Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"If you can read this, you are too paranoid." for example? It would be an immature thing to do, so I think it should be confined to omakes or serious messages.
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Use it to send some secret but useless information. The first thing Aperion ever made was a doorstop.
- Location
- Philippines
In the case of the gundam particles, it's actually the natural state of them being deployed. The vanishing effect only happens with "damaged" equipment being repaired after 3 days due to fiat - which is why the Dust streams, which had only been released because of a catastrophic failure of Joe's equipment, disappeared after 3 days had passed. They did leave some behind, but that was only because of heretical adaptation as you mentioned. But since the gundam particles were released as a natural consequence of using them to power a Gundam, they didn't disappear with the dust trails. ETA is around a week left before they disappear, unless a heavy storm or massive waves arrive before that (Leviathan foreshadowing?).
Yeah, the thing with maturity is realizing that even pranks can have major consequences, and poking the PRT that way could only lead to a disaster even if she did the most innocuous things. That's how you get the PRT panicking and everyone else panicking because the PRT is panicking, Lethe has just shown her willingness to play with her food and we, the prey, must figure out how to stop her before she actually strikes! No wonder even Aisha's not poking that beehive much.
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The Gundam particles are out there because they leaked when Lung damaged it not because Gundam's naturally shed them. The fiat restore is also 1 day for perk items and 2 for things made in the workshop. I'm also pretty sure the particles are due to stick around longer than that because it was said Levi's arrival which is over 2 weeks away would cut it short.
Heh. Was looking back at the chapters following Lung's breakout and its subtle but interesting how Armsmaster has come to know the weakness of his flesh and begun craving the strength and certainty of steel… how long before he changes his colours to red with a white cog-tooth pattern?
- Location
- Philippines
Not really. The Gundam particles - aka the Minovsky Particles - are literally released whenever a Gundam is deployed because it effectively enforces combat where only fellow mechas can be used to fight against mechas. They not only function as a power source but also as a weapon in the form of beams, shields, and energy blades of I-field technology, and since they interfere with other unshielded electric-based equipment, they also function as a denial-of-service attack to any nearby tech that isn't a fellow mecha. Quite literally, they're the phlebotinium that justifies the entire setting of Gundam where mecha vs mecha combat is the only practical option. Joe went ahead and explained just as much when they were introduced in the story.
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As long as Aisha pre-clears a prank with Survey, anything she does could only have positive benefits. After all, who would better be able to figure out possible consequences as someone with 'all the info'.
- Location
- Somewhere and Nowhere in a state of super-position
Yes and Joe didn't want Minovsky Particle contamination so he specifically had the Gundam in question have a containment system on its reactor.
Then Lung damaged it and a small leak occurred.
Why prank random thinkers when she can prank Survey instead?
Come up with some stupid 3D puzzle that she could typically solve as quickly as she could observe it. Then Aisha could use her expanded power control to erase the memory of the very last and center most piece.
Given how it works normally I think the result would be Survey forgetting how to solve it as she finds the right answer. It should be trivial, but every attempt to solve it falls apart. It'd annoy her to no end.
- Location
- Philippines
Sadly, the rest of the Celestial Forge are all in their own ways immune to Aisha's powers so that wouldn't work. Not even Ren can bypass the sheer quality of work that Joe has put into their construction in the case of the AIs and Tetra and Garment are just too out of context for her power to work on them. And Tybalt? Yeah, good luck on affecting that.
Tybalt probably has some pretty crazy clairvoyance power what with knowing bring half the battle. He could also probably fight off the power via using his hod powers to fight the idea of forgetting important information.
Has she really tried to make it work on them since she started playing with the evil colors and acquired additional equipment? Getting the whole team is a nonstarter, but Survey specifically isn't fiat immune so the conflict comes down to the quality of forge sourced nonsense on either side.
111.3 Interlude Brian
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
(Author's note: After the event that caused the last delay I came down with the flu and have been out for most of the last week. I am recovering and was able to get some writing done, but as a result the planned preamble became its own interlude. Still, I wanted to avoid another delay so decided to post what I had rather than push things off by another week. As such, this chapter doesn't cover as much as I had hoped, but at least closes out current events with respect to Brian.)
111.3 Interlude Brian
Brian followed Aisha and the Matrix out of the overly elaborate workroom, leaving the impossible technologies integrated into the very design work of the immaculate room behind them. Even watching her the entire time, he had no idea what Aisha had been doing. Frankly, half of it had looked more like magic than science, but he supposed when you got to Joe's level there probably wasn't that much difference.
Doing his best to put that out of his mind he hurried after his sister and her apparent teammate. Seeing the armored figure move through Aisha's palace gave a bit of context to why everything seemed so overbuilt. Or maybe they had just gone over the top on principle and the accommodation of the taller teammate was a happy coincidence.
As they moved through the main hall, or painting gallery, or whatever, he noticed a silent exchange between Aisha and the Matrix. Something involving the paintings that were neatly framed on the walls.
"What?" Brian asked. It felt a little like he was intruding, which was unusual for him. Aisha was his sister, after all, but her connection with the rest of her team seemed to be on an entirely different level.
"Someone is just overly smug about the exhibit." Aisha said.
"Given the style and medium of the work, this is the traditionally appropriate manner of display." The Matrix said, inclining his helmeted head towards one of the framed pieces. "I was pleased to be able to assist in the framing and arrangement."
On second look, the frames were overly elaborate, particularly compared to some of the paintings, with scrolling and gilding and other excessive details. It fit with the style of the palace, but there was a level of contrast there, like it had been a later addition or separate project.
Aisha huffed. "You know, most people would be happy sticking them on the refrigerator. I don't need a whole gallery."
"The gallery was already present. Or, more specifically, a room fit to serve as a gallery. This just ensured it was adequately utilized and personalized." The Matrix said. "Additionally, oil paintings are not typically displayed on refrigerators, both due to skill and time requirements for their production and the limitations of low power magnets when applied to painted canvas. It would perhaps be appropriate for some of your early watercolors, if you would be…"
"No." Aisha said sharply. "This is more than enough. I don't need people putting my crappy early stuff on display."
"The development of technique and style over the span of your works is one of the most significant aspects of the pieces." The Matrix said, gesturing to several of the paintings.
"Yeah, maybe to you." Aisha said, dropping her head.
"I believe appreciation of the progression of your skill in this area is shared by all members of the team to various degrees." The Matrix said in response.
Brian blinked as the penny finally dropped. "Wait, you painted this stuff?" He asked.
Aisha paused before turning to look at him. "Um, yeah?" She said, looking like she was caught between feeling proud and embarrassed. It was an expression he had seen before, though usually with respect to some of the more spectacular disasters that Aisha had managed to cause.
"All of them?" He asked, looking at the length of the hall and the many, many framed paintings.
Aisha shifted slightly, glancing to the side. "Well, most of them are recreations transferred out of the computer, so not really real." She explained.
"The spiritron integration induces continuity of existence." The Matrix interjected. "Just as the works are no longer available within the serial phantasm in their original form, it would be incorrect to refer to these transferred works as 'not real'."
"I mean, yeah, but that's getting sort of abstract." She said before turning back to Brian. "They mean I painted most of them in the computer."
"Because you had time for it there." He said, "Time to learn how to do this kind of thing."
Aisha nodded as Brian took a closer look at the paintings. It was one thing for Aisha to have finished her GED or been studying tinker stuff, but something like this, painting and art, it was different. Probably because it wasn't serious. This wasn't some strategic move on Joe or his team's part to make sure Aisha could contribute to their missions or operations or whatever. As far as he could tell, Aisha had taken up painting because she wanted to, and the rest of the team was supporting her hobby to a degree that was almost embarrassing for her. Or actually embarrassing for her.
It was like the refrigerator thing she had mentioned, only scaled up to Joe's level. And because of that, Aisha got her own private portrait gallery instead of a single picture being tacked up in an open location, but the sentiment seemed to be the same.
Out of everything the situation implied and everything he'd need to work through, the thing that hit him the most was just how much he had missed. It was a weird thing to focus on since he was used to missing substantial parts of Aisha's life. The gulfs of time where she had been living with their mom, the times she had run away from their dad's apartment, or been in foster care, or even in juvie. All gaps in her life when he hadn't been there.
Compared to that, missing out on the time she's spent with Joe's team shouldn't have been a big deal, but somehow it was. Maybe because it seemed like that time was more significant, or at least more significant to Aisha. Maybe more significant overall, depending on how long it had actually been.
He swallowed and shook his head. There was already so much for him to deal with, so much for him to handle. He didn't have close to enough time for everything. Taking the highest-level view he could, he pressed forward. Aisha had learned how to paint. At its most superficial level that wasn't a bad thing, nor was it a major concern. The fact that she'd had time to learn to paint and had been encouraged in that endeavor by Joe's team was another matter, but right now he would take any amount of stability he could manage.
"Um, these are really quite good." Brian said, looking over the paintings.
"The later ones are." Aisha said. "Early stuff is pretty rough, and none of it is close to what Joe can do."
"That remains true for all members of the team." The Matrix said with a nod. "However, inability to achieve the level of craftsmanship possible through the use of Apeiron's abilities does not discredit the individual accomplishments of specific members."
"Uh, right." She said to the armored man. The exchange seemed to have more weight that Brian was picking up, but she quickly cleared her throat and turned back to Brian. "Joe's teaching thing is good for information and theory, but not so much with skills and practical stuff." She explained. "He can break down all the principles of painting, chemical and technical and artistic, but you still need to work through the skill yourself."
Brian nodded. It was good to know that power was limited. That it had limits. He was grateful for the additional information on the not-Teacher power Joe had been casually using on his sister. And apparently on everyone who watched any of Garment's videos. That wasn't something he anticipated, but the fact that even Lisa hadn't picked up on it was probably a good sign.
Or it meant she was so overwhelmed that she had missed it completely, which was a very bad sign. His next conversation with Lisa was going to be a mess, and one he was not close to prepared for. He did his best to put it out of his mind for the moment.
"So you paint like, fantasy landscapes?" He said, gesturing towards one of the more elaborate paintings. That rainbow unicorn was posing next to an impossibly tall waterfall under a moonlit sky.
"On the contrary, the majority of these works are from life, either within a virtual environment or various areas of the Workshop." The Matrix explained.
Brian blinked. "The workshop?" He looked across the paintings again. "I know it was big, but, I mean it can't have all this kind of stuff, right?" He asked. "Right…?"
Aisha looked at him with a dead expression. The Matrix's helmet was as unchanged as ever, but somehow Brian felt there was a shared sentiment between the armored cape and his sister.
"Hey," She finally said. "You remember that thing about not asking stuff unless you want to know the answer?" Aisha asked in a leading voice.
"Yeah?" He said slightly unsteadily
"Do you really want to get a breakdown of the full scale of Joe's pocket universe, or do you have enough to deal with for the moment?" She asked.
Brian stopped himself before he could respond. On instinct he wanted to know everything. That was the only way he could make informed decisions. The only way he could get some control back in this situation. Except that wasn't really true anymore. Learning the full scope of Joe's bullshit wouldn't make it easier to deal with, it would just give him more to deal with.
He looked at the paintings again. If Joe had really built a nature reserve in his workshop, would that change anything? Was it at all worth getting into right now, with everything else he had to deal with, and was only barely dealing with?
It went against his nature, but he slowly nodded to Aisha. "Right." He said in a strained voice. "I'll take a rain check on that part."
Aisha nodded to him. "We can see about getting you a full tour in a couple of days, once things settle." She paused. "Well, not a full-full tour. Maybe just the highlights. Believe me, that will be enough."
"I believe you." He said letting out a breath. "Still, it's crazy to think that some of that stuff might be in here." He gestured to one of the paintings that featured truly massive trees, bigger than anything he'd seen before. "Well, except the unicorn." He added jovially. Then he saw Aisha's expression. "What?" He asked.
"Same question as before. Do you want to get into that?" She asked.
Brian blinked, then looked at the unicorn that was featured in most of the paintings. The rather consistently depicted unicorn. Consistent enough that it suggested it might have been drawn from life, rather than Aisha's own imaginings.
"Uh…" He stammered.
"I believe Orudios would enjoy the chance to meet your brother." The Matrix said with an encouraging tone to its vaguely electronic voice.
"Orudios?" Brian asked, but Aisha just gave him a flat look. He took a breath before closing his eyes. "Right, right. Not getting into that right now." He said before looking back at Aisha. "We're good?"
"Probably as good as we're going to get." He nodded to that as they continued out into the spacious entryway and out onto the grounds of the plaza.
Well, Aisha had talked about a plateau. The palace was next to some kind of upland lake that dropped off into an impressive waterfall. Looking through the clouds of mist, he could make out the land below and got a hint of how big the 'workshop' actually was.
"When you mentioned a 'plateau' earlier…" He began.
"Plateau is for residential stuff." Aisha explained. "Workshops are on the lower level. You have space beyond that but it's not really used for anything." The Matrix looked like he was going to interject, but Aisha cut him off. "Not for anything we need to get into now."
"Right. Right." Brian said, repeating himself. "So, where do we go from here?" He asked.
"I've got this." Aisha said. She focused for a moment and her eyes flickered to that blank blue glow once again before a portal opened in the air in front of them. Something that Brian really had no choice but to roll with, like most of what he'd been faced with so far.
"You couldn't do that inside?" He asked. It was a simple question, but anything that would help ground the situation was a plus.
"No, I could." She said, "I just didn't want people to get used to teleporting in and out of my house." She said, looking at the Matrix.
"My apologies." The armored man said. "Given the priority placed on your project, I believed expedience would be preferred." He inclined his head to her. "I will endeavor to use proper entry protocols in the future."
"Thanks." She said, "I mean, not like I'm going to be doing serious work out of there, but I appreciate it." She said before turning to Brian. "Come on, we should get back before we're missed.
Brian nodded and followed Aisha through the washed-out portal. With a single step he left the immaculate plaza and entered the still immaculate sitting room that Joe had transported them to from the gym. Only there was something different about it. Or maybe about him? Just something that felt different.
He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what it was, but a light popping sound drew his attention to Joe's sudden arrival. Because he could teleport now. And teleport other people. Once again, huge things that should be a big deal, and still were, but unfortunately he had so many big deals to deal with that he was forced to prioritize. Joe being able to teleport? Sure, why not.
"Hey." He said, turning to Aisha. "You get things sorted?" He asked, as if that was actually a possibility.
"Yeah, not even close." She said, looking over to Brian. He could only shrug. At least she was in agreement regarding how much they still had to hash out.
"Right." Joe said. "But the critical stuff?"
"We got through most of it." Aisha said, turning to him for confirmation.
Brian felt excessively on the spot, but straightened his back and forced a reply. "It's… manageable." He looked back at Aisha. "And not as bad as I thought."
"Sounds like there's more to manage." Joe said with an understanding nod.
Brian let out a breath. "Yeah. Definitely." He felt himself slouch. "Fuck." He muttered.
"Well, as long as you've got a handle on the scope of things." Joe said.
Brian shook his head. "I don't think I'm even close to understanding the scope of any of this." He said, looking over to Aisha. She just shrugged as he turned back to Joe. "But she told me about how this started. The things that set this off."
"Ah." Joe said. "So the ABB financial center?" He asked.
"I filled him in." Aisha replied. "I mean the broad points of what I was there for."
"There's more?" Brian asked.
"Did you want to get into a blow by blow?" Aisha asked. "Because Joe was hacking financial systems for most of the time he was there, and trust me, you have no idea how convoluted finance can get."
"I'll pass, thanks." He said to Aisha. "But thank you." He said, turning to Joe. "For looking out for her like that. I know she's not the easiest person to deal with, but she's my sister. I really appreciate you doing that for her."
The last thing he wanted was to get more indebted to Joe, even though the question of what that currently looked like or if it actually held any meaning was currently up in the air. Despite that, he had saved Aisha's life. He couldn't let that go unacknowledged.
"Well, she's not THAT bad." Joe said with a slight smirk.
"Ha. Ha." His sister said, rolling her eyes.
Joe shook his head. "Seriously, she's been a big help to the entire team."
He actually sounded like he meant it, which was… weird. That part of this would probably never stop getting weird. Actually, it was all he could do to keep things at 'weird' when they were barreling towards 'disconcerting'.
Aisha had problems. Most of the time Aisha was the problem. You didn't just put her into a new group or situation and have her suddenly click. Yeah, this was a world apart from the attempts at foster care, but it didn't seem like any change would be enough for this kind of shift.
Well, there had been the threat of the Endbringers. Something he hadn't even considered, probably for the sake of his peace of mind. That wasn't the kind of threat thrown around lightly, and if anything could get through to Aisha it would have been that. Then she had nearly died in that ABB building, then Joe had nearly died, then she had become part of the strongest parahuman group on the planet…
Fuck. Yeah, that was probably enough to explain it. Just a condensed series of major revelations and life events that he had been completely blind to. That everyone had. They were all too happy to have a break from Aisha's antics to realize how much had really changed.
"Looks like it's still hitting you." Joe said, offering Brian one of the overly decorated chairs. Despite looking like something out of a museum, it was incredibly comfortable. He knew he needed to get back to the gym before anyone noticed he was gone, but right there he was more than happy to have a moment to collect himself.
"Thanks." He said as Joe and Aisha took their own seats. Aisha on Joe's side, with the Matrix standing behind them. "I think it's going to keep hitting me for a while."
Joe nodded. "This is a lot to drop on someone." He looked over to Aisha. "I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn about it like this either."
His sister wilted slightly and muttered something under her breath that might actually have been an apology, assuming Brian hadn't imagined it.
"Yeah." Brian said with a nod. "It's just… fuck, where do we go from here?" He asked. "Am I dealing with you or Aisha on this? What's happening with the team, or our debt, or all that stuff with the boss?"
Joe raised an eyebrow and turned to Aisha. "Told him about Coil." She said sharply. "Actually had no idea who he was working for."
Brian didn't particularly feel like having his life decisions judged again that day. He cleared his throat and pressed on. "She told me you're working to bring him down. That you and Lisa are working to bring him down."
Joe let out a breath. "That implies more effort on my part."
Brian blinked. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Coil has contingencies." Joe said. "Tattletale wants to deal with them herself, or at least fully confirm them. Once that's done…"
Brian nodded. "Then you can take care of things." It made sense, considering those contingencies probably involved his identity. Aisha's identity. She might be confident the Celestial Forge could deal with the fallout, but frankly he'd prefer not having to worry about it in the first place.
"Me or a member of my team. You know, whoever's free at the time." Joe said casually.
"You don't seem overly worried." He said, suppressing the involuntary irritation at the cavalier attitude.
Joe shook his head. "Not about the fight, if you'd even call it a fight. Most of the concerns are about containment and cleanup."
"Yeah, that's a bigger problem than you'd think." Aisha said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
His sister shook her head. "Dealing with something and dealing with it clean are two very different things. You work at a high enough level and anything you do has the potential to set off six other disasters waiting in the wings."
"Speaking from experience?" Joe asked.
Aisha frowned excessively, almost to the point of pouting. "I told you, this was the last fuckup. No more waiting in the wings, and I'm not looking to repeat this any time soon." Joe held her gaze for a moment and she let out a huff. "And yeah, obviously there were a hundred ways I could have handled things better than this. Cut me some slack, it had been building forever."
Joe inclined his head in an expression of understanding that Brian wouldn't have expected. He saw Brain's expression and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked.
"Just, you accepted that really quickly." He said. "You have been. Aisha isn't usually that straightforward with people."
"Yeah, fuck you too." She said, actually sticking her tongue out at him. The seriousness of the situation contrasting with the juvenile action defused some of his concerns. "Besides, that doesn't work with Joe."
Brian's face twisted in confusion. "Doesn't work how?"
"I can see through manipulation." Joe said, like that was a normal thing. Or another 'normal' thing in the list of things that Joe seemed to consider normal. "If someone tries to manipulate me I know right away. It's probably better than detecting the truth because it can pick up intent."
"Right, one of your new powers." He said. His head was starting to feel light from everything he was dealing with. Then a thought struck me. "Wait, does Lisa know?"
"You think she wouldn't notice?" Joe asked with a small grin.
"Um, how did she take it?" Brian asked.
"About as well as you would expect." Joe said, his smile widening.
"That bad, huh?" Brian asked. Joe just shrugged his shoulders, that grin still on his face. Brian felt himself crack a smile, but it honestly explained some of what Lisa had been going through recently. Planning against their boss while trying to manage Joe, who could now see through her manipulation… No wonder she had been at the end of her rope.
The levity died away and he felt himself sag again. "Yeah." Joe said, "Trust me, no one expects you to deal with all of this at once."
"I don't think it will be much easier over time, either." Brian admitted as he once again considered the full scope of what was actually happening. With Aisha dropping one bomb after another while Brian was dealing with the insanity of Joe's workshop it had been easy to keep everything in the air, but outside, or nearly outside, that was coming crashing down.
What happened next? That was the real question, and even Aisha didn't seem to know because that would require predicting Joe. What power he would get next or how strong he could become. He probably had more insight into that than anyone outside Joe's team, and even that was just enough to convince him that everyone else was badly underestimating things.
"I don't really know what we're supposed to work through here." He admitted. "Or what we could work through in the time we have." He paused. "Is there a reason we aren't talking back in the workshop? With the time thing?"
"Doesn't work when I'm inside." Joe admitted. Brian raised an eyebrow and Joe just shrugged. "Aisha probably told you, that place is part of my power. I don't exactly control how it develops. The time thing was a surprise. Useful one, even if I can't use it."
"Wait, so you didn't actually make that place?" He asked.
"Alternations and upgrades, but not actually make it." He explained. "I can do similar stuff." He gestured around them. "But the Workshop is its own thing."
"Huh. So stuff like Aisha's house?" He asked.
"Crapped out by Joe's power." Aisha said with a grin. "Everyone on the team got a place."
Well, that was probably better than Joe deciding personally to build a giant dollhouse for his sister. Of course, it meant there was an uncontrolled power in the background that had made the same call for some reason, so it was only slightly better when you got down to it.
"You doing okay?" Joe asked.
"Yeah." He said, "Taking it better than I expected, to be honest." He paused as there was an exchange between Joe and Aisha. "What?"
"Probably another effect of the workshop." Joe said.
"What effect?" Brian asked.
"Positive effect on people that enter the Workshop. Just a minor bonus, like a five percent boost in capacity." He explained.
"A trump effect." Brian said, feeling himself tense.
"Technically." Joe admitted. "It lasts for twenty-four hours, and probably helped you process things up to now."
Brian was about to reply, then shut his mouth and turned to Aisha. Aisha, who was looking rather conspicuous. Aisha, who had almost certainly planned things.
But planned what? Getting him into an effect that helped him deal with his entire life's work falling apart without breaking down or exploding, neither of which would have helped? How much of their conversation had just happened and how much had been steered by her? He was used to that from Lisa, but seeing shades of it from Aisha, well, she had always been bright, but in an unfocused way. This was Aisha, bright, focused, and with power and resources behind her.
And somehow she wasn't abusing them. He could hardly believe it, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. This was the new reality he'd need to deal with, whether he was ready or not.
Not. Definitely not, and he'd probably find out just how 'not' it was once this weird workshop boost wore off.
"The power, there's nothing concerning about it?" He asked. That was probably what he had noticed when he returned to the sitting room. The reason it felt different from before. "Nothing I need to worry about?"
Aisha snorted. "Yeah, the boost wasn't the concerning part of THAT power."
"What?" Brian asked.
Joe waved him away. "That's just theological stuff. Nothing you need to worry about."
That sounded like exactly the kind of thing he should be worried about, but somehow he was more worried that if he asked what Joe meant, Joe would tell him. And then he'd also need to deal with whatever that 'theological stuff' was.
"Right." He said, looking at Aisha. "We can cover that later?"
"Later." She assured him. "A good chunk later."
"Fine." He said, leaning back in his chair. His eyes dropped down to the new, or new version of the watch on his wrist. He lifted his hand from the arm of the chair and showed it to Joe. "Just to check, you're fine with me having this? And everything Aisha did?"
"I'm not going to leave you unprotected or out of contact at this point." Joe said before turning to Aisha. "But seriously? Refractor Field integrated into a Deflector Shield for the sake of multidimensional venting?" He asked. "If you wanted a Void Shield you could have just made a Void Shield."
"No, you could have made a Void Shield. The Matrix might have been able to build a Void Shield." There was an ambivalent gesture from the otherwise silent armored figure. "The schemas are one thing, but I haven't even had a chance to look at that Pleician stuff yet, and I'm not at the point of scaling down starship grade defensive fields for personal use."
"Really?" Joe asked in a leading tone. "What's the peak output of that deflector array, anyway?"
His sister just huffed and turned away, leaving Joe amused and Brian with several new concerns about what exactly he was wearing on his wrist.
Well, more for the pile. It was going to take most of the day just to figure out what he should be more worried about. Then he could have a nice freak out, once the workshop thing wore off. Unless he found something new to panic about before then.
Joe looked over to him, like he had picked up on what Brian was thinking, or feeling or whatever. There was a distinct possibility that he could, but Brian really didn't want to get into that now. He just shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't really know how to handle this." He hated admitting that, but false fronts weren't going to do him any good, particularly when Joe could see through any attempt at manipulation and probably had more ways of picking up on things than he could imagine.
"Given the timeframe, it's not reasonable to expect you to be able to." Joe agreed.
"Yeah, we don't all have the benefit of fast time pocket universes or virtual computer spaces." He said, shaking his head. "Like, this whole thing, right from the start, it's been so much longer for you than anyone else. Years rather than weeks."
"Well, I didn't get that set up until the day before Bakuda's first attack." Joe explained. Brian nodded, trying to suppress a shiver as fantom sensations of the effects of Bakuda's space warp bomb played over his body. If Joe hadn't had the ability to work faster, to think faster, would he have been able to help them at that point, or would he have been trapped like that forever? Forever, or until the condition ended up killing him?
Not something he wanted to think about. He shook his head and turned back to Joe. "What I mean is, I'm pretty sure everyone would freak out less about what was happening if they knew that they weren't looking at the kind of rushed deployment this looks like from the outside."
"Maybe, but I'm not really inclined to share those details." Joe explained. "Not with everything that's happening."
Brian nodded. It might make people less concerned in some areas, but that would be balanced out by desperate responses in others. And as much as he hated to admit it, this wasn't about the city and its gangs anymore. It was international, and he didn't even know how to begin dealing with that.
He cleared his throat and sat up straight. "Thank you for being upfront with me." He said to Joe. The man raised an eyebrow and he continued. "I mean, you didn't need to go this far." He didn't NEED to do anything. If Joe wanted to take a stance there really wasn't anything he could have done about it. Instead he was making a conscious effort to meet Brian halfway, and that was appreciated.
"You're Aisha's brother." He said, like that explained anything. Brian could honestly say that it was the first time being related to Aisha had been seen as a positive. Just another aspect of the day's weirdness that he'd need to come to terms with. "There are limits, but I'm not going to cut you out of what's happening."
"Particularly since you'd probably be inclined to do something stupid if we didn't sort this out." Aisha snarked. He shot her a look and she raised her hands defensively. "Hey, don't look at me. That basically runs in the family. We're dealing with the last of my stupid here, and I'm more than happy to put it behind me."
"That said, it would probably be better to stay in touch if you have any concerns, rather than run off with them on your own." Joe said, gesturing to the watch on Brian's wrist.
Brian shifted slightly. "Same as before, right?"
"Yeah, except maybe you could actually call rather than just worrying about stuff." Aisha said as she gave him a hard look. Brian wilted under his sister's admonishing gaze as he reflected on how the world truly had turned upside down in the course of an afternoon.
"It was more complicated than that." He said in his defense.
"No, you made it more complicated because you were playing power games like Tattletale." Aisha shot back.
"You know, considering the sum of our previous conversations have consisted in you trying to secure an arms contract, or negotiate medical debt or convince me to come to Somer's Rock, she kind of has a point." Joe added.
Right. Joe had come to Somer's Rock because he and Lisa had convinced him to come. Because she had some idea about how the conference was going to go and wanted him there as a part of that. The idea had been having some assurance of what Apeiron was going to do, or not do, would keep things from boiling over in the city. Technically that had been accomplished, to a point, but not in a way anyone could have seen coming.
And Aisha had been there. Aisha, as Lethe, had only been at Somer's Rock because Brian had convinced Joe to come, and Joe had decided it was a perfect time to bring his entire team, which had included Aisha. Who had then decided, apparently independently, that it was a perfect time to hold her armor's super sword at Othala's neck.
His mind jumped back to something else Aisha had said, something he hadn't had time to get into, which was a very wide category. But that had been back before he'd been to Joe's workshop. Before whatever enhancement trump effect had made it easier for him to deal with things. Looking back, the difference was obvious, but he found himself wondering if that effect was also enhancing his ability to analyze the nature of the effect.
Joe's workshop had a power that fucked with his head, but it did so in a way that made it easier for him to realize how it had fucked with his head, and also break things down so that he could tell it wasn't as serious as something fucking with your head should be. Unless that was part of the effect, but that was just a spiral of paranoia that he couldn't afford right now.
There was a good chance that the only reason he'd been able to handle things as well as he had was because of that power. A power that had helped him deal with every disruption and unexpected turn, but also helped him in other areas. Something he was only aware of because he was being enhanced by that power.
Awareness he would lose twenty-four hours after leaving the workshop. But he could keep it, or get it regularly enough, as long as he kept seeing Aisha while she was operating out of Joe's workshop, and as long as she kept working with Joe.
That was the insidious thing about trump powers. Even if the power didn't have any addictive qualities or hidden master elements, just having the power was addictive enough. The boost from Joe's workshop was minor enough that he'd barely noticed it, but it was broad enough that it seemed to apply to everything it possibly could. Five percent wasn't a lot, but if you were five percent smarter, five percent faster, five percent more focused, and able to recall details five percent better it added up. It crossed enough that you'd notice when it was gone, and most people would want to avoid that.
Even with no addictive properties, that would influence a person. It was something you couldn't avoid taking into account when you considered your next move. It was the kind of thing that completely changed the dynamic of the situation, and it was only a minor aspect of Joe's power. Just like so much of what he'd had to deal with.
Too much. Too much, even for later, much less right now. The point was, something that had flown past in the early moments of him having to deal with this mess was sticking out now, and he had a chance to address it, face to face.
"Aisha said Garment was at Somer's Rock." Brian said. Joe nodded to him. "Normally, I wouldn't push this, but Aisha is working for Garment, at least publicly. I know that's a cover, but it's still public. It's a connection to her." He paused. "To all of us. Our whole family. So I need to know, why was she there, and why didn't anyone see her?"
"She was there because she's part of my team." Joe explained. "Just not publicly. And everyone did see her, they just didn't recognize her."
"Then… what?" Brian asked. "Did she disguise herself? Sneak in with one of the other groups?"
"Nope." Aisha said. "Right on our table." Her smile widened. "You could say she was sharing a chair with Joe."
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Joe wasn't…" Gloves. The white gloves that Joe was wearing. Very white gloves, unnaturally white. An addition to his costume that happened after the storage yard. Happened along with so many other changes that he'd never given them much thought. "No fucking way." He looked at Joe. "You were wearing Garment?"
Joe shrugged. "How do you think the cape did all that swoopy stuff?"
"But… you can't just wear teammates." Brian was met with blank looks from Aisha and Joe. And a sudden flicker of red to his side.
"Oh, can I tell him?" Proto Aima's human form, or Tetra asked from a formerly unoccupied chair to his left.
"Probably not the best time." Joe said.
"Time for… no, wait." Brian said. "This is one of those things that's going to be a giant mess that I'm going to have to deal with if I ask about it, right?"
"It's not that bad." Proto Aima said. "But we could come back to it later if you want."
"Uh, yeah, thanks." He said, and she was suddenly gone.
"Yeah." Aisha said in a flat voice. "You don't really get used to that."
"She doesn't mean anything by it." Joe assured her.
"I know. It's what makes the whole thing so frustrating. She's the most intrusive ball of sunshine in existence."
"Um, Garment?" Brian asked, desperately trying to get the topic back to an area he felt like he might be able to handle. "You've been 'wearing' her every time you've been out in costume?"
"Most times. She has her own commitments." Joe explained.
"Right." He said, leaning back. "But, how do you even coordinate something like that without fighting or tripping over each other?"
"It's part of Garment's power." Joe explained. "There's a connection when someone wears the gloves. Shared awareness and skills."
"More trump effects." He said.
Joe shrugged. "PRT profiles probably aren't your best bet when assessing this kind of thing, but if you want to think about it like that, then sure."
Brian considered exactly what Joe was describing. "And you're the only who 'wears' the gloves?" He asked.
Joe raised an eyebrow at the implication, but didn't comment on it. "For when I'm in costume, or for high level projects that Garment is working on. Mostly team costumes." He clarified. Behind him the mostly unmoving Matrix reached up and adjusted his white scarf. "But Survey's worked with Garment on high level fashion concepts and assessment. The Matrix as well, for their own project, though what counts as 'wearing' in that case is a bit nebulous." The armored cape shrugged its shoulders. "Other than that…"
Joe fell silent as Aisha raised her hand. He blinked and turned to her. "Seriously?"
Aisha shrugged. "She was getting impatient about the color theory project. Wanted to try out some of the new combinations." She snorted and grinned at him. "Wanted to see how long I could keep it hidden, but I didn't realize you and Garment had already worked out THAT kind of relationship."
As the implication hit Joe he raised a hand to his forehead and winced. "Seriously, Aisha?" His sister just broke into a fit of barely contained snickering at the man's reaction.
It was a dynamic he could recognize, and sympathize with. He still wasn't used to seeing it from another person rather than experiencing it directly, but somehow it was reassuring. That kind of reaction, both Joe rolling with Aisha's prodding and Aisha feeling comfortable enough to try something like that, it did a lot to disarm some of his remaining concerns.
Whatever that 'color theory' project was, he doubted it was something he wanted to get into right now. Or could afford to, given how long this part of the meeting had dragged on for. Everything about Garment was going to take a while to process, but he was at least confident he could process it.
Well, it's not like he had a choice.
"Thanks." He said, standing up. "But we should get back to the gym."
Joe nodded and rose to his feet. "I know there's still a lot to work through, but I'm glad we aren't leaving any major issues unaddressed."
"Just not completely addressed." Brian said. Honestly, just being able to get this absolute mess of a situation somewhat under control was a miracle, and probably wouldn't have been possible for anyone without Joe's resources. In the vast majority of situations Aisha throwing them together in the gym like that would have led to exactly the kind of disaster he would have expected his sister to be able to cause if she got superpowers and used them to up her usual antics.
"I'm serious about calling." Joe said, gesturing to the watch. "Me or one of the team. Or Aisha. It doesn't need to be a serious talk, you can just ask for clarification rather than worry about what's happening."
"Clarification to a point." Brian said. Joe nodded.
"Security concerns." He admitted. "Some stuff requires more measures, and other stuff I'd rather not share with anyone outside the team."
"I wasn't expecting a free pass, even with the family connection." He said, holding up his wrist. "And I know you wouldn't be comfortable telling me all this unless you had a way to keep it locked down." He added honestly.
Joe shook his head. "You still have privacy, at least from me." But not the rest of his team, which was apparently even scarier in the information gathering department. "And you know about the curse." Brian nodded vigorously.
"Lisa really should have mentioned that earlier." He said. "We're going to have a lot to talk about the next time I see her." He winced. "Not sure how much she's going to be able to pick up on her own, or how much she'll be comfortable with me knowing."
"Based on my experience, probably none of it." Joe answered honestly.
Brian gave him a wry grin. "Probably right." He turned to Aisha. "You good to head back?"
"Yeah." She said, "Things good back there?"
"Got it covered." He assured them. "As far as people are concerned, you've been showing Brian what the gym's been working on."
"What, HRDs?" Aisha asked with a note of concern.
"No, just rumor, occasional comment and it took from there." He explained. "Also covered for you helping with some prep work. Mrs. Gartenberg was very pleased with it. And apparently she knows Regent?" Joe asked, and Brian could feel the floor drop out from under him, which got even worse as Aisha smiled.
"Oh yeah." Aisha said wickedly. "So the story is-"
"We should get going." Brian said quickly. "Appreciate you covering for us and everything, but we need to get back. Right now."
Joe raised an eyebrow, obviously not blind to the implication, but thankfully not pressing the issue. Mercifully not pressing the issue. He had enough to deal with without adding that particular mess to the mix.
"Right, let's get you back." Joe said.
"I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you." The Matrix said, inclining his helmet. "And I trust you will enjoy the expanded utility of your sister's workmanship."
"Right. Same to you." Brian said to the armored cape, not particularly concerned if that response actually made sense in context.
There was a sudden sense of pressure as the world bent and twisted around him, then suddenly a wave of sound crashed down on him. He was back in the gym, with the background noise of countless people echoing around the confined space.
"Right, nice to meet you Brian, but I should get going." Joe said, giving them a casual wave before he slipped off into the crowd, just walking off like nothing happened. Brian watched him go before looking to Aisha, who was also acting like nothing happened.
Which from their perspectives, might as well be true. Aisha had known everything coming into this mess and while Joe had been blindsided, there was no question that it had been significantly less disruptive for him than for Brian. Aisha had dealt with a stupid mistake, Joe had filed away some new information, and everything Brian had worked towards for his entire cape career suddenly became meaningless.
"Starting to really hit you, huh?" Aisha asked.
Brian pulled himself up and schooled his features. "I appreciate the effort, but this isn't the kind of thing you can deal with in one conversation."
"I get that. Sorry, but it's the best I could do, unless you want to get into VR computer dives." She said, smiling at the corner of her mouth.
"Thanks, I'm good." The 'regular' workshop was frightening enough. He didn't want to imagine what a Joe controlled digital world would be like, even if Aisha used them regularly. He paused, then looked at his sister.
"What?" She asked.
"You're still going to use that stuff. The computer thing." He said. She nodded without hesitation. "So, the 'probably younger' thing isn't going to hold for long."
She snorted. "Trust me, digging through research, reading reports or running experimental procedures in simulated environments doesn't exactly count as solid social development." She said, "You can't just count up fast time like that and assign a number to it."
"I guess." He said. It was a mature way of looking at things, but being mature enough to recognize lack of maturity, or opportunities for maturity, was already a good deal more mature than most people he knew. Frankly, the fact that Aisha wasn't insisting on being treated as an adult said more about how much she had grown in the accelerated time than anything else.
"Guess we should be careful about what we're talking about." He said, glancing around. Joe had left them at the edge of the gym and while no one seemed to be paying particular attention to them and they hadn't said anything overly incriminating, he didn't want to take the chance.
"Figured you'd already have that down." She said, giving him a sideways glance.
"This is kind of a different level from what I'm used to." He admitted.
Aisha let out a breath. "Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly primed for this kind of thing either."
Brian nodded slowly. "I'm glad it worked out."
"Seriously?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah." He said. "This whole thing is a living migraine, but considering the kind of disaster it could have been, I'm glad it didn't come to that."
"Gee, thanks." She said, rolling her eyes.
Brian swallowed. "And it's been good for you."
Aisha looked back at him. "Yeah, it has." She said quietly.
"I'm glad you had that. And sorry I wasn't able to give it to you." He admitted. Saying it left an empty feeling in his gut, but it was the truth. Maybe that workshop trump power was helping him see or manage or push through, but Aisha was in a better place and as much as he hated how dangerous and chaotic things were, she was probably safer than anyone else in the city. Probably the world.
"You tried." She said, "I know how hard you tried. Seriously, everything."
"Everything?" He asked.
She nodded. "Brockton Bay civics, plus recent history. Know what you did, when you did it and why. Weren't always the best decisions, but I know why you made them." She let out a breath. "Thanks, for all of that."
Brian stood against the wall in silence for a moment, processing that. Had Aisha ever thanked him before? Thanked him and meant it? Not as an offhand flippant statement or as an obligation pried from her, usually as part of a pained apology, but as a sincere and thought-out statement?
Probably not. Sincere and thought-out statements weren't really Aisha's thing.
"Well, I guess we figure out where we're going from here." He said in a tired voice.
"Well, you can figure that out. I have plans." She replied with a grin.
"You're going back?" He asked.
She nodded. "Stopping by Garment's after this." She said openly. One thing she didn't need to be on guard about, thanks to the cover job.
Something occurred to him. "Is Garment busy now?" He asked. He hadn't seen her in the workshop, or in the 'backrooms', whatever those counted as. Given what he'd heard about her, it seemed like there was a reason for that.
"Yeah." Aisha said, "Weld and Flechette stopped by to visit at the end of their patrol."
Brian looked at his sister in surprise. "What's Garment doing with them?" He asked.
"Currently? Being awkwardly flirted at." Aisha said with a wide grin.
Brian blinked and tilted his head. People thought Garment was a Case 53, or something close, and Weld was probably the best known of the Case 53s. It made sense that there would be some common ground there, though considering Weld had worked in television Brian would have expected him to be capable of more than 'awkward flirting'.
"Is that… serious?" He asked. The tangential presence of a Ward close to his sister wasn't the point of concern it would have been earlier that day, but it still sounded like a complication at a time when he had more than enough to deal with.
"Probably not?" Aisha said. "More a consequence of people operating in different timeframes."
Brian nodded. Whatever length of time Weld had known Garment for, Garment would have had at least ten times as much time with Joe's team. More if she could use that computer thing. That didn't seem possible for someone like Garment, but after everything Brian wasn't willing to discount the possibility.
"Yeah, I can kind of relate to that." He said, with Aisha smiling back at him.
Things weren't settled. They were pretty fucking far from settled, but at least he didn't feel like he was standing on top of an active bomb anymore.
Probably because Joe didn't really feel like an active bomb anymore. Sure, he wasn't exactly stable, but the biggest points of concern, the things everyone pointed to when highlighting how unpredictable he was, had explanations. Unsurprisingly, Aisha had been the source of most of that chaos, but since then things hadn't actually gotten worse, they'd just gotten bigger with everyone filling in their own details. Brian wasn't thrilled about the situation, but it was something he could come to terms with, given time.
A tenth the time Joe and Aisha would have, but that was just the nature of things. No one said cape powers were fair, even if Joe's extended so far past 'unfair' that it became a parody of the concept.
Eventually he and Aisha ended up pulled back into the flow of the gym. It was just too busy for them to hide out on the sidelines. Plenty of people made a point to thank him for whatever that prep work Joe had set up was. Brian managed to bluff his way through, and even keep a straight face as even more people took the time to specifically tell him how much they liked Alec and what a great guy he was and how the two of them should definitely feel comfortable stopping by the gym any time.
He actually kept a straighter face than Aisha, but then again he was actually trying to moderate his reactions while she was just enjoying every minute of it. Cutting her off from sharing that particular detail with Joe was probably a petty point, but he did not want to get into that situation then and there. Definitely not a situation where he needed Joe's input.
After they completed their circuit, with nearly every person in the gym having congratulated him on a presumed relationship without actually mentioning anything specific about said relationship, they found their way back to their dad, still holding down the fort with Doug and Mrs. Gartenberg. Whatever funding Garment had set up was being put to good use, though he had to wonder how much of that was Garment and how much was Joe? Or any other member of his team?
On the plus side, he was less concerned about Garment as an overbearing presence, though only because she had turned out to be part of an even more overbearing presence.
Then, finally, after several more rounds of bluffing his way through gratitude for the task that Joe had managed to attribute to him and Aisha, they were done. Social obligations met and fires put out, at least as far as their father was concerned, they left the gym.
Brian pulled out onto the familiar streets and followed his father's instructions to Garment's studio. It was one of the older buildings in the neighborhood only a couple of blocks from the gym. A nice structure with a classic look to it, but not the kind of thing he would have expected from someone connected to Joe. Though that was probably the point.
"You sure you don't need a ride back?" He asked. Given what he had learned, it was obvious she didn't need a ride back, but the exchange was basically a performance for their father.
"It's fine. Jake can give me a ride back." Asiha explained.
"Garment's driver." His father added. "Actually works for her lawyer, but solid man."
From their father, that was high praise.
"I'll call if anything comes up, but it should be fine." Aisha said, climbing out of the car and waving to them.
As she approached the door swung open and two people stepped out. A man with skin like liquid metal wearing a long coat and a woman in a purple costume and an elaborate cape. Actually, several elaborate capes. She seemed to be carrying spares over one arm. Aisha greeted them smoothly, like she saw parahumans every day. Which she kind of did, and not just with respect to him. There was a short exchange before Aisha entered the studio and the Wards continued their foot patrol.
Brian let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding as he pulled back onto the street. His father clearly noticed and gave him a nod.
"It's a change, seeing Wards down here." He said. "Wish I could say it was policy, but it's probably on Garment."
"Probably." He said.
"Are you still worried about your sister working for her?" His dad asked.
He shook his head. "Not as much as I was. Not after the event."
His dad nodded. "Yeah, that was something. City really needed it after everything. It was good that everyone was able to help out like they did."
Brian nodded. He'd seen the number of coats at the gym. It seemed like half of the people there had gotten one from Garment.
"Oh, I met your new student, Joe?" He began tentatively. To his surprise he saw his father tense. "What? Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about." His dad said quickly.
"Dad." He insisted.
His father let out a breath. "This doesn't get passed on, understood?" Brian nodded. "Some of the guys at the gym think Joe might be a cape."
Brian was very, very careful to keep his expression controlled. "What made them think that?" He asked.
His father let out a breath. "Bunch of little stuff. Background, schedule, the way he was training. All crap, there's a hundred reasons for any of that. But after things went bad he started helping out around the gym. Fixing stuff."
"That makes him a cape?" Brian asked.
His father shook his head. "No, which is why you don't pass this around." He said sternly. "Joe did engineering at the college. Automotive as well. Built his own bike."
"Really?" Brian asked, commending himself for his acting.
"Yeah. He's good at fixing stuff. Might be too good, but no one's looked close enough to be sure." He explained.
"What do you think?" He asked.
His father turned to look at him, resting his hands on the cane sitting between his legs. "I think that if someone fell backwards into powers and decided to use them to make a bad situation less bad for the people close to him, I'm not going to mess that up." He turned back to look at the road. "Might be a tinker. Might just be a bright kid prone to overworking himself."
Might be both, Brian thought.
His dad shook his head. "The cape thing is probably just the usual gym bullshit. You know how that stuff gets passed around."
Brian nodded. Usually it was about them, or their mother, or Aisha. Well, not 'usually', but it seemed like that.
"Point is, I'm not going to ruin a good thing from someone who, one way or another, has only been trying to help, you get me?" His father said sternly.
"Yeah." Brian said, the magnitude of recent events suddenly feeling a little less heavy. Not light, but a touch more manageable. "I think I get you on this one."
111.3 Interlude Brian
Brian followed Aisha and the Matrix out of the overly elaborate workroom, leaving the impossible technologies integrated into the very design work of the immaculate room behind them. Even watching her the entire time, he had no idea what Aisha had been doing. Frankly, half of it had looked more like magic than science, but he supposed when you got to Joe's level there probably wasn't that much difference.
Doing his best to put that out of his mind he hurried after his sister and her apparent teammate. Seeing the armored figure move through Aisha's palace gave a bit of context to why everything seemed so overbuilt. Or maybe they had just gone over the top on principle and the accommodation of the taller teammate was a happy coincidence.
As they moved through the main hall, or painting gallery, or whatever, he noticed a silent exchange between Aisha and the Matrix. Something involving the paintings that were neatly framed on the walls.
"What?" Brian asked. It felt a little like he was intruding, which was unusual for him. Aisha was his sister, after all, but her connection with the rest of her team seemed to be on an entirely different level.
"Someone is just overly smug about the exhibit." Aisha said.
"Given the style and medium of the work, this is the traditionally appropriate manner of display." The Matrix said, inclining his helmeted head towards one of the framed pieces. "I was pleased to be able to assist in the framing and arrangement."
On second look, the frames were overly elaborate, particularly compared to some of the paintings, with scrolling and gilding and other excessive details. It fit with the style of the palace, but there was a level of contrast there, like it had been a later addition or separate project.
Aisha huffed. "You know, most people would be happy sticking them on the refrigerator. I don't need a whole gallery."
"The gallery was already present. Or, more specifically, a room fit to serve as a gallery. This just ensured it was adequately utilized and personalized." The Matrix said. "Additionally, oil paintings are not typically displayed on refrigerators, both due to skill and time requirements for their production and the limitations of low power magnets when applied to painted canvas. It would perhaps be appropriate for some of your early watercolors, if you would be…"
"No." Aisha said sharply. "This is more than enough. I don't need people putting my crappy early stuff on display."
"The development of technique and style over the span of your works is one of the most significant aspects of the pieces." The Matrix said, gesturing to several of the paintings.
"Yeah, maybe to you." Aisha said, dropping her head.
"I believe appreciation of the progression of your skill in this area is shared by all members of the team to various degrees." The Matrix said in response.
Brian blinked as the penny finally dropped. "Wait, you painted this stuff?" He asked.
Aisha paused before turning to look at him. "Um, yeah?" She said, looking like she was caught between feeling proud and embarrassed. It was an expression he had seen before, though usually with respect to some of the more spectacular disasters that Aisha had managed to cause.
"All of them?" He asked, looking at the length of the hall and the many, many framed paintings.
Aisha shifted slightly, glancing to the side. "Well, most of them are recreations transferred out of the computer, so not really real." She explained.
"The spiritron integration induces continuity of existence." The Matrix interjected. "Just as the works are no longer available within the serial phantasm in their original form, it would be incorrect to refer to these transferred works as 'not real'."
"I mean, yeah, but that's getting sort of abstract." She said before turning back to Brian. "They mean I painted most of them in the computer."
"Because you had time for it there." He said, "Time to learn how to do this kind of thing."
Aisha nodded as Brian took a closer look at the paintings. It was one thing for Aisha to have finished her GED or been studying tinker stuff, but something like this, painting and art, it was different. Probably because it wasn't serious. This wasn't some strategic move on Joe or his team's part to make sure Aisha could contribute to their missions or operations or whatever. As far as he could tell, Aisha had taken up painting because she wanted to, and the rest of the team was supporting her hobby to a degree that was almost embarrassing for her. Or actually embarrassing for her.
It was like the refrigerator thing she had mentioned, only scaled up to Joe's level. And because of that, Aisha got her own private portrait gallery instead of a single picture being tacked up in an open location, but the sentiment seemed to be the same.
Out of everything the situation implied and everything he'd need to work through, the thing that hit him the most was just how much he had missed. It was a weird thing to focus on since he was used to missing substantial parts of Aisha's life. The gulfs of time where she had been living with their mom, the times she had run away from their dad's apartment, or been in foster care, or even in juvie. All gaps in her life when he hadn't been there.
Compared to that, missing out on the time she's spent with Joe's team shouldn't have been a big deal, but somehow it was. Maybe because it seemed like that time was more significant, or at least more significant to Aisha. Maybe more significant overall, depending on how long it had actually been.
He swallowed and shook his head. There was already so much for him to deal with, so much for him to handle. He didn't have close to enough time for everything. Taking the highest-level view he could, he pressed forward. Aisha had learned how to paint. At its most superficial level that wasn't a bad thing, nor was it a major concern. The fact that she'd had time to learn to paint and had been encouraged in that endeavor by Joe's team was another matter, but right now he would take any amount of stability he could manage.
"Um, these are really quite good." Brian said, looking over the paintings.
"The later ones are." Aisha said. "Early stuff is pretty rough, and none of it is close to what Joe can do."
"That remains true for all members of the team." The Matrix said with a nod. "However, inability to achieve the level of craftsmanship possible through the use of Apeiron's abilities does not discredit the individual accomplishments of specific members."
"Uh, right." She said to the armored man. The exchange seemed to have more weight that Brian was picking up, but she quickly cleared her throat and turned back to Brian. "Joe's teaching thing is good for information and theory, but not so much with skills and practical stuff." She explained. "He can break down all the principles of painting, chemical and technical and artistic, but you still need to work through the skill yourself."
Brian nodded. It was good to know that power was limited. That it had limits. He was grateful for the additional information on the not-Teacher power Joe had been casually using on his sister. And apparently on everyone who watched any of Garment's videos. That wasn't something he anticipated, but the fact that even Lisa hadn't picked up on it was probably a good sign.
Or it meant she was so overwhelmed that she had missed it completely, which was a very bad sign. His next conversation with Lisa was going to be a mess, and one he was not close to prepared for. He did his best to put it out of his mind for the moment.
"So you paint like, fantasy landscapes?" He said, gesturing towards one of the more elaborate paintings. That rainbow unicorn was posing next to an impossibly tall waterfall under a moonlit sky.
"On the contrary, the majority of these works are from life, either within a virtual environment or various areas of the Workshop." The Matrix explained.
Brian blinked. "The workshop?" He looked across the paintings again. "I know it was big, but, I mean it can't have all this kind of stuff, right?" He asked. "Right…?"
Aisha looked at him with a dead expression. The Matrix's helmet was as unchanged as ever, but somehow Brian felt there was a shared sentiment between the armored cape and his sister.
"Hey," She finally said. "You remember that thing about not asking stuff unless you want to know the answer?" Aisha asked in a leading voice.
"Yeah?" He said slightly unsteadily
"Do you really want to get a breakdown of the full scale of Joe's pocket universe, or do you have enough to deal with for the moment?" She asked.
Brian stopped himself before he could respond. On instinct he wanted to know everything. That was the only way he could make informed decisions. The only way he could get some control back in this situation. Except that wasn't really true anymore. Learning the full scope of Joe's bullshit wouldn't make it easier to deal with, it would just give him more to deal with.
He looked at the paintings again. If Joe had really built a nature reserve in his workshop, would that change anything? Was it at all worth getting into right now, with everything else he had to deal with, and was only barely dealing with?
It went against his nature, but he slowly nodded to Aisha. "Right." He said in a strained voice. "I'll take a rain check on that part."
Aisha nodded to him. "We can see about getting you a full tour in a couple of days, once things settle." She paused. "Well, not a full-full tour. Maybe just the highlights. Believe me, that will be enough."
"I believe you." He said letting out a breath. "Still, it's crazy to think that some of that stuff might be in here." He gestured to one of the paintings that featured truly massive trees, bigger than anything he'd seen before. "Well, except the unicorn." He added jovially. Then he saw Aisha's expression. "What?" He asked.
"Same question as before. Do you want to get into that?" She asked.
Brian blinked, then looked at the unicorn that was featured in most of the paintings. The rather consistently depicted unicorn. Consistent enough that it suggested it might have been drawn from life, rather than Aisha's own imaginings.
"Uh…" He stammered.
"I believe Orudios would enjoy the chance to meet your brother." The Matrix said with an encouraging tone to its vaguely electronic voice.
"Orudios?" Brian asked, but Aisha just gave him a flat look. He took a breath before closing his eyes. "Right, right. Not getting into that right now." He said before looking back at Aisha. "We're good?"
"Probably as good as we're going to get." He nodded to that as they continued out into the spacious entryway and out onto the grounds of the plaza.
Well, Aisha had talked about a plateau. The palace was next to some kind of upland lake that dropped off into an impressive waterfall. Looking through the clouds of mist, he could make out the land below and got a hint of how big the 'workshop' actually was.
"When you mentioned a 'plateau' earlier…" He began.
"Plateau is for residential stuff." Aisha explained. "Workshops are on the lower level. You have space beyond that but it's not really used for anything." The Matrix looked like he was going to interject, but Aisha cut him off. "Not for anything we need to get into now."
"Right. Right." Brian said, repeating himself. "So, where do we go from here?" He asked.
"I've got this." Aisha said. She focused for a moment and her eyes flickered to that blank blue glow once again before a portal opened in the air in front of them. Something that Brian really had no choice but to roll with, like most of what he'd been faced with so far.
"You couldn't do that inside?" He asked. It was a simple question, but anything that would help ground the situation was a plus.
"No, I could." She said, "I just didn't want people to get used to teleporting in and out of my house." She said, looking at the Matrix.
"My apologies." The armored man said. "Given the priority placed on your project, I believed expedience would be preferred." He inclined his head to her. "I will endeavor to use proper entry protocols in the future."
"Thanks." She said, "I mean, not like I'm going to be doing serious work out of there, but I appreciate it." She said before turning to Brian. "Come on, we should get back before we're missed.
Brian nodded and followed Aisha through the washed-out portal. With a single step he left the immaculate plaza and entered the still immaculate sitting room that Joe had transported them to from the gym. Only there was something different about it. Or maybe about him? Just something that felt different.
He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what it was, but a light popping sound drew his attention to Joe's sudden arrival. Because he could teleport now. And teleport other people. Once again, huge things that should be a big deal, and still were, but unfortunately he had so many big deals to deal with that he was forced to prioritize. Joe being able to teleport? Sure, why not.
"Hey." He said, turning to Aisha. "You get things sorted?" He asked, as if that was actually a possibility.
"Yeah, not even close." She said, looking over to Brian. He could only shrug. At least she was in agreement regarding how much they still had to hash out.
"Right." Joe said. "But the critical stuff?"
"We got through most of it." Aisha said, turning to him for confirmation.
Brian felt excessively on the spot, but straightened his back and forced a reply. "It's… manageable." He looked back at Aisha. "And not as bad as I thought."
"Sounds like there's more to manage." Joe said with an understanding nod.
Brian let out a breath. "Yeah. Definitely." He felt himself slouch. "Fuck." He muttered.
"Well, as long as you've got a handle on the scope of things." Joe said.
Brian shook his head. "I don't think I'm even close to understanding the scope of any of this." He said, looking over to Aisha. She just shrugged as he turned back to Joe. "But she told me about how this started. The things that set this off."
"Ah." Joe said. "So the ABB financial center?" He asked.
"I filled him in." Aisha replied. "I mean the broad points of what I was there for."
"There's more?" Brian asked.
"Did you want to get into a blow by blow?" Aisha asked. "Because Joe was hacking financial systems for most of the time he was there, and trust me, you have no idea how convoluted finance can get."
"I'll pass, thanks." He said to Aisha. "But thank you." He said, turning to Joe. "For looking out for her like that. I know she's not the easiest person to deal with, but she's my sister. I really appreciate you doing that for her."
The last thing he wanted was to get more indebted to Joe, even though the question of what that currently looked like or if it actually held any meaning was currently up in the air. Despite that, he had saved Aisha's life. He couldn't let that go unacknowledged.
"Well, she's not THAT bad." Joe said with a slight smirk.
"Ha. Ha." His sister said, rolling her eyes.
Joe shook his head. "Seriously, she's been a big help to the entire team."
He actually sounded like he meant it, which was… weird. That part of this would probably never stop getting weird. Actually, it was all he could do to keep things at 'weird' when they were barreling towards 'disconcerting'.
Aisha had problems. Most of the time Aisha was the problem. You didn't just put her into a new group or situation and have her suddenly click. Yeah, this was a world apart from the attempts at foster care, but it didn't seem like any change would be enough for this kind of shift.
Well, there had been the threat of the Endbringers. Something he hadn't even considered, probably for the sake of his peace of mind. That wasn't the kind of threat thrown around lightly, and if anything could get through to Aisha it would have been that. Then she had nearly died in that ABB building, then Joe had nearly died, then she had become part of the strongest parahuman group on the planet…
Fuck. Yeah, that was probably enough to explain it. Just a condensed series of major revelations and life events that he had been completely blind to. That everyone had. They were all too happy to have a break from Aisha's antics to realize how much had really changed.
"Looks like it's still hitting you." Joe said, offering Brian one of the overly decorated chairs. Despite looking like something out of a museum, it was incredibly comfortable. He knew he needed to get back to the gym before anyone noticed he was gone, but right there he was more than happy to have a moment to collect himself.
"Thanks." He said as Joe and Aisha took their own seats. Aisha on Joe's side, with the Matrix standing behind them. "I think it's going to keep hitting me for a while."
Joe nodded. "This is a lot to drop on someone." He looked over to Aisha. "I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn about it like this either."
His sister wilted slightly and muttered something under her breath that might actually have been an apology, assuming Brian hadn't imagined it.
"Yeah." Brian said with a nod. "It's just… fuck, where do we go from here?" He asked. "Am I dealing with you or Aisha on this? What's happening with the team, or our debt, or all that stuff with the boss?"
Joe raised an eyebrow and turned to Aisha. "Told him about Coil." She said sharply. "Actually had no idea who he was working for."
Brian didn't particularly feel like having his life decisions judged again that day. He cleared his throat and pressed on. "She told me you're working to bring him down. That you and Lisa are working to bring him down."
Joe let out a breath. "That implies more effort on my part."
Brian blinked. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Coil has contingencies." Joe said. "Tattletale wants to deal with them herself, or at least fully confirm them. Once that's done…"
Brian nodded. "Then you can take care of things." It made sense, considering those contingencies probably involved his identity. Aisha's identity. She might be confident the Celestial Forge could deal with the fallout, but frankly he'd prefer not having to worry about it in the first place.
"Me or a member of my team. You know, whoever's free at the time." Joe said casually.
"You don't seem overly worried." He said, suppressing the involuntary irritation at the cavalier attitude.
Joe shook his head. "Not about the fight, if you'd even call it a fight. Most of the concerns are about containment and cleanup."
"Yeah, that's a bigger problem than you'd think." Aisha said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
His sister shook her head. "Dealing with something and dealing with it clean are two very different things. You work at a high enough level and anything you do has the potential to set off six other disasters waiting in the wings."
"Speaking from experience?" Joe asked.
Aisha frowned excessively, almost to the point of pouting. "I told you, this was the last fuckup. No more waiting in the wings, and I'm not looking to repeat this any time soon." Joe held her gaze for a moment and she let out a huff. "And yeah, obviously there were a hundred ways I could have handled things better than this. Cut me some slack, it had been building forever."
Joe inclined his head in an expression of understanding that Brian wouldn't have expected. He saw Brain's expression and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked.
"Just, you accepted that really quickly." He said. "You have been. Aisha isn't usually that straightforward with people."
"Yeah, fuck you too." She said, actually sticking her tongue out at him. The seriousness of the situation contrasting with the juvenile action defused some of his concerns. "Besides, that doesn't work with Joe."
Brian's face twisted in confusion. "Doesn't work how?"
"I can see through manipulation." Joe said, like that was a normal thing. Or another 'normal' thing in the list of things that Joe seemed to consider normal. "If someone tries to manipulate me I know right away. It's probably better than detecting the truth because it can pick up intent."
"Right, one of your new powers." He said. His head was starting to feel light from everything he was dealing with. Then a thought struck me. "Wait, does Lisa know?"
"You think she wouldn't notice?" Joe asked with a small grin.
"Um, how did she take it?" Brian asked.
"About as well as you would expect." Joe said, his smile widening.
"That bad, huh?" Brian asked. Joe just shrugged his shoulders, that grin still on his face. Brian felt himself crack a smile, but it honestly explained some of what Lisa had been going through recently. Planning against their boss while trying to manage Joe, who could now see through her manipulation… No wonder she had been at the end of her rope.
The levity died away and he felt himself sag again. "Yeah." Joe said, "Trust me, no one expects you to deal with all of this at once."
"I don't think it will be much easier over time, either." Brian admitted as he once again considered the full scope of what was actually happening. With Aisha dropping one bomb after another while Brian was dealing with the insanity of Joe's workshop it had been easy to keep everything in the air, but outside, or nearly outside, that was coming crashing down.
What happened next? That was the real question, and even Aisha didn't seem to know because that would require predicting Joe. What power he would get next or how strong he could become. He probably had more insight into that than anyone outside Joe's team, and even that was just enough to convince him that everyone else was badly underestimating things.
"I don't really know what we're supposed to work through here." He admitted. "Or what we could work through in the time we have." He paused. "Is there a reason we aren't talking back in the workshop? With the time thing?"
"Doesn't work when I'm inside." Joe admitted. Brian raised an eyebrow and Joe just shrugged. "Aisha probably told you, that place is part of my power. I don't exactly control how it develops. The time thing was a surprise. Useful one, even if I can't use it."
"Wait, so you didn't actually make that place?" He asked.
"Alternations and upgrades, but not actually make it." He explained. "I can do similar stuff." He gestured around them. "But the Workshop is its own thing."
"Huh. So stuff like Aisha's house?" He asked.
"Crapped out by Joe's power." Aisha said with a grin. "Everyone on the team got a place."
Well, that was probably better than Joe deciding personally to build a giant dollhouse for his sister. Of course, it meant there was an uncontrolled power in the background that had made the same call for some reason, so it was only slightly better when you got down to it.
"You doing okay?" Joe asked.
"Yeah." He said, "Taking it better than I expected, to be honest." He paused as there was an exchange between Joe and Aisha. "What?"
"Probably another effect of the workshop." Joe said.
"What effect?" Brian asked.
"Positive effect on people that enter the Workshop. Just a minor bonus, like a five percent boost in capacity." He explained.
"A trump effect." Brian said, feeling himself tense.
"Technically." Joe admitted. "It lasts for twenty-four hours, and probably helped you process things up to now."
Brian was about to reply, then shut his mouth and turned to Aisha. Aisha, who was looking rather conspicuous. Aisha, who had almost certainly planned things.
But planned what? Getting him into an effect that helped him deal with his entire life's work falling apart without breaking down or exploding, neither of which would have helped? How much of their conversation had just happened and how much had been steered by her? He was used to that from Lisa, but seeing shades of it from Aisha, well, she had always been bright, but in an unfocused way. This was Aisha, bright, focused, and with power and resources behind her.
And somehow she wasn't abusing them. He could hardly believe it, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. This was the new reality he'd need to deal with, whether he was ready or not.
Not. Definitely not, and he'd probably find out just how 'not' it was once this weird workshop boost wore off.
"The power, there's nothing concerning about it?" He asked. That was probably what he had noticed when he returned to the sitting room. The reason it felt different from before. "Nothing I need to worry about?"
Aisha snorted. "Yeah, the boost wasn't the concerning part of THAT power."
"What?" Brian asked.
Joe waved him away. "That's just theological stuff. Nothing you need to worry about."
That sounded like exactly the kind of thing he should be worried about, but somehow he was more worried that if he asked what Joe meant, Joe would tell him. And then he'd also need to deal with whatever that 'theological stuff' was.
"Right." He said, looking at Aisha. "We can cover that later?"
"Later." She assured him. "A good chunk later."
"Fine." He said, leaning back in his chair. His eyes dropped down to the new, or new version of the watch on his wrist. He lifted his hand from the arm of the chair and showed it to Joe. "Just to check, you're fine with me having this? And everything Aisha did?"
"I'm not going to leave you unprotected or out of contact at this point." Joe said before turning to Aisha. "But seriously? Refractor Field integrated into a Deflector Shield for the sake of multidimensional venting?" He asked. "If you wanted a Void Shield you could have just made a Void Shield."
"No, you could have made a Void Shield. The Matrix might have been able to build a Void Shield." There was an ambivalent gesture from the otherwise silent armored figure. "The schemas are one thing, but I haven't even had a chance to look at that Pleician stuff yet, and I'm not at the point of scaling down starship grade defensive fields for personal use."
"Really?" Joe asked in a leading tone. "What's the peak output of that deflector array, anyway?"
His sister just huffed and turned away, leaving Joe amused and Brian with several new concerns about what exactly he was wearing on his wrist.
Well, more for the pile. It was going to take most of the day just to figure out what he should be more worried about. Then he could have a nice freak out, once the workshop thing wore off. Unless he found something new to panic about before then.
Joe looked over to him, like he had picked up on what Brian was thinking, or feeling or whatever. There was a distinct possibility that he could, but Brian really didn't want to get into that now. He just shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't really know how to handle this." He hated admitting that, but false fronts weren't going to do him any good, particularly when Joe could see through any attempt at manipulation and probably had more ways of picking up on things than he could imagine.
"Given the timeframe, it's not reasonable to expect you to be able to." Joe agreed.
"Yeah, we don't all have the benefit of fast time pocket universes or virtual computer spaces." He said, shaking his head. "Like, this whole thing, right from the start, it's been so much longer for you than anyone else. Years rather than weeks."
"Well, I didn't get that set up until the day before Bakuda's first attack." Joe explained. Brian nodded, trying to suppress a shiver as fantom sensations of the effects of Bakuda's space warp bomb played over his body. If Joe hadn't had the ability to work faster, to think faster, would he have been able to help them at that point, or would he have been trapped like that forever? Forever, or until the condition ended up killing him?
Not something he wanted to think about. He shook his head and turned back to Joe. "What I mean is, I'm pretty sure everyone would freak out less about what was happening if they knew that they weren't looking at the kind of rushed deployment this looks like from the outside."
"Maybe, but I'm not really inclined to share those details." Joe explained. "Not with everything that's happening."
Brian nodded. It might make people less concerned in some areas, but that would be balanced out by desperate responses in others. And as much as he hated to admit it, this wasn't about the city and its gangs anymore. It was international, and he didn't even know how to begin dealing with that.
He cleared his throat and sat up straight. "Thank you for being upfront with me." He said to Joe. The man raised an eyebrow and he continued. "I mean, you didn't need to go this far." He didn't NEED to do anything. If Joe wanted to take a stance there really wasn't anything he could have done about it. Instead he was making a conscious effort to meet Brian halfway, and that was appreciated.
"You're Aisha's brother." He said, like that explained anything. Brian could honestly say that it was the first time being related to Aisha had been seen as a positive. Just another aspect of the day's weirdness that he'd need to come to terms with. "There are limits, but I'm not going to cut you out of what's happening."
"Particularly since you'd probably be inclined to do something stupid if we didn't sort this out." Aisha snarked. He shot her a look and she raised her hands defensively. "Hey, don't look at me. That basically runs in the family. We're dealing with the last of my stupid here, and I'm more than happy to put it behind me."
"That said, it would probably be better to stay in touch if you have any concerns, rather than run off with them on your own." Joe said, gesturing to the watch on Brian's wrist.
Brian shifted slightly. "Same as before, right?"
"Yeah, except maybe you could actually call rather than just worrying about stuff." Aisha said as she gave him a hard look. Brian wilted under his sister's admonishing gaze as he reflected on how the world truly had turned upside down in the course of an afternoon.
"It was more complicated than that." He said in his defense.
"No, you made it more complicated because you were playing power games like Tattletale." Aisha shot back.
"You know, considering the sum of our previous conversations have consisted in you trying to secure an arms contract, or negotiate medical debt or convince me to come to Somer's Rock, she kind of has a point." Joe added.
Right. Joe had come to Somer's Rock because he and Lisa had convinced him to come. Because she had some idea about how the conference was going to go and wanted him there as a part of that. The idea had been having some assurance of what Apeiron was going to do, or not do, would keep things from boiling over in the city. Technically that had been accomplished, to a point, but not in a way anyone could have seen coming.
And Aisha had been there. Aisha, as Lethe, had only been at Somer's Rock because Brian had convinced Joe to come, and Joe had decided it was a perfect time to bring his entire team, which had included Aisha. Who had then decided, apparently independently, that it was a perfect time to hold her armor's super sword at Othala's neck.
His mind jumped back to something else Aisha had said, something he hadn't had time to get into, which was a very wide category. But that had been back before he'd been to Joe's workshop. Before whatever enhancement trump effect had made it easier for him to deal with things. Looking back, the difference was obvious, but he found himself wondering if that effect was also enhancing his ability to analyze the nature of the effect.
Joe's workshop had a power that fucked with his head, but it did so in a way that made it easier for him to realize how it had fucked with his head, and also break things down so that he could tell it wasn't as serious as something fucking with your head should be. Unless that was part of the effect, but that was just a spiral of paranoia that he couldn't afford right now.
There was a good chance that the only reason he'd been able to handle things as well as he had was because of that power. A power that had helped him deal with every disruption and unexpected turn, but also helped him in other areas. Something he was only aware of because he was being enhanced by that power.
Awareness he would lose twenty-four hours after leaving the workshop. But he could keep it, or get it regularly enough, as long as he kept seeing Aisha while she was operating out of Joe's workshop, and as long as she kept working with Joe.
That was the insidious thing about trump powers. Even if the power didn't have any addictive qualities or hidden master elements, just having the power was addictive enough. The boost from Joe's workshop was minor enough that he'd barely noticed it, but it was broad enough that it seemed to apply to everything it possibly could. Five percent wasn't a lot, but if you were five percent smarter, five percent faster, five percent more focused, and able to recall details five percent better it added up. It crossed enough that you'd notice when it was gone, and most people would want to avoid that.
Even with no addictive properties, that would influence a person. It was something you couldn't avoid taking into account when you considered your next move. It was the kind of thing that completely changed the dynamic of the situation, and it was only a minor aspect of Joe's power. Just like so much of what he'd had to deal with.
Too much. Too much, even for later, much less right now. The point was, something that had flown past in the early moments of him having to deal with this mess was sticking out now, and he had a chance to address it, face to face.
"Aisha said Garment was at Somer's Rock." Brian said. Joe nodded to him. "Normally, I wouldn't push this, but Aisha is working for Garment, at least publicly. I know that's a cover, but it's still public. It's a connection to her." He paused. "To all of us. Our whole family. So I need to know, why was she there, and why didn't anyone see her?"
"She was there because she's part of my team." Joe explained. "Just not publicly. And everyone did see her, they just didn't recognize her."
"Then… what?" Brian asked. "Did she disguise herself? Sneak in with one of the other groups?"
"Nope." Aisha said. "Right on our table." Her smile widened. "You could say she was sharing a chair with Joe."
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Joe wasn't…" Gloves. The white gloves that Joe was wearing. Very white gloves, unnaturally white. An addition to his costume that happened after the storage yard. Happened along with so many other changes that he'd never given them much thought. "No fucking way." He looked at Joe. "You were wearing Garment?"
Joe shrugged. "How do you think the cape did all that swoopy stuff?"
"But… you can't just wear teammates." Brian was met with blank looks from Aisha and Joe. And a sudden flicker of red to his side.
"Oh, can I tell him?" Proto Aima's human form, or Tetra asked from a formerly unoccupied chair to his left.
"Probably not the best time." Joe said.
"Time for… no, wait." Brian said. "This is one of those things that's going to be a giant mess that I'm going to have to deal with if I ask about it, right?"
"It's not that bad." Proto Aima said. "But we could come back to it later if you want."
"Uh, yeah, thanks." He said, and she was suddenly gone.
"Yeah." Aisha said in a flat voice. "You don't really get used to that."
"She doesn't mean anything by it." Joe assured her.
"I know. It's what makes the whole thing so frustrating. She's the most intrusive ball of sunshine in existence."
"Um, Garment?" Brian asked, desperately trying to get the topic back to an area he felt like he might be able to handle. "You've been 'wearing' her every time you've been out in costume?"
"Most times. She has her own commitments." Joe explained.
"Right." He said, leaning back. "But, how do you even coordinate something like that without fighting or tripping over each other?"
"It's part of Garment's power." Joe explained. "There's a connection when someone wears the gloves. Shared awareness and skills."
"More trump effects." He said.
Joe shrugged. "PRT profiles probably aren't your best bet when assessing this kind of thing, but if you want to think about it like that, then sure."
Brian considered exactly what Joe was describing. "And you're the only who 'wears' the gloves?" He asked.
Joe raised an eyebrow at the implication, but didn't comment on it. "For when I'm in costume, or for high level projects that Garment is working on. Mostly team costumes." He clarified. Behind him the mostly unmoving Matrix reached up and adjusted his white scarf. "But Survey's worked with Garment on high level fashion concepts and assessment. The Matrix as well, for their own project, though what counts as 'wearing' in that case is a bit nebulous." The armored cape shrugged its shoulders. "Other than that…"
Joe fell silent as Aisha raised her hand. He blinked and turned to her. "Seriously?"
Aisha shrugged. "She was getting impatient about the color theory project. Wanted to try out some of the new combinations." She snorted and grinned at him. "Wanted to see how long I could keep it hidden, but I didn't realize you and Garment had already worked out THAT kind of relationship."
As the implication hit Joe he raised a hand to his forehead and winced. "Seriously, Aisha?" His sister just broke into a fit of barely contained snickering at the man's reaction.
It was a dynamic he could recognize, and sympathize with. He still wasn't used to seeing it from another person rather than experiencing it directly, but somehow it was reassuring. That kind of reaction, both Joe rolling with Aisha's prodding and Aisha feeling comfortable enough to try something like that, it did a lot to disarm some of his remaining concerns.
Whatever that 'color theory' project was, he doubted it was something he wanted to get into right now. Or could afford to, given how long this part of the meeting had dragged on for. Everything about Garment was going to take a while to process, but he was at least confident he could process it.
Well, it's not like he had a choice.
"Thanks." He said, standing up. "But we should get back to the gym."
Joe nodded and rose to his feet. "I know there's still a lot to work through, but I'm glad we aren't leaving any major issues unaddressed."
"Just not completely addressed." Brian said. Honestly, just being able to get this absolute mess of a situation somewhat under control was a miracle, and probably wouldn't have been possible for anyone without Joe's resources. In the vast majority of situations Aisha throwing them together in the gym like that would have led to exactly the kind of disaster he would have expected his sister to be able to cause if she got superpowers and used them to up her usual antics.
"I'm serious about calling." Joe said, gesturing to the watch. "Me or one of the team. Or Aisha. It doesn't need to be a serious talk, you can just ask for clarification rather than worry about what's happening."
"Clarification to a point." Brian said. Joe nodded.
"Security concerns." He admitted. "Some stuff requires more measures, and other stuff I'd rather not share with anyone outside the team."
"I wasn't expecting a free pass, even with the family connection." He said, holding up his wrist. "And I know you wouldn't be comfortable telling me all this unless you had a way to keep it locked down." He added honestly.
Joe shook his head. "You still have privacy, at least from me." But not the rest of his team, which was apparently even scarier in the information gathering department. "And you know about the curse." Brian nodded vigorously.
"Lisa really should have mentioned that earlier." He said. "We're going to have a lot to talk about the next time I see her." He winced. "Not sure how much she's going to be able to pick up on her own, or how much she'll be comfortable with me knowing."
"Based on my experience, probably none of it." Joe answered honestly.
Brian gave him a wry grin. "Probably right." He turned to Aisha. "You good to head back?"
"Yeah." She said, "Things good back there?"
"Got it covered." He assured them. "As far as people are concerned, you've been showing Brian what the gym's been working on."
"What, HRDs?" Aisha asked with a note of concern.
"No, just rumor, occasional comment and it took from there." He explained. "Also covered for you helping with some prep work. Mrs. Gartenberg was very pleased with it. And apparently she knows Regent?" Joe asked, and Brian could feel the floor drop out from under him, which got even worse as Aisha smiled.
"Oh yeah." Aisha said wickedly. "So the story is-"
"We should get going." Brian said quickly. "Appreciate you covering for us and everything, but we need to get back. Right now."
Joe raised an eyebrow, obviously not blind to the implication, but thankfully not pressing the issue. Mercifully not pressing the issue. He had enough to deal with without adding that particular mess to the mix.
"Right, let's get you back." Joe said.
"I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you." The Matrix said, inclining his helmet. "And I trust you will enjoy the expanded utility of your sister's workmanship."
"Right. Same to you." Brian said to the armored cape, not particularly concerned if that response actually made sense in context.
There was a sudden sense of pressure as the world bent and twisted around him, then suddenly a wave of sound crashed down on him. He was back in the gym, with the background noise of countless people echoing around the confined space.
"Right, nice to meet you Brian, but I should get going." Joe said, giving them a casual wave before he slipped off into the crowd, just walking off like nothing happened. Brian watched him go before looking to Aisha, who was also acting like nothing happened.
Which from their perspectives, might as well be true. Aisha had known everything coming into this mess and while Joe had been blindsided, there was no question that it had been significantly less disruptive for him than for Brian. Aisha had dealt with a stupid mistake, Joe had filed away some new information, and everything Brian had worked towards for his entire cape career suddenly became meaningless.
"Starting to really hit you, huh?" Aisha asked.
Brian pulled himself up and schooled his features. "I appreciate the effort, but this isn't the kind of thing you can deal with in one conversation."
"I get that. Sorry, but it's the best I could do, unless you want to get into VR computer dives." She said, smiling at the corner of her mouth.
"Thanks, I'm good." The 'regular' workshop was frightening enough. He didn't want to imagine what a Joe controlled digital world would be like, even if Aisha used them regularly. He paused, then looked at his sister.
"What?" She asked.
"You're still going to use that stuff. The computer thing." He said. She nodded without hesitation. "So, the 'probably younger' thing isn't going to hold for long."
She snorted. "Trust me, digging through research, reading reports or running experimental procedures in simulated environments doesn't exactly count as solid social development." She said, "You can't just count up fast time like that and assign a number to it."
"I guess." He said. It was a mature way of looking at things, but being mature enough to recognize lack of maturity, or opportunities for maturity, was already a good deal more mature than most people he knew. Frankly, the fact that Aisha wasn't insisting on being treated as an adult said more about how much she had grown in the accelerated time than anything else.
"Guess we should be careful about what we're talking about." He said, glancing around. Joe had left them at the edge of the gym and while no one seemed to be paying particular attention to them and they hadn't said anything overly incriminating, he didn't want to take the chance.
"Figured you'd already have that down." She said, giving him a sideways glance.
"This is kind of a different level from what I'm used to." He admitted.
Aisha let out a breath. "Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly primed for this kind of thing either."
Brian nodded slowly. "I'm glad it worked out."
"Seriously?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah." He said. "This whole thing is a living migraine, but considering the kind of disaster it could have been, I'm glad it didn't come to that."
"Gee, thanks." She said, rolling her eyes.
Brian swallowed. "And it's been good for you."
Aisha looked back at him. "Yeah, it has." She said quietly.
"I'm glad you had that. And sorry I wasn't able to give it to you." He admitted. Saying it left an empty feeling in his gut, but it was the truth. Maybe that workshop trump power was helping him see or manage or push through, but Aisha was in a better place and as much as he hated how dangerous and chaotic things were, she was probably safer than anyone else in the city. Probably the world.
"You tried." She said, "I know how hard you tried. Seriously, everything."
"Everything?" He asked.
She nodded. "Brockton Bay civics, plus recent history. Know what you did, when you did it and why. Weren't always the best decisions, but I know why you made them." She let out a breath. "Thanks, for all of that."
Brian stood against the wall in silence for a moment, processing that. Had Aisha ever thanked him before? Thanked him and meant it? Not as an offhand flippant statement or as an obligation pried from her, usually as part of a pained apology, but as a sincere and thought-out statement?
Probably not. Sincere and thought-out statements weren't really Aisha's thing.
"Well, I guess we figure out where we're going from here." He said in a tired voice.
"Well, you can figure that out. I have plans." She replied with a grin.
"You're going back?" He asked.
She nodded. "Stopping by Garment's after this." She said openly. One thing she didn't need to be on guard about, thanks to the cover job.
Something occurred to him. "Is Garment busy now?" He asked. He hadn't seen her in the workshop, or in the 'backrooms', whatever those counted as. Given what he'd heard about her, it seemed like there was a reason for that.
"Yeah." Aisha said, "Weld and Flechette stopped by to visit at the end of their patrol."
Brian looked at his sister in surprise. "What's Garment doing with them?" He asked.
"Currently? Being awkwardly flirted at." Aisha said with a wide grin.
Brian blinked and tilted his head. People thought Garment was a Case 53, or something close, and Weld was probably the best known of the Case 53s. It made sense that there would be some common ground there, though considering Weld had worked in television Brian would have expected him to be capable of more than 'awkward flirting'.
"Is that… serious?" He asked. The tangential presence of a Ward close to his sister wasn't the point of concern it would have been earlier that day, but it still sounded like a complication at a time when he had more than enough to deal with.
"Probably not?" Aisha said. "More a consequence of people operating in different timeframes."
Brian nodded. Whatever length of time Weld had known Garment for, Garment would have had at least ten times as much time with Joe's team. More if she could use that computer thing. That didn't seem possible for someone like Garment, but after everything Brian wasn't willing to discount the possibility.
"Yeah, I can kind of relate to that." He said, with Aisha smiling back at him.
Things weren't settled. They were pretty fucking far from settled, but at least he didn't feel like he was standing on top of an active bomb anymore.
Probably because Joe didn't really feel like an active bomb anymore. Sure, he wasn't exactly stable, but the biggest points of concern, the things everyone pointed to when highlighting how unpredictable he was, had explanations. Unsurprisingly, Aisha had been the source of most of that chaos, but since then things hadn't actually gotten worse, they'd just gotten bigger with everyone filling in their own details. Brian wasn't thrilled about the situation, but it was something he could come to terms with, given time.
A tenth the time Joe and Aisha would have, but that was just the nature of things. No one said cape powers were fair, even if Joe's extended so far past 'unfair' that it became a parody of the concept.
Eventually he and Aisha ended up pulled back into the flow of the gym. It was just too busy for them to hide out on the sidelines. Plenty of people made a point to thank him for whatever that prep work Joe had set up was. Brian managed to bluff his way through, and even keep a straight face as even more people took the time to specifically tell him how much they liked Alec and what a great guy he was and how the two of them should definitely feel comfortable stopping by the gym any time.
He actually kept a straighter face than Aisha, but then again he was actually trying to moderate his reactions while she was just enjoying every minute of it. Cutting her off from sharing that particular detail with Joe was probably a petty point, but he did not want to get into that situation then and there. Definitely not a situation where he needed Joe's input.
After they completed their circuit, with nearly every person in the gym having congratulated him on a presumed relationship without actually mentioning anything specific about said relationship, they found their way back to their dad, still holding down the fort with Doug and Mrs. Gartenberg. Whatever funding Garment had set up was being put to good use, though he had to wonder how much of that was Garment and how much was Joe? Or any other member of his team?
On the plus side, he was less concerned about Garment as an overbearing presence, though only because she had turned out to be part of an even more overbearing presence.
Then, finally, after several more rounds of bluffing his way through gratitude for the task that Joe had managed to attribute to him and Aisha, they were done. Social obligations met and fires put out, at least as far as their father was concerned, they left the gym.
Brian pulled out onto the familiar streets and followed his father's instructions to Garment's studio. It was one of the older buildings in the neighborhood only a couple of blocks from the gym. A nice structure with a classic look to it, but not the kind of thing he would have expected from someone connected to Joe. Though that was probably the point.
"You sure you don't need a ride back?" He asked. Given what he had learned, it was obvious she didn't need a ride back, but the exchange was basically a performance for their father.
"It's fine. Jake can give me a ride back." Asiha explained.
"Garment's driver." His father added. "Actually works for her lawyer, but solid man."
From their father, that was high praise.
"I'll call if anything comes up, but it should be fine." Aisha said, climbing out of the car and waving to them.
As she approached the door swung open and two people stepped out. A man with skin like liquid metal wearing a long coat and a woman in a purple costume and an elaborate cape. Actually, several elaborate capes. She seemed to be carrying spares over one arm. Aisha greeted them smoothly, like she saw parahumans every day. Which she kind of did, and not just with respect to him. There was a short exchange before Aisha entered the studio and the Wards continued their foot patrol.
Brian let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding as he pulled back onto the street. His father clearly noticed and gave him a nod.
"It's a change, seeing Wards down here." He said. "Wish I could say it was policy, but it's probably on Garment."
"Probably." He said.
"Are you still worried about your sister working for her?" His dad asked.
He shook his head. "Not as much as I was. Not after the event."
His dad nodded. "Yeah, that was something. City really needed it after everything. It was good that everyone was able to help out like they did."
Brian nodded. He'd seen the number of coats at the gym. It seemed like half of the people there had gotten one from Garment.
"Oh, I met your new student, Joe?" He began tentatively. To his surprise he saw his father tense. "What? Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about." His dad said quickly.
"Dad." He insisted.
His father let out a breath. "This doesn't get passed on, understood?" Brian nodded. "Some of the guys at the gym think Joe might be a cape."
Brian was very, very careful to keep his expression controlled. "What made them think that?" He asked.
His father let out a breath. "Bunch of little stuff. Background, schedule, the way he was training. All crap, there's a hundred reasons for any of that. But after things went bad he started helping out around the gym. Fixing stuff."
"That makes him a cape?" Brian asked.
His father shook his head. "No, which is why you don't pass this around." He said sternly. "Joe did engineering at the college. Automotive as well. Built his own bike."
"Really?" Brian asked, commending himself for his acting.
"Yeah. He's good at fixing stuff. Might be too good, but no one's looked close enough to be sure." He explained.
"What do you think?" He asked.
His father turned to look at him, resting his hands on the cane sitting between his legs. "I think that if someone fell backwards into powers and decided to use them to make a bad situation less bad for the people close to him, I'm not going to mess that up." He turned back to look at the road. "Might be a tinker. Might just be a bright kid prone to overworking himself."
Might be both, Brian thought.
His dad shook his head. "The cape thing is probably just the usual gym bullshit. You know how that stuff gets passed around."
Brian nodded. Usually it was about them, or their mother, or Aisha. Well, not 'usually', but it seemed like that.
"Point is, I'm not going to ruin a good thing from someone who, one way or another, has only been trying to help, you get me?" His father said sternly.
"Yeah." Brian said, the magnitude of recent events suddenly feeling a little less heavy. Not light, but a touch more manageable. "I think I get you on this one."
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- Location
- Miami
Woo! Chapter! Time to read.
Once again Talk no Jutsu proves to be the most OP skill imaginable.
I love that the gym crew think Joe is a tinker who's trying to keep quiet and help however he can, rather than the Bismuth Orangutan scaring the shit out of every governmental force on the planet.
Once again Talk no Jutsu proves to be the most OP skill imaginable.
I love that the gym crew think Joe is a tinker who's trying to keep quiet and help however he can, rather than the Bismuth Orangutan scaring the shit out of every governmental force on the planet.
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Is it weird if I'd rather have a longer wait for a longer single chapter?
I love the running gym bit of them thinking he is a tinker with some minor ability in phase 0 scavaging through their old electronics while failing to subtly fix up the place.
- Location
- Malaysia
- Pronouns
- He
Oh, those guys have absolutely no idea.
Hmm... Once or twice can be a coincidence but this is shaping to be much more sinister.
Gasp! No... Someone needs to check on Lord before it's too late! Jack's shard might be affecting him and conspiring to delay Jack's death for as long as possible.
P.S. Thanks for the chapter! Just in time for a lunch time read 😀
It's always this which keeps me coming back. The feeling that somehow, slowly, things are getting better for people. Not in the grand sweeping way that most fiction playing with this level of power does. But the little ripples, where people can breathe and connect.
Edit: Yes, I know most of it is the big sweeping changes. I like the contrast.
Edit: Yes, I know most of it is the big sweeping changes. I like the contrast.