While I prep to move out and wait for Destiny to finish downloading spicy new update, have a chapter!
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@hellgodsrus, without whom I would never would have been able to take part in creating half my fics, and our girlfriend
@SolarFlare for being awesome and also betaing! Also special thanks Prime Betas
@Tamahori and
@32nd_freeze and
@Ganurath for being betas and feeding me validation and feedback between updates! And also new Prime Beta Lucky! Who is on Questionable Questing and writing most of the NSFW omakes~
Enjoy!
Cell
10.5
-.-.-
Mark and Neil came in not long after Mom and Aunt Sar -
fucking damnit - Sarah did. I was helping Mom make pancakes and waffles and leftover barbecue meats for everyone who hadn't had breakfast already. Which was pretty much everyone that wasn't Amy, Victoria and I - and it did seem to be
everyone. The rest of the New Wave adults - even Mark, wearing his costume but without its helmet, looking unshorn and a little mournful. Sherrel, who'd bounced back in and stolen the last of the leftover bacon, the traitorous wench. Crystal and Eric, huddled next to Victoria and a hunched, unhappy looking Amy, talking to them in whispers. A knot of people I recognised as former dockworkers - Lacey, Kurt, Alex, Lindsay's dad - mingled with people I
didn't recognise as well - the blonde girl who'd been with Lindsay last night and was still half clinging to her arm, trading looks with a bizarrely elated looking young brunette woman. Trickster was stood near that knot, rolling his hat in his hands, Tattletale perched on a counter a little way away next to a giant man dressed in a biking outfit of motorcycle leathers and helmet with skull-face on it, darkness dripping off his huge body like water. There was barely enough room for everyone to
stand, let alone sit and eat.
Before that could become a problem though, Mom wrapped her dressing gown around herself tighter - no, not tighter, in a different way, stood, and became Lilith. My tank behind her formed her backdrop and discussion halted. Immediately. "Thank you for coming, everyone."
The atmosphere was immediately ruined by Aunt Sarah -
urgh I'm never going to stop calling her that - giggling to herself. Lilith gave her a
look, then continued. I didn't miss the numerous marks just under the collar of her shirt as she shifted.
"As of last night, the Brockton Bay PRT and Protectorate have effectively declared themselves our enemies. Or us theirs. Regardless of truth, legality,
or justice… this is how they have decided to act. New Wave, thank you for housing my daughter and I apologise that you have become collateral of their hatred of me." She tilted her head back, arms folded behind her. A reigning queen. "As it stands, Brandish has called for intervention by the Boston PRT, something I, after consideration and the rescue of my daughter, approve of. Thank you for your clearheaded response while I was - emotionally compromised." Lilith nodded to Carol, who was making one of her signature eating a lemon faces, but with a touch of something else. Pride, maybe?
"They
did kidnap me…" I mumbled. Amy squeezed my hand and Victoria patted my back. It was more comforting than I expected.
"There are consequences to
all our actions - the PRT and Protectorate are not as exempt from that as they would like to think they are. When truth comes to light, they are
woefully unjust and incompetent, covering their failures and mistakes through smear campaigns and cherry picked information leaks." Mom stopped, took a breath, halting the incoming rant I could sense boiling in her about the state of law enforcement. "They are not the only threat within the Bay to our continued existence, but they are the strongest, the ones we can least afford to face head on. The ABB, are
gone, splintered, their remnants scattered or scattering. The Empire are falling - we will begin and continue aggressive action against them and their… subsidiaries." Her lips curled a little, somewhere between a sneer and a smirk. "However. The disappearance of the main parahuman gang structure within the city has left something of a vacuum. One I think it would be preferable to fill ourselves rather than have one of the fragments of the ABB, the drug dealers, or another group take for themselves."
"Right, but. I know we're all rightfully a bit brassed off at them at the moment, but wouldn't that be filled by the Protectorate?" Eric asked, bless his little heart.
"One would hope so." Lilith nodded. "One would certainly hope so. Unfortunately, given their startling lack of appropriate responses lately, it's doubtful they'll fulfil the role before
real villain groups like the Teeth attempt to muscle in territory, or the Orchard, the Elite, Accord,
whomever wants a slice of the city for themselves."
"You plan on
Eden filling that void?" Carol looked somewhere between a scowl and jaw-dropped incredulity.
"Eden,
and New Wave. Someone must, and better us than the other options, or inaction from the PRT." Lilith had turned, slightly, and I couldn't see her face clearly. I did hear her deep breath, not quite a sigh but close enough to it. "I did some more research on the Brockton Bay Brigade and the forming of New Wave. There are actions I am sure you regret, in your past, but your core tenet, that of accountability… that speaks to me
. I am Annette Hebert, but I am also
Lilith. I don't want to be a hero or a villain - I want to use my powers for good, be it through entertainment, education, or other options
." She nodded, here, at Trickster and the strange brunette, who'd moved next to each other while she'd been talking. I wondered if
other options meant
murder. I mean, I certainly couldn't find fault with that plan when it came to the Nazis. "I want to see my dying city recover. I want to see this city become a place where my daughter can feel and
be safe walking down the street, without worrying about being
hunted for her orientation, where
anyone's daughter can feel safe without being pursued for their skin colour, or their wealth, or - " A small pause. "Or sons. Children."
"Hear hear." Lacey held up her glass of water in a toast. There was a general indistinct noise of agreement and several raised hands and glasses from all around. Thankfully no spills.
"My vision of Eden is of the garden-as-it-was. A place before the fall, before the constraints of morality - in this analogy, before and outside of
pretend fights with criminals. Those who want their blood and circuses can see far more literal versions in our entertainment. This, however, will put us at odds with the PRT."
I… hadn't really followed a word of that. Looking at some of the other faces around the room I wasn't alone in that. Mom apparently noticed too since the Lilith persona slipped a little, an annoyed grimace falling out.
"I want my organisation to represent a space that is not merely outside of standard cape dynamics but can act as a replacement for them. If people are so determined to see superpowered brawling, they can see it happen
safely with us, with no risk to life or property of anyone else. Obviously, as the PRT support the status quo to a certain extent because they allow the brawling to continue without appropriate safeties - or appropriate participants. No-one should be coming to this city for a
chance to see someone like
Lung or Hookwolf. And now, they won't any more."
I noticed Lindsay looking a little proud and trying to suppress it. More than a couple of people glanced at me and I couldn't help but grin at the small round of cheering. That's right, this skinny girl took down a motherfucking
dragon. "Hey, speaking of Lung… did you ever do anything with his head?" I asked. I still wanted to mount it on the wall or something. It was a
trophy, damnit.
"Later." Mom's hand gently patted the air in my direction in a vaguely calming gesture. "Since the PRT is likely to object to this vision of the future, it is possible their objections may escalate. For now… let us eat. Think on what's been said. And we will discuss your thoughts at the end of the meal." She sat down, neatly, then - less neatly - pulled a pair of waffles onto her plate.
I immediately reached for the maple syrup, just narrowly beating Lindsay, who grinned at me from across the table. "Sooooo… I'm guessing you slept well." That was an impressive smirk.
"Once we finally got to bed at Ass AM, sure," I started, ignoring Crystal's extremely unladylike snorting at that callback, "Or are you talking about earlier? Don't think I haven't noticed the marks on your neck, Lindsay~" I purred, giving her a hooded grin. "You and Sunny Disposition seem to have gotten along quite well, after all."
Lindsay blushed and waved her hands in a 'gimme' motion at the syrup. "Yeah, well
my girlfriend can't just clean up the marks whenever she wants." Clearly, that wasn't the only reason, but…
"Neither can mine." I smirked, drizzling a generous amount of syrup on my pancake before handing it over.
Amy grumbled something quietly about, "
not my fucking girlfriend," but it was easier than explaining the whole 'friends with benefits and sometimes feelings' thing we had going on.
Lindsay raised an eyebrow, pouring an equal amount on her own.stack. "Somehow, I doubt that." She hummed for a moment. "… kind of thinking about asking Annette about some biomods of my own though. Since I won't always have a shotgun. Thanks again for saving us, by the way."
I wasn't entirely sure what to say, beyond… "It's what any hero would have done."
"Doesn't mean you don't deserve thanks." Her smile was earnest.
"Any biomodification Lilith did would require maintenance." Amy leaned a little closer, still scowling a bit. Her bony little elbow had somehow lodged itself against my side. "That could be… challenging. And time consuming for both you
and her."
"I mean, I've heard about some of the work you've done on the Beasties. If anyone can figure out a way to integrate things and make them seamless and self maintaining… it's you." Lindsay swallowed nervously a bit, before focusing on Amy. "... I'm sorry for yelling at you when I was off my tits on painkillers."
"You're not the first and I doubt you'll be the last." Amy shrugged - a little uneasily. Again, I got the urge to punch the people in the hospital who acted like dicks to her.
"That doesn't make it okay." Lindsay's gaze dropped to her food and she took a bite.
"Mm. And - I don't - my power works
alright with Lilith's but. I don't always see
why she's made things the way she has. What I did with the Beasties was more… assembly. I was a glue gun, basically."
"I think you're underselling yourself a little." I rubbed shoulders with her gently. "Do you want pancakes or waffles?" I noticed she was a little trapped and unable to reach the food.
"We literally had breakfast under an hour ago. And I'm not half starved like you can be sometimes." She grabbed a pair of forkfuls of bacon - turns out there had been a hidden pack at the back of the fridge. "Speaking of, eat this."
"Yes ma'am."
"Not -
not all at once, Taylor, Jesus Christ -" she buried her face in her hands as my cheeks bulged out like a chipmunks, but full of bacon. "You'll
choke." After a pause, she lifted up just enough to glare at me. "And if you do, Victoria will have to heimlich you."
Lindsay smirked. "Well, at least if Vicky shatters all your ribs, we have people around who can fix you after." Sunny Disposition watched the back and forth with interest as I made sure to chew much more carefully.
"Mmphmhph-"
"Don't. Just - don't." Amy sighed deeply.
Don't talk with your mouth full. Okay.
"So -" Victoria leaned round from Amy - she'd been talking to Crystal before, apparently content to have a second breakfast herself. "Uh. I'm not sure I caught your name..?" she looked towards Sunny Disposition.
I swallowed and barely avoided choking. Probably related to a missing gag reflex at some point. "I've been calling you Sunny Disposition in my head."
"I'm. Uh." Her eyes widened and flicked round the table, meeting Trickster's, then the brunette next to him's. "Um. M-Marissa?"
Lindsay's hand that wasn't currently holding a fork dropped below the table, and she gave Marissa a reassuring smile.
"I'm Taylor." I grinned. "It's nice to meet you
in person." The chorus of groans gave me life.
"Boo!
Boo, I say!" Crystal threw a scrunched up napkin ball at me. "That was
terrible."
"No,
this," I said, holding up the napkin ball, my grin only growing wider at her horrified expression, "Is
tearable."
Lindsay utterly lost it, slumping against Marissa in a fit of giggles. Amy looked like she was wondering just how and why she let me between her legs. To be perfectly honest I wasn't sure either, I was such a brat. Victoria was doing her best to hide her amusement, and best of all, Mom was giving me this
look from across the table.
"Ahem. So. We were talking about biomods, I think?" I tried to purge the thoughts of ones that would be fun in the bedroom. What would be more useful or fun for just - everyday living? "Cosmetic or functional? Wait - you mentioned wanting them because you wouldn't have the shotgun." I hummed.
Lindsay held up one finger, still snickering through a mouthful of pancakes, before swallowing and taking a moment to compose herself. "Y-yeah, Kinda… self defense things. Like… some kind of bone sliver launcher with tranquilizer venom or something? I dunno exactly how all of this works, my only experience so far was having my leg patched up that one ti…" She trailed off, trying to covertly look around and see if anyone had overheard. She wasn't very good at it.
"That experimental treatment you mentioned." Amy nodded, not even glancing in Mom's direction. "A bone sliver launcher
sounds like it'd be a good idea, sure, but you don't see that kind of thing in nature often for a reason. For one thing, there's replacing the bones after launching them, then the launch mechanism - if it gets shifted at all you're launching the bone
into yourself. Acids and venoms, sure, but not launchers like that."
"So we're stuck with the whole 'bringing a knife to a gunfight' problem again." I grimaced. Getting shot was
not fun. Sudden overwhelming pain out of nowhere wasn't exactly an experience I was eager to repeat.
Marissa frowned in thought. "What if you could like - shoot something out your wrists? Like - web or - or something." She made a gesture like flicking her wrist, middle and ring finger in her palm.
"... I think those were gadgets in the comics, but… That could work." Lindsay bit her lip before blushing again, having outed herself as a fellow dork.
"I mean, Lilith's a tinker though so that's less of a concern. But if you wanted Ames to be able to do maintenance…"
"Plus implanted stuff is more covert, yeah."
"Bioweapons are
fun." I smiled, daydreaming for a moment about having more combat tentacles, tipped in blades dripping acid…
sigh, one day.
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Y'know, Tay, when most people talk about things they don't like about their body, usually they're referring to acne or back pain or cankles, not their lack of hyper lethal weaponry."
"Hey!" I pouted. "I don't complain about that. I complain about a lack of wings."
"You're
way too big to fly." Amy frowned. "Something your size - just the muscle mass required to get you off the ground - you're already past the point of diminishing returns. Even with Lilith's Tinker Bullshit, you'd probably be limited to gliding at best."
"Most people also don't get attacked by Nazis on the reg," Lindsay interjected.
"Yeah, well, with all their identities leaked, hopefully we won't have to worry about that for much longer." I sighed. "Oh, who am I kidding. There'll always be fucking Nazis."
"Okay so if wings are out, what if we made her rocket powered?"
We all stopped to stare at Victoria.
"What?"
"Mecha-Khanivore!" Crystal crowed.
"... That could work. I -
Flare is basically rocket powered." Lindsay bit her lip again, looking up at the ceiling in thought.
"What on earth are you girls
doing." Carol twisted in her seat to stare at us all, wide-eyed. Possibly in horror.
"Discussing methods of flight that might work with my real body - Khanivore." I explained. "Amy decided wings and flapping wouldn't work, so now we're thinking rockets." I paused. "Or maybe strapping Flare to my back? But that's
powers and powers work weird for me. Hrm. Shit, we probably couldn't even use Sherrel's tech because I break tinkertech, don't I?"
"I will forever treasure the hazy memory of Halbeard's startled face as you walked up behind him." Crystal promised, mouth full of pancake.
"The PRT didn't try to charge you two with anything after I left, right?" I looked over to Lindsay and Marissa, concerned. "Why'd they want me out of the room, anyways?"
Lindsay shook her head. "Apparently even with BBPD being like half E88 moles by population, The whole thing fell under PRT jurisdiction because capes showed up, and they couldn't really come up with a thing I could have done other than shoot Nazis. Rune would have just put a car through the house. No idea why they went after you, though. More weird cape rule stuff? And I only shot people who
can't do weird shit with their magical brain tumors. As for the other thing…"
Marissa elbowed her in the ribs. "They wanted you to leave because you were distracting Miss Useless Lesbian here with your abs and that gun show." She grinned.
"You mean these abs?" I maintained eye contact, slowly lifting my shirt -
Amy put her hand over mine, it was scalding hot. "Yes." She made a strangled little noise that was utterly adorable. "Not at the dinner table."
I chuckled and held on to her. "Well, I think they went after me because I uh. Well." I held up my hand. "There was some lady with an eyepatch? The sniper - "
"That'd probably be Victor and Othala." Victoria nodded. "They're usually paired up."
"Right. Them, uh, the one that was stabbing at Mahway until I picked them up and they tried stabbing me and my hand closed on reflex - no idea if they survived, honestly not bothered if they didn't - and crushed their chest. And - I dunno, I probably stepped on a few people you'd shot." I shrugged.
Lindsay swallowed her bite of pancakes, seemingly relieved with the subject change. "Eh. Nothing of value was lost. Just hoping they don't try to stick Tammi on the Wards ENE and expect us all to pretend she wasn't infiltrating us to scope out targets… Hang on. They didn't try to make you sign any NDAs, did they? Because they didn't try to make
us sign anything…"
"Probably because the whole Empire got outed." I shrugged. "I really should have stayed quiet when I was at the PRT HQ, but I didn't sign anything at least. Mostly just complained." I grimaced, shrunk in on myself a little. "And, well, after that, I took out Night and Fog, you know the rest."
"I think the one that stabbed your hand was Cricket." Victoria frowned. "She… I haven't ever really fought her before, but Mom said you could basically fight through the nausea. Either she's got an iron stomach, or Cricket was going
really hard there, because that dizziness and nausea was
nuts."
Ugh. I remembered it. And I was meant to be immune so - "My power didn't block out the nausea once I was back in this body so. Yeah." I made a face. "Glad you were inside by then, Amy. It was
not pleasant."
"It was a very not-fun part of the night." Crystal grimaced. Oh, right, she'd been in Emmim, with the super-nose. "Just - so much vomit and this high pitched
drone like - like twenty flies crawling into your ears."
"... Is
that why one of the windows cracked?" Lindsay chewed her lip. "I didn't think anything actually
hit the house, and the crack didn't really look like it was from an impact either."
"I mean, I don't know how she would have done that." Victoria took another bite of pancake and sausage. "Her power's nausea inducing not like. Glass cracking."
"Maybe Othala did something?"
I shook my head. "Probably not. Everyone else might have been dragged out in body-bags, but she probably ended up in a body-
bucket."
"Thanks, Taylor. Really needed that image while I'm trying to eat." Marissa was clearly having second thoughts about the previously frozen strawberries she'd just put onto her stack.
"Sorry." I grinned sheepishly. "Turns out getting between a high velocity kaiju fist and a load-bearing support column isn't good for your health."
"Don't worry Marissa. Everything tastes better garnished with the blood of your enemies." Lindsay snickered, before letting out a squeak when her apparent new girlfriend slapped her on the back of the head.
"Thank you, Marissa." Victoria nodded to her. "We're trying to
avoid Taylor biting people."
"I bite Amy
plenty and you don't hear
her complaining." I grumbled.
Lindsay opened her mouth and was promptly smacked again, giving Marissa a mock hurt look.
I reached for my pockets and - patted them down, confused. "Anybody know where my phone went?" I glanced over the table… "Could have sworn it was in my pocket."
"Bedside table, I think." Amy grumbled, her face very solidly buried in my shoulder. I could see her turning scarlet and tried to stroke her hair reassuringly while Crystal cackled and Victoria very pointedly didn't look at us.
Oh! Right, I'd - gone to the toilet at some point. But I hadn't taken my phone with me, had I?
"So, cuz," Crystal distracted me by elbowing Victoria and grinning widely. "Heard you went out with Lilith to knock on the PRT's door."
"Ugh,
yes, I was." Victoria rolled her eyes. "Didn't you get dragged home to get the charter?"
"Nope, I was getting some medical care from Lilith."
I glanced at Amy. No offense to Mom, but Amy
was the best available when it came to biology. Monster
or human.
She seemed to notice my attention, lifting her head from my chest just long enough to glare at me - I wanted to say fondly, but it was difficult to tell. "I can only work with what's already there. If you guys want to get hurt more often, put on some goddamn weight."
"So what you're saying," Lindsay interjected, "Is I need to eat more pancakes if I want to shoot poison darts out of my arms."
"Sure." Amy settled her head back into me more firmly.
"
Anyway. So what do we, the uh. Junior people of this, I guess." Victoria scowled a little, and ate her food more ferociously for two bites. "What do we think about what your mom said? About the PRT and her goals and stuff."
"Personally?" I took a deep breath. "The PRT can
get fucked. The local branch, at any rate. I used to think they were heroes, first and foremost. Then I
met them. And I realised they're government agents first, heroes second. Nazis have been a problem here for longer than I've been alive. Lung got away with human trafficking rings because
might makes right. And,
and, fucking Uber and Leet." I growled.
"Bit of a non-sequitur there." Crystal mumbled. The mumbling mostly was because she was apparently inhaling a whole punnet of strawberries.
"They went all-in on trying to take down Mom. At first I wondered if it was because - well, she's
small compared to the likes of the ABB and the Empire. But then I realised… y'know who else is small? Who has been established in this city for quite some time and even regarded as a fucking
annoyance of a criminal enteprise? Uber and Leet. And they haven't
done anything about those fuckers who went around beating prostitutes and shit for years."
"I know we're not really in the mood to be
fair here, but Uber and Leet are quite a lot less theoretically dangerous than Lilith and Eden. And haven't had a habit of potentially hunting down gang members or mind controlling people." Victoria took another bite. "But I do take your point. Like - where the fuck was this shit when the Chorus was around?"
"Unlike Lilith and Eden, they
did go out beating up hookers. And Mom doesn't mind control people. That was just - suppressing memories." I wrapped an arm around Amy and pulled my warm spiky teddybear closer.
"...If they'd actually done something about the gangs, my brother wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire." Lindsay slumped in her seat, staring down at her plate. Marissa pulled her into a hug, gently rubbing her back.
"Yeah. So, PRT, Protectorate," I sighed, "Even the goddamn Wards, sad as it is. Cops first. Government agents second. And Heroes
last. And as we all know by now, all cops are bastards."
"Oh, I suppose you're just working that out now." It took me a moment to locate the owner of the voice in the crowd around the table, until she slipped closer. "Not that I have room to talk, really." Tattletale was carefully picking at a plate of toast with one hand. "And the junior New Wave crew too. And… Lindsay and Marissa, isn't it?"
"Did you do something with your hair?" I asked, frowning. Trying to figure it out.
"More like I didn't get a chance to. Budge up." She swung herself onto the bench next to us. Her eyes were brilliant, bottle-glass green, sliding across the row of us - most of the New Wave girls were scowling, Marissa was hunching.
Lindsay was apparently deep in thought about something, jumping a little when Marissa nudged her. "Uh, yeah. That's right." She bit her lip, eyebrows furrowing.
"Mm. Anyway. All cops - or coplikes - tend towards bastardy. More systemic than individual, though there are plenty of individual bastards." Her lips twitched. "Glory Hole would know all about that, I think."
"Fuck off." Victoria's face wasn't a scowl but the dead eyed iron expression I'd seen her wear when I'd left the PRT building the previous night.
"Be nice." I jabbed a finger into Tattletale's leg. "For someone who claims to be psychic, you really aren't that great at reading the room." I raised an eyebrow at her.
Oh yes, I read your PHO Wiki entry. Not that it had really helped at all. The page had almost nothing on it - possibly by her own hand given wikis and public editing. I'd actually learned more by (accidentally I swear) eavesdropping on the DWA. She
definitely wasn't psychic, but put together hints and clues faster than anyone had any right to - like some kind of cocaine-powered Sherlock. And that was
after the fact that Sherlock was already quite cocaine-powered.
"Sorry," Tattletale said, sounding possibly the least sorry I'd ever heard anyone sound. "I heard you all had a bit of an outing last night."
"I think the Empire had a bigger outing." Crystal snickered. I groaned. That was
terrible. And she was giving
me shitty looks for puns?
"It's funny. I imagine what's left of them are possibly having a breakfast meeting similar to this one right now. The Protectorate are going to crash it, of course."
I had a flash of paranoia -
Her smile stretched a little wider, just a hint of teeth showing. "Theirs. Not ours."
Okay, maybe she wasn't quite as bad at reading the room as I thought. She just didn't care. I grumbled and cut up my pancake into bite sized pieces so I had something to do with my hands.
"So what are the Undersiders planning to do with this mess?" I asked instead, because… I wasn't really sure why, it sorta just escaped my mouth.
"Oh, Lilith's paying us quite well. I believe we're going to do a number of raids on Medhall subsidiaries and their supply vans. Imagine an armoured car robbery except the car isn't armoured and we're stealing lots of medicine."
Victoria made a grumbling noise at that, but didn't say anything.
"Not even going to
try to put a spin on it?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I? With the reveal of Max Anders' identity, Lilith feels - rightly or wrongly - that it's open season on the holdings of Nazis that they'll make profit off."
I sighed and slumped, rubbing at my forehead. "It's like you're deliberately trying to phrase it in the worst way possible. You aren't
trying to do that, are you?"
Her grin was all I needed as an answer.
I hope Grue is more diplomatic than she is. Fucking Thinkers. Reminded me of a fox in the henhouse - or the saying of it, at least. I'd never actually seen a video of a fox in a henhouse. "I'm providing perspective. More than I think most of you have right now. Except maybe Lindsay."
"So… are you trying to say 'just because they're Nazis it doesn't mean they're an acceptable target' or… something else?" I was confused. "Or is this like - trying to warn us what the PRT will try to spin it as."
"More the latter, not that they have to spin very much."
"I still hate that we have to remind people that Nazis are
bad."
"They'll simply frame it as us - as Lilith - depriving your dear elderly grandmama of her desperately needed medication." Tattletale shrugged. "Which Lilith is well aware of."
"... You're right, though, Tay. We need heroes." Lindsay looked like she'd made up her mind about whatever it was, and was sitting up straighter. Her expression was… determined. "Sabrina the Teenage Nazi probably already told all her friends what she came up with anyway. Might as well get ahead of things." Standing up, she did that whole 'tapping a spoon on a glass' thing until conversation died and everyone was looking at her. "... okay, this is way more intimidating with everyone looking at me, but fuck it." Swallowing, Lindsay held up one hand. A mote of light appeared in her palm, a tiny plasma jet burning with a soft hiss. "I'm Flare. Since I'm living here full time now since fucking Nazis know where my house is, I thought you should all know about that." She looked around, squirming a bit. "... uh… any questions?"
"Did you check with Frank first?" someone from the back called out, before most of the Dockworkers laughed.
Lindsay paled. "Fuck." Clearly, that was a no.
"What my daughter does with her identity is up to her." Mr Myers stood up. He seemed to be looming a little but I wasn't sure who it was directed at. "That said - a little warning next time, sweetie?"
"Sorry Dad. Got caught up in the moment." Lindsay sagged back into her seat, blushing furiously, before hiding her face in Marissa's shoulder.
"Speaking of revelations and reveals…" Mom stood up at the head of the table again, nodding to Mr Myers. "Taylor and I have been unmasked by the public."
