A Bad Choice
When I filled out a CYOA out of boredom, I never expected a ROB to take that as an invitation and drop me in it. Oh god, I really should have picked something that made me harder to kill! To make matters worse, I wasn't just dropped in, oh no, now I have the god damn Nazi's chasing me for my powers!
And we're back. Nothing to say here, just enjoy!
Chapter 2
When Kayden discovered Theo's bed empty, she'd panicked. She'd be first to admit she could be distant with her step-son, but that didn't mean she didn't care for the lad. Hell, she'd taken him in after Max had kicked him out, not that that stopped the bastard from occasionally popping up to take his son on 'camping trips' that were more torture sessions attempting to get Theo to Trigger. Kayden still wasn't entirely sure what Max was trying to achieve with that since Theo made his opinion on his Father and the E88 very clear and considering that Max would be the one responsible for the Trigger, the chances of Theo ever working with the E88 were somewhere around the chances of Hookwolf becoming a Buddhist monk.
Considering all that, it wasn't completely unreasonable for Kayden to assume that Max was responsible for Theo's disappearance, although her decision to storm over to Medhall to confront Kaiser might have been poorly thought out. As was nearly blowing his head off when the bastard had the gaul to dismiss the fact his son was missing without a second thought.
Fortunately, she hadn't done the latter, although she had been charging up a blast before she managed to regain control. Instead, she'd settled for storming out, blasting a few ABB goons and, once she was calm(ish) again, had filed a missing persons report. She certainly hadn't been expecting a PRT trooper to show up on her doorstep a few hours later with news that Theo had been found. In Elisburg. Exactly how he'd ended up in one of the most dangerous places in the contrary, no one knew, not even Theo since he was apparently suffering from Amnesia. And a Cape.
Kayden stared at Theo across the table in the PRT's meeting room, not entirely sure what to make of the boy. Normally, he tended to hunch and avoid eye contact, a side effect of the horrible treatment of Max and his goons, but this new Theo had none of that. Instead, he sat straight and met her gaze with an intense look in his eyes that almost made it seem that he was x-raying her. Yes, this was definitely a different Theo to the one who vanished. She was almost looking forwards to seeing Max's reaction to him.
"So, your my..step-mother?" said Theo eventually, glancing at the agent beside him, a dark skinned woman with her hair up in a ponytail, who nodded, "Right, Step-mother...and my Dad is…?"
Kayden winced.
"Not coming," she said, "He's...not exactly hands on with you."
Theo raised an eyebrow.
"In other words, an asshole who doesn't give a rats ass that his son vanished without a trace?" he asked.
Kayden snorted.
"I'll take that as a yes," he said with a slight smirk, "So, we going? Its just, I really, REALLY need some real food and some better clothes than this."
He tugged at the collor of the PRT tracksuit he was wearing. Kayden nodded and glanced at the agent.
"You can go whenever your ready," she said, "All the paperworks done, although I have been ordered to once again tell you…"
Theo was already shaking his head.
"I get why you're so desperate to get me into the Wards, but like I keep saying, I'm not interested," he said, "I'm strong enough that I can handle myself and I have some plans that will keep my identity from leaking out. I might change my mind in the future, but for now, I need to get my head on straight."
The agent sighed, but nodded.
"Alright, I understand," she said, getting to her feet, "I'll show you out."
The ride back home with Kayden was done in silence, with Kayden not knowing quite what to say and me deep in thought. Passive Legilimency was one of the skills I had access to thanks to my knowledge of its existence, although I wouldn't be able to do anything if my target had even the most rudimentary Occlumency barriers and I couldn't go deeper than surface thoughts without actually casting the spell. Fortunately, Kayden didn't, allowing me to get some idea of the relationship between Theo, his Father and his step-mother from her surface thoughts. It...wasn't good.
Max was an abusive asshole who thought nothing of handing his son over to the likes of Hookwolf, Alabaster and Krieg to put him through hell to get him to Trigger and had put Theo through enough mental and emotional abuse that he was almost as badly damaged and withdrawn as Taylor. Moreso actually considering that it was his own Father who was responsible for it. Fortunately, Theo apparently HATED Max with a passion, not that the asshole bothered to acknowledge it. I could probably expect a visit from his goons pretty damn soon considering I was pretty sure that the E88 had spys in the PRT, so he'd know I 'Triggered' pretty soon. I needed to get those Fidelius Charms cast as soon as possible, which meant I needed…
I abruptly sat up as we drove past a small square with a bit of greenery in the middle of the town center and something caught my attention.
"Hey, stop the car a sec," I said.
Kayden shot me an odd look, but did so. I hopped out and jogged over to what I'd spotted. The small square was an oases of green in the steel and glass jungle that was the city, with a number of flower beds, benches and trees for shade scattered around the area. In the middle was a small lake or large pond my Bending senses told me was naturally formed and filled by the aquifer. By the look of it, the city had decided to leave it and turn the small area into a pleasant place to sit for the workforce of the city.
However, what had caught my attention was the large tree that stood beside the pond. It was a yew, with a trunk thick enough that I wouldn't be able to wrap my arms around it and a look that made me think that it was very rarely, if ever, pruned for whatever reason. Likely because it was far enough away from everything that it wouldn't interfere with powerlines, the footpaths or anything else. Not only that, but to both my Magical and Bending senses, the tree thrummed with life. It was old, much older than the city, and that made it perfect for a Wandtree.
I grinned as I scanned the branches, quickly spotting a likely looking one and, after a quick check of my surroundings, Bent a blade of air that chopped it off and dropped it into my arms. I grinned. Perfect.
"What do you need that for?" asked Kayden as I hopped back into the car and dropped the branch into the footwell.
"I'll need to build something before I can use some of my powers," I said, "For that, I need some suitable wood and some basic woodworking tools. Speaking of which…"
Kayden hesitated, before sighing and hitting the indicator.
"Fucking Tinkers," she muttered.
I hid a smirk. The only reason I'd heard her was thanks to my power amplified senses, so I kept my mouth shut.
A few minutes later, we pulled up outside a hobby shop where I quickly found a whittling knife set, some polish that would be perfect and a few more tools that I'd need to craft my Wand. I also picked up some engraving tools designed for use on stone so I could do some work with Runes.
With that done, we headed back to Kayden's apartment where we were met by a giggling Aster being entertained by a girl who looked about a year younger than me with short, dyed blue hair wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt with a music note on the front. She was also visibly Asian. Um, wut? I know that Kayden didn't technically subscribe to the bullshit spouted by the E88, but that didn't mean being exposed to it for years hadn't had an effect in canon.
"Hey Miss Russel," said the babysitter as Kayden tossed her keys into a bowl next to the door, "Did they...THEO!"
"Um, hi," I said with a slightly awkward wave, "Sorry if I'm awkward, I'm currently a tad short on memories."
The girl blinked.
"Huh, so you got Amnesia?" she asked, "Thats...not good."
"Not really, no," I said with a slight smirk.
"Hehe, sorry," she said, "Anyway, I guess I should reintroduce myself. Or should that just be introduce..?"
She shrugged.
"Whatever, I guess it just means we get a new first impression, right?"
I chuckled.
"I guess so," I said, "So, you know who I am, who are you?"
The girl smirked and held out her hand.
"Sayaka," she said, "Babysitter and occasinal bully pounder."
I snorted and shook her hand, noting her solid grip.
"I really hope I've never needed that," I said.
"Would it matter any more?"
"Good point."
"Alright kids, thats enough of that," said Kayden, clapping her hands, "Your Mother wants you home before dinner, so you really need to get going Sayaka. Do you mind if I pay you tomorrow?"
"Nah, its cool," said Sayaka with a wave of her hand, "I like watching Aster, shes always a joy."
Kayden smiled and nodded.
"Thanks again," she said as Sayaka put her shoes on and jogged out the door, waving over her shoulder.
"Well, she seemed nice," I said as I met Kaydens eyes.
I felt a little guilty for scanning her like this, but I was really curious as to whether she genuinely liked the girl or was just putting on a show. To my surprise, I found that it was the former. There wasn't even a hint of bigotry directed towards the girl or her family, who apparently lived down the hall. In fact, she seemed to genuinely like them, along with another family associated with them who's mother was the Lawyer who helped her smackdown Max when he tried to get Aster taken away for some inane reason. I couldn't get much more than that without digging deeper and I didn't want to do that with my Step-mother.
"Anyway, I've got work to do," I said, holding up the bag I was holding.
"Alright, you go Tinker," said Kayden, "I'll call you when dinners ready."
I nodded and hustled to the room she directed me to. Inside was...underwhelming really. It was a mid sized room, with a bed, desk, bookshelf and closet, but it looked...sterile. Like there was no real personality to it. I'm not sure why though, although I had a feeling that Max was likely behind it. I set my bag of wand reagents on the desk and opened the closet to find a selection of rather bland clothes in colours that were clearly designed to blend in. Hmm, either Theo was bullied or Max had had far more of an impact on the poor boys psyche than I thought. Dick.
I was about to shut the door again, but an odd ping on my Seismic Sense made me pause. Due to my level of Bending prowers, the use of Seismic Sense was basically instinctive, creating a sixth sense that wasn't any different to hearing or smell. Like those sense, it unless I focused on it, the sense generally didn't attract my attention unless something out of the ordinary pinged it. In this case, it was a small compartment hidden under a loose floorboard.
Curious, I knelt down and pried the hidden compartment open. Inside, I found a couple of large folders and a small bag of memory sticks. I reached in and pulled out one at random, flicking it open and scanning the information inside. Within moments, my eyes went wide with awe. The file was a list of crimes Theo had witnessed Max commit or heard him admit to commiting. The detail was incredible, including dates and names, and, if released, would utterly destroy, not just Max Anders, but most of the E88 and send Medhall's stocks plummeting through the floor, if the assets weren't just seized. Whats more, every single one of the crimes were committed by their civilian identity's, not their Cape one, meaning that there would be no issues with breaking the Unwritten Rules. I quickly put the file away and made a note to apply enough Magical security to it to make Gringotts jealous once I had my wand made.
Speaking of which, I sat down at my desk and started pulling the tools I'd got out of the bag and set about whittling the yew branch down. A traditional wand would be a complete liability for me, so I was planning to make a Focusing Ring. It would make more focused work, like Healing, a little more difficult, but not impossible and I could always craft a Wand later if I needed it. I had enough wood for it and since my Dragon form was the source of the Core material, I could get as much as I needed.
I quickly lost myself in the crafting of my ring, absently using my Metalbending to bring tools to my hands as I needed them as I transformed the branch into the parts needed to create both a Ring and a Wand. At one point, I transformed into my dragon form and plucked exactly six hairs from my scalp, twining them together and setting them in a mix of polish, sawdust from the crafting process and a few drops of my own blood. The blood wasn't technically necessary, but since I was crafting the Foci for my use, it would help them bond to me better.
The entire crafting process took two hours to complete and, once it was, I sat back in my chair with a sigh of relief. My fingers ached from the fiddly work and my bandaged finger was throbbing like crazy. Looking at what I'd made however made it more than worth it though.
Both Foci were white and gleamed under the light of my desk lamp. The ring had been carved with a pattern resembling celtic knotwork, with the Bending symbols set at equal distance around it in the Avatar cycle. The wand on the other hand had somehow ended up being shaped like a lightning bolt, with carved patterns that looked like they couldn't decide if they wanted to be vines or more lightning bolts. Both were practically thrumbing with power and I could practically feel my Magic reaching out for them.
Slowly, hesitantly, I gently picked up the ring and slipped it on my left ring finger, the one not occupied by my Vista ring. Immediately, my spine went rigid as I felt my Magic rush through me, making my hair stand on end and a faint, bluish green glow momentarily surround my body as the ring resized itself.
"Holy...shit," I breathed, not sure what else to say.
I looked down at the Wand and wrapped my hand around the handle. I felt my magic surge again as I took a deep breath and brought the wand swishing down. There was a flash of light, a gust of wind and a shower of bluish green sparks that danced around my room like fireflies. I couldn't help the mile wide grin that stole across my face as I watched the Magical light show. I was so engrossed in watching said lights that I ignored the sound of someone knocking on the apartment door, but I didn't miss someone a lot bigger and heavier stomping down the hall towards my room pinging my Seismic Sense.
I quickly tucked my wand out of sight, the sparks vanishing as the connection with my magic vanished, just in time for the door to be slammed open by a man with blonde hair in a military cut and a three piece suit that did nothing to hide his impressive muscles. Behind him were another two men, both skinheads, wearing black suits with very obvious bulges under their jacket. Well, it looks like Kaiser had decided to magnanimously to call me to him. Ass.
"Mr Anders, your Father requests your presence," said the leader, who I'm pretty sure was a Parahuman, although which one I don't know.
I raised an eyebrow. If he really put it like that, Kaiser was even more pretentious than I thought.
"You know, most Fathers would show up in person to make sure their son, who vanished into thin air and was found in one of the most dangerous places in the country by the way, in person, not call for them like some puffed up wannabe king," I said.
The mans nostrils flared, but before he could say anything, I stood.
"Alright, lets go," I said.
I caught Kayden's eyes over the thugs shoulder.
"I'll be back soon," I said, "Save me some dinner."
I followed the large man out of the building, ignoring the thugs as they trailed behind me like good mutts. I wasn't particularly worried about them. Thanks to the martial arts provided by my Bending abilities, I could probably take both of them out without having to toss around anything particularly flashy.
Downstairs, I was shoved into a limo where I was met with Hookwolf (who smelt like he hadn't showered in a week incidentally) and the man who had collected me pulled a gas mask out of a compartment and slipped it on. Krieg then. I wasn't interested in that however, I was more interested in what my Earth sense was telling me. Hookwolf's blades were iron. I'm not sure how, but when he used his power, he genuinely created metal, not a facsimile. In other words, the Empires heaviest hitter was completely useless against me because I could turn his own weapon against him. I wonder if I could do the same with Kaisers blades?
"What are you looking at brat?" growled Hookwolf.
"Nothing," I said, leaning back in the plush seat and looked out the window, smirking slightly.
I spent the trip amusing myself by using my Vista ring to subtly alter space to screw with the thugs, driver and Capes, both because it was amusing to see them fumble whenever they reached for something and because I needed to practice with it. The space warping ability, combined with my Bending would be extremely useful after all. I was also curious as to whether I could pull off some of the things Vista managed in Taylor Varga or if that was just fanon. Something for the future.
Eventually, we reached the back door to Medhall, where we were met by Victor and I was hustled in and into a lift that shot us up to the top of the building so quickly it made a mess of my air sensing and Seismic Sense. As a result, I stumbled slightly as my head started to spin. Hookwolf noticed my discomfort and scoffed under his breath.
"Pussy," he sneered.
"Mutt," I hissed back.
The big man snarled, but Victor stopped him from doing anything foolish. I completely ignored the metal user as I followed Krieg down a short hall and into a room that took up half the floor and was so ostentatious, I felt ill just looking at it. There wasn't any obvious Nazi symbolism, but there was plenty of Norse runes, artwork and statues on the decour. There was even a fountain for some odd reason Kaiser sat behind a large desk that probably cost more than Kaydens apartment, doing what looked like paperwork, flanked by the Giant Twins in full armour.
The second I stepped into the room, I took everything in and came to the conclusion that I didn't have to worry. At all. That might seem arrogant, but between the steel in everyone's costumes, the water flowing through the fountain and the many stone statues, I had plenty to work with. And that was without factoring in my Airbending, Firebending, Magic and Vista ring. And if needs be, I could just turn into a dragon and send everyone to lala land with my psychotropic breath. Yeah, Kaiser really REALLY should have done this in a wide open space. In here, my powers could turn everyone to mush if I wanted. Good thing I didn't. Yet.
As we entered the room, Kaiser put down his pen, clasping his hands in front of him as he studied me with eyes as cold as the steel he created. They were also completely undefended and gave me perfect access with my Legilimency. I really hope he wasn't stupid enough to leave them open like that in battle. Actually, what am I saying? You do that ya Nazi bastard! I did have to stifle a snort when I realized he was pulling off an Ikari death glare though.
"Hello Theo," said Kaiser, "It pleases me to see your safe."
I resisted the urge to snort, both at the ridiculous wording and the utter insincerity in his tone that even an idiot would pick up on.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to see you sooner, but Kayden neglected to inform you'd been found."
Bullshit.
"Rest assured, we will find who took you and make them feel the full wrath of the Empire 88. We shall show them that insults will not be taken lightly."
Alright, I'd almost like to see that considering that what took me was probably a basically omnipotent being of unfathomable power.
Kaiser shifted, lacing his fingers in front of him as he smiled. It was so slimy I wanted to go have a very long shower. In hydrochloric acid.
"Still, there is one silver lining," he said, "You may have lost your memory, but you have gained your powers at long last. Finally, you can take your place at my side!"
He stood and held out his hand.
"Come Theo, join us and we can finally make this City what it can be!"
I stared at my 'Father' for a moment, not entirely sure if I was supposed to take that spiel seriously or not.
"Dad...I'm an amnesiac, not an idiot," I said at length.
Kaiser twitched.
"I beg your pardon?" he said.
I snorted.
"The E88 is made up of idiots, weaklings and hypocrites, all following an ideal that should have died with the psychopath who created it," I said, ""Even without considering that your entire ideal is based on pure bullshit, the fact you think I'd ever work for you after everything you've done to me is, frankly, ludicrous. And yes, I am aware of all the 'training' you had Hookwolf and Alabaster put me through. Past me was a VERY diligent note taker. So, with that in mind, you can take that offer and shove it."
I turned on my heel and headed for the door. Before I'd gone more than a few steps however, I was stopped by two massive hands clapping down on my shoulders and a wall of blades shooting up in front of me.
"I think you may have the wrong impression," said Kaiser, his voice tight, "I wasn't asking. You WILL work with us or I'll make life very uncomfortable for Purity and Aster."
I sighed.
"Well, I kinda expected that," I said, "Still, I'd hoped that you'd have more class than to threaten your own daughter. Oh well."
Then, I elbowed both Krieg and Hookwolf in the gut, blasting them back with twin gouts of fire. The attack was so unexpected that Kriegs power failed to protect him, not that it would have been much use from point blank range. Another gout of fire let me spin around, using the movement to grab the water in the fountain and Bend it into a wave that slammed into the Twins, slamming them into the wall hard enough to crack it, before the water turned to ice, trapping them in place. A rather odd feeling through my Seismic Sense made me hop back, evading the spears and blades that erupted from the ground as Kaiser surged to his feet, a look of fury on his face. I just grinned and landed in an Earthbending stance, grabbing the iron blades and bending them to my will. Kaiser barely had time to yelp as his own weapons suddenly shattered in response to my hand movements and the razor sharp shards embedded themselves in the wood of his chair, inches from taking his eye out.
"Well, that was fun," I said as I dropped my stance.
Kaiser just glared.
"Yes yes, your very scary," I said blandly, "Now, heres whats going to happen. You are going to forget you ever had a son, an ex-wife or a Daughter. You'll leave us alone and never attempt to do anything to harm, recruit or even speak to us again."
"Or what?" snarled Kaiser, "You'll come back and kill me? You don't have the guts!"
I stared at him for a moment, before smiling evilly.
"Oh, is that what you think?" I asked, "Well, your right...to a degree. I won't kill you, but I will destroy you utterly. All it would take is a trip to the police station."
Kaiser burst out laughing.
"You'd out me?!" he sneered, "If you break the Unwritten Rules, there won't be enough left to bury in a fucking matchbox! And if you do that, you'll end up outing Kayden as well! I don't think I need to tell you what would happen to Aster after that!"
"Actually, I already have plans to stop any information that could connect Kayden to Purity from getting out from any source," I said, "But thats not what I mean. I'm actually going to give them the rather impressive number of files and memory sticks my past self apparently collected on your illegal doings as Max Anders. I may not be able to provide witness testimony any more, but I'm sure that the cops, FBI and hell, maybe even the PRT would still love to know what you've been getting up to."
By this point, Kaiser was white.
"You wouldn't," he said.
I lent forwards, resting my hands on his desk.
"Try me," I said.
Then I turned on my heel and vanished with a crack.
And done. Well, that was certainly interesting. Now, before I sign out, I have a question. I have two ideas for this, one of which is to add a bunch of choices that, in the context of the story, were added by the ROB responsible for him being on Bet and result in it becoming a crossover with Madoka, resulting in a whole host of changes, including a slight retroactive change to the date. Alternatively, I can just continue with it being a flat Worm story. Which would you lot prefer? I DO have plans that would result in Worm and Madoka style SHIT GETS WORSE! elements and how to get them to work together.
Yes, Kayden is less racist here than in canon, mostly a result of her new friends who helped her get away in the first place. I think you can guess who they are, assuming the Crossover.
My original version had Theo beat up the entire E88 Cape roster, but I scrapped that because it was a tad unbelievable. He might be a strong as a reasonably well trained Avatar, even without the Avatar State, but even he couldn't take down that many powered and experienced enemies without some serious suspension of disbelief and an environment that fully suits him.
The method Theo used to get Kaiser to back off was inspired by the Warcrafter by RHJunior. Go check out his stories, their awesome.
Yes, I do have a reason for having that little spring, other than the Wandtree. I also have a reason for using Yew. I was tempted to go with Holly, but Yew works better.
Due to his Apprentice abilites, I plan for some people to start learning both Bending and Magic from him, although I'm still shuffling some things around to decide who gets what. I figure I might as well see what you lot thing. Any suggestions?
And with that, its time to sign out. Don't forget, I need to know what you want to see! Until next time, enjoy!