A Different Kind of Whale (Worm/FGO-based Gamer, a FI ft. Nihilo)

[Omida]

The new year greeted the city with, surprisingly enough, quiet and calm. At least in this particular portion of it. The snow laid thick on the wide, open streets, shining in the reflected light of the morning sun, intercepted with long shadows of the skyscrapers dominating the landscape. An astute eye could spot empty cans and bottles and burnt out fireworks lying around, which together with the broken windows some of the shorter buildings sported, somewhat detracted from the charm. That is to say, the idyllic visage of a winterswept, sleepy town meant no one noticed when a person showed up in the middle of the street in a ripple of air and a cloud of displaced snow. The stranger looked unassuming, a high collared grey jacket over white sweater and dark pants, pale skin, with short black hair and grey eyes, about average height. Everything about him was average and unremarkable, really.

A quick examination of the surroundings didn't yield much in the way of identifying landmarks for the man, unless one counted a rather on the nose gang tag brazenly displayed on the wall of one of the skyscrapers. A pair of eights, which also looked like a pair of different symbols, should one be so inclined to interpret them. Black on a red background too, just to drive the point home.

"Subtle." The man muttered under his breath. Concerning, too, given that it was big enough and placed so tall it'd have taken a whole crew with scaffolding to get it done. At least a glance at himself in one of the nearby windows told him they probably would leave well enough alone.

There was, of course, the rather poignant question of how he'd gone from a hispano-asiatic hairball to the human embodiment of white bread. Unfortunately, all his brain provided was a whole bunch of microwave noises and a vague impression of having agreed to something.

Well, that and a name. Outis Karas, because apparently he was engaging in the ancestral catalonian tradition of looting the Greeks now. Not that he had an alternative, either, with how his actual name was blotted out with static. Which–

Yeah, he was not going to dwell on any longer, thank you. Time to check his pockets and see how screwed he was in the immediate. A quick go revealed a pack of seven cards in his back pocket, going through all the colours of the rainbow in a gradient. And then, because magic was apparently real, the world seemed to freeze, everything but him and the cards sliding to grayscale.

[Account Name: 'Outis Karas' accepted.]
[Welcome to P/HO. To begin the game, you must equip a Class Card. You have been given seven Blank Cards.]

[Blank Cards provide basic parameter increases and access to class-specific Skills. Upgrading them will allow for greater parameter increases, levelling the Skills and acquisition of Personal Skills and Noble Phantasm.]
[To equip a Blank Card, simply state "(Colour + Class Name), Install!"]
[Due to that, another name for Blank Cards is Chromatic Class Cards.]

"Merda." He swore under his breath, then did it again when he saw the design on the top card. Missing memories, appearing somewhere with no explanation, vague recollection of an agreement, Servant Class Cards? The only question was what terrifying force of nature he was the world-saving errand boy of now.

Worse, it being so overt meant that things were bad. The Counter Forces were lazy fucks, they would much rather just give things a tiny nudge nobody would ever notice. He supposed it could be Zelretch, the pop up windows weren't that far off from giving someone a Kaleidostick, but the old man would've had the common decency of giving him an actual briefing.

…Right. He didn't know these beings. Just a mushroom's marketable takes on them. He'd have to play it by the ear, then. At least the decision of what to equip wasn't hard, just took figuring out what colour the Class was.

"Indigo Assassin, Install." The clash between cringe and childlike wonder at saying something out of a tonkatsu show and meaning it was fierce, but at least nobody could see Outis' twitching face in timestop.

Foreign muscle memory guided his motions as he gripped the card firmly yet carefully between his fingers, face forward as he thrust his arm in front of him. Immediately, a magic circle sprang to life around him with a shimmer of crimson light. He knelt, pressing the Card face down to the circle, where a mirrored image of the glyph flew upwards, almost as if the field of magic was scanning his body.

Then, bands of brilliant white light erupted from seven points of the circle, entangling themselves over his head before crashing down onto Outis' still kneeling form. Yet, he could feel no weight pressing him down. Instead, he was beckoned to rise up and stand straight and proud. As he did so, indigo flames engulfed his body, covering it almost completely, save for his eyes. They burned for but a heartbeat or two before they cooled, died down and solidified into his new apparel.

A dark hoodie and sweats, their smokey swirls of deep indigo almost imperceptible if not for how they broke up his silhouette. A pair of gloves and boots that felt like a second skin, and a bandana around his neck, melting into the shadows of his hood. He felt light as a feather for all that his clenching and unclenching fingers may as well be steel claws, like he could scale that eyesore of a gang-tagged building easy as taking a stroll down the street.

[Assassin selected. In Free Roam, the Class' Presence Concealment makes it for a good scout to find out Quests and Points of Interest (Instances/Dungeons) without getting into too much trouble.]
[Relatively, early on.]

"Loving the confidence." Outis (or Assassin right now, he supposed) grumbled as he scrunched into his new outfit. It may make him look like a mugger but damn if the indomitable spirit of humanity didn't know how to make some comfy sweats.

[You can designate two other Cards as your 'Hand'. Cards belonging to a Hand can be Quick Swapped to adjust as the situation demands. In Free Roam, it has little effect, but you cannot adjust your Hand once combat starts.]

…His heart cried out for Caster, but not only would it be a gamble if it gave him any combat ability before he put in some work, he was clearly in a first world city and that meant getting dogpiled by spooks if he did anything obviously magical. Rider was also out unless it came with a motorcycle instead of a living mount and even then he'd have to summon it out of sight, so if he had to make a quick getaway it'd have to be with Assassin.

So… "Set Archer and Berserker" Outis decided after a moment. Someone ending up full of arrows may raise some eyebrows (although it may just give him a gun, Assassin was looking pretty modern), but not enough to get him in the shit, so it was his best option in case he needed to fight at range. Berserker was the 'oh shit, oh fuck' button, plain and simple. He'd just have to hope Mad Enhancement was on a toggle and not too high rank, but if he got in a tough spot where the only way out was through, a big brick of stats was the best way.

[Archer and Berserker added to the Hand.] The system helpfully informed him.

[Current Objective: Gather information about immediate surroundings and situation.]
[Reward: 1x Saint Quartz.]

With that, the world slid out of grayscale and back into motion, leaving Outis back alone in 'Free Roam' of the city. With how unhelpfully open-ended the objective was, and how these kinds of things tended to go, it meant an encounter shouldn't be too far away.

"Character Sheet." He whispered, hoping that the system would cooperate. He'd been leery of prodding it when it was giving him the step by step, but now it should be fine.

Thankfully, it did cooperate. Although the screen was in his mind's eye instead of in front of his own. Which were apparently indigo now, same with his hair. Dark enough nobody would notice in the gloom of his hood, though, even if he didn't like the resemblance to Shinji one bit. Immediately relevant to him, apparently, were the first two fields in the top right, as well as the one immediately below his 'character sprite'.

[Name: Outis Karas]
[Current Mystic Code: None]
[Current Card Equipped: Indigo Assassin]

Then, under the equipped card field, there was an option to see the Card's current sheet, which listed Assassin's specs which were… well, they certainly were.

[STR: E AGL: D END: E MAG: E LCK: D]

[Class Skills]
[Presence Concealment [E] – At this rank, can only blend preternaturally well into a crowd or the darkness. Someone with the level of situational awareness of special forces would be able to notice Assassin's presence. If preparing for hostile action, even a normal person with good instincts would get a twinge.]

[Personal Skills]
[N/A]

[Armaments]
[Indigo Daggers – A solidly good quality pair of knives (bowie and fairbarn-sykes) with absolutely nothing unique to them. They can be dismissed and summoned as per Servant gear rules.]

[Noble Phantasms]
[N/A]

Once done beholding the absolute state of the sneaky one, Outis noticed three more fields in the bottom right: An option to just change his name, gender toggle and a (currently greyed-out) Mystic Code selector.

The former would've been useful if, y'know, his real one wasn't completely blotted out of his memory. Another scrabble there only told him that whatever it had been, it could be read as 'nothing', so it looked like Outis was as close as he'd be getting. The latter… well, his pragmatic side said that if someone noticed him in mugger chic, being a cute girl would hopefully defuse any suspicion because people were shallow like that.

The other side of him was just chanting the 4chan mantra as he experimentally focused down on the button with his mind. It wasn't like there was a hologram for him to poke.

Immediately, he (she?) could feel himself shrink down. His mental image, after a bit of a flicker with Indigo Assassin, settled down on the female version of him. The momentary lack of indigo filter landed her square in the 'cute girl next door' vibe.

[Gender change found and unlocked. From now on, the option to transition between the two will only require a mental command instead of digging through menus.]
[Please note that transitioning while having a Card installed may have unintended consequences, especially for Chromatic Cards. They are more malleable.]
[You would think it would be actual Servant Cards that wouldn't play nice with degenerate shenanigans, but no.]

"I mean, d'Eon exists." Outis muttered, taking note of both her voice (bright and sweet, although probably not enough for Yagoo to bust down her door) and the fact that the system definitely had some personality. That was a point towards Zelretch, man liked his assistant AIs, even if Ruby and Sapphire had turned out too obnoxious for him to bother with.

'What sort of unintended consequences?' She added in her mind experimentally, flexing it in a similar way as she'd done with the button. It'd be best if she didn't have to speak to thin air like a loon, although if need be she'd just fake a phone call.

[Certain skills and effects do have gender requirements, to begin with. Both positive and negative. Additionally, Chromatic Cards are meant to develop with usage.]

'Right, even beyond Servant nonsense, there's things like how female magi have an easier time with flight magecraft and can use their hair as a high value item.' Lots of conceptual bullfuckery going on with what plumbing you had, if you cared to dig a bit. Ah, well, it sounded like she got to double dip without any glitches so long as she swapped while no Chromatic Card was Installed, so it was all good. 'Or does consistently using a certain card as a specific gender cause it to shift too?'

[Negative. Consistently and frequently switching between states while equipping a Chromatic Card may influence it.]

'Cool, cool. I'll leave sleeping dogs lie, I think.' Outis started strolling as she threw around her musings. Partly because a darkly clothed figure standing still in an empty street didn't exactly inspire warm and fuzzy feelings in people (even if it seemed to be early enough everyone should still be sleeping off their hangovers), partly just to revel in how fucking good her body felt. E rank may sound like shit, but ten times the average human performance was one hell of a drug. She felt like she could run a triathlon, deadlift a car and pinball across those skyscrapers like she was a Tenno on ten cups of coffee.

The surrounding buildings were somewhat well maintained, even if there was still some level of dilapidation here and there. Clearly a more struggling sort of city, then. And, of course, the gang tags strewn all over the place, if more reasonably obscured than the first one that greeted Outis. Possibly a consequence of celebrations getting out of hand?

As she walked, the usual sound of cars passing by started to be faintly audible in the distance. Eventually, she stumbled across a bench, with crumpled, snow covered newspaper spread out across it like the world's saddest pillow. The title read 'Brockton Bay Bulletin' and the date proclaimed 31st December 2010. The front page had a picture of an olive skinned woman in form fitting, stylised army fatigues with an american flag scarf pulled over her lower face. 'Miss Militia's public address. The ups and downs of Brockton Bay Protectorate for the past year.' The last page had a blurry picture of four shadowy figures riding… some sort of quadrupeds. 'Undersiders, the bold teen villains on the upswing?'.

…

……

'At least it isn't Marvel or DC?' Outis thought just a touch hysterically. The good news was that she could pretend to be a superhero and nobody would bat an eye at her nonsense… hopefully. It may very well play by MHA rules with one pretty narrow power per person, so she may still get dogpiled by spooks just for having whole powersets she could swap between. Nevermind whatever ferocious nonsense she'd be cooking up with Caster soon enough.

Ugh, secret identities would be such a fucking pain in the ass. Even if the Chromatic Cards all came with something that worked like a mask, she'd still need to cook something up with Caster for Servant Cards. Hopefully an identity dissociation effect ala meguca wouldn't be too bothersome to cook up. Wait, didn't Kaleidosticks have that baked in? 'Hey, System, are you at a discretion to tell me who made you and what our job here is? Also, what would you like me to call you?'

[To quote a certain Servant: "Le secret~☆."]
[No preferences.]

Outis couldn't help a soft chuckle, idly pulling her bandana up to her nose under the charade of the cold. It was actually quite nice and, if the circumstances were better, she'd be all too happy to play in the snow for a while. Didn't get much of that next to the mediterranean. 'I'll give it some thought. Maybe one of the Sephirah? Also, do you come with some identity protection or will I need to make a Mystic Code for it with Caster?'

[Presence Concealment. All Chromatic Cards come with some form of facial cover, save for Berserker which in exchange alters facial features, if not too heavily. At least for now, further rank-ups of Mad Enhancement or Personal Skills may or may not change that.]

Yeah, she could work with that. Now, time to figure out what the fuck she was doing about her living situation. Caster should let her take over an abandoned building easily enough, so that was shelter taken care of. Beyond that… 'I already know the answer, but just to check, I don't have anything to my name other than the Chromatic Cards and whatever gear they may summon, yeah?'

[You do have your own clothes.]

Right. Hooray for not being buck-ass naked as a normal (probably) human in the middle of the snow whenever she didn't have a Card Installed. Anyways, that meant no papers and no money. If she was lucky, superhuman Endurance meant she could go a while without food or drink, but at the end of the day she'd need to either swipe some money or sign up with a group.

…Yeah, probably better to play pickpocket on gangers for the time being. She'd rather not jump into the arms of any organisation until she had more data. Even if the world was wacky enough that having a superpowered stranger tumbling out of another dimension had government services for it… well, she may not be somewhere like Brazil or Venezuela, but the newspaper was written in american english. So depending on what state she was in, it could be anything from getting thrown in a cell to being given an apartment and a stipend.

Hopefully the libraries here didn't require an ID to use the computers.

Whatever plan she had would have to be put on hold as the footsteps crunching in the snow reached her ears. Footsteps, alongside sounds of… dogs, if she had to guess. The subtle clinking of chains certainly pointed to that. From behind the corner, a person stepped out, wearing heavy boots and fur collared jacket, face obscured by a cheap dog mask framed by locks of red hair. Accompanying them were three large dogs. The dogs stopped first, spotting Outis, causing the person to freeze as well, their gaze initially sliding over her before one of the dogs nudged a chain-wrapped arm and they managed to focus. [Master: Bitch] the title box above their head seemed to glitch out momentarily before settling on [Rider: Bitch].

[Congratulations, you've found a local to interrogate! Objective complete!]
[1 x Saint Quartz gained.]

[New Objective: Successfully obtain information from Bitch.]
[Rewards: 1 x Saint Quartz, depends on approach.]

Now, she'd never claimed to be the most socially apt person, her cocktail of neuroses made sure she was dogshit (hah) at reading cues. However, between the stage name and how the woman presented herself, figuring out a good approach wasn't exactly hard. Hands out where the superhuman could see them, Presence Concealment off, and words blunt as a brick. "Sup. New in town and not about to start shit."

Pickpocketing some gangoons to buy food wasn't exactly starting shit, as far as she was concerned.

The, going by the unflattering nickname, presumed woman grunted in acceptance of the words. She stayed silent for another long moment, hand absentmindedly petting one of her dogs as she contemplated something.

"Thoughts on dog fighting rings?" She asked eventually.

"Worse than even goddamn bullfighting." Outis replied immediately, not doing anything to keep the very real heat out of her voice, "The people who do that to dogs should get their ears clipped, see how they like it."

The woman's posture relaxed a bit more. "Wanna help bust one? I keep the dogs, you keep the cash?"

"Deal. Kinda broke right now, so cash and a public service is a win-win." Outis said with a nod after a moment's thought, rubbing her hands happily at the prospect of all the loot. It would make her some enemies with a gang, for sure, but honestly fuck 'em. Plus, it got her a tentative ally.

…Speaking of, she'd need a superhero name to be called by. 'Ah, there we go, thanks brain.'

"It's nearby. Scouted it a few times to make sure." Bitch grunted, pointing back the way Outis came. "See they announced themselves too." She added, making it obvious she spoke about the building with the massive tag on it. "You're a Stranger, can you make sure there's no capes inside?"

"Yeah, my stuff works better in a crowd, so it should be easy enough." The Assassin said with a bob of her head even as she made a mental note of the terminology. Intuitive enough.

[New Objective: Bust a dog fighting ring.]
[Rewards: Money, ???.]

With no more conversation forthcoming, she slunk off, letting the Class Card guide her. The skyscraper with the massive, doubled eight over its front entrance stood as it was when she left it behind not too long ago, the main entrance littered with discarded fireworks and beer bottles. Said entrance was, surprisingly enough, both automated and open, the door sliding to the sides when she approached. The foyer just beyond sported some more signs of festivities, discarded food and the likes, alongside first unmasked people around, still sleeping New Years off.

The temptation to swipe their wallets was strong, but she had a job to do here. Once they were ignored, the rest of the ground floor was fairly typical. Nothing critical there, just a reception area, a few corridors leading to unimportant looking offices, waiting rooms and, of course, toilets. Most of which were empty of people. The stairs up were behind actually locked doors and the lifts didn't seem to actually work. Finally, tucked beside a (closed and locked) back entrance was a security office where a pair of guards dozed off by a small table, completely ignoring the camera feeds, an abandoned game of cards on the table.

Well, that was promising. A peek at the feeds should tell her everything she needed to know, plus she could snatch their keys for free run of the building. A bit of work revealed that the higher floors were perfectly normal office space, with perfectly normal celebrations, with the worst things happening being cases of dubiously allowed and alcohol enabled office romance, alongside some unfortunate janitors working their way down the building.

The basement floors, on the other hand… Well, there was nothing directly incriminating, but the amount of traffic seen from the lobby down or from the underground parking towards the stairs implied things. Swiping the keys and access card off the security guard afterwards was a little bit tricky, the men keeping them in their pockets for some semblance of challenge.

But, well, Assassin. It may not be a capital-S Skill, but having superhumanly light fingers was part and parcel. The only real stumbling block was adjusting to the new instincts, but soon enough she was slipping down to the underground levels. The first underground level, a parking lot, didn't stand out. A whole lot of cars, but otherwise completely empty. The staircase was tucked a fair bit away from the lifts, with additional doors barring the way further down. Well, for someone without the card.

All that led to the spacious underground hall, lights dimmed, with the air heavy with the smell of smoke and alcohol, people slumped over the tables or on the benches in a variety of outfits, but with predominantly red-white-black accessorising or outright colours for the outfits. And, at the centre of it all was a caged off arena, red floor with the distinct, black double eight on it, with cages containing resting dogs just outside the gates to it. The big change was that quite a few people here were awake, either those who managed to rise early or those who never went to sleep in the first place, shuffling groggily around in search of drink or food. One of these, a middle aged, balding guy looking a serious part of 'salaryman after a night on the town' stopped shakily close to Outis, his gaze glazing over as much from effects of Presence Concealment as it did because of tiredness and alcohol his breath stink with.

"Huh? Whad d'you wann?" The man slurred, propping himself against the wall for some balance. He must have some serious chops to notice her while this hammered, but it seemed like Presence Concealment was keeping her from registering as someone too out of place. Not a cape, though, he lacked a title over his head. Nobody had any such marker, really, so mission accomplished.

"Just making the rounds." She murmured before slipping back out. She already had the floor plan committed to memory and there were no doors other than the one she had come in through.

"F'ir enouff." The man nodded before pushing himself away. "'S pretty borrrin' 'nyway. Piss and quiet."

---

"Cops don't like when you kill." Was all Bitch told Outis once she got in through the underground garage. Her dogs had mutated into massive, lizard-like, four legged beasts of teeth, claws and bone-y plates over their bodies. Even their tongues looked more serpentine. In short, they looked magnificent.

Bitch could've probably used her own advice, the woman was being pretty brutal with that chain of hers. Her dog-beasts, commanded by Bitch's whistling, weren't exactly gentle in their mauling either. It was fairly impressive how the four of them were going through the entire ring of suddenly very much awake, if chaotic and disorganised, white supremacists. At least it didn't look like anyone had a gun on themselves.

"Fuckin' bitch! C'mon boys, Hook is gonna kill us if we let her break another one!" The man who previously spotted Outis, now much more coherent, tried to bring some semblance of order to the gangers, jacket wrapped around one arm, muscular frame flexing as he tried to keep one of the dogs at bay with a baton.

Which was why the Assassin happily introduced his achilles' tendons to her bowie knife. Right when he was playing tug of war with the dog, of course. Noticing a threat was worthless when you couldn't do anything about it. He went down with a cry, even if, to the man's credit, he kept his jacketed arm between himself and the monster-dog.

"Fukcin' Strangers!" Was all he could grunt before he was too preoccupied.

Assassin happily faded back into the chaos, the dogs keeping everyone entirely too busy to notice her even as she gleefully revoked kneecap privileges. They knew there was someone going around popping off those shoddy joints with satisfying cracks, but damned if they could get a bead on her. Idly, she noticed that Bitch had taken advantage of the bedlam to slip down into the arena and get started on freeing the dogs, going one by one and spending a moment with each before going for the next.

Outis made sure she wouldn't be disturbed, redoubling her efforts to snuff any rallying or potential problem in the cradle by way of generous stabbings. This was fun!

Soon enough, the gangers, actual and suspected, were all moaning pitifully on the floor, some back in the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. Bitch, for her own part, stood by the stairs with a handful of leashes and a new pack of dogs.

"Go grab their wallets, I'll make sure you have peace." She grunted as she directed one of her transformed dogs partially upstairs.

"Much appreciated." Outis said with a jaunty two-finger salute, going to work swiping their cash and snapping all their cards. Just for that extra bit of spite.

"Un barco una vez quiso navegar, y su nombre era La Tetera del Mar~𝆕."

---

[Objective complete!]
[Rewards: $800, Bond with Bitch increased from 0 to 1.]

At least the notifications from the system were unobtrusive enough. There was a feeling like the system wanted to continue exposition but held back while Bitch offered her assistance in getaway by way of riding one of her spare monster-dogs. She herself rode one with the kind of ease which implied experienced familiarity with the peculiarities of dog riding. The last of her pets served as a way to transport newly liberated dogs, secured to the beast's back with some knotwork utilising their leashes.

Lady (even if she'd probably object to the term) clearly knew what she was doing and ran a tight operation. Outis wouldn't go quite so far as to call her a professional, but she could damn well appreciate a competent woman. Also the fact she'd let her ride one of the big guys, the bone plates felt lovely to the touch, nevermind the sheer sense of power from those huge muscles flexing underneath. They'd probably be all sorts of uncomfortable to straddle for a normal human, but hey, E Rank Endurance, "Say, mind giving me a quick and dirty rundown of the players and turfs around town?"

Bitch kept silent for a moment as they rode through still empty streets up north, before tugging at the 'reins' of her dog so as to come level with Outis. "Met the Empire." She grunted. "Keep to 'good' part of the town, means mostly Downtown. They're nazis and dog-fighters." From her tone of voice, it was clear she thought the latter part was as bad, if not worse, as the former. "The most capes out of everyone, including the gov. North's the Docks. Belongs to Azn Bad Boys. All-Asian gang, red and green. They do all sorts of stuff but will leave you alone if you aren't starting shit. There's my boss, if he actually exists and Tattletale isn't pulling my leg. Protectorate and Wards, government and government junior division."

"Hopefully the eastern boys are drinking enough yakuza juice to be happy to have someone going to their businesses." Outis grumbled. She could go for some yakiudon right now, get some carbs going before her body hit the alarm bells. For now, time to double check rules of engagement. "Alright, so. Softball with Empire to not get dogpiled, play it by the ear with the ABB, kiddie gloves for the Wards else I get hunted down, touch and go with Protectorate but try not to get too much heat. Whitehats willing to get their hands dirty around here, or keeping to the pretty parts of town to keep the rich schmucks sweet?"

She may be theoretically on the side of the angels here, but humans always found a way to squabble over the pettiest shit. So, yeah, she was probably going to rumble with the heroes at some point. Kinda concerning that Bitch hadn't mentioned any non-government hero teams, but they may just be small time enough that she didn't feel like wasting breath. Or a bunch of independents rather than actual teams.

Well, technically Bitch just implied that she had a teammate and a maybe-boss, but that sort of shady man behind the scenes bullshit smacked of villain. Honestly, he could play Gendo all he damn well pleased so long as he didn't make himself a huge nuisance or do something beyond the pale. She had a job to do here, she'd certainly do good on the side because it felt good and sometimes paid, but saving the world came first.

Bitch grunted in her approximation of agreement. "Tattletale likes to say it's like game Cops and Robbers. 'S why no killing each other if you can help it. Even Empire manages that on capes, most of the time." The woman snorted. "Guess some good comes from Endbringers."

…

Well, all-fucking-right then.

At least the threat she was here for wasn't subtle? Hopefully they wouldn't be Beast bad. She didn't exactly have the luxury of being in a Singularity or Lostbelt that'd all poof away anyways once all was said and done, so collateral was an actual concern. But it sounded like they were being kept at least somewhat in check by all superhumans banding together whenever they showed up, given they were both a known factor and civilization was still kicking.

"Silver linings and all that." Outis huffed, shaking her head clear of those cheery thoughts, "And more reason to be careful with the Empire, they know they're the biggest swinging dick in town and can get away with some rule breaking because nobody wants to call them out and find out. I'll just pace things out and try not to cripple any of their capes, that and me being pasty white should keep the kid gloves on."

"Mhm. The shelter I'm taking those to is a bit into ABB territory. You can tag along and ask about a decent food place." Bitch offered after another moment of silence, giving a glance towards her 'cargo'.

"Sounds like a plan. They the kind to get pissy about whitebread being fluent in chinese?" The Assassin asked with a tilt of her head. In her experience, it was a bunch of brownie points, but she was a white girl in goddamn America now.

Unfortunately, it seemed Bitch's usefulness in that regard ended there, as the woman just gave her a shrug in response. Ah, well, she'd just fuck around and find out.

[Objective Complete: Obtained the bare biomes of the situation in Brockton Bay (and possibly greater beyond).]
[Rewards: 1 x Saint Quartz. Basic understanding of power balance of Brockton Bay. Basic understanding of Unwritten Rules. Bitch doesn't seem to mind your presence terribly much.]

Truly, a privileged status.

[Bonds with parahumans offer the following benefits: Access to relevant Class' EXP instances. Access to relevant Class' Skill Gem and Monument instances at higher levels. Raising the bond sufficiently allows the formation of a Party with parahumans which allows them to receive Command Seal (currently unavailable) benefits. Reaching Bond 5 allows for engraving of Parahuman Power upon Blank Cards.]

[Just like any other kind of humans, parahumans increase their bond levels at different rates. Congratulations on forming a positive first bond.]

'Huh, so rivals and nemeses are also tracked? Neat.' Outis projected, all too happy to settle into a comfortable silence with Bitch. Hah, they hadn't even exchanged names. Well, if the woman didn't feel the need she wasn't going to push.

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya and Bowchikabowbow who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

AN: As one of our mutual Discord friends put it and then dared us to put in the first chapter's note, "We don't know what to write so instead we'll be recreationally injecting ourselves with subcutaneous doses of rotten semen".

As a word of warning/being honest: neither me nor Nihilo has read Worm. We read some fanfics every now and then and have some amount of osmosis knowledge of the setting. We are also aware of Wildbow's... opinions on some of his characters and how their arcs are supposed to happen. Opinions we don't precisely agree with. As such, the Worm side is heavy on fanon, headcanon and 'bullshit I reasoned after a quick wiki dive'.

Y'know, just to make sure you are aware this will turn AU as a result even without our glorious' protagonist's meddling

Lastly, I now have Patreon, on which this story is two chapters ahead of what I'll be posting publicly on the forums. If you are interested in being two weeks ahead, consider checking it out: https://www.patreon.com/Omida

 

[Nihilo]

Alright, so, lemme lay down the law real quick before someone starts screeching:

Yes, I know Worm OOC. The FI has basically traded all metaknowledge in exchange for a "don't get stomped into the ground before you can do anything by the nonsense precogs in Worm". Also because it turned out to be really fucking fun to write someone with both an outsider perspective on Earth Bet and no knowledge of Worm.

 

[Nihilo]

Class Cards:

Ascension and Reinforcement:

Leveling a Servant requires the use of Embers to increase the Servant's familiarity with their current form. At pre-set thresholds (30-40-50-60), the level of a Servant allows them to undergo ascension. Servants are made to consume said Embers, to mixed reception as to the experience. It takes one Ember of the right Class to level up in the 1-10 range, two for the 11-20 range, three for the 21-30 range and so on. Embers of the wrong class can be used, but at half efficiency.

Ascension is when P/HO allows for the 'reality' of a Servant to be increased through the use of Heroic Quintessence, Monuments of Legend and Quantum Pieces in an extended ritual. There is a limited number of stages a Servant may ascend to, maxing out at four. Due to the fact that P/HO is functioning in an isolated capacity, there are limits to both parameter ranks and Personal Skills while manifested as independent Spirits in order to retain balance within the limited environment P/HO is capable of accessing, and to provide a level of safety to Outis. Each stage of Ascension increases the total cap to parameter limits as listed:

Stage​	Stat​
0​	D​
1​	C​
2​	B​
3​	A​
4​	EX​

Personal Skills are unlocked at Ascension Stages one and three.

Noble Phantasms are improved and expanded upon from a combination of Ascension Stages and Bond Levels. Higher amounts of both will expand upon the total narrative-weight of a Servant's power, allowing them to maneuver their Noble Phantasm to more flexibility, as well as unlock new Phantasms for use as development occurs.

Bond Levels:

Bond Levels represent the trust and emotional connection between Master and Servant, making the Servant more open to sharing their power willingly and improving the overall efficiency of various mechanics made available to Outis by P/HO. Higher bond levels include the following benefits: Increasing the strength of a Command Seal activation if the command is in line with what the Servant would be willing to do otherwise, increasing the scope and breadth of Command Seal activation in general by allowing more direct effects, reducing the strain of installing a Servant as a Class Card, and increasing the total power of an Install due to the strength of the bond shared between Servant and Master.

In some cases, unique Bond Quests, Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms may be shared with a willing Servant's Master at milestone Bond Level thresholds.

Install:

Installing a class card has Outis act as a vessel for the Heroic Spirit in question, taking on their parameters and skills for a limited amount of time. The parameter cap of the manifested variant of the Spirit in question is removed due to this 'reality' of Outis bridging the gap between the Throne of Heroes and Earth Bet. Due to this, Outis can push further than the safe limit of a card's Install period in exchange for progressive self damage from the strain of hosting so much concentrated power. Personal Skill and Noble Phantasm limitations still apply within the Ascension level restrictions as normal, as fully pulling the barrier down between Outis and the raw power of the Throne would have lethal effects.

Glossary:

Bonds: A P/HO and parahuman-specific mechanic, representing the System's efforts to gain more 'traction' in the world by tying itself to the very real consequences to Outis' actions. Due to being so closely related to the Throne and the system involved with Heroic Spirits, the people that can help with defining both the System and Outis' existence have to be exceptional in nature. This usually is limited to parahumans, but heroism can shine in even the most unexpected of places. Each bond is connected to a type of Class within the Heroic Spirit taxonomy, and includes the following benefits as levels improve: Access to relevant Class' EXP instances. Access to relevant Class' Skill Gem and Monument instances at higher levels. Raising the bond sufficiently high allows the formation of a Party with parahumans, which allows them to receive Command Seal benefits. Reaching Bond 5 allows for the engraving of Parahuman Power upon Blank Cards, being classified as either a Skill or a Noble Phantasm depending on its strength. Negative bonds, also considered rivalries, are denoted as Nemesis Bonds.

Class Cards: Rather than directly summoning a Heroic Spirit into realspace, Class Cards are capable of subsuming their associated Servant's will so that a Magus can utilize their power for themselves. While P/HO does not have Pandora's Box shackled to the process of utilizing these Class Cards, it is noted that the ego of the associated Heroic Spirits are in a similar state of suppression.

Crystallization of Skill: Prometheus-crafted crystals, formed from the aggregate skill found within the Throne of Heroes. Undifferentiated so as to be used on all Heroic Spirits, allowing a Hero or individual to rise above the limits of their station. Used in the leveling of Skills. Only applicable to Chromatic Cards for the most part, although certain Heroic Spirits are capable of upgrading their Skills, such as Elizabeth Bathory turning Charisma C into Sadistic Charisma A. Farming Instance unlocked at Bond 3 with a Parahuman of the appropriate Class.

Embers of Experience: Prometheus-crafted structures formed from the aggregate experience found within the Throne of Heroes. Fed to Heroic Spirits in order to make them remember more of themselves, feel as if the new body granted to them by their summoning is the one they used to inhabit. Used in Servant leveling. Farming Instance unlocked at Bond 1 with a Parahuman of the appropriate Class.

Heroic Quintessence: A term covering a wide array of materials and resources utilized in the reinforcement of Heroic Spirits. These materials are either imbued with powers that resonate with the power provided by the Throne, or are associated in some way to Servants or heroism in general. Utilized during ascension. Farming Instance unlocked at Bond 4 with a Parahuman of the appropriate Class.

Monuments of Legend: Figurines and trinkets that are crafted in the likeness of an associated Class Container. Utilized during reinforcement and ascension to keep the Heroic Spirit within the class-shaped hole they've been manipulated into by the Throne. Farming Instance unlocked at Bond 2 with a Parahuman of the appropriate Class.

Mystic Codes: Clothing and items that Magi utilize to assist them in Magecraft. Power can vary between simple magical assistance like Azoth Swords, to the soul manipulation found in the Dress of Heaven.

Quantum Pieces: A form of magical energy that is created from the concept of space-time interacting with greater forms of Thaumaturgical Foundations. Useful as a magical feedstock, often bolstering improvement processes with raw power. Caster Ember Instances spawn Gates, which drop massive amounts of QP.

Saint Quartz: A salt crystal containing enough fragments of possibility to affect reality. When utilized within a ritual, may randomly act as a critical foci to pull artifacts, heroic spirits, and more from the aether as if you had a material associated with said output.

 

[Omida]

January 1st


The shelter Bitch rode into was one of the more open area ones, on the smaller side, with a fenced off area for animals, mostly dogs, to run around in some fresh air, and separated into a few sections. The dogs they grabbed off the Empire being put into an emptier one, further separated into smaller patches for each dog to have for themselves.

"At this point we're pretty much used to handling them." One of the volunteers, a blue eyed, black haired teen who only didn't scream average because it would be actually a notable feature, commented wryly as he accepted one from Bitch. "Good to see she is making friends though." He added with a grin, which in turn earned him a turned head. Glare, probably, if Bitch wasn't wearing a mask. "And I mean, friend-friends, not the rest of that little group she started riding with a bit back." The teen continued amicably as if he wasn't being disapproved of by a woman who could turn dogs into bigger murderbeasts than meese. "Grue is an alright guy and Tattletale is really smart but she just… likes talking."

"So do you." Bitch grunted from where she kept tending to another dog.

"Someone has to!" Good lord, but the guy was upbeat. "Gotta make sure you remember how to make human noises too~. Anyway, you a new 'sider, or is it just Bitch managing to genuinely reach out?"

"Hah, nah. Just an indie she found wandering around and decided to offer a deal for busting a ring." Outis chuckled with a shake of her head, hands in her pockets as she rocked on her heels, "Got a tidy pile of cash, the warm fuzzies and maybe a friend within a couple hours of rolling into town. Things're looking up."

"Ah, not a Brocktonite, gotcha. Not that I'm one myself." The guy admitted with a chuckle of his own. "But at least got a couple years to get used to the place. So if you need a list of great food places, I can offer, as long as it's in the Docks. Gotta support the community, eh?"

"Now you're talking my language!" The Assassin laughed, smile wide enough to crinkle her eyes. "And yea, I get you. Chinese side of the family run a bunch of restaurants back home in Spain."

"Well, you're in luck, Docks have a lot of Chinese restaurants. Them'n Japanese. Others too, ABB takes its 'all-Asian' creed fairly seriously, but Lóng is half'n'half for both so there's always folks thinking they can get extra favour with him or discount for protection fees by catering to heritage." The guy chuckled, even as his hands slowly worked on cleaning the dog which weathered his ministrations patiently. "Least most of'em are decent-to-good quality 'cause of that."

"Hah, I'd imagine. Nobody wants to be the guy who gave the dragon or any of his lieutenants indigestion with some dubious shia chiao." Outis snorted, idly wondering what sort of gang leader someone calling himself after the wise dragons would be. Certainly sounded like he was at least sipping the yakuza juice, so that was promising. "Hmm, probably going for Chinese. A bit of familiarity sounds nice right about now, even if I wouldn't say no to some unagi or yakiudon."

"Golden Tail isn't too far away, if you wanna Chinese. A bit hard on tofu, if you ask me, but 's to be expected with a patron like [Xianglu]." The boy threw a recommendation immediately, with the system instantly managing to recognise a superhuman when talked about. "Unagi and yakiudon…" He tapped his cheek for a moment before nodding. "There's this one stall close to Boardwalk, has a nice red-and-green firework explosion for a sign to identify, really shilling that one time [Firefly] complimented him, if you want grilled fish. Homerun is on the Boardwalk proper, if you want stir fry. [Kanabo] officially isn't ABB but she is… passionate about cultivating our culture abroad. Even in a maid dress." He added with a sage nod and a bit of a blush. Then, he sighed, a quiet mutter escaping his lips. About the first time he looked less than persistently optimistic. "No wonder, after Kyushu."

"A bit hard as in they specialise in it? It's been a while since I had some good thin-fried." The purplette asked, idly tucking away the mention of Kyushu as something to research later. Sounded like it got hit by a natural disaster. Or an unnatural one. "Also, any reliable way to get in touch with Bitch? She doesn't seem like the sort to keep a phone on hand, unless her boss forced her to."

She'd ask the woman directly, but the cape was busy with the dogs and had probably burned through all her human-social energy already.

"Revamped the menu completely to make it all-tofu substitutes, yeah." The teen chortled. "There's folks who like that, but a bit of variety in fillings would be nice. As for Bitch…alas, it's all gacha. If she isn't hanging out with her crew, at which point good luck, your best bet is to ring every animal shelter in the Bay till you get to the one she is currently at." Then, he leaned forward and gave Outis a conspiratorial wink. "You can totally skip the ones in Downtown, naturally."

"Hmm… I'll save the tofu for another day, I think. I'm still in ayunas so a one-two of the stall and Homerun sounds like a plan." The Assassin decided after a moment, nodding to herself. "And good to know, even if it'll be a bit of a pain in the ass. Thanks a lot. I'd introduce myself, but I think it's funnier if Tattletale and Mr Illusive Bossman have to deal with nobody having an idea what I go by just yet."

"Haha, I was wondering when we'd get to introductions!" The boy laughed, slapping his knee. Then, he stood up and waved Outis over. "It will definitely set Tattletale off. Funny though. C'mon, we've got some maps of the city, I can part with one so the directions aren't just funny sounds for you."

"Much appreciated." She said as she followed, quietly wondering if google maps and smartphones weren't commonplace here or if this was just the guy being used to dealing with people like Bitch. Ah, well, she'd find out soon enough with a bit of window shopping.

[New Objective: Sustain yourself.]

[Rewards: Don't starve. Supposedly good food. 1x Saint Quartz. Meeting another parahuman.]

Oh nice, more contacts to make. Alright, probably best to stick to her current form and Card, then. It would keep her safe enough if things got ugly without showing too much of her (hah) hand. Besides, seeing how people reacted to a 'cape' just vibing would give her some useful data.

Hm.

'Hey, partner, how do you feel about Da'at as a name?'

[Designation acknowledged.]

---

The Docks had a lot of brutalist concrete buildings in them, at least in the part the shelter was located in. That's not to say it was bare, there were plenty of gang signs and more innocuous street art dotting the walls, the predominance of red and green making it fairly obvious, but even then, there was still variation, almost definitely delineating internal divisions of Azn Bad Boyz' territory. By now, only the most hardcore party goers were still resting after New Years', so the streets had an actual bustle to them, and in the Docks that meant plenty of Asian people. Almost as if that portion of the city was a full on foreigners' district, which in turn made Outis' white bread complexion stand out, at least what little could be seen in Indigo Assassin's getup. Add that the entire thing concealed her features and people seemed to spare only the briefest of glances before moving along, and that was without Presence Concealment on.

The stall she was recommended stood at an intersection leading directly for the Boardwalk from the heart of the Docks, parked in the mouth of an alley between two post-industrial apartment blocks, almost serving to delineate the border between the two, left one having signs and graffiti in… some kind of non-weeb, non-Chinese Asian language, while the right sported some Japanese decor. The stall, bereft of any cultural identifiers, in turn, compensated by going extra hard on the fireworks theme and was tended by a pair of androgynous looking twin teens, short, amber eyed, with brown hair with red and blue highlights, with red jackets thrown on. When one of them turned around to grab something from behind, she could see a golden eastern dragon emblazoned on the back. Unfortunately for whatever set-up the twins might have had, Da'at helpfully identified the left one as [Archer: Firefly].

"Ah, a very special customer approaches." Firefly greeted Outis with a jaunty wave, hand almost hitting the menu hanging from the ceiling and held by a pair of dragonfly-themed pins. "What can the Phùng siblings do to you, newbie?"

"Excuse my sibling," Firefly's hypothetical sibling sighed with a roll of their eyes, their words carrying a slight accent, as they handed another person their order. "Linh so do loves teasing capes, very dangerous hobby."

"That's 'cause you're risk averse, Makoto." Firefly snorted as they leaned on the counter. "Don't see lot of Strangers 'round, which I guess is kinda the point, but still."

"Hah, no Stranger danger for tā today, rest assured." Outis chuckled, electing to use Chinese's utterly ambiguous pronouns as she took a seat.

"Very brave of you to use Chinese to address Japanese and Vietnamese named people." Makoto deadpanned while their sibling snorted.

"Most folks around here know at least some. And besides, our friend is doing a clever way of avoiding tripping over our little game." Linh shot right back, nodding in approval as they rested their head on the palm of their hand.

"And hey, you took a gamble and so did I, Phung is also a Chinese surname." The Assassin replied with a crooked grin just barely hinted at by the crinkling of her eyes. There was also how Linh sounded 100% like a Chinese name, but Asian languages loved looting from one another and she was no expert, so whatever, "One unagidon, please."

"You cannot begin to imagine just how often she used to get into scraps with people over that confusion. It's like she enjoys being loud and troublesome." Makoto grumbled even as they easily grabbed strips of eels and deftly unrolled the meat onto the grill, filling the air with both the scent and the sound of sizzling meat. "At least you're lucky, New Years means we had the time to prepare the meat. Advantage of both of us working the same shift. For once."

"Awwww, Makoto so loves a good grumble, you'd think he is a dwarf." Linh cooed even as she shook her head over her brother's trip-up. "Shame English just isn't suited to keeping the game rolling. Whenever we don't get the strangers, that's the small 's' by the way, coming, we can keep it going for hours."

"Hey, at least it isn't Catalan or Spanish, fukkin everything is gendered there." Outis snorted as she eased herself fully into the banter. It looked like she had come all Installed up for nothing… well, Firefly would probably put in good word about the funny new Stranger in town. If these two were at all indicative of the ABB, she could see herself getting a good working relationship there. Probably not membership, she didn't look her heritage anymore and there would be major headaches with the whitehats if she fully aligned with a gang, but being cordial with and taking the odd job from one of the power blocs around here would make things a whole lot easier.

Hmm, yeah, presenting herself as a freelancer with principles and standards could be the way to go here. She'd lose out on the big bennies of joining up properly with any given group, but on the flipside less enemies to get in the way of doing her world saving business. Also nobody asking awkward questions about her powers, which she had a sneaking suspicion would raise a lot of eyebrows even if Bitch's one trick pony stuff wasn't the norm.

She was broken out of her musings as the bowl was slid in front of her. A little bit misshapen, indicative of not quite experienced hand-craft, but the cheerfully loud red and green paint more than made up for it. Also, what really mattered was that it was a decent size and loaded full of glistening unagi on fluffy white rice.

[Food obtained. Perhaps not enough for the amount of exertion you performed but it will definitely take the edge off. You might need a proper meal in the near future.]

[Firefly… met, in a manner of speaking.]

'Soooo… mission accomplished?' Outis silently asked her partner as she snapped her chopsticks open with practised ease and dug in with a pleased hum. By all rights, it should be a headache to eat with the bandana on, but Assassin proved to be a sleeper hit once again by making it trivial.

[Affirmative. Firefly will need to be met in her parahuman persona to begin work on the Bond System.]

[Reward: 1x Saint Quartz.]

[Attention: Now that you've accumulated the bare minimum of Saint Quartz, the gacha Servant Card Summoning System has been unlocked.]

[While it has other uses as well, the primary function of Saint Quartz is to summon Servant cards. You can obtain Saint Quartz by seeking out and completing quests, undergoing time-limited challenges or, and this is the fastest way, spending money to buy more.]

[As you are currently in the United States, the current conversion rate is ten dollars to one Saint Quartz.]

Ow ow ow. Thirty bucks for one single roll!?

…Granted, she was getting actual legendary heroes here, instead of jpegs. But still!

[A bit more predatory than usual for the market. As it turns out, the economic situation of the local reality does reflect gacha exchange rates.]

[The system is obliged to remind you that you need money for things other than quick power as well.]

[I'd advise rolling in relative privacy.]

---

It took a bit of time and some doing to find an empty, dead end alley to hide away from the traffic of the Docks. Here, in dark backstreets, the vibrancy of ABB territory was stripped away, with old, muted tags and moss dotting the walls, in addition to grime and dirt. Amongst other things best left unmentioned. But it was empty of people, even the homeless, junkies or the drunks, so there was that.

The decor definitely didn't improve as Da'at muted the world for Outis yet again, the monochrome filter stripping what little colour there was. Then, an intricate summoning circle flashed in glowing blue before Outis, hovering in front of her. In the middle of it, a deck of cards floated.

[Welcome to the Chamber of Guf. Simply draw the card from the deck and Fate will bring you your Servant.]

"Let silver and steel be the essence, then." Outis whispered as she let the Install drop, indigo sloughing off her until she stood as herself and nothing else. Slowly, gingerly, her hand reached out to the deck. A jolt almost like static electricity raced from her hand to her heart as her fingers touched the card, stark white igniting into blinding iridescence as she pulled it free. Then, the light faded, revealing the stock image of Lancer on its back, before it, too, peeled away, revealing the figure of a young, pink-haired girl in a black goth-lolita dress. Dragon girl, rather, given the horns, tail and talons.

[Lancer: Elizabeth Bathory obtained.]

[STR: C, END: D, AGI: E, MAG: A, LCK: B, NP: D]

[Class Skills: Magic Resistance: A, Territory Creation: B]

[Personal Skills: Charisma: C, Torture Technique: A (Locked), Battle Continuation: B (Locked)]

[Noble Phantasm: Kilenc Sárkány, Báthory Erzsébet (Locked)]

"Hah, I don't think I'm qualified to be a manager, but welcome home Liz." Outis chuckled as the card melted into her hand, flipping through her memories of the Servant. She was drawing a fat blank on the unlocked NP, but Báthory Erzsébet temporarily summoned a castle turned stage to let Liz blast an entire army. Territory Creation was the 'proper' summoning of the castle, which acted primarily as a prison and torture dungeon, although with a bit of luck it could do normal castle things too. If she was insanely lucky, it'd even be able to be summoned on a temporary basis to imprison a target, but chances were that it'd just be a matter of multiple conjuration sessions bringing the castle into reality in sections. That MAG A should help there, at least.

There was also the whole concern of two Skills being completely locked together with an NP, but she could almost feel Da'at firing up the projector for a powerpoint presentation, so nothing to do but sit tight and let the tutorial carry on.

[Now that you have obtained your first Servant Card, let's go over the differences between Chromatic and Servant Cards.]

[Servant Cards draw Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes into appropriately scaled down containers. In addition, due to the… peculiarities of the current situation, these containers have been outfitted with further limiters.]

[This applies mainly to Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms of Servant Cards. Parameters themselves are unrestricted on their own. Instead, the 'Ascension Stage' of the card determines for how long you can safely draw on Servant Card's physical boost, requiring the accumulation of 'levels' through Embers of Experience then their catalyzation with Heroic Quintessence and Monuments of Legend. Ascension Stages 1 and 3 furthermore unlock one Personal Skill each.]

[Furthermore, a Servant's Noble Phantasm, while available, is limited in power as a safety precaution. You will need a total of five copies of the same Servant Card to allow them the usage of the Noble Phantasm to its full potential.]

[Meanwhile, Chromatic Cards carry no such limitations.]

[Additionally, you will be able to obtain blank copies of Chromatic Cards once you obtain your first duplicate Servant. Either to create multiple skillsets of a specific Class or, if you are willing to take the gamble, to grant them to others.]

[Note that only you can upgrade a Chromatic Card.]

[More excitingly, besides Installing, Servant Cards can be used another way: To manifest a copy of Servant in question in the physical world.]

[For better or worse, depending on who it is.]

[Manifested Servants cannot astralize, with the exception of Assassins and other Servants in possession of sufficient Presence Concealment. Furthermore, their parameters will be capped based on their Ascension Stage.]

[You are limited to 5 Servants manifested simultaneously.]

[In exchange all the limits imposed on them, manifested Servants require no upkeep, generating their own magical energy based on their MAG parameter.]

"What sort of data dump are they getting here, given we don't have a Holy Grail mediating the process?" Outis asked after a moment, reeling more than a bit at the sheer torrent of information and latching into a very salient point. Namely, would these goobers even share a language with her? She didn't feel like trying to learn Hungarian just to hold a conversation with Liz, much less having to pick up Latin or Ancient Sumerian depending on who showed up.

[Knowledge equivalent to yours. Linguistic proficiency in English as well as your own native languages is assured. Skills such as Riding or pertaining to mastery of skill proficiencies are updated to keep up with 'mundane' developments.]

"Right, and how much of previous summonings will they remember? Liz has been around the block, just for starters." The Master of Guf, because pretentious titles were a must have for people in her situation, asked as another thought arose. If Chaldea was anything to go by, they would remember a fair deal, which… well, would be one hell of a double edged sword.

[They come with most of their character development intact, wherever that applies.]

"Alright. Burn three hundred bucks into Quartz and let's go. I need a break." Outis sighed, wincing internally at the sudden lightening of her wallet. The smart thing would be to at least do a 10-pull to get some more options, but her brain was doing a cauliflower stew impression already from all the mechanics she'd been bukkake'd with. So she'd just keep some SQ in her backpocket in case everything went to hell in a handbasket and she had to throw random Servants at the problem and carry on.

---

According to the map of the city, Boardwalk was a beach-side district running alongside much of the sea-edge of the Docks. It was also, conveniently enough, one of the best looking parts of the town, with cleaner, well-maintained buildings and streets. Getting out of the 'Asia-town' also meant a first glimpse at the massive oil rig sitting in the centre of the bay, surrounded by some kind of forcefield which made it look like a bad TV picture.

The Boardwalk proper, the strip running closest to the beach, was in turn full of people loitering around even on New Years', even with the majority of the businesses closed. Even so, the street was being patrolled by serious looking, uniformed and armed men and women. They uniformly gave Assassin suspicious looks, what with the alley robber chic, but made no move to start trouble. Cape culture woo.

She didn't dare shit-stir to the point of giving them jaunty waves, but she did give them respectful nods and keep her hands where they could see them. No sense in upsetting a bunch of professionals just doing their jobs.

Unfortunately, New Years' meant any electronics shops around were closed, so getting a phone would have to wait. As a silver lining, Homerun was open, the restaurant tucked between a clothing store (closed) and some sort of hobbyist place (also closed), with a cardboard figure of an indistinct baseball player holding the bat serving as an identifying feature, with the opening hours written over the cut-out's shirt. While according to the animal shelter volunteer at least one of the staff was 'totally-not gang affiliated', and the place serving Japanese-style stir fry provided a similar excuse… Well, the suspicious amount of green and red in the colours of the baseball shirts hanging behind the front window and on the maps of Japan with team emblems pinned to it made it almost as brazen as the giant nazi logo graffitied onto the office building.

Honestly, why did it have to be nazis? Couldn't it just be a bunch of loons super proud of their viking heritage or something? That'd have been fun, especially if she rolled a few nordic Servants. Ah, well, no matter. Time to enjoy herself some stir-fry. It'd been a while since she had any and it should top her up.

Opening the door caused a chime to sound out. Inside, Homerun had baseball equipment lining its wooden, dark-brown walls, with a massive tv-screen hanging over the counter. All the tables were arranged in such a way that patrons could watch comfortably unless they deliberately took a seat facing away. There was a glass display with a couple of trophies and medals, too. The air was lightly scented with cigarette smoke, most likely due to relatively low traffic. The few patrons present, uniformly Japanese, looked away momentarily from the currently going baseball game, the display proudly announcing them as 'Aso Helldivers vs Mashiki Smashers' before going back to the match.

Outis wasn't sure if it was because Indigo Assassin was pretty low-key or because parahumans were really normalised, but she'd happily take the lack of awkwardness. She'd never had much of an interest in sports, but taking a seat facing the TV cost her nothing and she wasn't about to snub this establishment's whole deal. Or perhaps the lack of reaction was due to the establishment employing an equally, if not more so, open parahuman.

Although as she approached Outis' table, [Kanabo], helpfully identified by Da'at as Berserker, didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. The woman stuffed into a maid uniform just this short of being fetish wear was tall and blue skinned, with mane of white hair pulled into a ponytail, a pair of respectably long horns growing out of her temples and with golden eyes with black sclera. As she approached, Outis could definitely tell she was muscular as well. She also had a black baseball bat hooked up hanging from her waist.

In short, she looked amazing even if the maid outfit clashed more than a bit with her aesthetic.

"Welcome to Homerun." Kanabo greeted Outis with a curt bow, an eyebrow raised over a golden eye before she schooled her feature into pleasantly smiling professionalism. Then, she handed the menu over. "What will you be having today?"

"House special stir-fry, please." The Assassin replied without missing a beat, quietly pushing down the ponders of how fun a sparring partner the oni would be. Time and place. Also, it was very good to know that there were 'capes' with inhuman features, meant she could have Liz and many others around without anyone freaking out.

"Gotcha, should be ready in five to ten minutes." Kanabo nodded before patting her bat. "No pickpocketing, no startin' a brawl, no stirrin' shit inside. Cape business ends at the door. If it doesn't, it will be made to stay happenin' outside." With that, she walked away to the kitchen area, gently swatting wandering hands from the other patrons.

Well, Outis was definitely coming back.

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya and Bowchikabowbow who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

 

[Omida]

January 1st


The New Years' Day continued to force Outis to adapt as everything big being closed meant libraries, with their public computers, were closed too. Bereft of phone or easy internet access, Outis was left hunting for internet cafes… none of which were on the Boardwalk, unfortunately. One of the Boardwalk enforcers, fortunately, knew of a few smaller internet cafes which made a tidy profit purely on being open full time. All of them were also located in the Downtown.

"Should be safe. Villains rarely start shit immediately after holidays and it's close to PRT HQ, so there's also that." The burly man assured her. "Worst that happens is a trooper trying to bug you into signing up."

"Seems like there is some rest for the wicked." Assassin chuckled, shaking her head softly, "Thanks a lot, have a good day!"

Aside from the nazi infestation, Brockton Bay was turning out to be a pretty pleasant place.

---

The cafe she eventually found was, indeed, small. A row of eight computers with just enough space between the boards separating them to not feel claustrophobic. On the plus side, for potential patrons, the owner offered snacks and drinks for relatively cheap. Going by some of the stuff installed on the computer Outis got, definitely leeching off the gamers doing stuff out of house.

None of her business, though. She was here to find out about the Endbringers and the world situation in general.

…

… …

… … …

An implacable, energy manipulating juggernaut. A, frankly absurd, hydrokinetic beast. And, the cherry on top, a precognitive telekinetic with some sort of mass mind-rape and love of domino effect.

"Fuck." Outis groaned softly as she leaned back on her chair. It wasn't that the superhumans were managing to keep them in check, the damn things were playing with their food. Taking turns, making themselves easy targets, being 'driven off' with just superficial damage. On the bright side, it meant she had plenty of time to get ready. However, the moment she started showing her hand to them, the kiddie gloves would come off and she had no clue how strong they truly were.

At least she could safely assume Da'at or whatever force was backing her up kept her out of sight of the Simurgh, simply because otherwise she'd have been crushed immediately from across the planet. How strong a protection against the super precog she truly had, however, was up in the air. 'Partner?'

[...]
[Depending on the precise nature of the enemy's precognition. Luck. Relative lack of data on variables composing you. Gacha.]

Right, the Luck Parameter, while doing what you'd expect, was also about defying what was 'supposed' to happen. That would be good for catching the bird flatfooted, but if it triggered too often Outis would get focused down on as a spanner in the works. Generally, it looked like she'd want to strike a balancing act between not displaying too much of what she and her Servants could do outside of scry-spoofing Bounded Fields and keeping on pulling new nonsense out of her perky ass. Chromatic Card upgrades, Servant Skill unlocks, new Servants altogether.

…Hm, would Liz's castle nature as something that kept things inside facilitate a Bounded Field like that? She'd have to check when she swapped to Violet Caster.

Beyond that, well, there was a very salient detail mentioned in her research of the terrible trio. Scion. The first and most powerful superhero of Earth Bet. An expressionless golden man who didn't talk, didn't understand task priorities and generally seemed completely clueless about how humanity did while trying to be helpful. Definitely a very lost, vaguely friendly alien like the Olympians. Pity that this wasn't the Age of Gods and humanity couldn't just faith-blast him into a proper deity.

Just. Fuck. She knew this wouldn't be an easy job, but goddamn. Why did it have to be precogs?

In dire need of distraction, Outis was provided for by the internet once again. Either due to the kind of clientele the cafe attracted or to make things easier on some regular, the computer she got had an internet forum as a default page set up. A parahuman-centric forum, luckily enough, with 'local' sub forums baked in for checking in on the exact city's cape scene one was interested in. And, because this was apparently the world she now lived in, there was an 'Endbringer tracker' thread banner stuck just below the header.

She couldn't help but give that a quick peek. Thankfully, it seemed all the Endbringers were far away and not acting oddly as far as everyone could tell, so that was a weight off her chest. Now, time to see what was going on in the Brockton Bay subforum.

The top pinned thread was the official PRT news feed. Immediately below, Protectorate 'recruitment' thread, a quick check inside revealed a pinned post revealing all the benefits of joining, especially for underage parahumans. Tellingly, the third pinned thread was an 'official' rogue thread, with one of the tags for it being 'red tape bullshit'.

From a skim there, she found out that 'rogue' in Earth Bet meant 'I don't want anything to do with this fucked up game of cops and robbers, I have a business to run' instead of 'rogues' gallery'. Neat, although there didn't seem to be many in the Bay. A clothier by Parian, a streamer duo by Uber&Leet and a few small timers who seemed just about ready to pick up sticks and move out of the city the moment they could afford to. Apparently when the rich parts of town were infested by nazis, it was something of a headache to run a business without playing sympathiser. So unless they got successful enough to set up shop in the Boardwalk, their only other neutral ground alternative was Lord's Street Market which would gouge them anything from 50 to 250 bucks a day for a tiny stall.

She did give a look at all the benefits that the Protectorate crowed about, but… honestly, it just fell flatter than her when she had the Throne of Heroes on speed dial. Sure, the Servants were kinda gimped starting out, but Liz alone already gave her the option to conjure a whole-ass castle without even being a Caster. Summon someone like Hohenheim and literally anyone with Golden Rule and all her money and supplies problems would vanish.

Still, something twinged her while reading the benefits. A feel-good line about inspiring the public and the next generation to heroism. Some quick googling and, sure enough, the government capes were stuck doing PR events every other week, and that wasn't counting 'patrols' only really meant to show the colours and sign autographs. That and the sheer amount of red tape and paperwork that would no doubt be part and parcel of being government affiliated put the last nail in the coffin of joining them.

Not that she hadn't had the corpse already all laid out when she realised she was basically a whole faction of her own right once she got going.

Another pertinent point repeated in rogues' thread was an almost desperate plea for any newbies to avoid attempting to get 'street cred' by taking on the villainous capes, even the independent ones. Did powers mainly manifest in teenagers? This warning and the emphasis the whitehats put on trying to recruit underage capes pointed to it.

…Then again, if a stressed the fuck out salaryman got superpowers, he may be inclined to go on a bit of a power trip too. Teenagers didn't have a monopoly on dumbassery.

A bit more research didn't turn up much info on the age ratios, at least not without slogging through meandering statistical papers from years ago and she couldn't be arsed, but what it did tell her was that indies hounding for street cred were rare. Or rather, ones who stuck around as independents after their first night out and thus got actually noticed as such were. Not only was the distinction between villain, violent vigilante and mercenary particularly hazy, but villainous capes had the tendency to quickly get absorbed by the gangs or actually get caught by the heroes and had no one to bail them out (and if a suspiciously similarly powered hero seemed to debut soon after in another city, no one in mainstream media questioned it). Additionally, the mortality statistics for parahumans trying to play independent heroes were just depressing. The only ones who were notable in Brockton Bay were New Wave, who in the past championed 'no secret identities for full accountability' cause and seemed to have some success taking down one of the most powerful gangs in Bay, only to seemingly drop the activity when one of the founding members got murdered in her home.

In Brockton Bay, the most notable independent villains were Trainwreck, Skidmark, Squealer and Mush. The first was noted to hang around the Trainyard and generally amuse himself by occasionally taking on heroes and being a low-key menace but was otherwise content to sit in his corner minding his own business. Skidmark, Squealer and Mush were primarily drug dealers but realistically doing whatever crime they could think of, with the former two understood to be an item. While they seemed to command some level of authority and obedience of the other 'unaffiliated' drug dealers, they held no territory beyond a known meeting place in an abandoned lighthouse and didn't really have any consistent pattern to their activities. As such, no one was quite ready to call them an actual gang. Still, all four were in the 'business' for long enough it was agreed they had the brains to make it work and as such, a newbie only getting a hang of their powers would most likely get taken to the cleaners.

Well, hopefully Trainwreck wouldn't be too grumpy about a merc setting up shop in the yard. Even if he was, though, she'd rather upset a completely solo indie than encroach on the territory of a proper gang.

---

If Boardwalk and Downtown were illusions of Brockton Bay still being a somewhat prosperous, healthy city, the closer one travelled through the Docks towards the Trainyard, the more the facade fell off to reveal the post-industrial depression. Abandoned buildings, mostly factory buildings and associated housing, abandoned markets, all broken down and overgrown with plant life. Trash, abandoned appliances and wrecked cars littering the streets. An entire district serving as the city's trash heap. The Trainyard itself was fenced off, even if the fence wouldn't stop a motivated teen, let alone any flavour of superhuman, full of abandoned, rusty boxcars and more trash. Only some of the train tracks were cleared and looked to be actually maintained, even if the station itself seemed as abandoned as the rest of the area.

About the best place to summon Liz in. It was clean and had plenty of room, so the Countess hopefully wouldn't raise too much of a fuss. All it took was a twist of her hand and the card popped out from her fingers like she was a street magician. A flick, and it had embedded itself in the ground in front of her, melting into the concrete as a summoning circle spread like an ink stain. Then, it began glowing pure white, before seven orbs rose into the air and began spinning in a circle, their glow turning rainbow for a moment before they coalesced at the centre into a pillar of pink light.

Then, the pillar dispersed, revealing Elizabeth in all of her five foot nothing, midget glory. The meaty, long tail flicked lazily around before snapping with a crack in the air as the teen Servant struck the butt of her spear against the ground, looking around the abandoned station with thinly veiled disdain before she focused her attention on Outis. She clicked her tongue and put her hand on her hip.

"So… you're the new manager, huh? Not quite sold on the whole 'start up indie studio' vibe you've got going here, but I suppose that'll just make my career even more dazzling in its success?"

"Just about. Gotta keep a low profile while we set everything up for your debut, after all." Outis said with a crooked grin as she effortlessly slid into the role presented to her, bandana already down around her neck so her Servant could see her face, "Other idols may need to get a few unofficial appearances before the big debut to build up some hype, but you? We just need to line up the venue and time right."

The dragon girl nodded happily along, making a pleased noise as her lips curved into a smile. "Good, good! Nice to know my manager knows a thing or two about the business. Since you seem to know what you're doing and I am obviously not ready for my debut, I assume there's a reason we're having this chat? Even if the exact choice of locale…" She trailed off, even as she dismissed her spear in a shower of pink particle effect and crossed her arms across her chest, looking at Outis expectantly.

"Yes, it leaves something to be desired, but it was the only option short of going into the woods if we wanted to avoid busybodies." The Assassin chuckled helplessly, splaying her hands as if to say 'what can you do?', "Mostly, I wanted to consult you on the matter of our studio. I can turn just about any empty building in this city into a humble one without anyone the wiser, but if you'd like to use Territory Creation instead, then this here Trainyard and the woods further north are the only places where nobody will notice before it is time for your debut."

That actually caused Elizabeth to perk up. "Oh, you want to use Csejte? Really? My previous manager wasn't keen on the idea, not much space in the first place, he said, and out on the tour we were constantly on the move so there was no point to put it up fully. To think I would have an opportunity…" The girl babbled with a happily carefree smile. "Sure, sure, go ahead! Once you've got the living quarters and amenities set up, feel free to call me up regardless, I've missed a bed fit for me. And the wardrobe, and…"

'So precious.' It was a relief that at least this incarnation of her didn't have any baggage tied to the castle. Outis couldn't help but smile, posture and tone both relaxing into something light and friendly, Liz's cheer was infectious. Truly, she had what it took to be an idol, "Yeah, I expect we will be mainly operating in Brockton Bay for a long while, so no reason not to get comfortable."

After all, her most likely backer was the Counter Force, which meant Outis wasn't dropped off here on a whim. The city had to be very important for whatever the Force was scheming. If there was a need to move further afield, Da'at would let her know with a quest, she was sure.

"Then, sure, you've got my permission to use the card-me to set up the castle. No hurry to power it up, though, if I understand the system correctly, it's not like you'll get much benefit from my skills that you couldn't get just from ordering me around in the first place." Elizabeth nodded once she got out of daydreaming about noble comforts. "Do keep me out and about when possible, kay, manager? Gotta keep rehearsing for the debut."

"Will do. Hardly fair to be living it up in your castle if I only summon you for business." Outis chuckled, only not sketching out a shallow bow because it was best not to give Liz ideas. Same reason she wasn't calling her 'Countess' or 'my lady'. "Have a good sleep, I will call you again once everything is up and running."

After all, Da'at didn't scrub away the ego of carded Servants like Pandora's Box, simply lulled them into a deep sleep. With that, and a flex of mental command, Elizabeth burst into a cloud of glittering, pink particles which coalesced back in Outis' hand as the dragoness' Servant Card. A roll of her fingers and it was gone, shifted back into Da'at's storage.

[Now that the introductions are out of the way and you have had time to digest previous information, it is time for everyone's favourite.]

[More data!]

[Now that you've manifested a Servant from the card, it's time to introduce a new system.]

[Command Seals.]

[This one is fairly simple. You've got three charges refreshing at a rate of one a day, at midnight. A charge can be spent on any Servant member of your party to perform Full Heal, Charge Up or Summon. Alternatively, you can use all three to perform Full Party Restore.]

[Full Heal is, I hope, self-explanatory. Charge Up allows for a Servant to fully restore their energy reserves immediately. Summon allows for the Servant to teleport to your side if you have the need for them and they are beyond your immediate reach.]

[Full Party Restore combines the effects of full Heal and Charge Up and covers the entire party.]

[As your Bond with Servants reaches a high enough level, Command Seals will unlock additional functions.]

[Furthermore, a parahuman you've reached a sufficiently high Bond with will be able to receive benefits of Command Seals as a member of your Party as well.]

[Speaking of Bonds, you've managed to diplomance your way to Level 1 with Elizabeth.]

[Keep the pace up and things are bound to get interesting.]

'Can I use them on myself? Summon won't do anything, obviously, but Charge and Heal…' Outis trailed off, an unholy grin on her face at the prospect of the absolute chicanery she could get up to with that on tap. Idly, she astralized her gloves, admiring the brilliant red pattern tattooed on the back of her left hand. A large X, with four thin lines connecting the whole thing like a DNA helix for all it resembled a chainlink.

If she giggled like a schoolgirl, that was between her and the ghosts of whoever had jumped onto the tracks.

[Affirmative.]

[Note that Command Seal functions can be substituted with Saint Quartz expenditure.]

[The system is suspiciously Pay-2-Win, isn't it?]

'At least I can make money the fun way.' Assassin chuckled as she let her gloves fade back in, taking off northwards. Time to see if she could get away with the full castle hiding in the forest without the commute being a pain in the ass. '...Probably the whole reason it accepts money. Forces me to get out there and do things. Anyways, how much Quartz a pop?'

[One per Command Seal being substituted for.]

'Huh, just ten bucks for– you know what, I'm not going to complain. Too busy planning how to get an entire castle set up… before…' Outis' mental voice trailed off as she kicked off another roof, shooting through the air like an arrow, 'Fuck, I may have to sandbag to not tip off the bird. At least until I get the notice-me-nots and anti-scrying up and running in full. Maybe if I start with the perimeter walls and set the Bounded Fields on them first of all? And don't use Quartz in their place unless I well and truly have to. Best case scenario, she doesn't even know about Command Seals for the longest time, worst case scenario, she at least thinks it's only one restored per 24 hours.'

Plus, well, it'd be a good litmus test for how attentive the damn thing was. If she got targeted the moment the castle was fully up, she knew she was fucked and had to start spamming Servants. However, she doubted it would be so bad. She just had to trust her backer was the Counter Force and so she would be afforded enough time to set up or at least given some warning if she was about to get checkmated on turn two. Well then, time to hit the forest and start on accomplishing the power fantasy of owning land and property.

It wasn't even that far away from the station, just some hundred, maybe hundred fifty metres from the outer edge. Well, the proper location would probably be a bit deeper in, just in case. Navigating the derelict trainyard wasn't even particularly hard, plenty of space and the parts of the train cars were torn up for copper and other materials over time. On her way out, Outis spotted the hulking, crude armoured form of Trainwreck making rounds through the place. The parahuman walked slowly and languidly, without a clear destination but obviously attentive to his surroundings. Despite how haphazard it looked, his gear was also surprisingly silent and the movements were smooth and effortless.

Da'at helpfully classified the man as a [Caster].

Outis may chat him up later, see if he was down for a no-strings-attached sparring session. It would be fun AND hopefully unlock the Caster grinding fields. Ah, well, thoughts for later. Right now she needed to find a good spot for Hungary's most infamous castle.

---

It was getting late by the time Outis found a spot she liked, her Hand swapped to Indigo Assassin, Elizabeth and Violet Caster. Switching Installs was an… interesting experience, no doubt exacerbated by Liz's additional bits. Perhaps a change from Chromatic Card to a 'proper' Servant was to blame as well, as Indigo faded away from Outis' features, her hoodie and sweats replaced in a gust of wind and flutter of cloth by a black dress. She only belatedly realised that said dress only had a couple of straps covering her chest and quickly chose to focus on trying to figure out what the spikes on the boots were even meant to do. Thankfully, she was properly distracted soon enough, as she was treated to the sensation of her tailbone bursting from her back and horns extruding from her skull. The fingers took the cake, though, even over having a brand new limb. They were the same rigid material as her horns, no muscle or bone, yet they bent just as easily.

A quick check with Da'at showed that the only thing she didn't inherit from Elizabeth was the colour palette, so she had black hair rather than bright pink. It actually worked with the purple of the horns and the colours of the dress, even if her grey eyes left a bit to be desired. Still, less time contemplating her looks and the possibility of a minor Mystic Code to properly match coloration and hairstyle, more doing magic construction work.

With a deep rumble and a wellspring of pink light (which the trees and afternoon sun blessedly hid away), the walls slowly arose. Muted white stone to protect and, perhaps more importantly, delineate the boundary between the Outside World and her domain. While the castle itself was the domain of Elizabeth's Territory Creation, the Bounded Fields planned for it were not, and thus, it necessitated another quick swap. Inhuman features vanished and black bled away into violet as an oversized trenchcoat and almost comically large, stereotypical witch's hat were placed over Outis together with a flat faceplate she could somehow see and breathe through. At least the sweater, cargo pants and boots underneath it all were well fitted, and she did like the feeling of swimming in her clothes. Swishy sleeves were good civilization.

The next portion was, despite the mysticism involved in putting up the anti-scrying and general detection avoidance fields, fairly tedious. She had to walk alongside those walls, circling her new domain, slowly carving in the anchor-symbols with flicks of her wand and flashes of violet light. Then, there was the fact that this portion of the work actually felt more tiring than the summoning of the walls. A difference in MAG and Territory Creation ranks, most likely. Which probably meant that she would need to burn up a Command Seal or two just to finish setting things up, what with weaving the second layer of magical energy to form the Fields. She didn't know what the fuck Elizabeth's previous Master was on about in regards to the castle being too small, the perimeter wall was huge. Granted, it had to accommodate gardens and grounds, but still.

She shook her head, taking a few steps away from the white stone. A flick of her wrist transmuted a ring of rock from the dirt, which she quickly etched and loaded with a far smaller version of what she was building. Only barely large enough to lay down spread eagle in, the layers of scry-spoofing and notice-me-nots would hopefully mask her usage of Command Seals to recharge while finishing the work on the perimeter wall. It didn't cost her much and every card counted to stack the deck. Heh.

It took a Command Seal, a whole lot of walking and wand-waving and more cooling charms than she cared to count (overheated Magic Circuits sucked smegma covered donkey dick), but soon enough she was done. The pictograms flashed vivid violet and something almost like heat haze shrouded the castle's outer perimeter before fading out of visibility. She treated herself to a long chug of ice cold conjured water (by wit of the cup being made of ice) and a good sprawl on the grass before sighing and picking herself back up.

A flash of violet turned pink and it was once more time to keep raising Csejte.

Slowly, a round tower rose, blue-grey walls and deep purple tiled roof, breaking through the forest ceiling and imposing over the land. Next, the main keep, with a smaller clocktower attached to it, square and sprawling, a truly luxurious space. Another, smaller tower connected to the keep, before it was done. All in the span of hours, as the night fell and the windows of the keep lit up with the lights within its corridors.

Good to know it came refurbished. Now, time to give everything an once over before she went and saw what all the hype was about with those beds.

Immediately past the wrought iron gates of the perimeter wall, there's an actual, honest to god stable. Although judging by the silence and the (lack of) smell, currently empty of horses. Still, something to take note of. There were other buildings dotting the castle grounds here and there, but otherwise, the space in front of the castle proper seemed to be empty right now.

As for the keep itself… The doors swung open on their own, ominous creak and all. The corridors were bright enough, although with plenty of shadows around, walls lined up with tapestries of family history and coats of arms, with the occasional suit of armour holding a weapon tucked into an alcove. Also, ghosts. Well, the technical terms would be Wraiths, Outis supposed, but semantics. Ghosts of the household, mostly maids and caretakers, in this portion of the keep, it seemed. They parted way before Outis, pale, colourless silhouettes as they were. Just enough detail to them to recognise their gender and maybe a detail of the face, or the hairstyle, bowing their heads for her as they milled about. Perfectly harmless to the lady of the castle.

Kindly ignore the glints of steel in their skirts. Those were for unruly guests.

Outis entered the great hall on the way to Elizabeth's solar, which was an entire tower in and of itself. The hall cut an impressive sight, three stories high, with rows of columns on the sides of the room casting great shadows while the fire in the hearth to the side roared merrily, smoke rising towards the ceiling where it was dispersed outside through discreet vents. Two rows of tables run along the length of the hall, close to the walls, leaving the middle empty. Then, on the dais at the opposite end from Outis, another table, put horizontally to others, shorter, fit to comfortably seat about seven people, with middle chair being meticulously carved with draconic imaginary, a shield hanging above it painted rich crimson with three silver teeth coming from one side of it. Behind that chair, there was another door, the one leading to the solar.

Thanks to Install, Outis also knew the hall was designed with acoustics in mind, to make the sound carry from the lady's throne clearly all the way across. There was a temptation to sit on the throne and try those acoustics for herself, but this was Elizabeth's home. It would be beyond rude. Besides, she was more interested in the solar's bed right now. Draconic blood propping her up right now or not, today had been a rollercoaster and she was ready to crash.

Across the hall, up the dais and through the doors, then most likely up the stairs. At least the decor didn't have much in the way of the bright shade of pink Elizabeth's mana and the woman herself seemed to favour. It did feel like the first three floors of the solar were there mostly to elevate Elizabeth's personal quarters above the rabble servants, mostly looking to store an assortment of junk that otherwise didn't quite fit the impression the rest of the keep wanted to give on its singular rooms. Then, on the fourth floor, a quick look inside revealed an office, while the fifth room an obvious recreation room, with musical instruments and unfinished paintings.

Finally, the sixth room, at the very top, turned out to be a fully furnished bedroom, with massive king size bed taking the centre of it, with heart-shaped pillows and light-red curtains, surrounded by mirrors and wardrobes under the walls, with a single, lonely chair by the window. And… were those three layers of mattresses?

Someone might've been just a little spoiled and thus got a skewed perception of comfort.

Not that it made Outis any less eager to faceplant into it. Unlike the throne, this was fine. Solars were often shared with important enough guests, the Install's knowledge whispered into her brain. That was really all she needed to jump right in and let this rollercoaster of a day catch up with her.

[Consciousness fading. Initiating Emergency Uninstall.]

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya and Bowchikabowow who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

 

[Omida]

January 2nd


Come next morning, a rather obvious problem with Csejte was made apparent. Namely, while the castle was a good base of operations, especially with Bounded Fields set up, it did not, exactly, come with the larders already filled. Which meant no breakfast for Outis, and no meals for the future until something was done about the fact. The Wraith which delivered the news, alongside staff's apologies for the lack of breakfast, to her upon waking up managed to exude distress excellently in spite of her lack of clear features.

[New Objective: Supply run.]
[Rewards: 1 x Saint Quartz. Full larder. Well, fuller. ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???]

…She was going to ignore the implication of how the shopping trip would end up. At least for now.

Honestly, the only reason her morning wasn't entirely ruined was that the bed was sinfully soft and that either Da'at or one of the Wraiths had gotten her out of the jacket and shoes after the Install timed out. Right, time to play manager. Or liege, rather. "Very well, bring me a backpack, failing that a sack. I will magick a solution. For that matter, is the larder fit with preservation or cooling enchantments?"

Looked like she'd need to go fetch groceries, it wasn't like the Wraiths could get particularly far from the castle. Even if they could, sending them to go buy her the stuff sounded like a fantastic way to freak everyone out, nevermind help them trace her location.

The Wraith merely shook her head in lieu of speaking, once again bowing apologetically.

"Lead me there, I will fix it while someone fetches the bag." Outis said as she hopped off the bed, violet light shrouded her so she landed on a sturdy pair of boots rather than her stocking-clad feet. "I will wake the young lady later, when everything is sorted and it is merely a question of if she wishes for something in particular from the market."

The Wraith bowed yet again and led her out of the room and down the stairs, through the great hall and back into the keep proper. The morning sun didn't do much to change the general ambience of Csejte, the castle still managing an impressive array of shadowy nooks and crannies even with sunlight filtering in. The larder itself was in the northern part of the castle, built slightly underground, if not properly an entire floor below, given it had a few wired windows in it. And, as the Wraith informed Outis, its stone shelves were empty, if perfectly spotless.

Hmm, for something like this– yes, best to inscribe on the ceiling. While it would be a bubble of magic at the end of the day, playing on the idea of it being draped over the room and its contents would play into the concepts behind the enchantments. Oh, and she could add a little something to mark expired food with a red glow! That'd be useful, even if she was pretty sure even END E was enough to shrug off food poisoning.

Now, triangular formation or pentagonal…

---

"–the shadow play is simply incredible, y'know? Dunno how my ancestors managed without magic, Deerlet, but I have tried different colour schemes and different ways of lighting the corridors and they just…" Elizabeth giggled as she lounged on her throne sideways to allow space for her tail. An unexpected hiccup but she managed without missing a beat, even if it really hammered home the 'spoiled teen noble girl' vibe. "I suppose simple for the surroundings does it, when housing a star. Shame we can't do anything for the staff being as they are. Bernadett here's features were so lovely." The teen Servant added with a sigh and a wave of her hand at the Wraith which had accompanied Outis since waking up and who bowed towards her mistress.

"Young lady is too kind." The ghost replied, her voice echoing and muted, giving it stereotypically ethereal quality.

"Aye. Even if we somehow got a few bricks from the original castle, I wouldn't know where to begin with solidifying them." The Caster sighed with a shake of her masked head, the pools of violet light over her eyes turning into downturned crescents, "Maybe if the right Servant chooses to join us? Although I can't think of anyone specialised in spirits off the top of my head. Circe, perhaps? Greek necromancy mainly deals with ghosts."

[You do have Quartz to try and fish for the right experts.]

[You also have a lot of shopping to do.]

"That she does. She also needs more money for better shopping." Elizabeth nodded her head with her eyes closed, wagging her finger towards Outis. "Some people have minimum standards of living, y'know?"

"Hah, not wrong. Right, may as well do a ten-pull, especially given how spicy the supply run may get. Do you mind if I open the Chamber of Guf here, Elizabeth?" The Magus asked the Idol with a tilt of her head. The grand hall was meant for receiving guests, after all. But it was Liz's castle so it was only polite to ask before doing major magic in the middle of her living room.

"Go ahead, Deerlet." The Countess waved her permission as she opened her eyes. "I am actually curious how it looks from this side."

[Deploying Chamber of Guf.]

[For multi-roll, simple intent works if you don't feel like pulling each card individually.]

Curiously, this time there was no monochrome, just a brilliant, blue circle in front of the Master and a deck of cards waiting to be pulled. Outis smiled behind her mask as a thought occurred. Her hand reached out, ten jolts racing through her arm and into her heart as her fingers touched the deck– and slid out ten cards in a smooth streamer, spreading them in a floating circle. She was rewarded with Elizabeth's delighted giggle and clapping.

[Show off.]

The Cards glowed white, even as their Classes solidified on their backs in sequence. Caster, Berserker, Assassin, Archer, Saber, Alter Ego, Lancer, another Assassin, another Caster and another Lancer. The first Caster Card's stock image glowed and then peeled away in a shower of back-purple particles, revealing…

[Caster: Gilles de Rais obtained.]

"Burn it." Outis ordered flatly, the cheerful lights of her mask hollowed into thin rings of violet around impenetrable voids.

The Card was immediately consumed by the white flames. They didn't literally burn the Card away, instead seemingly mostly just consuming the image of the Servant on the back of it, pulling the generic Class picture back onto the suit before turning violet and colouring the card.

[Chromatic Card of Caster obtained.]

---

Shopping list and leather bag received, and enchanted for extra holding space and cooling in latter's case, Outis set out for the Docks, intent on doing her shopping there. Particularly hoping to hunt for any places run by Chinese, hoping to bank on her fluency in Mandarin and the Asian tendency to give out extra freebies to people they liked.

She was going as Indigo Assassin, of course. No sense showing more of her hand if she didn't have to. At this point she was more or less resigned to her female form being for business and male for whenever she wanted to go full incognito… which she sure as hell wasn't doing right now because Da'at had flashed all sorts of warning signs at her. Better to be ready to rumble at a moment's notice.

She was halfway through her shopping list when the shooting and explosions started, coming south of where she was. The atmosphere around her shifted immediately, people vacating the streets immediately, going for the closest buildings. Men and women in ABB's colours poured out in turn, armed with an assortment of improvised (and purpose made) melee weaponry, while some of their numbers on the surrounding rooftops pulled a variety of guns.

"Year just started and the nazis already looking to ruin it." Someone muttered angrily on their way deeper into the building.

"Starting shit where Firefly can get'em? Fuckers are getting dumber by the week."

"Might have a cape. Empire has the most."

"Gotta love superpowered nazis. I'll go check it out and give a hand if need be. Twenty bucks for watching my groceries while I do that?" Outis chimed up, addressing the people around her, drawing some attention.

For a moment, there's no takers, before an older man, hair already completely grey, in an impeccable black suit with a small pin on the lapel stepped from the side. "Kamen really can't help themselves, eh?" He commented languidly before offering a thin smile. "Go, gaijin, your shopping will be where you left it."

"If she comes back."

"Damn right I can't and I will." Outis chuckled as she handed off the old fashioned leather backpack, before giving a jaunty two fingered salute, "See ya in a few!"

With that, she was off, a single leap taking her over the rooftops and racing to the fireworks. God, but she loved her powers.

As she got closer to what had to be the centre of the gang fight, any doubt of it being anything but a cape fight quietly left the room. A horrific, grindy screech of metal against stone, the explosions trailing off into smaller noises, almost like fireworks, the steady, regular bang of a high-calibre firearm dominating an otherwise mostly small-arms gunfight. Landing on the final rooftop, she got the overview of the situation.

There was a Nazi raid going on, just as the residents of the Asian district suspected. Led by a large, metal wolf-beast.

[Berserker: Hookwolf]

The shifting mass of metal in the rough shape of a canine was currently grinding against the grip of a stone statue bearing semblance to a Qin Dynasty soldier. And while Da'at was quiet about the stone statue itself, it identified a similar one, except made from clay, standing beside Firefly as [Caster: Terracotta]. Firefly herself had a red-and-green mask with insect-like eyes covering her face and wore a kimono which could only be described as 'chaotic' in its aesthetic, wild whorls and streamers of the ABB's colours at their most eyesearing cobbled together into a rough approximation of the traditional outfit. She twisted and swirled around, her feet tapping to an unheard rhythm as she did her best to stay in one spot with all of her movements, arms waving in intricate arcs before straightening out to shoot out whistling, colourful trails of light and heat which exploded into dazzling displays against cars, corners and bins Hookwolf's men took cover behind. There were some ABB men peeking from the alleys behind the duo of Asian capes, taking potshots at the covering nazis, timing their shots with pauses in Firefly's fireworks to keep their opponents suppressed. Another stone statue was locked in a duel against a tall, black haired woman who, unlike all other parahumans on the scene, had her face uncovered, save for a blindfold over her right eye. [Rider: Challenger] wore a red bodysuit with golden epaulettes and wielded a massive, full body length axe, swinging it with ease against a stone soldier's halberd as she laughed.

Outis wasn't going to tango with Challenger. She had no idea to what faction the cyclops belonged other than 'not the nazis', so best to let sleeping dogs lie (even if she looked like a barrel of fun to fight). Which funnily enough, meant she was left with the knife puppy. There was a weak point behind the hollow eyes, she could tell, but she had no way to reach it even if she attacked from ambush. So all she'd serve as would be an annoying distraction that'd be ignored in short order… or a very unpleasant surprise for the henchmen, she realised with an ugly smile.

Looked like she had her job picked for her. No sense letting the unpowered nazis scamper off to make a mess elsewhere, or take potshots at Firefly. At least all the light, smoke and bangs of Firefly's projectiles meant it wasn't particularly hard to go unnoticed, especially with no one expecting her. She fell on the first group with ease, indigo steel flashing as she swung for tendons and stabbed into kneecaps, aiming to disable over anything more… final. The gangers screamed as the blades cut into flesh, falling to the street writhing in pain, some dropping their guns as their hands no longer obeyed them. They panicked and started flailing and cursing, trying to shoot at the cape in their midst, not content to stay in place and get chopped up. Firefly's offence didn't quite help as the woman's colourful fireballs were both indiscriminate and flung only vaguely in the direction of the nazis which didn't exactly do wonders for her accuracy, or full awareness of the situation. Fantastic smokescreen for Outis, though, even if the grazing hits were less than pleasant despite her superhuman toughness.

To his credit, Hookwolf showed immediate concern for his men falling behind his back. His form shifted, from purely quadrupedal and wolf-like into something more humanoid, almost like a werewolf, revealing a crop of dirty blond hair. Most importantly, it gave Hookwolf a pair of arms with opposable thumbs back, the fact he used immediately to grip the statue grappling him and, with a horrific screech of metal on stone, threw it in Outis' general direction. Or, at the very least, in the direction of the latest group of nazis she had mutilated.

Challenger gave an appreciative whistle at the sight.

It was a bad call, Outis was fully aware of this as the idea formed in her mind. She had no need to show more of her hand and the blind throw would go long. Unfortunately, she wasn't what you'd call a paragon of logic and good decisions, so that awareness amounted to nothing as blood red light exploded from her body.

"▇▇▆▆▇▇██████" Red Berserker roared, protruding jaw open like a ragged wound full of broken glass as corded muscle strained and bandaged fingers dug furrows into the stone. Concrete buckled under her shoes as she twisted the statue's momentum, sending gangoons flying every which way with the savage swing, moth-eaten pupils only having eyes for the beautiful sight of the massive pile of rocks sailing at the steel werewolf.

[Challenger Bond Level raised to 1]

Hookwolf growled and waited until the statue almost hit him before bringing his hands down in an overhead, two handed hammer strike, finishing the process of breaking the poor statue. He grunted and straightened up, the mass of blades shifting across his body and revealing his mouth. Surprisingly, the man wasn't snarling underneath the mass of blades, or even scowling hatefully. His lips formed a thin, flat line across his face as the man cautiously turned sideways to keep both Outis and the two Asian capes somewhat in his field of vision. Then, the man smiled.

"Found you." He exclaimed with a satisfied, guttural growl. He rolled his shoulders, throwing Terracotta and Firefly a quick look then turned his head slowly towards Challenger, before coming back to focus on Red Berserker. The Asian capes stood tense but seemingly willing to give him time, while Challenger leaned against her weapon with unrestrained curiosity. "You made a mess of my ring, girl."

The Berserker grinned back, settling into a low, ready stance. She couldn't quite help the Bruce Lee come hither wave, "By all means, come get your prize, cabron."

Hookwolf barked out a laugh. On the other side of him, Terracotta gave subtle signs to the ABB members, who quietly slinked away. The statue near Challenger crumbling as Firefly leaned towards Terracota, the two Asian capes clearly trying to discreetly converse regarding further plans of action.

"You've got guts, girl, more than that bitch who can only run. That, I will give you." Hookwolf replied as his mouth twisted in an approximation of a smile. The showing teeth, as well as encroaching mass of sharp and stabby metal made it look very ugly and unpleasant.

Man, it was such a pity this guy was both a nazi and a dog fighter. He seemed fun to hang out with. Ah, well, it just meant she wouldn't feel bad about giving him a few scars to remember her by.

"As amusing as it would be to see another young and hopeful do-gooder contribute to the statistics," Challenger interjected languidly from where she backed away towards a bike fallen to the wayside and pulled out a rifle as long as her axe was. "It is my job to make sure you don't. Sorry, Wolfie, I'm sure your boss would love to hear how you spend your mornings fucking around with unapproved people. So heel, boy, 'cage time for you."

For a hero, Challenger's smile wasn't the nicest thing either.

Hookwolf snorted, shifting on his heel as his metal covered body tensed and the man knelt low. "I have fought Protectorate before." He was slowly assuming more canine shape.

Outis would've charged him already, but the ABB were still chatting and she wouldn't say no to extra backup. She didn't need any research to know Hookwolf was one mean customer and she'd much rather end things here rather than have to swap back to Assassin and slip away. Or show more of her hand.

"You might have business with her, gou," Terracotta interjected as his armour opened at the back, allowing him to walk out of it before it sealed again. His 'inside' costume was disappointingly minimalistic, just a green balaclava over a set of civvies. "But you also made it our business."

"Shouldn't hide my property in your dirtholes, boy." Hookwolf growled, his body shifting its position again. "Then we wouldn't have a problem when I come looking."

"Perhaps. But you did come, and we do. Besides, I want to test just how good my clay is, compared to less optimal materials." Terracotta replied as he crossed his arm over his chest even as Firefly shook her head.

"You two twigs couldn't take me. New girl can't take me." Hookwolf boasted, almost fully back to wolf-like form.

"Oh, I'm probably coming out of this looking like I got nasty with a woodchipper, but all in a good day's fun." Outis snorted, completely unconcerned. Her survival wasn't in question, she had healing and a whole lot more firepower on tap if need be. Her suffering also wasn't in question, Madness Enhancement made little annoyances like pain fuck right off.

Instead of answering, Hookwolf finished his transformation into what appeared to be his preferred form and charged at Red Berserker, dodging Challenger's shots with surprising nimbleness as he barrelled towards Outis. Behind him, Terracotta's golem-armour charged after him, faster than its stone brethren moved before but still left in the proverbial dust by the metal wolf.

Outis decided to take a page out of Hook's own book, waiting until the last second before exploding into motion. Berserker, unlike Assassin, had no technique, no grace. This didn't mean it was a mindless brute, because it had traded those for absolute awareness and control of the body. Her knee smashed into the industrial grinder that passed for the monster's mouth with all the finesse and subtlety of a runaway truck, her leg snapping open to introduce him to the taste of her shoes a split second later as her whole body pivoted to fuel the motion.

The full metal canine's head snapped upwards at an angle that really shouldn't be healthy even before its throat was caved in, but for Hookwolf apparently barely counted as inconvenient as the man let out a screeching growl. On the downside… thrusting your knee into a blender was not a good feeling. Outis was sure without Madness Enhancement, the pain alone would leave her screaming. Hookwolf's body shifted again, in a snap, giving the nazi arms back again as he stomped a step back. He held one arm up to shield himself from Challenger's bullets which dug into the mass of blades, jerking the limb around. His other arm reached for Red Berserker, stumbling slightly as Terracotta's golem thrust its polearm into his back.

It still didn't look like it was doing more than inconvenience him. The man still drew back from Outis and elbowed the golem in its face, just for emphasis. The clay shattered without much resistance, but instead of filling the hollow shell of the soldier with pieces of its head, the clay just melted and reformed around Hookwolf's limb. Not for particularly long, but it still aborted any potential one-two follow-up on Outis in front of him Hookwolf might've otherwise attempted.

Berserker didn't need any further invitation, not when she knew where the wolf's weak point was. She may not have AGL D, but her strength made up the difference as she leapfrogged from the pavement to one of Hook's limbs to the bastard's face.

'Include: Indigo Assassin!'

A flash of light was all the warning he got before a fairbarn-sykes was shoved to the hilt in his warform's eyesocket, only her inhuman strength keeping it steady as blades tried to batter it out of alignment, and her own body from being thrown off as he shook his head. Then her other hand came up, thin wisps of dark red steaming from her shirtless top as she pumped every scrap of magic power she had into a single punch.

Hookwolf howled in a horrific screech of metal on metal that drowned out the wild laughter as Outis rammed the knife as far as it would go into his form. She didn't care an iota as his blades slowly chewed through bandage, skin and muscle, only that she'd punched in all the way to the goddamn elbow. The man stumbled back, flailing his head, as Terracotta's golem flowed open like an oozing, clay iron maiden, attempting to hold him down.

Distantly, Outis realised the laughter was coming from her, arm digging in deeper as she clutched the knife's hilt and wrenched it like the world's rustiest key.

[Hookwolf Nemesis Bond Level raised to 1]

For a moment, Hookwolf laid motionless in Terracotta's grasp as the ceramic armour slowly seeped into the gaps between the suddenly motionless mass of metal. Then, his form exploded with transformation, no longer humanoid, or even canine, just a mass of blades whirling and shifting as it forcefully splattered wet clay all over the street and ground against the bone of Outis' arm as the thing simply flowed around Berserker before reforming into a metal-covered man, gasping and breathing heavily as he held a hand over his unfortunately not bleeding eye. Then, he looked up at her. His mouth twisted into a grin. Ironically, a much more pleasant smile than his previous one.

"Definitely got guts. And the skill to go with them." Before he could say or do anything more, his head rocked back from the impact of Challenger's bullet. The man, frustratingly enough, just grunted as he stumbled back. He flipped the heroine the bird, before shifting into fully canine form again and turning tail.

"And so, he runs, again. The mutt is smart." Challenger grunted before turning around to eye Firefly and Terracotta. "Y'know, I really shouldn't allow criminals to get away from me." She began in a faux-conversational tone as she dropped her rifle and hefted her axe in a two handed hold. Because the woman was swinging two weapons matching her height in size, which definitely hinted at at least a portion of her power package.

"Can't you leave them off the hook this time?" Outis asked, unable to help a low chuckle at her own horrible pun, "You got a lot of people in need of medical attention here, hero."

For emphasis, she waved her mangled arm at the thirty something groaning and bleeding E88 goons laying on the ground, uncaring of how it looked like a pile of minced meat held together by bone splinters. ME was one hell of a drug. Maybe Asclepius and Nightingale would pop up next time she summoned to scream at her about aggravating her wounds?

Challenger looked away from the ABB capes to give the other gangers a once over before shrugging. "The boys are on their way, they just kept back 'cause it was Hook involved. They will take care of those and then BBPD will get to earn their meal ticket. Do you require medical attention? I could, maybe, convince [Panacea] to fix the consequences of your actions if you aren't just a particularly slow regenerator." The woman slightly relaxed her grip on her weapon. True to her words, Outis could hear the sirens in the distance getting louder.

"Nah, no regen. And it would be nice to be right as rain without a trip to the hospital, I was in the middle of shopping when I heard the explosions." Outis said the complete truth while leaving some conspicuous blanks between the lines, strolling over to the E88 to start fishing for wallets with her good arm. Movement and the colour red had a way to hold human attention.

"Y'know, hotstuff, looting is generally frowned upon, yes, even criminals, but I suppo- motherfucker! These two are smart too." Challenger cursed as she turned back away from Outis and the E88 goons, only to find Firefly and Terracotta gone. Probably not far, but gone nonetheless.

[Firefly Bond Level raised to 1]
[Terracotta Bond Level raised to 1]

[Reputation with ABB increased. Reward: ???]


"Alas, not everyone can be a bloodthirsty dumbass like me. It takes effort and dedication." Berserker snorted even as she kept working. It was a lot slower going without Assassin's light fingers, but not taking the time to destroy their cards should have most of them looted by the time the paramedics told her to shove off. Good thing she was a leftie, too, "Spar sometime? This whole thing ended up pretty anticlimactic for you, I can tell. Plus, I want to see how you work that shaft."

"They might actually last Lung for a hot moment." Challenger nodded her head wisely. Then, she chortled at the double entendre before she struck the butt of her axe against the street, held the weapon straight and looked Outis in the eye. Then, once she knew she had Berserker's attention, she loosened her grip and moved her hand up and down in an unmistakable motion. "Smash and dash or wanna make it a regular thing? Won't even try to pretend it's to get you to commit to a relationship?" She sounded… actually hopeful for a regular sparring partner there. Or for casual sex friend. The flirting made it hard to tell which it was.

Either or both, Berserker won no matter what, so she flashed her a grin and a thumbs up around the wad of cash in her hand, "Just gimme a phone number and we can talk schedule as soon as I get a new one. Old 'un is kind of a lost cause. Surprising, I know, given how I'm the poster girl for care and safety."

[Challenger Bond Level raised to 2]

The woman nodded, visibly happy, as she went back to her bike and slid her weapons into the holsters on it. "So, about that meeting with one of the rare healing capes I offered?"

"All for it, even if it gets me screamed at for being an idiot. I'm friends with a marine doc and I can only assume capes trade the sphincter spelunking for five times more stupid wounds." Outis chuckled, wiggling her hamburger arm, "Case in point, fisting a murderblender."

"Oh, I dunno, New Wave don't like the Empire for more reasons than just 'nazis' so she might wave it off, this once." Challenger shrugged as she leaned against her bike, looking at both the grounded gangster and Berserker and her getup. "Normally, I would question going unmasked but hey, Changers. Given the ensemble though, I've gotta ask." The woman smirked as she pointed at the sarashi keeping Outis decent. "That modified or does it do more than just give resting bitchface and a paint job?"

"HAH! Nope, all natural, unless you count the muscle under 'em." Berserker laughed, the sound more like a bark than anything a human throat should produce.

"Nice." Challenger commented, closing her eyes with a content smile before she schooled her features into something more serious. "Jokes aside, I do hope you won't bleed out waiting for us to get a move on. Would be rather awkward, especially given you don't have a name yet… You don't, right?"

"You're actually the first cape out of…" Bitch, Firefly, Kanabo, Terracotta, Hookwolf, Challenger, "Six I've met so far in the Bay that bothered asking. Epopeia, at your service. Anyways, I'm pretty tuff like this, but if you got some spare bandages I wouldn't say no."

The bleeding was a lot less profuse than it'd been a few minutes ago, but that didn't mean it had stopped altogether. Probably not about to bleed out, though, she didn't even feel lightheaded. Although that may be ME propping her up.

"Decent name. Definitely better than Hellhound's preferred, if I got Hookwolf's implications of your recent extracurriculars right." Challenger nodded as she pushed off her bike and turned around to rummage through its underseat compartment. "Can't exactly call a girl bad words on national news but it can be confusing sometimes, especially when she is running with that fresh team of hers. Villains tend to cuss heroes out, y'know? Ah, here, first aid kit."

"Funnily enough, she's the first cape I met after rolling into town. Dogs sniffed me out, I told her I wasn't about to start shit, and five minutes later I was hired to help her bust a dog fighting ring. An hour later I had a pocket full of ganger cash and a belly full of unagidon." Outis chuckled as she tucked away the last of her haul into her pockets. Well, 'pockets', Da'at was slurping up everything into the inventory the moment it was out of sight. That done, she held out her mangled arm so they could get to bandaging it. "God, I wish all employers were like that."

"I am supposed to discourage you from associating with known supervillains, especially ones with body counts but it's not like we aren't already looking the other way every single time a shelter in this godforsaken city reports an influx of new abused dogs a 'helpful volunteer' dropped with them and offered to help soothe them into normalcy." Challenger once more dropped the party line in the laziest, most phoned in way possible as she got to work on the hamburger meat. She did, however, perk up when the first of the law enforcement's vans pulled from behind the corner. "Aight, just gonna process these guys and we can get a move on."

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya and Bowchikabowow who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

 

[Omida]

January 2nd


Before she triggered, she didn't know what 'holiday rush' really meant. Oh, there was this vague sense of business and rush, of shopping sprees and household chores. As a child, and then a teen, holidays were the time when 'adults were busy'. Then she triggered, became Panacea and…

Well, the statistics had been enlightening. As enlightening as the workload was crushing. Amy had powers well suited to helping people and so, she had to help people. One after another, day in and day out. Sometimes it felt like she had a social life only because Vicky dragged her into having one. Even then, her conscience gnawed at her, bit by bit.

After triggering, Amy learned the true hell of holiday rush. As it turned out, people with a lot of free time tended to get really stupid ideas. Before alcohol or drugs even got involved. Then you added fireworks into the equation and you had a special slice of misery all for yourself.

"Chin up, Panacea," One of the nurses who dragged her into the break room for some… mandatory breather, leaned back in. Amy returned the look without even bothering to hide the cigarette hanging from her lips. The entire room smelled faintly of cheap smokes anyway. "We've got Challenger parking at the front." Amy stifled a groan and instead opted for an extra long drag. Fucking Challenger. "Got someone with her too, don't recognise her, but she has that cape look to her. Not cuffed, so, you know, silver linings."

"Alright. The usual room?" The nurse nodded and Amy stood up from the sofa with a groan, putting the remainder of her cig in the ashtray and pulling her hood and scarf up. Once more unto the breach, this time to deal with a woman whose power meant she needed to get into no holds barred scuffles with others and an unknown, but hopefully a hero. The lack of cuffs meant almost definitely that, thankfully.

She shuffled through the corridors towards the, ah, 'parahuman reception'. Pretty much just any other room, but separated from the rest of civilian accessible portions of the building for guaranteed privacy reasons. Really, mostly used for independent capes. The Protectorate had the hospital attached to PRT headquarters for these things and supervillains… Amy didn't particularly care to figure out how they got patched up normally, but when captured, they were held in the PRT hospital too.

Opening the door, she was greeted with the sight of Challenger, thankfully, blissfully unharmed for once in the history of their acquaintance. As well as another woman (teen?) with an uncovered face, even if Amy would have probably preferred the parahuman to have some sort of mask. The face was… definitely bestial, sunken, red eyes with moth eaten irises, protruding jaw, lips too wide and showing off warped, sharp teeth in what may be an attempt at a smile. Very red in general. And not even because of the, frankly, butchered arm the woman was sporting. At least it wasn't bleeding. Definitely a mix of first aid and powers.

"Panacea!" Challenger greeted her with woman' usual exuberance before dipping her head. "You look like shit."

"Wait, right, American New Year." The red cape realised with a wince that looked nothing short of horrifying on her features, "Really sorry about adding to the rush, at least I kept Hookwolf and thirty-something nazis from ripping the Docks with an all out gang fight with the ABB? So less work overall."

"Starting early this year, aren't they?" Amy mumbled before rubbing her eyes and standing a little bit straighter. "Right, kinda obvious with you being here, but gotta observe formalities. My name is Panacea, I can heal you at a touch, do I have permission to use my powers on you?"

"Epopeia, a pleasure, and go right ahead." The Changer(?) said with a bob of her head, before her brow scrunched up in concern, "Just, uh, if you notice what may look like malformations on the nervous system, they're supposed to be there and prooobably best if you don't mess with them. Power thing."

Sure, whatever. Powers were weird, even if Brockton Bay was on the tame side when it came to biology. She leaned over the woman, trying not to look too hard at the… revealing outfit. Which, in turn, meant it was either staring at Epopeia's face or Hookwolf'd arm.

Focus Ames, focus. Just think of Hookwolf's typical patients. Incredible, how many people thought they could take on any of the Empire's capes just because they got powers.

She put her hand on the red cape's bare shoulder and focused as her power got to work on…

What?

She was vaguely aware she blinked and stared at Epopeia, it probably looked like she was looking at her face, but…

What?

Yeah, sure, there was something weird with Epopeia's nervous system, some sort of… she wanted to say, secondary nervous system? Or, at least, something resembling one? But that wasn't… too weird. As she said, powers could do some real weirdness, even without Case 53s.

[Data?]

No, what was really off about Epopeia was her brain. Her completely corona-free brain. As far as her power was concerned, the woman in front of her, who came in with an arm more bone than flesh, was one hundred percent baseline human. But…

That's just…

That was clearly wrong.

[Data!]

Her power answered her astonishment with a startling ease, even as she kept the reins on her reaction and kept reconstructing Epopeia's arm. There was something off about her brain, now that she, barely, managed to look past the lack of corona. Some sort of chemical alteration, if she had to hazard a guess. A result of her inhuman physique? The musculature was… off too. She weighed… well, the weight didn't match what her power said the woman's muscle and bone density was, and there was absolutely no sign of malnutrition. Quite the opposite, in fact.

As far as Amy's power could tell, Epopeia's body was a marvel of human biology, operating well at its peak. It was operating at the peak of a person with a much larger build. Most importantly, it was operating at the levels of a mild strength enhancing Brute.

While not having powers, as far as the science behind parahumans would claim.

Was it connected to the secondary nervous system (name pending)? She didn't know. But this was…

She needed more information.

[Agreement.]

"Heh, didn't know you liked them with an ugly mug, Pan-Pan." Amy startled as Challenger called her out on her fugue and she focused again. Her eyes widened slightly as she realised Epopeia's arm was whole and healthy again (more than healthy) and that she spent the last few minutes seemingly staring at another woman's face. Before she jolted and took her hand off Epopeia's shoulder, her power registered a small spike of activity in the other woman's brain, different from the alterations already there. It felt really tempting to just go back and unravel the mystery but…

"That's two for two with women making eyes at me when I look like an oni and a yharnamite got freaky, I'm almost scared to see what people on PHO will be saying." Epopeia chuckled self-deprecatingly as she flexed her healed arm, idly pulling away the bloodstained bandages to reveal… completely intact red bandages matching those on her left?

Definitely some kind of power interaction (but she shouldn't have powers).

"My interest in your body is purely platonic, hotstuff." Challenger chortled as she slapped Amy on the back. "Can't guarantee little miss healer isn't dreaming of a little bit of Nightingale Effect style romance~."

"I-I am not-!" Amy managed to choke out, feeling her face burn under the scarf. She growled and flexed her fingers before slumping with a sigh. She really didn't need an extra workload of figuring out how someone could have powers without a corona.

But…

It felt…

Relaxing.

Her own power came to her easy and instinctively and eager, almost, for the first time… since she could recall, really. Even while she was only healing. It didn't push against her control to demand more of her.

She should really make sure that the secondary nervous system wasn't a bad thing. Just in case. Totally.

"Joking aside, from that look, I assume we're scheduling a followup checkup once the holiday rush is over?" Epopeia asked suddenly. Her face was hard to read, but there was something… intent, there.

"At least a few." Thank god. She could kiss Epopeia for that out. "I wouldn't normally do this unless your power was actively screwing you over but…"

"You really like her tits."

"I really like your ti- Challenger!" She shrieked in mortification, whirling to face the Protectorate heroine who just looked with an unapologetic grin. She growled again, a bit louder, just to feel something other than mortification and steeled herself to face the Red Cape (the other red cape, damn you for your inconvenient colour scheme, Challenger). "I just have some concerns."

"I got a few hunches there, but not something to talk about with people not under medical oath. As much as I appreciate your charming interjections, Challenger." The not-parahuman huffed, "Yeah, that's fine by me. I got some stuff I'd like to discuss with you anyways. Also, fuck, now I'm wondering if like this I got yellow or brown fat."

"Save the technical talk for your dates." Challenger shook her head with a grin. "Anyway, you'll have to leave your number with Epopeia and pray, Pan-Pan, the poor thing has no phone right now so can't swap numbers easily."

"Great, answering unknown numbers and hoping it's not a scam." Amy sighed but did as instructed. At least she would know not to expect the call today. Small mercies of the holiday season.

"Hah, I'll call at around six-fifteen in the afternoon, that should let you know it's me." The red anomaly chuckled.

---

Emily put away the report with a grunt as she looked up at the woman sitting on the other side of her desk. Her fingers drummed a steady beat against the wood as she regarded Challenger with exasperated frustration. The unmasked cape in front of her was frustrating to deal with, at times. Not the worst parahuman Emily had the misfortune of working with, no, not by a mile, but her quirks were…

"Year barely starts and the Empire is already on the move." She summarised. Mostly because Hellhound decided to celebrate her New Year by pissing Hookwolf off. Fucking parahumans, always starting trouble.

"It's what it is." Challenger shrugged easily and Emily resisted the urge to grind her teeth. With how Challenger's power worked, one would assume she would be more… eager to make some permanent changes in the parahuman landscape of Brockton Bay. Not for the first time in her life, Emily found herself heavily disappointed in her assessment of parahumans.

"So, we've got a new cape too?" She prodded instead. The report had been frustratingly sparse on details, and Challenger didn't bring them in for power testing, or for talk, or anything. Emily knew better than to ask about recruitment attempts. Challenger didn't do those in the first place. Barely complied with Protectorate guidelines as it was.

Challenger nodded as she reclined in the chair, crossing her legs. "First of all, almost definitely not a Bet native. Arrived within the last two days at most. Doesn't have a phone, tried to dress it up but it was definitely 'don't have one' not 'got stolen' or 'got lost'. Subtly different slang when relaxed. Very casual about being unmasked, but that could be chalked up to her being a Changer."

And here was a silver lining of working with Challenger. The woman was observant, underneath casual battle junkie tendencies and deliberate disregard for rules and guidelines.

"Changer into Brute, then? Fairly typical combination. Sometimes, I wonder if it shouldn't just get folded into it as a sub-variant."

"Brute for sure. Enhanced physicality across the board, pain dampening and minor regenerative ability." Challenger rattled off. "Comes with its own change of clothes, strangely enough, not that it covers much. But the outfit is in some way vital to the function of the power. The armwraps came back immediately after Panacea restored the relevant arm." Challenger paused, rocking the chair slowly as she thought. "Has another form, low Stranger, just a perception filter. Didn't notice her until she was in the middle of Hookwolf's men, cutting them up."

"I have long since given up on trying to convince independents against lethal force." Emily sighed as she massaged her temples. Not that she would cry particularly hard in this instant. Fucking nazis were the blight on her city.

"Mhm. Curiously, Stranger form is faster than Brute, smartheads would probably tackle a Mover rating on, too. Just speed, tho, otherwise nothing fancy. It comes with weapons too, and those can be shared between forms. The Brute didn't demonstrate any weapons itself, so I would posit it doesn't come equipped with any. Good quality too."

Emily nodded to herself. Stranger-Mover would be a pain in the ass at the best of times. Stranger-Mover who brought a decent street-level Brute along the ride? Fucking hell.

"Also…" Challenger added slowly as she righted her chair and leaned forward, completely serious and focused. Email found herself sitting a little bit straighter just for how off this was for the cape. "There's something off about her, biology wise. Panacea zoned out for a good moment when using her power on Epopeia, and then wanted regular check-ups."

Emily considered what the Protectorate knew of Panacea's power. Then, she considered the other capes appearing out of thin air with forms removed from the baseline.

"You think we have another Case type on our hands?"

Challenger dipped her head in an approximation of an aborted nod. "Can't tell with the information I have and the observations I've managed to glimpse. Our best bet would be managing to convince Epopeia to submit to a full power testing and medical exam here, buuuut…"

"Our reputation with independent parahumans." Emily groaned. "Dismissed."

She waited until Challenger left her office before allowing herself to put her head in her hands. Fan-fucking-tastic. A possible Case. Should she just kick it higher up and go back to her job? Would the Chief Director even care, with such limited information? And if she did, would Emily get some extra manpower? Fucking parahumans. Fucking office politics.

She would have to think about it. Maybe until after Challenger had her own 'appointment' with Epopeia.

---

Hell's Brew was a small coffee house at the edge of the Docks and the Downtown, just off the Boardwalk. It was an unassuming building, its door decorated with a mosaic in shades of red and dark brown, supposedly representing flames used to fry coffee beans. The interior was dark, the owner preferring to keep the display window hidden behind heavy curtains and the lights only partially powered. It did, however, have excellent chairs and sofas for one to sink into and really relax, and the coffee was genuinely good and strong. It also served tea and a choice selection of alcohol, all of fine quality, but it was clear the house was a passion project.

The house was closed for the start of the year, officially, but the owner and their social circle made use of it anyway. The coffee was good, and the furniture, comfortable. And, with no way to subtly peek in and the half-lit ambience, it was a very comfortable private setting. Perfect for a gathering of capes.

"We really should rethink letting Bitch waltz into our territory and use the shelters here. Just draws the heat from the Empire." Terracotta grumbled as he stared into his cup, his balaclava pulled up enough to reveal his lower face and allow the Chinese man to drink his coffee. "Especially since Undersiders have started hitting our businesses."

"A lesson must be taught, on that I'm in agreement." Big Brother inclined head, voice languid. The parahuman was unmasked and wore a business suit in lieu of costume. If not for the spider pin with a kanji for 'eye' on the lapel, Big Brother would be utterly unremarkable. He supposed that was the point. Secret identity was somewhat redundant when you had one of those 'perfectly average' faces. "But when not running with them, she breaks no rules, and if not her, Hookwolf would find another reason to start trouble, and it undermines his own businesses, so I see no reason not to keep slowly reeling the young lady in."

The man lazily lounging in the particularly big and plushy chair (practically a throne, one might think) grunted, motioning for the owner to continue as he was doing even as he leaned forward. "But this time it wasn't just a small fry, now was it?" Lóng growled quietly, his voice having the unfortunate quirk of always sounding aggressively rough. They had to learn other tells of his mood because of that.

"A new cape, yeah. Seems like her powers are colour coded." Firefly nodded from where she was nursing a cup on her lap while she herself was seated on the counter, swinging her legs merrily. The owner gave up on correcting her long ago. "Visited the family stand yesterday. Thought she was just some kind of low-tier Stranger, lots of indigo, was gonna bring it up at the next official meet." The half-Japanese half-Vietnamese girl explained merrily. "Wasn't sure at first but then she slurped an entire bowl of unagidon without liftin' her bandana so, y'know."

"Not quite the pettiest use of powers I've heard of, but definitely up there." Big Brother commented idly. "And she was in the Asian Market today, before running off to confront Hookwolf. Not that she knew it was him, at the time." The cape added with a small smile.

"Terracotta?" Lóng inclined his head towards the Chinese cape.

"Caught a glimpse of indigo, yes. Challenger wasn't trying very hard when she showed up, probably thought she might let us soften the gǒu first." He supplied.

"The hero is a crafty one. A decent fighter too, unlike many who simply rely on their powers." The dragon admitted, rubbing at his chin.

"Still, what Firefly says matches my own observations. A very fast Stranger with simple perception filter ability. Seems to work best when she is in a crowd." Terracotta chimed with a small nod.

"And, as it turns out, it might be a Changer with multiple load-outs." Firefly nodded along, then took a deep gulp of her coffee and sighed. "Indigo for fast Stranger with perception filter and some proficiency with knives." Oni Lee actually looked up from where he was brewing another batch of coffee at that, with something resembling interest in his posture. "Red for some kind of Brute. Initially slower than the Stranger, but has some kind of ability to burst up." The colourful cape recounted, tapping her lip with a finger, mouth opening and closing a couple of times.

"Something else?" Lóng asked.

Firefly made to shake her head, before slowly nodding. She straightened a little bit. "This is going to be just my conjecture, boss…" She paused, before steeling herself as Lóng nodded and reclined back in his chair. "I think she might have more forms. At least one more. The first one was indigo, the second red. It would make some sense to balance things out with a green form. Melee focused, brute forced Red on one end. Stealthy, finesse based form in-between for Blue. Well, indigo so it kinda muddles the precise shade of my theoretical other end of the spectrum." The girl admitted with a crooked smile. "But yeah, Green. If I had to come up with anything for that supposed Green… A skirmishing form. Some kind of hit-and-run focusing on speed, possibly ranged to balance out her options."

Lóng nodded slowly as he took the information. "Makes sense, if not provable in any way save for her choosing to reveal such an ability, should she have it. Anything else?"

"Viable for recruitment, but nothing that would lead to unmasking." Firefly concluded after a moment. "Chinese-Spanish mix."

Lóng nodded and rapped his fingers against the side of his chair. "That leaves the matter of debt. She helped, when she didn't need to. Nothing significant, but owing anything to an outsider rattles all the same."

They all nodded at that. One thing to lean on the community you've built over the years when trouble came, another to have a stranger (heh) get involved.

"The last I've seen her," Big Brother drawled slowly. "She was receiving medical attention from Panacea at Brockton Central Hospital. I've instructed my Eye to keep her shopping safe despite her not having returned for it yet. I could arrange for a recompense to easily find its way inside the bag."

"Do so. I'll leave the precise amount to your discretion" Lóng agreed. "As for the recruitment, I'll think about it. Good job on not dying to Hookwolf, you two." Terracotta and Firefly nodded, the girl grinning. She supposed it was fair. Many underestimated long established capes while fresh on their powers. Not Empire, most of the time, but being part of something larger gave that confidence an unnecessary boost. Firefly, at the very least, wasn't expected to make it too long, given the girl's personality. Maybe they will stay with ABB for a decent amount of time.

---

[Supply Run: Objective Complete!]

[Reward: 1x Saint Quartz. You now have a fridge fuller than before. Received $500 from ABB. Received Big Brother's and Firefly's ABB tokens.]

"...Well, the ABB now knows I can make enchanted items." Outis muttered as she eyed the roll of bills at the bottom of the unnaturally deep bag, together with a pair of traditional square hole coins. One with a spider and a japanese kanji, the other with a firework in full bloom, both in red and green of course.

Huh, getting into fulu could be fun… assuming Violet Caster gave her the muscle memory to get the calligraphy right. At least even END E would make sure her wrist wouldn't cramp. May even be relaxing and there was something to be said for flinging around talismans and coins like she was a Touhou character.

A Wraith gingerly tapping her on the shoulder jarred her out of her musings. Apparently they were done getting everything she'd bought sorted, so may as well go to the Great Hall to hang out with Liz while food cooked.

…Hopefully it wouldn't take long, she hadn't eaten anything today yet. Unless you counted the apple juice and energy bar that'd been shoved into her hands after Panacea was done with her as a meal, anyways.


"Oh, you poor, naive thing." Is what she got from a cooing Elizabeth instead. The dragoness, upon spotting her entering the great hall, just waved her over with a piece of ham, inviting Outis to the head table where she had a small spread of ham, eggs and fish. "A proper meal takes time. We'll have to avail ourselves with something quick and simple, I'm afraid." She scrunched her nose and looked down for a moment. "I know, I know, it does reflect poorly on the host, even if the circumstances permit the lapse, but at least you don't have to worry for your recovery, I've made sure there's plenty of calories and protein."

"Much appreciated." Outis said as she took a seat to the Countess' right, letting out a soft sound of relief as the cushions took her weight. Without an Install, the day was starting to catch up with her. Speaking of– "How was your day, Elizabeth?"

"Uneventful. Took care of Csejte's inventory before having a small rehearsal." The Idol explained in between bites. "Need to make sure the castle is properly taken care of, even if it ought to be in good condition, having just been erected. And gotta be ready for the debut at all times~." She winked at Outis before giggling. "Just some old songs to keep in shape."

Humming, the pinkette propped herself on her elbows as she focused on Outis properly. "Of course, that means as your hostess, I do have a very important topic to broach. Namely, your accommodations, Deerlet." She batted her eyelashes at Outis. "Well, yours and others, but you are a far more important guest, no?"

"Part and parcel of being the linchpin keeping everyone here, even if I'm sure the likes of Gilgamesh would disagree." Outis replied diplomatically, keeping the flutter of her heart under wraps with long practice. Liz, even this version without the propensity for torture, was dangerous. That was Charisma for you, she supposed. "...Well, I'm not sure how much it is me and how much is Da'at, but since we're bound together the point is moot."

"That pervert." Liz muttered darkly under her breath, cheeks reddening ever so slightly. Well, looked like that particular bit of CCC had been true, "I really don't care to discuss him, so let's return to more pleasant topics."

"Let's. While we were one I learned that it isn't out of the norm to share the solar with an important enough guest, but whether I merit that is up to you. I'd sooner gnaw off my arm than presume to dictate who a lady allows into her private quarters." The black haired girl said before popping a couple folded slices of meat and cheese into her mouth. She also knew that a truly distinguished guest would have the lord and lady give up the solar altogether to them, but like hell she was bringing that up.

"The system is quite convenient when it wants to be, hmmm?" Elizabeth commented as she rested her head on her balled fist, her tail lazily sweeping low over the floor.

[Smoothing things over is part of my purpose.]

"And you have my thanks for that." The dragoness waved at the air. Her gaze swept over Outis for a moment, slowly taking her in as she thought. "Well, you've already enjoyed the luxury of my bed, so it would be quite cruel to force you into lesser accommodations. Especially since we only have 'retainer' quality otherwise, for the time being. Soooo~" Her smile turned impish before she continued. "I would not object to sharing it properly~."

"I feel for your future fans, you're going to tease the poor things so much." The woman said with a shake of her head, covering up the surprise and treacherous twinge of her heart with humour. Not that it did anything for the dusting of pink on her cheeks, damn her pale complexion, "But far be it for me to refuse your kindness."

Truth be told, she slept best when she had someone to cuddle, and couldn't sleep at all unless she at least had a pillow clutched to her. Even with yesterday's exhaustion she'd still woken up wrapped around one of Liz's. Besides, she was sure the Countess would love Outis' excessive body heat.

"It is decided then!" Elizabeth cheered. "We will have to get you a proper wardrobe as well, but that can wait until the shops for these things open. For now, it is just you and me, and perhaps another Servant you decide to let out, until the meal is ready… which would be dinner time, at this rate."

[Elizabeth Bathory Bond Level 2 gained.]

"Cheeky thing, aren't you." The Countess commented with false demureness, drumming her nails against the table. "There are some personality types who would hate having their feelings laid bare like that, you know?"

[I know how to handle tsunderes.]

Outis couldn't help a snort. God, but she was coming to love these goobers and it'd only been a day and a half.

---

The ghostly staff of Csejte managed to prepare a veritable feast in the few hours left until evening. Elizabeth, naturally, managed a completely accidental humblebrag by apologising for the meagre size of it all, even as the main table was enveloped by the veritable cloud of steam from the piping hot bowls of csirkepaprikás, lecsó and sólet. In general, the theme seemed to be 'very red' and 'paprika'. Not that she was complaining, mind, everything looked delicious.

"We would offer some bread and sausages but… well, trust me Deerlet, you haven't truly eaten bread 'till you tasted freshly baked langos, still hot and steaming, fresh from the stone oven." Elizabeth crooned as she patted the Wraith serving them. "And my staff are… strict about the quality of meat, sausages especially, so it will take some time before we have any, as they will be making them from the ground up."

"Looking forward to it. It'll be interesting to see how they stack up against chorizo, butifarra and fuet." Outis chuckled, running a finger over the edge of the holographic deck of cards in front of her. They may as well bring an extra guest to help with all this food and while she didn't think this one had near as monstrous an appetite as the Pendragons, the sooner she had him on the board, the better. "For now, though, there's another guest to welcome."

A flick of her wrist and the Archer Card flew to the feet of the main table. The circle manifested, the orbs of white began their dance turning rainbow before a pillar of azure light woven with strands of silver heralded the arrival of their new ally.

Then, the pillar dispersed, not into motes or just fading away, but into a swarm of light blue butterflies. All fluttering away from the elder gentleman bowing before them, an overengineered cane definitely hiding either a hidden blade or a gun judging by its head tucked under his right arm.

"Mmmm. The circumstances of this summoning are most certainly more unusual than even the previous one's." James Moriarty mused as he raised his head, revealing a genial, polite smile. "Still, I must say that the current company says interesting things about your order of methodology, Master."

"A shining paragon of morality riding on a high horse I am not, Professor." Outis chuckled, perfectly at ease despite having an infamous murderess to her left and the Napoleon of Crime at her front, "Truth be told, before my first day in this world was out, I had decided to work as something of a mercenary with principles. Then you answered the call and, well, I wasn't about to let a half-formed plan get in the way of a golden opportunity."

Moriarty regarded her in silence for a moment. "Fwahahaha! Good! Very good!" The man chuckled as he clapped. "Milady, may I?" He asked, shifting his attention to Elizabeth momentarily.

"Tis was I who suggested an additional guest at my table in the first place, Professor." The Countess motioned for the table. "I hope you do like spice."

"My dear lady, the Empire took over a third of the world for some extra seasoning." The mastermind replied as he gracefully rounded the table to take a seat on the opposite side of Outis to Liz. "Sometimes, we used it to cook instead of making more money by reselling, even!"

"Scandalous." The Master of Cards drawled dryly, the corner of her mouth curling as she relaxed in her seat. Truly, she couldn't ask for better company.

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow and MetaWorld42 who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

AN: Okay, now that Moriarty is here, don't expect any other Servant to be manifested or Installed for the rest of the arc (which has another five chapters to go). This is IC because Outis wants to slowball things to fool the funny flying post- and precog as to the extent of their abilities and also because they want to actually get to know the Servants and build a rapport rather than just dumping five randoms together and hope it turns out for the best. Technically that doesn't cover Installing but Outis feels it is a poor idea to just jam a Servant in her soul without having talked with them first and gotten permission.

OOC it is because we want to keep a semblance of pacing and also to properly establish the character voice of each Servant that's going to be booling around regularly.

 

[Omida]

January 3rd

The holiday weekend finally ended, and with it, the Boardwalk finally opened back fully, alongside the rest of the city. Which meant it was time to go on a proper shopping spree, to ensure Outis had enough clothes to last her without repetition. That was Elizabeth's decree. The Countess herself decided it would be good to pick up some of the local fashion for her own, too, seeing as the Csejte didn't exactly come with a wardrobe update. Which meant that, even once Violet Caster had cooked up an amulet to hide her inhuman features, all Elizabeth could wear without rousing suspicion was a blouse from her wardrobe. Practically a nightgown, really, put under her dress to create an illusion of modesty.

How that modification alone both didn't look like a sloppy mess and somehow managed to make the whole ensemble look somewhat casual was witchcraft entirely beyond Violet Caster. The Countess of Csejte was truly a terrifying woman.

"As a noblewoman, and more importantly, an idol, it is but natural that I can make any outfit look good. And then put that instinct to practice until I am also experienced at it." The dragoness explained with a smug grin as soon as she noticed Outis' astonishment.

"You never cease to amaze." Outis said with a shake of her head and a crooked grin as she let the Install drop. "Now, do you want this to be a girls' day out, or would you rather–" A flick of a mental switch and the bizarre sensation of being stretched out. Man, his female form really was tiny compared to its counterpart. Still, he managed a charming enough smile, he hoped, "I escort you as a gentleman ought to?"

He was met with a blank blink and a momentary silence as Elizabeth's brain clearly and visibly did its best to reboot from the new information. Huh, hadn't Da'at's data dump covered this for his Servants?

[It did not seem consequential enough.]

[I will make a note to include that sort of information in the future.]

Fair enough. It wasn't that important compared to language and modern custom–

"Of course it's important!" Elizabeth screeched at the air before grabbing Outis, her nails digging hard enough in to feel uncomfortable as she looked him over. "Ssss-He will need two sets of wardrobe! Maybe three, if we want to include unisex as a separate option."

[Brilliant reasoning.]

The Countess huffed as she released her Master and began patting him all over. "Can't have my manager look bad, even if you don't seem to mind looking like a very attractive, surprisingly well-kempt homeless person."

"Enchanting clothes to adjust to my body shouldn't be too-too hard, at least? So aside from dresses and skirts, everything should be usable in both forms." Outis chuckled as he let it happen, choosing to focus on the 'attractive and well-kempt' parts. Then his smile softened, gently taking Liz's fretting hands into his own, "Thank you for the concern, I know I can get too fixated on work to think of how I present myself. I will be in your care."

"Y-you are welcome." Elizabeth muttered, hiding her face by looking down. "I-I guess it's not quite the reason t-to work in pairs but we do complement each other nicely, hmmm~?" She gave him another grin before finally stepping back. "Although, I must say, magic feels like cheating, in this regard. Must be why so few Casters I've met had any sense for what proper fashion is."

"That list begins and ends at Medea, I bet." Outis snorted, before popping out his elbow in clear invitation.

"Da Vinci and that slutty fox too." Elizabeth sighed, even as she wrapped her arms around the offered limb and leaned into Outis. "Mhm… This feels nice. Nostalgic."

Then, there was the question of getting to Boardwalk from all the way beyond Trainyard. Initially, Outis had thought of trying out Yellow Rider and its magic horse, at least for the initial leg of the journey beyond moving by the rooftops… until Elizabeth pointed out the existence of the bus line stopping by the abandoned train station… for some reason.

Maybe some sort of policy about leaving public transportation connected to the station, no matter that no train actually stopped there anymore? Either that or there were enough people living in the Trainyard to make the extra stop worthwhile. Well, if Liz wanted to experience the wonders of American public transport with Outis, more power to her.

Moriarty, the lucky bastard, departed on his own, taking full advantage of his much better Agility. Was it a poor idea to let that man loose on the city? Arguably, but if anyone would be in trouble it sure as hell wouldn't be Outis. Besides, he worked best alone.

---

Lisa grumbled as she watched the Boardwalk from her cosy little table inside the small caffe with a good view of the street. Apparently, a new cape had appeared and, as always, Coil needed to know everything he could about them. Which meant dragging Lisa out of her nice, warm hideout and into the chilly streets of the East Coast during winter. With barely any leads. All Lisa knew was that she was looking for an indigo-looking woman who wasn't a local and was comfortable interacting with people normally even costumed up.

Whooppitty-dooppity-dooo, boss. Thanks for all this detail.

Coil, of course, would counter that it was Lisa's job to learn things for him. So here she was, staking out the Boardwalk because it was one of the two places the new parahuman showed up at. Trying to sift through the veritable ocean of useless garbage data her power fed her whenever she decided to actually use it. Unfortunately, with no concrete leads that meant turning it on and off at random.

…slightly hurried, talking fast, visibly nervous… Great, another cheating spouse.

…green hair, about sixteen years old, papered-over bottle… Didn't take super-intuition to spot an obvious Irish kid. Could at least drink his beer somewhere less public.

…a group huddled together, motion indicates counting money, nervous energy, standing almost in front of the door to Homerun, definitely there to get a peak at Kanabo… Lisa looked away before her power would helpfully provide her with a full dissertation of the kids' kinks and most likely the contents of their wet dreams. There truly was such a thing as too much information.

…pale, naturally, not from lack of sunlight. Black hair, immaculate, recently cleaned. Thoroughly. Not too short, not too tall, almost as if someone looked up 'caucasian average' and applied it to him. Not actually caucasian. No indication of nationality… Lisa blinked and actually focused on the man. That sounded like a minor Stranger. And yes, her target was supposed to be female but… Strangers.

The guy was accompanied by a girl almost literally hanging off of his arm, all affectionate. Pink hair, really? She would never understand this kind of scream for attent–

Natural colour. The distribution suggests altered skull structure. There's something hidden from the view. The way it moves suggests horns, likely more ram-like than the stuff Kanabo has. The way the hair moves around the ears suggests visual alteration of the ear structure. The way the skirt moves with her and the difference in how she balances her movements mean she is sporting a tail. Not recent, too used to both moving with it and navigating a crowd without smacking everyone with it.

Lisa cut off her power before a Thinker headache could form. She definitely found a solid lead here. Two Strangers on a date? Definitely hit a goldmine. She stood up, leaving the payment for her order at the table as she made to exit the caffe. Now, she just had to follow the two and keep up observing them…

While they acted openly, sickeningly sweet.

Fuck.

---

"There's something to be said about this fast food thing." Elizabeth babbled as they made their way towards the clothing stores, in between bites of her burger. "Never quite got the Goth Arthur's obsession with'em, but I guess even peasant food can taste good. At least fresh. Just right when it comes to juiciness of the meat and they certainly aren't afraid of experimenting with details."

"Mhm, sometimes you just want something simple and filling." Outis agreed after a long sip of his milkshake. The new body came without lactose intolerance according to Da'at, so he could finally indulge without playing dice with Nurgle. "And yeah, America does love to put new twists on things, usually without crimes against cuisine like Brazil does. Or Japan when it comes to anything Italian."

Fukkin ketchup based sauces. Broken, too, because they were addicted to that oil shimmer.

"Some things should remain sacred." The Countess agreed with a grimace. "Fortunately for me, Hungarian cuisine is not quite world famous so I was spared the… excitement."

"Ugh, that reminds me of that one hotel in Prague. Sorriest excuse for goulash I have had the disgrace to taste. Like chunks of rubber in gutter mud." Outis shuddered theatrically, "I had to live off of street food the entire stay."

"Rely on servants, if you cannot guarantee anything else. They, at least, put heart into their meals." Elizabeth bobbed her head. "Merchants will do anything for money, and like anything about doing things for money, they will try for the least effort and cost while trying to rip your purse off."

"Hear hear." The black haired man huffed with a dry chuckle, "Speaking of, time to go into the pits of modern women's fashion. You'll be glad I can 'cheat' with clothes real quick, trust me."

---

The worst part of the whole ordeal, Lisa decided, was that she wasn't sure which of the two Strangers she should really focus on. Oh, she could get actionable intel from both at the same time, she was good enough for that, but it didn't make the prospect of an incoming headache any better. Sliding into an aisle, she started idly browsing the clothes in front of her pretty much on autopilot while she focused on the conversation on the other side.

…looks around eighteen of age, is much older. High class upbringing, used to having all of her needs taken care of but spent enough time without that kind of support structure to be able to function relatively normally. Egotistic. Or rather, raised in belief she is naturally superior to those of lower social class. Has definitive expectations regarding behaviour connected to one's social standing. Possibly delusional… Native speaker command of English but with a hint of an accent. Looks European, the accent is… Hungarian.

Huh, so that's how that was supposed to sound. Still, an European cape? An European cape going through some real obvious midlife crisis, from what her power was managing to dig out. Part of Empire's wider support network? Why else would she come to the States?

Negative. Sense of superiority completely disconnected from racial beliefs. Weak to genuine compliments and flirting, especially from men. Has been a long time since she was in a relationship with a man, more used to female attention, definitely a bi–

Lisa let out a quiet groan even as she turned her power off for a moment to stop it from going on a tangent. She did not need to know the Hungarian Stranger's sexual orientation, and most likely experience. Why her power insisted on providing this kind of tangent whenever she overused it, she couldn't ever begin to guess. Well, time to refocus on the guy.

…Has actual authority over her. Humouring her, partially because he is a bleeding heart, partially because he is a horny guy weak to cute girls with inhuman bits stapled on. Lisa sighed tiredly as she moved down the aisle to keep the illusion of shopping going. This was her life, then. Getting to hear about people's kinks on the job. Mixed lineage. Any overt expressions have been covered by the change to the current… non-ethnic appearance. Previously strongly European. Hints of accent suggest Spanish. The change is very recent. Speaks with familiarity with her habits, behaviours and general history.

A recent trigger, then. And either a Thinker or someone who already worked with her in the same organisation prior to that. So why would he be the one to be put in charge of whatever mission they were on if she was the older one and with more time as a parahuman?

Personality and intelligence flaws make her ill suited.

Lisa considered the information. An excitable, ditzy dumbass with some instinctive grasp of social manipulation, then. Okay, fair. Or another social Thinker. Still it made the two Strangers really fucking weird, power dynamics wise. He was the one with official authority which she explicitly acknowledged and called the shots but she was also a bundle of all of the weak points designed to make his brain turn off and with clear expectations of how a relationship should go. And he knew that and let her lead him anyway. Maybe it was different on the clock? But then…

"Someone here is definitely grooming someone, and the worst part is, I can't tell who is who." Lisa muttered under her breath as she shut off her power and abandoned the pretence of shopping to focus on trying to massage away the building migraine. By the time she finished her pity party session, the two were already going out of the door, so Lisa had no choice but to quietly curse and follow.

"Ahem, if you could excuse me, young lady?"

Lisa was stopped just outside the store. Turning around, she saw an elderly, greying man, a brown vest over white shirt, black suit pants with white stripes, suit shoes and black gloves. He leaned against the portion of the wall separating the store windows.

Singled you out on purpose. Noticed you snooping around and following the two. Waited to make sure. Body language indicates he doesn't feel particularly threatened, either for himself or his companions. Doesn't actually know anything about you, save for you being purposefully looking for information on them. Has experience operating in crowded areas. Aggressively British. Old fashioned.

Lisa shut down her power before the headache could hit with a vengeance again. She gave the man a good look. If not for the fact one of the lovebirds was completely devoid of racial markers, she would say the man before her could be related. He was definitely pale enough, if in a more natural way. Now, how to assuage the worries of maybe-actual handler of the two parahumans?

She plastered a smile on her face, more of a faux-concerned one than one of her usual ones. "I'm sorry if I made you worry about your son, sir." She inclined her head. "His choice in girlfriends simply has me… concerned."

The man's lips quirked up in an approximation of a smile as he shifted around, pulling himself off the wall. "My… son, hmmm?" He knows you bluffed the relation to fish for information. "While I wouldn't worry about the boy's judgement in this case, I am curious as to how you have come to the conclusion he is in danger. Even if Young Miss has a certain… reputation."

Blatantly fishing for information on your capabilities. Blatantly hints that the woman is the more dangerous of the two. Reputation comment indicates a villain for her, and thus for him. The younger man… attempt at corruption? Definitely some form of shifting the methodology to accommodate new membership. Unknown if dedicated change or temporary measure.

Oh, someone fancied themselves a social manipulator? Lisa felt her smile twist into something vulpine as she batted her eyelashes at the older man. "Maybe I am psychic and read her mind?"

"You have not." The man answered, amusement clear in his tone as his grey eyes glinted with…

Amused. Not with the joke. Is criminally inclined. Amusement due to knowing that if you did possess the ability to read minds you would not be so casual with him. Is willing to trade banter anyway. Interested out of boredom.

The man started to walk in the direction his comrades walked away in and Lisa gleefully took advantage of their banter to also keep going there.

"Perhaps that's my power? Plenty of outlandish abilities out there." She prodded.

"Hmph. One needs nothing but their own brain and a working pair of eyes to be able to infer much about a person." He harrumphed.

Truth. Implies he has some kind of power but it is not any kind of Thinker ability. Extremely proud of his intellect, would feel insulted if anyone insinuated otherwise.

Great, another Faultline situation.

---

"A good beginning, I suppose." Elizabeth grumbled at the meagre three outfits (each) they managed to purchase with the ABB money. "Will need more, who has only three for themselves?! That's barely acceptable for three days! What if you need to attend a formal event? Entertain guests? Clothes are the soul of a lady!" The dragoness seethed, flexing her fingers as if restraining herself from tearing into something. Eventually, she sighed and shook her head before plastering a smile onto her face and snuggling into Outis' side yet again. "How about we grab something more to eat? I need a distraction. New culinary experiences are great for that."

"How do you feel about Japanese style grilled eel?" Outis asked with a tilt of his head after letting Liz's rant wash over him. Firefly's stall should be pretty close.

Elizabeth's expression soured slightly as she thought about it. "I would prefer to avoid Japanese stuff, but I guess as long as it's limited to food… only because you are also new to this city and haven't had the time to scout good places properly."

"The owners are half Vietnamese, maybe ask for a special from that side? I have no idea what that cuisine is like, honestly." The black haired man offered after a moment's thought. It'd have been nice to introduce Liz to the wonders of unagi, but the whole point of grabbing a quick bite here was to clear her bad mood.

"A new experience for both of us, then." Elizabeth relaxed into Outis again, giving the man a small, crooked smile.

Fortunately for Elizabeth's continued good mood, they found the stall Firefly owned in a different part of the Docks, deeper into the presumed Vietnamese portion of Asiatown. Although, once again, bordering another ethnic quarter. This time, the stall was being operated by Makoto alone.

"An European young lady approaches our humble abode, accompanied by a man who looks like he stepped out of the screen of a youth animation." The male twin greeted them, doing a decent impression of Firefly's own mannerisms. He reached over his head and unhooked the menu from where it was hanging, before handing it over. "Please, do not hesitate to take your time."

"And lo, did the cardboard become 3D." Outis chuckled self-deprecatingly, before focusing on the menu. He didn't have a smartphone to look this stuff up in, but going by the ingredient list… "Cá Nướng, maybe?"

Truly, the only thing three years of Biotech (and one of Philology, granted) had done for him was teach him how to flawlessly pronounce anything on the first try.

"A couple's option, gotcha." Makoto nodded as he set out to prepare what looked to be a whole damn fish, generously sprinkled over with spices and vegetables. "Grilled meat always goes well with a sauce. How spicy do you feel like eating?"

"If it can't rearrange your guts, are you really offering spicy seasonings?" Elizabeth countered. Outis quietly prayed that Alaya had seen fit to give him a body able to keep up with his Servant's tastes. The Vietnamese did not fuck around with their spice.

"Young lady is very brave. Most white people can't handle the potion seller's strongest potions." Makoto jokingly took the order.

"That's because they're usually English. Hungarians are built different, in my experience. Mostly out of paprika." Outis chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Mmmm… hehehe~." Elizabeth giggled absentmindedly before wiping the corner of her mouth with her wrist. "I did have the opportunity to sample Asian, prepared by some excellent chefs, too."

---

"I must say, the radial design seems… cumbersome."

Familiar with advanced technology. Used to a different programming and UI base than standard. Not from Earth Bet. Plays up the stereotype of old people being bad with tech.

Lisa had to give the old man one thing. He knew how to reel you in and keep your interest up. She hardly even noticed when her original targets slipped them completely before the man asked for some help with 'a small technical errand'.

"I'm not an expert, or a tech geek, but from what I've glanced, it helps with mishaps. Gotta pay attention to what you're doing."

"If you say so." Humours the explanation. Thinks it's marketing a bad feature gone horribly right. "In my experience, convenience and simplicity bring in more customers. And if their carelessness caused them to need replacements…" Lisa didn't need her power to tell her what that careless shrug meant. She would like to think she got something of a handle on the man by now. "Alas, it's not as if I can afford to experiment right now. Any recommendations for an old man learning the wheels?"

"The… wheels?" Saying from his Earth. Part of it. Refers to someone experienced teaching someone something.

"Oh? Have the idioms between good ol' Britain and the overseas really diverged that hard?

"You are a bit far from home, old man."

"Dohohoho!" He really had way too much fun playing his age up. "There's, however, a slight issue."

Oh?

The man turned to Lisa and gave her another smile. No hidden meanings. Intentionally showing embarrassment and vulnerability. Actually needs help. Is perfectly aware this is a play on your feelings to make the likelihood of receiving the help higher.

Fucking bullshit. She refused to believe the man wasn't a social Thinker. No one was that smart and good at playing people without powers.

"You see, young lady… I do not, strictly speaking, have a legal address to provide to receive the benefits of actually owning the phone."

You are being played.

Of course she was being played! Even a complete moron could tell they were being played!

Still, that man was the best Lisa got from today. Even if her power insisted he wasn't a Thinker, she could always sell it to Coil that he was, in fact, a Thinker.

"One condition." She held out her right hand, a single finger extended to illustrate the point. The man inclined his head in sign of agreement. "I will give you my number. I will call soon~ish enough. A favour to collect."

The man remained silent for a moment, looking her over, eyes far more focused than before. Analysing you. Evaluating your worth. Evaluating risk-reward ratio.

"Within reason." He eventually answered. "I'll, at the bare minimum, agree to hear you out. If I decline to do what you want, you will still have that favour."

That was… ridiculously generous.

"Deal." She replied almost immediately, thrusting her hand out. He took it and shook. Firmly, with absolute confidence, his eyes never leaving hers.

---

[Welcome to Promethean Paradigm Province of Arrows.]

[This miniature Singularity, alongside many others, is where you are able to obtain Heroic Quintessence, Quantum Pieces, Embers of Experience, Crystallizations of Skill and Monuments of Legend.]

[While Embers, Crystallisations and Monuments are predictable, the Quintessence you obtain depends on the class of the enemy you obtained it from and their rarity.]

He knew what Embers, Skill Gems and Statues were, which by process of elimination… right, the hodge podge of ascension materials. Some of which may be hideously useful beyond upgrading Servants. From Age of the Gods toxins to eternal motion engines… he may not be a proper magus by any metric, but the prospect alone made him salivate.

The entrance to this particular Province was in a back alley behind a row of shops near the Korean-Vietnamese split in the general ABB territory. A faintly glowing green glyph representing a bundle of arrows sprayed onto the wall suggested the general 'entrance', with a faint ripple to the wall's surface.

"Doesn't that run the problem of civilians falling in by accident?" Elizabeth asked as she inspected the obvious portal.

[Only those connected to the System can perceive and interact with the Provinces.]

"That's a relief. There may be a parahuman out there able to circumvent that, but as they say, fuck around and find out." Outis huffed with a shake of his head, before turning to his date. Well, he wasn't entirely sure if Liz considered this a proper one, but they'd had fun doing couple things and she was still clinging to his arm so he was willing to be optimistic about it. "Feel like stretching your wings a bit before we go home?"

"My, oh my, Deerlet, so eager to see an idol at work?" Elizabeth giggled as she patted his arm. "I suppose, since you were a good boy, I can give you a glimpse with an energetic rehearsal~."

"I'd be honoured." He grinned, equal parts giddy and bloodthirsty as he shuffled his Hand. Green Archer, Violet Caster, Orange Saber. Two ranged to have fun with the shooters and someone with a shield if Liz needed a bit of cover while she prepped a song.

[Entering Promethean Paradigm Province.]

The sigil shone brightly with emerald as they touched it, the light enveloping them completely before they were deposited within mini-Singularity. It was… still a cityscape, skyscrapers towering around them, with smaller buildings squeezed in-between, with tight, dark alleys and the main streets littered with abandoned cars. All of it illuminated by a veritable sea of neon lights, green and red dominant amongst them. Whether due to the Chromatic Cards' colour coding or because it was formed due to an ABB parahuman was anyone's guess.

"I'll support from backstage." Outis said as green light bloomed around him, settling into the iconic tunic and feathered cap of a sherwood archer, warm gambeson running under the cloth. Gloved fingers tried his longbow's string, foreign skill telling him it was good and ready to make some unicorns.

"Don't stray too far, Deerlet~! Wouldn't want you to miss the show and I'm not repeating~!" Elizabeth cheered as the pink particles swirled in her grasp, materialising into a spear frankly longer than the dragon girl was tall, with long, twisted blade for a tip, with shorter one jutting just below the main one. The Countess twirled the weapon jauntily in one hand with absolutely no sign of effort.

"Perish the thought." He grinned behind his scarf, giving her a jaunty two-finger salute before leaping to the nearest rooftop. He'd want a bird's eye view to snipe out anyone trying to get cute about ambushe–

Ah, he may be having to punt down some mooks into the streets, he realised halfway up. Depended on how smart these thing– and yep, there were in fact a pair of armed goons at the rooftop he lept in. Dressed all black, hooded jackets over body armour and with matte helmets covering their heads. The two had a handgun strapped to the left thigh and a knife to the right, with an SMG already in hands. Both startled at Outis' arrival, the one further away darting back towards the staircase booth for cover, while the other merely knelt to lower their profile to anyone at street level.

He swapped to Orange Saber just in time to have a small barrage of bullets ping off his shield and blessedly full face helm. Green Archer, to nobody's surprise, was kind of dogshit in close quarters.

"Laaa~!" Came a short, loud note from the street level, blending almost seamlessly into an explosion.

[Obtained an Ember of Arrows.]

"...You're making me miss the show." Outis grumbled lowly into his gorget, wisps of dark orange wafting from the seams of his armour. Saber, like Red Berserker, had a STR of D. Saber, unlike Berserker, also had a MAG of D.

It was not complicated math. An explosion of gravel and he was up in the kneeling mook's face, which was promptly introduced to his kite shield and to the mechanics of a parabolic arc. He didn't even bother with tools for the other, gauntleted hands punching through brick like it was chinese styrofoam construction before closing around the second idiot's throat.

It felt no different than hard rubber and rice crispies under his grip as he yanked the already limp corpse out of the booth like one may a turnip from the soil. The squelching noise was mildly disgusting, but with no associated mess it wasn't anything more than an annoyance.

The gunman fell to the ground with a rather dull thud and the clatter of its weapons against the cement before its body slowly dissolved into fleeting clouds of dark particles. And, as its body lost solidity, there was a chime of glass falling to the ground as a vial of blood-red liquid dropped from them, before fading out of Outis' vision.

[Obtained 2 Bronze Quintessences of Arrows]

[Certain opponents in Promethean Paradigm Provinces are more than just a source of convenient EXP.]

[The system will collect these materials as they are obtained and convert them into Heroic Quintessence. The Quintessences are used when Ascending Servants of the relevant class or upgrading a Chromatic Card's skills past a certain point.]

[Naturally, it's possible to convert Quintessence back into these materials if one wished to study or gift them.]

[Everyone knows the fastest way to a girl's heart is through gifting her a monster's guts, after all.]

"Amen." Outis chuckled as green light washed over him, a bodkin arrow nocked before the glow had faded. "Speaking of a lady's heart, I have a performance to attend and make sure goes smoothly."

Now that he had a clear platform, he could make Green Archer shine. There were mooks to give free trepanations to and an idol's rehearsal to enjoy.

Down on the street, Elizabeth jumped and twirled around, darting from one stony hand-like monster lobbing fireballs at her to another, sometimes countering the enemy fire with burst of dragon breath, which was the source of explosions.

"Haha! I might hire you guys to work on the pyrotechnics for my stage!" The Countess cheered as she spun her spear and outright broke one of the monsters in half with a swing at the middle of its arm-like body.

'If anyone knows pyrotechnics, it is Prometheus' crew.' Outis sent with a chuckle through their telepathic bond, barely paying any mind to his body working on automatic. Breath in, draw, breath out, loose. A skewered skull and one less potential annoyance for Liz. Repeat.

'Mhm. Aaaah, if only they didn't look like that. Having back-up dancers is a staple of the entertainment industry.' Elizabeth bemoaned as she spun around, her tail lashing out to wrap itself around the throat of a painfully stereotypical looking street punk. "Now, now, fans should know touching the idol is a no-no." The dragoness tutted, wagging her finger as her tail pulled the hooligan closer. "That's a punishment, mister." Her tail flexed and the body went limp, before dissolving in her grasp.

Arch had the right of it, Outis decided. Prehensile tails were hot.

'They could be used as something closer to props, but even so they clash a fair bit with your aesthetic, yeah.' He mentally commented as he hopped to a roof now only populated by arrows and fading smoke. 'Programming some low grade golems with a simple choreography shouldn't be too hard, but making them look good is another matter. Maybe you could summon some of your staff once we unlock your other NP? The blurry features shouldn't be a huge issue with the right lightwork.'

'Alas, I'm afraid they aren't much for dancing… not for the kind of dance an idol's stage requires. Prefer to be unseen too. Well, the chance to flex the muscles and try out the moves has been nice, so, I suppose, we can end this with a BOOM~!' Elizabeth replied cheerfully as she hopped atop a car, planting her spear through the thin metal. 'I suggest covering your ears, deerlet. I'm not aiming in your direction but it's still rather loud.'

That was all the warning he was going to get as Elizabeth visibly took a deep breath. Outis couldn't swap to Violet Caster and start waving his wand fast enough.

"This is a curtain drop worthy finale~. My masterpiece! Kilenc Sárkány!"

And then, the mini-singularity became one with vibrations and sound.

[That is quite loud.]

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu and Just Some Guy With A Mustage who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

AN: Imagine, dedicating an entire chapter to a date

 

[Omida]

January 3rd

"–and so the elements coalesce to render fantasy unto reality." Violet Caster finished the lengthy chant, the pillar of bronze-veined green light collapsing into itself with a rush of air. Only his mask kept the eyesearing glow and violent winds from blinding him, leaving him free to scoop up the fist-sized tooth and gold-ringed phial off the centre of the magic circle encompassing most of the room.

As it turned out, transforming Heroic Quintessence into items wasn't exactly a snap of one's fingers. Thankfully, Liz had been all too happy about him taking over the small spare tower of the castle keep for his Workshop.

[Obtained 1x Magical Cerebrospinal Fluid. A potion which can grant temporary Magical Circuits when injected into a spine. This shady drug is still safer than just using your nerves.]

[Obtained 1x Dragon Fang. Dragon Tooth Warriors are created using these fangs. Who knows what other uses someone with the right knowledge could find for them?]

"Still not sure how I'm going to explain where I got them, but if you say they'll help for Equivalent Exchange…" Outis shrugged as he let the Install slough off, stashing the pair of mystic materials into Táska. Perhaps naming his first Mystic Code 'bag' wasn't the most glamorous, but hey, a proper magus he was not.

[The system is not responsible for what the user decides to do.]

"Hah, fair enough. Ah, well, we aren't in that huge a hurry." Best to get to know each other a bit before dropping something so big. Especially when he had no idea what the Moonlit World was like around here. Not yet, at least.

---

"Had fun with your date once done shopping, Master?" Moriarty asked with a small, very pleased smile, one leg over another, hands folded over the knee as he somehow managed to look dignified despite having a half-eaten crystal in his hand. The fact he was treating the Embers of Arrows like an arrangement of scones to go with his tea may have something to do with it.

"Mhm, it was a nice walk, never mind how relaxing it was to cut loose for a bit." Outis nodded as he snagged his usual seat to the right of Liz's. He didn't need to explain the Promenade. Even if the data dump hadn't covered them, Moriarty had to have asked Da'at when he found the system offering him the Embers at Outis' request.

"I must say, the taste being fixed instead of spinning the wheel each time makes the experience more… palatable." Moriarty simply commented upon his first taste of an Ember. "Well, I'm glad my efforts to distract your cute little stalker paid off, and it gave me something halfway stimulating to do as well."

"Glad to hear." Truth be told, he hadn't noticed anyone following them. He'd been both uninstalled and more preoccupied having a good time. After all, even if Moriarty hadn't been skulking around, he still had Liz by his side. Eccentricities and capped parameters or not, the woman was a veteran of every single Moon Cell War he knew of on top of her stint in Chaldea. If there was a threat, she'd keep him safe.

"I must say, for as much as people dismiss him, this… [Skidmark] fellow came up with an ingenious way to keep himself and his people below notice." Moriarty commented idly, his face twisting into slight grimace when he said the parahuman's moniker. "People tend to underestimate decentralised grassroots in general, I've found."

"Doubly so when it's people like that." Outis said with a shake of his head, mouth twisting wryly. Nothing better than a bunch of unwashed druggies peddling shit cut with xylazines and netazines when you wanted to be underestimated. Thank you, SwampGooch932, for your scathing critique of 'unaffiliated' drug dealers in the Bay. "Few like to think about them existing at all, and those who pay them any mind are just disgusted and dismissive."


[James Moriarty Bond Level raised to 1]


Moriarty merely quirked up his eyebrow at the air vaguely above Outis' head before continuing. "I also got the chance to have a lovely talk about local laws with quite a wound up missus. Almost definitely a parahuman too." The criminal mastermind changed the topic. "I won't bore you with too much detail, unless you ask, of course, but between her and getting to play with young miss stalker, I have ascertained that there's no organised gatherings of magi or spellcasters. Whether that's because the vocation simply doesn't exist in this dimension or because everyone uses the convenience of parahumans to mask themselves… well, that I simply don't have enough data from a single afternoon to know."

"That's still a huge weight off my shoulders. The Mage Association has a reputation and what little I heard of how America ran things didn't exactly fill me with confidence." The Master sighed, slumping slightly into his seat. Fucking magic men in black with cyberdaemons. "Panacea was clearly surprised and intrigued by whatever differences she found between a parahuman and a magus' body, so at least I can say with confidence that none of the whitehat capes are spellcasters posing for parahumans… unless one with healing magecraft is pretending to be a regenerator that doesn't need her services. I still don't know more than broad strokes on the players of the Bay."

In his defence, there were over 30 well-known capes in the city and easily four times as many in the way of flashes in the pan. It was a fuck of a lot of data and a slog to sieve through, even if PHO did have an attached wiki. The sensible thing to do would've been to stay in that internet cafe until he had at least skimmed over every cape who'd been around for a year or longer, but unfortunately an efficient machine he was not.

Fortunately, he had the power of competent help to delegate to. Also a nuclear option in data gathering locked and loaded, even if it was one hell of a genie to pull out of the bottle. Still, short of that one, he did have a very skilled administrator but–

Nah, he had to slowball this. Both to build a rapport with his Servants and to (hopefully) fool that damn pre- and postcog as to how fast he could pull out new wacky woohoos out of his hat.

"Unless you plan on getting into more regular scuffles with people who can put you in hospital even when operating at lower Servant levels, there's no particular need to rush things. Nice and steady, making sure the foundations are solid." Moriarty nodded. "Especially now that we have some electronics and internet access. Do leave some time for me to use them." The man teased.

"Alas, my terminally online days are over." Outis chuckled. He hadn't been discord mod material even in his old body, he hit the gym six days a week and everything, but… he had also spent a good 90% of his waking hours glued to a screen.

…He'd need to make sure he didn't turn into a shut-in magus once he really sunk his teeth into Violet Caster. Well, okay, not a true shut-in. The rest of his powers were too fun to leave laying on the wayside in favour of magic research and Liz would drag him out of the workshop if it came to it, but there was a real risk of losing track of–

Right, he had Da'at. Nothing to worry about unless the system decided to have a bit of fun at his expense.

[The consequences of your actions, or lack thereof, are of your own make and possession.]

…Alarms it was.

---

Welcome to the Parahumans Online Forum

You are currently logged in, Sour Creamless

♦Topic: E88 New Year's Docks Raid

… 3,4, 5

► Archivist (Parahuman Wiki Mod)
>Firefly is gonna join the statistics soon enough, girl was doing jack and shit against Hook. Good on Terracotta tho, they (how the hell do you tell the gender of someone hiding inside primitivist's power armor) were able to inconvenience the big bad wolf.

Speaking of new capes and their performance against Nazi murderblender. The unmasked woman with a face even mother couldn't love apparently survived deepthroating Hookwolf. Some quick PMs with Bagrat say her name is Epopeia, current rankings beyond obvious Brute unknown.

► Nutty
Insane's what she is. Shoving her arm down Hook's blender? And since she was still bleeding when Challenger started giving first aid, her career is already over.

► Robby-G
In a city with Panacea? She'll walk it off and be shoving her appendages down nazis throats in no time.

► Ball-chan
My cuz in ABB says she is apparently a Changer. If y'all look carefully, you can see the red girl swapped from someone else mid-crowd of empire goons.

► RickyRoll
Still fucking wild you can just go 'yea, got fam in a gang' in this city and no one bats a fucking eye.

► Nakam
Ok, but did you hear Hookwolf's scream? Seems like aggressive fisting is the way to go.

► Nutty
Good luck finding crazy morons to try and do that on regular, lmao

► BoatyMcBoatface
>Seems like aggressive fisting is the way to go.

You're so frigging lucky Specific Protagonist isn't here.

► Robby-G
God, that woman has absolutely no restrain whatsoever. I almost want to say she isn't from BB but…

► BoatyMcBoatface
she knows way too much about local scene whenever she bothers, ye

► BoatyMcBoatface
Let's hope Epopeia is a Changer, and with more forms then. Maybe Specific will write more than just Hookwolf and Lung porn.

► Nutty
The real brave, insane and insanely brave heroine of Brockton Bay. The one it has, if not necessarily deserves.

► Hornet (Original Poster)
Can we please stay on topic?

► BoatyMcBoatface
No. Well, we don't really have much of anything about Epopeia and this really isn't anything special so we might as well shitpost in free space before the thread devolves into flame wars again. Esp since Nakam showed up.

► Sour Creamless
>Maybe Specific will write more than just Hookwolf and Lung porn.

Behold the indomitable human spirit, undaunted by the fact that celebrity fics now involve crime lords with superpowers.

…Then again, bards used to have the god given duty of making satire so scathing kings got welts, so I suppose this is like the Roman shitposts scratched in Pompeii (here's one for you, Specific Protagonist: I.2.20 (Bar/Brothel of Innulus and Papilio); 3932: "Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men's behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!"). Still waiting for someone to find palaeolithic dick doodles. So far we only have a 28k year old dildo from… I think Germany.

Yeah, there we go: Germans discover world's oldest dildo

► Robby-G
>he tags Specific in

you fool
you complete clown
what have you done

► Sour Creamless
A funni

► Nutty
Silver lining: at least Epopeia isn't here to feed the flames by elaborating on her power.

► Robby-G
as if the little details ever stopped Specific

► RickyRoll
What is it with posters with names beginning with an 'S' and being fucking insane?

► Sour Creamless
The S stands for Space Cadet. Call it Esperit de Corps.

► Specific Protagonist (Cape Groupie) (Writer)
I was tagged???

>Behold the indomitable human spirit, undaunted by the fact that celebrity fics now involve crime lords with superpowers.

Finally, someone who understands <3.

>…Then again, bards used to have the god given duty of making satire so scathing kings got welts, so I suppose this is like the Roman shitposts scratched in Pompeii (here's one for you, Specific Protagonist: I.2.20 (Bar/Brothel of Innulus and Papilio); 3932: "Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men's behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!"). Still waiting for someone to find palaeolithic dick doodles. So far we only have a 28k year old dildo from… I think Germany.

…

I guess that means I've gotta learn some history now, huh :thonking:

Still, having a new material does sound nice. Kanabo is the prettiest of my subjects so far and while Epopeia doesn't look like she will dethrone her… hehehehehe

Beauty and the beast is a timeless classic

► Sour Creamless
Look up the story of St Martha. Also Dobrynya Nikitich, although the specific version you'd like will take some digging.

► Hornet (Original Poster)
My beautiful thread about simple, innocent gang violence T.T Mods, please, put my baby out of its misery.


► Robby-G
Why talk about your pornfic ideas in PMs (or at least the appropriate subforums), when you can just invade random news threads :thonking:


► Sour Creamless (Verified Cape) (Taste the Rainbow)
>Silver lining: at least Epopeia isn't here to feed the flames by elaborating on her power.

Bet?

Also, arm's good as new, Panacea does fantastic work!

[RedHotGuns.jpg]

► Nutty
WHAT

► Tin_Mother (Moderator)
Thread locked per OP's request.

---

January 4th

"I'm sorry, she insisted on tagging along." Panacea (Amy Dallon, apparently) gave Outis an apologetic look, hunched as she was under the arm of the tall, platinum blonde accompanying her. [Saber: Glory Girl] just grinned wider as she gave Outis a once over.

"Can't have my sister just go and meet some unknown one on one without vetting, now can I?" She asked as she allowed Panacea to throw her arm off. "What kind of sister would I be?"

"Hah, fair enough." Indigo Assassin said with a shake of her head, idly adjusting the leather straps of her backpack. The ABB tokens dangling from it clinked softly, not that anyone could see the source thanks to a little bit of magic and red string. She had some niche shopping to do in the Docks after this, "Well, so long as it is just a vibe check rather than you sitting in on the actual checkup. I know that America has some questionable laws and policies when it comes to medicine, but patient-doctor confidentiality is still there last I checked."

"Bit blurrier when it comes to parahumans, but I can give you two some space to make it semi-private." Glory Girl acquiesced with a tilt of her head. "Then, once Ames is done studying your body, we can go out and hang out at Fugly's or somewhere so I can continue to judge you." She added teasingly.

"Must you?" Panacea buried her face in hands, receiving no response beyond a chuckle.

"By all means, get an eyeful, but only after you treat me to dinner." Outis snorted, before focusing back on the healer, "Aight, do you have a plan for how to go about this, or should we go with my half-baked one?"

"Well, I already know how your Brute form looks so technically I don't need to check up on it again." Panacea hummed as she got comfortable in the hospital room's chair. "But, I think it would be good if you change into it anyway, just so I can compare the changes as they happen."

"Sure, pretty much my plan anyways. Let you see Indigo, then the swap to Red, then finally Violet. That last one should be interesting for you." Outis said as she shrugged off her bag into a nearby table and astralized her right glove. She was left handed, but even with the enchanted wristwatch(n't) hiding her Command Seals, best not to risk it.

---

Amy sighed and rolled her shoulders as she watched Vicky leave the small office the staff let her use for this, pointedly leaving the door open. Her sister could be so… ughhhhh. At least she kept the whole thing just between the two of them. If Carol knew Amy was meeting with other capes to use her power on them…

She shook her head and turned away from the blonde leaning against the wall and towards Epopeia sitting across from her and grabbed her hand in silence. Amy's power came easily, eagerly, she was tempted to say, as she focused on the information she was being fed.

First things first, it was the same limb she had healed the other day. The body might have changed from how the Red Epopeia felt like, but Amy could see all the signs. Going further… definitely more built for speed. Mobility in general, given she could tell there was something similar to what dedicated acrobats felt like. Body used to moving silently and precision work. Also well practised motions for… she wanted to say, knife handling?

Indigo Epopeia was definitely of a more sneaky bend than the Red one. Stranger form? Definitely not for direct confrontation. Still more durable than even a professional boxer, but compared to Red, Indigo was fragile.

"Mhm… definitely different from the other day. Brain activity is also… calmer, I want to say?" Definitely calmer, if quite fast. Good reaction times, then. And making it sound like guesswork might cause Epopeia to give her some insight into how she perceived her own power.

"Hah, it would." The (currently) blue-haired and eyed woman said with a chuckle, that brain activity picking up as she chewed her lip for a moment. "My power classifies that form as Red Berserker, after all."

Amy mulled over the answer in her head before giving Epopeia a dry reply. "You were quite in control of yourself for a berserker."

"Someone cackling maniacally while giving Hook some pro bono eye surgery isn't exactly the poster girl for inner peace, either." The Changer snorted, before tilting her head, "Actually, let me–"

Amy startled as the woman before her went from Indigo to Red with practically no delay in between. The miracle of miracles happened and Amy's own power didn't respond to instinctive panic at feeling the comprehensive level of biological change happening in an instant under her senses.

"I-if I didn't see that happen with my own eyes." Amy swallowed hard as her gaze flickered at Epopeia's face. "I would've thought someone swapped two people in front of me."

"So it is mostly biological, good to know. I'd been wondering if it wasn't more of an infusion aside from, well." 'Red Berserker' waved at her face then her sixpack, point more than made.

"Unless you strip in front of me, I cannot comment on the visual level of changes your transformation brings." Amy deadpanned.

"Truly, the Dallons are a danger to my virtue." Epopeia drawled, before getting back on track with an eager glint in her eyes. "Anyways, watch this."

Then, Epopeia's brain activity spiked and the blasted woman's body improved further. Noticeably so. The brain activity… yeah, it was agitated but also… streamlined? Pushed more towards aggression, towards action. As she looked longer, she also noticed that Berserker's nervous system was… slightly rewired. Pain receptors had their sensitivity dialled way down. If Epopeia was naturally resistant, it would probably make her all but not register most damage. That secondary nervous system present in her was also more active, generating… heat?

"I don't trust myself with properly analysing what I am seeing." Amy muttered as she tested Epopeia's responses by subtly trying to slack and tighten her grip on the woman's hand. "But your secondary nervous system is generating some sort of energy to feed that agitated state. I… don't know shit about it, but I suggest finding the limits for how long you can operate it before you start cooking from the inside out."

"Overheated circuits fucking suck, yes." The Changer groused, only realising a moment too late that she had said that out loud.

"So you do know stuff about your own power." Amy commented dryly, silently cataloguing the name for the secondary system in the back of her mind. It fit, from what she had seen. "Another downside of this state, as you might have noticed, is that you are more predisposed towards action and instinct rather than thinking things through."

"Yep. Doesn't help that you remind me of a friend, so it's a bit hard to keep a lid on things." The red woman chuckled, shaking her head as she reverted whatever she'd done, "Well, I showed this against Hookwolf and I'm was going to let you look at Violet anyways, so–"

The circuits' activity intensified, alongside Berserker's metabolism. The energy enhanced the body further, but in a visibly different way than just this weird brain switch Berserker had. Those circuits were really going at it now.

"Shut it down, you crazy, you'll cook yourself in no time." Amy hissed, ignoring the wisps of dark red rising from Epopeia's body.

"Haha, yeah, there's a reason I only used it for a few seconds against Hook." The madwoman laughed like it was nothing as the circuits stopped immediately, cooling down… pretty fast, in Amy's un-expert opinion. Getting cooked from inside out by your own nervous system wasn't exactly the type of injury she had a lot of experience with. The pain dulling probably helped with managing the strain too… if it were still active. Either way, the overheating definitely didn't seem to have any of the lasting effects it ought to. "Ready for the next slide?"

"Go on."

"Okay, but don't laugh at the hat. It is an important part of the ensemble." Was the only warning she got before violet light flashed and most of her vision got taken away by a, frankly, ludicrously oversized, painfully stereotypical, witch's hat.

"I think I can tell what kind of archetype Violet is supposed to represent." Amy deadpanned.

"Violet Caster, at your service~" The tiny girl chirped, a wand pushing up the brim of her massive hat to show a black faceplate with two pools of light standing in for her eyes. One of which flickered into a < to mime a wink. It was good to know this was not a parahuman power because these kind of aesthetic choices really clashed with… most of them, really. Bright and sort of whimsical. Mostly because of the colour, Amy supposed. Vivid violet embroidery made even oversized trench coats look silly.

And the… Caster definitely focused on something more esoteric than either of the previous two forms. Physically it was very much inferior to them, even if still excellent for a human. No, instead the upgrade focused on the circuits. There were more of them and they felt better to her power, Amy would bet they could conduct more power and for longer safely. Cool down faster too. Epopeia's power's equivalent to a Tinker, then? The subtle tells of a craftsman were there, if not for things Amy could even begin guessing at.

Well, she could, probably. She had a name for the form, after all.

"I'll be honest. Beyond giving me an idea for the absolute minimum physical baseline for your Changer forms and some stereotyping regarding its specialty, I don't really have much to say."

"Huh. Alright, good to know about that." The wannabe witch muttered cryptically, "Still, I have a reason for showing you this one."

Then she pointed her wand at her bag. Huh, the circuits were behaving kinda similar to Thinker and Tinker brains, good to kno– was that a fucking trance on demand? Who altered their own mental state constantly just to use their pow… okay, no, there were probably powers like that.

A few deep breaths later, she noticed that Epopeia's bag had been opened and a bottle was floating out. A bottle of… vodka?

"This needs a demonstration because I understand it is a pretty rare power." Violet Caster explained as the cork opened with a tiny twitch of her wand, before the bottle somehow phased through her mask and she took three quick chugs before waving the floating bottle away, complaining all the while. "Ugh, that's vile. Anyways, can you see the poison in my gut?"

"I can see you getting tipsy, yes." Amy replied dryly as a suspicion formed.

"Good, now watch this." Epopeia said as the trance deepened and circuit activity picked up, her wand weaving in a complex pattern before flicking to her, "Καθαρίζω"

What.

"What."

The alcohol was gone.

It was gone. Completely, all traces. From the stomach. From the blood. Almost like Epopeia never drank anything in the first place, aside from the water and sugar in the booze.

"That's… How's… This is not how any of this works." She had seen the alcohol enter the body. Be broken down and absorbed, like alcohol should be. And now, it was not there, without any negative consequences for what just happened.

"Normally I'd have liked to keep what Caster can do under wraps, but. Well. I may not be the most moral person, but if I see someone ODing or bleeding out on the street, I'm going to help. So." She breathed in, straightening herself up as much as she could while holding hands, "Better if I get it sorted with you now rather than leave that sword hanging over my head, given America's besotted with lawsuits."

Amy breathed in, slowly, as she ran her hands down the sides of her face. This was… This… Fucking hell. Having another healer along would be so good… Even if she could feel the twitch of irritation at the woman for describing herself as she did. For… some reason. She didn't want to think about that, so she focused on important stuff.

"Alriiiiight…" She exhaled before focusing on Epopeia. "First things first. Colour card system, heard of it?"

"The broad strokes, but, well, internet. Anyways. They're for letting emergency services know what you can do in a few words, give you discount Truce protections while on the clock as a healer, keep people from suing you at the drop of a hat if not entirely." The violet-haired woman rattled off, the wand disappearing somewhere in that oversized sleeve as she ticked off fingers, "White is equal or greater versatility to a trained paramedic. Blue is specialists like a hemokinetic who can keep someone stable by getting the blood where it needs to go. Yellow is powers with side-effects or risks, like having to turn someone into a tree for a day or there being a chance of them growing a sixth finger. Red is when the side-effects are so bad you barely get any protections and need to get a stack of paperwork signed by the patient before you can heal them, emergencies be damned. Stuff like completely rebuilding someone's body at the cost of them being a minion you can telepathically dominate anytime."

"Okay, good. So the internet info hasn't been vandalised recently, good to know. Now, you already know this, but it bears repeating. Powers which can be used for healing are rare. Powers which can be used for healing and don't have… undesirable side-effects are even rarer. Healing is typically a side benefit of a power, so most of the time, unless it's outright 'life-or-death if you don't intervene', even Blue Cards don't really bother. And White Cards?" Amy shook her head. "In the States, all of it, that's just me and [Blasto], down in Boston. Biotinker, so he can't exactly whip something on the spot in an emergency."

Leaning back, Amy continued. "There's also the fact that the Cards themselves are not a medical licence. Well, if you are applying for White, they are bundled together with the exam, so if you have the White Card, you are also trained and licensed professional." Amy explained before giving a grim smile. "I just prefer to err on the safe side, because, well, see back on 'no power exists purely for healing' bit."

"If you can regrow someone's arm, you can grow them a tentacle instead. Which, sure, would be obvious, but get to work on something in the chest cavity and it'd take some big and expensive machinery to detect something. But then you get into the issues of proving an absence, so… yeah, I can see how some rat bastard could build a pain in the dick lawsuit." Epopeia groaned, the entirely too familiar noise of exasperation at human stupidity.

"Raised in a lawyer's family." Amy agreed. "If there's one thing I absolutely managed to internalise it's to cover all your bases. Well then, I've got a lot of interesting things to think about, impulses to smooth over, then probably a shift here." She held back a groan even as she stretched in her chair. God, holding back from doing anything with all this new data will suck. "Unless there's anything else?"

"Your sister looming at the door ready to drag us away to the dark lands of socialisation? I can feel her judging my power's fashion sense from here." The pseudo-parahuman chuckled ruefully, waving at the open door.

Vicky waved right back, completely unashamed and cheerful. She pocketed her phone before striding right back into the office. "If you insist on not going civvie, I beg you, go back to Indigo. At least that one can pretend to not be suspicious." The blonde mock-begged Epopeia.

"Truly, the alley mugger chic has it." The Changer snorted, swapping back to her Stranger form in a flash of light. "But yeah, I may go kinda-sorta open cape at some point because Changer, but still weighting my options. And getting a feel for how stalkerish cape groupies get around here."

"We call those 'gang members' last I checked." Victoria shot back with a snort of her own while pulling Amy up from her chair. "But for real, going full public can be a pain in the ass. There's a reason I ain't fighting my poorer rep too hard."

"Yeahhh, I can't exactly go from tiny and cute to looking like a grandma, so someone determined enough could figure out what I really look like and what my limits are. And being able to have a walk around town as just another rando is something I'd rather not give up." Epopeia sighed as she got up and slung over her bag. "Although it still tickles me pink that goddamn Assassin is the best form for hanging out, even if it makes sense."

"There better be a compulsion from your power on calling'em that." Vicky shook her head. "Else official designation be damned, the internet is gonna call you 'Lady D&D'. "

"Some people on PHO certainly seem to want Red Berserker to drag them into a dungeon." Epopeia laughed, shaking her head, "And nah, it isn't a compulsion. Just how my power labels it in my brain, but only saying the colour gets around the issue neatly."

"Alright!" Vicky fist pumped as she forcefully swerved the direction of the conversation. "Time to get some food in our stomachs! Hmmm, maybe I should call some other folks to hang around with us. Make it a nice, little unofficial meet'n'greet for our brave dog fister from the hero side of the city?"

"You just want to see Shadow Stalker attempt at staying composed." Amy accused her sister.

"Guilty as charged~!"

---

"Fugly's coffee? Now I have seen the true depths of desperation, Stalker."

Not for the first time, Sophia cursed the full-face mask of her costume. It made any glaring completely pointless and, with the afternoon teen crowds around, she was robbed of the option of just flipping Victoria a bird and calling it a day. Well, she could do it, if she wanted to have her evening completely wasted in the depths of hell. PR. Same thing, really.

Fucking sensitivity training.

Instead, she just grumbled as she dropped onto the seat at the edge of the table the Dallons Plus One reserved for the little meet and greet and carefully placed the coffee in front of her. Didn't look like the sort of madwoman who would throw herself at Hookwolf, but Sophia supposed that was the point with Changers and Strangers. She would give her the chance, she decided.

"Gotta support local businesses." She grunted as she definitely did not slouch. She was merely… reducing her target profile. Yeah. Totally. The sigh which escaped her lips as she allowed herself to prop herself against the table was just how the mask made her breathing sound. When she wanted it to be heard, obviously. Also, it let her assess New Chick easier. "Fast food coffee is black like my heart too." She added semi-seriously.

"Here's your sugar, Stalker." Vista, of course, had to ruin the effect by dropping eight packets by her cup before sliding beside her, ending in between Sophia and Victoria. Robbed of the option to glare at the little bitch for ruining her attempts at impressing the newbie, she settled for raising her fist in the shorter blonde's direction. Vista returned with thumbs up and Sophia busied herself with pouring the sweet, sweet white into her coffee. The Junior Junior Division could be annoying, but she was still leagues better than Sophia's other options for social interactions within Wards.

"Jeez, I remember back when you were indie." Victoria commented idly. "Where was that sweet tooth then?"

"I have discovered the joys of corporate." She shot back, tilting her mask up just enough to be able to drink. Mmmm, sweet, sweet embrace of caffeine.

"Ah, yes, that wonderful state of being where cake icing and caffeine pills starts to sound like a full meal." The rookie chuckled, a chicken nugget disappearing between eyeblinks. And without moving that bandana. That was some petty as shit Stranger. Not that Sophia had room to judge.

"Maybe if she wasn't going to Gang Recruitment Centre masquerading for the school district, she would be allowed to develop a taste." Vista ribbed her as she sipped on her coke. Sophia magnanimously let it slide because she could taste the jealousy in the kid's voice.

"Fuck you, the place's great. There's just a bit… too much, sometimes."

"Nazis lining up to get punched does make the job easier." Vicky agreed in between bites of Fugly's signature burger. "But I have seen how your school building looks. Thanks, no thanks."

"I'm just going to assume someone rolled every stereotype of American public schools into a single building and called it a day." New Chick muttered in between bites of her 2x4 extra cheesy disappearing. "Not that I have much room to talk, I went to a poshshit private school and a classmate still tried to sell me hashish."

"Mood." Vista muttered while the Dallons nodded along. Yeah, that's BB for you. Cheap third-hand drugs in the shit portions, Empire drugs in the 'proper' ones and Sophia would bet ABB was selling inside their own territory too. If you went to school, you pretty much got an offer guaranteed.

Still, not every time Sophia got the opportunity to flex her know-how. Sure, it was only about Winslow, but it was still technically relevant to crime, given it was fucking Winslow.

"Gangs over cliques, cliques over clubs, clubs over friend groups, friend groups over loners." She grunted out. "Sucks to suck to have no support, but even if you are loner, if you show some goddamn spine, you'll still be above the cowards." Like that fucking Jewish girl half the Empire kids were bullying because they actually bought into the party line. God, but the spineless wimp made Sophia grind her teeth whenever she had to dunk the skinheads for picking an easy target in her line of sight.

Huh, now that she thought about it, Sophia didn't recall either the Noodle Spine or her usual torment crew making much of a fuss the first day after Christmas break. Strange.

Maybe they just took a chill pill over the holidays and it didn't wear off yet.

"Normally I'd say that needs to get unfucked yesterday, but honestly, the more I hear about this city the more it sounds like anyone unwilling to pull out a knife at a moment's notice is begging to become a statistic. Probably better they figure if they can take the heat with the Hitlerian Youths than just throwing them in the mosh pit proper." The Stranger grumbled, obviously unhappy with the situation but it wasn't like any of them could snap their fingers and wish away all the rot in this fucking city. "At least we got a target rich environment as a consolation prize."

If New Girl's reputation in Sophia's eyes wasn't already good from the 'fisted Hookwolf and lived' thing, it would have risen up a bit. Heck, depending on how the girl looked under that dollar store cape get-up, it might do that anyway. Truly, she thought sardonically to herself, Victoria ruined her.

"Hear that, Dallon, you've got yourself a new date for your extracurriculars." She liked to think she faked sourness in her voice well, at least for any lucky eavesdroppers. "Won't need to just keep dragging your sister into it all the time."

"Awww, don't mind her, she is just jealous you get all the action." The Brat cooed at her, patting Sophia's arm all the while. Sophia held back a snort. As if the bloodthirsty little thing wasn't projecting hard. No one who spent as much time with the troopers at the range as Vista did wasn't at least a little unhinged in regards to violence.

…Probably why Sophia li- tolerated Vista as much as she did, if she were honest with herself. Which she was.

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage and Ermast, who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.

AN: In which certain infamous fanon invention is set on the road to become Bet's Nasu because creation of convoluted historical waifubait franchise is a canon event

 

[Omida]

January 4th

"Mmmmm~... hmmm~." Elizabeth hummed cheerfully the tune of her ol' reliable under her nose as she skipped along the streets of the downtown Brockton Bay. The city was kinda dreary, in her honest opinion, but then, she did remember the flash and splendour of Millennium Capital and Mare Aurum, the almost overwhelming decadence of Vegas and even the sunny carefreeness of Hawai'i. Okay, so maybe that last part was really unfair, the island was tropics in the middle of a summer and Brockton Bay was… decidedly not.

Still, compared to the wild and fantastical locales Elizabeth's memories told her she had been allowed to be summoned to in the past… Future? The dates involved made her head hurt from thinking too hard on the details. The point being, Brockton Bay was dreadfully boooring in comparison. The Asian portion was, to the credit of the baron running the place, much better in that regard, even if portions of it did remind Elizabeth of that damnable vixen who so delighted in visiting utter humiliation upon Elizabeth in one of those sets of memories.

She flexed her fingers on instinct, the claw-like nails of her hands pinching gently into the skin of her palms as she imagined wrapping them around that neck and squeezing. Or, or, or maybe inviting her to Csejte's baths and... Nononono, bad thoughts, bad. You're supposed to be better nowadays, Elizabeth.

Shaking her head, Elizabeth stopped her happy spring and began a more normal walk. Her mood was a bit soured anyway. Best to stop thinking of the fox before she managed to ruin her day without even being present.

Ah, but with how Master's power worked, she could show up and usurp her at any moment, couldn't she.

She felt her tail unwrap itself from around her waist, rustling the cloth of the dress and stopped it with an irritated click of the tongue. Deerlet's little magic item that hid her extra-cute features was… it was, she supposed. Elizabeth had never been summoned in a normal Grail War, both Moon Cell and Chaldea were unique in their operations so having a few extra bits wasn't the most eye catching thing. On Earth Bet, on the other hand, the extra bits were a feature of the stand out and she promised Deerlet she would keep low-key until her debut. Even if it grated to keep down.

Deerlet in general was… weird. Closer to Ritsuka, if she were to be honest, if not quite as open to cooperation with more… unstable cases, as Gilles' card had shown her. And yet, they were willing to entertain her.

She had to keep being a good girl. If she fucked up and managed to slide back, she doubted they would offer a second chance like Hakuno did.

She paused as another tune invaded her personal space. The cheery, kinda cheap stuff that typically accompanied adverts. Tilting her head, she focused on the other side of the street, a little bit ahead of her where some sort of small crowd, primarily parents with children, crowded around a shop, in front of which some woman seemed to be doing a puppet show using oversized animal plushies. Coming closer, it came apparent that the woman in question was an obvious cape, with a rather well done blonde wig and porcelain mask sculpted into an imitation of a face. Puffy, somewhat lacy white dress too. The movements of the plushies were quite fluid and the woman didn't seem to need gestures much. The owner of the store prattled on about this or that, Elizabeth didn't particularly care, her attention on the parahuman.

About Elizabeth's own height, skilled but with enough sense to make sure the show came first and not call undue attention to herself. Decent eye for the aesthetic side of things. Shame Deerlet wasn't here with her, Da'at automatically identifying things for them was soooo convenient.

Bah! She was both an idol and a countess! She could damn well do her own meet'n'greet! Hm-hm-hm…

She fiddled with the charm Deerlet provided her with, clawed finger scraping at the runes a little bit to dilute the effect. She hoped so, it would be inconvenient to just accidentally rip it and reveal her gloriously cute full form before debut. But she still needed to signal to the parahuman she wanted to talk business.

Eventually, however, the impromptu puppet show did end, the parahuman got paid, the crowd dispersed, either to patron the shop or go home and Elizabeth approached.

"Before you say anything." The parahuman opened the moment Liz was close enough for there to be no need to raise voice. "I am not taking costume commissions. No, this is not negotiable and no, you cannot convince me otherwise with exotic materials your power makes." She sounded really irritated too.

"Wow, ru-de." She shot accusingly right back, puffing her cheeks in a somewhat exaggerated pout. "I haven't even said a thing yet." The parahuman visibly flinched and Elizabeth patted herself mentally on the back for getting the accusatory tone juuuust right.

"Ah… Sorry, so many newbie capes think that just because my power lets me control cloth and I have some sense for fashion that I will be their personal tailor."

Elizabeth gave the parahuman a smug grin as she flipped her hair with a well practised, smooth gesture. "Forgiven. Now, while I am interested in you, I can promise you that I can handle my fashion needs all on my own." The parahuman made a sound a bit like she choked and Elizabeth had to hold back a smirk. Or the urge to laugh like a princess in a manga. "You see, I'm looking to go into showbiz and I could certainly use a hand from a skilled helper to set up some of the details of the events themselves."

"Parahuman performers… I don't think anyone has tried that with any particular success." The woman muttered, bringing a hand to her mask's chin in an obvious signalling of consideration. "I'm… not quite sure I am willing to sign up for anything long-term…"

"That's fine, that's fine~." Elizabeth waved the concern away, even as she turned around and motioned for the woman to follow. "We all have our passions and it's better to find out ours are incompatible at the planning stage before the fame and fortune makes us grit our teeth and force us to endure the drama for the bennies."

"Reasonable." Came the quiet reply from behind her and Elizabeth allowed herself to slowly, carefully unfurl her tail to caress the cape's side. Slowly. Wouldn't do to startle a potential employee. Hmmm, but she needed a name to introduce herself to the parahuman, it wouldn't do to just resort to 'hey you'-ing it the whole time. Not Elizabeth either, that would put the parahuman in that awkward spot of being obliged to respond in kind, kinda defeating the purpose of cape aliases, no?

"By the way, you can call me Bathory." Eh, it's not like those not in the know would believe her anyway. And she would rather die than use Carmilla.

"Parian. So… what do you have in mind?"

Bingo~.

---

The most time consuming part of every enterprise, in James' humble opinion, was always the set-up. All the variables to be discovered and accounted for, people to meet, information gathered on the local conditions etcetera. So much legwork going into it. Frankly, he had almost forgotten just how much hassle it was, so long it has been since he had to do such work himself. Shinjuku was a joint venture as well as a bit of an improv and then his time at Chaldea… Well, his expertise was, sadly, not in demand. It had been decades since James Moriarty had truly started from scratch.

Frankly speaking, he was feeling downright nostalgic! With the body of a Servant allowing him to enjoy all the benefits of his age with none of the downsides, he could even say he was young again!

"Dohohoho."

Brockton Bay was his kind of city too. Rotten and steeped in desperation, full of opportunities for a man who just knew where to look. Oh, it had plenty of established players as well, but was that not true of London of his teenage years too? It held up still, but James could tell, this was a city on the downward spiral. Abandoned industrial areas left to rot or vagrancy, the law enforcement unwilling or unable to push too hard against the crime, protests by irate and desperate workers only further digging the city's grave…

Truly, what kind of good deed did James do to be pulled to such a delightful buffet?

Still, even with information Young Lisa gave him providing him with leads as to where to direct his internet investigations, there was just so much to do. Normally, he would scout out the local players but… his Master, aware of it or not, has already began work on the Asians. This… Empire (quite presumptuous of them, limited to a single city, even with ties towards similar groups across the rest of the country, and with puppeteer's strings flowing back from Europe) was a no-go, ideologically motivated groups were volatile at the best of times, in James' opinion. And the exact ideology of the Empire made them more of an excellent focal point of an alliance effort, something to use as a glue to stick disparate parts together excising than someone to bring to the table. About the only good thing he had to say about them was the quality of their drugs, but then, every two bit dealer, monkey and wanna-be could manage something respectable with the kind of resources the Empire clearly had on hand.

Merchants were too decentralised to bring into the fold properly, and besides, their value lay mostly in their parahumans… Parahuman, really. While unfortunately named mister Skidmark had a decent brain for the whole thing, it was his lover that was valuable. Skilled labour was always more valuable than management, really, harder to replace, even if you didn't account for the exclusivity supernatural powers offered.

Which left smaller players. Young Lisa's little motley crew of upstarts, playing to the direction of a conductor hidden from public's view to the point Coil was half considered an urban legend. A dazzling array of independents seeking to strike it big on their own, failing more often than not. And, naturally, mercenaries. People after James' own heart. A person doing things for money, now you knew exactly where you stood with those, from start to finish. Excellent relationship to establish and cultivate.

There was, usually, just a problem of how to approach them casually. It was good to first get the measure of their characters. Sometimes, greed made people a little bit short sighted.

He was pondering that exact problem when he came upon the most interesting sight. A pair of young ladies near a police station, one a tall blonde and the other a slightly shorter brunette. Now, they didn't look unusual at first glance, but even with just his very short stay in the city and a dearth of interactions with them, James knew a parahuman when he saw one. Similar to magi back home and really, any person with powers, there was a certain air to them, a laundry list of subtle tells in their bearing that an attentive eye could spot.

And the two young ladies had that air. Admittedly, the blonde less so, appearing a bit less lucid than her companion. She could certainly pass as simply mentally unwell to an uneducated observer. But if James had any doubts about her powers, the fact the lady was most definitely perceiving the entrance to one of the mini-Singularities Master's power kept popping up would dispel them.

Well then, best to make sure she didn't do something foolish.

He crossed the distance between them quickly but without appearing to actually hurry, lest he be perceived as a threat. As an added benefit, it allowed him to catch a snippet of their conversation.

"...you sure about that? Don't see a thing here." The shorter one questioned her companion.

"There is." The blonde replied absent-mindedly, fingers already tracing the glyph marking the entrance.

"Ahem." James coughed to announce himself. No physical contact, old chap. "I would be careful with those if you can actually see them, young lady. They are a bit–"

It happened without really any warning. One moment, they were on a fairly quiet street. The next, they ended at the entrance of… was that one of those breaching shooting gallery training courses he had heard a bit about?

"–dangerous." He finished nonplussed. "These pockets are inhabited by hostile constructs my… comrade's power conjures." He offered an explanation to the brunette. The blonde, unfortunately, didn't seem to fully notice they shifted. What he wouldn't give for Master's presence right now, Da'at was an invaluable helper.

"Ellie?" The lucid one of the duo shook her companion with worry in her voice, to little effect. "You! Fix this!" She turned around pointing an accusing finger at James' face.

"As I said, this is not the result of my power, miss. I know there's a condition for it to release you, however I'm not sure it will work properly, given our… unusual method of entrance."

"I'm not going anywhere." She spat out, interposing herself more firmly between him and her blonde companion.

James sighed, rubbing his temple. Youth these days. Still, it did provide him with an opportunity. Improvisation may have been something he hated doing, but he could do it, and do it well if the situation necessitated, in his humble opinion. So he simply manifested his modified cane with a flourish and gave a bow.

He hoped, at least, that he would be able to save the materials gained in this excursion.

---

January 5th

"Hope you don't mind my plus one." Challenger greeted Outis when she arrived that afternoon at the Boat Graveyard. She motioned at [Lancer: Armsmaster] fiddling with a display attached to his arm. The man was tall, clad in dark blue power armour with silver highlights, its helm covering the upper portion of his face. Perhaps he was simply that proud of his finely kept beard. Either that or PR had gotten on his ass. "Armsy here wanted to test his field analysis equipment in somewhat controlled conditions."

"I will remain strictly an observer." The man stated gruffly. "It won't substitute for the data we would've gotten from proper full power testing at PRT HQ, but we cannot exactly force you into it."

"Fair nuff. I'll keep a few cards to my chest," Hehe. The card puns would get old at some point, but today was not it, "But I'm sure you'll still get some interesting data from what I brought to the party. Speaking of, rules for the rumble?"

Challenger gave her a wry grin as she pointed at her weapons resting comfortably at her bike. "Unarmed. I'm afraid even if you could walk it off and weren't vigorously working on seducing Panacea into your private nurse, PR would still have my head over blood loss and broken bones in what's supposed to be friendly spar."

"Well, so much for giving the big man something to sink his teeth into, but aight." Outis rolled her shoulders, Indigo Assassin sloughing off with the motion to be replaced by Berserker, "Red on red it is."

No Mad Enhancement if she could help it, either. She got worked up enough without it and they were trying for something that wouldn't send either of them to the hospital.

Challenger met her with a crack of the knuckles, her grin widening a little bit as she crouched low.

"She didn't fight the restriction very hard because that way she gets an excuse to keep coming for more." Armsmaster pointed out dryly. "And it is, in a way, power testing for her that way." The man added before he nodded to himself and retreated back towards the two government sanctioned heroes' bikes.

That was all the invitation Berserker needed, using that musclepower of hers to rush the whitehat. AGL was king when it came to mobility, but for linear acceleration? Strength mattered.

Challenger kept her grin up, and position, merely shifting her footing slightly for better balance as she spread her arms. Looking just about ready to receive Berserker's charge with a big ol hug.

Outis' heel dug into the stone of the yard at the last second, turning into the perfect pivot to transfer all the momentum of her charge into a leg sweep. It was a risky move, because even by using her legs Challenger still had reach advantage on her tiny ass, but this was a friendly spar. Exactly the sort of place to see what would and wouldn't work without any real danger.

Besides, being fun sized had its own advantages. A low hunch for the whole motion meant she was a pain in the ass to hit, while being so much lighter meant she had options. Challenger answered by springing forward, lunging head on into a tackle, thrusting her hands forward and, seemingly for fun, just miming a grabbing motion first.

Berserker couldn't help but laugh even as, in a motion that'd have wrecked her old body's shoulder and turned her spine into gravel, she flipped all her weight into the hand facing away from the cape. Her core muscles screamed at her as her back arched and her organs shifted in ways she was pretty sure a human wouldn't be able to get away with, but she managed. The only issue? She didn't have much momentum to work with. Thankfully, a flash of red smoke was enough to give the double kick enough spice as her shoes acquaintanced themselves with Challenger's hastily pulled down forearms, the woman grunting in pain as she was lifted further into the air.

She hit the ground on her feet a moment later, having twisted through her flight to stick the landing. She massaged each of her limbs slowly as she gave Berserker another look. "Definitely Brute rules. Brute married with Uber's skill, I want to say." She added a touch louder for the benefits of their audience.

"Eh, may as well give you a freebie. Not quite skill, I just have a lot of body control like this." Outis said as she dusted herself off, having followed with the kick's motion to spring back to her feet. She was being a little shit here, because the other Cards sure as hell gave her a bunch of lowercase-s skill, Berserker gave her instinct and control. But hey, all in good fun, right? "Kinesthetic sense, I think the term is?"

"Still a Combat Thinker." Challenger shrugged. "Which is a pretty sweet combo, not gonna lie. It's either one or the other, you don't really see both in the same package. I might actually get what Armsy's beef with Dauntless is, when put like that." She added under her breath.

"Now, HAVE AT YOU!" She shouted, springing forward with both first held close to the chest.

Berserker grinned, juking to the woman's blindspot. She wanted to see what sort of workarounds Challenger had trained up.

---

"You know." Panacea sighed as she worked, quite slowly for the parahuman healer's proficiency, on Outis' bruising. She'd gotten her ass beat like a drum, it was great! Very educational. "You're not even the first parahuman related case I've had today. Nor the only independent cape related."

"Aren't there like ninety independents crawling around the Bay at any given time?" Indigo Assassin asked with a chuckle, "I'm somehow unsurprised. But do spill the tea."

"Most of these independents have better things to do than 'terrorising' 'innocent' highschoolers." Panacea deadpanned. "And sure, the way Stalker tells it, Winslow is just a low simmer gang war all the time, but I have the hospital data on my side, you know?"

"Pft. So, how many gang tattoos did these poor, innocent souls have?" Outis snorted. "And what was the damage? Must've been more interesting than a few stab wounds and the odd bullet if it caught your eye."

"Ten Totally Not Hitlerjugend Boys, We Swear On Our Mums' Graves, all get rolled in with a generous serving of bee stingers still firmly lodged in them. Which, you know, compared to the few actual Carrie situations recorded is downright tame. Also let me pretty much nail the important bit of the new trigger's power. Pretty nice of them to tell their mind controlled tormentors turned victims to turn themselves to the hospital for treatment." Panacea recited in a completely dry tone. "Now, since they were Mastered, and their injuries were merely painful, not life threatening, I could have refused to treat them, but a few dogwhistly tattoos and questionable fashion choices does not yet constitute evidence of gang affiliation."

"Sounds like a panicked new trigger trying not to get deaths on their record, alright." Assassin grunted, parsing the slang well enough. Freshly minted parahuman. Also, man, Panacea was a much better person than Outis. She'd just have checked them over to make sure they wouldn't die and left them to enjoy the finding out part of fucking around. "Anything interesting about the venom or the stingers, or were they just vectors for the power?"

"Nothing in particular. I could afford a little bit of fucking around, given the circumstances, so I could tell that it was the venom that was the vector of the effect. Just the presence, in of itself. Otherwise, it was perfectly normal bee stuff." The healer sighed.

"Probably for the best. World has enough on its plate to add a side-dish of synthesizable mind-control venom." Assassin grunted as she relaxed into the chair, "Any volunteers for my exam so far?"

"There's always someone who would rather get out sooner rather than later." Panacea noted dryly. "The biggest time sink is assembling all the necessary equipment and documentation. PRT takes Healer Cards with maximal seriousness." She smiled thinly as she looked up at Outis' face. "If you're impatient, you can always take the theoretical side whenever you feel ready."

"Ugh, I'm getting flashbacks to my biotech courses already. Fucking pentanes and hexanes, bane of my existence." Outis whined theatrically. Truth was, even with Violet Caster giving her the equivalent of a passing grade in the Clock Tower for every magic discipline she could think of, trying to piece that together into mundane medical knowledge that'd get her through a no-shit medical licence exam would be a trial. If she was optimistic.

Asclepius, please come home.

"I have White because my power is bullshit." Panacea acquiesced. "They still expect me to pass the necessary medical exams within a few years or they will take it away and hand me out the next tier. So, y'know, both me and Vicky are studying higher-education courses while still in high school. If I wasn't an introvert, I would mourn the effects it would have on my social life."

"Instead, you got the perfect excuse to dodge extroverts." Assassin chuckled.

"Unfortunately, one of them decided on the cunning plan of taking on a similar workload to mine to deprive me of an excuse when she swings by." Panacea shook her head. "Well, your ouchies are gone, I got another decent look at your biology, we talked shop a little bit."

"All in a day's work." Outis nodded as she took the dismissal for what it was, "I'd say have a good day, but we both know you're dealing with thrice the amount of idiots than a retail worker. At least the pay's good."

---

Special thanks to my Patrons: Xanah, Unknown B, Penguino, JoJoDio, Shirou0Emiya, Bowchikabowow. MetaWorld42, nununu, Just Some Guy With A Mustage, Ermast, Helios, Joshua Littlesun and [TEE], who decided my writing is actually worth paying for.
AN: Huh, what do you know, I lied about there being no Moriarty PoV. A quick check--up confirms that this is, fortunately, the last time we have peek inside his head, so it's mostly just a consequence of it being a long time since i wrote that little segment.