I've just finished downloading the best recommended standalone web server, and I'm waiting for it to install when I notice it's already after 4pm.
Thinking about what dad said last Tuesday, about school finishing before this time, I fish out O'Donnall's card and start putting the batteries in my phone while I consider becoming an affiliate.
A couple of seconds after I put the last battery in, my phone begins to ping repeatedly.
Once it finishes I navigate to the text messages and scroll down each line as I try to work out what is being sent.
Ey taylor
wat ar u up 2?
u der?
dnt u eva turn on ur fone?
c'mon, itz 4pm & scool's finished
With a frown, I type back "Are you ok?"
A few seconds later the phone rings and I answer it, "Hello?"
Victoria has a peppy voice as she says, "Berenike, how's things?"
"I'm at the arcade with some friends. What about you?"
"Um, I'm thinking about getting affiliated with the PRT."
"Really? No problem I can come and help with that. I'll meet you by the bank."
"Um, what?"
"See ya soon."
When the phone goes dead I look at it in confusion, is she in some sort of trouble? She didn't sound like she was in danger trouble.
Shaking my head, I start to get changed, into my chiton while I redo my hair with my power. While I'm getting stuff out of my pouch, I come across my sewing, and wince as I realize I'd forgotten all about it. I might have my spear now, but that doesn't mean I can slack off on being more accurate without it.
Once I'm dressed I walk out into the meeting area and pause as I see Catlin chatting to Sarah and the other three dockworkers as Emissary. As I walk over, Catlin turns around and nods, "Berenike."
I wave, "Hi Emissary, how are you guys getting on?"
Catlin points at Sarah, "She is to meet me at Mr Hebert's house at 10:45 this evening, where I will take her to receive basic instruction. She has agreed to promise not to willingly take anyone more than four worlds into the dream, until she has successfully moved past the world Selene currently calls home. Selene would like you to visit when the canyon closes, and take Sarah hunting while she shadows you."
Sarah looks around Catlin and groans as she looks me up and down, "I should have guessed you were Berenike. Why are we even keeping an eye on things here?"
I point to dad's office, "Because they're not as well trained as I am. Anyway, I'm going to head to the bank to meet up with Victoria, and I was thinking about signing up as a PRT affiliate cape."
Catlin nods, "It was a painless process for me yesterday. If you could, would you take me to the city center, as I have some coins to sell."
I shrug, "Sure, Sarah, do you need to come with me while I do cape stuff, or can I go to Downtown on my own?"
Sarah waves me off and starts looking at Benji dealing cards.
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A few seconds after Catlin walks towards a pawn brokers, Victoria flies down from the top of the scaffolding that's been erected around the bank.
"Thanks for sending me the text when you did. I tried to call you back, but you didn't answer."
I roll my eyes, "Victoria, I take the batteries out of my phone. Besides, you could have just said my name."
Victoria looks down at the ground, "I forgot, sorry. Anyway, I sort of need something to do, so are you doing anything interesting?"
I look at her critically, "Victoria, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's Wrong!? Haven't you looked at PHO today?"
I shake my head, "No, I'm sorry I haven't. I had an argument with dad, and I've been burying myself in schoolwork all day. What happened?"
"The ABB started moving into Empire territory in the early hours this morning. The rumored bomb tinker isn't a rumor any more as Oni Lee was dropping weird effects, and there are dozens of people on life support while Amy tries to help them. All the stupid bints at school can do is talk about who's going to get married on the latest reality show. My other friends are all at the-ir after school jobs."
I step into Victoria's space and pull her into a hug, "What's going on Victoria?"
"Aunt Sarah and dad have been asked to take a regular patrol during the day, and she's out with Crystal and Eric now for her second patrol. Mom's going out later with dad and uncle Neil. But dad's got really bad depression, so she might as well be going out alone, and they won't let me patrol. I didn't faint or have a dizzy spell all weekend, but mom won't even consider it until my appointment on Friday."
I carefully push Victoria away as I say, "Victoria, can you remind your aunt that she can call my name if she's in serious trouble? I can be there in seconds, night or day." Victoria nods and pulls out her phone and starts tapping away at the physical keys. "Before your parents go out, we can visit them and tell them how to contact me too. Even if I can't do anything else, I can get people out of there."
Victoria nods, "I can do that. But I should be out there with them, not stuck here while everyone else is out trying to keep a lid on things."
"You need to be safe for them. Remember that too much exercise can cause you problems, and they'd be worried about that if you were with them. Maybe you could also keep me company while I sign up as a PRT affiliate. Then we can walk to the hospital as I'd like to talk to Amy. How does that sound?"
Victoria nods and looks off towards the coast, "I can do that. Do you think we could go and find Aunt Sarah and make sure she's ok?"
I shake my head, "Not without her calling me. Don't forget how big the city is."
Victoria tries to smash her fist into her open palm, and I just about manage to catch it before she destroys her phone, "Damn it, if I had my new phone I'd be able to find them."
I gently take the phone out of her hand and slip it into her hoodie pocket. "Come on, lets get to the PRT and maybe we'll get lucky and meet some of The Wards while we're there. Did you know that I could probably learn how to heal as well as Amy does?"
Victoria looks at me in disbelief as we start walking towards the PRT, "Nope, don't believe you."
I smile and balance the diagnosis spell on my fingertip, distraction 1, Victoria 0. "This is a diagnostic spell. With it I can look at a body down to the smallest detail. Only problem is, I need to learn everything that Amy does instinctively…"
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Getting my affiliate badge was relatively simple, though they seemed to be having some trouble with their MRI machine, and I ended up getting it done three times. Personally, I think they spent too much time watching me try to sew with my eyes closed, and on the other side of the viewing glass. Anyway, I now have my not so shiny new cardboard affiliate card, and my classes booked for next Wednesday.
"Hey, Berenike, you ok?"
I shake my head and pull out my notebook to double check I noted the date, "Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about the MRI, how many times did they have to do you?"
Victoria shrugs and starts to fly sideways beside me, "I only needed to do the one, but I needed four tries to get my fingerprints done. I was still learning how to consciously turn off my forcefield. I know Eric needed to redo his a few times because he kept moving."
I nod, "That could be it. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those tube machines you see on TV."
"Yeah, they don't use those on known parahumans. Small dark spaces tend to be a problem for a surprising amount of us."
"Including you?"
Victoria shakes her head, "No, my trigger was stupid, it was at a basket ball game, and I'd just been fouled…"
I put my hand on Victoria's arm, "If there's one thing that talking to Selene has taught me, it's that there's no such thing as a stupid trauma. I. I have a thing for small spaces. But there are other people out there that would laugh at me for it."
Victoria taps me on the arm, "Hey, I'm the one studying psychology."
I nod, "You are, but I'm the one that's just discovered that not dealing with shit can cause associations that poison everything else."
"Are you in therapy then?"
I wiggle my hand from side to side, "Not officially, but Selene has been helping, and there is a meditation that helps me to see inside my own head so to speak."
"I bet that helps."
I shrug, "I've been able to do it for eight or nine months now, and I only realized that I could use it to view my memories a couple of weeks ago last night."
Victoria stops in mid air for a few seconds, and then quickly catches up, "Wait, I thought you said that you ended up in hospital in January, and that's when you got your powers."
I nod impishly, "I did."
"Then how have you been doing that shit for more than four months?"
I smile, "Because time moves faster out there. I'm sure I told you that already."
I quickly teleport through the rotating doors at the front of Brockton Bay General Hospital.
Once Victoria makes her way through the rotating doors I ask, "So, where would we find Amy?"
Victoria grr's at me before saying, "We are so talking about that later. I'd suggest heading up to the ICU first, come on it's this way."
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When we get to Amy, she's already finished healing the few patients in ICU and is down in the Emergency Room.
Amy's face lights up as she spots Victoria, "Vicky!" only to drop as just as fast when she gets closer, "You're not supposed to be here?"
I raise my hand, "Hi Amy, I wanted to find you."
Amy immediately takes my hand, a look of confusion passing over her face as she does, "Well you're disgustingly healthy."
"That's not why I wanted to find you. I actually just wanted to see how you're doing."
Amy's shoulders slump, and she drops my hand, "Oh. I'm doing fine, there's a few serious cases in here right now, and they've got a car crash victim on the way in by helicopter."
"I meant after the bomb Victoria mentioned."
Amy shakes her head, "They're in the PRT hospital, I managed to build a skull, partial spinal column and enough of a ribcage that they're not going to die before they kicked me out."
I look at Amy and try to imagine what I'd be like if dad had tried to pry into the bullying last year. Eventually I say, "Ok, but I've been where you are. If you ever want to talk to someone…"
"Talk to you?"
Victoria touches Amy's shoulder, "Amy, that's not fair."
I shake my head, "No, it's fair. I was actually going to say, talk to Selene. If you ever want to just say Selene, goddess of the moon. It's then a bit like talking on a cellphone. Of course, you're always welcome to call me the same way, and I can chat too. I just figured that it might help being able to talk to someone who isn't going to repeat anything you say."
It feels like Amy's almost sneering at me as she says, "You expect me to believe that saying Selene, goddess of the moon is somehow going to… urk"
I nod, "I do, and so do you now. Don't worry too much about interrupting her, as when I felt Shadow Stalker saying my name while I was training with Selene, it felt like it took at least an hour for the feeling of being called to go away. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and the PRT all know about this too."
I feel a tug on my chiton, so I look down to see a boy, maybe 6 years old, standing next to me. Crouching down I look at him, "Hello, can I help you?"
The boy looks me in the eyes, "Are you a hero?"
I nod, "I am, I'm Berenike, apprentice of Selene, who are you?"
"Berenike, apprentice of Selene. Berenike, apprentice of Selene. I'm Darien."
"Hello Darien, are you here on your own?"
Darien shakes his head and points back at a woman that's holding a wadded up gauze to her eye. "Do you really answer people who call you?"
"Not everyone, as that would get very frustrating, but I always know who's calling me. Why don't we get you back to your mother before she wonders where you've run off to."
On my way back I spot one of the nurses looking at the woman in sympathy so I stop, "Sorry to ask, but what's up with the woman?"
The nurse looks at me and then over at Amy, "Nothing, nothing at all. There's just a lot of clumsy women in the city, and she's one of the clumsiest. Doors, chairs, beds, tables, I've heard it all. Go and see to Panacea, and see if you can get her to go home early for once."
As I walk back over to Amy and Victoria, Amy turns and walks smartly out of the ward. When I get there my eyebrows scrunch together as I ask, "Is Amy ok?"
Victoria shrugs, "I guess. The helicopter just arrived so she's heading to the roof."
"How did she know? I didn't hear anything."
"Radio."
"Well, duh, I should have thought of that. Sorry. I guess that means visiting hours are over for us then. Would you be able to help me get my affiliate ID onto PHO so I can get verified?"
Victoria nods, "Sure, just let's go outside while I take the batteries out of my phone."