You don't want to tell this guy how to do his job.
Actually, fuck that, you don't want him to tell you what you should do. Sure he's looking out for you, but he shouldn't be getting in the way. The world is changing, and even if you can't lift anything, you can still talk.
And this guy can't really do anything from his chair.
Rebecca's going to hate you. Well, it can't be worse than fighting Symphony.
The image of Rebecca standing up to David, cracking the sky and shaking the sea from her punches flashes in your mind.
And just like that, your bravado dies a grizzly death.
You watch as Oracle's smile grows until it can compete with the greatest shit-eating grins out there. Danah would be proud, but God dammit you hate this guy.
"I'll have a quick nap," you say.
"I'm glad that you see things my way, Mr Everett," Oracle says.
You roll your eyes as you let the waves take you back down to the pillow.
"My name's Alex," you grunt, pulling up the covers and rolling to the side.
"Just giving you the respect you deserve."
"Thanks," you drawl.
"You better get used to it, Mr Everett," you hear the shift of clothing, the tapping of a cane and a grunt of frustration, "My praise will be nothing compared to how history will speak of you."
You crack an eye open, catching Oracle's grin as he reaches into his jacket.
"And this is only the first of many victories."
He brings the hand back out, bringing out a small business card. You take it, and give it a once-over, revealing a string of numbers.
"My number, should you need any more questions."
"Thanks."
You mean it this time.
"By the time that you awake, I shall be out of the city directing a few personal matters. Don't worry, I'll be overseeing your friends efforts while you try to keep it sensible."
"I get it," you grumble, "No showing off."
"I was going to call it helping, but who am I to question Atlas' titles?"
You crack another eye open at him. Without skipping a beat, he shakes his arm, freeing a watch from the confines of his suit.
"Oh, I'm afraid I must be off, time waits for no man."
"Going to talk to more important people?" you ask.
"Yes," he grins, "Saraph."
You roll your eyes and settle down on the pillow one last time.
You were out before you could hear the door close.
INTENSITY REEVALUATED
Ok, you've got to get one thing straight.
All the power in the fucking world didn't compare to the single greatest sleep you've had in your life. Well, maybe second best. Cauldron was crazy, but the beds are fantastic.
REBOOT IN PROGRESS
You get up, rub your eyes.
Guess this is it, you're famous now.
According to Oracle, enough people saw Atlas. They heard you break Symphony's resolve, they heard you stop him, and everyone here has seen the result.
Yet you're groaning.
But, this is what you wanted right? You showed the world that people with powers could help, you've proved it a thousand times over, and it's only been a day.
You crack a smile, yeah, guess you did pretty good.
Suck it, Clint.
Straightening up, you notice everything has quieted down. You can't hear a thing outside your door, and the utter blackness from the window isn't much to go by. A quick search and you find your mask resting next to a set of clothes and a letter marked with an 'O'. Pure curiosity forces your hand to rip the seal free from the paper and pull out the note.
"Mr Everett,
Hopefully, you'll take these words before you to heart. As I mentioned before, you have little power for now. In a purely professional opinion, I would recommend that you put this letter down, and return to sleep.
However, given your previous persistence to give aid, I have tasked Seraph with providing you with a fresh set of clothes for the London winter.
You have five minutes to change, and two afterwards to walk out of the building.
The exit is the second door on your right.
- Yours truly, Oracle.
P.S
Don't judge, listen and talk."
You stare at the last line and do your best to hold back a sigh. He really needs to stop that.
Crumple the paper in one hand; you take a quick look over what you've got. Jeans, a shirt and a long jacket, plenty. Even so, you play at the edge of your suit. It's warm, comfortable too, but at the same time, there's nothing wrong with another layer.
Jumping out of bed, you wince as your foot stings, but like the ringing, it's bearable. Throwing the jacket and pants over your suit, making sure that the coat covered every line of gold and that you've pocketed your mask.
Though it's still snowing, your ears are going to be burning after this.
Ah well, a little chill never hurt anyone. Well… it probably did, but… ah never mind.
Heading out of the room, you quick peek around the edge earning you nothing but the view of an empty hallway. Oracle's right again, shocker.
Holding back a tired sigh, you throw the door aside and set off. Your footsteps echo through the hallway, but at the edge, you can hear it. At the very end of the hall, light peeks out from under the doorway. You listen to the soft clink of crashing glass, a deep laugh, even a spit take.
Huh, guess your guard has a pretty good reason be away.
The second door on your right comes up, and you've got to be blind not to notice the gleaming red stair exit sign. The steps are murder on your feet, but it's hardly the worst thing that you've been through in the past few days.
You push through the right exit, letting a thousand snowflakes in. You jerk your foot back, but after a second you slowly reach out a foot and step into the snow. It crunches under your foot, and the white dots seem to fall endlessly. You reach out, and the little specks start chilling your fingertips before a wave winks in and throws them off.
Cold, but nice.
That's probably the only thing you can say that is nice unfortunately.
Dozens of people brushing past one another trying to get somewhere. Some have bags, but most make do with the coats on their back. A military looking car speeds through the blackened sludge, coating everyone in the cold slipstream and a few unlucky ones in the slurry itself. Your clothes bristle, but the waves keep the cold away, and another blares as someone crashes into you.
You pitch forward, getting a foot underneath you and biting down a scream.
You give your foot a quick shake, and start walking. It still hurts, but hurting's better than stopping the flow of traffic. It's nowhere near as dangerous as it used to be back in LA. Most days you couldn't take the main road without sharing shoulder space with about twenty of your closest friends. If you had the cash, you'd hop on the bus, but you never had much of that, so you were stuck with taking the alleyways. You'd make a deep whiff and manage to avoid the puddles of whatever disgusting drink the drunks had the night before, along with the puke that came with it. You never saw them make the stuff. Dad always had a rule of being back home before the worst of the city usually came out.
He'd have a heart attack if he knew you were walking this late.
At least when Rebecca was with you, you at least knew where you were going. Now, you don't have a clue. Most of the shops are boarded up, and those that don't look like something out of a horror movie with their broken display stands and missing doors. Didn't stop you from noticing the wide berth everyone was giving each other. Any other day you could imagine they'd be okay with letting someone walk at least a foot away from them. Now, when someone so much as stepped towards someone else, they'd get a murderous look for their trouble. And when they weren't doing that everyone is looking down.
The thought grinds away as something makes your head split open. You rub the ache away, but the sound stops in your tracks. Back home, you'd probably get run over from standing around. Now, everyone starts going around. You don't think anyone even looks at you. The ringing quiets down, and you catch a card sitting on top of the slush. You reach down, brushing it off with your jacket.
A drivers license, belonging to Elizabeth Ford? Short fuzzy blonde hair, a few freckles dotting her face and color that you didn't get from being born in London. You might've called her cute, but hollow cheeks sunken eyes and an age stamp that's too young to have cause wrinkles ruins the picture.
Who would lose something like this? Isn't this supposed to be in your wallet or something?
Wait, there's also a few bills here. You brush more of the slush aside, and your hand touches something metal. Change, more soaked bills, even pieces of what you think is a picture.
Where are these coming from?
No ones so much as touched anyone else, and the last time you hit someone was blocks away. Your waves scream again. The ache returns, but the song of a coin clanging against the ground is too loud enough to ignore it.
You look up, squint for all your worth and a red dot catches your eye.It shifts at the edge of the roof, with two tiny patches of white dangling in the air. There's someone up there, and no one had even thought of looking up.
You pocket the license, and suddenly you're breaking away from the crowd. Some stop to let you pass, a few you have to push through. The second you're in the alleyway, you're in a dead sprint to the other end. You turn the corner and waste a second to look around.
No one's here, good.
You will waves underneath you, and will them upwards taking you with it. It's not fast, but the windows start to blur as you head up. The sound sends your brain through a blender, but you'll be damned if this of all things stops you.
The touch of cold is a slap in the face. Windbreaks through and your neck feels like it's about to break fighting to stay straight. You grit your teeth, and your limbs start to burn. You close your eyes, the waves filling the air, turning the world into an incomprehensive ocean.
The waves around you flicker, you give it one more push. Your eyes snap open, and the lip of the roof passes under you.
You… you made it!
You start to smile; then the ring breaks in. The gold around you flickers out, and the waves you commanded drop you like a broken toy. You flail your limbs, and you sprawl on the ground, cutting off a scream you don't want to admit to.
A few waves flicker, but gravity can't keep the cold from seeping in. A quick hand down your face gets most of the snow off, and the weather makes opening your eyes all the easier.
Now that she isn't a dot, you can finally get a decent look at her. The back of her at least. She's grown her hair out, but the absence of a coat over her shoulders is enough to make you shiver. She still hasn't noticed you and the glow didn't spook her enough to push her off. You swallow the lump in your throat and smile for all your worth.
Please be ok.
"Hey."
Elizabeth goes as stiff as a board. Her head snaps around, and surprise kills her voice and makes your smile burn.
She's… she's not Elizabeth.
You don't see any freckles, she doesn't look a day over fifteen, but the resemblance is still there. The same blue in the eyes, the same foreign tan, it's all there.
But, if you don't have her license, whose do you have?
The lump you just swallowed rages back and a cold sweat runs down your neck. Even still, you keep up the smile. You also manage to give a small wave. It freezes when she stares daggers straight through you, and just looking at it hurt more than fighting Symphony ever will.
They're just like Harbinger's.
It's just so... wrong.
No matter how you look at it a kid shouldn't look that cold.
You're a statue as her eyes dart over every part of you. The more she seems to see, the more the surprise dies out. Her jaw comes to a close, and a stream of white breath comes out as she sighs.
"Hi."
That's… a good start? Please let that be a sign of a good start.
You put your hand down and desperately try to swallow down the dryness in your throat.
"So…" you start.
You step forward, and she flinches. Your hands fly up, and you barely move. She grips the snow next to her, dragging her nails on the concrete below. In the palm of her hand, some of the snow starts to shift.
Superhuman, and considering she's up here...a new one.
Oh, oh you've never been sorrier for anyone in your life. She had to have one, a trigger event?
"Mind if I sit down?" you ask, some miracle letting you find your voice and point to the right edge, "Just over there?"
You risk taking a step to the edge and another. The crunch of the snow is as loud as a gunshot in the silence. She watches, the daggers in her eyes going impassive as you get closer to the open air.
You barely breathe as you peer past the edge. It's high, really high like you're back to looking out from the window back at Cauldron. Only this time, it's an ocean of people. You try to look out, but that doesn't help. You can see all of it from up here. The rows of collapsed buildings, the piles of ash that was once houses and cars.
And worst of all, the crater in the center of it all, the results of your final clash with Symphony.
You knew you were walloping him, but that's what nukes are supposed to leave in terms of a hole. It stopped Symphony, but it's a small comfort when you look down at everyone.
Your leg trembles as you carefully wipe the snow from the edge. The mass of slush leaves a small batch of wet concrete. You slowly ease yourself down, letting your legs dangle in the open air. A breeze comes over the roof, and the sudden chill rattles you to your core. The girl that looks like Elizabeth doesn't even flinch.
"So," you try again, "Do you know where everyone's headed?"
That gets her to move. She double-takes your way, her face a perfect mixture of confusion and black hate.
"Are you as thick as you look? Or can you not understand fucking english when you hear it?"
You have to bite your lip to stop it from sliding into a frown. She's just lashing out, and you did the same thing. Either way, focus. A lot of people are moving, and they're doing it because someone said something, and you didn't hear it from your nap.
"I… woke up an hour ago," you admit.
She blinks, and a crestfallen smile etches its way through.
"Thick it is."
You purse your lips, alright then. Shifting in your seat, you slide a little to the left. She doesn't notice, she doesn't even look up. So you push a bit more and give a quick blow into your hands.
"Can I ask what happened?"
She doesn't look at you, but even from here you can see her roll her eyes.
"Fucking fantastic you are."
You lean back, your hands fumbling together.
"I…"
"You're not just thick, you're bloody thick," She emphasizes.
She throws a hand out, gesturing to the ashen remains of London.
"Look around. Freaks tore everything to shit. Then the army rolled in, and sets up some shelter."
"Freaks?"
You wince, of all the times for your mouth to go off on its own.
"The freaks that did this! The ones that came out of fucking nowhere! Next thing you know robots are shooting people up and some blazing fucktard calls it a revolution. Everyone died, that's what happened, that clear enough for you?"
You risk the world to shake your head.
"No."
"Then why the fuck did you ask?"
"Because I'm not asking about the city."
You reach into your pocket, and she gasps when the light catches the license. As carefully as you can, you toss the card the ten feet left between you. You were never really good at cards, but you can keep out the ringing long enough to get a wave to push it alone, drawing out a quick wince. It lands almost a foot away from her, snow already moving in to cover it.
"I just want to know what happened to you."
She reaches out, gingerly picking the license. She wipes it off, her hands shaking, but not from the cold.
"Why?" she asks.
"I want to help you."
She laughs, the sound bitter and painful.
"People don't want to help."
"I'm not most people," you say.
She gives you a sideways look you can't place. Then, she raises a hand and ice as white and shining as diamond forms in her hand.
"Neither am I," she whispers.
With a flick of her wrist, the icicle flies over her shoulder. It hits the roof and goes off with enough force to make you jump. Against all logic, a glacier the size of a small car is there in the center of the roof.
Wow.
"You sure you want to stick around someone like me?"
You turn away from the glacier and give as friendly a shrug as you can.
"It's no different from talking to anyone else."
The card in her hand bends, before freezing over entirely.
"It is different! I'm a freak!"
Taking a page out of Oracle's book, you stay as stone-faced as Doctor Mother while you shake your head, hopefully helping your determination along.
"You're human."
Dropping the facade, you find a smile effortlessly coming in to replace it.
"Being unique comes with the territory."
She takes a deep breath, but all that comes out is an exhausted sigh. She glances down at the card with a frown, and you hold back a wince when another wave bashes against your skull.
"... I don't know where to start."
"Anywhere you want," you strain to smile, "I'm not going anywhere."
She turns back to you, and a ghost of a smile comes to her.
"You've got to be the thickest bloke I've ever seen."
You bark out a small chuckle, giving a little shrug.
"Guilty," you admit.
She rolls her eyes again, but the second she sees the card, she chokes.
"Everything started out the same as it always did. Boss was giving me shit, business was slow from the weather, and everyone that you talked to is pissed. When things started to slow down, and I could go on break, sis calls," she explains, brushing off the picture, "Left her wallet at home. Again."
A humorless chuckle breaks out, and she whips away a tear that starts making her way down.
"The workaholic never did remember it."
You nod along, not saying a word, sliding a little closer.
"I run home and grab it and slog my way through the underground to get it to her place."
Her head dips and cracks start forming around the card.
"I-I'm barely a b-block away when everything shakes, and it just s-starts burning."
Another tear falls, she doesn't wipe it away.
"E-everyone inside was screaming. I fell."
She shivers, her arms wrapping around her. You pick up the pace, damn your screaming fingers and ignoring the chill overtaking your legs.
"Everyone was running away," her head snaps up, and you freeze, "And I saw it."
She grits her teeth, her free hand gripping a slowly growing ice spear.
"That fucking freak."
She throws it back, creating a twin of the glacier before just so her hands could slam against the rock. You see her skin break, a painful looking welt forming over her palm but she doesn't care.
"It was on fucking fire, but it didn't die!"
Her hand comes down again, burying itself in the snow. With her other hand, she wipes away her eyes, but the tears don't stop.
"It didn't die… and Liz."
She brings the card close, holding it against her heart and you do the only thing that you can.
You bite back the pain in your foot, you ignore the crunch of the snow, and you sit down next to her. She doesn't do a thing, and you don't expect her to. So you give her time, all the time that she needs.
Losing a sister, you can't imagine it.
Nothing you've been through even compares to that. A single night of horrified panic doesn't compare to that.
She takes a deep breath, running her nose over her sleeve and gasping for another bout of air.
"Next thing I know, the fire was getting closer. I wanted to run, I tried, but it was everywhere. The street, the shops, everyone. Everything was burning. But I wasn't."
A shaky arm raises, and through the cracked ice, you could see the name.
"M-my legs wouldn't move, I-I couldn't breathe. I blacked out, and when I woke up,"
She lifts up her hand, a ball of ice forms from nothing to rest on her palm.
"I… I could do this."
Her hands fall back to her sides, and she shakes her head.
"The next thing I know, I can hear cheering."
She smiles with red, disbelieving eyes.
"Heroes, honest to god superheroes had come down and saved us."
The smile slowly falls away, her hands straining to grip anything. The card in her hands shatters, her fingers bleed.
"But they didn't. They were too late, and they just made it worse."
You raise a hand and try one more smile.
"They were trying to help."
She bores into you, and your smile flies off your face. Her teeth pressing so hard you see waves start to form and her fingers smother everything between them.
"Help? Help!? Look!"
She points at the crater, at the once proud center of London.
"That's what they're help did! That's all that freaks are good for. Who gives a fuck if they stopped more of them! They didn't save her! They didn't save Liz, so what's the point of them?!"
She launches to her feet and throws her fists down.
"They all just die!?!"
She starts pitching forward, and you see the waves start to bring her down.
Oh no.
You order them to-AHH!
Your head pounds like a drum, and everything becomes gold.
No… not now.
You shake, your hand slamming against the rage of your forehead. The ringing grows, and specks of your vision turn to gold. You squint, barely making out a human shape beneath the growing tide of gold.
"You… don't… need to," you growl through gritted teeth. You reach for her, but your hand's slapped away.
"Stop it, just stop!"
She grits her teeth, her feet are barely on the roof at this point. Your heart hammers in your chest.
You need to move, she's going to-
You push, and your foot screams like never before. You pitch forward, your face smothered in the cold snow. Even still, you drive yourself back up. You tear through the waves, passed the gold to see her how you're supposed to see her. No gold, no powers, just someone who needs help.
The spots disappear, and you're left facing the pointed tip of an icicle.
"Don't."
It's not a warning, just a desperate plea.
"Let this happen."
The mass of ice slips from her grasp, shattering against the ground leaving a suitcase-sized wall of ice between you. Her hand falls, while the other raises up. The shards of the card turn in her hand, then she throws them away.
Smiling, she leans forward-
"Wait!"
Only to stop and stare.
Your hand is reaching, you can barely keep your eyes open. The ocean of waves scream, and she's waiting.
You…
[] Remind her that she's not the one that did this. Everyone is different, that means everyone with powers is different too.
[] Remind her of Elizabeth. Would she want to see her like this? It hurts, you know, but imagining what they would do without you is what kept you going in that hospital room.
[] Tell that you're going to change things. With Cauldron's help, you'll make it so that she can be whoever. Human, superhuman it won't matter. If she could just see it, then she'll know it's alright.
And if she's too far gone, if you need something else you...
[] Pull out your mask and reveal yourself as Atlas. You're the hero that saved this city, that stopped Symphony. Please, let her see the good in that.
[] Keep your mask in your pocket. She's in pain, and angry. All of that anger is going straight to superhumans like you, and you have no way to defend yourself.
