No Maps in the Void [CYOA OC/AU/]

[KindredVoid]

Mixed Beginnings 1.1
??? April 7th, 2011​

Pain. The first sensation that comes to mind. Everything hurts, Nikki's skin is sensitive, the muscles in her legs hurt, her lungs hurt, her bladder hurts, and she was pretty sure she needed a new pair of pants so now her dignity hurts as well. All in all Nikki did not think she had ever been in this much pain before and it honestly fucking sucked.

When I was caught in the fire

Nikki froze, her breath hitching painfully in her throat 'The what? The fucking what? What fire?' That voice was not hers. It did not sound like her voice did in her head. It sounded lower, still feminine but lower and with a rasp.

Slowly Nikki forced her eyes open, and now her eyelids hurt "What the fuck is going on? And what is that-is that the ocean?" Blearily she blinked the spots of the light reflecting off the small waves and squinted. "Yep, that's water. Smells salty too. This….This is not good." Nikki lived nowhere near the fucking water. Did she get kidnapped? Where the fuck was she? Nikki knew she did not live here! Bleh her tongue and jaw hurt too.

Lived here all my life, gangs ruined everything though.

"Ohgodohgod did I fucking lose my mind?!" Nikki felt the tendrils of panic latch onto her, and with a low keening sound as her muscles and skin protested, she forced herself up and onto her ass. Which also now hurt, for why Nikki did not know. She grit her teeth and hissed quietly. Then sucked in a breath as something caught her attention. That something was her arms, which usually were pale and unblemished, but now it was a creamy peach, and her left hand and wrist had burn scars that almost covered the entirety of said anatomy.

Nikki shakily inspected her arms which did not fit her memories…. "I-I don't." She glanced up, catching sight of something that locked her eyes in place. An oil rig, with a glowing shimmering...light around it. "What?" Nikki felt like she would be saying that a lot. She had nothing else to say, couldn't think of anything else. The throbbing pain in her body wasn't as sharp as it was ten seconds ago, but it wasn't helping her think, and neither was the uncomfortable wetness in her drawers and that smell of ammonia.

The Protectorate East North East Headquarters used to make me feel so safe, now it's just a bitter reminder. Just like the scars.

Nikki knew she wasn't thinking that, knew she didn't have scars. Her parents were careful with that. Couldn't harm their perfect daughter. Those fu-

I loved my parents.

Nikki felt her throat constrict, choking her for a moment before she managed to relax it enough to scream. "NO! NO!" She reached up, slamming her fists into the sides of her head causing more pain to flare in the skin and muscles, and somehow the bones as well. "SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTIP! You aren't me! You can't tell me what to do! I don't love them, I don't! You can't make me!" Nikki's vision blurred with a bout of dizziness. "I'm me, I'm Nikki Hunt. I-AAAAAIEH!"

The girl shot to her feet, hyperventilating as she grabbed at her hair and pulled at it, why was it brown? That wasn't her name. That wasn't her name. Why had she been using someone else's name?! "My name is Della Duke. My friends call me DeDe or Double D. DELLA DUKE! DELLA DUKE!" her panic and hyperventilating got to her and she leaned over, expelling her stomach's contents onto the ground, her throat lighting up with pain from the acidic bile. Trying to step away from the splatter of bile caused her trembling legs to give out, dropping Ni-Della onto her ass. She hurriedly shimmied away from her puddle of vomit and hugged her knees to her chest, slowly rocking back and forth trying to focus on the pain her body was experiencing. Slowly sucking in a deep breath, Della held it for five seconds before letting it out just as slowly. "I'm DeDe. I'm me. No one else is me. I'm no one else. My name is Della. Duke. Della-" For a good minute Della drew air in through her nose and exhaled it after a moment of holding it in. All the while repeating her name in a low comforting mantra.

After managing to calm herself through her mantra, Della slowly, painfully, ambled to her feet. Staring blankly out over the bay, over the shimmering oil rig. Her thoughts flitted through her mind at mach speed, trying to wrap itself around what she had learned, what some of her memories were telling her. It all seemed too much to be true and yet- "W-Worm?" She swallowed, mouth tasting of bile and dry to boot. "Does. Does this mean I was actually right?" The words she asks are quiet, almost lost to the sounds of the water hitting the docks.

"I-I WAS RIGHT! I WAS RIIIIGHT! FUCK YOU MOM AND DAD I WAS RIGHT! I WAS FUCKING RIGHT." The rush of exhilaration was great, but the screaming left her throat sore and hoarse. "N-not that I thought it was real either, but I was right. They aren't worthless stories. I was right." Della tittered, her stories about dimensions, about people creating them through the simple act of imagining them. They were fucking true. All that time she was writing wasn't worthless. Of course that was a very scary thought, but Della was going to ignore all that for now.

It was a question of how much, but Della was still right. Her parents were wrong. That was good. Another breath, in. hold. Exhale. Della felt some tension leave her body. "I can do this. I can do this. Just. Steps... One step at a time….Fuck me." She murmured, rubbing her face. "How did I even end up here?" Della swallowed softly, the hoarseness of her throat making itself known. "How am I going to get home?" Della didn't care about getting back to her home so much that she cared about getting back to her friends that she left behind.

"James." Della breathed. Then she froze, a memory coming up to the forefront of her mind. Herself falling, through darkness, her hands blurring and breaking apart before her very eyes. Something speaking to her and James as they- "JAMES!" The girl's heart soared as Della realized she would not be alone, and that James himself was going to be with her! "I can do this! WE can do this!" Suddenly the world wasn't so large, and suddenly Della didn't feel so out of her depth, it gave her a sense of resolve.

It was a good feeling, but James was good at supplying those.

Della giggled before clearing her throat to stop the girlish laughter and glancing down at herself, noting that the agony that had threaded her body was quickly fading. Like a soda losing its fizz. "Alright. Step one of a lot. Find clean clothes." There was a muffled pop of displaced air and Della jerked up, blinking as a black hole of some sort appeared in front of her, without the terrible sucking a normal Black Hole would produce, or what Della thought Black Holes would produce. "Huh, l-looks like a po-" THUNK without any warning or fanfare, a large black suitcase rocketed out of the black portal and slammed into Della's nose hard enough to knock her off her feet and flat on her back. The portal shut and the suitcase landed atop the flattened out girl.

"Ow fucking hell." Della groaned on instinct, but it actually hadn't hurt all that much. Felt like she got hit in the face with a gently thrown baseball rather than a large heavy suitcase going fast enough to knock her flat on her back. The scarred girl slowly sat up, looking at the suitcase with equal parts curiosity and annoyance. "Why my face though?" she whined softly, pulling it off her lap and onto the concrete Della popped it open.

If you threw something at her face it was hers automatically. That was a rule of life that had helped her...once or twice. Not counting this suitcase incident. But it was a rule of life she would forever follow.

"Oh shit clothes." There were seven separate sets, shoes and socks included. It was a blessed sight to see. "Huh, cleaning supplies. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, deodorant, hair brush, baby wipes, pads, tampons, toothpaste, and brush." something clicked in Della's head, a discrepancy and she snatched up a bra looking at the size, then compared it to her chest. "...My boobs are gone." she murmured sourly looking at the almost flat chest she had now, then a low groan escaped her as she focused back upon the contents of the suitcase. "B-But this, I picked this stuff, on that choose your own adventure thing." Della swallowed, paling a shade as she noticed the glock-like pistol, she had also chosen something to kill with. She didn't know much about guns, well anything really, except the basics of "point only at what needs to be shot" and "Don't finger the trigger".

Della wiggled her fingers in trepidation, biting her lips nervously at the weapon before her. She couldn't help but suck in breath as she reached down and picked it up, the first time she had ever touched a gun. The cold steel weighed heavy in her hand. Della jerked up with a yelp, almost squeezing the trigger as a white beam shot out of the barrel and went on until it started to arc into the water. It looked like the hand beams that VR controllers had in those videos that James had shown her. The beams that showed where one was pointing the controller. Where one was aiming,

Carefully Della pulled the gun firmly into her hands. "I can't believe I forgot my powers." She grumbled, trying to wrack her brain to remember what she had picked in that online thing, but all she really remembered was gently ribbing James for being such a nerd in his picks. Della wasn't sure it was that which brought her and James into Worm. But so far it was the only explanation she had for the stuff she picked hitting her in the face. Della tested the firearm in her hand, noting that shifting her hand, and even her finger's position on the trigger messed with the aim. But the line didn't disappear until she gently set the gun back into the case. She then promptly picked it back up and stumbled with the safety on it, flicking it on and blinking owlishly as the aiming beam disappeared. "Okay. I have an aimbot? Maybe? Fucking hell that's weird." Della gently set the gun down, looking into the inside pockets of the suitcase.


"Debit card? And a uh phone. Smartphone?" Della paused as she came across...a costume. It seemed too large for her, too tall and the proportions more...what she had looked like. It was a costume for her, but which her? Della pulled in a shaken breath as she caught sight of the reflection of her own face that the black polarized glass of the futuristic mask gave her. A jolt of panic gripped the girl as she stared into a face she only half remembered. Della wasn't good at faces, or at guessing ethnicities, but she would assume that the girl staring at her from the glass was Russian maybe, half her face was burnt scar tissue. The pink and white flesh splashed across the left side of Della's face as if a kid had tried to paint it on. Her brown hair was a mess, and her eyes were brown as well. A simple hazel. Not her eye color.

The fire was hot, I can still hear them screaming sometimes when I sleep.

Ni-Della let out a shuddering breath and pushed the memories away. "My eyes are blue. Blue." The girl glared at her reflection, at herself, trying and willing her eyes to change color. Because if there was something Della loved, it was organic technology. Shapeshifting, that trill, that scare of something lurking around and it could be anyone. If that 'choose your own adventure' thing had it then she would have picked a BioTinker. But she knew it didn't because she had been upset it didn't and she wasn't getting any Tinker ideas. She distinctly remembered being annoyed she couldn't Tinker with James in the damn thing unless she picked something like nanotech and that was lame, nanotechnology was just a lame ass version of biology. So she had to pick the next best thing and that much was obvious.

Panacea was cool for all she could do, but she couldn't do it to herself. Which was a terrible limit for a Biokinetic.

A joyous cheer escaped her as the color of her Irises became rings of baby blue, followed by a brief tingling sensation in the area. "Woah, that's so weird. I fucking felt them change, how the fuck does that work?" Slowly, Della looked down to the rest of her body, suddenly becoming acutely aware of her entire self. Every inch of breathing skin, every moving hair, and the millions of microorganisms in her. Della could feel her heart clenching in her chest, the hot blood flowing through her blood vessels with each pump of the heart, the subtle crackle as her nerves fired off. It was...beautifully disquieting. The knowledge of herself was overwhelming as it was underwhelming, it was standing on the moon and realizing just how small everything and everyone was. How all the issues of the world mattered so little. But also that there were simply so many issues within her body including-

She swallowed quietly as she realized that she had a tapeworm. "Fucking hell." the girl gagged softly. "Nope. Nope. Fucking changing this shit." Della went to look into the reflective glass again before frowning. "Hmm…" an idea popped into her head and the girl closed her eyes, focusing on the raging storm of information her Self-BioKinesis gave.

Della started with her hair. All the hair on her body, because Della enjoyed not shaving, was reabsorbed for additional biomass. It confused her as she thought that hair was actually dead but...if it works she wasn't going to complain. Then the tapeworms were gone, she might have felt ill at absorbing them but she was almost on autopilot at this point. The way her body changed before her mind's eye was something akin to watching a river change course in a sped up video.
Then she began to change her body to the way she remembered it. Della wished she had a photo of herself. Changing your body from memory was harder than she could really explain.

Della blanked for a moment before holding up her hands. Pale smooth flesh met her gaze. Trembling, the pale girl felt her face and sucked in a breath to keep herself from yelling with joy as she felt more smooth skin meet her touch. The final test came with the lock of hair she held out. Della had to bite her lip to stop tears of joy from flowing down her face as she found the platinum blond hair of her own original body.

"I am me. I'll always be me. I'm Della Duke." She whispered softly, a reassurance and a promise.

Della forced herself up and took stock of her surroundings, something she knew she should have done earlier. But she had been busy freaking out over a body and memories that weren't hers. "What the fuck is this place?" It looked like a kind of dock with a large plastic slatted chain link fence, and some of terminal for taking cash maybe?

The North Ferry Station. It's been closed for a long time.

Another involuntary shudder traveled through Della's body. "Not that I don't like google maps in my head, fuck I hate hearing a voice in my head that isn't mine, or memories for that fact." She rubbed her arms and glanced around to see if anyone was around and it seemed that the area was empty so that was good for her short term goal of: Personnel Hygiene.

Della hurriedly moved over to the terminals and used them as cover. She yanked the wet and dirty clothes off her body, throwing them off and away. She was still upset that her chest didn't fill out her damn bra, but she could fix that later, not enough biomass on her yet. Fitted in a simple grey button up over-shirt with a tank top underneath that. Della paused and grabbed the baby wipes, cleaning off the cold urine made the girl feel a hell of a lot better. A shower would have been a godsend. Getting a new pair of underwear and some cargo pants on made her mood lighten.

Della went to pack up her stuff and stopped. "I guess I'll need to carry this. Just in case." her hand trembled as she forced the pistol into her large pocket. The weight was heavy, physical and not. The debit card and phone all went in their own separate pockets and they felt...better than the gun. The gun symbolized exactly where she was: A gang infested shithole.

...And what she might have to do.

Della practiced her breathing to get her thoughts in order. "Alright. Alright….Alright. Plans. I need to plan. Stage one of Plan: Save Brockton Bay is a go. Find James, Figure out powers, and create a lair." she flexed her fingers. Feeling and seeing the muscles move with her mind's eye. "Fucking weird." she tittered once more, she'd always enjoyed school because she could get away with cursing there.

"School...School. Fuck! Winslow!" Della had briefly forgotten what she had been dragged into, but now she remembered exactly what was going on in the shithole known as Brockton Bay, or at least in it's school. Well one of the schools. Della had only ever read fanfiction, so if-if this was the canon universe? She was probably going to struggle. "I didn't know Worm was a fucking free online story. I thought it was an actual book." which would have prevented her from getting it, with her parents not allowing her much privacy in their house.

Della flexed her hand once more. "James is smart, I need to find out how to use my more important powers." She knew what the ABB did to young girls, and the idea of that happening to her made her sick to her stomach and ill at ease. Della knew which group she was going to cut down to size first.

Lung. We will cut Lung down to size, by taking out his knees.

Platinum blonde hair went wild as Della shook her head harshly. "No, Focus. Powers. James. A headquarters." She knew what she had to do. Sort of. Della had picked the Thinker shard, so she had no real guide on what the fuck she was doing. "Frustrating nonsense. I'm gonna find your body Eden and draw a damn mustache on it." For that though...Cauldron. "That is going to be a real bitch." For a split second Della gave in to the urge to glance behind her to make sure her mother wasn't standing there like she often would. Tension bled out of her shoulders when no one was found standing behind her.

Della bit her lip as her stomach growled. "Yeah. yeah. I should probably get food too." Get food, figure out power, find James, make an awesome base. Della smiled. She could get that done.

Fugly Bob's

"Oh for fuck's-STOP." Della hissed to herself. "No wonder the Butcher's fucking nuts!"

Could never afford to eat there. Parents only took me once.

"Shut the fuck up or we aren't going anywhere you hear me? I will fucking starve before you tell me what to do." Della had wanted to try the one restaurant mentioned in nearly every Fan story she had read. But she would be damned if someone would tell her what to do, not any more. Della had power here, and she knew that for a fact.

For a beat she waited, the silence in her mind unshattered by any thought or memories. Neither her own or the stranger in her skull. The tightness in her chest forced her to breathe. "I suppose you aren't a stranger. Having our memories mix like this." Della tried to swallow and was reminded just how dry her mouth was, and the fact that she could still taste vomit. "Bleh. Just stop with that….projected thoughts thing."

Della grabbed the suitcase. "I know. I'll grab James a pizza. It's only fair. I get a big messy burger and he gets a pizza." The pale girl nodded happily. "Now just to get there, as I...remember… it's somewhere in the Market area? On the edge? By the beach!" With that exclamation Della ran off towards the edge of the Ferry Station suitcase in hand, squinting her eyes at the beach she could see in the distance. It didn't look so great from a distance.

"Alright. I'm like, seventy percent sure that I also chose a teleporting power. I could really use that right now." Della looked away from the beach. Instead looking over the closed down and equally worn down Ferry Station. "I suppose it's better to try smaller ranges before going for a few miles. If I can even do that."

She felt a previously unknown muscle in her brain come to her attention and Della smiled in triumph.

A/N: There we go! First chapter of what is hopefully a long series.

 

[KindredVoid]

Mixed Beginnings 1.2

???​

"Warning, James Ashworth. Warning."



…
"Warning, James Ashworth. Warning."
…
"Warning…"
A sharp gasp of air escaped James, chest rising defiantly as he took his first breath. The sudden movement immediately elicited an equally sudden and sharp aching groan from the boy's dry, parted lips. A dull, throbbing pain flared in his mind as he struggled to take in breath, only faintly aware of the blaring alarm sounding in his ears.
"Warning, James Ashworth. Warning."
A robotic sounding voice spoke between the beeps, slowly becoming clearer as his breathing steadied.
'What?' The single word manifested itself slowly in his mind, his thinking sluggish and sedated. 'Where am I?' He attempted to open his eyes, but found them too heavy, as if weighed by lead. His limbs were largely unresponsive, feeling only just now beginning to slowly seep back into them.
"Warning, James Ashworth. Warning."
The robotic voice chimed again, causing James to groan again, louder. Whoever kept saying that was starting to get annoying, along with the constant beeping noise. He opened his mouth to speak, to tell it to shut up,, but only a garbled mess of sound came out.
"Shaaup... old' me." He ground out, turning his head slightly to the side as his tongue ran over his parched lips.
Miraculously, the robotic voice stopped immediately, followed by the alarms. A long silence followed, in which James managed to slowly open his eyes. Immediately he winced, closing his eyes once more as a throbbing red light flared just outside of his vision. Slowly, he opened them once more, blinking rapidly as his vision gained focus.
He was surrounded by darkness, lit only by the occasional red light. A single elongated 'V' shape was cut into the sheet of metal that surrounded his face, mere inches from touching his nose. 'Steel' the word came to mind- that was the metal's name. As his eyes continued to adjust, more feeling seeped into his limbs, a harsh cold sensation running up and down the back of his body. 'Water' the word floated up the surface of his murky consciousness. He was partially submerged in water. Besides that concerning fact, he felt himself splayed out, arms and legs outstretched. Confined in something- steel?
James licked his lips again, feeling them nearly devoid of moisture. By god, he was thirsty. For a moment, his mind flickered to reflect on the irony of the situation. He was surrounded by water, yet unable to reach it.
He lay there for a few more moments, simply staring up at his metal enclosure, illuminated only by that strange red flickering light. 'Where am I?' The thought once more bounced through his mind. 'Who am I?'
"He…" James opened his mouth to speak, a dilapidated croak rising from his throat. He closed his mouth, before opening it again, breath steadied. "Hello?" He called out in a near whisper, his voice weak.
"Hello, James Ashworth." The response was immediate, the same robotic voice that had spoken earlier. It seemed to speak all around him, as opposed to a single centralized source. Vaguely, his mind grasped that the voice sounded feminine. Robotic, but with a dash of Humanity.
"Who…?" James whispered, before he was consumed by a series of coughs. Causing his body to shudder as he squeezed his eyes shut. The voice waited for James to finish before responding.
"My designated name is Advanced Virtual Assistant. Or A.V.A." Ava replied, tone devoid of emotion.
"My memory tells me I was created by you, James Ashworth." James blinked at that, letting out a quiet groan. His mind had continued to clear, coming to focus as Ava talked. James Ashworth. The name sounded familiar, yet foreign. From what the AI said, that was him though- James Ashworth. Opening his eyes once more, he let out a ragged sigh, his head straining against it's metal cage in an effort to look around him. The visor offered only but a tiny slit to peer outside of his cage.
Outside was dark, but not absolutely so. There was just enough light to make out the outline of a ceiling above him, although anything past that escaped him. Only the faint dripping sound of water nearby could be truly discerned. That, and the dank, almost rotten smell that similarly surrounded him.

"Where… where are we?" James questioned quietly, concern slowly seeping into his voice.
"This suit does not contain any GPS capabilities." Came Ava's reply. "I recommend locating the nearest landmark whenever possible." James closed his eyes briefly, a long silence reigning over the two.
'But I can't!' James would have cried out, had he been certain he wouldn't damage his throat from doing so. But, at least he knew now he was in a suit. It made sense now, why he was having such difficulty moving. But why was he in one to begin with? Taking in a quiet breath, James continued to speak, keeping his voice as devoid of the creeping fear as he could muster. He didn't want to appear scared before the AI.
"How do I get out of the suit?" James slowly questioned. Right. Priorities. First, get out of the suit. Then find out where the hell he was. Make it to civilization. Then find out who he was. That sounded reasonable enough.
"There is a manual ejection button on the inside of the suit, by your right pinkie finger. It can be accessed by clenching your fist three consecutive times. Alternatively, I can eject you from your suit." Ava diligently replied.
"...Eject me from my suit?" James questioned slowly. "As in, shoot me up and away?" 'Also that button activation thing sounded terrible. Clenching your fist three times? Wouldn't you just accidentally activate it a bunch?'
"Negative, James Ashworth. The suit's clamps and bolts will simply come undone, and allow an easy exit. Additionally, my Core chip will eject from the forehead of your helmet."
"Core chip?" James questioned with a slight frown.
"Correct. My Core chip is this current version of AVA. It houses my history logs and central database. Should the Core Chip be destroyed, my backup chip is stored in your suitcase. Please remember to store my Core chip securely when you eject."
'Suitcase?' James questioned in his mind, opening his mouth to voice his thoughts- Only to be reminded of his current predicament as another small coughing fit consumed James for a solid minute. His skin had become gradually colder ever since he had awoken, James silently realized. Perhaps that was just his mind playing tricks on him however, trying to distract him.. Once he had finished, James sniffed quietly. Priorities.
"Alright… Ava… begin ejection." James ordered quietly, unsure of what exactly to expect. For half a minute, there was no reply from the AI that had been so eager to respond just moments ago. James began to wonder if it had not understood his command, and opened his mouth to speak again. Only for a quiet hiss to sound out from his suit, cutting through the relative silence and causing James' mouth to shut. The hissing from the suit was soon followed by a loud series of popping sounds as the various bolts and clamps came undone.
James could feel his body being gradually exposed to the foul tasting air as more and more of the suit retracted, the detaching pieces of armored suit mechanically being pulled to the side by the self disassembling armor. The mechanical clamps unceremoniously dropped the plated armor into the water, splashing James' already soaked sides.
Carefully, he flexed the fingers on each of his hands, letting out a ragged sigh as his legs were freed. James could feel his hands shaking as he flexed them, whether from anxiety or cold, he didn't know. But finally, the front of his helmet came down, retracted to the side before being placed gently into the water. The red flashing lights finally dying into nothingness.
Immediately his senses became awash with a strong, putrid smell. A concoction of dank, rust and rot. The strong odor caused James reflexively gag, wincing as he slowly struggled to sit up in the remains of his suit. His eyes, already adjusted to the darkness, looked downwards.
What remained of the suit was little more than a collection of scattered metal pieces and parts now. Composed largely of almost primitive looking metal plates and bindings, they were covered in dents and general signs of wear and tear. The back of the suit of which he had been lying on was partially submerged in water- although his soaked back could have discerned that.
Looking back towards the detached helmet, James could make out something flicker briefly, pulsing a dim glow against the dark background. It was partially embedded in the forehead of the helmet- the Core Chip. Reaching over to the helmet, James leaned down, hovering his hand above the chip. Gritting his teeth, James willed his hand to steady, only barely managing to find purchase and pull the piece of hardware out of the helm. The small chip clicked quietly as it was pulled, the pulsing glow slowly dying.
Holding the chip close to his chest for a brief moment, James let out a quiet sigh before pocketing it into the breast pocket of his shirt- the only pocket that wasn't still submerged in water.
From the muted colors of darkness, he could just barely make out the Jeans and loose fitting navy blue t-shirt he wore. Bringing his hands up close to his face, James quietly swallowed, willing them to slowly stop their shaking. Clenching them into fists, he could make out that his skin tone was tanned, but not overly so. Whoever he had been before this, he hadn't been one to shy away from the sun.
It took another half a minute for his hands to stop shaking, arms falling back his sides. Looking around once more, he spotted one particularly damaged plate to his left not far from him, a large hole on its surface. Quietly, he followed to where it would have been located, and took in a sharp breath.

A long gash lay just below his waistline on his thigh, partially submerged in murky green water. The dull aching pain came into focus now into a stinging, throbbing agony which caused James to hiss in pain. Quickly putting a hand to the wound and trying his best to cover it, James grit his teeth once more.
This wasn't good. There was a good chance the wound was infected now- who knew what sort of viruses inhabited the water? At least it didn't seem the wound was bleeding too much, it mustn't not be that deep.
Looking back up and around him, James quickly scanned his surroundings. He appeared to be in some sort of metal container, the floor covered in a lair of murky green water that was perhaps half a foot in depth. The dripping sound from before was coming from a pipe on the other side of the container, partially exposed and slowly leaking water onto the floor below.
Out of the corner of his eye, a black mass caught his attention. Turning towards it, he frowned quietly, narrowing his eyes. It was large and unmoving, propped up against a nearby wall. Tracing it's outline as his eyes continued to adjust, James hacked out a cough as he realized what the figure was. An old corpse, well into the process of decay. He could feel himself gag, threatening to vomit, but nothing came up. James quickly looked away from the dead person, working to steady his breathing. He needed to get out of here. Stick to the plan.
Slowly, shakily, he began to stand. Making sure not to put too much pressure onto his injured side, James reached out and grabbed onto a nearby pillar of rusted metal. On the opposite end of the container was a ray of light coming from a large hole in the ceiling, partially illuminating a stairwell leading upwards. 'My ticket out of here.'
As James began to make his way towards the stairwell, slowly taking one step at a time, he paused. Glancing to his right, he spotted another dark mass against the water. For a brief moment, the thought of it being another body ran through his mind, but was quickly dismissed as it was much too small and geometrically shaped. Whatever it was, it was floating idly near the remains of his suit, shaped like a box.
'Suitcase'. The word came back to James. That's what it was. Cautiously, he reached out with his hand, grabbing for the handle and pulling up the piece of luggage. It was heavy, but not overly so. Ava had mentioned a suitcase earlier- this had to be his. Looking back towards the lit stairwell, he let a small breath escape him. He would have to take a proper look at the suitcase later. For now, he needed to focus on getting out of here.
Sloshing through the water, James was nearing the large hole in the center of the room when he heard it. In the distance, his ears straining to hear it, the dull roar of something unnatural hit him. James froze, eyes briefly turning up towards the hole. Letting out an immediate groan, James winced and looked away, the sudden light nearly blinding him. Blinking quickly, James shook his head before looking back up.
The hole exposed a total of two layers above him from what he could see, leading to a stunningly blue sky above. He could see clouds, or what he thought were clouds, slowly drifting by. Whatever had punched through so many layers of metal flooring had been big, and had to have packed a serious punch to do so.
The roaring sound- 'a car!' was getting louder with each passing moment. Until, as soon as it had come, it stopped. The dripping sound of the pipe being the only sound remaining. Swallowing quietly, James looked back down, eyes slowly re-adjusting to the darkness. It seemed that civilization had come to him.

With that thought however, he glanced back over his shoulder towards the corpse he had spotted earlier. It was hard to make out now at this distance, but it sent a shiver down his spine regardless. What if whoever was out there now was responsible for putting him down here? Not to mention the poor soul that died down here prior to him?
Were they here to finish the job? Would they be hostile towards him, if he was spotted? James felt his breath quicken, the shaking sensation returning to his hands as he gripped the handle of his suitcase tighter. No, no, he needed to get a grip. He couldn't afford to panic now, frozen as he was. It would be best, he finally decided, that he keep out of sight for now.
A fizzle came from his right, and the sound of squealing metal shrieked through the air, bouncing around in a ringing echo. A metal blade had punched through the rusted, partially corroded wall and was starting to slide through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Whoever- or whatever- was on the other side was cutting a doorway into the metal.
James looked towards the metal blade, eyes widening as he felt his heart skip a beat. His hand had turned white gripping the handle of the suitcase as he turned back towards the stairwell. His only way out of here. Sloshing through the water as fast as he could with his injury, he soon reached the base of the stairwell. Glancing back towards the metal blade, it was nearly finished with the creation of it's door. Not wishing to stick around, James grabbed onto the decayed railing and began to climb.
Not a moment later, James could hear the rasp of the blade sliding out of the corroded metal before a resounding thunk followed by a loud splash flooded his ears. The room immediately drenched in light. James stole a glance over his shoulder, squinting as a man geared in heavy looking blue colored armor stepped through the door. In his hands he carried some sort of weapon… a halberd?
Without warning, ideas suddenly flooded James' mind- blueprints of machines and robotics that he could barely parse were filling his vision.
"Unknown parahuman!" The man's sudden, booming voice brought James back, the sudden vision blinking away.
"Stop where you are and step forward with your hands visible!" The unknown man demanded, his head obscured by a sleek looking helmet, a black visor covering his eyes and nose. The only thing showing was his mouth and a neatly trimmed brown beard.
Well, that was his cue.
With barely the time for a spare thought, James bolted up the stairwell, holding the suitcase up to his chest as he ran. Agonizing pain flared up through his injured side as he soon reached the first plateau of the stairwell, running up two steps at a time.
There was a twang of metal and metal rasping on metal, a hook slamming into the ceiling above James. A quiet whir accompanied the woosh of displaced air before the armored man reeled himself atop the stairs using his grappling hook, which detached from the ceiling and slid back into the halberd of which was now raised threateningly at James. "Last chance, stop and surrender. You have violated Protectorate airspace in unknown-"
Was about all the armored man got to say before James slipped against the next step. Residual water and forward momentum caused his weakened legs to easily give out from under him, James's eyes going wide in shock for the split second he had before his head connected with the metal steps. The last thing he saw before everything went black was the man's armored boots.


A/N: Man sometimes choices really bite you in the ass. Still getting used to Sufficient Velocity's style but the good news is that we've figured that a weekly/Biweekly post schedule is for the best. So expect a chapter every/every other Friday!

 

[KindredVoid]

Mixed Beginnings 1.3​

Della Duke/Nikki Hunt


Fugly Bob's was not quite what Della had expected, it was not some run down fast food joint with ultimately great food for its lack of everything else. No, surprisingly there was a bar too, and beside the burgers there were also gyros and tacos. Not what Della had expected in the slightest. Normally something going beyond her expectations would leave the pale girl rather happy. But it led to some thoughts that Della couldn't quite ignore. The biggest and perhaps the most important being whether she could actually count on her knowledge of Worm's Earth Bet from fanfiction alone. Thankfully it was a question Della easily answered even if the answer didn't make her feel any better or particularly: Not much if at all.

Della shook her head to clear her thoughts. The mouthwatering smells and the dull roar of the packed restaurant had helped her to lose focus of the future beyond her current plan of action. That being eating a lot of food, after which tweaking her metabolism so that she could get some damn meat on her bones and fill out her bra. That and working on peaking her body beyond her already low end brute rating. The-Her body was good, but not perfect. And with this self BioKinesis she had, she could make it damn near perfect. Better tweaking her nutrient and water absorption along with improving her liver, gallbladder, stomach, and intestines. Oh and make the appendix worth something. Della didn't actually understand what exactly she was doing with her body, just that she was doing it and she assumed her Shard was handling the details that she didn't know.

How scientists don't know what it does or was used for, despite cutting people open for centuries boggled Della. But she knew what she could use it for. That was waste eating bacteria. Less bathroom trips meant more time doing important stuff. Less bathroom trips overall was just better in general, after all it's the second most vulnerable state a gal could be in. The first being sleep, of course… Perhaps she could work on that too somehow….Wait fuck she was stupid. There was no way in hell Della had not picked the Noctis perk. But maybe she hadn't, her and James had done the CYOA early in the morning and had traveled through Dimensions when they went to sleep that night. Long enough time to forget details with her previously human memory, so Della would have to wait to find out.

As Della waited in the restaurant's line, her mind continued to wander. It should probably worry her that she was so readily changing her body like this. But: C'est La Vie as they say. Oh wait. She actually knew Latin, holy shit. Quod est vita instead of the French stuff. Della grinned as she staggered up to the small line in place. She had forgotten that she knew the language, although it didn't seem perfect to her, like she wasn't a native speaker. Maybe it was bootleg Latin? Not like she knew what actual Latin sounded like anyway. She'd need to practice on it once her and James got a proper lair.

But for now she could at least pretend to be bilingual enough to fool everyone but demons.

The line moved quickly, which was a bit of a surprise. Again, exceeding her expectations for a place called 'Fugly Bob's' in an economic sinkhole called Brockton Bay. Once she was up to the counter she glanced at the small banner hanging for the specialty burger, which was just a big ass burger with a huge heaping of fries. Oh. It also had two hotdogs, located on either side of the burger, sticking out from the bun. That was weird.

"Welcome to Fugly Bob's! What can I get ya girlie?" The large, oil stained man behind the register questioned, flashing Della a toothy grin that pushed up his chubby cheeks. "Say, haven't seen you around here before! New to the city?"

She was starting to feel a bit like a dick for thinking so low of the place before even coming inside.

"Uh… yeah. Parents just moved here for work with Medhall, heard about this place and decided that I had to come and see it." Della answered to which the man's grin grew. "Also I want to try the challenger you have here." The man gave a short chuckle, a hand coming up to scratch behind his ear. "That so, eh?!" He questioned boisterously, clearly excited at the prospect of another happy soul soon to be crushed by greasy meat.

Shows what he knew.

"Now girlie, you know if you can't clear the plate it's a full sixty dallas right?"
"Yes sir I understand. But I still want to do it. Besides if I don't finish, I can take the leftovers home right?" Della asked to which the man nodded. "Alright girlie! Finish the burger and it doesn't cost you a thing. Plus, you get your picture on the wall over there." He said, nodding off to a brick wall that clashed with the rest of the inside's decorations seemingly made for the purpose of being the Wall of Winners. There were only a handful of pictures of people who were either triumphant or looking quite ill.

Della took the little flag that meant she was ordering heart attack on a tray, the restaurant's challenger, and went to an empty table. Pulling out her phone as the cash register dude yelled at the cooks in the back to prepare the specialty burger. She pointedly ignored the stares she was getting, but she did scan the crowd for anyone she might recognize. Which might only be Lisa or Brian. Mostly because she had only "European pretty boy" to go with Alec and she was kinda bad with guessing ethnicities. But would they come here? Right now? Not like she cared if Alec or Brian saw her. But Lisa?

Lisa may have to...be convinced to not tell Coil anything. Yeah the girl hates Coil, but any slip of lip could sink Della's collective fleet she was going to be sailing...Metaphors, she was good at them. Della sighed softly as she saw only strangers in the fast food/bar shack. It was a relieved sigh, and she relaxed in her booth, checking out her high end smartphone. She had an iPhone, but she had liked James's android more even if he had done all that weird...Jailbreaking? Root it?

Della sighed again and put her smartphone away in a huff. She should be out there looking for James, helping him. But she needed to eat, and needed to build up her strength as well. Brockton Bay was dangerous, hell besides the birdcage it was probably one of the more dangerous areas on Earth Bet.

Della groaned. "Fuck." She murmured to herself as the other patrons of the joint started to ease their attention off her and go back to their own meals. She was going to have to get a few of those innocent parahumans out of there too. She only knew about Canary, cause fuck the government, so she would have to look up who exactly had been acquitted after they had been sent to that fucking place.

Then she was going to have to bug the shit out of Dragon to get a live feed of the place. Then threaten Dragon to get that live feed because Della knew the fucking AI wouldn't just do what was right. Even if only because of her chai-No. No, Della was going to fucking kill Saint and his merry band of fuckwits. Or talk them into giving her that uh, program. Della couldn't actually remember the name of it. Apparently being a Noctis Cape didn't give you a perfect recall on things you've already forgotten or she hadn't picked that perk. Which sucked, quite a bit. Because she had crawled through the Worm Wiki once or twice when she was writing her own fanfiction and that all would be very nice to remember at the moment.

Holy shit, what if she was creating worlds when she wrote those stories? Della felt a little uneasy and made a promise to herself to never try and meet her original characters because wow she was a fucking terrible human being if that was what was happening. She was sure she would never be able to write again if she turned out to be right and as such she really hoped she wasn't….Maybe they just peered into other worlds thinking it was imagination and just documented it? That was easier to swallow than her entire world being responsible for so much misery and death.

Della shook off her funk as she noticed the wheeled trolley coming her way and holy fuck that was big. She stared at the monster of a burger as the tray it was stacked upon was laid before her. On one hand it looked positively amazing, and on the other hand it was disgusting by the pure avarice it took to consume such a thing. It was wider than her hands put together and was stacked almost as tall as her forearm was long. Granted her forearm wasn't as long as it should be, which is one of the reasons she was here in the first place. Getting calories to convert into biomass in order to get her body back up to snuff, and to make her even more parahumanly than she was before.

God it was weird being short.

Being tall would be weird

Annnd the good mood was completely destroyed by that little pop up of a thought. Della set her face into as neutral an expression as she could manage as she tweaked her metabolism and dug into the Fugly Bob Challenger. Of course she would eat the fry's first and the seasoning on them was pretty good too! Wow, knowing how all the muscles in your throat are contracting to move food is...something else. Saliva glands need some tweaking to be better suited for breaking down food, teeth better shaped for grinding and tearing food. Della paused as she bit her tongue thanks to her changing her teeth while chewing and not quite paying attention. The hole she put in her tongue healed almost instantly of course, but it along with the sudden sharp pain was a good enough reason for her to dial back how sharp her teeth were.

The hotdogs were a really weird thing to add to a burger, and Della didn't like them all that much, because the flavor and consistency of the two meats were clashing hard. But she was burning through calories and, well, meat was meat. Though she can't say she enjoyed the tomatoes and Onions. The meat itself was pretty good, crispy and paired really well with the mayo and ketchup. Calories for days if she were a normal person, but with her metabolism being sped up along with her improved digestion tract she was gonna burn through this rather quickly.

Della sat back, grabbing a handful of napkins to wipe the grease off her mouth and hands. "Damn." she groaned, even with her tuned up biology it was...it was a lot. She had never in her life eaten that much and it was weirdly disgusting and cathartic in some way. Another middle finger to her old life…..Cathartic indeed.

"Well hell girlie! Damn! Didn't think you had it in you! Ready for the photo and can I get your name?" The same man asked. At this point Della figured that he might be the Bob mentioned in the name of the joint. "Yeah uh, it's..Della. Della Duke." Best to get her name out in case James went through here. He might see her on the wall. Small chance no doubt, but things were fucking wild on Earth Bet in almost every Illiteration of it. Like, whoever wrote a boring Earth Bet?

Picture taken, Della thanked Bob for the meal and then made her way outside after tweaking her metabolism back down to normal levels so as to not burn through everything she had just gained. "Well that was something else. Never thought a burger could be that big, or weirdly tasting." She spoke to herself as she turned and started her way down the street. "Alright. Food eaten, biomass obtained." Della glanced around, thankfully no one was around to hear her talking to herself. "Find a pizza joint for James...that can be later. Priorities. Find James first and then once-"

"Oh shit Taylor." Della hissed softly "Now I really do feel like a dick. How the fuck do I forget the main protagonist? I'm not her fucking dad." Actually, now that Della was thinking of it, Taylor could a hundred percent help her find James, what with her three block coverage of her power and the uh...Wait, what if it was fanfiction that she could see through the bugs? "Fucking. Fuck." she rubbed her face ignoring the little bit of grease that she accidentally smeared on her cheek..

Only saw her a few times, Taylor is her name?….she was kinda cute.

Huh, that was...unexpected.
Well. At least Della knew where to go to find Winslow, although Taylor's house was still a mystery. "So, find Taylor, befriend Taylor, ask for Taylor's help, Find James, and then take over Brockton Bay. Save world, slash, worlds." The main issue with that series of steps was...James. He would have practically every group in the city after him, and if his abilities got out? A Few countries along with the god damned illuminati with the Boogeyman on their payroll. The thought of him being out there, lost, alone, and out of his element was making Della utterly sick with worry.

He was her friend, after all, and she did not. Did not let her friends get hurt.

They were all she had.

Which is why she needed to find her friend. Which is why she needed to find out how to fucking clone herself so that she could cover more ground. Not knowing how to use awesome powers was almost as bad as not having them...Maybe. Della had been in both positions now, and both sucked to high degrees. So maybe equally sucky then.

Della looked up at the sun, inching closer to midday at this point. Squinting, she tracked it for a moment before looking away and blinking the spot out of her eyes. Fucking hell. What was she to do? "What am I to do?" She spoke softly, giving voice to her thoughts. Della blinked her eyes and focused on the lip of a distant building's roof. The world Blinked and Della was there, reaching out and grabbing onto the lip of the roof, hauling herself atop the roof before gravity even had the chance to nab her. Quietly Della peered back over the Boardwalk before she went to the center of the building's roof, some short squat fabric place that had probably been shutdown for years.

"Come on." She hissed, tensing the muscles in her body "Fucking Split dammit. Two of me! Something!" Della demanded of herself, of her shard. The fucking thing. "I know you aren't actually dead. I know you know what I know fucker. Not being connected to the network means jackshit right now, the cycle is fucked and you know it. So work with me dammit so we can fix things."

[Data.]

Oh god what is that

Oh fucking shit her Shard actually fucking replied. And holy shit that was so weird Why did none of the fanfictions she had read mention the fact that getting a goddamn paragraph from a single word was so fucking weird? Not just weird, disorientating, and disconcerting. "Er, wait what? I'm not getting into fights so you unlock more of my fucking powers. That doesn't make any sense. What shard even are you? I know you aren't a bud or anything of those cluster trigger shards."

Della waited a moment and frowned. Silence was nice, but not when she wanted some answers. "Alright. Look. I will be getting data alright? I will be getting into fights. But I need my powers to do so. In fact with them I'll be able to outpace any other Shard in combat."

[...Query?]

Great, three things stuck in here.

Della shivered softly. "Well. I plan on getting into fights yes, but I plan on using specific powers with specific...identities. So different power combinations for combat. As such, you will get a lot of data and with more bodies means I can get into more fights, sometimes at the same time." She hoped the Shard in her head would get the fucking memo and actually help her. "What is your designation?"

[Acceptance. Negative.]

I regret drinking that vial, the pain was not worth this.

Wow if one word was bad, two were fucking painful. "Shut up Nikki." Della growled, she relaxed as she felt something click in her mind, a sensation of a light switch being flicked on. Light, or energy, allowed to flood a dark room. "Wait, what do you mean you don't have on-oh. Right. Stitched together to make a Vial. Can you at least tell me which of the other shards you're made up of?" That might help for future points and dealing with it.

[...Negation]

Oh great, It's like a dejected puppy

That...actually wasn't too bad a phrase to use. Not being able to tell what it was stitched together from was probably not something it enjoyed. Della didn't blame it. She was starting to get the idea of what it was like. Maybe not completely, but she knew the sensation of being torn apart, and boy if that was fucking pleasant to anyone she'd eat a toilet seat.

Della took a moment to breathe deeply, getting her thoughts in order before she continued. "Well. I'm going to give you a name then. Everyone deserves a name afterall. Does...Nexu sound good? It's latin for connection. You've got a connection with me and Nikki, Network or not." She cleared her throat. "Or maybe Alveo, Latin for Hive."

[...]

It was odd to hear, understand yet not understand the actual thinking of the alien 'mini'-supercomputer. But here she was: Faced with something large enough to cover an entire earth, bend reality and physics to it's whims, gather in gestalt strong enough to destroy thousands of Earths for the simple purpose of reproduction... and she was naming it like a stray pet she had found on the street. Surreal did not cover it.

[Affirmation. Designation-Nexu!]

Urgh. So...much...

Della would be the last to admit it, but she agreed with Nikki. Three words were.. Well they weren't really words but it fit them. Like a picture was worth a thousand words except the picture not only gave you the words, but the sensation. The feelings if they could be called that.
It was a little heart warming the Shard-That Nexu-felt so...relieved? Happy? Content? Fuck they did not have human compatible emotions. Although now she was thinking of something else…

"Gonna go with calling you a girl, Nexu. It would be weird to have a male in my head." Della started nodding to herself more than anything else. It was going to be very weird when she goes to shower, or uh. Do other things. So, all girls!

It is very strange no matter what gender

That wasn't helping. Della didn't think that it ever would. "Alright." Again speaking only to herself. She didn't need to talk to Nikki, and Nexu probably didn't need her to speak out either. "Let's get this cloning business down. That'll be a huge crux in all our upcoming trials. From safety, to combat and manipulation potential." Not to mention finding James and saving time needed to save the goddamn Earth...Earths.
For a moment, information flooded her mind, but it was not how one would normally imagine it. No text, no pictures, no exchange of anything. Again, the best way Della could describe it was akin to the sensation of light flooding a room. One moment inky blackness, the next it was just...all there. As such, Della flexed the muscle in her mind and stepped back. She had the absurd thought that she was just a large cell undergoing mitosis. The way everything cracked apart and then peeled off each other.

For a moment she felt her two hearts beating out of rhythm, the fleshy muscles of her hearts rubbing against each other with each thump.

And not a second later Della was staring at herself.

The strangeness of what Della was experiencing was not something she could put into words. Here she was, staring at a perfect clone of herself and her original body. Della could even feel the biology of her clone as perfect as she viewed her own. The only thing the clone seemed to lack was that same invisible muscle in the mind that created it. Which was concerning. The clones couldn't clone, if she lost her original body then she couldn't use that ability anymore.
That was scary. Her Hivemind ability was perhaps her most important. It was her lifeline, her respawn, her do over. James would probably slap her arms for getting all those so wrongly. But that's what it was like!

"Well." Her clone said and they both jerked in place. "Oh right. Wow." It was...like hands. How you have two of them and just know about them. Know how to use them, move them. But it's an entire goddamn body. "Fucking." Both Della and her clone looked around, then both gave the other a shove just to see how it felt. "Okay, so it's not only like hands, but you're am-am-"

"Amdextrous?" Her clone asked, voicing her thoughts and Della nodded. "Not sure if that's it but yeah. Amdextrous." Like being able to use both hands at their most effectiveness. Della had been a righty, but this is what she guessed it was like being able to control her hands separately. Instead of one hand's movements bleeding into the other….but it was a body instead of fingers.

"Jesus this is fucking weird." Della murmured softly. Her clone nodded. Thankfully Della had clamped down on any growing panic. Seeing yourself outside of a mirror….was not something humans were supposed to do, unless you were twins maybe. Because this was- this was uncanny to the extreme. "Alright you need to change." Della ordered herself.

You're talking to yourself, that is you, not someone else.

Della ignored Nikki. "So, Japanese. You should be able to check the-" Della sighed in annoyance. "Azn Bad Boyz territory. I'll head to Winslow, see if I can find Taylor and befriend her. Get her help looking for James...Help prevent Khepri."

Her clone nodded as her features started to shift. She ended up having to roll up her pants legs from how much shorter she became, and her chest shrank a bit, hair became dark black. Not to mention the shape and color of her eyes changed. Della looked her over. "Like an entirely separate person." the clone paused. "Except the voice. Hang on."

A moment later and the clone had a slightly lighter voice, a bit more feminine than Della's own.

"Alright, I suppose bodies will need names or else this will get confusing. Let's go with the classics. I'm Alpha, you're Beta." With that the clone nodded and Della continued. "Alright Beta, go search the Docks for our friend, if you find him, shapeshift back to the default. I'll be going to Winslow." Alpha gave the clone a wave before she Blinked and found herself on another roof.

Della shifted Alpha as Beta moved on to the more industrial looking area. "Man this is weird." She murmured as the two forms of the girl both Blinked through the city. Each with their own purpose.



A/N: Man. I think this is the longest one yet. Shout Out to Drew, my Beta for Della and Cowriter for James who has immersed himself so totally into the role of an amnesiac that he hasn't even read Worm yet. Now that's dedication to writing!
Next week join us for James actually doing something other than hitting the floor like a Drowning Pool song!

 

[tizian.s]

Ok, can you please give us the builds they have ? I would like to know the full extend of their powers.

 

[KindredVoid]

Ok, can you please give us the builds they have ? I would like to know the full extend of their powers.

Click to shrink...

I plan on making a post for just such a thing once the first interlude comes up.

 

[tizian.s]

I plan on making a post for just such a thing once the first interlude comes up.

Click to shrink...

Ok, thank you for the information

 

[KindredVoid]

Mixed Beginnings 1.4​

James Ashworth

White. The first thing James would see the moment his eyes flickered open was White. The ceiling was a crisp clean flat white, no deviations, no marring, not even dirt. Shifting in place as he blinked, he let out a quiet groan. He was laying on some kind of cot, bolted to the wall. The metal railing of which was digging painfully into his side- the one which had been injured.

The room he was in, when he managed to convince his aching head to actually move, was bare. With only a large reflective window and a nearby metal door being the only standouts in the white cell. Straining his head to look down to himself, James let a small curse escape his lips. He was dressed in a blue jumpsuit- the kind you'd find in prison. Or at least, that's what the first thought that came to mind. His legs and wrists weren't bound though, which was a small relief.

James let his head slowly fall back onto the flat pillow that sat on the cot, eyes staring up at the ceiling high above. God, where was he? And for that matter, how could he remember what he assumed to be certain cultural phrases, but nothing else? It just made no damn sense! 'I'm a damn amnesiac. Holy shit.' James' breathing began to quicken, hands reflexively curling into and out of fists. He hadn't had the time to fully process the fact earlier, but now that he had, it hit like a truck.

What had he been doing there, with the dead person? Who was that blue armored man? Was he from his past? Did he have a family? Was he going to be killed now? Would he even be missed if he died right now?

James felt a migraine come on, and let a ragged sigh escape him as he brought his hands to his face, covering it as he squeezed his eyes shut. His breath picked up the pace, and he could feel tears brim under his eyelids.

No, no. He couldn't panic. Not when whoever had taken him could be watching. The thought caused a shiver to shoot through his spine, James slowly forcing his hands from his face and opening his eyes once more. He could feel tears threaten to spill out from his eyes, but he quickly wiped those away. Just bottle up the feelings for now. He could deal with them later.

There came a crackle from atop the door, a familiar voice ringing out from it. "James Ashworth, remain where you are. A PRT officer is going to enter the room, any attempt to escape or attack the PRT personnel will result in you getting foamed. Do not move."

That caused James's eyes to shift wide open, the boy quickly scrambling to sit up, only to let out a pained groan as a hand went to his side. Before laying back down onto the cot.

A second went by before the metal door slid open. Two figures in what looked to be riot armor came into the room, standing on opposite ends of the door as a man in a simple set of formal civilian clothes walked in with a smile on his face. A moment later a round segment in the middle of the floor started to rise up into the air. Forming a table, another smaller circle rising up next to the table not long after.

The metal door slid shut and the man came and sat down across from James. He motioned out to the opposite side of the table. "Please, have a seat. We have a lot to talk about. The name is Smith." He told James, that same easy smile on his face.

James stared over towards the security personnel, and then to Smith warily. Brow furrowing, James began to sit up once more, much slower this time. Letting out a small sigh as he leaned back against the wall, body still aching.

"Is it.. Alright if I stay here?" James questioned quietly, his voice hoarse. "I… don't know if I can walk yet." Smith nodded.

"Yes, we had to put you through the proverbial wringer. You had microfractures all across your body, a concussion, and that nasty wound on your waist that was infected with something quite nasty." Smith leaned back slightly, folding his hands atop the solid metal table. "James, can you tell us why you came careening towards the East North East Protectorate Headquarters at terminal velocity in a TinkerTech suit?" The man asked

James stared blankly towards Smith in response, brow knitting together as he pursed his lips in apparent thought. Glancing occasionally back towards the security detail before back to Smith, a long silence stretched on after Smith's question.

"...What's 'TinkerTech'?" James slowly questioned about half a minute later, shifting his position slightly on the bed. "And where's the uh… North East… thing...?" He questioned, trailing off into silence. The man continued to look James over for a moment, his brow raised.

"Son. Do you know where you are? What state or country are you in?" Smith questioned, smile gone.

Smith met once more with James' blank stare, the boy shifting uncomfortably on the cot. The silence dragged on for another minute, James opening his mouth once before closing it again. Before simply giving a small shake of his head.

"No... sir." He replied in barely a whisper, tone bashful as he looked towards the man. Quietly he swallowed, wringing his thumbs together in his lap as his gaze fell slightly. The boy was practically sweating bullets.

For a moment the man stared at the boy, before nodding seemingly to himself. "That's unfortunate. Seems that double landing might have knocked a few things loose up in your head." Smith motioned to James. "So, Ashworth-May I call you James?"

"I… yes." James looked back up to Smith, nodding quietly. "How did you get my name?" He paused for a moment. "Well, I think that's my name." James let out a groan, leaning back against the wall.

Smith nodded. "You had a credit card on you, in your name."

"A credit card…?" James muttered to himself with a small frown. Vaguely, he recalled the concept, and nodded along. "Where was it?" James questioned. "The credit card, I mean, and my other items?"

"That suitcase you were carrying had the credit card. A fine, expensive laptop as well...and a gun." Smith shook his head. "James, do you see the picture that paints? A strange boy in TinkerTech, of whom we have no record of existing, suddenly careens off the forcefield protecting a government facility, crash lands, and when Heroes come to investigate he tries to run while carrying a suitcase with a long range rifle and a laptop?"

The man shook his head. "What does that look like to you?" As Smith spoke, James continued to fidget on the cot, looking increasingly uncomfortable as Smith went on. Swallowing quietly, James' gaze fell to the floor as the gun was mentioned. Not to mention the force field! That was something straight out of sci-fi! But if Smith was telling the truth…

James looked back up towards Smith, mentally steeling himself for whatever was to come next.

"L-look. Mister Smith, I… don't know what I can tell you. Hell, I hardly know my own name." James motioned towards Smith, his hands beginning to shake once more. "I-if I was sent here to kill someone or… do anything really, I wasn't very good at my job, was I?" James mentioned. "I don't want to harm, or kill anyone! I just want to know who I am." James replied, taking a shuddering breath.

For a moment Smith only watched James, then minutely his smile became warmer. "I believe you James." The man nodded, "So, that's why I want to help you if you'd hear me out."James blinked. Then blinked again, staring at Smith in apparent surprise.

"Wait… you believe me?" James questioned, dumbfounded. His brows raised before knitting themselves back together. "This isn't some sort of trick, right?"

Smith shook his head. "Kid, I've been in this business for thirty years. I can tell when someone is lying, especially a teenager. No offense." He raised his hands as if to placate James before settling them back upon the top of the solid table. "But, I will admit. My offer helps us as much as it helps you. After all, you have very little to lose by listening to it, no?" Smith asked

James eyed Smith silently for a minute, before nodding slowly. He looked rather relieved at man's words, before frowning slightly. "What sort of offer? I don't want to be used like a guinea pig." James replied.

Smith nodded "I understand the feeling. Needles scare me." The man gave James a rueful smile. "Before I continue, do you remember anything about parahumans? Or the Protectorate?" James shook his head.

Smith sighed rather sadly "That makes things a bit more difficult. I'll go ahead and give you the long and short of it. You are a parahuman, your brain has a structure in it that allows you to do things no normal human could. In your case you seem to be a Tinker, someone who can build technology that is beyond Humanity's current scale. Which is...hazardous for your health. Gangs, governments," Smith motioned to himself with one hand "Terrorist, and cults all want Tinkers. They are not above using...torture or forced addiction to get Tinkers to work for them."

Smith nodded "As such the Protectorate, a branch of the United States Government dealing with parahumans, seeks to help Tinkers avoid becoming either a statistic or a forced Villain. They have a program called The Wards for children who find themselves with powers and the desire to help others. The Wards is meant to teach kids and teens how to use their powers without harming themselves or others. It also helps the Ward by supplying income, a trust fund that can be accessed once you turn eighteen, and for parahumans such as yourself, material to Tinker with. My offer to you is to join The Wards of Brockton Bay as a probationary member for a year while we help you find your identity." Smith looked James over and sighed. "It's not perfect. You'd have to remain in the Wards until you turn eighteen, but you'll have the resources of the United States government helping you. Which is better than one of the gangs finding you, I assure you."

James eyed Smith silently while he spoke, giving the older man his best poker face… Not that he knew what Poker was. But the phrase had come to him when he had taken on a neutral expression. So he went with it.

"So…" James trailed off slowly as Smith finished speaking. "What's the catch? Because that just sounds too good."

Smith's face curled slightly. "We need the manpower you offer. Honestly. The ratio of Villains to Heroes is two to one, it's an uphill battle keeping everything stable much less working." The curl in his face left and he let out a tired sigh, still managing to look professional as he ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair. "The catch is that you'll be staying here, in Brockton Bay. Where the Protectorate is simply outnumbered by the four major gangs that dwell within the city. We need people, we need Heroes." Smith stated, stressing the last word. "And if all it takes to gain a strong Tinker such as yourself is to help you find your identity and offer you a job that supports your needs? Hell it's a win for everyone but the gangs."

James was quiet for a long time, gaze returning to the ground. This was almost too much to take in. And as crazy and fantastical as it all sounded- why wouldn't it be true? He had no real reason to believe he was being lied to. He had to admit, the deal sounded good. Having the backing of an entire government could come in handy.

On the other hand, he'd be making a lot of enemies by taking this Protectorate's side. But he'd have their protection, too. James didn't know if he wanted to make such a decision so quickly… But what real choice did he have? Having the backing of the government in the search for his identity would be extremely useful.

"...Earlier, you mentioned something about 'heros', and 'villians'," James looked back up to Smith, tone quizzical. "You mean parahumans that… fight, right?" The man nodded to the question.

"Yes. Heroes and Villains being parahumans who fight on opposite sides of the law." Smith explained. "Heroes being those who go independent, join the Ward, or the Protectorate." he shifted to lean forward on the table. "There are rogues who forgo cape business to strike up a trade...they tend to not last long thanks to Villains, who are those who use their powers for their own gain and to harm others."

"And you… want me to fight these villains...?" James inquired slowly, his gaze meeting Smith's briefly before he looked away again. Smith gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Kid, that suit you crashed in was most likely built by you. With the supplies you have here, you could easily build something better. But no, you are not going to be forced to fight the likes of Hookwolf." Smith snorted. "No, Wards are officially a JROTC program. But what I said of Brockton Bay earlier. Heroes are badly outnumbered. So the Wards here do more than just PR events and patrol the rich neighborhoods. Yes the Wards do get into altercations. But parahumans don't fight to the death, it's against the unwritten rules. I'll explain those in a bit but you don't have to worry about some kind of grand battlefield. If you're worried about being hurt, there's always just choosing to do console duty, I know your fellow Wards would love you for picking that up."

James nodded quietly, taking in a deep breath. There was a brief silence between the two, before finally he looked back up to Smith, meeting the man's gaze.
"Alright. I'll do it."



A/N: Once I would like to thank my Cowriter/Beta Drew for his time in writing James Ashworth and checking to make sure my story makes some sort of sense.
Good news is that the next chapter is an Interlude of two and the end of the Mixed Beginnings Arc!
I can't wait to show off all the good stuff I have planned and yet feel horribly nervous about it!

 

[CrossHope]

(insert whiny and bitchy baby crying about an OC in the Wards here)

But seriously, you've got me hooked with this story and I wait for new chapters with bated breath.

 

[Tsotate]

Might as well join the Wards. It's not like he can be held to any agreement he makes as an amnesiac minor.

 

[KindredVoid]

Interlude (Armsmaster/???)​

Armsmaster stared silently at the MRI x-rays, his helmet resting off to the side of his work table as he peered at the multiple photos of the teen's brain. Each one painting the same picture over and over with no deviations no matter how many times he passed his eyes over them. It was an interesting, if disturbing picture.

"I have the files you asked for Colin." Dragon said as her animated avatar came into existence on the monitor. "And you're right. There aren't any cases like this. For all intents and purposes, aside from the concussion, his brain is fine. Although there is a staggering amount of activity in his Corona Pollentia, his Gemma is larger than normal, and the webbing that connects the organs have spread across the entirety of his brain, going so far as to reach his upper brainstem. That's not something we have a record of. Not to mention his lack of a concussed state once he woke up."

Colin nodded and turned to look at the remains of the armor they had scavenged from where the boy had landed. Sturdy, more akin to a bipedal tank than a suit of armor. It was fascinatingly simple. Yet the forging skill on the plates despite them being low end iron was something that he and Dragon had a discussion about to a length. It gave them both ideas, for Dragon her suits, for him his armor. The only issue had been the weight. Stronger than it should have been, but also heavier. There were...applications in that. One had to wonder if Aluminum could be given that treatment, then layered. Could do wonders for joint protection.

His eyes left the salvaged parts of the suit with some hesitance to go over what the teen had been carrying. A suitcase, a titanium suitcase with an electronic lock that required Dragon's help in cracking. The contents of said suitcase were damning. A credit card without any bank to trace to, no doubt linked to the Numbers Man. A disassembled rifle of the Armalite brand, with three magazines of 5.53 ammunition. two sets of calibration tools, the likes of which are used for very big guns: Artillery cannons. Several sets of casual civilian attire. A single high end laptop without an ounce of memory used beyond the extremely well crafted custom operating system that looked better used for hacking/coding than general internet browsing or schoolwork.

Finally his gaze landed on the last two personal items, something the teen had been carrying in his breast pocket and in the suitcase respectively. What looked to be two casino chips made of platinum with an 8-bit smiley face printed on one side with the word AVA imprinted below the emoticon. Careful observation had revealed both of them to be an intricate microchip and a miniature solid state drive for holding data. It was nothing a new Tinker could make easily, it looked like something that would take quite a while to craft, possibly a year or more. Nevermind the fact that there were two of them. Looking over it had given Colin a few ideas on miniaturizing his combat prediction software hardware requirements. But Dragon had remained rather silent on it.

Colin wasn't good with people. He recognized that fact and had Tinkered around it to a degree. But he didn't need any socializing programs to let him know that something had left Dragon off kilter or worried. They were good friends, and to him she may as well be his only one.

So, even if he wanted to send it off to her for her to pull it apart so they could both study it, Colin kept it squirreled away. He didn't know what it meant to Dragon, but he knew she didn't want to get close to it. "Amnesiac, but total. This would be easier to deal with if he were branded." He murmured. "A Tinker case 53, first of their kind." Of course there were other options, such as the Gesellschaft. But that seemed ultimately unlikely due to the boy's arabic features. Colin did not think it was the Yangban either, rarely did they ever leave china, and from the trajectory of the first hit on the forcefield had the boy coming in from the upper atmosphere.

Or the crash landing coupled with that slip on that fishing boat's stairs had really destroyed the boy's memories. Now they had a young, powerful Tinker who couldn't remember anything of his past. It was an opportunity, a lot of opportunity. It wasn't a happy thought, using an amnesiac like this, but Colin was a pragmatist and an opportunity such as this would never happen again. Even if the saying was patiently false, the phrase 'Lightning never strikes twice' fit better than many others.

Another hero Tinker, working with Colin, was something Brockton Bay needed desperately. Not to mention it wouldn't hurt Colin's career. "So," Dragon began, a coy warm smile on her digital avatar's face "Mister Armsmaster" Colin groaned softly and chose to interrupt her before she could continue "You pushed me to say that."

Dragon's smile only grew as Colin's voice replayed the awkward joke from her monitor. "Imagine what Assault would think if I showed him this?"

There was a thump as Colin's head hit the wall in exasperation.







"Laas Yah Nir" For a moment her vision shifted as her voice doused the world in red before it faded. All except the three human shaped blots of red lifeforce moving inside the warehouse. The alarms set in place were not very complex, although a few could be described as lethal if she were feeling charitable. But she hardly ever was, and she had important work to get started. Her armor gave a soft whirr as she made her way towards the main doors of the warehouse. Her throat had dealt with the strain of using the voice by the time she reached them.

"Bex!" With a squeal of protest the doors of the warehouse rammed themselves open. She watched with distant satisfaction as one of the red blobs fell out of a bed. The other two snapped up, one drawing what looked like a pistol from the way they held it. The other went running to another section of the warehouse. A moment later the warehouse doors began to shut, and she walked past them just before they met with a resounding crash of metal on metal. "Saint!" Her voice echoed through the metal warehouse, refurbished to be more homey but the metal still makes the place sound cavernous. Didn't help that her armor amplified the shout as well. "I've come to parley with you, about the mission your organization pursues!"

It took a minute for them to come before her. Saint and his wife Mags wearing their stolen Dragon TinkerSuits. She could already see the flaws inherent to them due to poor maintenance. The other one, the Russian wasn't around. Rather he was most likely manning the console attached to Dragon's coding. "Hello. I am a Collector." She stated. "My designation is Avery, and I've come to seek an Alliance with the DragonSlayers. I have no quarrel with you, and our goals align in some areas."

Saint stared at the Tinker armored woman before him, his metal clad arms crossing over his chest. "What are your goals then? Why come to us? How do you know about the DragonSlayers?" He questioned harshly, eyes flickering over her suit and almost devouring the details of it. Avery flipped her hands over, showing her palms. Her voice was utterly devoid of inflection "The World I am from, the Earth has multiple different ways to view other Earths and dimensions. Plenty foolishly think that means that they are just stories for entertainment." She cocked her head to the side, the blank helmet she wore covered her head entirely. "I am one of an organization that knows the truth. One of our own decided to go AWOL, and he did so by leaving us a surprise in the form of a rogue AI he let loose on the internet before he and his accomplice escaped from our Earth and traveled here."

Saint paled. "A code Tinker that released an AI? Here? From another Earth but not Aleph?" He held his chin for a moment as he thought over this information. "You're a Tinker as well?" He asked, looking once more at her armor and the weapon she had slung over her shoulder, and seated on her hip.

Avery nodded "Parahumans from my world rarely exist. But all are akin to the artificial triggers that the Gesellschaft uses. Ours are far more...controlled. Better crafted." Saint frowned at the comparison but motioned for her to continue "My main ability is the use of a Trump ability to spot other parahumans, and to repair and maintain Tinker gear. Not to mention a low brute rating." Saint was now eyeing her more for her powers than her armor, the woman next to him gave Saint her own side eye before speaking up. "And what exactly is your goal here then, why follow them?"

For the first time, an inflection leaked into Avery's voice. "Why, I'm here to collect the two strays." She answered with a smile in her voice.



A/N: A smallish chapter, but it's good for setting up future plots ,':j

 

[KindredVoid]

Uneasy friends 2.1​

Della Duke/ Nikki Hunt

Della hummed softly as she spied on the school from the roof of an apartment that was across the street, thank god for better eyes. There was no way that Nikki's old body had been so good. It had been human, but just increased to an absurd degree. Della was fairly certain it was a result of one of those perks from the Cyoa that she had picked through. Certainly wouldn't be a power, Della would waste points on super human strength or toughness. She wasn't that kind of girl, she preferred Big Sisters to Big Daddys after all.

[Host.Data]

"Alright. Alright. I'll get to that soon enough." Della assured her needy alien parasitic brain organ beacon that she would indeed get into some fighting at some point. Even if the cycle was broken, data was like a drug for organic supercomputers apparently.

I wish I could just write this off as me suffering a psychotic break instead of my Planet being used as a test site for eldritch horrors.

Ignoring that. It was midday, what with the sun hanging in the middle of the sky and her phone telling her it was currently twelve-ten pm. Winslow should be entering lunch period at this point. Which meant Taylor was either inside in a hidyhole or heading up to the roof- well speak of the Queen herself!

Della grinned as she watched Taylor move out onto the roof. A bag holding her lunch gripped tightly in her arms as she moved away from the roof access. Taylor sat down and began to unpack her lunch, what it was Della didn't know or really care. What was important however, is that Taylor was alone. Which meant that she would be more...open to conversation. Open to facts, open to speaking...Hopefully. A lot of hope riding off on Della successfully speaking to a social pariah with self worth issues and convincing her of a lot of fucking nutty things logically speaking. Not even mentioning said pariah's nickname across the multiverse being "Escalation Queen".

"God damn it all." Della murmured softly. "When did my life get so fucking bent out of shape?" She asked the open air with a sigh, moving a lock of hair out of her face so as to not block her vision with the errant lock of hair. The platinum blonde lock of hair catching the light easily

When you were born would be most likely.

[Agreement]

Della huffed in annoyance, she did not like being tag teamed by an alien supercomputer and a head roommate….Unfortunately they might have had a point too.

The world blurred as Della Blinked atop the roof access, where she set down her suitcase while giving Taylor a kind smile. Said girl was staring at her as well, probably shocked. "Hello there!" Della stated cheerfully before sliding off the roof access and dusting off her hands. Della set her hands on her waist as she allowed her trump ability to work, and she smiled as she felt the sensation that yes, Taylor was a parahuman. Multitasking her power whispered to her.

Oh yeah that gave Della sooo much information. Fucking thank you, what the fuck does she multitask? LORD DOOM or Tiny Endbringers? That was important information!

At least we know Taylor has something akin to what we know. Might still follow what you know.

[Administrator]

Della sighed. "Well. Fuck. That makes things so much more difficult." she rolled Alpha's shoulders "Della Duke!" she gave a theatrical bow "Sorry about just popping in like this." She told Taylor, who was standing now, lunch forgotten on the ground. "Uh yeah. Anyway I.." …should have really thought this through. "-was looking for you honestly. I'm kinda in a bind and I need someone to help me."

Taylor continued to stare at her with that surprised look, well, her body was giving off surprise, her face was a total mask. The thin girl's eyes flicked to the door and then back to Della who only shook her head. "Hey, hey. I'm not a threat. Well. Not to you. Cause I happen to know you're a great hero. Or you will be. The perks of knowing a few Precogs, or at least reading their notes. Thus here I am to help you in this endeavor!"

She's still so pretty. I wish I had known about the bullying. Been there to help her.

"...I become a great hero?" Taylor questioned slowly, staring Della down, trying to keep her voice neutral and flat. But Della could see it, that flicker of hope mixed with disbelief in the eyes, and of reasonable paranoia. God this was heartbreaking, the poor girl was just so beaten down. Della accepted the challenge before her, one Skitter without the escalation of compartmentation coming to a theatre near you!...Bleh that was awful, perhaps she shouldn't have taken that banter skill. Yeah it gave you a sense of humor, but it didn't say it gave you a good sense of humor.

I don't think you've really changed.

Ignoring Nikki was like a bad habit, something easily slipped into, Della pushed on. "I can tell you're bursting with questions! A lot of good ones too bu-fucking shit!" Della snapped out in anger before glaring downwards as she felt another parahuman enter her range. Immaterial her power whispered once more. "Shit alright Taylor we need to go, the Trio is coming up the stairs right now." She rushed back to the roof access, jumping a straight two feet into the air and snatching the suitcase back without issue. "Alright Taylor, here's the options. You stay here and deal with the Trio's bullshit power play bullying or-or You take my hand." Della held up an arm as she spoke, her hand open "and we Blink to a roof across the street. I tell you about the future. I tell you about how you accomplish those dreams that you had when you were a kid and still dressed up as Alexandria during Halloween. It's your choice."

Della really hoped she could Blink with others or this was going to be very awkward.

For a moment, Taylor stared at Della, her eyes once more flicking to the door before coming back to the stranger before her. Della swallowed. "I-I can also stay if you want. I can stand up to them. I know you don't think that would work. But it's another choice you can make. It's all up to you. You choose." Taylor glanced back to the door before stepping forward and taking Della's hand.

"Hoho." Della grinned a toothy grin, a happy grin. Then the world went fuzzy and they were standing on the apartment roof Della had been stalking the school on. Both girls stumbled away from each other, Della letting out a wheeze as she leaned on her knees. "Alright. New aspect of power, teleporting with people is a lot more difficult than with myself. Dammit there goes mass teleports." She had felt that muscle in her head straining in both bodies. Della went ahead and sat down next to the ledge of the roof, peering back towards the school and seeing three girls walk out onto the roof obviously looking for someone, but only finding a discarded Pita wrap. Ha, fucking wrap your collective heads around that.

"Alright Taylor. Ask away! I'm serious. Ask literally anything and I'll answer it Truthfully. I can't give out all the information though, we don't have enough time for that. Besides, now that I am talking to you? Things will most certainly be changing, you know. Butterfly effect." Della relaxed as best she could on the raised lip of the roof's ledge. Not like a fall would kill her, but it would probably hurt and she still had the instinct of 'oh god splat!'

Taylor did not sit, nor did she relax. She remained rigid and standing, coiled like a spring ready to snap into motion. "Man. Always hearing about how tall you were makes it such a disappointment that I'm taller. Thanks Nordic genes." Della chuckled as she motioned with her hand, flipping it over to show her palm. "What? Need a starting point? It's a lot to take in. But seriously. Just ask. I'll answer." Della set her suitcase down next to her and kind of leaned on it. She didn't stare at Taylor, rather pulling out her phone and looking through her home world's media files. Good time to check if fanfiction counted as media, or as Worm material.

"How do you know about me?" Taylor asked, causing Della to raise a brow and look up at her. "Already told you. But I assume you want more deets huh? Alright. Well crazy time. I'm from another dimension. Not another Earth like Aleph. I did come from Earth. But Dimensionally removed rather than being so close as to string them together like Bet did with Aleph."

Della held up a hand so she could explain further without interruption. "Think of it like a grapevine. My grape Is not attached to the stem like all the other grapes. But we could still look and see the other grapes. We had windows to see all the other Dimensions, but we couldn't interact with any of them. Most of us don't even know that they are different dimensions. Most people...just think they're stories." Della frowned, setting her phone down and swallowing, her throat feeling tight suddenly. She liked that better than her first theory, that gave her more agency at least. "So imagine my surprise, waking up in the Multiverse we like to call Worm. Guess someone finally cracked open a window and we fell through. It hurt a lot. Like a lot - a lot"

Taylor just stared, face blank and her body stiff, Unbelieving. Or at least Della thought that to be the case. Taylor could be remarkably hard to read. Or at least hard Enough to fool Della's minor thinker power. "Sounds nuts doesn't it? I know it does. But I at least have proof of me not being from this Earth, and I can give you details that no one but you would have." Della offered up the phone. "Go ahead, look through the media." When Taylor didn't immediately step forward to take it, Della softly underhanded the phone forcing Taylor to fumble with the electronic in order to catch it.

"Yeah. I know your dad doesn't like cellphones. I know why he doesn't too. But go on. Look through it. You'll find a lot of media you ain't seen before." Della told the girl who narrowed her eyes at the mention of her mother's car crash, but nonetheless began to fiddle with the phone "Press the button on the side and then input 0042." Della felt a little vindicated as Taylor saw something and her tells changed to that of subtle surprise. "2018?" she murmured softly to herself, possibly thinking Della couldn't hear, but Della could hear her just fine thanks to her choosing that one perk where her body was made a minor brute. She liked that perk, a lot.

Taylor wordlessly tossed the phone back after looking through it for another few minutes, which Della caught one handed with careless ease. "Alright." Taylor stated, eyes boring holes into the paler, taller, girl sitting before her. "What do you know about me?"

Della raised a brow. "That is...uh...damn. A lot. I know when you got your powers. How and why. Hell I know why Emma started acting like she does to you. I don't know your exact powers be-" Della was cut off as Taylor held up a hand to stop any more information "Why." Della opened her mouth to ask what she meant but stopped and shut her mouth. The pale girl frowned. "It wouldn't change anything, other than how you view the situation. You'd just have context. It wouldn't change anything unless something serious happened. I might...might be able to get that done. But it's not a sure thing. You absolutely sure you want to know?" Della asked, sighing and continuing as Taylor nodded. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I have someone close, I'd be chomping at the bit to know the reason why if they started acting like that. Alright."

Della looked away from Taylor, head craned to allow her to look back to the school, the rooftop clear of the Trio and the worn American flag flying over the even more worn and torn flag of the state. Not that Della knew what state this was. "ABB nearly raped and mutilated her while her father didn't even fight to stop it" Della didn't need enhanced hearing to hear the sharp intake of breath from Taylor. "But Sophia was there, nearby. Came in and saved Emma from being forced to choose what facial feature she cared less about and wanted removed. Then Sophia filled Emma's head with this 'Strong verses the Weak' bullshit because Sophia is a psychopath who knows how to manipulate broken people. Emma is broken and she needs therapy. Her father is a fucking moron though and didn't think she did need it. Not that he or Emma's family know she was bullying you. Still don't."

Taylor stared at the ground, face scrunched up in concentration. No doubt her thoughts were a mile a minute. Della wasn't sure because, well Taylor was fucking with her Cold Reads somehow, probably the swarm. Hopefully. Della frowned, she might not be able to Read Taylor so easily but she wasn't stupid. With a Blink Della was on her feet. It took a second for her to cross the distance, and another to wrap her arms around the skinny girl who stiffened at the contact. "You haven't been hugged in years." Della whispered. "But neither have I. Me and you? We're two faces of the same damn coin in many ways."

"I know you." Della continued. "So here's me: I have a duo instead of a Trio. It's my parents. My mother and Father are almost complete sociopaths that want me to be 'perfect' like them. If I act out they lock me in an empty dark closet for hours." Della shuddered despite herself, tears kept in check out of habit than any real issue with crying in front of Taylor. Crying just increased the time in the punishment closet.

"I know your past. I know your future. God Taylor. I know all the pain and suffering you have experienced and will continue to experience. I want to help. I need to make things better. Please, let me help you." Della kept her arms around the girl, truly enjoying the feeling of some kind of warm touch. Even if it was awkward and stilted, even if not fully returned.

James was great, and he helped Della a lot, but he did not like physical contact for good reasons.

Della felt her lip tremble, her eyes became hot and wet as tears leaked from them. All because Taylor's arms awkwardly reached up to wrap around the taller girl. "I'm sorry." She whispered, pulling away and swallowing thickly. "Today has been... It's been too much. I fell asleep in my home and woke up at the north ferry station in complete agony. My friend who I saw before I blacked out is somewhere on this planet and I don't know where."

Wiping away the tears that had started to spill down her cheeks, Della cleared her throat. "Look, back to important matters concerning us. I'm trying to find him and start an independent group of, well, independent capes. My friend, his name is James. He is a Tinker with multiple specialties. That powerful, very powerful. They gangs would do a lot to have him, hell so would a lot of terrible people."

A deep calming breath gave Della some stability and prevented her voice from cracking. "James is...all I really have in life. So even beyond his abilities...I just miss him." Della swallowed, her mouth felt dry and her voice had gained a touch of hoarseness. "Sorry. Sorry. Would you like to join us? We aim to help fix the City. Hell, with James maybe we could get the boat graveyard cleared and the Ferry running again."

Taylor watched Della, her eyes keen and not hiding so much as before. "Oh!" Della coughed into her fist. "Right. I should tell you my powers first." Taylor raised an eyebrow which caused Della to roll her eyes. "Oh Please. Everyone's power has more than one aspect to it.. Even yours. Gave you the ability to multitask along with whatever else you can do. But me and James are technically grab bags. Which just means we have a lot of powers. Think like Eidolon but we can't pick and choose. We just got what we got."

Taylor nodded skeptically and Della continued. "I can clone myself, and have self BioKinesis." For a split second Beta popped into view "Hello. I'm the first clone that I put out." and without any warning Beta was gone. "Yeah, I also have a few minor powers, but I also have elemental blasts and uh...ummm." She paused "Nexu?" Della asked, looking up to her left.

[Contact Atrophy]

How do you forget being able to age things to dust?

"Right Uh. I can age things to dust with a touch. Yes organics and inorganic. Not to mention my Blink ability, which is just teleporting with a middle finger to reality. I can also shoot people with migraines." Della explained at Taylor's questioning look. "James is a Tinker, and you are…?" Della waved her hand in a motion for Taylor to answer. The skinny girl awkwardly shifted "I can control bugs-" Yes! "-and I can make them go through walls and roofs." WHAT?!

"Oh fuck me that changes some things." Della rubbed her face "Alright. So things will likely be different since you pinged off-well we'll come back to this later cause it's important- What's the range on your bug nabbing? Can you sense through them?" Taylor gave Della a look, a relatively unhappy look at the fact that the new girl knew so much. Della shook her head. "It'll come later. I promise. I want to help you. I mean it. But steps. Like a pyramid we have to get the base down first or else nothing will work."

A soft sigh escaped Taylor as she folded her arms over her chest and she looked down. "Two blocks. I can control insects up to around two blocks and kind of. It's really difficult to make any sense of what they perceive. Some insects are better than others in that regard. But most just give off distorted information. Like a kaleidoscope of grey, white and black."

"Chin up girl." Della ordered clasping a hand on Taylor's shoulder. "Here's a tip for becoming a hero. Look people in the eyes and don't hunch like that. Project yourself. Plus, your eyes are pretty." Della grinned as a small flushed played across Hebert's face as she looked up. "Also it'll get better with time. Your powers I mean. Larger range and better bug-senses. Alright. Got any more questions? Or do you want to partner up with me and James?"

Taylor shifted and opened her mouth to speak but closed it and looked away, her brow furrowed in thought. "If you need time that's fine. Want me to pick you up some lunch since uh, you left yours back at the school roof? I can also teleport you to a food vender truck by the Market and don't worry about paying. I can take the check." Della told Hebert as she pulled out her debit card with a soft smile.

Taylor shifted and then nodded. "You said it was more taxing to Blink?-With other people. How many Blinks would it take to get to the Boardwalk?" She asked, holding out a hand for Della to take hold of.

The moment Della's hand touched Taylor's, the world once more became fuzzy, coming back into focus as soon as the fuzziness had come. The two girls had been deposited in an alleyway. Della sighed as she braced a hand against the wall. "Alright. Got it in one, but damn I can't do that again. Well. I can, but wow is that tiring on the ol' brain muscle! I guess I'm going to find out if I'm a Noctis cape sooner rather than later!"

Taylor turned away from the girl and looked out of the alleyway. "...We're close to the Market? How far is your range?" She asked as she turned back to Della who was in the process of stretching her back.

"Oh? Uh. I don't think there is one. As long as I've seen the location I can get there. It's super cool. Still wish I had gotten the ability to fly. Bet it would feel amazing. Whereas Blinking is uh...well you know how it feels." Della pushed off the wall, heading out of the alleyway. "Come on. Let's go nab food."

A minute later and two purchases later both Della and Taylor were both sitting on a bench in the Market, watching people go by. "Never had a gyro before." Della wiped her mouth, having already finished hers. "Damn." She murmured. "Still hungry. Ah well." She shrugged. "I'll just eat later. Chin up Taylor, that locking up your shoulders is going to give you back issues. You don't have to worry, I won't let anyone spill anything on you or fuck with your food."

Taylor glanced at her, giving an almost still nod of her head before finishing her gyro and rolling the paper up into a ball. She didn't litter either, jabbing the trash into the pocket of her dark hoodie. "Alright Taylor, lets...mmmMaybe not Blink." Della whispered. "Don't know how having food in you will uh...You know, agree with traveling like that. Let's walk down to the Boardwalk while the food settles. We can talk about some important things." With that she stood and motioned for Taylor to come along. The skinner girl did so, hastily walking alongside the paler girl.

Thankfully, while the Market and Boardwalk always had business going on, it was the middle of the week, during school and work hours. Which meant that the streets were rather empty of life, unless you counted the thin amounts of insects Taylor had floating around them. Keeping a look out for anyone who would overhear important details. Or maybe Taylor just liked having bugs around, like a security blanket that had a bunch of legs. Della didn't know, or care much about it. Long as none of them flew into her airways.

God, Della just realized just how horrifying that entire concept is. Fucking drowning someone in live insects. Although she couldn't say Alexandria didn't deserve it.

With a shudder Della looked at the shorter girl next to her side. "Alright. So. I'm not actually going to force you to join, just so you know. You can totally tell me no and go do your own thing. We can even still be friends, I'm not becoming your friend to recruit you. I'll happily remain your friend no matter what. I promise and I'll even do a blood oath. Wouldn't really hurt or make me lose much blood cause...ya know. But yeah, promise on everything I got."

Taylor swallowed. "I think I just need time. To think it over." Della nodded, taking out her phone. "Alright, let's go grab you a burner phone. We can share numbers and you'll need one when you go out anyway. Call the police or the P-R-T after you deal some dastardly bastard in. Also Chalk dust is worthless. Really you don't use it at all. Then when you make up your mind you just give me a call alright? Yes or no. We can still patrol together even if we aren't teamed up. New Wave does it with the Wards after all."

Taylor glanced at Della before nodding. "Alright...Yeah. That can work." she shifted in place. "..How do I become the Greatest hero?" She asked quietly.

Oh boy. Della bit her bottom lip, worrying at her flesh as she thought of how to put this. "You...sacrifice yourself. You were the only one who could have done it then but. It's not." Della sucked in a breath, letting it out with a shudder. "It's not pretty. I don't want it to happen. Because something else could have been done. Not that what you did was worthless. But you didn't have to suffer, and no one should suffer like that. Fuck." Della wiped her face again to stop any tears from starting up. "Listen. Taylor. Just, trust me. The details aren't needed right now, it's too early. You've read stories about time being messed up because of the butterfly effect, and I can't speak too far of the future without...gaining attention."

Della frowned, Hebert looked almost as pale as she was. "I know that's a lot." She paused in her walk, causing the skinnier girl to stop as well. Giving their surroundings a brief scan Della continued speaking. "Listen. It's fine to go process this shit. It's all messed up. So much of Earth Bet is. Go home, go to school like you normally would. I'll keep looking for James on my own. But here's how you can tell I'm not lying or making this shit up okay? In the next day the Trio are going to find you in the girl's bathroom during lunch and pour cranberry juice and grape soda on you, and your art project of the East North East Headquarters will be graped. When that happens, you'll know I wasn't pulling wool over your eyes."

Taylor stared at Della, before giving her a hesitant nod. In contrast she just barely hesitated to take Della's offered hand. The world grew fuzzy and they both Blinked.



A/N: Well. Things are picking up. Trying to Write Taylor without it being TINO is annoying even if I have leeway tho, cause AU. But I'm still trying to get that paranoia. Also, character sheet for Della is incoming sometime today.

 

[Eibon_Alain]

Well this chapter was difficult for me to read, I constantly felt the need to shoot Della with a tranquilizer or a flamethrower, whatever stops the verbal bleeding.
A little bit of subtlety would do her good.

What is the point of allowing the bully to continue?
A voice change, a burner phone and a call to the PRT is all it takes to end the bully, if you do it in front of Taylor, better.

 

[KindredVoid]

Well this chapter was difficult for me to read, I constantly felt the need to shoot Della with a tranquilizer or a flamethrower, whatever stops the verbal bleeding.
A little bit of subtlety would do her good.

What is the point of allowing the bully to continue?
A voice change, a burner phone and a call to the PRT is all it takes to end the bully, if you do it in front of Taylor, better.

Click to shrink...

The dangers of being a motormouth before picking the monologue drawback

Also, because Della be plottin yo

 

[Eibon_Alain]

The dangers of being a motormouth before picking the monologue drawback

Also, because Della be plottin yo

Click to shrink...

Yeah, outside of an anime, behavior-altering drawbacks aren't worth it.

One question:
Could Self-Biokinesis it affect something she has eaten?
Or make a bag like a kangaroo, so as not to have to swallow dangerous or disgusting things.

"...+ Your powers may be slightly stronger than described..."
"...You have total control over your internal biology and appearance..."

Those can be interpreted in many ways.

 

[KindredVoid]

Yeah, outside of an anime, behavior-altering drawbacks aren't worth it.

One question:
Could Self-Biokinesis it affect something she has eaten?
Or make a bag like a kangaroo, so as not to have to swallow dangerous or disgusting things.

"...+ Your powers may be slightly stronger than described..."
"...You have total control over your internal biology and appearance..."

Those can be interpreted in many ways.

Click to shrink...

Well, she could make a pouch if she wanted to, although whatever she has eaten has to have been broken down by her body ala food

 

[KindredVoid]

Uneasy Friends 2.2​

James Ashworth


Once he had agreed, James got to have his first experience with contracts and paperwork. He would spend the next two days going over and signing various papers and binding contracts, intermittently taking breaks to use the restroom, to eat, or get an explanation of something within the paperwork. The entire ordeal was agonizingly boring, only exemplified by the fact that any requests for books or some sort of TV had either been turned down on one basis or another or ignored. His wrist and mind ached by the time he finished signing the last few papers. It was the day after when he finally got out of his cell.
He still wore his blue jumpsuit, escorted by two guards when the door opened to let him out.
Standing there in the doorway, armor a deep blue with silver highlights, was the same man from the crash sight. The halberd was mechanically folded up, and latched onto the man's back. James could feel the man's intense eyes roving over the teens' form as he approached.
"Armsmaster." The man with the halberd spoke first, giving the boy a warm smile that did nothing to ease the hidden gaze from under his visor. "Sorry for the scare in the boat. Didn't know of your memory loss at the time, all we knew was the possibility of a high Tinker rated threat and thus reacted accordingly."

"No, uh. It's no problem, mister Armsmaster." James replied quickly, coming to stand before the towering man before giving a quick bow, nearly stumbling over himself as he did so. "And thank you for not killing me."
A blue and silver armored gauntlet caught James's shoulder, preventing him from falling. "I have non lethal measures in my gear, I would not have killed you for simply running." Armsmaster stated matter-of-factly. "I look forward to working with you in the labs. For now you need to get settled in with the wards. Follow me." Without waiting to get a reply he let go of James's shoulder and turned and began to walk.
Looking back up, James watched the Armsmaster begin to walk and quickly hurried to keep pace with the larger man. "So… should I call you Mister Armsmaster, or just Armsmaster?" James questioned after a moment's hesitation, looking around to the rest of the facility as they walked.

"Armsmaster is fine…" James could hear a tiny soft ragged sigh from the man before he spoke up, voice absolutely deadpan "Mister Armsmaster was my father." There was only a moment of stilted silence before he continued to speak. "Right now we're on the Rig, the Wards live in the PRT Headquarters near the Boardwalk. We'll have to ride my ArmsCycle to get there. Can you hold on without falling off in your state or would you prefer to ride in a van?"
"...What's an ArmsCycle?" James questioned slowly, looking up to Armsmaster's back. The man replied without hesitation
"My custom TinkerTech motorcycle. It's named that for brand purposes. There's no doubt after you visit PR and start tinkering your own gear you'll be naming what you create as well." James frowned slightly, but nodded. The thought of naming something he had created purely for PR wasn't exactly an appealing one. "Well, alright." James muttered, looking down to the floor for a moment. It sounded like this guy was a big deal though, if he named his bike for PR.. Not someone you would want to appear weak with.
"I'll go with you on your ArmsCycle." James replied after a moment of silence, looking back up to the towering man.
"Here." Armsmaster reached an arm back and held out a blue domino mask for James to take. "Identities are important, it's against the unwritten rules to attack a mask in their civvies, but it's better to not take the chance." James looked to Armsmaster's outstretched hand, carefully taking the small, blue mask in his hands and looking it over. It looked rather ineffective at concealing one's identity, but… well, better than nothing.
It took a moment for James to figure out how to put on the mask, but once he did, he placed it on his face, adjusting it carefully.

After a few minutes of winding passages through the Rig, and another ten minutes of speeding across a forcefield bridge, Armsmaster and a wind whipped James who was still wearing his blue shaded jumpsuit entered the PRT HQ. Not long after they had arrived, the Blue and Silver Tinker showed James to a door with a panel on it's right side. Presenting his visor to what looked to be an eye scanner and then flatly stated his name, the larger man pressed a button on the side where a buzzer could be heard. "That buzzer allows the Wards thirty seconds to mask up incase of visitors." Armsmaster explained. "Your own name and retina are in the system." he added as an afterthought

"That… isn't a lot of time." James stated slowly, coming to stand by Armsmaster's side. The other Tinker nodded "They should always be masked up, but they are teens. Beside that is the fact that tour guides are planned means there's little to worry about." With that the door gave off an impressive sounding click and Armsmaster pushed it open.
The room was roughly dome-shaped, but there were sections of wall that looked to be able to be dismantled and rearranged on the fly. Some had been set up to give the various team members their individual quarters, while others framed the doorways that led into the showers, the filing room and their press/meeting room. A series of computers and large monitors were networked at one side of the room, surrounded by a half-dozen chairs. One of the monitors was displaying a countdown to the next tourist group, while others were showing camera images of key locations in the city.

It was also a room lived in by teenagers. With a few dishes and plates left around along with one half empty box of pepperoni pizza. One such teenager was currently watching TV, a white mask with a working clock as the face turning to see who was there and got up a moment later. "Yo! So you're the new guy we were hearing about! Saw that landing too, a good eight point five from me! Names ClockBlocker" The teenager jabbed a thumb over to a pale boy with short brown hair who was sitting at a monitor with a red domino mask plastered on his face, which was actually blurred around the mask distorting his features. "That is Kid Win, a huge fan of your work."

Kid Win shot ClockBlocker a glare but continued to stare at the monitor. "Hey newbie, stuck on console duty right now. But I'd love to work together once I'm off. That suit of yours looked awesome! Until you...crashed it. But I've crashed on my board before I added maglocks, so no real shame there."
James blinked once, then twice, looking across the room and then to the two teenagers. 'Yeah sure, I'd love to go over that all when I learn how to.' Is what James wanted to tell them. But that would require a lot of explaining. So he just gave them each a smile and a nod. "Yeah. Sure thing. Wasn't the prettiest landing, but I'm sure I'll figure it out." James told them, the boy giving them a forced chuckle.

'Speaking of my suit... ' James glanced back up towards Armsmaster. 'What did they do with my things?' James gave an internal groan of frustration. He had been so swept up in finding out about the world and the prospect of joining the Protectorate that he had completely forgotten about the Suitcase and Ava. 'Nice going James. I'll have to ask about that later.'
ClockBlocker waved a hand in front of James face. "Hellooo. No Tinker fugues yet please." The boy reached up and pulled his mask off. Showing a youthful face with pale skin and red hair. "Names Dennis."
A moment later Kid Win had removed his own mask. "I'm Chris. Vista and Gallant are on patrol with Aegis right now. Shadow Stalker is off doing shadow stuff. Probably kicking puppies."
Armsmaster chose to cut in before Dennis could go any further. "You'll be sharing a Tinker lab with Kid Win, from time to time you may be invited to my own to collaborate on projects. For now the room on the farthest right is yours to keep. They've already been informed of your situation." He nodded and then went to leave the room.

"See you around then." James replied, looking to Armsmaster and then to Dennis as he left. "Well then." James cleared his throat, gaze shifting between the two other boys. "Name's James… guess I don't need this anymore." He muttered, reaching up and pulling off the domino mask. Wincing at first from the feeling before shaking it off.
Dennis grinned playfully. "So, you signed up for the Wards? Smart move. Don't worry about anything cause' The ClockBlocker will be showing you the ropes."
Chris glanced back "Run." he stated, his voice lacking any heat. Dennis huffed and jabbed a finger towards the young Tinker "Don't listen to the heckler in the crowd. So James. Want to check out your room, grab something to eat? I'm sure you probably want to start looking over materials as well, you should be in the system so," He pointed away from the rooms, another door made of steel was visible. "You just stick your eye on that panel thing and it'll let you in."

James watched the two's exchange in silence, rubbing the back of his neck as he stowed away the mask. "I wouldn't mind something to eat. They have anything good up here?" James inquired, turning his attention to Dennis. The red head nodded. "There's frozen dinners in the kitchenette, or if you want some hour old pizza we got some over on the table. So, you know what you Tinker with? Aside from awesome Aleph movie armors?"
"I guess I'll take the Pizza." James replied slowly, glancing past the teen to the opened pizza box. "And uh. Yeah… I think I'll leave that as a surprise." James replied, looking back to Dennis and giving him another smile. Moving past him without caring to elaborate further, James walked over to the Pizza box. Lifting the top of it slightly, he reached in and took a slice, wasting no time in taking a bite. And then another.
Damn this was good. Holy shit this was good.

Dennis shrugged. "Well if you have any questions I'll be much too far for you to ask them. So go ahead and nag Chris with them." The red head chuckled as he went and flopped onto the couch, staring at the tv and ignoring the homework spread out in front of him.
Chris shook his head. "Hey, if you don't know your specialty that's alright. I don't know mine...Think it might be modular power supplies. But it's not really panning out."
"Mmm." James glanced back at Chris, giving him a shrug as he downed another bite of Pizza. "Oh. Right. Thanks." James cleared his throat. People could specialize in powers? Suppose that made sense. First thing he would need to do though was learn how to use his powers. A prospect that inspired both anxiety and excitement to well up within James. So he just nodded along quietly, before looking over to what Dennis was watching.
It was some superhero cartoon about a woman in a mouse costume. Apparently. What was going on in the cartoon was far beyond what James knew. After a while, Dennis glanced up at James. "What? You don't think I'm actually going to be responsible and do my homework do you?" He shook his head. "Crazy. Say you ever been frozen in time?" He asked with a grin to which Chris groaned softly from across the room. James paused, looking down to Dennis as he swallowed the last of the Pizza crust.

"What?" He questioned with a small frown, brow furrowing in confusion. ClockBlocker grinned, reaching up and tapping James on the shoulder.
The next thing James knew was that Dennis was no longer on the couch, although he could hear the red head's laughter before there was the sound of someone being slapped. "I see he decided to freeze you," A long haired Puerto Rican teen stood next to the couch where there once was no one. For all intents the teen wasn't there one second and was there the next. "He does that to everyone at least once. Don't take it hard. I'm Aegis, but you can call me Carlos. Nice to meet you James." He offered up a hand. "Gallant's currently writing the report of our patrol."

James nearly fell forward in response to being unfrozen, steadying himself with the table. "W-whoa." He blinked, before shaking his head. It felt sort of like if he had just finished taking a long nap, his head a bit light. Nonetheless he nodded towards Carlos. Quickly wiping his hands from the pizza on his blue jumpsuit before reaching out and shaking the other boy's hand.

Before James could say anything further, the space to his right seemed to twist in a way that made it hard to look directly at it, and the next second it was gone, and there stood a younger girl in a forest green costume, her blonde hair not making it to her shoulders. She smiled broadly, and seemed unaffected by the sight of a stranger standing rather bewildered before her.
"Hi! I'm Vista. Good to see we have another team member. Can't ever have too many hands on deck for when the villains get uppity!" James just nodded, finishing shaking Carlos' hand before returning it to his side. He wasn't even surprised at this point- he had just gotten 'frozen in time' after all. Why not add teleportation to the list of abilities people could have as well?

"So," James looked to the room of similarly aged heroes. "What do you all, you know, usually do around here?" He questioned, reaching for another slice of Pizza.
Vista was the one to speak up, cutting off Dennis before he could add anything. "Kid Win Tinkers for the most part, we all do training, and everyone tends to do homework when we have console duty and nothing is going on. Have you been to PR yet?" The young girl asked as she pulled off her green visor a knowing smirk on her face. James shook his head in response as he took a bite from the new cold pizza. Swallowing, he replied,

"No. I only just got here." James explained to the young girl. Vista nodded sagely "Good. Gives you time to pick out your name before they do. You don't want to end up with a name like Chubster do you? Or Skidsmark. Hell you should see some of the dumb names they pick for Villains until the bad guys get angry and force a name change. So, any ideas?" She asked
"Oh." James frowned. He hadn't even thought of taking a hero name. Truthfully, the whole idea of it sounded a bit… self indulging. But, secret identities and all that. Couldn't just go around with the title of 'James.' So he just shook his head. "No, not really. I honestly hadn't even thought of it." He admitted a bit sheepishly.

Dennis laughed softly. "I remember how I got my name, you shoul-OW!" he yelped as space bent around him and Vista flicked his ear. "Well James, name's Missy by the way, do you actually care about what you got for a name? Or do you want to hope online and see what's taken and what's not?" The blonde looked up at him. "Considering your... Situation, maybe you should choose the name? I've heard case 53's prefer to pick their names most of the time."
"Right." James nodded. "Wait, what's a Case 53?" He questioned, looking over to Missy as he finished eating his second slice of pizza. Aegis seemed to pick up here, speaking before Missy could.

"Case 53s are capes who's powers have physically changed them, they don't have any memory like you, and they have an Omega symbol branded somewhere on their body. No one knows where they come from. There's only around a hundred? I think. Hard to tell."
Missy gave Aegis a look for the interruption. "Yeah. They just wake up, no memory whatsoever." She glanced her eyes over James, taking a step closer and speaking in a lowered voice. "Hey if you ever want to, ya know, talk about what's going on in your life. I'm sure either me or Gallant could be an ear for you."

James shifted in place, staring at Missy. He was only half listening to her speak, mind elsewhere. 'So there are others like me? What could be taking our memories and depositing us here? And what about the things I came with? Does every Case 53 get those?' James shook his head as Missy finished speaking. "Aegis," James looked towards the Puerto Rican boy. "You mentioned something about… an 'Omega Symbol?' Last time I checked, I don't have anything like a tattoo or anything." James mentioned. The long haired boy nodded "Yeah. It was either you hitting the Rig's forcefield or the resulting crash in the boat graveyard that jogged your memories. There's video if you want to see it." 'So what, is a Case 53 designation just given out to all amnesiacs then?' James nodded before sighing quietly.

"I wouldn't mind seeing it." He replied. "And then maybe change into something that's not a prisoner's jumpsuit." He muttered, glancing down to himself. Dennis snorked "Man. The video is hilarious. No offense. It's not often you see a flying tank act like a skipping stone." Dennis rushed over to the computers before Vista could get him. He landed in a chair and motioned for James to come over before rapidly clicking through several files on the pc.

James soon joined by the ginger's side, looking over his shoulder to the computer's monitor. A moment after a few clicks a video did come up, looking like it belonged to one of the camera's on the Rig itself. James got to see a monolithic figure sailing through the air. They were obviously not in control as random jets shot off as if trying to correct course, at one point several flares shot out as the figure neared the dome.

Boing was an apt description for how the metal encased figure hit the top of the dome and did cartwheels and even a flip through the air before slamming into a boat hard enough to punch through the hull and rock it in place before it settled down.

James had watched the video in silence, arms crossed as he viewed it. His eyes traced the armored figure's trajectory as it impacted the shield, before plummeting back towards the Earth below, out of control. He winced, watching it- himself- impact the ship. And as the ship shook, an intense feeling of sorrow began to wash over him, and he let a small shuddering breath escape him. He had lost everything he had been in that moment- the good and bad. Had lost himself, and practically everything and everyone he knew.
Dennis looked back at James and gave him a thumbs up. "Amazing. You think about turning it into an amusement park ride?" James pursed his lips, glancing back down to Dennis, his gaze hardening. His sadness now turned to anger.

"I don't know. Is that something you ask of everyone who just got out of an accident?" James replied dryly, voice touched with scorn. Dennis held up his hand. "Man there's no way you lost your memories from this." He turned, rewinding the video to the beginning. Pausing it at the start. "Look." He slowly played it through the first crashing landing on the shield. "You had no idea what you were doing here. You were fumbling and panicking, and from all those course correction jets? You still had fuel too. Tinkers know their own gear, they can know other Tinker's gear too." Dennis turned around and whispered. "I think you were escaping before you could either be turned or get branded with the omega symbol."

James gave him a deadpan look. 'Besides the point, asshole.' He replied hotly in his mind. But he just sighed. "Running from who? Besides… the suit could have malfunctioned, or something." James offered in response. Dennis shrugged "Whoever is making the Case 53s, and I don't think so. Nothing is falling off of it, no sparks, no smoke, the movements are smooth."

Kid Win hummed, having come around to look at the video on the opposite side of Dennis. "Yeah. I don't see how it could malfunction. But hey, we won't really know until it's cleared for us to look at by Armsmaster." That made James pause, and he looked back towards Kid Win.

"Yeah? And when do you think that's going to happen?" He inquired, hesitating for a moment. He could probably trust them. They seemed friendly enough. Well, save Dennis. "I had some other gear on me when I dropped in as well. I was wondering when I'd get those back." He mused quietly. Kid Win nodded. "I kinda know the feeling. I get antsy whenever they review my gear, never know if one of them will break it. Might take a day or two before you get the suit back. For the others? You'll have to ask either Miss Militia or Armsmaster about that. I don't know what you had on you. Oh, and you should check out your room. They probably had clothes delivered the moment you signed on to the Wards. Probably before."

"Right." James nodded, looking over to the right side of the room. For some reason, he got the feeling it would take a bit longer than a few days for his things to be returned. "My room's the farthest on the right, right?" He questioned Kid Win, to which the brunette gave him a thumbs up. James only sighed quietly.
"Right. Well, I guess I'll go get situated there. Knock before you enter and all that." James reminded them all, before moving past those gathered at the computer, and heading for his room.



A/N: So James meets the Wards, gets clock blocked, and thankfully doesn't have to meet Sophia. Even got to enjoy some pizza. Good day overall.
Thanks to my good friend/beta/cowriter Drew!

Also you would not believe the amount of times I forgot to put the L in ClockBlocker's name, and I'm not talking about the second one. I gotta wonder just how many times people do that IWV(In WormVerse)
And to add on to that, fucking indents, how do they work?

 

[KindredVoid]

Uneasy Friends 2.3​

Della Duke/Nikki Hunt. April 8th 2011.


A soft hum came from her lips as she looked over the Downtown area. Della knew at least two capes lived in the area. Aside from the New Wave group of course. Grue and Purity lived in the downtown area, Tattletale might have a bug-out apartment somewhere here as well. She had already seen Arcadia and wow, Della had never seen a cleaner school in her life, it even had an honest to god security fence. That went without mentioning the guards that patrolled it, that was just silly. It wasn't even in the bad part of town, and the Wards were there too! Seriously how much security did a fucking school need?

It was like Arcadia and Winslow had to be direct opposites.

It does seem silly in contrast, how bad the schools are. We should burn Winslow down and see if they actually decide to rebuild it.

Della shook her head softly. "No. Burning a school down can come later. Gotta make sure no one is in it. Might somewhat upset Taylor would certainly upset James."

But that wasn't important right now, she finally knew where New Waves Dallon's house was located. Which meant that she could Blink there at any moment, but she also needed to find Purity's apartment if things were going to come together. But Della still didn't have enough hands, not with Alpha and Beta looking for James. Chi, her newest clone who was an Arabic pretty girl was currently on her own finding tour. One that might take her Weeks to months without any extra help from more clones. If leviathan struck before Chi completed her mission it would likely be a total loss; a waste of precious time and resources. Which made the entire thing a sort of frantic search. That was a race against the clock.

Which is why Taylor was needed, absolutely needed. With Hebert freeing up a body, Beta could help Chi in her search. That would hopefully drop the time needed to find what Della needed. Oh the upside Della knew what it was like to swim through cold ass water and walk through crisp air at the same time. Swimming may not be like flying, but perhaps it came close. Della just wished the Bay's water was a little more clear. Would make everything easier, and more fun if she would care to admit that.

But for now, the moment? Alpha and Beta were both Blinking around the large city. The search was slow, agonizingly slow. Each hour was another twist in her gut, but Della knew she had to be careful, and had to silently search while sticking to the shadows and rooftops lest she be discovered. That knowledge was not something useful in all truthfulness. Della still felt terrible for how long this was taking, and that she didn't have every body of her's out there looking for James.

A soft sigh led to her drawing in breath, her mask giving off an abrupt and ominous Click hiss Though on a different train of thought, to distract her from the worry and stakes. Her costume was fucking sick and she loved every inch of it...even if it was kind of designed to show off her body a bit. The futuristic gasmask she wore could do plenty of things. It actually had working filters, could make that ominous Click hiss sound when she wanted it to, along with a voice modulator that made her voice sound slightly robotic, and it fully covered her face. The thing was great, even had a god damn music player! Della could kiss whoever made it.

The rest of her costume was rather simple on the other hand compared to the mask. Very simple actually. A dark navy blue hood that was attached to a set of silver leather straps, and an entire bodysuit made from some kind of dark navy blue Kevlar that only left parts of her feet open and her fingers uncovered along with her head.

To go with her costume, she had shrunk her breast, gave her another two inches in height, and given herself talons on her feet and turned her hands into long claws with enough melanin in the exposed skin to make them look midnight black, her hair was also a snow white. The best identity was one you could easily shed after all. Because now she looked akin to a Case 53.

Which as it turns out, if Della wanted to, Blink would leave behind a quickly dissipating figure made of shards of black smoke, it took some energy to do so but style and presentation was important. Also now she could at least use Blink in separate personas now. The one she was currently using would be...Della would have to work on that honestly. Because as of the moment she had only Legion to work with, though that name was...campy? Obvious? She might have to go with something in Latin. Della had to be careful with the name. After All this persona was one she planned on using quite a lot in the upcoming two years. The face of the Independent league she was to puppet. Plus lame names stuck, 'Photon Mom' no wonder New Wave stuttered and fell apart

Our phone is ringing

Della let out a curse, her daydreaming interrupted as Nikki suddenly cut into her thoughts. She had Beta pause at her current stake-out point and flicked the phone on. Della knew the number, Taylor's burner phone. The one that Alpha had bought her. Unfortunately Alpha's costume did not come with any human fingers, so no using phones. So that left Beta with holding important things while she scouted the Docks South. "Hello. This is one of the Ds. You alright Taylor?" She asked

There was a pause over the phone "You sound different. Beta?"

Beta nodded, even if Taylor couldn't exactly see it. "You are correct." A brief glance at the phone told her the time. "Lunch huh. Grape soda and cranberry juice right? Did you at least save the project?" Thank you fanfiction that Della couldn't remember the name of. Canon compliant indeed. Maybe she should have been more worried about betting future alliances on knowledge of Fanon but it worked so maybe it'll work in the future too.

Another pause. "...Yeah. So you were right. I'm interested in Joining, but why didn't Alpha answer the phone?" she asked, and beta could practically hear the arched brow across the phone.

"Alpha is currently in a persona right now. Her costume doesn't really allow her to use a cellphone. Mostly because she's moonlighting as an unknown parahuman. A cape with a pretend shaker effect in place of Blinking." Beta explained. "She looks like a case 53 at the moment, that's why the lack of phones. Plus someone might want to try to trace it if they saw her with one." which is something she just came up with. Dammit she was not used to having enemies with the power of organized crime behind them.

"A what?" Della frowned. Right, for being keen on capes and researching for months before going out, Taylor was very fucking ignorant on actually happened in the cape scene. Like, super ignorant to the point of 'what the fuck Taylor you went through a fucking trigger event yourself'. It boggled Della's multiple Shard-linked minds honestly.

"Case 53s refer to people whose powers physically change their bodies for the worse, they also have a C branded on them and have had their memories erased. But people don't know that yet, don't speak about it unless you're with one of me. It's very dangerous to do so." Beta explained to the girl. "So yeah, big girl pants. The world ain't a nice one and nobody but us are trying to make it better and have a chance at succeeding."

"Alright…. Uh. What now? I want to join." Taylor asked, Beta could hear water running. No doubt Taylor was trying to rinse her hair out of the juices and soda in it. Bet that was annoying, the worst thing Della ever had in her hair was a flying cockroach...Hmm Della was going to have to tell Taylor to keep her bugs out of any of her persona's hair. Or at least the roaches. And ticks...and lice...and fleas...Okay a lot of her bugs, a lot of Taylor's bugs were to stay away from Della's hair. All of them. All the bugs were not going to be anywhere near Della's hair.

"Name first. I suggest either Skitter or Weaver. You actually end up using both throughout your careers in what I've seen." Beta stated, Della was not going to mention the third name of which could go fuck itself in totality. "Or you could go with Hive, Queen, or maybe Filum which is Latin for Thread. Spider thread ya know? Your choice in the end honestly, maybe you could draw slips of paper or throw a dart at a board."

Queen Administrator was a lot cooler in the fiction of the fans. Least Nexu seemed cool, but Della knew she was going to have to keep an eye on her shard lest it try to subsume her at some point. She'd seen what happened with the Titans, she wasn't totally ignorant here, the wiki helped a metric fuck ton for people who didn't want to depress themselves with canon Worm but still wanted to write fanfictions of it.

Awe fuck she was going to have to find several Taylors and either apologize or help them out because damn now she felt guilty about writing her multiple unfinished stories.

"Also you need to know the rules that most capes follow and those that don't are in the Birdcage. There are unwritten rules in the cape community. These rules are often enforced by both sides and for good reasons and bad. Very few break them, but they will so don't use them as an excuse to get sloppy." Beta explained. "The rules are as follows: Don't go after a cape's family, don't unmask the cape, try to not use lethal force, guns are considered very lethal. Also don't try to profit off the Endbringers attacking, oh and no fighting during Endbringer battles...I also don't really need to tell you not to rape anyone because Jesus fucking Christ, but yeah that's one of them."

"...Really?" Was Taylor's incredulous reply. "That's important information. Why isn't it written down? Or at least easy to find out about? I didn't find anything online." She sounded annoyed over the phone. But Della wasn't entirely sure as it was hard to cold read through nonface chat calls. Maybe frustrated? Ashamed of not knowing? God dammit Della was going to have to actually use her social skills over phones and that was bullshit.

Beta sighed. Oh the sweet summer child. "Another important thing to know about. Trigger events. That's an event that gives you your power. Yes all of them are like yours, but tailored to the person. The worst day of your life. Often without any help it leads to PTSD in some form or personality shifts. You uh...don't change much, just...Sorry to say this, but your worse traits just spiral from reinforcement rather than your powers or Trigger event fucking with you. We're going to talk about that later because it's honest to god important for your future."

"...Well I'm still not sure how to feel about you knowing all this." Taylor murmured quietly. Beta couldn't help but let a sigh escape her lips, which were feeling a bit parched from her lack of rest and hydration. Yeah, Della wouldn't know how to feel if someone rushed into her life holding all the answers to all her problems.

Aside from the flat chest actually. Della wasn't sur-Well, actually, if she got a few favors from PanPan... Yeah Della didn't see the appeal of the nickname.

"Look Taylor. You're a mess. Every hero except a lucky few are. Hell, all the villains are just worse messes which is why their villains unless the system fucked them over like it fucked you over. I'll be at Winslow in a- well in a second. Literally. Meet me on the roof, I'll take you to your house and you can get cleaned up. Then we can work on stopping the Trio and trust me. I know what will work. Because I've seen it work. You'll love what happens with Sophia, trust me." Beta laughed. "Yeah it was great Seriously though. Meet me on the roof, kay? We'll talk in person. Better that way after all."

"Okay. I managed to save the art project." Taylor stated matter of fact, sounding somewhat lighter. More happy maybe? Open? Again hard to cold read without a body to read and Taylor was great at masking things, the sneaky bugger.

Beta smiled. "Roof." She informed Taylor, her own tone happier, ending the call and letting the world Blink as she remembered the dirty school's equally dirty roof and was standing there only a second later. Fuck yeah, teleportation baby. Line of sight Della's three left buttcheeks, being a Noctis made it so much better!

Della still had to wait two minutes for Taylor to emerge from the roof access. "Hey, hey. If it ain't my favorite girl in the city!" Beta chuckled, plans of action already half formed in her multiple heads, step one? Make Taylor feel better. Step two? Pull a Skitter, but better "I'm pretty sure I may have seen your house already and not recognized it. So just give me the corner it's on and I'll Blink us there."

"Wouldn't this be against the unwritten rules?" Taylor asked, raising a brow. So expressive! She's healing! In response, Beta shrugged. "That's up to you, teammates often reveal themselves to each other. Granted our situation is...unique-holyshithowmanySelfInsertstoriesareactuallytrue- but" Beta cleared her throat "I know you, and I'm fully on board with you getting to know me."

Beta gave her a thumbs up and offered Taylor a hand at the same time. "Besides. If anything I'm going to be trying to help your father. Once I get enough bodies I'm going to wither the fuck out of the boats in the graveyard. Nothing I can do about the Ferry yet, but when we kill a few S Class threats we can use the bounty money to get the Ferry running again."

Taylor took Della's offered hand and listed off her address to which Beta frowned. "Huh. Actually I Blinked onto your roof at one point. Neat. I saw the backyard, so we should be able to get in through the back."

Taylor sucked in a breath. "You can teleport to any location you've seen." Beta nodded. "Hey you remembered. No range. Gimme a telescope and I can take us to the moon baby. Though we aren't gonna go there, the moon is haunted." The confused look on Taylor's face was priceless, Della wished Beta had gotten a photo of it. Ah well, perfect recall so at least she won't be forgetting it.

With a single Blink the two girls were at Hebert's house. Taylor glanced once at Della's Beta body before she went up to the back door and lifted up on and slightly shimmied the doorknob which clicked. Then she opened the door and allowed both herself and Della into the house. Beta quietly glanced about the home.

Feels so empty and cold, my home was never like this. I hope we can help her.

Della shivered in all three bodies as Nikki piped up, the burned girl's memories of her loving mother radiating empathy for Taylor even if they clashed with Della's own memories of her psychotic controlling mother. "Right. Well, go ahead and shower. I'll uh. Just stand over here." Beta shifted. "Can't believe the first time I get to go to someone else's house is on Earth Bet of all fucking places."

Taylor motioned to the couch with a thumb pointed over her shoulder. "You can sit if you want to." She stated, before hurrying up the stairs. Beta listened to every creak and groan in the house, all of which signaled just where Taylor was at. The shower started running and Beta took the offered couch seat, the first time since this body was made that it got to relax and 'oh god this couch is so much better than rooftops'

A lot better, if we're going to be doing this cape business can we at the very least get a base?

"Shut up Nikki." Beta groaned. "No one asked. Nexu, got any ideas on what exactly you were before you got minced into smoothie?" Della asked through Beta, as Alpha was currently watching a Ward patrol consisting of Vista and Gallant, and Chi was swimming around the bay.

[Possibility.]

"Yeah, guess using our powers would help. Just keep at it buddy, we're going to figure it out and see if we can't spice things up." Beta tried to wiggle further into the couch but instead stiffened a fraction as eyes elsewhere spotted something

Della hissed softly, mentally, as Alpha spotted an Empire 88 member beating the hell out of an Asian woman. Not just beating her, but hell bent on smashing her teeth in. The bastard was careless, not trying to be quiet, it was the middle of the day! He had barely dragged his victim into the alleyway, that was how she spotted him.

Those bastards, they always act like they're civilized, protectors of the common white. But they act like savage animals every chance they get. Doesn't matter the skin color, gangs are all the same. They all need to be cut down.

Rage flooded through Della's bodies and she was forced to reign the emotion back to only Alpha's body. Alpha Blinked behind the man, fist raised. Click Hiss The Empire thug whirled around at the sound, the delighted expression on his face falling away to fear right before an enhanced fist slammed into his Adam's apple. Click Hiss Alpha watched as the man wheezed and choked, struggling to get any air through his collapsed windpipe which he grasped into two bloodied hands.

Curiously Alpha -Della- felt numb as she watched the man struggling to breath, slowly collapsing to the ground as his choking wheezes became more and more panicked. The Body's attention snapped to the injured Asian woman and she sighed softly. She didn't want to spend all that time changing back and forth but a phone would be very helpful...Nevermind she had claws right now, best to stick with it rather than show any signs of changing.

Beta was already calling the police, rattling off the street and that an ambulance was needed before hanging up. Alpha turned as she heard the sounds of someone walking and talking. The rasp of rubber on concrete gave away exactly where they were. Enhanced hearing was exceptionally useful, even in the loud city. "Hey Jason what's with the noise, you finished teaching that bi-SHIT!" the skinhead exclaimed as he rounded the corner. His movements seemed as if he were struggling through honey. At least to Alpha's enhanced reaction time. A split second later Alpha was in front of him, the hand reaching for the gun tucked away in his waistband was severed with a swipe of Alpha's claws. Well not severed, but close. He would certainly never use the hand again without parahuman healing or a skilled doctor.

"FUCKING WHORE!" The man squealed, backing up as he hunched over, clutching the near stump of a wrist, where four thin but deep gouges sat. Blood sprayed out onto the grey street below painting the grey dirty concrete a dazzling dark crimson. Alpha watched with morbid curiosity as the man staggered away trying to flee from her. Lazily she lifted up her hand. A sensation walking her through what she needed to do.

[Data!] came the excited paragraph of information from Nexu

A transparent bullet made up of a whirling jaded rainbow shot out from her hand and slammed into the back of the Neo-Nazi's head. The man toppled like he was punched in the head and began to shake from a seizure, his mangled wrist spraying blood at an accelerated rate thanks to his sudden seizure and inability to try and stem the bleeding. He was likely going to die, and Della felt nothing. Not cold, not numb...Apathy. She felt Apathetic about the life slipping from the two men she had harmed. That should worry her right? She felt like it should worry her. Nikki was just...radiating satisfaction and Nexu was happy about getting data.

An ambulance was coming, but would it get here in time to prevent the two men from dying? Would it even be able to help the woman? Della was an expert in her own body not others. Alpha turned, Blinking next to the injured woman and gently moving the smaller woman into her arms, minding her claws so as to not cut the injured woman on accident.

With a Blink both of them were in front of a hospital, not Medhall because of reasons known to anyone who's read more than one fanfiction of Worm. Beta looked to Taylor coming down the stairs as Alpha dealt with handing the injured woman off to the understandably wary hospital staff. "Feeling better?" Beta asked, only getting a half-hearted shrug from Taylor in response. "That's a yes, I suppose. Come sit down. We have a few things to talk about."

A/N: And thus, things begin to pick up.

 

[Laylissa]

Yes, the whole thing will probably escalate very quickly.

 

[KindredVoid]

Uneasy Friends 2.4​

Della Duke/Nikki Hunt/Nexu

Taylor had chosen to take the single comfort chair in the room, opposite of Della. For a moment the two just stared at each other. "I assume you want to ask something, you've got that curious look in your eyes. Go on. I told you I'll tell you the truth. I know you don't like anything but the truth, even if you like keepin' secrets." Beta wiggled her brow at Taylor who only grimaced in response. "Let me guess, been spying on me whenever I come near you huh? S'pose it's only fair." Beta motioned for Hebert to speak

Taylor watched her for a moment. Then, with her eyes kept on Beta's, she asked one question. "Who are Nexu and Nikki? I've heard you speak the names multiple times."

Beta shifted softly. "Right to the point. There's the Taylor everyone loves." Beta clapped her hands. "Nexu is my power. I can communicate with mine. Gonna see if I can push that to others in the future. But yeah. Powers aren't just a part of us, they're our own separate things. Proof of that will come later when we are more established. So don't worry about that yet. After all, that's not important at the moment and I think I can prove it later myself."

Beta shifted and looked away from Taylor. "As for Nikki. It's...terrible really. When I was pulled in here…" Della shivered in all her bodies. "It wasn't through a portal. My body was torn apart down to atoms. All I was...was my consciousness and it was shoved into someone's body. Nikki Hunt, orphan girl whose parents were killed by Lung when he came to the city and fought the Protectorate. So now we kinda just share a space, though I have control. I'm going to be experimenting as to whether I can just give her a body and shunt her out when I have more clones."

Thank god.

"Yeah yeah. You're not fun either Nikki. So anyway yeah. I feel like a nutcase sometimes because I've got two passengers up in my head.." Beta grumbled softly, tapping the side of her skull. "So, anyway. I told you it sounded crazy. But yeah. That's the truth. I can throw out details all day. Tell you about your past, your mom's, your dad's. It's a little muddied because someone stirred things up before I came here either by doing something or not doing something. I know several, well more like twenty, versions of you. This one, where you can shadow bugs? That's new. Somebody either fucked with the timeline before I could or this is a different Earth. Are the Merchants a gang yet?"

Taylor seemed to snap out of her funk at the question. "Merchants? I don't know who those are. Are you talking about the UCU" She started watching Beta diligently. "You said there's different versions of me? What is the difference?"

Beta snorted, while Della made a mental note to look up what the fuck UCU was. "Fuck where isn't there any difference? A large portion of them were gay, assuming you aren't, otherwise a few were straight. I mean, you end up with a lot of girlfriends" she got a bit of amusement out of the shade of red that Taylor's face grew along with the slight shock on her face. "Also one where you were the bully to Sophia, which was weird as hell." The red went out of her face and a horrified expression slipped over for just a moment before her face went back to that creepy neutral mask. Beta frowned as Della's cold reading ability became muffled.

"Taylor, stop." Della huffed. "Shoving your emotions into a swarm isn't helping you. Do it when you're dealing with Thinkers. But not me. Not your friends." Taylor let out a displeased huff as well, clearly not happy with being told off, she ran a hand through her still somewhat wet hair. "This is insane." She told Della. "You could just view versions of us? Like a story?"

Beta nodded. "Oh yeah. Trust me, being here is insane. But continuing. A lot of them make you have separate powers. There's one where you're a sane butcher, a lot more where you gain control of Endbringers" Taylor let out a choked noise, eyes bulging at the idea of her gaining control of those monsters. "Hell there's a couple where your power is completely terrible and ruins everything everywhere." Beta waved her hand. "It's almost always centered around you Taylor. You're that damn important."

Beta leaned forward as Taylor tried to hide the somewhat bashful expression on her face from the oddball praise. "Alright. Chin up. The bullying? It stops." Taylor jerked upright "Yeah. I'm putting an end to it….not through murder." Beta added slowly, forgoing adding the 'not yet' part because Taylor doesn't need to know. "I know exactly how to get those bitches and knock them down. You'll probably never see Sophia again in your life." Beta grinned as a light grew in the girl's eyes. "How?" Taylor asked, no-demanded Della to tell her.

"Oh, don't worry. It's rather easy." Beta gave her a sharp look. "Which is why you should have been raising a stink over it, and telling your father. Because honestly he deserves to know. Hell I think just going to Emma's mom would have stopped this all right in the cradle. She doesn't know anything about this and Allan actually doesn't think Emma is bullying you."

Taylor opened her mouth to rebuke that before pausing for a moment. "...You already know how I'm going to reply, aren't you? What I'm going to say and how to turn it on me." Hebert did not look too happy about that, but Della knew it was for the best. At least for Taylor's best. A lot of people weren't going to be happy with Della acting on what she knew
Which is why Beta nodded. "Danny, your father, already knows something is going on. He knows something is eating at you and he's worried sick over it. But he's too afraid of pushing you away and won't ask even though he feels terrible each time he notices your silent standoffishness. You get the whole 'suffering in silence' thing from him. So yes. Tell him so he can help."

Taylor practically deflated. "I didn't want him to worry." she murmured softly.

He's your father. He loves you. He will always worry about you no matter the situation.

Beta sighed. "Nikki says that it was silly of you to think he wouldn't notice. He is your father, you're a very smart girl and you didn't get that only from your mother." She stood up, walking over to Taylor and tapped her on the top of her head. "Chin up. Seriously you gotta work on that. You can't be a great hero if you act like the downtrodden. Come on. Let's go." Taylor let out an undignified squawk as Beta hugged the taller girl and lifted her straight off the chair and set her on her feet.

Beta sighed. "Your wardrobe needs to change. For all your hope of it blending you in, it doesn't help and actually makes you an easier target. Also, you aren't actually that ugly. You're actually really cute and your-" Beta practically shoved away from Taylor. "You're straight right?" She asked swallowing thickly

At Taylor's confused nod Della let out a mental groan of relief. Beta snapped. "REALLY NIKKI! Is that why you want to help her so much! GOD DAMMIT do not fuck with my head like that!"

DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD, YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD!

Beta shifted in place. "So uh. Apparently Nikki likes you. Don't worry though, I have control, and I know she's precious like that now so no more slip ups. Also she is right though. You really aren't as bad looking as you think."

Please stop talking.

Taylor shook her head. "...You're insane. You really are." She took a deep breath, and ran her fingers through her hair once more, face flushed down to her collarbone. "But you were right. You are right. You were right earlier. It's a lot to take in, and…"

Beta sighed and hugged Taylor, who still stiffened, but this time more readily returned the hug. It was still stilted, and awkward. "Taylor." Beta murmured. "I promise you I just want to help you. I've seen so many futures, so many versions of you struggling to do the right thing even when the world pushes against you. You got heart, but...I don't want to be a broken record here. You need help, or things will get worse, for not only you, but for your father, your city, even the world."

Beta felt Taylor sag at the words. But the lanky girl needed to hear this, needed to know, needed to avoid Khepri. Della shivered involuntarily at the name, the idea, the slow degradation, loss of control, the Erosure of self that Taylor went through. To be rewarded with two bullets in the back of her skull for all her trouble, all her sacrifices, all at the age of eighteen. Fucking hell Della was going to beat the shit out of Contessa. Step one through four: Punch the bitch in the nose.

Step five: Stomp on fedora...Wait. What exactly is Cauldron? They're the ones who gave me that vial that fucked my head up and dragged you in here?

'Please not right now.' Della offered 'We can think on them later. We're hugging your crush after all.' Interesting that Nikki had gone to Winslow and had seen Taylor before. But skipped school more than she had. What with the being homeless and burned to hell, and the ABB members in the school
How interesting that Nikki was jealous of Taylor's hair too.

Shut up and just talk to her!

Beta gave Taylor a squeeze to signify the end of the hug, and then pulled away. "Man. Hugs feel so nice, nobody really tries to sell them like they try to sell kisses." She shifted and cleared her throat. "Now uh. About you having powers? Your dad can be told, it's probably for the best if you want to join an independent group such as ours. After all, we're going to be using the Dockworker's Association and Union to help us get started."

Taylor blinked, staring at Beta with wide eyes. "Wait, what? Why!?" She asked and demanded, but mostly demanded. Her brows furrowed, eyes narrowing and Beta held up her hands to halt the onslaught of justified paranoia. "We need a place to do cape things. Me and James are homeless, and I doubt you want three capes heading to your house and making a target of it and your father. We need a base and the DockWorkers A or U can help us there. Besides, we'll be cleaning up the city. It'll be grand for us all around. We get a base, they get paying jobs, your dad stresses less. It's literally nothing but wins!"

Taylor mulled over Della's offered explanation. "You...said something about killing S class threats. What do you mean exactly?" She looked a tad off kilter when Beta grinned unnaturally wide, enough so that it showed off all her pearly straight white teeth.

"Why, my dear Taylor, do you know HeartBreaker?" Della felt a spike of hatred in her heart as Nikki saw the memories associated with the man, she did nothing to stop the emotion flooding herself. If there was one man who deserved to have his head caved in violently, it was him. "Well. As it would have it. I'm completely immune to Master effects. He may not have a kill order, but he does have a bounty. I'll kill him, and I'll get quite a lot of money to put forward to Brockton Bay, towards the Ferry."

Taylor watched Beta and frowned. "You'd kill him? Like that?" She folded her arms across her chest. "Wouldn't that bring unwanted attention to you? Being able to kill someone like that?" Hebert blinked as Beta snapped her fingers.

"Right you are! Good thing I don't have to be me." Beta said a moment before Alpha suddenly appeared beside her causing Taylor to scramble back and trip into the chair that she had been sitting in earlier. "It's me! Alpha!" The six foot costumed woman shook her clawed hands in a 'tada!' motion, before reaching up and pulling off the futuristic gas mask that covered her face. Of course Della's face was still there, for now. In the future it would be changed incase of accidental reveals.

Taylor swallowed nervously. "Right. Self Biokinetic. Shapeshifting. I get the claws and...feet but you look like a taller version of yourself, just with white hair and uh. Smaller." Taylor motioned to Alpha's chest "That isn't a great disguise...Even if the costume is well done."

Della preened, she liked her costume. "Thank you! Yours is pretty badass too! Although you really should make a shroud to go over the back of your head. It'll make you look more badass and will give your noggin some more protection." She offered equal parts praise and advice. "Oh and protect your hair."

Taylor probably tried to hide that smile that came from the praise of her costume. It was a small, sad, yet prideful thing. "Really? It's not too edgy? I was worried it might be, and thanks for the warning." Alpha waved her hand dismissively to shake off the thanks and worry that Taylor gave out about her costume.

"Taylor there's two kinds of Hero in the world. PR friendly heroes, and people who get shit done. You can actually be both if you interact with people when you've got a bunch of butterflies. But you were always more firmly in the 'get shit done' category than most heroes are or will be. It's what makes people love you really. PR keeps the government afloat, but when you actually get results? People notice, people care and that is what makes the little guy close ranks around you."

Taylor nodded, there was a gleam in her eyes, a thick proud hope. "And I have that? Before I...you know?" Alpha chuckled before sliding her mask back on, her laugh becoming smoother and synthesized as the mask gave a Click Hiss "That you can talk to Beta about. I do believe I have work to do. Farewell for now Taylor." The skinny girl stared at the smoking dissipating shards left behind by Alpha, she waved her hand through it causing the smoke to drift and dissipate. "That's new, what does that do?"

Beta shrugged. "Mostly appearances. Makes people think her Blink is something other than what it is. Also leaves behind a target technically." She lazily watched as the smoke faded from view "But the answer is yes. You managed to gain quite the following during your time as a hero." Okay, so she actually got it during her time as Skitter the Warlord. But she was the Hero of Worm, compared to most of the others at least. After all, how the hell could anyone look at Alexandria- the real Alexandria- and call her a hero? Fuck nuts that who. Most of Cauldron's actions were constant fuck ups, and half assed measures. Honestly, they were fucked the moment miss Ziz started her plotting.

Taylor smiled, an honest to god smile. Small as it were but it was a smile and just as it came It went away to an almost sickly look. "My father's coming down the road." Beta reached out, taking Taylor's hand and pulled her onto her feet and smiled softly. "Hey, the only way we get rid of the Trio permanently is if your father knows. Well. It makes it much easier and quicker to get rid of them. Plus, it helps you and your father come closer together." Then she added lower. "Taylor. I'm here for you. No matter what, we're friends right?"

Taylor stared at Beta for a moment then hastily nodded. "Yeah. Friends and Teammates." A car door slammed outside and Taylor jolted slightly. Face going blank before she jerked back from a flicked ear. "No shunting your emotions into the swarm, you need to stop doing that before you damage your brain and emotions." keys scratched the metal of the front door's lock.

A/N: Ah, victory. Soon to be is several nutty things! Chapter by chapter we get closer and closer to something! What is it? I dunno, I haven't written that far ahead yet.

 

[KindredVoid]

TADA! Man you guys have no idea how long I've wanted to post this art work. Drawn by the ever talented MaelBek on twitter! here is Sors Numine!

 

[Brightstone]

Don't give up, Nikki! There's a Gaylor for you somewhere...

 

[KindredVoid]

Interlude (Taylor Hebert)
​

Della was insane. Taylor knew that for a fact. The girl spoke to herself almost as much as she blabbed to Taylor, and seemed to switch topics like a TV flicking through channels. Added upon was the fact that Della had multiple powers, none which seemed to correlate in any way to each other.

It was almost scary in just how many tricks the cape had, and it made Taylor's own power seem much less than she had already thought of it. Yet Della had come to her, looking for help and to offer help. It had been too good to be true and Taylor had taken the safest out she could take when Della had offered her more time to think over joining her 'Independent group of independents'.

But Della had been right. Both in knowing the Trio were coming up the stairs, and that they would ambush her in the girls bathroom while trying to splash her with juice down to the fact that the Trio would try to splash her art project. The first was easily explained that Beta was watching them at the time. But the event in the future? That had jarred Taylor. And as much as she wanted to deny it at the time, to ignore what had happened, to push it to the back of her mind. She believed that insane girl, just a little bit. Just enough.

The taller girl had even hugged Taylor, breaking down into tears the moment Taylor had admittedly awkwardly returned it. That had been the first hug Taylor had gotten in years. Even after the locker, her father had just treated her like glass. That if he hugged her too hard or at all she would break, shatter in a million pieces. It lead to rare light, gentle hugs that barely held any warmth to them. But here was a taller, prettier, more powerful cape telling Taylor she could be the greatest hero in the world, hugging her tightly, and buying her food.
The idea was as intoxicating as it was daunting and Ludacris.

More than that, Della acted like she cared. The hugs, the advice, the sharing of personal details, and the constant pushing to make Taylor stand straight. It was almost motherly and that thought alone made her heart clench with fresh grief. It might be fake, might all be some cruel prank or some way to trap Taylor. The uncertainty was tying her guts into knots. Her nerves stood on edge as she allowed Della more and more into her life than the insane girl had any right to be

But here they were in Taylor's home, her father at the front door and about to enter where she would tell him everything at the behest of Della...even if she thought it was a terrible idea and she felt sick to her stomach with worry.
Taylor jerked a bit in surprise as Beta put a hand on her back and rubbed it. It was both unnerving and uncomfortable. Yet Taylor didn't want Beta to stop the soothing motions. The idea of having a friend, and of being heroes with said friend was too great an oasis for her to ignore. Even if the entire thing might be a cruel mirage. The hand moved away as the door opened and Taylor felt a small part of her heart yearn for the warmth of the uncomfortable touch.

The door creaked open, her father shuffling through the door and closing it behind him making sure to lock it behind him. Their house may not be in gang territory, and the neighbors were mostly older folk. But this was Brockton Bay and the ABB existed. So they both were careful with locking the door, even had a knocking system for when one came home late or early. Better safe than dead or in an ABB 'farm'. Which might be why her father did a double take upon spotting Beta who looked Asian as can be. Taylor smiled weakly. "Hey dad. Uh." She wasn't sure where to start and honestly she didn't want to.

Beta smiled "Hello Mr. Hebert! I'm Beatrice from yer daughter's school. The Empire 88 were startin to move in on my home street and Taylor here was kind enough to offer me to stay the night while the gangs spit at each other like irate mules." Taylor managed to not gawk at the sudden southern accent that Beta belted out. It sounded both stereotypical and yet authentic. But it was disarming enough as her father began to relax, however he still gave Taylor a look. "I would have liked to get a phone call at the least. Still. I know how it is to deal with Gangs. So I think we can have you over for the night while the Empire acts up."

Her father moved into the house looking at Taylor with a frown. "You alright Kiddo?" He questioned, eyes briefly flicking to Beta. She managed to nod, then gave Beta a heated look after the clone nudged her. "Dad, can we talk in the kitchen?" She asked to which her father nodded. "Always." he replied lightly

Taylor would be upset with Della for the taller girl ordering Taylor to stop using the swarm to hold her emotions. But the knowledge that doing so too much might actually damage her brain was a good enough reason to listen. Even if she had to stop after she started doing so out of instinct, like right now. Taylor looked to her father sitting across from her, Beta by her side with a hand on Taylor's thigh under the table. It felt weird but the contact was something she could focus on other than the searching look her father was giving her.

Before Taylor could speak up her father added something she wished he didn't. "Taylor...you know I'll support you no matter who you date right?" Taylor couldn't stop her jaw from dropping and her face deeply flushing, she could hear Beta choking with either shock or mirth. "DAD NO!" Taylor yelped and motioned for him to stop much to her poor father's confusion.

Beta finally got herself under control. "N-no Mr. Hebert. No. Me and Taylor are just good friends. Besides, she's straight." She giggled, glancing at Taylor and nudging the taller girl. "But there is something else that needs to be said."
Taylor shifted then sagged. "No...No dad the bullying...it hasn't gotten any better. The school hasn't done anything." Taylor kept her eyes on her father waiting for the anger.

The fact that he just looked bone tired stung even worse than anger would have. "I know Taylor. I know." Her father reached up under his glasses and rubbed his exhausted eyes. "I've known for a while, if it had stopped or lessened you would have...I don't know. I hoped you would speak to me more. But you never got better and I knew it was happening. I just knew you didn't want me to push you on it. So I didn't."

Taylor swallowed, throat dry. She didn't need to look at Beta to see the smug look on her fa-Taylor cut that thought off as Beta gently squeezed her knee under the table. She spared the clone a glance. Beta had a grim expression on her face, almost sad, almost angry as she spoke up. "Yeah. Uh. Well I've only recently come to Brockton Bay sir. But I noticed the bullies doin' their bullyin and I wanted to help. So I've been workin' on getting evidence sir. Managed to talk Tay ere' into speaking to ya about it."

Her father gave the clone a tired smile. "Thank you Beatrice. Since the school isn't helping Taylor, what will gathering evidence do exactly?" Taylor found herself listening closely, wanting to know exactly how Della would go about keeping her word on getting rid of the Trio. The grin Beta wore was almost predatory, like a wolf that cornered a rabbit and was savoring the fear in the air. "As things have it sir. One of the girls bullying Taylor ere' is a Ward . One shadow stalker, who's on probation."

Taylor wasn't so curious anymore, rather she felt sick. She didn't want to believe it. But...Sophia? Sophia was physically violent, and had been the one to steal all her items including her mother's flute, somehow getting past the locks on Taylor's lockers more than once, she had thought they had guessed the combination but if Sophia was just Shadow Stalker... But still, a hero? A Ward being the one who shoved Taylor into the locker? Looking at her father, he looked angry but was managing it. The bulging vein on his forehead gave away any attempt to hide his anger. "How do you know?" he demanded, voice on the edge of letting anger dictate its volume. Beta nodded to the question. "Ya see sir. I'm a parahuman myself, and my ability allows me to sense other parahumans nearby and Sophia-Shadow Stalker-was one such parahuman. See my power also gives me a tiny bit of info on the power as well and only one Ward has the power to turn immaterial."

For a moment, Taylor realized just how Della had noticed the trio coming up the stairs, but her thoughts were swiftly taken in by her own anger. "So that's it?!" Taylor snapped at the clone. "That's why nothing was done?! The Protectorate was helping her?!" When her father went to speak Beta slammed her open hands on the kitchen table causing both Heberts to jump at the sudden and loud racket. Beta looked between them and shook her head. "Nah. As far as I know, it's local. Within the school. Winslow gets funding for having a Ward there after all, and Sophia's handler don't report nothin' cause it would mess with er' cushy job. The higher ups more than likely have no idea what is going on. As such, all we need to do is collect evidence and I can deliver it. With Sophia gone, the other bullies will crumble slowly but that won't be enough. Then we can go after the other head bully. She's more difficult to uproot. But she can be with a bit of….action. Once that girl is out of order the bullying slows to a stop. No ifs, no butts. And if anyone tries anything I set an example via as-Buttkicking."

Taylor swallowed, unsure if to believe the other girl's words "That's it for Sophia?" Beta nodded with a warm smile then looked to Taylor's father as he rubbed his face again as if trying to ease a headache. "This is not what I expected today... Beatrice, you're sure about this? No doubts? What evidence do you have of this besides your power?" Taylor glanced between the two, her heart practically humming in her chest as hope blossomed in her, the sensation was one long forgotten.

Beta smiled again like a wolf about to devour prey. "Shadow Stalker is on probation since she was forced in tha' Wards after she nearly killed a man. Needless to say she's not supposed to be using lethal ammo anymore. Odd that she has several stashes of her ol' lethal gear. Why, it would be a dang shame if someone were to take a photo of it and sneak it onto someone's desk. Like the bigot Piggot Director of the East North East protectorate. She doesn't like capes almost to the point of racism, and she likes Shadow Stalker less."

That all sounded far too good to be true. All of it. The fact that they could remove the brute of the Trio just that easily sounded like some kind of dream Taylor would wake up from at any moment. Then again, so was a strange Dimension traveling girl becoming her friend and buying her a gyro. As such Taylor was just going to pray that she wouldn't jerk awake with the realization it's all fake, her life was unchanged, and Della was only a figment of her dreams. "How do you know all this?" Her father asked, staring at Beta with no small amount of shock.


Beta smirked softly and then she was standing up on the opposite side of Taylor, having blinked to do so. Her father flinched and then stared at her. "I can do more than sense parahumans sir. I know you're going to ask something along the lines of 'Why are you helping Taylor?' and it's a good question." Taylor stiffened as her father narrowed his eyes. "Because I like her. She may not feel the same way about me, but honest ta' god, sir. That and I have a moral compass that works. Can't just leave someone to suffer when they don't have to." Then Taylor felt the clone nudge her foot. It was obvious what Della wanted but Taylor still didn't want to do it.

But Della had given her an excuse to not join the Wards, which Taylor had planned to avoid due to wanting to escape teen drama that she had to deal with in school in her hero life. Now knowing that Shadow Stalker was not only a Ward, but was also Sophia? She didn't want to touch the Wards with one of Legend's beams. Della also expected Taylor to speak to her father about her powers. Because of course she did, she probably knew exactly how it would all turn out.

Several fireflies phased through the backdoor and floated to the kitchen table. Her bugs couldn't fly when phased but they were so light that they might as well be flying even if they couldn't increase altitude or change direction unless they pushed off something physical, air being the exception. They suddenly dropped back into the material world and lit up causing her father to flinch and look to them. "I have powers Dad." Taylor said, feeling as if she were sucking on a lemon. "I can control bugs totally, absolute control.. I can also make them phase out of the material world." She made the fireflies line up, still blazing, and had them phase in a small pattern before she moved them onto the table.

Once more her father rubbed his face softly, pushing up his glasses as he did so. "Taylor, why didn't you tell me?" there was real pain in his voice and Taylor felt herself shrink, chest throbbing with guilt but she didn't stop looking him in the face. "I didn't want to worry you...or join the Wards."

"Actually." Beta broke in, for which Taylor was grateful for, even if she had forced the conversation to happen. "She's joining our independent group of parahumans. Our goals are to boost Brockton Bay so it's no longer a cesspit filled with malicious gangs and overwhelming poverty. Heck, in a month We'll be able to clear out the Boat Graveyard due to our collective powers." Taylor sighed softly as Beta continued. "Sors Numine, the semi-leader of the group, can age inorganics to dust. So given some time on the boats? They'll be gone and the bay will open."

Taylor's father closed his eyes as he processed this. "I'm guessing this is a sales pitch as much as it's an explanation. I don't like it, but considering that the Wards have...that girl in it and takes orders from an apparent parahuman bigot...I don't know anymore." Her father looked between the two of them. "How many are in your group?" He questioned. "I want to know as much as you can tell me."

Beta pointed to herself. "Me, Taylor, looking to recruit a Tinker who's a close friend with one of us, and Sors Numine who can clone herself. So not as many as New Wave has but we're all pretty powerful. Plus, I can teleport and Sors Numine can freeze time for herself while she moves. Taylor is safe with us, far more than the Wards. They wouldn't even let Taylor use weapons or any dangerous bugs to fight for PR reasons, and for those same reasons won't let her wear full head gear. You know they have a twelve year old that patrols and they won't even give her a taser!"

"Wait, are you talking about Vista?" Her father looked at Beta with raised brows. When the girl nodded he groaned. "I actually met her some time ago when she was on patrol. A nice kid but seriously? Not even a taser! She's a young girl who fights against the ABB for Christ's sake!" he pinched the bridge of his nose. "She'll be safe?" He asked.

Beta nodded. "She'll have a knife and bullet proof costume with armor plating. It'll protect her almost as much as any Tinker suit on that I swear sir. So, do we have your permission to bring her into the group sir?"
Taylor looked to her father with pleading eyes. She would just sneak out if he said no. Guilt or not she could become a hero, could help save Brockton Bay, help him with his dreams of getting the Docks flowing with trade and commerce. She watched him sag. "Yes. Taylor but please promise me you'll be safe. That you won't go fighting parahumans."

A wave of relief and joy washed through Taylor. "I'm better used for information gathering. Considering my two block range, I don't even have to be near any of the fighting. Besides D-Sors Numine and Beatrice here are the main fighters because they are very durable compared to normal people."

"Thank god." he rubbed his face before stopping and looking at Beatrice. "Then why are you actually here if you're a parahuman? Because then I doubt some Empire grunts would really give you trouble." The clone wagged her finger at him approvingly "You're a smart man Mr. Hebert. But I don't want the Empire wondering why I'm so defensive of the area, best they do not know where I live." Taylor's father nodded "That-Yeah that makes sense. Alright, suppose I'll make lasagna for tonight. How does that sound?" He looked between the two girls with a tired smile.

Taylor smiled at her father as Beta gave him a thumbs up and a 'Delightful!'. "That sounds great Dad."


A/N: Sorry for the missing posts. beta has been busy with life and I was sick for like, a week. I also hate posting without chapters being ready in advance.
Tried to make Taylor not a TINO, but she's not the absolute paranoid mess she was in canon at the start.