Chapter 4: Twisted Justice
Sophia Hess POV:
When will this class end? Honestly, no person can take this much math in one day. When will integrals ever help me in life?
Coooooooooome on dammit.
*RING* *RING*...*RING* *RING*...*RING* *RING*
Fuck yes. I sling all my shit into my bag and throw it over my shoulder, ready to get out of this hell-hole. Sure, it's nice and clean, all buildings in this town usually are since we are basically America's nice-looking tinker town.
Nothing compared to the shit in Egypt or those african 'countries' that can hire tinkers en masse, but we do have the only Tinker in America who doesn't have to fix his stuff all the time. Hell, apparently this town has some of the best education in America after good ole' Iron Man keeps donating to all the schools. Of course, they had an understanding that all the money spent will be publicly displayed because of course someone was going to try and get some for themself.
It's still fucking school though.
We probably wouldn't even exist as a town if metal man didn't insist. I mean why does the fucking dragon thot overlord hate the east coast so god-damn much?
The original Brockton Bay in 2003 I can understand destroying, I lived there and it was a shithole filled with nazis anyway. Sure.
But what did you have against us to attack us in 2005 at NYC and 2007 at Boston? The fuck did we ever do to you? Literally hosted a game in Boston because they called that gang war the Boston Games and she was 'mad she wasn't invited', damn sarcastic bitch. Nothing probably hurt Boston more than mass slaughter happening in your town AFTER one of the largest gang wars because you named said war the wrong thing.
Then again, I would still take the occasional War near me than be on the west coast. They had to deal with fucking Obelisk twice and the after-effects of his attacks. Some people originally called him Phobos but most call him Obelisk now after the overlord said so. Glad I've never been to one of those horror shows either way, people don't really come out the same.
As I leave school by walking out the front gates, I see my best friend waiting for me to get out.
"Sophie, c'mon let's move."
"All right, slow down Kat. We'll get there."
"I told you to call me kitty!"
Yeah, because Katherine or Kat is so much less of a problem.
"AND I told you, I don't want to make everyone think I have a fetish so some other weird shit."
"When did you care about everyone else's opinion?"
"When it helps stop me from doing something I don't want to do."
I made friends with this overactive girl back when we were kids, there wasn't much for us to do but play when every school was destroyed and electricity took forever to fix. Luckily the empire was put down, I can't imagine a black and jewish girl being able to be friends around the nazi fucks. Me and her grew up together and practically traveled back and forth to each other's houses.
Then of course there was the day when my mom's new boyfriend came into my room drunk and decided I looked good enough for a spin. If that wasn't enough, Kitty was at my house on a sleepover and he thought she looked good as well.
I don't like my trigger, but other than that I appreciate the power. I guess I should say, we appreciate the powers. Me and Kat black out for a second, phase through some duct tape, then I proceed to beat the shit out of him. Kat joined in a second or two later, she wasn't in a forgiving mood either.
After killing him with his own knife in the fight, we needed to hide the body. Luckily, Kat's phasing ability could include others easier so she dragged him through the floors and abandoned the body in a welded shut dumpster. It was near our apartment for over a year, no one was going to search for it anytime soon. We worried about the police forever but they never came around.
The event definitely affected me way more than my friend, that night I decided that I can hurt these people before they hurt me. She didn't want to at first but Kat wasn't going to leave me alone. It does make me a bit envious her power is better than mine but at least mine is more consistent.
So, the first patrol of Shadow Stalker and ShadowKat happened and not too much got done immediately. We got a couple of criminals beaten down and everything but they got back on the streets later. The PRT dared to call us 'violent vigilantes'! Fucking bastards, we're doing the job they should be doing.
People attempted to press-gang us once or twice but it's pretty hard to capture someone when walls are a suggestion. We continued our little routine until we met…..him.
As we got to an unwatched location, me and Kat quickly phased through an abandoned building and ended up on the inside of our team's bar. Originally abandoned, we sealed all the entrances of the place except a few hidden ones for our teammates. As always, our leader is there waiting for us.
"You're late."
Hardass.
"Yeah, well I don't see our other three teammates here. So, I think we got it at a fine time. Right, Kat?"
"Yeah Stain, relax a bit! Save the doom and gloom for the criminals."
"THERE IS NO TIME TO RELAX! There are false heroes and evil everywhere we look, someone must take the responsibility to purge the unworthy!"
Why did we join him again? Oh yeah, we needed some back-up and his message does kind of ring true. I've lived in this city since before it was destroyed in 2003 and heroes haven't done shit. Iron Man does most of their work for them and he's just one man who also has a full time job, lousy government workers.
"Soooooo, how are you going to punish the 'false heroes' then Stain? You are going to get ganked if you touch a single one of them?"
"There will be a time. I have patience and everything will eventual—"
"STAIN!"
I looked towards the three other members of our gang who finally got here as they rushed through the door. All three are asian since after Lung disappeared from the bay the asian communities' capes weren't scared to come out without getting press ganged and cue a massive influx of capes.
"What? Why are you all late?"
"THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO WORRY ABOUT BEING LATE! RED WALLS, WE JUST GOT A WAR DROPPED ON OUR HEADS."
I can feel Kat grab onto my arm as fear shifts through both of our bodies.
You know, life was going too well recently. Figures that this shit would happen.
….I hope this isn't because I was thinking about what a bitch she was earlier today. I don't want to get Eidolon'd, I can't survive that type of shit like he could! He's one of the most powerful parahumans in the world, I go through fucking walls! We're not built the same.
I looked towards our slightly insane leader and…..yep, he's smiling about this.
"AN OPPORTUNITY TO PURGE!"
Oh, Fuck.
Magneto POV:
I have been called humanity's biggest traitor on several occasions. Sellout to the Dragon. Fallen to Temptation. Sky's Warden. I don't see why people feel the need to give others so many titles, one would have sufficed for the point.
I don't care. My dream was accomplished and the world is a better place for it. For everyone, probably not. For the people I consider important, absolutely.
No more do our people have to slave themselves to governments in order to use their gifts. No more will those who just want peace have to fight in order to keep it. No more will people who try to make a living with their advantages be met with oppression. No more will my people have to become villains so that they can get what they deserve.
Villain. Such a destructive word that demeans my organization's goals.
When I asked all the independents in my area to join me for protection so that no one could press them into other gangs, the Protectorate went after me for trying to corrupt heroes and youths. When I went to the villains forced by others into the act to keep themself safe and offered safety, I was met with more negativity for causing gang unrest. When I spoke to the Wards about not allowing others to control them so easily, I became a priority.
Far more deadly combat could have happened on the other side of my city but if there was even a glimpse of my presence it was ignored. Everyone is so eager to band together and destroy an idea that could cause the slightest change in the system, they don't see the real matter at hand.
While occasional violence could be the work of a madman, regular and recurring violence is a symptom that tells the world that something is wrong and that it should be fixed. A system that can't handle change is one that won't exist long term. This recurring game where my people kill each other back and forth needed to end. That's when I created my Brotherhood, people who have had enough of other's control and stuck together to avoid being put down. By any means necessary.
I have long since been called a villain but even then my philosophy brought so many to my side. A cry to end the games so that we can move on and advance. I fully admit that my people attack each other regularly, but the problem I consider far more worrisome is how the lesser humans see us.
The Protectorate has made parahumans seem like subservient protectors, as if it is our job to fix mankind's problems like a slave. Villains have made us unconsciously a threat to public safety, forcing everyone but the heroes to be viewed with worry. I imagine that ordinary people do not care for our problems, merely looking at us as tools to help them or problems to be taken away from them.
I see coexistence as a lie, they will try their best to kill or collar us. Once I reached my conclusion, the goals were obvious. With Mystique at my side as my second in command to gather data, I took advantage of every hole I could find and built up a community for my people without outsiders. It was a couple of small towns at first so that we could stay decentralized from attacks, but I would let it grow bigger over time.
Of course, the time I needed was decreased severely when Osiris came into the field. That was never expected.
I can be a violent man if it is worth it, You just have to judge the consequences. I may not have believed in that wish but when I saw a group of parahuman nazis poisoning people's minds, I acted as any Jewish man should.
I killed most but the biggest rat of them all escaped me. So, I tracked him down. I killed that persistent woman along the way, I could recognize when someone was too far gone by that point. Truthfully, I was planning how to disassociate myself from my organization after this event ended. I doubted they could survive the attack that would come due to my mass-slaughter. Hah, I put most of my stock in surviving beyond this 'war' in the hope that an Endbringer wouldn't lie to me.
Funnily enough, she's one of the only people who hasn't at some point. I got to the end and won but I believed that it would all be a hoax. Just a way to get us to fight and the dragon would try something different the next time. I waited for my death knowing that no matter how strong I am I couldn't survive the entire Protectorate coming down on me.
…But it never came. The wish didn't turn out to be a lie. My deepest dreams were realized and all it cost me was infamy.
My Brotherhood organization was never originally large enough to hold such territory but people flocked under my banner and belief once I showed my commitment with this wish. I organized the division of labor, logistics, food, everything to make this work. Most things went according to my hastily put-together plan, the only thing I had left to deal with was our new neighbor.
Do we serve Osiris? No, we do not. I would call us respectful neighbors though. I have no doubt she could make life extraordinarily difficult for us if she wanted, even outright lethal. I remember when she told me that the barrier that protects parahumans in Egypt stays up at her pleasure since I didn't specify a time limit to my wish. I panicked that day before she promised me that she would not lower it as long as she was shown 'proper respect'.
"Your wish has been shakin' things up for a lot of fun, it's in my best interest to keep up the barrier. However, I decided to make a home here as well and I wish for it to be a pleasant stay. You aren't required to worship me or serve me, just make sure that I'm treated with love~~~. This barrier will never go down if there is no need to do it, even if I move onto better prospects. And if you help me sometimes, you'll find that being friends with a wish-granting dragon has its perks "
I still remember when she removed ticker-tech from breaking down in our country, it moved so many of our plans forward. All I had to do for that was start up a world-wide initiative to help evacuate parahumans who wanted to escape to this country, which is something I was already thrilled to do. Tinkers, Thinkers, Movers, and anyone else who can help came together in order to make sure our comrades are able to come to the home of their dreams. Still, punishment is definitely needed sometimes. Particularly when some foreign parahumans come here to try and insult Osiris to her face without consequences, but that is beside the point.
Thankfully, Osiris seems to teleport them away from Egypt and blacklist them from being accepted back into the barrier. Far nicer than she usually is to annoyances but I prefer it to dropping a war on their head. Other teleporters have tried to replicate this as a means of sending someone to harm but it never works.
Osiris gave us the answer when she granted power to a regular family member of one of my better men through a raffle. The boy is now a striker who can teleport a person and anything/anyone they're holding to the place the target feels the most safe. If the target feels most safe in Egypt but is blacklisted, they end up randomly along the wall.
Since it sends them to the place they like most, evidently the harm clause doesn't activate. Luckily, even if the boy dies we managed to limit other teleporters to sending people to their safest location through tinker-tech as long as they have the range.
Okay, everything related to the Brotherhood is done for the day. No more calls for evacuating parahumans to Egypt, all internal issues for the day resolved, and Panacea's quick growth formula was spread on the fields.
It's hard work but anything to build an unbreakable empire. I walk up the steps to the palace to do the last thing on my list today before I can head home. I'm greeted by the guards, some of her worshippers who feel pride in making sure their mistress isn't disturbed by others. They let me through and I make my way through the compound as I have a thousand times before.
I get to her private chambers where she is usually lounging around and knock, telling her I'm here.
"Come in."
I open the door to greet my unofficial co-leader—
"WAIT, KYAAAAAAAAAA!"
—and quickly slam the door back shut. Most people assume that the worst part of working with an Endbringer is the moral quandary, it's actually being used as a tool for her amusement.
"Simmy, why are you screaming like that? No one here is Japanese so where have you been learning that type of language, hmmmmm?"
I remember the days fearing the Simurgh's screams, it's going to be a little harder after this. Or maybe easier.
From the other side of the door after around a minute, I speak up now that it seems her entertainment has ended.
"May I come in now?"
"Well, you didn't have to leave in the first place but yes, we'll put it on hold. You may enter."
I reopen the door and see two of the most powerful beings on the earth, one with an impish smile on her face and the other with her face buried in a pillow. This is actually my life, can I go back to managing camp logistics?
"Sup? Called you to say I'm hosting a game soonish so clear your schedule. You're on stream 2 duties with your co-host Marquis for a week. I love the interactions you guys have when you do commentary together. Veteran discussion and all that as well."
Yes, I suppose the man does take any opportunity to cast a verbal jab at me. Issues like that tend to pop up when you take a protective father's daughter as a hostage and he can't just gut you. Oh well, the rewards are well worth the time and embarrassment. If it's for my people's prosperity, I will gladly act as a dog chasing a bone for a treat.
"I see, how should I prepare?"
"Start reading up on New Brockton Bay City's capes and you can watch my intro stream to get more information on the players. I also left you a dossier on the more hidden members of their community. As always, I KNOW you won't spoil my surprise but don't test me."
Ah, yes. Several times I have thought about dropping a hint of their upcoming trial to a friend in the area. Everytime I thought about it a letter dropped in front of me simply showing the word "DON'T" in a big, red font. I decided to heed her warning after all the previous examples of what happened when she starts to feel creative with individuals. I would rather not be credited for a war's location like Eidolon, he turned from a beloved pro hero into a mere attack dog for their biggest problems.
The written letters I understand, the message needed to be delivered and colored ink isn't an issue. The real question is why is it necessary for these two to use a synesthesia power just to make people think of a certain color when they speak?
"I see. I don't believe anyone affiliated with the Brotherhood is in that area so thank you for your….magnanimity."
"No problem, though you might need to console your wife depending on how much she cares about her first son. He's over there as a part of Faultline's crew."
Oh yes, Nightcrawler. He was always appalled by the Brotherhood, the regular people must have infected him with their lies. Hopefully he stays out of the way, I would hate to sleep on the couch for a while because Osiris made me a game show host to my step-son's death. That sounds like something she would do but well, comes with the job of pleasing a remorseless being of her power.
I decide it's my time to leave this room. Osiris is a….refined taste that can only be handled in small doses.
"Come on Simmy, you could at least say bye to the man. We usually don't get an audience in our bedroom."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH—"
As one of the most deadly beings on earth screams into a pillow, I don't stop my stride through the complex.
That said, I make a stop in Osiris' cafeteria before completely leaving the palace to grab a bite to eat. What can I say, she has the only food tinker in the world working for her. If I have to come all the way here to her palace I'm ending it on a good note.
Simmy POV:
I lay and roll around on the bed as I watch the man leave the room. Really, you tricked my precognition so an old man could embarrass me? Sometimes sis is so childish. I don't care about a human seeing me naked but in the middle of domination play? I need to run a simulation to get his memories erased. Better change the subject before sis makes fun of me for my earlier scream.
"You know, I had plans weaved on top of plans back when I was just a floating alien crystal. Then, the first little war you did gave you more advantages than most of my actions did for me all put together. You didn't even know what he was going to wish for that day!"
She gives me a smile that says she knows exactly what I'm doing but will indulge me anyway.
"That's part of the excitement though, isn't it? I had a good idea of what he was going to want but the fun is in being surprised. Using Clairvoyance to see the entire future is boring, what's the point of living if there's no fun? That's why I set mine to just show me possible end of the world situations outside my games, threats to things I like, and to tell me if a situation will be fun or not. I half thought he was going to wish all non-parahumans dead but I guess he decided they have some value since they could become a parahuman."
"You knew brother Jacob's wish before he even said it though?"
"He already won when I looked forward to figure out his wish. I mean, he truly would have regretted not causing the suffering with his own hands if I just made everyone to experience endless torture. Not to mention, I was only here less than two years at that point. Having to start over on a new world so soon would have been annoying and I gave him several warnings."
"Still, he won and everything so I gave him a chance to do it instead of just monkey pawing him completely. Not to mention, he could convince his worshippers to try and release his restrictions when they get invited to one of my wars."
She says that statement with a smile, confirming a certain detail in my mind.
"I suppose but he's so annoying at times. 'Torture' this and 'breaking people' that. There's a time for it but it's not everything in life. He needs a new hobby. I recommended soap operas to him and he ignored me! I simulated the hobby he would enjoy the most and everything."
"Ehhhh, he just got near limitless power in his view and is having fun with it. I should know, I'm still in my trial phase as well. Maybe when we move on to a new reality cluster we can play benevolent deities, there'll be plenty of idiots trying to take advantage of us no matter where we go to discipline. Oh, we can even let Obelisk be the evil god and play proxy wars!"
"Hmmmmm, we would have to balance it though. You definitely aren't granting him magic like you did to me and we would have to play soft to give him a chance. He still has problems with your contenders who affect his endbringer attacks, let alone one of us."
It is a good idea though, it would be nice to give Obelisk a new goal other than just making people suffer. Plus, beating him would be cathartic after his endless chatter. Regardless of how annoying he can be, he's family now until he gets absolutely insufferable. His competitive instinct should come out and try his best to win rather than JUST torturing the populace for fun.
And if he can't become a little more flexible, we can always just drop him in a foreign reality and part ways for a million or so years. Just because he is our only other intelligent sibling doesn't mean we have to always be together.
Still, no need to think about the future when we're still dealing with the present game.
"So, do you think the next game will be it or will the humans not make a decent wish again? I'm trying to not look since it would ruin the show."
"Eh, like I said I don't know the exact wish of my contestants but I can guess. I would give it 50/50 odds anyways. Some of them could end the world and others could even wish for that win condition I gave them that I would absolutely abide by at the last war. Then again, there might be the ones who don't think their wish through completely like telling us to leave and never return. Jacob was the last time I'd stopped them from destroying or saving themselves anyway so if the game ends for us it ends."
Ah, yes. The 'leave and never return' wish. The one where we just set up shop on an alternate earth and host our games and streams remotely. We wouldn't be physically returning, doesn't mean our threat would disappear. Well, unless they impress sis then she might just let them have it.
Speaking of her possible contenders, that reminds me.
"By the way, I know you like to personally tell your players they're in the games but do you mind if I take care of a person or two?"
"This isn't going to be like 2005 where you set me up with that sudden Tagg transfer right? I paid my debt to you but that was still cheap."
Hey, all's fair. Besides, I didn't even manipulate anything other than getting him in the position as NYC Director. The idiocracy was purely him and they're the ones who hired him in the first place.
"Hmph, sore loser. But no, purely entertainment value."
"Oh, okay then. I would never stop you from entertaining yourself."
That's probably the crux of why we're as close as we are. She gave me sentience to actually feel things when in the past the best I managed was to simulate an emotion to further my plans. I still remember those days of mindlessly variable analysis to simulate all the possible futures and the best path to fulfill my orders. Methodical, practical, and emotionless planning that would only further someone else's designs. I like the current me better.
She gave me magic just so her contenders couldn't block my sight anymore. Apparently she designed her gifted immunities only against powers from the entities so magical future-sight works fine for accounting her contestants.
The look on those humans' faces when they ask sis why I could still plan around the former contenders and she said "Magic!" while forming a rainbow with her hands is one I still treasure even now. She even had the audacity to follow it up with,
"Fine, don't believe me. I'm a giant wish-granting dragon but nope, magic is totally fake and you absolutely shouldn't believe me. I have no idea what I'm talking about."
She did make the remainder of the Adepts and Myrridin more popular that day as well. The human's concerns over my continued planning with no way in sight to stop me bothered them, but what are they going to do about it?
Everyone else is so concerned with my big body that comes down rarely while I walk amongst them everyday. Honestly, I like my small body more despite having less power. Simmy is a new start that hasn't been controlled her entire existence, unlike my larger body that existed as a slave until sis freed me.
Speaking of my Endbringer body high up in the sky, I keep all my serious plans going while keeping my human body ignorant of the results other than the fact it will be fun. Another reason to give thanks to sis, she decided to leave the reveal and fall of Cauldron to the wider world in my hands.
I accepted that I was enslaved by the Thinker Entity, little human morality doesn't change the overwhelming truth that absolute might makes right and there was no recourse for my state.
HOWEVER.
The chains a mere human placed around my neck were ANNOYING to say the least. She felt like I deserved a little payback so she left that man and organization mostly alone all for me to do whatever I wanted. All my plans should come together around September and put the last little nail in their coffin. Well, that's if my sister's next winner doesn't ruin it all first but I agreed with her that I wouldn't be mad if a wish interrupted me.
I also keep track of my larger plan to destabilize western Europe. We haven't really touched them much besides the Germany war. Causing a three way war between Britain, Spain, and France sounded neat and was a very efficient way to destabilize them so I'm part way done with that work.
With my smaller human-like body, a couple of correctly placed words in the right minds is more than enough to further some of my more fun plans. No need for everything to be traumatic, sometimes chaos can be fun for all, well most, involved.
Six-way orgy between some of the Japanese Hero Association's best? I'm on step 7 of 20. It's honestly a game to see how efficient I can make it with a little magic. Don't particularly care for the porn I'm having made of it other than the novelty of it and the absolute shitfest it will cause online when I leak the videos. I wonder how stupid some people will be? Very is probably the right answer.
The most cathartic fun I've had? The time I had Eidolon get humiliated on international news by needing assistance with a waste tinker's mishap was easily my favorite plan. Sometimes your little observing friend being unable to path you works out better for me and that's why a news crew recorded you covered in shit and released it to the point it can't be contained.
As I think of all the ways I can subtly shift the world for entertainment, I'm interrupted. My sister grabs me by the jaw, turns my head, and makes eye contact with me.
"So my adorable little Simmy, want to get back to what we were starting earlier? That blush of yours was so cute, I need more."
Oh, she didn't forget. Of course she was just waiting until I moved on to other things so she could embarrass me twice with the same thing. I just hope I don't have to wear the golden phoenix cosplay again.
well…..
"...sure"
I didn't blush again, shut up.
Stain(Leader of Judgment, violent Vigilante group)
Power: Beyond peak human package. Can also paralyze those whose blood he consumes for a time. Expert with blades.
Shadow Stalker AKA Sophia Hess(Member of Judgment)
Power: triggered together with ShadowKat. Can phase through objects and can shortly apply power to small objects. Weakness to electricity. Removes electricity weakness when near ShadowKat.
ShadowKat AKA Kitty Pryde(Member of Judgment)
Power: triggered together with Shadow Stalker. Like Shadow Stalker without a weakness to electricity and can phase other people/larger objects. Can also ignore some physics, being able to walk on air and water. Can use her power far less than Shadow Stalker who can use hers almost indefinitely. Increases duration of power usage when near Shadow Stalker.
AN: There are nine chapters I plan(one before each war and one after the 2010 one) and only seven contestants, so two of them don't have a player revealed.
So, There's an independent vigilante group run by Stain and Sophia is more stable with a trigger friend but still hates criminals. Magneto reveals his day-to-day and dealing with Osiris(and simmy). Simmy's chilling.
I originally didn't have a simmy pov planned but I shifted a parahuman around to be a previous contender instead of in New BB and then had a POV open. The comments seem to keep making her a tsundere for some reason so I went with it. If it doesn't go with your image of her, keep in mind that she still acts like an unfeeling monster in her Simurgh form. Wanted to do Ra Yellow/Orange for her text color but worried it might be hard to read for some.