[Lisa Wilbourn - Tattletale]
[Frebruary 24th, 2011]
-Difficult to read.
-Has Tinker tech designed to block Thinker powers.
"No shit," Lisa muttered to herself as she brought a hand up to massage her temple, "Tell me something I don't already know."
-Tinker tech is small, easily concealed; no visible presence.
The blonde Thinker, formerly of the Undersiders, followed behind the beautiful Cape who revealed herself to be Spring, but having poured over the Frontline website through their cape biographies Lisa knew she was Springfield 1903. The woman was bouncing her child effortlessly up and down in her arms as they moved through the headquarters of Frontline- sections of their home base that Lisa hadn't been allowed access to in her short time here; the MRVN that they assigned to be her 'helper' was just as much her minder as it was her assistant. It was sort of grating, knowing that her freedom was being curtailed by a freaking robot of all things, but considering she was both a former villainess and a Thinker their caution was warranted.
Annoying but she didn't peg the Frontline organizations to be filled with idiots and fools, and they certainly didn't disappoint. Their hospitality was top-notch for what could be expected of a "guest" such as herself- the room was rather spacious for an underground complex, the furniture was functional as well as fashionable, the bed was sinfully comfortable, and the shower was divine; multiple wall jets, a rainfall or waterfall shower head depending on what setting she wanted, and the body wash, shampoo, and conditioner were some of the best she'd ever used.
When all were combined together with the amazing food Lisa was feeling the best she'd ever felt in a long time.
-Installation is laid out with purpose.
-Numerous hidden security features; actual features are unknown.
-Anti-Thinker/Pre/Post-Cognition protections are area-of-effect and extend in a large radius around the wearer.
-Installation was built in a very short amount of time and remodeled numerous times in quick succession.
-Rivets and weld lines are purely cosmetic.
-Used for decoration and to reduce speculation on actual manufacturing capabilities.
She blinked and looked more closely at the walls and bulkheads as they passed through the facility.
-Lack of visible seams and tooling indicates purpose-made machinery with high-level material bonding capabilities.
Lisa shook her head, because of course this organization would be able to make a whole installation like this in just a few days and then remodel it multiple times for various reasons that her powers could not divine. The best reads she could get from them were when she got them talking and answering her questions; if they remained silent then she had to rely on her own intuition to make guesses because her power was practically blind.
Not completely blind, but if she had to guess her power's effectiveness was reduced by 90% or more when trying to get a read on anyone wearing their anti-Thinker protections. The issue was everyone was wearing the exact same thing, so trying to glean any information from them was close to impossible; the best way she found to work around this limitation was to speak with as many of the insanely aesthetic Frontline members as possible. The weirdest thing about it was that it seemed that they all knew of her and what she was capable of, but considering their level of efficiency at dispatching the gangs they probably had a very fat, very detailed dossier on her; who they got the information from was the real question, especially considering Coil had gone through great pains to keep her shielded from the other gangs and the PRT, but that was a whole can of worms she couldn't decide if she wanted to open or not.
The curiosity was killing her, but considering she was in the heart of their operations there wasn't much she could do about it other than bide her time and wait for the Coil situation to be resolved; then she could either leave or stay.
"Ah, here we are, Lisa," Springfield finally spoke up as the motherly woman turned her head and gave her a crinkle-eyed smile that sent Lisa's stomach end over end. This was strange because Lisa usually found herself hating almost everyone she'd met, but with her powers being almost wholly sealed off like this she was forced to do something she hadn't had to do in a long time: Take people at face value.
Lisa gave a tight smile back as her eyes flickered over the signage posted above the door- "Tactical Command", "Well, I can certainly say that I am somewhat excited."
The woman shook her head and the door opened up with a small musical chime, and when they stepped through it was honestly something like a wet dream for Lisa. It was a science fiction command center that looked like something out of one of Alec's Aleph video game imports- the back wall was filled by a quartet of large video screens that were each partitioned off into equal cubes that denoted which helmet feed belonged to whom, a large table in the center appeared to have some sort of holographic interface, and there were numerous comfortable looking chairs that had large crystal display screens attached to swiveling mounts.
All of this data was available for her to crunch, though even if her power was currently neutered it didn't mean she couldn't draw the information in herself and allow her power to make its own conclusions. "Okay, I think you got me."
The other woman's laughter was warm and comforting, and Lisa followed her to the holo table in the center of the room. Already it was displaying a top-down view of the city of Canberra, and the Thinker could see the PRT and other groups staging on a small lake that was a few miles northeast of the city. From the corner of her eye, she could see numerous white-silver shapes fly into view, and she watched as Springfield double-tapped onto the flying wings and the view shifted focus to zoom in on them and began tracking their approach towards the staging area.
"Holy shit, those are aircraft?" The words tumbled out of her mouth as the holographic interface cleaned up the image to display the pristine shapes of the "Globetrotter" aircraft as they slowed down their airspeeds from mind-boggling numbers down to something more sedate and reasonable; their formation changed from two "Flying-V"s into a single line formation before their forward airspeed halted entirely and they began dropping altitude. They touched down and within a few seconds the aircraft were disgorging power-armored Frontline members, more MRVN robots, and shipping containers that were driven around on wheels that were being directed towards what looked to be a predetermined layout; she hadn't been to an Endbringer fight before, but she knew that they had procedures in place for if someone brought their own supplies to help with the efforts there.
Lisa marveled at how easy and intuitive it was to move the map around, the teen playing with the table- zooming in and out, rotating the screen on the x-axis, and being pleasantly surprised when she could rotate it on the z-axis as well... at least to a certain extent; she couldn't move it too far, maybe forty-five degrees or so, but more than enough to give her a decent idea of what others could see. "This is a lot cleaner than I would have expected from Tinker Tech."
"That's because it isn't Tinker Tech," Springfield spoke, drawing Lisa's attention away from the table, and she suddenly wished she hadn't looked because the woman had plopped one of her breasts out and was feeding her child. Green eyes met green eyes and Lisa arched an eyebrow. The woman at least had the decency to blush a little bit, "I forgot to bring a blanket, I don't usually have to hide this from the other girls."
-Team members are aware of her offspring's feeding needs.
-Offspring was just fed an hour ago.
-Offspring caloric requirements are much higher than typical infants.
-Mammaries are much more full than a short while ago.
-Springfield's body is producing milk at a much higher rate than normal.
-Springfield's body is enhanced.
"So you just... whip it out whenever the little tyke gets hungry?"
The woman nodded, "Mmhmm, Julian is much more developed than most children at his age. It is pretty easy to tell what he wants; he gets fussy in certain ways for certain things. Besides, the girls like to watch and learn, and I must admit if it wasn't for my talks with Tiffany... even with the books and videos I've watched I would have been at a loss sometimes."
-Team members enjoy the sight of new offspring.
-Team members like offspring.
-Team members want to learn so that they can take care of their new offspring.
-Horizon is the likely father of future offspring within the organization.
Lisa swallowed. 'So everyone in Frontline is baby-crazy, huh?'
'Or mastered.' She grimaced.
"Listen, I've seen the organization's stance online..." She began, her fingers clenching around the corner of the table.
"Oh? I think I know what you're going to ask, but go ahead and ask it," The woman reached up and gently pulled her nipple away so that she could shift the baby around and latch him onto her other nipple, "The worst that will happen is that I will either tell you the truth or a very convincing lie."
"Ooookkkkaaaayyyy," Lisa said slowly, as she easily figured out that Springfield wouldn't tell her what the answer would be- the truth or the lie. "So, there are some pretty serious Master vibes going on here with Frontline. Like, 'Heartbreaker Plus' vibes. You've all done a pretty damn good job of deflecting and obfuscating, and your more than excellent PR has caused enough people to not really care that much about it."
The woman hummed a little bit before she tapped her finger on her chin, "Horizon would honestly prefer that I not answer that question, but he knows that you're a smart cookie, even if your powers are severely limited. More importantly, despite his attitude, he would much rather have you in our corner than outside of it, and that requires a modicum of trust."
Lisa felt her mouth salivate a little bit but she straightened herself up as best she could, "Well, I can't promise that I won't freak out and try to run if its something I don't like, but I highly doubt that I could escape anyways... so you really got me over a barrel here."
"Indeed, but that isn't my intention at all," The woman softly shook her head, "But I doubt that once you learn the truth you'll be so inclined to run away screaming, it's nothing so outlandish- at least as far as Earth Bet is concerned."
Lisa felt her eyes droop, "You're not exactly inspiring confidence here..."
Springfield remained quiet for a few moments before she nodded her head, "Well then, as a resident of Earth Bet you should already know that there are more Earths out there than just here, correct?"
"Yes, Aleph was discovered thanks to Professor Haywire," Lisa nodded as she left the holo table and strode around to sit in the chair right next to Springfield, the young woman moving the crystal tablet out of the way.
"Well then, you should know that the various Earths are not all on a joint time-stream; some Earths adjacent to us are in the era of the first World War, some in World War II, and others are in eras leaning towards the future while others are farther to the past."
Lisa blinked, "Alright, considering we only have one known Earth, that being Aleph... how?"
"How do we know?" Springfield's eyes crinkled as she smiled and pulled her ponytail over her shoulder to stroke the pink ribbon at the nape of her neck, "Well, let's just say that we are all quite experienced with this; that and the PRT has already discovered many, many other Earths, but their classifications are quite high."
The blonde squinted, "Are you telling me that you're all from... another Earth?"
"Yes, indeed," The brunette nodded, her swaying hair catching Lisa's attention for a few moments before her eyes unfocused slightly to take in the older woman's entire face; it usually worked to allow her powers to 'reset' a little bit, but with her powers being strangely silent the teen was forced to rely on her own intuition, "Our Earth was very different from this one. From 2035 to 2042 the world had been embroiled in the Third World War, one that stretched just as far and wide as its predecessors, however, it did not end in nuclear fire as many had predicted, but instead, the war came to a close when the majority of nations using Collapse Technologies ceased using Collapse Fluid."
Lisa's eyebrows furrowed, "Collapse... fluid? Collapse Technology? What is that?"
Springfield shook her head, "We don't truly know. No one does, it's one of the biggest mysteries that the world is trying to figure out and uncover to this very day. The technologies of the pre-war world are something that is heavily investigated- during the war a great deal of critical infrastructure- including learning institutions, technology repositories, and manufacturing facilities- was destroyed on all sides. The world we all lived in was far more advanced than it is here... far more advanced than it should be considering the number of years differences; it is believed that all of the powerful Relic Technologies were once created and powered through the use of Collapse Technology, and when the war was over all of that was lost once the dust had settled."
The chair Lisa was sitting in leaned back just a touch to make her sitting posture a bit more comfortable.
"Most of the advances that our world enjoyed were recovered from those ruins, and the fields were primarily in telecommunications, computational processes, and..." Springfield's green eyes gazed at her meaningfully, "Robotics."
"No." Lisa squinted, "No way. You're not saying that I think you're saying, right?"
Springfield chuckled musically, "No, we are not robots."
"Phew, thank goodness-"
"We are androids." The woman smoothly interrupted.
Lisa felt her brain stutter and then her mind rebooted itself.
"Though I guess technically from your point of view we would be 'cyborgs' on account of us now having an organic physiology with cybernetic enhancements," The woman tapped her chin with a finger as her eyes gazed at the ceiling.
The blonde teen shook her head, "Well, I would hope so, on account of you... you know... having a kid and all."
Springfield's grin grew teasing for a moment before she looked down at her son and gently ran her fingers through his wispy hair. "Yes, you are correct, but it wasn't always like this. We were incredibly advanced androids, with many systems that mimicked human biology but ultimately we were entirely mechanical in nature; we had synthetic flesh, synthetic nerves, and a circulatory system that was filled with a blood-like coolant to keep our electronics at a nominal operating temperature. We even were able to eat food and convert it to energy, even if it was fairly inefficient; the nutrient pastes that we consumed were quite dreadful in taste, but their caloric density was high enough to sustain us in longer combat operations when recharging our internal batteries were not feasible."
Lisa licked her lips nervously when she mentioned 'combat operations'.
The older (was she really older?) woman sighed before her eyes swept over the large panel screens for a moment, then she turned her attention back to the parahuman. "We all were, with a few exceptions, civilian model androids called 'Dolls' that were upgraded with tactical modules; most civilian models were built to work in the hospitality and service industries- hotel staff and concierge, restaurants, small businesses, and the like."
Her smile turned wan as sad eyes looked over Lisa, "The end of the war saw a great shortage of humans- it reaped a terrible toll on the human race, almost as bad as the Endbringers have here on Earth Bet. The declining birth rates certainly didn't help- more positions needed to be filled in business sectors all across the world than there were young, unskilled workers to fill them, so the human race turned to androids to handle the minutiae and busy work so that they could focus on making the big decisions."
"At the end of the war a soldier formerly of the nation of Ukraine, saw the opportunities that androids could bring into the military and defense sector, and with the help of a few scientists they used Relic technology to upgrade civilian dolls into 'Tactical Dolls', or 'T-Dolls' for short," The woman continued her history lesson, and Lisa saw fit to let her continue without breaking up the flow- she could ask her questions when the woman was finished.
"We were given Tactical Modules, and through the use of Relic Technology we were 'imprinted' by a specific weapon of the pre-World War III era; this process made us much more effective with a single weapon versus multiple weapons, though it does lead to influencing our personalities based on the era and national origin of the weapons we were imprinted with," A hand came up and gently cradled her cheek, "I am, as you know, a T-Doll that was imprinted on with the M1903 Springfield rifle, and the knowledge we have of that time period in American history has greatly influenced me; I believe in American Exceptionalism, Apple Pie, and Baseball."
A dusting of pink turned her cheeks ruddy as her eyes turned demurely to the side, "As well as obeying my dear husband and attending to all of his needs as a good wife should... among other things."
Lisa felt her face grow warm but she inside of her lip to tamp that down.
"However, when we are made... we are made to be loyal to the Company first and always. We follow our orders to the best of our abilities when they are given by an authorized Commander, and to follow the rules of warfare. So..." Green eyes once again met green eyes, "To answer your question, no we are not being Mastered because 'Mastering' implies that we are being forced to act or behave differently than originally intended."
"Fucccckkkkkkkkk..." Lisa groaned as her hands came up and covered her eyes, her palms grinding against her sockets, "So you were created to be loyal from the very beginning, and because of that you firmly can say that 'technically' you aren't being Mastered and that would be the truth."
"Indeed, that is the case, however, we are far better off here under our Commander than we ever were in our old world," Springfield replied, her voice firm and confident.
Lisa ceased her groaning and raised her left palm just enough to look at the woman with a gimlet eye, "How so?"
"Tactical Dolls are created to fight and die so that humans don't have to."
The woman's words hung in the air like a cloud of fog so thick that it made breathing in the moments that followed it more than a bit difficult.
"This is the underlying, indisputable truth that all T-Dolls know, and despite how morbid the thought is we all believe that it is for the best."
Springfield's words were calm and gentle, the woman giving Lisa a soft smile as though speaking a harsh fact of reality would make it easier for the teen to understand and digest.
Quite frankly, Lisa hated it.
"We are- were nothing more than parts and pieces of metal, lines of code. Even if we could bleed it was coolant, not blood. Even the more advanced dolls with... ahem, black market upgrades, could only ape sensuality and sexuality; we could never reproduce with humans, nor could we replace them," Springfield gently rocked the child in her arms to give Lisa some emphasis, "We were limited by our programming in certain areas, but we could feel joy and pain. We could feel love and loss. We had our highs and lows- our ups and downs- and we could feel anger, sadness, rage, and all of the other things that made intelligent beings intelligent."
Her eyes became downcast and her expression saddened measurably, "There were some of us who believed that all of the above was immaterial, and there were some of us who believed that the only thing that separated us from the humans we served and protected was biology. I heard that there was one T-Doll who only wished to be fully human. However, despite the few outliers, most of us accepted that our lot in life was to fight and die... though that didn't stop us from daydreaming and wishing for something different."
Her expression softened as a warm smile stretched her lips, "Then one day, that all changed for us- we were activated... and when we woke up it was under the care of a Commander who believed that the only thing that separated us from humans was the lack of a biology, and he saw fit to correct that deficiency."
"He believed in us, that we were just as human as anyone else- only that we were limited by our hardware," Springfield raised a hand up and tugged her pristine white glove off with her teeth before she gently bit down on her thumb, a small rivulet of blood appearing and sliding down; Lisa noted that the wound had completely healed when the woman rubbed her thumb and forefinger together. "So he gave us almost entirely new bodies, only keeping the bare minimum of our original skeletal frames; I have an actual brain now instead of a digi-mind. I have an actual heart now instead of a coolant pump. I have lungs instead of heat-sink bellows. Eyes now instead of optical sensors."
That bloodied hand came down and rested on her belly, "I have a womanhood... a womb with which I can make and give birth to new life."
"This is my son. My son. My baby. Jason and I made him together- his seed and my egg, fertilized and planted within the fertile valley of my very own womb," Springfield's eyes grew wet as a happy sob escaped her lips and her hand came back up to stroke her child's head as a few tears spilled down her cheeks, "He grew in my belly. I felt him kick. I felt his heartbeat thrumming with my own. I gave birth to him, just as every other red-blooded American woman did."
Her moist smile was then turned onto Lisa, "It's more than just having free will for us, Lisa. We can think critically and act of our own accord when before we would have been paralyzed into inaction without a Commander to issue us orders. We are free to pursue our own desires and act more on our likes and dislikes. We are free of the restrictions that forced us to put our lives beneath those of some random person on the street... self-sacrifice isn't as beautiful or as meaningful when you're forced to do it, no?"
Lisa felt her eyes sting more than just a little bit, "Yeah, throwing yourself in front of a bullet just doesn't have the same meaning if you're compelled to do so."
A small chuckle escaped Springfield's lips, "Yes. Anyways, everything that we lacked as T-Dolls we were given to us by Horizon. By Jason. He is our beloved, the one who helped us be more than we ever could have been before- the line between human and doll has been removed."
Her chuckle grew into tinkling laughter, "Though it's funny that even with all of that... even with freedom now within our grasp we still cling to our identity as Tactical Dolls; we still identify ourselves as a rifle, submachine gun, shotgun, handgun, assault rifle, and machine gun. We still think that we are our Commander's weapons- no. That is a lie."
"We are his weapons, but we are also his companions. His subordinates, and his women," The woman toyed with the boy's teeny, tiny earlobe with the tip of her index finger, "An interesting dichotomy, yes? We are human now, but we still want to be Tactical Dolls... to be useful and helpful to our Commander in every way we can be... be it on the battlefield, in the kitchen, or in the bedroom."
Lisa sucked at some snot that she hadn't even realized was threatening to dribble out of her nose, and her thumbs came up to wipe away at her eyes. "Well... hypocrisy is a well-known state of being when it comes to humans, but I don't see why you still can't be both."
The teen parahuman cleared her throat, "Hah-hem, though truth be told this is far from what I thought the answer would be when I asked."
Springfield hummed with a reassuring smile on her face, "Well now you know. So I guess it is up to you to ask yourself the question of 'are we Mastered' or not; though I do hope that you wouldn't keep hold of that wicked way of thinking about our situation. Our lives are demonstrably improved over what we had before, and more than that we are incredibly happy with where we are in life now- we still get to help people... to protect humans, but we also now get to enjoy all of the perks of being human. This body has been far more than I could have ever dreamt it could be, and the happiness that I now have... the love that burns within the heart beating in my breast... it can all be seen in the little bundle of joy that I now hold in my arms."
-Believes her words to be true.
-Is genuine in her belief that she is far better off now than before.
-Does not dispute that her initial programming still holds some weight on her current attitude and functions.
-Believes she is not Mastered because she is performing exactly how she was created to be.
-Loyal to her creator, in love with her creator.
-Wishes to have more offspring with her creator.
-All Frontline members wish to have children with their creator Horizon.
'Oh great, now you decide to pipe up?'
Lisa cleared her throat a few more times before she distracted herself by looking down at the crystal display attached to her chair. Her fingers slid and swiped, and opened panes of data before minimizing them. This was far deeper than she had ever thought it would be.
Incredibly heavy.
She was no stranger to the weight of emotions and the like, but this was a different kind of heavy; she had thought of Heartbreaker 2.0, but this wasn't like that at all.
The fact that they all wanted Horizon- Jason's- babies was something that was more than a bit weird to her, but considering their years of history as being just 'one step removed' from being human... of bearing all of the burdens of being human with none of the 'perks' Lisa could see how they would be ecstatic to pile onto their creator's lap. He gave them hope when they had none- dreams that were only possible in their wildest fantasies were made true by his hands. Everything that they lacked on their own he gave them.
Was it any wonder that they wanted to experience everything that their new lives had to offer with the man who made it all possible?
No, humans have done far, far more for far, far less.
Lisa herself had once stolen hundreds of dollars from various well-to-do persons in her home city to repay a rando homeless man who'd given ten bucks out of his panhandling so that she could get a cab out of the city and the fuck away from her parents. He didn't have to help her, but he did, so she repaid him in kind many times over. She never did it again, but she hadn't needed to "borrow" money from a homeless man since, so it evened her karma out, right?
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Lisa finally spoke up again. "So you actually still have your memories from before? Your old world?"
The woman was just putting away her bosom and redoing the swaddling on the baby boy when she blinked and turned her attention back to Lisa. "Yes, we all do. Would you like to see some of them?"
Lisa nodded, "Yeah. Although I won't say 'I'd like that' because your world sounds just as fucked up as ours does, but some extra perspective wouldn't hurt."
Springfield waved her hand and Lisa's display glowed blue before a variety of video clips showed up, but they were all exactly 16 hours in length. As if reading her mind the woman spoke, "They are like that because the other eight hours were my maintenance and recharge cycles- when I went to 'sleep' I would upload my current memories into the neural net and back them up so that in case my current chassis was too damaged to be repaired Griffen & Kryuger could purchase a new doll chassis and upload my memories into them."
She shook her head, "Though on account of my position as a backline rifle I was rarely damaged enough to need such a thing; the shotgun, handgun, and submachine gun T-Dolls were the groups that needed to be revived the most."
Lisa's lips pressed into a thin line. That did not make her feel much better, but she did scroll through the footage and saw a snapshot of her daily life- cleaning her body in the shower, walking through a headquarters that was drastically different than this one, eating in a dining hall with other T-Dolls, and receiving her daily patrol missions from a Commander that was decidedly less impressive than Horizon. The maps that the briefings showed were most certainly of a different Earth; eastern Europe- Hungary to be precise- and the blonde scrubbed through the patrol footage of her moving through forests and open fields before returning for the evening.
It was all cataloged here with very few gaps- Springfield was dutiful in uploading her memories into this 'neural net' so that even if she was killed she wouldn't be lost.
A small shiver went down her spine at the Ship of Theseus dilemma that posed, but she tamped it down. The teen parahuman didn't get much more time to look though because Springfield caught her attention with a pleased huff.
Lisa's eyes were dragged away from her chair's crystal display towards the woman who was lifting her baby up underneath its arms while pointing towards the screen with her finger, "There he is, Julian. There's daddy- he's going to help those people and do something amazing, just you watch!"
The boy burbled a few times, but other than stuffing his hand into his mouth and looking around with wide, uncomprehending eyes, he did his best to stand up in her lap with weak legs. No, wait, he was standing up.
Lisa didn't consider herself an expert on the physical development of children, but there was no way that a child that young should be able to stand up like that.
-Offspring is developing at an accelerated rate compared to normal humans.
-Offspring is stronger than normal human children.
The baby waved its hand so quickly that Lisa's eyes barely were able to track it, and she felt a small puff of wind breeze over her face.
-Correction. Offspring is much stronger than normal humans.
-Low Brute rating- estimated 1 or 2.
'No shit, power!'
Just what the hell else did they do to themselves to make their baby that freaking strong!? No wonder Springfield said to be 'careful' and 'gentle' every time she handed him over to the old woman- she wasn't saying it to Tiffany, no, she was saying it to the baby!
'What the hell, Frontline!?' Lisa all but screeched into her mind.
Still, she was able to calm herself somewhat when provided an ample enough distraction- at least she didn't have a powers-induced migraine from information overload, but still, she felt a headache coming on regardless- and Springfield let out a small 'oh!' causing the teen parahuman to look in her direction.
"Looks like dear is showing up, the fighting should begin soon," She looked over at Lisa with a calm smile, "Do be sure to pay attention, okay? If you're going to work with us it would behoove you to know most of our capabilities."
Lisa felt her eyebrow twitch- since when did she display any interest in working for Frontline to begin with?
"Okay, maybe I was a little too hasty?" She muttered to herself in her mind as she watched the Simurgh get absolutely bodied in this fight. Frontline manhandled the Endbringer in a way that no one else had been able to even attempt before their arrival to Earth Bet. It was clear that their Tinker Tech that prevented her Thinker powers from working very well also royally fucked over the fake angel, and that was allowing practically everyone to get in on the action without being immediately pulped by some flying debris.
"The Simurgh can only see the past and use that data to predict the future; she cannot see the present except through a proxy with a small delay. However, our amulets blanket the area in a sphere around us that is 200 meters in diameter; you can see on the map that all Frontline members are spread out roughly 150 meters apart. This gives maximum coverage to all of our allies operating within her psychic scream range; she is effectively blind to everything not happening directly above her or below her." Springfield giggled, "And while it was a rush job, our dear managed to make powerful enough munitions to appreciably damage her for our weapons- we're only chipping away at her facade, but considering she is practically immune to all normal small arms that's quite alright."
The Simurgh was getting pummeled from all sides, and as she moved through the city, grabbing what electronics she could see in the narrow space around her, the Frontline members moved quickly and efficiently to keep her hemmed in at all times; with the trio of Frontline members at the encampment that also prevented her from targeting them more than simply tossing a few token buildings in their direction which Alexandria dutifully intercepted.
Their weapons were indeed causing some decent damage, but not nearly enough to cause the Simurgh to worry; she could have gotten a lot more information from her power if she had been there in person- without the anti-Thinker Tinker tech in operation- but she quickly discarded that thought like the cancer it was. In the rear in the command post was something that she vastly preferred to being in the field; sure, running around with the Undersiders was quite exhilarating at times, but the fear of permanent injury and death was more than enough to keep her from foolishly enjoying it like the teenager she was.
Unlike most teens she was intimately aware of her own squishy mortality- Coil had beaten that silliness out of her very early in the beginning.
Yes, sitting in the Command center suited her just fine, though she had to admit that she felt a lot less useful simply because her powers only chose to interject here and there; it didn't block her fully, but it made gathering information much more difficult, and what she could glean was far less impactful than she'd like.
Still, seeing the Simurgh- one of the most terrifying beings the world had ever seen- getting her ass handed to her from a variety of different viewpoints was simply amazing.
Truly, it was a treat.
Then she saw Horizon bounding across the city at a mind-boggling pace, far more quickly than she thought their power armors were capable of moving at, and he fired a rocket. That rocket seemed to affect the Simurgh far more than anything else that had hit her the entire fight with the exception of Eidolon's disintegration sphere.
-Payload disintegrates the flesh of the target.
-Payload is a high-frequency vibration weapon that disintegrates the target into constituent molecules.
-Was used against Crawler.
-More powerful than munitions used against Crawler.
Lisa rubbed her eye quickly as she clamped down and focused.
-Payload should disintegrate the entire target.
-Endbringer flesh is layered.
-Each layer of flesh has a different frequency.
-The different frequencies of flesh layers prevent total disintegration.
-Total mass of the target exceeds the destructive capabilities of the current payload.
The teen focused harder. There had to be more to it than that.
-Frequency of payloads disrupts nervous system.
-Endbringer lacks a nervous system.
-Endbringer has a central node that controls the body.
-Endbringer has a core.
-Endbringer core is disrupted by the power of the vibrations.
-Endbringer core is more disrupted with each layer of flesh removed.
Now that was something that was useful!
Then the world from Horizon's helmet camera was consumed by light, the powerful polarization of the lens the only thing that prevented it from being completely washed out. Every other camera view shook and shuddered as a powerful explosion lit up the front of their feeds- at least those of whom who were involved in stacking the numerous bubble shields around the site of whatever Tinkertech horror device the Simurgh was crafting.
The issue was that Lisa's mind stuttered when she could have sworn she saw the Simurgh disappear from Horizon's perspective a split second before the device exploded and washed everything out.
It nagged at her as she saw the world spin end over end from the Leader of Frontline's helmet camera as he sailed out over the ocean. The fact that it had sent him careening almost seventy miles away proved just how powerful the explosion was- that his armor was even intact enough to continue transmitting was something that should be celebrated... that was if he was even alive. Yet Springfield seemed unperturbed- if anything she looked incredibly pleased with the results.
Lisa pulled up Horizon's camera onto her crystal slate and began rewinding the feed to the moment of the explosion. The teen was quite impressed with the image quality, and the fact that it was recorded and transmitted in the realm of three hundred frames per second made it that much easier to seek out what she sought. Sure, it was annoying going over the frame-by-frame when it was hundreds of images per second of footage, but the scrubbing tool was intuitive and easy enough to use.
The weapon the Simurgh was creating fell to the ground. It glowed. The Simurgh looked towards Horizon in shock. The world went white.
The weapon the Simurgh was creating fell to the ground. It glowed. Horizon lifted his hand. The Simurgh looked towards Horizon in Shock. The world went white.
The weapon the Simurgh was creating fell to the ground. It glowed. Horizon lifted his hand- Lisa stopped the frame there and stared at it a few moments before squinting and using her fingers to zoom in a little bit on the image. It appeared to be a small cube? Well, small in Horizon's large hands- it would probably need to be held in both hands for a normal person. She began clicking over the frames again when she saw his finger seem to depress something... the Simurgh looked towards Horizon in shock before she was swallowed up- and the world went white.
The Thinker tapped over the frame by frame over and over again just to get a complete sense of what she was seeing- that and to try and disprove what her eyes just saw. Still, the end result was the same, and even her power seemed to agree.
Horizon captured the Simurgh.
She swallowed and looked towards Springfield who gave her a crinkle-eyed, knowing smile as she simply rested her baby's head over her shoulder.
Lisa did her best to smile back.
She spent some time going over the after-action stuff, listened to Horizon beautifully lie to Alexandria and Legend while telling pretty much the whole truth- if Alexandria's Thinker power was similarly affected as her own there wouldn't be much to draw from if he was being deceitful-, and then stumbled back to her bedroom with MRVN leading the way.
"Fuck." Lisa moaned to herself as she rolled from side to side on her bed with a pillow stuffed into her face, her bare feet rubbing against each other as she did her best to turn the plush comforter into a fabric cocoon; this was probably the first time in a long time that she had a throbbing headache that wasn't because of her powers, but it didn't make it any less painful.
Too much. She saw too much. Springfield gave her a rope and thanks to Lisa's infinite curiosity she gleefully threw the rope over the sturdiest branch she could find, tied the noose herself with a smile on her face, and then pulled the fucking lever.
Lisa hung herself and she didn't realize it until it was too late.
There was no way in hell that they would simply let her walk away from them now that she knew what she knew. If they didn't mind whammy her then the level of scrutiny she would have on her from Frontline would be clinically insane. She wouldn't be able to squeal to anyone about anything, not if she didn't want to disappear.
Sure, Frontline was a heroic organization, but with their capabilities, it would be child's play to orchestrate her going missing; they could probably erase her entire existence if they wanted to- even the photographs her parents had of her would probably end up being doctored to such a degree that no one would believe them.
Though, it all could be just some showmanship in order to get Lisa to join their team- the story Springfield told her a complete fabrication... but that would be far, far, far too much effort spent on fooling her when the truth was much neater. Occam's Razor was in full effect here- the simplest answer is most likely the truth; they were all androids (bio-androids now) that came from another Earth and were either built or co-opted by Horizon to better humanity.
There was a whole lot that they weren't telling her, but Lisa would be damned if they didn't already have her pegged; a small but steady drip of the truth- of those tasty little secrets that likely no one else would know but her- and she would likely stick around for the long haul just to ferret them out. Though it was more likely that they would give them to her should she be trustworthy enough to handle them...
"Oooohhhh I'm soooooo ffffuuuuucccckkkkkeeeeedddddd..." Lisa lamented.
She wriggled around in her bed for a few hours before finding out that sleep wasn't going to come easily. Instead, she blindly reached around on the nightstand next to the bed until her hand came into contact with the tablet that the Frontline organization had given her- she needed to see what the peabrains and mega minds alike thought about it on PHO. She needed some sense of normalcy that her world was sorely lacking at the moment.
[March 5th, 2011]
[Lisa Wilborn]
Springfield was dazzling.
Incredibly dazzling.
Too dazzling.
It was beginning to be sort of a problem because no matter where she and Lisa went during their "day out" in the city the men just couldn't help but flock to the beautiful woman. In the past, most of the men would have come up to talk to Lisa in order to gauge her age, and maybe see if she was legal or not; she couldn't fault them because with fashion and make-up this day and age some girls just looked way older than they should. Like Brian's sister, Aisha; that girl was only 13 years old but a man couldn't be faulted for thinking her older with just how... developed the teen was.
However, now she knew what it was like to be the ugly girl that the popular girls surrounded themselves with to make themselves stand out.
While she didn't exactly like the attention of the various men of the Bay, she would be lying to herself if she didn't at least acknowledge that it was certainly a great boost to her confidence.
The issue she was having was that now that she was surrounded by people who weren't wearing Tinker Tech that blocked the majority of her powers she was now getting the 'fire hose' treatment again.
-Is attracted to Springfield.
-Believes her to be a single mother.
-Uses his daughter to get dates with other single parents.
-Has commitment issues stemming from his one long-term relationship landing him with a child that he sees as a burden.
-Sees said "burden" as a way to help get himself in bed with various vulnerable women.
Lisa shook her head as she turned back to the clothing rack in the little boutique in the mall and kept looking through them; she would try them on, take a picture of the outfit in the dressing room, and then they would be manufactured in Frontline's base to her exact measurements. Considering all of the Tinker tech scanners within the place she wasn't surprised that they had her exact measurements, but she had to admit it was nice to wear a new outfit every day that complimented her figure in every possible way.
She kept half an ear out as she picked out a particularly cute blue, white, and grey plaid chamois button-up and a pair of blue-jean capris pants that would hug her posterior and make her bottom pop. Why she was suddenly changing her wardrobe to be sexier and less cute was something that escaped her, but she believed it had something to do with Horizon; unlike the other girls she'd met, Horizon hadn't let anything about himself slip to her power. At all.
It was nice that he was still a mystery to her. Not that she particularly liked that he had an open relationship with dozens of women who were more than happy to do anything he asked, but it wasn't like she had options at this point. He was attractive, very physically fit, and most important of all he was a complete blind spot to her power so it couldn't ruin him for her. The only real obstacle would be her age, but even if she was technically legal at 16 that didn't mean that he would bone her; he seemed to have standards when it came to age.
Though one wouldn't know it with the resident child-like fox and fox/dog/cat(?) of Frontline existing.
Ugh, fuck, they'd only known each other for a little while and yet here she was conspiring to get in the pants of her new boss just because her powers hadn't already ruined him for her?
This was a new low for Lisa Wilborn, but she couldn't say she hated it; if anything it just pointed out how starved she was for positive interactions with people that didn't immediately want her dead or strapped to a bed for her power.
The fact that her sights had been settling on the man that had been able to easily subdue an Endbringer and bend it to his whims was something else entirely. As much as she tried to ignore it, he was all of the things that any teenage girl would find desirable, and he had it all in spades. Strong, intelligent, confident, capable, successful, competent, and surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women who were also just as good as he was.
In the back of her mind, she knew that even if he would be considered a "player" there was something inherently sexy about a powerful man like that; the fact that other women were surrounding him because they also recognized those same qualities made him that much more desirable.
She was also able to get in on the "ground floor" so to speak, which gave her quite the leg up against everyone that wasn't a T-Doll inherently loyal to him.
Lisa could be in the unique position of being his 'sanity check'- the voice of reason or dissent in a sea of beautiful "Yes Women" that were more than happy to rubber-stamp his every command and nod approvingly at his every plan. She would never be his primary tactical strategist, but she would be more than happy to be the little voice in the back of his head letting him know that maybe doing "X" wasn't the best idea.
Being in Horizon's hip pocket would give her a unique position of authority within the organization, some power that others would give up their firstborn for because Frontline was already an organization that had no peer in the world- and they were only a few months old at this point! If she got to have all of that tantalizing safety, adventure, and influence while getting laid by a hunk whose Tinker tech prevented her powers from clam-jamming her then she would just have to suffer.
Oh yes, to be Lisa right now was so much suffering.
"-so do you come here often?" The man's voice carried over the racks as Lisa stepped into the changing room and drew the curtain closed.
"Oh no, I'm new to Brockton Bay," Springfield tittered, and Lisa could visualize the woman hiding her mouth behind her hand, "My husband and I recently moved here for his work."
The tank-top Lisa was wearing was peeled off as the teen kicked off her heeled boots and stripped out of her blue jeans. The teen looked at the plain choice of white bra and panties that she chose to wear and stripped those off as well so she could gaze at herself in the full-length mirror of the dressing room. Her breasts were a decent handful, pale flesh that was the perfect combination of her perky and jiggly thanks to her youth. Pink nipples with small areola capped the swells of her bosom, and a nice speckling of freckles gave them a little color and texture. She turned on her heel and chuckled to herself as her hands came down and grabbed onto her bottom; fingers sinking into the flesh before giving them a playful squeeze.
Yeah, she looked great for her age, with just the right amount of athleticism that was required for her previous work as a Cape.
The teen shook her head and pulled her bra and panties back on before she could internalize the fact that she was ogling herself for the express purpose of deciding whether or not she had the figure to attempt seducing her boss. Just because she was open to the new avenue didn't mean that she needed to jump onto it and attempt to wrangle it so soon!
God, she was so damn restless and pent up right now; she hadn't been able to flick her own bean because her power turned itself inward and began psychoanalyzing herself. No one likes having a voice whisper their own fetishes into their ears when they were trying to rub one out!
"Oh?" The man sounded quite disappointed, "Does he... work a lot?"
"Mhmm, yes, he does work a lot, but that is quite fine with me- he does what he loves doing," Springfield replied, "He enjoys helping people, and seeing him so happy makes me incredibly happy as well."
"Well, it's truly a shame that he leaves such a sterling example of motherhood such as yourself alone so often," His words were carefully pointed and slimy. Not that Lisa could talk because poking at common insecurities was something she did quite often in the past, "A man should be around more often for his wife and child."
"Yes, but a man is a provider first and foremost; he works as often as necessary to provide for his wife and child. It is my duty as his wife to see to it that when he finally comes home after a long, arduous day at work that he is welcomed home with a clean house and a hot, delicious meal," Lisa could practically feel the smile in Springfield's words, "Then I tend to all of his other needs, as is proper."
There was an audible snort from the man, "Quite old school, but I can't say I don't find myself envious; he's quite a lucky man."
"I've heard that more than a few times before, but I must say that I feel like the lucky one; he works so hard that when he comes home I just can't help but want to pamper him," The woman's voice was glowing.
'Ah, Springfield, please, stop.' Lisa groused to herself; the woman was just so brilliant that even with a few racks of clothing and a curtain between them she felt her eyes shut- her right hand coming up to reflexively shield her from the woman's blindly sweet personality.
The blonde teen shook her head and finished trying on the clothes before snapping a photograph of herself on her newly minted "Horizon Phone", and she undressed quickly back into her old clothes. Just as she was opening the curtain Lisa heard the man make his last-ditch effort.
"W-well, how about this? We exchange numbers and if you're looking to maybe chat or hang out or something we could sit down over a cup of coffee and let our children play together... does that sound like something you'd like?"
The teen let out an aggravated sigh as she put the clothes back on the rack (where she found them) and walked over to the small bench where Springfield and the man were sitting and chatting; their baby strollers turned around so that they could both keep an eye on their children. Lisa placed her hands on her hips, the young woman noting how the slightly-more-attractive-than-she-thought man's eyes zeroed in on her bared midriff before they slowly worked up to her face.
-Thinks you're very attractive.
-Is imagining a threesome between you, him, and Springfield.
-Is imagining you and Springfield engaging in-
'Okay, that's enough, power,' The teen mentally rolled her eyes and clamped down on her power before turning to look at Springfield. "Well, I think we're finished here, Spring."
The man opened up his mouth to greet her but Lisa held up a hand while she unlocked the stroller's wheels for little Julian and began pushing the baby out of the store. "She's not interested in having an extra-marital affair, dude, so stop trying."
Springfield blinked before she stood up and placed her fists on her hips, "Well I never!"
"O-oh no, I think you've got the wrong idea here-"
Lisa's eyes tightened, "Oh really? You don't cruise around the Boardwalk looking for other single mothers to mingle with? Never used your daughter to help yourself get laid? Never? Rrrriiiiiiiight."
The teen pushed out of the store and back into the open air of the Boardwalk, the warm spring air and the scent of salty water smacking her in the face as the pair left the spluttering man behind. The sound of Springfield's boots gently thumping next to her lulled her into a small, blissful silence as they soaked up the sun and moved towards the parking lot where Horizon's absolutely insanely modified F100 sat.
Springfield broke the silence as they passed by a pair of Enforcers, "Was that man truly interested in... an extra-marital affair?"
Lisa turned her head towards the All-American rifle just so that she could properly see just how hard the teen could roll her eyes. "Yes, he was, Spring."
"How do you know?" The woman interlaced her fingers behind her back and leaned forward just a touch, her voice dropping quite low, "Are your powers that strong?"
Lisa struggled to keep her eyes away from the woman's beautiful bare shoulders and her bouncy, milk-laden decolletage; she didn't think she was interested in women, but with the massive harem that Jason had set up... if she was going to try and slip herself into it then she might as well get used to the idea. It wasn't that she didn't dislike women, it was more that she just liked men more... but considering how supernaturally gorgeous and perfect the women that surrounded her made it all the more difficult to just kick that particular can down the road.
Instead, Lisa chose to watch the woman's ribbon stream in the breeze.
"Yup," The teen spoke, making sure to pop the 'P', "As for how I know? Well, you have to ask yourself a couple of questions, and those questions are such: In what section of the Boardwalk were we shopping? In what store were we shopping in?"
"Hmmm..." The woman tapped her chin as she hummed; Lisa knew she was enhanced enough to know exactly what she was asking, probably enough that she could have finished the teen's sentence before she even finished it; she merely slowed her thought processes down for the mere mortal in her midst, "Well, we were in the ladies boutique section of the Boardwalk, and the store was 'Rhapsody', right?"
"Indeed, we were in the section of the Boardwalk that caters to women's clothes; like the women's clothing section of a department store. More specifically, we were in a boutique that caters to teenage girls and young adult women like myself," Lisa began waving her hand through the air for emphasis, "There is no reason for a single man with a child to be near those shops unless he was picking something up for someone else. However, he wasn't shopping, no, he was on the hunt. The moment he saw you he made a beeline, sat down next to you, and started chatting you up."
The teen leaned her head back and looked at Springfield's interlaced fingers, "You're wearing an awful lot of jewelry for an unattached woman, and this stroller is definitely something unique- never seen on the market- and your clothing speaks of someone well-to-do as well. You are a taken woman on virtually every metric, and yet he still stopped to talk to you specifically. Guys like that look for certain indicators, and while you appear to be quite happy the clothes, the money, the jewelry, the child, and the absence of a man in your immediate vicinity could very well give you the look of a woman who is taken care of and provided for but... the gifts are just there to make up for the lack of time your man spends with you."
"Ooohh, do you think he might have looked at me and saw a lonely housewife?" The woman let go of her hands and reached up to cup her cheek, "Hee, hee, hee... I wonder if I can tell Jason about this little encounter? No doubt he would be quite upset... either he'd need to be reassured that I'm naught but a humble, faithful woman... or... maybe I could have him reassure me?"
Lisa felt her cheeks warm but she shook her head, "Well, play it out however you want, but for a moment there I thought you were getting seduced."
"No. Not at all, he was pleasant company, but nothing in this world could ever tempt me away from my dear Commander," The T-Doll chuckled, "Well, was there anywhere else you wanted to go, Lisa?"
The teen blinked and then nodded her head, "Yeah, I think I'd like to go to the mall if we could; the boutiques have a lot of cute things but there are a few places that have a wider variety of clothes- if they're free then I'm going to try and have a new outfit every day."
Spring tittered behind her hand as her blue sundress swished with her rapid steps towards the truck, "That sounds like a marvelous idea, Lisa! A new outfit every day..."
Lisa tried not to stare at the woman as she bit her lower lip and stared off into the distance.
The Brockton Bay "Ocean Side" mall was only a few blocks down the road, and it was packed in a way that Lisa hadn't seen before. People were out and about in droves-
-Feel safer with Frontline's accomplishments.
-Lack of organized criminal element presence has bolstered spirits.
'No shit, power,' Lisa scoffed, but from what PHO and the local news were saying this was going to be an excellent future for Brockton Bay. With the gangs gone, a structured plan from the city and the heroic elements in place to revitalize the Bay area with much-needed repairs and jobs, and the little announcement that the city was going to host numerous new factories for "mass-producible Tinker tech"... yeah, it really wasn't any wonder the people were out in force.
This was probably the safest the Bay has been since the advent of Parahumans.
"Isn't this wonderful, Lisa?" Springfield murmured breathily as her eyes took in the sights of all of the families and random teens roaming around.
"Yup, it sure is," The blonde looked around and nodded, "You guys have given the city a great deal of hope that it didn't have before."
The T-Doll chuckled as she waved towards another family that saw the pair and gave them a pleasant greeting. They walked through the double doors and folded themselves into the crowd with Lisa leading them as was the only one that knew the mall's layout- granted Springfield probably knew as well, but there was something about letting someone familiar lead the way. "Where would you like to go first, Lisa?"
Or maybe it was her inclination to defer to a human?
The teen tapped her chin as they walked, "Well, there are a couple of shops on the second floor that we could look into for myself, and for you and the other girls who want to look into clothing for their future baby bumps then there is a maternity store here on the first floor."
The older woman's green eyes widened in surprise before a cat-like grin tugged at her lips, "Already figure that out, hmm? I've been trying to let you get some hints here and there, I figure that would go a long way in establishing some trust."
"Well, you're not the only one- all of the girls have given me some glimpses here and there," Lisa shook her head, "Can't say it wasn't helpful though, it made it much more comfortable than living in a sensory deprivation chamber."
The T-Doll hummed as they continued to walk, Lisa weaving the stroller in and out of the crowd with expert precision, "But, yeah, it was pretty easy to figure out just how baby-crazy you all are; from what you've told me though it makes a lot of sense. Far less creepy than I had initially feared."
"It's the last part for all of us, the last step," Springfield smiled softly as she increased her stride just a hair so that they could glimpse into her stroller and down at the fruit of her womb, "With a child in our bellies it will be the last true step towards being human; for most of us, even those of us who've spent years with Jason, it still doesn't feel quite real yet. Almost like a dream that we'll one day wake up from."
The teen felt her belly clench at the woman's admission.
She could definitely understand just why this would be so important for them, and why this step would be needed to help affirm their minds that the happiness they've been experiencing wasn't merely fantasy. Or a highly detailed simulation in their neural net- a trap. Springfield noted that the experience of carrying life and giving birth was something that would be far outside the scope of what the artificial masterminds of Sangvis Feri would be able to accomplish.
Not that the T-Dolls had a frame of reference for what that would be like either, but every little bit helped them come to terms with their good fortune.
The pair spent almost an hour in the maternity store "Baby 4-Ever" and Springfield spent a great deal of time trying on all sorts of maternity clothing and taking photos for whatever manufacturing facility they had. They ended up purchasing a trio of dresses just because Springfield didn't want to feel guilty about working the store's lone attendant to death without there being some compensation to the store she worked in, and it was about that time that Julian started to get hungry; Lisa had only been around the little tyke for just under two weeks and she'd figured out that the baby was quite a bit more intelligent than most kids his age- he made specific sounds for whatever was ailing him, be it his belly or his bottom.
They went towards the "Children's Room" right next to the security booth on the first floor- the place where women with small children could breastfeed or change their toddlers in relative peace. Inside there were a few comfortable-looking chairs along with a changing table and some sanitary supplies; a small table with a television took up a corner of the room, and there was already another woman inside.
Springfield greeted the woman with a large smile as she un-kajiggered her son from his stroller and took a seat next to the woman who was currently breastfeeding a girl if the pink onesie was anything to go by. "Hello there, my name is Spring, and this here is my little Julian, what's your name?"
-First time meeting another mother in such an intimate environment.
-Wants to make a good first impression.
-Wants to talk about their babies.
Lisa rolled her eyes in exasperation, though whether it was directed at her power or Springfield she couldn't quite decide. She cleared her throat and a flush crept up the teen's neck as the T-Doll plonked out a heavy titty that was already weeping milk.
'Come on, woman, can you at least have a little propriety!?' Lisa bemoaned as she dug around the stroller and produced a small blanket and draped it over the woman's breast and Julian. 'Just because the others are more than happy to sit around and watch the kid feed doesn't mean everyone else wants to look at your breasts!'
The woman at least had the decency to be genuinely sheepish as she gave Lisa a quiet, "Thank you, I can't believe I almost forgot again."
The teen shook her head, "I'm going to head up to the second floor and check out those shops I mentioned before. I'll be back in an hour."
Springfield nodded and she waved her off with her hand, "Thank you for telling me, Lisa. Now, go out and have some fun, okay?"
As the door shut behind her Lisa could make out the mousey, brown-haired woman's words before it sealed shut with a click. "Ah, well, to answer your question my name is Kayden and this is my daughter, Aster-"
Lisa spent the next hour in mind-numbing boredom having already blown through every single outfit that she thought looked cute enough- or alluring enough- to wear. She did buy one outfit from each store to follow Springfield's example, and she waited outside the Mother's Room with another teen that was about her age.
-Is bored.
-Is waiting for his smaller sibling to finish feeding.
-Wishes his mother left the stroller outside so he could have piled the bags on top of them instead of holding them.
The blonde teen was fairly tall and had a bit of muscle to him, but his huskier frame and ruddy, chubbier cheeks made him seem a bit more juvenile. He lacked a certain level of athleticism that Lisa found attractive, but he was patient, which was a nice quality to have in a guy; if he could stand outside of a baby room and hold onto bags with minimal griping then that should be something good in every woman's book.
Granted, it was a little unfair to compare the average teenage boy to someone of Horizon's stature. One might even call it 'uncharitable'.
He noticed her looking him over and his cheeks flushed even redder, "O-oh, waiting for someone to get finished up in there too?"
"Yup," Lisa popped the 'P' harshly, if only because it was something that was mildly annoying, and it was a great way to goose some reactions out of people, "Just enjoying a nice relaxing day of shopping in the Bay without the druggies, nazis, and the traffickers ruining everything- at least that was until someone got a little hungry."
The boy was smiling softly, but he flinched fiercely when she mentioned the lack the E88 in the Bay.
-Knows about the E88 intimately.
-Knows some of the Empire capes that were arrested.
He let out a loud sigh, "Yeah, I totally understand. No one is happier to hear that they're all gone more than me."
-Was close to members of the E88.
-Knew them intimately.
Lisa focused her power because it was starting to circle back, and she began some harmless prodding; she was definitely trying to be less abrasive because she couldn't very well work for an organization like Frontline and be an utter bitch to everyone. "Really? I can probably understand being happy that the Merchants and the ABB are gone, but people like us didn't have to worry about the E88 all that much; though I agree that the Bay is better off with all of the gangs gone."
He snorted and shook his head, "You might be right, but let me tell you when I say that the Bay is much better off now than it ever was. My, uh, best friend's dad was Empire, and we stopped hanging out after he started getting dragged into their business. I didn't exactly subscribe to the crap they were spewing so I kept my distance."
'Best friend? Riiiggghhhtttt, pull the other one, it's got bells on it,' Lisa chuckled inwardly as she spun around and pressed her back against the wall on the opposite side of the doorframe and sat her bags down on the floor. Seeing that, yes, one did not need to hold every bag in their hands, the ruddy teen blushed and mirrored her actions.
-Father was Empire.
-Father was high ranking member of the Empire88.
-The woman inside is his mother.
-The woman inside is or was Empire88.
Lisa rolled her neck before chuckling mirthlessly, "I think you made the right choice. Tell me, is anyone else from that cesspool still around? I tried looking up some stuff on PHO and everyone seems to think that the Empire is gone for good."
"Ah... uh... I don't really run in those circles, never really wanted to be associated with them," The teen rubbed at the back of his neck, "So I honestly couldn't tell you. If I did know you could be your sweet bippy that I'd have already contacted the PRT... or... well, maybe just Frontline?"
-Doesn't know of other Empire capes.
-Doesn't know of other Empire members.
Lisa clamped down on her power, fully aware that any further interrogation wouldn't lead her to anything else. She grinned, "My 'sweet bippy'? I don't think I've ever heard anyone else say that before."
If he had been red before the young man was positively atomic now. "Uh, it's just an expression?"
Her foxy smile came to the fore as she continued to needle him playfully for a few more minutes, though she was distracted when she saw a handful of people begin fast walking past them. A security guard poked her head out of the booth and looked around anxiously.
-Knows why people are leaving.
-Knows that Capes are within the mall.
-Knows who the Capes are.
-Has already called the Protectorate.
The only non-Protectorate and non-Frontline members left in the Bay were Uber and Leet, and only those jokers would pick the Brockton Mall as the scene for their next greatest stunt.
Lisa grabbed the door handle and swung it open just a crack, "Spring, Uber and Leet are here."
She was greeted with the majestic sight of Springfield's heart-shaped ass, her bare bottom fully on display. The pucker was definitely pink and her cunny was definitely damp.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the teen next to her had looked into the room as well, and he was certainly enjoying the view if his slackjawed awe was any indication. 'Join the club, buddy.' She refocused on Springfield.
-Aroused at the thought of her returning husband.
-The act of breastfeeding is mildly arousing for Springfield.
"I already know, dearie," The woman was shimmying up into her lightly armored body suit, the glove was loose on her frame until she buttoned it up, and with a near-silent hiss the armor shrunk around her figure. Springfield the Cape was attaching some armor plates onto her chest, sides, and back that automatically adjusted and cinched tight before she reached down into the pocket space inside of her small purse and pulled out her namesake rifle. She checked the chamber and tittered to herself before she slid it back inside and pulled out her other weapon- the one that shot the tranquilizer rounds. "Hee-hee, almost grabbed the wrong rifle, oops."
A thin domino mask of Horizon's design adhered to her face and she swung her weapon onto her back, the magnets locking it in place so that she could pull her hair up from its demure braid up into her signature ponytail. "Be a dear and watch over Julian, okay?"
Lisa's eyes crinkled and she nodded, "Sure, sure. Just... don't be too hard on them, alright? They're idiots but so far they haven't done anything too bad."
The Frontline member reached up and patted her cheek before leaning over to plant a kiss on her other one.
-Wants to get you used to physical affection.
-Wants to you to be happy to give and receive physical affection.
-Wants to warm you up to joining the Harem.
The blonde gave Springfield her best grin- 'Like I wasn't already aware that the Jason-Train was something I need to 'hop aboard'!'
Lisa stepped inside and took a seat where the nursing mother had just been feeding and she reached out to Kayden. "Aw, thanks for holding him, ma'am, but I'll hold onto him from here."
"O-oh, yes, not a problem. It was my pleasure," The woman spoke breathlessly, her hand moving down to grasp onto her own child's hand, "I had just finished putting Aster into the stroller when she just... up and started stripping out of her clothing. I thought I was in the same room as some sort of... pervert for a moment."
-Was surprised to see Springfield begin changing.
-Holds a deep dislike for those she deems perverts.
-Holds sympathetic ties to the views of the Empire.
-Husband was Empire.
Lisa's eyes darted between the pair as the teen walked in behind them and closed the door before locking it. The woman breathed a sigh of relief, "Theo, good thinking. Don't worry, if worst comes to worst I'll do what I can to handle things."
-Holds no relation to mother.
-Adopted.
-Child of first marriage.
-Believes she can take on Uber and Leet.
-Is a Cape.
-Is a powerful Cape.
-Is Purity.
The blonde teen did her best to keep her grin from faltering. It made sense- one is sympathetic and holds onto views (granted, nobody likes a pervert that would strip down in the middle of a baby room- the Empire wasn't exclusive in that), and the other is linked to the Empire. The boy's father was Empire, and considering no one has seen hide-nor-hair of Purity since a few weeks before Frontline arrived on the scene it was thought that the Artillery cape had either gone to ground or left the city entirely.
That would be hard if she was trying to keep her son out of the Empire and her daughter safe.
"Why are Uber and Leet pulling a stunt like this?" The boy mused out loud, "Shouldn't the Truce be in effect?"
"No, the Truce only extends to 3 days after an Endbringer fight," Lisa found that it was herself that spoke, which surprised her a little bit, but she decided to keep rolling with it, "So they aren't in 'violation' per se, but considering Frontline is still helping with the recovery efforts in Canberra it might as well be. Thankfully Frontline is smart enough to not leave the city completely undefended. As for the two mooks? Probably their last hurrah before they pull up stakes and head out to another city; they'll never get away with their little shows here, not anymore at least."
The woman, Kayden's, eyes were as tight as her smile now that the shock of having a member of a Hero group as powerful and successful as Frontline change in front of her.
Honestly, Lisa couldn't say she was any happier than Purity at this moment- she was stuck in an enclosed space with one of the power powerful blasters in the country sitting a few feet from her, and she just so happened to also be the one remaining nazi cape in the city.
She busied herself with making sure that the little boy in her arms didn't eat her hair as Springfield did whatever it was that she was doing, a small sigh escaping her lips.
'Please, Springfield, hurry it up, will you!? Your son is getting slobber all over my hand!'
Special thanks to Lmc9389, Xodarap4, Artillery, DrkShdow, AuraofCalm, Zerak, Mioismoe, Zath, Splendid, D. Wongsonegoro, Darkarma, Acrimonius, T. Balewood, Randall Randall, Dominyx Black, CyberCrisis, Blue, Russ Stilter, Legion_13, Mike Fatal_Bullet, P. Nguyen, Fred65, K. Nielsen, J. Ricardo Passos, B. Rison, K. Weierbach, R. Alderman, A P, Arrorn, Empty Shelf, PbookR for being Patrons!
You guys rock!
A/N: Finally finished this chapter. I was going to include the Momma Springfield lecture to Uber and Leet but honestly I'm way behind on this chapter, so I decided to cut it. I can have a PHO section on it at a later date. Lisa is quite fun to write, and I also tried to use 'Thoughts' instead of written narrative to express Lisa's internal thoughts whereas I'd been kind of lazy when it came to writing in the 3rd person.