Predatory
24
"How"
"would you"
"like to"
"make"
"a"
"new"
"friend~?"
Dinah hummed quietly, her eyes not leaving the screen as she considered the offer. On screen, a girl threw a golden cube into a fire and a dragon swooped down to pick it up. Eventually, as the credits began to roll, she asked, "Who?"
"A"
"very~"
"special"
"little girl"
"who needs"
"lots~"
"of love"
"and affection."
Dinah laughed quietly.
"What?"
"Everyone is terrified of you and here you are. Every night, without fail. In my room, on my bed, watching crappy old horror movies and eating my popcorn. And now you're trying to set me up on a play-date? I just think it's funny that if people knew, they wouldn't be scared any more."
"Yes"
"they would."
"People"
"look"
"for things"
"to"
"fear~."
Dinah shrugged. She was just a kid, what did she know? Instead, she asked, "What did you have in mind?"
"A"
"little"
"vacation."
"My parents aren't going to like that," she pointed out. It wasn't a complaint or a 'no,' just a statement of fact. "How long?"
"About"
"six"
"six""six""six"
"years."
Dinah blinked. "Really not going to like that."
"I'll"
"have you"
"back"
"in a"
"few~"
"hours."
"How's that work? Time travel?"
"Sort of~!"
"When did you want to do this?"
"The sooner"
"the better."
Dinah nodded and reached for the remote, before turning the tv off. "Should I pack?"
"No~"
"need."
Noh Face reached over and took Dinah's hand, and the pair fell into the shadow that expanded across the bed.
When they came back out, it was in a surprisingly normal kitchen. Dinah raised an eyebrow as she recognized Panacea, or rather Amy Dallon since she wasn't in costume, sitting at the table along with some people she didn't recognize—a blonde girl of around fifteen with bright green eyes, a blue-eyed redhead, an Asian girl with black hair and dark eyes, an older girl with brown hair and hazel eyes, and an albino girl…
No, she recognized that last one. Except the last time she had seen her, the white-haired girl's bottom half was a spider.
Dinah was lead to a chair between Amy Dallon and the blonde she didn't know. Then, Noh Face took the seat at the end of the table. A table with at least two heroes present, presumably more, none of whom looked at all surprised to see her.
The monster that was Dinah's personal savior and friend shifted, a ripple running over her form. The Japanese schoolgirl uniform was replaced by normal jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Black hair shifted to blonde and the mask disappeared, leaving behind a pretty albeit entirely normal girl only a couple of years older than Dinah. The precog stared, even as she noted that once again, no one at this table looked surprised in the least.
A moment later, a sliding glass door leading out to the back yard opened and a man walked in, bearing platters of food in his… Tentacles. Dinah blinked as the otherwise ordinary-looking man placed down a pan of steaks, another covered in foiled potatoes and corn, and a pot of beans.
"Rare," he announced, setting a steak in front of the first blonde. "Medium," everyone at the table but the redhead and Amy Dallon. "Blue," he made a face as he put a particularly bloody slab of meat in front of Amy. "And well done, you heathen," the last steak went to the redhead.
His tentacles shifted into arms, only for a new tentacle to sprout from his back and make its way to the refrigerator as he moved to sit at the other end of the table from the girl who had been Noh Face—the blonde Dinah didn't know at his immediate right. The tentacles came back with a bunch of drinks, steak sauce, and two bowls: salad and something yellow that Dinah couldn't identify.
"So, we have some new faces tonight. Introductions are in order." He turned a smile on Dinah. "I'm Miles Watson, at least on paper. I don't generally go out in costume like this."
The redhead to his right, one down from the blonde snorted quietly. "No kidding," she grinned, the smile a sort of know-it-all look that Dinah couldn't decide if she liked or wanted to smack the girl for. "Mary-Jane Watson. No relation, but Miles and Missy adopted me because I didn't have a legal identity, or memories. I'm Batgirl in costume."
Next came the black-haired Asian girl. "Cindy Moon. Silk."
At the end of the table opposite Miles, the blonde who had brought her here said, "Missy Biron."
"How many other names are you up to now?" Amy Dallon asked, her tone teasing, from the blonde's right. "Pretty sure they both know who I am."
Missy rolled her eyes. "It's not like we've gained any more than we had last week. And pretty sure Ciara has more."
"For one identity. Not one each for three," the blonde at Miles' side pointed out.
Missy rolled her eyes. "Fine. I was Vista. Now, I'm one half of either Widow or Noh Face as the situation calls for. Miles being the other half."
Dinah raised an eyebrow at that and the man, seeing the expression, shrugged. "It's complicated. Moving on."
The black haired girl to Amy's right looked uncomfortable. Like she wanted to be somewhere else very badly, but was forcing herself to stay. "Tess Richter. You all know me better as Dragon."
Next was the Albino girl. "I… Kind of want a new name. I like not being Taylor Hebert. I like being Arachne. I don't, I don't want to go back."
"Very well. Name yourself when you've had time to think upon it," the blonde beside Miles nodded. "My name is Ciara Morrigan. You know my public persona as that of Glaistig Uaine, the Fairy Queen, and other such epithets."
And finally, they came to Dinah, from where she was squeezed in between Taylor and Ciara. "Dinah Alcott. I don't have a cape name, but I have powers."
"Alright, dig in everyone," Miles said, and suited word to deed, cutting into his steak, but his eyes were focused elsewhere.
As people around the table began to do just that, Dinah watched Dragon, Tess she supposed, look at the food uncertainly before hesitantly, and awkwardly, picking up her fork and a knife. As if she knew how, but this was her first time actually using them. Dinah wondered why Miles and Missy watched with such interest as the world's greatest Tinker brought a slice of meat to her lips.
"Mmf," Tess moaned, and for a moment everyone at the table froze, starting at the woman the particularly lewd sound had escaped from. Seeming to realize she had become the center of attention, Tess blushed and covered her mouth, but she didn't stop slowly chewing, nor did it do anything to disguise the incredibly pleased noises escaping her.
"What's with her?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She's never had food before," MJ said, that smugly amused look returning. "You're watching Miles pop an AI's food cherry at our kitchen table."
"How lewd," Ciara teased. Teased. The Fairy Queen. Teasing Dragon. Who was an AI apparently? Dinah didn't know what was real anymore. She felt like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole.
"Okay, Dinah's looking kind of overwhelmed over there. Maybe dial it back a bit?" Amy asked.
Missy rolled her eyes. "If this is all it takes to upend her worldview—"
"I, I'm fine," Dinah shook her head and started eating. She had skipped eating with her parents that night, claiming she wasn't hungry, specially because she found a note on her desk this afternoon asking her to, and she only knew one person who routinely snuck into her bedroom.
Then there was the phone call… A long call where she spoke with MJ, who she didn't know by name at the time but was introduced by Noh Face as 'a friend,' who asked her for a few predictions before hanging up and letting her go back to her movie.
"I have to ask," Tess finally said, after swallowing her first rapturous mouthful, "why did you bring a child here?" As soon as she asked, Miles and Missy shared an identical grin. "I'm not going to like the answer to this, am I?"
"You wanted to monitor us to make sure we weren't planning to take over or destroy the world, and try to curtail our culling of people not worth the air they're wasting," Missy began.
Tess looked like she really, really wanted to argue that. Miles' next words stopped her in her tracks. "Dinah, why don't you tell Tess how you know us?"
Dinah swallowed the mouthful she was eating and chased it with a sip of water. "She… They?"
"Either/or," Missy shrugged.
"The Noh Face body is female, but it's both of us driving," Miles supplied.
"They saved me," Dinah answered simply. Then she dug into her grilled potato. "This is really good."
"Thank you," Miles grinned.
"I'm sorry, but could you elaborate?" Tess asked, before diving back into her own food. No one ignored the sounds coming from the girl, but if she cared the only thing she showed for it was a blush and a blissful expression as she savored every mouthful.
Dinah sighed. Gesturing between Miles and Missy, she reiterated. "They saved me. From Coil. He was going to kidnap me, drug me, and use me for my powers. They killed him before he could."
"So you never actually met Coil?" Tess asked and Dinah shook her head. "How do you know he was planning to do that? Did they tell you that…?"
Dinah leaned forward in her seat and leveled a glare in Tess' direction. "My powers told me. It took a lot of work and lots of headaches to figure it out."
Tess frowned and Missy decided to throw her a bone. "With the Simurgh out of the picture, Dinah is the second most powerful precog in the world. With Coil's ability to simulate outcomes and choose the best one, Tattletale feeding him information, and Dinah providing predictions he would've been… Not quite unstoppable, but a huge pain in the ass."
"Is that true?" the woman asked of the little girl.
Miles rolled his eyes. "A practical demonstration would work better. Do you mind?" When Dinah shook her head, he asked, "Percentage chance Armsmaster's secret identity is Colin Wallace?"
"One hundred percent."
Tess went wide eyed. "How—"
"Out of context problem," Miles shrugged.
"Hey Dinah, sweetie, what are Tess' odds of getting laid if she confesses to Colin?" Amy asked, her tone teasing.
"How did you know that?!" Tess yelped.
"Fifty-four point oh five percent," Dinah answered, before taking a bite of her small salad. She took a moment to chew before adding, around half a mouthful, "Eighty-seven point one one if she's really, really blunt about it."
Missy's lips twitched. "Odds she'll enjoy it?"
Dinah frowned. "Too subjective."
"Odds she'll achieve orgasm more than once in any given session," Missy clarified.
"Oh come on, you can't ask a kid—" Miles protested, but Dinah's voice cut him off.
"Zero point zero zero zero zero, wow that's a lot of zeroes," Dinah paused, before correcting herself, "one times ten to the negative forty-second power. What's an orgasm?"
Miles shot Missy an annoyed look. "Don't worry about it. Moving on."
Tess nodded in agreement. Turning towards Miles, she said, "Saving one child doesn't absolve you of killing thirteen hundred and counting."
"Never said it did," the man shrugged. "Our point was that we only kill those who have earned it. Who would have been sentenced to death anyway, if Cauldron hadn't gotten themselves a parallel legal system."
"It doesn't matter that it's a parallel legal system, it's still the law of the land—"
"An unconstitutional law is illegal," the man countered instantly.
"Even if that were the case, it's not your place to take the law into your own hands and commit acts of terrorism! And that's what it is! It's not even vigilantism anymore, when your actions are explicitly crafted to elicit fear and incite panic. Worse, other people may decide to follow your example and start killing people who they believe have committed crimes but who may, in actuality, be innocent. You may be able to pull the truth out of people's minds, but most other people can't—and even if they could, within the borders of the United States, it should violate one's rights against self-incrimination and illegal search and seizure—"
"We realize that you're passionate about this subject, and our husband does love to argue and would indulge a fence post if given the opportunity," Ciara began.
"I'm not that bad," Miles muttered.
"Proving her point," MJ singsonged. The man looked at her and made a swatting motion, to which she simply grinned, getting that look in her eyes that Dinah had seen her mom get occasionally before her parents sent her to bed so they could have sex.
"But I believe we're getting away from the reason for this meeting," the blonde continued.
"Why is the Fairy Queen the voice of reason? Am I slipping into the Twilight Zone?" Tess sighed.
"This is a madhouse," Miles nodded.
"Feels like being cloned?" Missy asked, a smirk dancing across her lips.
"Your beacon's been moved under moon and star?" MJ jumped in.
"Rr," the AI grumbled.
"Anyway," Amy stressed. "We're not here to debate ethics or tease Dragon about her sexual frustration."
"I am not sexually frustrated!"
From either end of the table, Miles and Missy mouthed, 'Sexually frustrated Dragon noises intensify.'
"We're here because we've decided what to do about Bonesaw."
Tess stiffened. "So you did kidnap her. She didn't show up with the others, so I suspected you might have simply killed her like the others, but… you always showed the bodies and didn't with her."
"'Kidnap' is a very strong word. I'd say we…" Missy trailed off, searching for something else.
"Remanded her to protective custody for rehabilitation?" MJ supplied and the blonde nodded.
"'Rehab—' You could have—" Tess was so frustrated she couldn't properly formulate a response. Distantly, she noted that her feelings had never been this strong before and wondered if this was one of the differences between being digital and being flesh and blood. Considering the way her two main antagonists were looking at her with that knowing look, they were thinking about their conversation on that other Earth.
Finally, she managed to get out, "She's killed more people than any ten villains in the Birdcage combined! She has a higher kill count than the Fairy Queen! What makes her special?! What makes her worth a second chance where they weren't?! Why does she get to live?"
"Because she's cute and cute is justice."
The table jumped as Tess slammed her hands down into it and stood up. Before she could do anything else, a soft hand landed on her shoulder. "They're just screwing with you. Come on, sit back down," Taylor said softly. "I can think of at least two reasons. Either because they were sympathetic, or because she's useful."
"It's both," MJ supplied. "I mean, it's pretty obvious."
"…I didn't think it was obvious?" Cindy said quietly. "Why is Bonesaw special where other people wouldn't be?"
"Several reasons, I imagine," Ciara began. "Firstly, my—" She paused before visibly correcting herself. "They have shown themselves numerous times to give second chances to those with extenuating circumstances, especially where issues of the mind are concerned. Black Kaze and myself come immediately to mind. Neither of us were in our right mind when we committed the crimes we are responsible for. They have since remedied those problems."
"And you've wasted your second chance by going right back to killing," Tess muttered.
Ciara slowly turned a look on the AI. "My Lord husband saved me from years of insanity after my 'shard' tried to merge with my mind and failed partway. They saved me from years of wrongful imprisonment because of an agreement coaxed out of me by a group of people who took advantage of my addled state. They tolerated and then embraced my awkward, confused affections when they could have turned me away. And when Miles could have taken advantage of me at my most vulnerable, he instead choose to do right by me—to build me back up, instead of supplanting my mind to create a puppet to use my power as they saw fit or simply destroying me. I owe them my life, my mind, my freedom, my dignity, and my love. There is nothing I would not do for them, of sound mind and of my own volition. Perhaps you should ask yourself what you owe them before you seek to judge others. By the time this is over, I wager that you will owe them more than I."
"I, I don't owe them anything—"
Ciara cut the woman off. "Don't you?"
"Ciara," Missy cut her off gently, drawing the other blonde's gaze to her. "You don't owe us anything."
"Friends don't hold debts over each other. Nor do lovers," Miles pointed out.
"Perhaps," Ciara allowed. "Perhaps you feel that way, and I respect that. However, I feel as though I owe you a debt I cannot repay, and so I will continue to do everything within my power to do so, and no amount of kind words will change that. That is something you will simply have to accept. It is a debt I will gladly repay with love and kindness for the rest of my many, many days."
Amy sighed. "There she goes, getting all lovey-dovey again."
"How can she say things like that with a straight face? I can't think it without blushing," Taylor murmured, her pale skin lit up brightly with a blush.
"She's always so earnest when she does it, too. It's cute," MJ smiled, for once looking simply happy at the sight.
"It makes me want to hug her," Cindy added quietly.
"Alright, that's enough. You're making her self-conscious," Miles brought the teasing to an end.
"Right," Amy agreed. "The second reason Bonesaw deserves a second chance where the people in the 'Cage didn't shouldn't need any real explanation. She's just a child."
Tess frowned. She wanted to argue that children were tried as adults every day for serious crimes, but… Her heart wasn't in it. Because if she made that argument, she would in effect be advocating for a twelve year old child to be executed in the same manner Noh Face typically took her victims: nightmarishly. Some more so than others.
"And finally," MJ continued, "she didn't make the choice, did she? Jack Slash kidnapped her when she was six."
"Jack who?" Tess frowned.
"Exactly," Missy smirked.
"Hang on," Miles said. Tess blinked twice before her eyes went wide. "There you go." At the same time, Dinah felt something twitch in her own brain and suddenly, she remembered the man told of in whispers. The man Noh Face had erased from collective memory, so that there would be no copycats.
"Anyway," MJ continued, "I've done some digging at Miles' behest and come up with some information. Short version, from what police records can tell, Jack made her trigger, then made her kill and experiment on her own parents—maybe not in that order."
"Part of Jack's power—a big, subtle part—was that it could communicate with other shards. From that, it found dig out information on the hosts or make them suggestible. The power was so subtle, and had such high level access, that it was able to manipulate the golden idiot himself," Miles explained. "His shard, Communication, was a major one. One of those not typically distributed in a cycle, like Shaper, Need, or Queen Administrator. Like Shaper and Queenie, it got along really well with its host. So well that I had to put it down screaming. I had to wipe and reinitialize the AI or it would've been constantly working against me for killing its host."
Tess frowned. "Our shards can do that? Just… Master us?"
Missy rolled her eyes. "Uh, duh. Why do you think parahumans sometimes act so fucking stupid? Do things against their own interests? Are generally more aggressive and prone to conflict? They want us to fight and gather data, and they won't get that if forethought, forgiveness, and other human traits get in the way."
"I've never experienced those things," Tess shook her head, then frowned. "But… I have been noticing a trend in the statistics. I thought it was related to other socio-economic factors."
"It's not. Shards tend to take the worst human traits and amplify them. Not always, not in everyone, not all the time… But all it takes is a nudge sometimes. And Jack's shard pretty much told him exactly what buttons to press and in what way. Similarly to Tattletale's shard, but more of an asshole about it."
Finally, Tess sighed and nodded. "Okay. Fine. How do you plan to 'rehabilitate' her, exactly? Why should she be allowed to bypass the legal system? And why shouldn't this be left to the professionals at a mental institution, assuming she was found mentally unsound?"
Miles, Missy, and Amy traded looks before the girls turned to Miles, who rolled his eyes. "Answering out of order here… She should bypass the legal system because she's only six—"
"She's twelve," Tess corrected.
"Getting there," Miles grumbled. "It shouldn't be left to 'medical professionals' because they can be incompetent on a good day and we're dealing with special circumstances, we have tools they don't, and if you want a job done right then sometimes you have to do it yourself. And finally, to answer your first question last and tie it all together… We're going to kill Bonesaw."
"And there we go," Tess muttered. "Of course you'd turn to murder—"
"Not actually murder this time," Miles shook his head and the AI turned human paused. "Public perception is that we probably killed her, because we didn't release the audio for that part of the video and before then, we'd never spared a target. So as far as the authorities are concerned, Bonesaw is dead. Or worse, because as you said, we didn't show a body. Which means Riley gets a chance to live."
"That's a legal fiction to protect her from retaliation. Fine. What about the actual rehabilitation?"
It was Amy who supplied the beginnings of an answer. "I don't do brains, don't trust myself to. But Miles can and does. And he's very good at it."
Tess frowned, but she couldn't really argue considering she was benefiting directly from that skill. Miles elaborated on Amy's explanation. "So you'd agree that the problem started with Jack showing up in her life, right?" When Tess hesitantly nodded, he continued, "Then it stands to reason that if things happened differently, she'd turn out differently."
"… Are you implying that you can time travel?" Tess asked hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer.
"Not yet," Missy answered with a grin.
"'Yet,'" the AI sighed.
"No, I'm saying we remove everything that happened from the time Jack kidnapped her. It would, essentially, revert her to around six years old, mentally. Then we load her into a simulated environment and let her grow up 'normally' in accelerated time, until her mind matches her body."
Tess considered it for a moment before asking, "How is this any better than what the Nine did? From her perspective, you would be kidnapping her and raising her for six years."
Amy sent the AI a hard look. "That sounds like arguing for argument's sake. Unless you genuinely believe that being raised in a caring environment is equivalent to being raised by psychopaths."
"No, it's not," Tess sighed. "But I'm not wrong, either. How is that going to look to her?"
"Hopefully better than it looks for me," Amy shrugged. "In my case, my 'parents' broke into my father's home, assaulted him, kidnapped and adopted me, and sent him off to the Birdcage then lied about who I was for the next ten or so years. I believe that if we're open and honest about most of what happened and tell her more as she gets older, she'll be ready to hear the full truth eventually and it won't break her."
Tess considered that for a few minutes, finishing off her meal with more little happy noises, before she finally nodded. "It's not the best plan in the world, but it would give her a chance."
"Glad you agree. So, you won't have a problem helping, then."
Tess tuned her gaze on Missy. "Helping? How?"
"You're the one worried we're going to corrupt her. What do you think would be the best way to prevent that?" Miles asked.
Humming quietly to herself, Tess thought it over. "Education."
Missy frowned at that, but nodded. "Only if we get veto rights. We're not letting you indoctrinate her into some asinine, self-harmful way of thinking."
"Can't be worse than public education or colleges, from what I've heard," MJ chuckled.
"I wouldn't do that," Tess shook her head. "I was thinking a full set of the core classes—math, science, language, and history—along with a parahuman focused curriculum consisting of ethics, law, and parahuman specific history. Also give her some time just to develop her powers in a safe environment." Humming, Tess sent a considering look at Amy. "Maybe the three of us could do some collaboration with Tinkering?"
"Sure, sounds fun," Amy agreed. "It'd be a good way to prototype some of the more dangerous things where they won't affect the real world."
"And I assume that for some of us, this is a chance to either explore our powers, or take a vacation from the outside world?" Ciara asked.
Missy nodded. "Pretty much. If anyone wants to skip, feel free, but say so now."
Taylor bit her lip and nodded. "Sorry, I'm just not interested."
Missy sent her a look. "You could use a break from this place more than anyone. But no one's going to force you."
"Thanks," the albino sighed.
"More time to get laid and plan out Tinkering builds? Count me in," MJ grinned. Beside her, Cindy nodded once.
"So we're agreed?" Miles asked, and there were nods around the table from everyone but Taylor. "Okay, we'll reconvene in the Batcave."
Standing, he gathered the dishes in tentacles that sprouted from his back and took them into the kitchen. While Miles did that, Missy gestured and space twisted—and suddenly, there was an opening from the dining room into the cave. Taylor saw herself out as the others filed in. Dinah looked around in curiosity at all the webs strung up in what looked like a dug out cave. A moment later, Miles rejoined them and the aperture shut.
Liquid shadows spread out from the man, crawling over the surrounding webs as tendrils grew between them. "Alright, make yourselves comfortable. I'll get us all hooked up and bring us in."
They watched as Amy and Missy moved to lean back into tendril-covered webbing and sit down, the tendrils creeping over their bodies in places. Following their example, Dinah picked a spot and sat down. The twitched as tendrils crept under her clothes and along her spine, neck, and skull along with various points on her body. "Feels weird," she murmured.
"You get used to it," Amy chuckled.
From the pool of biomass as their feet, a body arose—the blonde form of a sleeping child, roughly Dinah's age and size.
"Alright," Miles called, drawing their attention away from the girl. "Launching virtual environment… now."
Lily didn't sigh as she sat in on the morning briefing, but she very much wanted to.
It was her first morning after transferring to Brockton Bay after an emergency request for both Protectorate and Wards personnel, put out last night after the cancellation of the Endbringer muster that had seen most of the affiliated capes on the east coast showing up to Brockton Bay to respond to an undisclosed 'Endbringer level threat.' A threat which turned out to be an overreaction on Director Emily Piggot's part, according to scuttlebutt.
What she'd managed to piece together was that Noh Face (who had quickly become the newest boogyman everyone was checking under beds and in closets for), after her tour terrorizing the major cities of the states surrounding New Hampshire (and Lily had been in New York for that visit, it was not a fun time), had apparently decided to officially declare Brockton Bay her territory and had taken out two of the resident gangs in a matter of less than an hour to do it. One of those gangs Lily knew wasn't a pushover, and pretty much everyone in the States had heard of: Empire 88.
More worrying was that Noh Face hadn't actually eliminated those gangs herself. No, she had used her own team to do it. A team that consisted of some of the scariest names in the Birdcage, before she broke them out. Marquis, String Theory, Black Kaze, and Glaistig Uaine. It read like something out of those 'Suicide Squad' comics from Aleph, as some on the internet had been speculating since the reveal of the raid on the Birdcage.
Early last night, the local PRT scrambled to respond to multiple calls, reporting suspicious activity at what was suspected to be a Merchants hideout/drug den, an explosion in a residential area, and the sounds of screams from a building in what was unofficially Empire territory. And then, while emergency services were just beginning to arrive on scene to those problems, Noh Face herself had shown up in the middle of downtown Brockton Bay. Someone started streaming it pretty much immediately and it escalated into the usual horror show as the leadership of the Empire were eliminated and Noh Face and her 'gang' (who were tentatively being called The Faceless online) declared their conquering of Brockton Bay. Oh, they claimed they weren't interested in ruling over the city itself and that things would continue as normal, with some addendums to the law on the enforcement side, but…
You don't make a throne if you don't intend to sit in it. And those things were a very visible statement of intent. Especially when they proved immovable and indestructible.
Lily was pulled back to the present when Assault entered the room, carrying a cup of coffee. Looking around at the gathered group, he grinned and sat down at the table. "You're all looking bright-tailed and bushy eyed," he commented.
"Fuggoff," Clockblocker muttered around a yawn. "It's too early to be that chipper."
The man simply laughed before slurping obnoxiously loudly at his coffee. At the moment, Assault was the only Protectorate hero at the table. The Wards, however, were all already present—both the locals and the new additions, some of whom would be temporary.
On one side of the table, at the back of the room, were Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker, Kid Win, and the newly inducted Scribe and Sage. Those last two were apparently both former Empire members, who had joined before Noh Face came down on their gang like a ton of bricks.
Across from the local Wards were Lily herself, a Case-53 boy seemingly made of metal named Weld, a newly-minted possibly hero named Tress, and two boys and a girl she didn't recognize.
The first boy was large, in full motorcycle leathers and a helmet stylized as a chromed skull that leaked black smoke from the mouth. The second boy wore flowing, loose clothes that reminded Lily of a Renaissance Faire and was smaller, on the slim and athletic side to the first boy's bulk. The girl was short, wearing a dark costume and a demon mask. Those three kept themselves separated from the others, but had introduced themselves as Grue, Regent, and Imp of The Undersiders.
Unlike the Wards present, the Undersiders had opted not to remove their helmets and swap them for domino masks—further distancing themselves from everyone else, in Lily's assessment. Although, from what Aegis had whispered to her when she asked, she could understand. The group were apparently small time crooks, before changing sides last night after Noh Face's pronouncement. Aegis hadn't known the details, beyond that they were on their side now and had been pardoned—all four of them, including the absent fourth member.
"Any idea what's going on?" Kid Win asked, idly typing away at a tablet in his hands.
"Come on? Who are you asking, here?" Assault rolled his eyes. Then he set his coffee down and leaned in towards the group of younger heroes, causing them to lean forward in response. "But it's definitely because of what Scary did last night. Scary. The Fairy Queen. Marquis coming back. The crazy who threatened to blow up the moon. The woman responsible for killing half of the survivors of Kyushu. That's big."
A grin replaced his serious look and he leaned back in his chair. "Or the Director could've finally found a big enough boot to deal with Arachne."
"There is not a boot big enough," Scribe muttered.
"Fuckin' seconded," Imp shuddered.
"I don't see why the Director is so vehemently against Arachne. Yes, spiders are scary for some people. But this goes beyond arachnophobia. And it's not just Arachne. She's been more… on edge around other parahumans as well, lately," Gallant said, drawing the others' attention to himself. "I think Arachne was just the tipping point."
Clockblocker snorted quietly. "Maybe she's parahuman-phobic." When Gallant remained silent, a contemplative look on his face, Clockblocker raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I'm actually right, do you? I was just spitballing."
"Ellisberg," Aegis whispered. Assault and the rest of the locals winced at that.
"What's an 'Ellisberg?'" Weld asked. "And how's it apply to Director Piggot?"
"Ellisberg is the town that Nilbog took over, where he converted most of the population into… Things," Tress supplied. "How do you not know that?"
"Case-53," Weld defended himself.
"So am I and I still use the internet," the dark-haired girl countered.
"What's important about Nilbog and Ellisberg?"
"What you have to know," Aegis began, "is that Director Piggot is an Ellisberg survivor. She was injured during the event and now requires regular dialysis because of it."
"I could grant her temporary healing, if she would like to get it fixed," Sage offered.
Gallant's frown deepened. "You wouldn't know, because…" He trailed off and the hero who had originally been known as Othala nodded. "She's refused Panacea repeatedly."
"That's stupid," Regent commented.
"Cutting off your nose to spite your face, more like," Grue agreed, his voice wavering strangely through the smoke coming from his mask.
Scribe rolled her eyes. "Sounds like she's got a hateboner for parahumans alright."
"You'd know all about that," Clockblocker muttered under his breath.
"You're right. I would," Scribe agreed. "And from a certain perspective, she's right to fear us. Being realistic here, we're walking weapons. That is if it is fear and not disgust. Nilbog, and Arachne in this case, so it could be both—"
"Arachne is a good girl, you take that back," Kid Win cut in, looking up from his tablet to glare at the girl.
Scribe leered at the boy. "Not everyone has a monster girl fetish, you otaku. I'm sorry, nice or not, everything below the waist is a hard 'no' for me. That's just…" She shuddered.
"Would you refuse to work with her?" Aegis asked, in a tone the said the only acceptable answer was 'no.'
Scribe nodded. "Actually, yes. Because spiders. I'd be too distracted worrying about that to do my job."
"You can't refuse to work with someone—"
"You can, actually," Gallant countered his leader. "If working with them would cause undue stress or hardship. If you have arachnophobia, being forced to work with someone who uses spiders, or is half spider, would fall under both of those. It would actually be something an employee could pursue legal action for. Put another way: if I said I had claustrophobia and the Director ordered me to go crawling around through a tunnel system, I could refuse and she would have to accept my refusal or face legal repercussions."
Aegis frowned, but nodded. "Fine. So what do we do about Director Piggot?"
"As with any case of suspected workplace discrimination, document everything and report it," Gallant shrugged.
The sound of multiple footsteps and a strange clicking came from down the hall and for a moment, Lily thought it might be the Protectorate capes coming to join them. Instead, the door was opened by a PRT trooper and several more people their age filed in—some she recognized, some she didn't.
Right in the front were the younger members of New Wave: Shielder, followed by Glory Girl and Panacea. The trio were in a conversation about something that stopped as soon as they entered the room.
"Hey guys," Glory Girl greeted with a smile as her gaze trailed off the group, before the smile fell off when she got to Gallant. The pair gave each other a nod but didn't interact beyond that.
I smell gossip, Lily decided.
Behind them came someone Lily definitely recognized: Widow, with her hands behind her head and her mask and hood down, ears flicking this way and that in a way that made Lily want to pet them. Following behind Gwen were two girls in mostly black costumes, one spider-themed and one bat themed. A third in a more colorful red, green, black, and yellow costume followed, and beside her was a girl wearing something that looked similar to Panacea's costume and carrying a staff with a jewel on the end, with facial features and hair very similar to Gwen—she even had the ears, in fact. Lily had to fight to contain a squee at the sheer level of adorable there.
How do those two get away with violating Aleph trademarks? That's clearly Batgirl and Robin, Lily mused, looking over the pair as a small smile tugged at her lips. Very nice costume work though. They pull it off better than the comics ever did. And the last one! I want to take her home!
Behind those five came the source of the clicking. "Excuse me," a quiet voice said politely and the PRT trooper at the door quickly got out of the way as something big squeezed in through the too-small entry.
A human head and torso bent down, braided white hair quickly caught in pale hands before it could hit the floor. There was some clicking, and then a massive spider head under the girl peeked into the room before the rest of the body carefully worked its way through the door frame and into the room, revealing Arachne in all her horror glory.
The room, save for the newcomers, went dead silent. Arachne stooped so as to not hit her head on the ceiling, her spider legs bent and her head tilted forward a bit. She brought up one hand as she tossed her braid around her body. "Hi."
Scribe's chair scraped the floor as she jumped back and moved into the far corner of the room. "Nope. Get me away from you."
Arachne simply sighed, while Sage followed her teammate. That seemed to signal the room as a whole and half a dozen conversations started at the same time as people began breaking into various groups and any semblance of order was lost as the room hit some kind of critical mass of teenagers. Lily, however, stayed quiet and observed.
On the side of the room with Scribe, Widow walked over and greeted the girl with a smile. "Good to see you again, Rune. Sorry, what're you going by now?" she asked the girl, putting herself directly between Scribe's line of sight and where Arachne stood.
"Scribe," she answered tersely, her breathing coming in quiet pants. "I need to leave."
"Tammi, you're fine," Sage said quietly, too quiet for Lily to hear but lip-reading was a skill she had acquired.
"Hey Amy, got a sec?" Gwen called. Amy looked up from where she had been talking with the Wards, before nodding and heading over. "Think you can…?"
Amy laid a hand on Scribe's arm, after reaching up her sleeve to touch her bare skin. Scribe slumped, her eyes drooping as her entire body relaxed. "Oops! A little much," Panacea murmured.
After a moment, Scribe straightened back up, looking better. "What did you do?"
"Well, I can do brains now, just a little," Panacea smiled. "I poked the part of your brain having a panic attack, then flooded your system with more endorphins than you'd get after a good lay. A little too much though, so I had to dial it back in. You shouldn't have that sort of adverse reaction again."
Sage shook her head and sighed. "More proof you were always the better healer. I couldn't fix things like that with my powers."
"Your power is a non-specific healing ability though, on top of a dozen other empowerments. It's good at what it does. Mine is… Like being an engineer who moonlights as an ER doctor."
Gwen broke away from the three, leaving Amy to talk to them. She made her way to the table, sending a smile Lily's way before talking to Clockblocker. "So, I see some new faces?"
"They were called up to deal with you-know-who last night, but nothing really came out of that. A few stuck around. The Undersiders apparently decided to turn over a new leaf. We're probably going to figure out why the newbies are staying when the others get here."
She nodded, before reaching out across the table and offering her hand. "I'm Widow, but you can call me Gwen when I've got my mask off. And you?"
Lily shook the offered hand, willing to let the blonde keep their first meeting secret if that's what she wanted. "Lily. Flechette in costume. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Gwen grinned. "About time we got some more girls in the Wards. It was becoming a real sausage fest. I'm sure the boys are happy too."
"Why's that?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
Clockblocker sighed, while Gwen's grin shifted into a smirk. "Eye candy, obviously."
"You're not supposed to say the quiet part out loud, Gwen."
The girl rolled her eyes. "Women like a man with confidence, especially one who's willing to stop pussy footing around all the bullshit social niceties and just say what he means and wants. As long as you're not a creep about it."
Dropping down into the chair at the boy's side, she continued. "Scribe is cute. Single. You two have a thing already. You could easily turn that into something more."
Clockblocker sent her an incredulous look. "We don't have a thing. Rune was a bitch and tried to crush me with part of a car only a few months ago."
"You definitely have a thing. Trust me, we could hear it from down the hallway," her ears flicked, emphasizing their presence. "You're angry at her. She's picking up on your tone and returning it with antagonism and defensiveness. But if you sit down and talk, actually talk, you could clear the air.
"Then there's all that lingering emotion. You move in with something smooth but subtle. 'I like your new costume, it really shows off your figure,' or something. You've got her trained to respond to anything you say about her with a return volley, so she'll probably say yours makes you look stupid. Now here's where you bait the hook. Agree with her. 'Yeah, it looks kind of dumb. I've been thinking about updating it. You just went through this with yours, got any suggestions?'"
Lily listened and watched as the pair talked, the three of them mostly being ignored in the chaos of this many teens (and Assault, who might as well be a teen himself). As she spoke, Gwen slowly lowered her voice, forcing them to lean in closer to hear her over the din. It wasn't until she mentioned it, however, that Lily realized it was intentional.
"While you're going on about what changes she thinks are good, slowly lower your speaking volume, forcing her to get closer and closer… And then you look up, and as though noticing just for the first time—"
Gwen paused, blue eyes staring searchingly into those of the boy in front of her. "Wow. I never noticed."
Clockblocker blinked, a look of confusion crossing his face. "Noticed what?"
"Just how pretty your eyes are." And then she leaned forward, closing the distance between them until their noses nearly touched and Lily's eyes went wide as she wondered if Gwen would actually do it.
"And then you kiss her, moron," the blonde whispered, and before Clockblocker could react, brought her hand up and flicked his forehead with her middle finger, causing the boy to jerk back with a yelp as his skull made a comical thunk sound.
"Ow!" Of course, his cry of pain only attracted the laughter of his colleagues, who while they didn't know what had happened assumed he had done something to earn it.
Gwen leaned back in her chair with an amused look. "Either she'll like it and kiss back, or she'll smack you. And even if she smacks you, it'll be on her mind. She'll dwell on it. She might even come back and return the favor."
The redheaded boy looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding as he rubbed at the red mark dead center on his forehead. "Maybe I will."
"Does that really work?" Lily asked, an amused smile playing across her lips.
Gwen's answering look was challenging, cocky, and set Lily's heart all a-flutter while things further south went all a-tingle. "I don't know. Let's try it and find out."
Looking between the two of them, Clockblocker groaned quietly. "Leave some for the rest of us."
Before their conversation could go any further, the adult heroes began filing in and taking up chairs, prompting the younger heroes to start sitting down as well. Lily clocked several she knew and a few she didn't. Among those she knew were the entire Protectorate East-Northeast team and the adults of New Wave.
There was a tension there among that group, however. They seemed to be divided into two groups—or rather, no, two of their number were on the outs from the rest: Manpower and Brandish. From the way the other adults around them gave them space, they knew.
There were five she didn't know, but two of them she at least thought she recognized. The man in the long coat with the staff was probably Myrddin, from Chicago, while the other she thought she recognized as Strider, a teleporting Mover from Endbringer fights.
The other three were unknown to her, but two of them moved over to sit down and Gwen, along with what must be Gwen's team given how many of them were spider-themed, joined them. And now that she looked, the blonde woman shared a lot of facial features with Gwen and the little cutie with the staff, minus the ears.
The last, a mousey brunette, took a seat beside Armsmaster with a small smile, but Lily noticed the way her gaze constantly went back to Gwen's group. Something was going on there or Lily would eat her hat.
It was Ms. Militia who took the stage front and center and turned on a projector attached to a laptop set up in front of the room before turning off the lights. She opened a slideshow and the first image that popped up was of a black crystal pillar that made Lily mildly sick to look at, but the words upon which burned themselves into her brain. On and on the list went, covering a list of crimes that most would agree were some of the worst things one person could do to another human being.
"So, Scary got biblical last night," Assault muttered, breaking the silence.
"Yes. This is the list of crimes punishable by death within Brockton Bay now. No trial, no lawyers, no judge, no jury. Skip directly to execution. And because it's her, she's already uploaded video proof of her crimes," Militia supplied, before advancing the presentation and loading a video.
The video was paused on a still frame of a man advancing upon a little girl.
"DaQuarius"
"Jackson."
"Age thirty-nine."
"Attempted rape"
"of"
"a"
"child."
"Guilty~."
Everyone in the room shivered at the whispers coming from the video. The scene began to play out in what looked like a small apartment kitchen. The man on screen tugged his pants down, exposing himself to the girl. She backed away until running into the wall. When her back hit the wall, she started screaming. The man slapped her and half the people in the room winced at the sound of bone cracking as she fell to the floor.
Mr. Jackson got down on his knees, taking his cock in hand and lining himself up. Before he could get any further, a pale hand reached out of a pool of liquid shadow that stirred at his feet, grabbing him by the balls. Another wince passed through the room as the hand jerked and the man screamed in soprano, before being dragged into a pool of shadow by his nuts.
The video didn't end there, however. Oh, how Lily wished it did. No, the video followed him as Mr. Jackson appeared on a fleshy, black and red hellscape, where he was promptly mobbed by men and women in varying states of bodily integrity…
Zombies. He was torn apart by fucking zombies.
As if she couldn't get scarier, now she's using zombies? I don't want to live on this planet any more, Lily cringed.
The video ended and another took its place.
"Michael"
"Brown."
"Age twenty-two."
"Attempted"
"murder."
"Guilty~."
The video began to advance, showing the inside of a convenience store. A man wearing a hood, mask, jacket, and gloves walked into the store and pulled a gun from the back of his pants, shouting at the cashier to give him everything in the till.
Once the till was empty, he began screaming for the elderly Asian man to open the safe, only to be told the safe was on a timer and couldn't be opened until morning. He pulled the trigger and the gun went off. A moment before that however, unbeknownst or unnoticed by anyone in the store, the area around him grew dark and full of eyes, and it hurt to look at—much in the same way as the pillar, or the paths Noh Face had used to move around the Birdcage. So when Mr. Brown pulled the trigger in this twisted space, his head erupted in a fountain of gore as he was made to blow his own brains out. His body fell, and didn't stop falling as it sank into the shadow at its feet and disappeared.
"I'm seeing a distinct difference in the level of reaction between the first and second video," Battery pointed out.
"There are a few more, but every time one of these happens, the side of every structure in the city is covered in her shadow and events are broadcast for everyone to see. Violent crime is plummeting as a result," Militia reported.
"I'd imagine," Manpower muttered.
"Obviously we can't be everywhere at once. It's just not physically possible. So we're probably not here to try to stop her from killing anyone violating her list. That begs the question, why are we here?" Lady Photon asked.
"For the gangs," Dauntless suggested. "She's shown she's serious. Which means that if we want to keep a bunch of criminals—"
"Alleged criminals," Armsmaster interrupted.
"Alleged criminals," Dauntless repeated, sarcasm in his tone, "from being summarily executed, we have to bring them into protective custody and turn them over to law enforcement."
"That's it precisely," Militia nodded, advancing the slide. "To that end, today we will be establishing teams to do just that, based upon summaries of your capabilities and potential synergies provided by Dragon and Armsmaster. Of course, these are only based upon observed abilities, and some of you have previously chosen to defer from parahuman activities, so we don't have a read on your powers. Some are new faces. Others, we know some of your capabilities, but some clarification and suggestions would be appreciated. I'd like to start with you, mister…?"
Standing, the man in the leather jacket, jeans, and hoodie sitting beside Gwen made his way to the front. "Miles Watson. I don't have a cape name because I tend to avoid going out and fighting. Short version for my powers is pretty simple. Firstly, biological manipulation similar to Panacea—in fact, Amy and I have worked together a time or two. You may have heard of her 'meat trees?' That was a joint Tinkering project.
"Secondly, because I'm a Case-53, my body is a bit abnormal. Unfortunately, it's not one of the ones that can be reversed back to baseline human. I can pretend to be normal, but my actual body is best described as 'a puddle of goo.' One of the, I guess benefits of that is that I've got a ridiculous Changer ability to compensate. And finally, again because of my body, I can grant a power set to people. Think of it like living clothes, with mid-level ratings in Brute, Mover, and Changer. Widow here," he gestured to the blonde, who smiled and waved, "is actually a beneficiary of that ability. Your best bet for using me is probably going to be at ground level as a relatively fast Mover capable of subduing multiple targets, or for recovery and healing after, if someone gets injured."
"Jesus, I wish we'd had that when the Endbringers were attacking cities," Triumph said what was on most of their minds.
Miles shrugged as he returned to his seat. "Wasn't around for those. I was still figuring things out when they disappeared. And the price was pretty steep."
The woman beside him patted his arm and stood, moving to the front of the room. "I'm Zelda Watson, Miles' wife. I can adjust powers by touching someone. Remove limits or add new ones. Fix most Case-53s. Obviously, there are two in this room that that aspect of my power didn't work on. If that sounds familiar, it's because I've been working with Faultline to sell those services under an alias and the PRT has been trying to apply pressure to get me to work with them for cheap since they discovered it." At the last bit, she turned an unamused look on Armsmaster, who remained blank faced where he stood.
"Wait, that was you?" Scribe asked, drawing most of the room's attention to her. Zelda's face and body shifted a bit, assuming the form of Ms. Face. "Thanks again for that."
"Glad to help," the woman smiled, only to raise an eyebrow as Tress left her seat and hurried up to the front to hug the blonde tightly. She returned the smile and patted the girl's back. "Tress here was also one of my clients."
The pair returned to their seats after Tress reluctantly detached her enthusiastic hug.
Ms. Militia cleared her throat. "The next we would like a bit more information on is the young lady with the red hair. Batgirl, was it?"
The redhead didn't get up. "Tinker/Thinker, with some grab bag support powers for personal enhancement. I could do well on the ground, but you would get more use out of my ability to take in and process large amounts of seemingly disparate data and draw conclusions. For instance," she reached into a pouch on her belt and withdrew a flash drive before tossing it to Militia.
"When Noh Face declared her intent last night, I knew the PRT couldn't leave it alone. Moreover," she sent an amused look at Widow, "I knew Gwen wouldn't leave it alone and would be asking for information anyway. So I did what I could with what I had. Arrest records, the gang task force database, I made a program to scan through social media using that information and collect known contacts and associates… That drive contains a list of every known and suspected gang member in Brockton Bay, their last known residence and hangouts, associates, and so on. Everything you would need to start bringing them in."
From the back of the room, Regent murmured, "It's like a goody two-shoes version of Tattletale."
"That should speed things along nicely," Armsmaster nodded. "Thank you."
"Good work," Militia beamed at the Wards-age redhead. Gesturing to the girl in the colorful costume, she asked, "One of our two new faces today. Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you can do?"
The girl stood, but didn't move to the front of the room. "I'm Robin. I can use precognition and have a good amount of hand-to-hand combat training. It would be more effective to pair me with Batgirl, simply for familiarity and power synergy." She quickly sat back down and across the room, Triumph frowned, but kept his mouth shut.
Before Militia could ask, the new girl in the Panacea-lite outfit stood and smiled around the room. "White Mage. I'm a healer and Tinker. Put me where you need me!"
"Thank you," Militia sent the blonde girl a smile as she sat back down. "And finally, our last question mark. Arachne. Please tell us how you think you could help."
The girl's front spider legs tapped the ground at she crossed her arms in thought. "Recon," the girl nodded. "I'm effectively a living swarm of insects thanks to my powers, not just spiders. My spiders are like alternate bodies, but normal insects are my eyes, ears, and feelers. I could spread my swarm out and cover a huge area. Not sure how big, because I've never tried it. But I know that if I made more bigger spiders, it would expand that range. And since I can swap places with any spider in the swarm, I can move my main body where it needs to be when it needs to be there."
"We've been brainstorming," Batgirl supplied. "Haven't had much practice doing it yet, but between the two of us I think we can make a nearly city-wide information network. Honestly, I think your best bet would be to have Arachne scout and me compile data and coordinate our forces, along with Dragon since she has the most experience with that. It'd be the most effective use of our powers and skills. After that, we've got almost a dozen Movers here, not counting Strider for mass movement. At least a few of those are capable of mass non-lethal takedowns, not including Arachne herself."
Armsmaster hummed quietly where he stood. "If you were directing the operation, how would you go about it?"
Batgirl grinned. "Will PRT and police be involved and in the chain of command for this op?" When Armsmaster nodded, her grin grew wider. "Split our forces. Divide the city into sections and take it one section at a time. Pincer them between Arachne and everyone else. Arachne can subdue targets and the police can come in behind her and clean up.
"On the other side, we have our fliers and fast Movers act as a cordon, catching anyone that tries to slip the net. The rest of us hits specific targets on the list in groups, backed by police or PRT to handle cleanup. Send Widow, Silk, or Miles to the biggest groups of gangers, everyone else handles the rest. There probably won't be any parahuman resistance, because Noh Face already took it out. This is just a mop up operation. Once we finish clearing one grid square, we move on to the next."
Armsmaster and Militia exchanged a look before the pair nodded. Militia smiled at the redhead and asked, "Would you help run the console?"
"I'll coordinate, but I'm not doing it from your console. I've got a mobile command vehicle. Be a shame not to use it when I have an excuse to."
"Likewise, I'll be piloting one of my suits," the mousey brunette that was Dragon supplied. "I brought several down for this."
Several eyebrows raised at that. "You don't normally deploy more than one suit at a time," Armsmaster pointed out.
Dragon's grin was excited. "I know! It was a limitation I was forced to work under before, but that has recently changed. Now I can pilot a suit and have several flying autonomously."
"Alright people, reconvene in one hour at rally point alpha. We'll have your teams and assignments by then. Dragon, Batgirl, Arachne, please stay," Militia called, turning the lights on and effectively dismissing the group for the moment.
Knowing that things could get hectic from here, Lily shuffled out with the rest and followed the signs to the restroom. It seemed pretty much everyone else had the same idea, so she was stuck waiting in line. Eventually, she got out and went downstairs, making her way to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat for pretty much the same reason. Just like before, she wasn't the first or only one there.
Lily picked up a tray and put a few things on it, before turning to the tables. A familiar face in the crowd waving drew her attention to Gwen and Lily made her way over. At the table sat Gwen, Silk, Scribe, and Sage. Lily took the offered seat across from Gwen.
"So, how are you liking the Bay so far?" The blonde asked, before digging into a banana nut muffin.
"Aside from the group of super villains effectively taking over the city?" Lily snarked.
"It could be worse," Sage countered quietly.
"True," Lily agreed. "It's…"
"A shithole?" Scribe supplied and Lily shrugged.
"Yeah, it really is. I can't deny it," Gwen grinned. "So. I was just telling these two their options for dating here. Want to weigh in?"
Lily made a face and shook her head. "Don't know anyone."
"I still say Clockblocker is an ass," Scribe grumbled.
Gwen nodded. "He definitely is. Though to be fair, you did try to squish him."
"No. If I had tried to squish him, he'd have been squished. I threw part of a car in his general direction. He was fine. He's being a big baby over it."
Sage sighed. "We were on opposing sides at the time. It's not unreasonable that he's still cautious and feathers are still ruffled. He's not being unreasonable here."
"Exactly," Gwen agreed. "You should try talking to him. Out of costume. Like normal human beings. You might find you enjoy it. Clock's a funny guy."
"If he's so funny, you date him," Scribe grumbled.
Gwen's good mood faltered for a moment before a look Lily didn't recognize crossed her face. "I could have, but I was too focused on someone else at the time to give him the time of day. That ship has since sailed. Anyway," Gwen continued, forcing a smile back onto her face, "how's hero life treating you two?"
"It's good," Sage beamed. "Busy though. I'm talking to them about a transfer, but I'll stick around until this thing is settled. I think I'll go somewhere quieter and far away from Brockton Bay."
"I think I'll stay," Scribe countered. "I'm done running from family problems."
Humming quietly, Lily asked, "Gwen, just how good is your team?"
"Define 'good.' Do you mean how effective we are individually? Great. As a group? We haven't practiced that much together, situations have changed, and so on. In other words, I have no idea. We've always worked more as a collection of individuals than a group. It's why we don't mind being split up for this. For us, this is pretty much standard operating procedure."
They made small talk until Gwen's phone buzzed. "Fifteen minute warning. Come on, let's get to the rally point."
They left the cafeteria as a group, making their way outside and into the parking lot out back, which they found packed with PRT vans, police vans, and squad cars—along with a couple of motorcycles and what looked to Lily like a tank, combined with an extreme off-road vehicle, and a sports car.
"Is that a jet engine?" Scribe asked, her tone incredulous as she looked over the vehicle in question.
"Yeah," Gwen nodded, as her hood and mask shifted and flowed into place. "No idea where she found in, because supposedly everything in that thing has been reclaimed or recycled."
Lily shook her head, following the others as they made their way to where the other heroes were gathering. They stood around talking for a few more minutes before Militia climbed up onto the hood of a squad car so everyone could see her. "I have your teams and assignments, everyone. Manpower, Lady Photon, Laserdream, Glory Girl, Dauntless, Kid Win, and Aegis—you're going to be our flying cordon and eyes in the sky. Please take a headset and follow the red Dragon suit. You're on channel three."
The fliers accepted headsets as they were handed out, verifying they were set to the right channel, before they took to the air and followed after one of Dragon's suits.
"Assault, Battery, Velocity," Militia continued on and Lily kind of tuned out as she waited for her name to be called. She wasn't particularly fast and had no special movement powers. Her own self-assessment told her she'd be with the bulk of their forces—being transported into place by Scribe, then assigned to a group of police or PRT to hit targets.
Finally, her name was called and she accepted a headset. Making sure it was on and set to the right channel, she moved over and stepped onto one of several dozen steel plates Scribe would using to move people around. As she lifted into the air, she focused her mind on the job to come.
"We have a month to get this done. It's priority one right now. But don't get in a rush and don't take unnecessary risks. If you feel that you're in danger, let your team know. If you need a break, take one. Don't let yourselves burn out." Looking over the group around her as she was lifted into the air on one of Scribe's plates, Ms. Militia smiled at them. "We can do this. Let's move out!"
A veritable swarm of capes ascended under Scribe's direction while those with their own flight powers shot ahead. Below, Lily spotted the forms of Gwen, Silk, and Miles either swinging or using glides and leaps to move across rooftops as a swarm of white spiders swept across the buildings with Arachne in their center. At ground level, police cars and vans and PRT vehicles moved out, along with Armsmaster's motorcycle and the larger, angular form of the Batmobile.
"Is this a bad time to mention that I have to pee?" Clockblocker asked over the radio.
There was an annoyed sigh from Scribe. "Hold it."
"Should have gone before we left," Gallant agreed.
"There was a line!" Clock protested.
"Keep the channel clear, kids," Militia scolded, but Lily could hear the amusement in her voice.
"""Yes mom,""" the local Wards answered in sync.
Lily giggled. I think I may like it here.