No. Mia acts like a sort of buffer between the perks and the companions. For now she's fine due to not having the perk directly, but if she got any perk from that same jump, then the memories would hit her too.
I hope Gaia and the pokemon return as well. Maybe slow down Gaia's ramp up as she was borderline OP but then again, her interludes with the pokemon and other stuff were some of the best chapters of the old story.
I already rolled a Fate perk, so we will so how that goes. Not Fairy though so we will see. As for Pokemon stuff, its definitely up in the air, unless Mia rolls something from Pokemon again.
A part of me thought that perhaps bringing Judith with us might have been a bad idea, after all, we were in a very public place, and there was a chance that someone could find us here.
But the other part of me also realized that we couldn't just leave her alone again for an entire day and hope that nothing happened. Not only for her own protection, but also for her own mental health.
Being as isolated as she has been for the past few months hasn't been good for her, especially not when she has recently lost the small group of people that had been giving her a hand. Casualties in a cape fight that she didn't want to talk about, so I just left it at that.
So, sure bringing her with us had its own dangers, but those were dangers that we could face together instead of her being all alone.
On the other hand, it also meant that we could move somewhere else as well, instead of remaining inside that house for too long. It was far too close to Empire territory, and there were too many chances of someone stumbling into it since it was well known.
Perhaps someday it could be a future safe house, maybe whenever this damn 'Forge' gave me something that I could better work with, but for now, it was better to move somewhere farther away. The one good thing about the Laboratorium, is that we found out that while neither me nor Leo could close the door, Judith could.
So, we didn't have to worry about her being found out on our journey through the city, having used one of the closets to open the gateway into the Lab to let her out. The lab being used to store our supplies, food, and any furniture that we wanted was another nice little bonus while we moved.
Judith actually still had her library card to log into the computers here, and to reserve a private room for the three of us. That did mean that we were stealing books. Because I wasn't going to be staying her much longer now that we left a trail that we were here. She was wearing a clean hoodie, and I had… uh, snuck into a gym so that we could get a shower in.
Leo had been fascinated, and I almost had to go into the men's restroom to drag his out when he became obsessed with examining the plumbing. I was more thankful that his power had helped explain, or, speed up his measure of understanding certain things that he had never seen before.
Leonardo had already been a brilliant man, an Inventor who had taken his already brilliant mind into the stratosphere, and he was absorbing information like a sponge.
Entire piles of books were stacked on top of each other, most of them already having been read in one group, his eyes roving over pages in mere seconds before moving onto the next one.
I'll admit, I was beyond jealous. Sure, I got some bullshit in my own powers, but it felt like he had gotten the real bounty compared to some of my crap. At least the nanoforge was still there for me.
I was stealing medical textbooks and journals, reading through some of them to patch up what didn't come with Paved in Bones. Specifically, reading everything that I could about labor, and complications that could come with childbirth.
The ironic part is that I could definitely install cybernetic implants to better help the newborn in… a variety of ways. Neural integration technology, implants to help deal with viruses, and any other abnormalities that could crop up, along with ways to ensure that the baby could grow to be as healthy as it could be.
Most of these methods though were going to stay in my brain, as they were far too invasive for my own liking, let alone Judith's.
Thing is, that was all going to require more medical supplies than I could get my hands on. Medical grade morphine, ultrasounds, heart monitors.
Maybe I could check for any that are broken in hospitals?
God, this was going to be a pain in the ass, and I only had a few months to get my hands on them.
The less I thought about what came after the birth, the better.
That reminded me, I had to… do something about what was to come in January. Was I potentially risking everything? Yeah.
But I couldn't do nothing about it. Not when there was something that I could do about it. I don't think that I would be able to live with myself if I let those parasites claim another victim for them to do with as they wanted to.
While reading through the dangers and contingencies of a C-Section, I noticed that the frenzied rush of Leonardo had come to stop.
The old man in a twenty-year-old body was now fitted inside a gaudy green shirt, and baggy pants that I had managed to find in a dumpster and reconstructed through my nanomachines. He was still wearing his old boots, but thankfully most people didn't bother looking at his shoes when the majority would pay attention to his handsome face and piercing blue eyes.
Eyes that were currently focused on a history book, specifically a Wikipedia page on him. On him, and those works of his that survived. He stared almost dispassionately at the page in front of him, a portrait of him staring right back at him, as though he were staring at something particularly uninteresting.
"You weren't lying." He said, for the first time, his words lacking any passion or curiosity like he had throughout the rest of the day.
"I wasn't." I realized that he had unshed tears in his eyes as he scrolled down through the screen, focused completely on information that was written down on the page.
"It… is humbling to know that I am remembered. That, in the grand scheme of things, a bastard like me is remembered, even if that bastardo Michelangelo is remembered as well. Even with the knowledge that I was wrong in much of my previous observations, the fact that I have been a stepping stone for others is more than I thought I would ever achieve." His voice was quiet as he kept reading, Judith remaining silent, staring at Leonardo with that same look she had yesterday. Not knowing what the fuck to do in a situation like this.
Honestly, I didn't either. So I just went with my gut. I grabbed one of his hands and squeezed, and he squeezed back as we remained in silence.
"It is a small comfort, in knowing that everyone that I cared for is long dead. Many of whom, I think, should have been remembered as much as I have. Yet, it seems that the pages of time are fickle, and far more judgmental than we truly deserve." He suddenly looked very small at that, eyes moving towards his hands, lost in whatever grief he was feeling.
I… don't know how to help him. I died, but I at least knew that the people I had known were still alive back home. And now he knew that every one he had known was long dead and buried.
Memories of a small village, of the smell of peat, smoke, ashes and disease wafted through my nose, before I shoved those memories back into the box that they had come from.
The creaking of a chair caught both Leonardo and I's attention, Judith freezing in place as she stared back at us with panicked and embarrassed eyes. None of us say anything, the awkward moment stretching on for longer than it really should.
"I was feeling awkward just being here, like I was intrudin' or something, so I was thinking about giving you guys some space." She lamely said, eyes shifting along the ground, refusing to look at either of us.
I lost it in a fit of giggles, now the two of them staring at me in confusion. "It's alright. That's kinda sweet. And don't you worry about a thing, you aren't intruding. If you were, I don't think that we would have talked about it if you weren't in the room."
Leonardo himself gives a little laugh, the sadness still tinging his eyes, but it was buried right now by his appreciation. "As signora Mia says, you have nothing to apologize to this old man about." He clicks out of the page, and stretches his arms over his head, sighing in relief. "It is such a relief to be able to stretch without any pain. Now, it is close to noon, is it not? I believe that we have much work to do today, no?"
I give him a nod, standing up, placing the key into the door, opening it towards the Lab before going in and throwing all the books that we were stealing inside. "Leo has a point. We need to actually find a warehouse before we can really get to work. Ready to go?" I ask Judith, offering my hand to her, which she takes with a small smile.
Brockton Bay Docks, Dockworker Territory
Turns out there were a lot more abandoned warehouses in the Docks, both on the Dockworkers and ABB side.
Which meant that I could be a bit picky about what to look for in a potential base.
One that had a basement was probably the first thing to look for, and there were a few of those to pick from. So, I ended up going with one closer to the water, aka, closer to the Bay full of ships that were just… out there in the water, left to waste.
The amount of money left out there to rust was enough to make me want to walk into City Hall and shoot someone.
Apparently, the city had started the process of getting a company to come out to the bay to tow all the ships left away to be scrapped.
But 'mysteriously' something always kept happening to the crews being sent to fix it. Freak storms popping up and wrecking the ships, or knocking their course off. Forms being lost with the orders sent, companies going out of business right before the deal could be sealed, hell, there was even this one salvage that went out on a dingy boat that got killed in a gang fight.
Eventually, problem after problem had been enough for people to think that either the Endbringers were doing shit to mess it up, or that it was just straight up cursed.
I think that they were half right. I could practically smell the stench of a fedora on this crap, and I had just gotten here.
The inside was… well, it was a rusted, torn apart mess.
Whatever had once been stored here was long stolen, most of the boxes and crates long gone, a mess of garbage and other debris left here to rot. The roof had some holes in it, windows were broken, and there were plenty of wires and torn apart forklifts and other equipment just left here.
So… how about we fix that then?
With a slasher smile on my face, I messed with the Nanoforge on my arm, going to max settings and unleashing a swarm of Nanites into the Warehouse while I closed the door and waited. Right before I tossed the Nanoforge over to Leo who was making little grabby motions at it with a wide smile on his face.
He had become quite interested when I had mentioned what the Nanoforge could do, and had all but demanded that I let him examine it. Maybe later, when we weren't stacked with work, I could try to teach him some basics on a Nanoforge.
When the sound of clinking and reconstruction finished, we walked back into the room, and I smiled at the newly repaired Warehouse.
Wooden, and steel boxes were repaired good as new on the reconstructed shelves that had been nothing more than wooden panels and wrecked iron. The windows were fixed, broken stone and frayed wires were stored back into the ceiling.
There was no power, unsurprising of course, but even the plumbing for what water there was here was fixed. Whatever company used to work here even had a few restrooms with showers here and there.
Getting water was going to be a completely different battle, one that I was going to have to either steal from the city, or make actual payments.
How… I didn't know.
Unlike 'normal' Tinkers, I needed actual time and work to make stuff instead of just pulling reality warping tech out of my ass.
I let Judith out of the Lab and let her explore while I got into the forklift and started to move the supplies and benches around the inside of the warehouse. Whatever used to be stored in here, they had enough room to fit like four or five homes in here. The basement was at least half of that space in the basement, and I was definitely going to turn that place into my own little workshop.
The majority of the benches and boxes were moved towards the loading dock doors and any entrances that I wanted sealed off. Having too many of those was a major security issue, and I wasn't going to let us get swarmed and ambushed from all sides if we ever got found out.
Honestly, most of the night was spent just moving crap around, along with trying to turn the warehouse into an actual home. It was already a freezing hole when we got here, but by nightfall, it had turned into an almost unbearable ice cube. We couldn't exactly start a fire here without chancing someone coming over to investigate this place, and I sure as shit wasn't good enough to jury-rig power to the Warehouse either.
So, we were stuck putting on a bunch of layers as we went to sleep. I made Leo take the couch while Judith slept in the Lab where I had left the bed, and I decided to take one of the chairs, sleep taking me the second that I closed my eyes.
I dreamt of gaunt figures, burning fields, and the wails of the lost.
November 11th 2010 Thursday
Honestly, the past few days had been fairly boring.
Sure, things weren't that comfortable due to living on a tight budget, I only had about a third of the cash that I had gotten the other day left on me, but Leo and I had been beyond busy.
I had told the Italian that he didn't have to keep living with us, that he could probably go to the PRT, and they would provide him with a home if he just gave them a few diagrams. Sure, it wasn't 'actually' Tinkertech, but they probably would have jumped on top of him after an actual Tinker took one look at his designs.
In only a single day, he was able to understand just about everything that I put in front of him, even being able to figure out how to program new software after having read a few books on programming. But he had decided to stick around.
Just like Judith was my only connection to this world, I was his only connection here as well. That and properly giving Hospitality without asking for anything else in return was more than enough for him to hang around. Well, that and one other little detail.
While he could figure out how something worked, making it was an entirely different problem.
He could handle wood and was very much an artist and amateur craftsman at heart. But he wasn't a smith, or a welder, or any form of engineer. His brain could understand the diagrams and work, but his hands were beyond unfamiliar with just about everything.
Which is where my hands came in.
Anything I made, even if I shouldn't know how to make it, came out fucking perfect.
We'd figured it out when I had somehow managed to make multiple cups of ramen taste, and look, like they had been prepared by a chef. How? I have no fucking idea, but there they were. The food we were eating was probably the only reason why these past few days without any power had been bearable.
But that was going to change now.
It had taken a lot of fucking work, but Leonardo had managed to figure out how to wire a bunch of worn out car batteries into a working generator. Finding them had been the biggest problem, specifically sneaking into a Junkyard and stealing it.
Nothing, a hole in a fence made with some pliers in the middle of the night didn't help.
After that, throwing the nanomachines into the pile and having them reconstituted good as new ensured that they had juice. A wonder what nanomachines that work on the cellular level can do for something.
It's why we were now in the basement, messing with the wiring, into our mega-battery that was almost as tall as I was. I had followed his instructions to the letter, and instead of a block of messy wiring and plastic and half hammered metal, it was instead a single block of stainless steel covered with plastic.
Best part was that this thing was beyond sturdy, and I had a feeling that I wasn't going to have to worry about it bursting into flames. Which was probably a good thing because piling that many batteries into one giant one was definitely a fire hazard.
I was covered in dirt, grease, and a lot of drywall, but I smiled when I installed the battery into the power lines.
"Alright, let's see what happens here, why don't we?" I whispered to myself, Leonardo and Judith both outside of the room, peeking in through a crack in the door. When I had told them that if it wasn't for my power, then the battery would probably explode instead, they had decided to be better safe than sorry.
I couldn't say that wasn't the right choice, but this wasn't the first time I handled something that could probably blow my face off. I still remember that one time an unpinned grenade had landed at my feet.
No, dammit, not my feet, fucking Marian's feet.
It felt like every passing day just made it harder to differentiate what was mine and what was his. Keeping a proper hold on who 'I' was sometimes felt like a futile effort, but I tried, all the same. Because it's all that I really had left of Mia Itzel.
I remember plugging the giant battery pack into the cords, and next thing I knew, I was waking up on the couch in what was serving as our living room.
I blinked my eyes a few times, coughing and trying to ignore the pain in my chest and arms as I failed to get back up.
What the hell?
"Leo! The bitch woke up!" I think that I heard Judith yell out, but it sounded fuzzy to my ears, and I might be hearing in dubstep instead of normal stereo.
"What happened?" I croaked out, my chest and hands feeling like someone had dipped them in shocking fire.
Oh.
That's because they were burnt. Then I realized that there was a lot more light than that tiny lantern we had salvaged. With bleary eyes, I looked past the blond teen who was fussing over me while she tried out those cuss words in Spanish and Italian that Leo and I had taught her, and stared at the shining lights that glowed down on top of us.
"Oh, good, it worked then." I croaked out, falling back onto my back as Leo came back with the first aid kit that he had brought with him.
"When you plugged the mega battery into the wall, it caused a large spark to jump out at you. Honestly, if you weren't wearing those gloves, I think that you would have been far more dead than we were expecting. Merda, I knew that I should have gotten some better insulated material to pad it out instead of just letting you slap it together." Leonardo said in a rapid fire of words before he devolved to beating himself up in Italian. At least, I think that's what he was saying. Italian and Spanish, while very similar, were still their own languages, so I could understand some of his words, but the entirety of the message was lost on me.
Same went with Portuguese, but I understood that language a hell of a lot more than Italian.
"Well, hey, I'll be fine. Just some burns, that's it." Both Leonardo and Judith glared at me like I had just said something monumentally stupid.
"Mia, I just watched you get blasted back onto the floor with your arms and chest smoking. And you were twitching on the floor. It's more than just 'some burns'. I thought you were having a heart attack at first." Judith bluntly said, her tone dry, but her eyes worried.
Aw, she did care. Typical teenagers trying to hide their emotions.
I couldn't help but laugh, before my chest protested by sending burning signals into my brain. "Judith, even if I did want to go to a hospital, you know we can't. Places like that ask questions about, well, everything. I don't have any ID, let alone cash to actually pay for a doc to even take a look at me. If we show up, there's a chance that we could get the cops coming after us." Which was definitely not going to end well if they did.
"Yes, I believe even with the advancement of technology in this new world, healers would still be a pricey necessity, instead of a mere bread maker price." Leonardo chimed in as he was taking my pulse like I had taught him the day before. We hadn't had much time for me to teach him more than that, but he had picked up on what I could teach him fairly quickly.
Judith stared at the both of us like we were crazy, before she smacked herself on the face. "I'm an idiot, of course you don't know about her, you both literally just got here not even a week ago."
I frowned at that, wondering who the hell she could be talking about, before I remembered about the only cape in the city that could do something about my wounds. Well, the only one that wouldn't try to shoot me or extort me for any healing. I had to keep myself from screaming as I felt like someone had just walked over my grave.
"I doubt that Panacea is going to have time to see either of us. Or the patience." I muttered out the last sentence under my breath so that Judith wouldn't hear. I don't know how… known Amy Dallon's prickly personality was, but I sure as shit didn't want to get any attention for knowing about that.
Then, she gave me an even more bewildered look. Like, I had said that the world was going to end in a few years. A particular truth that I very much wanted to keep to myself for now.
The winged cunt in the sky was always watching, and the less that I thought about… all of that, the better.
"...She hasn't gone by that name in at least a year." Judith said, and I felt like the floor beneath me had just been swept off my feet.
Cause, what the hell else could I say to that?
Amy Dallon wasn't Panacea anymore, and I had no idea what the fuck that meant. Death seemed to pace around on my grave, as I stared at Judith with big eyes, and probably pale as a ghost.
She wanted to ask how I knew about it. I know that she did.
But something in the way that I was staring at her made her stop. Maybe it was because all the blood had fled from my face, or the way that my hands twitched as I realized that there was more that I didn't know about in this different version of the world.
"People don't really know what happened, but… well, New Wave basically imploded last year. It's been real hush-hush, and even the Villains know better than to try and get into whatever happened. All that we know is that Amy Dallon changed her cape name from Panacea to Nostrum, and now she's got her own clinic on the Boardwalk. Consultation with her is like, ten bucks, though she can be picky about who she sees or not. Some patients prefer going to her instead of the Hospital, because 'she doesn't care enough to lie to you'." She said the last part with little quotation signs with her hands, rolling her eyes as she giggled to herself for some reason.
I just… stared at her again.
"Mi scusi, but who is this 'Nostrum'? One of these Parahumans that you have mentioned before." Leo asked. I hadn't had a chance to tell him about… everything that was to come, because I didn't want him to have a mental breakdown like I was fighting off right now. Especially not when Judith was in such a precarious situation with her baby and the like. No point in having her go into a panic attack about the shitshow that was the next few years, while she was already stressed enough about the Nazi's chasing her around.
Deciding that staying silent was probably the best choice at the moment, I glanced at Judith for an explanation, only to fight back a cringe when she stared back in my direction. Damn, she wasn't going to let it go at any point, was she?
But I couldn't tell her everything. Not yet. Not until I had made sure that we were safer than we were, and that I could have the power to at least defend ourselves if… me telling her everything that I knew came to bite us back in the ass. There were far too many people interested in keeping what I knew silent, or secret.
A lot of people had already died for knowing far less than I did.
When I wouldn't open my mouth, she shot me a glare, and turned towards Leo. "Amy Dallon was originally a part of a hero team called New Wave that were trying to be heroes while having their identities public. It looked like they were actually making a difference, until one of their members, Fluer, was killed in her own home by an Empire goon. Since then, the team was slowly just… disappearing. They weren't really out there fighting any of the gangs after Marquis got taken down, and sometimes would even get into arguments with the Dockworkers, but it never got the indie capes involved. Their kids joined, and then they started to make a difference again, but then Panacea, the healer of the group just… left one day. Got full emancipation, and left her home. "
"What do you mean by a 'healer'? Is she a- ah, how did you say it- a 'Tinker' like us? Or is it something far more mystical than that?" Leonardo asked, his blue eyes becoming piercing while his brain worked a mile a minute, probably trying to figure out how he could replicate it himself. I shivered as I realized that he probably could with enough time given how his one power worked.
Judith waves her hand in the air a few times. "Eh, kinda? No one calls her a biotinker because of what happened at Ellisburg, even if the place is barely anything more than a smoking crater now. Everyone knows that slapping someone with a Biotinker label is basically saying that it's open season for them. She mainly used her power to manipulate biology to heal most people. She used to work at the hospital for publicity with New Wave… but it got out of hand." She clamped up after that, ignoring more of Leo's questions.
I… think I could probably guess as to why. Besides the PRT, New Wave were the only other hero group in the Bay. So… whenever the group fractured, it probably caused its own turmoil in the city. Enough that people probably don't want to talk about it, much the same way that no one wants to talk about the dirty secrets going on in their own families.
Goddammit, what the hell did I get myself into?
I must have zoned out, because both of my friends were staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
Judith sighed at me, while Leonardo just laughed. "I said, are you ready to move, or do you need Leo to help carry you?" She asked.
"Move where?" Did we say were going anywhere? Couldn't exactly move right now.
Judith let out a groan, and looked at me like I was the slower kid that didn't pay attention during class. "To Nostrum's clinic, Mia." She said the words slowly, like I had some sort of brain damage, and that made me want to cuff the girl upside the head a bit. But no, she was a minor and pregnant, you can't do that, Mia. "You got zapped with enough electricity to kill you, and we don't have anything to deal with an infection if you get unlucky. Now, get your dumbass up, or me and Leo are going to carry your ass over there. It's just a few streets down here in the DWU territory, so come on."
Before I could try to argue, Leo grabs one of my arms, and Judith grabs the other one, dragging me out the door.
Trying to resist was an effort in pain and cussing, everything in my chest protesting any time that I tried to push them off.
Before I knew it, my two friends had dragged me through the streets when the pain had finally sanded down my defenses, and I could barely keep my head high enough to stare at the large three-story building that had a green cross with a red slash over it over the doorway.
There were men outside the building, most of them armed with at least a handgun, but I could spot some of the ones that were sitting down were probably hiding larger weaponry in the bags next to them.
There were plenty of people waiting inside, most of them were injured or sick, par for the course with a clinic like this. Gunshot wounds, giant cuts and bruises, probably a few broken bones as too.
Some though looked relatively healthy, an older couple a few seats down, a child wearing a ratty hat and hoodie with baggy pants that looked like they barely fit.
I kinda stopped paying attention to the people around me when the droopiness in my eyes took me away to la la land, blearily opening my eyes when I felt someone jostle my shoulder.
I blink at Judith wondering why she was waking me up from the bliss that is sleep, when she and Leo drag me again through the door and sit me down in a seat in front of a grouchy freckled girl with mousy brown hair. She was chewing a big ass wad of gum, looking more like she was moving around a jawbreaker instead.
"Ten bucks." She blankly said in between chews, green eyes drifting over us like we weren't really there as she held up her cupped hand to us.
What the-
Judith reached into her pocket, bringing out the wad of cash out, counting out a twenty from the hundreds that she had taken out of my jacket at some point.
"Ten for her, ten for me." Judith said simply, sitting down next to me, while Leo just watched with curiosity.
Amy glanced at him, narrowing her eyes at him for a second, before dismissing him, and taking the twenty dollars from Judith's hands.
"Alright then, give me your hand then." Judith grabbed my hand before I could register and dropped it in Pana- Nostrums hand.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.
The only sign that she could see my panicking through her biology sense was a single-raised eyebrow, but she didn't say a word as she chewed her jawbreaker sized gum.
"Hm, a couple of heavy burns and some minor nerve damage, though I also notice that you have some minor liver damage, and heavy lung damage. Try to keep away from the alcohol and smokes. Going to use some of the fat in your body, so try to get something to eat after this." Before I could say anything, the stinging pain in my chest disappeared like it had never existed in the first place.
Holy shit, that was faster than I thought it was going to be.
And I felt… better than I had in years.
"Try eating a high calorie meal later, probably a lot of protein and maybe some potassium." Amy drolly said, about to drop my hand.
When I felt something else in my sky connect.
Fuck.
Not right now.
But it was too late, I felt a larger star, one accompanied by a smaller dim one, fly into my sky, sucking in a breath as something foreign rushed through my veins.
No, not my veins. It was my soul.
A real soul, not just something that was founded on belief, but an actual real thing that I now knew existed inside of me.
There were three layers to mine now, the core, the part of me that was 'me', the middle layer that contained the 'what', and the outer layer that served as the 'shell', the part of my soul that adapted to change and grew stronger to protect the inner two layers.
And therefore, through that change, I could now feel the world around me in a way that I never thought that I could anymore.
My sight changes, and I stare at Amy and my two friends, seeing beyond the mere physical world, glimpsing at the souls that they all had. At least, my friends had their souls, Amy… had more.
Where my friends had wisps of white smoky like energy flowing out of them, there was far more flowing out of Amy. A veritable smokestack of soul energy that flowed out from her, as if there were more than just her soul housed inside of her head. I knew what it was. That damned shard, the thing that had uncountable hosts before her, and therefore, the memories of who those people used to be.
Surrounding us, however, there were… little wisps of energy floating around. They were faint, practically ash compared to the smoke that flowed out from my friends, yet, they were also holding… memories.
Memories and echos of whoever they used to belong to manifested as smoke. Only, they weren't really smoke, they were gleanings, bits of souls that came from living beings, the discarded parts that were left behind by all living things.
I almost reached out for them, wanting to take them into my soul and manifest them in the outer layer, only to remember that Amy was holding my hand, and damn near gripping it like it was the only thing keeping her from falling off a cliff.
I met the young girl's eyes, panic spreading through my heart as its beat echoed in my ears. For once, she was actually looking at me with concentration instead of barely contained apathy.
And I felt true fear take over my heart as I remembered that she could have once become the Red Queen.
She dropped my hand, chewed her gum a few times, taking Judith's hand who was glancing at the two of us with concern, while Leo was taking notes in his notebook that he had brought out at some point.
"I don't mess with kids." Amy told Judith, eyes finally moving away from me, focusing on the younger teen with a frown on her face.
Judith nodded. "I know. I just wanted to know if… there were any problems."
"Hm." Amy hummed, eyes glazing over as she inspected Judith's biology. "Seems to be developing just fine. No problems in the baby for now, though you should probably increase your calorie intake." Then she frowned further, as she tilted her head towards Judith's shoulder and arm. "I'll fix the bruising in your arms, and there's some on your back too." She didn't ask the question, but it went unsaid as she glanced at Leo.
Judith rapidly shook her head. "He wasn't the one that did it. The one who did probably has a big lump on his head right now."
"Good." Was all that Amy said as she let the girl's hand go. "Alright, that should be it. Whenever the baby's born… bring him over. Free of charge." She spit out her gum into the trash before she dug into her pockets and grabbed four more sticks, throwing them into her mouth and began to chew rapidly as we started to turn around. "You might want to borrow some clothes that I keep in the back, though. Huh?
Before I could ask what she meant, I realized that… my stomach felt a bit breezy. Like my shirt didn't fit, and my stomach was exposed. I felt my ear twitch as I looked down… and gaped as I realized my clothes didn't really fit anymore.
Fuck, my feet hurt in these tiny ass shoes.
I stood up, and realized with horror that my head was a hell of a lot closer to the ceiling than it should have been.
How long had Judith and Leo been staring at me?
I run into the restroom connected to the little office, and I stare in open-mouthed horror at my reflection in the mirror. My face wasn't really my face anymore.
My eyes were slanted and angular, larger than they had been before, the previously brown pupils changed to orbs of verdant green. My skin tone hadn't changed, same with most of the scars that I had accumulated in my life, but the pointed ears that were almost half the size of my new hands sure as shit were new.
Even though my features were sharper, far more angular than before, I was still… me.
I could see the 'imperfections' that elves would see… Jesus fuck, I was a half elf.
I turn and see that Leo was looking at me when he was writing like a madman in his journal. Was he making a fucking portrait of me?
Judith just stood there, staring at me with worried eyes, as Amy turned to look at us. "Hey, if you're not going to get anything from the back, can you get out? I got other people that are waiting to see me."
25.0040-Anima
200CP
Ravenwood
Skills Magic
The power of your own soul. Wisps of spiritual energy bound to yourself, able to be shaped into quasi-physical garb or used to reinforce that which you already possess. Each shaped bit or aspect of yourself acts as a receptacle for the wisps you possess, and filling them increases the strength provided, but limits the amount you can put elsewhere. However, it only takes a few moments, vital in any battle, to shift these wisps around and change the boons they provide.
Humans: The most plentiful of the material world races, humans have three things going for them, they learn quickly, they have a strong will to live, and they proliferate quickly and with exceptional vigor, making their children with other races more potent.
Elves: The elves are a long lived race, able to live for hundreds of years, possess a natural grace that comes from an innate sense of balance, enhanced senses of hearing and sight, with their sense of smell being slightly enhanced as well, and an aptitude for thaumaturgy.
Hybrid Races (50cp): When two races come together, they often produce a hybrid, this is the case for these races. Hybrid races are often more resilient than their parent races and can possess unique abilities. Such hybrids are often sterile, but you are one of the lucky ones that is fertile.
Half-Humans: Any of the basic races can interbreed with humans, this often results in a hardy hybrid that has some of the enhanced learning and will of the human with the normal traits of the non-human parent. They are also resistant to diseases and generally have a shorter lifespan than their non-human parent, the exception being the half-orc which live a bit longer.
Force of Personality (100cp, Free Anima): Your core personality is reinforced and you gain an awareness of any influence on your mind beyond completely natural methods, making it difficult for anything to change you from who you are without your consent or desire. This also provides an awareness that gives you insights into others.
I think you're using an outdated version of the Ravenwood magics. You'll want to take a look at the updated version and the power source supplement linked in the notes section.
If you have any questions about the magic systems from any of my settings (I think nexus is also included in the celestial forge), feel free to ask, I am always willing to offer insights into the magics I've made.
EDIT: you're also missing the freebie that comes with anima, force of personality.
Amy leaving New Wave and rebranding from Panacea to Nostrum is an interesting divergence. Nostrum itself has two definitions, of which one is much more applicable towards Amy's power: "a medicine, especially one that is not considered effective, prepared by an unqualified person."
A possibility for how this happened is that Amy discovered Carol was "selling" Amy's services to the hospital, the hospital was making money from it, and Amy was getting nothing at all other than ran ragged. Enough of this, plus Carol's attitude, plus the constant mind-whammy from Victoria's aura, and Amy snapped, leading towards her leaving New Wave and not working at the hospital. In all, it's a much better end for Amy than in canon-Worm. Though she only charges a pittance, she makes up for it in volume of business so she can make a decent living.
Very much. This Amy embraced her bitchiness and is actually better mentally because of it instead of punishing herself because of... well everything.
Honestly, getting away from her family was the best thing that ever happened to her, like 90% of her problems stemmed from them.
For the perks that I got wrong from Ravenwood, I made some edits. Removed the previous Freebie and added the Force of Personality perk. Which ironically makes her immune to a bunch of master effects now.
A lot of events and characters in Worm are basically just stuck in Limbo, waiting for the plot to happen because Wildbow wants his torture porn the way he wants it instead of well built world working as intended.
With a lot of events, I either let things finally happen, or had the world react in a way that I thought made sense. Such as the US military turning Ellisburg into a crater or changing the way a bunch of the gangs and capes worked.
And with Amy, well, the answer for what happened could be multiple choice. That whole family was a kettle boiling over, with a myriad of issues just waiting for someone to open the lid.
Don't about half her problems stem from Shaper getting bored with doing the same old thing all the time? Wasn't she constantly ignoring her power's push to do more?
Don't about half her problems stem from Shaper getting bored with doing the same old thing all the time? Wasn't she constantly ignoring her power's push to do more?
That depends on Wildbows mood. Because he's said that at one point, then when someone tried to use that to pardon Amy for some of her actions he changed his kind and said it's all her fault.
Fanon, canon, and wog for everything is so twisted up, that it's almost impossible to say one way or the other. With this, I'm going the route that it was a combination of Shapers influence, Amy's crappy home life and constant guilt tripping from Carol, along with Vicky's constant mind whammy power. Which yes, had a lasting influence on Amy's mental state, I don't care what WOG's from the pig people dig up.
That depends on Wildbows mood. Because he's said that at one point, then when someone tried to use that to pardon Amy for some of her actions he changed his kind and said it's all her fault.
Fanon, canon, and wog for everything is so twisted up, that it's almost impossible to say one way or the other. With this, I'm going the route that it was a combination of Shapers influence, Amy's crappy home life and constant guilt tripping from Carol, along with Vicky's constant mind whammy power. Which yes, had a lasting influence on Amy's mental state, I don't care what WOG's from the pig people dig up.
Dude. You are sitting next to an ocean, and you have a nanoforge. If it can reconstruct matter in seconds, I think it can handle a few sodium molecules.
The canon explanation for that not happening is that it would just make things worse. How was never explained, as far I know, but considering he had monsters that could reproduce explosively (in every sense of the word) when exposed to fire...
At the very least, this should have resulted in a hord of Nilbog beasts roaming the country side uncontained.
Response, tinkertech explosives. Just because Bakuda is the one that specializes in bombs, doesn't mean that there aren't some other tinkers who are capable of making exotic booms.
Nilbog while a terror, is still just one person. And honestly, any time that the pig says "it would have been worse if people did the sensible thing ." I just throw it in the garbage where he belongs.
Response, tinkertech explosives. Just because Bakuda is the one that specializes in bombs, doesn't mean that there aren't some other tinkers who are capable of making exotic booms.
Nilbog while a terror, is still just one person. And honestly, any time that the pig says "it would have been worse if people did the sensible thing ." I just throw it in the garbage where he belongs.
Roaming packs of monster that are 100% morally fine to kill but annoyingly hard to exterminate sounds like a great narrative reason to keep people from just leaving the city, but also giving a way for the more... aggressively inclined parahumans to contribute productively to society.
Roaming packs of monster that are 100% morally fine to kill but annoyingly hard to exterminate sounds like a great narrative reason to keep people from just leaving the city, but also giving a way for the more... aggressively inclined parahumans to contribute productively to society.
According to some of Wildbow's old WoG Nilbog supposedly has plagues ready if he gets attacked, I say supposedly because in actuality Piggot and Calvert are carrying and spreading Nilbog's dormant plagues and if he's attacked he'll send a signal causing them to go active, but he's also sending a signal that keeps it dormant so they'll go active if he dies
Dude. You are sitting next to an ocean, and you have a nanoforge. If it can reconstruct matter in seconds, I think it can handle a few sodium molecules.
According to some of Wildbow's old WoG Nilbog supposedly has plagues ready if he gets attacked, I say supposedly because in actuality Piggot and Calvert are carrying and spreading Nilbog's dormant plagues and if he's attacked he'll send a signal causing them to go active, but he's also sending a signal that keeps it dormant so they'll go active if he dies
Ah yes because he clearly was smart enough to think of that and planned for the two to survive. Aside from how frankly silly that is, also didn't he needs to have like... Flesh sacks to forge corpses into? How does that lead to plauges? And wasn't he a regressed mind stuck in a fantasy land? It's just silly.
37.0240-Nano-Technician | Nanoforge 1200CP:Red Faction:Quality Size
Nano-Technician: 600CP:Red Faction: Quality Size: Is it me or does nanomachines not sound like a word anymore? You now have a considerable talent in the field of nanotech. With time and study, you could recreate the Nanoforge, with dedication you could even improve on it. Keep in mind nanotech in this setting is exceptionally hard to work with, but can do anything from fixing a bridge, to disintegrating a starship, to enhancing human abilities.
Nanoforge: 600CP:Red Faction:Quality Size:Typically worn around the wrist, this device is an engineer's wet dream. Using real-time scans provided by the onboard AI, the Nano-Forge emits nanites as either a proximity cloud or projectile globs that procedurally recreate objects nearby. This Nano-Forge is restricted to repair functionality, and it doesn't work on biological material, but it does have the precision to recreate delicate electronics and the like.
20.0210-Paved In Bones 300CP:The Matrix : Knowledge Future Tech:When one thinks about it, the human body is kind of like a Machine as well. It uses electricity, it requires fuel, it's complex, and it can break down. Why not study it and see what can be done? Whether you sifted through stolen data files or got hands-on with your work, you've figured out a great deal of things about the human body. Its mutations, its limits, its potential... how it all works is open to you, including how the Machines managed to grow their plugs inside the body. What you do with this knowledge is up to you.
7.0030-Laboratorium: 100CP:Light of Terra DLC 3 - A Grand Day Out: Facilities Mundane: Ancient cogitators, arrays of auspex systems, and volume upon volume of documentation supply an Adept with the tools and information necessary to capably analyse a recovered technological artefact.
* Extremely high tech lab for studying artefacts. From Warhammer 40k.
4.0150: Vehicular skills: 200CP:Generic Zombie Apocalypse: Vehicles: In addition to being a frankly amazing mechanic, you're also great behind the wheel you can avoid any avoidable accidents, you're quite apt at upgrading vehicle into mobile death machine
34.0650-Diamond Techniques | Promise of Steel: 1100CP: Summon Night Swordcraft Story: Quality Efficiency
Diamond Techniques :500CP:Summon Night Swordcraft Story: Quality Efficiency: Hoo baby, now you're cooking with gas! These are the same techniques used by Craftlord Rondeau, the Diamond Craftlord of Wystern! This means whatever you make is now in addition to being top of the line in performance, also top of the line in looks! If you have this perk as a Craftknight, you're likely to be a Craftlord yourself. If you're an Apprentice, you're likely to be considered the second coming of Craftlord Shintetsu just like Cleru or Pratty! This perk acts as a Capstone Booster for the Drop-In, Apprentice, and Craftknight Origins.
Promise of Steel: 600CP:Summon Night Swordcraft Story: Quality Efficiency: The promise of a Craftknight is stronger than steel." That's what is said about the dedication of Craftknights, and with this perk it isn't a metaphor. You now have the dedication and willpower to see through any promise sworn, either to yourself or another, although it's only in effect while you're working to make good on a sworn promise.
35.0761 Panzerkampf: 300CP: Sabaton: Quality Resources: When it comes to building war machines, yours are top-notch! A gun made by your own hand will never jam, and a tank built by you will never bog down in mud or take damage from an IED. If they want to destroy what you've built, they'd best bring their A-game.
25.0040-Anima
200CP
Ravenwood
Skills Magic
The power of your own soul. Wisps of spiritual energy bound to yourself, able to be shaped into quasi-physical garb or used to reinforce that which you already possess. Each shaped bit or aspect of yourself acts as a receptacle for the wisps you possess, and filling them increases the strength provided, but limits the amount you can put elsewhere. However, it only takes a few moments, vital in any battle, to shift these wisps around and change the boons they provide.
Humans: The most plentiful of the material world races, humans have three things going for them, they learn quickly, they have a strong will to live, and they proliferate quickly and with exceptional vigor, making their children with other races more potent.
Elves: The elves are a long lived race, able to live for hundreds of years, possess a natural grace that comes from an innate sense of balance, enhanced senses of hearing and sight, with their sense of smell being slightly enhanced as well, and an aptitude for thaumaturgy.
Hybrid Races (50cp): When two races come together, they often produce a hybrid, this is the case for these races. Hybrid races are often more resilient than their parent races and can possess unique abilities. Such hybrids are often sterile, but you are one of the lucky ones that is fertile.
Half-Humans: Any of the basic races can interbreed with humans, this often results in a hardy hybrid that has some of the enhanced learning and will of the human with the normal traits of the non-human parent. They are also resistant to diseases and generally have a shorter lifespan than their non-human parent, the exception being the half-orc which live a bit longer.
Force of Personality (100cp, Free Anima): Your core personality is reinforced and you gain an awareness of any influence on your mind beyond completely natural methods, making it difficult for anything to change you from who you are without your consent or desire. This also provides an awareness that gives you insights into others.
Leo
20.0650
Inventor
600CP
Futurama
Knowledge Future Tech
You are a brilliant(if eccentric)Inventor. You can(within reason)create nearly anything you can imagine if you put in the time. You have a cabinet full of doomsday devices and would be more than capable of slapping together Reverse Scuba Suits for fish or Death Clocks.
Freebie:
Mathematics
Futurama
Free for Inventor
You are an incredibly talented mathematician, capable of blazingly quick mental maths as well as more complicated theoretical work.
This. Mia has spent the majority of her time trying to make a home for herself and her growing household. No time to try and finangle a high tech computer that can interface with the state of the art Nanoforge.
As for the Wildbow WoG.
This will be the last time that I'll say it. I'm throwing them all in the trash and ignoring them. Any more comments about them or trying to throw them at me will be ignored.
I'm still around and working on this, I've just been fairly busy with irl stuff and a number of my other projects.
This will be the last time that I'll say it. I'm throwing them all in the trash and ignoring them. Any more comments about them or trying to throw them at me will be ignored.
Wildbow actively retconned shit for the sole purpose of farming reddit gold from other nihilists and winning versus debates with people who were smarter than he is.
I'm still excited for Mia being kind to the unexpected - her deciding to adopt and save the poor kid that was to become Homelander was nice in the original and I was looking forward to seeing where that would have went.
The found family stuff is the best part of Mia imo.
The change of clothes was easy, honestly. The hard part was finding a pair of damn beanies and hats to hide the fucking pointed ears.
I was already getting a lot more stares than I was comfortable with on the way back, even with wearing the old hat that Leo had arrived with to cover the top of my head, but people could still tell that there was something 'off' with me. They just couldn't put their finger on it, which I guess is good since I'm not getting blackbagged as an alien.
Hooray for small mercies. It just cost me a new face and body that I didn't ask for.
Guess that there was plenty of shit in this 'Forge' that I was gonna have to deal with. Hopefully, this would be the worst of the 'side effects' that came with this crap.
Yeah, yeah, I realized my blunder the moment the thought finished, shut up.
"How much longer are you going to just sit there moping?" Judith, the brat, snidely said as she poked her head into the part of the warehouse that I had made my personal cave. I chucked a screw at her, though I aimed it above her head so that it would miss.
The brat didn't even bother to move out of the way. Damn, was I already that predictable?
"If you must know, I was meditating!" I growl out, almost fumbling with my own feet because I'm still not used to the way that the long twigs felt where my stumps used to be.
Going from barely five feet to damn near six foot four was a pain in the ass.
"Uh-huh, sure." The blue eyed creep rolled said eyes at me, obviously not believing the lie.
Clicking my tongue, I can't help but look above her, and around her. At the little gleaning wisps that seemed to permeate this whole damn city.
She noticed the way that my eyes seemed to lock around her, and she fixed me with a look. "Seeing more of those 'gleanings' around?"
"Hard not to. Feels like the whole city is full of them, lot more than it should be."
"And how do you know what a city 'should' have?" She asked as she shuffled over to the couch that I had brought into my cave.
Huh. How did I know that? "I honestly have no idea. Probably some more of that memory bullshit." It had been happening more and more lately. Little thoughts, or memories of things that I shouldn't know.
Much like the way that Anima just made me a damn near expert in how to take in gleanings into my soul, it also brought in other stuff connected to it.
"Might have to do with all the death in this damn city." I mused out as I controlled my breathing and began to take in the wisps of memories that floated in the air.
Traces of wind, the sound of wings on the beat, and the taste of blood and lead flowed through me as the nascent wisps gathered into my soul, gently laying on the layers and layers that made 'me' me.
They weren't complete gleanings. More like, fragments of what had been eroded after years of simply hanging around in the material world. After all, the more time after one's death, the less and less of the 'original' was left behind. How many people have died in this city? Not even taking into account the cape related deaths, or those committed by the idiot 9?
Too many to count, honestly.
Letting out a sigh as the last gleaning settled into my soul, the remnants of a rat that had died a few days ago when Leo and I had found the little fucker, I let out a sigh of relief that I hadn't known I'd been holding.
"AH!" I screamed as I stared into the eyes of Judith who was a bare few inches away from my face, my hand cocking back out of sheer instinct that I managed to stop at the last moment. She let out a snort at that.
"You sure that's meditation? Looks more like napping. You didn't budge an inch when I got close to you." Must not hit the pregnant teen.
Bad Mia.
"Look chiquita, it's a bad idea getting that close to me when I'm out of it! I was about to smash your head in." And given that I was definitely a lot stronger now than I used to be, that would not have ended well. Good thing I didn't have my pistol with me.
"Alright fine! Jeez, take a chill pill." She said with her iconic eyeroll, leaning back in the seat that she stole from me, hand on her belly which was already bigger now than it had been when we'd first met. "So, we got plenty of crap now. The place has power now, which is good. So, what's the next thing that you're going to work on?"
Now that was the question, wasn't it? What was I going to do now.
Leo and I had managed to make a damn good few sets of guns, though he was repulsed by them and damn near threw them away when he figured out how they worked.
The soldier in me snorted, but I understood. Not everyone was comfortable with taking a life, and honestly, that was more than fine in my opinion. The world would be a better place if certain people shared the same sentiment.
Regardless, if I wanted this nano forge to do more than just repair things, I was going to need a computer that could actually interface with this thing, and for that, I needed certain parts. Gold for computer parts, an actual cooling system when I managed to turn the thing on, wires, silicone, etc.
Couldn't go to the junkyards, those places were watched like hawks. That left the Trainyard, which was contested territory between the ABB and Empire, and the Boat Graveyard which would definitely have the parts that I need.
Problem would be getting to the parts, and getting them out.
Vehicles. I needed a car, and a boat maybe for certain parts.
I could just go berserk and start throwing as many nanite globules as I damn well please, but that wouldn't matter when most of the boats and ships are now underwater.
But… maybe… maybe I could get lucky.
Sighing. I stood up and stretched, grabbing my belt and holster off the rack, and tying it on my waist as I inspected my pistol and holstered it.
"Where are you going?" Judith asked as I threw a coat over my shoulders and strode toward the door.
"To get some more materials. I threw over my shoulder as I left our little home.
Was going into contested territory a good idea?
Probably not, but then again, I wasn't known for my bright ideas in my last life, and the same went in my life during WWII. Something had to be wrong with you to throw yourself into war without a second thought for your own safety, even with unyielding rage.
Yet, here I was, walking around until I spotted a building with an Empire logo stamped proudly on the wall.
A cocktail would serve to really brighten that particular building up. Certainly would add some spice to the decor and people that it desperately needed.
I don't enter, instead stepping into the shadow and standing very still as my vision shifts into the realm beneath our own, straight into the gleanings of the world around us.
And I felt my throat catch when I see the gleanings that were hovering around the house. At least a dozen of them, each one a tangled web of human souls, far more whole and stable than any I had ever seen before in this life. Meaning that all of those were people that were now dead. And recently because of how close they were to the house.
Gleanings, the remnants or 'residue' of the soul, tended to wander away when someone died, their 'wholeness' deteriorating as time passed, the edges of the person or being slowly being undone by time and life's influence. Yet these were gathered here, slowly, oh so slowly, beginning to drift away from the home.
I saw red as the realization hit me, and I began to grip my pistol. Before I tore my way into the house, blasting each one of my shots with the fury of a berserker, I managed to calm myself down.
I couldn't just go in guns shooting, not unless I wanted both the Empire and PRT coming after my ass. No, I needed something else to get in there. I needed more methods of taking people down that didn't rely on simply gunning people down. Not only did the thought make my stomach uneasy, but it would also bring more heat than I really needed.
Which meant that it was time to begin gathering those gleanings and seeing just what I could forge from them.
I sat down on the floor, covering my body with my jacket as I covered my eyes with the beanie as I slipped into a meditative stance. I could steal everything that those pricks had later.
For now, I simply began to empty my head and reached out towards the gleanings of the dead.
Each one that entered me was a window into a life that was now gone.
Ronny, an elementary school teacher that had been grabbed when he had been on his way to his car by one of his student's parents that wanted someone 'pure' to teach their son.
Rodrigo who had just gotten a job with the dockworkers a few days ago, before his sister's boyfriend had shown his true colors and taken the whole family captive one night when he had come to 'visit'.
Wendy, who had to watch in horror as her father and brothers were killed one by one, helpless as the gun was placed to her temple before the flash took her life from her.
More and more people, most of them having passed not even a few days ago, others mere wisps that hadn't quite moved away yet from here after their deaths, settled into my soul and I accepted them with open arms. None of them were perfect.
Jonathan was a cheating bastard, but he genuinely loved his children, Samantha used to shoplift for the thrill of it, but she also gave away any of her stolen goods to the homeless that hung around her neighborhood. Rodrigo had been hoping to cut a deal with the elusive Merchants in the hopes of getting some of their off shoring action before he had been taken, and Wendy had been something of a bully back at work, constantly putting people down out of some insecurity that she would never be enough to please her parents.
And now they were dead, the only thing left of them the wisps of their gleanings that entered my soul, as I shoved away those that had belonged to Empire members.
I couldn't help the tears that slipped down my face, my hands shaking, as I took in each of their lives. Their flaws, their strengths, their hopes, dreams, and those last moments of fear as they were killed for new members 'initiation'. The sad reality that they had been some of the lucky ones because at least their deaths had been fast instead of something more torturous and slow did little to comfort me. Then the last one entered, and I had to stop myself from choking at the sheer power of one gleaning.
Wanda Lopez had lived in Brockton Bay practically her whole life, and had enough features that she could be mistaken for white instead of half Latina. A fact that she was grateful for, because that meant that there was less of a chance that she would get dragged into the Empire's little hate crime ring. Only, her luck ran out when her high school basketball team had won a tournament and her name and photo had been plastered on the paper.
Not even a few weeks later she had been snatched off the street and taken into an Empire basement.
The things that happened to her… it made me sick to my stomach. Her experiences had been enough for her to give into her despair and trigger, a scar that would never leave her, and she gained the power to create weapons out of pure darkness.
She managed to fight her way out of the basement, screaming, crying, and killing every single Empire goon that she could get her hands on. Until Hookwolf had arrived.
Damned bloodthirsty dog.
Her sorrow, her terror, despair, and rage were enough to finally make me throw up the breakfast that I had eaten this morning. I could probably ignore the emotions, the pain and raging loss that remained in the gleaning. But, no. I'm not going to. This… this was the last echoes of her. The purest form of whom she had been in life.
And I had to see it. Had to feel it. Because, if I didn't, then no one else would know the depths of these people.
Rage. Hate. Loss. Despair.
All of these emotions were bottled up inside of me, begging to be let out, to be released, and I would. Just not yet.
With a groan, I stood up, forcing myself to stand still as the rush of… everything went to my head, the dizziness of it all making it feel like I had just got done taking about ten shots of tequila before I managed to find my legs and force them to take one foot in front of the other.
"HEY! Junkie!" A voice yelled from the house, and I didn't have to turn around to know that one of the skinheads was probably staring right at me.
Nah, fuck this.
Before he could get another word in, I booked it out of there, the sound of his footsteps eventually fading away after I ducked into a back alley and began my trek back home.
November 13th Saturday 2010
I had to isolate myself inside of one of the farther rooms in the warehouse.
It wasn't even that Leo or Judith were being loud, they had actually been giving me space since I got back home yesterday.
They already knew that something had happened when I'd left yesterday, and they wanted me to calm down before they tried dragging it out of me. Probably a smart move. I wasn't ready to talk about… everything that I had seen and felt yesterday.
And before I could properly tear that damn place down, along with stealing everything that they had, I needed to get my hands on a car.
I know that there were smarter ways to get my hands on cash and a car. I know that.
But, quite honestly, I don't care. As long as that place was up, that meant that there would be more 'initiations' there.
And I wasn't blind or stupid. Taking that place out was only a slight delay. I knew that there were going to be plenty of other places for those damned fascists to hold their little 'rituals' to see if new members would actually do what they wanted.
It was going to get a lot uglier before it got any better, I knew that.
Meaning that I needed to be prepared for this. To build my arsenal, and weave these gleanings into proper artefacts.
I wasn't going to be able to use all of them, of course. I was definitely going to need to use parts of them for the greater whole, but using the entirety of them was counterintuitive. After all, while Jonathan had been very good at lying, he had also been beyond slow. So, trying to use everything from his one gleaning, into say, a pair of boots that made me faster, was only going to end in disaster.
But, if I used the speed of, say a hummingbird, or a pigeon, then that would change things, now, wouldn't it?
So, with a sigh, I closed my eyes and began the long process of looking through my gleamings and breaking them down to their most basic principles, searching for what I needed for what I had in mind.
The core of this, of course, would be Wanda. Her power, the ability to weave pure darkness into just about anything, was going to be the foundation of this artefact.
As far as weapons go, I was more than fine. No, I needed protection, something to make sure that I was able to survive.
I… did not have nearly enough gleanings to make a full set of armor.
But, the only saving grace in this shitstorm of a sky, was that I already had something that could side step that.
Wanda's power, the damn thing that her shard had 'given' her when she had 'broken', was the ability to gather darkness and form it into whatever shape she wished. She hadn't had much time to train with it beyond knowing the simplest usage, but she had stabbed or clubbed enough Empire gang members on her way out.
There had been a lot of blood, hard not to when she stabbed her main captor a good 10 or 15 times with a dagger made of pure darkness, but there had also been a… chill around the wounds. As if someone had flash froze it.
So, the darkness was doing more than just cutting or crushing things, it was absorbing the heat and producing a chill.
Evening out my breathing, distancing myself from the emotions of the gleanings flowing through my soul, I began to focus on Wanda's.
She had been a mess during her death. Days of hellish captivity had torn apart the confidence and hope that had once shown through her life. For years, she'd dreamed of getting a scholarship out of town, getting her family out of Brockton and actually living with some form of relief when she could finally get her mother's papers underway for citizenship. There had even been tentative offers and scouts that had contacted her family.
Offers that would never be taken.
Yet, there was a determination there in this girl. A will that, while broken, would never bow down to anyone again. And, while Hookwolf had definitely killed her, she at least made sure that he wouldn't forget her when she managed to cut into him with one of her swords of surging darkness.
I focus the gleamings on the image in my mind, a necklace around my neck, focusing her determination into the weave of gleamings that slowly worked their way into a new layer of my soul. Next, I added in Jonathan's ability to lie his way out of anything, deception and sheer skullduggery. Every little lie that the various people said, every scam that Nick the petty thief pulled woven together into the tapestry that I was slowly building. Well, slowly at first.
As time went on, and I began to understand the complexity of weaving a new part of my soul, I began to speed up, the process becoming more and more ingrained into who I was.
By the time I was done with the basis of the weaving, the sun had set, and I had to crawl out of my little cave to the perplexed looks of my friends. I gave them both a big smile, patting Judith on the head, which she growled at me for, and giving Leo a hug and kiss on the cheek as he did the same to me before we dug into dinner.
After sleeping, I dove back into my little cave, smiling as the new weave of my soul had settled nicely into its outer layer, before I began to weave back into it again.
Next, came strength. Jonathan's tenacity of staying up late long nights, the sturdiness of his body that hadn't gotten sick in years, Lee, Wendy's father, who had busted his butt for decades in hard conditions, all for the effort to make sure that his children would live a better life than he ever did.
The agility of a cat that had died a few blocks away, the sheer speed of mosquitoes, each one barely enough for a single thread of the weave, but in concert with the swarm that died on a daily basis, they were more than enough.
On, and on I went through the day, each new weave a brand-new possibility, a strengthening of one aspect or other.
I skipped eating on Saturday, would have skipped going to the restroom too if nature didn't call, when I finally stopped.
It had taken quite a few gleanings, but it was done.
With a smile on my face, I felt the new tapestry that dotted my soul begin to settle and went to bed again.
First thing I did in the morning, after answering the waterfalls call, was stare into the mirror, ignoring my bedhead, and manifesting my brand-new artefact.
It looked like crystallized darkness, a ring with ringed runes carved into the jewel, as a single white stone seemed to glow in the center of the jewelry.
And I felt it. The shadow. The darkness around the room.
With but a thought, I imbued the shadows around my arm, pure darkness coating them with what seemed like gauntlets of steel scales, the tips clawed, yet moving without a sound.
The smile on my face wasn't one that Mia Itzel would have worn, not even one that Marian Macuta would have worn. No, a demon wore that bloodthirsty smile.
And I was going to quench its thirst with what little retribution I could bring to bear.
And here we all are. I wrote this a lot faster than I thought I was going to. Guess Mia was screaming in my head louder than I thought she was going to be. Now, I doubt most of you have noticed, but the title of all my chapters have been after song names that I listen to while writing these, specifically songs that I feel resonate to the chapter that I am writing.
And, with this one 200CP perk Mia is now capable of a lot more shit than she could before. This is because, while 600CP perks tend to be the ticket items to large scale stuff, most jumps have the 100-400CP perks be the actual means of making them.
Best example is between Leo and Mia. Leo is absolutely capable of making some of the most world changing technology with his Inventor perk, but he lacks the actual means of making any of them without time, training, and materials, which is why he needs Mia to be the hands. Now, I hope that you all enjoyed.
