Wrapping Up the Previous Chapter
Hey, got this one out quicker, yay!
As stated last chapter, it was not finished. There were many other points I wanted to bring up, but I felt it was starting to drag on and the clock was ticking. Hence, the remaining bits from last chapter put into this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
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In her talks with Jisdu, Piper also asked everything she could think of regarding Incognito.
"If he and I were to fight right now, who would win?" Piper asked.
"Difficult to say," Jisdu answered. "In terms of just sheer, raw power, he's got you beat by a slim margin, and that's only because he's backed up so many spirits. He's also got decades of experience with the same powers you have, along with so many others. However, he's never fought a warrior like you before. You have a great deal of experience with myths and magic, and are an accomplished fighter with a style he's never gone up against. I say it's not by a large margin that he outclasses you; if you lift 200 pounds, he lifts 220 pounds, but he knows how to lift that weight better than you do, but you have ways of lifting the weight that he doesn't know about. You may be able to outfox him if you fought right now."
Piper thought about this. "So…the only reason he's so powerful is because of all the spirits that support him?"
"Correct. And I know where you're going with this: why don't we just convince the spirits that Incognito is wrong, that way they take their blessings and leave him weakened and easy to handle?"
"Well, yeah."
Jisdu nodded. "I've been trying to do that for over a hundred years now. The spirits are tired and worn out. They want change, they want it now, and they don't care about how much blood has to be spilt to do it. It's kind of like Mulan in the final act. She's trying to get the people to listen to her about the Huns, no one wants to, the Huns attack and kidnap the emperor, and so Mulan has to take matters into her own hands but is supported by Shang and those other three. In this analogy, you're Mulan, the Chinese are the spirits, the Huns are Incognito, the emperor is mankind, but we don't have four strapping dudes to help us out."
Piper blinked. "I mean, Mulan won, so that's good. Sounds like the best idea we have going for us is to beat Incognito's face in, and when we have the attention of the spirits, use that opportunity to sway them back to us."
"Sounds great; one problem."
"Incognito."
"Bingo."
"I've fought Olympian-killing Giants, rogue gods, too many monsters to count, and the Ancient Greek personification of the planet. You really think some medicine man is that much trouble for me?"
Jisdu snorted. "That long list of accomplishments, and yet you failed to take on Dumbo's distant cousins, a talking horse, and the most pathetic excuse for a god since Apollo."
Piper managed to blush in embarrassment while feeling a hot spike of anger go through her. "Hey."
Jisdu eyed her unblinkingly. "Yes, yes. You can excuse yourself with the claim that you were emotionally unstable and therefore not of sound mind during that battle, which does make sense with all that was going between you and Jason, and the situation with your father, but the fact still remains that for all your skills, prowess, and prior accolades, you failed to take on a breed of monster, a horse with no special abilities other than higher intelligence, and a man barely scraping into the divine realm. How did Apollo put it? The basic immorality package? Yes, very appropriate. If the emperors were truly gods, how would any of you have stood any chance at all? I believe it was Triptolemus the harvest god that turned Nico di Angelo, the powerful son of Hades, into a cornstalk with a simple snap of his fingers, no?"
Piper refused to let herself smile in fondness of that funny story. It was funny now, so many months later, of course, but back then it had been rather horrifying. A visible demonstration of just how far the gap between a god and demigod really was.
Then again, there had been all those encounters with Khione. Leo held her at bay with his fire, and Piper herself had killed the goddess. There was also Atlanta, when Coach Hedge knocked out Keto, who was the daughter of Gaea and Pontus, two Primordials, thus either making her a Primordial herself or a Titan, with a kick to the back of her head, and how Percy overpowered Phorcys' control over the water in the aquarium tank. There was also Piper herself, who had bent the wills of gods to her command.
And then struggled to charmspeak three human mercenaries despite having no problems charmspeaking humans back before she even knew was a demigod.
Yeah, the power levels of Piper and her friends compared to the divine beings was really inconsistent.
To Jisdu's point, though, Piper did indeed have a great list of feats and accomplishments, yet for her track record of taking down foes that should've been able to flatten her, she had failed to defeat enemies that should've posed no threat. Granted, also like Jisdu had pointed out, she had been going through some stuff back then, and her head had not been 100% in the game. Right now, though, Piper liked to think she had separated her personal life from her hero life, and she was fully focused on killing Incognito and saving the world…again.
"Yeah, Triptolemus did turn Nico into a cornstalk," Piper said, a slight smile on her face, "which does prove the emperors aren't all that powerful, especially compared to the Giants and actual gods. But like you said, I was screwed up back then. I'm a lot less screwed up now. I can handle Incognito."
"I really do love that confidence," Jisdu said. "I really hope it goes somewhere other than six feet into the dirt."
Which it obviously wouldn't, but still.
In addition to getting a gauge on their power levels, Piper dug into Incognito's past in order to get to know him so she could beat him. To defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy, as they say.
"I already told you," Jisdu said, a bit annoyed at having to repeat himself, "Incognito's nothing but a power-hungry madman. Long ago, he wanted the spirits to empower his tribe so they could take over the continent, and then he tried to get the spirits to empower him again so he could wipe out the Europeans, and this third time he finally succeeded thanks to Andrew Jackson and corporate greed. He's a genocidal racist. Think of him as Indian Mao Zedong and go from there."
Piper blinked. "Who's Mao Zedong?"
"He's the guy that turned China into the communist shithole it is today."
"But how does that make him worse than, like, Hitler? He hated Jews so much he killed six million of them. And he also started the bloodiest war in history."
"Okay, side contingent here," Jisdu said. "Hitler is credited with the Holocaust despite that being Himmler's plan, and an estimated total of twelve million Jews are laid at Hitler's feet, and he's the evilest man in history. However, Stalin committed what is called the 'Great Terror,' in which his policies saw a low -end estimate of twenty million people throughout the USSR. So, based on people killed through personal policy, who's really eviler? Hitler with his twelve million Jews? Or Stalin with his twenty millions general Europeans?"
"Uhh…" Piper faltered, not at all familiar with the Great Terror and therefore terribly lacking in nay historical facts. Granted, what she knew about the Holocaust came solely from her standardized American testing, since she had never done any extra research into one of the most horrible events in human history.
She also felt very uncomfortable trying to rank the biggest mas murderers in history just to prove a simile.
"What this has to do with Chairman Mao is that when he came to power, he started the Great Leap Forward and created a famine that killed forty-five million people. And that's just the famine. Factor in the executions and the labor camps, and you've got estimates going as high as eighty million. Considering most high-end estimates for WW2 go between sixty and eighty million, that means that on Chinese man instituted policies that, in just his country, killed as many people as the bloodiest war so far. Now, based on that, who's really the most evil man in history?"
"I…I-I supposed it'd be Mao…?" Piper felt weak in the knees.
"So, if it's Mao, why is it always Hitler that gets counted as the evilest man ever?"
"I don't know."
"Well, neither do I," Jisdu chirped. "Therefore, because Mao killed way more people than Hitler did, I equate Incognito to Mao instead of the failed art student. Though, to be fair, no one really comes close to how bad Incognito is, because he wants to kill billions."
"I mean…Gaea wanted to kill everyone," Piper reasoned, basing her argument that how many people you wanted to kill determined your spot on the list.
"True, but Gaea wanted to kill everyone because humans have been poisoning her body for centuries. Incognito is a racist that thinks Native Americans are the dominant people on the planet, and everyone else needs to be wiped out."
"…wouldn't that make him more like Hitler, then? Believing this specific people group is superior to everyone else?"
"More assigned reading: lookup Mao Zedong, what the Great Leap Forward was all about, and then get back to me."
"Okay," Piper said, having no intention on filling her head with more human horror than what already rolled around in her mind. She switched the subject back to Incognito. "But who was he? I mean, what happened to make him this way?"
Jisdu sighed. "Piper, are you thinking that Incognito has some kind of tragic past, and that if you learn what it is, you can appeal to his better nature and redeem him?"
"Something like that, yeah. I mean, isn't that usually how this works?"
"Yes, actually, and it is refreshing that I can tell you that this is not the case here. Incognito does not have a tragic past. His parents were not murdered in front of him by a rival tribe. He's not the sole survivor of some forgotten tribe. His wife and child didn't die in childbirth. He has no dead family or trauma. Piper, he is simply a bad man."
"Oh."
"His mother and father died peacefully of old age, very rare for that time. He was an only child, so no siblings to have been claimed by disease or raped or eaten alive or sold into slavery or anything of the sort. He was never married, and he never had any children. He never even had a girlfriend, or any love interested, actually. Hell, he didn't even have a beloved pet. Piper, I can't stress this enough: Incognito is simply evil. He has no redeeming qualities. He has no tragic or traumatic past. He just wants to kill everyone on the planet because he wants to be in charge of a civilization comprised entirely of spirits and Native Americans that will bow to him. When you fight him, do not try to pull that Naruto Talk-no-Jutsu bullshit, and do not do what Aang did, and take his spirit powers away but let him live. Kill him. Do not hesitate, show no mercy."
"It will be done, my lord," Piper bowed sarcastically. "I get it. Incognito's just a rabid dog that needs to be put down. I'm not like Batman or whatever; I don't think I'm standing on some kind of moral high ground for not killing the bad guys. Like, Percy had this stepdad, Gabe, who he says was an all-around jerk and asshole that was emotionally and mentally abusive to him, and he also says that Gabe hit his mom, Sally. Well, Percy killed Medusa on his first quest, kept her head, gave it to his mom, and she used to it to kill Gabe by turning him into a statue. Then she sold said statue and finished college."
Jisdu stared at Piper. "What you're telling me is…Percy's mom murdered a man and sold his corpse for money?"
"Uh, yeah, basically," Piper shook her head, getting back on track. "Anyway, my point is that I don't feel anything about that story besides good. Gabe got what he deserved, and I don't feel an ounce of sympathy for him. There are bad people out there, I've met them, and they won't ever change. People like that need to be taken out before they can harm anyone else."
"…a bit morally and ethically grey, and a lot heavier than I think you realize, but that's a great thought process for Incognito, so keep it up."
Piper also asked about Incognito's tactics.
"How does he operate? Does he like to kidnap close friends and family and use them as hostages or something?"
"In the cases of all the previous warriors, no. Incognito is actually quite direct. He'll send an Asgina or two to get a feel for what he's up against, and when he thinks he's got the fight in the bag, he'll attack. Subterfuge isn't his style. The fact that he's taken this long to personally confront you means he appreciates how much of a threat you are. Like I said, you're unprecedented. No other warrior before you has ever approached how powerful you are."
"Which means he might change things up and kidnap my dad, or Billy, Shel, Tsula, or whoever."
"Possibly," Jisdu answered slowly. "I'll see what I can do about protecting them, but the best defense is going to be a great offense."
"If that's the case, why haven't we taken the fight to Incognito?"
"I don't know where he's at."
"Oh."
"He likes to move around and make sure his army is still on the same page."
"I see."
"Yup. From my two hundred years of fighting this guy, he doesn't do multiple encounters. When you fight him, he will be fighting to kill you. He's a one-and-done kind of guy."
"Oh. At least it'll be a short war."
"Hopefully so, yes. One that ends in our favor."
Piper eventually got around to bringing Tsula into the fold.
"Something bothering you?" Jisdu asked.
"It's my cousin, Tsula," Piper sighed. "I got back from the deer attack, and she remembered everything when no else did. She was freaking out, so I told her the truth about you, the spirits, and Incognito. She took it well, and wants to help. Problem is, she's just a human. I don't want her to get hurt. Yeah, she's physically fit and is a crack shot with her blowgun, but that's not going to cut it against evil spirits."
"Quite the contrary, actually. I know of several concoctions that are instantly lethal to the Asgina, and they will pair remarkably well with blowgun darts."
"Oh," Piper blinked.
"However, to your point, Tsula is limited in terms of physical prowess, and where she'd be great for long range support, she'd be next to useless in a straight fight."
"Then what do we do? I don't want her to get hurt, or worse, but I don't want her to get angry at me for not letting her fight. She'll feel insulted that I don't think she has what it takes to keep up with me, which is just the honest truth. And how come she remembers the deer and bear when no one else does?"
"I let her remember," Jisdu said. "I figured it'd be great for your mental health to have at least someone in your life besides me knowing what was going on behind the scenes. I didn't think Tsula would want to help us so much."
"Oh. Thanks. And now we're in a pickle."
"Only a slight one. Bring her with you when you can. And also play along."
Piper narrowed her eyes. "Jisdu, are you going to play a prank on my cousin?"
"Absolutely."
"Is she going to be injured?"
"Her pride will definitely take a blow."
"In such a way that she may consider suicide or some other bodily harm?"
"I hope not."
"Jisdu."
"Relaaaax," drawled the trickster rabbit. "It's harmless. I promise."
The next night, Piper brought Tsula along to her and Jisdu's training ground.
Tsula was practically vibrating. "An actual spirit! I'm going to meet an actual spirit! What do I do? Do I bow? Do they like bowing? And does Jisdu like carrots? I brought some with me. I hope he's not offended, being a rabbit and all. Oh, God, I'm just so—ugh!"
Tsula literally jumped with a huge grin on her face, unable to contain her excitement.
Meanwhile, Piper was feeling just a little awkward. "I don't know about bowing, or carrots, but Jisdu's rather chill. Just be cool."
"Right. Be cool. Not a problem. I can be cool. I'm one of the coolest kids school, you know."
"I am aware, yes."
The cousins went a little deeper in the woods, Tsula trying to contain her nervous energy, and Piper was over there furrowing her brow at the fog that was starting to gather on the ground. There were lights in the distance, and it clicked in Piper's head what Jisdu was doing.
He was a trickster, after all.
A loud, rumbling voice echoed through the trees. "Piper McLean. Who is this spare that accompanies thee?"
Piper rolled her eyes, but she played along. "This is my cousin, Tsula, O Great Jisdu, King of Rabbits. She has come to offer her aid in our war."
"I see. She must prove her worth. Tsula!"
Tsula stood at attention, with her back straight, shoulders square, and hands at her side. "Y-Yes, sir!"
"Perform the Chicken Dance."
The deadly serious tone of the rabbit was a stark foil to the ridiculousness of the request.
"U-Uh…" Tsula stuttered. She looked at Piper for input, but the demigoddess just held her hands up.
"I had to do the same thing," Piper shrugged.
That's when the Chicken Dance music kicked on from somewhere unknown, and Tsula, with a panicked look, quickly launched into the best rendition of the Chicken Dance she had ever performed. As Tsula chirped her hands, flapped her arms, and shook her butt, hoping that she was pleasing the Great Rabbit King, Piper was having the greatest struggle in her life trying not to laugh.
Now she was completely on board with Jisdu's prank.
Call it vindication, but Piper couldn't help but feel that this was just revenge for Tsula's bad attitude the past six weeks.
The Chicken Dance music abruptly shut off right as Tsula was in the middle of shaking her butt, and she quickly stood back up, blushing furiously.
"The first test has been passed," Jisdu's disembodied voice intoned.
Tsula balked. "The first!? How many tests are there!?"
"Three," Piper answered. "The second is you have to poop in your pants."
"WHAT!?"
"Hey, if it helps, I had to do it too."
"You did not!"
"The berries on that nearby bush are natural laxatives. Devour five of them, and then show me thine dedication to saving the world from the forces of darkness."
Tsula looked green. "He's not…he really doesn't expect me to…is he serious?"
"I mean, what's more important? Sacrificing some personal dignity to prove you have what it takes to save the world, or keeping your pride intact and your panties clean?"
"I'm wearing a G-string! I'm gonna ruin my jeans, too!"
"Okay, TMI," Piper said. "Point still stands, though."
Piper honestly figured that would be it for Tsula, and she would be okay with that, because it would've meant that she backed out and kept her head down. Instead, Tsula actually started heading for the berry bush, leaving Piper startled and shocked. With her spirit powers, she knew what bush that was, and those berries were indeed natural laxatives, and Tsula was really going to eat them.
Piper had only come up with that second "test" because she thought there was no way Tsula would follow through with something so humiliating and disgusting, but she was crouching down, reaching for the berries, her expression reserved. Ironically, Piper actually felt her respect for her cousin increase. While this situation was meant to be humorous, if Jisdu had levied such a test against her, that in order to receive her spirit powers she needed to do the Chicken Dance and soil her underwear, Piper wasn't sure if she could've followed through.
That was just nasty!
But Tsula was apparently going to do it. She plucked a berry from the bush, and before Piper could dive to her cousin and swat the little fruit from her hand, the bush rustled and a rabbit came hopping into view.
Tsula paused. "Uh…"
Piper blinked. That wasn't Jisdu, that was some other rabbit, but an idea popped into her head.
"Hah! That's him! Tsula, quick, on your knees and down on your face and hands! Offer him praises! It's the third test!"
Tsula tossed the berry as far as she could and started dramatically bowing from her knees. "O Great King of the Rabbits! Thank you for showing me mercy by not making me eat laxative berries so that I would poop in my pants. Thank you for this opportunity to prove myself to you. Thank you for…"
Tsula continued coming up with things to be thankful for, and Jisdu came hopping up besides Piper. "Your cousin has a nice ass."
Piper directed a scandalized look down at her mentor. "Excuse you!"
"Hey, just telling it like it is."
Piper legitimately tried to step on her pervy teacher, but he hopped out of her foot's range. She glowered at Jisdu, who stuck his rabbit tongue out at her with a smirk.
Then he directed his attention to Tsula. "What are you doing?"
Tsula paused in her bowing and awkwardly twisted her upper torso. "Huh?"
"What are you doing? That's Craig."
Tsula looked endlessly lost. "Huh?"
"Get outta here, Craig! Stop stealing my show."
The rabbit that Tsula had been busy worshipping, apparently named Craig, hopped away with what seemed to be a disappointed pout on his face.
"Stupid-ass Craig," Jisdu grumbled.
"Huh?" Tsula asked for a third time.
"Oh, for the love of—I'm Jisdu. You were busy bowing down to Craig. I hate Craig."
Tsula looked mortified at having insulted the rabbit spirit. "I am so sorry, Mr. Jisdu King Sir."
"All is forgiven," Jisdu said sagely. "And just Jisdu is fine. Also, your whale tail is showing."
Indeed, in all her fervent bowing, Tsula's jeans had ridden down and her shirt had ridden up, exposing the "T" of her panties. Blushing, Tsula hastily readjusted her clothes.
"So, um, do I pass the tests, then?"
"Tests?" Jisdu asked, confused. "What tests?"
"Uh, I just had to do the Chicken Dance, and I was about to eat laxatives and crap myself, and then I spent, like, five minutes bowing down to Craig, all so I could earn your favor and be trusted to help Piper with, you know, saving the world from some guy called Incognito."
"I don't know about tests, but yeah, sure. You're hired."
Tsula blinked. "What is going on here?"
Piper decided to once again spare her cousin's sanity. "He's gaslighting you. Jisdu is a trickster spirit, remember? You've been pranked."
Tsula sat there for a few seconds as she processed this, and the crossed her arms with a huff and stood back up. She glowered at Jisdu. "Little jerk."
"Oh, gimme a break. You walked right into that one, kiddo."
Tsula looked at Piper. "This is not what I expected from a spirit."
Piper shrugged. "It took a little getting used to, yeah."
"I expected him to be more…wise…I guess. More mature."
"I am literally right here," Jisdu said.
The girls ignored him.
"Expectations were way too high," Piper nodded.
"Oh, absolutely. No idea that I'd be dealing with some middle-schooler."
"Um, I'll have you know that I am at least high school-level," Jisdu insisted.
Of course, while she was having fun poking at her mentor after having poked fun at her cousin, Piper knew the truth about the rabbit spirit.
As far as Tsula's contributions went, Jisdu told her the ingredients for the lethal Asgina potion, and he drilled her on accuracy while making it abundantly clear that Tsula would be no good in a fist fight. Piper demonstrated this when she punched through the trunk of a tree and sent it toppling. Tsula was a crack shot when she was standing still and firing at stationary targets, and she got just as good shooting at moving targets while she was still, shooting at still targets while she was moving, and shooting at moving targets while she was moving.
Admittedly not all that impressive compared to Piper turning into animals, bending the weather to her will, and encasing herself in an impenetrable exoskeleton modeled after a humanoid bird of prey, but at least she was contributing.
At least she and Piper were bonding like cousins and good friends.
Eventually, Monday the 16th arrived, marking Tristan's last night at the guard shack, and the last day that Piper could viably spend all evening with Billy and Shel at Shel's house playing Cyberpunk. Piper was aware of how much of a slap to her dad's face it would be if she spent all evening at her friend's house while her dad was home alone after quitting his third job in order to spend more time with his daughter after she had ran away from home in tears following their argument about him working so much, and so it had to come to pass that her evening plans with her friends had to be altered. Well, more altered than what they had become following her training with Jisdu.
Billy hadn't seemed to care, but Shel hadn't been thrilled to have her Piper time cut down even more.
In order to commemorate their last full night together, Shel insisted on watching the anime that was based on Cyberpunk 2077, that being Edgerunners. They tried binge-watched the whole anime in one sitting, and it was both one of the best and worst things that had happened to Piper. One of the best because of how visually amazing the anime was, and how gripping the story was, and the worst because…well…
David and Lucy.
On the second episode of the anime, when David and Lucy went to the Moon, and that damn song played, Piper couldn't handle it. Despite how she hadn't had a nightmare about Jason in over a week, despite how she thought she had made peace with his memory again like before the nightmares started, seeing David and Lucy's love unfold to the music of that damn song drove Piper past a limit she wasn't aware of, and she had to once again lock herself in the bathroom as she cried.
That was the second time something related to Cyberpunk had sent Piper into a meltdown.
Just like last time, Shel came and knocked on the door, and just like last time, Piper opened it to hug her, and Shel told her, once again, that she really needed to put Jason to rest. Easier said than done, apparently. After Piper calmed back down, they went back to Shel's room, and Piper got to watch Billy and Shel get into a fight.
"We're not watching the rest of this," Billy said with a tone of finality.
"Um, excuse you?" Shel said.
Billy stood up, and Piper felt herself go tense. "We're done with Edgerunners tonight. We're either watching something else, or playing a different game."
"And what makes you think we're going to do that?"
Billy jutted his chin at Piper. "She couldn't handle Jackie dying, and just now couldn't handle David and Lucy on the moon. Based on that, she's going to freak out when we get to the ending and-"
"Ah-ah!" Shel interrupted.
"What happens at the end?" Piper demanded.
Billy didn't even hesitate. "Adam Smasher comes in to kill everyone, and David dies saving Lucy's life. I figure that's gonna hit way too close to home for you."
"Billy! You asshole!" Shel shouted.
Billy ignored her and continued staring Piper dead in her eye without blinking.
Piper, for her part, felt rattled. Was that really how this anime ended? Triggering her PTSD from that night on Caligula's yacht? Just that one sentence revealing the ending, Smasher killing David, David laying down his life for Lucy—Piper's brain had already formed the comparisons, and she was already feeling on the verge of tears again. Then there was Billy himself. Is that really how he thought of her? Did he really think so little of her? That she couldn't handle the sad ending of a fictional show? But what contrary evidence had she provided?
Billy had nailed it all on the head.
Despite how much power Piper had at her disposal, despite how much she thought she had grown and coped, she was still deeply saddled with grief over that night.
"She's going to be fine," Shel insisted. "Now get your head out of your ass and hit play."
"No," Billy said firmly. "Get your own head out of your ass, and realize that Piper is traumatized, and twice now you've sent her into a panic. You made her play Cyberpunk, and now you've made her watch Edgerunners."
"Guys, come on," Piper tried to break in, but Shel was apparently not having it.
"That's not my fault; I didn't know!"
"Now you do know, and you're insisting on forcing her to keep watching something you know is going to upset her."
"Oh, give her a break. She's not a baby."
"I am standing right here," Piper pointed out.
"I'm aware," Billy said shortly.
"Actually, that's great," Shel said. "Piper wanna keep watching Edgerunners?"
"U-Uh…"
Piper honestly wasn't sure. She had no doubt that Billy was telling the truth, and therefore she took it as the truth that David sacrificed himself for Lucy just like Jason had sacrificed himself for her, and Piper didn't want a visual recreation of that event. Billy was trying to spare her feelings. On the other hand, Shel was trying to get Piper to confront her feelings, and force her into a situation where she was forced to cope, but at least Shel was offering her support.
"I said no, and that's final, Shelby," Billy said, hardening his tone.
Shel hardened hers in return. "This is my house, William. More specifically, this is my room, and if I say we're going to keep watching Edgerunners, then we're going to keep watching Edgerunners. If you don't like that, you can leave. Your car is just outside."
"No," Billy remained firm. "I'm not going to let you fuck her up. This is supposed to be the last night we might have for a while together, and we've already had to pause it on a sour note. I'm not going to let you ruin it entirely. Sorry, Piper, but you can't handle it. I'm not going to put you in the position of running back into the bathroom so you can cry two times in one night."
Piper wanted to argue that she was not that emotionally weak and that Billy didn't have that authority, but she currently had no valid counterargument. After all, a song and a scene had triggered so strong of an emotional response that she had fled to the bathroom to cry for the second time in this house.
However, all of Piper's thought processes came to a halt when Shel shoved Billy.
It was not a light shove, or a playful shove, but a full-on attack. Shel's palms collided with Billy's chest and knocked him back.
"Shel!" Piper gasped, and that gasp turned into a muffled shriek when Billy retaliated.
If you were to say that Billy Jones believed in gender equality, it was within the vein that women deserved equal rights and lefts. Shel had just assaulted him, and he was within his rights to return fire. Was it the gentlemanly thing to do? No. Was Shel in the right when she had shoved him in the name of defending Piper? Also no.
In an ironic twist, in Billy's efforts to try and salvage the night, he ended up being the one to completely destroy it.
Shel might've been two inches taller than Billy, but he was thirty pounds of solid mass heavier, and he used to be the linebacker of the varsity football team despite his height and age. In that moment, Billy provided a textbook example of the difference in physical prowess between a boy and a girl when he shoved Shel so hard she got blasted out of her bedroom and caught air before slamming onto her back in the upstairs living room.
Billy and Piper both heard the distinct clack of teeth accompanied by the sound of whooshing air.
In the next second, it was hard to tell who got to Shel's side first.
Blood was leaking from her mouth, her tongue sporting a gash from where she bit herself, and her wind had been knocked out of her. With her diaphragm locked, she couldn't breathe, and her eyes were wide with panic and terror as she gasped and gulped for air, but her lungs weren't responding. There was loud thumping from below as Shel's mother came running up the steps, summoned by the sounds of conflict.
"Oh, my-! Shel!" Ms. Regan was at her daughter's side next to Billy and Piper. "What on earth happened!?"
In that moment, Shel's body finally relaxed, and she drew in a huge breath. As she panted, she said, albeit a bit warbly with her swollen tongue, "Shoved…Billy…shoved…me…back…meathead…"
"You two got into another fight? Oh, dear, what happened this time?"
Piper blinked. Another fight? And you'd think that Ms. Regan would've gone into Protective Momma Mode after learning that Billy had hurt her daughter, ready to kick him out and/or call the police on him, but instead she had all the energy of an exasperated mother learning that her two kids had gotten into it. Just how deep did the relationship between Billy and Shel go?
"We were watching Edgerunners," Billy said, "and a scene came on that triggered Piper."
Shel picked right up after him. "I checked on her. We came back to my room. Billy insisted we were done watching Edgerunners because of what happened and what the ending was like."
"I didn't want to set Piper off again," Billy explained. "Shel took exception to my decision, we got into an argument, she shoved me, I shoved her back. I'm a lot stronger than she is."
Ms. Regan sighed as if this happened at least once a month. "Alright, timeout, both of you. I think you need the night to cool off. Billy, take Piper home, and go home yourself. Shel, no electronics the rest of the night. No Xbox, TV, nothing. We're going to get your mouth looked at, and then you're going to bed. Billy, after a good night's rest, you can be back here in the morning to pick her up for school. Got it?"
There was three-way chorus of "yes, ma'am," with varying levels of enthusiasm.
Piper felt torn in so many directions after that. She wanted to be angry, but she didn't know who to be angry at. Angry at Shel for provoking Billy, angry at Billy for retaliating, doubly angry at Billy for making decisions for her, or angry at herself for crying over David and Lucy. Part of Piper even felt angry at Ms. Regan for kicking her and Billy out for the night, ruining any and all chance of them salvaging the night.
It wasn't nine o'clock yet!
With Ms. Regan being Piper's last avenue of thought, Piper couldn't help but think of her own mother. Aphrodite had come up the least in Piper's thoughts these past few weeks, with so much other stuff going on, but with Ms. Regan's motherly display just now, kneeling over her daughter, expressing concern for her wellbeing, and handling the situation with authority, removing Billy and Piper from ground zero…was Aphrodite at all like that? Piper had so little interaction with her mother, she couldn't be sure, especially with how Aphrodite seemed to change every time they interacted.
When Piper met her in her dream during the Hera quest, the love goddess had seemed rather down-to-earth, reasonable, wise, personal, tender, affectionate, and caring. Fast forward six months to Charlestown, the tea party outside Fort Sumpter with Annabeth and Hazel, and Aphrodite was an intrusive, dispassionate, airheaded ditz, that was treating the horrible situation of the mounting civil war like it was primetime entertainment. Fast forward again to Athens, and Aphrodite was back to being something of a good mom, encouraging Piper and telling her that she was proud.
And then Piper hadn't heard from her mother in over ten months.
Did Aphrodite even still pay attention to Piper? Did she know what her daughter was going through? Did she know that Piper had broken up with Jason after all they had gone through together? Did she know how rude Piper had been to Jason in his last months? Did she know about the hell Tristan had gone through? Did Aphrodite care at all about any of this?
But why would she want to?
During Jason's final minutes, Piper had sat down and talked with Apollo, and did her best to explain why she had broken up with Jason. She talked about how Hera and forced them together with the Mist, and how Aphrodite had pressured her to stay with Jason, and she lamented how Hera had pushed her to settle with a nice boy and how Aphrodite had pushed her to be the perfect romantic lady, and all of that was pushing against Piper's growing confusion, and it all boiled over with the defamation.
However, when Piper had been alone with her thoughts and she examined what she had said, she felt yucky on the inside.
Had Hera really forced her and Jason together? Had it really been part of her grand plan to offer Piper up as wife material for her champion? As Piper had thought about it, no. Hera had messed with Leo's memory as much as she had Piper, but the reason Piper had so many more vivid memories than Leo did was because she was the daughter of Aphrodite. One of her powers was the ability to sense potential relationships. Hera hadn't forced Piper and Jason together; she made it so that Jason would pick Piper over Drew, and that was it. Hera had no more influence on anything Jason and Piper did together; that was all on them. Following this line of thinking, Piper had regrettably concluded that she had dragged Hera through the mud for no reason.
(Not to say that there weren't a million other valid reasons to bad-mouth Hera, but blaming the goddess for Piper's struggles over Jason wasn't one of them.)
For the Aphrodite end of things, like with Hera, Piper had spoken ill of her in an invalid way. The love goddess hadn't pushed Piper specifically into dating Jason and spending the rest of her life with him, she had told her daughter to pursue the possibilities in accordance with her heart. At the time, Piper's heart had been set on Jason and she went after him, refusing to believe that all of their feelings were lies.
Piper was even self-aware of how contradictory to herself she was when she really recalled Charlestown. As embarrassed as she had been with Aphrodite's behavior, after the fact, during her internal monologue, she had been put out that she didn't get to have a one-on-one with her mom. Piper had dejected herself with the thought that Aphrodite didn't find her worth paying attention to anymore because she was no longer a story full of "twists and turns" because it seemed like she had landed Jason and they were set to spend the rest of their lives together. Piper had even consoled herself with the thought that such a sentiment was fine. She didn't want Aphrodite in her life if she was going to be nothing but soap opera to the goddess. Piper had said to herself that she didn't want to be a story full of twists and turns, but that she was just fine with having a nice, steady life with a nice, steady boyfriend.
.
.
.
Well.
She had certainly double-backed on all of that, hadn't she?
Broke up with Jason, spat in his eyes almost every time she saw him, deeply confused over her sexuality and Cherokee identity, grieving and traumatized over his death, still just as confused as ever, and now she was dealing with budding feelings for Shel at the same time she had to contend with an evil medicine man.
Twists and turns, indeed.
Though, it something of a small defense, Piper had been massively overstressed at the time. Her dad's life had come apart and she was powerless to stop it, she had just been told about the death prophecy that Jason had kept from her in the name of trying to keep her safe and unharmed because of how deeply he still loved her, she was confused, frustrated, angry, and like she had turned Jason into her outlet, she had vented upon the goddesses. In essence, she had said things that she hadn't meant at the time.
With a spiel like that, dumping her problems and troubles on Aphrodite, and with how vindictive and fickle the gods could be, was it really any wonder Aphrodite hadn't had any contact with Piper in so long?
Piper hosted this entire internal monologue from the top of Shel's stairs to the bottom.
Now, you might be wondering where this whole diatribe came from and how it was supposed to tie into Ms. Regan running up the stairs and practically teleporting to Shel's side, and it was simple: Piper was jealous.
She was jealous of Shel for having a loving and supportive mother readily available. She was jealous of the look in Ms. Regan's eye as she kneeled over daughter and supported her weight. She was jealous of the way the woman held Shel. She was even jealous of the way Ms. Regan had looked at Billy, looking at him with all the disappointment only a mother could produce when her son had done wrong.
She hadn't looked at Piper like that, but Piper wished she had.
Did Piper have some latent mommy issues?
Fuckin' A right she did.
Piper wanted her mother in her life just as badly as she wanted her dad. Piper wanted Aphrodite's council, her opinion, her guidance, her encouragement, her everything. She wanted to sit down with her mother and get the record straight. Fucking hell, Piper wanted all the motherly affection she missed in her younger days. She wanted to be small enough to be carried on Aphrodite's hip, small enough to cuddle in her lap as they sat on the couch watching one of Dad's movies, eating out of a single tub of ice cream together. Piper wanted her mother to help her get ready for bed, helping her use the potty and clapping and congratulating her upon successful use, helping her brush her teeth and put her pajamas on. Piper didn't even care if she still had to wear a pull-up to bed.
She would trade all her teenage dignity and pride if it meant just one good evening with her mom.
Piper was so lost in thought that autopilot carried her into Billy's passenger seat before she even knew what was happening. It was only the rumbling of the engine as it came on that Piper was brought back to earth.
By that point, though, all of the anger she had previously been feeling was gone. Now she was just tired.
The ride back to her house was spent in silence, though Piper kept herself slightly focused in the event of that an Asgina attacked. However, when they got to the front gate of her house, Piper couldn't help but ask, "What is it…with you and Shel? If I didn't know better, I'd swear you two were brother and sister."
Billy smiled slightly, his eyes darker than usual. "We might as well be, I suppose, which is really bad because I had an actual sister once."
Piper winced a little, remembering how Billy's little sister and his older cousin died in a car crash because of a drunk driver.
"Does that happen…often?" Piper asked. "You and Shel fighting?"
"Not often."
"Is that the worst fight you two ever got into?"
"Not even close. Do you remember what Shel told you about Esther, her second girlfriend?"
Piper swallowed. "She committed suicide in front of Shel by jumping off a bridge."
Billy nodded easily. "Shel refused to cross a bridge, especially that bridge, for a month. At the end of it all, her mom got her in the car, and took her over that one specific bridge, having to resort to hardball to help Shel get over her trauma."
"What happened?" Piper blurted before she could stop herself. Obviously, Billy had been getting to that part.
"Shel threw herself out of the car at 50 miles an hour, dislocated her shoulder, and skinned herself up pretty bad."
Piper's breath left her in a sharp gasp.
"After that stunt," Billy continued, "I got a hold of her and punched her in the face. Now she's not traumatized about bridges anymore."
Piper didn't know what to think about that one.
And that was Shel's second girlfriend. What on earth happened to the other three? And just what made Esther want to jump off a bridge in front of her girlfriend? Piper wanted to ask Billy, but she wasn't sure if A), he would even have those details, and B) if he would be forthcoming with them. That was some pretty heavy stuff, after all, and Billy might think it a breach of trust to tell Piper about that without Shel's permission.
"Do I need to punch you in the face?" Billy asked directly.
Piper looked at him. "If you try to punch me in the face as a way of trying to get me to get over Jason, I will break your arm."
"Uh-huh, sure."
Piper's eyebrow twitched slightly. A little spike of vindication ran through her at Billy's casual dismissal of her strength. One of the downsides of not being a world-renowned superhero was that no one had any respect for your powers. Piper removed this spike, however.
"Well, whatever you do, you really need to do it. Dude's been dead for what, a month and a half now? April 1st, right? And it's May 16th. So, yeah, month and a half."
Piper's exhale came out with a bit of a shudder. Had it been that long already? "Billy," she said, "I'm going to need to shut up. Not one more word about Jason, do you understand me?"
Funny thing about her warning, Piper wasn't sure she hadn't just used charmspeak. Whatever the case, Billy shrugged.
"I'm sorry about tonight. You shouldn't have had to see that between us."
Piper looked ahead to the dark road in front of her. "It's fine. No one's perfect, I guess. We do things with people we shouldn't ever do."
"…y-yeah."
Piper looked over at Billy, and her brows furrowed at the sight of him suddenly gripping his steering wheel with both hands so hard his knuckles had turned white. He was staring straight ahead, lost somewhere in his mind, his expression grim.
"Billy?" Piper asked, reaching over to grab his shoulder.
He jerked away from her, and fixed her with a cold stare. "Get out. I'll see you in the morning."
Three dozen questions running through her mind, Piper did as requested, sensing that pushing this sudden matter would end in catastrophe. Billy shot down the road, swung wide through the grass in a U-turn, and tore back the other way towards his house, jerking to the other lane to avoid pelting Piper with rocks.
She stared after his taillights with a slightly agape jaw. Just what the hell had that been about? What had she said that triggered him like that? What had happened in his life that he got triggered in such a way as a response to whatever she had said?
Piper shook her head, knowing that no answers would come to her just standing alone in the dark of the night.
And with that realization, she was a bit creeped out.
There was an old streetlamp over the front gate, attached the telephone pole that supplied power to the house, but it was dim. Surrounding Piper for miles in all directions was nothing but darkness, and though her sixth sense detected no Asgina, that was but small comfort. No telling what else was out there in the night.
A bit of a funny thing, really, Piper being apprehensive about the dark despite all the powers and abilities she had. She shook her head and steeled herself, and eventually found herself alone in her house, flipping on the living room light to stand there and ponder what she wanted to do with herself.
Barely past nine, meaning it would be another four hours before Dad finished his last shift at the guard shack unless he left early. Piper wasn't sleepy, her body having gotten used to being up for a few more hours. She looked over at the TV, eyes zeroing in on the Roku stick.
It had Netflix.
Dad made an account for her to use.
She could watch Edgerunners.
It wasn't the same without Billy and Shel, but Piper watched the rest of the anime. She was left staring at the screen as Maine succumbed to cyberpsychosis and killed Dorio, a hand over her mouth in shock. She was cursing David's name and shouting at the television as the reckless protagonist jacked himself up with cyberware, heedless of the risks in his arrogance born from handling the Sandevistan. Then, finally, the last episode…
Billy had been right.
Piper couldn't handle it.
She dragged herself to her bed and cried herself to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I told you that I was going to bring in Edgerunners and that the David and Lucy story was going to screw Piper in the head, and I have delivered upon my promise. I've got at least two more Cyberpunk references planned for this story, and that may be it.
I'm also still thinking of that PJO/Cyberpunk crossover I mentioned some time ago.
Love that anime. And that game. Looking forward to when Phantom Liberty drops and we get Johnny back. Here's hoping they add a NG+ mode, because I really don't want to spend another 50 hours doing missions and grinding XP to start over from scratch, because I really loved that game.
Anyway, thus concludes the missing stuff from last chapter. Glad I broke them apart, because that would've been a chapter clocking in at over 20k words. Right now, the plan is that the next chapter has a focus on Billy in order to set him up for the grand finale, the chapter after that is Piper and Shel's first date in which I fully flesh Shel out in accordance with my interpretation of her, and then the big climax between Piper and Incognito!
So, three more chapters!
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Hah! Not really. There's a lot more meat to this story than just three chapters. Stay tuned to find out.
Fav, Follow, and Review please!
