heartbreaker, an absolute monster, had plenty of children who were about the same age as the main character of worm, Taylor Hebert. But she was quite clearly nowhere near old enough to have children even if her memories didn't already disprove that. But the year was 2005, the year Newfoundland sinks, she knew that for a fact since Viking had allowed her to read a newspaper recently in return for fellatio. And nothing in the paper mentioned even a wisp of Newfoundland sinking. That told her a lot of things, but she had no time for that, Viking was stirring.
In the back of her mind, she was terrified of him, but...those were her memories, not who she was now. As his eyes fluttered open, she smiled at him, rocking her hips back and forth as his hands came out to grasp her waist. His thumbs touched over her belly button and his fingers met behind her back without even having to squeeze her, but she didn't feel afraid of the hands that could snap her in two like a twig, not any more. She could feel her power already going to work on him as she looked at him, and as she opened her mouth and spoke, it spiked, bridging a gap between them and binding him to her. "Thank you, Viking." He stared at her in confusion even as his hands held her, not guiding her but just holding her as she rode atop his cock.
But she could feel it, some nebulous, undefinable connection that solidified the longer time went on. With a feeling akin to a sudden stiffening, it, for lack of a better word, solidified, bringing a smile to her face. "Could you get this pesky collar off my neck please?" Even as he was beneath her, his hands easily reached the length needed to touch her collar. Within a few seconds, two halves of a collar fell off her neck, landing on the floor heavily. "Thank you. Now, lie back and enjoy."
Again, he obeyed, his face morphing into pleasure as she continued to ride him, his hands resting on her thighs without grabbing them. Her memories, if they had a personality of their own, would have been mortified at her riding the cock of the man who had enslaved and raped her. But while Valerie remembered every single thing Viking had done to her, down to the whip marks on her flesh and the brand on the small of her back just above her ass, her memories were not what controlled her. Right now, she was horny, and she had a man with a big dick beneath her, fully under her thrall. A small part of her pointed out that now she was the rapist, using her power to make him obey, but that was, again, a small part, easily ignored in the face of her blazing arousal.
Sliding down to the base of his cock, Valerie slid herself side to side, enjoying the feeling of his shaft filling her up. He was already very well-endowed, and her body was a bit smaller than she was used to. Not a lot smaller, she had never been very tall anyway, but it was enough that every time she took him all the way inside, she felt fuller than she'd ever felt before by an unbelievable degree. Everything she knew about biology told her that her 16-year-old body would never be able to stuff so much man-meat into itself, yet here she was with a pussy full of cock. "You are not allowed to cum until I say you can." She intoned quietly, amused at the pinched expression on Viking's face even as his cock positively throbbed inside of her.
She slid up and down his shaft eagerly, taking him inside of her as if she'd been born for sex, with experience that was beyond her age. Bottoming out fully before pulling herself off of him with weak legs, Valerie turned around on all fours and presented her ass to him, lifting her rear so he could see her pussy clearly. "Now, get on your knees and fuck my pussy until I say you can cum." He moved to obey, not using his hands at all as he expertly guided his cock into her and began to thrust, but it was slow, too slow, and he wasn't even holding her. Frustrated, she pushed her hips back, growling audibly as he barely even thrust towards her. "Grab my hips, pull my hair, spank me and fuck me like the only thing that exists to you in the entire world is blowing your load inside of my tight little pussy."
Again he obeyed, and after he grabbed ahold of her right hip with one hand, and wrapped her hair up in his other, he FUCKED her. Each thrust was deep and powerful, filling her to the brim and a great deal further, then extracting his cock and leaving a yawning desire burning within her that begged and pleaded to be filled, which he did, thrusting back in, then out again. Her eyes rolled upwards at the bestial fucking Viking unleashed upon her pussy, her mind only able to think at a glacial speed. She asked for it, she asked for him to fuck her like her pussy was his world, and he did that, god did he do that.
She didn't have the time nor the energy to even try to move her hips to meet his, he was just too...dominant, too fast and powerful, every thrust took her breath away in a literal sense, forcing her to gasp for air every time he pulled his cock out of her, only to lose it again as he once again impaled her upon his inhuman dick with strength and speed in a never-ending cycle that threatened to shatter her mind. She felt an orgasm absolutely steamroll its way through her with the speed of a train, her pussy clenching uncontrollably around the cock inside as it continued to pound her mercilessly.
He yanked on her hair, forcing her to arch her back as he pushed her down by the hip with his other hand, every thrust a hammer blow that bulged out her stomach against the bed. Letting go of her hip, he brought his hand down on her ass harshly, a burning pain that made her clench up, tightening further as he brought his hand down on her other cheek before releasing her hair and grasping her hips in both hands.
Through the fugue of lust, Valerie realized she had made a horrible mistake. She told Viking to fuck her pussy until she said he could cum, but she could barely even get a grunt out, let alone command him. He was bigger, stronger and more able to endure long periods than she was, if she had to guess who would pass out first, her money would certainly not be on him going first. And so, she began to try and speak, focusing on trying to control her lungs even as he thrusted into her violently. Another two bone-shuddering orgasms later, she finally managed to snatch the air for one word. "Cum." She squeaked out as his cock speared her again, forcing the rest of what air she had out.
His hands clenched on her hips as his cock leapt about inside of her like a wild beast, an orgasm long in the waiting that exploded inside of her, painting her insides white and then flooding them. Panting heavily, Valerie tried to get enough air back into her lungs to not be on the verge of a panic attack. Behind her, she could feel his firm grasp on her hips, his shrinking cock sliding slowly through her thoroughly-fucked pussy though his hips were still glued to hers. "You can let go of me now."
Viking did so, and a moment later, the bed rose as he got off of it. Turning to look to the right of her in confusion, that was the only thing that saved Valerie as she saw him grab his axe, turn, and swing it at her in a single, flush motion. She rolled left and the axe changed target. Where before it would have decapitated her, now the impossibly sharp weapon cleaved into her bicep, shearing off the limb. Completing the roll, Valerie immediately spoke. "Stop."
He stopped. "Put the axe down and heal my arm." He placed the axe down, then grabbed some kind of arm-ring off the nightstand. As he did so, Valerie put zero focus onto her arm as she focused entirely on Viking. "Never attack me again or hurt me, never do anything that I don't give you explicit permission to do unless it is a requirement for living. Never reveal that I have ever done anything bad to you. Never reveal that anything abnormal is going on with either myself or you. Always obey any command I give you in spirit and in letter and ask me too clarify if there's a part you think doesn't match, do not use any potential loopholes to my orders to affect me negatively."
As she spoke, he slid the arm-ring up her...her half-bicep, and it shrunk to hug her arm. Immediately the blood, and there was so much blood, stopped pouring out of her. Before her eyes, the end of her arm became white, rounded flesh, a wound that had taken years, decades even, to heal over entirely, from what it looked like at least. "Is this the only thing you have that could heal me?" She asked, her calmness baffling her even as she accepted it. As Viking shook his head in response, Valerie clenched her teeth.
Panacea, that was her only option for getting her arm back. Well, Eidolon existed as well, but if she recalled correctly, he wasn't vulnerable to Master effects. And that was what she had, a variation of Heartbreaker's power. As far as she recalled, and she recalled fairly well, Heartbreaker manipulated emotions, whereas she didn't. If she had manipulated Viking's emotions, he wouldn't have tried to fucking murder her. But that was a moot point. "Clean up this mess, store and preserve my arm as best you can." She commanded tiredly, resolutely not looking at the lost limb as she pressed the balls of her palms into her eyes.
The problem was...Panacea didn't exist yet. Sometime in 2009, that was when Amelia would trigger, pretty much 4 whole fucking years away. As for other healers, she had absolutely nothing come to mind. As far as she could recall, at least from canon, there were two major healers, Panacea and Eidolon. Eidolon was out for obvious reasons, and Panacea was out because she hadn't triggered yet. "Are there any capes you know of who could give me my arm back?" Again, Viking shook his head, and Valerie stared at him. "Always answer my questions truthfully." She said quietly, still staring at him, then, she repeated the question.
When he again shook his head, she let out a sigh, breaking her gaze. It seemed if she asked him a question he would have to answer honestly, since a question wasn't a command to answer her, so there was a chance he could not answer, but again, that was a loophole around her words. Still, it didn't matter, she had resolved it if it could even have been an issue, and if it wasn't an issue, well, she had double security now. "Carry me to the shower and clean me...carefully." She announced, wrapping her arm around Viking's neck as he picked her up and carried her into the bathroom.
It was a bit...disconcerting that she was so willing to command him, and she figured it probably had something to do with her passenger, a can of worms she did not intend to open without at least several mugs of hot chocolate and a nice lie-down. The alien supercomputer tethered to her brain could wait until she had recovered from being raped, freeing herself, raping her rapist's mind and body, then having said rapist cut her arm off before making him carry her into the shower to clean her.
The shower itself was...well, big didn't do it justice, it was obviously made for Viking to stand and move around comfortably in. Viking stood behind her and grasped the shower head, using it to clean her body off. His other hand rubbed over her body, delicately rubbing away stubborn patches of blood...her blood...her blood from her arm that he had just cut off. Her remaining hand began to shake, clenching it as she resisted the deep desire to punch Viking in the face and turn his head into a messy pulp.
But no, he was useful now that she'd neutered his ability to fight back. All she could think was that she was glad she'd reacted fast enough to stop him. Plus, it meant whenever she controlled anyone in the future, she would know not to allow them to do anything outside of what she ordered...a thought that chilled her to the bone. She was Heartbreaker...well, female Heartbreaker, and she now had a thrall with a mind warped to obedience.
Looking at Viking as he rubbed his hand down her side in a detached fashion, no hint of sexual intention whatsoever as he cleaned off the blood, Valerie tried to feel out her thoughts on controlling him. He had raped and enslaved her, and then, he tried to kill her. She knew in a typical story, a normal hero would have given him a second chance, would have let him go free after making sure he couldn't reveal what he had done, nor what she had done to her. But...no, she wanted revenge on him. She wanted him to feel as helpless as she had felt.
As his hand, still only focused on cleaning, went between her legs to clean off the semen there, she inspected him, head to toe. He was built like a fucking linebacker on steroids, the best description of his physique being simply his own name, he looked like a fantasy viking. Just his height alone was intimidating, towering over her by at least 3 foot, with wide shoulders, huge pecs, and a face like Ragnar from the Vikings TV show. If that wasn't enough, his chest held abs that could bounce bullets, his thighs were built like a horse, and he had a cock to match, which even when flaccid was considerably bigger in length and girth than most men could ever hope to achieve in their lives.
She felt the spray of water as he twisted the nozzle to a higher-pressure and began to spray her pussy, taking her command to the literal definition of cleaning, by cleaning out his own semen from her pussy. Again, she felt no lust from his touch as his fingers entered her pussy and spread her open, and his cock hadn't so much as twitched as he did so, but it reminded her that she would probably need to be careful about certain orders she gave. If she told him to cut her hair, he wouldn't be able to just shave her head bare, it would be against the spirit of her command and abuse of a loophole to harm her by cutting her hair...probably. Just to be safe though she opened her mouth. "If I told you to cut my hair, what would you do?" Thanks to her previous command, she was not afraid of him lying to her, and he replied whilst he pushed more of his hand into her pussy.
"I would have to ask clarification for how you want your hair cut." He answered tonelessly, his hand now wrist-deep inside of her and allowing the spray to reach directly into her depths. He then extracted his hand, her knees weakening as he did so, and slowly began to work his way down her legs, cleaning off specks of blood, semen and whatever remained of her own fluids. Humming, she allowed him to continue cleaning her, tossing around ideas in her head. Viking was hers, she wasn't about to let him go, he would be her first obedient parahuman thrall. But there were still problems with that.
He wasn't with the PRT, fortunately, but he was still a licensed Rogue, and if he suddenly decided to leave town, that would be suspicious and would possibly attract attention. But if she told him to start making up reasons to leave and making it clear he intended to travel elsewhere in the world, what could go wrong? Nobody could just pull him into Master-Stranger testing for no discernable reason aside from his wanting to leave town, and nobody would be able to do that anyway, they had no probable cause, and he was a Rogue anyway, so the PRT had no true influence over him. They could always just ask him his reasons for leaving and where he intended to go next, but he was not required to respond as far as she was aware. "Where are we right now?" She asked curiously, watching as he responded without looking up from the foot he was cleaning.
"We are half a kilometre from the Trans-Canada Highway, not far from Frederickton." It was a bit surprising actually, since her 'current body' was from Frederickton, so the fact he hadn't taken her further away was a bit odd, but then again, according to her memories, she'd never actually left the room she was in, aside from entering the bathroom. But still, that was somewhere she could work with, not far from Maine, but...it was worryingly close to Newfoundland.
She had no intentions of being anywhere near an Endbringer, and fortunately, she had super-useful future knowledge. Brockton Bay would be safe from the Endbringers until May, 2011. That was plenty of time to get set up, wait ever so patiently for Panacea to trigger, catch her, then flee to greener pastures before Leviathan arrived...which was such a terrible idea it wasn't even funny. If she took away Panacea...so much wouldn't happen.
The problem was...she didn't know what actually happened in Canon Worm. Aside from looking at fandom pages and reading fanfiction, Valerie knew nothing about Worm. And sure, that meant she knew about Coil and about the true origin of Endbringers and all that kind of stuff, but a lot of the information wasn't canonical, it was changed by fanfiction writers, because she'd never read the original content. But...then again, the world itself...might not be the same. She'd never heard of Viking, sure, but Heartbreaker most definitely didn't have a younger sister called Valerie. But, the nail in the coffin was Viking. He had never even heard of Heartbreaker, which meant either Viking just coincidentally never heard of him, or he didn't exist, and she was in that slot.
For all she knew, Newfoundland would never be sunk, and instead of Leviathan doing that, Behemoth would appear and flatten Frederickton to kill her. Or the Simurgh could fly down and twist her mind until she did the bidding of the multi-winged bitch. But...well, there was zero point being afraid of them. If they were going to come and kill her or warp her mind, what could she do to escape that? Nothing, not a single thing would work.
Once Viking was done washing her feet off, she ordered him to wash himself off, and less than a minute later, he was at least vaguely clean, having only really needed to wash off his crotch area. Feeling confident, Valerie had him pick up a towel and dry her off with it. Once she was dry, Valerie ordered him to dry himself off and spoke as he did so. "Do you have any clothes that might fit me?" She asked quietly, to which he shook his head in the negative. Not that she was surprised, ever since he'd put the collar on her, her only experience with clothes was taking his off. Considering how much bigger than her she was, she held no hope for just hemming in some of his clothes, she could use his shirt as a goddamn blanket after all. " Follow me. Do you remember the clothes I was wearing when you took me?"
When he nodded, she smiled grimy, even as she walked out of the bathroom. "I want you to go out and discreetly buy some clothing, so long as it's at least fairly similar in appearance. It has to fit me, and it should be in colours that don't grab attention. Nod if you understand." He nodded in response, and Valerie herself nodded, looking away from him to inspect the room.
He had done his best, but there was still plenty of blood on the bedsheets and on the ground, even a few spots on the ceiling and the walls from her roll flicking it around. On the bed itself, she could see her arm, and it was tinted blue, with another metal ring affixed to it, presumably Viking's attempt to preserve it. "Okay, handle all this lot, cover up what you did, and just...just clean it all up." Viking nodded, moving to strip the sheets off the bed somewhat clumsily.
Just from that, she knew that while her power could order people to do things, if they couldn't previously do it, they would at least try it. It reminded her of Bad Canary, and how her ex-boyfriend had castrated himself after he was incapable of fucking himself. Valerie made herself a promise, that she would try to help Canary out, it had always upset her in a major way how Canary was railroaded into the Birdcage with the likes of Bakuda, Teacher and other fucked up individuals, when she didn't deserve it. So the opportunity to help was nice, the only issue was getting Canary.
Sitting down, Valerie watched Viking work, whilst she contemplated the best way to save Canary. She knew that Canary was transported to the Birdcage with Lung and Bakuda, so chances were high that she spent at least a little time in Brockton Bay, a place she wanted to go to anyway. So, she could go there, start forming 'bonds' to people in the city, and when she needed to, she could use those bonds to find Canary.
That didn't mean she trusted Canary, or wanted her anywhere near herself, for the simple reason that her power scared her. The fact that one second, Canary could be talking to her, and the next she interpreted her words as an order, that was pretty scary. But there were ways around it, Canary could communicate through a speech recognition program, where she would talk, the program would then relay her words itself, with her voice never being actually put through speakers, only what the program had registered.
But those were problems for half a decade away, for right now her main concern was getting the flying fuck away from Newfoundland and setting herself up in Brockton Bay. First step, clothing, she would obviously need some anyway, but it was still a first step. "Where, exactly, are we right now? Are we at a hotel, a cabin in the woods, where is this?" She asked Viking, watching as he removed as much blood from the carpet as he could manage.
Which, considering how he had probably never tried removing blood from a carpet before, was very little. "We are at a cabin that I own. There's a trail outside that leads to my truck, which is only a hundred-meter drive from the highway." He answered her easily, and Valerie contemplated the difficulties that she was facing. She had to send him to get her clothes, but...sending him driving off and leaving her behind really sat ill in her stomach.
Leaving him to what he was doing, Valerie walked over to the door and opened it, the cold biting at her skin even as she laid eyes on the woods around them, seeing the trail that Viking had mentioned. Closing the door again, she marched over to his wardrobe and yanked it open, glaring at the assortment of clothes that were all way too big for her. She reached in and pulled a coat off the rack, inspecting it before dumping it beside herself. Taking a thick-feeling shirt, she dropped that as well, shunting the clothes back with her foot and standing over them.
Grabbing the shirt, she put the...what was left of her left arm into one sleeve, then her right into the other, sliding it up and feeling frankly ridiculous as it brushed her knees. "Come fold the sleeve back." She announced, Viking moving to obey as he took ahold of the right sleeve and started to fold it over itself. "That's good." She stopped him when the sleeve was at her wrist, then got him to fold it over itself once more, so it wouldn't easily unroll itself. "Put the coat on me." He bent down and picked up the coat, putting it over her shoulders, and at her command, he zipped it up, leaving her feeling warm but childish, as if she was wearing her parent's clothes.
"Grab some socks for me and put them on my feet." She announced, sitting down on the edge of the mattress and watching as Viking dug in the closet for a second and reemerged with socks in his grasp, sliding them onto her feet easily enough. With that done, he returned to his previous task of cleaning, leaving her to think. "When and where was the most recent Endbringer attack?" She asked him curiously.
"The Simurgh attacked London last year, in August." Well, there went that plan. She'd been hoping that Behemoth had attacked somewhere recently so she could use that as an excuse. She'd been injured during the attack and lost her parents, and Viking had taken her in, but all her things had been destroyed so she needed new stuff which was why he was taking her out in massively oversized clothes. Ignoring all the massive holes in that story, it wasn't like it mattered anyway, not if the most recent attack was that long ago. It would really only have worked if the attack had happened in the past week or so and there were still glaring issues.
Frowning, Valerie tried to come up with a good cover story. Maybe her family could have been killed by the Slaughterhouse Nine, but she had run and they hadn't found her, leaving Viking to discover her blindly fleeing and save her? There were still big issues with that, but...well, if nobody asked then why would it matter? Viking could just say that she'd lost her clothes in an incident that was still raw to her and that it wasn't his place to answer, that would put any would-be interrogators off.
As Viking worked, Valerie began to work him over, effectively 'programming' him to act in a certain way. He was to act as if he were her guardian, and that he was a bit out of his depth but still well-meaning, as well as unwilling to talk about what had happened, deferring to her desire for if she wanted to talk about it or not. If someone asked him if he'd reported what happened to the police, he would tell them that Valerie was family and that he wouldn't force her to do that. If they tried to pressure him, he would simply say nothing and start following her, allowing her to intervene directly.
She covered multiple situations like that, and at the end of it all, she set a blanket order that if he even suspected that someone thought something was amiss, he would come and pat her on the head gently. She didn't expect that to be necessary, but it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Anyone who thought something was going on would probably try to get an admission out of her, and that would be an opportunity for her to simply command them to forget any suspicions they had about what was going on.
But that didn't mean she was comfortable going out to buy clothes, but that probably had more to do with the fact she was only wearing an oversized shirt, coat and socks, making her feel ridiculous. It covered her body completely, sure, but it felt like she was wearing a skirt too short for her without underwear, the way her clothes moved always providing a very discomforting feeling that she was exposing herself. She wouldn't be able to sit down anywhere or do anything that would raise the hem of her clothes, not unless she wanted everybody to know she wasn't wearing anything beneath her clothes.
That would be a one-way road to some very uncomfortable questions.
Staring at the roadblock ahead of them, Valerie asked herself why she was such a braindead fucking idiot.
They'd gone into town and wandered around a few shops, buying her clothes that actually fit her, as well as shoes and socks, then left to go back to the cabin so she could figure out how to get to America. On the way back, they'd run into traffic, and each car was being stopped. Maybe it wasn't what she thought it was, but she had a bone-deep suspicion that some camera operator or police officer had recognized her and sounded the alarm.
There was nowhere to hide in the pickup truck, and with only a few minutes before it was their turn to get stopped, she had barely any time to come up with a plan. Fleeing was a stupid idea, but just trying to go through was just as dangerous, since they'd be surrounded by the police. What she wanted to avoid was Viking getting caught, questioned and setting off Master/Stranger protocols, instantly outing her not just as a cape, but as a mind-controller.
Gnawing at her lip, she looked at Viking, trying to figure out what could be done. She began to drag together a plan, speaking quietly to Viking as she did so, adding and amending orders hastily as they crept towards the roadblock. When it was their turn, she felt...queasy, not quite sure if her orders would be enough to get her out of that fucking mess without too much of a close look from the authorities. "Name and registration." The police officer asked as Viking rolled down the window, peering into the vehicle, more accurately peering directly at her.
Viking handed over his documentation nonchalantly, but she could still feel eyes on her even as she looked away and began playing with the hem of her skirt. "If you could pull in there for me sir, there's a few questions required." Viking did so, pulling off to the side of the highway and turning off the engine. Glancing off to her side through her hair, Valerie saw it, a costume, a cape waiting on stand-by to move in if they were needed. "May I have the name of you and your passenger?"
In response, Viking glanced off to his side, his eyes locking with the cape who was close-by but not so close that he was immediately apparent, before suddenly snatching up the axe that was kept on hooks near his leg, sweeping it at the car door and cleaving through it, as well as the officer stood next to it, cutting him in two. Valerie flinched back, not having to try hard at all to feign fear as Viking smashed his way out of the pickup truck and began to sprint away from the highway as gunfire erupted and the cape on standby began to chase after him.
Quaking in her seat as she stared at the open door, Valerie let out a loud scream when the door to her back opened suddenly and hands grabbed her, turning and trying to beat her 'assailant' even as they dragged her away from the vehicle. "Calm down, you're safe now, I've got you." The voice, a female, spoke calming, soothing words to her even as they pulled her away from the pickup truck, utterly ignoring her single fist as she punched at her 'kidnapper'. Curling herself up as much as she could, Valerie internally commended her acting skills as she began to quiver in their arms, a blanket being wrapped around her and arms holding her tightly but not pressuring her, just enough to stop her from bolting like a frightened animal.
It didn't take long before she was put into a police car, the person who had grabbed her, another cape in a full costume, still holding her in their lap and trying to calm her down. She stayed limp in their arms, still quivering and twitching in 'fear' even as they shushed her and continued to reassure her, promising that she was safe and that she wouldn't be hurt again. She heard a horrific scream and her jolt was utterly unfeigned, though the arms holding her tightened around her comfortingly.
Valerie ignored the sensation of a bond snapping into place, the same way she acted as if she never even heard the knock on the car door and the quiet conversation between the cape and another woman as the window was lowered. They didn't say anything she understood, their words were obviously shorthand or code for something, but she didn't miss the fact that a hand came up to start brushing her back soothingly, outright feeling the body of the woman holding her tense as the other woman told her something.
Valerie felt, just for a moment, a flicker of fear. If they knew she was a master and could control people, the woman holding her could snap her neck in an instant, before she could say anything. That flicker passed through her, fading before it could build into genuine fear. Sure, she was a bit paranoid, but they had no reason to think that, so worrying about it was a stupid idea that would only screw up what she was doing.
So, acting fully the part of a traumatized teenager, she stayed curled up in her little ball and acted utterly catatonic to the world. And while she did that, she listened out for any indication that Viking had followed her orders properly. She wanted to leave no evidence for what she had done to him, and that meant disposing of the primary source of evidence, Viking himself, which hopefully was what the bloodcurdling scream was about.
Shivering, this time from the cold, she felt a second blanket get wrapped around her, her head resting against the shoulder of the woman holding her as she opened the eyes she had kept closed and saw the shoulder of the cape. Following her neck up to her face, Valerie saw a faintly smiling face, and closed her eyes again, burying her face into their shoulder even as the arm petting her back raised to cradle her head comfortingly, more words of comfort being spoken as the woman held onto her.
She took a deep, heaving, shuddering breath and shook, 'forcing herself' to pull her head away and look at the woman holding her again. "W-who...?" She asked blinkingly, her bruised hands coming up to hug herself beneath her blankets, whilst the woman again rubbed her back gently, smiling at her in that sad, forced calm that anything upsetting always caused, which more than anything told her that her act had been bought hook, line, and sinker.
"Don't worry sweetheart, the monster won't hurt you anymore."
As time went by, Valerie could honestly say that she was impressed with her quick thinking.
Viking had done as she commanded, fighting his way away from the highway, trying to escape. When it became clear there was no escaping, he fought viciously, killing multiple police officers before taking his own life by decapitating himself, a loud announcement that he would do it all over again, run the risk of being Birdcaged for what he'd done, just to see the fear in her eyes again. He said more than that, but it was blatantly obvious that whilst what he'd said was a bit suspicious, the evidence couldn't be denied.
She had, albeit stutteringly and fearfully, told them of what he'd done to her, using her own memories so that not one word of what she said was a lie, telling them where they could find the cabin he'd imprisoned her within. On top of that, the test she'd conceded to, after a hell of a lot of convincing and coaxing, confirmed that Viking had had sexual intercourse with her over the course of at least several months. If that wasn't enough to prove her words true, the whip scars that matched a whip found in the cabin, and the brand on her back, which had nordic symbolism, also corroborated her words.
All in all, it was an open-and-shut case as far as Viking was concerned. He had kidnapped, raped and abused her, and when faced with the prospect of being put in the Birdcage not only for what he'd inflicted upon her but for the murder of multiple police officers, he chose to take his own life when he saw no way to escape. In regards to her though, well, that was a bit harder to work out.
The fact was that Valerie Vasil no longer had any family. When she'd been kidnapped, her father had been found dead from an overdose of depression medication, and her mother had taken her own life. How she'd taken her own life Valerie wasn't told, presumably to protect her, which meant however she'd died, it wasn't a nice way to go. But what that meant was that she was legally a minor at only 16, and so she was pretty much stuck in the system until she hit her age of majority.
Thankfully, the cape who had pulled her from the pickup truck, who went by the cape name of Entropy, was all too willing to adopt her, as well as letting her live in her apartment until everything had been sorted. Valerie was somewhat suspicious, right up until the woman told her, whilst holding her hand delicately with both of her own, that she wasn't able to have a child. Valerie had never really had the inclination for having a child, the idea of pregnancy quite frankly terrified her on a deep and intimate level, to the point she honestly begged for them to check if she was pregnant and thankfully she wasn't, but that didn't mean she didn't sometimes have dreams of having her own baby to hold and to cherish, so she could somewhat understand why Entropy wanted to adopt her.
Since she was 16 and had already built a rapport with Entropy, all it took was a few sessions to make sure that she was happy to be adopted by Entropy, as well as an inspection of the apartment she'd already been living in, before she was officially the adoptive daughter of one Melody Brown, known as the cape Entropy. And so, now she was sitting in her own bedroom, trying to come to grips with, well, everything that had happened in the past week or so.
It was...a bit annoying, losing Viking like that. He was quite useful, but if it meant cutting off all evidence of what she'd done, it was a worthy loss. Plus, in two years time, she would be legally free to emigrate to America, more specifically Brockton Bay, and establish herself there. But, for now, laid on the bed in front of her, was a textbook. Beside her were several more. She had missed out on months of education and while she didn't care much for it, Melody was adamant she not let what happened hurt her chances at getting good grades and a proper education, so now, she was 'revising' to see if she could pass a test which would let her enter the class she would normally be in, or if she would have to retake a year.
The problem wasn't that she couldn't do it, the problem was that she had two memories of education, and that apparently counted for something since she was able to answer pretty much every question correctly. But...maybe she could spin that somehow? She'd been through a hell of a traumatic event after all, maybe she could have had some kind of numbers power emerge...no, there would be tests to consider, best to just leave it as it was and pretend she had no powers, she was just an exceptionally bright young woman who was haunted by her past but determined to put her best foot forward. "Val, sweetheart, could you come here a moment?"
Hearing Melody call out, Valerie put her pen down in the middle of the textbook and slipped off her bed, opening her door and leaning out to peek off towards the couches and kitchen where her adoptive mother was standing, waiting for her. "Yeah Me-mom?" Her voice stumbled a little, still not quite used to calling Melody that, but the smile that Melody gave her made her feel warm inside, so it was totally worth it.
"I called in a favor with a friend, and...this might...come here sweetheart, I want you to understand." A little confused, Valerie left her room and walked over, accepting the hug from Melody. "I...don't want you to get bullied about...what happened." Tensing, Valerie pressed her face against Melody's shoulder, even as she rubbed her back in that soothing fashion that made her feel safe and comforted. "Your back-" Tensing up again, Valerie tried to pull away, but Melody kept ahold of her, shushing her. "-it won't ever go away, but if you want, you could skip classes that mean you have to get changed around other people. In return, you'd have to spend time out of school making sure you keep yourself in shape."
Shaking a little, Valerie played up the trauma side of things less than she thought she'd need to. She was, admittedly, a bit nervous about having to go to school and reveal her scarred and branded back to other people. Not the bullying, she could handle kids being little shits, but it was more about attracting attention. Skipping classes that'd require her to reveal her back would also attract attention, the 'special attention kid', but not as bad as the 'scarred back' kid. "That...sounds good mom." She forcibly relaxed herself into the hug, turning her head to the side to give Melody a familial kiss on the cheek. "Love you."
She said quietly, shyly, amused at herself just a little even as Melody beamed at her and placed her own kiss atop her head. It felt...weird, but nice, being around Melody. Every day it felt less like she was pretending, and whilst that might have scared her, she found she quite liked living with Melody. Briefly, she worried about being mastered, but that was a frequent fear she felt, one she was good at tamping down. "I love you too sweetheart."
It wasn't anything unnatural, a moment of 'suddenly I like you' that she felt towards Melody. No, it was her genuinely traumatic memories involving Viking that still influenced her, and Melody, who went above and beyond to be a real adoptive mother to her, the acts of a genuinely caring person that wanted to look after her and help her live her best life. Tensing her arms a little, Valerie ended the hug and drew back, cocking her head to the side. "I mean, my...arm is already going to attract attention, but not like that thing. So, where does the favor come in? I could just...go to a gym?" Melody chuckled, brushing a hand through her hair and prompting her eyes to close as she combed her head with her fingers caringly.
"You forget, I was your age once. If I let you go to a gym, you'd spend more time ogling the boys than actually working out." Pouting, Valerie opened her mouth to deny it, shivering a little as the thought of boys made her think of big, muscle-bound men, which led her mind back to Viking. "What-" Melody started, surprised when Valerie hugged her again and whined softly. "Val-...oh sweetheart, I'm sorry." Melody said quietly, wrapping her arms around her again.
It...was weird, things that previously hadn't affected her, like what Viking had done to her, had taken time, but it was as if they were leeching through, making her feel the trauma of what she hadn't really gone through. "S'fine, I brought it up." She mumbled into Melody's shoulder, surprised when her adoptive mother picked her up and carried her through the apartment, coming to sit down on her mother's bed, still hugging her close.
"No, it was my fault. But, you know he's gone, yeah sweetheart? He can't hurt you ever again. And if he did come back, you know what would happen?" Valerie blinked, drawing her head back to look at her faintly smiling mother as she held a hand palm-up. "I'd flatten him into a pancake!" She used her power, creating a small black bubble in her hand, then dissipating it, returning the hand that had previously held a very lethal bubble of power to rub her back soothingly.
She knew Melody was Entropy, she knew that her power was the ability to drain any kind of energy, and she could even use it at range, by throwing orbs that could absorb energy at people or attacks. It was how she'd utterly ignored her punches, she absorbed the energy from each strike as it hit her, literally using her own punches to power herself a little. It had plenty of limitations, but that was why Entropy wasn't the one who chased after Viking, because it was harder for her to block a blade than a punch. Against a brute who uses their fists, she was powerful, there was more surface area for the impact, but against a brute who uses a blade, it was a lot harder, all that force in a small area meant she couldn't absorb it all in time, leaving some energy to get through, and with a blade as sharp as Viking's, she would be sliced up, since any force behind it would mean it could still cut.
But she still had that sort of...dissonance associating Melody, her adoptive mother, with Entropy, a cape who was able to pretty much negate any attack that wasn't focused to a point or very narrow line. Burrowing more into Melody's hug, Valerie smiled weakly, her head resting on Melody's shoulder. "So...favor?" She asked quietly, feeling the arms around her hold her closer as Melody kissed her head again.
"No, that can wait sweetheart. Right now, you need cuddles...and cookies!" Melody announced imperiously, downright forcing a giggle out of her at the ridiculous but loving statement. Holding her one arm around Melody, Valerie lifted her face from Melody's shoulder, looking at her adoptive...no, at her mother, and gave her the strongest, most loving smile she could eke out, which earned herself a kiss on the forehead and a hug that told her that she was home.
That told her she was loved.
I. Fucking. Cannot.
I honestly got teary-eyed just writing that. I started this off intending for Valerie to keep hold of Viking, using him as a minion and a fucktoy, and, well, then the chapter happened and now Valerie has an adoptive mother who loves her, and she loves her in turn. It just...I just genuinely cannot, it hurts my heart just writing that, it is so pure and loving and caring that I need to go and get myself dominated by my husband, or else I'm going to fucking lose it.
But I genuinely hope you enjoyed this chapter.