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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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ranmatoushin said:
Ah, Ha!
Found It thank you.
Joe actually specified kidnapping as one of his limits when making his initial deal with the Undersiders. The fact that they weren't the ones carrying out the act is a technicality, particularly when Lisa was aware of it.
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Lisa getting in trouble because she didn't talk enough would be very ironic.
 
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Wherein Joe gets a certain perk from CF V3 (Grasenrack)
  • Apocrypha
    • OMAKE: Wherein Joe gets a certain perk from CF V3.

    It had been a while since I'd seen a mote this small. I was honestly under the impression the Forge had already collected them all but apparently, it had been hiding this one until now. My reach snapped it up and barely shuddered from the cost. I felt my eyes glaze over as the full implications began to play out in front of me coupled with a disturbing sense of vertigo.

    The new power was named Strategy Trance and it let me do exactly what I was doing right now.

    I shook my head and sent a questioning message to the duplicates.

    "Did we just get... is this a power based on me?"

    "Looks that way boss."

    "Think the Forge has one for irreverent duplicates?"

    "Does this mean all those other me's are going through this as well?"

    "No good way to test boss, maybe this is what the Forge gets out of the deal."

    "Alright, I'm gonna go-"

    "Stand with your eyes glazed over and your thoughts accelerated while you ponder this further, extensively?"

    ...

    I didn't dignify that with a response.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Kellcat said:
    Yes, right now, all interactions the 9 are having are with fakes.

    Key words, there - right now. Before those fake people were introduced, the nine were being tracked (by Survey) in part by the trail of bodies they left. Eventually (for a a day or so) that shifted to "no more deaths - we'll act to prevent that if necessary", and then that shifted to the meat robots.
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    Shadow Archon said:
    Joe is withholding action, until the Nine reach the City limits. And then he's going to stomp them flat and help those they've harmed. Joe knows this task is well within his abilities. Joe's not directly responsible for what the Nine does, and has actively mitigated their attempts to harm people going forward. Joe however doesn't answer to anyone.
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    Why hasn't Joe replaced the Nine themselves and Bonesaw's projects with fakes so that he can take them out of play now and still have his excuse later?
     
    Graviator said:
    Why hasn't Joe replaced the Nine themselves and Bonesaw's projects with fakes so that he can take them out of play now and still have his excuse later?
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    Because Thinkers would pick up on that.

    Joe is a fiat-backed blindspot. His creations aren't.

    Joe could probably make replica-droids with fake parahuman powers, but while their bodies could probably fool others into thinking they're human, their powers wouldn't stand up to Thinker scrutiny. And then you'd have a hell of a mess explaining why Aperion made clones of the Slaughterhouse 9 to fight and kill on TV. It also begs the question "Where did the real S9 go?" Cue even more panic, misunderstandings, and eventually the Protectorate sends their task force to fight the Forge when they go out to heal the Nine's victims, the Forge effortlessly curbstomps them, and now you have an entire world panicking and causing even more death and mayhem while it flails about in fear.

    Joe couldn't pull off such a deception without extensively mind controlling the entire planet... which would completely undermine the fact he is going to showcase the public about how Broadcast works. The least amount of mind control, the better.

    As far as teleporting Bonesaw's projects out of there, that would pretty much tip the Nine off, have them spooked, and make them run away. And if Joe actively just silently takes care of them, see the above about the world panicking about a pro-active Celestial Forge.

    Like, Joe's really really strong, but he's not omnipotent. He can't just stop time for the entire planet, replace the projects on the spot with fakes, and then let time resume with everyone none the wiser. Heck, I'm sure if Joe did pull a Za Warudo out of nowhere, the shards would immediately poke their hosts about "Hey, something fucky just happened" and they'd figure it out the same way they track when Lethe is active after the fact.
     
    Graviator said:
    Why hasn't Joe replaced the Nine themselves and Bonesaw's projects with fakes so that he can take them out of play now and still have his excuse later?
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    On Bonesaw's (and Mannequin's) projects, Joe already has in a way. A lot of the material, people, and things like the van the Nine has encountered and scrapped for parts for their projects are made of material manifested via Joe's powers like his projection Magecraft or his digistruct tech. This means he can just vanish the material and their projects fall apart. Additionally, due to Survey's monitoring, even if the projects worked, Joe/his duplicates knows about them in depth so can counter them already.
     
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    Kellcat said:
    Key words, there - right now. Before those fake people were introduced, the nine were being tracked (by Survey) in part by the trail of bodies they left. Eventually (for a a day or so) that shifted to "no more deaths - we'll act to prevent that if necessary", and then that shifted to the meat robots.
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    Erm… Go back to around chapter 76 or so, and do a bit of re-reading.

    From story-start: Joe gets his powers, fights Oni Lee, Aegislash at the Bank happens, Apeiron debuts at the storage yard, he casually backhands Lung aside like a mook¹ and wrecks the ABB's financial centre, then it's the Ungodly Hour, healing, meeting at Somer's Rock, calls with Alena and Lisa… and the first time he has proper "downtime" since his powers reached a suitable level to be able to do anything about the Nine.

    He then immediately starts working on the Slaughterhouse Nine problem. The time from Survey starting her tracking ("by the trail of bodies") to when they isolate the Nine and start using "fake people" is measured in hours. The Nine literally had no time to commit any more deaths from the point that Survey started tracking them to being isolated. Going from "tracking the nine" to the whole "no more deaths" part is the same conversation, not "a day or so".

    Did you want Joe to start attacking the Nine before the ABB situation, when his best creation was "metal doorstop"? Or would you have preferred him to let Bakuda and March kill and torture their way through the citizenry of Brockton Bay?

    Joe isolated and started working on Ending the Nine as soon as was possible. He tracked them down, confirmed that they were "static" and had no current hostages or potential victims — then spent about 14 months-worth of "accelerated time" in the Computer Core making plans to take them out. About an hour of real-world time later, he isolates them and prevents any further victims. Was he supposed to somehow cause negative numbers of victims?

    (Actually, that is the plan: healing as many of their previous victims as possible.)

    Okay, yes, it takes a short while for him to add HRD "fake victims" to the process, but that is a short while. It just might feel longer, because it was a lot of chapters to cover a short period of time — and loads of Interludes/Preambles showing what lots of different people were doing over the same period of time. (i.e. we had the Charity Event, plus Sabah's view of it, Crystal's view of it, Gully's view of it, Uppercrust's view of it, Aisha's view of it, what Blasto is doing at that time, what Armsmaster is doing at that time, what Panacea is doing, what Manpower is doing, what Triumph is doing, what Brian is doing… that's about 11 different iterations over the same 2 hours of time, taking up about 13 chapters, or almost 6-months of posting)
    ¹ So casually, in fact, that Lung decided not to transform and attack Joe, because admitting that Kenta-the-civillian who just got tossed aside like trash was really Lung-the-warlord would have been too embarrassing for him
     
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    Long day at work. Came home exhausted.

    My dilemma: do I take a nap then go to the gym (and await the next chapter)? Go to bed early then wake up in the middle of night, read the new chapter, go to the gym then head to work? Or should I slouch in front of my comp with horrible posture, eat leftovers and watch youtube videos until the new chapter is posted? 🤔
     
    Spidey_phd said:
    Long day at work. Came home exhausted.

    My dilemma: do I take a nap then go to the gym (and await the next chapter)? Go to bed early then wake up in the middle of night, read the new chapter, go to the gym then head to work? Or should I slouch in front of my comp with horrible posture, eat leftovers and watch youtube videos until the new chapter is posted? 🤔
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    Clearly, all of the above /s. In all seriousness, do whatever you think will be best for you.
     
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    110.2 Interlude Gully
  • Threadmarks
    • 110.2 Interlude Gully

    Gully stood awkwardly in the blind alley as Facetime's shriek of excitement echoed from her phone. She was used to feeling awkward, even when there was no one around, but this kind of awkwardness was definitely a new experience. It didn't help that Facetime transitioned from her scream of excitement to a barrage of questions, seemingly without pausing to breathe.

    "Oh my God! You did it! How did you do it? Was it Garment? I thought you weren't meeting until later. How did it happen? Do you know how good you look? Is that a new costume? Why aren't you giving me a wide shot?"

    Gully blinked. At least that was something she could process. She extended the arm holding the custom phone Facetime had made for her. It was still a massive device, though even in her larger form her hands were no longer as disproportionately oversized as they used to be. Slender fingers gripped the screen, with clean oval nails, not the thick flakey chunks she's lived with her entire life.

    Delicate things that looked manicured despite having formed through her transformation. She remembered what Lethe said, about her own mind possibly influencing things. She couldn't imagine that her passenger had taken steps to ensure that her fingernails would look ready for a photoshoot, so maybe there was some truth to that?

    Another squeal of excitement drew her attention from her hand back to the image on the phone, as Facetime had somehow become even more exhilarated by the wider shot of Gully's new form. Honestly, she was still adjusting to the fact that the woman on the screen was HER.

    Well, a version of her. She smiled at that, at the fact that she had her own identity, her second identity. That tiny graceful body that had just felt right. Even through the shock of waking up after the procedure, of finding herself in a completely new body, somehow it hadn't been an unfamiliar body.

    Memory. That was something else to deal with. The potential that she might get her memory back, might be able to learn what had happened to her and who she had been before she became a case number to be filed away by the Protectorate.

    But that past wasn't a complete blank. There had always been a feeling of what was missing, just enough awareness to know how wrong her current body had been. When she had woken up, that feeling had been particularly notable in its absence. That comparably tiny woman was who she was, who she had been.

    The larger form wasn't her, but it 'wasn't her' in a manner that was far less intrusive than her previous body had been. It wasn't just that she was… well, Facetime's reaction probably spoke for itself. Seeing herself in the reverse camera, from the slightly downward angle that caught the curves that she's never had before, that she's never even imagined having, she looked… good.

    More than good, really. Lethe, and she still couldn't believe she had been able to speak to the stranger like that, had suggested that there might have been influence from 'the land of plastic surgery'. It was true that California tended to go overboard on that kind of thing, but it had nothing on the Protectorate.

    Heroes were supposed to look a certain way. They weren't normal people, they were larger than life. Sometimes literally, but generally it meant a level of appearance that went beyond what was expected even from Hollywood. The 'heroic' build or 'heroic' proportions. The side of superhero work that no one really liked to talk about. Diet plans, exercise programs, cosmetics, carefully chosen costume elements, and even some of the external help that Lethe hinted at. And unless you were one of the lucky ones who happened to have powers that facilitated that kind of thing, it was largely unattainable.

    Except she did have powers that facilitated 'that kind of thing', and in a way that didn't dominate her life. She could just put on every aspect demanded of a professional cape like a heavy coat, then take it off whenever she wanted. The tiny bracelet with a stylized shovel charm was barely noticeable, but to her it carried more weight than anything she'd ever held.

    But it was more than just the superficial elements of her appearance, though given how striking they were it felt cheap to call them 'superficial'. She was used to being tall, to having power and weight behind her movements. There was less weight now, and more grace behind that power, but she didn't need to learn how to function as a cape all over again. Every training exercise, every strategy session, every field mission that she had gone through in her previous body had taken her size into account.

    She could have functioned in her smaller body, her normal body, but it would have been an adjustment. Dynamics changed when you went from towering over everyone else to only coming up to their chest.

    She smiled at that. At the fact that she had gotten her life back, a life that she never even knew she'd had in the first place, but hadn't needed to give up everything she'd learned and built as a Case 53. She would have, she would have happily traded everything for a cure, but she hadn't needed to. It seemed like an impossibly perfect solution, but apparently that was a thing that happened with Apeiron. The man really didn't believe in limits.

    The smile on her face, a warm, happy, natural smile, suddenly froze. On instinct she shifted her expression to the more subdued form that she'd been trained in by the PRT's public relations team. Then she realized exactly what she had been doing.

    The wider smile, the more natural smile, hadn't been wrong. It hadn't been exposing blocky and uneven teeth or pulling on thick collagen masses on the sides of her face. It hadn't turned her face into the kind of monstrous grimace that she had worked to minimize against every natural instinct. She'd been restraining herself on instinct, because she'd been taught to always minimize things as much as she could.

    Looking back at the phone she saw a knowing expression from Facetime. The girl had recognized exactly what had happened. Even with her new appearance, with the new shape of her face, she had recognized the dance of expressions. Gully felt her face heat up, and for the first time actually saw a hint of a blush on her tanned skin.

    "O-M-G, you are adorable!" Facetime exclaimed as her eyes tracked over the screen. "And a lot more than adorable. I mean, look at you! This is beyond total knockout!"

    "Um, yeah." Gully said, glancing to the side. Her throat felt thick, and not in the way she was used to. Emotions were welling up. Feelings that she had just barely managed to keep under control were threatening to break free.

    When dealing with Apeiron, with all the wonder and impossibility and insane promises and assurances it had been… well, not exactly easy, but it had been possible to keep her reactions under control. It had all been so incredible that it had barely seemed real. Now, out here, in the 'real' world, with Facetime seeing her for the first time, it was all hitting her, all at once.

    This had really happened. She was fixed. Better than fixed. Better than anything she had ever hoped for. Everything she had struggled with, everything she had endured and soldiered through, it was suddenly over. Not just the big things, like people who looked at her with horror or disgust or pity. It was everything else. Every aspect of her life that had to be built around her deformed body, suddenly wasn't. Every workaround, every compromise, everything that she'd had to avoid or excuse herself from, suddenly it wasn't a problem.

    Suddenly. Way too suddenly. It was like Apeiron had said, less than half an hour for his top tier work. She had expected more time. More buildup. That maybe she'd get a lead that she could follow to an introduction, then a period of negotiation where she'd balance what she could afford in exchange for what Apeiron might be able to do for her. Something slow and gradual that would give her time to come to terms with things.

    But that wasn't Apeiron. He worked at a different speed from the rest of the world and she found herself as overwhelmed as anyone else that had to deal with that. How did you handle having your entire life turned upside down, or right side up, in less than the space of an afternoon.

    "I…" She tried, but the words caught in her throat. She wanted to be strong, wanted to be able to hit the ground running and dive into all the things that were suddenly possible for her, but the sheer vastness of that, it terrified her. It was too much, and no matter what she had told herself, she wasn't ready for it. Hadn't been ready. Not that she would have done anything differently, but still, how was someone supposed to handle something like that?

    When the tears came they were probably long overdue. And even that served to reinforce how much had changed. Tiny teardrops that dripped gently down her smooth cheeks, rather than thick globs that pooled in the callus-like-skin near her eyes before gushing out like a burst damn.

    "My God, you even cry pretty." Facetime exclaimed, her own voice heavy with emotion. Gully responded with something between a laugh and a sob as she tried to pull herself together.

    "I… I was worried you wouldn't recognize me." She said between sobs. It felt stupid, but with everything, with how much had changed, how different everything was going to be…

    "Come on." Facetime said with a sniff. "I know you better than that." The girl's own eyes were growing wet. "Plus your hair still looks great." Facetime added as she blinked away her own tears.

    There was another short laugh between sobs as Gully reached back, taking her braid in her hand. For so long it had felt like the only thing about her body that she had any control over. Her hair was stiff and coarse. Had been stiff and coarse. Her braid now felt positively silky in her hands. It had been nearly unmanageable, but by braiding it she could have some level of control. Some aspect of her appearance that proved she wasn't just a lumbering monster. For a long time her hair had been the most human thing about her, which was why she grew it out as long as possible. Nearly as long as she had been tall.

    And somehow, her hair had arrived in a perfect braid after her transformation. A better braid than she could have managed before, not with the limited dexterity of her old fingers. Another piece of evidence that suggested that there was more than just her passenger at work, particularly if she could shift into her larger form with a perfect single French braid that extended nearly to the ground.

    Was that Apeiron's work? Some feature tied into the shovel-charm that let her transform? The idea that something that massive, that fundamentally powerful, would happen to include styling and conditioning, possibly manicures, and who knew what other features, it seemed insane, but what part of dealing with Apeiron wasn't insane?

    Technically, she could ask. She had a connection, but words couldn't describe how intimidating it was to have the Celestial Forge as your tech support department. Bothering them for something as trivial as this seemed almost insulting, particularly since she suspected the response would be an exasperated confirmation at how obvious it was, probably followed by even more insane features she hadn't even had time to consider.

    Instead she just felt the silky braid in her hand and looked at her hair in the phone screen. Her dark brown, nearly black hair, the same color it had been, even if it was shinier and sleeker than she could have ever hoped for. The bangs that she had used to hide the lumpy unevenness around her eyes and cheeks now perfectly framed face, drawing attention to features they used to conceal.

    Her new face. Beyond different from how she was before, but even different from her smaller form. From her normal body. Not drastically, but it was a bit fuller, a bit more contoured. Carrying the kinds of subtle hints and shading that she knew would normally require careful use of makeup, that precise use of makeup that looked like you weren't actually wearing makeup.

    It was artificial, but in a way that was the point. It was a mask. A mask for her to use, or to take off whenever she wanted. That was somehow freeing, more so than even the full treatment had been. She hadn't just redefined who she was as a cape, she had gotten the ability to step back from it. To truly be normal in a way she never could before, but without giving up anything she had already achieved.

    And she could see what Facetime had recognized. The things that still made her sort of recognizable as Gully. Not just mannerisms, but broad features that had been included in her new form, if in a highly refined state. She hadn't had many things that were iconic to her cape identity, at least not ones that she wasn't more than happy to be rid of, but the few elements she had liked, or at least taken some level of pride in, they were still there.

    Mostly that meant her hair, which was pretty much the only thing that could be said to be recognizable about her, but her skin was the same tan color. A little more pronounced than in her normal form, but it was a nice contrast against her dark hair and eyes. Eyes that were now a prominent feature, rather than tiny, squinty things overshadowed by an excessive brow. Her costume was also similar, though there had only been so much she had been able to do in that department. Mostly a jumpsuit designed for durability and to cover up as much as possible, rather than… accentuate.

    That was going to take some getting used to. Not that she really minded, but the magnitude of the change was a lot to deal with. Still, it didn't feel as strange as she would have expected, probably because of those familiar elements. It was like the cure had taken the scant handful of elements she'd actually been proud of, nailed them down, and then rebuilt everything else from the ground up.

    A long way from the ground up. Being able to stand straight was still a novelty, without a curved spine and massive slabs of muscle forcing her into a hunched posture, but standing straight meant she was actually taller than she'd been before. And she could see Facetime recognize that as the girl looked from Gully to the background of the shot.

    "And you're still tall as hell." She said, blinking again to clear her eyes. Facetime was holding it together better than she was, but just having someone who felt that strongly for her, it meant so much. Enough to almost set her off again.

    Instead she sniffed and nodded, shifting the phone to give Facetime a perspective of her in front of a boarded-up door of the alley.

    "Taller than before." She confirmed, managing to wrestle her emotions down. "Now that I'm not hunched up. About eight foot six."

    Facetime's eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face. "It looks good on you." She said as her smile turned slightly cheeky.

    Gully returned the smile, and almost fell into her old habit of restraining her expression before she caught herself. The face in the camera, her face, it looked nice when she smiled. Even with the tear trails running down her cheeks, it looked good.

    She could smile. She could actually smile, and not worry about scaring people or coming off like she was threatening. If she let her emotion slip and grinned at the wrong time there wouldn't be photos of a death grimace plastered on the internet and an uncomfortable conversation with the public relations department, followed by hours of training sessions to help her learn how to present herself.

    "The Narwhal fans are going to go insane." Facetime added, her smile advancing from cheeky to fully mischievous.

    She felt an unsteadiness in her stomach. "Um, yeah." She said, then caught the demure expression from her face in the phone and flushed again. Facetime's smile widened as Gully found herself stammering. "I don't know if I'm ready for that."

    "Nobody's really ready for THAT." Facetime assured her. "But I need details. Tell me I'm the first one you called?"

    "Wouldn't be anyone else." Gully said.

    "Damn right!" Facetime returned a smug nod that caused Gully to roll her eyes.

    And marvel at how that was now a recognizable expression, rather than a slight shift in the squint that had dominated her previous face. Actually being able to express herself properly, normally, it was such a big thing while also being so completely minor.

    She felt her throat growing heavy again and sniffed, forcing down the wave of emotion. Really, she wanted nothing more than to just break down. To find somewhere private and bawl out everything until she could deal with the enormity of what had happened, but she held back, clinging to the professionalism she had forged through her years in the Wards.

    "Was it Garment?" She hissed conspiratorially, then paused. "Actually, are you secure?"

    "Um, no one's around." She said, then paused, unsure how she was so sure of that. The tiny charm that sat on her wrist, it was still connected to her power, even when it wasn't holding things back. She'd always had a rough sense of earth and stone around her, but the precision of that was so much clearer than it used to be. Clear enough to deal with the slight shifts in the material from the impact of footsteps and the motion of vehicles. She knew, absolutely knew, that there was no one within a block of her. "I'm near the dark zone, so the area's pretty abandoned. We can talk."

    "Great!" She said, then shifted her attention to something off-camera before focusing back on Gully. "I've shifted things to the R-Zero F-One encryption, so we're not going to be disturbed on my end."

    Gully blinked "Wait, weren't you banned from using that encryption on personal devices?" Something about server load and progressive bandwidth issues as Gully remembered it.

    "Please, like there's any chance they'll find out." Gully gave her a flat look. One of the few expressions she'd been capable of before, even if it was so much nuanced now that the skin of her face wasn't inches thick and horribly lopsided. "Besides, you're worth all the sanctions in the world. Now spill!"

    "Right." She said, taking a breath. "Not Garment. I'm not seeing her until later today."

    Facetime's eyes gleamed. "Just in time for the new you?"

    "Yeah." She said with a weak laugh. "Funny coincidence, huh."

    "Hilarious." Facetime said in a flat voice. "So what, did Apeiron just show up out of nowhere." The girl paused as she watched Gully's expression. Her eyes seemed to widen to the limits of her mask. "No way!"

    "Someone made a contract on my behalf." She said, remembering Apeiron's exact words. "For full treatment."

    "H-F-S." Facetime muttered under her breath. "How the fuck did you pull that off, girl?" She asked.

    Gully swallowed and shifted nervously, though the way she could see her new body move as she shifted was more distracting than nervous.

    "My work in the city." She explained. "He said it was appreciated, by him and his team. I'm not sure who made the contract, but…"

    "Um, even with the…" Facetime reached over and picked up a tiny vial of yellow powder. As soon as she touched the vial her brightly colored hair began to stand on end, though she didn't appear at all concerned about it.

    Gully nodded. "He said it wasn't that significant, and that it was good that someone was cleaning it up." She saw Facetime's shocked expression through her mask. "Yeah, I know."

    "Apeiron." Facetime muttered, shaking her head, though with a small smile on her face. A smile that quickly bloomed into a full grin. "At least he could tell that my girl's been carrying the recovery efforts. Bout time someone gave you the credit you deserve."

    "Yeah." Gully muttered. She still didn't know how she felt about that. Lifechanging treatment, completely lifechanging, just because she didn't abandon people who needed help. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. No leads that she turned down to help with the recovery. She had effectively been killing time, hoping that something would turn up, like during her brush with Lady Khepri. The right place at the right time was apparently all it took.

    "So what happened?" Facetime asked. Then she saw Gully's expression. "I mean, give me the highlights. Save the full debrief for when we have a chance to celebrate properly."

    Gully nodded. "We, uh, went to his workshop." She saw Facetime literally bite her tongue to keep from interrupting, but the excitement radiating off the girl was palpable. She made a single sound of understanding and gestured for Gully to continue, no doubt swallowing a hundred questions that she would have loved to have launched into.

    "He explained what he could do to help, why treatments for Case 53s haven't worked before. Minor fixes or other options and what it would take to completely fix someone." She explained.

    "That's what you went with, right?" Facetime asked with a knowing grin.

    Gully nodded. "Yeah." She took a breath. "A lot of the details, I don't want to get into them. I'm not sure I should get into them, but he basically had to reset my powers to get them working properly."

    "God damn." She whispered. "That's…" She shook her head. "And, with that, I mean, you're still that tall?"

    Gully flushed. "Part of my power, the part that affects my body, it kind of takes things to the extreme." She explained. "Before it was all unfocused, so that's why I ended up like…" She didn't finish the sentence. Facetime nodded and she continued. "Even with everything working properly, it's still the kind of thing that takes stuff to an extreme, so…"

    She trailed off and swept the phone to show the full extent to her new body. Honestly, she could have done without the wolf whistle from Facetime, but the expression on the girl's face was so ridiculous that Gully could only laugh in response.

    "So even Apeiron… I mean, he couldn't… or didn't…" Facetime began, but Gully shook her head.

    "No, he…" She paused, then looked around. She knew there was no one within half a block, but for something like this, she couldn't take chances. She even looked up, as if someone might be eavesdropping from the sky.

    "What?" Facetime said, leaning forward. She checked something to her side then looked back. "I've got you, no chance of a leak. Now spill those juicy details."

    Gully let out a breath and pressed herself into the side of the alley, as if that would make a difference. Still, she lowered her voice as much as she could.

    "I can turn it off." She whispered. Facetime's eyes widened and Gully could see the excitement bubbling under the surface. "It's not part of my power, but Apeiron gave me a way to turn off the physical part of my power." She shifted the phone to her other hand and showed off the charm bracelet. "I can go back to normal."

    "Normal?" Facetime asked eagerly, carefully examining the delicate bracelet.

    Gully nodded as she reoriented the phone. "Like I was before…" She took a breath. "Before whatever made me a Case 53."

    "So you actually got to see… I mean, he could do that?" Facetime asked with baited breath.

    Gully nodded. "That was how I woke up after he did the treatment." She explained, remembering the man's reaction. "He wanted to talk to me about this." She said, gesturing down.

    "What about this?" Facetime asked.

    Gully shifted on the spot. "Um, if I was alright with it, considering what my power did and how I ended up."

    "And you were?" Facetime asked. Gully felt her face heat up and a look of sheer elation spread across her friend's face. "GIRL!" She exclaimed.

    "It's just, I mean, after everything, and since I can change back, I thought…" She stammered.

    "You don't have to justify yourself." Facetime said confidently. "Definitely not to me." The sheer magnitude of Facetime's approval was a little unsettling, but Gully did her best to roll with it.

    "So what does normal Gully look like?" Facetime continued.

    Gully paused, wondering how she was supposed to sum up everything that was so different about… everything. "Um, short?" She said.

    "Well, obviously, compared to…" Facetime began, but Gully cut her off with a shake of her head.

    "No, I mean barely five feet." She explained. "Or not even that." Then she watched as another massive smile bloomed on Facetime's face.

    "You're shorter than me!" The five foot four girl exclaimed. "O-M-G, this is incredible! And you can just turn back whenever?" Gully nodded. "We have to go shopping when you get back!"

    Gully smiled, then felt a wave of anxiety bubble up from the stew of emotions she was struggling to contain. "What?" Facetime asked. "What is it?"

    Gully swallowed and shook her head. Easily shook her head, with her bangs doing a little dance around her head, rather than having to fight stiff slabs of muscle to make something approximating the gesture. She pushed that thought aside and focused on Facetime.

    "I didn't… I mean, I didn't think about what happened next." She said.

    "What do you mean next?" Facetime asked, her expression nothing but concentrated sunshine.

    "I went behind the Protectorate's back. Made a deal with Apeiron. Receive treatment from an unvetted trump tinker." Which were probably the least of his designations. It had been so easy to get swept up in everything that was happening that she hadn't even considered what the next step would be. Mostly because she never imagined taking a step this big this quickly.

    "You think any of that's going to matter?" Facetime asked.

    Gully shook her head again, trying not to get caught up in how easy and natural the motion was. "The city's still in a state of emergency. Director Piggot still has mandates about Apeiron. They haven't been rescinded."

    "So you get a disciplinary meeting where maybe they give you a slap on your beautiful, elegant wrist and give up that perfect record of yours." Facetime shot back. "And only if they actually decide to hold to any of that nonsense."

    "It's not just policy." Gully said, leaning against the wall of the alley. "This changes everything."

    "Well, duh." Facetime said irreverently.

    Gully gave her a slight smile before shaking her head. "I know, but how do you deal with all of that?"

    "You mean when you're suddenly all THAT?" Facetime joked, then she saw Gully's expression. "Shit, okay, I know this is crazy, but trust me, this is the best kind of crazy." She smiled at Gully. "Besides, it's not like you can just hide away and hope this blows over."

    Gully's expression went brittle and she glanced to the side as Facetime's expression shifted from realization to horror to outrage.

    "No." She said, "Girl, NO! You can't seriously be thinking that." She insisted. "The world is a dark enough place already. Don't deprive it of those legs."

    Gully's face twisted in confusion as Facetime deliberately looked towards the bottom of the screen. The audacity of it was enough to cause Gully to break into a fit of laughter, laughter that no longer sounded like a rockslide mixed with the death of some kind of large animal. She wiped the remains of the tears from her face before turning back to her phone.

    "Alright, but I mean, just the next step is… how do I deal with this?" She asked, mostly to herself.

    She had been massively changed and the only witness to that transformation was notoriously inaccessible. Proof of identity wasn't something she ever thought she'd need to worry about. Honestly, it was probably the least of her concerns, but it was at least a practical one. Everything other worry dealt with Protectorate policy, public relations, or becoming the center of a media circus.

    Suddenly slinking back to her budget hotel room was sounding like a better idea, even if that was likely to attract as much attention as anything else she could do.

    "Hate to say this, since I love being your only confidant, but we're probably going to have to breach containment." Facetime said.

    Gully remembered Lethe's warning and shook her head. "Things didn't start well with the Brockton Bay office. I doubt things are better now." The assurance that the stranger of the Celestial Forge would step in if things got out of hand wasn't as comforting as it could have been, seeing as that was pretty much just a guarantee that things would get even more out of hand.

    "The Brockton Bay office can go screw itself." Facetime said with clear derision. "Stuff with Apeiron is supposed to go through the national office, and they know it. Besides, it's not like you work for them."

    She blinked. "You think this can go through Whetstone?" She asked, using the colloquial name for San Diego's PRT Department Eight.

    "That's the way it's supposed to go." She said cheerfully. "You know they make me go through all those regulations courses."

    Gully nodded. Mostly it was an attempt to get Facetime to consistently follow regulations, though the girl usually took it as a way to carefully choose precisely which regulations she would disregard based on her own set of cost/benefit metrics.

    Gully swallowed and glanced towards the south side of the city. "A call's not going to be enough. I'll still have to report to a PRT office, even if they're handling things in San Diego."

    Suddenly she found herself evaluating the cost of a bus ticket to Boston and the potential complications of missing her appointment with Garment. And her dinner with Tecton. Two things that were unbelievably positive, particularly in the wake of her treatment, but also terrified her beyond belief. Every concern for how she would deal with what had happened was only magnified when dealing with someone as dynamic as Garment or as close as Everett.

    "It will be fine." Facetime assured her. "Like, they might have fudged things or handed over jurisdiction if the situation was different, but no one is cutting the PRT East-North-East any slack anymore."

    Gully took a breath. Really, what other option was there? Step out into the city and pretend nothing had happened? She wasn't nearly confident enough to handle something like that. She had always coped by burying herself in work, in procedure and duty. It was why it had been so easy to fall into the recovery effort. It was what let her function in spite of everything she had to deal with on a daily basis.

    Now what she'd had to deal with was gone, but there was an entirely new set of problems waiting for her. Different problems, less severe problems, but problems she had no experience dealing with. And worse, unless she took this first step and actually addressed her new status, she wouldn't even have the structure she had relied upon.

    She didn't like relying on that, didn't want to have to rely on it, but she didn't want to give it up. Particularly not for a reason as weak as her own apprehension.

    "You're sure about this?" She asked Facetime.

    The girl nodded. "You know Director Castillo and Prefab love you. They'd never let Piggot get away with any power plays."

    Gully dropped her head. "They weren't exactly happy with my decision to come down here." She said, remembering how the San Diego PRT Director and Protectorate head had responded to her message. Though handling everything in short notice and through email probably hadn't done her any favors.

    "They were just worried about you." Facetime assured her. "You know, because they love you so much."

    Gully rolled her eyes. "And you weren't worried?"

    She leaned back and made a show of flicking one of her brightly colored bangs. "What was there to worry about? I knew you were awesome enough to pull this off." She said with a wide smile.

    "Thanks." She said, and seriously meant it. Facetime let out a breath and glanced to the side before turning back to her.

    "So you ready to head into the lion's den?" She asked. "Might as well make it official. I mean, you were due for a rebranding anyway."

    "Not until later this summer." She said, feeling knots in her stomach. The transition from the Wards to the Protectorate was always a rough affair, even if you weren't a Case 53. She didn't exactly have to obscure her birthday to protect her identity, but she hadn't been looking forward to that kind of change.

    And even that was microscopic compared to what she was going to have to deal with. But she had to deal with them. She could pull herself together and manage things for a few hours. Enough to face the PRT, and see Garment, and talk with Everett, and then properly collapse because she couldn't imagine having anything left in the tank after dealing with all of that on top of suddenly getting cured.

    "Okay." She said, earning a smug smile from Facetime. "But I don't want any of this going through the local PRT. Not anything I told you, and no assessments or whatever else they might want to test or prod, and I'm not handing anything over anything Apeiron made."

    She had just gotten a chance at a normal life. She wasn't going to let the Brockton Bay PRT fuck that up because they couldn't handle information security or wanted to play politics with the details of her treatment. She didn't even want them knowing about her normal form, and she wasn't giving up anything

    "Right." Facetime said. "Ixnay on the bracelet and… costume?"

    Gully smiled. "The costume was actually from the Matrix."

    Facetime's eyes widened. "You met the Matrix?" She asked.

    Gully nodded. "And Lethe, and Proto Aima, and Survey. Well, sort of. Survey was doing a holographic telepresence thing during the treatment. And Proto Aima has a new form that looks human."

    "No Fleet?" Facetime asked hopefully and Gully had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes again.

    "He was working on something related, but I didn't get to meet him." She explained.

    "God, that's just…" Facetime let out a huff. "I need those deets. Once things calm down and we get you back here, you're telling me everything, Kay?"

    "Everything I can." Gully promised. Facetime was incredible, but she didn't know how her friend would react to some of the details she had learned. The prospect of her return to San Diego and what that would look like was nebulous enough that Gully was comfortable kicking things down the road, but she'd have to deal with it eventually.

    She'd have to deal with everything eventually, and unfortunately for her that would have to start with dealing with the PRT. Facetime was right. She could either take the initiative and deal with things though the Director and Protectorate leader she had worked with her entire career, or she could try to avoid problems and hope that she didn't start a media circus that would drive Director Piggot to doing something stupid.

    "Okay." She said, "Should I call…" She trailed off as she saw Facetime's expression. "Or do you want to tell the director?"

    "I'd be happy to!" She exclaimed as she began scrambling over her lab. "You sit tight and let your best bestie look after everything."

    "Thanks-" She said as the call cut out.

    Gully leaned into the brick wall behind her and slipped the phone into an incredibly convenient pocket of her costume. Her hand went up to trace over the silky length of her braid. It wasn't the stiff, coarse twist of hair that she had worn through her career, but it was hers. Something, one of the only things that were unique to her. She was glad she still had that. Glad that she hadn't needed to give up everything she had been, everything she had worked towards.

    Most of it, she was more than happy to be rid of, but weirdly there was a kind of… not longing, but an acute awareness of the absence. Of suddenly not having to deal with everything she'd struggled with for as long as she could remember. She was happy for it to be gone, but without that constant struggle she found herself in unfamiliar territory.

    This wasn't a problem she had anticipated. Honestly, it was the kind of problem she welcomed. Every time she was hit by that sensation of absence, that feeling that suddenly she didn't need to account for some element of her size or bulk or weight or appearance, there was a feeling of strangeness, of unfamiliarity, but also of relief. The unmitigated relief that she didn't need to worry about any of that. The lack of that burden was strange, but it was a strangeness she was more than happy to experience.

    She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The air flowed more evenly, more smoothly than it used to. She wasn't dealing with the same rib structure or mess of muscles around her diaphragm. She was dealing with something else there, but she could live with that, even if deep breaths would make the phrase 'heaving' rather appropriate for that particular area.

    That was something she was equally worried and excited about. She only had Facetime's reaction to go off of. Well, Facetime and Lethe, but the armored stranger had been so irreverent it had been difficult to be sure how serious she had been. On Facetime's point, she knew the kind of attention Narwhal got, both in person and online. She didn't know if she was ready for that kind of thing, but frankly, it was better than 'that kind of thing' never being a possibility.

    And besides, she could always change back. Take off the mask that was her hero identity and just enjoy being normal for a while. A short woman, but otherwise unexceptional. Fully able to blend in and be part of the crowd. Able to have a normal life, without all the baggage of her cape identity, before or after her treatment.

    She felt herself tearing up again and fought to keep control. After a few deep breaths she managed to calm herself down. It was way, way too much, but she could deal. And there was no way she would let herself show weakness in front of Director Piggot.

    She found an unexpected handkerchief in one of the pockets of her costume and used it to wipe her face. She had no idea how the Matrix had made the costume or why they included something like that. Or how the included pockets sat unusually flush with the rest of the outfit despite being a very generous size. The costume already changed size with her, so who knew what other properties had been added to it?

    In either form it was perfectly fitted and extremely comfortable, which helped. If she had to deal with a public debut as well as re-registration with the PRT, at least she wouldn't be feeling awkward about her clothing.

    A buzz from her phone pulled her out of her thoughts. She quickly pushed away from the wall and fished out the oversized device. Video call, directly from Director Castillo. She swallowed, dabbed at her face one last time, then answered the call.

    Director Castillo sat behind her desk in the administration center of Whetstone. Next to her stood Facetime in full costume, with a broad smile that contrasted sharply with the director's serious expression.

    "Gully?" She began.

    "Yes, director." She replied, falling back on formality. It seemed to ease something in the woman's expression, but she responded in a stern tone.

    "Confirm identity and condition." The woman ordered.

    "Yes, director." She said with a nod. "Kilo Sierra Juliett Five Oscar November Quebec Seven Bravo. Condition White Alpha Sapphire."

    Director Castillo let out a breath while Facetime managed to look even more smug than usual. "Thank you Gully. While additional verification will be necessary at a later date, I am pleased to see you safe." Facetime cleared her throat, earning a slightly annoyed glance from the director. "And apparently congratulations are in order."

    "Thank you director." It was better than she feared, even if there was still a stiffness to the entire exchange. "Um, should Facetime be…"

    Director Castillo's mouth narrowed before she replied. "Facetime provided a simultaneous report to myself and the national office regarding your situation."

    "In accordance with standing PRT policy for matters involving Apeiron." The tinker added.

    "Yes, Facetime. Your strict adherence to protocol is commendable, if largely unprecedented." Director Castillo replied. "I have spoken with the Chief Director's office and Facetime was good enough to provide her own account of the situation."

    "And vouch for your identity, because who would know better, right?" She said with a smug grin.

    "Levity aside, that was actually quite helpful." The director said. "Particularly in a situation as sensitive as this."

    Gully felt herself tense. "Are you recalling me to San Diego?" She asked.

    The director let out a breath. "While that would simplify matters, I do not have the authority to do so. Additionally, I understand you have a meeting with the cape known as Garment scheduled for later this afternoon?" It was a very leading question.

    "Yes, director." She said, watching her response.

    Director Castillo let out a sigh. "Given Garment's importance to the local community and her recent recovery efforts, the PRT has no intention of adversely impacting her schedule. While additional verification steps and reregistration are required, we will ensure that your appointment is not delayed."

    "Thank you, director." She replied.

    She didn't say it, the director didn't say it, and Facetime didn't say it, but they all knew. At this point the connection between Garment and the Celestial Forge couldn't be clearer, and the fact that Apeiron had dropped by before her meeting with Garment was unlikely to be an accident. No one was sure of the exact dynamic in play, but no one wanted to be the person to disrupt it.

    "I understand your reluctance with respect to approaching the PRT East-North-East, but I assure you that both Prefab and myself will be working to ensure this progresses smoothly." Director Castillo assured her.

    Gully really wished she could skip this mess. It was nice to imagine that Apeiron would wave a magic wand and deal with not just the problems she'd been struggling with, but all the administrative hurdles that came after. Unfortunately, as fantastic as Apeiron's abilities were, they didn't extend to the PRT's bureaucracy. The need to verify her identity seemed like a minor thing, but it wasn't like she could just show up to get a new picture taken for her Wards ID. There were serious procedures for this kind of incident, procedures that could be stretched for weeks if a department wanted to be thorough.

    That was what she had been worried about. That the local PRT wouldn't need to do anything, just lock her out of everything until she came to them to confirm that she was who she said she was, and then hide her in medical confinement until it was convenient for them to release her. Without Lethe's threat that would have been a fairly likely scenario, but having Lethe take action against the PRT would have been even messier.

    This was neater. Well, no, this was going to be a jurisdictional nightmare that would probably get very ugly very quickly, but the conflict would be between PRT departments and between the local and national office, not with her, and not with Apeiron.

    And with the added bonus of a deadline. She doubted that anything adverse would happen if she had to cancel her meeting with Garment, but the PRT clearly didn't want to take that chance. Honestly, with the current state of the PRT's reputation and her own role in that particular mess, it wouldn't take much for Garment to cause a serious problem. Even if she wasn't connected to Apeiron, someone of her standing, in the wake of an event like what she'd held on the previous day, a single word of irritation at the PRT's actions could set off a landslide of outrage.

    The fact that with Garment it would probably be a single word by default went without saying.

    "Thank you, Director." She said, straightening up. "Then I suppose I should get going."

    "Yes…" Director Castillo said. With the formalities dealt with, the woman seemed to be finally taking in the details of Gully's hero form, including the size and the… size. "If you would prefer, I can see about arranging transport for you through the PRT East-North-East."

    Meaning a PRT van, with her crouched in the back. Something she wasn't unfamiliar with, though that was with her old body. Lumbering and inflexible, nearly taking up an entire van on her own. It would still be small for her, but probably less uncomfortable now that she had a better range of motion.

    Even so, it wasn't something she wanted to revisit. Not now, not right when she was dealing with everything, and not just because it would be an ENE PRT van. As much as she trusted Director Castillo, she knew how complicated the PRT's image was, and how tangled she was in that particular mess. Director Castillo could offer every assurance, only for a policy change or counter order to override her. There were plenty of people in the PRT who would like to get Gully out of sight, even before she was effectively heralding the fact that Apeiron could treat Case 53s to everyone who saw her.

    She swallowed and steeled her back. "No." She said firmly. "I don't need to hide away. I can make my own way to the PRT headquarters."

    Facetime looked intensely proud of her, but she could see that Director Castillo understood the full weight of what she was saying. Honestly, it was earlier than Gully would have preferred to face the public, but it wasn't like she could put that off forever. She might as well get it over with and limit the kind of bullshit that the PRT could pull while she was at it.

    "I see." The director said. "If you're certain…" Gully gave her a firm nod. "Very well." She glanced over to facetime, then back to Gully. "Before we move forward, Facetime mentioned you had received an item relating to your treatment, but did not elaborate."

    Gully looked between Facetime and Director Castillo. The tinker looked as excited as ever, while the director looked concerned. Gully just gave a small nod.

    "While you are under no obligation to share such details, it would be helpful in mitigating some concerns about this matter." The director explained. "I presume it has something to do with your new costume?"

    Gully took a breath and glanced away from her phone. Once again, not something she had wanted to make public so soon, but it wasn't like she could keep it quiet forever, and if she was going to have any future with the Protectorate, at the very least Director Castillo would have to know.

    "Facetime, is this call secure?" She asked.

    "Doubly and triply secure, girl. Nothing is getting leaked from here." She said proudly. "I mean, unless you're Apeiron, but you know, right?"

    Weirdly, she did. Probably better than most people.

    "It's not the costume." Gully said as shifted her phone to her left hand and held the charm bracelet for the camera. Director Castillo leaned in to get a closer look at the exact instant that Gully pulled on her link to the item.

    There was a burst of light as the bracelet grew out from its tiny size to the elaborate shovel that Apeiron had made for her. Her power thrummed as she held it up for the director.

    "Ah." Director Castillo said. "I see."

    "I didn't!" Facetime protested. "How could you keep something that awesome from me? Do you know how well I could have set up the reveal?"

    "Sorry." Gully said. "There was a lot to go through and it didn't come up."

    "That item is related to your recovery?" Director Castillo asked. "To the process that changed your form?"

    "No." Gully said, once more carefully checking the area with her power for any hint of movement. Finding none she shifted her attention back to the phone. "It lets me turn back." She said, "To the way I was, before I was a Case 53."

    "Before…?" Gully couldn't remember ever seeing Director Castillo at a loss for words, but apparently the scale of Apeiron's feats was enough to stump some as seemingly unflappable as her.

    Though apparently not for long. The woman cleared her throat and quickly refocused. "I see." She said as she straightened in her chair. "So with the help of that… device, you are able to… freely? Assume another, visibly human form?"

    "I am." She said slightly nervously. "And I really don't want that leaking from the Brockton PRT." She cleared her throat. "I'm sure they've made changes, but from what I've heard, and this is…" She let out a breath, then looked at the phone. Looked at Director Castillo not as the Ward who had run across the country chasing a desperate hope, but as the girl who had spent years under her leadership. "I have a chance to be normal, some of the time. I don't want to lose that because of what's happening in this city."

    "Rest assured, Gully, I will make sure that doesn't happen." The director said firmly. Her expression softened slightly as she continued. "There will be a great number of administrative and policy issues that need to be addressed to before you will be able to return to any semblance of active duty and official commentaries on the decisions you have made, but unofficially, I want you to know how happy I am for you, and that this worked out."

    Gully nodded, feeling that welling of emotion she was struggling to wrestle down. "I'm sorry for worrying you. All of you."

    "Not me." Facetime declared. "Never doubted you for a moment."

    "I'm sure." Director Castillo said in a flat voice. "Gully, thank you for calling in, and for agreeing to check in with the local office. I will make sure they are ready for you by the time you arrive. The national position on this matter is clear, and should be enough to head off any contrary action on the local level."

    Meaning it was going to get political. Gully didn't like that, but it wasn't like she could stay out of that side of things. Previously she'd been able to mostly because people tended to ignore Case 53s whenever possible. They weren't the kind of capes that garnered public attention, or at least not the good kind, or ones who could be used to push major initiatives. It let her have a quiet life, at least in an official capacity. Something that was probably well behind her.

    "Thank you, director." She shouldered her shovel. A comfortable motion, even if she was more used to doing so with an oversized gardening implement than the immaculate work of art she was currently wielding. "I'll be on my way."

    "Good luck, Gully." Director Castillo said.

    "Knock 'em dead!" Facetime called out as the call ended.

    Gully let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She needed to check in with the local PRT. She had just been through a major changer incident. It was the kind of thing that was just expected. Still, she couldn't help but worry, and not just because she'd be crossing half the city to face down the weight of the local PRT office on her own.

    Except she might not be on her own. Gully paused for a moment, then pulled up her messaging app and texted Crystal.

    'Hey, are you still at the PRT HQ?'

    After a brief moment the response came through.

    'Never left.' A second message arrived shortly after. 'Mom's dealing with paperwork and everyone else is holding down the fort for when we get Amy. Would love to talk, but can't right now.'

    'I'm heading down there now.'

    'Really? What for?'

    'I need to take care of some admin stuff. Just had a call with Director Castillo from back in San Diego.'

    'What about? Are you being recalled?'

    'No.' Gully paused, wondering if she should risk this through a text message, but really, it was going to be obvious once she left. 'I just saw Apeiron.'

    'What?' 'Like, out on the street?' 'Is something happening?'

    'Nothing's wrong.' Gully swallowed. 'I got a contract.'

    'Seriously? Apeiron's going to help you?'

    'Not going to.'

    'What?'

    'Did.'

    'Did?' There was only a slight pause before Crystal's next messages came in. 'Apeiron already treated you?' 'That's why you're coming to the PRT HQ?'

    'Yeah.' 'Need to verify my identity.'

    'Seriously? What did he change?'

    'Pretty much everything.' Gully sent the message with a smile.

    "You have to show me.'

    Gully paused, then held up the phone and angled it slightly downward. She didn't have much experience with selfies, but Facetime considered them an artform and she had picked up some points through osmosis. She snapped a photo of herself with Apeiron's elaborate shovel resting over her shoulder, then sent it to Crystal. It didn't take long for a response to come through.

    'Holy shit.'

    'Yeah.' She sent back.

    'I know it's Apeiron, but holy shit.' Crystal messaged again. Gully couldn't help but wince. Apparently Apeiron's concerns about association weren't far off the mark.

    'He actually gave me a choice about this.' She replied.

    'Damn.' The single word reply carried a lot more weight that Gully expected.

    'Some of it was my power, but I don't hate how it turned out.'

    'I can imagine.' Crystal replied. 'And you're coming down to the PRT HQ, from the Docks?'

    'Yeah. Kind of terrified, but didn't want to wait on a PRT van.'

    'I get that.' Crystal texted back. 'You going to be OK? I can meet you downstairs when you get here.'

    'I'll have to be OK.' She replied. 'But it will be nice to see you.'

    'Likewise. You need to fill me in on everything once you deal with the PRT stuff.'

    'I promise.'

    Gully steadied herself. It was a lot easier now that she knew she wouldn't be charging in blind. That she had someone waiting for her, someone on her side who wasn't at the other end of a long-distance call. She didn't know how much Crystal or her family could do with everything else they were dealing with, but it was something.

    She took a breath and strode out of the alley and onto the streets of the city.

    Gully was used to being stared at. It was something she had dealt with for as long as she could remember. Every time she went out in public she knew that she'd be creating a spectacle. She was ready for the gawking pedestrians with their looks of horror or disgust or morbid curiosity. She'd learned how to deal with it. How to ignore it, at least as much as she could. How to keep her shoulders square and her eyes forward while pretending not to notice the reaction she always created.

    Those skills served her well on her walk to the PRT HQ, even if the reaction was very different from what she was used to. Though it took her longer than it should have to realize that squaring her shoulders had a different effect in her new body than in her previous form. Still, she was used to wide eyes, turned heads, and whispers as she passed. The tone was definitely different, but as long as she kept moving the reactions faded.

    Usually. Sometimes the reactions built. Particularly when she got into the denser crowds as she approached Downtown. She could see the flow of reactions around her, being heads taller than anyone else on the street. The way the response to her presence rippled out through a crowd and was cast in her wake. The cameras and phones that were being taken out, all focused on her.

    Fortunately, the length of her stride meant she could breeze past anyone who might have questions. It wasn't just that she was lighter and more coordinated. The heavy slabs of muscle of her old body had caused her to lumber. It was hard to move quickly, at least not without risking the feet of everyone around her. Now she could step lightly while covering twice the distance a normal person could with each step.

    Really, it was only crosswalks where things were held up. Moments of waiting while everyone around her craned their heads up to look at her, eyes darting between her face, shovel, and costume as they wrestled with obvious questions.

    She was a cape, obviously, and that earned her a level of respect, but so far no one had put the pieces together. There were flashes of recognition and suspicion, but no one approached her. It was crazy to think, but she might actually be more intimidating like this.

    Fortunately, she made it to the PRT building without being disturbed, though she had probably had more pictures taken of her on that walk than in the rest of her career combined, counting official photo shoots. She put that behind her as she approached the doors to the lobby. Two PRT troopers were standing outside, both of which watched her with wide eyes but made no motion to stop her as she approached. She nodded to them, then ducked to fit through the main entrance.

    It was easier than it had been, even with her being taller than before. Better dexterity and a narrower frame, combined with her not constantly worrying about crushing or breaking everything she touched. She stood up to her full height, enjoying the high vaulted ceiling of the lobby as a red glow suddenly bloomed in front of her.

    "Holy shit." Crystal whispered. She was on Gully's eye level, but that involved her floating a good three feet off the ground. "That's really you?"

    "Yeah." She said with a smile as the blonde girl gaped at her. "Thanks for meeting me."

    "Like I'd miss this." She said, "And, you know, was already here."

    "How's that going?" Gully asked, relishing the chance to discuss something other than herself.

    "Final stretch. They should be bringing Amy over from the holding facility fairly soon, then we can get her home." Crystal shook her head. "Well, take official custody and make a bunch of promises about access and assessments, but she'll be home."

    "That's a relief." Gully said.

    "Yeah." Crystal replied as she noted the eyes of everyone in the Lobby focused on them. "Kind of feels like the less significant of the day's events." She turned back to Gully. "How are you holding up?"

    "I'm fine. There were no problems with the treatment." She assured the other girl.

    "Yeah." Crystal said as she lowered her voice. "But how are YOU holding up?"

    Gully let out a breath, allowing her posture to droop just slightly. "It's a lot." She said, "A lot more than I was ready for. I didn't expect to go from one meeting to… this."

    "It is a lot." Crystal said, floating back slightly and looking Gully up and down, then looking up with a sly smile. Gully let out a snort and Crystal just raised an eyebrow.

    "Anyway, I'm holding up." She said, "I have to. Nothing else I can do."

    Crystal nodded. "I get that." She said, "It's not too much?"

    "It's manageable." She said, "I just have to confirm my identity and register, which should be quick." She hoped. "Then I'm seeing Garment, then…" She swallowed.

    "Tecton?" Crystal asked. Gully nodded. "Have you told him yet?"

    Gully shook her head, then looked back at the glass doors where tourists were crowding with phone cameras. "At this rate he'll probably find out from Twitter before I can tell him."

    "It'll be fine." Crystal said. "Trust me, you're going to knock him dead."

    Gully let out a short laugh, which didn't do much to cover her anxiety about the entire situation. "Anyway, I should get this over with before it becomes a whole thing." She said, looking around for the reception desk and almost missing the agent who had approached her.

    "Miss Gully?" The woman asked. There was a serious tone of skepticism to her voice.

    "Just Gully." She clarified, looking down.

    The woman nodded, then craned her neck up. "Director Piggot and Miss Militia are waiting to meet with you."

    Gully froze and exchanged a quick look with Crystal. "I was told by Director Castillo that matters had been arranged."

    "Director Castillo and Prefab are conferenced into the meeting. I was told to ask you to join them as soon as you arrived."

    Earlier worries were flaring up in Gully's mind. Worried about outright betrayal, or Director Castillo's authority being undermined to facilitate some scheme or initiative within the PRT. Gully glanced back at the door, and the crowds that had gathered there, then back at the woman.

    Crystal gave her an encouraging look. "I'm sure it will be fine." She said, and almost sounded like she believed it.

    One way or another, Gully was going to have to deal with whatever mess was in the works. She took a breath and looked down at the Agent.

    "Fine, lead the way." She said.

    "Of course." She said, looking at the elaborately engraved shovel resting on Gully's shoulder. "Can I take your shovel?"

    "No." She said flatly. "Now lead the way."

    Crystal giggled slightly at that, and apparently the agent didn't feel she was in a position to press the matter. She was led to the building's elevators, then up to the director's office. She could feel the structure of the building as she moved, but she could also feel all the places where embedded weapons or containment foam dispensers were hidden. The shovel and precision of her powers was a source of reassurance, but if the PRT decided to get serious, there wasn't much she could do.

    That fact that she would be doing it to save them from Lethe was cold comfort, just like the entirety of the stranger's offer. It was a lovely stick to have in your back pocket, but not one she'd ever want to see used. Not with how Lethe was viewed by pretty much the entirety of the Protectorate.

    So Gully found herself right back where she started. Literally, the first place she had visited when she arrived in Brockton Bay more than a week ago, with a lifetime of chaos crammed into a handful of days. She was back in Director Piggot's office, only this time the woman was flanked by Miss Militia. A live feed showed Director Castillo in her business suit and Prefab in his crenulated armor on one of the wall screens. And, just like the last time she had been in the office, the digital face of Dragon was projected on another screen.

    "Good afternoon, Gully. It is good to see you again, and congratulations on your successful treatment." Dragon's digital avatar said in a slight Newfoundland accent.

    "Thank you, Dragon." Gully said, then turned as Director Piggot cleared her throat.

    "I believe the matter of identity is still being addressed." The blonde woman said.

    "It was addressed to the satisfaction of Department Eight, which holds jurisdiction in this matter." Director Castillo said sternly. "Your department was instructed to process the matter, not launch an independent investigation."

    "When the matter in question has the potential to unleash chaos on my city, it is well within my rights to interfere." Piggot shot back. She slapped a hand on a stack of files on her desk. "There are dozens of Case 53s in or on their way to this city, many of which have histories of unstable behavior or even active warrants for their arrest. All in a city that is facing an active gang war and the aftermath of a devastating attack."

    "What exactly are you proposing?" Prefab asked as he leaned forward.

    Director Piggot let out a breath. "The level or oversight given to a case of this nature is absurd. At the very least 'Gully' should be held for a full medical examination and through assessment to confirm her identity and identify what has been done to her." She glared at Director Castillo. "Which should have been your stance from the start, not parading her through the streets."

    "My 'stance' was provided by the national office, which if you remember, is responsible for all matters concerning Apeiron." Director Castillo shot back.

    "But not matters regarding the factions of Brockton Bay." Miss Militia clarified.

    "I wasn't aware that Case 53s in general counted as a faction within the city's criminal underworld." Prefab replied, checking a device on the table in front of him. "I assume you have some formal declaration on the matter, backed by accredited analysts."

    "If there is, it has not been conducted externally to this department." Dragon replied.

    "You don't get to make decisions as to what counts as a threat to my city." Director Piggot replied.

    "And you don't get to arbitrarily declare groups of people as criminal elements to facilitate your own agenda." Director Castillo shot back.

    "Figured you'd have learned that by now." Prefab said in a low voice.

    Piggot glared at him. "And what do you mean by that? Would it be a formal accusation by the official leader of a Protectorate branch?"

    The director clearly expected him to back down and was clearly unnerved when he instead leaned forward. "It could be." He looked to Gully. "Gully, I am very glad to see you safe and sound and better than ever. What you did was stupid beyond belief, and we'll talk about that later, but I am so happy that it worked out for you." He quickly turned back to Director Piggot. "And given that it had worked out for you, that provides quite a compelling counterpoint to previously issued directorial mandates. So yes, as leader of the San Diego Protectorate, I believe I could offer a formal accusation on the handling and assessment of individuals involved in this matter."

    Director Piggot's already stark face paled even further. "Those matters are being managed by the national office." She said sternly.

    "And you are the one to decide where that line lies?" Director Castillo asked. "Apeiron is embroiled in every element of this city. You haven't even been able to isolate his team from your burgeoning gang war, and yet you feel comfortable interceding on this matter? A matter that directly involved Apeiron himself?"

    Director Piggot narrowed her eyes. "I would prefer to not have to intercede on this matter, but that would rely on other parties acting in a responsible manner. I'm sure you are very excited about the prospect of this treatment, but this is one of a dozen active crises that I am attempting to prevent from boiling over to a repeat of the Ungodly Hour." She turned towards Gully. "Under any other circumstances, a few days' medical observation would be considered lenient given the matter in hand."

    Gully felt herself tense. "I'm not going into containment." She said quickly.

    "And you have no right to demand as much from her." Director Castillo said. "Or to request that I make such a demand on your behalf."

    Piggot ground her teeth. "I am asking you to spare my city from something that could set off a group of people whose instability had been thoroughly documented."

    "If you're banking on goodwill, I think you're already well overdrafted." Prefab said with a smirk visible under his helmet.

    Piggot looked at Dragon with a pleading expression. The image just shook its head. "Your options for mandating action are highly limited, particularly on a matter that had already been referred to the national office. I would advise active measures to address concerns with the growing Case 53 community."

    "And if we had the resources for half of…" Piggot muttered. She turned to Gully, actually directly addressing for the first time since she entered. Gully noticed something in the Director's expression as she looked over Gully's new form, something she couldn't place. "I would ask you, for the sake and stability of my city, to remain on site for a few days in order to receive a full medical evaluation and allow the external situation to stabilize."

    It was almost compelling. Even when exhausted, Director Piggot had skills as an orator. She could make a convincing case. Unfortunately, every other factor worked against her.

    Gully was far from convinced that she knew what was best for the city. The mention of a 'few' days was highly concerning, and it occurred to Gully that could mean anywhere from two to twelve, or more. She also wasn't at all comfortable with the Brockton Bay PRT having any information on her, much less a full medical workout and probably evaluations of the equipment she'd been given.

    "No." She said. Piggot looked like she was going to launch into another rant, but Gully cut her off. "It would be against the contract."

    The blonde woman raised her eyebrows, with similar surprise shared by the other members of the meeting.

    "You aren't concerned as to why Apeiron would want to prevent you from having a medical examination?" Piggot asked, her voice thick with accusation.

    "It wasn't about medical examinations. It was concern that the PRT would try to confine me because of what had happened." She explained.

    "Well, of course Apeiron-" Piggot began, but Gully cut her off.

    "And it wasn't Apeiron." She said, looking across the room. "It was Lethe."

    The office was suddenly dead silent. She could see wide eyed expressions from everyone, even Dragon's avatar.

    "Lethe?" Director Castillo asked in clear concern.

    Gully nodded. "She said she might 'have a chat' with anyone who decides to engage in 'unlawful confinement'."

    Miss Militia cleared her throat. "Technically, restricted movement and examination by the PRT would not be officially classified as Unlawful Confinement."

    "While I'm sure you would enjoy making that case to the Celestial Forge's stranger, the rest of the Protectorate would prefer to take a more cautious approach." Prefab said in response. "Honestly, I think this matter is settled."

    "I don't think-" Piggot began, only to be met with Prefab's raised voice.

    "It's settled because if a PRT director knowingly provokes a member of the Celestial Forge over a matter that violates no laws it would be grounds for intercession." His face darkened. "If you're going to try to drag the Protectorate into a fight with the Celestial Forge you're going to get slapped down before you get the chance."

    Director Piggot pulled herself up as she faced the screen. "Is that a threat?"

    "No, it's a statement of policy. Perhaps you should refresh yourself with the concept." Prefab shot back. Director Piggot grit her teeth and looked from Prefab to Director Castillo, but found no help there.

    It was a bad sign. Gully knew that the PRT tried to present a united front, but if Piggot was being openly challenged and finding herself without allies… well, it made her feel better about her earlier decisions.

    "Alright." Piggot said in an almost pained voice. Or actually pained voice. "I don't have time for this, but I will insist on a medical exam and power evaluation before I sign off on any 'new registration'."

    "You can't seriously think Gully's an imposter." Prefab said.

    Director Piggot narrowed her eyes. "I think that, given the circumstances, the bare minimum of precautions should be taken."

    "I don't want to be examined by anyone from the PRT East-North-East." Gully said.

    "And given the quality of your information security, I fully agree." Director Castillo said with a nod.

    "Then I recommend you make travel arrangements for Boston." Piggot said in a tired voice. An extremely tired voice. Seeing the state of the woman's health and the clear exhaustion she was fighting, it was almost enough to make Gully feel sorry for her. Almost, but not quite. At the very least, it did explain why she was so argumentative, though that was just another bad sign for someone managing the city's parahuman response.

    "I would be happy to offer my services to Gully." Dragon said. Director Piggot's head snapped towards the screen, but she remained silent. "I can ensure confidentiality of information and provide the necessary assurances to Department Eight. There are also enough technicians from alternate departments to properly assist."

    Gully looked between Director Castillo and Dragon. "I would be alright with that."

    Dragon's avatar nodded. "I would require the use of the reserve power lab. Given that it is currently slated for alternate power examinations, it shouldn't impact the operation of the department."

    Director Piggot muttered something under her breath, then shook her head. "Granted, on the condition that any information relevant to the safety of the city is shared." She looked at the shovel on Gully's shoulder. "And a full examination of that device as well."

    Gully tightened her grip on the shovel, but at an encouraging look from Dragon's avatar she relaxed. "Fine." She said, and let out a breath.

    The rest of the meeting was much less contentious, and mainly seemed to involve formally laying out what had been agreed to, though with more aggression from Prefab than she would have expected. She wasn't sure what was driving that, but frankly with the range of disasters and horror stories that had come out of Brockton Bay it was anyone's guess which one could have set him off.

    Thankfully, nothing came from that but posturing and Gully shortly found herself in the familiar environment of a PRT testing lab, attended to by an older female technician from New York while Dragon coordinated things from the lab's terminals.

    "Um, you're really alright with this?" Gully asked.

    "I am perfectly happy to assist with this matter, particularly with the benefit it could grant to other Case 53s." Dragon explained.

    "Yeah, but aren't you… and Apeiron…" She actually didn't know where to go with that. Beyond some suspect statements from Dragon on the matter of her pursuit of Apeiron and wild internet theories no one knew what exactly was happening between them, only that something was definitely happening.

    "Apeiron represents a nearly insurmountable challenge, one that constantly proves more daunting with every revelation." Dragon explained. "For instance, the modulation of base powers is something that no tinker, including myself, has ever been able to achieve. Like with many discoveries, it necessitates the complete reevaluation of all previously considered countermeasures and extrapolation of new areas of consideration."

    Gully mulled over Dragon's words. "You like that he makes you think in new directions? Like, the challenge, even if you can't actually achieve it?"

    "That is a reasonable approximation." Dragon said more cheerfully than seemed warranted. "Now, are you ready?"

    "I think so." She said, holding out her shovel. "And you're sure this is safe?"

    "Absolutely. No data is being stored locally, and all feeds are being directed to my own memory banks. The data is heavily encrypted and not accessible by any local staff." She explained.

    "Except Ms. Grey." Gully said, looking down at the woman.

    "Don't worry about me." She said, craning her neck. "I'm with the New York office, and the face of a Ward isn't something I'm keen to share. We just need to make sure you're alright."

    "Right." Gully said, turning back to Dragon. "And after that?"

    "I will provide a report to Department 8, and confirmation to Director Piggot, but without a government order or direct access to my systems, no one is going to be able to access this." She said, "So, are you ready?"

    Gully nodded. "Yeah, if you're sure." Dragon nodded and Gully returned the gesture before focusing on her shovel.

    It wasn't like the world fell away. That hadn't happened since the first time she transformed. There was no shrinking, just like there had been no growth. Just a flash and suddenly she was in her smaller body. Her normal body, without all the changes of her passenger.

    The fact that Ms. Grey was now standing over her rather than craning her neck was clearly a point of amusement for the woman.

    "Four foot ten and seven eighths, approximately." Dragon said as the lab's scanners fired up. "Physical age in the late teens, with no sign of development disorders."

    "So I'm just short?" Gully said. Honestly, the lighter body was slightly freeing, though there were some aspects of her larger form that she missed. Looking in the mirror, her hair was simply tied back, rather than held in the elaborate braid she had built her hero identity around. She wasn't flat chested, but she had gone down maybe four cup sizes? She didn't know exactly. It was the kind of thing she'd actually need to learn about, now that it was relevant to her.

    "It is possible that you might see some additional growth in the next few years, but it appears your natural height is on the lower end of percentile distributions." Dragon explained. "Though I would recommend another full medical, if only to provide base data for any developments."

    "Right." Gully said as the technician helped her to the examination table. "Sorry if this caused trouble for everyone."

    "I believe you are more the result of the trouble than the cause of it." Dragon said, and Ms. Grey smiled in response.

    "I guess. Are things going crazy out there?" She asked. "I was worried there would be all kinds of overreactions?"

    "There is keen interest from the national office, but minimal response from the local level." Dragon explained. "With the exception of the Chicago team being redirected to the PRT Headquarters for an unexpected debrief."

    Gully froze. "Tecton?" She asked.

    "Indeed." Dragon said in a much too knowing voice. Even the technician was smiling, and she shouldn't have any context for what was happening. Unless she had seen enough Wards to just put things together from hints. "He should be on site roughly when your exam is scheduled to finish."

    Gully let out a breath. It was manipulation. She knew it, Dragon knew it, and whoever had put the Chicago team up to that knew it. The idea that people knew enough about her not-relationship with Tecton to think that throwing him at her would either deter her or contain her was insulting.

    But that was the situation from the outside. It was still Tecton. He was as much a victim of the manipulation as she was, and if they were sending him here, if she had a chance to speak with him before their dinner, even before she met with Garment.

    "Um, Dragon?" She asked "I know things are really secure in the PRT headquarters. Is there any chance, if I wanted to talk to someone without anything leaking to the rest of the department, would that be possible?"

    Dragon's avatar smiled. "I believe something can be arranged." She said, "Particularly if there is something important you would like to share away from prying eyes."

    Gully felt her face flush as she sat on the edge of the medical bed, kicking her legs. It was another novel sensation, and almost enough to distract her from how nervous she was about talking to Everett. That possibility, it wasn't why she had done this, why she had taken the impossible risk, but because she had, suddenly that possibility was real. It was something attainable.

    She just had to grasp it, and not falter at the last minute. Given everything else she had gone through, how bad could talking with a boy really be?
     
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    • Well, Saint now has the info on Gully. Grand. The info the PRT can get is going to be kinda interesting but Cauldron will want another closer look. Gully might be targeted by Yangban and then disappeared back into a Cauldron cell.
     
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