19. Warner

Riley woke up feeling rested, more than she had since killing Manton. She stretched, noting that the body felt less and less alien with each passing day.

Mimi was still asleep, so Riley tiptoed around to get dressed in jeans and a pink and white striped sweater she'd found in one of the dressers.

It was still early enough that the sun wasn't fully up yet, the sky painted shades of pink and orange. She went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea, and took the time to savor it on one of the couches, watching the sunrise.

Having windows really was nice. A good way to start the day.

Once she finished her tea and that the sun was up, she brought her mug back to the kitchen and returned to the bedroom.

She gathered her supplies and sat down cross-legged on the floor next to her bed, to work on what she had promised Mimi: a way to temporarily disable her power without side-effects.

It took the form of a virus that would infect the system for twenty-four hours, releasing metabolites that would block input from the passenger.

It felt good to stretch her power this way, but working this close to the passengers reminded her of her other task.

How to stabilize the passengers' network?

Valkyrie had been worried that she would be consumed by her passenger if the thin barrier between the hosts and the passengers crumbled under the weight of powers. She'd been worried specifically because the passengers wanted and needed a functioning network, and might cannibalize her into it. Was she the key? She wasn't the only one with a power that depended heavily on connections between the hosts and the passengers, but she was the first that came to mind.

From the wall adjacent to the bathroom, Riley heard the shower being turned on. A minute later, Cherish began caterwauling.

Mimi abruptly jumped out of bed.

"We under attack?"

"No, just Cherish taking a shower."

"Oh."

Mimi rubbed her eyes, then looked at what Riley was doing.

"What are you working on?"

Riley presented the finished vial.

"Take one sip for twenty-four hours without powers."

"Really? No side effects?"

"No side effects."

Mimi accepted the vial, but didn't drink from it.

"Thanks. I think I'll grab a shower first, once Cherish is done."

"Do you still want your scars healed?"

"I dunno. I guess."

"No pressure," Riley said, raising her hands.

"Sorry. This is so weird. You look just like Bonesaw, except for the hair, but don't act like her at all. I'm still getting used to it."

"It's okay."

Riley cleaned up her work area and the mess she'd made, and Cherish mercifully stopped singing a few minutes later. Mimi hurried out of the room to claim the shower.

Riley went to the kitchen and made herself a bowl of Frooty Toots. Cherish joined her soon after, towel wrapped around her hair and fiddling with her phone. She made a beeline for the coffeemaker, then sat down at the table with a mug, across from Riley.

"Still no sign of Shatterbird."

Riley nodded.

"Wouldn't have expected it so soon. She'll want to find allies before word gets around that she's on her own. Otherwise, she'd be done for.

"You sure? With a power like hers, it seems to me that she can do whatever she wants.

Of course Cherish thought that power equaled freedom from consequences.

"With the amount of damage that she can do, she's a priority target for heroes and bounty hunters alike."

"Which she can dispatch easily."

"Others have powers that could counter her or take her by surprise. A big part of the Nine's dynamic is that you can't attack one without retaliation from the others. She doesn't have that protection anymore. That's why we should try to find her as soon as possible, before she finds new people to protect her."

"Any idea who she might recruit?"

"I have her scrapbook of capes that she was keeping an eye on. We can start by checking up on the ones closest to Shelburne."

Riley finished her cereal, then went to get the scrapbook from her room.

Cherish had moved to the living room's couch by the time Riley came back down. She sat crossed-legged next to her and opened the scrapbook on the coffee table.

"Let's see. Baroness, Herald, Vulture… they're all too far. The Librarian and Vellichor were vetoed by Jack because they would have made the book club too messy, and my instinct is that she would respect his wishes. Arabesque and Midnight are heroes, so I don't think she would attempt it on her own. Cheshire, Cliffhanger, Hemlock, Onyx, too far. There's Hookwolf, a Neo-Nazi from Brockton Bay, but I don't think she would go to a big city with Protectorate presence."

"Shatterbird wanted to recruit a Neo-Nazi? Shatterbird, from Dubai?"

Riley shrugged.

"She's good at picking out monsters."

"And here I thought this team was for equal opportunity killers."

Riley tittered, then flipped to a new page.

"Going South from Shelburne, the closest from her selection would be Perfect Storm, from Rutland. Then there's Grapevine from Saratoga Springs, and Noyade from Brattleboro. Blasto and Rotten Apple from Boston, but it has the same problem as Brockton Bay. Too many heroes. If we keep going south, to Massachusetts and Connecticut, there's Damsel of Distress, Chimera, Lollygag, Skinslip, Nighthag. People we recruited the first time around, but she wasn't a member anymore by then."

"She died?"

"She was compromised, so we left her behind. Not sure what happened to her after."

Cherish chewed on her lip.

"What about me? You said I didn't die. Can I ask?"

"You can, but I don't think you would like the answer very much. We knew about your plan from the start, and Jack thought it would be funny if we played along for a while before turning on you. You were never intended to become a long-term member."

"How did you know what I was planning?"

"Do you honestly think you're the first to try something like that?"

The look on her face made it clear that she did, actually.

"We weren't born yesterday. Your self-nomination reeked of ulterior motive. From there, it was easy enough to guess, so I implanted safeguards and made artificial neural connections for everyone while your power was out during my test, so you would think your plan was working until the very last minute."

Cherish wrapped her arms around her midsection, eyes cast downward. Riley continued, her tone even.

"I know you're trying to position yourself to exploit my future knowledge, and I have a very low tolerance for people trying to manipulate me. Your power doesn't work on me either, it only looks like it does. There are bigger things at play than you can possibly comprehend, and the last thing I need is having to watch my back from someone who claims to be an ally. So, you're welcome to stick around, as long as you behave."

Cherish nodded, not meeting her eyes.

"Well then, it looks like the first step would be to check up on Perfect Storm, then Noyade and Grapevine. Those are only the ones from the scrapbook. We should check if there are other low-level villains around."

Cherish nodded.

Mimi joined them downstairs, wearing a green sweater and some jeans. It was the first time Riley had seen her not wearing red.

"We can go to Rutland first. See if Shatterbird is there, and if not, try to find Perfect Storm to set a trap. We can buy some food at the same time. What do you think?"

"We should get the truck's windshield and windows replaced too. It's too conspicuous in places that Shatterbird hasn't hit yet," added Cherish.

"Alright, but I'm not sure we have enough money for that. How much does it even cost?"

"I have money," Cherish reminded her.

"Did your dad set up that account? Cards can be tracked."

"I have other cards."

"Yours, or other people's?

"I think you know the answer to that already. Don't pretend like your money wasn't stolen too."

"Cards can be declared stolen, and using them would draw attention. I'd prefer if we stuck to cash, even if it puts us on a budget, and I'd like to keep an emergency fund for food. It's not like any of us can legally work."

"What about illegal work?" Asked Cherish.

Riley lowered the filter over her emotions, allowing Cherish to read her true feelings.

"Kidding! I was just kidding. But seriously, all we need is to find some rich person with cancer, and we don't have to worry about money again."

"We're not exploiting some sick person for money."

"It's not exploitation if they get something in return. I'm sure they would be pretty happy about it."

"Whatever. For now, let's stick with the money we already have."

"I'm sure I can get us a discount."

"But using your power would also potentially give your brothers a trail to follow. Remember the rules. Nothing conspicuous or that can identify us."

"There's nothing conspicuous about negotiating a better price, though."

"If it gets your brothers on your tail, that's on you."

"Understood. Well? Are we going?"

"I need to craft you both some disguises first, so we can go in public without being recognized. Don't worry. I know just the thing.

Three little old ladies exited the truck in the parking lot of Johnny's Auto Repair, in Rutland. The driver ran a hand through her long grey hair, shooting a annoyed look at her shorter companion.

"The dye better not be permanent."

"Are you doubting my work?

The driver humphed and stomped her way to the front desk, followed by the two others.

"Hello," she told the clerk. "We were in Shelburne earlier this week. Any chance we could get all that busted glass replaced ASAP? We're in a bit of a hurry."

The clerk nodded with an overly empathic look, eyes shining with tears at the tragedy of their circumstances.

Riley gave Cherish a side-eye, as she was buttering it a bit too thick. Cherish rolled her eyes in response.

"We'll work on it right away," said the clerk. "It should be done in two or three hours."

"Any idea how much it will be? We don't have much money…"

She twirled a lock of hair with a finger and offered a coy smile to the clerk. It felt strange, watching Cherish's flirty body language on someone who looked well into their seventies. The clerk she was flirting with couldn't be older than twenty-five.

"I'm sure we can arrange a discount. Which car is it?"

"The truck parked under the sign outside. Oh, and under no circumstances should you or anyone else look under the hood or in the back, 'kay?"

The clerk looked confused for a second, then nodded emphatically.

"Sure thing, ma'am."

Cherish gave him the keys, and the trio left.

Once they were out of earshot, Riley asked:

"Still no sign of Shatterbird?"

"Nope. Doesn't look like she's here."

"And the capes?"

"Three of them as far as I can tell. Two heroes, one joke villain."

There were four known parahumans in Rutland, and Perfect Storm was anything but a joke villain. She wielded air as a weapon, and was known to asphyxiate her victims with her power while monologuing at them. No wonder she was Shatterbird's type.

"We'll keep tabs online in case she's just out of town for another reason, but if there aren't any sightings of her in the coming week, I think we can safely assume that Shatterbird got to her."

They killed time at the local library, doing online research on Shatterbird's potential recruits and their most recent sightings.

"Noyade had a bit of a scrimmage with a local hero a week ago. That was her last sighting," said Cherish.

"Grapevine's gang robbed a jewelry store two days ago," answered Riley. "I'm thinking Shatterbird went after solo villains first in case things went sideways. What about you, Mimi? Any sightings of Shatterbird?"

Mimi didn't answer.

Riley leaned over, and saw that she was reading her own page on the parahumans wiki.

"Oh, Mimi…"

She didn't move and didn't look her way, but Riley saw that her eyes were filled with water and she was holding her breath to avoid making a sound.

"Let's not look at that, okay?"

She gently placed her hand over Mimi's on the mouse and closed the tab, then logged off.

"The truck is probably fixed by now. Let's go grocery shopping, and then we can find a place to stay near Brattleboro."

They left the library and walked to the nearest grocery store.

As they filled up their basket, Riley kept stealing glances at Mimi, whose eyes were cast downward, never meeting hers.

Riley knew the feeling all too well, but couldn't find anything comforting to say. Instead, she took Mimi's hand and held it as they made their way through the aisles.

Mimi didn't say a word until they arrived at another isolated cabin.

"I'll take care of the fire," she said, dropping the grocery bags she was carrying in the kitchen before heading to the living room.

Riley followed, just to be sure Mimi wouldn't torch the place, but she just started the fire with matches, then sat down in front of the fireplace, staring at it. She remained there, sitting cross-legged and slouching forward so her elbows rested on her knees and her chin on her hands.

Riley sat down next to her.

"It does get better, the guilt. Eventually, you learn to turn it into something positive. My therapist says that it's a prerequisite for change."

"I'm not like you. I've always felt bad about it. It's just… It's worse now. How am I supposed to make up for everything we did?"

Riley didn't know what to answer to that.

"My power always makes things worse, but at least I don't have to feel this way."

"You feel this way because of your empathy, of your humanity. It's not a bad thing.

"I don't want to retreat into my power," Mimi said abruptly, "but I think I'll ask Cherie to help with the guilt.

"You can if you want to, but I don't think it's a good idea."

Mimi didn't answer.

Mimi went to bed straight after dinner.

There were two bedrooms: a small one squeezed between the living room and the bathroom, and a larger one in the attic, with a queen size bed. Mimi and Cherish had convened to share the latter.

Cherish remained at the table with Riley after Mimi had left, enjoying a glass of wine.

"You better not take advantage of her," Riley warned her. "Remember that I can always turn her safeguards back on."

"You wanted her to come along of her own free will, and now, you want to make decisions for her? Hypocrite much?"

Riley scowled as Cherish hid her smirk behind her glass of wine.

"I'm just helping her, after she asked. Just like you are, with disabling her power."

"You also have a history of abusing your power."

"So do you."

"That was years ago."

"For the rest of us, it was barely ten days."

Riley didn't know what to answer to that, so she stabbed her last bite of chicken with her fork and shoved it in her mouth. Cherish took that as a win.

"Technically, I'm the only one here without a kill order, so maybe you shouldn't go around proclaiming yourself as a paragon of virtue."

"You signed up for one when you asked to join the Nine."

"But no one outside of the Nine knows that," Cherish said with a smirk. "I'm helping her, you're helping her. We good?"

Riley hesitated, then nodded.

"Shatterbird's not here, and there's two people who may or may not be Noyade, so we'll have to check in person tomorrow. Let's get some sleep."

With that, Cherish rose from her seat and brought her dishes to the sink. Riley reluctantly did the same, then washed the dishes.

Once she was done, Riley went to her room and closed the door.

She didn't feel like tinkering, the thing with Mimi still weighting on her, so instead, she grabbed her portable DVD player. It still held a Love Bug DVD, which she discarded. Flipping through Shatterbird's scrapbook, she found the section about news coverage of the Nine's activities, with newspaper articles and printed web pages. Nested against the back cover was a USB drive Mannequin had shatterproofed so Shatterbird could save her favorite news segments for later enjoyment.

Riley plugged it in and selected the first video.

The sun wasn't up yet when a cheery ringtone pulled Riley from her rabbit hole. She blinked, tearing her eyes away from the screen, and searched for her phone.

One of the spider boxes found it under the bed and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said.

She rubbed her eyes, crusty and swollen, and checked the number calling. Liminal. Why would she be calling at this time?

"Are you okay?" Came a frantic voice as soon as she answered the call. It was so far removed from the usual poise that she wouldn't have recognized Liminal by voice alone.

"Yes?"

"Good. I thought… Listen. You're in danger. Remember the three people who were hit by Bonesaw, that you healed the first time we met?

Riley stiffened at the mention of Bonesaw.

"Yes?"

"Bonesaw found out. Displayed them like they were the first time, only this time they're dead. Making a statement. I think the Nine are coming after you next."