happy new year guys
Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
If the fight is streamed online (in exquisite Forge-level detail, no less!) then the world might soon be focusing on "30 seconds of Divinity" instead of "The Ungodly Hour".
Of course Apeiron will surpass himself three days later with...
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the three day old technology meme continues to be the best line in this quest!
and yup the highlight was the suplex of Siberian by kataklysm
Yeah! It'll be worse black plague 2 electric boogaloo! Elon Musk for president! China trying to invade Taiwan and somehow failing!
With a creative use of his powers Joe shouldn't have any issues using Aura/Psionics/Fold-Quartz/etc because of exotic compatibility allowing him to work anything like iron when crafting. There was no caveat to the power specifying solid materials and strange energies definitely count as exotic materials, and using those energies is just crafting a particular form be it a waveform or structure.
Actually forming mass effect fields and psionic energy to the required pattern would be difficult, if not for the blessing of hades' ferrokinesis combined with everything being workable like iron.
Actually forming mass effect fields and psionic energy to the required pattern would be difficult, if not for the blessing of hades' ferrokinesis combined with everything being workable like iron.
88.1 Interlude Brian
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
(Author's Note: This started as an intended preamble that grew beyond what I had planned and ended up as its own interlude. As such we'll be getting back to Joe in the next chapter.)
88.1 Interlude Brian
Brian made his way through the lobby of his dad's apartment building. It had been mercifully spared the worst of the damage that had been inflicted on the city, with the only sign of the recent attacks being a damaged portion of street about a half block from the entrance. You could see the bright orange cones and flashing warning lights from the door and if you were hopeful you could dismiss them as the consequence of conventional roadwork, not the fifteen-foot-deep crater that had been drilled into the asphalt by some wayward tinker-tech explosive.
That drove home the impact of the fighting in a way that nothing else had. Drove it home in a near literal sense. Brian thought of this place as his dad's apartment. That was how he'd classified things since he moved out, found his own place in an effort to make a life for himself and provide some level of stability for Aisha, but this had been his home. It was the building, the neighborhood he had grown up in. The dingy lobby held memories of times from before his parents divorced, Aisha as a toddler chasing after her big brother as the family went out to the park or playground.
That hadn't lasted. He didn't understand it at the time, but looking back he could see the cracks beginning to form. The early warning signs that escalated into fights and screaming matches. The eventual separation, with Aisha moving across the city with their mom and him staying with his father, in that apartment that didn't feel like home anymore.
But there was some part of him that was comforted by the presence of this place. Despite how distant his father was or how little attachment Aisha had to it, the fact that it was still here meant something to him.
And some wayward shot from one of Bakuda's strike teams could have brought the place down. It had happened to plenty of other buildings in the city. Places closer to the fighting, or ones that were in the middle of the blackout field that he was still afraid to ask about. He was one of the few people in the city who could probably get a straight answer about what had happened, but he was deliberately avoiding the question.
Maybe that made him a coward, but with the insanity that Joe brought out on a regular basis he doubted the answer would bring him any comfort. He knew what the guy's casual and outdated work looked like. Now, with an entire team of unknowns making their appearance, it wasn't something he was eager to delve into.
He could leave that to Tattletale. He knew how badly she had been pressed to the limit by recent events, but she was at least adamant about acting as the team's contact with Joe. It was something she insisted she could handle, which was more than he could claim. Alec might be flippant about reaching out, but he had always disregarded the consequences of his actions. The level Joe worked at wasn't something they could afford to treat casually.
He shook his head as he made his way towards the building's single creaky elevator. Another wave of nostalgia hit him as every scratch, dent, and tiny imperfection seemed to jump out at him, each tied to a memory of his early childhood. Times when he could barely reach the call button, memories of the way the elevator shook in that particular way when you stepped in, the slight tremor as the doors began to open. Meaningless details from a time he had left behind.
But, it seemed, a time that hadn't been willing to let him go. As he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for his… for his dad's floor other memories came back. Being sent out of the apartment with Aisha. Sometimes with instructions to take her to the park or the movies, but sometimes just 'out'. Getting them out of the way of their parents' fights, and the eventual march to divorce.
And he found himself coming full circle, or nearly full. Coming home for a family dinner. Just Dad and Aisha, thankfully, though he doubted any level of emergency would get his mom and dad in the same room again if they could help it. There was even a dark thought about them deliberately going to different Endbringer shelters, though that cut a bit close to the bone considering recent events.
The elevator doors did their little jerky dance as they opened, with just enough stuttering that an excited kid could slip out before their parents. More little details coming back, more that he didn't need.
He was close, so close to leaving all of this behind. The recent bonus from their boss along with his share from the bank job had put him in exceptionally good standing. If the city hadn't been paralyzed in the aftermath of the attacks he would have had his apartment ready by now. Then it was just a few meetings to get the all clear from the social worker and he could take the final steps to make sure Aisha was safe.
Safe from their mom. Safe on a larger scale was another matter. Even with the ABB crippled there were ongoing concerns. Bakuda still had hostages and was held up somewhere, probably with Uber and Leet. Normally not the kind of thing to worry about, but he had seen first hand what that combination could mean.
He paused and took a moment to rub his arms, feeling both the motion and the structure of them. No spindly limbs that could only twitch and break. No nightmare distortions that he had escaped by the skin of his teeth. He felt a shiver move up his spine as he did his best to steel himself.
As much as he hated the level of debt the team had found themselves in, he couldn't complain. Not seriously, not considering the alternative. The reality of what it would have been like living in that state, for as long as he could live.
In a screwed-up way, the debt was almost a relief. Something like that, being saved from a fate worse than death, was the kind of thing you could never make up, never fully pay back. It was the kind of obligation that would hang over you forever, coloring everything you did from that moment on.
Only Joe hadn't taken it that way. Sure, he assigned a staggering estimate to the treatment, but was perfectly happy to take payment in favors and side jobs with no interest or pressure. By keeping things professional he had saved the Undersiders from an insurmountable obligation. They still had a nearly-insurmountable obligation, but it was one they could approach with detachment. And detachment was something he badly needed right now.
He knocked on his dad's door. He had a key to the apartment, but it wasn't his home anymore, no matter how many old ghosts haunted the halls. After a few seconds he heard the click of a cane from inside the apartment and the door swung open.
"Brian." His dad greeted him with his usual stern smile, but he was struck by the wave of scents that blossomed into the hallway.
His dad wasn't much of a chef, but the man took pride in his chili. The recipe was followed with near religious solemnity, and he could pick up every element of it. The scents of meat, spices, and what he knew would be baking cornbread brought him back further than every element of the building combined. He shook off the wave of nostalgia and nodded to his dad.
"Hey Dad." He said, stepping into the apartment as his father cleared the way. He moved with a stiffness that he couldn't conceal and clearly regarded the cane with resentment. Brian did his best to avoid reacting to it, instead glancing towards the kitchen.
His father's chili wasn't a simple meal. He didn't want to comment on the injury, though honestly he didn't want to think about it at all. In the aftermath of dealing with Bakuda he'd learned about what had happened to his dad and nearly to Aisha after the city went dark. It was a lot to deal with and he'd been skirting the topic for over a week now, helped by the fact that neither of them were keen to discuss it either.
"Are you alright in there? Need any help?" He asked.
His father just shook his head. "Aisha has it covered." He said.
"Aisha?" Brian asked, his skepticism clear. His father just gave a simple nod.
"She's been doing that a lot lately." He shifted his weight slightly and did his best to conceal a wince. "With everything that's happened, I can't say I don't appreciate it."
It made Brian uncomfortable seeing his father like this. Marcus Laborn didn't show weakness. It wasn't even a matter of pride, the man just never broke, to the point where Brian couldn't even imagine the situation that would bring that about.
Apparently six guys under cover of darkness in an exploding city had done the trick. It was a miracle they had gotten away and an equal miracle that Aisha had gotten him to the hospital. The idea of Aisha helping out was equally strange, but like his father said, with everything that was happening, was it really that out of place?
Well, yes, it was. Aisha had run away from home six times in the last four years, often over circumstances less trying than this. The inciting incidents could be anything from arguments to stress to criticism at the wrong moment. In any other situation Brian would have expected Aisha to have run off to crash with a friend. Maybe even moved back in with their mom, though that only really happened when she was specifically trying to get back at them for something.
Now she was here, playing… what? Assistant chef and nursemaid? He never would have expected it. By all precedent Aisha and Dad should be driving each other insane, but if anything the opposite seemed to be happening. The apartment even looked cleaner and more organized than any time when Aisha had been in residence.
Though that may have been down to his father being confined to home rest. With nothing else to do he could imagine the man taking the time to completely reorganize the place from top to bottom.
Regardless, it wasn't just a lack of conflict. There was almost a note of pride from his father, which was an exceptionally rare thing. Still, actually saving someone's life could trigger a serious reassessment of things.
"Here, I want to show you something." His dad led him over to the small living room where an older model laptop was open on the coffee table. Brian took a seat next to him as he pulled up an article from the Brockton Bay Bulletin's website. Unsurprisingly it was about Garment, talking broadly about her upcoming charity auction and the corresponding event being arranged.
"Already making a big difference." His dad explained as he scrolled through the article. "Donations have been coming in from outside the city. Pretty much every shelter and kitchen has been stocked to the gills."
"That's good." Brian said neutrally. It was a side of the aftermath that he had been avoiding getting caught up in.
"Even the stuff they've got running out of the gym has been going like clockwork." He continued, pausing to look over at Brian. "I'm proud of you for helping out back on Thursday night."
Brian tensed slightly, the rarity of the honest praise from his father warring with the associations of that particular mission. It hadn't been charity. Joe had mandated their help to pay off their debt. Scrambling over rubble and scanning for survivors. Still, Brian hadn't been stupid enough to go out in costume, so of course it looked much more noble than it actually was.
"It was nothing." He said quickly.
"Don't sell yourself short." His dad said sharply. "The first hours always make the most difference. Guys from the gym were talking about it." There was a pause as his father shifted slightly. "Your friend from work has stopped by a few times."
Brian felt himself tense and did his best to cover the spike of nerves. "Alec? Really?"
His father gave him an appraising look before continuing. "Yeah. He dropped off some supplies and has helped out a bit. With some of the lighter work." There was another pause. "He seems like a nice boy. Have you worked with him for long?" He asked.
"Not really." Brian answered overly quickly. With every other issue he had been juggling he hadn't expected to have to deal with Alec's bullshit on this side of things as well. Between unprompted calls to a Triumvirate level tinker and the way he had somehow inserted himself into Brian's old social circles there was just no end to the headaches.
"We're just work friends, really." Brian continued. The look his father gave him seemed skeptical of that. Because of course work friends would be tramping through the city in the middle of the night. If he knew this was going to come up he could have fabricated some cover story, a late delivery or some car trouble, something to explain away things in a plausible manner.
Mercifully, his father didn't press any further. Brian's job was ironclad to even the deepest levels of scrutiny you could expect from courts and social workers, but that didn't apply to the rest of the Undersiders. Claiming Alex as a work associate had been a desperate measure, and one that wasn't likely to hold up without a lot of groundwork.
"Well, I'm glad you have someone you can rely on like that." He said. Brian shifted uncomfortably, trying to balance claims of reliability against Alec's current and past actions. "A lot of the guys wondered how you were doing after you left the gym. Everyone is glad things are going well for you."
"Yeah, sure." He said in a slightly stilted voice. His dad gave him one last look before turning back to the article.
"Here's what I wanted to show you." He said, scrolling down to one of the pictures. The picture showed Garment, iconic in her empty dress with white gloves gesturing at the preparation work around her. She was flanked on one side by a stunning blond woman with a severe expression, and on the other by…
"Aisha?" He said, looking at the picture. It was his sister, but not like he would have ever come to associate her.
She was dressed in one of Garment's outfits, a purple dress that fastened around her neck. But it wasn't just the outfit that drove home the difference. Aisha looked focused in a way he rarely saw, not unless there was some trouble brewing or being actively covered up. Instead, that energy and focus was directed at the room, some kind of fancy convention center, as she talked with one of the volunteers or convention staff, he wasn't sure which.
"They don't mention her by name, but it's one of the better pictures they have up. Should be in the morning paper. Figured I'd save the article when it comes out." He explained.
Brian nodded numbly. His father had done the same for him, when he was growing up. Somewhere there was a set of newspaper clippings talking about junior boxing matches and sports results. Never major news, but if his hard work showed up in the press his dad made sure it was saved somewhere. That was his father. Light on praise, but not one to dismiss accomplishments. This was probably Aisha's first appearance in a paper that wasn't prefaced with phrases like 'suspected' or 'under investigation'.
"I didn't realize she had started work already." He said.
"They got an exemption for the charity thing. Non-profit work gets classified differently." His dad explained.
"Yeah, but a big event like that?" He continued. "I'm surprised they'd want someone that new there."
His father nodded in understanding. "Doug was telling me about it. Apparently Aisha 'gets' Garment. Is good at reading her gestures or whatever. Not an easy thing, let me tell you."
"I can imagine." He could actually imagine a lot of things about associating with a new, unknown cape. The communication difficulties were one of the more minor of them.
"Yeah, but Aisha's always been sharp like that." Coming from his father, that wasn't exactly a compliment. Aisha wasn't dumb by any means, but her attention to detail tended to be a prelude to some form of troublemaking, even going back to before his parents split up.
Still, it made sense for that kind of mentality to be able to pick through the stuff that most people would overlook. It could explain why a thirteen-year-old was being dragged into the planning of a major charity event.
"How has she been doing, otherwise?" Brian asked. Normally this would segue into a list of her latest pranks or petty crimes and a strategy session for how to manage them, but like so many other things in the city, the situation had taken a complete left turn.
His father dropped his voice as he replied. "Honestly? Better than I've ever seen her before." He glanced towards the kitchen where the sound of the last preparations for dinner could be heard. Evidence enough of how much things had changed.
"You think she's okay?" Brian asked. "I mean, all this, it has to be coming from somewhere."
"It is." His father said plainly, tightening his grip on his cane, then looking down at the laptop. "Between what happened last Sunday and her chance to work with Garment you can tell where it's coming from."
Brian shook his head. "She's had scares before. They didn't cause anything like this."
His father's eyes went cold. "That wasn't just…" The wood of the cane creaked under the man's calloused grip. Brian could see the muscles in his dad's forearms flexing from the strain of it. "It was bad." That was about as far as his father was likely to go on the subject. "Aisha stepped up, more than anyone expected her to. With that and the whole thing with Garment, you can tell. She has something to focus on. The girl always had too much energy. She could just never find an outlet."
"And you think Garment can keep up? Put up with her?" He asked. There was a gruff laugh in response.
"You didn't see that woman. Even if she wasn't one of those sleepless capes, she's got a mad drive behind her. Aisha will be lucky to keep up with her." His father said with dry amusement.
"If you say so." Brian replied. He wasn't convinced, but he had already voiced his concerns to deaf ears. Even with Lisa's assurances on the matter, he wasn't completely convinced, but trying to fight it now wasn't likely to help. "So where do we stand with the plan?"
"You'll need to talk to her about that." He said. "But she said she wants to stick around here until I'm alright." He seemed both touched and offended by the idea of needing to be looked after. His father's posture suddenly turned a bit awkward and he gave Brian a weak smile. "So, you won't need to give up your privacy just yet…"
The statement seemed to be leading to something, but he couldn't tell what. Brian put on a weak smile and gave his dad a nod before considering the implications of the delay.
It meant more time to get things ready. Having the apartment completely ready before Aisha moved in would help with his custody case. And honestly, kicking things a couple of weeks down the road might be for the best.
The team was close to reaching a new point of stability. Alec might be annoying, but he was right about them not being able to go back to heists and smash-and-grab jobs. Rachel had taken a massive risk when she went off on her own, but one positive was her effectively confirming what he had largely suspected.
The Undersiders had hit the point where just the threat of the team was worth a great deal, and that was something the boss had recognized. Somer's Rock had moved them from a minor gang to actual players in the city. Their involvement in the coming conflicts would only amplify that. Once the Teeth were dealt with and the ABB had been routed out there would be a new balance of power, and the Undersiders would be part of that.
The exact shape of that was still being determined. The coming meeting would be a big part of it, actually sitting down face to face, but in all likelihood it meant moving to a more stable role. Maybe as enforcers, maybe just as a threat in reserve, but he wouldn't need to rely on highly variable proceeds to see him through. Stable income and maybe even a stable schedule could make a world of difference for his and Aisha's future.
"Hey!" He heard his sister calling from the kitchen. "If you're done planning out my future behind my back, you should get to the table. Dinner's ready."
"Assertive as ever." He said as he climbed to his feet. His father followed suit with the help of his cane.
"Probably an asset, if she's going to be dealing with crowds like that." He said, nodding down at the article's picture again. Brian nodded, but still felt uncomfortable with the amount of attention and resources that Garment seemed to be directing at his sister.
Though not nearly as much as when he learned what else had been in the works.
"Arcadia?" He asked in absolute shock.
His father just nodded as if he hadn't just spouted the most ridiculous suggestion imaginable. "Garment's lawyer, Ms. Mertens, is looking into it. Thinks it will be a good fit."
Brian's head was swimming at the idea of Aisha and Arcadia somehow fitting together. "What part of that, exactly, is a good fit?" He asked.
"They're a vocational school." Aisha explained. "Lets you have a flexible schedule with half days and stuff. It'll let me help out if Garment needs me for a show or event or something."
Brian knew about Arcadia's vocational program, but his understanding was it was mostly to cover for absences when the Wards needed to sneak out, and possibly for some of the students who took courses at the college. He didn't know how many students legitimately had a vocational program they were devoting time towards.
Though he had to admit, if they wanted to sell the program as legitimate, having someone with a high-profile role would do the trick. Though he didn't like the idea of his sister being used as cover for the Wards, on top of everything else he didn't like about the idea.
"Ms. Mertens already spoke to the principal." His dad continued. "She's open to the possibility of Aisha applying to start in the fall, providing she can make up her courses over the summer."
The idea of Aisha 'making up' her missed schoolwork in a few months struck Brian as ridiculously optimistic. He had seen Aisha's school records. The idea that she would be repeating a grade was practically a given, and even that was a bit generous. Earlier records weren't any better than recent performance and he suspected she had been passed up through the grades mostly so that no teacher would need to have her in their class for the second year in a row.
Actually getting into Arcadia was another matter. It was a public school, though saw so much in the way of private donations and Ward funding that it outstripped most of the private options in or around the city. Brian knew that. He had been trying to find a school that would take Aisha, even if it meant dealing with tuition fees.
Despite being public, its vocational status and unique place in the school district system meant it could be highly selective with admission. It wasn't just based on grades, though that seemed to be a good starting point. Frankly, getting into Arcadia seemed more like applying for college than any kind of high school.
"The principal actually wants Aisha to apply?" He asked, still struggling to process the information. His father nodded.
"Apparently she was impressed by Aisha's charity work." He explained. No doubt there were hundreds of kids shooting for Arcadia who put in hours of volunteer time every week. Of course, they hadn't ended up in a news article for a major charity event within arms reach of a cape with skyrocketing popularity, so it was easy to see where the impressed attitude had come from.
His father shifted slightly. "She also said that, given Aisha's background, she was exactly the kind of student they look for."
The three of them exchanged glances in silence. Somehow Brian doubted the principal was talking about Aisha's history of shoplifting convictions. No, they had a photogenic minority from a working-class background with connections to major publicity events. Connections that were likely to continue through Aisha's entire time at Arcadia. No wonder the principal was onboard. From her perspective, Aisha was basically four years of good press for the school, and that was assuming that Garment wasn't throwing anything else at the administration to grease the wheels.
Looking at it from that perspective, the short timeframe of the offer made sense. It was rather convenient that if anyone happened to speak to Aisha at the heavily publicized event tomorrow she would be able to say she was applying to Arcadia, rather than some stumbled explanation about her academic situation. Arcadia, the school for socially conscious charity workers associated with major capes, and all packaged with the social credit of putting Aisha front and center.
It was the kind of thing that didn't sit right with Brian, but that borderline exploitative aspect was the least of his concerns at the moment. He had a rather long list of them and was trying to figure out where to start. The most obvious point of failure seemed to be the logical choice.
"But that's based on you making up your courses, right?" He asked his sister. "That's what, four months to cover everything you've missed this year?"
Plus everything that was glossed over or missed from earlier years. It occurred to him that given the amount of times she had skipped class or played hooky, Aisha's attendance at schools had probably been on the level of a vocational student for some time.
"I can handle it." She said with the kind of blind confidence that generally sprang from ignorance of what was in front of you. He knew what online and home study classes were like. It was a challenge, and he didn't have Aisha's attention problems.
"Do you even know what you need to cover for this?" He asked. "And how you're going to get credit for your course work?"
"Garment's lawyer is taking care of it." His father explained. "Apparently fashion types work with teenagers enough that there's procedures for this."
"What, tutoring, lesson plans, and grading?" Brian asked.
His father gave a single nod. "Garment likes working with your sister." Aisha beamed at that, in defiance of the seriousness of the discussion. "She'll roll it into her summer workload. Provided Aisha stays on top of things, she should be ready for Arcadia in the fall."
The worries he had been wrestling with since he learned about Aisha's new job began to surface again. More resources, more effort being expended, apparently freely and without cost, but the world didn't work that way. Nothing was free. There were token explanations, Aisha being able to follow Garment's gestures, Arcadia wanting a high visibility student, but that didn't add up. Not for this much effort.
On top of everything there was the conditional. Providing she stayed on top of things. Aisha didn't have the best history with schoolwork, even in a structured environment. Her keeping up with her lessons was a big point of uncertainty, but pressing it didn't seem like the best idea right now.
Instead, he turned to his sister as she happily dug into her bowl of chili. "Do you even want to go to Arcadia?" He asked. "I know it's supposed to be a good school, but it's on the other end of the city, full of stuck-up rich kids."
She scoffed as she took a bite of her cornbread. "What, are you afraid they'll make fun of me? Pick on me?"
Actually, he was afraid they'd try and she'd overreact and they'd be right back where they started, only potentially with an angry cape who had just wasted hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on something that fell through in an afternoon.
"They seem like the type. If there's anything they can make fun of you for…" he began.
She snorted. "What, you think someone wearing off-the-rack designer outfits from two seasons ago is going to make fun of my clothes?" She asked dryly.
Brian blinked and realized that Aisha's current blouse and skirt combination was different from the dress in the picture, a picture taken earlier that day. He also realized he had no idea exactly how many outfits Aisha had gotten from Garment, only that he'd yet to see one repeated.
"Okay, maybe not at the start." He said. "But what happens if the clothes Garment gave you wear out, or you outgrow them?" Somehow Aisha seemed to find the idea amusing.
"Seriously? You're worried about me running out of clothes?" She asked. "Garment never stops working and doesn't sleep. I've had to stop her from giving me even more outfits."
"Really?" His father asked in surprise. Brian was right there with him. The clothing had been generous, but he was under the impression that was as far as things went.
"Really. I'm not wearing a fucking hoop skirt gown, no matter how well it 'matches my eyes' or whatever." She huffed. "Hell, if this works, Garment's probably going to give me different clothes for each day and count it as advertising or something."
Brian leaned back in his chair. That didn't seem implausible. The same rich kids that could have made Aisha's life hell were exactly the kinds of clients someone like Garment would want. Aisha, no matter what her job description actually was, seemed to have been acting as an unofficial model. Free advertising and an avenue to the city's ultra-rich…
Strangely, the fact that there might be a secondary motive to get Aisha into Arcadia actually calmed a lot of Brian's concerns. Assuming it worked out, the amount of money Garment stood to make from upper class clients dwarfed the expenses of a summer of tutoring and a possible donation to Arcadia to smooth things over. He still wasn't happy about his sister being in that position, effectively being used as a pawn by an unknown cape, but at least he could see the moves that were being made.
Garment was still a point of concern. She had established herself incredibly quickly. Lisa had said she had support to get herself started, but basic support, not the kind of thing that circumvented laws and practical concerns. He had never considered her to be a major player, but the auction set to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars begged to differ. Given how fast she worked and the money she could be bringing in from private or under-the-table contracts, she could have a staggering amount or resources at her disposal.
Which raised the question of what she was going to do with those resources, and how Aisha was involved. He looked over at his sister as he took a bite of his chili. He considered the changes from the night of the attack. The shock of the event could explain some of them, as could her stepping up and saving their father. Meeting a famous cape and getting new opportunities could explain more, but not everything. At least not for certain.
He had told Aisha he was a cape. Not who he was or what he was doing, but about the fact that he had powers. He had done that because second generation triggers were supposed to be easier and it was likely that she could end up with powers at some point.
What she had gone through was more than enough to justify a trigger. Combined with the changes in her behavior, it seemed more and more likely. Garment's 'generous' actions were barely explainable with everything taken into account. The kind of thing that could only just be rationalized by an unbelievably serendipitous series of unlikely events. However, there was a much simpler explanation.
If Garment was showering good will on a random teenager, that stretched belief, but if she was securing the recruitment of a new cape everything began to make sense. Even minor parahumans were valuable. People would go to great lengths to secure them. Lengths a lot further than some outfits and help with school selection.
If Aisha had triggered. And if Garment was recruiting parahumans. Rogues were something of an outlier in the cape community. Outside of branches of the Elite they didn't really go for mass recruitment, but any of them could recognize the advantage of having another cape on hand. It wasn't the most likely possibility, but it wasn't one he could dismiss either.
He poked at his chili as he considered the situation. Assuming things worked out and there weren't any sinister motives, unlikely but worth considering, then Arcadia was good news for his custody case. The extra prestige from Aisha's school and job might cause his mother to fight harder for custody, but she wouldn't have a case for it. If things were stable then there would be no cause to relocate Aisha.
Looking around the table, even that seemed unlikely. When Aisha was fighting with their dad at every opportunity, or disappearing for hours or days on end it was easy to make a case for intervention. When she was helping out with meals, looking after his health, and had a stable job and education prospects, things were considerably less critical.
He had to wonder how long it would last. Sure, Aisha had been playing nice, but despite all the concerns about how she had changed he still recognized her old habits, just a little more moderated. He could see his father's annoyance at her antics and mannerisms. Nothing serious enough for him to call them out, but Brian didn't know how long that would last. The happy domestic scene playing out was definitely a reprieve, but not a permanent solution. The goodwill and sympathy points would run out eventually, and Brian needed to have a place ready for her when it did.
After dinner he helped his father with the dishes. One cooks, one cleans had been an ironclad rule between them. Since Aisha had helped with dinner she was excused from cleanup. It gave him another chance to talk with his dad, something she very clearly commented on before leaving them to it.
Honestly, there was something to the idea that she could follow Garment on a level other people couldn't. He remembered what Lisa had said about support and connections before Garment's debut. Was there any chance that had been Aisha? It wasn't impossible, and he honestly preferred that scenario to his sister being used as a pawn in an emerging business, or being a recent trigger press ganged into working for another cape.
"So, Aisha." He began, not even pretending to beat around the bush.
"She'll be fine." The plain statement had significance coming from his father. He wished he had the same level of confidence, but there were aspects to the situation that his father wasn't aware of.
"It's a big change." He continued.
"New environment and new people." His father said dismissively as he accepted one of the recently scrubbed plates.
"They tried that before. When she went into foster care." That had been a low point, but Aisha's social worker had been willing to try just about anything back then. It ended in a frustrated foster family and another incident of Aisha running away, but had served to lay the groundwork for his own custody case.
"You can't compare that to Garment." His father said. Like so many people from the gym, his father seemed enamored with the cape, though not to the excessive degree he'd seen from some of the members. To be fair, when was the last time there had been a significant parahuman with ties to the Docks? At least one who hadn't immediately been trampled by gang conflicts or swallowed up by the Protectorate?
"Your sister has her problems, but she can spot an opportunity when it shows up." Brian nodded. Usually an opportunity to make trouble, but all the same, Aisha rarely let them pass by. "This isn't just her getting a lucky break. She's serious about making this work. More than I've ever seen her."
"You're really okay with this?" He asked. His father let out a short laugh.
"Both of my kids have jobs. Far as I'm concerned, that puts me ahead of most of the Docks." He joked.
It was a rather dry reflection on the city's economic situation, but Brian had to nod in agreement. If not this then what were Aisha's prospects, really? He might find her some school that would take her, where she'd repeat a grade and then struggle her way through to graduation while he did everything he could to make sure she got her degree. A year displaced from the rest of her class and in a school where she didn't know anyone. Given her past, teachers would be on the lookout for any excuse to come down on her and Aisha would be more than happy to give them one.
Assuming she could keep up with her classes and make it through without getting kicked out or held back again, then what? He wanted the best for Aisha, but he couldn't exactly see her excelling in higher education or finding a solid career path after coming out of that kind of environment.
Instead, she had a chance to go to the best school in the city. To enter with enough fame and connections to attract admiration from the students and concessions from the faculty. He was still worried about her managing her workload, but there was a chance that she could pull it off, or that the principal would fudge things to allow her entry. And then she would have an education, a job, contacts, and the future he wanted to give her.
Except he wouldn't be the one giving it to her. Garment would, helped by her bottomless resources and apparently very scary lawyer. Garment, with all the concerns attached to a new and largely unknown cape.
"You think Aisha can handle this?" Brian asked. "I mean, she's really being thrown in the deep end here, and they're talking about months of classes."
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "But she's going to try. She's already made it through some kind of manners course from Ms. Mertens. Comport-something."
Brian thought she had been standing differently. And she looked more formal. Well, like she was trying to act formal, which was probably what counted at this point.
"I know you're worried." His father said. "But nothing's been set in stone yet. Even if things fall through, she's already in a better place for it."
Brian wasn't so sure. There was something surreal about the way things were playing out, which wasn't helped by the turmoil in his own life. His father might be confident that Aisha had turned over a new leaf, but people didn't change that quickly. As long as the new situation maintained itself he could see her keeping up her efforts, but things falling apart could set her back even further. And with capes things could always fall apart.
"I hope so." He said, focusing on the dishes.
"I get it." His father said, causing Brian to look over to him. "Capes haven't been good for this city, not overall. It's hard to believe that good things would come from dealing with them, but Garment seems like the real deal."
Considering he was one of those capes his father was talking about, he wasn't thrilled with the direction of the conversation, but nodded anyway. "She made a good impression?" He asked.
"She… made an impression." His father replied somewhat neutrally. "But Aisha gets along with her and with that lawyer… Well, she has good people behind her."
That was something Brian was worried about. Garment had a wonderfully distracting personality, the kind that could be hiding any number of things. He didn't seriously think she was the front for some gang of mysterious parahumans, but in the world of capes you learned not to take anything at face value.
"I'm glad you got a chance to meet her." He said. He could probably trust his judgment of the situation, at least to a point.
"She's not that hard to reach, particularly for people from the neighborhood. Means a lot, to have her set up locally."
It might, but Brian could only see the problems lurking around any corner. "I guess it's good that Aisha will be working close by."
"Less close after she moves in with you." His dad said, glancing over to him. "Even with that bit of reprieve, she's not going to disrupt things too much for you?"
"She shouldn't." He said. "I've been getting the place ready for months. Things got thrown off a bit with all the attacks, but I'll be more than ready by the time things are sorted out here."
"Good." His dad looked uncertain for a moment. "It was good, meeting your friend from work. Funny how I know more about Aisha's job than yours?"
"I guess." He said, a little defensively as his father watched him carefully.
"And it was good, you meeting back up with the guys from the gym. I know you've moved on to your own things, but you're always welcome back. Even if you feel you won't fit in, everyone would be happy to have you there." His dad was being unusually stilted in his words.
"Uh, that's good." Brian said awkwardly.
"And they really like Alec. Nice boy, like I said. Was good to meet him." He continued.
Brian felt himself tense and did a rather poor job of concealing it. "Really?"
"Yes." His father said firmly. "And if you had any concerns about some things maybe making it harder for you to get custody or look after Aisha, you don't need to worry. That's not a problem."
His mind spun, going over every detail of his cover job and searching for ways that Alec could have compromised him. He felt himself start to sweat as disaster scenarios played out in his head. His father looked at him with concern and made a placating gesture.
"It's fine, we don't need to get into it. I can finish up here. I know you have places to be." He said.
"No, I can-" but his dad cut him off.
"I've got it. I'm not totally infirm, no matter what the hospital says." He half growled something about bed rest, glancing at the cane leaning against the door.
"Right. Thanks. I'll just go check on Aisha." He replied, drying his hands and slipping out of the kitchen.
Aisha had slunk back to her room after dinner. As nostalgic as things had been, he had to admit to the reality of their family. They could get along for the course of a meal and some basic chores afterwards, but they weren't the kind of people to gather for board games or a family movie night. That was just as well, considering all the obligations and commitments he had waiting for him, including some rather direct questions for Alec.
Brian knocked on his sister's door and heard a vague acknowledgement. He took that as an invitation and opened the door to find her sitting at the small desk he had bought for her years ago.
When Aisha moved out of their mother's place she didn't exactly have time to pack or move furniture. As such there was a rather steep divide between her stuff from early childhood and everything she had accumulated over the past few years.
The room had mismatched furniture showing spots of personalization from Aisha, usually in the form of minor graffiti. As usual, the room was a mess, though unlike the typical clutter of laundry, magazines, and scattered possessions the mess seemed to be due to closet overflow. Clearly Aisha wasn't kidding about Garment attempting to force more outfits on her. He quickly revised his estimates of the dollar value of Aisha's gifted wardrobe and cringed inside. If Garment ever did decide to treat that as a debt he didn't know how they could be expected to pay it off.
"So, you and Dad finally decide how you'll be selling me up the river?" She quipped, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. The outfit was modest and sophisticated enough to make the gesture look both imperious and condescending, even when contrasted with Aisha's piercings and cheap jewelry.
At least Garment hadn't been going overboard in that area. Aisha was still wearing that glittery hair clip she'd been favoring for the last week, along with a necklace sporting a purple crescent shaped pendant. She also had a charm bracelet on her left wrist, next to what looked to be a nice example of a drug store watch.
"We haven't decided anything." He said. "And we wouldn't, not without talking to you." It was important to meet Aisha halfway, or at least create the impression that they were doing so.
"That's a nice change." She said, "So, you didn't talk Dad into keeping me home during the event tomorrow?"
He shook his head. "I still don't like you working with a cape, but no. He said we should go forward with things, with Garment and Arcadia. Hope it works out."
"Ever the optimist." She said with a smirk.
"Aisha, even if Garment is the nicest cape in the world, she's still a cape. Still part of that community. It's not a stable place, or a good thing to be associated with." He explained.
"Right, because you would know." She said quietly. Despite himself Brian glanced towards the closed door. It wasn't the kind of thing that would compromise him, but he wasn't comfortable taking that chance.
"I told you-" he began, but she cut him off.
"You told me that, and nothing else. What do they call that, deniability? So I can't reveal anything?" She leaned forward. "Or was it so I won't worry, like anyone would if they knew what was happening?"
Brian shifted uncomfortably. The idea that Aisha didn't know his identity was a polite fiction between them. Honestly, with how nosey she could be he would have given her decent odds of figuring it out even if he hadn't told her he was a cape. That fiction allowed them to avoid discussing what he was doing as Grue. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything to stop her from learning what happened to him as Grue.
Uber and Leet had broadcast the fight from the storage facility. Everything that had happened to him had been streamed over the internet. His fate was one of the parts that didn't see broadcast on public stations, but anyone who wanted could find a video of him being deformed and mutilated by Bakuda's bomb.
He couldn't suppress a shiver as phantom sensations from that night played over his skin. He wanted to play the big brother, the protector, the person who would assure Aisha that everything would be fine, but she had seen him nearly killed. Seen a fate that would have destroyed him if Joe hadn't shown up with impossible technology that none of them knew about. Hand delivered a miracle, then pretended that they would be able to pay him back for it.
Tattletale had explained the billing to him. Really, it was complete fiction. There was no 'standard medical rate' for that kind of treatment. At best he'd be on life support until what happened to his organs did him in. Something was thrown together about experimental surgeries with a multiplier for a rush charge.
In the end they owed Joe an astronomical amount, more than they could practically pay off, but without interest or even a payment plan the entire debt was more of a background detail. An excuse to maintain contact for whatever connection he had to Taylor, rather than a serious attempt to squeeze them. Hell, Joe was even throwing defensive gear at them under the thin justification of making sure they lived long enough to pay him back. Technology expected to last for hundreds of years, if it didn't magically repair itself somehow.
Aisha definitely knew he was Grue. And she knew what had happened to him. She would have watched the stream or gotten the news right after she had rushed their father to the hospital. Seen the initial attack and had no idea if help would arrive. Hell, if they hadn't gone on the offensive at the end that would have been the last she had seen of him. Her brother, twisted and mutilated on Bakuda's workbench.
Looking at her expression, he could tell she wanted to bitch him out over it. Call him to task and cut him down in a way only a sibling could. But she wasn't doing that, because they had a polite fiction between them. He got to pretend nothing was wrong, and she had to go along with it.
But that fiction went both ways. His concerns about Garment's behavior could all be answered with a simple question. Had Aisha triggered? Normally he would have expected her to come to him immediately, but with everything that was happening he hadn't been that accessible. Or reliable. He could understand Aisha putting off bringing it up, then further delaying when the city went to hell, but if there was ever a time to clear the air, this was it.
One question would put his fears to rest. But asking would tear down that comfortable fiction between them. He had a paper-thin excuse to keep his identity concealed when Aisha was a civilian. If she triggered, that would go out the window. If she came clean, he would have to come clean.
Hell, just asking would open him up to interrogation. Just bringing up the possibility of Aisha becoming a cape would mean answering to his own actions, and the consequences of them. He could be wrong and still have to deal with everything.
Or he could be right and have to deal with even more. What the hell was his plan if it turned out Aisha was a cape? At any earlier point he probably would have brought her into the Undersiders, for her safety if nothing else, but the team wasn't what it had been during those times. The Undersiders weren't the masters of escape anymore. They were a force to be reckoned with, set to play a major role in the city's fate and its new balance of power. They had ties, grudges, obligations, and debts.
The debts were what worried him. Joe might be treating the debt as a matter of course, but it still existed and wasn't something they could ignore. He didn't want to bring Aisha into something like that. He wasn't even comfortable with Alec having access to Joe's team on his communicator. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if Aisha had access to the Celestial Forge.
In the end he didn't ask. It might have been the coward's way out, but it was just as likely he was worried over nothing. Garment had a dozen ways she was able to profit off Aisha's involvement with her business well in excess of what she had offered. He didn't need to theorize about superpowers when basic greed could explain things just as well.
"I'm sorry about what you went through, over the past week." He said quietly. It was as far as he was willing to go without explaining more, and still further than he was comfortable with. Maybe that mess with Bakuda would have been easier to deal with if everyone hadn't seen it. Or maybe not. Phantom sensations danced over his skin again and he worked to steady his breathing. Aisha waited for him to calm down before she answered.
"It's okay. I know you've been having a hard time." It was as far as she was willing to go on the subject as well. The polite fiction was still in place, and Brian suddenly realized how badly he had needed it.
He looked past Aisha and spotted a notebook shoved to the side of the desk. It was the standard type you'd see in any high school, but was already looking dog eared and heavily used. A few of the pages sat unevenly in the binding and Brian could see what looked like math equations and even some geometry diagrams. When she saw him looking she quickly shifted to block his view, looking both concerned and embarrassed.
"Oh, um. I didn't realize you'd started on the course work already." Aisha looked uncomfortable. From that state of the book, she had been tearing into the material on a level he wouldn't have expected. He felt like an ass for doubting her commitment.
"Just the early stuff." She said defensively. "But there's a lot to get through if I'm going to be ready for September."
Brian nodded and took another look around the room. There were signs of what he would now recognize as the products of studying, but mixed in with doodles or decorative circles with geometric lines drawn through them. It seemed even with her new commitment; Aisha was still easily distracted. Still, she was clearly trying. He should probably be more supportive.
"If you need help with any of the material, I can work with you." He offered. He didn't know what the Arcadia syllabus was like but he doubted it could be worse than his online courses. Aisha didn't seem quite as confident in his abilities.
"Uh, thanks. Really." She added. He could at least understand her skepticism. They hadn't had the best experiences with school work in the past. Maybe letting her start fresh would be the best plan going forward.
"We can talk about it more after you move in." He said, and saw her shift. "What? Do you…"
"No, I still want to move in with you." She assured him. "But with everything that's happening, plus dad still hurt, maybe we wait until the city calms down before we do anything else on that? You know, considering your other commitments, and associates. Might not want me underfoot."
"Right." He said. He didn't really 'work' out of his apartment, but he could understand her concerns. As much as he didn't want to think about it, Bakuda was still out there. Joe was poised to smack her down the second she showed her head, assuming she was actually willing to go out in public again.
That was one point that softened his earlier irritation with Alec. There had been plenty of later irritation to fill the gap, but he wasn't fuming at him for botching the attack on Bakuda anymore. Lisa had explained it, how close he came to Hijacking her. A crazy dangerous use of his power and one he had apparently fallen into while under the same cocktail of stress chemicals they had all been swimming in.
With March's timing power providing insight to the matter Bakuda would have known how close she came to that fate, down to the second. She hadn't been avoiding the field due to her recovery, she'd been hiding away because she had minutes of leeway before Regent turned her into a meat puppet. That fact had probably done more to moderate things than any other part of the aftermath, even if it would have been better to just have ended the bitch right there.
Even if Bakuda was too scared to show her face they still had the Teeth to worry about. It was supposed to be a consolidated effort, but Brian had a feeling the gangs were more likely to end up tripping over each other than putting up a united front. After that there was the meeting with the boss and a final push towards whatever stability could be put in place.
Not having to worry about moving Aisha in during all that chaos would be a relief. Previously he'd been on a ticking clock, but between her new job, academic prospects, and better relationship with their father he wasn't worried about her running off again. It would be nice to have some time to himself to get things ready.
A thought occurred to him as he watched Aisha absentmindedly play with a plastic unicorn charm, running her fingers over its rainbow mane. "Dad mentioned something about that as well. Having time to myself, or privacy. He also mentioned Alec a lot."
Aisha's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, Alec. Your 'coworker'." She said with a grin. From her tone he could tell she knew what business he was a coworker in.
"Have you met him?" He asked. Showing up at the gym already bordered on a step too far, but family was another matter.
"Not directly, but everyone at the gym's talking about him." She said.
Brian felt his anxiety spike again. "What are they saying?"
"Nothing about your 'job'. No suspicions at all in that direction." She assured him. Brian instantly felt himself relax. "They just think you're fucking him."
"What?" Brian said much louder than he intended.
"Well, they found the two of you out alone after dark and you were apparently so nervous about being found out. What were they supposed to think?" She said, flashing him a mischievous smile. His concerns about his sister changing seemed to be baseless. This was a hundred percent classic Aisha.
In any other situation he would have suspected her of starting the rumor, but he doubted she had done anything but pass it along to him. Mentally he reviewed every interaction with his father, recontextualizing them based on Aisha's revelation.
"Oh God." He moaned. "Dad thinks so as well, doesn't he?"
"That was pretty much the point of this evening." She said, "He even got advice on how to bring it up."
For their dad that was sort of endearing. The situation was still fucked up, but could have been fucked up in a much more serious way.
"I hope I don't have to tell you I'm not dating Alec?" He asked.
"Come on, I know you're not gay. But you sneak around, disappear at night, and hide large parts of your life and people are going to assume things, and it's usually going to be the most obvious possibility." She said, "Covering up a secret boyfriend is a lot more likely than any of the alternatives."
He slumped, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Other than kill Alec, of course. "I don't suppose I can fix this with a simple denial?" He asked.
"Not unless you have some plausible reason for sneaking around with twinks in the middle of the night." She quipped back. "But don't worry, everyone is being really supportive about it."
He let out a long breath. "Maybe I need to get back to the gym. At least figure out what's going on." For some reason Aisha froze at his words, then seemed to steel herself.
"Yeah, maybe you should. There are things it would be good for you to find out." The statement seemed heavy for some reason, but he couldn't figure out what she was alluding to.
"Right." He said. "I've got to get back." Possibly to kill Alec. Joe has said a fifty Cal could get through the forcefield, right? That just left the question of where to get one at this time of night. "Keep me posted on the stuff with Garment, and good luck tomorrow."
"Thanks, and same to you." She said as he left the room, and then the apartment, and then the building and then the neighborhood. Away from his old life and on to the one he had made for himself. A life that was almost at a stable point. He just needed to see it through to the end.
88.1 Interlude Brian
Brian made his way through the lobby of his dad's apartment building. It had been mercifully spared the worst of the damage that had been inflicted on the city, with the only sign of the recent attacks being a damaged portion of street about a half block from the entrance. You could see the bright orange cones and flashing warning lights from the door and if you were hopeful you could dismiss them as the consequence of conventional roadwork, not the fifteen-foot-deep crater that had been drilled into the asphalt by some wayward tinker-tech explosive.
That drove home the impact of the fighting in a way that nothing else had. Drove it home in a near literal sense. Brian thought of this place as his dad's apartment. That was how he'd classified things since he moved out, found his own place in an effort to make a life for himself and provide some level of stability for Aisha, but this had been his home. It was the building, the neighborhood he had grown up in. The dingy lobby held memories of times from before his parents divorced, Aisha as a toddler chasing after her big brother as the family went out to the park or playground.
That hadn't lasted. He didn't understand it at the time, but looking back he could see the cracks beginning to form. The early warning signs that escalated into fights and screaming matches. The eventual separation, with Aisha moving across the city with their mom and him staying with his father, in that apartment that didn't feel like home anymore.
But there was some part of him that was comforted by the presence of this place. Despite how distant his father was or how little attachment Aisha had to it, the fact that it was still here meant something to him.
And some wayward shot from one of Bakuda's strike teams could have brought the place down. It had happened to plenty of other buildings in the city. Places closer to the fighting, or ones that were in the middle of the blackout field that he was still afraid to ask about. He was one of the few people in the city who could probably get a straight answer about what had happened, but he was deliberately avoiding the question.
Maybe that made him a coward, but with the insanity that Joe brought out on a regular basis he doubted the answer would bring him any comfort. He knew what the guy's casual and outdated work looked like. Now, with an entire team of unknowns making their appearance, it wasn't something he was eager to delve into.
He could leave that to Tattletale. He knew how badly she had been pressed to the limit by recent events, but she was at least adamant about acting as the team's contact with Joe. It was something she insisted she could handle, which was more than he could claim. Alec might be flippant about reaching out, but he had always disregarded the consequences of his actions. The level Joe worked at wasn't something they could afford to treat casually.
He shook his head as he made his way towards the building's single creaky elevator. Another wave of nostalgia hit him as every scratch, dent, and tiny imperfection seemed to jump out at him, each tied to a memory of his early childhood. Times when he could barely reach the call button, memories of the way the elevator shook in that particular way when you stepped in, the slight tremor as the doors began to open. Meaningless details from a time he had left behind.
But, it seemed, a time that hadn't been willing to let him go. As he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for his… for his dad's floor other memories came back. Being sent out of the apartment with Aisha. Sometimes with instructions to take her to the park or the movies, but sometimes just 'out'. Getting them out of the way of their parents' fights, and the eventual march to divorce.
And he found himself coming full circle, or nearly full. Coming home for a family dinner. Just Dad and Aisha, thankfully, though he doubted any level of emergency would get his mom and dad in the same room again if they could help it. There was even a dark thought about them deliberately going to different Endbringer shelters, though that cut a bit close to the bone considering recent events.
The elevator doors did their little jerky dance as they opened, with just enough stuttering that an excited kid could slip out before their parents. More little details coming back, more that he didn't need.
He was close, so close to leaving all of this behind. The recent bonus from their boss along with his share from the bank job had put him in exceptionally good standing. If the city hadn't been paralyzed in the aftermath of the attacks he would have had his apartment ready by now. Then it was just a few meetings to get the all clear from the social worker and he could take the final steps to make sure Aisha was safe.
Safe from their mom. Safe on a larger scale was another matter. Even with the ABB crippled there were ongoing concerns. Bakuda still had hostages and was held up somewhere, probably with Uber and Leet. Normally not the kind of thing to worry about, but he had seen first hand what that combination could mean.
He paused and took a moment to rub his arms, feeling both the motion and the structure of them. No spindly limbs that could only twitch and break. No nightmare distortions that he had escaped by the skin of his teeth. He felt a shiver move up his spine as he did his best to steel himself.
As much as he hated the level of debt the team had found themselves in, he couldn't complain. Not seriously, not considering the alternative. The reality of what it would have been like living in that state, for as long as he could live.
In a screwed-up way, the debt was almost a relief. Something like that, being saved from a fate worse than death, was the kind of thing you could never make up, never fully pay back. It was the kind of obligation that would hang over you forever, coloring everything you did from that moment on.
Only Joe hadn't taken it that way. Sure, he assigned a staggering estimate to the treatment, but was perfectly happy to take payment in favors and side jobs with no interest or pressure. By keeping things professional he had saved the Undersiders from an insurmountable obligation. They still had a nearly-insurmountable obligation, but it was one they could approach with detachment. And detachment was something he badly needed right now.
He knocked on his dad's door. He had a key to the apartment, but it wasn't his home anymore, no matter how many old ghosts haunted the halls. After a few seconds he heard the click of a cane from inside the apartment and the door swung open.
"Brian." His dad greeted him with his usual stern smile, but he was struck by the wave of scents that blossomed into the hallway.
His dad wasn't much of a chef, but the man took pride in his chili. The recipe was followed with near religious solemnity, and he could pick up every element of it. The scents of meat, spices, and what he knew would be baking cornbread brought him back further than every element of the building combined. He shook off the wave of nostalgia and nodded to his dad.
"Hey Dad." He said, stepping into the apartment as his father cleared the way. He moved with a stiffness that he couldn't conceal and clearly regarded the cane with resentment. Brian did his best to avoid reacting to it, instead glancing towards the kitchen.
His father's chili wasn't a simple meal. He didn't want to comment on the injury, though honestly he didn't want to think about it at all. In the aftermath of dealing with Bakuda he'd learned about what had happened to his dad and nearly to Aisha after the city went dark. It was a lot to deal with and he'd been skirting the topic for over a week now, helped by the fact that neither of them were keen to discuss it either.
"Are you alright in there? Need any help?" He asked.
His father just shook his head. "Aisha has it covered." He said.
"Aisha?" Brian asked, his skepticism clear. His father just gave a simple nod.
"She's been doing that a lot lately." He shifted his weight slightly and did his best to conceal a wince. "With everything that's happened, I can't say I don't appreciate it."
It made Brian uncomfortable seeing his father like this. Marcus Laborn didn't show weakness. It wasn't even a matter of pride, the man just never broke, to the point where Brian couldn't even imagine the situation that would bring that about.
Apparently six guys under cover of darkness in an exploding city had done the trick. It was a miracle they had gotten away and an equal miracle that Aisha had gotten him to the hospital. The idea of Aisha helping out was equally strange, but like his father said, with everything that was happening, was it really that out of place?
Well, yes, it was. Aisha had run away from home six times in the last four years, often over circumstances less trying than this. The inciting incidents could be anything from arguments to stress to criticism at the wrong moment. In any other situation Brian would have expected Aisha to have run off to crash with a friend. Maybe even moved back in with their mom, though that only really happened when she was specifically trying to get back at them for something.
Now she was here, playing… what? Assistant chef and nursemaid? He never would have expected it. By all precedent Aisha and Dad should be driving each other insane, but if anything the opposite seemed to be happening. The apartment even looked cleaner and more organized than any time when Aisha had been in residence.
Though that may have been down to his father being confined to home rest. With nothing else to do he could imagine the man taking the time to completely reorganize the place from top to bottom.
Regardless, it wasn't just a lack of conflict. There was almost a note of pride from his father, which was an exceptionally rare thing. Still, actually saving someone's life could trigger a serious reassessment of things.
"Here, I want to show you something." His dad led him over to the small living room where an older model laptop was open on the coffee table. Brian took a seat next to him as he pulled up an article from the Brockton Bay Bulletin's website. Unsurprisingly it was about Garment, talking broadly about her upcoming charity auction and the corresponding event being arranged.
"Already making a big difference." His dad explained as he scrolled through the article. "Donations have been coming in from outside the city. Pretty much every shelter and kitchen has been stocked to the gills."
"That's good." Brian said neutrally. It was a side of the aftermath that he had been avoiding getting caught up in.
"Even the stuff they've got running out of the gym has been going like clockwork." He continued, pausing to look over at Brian. "I'm proud of you for helping out back on Thursday night."
Brian tensed slightly, the rarity of the honest praise from his father warring with the associations of that particular mission. It hadn't been charity. Joe had mandated their help to pay off their debt. Scrambling over rubble and scanning for survivors. Still, Brian hadn't been stupid enough to go out in costume, so of course it looked much more noble than it actually was.
"It was nothing." He said quickly.
"Don't sell yourself short." His dad said sharply. "The first hours always make the most difference. Guys from the gym were talking about it." There was a pause as his father shifted slightly. "Your friend from work has stopped by a few times."
Brian felt himself tense and did his best to cover the spike of nerves. "Alec? Really?"
His father gave him an appraising look before continuing. "Yeah. He dropped off some supplies and has helped out a bit. With some of the lighter work." There was another pause. "He seems like a nice boy. Have you worked with him for long?" He asked.
"Not really." Brian answered overly quickly. With every other issue he had been juggling he hadn't expected to have to deal with Alec's bullshit on this side of things as well. Between unprompted calls to a Triumvirate level tinker and the way he had somehow inserted himself into Brian's old social circles there was just no end to the headaches.
"We're just work friends, really." Brian continued. The look his father gave him seemed skeptical of that. Because of course work friends would be tramping through the city in the middle of the night. If he knew this was going to come up he could have fabricated some cover story, a late delivery or some car trouble, something to explain away things in a plausible manner.
Mercifully, his father didn't press any further. Brian's job was ironclad to even the deepest levels of scrutiny you could expect from courts and social workers, but that didn't apply to the rest of the Undersiders. Claiming Alex as a work associate had been a desperate measure, and one that wasn't likely to hold up without a lot of groundwork.
"Well, I'm glad you have someone you can rely on like that." He said. Brian shifted uncomfortably, trying to balance claims of reliability against Alec's current and past actions. "A lot of the guys wondered how you were doing after you left the gym. Everyone is glad things are going well for you."
"Yeah, sure." He said in a slightly stilted voice. His dad gave him one last look before turning back to the article.
"Here's what I wanted to show you." He said, scrolling down to one of the pictures. The picture showed Garment, iconic in her empty dress with white gloves gesturing at the preparation work around her. She was flanked on one side by a stunning blond woman with a severe expression, and on the other by…
"Aisha?" He said, looking at the picture. It was his sister, but not like he would have ever come to associate her.
She was dressed in one of Garment's outfits, a purple dress that fastened around her neck. But it wasn't just the outfit that drove home the difference. Aisha looked focused in a way he rarely saw, not unless there was some trouble brewing or being actively covered up. Instead, that energy and focus was directed at the room, some kind of fancy convention center, as she talked with one of the volunteers or convention staff, he wasn't sure which.
"They don't mention her by name, but it's one of the better pictures they have up. Should be in the morning paper. Figured I'd save the article when it comes out." He explained.
Brian nodded numbly. His father had done the same for him, when he was growing up. Somewhere there was a set of newspaper clippings talking about junior boxing matches and sports results. Never major news, but if his hard work showed up in the press his dad made sure it was saved somewhere. That was his father. Light on praise, but not one to dismiss accomplishments. This was probably Aisha's first appearance in a paper that wasn't prefaced with phrases like 'suspected' or 'under investigation'.
"I didn't realize she had started work already." He said.
"They got an exemption for the charity thing. Non-profit work gets classified differently." His dad explained.
"Yeah, but a big event like that?" He continued. "I'm surprised they'd want someone that new there."
His father nodded in understanding. "Doug was telling me about it. Apparently Aisha 'gets' Garment. Is good at reading her gestures or whatever. Not an easy thing, let me tell you."
"I can imagine." He could actually imagine a lot of things about associating with a new, unknown cape. The communication difficulties were one of the more minor of them.
"Yeah, but Aisha's always been sharp like that." Coming from his father, that wasn't exactly a compliment. Aisha wasn't dumb by any means, but her attention to detail tended to be a prelude to some form of troublemaking, even going back to before his parents split up.
Still, it made sense for that kind of mentality to be able to pick through the stuff that most people would overlook. It could explain why a thirteen-year-old was being dragged into the planning of a major charity event.
"How has she been doing, otherwise?" Brian asked. Normally this would segue into a list of her latest pranks or petty crimes and a strategy session for how to manage them, but like so many other things in the city, the situation had taken a complete left turn.
His father dropped his voice as he replied. "Honestly? Better than I've ever seen her before." He glanced towards the kitchen where the sound of the last preparations for dinner could be heard. Evidence enough of how much things had changed.
"You think she's okay?" Brian asked. "I mean, all this, it has to be coming from somewhere."
"It is." His father said plainly, tightening his grip on his cane, then looking down at the laptop. "Between what happened last Sunday and her chance to work with Garment you can tell where it's coming from."
Brian shook his head. "She's had scares before. They didn't cause anything like this."
His father's eyes went cold. "That wasn't just…" The wood of the cane creaked under the man's calloused grip. Brian could see the muscles in his dad's forearms flexing from the strain of it. "It was bad." That was about as far as his father was likely to go on the subject. "Aisha stepped up, more than anyone expected her to. With that and the whole thing with Garment, you can tell. She has something to focus on. The girl always had too much energy. She could just never find an outlet."
"And you think Garment can keep up? Put up with her?" He asked. There was a gruff laugh in response.
"You didn't see that woman. Even if she wasn't one of those sleepless capes, she's got a mad drive behind her. Aisha will be lucky to keep up with her." His father said with dry amusement.
"If you say so." Brian replied. He wasn't convinced, but he had already voiced his concerns to deaf ears. Even with Lisa's assurances on the matter, he wasn't completely convinced, but trying to fight it now wasn't likely to help. "So where do we stand with the plan?"
"You'll need to talk to her about that." He said. "But she said she wants to stick around here until I'm alright." He seemed both touched and offended by the idea of needing to be looked after. His father's posture suddenly turned a bit awkward and he gave Brian a weak smile. "So, you won't need to give up your privacy just yet…"
The statement seemed to be leading to something, but he couldn't tell what. Brian put on a weak smile and gave his dad a nod before considering the implications of the delay.
It meant more time to get things ready. Having the apartment completely ready before Aisha moved in would help with his custody case. And honestly, kicking things a couple of weeks down the road might be for the best.
The team was close to reaching a new point of stability. Alec might be annoying, but he was right about them not being able to go back to heists and smash-and-grab jobs. Rachel had taken a massive risk when she went off on her own, but one positive was her effectively confirming what he had largely suspected.
The Undersiders had hit the point where just the threat of the team was worth a great deal, and that was something the boss had recognized. Somer's Rock had moved them from a minor gang to actual players in the city. Their involvement in the coming conflicts would only amplify that. Once the Teeth were dealt with and the ABB had been routed out there would be a new balance of power, and the Undersiders would be part of that.
The exact shape of that was still being determined. The coming meeting would be a big part of it, actually sitting down face to face, but in all likelihood it meant moving to a more stable role. Maybe as enforcers, maybe just as a threat in reserve, but he wouldn't need to rely on highly variable proceeds to see him through. Stable income and maybe even a stable schedule could make a world of difference for his and Aisha's future.
"Hey!" He heard his sister calling from the kitchen. "If you're done planning out my future behind my back, you should get to the table. Dinner's ready."
"Assertive as ever." He said as he climbed to his feet. His father followed suit with the help of his cane.
"Probably an asset, if she's going to be dealing with crowds like that." He said, nodding down at the article's picture again. Brian nodded, but still felt uncomfortable with the amount of attention and resources that Garment seemed to be directing at his sister.
Though not nearly as much as when he learned what else had been in the works.
"Arcadia?" He asked in absolute shock.
His father just nodded as if he hadn't just spouted the most ridiculous suggestion imaginable. "Garment's lawyer, Ms. Mertens, is looking into it. Thinks it will be a good fit."
Brian's head was swimming at the idea of Aisha and Arcadia somehow fitting together. "What part of that, exactly, is a good fit?" He asked.
"They're a vocational school." Aisha explained. "Lets you have a flexible schedule with half days and stuff. It'll let me help out if Garment needs me for a show or event or something."
Brian knew about Arcadia's vocational program, but his understanding was it was mostly to cover for absences when the Wards needed to sneak out, and possibly for some of the students who took courses at the college. He didn't know how many students legitimately had a vocational program they were devoting time towards.
Though he had to admit, if they wanted to sell the program as legitimate, having someone with a high-profile role would do the trick. Though he didn't like the idea of his sister being used as cover for the Wards, on top of everything else he didn't like about the idea.
"Ms. Mertens already spoke to the principal." His dad continued. "She's open to the possibility of Aisha applying to start in the fall, providing she can make up her courses over the summer."
The idea of Aisha 'making up' her missed schoolwork in a few months struck Brian as ridiculously optimistic. He had seen Aisha's school records. The idea that she would be repeating a grade was practically a given, and even that was a bit generous. Earlier records weren't any better than recent performance and he suspected she had been passed up through the grades mostly so that no teacher would need to have her in their class for the second year in a row.
Actually getting into Arcadia was another matter. It was a public school, though saw so much in the way of private donations and Ward funding that it outstripped most of the private options in or around the city. Brian knew that. He had been trying to find a school that would take Aisha, even if it meant dealing with tuition fees.
Despite being public, its vocational status and unique place in the school district system meant it could be highly selective with admission. It wasn't just based on grades, though that seemed to be a good starting point. Frankly, getting into Arcadia seemed more like applying for college than any kind of high school.
"The principal actually wants Aisha to apply?" He asked, still struggling to process the information. His father nodded.
"Apparently she was impressed by Aisha's charity work." He explained. No doubt there were hundreds of kids shooting for Arcadia who put in hours of volunteer time every week. Of course, they hadn't ended up in a news article for a major charity event within arms reach of a cape with skyrocketing popularity, so it was easy to see where the impressed attitude had come from.
His father shifted slightly. "She also said that, given Aisha's background, she was exactly the kind of student they look for."
The three of them exchanged glances in silence. Somehow Brian doubted the principal was talking about Aisha's history of shoplifting convictions. No, they had a photogenic minority from a working-class background with connections to major publicity events. Connections that were likely to continue through Aisha's entire time at Arcadia. No wonder the principal was onboard. From her perspective, Aisha was basically four years of good press for the school, and that was assuming that Garment wasn't throwing anything else at the administration to grease the wheels.
Looking at it from that perspective, the short timeframe of the offer made sense. It was rather convenient that if anyone happened to speak to Aisha at the heavily publicized event tomorrow she would be able to say she was applying to Arcadia, rather than some stumbled explanation about her academic situation. Arcadia, the school for socially conscious charity workers associated with major capes, and all packaged with the social credit of putting Aisha front and center.
It was the kind of thing that didn't sit right with Brian, but that borderline exploitative aspect was the least of his concerns at the moment. He had a rather long list of them and was trying to figure out where to start. The most obvious point of failure seemed to be the logical choice.
"But that's based on you making up your courses, right?" He asked his sister. "That's what, four months to cover everything you've missed this year?"
Plus everything that was glossed over or missed from earlier years. It occurred to him that given the amount of times she had skipped class or played hooky, Aisha's attendance at schools had probably been on the level of a vocational student for some time.
"I can handle it." She said with the kind of blind confidence that generally sprang from ignorance of what was in front of you. He knew what online and home study classes were like. It was a challenge, and he didn't have Aisha's attention problems.
"Do you even know what you need to cover for this?" He asked. "And how you're going to get credit for your course work?"
"Garment's lawyer is taking care of it." His father explained. "Apparently fashion types work with teenagers enough that there's procedures for this."
"What, tutoring, lesson plans, and grading?" Brian asked.
His father gave a single nod. "Garment likes working with your sister." Aisha beamed at that, in defiance of the seriousness of the discussion. "She'll roll it into her summer workload. Provided Aisha stays on top of things, she should be ready for Arcadia in the fall."
The worries he had been wrestling with since he learned about Aisha's new job began to surface again. More resources, more effort being expended, apparently freely and without cost, but the world didn't work that way. Nothing was free. There were token explanations, Aisha being able to follow Garment's gestures, Arcadia wanting a high visibility student, but that didn't add up. Not for this much effort.
On top of everything there was the conditional. Providing she stayed on top of things. Aisha didn't have the best history with schoolwork, even in a structured environment. Her keeping up with her lessons was a big point of uncertainty, but pressing it didn't seem like the best idea right now.
Instead, he turned to his sister as she happily dug into her bowl of chili. "Do you even want to go to Arcadia?" He asked. "I know it's supposed to be a good school, but it's on the other end of the city, full of stuck-up rich kids."
She scoffed as she took a bite of her cornbread. "What, are you afraid they'll make fun of me? Pick on me?"
Actually, he was afraid they'd try and she'd overreact and they'd be right back where they started, only potentially with an angry cape who had just wasted hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on something that fell through in an afternoon.
"They seem like the type. If there's anything they can make fun of you for…" he began.
She snorted. "What, you think someone wearing off-the-rack designer outfits from two seasons ago is going to make fun of my clothes?" She asked dryly.
Brian blinked and realized that Aisha's current blouse and skirt combination was different from the dress in the picture, a picture taken earlier that day. He also realized he had no idea exactly how many outfits Aisha had gotten from Garment, only that he'd yet to see one repeated.
"Okay, maybe not at the start." He said. "But what happens if the clothes Garment gave you wear out, or you outgrow them?" Somehow Aisha seemed to find the idea amusing.
"Seriously? You're worried about me running out of clothes?" She asked. "Garment never stops working and doesn't sleep. I've had to stop her from giving me even more outfits."
"Really?" His father asked in surprise. Brian was right there with him. The clothing had been generous, but he was under the impression that was as far as things went.
"Really. I'm not wearing a fucking hoop skirt gown, no matter how well it 'matches my eyes' or whatever." She huffed. "Hell, if this works, Garment's probably going to give me different clothes for each day and count it as advertising or something."
Brian leaned back in his chair. That didn't seem implausible. The same rich kids that could have made Aisha's life hell were exactly the kinds of clients someone like Garment would want. Aisha, no matter what her job description actually was, seemed to have been acting as an unofficial model. Free advertising and an avenue to the city's ultra-rich…
Strangely, the fact that there might be a secondary motive to get Aisha into Arcadia actually calmed a lot of Brian's concerns. Assuming it worked out, the amount of money Garment stood to make from upper class clients dwarfed the expenses of a summer of tutoring and a possible donation to Arcadia to smooth things over. He still wasn't happy about his sister being in that position, effectively being used as a pawn by an unknown cape, but at least he could see the moves that were being made.
Garment was still a point of concern. She had established herself incredibly quickly. Lisa had said she had support to get herself started, but basic support, not the kind of thing that circumvented laws and practical concerns. He had never considered her to be a major player, but the auction set to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars begged to differ. Given how fast she worked and the money she could be bringing in from private or under-the-table contracts, she could have a staggering amount or resources at her disposal.
Which raised the question of what she was going to do with those resources, and how Aisha was involved. He looked over at his sister as he took a bite of his chili. He considered the changes from the night of the attack. The shock of the event could explain some of them, as could her stepping up and saving their father. Meeting a famous cape and getting new opportunities could explain more, but not everything. At least not for certain.
He had told Aisha he was a cape. Not who he was or what he was doing, but about the fact that he had powers. He had done that because second generation triggers were supposed to be easier and it was likely that she could end up with powers at some point.
What she had gone through was more than enough to justify a trigger. Combined with the changes in her behavior, it seemed more and more likely. Garment's 'generous' actions were barely explainable with everything taken into account. The kind of thing that could only just be rationalized by an unbelievably serendipitous series of unlikely events. However, there was a much simpler explanation.
If Garment was showering good will on a random teenager, that stretched belief, but if she was securing the recruitment of a new cape everything began to make sense. Even minor parahumans were valuable. People would go to great lengths to secure them. Lengths a lot further than some outfits and help with school selection.
If Aisha had triggered. And if Garment was recruiting parahumans. Rogues were something of an outlier in the cape community. Outside of branches of the Elite they didn't really go for mass recruitment, but any of them could recognize the advantage of having another cape on hand. It wasn't the most likely possibility, but it wasn't one he could dismiss either.
He poked at his chili as he considered the situation. Assuming things worked out and there weren't any sinister motives, unlikely but worth considering, then Arcadia was good news for his custody case. The extra prestige from Aisha's school and job might cause his mother to fight harder for custody, but she wouldn't have a case for it. If things were stable then there would be no cause to relocate Aisha.
Looking around the table, even that seemed unlikely. When Aisha was fighting with their dad at every opportunity, or disappearing for hours or days on end it was easy to make a case for intervention. When she was helping out with meals, looking after his health, and had a stable job and education prospects, things were considerably less critical.
He had to wonder how long it would last. Sure, Aisha had been playing nice, but despite all the concerns about how she had changed he still recognized her old habits, just a little more moderated. He could see his father's annoyance at her antics and mannerisms. Nothing serious enough for him to call them out, but Brian didn't know how long that would last. The happy domestic scene playing out was definitely a reprieve, but not a permanent solution. The goodwill and sympathy points would run out eventually, and Brian needed to have a place ready for her when it did.
After dinner he helped his father with the dishes. One cooks, one cleans had been an ironclad rule between them. Since Aisha had helped with dinner she was excused from cleanup. It gave him another chance to talk with his dad, something she very clearly commented on before leaving them to it.
Honestly, there was something to the idea that she could follow Garment on a level other people couldn't. He remembered what Lisa had said about support and connections before Garment's debut. Was there any chance that had been Aisha? It wasn't impossible, and he honestly preferred that scenario to his sister being used as a pawn in an emerging business, or being a recent trigger press ganged into working for another cape.
"So, Aisha." He began, not even pretending to beat around the bush.
"She'll be fine." The plain statement had significance coming from his father. He wished he had the same level of confidence, but there were aspects to the situation that his father wasn't aware of.
"It's a big change." He continued.
"New environment and new people." His father said dismissively as he accepted one of the recently scrubbed plates.
"They tried that before. When she went into foster care." That had been a low point, but Aisha's social worker had been willing to try just about anything back then. It ended in a frustrated foster family and another incident of Aisha running away, but had served to lay the groundwork for his own custody case.
"You can't compare that to Garment." His father said. Like so many people from the gym, his father seemed enamored with the cape, though not to the excessive degree he'd seen from some of the members. To be fair, when was the last time there had been a significant parahuman with ties to the Docks? At least one who hadn't immediately been trampled by gang conflicts or swallowed up by the Protectorate?
"Your sister has her problems, but she can spot an opportunity when it shows up." Brian nodded. Usually an opportunity to make trouble, but all the same, Aisha rarely let them pass by. "This isn't just her getting a lucky break. She's serious about making this work. More than I've ever seen her."
"You're really okay with this?" He asked. His father let out a short laugh.
"Both of my kids have jobs. Far as I'm concerned, that puts me ahead of most of the Docks." He joked.
It was a rather dry reflection on the city's economic situation, but Brian had to nod in agreement. If not this then what were Aisha's prospects, really? He might find her some school that would take her, where she'd repeat a grade and then struggle her way through to graduation while he did everything he could to make sure she got her degree. A year displaced from the rest of her class and in a school where she didn't know anyone. Given her past, teachers would be on the lookout for any excuse to come down on her and Aisha would be more than happy to give them one.
Assuming she could keep up with her classes and make it through without getting kicked out or held back again, then what? He wanted the best for Aisha, but he couldn't exactly see her excelling in higher education or finding a solid career path after coming out of that kind of environment.
Instead, she had a chance to go to the best school in the city. To enter with enough fame and connections to attract admiration from the students and concessions from the faculty. He was still worried about her managing her workload, but there was a chance that she could pull it off, or that the principal would fudge things to allow her entry. And then she would have an education, a job, contacts, and the future he wanted to give her.
Except he wouldn't be the one giving it to her. Garment would, helped by her bottomless resources and apparently very scary lawyer. Garment, with all the concerns attached to a new and largely unknown cape.
"You think Aisha can handle this?" Brian asked. "I mean, she's really being thrown in the deep end here, and they're talking about months of classes."
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "But she's going to try. She's already made it through some kind of manners course from Ms. Mertens. Comport-something."
Brian thought she had been standing differently. And she looked more formal. Well, like she was trying to act formal, which was probably what counted at this point.
"I know you're worried." His father said. "But nothing's been set in stone yet. Even if things fall through, she's already in a better place for it."
Brian wasn't so sure. There was something surreal about the way things were playing out, which wasn't helped by the turmoil in his own life. His father might be confident that Aisha had turned over a new leaf, but people didn't change that quickly. As long as the new situation maintained itself he could see her keeping up her efforts, but things falling apart could set her back even further. And with capes things could always fall apart.
"I hope so." He said, focusing on the dishes.
"I get it." His father said, causing Brian to look over to him. "Capes haven't been good for this city, not overall. It's hard to believe that good things would come from dealing with them, but Garment seems like the real deal."
Considering he was one of those capes his father was talking about, he wasn't thrilled with the direction of the conversation, but nodded anyway. "She made a good impression?" He asked.
"She… made an impression." His father replied somewhat neutrally. "But Aisha gets along with her and with that lawyer… Well, she has good people behind her."
That was something Brian was worried about. Garment had a wonderfully distracting personality, the kind that could be hiding any number of things. He didn't seriously think she was the front for some gang of mysterious parahumans, but in the world of capes you learned not to take anything at face value.
"I'm glad you got a chance to meet her." He said. He could probably trust his judgment of the situation, at least to a point.
"She's not that hard to reach, particularly for people from the neighborhood. Means a lot, to have her set up locally."
It might, but Brian could only see the problems lurking around any corner. "I guess it's good that Aisha will be working close by."
"Less close after she moves in with you." His dad said, glancing over to him. "Even with that bit of reprieve, she's not going to disrupt things too much for you?"
"She shouldn't." He said. "I've been getting the place ready for months. Things got thrown off a bit with all the attacks, but I'll be more than ready by the time things are sorted out here."
"Good." His dad looked uncertain for a moment. "It was good, meeting your friend from work. Funny how I know more about Aisha's job than yours?"
"I guess." He said, a little defensively as his father watched him carefully.
"And it was good, you meeting back up with the guys from the gym. I know you've moved on to your own things, but you're always welcome back. Even if you feel you won't fit in, everyone would be happy to have you there." His dad was being unusually stilted in his words.
"Uh, that's good." Brian said awkwardly.
"And they really like Alec. Nice boy, like I said. Was good to meet him." He continued.
Brian felt himself tense and did a rather poor job of concealing it. "Really?"
"Yes." His father said firmly. "And if you had any concerns about some things maybe making it harder for you to get custody or look after Aisha, you don't need to worry. That's not a problem."
His mind spun, going over every detail of his cover job and searching for ways that Alec could have compromised him. He felt himself start to sweat as disaster scenarios played out in his head. His father looked at him with concern and made a placating gesture.
"It's fine, we don't need to get into it. I can finish up here. I know you have places to be." He said.
"No, I can-" but his dad cut him off.
"I've got it. I'm not totally infirm, no matter what the hospital says." He half growled something about bed rest, glancing at the cane leaning against the door.
"Right. Thanks. I'll just go check on Aisha." He replied, drying his hands and slipping out of the kitchen.
Aisha had slunk back to her room after dinner. As nostalgic as things had been, he had to admit to the reality of their family. They could get along for the course of a meal and some basic chores afterwards, but they weren't the kind of people to gather for board games or a family movie night. That was just as well, considering all the obligations and commitments he had waiting for him, including some rather direct questions for Alec.
Brian knocked on his sister's door and heard a vague acknowledgement. He took that as an invitation and opened the door to find her sitting at the small desk he had bought for her years ago.
When Aisha moved out of their mother's place she didn't exactly have time to pack or move furniture. As such there was a rather steep divide between her stuff from early childhood and everything she had accumulated over the past few years.
The room had mismatched furniture showing spots of personalization from Aisha, usually in the form of minor graffiti. As usual, the room was a mess, though unlike the typical clutter of laundry, magazines, and scattered possessions the mess seemed to be due to closet overflow. Clearly Aisha wasn't kidding about Garment attempting to force more outfits on her. He quickly revised his estimates of the dollar value of Aisha's gifted wardrobe and cringed inside. If Garment ever did decide to treat that as a debt he didn't know how they could be expected to pay it off.
"So, you and Dad finally decide how you'll be selling me up the river?" She quipped, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. The outfit was modest and sophisticated enough to make the gesture look both imperious and condescending, even when contrasted with Aisha's piercings and cheap jewelry.
At least Garment hadn't been going overboard in that area. Aisha was still wearing that glittery hair clip she'd been favoring for the last week, along with a necklace sporting a purple crescent shaped pendant. She also had a charm bracelet on her left wrist, next to what looked to be a nice example of a drug store watch.
"We haven't decided anything." He said. "And we wouldn't, not without talking to you." It was important to meet Aisha halfway, or at least create the impression that they were doing so.
"That's a nice change." She said, "So, you didn't talk Dad into keeping me home during the event tomorrow?"
He shook his head. "I still don't like you working with a cape, but no. He said we should go forward with things, with Garment and Arcadia. Hope it works out."
"Ever the optimist." She said with a smirk.
"Aisha, even if Garment is the nicest cape in the world, she's still a cape. Still part of that community. It's not a stable place, or a good thing to be associated with." He explained.
"Right, because you would know." She said quietly. Despite himself Brian glanced towards the closed door. It wasn't the kind of thing that would compromise him, but he wasn't comfortable taking that chance.
"I told you-" he began, but she cut him off.
"You told me that, and nothing else. What do they call that, deniability? So I can't reveal anything?" She leaned forward. "Or was it so I won't worry, like anyone would if they knew what was happening?"
Brian shifted uncomfortably. The idea that Aisha didn't know his identity was a polite fiction between them. Honestly, with how nosey she could be he would have given her decent odds of figuring it out even if he hadn't told her he was a cape. That fiction allowed them to avoid discussing what he was doing as Grue. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything to stop her from learning what happened to him as Grue.
Uber and Leet had broadcast the fight from the storage facility. Everything that had happened to him had been streamed over the internet. His fate was one of the parts that didn't see broadcast on public stations, but anyone who wanted could find a video of him being deformed and mutilated by Bakuda's bomb.
He couldn't suppress a shiver as phantom sensations from that night played over his skin. He wanted to play the big brother, the protector, the person who would assure Aisha that everything would be fine, but she had seen him nearly killed. Seen a fate that would have destroyed him if Joe hadn't shown up with impossible technology that none of them knew about. Hand delivered a miracle, then pretended that they would be able to pay him back for it.
Tattletale had explained the billing to him. Really, it was complete fiction. There was no 'standard medical rate' for that kind of treatment. At best he'd be on life support until what happened to his organs did him in. Something was thrown together about experimental surgeries with a multiplier for a rush charge.
In the end they owed Joe an astronomical amount, more than they could practically pay off, but without interest or even a payment plan the entire debt was more of a background detail. An excuse to maintain contact for whatever connection he had to Taylor, rather than a serious attempt to squeeze them. Hell, Joe was even throwing defensive gear at them under the thin justification of making sure they lived long enough to pay him back. Technology expected to last for hundreds of years, if it didn't magically repair itself somehow.
Aisha definitely knew he was Grue. And she knew what had happened to him. She would have watched the stream or gotten the news right after she had rushed their father to the hospital. Seen the initial attack and had no idea if help would arrive. Hell, if they hadn't gone on the offensive at the end that would have been the last she had seen of him. Her brother, twisted and mutilated on Bakuda's workbench.
Looking at her expression, he could tell she wanted to bitch him out over it. Call him to task and cut him down in a way only a sibling could. But she wasn't doing that, because they had a polite fiction between them. He got to pretend nothing was wrong, and she had to go along with it.
But that fiction went both ways. His concerns about Garment's behavior could all be answered with a simple question. Had Aisha triggered? Normally he would have expected her to come to him immediately, but with everything that was happening he hadn't been that accessible. Or reliable. He could understand Aisha putting off bringing it up, then further delaying when the city went to hell, but if there was ever a time to clear the air, this was it.
One question would put his fears to rest. But asking would tear down that comfortable fiction between them. He had a paper-thin excuse to keep his identity concealed when Aisha was a civilian. If she triggered, that would go out the window. If she came clean, he would have to come clean.
Hell, just asking would open him up to interrogation. Just bringing up the possibility of Aisha becoming a cape would mean answering to his own actions, and the consequences of them. He could be wrong and still have to deal with everything.
Or he could be right and have to deal with even more. What the hell was his plan if it turned out Aisha was a cape? At any earlier point he probably would have brought her into the Undersiders, for her safety if nothing else, but the team wasn't what it had been during those times. The Undersiders weren't the masters of escape anymore. They were a force to be reckoned with, set to play a major role in the city's fate and its new balance of power. They had ties, grudges, obligations, and debts.
The debts were what worried him. Joe might be treating the debt as a matter of course, but it still existed and wasn't something they could ignore. He didn't want to bring Aisha into something like that. He wasn't even comfortable with Alec having access to Joe's team on his communicator. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if Aisha had access to the Celestial Forge.
In the end he didn't ask. It might have been the coward's way out, but it was just as likely he was worried over nothing. Garment had a dozen ways she was able to profit off Aisha's involvement with her business well in excess of what she had offered. He didn't need to theorize about superpowers when basic greed could explain things just as well.
"I'm sorry about what you went through, over the past week." He said quietly. It was as far as he was willing to go without explaining more, and still further than he was comfortable with. Maybe that mess with Bakuda would have been easier to deal with if everyone hadn't seen it. Or maybe not. Phantom sensations danced over his skin again and he worked to steady his breathing. Aisha waited for him to calm down before she answered.
"It's okay. I know you've been having a hard time." It was as far as she was willing to go on the subject as well. The polite fiction was still in place, and Brian suddenly realized how badly he had needed it.
He looked past Aisha and spotted a notebook shoved to the side of the desk. It was the standard type you'd see in any high school, but was already looking dog eared and heavily used. A few of the pages sat unevenly in the binding and Brian could see what looked like math equations and even some geometry diagrams. When she saw him looking she quickly shifted to block his view, looking both concerned and embarrassed.
"Oh, um. I didn't realize you'd started on the course work already." Aisha looked uncomfortable. From that state of the book, she had been tearing into the material on a level he wouldn't have expected. He felt like an ass for doubting her commitment.
"Just the early stuff." She said defensively. "But there's a lot to get through if I'm going to be ready for September."
Brian nodded and took another look around the room. There were signs of what he would now recognize as the products of studying, but mixed in with doodles or decorative circles with geometric lines drawn through them. It seemed even with her new commitment; Aisha was still easily distracted. Still, she was clearly trying. He should probably be more supportive.
"If you need help with any of the material, I can work with you." He offered. He didn't know what the Arcadia syllabus was like but he doubted it could be worse than his online courses. Aisha didn't seem quite as confident in his abilities.
"Uh, thanks. Really." She added. He could at least understand her skepticism. They hadn't had the best experiences with school work in the past. Maybe letting her start fresh would be the best plan going forward.
"We can talk about it more after you move in." He said, and saw her shift. "What? Do you…"
"No, I still want to move in with you." She assured him. "But with everything that's happening, plus dad still hurt, maybe we wait until the city calms down before we do anything else on that? You know, considering your other commitments, and associates. Might not want me underfoot."
"Right." He said. He didn't really 'work' out of his apartment, but he could understand her concerns. As much as he didn't want to think about it, Bakuda was still out there. Joe was poised to smack her down the second she showed her head, assuming she was actually willing to go out in public again.
That was one point that softened his earlier irritation with Alec. There had been plenty of later irritation to fill the gap, but he wasn't fuming at him for botching the attack on Bakuda anymore. Lisa had explained it, how close he came to Hijacking her. A crazy dangerous use of his power and one he had apparently fallen into while under the same cocktail of stress chemicals they had all been swimming in.
With March's timing power providing insight to the matter Bakuda would have known how close she came to that fate, down to the second. She hadn't been avoiding the field due to her recovery, she'd been hiding away because she had minutes of leeway before Regent turned her into a meat puppet. That fact had probably done more to moderate things than any other part of the aftermath, even if it would have been better to just have ended the bitch right there.
Even if Bakuda was too scared to show her face they still had the Teeth to worry about. It was supposed to be a consolidated effort, but Brian had a feeling the gangs were more likely to end up tripping over each other than putting up a united front. After that there was the meeting with the boss and a final push towards whatever stability could be put in place.
Not having to worry about moving Aisha in during all that chaos would be a relief. Previously he'd been on a ticking clock, but between her new job, academic prospects, and better relationship with their father he wasn't worried about her running off again. It would be nice to have some time to himself to get things ready.
A thought occurred to him as he watched Aisha absentmindedly play with a plastic unicorn charm, running her fingers over its rainbow mane. "Dad mentioned something about that as well. Having time to myself, or privacy. He also mentioned Alec a lot."
Aisha's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, Alec. Your 'coworker'." She said with a grin. From her tone he could tell she knew what business he was a coworker in.
"Have you met him?" He asked. Showing up at the gym already bordered on a step too far, but family was another matter.
"Not directly, but everyone at the gym's talking about him." She said.
Brian felt his anxiety spike again. "What are they saying?"
"Nothing about your 'job'. No suspicions at all in that direction." She assured him. Brian instantly felt himself relax. "They just think you're fucking him."
"What?" Brian said much louder than he intended.
"Well, they found the two of you out alone after dark and you were apparently so nervous about being found out. What were they supposed to think?" She said, flashing him a mischievous smile. His concerns about his sister changing seemed to be baseless. This was a hundred percent classic Aisha.
In any other situation he would have suspected her of starting the rumor, but he doubted she had done anything but pass it along to him. Mentally he reviewed every interaction with his father, recontextualizing them based on Aisha's revelation.
"Oh God." He moaned. "Dad thinks so as well, doesn't he?"
"That was pretty much the point of this evening." She said, "He even got advice on how to bring it up."
For their dad that was sort of endearing. The situation was still fucked up, but could have been fucked up in a much more serious way.
"I hope I don't have to tell you I'm not dating Alec?" He asked.
"Come on, I know you're not gay. But you sneak around, disappear at night, and hide large parts of your life and people are going to assume things, and it's usually going to be the most obvious possibility." She said, "Covering up a secret boyfriend is a lot more likely than any of the alternatives."
He slumped, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Other than kill Alec, of course. "I don't suppose I can fix this with a simple denial?" He asked.
"Not unless you have some plausible reason for sneaking around with twinks in the middle of the night." She quipped back. "But don't worry, everyone is being really supportive about it."
He let out a long breath. "Maybe I need to get back to the gym. At least figure out what's going on." For some reason Aisha froze at his words, then seemed to steel herself.
"Yeah, maybe you should. There are things it would be good for you to find out." The statement seemed heavy for some reason, but he couldn't figure out what she was alluding to.
"Right." He said. "I've got to get back." Possibly to kill Alec. Joe has said a fifty Cal could get through the forcefield, right? That just left the question of where to get one at this time of night. "Keep me posted on the stuff with Garment, and good luck tomorrow."
"Thanks, and same to you." She said as he left the room, and then the apartment, and then the building and then the neighborhood. Away from his old life and on to the one he had made for himself. A life that was almost at a stable point. He just needed to see it through to the end.
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The denial will only make it worse Brian. All it does is give them more ammo.
And man, people still don't know that Joe is wrist deep in Garment, huh?
IndigoPhoenix
Devourer of Citrus
- Location
- Everywehere
This is the kinda thing I read bcf for. The fights are great, the exploration of tech is great, but these little slice of life moments are where lord really shines. Joe calling his family, therapy, family dinner, I love it.
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- Location
- SomeWhereElse
Every cape that isn't Aisha (the rest of the Celestial Forge fails to count on account of differing cosmological origins) is always looking for an angle. Always looking for the other shoe.
Oh it shows in different ways - and some handle it better than others - but holy shit the fact that as far as I can recall every cape in every interlude written has in some ways shown this to varying degrees.
A part of it is every cape without fail being traumatized up the wazoo and out the other side but the other half is the shards egging people on in very small ways. I don't think I've ever seen the idea of something as hamfisted as the conflict drive play out better than in Brian's own head. Guess it just goes to show that good execution matters a lot more than good base ideas.
Also Aisha is being the mature one and it is causing people to bluescreen. I love it.
Oh it shows in different ways - and some handle it better than others - but holy shit the fact that as far as I can recall every cape in every interlude written has in some ways shown this to varying degrees.
A part of it is every cape without fail being traumatized up the wazoo and out the other side but the other half is the shards egging people on in very small ways. I don't think I've ever seen the idea of something as hamfisted as the conflict drive play out better than in Brian's own head. Guess it just goes to show that good execution matters a lot more than good base ideas.
Also Aisha is being the mature one and it is causing people to bluescreen. I love it.
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SiegfriedisOP
Calamity Demon King of Time
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I wish my school taught me alchemy. Which I would totally use for non nefarious reasons. Cause I'd probably hurt myself be for I even started.
SiegfriedisOP
Calamity Demon King of Time
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's always Sunny in Brockton Bay.
- Location
- Philippines
Ah yes, because that's certainly a very terrifying prospect. Who knows what Aisha could get up to if she could go up and call members of the Forge any time behind your back, Brian. She might even strike up a friendship with the horrifying Stranger that's scaring all the Thinkers around the planet!
There's an extra quotation mark here.
- Location
- Canada
I really appreciate a quality family interaction chapter without anyone getting flanderized.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The point when Lethe saves Grue's ass, takes off the helmet to yell at him, and he just grinds to a halt is going to be fucking delicious. Fucking. DELICIOUS.
- Location
- Miami
This paragraph is, I think, one of the funniest I've ever read in this story and if I try to explain to non readers they'll have me committed. Wonderful chapter, happy new year, and good night
Zakara
Semi-Found Cat
- Location
- Chaldea, Bleached Airspace
Oh boy Brian, do I have a story for you!
When Joe sets out to do something, he damn well does it, par excellence. I'm a little surprised he was able to disguise them that well considering he left the realm of conceivably human quality five dev cycles ago, but Aisha really is wearing what may well be his subtlest work ever. Now that's what I call thematic.
$Billion+ accessories.... Well at least they didn't go overboard.
Interesting chapter, solid read.
extra"
Like so many people? Like some people?
just her getting
Asmodemus
Subversive Element
Thanks, this really helped clear out my throat with the laughter.
- Location
- usa
Does Brian know how second generation triggers actually work? I believe the common understanding is that second generation capes are children of capes.